A Tale of Faith

When the Arcos arrived in Ketelswatch, she found a town in the process of outgrowing itself. The Great Canal, a massive project sponsored by the Forgepriests of Daglir and blessed by the Stormwardens of Iniki would one day connect the inland cities to the great sea. It was the first such project blessed by both a civil god and a wild god, and as of a few months ago, it had reached Ketelswatch.

The Arcos moved through the bustling marketplace. Laughing children dodged through the crowds of workmen looking for a place to spend their pay while merchants in brightly dyed robes shouted ever-exaggerated claims about the quality of their wares. Under this friendly sun, Ketelswatch looked busy yet peaceful, although the Arcos knew all too well how fragile that peace could be. She pushed through the crowds and made her way to the digsite, where the Great Work was underway, and asked where she could find the Engineer.

The Arcos found Agathocles at the edge of the canal, studying a map. The dwarf’s hammer-shaped medallion, a token of appreciation from the project’s sponsors, had been repurposed to weigh down one corner of the map, while the engineer’s hand pinned the other to prevent it from blowing away in the wind.

“Greetings, Agathocles, how goes the work?”

“We’re still plotting the new route, but the digging crews are in high spirits, considering what happened. Rumors say that The Arcos is coming to town to ask about…who are you again?”

“The Rumors are correct.”

An awkward pause fell over the moment while Agathocles looked up from his map and connected the dots.

“Are you—”

“I am. I know many things, and I believe many things more than I know. I believe that in this town I may find a hero, one whose deeds in our lives prove themselves worthy of joining the ranks of the Sleepers, should they choose to accept.”

Agathocles nodded. “Of course. I will tell you all I know. The first trouble started about three weeks ago, one of our foremen was found dead, killed by a massive blow. After that, things got worse. Isolated workers started going missing, stable digs suddenly collapsed without warning, and beasts of the forest began acting strangely, as if scared by something. I prayed to the gods for deliverance, and they answered. Julia, a champion of Leo, was already on our security team, while Shaper Octavius had been sent by the church of Daglir to assist in our work. Thanks be to the wild gods for the priest they sent to protect us, and the champion who uncovered the true nature of the threat, I only wish I had first met them under better circumstances…”

THREE WEEKS EARLIER #

Julia grabbed the screaming dwarf and spun around, positioning her armored body between the engineer and the oncoming blow. She felt the rocky fist slam into her, but held her ground and sized up her foe.

Rising out of the dirt like a man standing in a pond, it seemed less a creature than a shape, a roiling mass of dirt and stone. Parrying was impossible against its boulder-like fists. She had dodged one blow but was forced to stand firm against the second, lest it hit Agathocles. She took it on her shield and was pushed back bodily, the dwarf still behind her. Striking back, she hit it twice with her sword, empowering it with holy words to flare white-hot. “Get back! If you’re not armored, run!”

Lesha paid the paladin’s warning no heed. From the bank of the canal, the ranger peppered the elemental with arrows. Even worse was that little Ralt, who was running directly toward her and the monster. Shifting from wolf to halfling form he flicked his staff, and a vine whip stretched from its top and lashed itself around the monster, pulling it away.

And that gave Octavius room to scurry in and reach for her sword. “I need to enchant it!” Julia gave the kobold a look of absolutely not now, but he persisted. He wrapped his claws around the hilt and, with a magical invocation to Daglir, sheathed the blade in crackling thunder.

The elemental suddenly sank beneath the ground, leaving anyone to guess where it could possibly have gone. Anyone but a ranger. Lesha’s keen gaze swept across the ground from her vantage point and spotted the faint tremors rippling through the ground towards a wagon with three laborers huddling inside. “There!” she pointed. “It’ll need to resurface to attack!”

“Run!” shouted Julia, but they either didn’t hear her or were too frozen in fear.

“𝕽𝖚𝖓.” Octavius’s voice boomed like the crash of a hammer on an anvil. They got the point and scrambled out as stone erupted beneath them, scattering the wagon in an explosion of splinters. Suddenly, the ground shook again as Ralt cried. Tree roots burst upwards, wrapping around and sinking into the struggling elemental, pinning it in place.

Julia charged with her blade raised. “Leo, grant my blows your strength!” She poured her faith into her weapon and swung. The impact, reinforced by Leo’s might and Daglir’s enhancement, sent rocks flying for yards. Whatever animating force drove the being dissolved, leaving nothing but scattered rocks.

As Julia scanned the surroundings for more enemies and casualties, Agothacles surveyed the devastation. “What was that?”

Lesha provided the answer, “A being of elemental earth, an intruder from another realm. There must be a rift near here, likely disturbed by the work on the canal.”

Ralt spoke, “I have heard of such things…”

Through the grapevine, no doubt, Julia thought but did not say.

“...Entire other realms with strange laws and stranger inhabitants. When these rifts open, the inhabitants of the other realm are often violent and disruptive.”

Agathocles coughed up dirt and rubbed his head where a pebble had pinged his skull. “Our workers uncovered a cave while digging. Kleon—the dead foreman—explored it briefly. What do we do about it?”

“It has been Danu’s wisdom to seal such rifts whenever they are found, lest the influence of these other realms disturb the land. Between Shaper Octavius and myself, we should be able to create a seal that will hold and stop the elementals from rampaging.”

Agathocles sighed. “We will need to divert the canal and find another route through the valley.”

“And that was the end of my brief role. The Heroes ventured into the cave to seal the rift, while I spent two weeks staring at survey maps. It gladdens me that word of their valor reached you so quickly for you to be here already. You are the Arcos. The choice is yours, but if you ask me, Julia would serve the gods well in their day of need.”

“Perhaps, and I will certainly speak to Leo’s champion, but she is not the Sleeper I had in mind.”

Agathocles tilted his head before righting it. “Ah! You must mean the wild priest Ralt. An excellent choice! His mastery of the wild shapes helped solve the murder, and his command over the local plants turned the tide of the battle. He was—”

The Arcos held up her hand. “The Druid Ralt is certainly a master of his craft, and Danu could not have asked for a finer priest in this time. But no, I set out for Ketelswatch before I had heard of the elementals, the rift, or the four heroes who sealed it.”

“But if not them, then who? Their actions saved the canal! What more could you want for the Sleepers?”

“Precisely, they saved the canal. I seek the man who built it.”

In her mind, the Arcos counted off five seconds while Agathocles processed.

“But…I’m no hero. I’m just an engineer.”

“You are the Chief Engineer of the Great Canal. Your vision inspired the God’s followers; you saw a place where a river did not flow and saw a way to put one there. Your Canal will reshape this land far beyond any of our lifetimes. The Day of Greatest Need may require warriors, true, but it may also require heroes like you. Heroes who wield the tools of creation rather than the weapons of war. Heroes with the genius and vision to reach forward across the ages. There are many who can fight, defend and destroy. I came to Ketelswatch to find one who can lead and create.”

“Tell me, Agathocles the Engineer, would you like to see the world your canal will create?”

[Next time: A Tale of Scholarship]