Rake found a suitable camping spot for the group without much trouble. It turned out that the adventurer was always keeping an eye out for good places to setup camp and had just lead them back to one such location he’d made a mental note of along the way.
The sun was already starting to go down as they unpacked so the adventurers moved quickly to setup for the evening. Penry began grabbing rocks from the bank of the stream to make a fire pit while Meia gathered kindling. Rake began setting up tents. He was finishing the third one when he looked over at her quizzically. Brivaria hadn’t done anything. She had no tent setup nor had she unpacked anything. Perhaps he was just now noticing that she wasn’t even carrying a pack.
“Do you not have a tent or bedroll?” he asked tentatively. Brivaria shook her head.
“I have a tent but I don’t need to sleep so I don’t expect I’ll need it.” Rake had taken his helmet off upon reaching the campsite and revealed a mop of curly black hair and a face that was a few days out from being clean-shaven. He also had tanned skin, the kind gained from long hours under the sun. His features weren’t handsome but they weren’t ugly. They were rather plain which made his confusion easy to read.
“You don’t need to sleep? Do you eat?” There was a bit of disbelief in his voice. Brivaria’s stomach picked that moment to make a sound which surprised her more than it did him. “Asked and answered, I suppose. If you don’t have anything to eat then you can dine with us.”
“Oh, I have provisions and I will consume them along with you.” Brivaria smiled helpfully as she spoke but she must have said something wrong because the strange look he was already giving her did not abate. She’d never needed to be around Arslans for extended periods of time so she wasn’t sure what part of her statement caused the confusion. She needed to get more familiar with the various peoples of Zlithia if she was going to be here for a while. On that note, maybe she should start referring to Rake’s people as humans instead of Arslans since the former was their chosen name.
“Uh, sounds good. If you change your mind then we’d be happy to share with you.” She nodded her assent though she did not think it likely. Balthazar had provided more than enough supplies for a great many meals by her estimation. She sincerely doubted she would need to borrow from the group unless she stayed in these woods for a very long time.
While the rest of the group made camp, Brivaria considered her skill options. First there were the skills offered by Winged Templar. She was fairly certain she’d take another class at her level ten advancement. That meant she needed to get whatever skills might not be present in that class, whatever it turned out to be. She settled on a flight skill and narrowed her options down to two.
Stable Flight (Passive)
Automatically resist effects that would be disruptive to flight. No mana or stamina cost.
Tailwind (Active)
Generate a burst of air that shoots past the user in the direction they are facing or flying. Wind strength and area scale with arcane. Mana cost gradually increases with duration.
Next came the angel skill list. Unlike the class list, this one would be with her forever. Picking skills off this list would unlock upgrades down the line. Many of the skills she’d relied upon before her deleveling had their origins in the light magic, holy magic, and healing. Some of came from her angel skill list, albeit at higher levels.
While Brivaria was tempted to rely upon her original leveling plan, the fact that she had a different starting class and the fact that her goals had shifted pushed her away from it. She now had to consider the skill list with the assumption she’d be on Zlithia for longer than the average intervention duration. Even with that in mind, she still came down to two familiar skills.
Produce Light (Active)
Emit light from the user’s body or create a small globe of light which can be focused in a direction of the user’s choice. Cost and intensity scale with arcane.
Unity (Active)
Gain a bonus to performing any task or activity based on the number of others doing the same. Scales with presence.
Those were the four she narrowed her choices down to for the moment. The obvious winner was Unity. It was one of the earliest skills all angels were instructed to take. It was a paradigm of her people. All angels worked together on everything. Together they could accomplish any task far faster than alone. The more of her people that dedicated themselves toward a thing, the more likely that thing was to succeed.
Brivaria couldn’t make herself pick Unity however. She reminded herself that she was separated from her people and that the reason Zlithia was so far from realizing a utopia of their own was all the species, cultures, and subcultures that harbored different beliefs and values. Perhaps those were valid reasons to not pick it but, truthfully, a part of her just didn’t want to pick it.
After carefully weighing the pros and cons, she made the executive decision to take Unity… later. It was a racial skill so it wasn’t going anywhere. When it became more beneficial, she’d take it. Produce Light was the natural choice. There were many disciplines of light magic and a basic light skill would unlock future class options and skill options. Many of her most powerful skills prior to now were rooted in light magic. She picked that for her level six skill.
Stable Flight and Tailwind were more straightforward. Stable Flight would combine with Lesser Flight down the way into a better flight skill. She’d had Lesser Flight for less than a day and was already distressed by its efficacy or lack thereof. Still, Tailwind was the better option and ultimately what she would select. It would do two things she wanted. It was rooted in wind magic which aided flight meaning that while it wouldn’t advance her flying ability directly, it would give her a building block toward proper wind magic, wind-related skills, and wind-related classes. More importantly, it would let her travel overland by expending both mana and stamina. Brivaria foresaw the ability to travel faster and further between rest stops as being very valuable in her eventual if not near future.
“And she’s back to the world of the living,” Rake called with an easy smile. The human and lizardman were cooking some meat over the fire. Night had fallen while she was going through skills and skill descriptions. Brivaria was sitting close enough to the campfire to feel its heat and everyone else had done the same once the setup had been complete. Even Trixie decided to rest her head on Brivaria’s lap at some point during the angel’s contemplation.
“Skill or advancement?” Meia asked. The rabbit woman had been able to push her exhaustion aside long enough to be upset with Rake but now the weariness was back.
“Skills, I leveled up a few times during all of that.” Brivaria’s answer drew raised eyebrows from the group.
“Impressive, you must have dealt with more of those things before you ran into us or these two are a bigger drain on my experience than I thought.” Meia’s words prompted a grin from Penry who then spoke up.
“Perhaps even more fortunate you were in the area. Are you sure you don’t want to share our dinner?” the big lizardman pressed, having heard Rake’s failed attempt earlier but deciding to make an overture of his own. Brivaria answered him by withdrawing a ration from her inventory. Everyone stared at it.
The rations that Brivaria’s people made were round disks about the size of a cookie and as thick as a finger. They were slightly off-white in color and had the consistency of chilled butter. The rations had come about upon discovering that sustenance was sometimes difficult to acquire for creatures of the various material realms. As a result the angels crafted the perfect foodstuff which was capable of providing sustenance for a wide variety of different lifeforms across the multiverse.
“I have these. My people make them to ensure no one goes hungry and everyone can maintain a balanced diet.” The group seemed more impressed by the sudden appearance of the ration than the ration itself so Brivaria took a bite for emphasis. The regret was both immense and immediate.
The winged girl did her best to maintain a calm and stoic facade while chewing the angelic foodstuff. She chewed and chewed and chewed some more. Finally she swallowed. She’d never eaten anything in the sense of how physical beings used the word. It was vile. Did they really have to do this once a day or sometimes more? Did she? Trixie raised her head to sniff the ration and looked away.
“To each their own. So, I have a proposal I’d like to go over with you if you’re willing to listen.” Brivaria was eying the ration as though it were the greatest foe she’d faced this day when Rake spoke up. All eyes turned to him, including the angel’s.
“You see, we weren’t expecting to finding a dungeon out here. While unplanned, it could still be an opportunity. The monsters seem weak which means the dungeon likely isn’t very dangerous.” Meia gave him a look and Rake conceded the unspoken point. “Isn’t dangerous as far as dungeons go. While we’re not a high level adventuring team, we’ve got plenty of skills and…” Penry rolled his eyes. They would be up all night if Rake was allowed to beat around the bush.
“Rake is saying we’d like to do a delve and we’d like your help. We’ve got no potions and we’re days away from town. Going in without any source of healing is risky, even if the dungeon is small. Together we could afford to go down, poke through a few rooms, and see if there’s anything worth bringing back.” The lizardman went back to eating, content to let Rake handle the rest now that he’d handled the important part as he saw it. To his credit, Rake rolled smoothly along with the lizardman’s blunt remarks.
“You would have an equal share of whatever treasure we found, of course. With your help we’d have a good chance of not only coming out intact but with something worthwhile in hand. Without your help earlier we might not have survived those beetles. Trixie surely wouldn’t have.” Rake looked from the angel to the dog whose head was resting on Brivaria’s lap. The angel also looked down at the dog that had been glued to her side for the last couple of hours.
Trixie looked from Rake to Brivaria. The dog’s tail wagged when her name was mentioned and even harder when the angel looked at her. She let out a happy wuff at suddenly being the center of attention and Brivaria pet her some more. While the discussion was a little morose, the golden-furred dog’s happy innocence was adorable. Brivaria scritched behind one of Trixie’s ears and regarded the group.
“I was planning on finding the location of the dungeon and heading to the nearest town to warn them of existence if they didn’t already know.” The angel had no plans to venture into said dungeon. At a mighty level nine, Brivaria didn’t fancy her odds.
“We could deliver the warning together,” Meia offered. “I don’t much like the idea of delving into an unknown dungeon but I’m gonna need coin to replace my lost sword. Maybe we could check just a couple rooms?” Rake sensed opportunity knocking and picked up after Meia.
“She’s right. We don’t have to delve too deeply. We just need to see a few rooms so we have something to tell the adventurers guild at Keaton. Brivaria, you said those bugs were plants? If you already know something about these monsters then you might be able to learn more about the dungeon. The more we learn, the safer and better prepared the next party to enter will be.”
Rake’s words were persuasive to the angel. Dungeons were notoriously dangerous but perhaps if this one had only spawned monsters then it might not have the wide assortment of traps and deadly wards that others often did. Brivaria also had the feeling the group would try the delve with or without her. Penry seemed resigned to doing it. The rabbit woman didn’t seem thrilled but it was the second mention of the group needing currency or coin as they put it.
“I’ll go with you then. We can examine the entrance and a few rooms. We’ll see what we find and then we can go back to this Keaton.” The winged girl wasn’t certain it was the right decision. There were no advisers on hand to counsel her so she went with her intuition. Hopefully it wouldn’t lead her astray.
Name: Brivaria
Race: Angel
Class: Winged Templar
Level: 9
Stats: Health 34/34, Mana 51/51, Stamina 39/39
Attributes: Physique 23, Endurance 17, Arcane 24, Spirit 25, Awareness 17, Presence 26
Active Skills: Healing Touch, Holy Bulwark, Produce Light, Tailwind
Passive Skills: Inventory, Lesser Flight, Lesser Shapeshifting, Rest, Traits (Angel)