Vel and I woke up from our little nap in time for the evening meal. I wasn't surprised she had snuggled against me for a while and fallen asleep. The molt had been hard on me but I had no doubt that it had been hard on her too. She cared too much, and to see me in that state … it probably brought back some bad memories.
We needed to talk about it.
My stomach growled just as Vel woke up. I heard her muffled giggle. We'd do that after the meal since it looked like molting made me very hungry.
I poked her in the waist.
"Let's get off the web," I said, "I'm famished."
"Yeah, me too." Vel admitted. "Hopefully I can keep the food down. I'm still a little unsettled from the …" She trailed off.
"I'm sorry … I didn't expect it to be that … gruesome."
"You don't have to be sorry for anything," she cupped my face in her hands, "it's part of you now and I need to get used to it. I admit it was distressing. It just … made me go back to the temple. Where I couldn't …"
"I understand," I pulled her closer and kissed her forehead.
"But I don't want you to stop on my account, you hear me?" Vel said firmly. "I'm the one who needs to deal with my feelings."
"Doesn't mean I can't give you the space to do so. We don't need to move fast, we have plenty of time to get used to things. My exoskeleton will need some more time to fully harden anyway, I can feel it's still a little soft."
"Maybe we can find a way to make it less painful too?" She tapped her chin.
"We have some books from the fort and temple, maybe they'll have something, or the data inside the enchanted bracelet. I picked a language spell to help with deciphering them."
"Yeah …" Vel rolled away from our embrace, on her face was a bright and hopeful smile. "By Gaia, we're both healers. We have to be able to figure something out."
"We didn't exactly get to finish out training though …" I remarked.
Vel slapped herself on the forehead. "Why didn't we get Ailuin? That was so dumb!"
"I think we got too used to relying on ourselves," I admitted. "Let's involve him in the next one …"
She jumped off the web and summoned her clothes.
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"Feels weird to have short hair …"
The first thing I noticed on the way through the village was that my hair had grown a bit. Around five centimeters in length. The deep blue cobalt reflections had also gained a lighter silvery hue as well.
"Looks like it's growing back pretty fast," Vel remarked and ran her hand on my thorax. "You'll be back to your fluffy self in no time."
My new color also garnered a few questions from the villagers. A few even worried that I had gotten sick from something. I simply explained it was due to a skill. There was no need to mention what it entailed with kids around.
The Wanderers were already waiting for us. It seemed that the table we had chosen on the first day had become our de facto meeting place. Hamak was the first to notice the changes to my body from afar, likely his excellent vision as a ranger. As we approached, I could feel that the entire group was bursting with questions.
"Oh, by Gaia! Just ask," I huffed.
"At least yer direct!" Gwynn burst out laughing. "What bloody happened? Ye changed color!"
"And her hair seems to have shortened as well," Katherine added.
"You mentioned the need to molt earlier." It was Elyssa who guessed correctly.
"Molt? What's that?" Asked Darrel.
"They didn't teach you that at that fancy castle of yours?" Katherine teased the human with a friendly smile.
"My tutors didn't exactly focus on the kind of education an adventurer needs…"
Was he some kind of runaway noble? I had taken him for a knight, or at least someone trained as one, but I hadn't expected someone of such high standing. Maybe he had been disgraced? Or it was possible he was so far from inheriting that he had preferred to take his chance adventuring.
"When spider-type monsters evolve," Elyssa explained, "they undergo a process called molting, where they shed their old exoskeleton for a new one. The discarded exoskeletons are a prized crafting material."
"I see …" He nodded. "Is this some kind of class evolution?"
"It's bound to a skill. I need to molt to increase the rank but I have no doubt that my class evolution requires one as well. I'll see when I get there." I shrugged.
We were interrupted in our discussion by the food being delivered. I thanked the chef and filled my plate with much more food than usual. I could feel that the molt had taken quite a bit out of me.
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"What did you intend to do with the discarded exoskeleton?" Hamak asked me as we were walking back to our house.
"I wanted to use at least some of it to improve my armor when I get it refitted." I said. "I'll probably keep the rest in storage to study it and to repair my armor."
"It is a wise decision," the orc nodded. "I would caution against selling it to anyone. Some of the more radical elements, those that do not approve of the Guild's policies towards hybrids, would likely want to study it as well. Likely to determine how to best hurt you."
"Of course there are people like that …" I sighed. "Life is never simple after all."
"No, it never is…"
Once Vel and I were back in our annex, the first thing I did was store the exoskeleton. It was a bit of an eyesore in the middle of the room and I took Hamak's words to heart. I doubted anyone in the village had any ill will towards me, or they would have voiced it by now, but it never hurt to be careful anyway.
Vel and I didn't stay up too long. I continued to read the books on enchanting I had picked up in Nis while we snuggled together in the web. On her side, Vel had borrowed a book about exotic plants from the village's library.
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The next day, we went for a quick breakfast then returned to the annex with Katherine and Elyssa. It was time for us to unpack the corpses of the invaders that were stored in my amulet. I had originally taken them to look for clues and discover their affiliation after all.
"You have the corpses of three Crimson Lys members inside your storage item?" Katherine asked.
"I stored them during the attack," I said, "and forgot about them since we were more concerned about reaching civilization and raising the alarm when we found Nis empty."
"I see …" The foxkin woman paced around. "It's the first time I hear of any of their members being captured or killed. Not that it's impossible, mind you, but they tend not to leave any meaningful traces behind."
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"Is it possible that they are looking for them?" I asked. "With a scrying spell or something?"
It was something we needed to be very careful about. I didn't want to bring them to Asril either.
"How long has it been? Around two weeks, right?"
"More or less," Vel confirmed.
"It's probably safe then," Katherine said, "scrying is difficult and expensive for most mages. I doubt they have someone actively searching for them."
"Could they have a beacon of some sort?" Elyssa asked. "I've heard of them being used sometimes."
"Dang it! Good catch Elly! Yes, it's entirely possible they have beacons. Those things are expensive but it's them we're talking about here…" Katherine said with a hint of frustration in her voice. It was fairly obvious she had a bone to pick with the Crimson Lys and considering their proclivities …
I started to think. There were wards to protect against scrying, I had brushed against them a few days prior, and there likely were spells as well. One of my divine domains was protection … Was it this simple?
"I have access to Protection and Knowledge domain spells with my priestess class." I said. "I can search for one that protects against scrying."
"Best to be prepared," Vel said. "I'll look as well."
Katherine nodded and I saw Elyssa take her hand. The two were obviously close but I wondered if there was something more between them. Though it wasn't really my place to pry. If they wanted to keep their relationship quiet, they had every right to.
I sunk into my status screen.
Before I picked new spells, I wanted to look at which options I had for specializations and increase my priestess skills to their maximum as well. I wanted to stack the deck in our favor as much as possible.
Raised Skill Divine Magic to rank 5, level 100 for 55 ES (+220 levels)
Raised Skill Divine Domains to rank 5, level 100 for 55 ES (+220 levels)
Secondary Class
Mystic Priestess
Skills (2/10)
Divine Magic - Rank 5, Level 100
Divine Domains - Rank 5, Level 100
Patrons
Gaia, Lolth
Spells
Domains (6/10, 32nd)
Knowledge (3/3), Healing (3/3), Protection (3/3)
Magic (3/3), Arcana (3/3), Runes
A major increase in spell level and four more domains to choose from as well. I wasn't sure which ones I should pick but it was a problem for a later date, I already had the ones I wanted for the moment. As for the specializations … I found five that grabbed my attention.
Oracle
Requirements
Rank 4, Knowledge Domain, Divine Magic at rank 3
Skills
Knowledge Mastery - Increases the power and amount of Knowledge domain spells
Language Mastery - Allows the deciphering of languages at an increased rate
Eye of the Farseer - Allows scrying spells to pierce protections and reach further
Shroud of Secrecy - Prevents scrying spell from finding you
Inquisitor
Requirements
Rank 4, Knowledge Domain, Truth Domain, Divine Magic at rank 3
Skills
Truth Mastery - Improves the power and amount of Truth domain spells
Investigation - Improves the accuracy of deductions and improves gathering of evidence
Stratagem - Improves the ability to devise plans and combat strategy
Truthseeker - Improves the ability to tell lies from falsehoods
Astrologian
Requirements
Rank 4, Runes Domain, Arcana Domain, Divine Magic at rank 3
Skills
Arcana Mastery - Improves the power and amount of Arcana domain spells
Major Arcana - Draw a major spell as an Arcana
Minor Arcana - Draw a minor spell as an Arcana
Split Deck - Allows to split a spell deck into multiple draw piles
Valkyrie
Requirements
Rank 4, Healing Domain, Protection Domain, Divine Magic at rank 3
Skills
Healing Mastery - Increases power and amount of Healing domain spells
Protection Mastery - Increases power and amount of protection domain spells
Life Bond - Equalizes Health between multiple allies
Sacred Soil - Reduces damage taken by allies around you
Sage
Requirements
Rank 4, Runes Domain, Magic Domain, Catalyst Skills, Divine Magic at rank 3,
Skills
Divine Catalyst - Allows the creation of Divine Magic catalysts
Ritual Catalyst - Allows the use of catalysts to anchor a ritual
Spell Duplication - Duplicate a spell when cast
Spell Synthesis - Merge two spells when cast