The streets of Ocala were only just starting to be cleared. Debris was everywhere thanks to the whipping winds of Eurus' hurricane. Entire trees and branches lined the road, half collapsed buildings where the wind had managed to topple them littered the ground and hundreds of scattered ponds had formed all throughout the city as the soil tried to drain the inches of rain that had fallen over the course of the last day. This looks more like the post-apocalyptic world that I expected to see when we came to the surface than the surface actually did.
Thankfully, while the situation looked dire the people were in high spirits. I didn't push Blobby for speed, taking in the sights of Fallen of all types using their magic to bring order to the chaos. Dwarves and the occasional giant worked with orcs to lift the heaviest of chunks of debris. Mermaids and lizardfolk worked to freeze and clear the water from the roads, while fae and satyrs commanded the once-living detritus to get itself off the roads, some even guiding it to reinforce the closest buildings until other construction focused magics could be applied. The loose leaf litter and fragmented bark got the ministrations of demons and draconians to create mulch and ash to nourish the soil and the few stubborn bits of foliage that had survived around the city with the help of large, thick bristle brooms.
The quiet roar of life was a balm to my senses, washing away some of the tension my battle mindset had left me in despite the night of rest. When I reached McMoney, a few merchants were already hawking their wares. Some were obviously disaster profiteering with their sales of commodities and building material for 'low low prices' while the others were indeed selling discount hot meals that several families and the workers were benefiting from. It was a funny thing to notice that I was more aware of the prices of food in Ocala than really anything else, but I blamed the festivities following the Hog Parade for that.
I really need to check in with Huck. I might be able to get the Materials I need for more. With two Amplitude Items, my necklace is really rounding out my attack options. I let my thoughts drift through the slew of magic I had access to thanks to my Amulet and my Charm. With the avian Totem joining the crew... well, the potential of my magic was stretching. Not to mention I can fly. That's a big plus. Whoever I am fighting will probably not expect a giant to take to the skies on them. Plus, if I can fly then I can hit stuff that flies which makes my need for ranged attacks less prevalent.
A ripple entered the range of my senses and I turned to look at the Crystal Ward as it grew closer. The underlying turbulence of magic made the Ward a beacon. Normally, the ripples formed by the Entities looked like eddies in water, rather than the rippling waves on the surface of a pond that my vibrosense picked up on. Despite that still being the case, something in the back of my brain niggled at me that those same incomprehensible signals were... cheerful. I need to check in with Hec. It's been a minute since we spoke at all. A lot has unfolded, and hopefully they are in a better place after Billy got them connected up. With the Nash Family territory soon to join that count, the Entity Cluster will be in the best shape we can manage before the Conference.
As the list of things that I needed to do continued to grow in my head, Blobby finally turned down the road that led to the Embassy. I could have sent my friends a message with the comm-plant, but... that just wasn't my style. I knew if something was going on they would reach out, so I opted to roll up to the door unannounced. It would have been trivial to open a path into the building, considering most of it was reinforced with my mana-formed stone, but I just knocked heavily on the wooden door.
The sudden motion lit up all the people gathered inside, and I did my best to try to estimate which source of more-defined ripples were my friends. The most obvious was the six-legged form of Anthony the Fire Ant. Beside him were two sets of legs that belonged to Danny and Devon almost without a doubt. A rippling void filled the space between them, and I easily recognized it as Billy's Djinn Legs Trait manifestation. One pair of steps were headed for the door, each a glancing motion with the floor rather than a full step. Jolene.
Deeper into the warehouse-turned-Embassy was Samuel's tree with its Metier Crystal center. Oddly, the ripples of the Entity fragment there were very much contained, not extending for more than a foot out from the source as if unwilling to do so. When I continued to pan vibrosense I noticed that arrayed around Hec's crystal were three new people in an animated discussion with who had to be Samuel's willowy build, except with floor length hairs. Wait what?
Now too curious to let the strange feedback I was receiving from the building alone, I let Fievil open a path with
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Instead, she mumbled. "If you were just going to walk through the door, why bother to knock?"
"Sorry, Jolly. I didn't realize I was so impatient until I got a look at you all," I said, smirking. It faltered somewhat as my own eyes had some trouble processing my friends and the three guests present. It had only been a few days, but things had changed by leaps and bounds within the Bunker Busters.
Jolene looked as breathtaking as the first time I'd seen her. Her auburn hair and green eyes drawing me in like jade pools. It was only after I managed to break eye contact that I noticed her skin and scales had gained a slight opalescent shimmer that rippled in veins down her neck and down to her fingers. Each of the veins highlighted the retractable fins she used to navigate within water and her manifested mana. I had to force myself to look away from the cute frown on her face to take in the others.
Billy, Danny, and Devon were huddled together over a table poking a slab of meat with various knives I hadn't focused enough to notice. The brunette and her boyfriend looked bedraggled, as if they hadn't slept for days, and I noticed that Devon seemed to be favoring his right leg when he turned to look my way. Billy didn't look too much different, but there was a steadiness to his movement that indicated the elf hadn't been idle in the least while I'd been away. Anthony, as I had sensed, was now taking a huge chunk of the room with his bulk, but he was just small enough to come through the loading bay door we'd left unused when we took over the building. The Fire Ant's chitin had taken on an uneven shade of oranges and reds, which in the light of Hec's crystal gave the illusion of an inner fire. There was also a harness tied around the creature, with two crates lashed to his sides, but they didn't seem to affect the creature as it wagged its abdomen and antenna in greeting.
While all those things were notable and important, the four people in the final group were what really gave me pause. Samuel, for some reason, was wearing a cloak of vines that seemed to be blowing in a non-existent breeze. Some of it clung tight to his head like a garland, which is what I'd originally assumed to be hair long enough to allow vibrosense to carry to his head, before cascading and interweaving with the rest of his... outfit. I hope he's got some clothes on under that. It wasn't easy to tell. If that change wasn't enough, there were two Tendrils standing hesitantly beside him. A clearly younger, Death Attuned one was clinging to a Fire Attuned. Their smoothed humanoid features were harder to read, but they were both radiating fear and hesitance as loudly as possible. Considering the relaxed posture of everyone present, I opted not to start blasting on sight.
Finally, but not least, was a dragon in human form. The towering specimen was able to look me in the eye, which was impressive enough for one of the dragon-race Fallen I'd seen in Ocala. Beyond the fact that the dude needed a thorough scrubbing from the ash covering his body and shirt, it was the obvious Mana Shard front and center of his chest that gave me pause. It answered why Hec had been hesitant to expand its influence to the normal extent that the Category 2 sliver of an Entity Cluster could accomplish, but it also left dozens of questions in its place. Chief amongst them was 'Is that thing embedded in his chest?' and 'And why do I feel a pull from him?'
"Wow, you guys looked like you were busy," I said, addressing the room.
"And you look like you went 0 and twenty with a tesla coil," Daniela shot back without a single moment of delay.
"I missed you too, Danny," I said, chuckling, not even the least bit bothered by her comment. I wasn't sure if my high Strength would be able to pull through on healing the Lichtenberg scars running up my arms, but it wasn't the worst outcome. When Striated Dermis activated, they made me look like one of those old world kintsugi bowls. As far as them joining the collection of scars the surface had given me, they were more than 'aight. "But that's a given. I'm glad to see you all here, even Devon. Plus some new... friends?"
"You were right we were busy, Ron," Samuel said, smiling softly as he gestured to the new people in the Embassy. "You couldn't be doing all the heavy lifting. These siblings are Tucker and Amaya and this is Joe, an immigrant from one of the cities to the north of Ocala."
The two Tendrils nodded their heads, while Joe the draconian lifted his hand meekly before looking in Billy's direction as if seeking support.
"Well," I said, stepping up beside Jolene. "Why don't we all catch up?"
With a sweeping gesture of my hand, Fievil formed a round circle of benches with
The jaw drops were worth the discomfort of being hoisted up by the chest when there were injured ribs in there.