This is Not the Start of Volume Three

  Dorothea arrived in the council hall when we were already all there. Will had joined as a representative of his own faction, and wore the Dungeonfucker tabard along with most of his armor. The rest of us sat around the round table just as we had in the one other meeting I’d been to. At the end of the room there was a blackboard, and after the goblin woman had finished her second plate of pastries covered in chocolate, cream and powdered sugar, she began climbing onto it.

  It really didn’t seem likely that she would manage to climb up to the little ledge that held chalk, but she managed to grasp it firmly with her especially long toes. Thus standing she screwed a piece of chalk into what appeared to be an old timey cigarette holder, and began writing on the board in handwriting that was just as untidy as one would expect based on the utensil she was using.

  PART THREE: ASSAULT ON THE MURDER MOUNTAIN

  Was eventually written centered at the top of the blackboard.

  “Part three?” Octavia spoke up first, though she was seated the farthest away from the blackboard.

  “Shh, I’m doing this from memory,” Dorothea said.

  “Could you enlighten us then?” Artemis said.

  “Doubt it. I thought you already was smart and what’s it,” Dorothea said, “Now, where was I?”

  “Assault on the murder mountain?” I said, helpfully.

  “Right. So, we got a bunch of fucking murder elfs on the mountain. We’re handling it,” Dorothea said, writing ‘murder elfs’ on the blackboard, “Their king type is a real asshole. And we’re pretty sure he’s the most powerful creature currently on the challenge grounds.”

  “Savirak. We’ve met,” I said.

  “And look at you with your balls still attached to your taint. I’m guessing. Yes, yes, Savirak. So, he’s all super strong and shit, but he is a moron. You can tell by how he didn’t take any magical advancements or classes. No offense,” she said, looking directly at Marcus, then Will, then Artemis for a few seconds each.

  “I can see how that would change fighting him from a lost cause, to really fucking nearly impossible, I guess, but you said you’re handling him?” I said.

  “The bugger’s been set up around the Divine Seal. You know the big fuck-off light in the sky what you unveiled by doing whatever hero shit you done,” Dorothea said, “So, we make sure it stays that way. Kill anyone who gets out, unless it’s Savirak, in which case Their Majesty sets out to distract him in person,” Dorothea said, drawing a crude map of a pillar of light, several arrows that seemed fairly incoherent, and a remarkably detailed decapitated head of an elf with Xs for the eyes.

  “Sorry, I still don’t get it. So you’ve managed to keep them there, but we still need to unseal the seals before the year is up,” Artemis said.

  “Yes! That’s it exactly. We’ve been killing any monsters that get near their camp and keeping them in. They think that you all will come to them because you need the seal taken care of,” Dorothea said.

  “But they cannot get more levels. We, however, can get as strong as we need to be before we strike,” I said.

  “Three months. The Monarch believes that They can hold keep the murder elfs by the gate for ninety days from this one on. Savirak is level 50 with dozens of bonus stat points. So you’re all still probably fucked, but the Monarch believes that this boon of ours will be worth of repaying the second of three favors Alex Vorhal the Wizard has given us,” Dorothea said.

  At that point Artemis walked up to the blackboard, standing opposite the goblin woman’s ‘plans’.

  “That can work with my own timeline. I have been mostly trying to figure out how to organize the massive amount of people we supposedly have on our side. But no matter how I turn it, trust has to come first. We won’t be able to commit a joint assault on the Tower itself in a year if we still think of ourselves as distinct separate groups. Not to mention any casualties we will take over the year will make our situation worse, so the sooner we go the better,” Artemis said. Chum surprised me by lapping his wings to rise above the table and speaking up.

  “Yeah that doesn’t work like that, doll. A demiplane of heroism is a funnel. It doesn’t matter how many of you die, the power gets concentrated in the survivors. Trust me, it’s designed that way,” Chum said.

  “I will bow to your expertise if I must, but surely you can see how larger numbers open up more tactical options,” Artemis said.

  “That’s not nonsense, but there are limits. Levels make numbers irrelevant at a high enough discrepancy. Rule of thumb is that a 10 level difference cannot be overcome by tactics and a 25 level difference cannot be overcome by numbers. This demiplane has a lot of variation in classes and titles though, so if he’s some sort of a fragile combo it could be done,” Chum said.

  “He don’t,” Dorothea chimed in. She was bouncing up and down the ledge she was clasped onto.

  “So what are you saying? Screw the casualties? Just let people die?” Artemis said.

  “Hey, Arty, pal, morals are your department, not mine. Just saying, attacking as late as possible will be best,” Chum said.

  “You ain’t going to be attacking anything if you don’t deal with Savirak,” Dorothea said.

  “You’re right. We should focus on the task in front of us. Aside from resuming leveling and exploration tomorrow, I have a few more ideas and abilities to consider,” Artemis said.

  She went back to her seat, and took a small pack of papers wrapped in leather out, unbound them and handed one to each person at the meeting.

  Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

  “Please familiarize yourselves with my latest ability. I’ve copied it verbatim from my Journal,” she said.

  I looked down on it and saw neat but blocky handwriting that I recognized as hers on a piece of yellowed paper, or perhaps it was parchment.

  Franchise: You may establish Adventuring Guild branches in any settlement with more than 100 inhabitants. A branch is established by using a branch token in a location with sufficient area to conjure a Guild Branch building. A branch can be established by any member of the Guild. If at any point more than 50% of the people of the settlement wish for the branch to be gone it will immediately be destroyed. A branch comes equipped with an Orb of Farspeaking connected to the main Guildhall. If you are not the person establishing a branch, the person who establishes the branch will become a local guildmaster, gaining Assign Quest, Reward Quest, Recruit to Guild and Share Experience abilities identical to yours, and have one of their level-up options at subsequent Class levels replaced by a Guildmaster class ability.

  “That’s fucking neat,” I said, as I finished reading it. Apparently everyone else needed a few more seconds.

  “I guess I can see the use for soft power, but is this something we should be focusing on instead of getting levels?” Marcus said. He was sporting several deep scars on his face that looked like they were clawed by human fingernails, and his tunic was soaked in blood, having come directly from the front of the battlefield.

  “If we have any chance of uniting Earth forces against the Tower we will need a lot of soft power. Furthermore, that Share Experience ability is the main reason I’m highest level here. It is really rather efficient and I was considering sending our strongest people out to set up these branches,” Artemis said.

  “I’m really excited about the speaking orbs myself. If we can have communication hubs a few days between each other, that’ll change everything,” I said. I was still bitter that my Party ability seemed to be our best way to communicate.

  “So, will you do it, Alex?” Artemis said.

  “What?” I said, genuinely perplexed.

  “I think you’re the perfect first choice. You have the mental stats to deal with the admin, and I’ve seen how tired you are of the fighting first-hand,” Artemis said.

  And the connection between myself and the mindworm inside her psyche snapped. I thought I saw a jolt or a cringe on her face, and it was gone.

  And then I heard what she’d said. I did want a cushier position, and, to be honest, everything but cement mattress tester would be cushier than what I’d been putting myself in.

  “No. If we have time I need to do arcane research. I have a dozen spells and abilities I could be improving, skills I need to advance, mechanics I want to test out. Xem is obsessed with magic. If we are going to beat him, magic will be how we do it,” I said.

  “What exactly will you be doing then?” Octavia said.

  “I’ll go back to my tower in Nothing. It has the best facilities and Nothing is a place that needs to be explored more. I intend to pass through Starter Village- you know, where we met Rafael and his people- so I’m happy to walk with whoever you decide to send as branch manager there,” I said. Artemis grimaced. Clearly she’d liked the idea of getting me as a branch manager, but she wasn’t going to make me do something against my will. Of course, if she was still the Hag, she would know that she had to do act this way in order to keep her cover. And my spell was broken, which had been the only way I’d thought of how to check.

  “Well, that’s within a few hours travel from Starter Village at least, so you’ll be able to maintain your duties as the head of the wizard’s council if these orbs work as we want them to. Alright, I agree that magical research is of paramount import, as is the advancement of your own power,” Artemis said.

  “Then who? You mentioned that the council could meet via orb, reckon we should go?” Marcus said.

  “I won’t stop you, but I do think that we need to send other skilled individuals whose efforts are wasted here. You’ve been more than integral to the building of Checkpoint,” Artemis answered.

  “I’ll ask Anna. She has seen enough horrible things, and I think we at Fort Dawn can set her up in a decent position. I’m guessing a lot of my people will be happy to join the Guild too,” Will said, and I felt a bit of a pang in my chest. I’d just reunited with my friends, and we’d be splitting up again.

  “We can keep in touch over orb, at least,” I said, and it was odd how natural it felt to say nonsense things like ‘keep in touch over orb’ by now.

  “We’re counting on you, Alex. We’ll get inside that tower, climb to the top of it, and throw that bony bastard’s body down to crash against the floor,” Will said.

  “I bet he can fly,” I said.

  “And that’s why we need you doing the magic thing with your big brain,” Will said.

  “And how does this get you killing Savirak?” Dorothea spoke up. She’d dropped down and went back to the refreshment table once the conversation had strayed away from her topic.

  “We’re gathering power,” I said, “All of us have a lot of direct combat experience, but if most people are anything like me, they have projects that they need downtime for. And with the guild branches we’ll be getting plenty of experience towards levels as well.”

  “Just make sure most of you hit 26. What your imp pal said was right. Going up against Savirak at any lower won’t even be like going into a meatgrinder- you could clog that up at least. Fighting him at any lower a level would be like visiting an industrial euthanasia dispensary,” Dorothea said.

  “Alright, productive meeting,” Artemis said, “I will ask the Council members to return to the people they represent and find one or two candidates for guild branch manager. We only know of four settlements aside from Checkpoint, but I’m sure once we get started, we’ll start spreading out quickly. As always, please come to me with any further questions and reconvene the same time tomorrow.”

  One by one we filed out of the meeting hall, and I realized that I didn’t have a place to stay for the night. I was feeling dejected at the thought of having set out on my own once more, then I felt a heavy armored hand on my shoulder.

  “You said this place was built around a tavern, Alex? Let’s grab Anna and go check it out,” Will said, pulling me in a side hug before walking out next to me.