CHAPTER 16: Writing On The Walls
I used our slow trot to the safe zone as my chance to fill Amy in on any missing information and to answer any questions people had.
I explained how the kids met Arthur, adding in Oliver’s kung fu moves to give her something to smile about, but it probably just made me look like a super crazy person to everyone who couldn’t hear the conversation. Then, much to her chagrin, I explained how and why I decided to level up Taylor. She was absolutely irate that I brought her teenage daughter out to fight monsters, which is understandable, but I still think she should be able to protect herself. After a bit of back and forth she seemed to accept it or she acted like it anyways.
I fell back into the crowd to introduce myself to everyone, speaking with everyone one on one and saving the men last. I wanted to make sure whatever status effect they had didn’t affect them too much.
Jared and Eli walked at the rear of our pack, while Zack and the last archer, Roger, both had their compound bows and walked along side the center mass of children.
Zack was the youngest of the men, only 18. He opened up to me pretty quick. Apparently he was arguing with his parents and left the house to cool off, and that’s when “the rapture” happened. His words.
He ran back home to find the house destroyed but no bodies, just piles of the clothes they were wearing before he left. The boy was filled with guilt and regret, I assured him that his parents would rather he be here and strive for a decent life.
Eh, poor kid...
Eli and Jared were actually friends before the fall, and you could tell instantly. They were home on a late spring break from college and were skiing when the change occurred. They explained how other skiers and snowboarders were “zapped out of thin air” with nothing but their clothes left “shredding down the mountain”. They traveled to the closest town thinking it would be the safest area.
They thought wrong, fun guys though...
Roger was an older gentleman, my guess, around 60. He didn’t talk much or want to explain what he was doing during the event. He mainly grunted through our quick exchange of words. Which I didn’t hold against him.
Once crossing the town line I received a bucket of notifications. I accepted everyone into the zone then pulled up the important notification.
[Quest Complete! - Save Taylor and Oliver’s Mother before she’s bonded to the umbilical ligature then get her to safety.]
The notification was accompanied by another wave of experience points then another notification.
[Hidden Quest Objective Complete! – Purge the town of the Choir. Kill Grand Cantor Maldrix and stop the spread of her Hive.]
After reading the notification an overwhelming wave of experience flooded my body. It felt as if a shady doctor gave me a shot of pure adrenaline, Red Bull and maybe a bit of kerosene, all in the same humongous syringe.
I felt as if I could fly to the moon and back, when the feeling left, it was as if all the life was stolen from me, like my soul left my body on vacation. Luckily, the second feeling also didn’t last too long and I was back to normal.
I heard giggling and movement in the distance.
It wasn’t long before I saw Arthur, somehow bigger again.
He was barreling through the woods toward us. Oliver was riding his back again and seemed to fit much better, while Taylor kept pace with her new Scepter in hand.
Everyone flinched when they saw Arthur running them down.
Roger was the first person to run to the front when he heard Arthur’s paws pounding through the woods, closely followed by Zack and the others.
The 2 Archers raised their bows and I zipped in front of them, “Lower your bows! It’s my pup and the kids! Everyone is safe here.” I assured.
Their confused and questioning glance at the sentence made me grin.
The bows lowered as Amy passed us, running over Zack to meet her children.
The weight that lifted from her was visible and the audible relief was a tangible mist in the air as she grasped her children, falling over as she embraced them. Neither child, nor Mother wanted to let go.
I wasn’t one for lifetime movies and shit, but seeing this was enlightening. It seemed to hit everyone hard as I looked around to a sea of smiles. It was our hard work, it was my dogs hard work, that let this family be together again.
It was unlike anything I’d ever experienced.
Pure joy and emotion flooded the air soaking everyone in its aura. I guess when the hard times are as hard as they’ve been for these people, the wins are that much better.
Arthur closed the distance, greeting me with a hop and two paws to the chest like always.
The crowd behind me gasped when he went airborne to meet me with his paws. I knelt down next to him, giving him his favorite scratches behind the ear. He grunted once I itched the right spot and his leg did a little twitch kick.
“Good bo-ah. That over there,” I said pointing to the kids as they held their mother tightly, actively crying out the overwhelming fear and terror from the past two days, “That’s because of you buddy. Good job Arthur.”
Arthur went to meet the children in the middle of our caravan, walking with them the rest of the way to the camp. They laughed and played with him, multiple kids pet him at once. All smiling as he gave each of the smaller kids a ride around the edge of the pack, careful not to buck them off.
It made me smile watching my boy run around smiling with his tongue hanging out, tail wagging non stop, having fun just being a dog.
When we arrived at camp Arthur left the children to run up to me. He wanted to lead me further into the woods. Taylor ran into the shelter then returned with a sack full of the divine berries for everyone to try as Arthur led me into the woods.
I followed up the hill behind the expanse of tasty berry bushes.
Reaching the top of the hill he paused, pointing with a paw to an open meadow.
A river followed the bottom of the mountain, looping around the hill and going behind the other side of the clearing he pawed at. There was a very large barn, still fully intact sitting at one end of the clearing.
“Huh? Did a little exploring did we?” Arthur put his head down hearing the ‘bad dog’ tone in my voice that I changed to carefree and joking as I continued, “Its alright buddy, let’s go see what you guys found!”
His head perched back up looking at me for a second before he took off like a rocket.
We ran through the woods breaking any safe hiking speed by bounds.
I bounced off trees and tripped over rocks and roots as I pushed myself harder to keep up with my little beast.
As we crossed through the last bit of forest, my movements became more polished and I started to comprehend my limits.
We hit the meadow at the same time. Both of us breaking into a full on power sprint. I felt like a kid again, riding my dirt bike with no goggles to cover my eyes as the wind made me tear up. Small flying bugs like mosquitoes and bees cracked off my face, one somehow managing its way up my nostril to force me off my breathing pattern and I had to shoot the bugger back out. Arthur already pulled away from me before this point, but I was determined to catch up.
My strides grew longer and faster as I closed the distance, then we reached the front of the barn.
“Ahhh! Shit, I almost had you!” I was laughing like a kid again, Arthur gave me an incredulous look panting with his mouth in a wide puppy smile. “Don’t you dare say you let off the gas!” I hollered, still laughing and feeling better than ever.
Standing where the two closed doors met, Arthur popped up on his hind legs and kicked one paw at the barn door, it rolled along the track opening perfectly.
“Dang, that control bud... By the way, why do you look bigger now,” I asked reaching for the other door, opening it with much less control than my dog as it slammed the end of the track and knoked a wheel loose.
We were greeted by a small supply room with empty cupboards and drawers lining the outer walls.
“Woof! Woof!” Arthur answered, standing on his hind legs for a second to box the air.
“What did you fight? I thought the plan was to stay in the safe zone and protect the kids.” I said beginning to scold my dog.
Arthur reached one paw out, then using his nail he drew in the dirt.
He started with a big circle, inside the circle he sketched a house, inside the house, stick figures. The two kids and even a stick dog.
Outside of the circle, he doodled another odd stick figure, some type of animal, then made 4 tally marks next to the animal with his paw. His next lines were dashed in, showing the animal crossing into the circle toward the house. His last line ran from the dog to the dashed line.
“So, you had to go out and fight some intruders. Well... Why didn’t you just say so?” I said grinning.
“Barruh-ruhr” I received his muttered groan as he shook his head in mock annoyance.
I followed Arthur inside, there were no electronics, batteries, or anything of the sort in the finished barn. No walls blown to hell. The roof was fully intact.
Arthur’s tail wagged as we walked to the door at the back of the room. He pointed from me to the door, instructing me to open it.
I opened the door to see a fully functional workshop with every tool I could imagine and some I’d never seen before lining the walls.
To the left was a complete wood working and carpentry station, the wall full of chisels, axes, bottles of glue, clamps, files, just everything.
To the right was a fully stocked forge, with different shaped tongs, hammers, and anvil. Even a pile of coal and ore to get started. Behind the coal was a small door in the wall to shovel more inside.
The sight of the forge really excited me. I watched plenty of “how-to” videos on making your own armor, sword, or knife but never had the chance to put the knowledge to work.
“Arthur, this is crazy. You guys just stumbled onto this? No one is or was around?” I asked, receiving a head shake indicating there was not.
“Hmm, let’s move everyone over to the meadow so they’re closer to the barn then we can start making shelters for everyone. Want to help bud?”
“Woof!” He answered with a loud excited response while bouncing around the barn.
“Okay, let’s see how fast we can get these folks settled. We still need to go see your gram and gramps.” I told my dog, speaking about my parents who I still couldn’t get off of my mind, now more than ever.
“You can start by making a decent size fire pit then gather some big ole sticks. Drag ‘em back here and stack ‘em on the side of the barn. Ready?” I laid out a plan for the pup and he barked his response.
I went to the river, using it to clean myself off. Hopefully not being covered in monster blood will help ease the opinion of some and stop me from scaring the kids.
I put on some fresh clothes then went back where we left everyone.
I managed to get everyone huddled up so I could explain the area Arthur and the kids found. I explained the barn and told them we need to push a bit further.
On our trek to the meadow I pointed out the apple trees to everyone and we stopped by the berry bushes.
The brief detour created a medley of satisfied moaning and lip smacking as everyone ate their fill.
As I looked around I was met by warm smiling faces.
We reached the meadow. The air echoed with the sound of children laughing and playing as they chased each other through the sweeping pasture. The sound was paradise to my ears.
Shit, compared with the previous sounds of the past 48 hours, it’s pure euphoria.
I led the adults to the barn showing them inside.
This was the first time I’d seen Roger smile, if you could call it that. He stood in front of the wood working tools where I met him soon after.
“Hey, you have some experience with this stuff? I had that same smile when I saw this room.”
“Yeah, a bit.”
“You know how to use this?” I pointed to the jig for fletching arrows.
“Yeah, make my own.”
“Great, I’ll have to watch sometime if you don’t mind. I have some experience with most everything else on this side but I haven’t had the opportunity to make my own arrows or bow. I can’t shoot a bow for shit.” I said, trying to get this guy to open up, if only a little bit.
“Hmph. Sure. Grab that 14 inch farrier,” Roger said, pointing to a row of files.
“What now?” I asked.
“The rasp,” he said pointing.
“Ah, here.” I handed the 14 inch ‘farrier’ rasp to him.
Roger looked over the brand new tool, coming to the same conclusion I had when I first entered.
“These are all new. Nothing’s touched.” Roger stated placing the rasp back in the exact spot.
“Yeah, I noticed that. Arthur, ahh, hmph—He told me that he hadn’t seen or smelled anyone around here at all.” I explained, trying to figure out a way to explain it that didn’t sound crazy.
“He told ya huh?” He said with a tone that told me he didn’t believe me, “Don’t touch it, I’m sure whoever it all belongs to can’t be far.”
“No, Arthur’s nose can smell a ways. He hasn’t led me wrong yet. Plus, we can use these to help make decent shelters for these women and kids. We just take care of them, treat ‘em as if they’re our own.”
“Your DOG tell you that too? I can’t believe I followed this flickin’ loon here.”
“No, I’m telling you what it is. If you can help, I’m sure the women and kids would appreciate it, but you don’t have to do anything. Me and my dog will get it done before we leave.” I barely let my patience win the battle against my mouth this time.
I left the barn to get away from Roger before my mood soured and I slapped the old out of him.
Everyone handles shit differently... You can’t blame the guy for not being in a good mood a few hours after being mind controlled or whatever.
Arthur ran up to the barn with a 20 foot tree branch, or just A tree, in his mouth. He set it on top of the substantial stack he already had going. I grabbed an axe and a stack of the tree branches then got to work on the shelters.
A few hours passed, Arthur was splitting beams to for the roofing and tossing them up to me to nail in. The forge was going inside. Eli and Jared said they watched some Youtube videos in the past and wanted to learn how to forge so I had them working on crafting nails since it would be better than walking to find more.
Roger approached with his mouth agape. He watched Arthur split the logs with his claws, grab them, then toss them 10 feet into the air with ease.
“Okay, good job Puck. Break time! Why don’t you go see if someone has some water. Then, we need to find something to put on the roof to keep ‘em dry, we can cut up some bark slabs and find some ferns or something?” I told Arthur while hammering the last branch to the roof then hopping off.
Arthur took off toward the group of people in front of the barn as Roger watched, “So... Yer dog did tell ya huh?”
“I mean, he can’t talk but yeah. He’s smarter than a lot of guys I’ve met. He can communicate by nodding, barking once for yes, twice for no. His newest trick is drawing pictures with his little paws.” I said with a goofy grin.
“Ain’t nothin’ little ‘bout that dog.” He turned back to me, pausing before his mood changed from amusement to gloom, “Sorry. I lost my wife to those things. She was in them cages before ya got there but she was too old to go through that shit. They added her to the mass.”
“Don’t apologize. Never... I know the feeling.” I said trying to connect with the man.
“No, no ya don’t. I wasn’t in my right mind, but I still saw everything. I heard everything, and I didn’t do a got damn thing. That flickin’ song is still all I can hear.”
I took a deep breath, pushing visions of a dark memory from my head that were attempting to crawl out of the box I locked them in to protect my sanity.
“I can’t imagine what you went through with those monsters but I understand loss. The emptiness never goes away. But, you just keep going. We’re in this bullshit together, strength in numbers means more than just that. Use the people around you to lean on, they will need to lean as well from time to time. I didn’t have people around. I had that dog, he got me through it.” Arthur slowly walked up behind me.
“I’m sorry, I thought because you were young, that’cha couldn’t know but.”
“Don’t be sorry. It’s all good. Let’s focus on getting these women and children a safe home. Make it somewhere the kids can grow. Will that help?” I asked, reaching for one of the water bottles Arthur brought.
“Yeah, she’d like that. Good dog” Roger reached down grabbing his water, he placed a hand on Arthur’s head and scratched behind his ear.
Arthur leaned into the man, he’s great at just being a dog when he needs to be.
“Woof!” Arthur tried to lighten the mood with a joke I guess?
His tail wagged as he gave me a triumphant and sly grin.
“Yeah, yeah, Keep it up. tough guy.” I said to my dog, getting an odd look from Roger.
“Woof woof woof!” Arthur repeated.
“Ohhh... is that what you think big guy?” I said as I bent my knees and readied myself for a much needed wrestling match with my monster dog.
Arthur’s tail slapped back and forth as his tongue fell from his mouth, he took a defensive stance in front of Roger, “I thought ya said he didn’t talk?”
I laughed as Arthur jumped and popped me in the chest, sliding me backwards, “He doesn’t, Oomph, but I didn’t say, ugh, that I don’t talk to him...WUCHA! I’m only a little crazy.”
Roger shook his head but showed what I would consider a smile.
Oliver left Taylor and Amy behind as he jogged toward us hollering, “Can I play with Arthur too?”
Arthur looked up to me with excitement in his eyes, “Of course you can, go ahead Bucker. I got it from here.”
Taylor still holding her new weapon like it was her iPhone swung the scepter back and forth smiling as they approached. Amy smiled at Roger then grabbed my attention, “Hey! I was never able to properly thank you for what you did. So, thank you!”
“Bah. Anyone would have done the same, I couldn’t abandon the kids. Like I told them, everyone needs their Mother... You guys settling in?”
Taylor walked forward, “Yeah, we made our own shelter on the other side of the barn, under the oak for now. I showed mom some of the tricks you taught me and Oli.”
Amy followed up, “Not everyone would do what you did. Some would leave the kids, most may have tried to keep them safe, which would have been enough. You kept them safe and for some reason dropped into the middle of that grocery store hell like a mad man and chose to save everyone there. I don’t think anyone else would have done that.”
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“Well, maybe not. Ask this guy and he will tell you I’m a loon.” I smiled and pointed to Roger, “But I have to hope there are more out there who would go the distance for a stranger, because my parents are a few days walk from here... I haven’t had time to check in,” Anxiety returned like a kick to the gut.
Amy tried to reassure me, “If they raised you, I’m sure they’re doing fine.”
Amy and Roger started talking while walking back to the front of the barn together, Taylor stayed back for a second.
Once her mother was out of earshot she asked, “Will you help me get to Level 10 so I can get a class?”
“Have you asked your mother, or are we sneaking behind her back at the moment?” I asked showing a wry, knowing smile.
“Eh... She won’t let me if I ask her.”
“I think you may be surprised if you sit down, show maturity, and have an honest conversation with her. You also need to be ready to accept an answer you don’t want to hear. I’ll be leaving soon but it will be safe here with everyone. I’m sure you will have plenty of chances to grow strong, and that little hammer will grow with you. Just don’t take stupid chances like I do.” I said grabbing a draw knife so I could get to work on gathering bark.
“Okay. And, thank you Rick. For following through...” Taylor said before running to catch up.
The sun lit up the wide open field and cirrus clouds passed high overhead as shelter after shelter rose throughout the day. Everyone worked together, the kids jumping in to help as well, some of the smaller ones collected berries, others small twigs and branches to start fires.
As day traded for evening I walked to a pit that one of the women dug out for a fire, I removed all of the beast meat I had and all of the cans of food I’d found.
One of the women was apparently a cook who owned a restaurant in town, her eyes lit up when she saw the big chunks of meat.
I let her cook since she was the pro. I had other things to worry about that I put off long enough.
I pulled up my Inventory checking the loot from Maldrix. The first item to catch my eye looked to be a sheet of paper in my inventory, I hovered my senses over it and it read,
Sheet Music—“Grand Cantors Lament”—1—Unique—Playing this song will give the following 24 hour buff - +5 Intelligence, +5 Will, Mana Regeneration increased 25%—Playing this song may clear debuffs depending on performance.
“Shit, guess I should have checked on the acoustic before leaving the house. I wonder if I could be a bard? Toss a nickel la da da da. Strengthen my party with the power of ROCK!” I said to myself changing my accent for the last part and slamming my air guitar.
I paused and looked around to see one of the children who I hadn’t met, likely a year or 2 short of Oliver’s age. He was peeking around the corner of the barn watching me. I burst into laughter then gave him the ole devil horns gesture.
Probably the wrong thing to do as he ran off yelling something I couldn’t comprehend.
“Oops.” I said getting a good laugh out of the ordeal.
I continued looking through my inventory, the next item was a small glowing crystal. The little rock was the color of steel with rusted veins running along the cracks and edges of the crystal.
Spell Crystal—Titanium Palisade—1—Consumable— Rare—Create a shield around each member of the Casters Party that lasts 10 Seconds. Protects against 100% Physical Damage, 50% Magical Damage, 50% Soul Damage—2 Hour Cooldown.
Soul damage? Fuck me...
I whistled, calling Arthur to my location.
“Hey Busta, I’m going through the loot from my last fight and it looks like we got our first spell crystal thing, you want it?” I asked then explained the spell.
He took a moment to think as his head did the dog thing where it turns back and forth. He used to only do the movements when I asked something like, ‘Walk’ or ‘Outside’. Apparently, I was still getting used to this bewildering lifestyle change.
Arthur shook his head no then started drawing in the dirt again. He drew little houses in rapid succession, then drew out a stick figure with long hair and pointed to her then circled the houses.
I think I understood what he meant and agreed, but to be sure I asked, “You think we should hook up the town by giving it to one of the women?”
He nod his head, yes. Then drew a little bat in the stick figures hand.
“Ah, great idea.”
I took a break from the loot to go find a certain power hungry teenager.
As we walked around the camp I noted the incredible progress made on the structures.
There must be more people leveled up than I originally thought.
It was starting to look like a small village from one of those survival games with the amount of stick shelters lining the outskirts of the beautiful verdant meadow.
I found the small family I was looking for tucked back in the woods and approached.
“Hey guys, hows it going?” I asked, Amy was showing Oliver how to braid some of the string they found in the barn earlier.
Oliver covered his creation with haste, Amy greeted us, “Hey you two, it’s better, much better. Yourself?”
“Good, can I talk to you guys about something quick?” I asked gathering everyone’s attention.
The children answered in unison, “Yes!”
“Of course,” Amy added.
“Alright well, I know you don’t want your children out of the safe zone, and I fully understand.”
Taylor was immediately upset and interrupted, “You didn’t have any issues before you—”
I returned the outburst with my own, “BUT! There are other safe options to grow stronger in this world.” I pulled the crystal from my grid before continuing, “This is a spell crystal. It grants a defensive spell called Titanium Palisade. Although it would be a huge boon for me and Arthur on our trip, I would feel better leaving it here so you guys have more protection. We would like to give this to Taylor, if that’s alright with you Amy.”
“I don’t know, I don’t want her to think because she has some magic spell or whatever that she can go out and fight those, things.” Amy said her face showing the horrors she’d seen.
“I swear I won’t go anywhere without your permission Mom. Please.” Taylor said, visibly excited now.
“I’ll use it!” Oli added.
“I’m sure you would buddy. When you get older there will be all sorts of cool stuff for you to use.”
Amy chimed in, “Does it have a description?”
I read off the description, their eyes lit up as I read the 100% physical damage reduction then I watched Taylor and Amy’s eyebrows crease when I read about soul damage.
They were silent for a moment after.
Amy gave her answer, “Okay, it’s a good idea... But Taylor, you need to promise me and Oli that you won’t run off to fight any monsters unless it’s approved by me alone.”
“I promise,” Taylor said turning to me after.
“Alright. Here ya go kid.” I said handing over the crystal then adding, “Before you use it, lets ask around if anyone ha—”
Before I could get the words out the crystal melted in front of us.
The liquid gave the illusion of heat but Taylor didn’t make any sound that would indicate pain.
The steel crystal melted in her hand until it looked like mercury and spilled through her fingers. It flowed around her hand crawling up her arm, stretching as it covered more and more of the young girls body.
“Taylor! What the hell did you do?!” Amy screamed, “Get that off of her!”
Taylor whispered in awe, “It’s okay Mom.”
Amy reached out to her daughter in an attempt to clean the fluid from her skin. I moved to intercept but Arthur stepped in front of her.
“Move your dog! Taylor, I’m here honey!” Amy yelled at me, the liquid metal now covered the girl from head to toe.
“She’s okay.” Her pores absorbed the mercury like substance.
I wasn’t positive what I was feeling but intuition told me it was pure elemental Mana.
When the Crystal ruptured I felt a surge of energy rush toward the girl from every direction, leaving the taste of pennies in my mouth as it covered Taylor’s body with the metallic substance.
It was like watching light refract through the dense summer air to leave a heat haze.
Taylor’s skin absorbed the metallic substance and concentrated Mana together, leaving her with a smile.
“Whoa, that was wild, no cap.” Taylor said, still smiling.
“Yeah, I wanted to go see if anyone else has used one so we knew what to expect.”
“What the hell Taylor! You scared the crap out of me!” Amy said.
“Dollar Mom!” Oliver giggled.
“I said crap Oli,” Amy responded.
“No, you said H-E-L-L, Mom,” Oliver corrected.
“Hmph, Okay keep count for me, I don’t have cash on me baby.” Amy said, her worry floating away as she laughed the anxiety away with her child.
“I’m going for dinner, Taylor ask Roger to show you some things, he needs a friend and I’m sure he has some tricks to teach, he has the craftsman vibe going on, G’night guys!”
After dinner we returned to the barn to find a corner to crash for the night. Roger was still working at the carpenters bench. The heat from the forge left the barn nice and toasty.
Roger approached before we got too comfortable, “Ya have any sort of twine? Need somethin’ strong.”
“I have this stuff. I looted it from a big stick demon guy, should be tough enough.” I handed over one spool of Demon Cord.
He rolled a few feet off the spool and held it to the light of the lantern. The deep black cord had thin veins of earthly colors wandering through like a circular road map to an outer city.
“At’ll do,”
I followed him back to the bench, “Think you can do anything with this?”
I withdrew my staff and the feathers from the Ba. I explained what I was thinking and laid all of my crafting materials across the table.
We brainstormed different weapon and armor ideas. I explained my Improviser title and how I planned to upgrade my staff. He took my measurements then called Arthur over to measure him as well then we left him to his work.
I pulled up the last new item from the day.
Choral Initiate’s Robe—1—Rare—No Armor, +10 intelligence, +10 Will, 50% increased Mana Regeneration. Singing incantations adds 10% effectiveness to spells.
Nothing I would choose but it’s better than nothing, decent stat bump anyway.
I opened my Status Screen.
Name: Rick Weston
Race: Human
Level: 13
Class: Unassigned – Please Choose Class.
Titles:
Bring It: +15% Strength +15% Vitality Increase at Critical—While facing death, instead of succumbing to fate, you instead rebel. You won't go down easy
For the Family: Aura Triggers below 30% Life Energy, User and All Party Members Within 30 Yards Gain +5 to all stats, +15 Health Regeneration Per Second, +15 Mana Regeneration Per Second - You put the lives of your loved ones before your own well being without a thought
True Slayer: Passive Effect, +3 Stat Points Per Level Up—First inducted to slay monstrosity
Improviser: +10% Damage while using non-standard or self made weapons—You make use out of anything you get your hands on, even the trash can be deadly
Windbreaker: +5 Slashing and Wind Resistance +5 Endurance—Shwsh Shwsh Shwsh, You faced the winds of judgment and survived!
Party Frontman: +5 Vitality, +15% Health Regeneration, (Charisma bonus) for each party member when you are designated party leader (Only activates when in party)—Time and again you have shown that you put the safety and experience of the band above yourself. Like a true frontman.
Base Stats:
Strength: 22
Dexterity: 20
Endurance: 18
Vitality: 25
Will: 17
Intelligence: 17
Unallocated Stat Points: 32
After killing the fourth Choir Leech at the store a blazing exclamation mark popped up to demand my attention. This one was much bigger and shining gold, of course.
I’m not ready but I can’t put it off forever.
As I argued with myself and tried to talk myself into opening the menu I heard a faint clacking sound outside.
I followed the sound across the meadow and back up berry hill, at the top I saw dim fire light and dancing shadows between the trees. The noise sounded like a band kid going crazy with a set of claves.
I approached the light where Mina was moving between trees, as if in a dance with nature. She moved with elegance while striking branches and trunks with 2 wooden sticks fashioned into daggers.
“Hello,” I said, making myself known.
I was hoping not to startle her but I failed.
THAWCK!
One of her wooden daggers sailed through the air, hitting me dead center in the forehead, “Gah Fuck!”
She approached with a straight unemotional voice, “Oh. Sorry about that... Why are you here?”
“Heard a noise, came to make sure everything was safe. What about you?”
Her voice turned flinty leaving the dull monotones behind, “I’m making sure that shit never happens to me again.”
“Yeah. That was all, really fucked up. Do you have any training with this stuff?”
“No, not with any weapons like this. My father taught me Jujitsu and I took Taekwondo. Military man... He had some rules for his only child, who unfortunately turned out to be a girl.”
“Huh, what branch? My father was a Navy man.”
“Marines,” Mina said.
“Ah, thank you for your service.” Since I’m not great at conversing with anyone but my dog, I decided to quote a song lyric that had a similar situation but in a more, private setting.
“What? I’m not a Marine.” Mina said looking put off.
“My bad... I assume it would extend to the family.” Finishing the lyric I choked back a burst of laughter.
“Oh Jesus, L.D.? Really?” Her acknowledgment let the laugh escape and it was the first time I’d seen a smile on her face.
“Ahh yeah, sorry. Wanna spar?”
“Sure, why not. Grab a stick.” She pointed to a few sticks sanded down into different weapon shapes.
“Did you make these? You did a great job.”
“Yeah, Roger helped a bit. He’s a clever guy. He’ll be a huge asset for you guys.”
I noticed how she said you all, rather than us and asked, “Not staying?”
“I can’t, I need to get stronger and go south to find my father.”
I packed away her words for now as she blitzed suddenly, swinging high and low at once. I back stepped, deflecting her dagger strikes with my stick reflecting a katana.
We went back and forth for hours under the light of the campfire and 2 moons.
Mina stuck with the dual wielding approach while I switched between weapons, growing comfortable with each as the stars shifted overhead. I gave her some pointers as we fought, offering what little knowledge I did have.
She applied the knowledge and pushed me harder, also giving me recommendations focused on my movement and footwork, expressing that I need a wider, more balanced approach with certain weapons and tight, smaller forms with others.
Arthur showed up some time between my two handed sword and dual wield training.
We finished for the night as it was sometime past 2am. At least based on a formula my father taught me growing up, using the location of the outer stars in the big dipper as the clock hand and Polaris as the center of the 24 hour clock.
Thanks Pops. I really like being able to remember shit with this intelligence bump.
I was getting ready to walk back to camp and noticed Mina wasn’t packing up. Instead she looked to be getting comfortable beside the fire.
“You coming to camp?”
“No, I’m staying up here.” Mina answered with an assertive tone.
“Okay. It’s a nice view so I don’t blame ya. Need anything before we head out?” I asked trying to be a good host.
“I’m fine, thank you.”
“Aight. G’Night!” I waved as we set off to find our corner.
I explained her situation to Arthur, or the little bit I knew of it and asked, “What do you think? Should we ask if she wants to travel with us? She said South but I have no clue how far she has to go.”
“Woof!”
“Okay sounds like a plan. We can go back in the morning to ask if she wants company. It’s beginning pup.”
Arthur looked at me with confusion asking, “Baar?”
“Our own Fellowship.” I said, geeking out with my dog.
“Woof!”
I know I watched the trilogy at least once or twice with him. I wonder if he knows what I’m talking about and remembers the movie, or if he’s just being a good hype man.
Arthur immediately went in the corner to sleep. Roger was still in the same spot so I approached, “You going to get some sleep tonight?” I said joking.
“I tried, doesn’t work.” He almost sounded sad which worried me, something was off.
“Huh, doesn’t work? Why?”
He turned his head and his eyes were full of tears.
He said one word, “Dissonant.”