Hellgate Hotel: A Quest of Friendship and Demons

The day is stretched out in front of you, and for once you don't seem to have anything that really needs to be done Right Now. Going to the Heroes' Room really couldn't wait -- you can't imagine how confusing everything at the Hellgate would have been if you had known even less than you do now -- and then of course the Hellgate itself demanded your attention, and dealing with money and making sure the university and your mother knew you were alive and fine (insofar as the term can be applied to "facing down a potentially existential threat") were all things that would hang over your head until you resolved them. But now you're a free woman. At least until the next horrific incursion from beyond the stars.

...that said, you're genuinely very tempted to deal with the reading right now. You didn't get to where you are by not being responsible, after all. Still, it can wait. You also consider going to see Miella and saying something, but you don't have a great idea of what that something ought to be. "Sorry for your loss, by the way do you have any useful avenues of insight on the present calamity or the strangers I'm facing it down with?" You'll work on it.

No, when you get down to it, your priority seems clear. You were brought here to fight demons. There are currently no demons in Vindar to fight, unless there have been developments at the Hellgate that you don't know about, but you can get better at fighting. You've already seen a combat arena listed among the hotel's amenities; maybe there's someone there to practice with, and if not then maybe you can just practice by yourself.

You head out of your room and down the stairs, stopping at the front desk to pick up the money your university sent you. It's not a lot, but given that your main expenses are covered, the funds should be sufficient for extra clothes and the occasional meal somewhere other than the hotel. You leave through the front door, then sheepishly return to ask how one gets to the combat arena, because the way is not very clear and you don't fancy getting lost amidst the decorative hedges.

The directions you receive bring you behind the hotel, well past the gardens, to a discreet spot out of view of all the guestrooms' windows. "Arena" might be overstating it -- this is the first thing you've seen at the Dolphin Hotel that isn't luxurious and beautiful. It's just a large field with posts marking a perimeter and simple netting running between them, though the ground has clearly been flattened and the posts are ornamentally carved. Compared to everything else you've seen, the field definitely radiates the impression of something the hotel would rather not have. "Ours is not a place for violence," it seems to say. "But if you must engage with it, do it here, where nothing of great value can be damaged." There's nothing that encourages one to linger, no comfortable amenities or pleasant views; the only reason to be here is to practice one's rough business.

And here, in fact, you find two of your fellows engaged in that practice. Steadman Waite's robes have been pushed from his upper body, exposing a torso that looks like an anatomical model of musculature, which you suppose makes sense for a Body Savant. Opposite him is Black Orchid, holding a leaf-bladed spear that seems to be formed from a bar of light. Additional light orbits around her head, fine lines of it flowing over her shoulders and chest and down her legs and arms, and the air between those lines shimmers as though refracted through fine glass. It is like she wears a suit of armor which is invisible save for its outline. A Silver Knight, then; you know enough of them to identify the spirit magic, though this is certainly the most visually minimalistic manifestation of their signature abilities that you've seen.

Steadman is attacking with fists and feet and Black Orchid is defending herself: she dodges nimbly, parries with her spear, and moves with the impact on her armor when she can do neither. Neither is moving as quickly as they were when you saw them in action, either yesterday or this morning, and as they reach a chalk line on the ground they smoothly reverse course, the petite woman on the attack now and Steadman defending. From the sheen of sweat on Steadman's exposed back, they've been at this drill for a while. As you watch, Steadman dodges not quite far enough and a line opens up on his shoulder, dark blood dripping over darker skin, but he barely reacts to it and it stops seeping even as you watch. Being a Body Savant seems so convenient. They advance up the field and then pause, exchanging words that you can't hear at this distance. Black Orchid bows elegantly as her armor fades away, while her partner nods back, turns, and waves at you.

"Hey there!" he calls. "You can come on in, we're done for now." You realize you had stopped in your tracks and stared, so you wave back, smiling like you'd paused to give them a safe distance. Maybe you had? That was probably it. By the time you reach the light fence, both of them have hopped over and are drinking from flasks. "Good timing," Steadman says cheerfully. "I'm done for now, but Orchid here-"

"Black Orchid," she interrupts.

"-my good friend Black," he continues as the Nivvean rolls her eyes, "still wants more practice. Will you be her partner?"

"Sure," you say. "I'd be happy to, I came here for practice myself. Though... I'm not sure I'm on her level, I haven't done much fighting before I was summoned here. Thank you for your assistance yesterday, by the way."

"Always happy to lend a hand!" He beams at you, pours the rest of his water over his head, then begins to shrug the loose cloth dangling around his hips back over his shoulders. "I'm headed into town. I want to make some notes for General Durand about improving the wording on that truce of hers, and I think this endeavor would benefit from a stiff drink or three."

"Couldn't you just make yourself drunk without needing to buy booze?" Black Orchid asks, as she stretches her legs against one of the posts.

"And rob the state of all joy and meaning?" he replies, hand over his chest in mock outrage. "I would never, any more than I would make myself able to live on sun and soil so I could give up food. I am a man, not a geranium. You have fun now." He waves again, cheerily, and jogs the way you came, back up toward the hotel.

"Right," Black Orchid says, and you jerk your gaze from him back to her. She's extending her arms over her head now, tunic riding up a bit over her trousers. "If we're gonna spar, you should get stretching."

"Right," you echo, and attempt to mimic her movements like you know what you're doing or why it's important. She looks skeptical, but doesn't interrupt. After a few minutes of this, during which you get the sense that she's exaggerating her actions so you can copy them, the two of you get in the ring: her hopping the fence gracefully, you swinging yourself over rather less gracefully.

"I'll manifest my spear blunted and I won't go for the head, since you can't just laugh it off if I get you in the lung or put out an eye, and I don't know how good that Purifier is," she says. "What are you trying to work on?"

"Uh," you say, not having a ready answer, but then blink with surprise because you do have a ready answer. "Well, I don't actually have a lot of experience fighting when it's just me getting targeted. Not other than street fights, anyway." At that, Black Orchid perks up and looks more interested, but lets you continue. "Other than that, I've basically only fought in groups. Monster hunts and such. So I'd like to get better at handling myself when there's one enemy who's able to come straight at me."

She nods decisively. "Good thing to work on. Even with allies at your side, you can't expect to stay in a safe backline all the time. As for me... hmm. With Waite, I was trying to practice beating down enemies who are stronger and more durable than normal, and I think I can keep working on that. Not you!" she says hurriedly, seeing you blanch. "Rocks. You use rocks to defend yourself, right? I can practice smashing them, so I can focus on power. Speed and precision have been great so far for the small fry, but if I ever go up against one of the tough ones, I want to have more force behind my strikes."

"That makes sense," you reply, your relief probably showing on your face. "How should we do this? I saw you and Steadman taking turns at the end..."

She shakes her head. "Nah, that's fine for a cooldown and honing technique, but for getting the feel of doing something in a fight, nothing works like fighting. Free spar for a while, then a break, then drills, that's how I was taught to do it."

Well, she's certainly opinionated, but she is a professional warrior, so you can probably trust her judgment. "All right," you say.

"Great!" she says. "In that case..." she takes a stance, and a spear traces itself out with brilliance in her hands. "Shall we exchange pointers, sister?" she says, grinning.

Names of God, martial adepts actually say that? It wasn't something the novelists invented? You try to take a stance of your own. "Let us," you respond, feeling very self-conscious.

No sooner are the words out of your mouth than she is coming at you, and by all the saints you would swear that you had never seen anyone move so fast. Your panic reaction is to raise as much stone as you can in a hurried slab between you. She vaults onto the lip like she knew it was coming and then kicks off, but the second it buys is enough for your brain to override your panic, and when she's hurtling through the air she can't change direction, so you leap sideways and loose two fist-sized rocks, aimed right where she's going to land, one after another. Sure enough, she hits the ground in a perfect landing and adroitly bats the first projectile away with her spear, but the second one an instant later catches her in the ribs. She goes flying a little more dramatically than you expect: she much have jumped with it when she couldn't deflect or dodge it, minimizing the force of impact. You throw out another couple of rocks, trying to catch her again, but this time she's expecting it and her spear is already in motion, shattering each one in sequence. "Nice," you hear her say, silver lines tracing over her head and shoulders, and you can't see her face well from this distance but you're sure her grin is wider. You are flattered by that for a moment, and then you don't have time to feel flattered because she's coming for you again and is this girl a literal snake-

You spar like that for what feels like a very long time but can't really have been. Every now and then she closes with you and gets you with a leg sweep or a strike to the torso that knocks you over. Less often, you manage to hit her square and knock her over, though absolutely never the same way twice. Mostly, you fight at the middle distance; you throw out obstacles and attacks and Black Orchid evades or breaks through them. You are intimidated at first, because she is a real martial adept from a real martial fraternity, whereas you're a complete amateur, but as you fight you can't help but compare her to the other Heroes of Vindar you've seen, and Lady Durand in particular. Yesterday, you'd seen the Ancestral Scion in action for the first time, each perfect cut leaving her in the perfect stance for the next, one after another after another, and that was through wholly mundane fighting skill. Lady Durand was an artist of the battlefield; Black Orchid is merely very good. You can be good, you think.

Your opponent gets better at smashing your rocks over time; conversely, you manage to figure out little tricks for disrupting the lightning-quick movement that makes her so annoying to fight. Gravity helps, of course, but more effective are the terrain disruptions you invent and refine. Larger manipulations, like the spikes that were so effective against the demons, she simply goes over or around, so you have to get creative and efficient to be able to mess with her in ways she can't avoid in time, like raising or lowering some ground right before she steps to break her stride, smoothing out stone or softening dirt, and synchronizing those disruptions with other attacks or defenses. The first time you knock her off her balance and send her falling face-first into a slab that wasn't there a second ago, you're aghast until she springs laughing back to her feet, dust drifting off her "helm." The second time you do it, you're just proud. That does raise a question, though, which you ask about when you take a water break.

"I notice that your armor appears gradually as you fight," you say. "How does that work, if you don't mind my asking? The other Silver Knights I've seen in action have all had their armor up from the start."

"Ah, well," she replies, looking a little sheepish for the first time. "I'm... well, I'm not especially fast at manifesting my armor. Just one of those things."

"Oh," you say. "I mean, I could wait until you have it up before we start!" Though that would probably decrease your odds significantly, you reflect privately; as more of her armor appears, Black Orchid is faster, stronger, and more resistant to your gravity. Most of your "wins" have happened early.

She shakes her head emphatically. "No, definitely not. It's like what you said about wanting to work on solo fighting, you can't assume that fights will happen in circumstances that suit you. It's smart of you to prioritize that, and I'm trying to do the same thing. The Sect's Young Master -- that's the Grandmaster's younger brother, Ragna Gehrman, he has a reputation for being lazy but underneath it he's really interested in combat -- anyway, he came in one day while I was training to manifest faster, got interested, and said that instead I should embrace it and focus on fighting while I'm manifesting it. That way if I have time to prepare then hooray, and if I don't I'm used to fighting without it all there. And if my speed and strength are changing during the fight, that can trip someone up."

"Hunh," you say. "That's clever."

"Yeah!" Black Orchid says. "The Young Master is like that, when he can be bothered to apply himself. I think it's because of his spirit magic -- it's some strange thing that nobody has ever heard of, I don't know the details because it's a Sect secret, but he went off to one of the Empress's special schools when he was younger to figure out how to use it, since there was nobody he could learn from." You file that away as she continues. "Anyway, you're pretty good. Untrained, obviously, but that's fixable. The important thing is that you have a fighting spirit. I thought from this morning that you might just be a scholar, but no, I see why Grier summoned you."

You flush at the earnest praise. "Thanks," you say. "I think it might have been for the scholarship, actually... or possibly because when he met me I was, uh, not giving up." You feel awkward dwelling on that, so you don't give her a chance to comment. "How about you?" you ask.

"Why'd he summon me, you mean? Not sure, we only met once, after the Games when the Sect was trotting me out like their prize stallion. Maybe because he knew I'd say yes?" She shakes her head. "You'd think that wouldn't be a concern, but then I look around and there's only three old monsters here, and they're like cats in a sack when they're around each other. I suppose being difficult is the privilege of the strong, but I can see why Grier might not have wanted to summon more."

New technique!
Disrupt Footing
Strength: -
Tags: Technique
A variety of tricks for knocking a foe off-balance, making it significantly easier to land attacks and lowering their speed and mobility.

Black Orchid's techniques identified!
Silver Armor
Strength: 4
Tags: Technique, Progressive, Defensive
Gradually assembles armor from silver light, augmenting strength and speed along with protection.

Silver Spear
Strength: 3
Tags: Technique, Weapon, Basic
A spear forged from silver light.

Enhanced Skewer
Strength: 4
Tags: Technique, Cooldown
Eking out more strength than normal from a spear strike via manipulating its form.

After that, the two of you drill for a while, taking it in turns to practice and refine what you'd come up with during the spar. You send projectiles at her and raise blocks of stone for her to smash; she rushes at you while you try your best to trip her up and slow her down. It's slower-paced than the full intensity of the spar, but that's good: you have room to experiment and consciously consider what you're doing instead of trying to hastily throw together a technique before a tiny woman pretend-guts you with her spear. Then you stretch again to finish cooling down; this time she gives you more direction, even coming up to you and adjusting what you're doing when words aren't enough for you to get it exactly right.

"I'm jealous," she says as she makes some small tweak to how you're holding your arms out. You can't feel the difference, but you trust that she knows what she's doing. "You're so tall, and you have a solid frame to go with it. I have to figure out tricks to compensate for less power coming from my muscles than other warriors, like lengthening my spear at the moment of impact. But you've got a lot of natural strength." She squeezes your shoulder and clicks her tongue.

"Thanks," you say, working out how you feel about "solid frame." You got your growth early and dramatically, and you caught a fair amount of well-meant words from your mother's fellow laundresses about 'wearing dresses well' not being everything there was to being a woman, and an unfair amount of less-well-meant words from other children being rather nastier about it. "Though you being small really made my gravity fields less useful against you -- they work best against groups or against big things -- and you probably would have won fewer prizes at the Games, with my build. I get the sense agility matters a lot."

She shrugs, resuming her own stretch opposite you. "Eh. The Games are just... games. I'd take real fighting prowess over that any day, and so would any true-hearted martial adept." She gives you a smile, which you take as approval. You feel glad that, despite your lack of experience, you apparently have enough of what it takes, as she sees it, to be a worthwhile training partner.

After that, you part ways. She says she's heading off to the Hellgate to take a turn guarding it and hope that Stone Lion returns. You, for your part, use your magic to undo the damage you did to the field, leaving it neat and smooth for the next people to use it, then head back to your room and spend a nice long time under the warm water in your bathroom. You've earned a bit of decadence, you feel.

It is Afternoon. What do you wish to do with your time?

[] Seafoam Lounge
A relaxed place for light conversation, light music, and looking out at the ocean. Near the hotel's indoor pool.
[] Hearthfire Grille
A supremely elegant kind of restaurant, walking the line between trendiness and timeless class.
[] Hotel Gardens
A calm and peaceful outdoor setting, featuring botanical splendor, local wildlife, a selection of Zarean relics, and the famous Dolphin Fountain.
[] Dueling Grounds
A secluded field in the back of the hotel grounds, set aside for the practice of dangerous or destructive magics.
[] Town Square
The most bustling, crowded part of Vindar. Buy exotic wares in the dozens of tiny stores lining the square, or enjoy some delicious greasy street food.
[] Amphisbaena Tavern
Vindar's most famously seedy bar, with a reputation that attracts some very dangerous people... and also a lot of tourists.
[] Hellgate
At the outskirts of town lies an empty field with a pulsing metaphysical anomaly right in the middle of it.
[] Concierge Desk
Xiomara Delfin has taken over the running of the concierge desk herself, the better to see to the needs of her unusual guests.
[] Widow's Walk
Miella Leistes can often be found here, staring out to sea.
[] Forge
Demetrios Harpakrides has taken over one of the Dolphin's outbuildings, transforming it into a workshop and smithy.
[] Heroes' Room: (write in four people you have not yet read up on)
The room set up for news, information-sharing, and learning more about your fellow heroes.
[] Seek Out: (write in people with whom you have a Relationship of +1 or better)
When you really want to talk to someone in particular.

[] Do your homework.
Go rustle up some textbooks from Vindar's geomancers and work on your assignments. For your sins.

---

There is a bit of an Easter egg to Black Orchid, which I am curious if anyone will catch now that you know more about her.

Happy one month to the quest. Thank you all for coming this far with me, and I look forward to bringing you all with me to the end. For calibration: my last quest lasted about two and a half months, and I expected it to last at least two and did not think it would make it to four. Assuming I sustain the writing pace I've had thus far, I think it's reasonably likely that Hellgate Hotel will see one anniversary, but I don't expect it to see two.