I awoke the next morning to find myself curled up with my knees pulled into my chest and my nose buried beneath my bushy tail. I was wedged between Karl’s scaly back and Badger’s rather softer one. Between the blankets, the two bodies, and my own fur, I was way too hot.
Extracting myself from the blanks, I straightened my disheveled clothes and stepped out of the tent into the crisp morning air.
“Still in Realgar.” I sighed, watching the expedition members bustle about the camp.
The night before, two small tents near the edge of camp had been scavenged to sleep Badger, Karl, and I in one, and the girls in the other. Girls… My mind drifted to Kevin, now Autumn. How was she holding up? How was everyone holding up? My friends, my family, all of them were here in Realgar somewhere, and if what Hendric said about the Heartwood was true, they were a long ways away.
With that thought lingering on my mind, I headed to the central area in search of breakfast. I found my sister chattering at a rather annoyed Mara who was busy setting up a makeshift smoker out of split wood. Autumn was there too, sitting off to one side her nose deep in a bowl of leftover stew.
“Good morning brother!” Brook said cheerfully as I approached the table.
“Is there any food left?” I asked.
“There is, but first one of these bowls is yours.” Mara rumbled to me, pointing to a small stack near the cauldron. “Do not run off and expect others to clean it for you like you did last night.”
“Erm. Sorry.” I said, grabbing one of them.
“Mmmm. Rain and Earth wishes to speak with you all after you eat. Sooner is better. Wake the others if you must.”
Bowl of luke-warm stew in hand, I sat down beside Autumn on the rough block of wood serving as a bench.
“Hey.” I said. “How are you holding up?”
“I still can’t believe this is real.” She looked up at me, a genuine smile touching the edges of her feline features. “But I feel like some things are finally how they should be. There is no internet, no modern amenities, and yet… I don’t think I ever want to go back. How about you?”
“I’m glad you feel that way.” I said, thinking over her words. “I’m not sure I feel quite as strongly about never wanting to go back, but… it’s not so bad. I hope the others had an easier time than us.”
“Where do you think they are? Dean, Gretchen, our families…” Autumn asked.
“A long way away.”
“Do we try and find them?”
“We made a promise didn’t we? Besides, I don’t think any of them will find us out here. The real question is: How do we even begin?”
*******
Less than an hour later the six of us returned to the same tent we first entered the day before and found Earth and Rain examining the old yellowed map.
“You’re awake.” Rain said, glancing up at us.
“Mara sent us here.” Autumn ventured. “You wanted to see us?”
“We did.” Rain said. “There are many things to discuss.”
“First and perhaps most important are the paths, as I’m sure you’ve all seen in your status.” Earth said. “Selecting a path is one of the most significant choices you will make during your lives. Planning early is important as most require a prerequisite knowledge, experience, or attribute threshold.”
“Meaning that you need to give us an idea of what path you want as soon as you can so that you can begin working towards it. Preferably today.” Rain said. “The sooner you get your path, the sooner you increase your attributes, and the better your chances of surviving the Heartwood.”
“Choose a path in a single day?” Badger asked. “We don’t even know what paths are!”
“I realize that.” Earth sighed. “Just listen so I don’t have to say it twice: A path is a set of active and passive skills and attributes that levels and grows with your experience. They come in two types: professional and combat, as well as in ‘tiers’ of rarity with the highest tiers having the most difficult requirements.”
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“So we take the highest tier path we can?” Badger asked.
“A higher tier is not always the better choice. Lower tier paths yield less attribute points overall, but far more flexibility with more general skill options and a higher proportion of free attribute points, which is preferable to many professions. It’s more common for those specializing in combat or with a specific goal to seek out the higher tier paths, though I doubt many of you will have the attributes or skills to unlock them. They are very rare.”
“Now, before we go further I want to know your profession and skills in the other world, your total and highest attributes upon arriving, and any magic affinities you might have.” Rain said. “It will help us get a sense of which type of path will fit with your skillset.” He pointed to Brook. “Youngest first.”
“56 total attributes upon arriving with my spirit and intelligence tied at 10.” Brook said, her face lighting up. “I’m still a student, and I have an affinity for light and earth magic.”
I groaned, of course my sister had higher attributes better than me.
“Two magic affinities and those attributes are very impressive. They won’t be a limiting factor in choosing a path if you plan properly.” Rain mused. “If you’re still in education, are you training to be a scholar?”
“Nope! Students in our world usually stay in full-time education until we reach eighteen, although many stay in school longer than that.”
That seemed to throw Rain for a loop. “A strong education will also open up many paths.” He said, shaking his head. “We’ll talk later. Next, River?”
“Eighteen years old.” I said. “Still in school. I’m best at math and programming.” Not knowing an equivalent in Helise, I stumbled over the English word for ‘programming’.
“Programming is what exactly?” Earth asked.
“Erm. It’s a logical script or code used to automate machines into performing a certain function.” I tried to explain.
“Similar to inscription then.” Rain said. “Your base attributes and affinity?”
“45, with a 12 in intelligence.” I said. “My affinity is arcane.”
Rain’s eyes narrowed. “Arcane? Are you sure?”
“Yes? Is arcane strange?”
“If you were human, no. As a vul’heli? I’ve never heard of it.” Rain shrugged and then turned to Autumn.
“I’m 18. Still in School. Biology is my best subject, although I like sports. Life and fire affinity. 65 total attributes with my highest being perception at 11.”
If the schooling reveal threw Earth and Rain for a loop, Autumn’s attributes stunned them into complete silence. Earth simply stared at her for nearly thirty seconds before shaking her head.
“You don’t have a mark in your general skill page do you? On second thought, don’t answer that question. We’ll talk later. Mirrin?
The others told their attributes: Karl with 56 and a light affinity, Mirrin with 54 and no affinity, and Badger with 39 and no affinity. At least my base stats were higher than the old man’s.
“I want everyone to ask as many expedition members as possible about their paths today.” Rain said. “Karl, Given your experience with metal, I recommend you speak with Kar’ktar, our smith.”
“An ironworker and a smith are completely different things.” Karl muttered under his breath, but Earth seemed not to hear.
“Mirrin, if you wish to pursue a combat path in this world, there are many who can help. River, Brook, and Autumn, I want you three to meet back in this tent after the lunch hour.”
“Our last item is one of a more personal nature.” Rain continued. “If I understand correctly, you are all new to your respective species. That means you will all need a proper education on your biology, and perhaps a lesson in personal hygiene.” He gave my disheveled fur a look of disdain. “To that end I’ve procured a willing volunteer from each of your respective species and genders.”
“Brook can stay here with Earth, the rest of you go wait outside and I will fetch them.”
**********
After a brief lesson covering major differences between human and vul’heli physiology, Brook, Autumn, Badger, and I were pulled together for a lecture on the importance of daily grooming. It was considered the norm for ‘heli to brush their fur each morning with a mate or tribe member. Bathing on the other hand was generally done much more sparingly. Like real cats and foxes back on earth, our coats lacked sweat glands and produced self-cleaning oils that did most of the work for us.
“It is tradition for young sek’heli and vul’heli to gain one of their first ten levels crafting their first brush.” Our sek’heli tutor explained. “All of the traditional materials can be gathered here in the Heartwood. I’ve taken the liberty to procure them for you and I expect each of you to complete your own brushes today.”
Make our own brush? What was this, a crafts project? Still, I supposed there wasn’t a pet store hanging out in the middle of the wilderness.
It took nearly two hours to make the base of the brush and finish attaching bristles to a sponge-like fungus that would harden when left to cure in some sort of tree sap all afternoon. All we needed to do this evening was attach the handle and the brush would be finished.
By the time our brushes were finished and soaking, the other members of the expedition had begun filtering into the clearing for lunch. Autumn, Brook, and I took advantage of the hour to pester the other expedition members about their paths. I found that most had the lowest tier of path, and that most of those paths didn’t seem to align all that closely with what they actually did as a profession. For example, Mara had a broad tier one path related to husbandry, but the attributes and skills worked well enough for cooking that she decided just to work with it instead of starting over from scratch.
“Leveling is a bit slow though.” She had grumbled.
“So other than the obvious combat-non combat, what’s the difference?” I asked Hendric after Mara waved us away.
“You can have two paths, primary and secondary.” Hendric explained. “One is always a professional path, and the other a combat path. My primary path is a common combat one: Swordsman. My secondary path is a tier 2 professional one: Lumberjack. Your secondary path can never outlevel your primary path, so you gotta think hard about what you will set as your primary path lest it hold you back. Most folk set their primary as a professional one and ignore their combat paths for the most part. They figure a few attributes and skills aren’t worth risking their head over.”
“You also also have to keep in mind that combat paths require a certain amount of hands-on experience to gain levels. You can just gain levels through constant drill and sparring like the armies do, but that’s slow and boring. Professional paths on the other hand grow through the skill and knowledge of the individual. Warriors will usually keep both their combat and professional paths at a similar level to get the attributes of both.”
That made sense to me. I imagined a combatant would take a secondary path that would be easy enough to level on the road or between training while also increasing the attributes they cared about. That left me wondering what I wanted to do, and to be honest, I had no idea. Was I willing to risk life and limb for a primary combat path, or would I take the steady road?
Soon enough the lunch hour ended and Autumn, Brook, and I found ourselves being ushered back into the command tent. To my surprise, a group of 9 other expedition members awaited our arrival including the entirety of Wind’s adventuring party.
“Excellent, everyone is here.” Rain said. “Brook, Autumn, and River will be joining our reconnaissance team to get a better idea of what everyone here does before they decide their paths.”
“Join you?” I asked. “What are you looking for?”
“Early this morning Wind and Hendric finished their initial scouting pass of the ruins. Together with our inscription team, and our old records, we believe we’ve found the approximate location of the Wardstone.”
“That’s nice.” My sister said, glancing around the gathering. “But what exactly is a ‘Wardstone?’”