Once again, the Trio was marching south.
After the fight, it took them two further days until they finally reached the city of Furchenstein, a fortress more than a city, really. The black walls stopped every inch of light from passing, the places atmosphere told a story of its own. No guard had anything less than full body plate armour with silver inlays. Their weapons were mostly glaives and crossbows, helping them keep their opponents at a distance.
The pure efficiency visible in every curve or plate made it clear what this place was made for. Even the areas banner depicted a severed claw. The only break to the opressive nature of Furchenstein were the silver inlays, though his affinity with magic allowed him to feel the silvers effect.
"They have anti magic weapons. They literally cut through spells. Their entire guard is made up of that, even the few I can see on top of the walls. What the hell are they guarding against?"
Goron asked, the person in line right behind them laughed.
"They keep the rogue Undead and abominations at bay, and make sure nothing from the Wyrm holes comes out to attack us. The stuff that lives down there is rumored to be worse than even the creatures those cursed Academies produce on a daily basis."
The guy told them, his gruff voice intimidating both Goron and Norman, as frostbite turned around to lick the guys head. Even at 2 meters, he was just about the size of the wardens behind, a rather unfavourable descision given the Njords lack of appreciation for any clothing more complex than a loincloth, considering wrong skin on anything else as weakness.
And while both Norman and Goron knew better than to disregard clothes completely, Goron was already sweating bullets, with no special reason for them to wear clothes.
The line got shorter by the minute, and when they approached the guards they where let through without much of a problem. Normans bedroll, weapons and their money were everything they had on them.
Inside, Furchenstein was much less opressive, the rocks utilized for building still black, as everything mined in the wyrm hole was the colour of Tar, but at least the locals made an effort at decoration, with everything between skulls and flowers hanging from the walls.
"Why is there this much bones and stuff? Aren't they fighting the necromancers or something?"
Goron asked, Norman shaking his head as an answer.
"The last time I was here, they just saw it as their duty to make sure nothing could endanger Weistrana, guard the pass and make sure the Dreadrock mountains don't come crashing down because of the wyrmholes, even if the current theory is that the wyrm are deep enough that their movements should no longer endanger anything on the surface."
He said, Goron quirking his eyebrows in response.
"So, what exactly is a wyrm anyway? That term was used for dragons where I come from, but from the discriptions it seems they are completely different creatures."
Goron asked, Norman pondering how to best answer the question before he spoke.
"Imagine the body of a segmented worm, but instead of slime, it is covered in dragon like scales. Now you switch the round head for a toothy beak with four openings and make its saliva acidic enough to melt stone. That's basically what a wyrm is. They basically sit with their mouth whide open on a wall and take its nutrients. Thoae bastarts start at barely a centimetre in length and don't stop growing until their death. Some say that the materials not used to feed them are utilized to harden their scales. And the holes they create have a tendency to become the home to whatever cursed amalgamation is the fist to search for food in there. Some say it was the Academies first attempts at flesh crafting."
The explanation was somewhere in between disgusting and surprising to Goron, especially as it sounded like someone mixed sandworm and dragon to create these monstrosities.
"And the inhabitants of Furchenstein decorate with corpse parts because that's better than them getting to the Necromancers?"
He asked, an elderly man nodding.
"Yeah, anything those bastards can't turn into a shambler is better then nothing. Burn your dead, strangle them or feed the birds with your ancestors flesh and decorate the city with your skulls. So long as it is hard to use, the government leaves our bodies to everyones family. If we weren't this important, I bet that stupid king of ours would try and have us join one of those fancy churches. But we Furvhensteiner don't believe in gods. We believe that some day our duty of guarding this place will be over, and once that happens we can die peacefully, our souls returning to wherever the fuck they are supposed to go, and so long as you did a good job fighting the hordes and holding the gates, you get whatever afterlife you plan on getting. Most guess we get teborn though, portecting some other place from the rising dead and the amalgamations. If the two of you are this unknowing, may I ask what exactly you are looking for?"
He asked, Norman answering as they had prepared.
"We are adventurer, running around and helping people out for the right price. Killing beasts, saving guys, gathering herbs. All part of our business deal, you got a somewhat dangerous job you don't want to do, you come and pay us to do it for you. We plan on becoming an official organization, maybe we can help explore the Wyrm dungeons once we got to that point, make sure the caverns are clean and good to extract ores from. You never know whether anything down there could be worth your time."
The ranger told their pitch with a bit of a melody in his words.
"Though, tonight we are mainly searching for an Inn."
He concluded, the old man smiling.
"You know what, I like your Idea. A friend of mine has a pub, for ten cnar a day, you can easily sleep there. I'll get you guys some jobs till tomorrow, your business sound interesting enought that I might have a job for you, though we can hammer out the details once you had something to eat."
And thus, the four of them went to an inn, where they sat down for dinner before they went to bed, the old man promising them that the bartender would inform them where to find him the day after.
Spoiler
Respawn (Skill) (Unique): When you die, your soul is pulled back to the character creation screen with half your levels. Once here, you can build a new character and try again.
Once you press the create button on the character creator, you will be spawned at a place appropriate for your character.
Grounding (skill)(ground): While cast, this skill infuses the targets body with geound mana and forces it to remain on a surface below it.
Dash (skill)(air): Your movement speed increases by (move*skill level).
Tag stomp (skill)(Gravity): Target a creature and accelerate towards it at (lvl) times your normal speed. Cannot be used for the amount of time needed to accelerate before impact.
Restfull petrification. (ground): Your body is petrified for the duration you sleep. While you are petrified in this way, you are considered hidden.
You will restore (lvl) times the energy you would by sleeping the same amount of time.
Jet legs [1] (air) (skill): Air mana will concentrate in your entire body and focus on your legs. Once you activate this skill, you can gather ambient air mana for up to (lvl) seconds and release it at a later time explosively. One second worth of air mana can move you (lvl) meters in any direction and push everything else away.
Groundbound [1] (ground) (skill): an area of (lvl) meters around you is flooded by ground Mana, making everything within heavier.
Blizzard aura (ice) (skill): Raise your surrounding ice and turn it into a shield of projectiles. Born from memories of a fallen goblin, this skill has been optimized to spare the user any colloteral.
Second skin (Steel) (Skill): Coats the user in a secondary skin of Mana, reducing the damage received by [lvl].
Elemental aura [0] (mod) (skill): every living being in an area of (lvl) meters around you is flooded by Mana of your choosing, affecting the target as if it stood in an environment typical for that element.
Unlocked perks
Spoiler
Fairy wings (Perk) Reduces weight by 1 kg and gives the user a magical flying speed of 10km/h.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
-10 token
Magical body (perk): Your body is held together by magic. Your body can not be dispersed by non magical means, and everything you do counts as magical. Dispersing magic will deactivate this perk for the duration. Your natural lifespan will now be extended by 10% for every point you have in Willpower.
-5 token
Magus ¤ : This Perk allows a person to interact directly with mana
Thick bones (Perk): Your bones are two times denser than is normal for your race, making it harder for your body to be moved in any direction.
-5 Token
Thick skin (perk): Your skin is thicker than that of most members of your species.
-5 Token
Blubber (Perk): You hold a layer of fad under your skin. Increases your weight by 5kg for every meter of height you have, but allows you to thrive in much colder climates.
-5
Muscles of steel (Perk): Your muscles are naturally harder and more effective at movement. Your muscles are much more resilient than they would normally be.
-10
Unlocked Handycaps
Spoiler
Slim: Reduce the amount a creature weighs by 5% per level of this handycap chosen, which can be stacked up to three times.
+1 Token
Small: Reduces the height of a creatur by 20%.
+5 Token
Heavenbound (handycap): Should you ever disconnect from the ground, gravitation will reverse for you. Any kinetic force excerted on you will be 100% more effective at moving you.
+8 Token
One armed (handycap): You only have one useable arm.
+30 Token
Bulky tendencies (Handycap): Your weight can not be reduced by more than 10% increases to your weight that hold for more than a day are permanent.
+15 Token.
Large (Handycap): Increases the height of a creatur by 20%.
+5 Token
Overweight (handycap): You weigh 10% more than your race normally does. (Can be equipped up to three times)
+5 Token