Breaking the Rules Pt. 22

"!Tsoratarwa! Big quest, coming through!" Nuru bellowed, Intimidate spell sending the dwarf with the crazy floating axe head that had directed him earlier scrambling out of his way, despite being several levels- probably several TENS of levels- higher than him.

He tore a Fire Hand out of his spell book and activated it, holding the flame-wreathed hand out away from his body, smashing it straight into the face of another zombie between him and the door at the tower.

"No, no, not a flaming zombie, not a- angelshit!" he heard the dwarf curse behind him.

Sure enough, the zombie lit up like a pyre, but Nuru was around and past it, and he didn't wait to see why this was such a bad thing. He was winded, but kept going, adrenaline pushing him into a headlong sprint for the roadway, and freedom. He passed hobgoblins like they were standing still, as they patrolled the main entrance and kept the zombies from swarming out to the wider world. He stomped his way back to where he and Tusa had separated, finding the feliform right where he'd left him.

"Come! We return with all haste!!Kafa Mara Nauyi!"

The miles flew by, and Nuru laughed his head off, without fully understanding why.

*****

"Sooo," Furaha said, throwing her hood back after Nuru let her into his room at the inn.

He'd bundled himself up in a bunch of rags, pretending to be some hideous monstrosity that couldn't bear to be seen in the light of day, and returned to City of the Damned.

"So," Nuru said.

"What did you get?"

Nuru held out a page with his reproduction of the wall of symbols to her. She blinked rapidly.

"This is..."

"Old Demonic, I'm told," Nuru finished for her.

"An incantation. For what, I wonder?"

"We'll find out soon. How are we doing on all the rest?"

"Ekene's been charting out the changes to the.. elephant thing."

The pocket dimension, she meant, even if she wasn't allowed to say the words.

Furaha continued. "It's going to occupy a frequency-shifted space overlapping your land near Home Town. Since you own that space, they can't trespass. And that gave me an idea for dealing with your ring."

"Oh?"

"Call in your favor from that merchant that owes you one from when he betrayed you to Katlego, when he sold you that codpiece. He strips enchantments on armor and stuff all the time, I'm sure. Heck, maybe get another codpiece thrown in on top of it."

"Hah. And a curse is the same as an armor enchantment?"

"Well, not quite."

She explained it to him. He smiled. She smiled back.

"Alright, then. Get with that sack of shit from Diamond Dales and let's do these summon scrolls," Nuru said.

*****

"Are we ready?" Nuru said.

/Do it./

He repeated what she told him, and one by one the symbols puffed out of existence on the sheet. They'd done so before, but quickly reappeared if the symbols weren't read in exact order. They'd also done so by themselves, before he started the sequence himself; Sanaa had said that this was from others trying to guess the order of symbols, making several attempts to determine the next one on the sequence, but having to take some time to determine that it had succeeded or failed; they had only gotten maybe four or five symbols figured out so far. Nuru read the whole sequence in order, start to finish, repeating what Sanaa read off to him one at a time. Nuru cried out in pain, and heard Sanaa do so as well, as the parchment that the symbols had been written on crumbled into dust, and he could feel part of his mind where the memory of those symbols had been was ripped out of him.

"Are you ok!?" Furaha gasped, running to his side and holding him as he swayed, holding his head.

"Yeah... ow. It just made me forget what the symbols were- woah."

In the distance, far beyond the wall of the inn, Nuru saw a glowing shape. He turned, looking in all directions, and there were faint glows in different places, but the brightest was in that direction.

"What is it? What's happening?" Furaha said, worry etched into her face.

"I see... I can't quite tell what."

/Temples. Or something./

"Temples?" He frowned. "Let's go find out."

They went out down Rainbow Road, and climbed a hill. He looked in the direction of one of the glows, the closest one. "What's out that way?"

"Let me see..." Furaha said, consulting her map. "Whitegarden."

"Hmm. That way?"

"Several dungeons. Trading stops. Mount Basalt."

"That way?"

"Round Rock. Jelani's HQ, you'll recall."

"How about there."

"...Tower of Neeoka? I think. We can go triangulate to be sure."

"Aaaand that way."

Nuru pointed to the bright one.

"Hmm. Looks like Home Town, unless it's way out in the new Expansion. What are all these things?"

"I guess I better go see why this one is special. Call Dayo and Ace. This is for all the marbles."

(You seeing all this?)

/No, but I have instructions on how to invoke the First Rule. It's quite insistently swimming in the front of my mind, begging to be used. But first things first. Ask Furaha if she has the True Name I asked for./

"You have the... elephant's name?"

Furaha held up a sheet of paper with a name on it.

/Got it. Time to get one of my minions to take a new skin with that name. I'm moving into a pocket dimension before the Elder Archdemons all come knocking on my door. I hear the war horns blowing as we speak. Super close to Level Fifty. Hope I calculated this right, I'm going to have to kill my own thralls to get up over the top. It's going to be very boring in there, Nuru, so I hope you've got some fun planned./

*****

A few days later, Nuru trudged to a stop. He'd seen one glowing spot overlapping another and had picked out several other locations, but this bright one troubled him.

"What's up?" Dayo said.

"So uh... it's that way." Dayo looked at him, then followed his outstretched finger, then looked back at his face.

"That's Chosen HQ," they said, eyes wide.

"I guess... you've been chosen," Nuru said, with a wry grin. "For what, I have no idea."

/Go there, and summon me at the altar at noon, I know what to do. Go alone. Better yet- send Dayo out to kill Chibale; have him called out for a duel to the death, for their honor./

"Why?" Nuru frowned.

/To buy us time. They won't suffer us to do such a thing in sovereign space. A bit of entertainment will give us the room we need./

"But..."

/Don't question it, mortal. Just do it./

Nuru looked at Dayo with sad eyes.

"Wh- what is it? Why are you looking at me like that?" the valkyrie stammered.

"No. I can't do this. Dayo, get away. Please. Run."

"Do what!?"

/You can, and you will, mortal.!Mamayar Rai Mafi Girma!/

"Run! Urk! Grrrrnnnnnggaaaaauugh!" Nuru said, clutching his head and falling over. "Ace! Aaaaace!"

"Talk to me!" the thief said.

"Get to... Ekene... my medallion... bring it..."

/Oh no, you fucking don't! Nuru! Do as you're told! This is the chance of a lifetime! A millenium! You can be rich, and famous, and fuck ALL the girls! You can have a new one every day the rest of your life! Damn foolish mortal, just submit! I'll get you another hunky valkyrie, two if you want!/

"!Amrig Ifam Iar Rayamam!" he uncast.

The Greater Domination spell threatening to tear Nuru's skull apart cancelled, leaving him shaky and breathless.

/Think you're so clever.!Fushin Kishi Mafi Girma!/

"Wha-"

Nuru didn't see Furaha move, he just felt the sting of needles raking his body as a horrible scowl flashed across her. He curled up and covered his head as her fist slammed at his defenses, she was not strong by adventurer standards but she was possessed by a manic rage - Jealous Rage, Nuru realized - and she was attacking Sanaa as her rival by the only target she had available to stand in her place: Nuru's body. He didn't see Ace leave, or return, he just lay there and took all the punishment the half-elf could dish out at him with her ridiculously low combat proficiency.

/This must be done! Don't throw this away you witless gimp! See if I don't chain you and let you die! I'll leave you strung up for a thousand years, with your soul trapped watching me grow my domain, knowing you can have none of it! I'll chop your dick off and have the maids use it to scrub the fl0or! I'll flay you and thro// you down a staircase dusted with salt! 1'Ll carve my name in your b4ck andddd permanently sodomize you with a signpost, and makhkhkhkh your little friend Zula heal you every day to keep you alive!#% Stupid mort@l you have no ideEa the venjjjjjeanCE iwillwreeeeaaaAAAAKKKK.......-

Nuru lay on the ground, huffing and puffing and holding himself as still as he could. He heard Furaha shriek.

"Oh my god, Nuru! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! Oh gods above, I don't know what I was thinking, please forgive me, I-"

"Ssh... it wasn't you... it was her..." Nuru croaked out. "Sanaa... fucking lost it..."

"Holy shit. How did this happen?" Ace said, handing the amulet to Nuru gently.

"I... gods... I couldn't resist her. I knew she was strong but..." Furaha lamented.

"Damn. What was that all about?" Dayo said, panting with the exertion of sprinting. "Is it over now?"

"Give him a couple minutes for it to wear off," Furaha said, sobbing guiltily.

"I guess they're right, more women means more drama," Nuru quipped weakly.

"Welp. I could say it, but I won't," Ace said.

"Yeah, yeah... go ahead... you know you want to," Nuru groaned.

"Nah. Insult to injury? No need."

"Some chaotic neutral you are," Nuru coughed.

"Oh, all right. Told ya so. Woman scorned and all that."

Nuru's face started to feel a bit closer to a smile than it did before. "See? Feel better now?"

"Sure, a little," Ace chuckled.

Finally the Needle Storm expired and the needles evaporated. Nuru got to his feet, and waved all of his friends in for a group hug.

"Shit, did that ever suck," Nuru said. "But this isn't over. We've got one more thing to do."

"What's that?" Furaha said, wiping her eyes. "You don't hate me, right?"

"No, silly elf, I still love you. Each one of you. We're going to do more or less what she said. But we're doing it my way," Nuru said.

"Well don't keep us waiting," Dayo said. "What's that?"

"We're full-summoning Sanaa to Chosen HQ. In the flesh, by the altar. I really have to know what the plan was after that. Maybe then she'll take my consent principle seriously."