Illuminaria [LitRPG Fantasy Healer Adventure]

Joe and Puq had added a few more items to the list of skill crystals. A charm of [Flutterfall], which was a single-use item that would prevent Joe from splatting if he fell from a high place, something he could have used during his crazy flight in Tusked Tazr's clutches. There was a ward Joe could learn called ThistleDown, which would do the same thing, but Joe wanted to have one on hand now, since he wasn't sure if he'd have time to work on warding before Mersday.

He also picked up an [Endless Canteen], [Bottomless Snack Bag], and a [Teeming Toolbox]. Spatial storage items allowed you to carry plenty of food, drinks, and tools, but you had to remember to keep them stocked. While these three generative items supplied someone with only the most rudimentary liquids, sustenance, and instruments, they were an easy way to always have the basics on hand.

Joe also added some mana potions. [Swap Stamina] helps Joe balance his resource needs, but a stack of mana draughts was too useful not to have on hand.

As they were discussing any further purchases he might want, a vile, oily smell reached his nose. Naragash was coming near.

"Akk," Joe gagged, covering his nostrils.

"You really do have an awful time with infernal essences, Joe," Puqmup noted as he watched Joe's eyes start watering. "Ok, we are adding [Holy Oil] to your list. We stock it because it burns the living daylights out of demonic beings, but for you, a few dabs should also counter your overactive sense of smell in regards to the abyssal. Here, take this," he stated, handing Joe a little perfume bottle filled with a thick golden liquid. "You can have that one. How about we add a quart to the whole list?"

Joe popped the stopper from the small vial and tipped the oil against his finger. He rubbed it on his thumb and then pinched his philtrum. Instantly, his sense of smell was flooded by a smell from his childhood. It was the scent of fresh sheets that his mom had dried on the line. It was clean, with hints of grass and flowers, and somehow the smell of sunshine.

"Oh, that's awesome, Puq. Let's make that two quarts."

The gnome smiled as the voices of the towering icy cambion and her team reached them from Myllo's workshop, which was situated just down the hall from the guildshop.

"How do you plan to deploy us, Myllo?" Nargash's voice was a sharp purring sound that sent shivers down Joe's spine. He threw a questioning look to the gnome, clearly asking if they should be eavesdropping. The quartermaster shrugged, smirked, and leaned towards the doorway so he could hear even better.

"I was hoping the Hellions would tackle the roaming undead in the valley while we send our new team into the pyramid to start mapping it out. My crew will work on repairing the broken ward," the korrigan replied. "The faster we clear the surrounding terrain, the quicker we can get you guys inside the ziggurat. When it comes to large-scale damage, we have you guys and Taylyn."

"You could put the mouse on our team again and have the best of both worlds," the fiery Reven declared. "I love that girl. She's a blast. Literally."

"I'll pose it to her, but I wouldn't hold my breath. The last time I lent her to you guys, Graymuck's hyena almost ate her. Let me see if she still has any lingering trauma before I make that assignment. But speaking of adding to your team, I have someone I'd like you guys to train up. Lexaroth has tons of potential, but I am running out of people to partner him with."

"You better not mean that bitchy warlock," the banderling growled. "I'd keep Zaebos on his best behavior for the bomber mouse, but if you stick us with that entitled fop, I'll be letting Z take large bites out of his snide ass."

"Knock it off, Muck," the cambion snapped in a fierce voice, harsh enough that both eavesdroppers winced. "We follow orders. If bossman here says we take dead-weight, then we say thank you, you furry-faced, pip-squeak. Got it?"

"Yeah, yeah. Don't melt yer horns, Nara," Graymuck pouted.

"You are pushing your luck, Mister Muck," the necromancer drawled lazily. "Do we need to have a talk about etiquette again, my friend?

The subtle air of menace in those softly spoken words was palpable. Joe felt Mojo dive onto his back as the sibilate question lifted all the hairs on the back of both Joe's and his companion's neck.

"Ok, enough, you reprobates," Myllo barked. "This was not meant to be a punishment for anyone. You guys are our alpha team, so Lex will rightly feel like he is being promoted. At the same time, you all are the guys nobody in this burg is stupid enough to mess with. That means I shouldn't have to worry about the boy's tendency to be a dick anymore. As I said, Lex has tons of potential, coupled with a piss-poor temperament. You guys are just the group to turn that potential into a powerhouse while shutting down the boy's bad attitude. Win. Win."

"Oh, if you put it that way, then I volunteer for drill sergeant duty," Reven, the axe-wielding ignin, offered.

"I'll leave that to you all," Myllo sighed. "Just be here bright and early tomorrow. I want to put Kendell, Tezeno, and their team through the paces."

"They got a name yet?" hissed the necromancer.

"I haven't even told them yet," Myllo retorted.

"Red Steel," the ignin warrior suggested. "You know, her hair and his skin. It's a great name."

"Feel free to offer it to them, Reven, but for now, beat it. I have a ton of reports from the storm that Septimus is on my back for." Myllo sounded tired already, but Joe had learned the korrigan worked harder for the guild than anyone.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Tomorrow they would train as a team, and Joe wanted to be ready for it. He had planned to make his final skill choices after he traded in his favor for a trait from the old fey knight. Since Corran's and Padu's home was on the way to Glen Cumha, it made sense to do the favor exchange when they were all heading to the valley. Yet now Joe was questioning that timeline. It made more sense to get his skills in order before training with Hellions. He could make it to the bugbear's homestead in an hour if he ran.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt going now was a better course of action than spending the evening working on wards. He paid Puq for the crystals, the oils and the few minor items, before scoping up Mojo.

"Ready for a run, Buddy?"

Mojo made it much further than he had the last time they made this jog. Joe layered his [Efferous Endurances] more carefully, and the changeling was utilizing the [Slipstream] spell he had learned from Hah'roo more effectively. Even so, the little man's legs were still less than a quarter of Joe's. Mo resumed his shoulder perch for the last twenty minutes of the trek.

Padu was waiting for them on the porch of the farmhouse. Joe stopped to say hello and let the old dam and the broodling get acquainted again. The shug monkey was still in utter awe of the Cú Sídhe fey hound. When they headed into the house, the shaggy black mutt was walking as stately as he could at her side.

Corran was crafting an arrow on his worktable. He looked up and greeted Joe, but did not stop working. "Had ta show yerself as I be gluing the fletchings. Give me a minute, and I'll be free."

"Don't rush on my account, Sir. I'm happy to wait. Can you answer a couple questions while you work, or should I take my little loon here outside to play for a minute?"

"Well, hello," the bugbear addressed Mojo. "Now that be something I have never before seen in all my lives; a pair of changelings. The shifterfolk are social creatures for sure; blending in be their greatest skill after all. Yet there be one folk they never assort with and that be their own kind. I think the only time I have ever seen more than one changeling at a time is during the Forest Moots, and then it is more by chance than design."

"Then how do they mate and make more little changelings?"

"Yer guess be as good as mine, Joe. If you ever meet one of yer kin, you'll have to ask them."

"Interesting. You know, I never really thought about it. We just kind of found each other. Right Bud," Joe added, scruffing the little guy's head. Mojo clearly knew they were talking about him. His bright eyes were tracking back and forth between the ancient hunter and Joe.

"So my question. The guild is planning to explore Glen Cumha in a couple of days. Since you were assigned to watch the valley, is there anything you think we should know about it?"

"It be an unnatural place now. It is so thoroughly steeped in death that there will surely be gates to the Shadow Realm within. Be careful of walking into shadows, especially those that gust coldly. The Umbra is no place you want to find yerself. It is not like slipping across the Veil into the Gossamer Lands of the Fey. It be a realm that devours life, as dangerous as the Hells' below or the Void beyond."

"Is it still tied to the Feylands, too?" Joe asked as he watched the archer wind sinew cord around the end of trimmed feathers, affixing the vanes to an arrow. Watching out for rifts into the Shadowlands would be bad enough; he didn't want the guilders slipping into the Feylands either.

"Nay. That was the primary purpose of the warding. True, containing the vileness that the Spring Court had become was the intent behind the Erlking's prison. Yet saving the Land of Stone was an inconsequential afterthought against barring his darkness from ever returning through the Veil," Corran pronounced. "Anything you find of the fey within that warded cleft has been bound inside the dark vale for a hundred years, and it has my greatest pity."

"Jeez. Not a pretty picture. Anything else. Like what happens to you two. If we seal the wards back up … or say the guild goes the other way and clears the valley out, what does that mean for you and Padu?"

"Little, son. Our many seasons have turned already. Whether the Vale is rebound or defanged, it will not be our charge much longer. Should you repair the wards, then I expect Herne or Gwyn will send a new watcher to replace me. Oakbaron is still too deep in his rooted sleep."

"Those are new names. You haven't mentioned them before."

"Herne is the Knight of the Autumn Court. I am a knight, one of many. Herne is the Knight, the court's champion. Just as every court is ruled by a king or queen, each has its own champion as well. Gwyn ap Nudd is the master of the Wild Hunt, Captain of the Wolf Soldiers, and bearer of the Gwaedlyd, the Reaver's Lance."

"They sound ominous."

"Aye. They are both fearsome beings. Thankfully, they are bound by oaths more unshakable than any mortal of this land could ever fathom. Each must abide their station as long as their liege commands it, and since the Lord of Autumn slumbers, they have no chance to settle age-old scores."

Corran closed his glue pot and plucked a rag from the work surface to clean his fingers. "Speaking of oaths, I believe you have come to collect on mine. Yes?" he asked, quirking up one of his very shaggy eyebrows.

"Well, yeah. But I also did want to know what we were getting ourselves into with the valley. As for the favor, I'd like to know if you will share one of your traits with me."

"I thought as much. That gift from Arawn, or in your case, Robin Goodfellow, is how the shifterfolk manage to remain a people to be reckoned with, even though they are a shattered clan. I had assumed this would be your request, and while I cannot in good faith give ye a knighthood I have two that you may choose from, which I feel will suit you well. Take a gander at these."

Corran's leafy scroll opened in the air before Joe, displaying a pair of very desirable traits.

While the idea of being able to dash even faster was an awesome idea, Joe had come for a trait that would help him with his new companions. The banner traits would do that and much more. Doing the math, Joe figured he'd be giving allies plus five to their Spirits for five minutes. That could be huge. And it would only get better as he leveled up.

[Baying Banneret] would also be a huge boon to Joe himself. Boosting his Spirit into the twenties would give him tons more mana and empower many of his spells.

The biggest drawback was the cooldown. Extended was four hours. That was better than once a day, but not by much. Joe understood why Hawking put such a cap on that trait, considering how potent it was.

Joe accepted [Baying Banneret] and then spent the next hour talking with the old knight and helping Corran Loigen prepare a meal for the four of them. Mojo helped, too. And this time, he was actually helpful instead of his usual offering to help Joe, but actually making more of a mess than anything else. The broodling was presenting his absolute best behavior for Padu, hoping to impress the regal hound. Joe backed up his shaggy friend by surreptitiously covering any mistake the little man made with a hovering [Casting Claw].