PART I - RANGER 101
Callie, Pixyl and Jesca crested the hill to the training grounds in a laughing run, having raced there from the bottom, Pixyl wincing slightly in lingering pain from her wing. Slowly, the rest of Ogre House joined them, also accompanied by Thucax. They were all wearing their new armor, save Pixyl, and Callie had to admit they looked spectacular in it. They all also had nifty leather backpacks filled with jerky, nuts and dried fruits liberated from breakfast for later snacking.
The backpacks were interesting additions to the armor set, and Callie could see why they took a little longer for Fullo’s Brownies to craft. Lots of pockets and loops adorned the exquisite pack. No buckles, but Scufrow was used on everything, which made opening, closing and adjusting easy. The straps were padded with something firm but cushioned, stuffed into soft leather, which made the whole thing extremely comfortable. Pixyl’s was of slightly different design, shaped roughly like an upside-down ‘T’, with a fanny pack under the wings and a thinner section designed to fit between them. This allowed her to maintain full wing movements. Like her armor, though, Pixyl wasn’t wearing her backpack, choosing instead to carry it and its snack contents.
Morning had come too quickly, and all the recruits had risen to the sounds of the ringing bell, or, soon after, someone pounding on the bunkhouse door warning everyone to get up and get moving. All of Ogre House was already moving by that point, but very slowly. The expected hangovers were missing, at least, thanks to the pink potions. Missing for all except Lena, who was still in miserable shape as she had imbibed much much more than everyone else, save Pixyl, who was largely immune. Luckily, Vanis had swiped a few extra potions and passed one to the grateful Elf who made a sour face as she drank it down.
Curiously, Callie’s Symbiote didn’t make an appearance overnight. Callie had been wondering if it might, and when morning came with no contact, she was a little disappointed. She wondered if it was because of all the alcohol the previous night, or if maybe communication would simply occur sporadically. Time would tell.
Breakfast had been similar to the day before, with eggs, meats and fruits. Without reveals happening to everyone, the meal was far less eventful. In fact, most everyone was rather subdued, mostly due to exhaustion from the night before. But the fresh food was fueling everyone up, and moods slowly improved. Callie saw many of her new friends and other familiar faces that morning, all excited and nervous for the start of training, but everyone was providing mutual strength and support, as well.
Now that they had arrived on the field, called to it a short time ago by the thirty-minute training bell, they all looked out on a sight far different than the day before. Dotted around, seemingly random, were tall flags with class colors on them, obviously indicating where each group was supposed to gather. Off to one side was a stand of rising seating, very similar to bleachers, large enough to hold all the recruits with room to spare. A long, vaguely oval-shaped circle in front of the seats, similar to the one in which Callie sparred with Vonn, promised demonstrations and fights for the entirety of the recruits.
“I guess it seems pretty obvious where we are going,” Vanis said, gesturing to the flags.
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As the group broke up, going their separate ways, Callie, Jesca and Thucax looked carefully for the flapping flag of brown and yellow. In a few minutes, they found it next to a small structure to allow for shelter from the sun and any rain, should it come some time. In front of that was a long shooting range, with straw targets set up at various distances in what was an obvious setup for bow practice. The range was on a gradual incline, allowing targets at farther distances to be seen over the ones that were closer. On either side of the Ranger range were a few similar long sections filled with targets, but with no flags calling for other classes to come work on ranged skills today.
Soon joined by Shul’an and Kaisess, the five Rangers fiddled and futzed, waiting for Reynard to arrive. It was several minutes, but Thucax finally saw Reynard come over the rise of the hill and enter the training field. Next to him, a Goblin was leading one of the six-legged pack animals pulling a cart.
“I see Trainer Reynard,” the Gnoll said, “and it looks like he might have a cart of supplies.”
“We will need arrows, I suppose,” Kaisess said with a shrug.
“And we all need bows, too, for that matter. Except for Callie, that is,” Jesca added.
As Reynard arrived, the five recruits stood in a vague form of attention to see what was next. He looked at each of them, and then turned to the Goblin, who was unhooking the creature. “Thank you for your assistance.”
The Goblin nodded an acknowledgement and left, leading the animal off with him.
Turning back to his students, Reynard gestured for them all to sit.
With no preamble, Renard launched right into it. “The first thing you are going to learn is what is likely the easiest lesson you will receive from me. However, it is absolutely critical you learn to do this, as it will allow you to unlock the full potential of all your skills and perks.”
Callie had a sense she knew where this was going, but stayed mum.
“Each of you, now that you have a Symbiote, has the ability to retrieve details on all your skills and perks with merely a thought. We don’t tell you about this, because if we did, foolish recruits would start doing crazy things like summoning demons and getting each other killed. As you learn these details, do me a favor and do not try to do anything until I am able to demonstrate first, understood?”
Most everyone had a confused look on their faces. Callie knew what he meant, even if his statement was confusing, but she didn’t volunteer to clarify.
“Let me try again,” Reynard said, taking a seat and crossing his legs. “Everyone, calm your mind, take a deep breath, and think to yourself the question ‘What is my class?’. No need to speak it, just ask it of yourself with a simple, quiet thought.” He demonstrated, taking a deep breath himself, and closing his eyes to relax.
Callie did as instructed, and once again received the confirmation of her Ranger class, as had happened under the direction of Vanis. At least she was still a Ranger today!
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Shul’an received his response first, and you could see it on his face when it hit him. Before he could say anything, Reynard shook his head, using a finger to signal him staying quiet. Kaisess was next, followed by Thucax. Jesca was having problems, though.
“Nothing is happening,” Jesca said sourly, as the others eventually explained how they had received their own internal class confirmations. “My mind doesn’t seem to get calm. What am I doing wrong?”
Before Reynard could answer, Callie spoke up. “Getting your mind quiet is the most important part, Jesca. What is something that makes you feel super happy and relaxed?”
Jesca thought for a moment, before finally saying, “Lying in the warm sun.”
“Great!” Callie said. “I just so happen to have a little warm sun right over here.” She stood, glancing briefly at Reynard who gave her the tiniest of nods. Leading Jesca, she walked a few feet away from the shelter and sat down in the bright mid-morning sun, motioning Jesca to sit across from her. “Okay, take my hands.”
Jesca did, feeling ashamed for having difficulties, but trusting her Gnome friend.
“Good!” Callie said with a smile. “Now, concentrate on two things. First, close your eyes and slowly breathe in through your nose and blow out through your mouth. Feel your chest and body move as you do. Ignore everything else around you, just focus on your breathing and your body and your breath going in and out.”
The Cheetahkin did as instructed. After a few breaths, Callie quietly added, “Now, feel the sun hitting your body and the warmth that comes with it. Let that warmth mingle with your breathing; let it wrap around you.”
Callie noticed Jesca’s tail had stopped twitching and her breathing had become less forced. “Good. Now, breathe in, and as you breathe out, think to yourself ‘What is my class?’”
Everyone collectively held their own breath, the only sounds the birds in the trees and the low voices of a few other trainers speaking to their recruits in the distance. Jesca breathed in, and then blew out slowly. She jumped suddenly. “I got a response!”
“Excellent!” Reynard said, clapping his paws once. “This critical capability is something we call a ‘query’. There are a few queries like this you are able to ask and receive answers to. Everyone try it one more time and indicate when you have completed it.”
Within a few seconds, everyone had succeeded, although Jesca was once again the last to get her response. “My head does not like to be still,” she literally growled to herself.
“It will come in time,” Reynard said. “I actually had similar difficulties as well, early on. Soon you’ll be able to do it by instinct. Are you all ready for your next lesson?”
Everyone nodded, looking towards the Foxkin trainer in eager anticipation.
“One of the perks you received was Bowyer/Fletcher. Just as with your class, ask yourself ‘Tell me about Bowyer/Fletcher’.”
Callie, of course, already knew this one, but called it up again to refresh her mind, once again curious about the synergy it had with Tinker. Unbidden, a few stray thoughts leaked into her head about various contraptions and weapons based partially on bow-like mechanics. She quickly realized this would be a bad distraction in the middle of training day one, and shook the approaching daydream out of her head.
Quickly, Shul’an and Kaisess received their answers. Shul’an didn’t seem at all shocked and simply nodded appreciatively. As Bronze Tier, he either had already unlocked the perk, or generally knew enough on the subject to have a solid foundation, and was unsurprised by the influx of new knowledge. For the Tigerkin Kaisess, though, you could see his eyes widen in wonder as the knowledge flooded in. He looked at his own paws, and then mimed slowly to himself as if he was constructing an arrow, a huge grin growing on his face. To his credit, he kept quiet, so as to not disturb everyone else, but you could see how much he wanted to talk about it.
Thucax didn’t handle it so well. He leaped to his feet and staggered back in surprise. “What is this?” he called out. “How do I suddenly know this?”
“Shhh!” Reynard hissed sharply. “I’ll explain momentarily, Thucax.”
Callie turned back to Jesca, and could see she was suddenly quite nervous after her housemate’s outburst.
“Look at me!” Callie ordered and the Catkin snapped back to look at the Gnome. “Same thing. Calm your mind. Concentrate on your breathing. Nothing bad is going to happen, and it is actually really cool. Remember ‘cool’? Say it with me.”
Jesca looked at Callie and then nodded trustingly. “Cooooool” the two said together. “Coooooool”. It took a bit, but Jesca got it together finally. Her eyes shot open in equal surprise to Thucax. “I know how to make arrows!” she squeaked to Callie.
“Told you it was cool,” Callie said with a grin.
“Good,” Reynard said, standing. “I know you will all do it anyway, so I won’t tell you not to. You are able to use the same query for any of your skills, perks and traits. Doing so for the first time will cause them to ‘unlock’, and make you able to use them, or give you the knowledge if it is a perk. However, once again, don’t try to use any of your skills until I can guide you through each of them, understood?”
Callie nodded in quick agreement with Reynard, but she could see her four fellow recruits ignoring him and diving into their own heads as they started pulling up all the details of their new powers.
“You aren’t doing your queries?” Reynard asked.
“Remember? I figured it out yesterday,” Callie said with a wince. “I’ve looked them all up already.”
Reynard seemed to almost make a snippy retort, but stopped himself in time. “That’s right, I had forgotten. Fine, come and assist me.”
"You knew about this yesterday?" Jesca asked, seeming a little hurt.
Before Callie could answer, Reynard interjected, "She did. You can talk about it later. Concentrate on your own." Jesca grudgingly abided, closing her eyes and once again looking inward.
Together, Callie and her trainer walked over to the cart, which was loaded with multiple baskets and burlap sacks. “I appreciate you didn’t share that knowledge prematurely with the other recruits.”
“I did with one person,” Callie said, wincing once again. “Pixyl. But only her.”
“The Pixie?”
“Yeah, sorry,” Callie said meekly. “I think doing that helped her fight that Demon, though. She didn’t know her Flashbang skill until yesterday, and it saved her butt, and everyone else’s, too.”
Reynard nodded, simply grunting a low acknowledgement. Instead, he handed Callie a basket, and then set a cloth bag on top of that. “Bring that over to the shelter.”
Callie did so, Reynard arriving quickly behind her with a large sack over one shoulder, and another basket under his arm. Callie took the heavy basket from the trainer, setting it with the other, while Reynard dropped the sack with a thump, a wooden clacking sound coming from it.
“Recruits, listen up,” Reynard said, pulling everyone’s attention from their self-queries. “You all now know your Fletcher perks. Over there are all the parts you need to make arrows. Make some. I’ll be back in a couple hours.” With that, he abruptly turned, and walked away.