PART II - A THING OF WONDER

“I wonder where Reynard is,” Jesca said as the four Rangers mingled at the range. Lunch was over and he was always there and ready to go on to the next lesson. It was a little uncharacteristic of him to be late.

“I’m sure he’ll be here soon,” Shul’an said, shooting a Rapid Shot downrange in general boredom.

“My guess is he’s out looking for an even worse swamp for us to walk through. One that is even deeper and smellier than the first one,” Callie grumbled. “Now he can finally get rid of me and just blame it on the swamp.”

“I thought in general you two were getting along now,” Shul’an said, a confused look on their dark face.

Callie kicked a clod of grass. “He’s actually been kinda nice to me since I almost melted my brain. But I’m pretty sure he’d rather it was me that was sent to Imor, and not Kaisess.”

“He doesn’t hate you that much,” Jesca giggled. “I mean, he’d probably fish you out of the swamp eventually, before you completely drown or get eaten by something.”

“Are you sure about that? I did call him a ‘fuzzy-faced asshat’.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that,” Jesca mused. “Now I’m not so sure.”

“Oh come on, he knew that pool would be over my head. Do you know how hard it is to get swamp smell out of hair?” Callie whined as she pointed to her pink head.

Jesca and Thucax both looked at Callie through narrowed, deadpan eyes. Slowly, Jesca gestured to all of herself.

“Okay, bad comparison,” Callie conceded with a laugh. ”Still, he knew how deep it was and Gnomes apparently can’t swim, so he can just stew in his asshatness!”

“He has come to respect you, Little One,” Thucax said. “It is perhaps time for you to accept that? Like Jesca, I am sure he would not let you get eaten by something in the swamp. Nibbled upon, perhaps, but not fully eaten.”

Callie laughed carefully, a tiny bit unsure if Thucax was making a joke or not. The Gnoll so far had not been one for witty banter with everyone else, and his sense of humor was a little sardonic at times. Jesca said that was a common trait in Gnoll culture though, and to not hold it against him. Thankfully, he’d been slowly warming up to everyone, participating in the general banter and good-natured ribbing the Rangers gave each other as he grew more comfortable.

“I see him, coming over the hill,” Jesca said, her hand shading her eyes as she looked across the field. “Strange. Vonn’s with him, as well as the Master Trainer and Commandant.”

At once, the other three rangers turned, shielded their eyes and looked, casually using their Eagle Eye skill to zoom in and see what was going on.

“Is that Fizzlebek?” Callie asked, zooming in with Eagle Eye and seeing the short Gnome now cresting the hill, chatting with the others.

“Vonn is carrying something over her shoulder,” Shul’an added. “A sack of some kind.”

Then it suddenly dawned on all of them. With a sudden eagerness, they all looked at each other and exclaimed as one, “Our bows!” The new bows were ready! That had to be why Vonn and Fizzlebek were walking with Reynard, and likely explained why the others were along as well. Instinctively, the Rangers smoothed their clothes and otherwise made themselves presentable, lingering swamp smell notwithstanding.

In eager anticipation, they watched as Reynard and the rest approached, stopping briefly where the Shamans were busy working on Elemental control. It was too far for Callie to hear anything, but both Cheena and Maugra joined the group, their recruits apparently ordered to take a break. Soon the approaching group was joined by Juniper, trailed closely by Loki.

“I get Juniper coming, but why would they get the Shamans?” Callie asked, perplexed.

“I dunno,” Jesca shrugged.

The team had speculated all week about what kind of capabilities the new bows would have. Both Vonn and Fizzlebek had refused to divulge any hints, and even Reynard played coy. They knew about Endless Arrows and the Self-Repair enchantments, and Callie assumed she’d get at least one rune for range, but beyond that they had no idea. Thucax in particular was eager to no longer have to fumble with arrows, as he occasionally struggled with them during high-speed cadence drills. The speculating made for fun conversation, but also infuriating anticipation.

After an agonizingly slow walk across the field, where Reynard and the rest stopped a couple times to chat with trainers, purposely prolonging the torture Callie was sure, they finally arrived. The members of Team Ranger stood in a vague sort of attention as their superiors got organized.

“So … what’s in the bag?” Callie finally asked after the lack of talking got to be too much. She bounced up on her tiptoes, smiling happily, unable to contain her enthusiasm.

Reynard gave Callie, and then the rest of the recruits a hard stare. “Do you really think they deserve these?” he casually asked his colleagues.

“It’s hard to say,” Thorn responded. “I mean, she did call you a ‘fuzzy-faced asshat’. That kind of disrespect makes me question if this is a good idea.” There was a tiny twinkle of mirth in the Master Trainer’s eyes, though.

“He did try to drown her,” Thucax helpfully pointed out, missing out on the obvious lightness of the banter.

“Is that true?” Xera asked Reynard mockingly as they put their hand to their chest.

“How was I supposed to know Gnomes can’t swim? Apparently, they can’t even float!” Reynard shrugged with a chuckle in defense.

“Huh. In that case, I think we can let the insult go,” Xera added lightly. “It gets points for creativity, too.” Xera snuck a quick wink towards Callie.

While Xera and Reynard had been speaking, Vonn set down her duffle and began removing four cloth-wrapped bundles, each tied closed with different-colored ribbon-string. She set each upright against the rear wall of the shelter. One of the four bundles was notably smaller than the rest. Callie’s heart was leaping in excitement, and even the normally professionally-serious Shul’an was exuding an aura of gleeful anticipation. Hungrily, all of the recruits glanced back at the bundles, so eager to see what the results were going to be.

The Commandant cleared their throat. “All humor aside, recruits, I felt it important to say a few things before we hand these over, so please listen up.” Fidgety, each of the Rangers refocused and gave Xera their full attention.

“I’ll be honest with all of you. With Juniper’s donation of the Heartwood, these are probably four of the finest weapons we’ve ever produced here. Vonn has outdone herself in their crafting, and may even reach Platinum Tier tonight from her work. In addition, Fizzlebek has apparently come up with two special and very unique enchantments for you all. We’ve always strived to send all our recruits to the front with something special from the armory, but none have ever been as special as these are. I, personally, am expecting you to train harder and fight harder than any of the Rangers that have come before you. And just to be sure I’m heard, I am ordering each of you to not make me regret the decision to give these to you. Understood?”

The response was a simple, unified, “Yes, Commandant.”

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Xera nodded in acknowledgement. “Very good.” They turned to Vonn. “I’ll let you take over.”

The Lamia slithered forward. “Go ahead and open them. Red is for Shul’an, green is Thucax, and yellow is Jesssca. Callie’sss is obviousss. Do not play with them until we exxxplain everything, asss there’sss a lot to know.”

Hesitantly, each of the recruits turned and walked towards their respective colors. The ribbon color on Callie’s bundle was pink, but still obvious due to its size. With mixed emotions of trepidation and glee, Callie pulled the ribbon loose and unwrapped the new bow. And there it was. The most-amazing thing she had ever seen was just there, right in front of her. And it was hers. It was simply … magnificent. Gingerly, Callie reached out, stopping just before she touched the weapon, worried that doing so would somehow sully its beauty.

The bow was made of medium brown wood that curved and twisted upon itself, reflecting the light with a smooth, polished surface. Yet under that polish were hundreds of perfect imperfections showing the grain of the wood and the twists of the tree it once was. Little islands of knots dotted the beauty in a few places and, at the bottom, a single living green leaf remained attached, as if a telltale harbinger of the weapon’s power.

Parts of the bow were wrapped in a soft, green leather and dark twine also encircled it, binding white feathers to the wood. Callie couldn’t tell if the feathers were decorative, or part of the obvious magic emanating from the bow, but in either case, they added to the profound sense of power the weapon gave off.

Etched into the wood, at least on the side Callie was able to see, were three symbols that seemed to faintly glow white if you looked at them in just the right way, but then seemed to go dark, or even disappear, if you tilted your head just a bit to the side. Finally, two flat, circular pieces of stone etched with strange symbols were secured to the bow. Callie couldn’t tell their purpose, but could sense that they were as special as everything else she was seeing.

“Go ahead,” Vonn said, “pick them up.”

Callie turned and saw the other three recruits were just as stunned as she was and had been standing there just as mesmerized. Carefully, she reached forward, wrapping her hand gently around the bow’s grip. And … nothing happened. Somehow, Callie thought there would be some kind of magic or fusing or something, but absolutely nothing happened. Looking at the others, she could see they were as shocked at nothing as she was.

Taking up the bow, Callie noted the side she hadn’t yet seen had three of the occasionally-glowing symbols on it as well, making a total of six on the bow. She suspected these must be the runes Vonn had spoken of, as they each obviously had great meaning. The little stone circles seemed unremarkable, but their etchings were intricate and precise, showing they were far more important than they might look at first or second glance.

Vonn cleared her throat, yanking Callie and the rest from their reverie. They all turned, new magic in their hands as the towering figure of the veteran Ranger looked down on them. For the briefest of moments, Callie recalled the fear the first time she had met Vonn, and the magic that had flooded through her to counter it. Now, that warm memory, coupled with the grand smile on the Lamia’s face, made her feel truly blessed. She was sure the others felt the same way.

“You each hold one of the finessst weaponsss I have ever created. With the Heartwood’sss magic wood as a bassse, I have been able to inssscribe each of your bowss with sssix runess to help bolssster your capabilitiesss.” Vonn extended her hand, asking to take Jesca’s bow from her. You could tell the Catkin was momentarily reluctant to give it up, but Callie gave her an encouraging bump and she grudgingly did. Jesca looked longingly at the weapon in Vonn’s hands, like she was watching someone juggle something fragile and precious.

Holding up the bow for all to see, Vonn gestured towards one of the etched glowing symbols. “Runesss are generally minor, passssive magicsss desssigned to augment or improve some characterissstic of the weapon or armor they are inssscribed upon. For exxxample, this one increasssesss the effective range.”

Vonn continued on, carefully and proudly pointing out each of the other runes on Jesca’s bow. In addition to a rune for increased range, there was one that reduced the casting time for any bow skill, another that made bow skills use less mana.

The fourth rune was an interesting one that increased the bow's inherent strength and flexibility slightly, indirectly allowing the wielder to shoot for longer periods without getting tired, as they wouldn't need to pull back as far to get normal range and damage. But, the rune magic would also effectively allow them to pull the bowstring back farther than normal, which would then indirectly lead to even additional range or extra damage from the impact.

The fifth rune on each of their bows had a couple caveats, but was still incredibly useful. As long as the wielder was touching the bow, it would reduce the recharge times of bow skills by a small amount. This touch limitation was fine, however, because if a Ranger was shooting, they’d already be holding the bow. As a result, new charges would be available sooner, which was always a good thing. Vonn did warn that the rune only worked if there was ambient magic available. If one was unlucky enough to be in a magically null area, then it wouldn’t work. Callie didn’t exactly know what a ‘magically null’ area was, but had an idea based on context and what little she knew about mana, and she filed this important information away as part of the overall operator’s manual.

For the final rune in each bow, Vonn and Reynard had heavily debated. They finally decided to give Callie a second rune for range, which due to the diminishing returns on multiple runes was less effective than the first. For the other three recruits, they instead received a second mana efficiency rune, which reduced the mana costs of their shots just a little bit more, and every little bit would help in the long run. The bow set aside for Kaisess was also given the second efficiency rune, Reynard revealed.

“Unfortunately,” Reynard said to Callie, “by the time your Effect Layering perk revealed itself, the runes on your bow had already been inscribed. In retrospect, efficiency would probably have been more-valuable than the additional range.”

“It’s okay,” Callie said. “Range is still going to be super-helpful.” Reynard was right, though. Being able to use even less mana with her layered skills would have been great, especially when pushing up towards three or even ever daring to attempt four layers again. But, Callie knew that range was always going to be a critical shortcoming for her smaller bow, and had no complaints about receiving the additional boost there instead.

“What are these for?” Shul’an asked, pointing towards the two etched gray stones.

Vonn gestured towards Maugra and Cheena and the Goblin trainer stepped forward, glancing at Callie. Cheena began to interpret as Maugra signed. “The Gnome was of great assistance last week when we had a large Black Lotus bloom. My…“ Cheena scowled under her breath at the word she next had to repeat, “...underling suggested we provide a Talisman for her new weapon, as a way to say thank you. With the Dryad’s Heartwood, her bow had enough integrity to support two. It would not be fair to give them to just the Gnome, though, since each of you were to get new bows, so we made them for each of you.” Maugra nodded her head sharply, croaking out a raspy, “We worked very hard, very long hours. You are welcome.” With that said, she promptly turned and started hobbling back to her class, not even waiting for so much as a thank you.

Callie had no idea what a Talisman was. She caught Cheena’s eye and gave the tiniest of shrugs.

The Elf Shaman smiled. “I will explain quickly,” Cheena said, glancing at Maugra walking away. “If you are still confused, find me at the end of the day. A Talisman is a … container you might call it. You can fill it with certain kinds of magic, and then reclaim it later. They are somewhat similar to a mana stone, both artificial or natural, which holds mana for use in constructs and rituals. With a Talisman, however, you are able to store a charge of one of your mana-based skills into each, and then reclaim that charge any time you may need it. You will still need the casting mana to use it, but you now have that extra charge available in reserve. It takes a small amount of mana to store your spell into the Talisman as well.”

Callie and the other recruits looked at each other, confusion on their faces. Callie tried to roll what Cheena had explained over in her head. She sort of understood what the trainer was saying.

Once again Cheena looked nervously at the departing Maugra. “Callie, I will have you demonstrate quickly. That skill you have that makes many arrows very quickly, instead of putting that on an arrow, put it instead into the Talisman. You’ll need to be touching it when you cast the spell.” She gestured towards one of the stones on Callie’s bow. “Just touch and concentrate right here.”

“Okay,” Callie said, nodding. She focused on the tiny stone connected to the bow with stiff, reinforced twine. Hesitantly, she reached out and rested two fingers against the Talisman.

RAPID FIRE

Normally, without an arrow at the ready, nothing would happen if she cast her weapon spells. But this time, Callie could feel the charge drain, along with a small amount of mana. The intricate inscription on the stone flashed bright green for the briefest of moments, and then faded to a very dim glow, barely visible in the shade of the shelter.

“Good,” Cheena said. “Now, you can pull that charge from the Talisman to replenish it in your body for use. It should last five or six hours before it naturally fades, and hold any spell charge up to Silver Tier. Once you pull the charge out, it’s empty and you can put something else in it. If you pull it out when you are full of charges, it will simply dissipate.” She looked nervously one last time. “I’m sorry, I must go. All of you, play with them this afternoon and find me if you need more help.” With a warble of magic, Cheena transformed into her white snow leopard form and ran off at speed to rejoin Maugra and her recruits.

Callie lightly touched the barely-glowing stone. In her head she was amazed that she had just pushed magic into it, and now it was just hanging there, waiting for her to seize it back at some time in the future. Of course, the very next thought she had was whether she could put layered charges into the Talisman, and if so how many layers and what would happen when she pulled them back. She definitely would need to play around with them and figure out all the nuances.

“Fizzlebek?” Vonn said, gesturing to the Gnome. “I’ll let you exxxplain the enchantmentsss.”