SoK Chapter 201

TJ made a special effort to stop catastrophizing and worrying about what would happen if a different Zealot, for example, one whose Occupation and Class worked together to make him a political and physical threat at the same time, then managed to gain the Divine Transformation. What kind of additional benefit would the Jormungandr Bloodline provide to their Neophytes? TJ had to assume that Divine Transformation, when granted through Skill selection, would still give that boon like he had with Wind Manipulation, now Storm Manipulation. Could he hope it was as simple as just granting some additional Strength? Or, more likely, would it be something more sinister than that? After all, he hardly knows anything about Norse myths. He’d heard of Thor and Loki, but that was more of a comic book thing than actual mythology. Then he’d met Charlie, but he’d died in the Tutorial.

With a sigh, TJ pulled himself back from the same unproductive train of thought he’d just tried to pull himself from. There was no information he could gain right now, and thinking about it just pulled his attention away from what he was actively doing. He took deliberate care to instead turn his attention to follow Seth as he strode in the direction of their next foe. It turned out to be yet another bunyip, which seemed to be the main monster that was thriving around here. The monsters only ever came alone or in pairs, so the four Participants looking to kill monsters and gain experience were quickly disappointed by how little hunting they could actually do. Even so, every time Sarah asked to go deeper into the marshes and find more enemies, she was shut down by TJ.

As the influence from his ritual faded, TJ turned to Seth and Farid, already knowing what Sarah‘s answer would be. “What do you want to do once the ritual fades completely? Do you want to just get out? Or are you willing to run the risk of encountering something we don’t quite know how to deal with yet?”

“TJ, I’m here to kill some things.” Seth said simply. “If we’re gonna get opportunities to deal with the monsters, then I wanna do it. I’m not tired, none of us have really been hurt, and I think that we should keep going.”

“I agree with our wise young friend.” Farid said.

TJ nodded and gestured for Seth to continue leading the way. 

“Why didn’t you ask me? I have opinions about things!“ Despite the plaintive tone in her voice, Sarah’s lips fought to keep from quirking into a smile.

“I didn’t ask you because I can already tell what your answer is. Beyond that, you know that I know that too, going off the damn look on your face. Now get ready to go kill some more monsters instead of snarking me.”

Sarah giggled as she hefted her ax back over her shoulder and looked for Seth’s next direction. As he pointed, she raised her shield and looked for the next target. While the movements initially seem to be that of something that they recognized, TJ was the first to realize that something strange and foreign approached. A shambling creature stumbled forward out of the brush and let out a creaky groaning like a roar. TJ Appraised the creature.

Shambling Mound Elite (Copper (I)), 39

The monster, whatever it was, looked more like a walking hill composed of rotten greenery and sludge than anything else. Not exactly walking, actually. Instead, it moved forward with an unsteady gait, somehow lumbering from side to side without any legs so to speak of. Instead, it was as if half of its mass was able to lift itself up and scoot forward a half dozen feet before thumping down and allowing the other half to do so. As it pushed through the tightly packed branches, trees creaked, and branches fell in its wake and it made its steady way towards the four Participants. The body seemed to merge with the branches it ripped from trees it’d passed, but it also left behind leaf litter and decomposing bits of flesh. If there was an animal inside of that, TJ couldn’t say, but there were definitely remains of living things that weren’t plants inside of the mound.

TJ felt his jaw hang open in anticipation. This was, finally, a monster worth fighting as a group. He didn’t have to say anything as the other three all prepared themselves to go into battle. TJ spread his awareness all around to see if there was anything else approaching, but felt no nearby monsters as Sarah swung her axe above her in the circle to summon lightning to crackle down the haft of her trusty weapon, as she let out a ululating wordless cry. She obviously activated Valkyrian Ascension as her steps suddenly crackled with lightning that danced down her body from her weapon. As her ax smashed through the body of the lumpy mound, the lightning spread through the foliage surprisingly quickly, but no smoke appeared in the wake of her attacks. Instead, the shambling mound’s body seems to grow more tightly packed and firm in the wake of the attack.

“What the—“ Sarah‘s curse was cut off as, with a blistering speed, the shambling mound lurched forward to allow a thick lash of vines and roots to explode from the center of its body. Sarah raised her shield to try to block the strike, but the attack blew her back with surprising ease, and she flew through the air, tumbling through three trees before she slowed enough to get back to her feet. Once she finished smashing through the branches and vines that tried to hold her down, Sarah laughed with glee as she rolled her shoulders and threw herself back towards the elite monster. Seth, Farid, and TJ were doing the same, the two Acolytes spreading to the sides and peppering dozens of attacks at the 15 foot tall, 40 foot wide violent hill. Seth’s bolts ignited inside of the shambling mound, but didn’t seem to do much either. Farid’s thrown spear pierced in, cutting easily through the foliage covering the monstrosity, without seeming to do much damage to the beast itself.

Seeing how little Sarah‘s lightning seemed to do, TJ hustled forward, shifting back into his coatl form. Now that battle was imminent, he coalesced a blade of wind on his tongue. Over the past months, he’d grown used to cutting things apart with wind, and that wasn’t about to change. The Nascent Storm Serpent roared as he threw himself forward, first biting into the greenery and pulling it back to see what he could rip off. He was successful, and the bits on the outside of the monster pulled away without any real effort. Evidently, this was more armor than it was the monster itself. Even so, there was a slightly more open avenue of attack now, and TJ pulled his head closer once again, and flicked his tongue as he sent a series of wind blades forward, cutting deep into the monster's torso.

In return for his willingness to put his own safety on the line, TJ was returned a savage uppercut. His fangs cut deep into his tongue as the shambling mound roared, the sound that of a falling tree, and slammed an appendage into the ground. As soon as that happened, the same appendage shot out from the ground underneath TJ and slammed into his lower jaw hard enough to make him see stars and fill his mouth with his own blood. He hissed as he tried to collect himself, but the shambling mound wasn’t done with him. Vines wrapped around his head, beginning both to suffocate him and pull him back towards the body.

TJ could hear the sounds of his allies' reactions, but no details. He tried to pull himself back, but the strength of the monster was frankly overwhelming. In an effort to free himself, he took a deep breath, that smell and taste of stagnant water and rotting leaf litter filled his nostrils and his head, nearly making him gag. Instead of losing his life in a coughing fit, he expelled all of that air out as well as much more with the assistance of Storm Manipulation. The air whipped through his prison, shredding many of the leaves into nothing and spraying it out and away from him in a green mist. Unfortunately, the thick vines that trapped his head just behind his skull remained and continued pulling him forward while constricting further and harder. He felt the bones in his head crack as he thrashed and attempted to escape, but another lash of vines that he couldn’t see grabbed around the middle of his body and pulled that in closer as well.

In desperation, he made his body flare with lightning to scorch and weaken the verdant chains that held him, but that was evidently the wrong choice. The constriction grew stronger as he did so, and new leaves, still rotten somehow, sprouted from nowhere all inside of his head's prison.

Seth shouted something, and TJ imagined it was along the lines of, “lightning heals it, moron,” which was obvious. TJ continued thrashing, expending more and more of his MP in desperate hope as he attempted to shred the wooden chains that bound him. That was to no avail as he could feel the crawling vines making their inexorable procession up his neck and across his body, pulling him deeper into the mound as it compressed and twisted his body into ever more painful snake yoga poses.

The sudden crackling of ice was a welcome sound as Sarah used her power strike, or whatever it was called, and powered it with frost to weaken the shambling mound’s bindings. For the first time, it wailed in real anger, and as TJ twisted, he shattered most of the vines that trapped him. Several of the stronger roots remained, but with so much of his prison destroyed, TJ extracted himself and looked at the shambling mound, now finally truly wounded.

Over half of the outside shell of the beast was frozen and stiff, though muck flowed out from inside of it and washed away the frost. TJ hacked out a throat full of leaves as he blinked several times to clear his eyes. Though it was only for a few short moments, he’d felt his vision tunneling, and he struggled to figure out what to do next while his mind cleared.

“Yes, you figured it out, the damn thing heals from lightning, fire doesn’t do much, and the ice is the best thing we’ve got. Cutting is good enough, I’m gonna stick with exploding!“ Seth called out the information as he skirted to the side and continued shooting with his crossbow. “There seems to be a more primary body inside, but all of this is a part of it, so it’ll be taking damage either way.”

TJ didn’t respond with words, staying further away as Sarah raised her shield and thrust it forward with a wave of frost. The greenery crusted over with ice as Sarah threw herself back into the melee, every single one of her attacks flashing with cold white light. As mist rolled off of the slowly freezing creature, TJ compressed a ball of wind in his mouth. Instead of preparing it to be a blade, he wanted to make it burst outward, not in an explosion of flame, but purely wind that ripped everything apart like a tornado unleashed inside someone. Farid and Seth continued their attack, and TJ called out, “Get me an opening to the center!”

Seth and Farid both complied, Shiva’s Acolyte throwing a spear that cut deep with a crescent moon slicing deeper, and Veles’s Acolyte shooting his crossbow bolt inside of the space opened. The bolt exploded, giving additional space to TJ‘s next attack, which he threw like a bead into the opening. Sarah, figuring something was about to happen, raised her ax again and swung it down, making the entirety of the mound frost over before she darted away as fast as she could. She was just in time as TJ’s wind bomb whirled into action. The air expanded violently from inside the monster, and though the frost hadn’t penetrated to its core, most of the outside of the shambling mound sloughed away.

With no covering remaining, the four Participants finally saw the inside of the shambling mound. It looked like a nervous system made out of blood–soaked roots constantly writhing in pain. Now with an open avenue of attack, Sarah raised her hammer to the heavens and a black cloud coalesced around it before she threw it forward. Snow drifted behind the ax before it smashed into the center of the monster, and ice spread all over its body as it stiffened and shrieked. Seth’s bolt then lodged in its center mass and exploded, and the kill notification flashed in their eyes. TJ felt his snarl of anger shifted into a happier smile as another notification also flashed.

Class: Storm-Calling Neophyte (Copper (I)) has advanced to level 31.
Attribute points allocated: Strength +7, Agility +6, Endurance +13, Vitality +13, Toughness +11, Wisdom +7, Intelligence +11, Perception +7, Willpower +11, Fixation +13, Free Points +10. Additional Free Points currently available.