An hour later, a party from Endurance arrived, led by Duncan Monroe, the deputy Sheriff. Madeleine the Carpenter was with them, and immediately started directing people to unload materials. Under her supervision, a large cabin took shape in short order. As soon as the temporary Safe Zone was created, they packed up to head back.
Doug opted to return; Danny needed at least one parent around and Chenelle was still needed for extra healing if it proved necessary.
“Sorry we can't stay, Sir Karl, but Paul is very nervous about us being gone this long. We're really thinning out the defenses there.”
“Understood. Godspeed, and thank you.”
“Of course. Besides, everybody likes Jo. We're all rooting for her.” Before long, they were back down to eight people and the cocoon, Jack and the others from Lazy Circle having headed home first.Murray stood and stretched, appearing to have back pain. “Everyone, be very careful of these plants. I'm going to go use the Shop.”
“What do you need?”
“I need a break,” Murray grumbled, looking tired. “I also need to spend time shopping, because there might be something out there that I've never heard of that could help Jo. I can't ask anyone else to look for it because I don't know what I'm looking for.”
“All right.”
“I hope they built bunks in there. At this point I'd spend all my loot for a decent bed.” Murray trudged off.
* *
The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Karl read part of the Marine manual on tactics. He pulled out the Bracer of Acceleration and thought about trying it out, but then imagined Tabby's panic reaction and refrained. She doesn't have Jo to mediate between her and the world. I should tread carefully. Well, there's no rush.
Out of curiosity he checked in the System shop to see what other sorts of Bracers were available. There were plenty, but they were all very expensive. We could sell this thing for...looks like ten or twenty gold! But I'm not going to be buying a Bracer of Strength for 250 gold anytime soon. Makes sense that that one would be in high demand. Almost like gaining a level, in some respects. That would be worth a lot to people.
Given how powerful this thing is in the right hands, we should probably hang onto it and find someone with the Throwing skill as part of their combat class. Karl recalled someone in Pam's group from the supermarket getting the class Pitcher early on before they got killed. He would have to check with Paul and Sarah to see if anyone in Endurance could use it.
He showed it to Terry. "Do you have the Throwing skill?"
"I do. Why?"
"See if you can use this and whether it's useful to you. But do me a favor and try it out far out of earshot so we don't bother Tabitha."
"Oh, awesome! Sir Karl, you're always getting me things to wear..." Terry put the thing on her left arm, then got a notification. "Oh, fuck me."
"What's wrong?"
Terry was already taking it off. "It's got minimum requirements. Throwing has to be at least five, which I could train up if I wanted, but Strength has to be at least nine, and that is not happening for me any time soon."
Karl took it back and put it into his inventory again. It's too bad Ethan isn't willing to join us; he mentioned wanting a javelin. He probably has the needed skill, and he certainly has the Strength. He sighed and gave up on it for the moment.
Later he and Barbara sparred, well away from the cocoon. He managed to get another point in his short sword skill out of it. He noticed that after the ogre fight he was almost to eighth level, finally.
Terry and Christine kept scouting, looking for approaching monsters. Barbara tried to insist on frequent check-ins, and Terry muttered a vague agreement that promised nothing. Murray spent time adding things to the soil around the cocoon and encouraging the saplings to grow.
In the evening, everyone opted for a fancy meal through the Shop. Karl wanted something with a gigantic amount of protein and calories, so he ended up with a big dinner of steak and potatoes with broccoli and lots of butter. He ate it all, then bought a large apple pie and proceeded to eat half of it without blinking.
Chenelle came over and sat with Karl. “Can I have some of that?”
Karl made a parody of greedy paranoia, hunching over his pie and frowning, before smiling and straightening up. “Of course.” He held it out to her.
“Thank you.” A spoon appeared in the healer's hand and she dug in. Holding a heaping spoonful near her lips, she asked coyly, “Is there whipped cream?” Karl shook his head. “Something to remember for next time.”
The impish woman proceeded to make a dramatic production out of eating pie, maintaining steady eye contact with Karl before he rolled his eyes and turned away. “You're incorrigible.”
“So Doug tells me. Hmm...” There was a pause, and then Chenelle gave a very quiet chuckle. “Oh my. Do I have competition?”
Karl's mind drew a blank. “What?” He turned to look at Chenelle, then followed her gaze across the clearing to where Christine was turning and rapidly disappearing into the woods.
Oh God no. The ranger was a lovely young woman but was significantly less than half his age; he seriously hoped Chenelle was wrong. She had to be wrong. “You're imagining things,” Karl told her firmly.
“Am I? I wonder...”
The Harpers at least had the courtesy to refrain from amorous activity when they were sharing a large room with several other people. Karl had difficulty falling asleep, but managed it eventually. Again Christine woke him for second watch.
Now that he was looking for it, Christine did seem a little stiff with him, but he wasn't getting any impression of infatuation from the much younger woman, thank God. Karl wanted to ask outright, but could only imagine that being terribly awkward no matter what the response was.
There was something there, but Karl couldn't tell what. He recalled that Christine was the first one to call him “Sir Karl” to his face, and she was often deferential and a bit quiet around him. She didn't seem to quite have the confidence to match her level, either. If Karl were a better people person, maybe he could help talk her through it, but even with his Charisma cranked up to the double digits by his Paladin class, he wasn't really sure how to go about it.
He offered her another Guardian Angel spell, but she turned it down because she would be sleeping in a Safe Zone, however small. It did remind him to refresh the spell on the cocoon, though.
Halfway through his watch, Terry appeared in front of him. “Terry? What's up?”
“A whole lot of nothing, fortunately. Almost weirdly so.”
They chatted about the situation. Terry had suggested powdered titanium as a nutrient, in the hopes that Jo might get strong bones or even metal ones like a comic-book character. She'd also suggested using the wolf corpse for nutrition, but apparently her father had vetoed that on the grounds that Jo might come out with wolf ears that way or something. The tiny saplings looked much healthier after a day of her father's ministrations. The cocoon appeared unchanged.
“By the way,” Terry commented, “I heard you talking with Chenelle earlier, so I went and asked Christine whether she had a crush on you.”
ACK! Karl tensed. “And? She said no, right?”
Terry drew out the silence, smirking, before eventually nodding. “You're right about that. She doesn't have romantic feelings for you.”
Karl let out a sigh of relief.
“However...” Terry trailed off, enjoying being annoying and making Karl worry.
“Yes?”
“I get the strong feeling she's got a serious case of hero worship. She's very worried that she's not being useful enough to the party. Always being at least one level behind almost everyone around her is making her feel a little insecure. She's scared of disappointing you.”
That...actually made sense of a lot of things. Terry wasn't done.
“My family's not Catholic, so I don't know how any of that stuff works, but both you and Christine are, and that does something to the way she thinks about you. You're like her...uh...bishop or cardinal or something like that? I dunno. White knight? But she's getting pissed at Chenelle for disrespecting you, not because Christine's competing for your affections.”
“Um...thank you, Terry. That's good to know.”
“And besides, I can assure you that you have nothing to worry about. You've got a three in Personality still, right? And like a four in Allure, even after getting buffed up. You're not going to have any squealing fangirls anytime soon.”
“Good.”
“Honestly I don't know what Chenelle sees in you.”
“Thank you, Terry—” Karl tried to cut her off.
“Maybe you could put points into those, but it might take quite a few levels to make a difference...”
“That's enough, Terry. Thank you.”
“Always happy to help.”
“Anything out there to report on?”
“Nothing. But I actually want to report that. I don't want to miss anything else.”
“What do you mean, then?”
“I haven't found a single monster in my sweep. Not even little ones. But I'm still antsy when I'm out there. Jo's situation has got me rattled, I guess.”
“Hypervigilance is good in physically dangerous situations. Don't ignore your instincts.”
Terry shrugged. “That's why I'm telling you, even though I don't really have anything to tell you.”
“Noted. I'll think about it and try to see if we're missing something.”
“Thanks. I'm going to make a couple more sweeps and then turn in.” She still looked unsettled.
“Terry.”
“Yah?”
“I think Jo will be all right. She's going to lose a level, so don't tease her about it when she comes out.”
“'Course not. Tabitha'd turn me into charcoal.”
“I'm glad something inspires restraint in you.”
Terry's voice got quiet. “Sir Karl...I'm not...I try not to be irresponsible when it counts. I won't put anyone in extra danger. I don't want anyone to die.”
Karl looked at her for a long moment. “I know that, Terry. You're a good kid.” He grinned. “You hide it really well, but you are.” She still looked somber. “It'll be okay, Terry. We've got her back, no matter what.” Terry nodded, then disappeared into stealth, apparently done with the conversation.
Karl sighed and turned back to watching the woods.
* *
Friday morning arrived without incident.
“Two nights down,” Doug said cheerfully over breakfast. “One to go.”
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Karl noticed that Christine ate quickly and headed out into the woods without really speaking to anyone. I should talk to her. I don't know what to say, but I should talk to her.
When no one was looking, he took another quick peek at the Earth feed. There didn't appear to be any change to the betting pool/poll. He checked for “mail” in the form of news sheets from Lazy Circle, and found a report on how the emigres from Endurance were settling in. Holding the piece of paper that had been hand-written before being sold to the Shop, Karl frowned, thinking about defects in using this as a system of communication.
Because very few copies of these newsletters existed, it would be perfectly possible for someone to maliciously buy up all the copies, and there would be no quick way of finding out that the buyer was not the intended recipient. So far that didn't seem to have happened, but someone could sow a lot of chaos for under a silver, if they wanted to. Not that Karl would ever mention that to anyone else or even think it too loudly, lest it give bad actors ideas.
By midmorning, Dwayne had arrived with Turtle, the big brown horse he'd ridden before, and Wendy rode Thunder, a black horse with white markings. They went over a map together, and divided up territory to search. The horses had an easier time on the roads, but there were still plenty of trails where the footing was sure enough for the cavalry to remain mounted at least some of the time.
The group met up for lunch, and when everyone but Murray and Tabitha had gathered, Christine cleared her throat. “I have something to report.” Everyone else fell quiet. Karl looked around the table.
“Go ahead, Christine.”
“I've found signs of several fairly large monsters to the southwest.” They all looked at each other.
“But nothing's gotten close...”
“I haven't spotted anything,” Dwayne put in. That was the direction he had patrolled in.
“That's the strange part. The tracks just...stop. Sometimes there are a lot of tracks as if a battle had happened, and we know that monster spawn bodies crumble away to dust after being looted, but I can't find sign of what killed them. And in two cases, there were no marks at all. The monster was moving along through the brush, and then...nothing.”
Wendy sucked in a breath. “The owl.”
Christine nodded. “I think so. In some cases there doesn't seem to be room between the trees for an owl to stoop, but I know how smooth and silent they can be gliding. With the System giving everything strange powers, we can't rule out the possibility that it has seemingly impossible hunting skills.”
“Is it an Uncommon or a Rare?” Chenelle wondered.
“I haven't seen it directly. Wendy?”
The rider shook her head. “Even though it almost got me, I didn't manage to get off an Identify in time. It was fast. If it hadn't been for Thunder I might not have gotten away at all.”
“It looked big enough to take you out, though?”
Wendy nodded. People started glancing at the sky.
“Owls are nocturnal hunters,” Chris pointed out before Karl could. “Was your encounter near dawn, or maybe sunset?”
“A bit after dawn. Thunder and I had gotten an early start that day.”
“So the danger will be tonight.” Christine nodded. “All right. We've got from now until sunset to figure out what we can do to defend against the owl. Will the temporary Safe Zone hold up against an owl attack, do you think?”
People looked at each other. “We can add spikes to the roof,” Doug suggested.
Christine shook her head. “The owl could pick its way between them unless you use a lot of spikes. I suspect the roof will hold up, so long as we can prevent a fast approach. We just need obstacles, not attacks. A few cross beams that would get in the way of a pounce.”
“What about the cocoon, and the people defending it?”
Christine shrugged. “I'll spend some time at the Shop, see what I can learn.”
“Thank you, Christine, that's very helpful.”
Karl sat back and let the discussion go on without him. If it's a Rare, we won't be able to kill it. But for now we don't have to. We just need to drive it off.
Then he groaned. We killed the Hypnotic Hawk, and it had controlled all the birds in several square miles. It's been a week since then, and birds that big would need large hunting grounds. The owl must have started to claim the Hawk's territory.
I'm useless against an aerial opponent. So is Barbara...Alain and Tabitha have ranged spells, Christine has her bow. I wonder if Murray can control wind or something like that. But we're weak against flying monsters, and it looks like there will always be another Uncommon or Rare overhead. I wonder if the gargoyle can beat the owl and defend the town if it comes to that...
The afternoon passed with slowly mounting tension. People put up a handful of obstacles to protect the Safe Zone. Karl only had enough mana to cast Guardian Angel twice in a row, and it only lasted half an hour, so he limited himself to one at a time. Come evening, he would cast it on the cocoon regularly. He flipped through the book on tactics, trying to learn something that would help.
There's always the chance that the owl doesn't attack tonight. It hasn't hit us the past two nights. Was it the fire we kept going? Who knows? This is a System-modified giant owl, so anything I know about owls might be suspect. We actually have very little information about what happens at night outside of Safe Zones; maybe it's not as bad as we have assumed.
Wendy, Dwayne, Thunder and Turtle headed home when there was still an hour of daylight left. They moved swiftly enough that they could be home and safe by dusk.
Everyone was on high alert as the sun sank behind the hills and visibility dropped. But no attack came. They ate in shifts, and decided to keep two people on watch at all times. Dusk turned to dark. Terry told Karl that she was going to stay up all night and sleep in the morning. She was clearly rattled, but they only had to make it through one more night and then they could retreat to Endurance and come up with a plan to deal with the owl properly. First watch ended without incident.
By the end of the second watch Karl was beginning to be hopeful. Alain turned in gratefully, and Karl woke Christine and Chenelle, cast Guardian Angel on the cocoon, and decided to go without sleep himself. He'd feel better if it was protected continuously. So every half hour, Karl dropped over a third of his mana renewing the protective spell.
Christine took up a position atop a large flat rock, and kept scanning the skies as he approached her. “Hello, Christine.” The ranger startled and started to turn quickly in his direction, but stopped herself.
“Sir Karl.”
“I was hoping to speak with you for a bit if you don't mind.”
“Of course I don't mind, Sir Karl.” There was a bit of tension in her voice.
“I wanted to know how you are feeling.”
Christine was quiet for several moments. “How do you mean?” she asked finally.
“You seem...tense, around me in particular, and I was wondering if I had done something wrong.”
Christine looked at him and seemed genuinely surprised. “What? Oh, no!” A moment later, Karl felt Sense Deceit flicker but subside. That's new. She meant it, then doubted it, and then stopped doubting it?
System notification: Your skill in Sense Deceit has increased (2—>3)
“Am I...doing something to make you feel uncomfortable?”
“No.” She took a breath. “I'm sorry, Sir Karl. I'm not...I'm not sure how to interact with you.”
“Why not?”
“Well...you're a paladin.”
“And what does that mean to you?”
“Well, I don't know the System details, and I know I don't know God's plan...”
“I didn't ask what it means. I asked what it means to you.” Karl clarified.
“Oh.” There was a long pause. “I...I don't want to presume...”
“You're not presuming, I'm asking. I care how you feel, Christine.” Karl was grateful for Terry's information gathering; without it he wouldn't have dared to say that for fear of grave misunderstanding. “Do you understand why I am asking?”
“Because you're a good man, Sir Karl.”
“Well, thank you, but it's because you matter, Christine. Your feelings matter. And so does your opinion. I'm still figuring this paladin class out, Christine, and your insight might help me to do that better.”
“Oh!” Karl could feel the shift in her mood, could almost hear the wheels turning as she pulled her thoughts together. “Then of course! Um...please give me a moment...”
“Sure.” Karl fell silent and waited. It was several seconds at least before the ranger spoke again.
“Sir Karl, I'm wondering if you're going to become a saint in the Church.”
“A what?” Karl's eyes widened. Out of all the things he might have imagined, that had been nowhere on the list.
“I mean it, Sir Karl. You brought Murray Williams back from the dead. You basically came back from the dead yourself. You're Blessed, and one more miracle makes you a Saint in the teachings of the Church.”
“I...don't think either of those count as miracles, Christine. We know how they happened. If anything, the one miracle I feel I've experienced happened to me, when I was saved and offered the paladin class.”
“You've been chosen by God.”
What?! Karl fought down a moment of panic. This is worse than I thought. While his brain tried to get traction, Christine continued.
“You have brought people together, saved so many that the System acknowledges you as a Hero and that you deserve the title of knight, or paladin..that you're Sir Karl, not just Karl.”
“Well, that much is true, but...”
“Please let me finish. I feel as if history is moving around you. That the fate of the world is shifting, because of you. So many people in Endurance would be dead if not for you, myself included...you are God's instrument on this suffering Earth. I think you're here to save us, Sir Karl.”
No, no, no, NO! Karl's mind cried. How could she be so wrong? What do I say to her? He disciplined his voice not to sound panicky.
“Christine, I don't think I'm God's chosen.”
“I suspect any Chosen One would likely say the same, Sir Karl.” There was the first hint of amusement from her in this conversation.
Ugh, I hate religious arguments. I'd rather stay on safer ground.
“I think maybe I chose God, not the other way,” he tried. “God offered me a choice, and in a sense that's what he does to all of us, all the time. I just had the System...well...format it for me, making it easier to understand.” He ran a hand over his scalp, thinking hard. “You say I saved you, but I almost got you killed in the first place—”
“So you're not a perfect Vessel,” Christine interrupted. “All of us understand that. Sir Karl, you are important.”
I don't want to be important! I just want the world not to fall apart, and for people not to die! Karl desperately tried shifting tacks. “But why does that make you stiff and formal around me?”
Christine looked surprised. “But... I just said...”
“But nothing! Christine, you are important. You have saved many lives. You're a Hero too. Why do you think you are less important?”
“I'm not as powerful as the rest of you!” Christine struggled to keep her voice quiet. “My bow snaps and I'm a burden. I'm not as tough, I use up your healing, I'm not pulling my weight—”
“Bullshit!” Christine flinched and her eyes widened. Good, I managed to shock her. “God has given you gifts, Christine, don't you dare disrespect them! You're powerful too. In any other group you'd probably be the leader and the most powerful; you just choose to work with us, who have had just a couple of days more combat and have a head start.”
Karl sighed. “Christine, I'm about to hit eighth level—which means I'm not going to level again for a long time,” he continued, steamrollering over her attempt to interrupt. “I leveled like mad for three days and haven't leveled again since. You will have plenty of time to catch up. I promise you, you will be the same level as the rest of us soon.
“And even if you weren't, even if you never caught up, you would still be important, you would still be powerful, and you would still be saving lives. In the end, that's all that matters. Do you realize how many people would have died last week without your tracking skills? Do you realize how badly the troll fight could have gone without your warning? I would have blundered in there with a handful of support instead of bringing the entire town's firepower. We'd have taken heavy casualties, maybe been wiped out entirely. And Chenelle and the rest of your foraging party might not have survived.
“Need I go on? Christine, we are lucky to have you. I'm lucky to have you. Maybe God chose you. You don't seem to need the limelight. You don't make trouble. You do your job extremely well and I couldn't be happier with you. So please: help me stay down to Earth. Help me not to get people killed by my mistakes. Help me help these people. I would greatly feel the loss if anything happened to you. You. Are. Important. Do you understand?"
Christine stared at him, motionless.
“I need your help, Christine. I need you to be you. Badly. Can you do that for me, Christine? Can you continue to support the rest of us the way you have?”
Karl fell silent and waited. Christine didn't move or say anything for several seconds. And then, slowly, Christine relaxed, visibly, for the first time since Karl had known her. She smiled. “Of course, Sir Karl. I'll be happy to help.”
System Notification: You have learned the skill Ministering to the Faithful (1). Learning is best done by doing.
Christine reacted to a notification of her own and smiled more genuinely than he had ever seen her do before. “Thank you, Sir Karl. You will always have my support.”
“Thank you, Christine. I'm glad you're feeling better. I can see the difference.”
“Can you?” Christine was grinning. “Well, I have a sky to watch. Thank you for speaking with me, for giving me this.”
Karl got the feeling he was missing something, but the ranger seemed far more at peace now. “Of course. I'll leave you to it.”
Karl walked off a ways and went back to his own search of the night. Terry was still up but displaying a sort of erratic intensity as her still-growing body warred with her youthful ability to push that body past its limits. She'll probably fall asleep in the middle of a fast-paced monologue in a few hours and have to be carried home. Well, that was a problem for her parents.
Aside from Christine taking a few breaks in the Safe Zone, nothing else happened for the rest of the night.
Sunrise on Saturday came without an attack. The hills to the west were lit up in gold while the valleys stayed in shadow a bit longer, but even they lightened without incident.
A very stressful night, but a successful one. Now we just have to make it through the day, which is relatively easy, and then find out Jo's condition when she emerges. Karl took a deep breath. His high Constitution allowed him to go longer than this without sleep and still be fully functional. He ceased his nervous hovering near the cocoon and headed for the Shop. He wanted to reward himself with a good, meaty break—
“DOWN!”
At her shout, Karl looked at Christine, who was staring right at him, with an arrow nocked and pointed at his face. He did his best to drop and roll sideways, but feared he was much too slow. Christine loosed the arrow and it shot towards his head, only to vanish just before it reached him.
What?
Karl was buffeted by a powerful downdraft an instant before he felt a giant talon grab onto his shoulder and clutch at him with tremendous force. He tried to drop out of its grip but it grasped him more tightly, bruising and breaking skin while his chain armor hissed and jangled. He twisted his neck around to get a look at his attacker and saw the giant owl appear out of Stealth. Christine's arrow stuck out of one of its legs.
Idiot! One part of his brain screamed at him. It's a damned owl, of course it would have Stealth!
Identify!
Great Owl, level 10, Rare
Karl groaned mentally.
This...is going to hurt.