Chapter 49: Chapter 48: a temporary retreat

I pointedly look at my bloody arm and say “Not any more.”

James then responds with “I’m talking about your left ear.”

Bringing my hand up to my ear causes me to wince as I touch it. The tip is missing. Holding my bloody hand in front of me makes me realize that the ear actually hurts quite a lot. 

Is a healing spell gonna cause it to regrow? Or just scar over? I really hope it regrows, so with that in mind, I channel a strong healing spell, and much to my relief, a second touch with the hand reveals an intact ear.

James gives me a weird look as I sigh with as much relief as my body allows when this being this exhausted.

After that, James just let me rest for a moment while fetching Jo, who hid a bit outside the cavern.

When they arrive back, I’m no longer out of breath and can easily see the limp in Jo’s steps. She looks at me with worry, as if I’m the one limping. Right, I’m kinda covered in my own blood. A quick cast of cleanse fixes that.

I ask Jo about the limp after informing her that I’m fine, and she informs me that a couple chips from a gem that shattered against James’ shield embedded themselves into her thigh. And, sure enough, when she shows me the leg to heal, there are three spots with blood that’s healed over from the spell I cast earlier. 

Well that sucks. How do we fix this? The easiest might be to dig them out, but I’m not sure if I can mute the pain. Actually, won’t she be able to put them away into her inventory?

Having her try that reveals that it should be possible, but she lacks sufficient skill. James has the same problem with inventory, so trying the same solution by giving her a strong focus up spell, gives better results.

She winces in pain as each gem is stored away, and as soon as she’s done, I heal her until the magic tells me it’s done.

No longer being in pain has Jo in a much better mood, and telling her that she gets to keep any gems she picks up from the cavern improves it further.

I stow away the various pieces of the golem and we spend a moment gathering the gems. 

Once that is done, we have to come to a decision. The golems are likely going to be stronger from here on out. This probably was a mid boss, so the next ones would be fairly normal, but there will be more. Should we bring Jo the rest of the way, or should we escort her back to town.

Jo really wants to join in, but can tell that she’s in way over her head, and while both me and James are confident we can protect her from directional threats, omnidirectional ones, like this golem, is significantly harder.

We still explore the other exit of the cavern a little bit to confirm if it actually was a midboss, which based on the two golems that attacked us upon exiting, is quite likely.

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With our minds made up, we start the journey back. The quest marker is markedly less helpful on the way out, only pointing back towards the gem. To make things worse, new golems have traveled into the cleared path from the regions we didn’t explore. We let Jo fight a couple of them, with heavy assistance, but for the most part, I just quickly dispatch them. 

So, after a short journey with only a single wrong turn into a dead end, we exit the cave just in time to see the sun setting, and by the time we get back to the town, it has fully set.

The dwarves seem to have decided to stick around as well, so Jo gets to excitedly talk to the other apprentices about her experience. Garth steals away James’ attention, so I’m stuck with Murdoc once again, but not feeling like dealing with him, I simply ignore him while eating my meal, which consists of some banana looking fruit with a slightly red tint to it. Not as soft as earthen bananas and some seeds in the flesh, but honestly pretty good.

My ability to ignore Murdoc is pierced when he asks me about the hole in my sleeve. I look at it, and see that it is slightly smaller than when it originally happened. The enchantment seems to slowly knit the fibers together.

Turning to him, I simply shrug, before continuing my meal.

“You don’t know?” he asks, almost exasperated.

I then answer without turning to him, “I don’t care to explain it to you.”

He seems to take the hint and stops trying to talk to me. I guess having seen just how much more powerful than him I am, has him a bit more reluctant to throw comments my way.

Returning to the same room that I’ve been using, has me slumping into the bed after magicking away my clothes.

A lot happened today. We invaded a golem-anthill and fought a pretty powerful one. I also got hurt for the first time since I awakened at the lake, but it didn’t feel all that bad in the moment. Sure, Zena’s memories have many instances of far worse injuries, but her earthen counterpart would cry after bumping into the table leg, so I kinda expected to react more.

Maybe there is less of George in me than I thought? Or is it more of Zena? It’s not actually all that important, but I really want to know. 

In the end, the battle with the crystal golem was actually kinda enjoyable, despite the fact that I could have died. I’m not sure how to feel about that, but it makes sense. The character from the game never hesitated to fight, but I thought George would resist the battle more.

Before coming to any conclusion with my introspection, my tired body catches up to me and I fall asleep.