Training montage, day 2

The next morning, you again eat a big breakfast and head out to the training field. This time Brighid throws a rock into the air and has you hit it with your Flame Jet before it hits the ground. Your first attempts are absolutely terrible, and you only just manage to graze it before a much-anticipated prompt distracts you.

Congratulations! You have reached level 10 in Fire Magic. You are now an Initiate of Fire Magic; in addition to benefits from previous ranks, you deal +25% fire damage to corrupted, tainted, or otherwise unclean creatures.

You have received 250 experience for reaching Initiate rank in Fire Magic.

Congratulations! You have learned the spell Burning Barrage.

Burning Barrage: Fire Magic, level 10. Creates a variable number of fiery orbs in the air around you and then launches them at one or more targets within 30 meters of you. Each projectile deals 20 fire damage on impact, then explodes, dealing 5 fire damage to all creatures and objects in a 1 meter radius. These projectiles do not need to be fired in a straight line and can be guided with further Concentration. All projectiles must be fired within 2 seconds of the first. Cost: 50 Concentration; 5 Concentration per second per guided projectile. Duration: Until expended. Casting time: 2 seconds. Cooldown: 15 seconds.

You excitedly tell Brighid the details of your new spell, and she nods thoughtfully. Instead of having you practice on her -- she’s worried that the explosions might reach unarmored areas and actually hurt her -- she takes you to the center of the field, where there is a large boulder which must weigh several tons. When you cast the spell for the first time, you suddenly become aware of seven tiny embers floating in the air around you. With a thought, you send one speeding towards the boulder, where it explodes with a loud *whump*crack! and a billow of flame. You launch the others to follow the first and they create an immensely-satisfying rolling ripple of explosive energy which leaves scorch marks on the rock. You impatiently wait for the cooldown to expire -- it didn’t start counting down until the last projectile exploded -- and cast Burning Barrage again. This time, you keep a tight mental grip on the projectiles as you fire them, and you manage to make them arc up over the boulder, then corkscrew downward and hit the opposite side of the big rock. Controlling all seven at once like that is actually a big mental strain, but since you don’t really have many other spells to use up your Concentration on, for now it doesn’t stop you from doing anything.

Brighid has you practice your full arsenal for the rest of the morning. You fire Flame Jets at her and rocks she throws into the air for you while simultaneously summoning and unleashing your Burning Barrage on the boulder. By the time she calls for a lunch break, your accuracy with the Flame Jets has improved considerably and the boulder is starting to show hairline cracks.

Congratulations! You have reached levels 11 through 14 in Fire Magic.

Before your meeting with Fionn in the afternoon, you ask Brighid if there are any herbalists or vivimancers in the village who might have some soothebalm you could persuade them to part with; you want to practice your Vivimancy Skill too, partly just because you feel guilty about even the small injuries Brighid is accumulating by helping you train, but you can’t without a supply of the reagent. A brief haggling session with a middle aged Mountain Centaur woman nets you ten entire plants with a half dozen or so leaves on each, hopefully enough to get you to Initiate rank and another Ritual. Brighid drops you off at a larger home just inside the western gate of the village and returns to her forge to deliver the goods she traded to the herbalist for your soothebalm. You tell her to go ahead and work in her forge for the afternoon, as you know she’s been neglecting her own work and you feel comfortable enough making your way through the village streets now.

Fionn has a map of the area outside Bannagh Macht spread out on a table in his home, and beckons you closer when you knock and enter. He has you point out where you entered from and as many landmarks as you can recall. You outline your path through the city and indicate where you think the broad avenue you were following when you found the tunnel and the dakhols would hit the edge of the city, assuming it is straight for the entire distance. He also has you describe all of the threats you faced in as great a detail as you are willing to give. You describe the Boar Manikin and its high vulnerability to fire damage, the way the monsters in the cities appeared to track you mostly by scent, and everything else you remember. You are even able to describe the creature which killed you; its face is burned into your memory and you find that, as long as you carefully ignore the last couple of seconds before you died, your mind doesn’t begin to splinter and withdraw.

He grills you for an hour or two, then gruffly thanks you for both the information and the loyalty you have shown to the tribe. He gives you a brief explanation of his current battle plan; he intends to use the bulk of the tribe’s warriors as both a distraction and a way to eliminate the horde of monsters lurking in the foggy city, then once the battle is fully joined he wants you to lead a team of veterans, including Brighid and another mage, into the hill to take out the creature -- he calls it a Tannath Taig, which your mind translates into something akin to “Spirit of the dark places of the world” -- and the vines drawing power from the altar. He tells you that no one expects you to enter the chamber where you died again, but you tell him flat out that you’re going to be the second one in, after Brighid. You intend to burn every last rotten plant in there to ashes and dust.

After saying your goodbyes to Fionn, you head to Siwan’s shop and poke your head in through the leather flaps. She is on a padded cushion in the corner of her shop, humming softly while she deftly pulls needle and thread through a piece of cloth on a low table in front of her. You enter fully and politely knock on the door frame; she looks up and smiles when she sees you, carefully putting her work to the side then standing up to give you a quick hug. She leads you over to a clothes rack in a different corner of her crowded storefront and pulls out several shirts, two pairs of pants, and two pairs of underpants for you. Then she bids you to wait a moment and vanishes into the back room, which you assume is where she lives, and returns shortly thereafter with a small wooden box. Inside is a strip of dark green leather padded with a softer, lighter green cloth. The clasp at the back is simple steel, but the ring on the front is made of braided white, yellow, and rose gold. The craftsmanship is excellent and you thank Siwan profusely.

She shushes you and reminds you that it’s just business and besides, Brighid is her friend. Then, however, she gives you a mischievous grin and produces a shirt which is decidedly not for you; it is cut to fit snugly on Brighid, hugging every curve of her chest and waist. She will need to be laced into it because the waist is too narrow for her to pull it on over her head shoulders, but it has built-in support for her breasts. The laces are at the back and there is a deep, wide neckline which would reveal almost all of her cleavage and a good portion of the upper slopes of her breasts. In fact, you realize that it is very similar to a combination of corset and bustier, although not intended to be worn so tightly that it restricts its wearer’s breath or movement. After you finish admiring it, Siwan says that you can have it -- if you send Brighid to her for a night wearing the collar and with instructions to follow Siwan’s commands as if they were your own.

You promise to give her offer serious consideration, thank her again for her quick and skilled work. She gives you another hug and sends you on your way.

You return home to find Brighid working in the forge. You quickly stow your clothes inside and hide the wooden box, then join her at the anvil. She hands you a spare leather apron and she spends a few hours explaining about smithing while you watch and occasionally lend a hand. The fire of her furnace and the glowing metal on the anvil provide enough light to see by, so she continues working until nearly first moonrise before putting the pan, almost a skillet, she was working on into a barrel full of river sand to cool down gradually overnight; putting in water or oil is reserved for once the piece is finished being hammered into shape because the rapid cooling tempers the metal.

You share another nice dinner, then join her in bed. Tonight she insists on serving you hand and foot, working you over with hand, mouth, breasts, and tongue until you spurt down her throat. She only reluctantly allows you to return the favor, and after you eat her to two loud orgasms she beckons you into her arms and you go to sleep.

Congratulations! You have achieved rank 1 in Smithing. You are now Unskilled in Smithing.
Congratulations! You have reached level 7 in Cunnilingus.