by Aleron Kong
As Richter turned away, he heard Krom call out, “Don’t worry about my work, pointy ears! Yer lucky to finally have something long and powerful in yer hands!”
Richter decided to not get in the middle of it. There was an addition to the group that he wanted to greet. “Sedrin, it is good to see you.”
“You as well, my lord. I am ready to hunt.” Sedrin had opted for a large wooden spear with a foot-long head and a thick crossbar. Richter recognized it as similar to a boar spear, a weapon made to skewer an opponent and then ensure that your target would keep a safe distance away from you as it died.
Richter nodded to the guard, but he was worried that they might have too many people present. Assuming that his theory about Companions not being counted against the total group number was right, he, Terrod, and Sion would be one. With Sedrin, Krom, Caulder, Ulinde, and the Air caster Terrod had brought along, a human male named Jean, that made six. Richter was just about to ask Jean to leave when a prompt appeared.
Greetings, War Leader! It seems you are trying to make a war party. At your current rank of Novice, you can lead six others in your war party. These party members will share all experience from kills and quests equally. Party members will also benefit from any badges or promotions that are acquired. Any friendly forces within your Sphere of Influence will still benefit from attack and defense bonuses from your skill rank in War Leader. At your current rank of Novice, your Sphere of Influence is fifty yards. Select your party members.
Everyone around Richter developed a faint aura and a “0/6” counter appeared in the bottom right corner of his vision. Sion had a gold aura and for some reason Terrod had a gold outline with a purple one lying overtop it. Everyone else developed a green aura of various shades. Krom, by far, had the richest green aura. He focused on the dwarf and thought about selecting him. Immediately, the glow brightened and the counter became “1/6.”
Richter smiled. It looked like he wouldn’t be included in the party because of his War Leader skill. Next he selected Sion, and the gold aura brightened, but the counter remained at “1/6.” Richter’s smile widened. He quickly selected Terrod and another prompt appeared.
You have selected another war leader to be in your group. As you are only Novice rank, he cannot lead another war party under your command. He is counted as another party member. His benefits from being a war leader are not cumulative with your own.
He dismissed the prompt and saw that the gold glow around Terrod had brightened. Richter wasn’t sure, but it seemed like the purple aura stayed the same. He didn’t fully understand the implications of the last prompt, but what was important was that Terrod had joined the war party and the counter had remained at “1/6.” Richter quickly chose everyone else and the counter increased as one by one each green aura brightened. The color around the party members wasn’t glaring or distracting in any way, it just made seeing them a lot easier. Another prompt appeared.
You have filled all available slots in your war party. If you are sure of your choices, then select “Yes.” Be aware that you may only choose one war party every twenty-four hours. Is this the group that you wish to proceed with? Yes or No?
Richter selected “Yes.” As soon as he did, everyone started looking around at one another in surprise. Other prompts came up, but he minimized them for a second.
“What are you seeing?” he asked Sion.
“Everyone has a faint green aura around them. Except for you. Your aura is purple,” the sprite replied.
“What about Terrod? His aura is green?” Richter asked.
“Yes, why wouldn’t it be?”
Richter just shook his head slightly. “Is that what all of you see?” Everyone gave nods of agreement. The War Leader skill was already stronger than he’d thought it was. Being able to clearly see where all of his people were was an invaluable boon. At the very least, it should cut down on friendly fire. It would be hugely useful when fighting in low visibility conditions or underground. It also seemed that no one could see the gold auras that Richter assumed denoted his Companions and didn’t see that Terrod had a purple aura that must indicate his War Leader skill.
While everyone continued to examine their new green lantern look, he pulled up the prompts he had minimized.
Know This! Your ability in Map Making is synergistic with your War Leader skill. The position of your party members can now be found on your map as long as they remain inside of the Sphere of Influence.
Richter had to make leveling this skill a priority. He pulled up a minimap in the corner of his vision and sure enough, there were two gold dots, five green dots, and one purple one in the center. He instinctually knew which dot indicated which person. The War Leader skill was immensely valuable and could be the difference in the upcoming war with the bugbears. Right now, his rank only let him affect five members and the bonuses only extended fifty yards, but who knew how many people he could include when he leveled up? One thing he didn’t understand was the “badges and promotions” that had been mentioned in the prompt. He needed to ask Terrod about it, but right now he had to prepare.
First, he needed to learn his new spell. Slow spells had been a staple of every RPG he had ever played and could definitely come in handy. He opened the Book of Slow I and started turning the pages. As with past spell books, the pages started turning faster and faster as knowledge was poured into his mind. He stood staring in a trance as the page turning became a blur. Suddenly the back cover slammed shut and the book fell to dust.
A new spell was now in his mind, ready to be used. The next thing he had to do was load his Ring of Holding. He went through his spell list, weighing the pros and cons. Charm I had been his go-to spell, but it wouldn’t work on whatever monster they were probably going to find. His eyes landed on Paralysis Beam I and he decided to give it a shot.
Focusing on the spell, he summoned the energy but didn’t finished the casting. After three seconds, his mana dropped by thirty-nine and the clear gem on the ring became filled with a faint green light. The spell had been stored.
He handed the Mapping Ring to Sion and explained its use. The sprite happily accepted and slipped it onto his finger. Richter looked at his Map and saw that large sections of the forest lit up brighter than before as the Map updated itself with Sion’s travels. Some rivers widened, and the density of trees changed as those areas of the Map came to reflect more up-to-date information than what had been seen by the Traveler who made the map hundreds of years ago.
As a final preparation, Richter handed out his remaining health potions to everyone and also gave each a Potion of Clarity. They all downed the experience potions and he gave another to Alma, who tilted her neck back and quaffed the contents of the vial.
With all that done, Richter smiled, looked around and said, “Let’s do this!”
CHAPTER 14
The war party took off at a jog. Sion, Alma, Jean, and Richter cast Haste I on everyone in a round robin to increase their speed. Terrod led the way, heading south and east. The hunters had told the captain that several monsters had been seen in that region in the past few days. It seemed like a good place to start. While they moved, Richter pulled up next to Terrod. He wanted to discuss his questions about being a war leader and also to put some space between himself and Beyan. The gnome was already complaining about having to move quickly while in armor.
“I had no idea how useful the War Leader skill was. I don’t know what it meant by badges and promotions though. Do you have any idea from your days in the Yves army?”
“Only loosely,” his Companion replied. “I was never high enough in the ranks to work under a war leader, so everything I know comes from soldier’s gossip. Basically, whenever a war party fights there is a chance of them gaining a group ability called a promotion. I don’t know what earns it, but I do know that it usually has something to do with how they fight. Mountain fighters can get +10% to attack in the mountains. Survivors of a siege can get +10% defense in a city. The promotion only work
s if the fighter and the war leader both have it and are working together.”
“Okay, promotions definitely sound like they could come in handy. What about badges?” Richter asked. He marveled at the capabilities of his body here in The Land. There was no way that he could have held a conversation like this while running with his old Earth physique.
“I know even less about that unfortunately, my lord. The basic difference between promotions and badges is that while promotions require both the war leader and fighters to have gotten the bonus, badges only require that the war leader has gotten a bonus. I heard that General Jameson has a badge that drastically increases the movement speed of his armies. He is famous for quelling an uprising in an eastern duchy and then force marching his men to the other side of Yves to fight off an incursion of Gold Plains raiders. Again, all this is hearsay, my lord. I am afraid I do not know anything more.”
“It’s more than I knew. Thanks, man.” Richter sped ahead. As he looked around, he noticed a new icon in the corner of his vision. It was an axe and hammer crossing over a shield. He focused on it and a translucent window appeared.
*Base Values not adjusted for Characteristics or War Leader bonus
**Cumulative Armor Base Value not adjusted for Characteristics. Damage will only be calculated based upon the specific armor piece struck.
The War Leader skill could apparently give him an abbreviated status page for each of his party members. Terrod and Sion’s info was clear, but when he tried to access the values for party members other than his Companions, he just received a short message saying his rank wasn’t high enough to have that information. Just another reason why he would have to level up the skill as quickly as possible. Richter dismissed the window and bent his attention to examining the tracks that he could find.
He saw plenty of small game trails. Squirrels, chipmunks, and rabbits abounded through the verdant forest. Following those small prints were occasionally the tracks of wolves and foxes. He saw another set of prints that he didn’t recognize, but that Sion identified as a mountain lion’s. They found nothing that seemed beyond the capabilities of village hunters, so he kept the party moving.
After a while, Terrod pulled up next to him again. “Can I have a word, milord?”
“Of course, Terrod. What’s on your mind?”
“I know you have a lot on your mind, your lordship, but I’m still worried about the people we left behind in Yves. Saving them won’t fix all the ills in the world, but it will make a world of difference for them. I can’t sleep some nights, thinking about what they must be going through.”
Richter nodded grimly. “That’s been in the back of my mind as well. Between the bugbear attack, your abduction, and the new villagers, though, there barely seems to have been any time to think.”
Terrod stopped running, an alarmed look on his face. The other members of the war party slowed as well, but Richter waved them on, saying he and the captain would catch up. The other fighters moved on. Terrod said, “My lord! I never meant what I said to sound like a recrimination. I am so very thankful that you saved me from that crazy woman and the Warrior she was with. I know that you have done your best. You saved my Isabella and so many others. You must beli—”
Richter held up a hand to stop his captain’s babbling. “I didn’t take it as an accusation, Terrod. Before I say anything else, I want you to know that I am always willing to listen to you. If there is anything that is concerning you, anything that you want to discuss with me, not only are you welcome to, but you are ordered to. Okay?”
Terrod looked relieved. “Thank you, my lord.”
“Meanwhile, I’ll tell you that I gave Randolphus some papers I had taken from Count Stonuk. He told me it was encoded, but that he would try and crack it. I confess that barely a day goes by without me asking him to do something else. Despite everything that needs to be done, you raise a good point, Terrod. We can’t just forget these people. Will you give him the ledger you took from the Night Blades’ chest?”
Terrod immediately agreed, confessing his frustration that he had not been able to decipher any more of the encoded text. Richter nodded and called out, “Futen!”
The glowing ball floated up. “Yes, Lord Richter?”
“When you see the chamberlain again, tell him I want the Night Blade ledger to be made a priority.”
The remnant voiced assent and Terrod looked at Richter with grateful relief. The two men quickly clasped wrists and then took off, quickly catching up with the other members of the war party.
The Air casters re-upped the Haste I buff on the party regularly as Sion and Richter kept searching. They staggered casting the enchantment, buffing half the group, then five minutes later buffing the other half. It let them get around the one-minute cooldown on the spell and keep up a fast pace. Richter was delighted when he found an unexpected benefit of the speed they were going—Beyan ran out of breath and so could no longer complain.
They kept up their pace for about thirty minutes. The speed was well below Richter’s top mph, but he was planning for a marathon, not a sprint. The tracks he found continued to be relatively benign and he started to wonder if they should search in another direction, but then Sion called out. They slowed to a stop, and Richter jogged over to see what his Companion had found.
Richter bent down and examined the print on the ground. It glowed faintly just as all of the other tracks he had seen, but the color was slightly darker. It didn’t have the intensity he had seen in the tracks of sentient beings, but the difference between it and the tracks of normal animals was clear. The print looked a lot like bear tracks that he had seen, but it was twice as big and the claw imprints were much more pronounced.
“What is it?” he asked Sion quietly. He had no idea how far away this thing was. The track looked reasonably fresh.
“It appears to be a really big bear,” Sion said.
“Thanks, Kemosabe,” Richter said sarcastically. “I thought you might have something more to add.”
“Well I don’t,” Sion snapped, matching Richter’s sarcasm with irritability.
“Hisako said you sprites fought off monsters around the Hearth Tree all the time.”
“Yes we do. In case you have forgotten though, Lord Richter, the Hearth tree is more than a hundred miles south of here. You live in the shadow of the mountains! Who knows what monsters could have come down into the forest because some gyoti decided to reawaken a sleeping Place of Power?”
Richter glared sourly at the sprite before saying, “I can’t hear you from all the way down there.”
“You will hear me! You will hear me when my arrow goes up your—”
Sion’s shouted threat was interrupted by a deep and bellowing roar. Then they heard the sound of snapping branches not more than forty yards away. The two Companions looked at each other and said simultaneously, “Look what you did!”
*Big bear! Big bear is coming!*
Richter and Sion straightened quickly. Sion ran to a nearby tree and scurried up into the branches. Richter drew his elementum short sword and shouted, “Something is coming!” Most of the party formed up into a loose line with him and prepared their weapons. Beyan hung to the back, cursing and holding his crossbow, and Jean took position beside him. Another roar sounded and then the beast came into view.
Barreling through the thick foliage came a wall of fur and muscle. The basic structure was of a bear, but rather than a shaggy coat, its skin sat taut over powerful muscles like the hide of a lion. Two round ears framed its head, and its large mouth was open and slavering. Richter could see four massive fangs as long as his forearm, two protruding from the bottom and another set in place of its incisors. Each fang was a pure white, like fresh cream. The pelt was brown in color, and a stripe of spiky hair ran down its length like a Mohawk. Three wicked and long claws tipped each of its four paws and were the same color as the fangs.
Richter Analyzed it.
Saber Bear. Level 19. Health 810. Mana 120. Stamina 7
10. Saber bears are dangerous predators that are fiercely territorial. They are often found near mines of metallic ore. They are able to ingest this ore and through a passive use of magic, can digest it to grow their claws and fangs. These natural weapons will be made of the latest metal the bear has ingested.
Once the saber bear saw the war party, it stopped and looked at them before letting loose another bellow. With its powerful forepaw, it swung at a nearby tree. The trunk was five inches in diameter, but it was sliced in half by the razor-sharp claws of the monster. The top half fell to the ground with a resounding thud that they all felt reverberate through the ground. The bear looked at them again. The message was clear: “Ya’ll stepped into the wrong neighborhood!”
Richter looked at the downed tree, then back up at the ten-foot-tall animal. “Kill it!” he shouted. Raising his hand, he unleashed his stored Paralysis Beam I at the same time that Ulinde fired an ice arrow.
The beam struck the bear in its side as Ulinde’s arrow struck its right shoulder. The arrow had more of an effect. The bear seemed to just shrug off the paralysis spell. The ice arrow sunk in two inches and frost spread out from the wound. The arrow was just a small irritant to the bear, though, only taking off a small fraction of its health. With an irritated bellow, it charged forward.
The saber bear crossed the distance to the fighters in two long bounds. It had its arm raised to strike Richter when a lightning bolt struck it in the back of the head. Alma pulled out of her bombing run and swooped past the stunned monster. Krom struck it with his hammer as it slumped, and Sedrin jabbed his large spear at its neck. The hammer sunk into the meat of the bear’s shoulder with a wet thwack, but even Krom’s ebony hammer couldn’t force the giant bear to fall. Sedrin’s spear pierced its skin but caught on the collarbone, which stopped the thrust before it could sink too deep.