Siege State

Tom squinted against the low, late afternoon sun. Sweat beaded on his neck beneath his armour and snaked long trails down his back. This late in summer, the weather was hot, but the gradual approach of autumn had turned the air muggy.

He swayed slightly, rhythmically, in his saddle. Sesame’s paws made little sound on the hard cobbles of the western trade road. His breaths made soft chuffs as they moved. The big black bear was not well suited to long distance travel carrying a rider, but with his massive endurance, he managed admirably.

Rosa rode alongside him on her familiar, Coal. The tall, glossy grey stallion stepped easily, showing not the slightest signs of exertion.

To either side of them, an unbroken line of trees ran to an indistinct blur in the distance. They had spent three weeks on the western trade road, and were almost clear of the Deep. Even Tom was keen to be free of it by this stage.

The journey out of the Deep usually only took a fortnight, but for the first week, they had found themselves fighting remnants from the orc army every day. Multiple times a day, usually. Only after the first week had they finally begun to make better time.

It was then they began to encounter more regular monsters. At times, it felt like they were still under siege. The others were incredulous. It was known that the trade roads were by no means safe, but multiple attacks by monsters every day for weeks was unheard of.

Tom explained that the monsters had probably been driven from their usual hunting grounds by the orcs. The same would have happened to their usual prey animals. With all the disruption and chaos in the Deep at the moment, it was no wonder its denizens were all out of sorts.

It was fine, mostly. Their party was large enough to handle most threats, and well equipped to escape from any too large to handle. They dealt with most of the monsters easily, though the battles did cost them speed.

Altogether, six people comprised their mission. They had been handpicked by Val and Steel and the unnamed Director of the Watch. They were to travel to Rosa’s birthplace, the fortress city Horizon, and find out why they had not responded to Wayrest’s call for aid.

A swarthy mechant woman by the name of Tanya had been badgered into joining them by General Steel. She had proven incredibly useful to the Hunters’ guerilla efforts during the siege. Under her Ideal of Trade she had a skill that allowed for long distance communication. She was there to facilitate faster communication between the two cities once they arrived. The timid lady also had a mule familiar which, interestingly, had a built-in spatial storage aspect to it. She had also manifested Triage during the guerilla operations during the siege. It was Healing-adjacent, easily good enough to qualify her as a healer.

The other three members were all Guards. Horizon had a particularly martial culture, which was saying something when most cities maintained huge armies of Idealists.

Their culture owed its roots to the Monastery of the Bloody Dawn. It was essentially another, smaller city, nestled in the mountains above Horizon proper. They respected strength, and so the Guards had been chosen to accompany them.

Eli, the first of the Guards, was a middle aged man of average build. He had the Ideal of Battle, and his skills included a horse familiar, lighter grey and bulkier than Rosa’s Coal, as well as a field dressing skill that had already proved useful for treating wounds in several battles. His second Ideal was Blades. Neither were hard to guess, looking at the man. Although he was of average build, he had the scars of a veteran Guardsman, and carried enough bladed weapons to outfit an entire party himself.

Meri held the Ideals of Scouting, Endurance, and Senses. Tom got along well with the small, shifty woman. She had several familiars, more than average, just like him, including a hawk, which she used for scouting, and a massive greatwolf familiar that she rode with an ease born of long practice.

Perhaps her most interesting familiar was a large moth. Insect familiars were rare, and it took Tom almost an entire day before he noticed the large insect sitting on the front of the woman’s shoulder. It blended almost perfectly with her clothing. Meri explained that it had incredibly sharp hearing, and should be able to detect noises even his owls would have trouble picking up.

Lastly, there was Markus. He was a young man, only a year or so older than Tom and Rosa, and had only been in the Guards for a year before the siege. He had apparently impressed his lieutenants and captains during the fighting with his Ideal of the Team. Word had travelled back to the Lord General, and he had requested the man take this mission. The hope was that he would manifest more Ideals.

Currently, Markus was riding his familiar, a lion with a gently glowing mane. He had been given the option to aspect the familiar, like Sesame, and had chosen Light essences. The result was a familiar that gave passive buffs to nearby allies, an ability that meshed incredibly well with the rest of his skills under Team.

Idealists with a fall generally only had one ritual skill on average, and often it was a weapon or tool, not a familiar. It was even rarer that manifested familiars could act as mounts for their summoners. That every member of their party had one showed how desperate Wayrest was for answers. It was imperative they reach Horizon as fast as possible, and in one piece.

Although they hadn’t made the best time, under the circumstances, a team without mounts would be far slower. Even a team with non-familiar mounts would be nowhere near as fast. They could not be subsumed to prevent death in case of an injury during battle, and that alone would already have cost them dearly. They also required food, whereas familiars could subsist off their summoner’s mana if no food was at hand.

The last few weeks had been tough for Tom, but between Rosa, whose Horizoner heritage ensured she was an excellent rider, and Meri, who had long experience with riding unconventional familiars, he had grown competent, if not amazing at riding. Sesame, true to his affable personality, was happy to help him in any way he could.

Tanya had made the journey between Wayrest and Horizon several times for trade, and Rosa had travelled back there a few times with her family. Both assured him that they should only be a day or so from reaching the edge of the Deep.

Once they were finally clear of the enormous forest, they would need to travel across the Proving Grounds: equally vast plains that the monks of the Bloody Dawn used to hone their skills.

After that, they would reach the foothills of the Barracho Mountains. Horizon, and the monastery, sat on the fat flank of the Innkeeper, the largest mountain in the range.

The trip would take them another three weeks, if everything went smoothly, a journey of over a month in total. Tom was looking forward to seeing the Proving Grounds, and exploring distant Horizon. His whole life had been centred in the city, and the surrounding forest, and he had never left.

The thing he was most excited for was to see the Monastery. Bloody Dawn had a far-reaching reputation for martial excellence, and Tom wanted to see their monks in action. They occasionally passed through Wayrest to resupply on one of their pilgrimages, but he had never seen one fight.

Tom glanced over at Rosa, noting the tightness in her face. She was worried about her family. It was understandable, though even if they had made the journey safely, there were any number of reasons they might not have been able to send word or return.

Throughout their journey, Rosa had been drilling Tom on the intricacies of Horizoner culture. The two of them were supposed to be the leads for the expedition, representing both the nobles and Hunters of Wayrest. It would not do to walk in blind, and it would be unfair of Tom to leave any negotiation purely to his partner.

He picked up the gist fairly easily, but there were still some nuances that escaped him. For example, he still didn’t understand why the faith practised at the Monastery, and therefore in Horizon too, preached that animals and monsters with abilities were sacreligious.

It seemed an odd thing for them to concern themselves over, but it was one of the central tenets of their faith. It was the reason they sent out pilgrimages: for their warrior-monks to both train and eradicate what they saw as blasphemous entities.

They also had no compunctions about any particular Ideals, which took Tom a while to internalise. Ritual familiars were stigmatised in Horizon due to their similarities to mana-beasts. Non-combat Idealists had a very slight stigma too, but even so, all of their non-combat Idealists were still trained in warfare apparently.

In both cases, though their odd religion came with some hang-ups, their culture was pragmatic, and the stigmas were nowhere near the same level as Wayrest had for their ‘taboo’ Ideals.

On the other hand, Healers, or Healing-adjacent Ideals were venerated above all else. They were just as rare as anywhere else in the world, but given the martial-oriented culture of the city, the ability to save fighters’ lives and allow them to continue fighting was viewed as especially holy.

Tom was eager to see the monastery for himself. They supposedly had warrior-monks that were experts in every weapon, in every style of fighting, with every type of combat Ideal, that one could think of. He hoped to pick up some tips.

They rode in silence, Tom keeping some of his attention on his birds. Sere was spread about them in a net, and Sus and Sol ranged about in the forest, forwards, and to either side of them.

Meri generally left her hawk directly above them, keeping watch on the trade road for miles ahead and behind. Between the two of them, nothing could get close without being detected.

Tom was not surprised when Sus and Sol began to send alerts back down their bond.

Fuck! Fighting! Sus sent.

Looks like something’s up… Sol sighed.

Tom scrubbed at his face briefly. Sus had been spending too much time around Rosa. It was unavoidable that the grumpy bird picked up some of her foul language, and there was no way to stop it with hearing as good as they had.

He spoke aloud, giving the same warning he had given many, many times already in their journey, “Sounds like fighting up ahead. North side of the road.”

With ease born of much repetition, the group swung into readiness. Tom had retrieved his spear from his spatial storage. Rosa pulled her bow from behind her saddlehorn and held an arrow at the ready. Eli selected a longsword from his collection, the better to fight from horseback. Meri slid a dart into a blowpipe, and then tucked it back into her belt. Then she readied her bow as well. Markus unsheathed a gladius and buckler.

Tanya moved into the middle of the group. She had no combat skills, but she had been outfitted with a number of enchanted items that could help them. She also had a skill that gave them all a slight speed buff. Combined with Rosa’s control skill, it gave them a decent boost.

They made their way cautiously down the road, eyes flickering to the woods on either side. Suddenly, Sol stumbled across the cause of the noise.

Uh oh, the owl sent. I think he needs help…

A lone man was surrounded by three wood sprites. He was fighting valiantly, but he wielded only a sword. It was not an ideal weapon for battling the tough creatures. The man was wearing armour, at least, but he would be overwhelmed shortly if nothing changed.

Tom relayed the situation to the others, and they spurred their mounts to speed. They reached the point where they needed to turn off the trade road when Sol sent him again.

Shiiit… Tom! Hurry!

He snatched a glance through the owl’s eyes. A pack of orcs was bearing down on the man, drawn by the sound of fighting. They were barking and braying with vicious glee as they caught his scent.

Here we go again, thought Tom, as he urged Sesame through the trees.