The Wyldwalkers, minus Sasha - though she expressed much dissatisfaction at not being included - listened as Anya provided a much more in depth account of the reports that had been made in regards to the Memory Thief. Crowe and Camille watched on, relatively silently, only offering input that might have escaped Anya’s notice. In part, Niko felt that they were sitting in to ensure that the Wyldwalkers were not unduly pressed into any kind of decision.
“That is everything that we currently know about this Memory Thief.” Anya concluded, unable to hide her frustrations with how severely lacking what knowledge they had was.
Niko stole a glance to Ronald as he began to speak, the wariness he felt nearly masked by the stern expression he adopted. “And you’re asking us to hunt this thing down?”
Anya nodded, “I am. I’m, of course, willing to offer proper payment outside of what you’re all owed otherwise.”
Curious, Niko studied their mentors, though Crowe and Camille had both kept out of the conversation as a whole. With a flex of his will, Niko communicated what he was thinking to Skye.
The half-elf cleared her throat meaningfully, to which Ronald paused while looking back to her. A brief and non-verbal communication followed and Ronald then nodded, granting her the floor to speak.
“Are you asking this of us as individuals, or as adventurers?” asked Skye, leaving Niko nodding along.
Anya blinked in confusion, not having expected the question, but Niko, attentively watching Crowe and Camille, didn’t miss the faint flicker of a smile that tugged at their lips. The Matriarch’s eyes combed over the Wyldwalkers, seemingly trying to divine what the correct answer here was.
‘This is important to know,’ Niko thought to himself and Skye, ‘While we can’t receive aid for free because of the pilgrimage, there’s also a few other things that we still have to be mindful of. As adventurers, we’ll receive payment for the job, as equal to the task as possible. But as friends…’
The Matriarch nodded to herself slightly as she continued to ponder the question, before then looking at the Wyldwalkers directly, “I ask you as friends of my daughter, and friends to Riizen.”
“Give us a moment.” Ronald stated, before stepping back with the rest of the group. With what could, just barely, be generously described as a whisper, Ronald asked, “Skye? Can you explain what all that was just now?”
The half-elf nodded, leaning on the mind-bridge between herself and Niko for support, “Well, the way the pilgrimage works, we’d only be able to help if we were paid enough for the task in question such as if we were hired via our identities as adventurers, right?”
Ronald gave a slow nod at that.
“So, when we’re asked as friends… aren’t we just doing it for free?” confusion apparent on Dachna’s face, he continued, “And that’s saying if we do this in the first place.”
“It doesn’t seem like a good idea,” Mithel added, “I mean, you were able to detect it before, but what if that was a fluke?”
Niko chimed in then, “She’ll be able to sense it again. Besides, doing this as ‘friends’ is actually more beneficial to us.”
The other Wyldwalkers looked to him then, wanting him to expand on what he’d said.
“Skye’s got a sensory aspect to her pattern,” Niko fibbed slightly, “This thing seems to be able to stop others from sensing it, but it ends up like a big empty space to Skye’s senses. I don’t think it’ll be able to get anywhere near us without Skye knowing.” He paused as Ronald, Mithel, and Dachna accepted the statement as fact. He was grateful that they didn’t doubt what he was saying. “As for why it’s probably a good idea to do this as friends, we have some wiggle room to work with, plus, there’s the chance that the pilgrimage might help us out, bend fate a little bit for us. I’m not certain of that fact, but regardless, it’s not a bad idea to get some leeway.”
“Plus, either way, this gives us a good opportunity to get stronger.” Skye shrugged, “After we deal with this thing, we can start hunting in earnest.”
The group nodded at that. It hadn’t been long since their battles with the hornets and Dawr Goblins, and they all felt the pressing need to become stronger. Whether that was the influence of the pilgrimage, or the fact that they were more frequently running across far more powerful people, Niko wasn’t certain. Whatever the reason, Niko needed to accelerate his growth however and wherever possible if he was going to make any progress on his ultimate goals.
With that, the group stepped forwards again, Ronald speaking for them, “Alright, we’ll help. We’re going to need to get our equipment sorted first, though.”
Anya inclined her head, relieved that they were willing to go forward with her request, “Thank you. I’ll prepare a group of my best guards to accompany you too–”
It was then that Camille spoke out, “Best that you don’t. Since they’re on the pilgrimage, that might be seen as giving assistance…”
“Truly?” Anya frowned, irritated, “What of when my daughter was with them?”
“That could be attributed to payment for their services rendered previously,” Crowe announced, “And she was only tier two. Given the other things you have aided them with, we are running dangerously close to the pilgrimage responding negatively.”
“Then…” The Matriarch’s head panned back to the group, where Niko could see plain worry on her face, “Is… this still acceptable? I wouldn’t blame you for withdrawing.”
Ronald gave a chuckle at that, “We appreciate your concern, but we’ll give it a try anyways. If it looks like this thing is too much for us, we’ll retreat and try to figure something else out. At worst, we might have to ask for that assistance after all, but I’d rather keep that as a last resort, rather than a first option.”
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“I see. Well, in that case, I wish you all the best of luck, Wyldwalkers” Anya inclined her head slightly, “I hope to hear good news from you soon.”
—-----------
Moving through the beautiful city didn’t take long, and after having adjusted to the layout of the streets and the shops, Niko found that he could remember the way to major destinations fairly easily. There were street names as well as block names, dictating that main streets were only for general locations, then the block itself, and then an individual unit. It was almost familiar, though the fact that each block was individually named was somewhat odd.
‘I’m used to streets and then a numbered address for a house,’ Niko mused to himself as he looked around, ‘But, I guess this isn’t that weird. Wonder where they got the idea, though?’
Before he could contemplate things for that long they stopped in at the smithy and armorer, filling Stella in on what was going on at the same time. She’d acknowledged all they’d said, but Niko could tell that she was obsessed with her craft at that point in time. There was a corner of the shop that she’d all but made her own, and given the fact that the owner of the building was fervently working on his own projects, Niko figured that they’d exchanged information already.
Still, they got everything they needed and left the city with a pair of saddlebags, both of which Niko was both alarmed and pleasantly surprised to find were larger on the inside. That, along with several buckles and loops that Niko could work with via his beak and wing-claws, meant that Niko’s storage capability was back and even exceeded his previous maximum.
He had mixed feelings about that.
A much larger box was sent back to the Blue-Claw residence, one that Niko could hold atop his back for bulk products. They’d likely put the majority of their camp gear in it, along with any other resources they collected.
Even as they were leaving the city, Niko amused himself by putting several tools in and out of the storage boxes on his sides, exceedingly interested in how space seemed to get weird in them. It wasn’t as though it were the first magical item he’d seen, but it was the ‘bag of holding’. Sure, they were box-like and didn’t store an immense amount more, but they were still spatially expanded.
“You enjoying your new toys?” Skye asked, a twinkle in her eyes as she watched him with amusement.
Niko started at that, realizing that the others had just been watching him open and close his saddle-boxes dozens of times. He may or may not have been chirping happily while doing it.
“Uhh… maybe a little.” Niko answered noncommittally, embarrassed that he’d gotten so caught up in it.
“I don’t blame you, it looks cool,” Dachna eyed the boxes with clear interest, but restrained himself, “Besides, you’re, what, like a year old? You’re practically still a kid.”
“I am not–” Niko stopped himself with a frown, noting that Mithel was hiding a broad grin on her face behind her hand. “Ugh… I hate it that I can’t actually deny that.”
Beaming, Dachna whistled a victorious tune to himself, but refrained from poking the Phorus any more than that, shifting tack as he continued:
“Aside from that, we’ve got the rest of our gear. Mithel, are you stocked up or do we need to camp out so you can do your lab thing?”
“Alchemise, or concoct, is what you mean,” Mithel fake huffed at the dirty-blonde haired man, but shook her head after, “And, no, I’m good. We should have more than enough to deal with most things. First thing first, though.”
She passed out three potions apiece as they got further and further from the city, “One of these is the same as before. The second one might help with mental effects, but I can’t be sure of that. The third one is to smash into the thing when we find it, it shouldn’t be able to go invisible with it, and it’ll leave a very detectable odor and bright colors. Even if it escapes, we should be able to find it.”
“And, lastly, this extra one is for Niko,” She beamed, holding up a strangely squishy ball of… something, that was vaguely transparent. It held a familiar enough orange liquid, only with streaks of red in it.
“This isn’t one of those ‘highly experimental’ things again, is it?” Niko cringed away from the thing.
Mithel hurriedly shook her head, “No, no! Well, not really? I mean, it’s an improvement on the design, so I guess it’s technically–” She cut herself off and tried to add some pep to her pitch, “It’s Hammertime Plus! It’s better than before with fewer penalties. It’s a bit stronger than what we can take, but it shouldn’t overdraw you like the last one did. Plus, I figured out how to make edible containers for you, since you don’t have thumbs!”
Dryly, Niko commented, “Hammertime Plus, huh? Hope it’s better…” He grumbled to himself quietly, “... don’t have thumbs…”, as he took the grapefruit sized potion and stowed it into a small pouch that he could relatively easily reach either with his head or one of his clawed hands.
“Alright, then we’ll take the first one now, second one when Skye notices anything, and third when we find it.” Ronald nodded, “We’ll go with Phalanx Formation; if anyone can get a read on it, call out its rough tier. If it’s tier three, we fight, if it’s tier four, we skirmish and test it, and see what we can do. Don’t burn Hammertime Plus until we know. If it’s tier five… Mithel, how many Hammertimes do you have?”
“Enough for each of us to take one three times,” She blinked, “Not that I’d recommend it, I don’t think we can bridge that gap with anything I can make right now.”
Ronald shook his head, “It’s not to fight, it’s to run. If it’s tier five, we’re going to retreat if at all possible. Hopefully it's not, but given that it’s only just recently been able to get much more out of its prey, I’m guessing that it’s at most a tier four. Maybe a specialized tier three.”
“Or a hyper specialized tier two aberrant,” Dachna pointed out, “Hopefully not, but considering nobody has seen it, that’s the only thing I can think of.”
The plan was as set as it could be and so they stalked through the forest, doing their best not to utilize any essence abilities and thereby nullify the potion Mithel had given them. Considering Skye was the only one who’d sensed the thing at all before, Niko tried not to be bothered by the fact that he couldn’t look around at anything with his Aether Sight pattern.
Anytime Niko saw anything with his regular vision, or Skye with her own enhanced senses, the group would stalk around the location. Most of the time, they saw more Thimurge, but a few times they saw other creatures. Some broad-backed thing that Niko thought vaguely resembled a squirrel and a badger mixed in one chittered madly at some Thimurge below its nest. The insectoid creatures, in a group of three, rasped their exoskeletons angrily back, but didn’t approach the nest. Niko figured that the squirrel thing was more dangerous than he’d given it credit for if the Thimurge didn’t risk attacking it outright.
Further along, they saw a myriad of other creatures. Birds of several varieties, some fairly mundane, others appearing like what Niko might expect out of a fantasy world. Yet, for all of the things they did see, nothing took much notice of them, save for when they accidentally stumbled upon a small nest of birds that immediately set to chirping ferociously at them.
Niko chuckled privately at that, but they quickly set off to get away from the upset avians. He had to remind himself that just because they were small, didn’t mean they were harmless, though. Even the smallest of creatures in these woods was a tier two beast or monster. Niko felt within his body, sensing how much essence was suffusing his form, more than just what was in his veins.
If he wasn’t mistaken, he wasn’t too far off from ascending to the next tier, himself. Perhaps this next hunt would put him over the edge…