Adam Drake - Blackout

And besides, I was having too much fun.

Resolute in my mission, I decided to get closer to Ogden.

Not wanting to risk being detected by dropping from the balcony railing, I went back down the stairs.

After checking to see if there were any approaching guards, I darted across the hall and up against the chamber’s curving wall. Keeping low, I followed the wall toward Ogden and his little army.

Satisfied with the positioning of the Siren’s Call, he dismissed the clockworks men with a wave.

“I’m waiting!” Ogden suddenly shouted, causing me to stop. Was he yelling at me?

“Coming! Coming!” a voice called back. From a secondary entrance a man entered. He wore a black robe which he hitched up so he could run without tripping over it.

The material of his robe made it feel like I stared into a Void itself. Only one type of class could wear it.

A Dark Mage.

The mage ran up to Ogden, panting from his exertion. “Sorry I’m late,” the mage said. “But you didn’t tell me you’d found another Siren’s Call.” The dark mage gazed at the statue with naked avarice.

“The reason I didn’t tell you, is because I don’t have to explain myself to anyone!” Ogden blustered. “I tell people what to do, and they do it without question!”

The mage nodded, his mouth twitching with a nervous tic. “Yes. Yes, of course.”

Ogden wasn’t finished with his little tirade. “And I’m telling you to activate it now. There are more Titans floating around in there and I want them all.”

“Yes, sir,” said the dark mage. “Right away.” Ogden took a few steps back from the statue as the dark mage uttered an incantation.

The statue of the woman began to glow, its obsidian surface shimmering with a dark light. From her pointing finger, a black beam shot out and into the Void Portal.

After a few moments of nothing happening, Ogden frowned, a cartoonish expression on an owl avatar. “You are certain this is a good spot? I don’t need you wasting any more of my valuable time. Otherwise, I am paying you too much!”

The mage nodded. “Yes, this is a good spot. My scrying detected a flurry of recent activity in this area. If there is something here, we will find it.”

Ogden did not respond, instead he watched the portal with barely mollified impatience.

So this is how that stupid owl caught Wally’s Womp, I thought. With the help of the dark mage, and this statue, he was able to find, catch, and enslave Void Titans. I had to hand it to the guy, he didn’t think small.

Still, I needed to stay on point. It didn’t matter what he was up to, I was here to kill him.

I eased closer to where Ogden and the mage were standing. Their attention was fully on the Void Portal, backs to me.

Estimating I was close enough, I paused. Ogden was maybe two dozen paces from me. His little army of clockwork guards were assembled an equal distance away. I needed to be positioned so that when I fired an arrow, I could still make it back to the chamber’s entrance without getting cut off.

Deciding this was a good a spot as ever, I summoned my bow and another magma arrow, which had become my go-to-projectile of choice recently.

I nocked the arrow and aimed at Ogden’s head.

This time the statistics the game calculated were considerably better.

Chance to hit: 99.96%

Chance to insta-kill: 78.85%

I grinned. Good enough, I thought, and pulled back the drawstring.

“There!” Ogden suddenly shouted, pointing at the portal. “I see something!” My view of Ogden’s head also had the Void Portal in front of him. From its dark, starry depths an object appeared. I blinked at it in recognition.

Wait a second, I thought, and lowered my bow. That can’t be. Is it?

The dark beam which projected from the statue pulsated, and the distant object got closer.

“Pull it in!” Ogden commanded.

“Yes, sir,” said the mage.

In moments, the object was close enough that its details were clearly seen.

Wide-eyed in amazement, I nearly let out a laugh which would have spoiled my shadow form.

No way!

There, floating just beyond the portal, trapped within his Orb of Oblivion and looking very ticked off, was Kragg.

Ogden was just as surprised as I was.

“What the FILTERED is this?” he said with a scathing look at the mage. “That’s not a Titan!”

The mage shrugged. “The Siren’s Call will pull to it anything that is within range, regardless if it is a Titan or not.”

Kragg waved, and shouted, but no sound came through the portal.

Ogden squinted at the encased Ogre-Bezerker. “Is that Kragg? How does a bounty hunter end up snagged on my Titan’s fishing line?”

“Perhaps if we pull him in, we can find out,” offered the mage.

“Nonsense!” Ogden barked. “He’s nothing but a minnow at best. Throw him back and try again.”

Kragg could see that Ogden was not rushing to help him and the ogre raged within the orb.

“If you toss him back, he will only be caught up in the Siren’s Call, again,” said the mage with a worried expression. He knew that was not an answer Ogden wanted to hear.

I, on the other hand, was enjoying this bizarre little show. What were the odds I’d ever run into Kragg again? Slim to none. Well, more like none. Yet here he was. As I watched the bounty hunter bounce around the orb in a tantrum, I started to feel sorry for the guy. But only a little.

Ogden made a visible effort to control his temper. “Fine,” he finally said. “Pull him in, if only to keep him from getting in the way.”

With an elaborate serious of gestures, the dark mage manipulated the pulsing black light.

Kragg’s orb moved closer, passing through the portal and into the chamber.

“Well, it’s about FILTERing time, you FILTERED!” Kragg screamed. “You know how long I’ve been out there?” His expression was hot with rage.

“Don’t yell at me, you idiot!” Ogden screamed back. “I’m not the one getting in the way of another player’s gaming session!”

“ Your gaming session?” Kragg countered. “What about my gaming session? I’ve spent hours and hours floating around without a hope of getting out. How fun a gaming session does that sound like to you?”

“I don’t care!” Ogden shouted over Kragg. “You are nothing but a piece of FILTERED, anyway. Beneath my attention!”

“What?!” Kragg sputtered. “What did you call me?”

Ogden moved closer to the floating orb. Kragg leaned down eye-level with him. Despite the orb’s barrier they were practically beak to bulbous nose.

The owl spoke, emphasizing each word as if speaking to a child. “You are nothing less than a green piece of FILTERED that just doesn’t flush.”

I had to cover my avatar’s mouth with a hand to keep from letting out a peel of laughter. Oh, by the gaming gods, this was entertaining.

Kragg’s eye twitched, then his mouth, followed by the rest of his body. Then his bezerker-rage kicked in and he flailed violently against the orb.

Ogden barked a laugh, and with a smug expression, crossed his wings in front of him while he waited.

Kragg’s rage eventually petered out, and he slumped in his prison. “You’re a FILTERED,” he said.

“Oh, yeah?” said owl. “Well I’m not the moron who got himself trapped in a Void.” Ogden thought a moment. “How did you get stuck in there, anyway?”

I tensed up. Ogden didn’t know. Kragg hadn’t told him. I thought for sure he would have sent Ogden a chat explaining that I was hunting for information on his guildhall’s location. But he hadn’t. Why not?

Kragg scoffed and made a show of looking at his fingernails. “You’ve made it apparent that telling you anything would not be worth my while.” The ogre’s eyes briefly shifted from his fingernails, to me. Then he looked away.