"There's no way in hell you're naming that thing Mossy, Harold." Livia crossed her arms and wore an adamant look, while Kalle, Oscar and Nalai were all nodding gravely.
Even the pup seemed to object with a dismayed look.
"Oh fine, we'll brainstorm later," His eyes wouldn't leave the creature, despite him knowing enough to keep his distance and let the pup approach first.
Nalai finally hopped down from the boulder, with one hand on her satchel and the other her staff; she landed with a grace no purely humanoid form could manage. While she did have an upright torso, and arms and hands as you would expect from an advanced civilization so similar to humanity’s own… Her legs on the other hand looked nearly all elk, except for the upper part that was exquisitely balanced where it met the torso.
The large head was the most characteristic part, with the large brown eyes and square pupils. It was like looking into the face of Rudolph or something, with a keen intelligence looking right back.
Livia was shaking in excitement rather than fear now that she no longer felt in danger, but it seemed their time would be cut short.
“I must take my leave as of right now, my business here took longer to conclude than I had hoped…” The [Druid] looked them over closely, with her eyes coming to rest on Harold. “If you stay true to your path we will be peers next time we meet,"
Then her eyes met those of the other three in turn. "You will come to learn a lot, if you don't like what you hear then I suggest you fade away and live a quiet life rather than oppose us who search for change… Otherwise, should you find yourselves enemies of the Cloven’s true purpose; then learn swiftly to expect no quarter."
Then she turned around, with her flowery garments sweeping her shape with a sweet fragrance. Then her form started glowing and she took two long steps before touching a tree and disappearing in a green flash.
They looked at the spot in amazement for several minutes. Was that a genuine teleport?
Then Livia noticed something left on the ground, it was a strange earthen jar filled to the brim with slightly glowing honey… And then Harold noticed, to his chagrin, that the last of his special apple brew was gone.
The strange words left them all a bit dismayed… Sure, there had been some rocky parts in the interaction; but by the end there they had figured they were about to part as friends.
Now the confusing words cast the whole meeting in shades of doubt.
At least they all felt certain she was not interested in attacking them, which was a huge relief considering how the stranger was clearly high-leveled.
"I suppose we should head back tonight, I don't really want to chance any more random meetings," Said Livia.
On that they could all agree. They had taken a risk coming here, and ultimately it had paid off. But that was quite enough excitement for one night.
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The trio woke up at the ruins for a fourth time and felt like it was almost becoming a second home out here.
Livia woke up and hated life, the wilderness, not having a bed. Everything on her body that hurt. She craved civilization, or the semblance of it, at any cost.
She stared murder at the chipper Harold who woke up with his usual boundless energy and soon took off because he smelled some berries he recognized.
Being Classless sucked, was Livia’s final conclusion.
Despite being able to accept a Class her options were severely limited out here.
[Hammerer] was an option, but Livia knew she wasn't built for combat nor manual labor.
And that was human versus human she was thinking of, let alone human versus Ogre, or any of the other races with Classes she might have to face in this world.
Perhaps Kalle might be willing to lend her his wand to see if she could get [Warlock], but that was just combat in a different style really.
So, she wasn’t interested; despite the allure that magic held. She knew from the books that even seemingly mundane Classes got magical abilities later on if you leveled them correctly.
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Now they were headed back for Salcret, and Harold was egging the mosswolf pup along with continuous bribery. They got lucky with some edible yellow mushrooms along the way, reminding her of chanterelles, but overall the mood was one of introspection.
Once they stopped for supper Livia felt that it was time to once again share what was on her mind. "So, I appreciate the support back there, and your understanding why I did what I did,"
The boys were all sat around the fire, and they took the words amicably; evidently not feeling the need to respond beyond a nod.
"I’ve thought of a few more things we could do to be better prepared; not that we're likely to face any more dangers now, between here and Salcret, but still,"
No objections there. "Alright. Let's first off list what we're working with, and if you've thought of something I missed then you better know to speak up, later on all our lives could be on the line and depending on our preparation."
That earned her serious nods all around.
This was the summary they worked with; Livia, 1 Skill, [Big Hammer] followed by Harold, 10 Skills and Spells; [Roar of the Wild], [Nourishing Remains], [Nature's Resistance], [Regenerating Form], [Ruptured Earth], [Bond of the Forest], [Spore of Dreams], [Primal Domain], [Touch of Chaos] and [Voidthorn's Grasp].
Then there was Kalle, who was still one level higher and halfway to his capstone, with his 10 Skills and Spells, [Fort of the Mind], [Telekinetic Push], [Esper's Balm], [Escape Room], [Wailing Bolt], [Ritualistic Practice], [Mental Domain], [Prize Familiar], [Mind Blast] and finally [Words of Fortitude].
The biggest unrealized potential was clearly Kalle, he had several Spells dependant on him learning to use rituals and summon creatures from other realms, but he had no Spellbook or teacher to show him a single one, and the only one he had to practice was one to use some stones in order to communicate with ghosts… And guess what; the interesting ghosts weren't exactly hanging around looking to talk with teenagers.
It was a huge area of his Class that was going neglected for too long, but the plan had always been to deal with that sort of thing once they got to Dormata. Now they needed to start thinking on their feet.
When it was all laid out like that Harold realized he'd been so focused on his own issues with realizing his potential that he had not even noticed his friend struggling to an even greater degree.
Kalle hadn't even been working on [Telekinetic Push, considering it too weak to be properly useful for a long while yet. He felt each time he used it how any improvement would come at the cost of a tremendous amount of training hours, and so originally he had wanted some proper direction first, to make sure he was doing it right.
And so his main focus then, had ended up being [Esper's Balm]. It was the one thing keeping him leveling, coupled with [Wailing Bolt] during the incident, which was another Spell that Kalle had yet to fully figure out.
In comparison [Mind Blast] was rather simple in nature, although perhaps even that one could be hiding some hidden potential if you figured it out more deeply.
At least they had Livia here to help out now. "I understand why you didn't use [Escape Room] when you were facing the mosswolves Kalle,"
The reasons were multiple, first off the Spell was costlier the more targets you needed to trick, since it was ultimately just a mental illusion. And second, it didn't last long enough to give you more than a headstart in a place like a forest. You couldn't hide for long versus such creatures in their natural environment, because of their sense of smell; and then their speed meant you needed more than a headstart to actually make an escape.
"But consider this Kalle, despite the primary use being in illusion to help your flight, it can still serve as a distraction while you reposition for something more offensive. Make sure to incorporate it especially if we face something with a ranged attack… It could really prove invaluable,” That did open some doors that Kalle hadn’t considered, and he gave her a grateful nod; which encouraged her to go on while looking at the others. “you need to be ready to use it right away, and the rest of us need to react accordingly, if we're ever shot at,"
They kept going through Skills and planning for different scenarios, despite the fact they were on their way back to safety.
It was clear Livia was serious about them only wintering in Salcret; they would need to keep working tirelessly… Because once spring arrived they were all headed back out to find a place where they could finally start to build something amazing.