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PW Chapter 51: Unseen Threats
🕑 Added 2025-06-27 04:57:03 +0000 UTC“Focus on clearing the path ahead!”
“There is no clear path! The gnolls have come from everywhere!”
“Then… graah!” Astrid shouted in exertion and rage as she was forced to put the unconscious man on the ground beneath her. Then, without enough time to take out her shield and strap herself into it, she took her hammer in her right hand while keeping her left arm free. Three brawlers closed in on her and Astrid threw herself into battle. She needed to protect her ally, but she couldn’t stay still without weathering attacks. If she had to choose between herself being bloodied or Skandr being killed, though, she didn’t hesitate.
There was a brawler on each side of her, the one on her left going for a familiar combo of body shots. Without the ability to shield herself from the blows, Astrid put all the training she’d had with Muti into practice. She dodged the first three hits on her left, sustaining two on the right as she twisted with her whole body into an uppercut with her hammer that took the gnoll’s head off in a single blow. The third brawler took its place while the gnoll on her right threw itself forward and caught Astrid’s right arm in its jaws.
The steel bracers screamed in tandem with Astrid as she kicked the new, fresh brawler off. Then she headbutted the gnoll latched on her arm. It wrenched back and forth, trying to drag her to the ground, but she held strong and headbutted it again. Blood coursed down its face from the mask of her helmet, and Astrid buried her knee once in its gut. Still the monster held on, and as its fellow closed back in, Astrid whipped around and used the gnawing gnoll’s body as a weapon.
It smashed into its companion and both fell into a heap as the biter released her arm. Astrid raised her hammer with a roar, and two more death notifications appeared as she retreated to stand over Skandr’s body again. Her arm throbbed in pain, but she could still hold the hammer even with her blood running down her arm. For now, it was just pain, and Astrid refused to lose Quick Recovery when there were still another seven gnolls standing that she could see. She pulled her shield free from her back and tried to strap it on while watching in each direction to keep from being blindsided. An arrow thumped into Astrid’s back and she grunted in pain while she stumbled and fumbled with the last strap of her shield.
Behind her, Muti’s battles were bloodier than Astrid’s, her swords flashing in every direction as she sought out the rangers. Two were dead in her wake, a third and fourth being chased down. Two arrows stuck out of her torso and another from her right leg, but she continued fighting through it. While four more brawlers closed in on Astrid, Muti screamed, “I will kill last rangers! Hold!”
“Don’t give me all the glory!” Astrid tried to joke back, but her voice quavered. This wasn’t good. As if to punctuate the thought, another arrow sailed towards her and she managed to twist and catch it on her shield instead of allowing it to punch into her again. The muscles in her back cried as the wounds all over her body burned in pain. Instead of indulging in Quick Recovery, though, she squared her stance as the four brawlers closed in.
Despite her best efforts, the next 15 seconds were painful and potentially deadly. The first gnoll tied up her shield while the second wrenched it back and away from her body. As she swung widely, she caught the shield-holding gnoll in the shoulder with the crunch of bone, but its fellows set on her. A half dozen fists smashed into her from every angle, and the sound of the hard material on her helmet deafened her. Bone spurs cut through the mesh of her mail, and dozens of small cuts bled all over her body. A blow she didn’t see coming struck her ribs and knocked the air from her lungs.
She gasped with the crack of her own bones. Something made her breath rattle in her chest, and she groaned. Maybe a rib had pierced a lung? She couldn’t hold off on it any longer and activated Quick Recovery. All of the many wounds she’d sustained stopped with the sharp pain and it faded to mere aches. And difficult breathing.
Though her vision swam, Astrid sighted another gnoll as its jaws reached for Skandr below.
“Not while I breathe!” She screamed as the hammer struck true. It wasn’t prepared for the attack, and though she took a heavy blow that knocked her from her secure footing doing so, she killed another gnoll for the trouble, leaving her with one crippled and two mostly whole. The healthy ones threw themselves at her and Astrid felt her shield splintering under their attacks while the one whose shoulder she’d pulped was leaning over Skandr.
“No!” she screamed, flashes of Petr and Bertrand’s deaths filling her head. She couldn’t get there though. As the gnoll’s slavering jaws opened, Astrid took three more heavy blows, knocking her back while she wheezed.
The gnoll lowered itself to kill the Lightningmage.
Muti was faster.
Her blades decapitated the beast in one swift movement, and it fell. Astrid’s scream shifted to a roar of excitement and she took yet another blow as she swept her hammer through both standing gnolls’ knees. Bone crunched and monsters fell as she completed the movement, and Muti came to deliver the killing blows.
Astrid fought to keep her feet as she looked around and sought out any more gnolls nearby. Muti shook her head, and spoke.
“There are none. All dead.”
Both women fell to sitting positions, making sure to avoid aggravating the arrows that stuck out of both. Muti looked at herself, covered with blood, and cursed to herself in the Barbarian tongue.
“I hate this.”
Before Astrid could get the energy to ask what she meant, Muti pulled a single bottle from a pouch hanging behind her. Then she pulled every arrow from her body, five of them now, before quaffing the potion in just a couple gulps. The Barbarian shivered as the healing occurred and then she looked at the remains with disgust.
“I do not have another. Astrid, can you walk?”
She nodded, the breaths shallow. As she sat there, she felt a little better, no doubt due to the passive effects of her Fortitude and Quick Recovery. Muti looked around, then sighed.
“I believe that we must take a short time to recover. What do you say, leader?”
“I could use a couple minutes.” Astrid muttered. “How’s Skandr?”
“He breathes.”
“Good.” Astrid panted as she tried to recover. Her lower right ribs were definitely broken, and she’d be amazed if several others weren’t cracked as well. Her elbow might be dislocated, both shoulders felt like she couldn’t lift them, the arrow wound on her back throbbed continuously… in general, Astrid was miserable. And beyond that, she was incandescently angry. Someone had done this. Gnolls didn’t gather like this, not on this floor. Coming all towards them in a group like this? It was like the surge all over again, but targeted.
And she’d get revenge.
Muti, seemingly not too hurt after the potion, set about harvesting the gnolls’ materials from the dozen dead bodies that surrounded them.
“That’s four full packs.” Astrid said aloud. “They got four packs to come at the same time, from different locations, without fighting them.”
“A clever coward.” Muti agreed, pulling her knife through the base of a gnoll’s ear. “There were no wounds we did not deliver.”
Astrid just ground her teeth in response. “The real question is what they did to Skandr. How did they plan this all?”
“I do not know.”
“I’m going to kill them. I swear it.”
“You will need to be faster than I. My bound and I were in danger of death. I shall not allow them to live.”
Astrid nodded. Muti was moving quickly, and the gnoll parts were swiftly piled up in a bag beside her. Then, once she was finished, she tossed the bag to Astrid and sighed.
“I will carry Skandr. You need only carry yourself.”
A part of Astrid wanted to argue, but she didn’t. Instead, she struggled to her feet, her vision swimming from the blood loss. She couldn’t allow herself to stop, and now that she had a moment to recover, she would walk however many kilometers it took to get back to safety. One foot in front of the other.
The fields seemed to grab at her ankles as she walked, slowing her steps and stopping her progress. She was stronger than mere grass, though, and continued dragging her steps forward. Everything that tried to slow her was an enemy, and she wouldn’t lose to an enemy. She’d made it through this ambush, and she wasn’t going to succumb to returning home after it! All it would take is one foot in front of the other.
Muti gave commands from in front of Astrid that she followed, though she didn’t really listen to the words coming out of her companion’s mouth. Her mind was filled with how to find the people responsible for this. How could se get her revenge on them? She said she was going to kill them, but could she find a way to do that that wouldn’t land her in prison? Could she kill whoever it was that was capable of doing this in the first place? Her mind consumed, she put one foot in front of the other.
“Duchess above!”
A chorus of voices pulled Astrid from her musing. A delving group from the third floor, one she knew in passing but wasn’t close with, was coming down the entrance to the Dungeon. Now that she thought about it, this was the party with the Healer that’d helped Skander when he was drunk and she wanted to talk with him.
“Can you help us?” Astrid asked as Muti stepped back with a snarl. “Just heal me enough to get back to town. We can pay you in materials!”
“I don’t need payment.” The Healer, Orden, scoffed as he strode around the rest of his party. “Skandr’s unconscious. What happened?”
“I don’t know. We were just delving and coming back from finishing for the day. He suddenly collapsed as we were walking. He was tired and sweating, but we’d been delving since… a bit after sunrise? So it doesn’t make sense why he’d collapse! Sure, tired, but unconscious?”
“And what happened to you two?” Jeritza, the party’s frontliner, strode forward to ensure that she could keep her Healer safe.
“A dozen gnolls came out of nowhere straight towards us. We were basically untouched until then. Muti took care of the rangers while I protected Skandr. He shouldn’t be wounded, I don’t think. Maybe mana deprived?”
“To have that happen while in the Dungeon, even on the first floor like this? He’d have to be an idiot to have that happen to him.” Orden said. “Let me see.”
Muti held the still unconscious man out, and Orden laid his hands on Skandr’s head. Astrid felt a faint pulse of mana as he did it, but before he could speak, the party’s scouting member perked up.
“Something’s coming. Gnolls. Two packs, seems like?”
“What the hell is happening?” Jeritza demanded, stepping forward to protect Orden.
“I don’t know. It’s as if they know we’re here and we’re their favorite food!” one man said. “They’re coming after us more than they do usually. It’s almost like someone’s used a taunt Skill!”
Jeritza turned to Astrid, a faint accusation in her eyes. Astrid sighed.
“Do you think we’d be in this situation if I was a frontliner?”
A grunt. Then, “We’ll take care of these. Orden, you need time?”
“Uh, yeah.” His voice was strange, and when Astrid looked at him, his previously concerned but unworried face had changed. Instead, he was now looking back and forth, his eyes wild.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’ll help him a little, then I’ll heal you. You need to get to Klara. Not Anders. To Klara.
“He’s been poisoned.”
Astrid’s fury, hot and sizzling, cooled to an icy rage. How could someone have done it? When did they have access?
“Does he have any wounds? Can you tell what kind of poison it is? What can—”
“I have a weak Cleanse. It won’t be enough. I’ve done all I can for him now, now you two need to carry him back to the inn immediately. There are no wounds, so not a poisoned weapon, so far as I can tell.”
Astrid started to go, her stomach twisting, but Orden stopped her.
“Wait.” He laid a hand on her back, then yanked the arrow out with one hand while the other healed her. She wheezed out a grunt as the magic healed her and Orden gasped as well.
“You’re way more injured than you let on.”
“Skandr might be dying. Thank you, but we’re leaving. You don’t want payment?”
“No, you’re taking care of this fool. He doesn’t deserve it, but he’s my brother anyways.”
Wondering if that was more of a colloquial or literal sense, Astrid took a better hold of everything to allow Muti to carry Skandr up the stairs out of the Dungeon. Astrid could hear him groaning in pain as they ran. Again, she remembered Bertrand’s body going cool and that all she could provide to him and Guinevere was the ability to exchange their final words. She would do better this time.
“Faster, Muti. I’ll try to keep up.”
The Barbarian didn’t respond, and Astrid huffed as she lowered her head and followed her companion at a dead sprint towards Kznietch.
***
The guards didn’t step in their way, and as Muti flagged from kilometers of carrying Skandr, Astrid took the lead, shouting, “Get out of the way!”
Nobody stood in their path, and their steps took them to the Guild’s inn before long. Astrid stormed through the door, shouting, “Orden Healer commanded us to see Klara immediately! Guild representative Klara, we need you! For Skandr’s survival, we need you!”
There was a blinding flash of light and then Klara was there. Her hand was on Skandr’s head and suddenly his body was suffused with light. She frowned.
“Take him to your room, Astrid. Keep him in the bed under the blankets, and I will return soon. Don’t let anyone in, and if he wakes, don’t feed him anything and don’t give him anything to drink.”
Before Muti or Astrid could say anything in response, Klara disappeared just as she had before. Astrid and Muti, too tired to do anything else, retreated to her room where Astrid stripped her armor off, to Muti’s disapproving glare.
“I need to rest.” Astrid shook her head. “I’m exhausted. And I need to get clean.”
“Cleanliness will not keep you safe when those who poisoned Skandr return.” Muti rebuffed.
“I won’t be able to protect myself if I’m too tired to raise my arms.”
“If you cannot raise your arms to protect your life then you are weak and deserve to die! Is this who I allowed to bond with me? Am I that foolish?”
“I will not be insulted as I prepare myself for the next battle, not by you!”
“I have not insulted you, I have shown you where your cowardice lies and where you must root it out from your heart!”
Astrid clenched her fists and pulled her right arm back, ready to swing. As she did so, the sweatstained leather gloves creaked as Muti raised her own hands in a familiar stance. Astrid fought to control her breathing, lowered her hands, and pulled her gloves off. Once they were off, she pulled her helm and then her arming cap off and slammed them on the table. She wiped her face with her hand, then, the movement having brought enough clarity to her, she spoke again.
“I’m sitting down. I won’t sleep. If you need it, I’ll take first watch. I might clean myself in here, but I’ll keep my armor on.”
“That is prudent.” Muti responded. Then she removed the scabbards for each of her swords as she sat down and leaned against the wall furthest from the door. Still in the fetal position, Muti rested her chin on her knees, arms wrapped around her legs and hands holding the hilts of her swords. Her eyes quickly closed, and the sound of steady breathing filled the air.
With her hammer still on her hip, Astrid pulled out the bucket of water she kept in her room and started to wipe down her face, hands, and wrists. Again and again, the rag came back a rusty red, and she couldn’t say how long it would be before she was clean. Even so, the movements helped her feel a little better, and Astrid was working on her neck when Klara again appeared in the room, no need to open the door.
Muti surged to her feet, no slower than Astrid had her hammer free and swinging. Three weapons met small circles of light that fully arrested their movement.
“Peace, children.” Klara said. “Hold his mouth open.”
Astrid stepped forward and pinched Skandr’s cheeks. His lips parted and Klara upended a faintly golden potion into his mouth. He coughed and tried to spit it out, but a funnel of light surrounded his mouth and caught every drop, forcing the insensate man to drink.
When the last of the liquid was gone, Klara sighed and looked the two women in the eyes.
“I’ll be straightforward with you. Someone is trying to kill at least two of you. Maybe all three. And I’m not sure who or why. But here’s what we’re going to have to do.”
End of Book 1.
What a trip, huh! I had PW as an earworm that I just... couldn't get rid of. I tried to convince myself to leave it alone, that I should stick with what I was already writing and not overextend myself. Here I am, 52 days later. I can see how many of you are here for this, and what an honor! I've gotten messages that've moved me and seeing so many people care about my work is emotional in the best way. Thanks for being here. We'll progress faster through levels, though nothing breakneck. I have some revisions that take place for clarity's sake, but they're all on RR instead of here, since that's where the largest bulk of my readers and audience is, at least for now. Something I'm gonna post there is what's below. If you've felt like the "boon" or watersheds or evolutions aren't clear, here it is in plain text!
***
Tiers of Class:
Bronze (20 levels), 1-20 (evolve upon reaching 21)
Iron (30 levels), 21-50 (evolve upon reaching 51)
Steel (40 levels), 51-90 (evolve upon reaching 91)
Mithril (50 levels), 91-140 (evolve upon reaching 141)
Adamantium (60 levels), 141-200 (evolve upon reaching 201)
Arcanite (A man's gotta have some secrets, right?)
Skills offered: 4 per tier. Levels at which there is a Skill to select:
Bronze: 1, 6, 11, 16,
Iron: 21, 28, 36, 43,
Steel: 51, 61, 71, 81,
Mithril: 91, 103, 116, 128,
Adamantium: 141, 156, 171, 186,
Arcanite: Special secrets!
Maximum number of Skills per tier:
Bronze: 4
Iron: 5
Steel: 7
Mithril: 9
Adamantium: 12
Arcanite: You know the drill
Boons?
There is a maximum number of Skills in each tier. Each of your Skills, regardless of which one it is or what tier you are, cannot be of a higher tier than your Class's tier. For example, at level 11, Astrid will have maxed her Skills because the only thing she will be able to do at that watershed will be to upgrade Quick Recovery to Bronze tier. Well, what happens when an individual cannot take a new Skill or upgrade one?
At level 16, Astrid will get a boon instead of the opportunity to gain another Skill. What does that mean? You'll see. For her in particular, this is noteworthy, because in higher tiers, it's nearly impossible to do this, as the total amount of possible Skills grows. Let me know if you have any questions!
