Master Of None

This looks like a hunting party of maybe six of seven have been through here recently. It is really weird though because the tracks look like they had heavy weight in their heels.” Gil could see the heady indents in the heal of the foot prints and the light toe prints. This was strange for a hunter trying to travel carefully. 

”Maybe they just caught a good prey. It would make sense if it is a hunting party.” Remey chimed in thinking it was all so simple, but Gil’s face showed that he doubted this. 

”The way it looks is they put their heels in then moved backwards. The only time a hunter does this is if they feel they are being followed and want to throw off an enemy or predator from tracking them.” The second Gil said this the forest around them became erratic. Branches were cracking and the sound of some soft shouts. 

The party tried to tighten their formation but before they even knew what happened arrows were flying toward them. They trailed white ropes that exuded a smothering mana. ”Dodge the arrows, they are trying to tie us up!” Walker’s yell of warning was too late. 

Midnight and Su were already being bound by the ropes as more arrows flew from all directions. Midnight tried to break them but found that her energy was being drained. Her strength had decreased. Walker desperately used his all around appraisal skill to try and find a way to break them and free his friends. 

’Pure spirit rope

Unique rope braided with the mana of a hundred year old elf’s hair. It has the unique spell to constrain mana and siphon strength for a short tie after activation. It is most commonly used by the elf enforcers of the elven kingdom.’ 

”Everyone stop resisting and raise your hands. It is the elves!” Walker knew that fighting would prove to be a disaster and tried to stop the situation from escalating. They were not here to fight elves but instead to research and gather information on the purple slimes.”

The ropes continued to be shot from unseen bows until every member of the party was totally bound. The tight binding sapped away Walker’s strength and he could not even bring himself to try and struggle. 

”Humans, you are trespassing on the territory of the elven kingdom. You have continuously cut branches from trees for now reason. You have spread poison to the roots of the forest and shall pay dearly.” This voice came from a very tall man wearing a perfectly camouflaged green cloak. There was a pure white bow in his hands that matched his pure white hair. The look of disgust on his face made it seem like he would have been happier seeing trash on the ground than the party. 

”We are not here to cause the forest harm. The branches are decaying from the slimes invadi-” Walkers attempt to speak out was silence by another rope being bound around his mouth. The other even enforces showed up out of the forest totaling to eight. 

”You have no right to speak after doing such harm. You and your little pet here will be brought to our prisons directly. The elders will have their words for you but do not expect to be coddled. You should know the laws of where you travel.” The words dripped with venom as the enforcer motioned for the others to start dragging the party members in to the forest. 

Walker’s eye lay on the trail of decay they had been following getting farther and farther away. He could feel that the pressure of the massive purple slime would only increase as they wasted the time. But he had no choice, they were not listening to what he had to say and it would need to be done the hard way. 

Remey was the only one that seemed to be struggling while the others just heeded what Walker had said and waited calmly. Remey was looking more and more agitated due to being bound and unable to speak. Walker could only imagine the things she would say to the elves in anger if she was able to speak. The others tried to send calming glances at Remey but he was too roiled up to be calmed by them. 

The watershed at the forest grew thicker and the elven enforcers dragged them through. Their movements were similar to Gil’s. They were able to easily traverse the forest without causing much harm or even leaving much trace. Gil looked to be watching carefully and trying to learn even in the bound state. 

”Take them to the general prison and start up the mana absorption process. I will report this.” The one that had first spoken walked toward what seemed to be a normal part of the forest. However, when the other elves brought the party through there was a ripple in the air. In front of them was revealed to be a massive tree with roots bigger than the largest of homes in their kingdom. The branches seemed to reach in to the sky and touch the heavens themselves. 

There were groups of elves around doing business, walking, and just generally going about their lives. Walker knew that had been taken all the way to the elven city. The branches were strong enough t hold massive tree house structures that seemed to be the center of their city. The party was dragged all the way to a small building that revealed a staircase heading downward. There were many magically made gates that caused roots to block their way. These moved away as the elves pulled them down the stair eventually revealing more of the path downward. 

After walking down the steps for some time they came to a very large underground space with massive crystal structures. There were more of the white ripes coming off of the structures. The flow of mana from the ropes to the structures made it look like the very life of the people attached to them was being extracted. 

”More prisoners today? You already caught ten poachers this morning. Bring them to the empty pillar over there and tie them up. I will go over and evaluate them.” There was another elf sitting in a chair by the entrance to this massive prison basement. He had a few log books and some ropes with him but otherwise, he looked like he was not a form of guard at all. 

Walker eyed the man with curiosity and realized that he was waving his hand every so often. His gaze moved to the ropes that appeared to be moving every time the elven man moved his hands. Walker was amazed to come to the conclusion that the man was manipulated the rope with his own mana from such a distance. It was a skill, he had never heard of. 

He desperately wanted to ask a million questions but found that he still couldn’t get rid of the ropes silencing him. Instead, he just settled for silently using his all around appraisal skill in hopes that he could get some form of an answer. 

’??

???

Arcane string master system

????

Hold justice over everything and will strive for the ultimate protection of the elven way of life.’

Walker was amazed that the skill had given him so little. But from what he could see the arcane string master system was something that could have exponential use. The level of this elf must be too high to let me see too much of what he is all about. Walker came to this conclusion since he could see the amount of control in the elf’s skills. It would also make sense that only someone very powerful would be guarding prisoners. 

The elves tied the rope ends to the pillar and the party could feel their mana slowly being drained in to the rope. This was a good method for not only harvesting mana but also to suppress criminals in their kingdom. The elven enforcers left the party and headed out of the prison now that they had finished what was ordered to them. They still had man acres of forest to patrol in the day. 

The arcane string master moved in to look over the party. He saw that they were all very dirty being covered in much and small body of wood shavings from trees. He made small hmmms and oh sounds as he evaluated their possible motivations in harming the forest. 

”You all look to be naive children. Naive children with a youngling dragon but still children. Why are you in our forest?” He had seen no proper value in them and was not sure why they would venture s far in to the elven kingdom. 

The ropes around Walker’s mouth slowly unfurled as the man spoke. ”We were projecting it and researching the decay. Those branches were affected by the purple slime sand would have killed the trees if we did not cut them. We need to research those slimes and stop them.” Walker spilled this out of his mouth as fast as possible for fear that he would be bound again. 

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