Sigma Triad (first draft) Entry #7 (8/27/10)

Umbris bought the Triad’s usual room at The Roaring Griffin and waited for Terios and Pyrik in the common room. He sat alone at the table, as members of the Moonshadow Family are generally feared by most and distrusted by others. Umbris did not blame them. The Moonshadow Family was so different that Umbris wondered if the family had ceased to be human. As his thoughts wandered, he thought of his father and his aunts and his uncles and his cousins, always so controlled and stoic. He thought of the more easily apparent differences of the Moonshadows: the sheer strength of their Power, their apparent immortality. He thought about his mission. He internally winced with guilt as he thought of this. He still had not told Terios or Pyrik. He had not even told them about Darterra. Should he tell them? Would they still trust him? What would happen if they found out on their own, or rather when they did?


His train of thought was interrupted by Terios sitting down next to him. “Have you talked to anyone about a job yet?” Terios asked.

“No, I thought you should do that. You’re much better with people than I am.”

“Don’t think that flattering me will get you out of anything, because it won’t work.”

“There you are!” Pyrik said as he walked in and sat down at the table. “This place is crowded tonight. Kardif must be pleased by all this business.”

Umbris’s spirits fell when he noticed that Osmedius, appearing as if out of nowhere, sat down at the same table as the Triad. Great, he thought, just the person we didn’t want to see. Wait a second, who’s the kid sitting next to him?

When he asked this question out loud, Osmedius just said, “All in good time. But we really should start at the beginning. Sigma, I have a proposition for your group. However, I think we should discuss this over dinner. My treat.”

Terios cracked a quick smile and said, “Sounds alright so far, only I’ve noticed that whenever you treat us to dinner, it’s because you’re about to offer us a particularly difficult job that you can’t afford to properly pay us for. Waiter!” he called to the server who was running around taking orders, “I think we’re ready to order!”

They ordered their food, exchanged some news about the current state of the Triad’s search for the Chamber of the Old Ones and the Resistance’s war effort against the State of Utopia. When their food arrived, Osmedius went straight to business. “So, in short, here’s the deal. We are planning a raid on a Utopian experimental facility about thirty days from now. This particular facility is experimenting with adamantium. The notes, materials, and prototypes we could obtain from this facility may be a key piece in this war. The only problem is that the entire Two-Twenty-First Legion is guarding the place. What we need you to do is to somehow distract them, so that we have an easier time raiding the facility. Any questions so far?”

“Yeah, I have a few,” Umbris responded. “First off, how much will we get paid for this? This is one hell of a mission, even from you. Wasn’t the Resistance low on funds? How will you even hire us? Do you expect us to work for free?”

Osmedius glared at Umbris for a couple of seconds before replying, “That was something I was hoping to arrange with you three. And we will get to that in a moment. Anything else?”

“On our way over here,” Pyrik said, “you mentioned that Thorch’n here was ‘part of the proposition.’ What exactly did you mean?”

“Well,” Osmedius explained, “I suppose it actually is a different proposition really, but they do go together. You see, my pupil here, Thorch’n, is a rather. . . . interesting Warrior. Interesting Power. I have taught him much, but he lacks experience. I was hoping that you three would take him in for the next month before and during the raid, so that he might have that experience?”

Well, isn’t that great! Umbris thought. On top of his ridiculous ‘proposition,’ he wants to dump a green brat on us! The first actual combat training is the most difficult for the instructor, having to battle and make sure that a young Warrior does his part without getting seriously hurt at the same time! If he’s going to be a Master, he’d better learn that he can’t just delegate stuff when things get hard!

Terios pondered Osmedius’s words for a moment, and then said, “I will consider that, along with the rest of the proposition, but Umbris is right. You don’t seem to be in a position to hire mercenaries, especially for a job like this. We could just do the job and expect the payment whenever you can pay, but that would by necessity mean an even larger payload, one that the Resistance could never afford while this war still lasts. . . . “

“How about first pick?” Pyrik put in. “If we could have first pick of whatever is in this facility, I’m sure that would be payment enough.”

“Completely out of the question!” Osmedius exclaimed, slamming his hand on the table. “Your services are valuable, to be sure, but not that valuable!”

Suddenly, Terios look up, his eyes sparkling the way they do every time he has one of his great and dangerous ideas. “What if we were to destroy their airship? What if we destroyed The Sun’s Judgment?” The table went silent for a little while Terios allowed his idea to sink in. “Think about it: without their airship, the Two-Twenty-First would be crippled. Doubtless, many legionaries would be on the ship when we destroy it, maybe as many as half of them! They would also be too busy defending the Judgment to worry about guarding the facility, so it would be a perfect distraction, as well. Would that be worth first pick?”

Umbris gaped at Terios. What in this world, the next world, and any world around or in between is he thinking? Sure we’ve done some incredible things in the past, in fact I often look back on our past exploits and wonder how we managed to survive, let alone succeed. But destroy a Legion Airship? Just the three of us? With an inexperienced runt in tow? There’s simply no way. And there’s no way Osmedius will buy it either.

Umbris was soon proven wrong however. Osmedius sat still for a moment, taking in what Terios said. “Coming from anyone else,” he said slowly, as if carefully choosing each word, “I would say you were absolutely insane. From you, however, I actually think you could do it. All right, you take Thorch’n in for training, and destroy The Sun’s Judgment. We will meet one league south of the research facility, which is one hundred and forty-two leagues north of the Utopian city of Slahjia, at dawn thirty days from tomorrow. Your payment shall be first pick from the findings of the raid. Agreed?” He held out his hand, inviting Terios to shake. As the latter took his hand, Osmedius cracked a slight smile. “See you in thirty days!” After saying this, he turned and left.