Chapter 78: Heatsink

Chapter 78: Heatsink

Rain slowly sat up from his slumped position, careful not to make any sudden movements. The Watch didn’t look openly hostile, but he wasn’t going to take any chances. He licked his lips, thankful for the helmet that was concealing his expression. How did they get in here?

“Nothing to say?” said Lamida, arching an eyebrow.

Rain took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Play it cool. “Hello, Sentinel Lamida, Sentinel Phoss, Sentinel Talasa.” He’d made a point of learning the names of all of the Watch sentinels, though Lamida and Phoss were the only two he’d interacted with before.

Phoss had been the one who’d requested his aid with the river, though ‘request’ wasn’t that accurate of a term for the way the man had asked. The burly sentinel made Lamida seem like a ray of sunshine by comparison. He was some sort of spear wielder, though Rain had never seen him fight.

The red-haired, red-robed Lamida was a mage. A fire mage, to be specific. It was the spell she had used in the baths that had led him to that conclusion, rather than her choice in apparel.

Sentinel Talasa he wasn’t sure about. She had a shield slung across her back and a mace at her hip, so she was likely a warrior of some kind. She was quite a bit younger than the others, perhaps nineteen or twenty. Currently, she was raising an eyebrow as she looked at him.

“You know me?” she said curiously.

Rain shrugged. “I’ve heard your name in passing. I’d like to say it’s nice to meet you, but I’m not sure about that yet.” He looked at Phoss, then at Lamida. “What do you want with me? I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting to wake up surrounded by the Watch.”

“Are you saying you aren’t usually honest?” said Phoss, his tone cold and serious.

Rain gulped. “Just an expression.”

Phoss frowned but didn’t comment further. Lamida glanced at him, then returned her attention to Rain. “You know why we’re here. That skill, Winter, is it? It is hardly subtle. I too will be honest, to use your expression. It is impressive, to say the least.”

Rain shifted uncomfortably. “Thanks, I guess. Still, I’m getting the feeling that you didn’t just come here for the mana.”

“Relax,” Talasa said. “We’re not going to do anything to you. I don’t know what experiences you’ve had with the Watch before, but there’s no reason to be so twitchy.”

Rain looked around the room again and shivered. The air was freezing, and the tables were filled with Watch officers and sentinels. There were a few Guild members around too, which made him feel better, at least slightly. They would have cleared the room if they were going to do something...

He cleared his throat. “Okay then, you’re here for the mana, and to...?”

“Just to talk,” said Lamida.

“Okay, that’s fine I suppose,” said Rain. “Why is it so cold in here, though?”

“That wasn’t us,” said Phoss. “Some Guilder in a blue robe got carried away. She said she was going to cool the room down, but Froststorm is hardly suited for fine control. She’s lucky she didn’t kill anyone.”

Mahria? Rain looked around again but didn’t see the ice mage anywhere. He returned his attention to Lamida. “Okay. Let’s have a chat.”

“I do not like your tone,” Phoss said, narrowing his eyes. Lamida stopped him with a raised hand. “Phoss, let me handle this, please.”

Phoss’s frown deepened, but he sat back, nodding to Lamida in deference. “Very well. As long as he shows respect.”

Lamida cleared her throat. “I will cut straight to the point. You have two skills that are critical to seeing the city through the current crisis. We are here to make sure that you understand your responsibility and to secure your aid. Nothing more.”

Rain blinked. “What do you mean by ‘secure my aid’? You aren’t going to lock me up in your barracks and force me to use Winter, are you?”

“That is an insolent accusation,” growled Phoss. “You—”

“Enough, Phoss,” said the younger sentinel, Talasa. She looked at Rain. “I understand your concern. It isn’t easy being a support class, trust me, I know. Relax, we’re not going to do anything like that. The Watch isn’t some greedy noble house or a bag of dicks like the DKE. We’re here to ask for your help, not to force you to do anything.”

“Language, Talasa,” said Lamida sternly, but the younger woman grinned and scoffed at her.

Rain smiled too, relaxing. Talasa seemed to be pretty easy-going for a sentinel. Bag of dicks? He sat back in his chair, the wood creaking as he shifted his weight. He nodded to Lamida, who was clearly in charge. “Okay, what do you want me to do?”

Talasa spoke before Lamida did, causing the older woman to give her a frosty look. “We want you to come to our stronghold and use that skill. We’ll gather up all of our mages to maximize the effect. The Guild mages are welcome to come too. We need as much mana as we can generate if we want to get rid of the mana drain. Until we do that, we’re practically crippled.”

“I suppose I can do that,” Rain said, still wary. “Just...I don’t want to be stuck there for days and days. I don’t know how long it’s going to take to charge up the barrier.”

“Fair,” Lamida said. “When can you come?”

“Tonight? I can use the skill while I sleep. How about you set me up with a bunk and I’ll just do that every night until the barrier is full?”

“You can use that while you sleep?” Phoss said incredulously. “How?” Lamida and Talasa also looked surprised and there was a wave of muttering through the rest of the room. Rain winced. Oops.

He paused to recover his composure, then shrugged. “I just...kinda do it. I don’t know.”

“What are you hiding? Auras are shit, but yours... Who the hells are you and what is your secret?” Phoss asked, then shifted his focus to Lamida. “I’m having trouble getting a clear reading from him. Either he’s got something to block me, or he’s past the wall and that bronze plate is a fake.”

Talasa glared at Phoss. “Secrets are fine, Phoss. For the last time, we aren’t starting an inquisition. I can’t read him well either, but Lamida can. She was there for his assessment. It’s fine.”

“Enough, both of you,” Lamida said. She looked at Rain. “Will you help?”

Rain nodded.

“Do you require any payment?” Lamida asked.

“No,” Rain said, shaking his head after considering briefly. “It costs me nothing, and it helps the city. That’s enough. Just...”

226-258 cold (fcs) damage per second to entities and environment

Sufficient damage causes slow

Range: 108 meters

Cost: 225 mp/s

Rain gasped and stumbled at the rush of wind and snow that buffeted him, sending his cloak whipping around as the pressure equalized. He scrambled to wrap it back around himself, squeezing his eyes shut against the arctic blast coming in through his visor. The chill he felt was only partly from the cold.

Fuck, that’s strong. Holy shit.

He looked around at the ring of frost on the ground. It hadn’t reached the theoretical 108-meter range before the magic was consumed, but it was still a massive area that had been chilled. It would have gotten there if he left the spell going, but that would have been dangerous. He started to shiver for real as the cold leached in through his armor, the metal rapidly cooling against his skin. He hadn’t lost any health, but it sure did feel like he should have. His cold resistance was slightly higher thanks to the Ring, but it wasn’t clear how much that was helping.

Time to move.

He started walking parallel to the city wall, then bumped his pace up to an easy jog. He was careful to watch his footing as his feet broke the icy crust that had formed over the muddy ground. The cold hadn’t penetrated far, but it was enough to create a slushy, muddy, icy mess. The cold air burned in his lungs as he ran.

Yeah, I’m not going any higher than that. I hate jogging and I hate the cold. Jogging in the cold? Three out of ten. Not a fan. He shook his head. Come on, Rain, stop whining. No pain, no gain. I wonder if I can find some hot chocolate or something once I’m done here. Do they even have chocolate? Probably not. Chocolate’s tropical.

He frowned and quieted his thoughts, focused on his form. He really didn’t want to do a faceplant into the icy mud. When he started feeling warm again, he let off another 50% Refrigerate Nova. He did it mid-stride, as he usually did with Detection. The gust of wind almost made him fall, but he recovered quickly, even picking up his pace a little. The point was to get a workout. Getting out of the circle of cold was a good motivator, even if he was just going to create another one as soon as he did.

As he ran, he started to notice that something was different. His lungs were burning from the cold, true, but the rapid pace he was setting wasn’t making him tired. He glanced at his HUD to check his health and stamina. The red bar showing his health hadn’t budged, but the green one had dropped slightly.

Hey, maybe jogging isn’t so bad after all. Stamina must act like a buffer, just like health does. Does that mean I’m going to get tired slower now that I’ve got more of it?

He increased his speed further, breaking into a full-on run. He grinned as the air rushed past him, firing off another Nova. This time, he barely stumbled, armored feet crunching through the frozen layer of mud.

Magic fucking rocks.

On the ramparts of Fel Sadanis, two figures stood watching the progress of the armored mage. Every so often, the cloaked man would release an expanding shell of faint blue magic. The light was quickly followed by an expanding dome of snow and wind.

“That’s eleven times now,” Sentinel Talasa said. “How much mana do you think that uses?”

Sentinel Lamida shook her head. There was no way to tell, not without investing further into unlocking a bunch of spells that she would never use. Even then, Rain’s class, whatever it was, was also likely responsible for mitigating the ridiculous efficiency problems intrinsic to auras. There’d be no figuring that out, short of asking him directly. She didn’t want to risk alienating the mage by bringing him in for a full inquest. She didn’t have justification for that, either. Rain had done nothing wrong, the original incident with Purify notwithstanding. No actual harm had been done there unless you counted an annoyed noble.

“It’s pretty impressive,” Talasa said, bringing Lamida’s attention back to the running mage. “You’re sure he’s not a silver?”

“I’m sure,” said Lamida. “And it isn’t that impressive. Any ice mage could do the same by the time they reached level 10. We just saw it with Froststorm earlier.”

Talasa shook her head. “Yeah, but could they keep doing it like that? And while wearing plate armor and going for a jog? Also, I still can’t believe Phoss didn’t insist we lock that Guilder away. Using a spell like Froststorm inside is madness. What the hells was she thinking?”

Lamida shrugged. “Their building, their rules. Plus, that was Lavarro’s daughter. Phoss knows better than to make an issue of it. We don’t need that kind of trouble right now.”

Talasa looked over at her. “You think they are going to register a formal complaint against us? The Guild, I mean. We did sorta just barge in. That old guy was furious.”

Lamida snorted. “Not likely. We can’t get any communications out other than by hand-code, and I doubt that they can either. I’d like to see them try to force an arbitration with gestures being the only way of talking with our respective guild leaders.”

Talasa smiled, then turned her attention back to the running mage. “He’s pretty slow, even accounting for the armor. Look, there he goes again. Twelve times. That is an aura, right? I’ve never seen anyone use one before. Too inefficient. He wasn’t lying, was he?”

“He was telling the truth. You need to work on your Reading. His soul is on the strong side, true, but you should be able to push through it if you apply yourself.”

“Really?” Talasa said. “He’s got to be close to the wall then.” She tapped a finger on the stone parapet. “You’re sure he’s not a silver? Like, really sure?”

“Yes,” Lamida said, flicking her gaze at the younger sentinel in annoyance. “Stop asking. I know you’ve never been further than ten leagues from Fel Sadanis in your life, but if you had, you’d know not to judge power levels against what you see in this backwater. He’s strong, but only when you compare him to fools stumbling in the dark.”

“Hey, I’ve been further than that and you know it. You were there when I got my blue.”

“That doesn’t count. And you aren’t supposed to talk about it.”

“Does too,” Talasa said. “Relax. There’s no one around to hear. Anyway, I say he’s strong, even if you don’t agree. That armor looks pretty impressive. You think he’s got a backer?”

Lamida tilted her head. “Maybe, maybe not. He’s...different. The way he speaks, it’s as if...I’m not sure. It’s like he’s been living in a cave and doesn’t know anything about society. He is educated, though. If he has a backer, then he was probably snatched up when he was a child and trained in isolation.”

“Suspicious,” said Talasa. “Not to mention the fact that he just showed up one day. We’ve got no record of him entering the city before he left and came back with a pile of Tel and that armor. Something definitely happened there. You think he’s dangerous?”

“Yes,” Lamida said, sighing. “And no. He’s category three, but he was being honest when he said he wanted to help the city. I’m more concerned about him causing damage without thinking. He’s no Abaras. We’ll watch him, but there’s no danger of him going down the same path as that...man.”

“Was it really that bad?” Talasa said. “I’ve heard the stories, but...”

Lamida shook her head, fighting off the dark memory. She’d put the rogue mage down herself, but there was no undoing what he’d done. The only things left in the village that he’d claimed were the graves of those who hadn’t made it out in time.

She frowned, seeing that Talasa was looking at her expectantly. “It was bad,” she said simply. “Nobody is above the law. It was our job to put him down, even more so because he was one of our own. His power corrupted him.” She breathed out slowly, then nodded to Rain. “I don’t get that feeling from our new friend, but we will monitor him all the same.”

Lamida watched as Rain slid to a halt at the bank of the river and released another pulse of magic. The surface of the water flash-froze, leaving a thin pane of ice floating on the surface of the still river.

“Think he’s going to try to freeze it completely so he can cross?” Talasa asked, idly playing with the mace that hung at her waist. “Oh, wait, never mind. He’s heading back the other way. Hey, I bet you fifty copper he makes it all the way to the river on the other side.”

Lamida snorted. “Impossible.” She paused to consider. “I shouldn’t, but fine. I accept.”