Chapter 5 - Contact?
As Minucia’s words of warning sank in there was the sudden sound of a horn and a clash of drums ringing from all around them.
They watched on as the wood and flames of the fire in the middle of the room crackled into the air. Floating as if levitated the fire swirled in a blaze of a deep crimson hue before igniting in a blinding flash.
As the flash of light cleared where the fire had stood a moment before was an enormous crystal. It had a conical shape and an undulating surface with flame like tongues sticking out that referenced its origin as a fire but coloured a vibrant red, it gave a subtle pulsing that made it seem as if it had blood pumping below the crystalline surface. As Palinus looked into the crystal there was an internal glow that built intensity to a crescendo of flashes as humanoid shapes began to appear in the room, already marching away.
The minions were strange looking creatures. Their bodies were misshapen with strangely bulky forelimbs and slender bodies. Their skin was a leathery reddish pink and they stood on two legs. If you looked at them from a distance they might have passed for a naked human but their odd proportions, ungainly gait and complete hairlessness marked them as distinctly inhuman. The first minions were carrying a shield and sword made of bone but as the sixth, seventh and eight minions came out they were missing a right hand and instead had a thick tube for a forearm ending with a sharp protruding bone that they carried like a weapon.
Melee Minion 425/425
Ranged Minion 260/260
“Each Nexus makes them slightly different, but Erulean minions are always unsettling,” Minucia whispered to Palinus as she noticing him staring, “... like our daughter's drawings of a person.”
“Let’s go then! Good luck and stay safe!” she wished them as they followed the minions out of the Nexus, splitting up to follow the diverging minions out the two different doors to their respective lanes. Marcus came with Palinus and Bruchts as they went right. Bruchts and Rufian dawdled as they reluctantly separated.
They found themselves stepping out of the temple into a gloomy forest. As they left the nexus they were walking on a high terraced area perched above the trees. The terraced stonework and the nexus temple behind them was the bright white of albumstone tinged with the red glow from a massive column of light emerging above them. As they reached the edge of the terrace they stepped down to one of two cobblestone roads leading through the trees.
In the distance there was a piercing green light in the mild sky. The opposing Nexus.
“Yeah,” Marcus grunted, squinting at the opposing nexus in the distance, “definitely Silvanian.”
As they walked Bruchts waved his iron poker around, getting a sense of its weight. He stabbed and whacked at the wall of greenery to their right, it made a satisfying crunch noise but the surface of the greenery rippled rather than break like true leaves and branches. The boys played with the strange effect as they walked, the barrier seemed soft if poked gently but hard if struck. Marcus shushed them occasionally as he focused intently while they walked.
The minions they followed moved with an oddly choppy motion. As they marched every movement was completely synchronised by the group which emphasised the unusual cadence of the movement and while they seemed to take a lot of effort their actual speed was an underwhelming stroll.
Along the cobbled lane there were occasional gaps in the trees that formed pathways into the forest. As they walked past Marcus looked into the forest and occasionally grunted or nodded. The boys didn’t get close, heeding Minucia’s warning to avoid the forest. Amongst the trees they could hear the noises of creatures, a loud rattling and hissing seemed to be coming from just inside the tree line and further in something roared fiercely.
At one of the gaps in the trees a clump of high grass obscured their vision standing above head height. Marcus was on his guard as they neared the opening and rather than check it, he moved to the far side of the lane as far as he could get away from the grass and the boys emulated this caution.
“Unless you are completely certain they are not, assume their whole team is in the bush waiting to ambush you.” Marcus advised the boys as they made it past without incident, “There will be more of this brush in no-man's land and the forest. Don’t go in until we have accounted for their team, and if someone from their team is missing…”
“Assume they are in the bush…?” Palinus supplied.
“Aren’t you a fast learner?” Marcus nodded and smiled. He seemed to have a thought and made a decision, “Here, a favour.”
He channelled some essentia into a calculii on his hip activating an ars which caused him to leap in the air and bring his club down with a smack on the last three minions in the pack they had been following. They were knocked over and took a small amount of damage, staying on the ground for a full two seconds as the melee minions continued on in front of them.
“This should make their minions push towards you. See if you can stall them just out of range of the tower. Let the essentia pool under the tower and when it spawns something. Report it… and for bloody flames’s sake report any movement of their avatars”
Without another word Marcus rushed off through a clear gap into the forest.
Bruchts and Palinus continued to walk in silence towards the massive tower at the end of the lane.
“Do you know how we are supposed to ‘report’” Palinus quietly asked Bruchts, who just shrugged in response.
“Splintery balls,” he swore.
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With Marcus disappearing into the forest they were alone and the danger of what they were doing crashed back into focus. He didn’t know what he was doing, and he was in a life or death predicament. Palinus was starting to feel extremely nervous.
He mentally inventoried the situation, he had:
> A weapon that he had first touched today, which would occasionally not work. He was also concerned that without a proper calculii it might just be useless and do no damage.
>
> No idea who he was about to go into battle against.
>
> Information on how rifts work learned through stories and a 5 minute introduction by a kindly aunt type and her taciturn husband. Which all mostly warned of the danger of what they were doing than any practical guidance…
Bruchts put his hand on Palinus’s shoulder.
“Breath.”
“... But we don’t know how to report… and if we don’t report he will throw us under the tower…”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Bruchts shook his head. “He’ll be back.”
“How do you know that? He jumped up the chimney and left us here.”
“He’ll come back,” Bruchts repeated with certainty, “for loot.”
The words grounded Palinus. Marcus had been insistent that they tell him if something dropped, so if they didn’t he would almost certainly come back to check on them.
“So we make a big pile of essentia, then he can’t be mad when he comes back.” Palinus reassured himself.
As they walked under the tower the forest cleared out ahead and they could see a wide area of lane and they could now see the opposing minions and tower.
But Palinus’s eyes were drawn figures that looked like giants walking assuredly behind the wave of puppet-like wooden Silvanian minions. The enemy avatars.
There were three of them.
“Splintery balls,” Bruchts agreed with Palinus.
“We’ve got two up here so far.” Minucia’s voice sounded in Palinus’s ear as if she was whispering right next to him. “I’m looking at some classic shepherds… Marc, I think they are actually shepherds! One has a crook! So cute!”
The boys could hear the mirth in her voice which clashed with Palinus’s fear.
“I guess that’s how we are supposed to report.” Palinus whispered shakily to Bruchts.
Palinus gulped as he stared at the three avatars standing behind the enemy minions. They all seemed huge, wearing thick animal hides and carrying big weapons. Their green tinged skin was rugged and rough with bushy hair that bounced as they moved with flailing tufts of moss streaming from them. Their features marked them as Silvanmen, the men of the forest and the traditional enemies of the Erulean Empire.
He had heard so many stories but Palinus had never seen a fully fledged Silvanman. They were the boogeyman of children’s stories where they would trick an Erulean child into the woods where they would be eaten. In Palinus’s favourite story all the children of the town were sacrificed and their organs draped around a grove of trees.
“Palinus? Bruchts? Are you seeing Silvanian avatars?” Marcus’s voice rang in their ears.
They looked at each other and shrugged helplessly.
As they watched and waited the two sets of minions neared each other. Marcus's interference didn’t seem to make a difference at first, the Erulean melee minions met the Silvanian minions at the precise middle point of the lanes.
The minions marched until they met each other in their synchronous queue. Then, as soon as an opposing minion entered the striking range of their opposing minion, it stopped moving suddenly as if the strings controlling it were cut and both opposing minions would simultaneously strike at each other.
The melee minions battled in a clustered line as the ranged minions fired at the first melee minion that entered their range. The Erulean ranged minions shooting bone bolts from their arm stub and the Silvanian tree like ranged minions shooting what looked like little crossbows. The minions all struck with exactly the same tempo creating a rhythm of wood smacking flesh and bone thumping into wood.
As they watched and waited, a long ten seconds passed and the first lumpy Erulean melee minion’s health was beaten down to zero by the wooden Silvanian minions, its chest filled with wooden bolts. The defeated minion simply popped and three beads: a red, green and blue drifted to the ground.
The essentia dropping snapped Palinus out of his spiralling thoughts. The red bead of light on the ground called to him, begging to be picked up and he took an unconscious step forward.
Bruchts steady hand on his shoulder again helped Palinus focus.
The big teenager had his iron poker out and held low, at the ready. He walked with assured steps, flicking the heavy iron object slightly as he moved, shifting the spike on the end from right to left. Palinus knew that Bruchts was a talented fighter. Being in the same cohort they had sparred many times in the gymnasium and the big boy was fierce with a sword, amongst the best on the 7th Hill.
Trying to emulate his big friend's confidence, Palinus lifted his wand pointing it at the Silvanmen standing behind the minions. He gestured it at each of the men and tried to look threatening.
Reeve Umfridus 704/704 | Level 0
Savage Thug - Bruiser / Warrior / Thug
Reeve carried a long knife and a heavy wooden baton. He stood at the front of the group and had a mean look. He glared at the boys fiercely and spat as he met Palinus’s eye.
Raoulet Umfridus 685/685 | Level 0
Forest Warrior - Bruiser / Warrior / Defender
The second man was talking, making animated gestures at the boys and the brush around them with the wood cutting axe he carried.
Reinvar Umfridus 610/610 | Level 0
Unformed
The third man looked only a bit older than Palinus and Bruchts. He shared the massive frame of his relatives and held a boar spear in one hand as he stroked his wispy facial hair. There was a similar look to the three men and from their names Palius assumed they were related.
Their size made Palinus nervous and he made a decision to avoid getting too close. He imagined the axe swinging for his face or the spear sticking through his ribs. But Bruchts didn’t seem to share his fear.
The big blonde teenager stalked back and forth behind the archer minions. As he moved he was watching the Silvanmen closely.
Catching Palinus’s eye as he looked back towards him Bruchts gave a meaningful glance and gestured at the enemy. Suddenly he made a dashing step forward and started to charge at the three men. He ran with his iron poker raised for an overhand strike.
The Silvanmen reacted instantly to his charge, the scary one stepping forward eagerly and the other two stepping back into defensive positions.
As he reached the cluster of the minions he slowed as quickly as his wild charge started and whacked at the first Silvanian minion. He struck three times in quick succession with tremendous force making solid sounds of iron against wood like a woodcutter with a blunt axe. As his third blow came down the minion popped with a wave of phantom splinters and the sound of a split log, dropping essentia to the floor. This minion dropped a scattering of smaller essentia beads and Palinus quickly surmised that this was because some of the essentia had gone directly to Bruchts.
The Silvanian minions had made no reaction to the brutal death of their comrade, but mere moments later the second Erulean melee minion died and the enemy archer minions started winding up to fire at their next closest target, Bruchts. Who noticed them targeting him too late to get out of range.
As he shuffled backwards and turned to run, all three shot their wooden bolts. Striking with a meaty thwack they pierced his tunic and stuck in his flesh in a neat row on the back of his shoulder. He grunted as he quickly moved back to where Palinus was standing. As soon as he was behind the Erulean minions the ranged minions changed their aim.
Rather than pain or fear in Bruchts eyes were wild with an excited energy, he was in his element. He grabbed Palinus and shook him with his injured arm.
“They are worried about the bushes!” Bruchts excitedly whispered, “They don’t know where Marcus is and can’t get close until he reveals himself.”
Bruchts 538/610 | Level 0
Unformed
Palinus was as shocked by the other boy’s lack of response to being shot. “Didn’t that hurt?”
“Nah, shocked me for a moment but it didn't really hurt. Like when someone tickles you too hard, uncomfortable” The bolts had disappeared as he showed Palinus tiny punctures which barely bled, giving them a slap to show that they weren’t bothering him.
Bruchts 556/610 | Level 0
Unformed
He seemed to be healing slowly as they spoke. The sleeve of his tunic also seemed to be repairing itself slowly, threads of linen wormed and stretched one by one across the little holes as if they were weaving themselves closed.
“We can do this!” The big blond teenager practically yelled as he turned back to threaten the Silvanmen again.
The feeling of unease hadn’t left Palinus entirely. He wanted to be confident like Bruchts was, but when he looked at Reeve...
The scary Silvanman’s eyes promised violence.