Source & Soul: A Deckbuilding LitRPG

My head was pounding as the group of us left the meeting room, General Edaine staying behind to speak with Gale. I hadn’t expected my brother to arrive so early after his ordeal but was certainly glad he had – without him, I wasn’t sure if Hull would still be walking free. Things had been a whirl ever since last night, from Griff vanishing to learning that Hull’s mother had nearly stolen Gale’s Soul Card to then discovering that Treledyne would soon be under siege from so massive an army. Under such circumstances, sleep had been impossible to find, and my temples were throbbing from the lack. A petty part of me found the pain entirely unfair since at no point during the evening prior had I come close to being intoxicated.

“Your head still aching?” Esmi asked, her brow knitted in the most adorable way out of concern for me. How I could find pleasure from such a thing on a day like today, I didn’t know, but I was glad for the brief reprieve it gave from the otherwise bowel wrenching dread that lingered on the edges of my thoughts – for every step I took, I knew the enemy army was doing the same, closing the noose around us, tighter and tighter. A force of orcs, undead, and demons? It was insanity.

“Not as bad as before,” I said, bending the truth without breaking it; there was no need for this ailment to cause us both pain. Esmi and I had spent the night talking, bouncing from one unbelievable event that had occurred to the next, but in the end it had been our fears we had discussed, holding each other and taking it in turns to sob when our emotions bubbled over. Previously, I would have viewed such overt expressions as a lack of Order, but I felt so incredibly safe with her, unjudged, and so I didn’t regret how I had behaved. In fact, in so doing, I had experienced something akin to when I channeled Air Source through my body, and that familiarity had stopped me from judging myself, too. It didn’t make me any less terrified now, but still, it was comforting to know that someone else was aware of what I was going through.

“That’s good, at least,” Esmi said, squeezing my hand, and I squeezed it back, so grateful for her. She turned to look over at Hull and Afi, who were speaking quietly, her hair puffier than the night before, but no less beautiful. Looking past her curls, I found myself smiling, happy for my friend that he was getting on well with such an impressive duelist and student, who was also rather fetching, if in a somewhat cool, no-nonsense way. I did wish that he had been more honest about his mother from the start, but to hear Afi and Gale tell it, he had fought the demoness tooth and nail to get Gale’s card back. And thank the Twins, the tenders had been able to reinsert it; I was sure Gale would be here now unless that was the case. So, despite it being a trial, Hull had made that much right in the end, and if Gale, the party who had suffered, had forgiven him, then there was little point in me holding onto any ill-feelings. Though, I did hope that one day Hull would see me as someone he could confide in from the very beginning.

“Where are you all off to?” Hull said, the gruffness in his voice surprising me. I didn’t think there was any cause to speak to the artisans and workers who were rushing about preparing for the upcoming collapse of the fortification so, but when I turned, I saw that it was the Deepkin who he was addressing.

As they had been at the gala, the eldest, Badgou, led the way. Her stony skin was more cracked than the others, with deeper planes to her face, and she even had a patch of moss growing on her neck. The dwarf halted at Hull’s inquiry, the four younger Deepkin stopping behind her, the group eyeing him and then Esmi and me since we stood not far apart. Unnervingly, they all carried packs and gear. It was possible that they had been assigned some alternate mission from the rest of us, but like Hull, I found the situation rather suspicious.

“Our training together has ended,” Badgou eventually said, her flinty gaze resting on Hull. “If you want more cards from me, now is the time, but I will accept only other cards or coin, no merits.”

Hull snorted at the offer, crossed his arms. “You wouldn’t last a week in the Lows, trying to swindle the same person twice like that. Even if you’re headed out the door, you’re just leaving your back wide open.”

“You can’t mean to leave, are you?” Esmi said from beside me. “Not with an army like the one we face approaching?”

I held my tongue, watching the dwarves closely. Much like they had over the past few weeks, they gave little away as to their true thoughts or intentions, able to hold so eerily still, their stone flesh betraying little in the way of emotion. Badgou didn’t immediately answer, but one dwarf did break away from the others. I was fairly certain that it was Hull’s bunkmate since he had bulkier shoulders than the others and just a chip for a nose. When he reached my friend, the Deepkin held out a hand. Hull looked unsure about what was happening, but went ahead and placed his own underneath. The dwarf deposited something into Hull’s waiting palm, a pale green crystal growing from a small rock it seemed. Then the dwarf grunted something I couldn’t hear, before returning to the pack of Deepkin that I swore were standing even closer together now, as if they viewed the occupants of the fortification as their enemy. Without another word, the five of them continued their march along the path, forcing Esmi and I to move aside.

Esmi made a disbelieving noise at their departure, and I saw Afi shaking her head while Hull looked at the crystal, perplexed. The thought of not having the dwarves support only sharpened the edges of the dread around me, and I cursed their cowardice for that. At the same time though, I could appreciate their bull-headed savviness as traders.

“Without your aid, Esmi is more likely to die in the field,” I called when it was obvious that the dwarves had no plans to stop. My fiancee’s head snapped in my direction, but she trusted me enough to let me continue uninterrupted. “I hear that orcs do not hold the same respect as we do for Soul cards.” I had heard no such thing, but it seemed a worthwhile guess. “Is that the fate you wish for your ancestor? To become so little after all he achieved?”

The Deepkin came to a grinding stop, and after some shifting, Badgou emerged from the backside of the group, eyeing me. I didn’t take so much as a step. They had made us speak first on the subject, so now it was their turn to come to us. A part of me found it ridiculous to be worrying about such a trade when we could be dead on the morrow, but on the other hand, an advantage we seized now could be what helped us achieve victory. Besides, if I did perish and Esmi survived, I wanted to do this for her before I was gone.

Badgou’s stony brows crunched together, and she stomped over to us, her students following like retainers.

“We will give a Rare weapon Relic for Argun as was said before,” the dwarf huffed, eyes sliding between me and Esmi. “A more than fair offer.”

I shook my head, and Esmi stood in silent agreement. One of the many things we had talked about while waiting for the sun to rise was letting me handle the dwarven trade since I enjoyed such things and possessed more experience. We hadn’t expected it today, of course, but I was thankful to see Esmi being supportive and staying true to our agreement.

“A Mythic and a Rare Relic, the types of which to be decided by my fiancee,” I countered. The Deepkin had balked at the idea of a Legendary Relic and training in Depths source, so this should be much more agreeable to them while still making sure that Esmi came off well in the deal.

Badgou sucked air through her blocky teeth. “An Epic weapon Relic, and no more. I will not go higher.”

“A Mythic and Rare,” I repeated, and when the Deepkin went to argue, I held up a finger, forestalling her, “and we will not only return Argun to you, but I will do a viewing on one of your cards.”

Badgou’s eyes widened, as did a few of the other dwarves. From their actions at the gala, it was obvious that they already knew what my Soul ability could do, so I had decided to use it to my advantage. As for Afi, I would have preferred her to not have been so near to overhear, but I would just have to ask for her secrecy on the matter. If she and Hull ended up becoming more serious, she’d find out eventually anyway.

Badgou, meanwhile, was in fierce discussion with her charges, the dwarven voices so low and gravely I actually couldn’t make out what they were saying even though I was only a few feet away from their huddle. When Badgou turned back around, she was holding six cards, her eyes gleaming like they had been polished. The cards were fanned in such a way that I could see some of them, and two I didn’t recognize from the duel.

“We will do as you say,” she said, “but only if you speak on all of these, not just one.”

While I had accepted that the dwarves knew what they did about me, I wasn’t about to also reveal to them the limitations of my ability. Besides, as Edaine had said, we needed to decide on any final upgrades before we departed tonight. If I did one card for the Deepkin, I could still do one more for myself – or Esmi or Hull if needed – using up tomorrow’s viewing, and I wasn’t going to give away that opportunity, not in these circumstances.

“If you had said yes,” I told Badgou, “I would have told you three upgrade possibilities for the card of your choice. Now, I will tell you two.”

The dwarf’s cracks deepened, considering me. “Three possibilities for three cards then.”

“Two possibilities for one card, and they will be the lesser possibilities,” I said, doubling down on my threat. Inside, I was a ball of anxiousness, but in a way that made me feel oh so alive. “If you press me further, I will only tell you one possibility and the worst one at that.”

Badgou eyed me hard, staring silently for so long there was a time I wasn’t even sure if she was breathing. Finally, she pulled one card from the group, and I saw Glydnuk perk up as she did.

I accepted the card but kept my gaze locked on Badgou. “Do we have a deal? If not, I think that agreement you came to with the queen last night about a restriction on Depths sales will be much less likely to hold in light of your upcoming absence.”

“We do, human,” she said, “by the Depths and the Abyss beyond, we do.”

I wasn’t familiar with that particular oath, but it sounded meaningful, and there were three other witnesses to her words besides. I gripped the card tighter, satisfaction flowing through me. I had done it!

This Depths card was yet another one I was unfamiliar with, and I was surprised it was only of Rare quality since I knew the dwarves had at least some Epics. However, perhaps an elevation to Epic was what they had the shards for or maybe this was a card they were considering upgrading multiple copies of. The Spell itself was a fascinating board clear that would devastate aggressively focused decks. I glanced up to see Glydnuk watching me, but the Deepkin looked elsewhere when she was caught. Had this card been in her deck, but she removed it because of the upgrades Esmi had done, putting more of her Kobolds at even Attack and Health? If so, the Deepkin had been thorough in their preparation, and it was quite fortunate that Esmi had still managed to wrestle the win from them.

Going back to the card, I breathed deeply and then looked past it, which engaged my ability. When I did, I could see three ghostly outlines of what it might be in the future, hovering just beyond the physical card held between my fingers. The first option to the left simply decreased its cost by 1 Any. It wasn’t the flashiest of changes, but by retaining the three Depths symbols it would still be an effective blocker from hand and by only costing 4 source instead of 5, it could be played on what would likely be a Deepkin’s first turn onward.

The second option kept the cost the same but had a wider affect, destroying all Souls that didn’t have more Health than Attack. From what I had seen of the Depths cards, this would be both a boon and a curse since some of their cards, like that Boulderfoot Dwarf and even Argun the Mythic, had equal values. However, this version of the card would let them remove threats that the base card couldn’t.

Lastly, the final ghostly image on the right didn’t alter the cost or the initial conditions, but instead added another feature:

Do a Depths Source Explosion of an amount equal to the number of Souls destroyed by this Spell.

That made me blink, which I’m sure they noticed, and I was glad they did – I had planned to react strongly at some point to pique their interest. A Depths Explosion, like some other sources, halved the initial value, so the Spell would need to destroy a handful of Souls to have much effect. But if it did, it could be devastating to their opponent: Glydnuk had shown that when she had stripped so many of Esmi’s resources away during their duel, greatly slowing the rest of the match.

With this one Spell, the entire trajectory of the battle could change.

Quietly, I handed the card back to Badgou, and without speaking, she accepted it, the other dwarves remaining just as silent. While I most certainly didn’t approve of them abandoning us in our time of need, I could respect their patience.

“One possibility for the card at Epic rarity is that it would destroy not just Souls with less Health than Attack but also Souls with equal Health and Attack.”

Badgou took the news stoically, as did Glydnuk. That version of the Spell would need to be used carefully, but it was still a very powerful option.

“And the second?” Badgou prompted, her patience apparently wearing thin, even for a dwarf.

“That,” I said, “I will tell you after you supply Esmi with a Rare neutral Relic of her choosing and go to House Dacrekin to have a contract made, saying you will honor her request to have a Mythic neutral Relic crafted and delivered when completed. Unless you have such a Relic on you already?” When Badgou didn’t answer, I continued. “You will be expected to pay for this contract and do whatever else is required to see it formed.” I wasn’t sure if dwarves bled like the rest of us, but I was confident the House would find some means to help ensure that the Deepkin kept their word.

“Ridiculous –” one of the younger dwarves said.

“Do this,” I interrupted, “and I will tell you the remaining two possibilities when you return, as well as how to help ensure they occur when upgrading.” I had stayed focused on Badgou the entire time, knowing that she was the one in charge. Like before, she was so still it was hard to tell if she would agree or attack me on the spot. Instead, a slow chuckle rumbled out of her, and her line of a mouth quirked to the side.

“It is a waste that you were born above ground.” She stepped closer, her voice dropping. “Are you sure you do not wish to come with us? It is the wise thing to do.”

“I thank you for the compliment and offer,” I told her, “but I am quite sure. I am where I am meant to be.” I shared a quick but meaningful look with Esmi and then dropped my own voice. “Honored dwarf, if you stay, I could do more of these viewings for you. Would it not be worth it?” I had told myself I would only spend a day of my ability on them, but having five more duelists at our side was surely worth more than a few card upgrades.

Badgou hesitated, giving me a light flutter of hope in my chest, but then she shook her head.

“That I cannot do. Not even for a whole deck.” She looked at Esmi and waved her stony hand. “Show us this House. We must be there and gone before the sun visits the Depths.”

“What is this?” a voice cut through the air, and I turned to see Edaine standing in the door to the meeting hall. Gale leaned limply behind her, even paler than when I last saw him.

“General,” Badgou said, tucking the cards away and producing a different set as she marched over to the woman. “Our agreement was to support you humans against the orc invasion and only the orcs. The situation has changed, so we are leaving.”

Considering the strain Edaine was already under, I thought this news might make her waver, but instead she hardened, her face darkening like a thundercloud.

“We have broken no contract,” Badgou said, hurrying along. “But as a show of good faith, here are cards for you to distribute as you see fit.”

Edaine accepted the slim deck woodenly. “Treledyne will remember this. I will remember this, Deepkin.” The General stalked off, and as she left, I saw a number of her summons trailing after her. In fact, as she went, I saw another appear, misting apart from her armor before solidifying.

While I trust that the king would indeed meet the forces of the enemy head-on – he seemed too protective of Treledyne during our audience for me to believe otherwise – I also had great faith in Edaine. She would be an army unto herself by the time the day was done, which might be enough to save us from what approached.

Unless the orcs, undead, or demons had a Spell like the one I had just described to the dwarves…

Like usual, Badgou and her charges didn’t seem concerned by the reaction they had caused. Instead, the Deepkin leader motioned for us to follow again, and Esmi moved to do just that.

“My love,” I said, catching her by the arm, “I hope you won’t think badly of me, but I feel I should check on Gale.”

She turned my brother’s way, seeing as I did how heavily he was leaning on the doorframe of the building, looking like he could barely stay upright let alone travel anywhere on his own. “Of course,” she said, her lips brushing against mine in a quick, farewell kiss. “You did beautifully for me,” she added when we parted. She was beaming as she said it, but I could tell her cheer was more forced than usual, which was entirely understandable. “I look forward to sharing with you what Relic I select.”

“That makes two of us,” I told her and then she was off, following after the dwarves as they all headed out of the fortification.

“That hag,” Hull spit beside me, and it took me a moment to realize that he was referring to Badgou. “Using more enemies to worm out of helping. If Edaine hadn’t caught her in the act, the lot of them would have left without any show of ‘good faith’.”

“Perhaps,” I said. I wasn’t entirely sure what passed for dwarf honor or if they had such a concept at all beyond keeping agreements. Edaine’s lack of pushback confirmed that the orcs arriving as part of a larger force had altered whatever sort of treaty or arrangement had been used to bring the Deepkin into the fold – after all, who could have predicted that the orcs would ever make such alliances? They could barely avoid attacking one another from the court gossip I had heard. But either way, I agreed it left a bad taste to see the dwarves go when our need was so great.

“You should make up those upgrades when you see them again,” Afi said to me, the pair of them having walked over to where I stood.

So she had heard. Ah well. “I suppose so,” I replied, “but Hull can tell you that I already lost one Order source recently, and I wouldn’t want to risk losing another by being deceitful.”

“Really?” Hull said, his face screwing up. “Order cares if you tell the truth or not?”

“It depends who you ask,” Afi said, taking on that bookish quality I recognized from our classes. “Speaking truth can cause just as much disorder as lies, so consensus is all but impossible to find on the matter. Even if lying did weaken one’s connection to Order, it would be worth it to stick it to those craven dwarves.”

I hadn’t expected her to be so vehemently against the Deepkin, but she was likely just as afraid as I was – as all of us, no doubt – and I could see the appeal of having a target to vent that fear upon. For me, now that I had tried and failed to get the dwarves to stay, all I cared about was finishing the deal appropriately, so that Esmi received what she was owed.

“I’ll think on it,” I said, bending truth again, and then inclined my head in respect for both. “If you’ll excuse me.”

Afi nodded, still watching the way the dwarves had left, while Hull clapped me on the shoulder in camaraderie before setting off to join the many people in the process of deconstructing the fortification.

Reaching my brother required dodging past only a few individuals who were dashing about, and when he saw me approach, he gave me a wan smile.

“You don’t look well, brother,” I told him. “Are you sure you will be able to lead us come nightfall?”

“Always worrying, that’s our Basil,” he said. “Give me a few hours, and I’ll be fit as a summoned fiddle, you’ll see.”

The way he slid down the door frame as he spoke made his bravado much less convincing. I didn’t feel like sullying my pants two days in a row, so I remained standing but off to the side to avoid making him feel like I was hovering.

“There has to be someone else,” I said. “One of the other veterans?”

Gale laughed weakly. “They’ve all been assigned to their own squads on the front lines, where the fighting will no doubt be the thickest. How else do you expect those fresh levies will know their ass from their elbow? Father’s guards can only do so much. Without those veterans, we’d likely be overrun in a day.”

“Still…” I said. I had imagined that War Camp would eventually teach us about, well, war, but as it stood, I felt I only knew a handful of concepts when it came to fighting outside a dueling dome and frighteningly little about large scale tactics.

Gale grunted, and I saw he was trying unsuccessfully to stand, so I leaned down, grabbing underneath his arm. It was damp under there, and this close, he smelled dreadful, like boots needing a week’s worth of airing.

“Qi’shen will be with us if it makes you feel any better,” as Gale finally slid the rest of the way up with a grunt. “And I’m sure his Life magic will make me feel much better, too.”

“Did the tenders say it would work that way?” If so, I could use my own Life source right now. However, a stolen Soul Card was no simple cut or wound, and I wouldn’t want to unwittingly make his condition worse.

Gale gave me a toothy grin. “We’ll find out.”

I disliked how uncertain that sounded so didn’t offer to help. That left us standing silently for a time, watching people dart about like busy bees. I knew that there was plenty that I should be doing as well, but I couldn’t seem to leave his side. Despite the warnings we had tried to give him, I still felt guilty that I hadn’t found him again once I knew the truth about Hull’s friend ‘Bryll’. Instead, I had foolishly assumed that everything would work out and had blithely gone about my evening. If Hull hadn’t stopped his mother, Gale could have withered away and died, just like Ediane said the Grand Marshall was doing now. The only reason I knew for sure that the Marshall was still alive was because the fortification still stood, but part of the rationale for unsummoning it today was likely because they were uncertain how much longer the Marshal would last. And when he did expire, he wouldn’t even leave a Soul card behind.

I shivered at the thought, quite glad that my brother had been made whole again, even if he did look like death.

“Do you know what mother said to me,” Gale asked, “in-between the ministrations the tenders were doing?”

I couldn’t imagine, but I doubted it was any good. “Not a clue. What?”

“That she hoped this showed why I needed to settle. That she had a number of quality candidates the moment I was able enough to see them.” He gave a hissing laugh in disbelief. “An army on our doorstep, and all she can think about is seeing me tied down.”

I nearly laughed as well, but in the end found it more sad than humorous. “She… can be so focused,” I agreed.

“She can be a bitch,” Gale said, causing me to jerk, which he laughed again at. “It’s okay to say, Basil. The word won’t kill you. And father vanishes faster than virginity in a whorehouse when it matters. You deserve to say such things after the night you had.”

“I had?”

He rolled his head against the wall, looking in my direction. “Beating your impossibly handsome and skilled brother in a duel and then mother doesn’t agree with the outcome? Father wasn’t even there to see it? I near threw my drink at her, but you soldiered through.”

“Oh…” I said, finding myself quite shocked. I hadn’t expected Gale of all people to see me like that or even really consider what I was going through. If anything, I thought he would use Griff’s mysterious escape to lord over me how he had been right about the man all along. “Thank you. It was... a challenge, like you say.”

Gale didn’t respond, just wheezed a bit, but I didn’t mind. What he had already given to me left me feeling rather good, that was until the darker than usual smoke to the north reminded me what was coming for us all. Were they burning trees or farmsteads on their way, was that what that was? In times like this, I would have expected my handsome and skilled brother to say, without the slightest hesitation, that he would defeat whatever horrors might come. But he was recovering, and I was the one standing straight, my headache barely an afterthought anymore.

“We will survive this,” I said with all the conviction I could muster. “That army will regret marching on Treledyne.”

Gale slowly turned my way again, his eyebrow raising. “Will they now?”

I felt self conscious about my declaration with him watching, but I didn’t let the feeling deter me.

“We have the King, Edaine, other nobles in the city, levies, veterans, and the city guard. Even without the dwarves, our class is strong. Esmi? Gerad? Hull? Each are incredibly powerful in their own way, as is Afi, the paladins, and the elves. And you? An Epic? I have Life Spells that will strengthen you, and E’lal has one that will allow you to attack with two Relics at once. You will fell the foe before they have a chance to strike, and before we know it, our army will have returned.”

“Just like that?” Gale asked me.

I knew it was more complicated, of course, but I didn’t think that mattered right now. What did was our belief in ourselves. Without it, we would lose the war before it even began.

“Just like that,” I said.

“The brothers Hintal,” Gale said, and perhaps it was just a trick of the light, but it seemed to me that his cheeks had grown a touch rosier. “How could they possibly stand before us?”