Paths of the Chosen

The following weeks were the busiest in Aidan's life. His days consisted of diplomatic meetings, mission planning, and relentless training for the task ahead. His nights consisted of sleeping with little divergence. By the time he schlepped himself home each evening, he didn't have the energy to do much more than collapse into restless dreams. Nonetheless, his fiancees were each attentive in their own ways.

Ailis was with him for most of the day and made sure he took breaks along the way. He spent more than one early afternoon dozing against her chest, wrapped in her arms. She also acted as his gatekeeper, ensuring that he only heard about the problems requiring his personal attention.

Sunnild brought Aidan his lunch and dinner every day—then stayed to ensure he ate it all. She only had to force-feed him once to prove how serious she took her self-imposed task. Once he finished to her satisfaction, she lingered for a brief cuddle. Somehow, his hand always found its way to her still-flat belly.

Meanwhile, Brighid took an active role in planning the expedition. Although she wouldn't be among those going to Karsarrym's lair, she was a veteran adventurer. Her extensive experiences clearing out dungeons and slaying monsters were invaluable. If she prioritized Aidan's safety above most other concerns, she kept it subtle enough to head off complaints.

Aoife filled in the gaps. Whenever Aidan needed something, she was at his shoulder, ready to send someone to fetch it. She took notes on every meeting he attended, and her observations helped him catch some slippery maneuvering that would have passed him by otherwise. A mug of clear, cold water was always waiting in her hands when he needed a drink while training. And, when Aidan came home long after the sun sought its rest, it was Aoife who ensured that he disrobed and bathed before succumbing to sleep.

None of this meant Aidan was celibate. There were no orgies or long, luxurious lovemaking sessions, but quick liaisons still happened. Whether it was Aoife crouched beneath his desk with her head between his legs, Ailis distracting a wolven dignitary while Brighid dragged him off to a side chamber, or Sunnild straddling his lap while feeding him, they each found time to be with Aidan.

All told, Aidan doubted he would have survived with his sanity intact without them. He resolved to make sure they all knew how grateful he was once he returned. He would spend a day with each of them in turn, pampering them and waiting on their whims as they'd done with him.

The one curiosity was Eldrid. After spending the night with Aidan, the sexual pressure from her came to a near-total stop. She still wore clothes designed to titillate, and she never stopped flirting, but there was no longer an edge to her. She kept things light. A teasing smile, fingers brushing his wrist, a gorgeous view of white marble mountains as she leaned down in front of him. Gone, it seemed, was Eldrid's anger, leaving a new relationship behind.

Still, teasing and flirting were all he got from the other Chosen. Eldrid had opportunities to pull Aidan into a quiet corner for kisses or more. She didn't take them. Instead, she seemed content to let the tension ratchet up until one of them boiled over. Aidan expected he'd be the one to lose this round of the game.

The women he loved weren't unaware, of course. In fact, all four of them encouraged Aidan to keep his sex-fueled Talents as full as possible on the march. Brighid took the time to point out women in the expedition who might be willing to indulge themselves with him. Aidan acknowledged that the extra stats would be useful, but his Earther upbringing still made him uncomfortable sleeping with women he didn't know well. He did promise to at least fill his Huffin' and Puffin' quota the night before they attacked Karsarrym. He could lean on Eldrid for that.

At the end of it all, Aidan still felt less than fully confident in a complete victory. Although, in theory, the League had as much as a year before the dragon eggs hatched, none of them were certain when Karsarrym laid them. Furthermore, nothing prevented the dragon from sallying out from its lair to raid the countryside. It was unlikely Karsarrym would leave the eggs behind for a serious fight like assaulting Ceallach Macht, but none of them could react fast enough to interfere if it started torching villages.

Aidan was also under another element of time pressure. He doubted he could complete his personal quest before mid-spring without the experience from killing Karsarrym. The second stratum Labyrinth boss might do it, and Ysbail was eager to achieve her own quest by reaching the fifth floor. However, the Adventurer's early expeditions into the caverns revealed that the enemies were an order of magnitude more dangerous than those in the first stratum. She was taking it slow and steady rather than rush in.

More importantly, Aidan's goal wasn't to reach level 25. Instead, it was to attain a Prestige Class, which would involve another quest. Unfortunately, there was no telling how long or involved it would be, which meant he needed to see his options as soon as possible. He didn't want to be forced to choose between taking suboptimal Prestige Class or failing You Shouldn't Tempt Fate.

Still, Aidan's training bore considerable fruit. He focused his practice on the three things he believed would prove most pivotal against Karsarrym: Blade of Burning Wrath, Phoenixfire Conflagration, and Aura Control.

Blade was Aidan's primary offensive contribution to the fight. He intended to summon as many of them as he could control before they entered Karsarrym's chamber and send them all against the dragon. While the spell was impressive enough in its base form, he worked with Ailis and a Sisterhood Fire Mage to improve it. Through their combined efforts, Aidan developed several alternate incantations.

Conflagration, meanwhile, would be his go-to emergency button for the fight. It wouldn't bring anyone back to life, but he couldn't afford to use Phoenix Pyre except in the direst circumstances. In any situation short of that, Conflagration would downgrade mortal Wounds to survivable (if crippling) ones and refill everyone's Health. Since he didn't expect it to use it as an attack, Aidan chose to refine its healing and protective capabilities.

Those efforts bore fruit both in improving Conflagration and in advancing Aidan's Vivimancy to Apprentice tier. That, in turn, granted him a new spell.

At last, Aidan had a real defensive measure. After factoring in his stats and other bonuses, Healing Radiance effectively gave the target around 300 extra Health—a 60% increase for him alone—and a buffer against major Wounds. He could cast it on the strike squad before they fought Karsarrym, tipping the scales somewhat further in their favor. It would cut into the number of Blades he could maintain, but the cost-to-benefit ratio was worthwhile.

As for his newly-unlocked Aura, it was a wild card. According to Ysbail, Aura was even more unique to the individual using it than magic. Hers focused on offense, while Aidan's Aura seemed stubbornly resistant to the entire concept. Try as he might, Aidan couldn't replicate Ysbail's sword beams, a fact that upset him more than it should.

Practicing with his Aura proved difficult, and Aidan didn't manage to manifest any new abilities with it. However, by the time the expedition launched, he cut the time it took him to activate his Aura to a point where he might even be able to bring it up in reaction to an attack. Ysbail claimed it was stronger, too, although Aidan wasn't sure how she could tell.

The final plan for the assault on Karsarrym's lair was straightforward, if not simple. The Snow-Water Rider mercenaries were the tip of the spear. They would be of limited use against the dragon itself, so instead, they had the task of clearing out the dungeon. Skilled as they were, and used to working in unusual circumstances, they should take minimal losses while preserving the strike team's resources for the fight that mattered.

That was important because it was quite unlikely they would catch the dragon by surprise. All it would take was one minion escaping to warn its master or one unseen ward getting tripped. Thus, they expected Karsarrym to be ready and waiting when they entered the central lair chamber. This would be a battle, not an assassination.

Each of the League members contributed to the strike force, both in personnel and materiel. Aidan, of course, was Ceallach Macht's main offering, but not its only one. Brighid was nearly as busy as he was, crafting arms and armor for the squad out of second stratum Labyrinth materials. Ysbail and her team, of course, were the ones contributing the crystals and ores, another reason why Aidan was unable to make much progress advancing his Aura Control.

Two Sapphire Sky gargoyles formed the team's vanguard. They were far more durable by multiple orders of magnitude than anyone else, but even they might crumble beneath the sustained attention of an adult dragon. In a surprising show of trust, the gargoyles also provided a small number of magical arrows they claimed could pierce even their own hardened hide.

Ysbail, already proven against their target, would join the front line. Her protege Wulfryn begged to be included, but both Ysbail and the Ash Shroud Sisterhood leadership refused. Instead, the harpies sent a skilled sniper and a mage specializing in enchantments. The latter wouldn't join in the attack. Her job was to work with Brighid to make the Labyrinth-forged gear even better—something Aidan's Soulmate was quite excited about.

The wolven and catfolk were also contributing backline fighters. A Bonekin shaman specializing in debilitating debuffs would hopefully help lock down the dragon. Searlas, meanwhile, pledged his only high-level summoner. Aidan suspected the mage had displeased his Chief somehow, but he couldn't turn down the help. According to Ailis, casters specializing in summons were far more effective than dabblers like Aidan himself.

Searlas tried to get away without providing any other assets, citing the scout report making the attack possible. However, in the end, the pressure from the rest of the League Council wore him down. Grumbling all the while, he agreed to provide food and shelter along the way for the entire expedition force, including the otterkin mercenaries. Truth be told, that was a weight off Aidan's shoulders. Ceallach Macht's food situation was tenuous as it was.

The Ebon Bonekin offered something that widened everyone's eyes. Fanchenn presented the Council with three rawhide necklaces from which dangled bony hands. Each would save the bearer's life once, downgrading a lethal or mortal Wound to a critical, but treatable, one. These were sacred relics of their ancestors and could only be deployed at the ancestors' behest.

The fact that only three of the lifesaving artifacts were available caused a heated argument. Each of the League members, even the Sapphire Sky, wanted their people protected. Aidan managed to defuse the situation somewhat by refusing one for himself—he knew he had at least one life left in the bank—but that still left three relics for six party members. In the end, they went to Searlas's summoner, Ysbail, and one of the gargoyles.

The gargoyle was a political concession. If the fight turned south enough to threaten one of them, it was unlikely any of the strike team would survive. Ysbail was a more practical choice. She would be in the most danger as a frontliner without the absurd durability of a living, magical statue. The summoner was also a reasonable consideration as he would be a juicy target for Karsarrym to snipe. Kill the summoner, and the summons would vanish.

The dragon-slaying plan was for the two gargoyles to enter the lair along with the toughest of the summons. The rest of the group would wait for them to engage Karsarrym before stepping in. Next, Aidan would enter and send his full complement of Blades after the dragon. If their quarry underestimated the threat, they might be able to end the fight early. If not, the others would join the battle. Any planning past then was pointless.

Such was the situation at dawn on the day before the expedition. All the preparations were complete; troops readied, caravan supplied, elite squad gathered. The only thing remaining for Aidan was to spend the day with the women who made his fucked-up life worth living.

Zurai

Aidan's status screen:

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