Unbound

Exploration is level 76!

Utilizing Abyssal Skein, the group of them was able to skirt the edges of the dark lake and steal up onto the grounds of Havenhold with little issue. There were some Dwarves wandering a few of the gardens nearer the lake, but they were few and most were awfully…preoccupied with one another. They were easy to evade.

Once they reached Havenhold proper they came upon open verandas filled with stout furniture, an elaborate wet bar, and a crackling fire pit in the shape of a pair of cupped, blocky hands—all of it beneath a long stone roof carved out so that the negative spaces resembled a star filled sky. The terrace extended across a substantial section of the palace, overlooking a statue garden interspersed with exotic plants that shimmered with visible Mana vapor. Dwarven nobles lounged upon the furniture, drinking from goblets that burned, crackled, and smoked in equal measure. Lively, relaxed conversation rang out, the Highbloods laughing as they relaxed, as if they hadn’t a care in the world.

None noticed their party, though Felix walked fairly close to the retaining wall holding the nearest portion of the veranda up. A noble even looked directly at him, but seemed to see nothing but a grassy knoll.

Yintarion flew down from the lip of the veranda. “I see ten Dwarves and beyond them a series of glass doors leading inside this mansion. There are many more within, including a number of other mortal servants and armored soldiers.”

Evie scowled. “So no going through the palace…unless the killin’ thing is back on the table?”

“It isn’t.” Felix studied what he could through his Perception stat, marking the position of the nobles. Several of them carried things that sparked across his awareness. Enchanted items, no doubt, though he couldn’t tell what they were from his blind vantage. His Hunger rumbled regardless. “Why are they all just…hanging out?”

“It is the pleasure palace,” Tzfell said, as if that were explanation enough. When she saw Felix’s annoyed stare, she kept talking. “The Havenhold was once the seat of our king…but that ended long ago. Now it is home to the Highblood Clan families that hold the greatest sway over the Dwarven Holds. Within are all the pleasures mortal Minds can conceive, or so it is said, and some Highbloods never leave except for their most pressing duties.”

“Oh. Ew,” Felix said.

“What of the nobility we spoke to at the Hinterlord’s gala?” Vess asked.

“Lesser branches of the High Clans. They take up the responsibilities so that the real powers can govern from within this place.”

“My sympathy for the nobility is dwindling by the second,” Felix said.

“I see a path we may take,” Yintarion said. His eyes shimmered bright gold, reminding Felix briefly of Imara’s. “If we can move past these few and the glass doors, the roof would be ours.”

“Perfect. Be ready to rush on my signal.” Felix lifted his hand and activated one of his newest Skills. Quiet Cacophony.

A strange, buzzing puff of power poured from Felix’s mouth. It condensed as it flew, unerring to a point within his Perception, before it splashed down like a geyser between the nobles. To Felix, it felt like his Will was suddenly inundated by ten separate forces, each pushing against him unconsciously. The Highbloods fought back, their Minds trying to reject the effects of his Skill…but Felix’s Will was beyond theirs, and his Intent could not be denied.

Dwarven Highblood (x10) Have Been Affected By Disorientation!

Dwarven Highblood (x10) Have Been Affected By Disquiet!

Dwarven Highblood (x10) Have Been Affected By Disgust!

Quiet Cacophony is level 2!

…

Quiet Cacophony is level 34!

Apprentice Tier!

You Gain:

+5% INE

+5% ALA+5% WIL

“What was that?” one shouted.

“Watch it!”

“Did you spill Thacarin red on my husband’s coat? You absolute fool! That stain will never come out!”

“I did not! I was standing here, and my wine is white!”

“Who else?”

The mild argument escalated quickly, and Vess shot Felix a look of surprise as actual fighting broke out among the Highbloods. He could only shrug.

“Good Skill,” Harn grunted.

Yintarion floated back up. “I believe they’re adequately distracted.”

“What the lizard said,” Evie agreed. “Time to run?”

Together they ascended the steps to the veranda, skirting the edges of the now brawling nobles and onto the palace proper. The glass doors extended for quite a while, but the crowds within could not spot them through his Abyssal Skein. Or so Felix hoped.

They took a corner, hugging tighter and tighter to the palace’s dressed stone walls, before they came upon a narrow recess between two protruding sections. It was twenty feet wide and twice that deep, and it ended in a dark metal door without a latch or lock.

It was perfect.

Felix hissed as they came to a stop, a sudden sharp pain ripping across his core space. He felt a Skill within him still, its thrumming pattern cutting off so suddenly he feared it had been sundered entirely.

“Eugh, man, why’d you do that? Warn me next time you’re shutting off your Skill,” Beef said. He shivered. “That feels like getting dunked in cold oil.”

“What happened?” Harn asked, helping Felix stand up straight.

“Skill got cut off.” Felix glanced around the relatively small area, Manasight flaring without issue. Though Havenhold shined like a bonfire at midnight, he could still make out the filmy ward they’d penetrated…not so much meant to keep them out as to strip them of options. “The palace is interfering with my Stealth Skill.”

Evie frowned. “Me too. Can’t even spin the damn thing.”

“There’s a wall between me and my Shroud,” Pit added. “It’s tough. But I think I could break it down.”

“Don’t!” Laur warned. “There are doubtless contingencies in place for such an act. Punishments, even. If we wish to remain undetected, it is better to go without than to batter down the door.”

Harn nodded. “Now or never, then. To the roof?”

Felix assessed the thirty-foot wall ahead of them. “To the roof.”

Rime Shaping!

Though the outside world was locked down by the Havenhold, it could not stop Felix’s Mana from venting from his channels. Ice Mana poured from him, creating a frozen, purple-white lattice extending from the ground to the top of the nearby roof. Without a word, the others climbed up, Laur in the lead.

Felix repeated the process two more times, each improvised ladder getting them higher and higher, until they’d attained the topmost level. Here, Laur held out a hand. “Stop. The influence of the Undermount’s storm is here. It touches down ten strides forward, but at seven strides you would hit the angled side of it.”

“It touches the roof? All of it?” Felix asked. The roof may have seemed ordinary, but it was the top of a palace. It extended for almost three hundred feet at the narrowest point ahead.

“No, but it is close. Too close for someone to slip through, unless they are far flatter than is healthy.”

“Give me a second.” Felix stepped forward, activating Manasight again. He waited while a chaos of light and sound and sensation reigned around him, patiently focusing until just the warding Laur mentioned came into view. Everything else was white noise.

Manasight is level 91!

The Elf was right, he thought, tracing the lines of almost-solid light that extended up into the sky. The mountain is covered in this thing. Like a…laser dome. What would happen if I touched one—?

Before he could try anything, the entire palace shook. It was a mild vibration, but enough that large waves suddenly kicked up in the lake. The fighting nobles, who Felix could only distantly hear, suddenly clammed up.

“What was that?” he asked.

Laur looked at him, face pale and jaw clenched. “I thought you touched the wards. Did you not?”

Felix lifted his hands innocently. “I would never.”

“Laur, look,” Tzfell said, pointing to something across the tiled roof. A crack ran across the palace’s wall, the dressed stone split with a dark crevasse.

The Elven Chanter hummed, pulling something from between his palms. It looked like a series of strings made of liquid light, and he twisted them together twice before they winked out. “I left markers where we arrived, to keep track of our exit in case—” he shook himself. “The barrier between here and the Nightfall Palace seems to be…unraveling.”

“Unraveling? How?” Vess asked.

“Something is agitating the Grand Harmony,” Tzfell said. “The Undermount provides entirely too much interference to be sure, but it sings to me of heat. Of light.”

“Give you two guesses on that one,” Evie muttered. “First one doesn’t count.”

Damn. How’d she get here so fast? Felix spun back to the barrier. “Get ready. When I give the word, I need all of you to run through as fast as you can.”

“What? We cannot. The wardings are too elaborate, it will—”

“Kid knows what he’s doin’,” Harn said, grabbing Laur by the arm. “Just be ready.”

“I—right. Of course.”

Felix reached out, until his hand was an inch from the barrier…and he grasped it with his Will. “Chthonic Tribute.”

Power rushed into him, the piece of ward siphoning off into Felix’s open mouth before being replenished. It was like drinking the ocean through a straw.

More.

Felix pulled harder, forging his Intent into a funnel through which the barrier’s magic could flow. It surged into him, so many Mana types that it would burst a normal man. Or several normal men. The magic went wild, fire and wind and lightning burning through him while earth, ice, and shadow tried to freeze and crush.

No. Quiet.

Instantly, the power was leashed. It fell, pulled by an inexorable grip into the swirling dark beneath Felix’s core space. Ahead, a narrow section of the mountain ward flickered…and failed.

“Now!” Felix commanded.

Evie, Vess, Harn took the lead, followed closely by Tzfell and Laur with Beef and Hallow taking up the rear. Pit lingered at his side, but even he was sent running when Felix nudged him. He shifted to tenku form to catch up to the others.

Felix followed, one slow step after another.

The wards tried to close their tiny breach again and again, each time the mountain sending entire rivers of Mana against him. Felix and his Hunger roared as he walked, their maw opened wide, letting the power spiral into them without friction or fear. The last part was hard. So hard.

Felix’s friends were almost through. He didn’t even breathe—there wasn’t the space for it. He just had to eat and walk. Step by step.

The palace shook again, and the roof cracked. Somewhere, screams echoed into the false daylight…and Felix stumbled.

The ward swelled, as if the storm above could sense his weakness. It fell upon him like a tidal wave.

“Pit! Run!”

His Companion was barely halfway across the roof when the warding fell atop of him. He squawked in alarm and in a swirl of color became far, far smaller. The threads of discordant power surged through where his Body once resided, but even a Dire Hound pup was too tall. Pit froze, his bright eyes wide.

“Convergence!” Felix gasped, leaping forward. The roof buckled beneath him, shattering into a spiraling pattern of debris as he launched ahead horizontally. “Chthonic Tribute!”

Etheric Concordance is level 85!

Manasight is level 92!

Pit vanished into light that settled in Felix’s Spirit moments before the wards slammed down…and then Felix whipped by with his fangs bared and the world bent around his howling maw.

Rivers of Mana flowed into him. Lakes of it, as the storm thundered above. His friends had vanished at some point, but Felix couldn’t sense them. Could barely see through the riot of color, heat, and chaos. Dissonance buzzed against him, soaring for a brief, terrifying moment.

Chthonic Tribute!

Felix redoubled his Will and Intent upon the Skill just as a lightning bolt hundreds of feet wide came crashing down upon Havenhold. Felix took it in, but like drinking straight from a firehouse, it overwhelmed his Hunger. Lightning spilled outward, into his Body, his Mind, and his Spirit.

Within him, Pit shrieked.

The world went white. Time ceased to have meaning, and for an interminable Age, Felix floated amid a sea of horrendous sensation. There was a soundless howling, like of a great and terrible beast, but it was sourceless. Felix simply was…until he was no longer.

A rush of brutal cold broke apart that pallidity, streaking his reality with deep blues and striations of cold green. Felix woke up surrounded by the long roots of some underwater plant, tangled about himself tighter than ropes or chains. Blinking rapidly, Felix ripped free before kicking his legs and hurtling to the surface of a small pond.

An army of bright purple frogs fled from his mighty waves, leaping across oversized lily pads and announcing their displeasure with tiny, sonic attacks. Felix growled, and every single frog went silent…as did the Dwarven nobles who surrounded the pond.

Warning! Your Health Has Dropped Down To Ten Percent Of Maximum!Seek Healing Immediately!

Chthonic Tribute is level 99!

Armored Skin is level 96!

The Song of Absolution is level 98!

Sovereign of Flesh is level 97!

“Who are you?” one of them demanded. He had a forked beard the color of slate and wore a shirt made entirely of faceted ruby. Imposing, but he was no more than Adept Tier. “Your name and advancement, brute, or in the name of the Uncrowned King I shall slay you here and now.”

“Felix!” Beef shouted. He and the others were beyond the pond, where the rolling hills of the Undermount gave way to steep cliffs. “C’mon!”

“Felix?” someone said. Their doublet was made of sapphires. “Nevarre?”

“I know of no others,” said a woman wearing a gown of opal.

“The claimant of Nagast.”

Great. Felix said nothing, but flared his Agility as he kicked off the ground. He was gone before the Highbloods could blink.

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