Chapter 14: Patience

The group stalked the woods with caution. The starting zone was blessedly clear of any monsters besides level 1 animals. It wasn’t the animals Riley and his party were wary of though. They had found tracks all over the forest showing the obvious signs of the Omni’s presence in the area. There were other signs as well. Fresh stumps dotted the area as particular trees had been selectively cut down. They had found a stream in the area as well showing signs of the mud at the banks of the stream having been collected. The distinct color of clay clear in the bright light of day.

Finding the stream had been fortuitous as they had largely been searching blind before. Shortly after making their declaration of war the group had decided to try and follow the scattered Omnis into the woods. But they had been too cautious in their initial approach. Wary of an ambush the group had delayed too long in following the fleeing group and was unable to find any fresh tracks. The stream had been the first real clue as to where the Omni’s main base was.

Riley felt the power of the mask coursing through him, its energy flowing freely in his body. They had discussed attempting to go maskless to possibly blend in from a distance, but that idea was shot down quickly as they realized their fantasy clothes would be a dead giveaway anyways.

Riley felt safer with the mask on. Its presence was annoying when chatting with the group as reading their facial expressions was much harder. But he appreciated it in these moments, before a fight where his mind had all the time in the world to think. To worry. Were they about to attack innocents over a misunderstanding? He could see where the Omnis were coming from, it certainly looked like their greatest fears had come true.

But perhaps the group had had some time to settle in, to realize that Riley and his party weren’t actually the enemy. They had adapted to this world quickly, the artillery an impressive feat to accomplish in the short time they had. Imagine what they could build if they had access to the masks?

It was that final question that drove his party forward. Or most of his party. He was pretty sure Heather was actually just really mad about the cat. But Riley had seen it in Casey’s eyes. Something he would never admit to her face. He had seen fear. Because imagine what they could build if they had access to the masks and they were still set on killing them? But was attacking them then a self-fulfilling prophecy? Riley’s mind spun in circles as they took care following the stream from a distance.

At the end of the day, it didn’t really matter what he thought, did it? The group was set on their course, and Riley was with the group.

As the group had followed the stream the signs of human presence became more and more known, and the group’s pace had slowed down. Idly Riley wondered if they weren’t better off all becoming rogues with the amount of sneaking around they had been doing.

He wasn’t prepared for what they found. The stream fed into a large pond, the water sparkling and crystal clear. All around the pond the trees had been cut back at least 15 feet and a palisade had been dug in around what was obviously the Omni’s main camp. Ten lean-tos were scattered around the area of the camp, but it was clear that those were only temporary dwellings as the beginnings of a log cabin were present in the center of the camp. The Omnis were building to stay.

Smoke billowed out of a hut made of dried grass and mud and clay pots and bricks were waiting to be fired in the furnace. Fish were wriggling in a net as a fisherman was bringing back his haul to an enclosed wooden shack that was billowing smoke.

Standing at the center of the Omnis directing orders was Baron Wally. The man’s voice recognizable even from where the group hid. Two looks outs were posted near the palisade and keeping a constant eye out into the forest.

“How long were we in that Trial for?” Scott whispered. Riley had been wondering something similar but had discarded the idea already. He was about to speak up but Heather beat him to the punch.

“I could feel myself getting tired during the trial. It felt pretty normal to me, so the trial wasn’t suppressing any of our needs while we were in there. If there was a time dilation then you and Riley would have had to wait for a lot longer for the rest of us to finish. I think they did all of this in only two days.”

“Incredible,” Riley found himself saying.

“There were 20 of them when they started. Its not impossible that they were all able to do this,” Casey said.

“There’s nothing we can do now, at least.” Heather said.

“I thought you said you wanted to go to war,” Casey’s voice had taken a hard edge.

“Oh I do,” Heather responded, her tone matching. “But this isn’t a disorganized rabble of hunters. They didn’t waste all of their time on that catapult—”

“Trebuchet,” the three boys said in unison.

“—trebuchet. That was probably just a side project for them. They’re too on guard and there’s too many of them for us to take out right now. If we try and sabotage them, we risk exposure and what have we accomplished? We set them back a day’s work and for what? We risk our lives. No. We need to fall back and find a camp of our own. We need to finish exploring the dungeon and we need to get stronger. Strong enough that their bullets can’t hurt us.”

Riley could see Casey grit her teeth through her mask, but she nodded anyways. She may not have liked the conclusion, but she wasn’t an idiot.

So far they had discovered three of the five quest locations. The Unending Horde in the North and Tragnar the Terrific in the south. It wasn’t clear what quest the Mushroom woods were tied to but if the pattern continued that meant they had two more locations to scout out, both to the east.

Riley opened his active quest log for good measure.

Stop the Unending Horde (Optional)

Find the Treasure of the Hidden Village (Optional)

End of the Rein of Tommy (Optional)

Clear the Lost Mines Trafalgar (Optional)

Defeat Tragnar The Terrific (Required)

With the Omni’s central location tackling any of these quests would be difficult. The Unending Horde confirmed one of their hunting grounds by the bunnies roasting on skewers over a fire pit. The Lost Mines or the Hidden Village would likely be their best bets. The mines being able to hide their group from the Omnis. Any noise from their fighting hidden deep underground. The Hidden Village by its very nature of being hidden would also be a good starting point.

The group left the central woods to the east. They had to pick their way carefully through, unwilling to bet on the 14 of the Omnis they had counted being their entire force. Only 2 of the Omni’s had been confirmed killed. The first by Heather’s Mana Bolt to the back of their head. The second to the stag. Which left four people potentially on patrol in the area.

As tense as the trip felt nothing exciting happened until they had finally left the woods. The forest broke to a small stretch of rolling hills that quickly turned into steep cliffs. Canyons cut through the tall walls of rock twisting and turning out of sight of the group.

“How much do you want to bet that we’ll find the Lost Mines in there?” Scott asked.

“Shot bet?” Casey asked.

“Shot bet,” Scott confirmed.

“I’ll take that bet,” Casey said. “We already found one tree cave. I think the Lost Mines will be in another one. This is where we’ll find the hidden village.”

“That’s dumb,” Riley snorted. “But I want in. I’m with Casey if we can get 2:1 odds.”

“Deal,” Scott said, grinning. “You guys are so going to regret this.”

Looking north the group could just barely make out the beginnings of a large lake. The group could see some movement near the shore signifying creatures drinking from the water. But it was hard to identify any specifics without getting closer.

“Here’s the real question, do we want to check out the lake first. Or do we want to check out the cliffs?” Heather asked.

“If we’re looking for a home base then I say we should choose the cliffs first,” Riley said. He had withdrawn his mask into his core as soon as they were free of the woods so the party could see the confidence he was hopefully projecting. “They provide the most cover from the Omnis and if we can find a stream or an underground river we would be really well set up. If we can’t find any water? We’ll then we can camp near the largest source of freshwater in the area. There’s bound to be any number of streams feeding into that lake. It’ll be a lot easier to pick a camp over there.”

Seeing no one disagree the group prepared to head into the Cliffs. Masks resummoned and weapons were drawn as they prepared themselves for the monsters which would inevitably come.

Riley checked his point total. The few extra kills from the plains around Tragnar had helped a little but he was still 100 points away from affording the pair of leather armor chaps in the store. Then he would need to save up for the chest piece before he could consider himself armored. It was a ways to go, but he wasn’t too worried about getting there. He trusted his party. The monsters in the cliffs would never know what hit them.