7.08

“I find the children bond best when placed in potentially life threatening danger.” - High King Edwards the Oft Overthrown.

My return to Gestrand Forest was a surprisingly muted affair. The first excuse I considered giving was deception, while I was unaware of local law, I doubted assisting an entire army of fugitive slaves would put me in any kind light.

If I started with a lie, I needed a good story, however mercenaries were crawling around the place, and there was a chance a scout might’ve seen me speak with the goblins. The lie would have to account for that.

So I ended up selling Tignflut a half-truth. I recognized a goblin that I had spared in a previous battle, and with a contract of non-aggression hoped to come closer, get a better idea of their forces and tease more information from them. However they rejected an attempt at peace and instead made contact with the fae. What happened after or my involvement with their contact I did not say. He simply let me go.

I remained in Gestrand Forest however. At the old clearing where we had defeated the spider monster, I laid down a Fairy Circle and prepared for war.

Unlike Noam, my new abilities were all delayed in their worth. Slow gratification and long set up. My damage options have been power crept by high defense enemies and healers, but they still fundamentally worked towards my build of an immobile zone controller. Just comparing the Travelers we’ve met so far, few could match my sheer area control. Fairy Circle worked towards this build goal, which was why it caught my eye.

Its synergy with Mediation of Mutualism was what got me to grab it as well. Both abilities were cases where its full capabilities were not shown in their descriptive text. Fairy Circle appeared to have a broadcast effect in any plane it tapped into, while Mediation of Mutualism could facilitate trades. Stamp of Symbiosis, which grew out of my hand as a stamp shaped mushroom, was more direct. It was a scaling ability like Noam’s Beatbox Inspiration or I’M LIT! It acted to tie together the two halves of my skill set, the immobile zone controller which I had started as and the summoner which I had picked up later.

First I stamped my Bracken Polypores. It was my own ability, but it was also a symbiotic entity, living just underneath my skin. The fungal plates shivered, growing darker and tougher. That was the most basic bonus, the increase in effective level and stat gain which went towards raising the Polypores’ durability and defenses.

The second benefit was to me, revealed by my character sheet.

Bracken Polypores: A species of symbiotic fungus are seeded underneath your skin. They rely on you for food and in return can instantly grow into durable mycelium plates that can cover your entire body. The hardness and weight may vary depending on how much Satiety you feed them at any moment. Will gain defensive bonuses if used in conjunction with Bark Skin.

Stamp of Symbiosis Bonus: It has been a part of you, it was your bulwark, your second skin. When you cast Bark Skin’s you do not require material components or concentration, and you can cast it on a willing creature.

It didn’t seem like much, but it was a solid improvement. As I gained more concentration spells my defenses would continue to suffer. Fix-Up Fungus was a good healing spell, but like Barkskin it also took concentration. Both competed for my focus. Now I could just have both up at the same time.

The second Stamp of Symbiosis took some thought. It would be used for one of my wisps, the question was which. I dismissed the newer wisps. Yellow and Greenie have been with me for the longest, so they would gain the most benefit from the Stamp buff. It came down to what the benefit to me might’ve been. Greenie would likely benefit my spore spells and attacks, but I already had enough of that. No, the fight with the World was a bit too close to my liking. My weakness remained a strong enough juggernaut type that could blitz past my traps. I crumbled in close combat, surviving only due to my high durability. Yellow would help me fix that with increased agility.

It gave Greenie a smug grin as I stamped it. As the mark sunk in, its body became sleeker. Yellow gave a few test runs, and I could tell easily that in terms of speed and agility it was now comparable to a base Noam without any of his buffs. Likely better in fact, since Yellow was a much smaller target. Glancing at my character sheet, my eyebrow slowly rose as I read the benefit I had gained.

Sporage Wisp Symbiosis: Wisps have lived comfortably in your cap and have created a wonderful home there, now to teach them the wonders of rent. You may create pygmy myconid bodies for your non-corporeal Wisps to inhabit. They are considered tiny creatures and are capable of following simple commands. They possess all the qualities of Sporage, however, they can choose to self-detonate.

Stamp of Symbiosis Bonus (Yellow):From your very first step, it was there. You taught it lessons of stealth and deception, and it has stayed by your side as your eyes and ears, a hand in the dark. You may channel your Manavision through Watching Eyes within its range.

It wasn’t a speed bonus? The description was also longer than with Bracken Polypores. The direction was different, but the end result wasn’t terrible. In fact it salvaged the wasted Cantrip that was Watching Eyes. I placed an eye on my back, and willed that five-meter bubble of awareness into it.

It was like putting a hole in a balloon, a small hole. The Manavision shrunk to four-meters, and I saw clearly out of that eye. Every new eye I saw through shrunk my Manavision by another meter, up to a maximum of four. Once I tried to make the fifth eye the Manavision completely collapsed and I lost sight from the remaining four.

Like with Bracken Polypores, it wasn’t a powerful ability, but I couldn’t have asked for a better ‘weak’ ability. My lacking sight was finally covered, though at small cost of my Manavision, it freed up Keep to be used on better secrets, and even allowed my Wisps to move freer of me, instead of acting as my seeing eye dogs.

Immediately I began dismissing the true sight, it should take a few hours, but I no longer had need for it as purely sight. It still had uses in helping me discern the true nature of things, as well as make me harder to notice, but Fenkai and Osshiven’Kai’s secret was just better in most scenarios. The Balance was useful for karma reading, but just knowledge of one’s karma tilted the scales. It wouldn’t be worth it to take frequent glances at it. The secret of the 7th Hell’s World Eater had potential, but I haven’t been able to discern a good use for it.

Though Greenie was giving me puppy dog eyes in jealousy of Yellow, I decided to save the last Stamp. I had a better target for it.

That left the Fairy Circle.

After what happened with Kathronanburg, I decided to categorically avoid the Hells. Regardless of how well of a deal the goblins got, I wasn’t trusting the fae. Which left me traipsing through the numerous elemental planes and domains. Though after I passed through the Plane of Chairs, I began seriously reconsidering the definition of ‘elemental’. Sure it was a sub plane of the Plane of Carved Wood, which itself was rather obviously a sub plane of the Plane of Wood, but chairs weren’t just made of wood. So the Plane of Chairs was also a sub plane of numerous materialistic planes like metal, and at that point how did you even begin to determine what was and wasn’t a sub plane? The greater importance we placed on wood compared to chairs was as arbitrary as the categorization of the planes into primal elements.It clearly failed to take in the fact that the planes, regardless of how specific, more or less were equal concepts to each-

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

My thoughts paused as an entity walked into my Fairy Circle. It was currently keyed to the Swamp Domain, and the still foggy unreality of the marsh assured me it wasn’t yet a full portal. Both of us could still interact with the other, but nothing could be brought out.

The newcomer was a lumbering creature of molding wood, assembled in the vague shape of a toad. It was about the size of two shopping trolleys, with bright green dots of light indicating its eyes. My truesight hadn’t yet swapped out, so I could discern this was some kind of swamp elemental, with a wooded bent to it. It croaked, speaking not words, but concepts.

The first was hardest to parse, I had the brief glimpse of familiarity mixed with the idea of a second meeting, before I realized it was stating that it had sensed me before. Likely when I used the Swamp Domain against the World. The next few were a lot easier.

‘Food. Fight. Ride. Transfer. Deal.’

Pure mana or something equivalent. This beast would demand the mana of a third tier spell each day, in exchange it’ll act with me as a familiar and mount. Ideas brushed against my mind, it was faster than it looked, with explosive leaps that could cover a lot of ground. Its tongue was lightning quick, and suitable for long range grappling. Its hide was as tough as it looked, though it held a distaste for drying out. It would serve me for a lifetime, then I would allow it freedom to roam Indiri as a wild elemental.

It was a strong option, reflected by its high cost. Create Wisps took a lot out of me and it was ritual. It was a strong fighter no doubt, but that amount of mana meant I wouldn’t be casting a lot. There was no doubt that it was a fair price, but it would also lock me out of other deals for the near future. I required versatility, and the opportunity to slowly tune an array of summons perfect for every situation.

This wasn’t that. It was a good mount, and a passable fighter. The toad lacked a special abilities, instead relying on pure physicality. The very definition of a stat stick.

It covered most of my weaknesses though, and I suspected it had further synergies with me. Meeting it was a good bit of fortune, but whose? I itched to abort Keep back to the Scales, just so I could confirm my recent string of good luck wasn’t the universe rearing its fist back for another swing. I held off for now, changing the secret midway through the process would just restart the timer. And judging by the rules I knew, with conflict on the horizon, this would be the perfect time for a power up. Dare I be daring? Or refuse and settle for an array of weaker elementals?

Me from a few weeks ago would’ve had an obvious answer. Pass it up, wait for a better creature to present itself. But the flaws of that thinking and the desire for perfection were all so obvious in hindsight. The disregard for opportunity cost has been my greatest weakness. Not allowing myself to take the chance just because there was risk.

“One month,” I began, “We’ll trial the contract, see how we feel about it, then afterwards we can renegotiate. If that doesn’t work out, we can part ways.”

The elemental chirped agreement, and I activated Mediation of Mutualism. The contract making process was different this time, the elemental communicated through pure concepts, not limited by words, the resulting geas was bereft of the word tricks and fine print, instead our minds presented ideas without deception, until the final contract was agreed upon.

Mana flowed out of my body and into the toad, it in return took a step that passed dimensions. The Fairy Circle fluttered out around us, leaving me and the toad elemental standing in the clearing.

“Update status please,” I called out to Celine. Her voice whispered out, appraising me of Noam and Utoqa’s status. The toad nuzzled my hand, and I gestured at its back. “Let us be swift then, we’ll meet up with my allies and plan a break out.”

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Plans of suicide had long faded from Noam’s mind. Knowing Utoqa was with him, any deceptions of his ‘player status’ would not hold up if only one of them escaped via death. He was cuffed in crude iron, classic magic dampening stuff that shut down his first initial attempts at magicking his way out. Utoqa sat chained even more heavily in the opposite cell. Kept in a state of near death as the sniper took turns with a healer to refresh his crippling damage ability and healing him just enough so that he wouldn’t die.

“It’s a pretty fucked up thing to do,” Noam heckled him as the sniper came in to strike Utoqa again. “I’m not an expert on laws and stuff but you know this is probably a war crime right?”

The man shrugged, his face hidden by his hood, “It’s a game, get over it. And there’s no effective way to keep him locked up either way.”

“His pain is tuned to the highest,” Noam lied as easily as he breathed. “You’re really doing that to another person? Is it really worth it?”

He saw hesitation on the sniper’s face, but only hesitation as he plunged a crossbow bolt into Utoqa’s arm thrice in succession. The wound tore open with far more force than was ever reasonably applied by his lazy stabs. Noam raised an eyebrow, but part of him already expected this. People were horrible in the best of times, and this was an era where people became increasingly disconnected.

“C’mon answer me,” the sniper continued to ignore him. Noam slammed the bars separating them, “I SAID ANSWER ME!”

The man turned, just within reach, but Noam expected he was quick enough to avoid a lunge. “I don’t know what to say. I didn’t expect pvp either, but that’s just his fault for keeping it high. What really matters is what the hell you guys did to World.”

Noam spat at him. His face turned with disgust, which morphed to shock and horror as Noam’s saliva lit his collar aflame. His scream was cut off as Noam grabbed him and slammed him into the bars. Noam’s nimble fingers quickly went through his pockets. No key, damn, they were smarter than that. He grabbed the crossbow bolt, letting the man collapse and roll on the floor. Noam ripped off one of the feather fletchings, prodding the lock of his cuffs with it until he heard a click and the iron fell off his arms.

As he began working on the cell door, he let out a quick beat to raise his dexterity with Beatbox Inspiration. Cries of alarm and panic sounded through the entire building, and the first guard came clanging down the hallway. Barely taking in the Traveler covered in napalm spit before Noam belted out a quip, “Don’t mind him, being a 9-5 asshole has left him a bit burnt out.”

Hideous Laughter took hold on the guard quite literally as she let out a deep belly laugh. The cell door clicked open, and he bolted to the opposite cell. Experience let him quickly pickthe lock, and he began working on the chains holding Utoqa. Almost a dozen locks kept his friend under key. The steps were thunderously close now. Sweat beaded his brow as he concentrated on the locks, barely able to hear the clicks as he worked through them. Heavy footfalls behind him, and he could see a man raising a sword mirrored in Utoqa’s eyes.

The sword fell.

A lock clicked open.

Utoqa caught the falling blade with his now freed hand.

Noam dodged out of the way as Utoqa hauled the man directly into his jaws, bone crunched as he took a bite out of the guard’s exposed head.

Red, whites and greys decorated Utoqa’s teeth as Noam went to freeing the rest of his body. “Got any idea where we are? We’re out of wayshard range since I can’t open my character sheet, and Celine’s thing is getting sparse with distance.”

Utoqa greedily swallowed the first food he had since they were captured yesterday. “I was too wounded to notice, but I will be able to find our way outside.”

The last of Utoqa’s chains fell to the ground. Noam tore off the dead guard’s shirt, wrapping it around Utoqa’s wounded arm. After a moment of consideration, he passed the sword to Utoqa as well, before knocking out the still laughing guard outside. Taking her sword.

Noam tossed a Beatbox Inspiration on Utoqa, raising his vitality by six and agility by two. “Let’s see, way behind enemy lines, you’re heavily injured, and we barely have any weapons. We’re fucked aren’t we?”

Utoqa tested a few swings, “I do not understand how we are to meet mates in this situation.”

“Right, I need to school you on basic lexicon one of these days,” Noam kicked the aflame corpse of the sniper Traveler.

The hallway door slammed shut ahead of them as the enemy barricaded. “Dustin has told me I should not use you as any basis for common or accepted language.”

“Shit, he knows me well.” Pulling flame from the cremated Traveler, Noam gathered a small ball of white hot flame. “I’ll lead, can you match my pace?”

“I will.”

“On three. One, two, three!”

And he tossed the ball of napalm flame at the door.