Callie's Heroes

PART III - RIFT HUNTERS? ASSEMBLE!

Callie couldn’t understand what was happening to her. It was as if some force had wrapped a giant hand around her chest and was pulling her down a tunnel that was both pitch-black and vibrantly colored at the same time. The tunnel seemed to be never-ending, yet the experience passed in less than a heartbeat.

As she emerged from the bright darkness, her eyes fell upon the most-beautiful site she had ever seen. As if drawn from a fairy tale, before her was a beautiful meadow of brilliant greens and yellows and reds and blues and all the other colors in between. Beyond that, a slowly-rolling river drifted lazily, while birds and animals frolicked in the field, having not a single care in the world. Looking up and over her shoulder, the afternoon sun was being filtered through the branches of the largest tree she had ever seen, with a trunk made of dozens of twisting vines braiding themselves into the sky. It was much like the tree around the medical tent back at camp, but oh-so-much grander.

Next to her, Juniper let go of Callie’s hand, turning to face the tree. She grabbed Callie’s hand again, doing the same to Ambria’s with her other, and just like that, the wondrous glade was replaced by the never-ending dark tunnel of bright colors.

After an infinite moment shorter than the blink of an eye, they emerged from the tunnel again, this time facing towards a forest. Compared to what they had just seen, the trees felt drab and dull, as if someone had drained the colors from the world.

From Callie’s shoulder, a pitch-black rat scampered down her arm before leaping off her hand, which was still holding Juniper’s. The rat charged for the woods, assuming the shape of an Elf. Around her, the others all scattered for the woods as well, two Dwarves and another Elf appearing from their tiny animal forms. Then it hit Callie, and she too found an unoccupied bush where she promptly lost her lunch.

It took a couple minutes, the sounds of people retching into the underbrush alerting Olin and Vanis to join them, for everyone to collect their wits. Weak with the remnants of getting sick, everyone moved away and well upwind from the arrival point, where Cheena called her Totem and pulsed out a Refresh for strength.

“That was awful,” Lhawni said, groaning as she spit water into the grasses.

“Does anyone want mint flavored water?” Callie asked, waggling her fingers over her waterskin. “To help wash the taste away,” she clarified when she received several confused stares.

“Very much, yes,” Pixyl said, holding her own water up for Callie.

Over the past week, Callie and nine others had been working with Pama learning a simple Culinar spell called ‘Season’. Once fully learned at Iron Tier, it would allow one to imbue a liquid with simple flavors, and Callie practiced quite a bit with it, in part because she wanted minty water for circumstances exactly like this.

The spell itself was very flexible in what it defined as ‘simple’, but could only create a single flavor, and it had to be what Pama called a ‘pure’ flavor. Sweet, salty, minty and others could be infused into the liquid, but a flavor that was the result of two or more ingredients couldn’t. The longer you focused the spell, the stronger the flavor, and Callie was more than happy to put several long seconds into getting maximum mint flavor into her water, to the point it nearly burned her tongue. She did the same for the others, not caring about how much mana it used. They’d have time for everything to recharge before the fight started.

The others in the ad hoc Culinar class had largely done well with their learning. Pama had been an amazing instructor, with Ambria, Pixyl and Lhawni excelling during the six evenings of training. Callie still wasn’t very good at the spell, but she had at least largely mastered making a mint flavor, which was most-critical. Pama hinted it would take more work, but Callie would eventually be able to move on to more complex flavors once she’d mastered the simple ones, and eventually the other Culinar spells would likely come easier. Summoning or replicating food wasn’t something she’d be able to do for a long, long while, but turning mediocre food into something tasty and nutritious was realistically doable in the near future, especially once back from the conflict when she’d have time for relaxing study.

Once everyone had cleaned their mouths out, Wallir produced a stream of fresh water so they could refill their waterskins, both Vanis and Olin getting in on Callie’s mint-water action before refilling their own again.

“Any sign of Maugra?” Callie asked. “Or Rowani and Tazrok?”

“Not yet,” Vanis replied, “I had expected Maugra would be back by now, though, so I’m hoping there hasn’t been trouble.”

Callie looked to the west, seeing the upheaval of jagged rocks bisected by the road a few kilometers away. It had an ominous feeling about it. The ridge seemed dark and foreboding, despite the bright sunshine overhead. Somewhere, over there, raw magic was pouring out and making the rocks come alive. And somehow, she was expected to … kill the rocks. A month ago, the very idea would have been so foreign to her as to be a joke. Now, she simply accepted it as just another Lastday.

“I feel stronger,” Ambria said, flexing her fingers. “Magically, that is.”

“Proximity to a large Rift,” Cheena said, explaining the sensation as she gestured towards the rocks. “This is a big one if you are feeling it all the way out here, so in addition to restoring mana more-quickly, I suspect our spells may be more-powerful as we get close, too. At least for Arcane casters.”

“This really feels good,” Pixyl said in slow wonder, looking at her own hands as she also flexed her tiny fingers. The extra power of the Rift was really noticeable. “If only I had this back in Marindine.”

“It does feel wonderful, doesn’t it,” Olin agreed, giving a giddy nod to his student.

It was roughly another ten minutes before Callie’s Eagle Eyes spotted a bird flying directly towards them, and she assumed it was Maugra. After telling the group, Vanis, who had been worriedly pacing, relaxed visibly in relief. Strangely, though, the bird was coming from the northwest, rather than straight from the west where the rocks were. Certainly there was a reason, but Callie worried it was something bad.

“Apologies for taking so long,” Maugra said after she landed and assumed her normal form. “I wanted to fly along the entirety of the ridge to see if there were any other areas we needed to worry about. I have good and bad news on that front.”

“That sounds ominous,” Vanis said worriedly. “Report, if you would.”

The Goblin pointed to the southwest, then swept the gesture north along the entire outcropping. “There are actually several Rifts, maybe eight in total, along the entirety of the rocks, which run about five kilometers north and south from the road. Only two are large enough to require that we seal them. The others are small enough not to manifest any Elementals, and as soon as we start to relieve the pressure on the larger ones, they should seal themselves within a few hours.” She looked deadpan at Vanis. “That’s the good news.”

“Oh oh,” Callie said. “What’s the bad news?”

“Around the two large Rifts are a lot of Stone Elementals, and we really should get rid of them all. I’d guess over one-hundred Greater Elemental between the two larger Rifts, based on who I saw throwing stones at me. There are countless normal-sized Elementals as well. We’ll need to eliminate any of the Greater ones we find close to the road, as they’ll remain animated for probably at least two or three days once the Rift is sealed, possibly longer. Any of the normal Elementals will fall on their own a few hours after their accompanying Rift closes.”

“Damn,” Olin said dejectedly.

“Where are the Rifts,” Vanis asked, turning to look to the west. “Can we see them?”

“Those with Darkvision can see them easily,” Maugra said, "but otherwise they aren’t readily visible at a distance. The largest is south of that spire of rocks,” she gestured towards an identifiable formation, “while the other is a few kilometers north of that one, close to the road. That smaller of the two larger Rifts is the one responsible for your captain being attacked.”

Squinting slightly, Callie snapped her Darkvision on, the world dissolving into its monochromatic false light. It was bright in the sun now, but by squinting and cupping a hand over her eyes, she got the light just low enough for the light enhancement to be usable. Sure enough, she could see pinkish bright light next to the spire Maugra had pointed out, and a smaller one father to the right. She didn’t see any sign of the others, but Maugra had said they were unimportant.

“So, do we go after the biggest one first? Or the one by the road, knowing the big one might make more before we get to it?” Callie wondered out loud.

“The road,” Vanis said flatly without hesitation. “Our mission is to open the pass, so we start there. If need be, we can fall back and assault the second Rift tomorrow, even if it is more-heavily defended.”

“Everyone can see at night, can’t they?” Melga asked, looking around at the team. “A lot of us have Darkvision, and everyone else has Nightvision. Well, Tazrok doesn’t naturally have anything, but he has Nightvision in Hellhound and his flying cat forms, and his cute weasel has Darkvision.”

“There’s no moon tonight,” Olin said, instinctively glancing at the sky. “Roka doesn’t rise for a couple of nights, still. Nightvision might not be enough for close combat, even with good starlight and clear skies, without a moon overhead. We can put down flares, but that’s not optimal, as they can overload enhanced vision if too close.”

“We have a good five or six hours of light before sundown,” Vanis said, also looking skyward. “Probably another hour of usable twilight for those with Nightvision. We’ll need to make the decision at that time, but if we’re effective, we can move quickly and make the decision moot. How long does it take to seal one of the Rifts?”

Maugra shrugged and looked at Cheena. “My guess would be fifteen minutes for the smaller one. Twenty, maybe twenty-five, for the larger. I don’t really have to do anything during that time, just plant one of my Totems and channel a Flameblast spell from it. That just needs a little steady concentration, but not outright focus.”

Vanis glanced at Cheena for her input.

“She’s the expert,” Cheena responded, “but that seems right.“

“I’m going to ask a dumb question,” Callie said, gingerly raising a hand. “Does it make sense to maybe split into two teams, to take them both at once?”

“No!” Vanis, the trainers, and a couple others firmly replied at the same time.

“Splitting up is the kind of silliness you would see in a heroic adventure story,” Olin chuckled. “In reality, someone would just end up killed, especially since most of you are still recruits.”

“We’ll stay together,” Vanis added with finality, ending any discussion. There seemed to be an implied ‘duwana’ added to his statement.

“Okay,” Callie said quietly, slowly lowering her hand, feeling embarrassed for even bringing it up.

Vanis put his hand comfortingly on Callie’s shoulder as he looked west and then north. “Let’s move up to the road, since we are assaulting the Rift closest to it first. Rowani and Tazrok will be more easily able to find us, and the approach will be faster.”

Olin detoured briefly to retrieve a sapling they could use to mark a spot while everyone set out for the half-kilometer walk north towards the road. About twenty meters from it, the sapling was set where the food provisions and other unneeded items could be set down in a large, leather sack. This would save the weight and awkwardness of carrying unneeded things into the fight to come and provide a spot far enough away to fall back to, if needed.

“I need a piece of cloth or something,” Vanis grumbled, searching himself randomly. “It will make it easier to find if it’s dark by the time we return.”

Loki tapped Vanis to get his attention. Seeming to grin, he partially spit out a red piece of fabric. Confusedly, Vanis grasped the end and pulled, eventually disgorging a pair of very-feminine lacy red underwear that presumably the plant monster had stolen from somewhere.

“I’m not even sure where you could have been hiding that, and please tell me this is clean,” the Warlock said.

“He said he took it from the Major’s clothesline where it was drying,” Juniper said casually.

“Oh really?” Olin said with a chuckle.

Vanis seemed about to scold the plant, but finally rolled his eyes and shrugged, tying the panties to the sapling marker. After four weeks of never-ending camp strangeness, this barely registered as odd at this point.

“Why do I have a feeling a lot of things are inside him,” Callie said skeptically, having heard several people over the last few weeks complaining about miscellaneous things that had gone missing, and remembering when the little plantling had stolen her red bow, managing to fit it inside somehow. “That might explain …” Callie’s words were cut off by her Gnome ears picking up the distant sound of hoofbeats.

“What is it?” Vanis asked, seeing her expression.

“Someone is coming,” Lhawni and Callie said simultaneously

Running to the road and looking to the east, Callie added, “I think it’s Tazrok, maybe? I hear hoofbeats.”

Immediately, the team ran to Callie and then fanned out. Nobody drew weapons, but everyone tensed, watching where the road disappeared down a small hill, waiting to see what was coming.

Rowani was the first to appear, coming into view as she flew overhead. “There she is,” Callie said, pointing and waving her arms to get the Druid’s attention. With Eagle Eye, she was easily able to recognize the hawk form of the Druid trainer. Around Callie, everyone relaxed.

The hawk changed its direction slightly and dove towards the rest of the group, morphing into the teenaged Pantherkin as soon as she landed, stumbling to a stop. “Greetings everyone. We are all here?”

“Just waiting for Tazrok,” Vanis said, gesturing with his head down the road towards the approaching sounds. Almost on cue, a curvax appeared over the rise moving at high speed, but also carrying a rider on its back.

Tazrok slowed to a trot and then a halt, a very harried Major on his bare back hanging on for dear life. Celeste slipped to the ground, stumbling forward and wincing in obvious pain. Once she was clear, Tazrok changed back into his natural form.

“Are you alright?” Ambria asked, instinctively rushing towards the Major.

“That’s a hard ride without a saddle,” Celeste replied, trying to shake her legs out and making more faces of pain. “Especially as fast as we were going.”

The Faun sighed. “Silly you,” she said, applying a general pain reduction spell followed by a general, non-targeted healing. “Let us know if that’s not enough. We have so many healers here that someone should be able to help.”

“I suppose we do,” Celeste said, turning her head to take in everyone. “Thanks.”

“We did not expect you,” Vanis said, stepping forward and offering a hand to the Major. “Thank you for coming, all the same.”

Celeste returned the gesture, clasping wrists with the Warlock. “Happy to help. Baelneis turned around and headed back to camp. She should get there shortly. Thanks for sending someone to warn us. You’re acting sergeant, right?“

“I am, and you have Callie to thank for the planning,” Vanis said, gesturing to the Gnome. “We were stymied before she determined a way to get everyone here quickly.”

The Major laughed, a twinge of pain still showing on her face. “Of course it was her,” she added, grinning at Callie. Then she looked back to Vanis and the group as a whole. “So, Stone Elementals? Fill me in on everything.”

While Vanis and Maugra briefed the Major and Tazrok on the situation and the general plan to assault the smaller of the two must-close Rifts, Callie found herself slightly frustrated. It took her a few minutes to figure out why, but finally realized it was because the Major was now present. She screwed up her plan. Hell, she screwed up her math! They’d need a third trip to get everyone back using Juniper, plus she now had an unplanned Guardian to account for. Callie scowled, both at the changes to her vaguely organized chaos, but also at the realization that she really shouldn’t be as irritated about it as she was. Shit happens, after all. Still, numbers matter, dammit!

“Alright,” Vanis finally said after finishing with the Major and Tazrok. “Five minutes and we’re going to move. We won’t force-march, but let’s not dawdle either.” By unsaid agreement, the males disappeared into the grasses to the north, while the ladies did the same to the south, everyone spreading out for some personal space. Better to go now than have to go later.

Having finished, Callie stopped on her way back to the road when she saw a red Slingstone Beetle, just like the one she had watched her first day in this world walking on the fountain in the garden. This one was bigger, much bigger in fact, probably as big as her head. It was just sitting on the end of a stiff branch on a bush, as if bathing in the afternoon sunlight, really not doing anything else. Callie wasn’t a bug person in any form, generally finding them as creepy as spiders. But, looking at the beetle she could see a beauty she hadn’t appreciated a month previous, as the sun reflected off the hard shell, shiny iridescent greens and blues mingling with the base red.

“Callie!” a voice called out.

“Coming!” Callie yelled back. The loud noise startled the beetle, and it turned to face her. Before she could even step away, it promptly shot her right on the cheek! “Ow,” Callie mumbled, putting her hand to her face, which came away with a tiny trickle of blood. “That wasn’t nice!” she hissed at the beetle, wagging a finger but backing away before it pelted her again.

“What happened to you?” Ambria asked as Callie emerged from the weeds, pointing to her own face to indicate what she was asking about.

“Bah,” Callie grumbled. “I saw one of those big red beetles, and it shot me.”

Ambria walked up to Callie and started to look at the injury. “How big was it?”

“I dunno. About this big.” Callie held her hands out in a circle approximating the beetle’s size.

“Oh dear. Trainer Cheena?” Ambria called out. “I might need you for this one.”

Quickly, the Shaman raced over, kneeling down to look at Callie’s face.

“Slingstone Beetle,” Ambria said, clarifying the cause of the injury. “A red one. About this big!” She copied Callie’s size reference. “It might be really bad.”

“A big red one? Did the stone get stuck in there?”

“I don’t know,” the Faun replied.

Cheena proceeded to contort and pinch Callie’s cheek. “Hopefully it just grazed her, but it might still be a problem.”

“What’s wrong?” Callie asked, worriedly.

“The pellet is coated with a toxin,” Cheena replied, almost lecturing. “It can make a necrosis set in.”

“Then your face rots off,” Ambria helpfully added.

“Ah!” Callie screamed, jumping slightly, her eyes going wide in panic. “Fix it! Fix it! Fix it!”

“Relax,” Cheena laughed. “I don’t think it will get that bad.”

“Does it look like it’s turning black?” Rowani asked, having joined the trio. “It looks like it’s turning black.”

“Maybe I was wrong,” the Shaman said, a frown of concern showing. “Looks like it’s getting all full of pus, too.”

“Already? Oh no!” Rowani gasped. “That may be beyond even my skills. We could cut it off, I suppose, but we need to move quickly.”

“What?” Callie cried in a panic.

“It may be too late even for that,” Ambria added. “Callie, are your ears getting numb?”

“My ears?” Callie put her hands up to check. They still had feeling, at least for now. “Not yet!”

“Vanis?” Cheena called out.

“Yes?”

“She got shot by a Slingstone Beetle. A big red one! This doesn’t look good at all.”

“Oh my!” Vanis said as he bent to look close. “That looks absolutely dreadful! I’m sorry Callie, I’m afraid you’re not going to make it. Don’t worry, we’ll retrieve your body on our return.”

“What?” Callie eeped, wide-eyed. It was only then she noticed the huge, stupid grin on Lhawni’s face as she made every attempt to hold in a snicker. Turning, she saw nearly an identical look on Pixyl’s. Even Ambria’s eyes were barely remaining serious, and quickly losing the battle. Finally, it was Pixyl that broke, doubling over and bursting with laughter, falling to the ground on her butt.

“You’re all fucking with me,” Callie said coldly, narrowing her eyes in a flat deadpan.

“Just a little,” Rowani laughed, rubbing Callie roughly on the head.

“You’ll be fine,” Vanis said mirthfully. “It’s just a scratch.”

“If you’d like, though, we could put you in for a Heartstone medal,” Maugra added. “For grave wounds sustained in combat.”

“I hate you all,” Callie growled, but knew it was actually a funny joke, or it would be, eventually.

“At least it was only a smaller one,” Maugra giggled. “There’s a type that gets as big as we are that lives far to the south. Those can understandably be a little dangerous if they shoot you.”

Cheena stood, and Ambria stepped in with a short piece of wetted cloth from her Healer’s kit. She wiped the blood off Callie's cheek and then patted it gently, her magics sealing the two centimeter long scratch as if it had never happened. “There you go. All better. Do you need a candy?” the Faun said patronizingly.

“Do you have one? If so, I’ll take it,” Callie scowled in response. Surprisingly, she did, and it tasted like a lemon drop.

While everyone had been laughing at Callie’s expense, Tazrok had walked a dozen meters or so down the road towards their destination. With a low rumble, a familiar-to-some singing started again. Guttural. Savage. Angry. Perfect. The teasing laughter cut off almost instantly as the Ogre’s strange power began to pulse out in time with his tribal, tonal chanting.

“He’s doing it again!” Pixyl gasped excitedly.

“Doing what?” Maugra asked, confused.

Callie immediately forgot all about her near-death experience with the Slingstone Beetle, grinning gleefully. “He’s doing the thing!”

“Come on,” Major Celeste said, waving everyone to follow with equal excitement. “Just sing back what he sings. Trust me.”

Pixyl and Lhawni ran, taking up a position on either side of the massive Druid, echoing the song of the Ogres in response to his call. Quickly, everyone else lined up, huge grins on the faces of those that had been through this before, and expressions of confusion or surprise on the others.

“This is such a strange power,” Callie heard Olin whisper to Rowani.

“It’s some Ogre thing,” the Druid replied, shrugging. “I’ve felt this before, but when we were all meditating.”

“It’s so … bestial!” Olin growled as the primal magics somehow called to him.

“I know!” the Pantherkin agreed, grinning. “It’s amazing.”

Tazrok roared, his makeshift tribe responding as his strange Chieftain's Inspiration power pulsed out in waves. Worries faded, trust in each other increased, and the determination to defeat their enemies became absolute. Even the generally professional and stoic Vanis soon wore a huge grin of his own, amazed and emboldened and roaring back with angry, undignified delight. Olin and Rowani felt the power swelling in them as some primal part of their Beastkin lineage rose to the call. Loki even danced and spun to the rhythm as a gleeful savagery sprang forth in Juniper, her eyes narrowing and stare becoming piercing and intense.

Finally, the Ogre call to arms faded, the echos of all fifteen seeming to cling to the grasses around them, trying hard not to fade away. The team stood staring into the distance, panting lightly and primed for battle, daring the enemy to defy them.

“What … what happened?” Bratig asked, looking down at his own hands with wide-eyed wonder.

“We are stronger now,” Tazrok said in a clear, confident voice.

“And they are afraid!” Callie, and the others who had been through it before, echoed knowingly in response. “Let’s go be frickin’ heroes,” Callie added with a grin.