The Arcane Meeting (Part 2)

--- Jon ---

“Ri~ight…” One of the Sanctuary agents drawled after that entrance. “Well since everyone is here, we’ll go ahead and get started…”

“That’s what I just said!”

A moment of silence filled the clearing, until the agent broke it by coughing into their hand as they checked their tablet. “Right, well seeing as how it looks like we’ve got a few new faces I’ll go ahead and give everyone the explanation of what’s going on, alright?”

“So a little over a hundred years ago the cities of Santa Luna, Santa Rosa, and Luna Rosa were all founded roughly around the same time. The reason for this being that the three cities were founded by a number of magic users in an attempt to seal a rather powerful demon.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” He groaned under his breath, already knowing what this whole thing was going to be about.

“Unfortunately, over the years this three point seal has slowly weakened,” The agent continued unaware of the teenager slowly dying inside just a few meters away. “and while Sanctuary, the Heroes’ Guild, and the Arcane Association are all devoting a steady stream of resources to keeping the seal in place and improving upon it. Sadly, thanks to the population of the three cities the seal is bound to, the demon in question is gaining power at a rate roughly equal to how fast we are binding it.”

(Fifty bucks says those founders gave the seal a stupid and ineffiecent power source…) He sighed. (Why can’t everyone just use children’s laughter to keep demons at bay? It’s easy to get and no one complains about making more of it.)

“Due to this, -and the fact that we didn’t discover the seal until a few years after the Rift Riots- every year towards the end of October and the beginning of November the seal weakens just enough for the Demon to call upon its allies in whatever dimension it came from to free it. The current theory being…” The agent flicked through their tablet for a moment. “either the Shadow Lands or the Nightmarian Territories as far as where these Creeps are coming from.”

(So some place dark and scary got it.)

“Now thanks to the fact that we vent the leaks in the seal by shifting around where the worst of the leaks are, we have managed to prevent the Creeps from ever narrowing down any of the seal’s anchors. Unfortunately, this means that whichever city is scheduled to be the metaphorical vent will suffer from twice as many Creeps as its sister cities for the duration of its shift as the vent.” The agent looked around the field. “I’m sure everyone understands that the reason I’m bringing this up is because we are the venting city this year. Something made even worse by the fact that this Demon’s domain seems to grow in power with the Moon, which we just so happen to have a full one of on Halloween. Which just so happens to be the night where this Demon’s power becomes most active.”

He couldn’t help but run a hand down his face. (Just count your blessings that there isn’t a cult this time Jon…)

“This problem is where all of you come into play.” The agent told those gathered, looking at them one by one. “Due to the citywide threat of this event, Sanctuary is offering a truce and bounty for any aid you wish to offer in regards to these Creeps, just as we do every year.”

(Okay, so that means there are almost three dozen people on this problem. Probably more. There is absolutely no need for me to get involved.) He (lied) to himself.

“For those of you who require it, proof of this truce can be found in the Gamer’s Guild,” The Sanctuary agent explained with a gesture to the trio covered in neon paint, “who keep their Dungeon open for the first half of this event as a distraction and misdirection towards the public to cover any… Deviant anomalies that arise in your need to deal with this threat.”

(So this is why the city lets them run the dungeon.) He realized. (As long as the dungeon is open they can blame the rising Deviant activity on newcomers attempting to challenge the dungeon, and maybe import a few extra Hunters and Heroes until the Demons are dealt with. And then by making the final day of the dungeon the Demon’s peak, they can cover that night’s activity by saying it was a final hurrah before letting everything fade into the background.)

“Now this isn’t to say any of you are obligated to deal with the Creeps by attending this meeting, though anyone who does help will gain a thousand dollar bounty for every confirmed kill.” The agent informed them. “And of course we are willing to offer this bounty as a cash transaction for those of you who may have certain… disagreements with the local law, and thus wish to avoid leaving a paper trail.”

(Well, at least they’re respecting their own truce…)

“Alright, everyone that just about covers everything of note for this truce meeting. As always, good hunting, and try not to die before this mess is over, because you dying just makes this Demon stronger.” And on that lovely note the Sanctuary agent turned around and started back towards their truck.

“Don’t let that warning get to you, he tacks those on to every debriefing Sanctuary makes him give to the community.” Ms. Delacroix told him.

“Good to know…” He admitted before asking, “How worried should we be about this whole sealed demon thing?” (Because I’ve already filled my quota on those for the year. Twice over.)

“Eh, my mom ‘s one of the ones working on the seal, and as far as she can tell it hasn’t gotten better or worse over the years. Admittedly that’s with them tweaking and improving it all of the time, but…” The older magic user shrugged. “Given how few of the blighters actually pop up each year I’m not too worried about it.”

“What about the civilians who don’t know about any of this stuff?” He frowned.

“City has a curfew every Halloween due to a ‘dangerous increase in Deviant activity’.” Noah answered. “Apparently it’s an old carryover law from the Rift Riots or something.”

“Yeah, which is why the Gamers’ Guild opens their Dungeon a couple weeks before things start to get dangerous, to provide a measurable increase for the city to justify said curfew.” Ms. Delacroix elaborated. “Honestly, based on what I remember, this whole thing got significantly easier once they started doing their dungeons a few years back. Before that there was this whole thing about faking crime reports or some garbage that I was too young to really understand at the time.”

(So the government lying to the people.) He figured. (Nothing new there.)

“Still you’ve more or less fulfilled your obligation of showing up with us.” Ms. Delacroix told him. “At this point you can just do whatever, but if you want to collect your payment tonight we’re probably going to be here for another hour or so to touch base with everyone.”

“Speaking of, I'm going to see if I can mess with T.” Noah told them, before seemingly making his way towards the Heroes Guild members.

“Don’t pick a fight you can’t win.” The elder Delacroix advised the younger before turning back to him. “Anyway, as I was saying, while you are free to head back home on your own I’d suggest taking a minute to try and talk to some of the people here. With you being new to town you might as well take advantage of one of the few times all the city’s biggest magic users are gathered to try and network a bit. Since you never know when it might come in handy to have more friends.”

“Right…” He grimaced just a little, knowing that while he was great with kids his ability to befriend others tended to depend on a mix of how inhuman they were -both literally and figuratively- and how much danger was going on around them.

“Well, good luck and if you’re still here in an hour I’ll give you a lift home.” And with that Ms. Delacroix patted his shoulder as she passed him by.

“Right, thanks…” He sighed, before running a hand through his hair.

Pix tugged on his hair once getting him to turn towards her to see her curious expression.

Inhaling slowly before exhaling just as slowly, he nodded to himself and looked over the gathered magic users.

“Well, Pix, let’s make some friends, shall we?”