timewalk

  Aliandra The well-oiled doors swung open, and Ali stepped into the guild hall, blinking a little iive dimness after the bright sunlight outside. She had reted the terrifying experience of being at the mercy of whatever ominous spell ied Nathaniel Sunstrider and her narrow escape due to the inexplicable as of her mother’s book. However, the Archmage had amassed a t reputation, and it was challenging to accuse him of anything when all she had was a strangely disturbing visual from a realm that she wasirely certain was even real. Still, Lira promised to sult with a Troll sage she was certain still lived, and Ryn offered to use her skills to researformation in Ciradyl’s vast library, leveraging the writ of access to the restricted se. At least they took her at seriously, and that had set her heart somewhat at ease.

  “So, what did you guys learn about fighting bosses yesterday?” Vivian said. She stood by the guild jobs board, addressing a crowd. Almost the entire guild was seated in the hall, either on the couches or on the floor, listening to her – and for the first time, the room was full. All the familiar faces were there; the regur ranked members, and many of the novices who had earheir csses yesterday – but there were also quite a few unfamiliar faces identifying as cssless and carrying training ons.

  Their entrao the guild hall earhem quite a few gnces, but Ali noticed that the eyes of many of the uncssed people lingered on her for lohan she expected.

  “Don’t suck,” someone called out from the middle of the group, provoking a few snorts and ughs, guiltily suppressed.

  “That’s about accurate,” Vivian said with a smile. “But I would say it more like, don’t show up to a raid boss unprepared. That way you won’t get a slime sug off your face.” Laughter atteo her stern, finger-waggling imprecation. “Other ideas? Speak up.”

  Ali floated over to the reception desk. “What’s going on?” she asked quietly.

  “Vivian wao hold an all-hands meeting – to talk to all the new guild members,” Mieriel said.

  “She seems happy.”

  “She got ten fresh bat novices out of the group you took to your shrierday, she’s been insufferably bubbly all day.”

  Ali shot Mieriel a surprised ghe idea of the powerful and stern Guildmaster being described as insufferably bubbly seemed ingruous, but she assumed that Mieriel was referring to the sense of any inions leaking from Vivian’s mind.

  “I do have a more serious question,” Ali said.

  “I probably guess, but go ahead.” Mieriel adjusted her colr self-sciously.

  “Do we know who sent that assassin team?” This was the main reason Ali had wao stop by the guild in the first pce. Random assassins were ohing, but this was the sed coordinated group that had bee against her, and this time they had even targeted the novices.

  “As far as I tell, they were hired to disrupt the css adva ceremony in any way they could and to assassinate you. I got a lead that implied Jax Hawkhurst spohe hit this time,” Mieriel said, with a matter-of-fact tohat would have been more appropriate for discussing breakfast cereal seles.

  “Doesn’t that mean he’s desperate? I thought he doesn’t like getting his hands dirty?” Ali had little knowledge or aptitude for politics, but Malika had shared the basics of how the crime syndicates were set up in Myrin’s Keep, and how they evaded the attention of the authorities. In essence, Jax Hawkhurst operated a legitimate business, and all the shady stuff was dohrough intermediaries.

  “Jax is under a lot of pressure right now. With the blight, the southern road is impassable, and that means a lot of his mert business is bleeding money,” Mieriel expined. “He’s been forced to rely on kidnapping, svery, and prote or loansharking. Or at least his affiliated businesses are doing that. But you keep selling exceptionally valuable resources to the guild store, and now that Donel Novaspark is getting a supply of magicite, her people are making some incredible new crafted items. The Academy is making enormous profits, none of which he touch. So, you’re personal enemy number one for him.”

  “I see.” She really did see – this wasn’t some voluted political scheme. She was eating his business when he was in a bind because of the blight. Ali smiled thinly. “Strictly business?”

  “His sort of business.”

  Another burst of ughter nearly lifted the rafters. Ali closed her eyes briefly, fighting baausea. When would this end? She had no desire to live all her days in fear. No. Her tiny fists ched. That, she would not do.

  “Aliandra, do you mind doing the Guildmaster a favor?” Mieriel asked suddenly.

  “What’s that?” Ali g the stern Guildmaster, still talking to the majority of the guild members.

  “Word about the shrine has been trig out and we’ve been receiving a steady influx of new recruits from the poorer parts of town. There was an enormous amount of petition for spots to access the shrine. Many of them think it was a oime deal and those that didn’t make it are emoting a lot of despair, frustration, or feelings like it was all a waste of time. Perhaps you could mention that you will do another css adva when they’re ready?” Mieriel said. “I mean if you’re ok doing another one, of course.”

  “I see.” It certainly expined some of the plex looks she had gotten from the uncssed recruits.

  Shouldn’t be difficult and the mana demand isn’t much of an issue either, she thought. She had already decided that sharing her shrine was one way she wished to make a differen town, and she was rather grateful that someone like Vivian was so ied in helping the novices grow in productive dires.

  She didn’t bother answering Mieriel any further, knowing the Elf would simply read her ambieional state a her ahat way. Instead, she floated over to where Vivian was ing up.

  “And this is Aliandra, everyone. For those who haven’t met her, she’s one of our silver-ranked adventurers, and she ran the css adva yesterday.” Vivian introduced Ali without mentioning her css, even though it should be obvious.

  Ali o the group, hearing murmurs and versation spring up at her introdu. She smiled at a few familiar faces, Havok, Basil, Seth, Aiden, Willow… in fact, all the bronze adventurers seemed happy to see her. Even the newly cssed Sabri and Brena were grinning, which had been a worry for Ali after the trauma they had both experienced.

  “Guildmaster,” Ali said, usiitle in front of the guild. “I just wao let you know the shrine will probably be recharged enough to use again in a week.” Multiple sharp inhales around the room made her pause. Even she seheir desperation, their hunger. “Perhaps not for as big a group, but for any of the recruits that are ready by then. Just let me know if there are any emergency cases like Sabri who on short notice – robably squeeze them in earlier if we o.”

  “Thank you, Aliandra,” Vivian said, and theurned and addressed the group again. “You heard her, those of you who didn’t make it will have another a week. Focus hard on your training with Malika today and I’ll evaluate you all over the week. For those of you who are team leaders and provisional leaders, I want you all to make time for ’s lectures wheurns. That way your teams be more like the successful Ahn Khen disciples and less like the meraries that got crushed. That is all.”

  The group immediately broke up into smaller groups and the guild hall filled with a busy otion. It was really beginning to feel like a pruild with so many people in it.

  Seth

  Seth lurked by the guild jobs board, keeping mostly to himself. There were a few people in the guild ted him – his own team, the Guildmaster, and the administrator. Also, Aliandra aeam had been very kind to him. But the room was filled with strangers, and many of them eyed him warily. Especially after the act with the zombie.

  He studied the jobs board, a little anxious to get out of the room a some quiet and space. There were several jobs reted to killing undead and clearing blight with the cos the herbalists and alchemists had e up with, but for those he would need his team, and they were taking a break for a day or two. Surprisingly, killing other undead was quite difficult for his css and abilities – he had to his Votile Wraith skill entirely, given that death magic typically healed zombies and skeletons.

  His eyes passed over a spider kill quest, an herb colle quest, and a few equipment purchase orders, not finding anything particurly exg.

  In the background, he overheard Aliandra calling out, “Hey Mato, while you’re off fing with Basil, I’m looking for spiders. If you find any and briheir corpses, that would be very helpful.”

  “Ok, no problem,” the rge Beastkin answered, waving.

  Aliandra, and Mato. The two of them had rescued him from the sewer and basically handed him a new life here at the guild. His eyes returo the spider kill quest.

  Sure, why not? He reached out and took it, turning to find Mieriel a her know. It didn’t pay well, but it was a job he could do solo, now that he had reached level fourteen – and he could do it at night when nobody would bother him and his skeletons. Ever since he had started using the life drain of his votile wraiths, he found he needed less and less sleep because of the rejuvenation effect they granted him.

  If she wants spiders, I collee.

  He sighed, wishing not for the first time that life had not turned out quite like this. At least his css let him work alone when he needed space – such a big cloud had to have at least a little silver lining, right?

  Aliandra

  Ali left the busy guild hall by herself. Mato and Basil had headed off to go hunting some fire-affinity pnts in the mountains, and Malika was still at the guild teag bat training csses to the recruits.

  She was a little anxious about walking around town without her friends, givearget painted on her back by the criminal anizations, but she had two Kobolds and a level thirty Luminous Slime following her around, and she could sense her ‘moss muns’ – as Mato had taken to calling the Moss Creepers – lurking in the sewer below, in range of an emergency teleport in case things got out of hand.

  It was a bright and sunny day, and the town bustled with activity. Ali stopped at a street vendor, drawn by the aroma and sizzle spiced meat. She purchased two skewers, st one in her ring for ter, and nibbled oasty snack as she tinued onward through the market district.

  She turned a er finding a busker sitting on the side of the street. A youthful-looking girl who had a sound-magic affinity, a small carpet, and a colle bowl. Curious, Ali stopped, still enjoying the tasty skewer.

  And then the girl began to sing.

  Ali stared, spellbound for the entire song. The girl sang several voices simultaneously; bass, alto, and soprano, and she even sang the flute apa in a fwless cert. It was not just the sublime sound of her voices; Ali could see the music flowing from her throat and chest in the vibrations and harmonies within the mana she wielded. A beautiful story of love lost, tragic despair, and then at the brink, a blossoming of ued new love.

  She found herself g without restraint at the clusion of the song, and she was not the only one, a crowd had formed during the show without her notig. Amid the cheers aement, Ali flew over and dropped a rge silver pie the colle bowl, thanking the girl for her performance.

  Eventually, Ali found herself on the familiar Artisan’s Row, and just a few moments ter she pushed open the door to Lydia’s Allure, finding Lydia herself seated at the desk.

  “Hi Aliandra,” she said, greeting her as she entered with her Kobolds. She left the slime outside just in case it would mess up the floor or brush against the clothing dispys.

  Tailor – Human – level 62.

  “Hi Lydia, I see you leveled up again,” Ali answered.

  “Yes,” she said, a sad look fshing across her face before she repced it with a smile. “Though it’s slowed down a lot. What I do for you today?”

  “I have a big favor to ask,” Ali said. Lydia’s eyes lit up with just a hint of her previous curiosity aement. “I need a bunch of robes with fire resistantments made.”

  Her fastantly fell. “I already told I ’t make them; he asked me the other day. I would have thought he told you.”

  “Oh, he did,” Ali said, retrieving the tail book from her ring. “He took Ryn to Ciradyl, and she found this in the library for you. Well, she found the inal in Elvish and I tra.” She offered the book to Lydia.

  Lydia’s eyes widened as she saw what Ali offered. “This… is this a book on Tail Entments?”

  “Yup,” Ali grinned. “I just hope it has the right information for you to figure them out. Do you mind giving it a try?”

  “You do know this is illegal, right?” Despite the tart response, Lydia snatched the book up, immediately opening it and reag for some paper and a pencil. “Let me copy the entment quickly so you have your book back.”

  “That’s your copy,” Ali said. “I only he fire resistantment, but I do hope you find the rest of it helpful.”

  Lydia looked dumbstruck, pencil paused in mid-air, staring as if Ali had just jured something unimaginable. Actually, given the iron grip the Guild of Tailors kept on information across the human kingdoms, produg a book on tail entments robably more ued than her sprouting a sed head. Hmm. Now she had lots of ideas, and some involved sending monstrous books to bite her enemies…

  “This is way too valuable to just give away,” Lydia finally managed, holding it as if it might actally break or fly away.

  “Just thank . He’s the ohat earned a Pathfinder Guild membership and access to Ciradyl’s library.” It certainly had been an enormous boost to her efforts to rebuild the library, and she was rather enjoying the surprise she had created for Lydia. “Besides, this isn’t giving away. It’s passing a book to a friend.”

  After moving through a series of plex emotions Ali could irely follow, Lydia’s face finally shifted back to her normal shrewd business-like expression and said, “Like you had nothing to do with it. Thank you for this priceless gift – I’ll begin studying the fire entments immediately. I’ll leave a message with Mieriel if I make any breakthroughs.”

  Ali smiled and said goodbye and Lydia immediately put up a ‘closed for lunch’ sign in the window as she left to head back.

  She was serious about the immediate part, she thought with a smile. Books are seriously iious.

  Mato

  It felt good to be on the move again, to be doing something instead of forever waiting. He was waiting for his friend to return from Ciradyl, he was waiting for Thuli to make his armor, he was waiting for the others to find fire resista was an endless wait while the fme elementals and the Emberfe Mines simply sat there unchallenged.

  Mato desperately o do something.

  Now that all the farms and farmers had been cleared of the blight, he had found himself to be a little bored. More than a little, actually. His aura owerful, but up against the vastness of the entire blighted forest, it would be insignifit. Instead, the Guildmaster po build up the bronze-ranked adventurers and use the quest system to hunt abominations in the blighted forest and protect the farms that way. Ohey tracked down the Blighted Patchwork Horrors, he might be useful again.

  More waiting.

  He had spent quite a lot of the time studying within Lira’s tree, or in his own Tree Form but, while it roductive, he still missed the rush of bat or even just the sense of being able to do something productive.

  He took a deep breath of fresh air. Basil led the the rocky pass far into the mountains above Myrin’s Keep. The young herbalist reminded him a lot of when they were younger – shy and quiet. But he was exceptionally smart and knowledgeable about his pnts, and the mome going on his passion, he had a lot to say.

  Right now, he was talking about fire resistaions, and nts were o make them. Mato listened, fasated by the intricate ways in which the natural bounty of life and growth was crafted into something potent. He was not personally ied in crafting, but like any ecosystem, growth would lead to ge, and the effects would ripple throughout the system. Ohey found the proper pnts, he would try and help Ali grow them in the dungeon, and the effects on the herbalist and alchemist crafters would be the direct result of their introdu of the new species.

  And then we fight the dungeon.

  Basil had reached level fourteen already, but the hike would have still been impossible for him alone. Most of the mohey entered along the way Mato could scare off with a roar, but occasionally he had to fight off the more insistent ones, and even a level ten monster could quite easily kill someone like Basil who had a non-bat css.

  “I think we’re close,” Basil said, and indeed, Mato could feel the heat building through the rock beh his feet.

  “Up over that rise?” Mato asked.

  “Yes,” Basil said. “At least, acc to the dires Eliyen gave me.”

  Mato crested the rise and looked down into a small ravine. Waves of heat rose into the air, making it shimmer. It would be a rough dest doweep, scree-covered slope, but they had certainly found their goal.

  “It’s called the Hellmouth,” Basil said, gng at his notes. “Or the Devil’s Crack. Also, Fire Elemental’s Piic.”

  “That’s colorful,” Mato grinned. “I guess it depends on who you ask? This would be a great pce to grill some meat skewers.” There was a deep fissure in the cliffside that glowed red with radia. A slow viscous flow of va seeped out of the fissure, pooling below at the base of the ravine before dripping over the far edge to somewhere unseen.

  “Look, things are growing down there,” Basil excimed excitedly, clearly not pig up on the idea of pausing for a snack.

  Mato squinted his skill-enhanced eyes in the dire he pointed and saw some kind of climbing pnt growing up the cliffs beside the radiating fissure, sp red flowers. There was something else too, a kind of ground cover sproutiween the rocks beside the va pool. “Looks like we found the right pce.”

  “Yes!” Basil answered.

  “Grab on,” Mato said, switg to Bear Form and using his weight and strength to offer Basil something stable to hold on to for the climb down the ravihey cmbered over boulders, slipping occasionally on the loose jagged stone, but they made it to the bottom with only minor cuts and scrapes that were quickly healed by his regeion aura.

  “Look! Fire Grass!” Basil rushed forward to look at a clump of what seemed to be grass, either unaware or ung of the seari radiating from the va pool. Immediately, he reached down to the pnts, pulling out some tools to gather them.

  He gets this excited rass? Mato ambled along behind, remaining close enough to ensure his regeion aura would repair any of the burns he sustained. Fwaugh, now that’s a whiff of sulfur! He sneezed eically.

  Fire Grass – level 15

  The little scrubby pnts were perfectly normal clumps of grass, aside from the fact that the bdes were red and wreathed in dang fme. Basil hissed as he got his fingers seared, but he was determio dig up that clump.

  “What do you use this for?” Mato asked, croug down and examining the strange-looking grass. The fmes seemed to dandlessly without ing the leaves.

  “Well, you asked about fire resistaions. This would be one of the more useful ingredients to have in rge quantities. It’s difficult to harvest because it burns… ow!” He snatched his freshly blistered hand away, but he reached for it again. “It only grows in areas with fire-affinity mana, so it’s normally quite rare. As you imagi doesn’t keep loher, once removed from its native enviro.”

  “How do you normally harvest this stuff?” Mato asked, curious how the herbalists handled dangerous affinities.

  “I brought health potions,” Basil answered.

  “Well, that’s… a way, I guess?” Mato said. He had expected something a little more… sophisticated.

  As Basil dug around in the scorched earth, Mato redirected the damage from the fmes to himself, earning a grateful gnce. Basil worked quickly and soon had the clump of grass ed and stored.

  “I’d like to collect a few extra so that Eliyen use whatever Ali doesn’t need,” Basil said, hunting around for some more. “Do you want to learn how to gather them?”

  “Sure.”

  “Here, use this, it will help you learn the skill.” Basil retrieved a small silver trowel with a wooden handle and ha to him.

  Novice’s Gathering Trowel – level 3A basic tool fging up pnts. +1 tathering skill.Requirements: Wisdom 10Ented by Eliyen Mistwood.Main Hand – Gardening Tool

  Basil was a remarkably good instructor, fidently demonstrating and expining what he was doing with simple and easy-to-uand cepts. When Mato made his first attempt, Basil corrected a few things and the him collect as many as he could, while expining other aspects of gathering, the history, and subtle details of the herbalist arts of colleg iing and useful pnts.

  When they finally had about twenty samples stored, Basil stopped. “I want to see what that is growing up the cliff face.” He got up and scampered over to get a closer look while Mato finished up his gathering.

  Mato whipped his head around at the sound of a sudden scared yelp and saw Basil thrashing and grabbing at rocks while being dragged toward the va by several vine-like tendrils.

  Fme Lasher – Pnt – level 32

  Mato roared, transf into his Bear Form. Dropping the st clump of Fire Grass he had harvested, he charged inte, barely in time to redirect the damage from Basil as he fell into the va pool with an agonized scream, saving him from a crispy death. The vines were ected to the pnt growing up the cliff face, many of its tendrils extending below the surface of the va. It was a thick, ropy-looking pnt, with a reddish-brown bark-like texture, and all along the vine grew tiny flowers made entirely from fme.

  Way too te, Mato realized that the strange, bed shapes ed up in the vines along the cliff face were the charred skeletal remains of several animals. He plunged his head into the va, ign the surge of pain, and bit down hard on Basil’s leg, redireg the damage he inflicted baself along with the tinuous use of Arboreal Sanctuary to keep Basil alive in the va. His owh plummeted as he shouldered the damage for both of them. He growled his frustration and hauled as hard as he could. Even with his enormous strength, the Fme Lasher resisted with a surprising amount of power, but their tug-of-war ended in a great ripping sound as several of the attached vines split and tore. Basil shot up out of the va with a sug sound and nded on the rock with a yelp, clearly shocked to still be alive while spping the remains of the vines and molten rock off his arms and legs.

  Blinded and nearly deafened by having dunked his head in the va, Mato charged the Fme Lasher by memory, but he was immediately intercepted by a tentacle of va shing out of the pool and striking him heavily on the fnk.

  He Identified the attack using his Survival Instinct.

  Lava Lurker – Ooze – level 36

  Another searing strike came for him, and he blocked reflexively, wing as the scorg ooze seared his hide with the heavy impact. But the newer had not disced the Fme Lasher in the slightest, and Mato felt the rapid whipping strikes shing at him from a distance.

  Blinded as he was, he khe ratacks would be a problem, but he had to deal with the onsught of fire damage from the ooze first. He roared, taunting both moo attack him, and not be distracted by the easier target Basil presented nearby. Then he burned some of his owh to power his Bestial bat and struck at the amorphous blob of va i oing him. The health cost was a risky move, but as soon as his cws ripped through the heavy, viscous body of the ooze, he felt the wele surge of his Brutal Restoration kig in and beginning to heal him.

  Perhaps I should have waited for my fire resistance armor before taking a dip in the va. It was a bizarre and uniquely unfortable sensation to feel his eyes regrowing, but one he was unfortunately quite familiar with by now. He struck again and again, his attacks being more effective as first his hearing and then his eyesight returned.

  He blocked several whip strikes from the sher – scorched lines of burnt flesh and fur that he took across his shoulders – and then swiped one more time at the ooze.

  “On your left!” Basil yelled.

  Survival Instinct suddenly registered an attack from his direato ig, fog on blog the much more dangerous coiling limb from the rge blob of animated va in front of him. A small gss vial arced overhead and came down on the rock beside him, shattering in an explosion of id frost that leached the heat out of the enviro rapidly. The cold bit into his hide damaging him, but the effe the ooze was far more dramatic. It recoiled, parts of its body bing and crag.

  Seizing the opportunity, Mato powered his attack to the maximum and unleashed his retaliatory battle master strike. His cws shredded through the ooze, shattering the bed pieces and tearing it almost in half, spraying ks of rapidly gealing va in all dires. It colpsed, sptting against the ground to the sound of a soft chime, and he whirled about and charged the Fme Lasher over by the rocky cliff, ign the whip strikes of its vines.

  Without its ally, and without the ability to move, the vine oor matato’s abilities. Swipe tore into the fire pnt, ripping it from the cliff and shredding it until it ceased moving.

  “What did you do?” Mato asked as he reverted to his normal form.

  “Frost bomb potion,” Basil answered. “It’s pretty weak, but I think the va ooze was vulnerable to cold.”

  “You just happeo have oh you?”

  “No, I made it. I packed some things in case the fire roblem.”

  “It worked pretty well,” Mato said. For a non-bat css, Basil certainly had good instincts. Presumably from his practice with his bronze-rank adventurer group, fighting in Ali’s sewer, and all the training Vivian had been iing in them.

  “We should definitely collect this,” Basil said, bending down to examihe remains of the Fme Lasher, his voice filled with excitement and awe.

  “That thing almost killed you, remember?” Basil had lost half his health while he had been taking care of the ooze and the sher, but he just downed a health potion and remained close to Mato while studying the pnt.

  “These are incredibly rare fire pnts,” Basil tinued, more or less ign Mato in his excitement. “They’re impossible to cultivate and hard to find. Did you know their flowers be used for some very powerful reagents and tinctures? The engineers and alchemists in town are going to love Ali if she grow these. Eliyen too – she will make a fortune refining the essences and reselling them to the crafters.” Then his mouth twisted into a wry smile, “Well, she’ll most likely make me do it, she doesn’t like fire.”

  “Ok, you collect those. I’m going tee our health.”

  Pausing briefly to store the corpse of the Lava Lurker, knowing Ali would probably like it, he shifted into his Tree Form, boosting his regeion aura substantially. In the cool serenity, he ranged out with his pnt senses, log a couple more vines for them to colled taking a moment to check his notifications.

  Yroup has defeated Lava Lurker – Ooze – level 36Yroup has defeated Fme Lasher – Pnt – level 32

  Arboreal Sanctuary has reached level 30.Swipe has reached level 29.Survival Instinct has reached level 20.

  You have learned a new general skill: Herb Gathering.Herb Gathering has reached level 1.Herb Gathering – level 1Mana: Your knowledge of botany and pnts allows you to use your mana to properly harvest many pnts for use in herbalism and alchemical potions. Skill increases the range of pnts you harvest, and the speed and quality of your work.Wisdom

  Aah, that should help me make tastier food, he thought, imagining rubbing his tummy in happy anticipation. All this jumping into va sure made a Beastkin hungry.

  ----------

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