Chapter Four-Hundred Sixty-Eight |
While Teemo heads back to let Karn and Jondar know what’s up, I take a look at my scions to see who’s ready to be the next raid boss. Honestly, it’s not that difficult a call to make.
The nerd squad would put up a good showing, but they have enough projects already without having to actually get ready for a direct fight. Nova would be ready, but the canopy is definitely not up to supporting her slinging around magma. Sue wouldn’t be a terrible choice, but I think she wants to get in some more training before trying to be a proper raid boss. She’s plenty strong, but if she wants to follow behind Fluffles, she needs to get better with her affinities, first.
Leo is also tempting, and it’d even give him something to distract himself with… but when I think about how he’d fight, I know I'd need to upgrade the wolf spawner all the way for him to leverage it properly.
So the choice almost defaults to the scion that implanted the idea of me having raid battles in the first place: Poe. Ever since he darkened the sky with my birds to deal with Vnarl’s group, I’ve wanted to give him a chance to let loose again. And now he’ll have access to dire ravens and the harpies, as well as gravity affinity. Not to mention that it’s kinda fitting for the ravenkin to guard his keys.
I tap the bond with the general idea, and I feel him eagerly accept, before schooling his emotions into a more calm agreement. I rub the bond like I’m tussling his hair, letting him know I know his first reaction, and let Teemo know to work out the details with him once he’s done with the guildmasters.
I deliberately try not to listen in on their conversation, not wanting to get any idea of what they’re doing. With it being a competition between them and my newest enclave, I don’t think I’d be able to resist giving my birbkin a leg up. I also make a note to be careful about listening in on my other enclaves, as I wouldn’t want to spoil their own efforts.
Besides, it looks like the ravenkin are already working on being sneaky and trying to get more information on their own. And they’re already training more with gravity affinity, pushing what they can do to the limits. They’ve done a few short glides before, not even qualifying as falling with style, but now they’re really giving it a go to see if they can do what a lot of other birdkin wish they could: fly.
It also helps that they’re a bit featherier than Yvonne and the other birdkin I’ve seen, at least along their arms. A lot of the major structures for flight I’m pretty sure got taken to give them fingers, but they still have pretty long primary feathers coming off their arms. It’s definitely not enough to give them lift under normal gravity, but they don’t need to obey the law of gravity anymore.
It’s pretty funny, actually, watching them jumping and flapping their arms. Though they’re able to slow their descent, they’re still not properly flying yet. It does give me an idea, though.
Will it be useful against the Betrayer? Probably not. Will it still be really cool to have flying gravity mages? Absolutely. I poke Teemo with the idea, and he heads off to the enclave to talk with the ravenkin. By now, most of the seasons have returned to their areas to practice on their own, or to take a break before trying some more.
We start with the Winter season, mostly because they’re taking a break at the moment, so they’re easier to talk to. Enara perks up when she spots Teemo pop out of a shortcut nearby. “Ah, Teemo! Did Lord Thedeim have something else to discuss?”
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“A bit, yeah,” he says, nodding. “He likes the idea of you guys flying again, and he suggests a sort of winged cloak. If it attaches at the wrist, hips, and ankles, it’ll give you a lot more surface to work with than just what you still have on your arms. Spiderkin silk and maybe your own feathers should give it strength while keeping the weight down.”
Enara considers the idea, even standing spread eagle to get an idea of what she’d be working with. “It might work…” she absently says, “though it’ll be different than normal wings.”
Teemo shrugs. “You guys are already different from having normal wings.”
“True,” she admits. “Let me try with a more ordinary cloak and some rope. If it works, I’ll bring it to the other representatives.” She hurries off to get the stuff, and a lot of the others rush off to do the same. It’s not like we were in a private meeting, so of course they overheard. It doesn’t take long for all of the season to know what’s going on, and about half of them run off to gather what they’ll need.
Most return with their ordinary winter cloaks and a bit of rope, their friends helping secure the clothing where they’ll need it. Some others come back with thinner blankets, wanting to have something lighter to not weigh them down. Enara comes back with what looks more like a cloak lining than a proper cloak, made entirely from spiderkin silk.
She gets more than a few complimentary looks, as well as some jealous ones, but for the most part, they’re all hopping and testing how it feels. Even Enara takes a few minutes to test, before raising her voice.
“Alright, let’s head to the tall branch, and we’ll glide toward the tree. Don’t go soaring over the edge yet, not until we know it’ll hold.” The ravenkin mostly nod and murmur their agreement, though a few look like they were definitely going to try to soar through the open air. Honestly, some of them still look tempted, but everyone moves out along a particularly-thick branch that arches higher as it gets further from the trunk. It should be the perfect place to test from.
Well, the perfect place would be a lot closer to the actual ground, but my ravenkin are not exactly afraid of heights. They mostly line up in order of who got there first, and once the branch is clear, they start taking to the air.
Thankfully, they all start off pretty conservatively, each ravenkin jumping off with the aid of gravity and lowering their own pull toward the earth, and then simply gliding toward the trunk. Some do better than others, and some of the methods are clearly superior, too. The heavy cloaks, for example, are a bit too heavy. They’re not dropping like stones, but it’s pretty clear it’ll take quite a bit of mana for them to even extend their glides. Pretty quickly, the ones with heavy cloaks take them off to simply watch.
The blankets do better, but some of them tear in the middle of their attempts. They’re all skilled enough to land on the thick trunk without problem, but it still makes me incredibly nervous.
Enara’s silk cloak does well, but she’s not the best. I think she needs to focus on her affinity a bit more to make it work. Still, more than a few of the birdkin actually do manage what I would call a proper flight, even using a few full body flaps to increase their altitude. It’s not graceful nor especially dignified, but it’s still flight. Now they just need to refine it.
Enara seeks out Teemo and gives him a bow, refusing to let him wave her off. “Lord Thedeim’s idea will work! I’ll make sure to tell the other representatives, and we’ll try to get some silk from the spiderkin as soon as possible.”
Teemo grumbles as she straightens back up, but refuses to be baited into telling her to stop bowing. Instead, he shifts the focus slightly. “How was it to fly again?”
Her eyes twinkle in happiness, and maybe a bit of mischief if she’s considering bowing again, but she stays upright as she speaks. “It… it was like regaining something I never realized I had lost. We all remember flying, but only vaguely. But to feel the wind keeping us up, to see the ground as a place we’re no longer bound to…”
She gives my Voice a genuine smile. “Thank you, Lord Thedeim.”
“Aw, shucks, Enara. You’re gonna make him blush!”
She laughs. “Then I’ll stop, for now. If only to tell the others about this.” She smirks. “You might have a few more joining the priesthood after this.”
Only Teemo can hear my groan, though he ignores it. “If that’s how you guys feel about it, sure. He’s glad you guys like the idea.”
Enara smiles and looks over the season, where the other ravenkin are either practicing their flying, or modifying their cloaks and blankets to make it easier. “We certainly do.”
