(Y6, August 28th-29th)

Birkathane was toying with a light lunch while waiting for the other two to spawn. Even without a specific skill, she’d immediately felt one of them appearing. She looked up and raised her hand to wave at Quandocor. Then she squinted at his attire.

“Quan? What’s that… jacket?”

She pointed out to the lightweight jacket with the bright FBI name stenciled on the front and back.

“Stuff from work. It’s padded and I’m guessing better protection than anything except mid-range Northworld attire.”

“From work. You do work at the FBI? How…”

“It’s not exactly the kind of conversation I want to make twice. So let’s wait until Van spawns, please?”

Birkathane frowned. This did not look good. At all.

About 5min later, Vantegaard appeared.

He turned, saying “Ok, I checked on the Carto…” before stopping on spotting Quandocor’s jacket.

“Yes, I know. It’s written FBI, and it’s spelled Federal Bureau of Investigation.”

“I assume… it’s a real one.”

“And its mine, yes. As I was saying to Birka, it will at least provide some protection until I switch to Northworld goods.”

“The last thing I expected is to find someone from the FBI as a Gater… does your boss has any idea what you’re doing on the side?...”

“He asked for the Silvergate back when I told him about our ‘little difficulties’.”

“He asked for… your boss gave you your Silvergate? What the?”

Quandocor started explaining Operation Swordfish.

“So you’re telling us that you’re only there to infiltrate any Gater organization you can find, get all our names, and then lock us up on Earth?”

“That’s the idea behind Swordfish, yes.”

“Then what the fuck are you doing here wearing that? Arresting us?”

Birkathane added more softly, “I think the big question is… if your boss ended your participation and took the Silvergate back… how are you even here?”

“Well… I have another confession to make. I forgot about the one we looted in that Damp Cave back at Hilltop Samms.”

Birkathane slapped her forehead.

“Oh shit. So did I. With all that running, I completely forgot we had one.”

She added, “Soooo… you gave your FBI Silvergate back to your boss… and used another one to spawn back here? Why?”

“Because you were still going to spawn here.”

“What? You are not making sense.”

“We had the same discussion back after the Pyramid. Let’s say, I put a message saying ‘sorry, we’re fucked up, we should abandon Northworld’. Would you have?”

“I…”

“You wouldn’t think about it for even one second, didn’t you?” asked Quandocor.

“No. Not once,” confessed Birkathane.

“Not me,” added Vantegaard.

“Or if I made one saying ‘ok, I’ve got your back, cooperate with the police and we can dismantle the big bad cartographers for you’. Which, by the way, is what my boss told me to offer you.”

“The Cartographers are just being stupid and obtuse but they’re not bad. Ok, maybe that Karseerteal, but overreacting doesn’t make you into the mafia,” countered Vantegaard.

“See. I didn’t even try to make that offer. I already knew what you would say.”

Birkathane snorted, “And I doubt your FBI could do anything with me.”

“That too. But that’s the point. I know you now.”

He turned to face Vantegaard again.

“You saved my life back at that Pyramid. You saved our lives. And I’ve seen you drive yourself crazy with that skill of yours because you got survivor guilt about being unable to save the rest.”

He added, “Nice save at the inn by the way. Those efforts did pay out.”

“I would have done it for anyone,” said Vantegaard.

“Even you,” he added.

“So you and Birka, you don’t give up. Even drowning in shit. Which is why I’m here. Letting you deal with all this on your own would be a shitty move.”

“And so, you’re fine with helping criminals?”

“There’s criminal and there’s criminal.”

“Oh? They train the FBI to make a difference?”

Quandocor laughed.

“No, they don’t. But the FBI rarely deals with all kinds of criminals. We’re trained to go after child pornographers, drug cartels, interstate murderers, wannabe jihadi. It’s always hard when you send people to infiltrate a gang because you need people with empathy. People who can understand who they’re going to infiltrate so they fit in. But you just have to remind yourself ‘this guy will shoot me in cold blood at any time’ to keep your distance.”

Vantegaard frowned.

“But…”

“But you’re not that. You’re not the criminals that extort ten thousand from migrants who want a cover to cross the frontier. You’re the criminals who speed on the highway because their car can and the way is clear.”

“And slam into the car in front of them?” asked Birkathane.

“Okay. Bad analogy. But the point is, some criminals are bad people, and some criminals simply break a law. The former, I’d put away in a second. Every time. But the latter?”

“And so, you decide who you prosecute, and who you don’t?”

“That’s the DA’s job. But yes. If there is a definition of a victimless crime, that’s Silvergating. You can commit a crime with the help of Silvergating, but only a politician can make it one by itself.”

Quandocor raised his hands.

“Now, if you had asked me that question back on Earth… I could probably ask you to simply stop Gating. You’re no longer Gaters, I’d just pretend I’ve never seen you do it. Simple.”

“The cop that doesn’t give the ticket.”

“Because that cop can see you’re not joyriding or anything else, and you just need a reminder that, even if they’re sometimes stupid, those are rules.”

“So, you ignore the rules?”

“I do think we need rules in place for Silvergating. There’s a lot of shit coming out of Northworld, real bad shit, and we can’t simply say it doesn’t happen. But… going to Northworld? That’s not a 10-year crime, that’s speeding up on the highway. And even less, since if you screw up, you don’t total anyone’s car.”

He added, “I don’t make the rules. Heck, my boss makes better points than anyone else I've heard on that one. But at one point, I have to decide how I want to go enforcing them.”

“Are you really that flexible?”

“Oh no. I was seeing all in black and white when I was a fresh recruit. Like everyone. I went to Quantico thinking binary good-lawful vs evil-lawbreaker.”

“Quantico… does your name…?”

“Somebody thought it would be useful if we ever had multiple agents from different offices on the field. So, now you know how to spot another FBI agent.”

Birkathane laughed, “I just had this vision of the agent stuck with the Quanpedia name…”

“What?”

“What?”

“Hey. It’s a database of chemical reactions. I’ve got a major in chemistry, so I know all of those…”

She sobered.

“So you’re here just because you don’t want to abandon us.”

“There’s no ‘just’ about it. But yes. Because we are friends. Even if I lied to you most of the time since I had to in my job.”

The rest of the day went silently. Both Birkathane and Vantegaard were processing the truth about Quandocor… their friend? It was very hard to swallow, but at the same time, there was no denying that he simply could have left them to their fates.

Quandocor, for his part, didn’t press the question. Having expressed himself, he didn’t want to push. Let them decide. Truth was… he hadn’t given it a thought. Not until he saw that Silvergate, totally forgotten, in the middle of his backpack.

It was much easier, when facing decisions, to ignore choices and let something else, someone else, make the call for you. You did not have to weigh the choices, both personal and external. You went as a good trooper. But sometimes, you had to make a choice. Both for yourself. For your friends, as unexpected as they were.

At the day’s end, Quandocor suddenly stopped, raised his hand, causing the two others to pause. Then he dropped a Cold Grasp and whipped out his staff.

Vantegaard reflexively pulled out his dagger and slashed the furry form in from of him. Birkathane had barely time to smack down the feline before it expired from the mass assault.

“A Serpo? Really?”

“Why not. He’s stealthy. Of course, around here, he’s probably more of a scavenger than a predator. But I felt him around and… well, I didn’t have lots of groceries to pack this time. So… dinner.”

After cleaning up the pan and plates, they settled on a tense silence.

“I’ll take middle watch,” said Quandocor.

“There’s no need of…”

“I always take middle watch, remember. Just remember to wake me up.”

By unspoken consensus, Quandocor ended up on one side of the dying fire, while Vantegaard and Birkathane kept to the other side.

After a while, Birkathane breathed out a deep sigh.

“He’s there, you know. That’s… a truth. He’s committed for nine days.”

“I still have… difficulty wrapping my head around him.”

“He came for us.”

“So he says.”

“And? You think this is some kind of elaborate psychological game to… what? Ensnare us? I mean… I gave him my phone number to set up this chatroom. Hell, he probably can… I don’t know, subpoena your provider for your real ID. What does he have to gain?”

“It’s probably difficult, I use a Vietnamese virtual phone company. But…”

“But he’s not that complicated.”

“Is he? Do we really know him? Did we ever know him?”

“Van, you’ve got rocks in the head if you don’t think we’ve already seen the real him. After all we went thru.”

She snorted.

“Now go sleep. And don’t forget after he’s woken you up. I want the coffee ready when the sun rises, or you’ll regret not having taken that FBI offer.”

The morning was a bit less tense than the previous evening. Quandocor even prepared coffee upon waking instead of Vantegaard, since that was one of the few items he had in stock when he decided to come. Birkathane mumbled some half-coherent comment about lousy American coffee, but she still appreciated the contents of her mug.

The plains ended there. There were small hills dotting the country to their north. Birkathane explained that there was a rougher country in the middle between the two towns. Hopefully, it would be navigable. None of them had any detailed map, and besides, Birkathane didn’t think it would be safe to follow the exact caravan road. They could be spotted or, worse, get caught by the Inquisition.

So, they headed roughly north and tried to figure out the best path.

“I’m happy to be out of that plains,” said Vantegaard.

“Let me guess. You hate horses?” asked Quandocor.

“It’s not that. It’s being… exposed.”

“Van?”

“Yes, Birka?”

“I’ve thought a lot about your trick.”

“Which trick?”

“The one with the World leyline.”

“Ah. My ability to get geomantic skills?”

“Yes, but the real question is, why do you get those skills?”

“Well, I told you. I have that special skill…”

“No. What does the Interface say, exactly? When you can get the skills.”

Vantegaard tried to remember the exact way the warning was formatted.

Warning! A Leyline overwhelms and replaces your normal skill selection with an ambiguous Earth Magic skill. Resolve the leyline interference to prevent the reoccurrence of this difficulty. Other leyline configurations may still cause further problems.

“And that gives you a choice of skills.”

“Yes.”

“Why does it says it’s the leyline that overwhelms your selection, and not, well, that Sense the Leylines skill?”

“I don’t know? Who knows why the Interface writes a description that way or another?”

“The Interface is always precise when it comes to a technical description. The flowery skill description is a separate thing, but the technical details remain highly specific.”

“And your point is?”

“Do you remember which skills you got from a minor leyline?”

“I’m not sure. I remember I picked Rock Dart because it was my first skill and I wanted…”

“Was one of them Earthen Presence?”

“Yes. And the other was some perception skill. But how do you know?”

“Because we’re currently following a minor leyline, and I decided to run the lottery while on top of it.”

“And you got… Earthen Presence?”

“And I did. I already had Rock Dart from one of the Skill Stones, by the way.”

“Well, it could be luck.”

“Yes. But what are the odds I get a geomantic skill from the same set you got on the same type of leyline? I mean, there’s nothing special from the lottery that I can see, but I still got from the same selection.”

Vantegaard kept silent while he digested the information.

“Then… you also had the same leyline interference? Is that what you’re saying?”

“I think the leyline interference is not your skill changing it. That’s what the Interface says. It’s there for everyone, not just you. The thing that your skill lets you do that I don’t is that you know it’s interfering. That’s why you get the Interface to tell you it’s there and you see which possible skills there are. Otherwise, it’s like a Setup ambiguous skill where you would just click ok without looking. It picks one at random since you don’t select the resolution. Only you have the Sense skill to get it.”

“Oh. My. God,” said Vantegaard.

“It makes sense, right?”

“No. The Tarquar pilgrimage.”

“What do you mean the Tarquar pilgrimage? The Stones of Tarquar? What about them?”

“It’s not the stones. Remember what I said when we saw the Fanduk version. Mages were coming from all over Beta to Tarquar because there’s a legend that you could gain special powers if you practice magic there at the stones.”

“Leylines?”

“It’s known that there are three minor leylines under the Tarquar site. And they probably intersect in the middle, like in Fanduk. So, if you’re an Earth Mage, and you go straight in the center, and run the lottery…”

“Then you get one of the skills as I did here.”

“Multiples, since there are interactions as well. That’s why all of the skills I’ve seen so far are normal, well known geomantic skills. Well, my World leyline elemental summon is referenced, just not that well known. But people have been getting them. They just didn’t know it was a rigged lottery ticket instead of a normal one. And that’s why nearly everybody in Beta goes to Tarquar. They think they need the Stones to get a better chance for skills.”

“So. I can get all your skills.”

“If you’re right, you have one chance in three of getting any of MY skills. You’re just going to get a skill. Every time.”

“Somebody must have noticed.”

“People did. That’s why Tarquar got its reputation. They just don’t know why they’re getting geomantic skills there. The floating stones act as the perfect decoy. I’ve seen all kinds of speculations, based on general theories of how the lottery runs and why you cast lots of Earth spells there before trying to run the lottery. And sometimes you already got lucky before and you’ve ‘resolved’ the interference.”

Birkathane nearly stopped.

“The Earthen Brethren.”

“You’re right. Their keep is straight on top of the most complicated leyline knot known. 8 different leylines, including the 3 World leylines. There must be… at least 7 configurations available. Maybe even 8 if you have one for every kind of leyline instead of just multiples of the same type.”

“That’s why they’re known to have the biggest Earth Mages with all kinds of powerful skills. It’s not just the extra power pool and select recruitment… all their full members who have access to the keep… they can learn additional guaranteed skills. They got to know about that one.”

“But do they know it’s because of the leylines? Or do they think it’s the keep itself?”

“They’ve never talked about it. They keep that a guild secret.”

“But we know.”

“Guys? What are you talking about leylines?” asked Quandocor.

Vantegaard hesitated. Part of him still distrusted Quandocor somewhat. Even if the man had thrown his lot with them, it did not mean that…

“We’ve figured out Van’s leyline secret,” said Birkathane.

She proceeded to explain the leyline interference and how it gave every Earth Mage a skill at random whenever they ran the lottery on a new leyline configuration.

“It’s interesting. And potentially valuable,” commented Quandocor.

“What do you mean, potentially valuable?”

“You said that those Earthen Brethren were a kind of powerful guild.”

“Yea. They have the biggest Earth Mage forums on the darknet, they recruit the best, and a lot of them are high powered mercenaries for high-end expeditions all over Beta. They don’t have big Archmages that I know of, but… Why is that important?”

“Because maybe you could contact them. Tell them you have figured out exactly how it works, and you’re open to telling them in exchange for them being mediators with the Cartographers for us.”

Quandocor added, “It’s not that I don’t trust your guild, Birka. But if we can get a world-famous guild to vouch for us instead, maybe we can de-escalate this bounty hunt. Without anyone getting hurt in the meantime.”

He snorted.

“Not that getting hurt is important here. I mean, you’re dead, or you’re ok. Everything else heals anyway.”

Birkathane thought the idea useful.

“If so, how do we deal with it?”

“They’re in Beta. They don’t even recruit anywhere else since that’s where the Earth Keep is. The good news is, that’s also where the general Cartographer HQ is, which would help to negotiate. The bad news is, since we’re not in Beta right now, this will need to be done through Earth during Recess.”

“And we just did one.”

“Yep. Minimum one week until we can try that.”