Chapter 23 Tracking

Kate looked at the leaves moving in the wind. She checked the straps of her backpack and rolled her shoulders. Barely any weight. A glance at the others suggested they didn’t quite share the same sentiment. Everyone had the same pack, the same gear, besides their weapons of course. They stood in front of the castle, burnt bodies from the night’s battle littering the gravel and earth beyond, unmoving now, serene.

She didn’t think the scene gruesome, only glad that the monsters were dead.

She glanced back to the open gate when she heard it move in the wind, the creaking sound downright piercing. Jon and Melusine joined them after a few minutes with their kids. Kate gave Logan a glance but his face was hard. The parents had made their decision. They would join them, even knowing what it could mean.

Kate whipped her head to the side, raising her hammer when she heard steps, fast, pattering. She watched, seeing a squirrel rush up one of the trees, vanishing behind the brown and yellow leaves.

Jon and Melusine closed up the gate, Bert on the other side giving them a last nod before they left.

“I found something,” Allison said, the woman crouching a few meters away. She moved a few branches aside and pointed at a spot in the dirt.

Kate walked over, Grey and Logan joining them.

“I don’t see anything,” Logan said.

Kate couldn’t see it either.

“No, you’re looking too close,” Allison said and stepped back, gesturing with her arms to suggest a large creature.

“Ah,” Grey exclaimed.

“Right,” Kate said. “The Ogre.” The shuffling step was obvious now that the woman had pointed it out, much of the surrounding weeds and leaves flattened or pushed aside. She would’ve just thought it a bit of a dry patch on the forest floor. “Is that the easiest one to follow?”

“By far,” Allison said. “The goblins might as well be rabbits. They’re nimble. If you think it’s the best idea?” she asked, looking between Kate and Logan.

“They were together. Just keep an eye out for any other tracks,” Logan said and grabbed his radio. “To Jon, Logan, check.”

“To Logan, Jon, check back,” came Jon’s voice, through everyone’s radios.

Logan checked with everyone else to make sure they were working. “Kate and Grey, you two stay with Allison at the front, followed by Jon, Ethan, and Melusine. I take the rear. Only use the radios in an emergency. Try to signal for people to stop instead of speaking, and stay calm, no matter what you see. Everyone ready?”

The others nodded, none of them speaking.

Kate noted the slight smile on his face. She was glad too, even Ethan had understood the gravity of the situation, probably due to their experience in the previous night. She blinked, taking a steadying step and a deep breath. Focus.

She felt tired. In a way that only too long shifts back to back made her feel. And she still felt the itching sensation of Melusine’s healing magic, albeit less pronounced by now.

“Kate, if you hear anything, let us know. Allison, if you see anything strange, the same,” Logan said. “Let’s go.”

Kate expected Allison to take time to follow the tracks but the woman just started walking, looking around before she stopped and glanced back. “Are you coming? I can’t exactly defend myself,” she said, awkwardly holding the spear she had more or less been handed.

Grey joined her side, his sheathed sword held in one hand.

Kate nodded and went to her other side.

“Great, now I feel like a fucking Princess,” Allison murmured.

Kate didn’t comment, instead focusing on the many sounds around them. Birds, small critters hiding or running away at their approach, the rustling leaves, the loud steps of her companions, their breathing. She focused on adjusting, tried tuning out the sounds that weren’t important. But then what did she have to focus on? What could offer her insights into her surroundings? She had never heard like this, the sense enhanced to something near overwhelming. She assumed mostly due to the unfamiliar feel. Eyesight had always been the focus. Sure, sounds were important too, the creaking of a burning support beam above, a falling tree, shouts for help from people trapped by the flames or debris.

But her eyes led her through the houses, let her see the fires, let her aim the hose, and her eyes were how she oriented herself among her team. But now, she could hear the steps, she could hear creatures in the underbrush that her eyes would have never spotted. It felt strange. Something she would have to get used to. She was glad the ability was magical in some way, adjustable and not simply heightening her ability to hear sound.

More impressive, she thought, was Allison’s ability to track the Ogre’s steps. The woman did describe it as following an escaped crack-addled elephant through Neverland, something she whispered to herself after they had traveled for about twenty minutes. Kate decided not to comment on it, her lack of tracking knowledge not enough to consider the comparison in any meaningful way. Allison did more or less walk through the forest at a normal pace.

Kate stepped ahead of the two others, holding up a hand. The birds were gone. It was quiet. Not a single critter in the vicinity.

The others stopped behind her, Logan moving up to the front as everyone prepared their weapons.

Breathing, shuffling, heavy steps from Logan. She couldn’t focus. Kate glanced back and glared, raising a finger to her mouth. Quiet. The fuck. Down.

They tried. And she listened. To anything that seemed out of place. One minute passed. Two. Scratching. A slight sound, just ahead and up, quite a ways up. She followed the noise with her eyes, coming up with a blank.

She shook her head and looked at Logan.

“What do you hear?” he asked in a whisper, slowly moving closer, his large sword at the ready.

“Something in the trees,” she whispered when she heard more. Scratches from a few trees nearby, then dull impacts, light and masked by the rustling leaves. “They’re around us, in the trees.”

It was just enough for everyone to look up and prepare, the group forming a circle with the melee fighters stepping up to protect the others.

Something jumped down from the trees. A small creature, large claws on its arms. It aimed for Grey but he was ready, moving to the side with a strange sliding motion before his blade flashed out towards the landing creature. It collapsed into two pieces, dark blood staining the dead leaves around its corpse.

Kate saw one of the critters move around a tree ahead of her before it jumped, aiming for one of her companions. She heard the twang of a crossbow and a heavy impact from behind, activating Mindless Ferocity in turn. She raised her hammer and slammed it into the jumping critter, the thing near exploding in a mess of gore, dark blood splattering on her face as she turned, her focus now entirely on the battle. She saw one of the monsters rushing towards Ethan, the man’s arm shaking as he aimed a fire spell. Reckless charge let her intercept the thing, her knee slamming into its side. She followed the flying critter with fast steps before she stomped down on its head, the impact heavy and wet. It felt good. She felt good. Better.

Logan fought off two of the monsters, the same ones she had faced two nights prior, large claws scratching against his medieval plate armor. He threw one of them off.

Kate brought her hammer down before it could regain its bearings, the sound of the impact reverberating in her ears. She heard its bones breaking, its insides turned to mush, and she felt a surge of energy flow into her. A deep breath. Logan was fine. She circled around the chaos, Jon grasping his leg, one of the creatures running at him with nimble steps. Reckless Charge brought her forward, between the two. She watched the creature come and crouched, gripping her hammer as she growled. The sound was strange. Barely audible, but present, heard not only by her ears but felt in her spine.

The creature hesitated. She didn’t.

Her horizontal strike impacted with a clinking sound before the creature hit the ground near instantly, unmoving and dead. She didn’t stop, instead turned around and looked for more but the battle was over. Kate looked up and listened, turning her hammer as she ignored the pained moans from Jon, the fast shuffling of Mel, heavy steps from Logan. Distractions.

The fight is over.

She blinked, taking in a deep breath as her magic deactivated, just now noticing the bloodied leg of Jon and his pained expression, panic and fear in his eyes.

“The Bograth I told you about. It should wear off in a few hours,” she said as she walked up to the others.

Melusine stopped the bleeding, her hand covered in a strange glow as she talked to her husband in a calm voice. She opened her pack and grabbed the first aid kid, cleaning and disinfecting the wound before she started testing his leg with a needle. “Useful side effect,” she murmured. “Might be usable as an anesthetic. You don’t feel anything at all?”

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Jon looked away, shaking his head. His face was pale, lips quivering.

“It’s going to be fine. The cut went to the bone, but it was clean. My magic took care of that,” she said.

“I don’t n… need to know… that,” he murmured in a pleading tone.

“Oh shush, dear,” Mel said with a smile. “Healing magic is wonderful,” she added with a smile, finishing off the stitches before she applied a bandage. “Someone will have to carry him if we continue.”

“Short break, take a breather. We’ll continue when you’re ready, Jon,” Logan said.

“It’ll take hours to wear off,” Kate reminded them.

“I doubt it had much time to spread or linger,” Melusine said. “I can tell he’s already recovering.”

“This should be the venom gland. Maybe,” Allison said, a blood covered hunting knife in one hand and a piece of flesh in the other.

Ethan puked up his breakfast.

“Ew. At least go to the bushes,” Allison said, wiggling the small organ. “Grey, get me a container.”

“I… j… just have the sandwich… one,” the man stuttered, blood covered blade in hand, some splatters on his clothes.

Allison raised her brows. “He just puked. Sandwich for him, container for me.”

The man followed her instructions as she started cutting into another one of the small Bograths.

Kate glanced at Logan but he just slowly shook his head.

“You didn’t get injured?” Melusine asked, now glancing her way.

“Doesn’t feel like it,” Kate said, looking down on herself. If anything, she felt better, some of the deep rooted fatigue from before gone entirely.

“All their blood?” Mel added.

She nodded. “I think so.”

Kate glanced at the notifications in the corner of her vision as she collected the other corpses and brought them to Allison.

‘ding’ ‘You have defeated [Young Bograth]’

…

‘ding’ ‘You have defeated [Young Bograth]’

‘ding’ ‘Mindless Ferocity reaches lvl 14’

‘ding’ ‘Reckless Charge reaches lvl 11’

‘ding’ ‘Toll for the Living reaches lvl 12’

‘ding’ ‘Two Handed Weapon Fighting reaches lvl 10’

‘ding’ ‘Intimidating Presence reaches lvl 2’

‘ding’ ‘Silent Striker reaches lvl 2’

Serenity +1

‘ding’ ‘Frightening Growl reaches lvl 2’

‘ding’ ‘Heightened Hearing reaches lvl 2’

No distributable stat points from the Support Class then? She frowned, stacking the smashed corpses next to Allison.

The woman gave her a look.

“Sure, you’re not a psycho?” Kate asked.

Allison dug her knife into flesh. “Who knows, really?” she said. “Not the one who killed these funny little creatures with a hammer and a smile on her face. That growl was quite… interesting,” she said, biting her lower lip before she continued.

“Funny little creatures?” Jon asked in a pained groan.

“You don’t feel your leg, you don’t have to act injured,” Allison said without looking his way.

“Jesus Christ,” the man murmured and rested his head on his pack.

“My Support Class leveled up, gave me one stat point in Serenity, but nothing to distribute myself,” Kate informed the others, Grey nodding in a thoughtful manner, still holding the sandwich in his free hand.

“Would’ve been nice,” Logan said, patting Ethan’s back as he still retched. “We should move on soon. The blood might attract predators.”

“It’s certainly a stench,” Allison said, moving on to the next body. “This is unworkable,” she murmured, moving the bits and pieces still stuck to the vague outline of a spine aside. She gave Kate a look.

“What?” Kate asked.

“Absolutely nothing,” the woman answered in a deadpan voice. “Impressive hammer.”

Kate didn’t reply, back to her surroundings as she listened for other creatures.

Nothing showed up.

A few minutes later, they continued, Ethan supporting Jon with the others in the same formation as before. Melusine considered the injury negligible at this point, the venom’s effects the only thing causing some trouble. The others agreed it was not enough to return, Jon included.

Kate wondered at the introduction of healing magic. Not just to their group, but to the world. Others must’ve received the same boons. It would change everything.

Maybe there’s a chance with this. He would’ve been out for weeks, and his leg might’ve not been the same for the rest of his life.

She grit her teeth when she thought back to the bright explosion from the previous night.

Their pace slowed down a little as they followed the tracks, the trail soon leading them vaguely southwards and up towards the mountains.

Allison stopped and looked around, murmuring to herself as she raised bits and pieces of the underbrush.

Kate waited and let her work, an intense look on Allison’s face as she stepped from left to right, crouching down a few times. She returned. “There was a fight here… I found blood in various places, some of the dried pools suggesting heavy injuries. A group of pawed creatures attacked the Ogre and whatever was with it.”

“Pawed?” Kate asked.

“Yeah… wolves maybe?” Allison suggested.

“Shouldn’t be many in the region,” Kate said. “It would’ve made the papers if an entire pack was around.”

“Pawed monsters,” Logan said. “We know orcs and goblins aren’t the only thing around. This is good news.”

“How are more monsters good news?” Ethan asked.

“It means we’re not the only ones fighting to survive. Might be a territorial dispute, might be they just eat each other, or there’s more to it,” Logan said. “We should continue. No corpses means they’re still around.”

“Or they ate the corpses,” Allison said, giving him a look.

“Or that,” he said.

They continued for another twenty minutes, following the slope. Kate soon spotted a bench in the distance, a resting spot she had stopped at more than a few times in her expeditions. One of the last easy to reach locations before more appropriate mountaineering gear became necessary. They found it untouched, the road to Keilberg castle indicated far below by the split in the forest. Keilberg itself was visible too, the houses kilometers away, tiny and serene. Farther out extended the Maar Valley, various rivers, isolated farms, and villages spread throughout.

Smoke rose from more than a few places, tiny pyres visible in the distance. Kate took out her binoculars and had a look, some of the others doing the same. She soon spotted the first groups of beings, mostly thanks to the large creatures in their midst. Ogres and some even larger.

“I suppose quite a few of them do move by day,” Kate said.

“What are they doing?” Logan murmured.

“Pillaging?” Jon suggested. He hopped over to the bench and sat down, tapping his leg before he moved it a little.

“It’s chaotic, unorganized. Some of them are fighting each other,” Logan murmured. “Is that… a dragon?”

Kate tried to follow his line of sight and soon found what he had seen. A yellow winged creature, though it was difficult to make out any specifics. It was smaller than some of the Ogre-like beings and one of its wings seemed to be bent.

“They’re hunting it,” Logan said.

“Terribly sorry to interrupt your creeping, but I think I found what we came for,” Allison said, pointing along the slope and to an outcrop of stone, a cliff side leading up at a steep angle.

Kate walked over. “There’s nothing th-” She stopped talking and looked through her binoculars. “What the fuck is that?” She saw a small outcrop at the bottom of the cliff, the forested area she had seen many times before now adorned with a large cavern entrance. Nearly twenty meters wide and at least five meters high, not something she would’ve missed before. If anything, it would be a tourist attraction for Keilberg. “That shouldn’t be there.”

“Yeah. I would’ve had pictures taken there before,” Allison said. “That probably looks fantastic at night.”

“Goblins standing guard,” Kate said.

“Just two of them,” Logan added, having joined them. “We should go back to the tracks, to make sure that’s the place.”

“I’m more interested in how a cave entrance just suddenly appears,” Kate said.

“How do monsters suddenly appear?” Ethan asked.

Grey walked over and looked through his binoculars. He gulped before a smile blossomed on his face. “I think… that might be a dungeon.”

“Where you assumed the monsters come from?” Jon asked as he limped over to see.

“It could be. I mean why did only a few come in the first night? Then more and more?” he asked.

“There could be many reasons for that,” Logan said. “Anything we should know about it?”

Grey looked at the ground when he realized their full attention was on him. He scratched the back of his head and smiled in a bit of an awkward manner. “I… it’s usually… a difficult area. Sometimes with puzzles… or a boss monster, like a very powerful variant of whatever creatures are there. There’s usually loot too, but so far things have been… well not quite like I expected.”

“So it might just be their lair, or a place where they hide during the daytime. Or there’s more to it. Let’s see if the tracks lead there,” Logan said.

It didn’t take long for Allison to confirm the location, the group of creatures that had attacked Keilberg Castle the previous night came from the cavern entrance Kate was pretty sure shouldn’t exist. But Ethan was right, the same was true for the monsters themselves.

“We’re really going in there?” Melusine asked.

“We know they came from there. Either we wait at the castle and hope they don’t send more of their creatures, or we catch them while they sleep, and make sure no monsters come out of that cave ever again,” Logan said.

“Jon, how’s your leg?” Kate asked in a low voice, her eyes on the still distant goblins.

“I can walk, more or less,” he said. “Good enough.” He raised his crossbow.

“Then let’s find out what’s in there,” Kate said as she gripped her hammer.

Kate Lindgren

Unspent stat points: 0

Class: Berserker – lvl 10

- Active: Mindless Ferocity – lvl 14

- Active: Furious Dance – lvl 13

- Active: Reckless Charge – lvl 11

- Active: Hunting Leap – lvl 3

- Active:

- Passive: Toll for the Living – lvl 12

- Passive: Courage of the Unarmored – lvl 10

- Passive: Two Handed Weapon Fighting – lvl 10

- Passive: Unrelenting Carnage – lvl 3

- Passive: Intimidating Presence – lvl 2

Support class: Silent Striker – lvl 2

- Active: Frightening Growl – lvl 2

- Active:

- Active:

- Passive: Heightened Hearing – lvl 3

- Passive:

- Passive:

Status:

Vitality: 21

Endurance: 15

Perseverance: 10

Strength: 15

Dexterity: 8

Intelligence: 7

Wisdom: 10

Serenity: 2

Equipment:

Torso: -

Legs: -

Trinket: -

Food: -