The team checked in at the villa before heading in to Greenstone. They had dropped off Rashid at the academy annex gates on the way back to the city, he had other duties that he had been away from in their three weeks of chasing every bronze rank monster they could find.
Reuben had stayed with them and was enjoying a luxury bath in the guest wing. The Mitchells were catching up with Gerald at the breakfast bar over a cup of his imitation coffee.
“Gerald you sweet heart! This is the best brew we’ve ha so far! And we’re now bronze rank so we can really appreciate it.”
“Aye thankee Mrs Kyra, It may be the bronze rank stamina potion I put in there plus some new berries I’ve tried. I’ll save the recipe and make a batch for you to take with you. Would you like it to become the house staple for offering to guests?”
“Absolutely, shows a bit of our character then.”
“Very well, I will have a range produced for each rank that may frequent the house. If you don’t mind me saying I’ll not be offering any to those highborn families that keep ‘dropping in’ on their way past to see if you’re in. You’re all lucky you just missed them this morning.”
“How often have they been ‘dropping in’ Gerald?” Teddy asked.
“Oh I’d say almost daily Sir, they’re getting quite persistent, a few have tried getting past the gate to check for themselves but they’ve been firmly rebuffed.”
“Not come to violence I hope? There’s certain rules from our world concerning trespassers on our property I’m happy to invoke if required.”
“Oh I wouldn’t worry about that Sir, you’re in a world of magic now with a judicial system thats very relaxed, especially out here in a provincial back water abused by an ancient aristocratic system.” As he spoke he held up his fists and red-yellow fire rolled around the knuckles.
“Point taken, good work Gerald.”
The older man bowed his head slightly and went back to clearing up the breakfast bits. Shortly after Reuben joined them at the table. Fresh from his bath he was looking sleepy and relaxed.
“I don’t know how you guys do those trips so often, civilisation is not over rated.”
“Oh you get used to it, it’s far nicer to do adventuring in this world with magic compared to staying in the wild in ours.” James replied.
“Like when were you ever in the the ‘wild’?” James scoffed. “The wildest it ever got was a day in the woods still within phone signal or a weekend camping in some farmers field where you still had a gas stove and a Moka pot for espresso in the morning.”
“Just because you tried and failed the UK three peaks challenge doesn’t mean you know wild!” James shot back.
The girls looked at each other and even Gerald turned round with a raised eyebrow to look at the boys bickering. Teddy swirled his ‘coffee’ while James looked in the bottom of his mug.
“Awkward…” Kyra said. “Anyway, no that Reuben is here shall we do the summoning?”
Reuben looked like someone had explained to him what Christmas was, then told him it was today.
“Ohh! Summoning, what’re we summoning?!”
A few hours later they met outside, Lucy wanted to go through the ritual with Lechuza a few times to talk it over, the owl familiar couldn’t grasp ritual magic but it had the intelligence to be aware and Lucy felt it was fair to explain. The ritual was laid out and Lechuza stood in the middle, they had the required materials for the bronze rank ritual for a while now just incase they were away from the markets when Lucy ranked to bronze.
The others had gathered around the ritual to observe, it was less interesting in terms of magical measuring to Reuben as ritual magic drew its energy from the circle and the stacks of coins, anyone could do ritual magic regardless of having essences and many professionals did, some making money to eventually buy essences to prolong use life and many just as tradesmen.
Lechuza flung her huge wings wide one last time and looked at Lucy, she tucked her wings and ruffled her neck feathers and Lucy began.
“Amongst the tall dark pines the hunter waits,
Amongst the weeds and logs the hunter waits,
The wisest hunter knows that patience catches the vulnerable,
From the darkest places the powerful watch,
Ready to reap the rewards coming to them.”
The familiar in the ritual exploded into feathers, swirling in a tornado that was contained within the circle. As it thickened they could barely see any light through the black feathers and the light around them seemed to fade in the twighlight of the afternoon. A chill was suddenly felt through all the onlookers except Lucy. There was a phantom hoot and a screech that couldn’t be pinpointed. The feathers spiralled around until they started to drop down but the darkness didn’t abate.
As the feathers swirled to the floor they could make out a crouching figure, not half the size of Lechuza, more the size of an albeit small, but normal person. It was a skinny dirty woman, with a mix of ragged long black hair and dreadlocks that fell from her head to the floor as she was crouching on all fours. She wore a black leather loincloth and a similar leather vest top, both engraved in dark red runes that could’ve been blood. A circlet on her head had a motif of the moon that was the cleanest thing on her. Her wrists and ankles had a thick collection of bangles and charms, her hands and feet scarred and nails ragged. She looked up at Lucy and then at the others and they saw the thick black lines that were drawn from above her eyebrows to halfway down her cheeks in vertical slashes, they could all see her eyes were magically wild and terrifying, holding all those she observed in contempt, when she looked at Lucy they softened to the look of an equal.
“Lechuza?” Lucy whispered.
[Miss Lucy.] came the familiar voice in her head.
“It is you, wow, you still can’t talk out loud in this form?”
Lechuza touched a hand to her throat, just above the many necklaces and charms around her neck.
[It is still denied me Miss Lucy, but this form offers many advantages alongside my other.]
“Alongside?”
The nightmare in front of them stood tall straightening up, a slight build woman she tucked her arms into her chest and seemed to grow, rotating and shooting up into the eight foot tall owl they were familiar with.
“Oh I’m glad we’ve still got the regular scary going on.” James muttered.
Lucy checked out the new description for Lechuza.
Ability: [Lechuza] (Vision)
Familiar (ritual, summon)
Base cost: Extreme mana, extreme stamina, extreme health.
Cool-down: None
Current rank: Bronze 0 (00%)
Effect (iron): Summon an Owl Familiar to serve as a familiar. [Lechuza] has the ability to mirror some abilities of the summoner. Summoner can project themselves into the familiar from a moderate distance away to see through the summons eyes, have some control of the body and use some powers through the familiar. The body of the summoner is left unprotected during this time. When the summon is absorbed [Lechuza] can reflect most incoming physical damage.
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Effect (bronze): [Lechuza] has gained a new form, [Bush Witch] can be used to cast various spells and will cast previously unused summoners spells from the familiar. When absorbed mind altering powers are enhanced to the summoner and mana pool and recovery is enhanced. Absorbed boosts will only apply when absorbed from the [Bush Witch] form. When [Owl] form is absorbed then legacy effects from iron rank will be applied at bronze rank.
“And you are the same mind between the two forms?”
[Yes Miss.]
Between the ‘yes’ and the ‘miss’ the Owl rotated on the spot shrinking down to the Bush Witch who promptly crouched low, her head looking around in quick jerky movements. Lucy held out her hand and the familiar went ghostly and stretched through the air towards Lucy’s hand, absorbing into her. The light around them seemed to get brighter and they realised they all were a little more relaxed. Kyra who was standing opposite Lucy over the ritual circle cocked her head as she looked at her.
“It’s a bold choice but I’ve got to admit it’s working for me.” Kyra said to Lucy.
“What’s that?”
Kyra walked over the remains of the circle with a hand mirror suddenly appearing. She held it up for Lucy to see her face. Previously when Lucy had absorbed Lechuza she had delicate feather tattoo-like markings around her eyes. In Pallimustus where no one used cosmetics the effect was striking and looked like eyeshadow. Looking in the mirror she could see there was a difference now, her eyes still looked like they had make-up but now it looked more like the war paint that Bush Witch Lechuza was wearing. Wide black lines three centimetres wide went from above her eyebrows to the tops of her cheeks. They were faint and smoky rather than the stark black that had been on the familiar. On closer inspection they were the runes and sigils that Lechuza had on her clothing and charms. As she watched they got fainter until they disappeared.
“Fascinating.” Reuben said, scribbling away. “As a member of the magic society this is fantastic to see through your interface.” The group had added him as a guest before the ritual. “To see in real time the effects that absorbing a familiar can have.”
“Go on, what have you seen specifically?”
“Well, Keep a hold of that wonderful mirror. You can see now that your mana reserve is at one hundred percent on the interface. Try throw a magic missile into the air.”
Lucy shot straight up, they had no neighbours and a small magical display like that wasn’t going to worry anyone. She saw on the interface the small mana dip from firing one missile. The visible effect on her face was the lines became slightly darker.
“My hypothesis is that as you use the Bush Witch specialities the markings will become more prominent. Perhaps try something in her wheelhouse.”
James stepped forward into the middle of the remains of the circle, he knew she needed a volunteer and it was fairest if he went first. She gave him a kind smile before focussing and casting her spells, small lip movements whispering. His wife raised her left hand, motes of dust and black ash seemed to drift off her arm and a general area of darkness clung to the limb. The markings around her eyes sunk to the darkest black and her eyes became pits with no end. Next all he could see was many copies of himself as mirror walls slammed into place in front of him. He suddenly couldn’t feel his weight on his feet and panicked almost falling over before he looked down and saw his feet still on the floor, he then felt as if he’d been shoved and had to stare at a point on the floor to prove to himself he wasn’t moving. He looked around and saw nothing but wall after wall of glass or mirror, unable to tell which was which as all his doubles looked around as well. It unnerved him to see a few of his reflections turning when he wasn’t, one was shouting wordlessly and another was beating his fists against a glass wall until they went bloody. He felt a heat behind him and saw a wall of fire coming towards him, his reflections that were in the way were blistering and burning on the floor between melted panes of glass and cracked mirrors. James started to run, he bounced off invisible walls and had to feel his way to the edges, he battered his head and his knees on unexpected angled walls. He could feel his heart rate quicken, panic rising, the heat was getting more intense. He found himself in a dead end with nowhere to go, the fire right behind him, he pounded on the walls with all his might but he was impotent to get through while the fire closed on him.
He came back to his own body in the middle of the circle lying face down on the floor, his mouth was full of mud where he had been screaming and he had been pounding the floor, the ground all churned up around him. Lucy ran to him and started wiping the mud off him.
(Lucy Mitchell) has cast [Houdini Palace] on (James Mitchell). [Houdini Palace] is enhanced.
(Lucy Mitchell) has cast [Vertigo] on (James Mitchell). [Vertigo] is enhanced.
(Lucy Mitchell) has cast [Enter Sandman] on (James Mitchell). [Enter Sandman] is enhanced.
James spat a little bit of blood where he had bit the inside of his mouth, he looked up at his wife who was holding him. The markings around her eyes were slowly fading back to the faint smokiness.
“Did you know it would be that strong?”
“I didn’t! I just get a broad idea of what’s happening, but I could tell that was a lot stronger than I ever had done before. I’m sorry babe.” James hugged her close, all was forgiven.
“Something to be aware of as you cast your mind and illusion powers is that your eye markings become bold as your familiar boosts your powers.” Reuben noted, writing it all down to add to the magic society records.
“Noted, I will have to see if I can cast without the enhancement if I don’t want anyone to know I’m doing it.”
They got up and James finished brushing the mud off himself as they made their way back in.
“Further to my hypothesis I would say that your original eye markings remain prominent as the power is passive for damage reflection. As that is a passive power and not an active one like using enhanced mind powers that is why the eye markings remain when the owl form is absorbed.”
As Reuben reminded her she released Lechuza behind her, the Bush Witch naturally falling back to a shadowy corner and a darkness she emitted seemed to hide her even more. The giant owl stepped out of the shadow and lifted into the darkness to hunt. The others all went inside.
………
Genevieve Picot felt Vincent’s aura coming down the corridor, using a subtle technique she reached out with hers to acknowledge his presence and he walked into her office without having to knock. She winced as she saw the amber envelope in his hand, only one family used the high quality stationary in that colour and it was the family she really didn’t want to hear from right now.
The Whipparrel family were amongst the oldest and most troublesome of the aristocracy that were resistant to the changes in the political landscape of Greenstone. They could chase their lineage back to just after the founding of the city and had their paws all over the various elements of the city. They couldn’t outwardly cause problems for the society as that would rankle the Duke into action and punish the family, after all the society was there to protect his citizens and it was a world spanning organisation, the amount of political clout they could bring to bare if pushed was incredible. But the Director kept finding things malfunctioning in her headquarters. Pipes would burst and professionals were hard to find, construction crews on various repair jobs would turn up and be the wrong trade or not have the correct tools, basics like lighting in the offices would randomly work or not. There was a mostly harmless but persistently annoying bug somewhere at any given time, all in the scope of the Whipparrel family trades and all around the times the Director did something that might annoy them.
“Director, I have a fresh petition from the Whipparrels, it is addressed directly to your desk but I took the liberty of fielding it myself.”
“Thankyou Mr Trenslow, they have become quite a burden on my time, they have put something in the letter that you felt I had to see?”
“Yes ma’am, they are now suggesting that they could field a single bronze with half a dozen iron adventurers. They insist that this is agreeable and that they will accept non-replies as confirmation of contract and will be along to collect the day after tomorrow. Also, if they are denied the contract after offering this solution,” he coughed, “with such generous terms, they feel they will have to involve the intercontinental council.”
“A bold move, one that may not hold them in good favour. Just because we have not been reprimanding them to their face does not mean we haven’t been keeping records. It does force the issue further than I would like to deal with at this moment in time however. We may have to throw them a bone to keep them quiet. There has been no reaction from our recent visit to the annex?”
“Still nothing more than a demand to see our reports and expenditure from the trip, the claim is that we spent city resources to support infrastructure for a venture from Vitesse.”
There was a boom from outside the building and the lights went out. The Director had some glow stones on her desks from the recent power blackouts.
“Well this would be a new step for the Whipparrels.” She said.
A receptionist ran in to the office in a panic and breathlessly caught the directors desk.
“Ma’am the building is under attack!”
Genevieve and Vincent looked at each other with a flat look as if to say ‘duh’.
“Thankyou Ms Shirkle. Please take cover in your assigned fall back area.” She teleported herself and Vincent to the roof.
Looking down they could see the watery hole in the middle of the adventure society campus where monsters had tunnelled out. They had obviously been transported to the docks then tunnelled through the harbour walls.
Climbing out of the hole after the dozens monsters was a tall thin man with a long white coat on holding a collection of artefacts with antennae on them.
The usual concentration of adventurers were already mounting a response, the enemy, whoever they were, had decided to attack right in the centre of the most likely area to find some of the most dangerous residents of Greenstone.
“Well isn’t this something.” The Director said before rattling off her quick battle orders to Vincent.
………
The Mitchells had been shopping in the Adventure Society district, they had a few new bronze rank items to purchase, Teddy had just placed an order with Gilbert Bertinelli for a new pair of boots, the older man’s expertise second to none.
They had heard the boom as they were crossing outside. All immediately on edge for battle.
“Lucy, what’ve we got?” Teddy asked.
Using the new interface features Lucy opened a window in the group chat and presented the live feed she was getting from Lechuza high above.
“Ok,” Teddy said after a moment of watching the scene unfold, “this is what we’re going to do.”