With the enemy army approaching from the northeast, we headed northwest to swing around the mountain the long way. We needed to remain undetected, and not heading straight towards them seemed like a fair tactic to remain surreptitious in our endeavors. By the time we made it around the mountain, the enemy would most likely have progressed into the Arthu-Ja’an river valley where they would meet the interception force commanded by Blythnin. I estimated that such conflict would provide sufficient enough distraction for us to wreak havoc on their supply line.
The task of scouting fell to me, for I had the largest assortment of Skills that would be useful to observe our surroundings. The duel with Blythnin, while not resulting in any death, still resulted in a generous portion of Experience Points, so I reinforced what Skills I had to detect threats. In such wilderness untouched by civilization, few dared to dwell, and so my Abilities to detect sentient life within about a mile of me would not instantly overload me with too much information. Naturally, some adversaries would have Abilities to counter my attempts at Divination, most notably enemy scouts, so caution was still advised. We advanced swiftly and silently in our wagon while I applied Abilities to detect threats in different mediums. Thermal imaging, echolocation, enhanced hearing and vision, remote scrying, something like radar but for people actively using magic, and many more techniques were employed. Such would exhaust most people, and indeed only Platinum Adventurers or their civilian equivalents who specialized in such a role would be able to keep it up all day, but I managed just fine.
Similarly, I also had the role of providing concealment. For all the means that I knew to detect enemies, I also had Skills to obfuscate such techniques if employed by our adversary. That left little for everyone in the wagon to do, and so I had them link with me to transmit their own mana into me for a little extra juice to essentially overclock the potency and range of my Skills, careful to ensure I left everyone else perfectly stable as to their natural rates of mana generation. Gulfore facilitated that little trick, but its efficiency would decrease over time. I had no real way of knowing if any of my concealment attempts were working, at least for a time, for we saw no one until just after sundown.
I instructed Bellwright to bring us as close as we dared on the uphill side to these unknown interlopers. We dismounted, and I gave instructions for everyone to prepare themselves for combat. Gulfore layered on a respectable yet conservative number of utility Skills to strengthen and protect us, while additionally creating a communication link between us all. With but the quietest of whispers, we would be able to talk to each over a generous range without all but the keenest of observers being able to listen in. I commanded Garro and Rarro to stay in reserve to support anyone that became overrun, not that I expected that to happen, but I did not want their actions to result in half the realm knowing where we were by virtue of destructive explosions.
Skull and I led from the front. Despite her full plate armor, she made no sound, and even I could barely see her as some manner of darkness shrouded her. I wouldn’t say it was optical in nature like the shadows I summoned, but looking at her made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up as if I were looking at that-which-should-not-be. Essentially, it was not that I could not see her, but my mind did not want to acknowledge her existence as if she were some unnatural and horrific stain upon reality. Bellwright hovered along behind us on a floating disc, tugging along a similar disc on which stood Gulfore who appeared to be in some sort of trance as she did whatever it is that she does best.
A group of eight individuals moved as best they could in the forested terrain near the base of the mountain. From where we watched, they were about half again the distance an arrow could accurately hit. They wove their way through the trees and around boulders at a measured and steady pace, none breaking formation with two in front, four in the middle, and two in the rear, each about a stone’s throw from the other. I reached out with my senses to observe them carefully. I had several Skills at my disposal to appraise their Abilities, equipment, and general proficiencies with each.
“Listen up, team,” I whispered as quietly as I could, which was more than enough for everyone to hear. “By my estimates, the one in the back right is their leader, or at least the most seasoned among them. When I give the order, I want Skull to neutralize him first. We are not here to take prisoners, but be silent and efficient in your work. You will have plenty of time to impress me with the full extent of your skills in the days to come, so right now I want you to focus on impressing me by following orders and staying in formation. All members sound off to confirm.”
In the predetermined order we had specified, each member of the team responded with an acknowledgement. I proceeded to give specific instructions for how we would attack. On the signal, which would be as Gulfore deployed her various barriers around us, Skull would cut down their leader, while Bellwright would warp the terrain to box them in while leaving the uphill side unmolested by his handiwork. I would simultaneously take out the one closest to us. Gulfore would deploy a barrier to block sound, light, and magical forms of communication from leaving the field so that we could murder with a degree of privacy like civilized people. Garro and Rarro would pick off any enemy who retreated or strayed too far from us. Skull and I would engage the enemy directly after our alpha strike, and I felt more than confident that our opponents would be completely outclassed by our elite group.
Giving the signal to advance, I watched as Skull planted the tip of her blade in on the ground before her, and, gripping the hilt in both hands, a ghost of her flew out into the night, hovering just off the ground. Black as the darkest pits, that specter drifted down the hill and behind the enemy completely undetected. At least, I assumed as much, for it looked like the stuff of nightmares, as if thousands of trapped souls silently screamed for release on the edge of the ghost’s form as it stalked the night. I could only imagine cries of terror would fill the night had the enemy witnessed it, so Skull’s efforts at stealth met my expectations. Upon reaching her position, the ghost disappeared, as did Skull’s physical body, only for her body to appear where the ghost had been. Equally impressed and disturbed, I did not stand around to gawk at it like a cow staring at a new gate, for that whole time I had been making my way down the hill while shrouded in shadow, my feet only touching down with the lightest of steps as I nearly levitated over the earth.
I gave the signal to attack, and Skull’s blade immediately swept in a wide arc into the night, completely missing everyone, for she was still ten paces from her target. Confused, but trusting that she knew what she was doing, I struck down from above on the poor soul before me, burying my dirk deep into his body at an angle between his shoulder and neck. Skull rushed forward, and ignoring the commander, she charged downhill at the furthest individual, cleaving him in two with a horizontal swing. In that same instant that she moved to do so, a shadow of her rushed the commander, and following the exact same sweep from her blade as performed earlier, it cleaved him in two. And so, in her opening attack, two enemies far apart were felled from the same attack and by the same person, their torsos racing to see which could meet the ground first. For those of you that care, the enemy down the hill won that contest, but only because his top half landed on a boulder before toppling off onto the ground.
Before I even hit the ground, a ring of mud and vines rose from the earth to box our remaining enemies in, with said vines shooting out from it to ensnare our enemies in their thorny embrace. The two enemies up front immediately disappeared to avoid such entrapment, only to reappear just barely on the other side of the enclosure, apparently by virtue of some means of short range and rapid teleportation. My physical eyes may have been busy with the task at hand, but through remote scrying Skills, I beheld their demise. They managed no more than three paces before a giant beam of energy raked the landscape, its thickness easily twice the height of a man. I could see a clean cut, all the way back to the twins, as if everything in between those two points had crisply been disintegrated to molecular precision. Indeed, it scoured a trench into the earth, a wound that would likely never fully heal as it became an instant and permanent addition to the landscape. I had rather hoped our escapades would not require us to redraw maps, but the twins apparently held no such convictions. Even from here I could smell the sweet and pungent scent of ozone, with the air positively charged with something electric. I mean, the air certainly felt as though it possessed some sort of electric charge, but I don’t know if it is positive or negative because I am not some pedantic nerd.
The three remaining enemies panicked and struggled to draw weapons as each sought only to fend for himself. Their bodies ensnared by vines, they remained helpless as Skull and I finished them off. The back left one pleaded for his life, but he found no mercy except for the swift death levied by my blade buried deep into his skull. They made the choice to invade us, so I gave no quarter, but that did not mean I wanted them to suffer needlessly. I honestly do enjoy the thrill of a good fight, but this one was hardly fair or challenging. The poor lad was no older than I, and yet I cut him down just the same, angry that he would never taste the sweet pleasures of life because some rich bastards far away craved wealth and power beyond the bounty they already possessed. I knew not if he was conscripted or a soldier of fortune, but I promised myself that I would see the same sealing of fates visited upon his masters some day.
“Excellent work, team. That was a textbook execution of an ambush. Is anyone injured?” I highly doubted it but I needed to get in the habit of asking. Each team member reported that they were fine, so I focused on expanding my senses around the general area with an especially strong pulse of Detection magic to see if we had been noticed. Finding no witnesses, I ordered an inspection and looting of the bodies.
I watched as Skull knelt down over the bodies of the two ensnared individuals she had executed. She brought their heads up to her own, and touching their foreheads to where her forehead would be under her helmet, she paused like that for each in turn before standing again. As if sensing my unspoken inquiry to such a bizarre ritual, she whispered to me an answer.
“The Dark god, Gulthar, is my patron. These men died in terror, and in doing so, they foolishly unlocked the mysteries held within their minds for me to view. I caught glimpses of who they feared or what they feared to lose.” She hoisted her sword in one hand up onto one shoulder as she continued, apparently feeling rather relaxed about the whole ordeal. “Most of it is boring stuff about their families or lovers, but their commanding officer scares them. These men were indeed scouts, and they were expected to bring back results, not excuses. They knew of no others sent to scout in this direction, but that does not mean that other officers did not send their own patrols this way.”
I found myself impressed by her reflection on such a possibility. I gained renewed respect for her, for I had underestimated her as a bit of a meathead, but she proved that cleverness had not forsaken her. I was familiar with Gulthar academically. In this sense, ‘Dark’ referred to a pantheon of gods in a spectrum of Dark to Light, and those gods that did not exactly care for matters of good and evil. Gulthar is a god of Fear, and of overcoming Fear with Courage, and as such he bestows powers themed to that portfolio upon worthy followers. All the gods in that pantheon have a theme of some concept and its opposite or counter, but outside of clergy, I knew of few mortals who were specifically devoted to any such god, as most people only seek out the favor of a god for a specific purpose when it should arise.
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“A useful Skill.” I noted with sincere approval, “I hope it does not, like, damage their soul or their journey to the afterlife.”
Skull let out a hearty laugh at that. “No such thing, as far as I know. This isn’t something foul like most Necromancy. It is no more morally good or evil than if I had done something similar for a god who cared about their hopes and dreams or what they desired to protect. It probably doesn’t matter which god in the pantheon one follows, I am sure all could get similar results through Divination if the practitioner were creative enough.” She paused for a moment, then shrugged. “I just like Gulthar because I want to be fearless and he has that brooding bad boy vibe, you feel?” She approached me and placed her free hand on my shoulder. “And I am truly fearless, like, literally incapable of feeling fear, but that does not mean I am reckless, as Gulthar despises such overconfidence. I will wade headlong into any fight for you that I think I can win, but I won’t march to my death.” Her helmet made it difficult to truly read her expression, but I sensed no veiled threat from that last comment, merely a statement of fact as to what I could expect from her.
“And I am glad to have you by my side,” I replied as I placed my hand on hers. “If you do happen to find yourself marching to your death, I will be right there with you, for I would never abandon any of you.”
“Good to know,” she said as she started to walk off to join the others. “Gulthar suffers not the coward, and neither do I, but I see you are not one.” I knew not if she said such to be polite or if she could literally detect such a nature in people, so I remained cautiously respectful of what she could bring to bear.
I had Bellwright restore the earth back to what it was before his impromptu terraforming, although the aftermath of the destruction brought forth by the twins would not be so easily remedied. I took all the gathered loot into my pocket dimension, promising to divvy up the spoils fairly when the war was over. Not that these scouts had anything extraordinary, but I did not want everyone bogged down by extra baggage. No one objected, and if anything, they seemed delighted that I had volunteered to be a pack mule. I continued our advance, for I wanted to at least make it around the mountain to see the enemy camp before we made our own.
We resumed our journey with no more fanfare than if we had stopped to take a leak. We made good time, and by perhaps an hour after midnight, we found a suitable vantage point to observe the tail end of the enemy forces. Like a long serpent made of tents and campfires, the enemy army made their sprawling camp in the valley below. They did not form an organized grid, no doubt because the forest they found themselves in prevented such structure, but the fancier tents were certainly grouped together in what was probably the center, as the mountainside obstructed our view of the front of the formation.
“Skull, with me,” I commanded after finishing my initial observation. “The rest of you, make camp. We should be back soon. I only need to sleep about two hours a night, so I only need one person to take the first watch. Sort that out amongst yourselves.”
Skull and I advanced up the mountain, then continued around so that we would have a full view of the enemy camp. They had made it two thirds of the way across the Arthu river, for which the valley was named. The literal translation is ‘river valley’, so ‘Arthu-Ja’an river valley’, as it is called, is rather redundant. I suspect some linguistic snafu back in the day when natives told explorers the words for ‘river’ and ‘valley’, and said explorers just nodded while jotting it down before continuing on their merry way without considering the true meaning of things. History lesson aside, the army would certainly be well across by next nightfall, so we just had to ensure we paced ourselves so that we did not bump into their rear guard.
“I sense fear, and overconfidence,” said Skull as she gazed down upon the valley below. “The people on the edges are almost terrified, and from what I can feel, they are the fresher and younger troops. The ones in the middle must be the officers, judging by their tents, and they have no fear at all for the war to come, but not because they are brave, for few among them seem to express that emotion.”
“Then we shall have to educate them about things that go bump in the night,” I replied with a grin.
“Indeed, Gulthar shall sort them all, the wanting from the sufficient, for I will offer them all unto him to be tested.” I could almost feel the smile that she wore under her helmet, and her aura radiated excited anticipation like a kid before Winter’s Givings. “I will cut down the unworthy, but those who steel their resolve to face me will only have overcome the first of many obstacles to best me.”
“You must really love to fight,” I said back, hoping to prompt a deeper response.
“There is no better church in which to commune with my god,” she said as she slapped me on the back lightly. “Don’t confuse him with a god of war or bloodshed, for he does not explicitly desire such things, but rather that one face and master one’s fears. I have yet to find a better place to inspire such a feat.”
“Neither have I. I hope to do a lot of ‘inspiring’ tomorrow, but I’m sure you will be doing the lion’s share of that, for even as I watch you fight, I almost feel afraid, and I am your ally.”
“Perks of following a god of Fear,” she said, and I am pretty sure I caught a glimpse of a wink behind her helmet. “I am a badass bitch that strikes terror in the hearts of men and monsters alike, and while some of that is from my intimidating prowess,” she said as she flexed a little, “most of that is supernatural in origin by virtue of my Blessing. My Abilities do discern friend from foe, but I am not surprised it still impacts all of you to some degree. No one is perfect,” she finished flatly with a shrug. I knew not if she meant her Ability was not perfect at not impacting allies or if we were not perfect at resisting fear or at considering her to be a true ally. Perhaps the difference is trivial, but it matters to me mechanically. I did however let it go for some other time.
We made our way back to camp, which quite frankly, we could not find. We looked all over the place we had left, which I was rather confident we had returned to, but simply no sign of a camp was to be found.
“Psst, over here,” came a disembodied voice, for I saw no one.
I headed in the direction indicated, and the air shimmered briefly before I passed through some sort of magical bubble. Inside stood Bellwright, and all else to be seen was a little hut with a cloth draping for a door.
“Everyone else is inside,” he said as he pointed over his shoulder with a thumb.
I simply nodded in acceptance while wondering how everyone could fit in such a ridiculously tiny place. I had suspicions that all was not as it seemed, for the hut was not even as wide across as it was tall. Upon entering the hut, I found myself in a tavern of sorts. The rest of the crew sat around a fireplace where they ate dinner while sharing stories of past adventures, all appearing to be in good spirits. A very pleasant aroma of a hearty soup wafted my way, and now realizing that I was indeed more than a bit peckish, I joined them.
Skull likewise tarried not, and upon her removing her helmet, I saw her face for the first time. I don’t know what I expected, but she had long black hair, pale skin, and fair features. She looked to be perhaps in her late twenties, but since she was in the socioeconomic class that could afford good quality rejuvenation treatments to stem the tide of aging, she could have easily been twice that. Her face in no way appeared intimidating, but anyone who saw her in action like I had knew there was reason to fear her. She laughed easily and joined the others rather normally. I guess I had expected someone devoted to a Dark god to be more gloomy or dour, but perhaps that was but an ill-conceived notion on my part.
“So, boss, you two get a good look at the enemy, or did you sneak off to get it on?” asked Garro.
“Yeah, were you looking at the enemy camp or each other’s naked bodies in the moonlight,” chimed in Rarro.
Clearly they were busting my chops, as was the nature of Adventurers, if not most people when in the company of friends. Adventurers tend to be quicker at being overly familiar with people as it takes too long to form conventional bonds when the key occupational hazard resulted in death.
“I’m sure if that's what she wanted, she would have no problem doing it right here in front of everyone,” I remarked casually as I reached for a bowl of soup. “She’s got moxie, so I don’t think there was a need to sneak off. But yes, we did get a view of the enemy camp.”
“It’s true,” Skull said as she helped herself as well. “You participate in enough orgies, you get over any shyness for that sort of stuff.”
The twins looked at each other and then at her, each not sure if she was messing with them or not. They grinned and laughed, and then everyone joined in, apparently satisfied with the humor and that I didn’t throw a tantrum at their jabs.
Stories were shared as I ate my fill, and while I would have loved to listen, I decided it prudent to get to bed quickly so as to relieve Bellwright who was on watch. There were several rooms upstairs, each on par for what one would expect of a good quality tavern, complete with a large wash bin fit enough to bathe in. I fell asleep almost instantly once I situated myself in bed, and not because I was especially tired. I suspect that some convenient magic was at play to help ensure I did not waste time tossing and turning. I woke up two hours later by my estimate, and after cleaning myself up in the wash bin, I went outside in short order. Gulfore was on watch, and she simply nodded as I relieved her.
I stayed within the illusory bubble, for while I could see out of it just fine, the camp was completely hidden when viewed from the outside as if both the hut and I simply were not here. Nothing of note happened on my watch, and I let everyone know to sleep in as I wanted everyone well rested and we had time to spare before we could make our approach. Slowly, lights below in the valley extinguished with the coming dawn as tents were packed away. The army broke camp to the sounding of horns and the beating of drums, and gradually it began to crawl forward as it was funneled by the two bridges and the terrain of the valley in general.
Nothing of note happened, aside from me reporting our progress to headquarters by virtue of a magic book I had been given. My words appear in its twin, and so two-way communication could be conducted over a vast distance with ease.
I only received brief reports of how the other fronts fared, for no one had yet reported back, and so all evidence available to headquarters had been from their own observations. Apparently things were going about as well as could be expected, with the invaders having to fight for every inch of ground that we had no intention of holding, slowing the enemy advance considerably. I hoped such would continue, but it appeared the enemy was keeping their heavy hitters in reserve until our forces tired. Tomorrow would prove to be bloody if such were true.