Looking down at it, TJ could only guess at whatever was happening here. More than a rock, TJ realized that it was a massive slab of ice, and it was wrapped around the vestiges of a pukwudgie and human corpse. Though the ice was cloudy and wavy, they could still see some of what was within. The pukwudgie's corpse was wrapped around the human's, as if it was a strange hedgehog fur coat. Its fur stuck out in every direction, but its flesh seemed to have melded with the skeletal human's corpse. Where the pukwudgie was situated around the back of the human, the two torsos had begun to meld, and the human's arms had elongated.
"This is some freaky shit." Molly said, sniffing at the ice block for a second before recoiling. "Why were they doing this? How?"
"Definitely unnatural." Sarah said. "Obviously, we have no idea what they were doing here though." When nobody responded, she asked again, "Right?"
"Doesn't look like burnt bone, I can tell you that." Michelle answered as she leaned over the remnant of the strange ritual. "I've worked with antler and bone for handles before, and it doesn't melt together like that naturally. But this is magic, so what the hell do I know."
TJ looked at the corpses, and noticed the stretched neck from the pukwudgie. It'd been a larger specimen, but still nowhere near the height of the person in the ice. Even so, its head reached the back of the skeleton's, and it looked like the pukwudgie was in the process of trying to crunch through the skull's bones when it was frozen. All of it set TJ's teeth on edge, and he wanted to look away. That was, until he took a step forward and, in the faint shift from the ice, saw the amalgamation's silhouette in the ice before him. As his mind put together that flash he'd seen, TJ felt his blood go as cold as the magical remnant in front of him.
"Does… does anyone else think that this looks like a wendigo?" TJ asked.
Most of the others recoiled at the thought, but Seth perked up and stopped observing everything around them. He stalked forward, appraising the corpses.
"The way its feet are shifting and the fingers' bones are elongating, I'd say so. The skulls were merging to create the larger head for a wendigo." He spat to the side, his observations complete and his fury stoked. "Fuckin' monsters can't even make more of themselves like anything other than a monster."
"Should we do anything with this?" Peter asked, his eye darting back and forth to the slab of ice as if he wanted to look away and couldn't bring himself to. "Is it… dangerous?"
"Should at least destroy it." Sarah answered, hefting her axe. "If more come back, then they might be able to make another wendigo, and I'd rather fight a dozen pukwudgies than a single wendigo."
"Agreed." Stanton replied, and then held up both hands before summoning a root to pierce through the bottom of the ice. Over the course of a minute, the ice crackled and snapped until it split down the middle and the fetal wendigo fell to the ground with a dull thunk. Without the ice in the way, it was more obvious that this was, in fact, the beginnings of a wendigo's creation.
The mass of the pukwudgie seemed to lend the vast majority of the flesh to the final monster, and little vestiges of sallow skin covered parts of the human skeleton. Its fur would become the patch of shaggy hair along the spine of the wendigo, and the two creatures together would become one. Worse, though, was that the pukwudgie truly was in the process of consuming the human's skull. TJ vaguely remembered that the legends of wendigos mentioned cold and cannibalism, but seeing some sort of a ritual sacrifice working to create more enemies for the Participants in the Tutorial enraged him.
"This is horrible." Michelle summed it up. "Should we destroy it? Bring it back to town?"
"Can't leave it here." Stanton grunted, his hands on his knees as he recovered from destroying the ritual ice.
"True." TJ agreed. "I think we should bring it back for now, let other people take a look and see if there's something else we need to do. Give the dead some respect?"
"I disagree." Seth answered next. "Our job is to get you another level. This is secondary to that goal, and, frankly, you getting stronger will be better for us than showing respect to one of our fallen."
"We need to take care of those who died." Michelle disagreed. "We don't know exactly what they were doing with this, and getting it back to the town will let some of our other people take a look at it and see what we can learn. Knowledge is power and all that."
"I think we shouldn't leave the body." Molly said quietly, still in her Lightning Dog form. "It's not right to leave someone we knew to this. There's only one hundred of us now, we ate dinner with this person."
"I agree." Peter said, still looking sick. "It's just not right to leave people's bodies to be desecrated like this."
"Then we carry it with us as we go?" Seth asked. "If we take the time to go back and then return, the monsters will have moved, and maybe set up another ambush. We haven't seen many of the Elites, and we don't know how many there are. We've only seen the one Raven Mocker, and we know nothing about the Chindi. The wendigos are a known element, but they're damned dangerous, and we need to whittle down the enemies' numbers as much as possible before they can enter the safe zone."
"I don't want to carry the dead body around as we hunt." Stanton said simply, and Seth didn't look too eager to do so either. Michelle, Sarah, and Molly didn't look happy at the thought of hauling the mutated, enmeshed corpses, and before TJ could say anything, Peter spoke.
"I'll do it. I'm not as much help on the front line, so I'll do it." He needed to visibly swallow down his gorge as he said so, but before anyone else could comment on his decision, he leaned down, grabbed the skeleton's ankles in one hand, and stood tall. He looked like a macabre rendition of the caveman dragging his prey, his face green.
"Thank you, Seth." TJ said as he nodded at the nervous Zealot.
"I've lost most of my nerve." Peter admitted as he pointedly kept himself from looking at the corpse. "Now, Seth. You said you have something else that you think we can kill? I want to move quickly and get this done soon."
Seth nodded approvingly and led the way.
—
Seth was noticeably grumpy as they walked towards the safe zone. TJ hadn't gained a level, though it wasn't for lack of trying. He could feel he was close, nearly on the cusp, but it would be more than a couple pukwudgies to carry him over the edge. If they'd found some more of the Gila Monstrosities, then there might have been enough, but no such luck. As Michelle explained that the many small wounds TJ and Molly sustained were enough to basically drain her MP entirely, they retired from the hunt, even though all of them wanted to just be done. Peter had, at least, gotten over the worst of his squeamishness, and dropped the corpse to the ground on the third and fourth fights of the day.
The sun was well past noon, and though it was far from near dark, they'd been on the hunt for hours. Most of them had skipped lunch, and TJ felt himself getting hangry. He needed more fuel, and he'd eaten one of the javelinas they'd killed. Even so, that'd only taken off the edge and made TJ realize that the most basic monsters were becoming more and more uncommon. How long had it been since he'd seen a coyote? There weren't any herds of javelinas wandering all over either. Even the pukwudgies weren't so omnipresent, even keeping in mind that they were under the apparent control of the wendigos.
The hierarchy of the Elites was also interesting, but TJ couldn't bring himself to really think about it. Instead, he decided how they could make sure that he gained enough experience quickly. Everyone else also needed the last minute levels, and there was, basically, just one day left. TJ sighed, slithering forward. He held a javelina corpse in his mouth, a level 14 one. It was several hundred pounds, and could provide the bulk of the nutrition for the entire town for a meal. Even so, TJ felt himself wanting a more balanced diet. And he missed sugar. What he wouldn't do for some good old processed sweets.
The winds and Seth together ripped TJ from his thoughts about food. The winds laughed about something big and ugly hiding from him, and Seth called out, reaching ahead, "Big enemies, three of them! In the brush!"
TJ dropped the corpse and rushed forward. When the three Gila Monstrosities rushed to meet him, he felt like maybe he'd bitten off more than he could chew. Fortunately, the angry reptiles were quickly stopped by Sarah, whose massive, ethereal shield shimmered into existence and ceased their every move. With the giant reptiles held back, Peter stepped forward.
So close to town and with that final level in sight, TJ did something he wasn't sure was possible until that moment. He strengthened both Primal Savagery and Wind Manipulation at the same time with Divine Manifestation. Activating the Skill twice at the same time was possible, TJ learned, but it was immensely agonizing. His MP dropped precipitously as his Attributes boosted and the heavens answered his call. A pillar of violent winds burst into existence above the Monstrosities, and before anyone else could react, they were slammed into the ground and the flesh was flayed from their backs. They roared in confusion and pain, their beady eyes squinted against the gale force winds, but the fury of TJ's Skills in tandem destroyed all resistance.
The headache swiftly grew into a migraine, and TJ stopped using every Skill, including Divine Transformation. He staggered to his feet, his shoes off his feet because of how disoriented he was. Even so, the Gila Monstrosities were much worse, and they groaned in pain. They laid in a crater TJ's Skill had created, and TJ slid down into it with his Wendigo Blade in hand. When he got down and stood beside the giant reptiles, he realized that he didn't want to destroy his tool doing this. Looking up, Sarah met his eyes and offered her hatchet with a raised hand. TJ nodded, and she tossed it down. Feeling brave, TJ raised his hand and caught it, hardly thinking before he turned and slammed the blade of the weapon into the monster's spine. A death notification appeared.
Two more swings of the hatchet, and two more death notifications. On the third, TJ also received two level notifications and a third, welcome one.
Class: Neophyte has advanced to level 18.
Attribute points allocated: Strength +1, Endurance +3, Vitality +3, Toughness +2, Wisdom +1, Intelligence +1, Perception +1, Willpower +2, Fixation +2, Free Points +1. Additional Free Points currently available.
Race: Human has advanced to level 19.
Attribute points allocated: Strength +1, Agility +1, Endurance +1, Vitality +2, Toughness +1, Wisdom +1, Intelligence +1, Perception +1, Willpower +1, Fixation +2. Additional Free Points currently available.
You have gained 100 Fixation. Copper (I) tiered evolutionary requirements complete: 3/3. Would you like to evolve to the Copper (I) tier of Divinity?