In winter, it hadn’t been as noticeable, but since spring had come and started fading steadily into summer, it became clearer that the southern lands were considerably warmer than the previous climate he’d experienced.
Not that Tim minded, exactly. He generally enjoyed warmer temperatures. He’d never traveled anywhere it was truly achingly cold, just Central Europe in winter, so he wasn’t sure how well he would handle extreme low temperatures — perhaps not as well — but he’d never yet found a place too hot. Still, the heat did come with downsides, he had to acknowledge. For one thing, it slowed down their travel noticeably.
Most of his companions had quite high Con stats, considering their high levels, which made them somewhat resistant to the temperature. They weren’t in any danger of heatstroke, even those who were wearing heavy armor. But fighting in the heat still wasn’t fun, and it also didn’t improve their smell. Tim occasionally cursed his overly sensitive nose. Finding waterways, especially once they traveled further off the normal paths, was harder as well, given that a few small streams outright dried out in the summer heat.
It wouldn’t have been a problem if they didn’t have to travel discreetly, more so than he would have preferred. Tim didn’t waste time complaining about it or stewing in resentment, but he did occasionally think wistfully of the comforts he really should enjoy as a senior diplomat of a powerful country visiting cities that usually claimed to be the heart of civilization or something in that vein.
Not that he never experienced these, of course. Even outside of Veragles, he had been gracefully received in several cities. The issue tended to be more that everyone considered it safer for them to travel discreetly, which meant going without additional attendants or pack animals, and so traveling lightly. And, of course, the places that did not receive them warmly tended to be decisive about it. It was one of the reasons he agreed to the need for discretion. Tim wouldn’t put it past some of the more … extreme conservative people or factions he’d seen or heard about to send assassins after his party. Not with propaganda against the Hivekind being just as present here as it would have been north of the Alps, if perhaps more subtle. Whether it was about killing barbaric monsters whose predecessors had led to the ruin of civilization, or discouraging potential ambitions from their new empire to the north — either way, he’d already had to fight quite a bit on this trip.
And it was getting worse, because now they were not only at risk of being hunted or chased away by well-armed xenophobes, they were also traveling through a contested area. Several cities, and apparently one local enclave of elves — smaller than a city but still fearsome, from what he’d heard — were claiming this territory. It had changed hands a few times over the last century, and several skirmishes and minor border wars had been fought. Naturally, it led to a drop in population density, and an increase in crime and banditry, which didn’t exactly make the roads safer. And that was only on the surface. Apparently, the cities were still moving against each other and simply trying to take over the area more subtly, for the moment.
At least, that had been the latest information Liam told Tim. From what they’d encountered since then, he was more inclined to think this supposedly mostly-cold conflict was becoming a real war again.
Maybe he should have chosen a different route. It was a little late for that, though.
Either way, the summer heat coupled with the danger and frequent fights made travel singularly unpleasant, and it seemed to invite his companions to complain, which only made it more unpleasant.
“I can barely see anything around here,” Ash was whining. “Hills, trees, weird tree gardens, and when there would be free space, there’s a heat haze. It’s super annoying. What I wouldn’t give for some Swarm Drones.”
“Please shut your mouth about your drones,” Tirias returned, wiping his forehead. “It was annoying the first few times. And sightlines are the least of our issues here, it feels like my clothes are permanently merged to my skin. If I don’t get a cold bath soon, I will never be rid of them. I’ll have to carry sweaty linen around with me forever.”
“Thanks for that mental image,” Tim muttered.
“Please show a little more discipline, Tirias,” Anuis reprimanded him. “Or at least spare us the hyperbole.”
“I didn’t say I would let it affect my combat performance, Commander,” he answered.
Iliam laughed. Tim would have expected their dwarf guide to be more adapted to cooler temperatures and thus show the most discomfort, but he was in remarkably good spirits. He suspected Iliam was enjoying their suffering. That thought shouldn’t bother Tim, but he had to wrestle with the sudden urge to punch him for a moment. Maybe it’s also getting to me more than I thought.
Or maybe it’s the separation from the Hive. How many days has it been now since I heard Mother’s voice in my head? Sensed my siblings? He pushed that thought away, as he always did. There was no point dwelling on it. Mourning a cut-off limb didn’t make it grow back. Well, it was more like a limb that had fallen asleep but he couldn’t move it to wake it up, in that analogy.
The thought of cutting a limb off was not particularly aversive, either. If it got him closer to returning to the Hive he suspected he might do it in a heartbeat. But he pushed that thought aside, too.
“Hey, Tim. Are you okay?”
Eduard’s question stirred him from getting too far inside his head, and Tim nodded back, faintly grateful. “I was considering our next stop,” he said, half-lying. He was only thinking about it now. “Since there seems to be war on the rise and I’ve been told they don’t like foreigners at the best of times, I was wondering if it might be wiser to skip the next city, Iliyan, at least for now.”
“We would have to go around it, most likely,” Anuis pointed out. She frowned, chewing on her bottom lip for a moment, then caught his gaze. “That’s not to say I disagree, Tim. I’m not sure it wouldn’t slow us down overall, though.”
“There are ways, I think,” Iliam finally spoke up. “We’re already off the beaten path, as they say. I could guide you to the next city on your list just as easily, my far-flung friends.”
“That’s nice,” Tim said drily. “Are there secret tunnels bypassing the city that we don’t know about, or something?”
“Well —“ Iliam started, but before he could continue, he was interrupted by Alvol, who was currently ranging ahead as their primary scout, raising the alarm.
He barely had time for more than a shout for their attention before something crashed through the trees in front of them. The group wasn’t actually inside the copse of trees yet, and it was more of an orchard of olive trees, though overgrown, than any kind of forest, so it didn’t actually hide the big monster currently lumbering towards them. Tim’s eyes just took a second to adjust. It was huge. Like some kind of troll had been blown up beyond all proportion.
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“How the hell did that hide from us?” Tim muttered even as he unsheathed his sword.
“Invisibility,” Liam said, deadpan.
There was no more time for banter; instead, Tim barked at the others to assume formation and put himself at the right of the front line. Magic and ranged attacks were already crashing down on the monster.
Troll Golem — Level 61
“Travelers, comrades, friends!” he shouted, activating his most and least favorite Class Skill. It was cheesy, sue him, he hadn’t had any time to choose his words. “This monstrosity thinks it can bar our way. We will show it what an error that assumption is! I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not have more time wasted before we can get in the shade and wash the heat off us. So we’ll defeat it without even breaking a sweat! What say you?”
Not my best work, he mused.
They’d had a lot of experience fighting as a group by this point, though, and Tim barely needed to direct them to do anything. Liam hung back, more comfortable in a different kind of fight, and also the lowest leveled. Tony hovered somewhere in the back line. Tim ignored the local adventurers and instead focused on his core party, trying to judge the impact of their attacks on the troll.
It didn’t seem to be very high, unfortunately, even augmented by his Rally, though admittedly the bonus wasn’t very large just now. The monster’s skin was as thick as several elephants and it seemed to simply shrug off any arrows or javelins they tried. Even an enhanced shot barely scratched it. Its eyes were set pretty far up, tiny in its immense form, and swaying as it moved. Magic barely had more of an effect. He did see it flinch back as Eduard shot a Fireball in its face. But either his aim was off or it had some kind of resistance as well, or just managed to dodge better than its size implied, and it just kept on coming.
It was rather slow, though. “Back up,” Tim ordered the others. “Slow and steady. Let’s keep our formation. Ash, make sure the path is clear.”
Ash disappeared into the brush to the side of the road without delay, and Tim knew he’d find the best spots in the area and see if there were any other people or monsters around, as well. Tim turned his attention to the monster instead, trying to judge its pace. It was deceptively fast because of its long legs, even if its gait appeared lumbering. Moving backwards, they wouldn’t be able to outrun it for long. Maybe long enough, though.
“Switch to focusing on its movements,” Tim said. “Slow it down. Try to tangle it up if you can.”
As expected, Alvol immediately conjured shadowy graspers to lunge for the troll and try to keep it pinned. Tim had seen that attack stop high-level monsters in its tracks. The troll was perhaps too strong, though, and still managed to push forward — at least until the others got into it as well. Vines shot up from the sparse ground to join the shadow constructs, Anuis shot some sort of special arrow tugging a rope along from her bow, which had to be a Skill effect, and Eduard switched to conjuring water and then freezing it.
Tim squinted, trying to catch if he’d seen what he thought he’d seen. There, again; the monster’s foot was on the ground for a moment too long, and it tilted just a bit too far to the side.
“Good thought,” he said. “Everyone, try to get it to slip and fall over, support Ed’s ice with your abilities, then be ready to keep it pinned down.”
He readied his blades, coming to a stop with the rest of their front line fighters. But it wasn’t needed. They spread more ice, the vines twisted in a spiraling pattern into rope, and Tirias shot a surprisingly massive javelin right past the troll’s nose. A moment later, it slipped again, only this time it didn’t manage to catch itself. With a crash that could probably be heard for kilometers, it thundered to the ground. Immediately, the others set to securing it, slipping formless shadows, vines and more ice into strategic places to deny it leverage to move its arms or get to its feet again.
It wasn’t dead yet, but that was just as well. Tim slowly lowered his sword and stepped forward, still cautious. He took the opportunity to take a closer look at the troll as he walked around to its head. It was massive, definitely more than ten meters. The head was comparatively small, sitting atop a short, thick neck. Despite that, its proportions seemed correct and it looked well-formed, with smooth surfaces and proper angles.
“Is it just me or does it seem a bit off?” Tim mused, coming to a stop and looking up into the eyes of the monster.
“The System description said ‘golem’,” Anuis noted. “Do you think it was created by someone?”
Tim frowned, looking back at the others who were coming up behind him. “Iliam?” he asked.
The dwarf shrugged. He was also frowning as he looked at the golem. “I haven’t encountered one of these guys before,” he said. “But I did hear a few stories when I was passing through here first, a few months ago. Didn’t think they got this big. It does sort of look like a golem, though, I suppose. Have you seen the material it’s made from before?”
Tim knocked his hand against the shoulder of the monster, if it was one. Hard, no give, and no minor unevenness or cracks like you might expect in rock, but it produced a sound closer to knocking on metal machinery. “Some kind of alloy, probably,” he judged. “It doesn’t immediately strike a chord, but I’m not an expert. If Tia was here, she’d know more.” He grimaced a bit at his own words. Heaven, he he wished Tia was here. He missed her. But they had more important things to think about right now than pining.
"Who would have made it?” Anuis asked.
Iliam shrugged. “I doubt it was anyone recently,” he said. “This area doesn’t really have the kind of big forges you would need, as far as I know. It might have wandered in from elsewhere. Or lied in a ditch somewhere until some poor sod stumbled onto it and activated it. It’s hard to know.”
Tim frowned. He had the feeling it was a bit more than that, but he didn’t really know. The Hive would have the capability to make things like this. He wasn’t sure about any local powers; Iliam would know better than him, though.
“Is there any point to keeping it … alive, or active?” he asked after a moment.
“Not unless you want the roads to stay just a bit less safe than they could be, boss.”
“We could take a part of it along for analysis if we dismantle it,” Alvol suggested.
Tim nodded. “You’re not sapient, are you?” he asked the thing. It didn’t react, just continued kind of staring at him with empty eyes. “Didn’t think so, but I had to check,” Tim muttered.
“Did you?” Nucme asked.
“My Queen wouldn’t like it if we killed some monster person without talking to them just because,” Tim shrugged. “Although it did attack us.”
Fortunately, it was pretty easy to kill — or ‘kill’ — it now that they had it immobilized. They worked together to cave in its chest and then sever its head. Wherever it kept its heart or power core or equivalent, that did the job. Tim poked around in what they had reached of its insides for a bit, joined by the few more technically interested people in his group. Ash was still scouting. Then he took a few pieces of plating, a random sample of a more deformable substance from its chest, and the others packed the head into a bag. Anuis suggested they bury the remains in case they needed to come back for it, which took a while, as well. Tim’s blades weren’t really suited to digging, but he did his best, though their mages’ contributions helped more. They marked the spot discreetly, and then could finally be on their way again. The aftermath had taken a lot longer than the fight itself.
Finally, they finished up and got going again. Tim breathed a secret sigh of relief and rolled his shoulders, loosening up. Now he could turn his thoughts to how they would proceed again.
“Where are we going?” he asked after a moment. “Opinions?”
“Our conversation previously was interrupted,” Anuis noted, “but I believe we were coming to the conclusion that we would avoid the nearest city for now.”
“Iliam, you mentioned you could guide us to the next city on our list?”
“Yes, the monster had bad timing,” the dwarf said with a smirk. “The answer to your question, however, is yes, your lordship. To both.”
It took him a moment to recall what exactly they had said. “Don’t tell me there actually are secret tunnels bypassing the city?” Tim asked, blinking.
“Fine, then I won’t tell you,” Iliam grinned, “but I can show you.”
“Huh.” Tim considered it for a moment, then shrugged.
“Cool!” Ash agreed, stepping out from behind a bush. “That should be interesting. You’ll find we are experts in underground tunnels, secret or otherwise.”
Iliam looked him up and down for a moment, then glanced at Tim. “That’s nice.”
Tim swore he heard one of the others grumbling under their breath, asking when they were going to get there. But when he looked back, they were all straight-faced.
He suspected they were thinking of their crossing of the mountains, but it probably wouldn’t get as dangerous. Still, he was curious.