“Up and at them, boys,” a far too cheerful voice ruthlessly ripped four people from the blessed embrace of Hypnos, forcing them to face the reality of a new day. A new day and new challenges that came with it, in this case, the continuation of their climb into the mountains above their hometown, only that the mountains had changed far more than reasonably possible. But reason, logic and the apparent laws of nature had been thrown out months ago, exactly as the world had ended in fire, burning the familiar concepts with it.

Even now, a few people in their newly established settlement creatively named New Dawn, liked to theorise what had happened back then, some of their theories a lot more creative than others. More creative than even the accepted narrative, pushed by those lucky few who had been granted a legacy, thanks to their efforts in a video game of all things. Complete and utter lunacy but then, the entire world had gone mad, so it seemed to fit in perfectly.

However, that particular bit of lunacy was something they all were incredibly grateful for, as those few with their legacies had been invaluable in the early days, first when the Shattered roamed the streets, killing people if they managed to catch them and later when the dead had risen, trying to drag those who had avoided the grave into it with them. Without the groups crystallising around those with the knowledge and their advantages, many more would have died. Maybe everyone, it was quite difficult to guess and not something anyone sane wanted to really thing about.

But the Legacies had managed to pull people together, helped those with the motivation to act to find their paths and got them started. They even guided some of their more promising students down especially promising paths, trying to let them become as powerful as possible. And, maybe with a little guidance of the gods, they had managed to push through and establish a new town, a new hope and home for the survivors.

Now, with their town established and slowly growing into something that might, someday in the far future, regain the thriving culture of yesteryear, they were starting to strike out and explore the unknown around them, trying to gain as many levels and as much power as possible. The Legacies had helped them to find their footing but now, it was on the various individuals to walk their paths on their own. there was danger, obviously, but with danger came opportunities, or so they hoped.

These mountains had held silver, copper and coal in bygone days, and according to the legacies, that could translate into valuable resources coming into existence as the world had gone mad. Nobody truly knew but they had decided to find out, partially because they had known the mountains quite well and had hiked through them repeatedly. Not that their experience was all that valuable, given that their physical capabilities had increased greatly, though the same was true for the danger in the mountains. Before, the worst animals they might have run into had been snakes, large cats and the occasional bear, nothing that actively hunted humans. Before the world had gone mad, humans had been the most dangerous thing around and the animals had generally known that. The only way to get attacked was to seriously provoke an animal, though the seriousness of the provocation could vary with the circumstances. Either way, the most dangerous creatures around had been humans, by a large margin.

Sadly, with the Change, their spot at the top of the food chain had come undone and now, there were various beasts out there that would gleefully make a meal out of people or might attack simply because somebody had wandered into their territory. To make matters worse, the tools of war humans had relied on for so long no longer worked as well as they once had. Guns, so beloved by their people, were no longer useful, something fundamentally had changed, causing them to be utterly unreliable and as dangerous to the user as to the target. Maybe even more dangerous to the user.

So, the old tools of war had returned, bows, previously the domain of hunters with particular passions, were once again the weapon of choice if you wanted to stay at a distance, while swords, spears and shields were favoured if you wanted to fight up close and personal. To make matters worse, the old tools, the few suitable ones that had been found, were almost as useless as guns and new weapons had to be forged. Luckily, one of the Legacies had been able to help them, forging the weapons they all needed and more. He even managed to train people to make bows and some fairly sturdy armour, allowing them to make their way into the mountains, scouting the dangers and hopefully finding something useful up here.

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The day dragged on as the group of five travelled further uphill, following a fairly narrow valley to avoid some of the dangers lurking in the mountains. Sadly, it was only some of them, not all, and shortly after their lunch break, they stumbled across some trouble in the form of a badger-like creature.

Only, these badgers were the size of a small calf, with claws powerful enough to shatter stone and jaws to match. Similarly, their temperament hadn’t changed much, if anything, it had gotten worse, making the creatures attack their group without fear, hesitation or mercy. Their three frontliners managed to do their job, using a combination of physical training and the slightly strange abilities Jake, their group leader, had picked up from Clive, one of the legacies. The stuff was weird, seemingly magical but according to the legacies it wasn’t magic, not that anybody but the legacies truly appreciated the difference. What else to call it but magic if a guy shouting at you suddenly resulted in a golden glow around your body, a glow that was durable enough to withstand the equivalent of small arms fire?

In this case, Jake and his fellow spearman formed a shield wall, holding the badgers back while their two archers went ahead and shot them full of arrows, using the terrain to their advantage. It turned into a brutal slog of blood and violence but eventually, the managed to overcome the beasts.

After combat, the bloody work was far from done. While the three spearmen bandaged their wounds, applying some of the medicine concocted by the craftspeople back in New Dawn, the two archers had a different, even bloodier job to do. The giant badgers they had fought and slain were valuable in their own right, the claws and teeth useful for some, the fur and skin for others, while the meat could be used to expand their rations up in the mountains.

“That thing’s weird,” Marrik, one of the two archers, grumbled as he worked with his partner, nodding towards a large, black bird sitting on a nearby ledge, looking down at their group. The thing looked like a crow or raven, only quite a bit larger, with a wicked beak and claws that seemed to shimmer in what little light reached the creature.

“What do you mean?” Big Al, the other archer, asked, noticing the strange bird for the first time.

“There’s been one of those things nearby all day, sometimes up in the sky, sometimes sitting somewhere close, watching us,” Marrik explained, picking up a rock and launching it towards the bird but falling short. Curiously, the bird only responded with a few, mocking caws that sounded far too close to laughter to make anyone comfortable.

“Okay, that thing’s weird. But are you sure, I didn’t notice a thing and I think I would have. Maybe it’s just hungry or something,” Al prodded, looking somewhat discomforted by the strange creature.

“Damn right I’m sure,” Marrik grumbled, picking up his bow, only to notice that the bird had vanished without a trace, quite the feat in the fairly sparse landscape. Unless the thing immediately took flight and used the walls of the valley to hide behind, they should have seen it.

“Really weird,” Al admitted, a shudder running down his spine, one that was only in part caused by a sudden, cold gust of wind.

“We’ll keep an eye out, no idea what sort of thing that creature was. Too far for that Observe stuff, so I’m not sure,” Marrik admitted, looking around once more, before returning to the bloody task at hand.

“And we’ve been told to use that only when combat already started, or we’re sure it’s about to start. Cause, if you use it, combat will start,” Al reminded him, only to get more grumbling in return. The rules of the strange system were not something anybody understood, even with the explanations the Legacies had given them. Maybe because they, too, didn’t understand it, nor did the people who had explained it to them.

But, the system and the weirdness were things they had to accept, simply because they lacked the ability to change them. And it looked like the same was true for giant ravens that liked to stalk them with mocking laughter, at least until they managed to shoot the bird down. Something both Marrik and Al now wanted with quite a bit of passion.