Chapter 33: Warding

Ann cleared her throat.

The four of them had gathered in the livingroom and were eating the stew from the last night. Speaking of last night, everything had gotten kind of awkward since. Bren was giving her and Kat scathing looks. He’d healed the bite on Kat’s shoulder, but looked supremely grumpy about it.

“Could you not, please?” He asked. “I have heard quite enough out of both of you for a good while.”

“Sorry, we didn’t mean to,” Ann started, with Kat cutting her off.

“It was my fault, really. I forgot tae help keep ‘er libido down,” the Guardian tried to apologize.

“And now at least we know what it does?” Ann said, trying to put a positive spin on the situation.

“Oh, yes. We certainly do. You become a raging sex beast that cannot be controlled and intimidate our host!” Bren burst out. “And make me listen to you and my sister do all that right beneath your room. Gods, I had to get dressed and leave you were at it for so long.”

Both Ann and Kat looked down at their bowls sheepishly, with deep blushes warming their faces.

“For what it’s worth, I was just concerned that someone was getting hurt, and the intimidation was just a misunderstanding. Really!” Rosalyn insisted. “I mean, who wouldn’t be scared by a massive wolf woman stalking toward you with enchanting glowing purple eyes, completely naked! It was so primal and I think my sheepishness won out there and I just kinda went to sleep for a bit.”

Bren sighed heavily. “Not helping. Just… can you please not? At least while I am in earshot. I get it was a mistake. I just may be traumatised for a little bit, here.”

“Aye, we can do that. Sorry, again,” Kat mumbled.

“So, about today. I have a request,” Rosalyn announced. “Worry not, worry not, it has to do with your current assignment. I believe it will help us in the long run as well. This area, as you know, is near the Fertile Lands and has a much higher Warped population. Because of that, if we go back and fight that snail thing, we might run into packs of minor Warped. That’d be a problem. There’s an old ward deeper in the woods, thankfully outside the Snail’s territory for now, that was made to keep the smaller critters out. If I can get there and get it charged, it’ll help a ton. Doesn’t eliminate the problem entirely, but works as a deterrent. Nature magic!” she exclaimed, wiggling her fingers in the air.

“That sounds fair to me. I’d rather not have Twinwolves nipping at our heels while dealing with that freak,” Ann said, sitting forward at the table.

“Yes. However, I must ask why you have not made this trip before?” Bren asked.

“Well, here’s the thing,” Rosalyn said, sighing and puffing out her black cheeks before continuing. “The area is crawling with Warped right now. More than I can handle alone. I’ve been meaning to round up some villagers to get it done, but I’m worried about them getting hurt too, and I’m the strongest fighter we have. To make it worse, I’m going to have to focus on charging the stone, and I’ll be completely out of it. No offense meant, but I don’t trust them to protect me well enough to get the job done. You three, however? Experienced mercenaries? I think you would do nicely.”

“That’s fair,” Kat considered. “Bren an’ I alone mighta been enough, an’ now that we’ve got Ann here, should go even smoother. What manner o’ Warped we lookin’ at ‘ere?”

“Twinwolves. Maybe a snowcat. Oh, some Chittering Crawlers. Hate those things. Nothing flying, thankfully. At least not since I last checked. Just a lot of them. I’m level twelve in my Path. How about you all?”

“Twelve,” Kat and Bren said together.

“Eight,” Ann answered, scratching her ear.

“Wonderful! I thought you’d be a higher advancement than I am, but this works out great! We all know about how tough each of us should be,” Rosalyn clapped happily. “Well, let’s get our food in our bellies and get this done!”

The air was a bitter cold as they set out. Clear skies did nothing to warm those who didn’t have Annita’s cold resistance. Kat, Brenn, and Rosalyn huddled under thick furs as they set out, wind whistling through the trees.

“Nippy day. Not unusual for this time of year, as I’m sure you all know,” Rosalyn yelled over the wind, the noise seemingly not deterring her excitable nature. “So, we’re headed further west. Not too far. You’ll know when we get close. It’s more of a central conduit to lesser structures erected around it. You see, a cairn built around a larger central stone, usually with runes carved into it. We’re getting there.”

“Hey, by the way. What are Chittering Crawlers?” Ann asked, drawing close to the smaller woman so she could hear. Even to her enhanced hearing, the wind was loud and she was losing words.

“Frightful things,” Rosalyn said with a shiver that didn’t seem to be from the cold. “You’ll see soon enough, but they’re spiders? Kind of? At least they resemble them. You’ve seen a rat, right? Of course you have. Now imagine that thing, but instead of four legs, ten. Imagine those ten legs don’t end in paws, but spikes of bone. They drive them into trees and climb. The rat part of their head is mostly there. Their face, jaw, all that. They don’t have ears anymore, and then there’s their eyes. Bulging black things, way bigger than they should be. I hate them so much. Everything about them creeps me out and I just want to run away. I can’t, cause that’d be putting other people in danger, but I’d put them in my bottom five Warped.”

“Forgot tae say they’re poisonous too,” Kat grumbled, pulling her hood closer over her ears.

“Venomous, but yes. Don’t get bit. Bren, can you deal with that sort of thing? I have an antidote or two, but if we all get bitten, it’s not going to be enough.”

“That was the result of my most recent level, actually,” Bren confirmed. “I am limited, however. Three uses a day.”

“Ah, one of the limited spells. Should be pretty powerful, then?”

“Yes, anything up to a medium strength poison. I believe Chittering Crawlers are low strength poison. They tend to swarm and overwhelm and use the poison to disorient their prey,” Bren advised.

“Well, then we’ll just have to deal with that. I’ll try not to get bitten,” Ann said. The picture painted did not excite her for the upcoming fight. Twinwolves were annoying enough with their pack tactics, but working together with other Warped like the Chittering Crawlers sounded like a nightmare.

“Hopefully, we can get it done quickly. Once that’s done, odds are the Warped will turn on each other,” Rosalyn explained. “Chaotic things, and territory being what it is, the Twinwolves won’t take kindly to the others. If a snowcat shows up, then that thing’ll either get out of town, or go for the biggest threat. At that point, I can hide us and try to ensure it thinks the wolves are that threat.”

“A good plan. Sounds like ye’ve done this before,” Kat huffed, hands reaching into her hood to rub her ears.

“Yes. A couple times. Normally when there’s an uprising of Warped. Keeps the town safe and we have no shortage of volunteers for that kind of thing. Since this is more focused, we’re on our own.”

“Lovely,” Kat grumbled.

After another thirty or so minutes of walking, they reached the first cairn. True to Rosalyn’s description, it was a large stone surrounded by stacked smaller stones. The main stone was carved with a rune that looked like a shepherd's crook and continued down past where the smaller stones were stacked. It was dull, showing no magical life from what Ann could tell.

“Ooookay,” Rosalyn sighed, shaking herself. “Here’s where it gets tough. Get ready. No guarantees we’re safe before we get to the main Rune Stone. Once I’m there, I’m starting the ritual immediately. Remember, this is a journey, not a sprint. Reserve what you can for the bigger targets, but make sure you’re not going to die.”

“Aye, form up behind me,” Kat ordered. “I’ll take the front, Rosalyn an’ Bren behind, then Ann take the rear. Not like that, ye numpty,” Kat rolled her eyes at Ann’s instinctive grin. “Let’s go.”

Cautiously, the group advanced, weapons in hand. Ann fastened her faceplate and took up the rear, watching for anything that might be following them. For the first few minutes, nothing showed. The woods were eerily silent. The thick underbrush unmoving.

Suddenly a rustle, and a lone Twinwolf lunged at Bren from the right. The crack of Ann’s revolver sounded, knocking the wolf off course with the impact. A white glow from Rosalyn’s staff and a sharp root had impaled the creature, jutting out from the dirt.

“One down. Who knows how many more,” Rosalyn chirped, resuming the pace. The woman was completely unruffled by the kill.

Ann didn’t have a second to admire how unfazed the normally nervous Vulhardrin was. More rustling and two more Twinwolves jumped out from the sides. They seemed to be trying to avoid Kat. Not letting them, Kat stepped in front of Bren and struck down one, while Ann caught the other with her falchion.

The wolf on Kat’s sword died instantly, the higher level woman throwing it from her blade.

Annita wasn’t so lucky. The sword caught in its throat, the split head snapping at her, each half’s teeth scrabbling against her new armour. Saying a silent thanks to Riva and her craftsmanship, Ann holstered her revolver, extended her claws and gouged out one half-head’s eye. Black blood oozed down her arm as she took the flailing creature and shoved the sword further down its neck, silencing it.

“Nice to feel some actual progress,” Ann sighed, wiping her sword clean of gore.

“Aye, told ya ye was gettin’ stronger,” Kat laughed back, taking up her position.

“Heads up, Crawlers!” Bren warned as something dropped on Ann’s back.

“What the fuck? Get it off!” Ann cried as she tried to wrench the weight off her back. The spiked feet, claws? Legs dug into her armor, holding it secure.

“Stay still a moment,” Rosalyn said, approaching and levelling her staff at Ann’s back. A jolt of electricity made her fur stand on end, but the thing fell off her, dead. “Not tough, like I said, but they don’t need to be. They like to ambush from the trees. Thankfully, it was just the one, for now.”

Ann checked the charred corpse of the Chittering Crawler. It was as described. Ten legs that seemed to be broken to approximate the shape of a spider. Each leg’s fur ended in a bone spike jutting from the flesh. They almost seemed barbed to some extent. Likely to hold on to prey better. What Rosalyn had failed to describe were the eyes. They were huge, that much was right, but they were also multi-faceted like a fly’s.

“Thank the Gods these things can’t fly,” Ann huffed, standing back up and re-joining the group.

“Yes, I would not like to encounter that mutation,” Bren agreed, shuddering. “Already, they are a threat. A cloud of them? Terrifying.”

“Oi, more ahead!” Kat shouted. “Cover!”

A swarm of Chittering Crawlers came down the trees. Ann had no clue how she’d missed them, but it was like they were coming out of thin air. Swarms flowed down three trees in front of them, fanning out through the bushes and surrounding the party. Hisses and snapping teeth surrounded them as the things waited for an opening.

Ann and Kat levelled their weapons at the beasts, waiting to receive them, but nothing moved. A tense minute passed as the Crawlers edged forward, then skittered back at each movement from the party.

“What’s keeping them?” Ann asked. “They could swarm us no problem.”

“They don’t know that. They’re pack beasts and we’re larger prey,” Rosalyn explained. “They’re trying to figure out which of us is weakest. Ideally, they’d split us up and corner that person, but we won’t give them that choice. No no no. Katlyn, move forward slowly. Keep close together everyone, we need to keep moving. If they attack, fight.”

“Aye. On me. March!” Kat ordered, each foot falling slowly and carefully, not risking any poor footing that would cause her to stumble.

The rest followed closely, keeping themselves touching in some way as they stared down the ring of spidery rats around them. Ann watched as one screeched, its cheeks tightening and causing its already massive eyes to bulge disgustingly. Sharp fangs that looked transparent replaced the normal buck teeth she expected from the vermin, almost needle like.

“We should be close. A few more minutes at this pace. It would have been much quicker, at our normal pace. Goodness, I hate these things. Twinwolves are nasty, but these are far more an abomination than the rest. They don’t even have the right number of legs,” Rosalyn rambled as she walked. She sounded nervous to Ann, and talking might be a coping mechanism.

“I dunno, the crow tree thing was pretty awful,” Ann offered, trying to keep the conversation up so Rosalyn could stay focused. “Huge tree that bled and was full of crows. Literally. Its leaves were even crow feathers.”

“Sounds vile. Was that out in the world?” Rosalyn asked, her eyes darting back and forth across their left flank.

“Nae,” Kat joined in. “Guardian of a Seed. Fecker took all o’ us tae kill it. Fittin’ fer a Guardian though.”

“Sounds like it,” Rosalyn said with a grunt as she feinted at a particularly brave Crawler. “At least it was formed around two different creatures. The more creatures you see in a Warped, generally the stronger they can be. More tools for them to call upon. I heard tell of a beast that was a dog, a centipede, and some form of bird. It could fly, was long and writhing, so it was hard to hit, and its fur provided additional defences besides the chitin. What terror the hunters spoke with when they described it.”

“That’s fucking disgus…” Ann was cut off as a Twinwolf darted towards Rosalyn from a thick patch of underbrush.

The Druid caught it on her staff, forcing the butt into the dirt so as to not be knocked back, and sent a jolt of lightning through the creature, killing it instantly.

It was, unfortunately, enough of an opening. While she focused on the larger threat, the crawlers rushed in behind it. Three scurried around her legs, clawing at Bren’s back while the rest rushed forward on all sides.

Madness ensued. Ann couldn’t turn to get the things off Bren or she’d be overrun herself. Relying on her falchion, she sliced into a Crawler, severing three legs and sending it careening to its right. Switching targets, she took out another with a downward stab, pinning it to the ground before wrenching her sword free. Like Rosalyn described, they weren’t tough, but there were a ton of them.

Rosalyn had caught a break and tore one of the creatures from Bren’s back, tossing the writhing mess of legs back into the swarm behind her.

Bren had taken one out with his knife, but the third still harassed him. Spots of red showed through his robes and he seemed slower than Ann was used to him moving. A flash of his wand and his movements steadied. He fell back slightly, into the middle of the three fighters, allowing him to take cover and deal with his last adversary.

Ann had found her own annoyances with the things. Mostly, being that they were small. So small, in fact, that she had to stoop down for each swing to actually connect. It was exhausting work, killing one after another. Once or twice she just resorted to stomping the things’ heads after cutting their legs. The only thing that stopped her was the horrid feeling of their innards on her paws and the fear the fangs might stab her accidentally. Downsides to not wearing shoes, she groaned inwardly.

Three more Twinwolves joined the fray as the horde of Crawlers thinned. Two charged Annita while one angled for Rosalyn. Aiming her revolver, Ann snuck a shot into the right shoulder of one, causing it to tumble and trip. The other was successful in reaching her, jaws snapping at her shoulders and head as she held it off with her sword arm. The leather held under the bites, but it didn’t mean it didn’t hurt, and she winced as she felt the pressure from those jaws closing over her flesh.

“Get the fuck off me!” Ann grunted, shoving her shoulder into the thing. It held on tenaciously by its teeth. She whipped her gun around and sent a smite straight through its chest. The body instantly went limp, and she pushed it to the side in time for the other Twinwolf to recover and grab at her ankles with its split head.

“This again? Really?” Ann winced, feeling the teeth digging into her unprotected flesh. “Fine, how’s this?” She sliced at one of the split necks, getting a gurgling growl from its throat as the blade cut through flesh. It didn’t cut clean, and the thing held on. Only with the second strike was she able to sever it completely, the jaws falling limp. The other head hung on for dear life, but it wasn’t long for this world. Cold steel found the gap between two vertebrae and the creature fell limp.

Ann felt Bren fixing up what damage she’d taken, and moved on to skewering more Crawlers as they approached.

“They’re thinnin’ out. Let’s move! Can’t fight these fecks all day!” Kat shouted, bashing a crawler out of the way with her shield. She set the pace.

It was slow and grueling, but they made it work. After a few minutes, they entered a glade. Trees surrounded clear ground at the center of which was a massive runed stone. It towered over all of them, the morning light shading them as they approached. Seemingly wary of the place, or no longer confident in their numbers.

“Well, this is it,” Rosalyn huffed, trying to catch her breath a little. “This will be what we defend. I’m going to be right there, on the ground next to it. Hands on the thing and chanting some old spell to channel my mana into it. Like I said. It’ll take a while and the Warped won’t sit by while I do this. Let me know when you all are ready.”

Ann finished reloading her revolver, noting she’d have to restock on bullets when she got back. She was starting to run low. “I’m ready,” she confirmed, nodding to Kat.

“Aye, seems we are. How do we know when yer done?” Kat asked.

“That’ll be really obvious. Lots of glowing runes and the Warped will be running away,” Rosalyn explained.

“Then get yer wooly arse tae work. We’ve got ye,” Kat grinned, nodding to both Ann and Bren.

Without further words, Rosalyn knelt next to the monolith and began chanting. A rumbling echoed through the glade as the process began, and with it, a chorus of howls in the distance.