Chapter 4
Wagons West
Star's POV:
"Now lastly, we should decide on sleeping arrangements," said Tira. "There are three benches that fold out into beds. We are all technically fertile, so no sleeping with the boys unless you pay for the herbs yourselves. Getting pregnant would be a bad idea with six months of travel."
Star felt her face heat up, while the other three girls just nodded, as they were all 100 years old or better! Elves were fully grown by 50, they just were infertile and looked a lot alike. It wasn't like any of them hadn't fooled around before now, except for Star, who was as innocent as newly fallen snow.
"Why don't you choose first, Tira!" said Twixia. "After all, you are taking care of us, so you should get first pick." The others nodded at this, mostly to avoid having to talk about it.
"Fine, I choose Alliasaz then," said Tira.
Alliasaz cried out, "Why me?"
"Because you have huge breasts," Tira responded.
Alliasaz sat down on one of the benches looking quite faint.
"Ok, well, since me and Star are going to be sort of ah, a team, anyway, what do you say princess?" said Raythiel.
Star nodded and blushed even harder and sat down on the bench with Alliasaz for some mutual anti-fainting support.
"So I guess I get a Woodling that will always be on guard duty?" said Twixia. "At least I will get space for my books."
"if I was into that sort of thing, I wouldn't be a warrior anyway." said Zip.
"I'll just save my love up for a special occasion, like all my books get soaked or the world will end or something," replied Twixia.
"It could come to that on this trip," said Tira. "According the the Oracle anyway."
The girls looked at each other in a bit of shock. Why was the Great Oracle concerned with some young elfesses' love life?
Tira's POV:
Before they left, since none of these five seemed like they were going to run away, at least not yet, Tira started taking what they would need from the depot near the wagons. She handed out a couple of staves for Alliasaz and Raythiel, and spear for Twixia, Twixia can actually wear a bronze chain shirt, thought Tira, but she would probably not like the weight. Maybe some leather, then; she might look good in leather. What color would look good on an orange-eyed, purple-haired young elfess though? Perhaps black and darker purple over the top? Maybe block orange and that grayish purple her hair has? Well, she had already crated small sized bronze chain mail for Zip, and Zip already had a modified bronze short sword, so she went ahead and used her magic to create a long sword that was close to an Elven Blade to train Star. She wouldn't be able to make a elven blade for Star right now, nor Twixia's armor, but it would be fun to sketch. Both were too expensive for her first level mana pool. Both of her conjurations were on a ten day cooldown now.
Star will also be able to use an Elven bow, and so will the others, eventually, so I guess we have something for our crafter to practice on from our stash of materials. Also, I will need to get four daggers and a couple of hand axes for Star. About this time, one of the other heroes, Phenaquar, a third-level Elven Knight, showed up to tell her that the wagons were ready to leave. They didn't expect any trouble, but you never know. Some of the boys had been instructed to take the skill needed to drive the wagon. The ones with the highest charisma and wisdom would be better, but the best there were were boys with no negatives, and one with a plus in charisma. Tira just sighed and said, "Not surprising," and waved him off after saying her girls were all accounted for and Raythiel would ride up top to keep them company. "Keep all the others locked in the wagons for today, as we don't want any runaways".
What if the elves driving the wagons try to run?" asked Phenaquar.
"That is why we have extras... I'm kidding, we won't kill them for their first offense. Raire and I will take the flanks, and the summoner’s friend will have some fun if they try to run to the rear; you will be in the front on your warhorse. They won’t be outrunning any of us. Your horse is pretty slow, but not that slow, joked Tira.
"Isn’t that going to tire you and Raire out?" said Phenaquar.
Tira sighed, "Keeping up with the wagons? That is just our normal waking speed; maybe I can even find some goblins in my spare time. I can bribe them into attacking the caravan and frighten the young ones into not leaving at night. Maybe let someone be carried off for a bit? We can afford some copper."
"Not a bad idea," said Phenaquar. "I have just the boy who might need that lesson. I’ll check with Raire if there are any bad girls in the other wagon. How about in yours?"
"Not bad in that way, but you never know," said Tira.
"In any case, I'll put them in Star’s party, so they won’t get far," Tira said smugly.
"Not fair," replied Phenaquar.
"Gain some levels and find a cursed item to switch your gender, and you can have my wagon, and my prophesy," said Tira.
"Always so serious," sighed Phenaquar. "Go ahead and tell the girls into position then. We are moving out for whatever silly reason we are doing this."
"They didn’t tell you? The fate of the world is at stake! Prolly," said Tira. "The oracle himself doesn’t know the details, so don’t ask."
"Fine, a six months to a year camping trip with over a dozen basically kidnapped brand new adults, for no apparent reason, ready to roll," said the stoic knight.
Tira stuck her head back into the carriage where all the girls except Twixia were all stationed, trying to listen, and said, "Until I get back, Zip, go to sleep. Raythiel, talk to the boys to keep from getting lonely. Twixia, keep reading. Star, start learning skills but not knowledge skills right now. Alliasaz, hide under some bedding and tremble." Everyone but Twixia acknowledged their roles, except for Twixia, who was already doing just that.
Star's POV:
As Star was marveling at her new sword and getting a sheath to fit it from the pile of supplies, She heard some loud disagreements and threats of ropes, but finally everyone was settled into their benches one way or the other, and the wagons started moving. Tira had Star go ahead and form a party "so she could get familiar with all of their statistics as she was the default leader of the party." Star brought up their screens and started organizing them.
Alliasaz Etherstaria Raythiel Tira Twixia Zip Class Unclassed Noble Magical Sword Maiden Scholar Face level 1 (innocent) 2 1 (innocent) 4 1 (Innocent) 2 Strength 0 1+ 0 1 -1+ 1 Dexterity -1 2+ 2+ 4+ 0 2+ Health 0+ 1 0+ 1 0+ 0+ Intelligence 1 2+ -1 2 1+ -1+ Will 1+ 1 -1+ -1 -1 -1 Charisma -1+ 3 3 0 1 1+ Appearance -1+ 4 2 0 1 3 Hit Points 2 17 3 30 4 19 Base Attacks 0+ 1+ 0+ 3,3 + Spell 0+ 2 Defense -1 2+ 2+ 7+ 0 2+ Magical Abilities None None 50% + 3 50% + 6/2 None None Martial Abilities 10% 50% 10% 50% 25% 50% General Abilities 90% 50% 40% 0% 75% 50% Skill Slots 3 20 3 32 9 2
Zip grabbed her new fancy short sword from her pack that she had received, and decided to take a while to look intently at it and check the balance. Sleep would be impossible with the excitement of escaping what she thought would be her fate. She didn't know why Shard#31 had made a deal with her, but the cost was well worth it. She sat down beside her new mistress, Star, and opened up a conversation. "Hi again, I am Zip. I would like to know about you so I can serve you better."
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"Please don stab me," said Alliasaz trembling and staring up at her from underneath some blankets.
Using her new diplomacy skill, Star encouraged Twixia to teach Alliasaz how to speak properly so their Sword Maiden protector would be happy. It would be better to teach her now before Zip goes to bed. Twixia looked around and discovered that the wagon was now in motion, and she wondered when that had happened.
"Oh, that is fine; get out from under the blanket and read out loud with me, Allie," said Twixia.
"Allie? "That is cute; your nickname is Allie now, Alliasaz," said Star.
Alliasaz's POV:
"Yesam your greatness," said Allie. She obeyed the command, for the most part, to get away from the stabby Woodling and not get stabbed by a sword maiden later. The dark-brown-haired, patchy-skinned elfess carefully made her way to the third bench to sit down by Trixia. They began a reading lesson about how to speak fancy. Seriously, everyone here outranked her by a ton, thought Allie. What was going to happen to her? She knew the others had changed her name because her mama had named her so fancy. If they were going to be mean to her, there wasn't much she could do until she became a hedge class. All she had to do is survive, then she could learn to be a faith healer. She was last at The Leveling, and she knew the other wagons held some pretty fancy elves as well. Even if they were the same class, they obviously far surpassed her. There was even a Star elf for heaven's sake, and the other wagons held Lark clan members, she was sure of it.
"Well, despite what Tira was saying," said Star, "I lived like a normal elf girl, since my mother was a scholar. We just had a house inside the Lark compound, that's all. Other than that, it was pretty dull because I was born under a twisting star. Fate can be good or bad with that, so I was mostly kept at arm's length except by my mother, Skayla."
Etherstaria continued, "I have a couple of friends in the other wagons, though." Their names are Grey and Blue. Their parents are not very imaginative for making up names, I guess. Anyway, they are my cousins, so I guess since they were twins, they gave them similar names. Blue is a guy, and Grey is a girl. I guess they are elf and elfess now. I bet Blue is one of the boys driving a wagon because he seemed pretty intelligent and was easier on the eyes than most of the commoners. Oh, maybe he is the crafter? I guess I will find out later."
"Hopefully, Blue is the crafter; it seems he would have a higher chance to make it due to his importance," said Zip. "Point them out to me later. You know, I thought they would have named us eighth-lings instead of Woodlings," said Zip with what she thought was a pretty well delivered joke. However, her mistress didn’t catch on and gravely nodded.
"Lighten it up a bit, Star!" said Zip. That the Sword Maiden doesn’t know me; just because I am a warrior doesn’t mean I don’t like to pal around and have fun. I am not some sort of stab everything in sight girl. What do you say we do some exploring after we stop for the night? You and Allie can come to, Twixia!
Allie trembled as the Woodling pronounced how she was going to die. She had two hit points, why the heck would she go exploring!
"That sounds like fun and danger; we should bring the wood elf," chimed in Twixia, who wasn't bothering to learn names because they were not written down. "If we run into goblins, she can keep them from attacking us. "After all, most of us are not skilled in combat."
"You know, I have not degenerated to that extent!" said Raythiel from on top of the wagon, as Wood Elves had excellent hearing. "It isn't like I will jump on every goblin I see, prolly." The young elf driving the wagon had such thoughts running through his head that it was hard to steer the wagon with the hot blooded Wood Elfess close enough to feel her breath on his ears.
"I can make us some good whacker sticks," said Allie.
"I can craft us some adequate fighting clubs," corrected Twix, coaching her on the phrasing.
"I do have other friends as well," said Star. She took out Elfina and her crying pillow and towel, and showed them around to the others.
"Yes, I have eight new friends as well," said Twixia, showing off her new book friends.
Phenaquar's POV:
The caravan came upon some old ruins as it was getting time to camp. As this was the first open area they had seen in a bit. Phenaquar stopped the caravan. It looked like an abandoned lumber mill. Not too surprising; they must have cut the number of trees they were contracted for. The old watermill was still partially standing, but it seemed only the stone was left. not exactly shelter, but that is why they had the wagons. At least the young ones could stretch their legs before nightfall, and there would be space for a campfire. Now to tell Manuel to stay out of sight and stop the runners, sighed Phenaquar. Why the heck did he have to do this job? In his heart he knew it was because of Tira, she did this to him he was sure. Well, he would find a way to get back at her. She had a lot of pride, he was sure he could bring her and some of their precious cargo to pay for his annoyance soon enough. He saw some movement near the sawmill, maybe he could point out that interesting building, to her new friends...
Star's POV:
Disappointingly, nothing happened the first day. Tira didn’t run into any goblins, and disappointingly, none of the commoners made a run for it. Maybe the night would be more exciting, though, thought Tira. She wanted to get to know the elfess who would be sharing her sleeping bench with cuddles and fondling, at least! When Tira came back from scouting a flank of the caravan, she went to go get Alliasaz to start earning some experience with the chickens, and she discovered her party had all run off! She started tracking them, with the system party feature, and they seemed to be in the old mill. Then she heard new bee elfesses battle cries, also known as "girly screams!"
* "Your party is in combat, roll for initiative," said the system.
Star's POV:
After the wagons stopped, the girls stepped out of their wagon. In Raythiel’s case, she jumped off the wagon and told the knight, who was in the process of working with the horses and the new coachmen, that they were just going for a walk, after he pointed out an old sawmill.
"Fine, just don’t go far. I will need you to help with setting up the camp as soon as we get the horses settled." said Phenaquar. "We are just going to check out the old mill," said Raythiel.
The girls with their sticks and Zip with her short sword and armor, headed over to the mill, giggling while talking to Raythiel about the wagon boys and asking Star if one of them was Blue. Star told them, yes, one of them turned out to be Blue, so he wasn’t the crafter after all. She also gossiped that one of them was a Star elf named Syran, who had demanded to drive the lead guard wagon, he was the topic of conversation, as they walked to the mill. Star elves were serious trouble, they could make a High elfess pregnant after just a few mouths of shagging sometimes. Plus they were aggressive, and he would try to talk them into doing racy stuff, prolly!
The old mill was missing its entire roof; even the water wheel had rotted away, it appeared. Getting inside was easy; you could just walk through the door-less entryway. They all gasped at what they saw in the watermill. They saw skeletons! They went over to see what had happened here. The skeletons were the size of children. They had to be goblins!
"I am going to cast a detection spell and see if there is any magic left behind!" said Rathiel excitedly. She cast the spell that all magical creatures got, a universal level 1 spell. Well, other regions might get a different spell, that is how magical creatures worked.
After burning one of her mana points, a 20-foot circle lit up around her, detecting any magic that might have been brought here by the goblins. Amazingly, there was something! She hadn’t learned the skill she needed to say more, but it was underneath the saw machinery. Rathiel had to squeeze under the machinery to grab a small item the size of her hand. Meanwhile, Star looked into a different section of the mill and heard some sort of clicking sound. She went over to investigate, and suddenly five creatures appeared out of the ground. They were insects the size of a housecat with red heads and pincers. Suddenly, there was a voice in the air.
* "Your party is in combat, roll for initiative," said the system.
"Bugs!" shrieked Star as she tried to attack one with her stick. There was a crunching sound as her club connected with the bug and a cracking noise. But the bug, although hurtful, was not disabled.
Raythiel crawled out from under the machinery and grabbed he staff off of the floot. She hadn’t learned any spells for attacking things! "Zip help, Star!" she cried.
"I’ll save you, Star!" said Allie as she ran over, but her club just bounced off the termites' carapace.
The bugs scattered to attack all the girls. Twixia and Allie were both badly hurt and screamed. The blind bugs failed to connect with Star, Raythiel, or Zip due to Zip’s bronze chain mail.
Zip recovered from her shock, drew her shortsword, and skewered the bug with her sword draw ability. Then she moved over to flank the bug by Twixia. The bug seemed distracted, either by the tender elf's flesh or the vibrations of Zip's mail. Twixia swung in desperation and crushed her bug flat.
Raythiel looked down at the bug near her and felt a certain connection. The bug stopped clicking and seemed confused. Raythiel looked down at the hive bug. The thing was so ugly that it was kind of cute, she felt her face grow hotter.
* Round 2
Star swung again at her wounded bug and squished it like the bug it was!
Raythiel heard something knocking on her brain; this bug was part of a larger whole! What an interesting thing this hive mind was!
Allie missed again, and it looked like she might be bug food, but then Tira was there, her elven blade killing the bug.
Twixia said, "Rathiel, what are you doing?" She walked over to the motionless bug and her new friend, bleeding from her wounds.
Suddenly, more of the creatures appeared from underground. This whole place was a nest, and they were surrounded by nearly a dozen of the warrior termites!
*Round 3
"More bugs!" shouted Star, flailing at a new bug.
Rathiel snapped out of her daze and swung at the motionless bug before her, crushing a leg.
Allie screamed and climbed on top of the machinery, the sword maiden crushed her bug and gave her that chance to flee.
Tira killed a couple more bugs while trying to open a path for the others to escape. The girls seemed to be in a battle frenzy though, well other than Alliasaz.
A bug started chewing on Star, and several attacked the sword maiden, inflicting several welts. Another decided a pinched leg for a crushed leg was fair, and Twixia screamed as she fell unconscious from the pain of another bite. A new bug tried to use its pincers on Zip's chain mail and didn’t have any better luck.
Zip swung her sword and missed badly.
* Round 4
Star missed again.
Rathiel, in a great deal of pain, crushed another leg in retaliation for the one that had just been pinched.
Allie trembled on top of the machinery.
Tira annihilated two more bugs and had now dispatched five of the things. She thought this was a lot of fun.
The bug that had taken out Twixia flanked Zip and bit her. Tira took another welt. The bug on Star took another bite of the elf princess. Raythiel’s bug bit her other leg. The bug had more legs, it was looking bleak for the Wood Elfess.
Zip killed the one in front of her and turned on the bug that bit her. "You are next," she said, threatening the bug. The champion bug clicked at her and spat out a bronze mail link.
A purple-haired elf on the floor made her Endurance save, so her life, which was no longer in danger at the moment, from her two bug bites.
*Round 5
A frustrated and increasingly wounded princess missed her dancing bug again. "What the heck?" she cried, the bug making a fool of her.
Raythiel had the last laugh and hit her bug on the head, bleeding but having successfully outlasted a single giant termite.
Tira’s bugs zigged and zagged, and she missed both of her remaining bugs.
"Oh, well, I guess you want some magical fire then?" said Tira.
Tira took another healthy bite from one of her bugs, right on a toe, and the bug on Zip spat out some of Zip's blood and another chain link. One of the bugs finally crawled its way to Allie. Allie screamed and smashed it into bug chunks before it could finish her. The last bug decided on helping out the champion and charged in at Zip, as the two tried to eat her one chain link and a small piece of Woodling at a time. Star dodged her bug.
Zip managed to kill the champion, then turned to the new contender.
*Round 6
Star’s bug again dodged her futile stick attacks.
Free from bugs, Raythiel cast a healing spell on Twixia, and her eyes fluttered open, her wounds all healing.
Tira cast a spell with a smile, catching both of her bugs in a line of cold, and freezing both of them.
The contender took out another chunk of chain and flesh, and the bug on Star missed again.
Zip swung at her, and her sword banged into the wall and fell from her grasp. "What did I endure all this training when some termites are owning me!" wailed Zip.
Twixia got up and grabbed her fighting club.
Allie trembled on the machinery, looking out for more bugs.
*Round 7
Star swung again, and again it was a miss.
Raythiel rushed over to the bug on Star and squished it, laughing at her.
Tira killed the new bug champion, and all the bugs were down.
* "Exiting combat rounds." Etherstaria pulled up the party's combat sheet, they had defeated 15 giant termites. Twixia, Raythiel, and Allisaz each receive 300 experience if they wish to gain experience towards second level, with the standard system warning about losing their innocence. Seriously, the system sounded like a father sometimes!, thought Etherstaria. Zip and I gained 300 experience points. Tira gains zero experience points for killing creatures far below her level. 300 experience sent to Shard #31 as per notes.
"Wait, who the heck is Shard #31?" said Star. "He is the one who made me look like a fool during my Leveling! I'm going to have a talk with him in the future and give him a piece of my mind!'' Well, according to that message, maybe I already have? thought Star. That was not an encouraging sign.
"Star", said Tira, "What are you going on about?"
"Oh nothing," said Star turning off the battle report.