The Bloodforged Kin

"Okay Fam," Zavier said.

"Don't say 'Fam' old man," Luna said and Cass laughed.

"Okay, family unit that sprung from my loins," he said instead, eliciting groans from both the kids and an eye roll from Tess. "We're going to do the same thing as yesterday. We have to build up our strength, though, so we're going to try to get a few more in today."

Tess gave him a warning look but she relented when she saw his expression. They filed into the garage and Zavier checked the tablet. "There!" he pointed. "There's two of them."

"Wait, do they look different to you?" she asked, bringing the tablet closer to her face. Zavier peered at it and zoomed in.

"Huh," he said. "They look more like black squirrels than brown ones. I wonder what that's about?" He wished he could cast Identify through the screen. "Well, I still think we're in a good spot to deal with them, and we were going to have to do it anyway," he looked at the rest of them. "Does anyone have any objections with this new type?"

Wary but confident heads shook around him. "Alrighty then, I'm off to do my Disney princess thing. Be right back," he jogged outside again but instead of yelling like a madman he just whistled loudly.

Watching the screen Tess shouted. "They're coming!"

He ran back inside and got into position. Moments later he heard claws scrabbling on concrete as they rounded the corner. In an instant the squirrels shot into the garage and Zavier brought the door down. The black squirrels sprinted to the back and the melee was on.

The fight was going well, everyone stabbing through the ports with as much gusto as the day before - their confidence building as the method continued to work. That confidence was shattered by a sudden scream that rang out, followed by Luna dropping her spear and jumping backwards, holding her clenched fists in her hand.

"What hap-" before Zavier could finish Cass did the same, eyes wide as he dropped his spear and stared at his hands. Zavier had seen a crackle of what appeared to be black lightning flashing along the length of the pole just before Cass had dropped it.

What the fuck? he thought and looked through the gap to cast Identify.

Arcane Scamperer, level 2.
Description: These mischievous creatures resemble eastern chipmunks, but their fur shimmers with magical energy, and their eyes sparkle with arcane light.

These things were level two and their class was Arcane Scamperer rather than the straightforward Scamperer. He guessed that the 'arcane' part gave them powers. He'd read about similar discoveries so knew it had to come eventually, but he hadn't expected it this quickly.

"Tess! Shoot the fuckers!"

Tess pulled out her pistol instantly and the garage was filled with sounds loud enough to make them feel like their ear drums were going to rupture.

*Two Arcane Scamperers, level 2 defeated.*

Tess felt a surge of experience and knew that she was over halfway to level three. Zavier rushed to the port and tried to identify the corpses before they disappeared. This time he got more information:

Name: Arcane Scamperer
Level: 2
Description: These mischievous creatures resemble eastern chipmunks, but their fur shimmers with magical energy, and their eyes sparkle with arcane light.
Abilities:
Arcane Bolt: The Arcane Scamperer releases a bolt of arcane energy from its paws, dealing magical damage to its target.

Zavier whistled just as they faded, leaving two more folded cloaks in their places.

"What was that?" Tess's voice had a fear in it that Zavier didn't hear often.

"I've been reading about this on the internet - some of these creatures are getting magical powers."

"And you didn't think to tell us this??" Tess's fear had turned to anger.

Zavier held up his hands. "Honestly, I forgot. It didn't seem important yet because, so far, we've only run into the regular ones. We've only been doing this for a couple days, it never occurred to me that this might be happening here already."

Tess took a deep breath and nodded, then went to check on the children. They were fine, although Luna complained that her hands still tingled.

"I cast Identify on them just before they faded and here's what I got," Zavier shared the screen with them.

"Okay, I guess we know what that black lightning was," Tess said. "Do you think that's all they can do?"

Zavier shook his head. "Nah, everything I've read said that even the low level monsters can have multiple powers. Plus in the description it says 'abilities', not 'ability.' I think we can identify this one because we saw it, or got hit with it. Not totally sure yet, but I'd bet good money that there's at least one more power it has."

Zavier helped Cass and Luna up. "Let's go inside for now. We need to regroup."

Once inside Tess told them about the experience gain. "It makes sense," Zavier said, "level two is going to give more. I just wish I knew how much more. Is it the same for all level two's, or do some give more? Does the situation make you get more or less, like if you fight them in the open versus in the garage? I need to go do some research."

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Tess fussed over the kids, washing their hands and applying ointment, while Zavier scanned the internet. He changed a search parameter to focus on Arcane Scamperer, then broadened it to scrape for any creatures found in Wisconsin. The other countries were interesting but he couldn't afford to get distracted right now. After letting it run for a few minutes he saw what he was looking for.

"Hey guys! Listen to this. The Arcane Scamperer has two abilities. The first we already know about, but the second is a retreat skill. Here's the description from someone who identified it:"

Illusionary Retreat: Using its innate magical abilities, the creature creates illusory copies of itself, confusing attackers and allowing it to escape unscathed.

"Good thing we locked them in the garage! Now we know that if we ever face one outside not to let our guards down if it looks like it ran away. Seems like this thing can make illusory copies of itself either to escape or to attack when you're focused on the double."

"Okay, new plan. We definitely need to level up faster but I'm tired of working in the dark. Tonight you will all relax and I am going to research every type of creature in this area. Hopefully we find something that can give us some advantages."

But as he scrolled through the feeds, a growing sense of unease settled over him. Post after post showed people struggling, families separated, entire neighborhoods going dark. A thread from Milwaukee showed grainy photos of abandoned houses, windows boarded up, cars left running in driveways. People are already failing, he thought. The ones who can't adapt fast enough.

Another post caught his eye - a family in Green Bay had barricaded themselves in their basement three days ago. Their last update was a plea for help that had gotten no responses. The comments below were either people too far away to help or others saying they were dealing with their own problems.

We can't end up like that, Zavier realized. Whatever it takes, we have to stay ahead of this curve.

Hours later Zavier finished clicking through his different sites. "Hey Honey, check this out," he said. Tess walked over, sipping from her coffee mug. The kids were still asleep and they didn't want to wake them.

"I've found five different animals that could be in our area. For all of them, the level one versions are just bigger and nastier versions of the animals they're based on, but no magical powers. It seems that all of them gain powers at level two, though. I have the scrapers porting to a spreadsheet that fills in any new information. So far it's light, there's only one more that has any details, but there are three more that we can get the names of," he turned the screen towards her.

Tess kissed him on the top of his head. "Your nerd-fu is so sexy to me. So what's with these?" She pointed to the last three entries.

"No one has killed those yet, or if they have they haven't identified them in time. I think we have a pretty good idea of what they'll be like based on their descriptions. I think this gives us some sort of advantage, at least. I have some ideas on how to deal with the Arcane Scamperers, and now I think we can prepare for the Crimson Vixen."

She nodded in silence.

"Also," he said, voice growing more serious, "we need to talk about leveling up. We can't protect the kids if we are the same level they are. You and I need to get more powerful first, then we can help them power level after that."

He pulled up another window on his laptop, showing posts from the past few hours. "Look at this - people are already falling behind. Families that tried to hunker down and wait it out are getting overwhelmed. There's a whole thread about 'ghost neighborhoods' - places where you can see the houses but no one's posted online in days."

Tess leaned in to read over his shoulder, her expression growing more concerned with each post. Reports of families found dead in their homes, doors still barricaded. Others simply vanishing, leaving behind cars in driveways and meals half-eaten on tables.

"The pattern is clear," Zavier continued. "The families that are leveling up consistently are the ones posting success stories. The ones that aren't..." He gestured at the screen full of unanswered pleas for help. "We need to power level."

"Power level?"

"It's something I was reading about last night. Basically, higher level people bring lower level people into their group and help them fight. The higher level people aren't in as much danger, so the group can take on bigger foes, while the lower level people reap the experience from beating the higher level monsters."

"Hmmm... makes sense. You have a lot of research here - what do we do with all this information?"

Zavier's expression hardened with determination. "We make sure we're not one of the families that goes quiet. Every day we wait, every level we don't gain, we're falling further behind the curve. And once you fall behind..." He gestured at the screen again.

Tess followed his gaze to a post timestamped just twenty minutes ago: Family of four in Eau Claire - haven't heard from them in 48 hours. Anyone in the area please check?

No replies yet.

Zavier smile was grim. "I think you and I need to go on a rampage."