Journal Entry #42
Finally got to meet that cleric, and befitting a follower of the god of knowledge, he was able to answer my questions on just about everything. That was, until the encounter grew weird…
To start with, he clarified that without a network of other casters supporting me, I’d be on my own when learning new spells, finding a reliable hunting party to make ends meet, or defending myself if I get accused of breaking the laws.
I wasn’t too thrilled with that prospect, so I thought I should ask about the possibility of becoming a cleric. Never hurts to check and see if there are other options, right? In response, the guy started laughing hysterically at me, saying that there was no way Ignitious or even Apheros would ever accept me as a follower, then set a hand on my shoulder to give it a pat. He suddenly stopped to stare right into my soul with his creepy huge Ashman eyes and whisper, “You’ve got a rare affinity, a kind heart, and a mind full of imagination. No one will force you, but you’d be squandering your potential if you don’t enter the hidden gully.”
He then sent me away, claiming that he had a favor to go cash in.
Here’s the thing though… I never once mentioned what my affinity was, or even what coven the witch belonged to… How did he know that?
---
Travis
Shadecaster Valley – Campsite #1
Night was falling fast with the nearby mountains raising the horizon, and our delays left us with barely any time to set up camp.
“Mattius, Treblana, and Travis; report for duty.” Captain Adaline ordered over the channel after speaking to the logistics officer.
I waved a quick goodbye to Lancel, then hurried over with the others to my squad captain and the corpsman standing next to her.
“This is Corporal Gerrard, you’re to assist him with setting up our Forward Operating Base.” She turned her attention to the corpsman, “If these three give you any trouble, report to me and I will ensure that disciplinary measures are taken.”
Gerrard saluted the captain before she left, then shrugged and turned to extend a friendly hand to us, “I doubt there will be any need for that. It’s always been a pleasure to work with Earth Mages.”
Mattius shook hands first, “What do you need us to do?”
The corpsman finished greeting us, then pulled out a binder and turned to a wax-coated page, “I need to take some measurements first… this might be a tight fit… but, with you three able to create stone pillars for us, we can save time putting up walls and even get a little fancy.”
I took a look at the diagram with the Earth Mages, and almost thought I was looking at a mansion layout for a second as I scanned over the details. The main entrance to the tent was a rectangular mudroom/armory with a wide entrance door on one long side. Three vertical rooms then connected perpendicularly, two longer ones on the right for the men’s dormitory and gathering hall, then a shorter dorm on the left for the women. A kitchen was tucked into the remaining back left corner, extending out past the gathering hall, then squaring off the structure with a connected washroom and utility space.
Mattius looked up, sent a few nearby rocks skittering across the ground, then nodded his head right as the corpsman pulled out a measuring tape, “It’ll fit once we shave off the cliff face for the pillars. Do you want us to flatten the ground as well? There’ll be a six-degree slope to the front left corner if we leave it as is.”
Gerrard (‘Thanks Arc!’) gave my Packer friend a bewildered expression, looking back down at his measuring tape, then back up, “Has every Earth Mage I’ve worked with just been humoring me?”
Treblana belted out a laugh, “No, he’s just an armadillo. Can’t tell you the compression limit of a brick or survey ground layers using mana like a sensible Earth Mage, but…” she paused to playfully smile at Mattius, “he can save us a few minutes measuring things by hand. So, I guess he won’t be completely useless.”
“Well, in that case… I suggest we leave it at is. If it rains on us, I’d rather leave a direction for all the mud and water to drain. Heck, if you want to cut a step between the armory and the rest of the tent to stop us from tracking in outside, I won’t stop ya.”
We quickly discussed a few more details before splitting off. Mattius walked with the lead corpsman, marking off where each pillar was to go, then joined Treblana in pulling off chunks of orange stone to salvage materials before erecting the columns and supports. I ended up hanging tarps and was fascinated by the engineering put into them. Each square of canvas had reinforcing webbing sewed onto both sides in a spiderweb pattern, allowing the front and back of separate tarps to sew together with a small overlap. I could only imagine the countless number of configurations that could be made. My job ended up quite simple, since I only needed to make eyelets out of stone for them to secure the assembled canvas, then slide them up into position. It took a full hour for us to finish, going past sundown and requiring me to pull out my artifice lantern and float up [Fire Orbs] for light, but we managed to finish in time.
The interior of the finalized tent looked like someone cleaved a church sanctuary in half, cut down the pillars to force the taller people entering to keep their heads low, then slapped it against a bare rockface. Not the most elegant of designs, but the practicality more than made up for it as the interior dividers were put up and collapsible furniture was brought in. Mattius and Treblana even went the extra mile digging out drainage trenches for the washroom and armory, smoothed out the floor, and added a few fire pits.
“So, this is what medieval glamping looks like…”
“What what looks like?”
“Huh? Oh, uh… I meant to say magical camping. The fanciest tent I ever owned was a rooftop tent for my… carriage. I was expecting a dozen smaller tents, not a single giant one.”
I tried not to give Arc a side glance but found myself doing so regardless on the way to collect my storage crate. The way he paused before saying carriage made me wonder if a bad memory got roused. Arc never went into detail, but did say he died in a traffic accident. It’s probably a safe assumption that he died while driving his cart.
Not sure if I should say anything, I kept quiet as I stepped into the night. Lanterns on the ground and a small bonfire lit the area, their light reaching just far enough out to see the outlines of people on watch and make my pathing a simple affair. Finally reaching the wagons after the short walk, my unassuming crate was easy enough to find, being one of the few remaining, so when I reached forward to pick it up, I was completely unprepared for a coarse wet tongue to suddenly slobber my neck.
A very unmanly shriek escaped my lips before I spun around to defend myself, but relaxed when I heard a familiar equine chortle.
“You scared the crap out of me bud.”
5751054 stepped in closer to nuzzle me, not seeming to care in the slightest that I was fully armored or peeved at him. His affections were too strong, and after a brief internal battle, I reached out to give his neck and shoulder a friendly rub
“You’re in a good mood. I figured you’d be dead on your hooves after today’s march.” I raised an eyebrow at him, “Or did you slack off and let the others haul your weight?”
5751054 pulled his head back, then flared his teeth and swiped his ears back before growling.
I belted out a laugh, “Just teasing ya, I know you’re a hard worker.”
My horse dropped the mean expression, then scooted back in to get more shoulder pats.
Sighing, I comforted my starved-for-attention friend, “I’m glad you were able to come with. I haven’t been able to see you nearly as often as I should.”
My horse tilted his head side to side, flicking their ears irregularly.
“Yeah, but I still feel guilty.”
5751054 whinnied, giving me a shove towards my crate.
“Okay, okay… I’ll stop moping. Let me haul in my crate real quick, then maybe we can get something to eat and relax by the fire?”
5751054 nodded.
---
Arc
Okay… What am I doing wrong?
I look over the “patch” on my soul, taking full advantage of not having a physical body to conceptualize it into something even my idiot mind can comprehend, and check to make sure the artificial layer is still allowing my memories and experiences to filter through.
Bringing up a happy memory of Travis falling asleep in his childhood home by counting mana clusters, I watch the stream of images flare out of the tiny sun of my soul into the orbiting clusters of eggshell fragments. White threads from the flare fan out, touching various bits, and making them glow blue for my language translator, red for my notetaker, yellow for the chat log, and finally green for my mapper.
Focusing on that final section, I observe the threads containing information about the house, instinctually getting a feel for what individual aspect each contains, then mentally ask which one is the memory of how far apart each mote of mana was. A glowing thread not touching anything begins to wiggle, essentially waving at me and going, “Over here! I’m the one you forgot!”
Wishing I could sigh, I construct a new shell fragment, imbuing it with the instruction “record the mana density, and if asked, adjust map line thickness to represent value”, then watch as the wiggling thread shifts to touch and light up the new fragment. The instant it does, however, other green shell fragments begin to flicker.
Okay, that part I expected… Why is a yellow fragment blinking now though?
---
Reidar
Voltsday, the 10th of Ninethmonth
Shadecaster Valley – Campsite #1
Things were not going well for Reidar. He hadn’t made any progress on his quest from Aelder, was further stymied today when his squad was put on guard duty for the camp while Squad 2 went on patrol, and to add insult to injury, he and Travis were getting trounced in their game of whist.
“That makes the score 12-3” Spartan Rinle declared, before cracking a wide grin at Spartan Moclo.
Had he not been in uniform, Reidar would have begun to frown as the cards were shuffled. Blaming poor luck would have been a welcome excuse, but no, it was regrettably his poor communication with his partner Travis that made them lose. They both kept misreading each other’s tells.
Granted, the rules of the game prevented verbal and hand gesture communication, but that was the entire point of this training exercise. A skilled squad should be able to communicate internally with simple head nods and body language. Speaking could get you killed in combat or ruin a chance at ambushing, and sign-language was useless with weapons in hand.
Bracing himself, Reidar picked up his cards and prepared for the worst as he started sorting them. Yeah, not great… admittedly, he had a large number of wood cards, including the god and chosen, but those were his only two face cards aside from an icefang.
Travis’ grimace indicated that he didn’t have a great hand either before setting down his bid. Reidar debated for a moment but decided to play it safe and set down an odd numbered card to announce a low bid.
The other players had already set, so once his fingers left his card, Travis flipped up his facedown 1 of metal. Rinle revealed his card next, a 4 of ice, ending the round of bidding.
Travis had dealt, so Rinle played the first card of the trick, a 3 of lightning. Reidar followed suit, playing a 5, watched as Molco dropped a skull dragon (11 of lightning), then heard a triumphant grunt from Travis as he took the trick with his chosen (12 of lightning).
His partner studied his cards, clearly not sure what to play next, but eventually decided to open with a 5 of metal. That ended up being a poor guess, given that Rinle had the armadillo card (9 of metal), Reidar didn’t have any high cards in that suit, and Molco grinned as they set a 7. Trick two went to their team.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Rinle played a 4 of ice, infuriating Reidar since his icefang card (9 of ice) was the only one he had for that suit, and because playing a low card after taking a trick was a common way to signal to your partner your strongest suit. Molco surprisingly couldn’t beat his card, resulting in Travis playing an additional low card and his team taking the trick.
It was his turn to begin, and after making eye contact with Travis, he played his 1 of wood. Molco played a bushtail (9 of wood) with a grin, but instantly frowned when Travis unleashed his magician (10) of wood and Rinle groaned after dropping his 6.
Travis played his 8 of wood next, smiling when Rinle was forced to sluff, then cackled when Reidar dropped Apheros (13 of wood) and Molco played a 7. A quick count of the played wood cards gave Reidar the confidence to open with his chosen (12) of wood, forcing Molco to play their remaining spore dragon (11 of wood) and the remaining players to sluff.
The next four tricks went to him and Travis since he was the only remaining player with wood cards, bringing the current total of taken tricks 9-1. Rinle was furious at this point, not only had he and Molco lost their chance of winning this hand, but as a consequence of bidding high, their opponents would get double the points after taking more tricks overall.
Remembering Travis’ earlier opening and seeing them sluff magicians (10) of ice and lightning without showing any visible discomfort, Reidar decided to trust his partner and opened the eleventh round with a 6 of metal. Molco followed with Adamanrion (13 of metal), leaving Travis’ only play to set an 8 while Rinle sluffed a chosen (12) of ice.
Molco only had two cards remaining in her hand, and after a short internal debate, opened with their scale dragon (11 of metal). Travis crushed any hopes she had with his chosen (12 of metal), leaving Rinle to sluff a Torbolt (13 of lightning) and Reidar to discard one of his remaining junk cards.
Travis then played his magician (10) of metal, and with no one else having a remaining matching suit, Reidar allowed a grin to settle on his face as Rinle played a useless Hooded One (13 of ice) and Molco flipped down a thunderhead (9 of lightning).
“13 to 12,” Travis announced, “we win!” His friend then held up a palm, and social anxiety be dammed, Reidar leaned in to perform a high-five with a cheer.
The post-game discussion was raucous, with Molco scolding Rinle for not playing more aggressively, and Rinle over her not remembering there was still a chosen left to play. Travis admitted that he was keeping tight track of the face cards and knew the only way to take another trick or two was to not let Rinle open. It turned out Reidar did in fact read Travis’ actions correctly.
The group decided to break up for now, Travis grumbled something about sword lessons, and the other spartans were to start a shift on active watch soon, so it wasn’t long before Reidar found himself on the edge of camp, looking out over the canopy of trees.
‘Aelder warned me that I only had a few days…’
He felt the temptation to walk out and start looking, but it was a tiny thing he could barely sense. Ignoring how it would be a gross dereliction of duties, and almost certainly result in him being dishonorably discharged, the simple fact was that he had no clue where to start looking. Even with help, there was too much forest to comb through in a reasonable time.
Reidar reached his hand into his valuables pouch, and grasped onto his idol, hoping that maybe Apheros will be able to provide guidance.
A whinny interrupted his prayers a minute later, and Reidar turned to see Travis’ horse behind him.
“Hello there. Did you need something?”
5751054 nodded their head, then pointed their nose towards the forest.
Reidar looked behind him, before turning back, “Sorry, but I highly doubt Captain Adaline would grant us permission to leave camp.”
The stallion snorted, then tapped their muzzle against his hand before looking him in the eyes. Confused, Reidar took a moment to ponder what they were trying to say, and watched as sunlight twinkled off the horse’s eye, hinting that there wasn’t just a spark of intelligence, but a full flame of something more.
It all came at once to him. Yes, Aelder had given this quest, but he was simply acting as a middleman. Elafred, the minor goddess of sapient critters, was the one offering the boon. Who would be better to help him find a lost cat than an animal under her domain?
In his best imitation of Travis, Reidar reached out to give 5751054 a friendly pat. Things were looking up.
---
Travis
“I think your horse is conspiring with Reidar…”
“Not now Arc…” I muttered through clenched teeth as I swung to parry an overhand slash from Galehaut. Or… at least, tried to parry. Befitting of a goliath, the man had an insane amount of strength, and didn’t seem to be metering any of it as we sparred. Rather than completely deflect the blow, I found myself using it more as a point of leverage to sidestep before leaning in for a diagonal counter-slash.
Galehaut was a step ahead though, releasing his right hand’s hold to deflect with his bracer while thrusting forward with his left. Instincts took over, and I leapt back out of range before resetting with a neutral guard.
“Better…” he growled as his eyes no doubt fell upon every single hole in my defense, “but if you’re going to banter, make sure your opponent can hear you. What were you even trying to say?”
Rot, he heard me?
“I… wasn’t trying to psych you out. I was… berating myself.”
Galehaut’s eyes narrowed, and I swear his guard relaxed a hair, “Sure you weren’t cussing at your blade?”
“What! No… that’d be… umm, crazy of me.”
The big man twitched, forcing me to harden up my stance, and sending a fresh rush of battle lust down my veins to slow down time. It was only a feint though, and my reaction merely triggered a wide grin to spread across his square jaw.
“It would, wouldn’t it? Long before you were born, when this land was ruled by fiefdoms, and the only reward for surviving a cold and brutal winter was a swarm of monsters in the spring, the ashes of a revered hero who died protecting their family were laid to rest in your blade. Their sacrifice of blood, sweat, and tears were the only things keeping our fragile people from extinction. Why would the prattling of a child stir their ghost?!”
Galehaut moved, and a primal fear screamed in the back of my mind, warning me that he wasn’t about to hold back. The air felt heavy as he swung, feinting a downward slash but converting it into a forward thrust. My backstep in response was the wrong move, forcing me to parry with an upward diagonal, but he of course long foresaw my mistake. I failed to notice that he’d stepped forward with his left foot, giving him free reign to sidestep my sword and slam into me with his shoulder.
I managed to brace in time, so I wasn’t completely sent flying, but the impact still stunned me long enough for him to charge in with a horizontal slash. My hands swung down to swat away his sword, but the blatant attack was yet another feint. Using the pommel of his sword as the end of a lever, and his right hand as a fulcrum, Galehaut pulled back the blade of his bastard sword to escape mine as it crashed to the ground, then raised his hands, and slashed for real right at my head.
My body seized up as a Clang! rang from my gorget, then went completely limp. Arc slipped from my grip, and I fell to my knees, panting heavily as my heart tried to escape my chest.
Galehaut slapped me on the back with his pan-sized hand, “That’s enough for now. Your nerves are probably shot anyways. Oh, if we got time later, we should go over that [Water Bracer] enchantment. I feel like I’m close to having it down now, and it’d be a great addition to our sparring practice. We could really up the intensity then.”
Still gasping for breath, I looked up incredulously, expecting to see a sarcastic grin, but… no, he was dead serious and completely nonchalant about almost chopping my head off!
A new panic blossomed in my gut.
Oh no… was this how his family trained all their young scions? How did this man make it to adulthood?
Utterly defeated, in both body and mind, I collected what remained of myself and thought over the battle as I returned Arc to his scabbard. In hindsight, that last attack of his was aimed right at the crook of my neck armor, and wasn’t able to throw his shoulders and back into the blow. He probably meant to scare me, not kill. Eh… hopefully probably.
Ugh, great… if these lessons continue, I’m gonna need to thicken up my bark.
---
It was only a few hours after my swordsmanship lessons with Galehaut that I was once again facing off with one of the deadliest foes to all adventurers.
“You know,” Arc opened after I’d shifted positions multiple times in the span of a minute, “I’m starting to get the impression that you don’t know how to relax.”
I sighed, letting out some of the tension that had built up during my turn on watch. Our high perch against the rocky cliff made for an excellent overwatch of the easily accessible woods and river below, but with Arc and his extensive mana sight by my side, staying alert for monsters was essentially pointless.
Leaving me completely and utterly bored.
“You could try talking to your friends…”
That was an option. The private channel on my helmet was currently synced with the other mages in Squad 1, but… simply making conversation for conversation’s sake wasn’t something I was comfortable with over a long period. I needed some sort of activity to keep my hands busy or a project to work on in the background.
“Or, maybe message Sir Tracy? It’s been a week.”
Okay, that I can handle. I’ve never been up to date on news in the capital and listening to him for the remainder of my watch before lunch wouldn’t be so bad.
There was a small problem though… My Master Message Stone was in my backpack. (The thing was taking up too much space in my valuables pouch.)
“Hang on… I gotcha…”
Wind Mana swirled near my head, coalescing into a spell formation. I gave Arc a friendly rub then spoke, “Sir Tracy, are you available to talk?”
“Just a sec Travis…” The horrid sound of flesh being ripped came out of the spell, followed immediately by a bestial cry of pain. “You guys got this right? Good, I gotta take this Message.”
“Did I… interrupt you?”
“Not really. It’s been a slow day, so I decided to wrestle the lone bat-lion that flew over the wall instead of outright killing it.”
“Uh-huh…” Was the only response I could come up with. I’m starting to wonder if all knights are secretly masochists.
“Glad you Messaged me by the way; I’ve got a list of questions I’m supposed to subtly weave into conversation with you.”
“What?”/“What?” I blurted out loud in time with Arc in my ear.
Tracy laughed in response, “The upper echelons have been clamoring to get intel on you, and now see me as a point of entry. You’re a bit of a duck to them, given your humble origins, and since you’ve been leaving behind a wake of scandals and broken social conventions. I think they’re worried about what will happen if your profile gets raised even higher.”
Okay, I guess that makes sense. Especially if… ugh, the queen is trying to set me up with her daughter.
I took a deep breath, then exhaled in resignation. Might as well get it over with.
“Alright, what do they want to know?”
“Let’s see… I’m not sure if you’ve been told yet, but those stolen adamantine weapons that got dug up with your sword have mostly been identified, and they do have a shared trait. Each one of their most recent owners were active members of the nationalist movement. Now, we’re pretty sure you only got targeted to make the Jarl of Union Fortress look bad, but that hasn’t stopped people from questioning if you yourself are a nationalist.”
“Umm… I read the flyers those protesters were passing out a while back, but to be honest, I don’t feel that strongly for them or the royalists. I’m in favor of establishing a parliament, especially if these Master Message Stones Seleyna are handing out make it to every fortress, but asking the Queen to relinquish all authority seems short-sighted.”
“A very prudent answer. Sadly, not extreme enough on one end or the other to please anyone, but… that’s just politics. Speaking of… any political aspirations in your future?”
I groaned at the thought of networking with countless individuals to construct a proposal for the queen, “No, the only thing I currently care about career-wise after graduating is that I don’t get stationed in the same place over and over again. I want to explore all four territories of the kingdom, and the elven and dwarven lands as well if possible.”
“Hmm… if you stay in the Special Extermination Forces, you’ll definitely canvas the human lands after a calendar cycle. They get sent all over when not on standby in the capital. But, if you want to get deployed outside the country, you’ll need to transfer to the Diplomatic Corps.”
“Okay, I’ll keep that in mind. Anything else you want to—”
“Look alive Travis!” Drozuk shouted from behind, “I’m here to take watch.”
Remembering that the end of my shift meant lunch, I turned to the spell formation, “Sorry Tracy, something important just came up. Gotta go.” Then slapped Drozuk on the pauldron as I passed him on the way to the tent, “Try not to get bored.”
He tapped his helmet in response, “Already a step ahead, Vesril let me copy his concert channel. Haven’t got a clue what they’re singing about, but it’s something at least.”
I nodded, then once I was out of sight, rapped Arc with my knuckles.
“Ouch! What was that for?”
“Why didn’t you think of that?”
“I don’t know… Why are you blaming me?”
Lacking a proper rebuttal, I merely growled as I stepped inside the shelter and entered the mess hall. Lancel and Reidar were already seated, along with Seleyna and Lieutenant Fernrod, so I quickly found an open spot and pulled out my silverware.
I was just in time. Right as I sat down, Varguk and an assisting corpsman carried out tiered serving trays, each loaded with a trio of steaming pans. The scent of herbs and savory cheeses flooded the area, and I was almost left salivating when an entire mana-rich hotdish was set down in front of me. Clarity snapped back into me though when I noticed that everyone else seated was also getting a standard 8”x12” baking tray of the heavenly sustenance.
“Hold on, I get this entire tray to myself?”
Varguk lowered his head, but not enough to hide his smirk, “My apologies, only had enough varmint meat for a single course, and I had to send off the first batch of crowbear chili with Squad 2. You’ll be able to eat your fill for supper.”
Lancel sputtered out a laugh, “Careful now, Travis might take that as a challenge.”
The half-orc chef rolled his eyes as he gave Reidar a loving pat on the shoulder, “Unless he can outeat my baby brother, then I doubt I need to worry.”
I locked my eyes with Reidar, and after a second of consideration, he raised an eyebrow at me. I nodded in response. It was on.
Seleyna, who must have saw our exchange, turned to the lieutenant, “Nikolai, before you ask, I should advise that it would be highly inappropriate of me to participate in a betting pool.”
The Northman knight smiled in response, “Right you are Princess. Can’t have you playing favorites.”
---
After my shower, I burped for the fifth (or was it sixth?) time after supper. The spicy chili was more than worthy of a second and third taste, but my bloated abdomen sticking out past my chest had a different opinion. Thankfully, I didn’t need to put my arming jacket or armor back on (not like I would have been able to synch it tight anyways), so the only struggle getting ready for bed was changing into clean clothes. Bending forward was not an option; I had to get creative.
“Ready to admit that tying with Reidar was not worth the effort?”
‘Never!’ My mind internally shouted, before commanding my mouth to speak something less childish, “I will admit that I underestimated how much my Fire Mana’s agitation would calm down, even after spending the afternoon sparring and casting. Although, I can’t remember if I’ve ever had multiple servings of mana-rich food before…”
“Hmm, I’d have to check, but… the fact I’d have to check is probably enough to give you a pass on that front. Just don’t complain to me when you need to rush to the latrines in the middle of the night.”
Figuring I’d already wasted enough time, I stepped out of the washroom, waved to the knight in line behind me, then made my way into the men’s dormitory. Lights out was still an hour away, but the dimmed lanterns and quiet murmurings all but shouted at me to be respectful to the people trying to get a head start on sleep.
Feeling a bit lethargic myself, I flopped onto my cot, tucked into my sheets, and pulled up the beautiful blanket the Hopkins clan made for me. As my mind drifted, I idly noticed that I wasn’t the only one with a personalized comforter. Lancel had a pink quilt with line art of bison prancing across a field, Mattius’ was a complicated pattern of white feathers on brown, and to my surprise, all the spartans had individual blankets as well. Granted most of it was a simple yellow background with green stripes in the middle, likely a match for the stripes on their armor, but Reidar’s had deer along the edges and the spartan I played cards with earlier I think had lions. Even if they were mass produced, someone had to go through the trouble of customizing each one.
That’s nice… They… deserve one… way more than… I…