The scene greeting Ylsa and I upon leaving the confines of the Tower confused me at first. A dwarf, an elf, and a trio of humans were all assaulting Volta and Gabrielle. The pair were holding their own, but neither appeared to be willing to injure their attackers.
“Please, be reasonable.” Gabrielle pleaded as she dodged an axe blow from the dwarf. “I’m leaving Verdant forever. Right now. Please just let me go.” A vine sneaked out of the cobblestones beneath the dwarf’s feet and held him fast as she danced backward.
While the dwarf appeared thoughtful, his fellows didn’t share his momentary lapse of aggression as the three humans whirled around to address Ylsa and I.
The oldest human, the one with the best-looking armor and a blade that appeared well-worn, drew said blade back and it began shimmering with energy. “Stay back, our business is with the damned administrator, not you folks.” He took in the fact that Ylsa and I were bearing a large silver wolf and a woman on our shoulders before cocking his head to the side. “Sal over there is a [Ranger], he’ll be able to patch up whatever you need. Once we got this would-be-Lord. Just stay back and we’ll take care of this quickly.”
I wasn’t unfamiliar with rage, but the feeling washing over me at the mention of the man his fellows attacking Gabrielle struck a chord with me.
He can’t injure her, she’s mine.
Before I could shake the feeling loose I summoned a quintet of [Magic Missiles] and set them swirling around the head of Jaegan’s staff. “We don’t have time for your silly vendettas. Right now, Gabrielle is coming with us, and I’d really hate to deprive the city of one of its able-bodied defenders when I leave, but I’m not above doing so.” I pushed out with my [Lordly Aura] and the man’s knees trembled before he caught himself just before he would’ve fallen before me, prostrated.
“If that’s the case, you must be one of those noble lovers! Boys, get him!”
[Essence Reading] triggered, and I got a better idea of who we were up against. What I saw would’ve worried me a week ago, but now I just felt bad for them. They didn’t know what we’d just been through and, compared to even the [Imps] from the fourth floor of the Tower, they didn’t hold a candle.
[Name: Boyd Rolfson
Race: Human
Class: Fighter - Common - Rank D
Level: 27
Emotional Status: Angry/Triumphant]
[Name: Ignacio Smith
Race: Human
Class: Smith - Common - Rank D
Level: 24
Emotional Status: Determined/Frustrated]
[Name: Greg Thompson
Race: Human
Class: Guard - Common - Rank E
Level: 23
Emotional Status: Scared/Drunk]
[Name: Jenson Shorthaft
Race: Dwarf
Class: Axman - Uncommon - Rank D
Level: 29
Emotional Status: Determined/Cautious]
[Name: Salamontona Vinechild
Race: Wood Elf
Class: Ranger - Uncommon - Rank D
Level: 28
Emotional Status: Grumpy]
“Ylsa, don’t worry about these fools, I’ll make sure they can’t follow us.” Without a moment of hesitation, I lanced three of my five darts through Boyd’s left leg. Blood spurted out, but he kept coming at me.
He lunged at me with a glowing blade, but half a second before impact I triggered [Mana Slide] and, with difficulty, sprang up behind and cuffed him in the back of the head with a fistful of earth I’d gathered with [Elemental Mastery]. He stumbled as he turned and attempted to attack me again, but by then I was already moving to slice his leg with a blade of psychic energy I formed with [Psyknife].
It was over for him after that, as the pain of the Skill rippled through his body. He threw his head back to howl with pain, but before he could even begin his eyes rolled back into his head and he fell to the ground, unconscious. The elf and the dwarf both regarded me with cautiously optimistic looks on their faces before they turned to each other with somewhat knowing gazes.
The dwarf stood back and hung his ax on his hip. “I’d know that insignia anywhere, a grudge like this isn’t worth drawing the ire of the Ironwind Clan.” He held his hands above his head. “Ye shan’t have to deal with me any longer, lad.” He walked a few feet away and sat down against a nearby building with his arms still raised. “Elf, yer eyes are e’en better dan mine, he’s one a yer’s too.”
The [Ranger] scowled, but put away his twin sabers before moving to stand next to where the dwarf sat. “I saw the signet ring. I don’t need that old monster chasing me down any more than I need a Dragon to eat me.” He shivered, but didn’t move away from the wall.
His fellows, the remaining pair of humans, didn’t have the good sense to stop when half of their number removed themselves from the fight.
No longer tied up with the elf, Volta proved her worth as she transformed into lightning and blasted through them, putting her [Arcweaver] speed and power on full display. The two men stood there, lightning crackling over their bodies before, just like their boss, their eyes rolled back in their heads, and they fell down unconscious. She turned to look at me and I shook my head, so she moved to stand before a slightly panicked Gabrielle who was watching me closely.
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“I knew about your connection to your grandfather, obviously.” She scratched her head. “What’s this about a connection to the dwarven clans?”
Awkwardly waving at my height compared to her and even Ylsa, I shrugged and Mindy nearly fell off my shoulders before I strained to catch her. “This height of mine isn’t just for show, I am one eighth dwarf. Iron Wind Clan, just as mister dwarf over there mentioned.”
Her eyes fluttered before she nodded. “That makes a lot more sense now, I apologize.”
I noted a particularly large bag on her hip and [Essence Reading] informed me it was a particularly powerful spatial storage bag.
I turned to address the elf and dwarf. “You were wise to clear the way. We’ve been fighting for our lives for the past few days and holding back isn’t something we’ve had any practice with lately.” With a quick flex of my will I generated a System prompt and threw it to each of them.
“Accept that, and we’ll be on our way now and will not hold the actions of you or your fellows against you. Does that make sense?”
The pair read through the agreement a few times. Jenson twice and Sal thrice before they both begrudgingly agreed, but not before glaring once more at Gabrielle.
[Jenson Shorthaft and Salamontona Vinechild have agreed to refrain from hostilities with Arthur Bajbub Nielsen for the next six months as long as he and those beholden to him refrain from aggression towards the aforementioned.]
[The System recognizes this accord.]
Hefting Mindy higher on my shoulders. I waved to the pair before stopping and looking more closely at the elf. “Have you met a man named Galloway who lives near the city? I’d be willing to pay you to guide me to him, assuming you have.”
It never hurts to ask a local for directions if you’re in a hurry, even if you’re pretty sure where you’re going.
The elf’s face blanched and he took a stumbling step away from me before pressing himself back against the wall. “No one goes near his grove, at least no one who ever comes back.” The man shivered. “You can’t miss it if you head due east toward the mountains, the trees there are hundreds of feet taller than they should be.” He hesitated for a moment before beginning to walk away. “I wish you luck, young Sunbeam.”
The dwarf waited for my party to move by before moving to pick up his fellows and throwing them over his shoulder as easily as if they were bags of flour. “May your blade strike swiftly and cut deeply.” He called out behind him.
As Ylsa, Gabrielle, Volta, and I raced through the city, carrying our unconscious companions, I tried to reach out to them with the Party System, but when I realized Gabrielle couldn’t hear me, I switched to shouting. “We have five and a half hours to reach the only person I know who might be able to help with Raiju’s soul wound. He lives twenty miles outside of town and, if my mother is to be believed, he should be willing to help us.” I stumbled as I realized Gabrielle was a walking arsenal of scrolls. “Unless you have a scroll for some sort of soul healing Skill, Gabrielle?”
She sighed as she pumped her legs to keep up with Ylsa and I. “I’m sorry, but I don’t have access to anything like that. Soul healing Skills are insanely rare and, therefore, expensive, I focused mostly on cheap and plentiful, rather than rare and qualitative. I’m sorry.” She hung her head even as she struggled to keep up with the punishing pace Ylsa and I were pushing.
A large part of me considered activating [Elemental Form] and turning myself into some kind of huge air elemental that could carry everyone but Volta, but the inability to use Spells and Skills while shaped like that made it a good option for a last resort, but not something I wanted to lean on for traversal. I knew once we got out of town that I could activate [Elemental Surge], but the winding streets of Chalcedony slowed us down considerably and it took nearly half an hour to clear its confines, with Gabrielle clearing the way with the guards out the reinforced east gate before we exited and began making our way into the hills.
As soon as we cleared the treeline, I had Volta fly up and steer us toward the highest hill she could find nearby. She obliged, directing us a touch north for a couple of minutes until we arrived at the hill. It may have once been some sort of fortification, as ruined stonework stuck out from the hillside, but despite my dwarven curiosity, I kept my mind on the task at hand by checking Raiju’s Status where she rested on Ylsa’s shoulders.
[Name: Raiju
Emotional Status: Scared/Insecure
Physical Status: Unconscious, Mortally Wounded (Cause: Spirit Wound)
Current Estimated Lifespan: 10.5 Hours]
Veering toward the pair, I laid a hand on the silver wolf’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Galloway will get you fixed right up.”
She whined, but didn’t stir beyond that.
The top of the hill was littered with ruins, with the very peak surrounded by a four foot high ring of stone with a battered metal door set into a surprisingly robust doorframe.
That’s dwarven stonework, there’s no doubt. When was the last time a dwarven clan spent any time out this way? I shook my head to clear it. Jenson’s a native, so maybe his family helped with it. I’ll have to ask if I ever go back to that accursed place. I gritted my teeth. I won’t let you take another friend from me, Chalcedony, Jaegan’s body was more than enough for the cost of tuition.
Skipping the door entirely, a platform of solidified air formed under my foot as I used [Air Step] to land atop the ruin. Hand over my eyes to block the glare, I put my elven eyesight to work checking the surrounding area for the massive trees the surly [Ranger] had denoted as Galloway’s Domain.
A few minutes went by as my friends and I looked east for the grove in question, but nothing really stood out. I had half a mind to go back into Chalcedony, find Salamontona, and make him lead us to Galloway’s grove when it suddenly dawned on me what we were missing.
Groaning, I hopped to the ground and gently laid Mindy down on the ground. I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration as I began lunging around. Stretching was good for the mind and I was definitely going to need all the help I could get in that department if I was right.
“We’re going to have to change tacts.”
Ylsa hopped down lightly and laid Raiju down next to Mindy before crossing her arms. She cracked her neck. “What do you mean? Isn’t it just a big bunch of trees?” The goliath stared at me with a fervor I didn’t really feel like I deserved.
“It all boils down to travel speed.” I stopped doing lunges and walked over to stand near the [Mountain Tempest]. “I was thinking twenty minutes at my pace, barring Raiju’s help and the use of [Elemental Surge], but that was stupid of me.”
Behind me, Volta gasped and I nodded. “Exactly, I wasn’t even thinking on the right scale, let alone the right amount of miles. My mom has her own evolved version of [Elemental Teleportation]. It’s called [Elemental Step], and if she was talking about Galloway living twenty minutes away using it? He could be nearly a thousand miles away right now.”
“Want to find out? No charge.” I turned around to find Gabrielle panting as she flopped down next to our unconscious charges. “You guys kind of left me in the dust once we left the city, but I was able to follow the ozone smell from Volta.” She turned and waved at the [Arcweaver]. “Thanks for that, by the way.”
“What do you mean? Do you have some kind of [Farsight] Skill Scroll?”
She flicked her eyes side to side as she drew deeply from a waterskin. Wiping her face, she shook her head. “I’ve got a [Sending] scroll you can use. Call it a sign of good faith.” She put her hand into her bag and, a moment later, drew out a green tinted roll of parchment. “Here.”
Before I touched it, I looked her over and let [Essence Reading] and [Dominus’ Insight] loose once more on the former Chalcedony lord. Despite trusting her enough to travel with her, I wasn’t willing to risk taking something for nothing from her quite yet.
[Name: Gabrielle Honeydew
Race: Gold Elf
Class: Grovetender - Uncommon - Rank C
Level: 24
Emotional Status: Hopeful/Excited]
[If you offer Gabrielle a space in your service, you will have nothing to fear from her. Should you fail to do so, her calculating mind may eventually come back to bite you. However, you have nothing to fear from her present actions. Vassal Approval: 99.9%]
You know what? Now’s as good a time as ever. Might as well kill two birds with one stone.
“Volta, please come over next to Gabrielle.” I intoned as I watched the elf start to shift uncomfortably with her hand still extended with the jade green scroll hanging limply.