Chapter Eighty-ThreeHarmony let the bubbles tickle her chin as she submerged everything but her head. Ma Bell Had been very understanding about the need to take dinner in her room, and the extra guards.
Outrage at the attacks spread like wildfire on their return. Bme was widespread and unfocused. Organized crime, jealous guild members seeking a spot in the game, and the evolved kingdoms competing were all under suspicion. Foreigners were getting the bulk of the bme.
Ambrosia spshed into the tub.
“You could at least wait until the water has been changed. I'm filthy.”
Ambs snorted. “Like I'd let that stop me from hugging when you need it. You also stripped off the dust and grime before you stepped into the tub.” Her friend scooted on close to give her that hug. “What's bothering You?”
Saying it out loud felt like making it real. [Final Silence] quieted the area around them. “The helping hands were behind the attack.” Harmony left the further implication unsaid.
“I know there was that unpleasant incident at the first dinner here, but are you sure?”
“Did they confess? No. There were a lot of service-based skills among the attackers. [Dust] blocked my [Dust]. The way their stealth worked. I was tied up like a pretty package with a bow.”
“I'm sure you were adorable, but service professions are more common than borers,” Ambrosia said with an attempt at humor. “
“I saw one of their souls. An oath bound it up.” One far stronger than Maxwell's, and different in how more restrictive it was.
“Lots of groups..”
“Who else would know about the ancient undead servant for the Highsmythe bloodline? And why the interest in Rose?”
Ambrosia let out a defeated sigh and held Harmony tighter. “I have no arguments for the possibility. But what will we do now?”
Without proof and maybe even with proof, there was little she could see working. The boys would get into trouble. Countess Maye had sent a strongly worried letter about how she was right to worry about Adric.
Harmony’s response reminded his aunt that she could secure his safety now, and make sure he was well trained for the potentially even more dangerous Ascendant Games. Maye wouldn't let Addy out of her sight, but that wasn't a connection to stress further by mentioning the Hands. Rose, well, it was her move now. Harmony doubted the princess would believe her theories. Telling her would make it worse.
“Only one thing to do. Get stronger.” Contrary to her words she snuggled into Ambrosia. Three days and she missed her. How hard would the weeks or months in the Ascendent Games be? So selfishly she settled in until the Ambs humming started. “Oh, I can spit Light now.” Accessing the skill she'd used [Cim] on she shot a ray at the ceiling. It left a small circur scotch mark.
“Why didn't you start with that?” Ambrosia said with a little shake. “And you know who'll have to fix that. Also, how did you…?”
“It's a beast skill. I can now borrow skills, one at a time, from the dead. I'm still getting the hang of it.” A little bit of exhaustion crept in from squeezing that bit out of the nearly degraded skill. “I want to focus on finding a stamina skill stone. And when you go can you have the skill dictionary from the Grave Society brought to me?”
“How do you know I want to go?”
"Your humming and mumbling under your breath were betraying you. I'm sure everyone will want a song about our daring escape from the Deadwoods.”
Untangling herself, Ambrosia stood up and let the water drop off of herself before exiting the tub. “Thanks, Harm.”
Enough rexation. Harmony got out soon after. The first thing she did once the book arrived was review the skill options she passed up on. [Bindings of Regret] was an uncommon skill that freezes a person up with thoughts of the past. Any attack or skill used on them breaks the effect. Lasted ten seconds, half effective on monsters, ten percent effective on guardians.
[Reaping Cycle] was rare. Death by a thousand cuts as long as you channeled the spell.with full attention. Like the bubble that kept Hyacinth trapped in the deadwoods. A spell for someone with a team to protect them.
[Cim the Remains of Power] wasn’t in the book. Not shocking. It reminded her of [Stride Before the Fall], but at least this one was hers and not offered as a prize from an eager puppy of a dungeon. That didn’t mean the Dictionary of the Dead didn’t have value.
[Cim Undead], [Cim Blessing or Curse], and [Cim Fear] all had something in common; they took an unusual path for necromancy skills in that they all used stamina. They all stated overuse would cause exhaustion when using the skills. [Remains] limited it to the dead. There was something hidden in the ability to cim power. How she'd moved a skill from a bug to a spirit. Soul strike was the perfect example of what she could do with enough effort. And if Ambrosia was right that was a thin line towards skills people with demonic csses had. What will the evolution options be?
There was a lot still to py around with the cimed skills, but already she sensed limitations outside of needing stamina. There were no natural connections to the other skills. The method of holding the skill and gathering it was very tangible, but once it was in that hungry container synergies and partial uses fell out of reach. Attempting to force them with her natural stats of synergies and connections felt like a trap that could break her. There had been enough messing with the unknown. [Cim the Remains of Power] wouldn’t be half as useful without [Renew Spirit] to heal and halt decay in the skills trapped. She'd only managed to maintain it so long because it had been a short night's sleep before their departure with frequent applications to heal it.
Harmony dug through the dictionary for skills reting to gaining or increasing stamina. Every [Heart] skill did that. While the book focused on necromantic versions like [Bleeding Heart]. [Heart of Decay], [Entombed Heart], and such it aligned with the common knowledge that heart skills helped a person's stamina at a cost. For the price of an interview, she could have one, and even if she needed to bleed ink, have another mark she could cover, or have a book on her she’d do it.
The knock on the door pulled her out of her thoughts. It was te enough that she should be in bed. It was Bate’s knock, if this was a low-priority event a different servant would have knocked. “Yes?”
“Guild mistress Thorne is here to see you,” Bates announced.
Paranoia had Harmony switch to soul vision in case it was someone pretending to be her. Bates wouldn’t make that mistake, but still. “Send her in.” Harmony dropped the concentration-intensive skill with a sigh of relief when she saw it was her. “You made it out safely.”
“I told you I would if the pn worked. The Highsmythes have an abundance of princes and princesses, but taking the head of the adventure guild is a whole different level of problems. The group was too organized to not be aware of that. If they were amateurs they might have risked killing me.”
Of all the things that made Harmony uncomfortable, despite how much Thorne had demonstrated she was not like Hemlock, it was this privilege and protection of being the elite of the elites. Thorne was standing here when Harmony knew if she was taken she’d be dead. Always someone treated as less and someone treated as more. “So?” Harmony asked to allow Thorne to tell her what she could without rudely demanding it.
“I’m talking to all the candidates for the games. I dislike politics in general but I can py the game if needed. In this case, my position doesn’t allow me to enter local politics except when forced. You are all under my protection until you enter the games, during which this group will not physically or directly attack any of you.”
[Poise and Bearing] kept a pcid smile on Harmony’s face as the guild mistress confirmed the worst. With her speaking of politics to the possibility of non-physical and indirect action the final connections were confirmed.
“I appreciate you reying the news personally.“ Harmony said as politely as possible. She needed to get stronger and more stable fast. It was now only a question of how much time she had.
