Outside the Big City Walls
Chapter 1
Nobody seemed to know what this strange bear-like creature was as the three trainees exchanged baffled looks and shrugs. Zelgus felt like the hulking, four-legged animal had somehow acquired a particular interest in tasting his blood and seemed intent on him alone. It had already feinted to test his reflexes several times and Zelgus was certain the next charge was going to be all too soon. To Zelgus’s left and right stood his fellow trainees, Temný and Netaktni respectively; but they certainly weren’t doing him any good right now! Cradling his clear crystal sphere in his palm and reaching out with a newly developed sixth sense, Zelgus held himself perfectly still, body and mind to focus only on the crystal and block out the dangerous distractions around him.
One heartbeat. Anxiety, hummingbird. Two beats. slower but still too fast. Three. Almost there. Four. Nearly normal. Five. Got it! Within the space between his sixth and seventh heartbeats the crystal sphere darkened with something oily filled the sphere, as though dark and viscus indigo coloured ink had been poured into clear water. Zelgus sighed in relief and the beast charged.
With the sphere still loosely balanced in his right palm, Zelgus swiftly took a fingerful of a silvery paste from a small container specially affixed to his right wrist and smeared it across the crystal orb in a line towards the massive beast barreling down on him. As his fingertips brushed off the Arcane focus, the smeared paste immediately reacted with the Arcana stored within the crystal and ignited in a flash of light and smoke that blasted directly into the creatures’ eyes. It recoiled in surprise but its own mass and momentum worked against it and forced it to keep running or otherwise risk losing its footing entirely.
As he entered the room Zelgus was suprised to see that nobody was looking in his direction. Aside from Marleam there were four others in the room. Hunched over a small table inspecting some scraps of leather and parchment - maps of some kind. A tall, lanky man in his fifties stands up and stretches his back before taking a deep drag from the mostly ash cigar hanging from his lip. "Fresh blood!" he exclaims as though he had only just noticed the two new people in the room. With nothing but disinterest the three others eventually all turn to take in the newest Dannamore graduate.
It's early morning and all the members of The Slaughter Monsters are present in addition to Marleam, and Zelgus. It's going to take 3 days on horseback to reach the ruins. We need to retrieve some 'INFORMATION' for the Dannamore. Zelgus has the most advanced skills as a trained Invokeir and will likely be needed to unlock the 'magical encryption'. Fate Question: Does Zelgus know any of the others? 10/50/91, no (85)
Zelgus is given a decent horse from the Dannamore stable and told he will need to pay should the horse be lost or wounded. It's a whirlwind and before the sun crested the overcast horizon he was trudging down a grass trail with four strangers.
Finally, Temný acted. With a dozen or more needle-like throwing knives in her hands, she expertly threw one – three - five daggers with quick snaps of her wrists - into the beasts nearest forepaw. Temný had likely been hoping to force the creatures’ charge further off course and the lumbering beast stumbled from the sudden shock of pain and it missed a step, lurching forward and barely keeping its balance.
Taking the opportunity presented to him as the blinded and staggering creature charged towards Zelgus, Netaktni stepped forward and braced his narrow frame against the weight of the massive, two-handed morningstar in his hands. With impressive effort he brought the rectangular head of the intimidating weapon down in an overhead stroke that targeted the unbalanced beasts’ skull. Connecting with its’ target at the last possible second, the pristine steel spikes adorning the weapons’ head pierced the heavy fur around the base of the animals’ neck and the impact caused a violent crunch as the vertebrae were crushed by the powerful blow – leaving its’ limp body to crash to the packed dirt of the Combat Arena, a mere breath away from where it would’ve smashed into Zelgus.
The three trainees relaxed slightly from their combat-ready postures and appraised the motionless body of the downed animal with patience. Keeping their tools and weapons at the ready, they waited. One important lesson they’d learned during training was that many creatures have astonishing recuperative abilities and what ‘looks dead’ doesn’t always mean ‘dead-dead’. They stood and watched as deep burgundy blood began to soak the ground around the creatures’ broken neck. As they began to finally let themselves relax there was a startling yet expected gong that resounded from the air all around them to indicate the combat was indeed over.
“Well done, students.” The tone of voice was entirely flat and sonorous, seemingly all too abrupt and loud.Marleam appeared unexpectedly over Zelgus’s shoulder, and he jumped as though a bolt of electricity had run through his entire body, shattering his already fragile concentration and causing the remaining motes of Arcana in his crystal focus to blink from existence. This was their combat instructor for the past month and despite her apparently advanced age she was impressively nimble when it suited her. Stoic as stone, Marleam was not cold or hard. She somehow managed to radiate a sense of warmth and comfort despite her taciturn and implacable demeanor.
As she gracefully swept past Zelgus toward the corpse, she casually glanced downward from beneath heavy lashes at the inert orb cradled in Zelgus’ palm. Letting out the barest ‘tsk’ for only Zelgus to hear she proceeded to stand before the dead and savagely broken beast. After spending time learning from Marleam, Zelgus had deduced that Marleam chose to speak without many of the vocal inflections common among Allegrans and preferred to let the literal meaning of her words stand on their own. Zelgus surmised that she was truly satisfied with their performance despite her disappointment in his skill with channeling metaphysical energies.
With the instructor taking her position, Temný and Netaktni instinctively took up places to either side of Zelgus as Marleam turned her back on the animal and gently cleared her to begin the theory portion of their lesson. Usually after a live combat test such as this she would exposit thoroughly on the enemy they had faced and analyze, step-by-step, the tactics they had used. This time she chose to lead with a question.
“Let’s start with basics, shall we? What can you tell me of this creature?”Temný pulled back her tight hood to release her pageboy-styled hair and raised her palm to shoulder height as though she were a child sitting in a classroom. Only then did Zelgus notice that her daggers were nowhere in sight. Her armor, clothes, and skin were so dark that sometimes she appeared to be nothing more than a literal shadow sprung to life and her sleek near-black hair moved and swayed with the same airy lightness as Temný did. The instructor rolled her eyes at the infantile habit of asking permission before responding but the tiniest corner of the instructors mouth twitched upward in a small smile before she gestured for Temný to speak.
“It appears to be a land-based mammal with bestial intelligence and no overt Arcane traits.” Despite sounding quite unsure, Temný managed to string together the entire senetnce without an awkward stutter or hesitation.Though Temný still spoke with the thick accent native the western city she hailed from, her enunciation had improved dramatically in the six months since she began training at the Dannamore. Everyone who applies to join a Dannamore-sanctioned field team must complete a challenging curriculum that includes every conceivable component of what might be required from R.E.D. squads. Trainees are taught to use a specific vernacular of terms and descriptors to more easily convey information and in Zelgus’ opinion, Temný has done well despite lacking any innate gifts for learning. Of the three students Temný struggled the most with memorization so Zelgus and Netaktni tried to let her start things off so she wouldn’t be overshadowed or left without anything to contribute during their discussions.
Marleam nodded to Temný in approval and shifted her expectant gaze towards Netaktni. Despite his noble upbringing and formidable ego, the youngest of the three trainees present seemed to shrink ever-so slightly under her weighty attention. His personality was not cowed in the slightest, however.
“Well," he began as casually as though discussing the creature among friends, non-chalant and in his own words rather than reciting the text from a book or quoting an instructor. "... it has no visible ears which means it probably hunts primarily by sight or scent - so blinding it was a solid idea.” He glanced from Marleam to Zelgus to indicate that he approved of what his teammate had done during the fight. “Also, the dense fur indicates it lives primarily in colder climates or maybe underground, but I think it’s unlikely to live in darkness if it hunts by sight.”It was always unsettling to see the noble young scion of House *name an Etite noble House* squirm under Marleams’ scrutiny, especially after watching him literally crush the spine of a wild animal ten-times his weight. Adjusting his sleek purple 'mage's robes' as he called them, Netaktni tugged at the high collar of his exquisitely tailored jacket; a seemingly casual gesture that only those spending time close to the young man would recognize as an expertly disguised nervous habit. The ‘mages robes’ are truly three separate pieces of apparel and all three were clearly designed with current court fashions in mind. The jacket, vest, and segmented calf-length skirt all had the added appeal of being infused with enough Arcana to make the Mansa herself choke. Despite this expensive gift from his family and having majored in Battle Arcana at the Dannamore University for three years, Netaktni would frequently proclaim that he prefers to "fight first and cast last", ensuring the real metaphysical ‘heavy hits’ are available in a pinch.
Pleased and smiling through closed lips, Marleam nodded stoically in approval but kept her focus on Netaktni. After a brief pause, she stopped smiling and raised her brow in expectation toward Netaktni. This was unusual. For the past 3 years Instructor Marleam had never failed to question every participant in an arena. Why was she ignoring Zelgus? All three students exhanged glances, which caused Marleam to sigh and show signs of irritation.
"Since this is Student Zelgus final lesson I'd like to hear everything you have to say about this before we move on, Student Netaktni."
She crossed her arms and pursed her lips, indicating that she was finished explaining herself and expected Netaktni to continue. The two other students looked at Zelgus in surprise - neither of them knew Zelgus had completed his training and it was a double shock to Zelgus himself! He flinched then shrugged at them helplessly. He had been completely unaware and his mind immediately began to race with worry over what this would mean for him.
After the announcement that Zelgus would be graduating Netaktni made several other minor observations about the creature that was later referred to as a 'Tree-beast' but none of them could focus on anything other than the loss of a friend and teammate.
Chapter 2
The following morning Zelgus was summoned to morning meal much earlier than usual and before he could finish his meal he was ambushed by Marleam with her two iconic assistants trailing behind. "You're meeting your new R.E.D. team." Sternly she flinched. "Now. Stand. Let's go!" Her tone and manner were different than when she was focused on teaching - she's rude! Surprised by her sudden appearance and immediate command, Zelgus dropped his spoon and spilled milk down the front of his tunic as he clumsily slammed his knee into the bench he was trying to step over, finally toppling himself flat on his back with both feet skyward. Not one word was uttered in the humiliating aftermath as he cleaned himself and gathered his belongings. Walking at a comfortable but brisk pace, Marleam led Zelgus through the lowest levels of the Dannamore tower. The two attendants followed a respectful distance to allow privacy should the conversation require it so for the first time Zelgus could recall he was alone with his instuctor. As it crossed his mind to thank her for the education and experiences she's provided that got him to this somewhat prestigious position she cut him off with a sharp and impatient exhale. "Look, I like you so I'm going to warn you. These guys will get you killed if you're not careful and they won't lose any sleep over it either. Get it? That tree-bear yesterday had more empathy than this crew." Before he could fully process her statement or even consider following up with a question she abruptly turned and swept through the doorway behind her. Something about the movement felt strange to Zelgus, as though her casual familiarity with this specific and oddly secluded section of the building made him believe that not everyone returns from their first mission. From inside the room he could clearly hear Marleam introducing him. "Zelgus, I'd like to introduce you to 'The Slaughter Monsters'."As he entered the room Zelgus was suprised to see that nobody was looking in his direction. Aside from Marleam there were four others in the room. Hunched over a small table inspecting some scraps of leather and parchment - maps of some kind. A tall, lanky man in his fifties stands up and stretches his back before taking a deep drag from the mostly ash cigar hanging from his lip. "Fresh blood!" he exclaims as though he had only just noticed the two new people in the room. With nothing but disinterest the three others eventually all turn to take in the newest Dannamore graduate.
It's early morning and all the members of The Slaughter Monsters are present in addition to Marleam, and Zelgus. It's going to take 3 days on horseback to reach the ruins. We need to retrieve some 'INFORMATION' for the Dannamore. Zelgus has the most advanced skills as a trained Invokeir and will likely be needed to unlock the 'magical encryption'. Fate Question: Does Zelgus know any of the others? 10/50/91, no (85)
Zelgus is given a decent horse from the Dannamore stable and told he will need to pay should the horse be lost or wounded. It's a whirlwind and before the sun crested the overcast horizon he was trudging down a grass trail with four strangers.
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