Siege State
Chapter Twenty: Parliamentary Deliberations

“Right, then, Tom Cutter, let us get your uplift dealt with so we can go,” Rosa said.

“Are you sure?” He said, enjoying teasing them after they’d made him wait. “We could always go over yours and Darius’ again.”

Darius snorted, but Rosa was not impressed. “Do or don’t, Tom. I don’t care. I need get to Horizon, now.”

Guilt welled up in him. He had spoken without thinking. “I’m sorry, Rosa. That was thoughtless of me. Let’s do this quickly and get going, then.”

Rosa rolled her hand at him, encouraging him to go on. “It is okay. I am sorry too. We are just very close, and I am getting impatient.”

“Right, let’s get this sorted then.”

“What did you uplift, Tom?” Markus asked.

Tom smiled. “Quiet Under Moonlight. It’s my familiar skill for Sus and Sol.” He gestured to where Sol was napping on Dusty’s back. Tanya’s stoic mule familiar tended to spend most of his time idly grazing in the same spot, and had become a favourite perch for the sleepy owl. Sus was gliding in circles high in the air above the group. Tom could feel him grumbling about the heat and brightness through their bond.

“What are your options then,” Rosa asked him with a smile, offering to put their brief argument behind them. It was one of the reasons Tom liked her so much. She was fiery, certainly, but she never held a grudge or nursed resentment.

Quiet Under Moonlight had uplifted the night before, when the group had been sharing a silent libation for Eli and Meri. He had been considering the silence, the space produced by the absence of two friends. The melancholy in that silence was similar to the cold left after a hug. One produced the other.

Tom nudged his status through their party. “Take a look.”

Uplift Threshold Reached.

Skill Three (Consummate): Quiet Under Moonlight (Ritual (Familiar)).

Mana cost: Extreme.

Cooldown: Extreme.

Requirements: Sixty life essence, ten hunger essence, ten blood essence, two sound essence, two silence essence, two dark essence, and two wild essence.

When summoned: Familiar can make moderate damage physical attacks. Familiar has an attack that deals low magic damage up to short range, and trivial damage up to medium range. Familiar has a channelled ability which causes trivial magic damage while channelled.

When subsumed: The caster’s movements are completely silent. Caster can see in the dark. Extreme buff to caster’s sense of hearing. Moderate buff to caster’s coordination.

Uplift Option One:

Skill Three (Consummate): Quiet Under Moonlight (Ritual (Familiar)).

Mana cost: Extreme.

Cooldown: Extreme.

Requirements: Sixty life essence, ten hunger essence, ten blood essence, two sound essence, two silence essence, two dark essence, and two wild essence.

When summoned: Familiar can make moderate/high damage physical attacks. Familiar has an attack that deals low magic damage up to short range in an area, and moderate damage up to medium range to a single target. Familiar has a channelled ability which causes trivial magic damage while channelled.

When subsumed: The caster’s movements are completely silent. Caster can see in the dark. Extreme buff to caster’s sense of hearing. Moderate buff to caster’s coordination.

Uplift Option Two:

Skill Three (Consummate): Quiet Under Moonlight (Ritual (Familiar)).

Mana cost: Extreme.

Cooldown: Extreme.

Requirements: Sixty life essence, ten hunger essence, ten blood essence, two sound essence, two silence essence, two dark essence, and two wild essence.

When summoned: Familiar can make moderate damage physical attacks. Familiar has an attack that deals low magic damage up to short range, and trivial damage up to medium range. Familiar has a channelled ability which causes trivial magic damage while channelled.

When subsumed: The caster’s movements are completely silent. Caster can see in the dark. Extreme buff to caster’s sense of hearing. Moderate buff to caster’s coordination.

Additional: Familiar gains access to caster’s skill Hush.

Mana cost: Moderate.

Cooldown: Moderate.

Range: Medium.

Duration: Short.

Uplift Option Three:

Skill Three (Consummate): Quiet Under Moonlight (Ritual (Familiar)).

Mana cost: Extreme.

Cooldown: Extreme.

Requirements: Sixty life essence, ten hunger essence, ten blood essence, two sound essence, two silence essence, two dark essence, and two wild essence.

When summoned: Familiar can make moderate damage physical attacks. Familiar has an attack that deals low magic damage up to short range, and trivial damage up to medium range. Familiar has a channelled ability which causes trivial magic damage while channelled.

When subsumed: The caster’s movements are completely silent. Caster can see in the dark. Extreme buff to caster’s sense of hearing. Moderate buff to caster’s coordination.

Additional: Caster gains access to familiar’s channelled ability.

Mana cost: Moderate.

Cooldown: High.

Duration: Short.

If he was being honest, Tom had already checked out his uplift options while they had been discussing Rosa and Darius’. He mulled them over again as the others read through them. He wasn’t sure what to pick, and although he’d seen them, he hadn’t had the chance to properly evaluate them.

The first option was a straight strength upgrade for his owls. They could attack with their talons or beaks. They could also shriek to deal decent damage in an area, or lower damage at range. This uplift would upgrade all of that.

It was a better option than it seemed. Currently, there was little point in them using their shriek attack. At range, where it was safe, it dealt little damage, and up close, where it could be used for a small area of effect attack for higher damage, it made them vulnerable. Their physical attacks were useful, but only when their targets were unsuspecting. Given the owls’ silent natures, that was fairly often.

Harsh shrieks ran counter to that silent nature, and the physical attacks and close area of effect put the fragile owls in harm’s way. But, with increased damage across the board, they would be able to participate more directly in his fights. They would be safer when up close, and be able to contribute more from afar.

The second option was good too. He had almost picked it straight away when he saw it. Hush was undoubtedly one of his best skills. It had saved his life countless times. It could turn the tide of a fight in an instant. The only downsides to it were that it was single-target, and that it only lasted for a moderate duration.

The second uplift option would give him far more utility. There were some further considerations though.

Sus and Sol had fairly small mana pools. They would only be able to use Hush once or twice each per fight due to its proportionately higher cost for them. If they used it, it would also mean they would have far less mana available for their channelled shields. Their version of the skill had a shorter duration, too.

He would be able to stack them on a high priority target, one after the other, to extend the effective duration of his skill. Or, he could silence multiple targets.

The third option was the reverse of the second. It gave him access to Sus and Sol’s channelled ability, which allowed them to create a swirling shield of silence mana about themselves, which would in turn negate or weaken any mana-based attacks.

It was strange, and wasn’t often useful for the owls. They were usually high above any fight, which immediately meant most enemies couldn’t attack them. Any enemies that could would have to deal with things like glare, and Sere attacking them and running interference through the intervening space, to be able to even target them. It would be most useful when the owls dove in close to attack, and at that point, physical damage was more of a concern than mana-based attacks, and the silence-shield did nothing to mitigate that.

The only time the channelled ability had really shone had been during the recent ambush by the wind sprites. The ephemeral, mana-based creatures had not been able to harm them, even though they were usually the perfect predator for flying familiars.

Tom could definitely imagine some scenarios in which the ability would be more useful for him than it was for the owls. The shield would either stop or weaken attacks from enemies like the shadowy Idealist assassin that had targeted them. He also still had far more mana than he could realistically use in a fight, and taking this uplift would give him something else to use it on.

The down sides were that he already had Whisper Shield, which mitigated magic damage against him. Through eventual uplifts, that mitigation would only get stronger. Echo also punished enemies using magic damage against him too, and Hush meant he already had the means to cut off mana-based attacks at their source. And then there was Grit, working as a catch-all.

“They are good choices, yes? What are you going to choose, Tom? I can see you lost in your thoughts.” Rosa eyed him knowingly.

He grinned a little sheepishly. He knew he had a tendency to get lost in his own head.

“I’m not sure on this one. What do you guys think?”

Rosa tapped her finger against her jaw. “I am thinking you do not have many active skills. Another way to spend mana would be nice.” She grinned sardonically. “Lucky for some.”

Tom poked his tongue out at her. Rosa, as a ranged damage-dealer, had the opposite problem to him. She had many active skills, and only so much mana to use. He had only a few, and so he had mana going to waste.

“But,” she continued. “This is not what you’ll be choosing.” She gave him a flat look. “I know you too well, Tom Cutter. Pick the second option. It gives you the most utility, and empowers your funny owls.”

Ha..! She thinks we’re funny… Sol sent sleepily.

Fuck you! I’m not funny! Sus sent through the bond.

Tom grimaced. Rosa was a bad influence on them.

“The new skill they’d get wouldn’t last for very long though,” Markus said. “And you don’t have many demands on your mana. Another active ability could be nice.”

“I like the second option too,” said Tanya. “The skill might not be as strong now, but it’ll grow in time, like as not. I took Dusty’s storage space as his first uplift. It’s gotten bigger each of the last two uplifts, even though each time I chose a straight strength upgrade to improve his stamina.”

Darius looked serious. “An extra two of these interesting debuffs could have made the difference before. The assassin’s shadows resisted you, but they did shake -I saw it! If you could have hit it twice more, maybe this would have changed things.”

Tom nodded, conceding the point. Darius carried on.

“The orcs, too. They may not have had many skills, but having extra of these silences in your sleeve would be a good assurance, I am thinking. But what do your owls think?”

‘Bout time someone asked! Sus sent. I want to shut people up!

I like silence… Sol said, slowly blinking at them all with his sleepy yellow eyes.

The choice was made for him then. He picked option two with a grin.

Sus immediately let out a piercing shriek. Fuck yes! She cried. Come at me!

Easy, Tom chided her gently. We’re still in the Grounds. We don’t want to draw any more sprites.

Sus grumbled wordlessly in his mind, but remained silent physically, at least. Although the owl had picked up on Rosa’s penchant for bad language, she was still reasonable.

Small blessings.

The group spent a little more time admiring Daisy as she buzzed around collecting more honey for Darius. It seemed his new familiar, and talk of Tom’s newest uplift, had drawn everyone’s minds to their own familiars.

Coro lay against Markus, his massive head in his lap. Its feline eyes blinked languidly as Markus worked his fingers through its mane.

Dusty stood nearby, munching on grass, with Sol fast asleep on his back. He whickered softly and flicked his tail as Tanya cocked her head towards him, a smile on her face.

Granny had been purring next to Darius since he had first summoned Daisy. The healer was still captivated by his newest summon.

Coal simply stood behind Rosa. Every line of his tall, dark grey body was proud and powerful. He was pointed unerringly down the road, towards Horizon. It was clear he was picking up on Rosa’s anxiety. Tom watched as the stallion dragged deep, slow breaths in through his nostrils. Suddenly, he bridled, dancing on the spot.

“Ha!” Rosa screeched. She gave him a playful shove. “Ha! Fuck you, Tom Cutter!”

Hah! Shame! Sus sent.

Wait… sent Sol.

Everyone looked confused. Tom guessed what had happened immediately. Running with the Wind, her familiar skill, had uplifted.

“Alright, alright!” Tom said, battling her away as she continued to try and wrestle him. “What options have you got?”

She had a supremely satisfied look as she settled herself down again. She ticked her options off against her fingers as she recounted them.

“First is a straight strength upgrade. Nice, but my Coal is not lacking in stamina or speed for the moment.

“Second increases his subbed effects.” Her head wobbled side to side, indicating her ambivalence towards the option. Coal’s sub effects allowed Rosa to adjust her weight, and gave her a buff to her speed, endurance and stamina regeneration.

She pursed her lips. “Nice, but it would be better if I had gotten access to his discorporation.

“The third option… is for giving him access to my In a Puff of Smoke.” She grinned at him triumphantly.

In a Puff of Smoke was her short range teleport. It created a small smoke cloud at her origin and destination. Tom knew he should be focusing more on what she was saying, but she looked so damn beautiful when she smiled. She had not been happy enough, as of late. There was not much to be done about it, except to get to Horizon, but his heart sang for her joy.

He pulled his mind back to the topic. “That’s amazing, Rosa! He’s already fast and nimble, but this… you’ll be untouchable.”

“Yes, but also no!” she sang happily, wriggling in her seat. “Of course your first thought is for my safety, you fucking goober.” She swatted him. “Think! I will be able to reposition in an instant, and create far more smoke now. When I pair it with his channel… now that will be some good damage.”

Tom let out a low whistle. Everyone else looked fascinated, but not wholly comprehending. They weren’t as intimately familiar with Rosa’s skillset as he was.

This would be an enormous boost to her fighting style. She could control smoke with her pinnacle skill, and together with Where there’s Smoke, deal damage to enemies with it. She would be an untouchable ghost on the battlefield, wearing down her enemies and obscuring her allies before she struck out with her finishers.

Rosa preened under the attention from everyone, satisfied with the knowledge that the cosmic wrong of Tom uplifting more skills than her was slowly being righted. Still, she had a way to go to catch him.

Tom had uplifted eight of his twelve skills now. He only needed to uplift Misery Loves Company, Hush, Whisper Shield, and Wild Strike before he would reach Consummate tier. Rosa currently only had six uplifts.

Eventually, even the joy at uplifting another skill was replaced again by anxiety for reaching Horizon, and Rosa once again became impatient. The group began stowing gear and readying themselves to ride.

They still had another four days’ journey. They needed to be on their way.