The easiest way to get started seemed to be for the two of them to chop down another couple of trees, but since the forest guardian had destroyed the ax, that was out of the question. Eana wasn’t about to try bringing down an ironwood with her new staff and while Idris might be able to do it with his hammer that just sounded so… boring.
With renewed excitement, they left the grove and headed northwest, hoping to hit the river and then maybe travel along it for awhile.
“The road should be somewhere to the south,” Idris said, “and with the traffic from townspeople and adventurers periodically going to Confluence, there’s probably not quite as many monsters down that way.”
“Makes sense to me, but don’t adventurer’s go to the hive because random monster encounters are… well, random?” Eana asked.
“Nobody is going to let us into the dungeon right now, so we make do with what we can find out here,” Idris replied.
“What about food?” Eana asked, thinking wistfully of the breakfast she had only partially eaten back at the inn.
“We’ll figure it out,” Idris said.
Eana figured she’d have to trust him, and if things didn’t work out then they’d just have to head home. They were only a couple hours away from home anyway. It was strange how far away that felt until she put it in those terms.
She decided that everything would be all right, and for now, it was time to focus on grinding out a few levels in their new skills.
They headed out, taking a meandering route following whatever animal paths they came across. Compared to the smooth, small hills and grassy fields around Irondale, the forest out here was so lush and the terrain so varied with rocks jutting from the ground amidst small hills and ravines.
It had been so long since Eana had had the chance to do anything for herself. Even something so small as walking someplace, just to relax or be alone or for any reason outside of healing had become something she looked on as frivolous.
With her brother now though, she found it peaceful. Out here in the woods, the voices in her mind that often reminded her of her fears of the curse of her ability, or how broken and incapable she was, finally quieted down.
They passed innumerable berry bushes and other small edibles that the two would stop briefly to gather up or munch on and Eana, for her part, was actually having a good time.
Maybe adventuring was her true calling. Getting away from Irondale with her brother, wandering the wilds and seeking their fortune away from all the people who seemed to exist to torment and drag her down.
She was about to say as much to Idris when he cut her off, lamenting for what had to be the fifteenth time since they left the grove that he didn’t have some way of tracking or finding monsters.
“Bloodlust much?” she said, teasing.
Idris grinned in sudden self awareness. Clearly playing into it, he said “Once that XP starts flowing in, you look around and realize it’s just out there,” he started plucking at the air like he was taking ripe fruit straight off the branch, “for the taking!”
Up ahead the path opened up on a hillside overlooking a meadow filled with tall grass and wildflowers. LIke the ironwood grove it felt somehow wild and yet cultivated at the same time. Eana grinned at the sheer beauty of it and almost ran straight in when Idris held out a hand, stopping her.
“There’s something in there,” he said, pointing and crouching low. She dropped down with him and followed the direction when she saw some of the taller grass moving. There was something in there, and when she focused in on the situation she could hear it.
There was a low crunching noise, with occasional clicks that, for a second, Eana mistook for the clicking of hive drones communicating. She followed Idris’ lead and stayed calm though. These clicks were different.
“I’m not sure what I’m doing right now,” Idris said.
“What? But you literally just had us get down like this” Eana replied.
“Yeah but I’m not sure why,” Idris said, picking up a rock and standing.
“What?” Eana asked.
“I’ve got a better idea,” he said.
“Idris wait!” Eana whisper shouted, but it was too late. He threw the rock past the obscured thing in the meadow, hard enough to make a loud crack as it impacted a tree on the other end of the meadow.
The crunching stopped and a quick scuttling of limbs made it seem as if the thing had turned to see what had made the cracking noise. And as it did, Idris sprinted forward.
Feeling suddenly vulnerable on her own at the edge of the clearing, Eana ran after him. But by the time she caught up it was already over.
Idris had imbued his hammer as he approached the thing and swung, making a sickening crunching splat that sent goo across the glade.
He turned to her and grinned, menacing her with the gooey end of his hammer.
“Just a giant beetle of some sort,” Idris said, “Only a few XP but finally a little action, am I right?”
Eana cringed back further from the dripping hammer head, “Not sure if I want the next one or not.”
Eana hadn’t really expected them to happen upon many more creatures but it seemed that, despite the random nature of monster spawns and encounters out in the Chaos Lands, that they were finding fights much more easily than she had anticipated. After their initially mundane walk out to the ironwood grove, things were beginning to heat up.
Several small battles later Eana began to feel the drawbacks of her smaller and less physical frame. As a Healer she was feeling more confident than ever. Both she and Idris had received some small wounds, and if she wasn’t able to take care of it immediately she could dash off a quick Recover and continue the fight.
But physically she exhausted herself early. It was in a fight with a Minor Clay Golem that she felt it most acutely. The thing’s soft exterior seemed tailor made to absorb the damage of blunt weapons, which both she and Idris were carrying. In the end she was imbuing blow after blow just to keep up with what was likely the same amount of damage she would have been doing unimbued in a stronger state.
Most of their fights had been one sided and this one was little different, but the golem had required both of them to beat on it until it was literally just a pile of clay.
A prompt popped up.
Enter Party with Idris Stone?
This monster required you to work in concert with another adventurer to take down, but the killing blow and majority of damage mark this kill as belonging to Idris Stone.
Join a party and share the experience of joint kills?
Yes / No
“Oh whoa, did you get the notification about parties?” Eana asked her brother.
“Yep, I’m selecting ‘Yes’ ”, he said, “Looks like it will only work if you choose it too. I wonder if this is sort of like what groups get when they form a band?”
“I bet it is,” Eana said as she selected ‘Yes’.
Party formed with Idris Stone
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Experience sharing enabled with default ratio based on damage done.
Loot sharing and additional properties available to specialized classes and skills.
“Basing experience on damage done… won’t that be giving you the most experience?” Eana asked.
“We can still trade off in fights, but this way you’ll get a little even when you’re just helping me out with healing.”
“Good point,” Eana said, but internally she still wanted to be more of a fair contributor when it came to the actual fighting part of a fight. She checked on her XP. After that afternoon’s fighting she was up to 580.
It might make sense to get the Inventory ability like Idris had done, but they hadn’t collected a whole lot of loot out here. Idris stashed a couple of their smaller kills in his inventory to “feed to the rocks” but so far his inventory was good enough for both of them.
She glanced at her healing skills. Living in a small town, she had held off on investing in everything available to her as a Healer, but maybe there was something she should get now that she was out here in the Chaos Lands? A couple of skills seemed relevant:
Name: Empathic Intervention
Classification: Class/Healer/Active
Description: The most devout healers are those who would selflessly put themselves in place of their patients in order to gain the insight necessary to treat them. By channeling this desire into a magical force, the Healer can take on the damage or ill effects in place of her target patient, prolonging his life at the cost of her own. Higher proficiencies increase the amount of damage the healer can remove from her target, while reducing how much of that damage affects the Healer.
Cost: 350XP
As much as Eana wanted to be more useful in a fight, she didn’t think that her small frame and much lower endurance made it a good idea to learn this skill. Maybe in a hospital setting where she could take on a patients’ injuries and keep them stable, then get healing for herself when it was over with. But out here in the Chaos Lands? She’d just end up being a burden.
She examined the next skill she had avoided up to this point, Healer’s Ward:
Name: Healer’s Ward
Classification: Class/Healer/Active
Description: In battle, survival of the wounded often requires the Healer to place herself in harm’s way. But she can’t leave her safety up to her friends or fate. Healer’s Ward places a magical barrier around the caster that can completely absorb incoming damage. At level one it can absorb one attack up to ☆ damage potential. Higher levels of proficiency increase the number of charges and damage potential mitigation.
Cost: 350XP
Healer’s Ward could be fairly useful out here, but she likely had to actually get hit in order to increase the proficiency level, and even then her main concern wasn’t survival - Idris would keep her safe.
No, what Eana wanted was to be better at fighting. Today. Right now.
She examined the warrior skills she had dismissed that morning.
Name: Psych Up
Classification: Class/Warrior/Active
Description: One cannot be ready for battle at every moment of the day, but it is a foolish Warrior who expects her emotions to follow the needs of the moment. Psych Up circumvents the need for meditation and emotional control, bringing in an instant the power that comes with the thrill of battle. At level one, provides the Warrior with +2 strength. Higher levels increase the stat bonus provided by Psych Up.
Cost: 150XP
Name: Weapon Proficiency
Classification: Class/General/Passive
Description: Focusing on specific weapon types brings increased insight. Unlocks proficiency levels for every type of weapon the user decides to work with. At level one, an attack with a weapon requires 5% less stamina and has a +5% chance of landing a critical strike. Higher levels of proficiency increase bonuses and unlock new bonuses.
Cost: 150XP
That settled it. For less than the cost of one Healer skill, Eana could learn two Warrior skills. That was the tradeoff of getting a rare class it seemed, it offered unique or special bonuses and powers but was much more expensive to progress.
Both of these skills would make fighting alongside Idris a lot easier. Without thinking it through any further, she spent the XP.
Skill Earned
Psych Up
Level: 1
Bonus: Strength +2
Duration: 30 seconds
Cooldown: 1 minute
Skill Earned
Weapon Proficiency
Level: 1
Another prompt appeared after she invested in Weapon Proficiency.
Select Primary Weapon
Available Choices: Ironwood Staff of the Monk | Unarmed
NOTE: Only one primary weapon may be selected at a time. Proficiency levels for weapons not selected as primary will not increase.
She selected her Ironwood Staff. With any luck she could get at least to level two in both skills before they returned home.
While Idris hovered over the “corpse” of the clay golem, Eana decided to give Psych Up a try.
She cast and as energy welled up inside her she suddenly found herself, completely without meaning to, letting out a primal grunt that began as a grumble and finished with a loud HAAAA!
Idris looked up at her. Letting the clay fall from his hands and back to the ground he pointed at her arm. Eana was breathing heavily and feeling full of energy, but took the time to look down. The sleeve of her blouse had torn open earlier and her bicep was visible.
Her bicep?
She was supposed to be a skinny little twelve year old girl, not… this! She couldn’t help herself. She held the arm up and flexed and saw, clear as Order’s path, a full on lemon of a bicep muscle on her previously skinny arm!
“Did you just use a skill!?” Idris said, incredulous.
She gave him a shy smile and shrugged.
“You did! I just heard you go all HUUUUHHHHAAAA!” Idris said, “And your arms look like you spent the last month in the mine!”
Idris moved toward her and held out his arms to squeeze her muscle.
“It’s Psych Up isn’t it?” he said, excited.
“Yeah! But I didn’t think the effect would be so…noticeable!” she replied.
“I might have to get this…” Idris said, rubbing his chin and checking his interface, “But only two strength for the first level. I don’t exactly need to spec further down that road I guess, but still.”
With an exhale of a breath Eana didn’t know she had been holding, she suddenly felt deflated. Looking down at her arm and checking her interface, she saw it had returned to normal and the icon that indicated that Psych Up was active had disappeared.
Like with Imbued Strike she didn’t see any evidence of a cooldown. Strange.. so what would happen if she cast it twice in a row?
“Let’s get moving,” Idris said, interrupting her thoughts before she could pursue the idea any further, “I want to get the most out of today. I’ve almost got Imbued Strike up to level two.”
“Just level two?” Eana teased, “I’m half way to three already.”
“Yeah, well, we can’t all be so lucky as you,” Idris replied. And Eana was shocked to discover herself grinning in agreement.
Lucky? Her?
They hadn’t even been gone a full day and it was as if her entire world had changed. Back in Irondale she felt the constant oppression of anxiety at being the cursed girl who brought bad luck to everything she touched.
But out here? She was part of a party. A Healer. A Warrior.
And she was lucky!
It was glorious!
She followed Idris and they made a vague heading out toward where they were pretty sure the river should be. Above the trees of the Chaos Lands surrounding Irondale they could still see the mountain where their father was likely finishing out his day.
Probably worried sick about them.
But that was a problem for future Eana. The Eana of right now just wanted to get back to fighting and see if she could boost her skills even further.