“Potato!” Jirot gasped, charging up towards her greataunt, who hoisted the girl up once they clashed. “Tato!”
“Would you like the potato?” Gangak asked, holding the girl to her chest with an arm, holding the warm potato in the other.
“Yes!”
“Where are your manners?” Gangak asked.
Jirot threw a look over one shoulder, then the other, before smirking innocently. “I found it.”
Gangak raised her brows expectantly.
“Peas.”
The older Iyrman smiled, offering the girl the potato, before hoisting up the younger twin up towards her chest. “Jarot, you always have such good manners, yes?”
“Yes,” the boy replied, smiling innocently as his cheeks flushed.
Jirot bit into the warm potato, feeling how soft and mushy it was to her teeth, before she held the potato out with both hands to her brother. Jarot leaned in to bite the potato from her hands while their nano carried the pair back to their nana.
“Soht peas,” Jirot called, holding up her potato towards her nana.
“I will go bring some salt.” Mirot left them for a moment, before returning with a small shaker. She made the motion of sprinkling the salt onto the potato, but covered the hole with her thumb.
Jirot leaned in to bite into the potato, chewing it slowly. She narrowed her eyes, not able to feel the granules. “More peas.”
“Yes, my Jirot,” Mirot replied, this time sprinkling salt onto the potato properly, before the girl bit into the potato, causing Jarot to pout.
“Mmm! So dishus!” Jirot offered the potato to her brother, who ate it out of her hands, the pair eating the salted potato between them.
“Is it delicious?” Mirot asked, brushing the girl’s hair.
Jirot smirked slightly, but since her nana was rubbing her head… “Yes.”
Mirot smiled warmly at the pair, before leaving them be with their greataunt. Gangak held the pair within her arms, the pair melting against her as they finished their potato.
Jirot sat up. “Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“Daddy is gone?”
“That is right.”
Jirot pouted. “No?”
“Do you miss your father?”
Jirot smirked slightly. “No.” Her lips instantly formed a pout.
“Why are you so sad?”
“Not sad.”
“Do you miss your daddy?”
“No,” the girl replied, though she continued to pout. “Daddy? Is come back?”
“Your father will come back, and he will bring many gifts,” Gangak nuzzled against the girl’s forehead. “How can he not return when he adores you so much? Jarot, do you miss your father?”
Jarot shook his head gently, smirking slightly, before he then pouted. His lower lip trembled, but it quickly stopped as Gangak pulled the boy in close.
“Do you miss your uncle?”
“Unko Juwoh!” Jirot said, pointing up at her nano. “Unko Juwoh is, is, his, small, he is big, all day is big.”
“He is not small?”
“No,” the girl replied, shaking her head. “Unko Juwoh is, his, heeeee, not small, not, is big boy!” The girl held the potato up, but knew better than not to hold a potato without both hands, having made the mistake previously. “This big.”
“Is your dada bigger or your papo?”
Jirot blinked, furrowing her brows. “Daddy is not big. Daddy is daddy.”
Jarot nodded to his sister’s words, for how could their father be big when he was their father?
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“Is your babo big?”
“Babo is babo, is not big.”
Gangak smiled. “Am I big?”
“You are not big! Nano, you are, you, so coot, okay?”
“I am… cute?”
“Yes,” Jirot said, bobbing her head, her brother also bobbing his head. “So coot.”
“Is your father cute?” Gangak asked, pulling them up closer to hold them tight against her.
Jirot’s lips formed a cheeky smirk, before the girl busted out into a wicked cackle. Finally, she responded with a single word, her most favourite word of all.
Fighting Spirit: 3 -> 2
Attack - Wraith (Advantage)
D20 + 10 = 17 (7)
D20 + 10 = 22 (12)
Hit!
Wraith: 3 -> 2
2D6 + 2D6 + 9 = 21 (4, 4)(1, 3)
Damage vulnerability!
25 damage!
Health: 96 -> 95
Attack - Wraith (Advantage)
D20 + 10 = 13 (3)
D20 + 10 = 26 (16)
Hit!
Wraith: 2 -> 1
2D6 + 2D6 + 9 = 20 (1, 4)(2, 4)
Damage vulnerability!
26 damage!
Health: 95 -> 93
Onward Soar: 1 -> 0
Mana: 19 -> 18
Spell: Thunderous Smite
Attack - Wraith (Advantage)
D20 + 10 = 17 (7)
D20 + 10 = 22 (12)
Hit!
2D6 + 2D6 + 9 = 17 (1, 2)(2, 3)
17 damage!
Health: 93 -> 91
Attack - Wraith (Advantage)
D20 + 10 = 12 (2)
D20 + 10 = 24 (14)
Hit!
Wraith: 2 -> 1
2D6 + 2D6 + 9 = 18 (2, 3)(1, 3)
Damage vulnerability!
22 damage!
Health: 91 -> 88
Adam focused on the two fireboars which dared to leap towards him, scrambling up the wooden walls of the outpost. He inhaled for a moment as the heat of their bodies tickled up against his armour before he swung Wraith towards each. He sliced through one with some effort, Wraith flashing with cold energy for a moment as he sliced through the first fireboar. He could feel the heat of the boar singe against him, but he thought little of it.
“Baktu, take you,” Adam grunted through his gritted teeth, chanting the words to cast his spell. He aimed his axe towards the second boar, which had scrambled onto the wall, its mighty hind legs allowing it to leap onto the post. ‘Can boars even leap up this high?’
His axe shook slightly as it struck the boar, blowing apart its body, while the cool blow of Wraith shook through it, silencing the fireboar forever still. Thunder echoed across the outpost. It was a thunder which let his companions know he was still there, and eager to fight.
Adam turned, noting the divine magic of the priests piercing through the fireboars which had tried to leap onto their side of the wall, though their slowed movement made it difficult.
‘That was easier than I expected,’ Adam thought.
“Careful!” Fred shouted, slashing with his blade against the boar Jonn had just slain. “They get back up!”
Adam snapped his head back towards his two boars, but he had almost bisected them. Had they returned back to life, it would have been rather impressive, but he had sent them on their way to Baktu.
Jonn’s magical blade cut through one of the boars, flashing white hot with divine magic, causing him to wince slightly as the fire of the boar struck him, before it died out. However, Fred’s blade pierced through its skull, to silence it forever before it could get back up to trouble them.
Lucy and Mara struck with their great weapons with great force, slicing apart a boar each. The flames of the boars did little to them, just like Nobby, who had been taught the Rot family’s way. His rage resisted the flames as it resisted blades of steel, and he struck the boar ahead of him with his axe, the same axe which had been crafted by Adam and Jurot.
As the boar tried to gore the young man, Nobby pushed it back with his shield, almost forcing it off the wall. It would have no doubt gored anyone within the camp, but like Adam, Nobby was hard to hit. Even without his shield, Nobby was as hard to hit as any who wore full plate mail, the young man too tough, too nimble.
After confirming his companions were doing well, Brittany’s arrow striking through the side of a fireboar to ease his worries, Adam glanced towards the other outpost.
‘What the?’
The Iyrmen had formed an arrow, with the tip of the arrow formed of the range dancers, with Jurot upfront. Within the middle of the arrow was a second arrow, made up of the tribesfolk. Instead of staying within the safe walls of the outpost, the group had rushed outside.
As the tyrantboar charged the group, the first arrow shifted, breaking apart to deal with the surrounding boars, Jurot raged as he tackled two of the boars aside, with his companions following suit. The rage dancers managed to force away the smaller fireboars, with Naqokan, Uwajin, and Bavin feeling the heat through their rage, while the pair of Rot managed to resist its stabbing pain.
Laygak and Jaygak also managed to resist the heat, though the tusks of the creatures caused their shield arms to throb. They were glad for the steel which protected them as they pushed the small fireboars aside, even the likes of them being able to deal with something that simple.
The pair who formed the Ool family did not force the creatures aside with their strength, for while the other families prided themselves in their strength, Kitool and Faool took pride their agility and wits, along with their family’s technique. Though they could not resist the flames of the creatures as they struck with their staves, the pair of Ools used their nimbleness to defend against the fireboars.
“Faool!” Laygak shouted as Faool’s body skidded aside, using his staff to stop himself. The young man’s side had been gored apart by a particularly vicious boar, one which had managed to resist his drop kick. Kitool had managed to force away two with her inner strength, though that was a given.
“Focus,” Jaygak exclaimed as they faced against the fireboars side by side.
Laygak grit his teeth as he squared off with the fireboar ahead of him, leaving Faool in their cousin’s care.
“Step aside, Faool,” Kitool said, holding out her staff ahead of her towards the boar which had managed to strike Faool so viciously. Had he not been an Expert, the young man may have been close to death. It wasn’t that long ago when the young man would have fallen to such a blow.
“I can do it,” Faool replied, standing up tall again, inhaling deeply as he forced away the pain.
“You have completed your role,” Kitool replied, though she could feel her stomach churn. She had denied her cousin glory today. He had almost defeated a boar himself, while the other had clipped his side, which was more than good enough. ‘There will be greater glory for you still, Faool.’
While the Iyrmen faced against the smaller fireboars, the tribesfolk dealt with the giant tyrantboar without fear of the smaller boars around them, the Iyrmen handling them with Iyrman efficiency.
The tribesfolk numbered a dozen, yet thought they numbered fewer than Fate’s Golden, they too had their own Experts. The eldest tribesfolk, the only one to wear a mask with a hood emerging from around it to cover their shoulders, raised the wooden staff up.
‘Ah,’ Adam thought, wondering if that was how the outpost had been destroyed previously.