I'd never been smooshed before and --considering the villi, blood, grime and general nastiness that lived on the surface of the Wildfire Hog-- I had no desire to ever experience it again. My brain rattled around in my helm as I got bowled over by sheer mass. The earth-Ronan-hog impact proved to be the nail on the coffin of the disgusting Tendril, and nearly my own.

The rib that had been thoroughly displeased with our front end collision finally gave up the ghost along with a friend. My breath hitched in my chest even as I struggled to keep the small tentacles and rolls of flesh from suffocating me outright. The injury, combined with the near ton of pig flesh pressing me into the ground would have been enough to kill a regular person three times over. As it was, my Slurry Ichor was pumping at neat human levels while my Harmonic Sinews and Quake Osseum strained against the weight.

To add insult to injury, the splat had triggered my Tremor Frame, further pulping the villi and gore that made up Fievil's wound. On top of that, had counted that as an attack which meant I was trapped under the hog with a veritable pool of bloody mud courtesy of the twice dead Tendril.

"," I whispered, seeking out any hope of relief for my body. The piddled percents of mana I'd recovered laughed in my face for two different reasons. One, even with the potency of Q6 mana the wall I would have generated would have been inches tall at best. Second, when the spell chain for sought out my helm to Amplify it fizzled out completely. The mana was lost and the effect hadn't even triggered.

That can't be good. Centering myself, I focused on instead. It wasn't a great option, but I didn't have many of those and it was a lower cost Skill. Instead of setting a cost, I manipulated the spell chain to gradually take from my mana pool as it ticked past two percent. It was painful, slow progress, but eventually the spike that grew right beside my chest pushed far enough into the Wildfire Hog to lift it marginally without my arms needing to get crushed.

I repeated the process on my other side, feeling the minutes tick by painfully. Thoughts of dying ignobly under an overgrown breakfast food intermingled with my worry for the others in their defensive fight. I saw they were available through the comm-plant and I had to take solace in that fact; just keeping the hog off me was taking every bit of concentration I could muster.

With the weight of the creature finally at a manageable level--even if I couldn't feel my legs-- I concentrated on getting it to dissociate. Again and again I tried to urge the Pith free but it wouldn't budge. I feared that somehow I'd used on the creature by casting so close to it, but it didn't seem right to me.

With some further effort, I used yet another above my head to lift the flesh up and open a crack into the wonderful world of fresh air. Unfortunately, my legs were still pinned, but I solved that with some clever use of along the back of my legs.

I didn't want to think about what I looked like as I wiggled out from between earth and hog, but it must not have been pretty. As soon as I was free, the first thing I did was let out a groan containing all the frustration the singular creature had caused me. The second thing I did was focus on vibrosense and I could feel that there were still a few remnants of the fight going on in the distance if the changes in topography and erratic ripple signatures were to be interpreted. What that also revealed left me almost chilled.

The hog wasn't dead! Even with my spikes punching into the creature and the strengthening of my sixth sense the vibrations were halting an inch into the creature. If convention held, then the creature still functioned... Somehow.

While my body protested the very idea of moving, it needed to be done. I'd seen the healing abilities of the hog firsthand and if I gave it enough time it was entirely possible that the Tendril would recuperate and retaliate. Not on my watch. With a monumental effort, I crawled over to the vine tied to Fievil. I reeled the weapon in, the gentle connection between us growing stronger by the second. When the Shard Weapon was back in my hand, a thrill went through me as our connection reestablished only for the mole to start berating me with images of me picking him up to then clobber the hog instead of me getting turned into a gory pancake.

The nagging gave me life as I used the weapon as a crutch to get to the head of the hog. Sure enough, even down to the skull on the snout, I could see the villi swaying as they tried to crawl over the bone to heal the creature. It was fractions of its previous speed, but the sheer audacity it had to still live irked me more than I thought. With a grunt of pain as my ribs protested the motion, I Ballasted the weight to my feet before swinging down with Fievil into the hog's spine. It was more a coordinated fall than a proper chop, but it was all I could manage. When that barely did the trick, I repeated the motion another five times before the head severed.

I staggered back from the pig, falling onto my butt with another groan. I reached up to remove my helm for some air only for the straps to fall away completely. The deer skull thumped to the ground, one of the antlers having snapped off at some point and the skull itself only holding on by a few uncracked sections.

"Well that explains the lack of ," I grumbled, checking on the shield attached to my back. Other than a few nicks that hadn't been there last I looked it was holding together admirably well. I gave my Amplitude Item a thankful look before snapping the helm entirely. "Replacing this is going to need to be a priority."

As obscenely expensive as Amplified Skills were, they were a ten birds with one stone type tool. Mana use training and combat flexibility were just the basic benefits of the Items.

Vibro rippled as something drew closer. My eyes snapped open and I rose up on an elbow, spell chain at the ready. To my chagrin, it was a quarter of routed hogs. They were injured, clearly the reason they had turned tail and ran, but still a threat if for nothing but their Q4 Attributes. I grimaced as pierced two before I ran out of mana. A fire hog bore down and I lifted Fievil up in a feeble defense before a bolt of lightning struck the creature. The remnant sparks jumped to the water hog and froze it in place before it started to twitch on the ground. Foam erupted from its mouth before the beast stilled.

My eyes took in Ponzio as he straightened, April striding calmly from the main battlefield through the woods in the furrow I'd made while being pulled. "Ronan, are you alright?"

"Oh yeah, just dandy. Is that it, though? Can I take a nap now?" I asked, flopping on my back and wincing at the pain radiating from my chest. It didn't feel stiff, so I didn't think I had any internal bleeding, but I hoped Sam wasn't too busy to hit me with a heal. How do you set broken ribs?

"Ronan!" Ponzio said, standing much closer than I recalled and snapping his fingers in my face.

"Come again?"

"April, help me get him back. He might have a concussion."

"Shame to deny him the tender embrace of the black," the demoness said as she gripped under one of my armpits. She frowned as they hefted me up to my feet. "Plus, he already smells like a corpse."

"I'll have you know it's the highest quality Life Tendril bits the Dreg can provide," I said, feeling the weariness settling into my bones as the adrenaline drained. "Well, maybe not. Galloway was a bit higher level."

"You are right, he's concussed," April said, not bothering to add her usual mystique to her words.

"My nogging is hard as a rock," I said, smiling slightly as the wall and the cheering defenders came into view. I saw some of the more fleet footed scouts weaving through the carnage and pursuing a few stragglers like the ones that had tried to off me.

"Why is he dragging this thing?" Ponzio asked, huffing as Fievil caught on a broken section of rock.

"Careful with the merchandise!" I called out, blinking exhaustion away. Something flashed on my Implant, but I was too focused on getting to the wall. I was vaguely aware of a gaping hole in the structure as we stepped over it and into the base proper. Pat Pat was arguing heatedly with a woman but he sputtered to a halt when he saw me.

"Vanguard!" He shouted, rushing.

"I thought we'd gotten over this, Patrick," I groaned.

"The Druid needs to know about this. Please, set him there against the wall we'll handle it," the dwarf directed.

Ponzio and April shared a look I didn't really have the faculties to interpret before doing just so. If the vibrations emanating from Ponzio were to be believed, the man was air whispering straight to his companion.

It wasn't but a few minutes before a mass of vines launched down from the observation tower to land at my feet. Samuel frowned so hard at me that I thought he looked quite like a pig. Instead of speaking to me, he turned to face further down the wall before stretching his nerve filaments over me. I didn't even have the energy to be creeped out by the Trait. If it was possible, Sam frowned harder.

"Idiot," he grumbled, sending a gentle pulse of healing into my chest and my legs for some reason. With effort, he pried Fievil from my hand, the mole screeching in protest until I relented. A shaggy satyr approached before hesitating upon sight of me.

"But he's the Vanguard," the youth argued aloud, clearly having said more using the comm-plant.

"I don't care if he's the pope. Put him to sleep," Sam argued sternly.

The satyr jumped, clearly surprised by the harsh undertone in my friend's voice. He placed his hands on my temples as he complained that he didn't even know what a 'pope' was. A spell chain formed like a golden crown before sinking into my head. My body relaxed, but other than a slight disconnect from the thrum of pain I was in nothing changed.

"Harder," Sam said, voice icy, handing the satyr his femur club. The lending of his Amplitude Item had me slightly hesitant, my heart beginning to pump at an instinctually perceived threat.

"His resistance --"

"Is in the way," Samuel said, glaring at me through the satyr. I could feel the gulp through the youth's hands before the woven spell chain formed. The overlaid chain flaked off like the villi of the wild hog and panic bloomed in my chest. Thankfully for everyone involved, they plunged into my eye sockets before I could act. I fought the urge to sleep for several seconds, but it was a losing battle. Darkness claimed me.

--+--

When I awoke, I gulped down air like a drowning fish. Proportional to my wild response, vibrosense spread out and I felt the dozen people spread around me and on the floor below. As the ripple flowed up and down, I realized we were inside the Observation Tower. It took a solid minute for me to bring my breathing under control and I grasped around me until my fingers closed around Fievil's haft which had been resting on the ground beside my cot.

I was surprised by the lack of pain as I turned my chest, but in contrast I felt feeble. I glanced at my Status, not especially surprised to see the , and all lingering next to my 84% Health. I wasn't sure how long I'd been out, but I had to guess at least a half day. Damn, we were supposed to get a message over to Daniela and Billy. As I tried to rev up my brain I could feel the hooks of a worming headache starting to take hold.

"Master Vanguard!" A voice called, and I blinked at the title before realizing it was addressing me.

"Glen!?" I asked, surprised to see the elf away from the town.

"It's an honor to be remembered, sir," the elf said, bowing slightly.

"Please, none of that. I'm just Ron," I said, waving the gesture away.

"Of course, Master Ronan," Glen replied evenly. I contained the growl within me for the sake of not exacerbating any injuries I might have and not know about.

"Care to give me an update on the situation?" I asked, rolling my eyes as the man straightened and slammed his fist against his Segmented Cowl with enough force to release a puff of warm air. While the Infused Item wasn't focused on the Force Dispersal Trait, it was good to see that the crafters in Wildwood hadn't neglected the potential of Infusing Materials before creating the Item.

"Of course, sir. It has been approximately fourteen hours since the clash against the Tendril forces. Injuries occured to almost all of our forces to various degrees upon the breaching of the wall, the worst of which are still recovering here. Including you, Master Ronan." I could see a sparkle in his eye at the mention of me before he continued. "There were no fatalities. Master Druid has stabilized everyone, but the Life Attuned believe it will be some days before we are back to full strength. He requested that you abstain from quote 'doing your thang' for at least two days. My apologies for the disrespect, sir. Master Druid insisted I state that."

"It's fine, Glen. I expected no less from Sam," I said, shaking my head and chuckling.

"He also wanted me to inform you that collection of the Pith has been scheduled for noon today. The scouts have been keeping watch over the corpses, but it has been a difficult task to keep a number of scavengers away. Enemy casualties, not including the bird attack, number three and a half dozen."

"Did we get all the Tendrils," I said, frowning at that number. It felt like there had been more, but it could have been a modified number thanks to how many cannibalized their horde companions.

"Two, sir. Your own target and the one eliminated when The Whisper and The Merc arrived and pursued. Mistress Pyroclast insisted we fortify instead of pursue the last," Glen explained. I blinked slowly as the monikers translated in my head. The Whisper and the Merc were Devon and Dai, and the only person other than Sam or I with the clout to call back the squads was Sarah. I hadn't heard her moniker before, but I couldn't say it was wrong considering her suffocating abilities.

I shook my head, sending spikes of pain into my head, to refocus on Glen. If the threat was dealt with for the moment, then I could focus on the truly important thing that my body had been clamoring since I woke. "Thanks Glen. Is there breakfast going anywhere?"

"Bacon," the man said, the drooling smile on his face showed some of the youth his dangerous upbringing had worn down. It was hard to remember most of the members of the Guard were still teenagers.

Despite the man's excitement, I felt my stomach do a flip in protest. I'd been eager to try the pork derivative, but... Villi, gore, pain... "There is some alternative I hope?"

"Oh, uh," Glen seemed to come back to himself, clearing his throat as he bowed. "Of course, Master Ronan. Master Druid has already harvested three plots of potatoes to augment our meal. Truly a shame the Mistress Torch could not grace us with her expertise in the culinary arts."

His tone lowered and he whispered as if the very target of his words might overhear. "She's a fair bit better than my ma, but don't tell her that, please!"

I chuckled, shaking my head at the youth. "Of course. Could you lead the way?"

There was hardly a reason for him to lead the way, vibrosense covered half the base when I was at the ground level and I could have used my high Perception to sniff out the dreaded porcine product, but I enjoyed the young man's company. If I was lucky, he would work himself up so much as to faint again and this time I could poke fun at him proper. Maybe help him out with his sudden bouts of anxiety; it depended on how quickly he built his own head of steam.

Pushing thoughts of the past aside, I followed him down a set of stairs I distinctly remembered not existing the day before. Clearly, the Shapers had been busy. My mood turned a bit somber as I watched the many resting people still unconscious. Surprisingly, one of them was the shaggy haired satyr that had knocked me out and I could only imagine it might have had something to do with expending mana to knock out everyone recovering. My memory flinched, but I could recall the fact he'd needed to Amplify his magic to put me out like he did even if my exhaustion had likely done the rest. I need to apologize to him at some point.

Not only that, I needed to talk with Ponzio and April. No one at Wildwood had seen a bestial Tendril since the battle at Summerfield and it couldn't be a coincidence that they'd shown up now. The Breakers knew about us and regardless of what the other Ocalans said, the Tendrils in their ranks were hiding something. What that was would take some teeth pulling, but I felt more than up to the task. Especially after they hurt my friends and ruined bacon for me.

Before I got twenty paces out of the Observation Tower, however, a fur cloaked shadow fell upon us without a wisp of sound. Glen shrieked, hand drawing a frost spider shortsword in one smooth motion before the shadow slapped it down into the ground with contempt. Ice started to grow from the point of impact before the researcher spoke. His voice croaked from under the cloak, the burning eyes swinging up to pin my own. "Ronan, you betrayed me."

I shuddered, shaking off the surprise of Alan's arrival. "Uh... no I haven't? What happened, Alan?"

"The Purger!" Glen gasped before promptly fainting. I caught the back of his cowl before he ran himself with his own sword. At least he's got the right response to threats, but we will definitely need to work on his response to allies.

Alan gave the youth a brief look before turning back to me. "How could you create such a masterpiece of arcane potential and use it to bash people instead of the unsolved mysteries of the cosmos!?"

"Come again?"

"Your hammer!"

"Oh, the Shard Weapon?" I guess I never did discuss that with him. After his injury I... well, maybe I can start some amends. "There was a Mana Shard in the Crafting Hall. In my attempt to deal with it, Rommel, Arnold and I got a tad excited. According to the Implant it is Soulbound to me, but I'm not totally sure what that means. It does have a sort of primitive mind mirrored off mine, though."

Fievil shook his clawed fists at me in protests before scurrying back as if spooked. Sure enough, in the second I'd taken to focus on the mental connection with my weapon, Alan had swept past me and was staring holes into the axe-hammer's head. I could see his fingers reaching towards it and the fire in his eyes flared. "Mirrored sapience you say... Perhaps it has built off your Soul Hemispheres to augment its frequency. If I could..."

"I need it when I leave the base," I started. Fievil, connected to my thoughts as he was, started chittering in fear. "But you are free to examine it. Shard Weapons and Mana Shards in general should be more common in areas not affected by the Aberrants according to Gec. It's what the Ocalans are using to make their temporary slimes."

All I felt was the wrenching of my breaking as Alan giggled and zipped away with my weapon in tow. I could have sworn I heard Fievil shouting obscenities in my mind, but that couldn't have been as the link connecting us stretched to the other side of the base. What in the deepest flocculation pond of the waste treatment floor are his Attributes? As I recovered from the blitz that was any interaction with our resident Savant, Glen started to stir.

"Welcome to the land of the living," I said, helping the elf back to his own feet.

"Master Ronan," the man shouted, blinking as he took in his surroundings. His cheeks went from red to burning in a second as he realized what had happened. "I'm so sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it. You should deal with that though. Might leave you in a tricky spot."

"Yes," Glen replied, scratching at the back of his head in embarrassment. "There are just so many people to look up to it’s hard not to be overwhelmed."

"We are just people, Glen. We go about our day by putting a foot in front of the other and if they tell you otherwise then you have my permission to smack them."

The elf looked thoroughly scandalized at the idea, but I patted him on the back to get him moving again. The scattered squads seemed a bit more serious than the day before, clearly more wary with how intense the fight had been. The banter was still there, but there wasn't as much relaxing by the fire even with the smiles all around as everyone dug into thick strips of bacon and roasted potatoes. From the smell, they'd likely been cooked in the very grease that the bacon had produced.

Our approach, and subsequent stumbling into Alan, hadn't gone unnoticed; being recognizable and seven feet tall didn't help. The people gathered around shouted a number of greetings in welcome of my arrival, but I waved them away as I usually did. With everyone too focused on their food, I was able to avoid being accosted for retellings of the fight and a number of other things that were asked after a fight. If my time helping defend the Weirdians had taught me anything was that monster fight tales grew even more outlandish than those of fishermen.

As we reached the fire, I spotted a familiar lizardman lounging at the edge of the group. Glen froze up, so I opted to throw him a bone. "Can you get us some food? Just a healthy serving of potatoes for me, but get whatever you want."

"Of course, Master Ronan," came the reply, followed by the scuff of boots as Glen charged into the cookfire circle on a mission.

"Didn't take you for someone to suffer sycophants," Dai said by way of greeting. The lizardman moved his giant jug of water off the log bench to make space for me.

"He's a good egg and he makes me laugh; what can I say?"

"Hmmm," the man said, humming as he gazed at where Glen was arguing for a truly extra large serving on my behalf. "Can't say he chooses his company badly."

"Bet you the hundred dollars I don't have that Sam put him up to check on me," I said, smiling as I pictured how reverent Glen and socially awkward Sam would interact. Except Sam's gotten a whole lot better at that as of late. There's a reason he has so much pull with the Life Attuned in the base.

"Ha! If he can't be around then I suppose someone has to keep an eye on the Vanguard before he forgets to use his weapon instead of his forehead."

"Except my forehead is also a weapon now."

"Right. I'd heard as much through the grapevine," Dai hummed. The man seemed to hesitate as Glen started to walk in our direction. "Thanks, by the way."

"Oh?"

"Don't 'Oh' me, Ronan. I know you saved my scales."

"Ah."

"Only know how to communicate in vowels now?"

"No, but what else is there for me to say? You've saved my ass more than once and so have I. I don't plan to keep a ledger if I can help it, so no need for anything other than that," I said, locking eyes with Dai to drive in my point. He huffed, smiling that slightly alien smile of the lizardfolk.

"Fair enough. I suppose I can put in a good word for you with my secretary. Tell her to scratch the logs on all the 'saving lives' charges she was going to bill you for when you get back to Wildwood."

"Ha! Really leaning into your title, are you?"

"Only people that I work for free for are the Bunker Busters so... yeah, I'd say so," the man said seriously.

I gave his words some consideration before nodding and letting the conversation lie. While Dai had been making extreme strides in being accepted back into 'civilized' society, I could hardly blame him after being ostracized for so long by the people of Wildwood. Even if you were just following the crowd mentality, your actions would come back to bite you in the butt at some point.

Leaving those dark thoughts behind I waved, welcoming a stuttering Glen into our little huddle. Dai had already eaten, but he was more than happy to join us as we ate. He commented on how much things had changed in the base and how it seemed to quickly be eclipsing the one we'd built on the south bank of the Ock River. Glen, after getting over his initial shock at interacting with 'The Merc', was quite happy to talk about all the structurally clever things me and the Shapers had gotten up to. Apparently, he'd been part of the group that brought Gec's sliver and just the progress on the road had been awe inspiring.

As we were winding down, and I was feeling the urge to check on Sam and Jolene, a very much welcome message flashed across my Implant. It wasn't just my own based on the vacant looks on Glen and Dai.

[-]Influence stabilized[-]

[-]Full effect of dissuasion field is in effect[-]

An extra line printed itself before my eyes and I had a sneaking suspicion it was directed just at me.

[-] Well done putting a chink in the regional power. The signature of the nearby Entity has diminished. Maybe you are as useful as you've suggested. [-]

"Now we are cooking with Infusions," I said, rising to my feet and glancing in the direction of Ocala. They'd been mostly helping us, but I knew something was lurking under the surface and I was determined to root it out. Squashing bugs, oversized or not, happened to be a skill I was quite practiced at.