Morning arrived far sooner than I wished and I woke up to the tent being bathed in a soft green light as sunbeams shone through the small holes in the tent and reflected off of my soul lantern. I yawned and felt my aching muscles, while Taylor’s healing spells did wonders for regaining lost health they didn’t do much for tense muscles. I cast Lesser Regeneration on myself, for what seemed like the hundredth time in under 12 hours, I felt the tension in my muscles slowly ease out. I looked around to see the rest of my party were still sleeping so I took a few minutes to finally look over the blinking notifications that demanded my attention.
Through a special action your ability Soul Lantern has gained a new effect.
Effect 1: The Soul Lantern shelters and holds lost souls safely until a time when they can be put to rest. Effect 2: The Soul Lantern can be attached to the user’s weapon. Effect 3: Souls can be drawn to the Soul Lantern from 500 feet away. New Effect Effect 4: The Soul Lantern can be used to absorb and cleanse corrupted souls.
You have slain a Shade Level 15 x9, as this creature is recognised by your class as a foe, you do not receive any penalties. You have earned 400xp.
You have slain an Alpha Shade Level 25, as this creature is recognised by your class as a foe, you do not receive any penalties. You have earned 150xp.
Your skill Combat Grace (greater) has increased to level 6.
Your spell Empower Attack has reached level 8.
Your skill Modify Spell (greater) has reached level 8.
Your skill Stealth (greater) has evolved. Your skill has become Stealth (Master) level 1 .
By the time I had read through my notifications, the green glow had faded as the sunbeam had moved and had started reflecting off the metal on my scythe rather than the soul lantern. I could hear the camp starting to stir outside but I wasn't ready to face it yet. I wished I could’ve slept for a few more hours. I didn’t know what time we actually did go to sleep last night but I know it was late. I lay in my cot listening to Clair, Raven and Harold snore softly, I thought about the skill and spell in advancements. I was pretty happy about the new effect on my Soul Lantern ability, it gave me a faster way of taking down 'soul corrupting’ type monsters. Yes, I know it's a stupid name, but it's a good description for what the monsters do. Fights with soul corrupters always took a while if Touch of the Reaper didn’t insta-kill them. It was nice to have a quicker way of killing them, plus I would directly absorb the souls they consumed.
The evolution to my stealth skill was just as good. I'd been trying to evolve the skill for a while now but I’d hit a bottleneck and it refused to evolve. I had really put the skill to the limit last night while hunting so that could have been the reason for the evolution, however it could have been from walking past the 4 guards outside the Captain’s tent that did it. The detection skills they’d been using were very strong and evading them could have forced the evolution. Either way, I was constantly using the skill so it was a relief that it had finally evolved.
I rolled in the cot trying to get a few more minutes of sleep after going over all my notifications. I was happy for the brief time to relax before everyone woke up, but I’d have preferred more sleep if I’m honest. The camp started to get louder and louder as more people woke up, slowly I heard the snoring drop off as one by one my friends woke up.
"How did everyone sleep?" Harold asked as he stretched, I looked over to see he was wearing his night clothes which consisted of an orange shirt and green trousers.
"These cots are okay, I guess." Clair said from behind the privacy screen she and Taylor had erected last night.
"Military's finest." Raven quipped.
I laughed and shook my head. I tried to stretch but my arms felt restrained, I looked down to see that I hadn't taken my clothes off last night. They had managed to get tangled with the cot and wouldn’t let me lift my arms higher than my chest. I tried to untangle myself but I just seemed to get myself more and more entangled. I heard giggling and looked over to see Clair and Raven were watching me. I felt my ears burn and my cheeks flush, I strained against the fabric bonds and with a ripping sound I broke free of them,
“Yes!” Clair said, holding out her hand.
“Damn it.” Raven groused. “Why can’t you be a normal human Luca?”
“What was the bet?” I asked them as Raven handed Clair a silver coin.
“How long it’d take before you’d get free.” Clair said smiling. “That’s the barbarian I know!”
I shrugged and grabbed my bag. I started to look for new clothes in it since my trousers were only a little better compared to my destroyed shirt. I pulled out a pair of blue trousers and a green shirt, I moved behind the privacy screen and attempted to get out of my trousers. It took a few minutes of struggling but I managed to wriggle out of them and put on a new set. By the time I had finished, Harold had made our morning drinks and was handing everyone a mug. I took the simple mug from Harold and took a long sniff, it smelled like a fruity tea with honey and something else. Whenever I asked Harold about it he always smiled and avoided answering the question. I smiled and took a small sip, the tea hit my tongue and instantly I felt a lot better. The aches and pains from sleeping in the cot seemed to melt away as I drank the tea.
We sat in silence for a while as we drank our tea. It was a nice companionable silence as we all slowly woke up and mentally prepared ourselves for the day ahead. The camp sounded extra busy this morning, there was lots of shouting but it didn't sound like an alarm call. I didn’t even try to guess why everyone seemed so busy, instead I just listened to the camp. Music drifted through the air in between the shouts, it sounded like a violin but could have easily been a guitar, there was just too much noise from the camp. I didn’t try to focus on any of the conversations the marines were having, which is why I heard the determined and purposeful footsteps coming towards our tent. Whomever it was had a standard set of marine boots, they sounded heavy but crisp at the same time. They moved with a purpose and came straight up to the door of our tent. Someone cleared their throat before speaking.
"Good morning, it's Tim. Is anyone awake?" Tim said.
I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and turned to see Raven gesturing like we did when we were dungeon diving. The gestures were crude but we could hold a basic conversation without anyone making a sound, it had been vital back when we’d come up with it.
“Silent, I not ready.” Raven gestured.
“Maybe Important.” Harold gestured back.
“Maybe, maybe not. It no matter, I have drink.” Raven replied and Harold nodded.
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I wasn’t surprised by Raven asking for everyone to wait before speaking up, this wasn’t the first time she had asked us to stay silent like this. She almost always had a problem with authority figures and messing with them was something she tried to do as much as possible. Harold and Taylor let her do it most of the time since it’d helped us in the past, however they usually put a stop to anything that was outright hostile or would damage our guild’s reputation. One by one we all gestured our agreement and sat there drinking out tea in silence.
"Er, hello?" Tim said sounds a little confused. "Harold? Raven? Are either of you awake?" He waited for an answer that never came. "Is anyone awake in there?" Tim said slightly louder, he tapped the tent a few times causing everything to shake a little.
We all looked at Harold who was usually the first to crumble, he sat there serenely drinking his tea. Clair tapped me on the shoulder and flashed a few hand gestures.
“2 silver he break after 1 minute.” She gestured.
“Deal, I think 30 seconds.” I gestured back.
We both turned to look at Harold, he’d gone from serene to looking conflicted. His mouth opened and closed a few times as Tim carried on asking if we could hear him. Clair was counting on her fingers and as we reached 20 seconds Harold was visible struggling to stay silent. He wanted to speak up but at the same time he also didn’t want to interrupt morning tea. However when it reached 28 seconds he couldn’t hold it in anymore.
"Hello?" Harold asked, feigning having only just noticed. I held out my hand and Clair put 2 silver coins into it. "Is someone there?" Harold continued.
"Harold, it's Tim, can I come in?" Tim called back, sounding very relieved.
"Sure come on in."
A second later the tent flap unzipped itself as Tim revealed the world to us. The sun shone over his shoulder casting his face in shadows however I could see that he was wearing a fresh set of army clothes. He looked around and saw that we were sitting around, wide awake, drinking tea. I could see the cogs turning in his head and his smile began to morph into a frown as he began to suspect what’d actually happened.
"Did you not hear me? I was calling out for a while…" He trailed off.
"I have a privacy spell that cuts off all external sounds. We were planning out our journey as well as discussing private matters. We didn't realise you were outside." Taylor lied convincingly.
"Ahh, that makes sense." Tim nodded in understanding, completely buying the lie, "Well I've been asked to bring you to the Captain. Something happened last night that he wanted to talk to you about. He specifically said that he wanted all of your party there from start to finish this time."
Tim looked directly at me as he said the last part. I did my best not to look guilty but Raven shook her head with what looked like disappointment so, I guessed I’d failed at not looking guilty. I shrugged as if it didn’t matter and raised my mug to my lips only to realise that I’d finished my tea already. I was a little sad about that, Harold’s morning tea was really good. I put the mug on the table and watched as Taylor picked it up. They used a spell to freeze the inside of the mug before giving it a sharp knock. The remnants of the tea leaves fell out of the mug as ice and Taylor handed the mug to Harold who tucked it into his pack.
“Is that Captain waiting presently?" Harold asked.
"No, he's currently debriefing the night guards." Tim replied, "The captain asked me to escort you to the mess area for breakfast and then afterwards, I'll take you to see him."
"Forgotten Gods be praised." Taylor said with a sigh of relief, "I was afraid you'd be taking us to him right away, I’m so hungry I could probably eat more than most of the camp."
“Should we pack or are we coming back afterwards?” Raven asked.
“Pack,” Tim said firmly.
My stomach groaned loudly at the idea of breakfast, much to the amusement of everyone else. It had been a while since I’d eaten. Thinking about it, I'd skipped dinner to hunt the shades and completely forgotten to eat when I came back. I hadn’t eaten anything while wandering the ruins for obvious and understandable reasons but now, food was a high priority, right after going to the outhouse. We made short work of gathering up all of our belongings and shoving them into my bag of holding. I had loved that the bag was my reward for being part of the goblin king assault squad, but now that I was using it so often I was truly enamoured with it. I had to find an enchanter who could put a self repair enchantment on it so that I’d never break it.
"Can we make a stop by an outhouse?" I asked as I left the tent and was hit by the crisp morning air.
The short answer was yes. We had to walk for a little bit and there was a queue to get in, but after everyone used them we headed for the mess area. Harold and Tim kept up a conversation while we walked, but I was too far behind them to hear what they were talking about so I paid more attention to the camp. I could see that everyone’s mood had grown dour overnight, conversations were hushed and I saw a few people just staring towards Mountain Guard. The music I’d heard earlier turned out to be a recording someone was playing to a group of marines that were working out. I started to get a sinking feeling after catching a few conversations here and there but I hoped that my speculation was wrong.
We walked for what seemed like a half hour and I lost track of the twists and turns we had taken. It was only when we emerged into a large area with two large cauldrons and a whole load of hungry marines, that I realised we’d arrived at the mess hall. The majority of the space was taken up with uniform rows of tables and benches, above them was what looked like a large sheet that covered the entire area. I felt my mana sense tingle as I looked at it so I guessed it was probably enchanted. The cauldrons were placed on opposite sides of the space and the marines lined up to get their food. Each of them was given a bowl of something and a chunk of bread before they moved to find a spot at a table and eat. Tim led us over to a queue and I looked around as we waited, the whole area seemed muted as well, groups of marines talked quietly but there was hardly any noise over the sound of spoons on bowls. I frowned, it didn’t look like they were having a bad day but everyone seemed a little nervous and kept throwing glances in the direction of Mountain Guard. After a short wait we were served a sweet smelling stew with warm bread. I thanked the cook but she just grunted at me.
"Tim?" I said, interrupting his conversation with Harold. "What happened in camp last night?"
"Didn't you hear?" Tim asked, I could see the surprise on his face, like I'd asked him the stupidest question in the world.
"Hear what?"
"The bestial roars coming from the ruins last night? It was unearthly.” Tim said, he lowered his voice as he continued. “The soldiers are worried since most of them are heading into the city to start the clean up, they are scared of coming across whatever made those sounds."
"Oh." I said.
I used every ounce of my willpower to try and keep my face neutral as the sinking feeling in my stomach encompassed me and tried to swallow me whole. I had caused the fear and unrest in the camp through my actions and not thinking about the consequences of my actions. Monsters were always loud and dying monsters usually screamed at the top of their lungs, or whatever their equivalent of lungs were. Shades were no exception to this and last night they had not died quietly, I’d had to use Lesser Regeneration to repair my ear drums a few times. I hadn’t thought about it at the time but the Marines weren’t camped that far from the ruins, they would've been able to hear the roars, screams and destruction that I, and the shades, caused last night.
Shit.
"I thought you would have heard it." Tim said his brows scrunched up in confusion.
"When I got in last night, I fell asleep right away. It's been a long few days and I haven’t been sleeping all that well." I said rubbing the back on my neck, I hoped he didn’t have a lie detector skill.
Tim’s brows scrunched up even more at my answer, it looked like he wanted to say something but his eyes darted around to the marines who were obviously listening. I stopped myself from wincing, he must have a detect lie skill and it told him that what I said wasn’t true. I needed to say something else before he started to question me, thankfully Harold stepped in to rescue me.
"It's not just been a long few days, it’s been a long few months." Harold said, his voice was gravely and conveyed his fatigue from the invasion. There was a general murmur of agreement that came from the marines around us, I looked around and saw that most of them were nodding in agreement.
"I was looking forward to a few weeks with my family before I was deployed again,” Tim confessed with a sorrowful look on his face as he stared into the distance. “But when duty calls..."
He didn't need to finish his sentence, the solemn nods from the marines around us spoke volumes. I was not envious of them, as an adventurer I travelled, going from town to town picking up jobs to help out the locals. As part of The Wanderers I got to see the world and meet lots of new people. There were only a few occasions where we couldn’t find any work and had to sleep in a bush or under the stars. I had the luxury of being able to take time off whenever I wanted, if I could afford it. The marines didn’t get that luxury, when they received their orders that was that.
Breakfast was a subdued affair after that, no one really had much more to add. I focused on the food and tried not to feel like an asshole. The sweet stew was good and the bread was a little salty which made it perfect for mopping up the last bits that refused to go onto the spoon. I was one of the first to finish breakfast and Tim told us to drop our bowl and spoon off in the wooden bucket at the end of the table. We waited a few more minutes while Harold and Taylor finished their breakfasts before Tim escorted us back into the maze of tents in search of the Captain.