"We should move back a little ways out of their patrol route before setting up camp for the day. I know the Ward Stone should protect us, but no use taking the risk" I say before turning back the way we came. Azzaria and my companions follow along till we are about a quarter mile away from the patrol route where we set up camp again. It's another cold camp and equally cold meal to go with it before I take a look at my messages again. I am so tired from the stop, fight, and move on pace from the day that I can't even muster up excitement for what I read.
Your Familiar's skill: Screech has reached lvl 3
LEVEL UP! Your Familiar Thia has increased in level by 1. Thia is now level 6. As your Familiar she gets 5 points to apply to her Stats and 2 talent points. Thia currently has 5 undistributed SP and 2 undistributed TP. You can distribute these from your familiar's status page. Continue to increase your Familiar's level to follow the path of true power. Fight for the RIGHT to survive!
Staff Mastery has reached lvl 4
Mana Manipulation has reached lvl 5
LEVEL UP! You have increased your level by 1. You are now level 9. As a Void Human you get 6 points to apply to your Stats. As you are a Mage +1 INT +1 WIS are allocated. You currently have 4 undistributed points. You can distribute these from your status page. Continue to increase your level to follow the path of true power. Fight for the RIGHT to survive!
Neutral Magic has reached lvl 5
LEVEL UP! Your Familiar Thia has increased in level by 1. Thia is now level 7. As your Familiar she gets 5 points to apply to her Stats and 1 talent points. Thia currently has 10 undistributed SP and 3 undistributed TP. You can distribute these from your familiar's status page. Continue to increase your Familiar's level to follow the path of true power. Fight for the RIGHT to survive!
Bolden really wasn't kidding when he said Thia would level quickly to make up the difference in us. Another 2 levels for her, but with all the fighting with stronger enemies I got another too. First I distribute my SP since it is the easiest decision for me. One point goes to AGI, VIT, INT, and WIS. As for Thia, I start with her SP as well. I place 2 into VIT and AGI with the last 6 split 3 and 3 between INT and WIS. I did ask Thia about what she wanted and she still insists that I do it. When it came to the talents though, she spoke up about what she wanted and it was along what I had planned as well.
"Are you going to get the Steel Feathers talent for me now?"
"Do you want me to choose that one?" she hesitates for a minute as though she is unsure she should speak up. "I really want to know what you want Thia, this is more about you than me."
"Yes mas...I mean Vol. I think that having hard feathers that still let me fly would be amazing!" She is really excited about it and starts to hop around a little in anticipation.
"That is what we will do then. How about the other point goes into Mana Transfer then? That way we will be able to share if it is necessary." She nods her head so I place her 3 TP. Now with both points in Steel feathers it is maxed out and reads as such.
Steel Feathers 2/2: Feathers take on a metallic aspect in hardness and conductivity. Physical resistance +20% and lightning damage +10%
Looking at Thia I see she is ruffling her feathers to get used to the new feel. I reach over to feel them with my hands and it is the weirdest thing. They are still soft and flexible but not as flexible as before. I can tell from the touch, despite being soft, that they are incredibly hard as well. Like steel covered in silk. The appearance has changed slightly too. Now there is a metallic sheen to them, making her look like she is made out of gold.
"You are even prettier than before Thia." She preens a little as if to say of course. Even Azzaria is appreciating the new look, and nods to my comment. "Now Thia, are you able to see what was revealed in your talent tree?" She nods. "Then do you want the Knifewings upgrade?" Another nod from her. I asked this because it is the next one down the branch from Steel Feathers. It would sharpen the wing and tail feathers to allow her to cut with them at will and gives an active ability to throw them like throwing knives up to 30 feet. "OK, that will be the next upgrade for you. After that I think we should finish the Mana Transfer talent. And start on the speed branch for you. It looks like it has some unique things for your race." There is no talent below Mana Transfer, but a line does come from it. The line just passes the row and goes into the fog covering the unknown row below it.
"Yes, turning into lightning sounds fun!" I nod to her, and then turn back to Azzaria.
"Soon Thia will be all caught up to me."
She is still looking at Thia with a complicated expression I can't read. "Is there something the matter?" I ask her.
"No, but is she gold?"
This makes me chuckle a little. "No, her feathers are just as hard as metal and more conductive to help her magic. Though, the feathers may still be valuable like this."
"You should be careful with her then. I doubt anyone from Efftin will try to, but if you go to the human kingdom someone may try to take her to pluck and sell the feathers."
"If WE go to the human kingdom" I correct her. "We have telepathy, remember? Even if someone did take her I should be able to just dismiss her and re-summon her with me."
"That's right! I forgot she wasn't like a Beast Companion since you never dismiss her."
I look at her for a moment and say "It's a nice night out. I plan on sleeping under the stars since the tent gets so crowded. Would you like to lay on the other side of Timbre? She is really warm and I am sure she wouldn't mind."
She gets up and tilts her head to the side for a second, but says "OK" before getting her bedroll to lie beside Timbre. Thia is settling into the fur on top of Timbre when this conversation occurs. She stops for a second to look at me suspiciously before she sticks her head under her wing to sleep. I lay back and am so exhausted that I don't even remember my head touching down.
Chapter 10
The morning comes all too soon for me, but Azzaria is up and as chipper as ever. I groan and ask "How are you always so happy in the morning?" She just laughs at me and continues putting her things away. I get up and do the same. "If it continues like it has been the last few days then we are going to be very busy throughout the day. I am just worried that we might pass by the nest and waist time, since we are just guessing where to head."
Curiously, Azzaria asks me "what do you have in mind?"
"I would like to try and have Thia fly above the trees to see if she can spot anything that could be, or could lead us to, the nest. There is still a couple of hours that the ward will work so I would also like to see if I can see through Thia."
"Sounds good. I'll watch over you while you try" comes her reply.
I lean back against a rock and tell Thia what I want her to do. I get an acknowledgement from her through the bond and then she is off, soaring through a large gap in the tree branches to fly high above. Closing my eyes I focus on the spot that is where I feel Thia in my mind. A few minutes of trying to pull the images through the bond are unfruitful, but there is some kind of resistance. Another minute or two focused on the resistance I feel gives me an idea of what it is. It's a subconscious reaction preventing others from just entering or being drawn from her mind. I bet I have the same thing to her if she tried. Not wanting to force her to do anything she doesn't want to, and respecting her privacy, I send her a thought instead. "Thia, can you let me see through your eyes?" I get an affirmative from her and can tell that she is trying.
After a minute of her mental fumbling, I start getting what I was hoping for. It's like she figured out how to live stream her vision through our bond. With practice I'll probably be able to do other things with this keeping me informed For now it will just be too distracting to maintain while actively fighting, or doing anything for that matter. I would probably trip constantly just trying to walk through the forest. With my eyes closed and concentrating on the images coming through the bond it almost feels like we are doing everything together. It isn't just images that come through, I als
o feel the exhilaration she feels at her new freedom.
We are flying high over the forest with trees as far as we can see. There are a few breaks in the endless expanse of green from rivers and clearings. To the west a ridge can be seen breaching the top of the trees until it's a couple hundred feet tall, heading north. It is in the general direction that we have been moving toward so I have her head that way to see if there is anything around. The cliff is less than a day away from where we are now, and there is a river next to it. The cliff and the river create a strip of land that is about a half mile wide between the two going north and south. South of where Thia is flying over we see that the cliff gets lower until it meets up with the land next to it and the ridge disappears where the forest takes over again. There are a few trees on the strip of land between cliff and river but mostly it's grasslands from what we can see while we head north.
The strip of land is a few miles long and there are possessed wandering around. Up ahead to the north the strip of land ends when we find the source of the river. It's coming from a decent sized lake that is roughly triangular. The lake is formed from a waterfall that is coming over the cliff face. Up high like we are, I can see that there are two points to the lake where a river exits to the east and one that exits to the south forming the strip of land along the cliff face. The other thing that is very noticeable is that where the land ends at the lake is a little village of huts. We circle for a few minutes and then we see one goblin that has its hands and feet tied being drug out of one of the huts by a kobold and another goblin. They take the struggling goblin into a cave that is about 500 yards down the cliff side from where the lake is. Having seen enough, I pull out of my own mind and tell Thia to make her way back.
I open my eyes to Azzaria with an arrow drawn. At least it isn't pointed at me this time. "What's up?" I say quietly.
She takes quick glance my way to see that I'm aware again and gives me the bad news. "You were gone a long time and I think the ward faded. A little after that, three possessed started getting close and snooping around. I think they were sent to look for the patrol that we killed last night."
"I think I found the nest but Thia is still a little ways out. If we are going to take on three at once I want her to be here to help crowd control. Let's back off a little until she is back."
We head into the woods again in the direction opposite of the sounds Azzaria heard. We don't go far so that we don't run into any that have wandered in behind us. A little while later Thia is informing me of the group that is now in the small clearing where we set camp last night. Looks like a kobold archer, a kobold brawler, and a goblin thief are searching for signs of where we went. They aren't that smart though or they would have easily seen where we left. I let Azzaria and Timbre know the situation and Thia lands on my shoulder. "Here's the plan, I will start it out by attacking the Archer. When it draws all their attention I want Thia to surprise the Thief with screech so that it goes down and you and Azzaria can kill it at range. That leaves the brawler to you Timbre. Break a leg if you can surprise it; otherwise just keep it busy by attacking and getting it to chase you. Don't go far though; we need to be able to help you when we are free.
Plan set, we separate with Thia riding along with Azzaria as they stalk off to the left and Timbre disappearing to my right. "Guess it's good I'm the bait, since I'm as loud as a cat in heat compared to the rest of my group" I mumble under my breath. I'm not that bad but I do make some noise, a twig stepped on here, brushing up against a branch there. Azzaria and Timbre are dead silent as they move through the forest. In position at the edge of the clearing I wait a minute for my party members to get in position too. Now I won't say that it all went to hell from the very beginning, but it wasn't long into our fight. I hit the archer from the very start and everything was good. The archer let out its weird yowling screech and alerted the rest. Just like I planned, all the monsters turned there attention to me and charged except for the archer who shot at me. I got my Mana Barrier up in time to stop the first arrow, but when there should be two charging me there are three.
When the archer screamed, a lean goblin with a small sword came out of a bush to the side. I don't know what he was doing back there, be it a bathroom break or a nap, but it was unfortunate for us. "Stick to the plan" I yell for everyone. "But it will get to you" Azzaria calls back. "I'll be fine. I'll let you know if I need help." For Timbre and Thia, they take down their targets without an issue. I hit the archer again with another Mana Bolt to keep him focused on me. Then the extra enemy is on me.
Possessed Goblin Corpse, lvl 10, Swordsman. HP:100%
The thief is taking a beating from Thia and Azzaria and should be dead momentarily. Timbre was able to break the leg of the brawler and is now wearing it down by pouncing on it for a bite and scratch before jumping back and circling for another attack angle. My shield is taking a beating from both the swordsman and the archer so I am trying to dodge the best I can. A couple of arrows miss and I parry a horizontal slash from the swordsman. My parry threw the swordsman off balance and I take advantage by pointing the staff at the side of his neck and firing a cone shaped Mana Bolt into him at point blank range. Where I hit him and the fact that it was so close must have been worth extra damage because the swordsman clutches his throat and falls to the side. He isn't dead yet and still has 23% health left. If I hadn't been at level 9 I wouldn't have been able to deal so much damage, but I am, so I put another Mana Bolt into the swordsman's head to kill it.
Proud of myself for taking out one on my own, I turn to the archer just in time to take a arrow to the left shoulder. The cracked shield collapses and the arrow is able to penetrate my barrier. Thankfully most of the damage was absorbed by the barrier, only letting the arrow dig an inch or so into my shoulder. I fire a Mana Bolt that hits him in the chest and roll out of the way of another arrow. I dive and roll again to get behind an upraised root from a nearby tree for cover. Yanking the arrow out of my shoulder, which hurts, I peek out to fire another Mana Bolt. At the same time I see an arrow and an arc of electricity hit the kobold, with the blows signaling that Thia and Azzaria have finished their opponent too. The three combined attacks kill the archer so we all turn to Timbre. We are just in time to see her lunge in and take the throat of the downed brawler before shaking it and tearing out a large chunk. The beetle that comes out of the swordsman I kill myself while Thia does the usual and finishes off the rest.
Battle done, I help loot our fallen enemies and collapse on the soft grass. The shot from the arrow that got through my barrier didn't go very deep but it still caused almost 10 % damage to me. My max HP is at 180 and it hit me for 18 after being reduced by the barrier. I don't have any physical resistance that I know of so I guess this shouldn't surprise me. That uncertainty and the wound in my shoulder prompt me to ask Azzaria another question. "I know you are probably sick of answering all my questions, but how do resistances and regeneration rates work."
She comes over and takes a seat next to me, looking down on my sprawled out form before answering. "All resistances change due to the level between you and the enemy. We generally measure them with opponents of the same level for consistency. There was a time when very horrible experiments were done to determine some of these things, particularly in regards to resistances." I shiver just thinking about what some inquisitive torturer might do in the name of 'science' on this world. After a moment she continues "Magic resistances mainly come from classes. This means talents and as passive gains for having a class. A pyromancer, for example, would have a higher fire resistance. Mages all get some resistance to almost all magic types, I think. My parents taught me that physical resistance is your strength divided by your level times 5." Doing the math I calculate that I have about 6% physical resistance. "Poison resistance is the same but with vitality instead of strength." That is 10% for me right now. "Of course, like everything, there are items and talents that can affect these things."
"What about my health and mana regeneration? I am
wondering how long it will take for this to heal."
"Your health regenerates at the rate of your vitality plus one tenth of your strength per hour. Certain things can affect this like a broken bone or a concussion. For mana it's the same general calculation but with your wisdom being added to one tenth of your intelligence per minute. And that is for when you are not in battle, which reduces the rates by about half." That is consistent with the information I got from looking at my VIT and WIS descriptions my first day, but the reduction in combat was good to know. I do my calculations again and it is 19 HP per hour and a little over 34 MP per minute after the +10% from Mana Vacuum. That means that I should be back to top shape in less than an hour. "Thanks again Azzaria. From what you say then I should be healed completely in less than an hour. Since we will be fighting a lot today we should take the time for me to recover. Besides, I need to tell you what I saw through Thia."
Over the next hour we discussed the area I saw the little village at. Azzaria had never been or known anyone that has gone that far before, so she was unfamiliar with that area. She thought that the village was originally a goblin village since we have seen only those and kobolds, and kobolds live underground. "I bet the ones you saw dragging the goblin into the cave were possessed and they were taking it to be possessed by the beetles. That means that the nest and the queen will be somewhere in the cave." I nod my head "That is what I was thinking, but I have no idea how big the cave could be. And first we would have to get past the village that seems to be where a lot of possessed are staying. I have an idea about the village but it all depends on the subclass I end up with." Azzaria stands up and reaches down to help me from my spot on the ground. "Let's get you to level 10 then" she tells me while pulling me to my feet.
A Mage Prepared Page 13
