Chapter 223: The vessel

[ ? ? ? HIDDEN QUEST TRIGGERED ? ? ? ]

[ PREVENT THE SUMMONING ]

[ Eleven thousand human lives and forty thousand Roamers were laid upon an altar with a vessel prepared for summoning something that didn’t belong in the mortal world. Prevent the summoning and save the innocent lives. ]

[ Objective: Disrupt the demon followers’ summoning. ]

Encrid stopped breathing.

He read it again.

’An altar?’

Then a third time, slowly, one line at a time.

’Eleven thousand human lives. Forty thousand Roamers. And an altar.’

He had spent a year and a half asking why the Wall fell. He had asked how. He had asked what. In the end, standing in the winch room over Wilm Trask’s dying body, he had finally started to ask who.

And he had also started to wonder - what for?

Now, he had the answer.

The horde had not been sent to break the Wall.

It had been sent to die at the Wall. All of it. The Roamers, the soldiers, the cooks and the laundresses in the Shambles, the children under the streets. Every life on that stone had been meant to burn at once, like wood stacked under an offering.

And the vessel.

’The vessel prepared for summoning something that didn’t belong in the mortal world.’

He thought of a small, dark shape at the edge of the chasm. Wounds along its spine. A broken wing. Jaws forced open against its own will.

’They were going to put something into it.’

He did not know what. The window did not say.

But he knew who.

’Demon followers.’

[ The vessel was taken from the hands that prepared it. ]

[ ? HIDDEN QUEST COMPLETE ? ]

[ Narrative Relevance: 4.96% → 6.76% ]

[ Reward: Main Menu slot unlocked - INVENTORY ]

The window faded.

Encrid did not move for a long time.

Outside, the birds had gone quiet. The square of sunlight had moved from the ceiling to the wall. Somewhere in the garden, the girl was humming.

He thought about the Demon Followers he had never seen and did not know the name of. He thought about men in grey robes who had waited twenty-three years on a wall to open one gate.

And he thought that whoever they were, they had just lost eleven thousand lives’ worth of sacrifice to a disgraced fourth son with a pillow and a single-use seal.

They would want to know his name.

There were still notifications pending from the system, but at this state - Encrid realized that he could get a severe headache - so he stopped thinking and closed his eyes.

The bitter drink finally did its work, and Encrid slept until evening.

When he woke again, the square of light on the wall had turned orange, and someone had lit a small lamp on the table. The chair beside the bed was empty.

The windows were still waiting for him.

He was glad, in a strange way. If he had to lie on his back without moving, at least he had something to read.

[ ? Emergency Quest Complete ? ]

[ The northern end of the Darwen Span was held for sixty seconds. ]

[ Title acquired: THE WALL OF ONE ]

[ Narrative Relevance: 6.76% → 7.56% ]

« The Wall of One »

[ You stood alone so that others could stand behind you. Your resolve is remembered by thousands of souls and would spread to millions. ]

[ Effects: ]

[ ? While protecting those behind you, you cannot be moved by fear, killing intent, or aura pressure. ]

[ ? This title has no effect on your body. ]

Encrid almost laughed at the last line.

The system was being honest with him, at least. He could stand in front of a Grandmaster’s killing intent without shaking, but he could still be cut in half.

Still, he thought about the Council chamber. About Neriah Fold curled on the floor with her arms over her head when the bloodlust came down on them. About his own hands shaking so badly on the parapet that he could not make them stop.

It would have been useful then.

He moved to the next one.

[ ? Emergency Quest Complete ? ]

[ The survivors of the Wall have crossed the Darwen Span. ]

[ Title acquired: SHEPHERD OF THE RIVEN ]

[ Narrative Relevance: 7.56% → 8.46% ]

« Shepherd of the Riven »

[ You led thousands of survivors who were supposed to die, towards the south - across the span- when there was nowhere left to stand. All those who have been saved by you are grateful for you ]

[ Effects: ]

[ ? Those who have followed you through a crisis keep their heads under your orders. ]

[ ? Panic spreads more slowly among those who trust you. ]

He read that one twice.

’Those who have followed you through a crisis.’

Eight thousand people had followed him through the worst crisis of their lives. He did not know how many of them still trusted him. He did not know how many of them blamed him for the Wall.

He thought it was probably both.

The next window had no quest attached to it. It simply appeared, quietly, as if the system had saved it for last.

[ Eight thousand people stood in your shadow. ]

[ The youngest of them will remember you as a reliable shadow. ]

[ Title acquired: EMINENCE’S SHADOW ]

« Eminence’s Shadow »

[ Effects: ]

[ ? The young who look up to you and learn from you grow a little faster. ]

[ ? Every student you teach counts toward "The One Who Lights the Way." ]

Encrid looked at it for a long time.

He did not know what it meant, ’stood in your shadow.’ He had been facing the other way.

But he thought of Tam with his wooden sword. Of Wren counting children off the end of the bridge. Of thirty-four of Rael’s children, and every other child on the Wall, sitting on the southern bank in the dark.

He closed the window gently, as if it might break.

But before he could, the last of the notifications opened.

[ Title Updated ]

[ Scoundrel of the North → THE WATCHER ]

« The Watcher»

[ A name given to the former scoundrel of the North by those who stood on the Wall, now carried across the Empire. ]

[ Effects: ]

[ ? Citizens and nobles of the North begin most interactions with a favorable disposition. ]

[ ? Mercenaries, frontier folk, and those who distrust nobility still trust you. ]

[ ? Free drinks at taverns across the northern territories, when recognized. ]

? ? ?