As the pack dispersed amongst the trees, Jicker was left running alongside Penumbra who lazily loped along, slowing himself down enough for the far shorter gremlin to keep up.

“You know,” Jicker huffed as he ran, “if you have somewhere to be, we could get there faster if you gave me a lift.”

The silhouwolf stopped suddenly as he said so, causing Jicker to almost trip over as he stumbled to a halt. Giving out a short howl, Penumbra waited patiently until another wolf appeared from amongst the trees. While not as big as the alpha himself, this wolf was still considerably larger than the average, making him wonder what had caused it. Looking between them, this newcomer huffed in resignation and lay down, waiting.

“Wait seriously? I was kidding but, sure why not.” Jicker said as he carefully approached the animal. He’d ridden a number of different mounts in his time from horses and camels, to birds and lizards, but a wolf was a new one. He was also confident that any attempt to put a saddle on would result with his mauled remains being left to rot under a tree.

Grabbing a fist full of fur, he pulled himself up onto the animal, realising that it was smaller than he expected. With both the shadows and its long hair hiding its form, the edges of the silhouwolf weren’t even close to where he expected, causing him to sink deeply into its fur. Holding on tightly as the silhouwolf rose to its feet and shook itself slightly; Jicker did his best to get comfortable. Some kind of communication passed between the two and they began to race through the forest, not a sound coming from either of them as the trees whipped by.

Having a moment to rest and collect his thoughts, he took the time to go through the various messages that had come up during the attack on the Seekers. The majority of it was experience from the wolves’ kills and what he’d gotten from being in a party with Oda as he’d carved through the campsite. The total brought him up to level twenty six, a decent increase considering he hadn’t done much himself. The others were death notices; messages from some of the players they’d killed that declared vengeance on whoever killed them. They didn’t actually do anything, but they made a nice dramatic touch for some people.

Assigning his new stats, Jicker looked at his character sheet, happy enough with how he was coming along.

Name:

Jicker

Level:

26

Race:

Gremlin

Class:

Dark Chemist

Hp:

360

Mp:

520

Stamina:

110

Statistics

Equipped weapons

Damage:

Equipped Armour

Defence:

Blowgun

2-3

Cloudy Cats Happy Coat!

13

Core Statistics

Other Statistics

Strength:

11

Enigma:

4

Dexterity:

45

Evolution:

6

Constitution:

11

Intelligence:

80

Wisdom:

27

Resistances:

Poison:

50%

Cold:

5

Shock:

5

Disease:

50%

Fire:

5

Skills

Mother of Invention - Level 2

Apothecary - Level 3

Handle Animal - Level 6

Anatomy - Level 1

Herbalism - Level 2

Weapon Skill - Blowgun - Level 1

Stealth - Level 1

Achievements

Grand Genocide

Kill over 20 million sentients within 1 hour

Unique-Effect:

30% damage and ability effectiveness against sentients

Force of Change

Destroy and create over 1000 dungeons

Unique-Effect:

Creating or altering areas or creatures will be 100% more effective

World Shaper

Permanently alter the geography of the world on a grand scale

Level-Max-Effect:

Effect: Permanent effects will be 100% more effective

King Killer

Kill 50 leaders of states, royal or other.

Level-Max-Effect:

Boss and Leader resistances reduced by 60%

“So, where are we going anyway?” he asked after several minutes, only to be greeted with silence. “Right, you can’t tell me, obviously. But are we far from where we’re headed? ... Why am I still asking questions?”

The rest of the trip was made in silence, Jicker staring blankly ahead into the darkness as they travelled forwards. Occasionally Penumbra would make noises to passing wolves, sending them racing off in other directions to complete whatever order he’d given them. Whether it was his increased status, or that he was the packs alpha, no one else seemed to ever oppose the larger wolf.

Eventually they slowed outside of a large cavern, the moonlight letting Jicker see the surrounding wolves clearly for the first time. Pausing, he realised he shouldn’t be able to see that much moonlight this deep in the forest and had a better look around. The trees above them, normally a dense canopy, were almost completely leafless, the bark having become a sickly grey. The undergrowth was no better, having become dry and brittle, leaving the area as an empty space devoid of any life other than the wolves themselves.

“What happened here?” Jicker asked quietly to himself. As the wolf he was riding lowered itself down, he dismounted and went to have a closer look at one of the nearby trees. Touching it, the bark broke away at the slightest pressure, leaving little more than grey ash on his fingers.

“Burned? No...It’s not just dry, it’s dead. Very, very dead. Is this what you wanted me to see?” he asked, turning back to the wolves, but their attention wasn’t on him. Instead they were all still as they looked into the cavern, as a figure slowly came into view.

It was a wolf, Jicker could tell that much, but in its current state he wasn’t sure how it was still alive. Most of its fur had fallen out; its exposed skin now covered with gaping and oozing sores. Its ribs were visible on its sides, all fat and muscle having been eaten away by whatever was wrong with it. As it slowly shuffled forwards towards them, the rest of the pack moved back, unwilling to go near the sickly creature, leaving Jicker and the alpha to deal with it alone. It whined softly in pain, its lungs apparently as damaged as the rest of the animal.

“Okay I think I see why you brought me over, but this is outside of my range. I don’t know what you expect me to...” he trailed off as a dozen more wolves left the cave, each in a similar condition. One walked over to them, stumbling as its legs struggled to support it, its eyes almost shut from sores on its face. Grabbing a plate from his pack, he poured out a dose of anaesthetic for it, watching as it pulled itself over and drank as fast as it could, apparently extremely thirsty. Others began to approach, and started snuffling around the plate that he refilled as much as he could. Looking at them while they drank, he used what little skill he had with anatomy to try and see what was wrong, but all he could tell was that they were extremely sick, and were dying.

Jicker began pacing, looking to the wolves occasionally while he racked his brains. Normally a bunch of sick animals wouldn’t be his problem, but the silhouwolves had helped him, so he owed them this much.

“Pen,” he said, going over to the alpha, “when they got sick, did they come here? Or is this where they got sick?”

For a moment it didn’t move, its eyes locked on the sickly wolves, before turning and flicking its head towards the cave.

“We’re going to need to work on communication, but I take it they were from here,” he said. Walking around, he looked for any sign of what could be causing the wolves to be sick, something they’d eaten or touched. But the entire area was dead, so there was nothing around that could have affected them...

“Unless it was the same thing,” he said as he face palmed at his own stupidity. Seeing the clearing properly for the first time, he realised it was almost perfectly circular with the cavern sitting almost dead in the centre. Whatever was causing the problem was likely inside the cave itself, so he went in, hoping his poison resistance would be enough to hold off whatever this was.

The cavern was cold inside as he made his way down, the ground falling away as he went deeper inside. As the light faded and he headed further in, he began to notice the smell. Not needing to worry about being detected, Jicker withdrew a torch of his pack and lit it, to get a better view of what the cave contained.

Lying around cave were wolves, in even worse states than the ones that had come out to see them when they’d approached. They shifted as the light hit them but stayed where they lay some looking like they couldn’t move if they tried, others well past moving altogether. Careful stepping past the sick, Jicker searched for something that could help him identify what had caused this outbreak. The cave was barren however, even more so than the clearing had become, not even a scrap of moss to give some idea of what had caused this.

Heading back out, he went to Penumbra, who seemed to be communicating with the sick. On his approach, the alpha flicked its head towards him, and one of the dying wolves approached him, in a manner that he recognised.

“Pen, I don’t mind changing them but I'm pretty sure it won’t cure whatever this,” he said to the alpha, which in turn didn’t move a muscle, staring at the gremlin that eventually sighed and looked away. “Fine, I’ll try but no promises.”

Activating the conversion ability on the wolves was an interesting experience, their fur rapidly regrowing over their disfigured bodies. But while they changed to silhouwolves, their movements were still that of people on their last legs. But it gave them a better chance than they’d had before.

“Pen, they’re stronger than they were before, but they’re still dying, all this has just bought them some time. But if we can keep them alive long enough, maybe they can fight this off themselves. Right now they need food and water, and while I have a little water with me, it’s not going to last very long. Can you get some food for them?” Jicker asked.

Penumbra cocked his head for a moment then let out a cry. Before its echoes had died away, a pair of wolves emerged from the trees, dragging a still flailing deer into the clearing. Some of the healthy animals attempted to approach it, but with nothing more than a glance the alpha cowed them in to retreating, leaving it for the ones that needed it.

“Well, that will help for now, but I still need to find the source of the problem. There are some inside the cave that can’t walk; can you help get them out while I look around?”

Going back inside, Jicker watched as the Silhouwolves helped their new pack mates to walk, supporting them as they left the cave, leaving him to sit alone amongst the dead. Looking around for an answer, he quickly realised that all of his medical knowledge, from both his time as Maser and Jicker, quickly added up to nothing.

“I don't know what I’m supposed to do,” he told himself quietly. He started pacing around in the empty cave, occasionally pausing to poke and prod at one of the deceased wolves. But after half an hour of this, he realised he had no idea what he was trying to do, and simply sat in silence, thinking.

But it wasn’t silent, he realised after a few moments. Between his heartbeat that seemed to be thundering in his ears and occasional sound that leaked in from the wolves outside, there was a noise. It wasn’t loud, and if anything else had been in the cave with him he wouldn’t have noticed it, but it was there, a faint murmuring from the back of the cave.

Leaping up, he moved towards the source, staying as quietly as he could, not willing to risk losing it. Pressing his ear to the walls, he traced it to a point on the floor, a subtle sound coming through from below. Grabbing his pick from his pack, he began to hack away at the stone below him, trying to get at whatever was making the noise. But in doing so, he broke the first rule of mining: never dig straight down.

As the ground broke away beneath him, his first reaction was to try and grab on to the edge, but his attention was distracted by a message from the game as he broke through.

Warning: You are currently being affected by a severe magical poisoning. While exposed to the source you will take 3 mana and stamina damage per second. When stamina and mana reach 0 you will begin to take 1 damage per 5 seconds.

Looking around at his surroundings, he realised especially the large black crystal floating in the centre of the chamber. Several clocked figures surrounded him.

“Who dares enter the halls of...” one began. “Hang on; haven’t I seen you down here before?”

~~~~~~

Apparently the cave had been directly above a section of the Rising Moon guild hall, which made Jicker wonder just how expansive it really was. The problem, it seemed, was which part of the guild it was.

“Seriously dude, you can’t just make new entrances,” a human wearing the guild robes said. “We’ve got rules and stuff about who and how people come in.”

“I came here once before,” Jicker began, ignoring what they were saying as he studied the node. “The earth node in Ardenvale gave off a heap of energy; this one should be doing the same. So why aren’t you all being affected by it?”

“Personal shields when we’ve got to work with it, and we’ve put down a circle to contain it. But come on man we need to seal up that hole you made before-”

“Did you cover every direction?” he asked, trying to confirm his suspicions.

“What? Of course we did, we’re not idiots. Full barriers on all sides, circle on the floor. Now listen to me and-”

“The roof?”

“-fix the hole you made or...What?”

“Did you cover the roof?” he said slowly.

“Well,” the figure looked to the others in the room, who just shrugged. “No. What would be the point? Our guild stops here.”

“Because, that means you didn’t contain all of the energy it was releasing, you just channelled it all straight up.”

“Same thing, it’s all out of the guild so its fine.”

“Oh sure, it’s fine. Unless you consider the fact that everything within a hundred yards of this thing on the surface is dead or dying, including the wolf pack that was living in the cave attached to this place.”

The person chuckled. “We’re about to overthrow a city and become its rulers. We do that and we’ll own this whole area outright! Who cares what happens to a bunch of mangy mutts?”

Jicker was about to respond when a growl filled the room, everyone turning to look at the opening in the roof. Penumbra had apparently decided it had been too long since he’d heard anything, and after coming in to find him, didn’t look happy with what he’d heard.

“Apparently,” Jicker said as the alpha flowed into the room, taking up most of it. “He does, and I’m sure he’ll be happy to hear all of your reasons why his pack doesn’t matter.”

“Call off your pet, or I’ll be forced to kill it,” one of the guild members said.

“He’s no one’s pet, and while I might be able to reason with him, it’s hard to argue when I agree with him.”

“I'm a level sixty seven necromancer! Do you really think I'm afraid of some animal?”

“Your words say you’re not, but the way you’re trying to keep the node between you and him says otherwise. A few hours ago I saw these wolves take out dozens of people around your level without breaking a sweat, and they had places to run. What do you think your chances really are?”

“No matter who would win, I’d rather you didn’t fight at all.” Came a voice from down the hall way.

The room turned again, now looking at Mary as she walked into the room, studying its occupants.

“Now, I initially came here to see what had triggered my alarms and broken through the guild walls, but it looks like this has become something else. Octivian,” she said snapping her fingers and point to another person in the room, an elf who had been trying to stay out of it. “Give me a report on what happened here.”

“Well,” Octivian began, licking their lips as their eyes darted around. “We were beginning to adjust the runes and barriers on the node like Arcus told us too. Then this guy, the gremlin, broke through the ceiling above it and started asking about our shields. Then Harrison made a comment about the wolves and then... that came in.”

“I see. Harrison, is that true? Did you say something to cause this situation?”

“I didn’t say anything!” they cried. “I just said that our assault is more important than some mangy-AAAH!”

The robed figure collapsed against the wall in fear as Penumbra leapt across the room, jaws aimed at the human’s throat. But luckily for him the wolf never made it across, instead stuck floating in the air several inches from his target, jaws snapping ineffectually.

“Jicker, this is the pack leader isn’t it? And its name was...Penumbra”? Mary said, her arm outstretched towards the wolf. Jicker nodded in shock. He wouldn’t have been able to react to the sudden lunge at all, let alone cast a spell, and certainly not one that could stop half a tonne of angry wolf dead in the air and hold it effortlessly. He mentally promised himself never to go up against Mary if he could avoid it.

“Now then,” she continued, as she moved her hand spinning the alpha gently until they were face to face. “You’re the leader of your pack, and I’m told you understand our speech well enough, so listen up. You’re responsible for your pack, and they’ve apparently been hurt badly and now insulted by Harrison here, so I understand your reaction. In fact, in another place and time, I’d applaud it. But these people are my guild, my pack, so I am in control of them. And while we’re in my hall you are not going to interrupt me and you’re not going to challenge my authority! Understood?”

The two stared at each other, the others in the room refusing to even breathe in case they break the silence. One was a small dark elf, the other a massive black wolf, but it was clear who was more powerful. After what seemed like an age Penumbra broke eye contact and turned away, at which Mary nodded and lowered him back to the floor.

“Right then, and for what it’s worth I'm sorry your people have suffered. Now I heard a few things from the hall as I came up. Harrison, you and Octivian were given the job of sealing up the node until we needed it. Did you cover the roof?”

“...No.”

“And why didn’t you?”

“Because putting a seal on the roof would have been hard, and it wasn’t necessary! Even if there were some...complications, it still did the job, it was still hidden!” he said indignantly.

“So you went and had a look to make sure there were no visible signs of it? Like you were told to?”

That made the man hesitate. “I... It’s in the middle of the woods! Who’s going to go out and compare magical signs out there for no reason?”

“No reason...” she said, deep in thought as she tapped her chin. “Jicker, you found it, how’d you to know to look for its magical signature?”

“What signature? I found the damn thing because everything’s dead in a massive circle around it. How could I not notice it?” Jicker said, raising an eyebrow.

Mary frowned and launched herself up through the tunnel he’d cared in the roof. For a moment they wondered if they’d been supposed to follow her, when her shout echoed back down the tunnel.

“HARRISON!” she sped back down and grabbed the man by the collar lifting him up off the ground. “You were told to make sure no one would find or look for the node! There’s a damn football field up there of dead earth that would catch the attention of the dumbest adventurer! The only reason I can think of that no one has spotted it sooner, is that a certain group of ‘mangy animals’ has been attacking pretty much anyone who goes this far into the woods. Now, can you give me a single good reason not to literally throw you to the wolves?” she snarled at him.

“We...need everyone for the attack?” he said, half pleading.

She held him for a few more seconds before grunting and throwing back down. “You’re right. We need everyone we can get for the attack. Even with all our advantages, taking a city is gonna be rough. So you get to avoid becoming a chew toy this time, but you’re still on my shit list. Octivian, since this idiot apparently can’t be trusted, put a barrier on the top of the damn thing before you continue. Jicker, Penumbra, walk with me.”

They began to head down the hall, the wolf pausing to growl at the man who was still frozen in fear on the ground. As they moved further along, Mary turned to them.

“I’m...sorry about that. Any other time I’d let you get revenge for that level of incompetence, but right now I don't have the time to find a replacement for him. Is there anything I can do to help?”

Jicker turned to Penumbra and back. “My best guess is that if the node is closed off, and they get some distance from it, they’ll be able to recover. After that they just need food and rest, though a bit of healing wouldn’t hurt.”

She nodded. “That we can do, at least for now. We aren’t the best when it comes to healing magic but I’ll send some of our better people with some food and water out for a while, but then they’re going to need come back to recharge. I don't know if you remember but we’ve got a pretty busy day coming up soon.”

“Heh, yeah I remember. Thanks for this Mary,” he said, beginning to turn away from her when she continued speaking.

“Are you sure you remember? Because I just received a message saying that you and Oda were being busy somewhere else recently. You wouldn’t have been causing problems for us would you?”

“Yeah, you see,” he said, not knowing what to say. “We didn’t mean to start anything, but the situation kind of got away from us and-”

“Don't say anything else!”

They all looked to see Oda sprinting towards them, pushing past people in his way to get them. Stopping in front of them, the assassin was bent over trying to catch his breath, leaning on Penumbra who seemed too confused by the man to be bothered by it.

“What did you say?” he asked after he’d managed to stand up properly.

“I was just about to say that-”

“Ah! Don't say anything, don't even think anything loudly, just leave that part to me. She doesn’t actually know anything, she just doesn’t trust me so she does this to anyone I work with.”

“And by the way you’re telling him to be quiet, I’m right, again. What did you do?”

“We... look, I’ll explain later, but what’s going on here? Why’s big and fluffy inside the base?”

As they explained what Jicker had found, Oda’s expression began to turn dark.

“I’m surprised you seem to care Oda,” Mary said, looking at his expression. “It’s not like you to care about this sort of thing.”

“Normally, said things haven’t just helped to save my ass from getting killed. I’ll explain properly later, but those things are tough, smart and vicious.”

“Really? You needed saving? Jeez you must have screwed up worse than I thought... however you have given me an idea. Jicker do you think you could get them to help with the siege? Not the attack itself, since they’re ambush predators, but maybe patrolling to keep runners and messengers at bay? Like I said we need everyone we can get.”

Jicker shrugged. “Don't look at me, I just made them. Penumbra is the one who calls the shots.”

She looked down at the wolf that was lying on the floor, having gotten bored of the conversation.

“Well? What do you think?” she asked the animal.

Penumbra raised his head and cocked it slightly, apparently considering it, but then turned back towards the node and growled deeply, the sound echoing throughout the halls.

“Right, you’re not exactly happy with us after Harrisons screw up. While I hope you understand it was an accident, and that guild didn’t know what he’d done, I don't know what we can give you to apologise for it.”

“You could just give them Harrison." Oda suggested as he played with a knife he’d pulled from somewhere.

“I can’t just hand over one of our people to be killed before a massive battle, that’s crazy!” she exclaimed.

“Well, do it afterwards then. He’ll respawn and it’s his fault anyway, so he should pay for it.”

“He’d never agree to that.”

“You don't need to do anything. Just refuse to follow up on it when he ends up a snack to some vengeful hunters. I doubt that the silhouwolves need any help to get him when he leaves the base, and if he ends up too scared to leave, well... I owe them a favour or two.”

Penumbra had been following the conversation, and by the end was wagging his tail, looking for all the world like a big friendly dog. He gave a short, happy bark and stood up to shake himself.

“I guess the terms are accepted. I’ll send Oda or Jicker to find you if I need to tell you anything in particular, but I think you understand well enough. If that’s everything I’ll get back to arranging supplies for the patients up top.”

Penumbra went to head back outside then paused and began to run further into the building. The other three looked at each other for a second then hurried after the animal, no one having any idea what it was doing. They came out into one of the common rooms, largely empty at the moment but there were still a few people who leapt up as they saw the wolf enter the room.

Looking around, Penumbra approached a section of wall and gave a strange call that seemed far deeper than a wolf should be able to sound. The stone work in front of him began to darken and ripple, fragments of shadows breaking off of surrounding objects and pooling in the centre. The wall quickly became a shifting wall of darkness that rippled oddly, tendrils of inky shadow stretching away from the wall and twisting in chaotic patterns.

Giving a second, more normal howl, the wolf moved away from its work and waited looking into the darkness. It didn’t have to wait long, as other silhouwolves began to walk out from the shadowy surface. Behind them they dragged bodies, the remains of the Seekers that they’d taken in the battle, some mostly intact, others...less so. A few quickly turned to dozens as more and more bodies were dragged into the growing pile in the middle of the room, sending some bystanders into a panic.

Once all the bodies had been deposited, at least those they planned to return, the wolves went back into the darkness, Penumbra included. As soon as the last wolf stepped through, the alpha followed them, the darkness rapidly changing back to normal shadows that dissipated in the light of the room’s torches. It was as if they had never been there, yet the pile of dead adventurers in the centre of the room said otherwise.

“He can do that?” Mary asked quietly after a few minutes, breaking the silence that had formed.

“Yeah, I guess he can.”