PART III - TWO-AND-A-HALF SKILLS
“We have almost no Lizardkin in Cillisant,” Pelidri said as he and Xera left the Shamans and continued their inspection. “In fact, we have very few Beastkin of any type, outside of the capital. I’ve seen those like your Lizardkin recruit in battle, when watching Imorian ranks, but always at a distance. Up close, she is something else.”
“She is indeed,” Xera agreed.
“How do you keep them, your Beastkin I mean, organized and from fighting with each other?” Pelidri asked. It was a genuine curiosity, given the numerous cultural differences that needed to be juggled with all the different Beastkin here. Most of the various races had all been integrated for centuries before the Beastkin Escape, so generally there weren't a lot of culture clashes. The Ogres, and to a lesser extent, the Goblins, were newer to the mix, but both seemed happy to integrate into society, dropping or adapting a lot of their ancient tribal customs. Somehow, though, Beastkin tended to have difficulty fitting in.
Xera considered their response, not wanting to sound impolite. “Imoria is probably about one-fifth Beastkin, maybe more if you ignore the secluded deep Fae lands to the east. Each sub-race brings a uniqueness to our ranks that has both benefits and challenges, and you learn to work with both. The Lizardkin tribes can be very militant, for example, always guarding their territory without mercy, so that explains her instinctive combat focus, and this instinct can be well-honed in the army ranks.”
“We’ve simply never been able to integrate our few Beastkin into our army very well. There ends up being too many issues between them and others. Once our own Conscription began for this war, any Beastkin chosen were sent to service with the Imorian army instead, where you have found a solution, apparently.”
“It’s not hard to address cultural differences,“ Xera continued as they walked. “People will follow orders, after all, even if it goes against their upbringing. No, what is difficult to overcome, and likely the challenge your army is facing, are the unique animal instincts deep within each Beastkin. You can’t just order that to go away, because that wild part of them will always be there. This can inevitably lead to fights amongst the ranks, or worse.”
“So, how then?”
“In our experience, at least with the lower ranked enlisted and Conscripts, we have found only one way to truly address that, especially in a place like this with so many different Beastkin sub-races. You have to make them want to overcome that instinct, but you have to do it without telling them that’s what you’re doing.”
Pelidri wore a confused look. “So you reinforce patriotism and duty so they can focus on that?”
Xera laughed lightly. “That won’t work for long. Patriotism doesn’t mean much when the people around you are dying in battle. Once that fear and anger takes hold, then the instincts come right back to the surface and you get the same problems you’ve seen in the Cillisine army.”
“Then how?”
“Last time you were here, you were quite shocked at the lax discipline. There’s no marching and movement drills or barracks inspections. Yes, there is still rank and a proper chain, and we will enforce at minimum being polite to one another, but we can't hold on so tight. No, we instead take on a … more of a teaching or mentoring approach instead, and encourage friendships and mutual support to develop. They end up learning as much from each other as we actually teach them.”
“What does this have to do with the Beastkin?”
“It’s been found that by cultivating friendships and a desire to work together, many Beastkin seem to be better able to unconsciously push aside most of those conflicting animal instincts, or at least temper them, especially when the strain of front-line conditions begin to take their toll. Discipline issues are far less common with that encouragement, because those friendships win out over the instinct to rebel or be territorial. It was Thorn that actually suggested also trying this approach with the non-Beastkin recruits when I was putting the plans for this camp together years ago, and why I chose him to be Master Trainer.” Xera laughed again. “I was skeptical at first, and even Legate Galin took a while to come around, but after one or two terms, we saw how well it worked. Even for the non-Beastkin races, they tended to excel because of the unity we were able to cultivate.”
“Huh,” Pelidri said, rubbing his beard in contemplation. “Make them want to…” His voice trailed off.
Xera held up a hand. “I will freely admit, for the non-Beastkin, this isn’t for everyone, which is why we carefully choose who comes here. Even then, a few slip through that might need a more traditionally-disciplined approach. When we find them, we’ll do that if we are able. If they are simply not suited, we will send them back to a basic training camp where the discipline is more structured.”
Pelidri took a minute to contemplate what Xera had said. He had to admit he had very little experience working with Beastkin soldiers, and none with the lower-ranked on the line, but knew full well the reputation of disciplinary issues with mixed units in the Cillisine army. It was almost an expected occurrence with them, in fact. When the Beastkin were higher ranked sergeants or officers that he’d worked with, a lot of that core instinctive behavior seemed diminished, but they were people with years of voluntary service or academy training, a maturity that came with it, and generally a strong sense of patriotism, as well.
He then remembered back to the conversation he observed at the medical tent a short time ago. Cillisine commanders would have simply ordered the Beastmaster Cheetahkin to never do that again and get back to work, but Thorn and Reynard hadn’t done that. The two trainers had warned him in advance of the meeting that Cheetahkin tended to be nervous and skittish, which often translated into feelings of self-doubt, especially for young females. To overcome that, they’d taken the time to dig a little deeper to get to the ‘why’, not just the ‘what’. Pelidri didn’t really understand it at the time, but by the end, the girl had seemed eager to not only continue to excel as a Ranger, but also to explore her strange new class, despite it making her feel so ostracized. All of that done without actually issuing her a specific order to do anything, but instead simply asking her. It was certainly something to think about, although, as Xera said, it wasn’t likely an approach that worked with everyone.
“Ah, here we are,” Xera eventually interrupted, gesturing to another training area.
In the ring, a giant spider was fending off an owlbear, another huge black bear, and an armored reptile. Off to the side stood a young Pantherkin, periodically calling out a correction or other observation. “This must be the Druids?” Pelidri asked, his lips smirking. “At least I hope it is. Otherwise you have a serious problem with your local wildlife.”
The spider suddenly began to spin rapidly in a circle, using two legs to balance itself in a pirouette while the other six all lashed out, hitting each of its opponents multiple times, sending the two bears reeling. As for the last, a large Cyophroda, its heavy armor seemed to protect it from the blows, although all the hits were certainly disorienting it a bit. The spider soon stopped its dervish-like spinning, and melted into a new form, some kind of a giant, hairless black creature that Pelidri quickly recognized as a very-oversized hellhound. Still getting its senses back, the armored animal didn’t see the change, and the hound leapt into the air. It landed on the other’s back, then took up a seated position, its weight pinning it against body and ground. A tense few seconds passed, before the Cyophroda relaxed, yielding the contest. The hellhound got off, and both creatures wibbled into their normal forms, one becoming a Dwarf while the other was the Ogre.
As the fight wound down, a cheer came from another spot around the training circle. It was Callie and a couple others enjoying the show. Jesca was also standing next to the group, looking a little tired but smiling and applauding the spectacle all the same. Iris was sitting on her shoulder, wings spread out to hold her balance while Jesca moved with her cheering. Artemis also seemed excited, having put her front legs over the top of the low fence, standing on the rear two.
“That Whirlwind skill is awful,” Melga groaned as she rubbed her shoulder with a slightly-glowing hand. Next to her, Wallir was doing the same. “A hit or two from those legs is fine, but that many that fast … Thank you, at least, for not extending your claws, Tazrok. That would have torn us apart.”
“At least he wasn’t sitting on you,” the other Dwarf said as he cracked his back.
“People!” Rowani called out, making a circle in the air with her paw to get everyone's attention as she saw Xera and Pelidri had arrived and were both watching. Quickly, the four Druid students lined up in a group, the Ogre standing tall behind the other three.
“Commandant, Arkan,” Rowani said by way of greeting, giving a nod to both.
Pelidri narrowed his eyes. This Pantherkin recruit was the one he’d talk to during the inspection the day before, the Platinum tiered one. Now that he was paying more attention, he almost recognized her. Why did she seem so familiar?
“Arkan,” Xera said, gesturing towards the five, “may I introduce Trainer Rowani and her Druid recruits.”
Rowani? Where had he heard that name? Then it came to him. “You weren’t the trainer last year, were you?”
“I was, yes.”
Pelidri snapped his fingers, pointed and looked at Xera. “The other with the unicorn blood?” He then looked back to Rowani and chuckled. “Seventeen years old and Platinum tiered,” he scoffed, shaking his head in amused disbelief. “You made a fool out of me.”
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“It didn’t seem proper to correct you in front of everyone,” Rowani replied curtly.
“Well, that explains the few giggles I heard from the ranks,” the Arkan said, rolling his eyes as he stepped forward to clasp wrists with Rowani. “A good joke, nonetheless.”
“Rowani has also reactivated her commission, and like Trainer Maugra, carries the rank of Captain,” Xera explained. “Also like Trainer Maugra, prior to her time with the Imorian Army, she was a long-time Adventurer.”
“Ahh, I see. Thank you for your service then.”
“Would you care to introduce your students?” Xera asked.
The four recruits stiffened, and Rowani introduced each of them in turn, giving their tier and naming at least one animal form that each possessed, to provide a little more than just a name. Pelidri eyed them carefully, studiously observant and then graciously stating he was pleased to meet them, repeating their names with the pleasantries.
“Congratulations on reaching Silver this morning, Druid Tazrok,” Pelidri continued. Then, with a curious tone he added, “Tell me, did you receive any new melded skills?”
Tazrok looked perplexed for a moment, and then counted off on his hand. “Um … two-and-a-half,” he finally responded. He glanced down at Rowani, as if asking her to explain.
The Pantherkin laughed, and then spoke up to clarify. “He has received three melded skills, but one is repeated, being available for both his natural form as well as his Guardian spider form.”
“Two-and-a-half,” Tazrok confirmed again with a nod, his answer now making at least a little more sense in context.
“Tell us about them, if you would?” Pelidri asked.
“First is … jug-er-not,” Tazrok said, sounding the word out slowly, it apparently being a little confusing for him. “Can use as spider or as people. One plus a half of one. Can run fast and break things.”
“We have set up to demonstrate for you,” Rowani quickly interjected. “Any explanation probably wouldn’t do it justice, so it might just be easier to simply see it in action.” She then gestured towards a pile of perhaps a dozen hay bales.
“By all means,” The Arkan said. “From the name, I have a suspicion I know what it might do. With his size, I certainly wish to see what comes of this.”
Everyone cleared out of the ring, taking up positions along the fence surrounding the area. It wasn’t really a fence so much as a lazy border of wood between training areas to mark them off, certainly not intended to keep anything in or out.
Tazrok shifted into his spider form and moved to a spot about a dozen meters away from the pile, before turning to face it. You could feel a sense of nervousness coming off the Ogre-turned-spider, probably because the Arkan was watching so intently.
Imagine if you started with the skill Dash, which allows a person to run at many times their normal speed for a few seconds. That would be the first part of Tazrok’s new skill. At incomprehensible speed, Tazrok charged towards the pile that was the target, a light, green mist appearing behind him. That was just the start though. Next, looking almost like thick light-green glass made of near-solid smoke, a curved magical projection appeared in front of the spider, protecting Tazrok as he raced forward at speed.
Like a bulldozer blade attached to an out-of-control dump truck with the gas pedal floored, the Ogre smashed into the hay bales. He didn’t simply push them aside, though. That would have been too simple. Instead the pile simply seemed to explode out of the way, straw and string going flying from the impact and landing on several spectators.
But … it was Tazrok, which meant there was no kill like overkill. He couldn’t stop, and next blew through the dividing fence, simply shearing a section away, turning it into a shower of splinters. He wasn’t done though, and the spiderdozer just kept going. He plowed into the woods, sending at least a dozen trees, some of them fairly thick, cast aside and crashing to the ground. The few birds in said trees flew off, angry squawking called back. After a couple dozen meters, the spider finally skidded to a stop, leaving behind him a three-meter-wide path of mostly cleared land.
All watching were speechless as the Ogre, now back in his two-legged form, stumbled out of the woods, nearly tripping over a jagged remnant of a tree. He grimaced as he looked first at the broken fence and then the bales that had exploded everywhere, before looking over to Rowani and then to Pelidri. “Oops.” A huge tree in the background made a loud creaking noise as it fell over, causing Tazrok to jump and make another wincing face.
“Oops?” Rowani gasped, staring up at the Ogre. “Oops!?” She smacked his arm with the back of her paw. “We talked about this!”
“Got excited,” Tazrok said meekly. “Wanted to show skill good.”
“Well,” Xera began, looking first at the arboreal devastation and then up to the Ogre, “should we need any land cleared, it appears we won’t need to rely on the Sylvans.” There was a crash in the woods as yet another tree fell, seeming to punctuate the moment.
“Most excellent, my Ogre friend!” Pelidri said, his face beaming, before he started to nod. “Based on the name of the skill, it was much as I thought it might be. Tazrok is it? If ever someone was downed, I believe you could clear a path to get to their rescue, or through the battle lines so others could follow. With your bulk, you will be nearly unstoppable.”
Off to the side, Tazrok’s cheering section had grown, Callie being joined by both Lena and Xin, who had both been released from their training for the day, as well as Pixyl, who was taking a breather from duties at the Demon-fighting area. The onlookers were whooping it up, Callie calling out ‘you big tree killer’ with a false sternness, which only made Tazrok blush even more. Maybe he had overdone it just a little bit.
Rowani took in all the chaos and damage, as well as her student’s cheering fans, and simply shook her head. “We’ll have to work on control a bit, it seems.” Trying to refocus on the demonstration, and with another glare up at Tazrok, Rowani continued. “At Silver, Druids receive a new animal form, that being their aquatic one. We’re not going to test that, though, because with Tazrok’s luck, he’ll have gills and be unable to breathe. Once the other three get their water forms, we’ll fly out to a deep lake about twenty kilometers away to work on them.”
“But get other form,” Tazrok said. “Digger form.”
“Digger?” Xera asked, raising an eyebrow.
Rowani nodded. “That’s right, he received a second form, this one melded. I’ve never heard of this form, just like his Brontorn Draft one. We decided to wait until you came by to see what it is, so you can share in the first time.”
Pelidri grinned in subdued excitement as Tazrok moved center-circle, Rowani rushing out of the ring, making sure to leave him a wide berth.
“Wooo!!” Callie and the others called out encouragingly. They were as excited as everyone else.
Tazrok focused and changed.
Imagine a meter-high lump of pure muscle, covered in black fur, save for a wide white stripe running about two meters from nose-tip to tail. That was what everyone was seeing, a muscled lump with six stocky legs that each ended in a set of five ridiculously sharp, semi-retractable claws. The head was surprisingly small, but the mouth was filled with dagger-sharp teeth and sported a pair of beady black eyes capable of seeing in the dark. It may not have been very big compared to some of Tazrok’s other forms, but with those claws backed up by nothing but muscle, it was capable of being quite devastating, that was for sure.
“It’s like a giant honey badger!” Callie squealed.
At the same time, Pelidri called out, “A mining badger!”
“I don’t recognize this animal,” Rowani said, her face making a confused, considering look before turning to look at the Arkan. “Or I should say, I know it is a badger, but I don’t recognize this variation.”
Pelidri continued. “These come from the mountains in northern Cillisant. In times long past, the Dwarves would domesticate them, and use them to assist with mining. Legends say they eat mithril, so their claws grew to become impossibly-hard, sharp enough to quickly tear right through most rock. There are Gnomish machines to do much of the work these days, so packs of these creatures aren’t used any more, and over time they’ve gone wild and now generally live in small colonies.”
Tazrok picked up a foot and looked at the claws at its end. They were beyond sharp and beyond strong, and he made a test dig in the sandy dirt. There wasn’t even minimal resistance, the claws passing through like a knife through butter.
“Actually, according to the stories, the Dwarves also used them as battle mounts, as they are able to handle their dense weight without problem, and were easily able to navigate the mountain terrain. Not very fast mounts, but incredibly sturdy with great endurance.”
“Mountable war badgers?” Xera asked with a chuckle. “That would be a sight to see.”
“It certainly would,” Pelidri agreed. “This was all centuries ago, though. You’d need to talk to a Cillisine historian to learn more about the lore.’
“You hear that,” Callie cooed to Tazrok. “You have badger-lore!” She grinned up at Jesca. “I don’t know why, but I’ve always loved these guys. They don’t take no shit.” Then, she remembered to add a quick, “Why do I remember that?”
While Callie had been gushing, Tazrok walked under the fencing and over to a medium-sized boulder. He looked at the claws on one foot again, and seemed to give a badger-like shrug. He swiped at the rock and a small chunk immediately cut off, plopping to the ground with a thump. He made another swipe. Another chunk was sliced off. Very quickly Tazrok started to see what this form was all about, and why it was called ‘Digger’. A myriad of battle ideas for it flooded into his head, like digging a pit trap, or a hole he could ambush someone from. There was potential here.
“You know, Commandant,” Pelidri said as Tazrok returned to normal form and rejoined the rest, “one thing about this place I love is how there are surprises at every turn. You are doing wonderful work here.”
“Why … thank you, Arkan,” Xera replied, actually shocked by the praise. The first time he’d been here the year previous, the Arkan had actually complained several times. First it was the distance he’d had to come, and then that Xera was too lax on military discipline compared to his army from home, and then, inevitably, about the costs. In fact, he had generally been miserable the entire time. Xera had been quite surprised that he returned to Imor with positive support, and more so when the message arrived saying he wished to come back for another Midsummer. This time he seemed … not just praising, but genuinely happy to be here. It was a little eerie in a way, but Xera wasn’t going to complain if it translated into positive support.
Pelidri looked up, judging the sky. “It seems we are coming close to noon. I’d like to take a break for a meal, and to send a Network message or two, if that would be agreeable?”
“Of course,” Xera said. The plan had been to close training down for the afternoon once Pelidri’s inspection was completed, to get an early start on changes needed to the field for the holiday. This was going to push the schedule off, at least for the few classes he hadn’t seen yet, but Xera couldn’t exactly say no.
“Excellent, I will certainly …”
Pelidri’s words suddenly trailed off, and he turned to look back towards the camp, the look on his face becoming almost horrified. “By the stars!” he gasped.
Everyone else turned to look in the same direction. Jesca also gasped, putting her paw to her mouth, a squeak of surprise and a look of almost equal horror coming from the Cheetahkin. After a couple moments, Callie’s sensitive ears heard what the other two had, and her heart became heavy. She’d known it was just a matter of time, and that time had arrived.
It was Sergeant-Major Natala, standing on a shelter roof, just completing the Amplified reading of a formal proclamation, much like a town crier might. People began to rush towards her, including Xera, Pelidri and all those that were around them. “The King Regents are dead! May the stars shine upon Imoria,” Natala called to the world.