I took Adriel’s pledge first, but I didn’t just induct her into the faction, I assigned her to office too.


    You have accepted Adriel, a non-player, into the Forerunners faction and have furthermore appointed her to the role of custodian. Only a custodian may create items bearing a faction’s name.


    Note, the custodian designation is a hidden one that cannot be revealed by any Game abilities.


    Custodians could fulfill various roles in a faction but primarily, they acted as its caretakers. Only a custodian could bestow a faction’s mark on an item. Adriel, as a crafter in her own right, was perfectly suited to the role. Then, too, given the lich’s near-unique nature and vast experience, she was also the least likely person in the faction to fall prey to torture or extortion.


    All of which made her the safest choice for the Forerunner’s custodian.


    Once I was done with Adriel, I accepted Shael’s oath, and despite his earlier standoffishness, the bard was welcomed with open arms into the faction.


    You have accepted Shael, a player, into the Forerunners faction.


    You have sealed a Pact with Shael. In exchange for a place on the inner council of your House and being privy to its secrets, the red minstrel has agreed to let you direct his movements from here on, limiting the sectors he may visit. This Pact may be terminated at any time but only at your discretion.


    You have 6 / 20 active Pacts.


    “I guess this makes me as much a rebel as the rest of you lot,” Shael joked once we all finished congratulating him.


    The half-elf’s words drew smiles from the others, but my own face stayed somber. Now that the immediate threat of the stygians had been dealt with and Shael properly inducted, my worries had returned to plague me.


    Seeing my expression, Shael’s smile faded. “It’s time to talk about Saya,” he guessed.


    I nodded solemnly.


    “What’s this about Saya?” Safyre asked, concern flitting across her face. “This is the second time you two have mentioned her. Is she alright?”


    I took a deep breath, then stated bluntly, “No. No, she is not.”


    “She has been taken hostage,” Shael added.


    Safyre inhaled sharply.


    “Who would dare do such a thing?” Anriq growled.


    “Loken’s envoy would,” the bard replied softly.


    The werewolf’s eyes widened. “Loken…?”


    I sighed. “Unfortunately, yes,” I said, knowing exactly what fears the news had conjured in his mind—and everyone else’s, for that matter.


    Adriel recovered first. “Why would the trickster’s envoy do that?” she asked, her face expressionless.


    I met her gaze. The lich had never met Saya, but I’d spoken often enough of the gnome in the past that she knew Saya’s capture was not something I could—or would—let lie. “I don’t know. To lure me out, I suspect.”


    “You better tell us everything,” she said, her tone studiedly neutral.


    I glanced at Shael. “Go on, tell them. This is more your tale than mine.”


    The bard lowered his head in acknowledgment. “Where to begin?” he wondered, biting his lip.


    “At the beginning, I suppose,” he added, before anyone could think to answer. Taking a moment, he gathered his thoughts. “It was not long after Michael left the valley that matters started changing. First, the Tartans went to…”


    Sitting back, I closed my eyes and let the bard’s words wash over me. His tale was not one I relished hearing again.


    ? ? ?


    “Damn,” Anriq growled when Shael was done. “So, we don’t even know if the tavernkeeper is alive?” he asked, cutting to the heart of the matter.


    I winced at his bluntness. “We don’t,” I admitted, “but I’m convinced the envoy hasn’t killed her.”


    “You don’t know that,” Adriel said, almost gently. “You can’t know that.”


    “You’re right,” I conceded again. “I can’t know that for certain, but I believe she is alive.


    Anriq blinked. “You believe? You’re joking, right? That can’t be all you have to go on!”


    I pinched the bridge of my nose, and before responding, I had to remind myself that the werewolf hadn’t met Saya either. “Saya is worth more alive than dead. The envoy will know that. She won’t do anything foolish.”


    Anriq opened his mouth to retort, but Safyre waved him to silence. “Your concerns are valid, Anriq,” she said. “But Michael’s stance is equally valid. We don’t know if Saya is alive, but we have to assume she is. Doing otherwise means abandoning her to her fate.”


    No one was able to find fault with that.


    “Thank you, Saf,” I murmured. “You’ve put it perfectly. The question facing us now is what do we do next?”


    For a drawn-out moment, no one said anything.


    “You plan on rescuing her,” Adriel said eventually. It was not a question.


    I inclined my head. “I do. I’ve already tried approaching Loken in the hopes of getting him to intervene, but—”


    “What?” Shael demanded, looking as astonished as the rest of my companions. “When was this?”


    I held up my hands. “Calm down, everyone. I did not contact Loken personally. I used an intermediary.”


    “Who?” Anriq asked with a heavy frown.


    My gaze darted to Safyre. “Kesh.”


    “Ah,” she exclaimed softly. “That was a good choice. What happened?”


    “Loken refused to meet,” I replied. “Why, I’m not sure. But it’s Loken and who can—”


    “—know what game the trickster plays at,” Adriel finished for me.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    “Exactly,” I said, surveying their faces. “Given all that, I don’t see how I—we—have any choice but to take direct action and rescue Saya ourselves.”


    “Assuming she is still alive,” Anriq pointed out.


    “Assuming that, yes.”


    Safyre and Adriel exchanged glances. “What about this sector?”


    My lips turned down. “That is a complication,” I conceded. “The good news is that I’ve managed to procure the shield generator.”


    My companions sat up straighter at the news. “You have?” Safyre exclaimed. “How?”


    “Through Kesh.”


    Safyre’s brows crinkled. “B-but wasn’t she—? Didn’t she—”


    “I told her who I am,” I replied, suspecting what was running through her mind. “Kesh is now aware of our plans to bring about the return of the Primes.” I held her gaze. “And what’s more, we have her full support.”


    Safyre covered her mouth in astonishment.


    I smiled, pleased by her reaction. “Not only will Kesh get the Aether Cloak for us at a discount, she has also agreed to you using your emporium robes again.” I paused. “Unfortunately, the Triumvirate embedded a tracking device inside the garment which forced me to leave it in the Roost for safekeeping.”


    I waved my hand, dismissing the matter from further consideration. “But getting back to Kesh, she will also see to it that your fellow forsworn are rotated through the emporium vaults. She has made arrangements for you to meet them there.”


    “Oh my,” Safyre said, her eyes shining. “You convinced Kesh to do all that? How!”


    I chuckled. “It wasn’t as hard as we imagined. I got the distinct impression that our cause is one Kesh sympathizes with. The difficulty—if you can call it that—was convincing her our rebellion has a chance of success.”


    Safyre’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully.


    “That reminds me.” Retrieving a string of items from my bag of holding, I dropped the first batch into Adriel’s hands and the second in Safyre’s. “I got these too.”


    You have lost 20 unmarked soulbound faction tokens.


    You have lost 28 farspeaker bracelets from the named set: Sintar’s link.


    “You know what to do with the tokens, Adriel,” I went on. “Those are all I managed to get for now. But I’ll get more soon, promise.” I turned to Safyre. “Those bracelets complete the farspeaker set we’ve been using. They need to be modified to prevent an intruder from using them to eavesdrop on us, though.”


    “My, my,” Adriel said, examining the tokens. “You have been busy.”


    I shrugged. “I got some things done.” I exhaled. “Unfortunately, not everything went our way.”


    Anriq leaned forward. “What’s the bad news?”


    “We’re broke again for the foreseeable future,” I replied, and went on to explain the situation with Nicola and the den chief.


    Safyre sighed. “That’s unfortunate, but I’m sure we can make do.”


    I nodded. “We’ll have to. In any case, given recent events, we’ll have to alter our plans.”


    Adriel arched one eyebrow. “By recent events, I take it you mean the nagas’ ambush?”


    “Correct,” I replied grimly. “We can’t ignore the implications.”


    “That the void now knows we’re here?” Anriq asked.


    I nodded again. “We’ve lost the luxury of time. Stockpiling resources, making contact with House Pestilence, and visiting the Nexus werewolves will have to wait until after we’ve reclaimed this sector.” I paused. “And before we can get to that, we have to rescue Saya.”


    Safyre and Adriel traded glances again.


    But before I could question them about it, Shael interrupted. “You expect the six of us to defeat a void tree, four overlords, and an entire nest?” he asked aghast. “All by ourselves?”


    I turned the bard’s way. “I don’t, actually. Kesh is reaching out to the stygian brotherhood. I’m hoping we can secure their aid.”


    “The brotherhood,” Anriq murmured. “They could give us a decisive advantage.”


    I nodded. “And don’t forget that in three more days, Nyra and the twins will be done with their dungeon dive.” I glanced at Adriel. “Then there are also the possessed to consider.”


    “The Rings of Astral Walking will work as we hoped,” she confirmed, correctly interpreting my look. “The possessed can be rehomed in construct bodies.”


    I nearly sagged in relief. “That’s good. How long will it take?”


    Adriel shrugged. “Now that I have sufficient material to work with? Eight, maybe, ten days.”


    “You will create their golems from the naga scales then?” I guessed.


    Nodding, the lich pulled one the scales from the sled and examined it anew. “Interesting stuff, this.”


    “How so?” Safyre asked, looking intrigued.


    “As far as I can tell, it’s a composite formed from pure nether that’s been compressed and solidified and combined with void crystals, surprisingly enough.”


    I tilted my head to the side. “Void crystals. What are those?”


    Adriel didn’t answer directly. “You once told me you visited a stygian nest inside the Nethersphere.”


    I nodded. “That’s right. I entered through a rift in Nexus.”


    “Do you recall seeing any obsidian crystals there? They can sometimes be mistaken for black rock.”


    “I remember those. They were all over the nest.” The necrotic spikes the overlord had used had been made from the same substance as well. I glanced at the scale in her hand. “Those were void crystals?”


    “That’s what we called them in my day,” Adriel said. “Most scholars considered them largely useless. The crystals are harder than steel but inflexible. They can’t be worked because they shatter under pressure, and they have no special properties that anyone can divine.” Holding the scale by its ends, the lich pressed down firmly. “This is different.”


    “It bent,” Anriq noted observantly.


    Adriel nodded. “It did. Pure void crystals won’t do that.” She studied the scale quizzically. “I don’t know what strange evolutionary path the nagas took to end up with void crystals infused with nether for scales, but I’m glad that they did—because these scales are near-perfect.”


    I rubbed my chin. “I take it that means you’ve not encountered the nagas before?”


    “I haven’t,” the lich confirmed and glanced questioningly at Safyre who also shook her head. “I haven’t either.”


    “Hmm, so either the nagas are a ‘new’ development—something I highly doubt—or…” I ran aground. Or what? “Anyone care to speculate?”


    “Or they’re incredibly rare?” Shael suggested.


    “Maybe,” I allowed, not convinced.


    “Rare or not, I would’ve heard of a creature with scales like this,” Adriel objected.


    “And don’t forget what they did to the nether portal,” Safyre added. “I’ve not heard even a whisper of a rumor of something like that being done by the stygians before.” She shook her head. “Whatever spell the nagas used was too noteworthy not to set tongues wagging.”


    “Safyre is right,” Shael said, conceding the point. “Players gossip, they can’t help it. Word of the nagas would have gotten out before this.”


    “Which means no player has encountered them before,” Anriq concluded.


    “Or if they have, they didn’t live to tell the tale,” Shael added.


    I nodded slowly. “All that makes sense. Unfortunately, it’s still only speculation.” Reaching into the sled myself, I slipped a handful of scales into my bag of holding.


    You have acquired 5 x naga scales. You are unable to discern their properties.


    Adriel looked at me quizzically. “What are you going to do with those?”


    “I was thinking we should consult an expert,” I replied.


    “Like the stygian brotherhood perhaps?” Safyre guessed.


    I nodded. “It will be interesting to hear what they have to say about the nagas and having a few samples on hand to show them can’t hurt. Assuming Kesh’s negotiations with their Huntmistress are successful, I’ll ask them about the nagas.”


    “Good idea,” Safyre agreed.


    Considering the topic closed, I turned back to Adriel. “Let’s return to the matter at hand: the possessed. What do the scales mean for them?”


    “It means their golem forms will be unique,” the lich answered. She glanced at the pyre wolf beside me. “Almost as unique as Ghost’s. In fact, I wish I had this stuff when I crafted her body. I could’ve given her a far more solid presence.”


    “That’s alright, Adriel,” Ghost said. “I’m quite content with how I am.”


    Adriel smiled. “I know you are, little one, but we’ll talk more later.”


    “Are there enough scales for all one hundred possessed?” I asked, ignoring the pair’s aside.


    “Oh definitely,” Adriel replied. “But you will have to retrieve the rest, of course.”


    The scales we’d brought in the two sleds only accounted for a small fraction of what had been skinned from the nagas, and there was still a small mountain waiting above ground. It would take many more trips of back-breaking work to retrieve the remaining scales.


    Shael sighed audibly as he came to the same realization.


    “Of course,” I murmured. “We’ll get right on it.”