The main problem I'm running into right now is that I don't have any quality imbuent stones. Or really any imbuent stones. Thys and Thaht have a stash sowhere, as they've said, but neither of them can rember where they're kept and all the rest of their siblings are out... sowhere. Thys is clambering around in the basent, trying to find them. The stones, I an. Not his siblings.
I'm starting to wonder if I need to pull off so kind of heist and steal whatever stash of imbuent stones Whisper keeps in the military base the Ringmaster ntioned.
"I think you should," Ahkelios offers. He peeks down over the fringe of my hair, and I blink as his head appears upside-down in my vision. "It's probably less boring than sitting here and watching you try to turn ordinary rocks into imbuent stones."
"I don't see you helping," I grumble.
Virin's technique for creating an imbuent stone isn't one I can easily replicate. I have a few ideas — the requirent for imbuent stones to be ordered and pure is sothing pretty easily fulfilled by substances outside the standard gems and crystals that I've seen so far — but I want to try the traditional thods first.
Not that the traditional thods are getting anywhere.
"No luck?" Thaht asks sympathetically. He's lounging shirtless by the side of his workshop, staring down at and the rock I'm unsuccessfully trying to convert. "Been there."
"This would be a lot easier if you just used your arena points to get so imbuent stones from the Ringmaster," I grumble.
"I would, but he's closed shop," Thaht says. "Part of the tournant. All prizes are handled strictly by the Isthanok military." His voice turns interested. "You've t him?"
"Yeah," I say. "It was how I got my first imbuent stones. Pretty interesting guy..."
My voice trails off, and I frown, thinking back on our original eting. Two things stand out to . The first is that whatever role he plays, it's related to the Trial or the Interface in so way — there has to be a reason his shop registers on my Interface. A reason he figured out I was a Trialgoer so quickly.
The second is the finger-twisting salute he gave . The one that matches the one both Thys and Thaht used to greet with.
"...Is he part of your resistance?" I ask after a mont.
Thaht cocks his head. "What makes you say that?"
I replicate the salute. "He did this when we first t."
Thaht frowns. "We don't actually know everyone that's involved in the resistance," he says slowly. "Information security, you understand. But he never greeted that way when we t — and I've definitely greeted him with it."
"Maybe he joined recently," I suggest.
"Or soone on their side figured out the signal," Thaht mutters.
"I dunno. He seed pretty genuine to ," Ahkelios comnts. Thaht yelps, still surprised by the mantis whenever he chooses to talk — Ahkelios is pretty much content to lounge silently on my head otherwise, which usually leads to the people around us forgetting that he's even there.
"Let go ask my brother if he knows anything about this," Thaht decides after a mont, his chest still heaving. He pauses, then glances with a critical eye down at the stairs toward the basent, where a bevy of particularly concerning noises have begun to erge. "...I'll give him a mont. In case he's about to make sothing explode."
There is, right on cue, a muffled boom.
"Isn't he just looking for the imbuent stones you guys already have?" I ask, bemused. "How is he setting off explosions?"
"You don't want to know," Thys says with a sigh.
Apparently, Thys is the mad scientist between the two of them, which sohow doesn't surprise in the least.
It turns out, when Thys re-erges from the basent with soot caked all over his snout, that he has no more of an idea about the Ringmaster's potential status as a rebel than his brother does. He does, however, have more of a clue to offer.
"He always seems different every ti I talk to him," Thys says thoughtfully. "And the hat he wears kinda hides who he is. You think maybe he's soone different every ti?"
Now that's a thought.
Thys wasn't able to find an imbuent stone down in the basent, unfortunately, although he's insistent that he'll be able to find it with just a few more minutes of searching. His brother doesn't seem nearly as convinced.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
"Do you know where we can find him?" I ask. "Not saying we're going to go after him right now, but..."
"Honestly, I have no idea where he goes at the end of his shifts," Thys admits. "I tried to follow him once and he just vanished."
"Weird." And considering the Ringmaster's potential connection to the Interface, definitely interesting. Maybe I'll have to try following him the next ti I et him. Or maybe... "Do you know when the others are going to need us?"
Thys and Thaht exchange glances. "Not anyti soon, I think," Thaht says cautiously. "Why?"
"Do you rember where he vanished?" I ask, directing the question to Thys. Maybe I'll be able to find sothing with my Firmant sense that he missed.
"Uh... yeah. Pretty hard to forget," Thys says. "Nondescript alleyways are only nondescript until sothing interesting happens in them. Now it's, you know, descript. A descript alleyway."
"I don't think that's a word," Ahkelios pipes up.
I don't even bother comnting. The Interface is translating for , and trying to figure out how it's managed to translate a wordplay related joke that happens to not be a word in all three of our respective languages is giving a headache.
"Do you mind taking there?" I ask. "We're not going to make much progress on these Firmant sinks without imbuent stones, and unless you can find the ones you have stashed away or I can miraculously figure out how to make one within the next few hours, this is probably our next best option."
"Maybe not the next best option," Ahkelios points out. "There's gotta be other shops in the city that sell imbuent stones, right?"
"Uh..." Thys glances at his brother, and then awkwardly looks around the shop. "Yes? But they're expensive."
"We'd have to steal 'em," Thaht says bluntly. "We don't have the money for it right now."
...And this isn't the loop where Tarin made a bunch of money betting on , either. I suppose I could head back to the Arena and bet on him, but with his winning streak, I doubt the betting odds are going to be great right now.
"Let's try that if the Ringmaster thing doesn't work," I say with a sigh. "Not sure stealing is the safest thing to do in Isthanok."
"You'd be right about that," Thaht says. He rubs at his elbow, an almost subconscious movent; I glance at it but don't comnt.
"So, the alleyway?" I prompt. Thys perks up.
"I'll lead the way!" he says. He pulls open the door to the workshop, and I wince as noise from the street suddenly floods in. "Follow ."
The stink of Firmant is strong enough that it makes cringe as we step into the alleyway.
It's the first ti Firmant has registered like this to my senses, too — stink. Like it's rotting. Normally, my Firmant sense acts a little like proprioception. Foreign Firmant registers to with position and weight and density, all linked to like it's an extension of my own body.
This, though? It's hard to describe, but sohow the way it all cos together in my senses causes it to manifest a distinct, sulfuric sll. I can still tell it's Firmant, but it's... unpleasant.
"Ugh," Ahkelios mutters, as if agreeing with . I can sense this foreign Firmant pushing itself at him, as if attracted to him as a being of pure Firmant; the mantis waves irritably about from his position atop my head, chasing away the fus. It's not very strong, luckily.
"Sothing wrong?" Thys asks, glancing back at .
"Yeah, this place feels... wrong," I say vaguely, glancing around.
More accurately, it feels like a trap.
It's not impossible that Thys and Thaht are leading into a trap, although I doubt that's the case. Both of them seem fully dedicated to fighting Whisper. I don't even think this is a trap that's ant for . But the fact that it triggers my senses at all...
I frown. It's subtle, but this is a Premonition.
"Stop," I call out. The skill isn't giving anything distinct — just a vague, uneasy impression. There is danger here. No direction, no magnitude. I can't tell if sothing's interfering with the skill or if the nature of the danger is too nebulous for the skill to give any more information.
Thaht looks impatient. "This was your idea," he points out.
"I know. That was before I actually got here." I reach out with Firmant Control, trying to grasp at this strange Firmant with the skill. It's surprisingly slippery, sliding out of my ntal grip even as I try to manipulate it; that, more than anything, convinces that I need to figure out what's going on before I continue.
Especially since — and I grimace as I realize this — I can't just reset the loop if sothing goes wrong. Death would make almost this entire loop a waste. I have no guarantee that Tarin's plan in the Arena has borne fruit yet, and the rest of the rebels are still trying to learn what they can from Whisper's inner council. Ending this loop now is a lot of wasted effort.
I back up a few steps. Thys and Thaht, wary, back up with .
"Just let ..." I mutter, and I activate Firmant Sight.
The alleyway explodes into color.
Four distinct colors, in fact, though the shades are so subtle I couldn't tell the difference with my Firmant sense alone. Each are a slightly different shade of dark red, moving erratically within the alleyway. There's no rhy or reason to it that I can tell, but I do see wisps of Firmant trying to curl their way around Thys's hand, and I pull him back instinctively.
He gives a questioning look. I ignore it.
Ahkelios. I speak through our link. Any ideas?
Try Phaseslip, he suggests through our link.
I frown. This doesn't feel exactly the sa as out-of-phase Firmant... but he's right. There are similarities, and Phaseslip seems to enhance the information Firmant Sight is able to give , anyway.
I activate Phaseslip.
Color resolves into shapes. Wispy Firmant takes on proper form, sharpening into distinct shapes, figures...
And I feel a coldness settle over my spine as four silhouettes of the Ringmaster appear before .
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