Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.

Pre-Fall quote

The trip felt a bit strange to Johanna. The addition of two people to what was normally an expedition between four people who knew each other for years, if not since childhood, changed the dynamics of things a bit.

The one thing that Petra had not anticipated among scavenger tasks was the watch duty. Mark had been completely unsurprised – his job as a guard had prepared him for patrols out from Zahl, and whenever one of those had to stay in the outdoors at night, rather than sleep in a farm hub, you kept watch.

The advantage of having two more people was that they didn’t need to all stand watch every night. The duty could be spread a bit. Even if Petra was not used to that particular version of staying up late without having customers around.

“Never left Zahl before, actually,” she had confessed as they left the first camp.

“Really?” Johanna said.

“Born there, and I never needed to leave.”

“That sounds weird. Grew up on a farm. So, between working in the fields, and going to Valetta – our local city – with dad to sell produce… It’s a bit hard to imagine never leaving home for twenty years.”

Then Johanna laughed, prompting a surprised look from Petra.

“No, just thinking that I’ve not just left home, but my home State altogether.”

“And we’re heading even further, you mean,” Petra replied.

“Some stories of the Ancients say they didn’t think much of crossing the continent in hours. Flying over it, even.”

“Now that would help.”

“It would. By the way, I’ve looked at the Mage’s list and I think I found what looks like Tremor.”

“I’ve not tried to do it. If I even know how to do it.”

“Believe me, it becomes easier with practice. Even for new spells.”

“New spells?”

“Well, we… you only had enough of a book to give you three. I have five, we could give four to Catherine, so there is no reason why you can’t have more.”

“When I stop and start thinking about it, it feels like insanity,” Petra confessed.

“Wait until you try Tremor. I’m sure it’s what’s named Quaking Earth in the reference. It fits the earth theme.”

“And what am I supposed to be able to do?”

“Like it says. You’re going to… shake the earth. Enough that people and things should get knocked down. Like the earthquakes my grandpa spoke about. Although I’m hoping yours to be much bigger than what’s described in the book.”

“How?”

“There have been two people with it in recorded history, and they both had a roughly 25 yards radius of effect. But if there exists a better rank of it, then I don’t think you’ll be given the low version.”

Petra shook her head, muttering “insanity.”

Then she focused ahead and asked a different question.

“What’s inside… Peter’s? backpack?”

“Ah, yes, you can see it as well. Another Artifact, as you can guess.”

“You have two???”

“Your Mana Sight makes it easier to find them. You can spot them from afar. We found Peter’s sword in our old ruins west, and Laura’s gloves in a mana zone.”

Petra laughed.

“Two days ago, I was a bartender, in a mostly dead-end job. And today, I’m an Archmage, walking along with multiple Heroes and seeking powerful Artifacts.”

“Welcome to our world. I warned you that your life would change.”

“You can’t warn people about that thing. It won’t work,” Petra said.

“It all started when we found this Skeleton…” Johanna started.

“Wait, so that’s how you can do all this?” Petra asked.

“That’s what it looks like. There is an Ancient Power awake, and it – sorry, he – is helping us. With his plans for making many more powerful people, for something.”

“Like me.”

“Like you.”

“And he is watching me, right now?”

“Almost certainly. After all, he did remake your sorcery into something different.”

Petra Veldhuis, Earth Shaper archmage, shook her head.

“Insanity. Utter insanity. Can I resign and leave?”

She looked at Johanna’s startled face and laughed.

“Just joking. Mister supernatural Mana-empowered Ancient Power, I’m certainly not going to bail out on you. But I’m absolutely unable to imagine where this will lead us.”

“I haven’t either. We’ve been… mostly reacting. Following the events.”

Johanna pointed out in the distance ahead.

“This? This we know. Going out, finding ruins, and getting salvage to sell.”

She smiled.

“It’s what we do.”

There was a little shape over the horizon. A slightly darker line pushing up.

“We’re getting close,” Mark warned before pointing out further.

“Separation line is there.”

When she squinted a bit, Johanna could spot a small color change ahead in the sparse vegetation that sprung between melting snow patches. She pressed ahead, reaching Mark’s point position in the group.

“Expecting trouble?”

“Always,” he answered.

He then added, “Never actually been there. It does feel weird, somehow. Seeing something that grandpa talked about so often for the first time.”

“The trails your grandfather’s team found are on the west side, right?”

“Yes. So, I’m suggesting we move around, and only get in the mana zone once we’re near there.”

“Sounds good to me,” she replied.

They skirted the mana zone’s border by at least a mile, as they curved northwest. The plateau of Fallen Hill was six, maybe seven miles out, she guessed. Geography on wide plains still tripped her.

As they made their way, they got closer and closer to the mana zone. Just like the mana zone back in Kootenai Gap, the weirdly Changed vegetation sometimes poked out of the zone, but it did not look like it managed to grab a hold of the land. The weed that Fallen Hill was famous for looked like a purplish dandelion, already in bloom despite the still-low temperatures and snow patches all over.

At least it didn’t float in the air – yet – Johanna thought.

Mark raised his hand and they all stopped instinctively. He pointed further north, and Johanna squinted, trying to see what he’d spotted. Then it became evident.

A mile away or so, there was a silhouette that vaguely resembled an ox back from home. Except this ox had something like a weird fleshy crest across its back, raising until mid-section, and dropping.

“Bosid. It’s rare to see one,” Mark said in a low voice.

“Dangerous, I assume?” Johanna asked in the same low tone.

“Yes. Not a predator, thankfully. But if you rile it up, it will wreck you. Extremely thick hide, shrugs arrows. You need to get close, and then it batters you until you’re pulp. Thankfully, I don’t think anyone’s seen an elemental version.”

“We’re avoiding it then.”

“Yes,” he answered before looking at her oddly.

Johanna remembered he thought them woefully unprepared or stupid. He might have expected them to ask to hunt that Changed wild bovine.

He pointed toward the raised earth in the distance.

“We’re getting in. We should be close to the pathways anyway.”

The actual border of the mana zone was almost obvious. Far more than the northern barrier they’d crossed last year. Over a dozen yards, the purple weeds changed from rare to all over the place.

At least there didn’t look to be enough concentrations of mana to register. She’d realized soon enough that she only could see anything over a certain level of mana. Perversely, for active magics, she’d realized it worked the reverse way, and she could only see up to a certain level. After Laura’s improvement back in Kootenai, she could no longer see her combat Talent in action. The only one she could still see being used was when she cleansed them in the mornings from too many drinks.

That was completely counter-intuitive, but the Mage’s compendium was weirdly imprecise on that aspect. Only powerful mages ever had the sight, which made Johanna wonder why it had not been included with Catherine’s spells. Unless it wasn’t necessary? Or because Detect Metal replaced it and you could have one and not the other? She had no idea.

The purple dandelions weren’t dangerous from contact, just bizarre, and, of course, entirely inedible, unlike their non-infused counterparts. The group did not have to avoid them, but despite stomping all over the place, none of the purplish blowballs floated away, adding to the overall weirdness.

They headed toward the rise and kept watching the Bosid in the distance. This is why they almost missed the Canid pair that was approaching from the other side, up until Peter emitted a low whistle. Mark’s head turned and immediately spotted the two silhouettes. The predators did not seem in a hurry, but their path would soon intersect with the group’s own.

The Zahl guard immediately detached the bow frame from his backpack, and pulled it taut, stringing the bow in a fast and effortless manner.

“Going to try to take them at distance. Petra, you have a crossbow, shoot when they get close. The rest of you… ready whatever,” he added with a resigned tone.

Petra immediately pulled out her weapon, before inching close to Johanna.

“What do I do?” she asked in a low voice.

“We’ll try to take them without too much spectacle. But worst case…” Johanna trailed and she decided on a strategy.

“Try to bind one to earth. That way, Mark can shoot it, and he might not notice. Laura will weaken them anyway. Warn if you need to use Tremor, though,” she added.

“Good. Good,” the former bartender replied. “Good,” she whispered again, mostly to herself.

The two Canids started to race suddenly, and Johanna spotted a double flash of light. Petra was startled, and Johanna realized she would have seen it too.

“Double elementals,” she warned the rest, drawing a quick surprised glance from Mark.

Laura had moved aside, making sure she didn’t include Mark in her primary field of vision, although if the fight got close, she might have to. Peter had Swordcutter at the ready, not trying to hide. Tom was ready to hammer. And the two enemies rushed with all the speed their large frames could muster.

Let the untalented guard strike first, Johanna repeated to herself. As if he’d been listening, he launched the first arrow, almost catching the leftmost Canid. The two split, smart enough not to offer too much of a target.

They were nearly 35 yards away when one of the Canids stopped and glowered at the team. Johanna looked briefly at Petra, who was squinting furiously.

She’ll have to learn it doesn’t need to work that way, she thought.

Meanwhile, Mark launched a second arrow, aiming at the running Canid. He had two more already in his hand, ready to use. The beast dodged it… and the guardsman immediately swung one of his two arrows in hand to nock it.

Mark was already aiming again and stopped himself when he spotted the large man moving to intercept the Canid that was at less than 15 yards.

Goddam civilian, he groused.

“Be careful!” he yelled but the scavenger ignored him, swinging his hammer.

The hammer impacted the beast like a full-blown chariot hitting a barrel on the street. The Canid flew half a dozen yards to the side. Mark immediately ignored that fight and swung his aim toward the other Canid, who was watching the fight from afar.

He did not know what had prompted the other beast to wait and not join its mate in the fight, but he wasn’t about to complain about his luck. The arrow flew, and the beast flattened itself to try to dodge it, rather than move aside. It hit but bounced over the furry hide. He brought up his last arrow immediately. Once he shot that one, he’d have to pull more from the quiver at his feet.

The big man – Tom? – reached the Canid, who was trying to stand up, unsuccessfully. The beast raised his head, some kind of twinkling white smog pouring out of its maw, but the scavenger simply swung his hammer down into the outpouring of fog. Mark didn’t wait, focusing instead on the distant Canid, trying to take it down before it decided to attack.

His last arrow struck true, eliciting a yelp. Meanwhile, the seemingly freezing smog was dissipating, and Mark ignored the smashed skull of the Changed beast, as he bent and drew a pair of arrows. He aimed again at the immobile beast, and hit, again, almost into the maw of the Canid. The beast shuddered and fell, and Mark finally allowed himself to relax.

We got very lucky they were not together, he thought.

Moore noted with interest the XP distribution. It was definitively not a straight seven-way split. Of course, the XP gained by the four, and his extra share were an equal 473 XP, but it was definitively not 1/7th of the expected value for the Elites level 3 Mist & 4 Earth Canids.

He was reminded of the fights in Anasta, where the XP wasn’t consistent from Lepus to Lepus. There was a group-shared experience effect in place between the four, possibly mediated by his presence, even if he was not enough for them to share XP from afar. But the two additions to the team didn’t fit in that sharing. Tom and Laura had been the only ones involved in the actual fight, so maybe that fact accounted for the low value. He would check as soon as possible what Veldhuis’s and Kunst’s respective descriptors showed, but he would not be surprised if they each had different rewards from that small fight.