Nightmare Realm Summoner

“Is this spot sufficient for us to discuss matters of the town?” Rhyss asked, his eye drifting over all the people behind Alex and Claire. “Or should we move to a private location where our discussion cannot be overheard?”

“They’re all joining the town,” Alex said. He paused for a moment. “Is anything you’ve got to update us on really important? Like the kind of stuff we can’t have getting out?”

“Hey,” Wess said. He crossed his arms in front of his chest. “I’d take offense to the implication if it wasn’t true.”

“No,” Rhyss replied. “There have not been significant shifts in Mirrorwane’s position since the time you left. Most of my updates are with regard to the training circumstances and average strength of the townsfolk.”

Alex glanced to Claire. He was pretty sure sharing that kind of information wouldn’t be problematic. But Claire was going to know a hell of a lot better if he was somehow missing something important and about to dig them a hole.

Fortunately, she just shrugged.

“That’s fine. They’ve already seen the Mirrorlands and they’re going to be fighting with us for the foreseeable future. Everyone here has alienated enough of the Great Families that it’s not very likely they’ll be able to join up later.”

“All of them?” Mite asked in awe. “Seriously? You pissed every single one off?”

“No,” Alex said. “But Claire probably means that the families talk. They don’t like each other, but I figure they’re more than happy to work together to get rid of pests. I wouldn’t trust any of them much at all. Even if you were just selling information, they’d probably betray you the moment you turn around.”

“Exactly.” Claire nodded. “That’s why they hold Assemblies despite not being allies. The families definitely talk. They share and exchange information because they’re all working to steal 274-50’s resources. To them, the other families might be enemies, but we’re barely even living beings. The ones that weren’t in the Ancestry would probably be friendly for just long enough to get information before betraying us.”

“Then I will not restrain any information,” Rhyss said. His lone eye blinked. “The average strength of Mirrorwane’s inhabitants has grown significantly. It is now roughly Initiate 5.”

Oh damn. That’s actually a pretty significant increase. They’re not too far behind me. Everyone must have basically been training and fighting nonstop.

“How are their foundations?” Claire asked.

That was a good question. Rushing through levels wasn’t too hard if one completely neglected their Mind Palace. That would make them leagues weaker than someone who had pushed themselves to their limits in the long run, though.

“Good,” Rhyss replied. “Not all of them possess the skill or drive to be great. But their foundations are good. There are a number of outliers as well.”

“In a good way?” Alex asked.

“In most cases.” Rhyss paused for a moment. “I will permit Orchid to do the proper update in that regard. She has taken on the burden of training everyone within Mirrorwane and has done a very commendable job. There are no longer any non-combatants within the town. Everyone is capable of defending themselves.”

Alex’s eyes widened slightly at that. Nearly half of the town had been too old or unfit to fight just a week ago. It hadn’t quite been the same level of problem that the Dhampirs back on Claire’s world had faced, but a 75 year old lady wasn’t exactly going to be able to go toe to toe with some bloodthirsty monster and live to see the next dawn in most cases.

“Damn,” Alex said. “Did she basically hand-feed them kills until they got strong enough to fight for themselves?”

Rhyss inclined his head. “That did appear to be the case. I have not observed any training procedures in the Mirrorlands. Orchid will be more suited to update you there.”

“Wait,” Derek said. “Orchid is here? I remember she left with you. She stayed?”

“Yeah,” Alex said. “I’m sure she’ll be happy to say hi. We all kind of owe you for saving our asses when we were stealing her from those Outworlders.”

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“That is good,” Derek said. “She seemed nice. And she had a very nice staff. I liked it.”

Right. Yeah. The one she made from Mirrorlands wood. I do wonder how that’s treating her. But why is it that Derek seems so… dense when it comes to magical items? Hell, he’s a bit dense when it comes to a ton of things. It’s definitely not that he’s stupid. There have been times when he’s been ridiculously insightful.

Meh. He’s probably got a few screws loose and just occasionally rattles them into the right places. Nobody who thrives in the apocalypse is going to be sane.

“Can we skip to the important part?” Mite asked. “You can talk about people later with Orchid. I don’t need to waste my time on that. Let’s get to the buildings! I’ve been waiting for ages for you to get back so you can approve my new designs!”

“Designs?” Alyssa asked. She looked at Mite, then over to the giant wall of eyes. “You’re the one that—”

“Damn straight,” Mite said with a huge grin. “It’s awesome, right?”

“I like the bones,” Derek said, giving Mite a thumbs-up. “They’re very nice.”

“Thank you,” Mite said. “And we’ve got a lot of those. We’ve been collecting all the bones and good bits from the monsters in the Mirrorlands. I built a shed to stick them in, but Rhyss wouldn’t let me do anything else until you approved it.”

Alex sent Rhyss an appreciative look.

“Have you managed to unlock any new buildings that we should make?” Claire asked.

“So many,” Mite replied. “We need defenses for the city. Cannons. Then we need better lodgings, a ping pong court, and a better hospital. That doesn’t even start to cover—”

“Hold on,” Alex said. “You just snuck the ping pong thing in there between two buildings we should actually build.”

“It builds dexterity. I have a plan drafted up to make it with bones and turn it into a System-empowered training arena,” Mite said enthusiastically. “Trust me. It’s vital. Every good town has a ping pong court.”

“Somehow, I’m not convinced,” Alex said. “Maybe we could start with just one table if you want one so badly?”

“One table?” Mite exclaimed, aghast. “But—”

“Maybe we can start with this instead,” Claire interrupted. She held the Blueprint slate she’d gotten from the Ancestry out.

Mite’s protests died before they could reach his lips. His eyes affixed on the slate as he read the invisible information the System provided about the item. Then his mouth closed with a snap. He swallowed.

“I can have that?”

“It’s a Mythic building,” Claire said. “I’d imagine building it would be a high priority. Figure it out and find a way to make it for us and it’s yours.”

“Sold,” Mite breathed, gingerly taking the slate from her and staring at it like it was made out of solid gold. He swallowed again. “A Mythic building. One I can build myself. And it sounds badass. You can count on me. I’ll figure out what we need and get this started immediately. It’s approved, right?”

“I mean, yeah. It would be a shame not to use it,” Alex said. “Just…”

Alex trailed off. Mite was already scurrying off.

“Interesting,” Alyssa said. “Did he build the rest of the town?”

“Anything with bones in it,” Alex replied, watching Mite vanish behind a building. He glanced to Rhyss. “What else is new? Have we… well, lost anyone?”

“No,” the Advisor replied. He turned to look in the direction of the Warped Embassy. “There have been no deaths recently. Orchid has established an effective regimen and oversees everyone very closely with the help of the more skilled combatants in the town. Would you like to observe? They are currently training.”

“Let’s do it,” Derek said. “As long as there aren’t any more of those creepy Forsaken Revenants waiting for us.”

“There shouldn’t be,” Alex said. “There was only one of those.”

I hope.

Rhyss bobbed slightly. Then he floated over to the run-down shack that was the Warped Embassy. They followed him. The malformed walls of the small building really didn’t inspire much confidence.

“What about Finley?” Claire asked. “How are his supply lines going?”

“Well. There have been no issues in getting the basic resources we need,” Rhyss replied.

“Warn him that there’s a chance his deal with Bridget might see some turbulence,” Claire said with a grimace. “We had a run-in with the River King, and she’s been working with him. Just make sure he’s got his feet out under him as soon as possible. We’ll help him find a new connection if we need to.”

“I will do ask you ask,” Rhyss said with a small nod. “Do you need me to guide you into the Mirrorlands? If not, I will go to Finley and compile a more detailed report on all the goings of Mirrorwane since your absence to present when you return.”

“Thank you,” Alex said. “That works for us. Oh, one more thing. You said there were some outliers in the town that were performing better than the rest, right? Who…”

He trailed off for the second time in the conversation. Rhyss had already vanished.

“Creepy,” Wess said. “How’d you get someone like that on your side? He doesn’t seem human.”

“He’s not,” Alex replied. He shook his head, then turned back to the complete darkness lurking within the Warped Embassy. “Come on. Let’s go check on the other half of the town.”

“The other half?” Alyssa asked. “I thought you said this was a portal to the Mirrorlands? You can’t mean to imply that—”

Alex grinned. Then he stepped through the portal, leaving the rest of Alyssa’s question back on 274-50 behind him. He’d been cut off a few too many times today. It was his turn to have a little fun… and he was quite curious to see exactly how much stronger everyone had gotten since he’d last seen them.