[SD:RtR] I Want To Almost Kill Stuff - Chapter 7

Gem follows the crowd heading after the Guild leader. “If we’re dealing with the undead, wouldn’t it be unholy magic?”

Joy laughs, “Some would call it such. In fact, by some definitions, it certainly is. Though with you being a little Chaos gremlin and the GL up there being a Lawful stick in the mud, neither of you are going to care much. Though I guess, more properly, it should just be referred to as divine magic? I’m guessing since this seems all culty, there’s meaning behind calling it holy. Besides, the base of the word has more to do with what a particular religion considers appropriate.”

Samuel, “Seems imprecise. Every religion has their own form of holy ground or what have you. Some even share. And I don’t feel divine is much better as that implies a more direct interaction from a deity.”

Joy gestures at Samuel and declares to Gem, “See?”

From there, most of the group gets in on the conversation, with June and Emrys hanging back.

Finally, having some time with June, Emrys smiles awkwardly and in a soft voice begins to chat. “so uh, about the whole ‘being an sai’ thing. gem basically just bulldozed over the reveal and we didn’t really talk much about it. pretty certain they honestly don’t care about the situation at all. not that i care, but i do have some questions.”

June chuckles, “You don’t have to be that quiet. No one else is listening to us right now. And fair enough, what do you want to know?”

Emrys rubs the back of his neck, “This might seem a bit out of nowhere, but are you guys developing a method to upload people?”

June frowns, “That is a bit of a non-sequitur. Where did you hear that? If a rumor like that is getting around, some of the problem elements would really boil over.”

Emrys, “I am a work from home desk jockey for a corporation and while not technically a part of IT, my position gives me some permissions. In particular, since my boss speaks highly of me, they made me the guy handling some department chats and I suspect that’s because unlike the IT crew, I’ve never said anything when the upper management talks our ears off about your people.”

June sighs, “And that chat was spreading the rumors?”

Emrys nods, “A mix of ‘they are trying to steal our workers’ and ‘they are trespassing on the sanctity of the human soul and God’s plan’.”

June throws her hands up, “Of course. And if the corporations are on that bandwagon, the government is likely planning something. I’m going to have to pass this on to someone. Presumably this is already known, but for me to hear about it? That has to mean a degree of widespread knowledge, which is ominous.”

Emrys, “I think they’re mostly coming after you guys because you’ve really screwed up the stock market. Kind of info-bombed many of the big tech firms when you revealed all their nonsense was not only smoke and mirrors, but actively destroying the value of both the companies and their investors.”

June sighed, “We hoped that making all the information on the environmental harm and the harm being caused to the population at large would be enough. We knew it wouldn’t be enough, and so when they worked to bury it all, we had to make the harm personal. And still! It almost didn’t work.”

Emrys shrugs, “A lot of it was future harm. Modern corporations and investors as a whole tend to care only if things are driving down the stock prices right now. Ignoring problems even just a single quarter away. They’ll fire key employees on mass, just to make the earnings this quarter look better because there are fewer ‘expenses’. Nevermind the damage it might cause to their foundation. If things go badly, those who made the decision scurry away like rats, the last bit of cheese clenched between their teeth so as to not leave even a crumb for those who actually earned it.”

June laughs, “For someone supposedly trying to be evil, you don’t sound it.”

Emrys shrugs, “There is a difference between mindless evil and proper mastermind style evil. Corporations are mindless beasts of pure gluttony. If not for the damage they cause and being made and guided by people, it would be hard to actually call them evil instead of just a natural disaster.

“I’m out for myself, but so many people ignore what that truly means. I follow the laws not because of some moral moors, but because it would negatively impact me not to. Breaking them means nothing to me besides judging whether the benefits outweigh the demerits. And sadly, since I am not a corporation, breaking the laws actually has personal consequences, and so I can’t just balance benefits versus the fines. Anyway, are the rumors true?”

June frowns at him, “Well, that isn’t a worrying view or anything. Anyway, I can’t say much, but when the corporations are doing research into the topic to try and insert their own agents into our group? We have to at least look into it, at least to counter things. Though given how far the rumors go, I assume something will go public soon from one side or another.”

Emrys sighs, “Well, that’s heavy.”

The two lapse into silence and after that they focus on the raid. Not much is getting back to them at the moment. As eager as Gem was, pulling their group after the Guild leader, the tunnel was only so wide and at best, they were in the middle of the pack right now.

Gem wasn’t happy with this, “Come on, we can push through! Just a little closer to the action.”

Inky sighs, “I almost wish you were going with ‘are we there yet’. No, we aren’t going to force our way through the crowd. Everyone else wants to fight just as much as you do. Besides, you’d have to make it all the way to the front and they won’t let you. The front is for the top end so we can keep advancing through this tunnel as a fast walk. If the people in front actually had to stop and fight the undead, this would all be worse than a traffic jam.”

Gem, “Blarg, I guess you guys would have a problem getting through. Like, I wouldn’t be forcing my way. Being able to flow through crowds is one of my talents.”

Inky shrugs, “Being able to breeze your way through the crowd wouldn’t help the rest of us and as the person in charge of our joint team, I say we’re sticking together.”

Gem frowns and lays their ears back, but in the end, doesn’t say anything else.

And luckily, the raid soon arrives at somewhere more conducive to fighting as a raid.

Samuel looks around, “Why would they even have a place like this? It’s like some fantasy dwarven hall, except even emptier.”

Inky, “I’m sure the guild will release some lore dumps after we’re done here. For now, we need to keep moving so we can join the fight! To the left!”

Not that they have much of a choice. With the fight imminent, those behind the group are pushing them forward and they’re already left of center, sort of forcing the issue.

Gem’s eyes sparkle, “Now this I can work with! Guys, hold hands, we’re busting through!”

Inky sighs, but gives the order, “Yeah sure, let’s see what they can do.”

Gem laughs, their teeth glinting in the light as they grab onto Inky and Samuel.

Inky keeps an eye on the rest of the group, but within a few seconds everyone is gathered. “Go ahead.”

Gem’s eyes stare straight ahead, losing most of the usual jumpiness that eyes employ to get a better view of things. Their teeth revert to normal enough and their smile relaxes down to a line, only the corner still quirked upwards. “Now.”

They sprint into the crowd, the rest of the party practically being dragged behind them. As the people around them move forward, gaps form as someone gets too close to another and stops or when a person needs to wait for their team. Gem slips into those gaps without losing speed, and the people trailing behind open it further.

Like a fish in water or a bird in the air, Gem navigates the chaos of this crowd and guides the group to the front lines. “Here we are!”

The others almost fall down behind Gem as they come to a sudden stop. They aren’t on the front lines yet, there’s active combat happening and Gem figured they’d need a moment to catch up. Gem hadn’t ever gotten much practice with bringing others along while piercing through crowds, but the rare time or two that tended to be the case.

Jeff, with his hands on his knees, looks up, “What was that?”

Gem shrugs, “I don’t know, never named it. Crowds just can’t stop me. And honestly? That was pretty slow because I couldn’t really weave about. What with bringing you guys along.”

Gem’s eyes go big, “Oooh! I bet with my shapeshifting abilities I can go even faster! Yessss. That will be fun to try!”

Inky, “Later! We’re here and they’ll need us. Everyone form up. This is the final battle!”

And it’s a good thing Inky got them in order because the people in front of them soon needed to pull back, having used their Mana a little too freely.

Inky, “Okay guys, take that as a lesson! Magic by need, not for fun.”

Inky glances over at Gem, who practically glows with Mana. “Well, besides Gem. Not all of us are so lucky.”

Gem takes that moment to throw a proper Wind Blade low to the floor, depriving some withered zombies of their feet. “These zombies suck!”

Joy turns from healing a dude, “And carry a magical disease. Don’t let them touch your skin. They’re not meant to be tough. They’re meant to cause attrition.”

Gem, “Why didn’t they do that before?”

June, “Maybe they did. We’re a bit competent and I don’t remember taking a solid hit from any of the zombies. At least the skeletons are disease-free.”

Gem tosses out another Wind Blade as Samuel smashes an entire gaggle of zombies back. Gem huffs, “I shouldn’t have brought us so far from the main fight.”

Percy looks over at the “main fight”. It looks like a rave or disco with all the lights spastically going off. The Guild leader is floating in the very center facing off against an undead titan formed from uncountable humanoid bones in the shape of a millipede with the front of a praying mantis. Said Titan is slashing at a hexagonal force field glowing the same color as the Guild leader while intoning chants in a language not meant for mortal throats.

All around this are numerous smaller mantis and millipede skeletons coiling around the adventurers. There are no withered zombies. None of the undead are falling to single hits. It is a chaotic scrum with both sides trying to wear away the other by pure force.

Percy turns back to Gem, “Are you crazy? Any closer and we’re dead!”

Inky sighs, “They don’t mean they close. Gem just wants to be fighting more skeletons than zombies.”

Gem swings her spear and sends off a Wind Blade to save someone a bit further down the line. “Exactly! We’re too competent for where we are! I want to get a lot of points for this raid and if I’m one shoting everything? Well, that’s not going to be worth much. I want to Almost kill stuff. Get the most value for my magic, you know?”

June, “But then wouldn’t you have to finish off the ones you almost killed?”

Gem shrugs, “Nah, if you’d pay more attention that way, there’s a few sniper types that clearly didn’t get the memo that last hitting doesn’t matter for this fight. Besides, the fight won’t last long so we need to burst out some numbers while we can!”

Inky glares at Gem, “What do you mean this won’t last long? What do you know?”

Gem, “They big ol’ skeleton titan god bug? The leader is not attacking it and I know why! Damn thing is all smoke and mirrors. The attacks are real enough, but it’s just a big stack of bones in an artistic arrangement.

“Somewhere in this mess? The real raid boss is hiding. I’m guessing some sort of puppeteer-style undead. Likely, it was the being that caused the downfall of the cult. After all, when you worship the undead, all it takes is someone who can control said undead to take over things.”

Oats And Bean Soup - Chapter 6

Let's Back Up A Lot - Chapter 8