Book 3 - Chapter 29 (Patreon)

The next day was, predictably, more walking. Brin spent the morning off by himself with one ear surrounded by a silencing spell while he practiced his sound magic. He worked on trying to change the timbre of the magic away from computer-sounding beeps and boops. With a little work, he managed to put a little bit of character into the beeps, making them sound a little more EDM and a little less MS-DOS. They still sounded heavily electronic, though, and no one would ever mistake it for a real musical instrument.

He got some shrill sounds together with a basic boom-tss drumbeat and thought it sounded kinda cool, but it stretched the limit of his multi-tasking. It would be even better if he could play his half-lute along or even sing, but that would have to wait until he got [Split Focus].

Even so, the System seemed to think it was worth the effort.

[Call Sound through Glass] has leveled up! 24 -> 25

Hogg found Brin right before the normal time they’d break for lunch. Rather than let Brin put up a sound barrier, Hogg did it himself. Brin could faintly feel the magic, and could tell that it was fairly complex.

“Are you silencing us? I can still hear the outside world just fine,” said Brin.

“This spell blocks sound from going out but not sound from coming in. I’ll have to transcribe it for you some time; it’s way too complex for you to do with intuitive casting.”

“I always forget that you only lost your light magic, not your sound. Why haven’t you been doing this the whole time?”

“Because you need the practice. Hey, so listen. We’re coming up on Sudd’s Bog. You might want to spend some time exploring the north side of the village. Some low level monsters might find you there, if you catch my drift.”

“I’m not sure I do,” said Brin.

“You’ll see. Today might be a good time to use one of those sound bombs and get yelled at in front of everyone. Just make sure I’m not nearby so no-one thinks I told you to do it. I’m the responsible one, you know.”

“Of course,” Brin agreed. “Hey, what do the people in the caravan think about you, by the way? I know what people in Hammon’s Bog think, but I’m not sure what your persona is supposed to be in the wider world. Zerif treats you like a king.”

“In the wider world I keep a low profile and I have a few aliases. That’s going to be tough now that I can’t change my appearance as easily. As far as this caravan goes, they know everything that someone from Hammon’s Bog could tell them. So they’d have heard that I’m a [Rogue] who’s high level enough to beat the town’s best [Warrior] in a fistfight. Maybe they’ve heard about my shadow powers, but I’d rather avoid using those in front of Zerif unless I absolutely have to.”

“Why?”

“Some [Rogues] really do advance their Classes into something with shadow magic, but someone who actually knows their stuff won’t be fooled by my Hard Light,” said Hogg.

Brin scratched his chin. Was that stubble? No, not yet. “Hold on. Why Zerif specifically? That’s a good reason not to let anyone see your fake shadows outside of emergencies. But you mentioned Zerif specifically. Is there something going on with him?”

Hogg grunted in irritation, and then bobbed his head side to side, thinking. “Alright, fine. Zerif is a spy. My [Inspect] doesn’t tell me who for, though, only that he gets paid to gather information. Signs point to Prinnash, since that’s where he and Pio are from.”

“Wait, what? You’re like, the most paranoid person on the planet! Why are you traveling with a spy? You’re sitting next to him in his wagon, for Solia’s sake.”

Hogg rubbed his eyes. “See, this is why I wasn’t going to mention it. Everyone is something, Brin. Everyone has something going on. Right after I advanced my [Inspect] for the final time, I thought I was cursed, because I kept running into the craziest people. I’d buy tea from the leader of a cult, then bump into a serial killer on the street, pass three Evil Classers, one pre-Undead, one actual undead, and then walk into a pub where everyone but me was the member of a secret society bent on restoring Nhamanshal. At the time I thought it was just the city I was in, but then the next city was the same way.

“That’s the thing. You probably think you’re the weirdest person in the world, but that’s only because when you pass someone on the street you just see an ordinary guy. You don’t see all the crazy stuff that’s happened to them.”

“But shouldn’t we do something about it? If he’s a spy, then don’t we have a duty to report it or something?”

Hogg shrugged. “I never remember signing up for Frenarian counterintelligence. What do I care if Prinnash finds out that there was a Heath Worm out in the nowheresville Boglands? As long as he doesn’t figure out my secrets, I could care less about Zerif’s side-hustle. I mean, sure, at first I thought like you. In that first city it was a menace, because I thought it was my job to fix everything. Now I would take out the serial killer and maybe the undead, and then leave everyone else alone.”

Brin thought about that for a minute, then asked. “Are there any cool cults in the caravan? Ooh, I bet that [Dancer] lady is in one.”

Hogg just laughed and shook his head, clearly unwilling to spill any more of other people’s secrets.

“Oh, come on. At least tell me about some of these secret societies. Like, what kind of stuff do they get up to?” Brin gasped in realization. “Are you in one?”

Hogg smiled. “I’m in four secret societies, and two cults. And no, I’m not going to tell you about them.”

“You have to!” He knew it was probably trouble, but he suddenly loved the idea of joining a Stonecarvers-type secret group. He knew that in the real world they were mostly just places for old men to drink with their friends, but there was a certain appeal to the codewords and handshakes and the discreet fraternity.

Despite all his prodding, Hogg didn’t reveal anything else. When they arrived in Sudd’s Bog, Hogg walked away whistling.

No one appeared to challenge them when the caravan approached the walls. They were in the same style as Hammon’s Bog’s old walls, just logs pushed upright and sharpened on top. There was only one watchtower, with no one inside, and he didn’t see anyone through the open gate, either.

When they entered through the gates, they saw that the town was well and truly deserted. Whatever trouble they’d had with monsters and bandits had proved too much. Anyone here who hadn’t gone to Hammon’s Bog had gone somewhere else.

Zerif called a stop and set up the caravan in the middle of the town. “We’ll stay here as planned. It’ll be nice to have a bit of a break, I think. Though, I wonder if some of you wouldn’t mind checking the houses? Let’s make sure nothing moved in after the people moved out, shall we?”

“You heard him! Move!” shouted Pio.

Brin unholstered his spear, and immediately moved towards the north, followed by Davi.

“This isn’t right,” said the bulky [Bard]. “There were still plenty of people here when we left. There was one old lady who swore up and down that she was born here and that she died here.”

“Who’s to say she didn’t? Do you remember where she lived?” asked Brin. 

“No. Why would I?”

Brin didn’t think it was totally unreasonable that he might; Sudd’s Bog was tiny. Maybe thirty scattered single-room huts, and three or four actual houses with only one of them being more than one story. It was even smaller than Travin’s Bog.

They poked their heads into the homes, checking inside, but nothing was there. Unlike Travin’s Bog where everyone had died or left in a panic, these people had time to prepare. The huts were completely bare.

Some of them were dirt floors, which was surprising. Didn’t they have [Carpenters] and [Woodworkers] who could build a floor in an hour? But maybe they were lower-leveled here. He wiped the ground with his hand, and found that he couldn’t actually move any of the dirt. It was packed hard, even scraping it with the butt of his spear didn’t loosen any. They must’ve preferred [Earthshaper] Skills to harden their floors. That Class was rarer than [Woodworker] and Brin thought it was cooler, but maybe that was just his Avatar influence.

Davi checked the houses at random, but Brin kept them moving north at a steady pace.

Suddenly, Davi pulled the quarterstaff from his back and got in a ready position. It only took Brin a second longer to feel it; his Monster Sense was going off. There was something nearby.

Brin leveled his spear. Seeing that, Davi slinged his quarterstaff again, and pulled his lute around.

“Actually, plug your ears,” said Brin.

Davi looked confused, but did so, leaving the lute to hang from its strap.

They approached the house at the end of the street, the only house nearby that the monsters could be hiding inside.

Brin kept the spear pointed forward with one hand and reached inside his pouch to grab a glass ball. He grabbed an ordinary one, since there was no need to use up one of his enchanted ones for this.

When they were twenty feet away from the house, movement blurred in the doorway, and Brin fired off an [Inspect].

Wolf

Level 12

The wolves, six of them, charged out of the house at the exact time that Brin threw his sphere. It landed in front of them, and he channeled a blast of deafening sound into the glass.

The bang hit hard, punishing his ears. He cursed himself for not thinking of deafening himself. The effect on the wolves was even more pronounced.

They yelped in pain and fled, stumbling away in terror. They were so low leveled that he didn’t even regret losing the experience for them. Much better to have them help hide his illusions.

As his ears started to clear and his hearing returned, he heard shouting and the frightened braying of animals. He heard high-pitched neighs of fear from the horses, the bellows of oxen, and shouts of men and women as they tried to get them under control.

“Pio is going to be mad,” said Davi.

Brin nodded, but didn’t lower his spear. Monster Sense was telling him that something was still nearby. He held his spear ready, waiting for something else to come out of the hut, but nothing did.

He wondered if it knew he was there. It must. Maybe it was hoping he would assume all the monsters had fled and was waiting to ambush him when he checked inside? That would make the most sense.

“What’s our play here?” Brin asked Davi.

“I don’t know. Is there another one in the hut? I could draw it out, maybe.”

“I could too, maybe, with a flash sphere,” said Brin. “Be ready to play something. If it’s really hiding in that hut then it's smarter than your average wolf.”

Still nothing left the hut, so Brin felt in his pouch for another sphere. Davi was one of the few people who knew his real Class, so fooling him wasn’t the point, but if anyone bothered to check they’d expect to see two spheres on the ground.

Behind him, he heard the heavy footsteps of Pio, as well as a string of curses. “Twice-damned fools! You are as the lint in Magelin’s toes! Those horses could have pulled a hamstring. You…” Pio trailed off when he saw the serious expression on Brin and Davi’s faces.

“We think there’s something in the hut up ahead,” said Brin.

Pio narrowed his eyes at the hut and then nodded. “Yes. You are right. I smell.”

“You really do,” said Brin. Pio didn’t seem to get it, and Davi was clearly in no mood, which was probably for the best.

“Davi, play. You both stay back,” said Pio, then marched forward.

Davi started a song about strength and determination, and Pio’s muscles seemed to swell as he approached the hut.

A dark shape sprang out from inside, this one far larger than the wolves. It ran on all fours, but had longer, sturdier limbs than a wolf should. Its paws were larger, long claws that dug into the ground with each step. 

Pio threw a wide haymaker and knocked the beast off its feet. He immediately stomped on its face on the ground, then picked it up and flung it at the hut where it crashed into the wall.

Despite the brutal assault, the monster quickly regained its footing and launched itself at Pio again.

Only to be smacked aside by another wide punch. The hairy creature howled in outrage and snapped at Pio with long yellow teeth.

Pio moved around the beast and grabbed it by the neck. Then he pulled it up and strangled it against his chest, letting it wave its legs uselessly in the air.

Brin ran forward and stabbed the beast in the middle. He stopped before running the beast all the way through so that he wouldn’t hit Pio as well. When he pulled his spear back out, he could tell all the fight had gone out of the monster. 

Pio let it drop, then held it in place with his boot while Brin stabbed it again.

Alert! You have defeated: Vulkovek [31]

Experience split between party members.

Pio spit on the creature’s corpse. “Fine. Maybe it is good that you used the noise maker. I came quickly to kill the strong monster.”

Brin sighed, wiping his bloody spear off on the creature’s fur. “What is this thing?”

“Man cursed to be wolf. But still beast so my Class has power over it. Nasty thing. No good fur, and meat is no good. No monster core. We will burn this away from camp because the smell is no good either.”

Brin sighed. He’d find his epic loot some day.

Pio frowned at him again. “Now. We will speak of this loud sound you make.”

“Yes, I think I’d be interested in seeing that as well,” said the [Caravan Leader], approaching with a group of his people.

Brin was all too happy to show him. He convinced them to let him demonstrate a flash marble and then a bang marble, which most of the group found somewhat impressive, and a little amusing. Brin gifted a pair to several members of the caravan, including Davi and Myra.

Pio gave instructions that no one was to use the marble unless they were cut off from the rest of the caravan for some reason and wanted everyone to come running. For threats while they were walking, he still wanted them to just knock on wood.

That settled, Brin was pleased to get the notification he was looking for.

Level up! Hide Status 11 -> 13

Not a huge jump, but it was a step in the right direction.

Only after the hubbub died down did Brin think to finally check inside the hut. It wasn’t empty; there was a dresser with stinky women's clothing, a cast iron pot in the fireplace, a few random tools, and a bed. Upon the bed, a few red bones, stripped clean by sharp teeth.

When he dreamt that night, he replayed the fight in his mind, only this time he was the one who charged into the hut to kill the beast. When he woke, he felt distinct regret that he had called for help instead of fighting the monster himself. Illogical, since he knew that had been the right call, but he couldn’t help but feel like he’d given a present away that had been intended for him.