grandgame

Grand Game 435: Killing Unseen

You have cast heightened reflexes, load controller, and trigger-cast quick mend.

“Where is he?” a possessed asked.

“Stop asking me, Meg!” another replied. “For the last time, I don’t know!”

“Well, someone must know where the scion is, Bev,” Meg replied reproachfully.

Nearly a minute later, the possessed were still searching for me. The gray haze had been cleared, and more than one revealing spell had been cast.

Despite ...

Grand Game 434: Ritual Combat

Note from Tom: I know some of you have been anxiously awaiting the next few chapters, but I didn't want to post the fight until I'd written it in full. It's taken three chapters, all of which I'll post in the next few hours after some clean up. Happy reading!

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By the time I reached the dais, everything was set up.

The Ritual Combat Circle had been made to expand by whatever magic it emp...

Grand Game 433: Preparing for Battle

“Ah,” I exhaled.

“Tell us,” Ceruvax said, his words almost a demand.

Opening my eyes, I told them about my new Class and the benefits I had to choose from.

“That’s no ordinary Class,” Adriel said.

“I agree,” Farren said. “I know the Wolves have produced some powerful Primes before.” He glanced at Ceruvax. “But this is unusual even for them.”

Ceruvax nodded slowly. “I thought I knew every powerful epic Class variant the House had to off...

Grand Game 432: The First of a Line

“Oh my,” I said in a half-strangled voice.

“What is it this time?” Adriel asked, sounding exasperated. “Don’t tell me the Adjudicator has more to say.”

I nodded numbly. “He certainly does. I’ve completed a hidden task that allows me to undergo a second higher evolution.”

Her eyes narrowed. “What! Did your Power Mark evolve again? Because that would not be good.”

I shook my head. “None of my existing Marks have changed.” I paused. �...

Grand Game 431: Wolf Progenitor

I clasped the high captain’s hand. “Thank you, Algar.”

“There’s just one other thing,” he said.

“Go on.”

“When you spoke to the council, you seemed pretty adamant about needing one thousand soldiers,” he said. “Has that changed?”

“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “I have a time-limited task to control a sector. I’d been planning on using the warband to do that. Now, with everything that’s happened, I fear that will not be wise.”

Al...

Grand Game 430: A Choice of Punishments

Predictably, my words did not please the possessed. But I pressed on, ignoring the crowd’s dangerous mood. “You are angry,” I said. “You are resentful. It does not matter. The possessed are finished.”

The crowd swelled in outrage, and this time, not even the threat of the lichs behind me was enough to quell them. Hands were set to weapons, and challenges were issued.

Folding my arms, I watched and waited.

“Silence!” Farren snapped, his voice magically enhanced ...

Grand Game 429: Into the Court

Day Thirty-Five in Draven’s Reach

It was early morning when we approached our destination.

“That’s the archlich’s court?” Ceruvax asked, his eyebrows rising as he studied the elegant compound backed up against the dungeon’s southern rim.

I grinned. “That was my first reaction, too.”

Adriel sniffed. “Being dead doesn’t stop one from appreciating finer things.”

I glanced at her sideways. “Did you have a hand in the complex�...

Grand Game 428: The Third Option

My eyes wide, I stared at Ceruvax. “Is that true?”

He nodded reluctantly.

My head whipped in Adriel’s direction. “Could that work?”

She bit her lip. “I’m not sure…”

It was not the straight-up ‘no’ I’d been expecting. “Explain.”

Adriel inhaled. “There is no escaping the Houses,” she said. “You know that, or have you forgotten what it means to be an anointed scion?”

I hadn’t. The trait’s description was unequivocal and ...

Grand Game 427: A Suitable Reckoning

“You will kill them all?” Adriel asked softly. “All thousand-odd souls? And what about Farren and myself? Will you see us dead too as payment for our crimes?”

“No,” I said softly.

She tilted her head to the side, her face still devoid of animation. “No? You will spare us and kill the rest?”

“No,” I said again.

She frowned. “I don’t understand.”

I leaned forward. “The possessed must be destroyed, but they don’t need to die unless they...

Grand Game 426: The Arrival of Death

Day Thirty-Three in Draven’s Reach

After accepting Ceruvax’s oath, I fell promptly asleep. I’d run halfway across the dungeon—on very little rest—and was exhausted. But no sooner had I set my head down than it felt as if the old wolf was shaking me.

“Michael, wake up.”

You have slept for 4 hours.

I didn’t open my eyes, the Game message alone was enough to tell me it was too damn early to be rising. “Gimme another few hours,” I repli...

Grand Game 425: An Exchange of Tales

“Where do you want me to start?” I asked.

“At the very beginning,” Ceruvax replied. “From the first day you entered the Game.”

I winced. Relaying my tale was going to take even longer than I expected, but I didn’t begrudge the envoy his desire to know everything. I was going to ask a lot of Ceruvax in the coming days, and before I did that, I knew I had to win his trust.

Which might not be so easy once the envoy learned the things I’d done. Or not done.

Grand Game 424: A Meeting of Wolves

Day Thirty-Two in Draven’s Reach

Panting from my long run, I drew to a halt in front of Ceruvax. Unmoving, the envoy studied me while I caught my breath.

You have passed a mental resistance check! Ceruvax has failed to analyze you.

The old wolf rubbed his chin. “Deception?”  he guessed.

I nodded.

“Hmm. I have you to thank for my escape from Scharlach, I take it?”

I stared at him blankly. “From where?”

“The dunge...

Grand Game 423: A Favor

I didn’t end up witnessing the oaths of all two thousand soldiers.

After the first hour—during which I only managed to accept the pledges of fifty of the warband’s most senior officers—I’d made my excuses and left Algar and Ghost to see to the rest of the ceremony.

Neither could welcome the remaining soldiers into the faction on my behalf, but Ghost could still judge their truthfulness, and for now, that mattered most.

Promising Algar to see things through to compl...

Grand Game 422: Bane Wolves

One hour later, I was standing in the fortress’ courtyard, waiting for the ceremony to begin.

I sighed heavily.

“Thinking you should have cut and run?” Elron asked with a grin.

I nodded.

The four councilors were on a raised dais with me, attending as witnesses. Ghost sat at my side. She and Nyra had been roped in, too. Regus and the possessed under him had not been invited and were waiting in the underground tunnel to begin the journey back to t...

Grand Game 421: Duty

The council meeting drew to a close soon after that.

Despite Gamil, Regus, and Lorn’s insistent questions, I refused to share any details of my plans. It was not that I distrusted them, but I was wary of making promises I was unable to keep. But I had meant what I’d said. When I was done, the possessed would be no more.

Stepping out of the council hall, I found two groups awaiting me. Ghost and Nyra were on one side. On the other was Algar and three officers, all of whom looke...

Grand Game 420: A Matter of Conscience

Once we were seated, Lorn gestured to Regus. “Begin, please.”

His mien serious, the possessed took his time responding. “Things in the court have not panned out the way we hoped.”

I sat up straighter. “What does that mean?”

“You already know about Castor,” Regus said. “After his—”

I slashed my hand down. “I only know that Castor was still in the city when I arrived here. What I don’t know is why that was the case.” I pinned Regus wi...

Grand Game 419: The Visitor

I leaned across the table. “Tell me about these soldiers,” I said intently.

“We’ve asked for volunteers from our personal guards,” Lorn replied. “Men and women willing to serve under you.”

“We will outfit them, of course,” Stormhammer said.

“Many more volunteered than we could easily accommodate,” Gamil added, and in the end, Elron decided an even two thousand would be a good number.”

Two thousand. That was double what I’d asked for, ...

Grand Game 418: No Good Deed Goes Unrewarded

Day Thirty-One in Draven’s Reach

While Algar and his men collected the spent arrows, Nyra and I investigated the wisp’s cave. Just as I hoped, there was a chest.

Disappointingly, though, it was only bronze.

“Go ahead, open it,” I said.

Not needing to be told twice, the young woman bent down and flipped open the chest’s lid. Leaning over, I peered within.

The target is a lesser attribute gem. It grants you 1 at...