Davian pulled quite the face at the two of them as they half stormed across the common room to join him at the little table they had shared the night before. Myrn seemed to have a thing for sitting at the same tables when she came to certain places, The Draft Dragon as the Inn was called, being a cheap stopping point on a number of her sorted journeys about the area. She dragged him into a chair and almost forced his head down to eye level with the sitting Bard.
“Yes Myrn--” Davian prompted. “Isaac has eyes. I saw them yesterday and the day before. They are very nice.” He went on dryly.
Myrn growled at him; actually growled.
“Look!” She demanded.
“Oh...” Davian said after a moment, sounding sincere, and certainly looking with interest this time.
“Yeah!” Myrn exclaimed, her voice soft for the energy she put into it, and pumping her arm as if she had won a race or some kind of prize.
“W-what?” Ivan asked, letting some of his honest trepidation show.
“Ah. She didn't explain did she?” Davian asked, he didn't let Ivan answer either.
“Sit, sit, breakfast is coming and you'll hurt your back leaning over the table like that any longer, or maybe at least mine if I look at you bent over like that any longer.”
Myrn let out an embarrassed little laugh and the two of them sat with some little shuffling around.
“Now. Onto the reason for Myrn's adorable, if forceful, excited actions. As I am made to understand when a person awakens a spark sometimes they change somewhat in appearance. Usually it's nothing, but it can be anything so simple as their skin clearing up, wrinkles going away, or the like, but most often it's the eyes. I'm actually surprised you don't know this.” Davian explained.
Ivan listened, and by the time Davian got to the point he was rubbing his face with his hands.
Of course. He had totally forgotten. Everyone knew that. He had even talked to Myrn just the other day about her hair and eyes. But if his eyes were changing in such a manner--
“I forgot to say.” Penelope whispered. “There's a reason you're doing magic without thinking. Your spark is trying to manifest and ignite itself. That will probably keep happening until whatever spark you have takes its proper shape. It might be Dark, or Shadow. Either would be good.”
Ivan pulled his hands down enough to reveal his eyes to his friends.
Myrn was smiling so much she was practically wiggling in her chair.
“Just like that?” Ivan asked.
“Just like that.” Myrn said positively.
Davian nodded.
“I'm not so familiar because...” He stopped himself mid sentence, his countenance growing stern and then passing into annoyed.
Myrn sat up, and shot her gaze around the room before frowning and looking back to Davian. Davian ignored her and picked up where he left off.
“Anyway I don't know exactly what causes it as much as someone like a Mage or the Gods might Isaac, but as I am told, but all the sorts of strange and wonderful new people I've met by traveling this strange and wonderful world that I am certainly a native of--” He cut off and took hold of the table with both arms to keep balance as his stool abruptly lost a leg.
Myrn broke into hysterical giggles, both kicking her feet and covering her face with her hands so as to not look at Davian.
The table groaned unnaturally as Ivan and Davian held eye contact, but then Ivan looked away and pretended not to notice anything had happened as Davian's eyes turned from annoyed and indignant to panicked. The table, easily balanced by Ivan and Myrn on the side opposite Davian, shouldn't have had any trouble holding the bard up at all, but it sounded as though it were about to burst into splinters.
Once they were both looking away from Davian and he stopped speaking the table groaned in relief and he was able to stand. He called over a barmaid to inform her about the chair leg, somehow, inexplicably losing a leg when the night before it had been in place as solidly as carved stone.
“That curse...now that I'm a little stronger at least-- I have to say again that curse is nasty. It's even potent enough to sort of tell people he's cursed without being super ominous and frightening them off. It probably has some sort of effect that makes it resistant to being brought up in conversation too. That kind of magic must be some high tier stuff or any one of the Gods here would have just blown it off him just to prove a point.” Penelope mused. She seemed to be studying Davian. “Poor guy really. I wonder what he did to deserve it.”
Ivan couldn't help but agree with the thought and both sentiments.
“That's how it is.” Davian said, sounding defeated, as he sat down on the remaining stool.
“You've got to have seen at least one person with it before besides me Isaac. I thought it would be more obvious, but you did just wake up. Sorry, I shouldn't have rushed you with my energy right away in the morning.”
“I don't think I've met anyone with effects as obvious as yours Myrn. That or I just haven't noticed or been told, but I had heard. It just never crossed my mind that it could happen to me. I have no sparks and never really thought I could ignite one of my own enough to consider that I might change with it.” Ivan admitted honestly.
“It can happen that way.” Myrn said, but her smile turned sad. “Some people really have to go through a lot to manifest their first one. Sometimes its like their soul doesn't see the need until something very terrible happens.” She explained with a gentle voice and summoned back her full smile though it was betrayed by the sudden heavy mood her words brought on.
“I think we can all agree its better this way. Isaac, I will be honest here and tell you that there is much I don't ask to simply be polite, but as I said before I will listen if the time ever comes when you need an ear. Whatever you've been through Myrn and I both are glad to have met you.” Davian said, using most of his Job's charisma to convey the heartfelt meaning behind his words.
Ivan nodded and tried to thank him, but he didn't quite manage the words. He controlled the savage emotions held inside otherwise however. Some of them were angry that Davian could even pretend to know what Ivan might have suffered, but that warred with wandering thoughts of what had cursed him, and why he couldn't seem to talk about where he came from. In the end Penelope's words came to mind yet again, and he resolved to remain in control, for his own sake. He was tired of wanting to cry, losing control, acting in anger, or breaking down again. He wanted something more. He wanted to be proud of what he was becoming.
For a moment all he could see was the broken remains of the innocent couple he had killed, their beating hearts offered up in his hands to Penelope within the Shroud. The gruesome ritual consumed all of their corpses, and likely provided the new material that made up Penelope's expanded body. But the cold blooded murder had not only been done by his hands, but inside whatever extension of his soul the Shroud's little realm was. He shivered suddenly feeling as though the couple's innocent blood was running under his skin.
Myrn's gentle touch on Ivan's arm pulled him from his dark thoughts.
She smiled and offered a supportive hand.
Ivan took her hand and held it for a little while, genuinely appreciative, but even that was ruined slightly as his strange new hunger made itself known in his head. Ivan covered it by putting his other hand to his head.
“I heard it can be like this sometimes. The body doesn't always make itself ready for sparks even if it's pretty clear to you and everyone else you're going to get one. I had growing pains when I was little, but yours seems a lot worse.” Myrn said, her voice gentle. She squeezed his hand reassuringly. “Maybe we eat, walk a little, and find some place to meditate out in the forest. It might help settle some of the strain.”
“Anything, if it means more sitting with you like this.” Ivan said, the words escaping before his mind had the chance to approve them.
Myrn laughed, but his new talents seemed to have included enough pain in his voice from the ache in his head and all throughout his body to give the comment a little humor.
“Oh, and what am I to do? Sit somewhere out of sight and play music?” Davian asked.
Myrn's laugh rode straight on into a chuckle and she nodded vigorously.
“Yup you can just help set the mood. That will be just fine.” She said with a laugh.
“I could probably play blindfolded, but might have to play loud if you two end up being anything like that couple in the room beside me last night. Swear I hear it echoing up and down the hall.” He complained.
Myrn laughed so hard she snorted. Her face turned as bright red as her hair and pulled both her hands and knees up to shield her face from the two men's startled gazes. She couldn't stop laughing however.
“I heard them too.” Myrn squeaked out, but her face brightened as a boy of maybe twelve or thirteen coming out with a large platter of dishes and what looked like his younger sister to dish out plates.
The scent that followed quickly had each member at the table watching their approach.
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Before they left that day Myrn brought them over to the local notice board. Ivan had used such notice boards before at the behest of the Goddess, simply to test his skills against monsters, and to see to the people's safety. Myrn was excited to see Ivan do any magic whatsoever.
She picked through notices about flocks of minor monsters, and similar requests for parasite removal of certain dangerous creatures beyond a simple farmer's means or need to face. With the Militia and the Forces of Light still about, most nearby postings were old or had markings from one guild, company, regiment or another suggesting that the job was in progress. The military camps were kept out of town, but part of any townships' forbearance to any army is that they pick up whatever notices near them that were easily done.
Myrn eventually found a request to remove a strange green furred tiger from a rancher's land before it grew a taste for his livestock.
“How about this one, guys? It's not too far out of the way and this guy looks like he needs the help.” She asked, bringing the notice to them. The notice included a small hand drawn map leading to the ranch, and a page with a decent charcoal pen sketch of the creature in question.
“Are tigers native to this area? I've done a lot of walking, but never seen one of these near here.” Davian commented, fingering the rough parchment sketch.
“It just takes a large enough forest for this type of monster to manifest. It's worse further south when the forest turns to jungle, and they are very common near any Jungle Dungeons.” Myrn replied.
Davian frowned and looked out at the trees. Myrn chuckled at him.
“Scared to go out on your own now?” She teased.
Davian swallowed, and his face turned a little pale.
“No.” He said in half a croak.
Myrn broke into giggles, and Davian's act faded away to reveal a smiling face.
“Seriously though, can a jungle predator just manifest this far from its usual biome?” He asked.
Ivan and Myrn shared a look. Myrn looked to Davian as if to question or tease him, but managed to bite her tongue somehow. She half glared, half frowned at Davian.
“They can and will with enough time, and depending on how much magic has been allowed to build up in the sealed dungeons they spawn from. Low magic means low numbers of manifestations that aren't caught in the seals. High magic, and the seals will still hold back the greater number of manifestations that pour into the dungeon, but many will begin to appear outside the dimensional barriers.” Myrn explained, her gaze and voice pointed straight at Davian.
Davian sighed and bowed his head to Myrn in apology. Things went tense a little as the three struggled against the force of the curse upon the Bard.
“Even if we know--” Myrn started, but Davian shushed her violently.
“Not even a little bit. No allusions. No mentions.” The sky above, clear and blue as anyone could wish rumbled with unseen lightning, and Davian's face going pale didn't seem an act this time. “It's not a problem. I never did pay much attention in school anyway. I'll just ask the silly questions, and you'll both just answer my questions because I'm just a silly person.”
“I probably couldn't bring the curse up casually either if I were outside. But thankfully the Shroud is enough to shield me.” Penelope mused, enjoying her ability to be Ivan's sexy breathy voiced inner monologue. “I could try, but if that curse can summon storms and make Myrn bite her tongue I don't think I will.”
“You really don't understand monster manifestations?” Ivan asked.
“Sure I do. The monster just poofs into wherever because magic. What I don't understand is the 'why' and 'whats'. The 'how' is magic.”
Myrn frowned in thought. Ivan didn't know exactly how to reply right away either.
Penelope chuckled.
“Power is unlocked in the mortal realm. Life, and the infinite worlds that hold it are what brings magic to the nothing of the universe. Now what started that process I can't be sure of, but life has always been the key. The mortal souls of living creatures are what has always brought magic into the world. It doesn't come from anywhere but the soul. Now where do souls come from? That is the question even I don't have an answer to.” Penelope explained to Ivan.
She was grinning, her new form's wings twitching excitedly as she spoke and gestured with her hands inside the Shroud.
“A simple town mayor can give a simple man the ability to increase his strength and manifest martial abilities through the gift of the Militia Job. That is a power granted by civilization, an election of some kind, or an agreed upon purpose by the souls around him empowering him to lift others in turn. Though the titles he may give will change as he grows from Mayor, to Lord, and to King there's certainly nothing he can do without his people.”
“When towns die, and are abandoned, monsters appear there often as not filling the rolls once abandoned. Gnolls, Goblins, Orcs, Wraiths, and Apparitions usually appear this way. Sometimes the people who stay behind are changed as the power lingers on, gathering the lost potential, and hoping to make it anew, and rebuild what has fallen away. And sometimes the purpose of the place was so strong that its walls and buildings gain a soul of their own. What happens then? When the halls are empty and its purpose cannot be fulfilled? Does it lay down and die? Or does it struggle on and try to replace what it's lost with whatever power it has?” Penelope went on, her musings breaking down into maniacal laughter after a little time. She kept laughing until it brought tears to her eyes.
Ivan listened as the group headed down the road toward this ranch following an old wagon track. It appeared as though from time to time the villagers tried to fill in the track with stone. It was certainly no road, but their efforts marked a clear and open path that made for easy walking.
“Maybe the 'how' doesn't matter as much as the 'why'.” Ivan said some time later, breaking the slightly uncomfortable silence that had come over the group. Partly he had waited until Penelope stopped laughing; he knew she could feel his annoyance from within the Shroud. She was sitting now, and grinning as she played with her new wings.
“Why would a Dungeon try to manifest its creatures outside of the area its been sealed into?” Ivan asked, posing the question for thought more than answer. “Drudesha is littered with Dungeons large and small, and they all do the same thing. They are dangerous sources of uncontrolled magic, and leak it into our world as a result of what can only be an attempt to secure influence on the land around them. We fight them back, and protect our towns, and work together to make a place that is safe to us, and deadly for monsters.” Ivan said, his thoughts still rolling in his head as he spoke.
Myrn and Davian listened. Davian was nodding, and actually pulled out a small notepad to write down either some of what Ivan was saying, or to record his own thoughts. Myrn smiled at Ivan briefly, but her gaze quickly took on a deep thinking quality.
“You're saying our towns and villages...” Myrn began, leaving the rest of her question unsaid as she looked at the two men in turn.
“They're filled with coin, and food. Magic Items we craft and use, and its where we spawn our young.” Davian said picking up on her thoughts.
“We call a small party's expedition into a Dungeon a 'run'. A large and thorough clearing of it a 'raid'.” Myrn said, nodding her head, but frowning all the same.
“Which when put that way makes delving into Dungeons much like breaking into someone's home and fighting them for their goods. Except we don't come back magically when we die.” Davian went on trying to cap off the thought as faulty.
Ivan shook his head.
“Perhaps a magical manifestation is as natural a thing to a Dungeon monster as births are for our kind.” He said.
“But their births are hollow. Manifested monsters can't reproduce inside. They're more like summons and aren't actually alive.” Myrn argued.
“But you can live off meat harvested from dungeon manifested monsters. Those kinds that manifest outside can reproduce. I've seen and dealt with it myself.” Ivan disagreed.
“Only when they appear on the outside.” Myrn said shaking her head. “The ones inside compared to out are just as strong, but even if they're moving, breathing, and fighting its like they're dead and hollow. When you kill and leave them they just go up in smoke!” She said, raising her hands for emphasis and waving her hands depicting a smokey effect.
“I've seen what kinds of monsters there are around unsealed dungeons and those—Those are the real thing! They aren't something any group of new adventurers could just take on; not even close. There's something that limits sealed dungeons in a way my teachers could never fully explain though they tried. I've asked and read what I could, but no one but the Gods seem to fully understand what it is exactly they did to the Dungeons to make them approachable for small teams and like instead of great and massive armies. All I know is that it acts to limit them to great extremes. Otherwise living near them would essentially be like being at war with our neighboring countries. We would need our best people on high alert all the time, and take active, large actions against them to keep our lands and people from being raided.”
“Well then how do we harvest anything from the Dungeons? How do you get loot and make gear from the creatures killed in there?” Ivan asked, feeling curious and very interested. He had heard some of this before, but it had been set aside for more practical learning and disciplines he had wanted to master at the time. Dungeons were something he never really planned to enter unless he somehow gained a full party. Likely he would have gone at Istania's insistence when she thought him ready.
“Magic silly.” Myrn answered with a laugh. “Your Steal is a great example. Outside of a dungeon its all about what a person has on them, but inside the dimensional barrier of a dungeon its more like what they could have on them, or what you could steal from their corpse—even if the monster in the dungeon is still alive when you take the materials.”
Ivan blinked, but nodded to signal he understood even if he was still thinking over the possibilities.
“So there's other abilities like Steal that do the same or similar things?” Ivan asked, thinking aloud for the most part.
“Ritual Offerings can be made, stealing the magic of the conjured body to be offered up for favor. You'll be doing something like that using Quixla's dagger in there, but the blood it captures will turn to pure magic. That pure magic is almost better than favor. At least for minor demons like Quixla anyway. She will be very happy with you when you offer her your first full dagger in there.” Penelope whispered to Ivan.
“Oh! Yeah!-- yeah of course. There's the Plunder skill that Barbarians, Pirates, Bandits, and Rogues can get. There's Looting Rituals and Rites that can be done by Ritualists, Priests, and Wizards. Hunters, like Thief, start early with Material and Meat Harvest spells if they can do magic, but it's pretty rare that I've seen a Dungeon monster last more than one cast of a harvest spell like that. Usually when my family and I down a Dungeon Boss Dad goes in for Plunder to get the most magic items from the big ones. I'm left sweeping up loot from the common trash monsters that we can sell in town, or watching out for Mom as she lays out a looting Ritual as Dad and my brothers move ahead.” Myrn said, she was smiling, and obviously thinking of fond memories. She hesitated for a moment bringing it up, but didn't let the mention of her family pull her mood down. Her smile returned and she turned it upon both of them as they continued on their way.
Ivan knew she was older than him by a few years, but he felt a little foolish for not managing anything like that sort of social grace himself.
“So you have been fighting the 'good fight' then.” Davian accused.
Myrn smiled and swung her hips in a girlishly innocent manner. Her bow and quiver rattled and clacked where they hung on her back. She grinned insolently at Davian.
“I've killed the Tempest Owl Knight, and the Star Owl Knight several times in fact, and the Wretched Bile Spewer once with my extended family during a big get together a few years ago. Other than that I've been to the Temple of Frogs, and the Temple of Snakes in the jungles to the south too. Those places stand no chance when I'm there.” She said, her smile beaming as she skipped ahead of the two of them a little ways before turning and smiling at them both.
“The Tempest Owl Knight, and the Star Owl Knight are two of the most difficult bosses in the Old Oak aren't they?” Ivan asked.
“Mmmhm.” Myrn said with a big smile, nodding, and turning her back to them as she took the lead. She called forth her staff with a grin, the weapon temporarily hidden away as a wand tucked into her belt. It grew and expanded with a flurry of leaves and bark that shed from the item as it finished its transition.
“What's the Wretched Bile Spewer?” Ivan asked, after a glance at Davian showed he wasn't going to ask first.
“It's a secret boss that few people know about and less people want to go down and find. But my family put him to task once just to do the guild a favor and keep the magic down inside the Old Oak. Best thing we got out of it was a bowstring.” She said with a pouty frown, but she did thumb her longbow idly.
“That's the good fight I was talking about. Doing the stuff no one else will.” Davian said, nodding and practically bursting with excitement. Ivan could it smell coming off of him in waves making it as clear to him and Mryn as if he shouted 'I can't wait to get in there!'
They all shared a look and chuckled.