Born a Monster

308 208 – Outside the Wall

Plotline: Main

Chapter Type: Social, Companion

If there were any doubt that I was no longer welcome in Daurian society, being stripped naked would have been a clue. My wonderful guards then use a choke pole (a bamboo pole with a length of leather looped through it, you ensnare your target, and then pull the loop tight) applied to my neck, just to make it clear to anyone else.

I got conflicting messages from the populace, who spat upon me, cast curses so minor that most of them could be Eaten.

Perhaps I should clarify that. Just like Swordsman isn’t the only class that can use a sword, Curse Eater isn’t the only profession allowing you to break a curse apart for mana. It even involves the same gesturing as warding against the Evil Eye. (Which, yes, is a real thing. I might or might not get to it later.)

Anyway, there were also those who just stared, or threw food. True, it was food they couldn’t eat, and I really shouldn’t have been. Ask me if I cared; it will be funny. I needed the biomass, and whatever nutrients that trash had.

And there were those who threw rocks, cheering when they hit my groin-pouch or eyeball. Yeah, scales, I think they knew they weren’t doing any actual damage.

That said, we moved as quickly as my guard could manage, using me like a talisman to keep the crowds in general back. We made excellent time; I actually got to see the final sliver of the red sun pass beyond the horizon.

Or rather I didn’t.

.....

“You are within arrow range of the walls.” Song Tsu said.

“Once that last sliver of the sun vanishes, the archers are free to kill you.” Nung Nia said.

“I never asked.” I said, “If you are married, why do you both retain your family names?”

In response, Song Tsu loosened the choke pole enough that I could get it over my head.

“You should run.” Nung Nia said.

“Maybe later, but thank you for your concern.” I turned to go.

“My concern is there may be arrows wasted on you after you are dead.” she explained.

I kept walking toward a wooden wall that began to look more impressive the closer I got. The outside was shaved of bark, and some of it smoothed. The wards were between what I considered civilian protection and military.

“You may stop there.” one of the soldiers told me.

What the hell, it worked with Uruk. “I seek only such ground as I need to set my feet upon, and only for the time it takes me to pass.”

“I don’t think so.” he replied. “You wait there until we get official word of what to do with you.”

Well, recalling that I was supposed to be executed, that wasn’t happening. I had tried to do this the civilized way.

I took one step away from the wall, and then another. As there were no arrows, I continued in that direction, eventually finding a portion of cliff that was well outside arrow range.

Now I know I have implied that climbing is somewhat easy for me. This is not entirely accurate. Climbing human structures, with inadvertent hand and foot holds, had become easy.

Athletics is a sub-statistic of Might, and Climbing Technique and Speed were skills whose use usually fell under that sub-stat. And that’s good to know, logically.

I assure you, looking over the edge of that cliff, knowing that even into soft water, a fall from that height would kill me was quite a different experience. I scanned left and right along the surface. I identified one slanted ledge that might be a resting spot.

And, when there was nothing else to be gained by looking.

Oh yes, I hesitated. I realized I needed to pee, and pulled up a few handfuls of grass, and even said an unanswered prayer to Sobek.

No surprise on that, I hadn’t exactly been trying to earn the “Best Priest” title.

And then, I lowered myself over the edge, moving slowly to help keep myself from panicking. It didn’t work; four Serenity points had leeched themselves away by the time I made the ledge.

It wasn’t as far down as it had looked from above, perhaps one fifth or so of the total distance. Absolutely no more than a fourth. And the way back up looked like half the distance it felt like I’d descended.

There was no ledge further down, I noticed. The nearest rest was a bunch of tooth-like rocks pointing out of the water, making diving a bad option.

Crap. Crap. And, crap. Actually, I needed to crap; I should have done that before starting down, well away from where I was planning to climb.

Well, there was no help for it. I did what I had to, scuffled upwind and down about two or so arm-lengths, and proceeded downward.

The good part about being used by Fu Dog Kumanchu the way I had was that both my Strength and Labor sub-statistics were effectively six. Having that extra reserve of fatigue points, and spending fewer of them to hold my weight against the wall was a great help.

Oh, there were the usual things. The wind, random sharp spaces, random places where there just wasn’t a foothold within a leg of the last one. Places where both feet or hands had to go on top of each other. You know, normal distance climbing stuff.

At least the cliff face didn’t suddenly give way. Both times that it did, it did so slowly, almost advertising that it was going to take the plunge down to the water before me.

As for the water, it advertised itself by smell and sound well before it was safe to just drop down into it. Looking over my shoulder, I saw the water. Distant, not so distant, not close enough, and then, finally, close enough that I might only be rendered unconscious if I fell that far.

If I didn’t hit one of those rocks. Worse, I could see now that these were just the tips if miniature mountains, complete with multiple peaks and ridges, and not a lot of deep places. And then I saw the giant crab.

Not a Makura, just a crab eight feet between the shoulder points of its shell. Clearly, it had been warned by the falling rocks, as it moved locations to be there when I reached the water.

I didn’t know how much protection that shell offered it, but I wasn’t eager to find out. Sure, I had my claws, but its were bigger. And I had my scales, which probably didn’t offer as much protection.

What I did have, I realized, was probably swim speed. Probably.

Okay, I wasn’t close enough for it to strike yet. And when I would, I could probably fall into a deep pool without harm. If I could hit one of them.

What I couldn’t do was wait for it to get bored. I know that 160 fatigue sounds like... okay, it’s huge. But eight hundred or so feet of cliff was exhausting. Plus, it was still being reduced by the percentage I was still wounded.

Yeah, yeah. Why Gloomy is a Resolve trait, I wasn’t even close to figuring out. I don’t even know why, armed with nothing more than a rock (in inventory, needed both hands just then) that thought seemed so much more important than whether or not crabs could jump.

I asked it.

it responded.

It seemed very important to me at that moment.

I paused to urinate against the rock, and give it a final look around. There was just no helping it. I didn’t have...

Wait. Wasn’t Strength the sub-statistic that determined how far I could jump?

[Athletics is the sub-statistic used with Jump/Jump Distance sub-skill.]

Stupid System!

Okay, it wasn’t my System’s fault, it was just how our world worked.

the crab offered.

I said.

I tried that, too.

It turns out that crabs can’t jump, or swim themselves into water leaps the way porpoises can. But they CAN stretch, and can snap at the end of that. Fortunately for me, they can’t do that silently. Or maybe he was so hungry he didn’t even try.

What I couldn’t do...

[You have failed a Climbing Techniques roll while dodging, and will now fall.]

Obviously, I got away. I don’t remember it that well, except that at one point I was slipping down his back into the water. Oh, and that I banged myself on rocks twice, for two damage each time.

And then I was away, at speeds so fast that it created a wake on the surface.

And, as I think I’ve indicated earlier, warding a building against fire only works to a point. Dedicated troops or other vandals may absolutely burn down warded buildings, it just takes more effort than one would expect. It is easier to find the ward, break it, and then burn the building. (Presuming one does not explosively break said ward.)

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