Crystal Cage 14

As the invading group drew near, Orison shouted out across the giant ant battlefield, "Four slots still open. It's first come, first serve. No resistance until they're filled."

The Nunos guardian named Aiden asked in a low voice, "Why would you offer it so randomly? These kind of things usually have a surprise twist of some kind at the end. It's called the 'Temple of Greed' after all. There will probably be some kind of temptation to betray and you don't know them at all."

Orison saw that Rithus looked curious about what he was up to as well, so he explained. "Notice that they are eyeballing each other now? They could have stayed unified until they got here, making it far easier for them to conserve strength through their fights with the ants. Now they have to worry about double crossing since four slots were offered up. Since I said it was first come, first served, they have to be wary not to let people that aren't in their smaller groups from pulling ahead too far. Recklessness and disharmony will make them far less efficient and cause them to wear themselves out more while we're in here well rested.

"So what if there's a twist at the end? There's five of us verses four others and there's little benefit to you turning coats for another team when you'd just make trouble for yourself at home after this is done. No matter how hard we're working, do you think the reward is going to be something that amazing? It's a beginner's area. Since when is Osomo known for being overly generous? Almost everything this world offers is fairly well balanced when it comes to reward versus risk but Osomo seems to favor punishing vice and giving extra rewards for good teamwork. Am I wrong?"

With an uncertain look on his face, Aiden replied, "Yes. It's as you say."

Orison chuckled. "I'm aware that the royals have a bit more privilege and exemptions but the general rule still applies."

With less than ten minutes to go, seven bedraggled chosen were making their way up the last hundred yards. Suddenly, two full nine person teams came into view towards the edge of the mound's boundary space. One belonged to Sek while the other was a mercenary group with no easily discernible loyalty other than to themselves.

Upon seeing them approach, the worn out seven were all uniformly about to leave when Orison said as loudly as he could, "You've done so much to get here. Four of you deserve to finish your journey. There's a representative of the Auma royal family here and our position is not too far from the capital. Those two groups of latecomers wanting to profit from your hard work can p*ss off. Not a single one will be welcomed in here."

Two didn't listen outright and left. Of the remaining six, one heavily injured man was bid to return by his team and a man asked his wife to return home so that their child wouldn't have to worry about both his parents being soul faded. A shifty eyed man in Sek garb that looked at the oncoming group decided to stay and Orison doubted it had anything to do with claiming anything for himself. Even though it was just a guess and may have been flavored with prejudice, Orison decided to keep such a person out.

Addressing the heavily injured man, Orison said, "I want you to stay. You've done such a damn good job of keeping your team safe all the way here that you deserve this more than the rest." Pointing at the Sek man, he continued, "I'm sorry if I'm wronging you but you need to go. If you leave me a message, I'll send some compensation. I just can't take the risk with Young Master Nunos in my care."

Aiden looked at Orison like the young mage had grown a second head but kept his mouth shut. Gan looked like he was trying really hard not to laugh while Duran and Rithus wore two very different versions of poker face. Duran must have taken Orison's words a little too much at face value as he personally went out to escort the injured man back, giving a heal as he kept himself between the injured warrior and the upset Sek man.

With little leverage to draw from, the Sek man gave his contact information and left. While they waited for the two groups to arrive, Orison and Duran tag team healed up the group of three and the 'husband'. Aside from the guardian man from the group of three, the only other person who looked fairly reliable was the 'husband' who was a Dracanos like Rithus. The dainty wife who was sent back home was a regular human and Orison was sure there was a great story there that he wasn't overly interested in hearing.

As soon as there were nine people connected with the stone slab, three elemental grudges appeared in front of the opened door facing outward. Ten foot tall animated boulders with arms, legs and a heavy presence of shadowy energy rolling of them, stared down the approaching groups. Since the grudges scared off the remaining ants, the two groups were free to come forward but they had to deal with each other before they could hold any confidence of attacking the grudges.

In a move that set Orison's teeth grinding, The Sek group made a transaction of some sort with the mercenary group. While the royal representative stood back with the rest of his entourage, the mercenaries went to work slaying the grudges. Not entirely sure how he'd handle the unfolding situation, Orison was surprised to see Duran step close to the door and cast some sort of damage sharing skill on one of the elementals.

As if it had been his own idea, Orison slid seamlessly behind Duran and began healing him. Seeing the effectiveness of the strategy, Orison called the others to use whatever assists they could on the grudges. Offering aid to creatures was a first for all of them but they did so without much hesitation.

Orison kept a hand on Duran's back, sending an occasional healing pulse as his basic model sprites sent two trickles of healing into the other guardian who was doing the same thing for another. The Dracanos man used some kind of war cry on the grudges while the young and timid looking bard from the three person group used a song that boosted magic recovery. The last of the three person group who looked a little too young to be there didn't do anything until one of the mercenaries tried to use an offensive ability on Duran.

As if someone had injected the girl with chicken blood, she rushed forward and cast a mirror-like shield in front of Duran. The bolt of lightning hurled back from where it came and nearly killed the caster. From that point, it looked like it was going to turn into a bloody fight.

Orison yelled at the top of his lungs. "This is a damn beginner zone. I don't know what you think might be gained from this but it sure as hell isn't worth dying for. But I swear to you, the first one of my people who fall will be answered with a vengeance. 'They' might be called grudges but I'll put their hatred to shame, I swear it!"

The lightning scorched woman said to the mercenary leader, "He's... This isn't worth it. No matter how this turns out now, we'll either have enemies in Auma or Sek. I don't know about you but I'm not that fond of the desert anyway."

The mercenary leader took in his group and then looked back at the Sek people who just looked like they were there to watch a good show and sighed. "Fall out! This has turned into a sh*t show."

As they were getting ready to leave, Orison yelled out to the mercenary leader. "Take this bottle for your mage. No hard feelings."

Orison deftly tossed a vial of low heal he had made during the alchemy examinations to the man. The man caught it as they started walking away. Before the Sek group put together what was going on, Orison urged Aiden forward and prompted him to speak. He hadn't been to happy about the Nunos family member sitting on his thumbs like the Sek man had but it wouldn't do any good to push things too far. He just leveraged some guilt onto Aiden for the green haired man's lack of effort and pushed him forward.

In a somewhat shaky voice, the young Nunos man said towards the approaching Sek group, "This instance is on Auma territory and is presided over by an Auma representative. Take any action and you'll be in breach of treaty."

The Sek leader stepped forward, just out of range of the grudges and said, "Send Orison out and let me in. That is all."

Taking a stance like the world would bend to his word, the arrogant man was surprised when the witch girl who'd cast the mirror shield for Duran earlier, hit him with a high speed piece of magical fluff that knocked him out cold. With a huff, she folded her arms and leered at the remaining people.

Coughing nervously, the guardian of their three person group came forward and said, "What Orison claimed earlier is right. There might be a small and nice reward for those who make it in but it certainly isn't worth death and your leader would push the issue."

A man came rushing forward to pull their leader out of harm's way, getting ready to scream murder himself. He stopped himself just in time. If he had given the word to attack, Gan had an arrow ready to open a new mouth in the back of the man's head, from the front. With their leader out cold, the group from Sek left with little hesitation. None of them actually thought what almost happened was worth it but the group was comprised of royal retainers and had little choice but to follow orders until their leader had been 'unable to give further instruction'.

In the last few minutes of the countdown, a large group of stragglers and vulture types came by to see if there was anything worth getting involved with but none of them could form a good enough motivation to face three grudges and a group of nine people staring at them coldly through the wide crack in the double doors. Once the timer hit zero, the double doors closed.

The gravelly voice returned. "Over time, the line between invader and defender blur but those who come to call a place home must begin to build society and rules to continue protecting what gathers there. The first of those rules is the election or crowning of a single leader or a group of them. Either step to the alter and elect the one whom you desire to determine the fate of your reward or fight to claim it by choosing yourself."

Hearing the trap in the words, Orison had Gan vote for him, he voted for Rithus and so on until the four had elected each other equally. After some discussion, the group of three all voted for the girl, the Dracanos and Aiden's votes were unknown to any but themselves. Once tallied, the girl's people disappeared in a flash of cascading light along with Aiden. Orison's group of four still stood with the girl and the Dracanos.

The gravelly voice returned. "Ruling with the will of the people ensures stability but so too can the strong grant it. Those who chose themselves may contend with whomever they desire to claim a larger share."

Orison bellowed, "For f***'s sake! This is fine. Dispense reward as it is!"

The girl was about to object when the Dracanos man frowned and shook his head at her, indicating that he only wanted what was his and nothing more. With only herself to rely on, she had no choice but to accept. Her wronged expression made Orison want to slap the dizzy girl.

Afer 90 seconds with no fighting, the gravelly voice announced that due to the presence of two royal family members, there were eleven votes on ten shares. To make the numbers right, one would have to forfeit a vote so that shares matched votes. Alternatively, someone could be eliminated by combat. Before the girl did something stupid or one of his teammates threw away their share, Orison tossed away one of the two votes Aiden's nomination had been worth. The girl sneered as spacial pathways opened to their inventories.

The girl alone would claim forty percent while Orison got twenty and everyone else received ten percent. None of this bothered anyone but Orison. The young mage had become incensed over the girl's attitude. While the reward piled in, Orison reached out through the shared connection and yanked as much as he could towards his space, not through his own line but through the girl's much larger one, taking a rough half of her reward with it. There had been more than gold in the rewards but that was all she got and was none the wiser. With one last arrogant huff, the girl turned sharply towards the temporary circle of transporter light.

Orison held a hand of greeting out to the Draconos to slow the man down and as the man reached out and grasped Orison's hand firmly, the young mage said, "Don't tell anyone how much you got or what else came with it. If it can't be avoided, say 5000 gold. It's a nice, safe number. It's enough for you to cut loose a little without raising eyebrows and not quite enough to move the little hearts of big monsters."

Puzzled, the Draconos man said, "Won't the girl know and brag? What good would covering the truth do?"

Orison smiled widely. "She thinks around 5000 is a share."

The Draconos man's eyes widened. He had received nearly twice that much gold with equipment and random materials worth nearly 30k.

Taking a moment to shake the giddiness out, the Draconos said, "The name is Emris. If you need an extra pair of hands for something with a fifty percent or better chance of survival, invite me... Oh, I don't know if you are aware but you shouldn't expect rewards like these from beginning areas. My older brother runs with a mid range raiding group and my share alone would count for the full run of an instance that takes a six man team to clear in a week safely."

As they walked to the circle of light, Orison said, "If you're not too busy, we could use some help with things it seems aren't quite common knowledge outside of royal families. Whatever you can share is fine and I'm more than happy to repay-"

Emris raised a large hand in friendly protest. "No need to say more. Tell me where you'll be staying this evening and after I have ensured that my wife and child are safe, I'll meet you there."

"We'll be at the Auma Commons inn after the Nunos family gets done grilling us for information," Orison said.

The Draconos man modded at Rithus and then twisted a ring on his finger that flashed red before stepping into the circle. Before Orison stepped through, he traced the track of travel to a place north and further underground than the Auma transporter should be. Instead of stepping through, he held everyone until he constructed a beacon model and brought his group to the Auma transporter.

He announced to his group, "The Auma royalty tried to pull us into their family estate. We're not going anywhere until we have something to eat. It's nearly 7:00 PM and I don't know about you two but Gan and I haven't had a bite since breakfast this morning."

Roughly around a quarter hour later, as they had just began to dig into their dinner, three armed men wearing the colors of the Holy See accompanied an older gentleman and Aiden. Lurking behind them was the familiar arrogant leer of a blond haired girl with a slightly soul faded man in guardian gear and a young male bard. After seeing the rear trio, the young mage barely suppressed his irritation.

Orison stood up and faced the older green haired man. With a slight bow and lowering of head that looked like difference to the royal family but carried an unwilling readiness to accept a challenge by Nunos custom, Orison greeted the wry smiling gentleman. Seeing that the man was just following protocol and hadn't come with the intent to start trouble, Orison had Gan slide down a seat to offer it in difference to the older man.

After sitting down, the older man waved the guards to relax and ordered a drink. "Don't think much of my visit, young man. I'm only here to ask about the instance you managed to open. I'm not anyone of great importance in the family, so no need to be so formal."

Orison smiled benignly. "So you're not an intelligence officer who answers directly to the Matriarch. Well, that's a load off my mind."

The man's smile became brittle but he managed to keep a pleasant disposition. "It's rarely advantageous to flaunt one's own knowledge so openly... I digress. I'm here primarily as the father of Aiden and an officer of the Holy See second, at least today."

Orison replied, "There wasn't much of a need for you to come at all. I would have headed to you after I finished eating and cleaned up. It didn't seem that appropriate for me to show up dirty with a growling belly like a beggar."

The older man, waved his hand like he was shooing away a bothersome fly. "Our family would have made you most comfortable after your arduous day. However, you frequently manage to surprise and surpass our understanding of what a returned chosen is actually capable of."

Orison shrugged, "For whatever reason, I have a little more freedom and privilege. Maybe it's something akin to what the royal families enjoy, I assume."