Rebirth of the Nephilim

Chapter 197: Results

In the aftermath of the frost drake attack, there was an important decision to be made. Stop and make camp immediately, or push on to find a more defensible location? There was always the possibility that the remaining drakes could come back, or other predators or even demons could be drawn to the scene of battle, and the section of road they were on offered little in the way of protection. On the other hand, the sun had hit the horizon, it would be difficult to travel in the dark, and the whole group was variously injured and exhausted from the fight.

In the end, after conferring with Captain Willa, they decided to camp where they were. What was the point of having a giant fuck-off fortress wagon if you couldn’t plant it where you wanted to and tell the local hostiles to fuck off? In short order, with the help of everyone who was in a condition to, Jadis set up the wagon and the mobile barricades around their roadside camp. A large bonfire was built, smaller trees and underbrush surrounding the camp was quickly cut down to help improve visibility and hinder anything trying to sneak up on them, and Aila drained her magic reserves putting down traps all around perimeter.

It took a couple of hours to finish up and by the end Jadis was exhausted. Her bodies had been through the wringer with a long day of pulling followed by an intense fight against literal frost bites. She couldn’t even take comfort in Eir’s healing since she had needed to use a lot of it to heal the injured soldiers and had very little magic power of her own left. Since her healing could be needed for an emergency, Jadis had told Eir to hold on to what she had left and simply dealt with having about two hundred health points less than her max.

Not that Jadis should complain. She could afford to lose two hundred health points and still be relatively fit and functional. Two hundred was all that Bridget had.

“I’m not blaming you,” Jay said as she lay on her back while holding a warm wet cloth to her face. “Because I didn’t specify, and that’s my fault. But in the future, it’s probably best that you don’t leap towards the enemy and away from your team.”

“I didn’t think—” Bridget gasped out as she tried to sit up before being firmly pushed back down by Eir. “I just thought, I dunno, I guess I just—fuck. I didn’t think. I just moved, you know? I was facing forward so I moved forward.”

“It’s understandable,” Jay sighed. “I get it. I really do. Just, we’ve got to work on that, I guess. Team cohesion or something like that.”

“We can work on that later,” Aila said as she passed bowls of something hot to Dys and then Syd. “Right now we all need to rest.”

There was a general murmur of consensus from the group as they variously sat or lay on the padded ground within the wagon tent.

They’d set up camp much closer together than previously. Willa’s wagon was practically right up against theirs and both were closer to the fire. Jadis had opted to leave one section of tarp open, letting the bonfire light shine in and heat their tent. From out of the open section, she could see some of the soldiers still up, at least four of them on guard while a couple of others cleaned up the remains of the drakes they had butchered.

There had been eleven total frost drakes slain between Fortune’s Favored and Willa’s troops. Considering the size of the beasts, that was a lot of meat that could be used to feed them. Not great meat, as it turned out, but meat. The drakes were big, but thin and hard with very little fat on their bones. The meat had a stringy texture to it and tasted gamey, though not unbearably so. Overall, it was edible, and when cut up into small chunks and mixed with vegetables and salt, it made for a decent stew.

There were also the extra parts that could be used for crafting they’d taken from the drakes. Drakes were a rare beast and many of their organs could be used in the production of alchemical potions and enchantments. It was something of a question as to whether the parts they’d taken would last for the entire journey and not be spoiled by the time they got back to Far Felsen, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t try.

The claws, teeth, and scales were of particular interest to Sabina. Armor and weapons could be crafted from those tough and durable components so she was focused on collecting as many of those pieces as she could. Even as Jadis stared out into the camp, she could see the smith bustling around in the firelight amongst the soldiers, gathering up drake parts and scraping them clean of any gore or gristle.

“Not a bad outcome,” Aila released her own sigh as she sat down cross-legged next to Jay. “We received a lot of valuable drake materials, all for the cost of one horse.”

Jay shifted slightly from where she lay and placed her head in Aila’s lap. Feeling immediately more comfortable, she relaxed the tension in her shoulders.

“Yup, definitely could have been worse,” Jay agreed. “It’s a shame for Ada and worse for the horse, but at least no one else died.”

“Technically there were two deaths,” Eir murmured from where she knelt between Syd and Bridget. “But you got her to me in time.”

“Huh?” Jay, Dys, and Syd all said as they looked towards the priestess. Even Bridget tried to sit up again, looking at Eir with wide eyes.

Eir opened hers, blinking at their reaction.

“Yes?”

“What do you mean by that?” Bridget asked. “I mean, two deaths. I didn’t die, no one but that horse did.”

“No,” Eir shook her head. “You did die. Your health reached zero and you stopped breathing. You were dead.”

Bridget continued to stare at Eir with wide, shocked eyes for a few moments before the priestess put her hand on the woman’s head and gently guided her to lie back down again.

“Consider yourself very lucky and offer your thanks to the gods that Syd was able to bring you to me in time. Your body had expired but your soul had not yet left for the Hallowed Halls. Since the damage to your flesh was mendable, I was able to restore your form and your soul entered back in where it still yet belongs. That is not often possible, I assure you.”

“Oh fuck me,” Bridget cursed with a shudder.

Reaching over one hand, Syd patted the orc woman on the shoulder reassuringly while Eir began combing out her hair to soothe her.

“Hey, at least it’s a good story to tell,” Syd said. “Not everyone can say they died and came back from it.”

Jadis ignored the disbelieving snort that came from Kerr somewhere nearby.

Thinking about it, Jadis supposed it was a good thing that most of the damage Bridget had suffered from the frost drake had been from its icy breath attack. The cold damage had sapped her health down to nothing, but the actual physical damage to her body had been minimal. Jadis was sure that if her head had been bitten off or something else equally morbid, there wouldn’t have been anything Eir could have done to save her. Death by freezing, though? Jadis knew stories of people back on Earth who had died from exposure to the cold and had then been brought back to life thanks to quick medical intervention. Even some not so quick instances. If magic hadn’t been able to do something that Earth medicine could, Jadis would have been hugely disappointed.

That said, she didn’t ever want to be in a position where she had to rely on that kind of intervention ever again.

As she thought over Bridget’s miraculous resuscitation and then let her mind wander a bit due to sheer weariness, a niggling little sense that she was forgetting something prevented Jadis from truly resting. With everything that had happened, she was sure she’d overlooked something important; she just couldn't figure out what. As her three selves all furrowed their brows in consternation at her inability to remember what she was missing, Sabina walked back into the tent carrying a load of frost drake scales in her arms.

“I am so glad that we were able to get these drake scales,” she said as she stepped around then over the woman lying on the ground to get to the wagon. “These are going to make for some great scale mail with cold resistance built into them, plus I think I can make Kerr some new boots for the ones she lost too! I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the fangs and claws and everything else but now that I’m an enchanter I’m sure I’ll figure something out but first I’ll have to gather some more ingredients and—oh! I should take some measurements to see what I can make right now and maybe make a list of available components. I’m also limited in what I can make since I don’t have a proper forge out here but I do have lots of tools and—”

“Wait, hold on,” Dys said, holding out a hand to stop Sabina’s torrent of words. “Go back a second. Did you just say you’re an enchanter?”

“Hmm? Oh, yes! I reached level twenty! Didn’t I tell you?” Sabina announced with a confused tilt of her head.

“No! You didn’t!” Dys shot back with an excited grin. “Congratulations!”

“Yeah, congratulations!” Kerr said as she stepped out of the shadows of the wagon interior carrying a bottle of something no doubt strong. “You’ve got to tell us about shit like that you oca stupida. Here, have a drink!”

Blushing, Sabina took the bottle from Kerr and took a gulp as the others offered up their sincere congratulations as well. Letting out a little cough, she passed the bottle back to Kerr and smiled.

“Thank you! I was going to say something but everyone was so busy after we killed the drakes and all that. So, um, yeah! I took the best class of the three I was offered and now I’m an enchanter smith! Yay!”

Jadis grinned and laughed as Sabina did an excited little dance where she stood.

“So, tell us, what class did you get?” Dys asked.

“And what were the other two options?” Aila added. “I’d like to know the results of our, ah, ‘experiment’ please.”

Indeed, Jadis was curious about that, too. What had Sabina had been offered. Fortunately, she didn’t have to wait long to find out.

With a deep breath to steady and calm herself, Sabina began listing what she’d been given by the system when she’d reached level twenty.

“The first class I was offered was honestly flattering,” she explained. “It was called ‘Inventive Mastersmith’ and its description said it was for ‘crafting new creations the world had never seen before’ and would help me with new creations. I don’t think I’m any kind of master smith or anything yet, but it was nice to know the gods think I’m deserving!

“The second class was called ‘Armorsmith Enchanter’ was everything I have been hoping for! A class specifically made for enchanting armor with both quickly repeatable and custom enchantments! With it I could craft an enchanted breastplate and then mass produce lots more of them for as many customers who could want them and the magic cost would be low so long as I’m making armor plus it would synergize super well with my Passionate Smith class and I’ve already read so many books on how enchanting works and the materials needed and I was so ready for this class!”

“But…?” Dys asked with one eyebrow raised.

“But I didn’t take it,” Sabina admitted with a half-smile and a shrug. “The third option was better.”

“Wow,” Jadis said through all three of her selves.

“That does sound like an amazing class…” Bridget said in an awed tone.

“That also answers the question as to whether or not you have to be… physically entangled with our little Nephilim here before you can get a special class offered,” Aila commented with a raised eyebrow. “No lewdness required, just proximity and direct involvement of some kind.”

“Not regretting anything with us, are you?” Jay whispered from where her head was still in Aila’s lap.

Aila took the damp cloth from Jay’s hand, whipped it open and then set it down on Jay’s face with a wet slap.

“No, I’m happy with what I have,” Aila said primly. “It’s just good to know that not everything surrounding you is mired in the obscene.”

“I—it sounds like a really g—good class,” Thea was telling Sabina as Jay and Aila talked. “Very, ah, versatile, I’m sure.”

“Yes, it should be!” Sabina said excitedly as she grasped Thea’s hands. “The first skill is perfect! I know I focus on armor because I just love armor and my dad was an armor smith so armor smithing is a huge part of my life but I’ve been having a lot of fun with making weapons and other things for Jadis lately so I’m so glad that this class will let me enchant anything, not just armor! Listen to what my level one skill can do!”

“That’s a long description,” Dys laughed as she watched the exuberant smith practically vibrate. “For us non-enchanters, what does all that mean?”

“It means I can craft any kind of enchantment for any type of weapon or armor or whatever with no penalties!” Sabina cried out in a barely contained voice. Still holding onto an intimidated-looking Thea’s hands, Sabina continued. “I should be able to craft an enchantment into a pair of boots for Kerr just as easily as I can craft one for a spoon! Theoretically, at least. I still need to test it out of course and see what the limits are because I’m sure there’s more to it than the description says, there always is, but I should be far more capable than if I had gone with the more traditional enchanter class. I might not be able to mass produce my enchantments, this skill doesn’t seem to allow for that, but what I produce is definitely going to be way more powerful. I mean, it skipped the Minor stage and went straight to Lesser! That alone is amazing!”

“It is,” Aila said with a thoughtful nod. “But the description mentions your enchantment effects are going to be dependent on the magic attribute your chose to craft it with. As I recall, you don’t have any points in any of the magic stats, right? Are you planning on putting your five level twenty points into one of them so you can start crafting?”

“No,” Sabina shook her head and faced Aila, finally releasing poor Thea’s hands. “I already put three of the points into Endurance so I can craft for longer and two points into Focus, so I have a bigger magic pool to work with since I’ll need it now. Actually, these are my stats now, so you know.”

With no hesitation, Sabina proceeded to tell them all about her status sheet, seeming to forget any worries about keeping them private in her excitement.

“For the actual magic stats, I was kind of hoping I’d be getting some help with boosting them when needed, depending on what I’m crafting.”

The last was said with a bashful look that travelled between the three Nephilim in the tent. Jadis grinned at the smith, her thoughts turning to lascivious ones despite the ache in her muscles.

“I’m positive I can assist you with that,” Dys said from her spot next to the half-elf.

“Of course you can,” Kerr rolled her eyes before sitting down heavily on the edge of the wagon. “But if you’re going to try anything tonight, keep in mind that our neighbors are way, way closer than last night and our ‘walls’ are thin.”

“Maybe not tonight then,” Dys laughed. “My energy is a little low right now, anyway.”

“The spirit is willing, but the flesh is bruised,” Syd added.

As Sabina blushed even brighter and there were a few moments of quiet talk between them all about her new class and skills as well as what it would mean for the future, Thea spoke up once more, a confused expression on her face.

“Honestly,” she said slowly, “I’m s—surprised you got the level from that combat. Those were p—powerful enemies, b—but you’re not a combat class. I, um, don’t think there were any d—demons in their midst to offer b—bonus experience.”

“Oh,” Sabina answered Thea with a shrug, “No, I don’t think there were any. Anyways, I got my twentieth level before the drakes showed up.”

Everyone went quiet at that statement.

“Come again?” Jay said, lifting her head from Aila’s lap.

“Didn’t I say?” Sabina said while looking somewhat consternated. “I guess I didn’t. Damn. Uh, I made a new type of hinge. I call it a Spring-Loaded Hinge. Crafted most of the parts back in Far Felsen and finished putting it all together earlier in the wagon. I installed them on the wagon door. It’s what let it fly up and open earlier. You didn’t think I did that with my muscles, did you?”

Jadis glanced up, noting for the first time the sets of new, heavy-duty hinges that had been attached to the upward-swinging wall-door of the wagon that was currently serving as their roof. They definitely hadn’t been there before. They also looked far more complex than any hinge Jadis was familiar with, not that she was an expert on hinges or had ever paid them any attention before.

“When I installed the last one with Eir’s help earlier, I got the notification,” Sabina explained lamely. “But it happened while we were talking about princesses and horse poo and then the drakes attacked a few seconds later and yeah. It kind of happened fast.”

“Right…” Jay said after a long pause. “Well. Still! Congratulations on the awesome new class.”

“And before we go any further,” Syd said, looking around at everyone. “Did anyone else level without notifying us or realizing it?”

As Jadis’ gaze swept across her companions, she saw one, then two, then everyone but Sabina raise their hands. Blinking, Jadis checked her own notifications.

Jadis raised her own set of hands to join the crowd.

“Okay,” Jay said with a bemused shake of her head, “Who wants to go next?”