Sheltered by the mountain itself, Kyran and his companions had been spared much of the blizzard’s fury—or so both Mirien and Adra had said. The pair had assured him that the storm would have been many times worse had it found them on the escarpment or within the inner mountains.
It seemed they had been lucky.
Kyran shuddered. If what the party had experienced today was only a “little blow,” as Adra had called it, he hesitated to think what the blizzard’s true fury was like within the mountains. I hope Wynak and the tribe managed to find shelter.
Today’s weather had been bad enough though, and since they’d been battling through deepening snowdrifts the party’s pace had slowed dramatically. By nightfall they had been forced to camp at the forest’s edge instead of entering the woods as Kyran had hoped.
The party’s mood had been sombre all day, as it had been ever since Mirien’s revelations yesterday. But as they descended the northern slopes, and the forest loomed larger with every passing hour, the silence within the party had deepened and changed. Kyran sensed his companions’ thoughts had turned from Mirien’s troubling disclosures to what the Elder Forest had in store for them.
Kyran himself was unsure how he felt.
Thoughts of what the forest meant for his future played through his mind. On the one hand, he expected to finally reunite with Sara, his fellow traveller from Earth, but on the other he strongly suspected the meeting would force him into a choice between the Brotherhood and the gods. His gaze slid to Mirien—a choice he didn’t feel ready to face yet.
He turned back to the forbidding woods. Even on the edge of the treeline, the forest made itself heard. The night was a screeching cacophony, filled with the disquieting sounds of predators and prey, large and small. It made for a stark contrast to the mountain’s silence.
At a puff of frozen air, Kyran glanced down. Aiken, his emotions a tightly clenched ball, did his best not to betray his own trepidation as he stared into the forest. Kyran knelt down and wrapped his arms around the jade bear.
Of all the party, it was Aiken who felt the greatest anxiety at entering the forest. The Skarral mountain, for all that it was under the open sky, was at least terrain the bear knew and understood.
The green and hidden depths of the forest, without the comforting closeness of rock, scared Aiken more than anything else had since.
Kyran had spent most of the day in the mindscape with the bear, tasting Aiken’s emotions and trying to soothe the bear’s fears. In the end, though, it was Mirien that assuaged the bear’s doubts.
Sharing her memories of the forest-dwelling great bear clan that lived in Auriel’s kingdom, and her own ties with the Elder Forest, Mirien was able to convince Aiken that the forest was every bit alive and living as the deep earth; with that comfort much of the bear’s anxiety had disappeared. That’s just one more thing I have to be grateful to her for, Kyran thought.
“It can’t be as daunting as it looks, brother,” Kyran said across the mind-link as he hugged the bear tight. Closing his eyes, Kyran breathed in the smells of the forest: rich loamy earth, damp vegetation, and a heady mix of fragrances, many of which he didn’t recognise.
My entire life, Kyran mused, has been spent in a barrenness of one type or another. First the concrete jungle of an inner city on Earth, then the Labyrinth’s mouldy darkness, and finally the emptiness of the Skarral mountain range.
He matched Aiken’s stare into the forest’s depths. It was almost as unnerving for him as it was for the great bear. What a pair we make.
With a sigh, Kyran joined the others at the campfire. The trio were silent, each lost in their own thoughts. Taking a seat beside Gaesin, he asked, “Is the forest always like this?”
Adra looked up from the ration she nibbled on. “Like what?”
Kyran shrugged. “Noisy.”
“It gets worse in the day,” Gaesin replied with a shudder. The youth stared unseeing into the fire, haunted by the memories of his previous journey through the woods.
Adra spared the half-elf a sympathetic glance before replying. “Gaesin is right.” She waved a hand towards the forest. “That is the sound of the forest sleeping. When it is awake it is more… vibrant.”
Kyran winced, not sure he liked the idea of the forest getting louder. Adra had not turned away from the forest. From the glint in her eye, he realised that despite her wariness of its lurking dangers, Adra was drawn to the forest’s enveloping greenery.
His eyes drifted to Mirien. Enveloped in a bubble of silence, the whiesper also stared at the forest. Her gaze had not strayed from the trees since they had made camp. Her expression was a mixture of longing and… dread? Like Adra, Mirien was also drawn to the forest, yet her feelings appeared more ambivalent.
Kyran himself did not feel the same attraction. Though he himself was a wood-elf, the forest did not call to him the way it did to the two women. Perhaps, he thought wryly, it’s because I am no true elf, just a human disguised as one. Or perhaps he would have to learn the forest’s rhythm first, much as he had that of the city of his birth, before he could identify with its intimidating vibrance.
“Mirien,” Kyran said, trying to pull the high-elf out of her thoughts. “How long do you think it will take us to reach Crota?” The ruined city was where Sara and her company had been heading, and it was where the party would start their search for Iyra’s champion.
Mirien turned to him, her gaze still distracted. “A month,” she said with a shrug. “Perhaps two. It all depends on how much the forest resists our passage.”
A month at best, he thought, disheartened. Would Sara still be in Crota by then? “Any way we can get there quicker?”
Adra shook her head and Mirien snorted. “Not if we want to get there alive,” she said. “The forest brims with life, much of it hostile. If we don’t want to fight every step of the way through our journey, we will have to keep our presence small and carefully navigate around the dangers.”
Gaesin bobbed his head in empathic agreement.
“Alright,” said Kyran, reluctantly accepting his companions’ wisdom. “We head straight north through the forest, then?”
Mirien nodded. “Until we get our bearings in the forest, it is simplest to plot a course directly north.”
Kyran frowned, unhappy with the vagueness of their plans. “Do we know anything for certain about this part of the forest?”
“One part of the Elder Forest is much like any other,” said Mirien. “Other than the Heart, of course, and none of us want to venture there. The rest of the forest is filled with beasts, ferals, and even a few primitive tribes. But most that dwell within the trees are nomadic, making it impossible to predict what we will run into.”
“The Heart?” he asked. He had not heard mention of it before.
“The corrupted centre of the forest,” Mirien said with a hint of wistfulness.
Kyran’s brows rose at her tone. The Heart has some meaning to her.
“In ages past, it was the seat of Aldanna,” Mirien continued. “Aldanna was a fabled place and one of the few cities ever built by elves. It was considered by many to be the most beautiful city that ever graced Myelad.” Her eyes darkened. “Until, that is, Crotana’s destruction six hundred years ago. Since then, none who have ventured in the Heart’s depths have ever returned.”
“What’s there?” Kyran asked.
“No one knows,” Mirien whispered. “I haven’t been near those woods myself, so I can’t tell you much else.”
“Wasn’t there another elven city in the south?” inquired Gaesin.
Mirien nodded. “That’s right. Celne. But it was as much a human city as an elven one. Smaller than both Crota and Aldanna, Celne was less a city and more a staging ground for the Crotan armies holding the southern border against Xetil. But it was also destroyed in the war,” Mirien said, her voice hollow with sorrow.
From there, the conversation lapsed into silence once more, and this time Kyran let it lie.
�
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Kyran awoke early the next morning.
Yawning, he rolled to his feet and ducked outside the tent the party had erected the previous night as a shelter against the weather. It was the first time they’d had cause to use it. Even so, it had proven its worth and kept the party snug and warm.
It was still snowing. Glancing around, he spotted Adra where she kept watch on a nearby hill. He waved to the wolven, but made no move to join her. After finding a large boulder of his own, he brushed off the wet snow covering it, and seated himself. It was time to see to his player progress.
Closing his eyes, he turned his gaze inwards and opened his player data.
You are player level 32.
Eight more player levels before I reach journeyman rank and can dual class, he thought. He still had little idea of what civilian profession he would choose for his second class. He reminded himself to review the list of available classes in the Champion’s Handbook when he had an opportunity again.
Dual-classing was a matter for future consideration. His combat and civilian levelling were of more immediate concern. He opened the Game interfaces related to his combat profile.
You are combat level 29 (20 combat SP, 5 combat AP available).
Kyran’s Class skills
Beast bonding (70.7), body control (44.9), light armour (24.0), psionics (49), telepathy (55.1), air magic (68.9), earth magic (68.9), supportive magic (68.9), spellcasting (61.2), water magic (51), nature lore (24.0).
Available apprentice-ranked combat abilities
Beast bonding: Beast dominate.
Body control: Boxer’s strength, dancer’s grace.
Telepathy: Psi shield.
Air magic: Haste, air armour.
Earth magic: Poison dart, poison blade, ironskin.
Supportive magic: Cure poison, healing wisp, null field, detect magic.
Water magic: Ice elemental, monsoon, ice bolt.
Light armour: (none).
Psionics: (none).
Spellcasting: (none).
Longsword: (locked, skill of 20 required) Riposte, lunge.
Telekinesis: (locked, skill of 20 required) Trackporter, levitate, slow.
Fire magic: (locked, skill of 20 required) Fire weapon, fireball, firewall.
Kyran pursed his lips as he reviewed his combat skills and available abilities. It was time to focus his development a bit further.
He gained nine combat skill points every level, not enough to keep all his druid skills constantly maximised. It made sense to prioritise his progression in the disciplines he used most frequently.
Eventually, he would have to raise all his druid skills to forty to meet the journeyman rank prerequisites, but until that time he decided to keep a few key skills maximised.
His apprenticed-rank magic spells were spread across three disciplines: air magic, earth magic, and supportive magic. To strengthen his existing spells in those disciplines, he trained them further.
Base skills in air magic, earth magic, and supportive magic have increased to 29. Effective skill: 74.
Remaining: 14 Combat SP.
His only apprentice-ranked psi spells were in telepathy and beast bonding, and he increased those too.
Base skill in beast bonding has increased to 29. Effective skill: 76.
Base skill in telepathy has increased to 29. Psi damage: 59.2.
Remaining: 10 Combat SP.
That left him ten combat skill points. In which discipline should I invest them? Light armour, spellcasting, psionics, and water magic all offered good benefits, but it was the body control skill that Kyran was leaning towards.
His worg-form had proved its use in the mountains, and he had no doubt he would make further use of the beastform in the Elder Forest. Given that he could not spellcast while shifted, he needed to increase his psicasting options. With that in mind, he trained his body control skill and learnt its two available abilities.
Base skill in body control has increased to 29. Effective skill: 59.2.
New ability learned: boxer’s strength (boosts the damage inflicted by the caster’s attacks for 15 seconds.)
New ability learned: dancer’s grace (boosts the movement and attack speed of the caster for 15 seconds.)
Remaining: 1 combat AP.
His remaining skill points he used to increase light armour.
Base skill in light armour has increased to 23. Physical defence: 40.8.
Remaining: 0 combat SP.
Kyran stared unhappily at his one remaining combat ability point. He already had a small arsenal of spells at his disposal, and at the journeyman rank the cost of abilities would increase again.
Thus far, circumstances had not allowed him to save his ability points, but from here on out he would have to be sparing in his choice of further abilities, or risk being found wanting at the journeyman rank.
Next, he turned his attention to his civilian path.
You are civilian level 32 (8 civilian SP, 8 civilian AP available).
Available apprentice-ranked civilian abilities
Commander: Drain minion stamina.
Feudal lord: (none).
Scrying: Scrying barrier, scry ether, surveil.
Nature lore: Reveal beasts, woodsman, nature’s blessing.
Travelling: Etherwalk, detect teleport.
Mage lord: Apprentice channel, improved ley lines.
Governor: Empower structure, governor’s gift.
With his civilian abilities, he had fewer choices but more ability points to spend. Considering the environment into which the party would be venturing, the two abilities, woodsman and reveal beasts, had the most appeal.
Reveal beasts he expected would help the party avoid encounters and co-opt further aid when required, while woodsman would provide a boost to the party’s speed and stealth. Right now, the buff to stealth would only benefit Adra, but the ability was still worth the investment.
New ability learned: reveal beasts (marks the presence of nearby beasts in the mindscape).
New ability learned: woodsman (increases the party’s stealth and speed when moving through wooded terrain).
Remaining: 4 civilian AP.
His choice when it came to his civilian skills was much simpler. His skill points went into his only civilian-class skill: nature lore.
Base skill in nature lore has increased to 28. Effective skill: 33.6.
Remaining: 0 civilian SP.
Behind him, he heard the others stir, and Adra join them as they saw to breakfast. He had one other matter to see to before he could join them.
Keeping his eyes closed, he opened the Game interfaces for the Deepholm settlement.
Deepholm’s Profile (Condensed)
Settlement name: Deepholm (capital). Type: Fort. Rank: Tower.
Sovereign domain: Labyrinth Deeps.
Population: 2 (2 essence constructs).
Current effects: Hidden Veil.
Essence structures: Essence lighting system, secret door, essence chamber, world portal.
Mundane structures: First spoke, second spoke, world portal chamber, central guardroom, main barracks, fourth spoke, mine guardroom.
Deepholm Settlement Log
26 Octu 2603 AB: Work began on the Mines.
26 Octu 2603 AB: Began ore mining! No vault or storeroom is available at Deepholm. All ore collected will be stored in the essence chamber.
29 Octu 2603 AB: 68 units of darksteel ore have been mined.
An essence mason has reached level 58!
An essence miner has reached level 35!
Kyran studied the Game information thoughtfully. Nearly all of his original plans for the base had been completed; only the mines and the craft halls remained unfinished.
The near-constant construction of chambers and corridors had steadily advanced the essence mason’s level, while the essence miner, who had been predominantly mining marble for the last month, lagged behind. He expected the miner would progress more rapidly now that work had st
arted on the mines.
Thus far, the mine network only extended from the mine guardroom to the darksteel ore deposit. And at that very moment, the essence miner was digging through the darksteel to extend the main tunnel to the second ore deposit: orichalcum.
Only once the miner expanded the tunnel network to reach all the ore deposits would it return to the darksteel deposit to begin mining in earnest, but ore was collecting.
The essence mason, who was following in the miner’s heels and reinforcing the main mine tunnel, was mostly idle. It was time, perhaps, to update his plans for the base. He considered the available structures for construction.
Deepholm structures available for construction
Essence structures: None (no essence crystals available at Deepholm).
Mundane structures: Guardroom, bailey, well, moat, barracks, storeroom, kitchens, mill, granary.
Kyran grimaced. Without essence crystals, the build options at Deepholm were limited. Was there a way he could get the essence crystals he had taken from the dwarven enchanter’s armoury to Deepholm? Not until I reach a world portal. The journey back to the White Rock cavern by foot would take too long.
But, he mused, perhaps it is time to start readying the fort for habitation. If things did not turn out as he planned with Iyra or the Brotherhood, he might be forced to retreat to Deepholm. After considering the matter, he decided upon his alterations.
Deepholm Construction Status
Date: 29 Octu 2603 AB
Work Order 01: 80% (8 of 11 items completed).
Work Order 02: 0% (0 of 5 items completed).
Updated build queue showing expected completion.
Mines: 16 Nov 2603 AB, 18 days.
Third spoke: 23 Nov 2603 AB, 7 days.
Craft halls: 07 Des 2603 AB, 14 days.
Storeroom: 10 Des 2603 AB, 3 days.
Well: 12 Des 2603 AB, 2 days.
Mill: 19 Des 2603 AB, 7 days.
Granary: 22 Des 2603 AB, 3 days.
Sovereign (The Gods' Game, Volume IV) Page 3
