Chapter 8 - Something in the Air (Patreon)

Disclaimer: I had to rethink the pacing, and am going to add the following small exchange to Chapter 3, right after the show is over, but before Daniel packs up for the night. Adding it to the chapter, but just so you aren't confused later on:

A slow clapping sound neared the stage, and I was torn from my idle thoughts as a familiar voice taunted from the front of the stage: “Impressive how you’re able to avoid doing any work whatsoever and still leave all these people with the impression that you were the one performing.” Gillem rested his arms on the stage, sporting a wide grin.

“Is that another way of saying you’d rather be a bard than a barkeep? If you convince the Council I need a raise, I can probably put in a good word with Greck to take on another apprentice. Then we just have that minor issue with your playing - tell me, do cats still try to mate with you when you play?”

Gillem made an obscene gesture and we shared a laugh. “Point. Oh, and the raise is easily handled - we in the Council actually agreed that we’d ask you to take on a small task for Grant’s Crossing. Handle this, and you’re assuredly in for a raise.”

I perked up. “Really? Fill me in.”

“You basically just need to go out and make friends. East or west first, you decide - but the village needs safety in order to grow, and that’s been in short supply since we got here. With Othell taken care of, however…” He shrugged.

I quickly inspected the pop-up.

[You have been offered a quest: “Winning Hearts and Minds.” With the worst local threats eliminated, the Council of Grant’s Crossing looks to expand their hold on the nearby area. In order to aid them, improve relations with either the Kobolds to the east or the local Harpy nest to the West.

Reward: Unknown - depends on the degree of success.

+300 Universal Reputation.

 Accept/decline?]

My brow furrowed. “So…you want me to singlehandedly either deal with the group of harpies that had your entire Council on the run back in the day…or a whole community of Grecks?”

His grin faded and he shrugged awkwardly. “Yeah, I know, it’s a hard sell. But, honestly, the village could really do with some improved relations with either of the groups. Think it over, will ya?”

I nodded, and he took off with a parting grin, leaving a foaming ale on the edge of the stage. Good guy. I was definitely not jumping at the bit to get on with that quest. For one, I was quite at ease in the village and in no hurry to get on with the plot, and apart from that - well, I really didn’t want too much Universal Reputation - I was trying to remain inconspicuous here.

And with that over and done with, we amble onwards into the "real" Chapter 8. Apologies for the disruptive reading experience.

Walking through the forest, I experienced a bit of peace and quiet to consider my present situation with Atlas - and so far everything seemed promising. My momentary sense of unease was rapidly quelled as I discovered that I could - with little effort - block him out entirely from my senses, and I felt pretty confident that he wouldn’t be able to “listen in” either. While it did seem natural to have his presence in my mind, there would probably be times where I’d want  complete privacy. Urgh, Naevys’ innuendo had left my mind in the gutter.

Blessedly, my mind was soon awarded with a new distraction. After the resident demonologist, Othell, fled with his tail between his legs, the inhabitants of the village had been much more outgoing and less frightened to spend time outside the village - at least in the near vicinity where the growth of the foliage wasn't as entangled and the local beasts not as intimidating. Due to this, the sound of voices and laughter was becoming more common-place on the outskirts. The sound of a full-on verbal tongue-lashing, however was less common. I sent a "Hide" command to Atlas, watching him fade from view with amazement, and walked closer.

Parting a low-hanging branch, I was astonished at the sight of two familiar figures in an entirely unfamiliar setting. Darya was kneeling next to a small wooden contraption on the ground while Sourpuss was standing next to her, his hulking figure intimidating with his massive, scarred arms folded over his chest, giving her an earful. The astonishing part was that she just took it though, and she even looked ashamed. Even knowing that I should probably just mind my own business, watching her sitting there with her head bowed caused something inside to knot up, and I needed to do something about it. I strode forward, and picked up part of the discussion.

“…and even if it doesn't break apart, the angle'll make sure the animal isn't killed, just hurt, at best. That means you've got a limping rabbit you'll need to track for Girelle knows how long before you get to eat. Also, the fear and hurt'll make the meat taste like crap and spoil quicker."

 She looked up: "That's why I wanted to go with a regular rabbit snare."

His lips curled upwards, "Yeah, the one trap you know how to use. Tell me, genius, what'll you do when..." He abruptly turned towards me. "I thought I smelled an interruption." His whiskered face was crunched up in a grimace, but I saw no outright hostility. “What?” He snarled.

I swallowed but decided to soldier on. When he was sober this was just about as agreeable as he got. “I just heard arguing and wanted to see what was going on. Are you two ok?”

Sourpuss’ forehead furrowed further and his frown grew more pronounced, showing off one large incisor. He stared at me and then spoke at Darya, “Girl. Git. Make a trap that’ll take down a lone wolf. And don’t use rope.”

She got up quickly, gathered her discarded trap and disappeared from the clearing without a word - but she did shoot me a dark look before leaving. What? Like it was my fault she’d picked a maniac for a trainer.

Once she was out of sight, Sourpuss expelled his breath noisily, “Need anything else? She ain’t ready for her class quest yet - too damn afraid to get her hands dirty.”

What the hell? She was already training for her next class quest? And her trainer was actually helping her train? I had to take a moment at the realization that a brooding, violent piece of work like Sourpuss actually made for a more helpful trainer than Greck. I shook my head in exasperation and changed the subject. “No, not really. I did want to ask how you’ve been - the past couple of days can’t have been easy for you.” 

He stared at me in astonishment for a moment before shrugging. “What’s it to you? Most people are bastards - that’s not going to change any time soon.” He turned his back on me and started for the woods - and then did an about-turn, striding straight towards me. “Want to do something useful instead of just yapping about feelings and wasting my time? Do something about those damned winged pests that’ve been harassing fishermen lately.” 

With that tirade of his chest he strode off leaving me with a pop-up and two strange realizations. The first one was sad, namely that even with all Sourpuss’ bile and bluster, I might be the closest thing to a friend that he had. The second that somehow I’d managed to gain a new quest by being annoying. That had to be a first. I checked out the quest description:

[You have been offered a quest: “Annoyance from above” Benneth has tasked you with the removal of the “winged pests” that have been harrassing fishermen along the Jagged Rush to the south of the village.  Reward: Unknown. Accept/decline?]

Well, that was vague. I clicked accept, and the wheels started churning. While I would’ve liked some additional info on what we were getting ourselves into, I couldn’t help but think that this was the perfect opportunity to check out the fighting capacities of my newfound partner. Sure, we were both green when it came to working together, but if worst came to worst, Atlas would be able to hide and watch while I had my ass handed to me. “No time like the present,” I figured, sending Atlas a “hunt” image, accompanied by the image of a bird being shot out of the sky. The excitement that purred back through the bond was both promising and contagious, and I found myself raring to go.

I did make one huge concession to my own safety by taking it slow, for once. The moment the foam-tipped waves of the Jagged Rush came into view, I pulled right back into the tree line and slowed down considerably in order to make sure we wouldn’t throw ourselves head first into any encounters. I also urged Atlas to help keep an eye on any air-borne enemies (pointing from my eyes to the sky above the river and projecting the image for “enemy” repeatedly) A little extra caution probably couldn’t hurt - Sourpuss’ temper taken into consideration, “winged pests” could mean anything from seagulls to dragons. An uneventful half an hour of trudging later my mind started to wander, and to occupy my mind, I started delving into the bond once again. Alternating between his senses and mine in short spurts, I tried to come to terms with the differences and reduce the period of confusion and sensory overlap that appeared whenever I switched. It did feel like I made some,  infinitesimally small, progress, boding very well for the future. At some point I might be able to effortlessly switch back and forth between his senses and mine, choosing instinctively which ones to piggyback when. And speaking of instincts: I had a bit of a facepalm moment when I tried looking through his eyes yet again, promptly got nauseous and instinctively switched off following one of the eyes. As anybody with common sense could’ve predicted, the experience was nowhere near as unsettling when I was just watching through one eye - except for when he'd suddenly have his eye roll back and watch behind him. That was one disconcerting experience.

Time flew by as we followed the passage of the foaming river. Atlas had long since abandoned the earth and was making his way from tree to tree across the interlocked system of branches high above my head. His agile, long-limbed body made surprisingly good time and the dodgy terrain had me picking up the pace to keep up from time to time. After some time, however, we stumbled into a problem I'd never expected to encounter in a game. Atlas got bored. It started as a tendency to veer off the path and be distracted by - anything, really. Insects, pools of water, comfortable spots in the sun. This time around, I didn't even have the luxury of being able to lure him along with the promise of music, and I went with the second best choice - enticing him with the promise of food. Honestly, I had no clue what else to do. I had no experience to draw on, when it came to actual animal training or...raising a kid or whatever else might apply. Hence the food. Fortunately, Atlas proved very tractable at the image me carrying a fallen bird over for him to eat and moved on - at an increased pace, even. Now I just had to hope that we were actually up against birds, and not, say, gargoyles.

I was momentarily back in my own body navigating a treacherous body of brambles when Atlas spotted our quarry. Immediately, I knew what was going on, with the bond carrying a sense of accomplishment and, surprisingly, bloodthirst. Or was it just a deep-founded sense of hunger? Hard to tell. Tuning in to Atlas' view, I saw the close-up image of our first enemy in full flight, circling the river.

“Majestic” was probably the best word to describe our quarry. From what I was sensing through the bond, “my meal” was also up there. Whichever we’d opt for, the Dawnlight Soarer was a sleek and deadly eagle-like avian with an impressive wingspan and curved, wicked beak. It was hard to tell at a distance, but it didn’t look like we were up against some sort of giant bird of prey - “merely” a large, winged killer. The name tag was also framed in green, indicating an opponent below my level - great - I could do with something that was a bit less of a challenge for once. While my knowledge on birds of prey was limited to a couple of nature programs and documentaries, only two details about the animal served to set it apart from your standard eagle, hawk or whatever they're called: The claws looked to be both proportionally long compared to the body, and also, the entire frontal part of the wing span and shoulders were covered by something that looked like carapace or bone. Maybe something that’d strengthen the bones for a head-on collision? Better avoid that.

The Dawnlight Soarer was circling lazily over the river, obviously keeping an eye on something down there, and I moved back a little to estimate the best approach without being spotted. At a guess, I'd say that we were in a safe zone inside the tree limit - the foliage and trees were close enough together that they'd make any flying a suicidal prospect. The riverbed was more than 50 meters away, however, meaning I'd have to move at least halfway to the river to be able to hit the damn thing. Ah, well. I'd hopefully be able to run back into covers if everything went wrong. I told Atlas to move forward to where a shrubbery was conveniently placed between the forest and the river bed. I really wanted him to stay inside the forest, but if he did, he'd be no help at all...I just had to hope that the soarer wouldn't be able to penetrate his camouflage. 

I believe that I recall reading something regarding large birds of prey having an eyesight from 3-10 times better than your average human being, or something like that. However it worked ingame, the Soarer’s eyesight proved no match for Atlas. I kept my eyes glued to the bird who was currently hovering over an updraft, and I believed that I saw his head move a little when the leaves of the shrubbery parted way, allowing Atlas to enter - but otherwise remained still. I performed a hurried check of the skies to ensure that we wouldn’t be surprised by any other enemies, and decided not to push my luck and get on with it. I parted the leaves before me, and walked quickly forwards, hoping to come into spell range before he noticed me. 

I made it pretty far, but was still about halfway from the river, when the bird turned its head towards me, called out a shrill cry, dipped a wing and started a long, lazy dive towards me. I raised my violin and started playing, and a Sonic Missile flew forth to meet it halfway. Too late, the animal tried to bat its wings and avoid the spell but failed, and I smiled as a full 60 percent of its health was sheared off and it did a long, wide turn to get away. Things were going my way for once - well, as long as the bird didn’t manage to get out of my range. Fortunately, I had the right instruments prepared. The moment the wounded bird of prey started flapping its wings to get away, I cast Sonic Push, buffeting the bird from the side, causing it to tumble end over end through the air. The moment the poor thing regained control, the cooldown was over, and yet another targeted wave of sonic force slammed into the Soarer, pummeling it back towards me. Weaving wildly, it managed to stabilize - and spotted me. Another cry emitted forth, this one filled with blood thirst and fury, and the Soarer dove straight for me, exposing its wicked claws. I sent “wait” to Atlas and, estimating the distance to be about right, sent a Sonic Wave to meet the incoming animal - and then immediately dodged to the side. I watched the wave strike the bird head-on, and the health bar disappear as the now lifeless body plummeted down, impacting with the ground not far from where I’d been standing. I barely had the time to spot a jagged tumble of dirty, dark brown feathers and a weird bone structure, when a surprised “hiss” erupted from Atlas along with a sense of shock. I was just about to make fun of his bad nerves, when we were interrupted by a choir of distant cries. From across the river, Atlas and I watched as a trio of Dawnlight Soarers rose from the trees, their cries promising vengeance for the fallen kin. “Of course they’re flock animals.” I growled, and turned to run back to the safety of the woods. 

I made it about halfway when I looked over my shoulder and realized I’d never make it in time. I made a noise in the back of my throat, and turned back around. Change of plans. Stun them all with Atlas’ help, dive out of the way, then run back to the forest and finish them from a safe distance? Yeah, that’d have to do. The two leftmost predators were flying close to each other with the last one coming in faster and lower. I told Atlas to “attack” the foremost one, and concentrated, sending a Stun Blast at the others. As the blast wave left my violin, I saw a smaller, tighter ball flying over my shoulder to hit the foremost Soarer. I didn’t stop to watch the result, but turned tail and ran. I was almost to the forest, and spared a second to watch over my shoulder while I ran. My grin returned in force. The first animal had just impacted with the ground next to the shrubbery with all the grace of a bag of bones, and the two others were about to do the same. I hit the brakes, boots skidding over the uneven ground. Figuring I might as well put the hurt to them while they were down and out, I raised the violin to send ‘em reeling. And then I was hit. The spell flew apart in my mind, and my concentration shattered and was overtaken by a pure, feral panic at being surrounded by predators on all sides, all instincts yelling at me to just freeze. 

I was so engrossed in the strength of these feelings, it took me a while to realize that these were Atlas’ emotions, flooding over from within the bond due to the sheer intensity. The moment I did understand that, it took me just a second to block off the bond entirely - and another split second to come to terms with how thoroughly the tables had turned. One of the nearby avians was flapping its wings, launching into the air with what appeared to be a broken bone, yet the other two were still very much alive. In fact, while the torn up ground indicated that they’d suffered from nasty landings, they’d both gotten up, and were now getting awfully close to me, one from either side. They were both hurt, and one was dragging an injured wing, but they looked ready to tear me apart. Still recovering, I stumbled backwards and fired a Sonic Missile at the soarer with the injured wing, hoping to take it out quickly. No dice though - it took the hit straight on, but soldiered on - and then all sense of control vanished, as both birds attacked. 

My earlier idea that they’d be clumsy on the earth was instantly proved wrong. Of course, me being unarmed and unarmored didn’t help at all, and I was left reeling, scrambling backwards as a whirlwind of beaks and claws descended upon me. Within seconds, claws left stinging lines on my arm and leg and as a seeking beak encroached on my neck, I resorted to using my poor violin as a shield. I could barely see, as they darted in from both sides, distracting me with their flapping wings and attacking with both claws and beak, and my body was starting to feel sluggish. I stumbled, and the uninjured predator saw an opening and squawked, moving in for the kill, while the other hung back. It flapped its wings, springing forward with claws and beak outstretched - and promptly collapsed on the ground two steps before me, as its feet refused to cooperate. For the briefest of moments, I just stood there, stupefied - and then I ran to to the side of the twitching mass of feathers, where I could shoot a Sonic Wave right through the animal and watch in enjoyment as it continued straight into the one with the broken wing, felling it instantly. 

I backed off until I was almost inside the woods and felt confident it wouldn’t be able to reach me. The twitching animal was clearly regaining control over its limbs and trying to stand up, but I did not intend to give him a fair chance. “Turkey shoot, bitch.” I mumbled, as I released a Sonic Missile straight down its throat, and the beast crumpled to the ground. Finally, I could breathe, and my eyes started flickering around to check id I’d make it. First at my wounds, which were much shallower than I’d expected, then at my legs and arms which were feeling really sluggish and heavy. Finally, my eyes shot to the sky, where the final Dawnlight Soarer was just now folding its wings closer to its body, dropping like a stone fired from a ballista - straight at me. I didn’t have time to think, and just acted. My violin flew up, and a Sonic Push slammed into the Soarer from the side, trying to force it off target. The animal veered to the side and I managed a split second of relief before it stuck out a wing and reversed to a weaving, confusing pattern before finally touching down. Straight into my shoulder. I was sent careening through the air and hit the ground several times before coming to rest face down on top of a bed of thistles. 

And there I lay, hurting and dazed, and above all I just wanted to stay there on the ground. Try as I might, I just couldn’t force my arms to cooperate fully. I kept looking for the “you have died” pop-up, but it failed to appear. Groaning, I managed to roll my body to the side where I lay, panting, expecting to be finished off. Fortunately, that was not the case. While the kamikaze diver had definitely done a hell of a job on me, my final spell had done something good, because it’d blown the bird enough off course that its continuous flight had led straight into a fallen tree trunk. It must have taken a lot of damage in the process, because feathers were strewn everywhere and one wing was set at an awkward angle. It was, however also laboriously struggling to stand up. I fought to do - well, anything. Get to my legs, force a spell into existence, call out for help - but my mind and body refused to act beyond the most limited actions. In effect, I could only watch as the Soarer stumbled to its legs and slowly turned its head to cast a hate-filled glare at me. 

One limping step towards me - and it promptly collapsed in a graceless heap. Beside it, Atlas slowly faded into view, and I could swear that he shot a toothy grin at me before he hurried over to the squawking animal and tore into its throat with an audible “crunch”. I rolled onto my back and just breathed for a while, relieved that the imminent danger was over for now. As my pulse slowly returned to normal, I realized exactly why I was as feeble as was the case - Not only was I down to a third of my total hit points, I was suffering from no less than four poison debuffs, each stripping me of 2 Agility and 2 Endurance. This left my Agility at 1, explaining why my motor control was pretty much shot, and my current 3 in Endurance along with all the recent activity had completely exhausted my stamina reserves. I just stared for a moment, dumbfounded at how close I’d come to being reduced to bird feed. “Winged pests”, indeed. With their mobility and the debuff, they’d be able to take down quite the range of prey - and if I hadn’t been able to shoot them out of the air, I’d have never stood a chance. Fortunately the debuffs weren’t of the long-lasting kind. The first one was about to run out in five minutes, but my stamina was already slowly ticking back in, and I shakily got back up to my feet.

Atlas was busy feeding on the final Soarer - a messy sight - and I didn’t interrupt, instead sending him a heartfelt message of approval and praise. Sure, he’d almost gotten me killed right at the start, but that was something beyond his control, and I believed that the next time I would have an easier time dealing with it - maybe even suppressing it entirely. That being said, there was no denying that he’d saved my bacon twice during the battle - in time we could grow to be a fearful pair. Add in my trusty meat shield Lyle, and we’d be a force to reckon with.

I spent a bit recuperating, keeping an eye on the sky, and when the first debuff disappeared, I got on to the good stuff. To my relief the quest had updated and we didn’t have to try our luck with any further groups. Seeing the loot, I was not impressed initially. Something in me still expected something like a magic dagger to drop from these birds, but Exogenics kept it realistic. Four Soarer Beaks, eight Soarer Claws and several handfuls of Soarer Feathers were pretty much along the line of what I was expecting. The feathers were of common rarity and the rest uncommon. There was a single rare drop - an entire Soarer Skull - I rapidly pocketed the bloody item with a grimace. I was a bit curious as to the possibilities with those claws - maybe I’d be able to use the poison on them for some nasty purposes? That promised for an interesting chat with Mrs. Bertinga.

Experience-wise, I was not impressed. 200 experience points total was pretty underwhelming. Good thing I didn’t need much more for level 4 - just below 500 to go. I was also really looking forward to Atlas gaining 800 more to reach level 2 so I could see the possibilities. 

In the skill area, however, the encounter had been more than worth it, as my skills had increased impressively. All spells I’d used had increased, along with Concentration,  Unarmored Dodge and even Acrobatics. Heh, and Sonic Push had increased twice. Nice. I looked forward to seeing what happened when I got that one to level 10 and Apprentice Rank. Speaking of which - a wonderful pop-up was waiting for me:

Congratulations

Your skill Sonic Spells has reached Apprentice rank. Delving into the intricacies of sonic mastery, you have learned to apply your damaging spells to better effect. 

Damage of all Sonic Spells increased by 20%

I did a little jig. For all intents and purposes, once the combat started, I was pretty much a glass cannon and with my type of characters, damage is king. This should do a lot to keep us ahead of the game. In the back of my mind, I could sense Atlas and his bloated belly, as he was dragging himself onto a rock to take in the early afternoon sun. I decided, that in this moment, we were both triumphant warriors and as such we’d both earned a rest in the sun. I flopped down beside him and rested my head on my arms.

A minute later, I moved a bit further away. Some triumphant warriors really needed to work on having their breath smell a little less like carcass.