The next morning E4 to the smell of cinnamon wafting from below and a warm and the touch of soft flesh arms. Slowly, carefully, she unwrapped Marissa’s arms from around her and slipped on her shoes to check on breakfast. With a gesture she sent a small burst of Aether through her clothes to clean and straighten them. It wasn’t a full shower, but it would do for the time being.

On her way through the guild hall E4 noted a few men gathered for breakfast, each wearing a mask emblazoned with the purifier’s symbol. Down below a bartender she hadn’t met yet, a dashing man dressed in copper and green wearing an apron emblazoned with the town symbol worked in the kitchen. “Good morning, are you Hop’los?” The bartender asked, flipping a cinnamon pancake with one hand while mixing something else with his other.

“E4, and I am Master Marcus and Mistress Marissa of the Eagle-Wood family’s maid.” She gestured towards an unused section of the kitchen. “Mind if I borrow some of the kitchen?”

“I suppose so long as you’re not trouble. Wouldn’t be the first maid to insist on making something for their regulators. What are you making?”

“I was thinking oatmeal pancakes. Quick, long lasting, and pretty good with some butter and… syrup. Maybe I’d better see what we’ve got to work with. Anything I shouldn’t use?”

“I mean, just don’t be wasteful.”

Searching through the cupboards R4 found the ingredients for the pancakes, though there was no maple syrup so she made do with a pot of honey she found. Using the excuse for needing eggs she fetched the jar containing the isopod from the basement, keeping it in her pocket where it happily slept and fed off the resonance R4 produced. As she worked she began to develop an odd craving for eggs and sausages, as well as a rice dish she didn’t know the name of. Seeing as the pancakes were soon to be finished she began to work on them as well, trusting the Hymn to guide her on the right steps.

“Attend, Lord Stone-Weaver is coming!” someone cried out. E4 looked up from the sausages, took them off the burner, and wiped her hands off on a towel before stepping out. Each of the men were standing at attention as a well dressed man stepped into the guild hall. For a moment E4 thought he was being preceded by a conductor, before she noticed his eyes were the same clouded fog of most Myst Cursed. He wore a thick graying beard with a darker stripe in the center, and his hair matched the pattern. For clothing he wore a fine white shirt with a red vest and matching red pants, a fine red and brown cape provided a silhouette against the light streaming in through the door. Rather than metal, every button and even the chain that held his cape and clothing in place were made from stone.

“Greetings regulators, come come, let us hear what progress you have made.” Immediately E4 stepped back into the kitchen fetching the food she had prepared and brought it out, levitating Marissa’s breakfast as well as the rice dish. E4 took a few moments to determine where everything should go just as Marissa and Marcus descended the steps. Both wore their full kit, Marissa going with heavy duty boots and a longer brown dress with numerous pockets and Marcus wearing a long sleeved gray shirt and darker pants along with a long black coat bearing numerous pockets. Marissa carried her zap rifle and pistol, while Marcus had his blunderbuss and katana rather than his cane sword. Behind them Vienna and Imnad descended, Imnad leaning heavily on his cane sword while Vienna seemed to almost float as she descended. E4 could almost see the crackles of Aether surrounding the woman, her horns glowing slightly and the gems within them shining with the same light as her eyes.

“Greetings Lord Stone-Weaver.” E4 spoke, placing her dishes on the table with a hurried grace. “Presenting Lord Marcus and Lady Marissa Eagle-Wood.” The Hymn presented the words and even the appropriate gestures she should make as if following a script. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Marcus about to introduce himself, before stopping and nodding. She half expected Marissa to curtsy, but she just gave a wave

“Greetings Lord Stone-Weaver, Scholar Imnad Marked and Young Mistress Vienna Marked greet y’all… You, greet you.” Imnad quickly corrected. From the tone of his voice he sounded as if he hadn’t gotten enough sleep. Vienna gave some sort of hand gesture involving cupping one hand around her fist and bowing which E4 interpreted as a greeting.

“I see I see, well come down, it seems the cook has prepared us something, we shall talk over breakfast.” He immediately sat at the spot where E4 had set out the sausages and eggs, while the Eagle-Wood and Marked families took their seats. “Server, are you forgetting…” he stared at E4 for a moment.

“Ah, right, silverware. Be right back.” E4 replied, vanishing back into the kitchen with abnormal alacrity. With a gesture she pulled the utensils from their place and was back in nearly an instant. With a gesture each fork, knife, and spoon was in its proper position as dictated by The Hymn. “Am I forgetting anything?” She waited a moment before taking her own seat, and then noticing Stoneweaver was staring at her. “Um, did I miss something?”

[[Genetic memory is attempting to restore Perfect Positioning, yet something is still missing.]]

“Your face… Who are you?” He asked, rubbing his eyes. “Do you work here? No, not with that uniform, you must work with the regulators.”

“My name is E4, formerly Ere’lur, currently serving the Eagle-Wood family until my training as a regulator is completed.” E4 replied. A nervous thought passed through her mind, but she suppressed it.

“I see, Sir Eagle-Wood I was aware that your grandfather was experimenting with his maids, yet I only now see the benefits he was chasing. Truly, his tastes are timeless. How much would it cost for me to acquire this maid? I believe she would be a fine servant for my household.” E4 quickly shook her head while the man was not looking.

“With all due respect that would be ill advised. E4 is not actually the result of my… grandfather’s experiments. She is an Aether Blessed lacking in ancestral knowledge. She was a maid who swallowed a soul while in our employ, so we are harboring her until we are sure she is ready to take on the Distant Shores.” He took a bite of his food and winced. “E4, did you use corpse bee honey?”

“Is that what that was? I thought it was regular honey.” E4 took a bite, and was struck by the taste of thick spicy barbecue flavor. “That… is interesting.” She continued eating, the smokey and spicy flavor was not unpleasant. “Probably better on chicken than on pancakes.” She noted a sensation that grew in her throat, before a heat began to spread through her limbs. It was subtle at first, but as she continued eating it got stronger and stronger.

“Definitely, Marissa answered, taking another bite. “It’s also slightly charged, not enough to unlock any new skills, but enough that it could give a buff.” She took a thoughtful look, as if trying to figure out exactly what the food was doing. As she finished she made her conclusion. “If I had to guess, I’d say it’s a speed buff, but maybe it’s to fire resistance given how it feels warm, or possibly to fire resistance or fire weapons. Pretty handy if we’re working with the purifiers. Speaking of which, where is Kindred?”

E4 tilted her head, twisted it again, nothing. “Hey Marissa, could you deliver him a message?” Marissa gave her a look. “The coin thing.”

“Um, ok?” Marissa took out two copper coins and clicked them together. Quick as a wink E4 snatched them from her hands and immediately The Hymn whispered his location. “Be right back.”

Within 10 seconds E4 was several blocks away all without making a single sound. A small popup in the corner of her eye notifying her of the return of her perfect position skill. The home was made from thick stone blocks, small windows with thick metal bars sparcely decorated the walls. She tapped on the door, yet the noise it made was explosive compared to the force used. The door opened and E4 found herself staring down the barrel of a shotgun.

“Who is it?”

“Message for The Golden Spider1. Lord Stone-Weaver wanted to see him in the guild hall.”

“Your message has been received.” The purifier made a gesture. “Now off with you messenger.” E4 turned and walked off, but not before hearing the purifier add, “Messengers get older every year don’t they?”

“Not our issue, what are we going to do with the body? Boss isn’t waking up, and neither is she.” E4 shouldn’t have been able to hear that, but she still did. She picked up her pace just a bit, trusting her innate human mimicry to prevent anyone from noticing her. As she walked away she felt as if something clicked.

[[Unknown skill or subversion unlocked. Not quite sure what that was, I think it was an advanced skill or a synergy. Probably between Hymn Listener and Psychic. Nice job exploiting that aspect of The Hymn.]]

“It’ll probably only work in town… I wonder.” E4 took the two coins and clicked them thinking of Marissa. Immediately a young boy appeared from around a corner. “I have a message for Marissa Eagle-Wood. The trick only works with a partner. Meet you at the standing stones.” She handed the boy the coins, and noted that he caught them in a hand made of stone, which attached to his flesh at the elbow with some manner of bangle. Not seeming to notice her stare the boy was off. E4 adopted a brisk walk to keep up with him, and though it took longer she followed him right to Marissa, no longer inside the guild hall but now a few more houses down. A section of the town had been left open, and a formation of granite stones sat encircling a descending tornado of Myst. Imnad and Marcus were discussing something with a large book between them while Vienna was doing some manner of stretching. Marissa appeared to be watching over Marcus’s shoulder, but E4 didn’t miss how she was flexing her fingers, as if she could almost feel the claws that were not actually lurking beneath her skin. The boy approached Marissa and relayed the information before wandering off.

“It seems my assumption was correct.” Imnad spoke, adjusting his glasses as Marcus passed him a pair of coin. “That is a useful skill, does it let you find anyone?”

“I am not certain, first time using Hymn listener like that.” She eyed the standing stones, and noticed the Myst swirling within had odd black streaks going through it. Occasionally small cracks of lightning shot through it. “Is that normal?”

“Fortunately not.” Marcus replied. “Vienna you’re the eldest among us,” E4 looked at the woman who might have been 25 skeptically, “Is this a siege?”

“You dare call me eldest and then ask ask this mistress such? Well, since I’m feeling benevolent not yet. Observe the contained Aether, our resident spider has been here so long his aether is beginning to remain. The corrupted beasts shall soon assault this place en mass, and all attempts to leave shall be met with great difficulty. Perhaps a small train could escape, but the damage would be extensive and public trains such as our own will not come here. I suspect our own train has already departed and no public trains shall arrive. If we are fortunate and our conductors loyal they shall return occasionally, but it will be at great risk each time. Base supplies will be available for a while, though rare reagents will be near impossible to get.”

“So how do we get out?” E4 asked. She paused before adding, “Your… excellence?” She mimicked the hand gesture Vienna made, The Hymn adjusting her hands. “I mean, elder sister.”

Vienna paused, and splayed her fan to hide her smile. “Truly my junior sister’s ears are too keen. While we wait for our sleepy guest open your mind and this senior sister shall instruct you, for a siege is not a normal hunt. In most hunts you seek a specific creature, or perhaps the leader of a group like in the case of goblins or ignorant kobolds. Occasionally you have to kill a few. If you are not sufficient to the task, you leave your bargains and run. Such is the cost of thinking with your armory rather than your library. In a siege all escape is cut off. While the standing stones will still produce, they produce more consumables and tokens that are not useful outside the city. Generally the creatures of The Myst come in greater numbers than greater power, though stronger monsters known as bosses or lieutenants do appear.”

“Boss monsters, are they stronger or smarter?” E4 asked.

“Bosses are stronger and slightly smarter, lieutenants actually make decisions and can think. Telling the difference is not easy, the term comes from the game of Rout and the actual creatures are more a spectrum than a hard rule. Yet each contains far more dense Myst than the normal units, so slaying them is a larger setback for their masters. The siege can only be lifted if the commander is defeated or a lynchpin is pulled. Some sieges can be waited out, but this isn’t one of them. Slaying him will require an assassin's work, or the slaying of enough of his underlings until he must come forth himself. Perhaps a lynchpin exists that if pulled shall hamstring him, but there is no guarantee. Once The Spider arrives we shall partake of The Myst’s bounty that we might be strengthened for the hunt.”

It took only a few moments for everyone to arrange themselves. E4 noted that Stone-weaver observed from nearby, though being Myst cursed he did not partake. Just as they were reaching out a voice called, “Hold on there.”

“Dr. Kindred, how nice of you to finally join us. This mistress sees you have partaken deeply this night. It is good to know that the men of science in your era have not forgotten that they are but flesh and bone.” The way she said it E4 wasn’t sure if it was a barb or not. Kindred raced towards them, dressed in a similar undersuit though this one was tan rather than white.

“Yes well I was up late into the night studying some records with a local historian. If we can find where this threat originated we may be able to get a better idea of how to get a handle on it.” E4 nodded, the idea was sound even if his words didn’t match what she had heard. The group gathered around the circle, and each reached out. Immediately a bolt of lightning fell from the sky, striking the cloud. Rather than vanishing it seemed to spin, and with a flash of light the boons were passed out. E4 eyed the rather large crate of ammunition and a large bag marked with a sheaf of wheat that appeared before Marcus, while Marissa received a large box of granola bars and a box filled with dozens of vials of chemicals. Vienna received dozens of cards which to E4’s eyes looked blank, as well as two huge bags of rice. Imnad got a 20 kilogram bag of sugar, a box of bullets, and a large kukri in a sheath made from what looked like banana leaves or some similar plant. His face looked grim as he drew the blade, and E4 noticed that as he ran Aether through it a red stain seemed to appear on the edge of the blade.

Kindred seemed to be the big winner. Two huge crates emblazoned with the symbol of The Purifiers appeared before him, one marked with a crossed fork and scalpel the other marked with the symbol of a bullet. A pair of fuel canisters that glowed a faint blue sat upon them. Finally, an envelope marked with the symbol of The Purifiers and a book with the same symbol sat on top. Kindred eyed the crates which were as tall as himself before running off to get his power armor.

“Who says selling your soul doesn’t pay.” E4 jabbed. She stepped towards the food crate and reached up for the book. She eyed it and rolled her eyes.

“E4, it’s considered taboo to take someone else’s boon.” Marcus cautioned, even as he eyed the crates with a bit of envy.

“I’m just seeing what Purifier Command was sending him.” She replied, stepping back without touching anything. “Mundo’s field guide to hostile Pathogens, Myst edition. He’s been busy if he’s already had time to make a new edition since coming here.”

“Junior, you are treading on thin ice.” Vienna cautioned as E4 returned to pick up her own boon. It was a small messenger bag with a large mouth that went along the entire width of the bag. She opened it and smiled.

“Yum.” E4 commented, pulling a sack of potatoes and a small sack of coffee beans to her hand with telekinesis, despite the size of each being more than that of the bag itself. As she replaced the food she retrieved a small bag of coin, though as she examined them she noted they were translucent gold rather than solid. “Master Marcus, what are these?”

“Devil’s handkerchief, hollow tokens.” Marcus replied. “They are coin, and Myst folk will treat them as such, but if we leave this town they will vanish. The Myst wants us here,” He gestured to the supplies, and I doubt we will be leaving any time soon. Let’s store these at the guild, then take a look at what we’re dealing with.”

Storing the supplies took only a few minutes, after which they arrived at the wall in short order. Stone-Weaver traveled with them, two guards dressed in heavy stone armor beside him. Initially she thought they were wearing FOG suits, but after noting they lacked any Purifier markings she took a second look. Each set of armor was made from thick granite plates for the chest and limbs, with what looked to be layered sheets of slate that was somehow curved for the joints. The chest piece was in a black granite while the limbs were lighter brown for darker joints. The helmet looked to be made from steel, and was human size in contrast with the rest, leading to the guards being only two and a half meters tall rather than two and two thirds. Each guard carried a war hammer as tall as E4 and with a head that likely weighed twice what she did. A third guard in thinner slate armor with a similar coloration carried a thin rapier and a crossbow. All three guards had stone hands, with the heavily armored guards having appropriate sized hands and the lightly armored guard having one normal sized hand and one that must have contributed a quarter of his weight. Between the shadowed eyes and the stone armor they almost looked as if they were statues. She could almost believe they were animated stone armor, except for when one of the heavily armored guards cracked a joke she couldn’t hear and the lightly armored guard quickly covered his laugh with a cough. From the top of the walls E4 looked out and received her first look at their current locale.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Given the prevalence of stone E4 expected the city to be in the mountains. To some extent that was true, and in the distance she saw tall mountains that loomed high in the sky to the point Myst became clouds. Yet directly next to the city she saw a large swamp. A long and well paved road led through the swamp towards the mountains, and she saw a group of men riding in large wagons along the rails towards the mountains, tiny steam engines powering the devices. Far closer lumberjacks harvested wood from nearby and harvesters gathered cotton and other plants.

“Behold, my home.” E4 turned to face Stoneweaver, but was caught by the view of his land. House upon house sat in perfect rows, each one made from flawless stone with wood acting only as accents around the windows. Even the roofs were made from stone, though of a make she was not familiar with. They were dark, but incredibly glossy to the point they could have been mirrors. In the center jutted an enormous red and brown shard shot through with transparent crystals “When I was born here it was but a tiny village, with only the Ruptured Shard to denote it from any other village. Through the bounty of our swamps and the wealth beneath our mountains we are now a city to rival even Towering Oaks.”

“Impressive, Grandfather and Grand Uncle Marcus didn’t live long enough to see our home become as large as it is.” Marcus replied, pulling a spyglass from a pocket E4 was pretty sure was too small for the device. “How did you pull this off without a patron?”

“The right people at the right time, that and a Lorrie load of hard work. The Eagle-Wood family helped me out back in the day, and I am hoping you can do the same.” He pointed. “And that right there is the problem.”

A small group was returning, four men mounted on the terror bird like horit acted as scouts while a cart being pulled by odd camel like creatures with green fur as well as scales held what looked to E4 like long slender twigs. She blinked twice, resetting her right eye before zooming in again with her isopod eye. “Did they shrink down a bunch of trees?”

“Spacial distortion carts, I’m surprised you can see them from this range.”

E4’s ravager eye picked up movement and she quickly noticed the horde shuffling towards the group. What she saw made her heart race, and her claws come out.

“Nightmares made real.” She whispered as the men on the horit drew their long spears and charged their attackers. The rotten corpses didn’t even bother trying to block, for their flesh was already ruined. Immediately four of the rotten were run through, and immediately reached out to grab their attackers. To their credit, the guards drew pistols and fired. The moment the bullet left the gun it burst into a red hot flare that pierced its target’s skull and burned the brain within, but that was four and E4 could see dozens more swarming.

“We have to help them!” E4 announced. She eyed the 10 meter high wall she stood upon, looking for a way down. As she did Marissa took a knee, drew her rifle, slotted in one of her vacuum tubes, and fired. Immediately a bolt of lightning shot force and nailed one of the undead, reducing it to Aether where it stood.

“Go, I’ll cover overwatch from back here.” Even as she spoke she hit a release, allowing the vacuum tube to fall and slotted in four more. The spent tube evaporated before it even hit the ground.

“You won’t get much Dense Myst from way back here.” Vienna admonished.

“By the time we get down there,” E4 took her words as permission. She was tier 1, and the ground wasn’t. She took a running leap off the wall, reaching out with her telekinesis to push herself even further. “E4 what are you doing?”

E4 aimed for the nearest tree, latching on with her claws as the branch dipped low, the entire tree bending from the force of her leap, before she pushed off with telekinesis and was bolting towards the caravan. She felt one of her skills begin to surge, and a new sense of lightness seemed to appear in her limbs. It was not as strong as when she had gained a new skill, but it was similar.2

Within a minute E4 had arrived, not as fast as she had been but still inhumanly fast. Already the rotten were winning, one of the guards had lost his mount and was fighting with a short sword, trying to stab his foe while three others charged. With a final lunge E4 joined the fight, blade in one hand claws in the other as she immediately decapitated the first rotten before throwing her blade into the neck of the second. A gesture caused the blade to open up and rip its way back to her, leaving her target a head shorter.

“PUT ME DOWN!” E4 heard Marissa cry, and her eyes were immediately drawn to Vienna dancing from tree limb to tree limb like something from a martial arts film with a screaming Marissa in her grip.

“Come now, this sister is merely expediting your transition, see how benevolent I am?” She left Marissa in a tree and glided down to E4 as if she was a leaf on the wind, landing without a sound and spreading her fan over her face with as much care as if she was on a spring picnic rather than a battle field. “Eyes straight junior.”

E4’s ravager eye picked up the movement just before the rotten’s fists could collide with her skull. She quickly twisted low, spinning and flicking her tail so that it cut deep into its chest. Immediately the rotten’s wound began steaming as aether poured out. A second blow carried seven blades that left seven more cuts. Each wound continued to eat into the rotten as if they were laced with acid. A telekinetic push knocked it off its feet, and E4 judged the ravager toxin would slay it before it could become a threat again.

[[It seems there is a skill for that. I can almost feel it. Also, maybe try getting a scan of these rotten things.]]

“Yeah, if I can get a second.” E4 lunged for the next one, slashing it from hip to shoulder, doing very little real damage with the long but shallow cut yet getting a good scan from the Wise Mind on her wrist. She could tell it wasn’t a great scan, but it was something. The rustling of brush informed her she would have several more chances.

“Ambush! Run for your lives!” One of the lumberjacks called out. There was a low CRACK and the cart was cut loose as the guard shot twice at the connecting point, allowing the two camel creatures to run. E4 questioned how a single bullet from a handgun could pack that much force, but her questioning came to an abrupt end as her horns shot a desperate warning. She ducked just as a tree, not a branch but an entire tree, sailed over her head. Instinctively E4 lunged in the opposite direction to get out of range of the threat.

Behind her was a creature that while humanoid, had clearly never been human. It stretched 4 meters in height, its legs thick as tree trunks while its arms were as thin as branches. Its body was not humanoid, but more resembled a twisted birch tree complete with diagonal dark stripes beneath a white exterior. Its face, or what might have once been a face, looked as if someone had carved a mask from stone and then hammered it into the trunk about a meter below where the arms were. E4 expected there to be a head or a neck, but it stopped right where the shoulders would be. Had that been where it ended, she would have taken it for some manner of animated plant.

Yet throughout the tree a sticky translucent slime mold lurked, small splotches of which were visible from small wounds in the entity. From the face’s eyes and mouth a thick pale yellow goop leaked out. It raised the tree trunk, which looked comically large in its thin arms, only for a bolt of lightning to reduce its would be club to aether. Falling like a lightning bolt Vienna slammed her boot into the thing, smashing the creature’s armor and revealing the muscle beneath what E4 realized was an exoskeleton.

“This mistress is impressed, something dumber than an Ent bug.” She splayed her fan over her face, and a dozen cuts seemed to appear on the creature. E4 noticed the Myst around her seemed to change, it wasn’t quite like how Ophelia shaped Aether, yet it seemed familiar. “Junior I know you are impressed, but eyes up.”

Immediately E4 was reminded she was surrounded by shambling corpses. Almost as if triggered by her words one of the rotten lunged, more of a shambling trip than anything else. E4 ducked under with practiced ease, leaving the rotten a severed hamstring via and a dose of ravager toxin in return. The next one lost its biceps, followed by a quick poke through its temple. The one after that received a quick and dirty lobotomy through both eyes, which E4 took advantage of to test something. She spun her claws, just like she had when carving runes with Ophelia, before pushing the ravager toxin within forwards like an injection. The results were immediate, Aether and Myst burst from the rotten’s sockets with enough force to pop his eyes out, and the corpse fell over and almost immediately the top quarter evaporated. It took a bit more ATP than merely cutting them, but given ATP could only be spent in whole amounts it wasn’t even relevant. “Call that proof of concept,” with a gesture she threw herself into range of two more, stabbing one with her dagger and another with her claws before drilling into both of them and repeating the process. She immediately noticed it was harder with the dagger. With a flick of her wrist she threw the dagger into the skull of another rotten, applying the same twisting force that made the tool spin like a drill until it bored a hole into its target. It didn’t penetrate as deep but it left a large hole that made the prospect of injecting ravager toxin a moot point. With a gesture she called it back, and dove into the horde.

For every body that shambled towards her she had a cut, a muscle group that crippled the rotten until she could get around to its head. Both hands blurred to life, and to her surprise her tail lashed out as if it had a mind of its own seeking hamstrings and other soft areas with an ease she had never before felt. Twice she cut into bone, finding her claws weren’t quite strong enough to deal with them without destabilizing and drawing more ATP from her. Normally forming her claws was reflexive, taking so little ATP it instead sipped from the resonance she constantly put off, yet something was drinking in the resonance and draining her ATP. Each point of ATP was enough for a few cuts, but E4 was keenly aware she lacked a method to measure her ATP levels. Slicing through vertebrae was fine, and she could slice through a radius or ulna without issue, but not both. Her tail was slightly worse, being able to cut through neither the tibia or fibia, though it made up for in in range by lashing out at foes even three meters out. She noticed it had a tendency to wrap around legs before engaging its blade and ripping itself free, leaving a telltale spiral patter that practically plumed Myst and Aether. The rottens were dense, denser than normal flesh, and far more durable than the ones she faced before being charged, and she could tell her surgical strike was doing a lot of heavy lifting while her ravager toxin did the rest. Each rotten seemed to have a strange reserve of vitality, wounds healing immediately or more accurately surrounding flesh purifying to fall into the cut before stiffening to seal it. Only amputation truly took, though after enough damage the rotten would fall seem to slow enough for a killing blow or just fall over and begin to evaporate. Once she managed to wound a rotten with her tail, and send it sprawling with a kick, and by the time she managed to get to it the creature was already evaporating. Just as she finished the second to last one the final rotten lunged with a speed she didn’t expect. Iron hands grabbed onto her arm, and rotting teeth bit into her arm. For just a moment she saw its eyes and to her horror they were filled with cloudy Myst.

Immediately her blood went cold. A sensation like freezing ice radiated from the bite and invaded her arm. For a moment her heart stopped, a fear she had hoped long abandoned re-surging. “BACK OFF!” She stabbed her claws through the rotten’s cloudy eyes, before releasing a full burst of bio-lightning directly into its optic nerves. Immediately everything from the heart up was vaporized, and a kick sent the lower section staggering back. E4 took a breath, and eyed the bodies surrounding her. A few she had managed to behead in the frenzy, yet not one was still moving. The ravager toxin may not have been able to flow through their nonliving veins, but it had eaten away where it sat leaving most somewhere between hollowed out husks and acid burned pieces. She beheaded the second to last body with an errant flick of her tail before curling it back beneath her skirt. As the rush of adrenaline and ravager toxin wore off she took a deep breath, the Dense Myst making it feel as if she stood next to a great waterfall.

“E4, you alright?” She turned, realizing what she had just done, to see Marissa looking back at her with concern. Before her mistress a wall of red and Myst white flames danced, rotten staggering in and immediately falling over. She threw another glass vial, and the fire immediately spread to engulf another group.

“There’s something in their bite.” E4 replied, immediately dousing her arm in a silver and 4 charge garlic powder from her kit that The Hymn told her would forestall any infections. The cold sensation battled with her regeneration protocol, for a moment it drank the energy greedily, before finally being overpowered. She exerted ATP to activate healing hands, only to be rebuked as some key part of the skill seemed to just barely elude her. Wrapping her arms up tight and trusting that her regeneration would do the rest she looked up to see where she could best rejoin the fight.

Marissa was taking pot shots at rottens from behind a wall of flame, which they were too stupid to avoid. Marcus was running full tilt taking shots with a revolver with his cane sword in his off hand and katana on his back. Imnad had already arrived and had a stack of bodies each dispatched with a single swing of his cane sword, a strange multi bladed dagger seeming to bounce from target to target around him delivering deadly blows. Vienna was shouting something about divine retribution as she gleefully hacked away at the ent bug with her fan, her bare fists, and the occasional lightning bolt. Despite the thing being over ten meters tall, E4 felt a bit bad for it. With a gesture Vienna lifted up her fan, and a final bolt of lightning fell from above to vaporize the bug.

“Not even a challenge, that maniac in the freezer was worse.” Vienna announced, adding a laugh for drama. With a gesture a bolt of lightning danced from her fan and chained from the closest rotten into the next, reducing all but a few to myst. With a final cleave of his blade Imnad finished the remaining four, somehow cutting the head off of one and inflicting the same exact cut on the others. “These poor retches are but tier 1, and not even intelligent. Such is, beneath us. Come husband, let us show our benevolence by giving them a swift death.”

“Dear one, let us temper exuberance with wisdom.” Imnad replied with a sigh E4 took to mean they had this conversation rather often.

“E4, come over here.” Marcus spoke quietly but urgently. E4 approached, finding him standing over one of the rottens. The corpse had a single hole that went in one side of its temple and out the other with enough force it didn’t seem to do much damage to the face. “What do you make of this?” He stood over one of the rottens.

Now that it was not moving, E4 had enough time to examine it. “It’s not evaporating.”

“That is due to one of Marissa’s more ingenious creations, a tranquilizer bullet. It’s not quite dead, but it’s not going to get up.”

“Wonderful, you’ve recovered the formula?” Imnad approached, already drawing a kukri from a holster on his back. “I will definitely be placing an order as soon as you have a stockpile. Now, let us partake as men of science and wrest the secrets from this poor soul in the method of learned men.”

“Imnad, this is an early hunt for E4, I’d like for her to get the full measure of experience of it. E4, I take it you have performed a dissection before.”

“Several.” E4 immediately got to work, drawing tools from her healer’s kit. Every item produced cost her in Aether, which she used ATP to produce instead. She produced the thickest most protective mask and goggles she could, as well as some thin leather gloves she could project her claws through. “Initial notes: rotten appears humanoid and has human characteristics. Notably the skin is a blue color that resembles hypothermia.” It took her only a few moments to open the chest, and she noticed a sheen of aether that seemed to dance across the cut. It took E4 all of three scalpels to realize that the flesh of the rotten was far tougher than she was used to. “Skin is tough, almost like hardened leather. It’s almost like trying to force a zipper when you’ve got a sweater stuck in the teeth.” By her fifth scalpel she tried something. Rather than pulling a metal blade she tried pulling one made from flesh fabrication, doing so within the bag to hide what she was doing. What she ended up with was a short bone scalpel that shimmered with Aether along the telekinetic blade. Her next cut was smooth, not exactly hot knife through butter, but far more like what she was used to. She felt the scalpel sip her resonance for power, but the slight expenditure of ATP was hardly noticeable compared to pulling new scalpels. With each cut she noticed a faint sheen of Aether that almost had a zipper pattern to them on either side of the cut. As an experiment E4 allowed the two sections to meet, and they immediately sealed back up for a moment before the flesh disintegrated.

“Is that surgical precision?” Imnad asked, to which E4 nodded. “That’s a hard skill to get, where did you find the slicing scale crocodile steak and 80 charge potatoes to make that?”

“I got it as an achievement, hunting an undead scolophant. Patterson used a skill to highlight its weaknesses, and it just clicked. I got it back just a bit ago.” E3 paused before continuing, “rotten flesh appears to be able to be rejoined using surgical precision, though the aether involved breaks down the flesh.”

“And you said the Darwin Awards was a bad skill.” Vienna added, nudging her husband.

Going back to her work E4 quickly clipped the rotten’s ribs, a set of cutters that resembled garden sheers but made entirely from bone stretched their way out of the healer’s kit which was far too small to actually contain them. Inside she immediately found the organs had been coated in a strange slime that seemed to allow them to function despite the fact there was no blood left inside. “Ok, so subject presents with a strange slime within his, I presume this is a man from the pelvis, organs. Genitals have rotted off, as have sections of the nose for unknown reasons. Teeth are present but have been sealed together by fungal growth into what is almost like a beak, and lips have been further stitched together. Stitching appears to be post mortem. Skin has a large layer of rope like fibers beneath the cutaneous layer giving the body a lumpy appearance and color, likely mycelium though I am biased towards that and may be jumping to conclusions.” As she cut into the arms she winced at the cold feeling. “Musculature is desiccated, yet still operational. Outer skin is backed by an extensive layer of fibers. Body exerts an unnatural chill that seems to sip life.” She fed it a bit of resonance, and immediately the hand grabbed for her, which she deftly evaded.” Immediately a bolt of lightning shot from Marissa’s zap pistol, blowing the arm clear off where it evaporated into myst. As if in response a blob of clear gel shot from the nose, landing on the ground where it tried to slink off before several more bolts reduced it into Aether. “Examiner’s mistress seems unusually twitchy, though her concern is appreciated.”

“Did you see that thing, it just moved!” Marissa exclaimed. “It should be dead! Marcus, you hit it with the tranq round. And, and, and what was THAT THING?” She pointed towards where the slime mold had been.

“That was actually me, I stimulated a hyphae that looked sensitive.” E4 partially lied, neglecting to mention HOW she stimulated it. “So good news bad news. Good news, I know what this is.” She stood up, her mask dissolving into Aether. “Bad news, the last time I saw it we lost half of Africa.”