Lady Blood Claw was looking Corvayne in the eyes, holding onto one of his hands. “You are like me. You're cursed by the Magus.”
He felt very weird with her holding his hand and looking at him so expectantly. “What does that mean? You mean, the name thing?”
“It could be a number of things. I've seen him rip groups of allies apart, half of them turning on each other. Others afflict the target with confusion, scattering whole groups because their movement becomes confused, one stopped a person from using an arm as they became convinced it wasn't there. It might also explain why everyone was so negative to you.”
Corvayne looked at his own hand, gently pulling it from Lady Blood Claw's. “I had a rough time of it, but I'm not sure I'm really cursed.”
She leaned closer to him. “Even if not... could you try it? Doing the same thing you did to that Water girl? Can you try to pull the curse off my heart?” her skin drained of all color, glowing a faint white as she pulled the zipper on her jumpsuit down and pulled Corvayne's hand to her chest. He had not realized how much the jumpsuit compressed everything.
“Uh, Lady-”
She cut him off, pushing his hand into herself harder “Please Corvayne! I hate that name! I want to know my real one again. If I knew my name, I might find my home. My family.” The pure white glow was tinged blue a moment.
He was struck by how warm she felt, but boxed up that and other unproductive thoughts about his sparring partner and tried to push his hand through or into her or something. He felt her trying to push forward into his hand more, and sparing a glance up from his hand he saw her eyes were closed.
There was a moment where he felt a little give, and he felt his hand start to move past the skin and he swore he felt a prick of something sharp an inch in, when suddenly a squeezing sensation pushed his hand back out. He tried pressing again, but only felt skin with a slight bit of sweat.
“It was working a moment, but...” He looked at her and realized she was glowing bright red with flickering orange, with a look of absolute mortification on her face.
He heard a chuckle and turned to see Wick's glasses reflecting the redish light that Lady Blood Claw was giving off. He heard rather then saw her smile. “Well Corvayne, I know we didn't talk about this yet but keep going...”
Lady Blood Claw was shaking and saying something. Corvayne leaned in, saying. “Sorry, I didn't hear that.”
“Please... remove your hand.”
He pulled his hand back and she turned and zipped up, hiding her face. He turned to Wick. “I think you got the wrong idea. I was trying to remove her curse.”
Wick leaned forward. “Or her pants. I figured she'd have you try this. Jokes aside, what did it feel like? Was it wet, or...”
“I had the normal sensation of having my hand pressed against a breast...” He paused as he considered the implications of those words “...then the feeling of touching skin moved up my fingers, like putting a glove on. It was warm, but there was resistance, then I felt a point a little ways under the surface, not a bone but thorns, then she pushed me out.” He looked at his hand and saw there was a single small cut, forming a drop of blood.
LBC turned to Wick. “Wick, Corvayne is not at fault. I asked him to help me.”
Wick waved her away. “I thought you guys slept together when you were bugging him to train every day...”
Corvayne shook his head at Wick. “I can make friends with women without sleeping with them. Those goblins for example.”
Wick laughed. “Only because you play at being above it. Also Lady Blood Claw, you know you have my express permission to take Corvayne out for a spin.”
LBC's skin was still glowing red with orange flashes, though it wasn't quite bright enough to light up their camp site. “I would not bother him, the attention he got from Hari flustered him enough!”
Wick was laughing. “Once you get past how he thinks he should act, he's just like any other man.”
Corvayne felt blood rushing to his ears. “We're getting off topic.”
Wick got up and sat next to him. “You want to undo her curse, right? I only caught part of the conversation.”
Corvayne nodded. “Yes. She requested I try to apply the same method I used to pull that... thing... out of spears. We also discussed the potential that I have some sort of curse on me. She was telling me things about my tale had struck her as off. I do agree, as my backpack now, for example, was not the one I used on desert patrols. Stepping foot on Cascadia, I had a different pack with slightly worse tools mixed in with the ones I packed.”
Wick looked at him. “Okay. I think once we gather everyone out of harm's way, we should try to find someone who knows about the curse.”
Lady Blood Claw nodded. “I think the best source is going to be Corvayne's village. If they managed to capture The Magus, then they might know a method to undo the damage.”
Corvayne caught that there was something in her tone... she had unfinished business with the wizard too. Well, now he had some too. That being said, he didn't really want to go back to his village. He was glad Wick understood, perhaps because she was a runaway too. As he thought about it, it was more likely they'd help Lady Blood Claw then himself, even. As an exile, his contact with the Magus was what triggered being cursed, if he was in fact cursed. He stood up.
“I think we need a specialist like Hari is aiming to be. Not that she isn't great, but it's like treating a disease when you don't even know for sure it's there. The village might work, but I don't want to ask them for help because I'm afraid it may be dangerous to all of you.”
Wick shot to her feet and slapped his arm. “Yourself! Think about you too.”
“Fine. I don't want to go back at all, and it might be dangerous for me to go back. So I want to find another option to help Lady Blood Claw and myself. Assuming she's right and there's something influencing me and my memory.”
Lady Blood Claw gestured to the way they had came. “If not your village, then we have to find a way into the tower.”
Wick sighed. “Which means we are back to the question we've been asking for 2 weeks of subjective time: how do we deal with the monk?”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Corvayne pointed the way forward. “First, we wake everyone up and get out of the woods.”
Corvayne put a foot on the gravel beside the road and smiled despite himself. It was early morning and everyone was tired, dirty, and had been on edge with the fear of finding a dozen killer monks hiding behind a pine tree. Corvayne himself had started to worry they had been following the wrong branch of the river given the lack of landmarks, but bursting out of the trees near the bridge and seeing the highway was more then welcome.
Corvayne turned “Seru, if you can get us that ride...”
Seru blinked then pulled her phone out. “Sure... let me just call my mom.”
Corvayne had a thought... what if the phone she back that only looked like the one he had hurled off a cliff weeks prior. What if it didn't work?
He sighed in relief when he heard Seru talking. She was describing where they were, and stressing that she was not in trouble.
“No no, I was with a party, not at one.” Seru spoke something quietly then held her phone away from her head as the speaker on the other end, a woman, got very excited.
Seru shouted back into her phone. “You heard me! If you want to know more, then come get me. Bring the van.”
The phone call reminded Corvayne of another little thing he could do while stuck waiting for Seru's mom to show up.
“Okay, Wick... how do I find videos of weapon masters?”
About an hour later, Corvayne and Wick were sitting side by side looking at phones. Corvayne had borrowed Icariiis and planted himself on the grassy side of the road. Seru, unasked, had plopped next to Corvayne's other side to join them in looking. They had found three videos. A guy who specialized in staff fighting had a video where he was in his dojo trying to explain 'using energy' to perform to abilities, one an attack that seemed to aim for weak points using 'critical instinct' and another that 'was a reactive crushing blow'. Corvayne watched the demonstrations a few times and was pretty sure he was looking at two abilities. Good. Corvayne would try them with his broom handle when he got home.
There was an old woman in an expensive looking home training ground. She gave her credentials as a multiple championship swords woman, then talked about weird sword fighting and how masters could perform many moves that should be impossible. The video was from years and years ago and heavily down voted, as people assumed it was the woman trying to cash out before she retired. A shame, she went right down the list, giving names to each move. Her first attack was [Fast blade] which looked a version of [Light Cut]. She swung normally, then showed off a lightning fast attack that made a small whip-crack as it broke the sound barrier.
For [Afterimage] she struck out and left a faint image behind. It only left one image but otherwise looked like [Crescent Blade]. The cameraman moved around the image, then her unseen helper threw a pillow at it, bursting the pillow. It made the old woman laugh in a way that brought a smile to Corvayne's face. [Blade Breaker] looked like [Sundering Strike]. She called the name out and destroyed a brick with a wood training sword.
The next two were moves he didn't know personally, and he watched them a dozen times. The first had two dummies, the woman did a regular tap with her practice weapon, then turned and used [Pivot Thrust]. She said it only worked on two targets, switching from attacking one to another with high power. The last technique he had high hopes for, as [Metal Arc] looked like it turned her arm and weapon into steel during the swing.
Seru found the final video. It was focused on hand to hand martial arts, with a wide eyed man staring at the camera for too many shots. It reminded him a little of the kind of videos Wick put on at her meetings, ones where speaker was always calm but in a way that set off warning bells. He had to skip a few segments where the person talked about the 'coming great change' and 'all will awaken'. The actual techniques were four that he knew about but rarely used. [Rabbit Punch] was weird and rapidly tired him out. He guessed there was a use for it but those fast attacks were laughably weak. He didn't use [Sweep] with a weapon because [Thresh] was better. [Nerve Pinch] was there, and Corvayne recalled it was the first technique he used that made the brackets show up. The man called out the name [Judo Throw] and demonstrated how it wasn't using regular physics as he had someone run right at him and slapped their leg, causing them to flip over as if they had grabbed and thrown the man. Something worth considering as he'd be picking a fight with a psychotic murderer pretty soon.
After an hour a white van pulled up. Seru stood up and waved. “Yo mom!”
Nyxion looked at the van and sighed. “Backwater nobility.”
Wick pulled the door to the side open, then threw her hand out to the treeline. “If you want to walk, Nyx, and give us more room, be my guest.”
“... I suppose the van has it's rustic charm.” He added half-heartedly. Corvayne found it odd... maybe he hadn't slept well?
Lady Blood Claw had pulled her cloak out and tried her best to hide her non-human nature, but Seru's mom started laughing as soon as she spotted the alien in the back seat. Corvayne could see she looked like Seru aged up twenty years, clad in leopard print, and wearing large orange icosahedron earrings.
The older woman smiled. “Hello! I'm Seru's older sister.” She turned back and winked.
Seru got flustered and pushed her mom's shoulder. “Mom!”
“Oh I like your friend's drow cosplay! Tell me who does your makeup.”
Corvayne turned around to see LBC's skin had turned deep purple. Ah. So that color was embarrassment?
Nyxion leaned forward. “I hate to break up the fun, but perhaps we should get away from the woods. Also I regret to inform you, my good friend Lady Blood Claw is not human.”
Seru's mom just laughed at that. Seru snapped, “Mom! Drive!” and the laughing woman peeled out, leaving the woods behind.
They arrived at Seru's driveway after cruising down back roads for about forty minutes. Corvayne admitted he enjoyed watching Seru get frustrated during the drive, undercut by a little jealousy. He wished he had grown up with a mother. Someone to fuss over him and protect him. Then again, he didn't really have much of a dad, either. He'd settle for a single good parent.
Wick had spent most of the ride trying to tug Seru's arm from a seat back to get her to stop blabbing secrets, but Corvayne could have told her that it was pointless, as Seru's mother didn't get she wasn't talking about a table top game and, as she was driving, couldn't pay enough attention to Seru trying to show off her porcupine scars. So the conversation would be Seru describing something that actually happened and then her mom offering critiques on the action.
She spoke while slowly cruising up the driveway. “Well, it's fine to be a little fly in the ointment but it sounds like you split the party! So it's really your fault if your character almost died. It's good roleplay though! These things are the sort of experiences that teach you about how to work with your party, and things like not saying to the other players 'oh yeah I'm betraying you.' to their face. I'm so tickled pink you've started playing on your own!”
As the car stopped Corvayne saw what looked like a huge lodge, made from dark red wood and three stories tall with wings and decks and a commanding view of trees climbing to mist cloaked peaks. Seru's mother turned back. “Okay, who wants some breakfast! Does your drow friend eat surface food?”
Wick looked at everyone. “We need to head back...” Her head stopped turning when it landed on Seru in the front seat trying to will her to say no. Corvayne saw Wicks face curl into a grin. “So we can ONLY stay for breakfeast.”
Mister I agreed. “I have monster meat we can grill!” He produced a baggy from the cooler.
Corvayne expected Lady Blood Claw or Nyxion to protest another break but he heard a stomach grumble and LBC looked away. Nyxion looked distracted, staring off into the distance. Corvayne silently hoped he'd not get drafted to give Nyx a pep talk.
Seru's mom looked back. “Wow, I didn't see as well when you were getting in but those are some really high quality props... ”
Nyx smiled. “Many of them paid for in blood, sweat, and tears.”
Seru's mom nodded. “I still sometimes cosplay too!” She shuffled over to Lady Blood Claw. “What's your name?”
Lady Blood Claw was biting her lip, eyes closed. Seru stepped between her mother and the alien woman. “She's shy! She can talk to you about makeup over the phone or something!”
She rushed ahead with LBC and opened the front door and let them into a huge wooden den. There was a lit fireplace, a balcony, bear furs, a titanic couch, and huge windows out to the pine forest. Seru's mom went to make food leaving Seru to show them around.
Wick held up a hand. “There's really no need. I wanted a chance to eat before we head back to Old Town and to see you squirm. Good job keeping a facade going!”
Corvayne looked around. “I think we should have gone right home...” There was something about the really big house with large, all-new devices that made him feel uncomfortable. A whole watcher home might fit in the living room... His awareness of money and treatment when he first arrived at Cascadia made him aware that there was something perhaps brazen in the display, like a warrior having a dozen weapons strapped everywhere.
“I kinda want to count the notches in her bed.” Wick said as she also looked around Seru's home.
Seru frowned at Wick and folded her arms. “Rude!” then spun on her heel and lead them to the dining room, a long glass encased section off from the kitchen that looked out over a deck and a lake studded with pines. Seru let them seat themselves and walked into the kitchen. Corvayne picked a seat near the door and Wick sat next to him. Nyx and Mister I followed by sitting across the table, and Lady Blood Claw walked to the far end of table and sat a good fifteen feet away from everyone, throwing her cloak over her face to perhaps sleep for a bit. Seru came back with a pot of coffee and cups on a tray.
“You said Old Town. Is that where you guys live? Isn't that a rough part of town?” Seru asked while pouring coffee for everyone. He noticed she sounded ever so slightly more formal when talking.
Corvayne shrugged. “Yeah. I don't know about rough so much as just poor. I've only been mugged once.”
Nyxion raised an eyebrow. “Well, did they get your wallet?”
“Hah. No. They met a terrible end. I do owe them, I guess, because I met Wick because she was trying to find the muggers.” He took a sip of coffee. Not terrible.
Wick elbowed him. “No sappy how-we-met bullshit.”
“Sorry.” He looked over at Lady Blood Claw who was snoring, then saw Seru sit next to him. Mister I laughed.
Corvayne didn't pay her any mind. “We are going to be fighting the monk. He's cut us off from two of the ways out, and I think if Grunt comes strolling out of the mine you can cross a third off. My only problem is that we don't know what the limits of his powers are. He destroyed our shields and Nyx's weapons, but our clothes were fine.”
Nyxion leaned back. “If you pick a fight with him alone, you're dead. He can teleport.”
Corvayne closed his eyes then opened them, trying to shake the images of his friends dying. “Even with that skill, he did miss a few times. The problem is, when he hits someone, they are dead. Also, my backup plan is shot until Grunt comes back with nuclear batteries. Still... he has a limit for how fast after a teleport before he can do it again. He saw me aim and fire at him and wasn't able to just pop out of it. A clean shot to the neck with a pistol and a cross-skill might kill him. Hitting him in the face wasn't enough.”
Wick said. “Corvayne, you took two hits to put down... you hit him twice in the back with you spear after blowing half his mouth apart and it didn't slow him down.”
Corvayne turned to her. “Did you die right when I did?”
“Yes.” She didn't look pleased to remember it.
Seru's phone buzzed and she looked at it. “Hey, the monk was a bald guy with beads around his neck, right? Big metal staff? Blue robes? Beard going gray?”
Wick turned to her, looking a little sick. “How did you know?”
Seru frowned and flipped her phone around to show them a video feed of the monk who killed them staring at his wrist on a porch, then lifting his hand to press something. At the same time, Corvayne heard a chime announcing someone was at the door.