Requiem.
A squad of troops arrive just as the rain starts to drizzle out. The workers having gone back to business and taking stock of any damages from the sudden storm while the Elder gives account of the events. We took our spot back under the tree to lie down while Darling had her training hive place back on the branch above us.
It turns out that the patrols that have been sweeping the countryside are suppression squads hunting down signs of the storm dragon. The gossip we picked up is that she escaped when an infiltration on the main complex damaged some of the barriers keeping her contained. During the escalation of her release, all of the enemy faction during the raid perished and thus many of the extra troops stationed at the main castle were available to scour the lands for hints of her presence. Some other stories say she just swooped in from the wilds and assaulted the castle to claim it as a horde before she was driven off.
One thing seems clear though, considering the amount of power we felt from her during our bout, spreading wanton destruction or death was not a task for her in that moment. She had far too much power to not cause a calamity if that was her desire in those moments. More reasons to foster hope that we won’t need to destroy her.
In a spot of more cheerful topics, the sergeant informs Darling that the city should have places to get licenses to transport and trade her products more officially. Though even without these she’d still be able to sell, she would just be subject to greater taxation and liability should anything untoward happen from her transportation running amuck. In civilized territory, having a monster as a beast of burden is rare, but it’s more common for travelers through the wilds.
After being told of our intentions to hitch up with the merchant who should be passing through shortly, one of the troopers recognizes the name and says to listen to their advice. Our chaperon for the trip to the city is a well-liked individual, fair in his deals, always with a story to tell or an ear to listen.
Meanwhile, we sing a few nonsensical phrases, just to test Yojimbo’s earlier assertion of the communication barrier and find that only the sergeant glances over at us. Part of us wonders if our demonstration of speech makes us seem more uncouth or less, babbling nonsense as we were. Still, we’re once again thankful for Darling’s presence. Having a translator and an acceptable voice for people to see will go a long way.
We’ll have to come up with some sort of signage, markings or symbol we can use to help reduce the chances of mishaps. Unfortunately, neither the sergeant nor their men are aware of many non-humanoid shops in the city, and so finding something to accommodate our bodies’ morphology may be a serious challenge in these lands. It’s one thing to accept a bee for a person when they can speak with you, it's another to have outfitters and clothiers that are equipped or knowledgeable about implementing heraldry for a wilds-born sophont.
With their investigation concluded and the confirmation by Elder Yojimbo that she can [Ride the Lightning], new tactics can be made to better attempt to pin down her location and deal with the threat she represents. The soldiers bid us a good day and once more we find ourselves without much to do. So, we turn our attention back to our host and ask a question we’ve had since we inspected him, “{What does LEVEL 2 mean on your status?}”
He stirs from his ennui and holds out his hand, “(Most simply, it is a measure of power. More concisely, it is about density. Although my body may be small, my unrestricted weight is closer to a horse than a child. There are methods and practices I use to reduce the impact of even my idle presence in these lands, and the only reason I can even exist here at all is because I managed to develop my body here. Even if I used ingredients from higher to do so.)”
He chuckles a bit derisively, “(There are many strange acronyms the [System] uses, but honestly: Life Enriching Variable Environmental Logistics makes sense when you sound it all out. Though in the letters I receive from those further beyond, abbreviating it further into just Lvl seems rather commonplace. Essentially though, my body is made from material an order of magnitude grander than what is found here.
“(Not necessarily more sophisticated or complex as there are some strange augmentations people do to themselves as they evolve further. My advancements are just taking my human body and remaking it out of materials of the 2nd.)”
Our curiosity peaked rather than summited, “{So, it is like tiers for the body then? Why are you the only Lvl2 we’ve encountered when there are tier 3s and 4s aplenty? How high do the tiers and levels go?}”
He starts the process of making another round of tea, bring the table out to sit under the shade of the tree and hive, “(Practically? There are seven tiers of the soul and six levels of the body, at least for sane people. Now, this is hand-me-down information from multiple layers and sources, so I don’t know how accurate it truly is. But that is the general consensus.)”
Darling joins us for another round on the table while the colony runs without her oversight, “^You use the word: practically, why?^”
He brings out some biscuits as honey is delivered to table for us to enjoy, “(Well, technically, there shouldn’t be an actual limit on either. The body limitation is just based on resources. As Requiem pointed out, I am an extremely rare occurrence of being at a higher level than the land I live in, which continues to hold true as you advance up the stages. The reason for the stopgap for the body at six is the more common cap people encounter earlier in advancing their tier past seven.
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“(Supposedly, when you reach tier 7, you get a [Quest] to make progress beyond. A quest that the vast majority of people don’t manage to complete, or at least that takes so long to do so that it feels like they never do. Thing is, monsters get the same quest that sacred beasts do at that point, and unlike people, they are compelled to victory, no matter the cost.)”
Ourselves and Darling hum our understanding, “{Which would mean that the lands at level seven are full of ancient terrors, endlessly striving for whatever breakthrough is required to go further.}”
The conversation full of interesting information made far more enjoyable with the provided snacks and air of camaraderie, “^Thusly, people have carved out a place in the lands of six. Seeking enlightenment without having to build bastions against unknowable chaos. Except for those, as you say, insane few that venture forth, never to be heard from again. Yet with such a gulf between even one and two, perhaps it is similar up there as well, with eights having no bridge to teach sixes about the path further.^”
That does raise more questions in our minds, “{Does the soul require a stronger body to advance in tiers? Your class is at fourth tier while you’re at second level, is it required to advance them together?}”
“(Yes and no. The body advancing allows for greater and easier application of force, even if you’re advancing in pace with the land around you, there is some additional intrinsic value to being a higher level that permits something grander. Similarly, a stronger soul provides more options and flexibility to problem solving, more tools to work with. And yet, there are those for whom a hammer serves them perfectly. While there are others who will continue to strive inventing ever more useful tools out of comparatively primitive materials.)”
This discussion of power and scalability goes far more smoothly than our last teatime conversation. The clearing of the air and having met one another more closely at our cores allows for easier relaxation around each other and the drift into small talk more amiable. When the merchant arrives later that same day, having rushed when he saw the storm coalesce over the hamlet, Yojimbo extends hospitality and offers introductions.
The merchant himself is a pleasant fellow, interested in wealth for sure, but pursuing a more nomadic lifestyle that promised different vistas and outdoor living. A worthy pursuit of passion with a healthy respect for social needs and customs. Something we share, being more than capable of thriving in the wildernesses, consuming light and life, but wanting to share our experience with others.
Having someone with us for this migration through life has been nice, but the solitude of a hydra is an oxymoron with the irony that our budding species is more likely to expand our social group than become a parent. Our unusual perspective lets us envision the time where Darling chooses to move on, or settle down somewhere else, maybe somewhere safer. As much as the difficulties we’ve encountered so far have been harrowing, the enrichment we’ve derived for ourselves has been sorely needed.
Things settle down for the night and the others bed down while us and Darling marvel at the sky, “{How long do you think it would take for such a vista to become mundane for us?}”
She hums to herself for a time, and she really searches for an answer. It takes some minutes of companionably silence, “^It depends on what you’re seeing. When I look at the sky, I recognize pretty colors, much the same as you, but it’s not what I see. I see flowers growing more vague and harder to distinguish, predators having an easier time ambushing. I see the world getting colder in a way that could have been dangerous to what we used to be, but now only really affects our food.
“^But we know you, Requiem, at least some of you.
“^We were born out of your kindness and raised in the song of your small delights and generosity. We hear your melodies as they echo deep within you and can taste your delight upon the walls of our home. For you? The sky above will become mundane when you are ready to move on, to see the next thing.
“^Perhaps the real question you’re asking, is how long until we see you as mundane. To that I can confidently say that as long as you’ll have us, our family will stay with you. Though even with the expanded lives of our new nature and the path to power offering potential for even more, I cannot guarantee that it will be I who keeps you company, but the swarm adores you, one and all.^”
“{Thank you, Darling.} I-I-I-I {think we needed to hear that. The grandness of this world extends to more than its beauties, there is so much potential for everything here. Just make sure you keep your voices heard as we continue to grow and advance. Don’t let us lose this on our path forward. We want to keep moving and growing, but not to the point where we…}”
“^Forget the reasons why. Or forget the choices we made that led to such a place.^”
Her completing our wayward thought another balm on our psyche. The necessity of change is not enough excuse for falling into bad habits or failing to maintain good ones.
The next few days pass in a whirlwind of exuberant conversations about business, gossip about the locals and plenty of nothing at all. We learn something new about ourselves as we play chauffeur to the talkative queen zombee. We don’t actually have that much to say. For all our earlier concern about losing sight of the little things, we don’t really engage very actively with them at all.
Darling finds this observation amusing when we speak together at night, “^There is more to being a generous, outgoing person than acting like a social butterfly. Not enjoying crowds of people, even if that crowd is an individual, doesn’t mean your heart isn’t in the right place.
“^Your fears and courage are of a different sort. You don’t fear speaking with the man, it just doesn’t interest you. There’s nothing wrong with that.
“^It takes a special kind of person to choose to preserve life, and actually follow through when presented with the dilemma’s you’ve already conquered. And don’t belittle your successes. Knowing your guide and exercising the strength to follow it are different things. My guide is my [Hive], it’s easy, simple and every mundane insect can follow that sort of guide.
“^Much like other simple things, like the [Blade] or [Vengeance]. It takes a real strength of character to find or even bother looking for the nuances in such simplicity, much less having the drive to follow something as complex and snarled a concept as your [Firstborn Mantle].^”
We acquiesce to her reasoning, it just feels like there’s something gnawing at us, in the back of our minds. Something not even DM has managed to ferret out. An instinct that something is bound to go wrong, and we need to be ready for it. But with no path laid out, just feeling a prophecy of doom and dread gets us nowhere. We just can’t seem to shake these storm clouds rumbling in the corners of our minds.
Still, these talks are helping us, we feel. Some of it is just sitting under the waves of color, scratching the itch on Graveskull’s hide and enjoying the small and greater joys our companion has in exploring something new, something fruitful.