Magda squinted into the dark, thick fog weeping across their path. She knew it was around here somewhere.... "He's not even Tempered yet, and is out here alone? Why? You know how hard it is to get out here...unless he had help."
Harn shrugged, still apparently nonplussed. "C'mon, Maggie. He's probably some noble brat who lost his retinue. We've seen the type, hell, we have the type now." He stepped forward and placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "You need to calm down. This Cassie situation has got you all tense. Let's make camp and plan from there."
Magda and Harn stared at each other for a few seconds, years of teamwork and communication bridging the gap between them, giving even silences a deep meaning. Old words, old thoughts wearing comfortable ruts between them.
"Your helmet is stupid," she muttered, for perhaps the thousandth time.
Harn barked a laugh and walked off.
Traversing the shadowy city was a lesson in quiet terror. Felix crept beside Vessilia and the pale mage, trying to stay quiet and unseen in the looming darkness. The bones of a once prosperous city were all around, mostly toppled and cracked, with heavy evidence of nature crawling back among them. Carpets of wild grasses emerged from between sunken cobbles and flowering stalks covered in night-closed blooms spread across tumbled walls. It would have been picturesque, were it not for the occasional thump-clatter of large creatures moving in the distance.
Giants.
They weren't being followed, not really. It only appeared that way he knew, because there were 495 of them moving in clumps all around the ruins. But then...maybe they were gathering together? Maybe the movements were organized and these eight foot tall behemoths were drawing them all into a trap?
Breath. Get a grip. Felix clenched his jaw and focused, steadying his mind. Fortress walls rose in his mind's eye, a dozen feet tall and half that thick. His fears flailed themselves against it, exhausting their power over him.
Bastion of Will is level 27!
It was easier after that.
The path they took was fairly straight forward though their leader Magda led them on a confusing trail. Twice they went down the same alley, and there was a particular minaret he'd seen at least four times. It was obvious she was avoiding the giants' ice, but something else seemed to bother her. Much like Vessilia, he noticed Magda would often squint into the distance. He still couldn't figure out why, and it was nagging at him. But after fifteen minutes or so, they came upon a set of stairs into the ground which led to a thick iron door. Magda opened it with a solid yank and remarkable lack of noise.
As they piled in, Felix felt a small surge of anxiety. Confused a moment, he quickly realized it didn't belong to him; Pit was upset. Casting his eyes about and following the warmth in his chest, Felix spotted a dark shape near the top of a nearby fallen cathedral. He wasn't sure what else all of the towers and complicated buttresses could be, and it was too far away to Analyze; Pit was nestled between the eaves of the fallen roof. Making eye contact, Felix tried to convey a sense of calm.
Just hold on buddy. Stay safe.
He turned around and ducked into the open door. Harn gave him a strange look as he came in, looking outside behind him before securing the portal.
The building above had collapsed so long ago that several trees were growing in the remnants, and as he entered the subterranean space Felix saw several thick roots coiling across an earthen ceiling. Using his Manasight, Felix gauged the room around them. Dusty brown earth Mana predominated, along with thick wisps of smokey gray shadow. Most surprisingly, the roots above them shone with a green-gold radiance that slowly pulsed along their lengths, like a heartbeat of summer sunlight. It was honestly delightful, and Felix smiled as he enjoyed their light.
THUMP!
Felix's eyes snapped open, abruptly reminded that he was among strangers. His hand was at his waist before he recognized that Magda had slammed her pack down onto the ground.
"Same as usual. No fire, no light. Never know what might leak out. I'll set up the wardstones and we can get some rest." She fished a number of strange blue orbs from her pack and started placing them around the room. Felix was immediately curious, but with a narrow-eyed glance from Magda he kept his distance. Once the last orb was placed, the shield warrior muttered something under her breath, something that, despite his enhanced Perception, he could not make out. It was all echoes and distortion. All at once, the orbs lit up from within, casting bright blue designs on the walls that twisted and converged, becoming a singular ring of mystical glyphs.
I know these shapes, he realized as he picked out the various sigils he had seen before. Wardstones, she called them. That is seriously cool.
The sigils blazed on the walls a moment longer before seemingly sinking into them and disappearing.
"Where have you been sleeping?"
"Gah," Felix replied, surprised again to find the girl Evie so close. How does she keep doing that? She regarded him with bright green eyes that almost glowed in the dark. Weird.
"Um, in trees mostly," he said, taking a step back away from the enthusiastic girl.
"Trees?!" She made a face and stepped away from him. "One of those sickly diseased things? Eugh!"
Felix furrowed brow and squinted. "No, nothing like that...most recently it was an evergreen tree, called a Rodan Pine. Nothing special really, just tall enough so most beasts wouldn't notice me."
"What about flying monsters? We've seen a few gnarly things, like the ones with four wings sharp as swords."
"It--" A chill raced down Felix's back, his mind cast back to the Razorwing Skinks. "They haven't--as long as you keep out of their territory, they will leave you alone."
Jangling metal and heavy footsteps drew his attention away from Evie as both of them turned toward the approaching Magda. She had taken off her helm, revealing a dirt stained face and sweat mussed sandy brown hair, cut short at her ears. Her jaw worked soundlessly, clenching and unclenching as she watched the two speak. Focusing on Felix, she grunted. "You, it's time to start answering some questions."
Evie adroitly slunk back, moving out of the line of fire. Felix turned fully toward their leader and nodded, a flutter of apprehension in his guts.
"Sure. What do you want to know?" He could see the others all gathering around them, sitting or standing as they listened in. Harn stood near the door, helmet off and tucked under and arm. He had a squarish face covered in scars, and his expression was lazily disinterested. Does he practice that look?
Magda leaned forward with a creak, the smell of sweat and leather and cold metal wafting toward Felix. "Where are your people?"
"Uh, I don't have people," Felix swallowed, thinking briefly about home. "I'm alone out here."
"How?"
"How, what?"
"How do you survive? You're, what? Level fifteen? You can't have more than a handful of Skill levels." Magda gave him a once over that was surprisingly embarrassing considering the state of his clothes.
"Nineteen, actually. Just hit that yesterday."
"Us as well. Though we've been stuck at level 19 for several months..." Evie gave Magda a look that Felix couldn't entirely parse. It reminded him of the way his little sisters would needle him when they were younger. For her part, Magda ignored it.
"What have you been doing out here?" Magda asked.
"Exploring, I guess you'd say. I've even got a Skill for it." Felix was kinda proud of that one. Didn't even have to lie, not really, though his Acting Skill didn't level. A downside of being truthful, or being himself? Wow that's a dangerous rabbit-hole to wander down. Magda was still talking.
"That is strange. Exploring is usually a Henaari Skill. You don't look particularly Henaar. Too short."
"So I've been told," Felix laughed. "Despite your obvious distrust of me, this is really nice. You're the first people I've spoken to since...in a long time."
"Since when?"
"Do monsters count?" That brought her up short, for some reason. Magda suddenly loomed closer.
"Explain."
The gut-flutters increased, and Felix shrugged. "There was a monster, a giant weasel thing called an Orit; he spoke. Didn't have anything nice to say, so I don't really count him."
"Interesting." Magda sat back, mouth turned up at the corners. "So, mini farwalker: have you explored this area?"
"No, I just got here. I had heard there was a city here...didn't know it was a ruin."
"Of course it's a ruin. Hasn't been anything in the Foglands since the third age," added in Evie, who was across the small chamber and stuffing her face with some sort of biscuit.
"How silly of me," Felix deadpanned, then brightened. He was determined to make the best of this. "But at least I found you folks."