Sovereign (The Gods' Game, Volume IV)
Page 5
He tore his gaze away from her rapier—still embedded in the creature’s head—to see how the rest of the party fared. Behind him, Gaesin and Aiken were backed up against a tree and facing off against four more serpents.
One snake lay on the ground, frozen into immobility by Aiken’s jade bite, while another was writhing in agony. Its head was pinned in place by Aiken’s heavy paw as his jaws bit down and tore away flesh with every bite.
Gaesin had recovered from the initial ambush and was surrounded by a flickering magic shield. Throwing ice bolts at the creatures, he kept them at bay. The serpents hissed with a mix of fury and fear. They seemed to dread the icy touch of the frozen bolts, and were doing their best to avoid them altogether.
The pair had drawn the brunt of the assault. Gaesin landed another attack.
Gaesin’s ice bolt has hit a forest serpent for 60 damage (+50% damage). Remaining 240 / 300 HP.
A forest serpent is frozen (duration: 1.5 seconds).
Gaesin’s attacks made clear that cold was a better weapon against the snakes. Letting the weaves of shocking hands dissipate, he activated freezing hands and frosted his mageblade with gleaming snow-white icicles.
Another serpent dropped down from the trees above the beleaguered pair, and before Aiken could react it wrapped its length around the bear.
A forest serpent has trapped Aiken within its grasp (debuff: strangled, damage: 30 HP per second).
Aiken huffed in pain, and swung his head around to bite down on the serpent, but even though his jaw clamped down hard on the creature, Aiken failed to dislodge the serpent.
Sharp, biting fear for Aiken cut at Kyran. “Go—” he shouted to Mirien, but when he glanced her way, he saw she was already gone. His eyes fixed on the beast suffocating Aiken, Kyran began his own attack and spun weaves of psi into a mind shock.
Kyran’s mind shock has hit a forest serpent for 50 damage. Remaining: 250 / 300 HP.
Right when his mind shock crashed into the snake, Mirien emerged from the shadows behind Aiken and stabbed down into the snake.
Aiken’s rending bite has hit a forest serpent for 47 damage Remaining: 203 / 300 HP.
Mirien’s flurry of blows has hit a forest serpent for 105 piercing damage (15 resisted). Remaining: 78 / 300 HP.
Mirien’s psionic blades have hit a forest serpent for 120 psi damage.
Mirien has killed a forest serpent.
Beset on three fronts, the serpent succumbed to the storm of blows. Kyran sagged in relief as the creature’s lifeless coils dropped free from Aiken.
“Kyran, watch out!” shouted Gaesin.
The half-elf’s warning was too late. Before Kyran could react, he was clasped fast in the suffocating grip of yet another serpent.
A forest serpent has trapped Kyran within its grasp (debuff: strangled, damage: 30 HP per second).
The air was forcefully expelled out of him as the snake tightened its hold, squeezing him so hard it seemed his bones would be crushed. His vision clouded with a red haze of pain and he cried out in agony.
Fighting the crippling pain, he tried to think. His sword and hands were clamped to his sides and no help. Straining, he pulled together tendrils of psi, and after dropping into the mindscape, he launched them in a churning ball of energy against the serpent’s mind.
Kyran’s mind shock has hit a forest serpent for 48 psi damage. Remaining: 252 / 300 HP.
The serpent seemed to flinch from the attack, but a moment later it coiled its body tighter around Kyran. With no more breath even to cry out, Kyran gritted his teeth and fought to maintain enough concentration to recast.
Kyran has been dealt 203 cumulative damage (37 resisted) by a forest serpent’s strangling grasp. Remaining: 87 / 320 HP.
His vision blurred and dots began to swim in front of his eyes. No, no, no, he thought weakly as his consciousness started to fade and the weaves slipped uncast from his grasp. The party was aware of his plight, though.
Gaesin’s ice bolt has hit a forest serpent for 70 damage (+50% damage). Remaining: 182 / 300 HP.
A forest serpent is frozen (duration: 1.5 seconds).
Adra’s dual strikes has hit a forest serpent for 108 piercing damage (12 resisted). Remaining: 74 / 300 HP.
Aiken has critically hit a forest serpent for 83 damage.
A forest serpent has died.
The coils around him froze then shattered. Dropping to his knees, Kyran heaved in deep gulps of air. “Thanks,” he wheezed to Adra and Aiken standing guard over him.
He had been foolish in so focusing on his companion’s plight that he had forgotten the threats around himself.
Kyran dug his hands into Aiken’s fur, and with the bear’s help pushed himself onto shaky legs. “Status?” he mumbled, still struggling to regain his equilibrium.
“Gaesin and Mirien are finishing off the last few snakes,” answered Adra. “The rest appear… asleep.” She looked at him questioningly.
“Not asleep,” he replied, his voice steadier now. “Calmed. The ones in the trees escaped the spell’s effect.”
Adra nodded. “Are you alright? Do you need healing?”
“I’ll be fine in a bit,” he said.
Adra bit her lip, then burst out. “Kyran, I’m sorry. I don’t know how I missed the serpents. I should have spotted them earlier.”
Before Kyran could reply, Mirien—walking up from behind the wolven—answered. “Don’t beat yourself up, Adra. Forest serpents are nearly impossible to spot when they are motionless, even for the most eagled-eye of rangers.”
“But—”
“Stop, Adra,” said Kyran gently. “As Mirien said, it’s not your fault.”
Adra bowed her head and said no more.
Kyran straightened and looked around. Six serpent bodies lay lifeless on the ground. Another five—calmed and coiled—dotted the forest floor. He approached the closest one and, crouching down, studied it intently.
The creature’s green and brown scales had changed colour again, and so closely mimicked the background that, even though Kyran knew the serpent was there, he could barely make out its form. Only its glassy eyes gave it away.
He shuddered. In the forest, its skin made a very effective camouflage. Reaching out with tendrils of will, he cast insight on the creature.
Creature: Forest serpent. Type: Beast.
Level: 25. Health: 300. Rarity: Uncommon.
Attack: 25-30 (piercing).
Defences: Physical (40), psi (25), spell (25).
Traits and abilities:
Snake bite: Paralyses the victim.
Strangling grasp: Suffocates prey enclosed within its coils.
Adaptative scales: When the serpent is motionless, its scales changes colour to reflect the surroundings.
Armoured scales: +50% resistance to physical damage.
Dark mind: The serpent’s mind is a dark void, nearly undetectable in the mindscape.
Description:
Forest serpents, while not the biggest dangers in Crotana, infest the wilds of the Elder Forest. They are deadly predators in their own right and are not usually spotted until they attack.
Beast bonding probability:
You have a 95% probability of forming a beast bond with this creature (an effective skill level of 50.8 against a forest serpent’s psi defence of 25).
“Mirien, Adra,” he called, “keep watch please. I am going to befriend the serpents.”
“We should skin the hides and collect the venom of the dead ones as well,” said Mirien. “Both will be valuable.”
Kyran glanced at Adra. “Adra, is your nature lore up to the task?”
“It is.”
“Alright, let’s be about it, then. The quicker we’re done here, the better.”
✽✽✽
Battle Log (Forest Serpent Ambush)
The battle has ended.
Combat results
Creatures bonded: 5 of 11 forest serpents.
Hostiles killed: 6 of 11.
&nbs
p; Levels gained
Kyran: 1 level (9 SP, 2 AP). New combat level: Level 30.
Adra: 1 level. New combat level: Level 27.
Gaesin: 1 level. New combat level: Level 26.
Aiken: 1 level. New combat level: Level 28.
Items acquired
6 x forest serpent hides.
6 x forest serpent toxin.
Chapter 3
30 Octu 2603 AB
Undeath is a curse only the foolish crave. Most undead are mindless, and those that aren’t are bound to the site of their unholy birth, be this a city, a town, or even a single abode. ‘Haunts’ they are called, and aptly so. —Xen Lize, high priest of Balkar.
A little later, with their tasks at the ambush site completed, the party was back on the move. This time, however, they were accompanied by five forest serpents.
Adra was scouting out front again while Mirien watched their backtrail. At the centre of the party’s formation, Kyran travelled in worg-form with Aiken, Gaesin, and the serpents.
Kyran has shifted into a worg.
Woodsman has been deactivated.
He had realised after the ambush that, in the forest’s dense underbrush, the party could not depend on Adra’s senses alone; the party would be better served with him travelling as a worg.
An errant breeze carried the scent of the serpents to him, and he wrinkled his nose in renewed disgust. His new travelling companions, though, made him question the wisdom of his choice.
Unwilling, his gaze flickered upwards, and his sharp worg-eyes picked out the serpents’ forms as they slithered through the branches.
His new pets disturbed him. Turning his attention inwards, he studied the recent Game logs once more.
You have failed to befriend a forest serpent.
You have failed to befriend a forest serpent.
You have failed to befriend a forest serpent.
You have successfully beast bonded a forest serpent.
Kyran’s ears drooped unhappily. Every attempt he had made at befriending the forest serpents had resulted in failure and in the end, he had resorted to using beast bonding instead.
The snakes’ minds were disturbingly blank, void of any of the normal emotions he had come to expect from the creatures he bonded. He couldn’t even sense hatred or rage from them.
In the mindscape, their consciousnesses were islands of barren emptiness that repulsed him, and only by biting down hard on his own instinctive revulsion had he been able to attempt befriending the serpents.
After consecutive failures—more from his inability to find common ground between him and the creatures than from lack of psi strength—he had subjugated the snakes to his will with beast bonding.
Yet even now, with the five creatures bonded, he found himself unconsciously drawing back from the tethers that leashed their cold minds to his own. Aiken, too, had been similarly affected. The bear had flatly refused any form of contact with the creatures, leaving Kyran to struggle on his own in communicating any orders.
Given his failure to befriend the snakes, Kyran was unsurprised when his attempts to learn the serpent’s form had also failed.
You cannot learn the beastform of a forest serpent. Your karma and the forest serpent’s are misaligned.
For all its apparent elusiveness, it seemed karma played a big role in the Game. It influenced not only whom he could take on as vassals, but also what beasts he could befriend. What else does it influence?
At a tortured howl from the forest depths, Kyran’s attention returned to his surroundings. He paused, one foreleg raised and worg ears swivelling to the left.
He waited, but the howl did not repeat, and a moment later he realised it was too distant to be of concern to the party. Kyran had learned over the past few hours that startling and inexplicable noises were common in the forest and nothing to worry about, yet he still could not help tensing at the random shrieks and cries.
This forest is going to take some getting used to, and I need to keep my wits about me. Alert once more, he scanned the encroaching trees attentively as they journeyed deeper.
✽✽✽
Near noon, the party encountered their next obstacle. “Stop, Kyran,” said Adra.
Kyran halted. “What is it, Adra?”
“There is a river up ahead, wide and fast-flowing.”
“A river? Can we get across?”
“The river is not the problem,” Adra replied with a mental shake of the head. “There is a ford, but it is occupied by a herd of ivoranors.”
“What are ivoranors?” asked Kyran, his nose wrinkling in confusion.
“Four-footed brutes, armoured in ivory, and the size of Aiken,” Adra explained. “The beasts are camped along the bank of the river and spread out into the ford itself.”
Kyran dipped into the mindscape, but he could not see the herd. They were likely still out of reveal beast’s range.
“What’s wrong?” asked Mirien, shadow stepping into Kyran, Aiken, and Gaesin’s midst.
“Adra’s run across a herd of ivoranors,” said Gaesin. “A large one, by the sounds of it.” While Gaesin filled Mirien in on the details, Kyran shifted.
“Can we chase off the beasts?” he asked once he was back in elven-form.
“We could, but it is probably not worth the trouble,” Mirien said. “Ivoranors don’t normally stay in one place for long.” She pursed her lips. “It may be better to wait for the herd to pass. What did Adra say?”
“She’s on her way back now,” said Kyran, sensing her approach through the battlegroup.
A few moments later, Adra dropped down from the trees to rejoin the party. “The herd is larger than I first thought,” she began without preamble. “There are a few hundred of them gathered ahead.”
“That many?” asked a startled Mirien. “That’s an unusually large herd.”
Adra nodded. “I was surprised too. I recounted their numbers to be certain.” She paused. “They have blocked off the ford completely.”
“Why would so many be gathered together?” murmured Mirien absently.
Kyran shot her a questioning glance, but the whiesper’s gaze had already turned inwards and she didn’t notice. Turning to Adra, he asked, “How do we get across the river?”
“I’m not sure,” she admitted. “We can’t use the ford—not until the herd leaves. While ivoranors are not overly aggressive, they will not let us approach too closely. Our only option is to follow the river and find another ford.”
He frowned. Marching up and down the riverbanks and searching for another crossing did not appeal to him. It would likely be dangerous, too. The ivoranors, he suspected, were not the only forest creatures drawn to the water’s edge. “How wide is the river?”
“Too wide to swim across, if that is what you are thinking,” Adra replied. “We could try building a raft. But”—she shot a glance at Aiken—“we will need a pretty big one, and the currents will make such a crossing dangerous.”
“Did you see anything unusual?” asked Mirien, re-joining the conversation.
“No,” said Adra with a shake of her head. “The surrounding forests were quiet and there were no predators lurking about.” She fell silent. “Which, come to think of it, is a bit odd. Considering how densely packed the ivoranors were in the ford, I expected to see some signs of predators.” She frowned. “I’ve never seen an ivoranor herd huddled together like that before either.”
Mirien’s brows crinkled in thought. “Now what would cause them to do that…” she mused.
“Mirien?” Kyran prompted when it looked like she might fall silent again. She glanced at him. “Any ideas on how we might get across?” he asked.
She frowned unhappily. “There aren’t many rivers that run through the Elder Forest, but those that do run fast and deep. The ford up ahead may be the only safe crossing for days in either direction.”
Kyran sighed. It was not what he wanted to hear. “How do we continue our journey north, then?”
“
It would be best to wait for the herd to wander away, then cross over,” said Mirien, reiterating her earlier advice—though this time she appeared less sure of herself.
Adra had no such doubts. “I agree. The ivoranors will have to move off soon or risk attracting predators.”
“But what about the herd’s strange behaviour?” asked Gaesin with a puzzled frown. “Do we know what drew them to gather in such numbers?”
All eyes swung to Mirien. She bit her lip. “I don’t know,” she admitted.
Kyran pondered their options. “Alright,” he said, coming to a decision. “We’ll wait for the herd to leave before attempting the ford. In the meantime, let’s get closer and find a safe spot to observe the beasts. Maybe then we can learn more.”
✽✽✽
A few hours later, the ivoranors had still not moved.
The party was concealed in a deep ditch within the forest clearing that bordered the ford. The herd was only a few hundred yards away, occupying the ford and overflowing onto the riverbanks.
Despite the growing shadows and the rapidly darkening sky, the beasts showed no sign of moving. Do they mean to stay in the ford through the night? Kyran wondered. He glanced at Adra and Mirien.
The pair were perched on the ditch’s edges. Appearing just as puzzled by the ivoranors’ behaviour, they restlessly scanned the surrounding trees. Both wolven and elf were clearly agitated by the proximity of the beasts.
Adra had told him repeatedly over the past few hours that ivoranors were nomadic, and that the party need only be patient. The herd would leave soon, she insisted. But the creatures seemed determined to prove her wrong.
“Do we camp here for the night?” Kyran finally asked. It was already too dark to continue.
Adra turned his way. “We can’t,” she said reluctantly. “The herd is too close. They will attract predators tonight.” She sighed. “We will have to retreat, perhaps even to the forest’s edge again.”