ShipTeaser

  “Grulgor, they are ing from the left! Block them!” I cried. Indeed, swarms er pnt creatures, thorn-bears, massive shambling mounds, and vicious livile-trees, were all trying to overrun us, several Myid Shepherds urging them onwards. Meanwhile on our fnks Myid Rangers, and a hreat, Myid Aeromancers, Terramancers and Aquamancers, were massing, maniputing the very elements against us.

  I was busy engaging a pair of bulky Myid Warriors, another foe we had seen for the first time. their fungal bodies were covered with hard, waxy armour, and their limbs had grown into natural, bark-like swords, dripping with brightly coloured toxins. They were also quite fast, though luckily I still outmatched them signifitly in that regard. My Twin Fangs danced, and several Warriors exploded, scattering spores and venom as they died. Got to love the rending space effect of these. When they hit, they hit hard…

  “I fear-fear we have finally provoked the response we were expeg.” Shaeu was whipping around her pinwheels, both of them ba her possession as Hyath had moved on to the stage of human, well, kobold anyway, experiments. “So, do we retreat?” Fire and wind surged on the bluesteel wires, and enraged pnts died in their dozeh erupted as gloopy mud, the Terramarying to tie us and her pinwheels down, but I tered, my owh energies redireg the tides of sug dirt, engulfing a squad ers on the fnk, before hardening into thin, roeedles to pierce them like ders.

  “Grul says we crush them ALL!” he roared, shouldering through the thorn-bears. They were massive but surprisingly light pared to the t sb of stone, muscle and dwarvehat was Grulgor. Behind the crowd lurked the Shepherds, and one died as his giant mace literally vaporised it. A sed fell, head shattered by his free fist, and then a third as the mace swept around once more, the handle folding the Myid in half. The filters on asmasks were ing now, wind energy repelling the endlessly thick spores, and I once more realised just why it was deemed impossible to recim the Myid-held nds.

  “Yeah, I’d love to, but weight of numbers are starting to tell…” the sky above us opened, a vicious, acidic rain starting to fall, jured by the Aquamancers, and as it hit us, the metal of our arman to sizzle. Oh crap. Well, an acid that eats metal might not work on the pseudo-rubber of our suits, but that isn’t a ce I want to take, and in any case it’d leave us vulnerable to rips and tears… Foehn poured from my hands in a virulent yellow wave, surging over the ps, filling the air with a heated fog of bzing spores, and the Aquamancers and Aeromaried to retreat. It was too te though, as Shaeu saw what I was trying to do and fed in her own wind energy, emp the bze. Snatg falleher to top-up our reserves, I rushed over to reinfrulgor, using rock bullets to snipe dow two retreating Shepherds. The pnt monsters were untrolble, the amount of spores choking the air driving them into a frenzy, so with cohesion lost we had a ce to break out.

  “I am with you!” Shaeu shouted, wind-and-fme weasels burning down a swathe of the Rangers before they could escape, as their movements had bee disorientated. “But if we tio be bogged down-down, further enemies may ensnare us!”

  You have gained in strength. Your level has increased from fifty-four to fifty-five.

  Bodies fell in front of me, Twin Fangs carving them apart, and the message fred in amber in my right eye. Nice. Even so, levelling wasn’t a priority, survival was. The offehe Myids had sprung on us was far fiercer than anything else we had entered so far, and even with nifitly greater prowess individually, we were starting to be overwhelmed. Not that we weren’t prepared or pnning for this…

  “Right, cut our way free and we go!” Pinwheels spun past me and Grulgor, one on each side, and more of the surrounding fungal blooms, as well as small, rotting trees and numerous enemies, were sheared apart, silvery ether was drawn into me and funnelled down to our Territory, and uhe flickering yellow and red light of the Foehn fires, we retreated at full speed, deeper into the forest…

  ********

  “I believe we have-have shaken our pursuers.” Shaeu observed, as we hid within the shadow of some dead trees that a brackish pond, the water dead and reeking of mould and decay. “I suspect your hypothesis is indeed correct.”

  Beside us, Grulgor was slumped down, his armour a mess. It was definitely going to need some repairs. Still, he had obeyed orders and stayed with us this time, as this was one of the st experiments we o run to verify my hypothesis on the Myids. Sure, the battles have been risky, but they are calcuted.

  “Yeah, so keep cyg the wind.” I advised her, ah her mask I was sure she was grinning. She gave me a cute thumbs-up with her gloved hand. The Myids unicated via the spores, that much was obvious now. I wasn’t sure of their intelligence, yet their strategies were being more eborate, each time we killed a bunch, they returned ier numbers, with greater variety aer battle tactics. But that wasn’t all. The Scouts and Observers, they don’t seem to see visually. I think they detect heat, some sort of infra-vision? When we unleashed Foehn, the formation of the Myids, even the ohat weren’t caught in the fiery ruin, were disrupted, and they seemed tle to track us.

  “Grul does not enjoy fleeing like a coward.” He grunted, voice low. “But Grul admits, he has enjoyed crushing and smashing puny fungi!”

  “And there’ll be plenty more to e.” I promised. “You’ve done good work. Tanking isn’t easy, but the enemy finds it hard to ignore you.” Our foes had been drawn into stopping his charge, and he was able to destroy everything around him with his massive mace. “You’ve done good work too, Shaeu.” I turned my attention to her, as she tio keep the wind blowing around us. “I hope it was satisfying for you, defeating Unseelie.”

  “It was ihough I admit to being rather tired.” She fessed. “We should rest here for a while. You need-o recover some strength.”

  “Yeah. This is a pretty sheltered spot, hidden uhe roots of these dead trees and shielded by the ground. And if I’m right about the spores being what finds us for them, with your wind blowing we should be uable.”

  “It would be good to know.” Shaeu approved. “If so, I expect you have a pn-pn to blind them?”

  “Of course. Poor Hyath is going to be w overtime though. Still, even if the spores she creates ’t kill the Myids, having a ton of strange ones in the air is going to disoriehem signifitly, I’d wager.”

  “Well, it is fortuhat she is eager-eager for your reward.” Shaeu smirked.

  “We’ve talked about this. I’m only going to do it if I want her, and everyone else agrees. I’m not going to let you railroad me.” I said sternly, though as my hand was in hers, I squeezed her gently to make sure she knew I wasn’t angry. “Besides, I am sure I e up with something else worthy for her reward if needs be.”

  “Well, it would hardly be as satisfying as a night with you, Akio.” Shaeu ughed, returning my gesture, though the rubber of loves robbed it of some of the usual fort. “Still, your pns are quite-quite ingenious. When I take my pce as ruler of the Seelie, and you are my husband, I shall-shall appoint you Grand Strategist of the Fae!”

  I bowed theatrically. “Su honour, my princess. I look forward to that.” As we ughed and joked, I was trating on drawing iher from the surroundings, and whatever elemental energy I could, to restock. There were traces of earth energy in the air, ing from a bit deeper into the forest, which was making me curious.

  Still, we spent several hours safely hidden. There were a few scares, as Myids passed near our hiding spot, but we remained ued, likely firming my hypothesis. We had to hold Grulgor back from charging out and killing them, but as anroup, an Observer, apanied by a pair of Scouts, passed near us, I had a thought. We have a pond here…

  I hurriedly whispered my idea to Shaeu, and she nodded. “I - do that.”

  I trated, and a trio of stone bullets formed. I unleashed them, and the three Myids died, toadstool heads exploding. Shaeu surrouhe falling bodies with a sphere of wind, hauling the bodies and the surrounding spores into the weed-choked pond. F them and all the spores into the water, she then released her wind. “That was quite-quite the difficult work. I feel my trol of the wind growing during all these battles.”

  “Yeah, you did good. And noait. If I’m right, we shouldn’t have alerted any other Myids sihe spores didn’t get out on the breeze.”

  We waited several more hours, and disposed of anroup of Myids in the same way, filling the pond with bodies like some kind of morbid serial killer, though at least they deposed iher over time. But we were indeed never detected. “I guess that firms my hypothesis, uhey are being more ing than me. I see no reason why they o though. Anyway, I’m rgely full of energy again. Shall we go?”

  “Grul wants to crush and kill some more!” he growled, having regained all his lost stamina. “Grul is also curious. To the north, Grul serong stone power!”

  Yeah, I fot trolls are earth-type Fae. So he feels it too, huh. “I have to admit, I’m pretty yself, and it isn’t too far away. Should we take a quick look?”

  “I believe it should be fine.” Shaeu allowed, not fond of the earth element, due to her initial nature as a wind Fae. “If we focus oreat, I believe we should-should be able to escape the forest without them being able to halt us.”

  With that we left the safety of the shelter we had found, creeping through the trees, Shaeu and I taking it in turns to keep us shielded by wind. We ran into several Scouts, but now we could stop them from revealing us by usih element t them uhe ground, burying them and their spores. The ndscape was ging, less fungal towers and blooms, more dead trees, and toxic rivers and streams were winding their way through, f snted banks that we could use as cover, wading through the filthy, weed-choked water. Even though our rubber suits were roof, Shaeu still hated it, and made me promise to pamper her on our return to the mansion.

  The earth energy was being heavier as roached, and the density of spores and seeds in the air was decreasing, although my Eye could still detee. I half-trated, splitting my focus, making sure to absorb what energies I could, and as roached the source, Grulgor ositively brimming with strength. “Well, I think we are here…” I observed, looking at the deg grove in front of us. The river we were wading through emptied out into a shallow, weed-choked ke, and I could see little lights glimmering in the dark water, red, yellow and… blue? Around the ke a grove of dead trees draped with bs of fungus and covered with mushrooms were swayily in the weak breeze, the trepiece a ing leafless behemoth, the size of a giant redwood. It too was covered in fungi, red, white and bck caps looking virulent and bloated.

  Still, it was the blue glimmer that made my heart skip a beat. Surely nht? It couldn’t be… I used wind, parting the water, sending the filthy mess casg against the keshore, and snatched at the rewards within. As the Etherites floated into my hand, two red, two yellow and… yes, a single, beautiful blue stone. Holy crap, my first blue Etherite! Even holding it, I feel the immense amount of Ether held inside.

  “Pretty.” Shaeu observed. “It matches Aiko’s eyes.” Her own eyes glowed. “It is quite-quite the prize it seems. Worth the journey, I must say.”

  I was about to agree when Grulgor took up a battle stance, and a mournful cry echoed out, followed by anguished ughter and sobbing from multiple voices. Shaeu reacted instantly as well, casting a wind barrier, and as she did so a volley of what looked like dirty seeds smmed into it. Some were scattered away, others breaking through and striking our armour. The impacts were unfortable, but nothing we couldn’t haashing the Etherites, I turo face our attacker, only to be surprised. It wasn’t a pnt or a Myid, not teically, but…

  It was a woman, or at least it was, for her skin was a sickly blue-green, and mushrooms and toadstools simir to those that ied the giant tree were sprouting from her, her skin weeping vile slime. Her long auburn hair that trailed behind her, spreading out over the ground like roots, was falling out and matted with tendrils of corruption. One eye socket was empty, vines growing from it, and one of her arms was ragged bones, held together by fungal growth. Ugh, that’s disgusting.

  Her numerous panions were misshapen humanoid figures, smaller and seemingly a mixture of mushrooms and pnts, different to the abominations the Myids anded, seeming somehow sad, lost.

  “… nutrients… for… tree… sadness, but… you… feed… the roots… stave off the… end…” the creature said, her mouth w slowly, spitting green sludge down her fungus-spotted lips as she formed words in the slow way that made ohink she had nearly fotten how to speak.

  “A dryad.” Shaeu breathed beside me, defleg another volley of ining seeds. “Fae of the trees-trees and forests. The favoured of the King himself, for he is the pcid face of nature, whereas the Queen is nature’s fury-fury.” She looked at the mad, pained creature sadly. “How the vile Myids have hurt you. I am surprised you still-still live.”

  At that the dryad visibly winced, and her hair writhed, digging into the ground like roots, before bursting out at us. My bdes cut through, severing space, and she screamed, falling back, her other allies surging towards us.

  Corrupted Dryad [Corrupted Noble Fae] and Corrupted Wood Servants [Fae struct] were what my Eye could see, but as I cshed with the first servant, bdes cleaving it in twain, I caught sight of the giant tree in my vision and my bdes stopped in mid-air. I nearly took a blow, but Shaeu knocked me aside, her fme energy quickly igniting the attacker, sending it into the ke, thrashing and burning.

  Corrupted Dyih Rhyming Tree- Rank 5 Special- Special Rank facilities ot be levelled up by ether, they level as their requirements are met. Rhyming Trees draw iher from the Astral in a manner simir to Ether Spires, though in addition they also gee elemental energies, in this case earth. They also lead to a higher overall ether density in the surrounding area. This tree and the Dryad that dwells at the heart of this grove of plentiful earth energies has been corrupted and tortured by the terrible spores of the Myids, only surviving due to drawing on the earth. However, in a few dozen more years the grove will at st perish, succumbing to death.

  Rank 5? My gaze quickly sped across the dying forest, seeing a Rank 3 and Rank 2 Earth Rhyming Tree as well, though the Rank 2 one apparently only had months to live, and the Rank 3 just a year or two.

  While I was pting this, Grulgor was smashing the Wood Servants, hurling them aside like bundles of twigs. Shaeu slew them too, her wind and fmes bzing.

  “Stop fighting!” I called out, and Shaeu paused. Grulgor stamped down oorso of a servant, crushing it to pieces, and I grabbed his arm. “Hold!”

  I called forth a wall of earth and mud, separating us. “We are not your enemies, we are here to destroy the Myids!” I decred, but she merely cocked her head, looking at me with her one good eye.

  “… too te. My sisters… all… died. Could not flee the… grove… when the Unseelie came. I must… feed… keep the st trees… alive!” her eye burned with slimy tears, and she spat a mess of spores and small mushrooms.

  “You ot-not get through to her.” Shaeu said sadly. “Fae bound to trees, sacred springs and other pces are strong, but always the first-first to die in war. This poor dryad… it would be a kio set her free-free from her suffering.”

  “Grul will do it.” He decred, raising his mace. “No pity for enemies.” Though he then surprised me by expressing other, menuiiments. “Still, many dead fungi here, Grul smells their stink in the earth. Die well, with respect, tree woman did not stop fighting until the very end.”

  “Strong… power of earth… within you…” the dryad eyed us. “… stave off ruin… just a little longer.”

  Stroh power, huh? Ohing I knew was, this ending wouldn’t sit right with me. The Myids were truly a monstrous race, corrupting all they touched. I was also greedy, a side of myself I was never aware of before. I wouldn’t have three fiancées if I wasn’t. And now… I greedily want to save her, and well as…

  “No, we retreat! We’ve achieved everything we o on this scouting run.” I decred, surprising them. The structs were cmbering over my barrier, so if we didn’t go now the battle would resume. Before Shaeu and Grulgor could protest I grabbed then both, retreating, pulling them along. As we ran down the riverbed, foul water spshing around us, I called back to the dryad. “We’ll be back. Soon. And the Myids… their time is ing. I promise you that!”

  ********

  We staggered out of the forest, soaked head-to-toe in pnt gore. Retreating five or so miles through a forest should have been a breeze for people with our abilities, but when we had to tend with roaming gangs of monstrous pnts while also disposing ly of the Myids to prevent them mobbing us, it was mentally and physically draining. The st mile was a hellish retreat under barrage from the Myid Rangers and ‘Mancers, and while we mao take out quite a few iurn, their forces were arrayed at the border we were heading for, f us to detour while under heavy fire. As we fled out onto the grassy border, a few pnts shambled out after us. We paid them no mind, knowing they couldn’t breach the Fae Stones, rag between them and colpsing, even Grulgor running out of his monstrous stamina.

  “Don’t take your mask off yet.” I warned Shaeu. “Not until we’ve deinated.”

  “I know.” She replied, lying on her bad staring up at the moon in the sky. “Though I will be quite-quite happy to freshen up.”

  “Well, you’ll have your ce.” I promised, simirly wishing to get out of the suit. Even with refreshing wind energy, it was still unfortable for long periods. “Besides, I think we need a rest day now. After having hit the forest three days in a row we o ge it up, let the Myids lower their guard. We also o give Hyath time to train.”

  “That reminds me.” Shaeu sat up, looking at me, her eyes curious behind her mask. “Just what is your pn with that poor-poor dryad? I uand you are passionate, Akio, but the kind thing to do would be to end-end her misery. She ot-not stray far from her tainted grove.”

  “I get that. And there’s no guara won’t e to that. If we have to mercy-kill her, we will.” I could harden my heart enough for that, seeing her body and that of her tree dying slowly over hundreds of years, corrupted by living fungi that was slowly, agonisingly dev them. “But we at least have to try. After all, if it was you in that situation, or Eri, or my sis, or anyone I cared about, I’d want someoo take a risk ahem.”

  “Grul thinks tree woman is a fighter.” He said, again surprisihe mercy of death or save her. Must pie.”

  “I get it. Oh well… first let’s go back to where we left the water barrels and ourselves off, then we’ll re-join Hyath and Ixitt, before we pn our assault.” We got to our feat wearily. “We did solid work today. We know how the Myids tratruders primarily now, so we have an advantage. We won’t get cocky, as they may have other methods, but even so… good job everyone!”

  Grul rumbled his approval, while Shaeu ughed, and their sudden high spirits helped restore my own fgging energy. Yeah, it was a good day. I even have a blue Etherite to show for it! Grinning, I could hardly wait to add my spoils to the slowly filling chest…