Runeblade

B2 Chapter 202: Infiltration, pt. 2

Watching the boggarts and larger bugbears loiter outside of what must have been their dwelling, a heavy ball curdled in his stomach. A shaman. That was…not great.

Ianmus had been more than happy to expand on the specifics of boggarts on their journey out of Deadacre. Apparently, beyond a certain group size, boggarts started changing. At first they just got bolder, more headstrong, and meaner.

Soon though, more dangerous figures would appear in their tribes as stronger variants of whatever equivalent they had to classes became available. Assassins and scouts, deft fighters and accurate rangers, and more. The true tipping point was when a warchief appeared—that was when they could officially be called a plague.

If they weren’t curbed quickly, it only got worse. Sometimes, very rarely, an undiscovered boggart nest would progress to the point where smart ones started appearing. It was a basal, crude, intelligence—one that was still just as hungry and warmongering—but it was lethally dangerous. Shamans. The spiritual backbone of a plague, casting foul magics through instinctive will and sorcery.

Normally…it took significant time. Boggarts bred and aged quickly, but it still took a few years for the new generation to develop these classes. Either this nest had gone undiscovered for some time, or—a far worse option—the rising mana was increasing the base-level of their development.

The crude runes on the bugbears hide armour could only have come from a shaman. A well developed one too—maybe more than one if they were unlucky. The plague was reaching maturity. As soon as they had drained their surroundings dry of nourishment, they would spill free—most likely onto the plains, where food was clearly visible from the hill tops.

He needed to share this with his team. Between that and the appearance of bugbears, they might need to change their tack.

Crouched by the boulder, he waited for the raiding party to enter.

The reply to their call came quickly—and faintly. Whatever had heard their call was deep. With their welcome secure, the bugbears took the lead. Hurrying to a hidden nook—frustratingly obscured by a lip in the cave wall—the leader passed out torches.

The torch burst into flame.

The boggarts moved quickly after that, the leader lighting torches before they set off into the cave in a disturbing show of discipline.

Not daring to rise from his crouch, Kaius planted his hands on the ground and slowly made his way down from the ridge. Once far enough that there was little risk of being spotted by a scout, he rose to his full height and set off at a jog towards his waiting teammates.

He’d left them a hundred strides down the steep slope's surface, nestled in a small alcove between three jutting rocks—one of which held the familiar sign of a glowing circle of runes on its exterior face. A portal to the Depths, one of the many they’d seen on their journey. Analysing it had revealed it was an entrance to the third layer—common enough, and not worth reporting to the guild.

They’d still kept well clear of it, they were on a time limit, after all.

It was a surprisingly good hiding spot. Even knowing where they were, it was impossible to spot them from where he stood. Only a narrow passage between the stones on the right-hand side of the cluster would allow a view into its admittedly cramped confines.

“—and the water! Oh, you must see the ocean sometime, Porkchop. I promise it is truly as endless as I say. Large enough that the Arboreal Sea’s endless reaches were named after it.” he overheard Ianmus whisper to his brother.

Porkchop snorted, but without directing attention towards him, Kaius missed his actual reply. Even their bond required intention to speak through, after all.

“I’m serious! The name for the water came first, and yes, I promise it is actually salty. That’s not just some joke we tell land-locked folks.” Ianmus insisted.

Kaius shook his head, a wry smile on his face as he walked around the grouped boulders. While he wasn’t quite as skeptical as Porkchop, he could understand the incredulity. It was hard to imagine an endless stretch of nothing but water spanning from horizon to horizon.

Where did it all even come from?

He entered their hide away, both of his companions snapping up to meet his eyes.

“Kaius! Ianmus was just telling me about the water around his city! I don’t know if I believe him how much there is though—surely it can’t rain that much?” Porkchop said, greeting him enthusiastically.

Kaius stepped closer, scratching his brother behind the ears. “It’s the truth, though one I've never gotten to see for myself. I don’t quite understand how it’s so big or salty either.”

“I’ll have to take the two of you to see it some time, then. Either at Mystral, or Port Yorr on the east coast—it’s a large city-state on the other side of the dukedoms, one I've been meaning to visit. It’s supposed to be rather beautiful.” Ianmus said, smiling at the idea. Kaius understood. In the rare few occasions he’d gotten to see someone on their first visit to Three Fields, the singular look of awe that they gave the Arboreal Sea was a memorable sight.

Pleasant, in the way that it reminded you of the fantastical nature of something that had become mundane through simple time and proximity.

“Still, that’s for the future—Kaius, did you manage to spot any further tracks for us to follow?” Ianmus continued, switching his attention to their task.

The casual candor and easy atmosphere vanished, replaced by a tempered focus that focused the mind. He nodded. “More than that, I'm pretty sure we’ve found their den. One of them, at least.”

Porkchop looked at him sharply. “You’re sure?”

“Yeah,” Kaius replied, taking a seat on the loose earth. “There's a cave on the far valley wall, a big one—and deep too. Whole place is littered with signs, and I managed to catch a raiding party entering. I’m surprised you didn’t hear the leader's call.”

“Wait, that was a boggart? We thought it was a mountain goat.” Ianmus frowned.

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Kaius nodded.

As soon as he did, Porkchop was rising to his feet, shaking off the trail dust that had coated his belly. “What are we waiting for, then? Let’s go get this done.”

“Woah,” Kaius held up his hand, getting Porkchop to halt before they could leave their hideaway. “There's more.”

Porkchop groaned, but returned to sitting all the same.

Ianmus huffed, leaning back as he stared at the blue sky above. “There’s always bloody more.” he muttered to himself.

Kaius chuffed at that. It was hard to disagree. They did seem to have a tendency to find themselves in situations where the dangers and stakes were higher than expected.

“That there is, friend.” he smiled ruefully. “They have a shaman, an established one, maybe more. The raiding party had crude runes impressed into their hide armour. Worse, there were bugbears.”

Ianmus’s head snapped to him, his eye’s narrowing. “What in the headmaster’s beard is a bugbear?”

“No clue, I was hoping you would know. They’re still clearly boggarts, but bigger and meaner. Kind of reminded me of a hob, but somehow even more ugly.” Kaius replied with a shrug.

Ianmus took a hissing breath in through his teeth, clearly disturbed by the news.

Not that Kaius expected him to be happy about it. Boggarts being able to develop new, more dangerous, forms was good for absolutely no one. The smaller ones were bad enough, let alone a specimen the size of a small man and twice as muscled.

Rubbing his jaw, Ianmus fell silent. He was thinking, that much was clear. Kaius had spent enough time around the man to recognise the furrow in his brow and the way his eyes had drifted into staring at the mid-space. He gave him time, any insight the mage might have would be valuable.

Ianmus broke his silence.

“It’s been theorised that they might be able to do that. The capabilities of the lower-races are somewhat unknown, they’re not exactly the easiest to study—and not exactly my area of expertise, I've only brushed up against it in passing. The development of goblins into hobs and coblyns as they move up their social hierarchy is well known, but they are the only other example we’ve got. Ogres and trolls do something similar, but not quite as drastic. I’d hoped that it was unique to them, but it seems that boggart's confinement to relatively low mana zones was the only thing stopping it.”

Kaius nodded along to his mage’s words. “If we assume it's similar to goblins, is there anything we should watch out for?”

Ianmus nodded at him. “We don’t quite know how their version of the system works, but we think it’s closer to how a beast’s works. Expect the more developed specimens to have better classes, and stronger bodies. On that note, if they’re like goblins, we can expect at least a hundred of them if hob-equivalents have started to appear. Probably more if you saw multiple in a raiding party.”

Kaius sighed. That was just fantastic.

Porkchop, on the other-hand, was characteristically enthused.

“So, what? We get a better fight, What’s the issue? We’re here to level, people! Not like we’re backing out now just because it's a little more dangerous. Even if they have big ones, we still have the stat advantage, they don’t stand a chance.” Porkchop insisted.

Listening to Porkchop’s rousing speech, Ianmus shook his head at himself. “You’re right, of course. Regardless of the danger, we have been given a task, and will have to see it through. At the very least, this will be vital information to share with the guild. I just wished that for once something unexpected wouldn’t

Kaius nodded. Both Porkchop and Ianmus had gotten immeasurably closer to their own Aspects—Ianmus had started to build his resonance with Mentis, much like he had, while Porkchop had felt himself drawing close to igniting Corporus.

Both were right on the cusp, having spent every evening meditating on what their Truth could be. All Ianmus had been able to share was that he was sure it had something to do with control and discovery. That, at least, was far more sane than Porkchop’s supposed Truth. He struggled to see how the phrase ‘not dying’ was enough to resonate, but he had conceded there was nothing in the little they knew about Aspects that said they had to be complex.

There was a hope that they could ignite them during this trial. Afterall, a god himself had said that a good fight would go a long way to their development.

That said, he couldn’t stop the nervous tingle that he felt when he thought of the time it had taken. There were Honours on the line, and every extra day they took was another that someone else could beat his teammates to the finish.

They had advantages—that much was certain—but their success wasn’t guaranteed. Thankfully, Ianmus had thought deeply on the information they had gleaned from the informational package the system had granted Kaius. Specifically on the effect of trances on aspect ignition.

He’d commissioned a tonic from an alchemist before they had left, burning half of his coin on it—the other going to a cheap darkvision amulet that sat around his neck. A full dose was supposed to send someone into a dream-like stupor, where the mind wandered aimless and confused. Ianmus had taken to watering it down to a fraction of the original potency—taking it like a nightcap before his evening meditations in their tent.

It had been…shockingly effective. That first evening had spurred him forwards more than the entire month preceding. He’d even been kind enough to share half of it with Porkchop, though both Kaius and his brother had insisted on covering half the cost.

That tonic had been enough to push them both right to the precipice over their journey.

Now all they needed was a spark.

At first, Kaius had hoped he would be able to make use of it himself. Despite soul-searching, he’d not found so much of a quiver in his other two aspects. Even taking the watered down tonic to aid in meditation hadn’t helped.

It seemed without a direction to focus on—a trigger to draw you in—a trance was of little use. He really shouldn’t complain. The fact that it had brought his team closer to securing their own Honours was enough.

Afterall, their strength was his strength.

“You’ll get there—both of you. Porkchop is right, this is bound to be a good fight—no doubt it will be what both of you need to tip you over the edge. In fact, if either of you start to resonate strongly down there, call out. If there's the chance to follow the thread without putting the team at risk, take it.” Kaius replied to Ianmus.

They nodded, happy with the idea.

“Now, before we head in, we should discuss our formation,” he continued. “Judging by the quiet response I heard from within, it seems to be quite deep. I think that if it's just a single tunnel, Ianmus should hang back where he’s less at risk. However, if it opens up into multiple paths, or caverns, you should probably stay within a dozen paces of us.”

“I’ll stay close to him, just try not to range too far ahead. We’ll need to work together if their numbers are as large as Rieker and Ro thought they might be.” Porkchop replied.

Kaius nodded.

Their conversation quickly continued as they covered contingencies. What to do if Ianmus was ambushed, if they were pincered, or if the boggarts just came at them in a single wave. With how many there were, the goal would be to avoid the final scenario. Things would go much smoother if they didn’t have to face the entire plague at once.

Without a stealth specialist, it was likely that it would happen eventually, but every boggart they put in the ground before the alarm went up was another they wouldn’t have to worry about.

To that end, they decided to wait for nightfall, when most would be asleep. Thankfully, larger groups of boggarts were known to sleep in smaller family units—they’d sneak in, wiping them out one by one.

Then they would make their stand.

As they planned, Kaius felt the music of battle start to race through his veins—faint, but undeniably pleasant.

Dangerous or not, the battle ahead might be enough for him to gather his next class skill.

He couldn’t wait.