The crash turned out to be a section of an archway that had been knocked over by the raging winds. Like a line of dominoes, the falling stonework had torn open the wall of the building it had been attached to. Those inside the home had been hammered with grapeshot-like masonry shards. A shutter was also lost in the collapse, adding hurling glass to the mix.
Even flaring [Steadfast], crossing from the shelter of one building to the next, required Joe to bend in half and creep forward. Tezeno struggled even harder due to his shield trying to rip itself off his arm. When they reached a point where Joe’s enhanced vision could see into the shattered chamber, he counted one unmoving body, three that were barely moving, and an adult man with a young girl in his arms grabbing pieces of cloth to staunch the bleeding. As the man fumbled about with his hands outstretched, Joe realized that whatever light source they had been using was gone. They were blind.
As soon as Joe pulled himself along a wall into close range of the room, he threw in a [Heart Fire], solving many problems at once. The spectral blaze automatically began to stabilize and heal the wounded while providing light as well.
Joe tried to use his wound-sight, but the blasts of rain made it almost impossible to see clearly. Finally, he caught a flicker of red from the motionless body. He breathed a sigh of relief. They were not too late. He spent extra mana to send a [Healing Wave] to boost the wounded man’s recovery from a distance.
Your skill [Healing Wave] has increased to rank 6
The two guilders pulled themselves forward and staggered in through the hole in the wall. Once inside, Joe let Tezeno take command of the occupants while he bolstered each of the wounded with a [Healing Touch]. The archon moved everyone to another room. The building did not have a basement, which his partner clearly would have preferred, but they were at last able to get everyone away from the broken rubble-strewn chamber.
It quickly became apparent that Myloo had been 100% right. Tezeno was a very good guilder. His stiff precision was annoying on average days, but in a crisis, it was a godsend. Tez exuded confidence, which the Forters definitely needed. He was also willing to perform the tasks Joe asked of him, such as removing the shards of glass or bits of rock from the wounded. The family was tended to in less than ten minutes, and the two guild-members were ready to move out again.
Before they departed the relative shelter of the damaged room, Joe turned to the archon. “How well can you see out there?”
“Not well at all, Joe. It was one of the reasons I wanted to stay at the guildhouse. I have an extra sense, but it is useless tonight. Normally, I can sense disorder, but with everything being overwhelmed by the storm, I am being swamped by static.”
“You think we should go back?” Joe shouted over the howling wind coming through the ragged gap in the wall.
“No. I think you are right,” Tezeno stated in his clipped voice. “At least one, if not more, of these people would have died had we not come to them. Let’s keep going until we are forced back or called to somewhere else.”
“Ok, but you are going to have to ditch that shield,” Joe suggested, nodding to the large round disc the man wore. “It is going to break your arm.”
“As a sentinel, I have several skills and traits that are shield-dependent. Without one, my ability to defend us will be greatly diminished.”
“Crap. Do you have a smaller one?”
“Only a small buckler. That will be enough to cover me, but I will not be able to extend any protection to you with it.” The shield vanished from his arm, and a moment later, a frisbee-sized disk appeared in its place. It had a domed center for Tezeno’s hand and a flat two-inch ring around the bulge.
“Ok. Well, at least that will not catch quite so much wind, and it shields you. I’ll manage.”
“I have an idea. At this point, we are just going to go out and see if we can find anyone in trouble. Since we have no particular destination in mind, let's head for the armory on Dell Street. It’s two blocks away from here. I can requisition a shield there that will be just large enough for me to extend my skills to at least one more person but not be so large as to be untenable in this typhoon.”
“Great idea. Ok, I want to try something, too.” Joe dropped his butt to a seat-high block of rubble and yanked off a boot. “I’m tired of slipping in the streets. I’m ditching these for bare feet.”
“Are you sure that is …, “ Tezeno stated before seeing a feral-looking foot emerge from Joe’s sodden sock. “Nevermind. You seem well-equipped for it.”
His feet had transformed, like his hands, though not as significantly. His toes were a bit longer and hairy. He had black pointed nails that, while longer than most people kept their toenails, were not half as long as the talons that extended from his fingertips.
Lastly, their resistance was not as strong as what [Savage Claws] had given his hands. Joe had discovered his feet had moderate resistance to physical damage instead of the major resistance in his hands. Even so, moderate resistance should be more than enough to protect him from damage should he step on something sharp.
Joe wanted to try one more thing. He concentrated on [Morphic Form] and stared at his feet. He pushed the thought of greater traction at them. At first, nothing happened, and Joe was about to give up when he felt something shift. Suddenly, his feet seemed to grow a bit wider and heavier. He lifted a foot and saw the skin underneath looked more like the pad of an animal's paw than pink flesh.
Your skill [Morphic Form] has increased to rank 10
“Sweet! It worked,” Joe crowed. He checked his resource usage and found that this transformation was burning less stamina than the strength enhancement he commonly used. “I’m ready. Let’s go”
Joe let Tezeno take the lead since he knew where they were going. As they went, Joe used his [Night Eyes] and [Eyes of the Healer] to look for anyone in trouble. He tried his [Tracker] skill as well. He caught a whiff of blood in the air, but the churning gusts blocked his ability to determine where it came from.
They stopped once to help a young selkie who was trapped in a recessed doorway. The youth had been trying to make it home, but he could get no further. Tez banged his shield loudly against a nearby door, which had glimmers of light flickering from under it.
“Open in the name of the Fort Coral Adventurer's Guild,” the archon bellowed. “We have a citizen in peril.”
Joe braced himself and waited. When the door cracked open, he caught it and held it from smashing against the wall. The sentinel explained the occupants needed to shelter the youth and help the boy inside. Once Joe shoved the portal closed, they moved on.
On Dell Street, they headed for the armory, coming across an overturned cart that had wedged itself against a set of stairs. Under it was an unconscious dwarf being held by what looked like his wife while a stocky young lady was wielding a hammer in the small space. It looked like the dwarven girl was trying to drive spikes into the stonework to turn the wagon into a makeshift shelter.
“That’s not going to work,” Tezeno announced when they reached the wagon. “Come with us,” He directed while Joe roused the senseless man with his healing. “Joe, I’m going to switch the larger shield to cover the whole group. Let’s pinch it in between us.”
“Might work,” Joe concluded. The buckler vanished into whatever dimensional storage the archon used and was replaced by the large round shield. They were still below the cart, but Joe knew once they stood, that three-foot disc was going to try and turn into a kite.
Working together, they stood, Joe, leaning hard against Tezeno’s escutcheon. The aura of order was much more tangible in direct contact with the shield, but the storm fury had risen as well. They gathered the dwarves around them and trudged three buildings down to the armorer’s workshop Tezeno had in mind. Joe could see the archon’s arm become a deep red as he strained to keep control of the shield. Thankfully, this close together, Joe was easily able to heal as they walked.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
When they reached the armorsmiths, it was the dwarves who hammered on the door. The heavy door opened, and a whiskered face gaped in surprise when he saw kin of his out in the tempest.
“In. In. In,” the gruff voice commanded.
“I take it there will be no question that these citizens will remain here?” Joe’s partner stressed.
“Of course not. This is my niece Kigdur and her husband and child. Thank you for getting them to us safely.”
“Excellent. I have another request for you. I need a shield smaller than this but larger than a buckler. This one catches too much wind, but the buckler does not allow me to use my sentinel skills on another.”
“Ye want a heater shield then.” stated the black-haired smith. “Or … I do have something better, but it comes with a hefty price tag.”
“If it will help us save lives tonight, you will be reimbursed by the guild,” Tez declared, flipping open a wallet to expose his silver badge.
The dwarf’s eye lit with an avaricious gleam. Joe assumed that the guild was about to get gouged, but since Tezeno didn’t seem to care, it wasn’t his place to object.
“Hey, Dad,” the dwarf shouted, turning to find the person he was looking for was right beside him. A grey-bearded smith had stepped up to the conversation. “Grab me the [Etheric Gaunlet],” the first dwarf stated in a more controlled voice than his initial bellow.
“Why?” groused the older dwarf.
“They need a shield that will function in these winds.”
“The [Etheric Gauntlet] lets environmental effects pass through it,” the old man prompted in a voice that suggested he was talking to a young child.
“Exactly,” black-beard growled, clearly getting annoyed. “They will be able to use it in the storm out there. Just go …”
“They want it for sentinel skills, you numb-skull. If the shield lets the wind through, then what bloody good is it for them out there tonight? They're not trying to block weapon attacks in a hurricane; they're trying to block the fracking hurricane itself. Idiot!”
The elder turned to Tezeno. “Follow me, boy. I have something you can use. I gotta targe with some damn fine stability sigils on it. Good for a charge-breaker or for staying a-horse when jousting. Ye take it on us. If the guild wants to drop us a contract, then I’m not gonna object, but ye pulled my grand-niece outta that gale. It’s the least we can do.”
The shield he handed Tezeno had a radius only an inch or two wider than his buckler, but it looked ridiculously heavy. It was studded with heavy iron knobs, and the wood looked to be almost an inch thick. Tezeno reached for it, but when he had its total weight, his hands went up instead of down.
The old dwarf chuckled. “She’s a deceptive one there. Looks like she weighs a ton, and her runes will make ya as solid as the mountain's roots. But she is light and wieldy for her bearer. Her name is Gromundi, or Granny’s Guard, 'cause nothing has yer back better than yer Granny. I think she’ll be the help ya need.”
Tezeno and Joe shook the armor-smith’s hand gratefully. His son was less than thrilled. Even as the door closed behind the pair, they could hear the younger smith’s shouts over the howling wind.
The effect of the shield was easily felt. As long as Joe stayed within ten feet of Tezeno, he did not need to flair [Steadfast] or [Morphic Form] nearly as much. The archon seemed more stable now than he had when they first left, and the storm was several times worse now than it had been then.
The barrier immediately proved its worth as a swarm of clay roof tiles cannoned toward them. Tezneo’s new item shattered most of them. Joe batted one away, which stung his fingers, but he resisted the damage. They both were clipped a few times. The pair could see more of the terracotta missiles hurling through the storm winds. They would need to stay close to the building to keep moving.
From the front doorway of the armorsmith shop, Joe saw a building on fire diagonally away from them maybe a hundred yards away. The winds seemed to be fanning the blaze instead of putting it out. Joe pointed at it, not even trying to shout over the gale around them. Tezeno leaned and spoke loudly enough for him to hear.
“I don’t know what we could do,” he roared. “There must be something flammable there, but as soon as the fuel burns out the storm will squash the fire far better than we could. We can see if anyone needs us, but I say we don’t try to fight the fire.”
Joe nodded, and they crossed the street to use the buildings for cover. Each time they had to cross from one to the next, they were hammered by winds screaming through the alleyways.
Your skill [Steadfast] has increased to rank 19
When they were even with the burning building on Dell Street and about to try and walk south through an alley to reach the fire, something else caught Joe’s eyes. He watched a large group of people stagger and stumble across Dell Street. It looked like they were running out of one massive building into an equally grand structure across the street. Many of the runners fell. Some looked like they had been struck by thrown debris; others looked like they had been swept off their feet and were unable to get back up.
He grabbed Tez by the arm and pointed. The archon squinted, shrugged, and then pointed with his chin for Joe to lead the way. He clearly could not see what Joe was witnessing. When they reached closer range, Joe placed a [Heart Fire] on each side of the street. He had a moment of amusement watching the wind and rain pass right through the illusionary flames, but he then sobered and headed for the bodies in the street.
As he and Tezeno helped the fallen to their feet, it finally dawned on Joe where they were. The large looming cathedral the people had been fleeing belonged to Dhmyz, the god of death. Across the way was the Temple of Ghalye, the goddess of wind and weather. He had heard these two deities had some complicated love relationship, but he had not yet had a chance to learn the details yet.
It seemed odd to Joe that people would be fleeing Death, which he would have thought would not want people before their time, only to be running to the storm goddess, who was the one currently threatening them. He was sure the Forters must have their reasons. Especially when in the light from the [Heart Fire] in front of Dhmyz’s temple he saw more people heading their way towards Ghalye’s holy house.
Joe flared his stability skills as hard as he could, burning through a large chunk of stamina, but with Tezeno’s help, they ushered the group into the breathtaking church of the goddess. He had planned to visit the temple as people had told him it was one of the wonders of Fort Coral. Even as distracted as he was with those hurt, he couldn’t help but notice how stunning the statuary and painted walls were.
The one fact he did notice as he looked back toward the street at the next group fighting their way to the Temple of Winds was the fire that drew him here vanished. Blown out like a candle on a cake, the house fire was extinguished the second he crossed the threshold of Ghalye’s church.
His suspicions of divine manipulation would have to wait. He could see dozens of people who needed his help. The first thing he did was reposition his [Heart Fires]. One he left by the door to help those near the entryway as well as act as a beacon for those who were still struggling to reach the goddess's haven. The other he planted right in the main aisle between the pews.
Tezeno left him to his work. Joe assumed he was going back out into the tempest to help those trying to reach the church. Joe moved from person to person, administering an initial heal, while using his wound-sight to prioritize who he needed to help first. Hah’roo’s charm helped, but there were so many people he drained most of his mana in a few minutes. More kept coming.
As he worked, the story began to emerge from the Forters. Many of them had sought sanctuary in Dhmyz’s halls, but a few minutes ago, a feeling of dread swept over everyone there. For some reason, the death god was displeased with the mortals, driving them out into the night. With nowhere else to go, they crossed to Ghayle, where they miraculously found a healer.
Joe had to admit that he was doing more good here than he likely would have in the streets. He was beginning to question whether Tezeno had been right about staying in the guildhouse. A few minutes later, when the worst of the wounded were tended to, he spotted the archon slumped by the entryway. Joe stood and stretched and buffed them both with [Effereous Endurance].
“Much better,” the sentinel sighed. “I was waiting for you to finish. We have been summoned. I got the sending a minute ago. Building collapsed. Yuk says there are a bunch of folks in the cellar who need digging out and healing. Lexaroth thinks he can get to them, but Yuk says they need you too.”
“Holy crap!” Joe groaned. “I need just a second. I’ve mana-spins going. How far?”
“Only a couple blocks. The good news is we are most likely within a storm band. If you can manage it, the winds are notably low right this minute.”
“Ok,” he sighed, following his partner out of the temple. The winds were still pushy and loud, but not so much he had to shout to Tez. “We should run. I doubt this lull is going to last long.”
“Good .. Joe!” the archon screamed as he looked back over his shoulder toward him.
Joe whipped around to see a huge form diving through the rain at him. Before he could react, pain lanced through Joe’s ribs as he was snatched off the ground. Something slammed into his back, and a wave of searing agony flooded away from the impact point. All Joe could see was mottle wet fur and huge leathery wings. His body began to convulse, which snapped his head upward. The malevolent visage of the manticore filled his sight.
“Ghath axskeh mutraz,” Tusked Tarz growled. “Pay now,” the inhuman mouth snarled in a barely intelligible common tongue.
The vile beast arced through the sky, winging through the narrow channel of navigable air, and Joe could do nothing to save himself until he could regain control of his poison-ravaged body.