Antonious King paced the bridge of the Anomalous and Maximus paced alongside him. Every few rotations the large hound would bump Tony, Moanthin, or Renestrae. While Tony or Renestrae would generally laugh about it, Moanthin would huff and attempt to shove the dog's snout away as the hound tried to apologize.
"Lord Asc-" Moanthin started, but was cut off by a stern look from Tony, "Tony," Moanthin corrected, "must the hound pace the bridge with you? The Anomalous is spacious, yes, but not for a beast of his... formidable size."
Tony grinned. This wasn't the first, nor would it be the last time that this scenario played out.
He pointed to a collection of soft pelts and blankets that had previously taken up residence in Maximus' inventory and the large dog complied. He padded over to his "bridge nest" and plopped down.
Tony had come to prefer the buzz of the bridge when sorting through his menus and he had ignored his Active Quests for far too long. With his advancement to level 30 and several talent upgrades there had been a subtle gnaw at the back of his mind, like he had been missing something or that there was something that he should know, but didn't.
His Quest Log was a solid indication of just how much he had been ignoring the bounds of his growth.
You have received new (Talent-bound) Quests!
New Quest: Judge and Executioner: You have become a Warden of the Final Gate. Send dangerous enemies to their final rest to deepen your connection to the threshold of life and death. - Objective: Slay 100 Elite Enemies while Gate of the Final Dawn is Active - Progress: 1/100 - Rewards: XP | Warden/Dread Knight Set Piece | Warden Martial Talent
New Questline: The Last Gravebrand (Stage 1 of 5) - Stage 1: The Whispering Rune: You have carved runes into the world that has consumed great amounts of life essences. A great rune calls to you; in order to carve your name among the honored dead, you must first heed the call. - Objective: Find the Whispering Bind Rune and complete its challenge. - Rewards: XP | Gravebrand Sorcery Passive Enhancement | Quest Stage Progression
New Quest: The Gates of the Warden - Your path as a Warden of the Final Gate has just begun. You must explore, fight, and feed your Gate to grow. - Objective: Unlock (4) Additional Gates - Rewards: XP | Warden/Dread Knight Set Piece | Questline: Pilgrimage of Shattered Thrones (6 Stage Pilgrimage)
New Quest: Gate of the Raging Zenith - The Gate of Zenith is the emboldening Day, the ascendant flame. This Gate is the Midday Flame, the ire of War made Absolute. Claim its fury. - Objective: While Gate of the Final Dawn is Active, defeat a foe who embodies Unrelenting Fury. - Rewards: XP | Warden Set Piece | Gate of the Raging Zenith
New Quest: Gate of the Endless Twilight- The Gate of Twilight is the perpetual dominion, the crown of dusk and stars. The Gate of Endless Twilight is Eternal and Absolute Sovereignty- Objective: While Gate of the Final Dawn is Active, defeat a foe who claims themselves to be an eternal ruler. - Rewards: XP | Warden Set Piece | Gate of the Endless Twilight
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New Quest: Gate of the Silent Night - The Gate of Night is the stillness the preceded doom. The Gate of the Silent Night is the black stillness, the unheard death. - Objective: While Gate of the Final Dawn is Active, defeat a foe of silence and shadow. - Rewards: XP | Warden Set Piece | Gate of the Silent Night
New Quest: Gate of the Red Eclipse- The Gate of Eclipse is the seal of the executioner. The Gate of the Red Eclipse is the gate of the bloody crown. - Objective: While Gate of the Final Dawn is Active, defeat a foe who revels in slaughter and carnage. - Rewards: XP | Warden Set Piece | Gate of the Red Eclipse
New Quest: Master Runeforging - Through your connection to the Great Runes as a Gravebrand Sorcerer, Dread Knight, and Warden, Master Runeforging is within your grasp. To realize this, you mast grab hold of the two Rune Sets that stir within you. - Objective: Master the Two Sets of Runes that stir within you and inscribe them on equipment with 100% Accuracy. - Rewards: XP | Rune Sets | Exceptional Runeforge | Note: Rune Set Inscriptions must be made using a Runeforge for this Quest's completion.
Tony let out a low whistle. He had assumed that Gate of the Final Dawn was the Gate talent for the Warden of the Final Gate class, and while the requirements for him to unlock his other Gates were vague, they pointed in a direction at least. Part of him wished that he'd had the class and quests when he'd been in the fighting pits. He'd fought and beaten a berserker... Vultog, an eternal combatant in Akmor the Black... if one enemy could qualify for two Gate Quests Akmor would have knocked out the Twilight and Eclipse Gates, and Rania may have qualified for the Gate of Night... He was at a loss at where to even start when it came to finding a "Whispering Bind Rune," but he was grateful that the quests were showing him how many stages there were to them now... he wouldn't have much idle time with his quest log's expansive list.
It had been very disorienting when he first woke after The Cube of Red Silence. He'd thought that his HUD, Character Sheet, and... well everything about the system would have remained gone, but it persisted. Stranger still was the fact that Legion hadn't absorbed anything from the Cube or the enemies within and absolutely refused to consume the shard of the Cube Tony had come away with.
"Tony!" Moanthin's voice snapped him out of his musings, "Another Ascendant distress signal. We're within range!"
He hadn't been the only Ascendant given a ship to do their own exploring, adventuring, and ultimately... leveling. The Cadre of Judgement's activity had surged over the last couple of weeks. They'd acted with such speed at first that none of the other Ascendant ships had been able to react, let alone call for help early on, and the other ships that had been sent to investigate the disappearance of the ships had also fallen victim to Cadre ambushes.
Auren had called back all Ascendant exploratory vessels and had them fit with EPA's: Essence Proximity Alarms; attuned specifically to divine essences that were not Auren's. When the alarms triggered, they sent distress signals to all Ascendant Ships that were not with the fleet. This was the first time the distress call came that they could act on.
"Take us out," Tony ordered and connected himself to the ship's intercom, "Prepare for jump, we're heading into Cadre forces."
