“Yeah, I encountered a vorler and killed it. Was that wrong?” I asked Iona. I thought I knew the creatures that roamed around Pallos - mostly dinosaurs and other normal creatures, enhanced by the System, but I’d never seen or heard of anything like a vorler before.
Learned something new every day.
I didn’t want to think about what I learned in Artemis’s tunnels though.
“No, that’s good. Assuming it was a vorler. Let me double check, sorry.” She said. “Nasty large scorpion-like creature?”
“Yeah, that sounds right.”
“What did you do with the body?” She asked, staring at me intently.
“I just left it there. Bunch of high level spiders were tearing into it, didn’t want to aggravate them.”
Iona swore, and started pacing back and forth.
“Ok. Remember what I said about Immortal wars? Vorlers were a weapon from one of them. They got out of control, and bards like to claim that was deliberate. They’ve got… well, everything. The part that matters right here? Their bodies are filled with tiny eggs. If they die in a fight against monsters, and the monsters eat them, the next generation hatches inside of them, eats them from the inside out, and leaves. Doesn’t work against high level monsters, but it works well enough.”
[*ding!* Passionate Learning has leveled up! 381 -> 382]
“Brrrpt!!”
“Actually, yes.” Iona said. “Burning them all is the answer.”
“BRRRRRRRRRPT! Brpt brpt BRPT!” Auri was delighted at the news.
“What happens if we don’t go?” Amber grumbled, clearly not enjoying the prospect of limping all the way back.
“Possibly nothing.” Iona admitted. “There’s a good chance that any vorlers that do hatch and survive eating the spiders from the inside out get killed by the rest of the spiders as they emerge. Their sticky webs will help with that, and it’s not like they’re getting a ton of time and chances to class up safely, nor to grow. There’s a reason they’re a danger, but not overrunning the entire world. Worst case? A half-dozen survive, kill most of the spiders, escape or poison the largest ones, then spread out to continue the cycle. It’s much better to take a detour and handle it now, while it’s still easy to. Plus, you’re not coming.”
Amber protested.
“Why!?”
We all looked at her. We didn’t say anything, just let the weight of our disapproving gaze weigh down on her.
“Brrrpt.” Auri finally scolded her, slowly shaking her beak. I chuckled at that. She wasn’t mad… just disappointed.
Iona also laughed, and that broke the tension.
“I need to move quickly. Elaine, Artemis, Julius, I would greatly appreciate one or more of you coming along to help show me where you found the vorlers. While I think I can handle the spiders myself, burning their bodies is going to take ages, and I’m running out of time. Backup is standard for vorlers, and I was going to ask the local [Lord] for some assistance. I think we’re in Lakewood County, but I’m not sure.”
“Let’s talk about it.” Julius said, and we huddled up. Iona wasn’t in the huddle, but she could clearly hear every word we said. It wasn’t like we were trying to exclude the Valkyrie who towered over even Julius, just… she wasn’t part of the conversation.
“We’re in a completely new world.” Julius said, and we all made noises of agreement. “We’re all brought together because of Elaine, but there was always going to be a day where we went our own ways.”
I didn’t like where the conversation was going, but I understood it.
“The question is. Do we want to split up now, or later?” Julius asked.
“Later.” I said. I’d lost all of my friends and family twice now. It was a knee-jerk emotional response, I knew in my mind that it might be wrong, but… I didn’t want to leave anyone else behind. No matter how much I knew Julius was right, and we’d be splitting up one day.
“Ugh, I want to say later.” Amber said. “But. Like. I can’t go on this vorler trip, not unless someone carries me. And like. Shouldn’t we have a way to meet up again? It’s one thing to split up in a city where everyone’s got their own villa and we know where we can say hi again. It’s another thing entirely to split up without having a way to meet.”
Artemis popped her head out of the huddle.
“Hey! Bird-face! Something you said about the School implies it moves. What’s up with that?”
Iona smacked her forehead with her hand. I kept a laugh from erupting with Artemis’s nickname. Her helmet had little wings on it, and now that I was looking for it, she looked like an entire bird from the neck up. A weird bird, but I couldn’t unsee it.
Bird-face indeed.
Wait.
Shit.
Did that mean I looked like a bug!?
I narrowed my eyes at Artemis as Iona explained.
“Right. New here. Common knowledge isn’t. The School of Sorcery and Spellcraft is located on a flying island. The places where it slows down long enough for people to go on and off are usually hot topics for [Bards], and the School’s got a whole town attached to it.”
“That sounds like I’m findable again.” I pointed out, then mentally cursed. I was on team “stick together!”
“Also, like. Me being able to find people again is so I can find you all again.” Amber slowly reasoned out. “I’m likely to be on the road a LOT, with headquarters… somewhere I can find. Does the town attached to the school let merchants have headquarters there?” She asked.
Iona shrugged.
“I’ve got no idea.”
Amber cursed, then brightened up.
“Why don’t we meet up where the School is going to be. Or wait. Which way are you heading?” She asked Iona.
“North. To Lyon.”
“This isn’t Lyon?” Amber asked.
Iona shook her head.
“We’re in the country of Rolland. Lyon is the capital. It’s to the north, which is the direction I was heading.”
My estimation of Amber’s translation skill fell a notch or two. Then again… she had gotten information where I’d been close to useless when it came to figuring out speech and words. Amber’s skill just wasn’t as powerful as I thought it was.
“The vorlers were to the south.” Julius said, and I nodded agreement.
“You mentioned the local [Lord].” Artemis said. “Won’t he take offense to me and Julius?”
Iona flexed her hand, clenching it and relaxing it.
“Yes. Yes she would. Even if I vouch that you’re part of an organization called the Rangers, or retired from them in that case, she’s going to be mad. From her point of view, you’re high-level unannounced foreign soldiers trampling around her land. That’s the worst way she can take it. The most generous interpretation is that you’re escorting an Oathbound Healer around, and she’ll let it slide.”
“All downsides, no upsides.” Julius summarized. “You sure you need her for backup, and Artemis and I can’t work in that role?”
“The more of us there are, the easier it’ll be to find the spot where we fought the vorler.” I added in, and that seemed to sway Iona.
“Alright. It’s just cleanup. Not a major nest.” She agreed.
“What will I do?” Amber asked, and it was a good question.
“I’m unfortunately flat broke.” Iona confessed. “Got eaten by a wyvern, had to fight my way out. Lost almost all of my gear and supplies, I’ve been living off the land.”
With that start to a story, we had to get all the details from her, which entirely derailed the conversation.
“Amber, can you trade your ability to heal for a few nights of board and lodging?” Julius asked her.
“Probably? My healing’s getting pretty good, and if I make it clear it’s temporary…” She went off thoughtfully.
“Iona. Can you broker the deal for Amber?” Julius asked.
“Naturally. But we need to move quickly.”
“Brrrrpt?” Auri asked.
“Yes, Fenrir’s coming.” Iona confirmed.
“Brrpt?”
“I’ll be carrying him.”
With the basics of a plan, and how we were going to meet up again solved, we acted. The local village’s [Mayor] was happy to have a dedicated healer capable of minor restorations helping everyone out for the low, low price of a bed and some food for a few nights, and the six of us headed south at a much faster pace than we’d gone north.
“Healy-bug. Are you sure you have a perfect memory skill?” Artemis raised an eyebrow at me as she twirled a rock on the tip of her finger.
“Yes! And I don’t see you doing much better!” I shot back.
“Will the two of you let me think?” Julius groused back. “Some of us are actually decent at this.”
“There’s a reason I was concerned that finding my way back after flying off might not work.” I muttered darkly under my breath, determined to get the last word in.
Artemis won anyways, a tiny pebble more practically the size of a grain of sand hitting me with enough force to sting.
“BRRRPT!” Auri threatened Artemis.
“I already don’t have hair.” She smugly replied to the little pyromaniac.
“Brrpt BRPT brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrpt.” Auri glared significantly at Artemis’s clothes.
“Please don’t, we’re poor enough.” I told my little pyromaniac.
“Brpt.”
Artemis glared at Auri… and kept her distance.
Iona kept her head on a swivel, studiously ignoring our bickering. She quietly pointed things out to Fenrir, growling at him in a language he could clearly understand, showing him the world.
“Here.” Julius declared, pointing to a spot on the side of the road. “This is where we left.”
It said a lot about stats, and how much Amber slowed us down that a trip that had taken us weeks on the way out had taken us days on the way back in, when the high speed stat Classers wanted to move. Even then, I suspected that we were all slowing Iona down.
“I’ll take the air, you take the ground.” I suggested, and Julius nodded agreement.
Iona took a wicked-looking axe off her belt. Metal flowed like water around Iona, entirely encasing her in thick plate armor. From her winged helmet now entirely enclosing her face, leaving just small slits for her eyes, down to her fingers and toes, she looked like a walking fortress. Being over 6 feet tall and made out of pure muscle didn’t hurt.
“Ok. That’s pretty cool. How does that work?” I asked, circling her. There wasn’t a single strap, buckle, or clearly visible joint, yet she moved just as freely as if it wasn’t on her.
“Mallium. Flowing metal that doesn’t need a skill to control.” She responded from behind her helmet.
“Healy-bug. Do you want your armor back?” Artemis asked.
I shook my head, letting the angel feathers hit my face as I did so. The perfect moment to get back at her from earlier, on top of being true.
“You’re more fragile than I am. You need it, and the extra firepower.”
Iona growled something to Fenrir, then turned to Artemis.
“He’ll stay near you if that’s ok. I asked him to watch for small sneaky spiders or vorlers coming for you.”
“Brrrpt!” Auri perched on top of Artemis’s helmet. “Brrrpt BRRPT!”
“Auri’s going to do the same.” I thought about it a moment more.
“Auri. Save your flames for now. We’re going to have a lot of bodies to burn when this is over.”
“BRrrrrpt!” She used one wing to kind-of salute me, mimicking all the times she’d seen other people do it. I gave her a happy grin, then changed tracks.
“I first noticed the road when flying near the vorler fight. It isn’t that far away.” I took off as I said that, hovering over the rest of the group as they started to make their way into the forest.
I slowly flew around them, circling around while Julius backtracked our path out. The spot where the spiders had fought the vorlers was found easily enough, my [Kaleidoscope] butterflies having charred the area.
All of the corpses were gone, having been eaten by scavengers. The only thing left was an empty husk of the vorler, chitinous plates scattered around.
I flashed harmless Radiance at the rest of the party, letting them know where I was. I hovered in the air, acting as a beacon, as they quickly arrived.
“Do we need to burn that?” Artemis asked.
“Brrrrpt?” Auri was begging that the answer was “yes”.
Iona frowned.
“Technically no. Practically? Do it.”
“BRRPT!” Auri shot over, and helpfully ignited the corpse. Her first truly helpful and useful contribution on a mission.
“Careful! We have lots more to burn later.”
“Brrpt brrpt BRRPT!”
“Thinking about it, we should burn an area around the body as well.” Iona said.
“How much power’s needed to destroy an egg?” I asked her.
“Not tons.” She said, and I flew up, marking out a circle with Radiance.
“Is this a large enough radius?” I asked her.
“What?” She asked.
“Is the circle big enough?”
“Oh. Yeah.” She said.
“Clear out, Auri.”
“Brrrpt…”
“I’m leaving the body for you to keep burning.”
“BRRRPT!”
A mollified Auri flew out of the circle I was marking with harmless light, then I filled in the entire area with burning, blazing Radiance.
I spent exactly two seconds at full power before turning my skill off. All the fallen leaves in the area crisped and turned to ashes, the sticks caught on fire, and generally the entire area became blackened and burnt. If there were any eggs left in the area, they’d just been utterly roasted and destroyed.
Auri possessively flew over to the vorler corpse, continuing to watch over and manage the flames.
We spent a few minutes watching Auri happily char the vorler’s remains to ash.
“Right. The spiders now.” Iona said.
“We can just follow the tunnel Artemis made. Should be nearby.” I said.
It didn’t take long to find the tunnel we’d burrowed through, and Iona winced sympathetically.
“How long were you in that?” She asked.
“I don’t want to think about it.” Julius replied.
“Plan of attack, since we haven’t worked together before.” I came down, letting my wings dissipate. “Iona. You look like a frontline fighter. Yeah?” I asked her.
“Yeah. I’ve got an archery class, but with no bow it’s going to be useless. I do have a new class that I’d like to get some use out of, but everything’s close-in fighting.”
“Ok. How good are your reflexes, and hitting friendlies in a fight?”
She was silent a moment, then answered in short, clipped words.
“Excellent. I’ve never hit a friend in a fight.”
I might’ve offended her with that question. Ah well, it was important, I needed to know that to make a plan of attack.
“Ok, cool. If you get hurt, I might dive in and heal you back up. Try not to get hurt too much though.”
“Wait, really!?” She asked, and boy I could tell there was one hell of a story there.
“Yes really. Auri, you’re with Artemis and Fenrir. Julius?”
“I’m going to stick with Artemis. All due respect lady knight, I can’t hold a candle to how good you must be, and I’m better off covering our heavy hitter.”
“Right. I’ll be up high, dropping spells when I can, covering where I can, and healing anyone that takes a hit. Basically overwatch duties. If things go perfectly I’ll be doing practically nothing, but we all know things never go perfectly. There’s a strong chance of poison here, so even if you think you might have gotten bit, yell.”
Iona turned her metal head towards Fenrir and growled a bit, who growled back.
“How’s your armor with Lightning?” Artemis asked.
“Ok?” Iona said.
“Lemme check.” Artemis didn’t wait for a response, lashing a jolt of Lightning right over Iona’s shoulder. It curved down a bit, striking her armor directly.
“Drat. Rocks it is.” Artemis frowned as Iona jumped. I couldn’t see her face behind the helmet but I imagined she was shooting Artemis murderous looks. Thankfully, she wasn’t trying to actively murder Artemis, which would get ugly fast.
“Something to keep in mind. If you’re in the sunlight I can heal you at range.”
Iona nodded her understanding, and we carefully moved through the forest.
It didn’t take long to find the outskirts of the spiders, tiny fragile webs glistening with just a hint of dew. Small, harmless spiders, half of which were so small they didn’t even have System access.
It wasn’t just spiders either. A number of small critters called the forest home, and it wasn’t like we could assume they were all uninfected.
Auri burned them all. Tiny little flickers of flame, and they were incinerated so quickly the only thing I got was a kill notification.
“This feels like overkill.” I frowned as another tiny spider met a fiery end.
“It is.” Iona agreed. “If you can properly figure out the size at which spiders no longer had the ability to make it to the fight you saw and back, and can accurately categorize them, we’ll leave some alone. Until then?” The Valkyrie didn’t elaborate, simply pointed at another spiderweb for Auri to burn.
The first giant spider came soon after, scuttling along the forest floor. Iona’s axe wasn’t super long, clearly made for in-close fighting. She killed the spider in a single smooth kneel-and-chop motion, moving so quickly she blurred. Her axe went through the main body of the spider in an explosion of ichor, practically cutting the arachnid in half.
[*ding!* Your Party has slain a [Wolf Spider (Wood - 111)]]
“Brrpt. Brrpt brrpt brrrrrrrrrpt?” Auri asked.
“Auri’s asking if we should wait to get a big pile of bodies before we start burning.” I translated for everyone else.
“Auri. Wants to hold off on burning.” Artemis stuck a finger in her ear and vigorously twisted it around. “I swear I misheard you.”
“Brrrpt.” Auri had learned well from mom, and gave Artemis a Look.
Mom. A wave of sadness crashed over me, and I grabbed it, stuffed it in a barrel, poured cement into it, and threw it into a corner of my mind. That corner was starting to get awfully full, and I had a Serious Problem coming.
But not right now.
“I don’t like it, but we work with the tools we’re given.” Iona growled at Fenrir, then turned and walked deeper into the woods.
We passed the corpse, and Fenrir breathed Ice on it, encasing it in a solid layer that’d be hard for scavengers to break through - or smell that there was something there.
“Brrpt brrrpt?” Auri hovered over the ice, looking at herself in the reflection. “Brrrpt?”
“That’s ice. It’s cold. Solid water.”
“BRPT? BRRRRRRPT BRPT BRPT????”
“Yes, the evil water can make something pretty when solid.” I tried to explain to Auri.
“Brrrrpt…” Auri fluttered over to my shoulder, deeply conflicted.
Water bad.
Ice reflective.
Ice shows her.
Ice good.
But ice was water.
So…
“You broke Auri.” I complained at Fenrir.
He growled back at me.
We moved deeper into the woods, letting Iona handle the one or two spiders here and there – since physical Classers were usually better at protracted engagements – letting Artemis and I preserve our mana. I mean, I could restore my entire mana pool in half an hour, but I wanted to be full in case a fight broke out. We moved quickly but thoroughly, and I quickly saw why Iona had wanted to bring in the local [Lady] to assist.
There was just so much ground to cover. So many spiders to handle.
“Incoming!” Iona yelled, and the rest of us tensed up. I flew up high, seeing a small swarm of spiders heading our way, led by the [Tyrant Tarantula]. It was hurt, having some ugly-looking cuts on its body, and missing a leg entirely.
Didn’t seem to slow it down much.
I’d already done the math on how much mana I thought I could spend, and how much I needed in reserve, and sent a trail of butterflies on an intercept course to the heart of the swarm. A series of explosions erupted in the middle, and I was rewarded with some notifications.
[*ding!* Your party has slain a [Sentry Spider (Wood - 280)]]
[*ding!* Your party has slain a [Black Widow (Poison - 69)]]
One spider leapt all the way up at me, and I intercepted it with a narrow beam of Radiance.
[*ding!* Your party has slain a [Jumping Spider (Gale - 152)]]
Didn’t see that every day.
Then the fight below me was joined, so I dropped my altitude a hair to better support the team. My job was overwatch, protecting the team, and filling in any areas that needed help.
Iona’s axe blurred around her as she slashed, pounced, and stomped, an implacable bulwark against the tide. A large spider jumped at her, but Iona simply reached out her free hand, catching it in mid-air. She then squeezed, the spider practically exploding in her grip. She was rapidly covered in gore and spiders climbing up her armor, but she didn’t allow any of it to slow her down in the slightest. Cool, competent, and in control, she was the one I’d most likely need to help, but she had it all under control right now.
Artemis was hard at work, shooting stones so quickly that I didn’t see them, simply heard tremendous booms as she fired off her rocks, spiders practically exploding as her attacks made contact. I noticed that there was something of a “cone of safety” for the spiders, as Artemis didn’t risk shooting anything too close to Iona, the warrior moving so quickly that my friend and mentor didn’t think she had clear lines to fire. A spider sneaking up on Artemis was another concern of mine, but that was mitigated by Julius.
Julius had my shortsword still, and was in a defensive stance slightly behind Artemis. Once in a while one of the spiders broke past Iona and went for them, and Julius smoothly stepped forward to stab the spider, him and Artemis working in perfect tandem. She was willing to fire rocks so close to Julius that his hair blew all over the place, but the two had utter trust in each other. Artemis trusted Julius to handle the spiders coming after her, not bothering to waste any mana on them, and Julius trusted Artemis not to hit him. Clockwork teamwork.
Auri was sitting on top of Fenrir, the two low level companions knowing they were outclassed… and getting fantastic experience from this. Honestly, it was a little unfair - all the experience Iona and I were getting was getting funneled straight to those two.
Everyone was stunningly competent and doing their parts well, and I hovered over them like a protective mother hen, ready to shift and move at a moment's notice.
The [Tyrant Tarantula] entered the fray, starting a dance to the death with Iona. The monster towered over her, mandibles clicking and clacking so quickly I could only hear the staccato beating of its mouth. The monster shook the ground as it stomped around, legs trying to impale Iona, who was artfully dodging.
I think. They were both moving so quickly it was hard to tell what, exactly, was going on. I was impressed that Iona was able to keep up in speed with a monster some 200 levels higher than her.
I did get quick flashes of what was going on as the two briefly slowed down now and then, the occasional rain of gore indicating where Iona had landed a blow on the tyrant. I was fully prepared to dive in at a moment’s notice if - when - Iona took a blow.
The spiders started throwing out webs, and one spider hung back a bit, spitting nasty liquid at Iona. I had no idea what that did, but it couldn’t be good, especially as Iona was now tangling with the [Tyrant Tarantula]. I doubted it’d actually land, but Iona didn’t need to be forced to dodge an attack by the peanut gallery.
I swooped down, stopped the spit with [Mantle of the Stars], and surgically removed the spider from the equation.
[*ding!* Your party has slain a [Spitting Spider - (Acid - 102)]]
As I finished my dive, I twisted to fly towards Iona. The spiders were doing what some spiders did best, and applying sticky webs to the problem. One strand of spider silk wasn’t an issue, Iona could easily break it, but it stuck to her. Got caught again and again as the spiders continued trying to weigh her down. Not only that, but bloody thorns were erupting from the ground, growing from every step of the gargantuan spider, then whipping around and trying to wrap around Iona and tie her down. The thorns mostly skidded off her tough armor, but a vine around her ankle was a vine around her ankle, fouling her mobility and footwork. I didn’t know her entire build, but “slowly getting trapped by spiderwebs” seemed to be a weakness of hers.
I flashed Radiance over her to burn all the webs, spiders, and thorns wrapping around her. She significantly sped up, freed from the bindings.
I flew back up, only to see the [Tyrant Tarantula] landed a solid blow on her, throwing her back through a tree.
Wow.
Iona reoriented herself in mid-air, and landed feet-first on the trunk of a second tree. Somehow, in spite of her great speed and cleanly going through the first tree, the second tree barely seemed to register her landing. She kicked off the tree trunk, moving through the air with her axe in a way I knew was impossible with pure stats. There had to be some skills involved.
As she got near the [Tyrant Tarantula] again, her trajectory suddenly changed, and she plummeted down. Her axe flashed on the way down, neatly cutting through two more of the tyrant’s legs. She landed hard on her knees, the decaying leaves on the forest floor blowing away from the force of the impact.
Definitely skills involved, probably around manipulating weight. I’d seen enough Ranger Trainees try to fly.
Then she was up again, under the gigantic tarantula trying to crush her, as a full barrage of Artemis stones broadsided the creature. I dove down myself, aiming a light Radiance burn at Iona.
My light washed over her, burning away the accumulated spider webs and roasting dozens of tiny critters besides, trusting that her armor would keep her safe from whatever damage my Radiance might do.
This was not the time for an [Oath] violation.
I pulled up again out of my flight, shooting a quick heal at Iona - there had been that Acid-spitting spider, or the small one that had gone inside her helmet might’ve had Poison or something. Then I made sure to fire a blistering beam of Radiance at one - my magic power was too low to get two or more at the same time - of the [Tyrant Tarantula]’s eyes, burning and popping it with the extreme heat. The spider screamed at that, stomping and rampaging, knocking Iona’s axe out of her hands. I switched to a second eye, but wasn’t able to fully blind it before I was out of range.
She screamed back at the spider, leaping onto it and grabbing its mandibles with her armored hands. With a yell and a powerful backwards flex, she slowly forced its mouth open until they came to a momentary stalemate.
Until Artemis shot off a [Lightning Bolt] directly at the giant spider. The bolt itself was absorbed by the spider’s body, seemingly harmless, but I knew better. I’d literally written the book on how electricity can interfere with nerves, muscles, and more. With a triumphant roar Iona ripped the mandibles off of the spider’s face, throwing one aside and holding her hand out. Her axe slapped itself back into her hand, and she screamed a warcry as she went to town on the spider’s back.
Moving so quickly that I just saw gore and ichor flying, she savagely tore into the spider’s back. I had a brief vision of a berserker as the spider died.
“Yeah, I encountered a vorler and killed it. Was that wrong?” I asked Iona. I thought I knew the creatures that roamed around Pallos - mostly dinosaurs and other normal creatures, enhanced by the System, but I’d never seen or heard of anything like a vorler before.
Learned something new every day.
I didn’t want to think about what I learned in Artemis’s tunnels though.
“No, that’s good. Assuming it was a vorler. Let me double check, sorry.” She said. “Nasty large scorpion-like creature?”
“Yeah, that sounds right.”
“What did you do with the body?” She asked, staring at me intently.
“I just left it there. Bunch of high level spiders were tearing into it, didn’t want to aggravate them.”
Iona swore, and started pacing back and forth.
“Ok. Remember what I said about Immortal wars? Vorlers were a weapon from one of them. They got out of control, and bards like to claim that was deliberate. They’ve got… well, everything. The part that matters right here? Their bodies are filled with tiny eggs. If they die in a fight against monsters, and the monsters eat them, the next generation hatches inside of them, eats them from the inside out, and leaves. Doesn’t work against high level monsters, but it works well enough.”
[*ding!* Passionate Learning has leveled up! 381 -> 382]
“Brrrpt!!”
“Actually, yes.” Iona said. “Burning them all is the answer.”
“BRRRRRRRRRPT! Brpt brpt BRPT!” Auri was delighted at the news.
“What happens if we don’t go?” Amber grumbled, clearly not enjoying the prospect of limping all the way back.
“Possibly nothing.” Iona admitted. “There’s a good chance that any vorlers that do hatch and survive eating the spiders from the inside out get killed by the rest of the spiders as they emerge. Their sticky webs will help with that, and it’s not like they’re getting a ton of time and chances to class up safely, nor to grow. There’s a reason they’re a danger, but not overrunning the entire world. Worst case? A half-dozen survive, kill most of the spiders, escape or poison the largest ones, then spread out to continue the cycle. It’s much better to take a detour and handle it now, while it’s still easy to. Plus, you’re not coming.”
Amber protested.
“Why!?”
We all looked at her. We didn’t say anything, just let the weight of our disapproving gaze weigh down on her.
“Brrrpt.” Auri finally scolded her, slowly shaking her beak. I chuckled at that. She wasn’t mad… just disappointed.
Iona also laughed, and that broke the tension.
“I need to move quickly. Elaine, Artemis, Julius, I would greatly appreciate one or more of you coming along to help show me where you found the vorlers. While I think I can handle the spiders myself, burning their bodies is going to take ages, and I’m running out of time. Backup is standard for vorlers, and I was going to ask the local [Lord] for some assistance. I think we’re in Lakewood County, but I’m not sure.”
“Let’s talk about it.” Julius said, and we huddled up. Iona wasn’t in the huddle, but she could clearly hear every word we said. It wasn’t like we were trying to exclude the Valkyrie who towered over even Julius, just… she wasn’t part of the conversation.
“We’re in a completely new world.” Julius said, and we all made noises of agreement. “We’re all brought together because of Elaine, but there was always going to be a day where we went our own ways.”
I didn’t like where the conversation was going, but I understood it.
“The question is. Do we want to split up now, or later?” Julius asked.
“Later.” I said. I’d lost all of my friends and family twice now. It was a knee-jerk emotional response, I knew in my mind that it might be wrong, but… I didn’t want to leave anyone else behind. No matter how much I knew Julius was right, and we’d be splitting up one day.
“Ugh, I want to say later.” Amber said. “But. Like. I can’t go on this vorler trip, not unless someone carries me. And like. Shouldn’t we have a way to meet up again? It’s one thing to split up in a city where everyone’s got their own villa and we know where we can say hi again. It’s another thing entirely to split up without having a way to meet.”
Artemis popped her head out of the huddle.
“Hey! Bird-face! Something you said about the School implies it moves. What’s up with that?”
Iona smacked her forehead with her hand. I kept a laugh from erupting with Artemis’s nickname. Her helmet had little wings on it, and now that I was looking for it, she looked like an entire bird from the neck up. A weird bird, but I couldn’t unsee it.
Bird-face indeed.
Wait.
Shit.
Did that mean I looked like a bug!?
I narrowed my eyes at Artemis as Iona explained.
“Right. New here. Common knowledge isn’t. The School of Sorcery and Spellcraft is located on a flying island. The places where it slows down long enough for people to go on and off are usually hot topics for [Bards], and the School’s got a whole town attached to it.”
“That sounds like I’m findable again.” I pointed out, then mentally cursed. I was on team “stick together!”
“Also, like. Me being able to find people again is so I can find you all again.” Amber slowly reasoned out. “I’m likely to be on the road a LOT, with headquarters… somewhere I can find. Does the town attached to the school let merchants have headquarters there?” She asked.
Iona shrugged.
“I’ve got no idea.”
Amber cursed, then brightened up.
“Why don’t we meet up where the School is going to be. Or wait. Which way are you heading?” She asked Iona.
“North. To Lyon.”
“This isn’t Lyon?” Amber asked.
Iona shook her head.
“We’re in the country of Rolland. Lyon is the capital. It’s to the north, which is the direction I was heading.”
My estimation of Amber’s translation skill fell a notch or two. Then again… she had gotten information where I’d been close to useless when it came to figuring out speech and words. Amber’s skill just wasn’t as powerful as I thought it was.
“The vorlers were to the south.” Julius said, and I nodded agreement.
“You mentioned the local [Lord].” Artemis said. “Won’t he take offense to me and Julius?”
Iona flexed her hand, clenching it and relaxing it.
“Yes. Yes she would. Even if I vouch that you’re part of an organization called the Rangers, or retired from them in that case, she’s going to be mad. From her point of view, you’re high-level unannounced foreign soldiers trampling around her land. That’s the worst way she can take it. The most generous interpretation is that you’re escorting an Oathbound Healer around, and she’ll let it slide.”
“All downsides, no upsides.” Julius summarized. “You sure you need her for backup, and Artemis and I can’t work in that role?”
“The more of us there are, the easier it’ll be to find the spot where we fought the vorler.” I added in, and that seemed to sway Iona.
“Alright. It’s just cleanup. Not a major nest.” She agreed.
“What will I do?” Amber asked, and it was a good question.
“I’m unfortunately flat broke.” Iona confessed. “Got eaten by a wyvern, had to fight my way out. Lost almost all of my gear and supplies, I’ve been living off the land.”
With that start to a story, we had to get all the details from her, which entirely derailed the conversation.
“Amber, can you trade your ability to heal for a few nights of board and lodging?” Julius asked her.
“Probably? My healing’s getting pretty good, and if I make it clear it’s temporary…” She went off thoughtfully.
“Iona. Can you broker the deal for Amber?” Julius asked.
“Naturally. But we need to move quickly.”
“Brrrrpt?” Auri asked.
“Yes, Fenrir’s coming.” Iona confirmed.
“Brrpt?”
“I’ll be carrying him.”
With the basics of a plan, and how we were going to meet up again solved, we acted. The local village’s [Mayor] was happy to have a dedicated healer capable of minor restorations helping everyone out for the low, low price of a bed and some food for a few nights, and the six of us headed south at a much faster pace than we’d gone north.
“Healy-bug. Are you sure you have a perfect memory skill?” Artemis raised an eyebrow at me as she twirled a rock on the tip of her finger.
“Yes! And I don’t see you doing much better!” I shot back.
“Will the two of you let me think?” Julius groused back. “Some of us are actually decent at this.”
“There’s a reason I was concerned that finding my way back after flying off might not work.” I muttered darkly under my breath, determined to get the last word in.
Artemis won anyways, a tiny pebble more practically the size of a grain of sand hitting me with enough force to sting.
“BRRRPT!” Auri threatened Artemis.
“I already don’t have hair.” She smugly replied to the little pyromaniac.
“Brrpt BRPT brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrpt.” Auri glared significantly at Artemis’s clothes.
“Please don’t, we’re poor enough.” I told my little pyromaniac.
“Brpt.”
Artemis glared at Auri… and kept her distance.
Iona kept her head on a swivel, studiously ignoring our bickering. She quietly pointed things out to Fenrir, growling at him in a language he could clearly understand, showing him the world.
“Here.” Julius declared, pointing to a spot on the side of the road. “This is where we left.”
It said a lot about stats, and how much Amber slowed us down that a trip that had taken us weeks on the way out had taken us days on the way back in, when the high speed stat Classers wanted to move. Even then, I suspected that we were all slowing Iona down.
“I’ll take the air, you take the ground.” I suggested, and Julius nodded agreement.
Iona took a wicked-looking axe off her belt. Metal flowed like water around Iona, entirely encasing her in thick plate armor. From her winged helmet now entirely enclosing her face, leaving just small slits for her eyes, down to her fingers and toes, she looked like a walking fortress. Being over 6 feet tall and made out of pure muscle didn’t hurt.
“Ok. That’s pretty cool. How does that work?” I asked, circling her. There wasn’t a single strap, buckle, or clearly visible joint, yet she moved just as freely as if it wasn’t on her.
“Mallium. Flowing metal that doesn’t need a skill to control.” She responded from behind her helmet.
“Healy-bug. Do you want your armor back?” Artemis asked.
I shook my head, letting the angel feathers hit my face as I did so. The perfect moment to get back at her from earlier, on top of being true.
“You’re more fragile than I am. You need it, and the extra firepower.”
Iona growled something to Fenrir, then turned to Artemis.
“He’ll stay near you if that’s ok. I asked him to watch for small sneaky spiders or vorlers coming for you.”
“Brrrpt!” Auri perched on top of Artemis’s helmet. “Brrrpt BRRPT!”
“Auri’s going to do the same.” I thought about it a moment more.
“Auri. Save your flames for now. We’re going to have a lot of bodies to burn when this is over.”
“BRrrrrpt!” She used one wing to kind-of salute me, mimicking all the times she’d seen other people do it. I gave her a happy grin, then changed tracks.
“I first noticed the road when flying near the vorler fight. It isn’t that far away.” I took off as I said that, hovering over the rest of the group as they started to make their way into the forest.
I slowly flew around them, circling around while Julius backtracked our path out. The spot where the spiders had fought the vorlers was found easily enough, my [Kaleidoscope] butterflies having charred the area.
All of the corpses were gone, having been eaten by scavengers. The only thing left was an empty husk of the vorler, chitinous plates scattered around.
I flashed harmless Radiance at the rest of the party, letting them know where I was. I hovered in the air, acting as a beacon, as they quickly arrived.
“Do we need to burn that?” Artemis asked.
“Brrrrpt?” Auri was begging that the answer was “yes”.
Iona frowned.
“Technically no. Practically? Do it.”
“BRRPT!” Auri shot over, and helpfully ignited the corpse. Her first truly helpful and useful contribution on a mission.
“Careful! We have lots more to burn later.”
“Brrpt brrpt BRRPT!”
“Thinking about it, we should burn an area around the body as well.” Iona said.
“How much power’s needed to destroy an egg?” I asked her.
“Not tons.” She said, and I flew up, marking out a circle with Radiance.
“Is this a large enough radius?” I asked her.
“What?” She asked.
“Is the circle big enough?”
“Oh. Yeah.” She said.
“Clear out, Auri.”
“Brrrpt…”
“I’m leaving the body for you to keep burning.”
“BRRRPT!”
A mollified Auri flew out of the circle I was marking with harmless light, then I filled in the entire area with burning, blazing Radiance.
I spent exactly two seconds at full power before turning my skill off. All the fallen leaves in the area crisped and turned to ashes, the sticks caught on fire, and generally the entire area became blackened and burnt. If there were any eggs left in the area, they’d just been utterly roasted and destroyed.
Auri possessively flew over to the vorler corpse, continuing to watch over and manage the flames.
We spent a few minutes watching Auri happily char the vorler’s remains to ash.
“Right. The spiders now.” Iona said.
“We can just follow the tunnel Artemis made. Should be nearby.” I said.
It didn’t take long to find the tunnel we’d burrowed through, and Iona winced sympathetically.
“How long were you in that?” She asked.
“I don’t want to think about it.” Julius replied.
“Plan of attack, since we haven’t worked together before.” I came down, letting my wings dissipate. “Iona. You look like a frontline fighter. Yeah?” I asked her.
“Yeah. I’ve got an archery class, but with no bow it’s going to be useless. I do have a new class that I’d like to get some use out of, but everything’s close-in fighting.”
“Ok. How good are your reflexes, and hitting friendlies in a fight?”
She was silent a moment, then answered in short, clipped words.
“Excellent. I’ve never hit a friend in a fight.”
I might’ve offended her with that question. Ah well, it was important, I needed to know that to make a plan of attack.
“Ok, cool. If you get hurt, I might dive in and heal you back up. Try not to get hurt too much though.”
“Wait, really!?” She asked, and boy I could tell there was one hell of a story there.
“Yes really. Auri, you’re with Artemis and Fenrir. Julius?”
“I’m going to stick with Artemis. All due respect lady knight, I can’t hold a candle to how good you must be, and I’m better off covering our heavy hitter.”
“Right. I’ll be up high, dropping spells when I can, covering where I can, and healing anyone that takes a hit. Basically overwatch duties. If things go perfectly I’ll be doing practically nothing, but we all know things never go perfectly. There’s a strong chance of poison here, so even if you think you might have gotten bit, yell.”
Iona turned her metal head towards Fenrir and growled a bit, who growled back.
“How’s your armor with Lightning?” Artemis asked.
“Ok?” Iona said.
“Lemme check.” Artemis didn’t wait for a response, lashing a jolt of Lightning right over Iona’s shoulder. It curved down a bit, striking her armor directly.
“Drat. Rocks it is.” Artemis frowned as Iona jumped. I couldn’t see her face behind the helmet but I imagined she was shooting Artemis murderous looks. Thankfully, she wasn’t trying to actively murder Artemis, which would get ugly fast.
“Something to keep in mind. If you’re in the sunlight I can heal you at range.”
Iona nodded her understanding, and we carefully moved through the forest.
It didn’t take long to find the outskirts of the spiders, tiny fragile webs glistening with just a hint of dew. Small, harmless spiders, half of which were so small they didn’t even have System access.
It wasn’t just spiders either. A number of small critters called the forest home, and it wasn’t like we could assume they were all uninfected.
Auri burned them all. Tiny little flickers of flame, and they were incinerated so quickly the only thing I got was a kill notification.
“This feels like overkill.” I frowned as another tiny spider met a fiery end.
“It is.” Iona agreed. “If you can properly figure out the size at which spiders no longer had the ability to make it to the fight you saw and back, and can accurately categorize them, we’ll leave some alone. Until then?” The Valkyrie didn’t elaborate, simply pointed at another spiderweb for Auri to burn.
The first giant spider came soon after, scuttling along the forest floor. Iona’s axe wasn’t super long, clearly made for in-close fighting. She killed the spider in a single smooth kneel-and-chop motion, moving so quickly she blurred. Her axe went through the main body of the spider in an explosion of ichor, practically cutting the arachnid in half.
[*ding!* Your Party has slain a [Wolf Spider (Wood - 111)]]
“Brrpt. Brrpt brrpt brrrrrrrrrpt?” Auri asked.
“Auri’s asking if we should wait to get a big pile of bodies before we start burning.” I translated for everyone else.
“Auri. Wants to hold off on burning.” Artemis stuck a finger in her ear and vigorously twisted it around. “I swear I misheard you.”
“Brrrpt.” Auri had learned well from mom, and gave Artemis a Look.
Mom. A wave of sadness crashed over me, and I grabbed it, stuffed it in a barrel, poured cement into it, and threw it into a corner of my mind. That corner was starting to get awfully full, and I had a Serious Problem coming.
But not right now.
“I don’t like it, but we work with the tools we’re given.” Iona growled at Fenrir, then turned and walked deeper into the woods.
We passed the corpse, and Fenrir breathed Ice on it, encasing it in a solid layer that’d be hard for scavengers to break through - or smell that there was something there.
“Brrpt brrrpt?” Auri hovered over the ice, looking at herself in the reflection. “Brrrpt?”
“That’s ice. It’s cold. Solid water.”
“BRPT? BRRRRRRPT BRPT BRPT????”
“Yes, the evil water can make something pretty when solid.” I tried to explain to Auri.
“Brrrrpt…” Auri fluttered over to my shoulder, deeply conflicted.
Water bad.
Ice reflective.
Ice shows her.
Ice good.
But ice was water.
So…
“You broke Auri.” I complained at Fenrir.
He growled back at me.
We moved deeper into the woods, letting Iona handle the one or two spiders here and there – since physical Classers were usually better at protracted engagements – letting Artemis and I preserve our mana. I mean, I could restore my entire mana pool in half an hour, but I wanted to be full in case a fight broke out. We moved quickly but thoroughly, and I quickly saw why Iona had wanted to bring in the local [Lady] to assist.
There was just so much ground to cover. So many spiders to handle.
“Incoming!” Iona yelled, and the rest of us tensed up. I flew up high, seeing a small swarm of spiders heading our way, led by the [Tyrant Tarantula]. It was hurt, having some ugly-looking cuts on its body, and missing a leg entirely.
Didn’t seem to slow it down much.
I’d already done the math on how much mana I thought I could spend, and how much I needed in reserve, and sent a trail of butterflies on an intercept course to the heart of the swarm. A series of explosions erupted in the middle, and I was rewarded with some notifications.
[*ding!* Your party has slain a [Sentry Spider (Wood - 280)]]
[*ding!* Your party has slain a [Black Widow (Poison - 69)]]
One spider leapt all the way up at me, and I intercepted it with a narrow beam of Radiance.
[*ding!* Your party has slain a [Jumping Spider (Gale - 152)]]
Didn’t see that every day.
Then the fight below me was joined, so I dropped my altitude a hair to better support the team. My job was overwatch, protecting the team, and filling in any areas that needed help.
Iona’s axe blurred around her as she slashed, pounced, and stomped, an implacable bulwark against the tide. A large spider jumped at her, but Iona simply reached out her free hand, catching it in mid-air. She then squeezed, the spider practically exploding in her grip. She was rapidly covered in gore and spiders climbing up her armor, but she didn’t allow any of it to slow her down in the slightest. Cool, competent, and in control, she was the one I’d most likely need to help, but she had it all under control right now.
Artemis was hard at work, shooting stones so quickly that I didn’t see them, simply heard tremendous booms as she fired off her rocks, spiders practically exploding as her attacks made contact. I noticed that there was something of a “cone of safety” for the spiders, as Artemis didn’t risk shooting anything too close to Iona, the warrior moving so quickly that my friend and mentor didn’t think she had clear lines to fire. A spider sneaking up on Artemis was another concern of mine, but that was mitigated by Julius.
Julius had my shortsword still, and was in a defensive stance slightly behind Artemis. Once in a while one of the spiders broke past Iona and went for them, and Julius smoothly stepped forward to stab the spider, him and Artemis working in perfect tandem. She was willing to fire rocks so close to Julius that his hair blew all over the place, but the two had utter trust in each other. Artemis trusted Julius to handle the spiders coming after her, not bothering to waste any mana on them, and Julius trusted Artemis not to hit him. Clockwork teamwork.
Auri was sitting on top of Fenrir, the two low level companions knowing they were outclassed… and getting fantastic experience from this. Honestly, it was a little unfair - all the experience Iona and I were getting was getting funneled straight to those two.
Everyone was stunningly competent and doing their parts well, and I hovered over them like a protective mother hen, ready to shift and move at a moment's notice.
The [Tyrant Tarantula] entered the fray, starting a dance to the death with Iona. The monster towered over her, mandibles clicking and clacking so quickly I could only hear the staccato beating of its mouth. The monster shook the ground as it stomped around, legs trying to impale Iona, who was artfully dodging.
I think. They were both moving so quickly it was hard to tell what, exactly, was going on. I was impressed that Iona was able to keep up in speed with a monster some 200 levels higher than her.
I did get quick flashes of what was going on as the two briefly slowed down now and then, the occasional rain of gore indicating where Iona had landed a blow on the tyrant. I was fully prepared to dive in at a moment’s notice if - when - Iona took a blow.
The spiders started throwing out webs, and one spider hung back a bit, spitting nasty liquid at Iona. I had no idea what that did, but it couldn’t be good, especially as Iona was now tangling with the [Tyrant Tarantula]. I doubted it’d actually land, but Iona didn’t need to be forced to dodge an attack by the peanut gallery.
I swooped down, stopped the spit with [Mantle of the Stars], and surgically removed the spider from the equation.
[*ding!* Your party has slain a [Spitting Spider - (Acid - 102)]]
As I finished my dive, I twisted to fly towards Iona. The spiders were doing what some spiders did best, and applying sticky webs to the problem. One strand of spider silk wasn’t an issue, Iona could easily break it, but it stuck to her. Got caught again and again as the spiders continued trying to weigh her down. Not only that, but bloody thorns were erupting from the ground, growing from every step of the gargantuan spider, then whipping around and trying to wrap around Iona and tie her down. The thorns mostly skidded off her tough armor, but a vine around her ankle was a vine around her ankle, fouling her mobility and footwork. I didn’t know her entire build, but “slowly getting trapped by spiderwebs” seemed to be a weakness of hers.
I flashed Radiance over her to burn all the webs, spiders, and thorns wrapping around her. She significantly sped up, freed from the bindings.
I flew back up, only to see the [Tyrant Tarantula] landed a solid blow on her, throwing her back through a tree.
Wow.
Iona reoriented herself in mid-air, and landed feet-first on the trunk of a second tree. Somehow, in spite of her great speed and cleanly going through the first tree, the second tree barely seemed to register her landing. She kicked off the tree trunk, moving through the air with her axe in a way I knew was impossible with pure stats. There had to be some skills involved.
As she got near the [Tyrant Tarantula] again, her trajectory suddenly changed, and she plummeted down. Her axe flashed on the way down, neatly cutting through two more of the tyrant’s legs. She landed hard on her knees, the decaying leaves on the forest floor blowing away from the force of the impact.
Definitely skills involved, probably around manipulating weight. I’d seen enough Ranger Trainees try to fly.
Then she was up again, under the gigantic tarantula trying to crush her, as a full barrage of Artemis stones broadsided the creature. I dove down myself, aiming a light Radiance burn at Iona.
My light washed over her, burning away the accumulated spider webs and roasting dozens of tiny critters besides, trusting that her armor would keep her safe from whatever damage my Radiance might do.
This was not the time for an [Oath] violation.
I pulled up again out of my flight, shooting a quick heal at Iona - there had been that Acid-spitting spider, or the small one that had gone inside her helmet might’ve had Poison or something. Then I made sure to fire a blistering beam of Radiance at one - my magic power was too low to get two or more at the same time - of the [Tyrant Tarantula]’s eyes, burning and popping it with the extreme heat. The spider screamed at that, stomping and rampaging, knocking Iona’s axe out of her hands. I switched to a second eye, but wasn’t able to fully blind it before I was out of range.
She screamed back at the spider, leaping onto it and grabbing its mandibles with her armored hands. With a yell and a powerful backwards flex, she slowly forced its mouth open until they came to a momentary stalemate.
Until Artemis shot off a [Lightning Bolt] directly at the giant spider. The bolt itself was absorbed by the spider’s body, seemingly harmless, but I knew better. I’d literally written the book on how electricity can interfere with nerves, muscles, and more. With a triumphant roar Iona ripped the mandibles off of the spider’s face, throwing one aside and holding her hand out. Her axe slapped itself back into her hand, and she screamed a warcry as she went to town on the spider’s back.
Moving so quickly that I just saw gore and ichor flying, she savagely tore into the spider’s back. I had a brief vision of a berserker as the spider died.
