1.45 – Conquest

Rika sent Chryson a mental command and accepted the prompt.

• Conquest (Canyon Falls area, Northern Ironback Mountains)

• Participants

  • Aggressor – Baroness Ariadne Blackstone (Progress 6%)

  • Contestants

    • Rika (Party Leader) – Adventurer’s Guild, Undeclared

• Assets – Information Locked

• Forces – Information Locked

“Chryson, tell me anything you can about this,” she said as the new information filled her vision.

“A Conquest is a play for dominion over a given region,” he said, bobbing around to float in front of her. “While anyone can initiate a Conquest, it takes considerable personal power and resources to succeed. Such actions are often contested by other individuals or groups. The reasons for contesting range from simple denial of a rival’s expansion to seizing the contested region themselves. However, I doubt that will be the case here.”

Rika wasn’t particularly surprised by that last part. Her education had given her a firm grasp on the regional politics of the Chillwind Coast. The only real local power in a position to contest Ariadne’s expansion of her personal fief would be their father. And he’d no reason to do that whatsoever.

The fact was, the Ironback Mountains were a rather undesirable region, despite their rich resources. Remote, rugged, and infested with all sorts of hostile creatures, most nobles considered them more trouble than they were worth. Holding a region meant defending it. Yes, anyone who set themselves up as the ruler of a region, no matter how inconsequential, got unfettered access to its resources and wealth. But providing defense and handling the quests that region generated was costly. And for the Ironbacks, Maximilian had long ago figured out a way around that.

As independent settlements, the various regions of the Ironbacks had to see to their own defenses. Like Canyon Falls, most just allowed the Adventuring Guild to move in and run the quests. For the exports, the towns on the eastern slopes all had to go through the Blackstone duchy, anyway. Maximilian simply levied exorbitant duties and taxes on any iron or coal moving through his lands—unless they sold directly to him at rock-bottom prices. Once he’d purchased the exports from the Ironbacks, he just turned around and sold them to traders in the port cities along the coast, or sent them further afield by his own caravans.

This allowed him to control the trade of both iron and coal coming from settlements like Canyon Falls without the expense of actually providing his protection for those same settlements. Sure, they could always ship the iron over the mountains to the western side. But there were towns on the western slopes, too. Mining the same mountains and shipping the same goods, but doing so without paying for guards to accompany the crossings.

Settlements like Canyon Falls, in the lowest reaches of the Ironbacks proper, were the only ones worth conquering. And even then, only if the person making the Conquest had a personal vendetta against someone in the area. Like Ariadne did for Rika. It honestly wouldn’t surprise Rika if Ariadne just let her control lapse once she won and drove Rika out. That was exactly the sort of petty bullshit she’d expect from Ariadne.

No, nobody was coming to deal with this Conquest. Nobody was coming to beat up her half-sister and then send her packing back to her shitty little barony. Especially not over something that was really just about Rika, anyway. Which meant Rika somehow needed to get to where she could stand up a level sixty-three Bone Witch like Ariadne.

“What’s all this Conquest stuff about?” Erik asked as he sat down next to her on the wooden steps. He looked worried. More so than usual.

It dawned on her what she’d just done. “Shit. I didn’t mean to get you wrapped up in this.”

When he asked what she meant, she explained. Turned out that as the party leader, contesting the regional Conquest pulled Erik in, too. The worry fell away, replaced with a stony, unreadable mask as she told him what was going on. When she finished, she said, “You can leave if you want. It’s not really fair to drag you into this. It’s between me and Ariadne, anyway.”

“I’ll stay,” he said, voice firm. Firm in the same way it had been when he’d been determined to march to his death in the caves.

“You don’t owe me anything,” she said. She meant it, too.

“If what you said is right, nobody’s coming to save Canyon Falls. And even if your sister is going to just ignore it once she’s won, the people here will suffer. I can’t stand by and just let that happen.”

“Half-sister,” Rika said. “I suppose I should have expected as much after that nonsense down in the caves. Alright, fine. You can stay, but don’t forget what I said. You don’t owe me anything, and you don’t owe the folks in Canyon Falls anything, either. Ariadne’s way stronger than either of us. She’s level sixty-three, and already has an advanced class.”

“We’ll figure out a way,” Erik said. He still had that same stony certainty in his voice when he said it, too.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” she said as she pushed herself to her feet. “Now let’s see what this place has to offer. If we’re gonna take down my half-sister, the first step is getting stronger, I guess.”

First, Rika headed over to the goblin warboss. She didn’t bother with its armor. It was too poorly made to even consider, and even if it hadn’t been, it wouldn’t fit her, anyway. The shield wasn’t much better. Worse than the one Marin had given her before she headed to the mountains. The cleaver was another story, though.

• Heavy War Cleaver – (Uncommon) A one-handed war sword. Single-edged and more suited for hacking at limbs than anything else. What it lacks in elegance, it makes up for in brutality.Scaling: Might, C+

Now that she had the chance to get a good look at it, the cleaver really was a brutal-looking weapon. The blade was a little longer than her arming sword’s, and about as thick as her hand. As per the item’s description, it was a single-edged thing, with a false edge along its rigid back. While it had a tip suitable for thrusting, it was only barely so compared to her arming sword. She could maybe see herself pinning something to the ground and stabbing it with both hands, but little else. Still, that scaling was impressive.

She slid the war cleaver into her belt. While she’d have to get a proper sheath made for it, the upgrade was too much to pass up. Stopping to retrieve her axe from where the warboss had kicked it under the stairs, she climbed up onto the platform to double-check for anything else of use. A stone altar sat in the center, and a staff rested across it.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

• Itinerant Healer’s Crook – (Uncommon) A shepherd’s crook once carried by a wandering healer. Adds its scaling to any active healing abilities used by the wielder.Scaling: Magic, C-

“Here,” she said, handing the staff to Erik. “This is pretty clearly for you.” She wouldn’t question the gear. Chryson had said that quests, whether attached to some organization like the Adventuring Guild or not, were created by the Watchers themselves. She saw no reason, then, that the same wouldn’t hold true for any rewards they found.

At the far end of the platform sat a chest. It looked fairly sturdy, made of heavy wood and bound in iron. Rika walked over to it, and as she approached, Chryson fed another prompt to her.

Dungeon Chest – Goblin War Camp

Boss defeated. Chest unlocked. Claim reward?

A dumb question in her eyes. Of course she wanted to claim it. The chest opened of its own accord the moment she agreed to claim it. It was filled nearly to the top with gold. Several gems glittered within the pile of coins, and a few potions peeked out, too. It was a rather impractical setup. With a sigh, Rika shut the lid and hoisted the chest onto one shoulder. At least the weight didn’t bother her much, given her forty-three Might. They could always sort through it once they got back to town. It would be impractical to haul around that much coin, though. Hopefully, Marieta had some solution for them.

Erik made another quick sweep of the camp, but couldn’t find anything of value. Likely any further rewards would come from turning in the quest. Without a reason to stay in the valley, they headed back to the road. It was well past nightfall when they reached the spot Rika had camped that first night in the mountains proper. Erik volunteered for the first watch, and Rika was all too happy to let him have it. When he roused her for her turn, she settled in with her back to the stone and looked out past their campfire into the dark of the mountain night.

“So what now?” she asked Chryson once she was certain Erik had fallen asleep.

“I take it you’re referring to this business with your half-sister,” he said.

He hadn’t needed to. He knew, after all. Still, she answered him. “Yeah. How am I supposed to contest whatever this Conquest thing is? How is she even doing it?”