Chapter 149: The Price We Pay Doesn’t Matter

Jason and Sophie were sitting on a fallen log, eating sandwiches.

“It’s about time to head back,” Jason said. “Looks like we weren’t tantalising bait after all. It’s a little ironic, given all the people who were chasing after you.”

“They might try on the way back,” Sophie said. “How likely do you think this is to work?”

“I figure it’s less likely to work than not,” he said. “Still worth a try, though, given the stakes.”

“How bad are these people, exactly?”

“According to Clive, if they had been left to their own devices in the astral space, they would have killed everyone between here and Boko, so… bad.”

“I can’t even imagine destruction on that kind of scale.”

“That’s what makes it so dangerous,” Jason said. “These people we’re dealing with; the LEGO Lovecraft monster they work for operates on a scale far beyond our ability to comprehend. A strange, alien mind that doesn’t care about the lives it takes any more than we do about the bugs we step on without noticing.”

“How do you even fight something like that?”

“Clive said those things operate in a sort of equilibrium, balancing out each other.”

“It doesn’t feel balanced if they can kill us and everyone we could get to in a week’s travel.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Jason said. He wiped his hands together to brush off the crumbs and pushed himself to his feet, Sophie lightly doing the same.

“Let’s head off, then.”

“So, this is the last one,” Danielle Geller said.

Of the five people into whom star seeds had been planted, four had been found and treated. After the disastrous treatment of Jonah, the next three had the star seeds extracted without killing the host, although they were left in dire need of healing.

They had finally found the fifth, returning her to Greenstone via Hester, Emir Bahadir’s portal user. She was now strapped to a vertical platform, arms, legs, torso and head all individually bound in place. They were in the temple of Purity, in one of what they referred to as purgation rooms. Although scrubbed to immaculate cleanliness, there was a smell to the place that made Danielle think that bad things had happened there.

There was a small crowd gathered to watch the purging. Danielle had accompanied the girl's parents, who had insisted on being present, despite the archbishop's objections. He had warned them that their daughter had been affected by the star seed the longest and may not survive its extraction. Also present was Tabitha Gert, the head of the Adventure Society inquiry team. She was the de facto head of the Adventure Society so long as the inquiry continued and had yet to witness a star seed being extracted. Clive Standish was the Magic Society representative, with the other members of the group being Emir and Thalia Mercer. Like Danielle, Thalia had witnessed every star seed extraction.

The ritual went as the archbishop had warned. The wires had retracted from their infiltration throughout the girl’s body before the seed was extracted, but the damage they left behind was too great. Even immediately applied silver-rank healing was unable to ameliorate the strain and she died with a jerking shudder. Danielle led away the grieving parents while the rest of the group was taken by the archbishop to a meeting room.

“That was the last of the five,” Tabitha Gert said, taking control of the meeting. “Now we must completely refocus our attention on the builder cult’s future activities. What progress are we making?”

“The Magic Society has made a couple of breakthroughs,” Clive said. “First we know what they’re after and how they are going after it. The astral magic techniques they are using are unlike anything we’ve seen before, presumably delivered to our world by the Builder. It’s more advanced than the astral magic we have but we’ve already started unravelling its secrets. I can tell you that to achieve their objectives, they have to work from inside the astral spaces.”

“Which brings our focus squarely on you, Mr Bahadir,” Tabitha said. “Do you still intend to open this astral space?”

“I do.”

“I’m tempted to prohibit you from doing so,” Tabitha said, “but it may represent the best chance of catching the Builder cult’s tail. Have you found a way to catch out anyone they try to slip into the group?”

“Not an effective one, no,” Emir said. “The only means we have to identify them would be the presence of a star seed.”

“We have found a ritual that will allow us to discover one within a person,” the archbishop said. “It is quick and simple enough that we can administer it to each person before allowing them to participate.”

“If they don’t have one, though,” Emir said, “there is no way to detect a person’s true loyalty. If there were, I’m not so certain I’d approve of its existence.”

“What about other angles of approach?” Tabitha asked.

“Rufus Remore continues to coordinate with my father,” Elspeth Arella said. “They are tracking what they believe to be supplies the Builder cult imported, looking for where those supplies ended up. This may give us a line on their key stronghold. They are currently trying to determine a final destination.”

“Your father,” Tabitha said. “This is the criminal leader, Adris Dorgan?”

“Yes,” Arella said.

“Good,” Tabitha said. “In times like these, we need to put aside minor concerns like criminality and use every resource available. Keep me updated whenever you find something new.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Arella said.

“What about the former star seed recipients?” Tabitha asked. “Any progress?”

“The three survivors are all awake,” Thalia said. “They have limited recollection of their time under the Builder cult's influence. Their memories are strongest right after the seeds were implanted, which they all report as being like someone else was controlling them. They describe it as being trapped in their own minds, wanting to scream for help but being unable to do so. As the seeds took further hold, their memories become increasingly scattered until nothing is left but flashes.”

“Anything useful amongst what they do recall?”

“I have people working with them,” Thalia said. “We’re being careful because it would be easy to create false memories with leading questions. Everything they can remember is being collated and examined, looking for any trails we can follow.”

“Do you need any assistance or resources to speed up the process?” Tabitha asked.

“Attempting to accelerate things is exactly the wrong approach,” Thalia said. “Doing it right will take as long as it takes.”

“And you aren’t biased because your son is one of the three?”

“It doesn’t matter if I’m biased or not,” Thalia said, matter-of-factly. “Try to interfere and I’ll rip your arm off and shove it down your throat.”

Tabitha frowned but didn’t push the issue further.

“How goes the inquiry,” Emir asked. “Will you be staying in the city for long?”

“The expedition may have been what brought us here,” Tabitha said, “but it has become clear that the way the expedition was planned and conducted was the result of a larger problem. The true concern is that the culture around this branch of the Adventure Society is a festering sore. We excised the worst people and demoted almost everyone. Over the next few weeks we will be going through all the members we didn’t revoke the membership of entirely, seeing who truly deserved their rank.”

“That’s good to hear,” Emir said, turning a gaze on Arella. “How much influence is our esteemed director going to have on that process?”

“We have determined that the director was largely influenced by the culture in which she obtained the position, with her mistakes being attempts to operate effectively within it. It is not an excuse for certain failings, but we feel that coming from outside the local nobility remains an asset moving forward. Ultimately, she will resume full authority once the inquiry is over, therefore she will, of course, have input on the dispensation of rank for local members.”

“Your concern is Asano,” Arella said to Emir. “He will be assessed fairly. How is your little bait operation going, by the way?”

“Who told you about that?” Emir asked.

“There was no need,” Arella said. “Asano making a spectacle of himself is nothing new but he generally does so with purpose. You wanted the Builder cult to make a play for him, trying to create a fresh distraction after we finished hunting down all their seeds.”

“It seems they aren’t going for it,” Emir said. “There was never a guarantee of it working. They don’t want to risk exposing themselves, spoiling a chance at sending people into the astral space.”

“Or maybe they just don’t want to risk getting involved with Asano,” Arella said. “That boy is more insidious than a star seed.”

“What plans do we have for intercepting any Builder cult agents they place in the astral space?” Tabitha asked.

“None,” Emir said. “I don't know what's in there and I've been looking for it for years. All we can do is ask the ones we trust to keep a lookout and act if they can.”

Anisa once more entered the foreman’s office in the temple of Purity’s construction site.

“You were right to not go after Asano,” she said without preamble.

“Admitting you’re wrong,” the foreman said. “You don’t seem the type.”

“It was bait,” Anisa said. “They were trying to catch your people.”

“I know,” the foreman said. “He had a gold-ranker following him. We lost a silver and three bronze who had to kill themselves trying to take him.”

“You actually tried?” she asked. “You told me you wouldn’t.”

“I considered your arguments after our last little talk,” he said. “You changed my mind, only for me to discover that I should have kept my own counsel, after all.”

“You don’t seem worried,” she said. “This is a disaster for you. Losing a silver-ranker.”

“The price we pay doesn’t matter,” the foreman said. “Only the objective. Using Bahadir’s pet iron-ranker to disrupt the people looking for us was a target of opportunity, nothing more. One less silver-ranker doesn’t matter for an astral space that silver-rankers cannot enter.”

“What if they get information from the people you sent after Asano?”

“They won’t.”

Jason and Sophie looked at the four strange, crystalline stars that had once been people. Blood and flesh stained the crystal where it had exploded out of them.

The gold-ranker, Callum, appeared next to them.

“That is all of them,” he said in his gravelly voice. “I was unable to disable them before they killed themselves. It may not be possible to do so.”

“I didn’t sense them coming,” Jason said.

“Me either, and I have an aura sensing power,” Sophie said.

“One was silver, the others bronze,” Callum said.

“Thanks for being on the ball, Cal,” Jason said. “They were coming in hard and fast.”

Around the village, people were watching from hiding after the unexpected explosion of violence.

“They won’t try again,” Callum said. “We should return to the city. Emir will likely take these and have them studied. Perhaps there is something to be learned.”

“I’ll go find the village head,” Jason said. “We need somewhere to put them until Hester shows up. If we leave them in the middle of the village like this, they’re going to creep people out.”

“Tell them to make sure people leave them alone,” Sophie added. “I don’t think random villagers poking these things is a good idea.”

“Sensible,” Callum agreed.

Jason found the village head and explained the situation, meaning he said there was some adventurer stuff happening and people should stay away from the pointy magic things. The elder offered them a barn on the village outskirts that was disused after suffering damage from a monster attack.

“I found a spot for them,” Jason called out as he returned to the others. “There’s something I should probably do, first. Cal, is it okay if we loot these guys?”

“Go ahead.”

“Alright. Wexler, take those two over there and I’ll get the others.”

Jason touched part of the bloody remains smeared over the crystalline stars.

You have received permission to loot [Builder Cultist].14 [Silver Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.211 [Bronze Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.116 [Iron Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.

Behind him he heard coins raining onto the ground, then Sophie’s muffled complaints.

“Oh, what is this nonsense,” she complained as Jason turned around to see her encased in metal armour.

“I think you looted his armour,” Jason.

“Oh, you think?” she said, pushing up the front of the helmet to reveal her face. “Clearly you’re the brains of the operation, figuring that one out.”

“You might want to take that off,” Jason suggested. “I don’t think it’s really your style.”

“This description that popped up says I don’t meet the requirements,” she said. “How can I not meet the requirements when I’m already wear… ouch. Hey, I think this thing is stinging me.”

“Cal, help me get it off her,” Jason said. Callum nodded, moving to assist.

“It will get worse the longer you wear it,” Callum warned Sophie as they started pulling off the various metal plates strapped to her body. By the time they finished, Sophie was biting back grunts of pain as Callum used his gold-rank strength to roughly yank off the pieces, Sophie’s clothes and skin scraped by straps and buckles as he did.

“That was unpleasant, she said. “You can do the rest of the looting.”

“Probably for the best,” Jason said, tossing her a jar of healing unguent from his inventory. He stowed the armour in his inventory, which was an uncommon bronze armour with some basic reinforcing and self-repair enchantments. Then he checked the next body.

You have received permission to loot [Builder Cultist].2 [Gold Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.28 [Silver Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.211 [Bronze Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.316 [Iron Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.[Amulet of Intermittent Armour] has been added to your inventory.

“Ooh, gold coins. And they had the exact same number of bronze coins. That’s odd.”

He pulled out the magic item to take a look.

Item: [Amulet of Intermittent Armour] (bronze rank, uncommon)

A neck-chain and amulet that accumulates protective power (jewellery, necklace).

Effect: Slowly accumulate instances of [Guardian’s Blessing], to a maximum based on your bronze-rank [Recovery] attribute.[Guardian’s Blessing] (boon, holy): Damage from all sources is reduced by a small amount. Additional instances have a cumulative effect. Damage reduction is less effective against damage from silver-rank or higher sources. When an instance is consumed, gain an instance of [Blessing’s Bounty].[Blessing's Bounty] (heal-over-time, holy, stacking): Heal over time. Additional instances have a cumulative effect.You do not meet the requirements to use this item.

Jason had several bronze-rank items collecting in his inventory. He had never actually sold the bizarre hydra whip and he had a gauntlet he took from the bronze-rank tidal troll he fought. Now he had the armour and the amulet looked like a useful item for Sophie when she reached bronze rank.

The last body produced something altogether unexpected.

[Star Seed (Builder)] has been added to your inventory.