The swarm cats that approach the group can be seen from a distance away. Over a hundred cats form a roving carpet of fuzz and claws. At first they are moving slowly, but that changes as soon as the monsters spot the group. The cats change direction and charge toward the group.
Seeing this Rosha feels the urge to facepalm. After Peter’s talk, she had left her weapon in staff mode. Of course, the first fight they find starts at an extended range. By the time she could have the weapon changed back to bow mode, it would be time for her to change it back. Of course this does make her realize his point about just having multiple weapons, though it really burns her. She really liked the concept, even if the practicality has been called into question.
Off to the side Peter smirks. The emotions washing over Rosha’s face tell the tale of sad revelations. This isn’t the first time he had seen a traveller realize how bad their fancy weapons actually were. One final shake of his head and Peter ghosts backward, fading from sight and mind of both the group and the cats.
Only Rosha notices it happening and even then, just barely on the edge of her consciousness. She doesn’t let it distract her though as she stands up front with Jason. Her hands choked up towards one end of the staff as she readies for a wide swing. She stands there in a state between tense and loose, ready. The swarm cats spread out to surround the group and she lets swing.
The staff comes in low and the cats in the front jump over it, but the ones behind cannot dodge in time. Those hit are swept back, knocked into the cats behind them. While the swarm isn’t stopped by this, the bunching up throws their movements into chaos. Around comes her staff again and she rebuffs them once more.
To her side Jason is actually having a worse time of it. While he isn’t in too much danger, the cats have swarmed over him. Rosha’s wide sweeping attacks have kept them back. While this is less effective at killing the swarm, her attacks are much better at crowd control.
Behind them, Courtney finishes her first spell. A wave of fire streams over everyone’s head and the swarm cats pull back in fright. It frees Jason from them and Courtney takes this chance to release her second spell and once again Jason’s skin takes on a bark texture. She had been preparing it for Rosha, but she was doing fine enough as it was.
From besides her comes the sound of clapping and she jumps a little at the sudden appearance of Peter. “Congratulations on finding one of the loopholes to a swarms resistance to illusion magic! They can’t tell it isn’t real if they can’t interact with it. Of course that wouldn’t work on any flying swarm but that isn’t what we are fighting, now is it? Did you get the discovery bonus? Don’t mind them, they can deal with the current swarm.”
Courtney narrows her eyes, but in the end can only sigh. “Yes, I did get a discovery bonus along with the knowledge bonus. Not the rarest thing, most people have one, but still nice to have more of.”
Peter has a large toothy grin, “Yes, most people do get a bonus or two as they grow up. That isn’t what is important. The important thing is that while an illusion based discovery isn’t required to get my nation’s illusion variant, it makes it easier. That means that when it comes time to decide if you will be permitted to learn it giving proof of such a discovery will boost your chances. Oh, and this knowledge is also a kind of discovery thing, so it will mark any illusion discovery you find after learning this as such. We don’t discount those discoveries, but they count for less.”
Back in the fight Jason is once again swarmed, though with the barkskin buff he is able to focus more on suppressing the cats. Rosha on the other hand has changed up her strategy. Instead of focusing on the cats in front of her, she has turned to supporting Jason. With wide sweeps, she throws the excess cats away from Jason. While a few cats try to attack her the swarm has focused on Jason because of being able to crowd him without fear.
Then Jason brings his arms in, with elbows tight to his chest, and he lets the cats build up on him. “Rosha, back off a sec!”, he yells and gives her a couple seconds to react. His elbows, fists, shoulders, head, and back glow. Then with a violent jerk he throws his head back and arms out. The glow bursts out and rampages through the cats on him without being blocked.
The cats below his waist are still clinging to him, but his upper body is bare of them. Rosha takes this chance to sweep the floor again and soon enough the swarm disperses. With the cats running away, the two of them turn to Peter.
He claps, “Once again your group has killed a swarm! This time you did some things right. Still did some things wrong as well. For instance, Courtney, I know I told you to buff them, but there is one little twist. Jason there has probably forgotten about it, but he doesn’t need your barkskin. Jason, might you have some sort of passive skill that toughens your skin?”
“Huh”, Jason leans his head back, “I. Might have? Give me a second to check.” Jason pulls up his character sheet and glances down through it before he facepalms. “Yep, here it is. It is actually my cultivation skill. Makes my body as tough as wood at the moment.”
Peter whistles, “Ooh, that’s nice! Good defense buff there which should grow with you. It also makes the barkskin buff useless on you. The buff doesn’t add to your skin’s toughness, just makes it like bark, which your skin already is.”
Meow.