I managed to get a few hours of sleep after a while but it wasn't much before the sun set and we were ready to move out.
Instead of changing my eyes to Cat eyes I changed them to Owl eyes just to see if that would be any different. To my surprise it really was, I could see a much greater distance and with much greater detail.
"Fuck me… I chose the wrong animal initially." I said.
"Which one did you select this time?" Iser asked.
"Owl" I said
"See Birds are always better." Orlo said.
"I don't know, feathers feel weird the last time I tried." I said.
"The hair and smooth skin you have all over your body is weird." Orlo replied.
"Alright little buns…. Let's get moving " Root whispered.
The night was mildly cloudy, occasionally blocking out the light from the moon. I attempted to find the airship but it was a near impossible task at night. During the day it had been moving around quite a bit, maybe 1000 feet above our heads.
During our late night trek I managed get several glimpses of what Lluvia was doing. She was able to generate a sort of fog like shadow and muffle sound over our group, being on the outermost edge I occasionally stepped out. Looking behind me I only saw indistinct shadows of what might be people or maybe just a trick in some fog, it was very eerie.
Maybe 90 minutes into our nighttime hike we nearly stumbled into a group of Seekers, or more likely Seeker initiates. The group was currently on the lookout no doubt for us. They were not particularly attentive I guess because they assumed we would not travel at night. We managed to sneak right past without any incidents. I did manage to get a look at them from a distance.
Hound (? 12), On Edge
Searcher (? 11) Fitfully sleeping
Tracker (? 11) Fitfully Sleeping
Guard (8) Fitfully Sleeping
I told the group what I saw and Orlo verified it as well.
"Possibly source of Intel?" I whispered.
"Maybe? Do we even chance an interaction?" Root asked.
"Knowing specifically why they are after the group could be valuable…" I said.
"I still wouldn't risk it, let's just keep moving forward. If we are still being followed after that then we investigate further…" Root said.
Before day came we happened to find a good hiding spot that was a bit of an ordeal to get to and even harder to locate. The spot itself was on the side of a small cliff and from most angles looked like a thin crevice. It was annoying to squeeze into even with my ability to manipulate the path.
During that time we also managed to locate the airship. It had moved quite a bit southeast and was holding station above maybe a first clearing.
During this time I could tell Too was trying to work something out. He also appeared to be sketching something in the dirt and muttering to himself.
"I know your path ability gives us a bit of a speed boost… but I don't think we really saw any difference in distance covered in either night or day…" Root said.
"Honestly it didn't really seem like night after a while." I said.
"Alright… seeing as we are mostly ahead I'm going to recommend we head East on our original plan. I don't think we can stay ahead of messages or the Airship but the bulk of anyone that knows what's going on is behind us." Root said and got tacit agreement with the rest of the group including myself.
The rest of the day was uneventful; the only thing we did see was the airship move slowly west.
The next night we did it all over again. This time it was completely black due to no moon and full cloud cover. That as we discovered actually did slow me down quite a bit.
The next morning showed the airship moving roughly Southeast. Over the course of the day we watched it get smaller and smaller on the horizon until it was gone.
"Well I imagined they would be searching for us for longer." Iser said.
"There goes my hopes of being a pirate…" I said as sarcastic as I could.
"On the bright side we can continue during the day again." Turnip said.
"I was getting used to Owl vision, it was interesting… although any sudden movements did seem to set me off a little bit though." I said.
"Interesting I figured you would have to do more extreme changes to see differences in the mind." Iser said.
"The optic nerve connects directly to the brain so it doesn't surprise me as much." I said.
The looks Iser and I received as we continued our biology lesson were entertaining.
"Alright I'm going to suggest we push on a bit further for today and we make camp early." Root said, everyone grumbled but agreed.
With that in mind we kept an eye out for any more airships but nothing was spotted, same went for any sort of patrol. We found yet another good spot to set up camp, without the airship we felt it was safe enough to build a low cook fire.
"So I have a bit of a confession…" Root stated that evening.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"You are finally going to admit you're ready to retire from adventuring, settle down, and have some little buns of your own?" Lluvia asked sarcastically.
"Har, har… and no not yet… No what I need to admit to was I completely forgot about how far South Cinderrun was and that the Empire of Swells sits between us and Snowland." Root said hesitantly.
"How did you forget about an entire Empire!?... Ok I'll admit I was more focused on just getting away that I sort of overlooked our simple plan as well…" Orlo stated flatly.
"I'm just playing follow the leader." Turnip said.
"I think we can all agree that it's been a stressful few days and that maybe our initial plan was not the most well thought out…" Root said.
"Idea sounded valid but let's look at a map." I said.
"We… never picked up a map… we knew the path we were taking until we would get to North Town." Orlo said a bit hesitantly.
"Ah… okay… I'm guessing it was a more or less straight shot North?" I asked.
"Yup and accurate maps are expensive… very expensive In fact." Orlo added.
"Wait, how much was this job?" I asked.
"About 5000 gold bullion Empire stamped." Orlo said.
"Ok… how much is that?" I asked.
"About enough to buy half an Airship." They said.
"Oh… wow okay quite a bit… but no one ever took up the offer recently?" I asked.
"No… it was a 4 month round trip… mind you it worked well for our little group because we all prefer to stay out of the way from any significant notoriety. If you owned an Airship it would be faster but if you owned an Airship you would likely find better methods of making coin." Root said.
"Also all of us like to explore, so the price was good and we got to take our time." Turnip said.
"Okay I get that." I said.
"So I will add one other thing… I do not like large bodies of water… if I take an airship I can do okay but on a sea going vessel it's more of a problem." Root said.
"Claustrophobic and thalassophobia fun combo for an explorer." I said.
"As you could see from the caves o can force myself to handle it but half the time I completely forgot about the existence of places near large bodies of water and deep dark holes…" Root added.
"Alright so we need access to an airship if we want to leave this Empire." I said to confirm with the others.
"Again strictly speaking no but it would help immensely." He said.
"Alright… maybe our plan is to get into Cinderrun you guys claim the job reward and we can charter an Airship." I suggested.
“That might work, particularly if we can work on some disguises for everyone.” Lluvia said thoughtfully.
“I think I can permanently change hair and skin color then reverse the changes after the fact.” I added hesitantly.
"Ok that's not as bad compared to the eye, but let's leave that to when we really have problems." Root said.
"By the way how far is CinderRun from here?" I asked.
"From our last town? Maybe 600 miles south by southeast." Orlo said.
"Fuck… that's a month of walking no over a month of walking each direction." I commented.
After a pause.
"And you guys only spent like three days in the town?" I asked.
"Well… things got complicated… we met this crazy woman claiming to be a Riftwalker." Lluvia said.
"You spending several days there did help our search efforts a tiny bit. One aspect we were supposed to determine was the source of the Slime and eradicate it if possible." Turnip said.
"Ah that makes a bit more sense now." I said.
"We also selected a bad time to start. We should have left a month earlier than we did so we had more time before winter." Root added.
"Got it, bunch of things all at once. Also I guess I have been a major element of chaos sense we met." I said.
"But you're our chaos. Our lovable, always thinking, explosive loving, emotional child of chaos." Lluvia commented.
"A lovable ball of chaos that needs to select her second class." I added.
"O shit that's right… what do you have?" Turnip asked.
"Stalker and Shadow Harlequin." I said.
"I know the Stalker class is heavily used by the Seekers as part of their trackers group." Turnip said.
"The Shadow Harlequin is completely unknown." Iser added.
"I kind of wish I had another caster or magic user or some sort of mechanically inclined class." I said.
"We are months of travel away from any Dungeons that offer a solid mechanical class." Iser said.
"A dungeon exists about 100 miles south of CinderRun that could fit a magic user better. Mind you magic is inherently available in almost every class it's more dictated on how you use the class." Orlo commented.
"Right… so maybe better for my third class slot then." I said.
"Yes, more than likely." Orlo added.
"So go with the class everyone knows about or go with the class no one knows about… interesting dichotomy actually." I said thoughtfully.
"I'm going to recommend the Shadow Harlequin… you have thrived in the unknown." Root said, the rest of the group agreed with various levels of enthusiasm.
"Right… Shadow Harlequin it is then… I wonder what that might be like." I said out loud as I selected the class.
Shadow Harlequin
Quick of wit, dancing along a shadows edge the Shadow Harlequin is always subtle and swift. Presenting what others expect while the truth is hidden.
Class Specializations:
Dance Focused Combat
Shadow Arts
Performance Enchantment
Do you wish to unlock your second class?
I selected yes then realized what one of the class specializations was Dance Focused Combat. The idea caused me to blush both from embarrassment and excitement. Part of me always wanted to be a ballerina to be able to dance and perform. This might have some interest and unexpected changes.
Ding! You are now a Shadow Harlequin
Health + 5
Stamina +5
Mana +10
Resilience +5
Flexibility +15
Magic +5
"Alright new class accepted… Hey, how does mana work with the second class?" I asked.
"The same way? Through the new class you can now more efficiently convert your primary mana type to that of your second class's used type. It would not be as efficient as using the mana directly but it should be close." Iser stated.
With that I concentrate on forming a mana thread of shadow instead of force. A shadowy tendril hovered just off my hand.
"That was quick…" Iser said studying my work.
"I mean it feels similar but a little different as well." I said thoughtfully.
"Lluvia assuming no surprises… want to do another sparring session tomorrow?" I asked.
She was fixated on my tiny work of mana, a small smile on her face.
"Sure, Iser? Can you work with her on some minor tricks with the new mana? I think our girl of chaos might show some surprising results." Lluvia said with a strange intensity to her request.