Bjorn walked with Tanisha around the station a few times before finally they took a break in the middle of one of the station platforms. She took some food out of her inventory, meat of course, and shared it with him. They needed to check on their supplies, while they did have the basics stored in inventory they had left in a rush before stocking up for a journey. Water wouldn't be a problem as both he and Tanisha had abilities that could condense water anywhere. Food however was another problem.
Bjorn took out one of the mana tree roots he had obtained in his journey and the smell woke Anasuya almost immediately. She sniffed the and followed the scent to glowing root and jumped off of his back. She bobbed her head happily as she ate.
"How much of that do you have? It's supposed to be rare right?" Tanisha asked.
Bjorn reared up on his hind legs and widened his front paws to indicate that he had a lot of the stuff.
"Save me some. I want to study it to see if there is anything I can do with it in my alchemy." Tanisha said as she rubbed her chin. "We also need to make sure she has a varied diet. It may not have everything a growing girl needs."
Anasuya finished her root and turned into a little girl with a red dress. She had done this before, but had made herself look like a young version of Laxy. A tan skinned human woman with black hair. This time however she made herself look like a young version of Tanisha's form. Brown skin, horns that curved upward and a hydra tail. Her transformation was so good she could be confused for Tanisha's little sister.
She wiped her mouth with her entire arm then stood up using her tail for balance and wobbled around for a moment before giving up and returning to all fours.
"Time to wake everyone up. We should get going now that you are awake." Tanisha said.
She helped Anasuya to stand bipedally again and held her hand for support.
"Let's go dad!" Anasuya hissed as she pointed ahead.
"Since she can take human forms, do you think we can teach her to speak human languages?" Bjorn asked mentally.
"We can't, but I think it wouldn't be too hard for Tanisha to do." Failsafe said.
Tanisha woke the others and immediately went into planning their next move. Looking at their current supplies and going over a few scenarios for when they finally get outside. Each of them had dimensional storage accessories so they had enough food to go a month with rationing. Bjorn could eat most monsters so he was fine with hunting once they got outside.
Fuyumi was still recovering; she had to get used to aether. She couldn't use her magic which meant she was just a really durable human at the moment. So she would be riding on Bjorn's back once they got outside. The first thing they would need to do is determine where they were.
The last thing Tanisha reported was an encounter with two small feathered people up stairs. They ran off as soon as they saw her. She believed they were some kind of treasure hunters. It was a good sign they were close to a civilization.
"Were they colorful and talked with a lot of clicky sounds?" Aurelius asked.
"The bird people? Yeah, you know what they are?" Tanisha questioned.
"Don't call them bird to their face, they claim to be reptilian." Aurelius said.
"Kobolds? This close to the warp? Unless that shuttle was faster then we thought they wouldn't survive the corrupted mana, better yet the monsters." Fuyumi said.
"It was fast and we were on it for a while." Aurelius said. "Or it is some kind of sanguine traveler."
"Those things are myths." Fuyumi said dismissively.
Bjorn hissed and shook his heads. He made a biting motion as if in combat.
"Are you saying you saw one?" Fuyumi questioned. "A sanguine traveler?"
Bjorn nodded his heads. He had in fact seen many of the freaking monsters. They weren't strong but they were dangerous. They implanted the memories of familiarity and took the form of random people slipping into your group and just acting like they were helping you. From what Bjorn determined about them, they led you to danger. If Tanisha had met one it wouldn't have run away it would have come down here with her pretending to be part of the group.
He then remembered that he was now an Iota Class familiar. It didn't say he would be able to speak but his bond with Tanisha had grown considerably. Going from Delta to Iota should have required a new ritual if what Tanisha told him was true. Of course she never mentioned a Blood Pact and maybe she hadn't looked at her menus yet. Either way at that level she should gain more abilities and speech should be one of them.
"Ssssanguine Travelersss… wouldn't run." Bjorn said in more hiss than language.
Everyone stopped and looked at him. He had apparently gotten his point across.
"Bjorn, did you just talk!" Tanisha stood up. "Woah woah woah, why can you talk?"
Tanisha's eyes searched for him for a moment before Bjorn saw the sudden realization hit her. Her eyes went unfocused for a moment as she mentally scrolled on menus he normally couldn't see. But this time he could. It appeared as a window of light; the others seemed to be completely oblivious too.
He leaned one of his heads around her shoulder so he could watch. He saw her scroll down to her version of the same Familiar Pact.
+ Delta Familiar Contract < Iota Familiar Blood Pact
You and your Bloodkin have undergone an evolution through abnormal means, by desiring to remove the compulsory effects of a familiar contract but fulfilling trust, and having a soul tether, your bond has become a Blood Pact. As participants in a Blood Pact, any compulsions normally imposed by a Familiar Contract are nullified. You and your Bloodkin are no longer bound to act under the constraints of a contract.
(I) Your bond grants magical energy regulation. While within five hundred feet of your Bloodkin, magical energy and regeneration are shared. As long as one of you retains magical energy, both may utilize it.
(II) You have communed with your Bloodkin, allowing them to serve as a conduit for your magic. From any distance, you may channel spells through him which will manifest as a breath attack.
(III) Having shed blood for each other, you now shed magic. While within ten feet of your Bloodkin, your auras intertwine, passively granting +15 Health Regeneration to both.
(IV) The bond extends to life itself: both you and your Bloodkin gain an additional twenty years to your lifespans.
Bjorn was surprised that their menus were so similar and also different at the same time.
"Can you guys see that too?" Bjorn asked mentally.
"I can." Isin said.
"It is visible to me as well." Failsafe said.
Bjorn's eyes wandered further down on the menu where her communion skills were. He saw the last one of hers was unlocked. She hadn't said anything about it so she probably hadn't noticed either. It was an interesting development to say the least.
Queen of Reptiles
You are Bloodkin to the King of Reptiles, neither servant nor master but his living extension. Your life is now Hydra; you have endured flame, inhaled poison, and merged with the world-scouring venom. You once called Him Sonr Orma Eilífra, yet now you may rightly call Him kin. Hydra will see you as an apex among their kind, this will subjugate lesser and normal hydra. Greater hydra will respect you as Bloodkin to Sonr Orma Eilífra. Reptilian and amphibian creatures will instinctively be wary of you as you carry the venom of the Poisoner within your veins.
That was interesting Bjorn wondered if that meant his mother would stop wanting to kill her. If she was considered his sister or something magically. Bloodkin seemed to be a term for the new bond they shared or was it this skill that influenced the bond and not the other way around? That just left him with even more questions.
"Blood Pact?" Tanisha questioned. "How is that possible? Bjorn, I didn't… do that. I don't know even how this happened."
"It'sss fine. We… will figure it out… later." Bjorn said alternating his heads per word.
"That's a creepy way to talk." Failsafe said.
"It is too hard to make syllables from one head… and it hurts. Our body was not meant for this." Bjorn grunted internally.
"We'll get the hang of it." Isin said.
"With Bjorn finally able to talk, that will make coordination much easier." Fuyumi said. "Congradulations on increasing your bond."
"Kobolds are crafty but not much of a danger to us." Aurelius said, returning to the previous conversation without pause. "If they are down here the most we have to look out for is traps."
"It would also mean there are no combat androids down here. Kobolds wouldn't stand a chance against them." Fuyumi added.
The group talked tactics and supplies for a while longer then finally set out. Bjorn took up the rear guard as usual. Aurelius in the vanguard and Tanisha and Fuyumi in the middle. Anasuya was on her normal perch on Bjorn's back, the little girl in her cernunnos form kicking her legs off his sides.
The second level was empty aside from a single bag which was left by their feathered suspects. Apparently they had not decided to return to grab it. A quick survey of the open passageways showed most of them were just large open spaces for large groups of people to gather.
The cafeteria had tables rusted by time and even cooking stations, meaning no fabricator to instantly make prepared meals like in the main facility.It was a disappointment; they had hoped to stock up fully, not just on food but anything a fabricator could produce. After looking around a bit longer they collected the bag. The metal was valuable, but mainly to return it if the kobolds turned out to be friendly.
As they ascended the facility, corruption crept higher. Soon the metal gave way to stone. It was only a façade; the low hum of aethertech beneath the rock didn't escape Bjorn's notice.
Their first trap arrived suddenly. A crude pressure plate under a stone tile triggered beneath Aurelius's feet.Then a handful of spiked balls fell from the ceiling. All of which were caught by a tendril of hydromancy Tanisha had summoned. She dropped the spiked metal off to the side. They were made from the same metal as the doors hastily welded together. They had considerable weight to them but not enough to do any real damage to someone of their party's level.
"If you can hear us, we just want to talk!" Aurelius shouted down the hall-turned-tunnel. "We have your bag as well and will happily return it!"
No response. They pressed on, stepping cautiously over the stone floor. Cutouts in walls hinted at hidden traps, some clever, others deadly. One was particularly devious: salvaged guns from destroyed combat units mounted to fire in both directions if stepped on wrong. It wouldn't be as much of a threat to them as none of the guns were high enough caliber to pierce Bjorn's scales or anyone's armor. Fuyumi was the weakest right now but even she wouldn't find them too difficult to avoid.
What Bjorn found the most interesting was the fact that the kobolds figured out how to do all of this so quickly. Were there just two of them? It meant that they not only found the combat units but had also taken them apart, figured out what guns were and how they worked. Then after all of that, implement them in a trap in mere hours.
Bjorn's tongues tasted the air as he had the scent of two beings other than his party, which he still found all the more interesting. It was only two of them that did all of that.
The group came to a final door which was ripped out like all of the others. The corruption stopped rising and had remained fairly consistent. It was prickly but that was how it always felt against Bjorn's scales.
A final trap went off and suddenly a metal ball dropped in the middle of the party. Aurelius acted instantly using Blink and his shield to hit the rough orb out of the entrance. A moment later an explosion sounded like debris and a small dust cloud wafted in.
"What was that?" Tanisha asked.
"A bang sphere. I was wondering if they had them." Aurelius said.
"A… what now?" Tanisha peeked outside. "Wow. Sunlight."
"A bang sphere," he repeated, but the words died as he stepped into the open alongside Tanisha.
Bjorn followed last, his eyes adjusting to the brilliance. The smell of saltwater, the sea breeze, and the sheer awe of sunlight after nearly three years underground or beneath a bloodied sky rendered everyone speechless. The endless blue stretched before them, the sky mirroring the sea.
They stood on a small ledge overlooking a beach, the entrance hidden by jagged rock.
"Now!" a voice called. "Bang-bang!"
One of Bjorn's heads turned in time to see explosions igniting behind them. The stone ledge cracked and shifted. Bjorn snatched Fuyumi with his tail and leapt toward the voice. Juggernaut Stampede propelled them forward. Fuyumi was placed on his back, Anasuya's spell already forming as they landed atop the cliff.
Two kobolds, one a brilliant shining green and the other a dull rust-red, tumbled back in fear. Before they could run, Anasuya's spell finished, chains of red maya locked them in place.
"Good job Ana." Isin said.
Aurelius and Tanisha both appeared next to them. The red kobold fainted, the green one screamed bloody murder.