The evacuation is about to start, the thirty or so villagers are distributed over several horse-drawn carriages. And by 'horse' I mean red-fured horses with six legs. Nothing out of the ordinary.
I got lucky and can sit in the middle under the cover where the sun won’t reach.
During the ride, I ask the man sitting next to me what the deal with the crying soldier at the gate earlier was.
He tells me, “Oh, Evan. He is... was the mentor of the kids you accompanied. They were really close. Have been for almost 5 years.”
Great. Flag raised for pissed of foster father coming to hunt me down later. I should probably have checked his status earlier so I at least know what revenge-driven monster will come for me...
“Sorry, there was nothing I could do... I did all I could but it was not good enough”, I try to make an excuse.
Just keep kicking me while I’m already down, will you? What was I supposed to do? Cure refused to be used and the two would have bled out anyway... At most, by not being there I might have spared Ted and Eila if they never went back.
...fuck, what’s done is done. Even if they didn’t like it, their blood was put to some good use.
“Say, since I’m not from around here I’m curious. What exactly were the signs that the flood appears earlier than normal?”
The man explains, “You’d have to ask Evan that once he’s calmed down a bit. He’s the most experienced of our hunters.”
As if I’d voluntarily step on that landmine, “Sure, I’ll keep it in mind when I get the opportunity.”
My seat-neighbor gets curious, “If you don’t mind me asking, what brought you to these lands? I was always under the impression Silver Elves went extinct during the reign of the previous demon lord.”
“They... missed a few. We’ve got decent stealth skills after all. But you have to understand that I’m quite hesitant to tell just anyone where the rest are hanging out.”
He agrees, “Oh, certainly. And your personal reason for leaving home?”
“Ah, that’s the funny part. I don’t really have a proper reason. One day I just had a strange dream about this place and then curiosity got the better of me, now I’m here.”
He accepts it, “A vision is as good a reason as any other.”
I continue to have meaningless small-talk with other passengers but don’t really learn anything of note.
The carriage ride takes a bit over 2 days. The drivers just take turns so we don’t have to stop; one sits at the reins while another sleeps in the back.
We take a couple of quick stops to distribute food, eat and answer nature’s call, or in my case pretend to. I... just force the food down, it tastes absolutely awful and provides no nutrition to me but I have a cover to keep up.
And sleeping? I’ve no idea how anyone can close their eyes with all the shaking of the carriages.
As much as I hate wasting time I can’t see the menu stuff with my eyes closed so I can’t even start on Jeff’s notes. No sleep, no reading, just the maddening noises of snoring refugees and the carriages.
During the ride, the caravan is attacked a few times by low-level monsters, well low-level compared to the hunters. They get dispatched without any issues and we suffer no major injuries which means less threat to exposing me for being unable to heal.
(Elly, couldn’t you have reminded me to also change my hair color so I’m not immediately recognizable as a silver elf?)
She responds, (I don’t know when I should’ve done that. Before our little accident, I was convinced that you would be able to heal so it’d be fine. Afterwards... people had already seen you so changing it would probably have made everything worse. Sorry, Jared.)
I have to agree, (Right, makes sense.)
A bit later, a fortress gets finally into view. I’ve no words for how wide the whole thing looks, by my estimate about twice as big as my history teacher said the biggest one in our history was. But considering the constant threat of monsters and what all has to fit into it, it makes sense for it to be so massive.
Thinking about it, (why are there even mostly unprotected settlements out there? Especially with the annual floods this makes little sense to me.)
Elly guesses, (From your talk with the villagers I got the impression that they flee the villages each year during the flood and return when it is over.)
(So commute on a big scale?)
She agrees to my comparison, (Pretty much.)
(I don't feel like this is a good way of living. But it's probably just a cultural thing.)
There are a lot of soldiers standing at the entrance checking the caravan in front of us. They have only a quick look into the wagons and then wave them through.
I [appraise] some of the soldiers, mostly 35-70 levels total each, but two in particular stand out to me.
Name Erwin Status disguised Age 17 Classes Scout 3, Fighter 2 Race Dwarf 2 Extra Vampire 4 HP 1372/1550 MP 624/624 SP 418/1526 STR 220+62 DEX 265+20 VIT 216+65 MAG 94 FTH 92 WIL 99 CHA 143 Equipment Shortsword, Reinforced Leather, Sun Guard Ring Skills Sword Training 2, Disguise 4, Danger Sense 3, Hard Worker 2, Health Boost 2, Poison Resistance 2, Sleepless 4, Undead 4, Vampire Hierarchy 4 Weakness Fire, Wind, Light, Holy
A vampire?
Name Niles Status disguised Age 21 Classes Warrior 4, Berserker 3 Race Highlander 3 Extra Vampire 4 HP 1452/1873 MP 280/280 SP 523/1747 STR 313+97 DEX 211 VIT 226+65 MAG 76 FTH 103 WIL 151 CHA 152 Equipment Handaxe, Reinforced Leather, Sun Guard Ring Skills Axe Training 7, Disguise 4, Hard Worker 3, Sleepless 4, Stamina Boost 3, Undead 4, Vampire Hierarchy 4 Weakness Fire, Poison, Light, Holy
And another...
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(Honestly, I wouldn’t have expected there to be any vampires at all.)
Elly notes, (They are clearly in disguise so that may not mean anything.)
(Really now, they have 4(!) weaknesses each and I can use none of those. Somehow this whole thing seems stacked either against me or undead in general, haven’t decided yet. Say can everyone [Appraise] the skill lists to such details? If so, my massive list of skills would just give everything away...)
She boasts, (Luckily, no, that is a unique feature of yours truly.)
(Can you tell me about their 'Sun Guard Rings'?)
She refuses, (Not until you get your hand on one.)
(Ok, another point for the to-do list.)
They finally finish with the caravan in front of us.
From what I can see, they have a longer talk with Evan who leads the whole evacuation. He’s probably telling them about the ‘outsider’, me. Shit. Too late to run now...
A few minutes later some of the soldiers come to check on my carriage, one of the vampires, Erwin, is among them.
They just have a quick look around and then leave, “All clear here”. No idea what they are looking for if they leave so quickly.
I swear I could just see Erwin grin for a second. Creep.
One of the soldiers waves our carriage finally through the gate. A different soldier leads the caravan to an open spot in the fortress and asks us to get out. I hope that it doesn’t take too long, the sun is up and I’ve only two hours with my cloak.
“Everyone present?”, he begins, “ You’ll need to wait here a bit. The flood arriving this early has caught us as much by surprise as you so we’ve not readied enough camps for you refugees yet. Food is still a problem as well.”, he frowns, “Evan has informed me about the general make up of your group.”
Ah, that is what they talked about for so long.
He continues, “As such, I’d like to ask everyone to do their part as much as they are able to. Those able to fight will be asked to support our men, farmers to tend to the farms and so on. One of my men will fetch you soon and bring you to your temporary homes. Tomorrow someone will come to lead you to your new jobs. Food will be rationed until we’ve figured out the situation, until then you’ll only be served one portion a day around midday. Any questions?”
Some of the other refugees murmur but no one speaks up.
“Good, may the god of refinement watch over us all”, with that he takes his leave.
(What the fuck is a ‘god of refinement’?)
(Could you please ask questions I can answer? Just once?), Elly sounds a bit down again.
Seeing as our group was positioned right next to a few houses separated by a shady alley, I sneak off and take shelter from the sun there.
While waiting I see on the other side of the road how a group of injured soldiers is transported, I assume to the local counterpart of a hospital – seems like not all evacuations were as smooth as ours.
Most of them are around the same level as the other soldiers but one stands out:
Name Darius Status unconscious Age 28 Classes Fighter 18, Captain 17, Cleric 18, Commander 17, Paladin 20, Knight 16 Race Enlightened (Human) 17 Extra none HP 452/6382 MP 117/2617 SP 0/6068 STR 868+221 DEX 807 VIT 1129+206 MAG 393 FTH 470 WIL 719+76 CHA 635 Equipment Steel Sword, Full Plate, Great Helm, 2x Engraved Ring Skills Sword Training 51, Mace Training 18, Shield Training 34, Armor Training 16
Cure Magic 35 (Rank 3), Holy Magic 18 (Rank 2), Healing Hand 20
Battle Order 17, Guard Order 17, March Order 17, Multi Order 17, Warding Aura 20
Blessed Weapon 20, Eagle Eye 17, Luck Boost 17, Stamina Boost 35 Weakness Poison
...final boss spotted? What kind of monster got to him, I don’t want to ever meet. Not that I’d want him as an enemy either.
Shit, if he counts as normal leadership I’m in for a brutal game of hide and seek. Even if we became good friends, he might just accidentally kill me when he passes me a butter knife...
I’ve still no clue how to proceed from here. With the threat of the oncoming flood, I’m pretty much stuck here. But just staying here won’t make me stronger. It also still bothers me that the two vampires were so ‘low level’ compared to everyone else.
But before I can make any headway with my thoughts another soldier approaches our group, “Now where is... ah over there!”
The eager figure rushes over to me.
Name Jack Status none Age 17 Classes Fighter 12, Knight 8, Scout 3 Race Halfling 11 Extra none HP 2135/2531 MP 754/754 SP 1672/2572 STR 321+150 DEX 408 VIT 336+128 MAG 85 FTH 85 WIL 218+28 CHA 236 Equipment Iron Sword, Full Plate Skills Sword Training 20, Shield Training 12, Armor Training 8
Danger Sense 3, Hard Worker (maybe) 11, Luck Boost 11, Tracking 11 Weakness Lightning
[Hard Worker (maybe)]? Great a slacker. Not sure what qualifies him as a ‘halfling’, he’s about as tall as me.
“Hey, you, long-ear, you come with me”, greets me the false dwarf.
“What, not even a ‘hello’ first?”
He shakes his head, “No, sorry, I’m already on boss man’s shit list. And he’s already buried in enough other tasks that want his attention. I’d rather not let him wait longer than necessary.”
“Fine, fine.”
Jack takes lead, I follow, ”where exactly are we going?”
He tries to keep me calm, “Oh, nothing to worry about. We just have to make sure all newcomers are ‘clean’; the leader of your group was checked with a truth gem and guaranteed for all the other villagers but he doesn’t know you so we have to do some extra work.”
I can’t believe I’ll get done in by paperwork – again.
“I’m Jack by the way”, he adds.
“Yeah, I know.”
“Huh?”, he is confused.
“What is there to ‘huh’ – I used [Appraise]. Why wouldn’t I when a suspicious person runs at full speed towards me.”
He frowns, “Come on, I’m not suspicious... enough for a 300 MP spell, right? I mean most people can’t even cast that spell in the first place, stupid 300 MAG requirement.”
(Uh, Elly, explain. I do NOT have 300 MAG. Are you cheating again?)
She admits, (I... might be.)
sigh
(Ok, note2self: do not disclose again that I can cast that spell.)
As we walk around I can see several other groups of refugees.
None of noteworthy strength but I notice a huge variety of races: humans, dwarfs, gnomes, elves, all of various flavors. Among the beast people, we have stuff like centaurs, a harpy and other half-animal hybrids, yes, including catgirls. Not sure if that counts but there was also what I would group under constructs: a human-shaped robot.
Elly told me that there are still a few broader categories missing. They weren’t kidding when they called Deteoh a fantasy kitchen sink.