Rift City: The Heist

The air is clear on the elevated road halfway between Divot and the intersection, the afternoon light glinting off Keys as he scans the distance. Nyx fidgets across the way, tucked into a pullout area as she goes over the plan in her head, likely still conjuring contingencies, optimizing scenarios. Clover watches the sorcerer’s fingers dance for a moment before returning her attention to the road. Any oncoming caravan will have to pass right by them, but they still have little information on what they’re looking for. All they know is Warforged will be guarding the Syndicate’s vault. The one with the scale. The one Clover wants so desperately she was willing to bring a minimal party to get the job done while the others sorted Oman’s business.

                  Why’d I leave Brendel behind?

                  She shakes off the regret. This has to work. They’ll make it work.

                  The plan is simple: When they see the caravan coming, Nyx will attempt to dispel the magic holding the Warforged hostage in their own broken minds. Keys will then try to restore them with his newfound power from the Heart. If these things fail, Clover will chase the vault down and retrieve the item by force.

                 What could possibly go wrong?

After hours of waiting, both Keys and Clover perk up at the sight of an incoming Warforged. Walking with him, a hovering disc carrying a vault box behind her, is a human courier.

                  The Syndicate wouldn’t use a single Warforged and a single human to guard their precious cargo…would they?

                  Clover nods to Nyx from the pullout across the road. “You’re up. See what information you can get. We’ll be ready just in case.”

                  Nyx steps into the road as the woman approaches. The stranger is instantly wary, noting the presence of Clover and Keys.

                  “Hello!” Nyx waves. “My name is Nyx, and I’m with the Inventor’s League. We’re up here checking about some road maintenance and were wondering if you’ve noticed anything strange on your travels.”

                  The woman eyes her. “No, not really.”

                  “Oh, okay.”

A small exchange ensues, Nyx working to garner information on what the courier is hauling, who she might be working for. The questions are dead ends, but this woman does not have Syndicate vibes.

Nyx’s mental wheels are clearly turning, her anxiety tamped down but visible to those who know her. Oman has helped her feel more confident in her conversational skills, but there’s still work to be done.

“I see you have a Warforged.” She motions to Keys. “I do, as well.”

Keys steps into the conversation, engaging the Warforged, whose name is Slab. When he asks about recovered memories, obvious confusion comes over both the woman and the Warforged, but there’s something else, too. A flicker in Slab’s eyes, like when Keys was rebooting. An agonizing few moments of persuasion later, Nyx has convinced them to return in 20 minutes, when they are coming down the other side, and Keys will see about restoring Slab’s power core. Helping another Warforged will be worth part of the wait.

Fifteen minutes after the courier and her bodyguard disappear in the distance, the approach of something new hits the trio. Up ahead, an iron golem leads a caravan of five Warforged, all riding on floating discs with varying sizes of vault boxes. Across the golem’s torso, five lines of magical text glow.

“That has to be them!” Clover calls.

Nyx looks slightly panicked. “Why are there so many?”

The question gives Clover a moment’s pause. She expected two Warforged, three at the most. Certainly not five with an iron golem to boot.

But they are here. They need to get that scale away from the Syndicate.

“We can do this. We just have to adapt.”

And Nyx does. She focuses on the iron golem, the blue of her magic gathering around her. She unleashes a spell aimed at the magical lines of text.

One blinks out, and the Warforged at the end of the caravan tumbles to the ground, the tether on his disc severed.

“I was reeaaallly hoping that was going to dispel more than one. I don’t have enough power to sever them all individually.”

Clover doesn’t have time to voice her agreement. Instead, the blood freezes in her veins. The air above the caravan ripples as an invisibility spell drops.

An angel is watching over the caravan.

Oh shit.

The scales tip wildly, but the time to run has passed. There’s no way they can outrun the angel, whose face is now contorted in a vengeful sneer. The fight is on.

Clover watches in horror as the angel hastens the iron golem and then goes after Keys. In a single strike, the celestial’s weapon opens the Warforged’s chest cavity like a can of tuna. Light from his power core spills out, washing over three of the caravan’s Warforged. Two of them flicker, their eyes clearly indicating the rebooting process.

Please, please let them wake up and help us.

Clover doesn’t have time to wait and find out. They are outnumbered and outmatched. Every second counts. With a powerful burst of speed, she rushes forward, focusing her ki as she moves. The angel is still flying, hovering just over the edge of the road, over Divot far below.

Clover strikes fast and hard. The energy flowing through her overwhelms the angel, his eyes going wide, his body locking up.

He drops through air toward Divot.

I finally did it!

Clover mentally celebrates this small victory but is now surrounded by foes. Realizing his power, Keys pulls a third Warforged into an embrace, working to initiate the healing process. But something is wrong. This Warforged is corrupted. For now, Keys cannot help him and must focus on fighting, going after the iron golem. They need to dispel the rest of the tethers. Nyx goes after the golem as well, blasting him with fire.

Which turns out to be a mistake. The fire makes contact with the golem’s not-flesh and repairs the damage done by Keys and Clover.

It’s the golem’s turn to lash out. Gouts of flame shoot from the creature, all but consuming Clover. She screams, the pain unbearable, her orange fur falling to ash. All thoughts flee her mind but one: This is how I die. She can feel the grip of death pulling at her, her mind barely conscious.

We have to get out of here.

Somehow, she holds on, but only just. If Oman hadn’t offered her that boost earlier in the day, she’d be a smoldering corpse right now. The golem has turned its flames on the others, as well, the damage incredible. The Warforged not rescued by Keys are clearly programmed for one thing, and that’s to get their cargo moving. They link to the pulse network and go.

Clover shouts for the newly awakened Warforged to grab their boxes and come with them to safety, and Nyx hops on Keys’s back, everyone maneuvering to the other road, the one that will take them back to Oman’s house. They think they’re in the clear, but they haven’t accounted for one thing.

The angel has regained his senses, and he is furious.

Emerging back over the side of the road, he barrels after the party. They can’t maintain full speed without losing the Warforged they managed to save. Not to mention they are hurting—badly—Clover barely able to maintain her running speed. The angel is gaining on them.

In their haste to escape they only catch a glimpse of what happens next. The angel casts a spell, hurtling the biggest fireball Clover has ever seen, its flame burning hotter than she knew it could. Still carrying Nyx, Keys tries to dodge out of the way and stumbles, Nyx flying off him, smashing into the road. Clover can feel the heat licking at her own heels and dives, evasion her only chance. If only she can—