A tiny but shimmering spark of light gathered at the tip of your index finger only to levitate into your loosely clenched fist a moment later, casting a focused cone of light at the hollow with the altar rock.
"The presence is there," you commented the placement of the limelight, "there must be a corridor somewhere behind the ritual site. Be wary of the place and of the chance the person in question somehow blocked themself from lurks and the voidling." You did not specify who should be wary, but it was pretty obvious, evidently from Elgar lighting up the last torch and handing it to his sibling. "We will stay here and prevent lurks' intervention. Call out if you run into trouble," you concluded, to which Loїс merely held your stare for a couple of moments and then wordlessly started off in the mentioned direction, not even sparing a head nod.
This act of unintentional (most likely) rudeness did not phase you: you have had a day to get used to this lad's conduct, and while his pulsing soul spark swiftly distanced away from you, your spirit sense was retrained onto the remaining lurks. Although many of the scaly menaces were culled out on your way down, about twenty-five of them were still around, cutting through the dark cavernous waters and hissing menacingly from the corners and hollows. In accord to the (kind of) agreed plan, you trod closer to the altar cavern, separating its entrance from the pond with lurks, the soft clatter of Seph's gear accompanied by a tired shuffling of Elgar's feet followed you. But with it, lurks began to react to your relocation, exploiting the advantage of swift movement underneath the dark tide; they swam closer and closer from different angles, testing your reaction. To stave off their rising insolence, you conjured a bright light orb, enclosing it in the coupled palms and hence producing an unnervingly bright beam, pointing it into the waters and scaring away their aggressive dwellers.
Less than a minute after the scarce lurks began their aquatic motions nearby you, they were joined by more of their nest kin, forcing you to chase their shapes with the cone of light erratically. "What are they doing?" You asked out loud, barely hiding the concern of what might grow into a new onslaught.
"Waiting for a chance," Elgar answered while brandishing his hatchet, "or seeking for an opening to create such a chance."
Seph remained silent regarding your inquiry, with a soft crunch of her predominantly leather panoply signaling her expectancy of trouble. Unlike the reactions of your companions, the emergence of voices' echoes from the altar cave's dark depths covered the gap where good news should be. Loїс reached the survivor and would soon be on his way back, after which you would all finally be free to leave this pest-infested, mushroom & moss overtaken cursed hole.
A sharp change in the lurks' motions flushed you out of the daydreams about clear air: the slowly increasing number of lurks circling in the subterranean pond grouped up in a couple of schools and rushed towards your position. A blinding beam of light deterred most of them, but it wasn't enough to avert their rush. Seph and Elgar jolted in alarm when a massive - heavier than you and all the previous lurks - chitinous beast sprung out of the water in an attempt to knock you down. You were faster and more prescient, though, evocating the shields right in time to deflect the clawed tackle. The attacker retreated into the waters as fast as it emerged, going for the second lap but not before vocalizing a fierce hiss.
"What on earth was that?" you nearly cried out while recovering the stance.
"The nest's dominant male," Elgar commented dryly, "Watch out for more as they went for hit-and-run tactics."
It was easier said than done as you now had to deter the lurks from assembling into schools and at the same time stay up on your tiptoes for the consecutive charges. The only good thing in this situation was that Seph and Elgar moved closer to you, most likely planning to intercept the beast when it would emerge again.
And it did not take long for the lurks to enact their tactic but in reinforced numbers: the second attack saw the nest's alpha and a couple of lurk fighters jumping out of the waters. While trying to dodge, you scattered out a volley of luminal shards, grazing a couple of nasty amphibians with about a half of it and sending the rest into the darkness of the cavernous grotto. Elgar and Seph were more successful in countering, though, with the prior succeeding in showing off one lurk and striking the neck of the other one, and the latter landing a quick but precise strike in between the neck plates of the alpha lurk.
Your party's counter did not stop the aggression, still. As the alpha lurk wriggled out back to the water, you ineffectively attempted to nail it with a luminal wedge to the pond's bottom, quickly realizing that conjuring a dome would be more appropriate in this situation. The tremendous lurk did not take as much time to prepare for the third leap, probably flared up by your audacity of trying to strike him in his native element. Predictably, you conjured a thin luminal dome, but this time you weren't fast enough, succeeding only in separating the alpha from his entourage. Fortunately, Elgar and Seph reacted quickly and with precision, with the lad shoving the beast away from its trajectory and the daeva taking this opportunity to sting the assaulter with her longsword in quick succession. The beast, weakened by poison and the earlier blow, barely broke off from Seph's melee reach but was prevented from fleeing back into the waters by the inner wall of the glowing dome. One mighty collision of Seph's heel against its ugly head, the consecutive kick down, and half a dozen piercing strikes on its belly later, the menace exhausted its final, fading mixture of hisses and clicks.
The sound of this agony appeared to cool down the remaining lurks, at least for a few moments - the moments in which Loїс finally emerged from the dark, leading out a man leaning on his shoulder. This person appeared to be a middle-aged, average-sized dirt & grime-covered lander, with a warm complexion marred by the signs of exhaustion. Perhaps you would describe him as mindbogglingly unremarkable if not for one detail - a broad, infectious smile the likes of which you had never seen before: the grin from receiving salvation past the point when all the hope was lost. This sight of reignited thirst for life carved itself in your mind. However, it was too early for complacency: a dozen or more meters of dirt and rock was still separating all of you from the safety of the surface, the only light sources at your party's disposal was that of your conjurations, and three people were either hurt, exhausted, or busy supporting others, decreasing the group's capacity for skirmishes.
Without any negotiating, the group took the course to the entrance through which you came. Elgar's, Loїс's, and the recovered man's excited banter on Turanian language was a dead giveaway that this person was indeed the missing Altan. And you would've gladly listened to their enthusiastic chirping if not for several soul signatures entering the rear of your perception range, causing you to look around and witness numerous shapes cutting the surface of the black pond.
"Elgar, you told us that they wouldn't go all-in at us..." a nervous remark escaped you.
"I said they wouldn't try to take us head-on, not that they won't chase us," Elgar retorted just as nervously.
"Cease clattering, start skedaddling!" Seph bawled out, landing the type of a clap on you with which one would encourage a capricious horse. This gesture of hers chiseled out a high-pitched "Weh!" out of you and set the group in motion, presumably convinced by the example. And so you kicked off, focusing on maintaining a light orb in front of you, on not tripping on the wet rocks, and moving just fast enough on the bulk of the rattled lurks to catch up and slow enough to not outrun Loїс, Elgar, and Altan, who had little choice but to lean on each other. As the most mobile in the group, Seph referred to orbiting the formation, keeping an eye on the rest, and stabbing the most daring lurks where it hurts.
After about a minute of this chaotic run, nearby the doorway to the collapsed cellar, someone from the trio of kheree hunters slipped, most likely on scattered around butchered lurks' guts or decomposing chunks of the exorcised voidling's shell. Without any other choice, you had to conjure a wide barrier, temporarily cutting off the pursuers while Seph helped up the landers.
"Ayo, ye left some major mess in here, kids," the older hunter spoke out, unnervingly cheery considering the immediate threat looming over.
"For someone with pants half-filled with soil, you sound terribly happy" Seph vocalized what was circling on your tongue but, perhaps, in a less polite manner.
"I'd have the luxury to change the pants before being put to the pyre!" The man riposted, somehow even more enthusiastic, "Besides, have we, perhaps, met before fai... uh... obsidian maiden?"
"Unbelievable..." Sephorah muttered aloud with a voice just as pleasant as a wet slap with a dead fish across one's face, "Sing this tune any further, and lurks might accidentally bite off a chunk of yours. Guess which one."
"Hah! So it's not the death door's rave after all!" Altan concluded, prompting Elgar and Loїс to suppress their giggles with little success. You refrained from looking to Seph's reaction: the tone of the word "accidentally" explained it all, and you had your attention occupied by the chasing lurks' suppression anyway.
About couple more minutes forward, your group finally reached the entrance to the cave from the well's shaft. Seph's and Elgars yells to Amalia and Inga resurfaced your concerns over their safety in your absence, but they were short-lived as the girls' voices came back along with the now-adorned with a wide cloth sling chain, just like Amalia planned out. Running out of breath, you were showering the advancing lurks with the smoldering luminal shrapnel while Altan, Elgar, and Loїс were lifted one by one.
"Seph, hop in while I ward them off. I'll go right after you," was the message that you spoke over your shoulder, confident in your efficiency against the lurks in such a cramped space. Sephorah did not reply immediately, though. For a short moment, you felt like stealing a glimpse from the rear if only to see if Seph was still there, but her "The heck you will!" rendered your idea obsolete. Then, with a surely-aimed grapple, she dragged you away from the line at which you dissuaded lurks' interference, once again squeezing out a surprised (or maybe somewhat indignant) "Wah!" sound. In less than a heartbeat, you found yourself nested in a sling, with Inga's "Pull!" cry announcing your wave-motioned ascent to the surface.
Sounds of struggle coming from the cave made you clutch to the linen sling made out of old bedsheets, and the sight of a lurk's shape falling down the shaft nearly made you wriggle out of the sling. You focused on Seph's spark, which was still moving back and forth in the distancing cave; to say you were worried about her would've been an understatement. But, after a few painfully long moments, just when you were hanging half the way to the top, the outline of Seph's silver bush of hair appeared below. The daeva jumped from the edge, pushed against and upwards from the opposing wall of the shaft with her legs, and reached to the other shaft's side with her hands, suspending herself like an arachnid in its web tunnel. Just as she did so, a few bodies of lurks fell out of the cave, just like pickles out of the jar, causing series of splashes below just a moment later.
"Dumbasses," Sephorah commented the acrobatic inferiority of lurks not without pleasure before looking up at you with a grin and proceeding with getting out of the well one limb step at a time. At long last, you exhaled with relief.
_________________________________
"... And then we ran from there like from that cursed valley. I barely remembered to take my sword back from Loїс, even." Irrepressibly excited, you were recounting all the details of today's raid to Ulren. It was already a dark, late evening. The sounds of liveliness were coming from the barn behind Ulren's back; apparently, Amalia provided the same information as you but for a different audience. Not caring about etiquette in the slightest, you clang to Ulren's collar with your hands and your knees on his laps, trying to shake him in futility whenever you elaborated on the tensest of the raid's moments. The feathers on your finally unbound wings were also just as stirred, vividly reflecting the gentle light from a conjured glowing orb.
"Wait-wait-wait. How exactly did that Altan guy even end up there? And did he explain how he survived a day in absolute darkness, surrounded by pests and a demon?"
"He said that the voidling intercepted him on the surface. The demon's shell caught him and began to drag towards the well, but he managed to free himself and take shelter in one of the houses - the one Seph and the guys went in first. The voidling attempted to claw him out of there, so he took the risk of diving down what he thought was a cellar hatch. We have missed that secret passage, apparently. But anyway - he ended up in the cave, with a dying torch, and without a way to go back. Shortly after, he was chased by the lurks and the voidling to the corner of the cave, where he stuffed himself into a hollow in the rocks, unreachable by the enemies but also unable to leave."
You fixed your flowing hair, sniffed from the briskness of the evening air, and gasped for some extra air before continuing, "The torch went off shortly, leaving him to wave off the lurks' attempts to get him essentially blind. He said he had lost any hope to see the new day, and the only thing that prevented him from going mad or lethargic was the childish denial to cede his assaulters what seemed to be the already obtained victory."
"I see..." Ulren responded pensively, "And what about that ceremonial dagger which Amalia discovered?"
Your thoughts darted in the specified direction, tracing back the fate of the item and then retracting it from your pocket, where it was all this time. The light touched its eery shape and exotic texture when you brought it 'ere oneself, chaining Ulren's gaze to its wickedness for a moment before his steely eyes retrained on your sapphire pair.
"Uhm... This fetish is streaked with regrets and tainted with shattered souls," you told Ren, "It's a small miracle that the voidling inhabited a doll instead of this knife. I think it would be for the best if you dispose of it as there won't be any good coming from it."
As you offered the foul dagger to Ulren, he took it in his hands, evaluating its surface and, most likely, guessing what exactly it was made of. "Feels like some exotic lumber or a root," he commented, "I'll shatter it this evening and toss it into the forge tomorrow when Hjorn and I would go for another round at the smithy."
You grinned at him, but then something else crossed your mind. "Speaking of knives!" you produced the old, dulled and now-charred knife which Ulren gave you long ago on your way to Beilford.
The bhiroth recognized the item in a heartbeat: "Still clinging to this old shank?" he asked.
For some reason, his statement offended you a little: "Hey, it served me well before and was pretty instrumental in the most crucial moment today!" unwittingly, you supplemented this input with a cutesy pout.
"So?..." He proceeded, unsure of your request and refraining from teasing you by offering to dispose of this old edge as well.
"Can you... reforge it into a new one?"
"I can, but it would be easier to make a new one from scratch than to melt and reform." He answered, taking his eyes up from the old knife to you, "... Unless you have some sentiments entangled to it."
Smiling, you nodded in confirmation, perfectly sure that his apparent unwillingness to waste time on it was just a trick to make you confirm your recollections and the emotional attachment to those times when you were just a wide-eyed and confused larva of a person. After all, his own armaments bear numerous signs of prior use and symbolics, from which his exploits can be deduced; no way he was oblivious to the attachment to keepsakes.
With an understanding grin, he took your very first weapon and hid it in a side pocket, saying: "I see. You might still be a bit too petite for a baselard, but a rondel should be just fine." His massive hand reached for the side of your head, giving it a gentle, ticklish stroke. "A fitting name would also be appropriate," he said, hinting that it is you who should probably title it.
"Whatever you would think of," you refrained while smiling contently to his gesture. Yet, your eyes widened in a sudden realization shortly after.
"Oh! I almost forgot something!" Your hand slipped down to your belt bag, procuring the hefty bone trinket from it. Lively, you raised the periapt before Ren, turning it around in your hands for showcasing purposes.
"I told you about this charm that was among our findings but did not tell that I kept it for you!" The crack of your grin must have been stretching from ear to ear. "Inga said that it was made from a liehval's bone, and I can confirm that it is enchanted. It hardens one's body and provides better control over it at the price of making a wearer a bit more...hasteless. But don't worry: the tradeoff is insignificant, and the item harbors no malevolent ghasts or voidspawns."
You shifted the amulet closer to Ren in an offering gesture, supplementing the motion with a sincere "do you like it?" question, to which Ulren just stared at the object somewhat confused.
"I-it may not be the most practical artifact of all, and definitely not the prettiest one, b-but it plays to your strengths, so it crossed my mind as a good idea to..." You made another feeble pitch, in the result of which his confused gaze shifted from the object to you.
"..."
"..."
Still holding up the stretched hand with an offering, the incertitude crept into your heart. Your grin began to slowly fade in light of how you were perhaps a bit too desperate for appreciation, instead of providing which Ren just looked at you, seemingly unsure what to make of it all. And then...
"Come 'ere," he said in a soft voice while taking the piece of loot from your hands and sending his arms beneath your armpits in an attempt to shift your posture. Contrary to the advisory nature of his line, he sat you on his left lap on his own volition. Honestly: why does everyone see it as their holy devoir to misplace you at least once today?! This question, among all others, was flushed out of your mind the moment Ren's left hand brushed your hair and made it to your occiput, delivering gentle rubs 'neath your long hair. The tables have turned, and now it was you staring at him puppy-eyed.
"Among adherents for the Kin's chain philosophy, there is a widespread tradition to pick up second names based on the deeds that, in a sense, served as a rite of passage. Surviving through a battle somewhere, translating an ancient text, or managing to supply a settlement with some good - a great deal of roths prefers to use these references to their deeds instead of the family names. I am not suggesting you call yourself "Lucifina Lurkchaser" or "Lucifina of Old Talab" - these don't have a ring to them - but rather give a thought to the idea behind this tradition."
You haven't even noticed the mixture of a wondering hum and a cattish purr that left your lungs in response to what Ulren just told you.
"Earlier today, you ventured out burdened with self-doubts and manners of insecurities piled up lately. It was written across your face that you weren't sure of how smooth this run would go and whether or not your presence would be to any benefit. Then, you acted according to your judgment and within your merits, not overlooked by me nor limited by anyone else's authority. As a result, not only you managed to bail out the missing person but root out a menace that took and would've likely taken more lives in the future, and All of this without losing anyone," his voice changed to playful on this infrequent occasion. "what can you say in your defense?"
"I... Haven't really thought about it yet," you muttered awkwardly while processing what he just said, "Not from this point of view, at least..."
"But you really should because today you proved to yourself and the world at large that you are a resourceful being, capable of acting beneficially in this realm, even if you still don't fully understand it or your role in it. You established the validity of your judgment and the diligence to act in accordance to it as a proven fact, which not all people manage to do in their lifetimes."
"Ren, you big meanie, would you stop teasing me like this?" you retorted with a voice slightly shivering. There was nothing of essence to arm your protests with, so it was the best you could say. The squashing sensation in your chest recurred, shortly followed by the feeling of cheeks catching up an illusory fire. And to make matters worse, it was at this moment when he decided to give your crown a good, warm caress with his paw-of-a-palm.
"Just look at yourself: smitten already. Actually, you should have at least some shame, young lady! For I have always been open about how you appear to be a good seed, but it took you a pretty dangerous nosedive into the unknown to finally believe in it yourself. Skepticism is reasonable and all, but being at its receiving end isn't exactly pleasant, you know."
Your emotions were stirring up hastily, and your heart was drumming a hurrying beat. Did he just say that he always believed in you, even when you doubted yourself? He did. He surely did... Is this another facet of happiness? Why does it feel so good? Why does confirming his confidence in you feel so right, so natural?
"Ren, you indeed are a bully for making me so soppy again," you barely formed a flimsy answer.
"It's alright, Lu," he chuckled, "No one will judge you for it. All I want to say is that, despite not having much of my hand in how you formed as a person, you made me proud, Lu, and not just today. No longer may you be a moon-eyed nugget of innocence, but you aren't any lesser for it, and your feet are already trying the pathway to becoming something magnificent. I'm sure of it, and Rosie would concur if she was here, too. So, please, no more rant sprees about how monstrous you may be. Deal?"
Damn it. Your emotions - primarily positive - have gathered in a tangled ball that stuck somewhere between your heart and your throat. The control over your faculties began to shake, and you surrendered yourself to this pull, wrapping your delicate hands around the massive hand of the person to whom you owe much - if not everything - you have and are. For a moment, this overwhelming feeling of joy felt almost unbearable, and you felt like pouring it out at him. Alas, you found no words to capture it all, and even if you did, it would've been a challenge to deliver them coherently. And so, you resigned to an awkward hug, by which you attempted to rekindle that particular unadulterated feeling of bond that you shared in those early weeks before reaching Kirhol. And, despite how much you have changed in all this time, it was still there. Perhaps, it is something that will always be with you.
"And as an addendum to the deal," he grumbled into your ear after a heartfelt minute, "don't you even think you'd ever leave me behind like today."
"Huh? Didn't you just praise how independent I become?" You turned the question around teasingly, still unwilling to let go of him.
"I did, but are you that cruel as to leave me hanging in nescience again, leaving me to wonder if I would regret letting you run around unchecked?"
"No, I'm not! What gives?"
"If no, then why protest?"
Letting yourself be dragged into this silly banter, the minutes passed in a familiar sort of merriment. The emotional tension bottled up in you was almost gone when you left to commit to some evening routines before going to bed. Still, a shimmering sparkling of validation by the person closest to you was now shining within your soul, making this uncertain world look a little bit brighter. Never have you suspected how much you needed this, but there it was now.
_________________________________
Was it the parting with the invigorating amulet or the post-emotional fatigue, but the amassing weight in your limbs suggested that it might be a high time to prepare to call the night. After piling your travel attire in a heap and placing it by the even more imposing for-Lia-to-wash pile of clothes, you changed into the old light dress that was your companion in Rosaline's mansion adventures. Perhaps not entirely unexpected, but it felt a little bit smaller this time, or was it you who grew a little? This question needed naught the answer, so you slinked behind the barn, where Hjorn stored spare barrels with water from the Talab lake.
Intentionally or not, someone left one of the barrels opened and, as the brief inspection with the help of a tiny light sparkling revealed, with unused water. Dipping your weary palms into a wooden ladle with cool water sent goosebumps down your spine: chillness soothed the vestiges of the physical strain from all the profuse spellcasting of the last week. A similar sensation followed when you poured some water on your feet, swapping soreness from all the running around for the breezy evening freshness. But what gave you a nigh-ecstatic sense of relief was when you unfolded your wings wide and made a few strong claps with them, shedding a few misplaced and damaged feathers. The only thing that could match the enravishment from emancipating the long-strained limbs was the silver lining of not getting them stained by all the filth, organic and not. Softly puffing out air, you let the pleasurable pulses sink in for a couple of minutes to come. Fresh springtime air, satisfaction from success, and some humble recuperation from the day's load - not a half-bad combo, you thought to yourself.
But there was the last ritual for you to perform before calling it a night - to clean your wheat-gold hair. Perhaps feeling guilty for planning to waste the rest of the barrel for this rather selfish purpose, you sent a pulse of your spirit senses, registering that most of your companions were already taking shelter in the shed, Hjorn was heading towards his humble hut, with only Seph and Ulren still hanging around the entrance to your temporary hideout. Predicting that others' interference or eavesdropping was unlikely, you bit your lower lip with a guilty grin and dipped your high-maintenance locks into the opened barrel.
It may not look so from the side, but keeping a chevelure like yours neat and healthy is pretty laborious. Capitulating before this liability, you let moments slip by unnoticed while you were busy washing. The fullness of perceptions returned to you only by the time you were squeezing the water out of the twisted braid of your blonde. And, to your surprise, it was the sounds of Ren's and Seph's banter that reached you through the veil of splashes, sporadic distanced dog barks, and ambient crickets' serenade. Their conversation was taking place on the other end of the structure, right by its entrance.
"Aww... what a sight to see: our sapient hasher can't possibly be this cute!"
"... Are you having fun yet? Or do I need to reply with something?"
"No-no, I'm fine, thank you. Although, if you keep playing a quiescent rock pillar, don't blame me for swindling away your precious little birdy. After all, I did your job today, and quite nicely, dare I say so myself."
"If you are seeking attention, why not openly ask Lucifina to patron you instead? From what I've heard and seen, it's her who shows more maturity than you."
"Oh my, feeling clever today? That's some fresh breath of air. But before playing the delegation game, have you considered that in such a scenario, should she be inaccessible, it would fall onto you to listen to my fears and concerns," Seph's ironic voice morphed into grotesquely feigned sadness. "Would you try walking in my shoes? Tell me that it all will be alright and that there's still hope for me?"
"..."
"..."
Seph tried to sound sardonic so hard that, for a heartbeat, you almost believed that there might be something more aside from satire in her words. But regardless, your imagination swiftly painted a mental picture of Ren giving Sephorah the "are you serious?"-kind of a look, with a half-opened mouth and the raised right brow.
"..."
"Oh, pox and gonorrhea! Don't give me that look! You do know that I'm just jesting~."
"Right..."
"Anyway, how's it been today? The mage, I mean."
"Irritated, restless, and nearly snapped on Isaac."
"Him being aggressive towards the healer boy? Just how much irritated he was?"
"Hm. good question, I guess..." Ren's voice held brief suspense, "Imagine your arms and legs shackled with a swarm of bugs marching on your face. This degree of peeved."
"Eugh." Seph "Why, thank you for not finding a better allegory at this hour of the night and after we just returned from one of the foulest caves in the north."
"Now that you mentioned the bounty, how did the Kherees react to Lucy's exploits?"
"The arrogant blonde moron seemed unphased at first, but Sparkling guiding him to retrieve his mentor and saving his petty clod for a couple of times must have broken through his dense skull in the end. The hound master chap and the Roth miss were pretty impressed, though." Seph's voice changed once again, now to playful, "Oh! I'll be magnanimous tonight and won't charge you for a little secret. Maybe you'd want to know that she asked us about you~. Who knows: maybe, if the two of you get acquainted, she might even teach you how to be a lesser bore than you can be at your worst."
"What exactly do you mean by "impressed"?" Ulren blatantly ignored Seph's impish jab in his trademark, no-nonsense way, "Did they promise better rewards? Or was it their conduct towards Lucy at the time?"
"Well, rest assured, Sparkling certainly dazzled them with her magic tricks. As for compensations - we did not have a chance to settle down on the return run, but the beefy girl said Kherees owe us favors. Not sure if she was speaking as a functionary or a private person, but we'll have some high reputation with the local enforcers for sure."
"Call me a paranoid all you want, but the type of goals that had been faced oddly mirror Lucy's mettle. It wouldn't be astounding if recovery of the missing patrolman was a goal secondary to verifying Lucy's merits."
"Mmmh, nope. A conspiracy connoisseur - yes, a blue-blood & white-bone manic paranoid - no. You'd have to claim that title by sermonizing the hunters knew about the demonic thing under the cursed mansion all along, which, I can testify, wasn't the case. But now that you mentioned it, hardly there would've been a success hadn't Sparkling been involved."
You heard Ulren sigh and then continuing: "Please, tell me they haven't seen or had any suspicions about her wings."
"Rest assured they didn't - a little too dense and a bit too narrow-sighted on the task at hand." Seph also held a tiny pause before picking up her thought, "That trio must be yapping non-stop about the event this very moment, with Lucy's hexes having a significant part in it. Albeit I'd not be worried about the possible information leak just yet."
"The information will spread out eventually - it's not like there are scores of lander-looking mages prancing around to blend in. Also - there's barely a chance this would be our last "favor" for the kherees: should we refuse to "cooperate," they might use a hook on us being convenient scapegoats for those recent murders. If today's mission was just a means to test Lu's usefulness, then it is only a matter of days before the hunters call in again." You could hear Ren puff out loudly, "It feels fishy."
"Fishy?"
"Just a guttural feeling that they know more about this streak of murders than they let off."
Hushed sounds of Seph's footsteps, crowned with the singular beat of her heel against the wood, punctuated Ren's input. Your imagination painted her stomping around while pondering and then leaning against the wall, with arms crossed and one leg bent in a knee.
"The spiciest thing about the leash play - both literal and metaphorical - is it being a game of perspective, in which power shifts with but a few right moves. Applied to your theory, it is them who might be stuck with us, should we grasp the context and play the field properly." The latter part of her phrase sounded more like a suggestion than a statement.
"Considering they know about our link to Hjorn, which bars us from simply slipping out from their grip, your plan might be the most rational of what is within our grasp. Just try not to sink us deeper than we already are."
Seph's satisfied chuckle brushed your ears, "Trying is the only thing I can promise~. By the way, you look duller than you are in reality. Who knows: you might have even survived in Bael for a few years had you ever winded up there."
"Wish I could pass back the flattery, but if Karadan cuisine would not end you, then highland winter surely will. And that's if you somehow manage not to cross the law and get your bum shipped to gaol mines."
Seph's amused grunt announces a pause in the banter of your two oldest companions. A break during which you snapped back to your senses, still holding to the soggy braid of hair a bit dumbstruck. It might have been the very first proper conversation between them you ever overheard. Sweet rolls and chocolate! They sure can hang out! - a thought flashed in your mind, utterly overriding any possible shame for blatantly spying on your friends. Perhaps, Rosaline would not be proud of it, but maybe, she would understand your actions from a researcher's perspective. Hence, you quietly leaned over the barrel, grating its top with your arms for support and shifting weight from one foot to another due to the evening chill creeping up.
"How's the day, though?" Seph finally broke the silence.
"In what sense?"
"How was your day, silly," Seph reiterated in an overemphasized voice, "You know pretty much everything we did, so it would only be fair if you now tell of your exploits... unless they were limited to rolling from one side to another with breaks to scratch."
"Looked over the mage - as already mentioned, his condition is without changes. Then fiddled at the smithy with Hjorn - helped with the joints designs and drafting." Ren's voice sounded slightly annoyed at first, but it gradually normalized the more he talked. "Now that you made me recall the project of your armament, we need some extra measures of yours."
"Excuse me?" Seph countered in the voice of having her dignity a heartbeat from being offended.
"Your horns," Ren specified in a way that would see his interlocutor throw out unsolicited assumptions, "they are massive, and we need to make a design that would permit a headpiece. Helmets are an incredible invention, just saying."
"Hmph!" Daeva's tone bordered somewhere between the injured pride and the low-key disappointment.
"Then, I've had to get out to the town for some basic recon and resupply; took the craven with me just in case there would be any tensions with landers. There weren't any, but the lil' mollycoddle was pushing the idea of seeking out local medicasters. Don't know what struck him after Lucy's verbal lashing, but I advised him to keep it to himself and focus on a more nascent issue: we are running out of food."
Seph, uncharacteristically, did not interrupt Ulren, letting him lay down more intel on what was going around.
"We found some desperate locals willing to sell their limited provisions just so they could afford merks to guide them somewhere safer. The price was steep, and it would only get higher as the troubles besiege Tevon Talab. Thinking of it, kherees offer of services might be a better alternative to buying. By joining their hunt raids and leveraging the right of the quarry, we might mitigate the sustenance issue."
"And to start unveiling the scheme of which they made us a part of via cultivating some connections."
"Deft thinking," Ren commented, "as for the situation at large, Baatorians keep amassing near the town, indigenous folks keep flocking to the city as well, shrinking the limited supplies, and the animal murrain hasn't gone anywhere. Strolling around is still dangerous."
"I see..." Seph replied in a bit melancholic voice, "Oh well. I'm spent for today. Some quick sleep before tomorrow and then a midday nap would be grand."
"One more thing, though."
"Huh? Did you forget something?" her voice gathered some impish vibes, "perhaps, something so unfortunate that you decided to push it to the last moment and spell it out as if in between the lines?"
"No. Just want to say not half-bad. The today's sortie, I mean."
"..."
"..."
Your mouth unconsciously opened ever so slightly. Did he just... compliment her? Amalia would never believe you and discard it on exhaustion!
"Oh?... Oh! You're not half-bad either when left to the housekeeping role. Now I wish Amalia had taken her old maid headdress so we could test if it would make you even nicer~."
Dropping the final, merry, and melodic chirp after her jab, Seph's soul spark slinked into the barn. Ulren's heavy sigh of annoyance concluded the dialog. It made you feel somewhat guilty: he was obviously sticking to the earlier promise to try to get along with Sephorah, and with undeniable diligence, at that. But the daeva did not seem to adjust to it just yet, continuing to poke him out of selfish amusement. Perhaps, she's overdue for the second attempt for a talk on this issue. Nevertheless, it would have to wait: unless catching cold was what you sought, getting inside and calling it a day was the final thing to do, now. And so you followed on this plan, closing the doors of the barn behind yourself some minutes after.
_________________________________
But to plan on taking rest and practically departing to the neverland proved to be drastically different things as your mind simply refused to settle down and let the sleep claim you. Long after Lia began to sniff in her dream and Seph piled one of her long legs onto your bedroll in sleepy ignorance, your mind was still processing the events of today. You persisted with these thoughts and recollections until your mental streams rolled into an analog of a messy yarn ball. And in this worsening mess, one thing stood out in particular:
[] The sense of self-proof, accomplishment, and familial endorsement. Ulren was right - by no means are you powerless, constrained, or idle. Not anymore. He never doubted your ability to gain subjectiveness and to lay your path forward. He, sometimes vocally but more often quietly, supported you in obtaining this agency and self-confidence. And now that you achieved it, you want nothing more than to make him even more proud of you. (Charisma and willpower boost, tiny chance to increase attributes & skills yields from training, bonus to skills and attributes rolls when Ulren is in the party)
[] The call of your mystical nature.
It is undeniable that today's raid would not have been a success if not for your magic talents. Sure, you do not fully understand or impeccably command them, and some facets of the arcane aspects are outright terrifying, to say the least, but, for better or worse, this is who you are and always will be. (Intelligence and arcane skill boost, slight chance to increase magic aspects progress from training, the next arcane training session will yield one whole level)
[] The tender sprout of leadership
Today, you made something you never thought you would: you took responsibility for achieving a clear goal and for the lives of others while doing so. And despite recognizing the few mistakes you made, you can't deny the allure of having to guide others to achieve together much more than they could hope for separately. (Intelligence and charisma boost, you will get more options to influence others)
[] The link between you and luck.
Despite all that you had to go through, you can't say you weren't fortunate. From the very first night when no one else but Ulren found you and to numerous opportunities that presented themselves during today's raid, such ephemeral thing as luck had an immense influence on your life. But is something perfectly uncontrolled, or can it be handled properly? You are starting to lean towards the latter. (Big increase of the luck range, a tiny increase of the misfortune range, luck might have effect in more situations)
You clutched to this idea as if it was a treasure. In a sense, it indeed was for you. But regardless of your efforts, nature came up on top, with you slowly fading into the sweet oblivion, holding to this hard-won truth about yourself like little children clutch to their beloved toys.
_________________________________
*Thump!*
You slowly half-opened your eyes, groggily retaking awareness from the soft embrace of sleep. The tranquility resists, but it loses its grip on you under the oppressive rays of sunlight, which make it through the windows and gaps between the shed's wall planks. Somewhere nearby, the sounds of gentle metallic clattering emerge, prompting you to at least sit up and look around.
*Thump!*
The sound repeated itself, originating somewhere by the opposite side of the wall and finally rebooting your wits. If you had to describe it, this noise was made by something thin but sharp sinking into a wood. Lazily, you sat up and looked around, noticing Sephorah sitting on a flimsy stool in her undies and legs stretched forward. In her hands was a compact wooden cube with lock mechanisms mounted on its sides. She was prodding and poking them with a lockpick in a lively manner. And then, with the corner of her eye, she registered your awakening.
"You've got tired yesterday and all, but today you slept like a typical baelian asharite, if short on the alcoholic odor."
"Mhhhmmhnnn..." you hummed at her incoherently.
"Now-now. Don't be grumpy - I did not even have to tickle you awake before catching some noon nap myslef~."
"Wheresh othersh?" you mumbled.
"Our host is back to his forge, doing the smithy things and such. Isaac and Jory are fetching water from the lake; we've dirtied pretty badly after yesterday's spelunking to our maid's great woe. And the bhiroth is teaching Amalia how to shoot outside."
*Thump!*
Seph theatrically pointed the lockpick in the direction of the sound as if to support her words.
"Thanks," you said while leaving your bedroll and dressing up for the day.
"And good morning," you concluded while giving her a loose half-hug on your way to the shed's entrance. She reacted with a lopsided smile and a satisfied purr.
"Morning!" you rang out after regaining vision from the day's first direct contact with the sunrays. Before you, lying on her belly with a crossbow in hands, was Amalia, while Ulren sat on his bum by her right side.
"Don't lose the focus before the shot," the latter said in a commanding tone, "Inhale, exhale, hold your breath, and then carefully pull."
The former maid obediently followed the instruction, sending a bolt at the timber tied to a beam of a mop with a crudely painted grimace on its side. The bolt scratched the log's surface, ending up deflected and stuck in the barn's wall.
"Next time, don't yank the trigger. Know that it's the most delicate part of a crossbow, proper handling of which amounts to about half of the weapon's precision."
Amalia nodded enthusiastically to Ren before retraining her hazel eyes on you with a broad smile.
"Morning, Lu," Ulren answered to your hail with delay. "Took your sweet time, ey?". To this, you could only smile wryly and innocently shrug with your wings and shoulders.
"It's fine," the man chuckled, "You undoubtedly earned it yesterday."
"And it's not like I'd let all of you run around stained up to your ears with substances of dubious origins. No one - and I mean NO ONE - would ever think that I'm traveling with some violent vagrants!"
Amalia's half-joking and half-authoritarian comment put a grin on Ren's face. "You've heard the boss," he addressed you again, "we're taking things easy today. But don't fret - you're a girl big enough to plan out how to fill this downtime."
Even though the faint smile did not fade from his face when he was finishing the last sentence, the look of his eyes gained some earnest vibes. There could be no mistake: he referred to Karl's affliction and the task you took upon yourself to aid him.
"Sure," you answered with a tiny grin, "I believe it can be helped."
_________________________________
Lucifina's actions quota: 3 major actions, 5 minor actions.
Regardless of the vote, Karl will make ailment rolls.
Karl's void contamination state:
3 (base) * 4 (severity) X 2 (spread) -> d2 12 willpower checks for resistance.
In case of failure(s), the CON / WIS attribute check(s) against harm is 7
- each set of resistance checks would happen after each story day or two
- each failed willpower check warranties +1 to severity for the next round
- two or more failed resistance checks warranty +1 to spread for the next round
- if the sum of willpower rolls surpasses the sum of willpower checks warranty by twice, 1 spread is subtracted for the next round
- if the sum of willpower rolls does not surpass the sum of willpower checks by twice, the target receives -1 to willpower for the duration of contamination.
- each failed willpower check leads to either CON or WIS attribute checks, which are the sum of the base and severity
Lucifina's treatment capabilities:
3 (base) * 4 (severity) X 5 (incompetency) -> 3 independent arcane skill checks -3 VS 3 base * severity tests (12)
- to cure the contamination, all the tests must be beaten
- each point of incompetency decreases the arcane roll result by 1 and increases the number of tests by 1
- to decrease incompetency, Lucifina must practice manipulating with soul sparks or seek help from other characters proficient with spiritology
- in case of unsuccessful curing checks, the severity and/or spread of the contamination will increase for the next turn.
Lucifina's action regarding Karl's affliction (all except "do nothing" cost: 1 major action, non-repeatable):
[] Attempt to treat Karl at your current incompetency level (3)
[] Study Karl's condition more, catalog and compare to your yesterday insights regarding voidlings' sparks properties (-1 to incompetency, ???)
[] Seek out Mia's help to learn interactions with soul sparks and spirits at large (hard (18) Charisma check for -2 to incompetency, ???)
[] Do nothing
Other major actions (each option costs 1, repeatability varies):
[] Go with Ulren on a joint hunt with kherees.
(Non-repeatable, free arcane, melee, defense, sneaking, recon, huntsmanship, natural lore (and ranged skill for ulren) checks to determine the material yields. Lucifina gets a guaranteed skill up for a random skill she rolls. For every pair of checks she scores over the normal difficulty (20), the number of randomly distributed skill-ups increases by 1 to the maximum of 4, including the base)
[] Go shopping and information gathering with Sephorah and Amalia.
(Non-repeatable, free persuasion, haggle, performance, intimidation, social and cultural lore, lingual lore (and seduction skill for Sephorah) checks to determine the material yields. Lucifina gets a guaranteed skill up for a random skill she rolls. For every pair of checks she scores over the normal difficulty (20), the number of randomly distributed skill-ups increases by 1 to the maximum of 4, including the base)
[] Join Isaac and Jory for in-house experimentation & supplies production, medication, and inventory management efforts.
(Non-repeatable, free willpower, arcane lore, craft lore, daily craft, pharma and treatment, and alchemy checks to determine the material yields. Lucifina gets a guaranteed skill up for a random skill she rolls. For every pair of checks she scores over the normal difficulty (20), the number of randomly distributed skill-ups increases by 1 to the maximum of 4, including the base)
[] Intensive training of attributes
-[] STR
-[] END
-[] MOB
-[] PER
-[] COOR
-[] MICR
-[] INT
-[] WIS
-[] CHA
(Repeatable, each round raises an attribute by 1/2 if the base attribute is X < 14, by 1/3 if the base attribute is 14 =< X =< 17, and by 1/4 if the base attribute is X => 18)
[] Practice and study your magic disciplines!
-[] Practice thaumaturgy
-[] Study soul aspect
(Repeatable. For thaumaturgy: current level 7 (+0/7 of the next level), above hard wisdom attribute (18), above hard intelligence attribute (18), hard arcane skill (24) each yields 1/x of the next level + 1/x default for investment. For soul aspect: current level 6 (+0/6 of the next level), above normal wisdom attribute check (17), above normal intelligence attribute check (16), normal arcane skill (20) each yields 1/x of the next level + 1/x default for investment, Mia's +1/6 yield applies after hard (18) charisma check)
Minor actions (each option costs 1, repeatability varies):
[] Targeted skill training
-[] Melee combat
-[] Ranged combat
-[] Defense
-[] Objects usage
-[] Willpower
-[] Balance
-[] Sneaking
-[] Reconnaissance
-[] Persuasion
-[] Intimidation
-[] Haggle
-[] Performance
-[] Cultural and social lore
-[] Daily craft
-[] Weaponsmithing
-[] Armorsmithing
-[] Artificeiry
-[] Pharma and treatment
-[] Tailoring
(Repeatable, but no more than two times on one skill)
[] Routine attribute training
-[] STR
-[] END
-[] MOB
-[] PER
-[] COOR
-[] MICR
-[] INT
-[] WIS
-[] CHA
(Repeatable, each round raises an attribute by 1/4 if the base attribute is X < 14, by 1/5 if the base attribute is 14 =< X =< 17, and by 1/6 if the base attribute is X => 18.).
[] Try bonding with someone
-[] Ulren
-[] Sephorah
-[] Karl
-[] Amalia
-[] Isaac
-[] Jory
(Repeatable, but can only be one bonding attempt per person. Free Charisma attribute check for extra effect. Write the addition of the topic for the bonding if you have something specific in mind.)
