Jericho The Bard A VRMMORPG Story 48 It Starts

"Hey Harr?" Lednar called out.

The man turned to face the twelve year old just to be splashed with a bucket of horribly smelling liquid. "What in tarnation do you think you're doing?" He shouted. "This stuff reeks!"

Lednar smiled as he splashed a similar awful smelling liquid onto himself. "It's better to be prepared." He pulled out two vials of an extremely dark purple toxic looking liquid. "Drink this." He said before gulping down one himself.

Harr sighed and took the liquid. He swallowed it before voicing his dislike for the taste. "Seriously, what is all this for?"

The youth ignored the question and started chanting while pulling out two handfuls of a powdery substance. "By the arts of deception, I call upon the receptors of sound, touch, and sight. Project to others my will! Dust of Disguise!" He tossed a handful onto himself and the other handful onto Harr.

Harr looked himself over seeing that while he could see himself, there was a semi-transparant layer that made everything excluding his ax look bushy and bulky. "(Bears?)" He questioned noticing that he both heard bear grunts and speech.

Lednar who also was overshadowed with a semi-transparent bear appearance nodded. "(To answer your earlier questions. The potion I had you swallow allows you to see both the illusion and what is real. That is why we can still communicate and recognize each other despite looking like and sounding like bears when we talk to everyone else.)"

Bear Harr frowned. "(That makes sense but why the illusion and the smelly liquid in the first place?)"

Bear Lednar bore his teeth with a grin. "(If we look, sound, feel, and smell like this, the things in the forest will view us as animals. Once the mist overtakes us, they won't see us as hostile humans. If what my friend's pet said is right, then most of the creatures in the mist are not cursed so we will blend right in. It will reduce the risk of us getting attacked by a large margin. However, I have only been able to use my alchemist magic illusion dust to affect three senses. An illusion to pretend we are animals becomes pointless if we still smell human. Don't worry the illusion and smell will wash off. As long as it doesn't rain we won't have any problem holding our disguise until we leave.)"

Harr sighed. "(A little warning would have been nice. Can you end it early if we need to?)"

Lednar shook his head. "(If I could end it early without water the effects wouldn't last long and I would have to continuously channel magic into maintaining the illusion. That would negate the point. Most beast type creatures are innately sensitive to magical fluctuations. Stable magic is something they normally don't notice.)"

"(Then how long does everything last?)"

"(If we never bathe, the illusion dust will fade in about 48 hours. The smell will be on us for about a week. But if we can find a source of water, we should be able to get rid of it sooner. If memory serves me correctly, there is a river not too far out of the forest. If the illusion dust gets removed before we are ready, I'll just have to recast it. As for seeing through illusions I made a lot of potions because I knew we would be here a long time. They last for an hour each. Here, take them with you. I'll remind you when the hour is almost up. Though if the hour does end up finis.h.i.+ng before you drink it you will only experience the bear illusion until you down the liquid again.)" Lednar pa.s.sed over a large pouch filled with vials of liquid. He put on an animal mask that sunk into the illusion.

Harr also put on a mask that faded into the illusion of the bear. They continued their walk north.

To any bystanders, what appeared to be a bear wielding a poleax and another bear holding vials of stuff sauntered casually deep into the forest.

Harr turned to the west and turned on the guild video sight sharing. "(It starts. Heath, are you connected?)" He and Lednar pulled out flasks of transparent white liquid and drank them.

[I am.] Heath messaged back.

***

Kenneth, Lux, Purai, Lillith, Jericho, and Princess met at the edge of the satyr village. "Are you ready?" Ken asked after making sure there were no satyrs looking to eat him nearby.

Everyone but Princess nodded.

Jericho seeing this turned to his sister. "What's wrong?"

The girl sighed. "But what about the satyrs?" She questioned. "Are we really just going to leave them?"

Jericho shook his head. "I'll go talk to Carn again and see if they are willing to leave this place. But, if they don't want to leave then we will leave without them. I know you care about them, but we probably don't have the time for them to talk about it in a committee."

Lux sighed. (I'm okay to leave those goats where they are. They defy nature. A goat is food not a predator. I would rather not become dinner for these smelly creatures.)
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Ken stifled a laugh as he inwardly agreed. "Then please be quick about it Jericho."

Jericho split himself in two. "I can communicate faster if part of me stays here with you." He said as the other him ran back into the village.

"Baa, Jericho, you are back? Oh, right you wanted to visit our MC store before you left." Carn recalled.

Jericho shook his head. "While I would love to do that, I don't have the time to look yet. It seems that the human problem I mentioned a few days ago will spread here and likely kill everyone. We don't know when it will spread this far but if there are satyrs that wish to leave the forest in order to live they should pack up quickly and leave with us."

The old goat thought for a bit. "That does sound bad. However, how can we leave our home? Our G.o.d will protect us, I am sure."

Jericho shook his head. "I wouldn't put too much stock into divine protection. We aren't puppet on a string. They either can't or won't protect us from making foolish choices." Jericho clenched his teeth. "They won't protect us from the choices of others either. Divine intervention isn't some mystical fairy tale power that happens just because people want it to or expect it to."

Carn frowned. "I can see where you are coming from. I will go speak with the others."

"Please hurry." Jericho admonished.

Soon, the frantic sounds of hooves clattering and gathering things echoed in the surroundings. Satyrs appeared before the bard carrying large and heavy containers and objects.

The bard sighed.

"Champion of Music, we know that the danger is coming but Arglwydd y Ddawns would be disappointed if we left the sacred instruments behind." A younger satyr admonished after seeing Jericho's frustrated look.

Jericho muttered something under his breath. "Fine, follow me." He started walking towards the exit.

More satyrs followed slowly weighed down by the extensive amounts of things they were bringing.

Jericho looked to the southwest to see a fog rapidly filling the trees. "It's here already." He said as the mist flooded the village.

[You have entered the mysterious mist. Your existence is being corrupted.]

[Bringer's Bond has activated. You sense another Bringer nearby and connected to the mist. The other Bringer has become aware of you as well.]

Knowledge of where this creature was hiding flowed into his mind. Jericho split himself in preparation to play the one song Glaw said might do something.

[You possess multiple weaker forms, the corruption and bond will now affect you faster.]

The bard pulled out his instruments and started playing the Serenade for the Soothing of the Soul. He felt the corruption leave him as the area in the village cleared up for a short time.

The song ended and the mist returned. "Satyrs, I can't play forever. We need to go, now!" He said as he started playing once more, walking slowly towards the edge of town where the others were waiting.

***

The Jericho with the party frowned as the satyrs were taking their sweet time.

"They are finally coming. But it seems they don't understand the meaning of a rapid escape from danger." The bard told the rest of the party.

Ken frowned. "Waiting for them is probably a bad idea."

"If it comes to it, and it seems like a feasible plan, we will utilize my ability to make multiple of me so we can escape quickly while also helping the satyrs to escape at their much slower pace. That is, if my music will work against the mist."

Ken gave a nod. "That does sound feasible."

Lux's ears twitched. (Something is coming!) He roared to get the party's attention.

The group turned to the southwest and saw the approaching mist.

Ken growled slightly despite being in his human form. "That came way sooner than I expected. Had we left the satyrs behind we would be most of the way out of the forest by now." He voiced.

Princess looked down in guilt. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to leave people behind just to save myself."

Purai gave the girl a hug. "I understand. That isn't a bad thing. We just need to find a solution to our problem now." She replied with confidence. Treating Ken and then the satyrs had helped build her self esteem.

Jericho read the notification the other him had received. "If I use split too much more, the mist will affect me much faster than I can repel it. Princess, can your staff ward away the mist like Glaw said it might?" He inquired noticing that instead of corruption at 1% per minute he was being corrupted at 1% every 20 seconds as there were three of him.

Princess pulled out Yun's staff. "We can try. Can you play the Farewell song? The one grandpa made up. It would help me focus a lot." She wiped her tears.

Jericho nodded and pulled out the bronze statue he had recently obtained. He focused on a drum set. A light glimmered in the mist. Jericho started drumming and singing.

Moira started to silently dance.

The mist flowed in a spiral centered on the staff as if the symbol on the end was like a dream catcher capturing nightmares.

"{(How Dare you!)}" The sound of many creatures shouting echoed in the party's ears. "{(You will not stop us! Join us in our despair! You are the ones that need to be cleansed!)}"

An oppressive feeling weighted down on them.

Jericho clenched the drumstick briefly as he continued to play and sing. He knew his other halves would arrive soon with the panicking satyrs that Carn was trying to keep calm.

A giant clawed wing flashed into the clearing. "{(We shall start with you!)}" The voices bellowed as it swept Princess off her feet.

"Princess!" Ken and Jericho shouted at the same time.

Ken turned to Lux. "Stay with Jericho until I return. I'm going to rescue Princess." He looked over to Jericho who had recalled his drums and was about to rush forward. "Help them get out!" He pointed to the group. "I'll save her. You are needed to save them!"

Lux and Jericho hesitated as the words sunk in.

The cat reverted to his human form briefly. "Because Ken said so, I will be your pet until he returns." Lux said.

[The Lynx Lux has requested to be your pet until further notice. Accept?]

"I accept. You will be returned to Ken when we meet up outside of the mist." Jericho replied as a golden paw print appeared on the back of his left hand.

Lux reverted to his feline form and walked beside the bard.

The other two copies of Jericho and the frightened satyrs approached. The mist surrounding them faded again.

Ken, who had already dashed into the woods, turned into his animal form to track the monster and Princess better. He activated his True Lynx Eyes ability and gave chase.