TS4 - Chapter 40 (Patreon)

"That's fine," Thorn said, looking at Vengef and Boreg. "Both of you are under their jurisdiction, and so I won't blame you if you want to walk. It won't change anything unless you try to fight us for the shrines, of course. And then we might have some problems. But as long as you're willing to sit this one out, there will be no hard feelings."

Slapping the table, Boreg leaned forward.

"Absolutely not. The Council of Gods can choke on its own spit. I'm not giving up this opportunity."

Slightly surprised, Vengef looked over at the large ape, who returned a crooked grin.

"You didn't see them in operation," he said. "But I have, and I want to be on the winning team."

After thinking for a moment, Vengef nodded.

"Fine, then I'll bet on them as well. We'll join your team," he said to Thorn.

"Fantastic. So what's the plan?" Huginn asked.

Leaning forward and resting his forearms on the table, Thorn looked around at everyone who was gathered.

"First, let me set some groundwork," he said. "Does everyone know how this challenge is going to work?"

Seeing heads nod, he continued.

"Good. The tricky bit, as I understand it, is that the shrines can only be captured four times before they're simply too tough for regular teams to capture. Now, while I don't think it's impossible for us to capture a shrine that has been upgraded to a tier nine general, it is going to be considerably harder, especially with hundreds or even thousands of spectral soldiers in the eighth tier coming after us. Armies tend to improve the more people they have, and I don't know about you guys, but I don't really fancy going up against so many soldiers. However, we have a way to bypass all of that."

"That's what I wanted to hear," Salliish said, leaning forward. "I knew you'd come up with something devious."

Grinning at the Serpent god beast, Thorn nodded his head.

"I think I did. I'm going to keep the exact method close to the chest. Not because I don't trust all of you. In fact, you wouldn't be sitting here at this table if I had any doubts. But rather, because I'm not allowed to use magic here to prevent people from overhearing."

He spoke the last bit loudly enough that Zelle, who was walking over with a massive tray of food, could hear him, but she just rolled her eyes.

"They're not my rules," she said, dropping the tray on the table. "They're the camp's rules, and if you don't like them, you can get out."

Grinning, Thorn began to pass the plates out, handing the empty tray to Zelle a moment later.

"It's fine," he said. "I'll try not to be too bitter. Anyway, as I was saying, we have a system that I'm pretty sure is going to work. However, it's going to require some work on our end. And points. A lot of points."

Pulling his plate over with one of his clawed feet, Huginn nodded.

"I wondered if that's what we were going to do," he said, his tone amused. "That was the best idea I could come up with as well."

"What are they talking about?" Boreg asked Vengef, who was next to him.

"I have no idea," Vengef said.

"Don't worry," Sparky said. "I'm sure it'll work great. Thorn's plans always work great."

"Got your own little cheerleading section, I see," Skoll said, poking Thorn with his fork. "But seriously, I'm looking forward to it. Huginn here has had to convince me not to kill half of the god beasts in that camp at least a dozen times since we've got there. So I'm looking forward to working with you instead of them. And if we can crush their team, even better."

"Oh, we will," Thorn said. "And who knows, you might get to take a few of them out in the process."

"That sounds fantastic," Skoll replied.

"So what do you actually want us to do?" Stello asked, his face showing his confusion.

"We're going to go knock over some shrines," Thorn said. "And we're going to do it pretty quickly. So get a good night's rest. We'll leave as soon as this whole thing kicks off. Should be tomorrow, right?"

Consecrate Kendall nodded.

"Yeah, tomorrow."

"Good. Our goal is to take them down as fast as we possibly can. Oh, I meant to ask, is there a time limit on knocking over a shrine? I mean, if you capture it and I want to take it, can I attack it right away or do I have to wait 24 hours?"

"You can attack it right away," Consecrate Kendall said, sticking his fork in a potato and bringing it to his mouth. "But if you do, it'll immediately spawn the guardians at the next rank up."

"Fantastic," Thorn said. "We should be able to get this whole thing done and dusted pretty quickly. So, long story short, meet up here tomorrow and be ready to go. We're going to hit as many shrines as we possibly can."

Ignoring the odd look that Consecrate Kendall was giving him, Thorn dug into the food that Zelle had brought over and spent the rest of the evening chatting with his friends. They had been having adventures of their own and their trips through the Renith ruins were just as eventful as Thorn's had been. That night, as they all went to rest, Thorn found Zelle waiting for him at the bar. Seeing that he was going to go upstairs, she waved him over.

"Hey, there's someone who wants to talk to you," she said, looking at Thorn curiously.

"Oh?" Thorn asked, looking around.

"Yeah, she's sitting out back."

"Lead the way," Thorn said.

Zelle brought him through the kitchen and out the back door, where he found the female elf who had led the band of thieves standing against the wall. When she saw him come out, she didn't speak and instead just handed him a paper. Before he could open it up, she turned and left, leaving him alone in the alleyway. Thorn didn't even have to open the paper to read what it said.

[Golden Scales Alliance]

"Well, well, well," Eve said, appearing next to him. "Who would have guessed?"

Laughing, Thorn crumpled up the piece of paper between his fingers, his tremendous strength turning it into dust.

"I think we all would have guessed," he said, "After all, they were using mind control instead of something that could kill me."

"You going to go after him?" Eve asked, and after a moment of consideration, Thorn nodded.

"Yeah, I think I might as well," he said, "at least to see what we're dealing with.”

“Do you know where he stays?"

"No, not sure, but I bet Zelle does," Thorn said, opening the door into the kitchen.

He found Zelle at the bar and explained who he was looking for.

"Wensted Jarl," Zelle said, her eyebrows rising. "Are you sure you want to find out where he lives?"

"I do," Thorn said, his tone serious.

"You really are trying to get kicked out of this camp, aren't you?" Zelle gave Thorn an exasperated look. "But fine, you'll find him near the center of the camp. There are a number of stone buildings there, and the Golden Scale Alliance has the third largest one. It's got three towers on the top and a giant golden scale. You can't miss it. Wensted Jarl lives up on the top floor, and to get to him, you're going to have to fight your way through an entire tower worth of guards."

"What if I fly up towards the top?" Thorn said. "I mean, just to visit."

"Then you'll have to fight your way through an entire camp’s worth of guards," Zelle said with a snort. "And just know that if you do, I'm selling all the stuff in your room and telling everybody that you never stayed here."

Chuckling, Thorn nodded.

"Thanks for the warning, but believe me, I'm just going to check it out. There won't be any violence. Tonight at least."

It didn't take him long to find the building that Zelle had mentioned, and sure enough, he soon spotted Wensted Jarl's room up at the top floor. His mental sense, though restricted in these ruins, was still enough to cover a large part of the camp, and he didn't even have to get close to the tower to scan it. There were numerous places in the city where his mental sense couldn't penetrate, usually because of the strength of the people who were staying there. The tower of the Golden Scale Alliance was one of them. That alerted Thorn that there was at least one ninth tier fighter under the Golden Scale Alliance banner. And noting that for the future, he decided to retreat.

It was rather annoying not to be able to use magic in the Seeker's Alliance camp, but that prohibition didn't affect Thorn's Titan Step ability, allowing him to move rapidly back to the inn. He wasn't sure what the effect would be on the wall if he were to use it to try to get in the window from the street below, so he opted to walk his way into the building and squeeze up the tight stairs, as uncomfortable as it was. Before he settled down to meditate he stretched out a giant cloth in front of him. After recalling his memories of the people who had requested weapons from him, he pulled them all out of his ring, placing them on the cloth in front of him. Of the requests that he had taken, 25 of them he already had matching weapons for. This was a fairly good number, and he was hoping it would be enough to execute his plan. With those 25 wrapped up, he then got out 25 more, which he wrapped in another bundle.

The rest of the night was spent meditating, but early the next morning, he left the inn before the sun was even up, carrying these two giant bundles of weapons on his back. He set up in a prominent place in the market, greeting the other vendors who were looking at him curiously. Most of them had heard about this giant weapons seller, and the ones who weren't going to be competing with him were quite curious as to what he was carrying in his giant bundles. Scrawling out a sign on a piece of stone, he stuck it in the ground and settled down to wait. The first people into the market wandered over to read his sign, their eyes widening.

[Master-crafted weapons, trading for flame-attributed natural treasures or an equivalent number of points]

Stunned, a few of them almost didn't believe their eyes, but it wasn't long until one of them pointed at the sign and asked Thorn, "Can I really use points for this?"

Seeing him nod, the man's eyes widened even further, and without another word, he turned and sprinted away. Everyone else who had been standing nearby realized what the man was about to do and turned and sprinted away as well. One of the women, dressed in animal skins, suddenly slid to a halt and ran back.

"How much for a spear," she asked, "seven feet long and flexible?"

"How long do you want the spear tip," Thorn asked, "and what attribute are you looking for?"

"I'm looking for wind, and anything from nine inches to a foot and a half would be great," she said.

"I have one for two natural treasures, and one for three natural treasures, or equivalent points."

Doing a rapid mental calculation, she nodded, "Great," and as quick as a blink, she was gone.

Thorn, unsurprised by this development, just smiled and continued to wait. More people began to filter into the market, and the same scene began to repeat itself over and over again. Everyone who left was heading to one of the larger merchant guilds where they would be able to borrow points, taking out loans that they could use to buy equipment. The Catkin woman, who had been the first to ask Thorn about the spear, was the first to come back, bringing with her a card that held 30,000 points. With two hands, she held it out to him.

"I would like a spear, please," she said.

"Seven feet long, 11-inch blade, wind attribute, flexible," he replied, pulling the item in question out of his bundle. "Here you go."

After she transferred the points over to him she clutched her spear and hurried away and soon others began to arrive, using their borrowed points to buy the weapons that Thorn had to sell. It wasn't long before one of the individuals who had put in a special order saw Thorn was there and hurried over.

"Did the Grandmaster Blacksmith accept my request?" he asked impatiently.

Smiling, Thorn nodded.

"You had the double-bladed axe, right? Earth attribute, four and a half foot handle, boulder rhino's horn. Is that right?"

"Yes, yes, that's me," the man said, nodding.

Reaching into the bundle of completed weapons, Thorn pulled out the axe in question.

"The handle is a little bit longer than you asked for," he said, "but that's to balance out the weight of the blade. If you were to have a four and a half foot handle, you wouldn't be able to get a proper swing on this thing because of the weight. So the Grandmaster Blacksmith decided to extend the handle slightly. You should find that it works a little bit better."

Awe filled the man's eyes as he quickly nodded.

"It's amazing," he said.

“And it costs three natural treasures,” Thorn reminded him.

Hurriedly, the man handed over a box and Thorn took it, opening it slightly to reveal two crystals and a flower. With a smile, he snapped it shut.

"Pleasure doing business with you," he said, handing the axe over.

Catching sight of the sign, the man stopped and pointed at it.

"Wait, we can use points?" he said.

"Only for weapons that aren't a custom request," Thorn replied. "The Grandmaster Blacksmith thought it would be easier for people to exchange with points, and so he sent some extra weapons along. They're not quite as good as the custom stuff, of course, because they won't fit you perfectly."

"Do you have a short sword," the man asked, "or even a long dagger?"

"Sure," Thorn said. "Like I said, it's not quite as good."

Reaching into the bundle, he withdrew a dagger with a short obsidian blade and held it up.

"Two natural treasures or 20,000 points."

Without hesitating, the man handed over his token, quickly transferring 20,000 points to Thorn, who passed him the dagger.

"This is amazing," the man said, clutching the dagger tight. "Amazing."

He continued to repeat that as he walked away, causing Thorn to chuckle as he turned to the next person in line.

"How can I help you?"

"I'm looking for a sword," came the reply, and Thorn grinned.

"What kind of sword?" he asked. "I've got plenty."