"Run! Run fast, run far! Danger's coming, closer, closer—can’t you hear it? Thump-thump, thump-thump! The ground trembles, the air shivers! Don’t look back! Never look back! Ha-ha! If you see it, it’s too late!" Parroting the Wise.
Our professional Explorer was sniffing. We were away from the Slyhill safe Zone. I managed to get a few short conversations with Zeek the Explorer, but he seems to be a man of few words. I say man because he is male, but I don’t know if he is human. He has some elf features, but there is something else in the mix that may not be human.
As we travel, he is away from the main group more than with us. He sometimes goes out with the scouts, sometimes with Alistern and often alone. He is always on foot and never seems to tire. It is obvious he is travelling slower than he would if he was alone.
We have made camp for the night. “Can I ask what you are sniffing for?” I ask.
He looks at me in silence for a minute, and I am not sure he is going to answer when he says, “I am sniffing to see what Wandering Trials are in the area.”
“What? How?”
“A skill.”
“Is it a Skill you can teach?” I asked.
“Don’t know. I am combining Mana Sense with Mana Compass. Do you have either of those?”
“No. I have Mana Sensitivity, though.”
“Humph,” he grunted. “Just sense the flavour of the mana. It might work for you.”
“Are there many around?”
“No. There is a trial break west of here, and they are all circling to pick off what they can over there.”
“I am not sure I understand.”
“When a Trial breaks, it not only releases its monsters, but it’s patterns that other trials can pick up and then use.”
“I still don’t understand.”
“Then go and ask your elf lady. She is the expert,” and the conversation was over.
Sensing wandering Trials would be helpful. I cast out Mana Web (Sensing), getting a sharp look from Zeek. He can sense that, huh? Mana Web is for sensing things I can’t see. I didn’t even know it was possible to sense wandering Trials, but as it is, this is my best tool. I focus on combining it with Mana Sensitivity. Mana Web is only Level 3, but Mana Sensitivity is Level 8.
This time, I will widen the web out as much as I can. Trials will have a strong mana signature, so wide gaps in the weave should be fine and not so easy for other people to detect.
I was not sure what I was sensing. Zeek said there weren’t many around so I guess it was not surprising I can’t sense anything as such. I will practice keeping the Mana Web active and see what changes.
My tracking has increased in the last four days, and it has provided Pathfinder with more information. Zeek has had us take some detours from the general direction we were heading several times, and I don’t know why. I asked to accompany him on his scouting trips once and got a sharp “no.”
I did go out with the Guard Scouts a few times, and this helped my Tracking and trained my Observant Eye. Farsight started Levelling as we scanned the distance, and the scouts pointed out key things in the landscape and wildlife to watch for.
Rob didn’t have as much stamina as the horses, so I spent a lot of time running, so he was not carrying my weight. Free Runner was good, and I quite enjoyed it most of the time. The point in Endurance helped a lot, as did Steady Footing. I couldn’t keep up with Zeek, though. He must have multiple running and endurance skills.
Zeek didn’t interact much. I did overhear Alistern ask him about the Burning Lake, and he gave a small smile and said, “Two extra for Endurance.” He added two to the endurance he already had. How many did he have? That is insane. It explains why he never stops. He never needs to.
The Guards wake early every morning and go through a training routine and some sparring before breakfast, and we set out not long after dawn. I started to join them. I am awake anyway, and it is abundantly clear I need to level my skills. Alistern is a better Swordsman than I am, and his Sergeant is OK with a sword but amazing with the spear.
Practising against Sergeant Juth and her spear was great for me. She gave me some tips on my own Basic Spear work. The guards seem to be of the opinion that you should be competent in all common weapons as well as your specialisation. That included the mages and scouts as well as the healer. The Guard minimum for a full Private I level 5 in Basic Small Blades, Sword, Unarmed Combat, Spear, and Shield. Then, they would have a specialisation area.
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Healer Austin would do the rounds of the people and animals after their practice session and make sure everybody was good to travel. I think he had some specialist animal healing abilities.
Zeek was never seen at this time. I assume he was out planning the route for the day.
We encountered a number of beasts. Some we avoided, and some the Guards dealt with. There was a massive pack of Howlers we couldn't avoid. The Guard took the front line and dug trenches, as we had plenty of warning from the scouts. We had to protect the horses.
It was a large pack of over three hundred, but howlers were not individually strong. Alistern and the Scouts had trapped the area to thin them out, and the two squads of guards spread out on each side and showed their coordination and competence in dealing with them.
Rob and I took one side of the horses and cut down the ones that got around the guard. None went through the guard. This wasn’t a big threat, so I practised with my Basic Spear. I pulled out the large spear I got from the Orc in the trial, the one I used to practise with Juth. I need to improve all my skills, and Thrust, Quick Strike, Slash, Bloodletting, and the Holy, Death, and Burning Strikes all benefit from being used with a different weapon, although only Bloodletting and Death Strike actually levelled alongside Basic Spear.
I also took the opportunity to experiment with Nights Embrace and try casting it lightly over the fight. It was daytime, so this was more difficult than it would have been at night. I also tested how Umbral Cold worked with this. The light application of Nights Embrace meant the movement and senses restriction part of the skill didn’t really work at all, but it was enough for Umbral Cold to work fine.
The Spear is never going to be a favourite, but there is no excuse not to have a minimum level of proficiency. Especially as I will have short spears on hand, which are going to become my heavier-range weapon. The same levelling is needed for my Basic Shield. I also have Basic Archery and three trained scouts to learn from.
I started going out with the scouts every day, and we would hunt meat to bring back for the group. The Create Arrow skill can only create a basic arrow, and to be truly effective with a bow, you need to craft arrows. There are also skills that will imbue the arrows with elemental effects, and I put them on my list to get, but they were not high on my list. My throwing skills were much better than my archery and would always be my go-to ranged skill.
Hunting had the effect of levelling my Butchering Skill. This sped up the skinning and field butchery, and I learned the Skinning Skill. One of the Scouts had a charm called Prepare Hides, which was good for cleaning the hide and making it useable, but not full leather. If I was going to spend time in the wilds, that was the sort of useful charm I needed, and I could use the hides for shelters and repairs without the lengthy cleaning, salting and drying that was normally required.
I found I was not riding Rob much. We were better at operating separately and were improving our coordination. I was also improving my wards and using them in my Traps. I had never really used my Create Traps Skill, and it only levelled because of the synergy with my Wards. The Scouts also showed me the effectiveness of a good trap. Setting a snare trap with a ward was even more effective.
Setting a Trap and then having a massive Lizard appear on the other side of the prey is really good at making them run blindly in the opposite direction. Rob is good, but his acidic poison tends to spoil the meat almost as much as my Death Magic. Rob has never got the hang of spitting poison like the head of the Cerebus I fought. His tongue is coated with it, though. That tongue can be lethal.
Travel is not good for working on my Wards. I need a stable place to work, and I can’t do it while travelling. The evenings are generally busy, so I have limited myself to making notes about ideas, but I can’t test them.
My map tells me we are taking a roundabout route. I am not sure why, but I shouldn’t have known where the destination was, so I didn’t want to comment. I am sure Alistern at least had the map I stole a look at, so he knew what was going on. There was a permanent trial out this way, so maybe we are heading there first.
We were halfway through the day when I saw Zeek appear and talk with Alistern, and he stopped everyone.
“Gather up everybody,” Alistern said. “We have an incoming wandering Trial, and I am not sure we could avoid it if we tried. However, I think it is one we want to do. Zeek has sensed similar trials before, and it seems to be a Hunter-type trial. This is the sort of challenge we are looking for.”
“What if we get moved while we are in it?” Mayantha asked.
I noted she did not object to going in. Wandering trials are a risk, and this must be one of their objectives on this trip.
“Zeek says it is not fast-moving, and the Hunter-type trials usually have the simple, clear option of just finding the exit. We should be able to find an exit fairly easily with Marvin and Zeek. However, depending on what it is, we might want to stay a couple of weeks. It might shorten our trip, we might have further to travel, or it might do nothing. That is the risk we take.”
I looked at the academy crew. None of them seemed surprised or afraid, not even the two younger assistants, Cybil and Walter. Hilke worked with Myantha in Trials, so they were looking forward to this. Then there were the three Historians: Rylark, Elf History, Esdras, World History, and Barnard, Historic weapons and warfare. They were just getting ready. The last member was Taan, and she was an artefact specialist.
“We have about half an hour, so get ready. There is usually a safe zone for the first few hours, but don’t count on it,” Alistern finished.
“It is possible we might not arrive in the same place, so form groups,” Hilke said.
People got ready and checked their weapons. Most people were ready, and most equipment was carried in spatial bags on the person, not the horses.
The two squads of soldiers formed a party, one with the healer and Sergeant and one with Alistern. The Academics were split: I was with Myantha, Hilke, Barnard, and Walter in Alistern’s group, and the others were with the Sergeant. They had the healer, so that group had the less able people. I assume Zeek was with the other group, so we each had someone with directional capabilities.
I tried to extend my Mana Web further. Rob should be fine coming through with us as he is a summons, but the ordinary animals, like the ones from my original group of entertainers from the Lands of the Undying Lord, will be picked up by the trial and held separately. Rob already wore his Stealth harness.
Then I felt it in my Mana Web. It was unmistakable. The Mana felt like an old forest but also like a powerful predator stalking me.