The Mana Factory

Skylar nods curtly once more and he steps aside to let us enter. She pushes open the door and we follow her inside. We look around as we enter, and to my knowledge, it looks like a fairly standard pub. Not that I’ve been to many myself. A dartboard hangs on a wall near a corner with a few clusters of darts stuck in it. The bartender stands behind the bar, idly cleaning a glass.

Behind the bartender are shelves full of bottles of different kinds of ****, doubtless some that are unique to the abyss. The bar is mostly empty, save for a pair of men talking quietly at a booth, and a small group of what look to be dwarves. The bartender looks up at us and nods politely, before returning to cleaning the glass.

The lack of pub goers makes sense, given that it’s only around 2pm. People don’t usually go to bars so early in the day, and it’s almost a surprise that this one is even open. We head to the bar with Skylar in the lead. Once again, we’ve decided that she’s going to do the talking. I may be the leader of the guild, but that doesn’t mean I’m particularly confident in talking to strangers.

“Hi there. We’re looking for some information.” She says, striking up the conversation. “Are you now? Well it’ll cost you. What kind of information are you looking for?” The man says gruffly. He looks to be in his mid forties, and his demeanor is not unfriendly but fairly neutral. “We want to know who might be sponsoring a bounty around here.” She replies.

His eyebrow raises slightly. “Hmm. I might know a thing or two.” Skylar looks at me expectantly. I sigh inwardly, knowing that my status of being a millionaire is now gone. I withdraw $50,000 from my inventory, hoping that’ll be enough. I hand it to the man and he counts it quickly, then grunts, shoving the wad of cash into his back pocket.

“Not too many people around here that offer bounties. The lower bounties are usually offered by smaller mana factories and people with personal vendettas. Anything above a million will be sponsored by the main mana factory in the area. It’s the biggest mana factory in the west. Save for the one in around Penrith of course, but they don’t operate here.”

“It’s owned and run by a woman called Sarah. If you’re looking to talk to somebody offering a big bounty, she’s the person you’ll want to find.” “Where can we find her and her mana factory?” “I’m afraid that info will cost a little extra love.” The man says. His tone is still neutral and while I have my guard up, I don’t feel threatened. I give him another $50,000 and he gives us an address in return.

We walk out of the bar, satisfied with our findings. “Let’s pay Sarah a visit, shall we? See if we can get her to take the bounty off of me. Maybe mess up her factory a little in the process.” I suggest. “It’ll be dangerous. People like that don’t mess around.” Mia warns. “I think we can handle it.” Skylar says confidently. “Please be safe.” Ivy cautions. “Your choice.” Mia says, looking at me. “Let’s find these bastards and put them out of business.”

It takes us another half an hour to get to the address that the bartender gave us. The address is an abandoned factory on the outskirts of a fairly run down residential area. The factory itself is rundown and falling apart. The small houses a street away, while shabby, unkempt and somewhat falling apart with paint peeling off of their exteriors, are still inhabited. We figure this out with the sound of a dog barking, the sounds of a couple arguing and the car that pulls into a driveway.

“I don’t feel very welcome here.” Ivy comments. “We’re safe here, don’t worry. It’s when we get inside the barrier that we have to be careful.” Skylar reassures her. “This is the address?” I ask. Skylar nods in confirmation. “This is what he gave us.” “Are we still firm on doing this now? This is probably going to be pretty dangerous, and we’re looking at freeing a bunch of mana slaves and potentially killing the people responsible.” I look around at the faces of my guild members, and they’re all resolute. A simple nod from each of them tells me everything I need to know. “Eyes up, stay sharp.” I raise my hand and they follow suit.

In place of the ruined and condemned factory is one that is shining new in comparison, and simultaneously the most interesting and horrifying structure that I have ever seen in person. In the mundane factory, there were large chimney tops that would have belted out smoke in the factory’s heyday, along with the byproducts of whatever manufacturing process would have taken place.

In the abyssal version of the factory, the large chimneys are replaced by purple spires, crackling with energy. The building is covered with a mishmash of complicated equipment and magical looking circuitry. It looks like somebody took the base of the mundane factory, and slapped a bunch of random magical machines on top of it.

“Don’t come in unless we yell for you.” I instruct Mia and she nods. “I know hun. Kick their asses.” She encourages and I smile. I turn to the other two as Mia sits down. “I’d say we should try and approach stealthily but I only see one way in. Let’s look around the back to see if there’s any better way in, but otherwise, we go straight through the front door.”

We circle the perimeter of the factory, looking for any windows, doors, even a ventilation shaft on the outside. No dice for anything, and while I’m fairly confident that Skylar could probably smash through a wall with her magic, that would be even less subtle than the front door. There haven’t been any shouts of alarm so far, so I’m confident that our entering the barrier hasn’t raised any alarms. That means we still have some of the element of surprise. When we get back to the front, I nod.

Taking the lead and pushing open the front door myself, I walk inside quickly but quietly. The first thing I spot are guards that seem incredibly disinterested. They don’t even look at us, as Skylar and Ivy walk in behind me. Observing them reveals that they’re between level 10 and level 30, ranging from not a threat to certainly a threat.

I turn my attention to the rest of the factory. What I see horrifies me. A mixture of abyssals, from humans, to elves, goblins, dwarves, harpies and some species I can’t pick out. All wearing tattered clothes, sitting on benches arranged in rows and chained to machines. They sit there unmoving, shoulders slumped and slouching. Most of them have their heads down. Some have their heads up, staring straight ahead.

The machines they’re chained to are pulsing with a purple light that looks sickening in the circumstances. As I continue to look, I notice that each of them have what looks like a magical IV drip of some kind, trailing out of their arms and feeding back into the machine. The substance flowing through the tubes is the same purplish colour as the machines.

I’m appalled at the incredibly inhumane treatment of the people. I knew it was bad but seeing it with my own eyes is another thing entirely. I feel sick to my stomach. I have to fight the emotion so as to not immediately attack the guards in an effort to free these people. There is still work to be done, and we need to be smart about it if we want to have a chance at winning this fight.

I take a deep breath and instead of overthinking it like I usually do, I go with the first idea that comes to mind. I walk up to the closest guard and speak in a polite but firm tone. “We need to speak to Sarah.” “Up there.” The guard replies, gesturing to an office at the far end of the large room, sitting atop a flight of stairs. I nod in thanks, and walk to the other side of the room with as much confidence as I can muster.

Skylar and Ivy follow close behind me. “What are you doing?” Skylar whispers quietly. “Just trust me.” I whisper back. I don’t exactly have a plan about what to say. Meeting Sarah, the owner of this place, is the first step. It’s unlikely that this will be solved without bloodshed, but at least we can potentially take advantage of their lack of safety precautions over an attack.

I place one foot on the first step and grip the railing with my left hand. I spare another few seconds to look at the slaves being forcefully extracted of all of their mana. It’s a painful sight to watch. The weight of all of their suffering starts to penetrate through my consciousness. There’s a selfish part of me that’s glad I’ve avoided this. I can’t imagine what they’ve been through.

Ivy puts a hand on my back and I look at her. She smiles encouragingly. Through our mental connection, she speaks to me. ‘We’re going to help these people Gemma, the best we can. They do not deserve this, and we have the power to make change for them. Come on.’ I smile back at her. ‘Thanks Ivy. I love you.’ I continue to walk up the stairs until I come to a door. I steel myself and knock, three firm, sharp sounds. “Come in!” Says a gruff female voice.