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A City Under Siege:  Valhiem  -  Day 6 of 9

.

Yesterday evening, after James and Adam told Lucy Bottrill about the hacked Source Comm message and Adam's blunder, Lucy was quick to shut down the entire Source Comm system.  

This morning, a message went out to all adventurer's in the city:  The Source Comm would be off-limits from here on out.

.

The City of Valhiem, The Academy

"A COMPUTER?"

The Academy President, Jordash Sigmar's incredulous echo of the revelation was a feeling shared by everyone in the room, including Clarissa Shields who had been the one to reveal it.

"That tiny thing?"

The original prediction that the mysterious cube, small enough to hold in one hand, was some kind of information processing unit, was already an extraordinary claim, considering how compact it was.  But now to find out the cube was in fact an entire computer was truly unbelievable. Even the smallest computers in Mytheria took up over 1000 times the space in total.

"Permit me to demonstrate," Clarissa said, taking up the artifact in her hands.  "These patterns, symbols and engravings are all input-keys of some kind.  James Sirius and I have managed to figure out some of them through trial and error."

She tapped and turned the cube in a specific combination and the cube started glowing purple.  Not the purple of Source Interface, but the purple that represented the power of Sillagy, Goddess of Trickery and Persuasion.  What Clarissa had done was enter a password that allowed her to bypass the security of the advanced system.  Within moments, a holo-screen appeared above the cube, much to the audible awe of the other Academy Directors and the President.

"Mother Iris preserve us."

"We have barely made any headway exploring the operating system.  It is extremely advanced and much of the language is foreign to this continent.  But it was Mr Sirius who blew the mystery wide open when he hypothesized and subsequently discovered a high-level camouflaged blessing of Sillagy being used to hide the nature of it.  We would never have guessed."

"So... what now?" the President asked.  "Can we use it?"

Clarissa shut the cube computer down, then levelled her gaze at Jordash, a momentary pause before nodding.  "Yes.  I believe so.  But we would have to get lucky.  There is so much to explore about this revolutionary technology, but one thing we do know is that:  The computer was programmed to give orders to a troop of Skeleton Soldiers.  This being the case means there's a signal emitter built inside.  And if we can hack the program and amplify the signal..."

"We might knock out half of Saladin's army!" Enio Ivey exclaimed.

"Not half," Reginald De Wran corrected with his usual grumpy and sharp disposition.  "A large portion of Saladin's forces are living.  And of the undead, there are vampires, ghouls and zombies too.  We can only be sure that this computer can signal to skeleton types."

"Director De Wran is correct," Clarissa confirmed. "Nonetheless... it's something."

After that, they moved on to the other thing on the agenda...

"Director De Wran," the President addressed.  "Have you managed to break through the curtain of supression enveloping the city?"

The Witch Queen had managed to stealthily shut down communications by Magical Relay going in or out of Valhiem.  Magical Relay was the only secure means of long-distance contact and traditionally used by the higher powers of governing entities for communication between cities, states and tribes around the empire.  Nobody had realised that their capabilities had been destroyed until Saladin attacked and the city needed to use it to get outside help, but now...

"It may be too late to do anything about that now," Reginald said.  "Even if we can muster up enough Source to contend with Her power, there is no one who can can reinforce us within 72 hours."

"How in the world did she become so powerful?" Enio shook his head.  "She was always one of the empire's more gifted wizards but this is another level."

"Who knows," Clarissa said.  She looked at the cube in her hands.  "The mysteries across The Eternal Sea are vast.  So many beyond our comprehension."

The President turned back to Reginald.  "We must still try."

"Of course," Reginald snapped back.  "What do you take me for?  The few mages in my department that haven't been dragged off to fuel the Ritual Barrier are working around the clock.  We will not give up."

If only somehow someone would have already gotten the SOS call out already........................

.

The Mountain Fortress, Fornost

Glee John Webster, Druid of the Adventurer Party, True Grade, knocked on the door of the private quarters that his party leader had been given at the fortress on arrival.  True Grade being a Diamond Tier party and member of The Council of Heroes would always be afforded such priveliges.  The half-orc Druid entered to find his leader, Brandon Heat, sat at a desk going over scouting reports of the mountains east.  It was only a matter of time before The Witch Queen had built up enough forces to attack the crown jewel of tactical positions on the continent.  Taking the fortress of Fornost, (or Tarost, as it was called by the native Sibliconians who built it,) would allow The Witch Queen complete control of the center of the continent.  If the Empire lost Fornost then Capitol City was completely vulnerable to wave upon wave of attacks.  Fornost was not necessary to The Witch Queen's victory in this war, but without a doubt, if it was taken then victory was guarenteed.

"Glee, what's up, my friend?"

"Bad, Brandon.  Bad."  Glee took the chair that was offered by True Grade's leader.  "I've recieved a message from a friend, through the Source Comm.  Adam is his name."

"That Druid you said was gifted beyond measure," Brandon remembered from their recent campfire stories.

"Yes.  Only:  Most of the message is encrypted," Glee said worringly.  "It's been hacked."  Brandon shook his head with annoyance and rubbed his chin.  It was no secret that the enemy had Code Readers on their side too.  It was also to be expected that they would have hackers.  "My instincts are on fire, right now, Brandon.  I have a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach."

"Your instincts have never steered you wrong before, friend.  And they have kept us alive more times than I can count.  Tell me what's on your mind."

"We should contact Capitol City.  Report to The Council everything we know about this strange party, Second Chance.  And request that they check on the welfare of Valhiem too."  Glee shook his head.  "Something's telling me that there's something bigger happening here and I can't, for the life of me, figure out what it is."
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