Around thirty minutes later, Pahan crested a hill, and Seth caught sight of Aurora and Ivon walking down a dirt path. Deep gouges were cut into the road where many wagon wheels had passed, but Seth didn’t see any other people.
As he and Pahan approached, Ivon smiled and waved his hand while Aurora stood and watched silently. Seth hopped off Pahan’s back when the lion stopped. He wasn’t sure what to say so just led with, “Hello, glad you guys made it away from the city okay.” His mental translation magic swapped in something meaning healthy for the okay.
Aurora smiled tightly, and Ivon walked up, throwing his arms around Seth in an excited hug. “I know we just met, boy, but I’m glad to see you! After that mage struck, Aurora here ran over and picked up your charred husk and started running. I was flabbergasted until she explained about the adventurer blood. I didn’t think I’d live to see the day that the adventurer race returned.”
Aurora subtly nodded, and Seth took it to mean that he could trust Ivon. He said, “We really couldn’t have made it out without your help, by the way, this is Pahan.” Seth gestured to the big lion and felt a little foolish. Obviously, Ivon could see the giant white lion standing just feet away.
Pahan’s voice interjected into Seth’s thoughts, and from the Ivon’s flinch, Seth assumed his too,
Chapter 19
Aurora and Ivon filled Seth and Pahan in as they walked. Their plan was to try and link up with Ramses, the commander of the Vardon Adventurers’ Guild headquarters. Ivon hadn’t lied to Ybarra, he really didn’t know where the commander had gone, but both Ivon and Aurora agreed that the best place to start was at one of the adventurer guild safehouses near the city.
Apparently, the guild kept small properties all around the country in case guild members were traveling for their work and needed somewhere to stay. The locations of many of these were only known to guild members, so they hoped Ybarra hadn’t laid any traps at the one they were heading to.
On the subject of Ybarra, Seth asked, “What was with that guy? Did you guys feel…” He was about to describe how terrified he’d felt in the man’s presence, but then thought that may make him sound weak, and he was already self-conscious that the two of them were so much stronger than him, so he continued, “any strange feelings around him?”
Aurora and Ivon both nodded, and the knight said, “I do think he was doing something to my mind. I felt much more scared of him than I think was warranted, spooky graveyard church or not.”
Ivon said, “Seth, Aurora told me about your boon while you were…away.” Seth looked at Aurora, but she just shrugged in half apology. Ivon said, “Well, she didn’t just blabber it son, I asked her how you pulled a sword from thin air in the fight on the wall! And why your armor just completely disappeared for a moment! D’ya think I’m dense?” Seth felt a little embarrassed, but Ivon continued before he could respond. “Anyway, I think perhaps that Ybarra fellow might also have some kind of boon that lets him toy with the fear response of other people. I felt it, too, but only very strongly when I made eye contact with him.”
It made sense, and Seth’s mind instantly jumped to wondering if Ybarra was an adventurer like him. Seth asked, “How common are boons here?”
Aurora answered, “Quite rare, but not unheard of. Typically, one must do something spectacular in service of a specific god to be granted a boon. Are you wondering if he’s from your world?”
“Wow, are you reading my mind?” he asked before continuing, “I was thinking exactly that. I’m not really sure how we could tell if he was though.”
Pahan’s voice broke in to all of their minds, Seth said, “Wait, for real?” He turned back to look at the big lion following them.
Seth was shocked at how quickly he lost sight of the old man, and a little jealous at how confidently and quietly he strode through the underbrush. Seth ended up walking next to Pahan, and they passed the time by talking about Earth. The lion had seemingly endless questions, from asking what kind of animals lived there to wanting to know everything about technology, like cars and planes. He almost seemed offended that humans “ride on metal machines instead of riding on proper mounts,” but he didn’t come out and say it.
Around an hour into the journey, Aurora held up her hand to signal the group to stop. It took Seth a moment to realize what her pose meant, and as it finally dawned on him, an enormous bird stepped out through a large clump of vines hanging off the husk of a dead tree. It stood at least nine feet tall, standing taller than even Pahan, and looked like some kind of multi-colored ostrich or emu.
The bird’s body was a shade of baby blue, bright feathers as long as Seth’s arm coating its bulk. Towards the beast’s neck the feathers turned a bright blue, and then white as they went up its neck. Its head was covered in fiery red feathers, and its black eyes looked void of all emotion.
Pahan stepped forward, intent on putting himself between the humans and the massive bird, but the creature kept its gaze fixed squarely on Seth. Without any audible warning it suddenly charged. Pahan reared up, ready to smack the ostrich with a huge white paw, claws extended, but the bird ran right through him, momentarily turning the lion into a puff of white smoke as it thundered in Seth’s direction.
Just as the monster was about to reach him, Seth heard Aurora’s shout skill go off, and the beast turned incredibly sharply, somehow transferring its momentum in an almost 180 degree turn to sprint towards the knight. She readied herself, shining blue shield springing from her left bracer as she prepared to take the hit. The beast closed on the knight, and like lightning its head struck out, beak slamming into Aurora’s shield. The dirt around her feet clumped up as she was brutally shoved back several yards, but her shield held strong.
As the ostrich reared its head back for another monster-sized peck, an arrow suddenly sprung from its neck, causing it to take a step back, head trying to turn and look at what was undoubtedly causing it pain. A health bar appeared over the monster’s head, dropping to around four fifths. Seth decided scouts were overpowered, or maybe it was just Ivon’s high level showing. He glanced at his combat log to see what the damage was from that one shot.
Your party member Ivon hits level 25 Vibrant Ostrich with Snipe for 428 damage.
Seth thought he’d like to participate in the fight before Ivon ended it, so he yanked Fearless from its sheath and triggered Charge. Before he could process it, Seth was a meteor on an intercept course with the planet of the birds. He crashed into the beast, sword-point first, and felt its muscles seize up as his sword slid into the meat of its breast.
Seth quickly yanked his sword out and got a few more slashes in before the stun effect wore off. Seth had wound his hand back for one more slash when Aurora appeared between him and the bird, her translucent blue shield narrowly intercepting a vicious bite from tearing a hole in him. Seth backed up and let her take the monster’s attention as Ivon continued to pepper the beast with arrows from some unseen perch in the trees. Seth could feel his location off to his l
eft and behind him, but even with that knowledge, he couldn’t catch a glimpse of the old scout through his excellent camouflage.
The battle was over in just a few more moments. Aurora had taken one nasty slash from the massive bird claws before the beast finally went down but quickly healed the damage with a twirl of her fingers and a flash of golden light. Seth looked over the body of the bird and was able to loot a Vibrant Ostrich Feather, which apparently was useful in some kind of hair dye potion, and would fetch a decent amount of money in a city, before they continued their trek through the swampy countryside.
Seth asked Pahan why the ostrich hadn’t seemed to care about him, and he said that all constructs could sense other constructs, so it knew that he wasn’t strong enough to fight.
After several more hours of walking, the sun was starting to set, and the group finally emerged from the swamp onto a large solid clearing that held a small log cabin surrounded by a small crop field on all sides. There were no lights on in the cabin, and no signs of inhabitants, but the crops seemed well tended, and the house looked cared for. Seth asked about it, and Aurora told him the guild employed groundskeepers to tend to their safehouses, and this one probably lived somewhere nearby.
They approached the small house cautiously, Ivon hanging back with his bow ready, Pahan leading the way, ready to distract anyone that might want to do them harm. Aurora walked up the patio stairs first, seeming a bit cautious but not scared. She tried the door but it was locked, so she looked around to make sure no one was watching before walking to the bottom of the stairs and picking up a large rock.
There was a small silver key under the rock, so she grabbed it and started heading back up the stairs. She looked Seth’s way, and said, “Seth, you must never tell anyone of that. It’s an Adventurers’ Guild secret that we keep keys hidden under rocks near the doorway, and our security would be compromised if word ever got out. Understand?”
Seth laughed at her joke, but she just kept looking at him with a stern look. He replied, “You realize that like, everyone in the world does that right? At least my world. If you need a key to somewhere just look under the front mat!” Seth knew in the back of his mind that the word mat didn’t translate well to their language, so it had just slipped out in English. A single eyebrow crept up Aurora’s face before she silently turned her back on him and unlocked the front door. Aurora started in, and Pahan said he’d stay outside and keep guard. The big old lion turned in a few circles before settling down on his side at the bottom of the stairs. His eyes were already closed before Seth entered the building.
They entered the little house and Seth noticed that it lacked any decor, similar to Aurora’s house in Bosqovar. That reminded Seth that he’d been in that house only a couple of days before, yet they’d already traveled an incredible distance on Pahan’s back, been captured by some rogue mercenary faction, and escaped. It seemed like Bosqovar, and Thom in the little outlying village, were almost as far away as Earth.
The house had one large main living space with a table and chairs, kitchen area, and fireplace, with two rooms branching off the main area. They checked both of the rooms, but they just contained small beds and no personal belongings of other inhabitants.
Aurora and Ivon started looking around, saying that safehouses like this one typically had some kind of messages lying around to update guild members who showed up. Seth decided the two actual guild members would be much better at finding the secret messages than he would, so he pulled a chair out and sat down at the table.
While scooting his chair in, he banged his knee on something under the table and cursed out loud. Leaning down, he saw a slim dagger stuck into the wood of the table, pressed tight against the inside of one of the table legs, holding a yellowed piece of paper to the underside of the tabletop. Seth plastered a smug smile on his face as he pulled out the note and held it up before his two party-mates and said, “Looking for this?”
The guild members were not nearly as amused, and Ivon muttered something that sounded suspiciously like whippersnappers as he snatched the note from the tip of the thin dagger.
He opened it, and Seth saw his eyes devour the message in an instant before he handed the note to Aurora and said aloud, “It’s a coded note summoning all guild members to Slyborn Stronghold. The guild was already planning to reclaim it from the spirits of the wilds in the next few years. This stunt by the Howlingshields must have forced them to accelerate their timeline. Looks like they’re trying to regroup and reassess.”
Seth asked, “Where is Slyborn Stronghold?”
Aurora answered, having just skimmed the note to confirm Ivon’s words, “Slyborn Stronghold was a castle built several hundred years ago to train novice Adventurers’ Guild members. It was abandoned in the chaos during the Wars of Broken Bone, and the wild spirits reclaimed the place. The site of the castle sits a few days travel to the east of here.”
Seth made a note to definitely ask about the Wars of Broken Bone as soon as it was convenient, since that was an awesome name for a war, but thought he should try to stay on topic for the time being. Seth glanced out the window at the darkening sky and said, “What do you think about us spending the night here, and heading for the stronghold in the morning? There are two rooms, and we can take turns sleeping with one person on watch. As much as I love Pahan, I’m pretty sure I can feel his snoring already rumbling the floorboards, so perhaps he needs a lookout-buddy.”
Ivon and Aurora agreed, and Seth volunteered to take the first watch. They both acted like they should be first, but he told them he was going to be awake for a few hours anyway after sleeping in the void, and they relented before picking rooms and disappearing to try and get some rest.
Seth got bored after around thirty minutes of sitting on the front porch, and began pacing around the house in the dim moonlight, wanting to get a view in other directions anyway. On his second loop of the house, he noticed the small lean-to shed built against the back of the house. There was no lock, so Seth opened up the door as silently as he could, and grinned at what he saw. Inside the ramshackle shed, along with some well used farming tools, was an old set of armor, similar to Aurora’s knight armor, though not nearly as fancy.
Seth vowed to give it back if he ever found the owner, but the amount of dust on the iron pieces made him think it hadn’t been used in years, and inspiration had struck. He had a good idea to try out. He swapped outfits with Quick Change, hiding away Enrique’s armor and Fearless and wearing just his set of blue linen clothes and longsword.
Seth grabbed one of the dull metal bracers and tried to figure out how to attach it to his arm with the leather straps and metal buckles. As soon as he got the leather buckles figured out, a notice appeared, and his arm fell to his side, as if pulled by some massive weight, though there wasn’t any pain.
You’ve equipped a piece of plate armor. Only Knights who have unlocked the skill Heavy Metal can equip plate armor without penalties. Adventurers or humans without Heavy Metal will face large penalties to movement when attempting to wear plate armor.
Seth grinned and kept putting on the heavy armor. By the time he was finished several minutes later, he could barely move a muscle, and had worked up a heavy sweat. Seth chuckled and activated Quick Change again, instantly regaining his freedom of movement. Seth took a few quick steps and then swapped his outfit again, heavy plate armor instantly appearing around him, his motion stopping dead as if he weighed two tons. He tried walking and activating Quick Change as fast as possible and ended up with a jerky gait that had him stumbling every time the plate armor appeared.
It needed some work, but Seth was pretty sure he’d just found another loophole with his boon. Perhaps it wasn’t as useless as he’d initially thought.
Chapter 20
The next morning, Aurora took the stick from Seth’s hands and said for the third time, “I still don’t understand why you want me to whack you with this stick. Don’t get me wrong, I want to, I just don’t know why you want that.
” A slight smirk lightened her face.
Seth chuckled at her attitude. He was happy that everyone seemed in better spirits this morning, they’d all had a turn in a reasonably comfortable bed, and no monsters or threats of any kind had reared their heads throughout the night. Seth’s feet ached from the long trek the day before, but it was one of those somewhat pleasant aches that show that the body is on the mend.
Seth nodded to Aurora and just said, “You’ll see.” He braced himself and grinned.
Ivon hollered, “Just wallop the lad or I’ll do it myself!” Seth barked a laugh in his direction and felt a sharp pain in his side, almost knocking the wind out of him. Seth gasped and threw a scowl at Aurora, who was grinning mischievously.
Your party member Aurora hits you for 17 damage.
Seth clenched his teeth and ground out, “I wasn’t ready. Try again please, and make sure I’m paying attention this time.” He locked his eyes on the stick in her hand and prepared himself. She chuckled and without much warning whipped the stick at him again. He barely reacted in time.
Seth mentally activated Quick Change as fast as he could, and felt the now familiar sensation of the heavy plate armor settle over him, greatly restricting his range of motion and speed. The stick clanged off the armor, and Aurora took a step back, mouth agape.
Your party member Aurora hits you for 2 damage.
As soon as Aurora had backed out of range, Seth activated the skill again, and found himself in his leather and chain armor, range of motion fully restored. Understanding abruptly bloomed in Aurora’s eyes, and she said, “You’re quickly switching to plate armor, which you can barely move in, right when attacks are about to land. The movement restriction doesn’t matter since you can just switch back. That’s clever, a great use of your divine boon.”
Quick Change Volume 1: Slyborn Page 13