All The Skills

Brixaby dropped down right in front of the adventuring groups, startling a few people.

Lopez and his men had been leading the way, with the rest ranged far to the right and left on either side. Arthur got the impression that healthy competition had turned to active dislike among the different adventurers, and the solution was to stay far away from one another.

Once he recovered from the shock, Lopez must have read the look on Arthur’s face because his own expression went grim. “What’s wrong?”

“Our scourgelings problem has gotten bigger,” Arthur said, and then started to describe the nest he’d seen. As he spoke, the adventurers crowded close to hear.

However, when Arthur explained that a fissure had opened in the ground a lot like a mini-eruption, he was interrupted by whoops of delight. Some people even took off their wide-brimmed hats and waved them in the air.

“This isn’t a good thing!” Arthur snapped, shocked. “It’s a precursor to an eruption.”

All the way back, he had replayed Soledad’s story of what happened in N’awlens over and over, and worried that these people were cutting it too close here.

But he might as well have been speaking to brick walls. Adventurers had already turned to their friends and were making plans with one another, discussing plans of attack and how to split the loot.

Lopez gave a sympathetic shrug. “Things like this happen when the dark heart is almost ready for its harvest. It’s just another sign we’re nearly there.”

Arthur grit his teeth. “I get it’s a good opportunity for shards and cards, but if those scourgelings make their way to the city—“

“That’s why we’re here,” Lopez said.

Someone called from the back, “What’s wrong, dragon rider? You a coward?”

Brixaby’s head snapped up toward the direction of the speaker and boomed out, “My rider is no coward! Say that again, to my teeth!”

The heckler didn’t speak up, but there were a few audible snickers.

Arthur kept a tight rein on his temper. “I’m not afraid to fight scourgelings, but I’ve also seen what they do to people. They’ve destroyed incoming wagon trains up and down this interstate—“

“Well, that’s the risk they take!” someone else yelled. “No one said life was fair.”

There was a difference between life not being fair and actively inviting a catastrophe, but the speaker’s voice had come from a place where no one had stood. Probably thanks to Brixaby’s threat. Arthur suspected a wind card was at play, and he wasn’t about to get into a shouting match with someone who wouldn’t show his face.

Jon, who was in charge of the Lightning Cats, came up to Lopez. “Sheriff, may my group have permission to move forward? Many of us have speed enhancements.” He looked at Arthur. “Since time is clearly of the essence.”

Lopez took a moment to remove his wide hat and scratch a hand through his dark, sweaty hair before replacing his hat again. He nodded. “Yes, I suppose it’s time.”

That got another round of whoops, as well as groans from others who didn’t have a way to outpace the others. There were a few men — and a woman or two — who had body modifications that were bulky and geared toward defense. They wouldn’t be fast movers.

Lopez held up his hand, and the adventurers fell silent.

“You all know the rules: Kill as many as you can, but only tagged bodies get you the official credit. I need group leaders right here so me and my deputies can pass out the tags and log who gets what.”

One of the men by Lopez pulled out a box full of organized paper slips, all with twine on the ends. The paper stacks were arranged in a rainbow of colors. As Arthur watched, he saw each group was assigned its own color.

The leaders each got their own thick stack and then turned to either pass them out to the rest of their party or kept them in their own possession, probably to tag the bodies themselves.

When the last group leader was assigned their tag and color, Lopez turned to Arthur. “You’ve done what you’ve come here to do by leading us to the nest, but I’d still like your help cleaning up, if you can.”

“Of course, we’ll fight,” Arthur said, annoyed. It seemed Lopez was also mistaking his disgust for playing stupid games with scourgelings as cowardice.

“We’ve very likely killed more scourgelings than your adventuring groups ever have, combined. And we’ll gladly kill more,” Brixaby added.

“Good, because I thought this would go nicely with your dragon.” Lopez showed Arthur a thick stack of deep purple tags. The color did pair nicely with the flashes of iridescent purple up and down Brixaby’s dark scales.

Brixaby snorted and turned his head toward the direction where the Lightning Cats and other fast-moving groups had gone. Some of the Lightning Cats had gone down onto four feet in order to lope forward, which had been more than a little disturbing to watch. By now, they were distant dots along the horizon.

Lopez continued, "There still might be a little time before the dark heart is opened. If you can find any more of these nests for us in the future, I'm sure you'd be well compensated."

It was times like this that Arthur wondered if he was the crazy one for thinking cutting things so close was a stupid idea. Brixaby was looking excited at the prospect of eradicating more scourgelings hideouts... but then again, he was a dragon.

To Arthur, these Texans were playing with fire.

Still, there was only one answer he could give. "Of course," he said, stiffly. "I don’t even want to think about what it will be like if one of these nests goes unchecked." He couldn’t stop from adding, "I think you and the rest of the city administration are taking this too lightly."

Lopez shrugged again. "Well, you haven't seen our adventuring groups in action, have you?"

That was fair. He hadn't. Grabbing the tags in bad humor, he threw them into his personal space. With a smile, Lopez tipped his hat and went on to speak with his deputies.

"Cheer up, we're going to be killing scourgelings soon," Brixaby said. "And if this nest proves to be particularly virulent, perhaps we can ring more concessions from Walker. Plus,” he added, "This will raise our popularity with the rest of the city, which means Dannell might pay us more, too."

That did cheer him up, a little. But the feeling of duty he had the moment he saw scourgelings bubbling up from the ground so close to the city had a weight which had landed fully on his shoulders. Maybe it was a side-affect from being a half-trained hive leader, but this… none of this felt good.

"Excuse me, young man?" Arthur glanced over and saw that an older man had approached him. He was a bit unusual looking in the normal Texan population, being tall and thin with hair that was either so blonde it looked white in the blazing sun, or so gray that it had turned white. His eyes were the pale type of blue that almost looked silver, and it was almost impossible to tell his exact age. "May I ask how big the nest is? And what is the distribution of ranks you saw?"

No one else had bothered to ask. They’d just wanted to be pointed in the right direction.

"I only saw Commons and Uncommons — perhaps three dozen or so. But my seeking ability told me that's the spot where the Rares are hiding, too."

"I see, I see." With a nod, the man reached into a leather bag tied to his belt and started pulling out long pieces of pipe work with complex metal connections forged onto them. The absurd length of the pipes versus the smaller bag made it clear that this was a portable storage space. Though, Arthur didn't see any runes around the bag.

Then, without comment, the man bent and started connecting the pipes in a way that made no immediate sense.

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Brixaby tilted his head almost to the side to watch, oddly birdlike. "What are you doing?"

The man blinked up at them, then smiled as if he had just momentarily forgotten that they were there. "I'm afraid that while my cards are powerful, they do take a bit of prep time."

Then, to Arthur's shock, he gestured from his chest outward and displayed the images of two cards in his heart deck.

Maniac Kludger

Utility

Uncommon

The wielder of this card has a uncanny instinctive ability to join different machinery together to form an upgraded or new machine, tool, or part. The wielder has a 50% greater chance of having their creation work correctly the first time… even if it bends known physical laws. Seek additional cards in this set to add to overall inventive power.

Natural Mechanic

Utility

Uncommon

The wielder of this card has the natural instinctive ability to completely visually inspect broken mechanical objects and, and understand how to fix them. The wielder has a 50% greater chance of their fix working correctly the first time, even if the fix violates several known/common sense laws. Seek additional cards in this set to add to overall mechanical power.

It only took Arthur a moment to read through them: The nature of cards meant that they showed up to his eyes in his language rather than Texan, which he was still building skills for.

But already, the man had seemingly forgotten him again and was busy connected the pipes into strange connections forming a square frame and was pulling oversized wheels out of the small bag.

"Your cards are two of a kind?" Arthur asked.

"Oh, indeed." The man smiled. "I haven't introduced myself. Everybody calls me Claude the Kludge, due to the first card I had." He pointed to the Maniac Kludger card before dispersing the projection. "Anyway, yes, these are two of a kind. Did you see the last lines on the card description? That usually means there's a full deck out somewhere in the world."

Arthur had something like that in his Master of Skills and Master of Body Enhancement cards. And so did Brixaby with his Call of the Void, and now Call of the Heart cards. But he hadn't known it meant every other card in the deck was out there, somewhere.

What if one card in his deck was in the dark heart?

"You seem very free with your information," Brixaby said, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

Claude shrugged. "I come from the Icelands up north, you know? We have a reputation for being nice. Nice as ice." He laughed, though Arthur and Brixaby didn't. "Anyway, no one keeps back card information — why would we? We're all paddling the same boat when it comes to the scourgelings. I find the Southerner ways very stifling."

While Arthur appreciated his view, he wasn't about to share information on cards out of his heart deck. Instead, he asked, "What are you making?"

"This is a catapult. It's an ancient design, but it works well at killing scourgelings from a distance. Back up a few steps, please," he said, though it would be easier for him to step back.

Brixaby moved a few paces, and Claude pulled out an odd contraption with two wheels connected by a frame and handlebars. He stood it up, and Arthur got the impression that he meant to ride that thing, only he had no idea how Claude could balance on it. "Another ancient device I've reworked again from old texts. A bicycle. Anyway, my tactic is usually to fire on the beasts from afar. Works great," he said, connecting the two devices with an odd rope that stretched and bounced back to a smaller length.

Arthur shook his head. He only had a bare idea of what he was looking at, much less how it could fire on scourgelings. But perhaps this was all was part of Claude’s kludging power.

He glanced at Brixaby, who was watching the process intently, probably trying to pick up some crafting tips.

"Let's get into the air,” Arthur said. “The first groups might be reaching the nest at any time."

Brixaby jerked in surprise and seemed to come back to himself. "Yes, of course," he said, then leapt into the air with enough force that threatened to throw Arthur off his seat before he buzzed forward into motion. But then the dragon curved his head back for one last look at Claude.

“Don’t think about it,” Arthur warned, though he was amused.

“I wouldn’t take those cards from his heart with so many people to watch.” Brixaby sounded offended. “But if he happens to die…”

****

The first groups who had left were fast, but they were no match for the speed of a dragon in flight. Brixaby soon caught up to the leaders, and Arthur held him up for a few extra minutes to see how professional adventurers dealt with scourgelings.

Brixaby grumbled, but Arthur could tell he was at least derisively curious.

Lightning Cats on four feet were eerie and terrible to look at, disturbing him enough that he focused on the others who still ran like humans. Though all of them wore chain mail of Brixaby's distinctive design – which had always looked delicate to Arthur's eyes, and completely in contrast to the dragon's personality — they weren't slowed down at all.

Mentally, he started ticking off what he saw. Body enhancements to make them more animal-like, speed boost enhancements. There was also a slight distortion in the air building between the team members. He suspected it was mana – a start of a complex spell, perhaps?

As the Lightning Cats were in the lead, they were the first to reach the nest. The wavering in the air solidified and became a rain of lightning bolts that battered the first rank of Commons which hovering at the edge of the nest like guards.

A score of them died in an instant, and then the Lightning Cats were on the rest. Jon pulled a sword out of a personal storage space and began laying about. The sword must've had a poison aspect because even light cuts began to sizzle with foam, and the scourgeling quickly dropped.

The girl who was covered with fur, stood back on two legs and gestured wildly with a closed fist. Ghostly claws extended out three feet, followed her motion, and cleaved a scourgeling into three separate chunks.

But like an ant’s nest that had been disturbed by somebody trampling on the top, more scourgelings boiled out. Several larger Uncommons were mixed in with the Commons. These gave the adventurers more trouble, though no one got injured. More Commons followed, and these were not of that odd bird shape. Instead, they were sort of small and monkey-like creatures with elongated ears that tilted out to the side, green-black skin, and razor-sharp teeth.

They could jump, too. Arthur saw one land on the back of one of the Lightning Cats before it was ripped away.

The Cats would've been on the verge of getting swamped over, but more groups of adventurers arrived. One was one of the extremely muscle-headed men who waded through the fray and simply swung huge arms and oversized fists, pulverizing anything that he hit.

The leaders of each team followed behind their members, and Arthur saw them darting back and forth, tagging the bodies.

It was messy, but the adventurers were getting the job done. Unfortunately, the flow of scourgeling out of the fissure didn't look like it was stopping anytime soon.

"Where are the Rares?" Brixaby demanded, looking down eagerly.

Arthur quickly checked his internal map. "They're... everywhere," he said, looking down and squinting. He'd seen the size of the Rares. Nothing on the field approached that size "I can't see them. These are all Commons and Uncommons."

"Perhaps they're invisible. One did have an illusion card. There may be more.”

Arthur heard the question in his dragon's voice and smiled. "Why don't you give it a test?"

Buzzing eagerly to the side of the expanding battle, Brixaby blasted down with a stunning shout towards the edge of the group. His shout caught a couple of Uncommons and a cluster of three Commons that had been pushed to the side, but nothing else appeared out of invisibility. Brixaby blasted another group of Commons, just to be sure, peering down eagerly to see if anything would become visible again. But there was nothing.

Arthur shook his head. "Either you're not catching them, or they're not here. I think they're underground."

By this time, even more adventuring parties were arriving, which was good because the flow from the fissure seemed to be never-ending.

Arthur had to grudgingly admit that the adventurers were not doing a half-bad job. In fact, he noticed that the group leaders, who were tagging the dead scourgelings, were pretty much ignoring the Commons, and just focusing on the Uncommons. There was more than enough to go around, and no one wanted to focus on the small fry.

"The Rares are still here. Save your strength," Brixaby yelled, but if anybody heard him, there was no reaction.

A flaming fireball struck a cluster of scourgelings – a fire that, when it hit, splattered like liquid and didn't seem to want to go out.

Arthur glanced over and saw, a quarter-mile away, the small figure of Claude standing next to his odd machine. He had kludged an arm over the frame with a large cup at the top. Using a rope, he winded it down again, pulling something out of his bag to load it up.

"Keep an eye on that," he told Brixaby. "It's a machine, not a magical effect. I don't think he has any aiming skills attached to that thing."

"The day I get struck by something thrown by a human in the air is the day I return my wings," Brixaby said, though Arthur saw him turn his head slightly and keep an eye on Claude.

By this time, more Uncommon scourgelings had crawled out of the hole and joined the battle, and some of the adventuring groups had to fall back, though they were still eagerly fighting and killing.

"Shall I join them?" Brixaby asked eagerly.

Arthur shook his head. "No, if Rares are out there, we need to save your strength."

His first indication that something was wrong was when he saw adventurers and scourgelings start to stumble for no particular reason.

Dust rose from the ground, and Arthur couldn't figure out why because there wasn't so much as a breath of wind in the air. Then he realized what he was seeing. An earthquake.

And that was when the ground fell out from under both scourgelings and adventurers alike, plunging the whole fighting mass into a deep pit.