The inside of the Assassin’s Guild castle was even more labyrinthine than the Mage Temple. Alexei’s assassin guide took him on a twisting and turning journey that seemed almost to never end. When they rounded one corner another corridor, with its thick stone walls and its flagstone floors was waiting. For the beginning part of the walk into the depths of the castle, he could still see the outside world through windows. Before long the windows stopped appearing on the walls, likely because they had delved deep into the mountain itself. The only thing Alexei knew was that they were going ever upward. After every few twists and turns down long and winding corridors, the assassin would usher him up a flight of stairs. Alexei was sure that there had to be some kind of central staircase somewhere in the building, it would be ridiculous for there not to be, but for some reason, the assassin didn’t want him to take that route. The only logical reason Alexei could come up with for that w
It was said to be an impenetrable fortress. Surrounded by the raging east oceans, accessible only by an arclight bridge, Undar’s Reach was the final bastion of the Atarni Empire. Holed up in its deepest chambers, spiralling below the seabed itself, the Emperor sat. His fingers tapped out a rhythm of impatience. A rhythm of fear. “Are the preparations complete?” He called out to his empty chamber, knowing that an attendant would be stood just outside the grand room. There was a brief scuffle at the door as the servant scrambled to open it. “Aye, my Liege,” the servant snivelled, “As before, all preparations that can be made have been put into place.”The emperor’s eyes slid half shut and he nodded in acceptance. If he were to die on this day, slaughtered by the Weapolocks of the Drasini, then it would be due to the will of the Goddess. But nevertheless, he would not go quietly and would drag as many of those creatures down to the depths with him. Godless fools that they were. XxXTh
“I don’t understand…” Alexei said, “Did all of that happen? If it did, why don’t we know about weapocraft now?”The High Matrix was silent for a moment, and then she pulled a thin dagger out from under her sleeve. While the dagger was small Alexei could tell that it had been made with the finest precision and craftsmanship. The blade was as sharp as any he had ever seen, and the hilt was encrusted with jewels. “You don’t know of weapocraft because we don’t want you to,” The High Matrix said. With a flick of her wrist the blade was wreathed in a shimmering blue flame and suddenly grew three foot longer into a perfectly crafted short sword. The flames diminished, but the extended blade remained. Alexei fought his urge to jump out of his chair and flee the room. The leader of the Assassin’s Guild wouldn’t have spent so much time telling him about Weapocraft if she was going to kill him seconds later. “I don’t understand though, why are you telling me about all of this?” Alexei asked
Walking back down the mountain was more challenging than walking up the mountain had been. The High Matrix had suggested that he stay overnight in the Assassin’s Guild castle, but he knew from experience that worrying Neave and Risa by disappearing for extended periods of time was a bad idea. It was pitch black and the only reason he could see at all was due to the ball of light that he had conjured with his foci. With a little extra power put into the magery, he had been able to adapt the spell slightly. Usually the ball of light would give off no heat at all, now it was capable of giving off just enough to both keep him warm and melt the ice ahead of him. This made the walk back down to the tavern manageable, without it he was sure he probably would have slipped and fallen to his own death, which frankly would have been embarrassing considering everything he’d lived through to make it to the Assassin’s Guild in the first place. With the combination of light, heat and some caref
“So I take it you’ve never heard of Weapocraft either then,” Alexei said before allowing his foci to shimmer back to its original form. He placed the weapon back into its holster on his back where he felt it almost hum in satisfaction at being able to stretch its forms. “I’ve heard of it, yes,” Risa said, “But only in rumour and legend, stories that date back to the earliest days of the Mage Temple records mixed in with things that should really just be dismissed as rumour or legend.” “Like the battle for Undar’s Reach?” Alexei asked. Risa’s eyes widened, “That’s a piece of history only spoken about in the oldest of tomes, how do you know about it?” “It was something that the High Matrix spoke about as a way to describe Weapocraft to me,” Alexei said, “But the way she spoke about it… it was as if she had some kind of connection to it. Like it happened to a family member or something like that.” “This is… a lot to take in,” Risa said, “But okay, understood, we’re going to be stay
Alexei, Risa and Neave stood before the gates of the Assassin’s Guild castle. Alexei wasn’t worried anymore. He’d been up there once before, and despite what he’d been expecting, the High Matrix and other people that he’d met in the Guild all seemed like pretty nice people. He wasn’t sure if the bloodthirsty nature of the assassins he’d faced off against in Alandria was due to their own maladjusted personalities or if they were just fronting as part of the job, but he was very glad that not everyone in the guild was like that. He could tell, though, that both Risa and Neave were at the very least a little bit unnerved. Neither of them was enjoying the cold very much, and the climb up the castle had led Risa to slip and slide numerous times on the icy path, even with Alexei’s fireball clearing the way ahead. Nevertheless, they’d all made it.“Who goes there!” Came a voice from the top of the guard tower, Alexei noted that it was a different voice than the one who had questioned hi
Dragon colonies gaining power. Signals from space. Spirits pressing harder and harder against the very fabric of the veil that separated one world from another. It seemed as if there were no end to the number of threats that were mounting against the world and no end to the amount of Weapocraft users that the High Matrix was forced to expend to try to deal with them. When there was a very limited number of Weapocraft users on offer that presented a bit of an issue. "So as you can see," The High Matrix finished off, "We find ourselves at a crossroads, and the biggest issue of all that we face is the lack of balance between the light, the dark and the material." It was the very issue that she had brought up with Alexei the night before, the one that was at the root of all the other issues surrounding it. Without balance two sides were focused on destroying one another, which left no resources to deal with the rest of the problems in the world, and so it was that which needed to be
Much like the rooms that they’d had at the tavern, the rooms that were in the Assassin’s Guild were nothing special. If anything, they were even worse than those at the tavern due to their lack of a window. The only light that came into the room was from a small vent in the ceiling. Somehow, likely through an array of mirrors and magnifying glasses, the Guild had passed a shaft of light down through the building and was using it to light the rooms. The result was an incredibly pleasant naturally lit glow in the room. Though Alexei had to admit that he preferred a nice window with a view of the outside world to what he’d been given. It was a small sacrifice to make, though, to be trained in the art of weapocraft. He picked up his staff and felt the power of the thing thrum through his hand. It had always felt like he had been connected to his foci from the very first moment that he lay his hand on it, but now it felt like the thing almost had a living consciousness tucked away w