The woodland edge drew closer as canine and angel traversed the grassy hills. The blonde girl hadn’t left the lodge with a good plan. Even she knew that. Head north and simply hope they ran across the other adventurer could work but odds weren’t favorable. Angels normally had divination and tracking skills. They could envision their targets and gain a magical sense for where to find them. Tracking skills helped make up for a mediocre awareness attribute. The problem was that Brivaria lacked the requisite tracking skills and her awareness was outright bad rather than just mediocre.
Thankfully she wasn’t alone. Trixie slowed her run and gradually came to a stop, sniffing the area. The shaggy, golden-furred dog ambled around, sniffing in one direction and then another direction. Brivaria landed next to her.
“Do you smell something?” she asked the dog. Trixie just turned to face the winged girl with a doggy grin. She was panting from the run and let out a happy wuff. The dog looked up at the angel with her soft, brown eyes and Brivaria sighed. Of course the dog couldn’t answer her. She booped Trixie on the nose and the dog staggered back dramatically. The angel snorted with amusement and the two entered the woods.
The Cervidian Woods were made up of tall, red trees whose leaves were already starting to change color from green to red and yellow. The trees were thinner than their souther counterparts and grew farther away from one another. Their height and density of branches meant that, despite being placed further apart, it was much harder for Brivaria to gain an aerial view of the forest.
The good news was that the majority of the branches grew higher up and closer to the sun. That let her jump around and move about the woods more easily but it made breaking through the tree canopy much more difficult. Nothing ever came without a trade off, the angel thought, while looking up at the tall tree canopy as they walked.
Trixie started barking again and sniffing around. Brivaria was about to ask another inane question when the dog ran toward her, made a circle around her, and then ran off. The winged girl furrowed her brows in confusion until she realized that was what she’d done to Trixie when they set out from Keaton to get the dog to follow her. The angel flapped her wings and took off after Trixie.
Their trek through the forest startled every animal in their path. Brivaria’s infrequent use of Tailwind caused leaves to rustle in her passing. Squirrels gripped branches and birds took flight. Small animals emerged from bushes to get out of the golden sunchaser’s way. Subtle they were not.
It was when the two heard a loud crack echoing through the trees that Brivaria donned her armor, shield, and sword. She also made her final decision on the her level 16 skill choice, selecting Withering Ray. The degenerating effect of the ray was different from Bleak Radiance and Bolt of Decay. Lowering the mana cost to something reasonable would be useful but it would also make it easier to infuse into her sword via Infusion (Light). That would give her an advantage over the spinners and their natural armor. It would help her in the near future and beyond as plenty of stronger foes possessed their own, unique defenses. More tools would be useful, she reasoned.
Trixie began barking as the battle came into view. A woman was facing off against a dozen of the spinners. Some were already dead, some were still shooting around the forest. Multiple trees in the area possessed severe damage from repeated spinner impacts. The brown, armadillo-shaped things were remarkable in how much damage they could do to the environment as well as other creatures.
The other adventurer had wavy, black hair down her back and wore a matching black blouse and skirt. She had no armor. The reason became apparent when one of the spinners rolled toward her. A scepter with a green orb at the end swept down and around. From the green orb emerged a similarly colored mist. It formed into the head of a hammer as large as the spinner and slammed into the creature. The blow sent it careening off to the side. This adventurer was some kind of mage, Brivaria realized.
The magic was very unusual but still not the most striking part of the other woman. No, the thing that drew Brivaria’s eyes was the fact that she had no legs. She was a Celian with the lower of half of a snake or, as they were called on Zlithia, a lamia.
She was also terribly outnumbered. It was a situation that Brivaria and Trixie remedied immediately. The dog began barking nonstop. The rolling monsters made very little sound as they attacked so Trixie’s barking was suddenly the loudest sound in the forest. Fully half the spinners abruptly changed directions toward the golden hound. Silencing the dog was evidently far more important than putting down the snake woman.
Meanwhile the angel began concentrating on her sword. Withering Ray was a light spell and it could be infused into the blade via the Infusion skill. The slender sword absorbed the mana Brivaria fed into it. It soon began taking on a glow that changed from the pristine, clear radiance of a normal light spell to the sickly and deadly shade of greenish yellow that her new class favored. The killing magic infested the angelic blade, ready to be unleashed. Brivaria was more than happy to do just that. She dove from the air onto the nearest spinner moving toward Trixie.
The blade scrapped off the armor plates of the the beast but the winged girl felt the decaying magic set in. She wasn’t certain how much health these things had but even a glancing blow from the enchanted blade could well be a death sentence for the things.
While Brivaria was leaping into the air to avoid the spinners and dropping onto them with deadly precision, Trixie was having a great time. The ability to hurl one’s self at an opponent like a cannonball was a very effective fighting style unless your opponent could fly or was an overactive dog who could run for hours at a time.
Trixie delighted in leaping around the spinners. Any of the monsters that got moving at speed found themselves being shoved off course by the golden pooch. At one point Trixie nudged one of the beasts so far off course that it slammed into another one of its kind. The results were catastrophic for both spinners.
Finally, the lamia woman was a deadly spellcaster. She hurled bolts of viridian energy and conjured clouds of same dark green mist that her scepter could project. Creatures unlucky enough to get cut by Brivaria’s blade and then end up in one of the green clouds succumbed to the killing magicks at a frightening speed. Every time the angel looked over at the other adventurer, the weapon being projected from the scepter was different. The angel saw a sword, an axe, a hammer, and a scythe at one point. All were made up of the strange green energy the sorceress wielded.
You have reached level 17.
Gained +2 Physique, +1 Endurance, +1 Arcane, +2 Spirit, +1 Awareness, +2 Presence.
The fight was not really a fight. Brivaria wasn’t so certain the other adventurer had been having any difficulties with the spinners in the first place. Her and Trixie showing up quickly turned it into an extermination. Imbuing her sword with Withering Ray and spending stamina on staying out of reach between strikes were the only things the angel had to do. Trixie drew most of the attention and the hound was nigh impossible for the monsters to hit. She was panting happily when the short battle ended without a single scratch on her.
“Oh what a lovely day for a slither in the woods. You meet such interesting people in the middle of nowhere, wouldn’t you say?” the lamia asked. Kseniya, and Brivaria was fairly certain this was Kseniya, had an odd and lilting accent. She didn’t speak with a hiss and appeared as a completely ordinary woman above the waist save for the slit pupils of her exotic orange eyes.
“Are you Kseniya? My name is Brivaria and this is Trixie,” the dog barked happily upon hearing her name, “we just came from the Red Lodge. Ezben and Marie said you offered to take care of the monsters and we wanted to help.”
“Oh, you know me and you met the sweet humans at the inn. Yes, I offered to help them. How could I not, you know? These monsters, they are nothing in the face of a few skills and a little magic.” Her eyes moved to Brivaria’s glowing sword. The lamia had seen the lethality of the blade upon the spinners. Even now she was not relaxing. She still had her magical scepter resting against her shoulder. The green projection at the end formed a great axe with a blade as big as the woman herself. “But I think you know this. I think this not the first time you fight these things. I think I want to hear story of great zephyri warrior far from home who have such cute doggy with tiny, tiny wings. But no, now is not the time for stories. Do you understand the problem we face?”
There was a lot to unpack there. Not the least of which was the fact that Brivaria wasn’t zephyri. She was doomed to be mistaken for the winged people of Zlithia. She would correct that misunderstanding later, eventually. For now she answered Kseniya’s question.
“Yes. These monsters are moving south. That means something is pushing them out of their chosen habitat. Whatever is displacing them is likely a much worse problem,” the angel finished. Kseniya’s face lit up with joy and her red lips tilted into a smile.
“Yes, yes, exactly that. These monsters, they are not birdies. They do not migrate far from home, you know? I think we keep going. We find the monster that frightens the monster and we kill it. With the help of mighty zephyri warrior, I think we kill it easily.” Trixie let out a wuff, briefly getting the lamia’s attention. “With the help of mighty zephyri warrior and brave, noble doggy, I mean.”
“Trixie and I would be happy to help. Also I’m only a copper rank adventurer so mighty is probably not the right word. What rank are you?” Brivaria dismissed the light infusion on her sword and green axe at the end of Kseniya’s scepter dissipated. The angel briefly considered trying to get some armor plates of the dead monsters but they had only so much daylight to work with before they needed to get back to the lodge. The winged girl decided to maybe see if that was possible on the way back if she remembered and time permitted.
“Oh, I register with the guild but I’m not an adventurer. Why be adventurer and chase trouble when trouble find you? Plus humans… they not like my magic so much.” Kseniya spoke as the pair followed Trixie. The dog started moving in a vaguely northward direction and if Kseniya wasn’t going to object to following the dog then Brivaria wasn’t either.
“What is your magic? Was that shaping?” the winged girl asked.
“Yes, shaping is what I show humans. They don’t mind it so very much. No, it is poison they frown upon. You give human black pajamas, sharp knives, many poisons, and humans understand this. You give lamia poison magic and humans get very worried, you know? Poor, poor humans. Must be very difficult being worried about so many things all the time, you know?” Brivaria didn’t know but she continued the conversation, curious to learn about the challenges the mage faced.
“So if it’s frowned upon why use it? Shaping magic seems powerful.”
“Poison is very strong, you know? Poisons exist as powders, as liquids, and as gas. These are natural forms so they’re very easy to make. Liquid lightning is very hard to make. Liquid poison is natural and very easy. Poisons do a variety of things too. Sleep, paralyze, death, kill taste buds to protect against bad family cooking, and more. What can one do with fire besides burn good food? No, poison magic is very strong and very versatile, you know?” Brivaria supposed she didn’t know. Poison was not something angels used. Neither was magic with an affinity for decay, the angel supposed. That did explain why the two worked so well together. Toxins and decay that destroyed creatures from the inside out were incredibly effective against armored monsters.
They continued talking as they walked or slithered in Kseniya’s case. Kseniya was technically an adventurer but had never taken any requests. She’d also been advised to register with the guild to avoid uncomfortable issues from having a combat class. The lamia was headed to Pemburne as well though she was merely checking up on a friend. Apparently Kseniya exchanged letters with other mages. Upon realizing that it had been a long time since she’d received correspondence from one of her pen pals, the dark-haired woman decided to travel to the remote town and check up on him.
“What did you find?” Brivaria asked the dog upon noticing that Trixie had pulled up short. The golden hound was sniffing around a hole in the ground. It wasn’t quite person-sized but it was fairly large and went straight down. The two women approached.
“The cute doggy has found a very deep hole. What a strange find. Most holes go down but this one go up. I think it very strange,” Kseniya commented while they peered down into it. The snake woman was correct. The dirt was all around the hole as though something had pushed it up and out rather than dug down.
“Let’s have a look.” Brivaria focused a ray of Bleak Radiance down the hole. She and Kseniya peered down. What they saw caused both to jerk their heads back. A massive worm-like thing erupted from the hole showering dirt all around. At the top of its brown body was a large horn made for drilling through the earth. It was smooth except for several rows of bone-like protrusions near the horn which had been laying flat but now extended outward. Its appearance was vaguely reminiscent of arrows with barbs that unfolded upon impact to make gruesome wounds when pulled out.
The worm swung forward coming down toward the trio like a living cudgel. Kseniya utilized Swift Slither to avoid the sudden attack. Lamia, like most creatures, gained child-oriented classes and skills for their first 20 levels. Swift Slither and other movement-related skills were very common. While not combat-focused, they were useful in a wide variety of situations such as this one.
The lamia watched the dog and winged girl each leap out of the way at the same time. The dog nimbly moved to the side while the girl beat her wings to fly up and back. Kseniya waved her scepter activating Multi Bolt along with Toxic Bolt to hurl a trio of green missiles toward the worm.
“Is it immune to poison?” Kseniya asked aloud upon seeing that her bolts had no effect at all upon the monster. Her spells should have had more effect on a creature of its size. Instead it simply kept attacking. She had to move back again to avoid the hook-like barbs. The snake woman quickly realized those were meant to catch prey and she wanted no part of them. That realization didn’t have time to cook as the dog was barking at something behind her.
Kseniya whirled and flung her scepter forward. Her Shape Poison skill activated to create a glowing, green shield above her just in time to receive a powerful blow from a second worm. Dead scales, she could see others erupting from the ground around the area. She’d conserved mana against the spinners but this was ridiculous. They were very outnumbered. What was that zephyri girl doing!?
Much to the lamia’s horror, the winged girl was shooting the trees. She wasn’t even pretending to fight the worms. Trees around them were scored by the girl’s deadly rays. Some had wholly petrified looking like they might crumble where the beam struck them. Others were outright rotting from the inside out.
“Miss zephyri, if you would, please fight the worms!” Kseniya shouted while slithering out of the way of another dangerous blow. The dog’s barking was constant and loud but she had no complaints about the golden hound. It was somehow attracting the attention of five worms and, more impressive yet, evading them all on its own.
“Got it!” came a triumphant voice from the air. Kseniya was trying not to let her anger get the best of her and managed a glance in the direction of the shout. Her eyes fell upon a tree that changed into something else. An illusion? What was an illusionary tree doing in the forest? As the illusion fell away, something altogether worse was revealed.
The false tree faded leaving an enormous mole-like creature seated on the forest floor. It had six long limbs that ended in terrifyingly large claws, two of which were planted in the earth. The monster was just sitting and pretending to be a tree until Brivaria hit it. All four long limbs immediately swung toward the winged girl. Several worms disappeared into the earth and erupted near the flying girl. They rose high into the air to swat at her. That was when Kseniya realized what was going on.
The worms weren’t worms. They were tails or tentacles or both. Her poison was barely affecting them because the monster she was trying to affect was roughly eight times larger than the small tentacle she was shooting at. The lamia turned and activated her most powerful skill-spell. It dropped a thick, green miasma on top of the monster. Every breath it took from that cloud would be filled with the most potent toxins the lamia had at her disposal.
Unfortunately while the winged girl had revealed the body of the monster, the tendrils were still the true threats. It was only a matter until one of them connected with Kseniya as they were fast and… Hold on, they had been fast before but they were starting to slow down. Less than a minute ago they had been swinging with bone-crushing force. Now they were swiping at her limply. She stopped evading.
A tendril swung sideways into Kseniya’s magical shield. Before the monster could pull the tentacle away, she thrust a coil of her own heavy tail forward and on top of it to pin it to the ground. The shield at the end of her scepter turned into an axe and she brought it down on the tentacle, cutting off the dangerous end with its spike and hooks. The sorceress sent a trio of toxic bolts toward the main body of the creature and then repeated her previous strategy to cut another tentacle.
That was when the fight ended. The monster simply shuddered and collapsed. All of the tendrils simply fell over where they had been flailing. Kseniya was breathing heavily as she slithered over to the winged girl, looking between her and the dead mole-squid-thing.
“What in the gods’ name was that?” she asked without ceremony. Brivaria pulled a towel from her inventory and wiped sweat off her brow.
“Pseudolith. I’ve heard them called land krakens before. They hide in forests or caverns with stalagmites and camouflage themselves with illusion spells while their tentacles catch and kill their prey. Small ones like this will have ten to twenty tendrils. Large ones can have hundreds and can even use their illusion magic to camouflage individual tendrils.” One of Kseniya’s eyebrows was twitching. She’d never heard of these monstrosities and this winged girl was speaking of them casually. “They primarily move by burrowing. Despite having six legs, they can’t run fast nor dig fast. They incredibly dangerous if you don’t know what they are or if they take you by surprise. Even knowing what it is, it’s still highly dangerous if you can’t locate the right tree, stalagmite, or wall.”
“It seems we found what drove off the spinners. They may fight many natural enemies but one who conceals its true body through magic is beyond such simple creatures. It is very-wait, what are you doing?” the snake woman tilted her head as Brivaria took her sword, infused it with light, and began sawing off one of the claws.
“It’s something from the adventurer handbook. When you kill an unusual monster, you’re supposed to take a trophy from it to prove that you killed it. The guild will pay extra for exterminating extremely dangerous creatures that could pose a threat to people in the region.” Trixie came over to sniff the severed claw while the angel was talking. The golden hound was not pleased with the scent and backed away. Brivaria dumped out some of the rain water which was still filling her inventory and stored the claw inside. “We should head back but could you come look at something first?”
“Mmm, yes. We must head back soon but a few moments more can be spared for you, little zephyri.” Brivaria resisted the urge to sigh and just smiled while walking around to the back of the monster. She was careful with where she was stepping and Kseniya also directed her gaze toward the ground. The snake woman was surprised yet again.
“A magic sigil? No, part of a circle.” The snake woman lowered herself to look at the sigil. The earth was perfectly flat and a rune of power had a very faint glow to it. It wasn’t etched into the dirt but rather it was engraved as though the ground was stained glass and this rune simply a part of it. “I’m guessing the land kraken did not make this.” Brivaria shook her head.
“I’ve never seen them do proper spellwork before. Like most creatures, they act on their instinct using skills rather than spells. I highly doubt the Pseudolith did this.” Trixie walked over and started sniffing the sigil while the angel was explaining. The winged girl gently shooed the golden back to keep the sigil from being disturbed. Kseniya unfolded a piece of parchment from a satchel.
“I will copy it. My associate in Pemburne is more knowledgeable about such things than I am. I prefer more readily useful spells, you know? Rituals, magical circles, they take so very long.” Kseniya lowered herself and used her tail as a writing surface to draw the sigil on the parchment. “Still, if this is here and the monster is here then perhaps the two are related. Does someone wish bad things on the sweet humans? I think they are very unpleasant if so. I think unpleasant people should be found.”
“I agree. I’d like to find out if these monsters are common to the area. If not then it could have been summoned though I can’t imagine anyone would have a grudge against Ezbet and Marie. They were so kind.” The angel frowned. Trixie bumped her leg and Brivaria scritched the dog behind the ears.
“You were a very brave girl,” she complimented the dog. “I got two levels thanks to you and Ms. Kseniya.” The angel was excited. She’d gotten one level from the spinners and one from the Pseudolith.
You have reached level 18.
Gained +1 Physique, +1 Endurance, +2 Arcane, +2 Spirit, +1 Awareness, +1 Presence.
Gained one new skill selection.
“Two levels!?” Kseniya exclaimed. “That is so many in one day. Congratulations, little zephyri. You wield magic most unusual. I would like to hear about it on the way back to the lodge.”
“Only if you stop calling me ‘little zephyri,’” Brivaria said with a laugh. Kseniya turned to start heading back but Brivaria began casting Luminous Desecration. She channeled mana into the spell and then released it into the ground. The lamia felt the flow of magic, saw the ground begin to glow, and then nothing. She turned to look at the winged girl.
“Just making sure there’s nothing left of the magic that was here,” Brivaria said with a tired smile. The circle for the desecration spell was getting larger with each level. The angel put enough magic into it to supplant all the existing mana in the area and then ripped it out leaving a void. Whatever purpose the magic circle had was now completely undone.
“I grow more curious by the minute, you know?” Kseniya commented. The angel shrugged her shoulders helplessly and then they all began the trip back to the lodge. The winged girl had a lot of explaining to do.
Name: Brivaria
Race: Angel
Class: Decaying Lightbrand
Level: 18
Stats: Health 32/47, Mana 15/81, Stamina 14/59
Attributes: Physique 35, Endurance 24, Arcane 39, Spirit 41, Awareness 24, Presence 42
Active Skills: Healing Touch, Holy Bulwark, Tailwind
Passive Skills: Inventory, Lesser Flight, Lesser Shapeshifting, Rest, Traits (Angel)
Magic: Light of Decay
Unspent Skill Points: 1