Dialysis Book: Chapter 33: The Magical Tower of the System Lord

I thought I had grown accustomed to being teleported.  After all, when Shade did a teleport, it was seamless.  You were just in the new spot a moment later and you better be ready to do what you needed to do.  That was not the case for Sylanada, she had a speed based teleport power.

Which meant you felt like you were being dragged the distance between teleport points before being spat out on the other side like chewed up gum.  I was spaghettified, and I could feel every part of my body from my feet down by the river to the top of my skull here at the tower before I snapped back into a single mass.

I landed on my face and tried not to throw up.  I was middling successful, thanks to my improved endurance stat.  Using essence, I managed to hold the contents of my stomach in despite the system’s aggressive efforts to get them out.  Shade did not have that core.

“It's okay, boy,” I said.

“Chum, I do not recall eating carrots,” groaned my dog as he staggered forward miserably.

“That’s because that was Quatax’s,” I said, shaking off my foot.

“I love carrots,” murmured the elf, as he stood straight.  “They help with your eyesight.”

“Really?  Waste not want not,” muttered Shade, and resolved the issue.

Sharbi looked at my dog, shaking her head “And he was your party’s strategist?”

Quatax groaned, “Respect yourself, Shade.”

“Can’t talk: Eating,” chewed the dog.

We were standing on a platform underneath the magical tower of power that was Domagal’s home.  It was a hovering structure larger than a lighthouse standing on a large mass of roots that looked like they’d been torn from the ground covered in glowing crystals of various colors.  It was also floating over the city, with the first landing I could see nearly one hundred feet above us.

Glancing over at the king’s palace, I realized the floating tower was the tallest structure in the city, because it floated.

“That seems petty,” I said, eyeing the two buildings.

“Have you met elves,” said Sharbi as she looked up at the floating tower.

“Seriously?  Being petty is what we do best,” said Quatax in agreement.  “It is part of our culture.”

I glanced at both of them and sighed, then back to the tower.  “Where did they go?”

Sharbi pointed up and I spotted the three higher ranked adventurers had already made it to the tower.  Mark floated up, using magic.  Sylanada tossed up a dagger and teleported to it.  Meanwhile Gulwing sprouted wings and flew up to the tower, which was over a hundred feet above us.  I looked down, the tower was suspended high over the city and had a slight lean to it that looked dangerous.

“They left us,” I asked, kicking a rock off the platform.  It hit a tall tree on an 8 count.

“Yup, sink or swim,” said Sharbi.  “Or fly or fall, I guess.”

Quatax shook his head, “They are probably going to send down the lift, or throw a rope.”

That made a lot more sense.  I looked at the tower slightly bobbing up and down, gauging that the ball of roots the whole thing sat on was only about fifty feet away, and a few hundred feet off the ground.  I examined the non-existant path up and considered something for a moment.

“Gulwing is not heroic rank is he,” I asked.

“No, he’s mystical.  He knows a guy who taught him a trick about suppressing his core signature,” said Sharbi uncomfortably.

“Knows a guy,” snorted Quatax.  “Your father is the greatest shard smith on the continent, and whenever he comes to visit his little girl those two go on a three day bender so you have to go visit him.  ”

Sharbi growled, then shrugged.  “Okay, it's an open secret.”

“I didn’t know a shard smith could do that,” I said.

“A shard smith couldn’t,” replied Quatax.  “But Shen, the Shard smith, is not a regular shard smith.  Think he’d do some work for me?”

“Seriously?” asked Sharbi as Quatax nodded vigorously  She groaned, “I could put in a good word.”

Quatax danced around like a shoolgirl.  I realized it was because everyone was nervous.  As we waited to storm the castle, Shade sat down and looked up.  “Those are pretty lights.”

“That’s a fight,” said Quatax.

“We aren’t getting a rope,” I offered, looking around, “I think if we gathered up some of the nearby materials we could build a crude bridge.”

“Maybe we could find a chicken,” offered Quatax.

“How would that help,” I questioned.

“It has feathers, it could fly,” offered the elf.

“Sharbi, do you have any ideas,” I asked as the catgirl rushed past me and leapt at the lower base of the tower that was over fifty feet away.  She made it with room to spare and slammed into the base of roots under the tower, locking her claws into the wood.  After that she began scrambling to the top.

“Oh, yeah, I forgot about that,” I said.

“Didn’t want to use this,” said Quatax as he held up a ring and twisted it around his finger once.  The next moment he leapt up high enough that he managed to grab ahold of the base of the tower just above Sharbi.

Both started climbing faster.

“I don’t think I can jump that far,” I said.

“I can teleport us,” replied Shade.

“You only have about ten feet range,” I replied.  That was useful in getting out of danger, but Shade’s typical tactic was to just teleport you several times in a row.  I didn’t know if Shade was up for that.  Spivy was out cold, so that wasn’t a possibility.  I was just going to have to think of something.

“Okay, got it.”

A few moments later, Shade was on my back and already fully invisible.  “This is a terrible idea.”

“You have a better one,” I offered, flipping my spear over and exposing the metal cap on the bottom.  Hopefully that would help.  I generated a laser head on the button of the spear and found that while it wasn’t as easy as generating overtop of the existing spearhead, it was far easier than generating it on wood.

“I watched the stupid stick thing on the television chum, they were going for height,” said Shade looking up, “And that is way taller.”

“I’m going to extend the staff, and you are going to teleport us the final bit,” I said, focusing on my weapon.  The longest I’d made it so far was a beboar sticker, which was maybe six feet.  I kept focusing my essence on my spear and it expanded up to nearly double my height.

“Are you sure this is going to work,” said Shade, whimpering a little.  Put him in a room full of monsters, and he’d either play around or kill them.  Tell him he’s jumping over a chasm and if you screw up at all you will both fall to your death and he was a big chicken.

I glanced down off the very high platform.  Cluck.

The amount of essence required to pull that trick was draining, but I still had more to do.  My essence training working on specific body parts came into play.  I focused more essence onto my legs, putting as much power into them as I could.  I also increased my speed using my new quickness aspect.

I held the power for a few moments, making sure I could maintain it and rushed forward as quickly as I could towards the edge of the platform.  With my new quickness aspect I could run faster than before, and I could already keep up with the fastest humans on earth.

Right now, I would have left them in the dust.

Several things happened at once.  I thrust the head of the spear into the platform, the laser head digging into the material and giving me a solid fulcrum.  I leapt, but that was just necessary to give direction to my speed.  With the spear planted, all I could do was pole vault up but I wasn’t done there either.

Using essence, I extended the staff even more as I stopped putting essence into my legs.  I wasn’t very good at that, but every little bit helped and I had something else in mind.

“Now!” barked Shade as we both went invisible and got a whole light lighter.

An interesting aspect of physics that only happened in magical worlds was that an object in flight suddenly got a lot lighter, you started flying faster.  Basically the amount of energy carrying me and Shade along remained constant, we were just about half the weight so we went twice as fast.

Almost.

We were high up and the wind around the floating magical tower was moving quickly.  As we flew, a massive gust hit us, and with our reduced weight the wind knocked us off course, leaving us half way between the base of the tower and the platform with no ready way to get to either.  That would have been a problem normally, but we were way in the air.

I looked down, which was a mistake.

Shade teleported us closer, he could manage ten feet which put us only about fifteen feet away from the roots.  Just then another blast of wind hit us and we were twenty feet away again.

“I will be recovered in a few seconds,” said Shade.  “But I don’t know how to get through that barrier!”

“If you need to leave me,” I said as we floated away from the platform and were suspended high over the city.  At full strength Shade coudl have managed this, but he was tired and we kept dropping several feet at a time.  “This is my fault.”

“Chum,” said Shade simply.  He didn’t need to say more.  He was a good dog.

Shade teleported us closer again, but there was a buffer of wind around the tower.  Each time we hit it the wind pushed us back, so we were at twenty feet again and I could tell Shade was tiring.  Neither of us was at full strength, but something needed to be done.

Just then I noticed a blast of green mana light from the top of the platform.  We were almost even with it, the wind had pushed us up well over our starting position.  Then  spotted Quatax and Sharbi racing to the top, where three bugbears were taking cover against an attack by a wizard.

“Guys,” I yelled, and they didn’t respond, at all.

“I think there is a wind barrier, like at the accursed supermarket entrance,” said Shade.

He was right, there was some sort of climate control bubble of air surrounding the tower.  The all powerful system lord built an air conditioner for herself rather than helping her people.  She was the worst, and not because I was about to die from an AC related workplace incident.

Gulwing was busy fighting two hobgoblins simultaneously.  He had two vaguely wing-like swords out and was matching both creatures in a desperate duel.  Sylanada was trading shots with several bugbear spell casters, but her essence was so depleted that she was being forced back.

The only one holding his own was Mark, who incinerated one bugbear even as a hobgoblin who had been charging him suddenly froze solid from the waist down.  He focused on the remaining goblins, trying to get them away from Sylanada.  As he switched targets, a glowing ball of green energy formed between the three bugbears, hidden behind cover above the elf and the cat girl.

“I don’t think he sees them,” said Shade as blasts of green energy from other bugbears battered Mark’s barriers.  It was strong, but maybe not strong enough.  If those three landed a powerful attack spell, I didn’t think it would hold.

“We need to do something,” I said, gripping my spear.  We were both almost tapped out on essence, so doing something was probably going to end badly and down was sounding very possible.  Shade looked at my spear, and our friends.

“Keeping up my shadow form like this is too much, if I attack I will not be able to bring it back up,” said Shade solemnly.

“All those people are counting on us,” I said finally looking down over a forest again, except this time I wasn’t depressed, I was sad.  This has been fun.

“Our friends are counting on us,” said Shade, nodding over my shoulder.  He looked over the city and then nuzzled my ear.  “It was a good trip.”

“Yeah,” I said, “I'll get the one on the right , you get the one on the left.

Even as I brought up my laser thrust skill, I felt us starting to fall.  Shade didn’t have enough essence to keep the shadow form up while we were both preparing an attack.  If we didn’t, we’d still be up here, sitting ducks.  So in a way it made sense.  We’d fall to our deaths instead of getting blasted.

I flung my spear the same moment Shade cast a shadow orb.

He hit first, slamming an unexpecting bugbear from the back, and as a ninja his skills amplified attack damage when he caught someone unaware.  The shadow energy dug deeply into the bugbear’s back, causing a wobble in the spell.

I got lucky.  When I generated the laser head on my spear, I picked the sharpest, broadest one I could hoping for maximum damage.  I flung it through the back of one bugbear, killing it outright but the spear continued onward slashing deeply into the remaining bugbear before fading.

The bugbear turned, eyes furious as she spotted me.  The combined energy of the spell was already dangerously out of control and she was about to blast me with it when an elven sword took off her head.  The spell flashed off into the distance, missing everything important.

Instead of falling down, we fell towards the base of the tower, slamming into it before swinging back out into the air.  Sharbi’s head appeared over the top of the platform.  “What are you doing, meow?”

“Hanging out,” I yelled as she started pulling us up with her whip.

Without that surprise attack, Mark was able to clear Sylanada’s enemies and then everyone focused on the two hobgoblins.  Even with everyone, they died hard, with a vengeance.

Gulwing shook his head, “Used to be, they had poorly evolved class orbs.”

Mark fiddled with the corpses, “No, they both contain fully developed heroic cores.  They were properly developed as well.”

“That terrible,” said Sylanada, nursing several more wounds.  She couldn’t walk, and her elven constitution could only do so much.

“What happened,” asked Quatax.

“There was an ambush when we landed, ten bugbears and hobgoblins were waiting for us,” said Mark, the Wizard.

“If that is what they left, I don’t want to imagine who’s fighting deeper in,” said Gulwing.

“Do we withdraw,” asked Sharbi, uncomfortably.  We had no business being here.  Sharbi and Quatax were about as strong as mortal cores could be, and I had a companion, but if these were all well trained heroes then the odds of us winning a fight if they knew we were coming were pretty small.

“The only thing worse than staying is leaving,” said Sylanada as she struggled to sit up.  “If the goblins win, Dominus will begin to collapse almost immediately.”

“Seriously,” I said.

“The human kingdom that stood for centuries collapsed into a series of unconnected provinces within fifty years,” said Gulwing seriously, glancing over at Sylanada.

She smiled sadly, “They got me good.”

I pulled out a healing potion from my ample stock, “I have dwarven, halfling and a gnomish potion.”

Sylanada opened her mouth to refuse, then stopped.  “Traditionally I’d only drink elven, so which one tastes best?”

“Probably the dwarven,” said Gulwing.  “Halfling is too sweet and you never know what you get with gnomish.”

She took the dwarven potion and downed it in one, her wounded leg knitted instantly, “That was strong.  How many more potions do you have?”

“Two,” I said hesitantly.  Sylanada looked at me consideringly.

“Keep them, everyone else is out because of the fight but you seem lucky, Max,” said Mark the Wizard.  “I’m sure you’ll put them to good use.”

Gulwing nodded, “Besides most of us have some sort of self heal if we get really desperate.”

“We will go up to the higher floors, Lady Domagal will be there and presumably the goblin lord as well,” said Mark, the Wizard.

“Can you fight a system lord,’ I asked.

“I did it once,” said Mark, the wizard with a shrug.  “I’m sure I can manage it a second time, Domagal will be there.”

“Of course you did,” I said, looking at the upper floors where a titanic battle was occurring.  “But what about us?”

“Go through the lower floors, see if you can find any survivors, kill any goblins that remain,” said Gulwing, adjusting his helmet.  It had wings on it, in his battle dress Gulwing looked like a Thor cosplayer who ran out of money and picked swords from a different character.  The short, green steel blades were decidedly chinese in construction, with a vine running down the hilt.

They looked very deadly, and I hoped that was true.

The three older elves went into the tower and up a massive staircase leaving the three of us at the entrance.  The opening hall was vastly larger than anything that should have fit into a lighthouse.  It was mostly crystal, with the occasionally green plant growing in a strange spot.

“So, normal rules, don’t touch anything unless you know what it does,” said Quatax uncomfortably.

“Is that for dungeons, or floating towers hovering over the city,” I said.

“Both,” replied Sharbi.  “Meow, let's hurry.  We can split up and cover more ground.”

She dashed up a side staircase to the top of the entry hall.  Quatax shrugged and went to a doorway at the side and cautiously moved through.  I was left standing alone in the middle of the main hall, with Shade.

“We should find survivors,” said Shade.

“Any idea where,” I asked, poking my hood several times.  I got some light mumbling, that was a good sign.  She’d wake up soon.

Shade sniffed around for a bit, “I think this way.”  He turned invisible and started towards another doorway.  I could still sense him through the companion core so that didn’t really bother me.  I followed him through the man sized crystal door into a large conference room.

There was a long table at least.  It might have been a dining room, though any room could be a dining room if you tried hard enough.  It was hard to tell considering that the table was broken and all the chairs were scattered about.

“That would have been hard to break,” said Shade uncomfortably.

“Yeah,” I said, using my color senses to scan the room.  I didn’t know what I was looking for and I didn’t find it.  Shade sniffed.

“There are no people here, but an elf was here recently,” said Shade.  “He smelled hurt.”

“Lets see if we can help him,” I offered and Shade lead us into a hallway that curved slightly.  If that curve represented the outside of the tower, the internal volume of this place was massive.

Of course, we walked a good thirty seconds without running into another door, and when we did the room beyond was smaller than I expected.  My map was essentially useless here, having issues even drawing even the basic layout.  I kept the minimap up, but it was showing a dot for me and a dot for Shade.

We were in some sort of pantry, filled with elven foods and magically chilled.  The room was large enough to hold food for hundreds, but mostly empty.  There was a rack of trays near the entrance where you could store cooked meals.  Overall the room didn’t mesh with the structure of the hall, giving me a disconnected feeling.  This was some sort of magical dungeon, and I should be here.

The elf was here, with a rather gaping wound.

“He is not alive,” said Shade.

“I can tell,” I said, kneeling by the elf.  I wasn’t a doctor, but a foot long chunk of wood protruding through both sides of your chest was probably a bad sign.  Adventurers were tougher on this world, I could take far more damage than I could have on Earth, but there were some very clear limits.  “That got a lung.”

“A goblin came through here,” said Shade.

I lit the room properly, feeling the light as it reflected off every surface.  That didn’t help me any, but I didn’t feel a goblin green in my area.  That assumed of course that all goblins were within a reasonably tight band of color, which I wasn’t sure about.

I could use my light sensing powers to pick out wavelengths, but it was like I was looking for humans after only seeing N’sync.  I didn’t know if there were dark green goblins, or light green goblins.  Or blue goblins.  Most of the mortal races tended to have a variety of skin colors, so I’d be stupid to assume that goblins didn’t have that variety.

Or it could have been a bugbear, they were furry.

Shade started after the goblin tracks, and I followed behind him looking at everything for shades of green and brown.  We cut through a library, and then a crystal room full of magical crystals that glowed magical colors.  Both were trashed, after it looked like some sort of skirmish.

“There were several goblins here,” said Shade.

“This just keeps getting better,” I said as we entered the next room and spotted a bugbear missing half her fur.  She looked at me for a long moment, I waved.

By the time she started casting her spell, Shade was behind her and he bit down on her leg and pulled causing her to fall face first onto the stone.  I was on her a moment later, and drove my spear into her hairless back.

“She was messed up,” I said hopefully.  I didn’t stand much of a chance against an elite bugbear, but if they were half melted I could pull it off.  This one had obviously been badly burnt and whatever healing magic she’d used to recover wasn’t enough.

Shade started looting her when I felt Spivy stir.

“That was a nice nap,” said Spivy, looking out of my hood.  “This place looks familiar.”

“We are in the System Lord’s tower,” I replied.  “First floor, somewhere.  My map is not working.”

Spivy twitched, “Of course, that was the plan and you do the plans even if I’m sleeping.”

“I assume we are in some real danger here,” I said.

“Yes,” replied Spivy, floating up and looking around.  “The magical detectors here are all broken, so I should be able to help you somewhat.”  She gestured to the ground and her map appeared showing a rather complete copy of the first floor.

“You were here,” I asked.

Spivy nodded, “Yeah, on the upshot they didn’t know my mapper could record the area over their disruptor.”

“So that’s why my map doesn’t work,” I said.

“Yes, you’d need at least a mythical mapper to have a shot here,” said Spivy, pulling out her mapper.

“She has silver dishes,” said Shade unhappily.  “I was hoping for magic items.”

“Goblins will hand over their treasures to their bosses when they are looting,” said Spivy.  “There should be a single treasure goblin here.  If we can get him, it might help us.”

“But that’s going to be the strongest goblin,” I said.

“Of course,” replied Spivy.  “There is an observatory on this floor.”

“Let’s go,” I said and we continued down the curved hallway towards the point Spivy indicated.  As we passed by several rooms, there were obvious signs of battle and several dead elves, but no goblins that I could see.

“The goblins take their dead,” said Spivy.

“They are that respectful?” I asked.

Spivy shook her head, “They ate them.  There is a racial bonus to cannibalism integrated into their cores.”

“Oh yeah, monsters,” I grumbled but that did tell me something.  The goblins had won their fights down here because there were not any goblin corpses.  Considering where we were, that was very disturbing.

Spivy continued, “And if you notice, the elves are wearing heraldry of the King or the System lord, so they aren’t fighting together.”

“It can be done,” I offered as we continued towards the observatory.  My initial thoughts on an observatory would be that it must look up into the sky, to see the stars or other phenomena, but that wasn’t how elves worked.  They loved looking at things growing, be those things plants or cities.

I stepped from the hallway into a massive, upside down crystal dome with a latticework of bridges suspended between them.  The bridges themselves were clear, though they would occasionally run into a cluster that was supported from the high ceiling.

Below us was Dominous in all of its glory.  The city was gorgeous, and much of the plant life I hadn’t understood as I moved through the town lent itself into patterns that could only be seen from overhead.  It was perfect and spectacular as I stood on top of a crystal clear bridge hundreds of feet overhead.  It took me out of the battle into a spiritual realm when you realized that even little things could contribute to the splendor of the world.

There were three dead goblins and a dead elf splattered onto the dome.

“Kind of spoils the view,” I said looking to the middle of the dome where what appeared to be an elevator was clearly ready to go back up.  Glancing up, the ceiling continued to get taller until you could see a balcony around what must have been the personal area of the System Lord, though I was just guessing by all the magic being flung around up there.

The balcony looked down over the whole observatory and had an excellent view of the stars, which were currently pulsing.

“Because of the conjunction,” I asked.

“And the ritual,’ replied Spivy as the stars twinkled so hard they began moving.  My earthly knowledge of the cosmos said that stars didn’t do that, so it was moderately disturbing.

“Aren’t those giant balls of gas?” I asked.

“Some, maybe, the stars from the conjunction are magical portals that filter in mana as far as I understand,” said Spivy looking up as a massive greenish blast of magic smashed into the impossibly strong crystal from the balcony.  “Doesn’t seem important at the moment.”

“We should help,” said Shade.

“Yeah, but I don’t see what help we could be,” I said as we walked towards the elevator.  Still, it was better to help even a little than to do nothing so I increased my speed.

Shade’s head snapped around and I had my spear pointed in that direction with shields up before I even really knew what happened.  I stood there, Shade having already vanished, and tried to spot the threat.

“In,” said Spivy, poking the side of my neck and steering me like a horse towards a spot right below the balcony.  The entire interior wall of the dome stretched up to the balcony, and looked like a smaller but more ornate version of the palace.  I thought I could feel the artifacts floating, surrounded in balls of light.

“That’s her home and laboratory” said Spivy, “The relics will all be in there somewhere.”

“How do we steal them?” I asked.

“That’s going to require me to help,” said Spivy, pulling a spool of golden wire out of her storage.  She landed on Shade’s head and gestured towards the back wall.  “We sneak in and grab the brass bell.”

“Won’t that upset… basically everyone,” I asked.

“That is sort of my speciality,” replied Spivy as they started climbing the wall up towards the balcony.  “If you see any more elves, send them up to the balcony our of our way.  If you see any goblins…”

“Kill them,” I replied.

“Oh no, no no no,” said Spivy, shaking her head.  “Hide, they will be fully kitted out heroic cored goblins.”

I nodded, “Help elves, hide from goblins, gotcha!”

They rapidly climbed the wall and into a window.  I started looking around for something to do.  I had a half dozen dubious potions, and I needed to find a good spot to hide.  My hiding skills were noticeably untrained, considering Shade did most of that, but I did spot what I thought was a good location.

Sneaking over, okay crouch walking over, I found a small sitting alcove in the floor with a canopy over it.  The canopy had a hole in it, but as far as hiding places went, it was terrible but in a sea of transparent crystal it was at least opaque.

And occupied.  I found two elves holding up there inside.  Both were wearing royal colors, and one was badly injured.  I was pretty sure the other one was dead.  The one that only was near death glared at me rather angrily.

“A lo-tai, here, how far have we fallen,” he muttered, glaring at me.  He didn’t raise a weapon at me, and the feeling of overwhelming power radiant off of him was enough that I practically shit myself.  It was like the first time I’d met Lady Sylanada, but possibly more so.

Then again, she hadn’t been angry at me when we’d met.

“I’m here with the adventuring guild, fighting monsters,” I said, pulling out two healing potions.  They were my best remaining two, as well as the last healing potions I had.  A halfling potion that was extra healing and a gnome potion that would both heal and keep your chin hair soft.

I wouldn’t tell the elf about the chin hair part, I hadn’t seen a single elf with so much as a five o'clock shadow.

“I do not want your lo-tai swill,” said the elf, he tried to stand but he was so badly injured he couldn’t.  Or wouldn’t.  His friend was alive, just not for much longer.  “Leave me to care for my friend.”

I didn't want the elf to die, he looked old.  He deserved to die at home with his family, not in a viewing gazebo overlooking the city from a double compound leg fracture.  Also armageddon was happening just above me and I didn’t have time to be overly polite.

“I mean I could, but won’t that elf die,” I asked.

“He will die with honor,” said the elf.

“You think your king wants that?” I asked.

“You dare speak for the king?” retorted the elf, this time he did stand and he was the only male elf I’d encountered thus far that was as tall as I was.  Even badly injured I was pretty sure he could take me… with his little finger.

I swallowed.  “No, but do you think the King wants you to sit here and have a little pity party? Do you think he wants you to watch his city burn?  He wants you to fight and save his city,” I said.  “Right now the goblins are trying to kill the system lord and when they do they are going to drop this tower right on the city, killing tens of thousands.”

The elf stopped, looking down and really noticing how much the tower was moving.

“You expect me to take the word of a lo-tai,” he said finally.  “Our traditions demand that I refuse your help.”

I barreled on, “Your king cares more for his people than their traditions.”

“What,” said the elf dangerously.

“The king would say to save his people by whatever means necessary because that’s what a King does.  He protects his people first.  A king without a kingdom is nothing.”

“Traditions built this city,” said the elf, flummoxed.

“The only reason the city held was because of elves and non-elves fighting together to save everyone.  Your traditions say that non-elves lack valor, lack ability, and they teach elves to look down on everyone who isn’t an elf.  Without us the city would be burning, and meanwhile you have valor and ability but are sitting here instead of fighting for your people.  Your king would be fighting for his people.”

The elf said nothing for a moment, then reached over and grabbed the halfling position before pouring it down the unconscious elf’s throat.

“There are no other survivors here, but I am concerned about the tower, the control room is nearby,” said the elf highlighting a spot on my map.  “Verify that the goblins do not control it, I shall go up and protect the city, as the King should.”

I nodded, leaving the elves and rushing towards the control room, hoping I wasn’t too late.

****

Quay groaned, “I thought you said we were out of healing potions.”

“A human gave me one,” said Rogen.  “Domagal is being attacked, and the whole city is threatened.  I go to her aid.

“Oh Namiestay, I died,” groaned Quay.

“It gets worse,” said Rogen.  “I sent the human off to protect the control room.”

Quay sat up, “Isn’t that against the traditions.”

“I think I might have to give up on being so traditional,” said King Rogen, drinking a gnomish healing potion.  It tasted like black licorice.  “I hear it has been harming us in the long run.”