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Kernstalion 33: Welcome to the Howling Forest
🕑 Added 2021-03-21 18:06:41 +0000 UTCIt was deathly quiet in the short hallway. When I moved forward, the crunching of my footsteps on the dust, sand, and debris sounded like shrapnel going off. The ceiling was surprisingly high, something I hadn't noticed while looking inside.
So, this was Rathica's previous form's temple? I was curious, to say the least, and moved to the corner. Left led to a collapsed tunnel, and as I looked, I cringed. She had said east… but where the hell was east? I couldn't see the sun or sky down here!
Looking right, I found a long tunnel that led to what seemed a room with white pillars. When I got there, I noticed its ceiling was even higher, at least seven meters high, resting on six white pillars on each side. At the end stood a dais with a pair of legs and crumbled pieces of pure white stone below.
Keeping my eyes open for any moment, I moved towards the dais and saw that it must have been another statue. How it had crumbled and crashed was beyond me because I saw no damage anywhere else. Perhaps it happened automatically after a deity faded?
To the right was another arched exit, and through it, I saw another room. Taking a last look at the destroyed statue, I wondered if I should replace it with one of Rathica. Moving to the other room, I looked around what seemed to have been an antechamber. Benches stood in the middle, and sand piled through blocked windows, three meters high in the walls. What had probably been a double-doored entrance of some sort was now blocked by a massive wall of dirt, a few roots sticking out.
Everything was pitch black, and without my night vision, I would have never been able to see anything. Putting my bag down, I explored the rest of the temple but found nothing besides what I had seen. That made it easy enough. Rathica's old form was a goddess of the Sun elves, and as the sun rose in the west here, that meant the small collapsed tunnel was the one I needed to excavate.
But that could wait. First, I needed to eat and sleep. Placing my blanket on one of the one-meter-wide, three-meter-long white benches, I ate and drank some.
"So… time to look at my class!" I said with a grin. I knew there was some kind of branching skill tree waiting for me as I leveled it up, but right now, I only had a single skill to check. Opening my status window, I checked the skills and abilities section.
> Deliverance Force (Top tier class)
> At each level of this class, you can unlock or increase one class ability
> Current ability points: 1/10 - unspent: 0
> Imbue Vengeful spirits
Choose a vessel capable of hosting a vengeful spirit and draw in the nearest one. For the duration of one hour, the vengeful spirit will inhabit and animate the vessel, using it to fight either the nearest evil thing or anything attacking the Deliverance Force.
Below stood a long text that explained which vessels were capable of holding a vengeful spirit. There were skeletons, corpses, puppets, wood carvings, golems, stone carvings, and many interesting things I hadn't thought of beforehand. The gist was, though, that anything which could move in someway to attack would suffice. This included ropes and chains, which I found more than a little disturbing.
The text went on to explain that the material, size, and weight would determine the power the vengeful spirit could use. My eyes widened as I saw that magical vessels would enable the puppets to use certain types of magic. Any damage the vessels would take after being used would stay, but undamaged vessels could be used again.
A short list of glyphs stood below the text, and as soon as I read them, they became engraved in my mind. With it came the knowledge that picturing them in my mind in order would enable me to use the skill. I need only place my hand on the vessel, and the nearest vengeful spirit would be drawn inside. Its intelligence would be based on the level of my skill, which meant they could only take simple orders right now. They also had no conscious thought.
Thinking for a moment, I took out the wood carving of the demon dog. I hadn't seen anything about a size limit, and placing the carving on my hand palm, I focused. Curious at the result, I imagined the pictures one at a time. A flash of light from the small carving blinded and startled me.
Closing my eyes and averting my gaze, I felt a shudder go through the small carving. A second later, it began moving. Opening my eyes, I saw that most of the light had disappeared, and instead, the carving of the demon dog stood on my hand. It's eyes were glowing with a faint green light, and I could sense its query. What did it want me to do?
"Patrol the area while I sleep. If anything comes inside this temple, wake me."
An affirmative sense came from the small sculpture, and with fluid movements, I could barely believe it, the wooden sculpture jumped from my hand. I followed it as it patrolled the walls, looking into small cracks and between the roots. Lying down on my back, I began planning on vessels I needed to make that I could also drag around with me.
--
I woke up, realizing I had fallen asleep, trusting that Rathica had been right and there was danger here. Looking up and around, I saw the small chamber was still empty, and the demon dog sculpture lay not too far away on the ground. Picking it up, I saw that it was undamaged, but the position of it's legs and head were different from when I had carved it.
Putting it back in my back, I ate and drank before heading to the small corridor. It was time to get out of here. I had decided to create a wood carving of an eagle as soon as I could. I needed to know if it would be able to fly because if it could, it would give me a brilliant way to find out where the enemies were.
I also needed to figure out how I would know if there were vengeful spirits around. I remembered from the full class view before choosing it that I would be able to get an ability for that, but I needed to find another way until then.
Looking at the dried sand and small stones, I shrugged. No time like the present!
It took me almost three hours to dig up and see the first ray of light. Seeing it, coloring the grey and brown dirt in vibrant hues, I realized how little color there was with darkvision. The sound of the wind, rustling leaves, and creaking branches came from above. I was standing almost fully immersed in a small tunnel I had dug. Holding my ax low, I used my upper hands to remove the last topsoil and closed my eyes as the sand and earth fell on top of me.
Holding my breath, I looked up, but the sounds stayed the same—no startled screams or shouts. Lowering myself as good as I could, I jumped up. With my leg strength, I managed to get my head and upper body out of the hole easily and used three arms to hold myself on the edge of the hole. The fourth brandished my ax, ready for anything as I looked around quickly.
Dark, depressing trees surrounded me; the nearest one less than a meter away. There were roots, green and yellow-colored mosses, and a few black and purple mushrooms on a toppled tree to the left. A small clearing stood to the right, and moss grew in an angle that had to mean the temple roof was below it. A cold wind created a soft howling as it blew through the forest's top branches, while cries of birds and other things came from all around.
Pushing myself out of the hole, I looked around. The only movements were the swaying of some thin, unhealthy looking trees and the thick brown and black leaves four meters above me.
Compared to the library and the underground temple, the forest was a breath of fresh air. Even if it was a bit musky and damp, it was also warm, a lot warmer than Dursic had been when I arrived. Rathica had said this was deep in the Howling Forest, and since that spanned the whole continent, I could be anywhere. Bending down, I lay on my stomach and grabbed the bag from the hole, dragging it up.
Taking out the rolled-up map, I found it had changed entirely. The library and paths through it were gone, replaced by a top-down view of a forest. The temple was to the left, indicated by a white square building, and at the right side was a green temple with a leaf. That must be where I had to go. In between were two things that looked like campfires, and I imagined they must be Goblin camps.
A soft rustle behind me made me turn around in a blur and raised my ax. I found three Wirgs staring at me from the bushes below a tree. Red eyes, and snarls on their face, they looked well-fed and dangerous. Well, dangerous to a new arrival. Grinning at them, I lowered my ax.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, "I said with a smile, and one of the Wirgs cocked it's head.
As I wondered what they would do, I suddenly remembered the spells I had learned. Stepping forward, I dropped everything but the ax. My three now free hands began casting Befriend with quick, effortless motions courtesy of all my hours of practice. The Wirgs had no time to react before all three hands began glowing.
"Here, puppies!" I said.
My voice was laced with a surreal, otherworldly quality it normally didn't have, and all three of the Wirgs froze. Even the minute movements they had before were gone as they stared at me. After a second, a glimmer appeared in two of the three pairs of eyes. The third Wirg shivered, and its eyes widened. Then it turned around and fled with its tail tucked between its legs.
"Two out of three… I guess they resisted it somehow?" I mumbled while moving forward. The two Wirgs moved my way, ears perked up and their tongues out of their mouths. They seemed more like dogs than the monsters from moments before- ugly, hairy, misshapen dogs.
Holding out my two lower hands, I felt cold noses press against my hand palms. Two pair of red eyes stared into mine, and I could see the question in them. What did I want?
"I don't know if you guys-"
One of the Wirgs barked at me, and I blinked.
"Sorry- girls…"
What the hell is up with the creatures in this world? I thought, trying to regain my train of thought. And how smart were these Wirgs? They were obviously able to understand me. How long would that spell last? Most live spells so far lasted until removed, so did that mean I had made some permanent friends? Remembering the spell's wording, I knew they wouldn't just follow me around unless I gave them an extra incentive.
Kneeling, I looked at the one that had barked. I didn't see any obvious differences with the other one, but she did have a few more scars across her flank. Raising my hand, I petted her side, and she let out a content rumble. It sounded like a car engine revving up.
"I need to go to a destroyed building in that direction. Do you know a path that will lead me there without any of those Goblins?"
The Wirg cocked her ugly head, and I could see the uncertainty. How did I understand all of this? After thinking for a second, the only thing I could think of was that the spell had done something to make me understand the non-verbal communication of the animals I cast it on.
"Goblins are those green things that walk on two feet. There are many of them in camps that way," I said while pointing in the direction the map had said I should go.
The other Wirg keened softly. She moved back and began padding to the forest she had exited before. When she reached the tree-line, she looked back.
Should I follow her? Getting up, the scarred Wirg looked up at me, and I shrugged.
"Do you know a path?" I asked the second Wirg.
A soft, affirmative jap followed, and I picked up my bag. Beside it lay the map, curled upon itself and partially in a muddy pool. Dammit! Grabbing it, I unfurled it, hoping it wasn't ruined. As I did, the mud slid from the paper as if on a layer of oil. Curious, I wiped it clean and saw that nothing had stuck. Tugging it back in the bag, I put it on my back and, with ax in hand, moved towards the impatiently sniffing Wirg.
Scar, as I decided to call the first Wirg, padded beside me while the other, Smell? Sure, why not- stood and waited.
I looked around at the ancient, buried temple. One day I would come back here and unearth it. I'd place a statue of Rathica inside and make it a safe-haven amid these dangerous woods. But for now - I just turned and followed Smell into the dense woods.
