Circle in the Stone

Cecilia walked along the streets of the promenade with her vanguard in her wake. They directed worried guests to lock themselves in their suites or evacuate Gardanmah altogether. A few tourists would scoff at their warnings, and spoke words of defiance, but Cecilia ignored them and continued on her patrol.

The wizard had not thought his plans out thoroughly. The monsters were too big to get out through the sewer openings. They were trying to buckle the pavement and escape, but for the moment, they were packed into the tunnels under the floors of the lower promenade.

"Em, can you seal the sewer openings to prevent the beasts from breaching the floor?"

The wizard did not respond. Cecilia stopped, and turned to look at her.

"Oh, you mean me?"

"Yes. Can you seal the sewer openings to prevent the beasts from breaching the floor?"

"Uh, yes," Macy responded. "And I think I'll just go back to being Macy again..."

At the next opening they encountered where the monsters shook the ground from underneath, Macy brought out her box of chalk, and began to draw a circle around the sewer opening. She jumped back with a cry and fell as a claw reached out to grab her, but she held up a hand to stop anyone from moving.

"I don't need an arm flopping around, or ichor all over the place to ruin my pattern," she explained.

* * *

Macy drew her circle of warding on the pavement in front of a cafe where foolish, decadent nobles were still sipping their coffee without a care in the world. Not far away, she could hear Petra arguing with a group of obnoxious Galtian tourists who were demanding to approach the sewer opening to see what Macy was doing as Nadja and Lady Cecilia were trying to keep them at bay.

She sighed. Now that she thought about it, the monsters were not so terrifying. As long as she maintained the proper distance, they would be unable to reach her. If there was any real monster, it was Lady Cecilia. Macy recalled the sight of the tall blonde girl splitting the monster that was trapped by the door with a single stroke of her sword. She recalled the sight of Lady Cecilia barking commands at military officials and dragomans to elicit obedience where even Julian Geyr could not succeed. Her dark master was not to be trifled with.

"What are you doing? Stop that!" came a voice from beside her.

Macy looked up to see a fussy looking attendant from the nearby cafe standing next to her, brandishing a broom.

Macy shot to her feet, arms akimbo, turning her torso to expose the red band affixed to her upper arm. She indicated the words on the armband imperiously.

"I am on official duty," she declared in highly affected Gallic. She snatched the broom from the attendant. "Go back and mind your own business!"

She cast the broom behind her to land next to her staff. It would come in handy if she needed to prepare the ground for another circle.

* * *

The party regrouped and continued down the promenade. Petra had given a final warning to the Galtians to return to their suites or leave the dungeon, but the words seemed to fall on deaf ears. Cecilia began to understand why the academy might favor the uncontrolled projection of divine aura from their cadets.

Arriving at the Lost Grotto, Cecilia went to their suite. Her expression brightened when Hilde greeted them at the door.

"Hilde, we need to muster the cadets and auxiliaries on this level and proceed to the assembly area," Cecilia stated. She wanted to explain more and express her happiness at Hilde's safety, but there was no time.

Cecilia sat at the writing table, and began to pen a short report for the Erziehungsoffizier, apprising him of the situation on the lower promenade:

Hostile entities present in the sewers under the lower promenade. Number unknown.
Current situation stable, but it is unclear how long before the entities can breach the tunnels and penetrate to the surface.

—Senior Cadet Gullfot

Cecilia called Hilde and handed her the note.

"Please deliver this to the Erziehungsoffizier, and be careful on your way there. There are monsters in the sewer, so don't get too close to the openings."

Hilde's eyes widened in astonishment, but the Secundaner took the note and snapped to attention, saluting, before she exited the suite.

Cecilia leaned back in the chair pondering how she would organize the assembly of the cadets.

* * *

Hilde left the residential area of the Lost Grotto and ran down the promenade past fashionable shops and cozy looking cafes and restaurants. She could not reconcile what she saw with the news from Cecilia that there were monsters swarming underneath their feet.

A series of small tremors had shaken the suite earlier, but they had already subsided quite a while ago. She slowed her pace as she neared a fountain plaza. A group of uniformed staff were plunging long metal staves into a sewer drain. She saw a dark, scaly arm reach out and grasp one of the men.

Hilde changed course and began running toward the group. Two of the men were holding on to their companion to prevent him from being dragged to the sewer opening, while the rest were striking the arm.

Drawing her sword, she stepped over the opening away from the men and brought her blade down, severing the arm. The ground beneath her shook as an enraged shriek echoed from the sewer.

The man's leg was badly mauled. Hilde took the tablecloth from a nearby table, and made a line of cuts in the edge.

"Help me tear this into strips," she said to one of the staff members who looked to see what she was doing.

Leaving the men to assist their companion, continued to run along the promenade. She passed a group of tourists scuffing at the ground with their feet around a sewer opening from which a clawed arm flailed, with the jeering spectators just out of reach.

* * *

The formation marched down the promenade with Cecilia and her vanguard arrayed along the side of the column. It had not been an easy task to assemble the group and get them moving. Many of the auxiliaries refused her orders or demanded that they be given time to pack their belongings, but Cecilia had used her authority of command to make the cadets bully and browbeat the civilian entourage members into motion.

She assigned Cadet Hoechst to lead a small group of cadets at the head of the column. The mass of the auxiliary entourage followed in loose order after them. A larger group of cadets with Cadet Schiff in charge brought up the rear and forced stragglers to pick up their pace.

As the column entered the commercial section of the promenade, Cecilia could hear the roar of monsters interspersed with screams and cheering. A mass of spectators gathered around a plaza as a group of adventurers fought the creatures that were rising from a breach in the ground. Two creatures were engaged with four armored figures in the plaza. A man stood with a glowing maul over the hole, raining heavy blows on the beasts below, to prevent them from coming out.

"Keep moving!" Cecilia shouted as the column began to slow. "Keep them moving, Hoechst!"

She told Petra to take Macy and Nadja to the plaza, and fell back to speak with Schiff.

"Schiff, I want you to form a rank of swordsmen to the left of the column. Maintain your pace, and gather up any civilians that you can to evacuate. I'm leaving you and Hoechst in command."

* * *

Cecilia strode toward the plaza as she left the column behind her. She could feel the force of her divinity rise up within her. A groan of disappointment spread through the crowd as an armored swordsman was sent skidding across the pavement. The beast was instantly on top of him, and he flailed in panic, but his armor must have been of the highest quality because it protected him from the rending claws.

Petra burst from the crowd and landed on the creature's back, driving both of her swords into the back of its head. She jumped away from the fallen creature with her swords poised as the crowd burst into applause.

Cecilia saw Macy and placed a hand on her shoulder to get her attention.

"Can you create a barrier to cordon off this plaza?"

The wizard turned to look at her with widened eyes, and nodded nervously.

"You mean without drawing a circle first?"

Cecilia nodded.

"I'll need to concentrate to maintain the integrity of the barrier," Macy explained hesitantly.

"Nadja will protect your back," Cecilia replied. "I want you to keep these spectators out of the plaza."  

As Macy raised her arms holding her staff and a broom in one hand, Cecilia made her way through the crowd in front of her.

"I want everyone to evacuate to the upper level!" she declared, as the crowd began to part before her. She could sense the power of her divinity flow through her and spill outward. The people around her grew calmer and fell back, but did  not leave the plaza.

The ground beneath the man holding the maul exploded, sending him into the air. Chunks of stone rained into the plaza, bouncing from the invisible walls of Macy's barrier. The monsters began emerging from the ground and streamed into the plaza.

Cecilia could feel a surge of strength, and began cleaving the advancing monsters effortlessly. Her backsword became an extension of her body. She felt as if the divinity flowed through both her body and the sword, making them as one. The weapon seemed to pulse in her hands. The image of an ancient iron blade in the hands of a primordial giant that split a continent asunder flashed in her mind.

She advanced on the pit from which the monsters emerged, dispassionately shearing limbs and bodies. Petra was at her side, while the adventurers retreated to the rear to take advantage of fallen monsters that survived the blows of the two heroes.