(Y6, October 3rd-29th)

So far, the wilderness between Gamma and the group’s ultimate destination was relatively peaceful. Relative in the sense that you got a few packs of critters in the 20-25 rank range.

“I wonder why this is unexplored? It looks easy and it's next to the normal map,” said Quandocor.

Vantegaard thought for a while, then formulated his hypothesis.

“Maybe because there’s still a lot to explore? I mean, not everyone goes to explore stuff. A lot of Gaters are happy to spend their lowbie year going around well-known spots where they can get guides.”

“Do they?”

“Apparently, the Cartographers Guild makes a lot of money selling guides. So I’m not surprised if many go where they have step-by-step guides. Remember Hilltop Samms?”

“Yea, tent city central. Everyone coming to hunt fire lizards.”

“There’s more and more Silvergates found, and more and more newbies. They arrive faster than you get new guides and locales up.”

“That still doesn’t explain why nobody went this way?”

Birkathane reached the duo, having finished conferring with the Valkyries at the front.

“Most places are explored around a spawn location. People started spawning at a place, then explored around until they need a couple of days max for the trip. Like Fanduk.”

Quandocor realized the truth of that.

“We always did a day-out, day-back kind of exploration.”

“Lots of people do it that way. And the reason the three sectors are sectors is simply that there were a handful of places next to each other.”

“Maybe if there are a couple more newbie locations that start filling up not too far from Fanduk, it will become the core of a new sector?”

“That’s if it happens, Van. Otherwise, it will be just a place in the middle of nowhere.”

“So, Birkathane told me about your leyline thing,” asked Randgridda.

“Try not to talk about it too much yet,” said Vantegaard. “Maybe we don’t need the Earthen Brethren too much now, but I did promise them to keep quiet on this for a while. At least until the reformulate a new policy about leylines.”

“Yea. But while none of us here can use your trick, we do have a couple of geomancers among the Valkyries, and they can use that stuff.”

“It’s just about finding leylines. I know there’s none at Valhalla Keep, but you probably know of some around. I can help you track them, someday after all this is finished.”

“Yea. There’s a bunch of minor leylines under Mt. Talbor…”

“I know, Birka and I used those to stock up on power when we left town.”

“That fast? How, Meditations. Right,” realized Randgridda.

“Yea. So, anyway, my Sense the Leylines make it slightly easier to find out leylines and knots. By now, I can tell you everything useful within a day’s walk. Well not all of the minor leylines, but there’s enough of those around.”

“And just being on a leyline gives you a specific type of skill.”

“A leyline or an intersection of multiple of the same type,” elaborated Vantegaard.

“The more, the better.”

“And that’s what makes those kinds of… urban legends about skills and stuff.”

“Brika mentioned the Stones of Tarquar.”

“That’s a good example. And probably Fanduk as well now,” she added, inserting herself in the conversation.

“Yea. The thing with larger knots is that apparently, it triggers more than just geomantic skills. You get Aether ones, which doesn’t surprise me since Aether seems to be more… intrinsic to magical stuff than the rest. I had one in Fanduk, the Earthen Brethren have confirmed one at their knot, and the rumors about Tarquar make me 99% sure there’s one there.”

“So, it’s not just geomantic. All kinds of skills can be gotten at the right places,” said Randgridda.

“Yes. There’s…”

“Odin’s mead!” screamed Birkathane.

They all looked at her with curiosity about the outburst.

“No, no. The Druidic Tradition. The one you see in some guidebooks. As a druid, you are supposed to meditate and get familiar with your skills at Tree Rings because they give a very big boost of regeneration, even if you don’t get much XP. And half the books say that doing that helps you get your next skill. Sometimes, you get a druidic skill at the ring, even if you’re a veteran and the lottery never gives you any useful shit. Other times, you get nothing. Everyone thinks it’s because you’re casting more different druid skills than in combat, and that makes you more likely to roll a new skill.”

She added, “I bet it’s exactly the same mechanic as your Knot/Aetheric one. There are common specific skills attached to Tree Rings, and if you run the lottery there, and you don’t have the skill, bang it’s automatic.”

Quandocor had just joined the group and tut-tutted the druidess.

“Aren’t you going too fast Birka? I mean, it’s still even possible that you simply got lucky. I mean, tier 5 skills are supposed to be common, right?”

Vantegaard added “Well, there are rare tier 5 skills, but yea. There are even less tier 5 skills than tier 4, but most people have the same ones.”

Quandocor summarized, “So you’re implying that there might be 3 hidden mechanics that help you get skills for magic.”

“It’s a possibility.”

“Why would it stop at 3? What about the rest of the magic? What about other combat skills. Or even crafting skills?”

Both Birkathane and Vantegaard didn’t have any ready answer to that.

“You know… next Recess, we really need to research that. Are there weird traditions about how you're more likely to get skills if you do specific stuff or go specific places?”

Randgridda added, “and I want in on your thing. I mean, I’m not a geomancer, but I have two druid skills. If you can tell me where to get some more…”

Four days in, they spotted a clump of trees.

“Yes. That’s the kind of grove you see on the guides. And I can feel it, my Lifeforce regeneration has shot up. The trees of this circle here are special and count a lot for the regen, compared to normal trees.”

Birkathane added, “It even looks like there’s a leyline under it. A standard, by the bonus. Van?”

Warning! A Standard Leyline overwhelms and replaces your normal skill selection with an ambiguous Tier 4 Earth Magic skill. Resolve the leyline interference to prevent the reoccurrence of this difficulty. Other leyline configurations may still cause further problems.

Warning! The energies fed into this grove overwhelms and replaces your normal skill selection with the Ironbark Skin skill. Cleanse the grove or acquire a substitute skill to prevent the reoccurrence of this difficulty.

“Birka. How many points do you have banked… and more importantly… do you have the Ironbark Skin? I don’t think so, right?”

“No, I don’t… Do you see it on the Interface? You have access to the druid skill?”

“I think my meditation counts for every type of magic, even those I do not have the vital active. I have… well, I have only points for one. As usual. I’m going to pick the geomantic skill, but…”

“I also have only one. So… random? Either the druid or the earth skill.”

She started to mimic a drumroll.

Ironbark Skin

Tier 3 Strength

Action

A bark is like a skin, and a skin is like a bark. Just for different beings.

Temporarily reduces any physical damage on yourself and a friendly target. Magical sources of damage are unaffected.

Maximum target: 1 (until skill 100)

Duration: 18s

Lifeforce cost: 91

Reduction: 39% physical damage

Skill level 9 (base 1)

Advancement: 0%

“I do remember that one. It’s one of the best support for groups among druids.”

She laughed, adding, “The ones who solo hate it since they can’t use it without someone else around.”

She turned immediately serious.

“Another notch in the theory that every build has some mechanic to pick skills.”

Randgridda looked slightly miffed.

“Fuck. I’m 2 points short to be able to run the lottery again. We should have picked a couple of fights on the way. This trip is too peaceful!”

Birka hugged her boss.

“Don’t worry, there’s a list of groves on the Lifepond site. We’ll see which ones are ok, and I’ll drag Van around to check if they do have new skills.”

“Hey!”

Both women laughed evilly.

Vantegaard contemplated his own skill selection.

Standard Leyline skills

Weightless. Tier 4 Reflexes. It is extraordinary what one can achieve when you do not worry about your mass.

Airbender. Tier 4 Dexterity. The flow of the combat carries you.

Destructive Analysis. Tier 4 Perception. Discover your enemy’s physical strengths. Then crush them.

“I should have printed another copy of Honest John’s to replace the one at Hilltop Samms.”

“You’re lazy. If you haven’t a guide to refer to, you’re paralyzed.”

Quandocor asked, “What skills does your Interface offer you?”

“One… no, two self-buffs. And a debuff.”

“I’m prejudiced as a necromancer, but debuffs are the best. Why try to be better than your enemy if you can make him worse instead.”

“Gee. Thanks, Quan. Next, you’ll try to make me necromancer lite.”

“No, but if we can figure out which mechanism works for necromancy, then you can try your hand at it, for real. And wizardry. And rituals. And arcane.”

Vantegaard realized what Quandocor was telling him.

“It would… change the definition of an Archmage.”

“A real Archmage could be one that has all eight school of magic.”

“That… would be horrible on points. I mean… lets’ say 10 skills time 8 schools…”

“You’re right… we’re talking something like three thousand of points to unlock skills,” calculated Birkathane.

“It’s doable. It just takes years and years,” shrugged Quandocor.

“And that’s if you haven’t used skill stones,” countered Vantegaard.

“Whoops.”

“Yes. Whoops indeed.”

“Anyway, you know what? We’re not too far from AS, and the grove is a perfect spot for Recess.”

“Won’t give me new points,” grumbled Randgridda. Birkathane ignored the grumpy woman.

“Got everyone’s coordinates. Six days Recess and we go back in. Sticks?”

“Good. Let’s spread and start the timer.”

Henry contemplated his phone.

“Something’s up?” asked Erika, while she was opening the blinds on the farm, letting the morning sun in.

“Messages.”

“From your FBI?”

“Yes, from the boss. Started with ‘where you’, going ‘what have you done?’ and escalating to ‘call me, we can talk about this’.”

“So, he found out.”

“He was bound to. My vacations ended over two weeks ago, and I was supposed to attend psych sessions… you know, for the Pyramid.”

“So he knows about the Pyramid.”

“And thinks it’s all fake stuff. You know, like Van’s mumbling about all kind of explanations on Northworld.”

“Jasper.”

“Uh?”

“Name’s Jasper on this side. Which reminds me…”

She picked her phone from the table and moved to the side, leaving Henry to try to figure out how to reply.

In the end, he didn’t. Sammael had been told everything. What he wanted to believe or not was up to him. If he didn’t want to deal with the Five Gaters, then he wouldn’t.

He then moved to where she had shown him the kitchen. Time to see he could make some coffee up to her standards. They would probably need some, as their internal clocks were on the late afternoon, while it was morning in Sweden. Six days of Recess.

Or maybe they should try to stay in Northworld time. Who knows.

Siri Nordquist waved at the two incoming people from her table. At mid-Recess, Erika had gotten her call and dragged her guest to one of the usual Valkyrie haunts. The rest of the Valkyries were no longer on the same recess schedule for the moment, but there was no reason not to meet while on vacation from the Northworld trek.

“So, how you’re doing so far?” asked Greta ‘Tarenasala’ Forsman.

“Good. A bit weird, since I’ve been here for a month, but I haven’t seen anything of Sweden except the trip to Erika’s farm.”

“Commuting between worlds is weird,” said Wilma ‘Falunjul’ Lindelhöf.

“Any news from Valhalla Keep?” asked Henry.

Siri frowned.

“Hlonhyldde is better now. Potions aren’t supposed to leave permanent traces, but the memories don’t go. They used a dozen different things on her. She nearly wishes they’d have used a charm potion or something similar. At least those are not supposed to burn your insides.”

“So much for ‘don’t worry about it’,” said Erika.

The waiter arrived at that moment with five empty glasses and a huge bottle of that Brännvin. Henry hadn’t seen anyone order, and then realized it was probably automatic.

Earthside, his stamina wasn’t going to regenerate. Thankfully, his liver would once he was back on Northworld.

Randgridda had been back first. While the rest of the party started to spawn, she was checking the surroundings and tracks. Birkathane and Quandocor spawned simultaneously at their separate locations, followed quickly by the rest.

Vantegaard noticed her looking all around.

“Anything wrong?”

“Weird prints. Like something got interested in our spawn location, but didn’t stay.”

Quandocor looked at the tracks she was examining.

“City born and bred here. The only time I was in the wilds before Northworld was on vacation with the parents, and that was always civilized.”

“Nah, the tracks look all interrupted.”

Tarenasala asked “Like it was not always on the ground? A drake?”

“Are any of those around?” worried Birkathane.

“What’s a drake? Like a real dragon, or something else?”

“More like a dragonling. They’re supposed to be found in the wilds south of Beta… we’re probably in their ranges now. They’re rare and nobody knows exactly how they work. They come in all kinds of sizes from a half-meter wingspan to a nine-meter one. All three wing pairs. There are two colors, the males are Black Drakes, while the female ones are Silver Drakes,” elaborated Tarenasala.

“Do they breathe fire?” asked Quandocor.

“No, but I’ve read that they spit poison,” she replied.

She added, “They’re hell to fight anyway, you need mages for that…”

“And you have three archmages ready for it,” remarked Vantegaard.

“True. Nevertheless, I’d rather avoid getting spit on from above,” said Randgridda.

“Let’s move.”

Two-third of the next Recess session in, the only difficulty they’d faced so far was a gorge, reminiscent of the one near Fanduk. While Birkathane could cross it easily anywhere with her Surface Climb, the rest of them had to find a place to cross.

They’d finally managed to spot a useable trail going down on the other side and had to trek half a day to find one on their side. Overall, the detour did only cost them two days, but they were slowly getting to their estimated destination.

Of course, after the gorge, the plains started to be populated by Equus Esuriens, which Randgridda called ‘the vermin of Northworld’. But even a half-dozen pack was not a threat to the group.

“You know, Lay of the Land had this small dungeon to the north for a while now, but now, I have something out in our direction.”

“Something?” asked Vantegaard.

“Yes. Like a location, except I get only items. No critters, no Gaters.”

“Maybe your sense doesn’t get aliens? Or they’re too high for you, like the tower in Fanduk.”

“Where’s this location?” asked Birkathane.

Quandocor pointed out. In the distance, there were some tents. It looked like a camp in the plain.