Unbound

"So this thing is supposed to help us?" Archie asked, poking the worn stone panther face. It snarled at him silently, its fangs bigger than one of his daggers. "It's just a road."

They stood on a segment of elevated highway, or at least that's how Archie understood it. Some ways distant from the ruin that held the Shadowgate, this place rose up on tall pillars hewn from local rock into fanciful designs covered with snarling harnoqs and screeching lizards that Beef kept calling Dragons. To Archie, they didn't look like dragons so much as big, angular crocodiles. Nothing at all like Yintarion.

“No, no,” said Mauvim. “This is an artifact designed to connect places distantly."

"So it's like a portal?” Beef asked.

"No, not a portal, but an accelerator. It increases the speed of travel across the Continent. We've seen pieces of things like this, but never something so well-preserved."

Mauvim ran her hands across the construction, fingers tangling on leafy vines. Archie didn't know how well it was really preserved. Everything around them was half-swallowed by the jungle. Bright flowers hung off of every piece of architecture, and vines clung so tightly to stone that some were more plant than mineral.

"So how's it work?” Harn asked. He stood up from inspecting a chipped slab. “I don’t see any sigils.”

“You must look with all of your senses.” Mauvim ran her hands down the half-walls at the side. They lit up, sigils rising from beneath the stone like ice cubes in tepid water. A circle surrounded her, then a line of sigaldry shot to her left, anchoring itself against the nearest harnoq statue before extending a short ways to another, and then another. The magic sizzled, a heat Archie could feel even through the tropical temperatures around them, and it burned away the roots and vines that crossed its path.

Mauvim straightened and smiled, looking more like a grandma than a powerful mage. "One must press their Intent against its power. At one point, it no doubt ran constantly, but whatever power source it relied upon has long since died out. We must provide it ourselves. Continually.”

Harn grunted. “Is it a strain?”

“A mild one.” Mauvim’s eyes flashed, gleaming with a series of colors Archie didn’t quite catch. “However, the enchantment is meant to move with us, so it is not so onerous. With a few of us, we could get our entire troop encompassed.”

“Sounds like a plan. Mervin.”

“Yes, sir?”

“Gather the Arclights and any other Chanters who can manipulate their Mana. Tell ‘em to keep the enchantment runnin’. If they got questions, direct ‘em to Master Mauvim.”

“Just Mauvim will do, dearie,” the old woman said, patting Mervin’s arm. “I’ll go with you to explain.”

It was only a short time later that Archie found himself doing long-distance running for perhaps the first time in his life.

It sucked.

It could have been worse, of course. Archie could admit that. The long, ruined highway was pitted and filled with ankle-snapping roots, and the jungle was so hot and humid it was like jogging through water. Yet, for every step they took, the magic of the roadway amplified it, pushing them along several dozen more, until they were fairly flying across the jungle, the whole place blurring into a greenish-brown smear.

Magic tingled across their legs and arms, coating their feet until the roots beneath them weren’t even a consideration; they bent out of the way, softened by the enchantment, only to spring back into place behind them. All Archie could feel was the wind in his hair and a pleasant warmth through his muscles, like soaking in a hot bath. The feeling of exhaustion, even simple muscle fatigue, was gone as if he had the Endurance of a warrior.

He put it to use.

Felix and Harn had taught him the value of training whenever possible, so as he ran, he flared his movement Skill, Evasive Gait. The Skill was all about footwork, so it was a bit hard to practice while sprinting at his top speed, but that just made the training more effective. He focused on the soldiers around him, increasing and decreasing his distance from them while angling his Body as if anticipating an attack. Evasive Gait was defensive in nature, best used at a distance, but Archie had been trying to make it more useful up close.

He’d had middling success so far.

Evasive Gait is level 82!

They ran for hours, mages feeding the sigaldry in rotating shifts, and they practically flew across the jungles of Jaast like an arrow beneath the steadily rising sun.

Four hours later, they reached the first intersection of the roadway. There, the highway diverted into two directions, one going farther southeast and another heading directly south. Harn signaled for the company to slow before he had the mages cut the magic.

“Take a rest,” came the order.

Archie scoffed. He felt fine, excellent even. Yet when the last mage cut off their Mana, his exhaustion slammed against him like a wall. His knees wobbled, thighs burning and calves cramping, and he dropped onto his ass.

“Gahh, what the hell!” He grabbed at his legs, squeezing his muscles ineffectually. “Fuck, that hurts.”

"It wasn't so bad. Feel a little tingly, though," the giant teen said. Archie glared at him. Beef remained annoyingly unfazed. "You gonna be okay, Arch?"

Evasive Gait is level 85!

+8 END

+2 VIT

"I'll be fine,” he said through gritted teeth. The bonus stats from the exercise burned almost as much as his muscles.

“If you’re feeling an excess of muscle fatigue, it is likely a Stamina issue,” came a female voice from Beef’s chest. His damn armor blinked at the Delven, all four of its eyes looking annoyingly concerned. “There is a Stamina Potion in your kit. It is useful for these situations."

"I know, Hallow. I don't need it." He gritted his teeth and stood back up, despite the heavy twitching in his legs. "I'm fine. Wait, what's happening?"

A camp had sprung up around them, but Archie noticed several soldiers had started gathering near the right edge of the elevated roadway. Harn was talking to them.

"Oh, Harn just said that he's gonna get some scouts around the area. He figured there's an intersection here, maybe it's for a reason."

"Huh. Well, I guess if we're waiting, anyways," Archie sat back down, careful to keep his expression neutral. There's no reason Beef needed to know how good it felt. "Guess I'll just take a rest. Nothing else to do."

"Good point." Beef sat down, too. "Wanna play a game? My parents used to play I Spy on road trips."

Archie immediately closed his eyes.

"Oh. Okay."

An hour passed before any of the scouts returned, long enough that Archie’s legs stopped trying to kill him and for his belly to start complaining. The soldiers caught and killed some sort of giant iguana, and the thing was big enough to feed everyone plus extra. By the time the scouts reported back, everyone was around a cookfire with greasy lizard meat on a skewer.

"Apparently, there's a town nearby," Harn said, picking at his meal. Mauvim, Mervin, Beef, and Hallow filled the space, while Archie perched atop a broken chunk of masonry at the edge. "A place called Morva. Best we can figure, it's a farming community, but it seems pretty active inside its walls. Quite big, too. Might be a good place to find some information."

Beef perked up immediately. "Do you think the Kobolds are here?”

“That’d be a lucky break for us," Harn said. "Seems unlikely, but I can't discount it. I’m sending the scouts into town to get the lay of the land now. If they hear even a whisper of the Unbound, we’ll know soon enough.”

"What are we going to do, then?”

"Sit tight. Rest. Be ready for a fight.”

“Do you think we’ll be fighting someone?” Hallow asked.

“We’re always fightin’ someone,” Harn grunted. “But the goal is to be quiet. In and out. If we’re lucky, we find the Seat and Seal for Felix, but he made it clear: our first priority is to save the Unbound and return home. All of us.”

Time passed, and the afternoon pressed into early evening. The heat and humidity, however, did not wane in the slightest, and Archie was sick of it. He was sweating in places that did not need to be mentioned, and he was bored enough to chew through one of the statues nearby.

It was time to do something about it.

Lost In The Crowd is level 77!

He slipped past the ring of soldiers on watch, none of them any wiser as he phased through their tents and supplies. The way down from the elevated highway was simple. A staircase built into the side led to the jungle floor. It was well covered by tall trees that twisted over the highway and obscured their line of sight, but it also made it harder for folks on the highway to see someone leave.

It would’ve been perfect…if Beef hadn’t been waiting on the stairs.

“Where’re you going?” the kid asked.

"Out."

"What do you mean, out? We were told to wait. The scouts haven’t come back yet.”

"Beef, I don’t know if you know this about me, but I don't take orders particularly well.”

The Minotaur frowned, and his damn armor narrowed her eyes.

“Look. The scouts aren’t back yet, right? So, either they're in trouble, or they haven’t found anything.”

“You’re thinking they’re in trouble?”

“Might be, but it’s more likely they just haven’t found anything. I’m sick of waiting, and I’m the best scout we’ve got. I can walk through that whole town, and no one will see me once. Plus, every town’s got a seedy underbelly, right? Those’re the folks who know what’s going on. The best any other scout's gonna do is pull some surface observations. Me? I can go deep."

Beef rubbed at his chin, and Archie could almost see the cogs turning. "Well, then take me with you.”

"What?” He hadn’t expected that. “You're huge. You're like the opposite of stealth."

"I can be stealthy!”

Archie gave the giant Minotaur a once-over. "Is that with or without the giant crystalline armor and ice hammer?"

Hallow hummed. "He does have a point."

"What if I go without the armor?"

"Beef—”

“Hallow, it's fine. I can make my own armor with my skill. Same with weapons. So I can leave both here. Besides, we’re not getting into any fights. I just gotta wear a big cloak."

Archie hesitated. He had to admit it would be useful to have the big oaf along with him. If something did happen, Beef was considerably stronger than Archie. "Fine. You can come with me. But you gotta leave your Risen behind."

"I can do that. Hallow? This is cool, right?"

"I worry…but if this is what you wish, Beef, then yes. I will remain behind and keep an eye on the camp."

"Okay. Yeah.” Beef rubbed his hands together. “Let's do this, Arch.”