The liveliness of the black market square flared every time Ares exited a building and quietened down every time he entered one. His chalk antics were a highlight of this year's event and undeniably the strangest thing anyone had ever witnessed at a Xascan black market before. There were some expert cultivators sitting atop roofs that could overlook the square, and they roughly understood what Ares was planning, but there was still a question on all of their minds... Why? Due to the position of the chalk lines, with some being raised up on tables and others being low on the ground, it was like a perspective puzzle that all fit together when you looked at it from a certain angle. As for what the lines formed... Pretty much any cultivator who didn't live under a rock could tell at a glance. It was utterly despicable that Ares had managed to create this thing here without bringing mass awareness to it but it's not like the thing he created was really that big of a deal? The cultivators who saw it had no qualms with what he'd made they just couldn't fathom the reasoning behind it. Still, they figured if they waited long enough they'd be in for a good show and that things were going to get out of hand later. Ares had cooked up something unimaginable here and everyone was interested to see just how he was going to use it and who he was going to use it against. This sort of trickery was unheard of and whoever he was luring into his trap was really not going to have a good time if they didn't wise up and understand what on earth he was doing. The rooftop cultivators couldn't help but have a profound respect for this unknown chalk drawer as, if they were being completely honest, if they weren't spectating from above they would have fallen for this dastardly set up too. Ares had really outdone himself here.
As for the man of the hour, he'd been ramping up the speed at which he checked each merchant's wares and moved along to the next building on his route. It didn't look like he was going to find any more treasures or resources worth his time here and what he really wanted now was to find an information broker. There would definitely be at least one here, maybe even multiple, but they were naturally rarer than standard merchants as the kind of network you needed to be in the know, with all sorts of shady intel, was not trivial and not something any random Tom, Dick, or Harry would have. You don't stumble upon myriad connections and influence across an entire country the same way you accidentally find a rare resource out in the wild, even if the latter can be more dangerous at times. Thankfully, after trudging up some creaky stairs in a rundown apartment, Ares found a merchant who didn't appear to have any goods for sale and so it seemed like he hit the mark this time. No mat, no treasures, not even any security. This guy was here by himself, humming as his head leant against a cracked wall and his eyes pointed up at the partially hidden moon above.
"You look so very bored." Ares couldn't help but comment on this wistful individual. Whether he was trying to look cool and aloof, or he was just naturally a eccentric person, Ares didn't know but somebody had to start the conversation and if Ares was allowed to do it... Well he was a revenant at the end of the day. Mockery was to be expected.
"I was! Until now at least." The man gave a meaningful smile but Ares narrowed his eyes at this weirdo and felt the need to set some ground rules!
"I'm not entertaining you and I definitely don't want a fellow man looking at me in that way. You'll give me the creeps you know? I ain't moongazing with you no matter how much you beg for it."
"Haha, is this the infamous revenant tongue I've heard so much about? The reputation is not unwarranted." The man waved his hand dismissively.
"It's rare for people in Sheryashka to know much, if anything, about revenants. I would call you well informed but given what you're selling I would hope so. Also I don't want to give you leverage later and allow you to use my own words against me as a form of credibility."
"Relax, I won't increase my prices to rob you blind. Rather, I can't anyway even if I wanted to. My price is non-negotiable from the get-go and not something even you or I can really change." The man shrugged, folded his legs as he twisted his body to face Ares, and pat the space in front of him, inviting Ares to take a seat. As Ares followed along, the man kept speaking. "I know who you are, I know what you are, and I know why you're here. You want to know the location of the scavenger base, correct? I do know the answer, and I'm more than happy to tell you given the overarching threat they currently represent, but I must still ask you to pay the price first. I'm quite stubborn about this sort of thing."
"And that price is what exactly?" Ares readied himself to fork over stardust until his wallet bled and there was nothing left but a giant hole. When the man next spoke, however, it seemed Ares had jumped the gun and been overeager to throw his money away for no reason as that was not what was asked of him.
"I want the same thing you want. I want information."
"Why? Information can't put food in your belly. Do you ask everyone who comes your way for information? That doesn't sound like a good long term strategy to me."
"Of course not but I think you've misunderstood my intentions. I'm not some dusty old knowledge seeker, cooped up in a library all day and burying my nose in yellowed tomes and scrolls. I have no interest in unearthing buried secrets and rekindling ancient knowledge in the modern era or anything so selfless. Quite frankly, I don't give a hoot about the happenings of anything beyond living memory. I want fame. I want my name to be in the history books. Naturally this does lead to wealth as well so, actually, this pursuit does put food on my plate. A lot of it too. Speaking of, you cook don't you?"
Ares didn't immediately respond and tapped his fingers against the floor for a minute or two as he recollected various memories. "Transmit?"
"Sharp mind you have there. Correct." The conversation seemed disjointed and random but there was only one time recently that Ares had publicly shown off his ability and proclivity to cook; when he sent Enyo and Blo Blo the curry a while back via Transmit. Sure he also became a sort of food fairy recently for the various stalls throughout the city but that happened, usually, late at night when nobody else was around. Back in Transmit there were always people milling about, outside if not inside the store, to catch a glimpse of Lara. Chances are one of them wasn't interested in Lara at all but was a 'spy' of sorts, gathering information on Ares for this person in front of him here now. It was the only reasonable way this man could know such a thing, Ares cooking that is, unless he had informants all the way over in Red Sun digging up Ares' history with the various restaurants there but that was a bit too farfetched. This man seemed to have a good information network but not anything approaching a global scale. "I bring your cooking hobby because, as a sign of good faith, I'll tell you something rather interesting." The man grinned and leant towards Ares. "Steppers taste delicious!"
"... Excuse me?" Ares nearly threw up in his mouth and glared at the idiot who brought forth unspeakable imagery into his brain.
"Oh you heard me right. I'm not kidding you know? There aren't many brave souls who'd eat an invisible monster but some daring individuals have and they've all collectively given the same verdict time and time again. Delicious! I can't believe I'm saying this but those blackened bones taste like liquorice flavoured meringue. The bones are quite sturdy when the monster is alive but they become incredibly soft and sweet in death. Bet you didn't know that, did you?"
"No and I seriously wish I still didn't... Also, how do you know what steppers look like?"
The man shrugged. "There are various depictions from scholars throughout the ages and the most common one seems to be based on reasonable evidence from multiple corroborative sources. I simply scanned through every rough sketch of steppers to date and found the black spider-esque form to be the most logically sound appearance given everything else I've read about them. Mind you these depictions aren't readily available to the public, so as not to cause a stir, but it should be clear to you that I have many ways of finding such things regardless. Even information locked away in the depths of our dustiest of libraries here in Xasca, all under lock and key, can be accessed with a bit of money and exploitation of connections. That being said, it is splendid to finally have confirmation from a trustworthy source, I.E you, that that is indeed their true form. Knowing this with certainty now puts my mind at ease as I do so detest not having 100% assurance on any given matter... Although I am somewhat repulsed again by the thought of those creatures being that sinfully ugly. How bizarre that they really do taste so scrumptious."
"... You make it sound like you've personally eaten one."
"Of course? There are some things one must verify themselves, after all. It's not like procuring a single stepper corpse is too tough a task so it would only ever be my fault if I decided not to bother checking the validity of these claims. In fact, I'll have you know I went above and beyond the culinary call of duty and tried every single stepper body part. Even the eye!... In case you're curious, it tastes like mouldy jelly and has crispy chunks of..."
"Dear God, stop talking. It just gets worse the more you speak..." Ares shivered from head to toe and shuffled a few paces back and away from this creepy yet oddly brave individual. This guy was unbearably strange and Ares felt a kind of awe when looking at somebody so reckless. His one track mind was admirable but incredibly foolish to the point of insanity. He spoke well but his actions belied his lacking common sense and craziness. "Let's get back on topic. In exchange for telling me where the scavenger base is, you want information that isn't commonly known or readily available and will make you famous, or more than you already are, for 'discovering' it?"
"That's mostly correct but with a few minor details wrong or missing so allow me to fill in the gaps. First, I won't just tell you the location of the scavenger base. That's useless. I'll also tell you, more importantly, how to get in without alerting anyone and, believe you me, this matters. If you make a mistake you won't be permitted entry and finding your way in will be tough due to the nature of the base. Second, it's not about whether information is commonly known or not that makes me want it. Though that does technically matter to some degree, what I really want is information with a 'wow' factor. Something that will truly knock people's socks off. A massive twist to historical events and chronology people took for granted and thought they understood, the secrets behind modern day confounding puzzles and / or mysteries, etc... Anything that would grab headlines by the balls and not let go for a week or two!"
"No but, seriously, stay away from my balls..." Ares had already told this guy once before he wasn't interested in men!
"... I'm ignoring that and pretending you never said it. Anyway, as for the third and final note about our exchange. I will not take full credit for 'my' 'discovery'. I never do, that's not why I'm well regarded nor is it the reputation I seek. I'm famous for 'coercing' people into handing out secrets they never normally would and would opt to keep until their grave! Whatever you tell me, the world will know you found it out. Believe me you need not worry about that. I'll be a footnote but that's perfect. I don't want to be the guy who singlehandedly revealed all. No. I want to be the guy who MADE everyone else reveal all! A manipulator, if you will. It's a slightly twisted and villainous approach but it's legal enough to be tolerable and shady enough to grab the attention of beautiful ladies worldwide!"
"So... You're a sleazebag looking to play the bad boy role and gloat in front of pump and dump women? You just want to put your mark on my name and tell people indirectly that you made the great and powerful me cough up hidden knowledge with your own hidden power to boost your reputation with easy, gullible, and gold-digging women?"
"I do appreciate it when smart people catch on quick." With a proud nod this man came to appreciate Ares being on the ball and not needing any lengthy explanations.
"... The more I understand about you, the less I understand about you. Whatever, fine. I get what you're after and I have some possible payment methods you might be interested in. I'll tell you what, how about you let me know if there's anything specific you're interested in and I'll answer your question. If not, I'll give you a bullet point list of information you might be interested in learning about more but I won't let you ask questions freely once I've done so."
"Hm... So you're giving me a chance to ask anything upfront but then falling back on predetermined topics I must pick from if I have nothing in mind? Alright... You're a tricky one. I'll admit I underestimated you somewhat and it's come back to bite me in the ass here..." The man looked outside the broken building and spied the runic formation Ares set up down below. The most logical question he could ask Ares right now was the one he was being enticed into asking. If he gave up the chance to ask about this rune setup, and what Ares was planning as it looked incredibly momentous, he might never find out. Ares was a hot topic and news about his exploits in the black market would be pretty attention grabbing. It might also be a complete nothingburger and a waste of a question. There was a chance Ares set this up just to pique this broker's curiosity without there being any worthwhile or substantial story behind it. He only had one question and risking it all on this was a hard choice to make. Ares' implication here was 'ask about the runes now while you can as it won't be an option later'. On the flipside, there were plenty of things Ares must know about that this broker could only dream of and so turning down this chalk incident would bring untold options to his doorstep. It was choice between the known, the chalk stuff, which was high risk with unknown reward, or the unknown which was lower risk, as there'd be more options to pick from, with a better batting average. Ares might not have anything more interesting up his sleeve, other than whatever he was doing now, but the broker wasn't sure that was a correct assumption to make given everything he knew about Ares. Fundamental champions, Gods, the Federation incident, Red Sun moving to Vraizon, Legion and Umbra complications and his relations with the two sisters... There were a lot of options the broker could go for or hope Ares brought up of his own volition... Regardless of what he decided to do, the broker had definitely stumbled across a big fish here tonight... Or, rather, the big fish stumbled upon him. Now he had to stick the landing and reel Ares in by asking him the correct question... For the first time ever, this broker was actually terribly interested in the information itself and not the fame that would come with it. Ares seemed like he had stories about unknown power struggles and universal secrets for days! "... Tell me about this rune set up..."
"Are you sure? You look conflicted. Once I tell you there's no going back and I expect you to part with your own information."
"I know... But it's worth it. If there's a big scoop to be had here I'll kick myself for years regretting my own inaction. This can either be a complete waste or a monumental moment for me, a real defining gamble... I believe it will pay off and I think there's a lot more to this whole thing than just you messing around with chalk like a bored kindergartener. I also don't think you had the foresight to set this all up just to trick me. Or maybe you are capable of such a thing but I don't feel like that was your intent. You looked quite stern and serious when painting the town white so I take it this is a matter you're rather invested in. If you're worried about me reneging on our deal, I'll give you my information first. I'm aware that you have a reputation to uphold now and, seeing as how I have my own reputation that can be used to spread smears, you wouldn't go back on your word here and withhold information from me."
"Naturally. I don't think what's going to happen here tonight needs to be a secret by any means so I have no reason to scam you. I do think people are going to be a bit paranoid for a while but that's not really my problem."
"Ok. In that case, do you have a map of the western desert? I can scribble the location onto it if you do."
Ares nodded as he did indeed have such a thing. Sandy had kindly prepared a rough sketch of the western desert for Ares to bring along tonight and get marked. It benefitted both of them after all so taking a minute to dig through her memory of the desert was a small ask and she was more than happy to. Ares handed over the map and the broker took out a pen with which he drew a large 'x' somewhere on the northwest corner of the paper.
"It's here..." The broker lifted up the paper and pointed at his mark. "But there's more to it than that. Listen carefully because I'm only going to say this all once. At the location, there's an unmanned checkpoint. It's just a solitary, rundown booth in the middle of nowhere with nothing else around for miles. You need to walk inside of it and ring a buzzer on the underneath of the desk. From there, wait thirty minutes and a gatekeeper will show up from underneath the sands. Some of the scavengers are ex-fellahin and the entrance to the base is actually underground so you'll need the fellahin to escort you down there. Before he takes you down, though, you'll have to answer three questions to confirm your identity and be granted permission to descend. You're going to want to disguise yourself or keep your face hidden as they'll recognise you, specifically, instantly but I'm sure you can figure something out.
Anyway, question one is 'who are you?'. Don't answer this. Wait for ten seconds and he'll ask you a second question. 'What are you doing here?'. Don't answer this either. Just wait another ten seconds and then he'll finally ask you 'what loot have you picked up recently?' Here's where you'll need to answer. And by answer I mean hand over a bribe. You aren't allowed to return to the scavenger base if you haven't scavenged anything so make sure to pick up some gear or whatever from fallen adventurers in the Riddlemyd or wherever else is convenient. Bonus points if it's stained in blood as they'll assume you were the one who procured it personally. The quality of the gear doesn't have to be too high, that would be suspicious if anything, but it can't be some crappy stuff either as they won't accept it. Anyway, once you've paid the toll and added to the scavenger's collection, you'll be taken underground and from there you'll have to figure things out yourself. I've never been down there, nor have any of my informants, so I can't tell what you to expect but I don't think it matters much right? You'll be like a tiger in a nursery so you won't even need to keep up the act anymore if you don't want to. Oh and, also, you can technically skip this whole charade if you know a fellahin who'd be willing to take you down to the base themselves. I'd recommend not doing it though because there are fellahin scavengers patrolling the sands and will be alerted to your movements if the fellahin you're with is an amateur. In the end, it's up to you how you go about this but I think I've more than done my part."
Ares nodded and scribbled down a few notes regarding what was just said so as not to forget the process. "Alright. Thanks. Now as for my matter... I'll start by giving you my memories as that's the easiest way to go about this." Ares used Past Present Polymerisation to inform the merchant about the ancient stepper and he was soon smirking from ear to ear. Such a development was shocking enough on its own but the fact that Ares was going to fight this thing would make this matter even more explosive and generate more waves when the broker revealed it. Plus it seemed like there was more to talk about as Ares hadn't even mentioned the rune setup as of yet so the broker waited patiently.
"As for the runes..." Ares sent the broker a mental message, so as not to speak of his plans out loud, and the merchant's face twisted into one of disbelief...
"That's... Your plan? I..." The broker looked outside at the runic magic again and couldn't help but burst out into laughter. "This is easily the dumbest and, yet, somehow also the smartest thing I've ever seen. Alright, such a stunt alone is worth documenting and will no doubt usher in a wave of copycats attempting to do the same. It will fail miserably for them but that's not somethin I care about... So this is how a revenant fights? Honestly... What a quaint little trick... But will it be enough? I believe in your strength, I saw that nuclear in the desert art a while back, but I have a feeling there's more to this matter than meets the eye? You don't seem to b too confident so is there some sort of undercurrent to this whole mess that I'm not aware of?"
Ares took a deep breath and sighed as he looked down at the black market square. "I guess you could say that... After all... I don't think it's one enemy I'm fighting here today... It's two..."
"Two?..." The broker sunk into a contemplative stance before his eyes widened, his body trembled, and shock took hold off his facial expressions. "You don't mean?!"
Ares nodded with a grave complexion. "Yes. I think I'm dealing with a 'shadow stepper'"