It had only been a couple of hours and Chess already felt good. The ache from the run had left her limbs and she wanted to summon her guitar and play. But with Ashley riding in front of her, she settled for singing a-cappella. She decided she needed to work on better remembering songs, particularly something that she could sing while running. Her embarrassment at her weak showing earlier still fresh. I need to ask Lynn for parchment when we stop, to help with the process. I don't want to forget any of the songs that I have straight right now.
Most of the morning passed in relative peace, the men choosing to remain alert and wary; forgoing the easy banter of the day before. She sang parts of a few different songs to the enjoyment of the men around her before settling on an old favorite for a battle song, at least at first. She could sing the Hip’s Boots or Hearts with no thought to the lyrics; having done so many times while wasted with friends. This would let her concentrate on her actual magic. She would worry about matching the song to the task better when she was more able to cast and move.
They stopped for a light lunch of leftover stew and another small strip of the organ meat each. This second piece didn’t have quite the zing of the one the night before and Chess asked Serus about this. The boy had joined Ashley where they sat on a fallen tree.
“The meat of magical beasts loses about half of its potency in the first day even when stored in someone’s inventory, no one is sure why. It stays constant after the first day though,” he said.
“It’s one reason many people choose to be hunters or delvers. The fresh meat on a regular can help you grow stronger faster, especially for younger people,” Ash added wistfully. Chess gave her new daughter a considering look.
“You want to be a hunter one day?” Chess hedged.
“Nuh, uh,” Ash said. “I want to be a delver, like in the stories! But I need a good class for that, or the guild won't accept me.”
“We will discuss it more later, we both need considerable training before making such a decision,” Chess found herself saying. Where the fuck did that come from? It sounded almost motherly. Her words seemed to cheer the girl though. Maybe her parents had shut the idea down in the past.
Ashley nodded with enthusiasm. “I want to be a warrior like my da,” she pronounced.
Chess raised an eyebrow at her, “Your core is likely to give healing classes, isn’t it?” She asked.
“Not necessary,” Lynn said glumly as she approached to join them. Caldur had told the young Sister that Chess had adopted Ashley the night before and she wasn’t pleased. She’d spent an hour nagging Chess to tell her what abilities the rare and previously unseen core gave and she’d eventually given in. “The passive could lead to some heavy, defensive classes. The church will pay well for a full list of your offered classes,” she said; the last to Ashley.
“Ok,” Ash acknowledged the offer.
“We’ll talk about it when it happens,” Chess added, knowing the possible value of the information. The church seems to base a lot of its power on knowing more than anyone else. I wonder if the ability to read is common and how people understand their system messages if it isn’t. Caldur, Lynn, and Sholer are the only ones I've seen reading but it makes sense that they would know how. I’ll have to ask Ash when we are alone.
Caldur called everyone to mount up and they headed out. They made good time on horseback but as the day waned and the next began, they had to take more frequent breaks to investigate the small abandoned bandit camps the scouts were discovering.
That first night Kan once again had Chess running circles and using her magic to weave. She did much better using the familiar song and her basket almost looked like a nest a bird would be proud of. The men roped Ashley into spear training with Serus and some of the younger men; who were being instructed by the veterans. Caldur praised Ashley for being a natural with the weapon but Kan tempered it by pointing out that she’d developed many of the muscles hoeing and other similar work helping her parents on the farm.
Chess had a chance to test the Amber core’s ability on Ash’s scrapes from training. The sap behaved like aloe vera gel and made Chess smile. Reminding her of when her mother would cut a piece off the plant and use it on her small cuts and burns when she was a kid. She found a source of normalcy in using it to treat the few scrapes Ash and she developed during their training before bed each night.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“I thought you were going to teach me the spear,” Chess asked Kan at some point during the second night. She held Sprig out and contemplating changing its form for the training but she wasn't ready to change it from the umbrella; it looked so damn cool as it was.
“You need to learn to breathe and use that very potent magic of yours while moving first. The basics of the spear should be easy for you once you can breathe properly. You’re tall, quick, and strong for a woman. So, don’t worry,” He’d said and made her run harder and concentrate on her breathing. She saw marked improvement each night in her ability so she didn’t begrudge the hard work much.
The third night Kan had her switch from growing a basket, which she wasn’t much better at yet, to growing groups of wooden spikes from the roots behind her as she ran. The mental gymnastics left her with a budding headache and after one such circuit through the underbrush, she stopped, hands on knees, to quip at Kan.
“You’re teaching me to ‘Bravely run away’, aren’t you?” She observed with amusement.
“It’s an important skill, now get your butt moving,” was all he said.
She’d been too tired to do much more than eat and fall into her hammock each night. The constant wariness as they traveled follow by the intense training left her ragged.
She did find a moment to ask Ash if she could read and how rare it was. Ash had started to learn to read but only because her mother had worked as a scribe when she was younger and learned from her employer. It was rare for people outside of the nobility, church and government scribes to know the skill. People that didn’t know how to read intuitively knew what their abilities did and what their stats and classes were. Chess noted that she’d have to find someone to continue Ash’s reading lessons. She felt she wouldn’t be the best to do so, having learned the language the way she had; with it appearing in her head as it did.
When they stopped for lunch on the fourth day, Chess asked Caldur why it was taking so long to find the main bandit camp and why it was so deep in the woods. She'd dumped the last of her Thump powder into her bowl with a frown. I’m gonna miss the spice, I'll have to find more soon, she mused.
“I’m more concerned with the fact they are folding up their operation and will be prepared for us,” Caldur responded with a frown.
“We’re being followed, senses started going off again this morning,” Adit added.
“Likely the pride,” Kan confirmed.
“I’m hoping we can use them somehow,” Caldur mused. “We should be close to the camp, just waiting for Jalp to report.”
“Speak of him and he shall appear,” Kan said as the man materialized out from the underbrush.
“Sir,” Jalp said in greeting.
“Well, let's have it then,” Caldur said impatiently.
“Found their camp about an hour out, looks like they are packing to leave soon, Sir. Tomorrow morning would be my guess,” he reported looking at the noon sun peeking through the dense canopy overhead.
“Good, gather the other scouts and set up an observation rotation. I want to know what they are doing and when it looks like they might move out. I’d rather take them on the trail than in a camp they’ve had time to develop. I also want someone to get eyes on those lions, I know they are back there somewhere,” Caldur said looking back down the road. “Got to remember they likely have eyes on us,” Chess heard him add under his breath.
Scooping the last of her stew out of the bowl with a heel of bread Chess felt a welling of energy spike in her belly before settling and a window popped open. It was like she had indigestion for less than a minute.
Thump:
Active: Amplify (multiply) any percussive sound by Rank x dexterity(mod), the caster creates, for 10 x Rank x dexterity(mod) minutes. Can be used 5 x Rank x dexterity(mod) times a day.
Common
Rank 1
“How do I use thump,” she said under her breath and the information flowed into her head. The spell matrix was very basic compared to her other abilities and she activated it, curious to try it out. It even had an active option to be quieter if she desired. It also didn’t need attention to maintain and she could easily cancel it altogether. She clapped her hands twice with it at full power and grinned at the reverberation it created off the nearby trees.
She’d lost the train of the conversation while pursuing her prompt and looked up sheepishly in the sudden silence to find everyone staring at her.
“Looks like it’s good for getting people’s attention,” she observed with a grin.
“Finished your Thump I see,” Caldur acknowledged tersely before returning his attention to his men. They were discussing the night’s camp and what Jalp had seen so far in the bandit camp.
Chess rubbed the back of her head, deciding to keep quiet for the moment.
When they’d moved off, she turned to Kan, before he left, and asked, “Why is Thump dexterity based? I thought it would be strength.”
“The more complicated uses of Thump Pyth require good dexterity, who can say why the Gods do as they do,” he said with a shrug.
“I really want to play with this ability,” she said inundated with ideas. Tapping my guitar is percussive, and a piano is technically a percussive instrument. I need to get more summon instrument Pyth so I can summon one. Freya’s tits, Beat-boxing! Why isn’t this more common? Imagine a whole army of people smashing their weapons on their shields, that would be intimidating as shit. Right, spicy food. She rubbed her hands together at all the possibilities. It was all she could do not to clap again.
“I suggest you keep it as quiet as possible for now,” Kan tempered before following in Caldur’s wake.
Turning the ability down as much as possible she clicked her tongue and giggled at the result.