Chapter Twenty Seven - 027
"Down!"
Magda dove forward, left shield extended to deflect an acidic projectile from a hissing Tree Serpent. The kite shield didn't quite reach, but the attack deflected anyway, much to the surprise of Atar cowering behind her.
"How'd--?"
"Get back behind the wall!" Magda shouted, ignoring her own advice and charging forward at the serpent. She didn't look back to see if he listened; if he didn't, he'd likely die.
Magda wasn't worried about the boy.
Evie and the Dayne girl were fighting off the Tree Serpent on their own; Harn was too busy fending off the marauding chimeras behind them. Evie swung her spiked chain around her body, expertly weaving the twenty foot long weapon through her arms, legs, and around her torso; each rotation added momentum to its strikes, and in an expert's hands it was a deadly implement. Magda felt pride wash over her, even as she desperately charged toward the battle. Evie was good, but she was still only barely into Apprentice Tier for Chain Mastery; the thirty foot long Tree Serpent easily bobbed and weaved through her assault, wedge-shaped head and single flame colored eye staring fixedly at the nimble fighter.
Vessilia was moving about with almost as much grace as Evie, hopping here and there, lining up strikes with her eight-foot spear. She was strong too, as each hit did considerable damage when it connected. The Tree Serpent threw it's looping coils up and away from the vicious duo, dodging Evie's latest attack while lunging to bite Vessilia.
"No you don't! Wall of Force!"
A shimmering field of energy suddenly warped the light between Vessilia and the Tree Serpent, cutting short its lunge as it bounced off. Rearing back in anger, the serpent moved to strike again but Magda was already on it.
"Clarion Call!" She held her twin kite shields in front of her as she emitted a high pitched wail. The Serpent froze in it's tracks, it's single eye widening as if mesmerized. Then it went wild, snapping and lunging at Magda with abandon. The Shieldwitch punched outward with her shields, each time meeting the attacks at an angle, deflecting the majority of the strikes to either side of her body. "I've got it's attention! Flank it!"
Evie and Vessilia looked at each other and took off. Evie ran along the ground, nimbly negotiating the root-filled terrain despite the pervasive fog that limited her Perception to a measly half-dozen yards. She came up beneath the serpent, near the tree where the majority of its body was tethered. Whipping her spiked chain in a tight loop around her shoulder, she launched the weighted end of it straight up. The chain flew far faster than it should have, bridging the gap in a fraction of a second and hitting with the power of an Iron Guilder. The Tree Serpent cried out in sudden pain.
Then Vessilia came down on it.
Somehow the girl had climbed atop the nearest tree, and using it as a springboard, she jumped a full twelve yards into the sky. She landed on the serpent's head spear first, the eight foot polearm sinking three feet deep into the serpent's glowing eye.
SCREEEEEEEEE--
Vessilia twisted her blade, and the serpent suddenly fell limp. The Duke's daughter rode the corpse to the ground, where it hit with a boom of displaced fog.
"Yeah! You kicked his ass, Vess!" Evie was ebullient, but then she always was; Magda let the Force Wall drop as Vessilia pulled her spear free of the gooey remains of the serpent.
"Well, I would say we did it together," Vessilia smiled brightly, her teeth straight and extra white against the dark orange blood that streaked her face.
"Yes good job, now back to the group! Now!" Magda cut them off and hustled them back to the first Force Wall she had put up. Evie rolled her eyes and nodded her head at her friend. The two smiled and ran back to Atar and Harn.
Blind gods, that girl can make friends with the Herald himself. Magda shook her head ruefully, thundering behind the pair as they retreated to her temporary bulwark. A hazy orb appeared out of the mists, visible mostly due to the fog that rolled up and over it. The orb became permeable as Magda approached, and all three quickly entered. "Harn! Report!"
"Chimeras have been routed, and the fliers have been scared off for now," Harn growled, still watching the darkening skies. Night was coming on them quickly. "How'd you kill the snake?"
"Didn't," came the reply, Magda jerked her thumb over her shoulder at Vessilia. "She did."
"Oh aye?" Harn's grim face watched the Dayne girl look proud, blush, and then look wilt under his stony expression. Magda suppressed a smile. The man was a brute, stubborn as an ox, and as hard to impress as any Guilder trainer she'd ever met. Which made sense, considering his background.
"We must seek shelter for the night," came an insistent voice. Magda glanced over at Atar, eyeing his torn robes and mud splattered hems. He didn't have a single wound on him, or even any monster blood. The rest of them were practically painted orange and crimson, by comparison. It is getting too dark to keep going.
Harn looked over at Magda with a raised eyebrow. The Shieldwitch glanced at Atar before turning back toward the setting sun. We keep moving. Were close.
Muffled groans came from the Tin Guilders, but they hoisted their discarded packs and followed after. The five of them trudged along the darkening path, following game trails barely visible even to their enhanced senses.
Game trails, Magda snorted to herself. As if we're the ones doing the hunting. Even now, she could vaguely sense the prowling of chimera, sniffing them out.
They were deep into the interior of the Foglands, the terrain largely unmapped and unexplored. Not that the land could be trusted, for it appeared to shift and change randomly, moving tree or a hillock from one glance to another. Whatever cataclysm created these lands, it scarred them deeply; magic oozed from everything, confusing even their Skills at times. The chimeras were out en masse as well, and the Tree Serpent was only one of five such encounters they had endured over the past seven hours. Add in the strange commotion to the west earlier that afternoon, when rage boiled up from the earth like a near physical vapor, and all of them were on edge and due a rest.
But we're too close to rest. Magda's mouth thinned as she viewed the narrow ravine before them. It extended perhaps twenty yards before opening back up, and there didn't seem to be a convenient way around it. We have to take a chance.
Before she could step inside, the little shit stepped in front of her.
"That's enough! We've been following you blindly for nearly a week," Atar yelled, red in the face, making his wispy blonde mustache stand out. "You've let us kill one or two beasts between the three of us, keep us moving for hours on end, and what's worse, have yet to help us Reveal our Omens!"
Atar squared his shoulders and clenched his fists at his sides. "Now you expect us to keep moving, through a twisty and obviously trapped ravine as true night begins to fall! I demand to know just what is going on here?!"
Atar huffed and puffed, his skinny shoulders trembling with either rage or fear. Probably both. Magda looked back at Evie and Vessilia, seeing the same questions echoed in their eyes. Harn simply shrugged at her, his helm covering an expression that was surely some variation of "I told you so." Magda put her hands on her hips.
"You're an arrogant pissant, and you only deserve to know what I deem appropriate," she growled and the boy flinched as if struck, his thin arms crossing over his chest. Magda glared at all of them, her dark eyes barely visible through the slit of her half helmet. "From here on out, you are responsible for yourselves. We are encroaching upon a place that is truly dangerous. It is enough to put pressure on both Harn and myself, let alone the three of you. Follow my lead and do. Not. Stray."
She punctuated the last three words with a jab of her thick, gauntleted finger. The last was to Atar, who flinched again.
"Understand?"
Mute nods went all around, and Magda stomped past the small mage and into the ravine.
"Good."
He was back in the ocean.
Opaque green water, sizzling against his skin even as the last vestiges of his clothing dissolved away. Carmine lightning skittered across the skies, thunder following close on its heels. The storm was on top of him, and the waves swallowed him whole.
He fell, sinking faster and faster.
Into the darkness.
Slender shapes encircled him, twisted and slithering through the murk. A flash of scales, of spines, of awful claws and teeth. They spun closer and closer, appendages meant to rend and tear and eat and eat and eat and eat--
Then something brilliant shimmered beside him. The warmth of the light chased away the twisting creatures, sheltered him from the corrosive waters, and stilled the tossing seas. A hand laid on his shoulder, his muscles going soft and weak at its touch.
Breath Control is level 17!
Just beyond his ruined shelter, the world was absolutely coated in frost. Ice was several inches thick on the undulating pavers, exploding outward from the center of the half collapsed ruin of two large buildings. At some point the structures had fallen into one another, and now they supported the other's weight like a precarious stone tent. Ice covered the crumbling details of these buildings, cascading across their surfaces horizontally, as if a bomb of wintry weather had detonated here. A few foot long spikes dotted the ruins and ground, all angled away from the center where a cheery bonfire burned as bright as the sun in the dark night.
All of this would have been amazing, were it not for the two hulking figures within the ruin.
Eight feet tall with dark blue skin, they were bald save for scraggly beards of white hair. Overlarge ears stuck out from their heads, and their jaws were heavy and thick. The creatures wore dull iron armor covered in scraps of discolored fur, and Felix spotted a couple large blunt weapons laying on the ice.
Name: Unknown Risi Warrior
Type: Giantfolk
Level: 26
HP: ???/???
SP: ????/????
MP: ??/???
Lore: Giantfolk are known for their great strength, boundless stamina, and poor intelligence. Be wary.
Strength: Strength and Endurance
Weakness: Intelligence, Dexterity
Analyze is level 20!
Felix gulped. The two came up with the same information, both of them were level 26. One of the two stood up and paced, grabbing it's metal club off the ground. Muscles the size of Felix's head flexed as it easily hefted the club onto its shoulder.
"Ak tu shum rata," the Risi said to it's companion. It seemed agitated. The other waved its hand in their direction, still reclining against an ice covered rock.
"Eva ka ratu tel," the seated one said, it's voice languid and sleepy.
Felix eyed their armor, and Analyze didn't let him down:
Name: Crude Iron Armor
Type: Armor
Lore: Crudely made with the simplest of smithing techniques, this armor was meant to be mass produced. It is very heavy and trimmed with ice fiend fur found only in the Hoarfrost.
Big, strong, armed and armored to the teeth. That's a big ol' nope.
Felix decided to creep backward and get out of there fast. These Risi were more trouble than they were worth. Felix almost made it out of the small ruined building when a bright trilling noise sounded from his system. Seeing an icon for an open book in his vision, Felix reluctantly toggled it.
Active Quests
Advance Five Spells To Apprentice Level!
2 of 5 Apprentice Spells
Home Sweet Home!
1 of 5 Threats Eliminated
A Light In The Dark!
2 of 4 Remnants Found
Wait. What? When did these update? The Apprentice quest makes sense, but the rest...
Felix opened up the quest that worried him the most: Home Sweet Home.
Home Sweet Home!
1 of 5 Threats Eliminated
Threats:
Seven Legged Orit
The Archon
The Risi
Unknown
Unknown
Felix stared at his screen for a long moment, then closed his eyes.
"Fuck," he whispered.
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