Chapter Thirty-One: Family Time

Chapter Thirty-One: Family Time

As Tom’s martial skill improved, so did his geopolitical, economic, tactical and strategic understanding. As the expedition drew closer to leaving, he found himself reminiscing on his time in the Deep, the siege, and its aftermath.

Although he had continued to improve, had uplifted several more skills, the infestation here in the Proving Grounds represented a huge amount of unknowns. He just hoped their combined forces would be able to defeat it while avoiding any situation like the near complete disaster that was the Siege of Wayrest.

During the negotiations, he learned several interesting pieces of intelligence that Horizon had gathered on the orcs.

Reports of orcs in the Grounds from people travelling to and from Horizon had slowly begun to filter in about a year ago. At first, they were extremely sporadic, but even so, unlike Wayrest, they had not been dismissed out of hand.

The monks took the existence of any mana beast as an affront to their faith, and so reports of orcs, however unlikely, had been taken with extreme seriousness. It had not, however, helped them confirm the existence of orcs any more quickly.

Though the Proving Grounds were more open than the Deep, they were also much larger. This, combined with the monks’ aversion to familiars, made the usual ways of scouting such a space much more difficult.

True divination Ideals were rare, and anything less esoteric, like Farsight-adjacent Ideals, could not cover so much ground. There were other options, things like Idealists with flight capable Ideals, but they were rare, and would have to contend with the aerial predators of the Grounds to scout.

It took almost half a year of scouting before the reports were verified. Even then, many monks were lost, and no headway was made into locating where the orcs were actually based.

The only thing they managed to discern was that the infestation was likely based somewhere in the north of the Grounds, further up along the Barrachos, perhaps even towards the huge saltwater marsh to the north. The marsh ran between the Rust Sea and the coast for hundreds of miles after the Barrachos finally petered out. The wetlands were so inhospitable that the monks thought it unlikely the orcs had made their home there, though the possibility was not discounted.

The last two scouting parties sent out had been large, but both had returned ragged and spent, having only made it slightly further north before escaping back to Horizon. The tales they told were unsettling.

It quickly became obvious to Tom that they were definitely different to the orcs in the Deep. As they had noted with the warband they had fought, the orcs here seemed much more homogenous than those in the Deep. Every single orc appeared to be an Idealist, a fact which had thrown the Monastery into a frenzy.

Each orc was much larger than the specimens from the Deep. Only a handful of different skills had been noted. They could weaken enemies and armour, they could stagger their prey and pull it towards them, and every single one had the same insidious slowing aura.

Their behaviour was perhaps the most concerning aspect. While brutal and ferocious, they did not display the same near-rabid aggression as the orcs from the Deep. The monks had been tempted to dismiss their intelligence, but Tom heartily disabused them of any such thoughts.

It was tempting to dismiss such bestial creatures as unintelligent, but the orcs in the Deep had demonstrated cunning and forethought that belied their ravening natures. These new orcs could be less intelligent, but it would be a mistake to assume it.

The only blessing in all of this was that the orcs did not seem to have the sheer numbers of those back home. No one knew why, though many theories were put forward. The monks believed that the infestation had simply not been established for as long. Rosa thought the numbers might be the same, but that the scale of the Grounds was spreading them out. General Steel added to this, stating the orcs might even be spreading into the Deep Green and the Rust Sands. It was a concerning thought.

Tom thought there was a link between their behaviour and their numbers. Whether they were simply not as prolific, or not as inclined to roam, something about the situation didn’t add up and it was making him uneasy.

He was not the only one. All of them were keen to get the expedition underway and gain some clarity around the situation.

Though the week was tense, and packed with training at the Monastery, Tom and Rosa still managed to spend plenty of time with her family.

Her parents and sisters were bursting with pride that Rosa had defeated a monk in single combat and won herself a place on the expedition. They were also understandably disappointed at her leaving them so soon after being reunited, but they knew well how important the work was, and would never keep her from it.

Tom’s display on the first day at the monastery, effortlessly defeating one of their young prodigies in single combat, and then managing to win against one of their older scions, had firmly cemented him as an extra child in their eyes.

Camila and Rosa’s sisters heaped such praise upon him that Rosa rolled her eyes and huffed, which, of course, only made them redouble their efforts.

Tom spent a lot of time with Rocco during the week. He took Tom on a tour of the Raventos estate, situated in a sheltered valley in the hills below Horizon. There, he showed Tom the stable of superb horses they kept for breeding and trade, and the extensive vineyards they family owned as well.

Lord Raventos’ pride in his estate was palpable. In everything from the way he asked careful questions to the workers about the season’s vintage, to their recent foals, to the health of the workers themselves, it shone through.

Tom was fascinated by the huge production that went into both of the valuable resources, and Lord Raventos was happy to talk about both, at length. He held the Ideals of Viticulture and Husbandry, and spent several hours explaining the intricacies of how he used his skills to build his family’s fortune.

While they toured the vineyard, Rocco summoned his bear familiar from his third Ideal, Sacrifice. Soon the massive brown bear and Sesame were galloping about, wrestling and roaring playfully at each other. Rocco’s familiar was called Sherry. When Tom asked about the name, he simply said, “It is because she is good for the soul.”

Tom and Rocco often talked late into the evenings as well. It was a novel experience for Tom, to have an older male figure who he not only looked up to, but was worthy of being a role model.

Lord Raventos had only the one combat Ideal, and was not a martial man, at least, no more than any Horizoner. His was a different path to Tom’s, and Rosa’s too, for that matter. Still, he had endless amounts of sage advice, delivered subtly and without pretension. Tom felt his heart warming for the man.

Lady Raventos won Tom’s heart in a different way. She had the Ideal of the Hearth and the Ideal of Heat, and used both liberally in her home. Every morning and every evening she cooked a veritable feast for the family, seemingly without any effort whatsoever. It was not just her delicious food that endeared her to him though.

On the first morning, Tom had taken his place at the table. After taking his seat, he noticed a smaller table off to the side. On it stood an array of bowls filled with seeds and nuts, and a few large plates piled with strips of meat.

“For your birds, Tom,” Camila said to him, gesturing at the table. Tom was momentarily stunned. That she had not only taken his familiars into account, but had gone to such lengths for them, was heartwarming. He summoned Sere, Sus, and Sol immediately. All three took to the food with great gusto.

Mmmmm… Sol said contentedly.

I fucking knew I liked Rosa! Sus screeched.

Yum! Yum! Yum! Oh! So good! Yum! Sere sent.

“They’ll be asking you to be their summoner, I think,” Tom said to Camila. “They love it.”

The delight in Camila’s eyes as she watched the birds enjoy their breakfast was bright and genuine. “I am glad,” she said with a smile. “Although, I am afraid your Sesame will have to eat outside. Sherry will show him the way.”

Rocco grinned around a mouthful of bacon, and summoned the brown bear. She ambled to the front door and gently swiped the handles before nudging them open. Tom summoned Sesame and sent him trundling after her. At a nudge from Tom, he closed the doors after himself.

A moment later, pure pleasure shivered down the bond.

Bacon drenched in honey! My favourite!

Tom got a momentary flash of an enormous bowl stood next to another where Sherry was eating. Off to the side, Coal was imperiously nibbling from a pail filled with assorted vegetables.

Tom turned to thank Camila again, but she merely gave him a kind smile, patted his shoulder, and bid him eat his own breakfast before it got cold.

By the time he was done, he thought he had done even Sesame proud.

So went every day they spent in the Raventos family home. Though it was not long, Tom felt a connection to all of them. Rosa’s sisters were similar to her in many ways, and completely different in others.

Rosa’s eldest sister, Lora, had the Ideals of Frost and Fog. Counter intuitively, she was the fieriest of the Raventos family. Tom faced her in a few sparring matches one evening, and was handily trounced. The woman was about five years his senior, but both her Ideals were already at Exemplary. Without using his poisons, he had no chance against her. She held nothing back in their bouts though, however; Lora seemed to respect him for giving it his all.

Talia, the next eldest, was a steady flame. She was perpetually excited, always keen to hassle Rosa, and by the end of the week, Tom as well. She had the Ideal of Tea, which she espoused as being a perfect cross of Viticulture and the Hearth, and insisted on pouring for Tom on several occasions. The solid buffs he gained from them did much to change his opinion of the drink.

Zamia was a year younger than Rosa, and had two Ideals. She had manifested Horses during her time at the Academy in Wayrest, and recently the Hearth upon reaching Horizon. She was the most mercurial of the sisters, even more so than Rosa. She was brooding one moment and explosive the next. She was obsessed with travel, and seemed to be taking her manifestation of the Hearth with some difficulty.

The week with the Raventos’ was restorative for Tom. It gave him a lot of insight into Rosa’s character, seeing their family dynamics. On the other hand, it made his heart ache for the family he had never really had.

It could not be forever though. All too soon, they were informed while training at the monastery that preparations were complete, and they would be leaving on the morrow. Tom was filled with melancholy at the thought, but he knew that all good things must come to an end.

On that last night, as Tom and Rosa lay in bed, revelling in the joyous week that had been and pouting over it coming to an end, she had gained an uplift for In a Puff of Smoke. Her options were reduced mana cost, increased range, and the ability to cast it twice in a row before triggering its cooldown.

He put his melancholy aside and talked over Rosa’s uplift with her. She ended up choosing the decreased mana cost, like she had with Ember Soul, Smoke Shroud, and Immolation Mosaic. She would need it.

They had work to do. And a lot of it.