PART I - NEW DAWN
“...pend?” Callie finished asking.
But … gone now was the featureless white room and the floating globe, replaced with darkness. Instinctively, her Darkvision activated, and Callie quickly realized she was back in her bunkhouse, sitting up in her bed. She looked around, seeing everyone else was still asleep, thankful that her noise hadn’t woken anyone.
Shaking her head to clear it, Callie tried to make sense of what had transpired. She was happy to see her Symbiote again, even if the visit was quite brief. It was possible the experience was still a dream, but it didn’t feel like it at all any more, and she was eager to see what happened in the future. Certainly, she’d have to let Tasi and Vanis know it happened again.
Suddenly a thought occurred to her. “Bronze!” She cleared her head, taking a deep breath to try and center herself, followed by a second and then a third. Finally, she asked the important question.
What is my level?
NEW LEVEL: BRONZE.011
MULTIPLE SKILLS UPDATED
MULTIPLE PERKS UPDATED
Grabbing her pillow, Callie bit into it to keep from squealing too loudly. She held her arms aloft in triumph, pumping them several times for good measure. Then the horror came to her mind, and she remembered what was about to happen. Spitting out the pillow, Callie quickly scrambled down from her bed and padded as fast as possible towards the front door. Pixyl looked up as she ran by, but Callie didn’t have a moment to chat as she charged as quickly and quietly as she could through the door.
Jesca and the rest of the Rangers had warned her that this time they all came at once soon after they woke up, and Pixyl had warned her as a small-person it was going to be bad. Remembering what happened that first morning, Callie ran, racing for the garden and sitting in a patch of soft grass. She made it, but just barely…
NEW SKILL: EAGLE EYE
NEW SKILL: ELEMENTAL SHOT
NEW SKILL: HOMING SHOT
NEW SYNERGIZED SKILL: RAIN OF ARROWS
NEW SYNERGIZED SKILL: REPLICATE ARROW
NEW SYNERGIZED SKILL: SUMMON COMPONENTS
NEW MELDED SKILL: SUMMON TURRET
NEW SYNERGIZED PERK: DANGER SENSE - WILDERNESS
NEW MELDED PERK: EFFECT LAYERING
NEW PERK: MELEE COMBAT - BOWS / ARROWS
Ten?! She was only supposed to get eight! Quickly, Callie lay down in the grass to get as stable as possible, realizing the ground was soaked from an apparent overnight rain. She didn’t care. She spread her arms and gripped tufts of grass for dear life. She hadn’t eaten a lot since dinner the night before, but there were snacks at the bonfire, and she certainly had been drinking. A sense of impending dread overtook her.
Moments later, it came, that wild-ride vertigo that accompanied new reveals. Everyone said it got a lot better after the initial bonding, but Callie knew there would be eight of them, and there was no way in hell, little person or big, someone would be able to shrug that off. The world spun, upending itself several times until Callie was sure she was going to fall into the sky. She rode the chaos, keeping her eyes closed as sounds of her breathing and heartbeat filled her ears. Again and again the world flipped, seeming to have no end in sight.
Something touched her hand. She could sense it, even through the maelstrom. She focused on that. She focused on that connection to someone. She knew who it had to be, and loved her for being there.
“You’ve got this!” came a distant, echoing voice. “You’ve got this!”
Pixyl held Callie’s hand tightly, chanting their personal mantra to her friend. It was obvious what had happened. She squeezed even harder, trying to give Callie something to focus on. She had heard the warnings from Jesca that Rangers got eight new reveals, and for Callie that had to be torture. Pixyl had only received four new skills at Bronze Tier, including her melded Furious Rage. Four were agonizing. She couldn’t imagine eight.
With a lurch, Callie vomited in the grass, missing her clothing but getting some on her face. Pixyl grabbed her friend's arm, struggling in the wet grass to pull the Ranger even a half-meter so she didn’t accidentally roll into the mess.
“What’s wrong?” a voice said, the sound of boots running towards them.
Pixyl looked up to see a Dwarf, the one that Callie called ‘Beatcop’. He had a look of obvious concern on his face. “Reveals for reaching B-B-Bronze Tier.”
“Let me help, lass.”
The Dwarf grabbed Callie under her arms and pulled her away from the puddle of bile. He was far stronger than Pixyl was, and moved the little Gnome with ease. Producing a cloth rag from a leather pocket on his utility belt, he had Pixyl wet it in the fountain, before using it to wipe Callie’s mouth and face.
Together they both sat, each holding one of Callie’s hands, for the few more minutes she needed to regain her senses. Beatcop made sure the Gnome was facing to the side, on the chance she got sick again, a look of worry still evident on his bearded face. Finally, Callie opened her eyes, seeing first Pixyl, and then the Dwarf.
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Callie groaned, making a sour face from the taste in her mouth.
“Are you …” Beatcop started to say, before he was interrupted by the sudden arrival of a sweaty, panting and nearly-naked Jesca, who seemed to appear out of nowhere, a trail of light-blue mist dissipating behind her from using her new Dash skill.
“Callie!” Jesca cried out, dropping to her knees. “Are you okay? Please be okay? Did you get Bronze? Is that why you are on the ground? What happened? Pixyl, is she okay?’
“I’ll be fine,” Callie groaned, struggling to sit up, holding a hand to her forehead. “Yeah, I got Bronze, and then everything hit. Ten of them.”
“Ten? That means you got two melded ones, right?”
“Yeah. I think so,” Callie said, still trying to get oriented. As her head cleared, she finally registered that she was being partially held by Beatcop, who seemed a little cross at the underwear-clad Cheetahkin. “Thanks,” Callie said to the Dwarf, as she struggled to stand.
“I just happened to be here, lass. Glad I could help,” the Dwarf said, before tersely addressing Jesca. “You are not to be using your skills unless you are on the training field, Recruit!”
“What? What skill?” Jesca said, confused.
“You have a speed skill of some form. Dash maybe? You can hurt someone with that if you hit them while it’s active.”
Jesca got a perplexed look on her face, looking back to where she had apparently come from. “I … I didn’t know I used it. I saw a flash of pink on the ground, and knowing it was Callie I just sprinted.”
Beatcop grunted, also standing. “Fine, I’ll let it go this one time, because nobody was around, but you need to keep that skill under control. Understood? Only on the training field! Your Bladeweaver friend here has the skill, so damn well get her to teach you how to control it.”
Jesca nodded quickly. “Okay. Sorry.”
“And maybe put on more clothing when you are parading around the camp!”
“You said I couldn’t be nude when I run! This isn’t nude!” Jesca snarled back, gesturing at the almost-nothing she was wearing.
Callie groaned and grabbed her head, the sudden bickering not helping her headache. “What’s your name?” Callie asked the Dwarf weakly, ignoring the argument, She was still a little woozy and leaning slightly on Pixyl. “I see you enough I should at least know, so I can be polite.”
“I’m Jaelarn, the night patrol.”
“Callie. It’s good to meet you.”
“You as well.” With Callie back on her feet, Jaelarn bid the three ladies a good morning. He gave a final warning glance towards Jesca and walked off, continuing his nighttime patrol.
“What a prude,” Jesca muttered loudly.
“What time is it,” Callie wondered out loud, continuing to ignore Jesca.
“Maybe an hour before dawn?” Jesca said, looking into the eastern sky and shrugging. “Maybe a little less.”
“Ugh! So early!” Callie scowled.
Walking over to the fountain, Callie swished the fresh, cold water in her mouth before spitting it unladylike into the grass. “What I wouldn’t give for mint,” she mumbled, noticing that her teeth actually felt quite clean, despite not having brushed them all week. The Odomi grass mixed into all the foods as a salt substitute seemed to be doing what it was supposed to.
On the other side of the fountain, Jesca once again plunged her head into the water, afterwards throwing her hair back with one paw. “So, what did you get?” the Cheetakin asked eagerly. “Your melded skills, I mean. I assume you got all the other Ranger skills that we all did. Not that they aren’t good, they are great, but the unique ones are also really interesting.”
“Um,” Callie said, trying to recall what she had received, her thinking still a little fuzzy. “Yeah, it was two of them. A skill called Summon Turret, and a perk called Effect Layering.”
“What do they do?” Pixyl asked.
“No idea. Let me do a query on the first to unlock it.”
Tell me about Summon Turret
MELDED SKILL: SUMMON TURRET (BRONZE TIER)
MANA USAGE: HIGH
CASTING TIME: 3 SECONDS
RECHARGE TIME: 120 SECONDS
CHARGES: 3
SUMMON DURATION: 5 MINUTES (approximate)
DESCRIPTION: Summons a mechanized construct that can fire summoned arrows at a designated target once every 3 seconds. The caster can mentally designate a new target at any time. The construct must be affixed to a flat surface measuring at least thirty centimeters in length and width, or be able to clasp to a narrow supporting structure that is at least thirty centimeters in length. The attach point must be stable for maximum accuracy. The construct must be summoned within a range of 3 meters from the caster. Turrets are summoned constructs and will dissipate after approximately 5 minutes, but can be dismissed at any time. Only 1 turret can be deployed at a time. Summoning an additional turret will cause the oldest active turret to dissolve. Standard Turrets are fragile and easily destroyed. Higher tiers of this skill will increase the maximum active turret count, number of charges, summoned duration, fire rate, casting range, as well as decrease recharge and casting times. Additional enhancements will also be available.
This is a melded skill of TINKER + CARPENTRY + BOWYER/FLETCHER.
“Holy shit!” Callie said, her eyes going wide as she mentally reviewed the lengthy information.
“What?” both Jesca and Pixyl asked simultaneously.
“In a nutshell? It summons a construct that automatically shoots arrows every few seconds at whatever target I tell it to.”
Jesca got a confused look on her face. “I don’t understand.”
“I think it is sort of like Xin’s Totem,” Callie said, reviewing the information again to puzzle it out. “You summon it, and then it performs actions on its own.”
“Strange,” Jesca said, a frown still on her face.
“Should we go try it out?” Callie asked excitedly. “I don’t want to wait until tomorrow, and Reynard said we’re allowed to practice on the field today, if we wanted to.”
“Yes!” Jesca said, her face lighting up, accompanied by a bouncy happy-dance.
“Um, are you sure that’s a g-g-good idea?” Pixyl warned.
“Pixyl, what could possibly go wrong? We’ll be on the field.” Callie squealed as she sprinted back to Ogre House to retrieve her bow and boots. Skeptically, Pixyl followed along, while Jesca bounded off to her own house to put on a little more clothing against the damp chill in the air, now that she was no longer running.