Ogre Tyrant

Ogre Tyrant: Chapter 12 – That settles it – Part Two {Rewrite}

Ogre Tyrant: Chapter 12 - That settles it - Part Two {Rewrite}

Staring at the sprawling camp of the Bleak-Fang tribe, or what remained of them, I realised just how badly I had underestimated how many people we were coming to rescue. In my mind, I had envisioned the tribe of Serpent-Kin originally numbering in the hundreds at most. Then, after factoring in a gruelling battle that would cost them close to half their number and a hellish rate of attrition for spending who knows how long in the swamp, I had expected perhaps a hundred people at absolute most.

As it turned out, I was half right. There were only about one hundred Bleak-Fang tribesmen adults still alive. However, nestled deep in the middle of their encampment, there were at least as many children.

At first, the sheer number of surviving children had not made much sense to me, but then I remembered Ushu’s initial request. Ushu’s insistence on taking in the Bleak-Fang tribe’s future. The implied sacrifices they must have made to keep so many of them alive in spite of the ever-present danger. However, the haunted look in the children’s eyes made it clear that the sacrifices of their parents were not always enough.

Leaving Ushu to organise his people, I did my best to try and exude an aura of confidence and reliability. This was rather difficult because I didn’t feel particularly confident in protecting nearly so many people. Most of the children were being directed to the sleds, primarily those who were smaller or notably weak.

However, one sled was reserved and occupied by some of the older children and a very large ironbound chest. Easily half the size of the sled, it took me a moment to figure out what must be inside. The literal incarnation of the Bleak-Fang’s next generation, the otherwise vulnerable and unaccounted for eggs.

The more I thought about it, the more it seemed to make sense. With wild monsters capable of spawning in amongst your defences, a sturdy reinforced chest had probably been the safest place in the entire encampment.

The surviving members of the Bleak-Fang tribe had few personal possessions, so it did not take long for Ushu to quickly organise them for travel. It was a rather grim reminder that they were refugees, not settlers.

Every adult was armed with makeshift clubs, spears and hammers, most of them were of questionable quality. It was obvious that they had been in desperate straights and made weapons of anything and everything they could lay their hands on. I was pretty sure I even saw one woman holding a very human-looking femur.

All told it took a half-hour before the refugee train was on the move. The seven of us were interspersed throughout the column, with Clarice and Tobi roving up and down the sides of the formation to keep an eye on things and assist the Bleak-Fang when they were attacked.

Partly to demonstrate my commitment to their people, partly because there was nothing else I could really do to be useful, I was pulling the sled carrying the older children and ironbound chest I assumed was storing the remaining eggs of their tribe. Ushu had tried insisting that some of the healthier tribesmen would do it, but I had refused. After pulling the sled for close to an hour, I was glad that I had stood my ground, so to speak, the sled was quite heavy.

Toofy had started the trip on my shoulder but had since migrated to the sled itself and was pestering the teens with all sorts of questions. At first, they tried ignoring her. However, after a while, a couple of the girls warmed up to her and began asking questions about the Settlement and the remaining boys joined the conversation as well.

Listening to the nervous teenagers discuss the promised safety of the Settlement and the horrors of what they were leaving behind...It was heartbreaking.

The tribe had spent a week fleeing through the forest to the east, the warriors of the Black-Maw tribe nipping at their heels. During a third and final bitter stand, the Bleak-Fang hastily constructed rafts and fled westward across ‘The Great River’. A river so wide that it had taken a full day to cross it. After all that, they had spent five full days in the swamp awaiting the deliverance Speaker Ushu had promised was coming. The tribe had very nearly been annihilated, roughly nine in ten adults had died during the initial ambushes, later fighting stalling actions to allow others to escape, and finally desperately fighting the wild monsters of the swamplands.

A death toll like that was almost impossible to get my head around. For the Bleak Fang to have such absolute faith in Ushu, a teenager by appearances and temperament, I wasn’t sure if it was because of desperation or faith. The teenagers guarding the egg chest seemed convinced that Ushu had known I was coming, and that was unsettling.

Did this world really have people who could see the future? If it did, what did that mean for free will?

I couldn’t think of a satisfying answer and resolved to confront Ushu about it later.

Somewhat disappointed, and glad for it, attacks by wild monsters against the column had been few and far between. For the most part, Clarice had been able to intervene before anyone was badly hurt, and in those instances where she hadn’t. Nadine had been able to stabilise their injuries.

When the Settlement had finally come into view ahead, it had an immediate invigorating effect on the Bleak-Fang’ and they began hurrying forward with renewed strength and vitality. It was for the best too. I had been experiencing a mounting sense of dread that had only grown worse as the day wore on.

I just felt like something was about to happen. To be proven wrong and cross over the barrier into the Settlement was an immense relief. Even more so when I saw how busy Hana had been in our absence.

The mostly flat and open ground had changed into rolling hills of gnarled roots that formed ‘natural’ caves.

Hana’s solution may not have been as elegant as the tree fort, but at least it looked like there would be enough housing for the refugees. Considering Hana had no advance warning of how many refugees to expect, she had done a truly amazing job and still somehow found time to shape an impressive fountain a short distance from the entrance to the Grove.

The fountain was less than a half-foot deep but was easily more than a hundred feet in diameter. It had a number of smaller spouts of water ringing the periphery and driving water towards the raised roots of a large tree in the centre. The large tree had a myriad of luminescent fungi sprouting from its trunk shedding faint golden light over the rippling water.

Many of the Serpent-Kin had already begun making their way over to the fountain for drinking water and were surprised by how clean it was. The fact that they had very likely been resorting to drinking boiled swamp water was probably why so many had become sick.

“Tim?” Nadine stepped up beside me and began vigorously washing her hands with water from the fountain.

“Yes?” I replied a little anxiously, guessing that this would be something important.

“Some of the Serpent-Kin are really sick and...I don’t know what to do. I know you talked about managing fever and things like that before, but not what we should do when it gets this bad,” Nadine explained, taking my arm and pulling me towards one of the root-formed barrows.

Even though Hana had made the insides of the barrow quite large, I still had to crouch down a little to clear the entrance. Similar to the fountain, there were smaller luminescent fungi growing in small alcoves around the periphery of the burrow. Less well illuminated than what was possible with an electrical light source, it still did a surprisingly good job.

Thirteen Serpent-folk men and women were laid out on the thick moss floor. Evidently in pain, suffering from intense fever and rattling coughing fits, I strongly suspected that advanced treatment would be all but impossible.

Even though dawnmoss had antibacterial properties, it was toxic if ingested directly. But antibiotics were exactly what was needed. “Could you go find Hana?” I asked Nadine warily, “We are going to need much more dawnmoss for the next few weeks at least.”

Nadine raised an eyebrow at me curiously but quickly hurried off.

Carefully taking a closer look at one of the sick tribesmen, I held in a weary sigh. It could be much worse. Legionnaires' disease was potentially fatal, but there was still a good chance that most of them would survive just by having access to clean drinking water. However, it was very likely that more people were sick but hadn’t progressed this far yet. So it was important to try and figure out what our options were before leaving it to chance.

After a short while, Nadine returned with Hana in tow.

“You asked for me, Lord?” Hana asked a little eagerly.

I nodded and left the barrow, motioning for both of them to follow me outside. “Is there a limit to what you can grow?” I asked rather bluntly, “I mean, can you change what a plant is? Or do you just alter its shape?”

Hana paused to think for a moment and glanced towards the burrow of sick tribesmen, “You want me to try and grow medicine?” She asked warily, dodging the question.

“Yes,” I agreed, “Dawnmoss already has antibacterial properties, but the problem is-”

“-Everything else,” Hana interrupted, nodding with understanding, “I can...” She admitted hesitantly, “But it is very complicated and takes a great deal of trial and error...”

“Well, that’s about what I expected,” I admitted, still feeling a little disappointed, “I don’t suppose wild garlic grows around here?” I asked somewhat hopefully.

“Not that I have seen,” Clarice replied, but became thoughtful for a moment, “I think Tobi has some cloves of garlic for keeping his boots clean,” she added helpfully.

I grinned, “Go find Tobi, we need that garlic!” I insisted, feeling much better. Short of having actual medical grade antibiotics, garlic was probably the best we would be able to manage for a proactive treatment regimen. Like dawnmoss, garlic was another plant with antibacterial properties, but thankfully in this case, it was edible and non-toxic.

Fortunately, Tobi did in fact have a few unspoiled cloves of garlic in a small pouch in his pack. Within minutes, Hana created a sprawling field of garlic and was working on growing more. Even though she was unfamiliar with the plant, she seemed to have little problem in accelerating its growth, splitting the cloves apart and repeating the process over and over again. As impressive as industrial farming was on Earth, it didn’t really hold up against the capabilities of a motivated Arch Druid.

“I want everyone to eat at least one raw, well-chewed or diced clove of garlic before bed,” I told Ushu, “It will help with fighting off the swamp sickness. It will probably cause indigestion but that is far more preferable than the alternative. Also, make sure everyone washes their hands regularly with dawnmoss sap to avoid spreading the sickness. Everything will need to be thoroughly cleaned over the next few days, but things are looking up,” I advised encouragingly.

Ushu bowed in deference and raced off to spread the word, leaving myself and the others to speak more privately.

“Will it really help?” Nadine asked anxiously.

I nodded, “If I diagnosed the infection correctly, then it should help them fight it off. It should also help those with much milder symptoms recover quicker as well,” I sighed and grinned a little, “It is very lucky that Tobi had those cloves of garlic for his foot fungus.”

Tobi blushed self consciously but Emelia seemed quite proud of him and so he was not particularly upset.

“But why garlic?” Nadine asked curiously, “I thought it was just something for making other foods taste better.”

“Well, it is,” I agreed, grinning a little wider, “But it also has a special chemical that makes it useful for helping fight off certain bacteria and fungi. That is assuming you don’t cook it too much.”

“Rather deal with garlic breath than getting sick,” Clarice agreed appreciatively, “But feeding so many people is going to get really tricky.”

“Hana could make more fishing ponds?” Tobi suggested helpfully.

Hana shook her head, “I could, but that would only divide the number of ‘fish’ between them. The Labyrinth has limits on the number of soulless of a certain type within a certain area,” she explained confidently.

“Is there perhaps another food you could grow inside the Settlement to supplement our diet?” Nadine asked, “Like maybe berries or some sort of tuber?”

“I think I saw some of the kids eating stuff like that,” Emelia added helpfully.

Hana shifted uncomfortably, “I could...” She agreed reluctantly, “But there is only so much I can do and the soil will need fresh nutrients...” Hana really did not seem to like the idea, but I suspected I knew the real reason why.

“Have you considered teaching some of the Bleak-Fang to become Druids?” I asked Hana rather bluntly.

Hana seemed stunned, “W-what?!” She demanded incredulously.

“Well, assuming you can teach a few of them the Druid class, you would have that many more helpers,” I explained.

“Can she even do that?” Clarice asked dubiously, “No offence, but before Hana joined, I didn’t even know Druid was a class.”

Nadine nodded in agreement, “Are we sure it isn’t a Class restricted to Dryads? No offence Hana.”

Hana grinned, “It kind of is,” she agreed, grinning wider, “But not like you think. You just need to be able to sense the plants around you like I can.” Hana was practically trembling with excitement at the prospect of drafting so many of the Serpent-Kin into service to complete the Settlement.

“Before you go too crazy,” I waved for Hana to calm down, “It would probably be a good idea if we knew more about what Classes the Bleak-Fang already have and decide on a more balanced approach,” I insisted.

Hana settled down a little and nodded, but it was clear that she was doing some quickfire calculations in her head as she left to find the Bleak-Fang Speaker.

“I didn’t think you were that eager for your date,” Clarice leered suggestively.

“A necessary sacrifice,” I sighed wryly.

Tobi snickered quietly, likely enjoying the fact that I was receiving my comeuppance for publicly outing his foot fungus.

Emelia was similarly amused but said nothing.

“I don’t see what is so wrong with it,” Nadine insisted icily, “Besides, you could hardly say she still looks like a kid.”

After a few minutes, Hana returned with Ushu in tow.

“Tell him,” Hana insisted eagerly.

Looking a little confused, Ushu bowed, “Uh, my Lord. Your Oversseer requessted that I inform you of the classsess amongst our warriors...erm, well...I am ssorry Lord, but bessidess mysself and my apprentissess, there are no otherss who have unlocked a Classs.”

Hana grinned with wolfish glee.

“Hang on,” Nadine rested a restraining hand on Hana’s shoulder, “We should really think things through before teaching people Classes willy nilly. Besides, we don’t know what Ushu’s Class is yet.”

“Shaman,” Hana replied quickly, evidently quite prepared for this eventuality, “It’s a Basic Class that allows them to sense and manipulate mana. Just about every village and tribe has them.”

“Clearly they need strong fighters to start bringing in food!” Clarice insisted, eagerly joining the conversation, “I could teach them!”

“Hang on!” Nadine growled, “They need healers too!”

“And Druids!” Hana agreed eagerly.

Ushu seemed at a loss for a few moments before realising what was going on, “You will teach uss Classsess?” The shaken teenager gasped in astonishment.

“Uh, yeah?” Clarice replied uncertainly.

“Really?!” Ushu exclaimed, more than a little shocked.

Nadine and Clarice shared an awkward glance with one another.

“Monsters don’t normally get to ‘learn’ Classes,” Hana pointed out a little smugly.

Ushu nodded in agreement.

Feeling another argument coming on, I raised my hand for silence. “Look, we can sort out who will learn what Classes tomorrow. It’s been a long day for us, but it has been far worse for them. We will need warriors, healers and Druids to make it through the next few days. To say nothing of somehow feeding two hundred or so people. We will decide on the specifics tomorrow morning,” I insisted with finality, making my retreat and heading for the fishing pond to check on the Daemonlings.

Hana had really not been joking when she said the Daemons would unquestioningly follow orders. Apparently, it even extended to the necessary steps to fulfil those same orders.

While Gric tended a large fire with an alarmingly impressive array of skewered fish, Qreet and Dar patrolled the edge of the pond with thin barbed spears fashioned from bone and branches.

As it turned out, baiting the carnivorous fish was far easier and less dangerous than I would have expected. Qreet and Dar would simply splash the edge of the water with their spears until a fish came to investigate, then one of them would spear the fish and wait for a second fish to be drawn by the distress of the first. The duo would repeat this process over and over again, grinning all the while and occasionally grunting or growling at one another encouragingly.

Having seen me coming, Gric stood up from his position by the fire and motioned to the large baskets of roasted fish. In the time since I last saw him and the others, Gric had grown well over four feet tall and taken on rather substantial amounts of muscle as well as growing a small crocodilian tail. Gric’s neck seemed to have gotten slightly longer and thicker to the proportions of his body as well.

“We...do....good?” Gric rumbled, struggling to form the words, garnering the immediate attention of Qreet and Dar, who were now headed over as well.

Dar had grown and was very similar to Gric, except he lacked the powerful lower jaw and instead had more robust claws and a thicker tail.

Qreet was far more different than either of them, now standing a full head taller with a long sinewy neck, arms, legs and snake-like tail. Her head had slightly elongated as well and looked suspiciously serpentine.

Evidently, all three Daemons were taking their personal development very seriously and altering themselves at every opportunity.

“You have all done very well,” I praised, and was pleasantly surprised as the trio growled, hissed and grunted at one another with pleased expressions on their faces, or as near as I could tell anyway. “There are far more people joining the Settlement than I expected, so I will be relying on you three to keep up the good work alright? I might need you to show them how to fish too.”

Gric nodded and the other two Daemonlings did the same.

“Hana will probably begin sending people over for food, be nice alright?” I encouraged them.

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The trio of Daemonlings nodded in near-perfect unison before returning to their tasks.

In much better spirits now that I knew everyone was not going to immediately starve to death or die of complications from eating too much garlic, I began looking around for Toofy. Rather surprisingly, she was still where I had last left her, chatting away with her new friends. More than happy to see she was enjoying having more people to talk to, I gave her a small smile and wave before heading back to the Grove.

“-so we are agreed?” Nadine insisted, “Those with high Intelligence are to be trained as Surgeons-”

“-Those with high Willpower I will train to be Druids!” Hana agreed enthusiastically as she interrupted Nadine.

“And I get to train the rest!” Clarice agreed, rubbing her hands together excitedly.

The trio of schemers were sitting on the stairs to the tree fort and hadn’t seen me coming apparently. “You aren’t forcing anyone to do something they don’t want to do!” I stated flatly, “Just to be clear.”

Clarice and Nadine jumped a little in surprise, but Hana remained calm, likely having already known I was there.

“Of course!” Nadine agreed guiltily, “I just meant those who volunteered...”

“Yeah!” Clarice agreed shamelessly, “But let’s be serious, who wouldn't want to learn how to be a Grappling Pugilist? Brutal Momentum is awesome!”

I sighed and shook my head, Clarice was right, sort of. Any class was better than none. Shaking my head in disappointment I began heading upstairs to go to bed.

“Uh, you probably don’t want to go up there right now,” Nadine called out nervously.

Clarice grinned and chuckled.

I frowned and was about to ask what they meant when I heard the muffled moans coming from higher up the tree. Slowly walking back down the stairs, I turned my attention to Hana, “We need doors,” I insisted before leaving the Grove to find something else to do.

I returned to join Gric by his cooking fire. Eating a small meal of roasted fish, I watched the trio of Daemons go about their tasks. They each took a great deal of pride in what they were doing and genuinely seemed to enjoy it.

After having a rather slow conversation with Gric, I began to figure out why. In the same way that the enslavement commands stimulated the pain centre in the brain, Daemons seemed to receive stimulation to the pleasure centre of their brain when following orders. It would definitely explain Hana’s insistence that they would follow an order that would otherwise kill them.

Somehow, I found that more unsettling than forcing obedience through pain.

In the end, I settled down and decided to sleep by the fire rather than waiting to sleep in my room.

Waking up early, I was a little surprised to see the three Daemons were already up and about. More surprisingly, they were not alone. A small horde of Serpent-Kin children were patrolling the edge of the water of the large pond with fishing spears of their own. They were not alone either, escorted by a few very anxious-looking adults.

Not all of the children were fishing, some of them were cleaning fish and tending fires. All of this was taking place under the direct supervision of Gric, Qreet, and Dar and they appeared to be rotating children through the different jobs at regular intervals.

This was not exactly what I had in mind when I brought up the issue last night, but I couldn’t really argue with the Daemons results either. Fishing like this was going to be an important skill for these kids and adults to learn.

I briefly considered joining them, but the number of fish seemed to be growing thin already.

Considering the size of the pond, it was already rather impressive and a little terrifying that there had been so many of the eyeless piranha inside of it in the first place.

Maybe Hana had dug a water well beneath it?

Staring at the water, I could just about make out what appeared to be a web of thick roots below the water, but that was hardly conclusive.

With the smell of roasted garlic and fish heavy in the air, I wandered off to look for Toofy.

I was a little disappointed when I found her a short while later already eating breakfast with her new friends. Feeling the familiar sting of rejection, I decided against confronting her, Toofy deserved friends around her own age. Besides, I had been wanting her to become more socialised and this was the best opportunity for it.

Wandering over to the Grove, I found Ushu and a rather large gathering of the healthier Serpent-Kin excitedly milling about a short distance from the entrance. Upon seeing me, the crowd quickly fell to their knees and prostrated themselves in deference as if I were some kind of god.

Nope, not having that...

“Please stand,” I insisted, trying to keep the discomfort from my tone so they wouldn’t do anything drastic.

Looking a little confused, the gathered Serpent-Kin cautiously got back to their feet.

Dressed mostly in rough-spun cloth wrapped around their waist and another around their chest in the case of the women, their protruding ribs it was painfully obvious that they were all in desperate need of food.

Even though their bone structure seemed a little more refined and slight than that of a human, I was fairly confident that protruding ribs and sunken eyes were a rather universal indicator of starvation.

“Lord!” Ushu bowed low at the waist, despite having prostrated himself just a few moments earlier. Free of his bulky bone armour, he was noticeably healthier than the surrounding adults, just like most of the other children.

“Is there something that you wanted?” I asked, trying not to feel intimidated by the intense expressions of gratitude and expectation practically radiating from the gathered Serpent-Kin.

Ushu straightened and smiled nervously, “Lord, I have gathered our sstrongest and most capable tribess men and women to be judged for their worthinesss to be besstowed a Classs!” Despite his nervousness, he was still very excited.

Consisting of both men and women in their early twenties to late thirties, the Serpent-Kin tribesmen were just as excited as Ushu.

I wondered if humans were like this outside of the Labyrinths.

The general impressions I had gotten from speaking with Nadine and the others was that only the Guilds and military had access to learning the classes. It made sense that ‘commoners’ would become excited to be offered such tangible increases in capabilities that were previously denied to them.

I nodded and glanced towards the empty yard of the Grove, “Did Nadine or Hana explain how they would be selecting students?” I asked somewhat warily, afraid that I already knew the answer.

Ushu looked a little embarrassed, “I am not ssure Lord. I was ssent to sspread word amongsst m-your people. When I returned, I found that they had retired for the evening...”

I sighed and took a moment to rub my neck, “Alright..” I took a moment to consider my options and decided that being more proactive was probably a better idea. “Okay, there are a few different Classes that I think we will be able to teach you,” I began explaining, “But I want to be clear that I will not force anyone to train in a Class that they do not want, even if your stats would fit one Class better than another. Is that understood?”

“Yess Lord!” Ushu and the tribesmen all replied with excited deference.

I spent a few minutes roughly explaining what the different Classes were capable of and how I thought they would be useful to the Settlement, taking particular care not to overemphasise any one of them over the others. It was a little tricky because strictly speaking, I didn’t know how Hana’s Druid Class Abilities actually work.

Under Ushu’s guidance, the volunteers were divided into three different groups according to their preference. To my surprise, most wanted to be trained in fist fighting and wrestling techniques for close combat. Given the current food shortage and what they must have been through, I should have known better. Of the twenty volunteers, only three wanted to try and become Druids, and four to become Surgeons.

Since basic first aid was important for everyone to know anyway, I decided to start with that.

Everything went fine for the most part, despite the Serpent-Kin being initially hesitant to ask questions. The first real problem arose from trying to practice CPR.

While the muscles and tendons of a Serpent-Kin’s jaw would keep their large mouth shut more or less on their own. The problem was that their mouths were not able to form an effective seal due to lacking the cheek-walls of other humanoids. So trying to force fresh air into a Serpent-Kin’s mouth was incredibly ineffective. Similarly, Serpent-Kin couldn’t generate the pressure in their own mouths either. This was not a big problem for training purposes, but it could be in a life or death situation where someone's life hung in the balance.

A couple of the more eager volunteers even attempted opening their mouths to full distension to try and form a seal that way, but it just raised another problem.

Serpent-Kin had a large pair of retractable fangs on their upper mandible and behind their front row of teeth. It seemed to share a group of tendons related to opening and closing their mouths, so it was impossible for the volunteers to open their mouth past a certain point without their fangs being deployed as well. To make things worse, they were venomous and not immune to their own venom, just ‘resistant’.

The venom itself was explained to cause muscle weakness or even paralysis, depending on the hardiness of those afflicted.

Armed with this new knowledge, I made a mental note to steer clear of their mouths from now on if I could help it.

“Hey!” Clarice practically leapt down the remaining dozen steps, “Are these my new recruits?!” She asked excitedly while squaring off against one of the larger male Serpent-Kin.

“Some are,” I agreed, feeling a little amused, “I was just teaching them basic first aid.”

“Like how to bandage and stuff?” Clarice asked distractedly.

“Pretty much,” I agreed, unwilling to debate the details since that was probably what she wanted.

Clarice’s attention flickered towards me for a split second before returning to the volunteers, confirming my suspicions. “Well, now that you have taught them that boring stuff, it’s time I showed them some of my awesome moves!” She boasted, flexing her biceps and then punching the air a few times in an old-timey bare-knuckle boxing stance. “You will probably want those Surgeons ready soon too,” Clarice grinned like a predator as she brazenly sized up the volunteers, “Brawling probably costs some HP to guarantee the unlock.”

To their credit, not one who volunteered for learning Classes from Clarice showed signs of being intimidated, a few even grinned back at her in an open challenge.

This only made Clarice more excited, “Okay! Everyone who wants to learn how to fight! Follow me!” She pushed her way through the crowd and headed off towards the southern side of the Settlement where there were still open areas of relatively soft soil.

“HEY!” Hana shouted, effortlessly keeping her balance as she sprinted down the stairs, “You better not be running off with my Druids!”

Clarice didn’t even bother looking back, walking off with her thirteen trainees.

“Ah, no, great Oversseer these humble volunteerss dessire to learn the Druid Classs,” Ushu explained placatingly, gesturing to the trio of volunteers.

“Oversseer,” the tribesmen bowed respectfully.

Hana seemed disappointed, “Only three?”

I shrugged apologetically, “There will be the chance to teach others the Class later. It is probably for the best that we aren’t trying to teach everyone at the same time. Securing food is going to be a big enough challenge as it is. So many of the first volunteers becoming fighters should mean that you will have a better chance at teaching a larger group next time,” I suggested placatingly.

“I...I guess so,” Hana agreed reluctantly. “Alright! You three will be my first disciples! Don’t let me down!” She passionately motioned for them to follow her as she headed off towards the garlic field.

Unlike the other two, Nadine took her time walking down the stairs and tying her hair back into its usual ponytail. “Four volunteers? I hadn’t expected so many,” she mused happily, “Uh, right, how are we going to do this?” Nadine asked curiously.

“Do what?” I didn’t quite understand what she meant.

“Are we going to teach two each or?...” Nadine shrugged, making it clear that she wanted me to decide.

“Hrm, well, I have already gone through basic first aid with them. So, how about you help them practise the suturing techniques on some spare cloth or hide, and afterwards I will try and bridge the remaining basics,” I offered.

Nadine grinned and nodded, “Alright, I’ll just go grab something to eat first. That fish smells incredible!”

Garlic as a primary seasoning wasn’t really my thing, but it definitely won out against the lack of alternatives.

A few minutes later, Nadine returned and began teaching.

It was a unique experience to listen to the same lessons told from someone else's perspective and experiences. Which, to be fair, our experiences were very different. Nadine began retelling her first-hand experiences with triage, which differed greatly from how I had initially tried to prepare her for it.

“-You can’t afford to stop. Even when your arms are caked in blood and your patient is screaming in agony, you just need to buckle down and do what needs doing.” Nadine stared meaningfully into each of the Serpent-Kins eyes before moving on, “Every second matters, every decision you will make matters. If you freeze or hesitate, people will die.”

Nadine didn’t sugarcoat it and proceeded to give a brutal retelling of her own personal experiences defending the foothold. Specifically, how she was not able to save three patients and why they had died.

“-I...I didn’t tie the tourniquet off tight enough, the knots slipped and she bled out on the table before the magic had a chance to take hold. It was a stupid mistake. I was tired, hungry and suffering from mana exhaustion, but that mistake could have been avoided if I had conscripted help,” Nadine’s mood had soured and she glanced guiltily at me for a second before looking away, “I should have asked for help sooner!” She insisted adamantly, “Just because I was a Surgeon and had a healing Ability, I thought I needed to do everything on my own...and Susan died for my mistake...”

After recounting her experiences, Nadine demonstrated how to suture a wound and then set her students to work. Thread, cloth and needles were all sparse, so they would not have much opportunity to practice further unless Hana and her Druids were able to make more supplies.

Sending Nadine’s students off to lunch, I knew that I should say something to Nadine, but I wasn’t really sure what.

“I don’t blame myself,” Nadine stated, clearly guessing what was on my mind, “I mean I do blame myself, it was a stupid mistake, But it doesn’t haunt me, not like you are probably thinking anyway.” She sat down on the steps beside me and sighed, “I have thought about this a lot Tim. I was just one person, one person doing the work of five or more. I did the best I could and I learned that sometimes...sometimes I am not going to be good enough and people will die...” Nadine’s voice was trembling slightly and her hands had begun to shake and all at once it was like a dam burst inside of her, “I should have listened to you...You said that I would need extra help...but I was doing so well and...and Susan died because of me...” Her eyes grew unfocused and the shaking in her hands intensified.

“Nadine!” I took her hands in mine and tried to draw her focus.

Nadine stared at me uncomprehendingly for a few moments before shaking her head, “I know it isn't my fault but...I just...I keep thinking about her, about them, what I could have done differently, how they could have survived, how they would be alive right now...”

“I know,” I gave her hands a reassuring squeeze, “You did your best. Sometimes that won’t be enough. There have been people far more qualified in far more controlled conditions who have done far worse. I think you are grossly underestimating just how well you performed under the circumstances and with so little training...” I shook my head and snorted a little derisively, after all, I was the one who should have trained her better. “How many people are alive because of what you did? How many people did you manage to save in spite of all of the odds stacked against you? Susan died because she was viciously attacked and wounded, not because you didn’t save her...We can’t save everyone...” I tried to keep my voice steady as unwanted memories began surfacing and clamouring for my attention.

“I...” Nadine’s expression softened and she smiled weakly, “Thanks Tim, I guess...I just needed to hear someone else say it,” she rubbed at the corners of her eyes, “Absolving myself of sin just made me doubt myself even more, you know?”

I nodded, “I know. Whenever you need to talk, just come find me, alright? It’s better not to just bottle it up inside.”

Nadine nodded and sighed a little despondently, “I still wish that I could have saved them though...”

“I know,” I agreed supportively.

A long silence passed between us.

“Tim?” Nadine asked somewhat timidly.

“Mmm?” I noticed a subtle change in her mood and could tell something else was bothering her.

“You really need to talk to Hana,” Nadine explained slowly, “She is getting worse and...she won't talk to me about it. I can tell that she is in pain, but I can’t help her.” She stared at me determinedly for a moment before looking away, “I am worried about her, heh, as ironic as it sounds, I fear Hana is close to falling apart...”

I didn’t know what to say. Or to put it bluntly, I knew what Nadine wanted me to say, but I was reluctant to say it. Years of therapy had barely made the pain tolerable, a wound scabbed over but not nearly close to having healed.

Nadine frowned disapprovingly at my silence, “Why won’t you talk to her?” She demanded, her expression making it clear that she was confused and more than a little disappointed, “Is this because of her appearance? Hana wasn’t lying Tim, she is growing and-”

“It’s not about that!” I snapped without meaning to.

Nadine looked shocked.

“Sorry,” I apologised and rubbed tiredly at my brow, “I just...I can’t.”

“Why?” Nadine pressed, concerned but determined to know.

I sighed deeply and grimaced. “Because I can’t help her,” I admitted bitterly.

“What?” Nadine seemed confused, “You just need to listen. Is there a reason you can’t do that?”

I flinched and felt more than a little ashamed.

Nadine noticed my reaction and seemed concerned, “What is it?” She asked softly.

I briefly considered lying, but I didn’t see the point. “Because it will hurt...” I admitted dourly.

“What? Why?” Nadine asked, becoming noticeably more concerned.

I shook my head, “I just...It’s something I can’t help her with. I don’t have any answers! Sometimes people die and there is nothing that will ever fix that! Bad things happen to good people, that’s just life!” I snapped angrily.

Nadine was taken aback, no doubt shocked at my sudden outburst. However, she quickly got over it and her expression became grimly determined, “This is what I was talking about Tim! You need this just as much as Hana does!”

It was obvious that she was right, but I chose to say nothing. I don’t want to remember. I began walking away but stopped when I saw Hana lingering by the entrance to the Grove.

How long had she been there? How much did she hear?

Conditioned by T.V and movies, I expected Hana to turn and run away. But she didn’t. Instead, Hana cautiously entered the Grove proper and slowly made her way over towards us. “I...I just wanted to let you know that I...I failed,” Hana stated quietly, avoiding eye contact and gnawing at her lip in frustration. “I thought that the group Synergy would be enough...But it isn’t.” She hissed bitterly.

Nadine gave me a weighted look and nodded her head slightly towards Hana expectantly.

“I don’t know what I am doing wrong!” Hana growled irritably, “It should have been enough!” She balled her fists and clenched her jaw, hissing angrily through her teeth. After a few moments, Hana seemed to calm down, “I’m sorry Lord, I will figure this out, I just need more time. I promise that the Settlement will be finished by the end of the day, one way or the other!”

I felt like a jackass, “Hana?”

“Yes, Lord?!” Hana looked worried.

I sighed and shook my head, “It’s fine, the Settlement I mean. It will take as long as it takes.”

Hana appeared disappointed and deflated somewhat, “I can do this!” She insisted weakly, “I just have to figure out what went wrong and-”

“Hana,” I reached out and took hold of her shoulder.

Hana nervously glanced up at me, wincing in anticipation of a stern rebuke.

“I mean it Hana. It’s fine. You have already done so much...” I cringed a little from the guilt of setting an arbitrary deadline through conditions. “We can work out the teaching problem together...I am sure we will be able to figure it out.”

Hana nodded but still seemed uncertain.

Leaving the Grove, Hana and I walked over to the garlic field and joined Hana’s prospective Druid trainee’s.

Knowing that she expected me to take the lead, I had prepared a few questions to try and learn more about how Hana was expecting her students to unlock the Druid class.

For their part Hana's three students looked just as dejected as she was, no doubt blaming themselves rather than her.

“Alright Hana, invite me to the group and try teaching from the beginning,” I suggested, holding out my arm to receive the party invite before realising that it was unnecessary.

Since Hana was my Overseer, she didn’t have to clasp my arm to issue the invite, but she still chose to do so anyway, “Party invite, Lord Tim.” Feeling her stress through the tremors from her hand, I felt even more guilty about how I had been managing the situation.

“Accept invite-” I accepted the status prompt and was immediately bombarded with a host of sensations that I was completely unprepared to handle.

Similar to an extreme sense of vertigo, I staggered and would have fallen if Hana had not quickly moved to support me. An immense quantity of information was pouring into my mind and I wasn’t sure how to process it.

I could feel so much more than what I had known only a few moments ago and felt my predefined boundary of self slipping. It felt like I was only now becoming aware of pieces of myself that had been missing until this moment and my mind was desperately trying to reconnect to them.

Unsure of how much time had passed, I slowly became aware of my core self again. “That...was weird...” I croaked, shaking my head and trying to clear my head. I could still feel the presence of those other senses but was able to more or less ignore them for the most part. “Was it the same for the three of you too?” I asked, directing the question to the three Serpent-Kin.

They shifted a little uncomfortably and nodded.

A little relieved that I wasn’t the only one who had to go through that, I was actually beginning to understand why Hana was probably having so much difficulty teaching them anything.

The surrounding area was too...alive?

I couldn’t think of a better word to describe it. There was far too much going on around us and it was incredibly difficult to concentrate. “I think this is the problem,” I told Hana, waving expansively at the surrounding area, “It’s too busy, there is so much going on that I nearly lost myself in it.”

Hana paled a little, “Oh...” She carefully regarded the area and slowly nodded. “Follow me,” Hana motioned for us to follow her and headed to the south end of the Settlement. Only a short distance from the low section of the briar wall, Hana cloaked herself in emerald light and held out her hands to either side in a slow deliberate motion.

I saw the grass wither and the ground ripple like water as the tangled mass of interlocking roots beneath us receded. More than that, I felt it happen and was shocked by the relative clarity I now felt with their absence. Even though Hana had only pushed the majority of plant life back a couple of dozen feet, it made ignoring the extrasensory input infinitely easier now that I had a clearly defined sense of where I began and ended.

“Better?” Hana asked quietly.

“Much better,” I replied.

The trio of Serpent-Kin nodded vigorously in agreement, “Yess Oversseer!”

“Stupid mistake...” Hana muttered bitterly. “Wait here,” she told us and briefly walked back over to the garlic field before returning again with a large bulb of garlic.

It was more than a little disturbing to feel the sensation of slight pressure and comparatively rapid movement from the bulb of garlic as it entered the circle. As the closest and most distinct form of living flora, it stood out like a small sun. Similarly, it was a wholly unique experience to feel the bulb of garlic being divided into cloves.

“We will try this exercise again, “Hana explained while handing each of us a clove of garlic.

I had never really thought about the internal processes of plants before, so the miniature hive of activity in my hand was fascinating.

“Just concentrate on the process, beginning to end,” Hana insisted.

Almost immediately the clove of garlic was split open by three different shoots and a mess of thin roots searching for sun and soil to fuel its growth. I felt the garlic plant’s desperate struggle for survival, churning through its stored reserves until they were exhausted. Slowly, it began to wither and die. It had nothing left to give and eventually succumbed.

“Druid’s don't make life,” Hana explained a little coldly, “We nurture it,” her tone softened, “Under our care and guidance, life is given the chance to flourish in accordance to our will,” Hana separated a clove of garlic and dropped it to the ground. With a wave of her hand, the clove erupted into motion, shoots springing from the skin as roots dragged the swelling garlic plant into the ground. In under a few seconds, a fully mature garlic bulb had taken the place of the clove. “But growth is just one part of what we do. Where there is life...there must also be death...” She curled her hand into a fist and I felt most of the garlic plant begin to wither and die. “Entropy is part of the balance between life and death...nothing lives forever...” Hana stated dourly.

I noticed that Hana had left the seeds untouched and I believed I knew why. It was part of the lesson. A cycle of life. Birth, growth, entropy, death and then rebirth. The constant cycle of nature in balance.

[You are not qualified to unlock this Class. {Incompatible}.]

What?

I stared blankly at the black status screen with growing anger and incredulity. That had not happened before.

Momentarily distracted by the exclamations of surprise and excitement from the others, it became obvious that the problem seemed to be isolated to myself.

“Status” I muttered and frantically began skimming through the screen.

[Group Synergy: {Agile Reflexes: - }, {Vicious: 1 }, {Underfoot: 1 }, {Sense (Plant Life): 7 }, {Venom Resistance: 2 }.]

[Class Qualifications: Taskmaster. ]

Staring at the Group Synergy and Class Qualifications, I tried my best to stay calm. “Leave Party,” I grunted and sighed with relief as the surrounding ocean of senses disappeared from my mind.

Hana had been celebrating with her students’ newfound success and now looked worried, “Is something wrong?”

I shook my head and began making my way back to the grove, “I just need to test something,” I lied, not wanting to drag her mood down again and hoping that the suspicions taking form in the back of my mind were wrong.

Retrieving my sewing supplies, I took one of the knives from the storage room, stripped off my tunic and held the knife up against my chest.

To qualify for the Surgeon class, I needed to suture two wounds...

Filled with nervous energy, I hesitated, a mental block disrupting my attempt at self-harm. “I need to know!” I growled irritably and slowly pressed the edge of the blade against my skin. I hissed as pain began shooting outwards from the shallow cut. Pressing harder, I clenched my teeth and dragged the knife a short distance before making another cut slightly lower down than the first.

Ignoring the pain and rush of endorphins, I took up my prepared needle and thread and got to work. At first, the pain made me hesitate before pushing through the needle, but by the end, I was just about able to ignore it. With the first cut fully sutured I turned my attention to the second.

[You are not qualified to unlock this Class. {Incompatible}.]

[You are not qualified to unlock this Class. {Incompatible}.]

[You are not qualified to unlock this Class. {Incompatible}.]

Fingers sticky with my own drying blood, I glared furiously at the black status alert. Taking a few minutes to calm down and clean my cuts, I pulled my tunic back on and stalked purposefully towards Clarice’s training field. I refused to accept this.

“Oh hey, Tim! Come to see how real people fight?” Clarice laughed, motioning to her students. Some of them were practising beating the heck out of one another with their fists while others were practising break falls and wrestling chokeholds. “Heh, or maybe you wanna let me show these wimps how it’s done and have a match?” She suggested with an eager grin.

“Alright,” I agreed.

Clarice just stared blankly at me for a moment, “Huh? Wait?! You’re serious?!” She demanded.

I nodded.

Clarice grinned wickedly and wrung her hands together excitedly, “Alright!” She turned to her students, “Stop what you’re doing!” Clarice shouted, bringing them to a near-immediate halt, “The big guy and I are gonna have a match!” She declared excitedly, “So make some room!” Clarice waved everyone back.

Her students were only too eager to obey, some excited by the prospect of the competition and others seemed to enjoy the prospect of seeing Clarice taken down a peg or two. Given the brutal method of Clarice’s hands-on training, it was hardly surprising.

“You ready?” Clarice asked, bouncing on the balls of her feet and raising her fists.

I raised my own fists and nodded.

Clarice was about to say something and stopped, “Wait a sec,” she muttered something and frowned before hurriedly making her way over, “You aren’t in the party,” Clarice whispered accusingly, “That’s cheating a bit, don’t you think?”

I rolled my eyes, more than a little annoyed at the delay. “Party invite, Clarice,” I growled irritably.

Clarice grinned, “Accept Invite!”

*Thump*

Even as she accepted the invite, Clarice had ducked down and thrown a right hook to my gut. After it landed, she bounced back and away out of reach with a mischievous grin on her face. “That’s for trying to cheat!” Clarice crowed as she brought her fists up again.

The blow barely hurt at all and I needed her to hit me as part of the test anyway. Edging forward towards Clarice, I was not surprised when she knocked aside my guard and delivered a jab to my chest. This time the punch hurt, but only because she managed to strike the recently closed cuts on my chest.

The idea of deliberately harming myself extended to letting Clarice hit me, but it was necessary, so I grit my teeth and bore through it. I weathered blow after blow while slowly chasing her around the practice area. After a few minutes, Clarice began to slow and I landed a few half-hearted punches on her guard.

[You are not qualified to unlock this Class. {Incompatible}.]

Lowering my guard, I glared at the black status alert with barely contained fury.

*Crack*

“Fuck!” Clarice swore and cradled her wrist as she pulled back.

Judging by the pain radiating from my cheek, I assumed that Clarice tried for another cheap shot while I was distracted. “We’re done,” I growled and stomped back towards the Grove. Stalking up the stairs of the tree fort, I threw myself down onto my bed and tried to calm down. I felt physically ill at the prospect that I would not be able to get rid of the Slaver class and its derivatives.

Why was I deemed incompatible with those other classes?

Feverishly scouring the information implanted by the Settlement Totem, I came up empty.

Surgeon, I could understand. I was not particularly clever or intelligent and my stats reflected that. But I would have thought that Hana’s insistence for candidates with high Willpower would have made a transition to Druid perfect for me.

At worst, the brawling classes should have worked, even though I was not that nimble, I was not that much of a clutz either. The only thing I could think of was what Jacque had told me close to a week ago.

That the Labyrinths would mess with me to try and get the reaction that they wanted...

Brooding in the relative darkness of my room, I had to agree with her, the Labyrinth really seemed to know how to piss me off. Before I fully realised what I had done, I was downstairs in the storage room and had swallowed something rough and porous. Looking down at the open pack containing the majority of the manastones we had collected while doing the mandatory quest, I panicked and made to stick my finger in my throat to try and vomit what I had swallowed back out again.

However, a sudden rush of euphoria flooded my system and left me feeling warm and fuzzy all over. Staggering backwards, I tripped over my own feet and fell heavily to the floor. Bracing against the expected pain, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it didn’t seem to be coming. For one reason or another, that seemed hysterical and I began to laugh. It just seemed like the right thing to do. Pushing myself up and getting back to my feet, I swayed unsteadily and braced myself against the wall.

After a while, the sense of euphoria began to fade and it left a keening sense of loss and emptiness in its wake. Leaning back down to the pack I pulled out another manastone and brought it up to my mouth. As the pain of the present began reasserting itself I became transfixed on the manastone.

I needed it...

It would be so easy to just let go...

“No!” I threw the manastone away and staggered out of the storeroom. I needed to put as much distance between myself and the temptation as quickly as possible. If Jacque were here I was not sure whether I would thank her or strangle her for the warning. Calling manastones addictive was a drastic understatement...

Every step I took away from the harvested manastones made me hate myself a little more. To go from a complete cessation of all forms of pain, back to...reality. It was torture!

Reaching the bottom step of the stairs, I was just about ready to collapse. Halfway to the fountain, I tripped and fell to the ground. Nearly paralysed by pain, I just decided to lay there to wait until it became more bearable...