Combat Artificer

What is a skill? Are they gifts from the Gods? Is the status sheet an entity all its own that rewards these skills? Or are they expressions of the strength of a being's soul? There are debates that rage in academia for and against all three. In fact, one of the easiest way to start an argument in some circles is to ask someone what they think a skill is. The truth is, no one quite knows. The gods have remained silent, even to [godsmarked], as to the exact nature of the status sheet and skills. But the fact that one can 'level' their classes, and in turn receive new abilities or upgraded versions of abilities they already had, implies some kind of resource that is collected and gathered. The method of collection seems to vary by class. Some receive levels from killing or defeating things. Others, from crafting things. It is not clear if these divisions in the method of collection mean that there are multiple resources that can be collected, or if there is only one resource with multiple methods of collection. Personally, I don't think we ever will.

-Intro to Skills, by Marcus Reed

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"It has been… long since someone has entered our village under the auspices of the right of challenge." The older werewolf looked at them with interest. "May I ask who you are, and how you know of our ways?"

Frazay stepped forward and nodded to the werewolf with a surprising amount of respect. "I am Frazay, elder, and I am a [Druid of the Forest], and a mercenary, which I gather you ascertained already. These are my teammates. Xander, Atrax, Gabrelle, and Graffus, as well as our companions Trion and Freyja." She gestured towards each as she named them. Xander was interested to hear her refer to the werewolf with the honorific of 'elder.' He'd never seen her act so deferentially before.

"Ah, a druid," the werewolf said, as if that explained Frazay's knowledge. "I see. Well, you have earned the right to enter the village, though I do humbly request that you refrain from issuing any other challenges or causing any trouble unless strictly necessary. I understand that you are here about Antellina? Please, come to my home so we may speak first." The werewolf paused. "Ah, my manners, of course. Forgive me, I have not yet introduced myself. I am Jerik, and an elder in the village. But, please, do follow me to my home so that we may speak."

As they followed Jerik to his home, Xander finally relented to the tugging of his status sheet and brought it up in front of him.

---You have defeated enemies and created devices---

---[Combat Artificer] leveled to 23---

---[Combat Artificer] level 23 skills---

---[Shatter] – Weapons that strike your armor, shield, or weapon have a chance to shatter upon impact---

---[Shatter] and [Improved Reactive Armor] have merged into the skill [Explosive Aegis]---

---[Explosive Aegis] - When cast, the next strike upon you is diverted by an explosive blast. Weapons that strike you while under the effect of [Explosive Aegis] have a chance to shatter explosively, scattering shrapnel. Effected by [Maker's Ward] and [Maker's Aegis] Mana cost: low---

Xander smiled to himself. He liked this skill, or rather, he liked the final outcome of the skill and its merger with [Improved Reactive Armor]. The ability to passively disarm someone by removing their weapon from existence and injuring them with the shrapnel of said weapon was very appealing. He'd just have to remember to actually cast [Explosive Aegis] in the heat of a fight, something he admitted he could be better about.

Looking up from his status sheet and assessing the views around him, he noticed Valteria looking at him questioningly. He supposed the look of someone assessing their status sheet was obvious, as it would appear that he was reading something close to his face hovering in thin air. He mouthed 'I leveled' at her quietly. He received a happy smile in return.

The walk to Jerik's home was short. His home was near the center of the village, near a long, lodge styled building. People going about their business in the village watched them go with interest, clearly curious as to the purpose of the armed group of mercenaries in their midst. Xander supposed that at least some of them could smell the silver on their weapons as well, just like the guard at the edge of the village, as the group received more than a few dark looks. Or perhaps it was simpler, and they were just a very insular village and did not appreciate the intrusion of outsiders.

Jerik's home was perhaps slightly larger than the others he'd seen as they passed through the village, but certainly not ostentatiously so. As such, it was a bit of a squeeze for Jerik, the six mercenaries, and their two bonded companions to fit inside. The mercenaries and their animal companions huddled closely together in the small home, giving Jerik the benefit of space as he slowly lowered himself into a chair. There was only one other chair in the space, at a small table set off to the side.

"I apologize for the small space," Jerik began, "as well as the lack of chairs in my home. I live alone, you see, and do not often have visitors in such… quantity. I promise to be short, both in respect of your time as well as your comfort," he said with a chortle. "You are here about Antellina, yes?"

"Yes," Frazay answered, taking the lead.

Jerik sighed. "Stubborn girl. I have offered counsel to her and Reftran, her chosen mate. I recommended that she visit her father to ease the tensions between Breks and our little village, but she refuses."

"So, the sticking point to everything here is Antellina," Frazay commented.

"Indeed," Jerik agreed. "While I don't recommend attempting to haul her away back to her father – Reftran would certainly come to her aid, and I expect it would involve violence – I do hope that perhaps outside voices can convince Antellina of reason. I fear that Antre may do something… rash soon."

"That is our fear as well," Frazay responded. "He seems desperate at this point. He mentioned petitioning the local lord for additional forces, despite the loss of face that it would cause him."

Jerik nodded solemnly. "I do not doubt that he would do such a thing, though, I do not necessarily fear that request. The local lord is not likely to support such an action. He is more levelheaded than Antre, and his investigation into the matter would doubtless come to the same conclusion: that Antellina is here of her own free will. Not that I believe that this would stop Antre from scheming."

"I see," Frazay said. "What do you think he would do, if his request was denied?"

Jerik shrugged slightly. "I know not. But I fear that whatever it is will reach a boiling point soon. Please, speak with Antellina and Reftran. Try to make her see reason. She is a passionate woman though, so I am not too hopeful. I hope she does not take her passion against her father out on you. Antellina and Reftran dwell near the Western edge of the village. The door is decorated with some blue feathers. Should you have trouble locating their home, simply ask someone in the village and they will guide you, given they are able at the moment. You are here as guests, and a certain level of courtesy is due to you."

"Thank you," Frazay said gratefully to the elder werewolf.

Outside of Jerik's home, the team regrouped, conversing shortly with each other.

"Do you think we can actually convince Antellina to see her father? Jerik didn't exactly sound hopeful," Xander asked.

"I'm not sure," Atrax said. "All we can do is try. At this point, I'm not even that interested in the payout. I'm just ready to be done with this contract, successful or not."

"Sorry it hasn't been a very exciting contract for your first time out with us," Gabrelle murmured to Valteria, whom she was standing next to.

"That's okay," Valteria responded. "It's been nice to get out and about, if nothing else."

"Back to the subject at hand," Graffus said. "If we can't get Antellina to visit her father, what do we do? Head back to Antre, tell him she won't see him, and go back to Rock's Bay? Do we have a responsibility to stick around and deal with the fallout?"

"Legally, no," Atrax stated. "There's nothing in guild policy about things like this. We executed the contract within the bounds of the law – we can't kidnap Antellina, even if we wanted to – to the best of our ability. We may not be able to claim payment since the situation isn't resolved, but we're certainly in no danger of hassle from the guild if we leave after giving Antre our findings."

"Personally, I'd feel bad if something happened to the village here, though," Xander responded. "Let's hope we can get Antellina to visit for now."

"I agree," Frazay said.

"Say, what was with you and that elder guy anyways?" Xander asked, as they headed towards the Western side of the village. "I've never seen you be so deferential before."

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Frazay shrugged slightly. "Werewolves are generally well respected amongst druidic circles, and their elders even more so. I'd wager that Jerik likely has at least one druid or nature related class under his belt, considering his tenure as a keeper of the old ways."

"I guess that makes sense," Xander responded.

Given the size of the village, it was only a short walk to Reftran's home. The door had several blue feathers hanging from the frame, verifying to the party that they were at the right place. Further validation was the fact that Antellina was staring out of the lone window near the door of the home, looking none too pleased. A humanoid shape passed behind her, heading to the door. The door opened, and closed, revealing another partial werewolf, who must be Reftran. He had ears and fur, but not the classic digitigrade legs that Xander had seen in the fully werewolf guard and in Jerik, nor did Reftran seem to have a tail, at least that could be seen. Xander was definitely going to have to ask Frazay about this – clearly his understanding of werewolves, which consisted of Earth pop culture, was not up to par with real werewolves.

"Can I help you?" Reftran asked coldly, standing defensively in front of the door and vainly trying to stare down six mercenaries.

"Ahh, we're here to seen Antellina. It's about her father," Xander explained. "Which I assume is obvious considering how unhappy she looks," he added, glancing at the scowling woman in the window.

"She doesn't want to talk to you," Reftran replied.

Xander was tempted to roll his eyes, and he heard Atrax sigh quietly at the obvious statement.

"I gathered that much, yes." Xander said. "But Jerik asked us to speak with you and Antellina." Xander hoped an appeal to authority would help warm Reftran's icy treatment.

"Jerik sent you? Not Antre?" Reftran asked curiously.

"Ah, it's both, actually," Xander said, unwilling to lie. They'd only get angrier if they found out that they were also here on Antre's request later. "Antre asked us to check on Antellina – We know she's here by her own choice, by the way –" he added quickly, "but he's still very worried about her and he says he's willing to 'forgive' her and make up, whatever that means. But Jerik asked to speak with us as well, and he's worried that Antre is going to do something everyone will come to regret. So he also requested we speak with Antellina. We don't want to steal her away or anything, after all, one of the tenets of the guild is not breaking the law, and even if it wasn't, I have no interest in becoming a kidnapper. So can we just talk?"

Reftran uncrossed his arms, sighing as his shoulders slumped a little. He took a little time to think before replying, "She's not going to be happy to hear anything about her father. But Jerik is right, as much as she'll hate to admit it. Besides, it's not like I could really stop you if you decided to just barge in, and I don't want you standing outside my home all day, either. So, let's get this over with."

Antellina's scowl through the window deepened as she watched the mercenaries move towards Reftran's door. "Why did you let them in, Reftran?" She asked, distraught.

"Dearest, they just want to talk," Reftran said placatingly, "And besides, they're here with Jerik's blessing."

"Fine," Antellina pouted, moving to sit at a small table fit for two. Reftran took the other seat across from Antellina, taking her hand and holding it supportively.

The mercs stood around awkwardly for a moment, as there wasn't much other seating available in the small home, before Atrax cleared his throat and spoke up. "So, ah, your father's worried about you –"

"Oh now he's worried about me?" Antellina interjected. "Where was that worry when he was yelling about how no daughter of his was going to be a 'wolf fucker?'" She asked angrily.

Xander took up the conversation from Atrax, who was still shocked at Antellina's vehemence. "Look, we completely get that your father is racist, or is it speciesism, uh, whatever, the point is, we agree that it's not okay." Antellina seemed to appreciate the bluntness of Xander's negative statement about her father. "That being said, he says he's willing to… accept things as they are now. He's just having a lot of trouble with not hearing from you besides the one letter. He's made up this whole story in his mind about you being held up against your will – essentially with no information about you, he's jumped to the worst conclusion."

"As he does," Antellina agreed.

"Parents often do, when it comes to their children," Gabrelle added.

"But, anyways, where was I? Right, he said he's willing to, and I hate the phrasing of this, he's willing to forgive you, is what he says."

Antellina sighed and shook her head. "Forgive me? Gods. That is just like him." She sighed once more, thinking. "No," she said after a pause. "No, I'm sorry, but I can't. I won't go back to someone who won't respect my life choices. I love Reftran, and when we have children, I will love those children. I won't bring them to a man who will belittle their heritage, who hates their father. I just can't."

Xander nodded. "I understand. We can't force you to see him. Could you… at least write? We're all worried he's going to do something drastic."

"I'll… think about it." Antellina said, finally.

The air grew heavier in the room. The atmosphere was oppressive. If Xander had been able to, he might have broken into a sweat. Something felt… different than just moments ago. The sounds of the outdoors magnified to his ears. He could hear the chirping of birds, the rustle of insects and the susurration of the leaves. Slowly, they melded into a voice.

"Protect my chosen people, [Godsmarked]. You shall be rewarded," the amalgamation of sounds whispered to him.

The moment passed, with none other than Xander the wiser. It seemed that they hadn't noticed the oppressive atmosphere, instead distracted by the concern of how they were going to break the news to Antre. Xander could feel the familiar itch in the part of his mind that housed his status sheet, and summoned it to appear in front of him.

---[Quest] has been provided with a task---

---Current [Quest] task: protect the chosen of Ghurral. Patron: Ghurral, God of Nature and the Hunt. Reward: Blessing ---

Xander kept quiet for the moment, closing his status sheet. The rest of the team was standing awkwardly around the table with him. Reftran and Antellina were still seated, with Reftran still holding Antellina's hand. He shook the distraction away for now.

"Well, uhm, I suppose we'll leave you be. Please reconsider at least seeing him. I know you – rightfully – think he's a hateful old man, but I think the only way he'll ever change from that is if you let him in."

Antellina nodded thoughtfully, and the team left, filing out the door to stand outside.

"So, now what?" Gabrelle asked.

Xander rubbed the back of his head before speaking, feeling a little shy about breaking the news that he wanted them to stay near the village for the quest. "Ah, well, I'd like to stay. I just got a quest to protect what I assume is the village? It said to 'protect my chosen people.' And it's from Ghurral, if that makes a difference."

The team had always listened and been supportive of Xander's [Godsmarked] quests, but Frazay especially perked up at the mention of Ghurral.

"It would make sense for him to be the one asking you to protect the village," Frazay explained. "He is the patron god of werewolves, after all."

"Oh," Xander responded, "I guess that does explain it a little more. I had no idea. You know, despite having been directly contacted by gods, I really don't know much about religion. That's probably going to get me in trouble someday, now that I think about it. Are you sure you all don't mind staying around the village for a while after we give Antre the bad news?"

The whole team made their support clear to Xander. They were good friends, he thought to himself. As they chatted amongst themselves, a plan of action was drawn up. First, they would visit Jerik again. There, they could relay Antellina's refusal to the village elder, and explain to him about Xander's quest from Ghurral to protect the village. Then, they would return to Breks to deliver Antellina's continued refusal to Antre, as much at it would anger him. Once that was complete, they would gather their supplies from the inn, pack up into the APC, and drive back to the werewolf village.

The team of mercenaries retraced their steps from Reftran's home back to Jerik's. Once there, Frazay knocked on the door of the house. Jerik was still home, thankfully, and answered Frazay's knock quickly.

"Yes?" Jerik called out, opening the door. "Ah, it's you. Have you spoken with Antelina yet?"

"We have," Frazay answered. "She refused to see Antre. If we might come back inside for a moment, there is something of importance we'd like to discuss."

"Of course, of course, you are still my guests here at the village," Jerik responded.

Piling back into the small house, Frazay indicated to Xander to speak to Jerik.

"So, uhm, I'm a [Godsmarked]," Xander started out lamely, trying to figure out how to broach the subject at hand.

"Ah, one of the 'marked," Jerik said congenially. "Always a pleasure to host one who has been touched in some way by the divine."

"Thanks," Xander replied politely. "Ah, I guess in case you weren't aware, I can sometime receive quests or tasks from various gods."

"I've heard of this, yes," Jerik said with a nod, leaning forward in his chair. "Am I to assume that you've received a quest involving our small community?"

"That would be correct," Xander answered. "I received a task, quest, what-have-you, from Ghurral to protect the village. It wasn't very specific, though. Just 'Protect my chosen people.'"

"Hmm," Jerik hummed thoughtfully. "The gods provide in strange ways. Regardless, it is clear your presence here has been blessed by Gurral, and as such a certain level of respect is due to you by the community. I will ensure that this is made clear to the folk of the town. But you're sure that there was no information on what this potential threat may be?" Jerik questioned intently.

"It happened right after Antellina made her final decision that she wouldn't see Antre. So, I was thinking that maybe it was related to that? It sort of felt like a fork in the road had been reached… and Antellina's decision was what decided on the direction."

"Mm," Jerik intoned slowly, thinking. "It certainly could be related to Antre's schemes. There have been no reports of any unusual dangers in the forest as of recently, so I am unsure of what else it could be. What do you plan to do?"

"Well, we were thinking that we'd head back to Breks briefly to deliver the bad news and grab the rest of our things before returning here. Then, we'll settle in and wait for…whatever it is that's going to happen," Xander explained.

Jerik nodded. "That seems reasonable. Unfortunately, we have no lodging for you, but there is space in the village for you to set up tents. I will ensure that Brohn knows that you are to be allowed to into the village again. No more duels or challenges."

"Thanks for that," Xander replied. "We'll make sure that we aren't gone too long. It should take us less time to get back than it did for us to walk the first time. Uh, maybe inform the village guard that we have a large, metal vehicle, so that he's not too alarmed when he sees it."

"I'll make sure to do so," Jerik said.

The group decided that they would head back to Breks immediately following their discussion with Jerik. If they kept up a good pace, they figured that they would be able to make it back to the town just after dark. Graffus, Atrax, and Frazay would deliver the bad news to Antre, while Gabrelle, Xander, and Valteria settled up with the innkeeper and gathered the group's things back into the APC. They would then all ride back in the APC to the village following the same trail they'd walked.

As Xander heard it retold, Antre took the news poorly. While he wasn't outright rude to Atrax, Graffus, and Frazay, his disappointment was clear, as was his vehemence that he would be getting his daughter back on way or another. Antre was also quite clear that he would not be verifying the contract as complete for the purposes of payment. Xander was glad he didn't have to deal with it. Paying the innkeeper and moving everyone's bags back into the APC was much lower stress.