The scout riding towards the front of the pack suddenly hunched over his mount, clutched at his stomach, and turned pale. He let out a long, pained, groan.
“What?” Cain demanded, urging his spider forward to ride beside the man.
“My bond… she’s dead.” the scout grit out, sweat beginning to form across his brow.
“How could you be so careless?” Cain snarled. Not only would future scouting endeavors be slowed until they bonded a replacement, but now he’d also be down a healthy fighter until the scout stabilized from the spiritual backlash. That could take months.
“How was this my fault?” the scout protested angrily, “You’re the one who ordered an attack on that mysterious spirit beast.”
Cain scoffed dismissively before turning to his other scouts, “Did either of you see how the vulture died? Did the unknown beast land a decisive blow?”
They both shook their heads until one of them spoke up, “It hasn’t been much trouble at all, actually. It’s weaker than we feared despite its higher rank. It hasn’t even been able to launch a proper attack against the vultures! My bonded reports that she just dove into the rock.”
“Mine only heard the death cry. He was gaining altitude for a dive when she passed him.” the other reported.
Maybe the beast had inflicted an internal injury somehow? Or, maybe it had illusory or perception altering abilities. If it were more specialized for mental assaults that would explain the lack of direct attacks they’d seen so far. While Cain thought over his options for how to proceed, the scout that just finished speaking also let out a cry of pain. Cain’s head snapped towards the now sickly-looking man.
“M-mine’s dead too.” he hissed, “I don’t know what got him.”
“Pull the last vulture back!” Cain ordered. This was unbelievable. Exactly what kind of creature were they up against?
----------------------------------------
Samantha watched the second vulture slam into a nearby boulder, its neck and wings twisted at odd angles. The 30 qi she invested to kill the last vulture had been a touch more powerful than she needed, so she only invested 20 qi into [Telekinesis] this time. The 20 pounds of overall force was clearly still sufficient to keep both of the bird’s wings from opening. As she focused her attention on the final bonded vulture, it quickly began flying away from the butte and back towards the approaching raiders.
You’re not getting away so easily.
“Silas! Launch an [Antler Shot] towards the last bird.”
“I won’t be able to hit him. He’s too far!” Silas warned.
“I’ll take care of the aiming. Just shoot in its general direction.” she assured him.
She watched with interest as Silas gathered energy at the center of his forehead. In spectral form she could actually see the blue qi coil up and form itself into a sharp spear before the antler began to physically materialize. She wondered if this would be the case for other arts and abilities as well, but put that line of thinking aside for a different time. She floated over Silas and grabbed hold of the base of growing projectile with 1 point of qi into [Telekinesis] to anchor her spiritual body to it.
After the antler grew to about 1 foot in length and 1 inch in diameter, the blue energy retreated from the bone itself, gathered at Silas’s forehead, and the spear was shot into the sky at the speed of a crossbow bolt. Samantha was smoothly pulled along behind the antler, then–using her past life’s example–she put 10 points of qi into [Telekinesis] to accelerate and control the path of the missile.
Despite her insight into [Telekinesis], this particular maneuver was far from easy. Her past self had spent years working on perfecting this technique, but even that version of herself had trouble with small, fast moving targets like this vulture. She had made a name for herself as an exceptional artillerist due in part because most ships were slow, large, and easy to sink so long as she struck near the waterline.
As Samantha approached the vulture at a breakneck pace, she became less and less confident that she could accurately hit the small, wobbly target. Making a last second decision, she turned the antler vertically to give it the largest striking area. A breath later, the antler impacted in an explosion of feathers and blood.
It took a moment to evaluate the damage through the debris that obscured her vision, but as the vulture plummeted from the sky it became clear. She had missed the vulture’s body entirely, but had sheared off a majority of its right wing. It now tumbled end over end towards the ground a thousand feet below, unable to right itself. Making use of the last couple of seconds of [Telekinesis] to ‘help’ gravity along and ensure the bird’s demise, she accelerated the vulture downwards a touch faster than was natural. When the beast crashed into the sands and its residual energies began gathering in its chest to form a spirit pearl, there was no question in her mind that it was dead.
She saw the sandcloud kicked up by the pack of desert spiders shifting course to approach the fallen creature, and decided to stick around to observe their reactions. After a minute of waiting, the raiders arrived.
“What the…?! What is that foreign beast?” one of them questioned, rushing over to the vulture’s carcass. “How did it take out all three birds so fast? And from that distance?”
Cain dismounted and knelt down to inspect the corpse as well. After a moment, he cursed, “Can’t tell what killed it. Body’s too busted up from the fall.”
“We should’ve never joined you!” a pale looking cultivator accused, “All you’ve done so far is gotten us and our bonds killed. First, the failed plateau hunts that lost us nearly half our crew… now, this?”
Cain gripped his caster with white knuckles and turned on the man, “You dare question my authority?”
The man’s eyes drifted to the weapon and he licked his lips nervously, but he stood his ground.
“It’s not just him.” the Low Bronze spoke up, straightening up to his full height and staring Cain down. “Nethershot is a powerful tool, but it’d be just as powerful in someone else’s hands, I think.”
Cain shifted his grip on the weapon so that he held it in both hands. It was currently pointed at the Low Bronze’s feet, but that could change in an instant. Cain snarled at his fellow raiders, which seemed to be surrounding him in a predatory half-circle. Only one Mid-Bronze raider stood beside Cain, looking ready to defend the leader.
Cain barked out a laugh, “You think you misfits can take me down? You forget your place. I’m Peak Bronze, and even if all of you were Low Bronze it still wouldn’t be enough. This weapon is a symbol of my power, not the source of it. Half of you don’t even have your first combat art yet!”
While they stood and argued Samantha was unexpectedly pulled back into her body. She jolted awake and clutched at her chest, which still fiercely ached from the poisoning she’d endured.
“You’re back!” Silas chirped happily. He bounded over and bumped his head against her leg in greeting. “The birds were all falling! How did you do that?”
Samantha briefly petted his head while she stood, “I got a new skill. It lets me interact with objects without touching them. I was able to keep the first two birds from opening their wings, then guided your antler to hit the fleeing one.”
“Did it work? Did we scare the enemies away?” he inquired.
“Not yet. But I think we’re close. The raider group seems to be fracturing because they aren’t happy with their unexpected losses. Can you keep an eye on the group and let me know if they start moving again? I’m going to see if I can make things even worse for them.”
The raiders were uncomfortably close to their butte now. The lack of notable landmarks and seemingly endless sands made it difficult to gauge distance, but she estimated they were only a mile or so away. Once the raiders resumed travel, it would take only a few minutes to reach them.
“Will do.” he affirmed.
Samantha used [Cloud Step] to quickly descend the butte and reach Harold’s makeshift alchemy lab.
“Back already? That was quick. Thought you said I’d be alone for hours.” Harold commented absently, focused on swirling a liquid in the round beaker in his hand.
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“There’s been a change. The raiders are coming right now.”
He set the beaker down and shifted his full attention to her, “How long do we have?”
“Their group is infighting right now so they’ve stopped their advance, but they’re close. Maybe a mile away? 10 or 15 minutes is a generous estimate depending on how long they take to sort out their disagreement.”
Harold clucked his tongue disappointedly, “Not enough time to make anything really nasty then. Shame.”
“I might be able to buy us a bit more time. Do you have anything ready right now I can throw at them?”
He gave her a questioning look, “You can accurately hit them from a mile away?”
“I can now. I got a new skill.” she said with a nod, choosing not to elaborate further.
“Take these then.” he said, giving her a handful of finger sized vials. “A direct hit with these will give them a real surprise.”
She took them gingerly, “What do they do?”
He shrugged, “Painful burning, horrid stenches, terrible itching, extreme nausea… I thought we’d have more time so I made the easy stuff first.”
“Will these affect a Peak Bronze?”
He extended his hand, palm down, and wobbled it back and forth, “Questionable. I’d say that the most likely result is that these will be irritating and uncomfortable. For anyone below Low Bronze, though? I’d bet on it being near-crippling–at least for the short term.”
“They’ll still be helpful. Thank you. Also, I recommend starting to climb to the top of this butte. It’s more defensible up there than here on the ground.”
He grunted in displeasure, “You expect me to make that climb without falling to my death?”
Samantha briefly considered carrying the man up herself, but she wanted to strike while the iron was hot, so to speak. Attacking when their enemies were already in disarray was preferable to risking the raiders settling their issues before she made it to the top. “Never mind then. I’ll stay down here with you for now. Pack your things though, because I’ll be moving us shortly.”
Rather than give a verbal response, Harold started packing up his supplies.
Samantha moved off to the side so she’d have a clear path to throw towards the raiders, “Fair warning, I’m going to throw these and then go limp for a little while. I will know if you do anything weird to me, so don’t even think about it.” She didn’t really believe that he would take advantage of her, but it felt dangerously vulnerable to leave her defenseless body behind with the older man.
Harold looked at her affronted, “As if I’d even consider it. You’re much too young for me–I could practically be your father!”
“Glad we’re on the same page.” she responded simply, feeling slightly relieved.
“Uppity brat.” Harold mumbled under his breath, unaware that she could clearly hear him with [Prey’s Awareness].
Ignoring him, she used another trick she’d gleaned from her third eye insight into [Telekinesis]. Putting 5 qi into the art, she encapsulated the entire bundle of vials in a ‘container’ of force. By allowing the force to spread around and between the vials, it gave each a slight protective buffer so they wouldn’t knock together and accidentally break. Drawing her arm back, she carefully gripped the potions and threw them in the general direction of the bandits. Just as the projectile was leaving her fingertips, she used [Spectral Projection] to reach out and wrap her hands in a loop around the vials to attach herself to it. Then, she began accelerating.
The sands blurred beneath her as she quickly approached her target. Even traveling at this speed, she needed to renew her [Telekinesis] once more as she passed the 10 second mark. As the raiders came more clearly into view, she was pleased to see that they were still standing off against each other. She shifted her path slightly so that she was aimed for the largest mass of people.
Because she had started her throw at ground level, by the time she was ready to initiate her attack she was flying close to chest height–perhaps four or five feet in the air. She still had a few seconds left before her last renewal of [Telekinesis] expired, so, once she was around 100 feet from the group, she invested another 15 points into [Telekinesis] to give her 20 pounds of total force to work with. Splitting the vials so she held three in each hand, she smashed the glass together in front of her. The freshly released liquid cloud in combination with the extreme speed she was traveling resulted in a wide cone of misery being sprayed over the raiders and their mounts.
She was uncertain if the effects of the concoctions would be altered upon mixing in the air, but if the raiders’ reaction were anything to go by, the potions maintained their potency regardless.
Half of the sand spiders immediately began burying themselves in the ground, while the other half scrambled and skittered in every direction. Several raiders started simultaneously screaming and clutching at their eyes and throats. Some had tears and snot streaming down their faces, while others were busy uncontrollably vomiting. Cain, despite faring much better than most of his crew, dropped Nethershot in favor of covering the lower half of his face with the crook of his elbow and rubbing at his watering eyes.
Seeing a unique opportunity, Samantha snatched Nethershot from the sand and began carrying it off before the group regained their senses. Unlike when maneuvering an item already in motion, it was more difficult to get the caster up to speed as she flew. She could feel the moment that the initial 5 points she’d invested into [Telekinesis] dropped off and she was left with only 15 pounds of force because her acceleration noticeably slowed. Worried that they’d catch on before she got far enough away, she tried to fly faster to somehow compensate for the decreased acceleration. However, she was promptly reminded of what her insight had already informed her: if she tried to move the caster faster than [Telekinesis] could keep up with, it would suddenly feel impossibly heavy and start to slip from her grip. Still, after the initial hiccup of getting used to how fast she could fly with the foreign object, she began returning to her body at a good clip with the caster in tow.
After renewing [Telekinesis] twice with 10 points of qi to maintain her flying speed, she finished her journey and set the mystery weapon down next to her prone form. Checking her qi pool–which had been full at 177.6 qi when she first started fighting the vultures–she saw that she only had 56.5 qi remaining.
Yeesh, this skill is expensive!
Returning to her body, she stood and brushed away the sand that clung to her armor and the side of her face, then picked up Nethershot. She ran her fingers lightly along the many engravings in the metal, and turned it over in her hands a couple of times. Mimicking how she had seen Cain holding it earlier, she pressed the ‘Y’ shaped wooden portion into her shoulder and held the long, metal rod parallel to the ground by supporting it with her left hand. Her fingers naturally found their way into slight indentations near the middle of the metal rod that she hadn’t noticed before.
“Where did you get that?” Harold asked, approaching her and giving the odd object and curious glance.
“I stole it from the raiders. It’s some sort of weapon, but I don’t know what it does or how it works. I saw the leader of the gang holding it like this though.”
He held out a hand to her, “May I?”
She was a little worried about handing over something so potentially dangerous to the man, but couldn’t spend too long fiddling with it herself. She needed to get them both to higher ground before the raiders came.
“Get your things first. I’ll fashion a rough rope system to tie us together and you can look at it once we get to the top of the butte.”
Harold obliged, and a couple minutes later Samantha was well on her way up the rock face while acting as both a safety anchor and pulley. Two circles of rope were looped over her shoulders like backpack straps, and Harold had a basic three-loop set up around his lower body–one loop around each leg and the third around his waist. Their harnesses were joined by a 20 foot rope lead.
Despite taking on the additional burden of Harold’s gear and the caster herself, Harold was still a much slower climber than she was. He scrambled up the rocks below her to try and keep up with her rapid pace, but inevitably ended up losing his grip or being pulled up by Samantha in several sections. Surprisingly, apart from the occasional expletive when he fell and their makeshift harnesses were put to the test, he didn’t complain. Whenever he fell Samantha’s sure grip (and the occasional catch with [Cloud Step]) kept them from losing ground. After 20 minutes of effort, she finished pulling the exhausted man up over the last cliff lip and onto the rocky top of the butte. She had to admit, she was tired too. This was the third time today that she had made this climb.
Your efforts to improve yourself have borne fruit! Training to master your body movements in combination with pushing your body beyond its current limits has granted +1 to Strength.
This brought her Strength up to 14, which was nearly three times what the strongest mortals would ever possess.
She unloaded all of the equipment onto the ground and set the caster down next to Harold, “Here. Just be careful with it.”
“Any movement from the raiders yet?” she asked Silas.
“They started going farther away for a while. Then they stopped. They haven’t come closer yet.”
She kneeled down next to Silas and followed his gaze. Sure enough, the group seemed to be a touch further out than they were before. There was a lot of general movement coming from the raiders, but she couldn’t tell exactly what was happening from this distance. As tempted as she was to check on the aftermath of her stunt, or launch another joint [Antler Shot] attack, she needed to regain some of the qi she spent. Given that [Telekinesis] was so expensive to use, she wouldn’t feel comfortable using it to attack again until she’d regenerated another 30 or 40 qi. That would leave her sufficient cushion if it came to physical combat and she needed to heavily invest in her other abilities.
As she contemplated different approaches and strategies, she watched Harold study the caster with interest. He held it in different positions, squinted at the engravings, scratched at some parts of the wood with a fingernail, and even went so far as to lick and tap random portions of the metal. After a couple of minutes of tinkering he nodded to himself with a self-satisfied smirk on his face.
Harold tucked the wood into his shoulder and pointed the end of the rod towards a nearby boulder. A moment later, every engraving lit up with a dim, purple glow. A low hum came from the weapon for about half a second before a beam of purple light shot from the end and hit the rock. The area directly around the impact point turned red hot as if the stone was metal freshly pulled from a burning forge. Then, the boulder exploded outwards and showered the area with fist sized stones.
She immediately threw herself over Silas to shield him from any debris. Two stones ended up striking her, but they bounced off her armor without leaving any lasting damage or injury. Once the rain of rocks stopped, she checked on Harold’s condition.
The man had collapsed on the ground and looked like he was going to faint, but he wore a wide smile, “I think I figured it out.”