Rolan, Arin and Nocturnis returned to the camp site and noticed Tessa was hard at work mixing things together. They dropped their things in their spot and began to work on making lunch while Tessa worked between mixing herbs and powers and jotting down notes.
"Food's done." Rolan announced, setting a plate down beside Tessa. "You should eat, Tess." He tapped her shoulder, breaking her out of her concentration. The alchemist had been so hard at work, she didn't even fully register Rolan and Arin were back. "And fix that habit of getting fixated on your work. You could've died there."
"Oh, I'm sorry." Tessa brushed a strand of hair away from her face. "I'm so close to figuring out the components for this potion, but I need more Valpori. Were you able to find some more?"
"I spent the morning training the kid. We'll go after lunch." Rolan replied, stepping over to grab a plate full of food from Arin. He turned and noticed Tessa was a bit disappointed. He softly smiled, set his plate down and sat down. "Don't worry, Tess, I'll make sure to find some today even if it takes all night. I'll continue marking the spots and we'll find some all together."
Tessa wasn't convinced Rolan was truthful, but she let out a sigh and carefully pushed her things away from her and took her plate and licked her lips. "Fine," she answered. "You better be telling the truth or I won't talk to you ever again."
"When have I ever lied to you?"
"The last abandoned mining town you said you found some Abyssal Blackgrass deep below but it was just Old Timer's Root… I wasted an expensive vial trying to gather the liquid from it…"
"I'm sorry. I really thought it was the Blackgrass you were looking for. I'll study more so I won't get it wrong next time." Rolan turned away, upset. Tessa smirked and dug into her food.
Arin wandered over to his seat and sat down. He licked his lips and dug in, oblivious to the situation going on between Tessa and Rolan.
"So Arin," Tessa cleared her throat. "How's training with Rolan? Is it everything you didn't expect? Is he being cruel to you? If he is, you can spend your time learning about plants and herbs with me. I'd be glad to have a second set of hands that are actually attentive and don't doze off when I'm explaining things."
"Oh, er goeeng fain (Oh, it's going fine)." Arin replied with his mouth full. He stuck a finger out and chewed his food and swallowed before continuing. "I'm learning a lot from Rolan. Although it hasn't been a full day, I'm starting to see errors and openings I have. I lack actual combat experience other than a handful of hunting and the occasional monster that comes my way.
"Fighting with Rolan is helping me understand battles can be more complex. The techniques used, the stance switching, and improvisation that comes along with it. There's so much to learn." The smile on Arin's face faded as his eyes grew a bit cloudy. "I'm a bit sad you guys can't stay around for longer. I would love to learn everything from Rolan before we part ways."
"That's unfortunately life, kid." Rolan sighed. "Sometimes people come in your life for a short time, but you choose to do with that time will determine the memories you choose to remember."
"Hey, don't use my words on him like you're a Sage!" Tessa shouted. She lifted her fork up and faked throwing it at Rolan, who mocked her. She gritted her teeth and continued to eat.
Arin chuckled at the two. They had been helpful ever since yesterday and now they were all lively. It was something he didn't know he missed.
After eating and helping Tessa clean the dishes, the group gathered their things and headed off into the mines. Here, Arin took a back seat and watched Tessa and Rolan work. Rolan's sense of direction was sharp. When Arin thought they got lost, Rolan seemed to know where to go without even looking at the map he was sketching.
They ran a small groups of over-sized cave rats, netting Arin [250 xp] bringing him to [2,450/2,750 total xp.]
"That's the last one." Rolan smacked his hands of sweat. "We should be good now. The cave rats don't really have anything of importance in them."
"Rat tails might be useful for something in the future." Tessa knelt down besides one of the cave rats and pulled her knife out. "I can dry 'em and store em in some containers." She carefully sliced the rat tail and set them to the side.
Rolan didn't hesitate to help her. He knelt down and Tessa naturally handed him the cut off rat tails and he rolled them like he had done this a million times before. This left Arin and Nocturnis alone.
Arin naturally wandered away while Tessa and Rolan went back and forth about what they were going to eat for dinner. Nocturnis followed his Master, watching the young Master wander off into the darkness without hesitation. He wondered if his Master had already gotten used to his Night vision.
"Master," Nocturnis called after Arin. He trotted over to Arin's side and kept his eyes forward. "Where are you going?"
"Hm, I'm just going on a —" Arin snapped out of it and looked around, realizing he was nowhere near Tessa nor Rolan anymore. "Where did I go…?"
"You wandered off a while ago and I thought you knew."
"No, I've just…"
"We're long gone now, Master. If you wish to return, you can just follow me." Nocturnis began to turn the way they came when a strange sound caught Arin's attention. It was a familiar whispering voice.
"Heed my call… The Heart it calls…" The whispering voice drifted off, unfinished. Arin's ears perked up, slowly spinning around as he tried to pinpoint the voice.
"That voice… It wasn't a dream…?" Arin whispered.
"Master? What's wrong?" Nocturnis asked.
Before Arin could say anything, the ground began to shake. The Shadow Panther and the young Thornwood Hunter looked around. The earth seemed to shake as the smell of acid burned Arin's nostrils.
He instinctively lifted his hand to pinch his nose as a large flesh worm rose out of the ground. The end sticking out the ground was pouring with strange green liquid that seemed to burn the stone ground as soon as it touched.
"Don't let it splash any of that on you!" Nocturnis shouted. "Run!"
Arin didn't need to be told twice to run. The shadows naturally clung onto him, hiding him as he and the Shadow Panther rushed out. The worm seemingly feeling Arin and Nocturnis, expanded as corrosive green liquid built in its body. It sprayed the corrosive liquid, spraying it across the stone walls as it followed the vibrations, splashing onto Arin.
Arin grunted in pain, moving faster as the worms began to move towards him.
"Where did these things come from?!" Arin asked, scurrying away from the worms. The corrosive fumes blurred his sight, making it hard for him to follow Nocturnis.
"Master!" Nocturnis turned, jumping forward without hesitation and swinging. Nocturnis's claws flew through the worm, easily severing part of its body. It dropped to the ground, wiggling and moving. "Run!"
Nocturnis pushed Arin in the direction they needed to run. He didn't spend time thinking about useless things like 'how can a worm just get hit like that and immediately become two?' He spent all of his time pushing Arin forward while narrowly dodging the corrosive acid that came at them.
Nocturnis sensed something wrong coming and quickly headbutted Arin away, barely getting his Master away from the acid as it flew overhead.
Arin slammed onto the ground, grunting and immeidately turning as he raised his spear and ran it through the worm. The worm shrieked spilling corrosive acid all over onto the spear.
"Dammit," Arin cursed as he watched through his blurry vision the spear disappear. "It ate it like nothing!" The worms ripped through the ground, exploding out of the ground and releasing their acid.
Arin yelled, lifting his arm and shielding himself. 'This is the end. I'm going to die!'
SKRAW!
The sound of tiny screams grew. Seconds flew by and nothing. Where was the acidic end for Arin?
He opened his eyes and noticed a strange purple barrier in front of him. The sounds of flapping overhead drew his eyes upwards towards tiny bats with a small portion of their head lit up in the same purplish hue.
"What's happening?" Arin whispered. The worms screeched and the bats retaliated, pushing the acid forward and attacking. He watched as the worms and bats fought each other. The worms found it hard to trace their airborne enemies.
The worms began to be picked off one by one, crushing under the immense psychic power of the tiny bats.
[Dominion Call Ability was used on Psychic Bats!]
'That's what happened.' Arin thought as the bats killed the worms. 'This ability… Did it save me?' The bats screeched war cries before diving and ripping at the corrosive flesh.
[Because Dominion Call was used, half XP will be given for this encounter! +1,250 XP! Total XP: 3,700! You've leveled up! Level 7 > 8! 3,700/4,400]
[+1 Stat Point was added to your Stat Points pool! You have a total of +3 Stat Points to allocate!]