by Lars M.
Congratulations. You have reached the Apprentice level with your skill:
Local Lore: Dawnlight Forest
You have earned a basic knowledge regarding the Dawnlight Forest. Any skill checks that require local lore – tracking, geography, or others – will receive a +2 bonus
Congratulations. You have reached the Apprentice level with your skill:
Magic Lore
You have received a solid foundation of knowledge revolving around magic. From now on, your magic skill and spell checks will receive a +2 bonus.
The days had kind of blurred into each other, but from the number of rations we’d devoured, I believed we were six days into our travels. The world had treated us well. Good weather, no dangerous encounters, and acceptable terrain. We were forced to slum it, compared to the luxuries of Darya's camping and cooking skills, but overall, we had a good and peaceful time. The trail rations were good eating, combined with what we were able to scrounge up from the forest, and the endurance buff made trekking a breeze. It looked like the peace was about to become a thing of the past, however.
Chapter 18 – First Encounters Of The Feathered Kind
The day was a lovely one. The sun beamed from a blue sky without a single cloud in sight as a calm breeze did its best to alleviate the heat of the day. Lyle, Arack, and I were resting, hidden underneath the heavy foliage of a small, thick-set tree. My attention, however, was elsewhere, riding piggyback along with Atlas as he stared down at a nearby clearing. Inside it, four harpies were busy shouting, singing, and drinking themselves into oblivion.
I don't know what I'd expected. An all-female ensemble with monstrous looks and enchanting voices like the Odyssey portrayed them, perhaps? Or ugly, ill-smelling things with only their size and humanoid faces to remove from their monstrosity. I had not expected... angels. Angels was the best word I could come up with. From their bold, beautiful faces to their huge wing spans and muscular, almost superhuman bodies, they pretty much embodied what human literature portrayed as angels. If angels had wide, clawed, bird-like feet, that is. Oh, and the small one was telling a story filled with tons of vulgar, suggestive hand gestures. Bad angel! Down!
I closed my eyes, easing into the transition back to myself. "Pffft. Yeah, we're in the right place, all right. "
"That's good, isn't it?" Lyle asked, without sitting up or opening his eyes. It had been a long day of marching.
"Yes and no. There are four harpies getting dead drunk right back there."
"Lovely. Let's go say hi." Arack jumped up, a wide smile on her face. She probably couldn't wait to meet somebody new.
"Of course... if it wasn't for the fact that everybody says that harpies are hostile, at best. Add in alcohol and the fact that they've already had one fist fight back there... they'll be on us before we can say, ’Hi. I'm a Chronicler. Take me to your leader.’
"Really? Uncle, sometimes I think you're just trying to make things more difficult than they are."
"I..." I was about to say that she was being silly... and caught myself in time. "Okay, you may have a point. Sometimes, I overthink things. Let's go introduce ourselves."
Five minutes later, we were fleeing back through the woods as arrows whizzed by us on all sides.
"This way. There was a cave back here." Without words, we followed Arack's yell. This was harpy territory, and we needed cover. To my relief, Arack was right, and we sprinted through a final, cover-free area to leap into a dark, dank cave. We scrambled further back, almost fighting each other to get away from the opening and easy arrow range. Once we passed a turn in the cave, Arack and I sank to the ground, panting from the effort. Lyle stayed near the corner, keeping an eye on the entrance.
"Remind me to think twice before I listen to you again." I huffed at Arack.
"Seriously - what's wrong with those guys? One word and - whoof, they're airborne. Touchy, much?"
"Yeah. Chertog was right. Heh. I bet he doesn't hear that often. Hey, Lyle - are they out there?"
The brawny knight frowned with concentration. "Yeah. I can hear them. They're not talking in Common, though. They sound angry."
"Figures. That would be too easy." I frowned. "Somebody, give me some options. I'm feeling a little light-headed."
Lyle said. "We're good right here. If they try to enter, I'm pretty sure I can take them - their arrows are no good if they have to come within reach of my new friend here." He patted his deadly-looking mace.
I shook my head. "Non-lethal options, please. We're trying to make friends here, not kill."
"Well, they started it." The hostile voice spawned from below.
"Not helping, Arack." I felt my head getting clearer, though. This could be salvaged. I stood up and moved towards the corner to maybe start some sort of conversation, when... "You guys smell anything?"
"No... wait. Is that smoke?" Lyle sniffed and then grimaced.
Damn. Of course. If your prey tries to hide, just smoke 'em out. Why couldn't the harpies be dumb? I looked around the corner as the first large fiery branch came flying to land inside the cave entrance. "They're trying to smoke us out. Okay, we move back a little. Lyle, keep an eye out, in case they try to jump us through the smoke. Arack, take this torch and see if there's an exit back there."
"Sure, Arcangelo. What are you going to do?"
"Trying to come up with a Plan B that isn't 'storm out and get turned into a pincushion.'"
Arack took the torch and left, leaving only an afterimage of light. Lyle stayed near the corner, attentive. I tried to gather my thoughts. Since they hadn't attacked already, they were probably waiting for us to make the first move - and why wouldn't they? I'd better investigate. "Stay attentive, Lyle - I'll check in on Atlas." I could feel my lizard friend approach us. Whatever else you could say about Atlas, his short, stubby legs were not made for sprinting. This wasn't a bad thing right now, as I was able to tell him to hold before he entered the clearing in front of the cave. Peering through his eyes, my fears were confirmed. One harpy was tending to a small bonfire a bit back from the cave, slowly building it up, while the remaining three took turns flying towards the cave with burning logs and branches. The fire they were building in front of the cave was small, but growing fast. Oh, great. With a diabolic grin, one of the harpies, protecting his face with a rag, walked closer to the fire and unfolded his large wings. The beat of his wings caused plumes of smoke to billow inwards towards us - I could already feel it tickling the back of my throat.
Damn. Unless we found an exit to the cave, we'd only become weaker from now on. The moment we were forced to charge out, they could just take to the skies and keep attacking us. Of course, my spells and Atlas' stun might force one or two of them to the ground, but they were free to retreat out of my spell reach and keep shooting. No. I needed something else. Some alternative. Except my spell list wasn't being very helpful right now. Unless... "Lyle?" I spoke up.
He coughed. "Yup. The smoke's getting pretty annoying here."
"Agreed. Let's move back a bit. Behind that large rock, perhaps. And then I'll move even further back and try something."
"Uh-huh. Can I help?" No discussions. No needling. Bless him.
"Not now. If everything works out, I'll need you to protect me, though, since I'll essentially be powerless while I make the attempt."
"Of course I will." He barked a laugh. "Business as usual, right?"
I beamed a smile at him before closing him and the rest of the world out. Focus. Two new experiences for me here. One would be creating a new spell under pressure, knowing that failure... yeah, best not to dwell on that part. The other would be creating a spell that worked with several different songs. First off, effects. I'd need a blanket effect - something that didn't choose specific targets, but instead worked on the entire area surrounding me. That should keep mana consumption from getting out of control. Next, I'd need for this to be an effect that lingered - not just an enchantment that broke when I stopped playing. That part had me somewhat stumped. I'd
try aiming for an effect time of one hour and see where that led me. Then, songs and choices. I tried to recall Greck's words. What I wanted was the opportunity to choose a specific reaction and then push, forcing my choice to impact the entire area of effect. Also, I needed to be able to aim for a certain degree of effect - I couldn't just go all-out every damn time. Whoo - I wavered for a moment. This was a pretty damn tall order. Was it even feasible? No, it had to be. Greck said that tons of bards had done it before me - it was just a matter of finding a spell combination that existed out there in the aether somewhere.
I launched into my first attempt. Vivaldi brought me nothing. Way too emotional. Of course, I usually preferred the livelier pieces, so this time it was pretty hard to come up with what I was looking for. My attempt at Greensleeves felt closer to what I was looking for - but still no result. At least I didn’t have to play the entire song to know whether it would work – only the fragments I wanted.
Way back in my mind, I noticed Arack returning and having a low conversation with Lyle. Nothing, then. A good handful of attempts found me the exact song I needed, but still no result. Damn. I didn't have time to fiddle around with tens of tiny variations regarding the different emotions or possibilities involved. I was finding it harder to breathe every minute, and my eyes were starting to water from the smoke reaching towards us. It had been, what, ten minutes already?
Maybe it wasn't the music or the spell itself - but the visualization part? I was so used to my spells basically being dark energy floating out to affect the target that I hadn't thought this all the way through. Did I really want the spell to lay a dark blanket on everything in reach? Of course not. Thinking back, I considered that my idea of sonic spells being dark-colored were based on those two first scrolls I had received from my initial class quest. The odds of any spell existing where you'd basically yell out loud, ’Hey, I'm influencing you right this moment. Yeah, I know, it's in the middle of a courtroom, just move along. Nothing to see here,’ seemed ludicrous. I cemented the idea in my mind of the image I was looking for - a blanket of opaque sonic energy spreading from the epicenter, me, to cover the surrounding area. I tried again. Damn. Still nothing. My eyes were starting to water with the smoke that lay ever thicker in the air. Not much time left to work with before we'd have to resort to plan "shoot everybody and anybody." Perhaps this particular piece by Mozart was a bit too upbeat for what I wanted. My concentration wavered as Lyle barked a series of eye-watering coughs. I needed to center my damn concentration. Okay. Calm, placid, relaxing. Dull, even? Yeah, dull would be good. Clearing our unfortunate situation from my mind, I focused on the music and the calm, relaxing tones of Andante Festivo by Sibelius sprang into being - and with it, the much-desired pop-up appeared as well.
Congratulations. You have learned a new spell:
Affect Emotions
You have learned to affect the mental states of those close to you. A circle of magic energy surrounds you, indiscriminately nudging the emotions of everybody inside the spell radius closer to the desired effect. The complexity of the desired emotion, as well as the suitability of the accompanying music, define the efficiency of your spell. Equally, the present mental state and fortitude of any listeners define their resilience to the spell.
Every point to Affect Emotions increases the chance that the spell takes hold.
Properties:
Range: 30 meter radius
Cast Time: instant
Mana cost: 1 mana/sec
Stat: Charisma
"Got it!" I shouted. My voice came out hoarse and I launched straight into a coughing fit myself. It was getting hard to see. "Lyle. Get in front of me and defend me. I don't know-" another series of wracking coughs hurt my lungs. "-don't know how long it'll take for the spell to work. Arack, stay back. Whatever the two of you do, do not attack." I sent the same message to Atlas, telling him to stay and underlining the importance of the order with every bit of command in my being.
Lyle merely nodded, tears streaming down his face. Arack, on the other hand, started asking questions. "Are you insane? What're you going to do? I'm just, like, going to-"
"Stow it! I need to concentrate," I barked, raising the violin and starting to play. Fortunately, she did as I said, and for a few moments, the only sounds were the notes from my violin and the crackling of the fire growing louder as we approached the entrance. Both my newfound spell and my Veil of Sound spell fought to escape my grasp, but I sharpened my focus and held on.
The flames danced in front of my eyes. By now, the bonfire was getting large, and the heat was uncomfortable as we edged our way out of the cave. We were greeted by shouts as they noticed us. I tuned out everything and focused on playing, as loud and emotional as I possibly could. The notes ranged out into the clearing, along with the sonic magic, and for a moment, I could feel the peace of the spell ranging outward as I focused my entire being on "trust." The effect was broken all too quickly, however, as one of the harpies released a high-pitched whistle, officially defining our end of the clearing as a target range.
They say that it's hard to look your fears in the eyes. I would claim that it's even harder to look away. This was exactly what I did, however. Just outside the cavern entrance, I moved a handful of meters to the side, placed myself with my back towards the wall and closed my eyes. Right this very moment, I would have to trust in my spells and Lyle to keep me safe. I would not risk the chance of a sudden scare disrupting my concentration as I fought to keep both my Veil of Sound and Affect Emotions in control at the same time.
Even without the distractions of watching, keeping both spells active was a struggle. The new spell was especially challenging, constantly trying to squirm out of control, and keeping the Veil of Sound running without music did nothing to ease my burden. The noises didn't help either. Aggressive shouts and whistles surrounded me, switching places within seconds. Lyle stayed close, and I could hear from the grunts and clanging that he was constantly active. A bit further away, Arack's voice yelled out... something, as Atlas' panic ranged through our bond. I activated High Tide and tuned everything out, feeling the magic bleed out into the world. Once, I almost lost my focus as something struck my shoulder, forcing me a step backwards - but I gritted my teeth and played even louder.
I couldn't say how much time passed. Ages. Seconds. With every bit of my attention focused on the music and listening, however, I could tell that the sounds slowly changed nature. The trills and whistles became more confused and inquiring, and the shouts were less aggressive. For a moment, the activity intensified and several ringing impacts sounded from right in front of me, along with a grunt of pain. Then... silence. Blessed silence fell over the clearing, and I hesitantly opened my eyes.
A split second was all the time I had to take in the situation. A trio of harpies was circling in the air, bows and arrows at the ready, while one touched ground at the other end of the clearance with a hostile look on her face. I kept playing, intending to let my magic work for as long as possible - when suddenly, I was struggling to stay upright, stay aware, as my mind seemed to unravel. I stood stock still, almost letting my violin drop, and it was all I could do not to fall to my knees. For a few unbearable moments, mind and body fought over supremacy, and the world seemed to move further away, as if I was watching through a tunnel. Then, blessedly, everything slammed back into being and returned to me, leaving me gasping for air. An icon was blinking to the side of my vision, but I only managed to see the name before I noticed that somebody was approaching. [Mana Withdrawal]
Straightening, I tried to look unaffected and met the piercing eyes of the lead harpy, who strode toward me, short spear at the ready. Seeing her up close, I was forced to reevaluate my former idea of harpies looking like angels, only with bird legs and feet. While the general layout was right on, and she was undoubtedly beautiful, this was no angel. This was a scrapper. The tall, muscled harpy kept her dark, curly hair short enough that it didn't cover her eyes ,and she had a double handful of imp
ressive-looking scars, including a single line running from her right ear and down to the edge of her mouth. While her strong arms kept her spear at the ready, her wings gathered behind her back.
I stepped forward, patting Lyle on the shoulder. "Greetings. I-"
Her harsh voice challenged, "Why will you not fight? Are you cowards or lunatics?"
Okay. Maybe the calm hadn't entirely taken hold. Still, she wasn't attacking - and that was enough of an in for me. "I'm not an enemy. I'm a Chronicler, and I am looking for High Hold." A glance to the side showed Lyle, proud, defiant, and seemingly unharmed. Arack’s head peeked out from the cave entrance.
The harpy’s eyes narrowed and she sliced the spear through the air in a dismissive gesture . "Who cares? The minds of ground dwellers are like their feet. Filled with dirt. Give me a reason not to kill you right now."
Really? She wasn't even going to respect that? I sent a quick mental command to Atlas and gave her my most confident smirk. "All right. How about this? You've tried to kill us for a while now, and you haven't got the power to do so. We have you right where we want you, but we wanted to give you a chance to solve this peacefully - by the rules that the Chroniclers of High Hold supposedly respect."
Her rough laughter rang into the chilly air. "You have us right where... you must be insane."
"Some have claimed so. Atlas. Show yourself."
The stocky chameleon faded into being in a tree top right below the circling trio and I could feel his satisfaction at the squawk of surprise that erupted from one of the harpies. "Do you know what his kind does? Their poisonous spit stuns their quarry, allowing them to hunt even larger prey than would usually be possible. On top of that, you do not know what the rest of us are capable of. Rest assured, however, that even if one or two of you are able to flee back home, we will be able to make it back to our home and inform the world that High Hold spits on the code of the Chroniclers. How do you believe the Cabal will react to that?"