Two days after the Ocalan Hog Parade

"... spend another minute in this building I am quite literally going to explode," Daniela shouted. "I'd just gotten a sweet gig where I could cook for money for magic's sake! And if you make me lose that because you are paranoid about going out on the street Ronan, I will end you."

"Danny, I hate to disagree with you," Jolene started, digging into the cyclical conversation that had been droning in my ear over the last day. "But I think Ron is right on this."

"Why are you still complaining about this? We lived in a concrete pillbox our whole lives. The Embassy has windows and food." Samuel argued. "Plus, it's raining outside anyhow!"

"Rain isn't a problem when you run hot!" Just to make her point, Daniela released her and gave everyone other than me and Billy a mild sun tan. The former because Limestone Skin didn't care about that level of roasting, and the latter because Billy was reading a book perched at the top of the oak tree that was growing around Hec. I was somewhat suspicious of what the Entity was doing since branches seemed to be growing into it, but considering it had been a lab rat for several years I let the giant crystal have its fun.

"Not to start this argument over again," Billy said, starting the argument over. "But what are we waiting for?"

"Devon and April," I said, sighing as I put down the block of stone I was carving with finger-wide spell chains. "April and the Zebelos are still processing evidence and making covert inquiries as to what they found. Devon is going to have Sarah make a relay of scouts so we can stay in touch with the Allied Towns while this situation comes to a head."

"You don't think this is isolated?" Sam asked, frowning.

In response, I pointed over my shoulder to the dormitory area I'd made in the Embassy. One of the rooms had been converted into an honest to goodness conspiracy theory den. One wall had every bit of the warnings we'd been given by the nameless now-deceased air Tendril, a second with everything we knew about the Tendrils and Appendages of the city of Ocala and the third with information on just what the 'magic madness' could be. Had the fourth wall not been taken up by the doorway, it would have likely been covered in notes too. Instead, there was just a sheet of paper with a big question mark under the word 'Courier'.

"We can't just stay here though," Daniela complained. "We are just baiting an attack that will not come if we are expecting it. If the Aberrants are somehow pulling strings from the shadows, then they are competent enough to realize what we are hoping for. Plus, it's not like you stopped the other three from going to their exchange lessons!"

"She does have a point," Sam said, his regret at voicing that immediately apparent when he spotted the shark grin on Danny's face.

"I get it, I do, but we need to be a bit more tactical about this. The other Dreg Warriors have a whole group of the Cloth Muscles escorting them around for the time being and they are providing us information just..."

"Not as quickly as any of us would like?" Jolene provided, plucking the half finished statue of the mother sturgeon from my hands.

"Yeah, it would be nice if--"

Boom. The crack of thunder was immediately followed up by a body hurtling through the ceiling of the embassy. A living static cloud seemed to reform from the very bolt that had struck a very smoky Devon. They, and a buddy that looked like a whirlpool with sapphires for eyes, started to follow through the opening pouring rain into the embassy. The Implant immediately latched on to the two creatures, flashing a diffused gold as they failed to retain set forms.

To say our squad was trained for quick response would be an understatement.

Samuel had already tapped Daniela with his before diving for the twitching elf. Billy was fastest on the scene, using his and his to divert another lightning strike aimed at Devon. Billy's book caught fire as tongues of electricity curled around his cloud stuff and prodded at his body before grounding into the poor oak tree. Daniela exploded in a puff of steam as she launched herself into the air with the help of every bit of force her could add to her jump, taking her through the strange whirlpool. After punching a brunette-sized hole in the elemental, the creature started to spin faster and send frosty bands of water at its attacker. Jolene didn't let that go unpunished.

Her mana coiled through the air, detonating the water before it could get too far from the elemental. The mermaid shivered, frost coating her much more quickly than the magical expenditure should have done. Nevertheless, it was enough. Daniela back flipped off the ceiling and blasted yet another hole through the whirlpool. On her way through, she left a fiery present in the form of her which started laying into the creature trying to reform any semblance of its spin.

Of course, I wasn't intending to sit out the party just because I wasn't the best at range. With a flex of will, mana flowed into my Accretion Amulet and sealed the opening. The constant roar of the wind grew muted, and I saw both the lightning and water elementals lose significant size simply by being cut off from the storm outside. Daniela and Jolene capitalized on that, blasting the whirlpool into incongruent blobs of water that were turned to steam or fine mist with an application of Jolene's Skill.

With the weakened lightning, Billy was able to subvert the living storm shocking him and using his as its name intended. The compound use of his Skills became the perfect Faraday cage and he lowered the still struggling creature down to the ground. Daniela went to check on Devon, but when I saw Sam give her a woozy thumbs up I knew he was alright. Jolene and I glared at the cage.

"Sorry, sir, I don't know much longer I can hold it," Billy said, gritting his teeth from his perch on the tree.

"Let it out," I said evenly, the spell chain for already forming out of the muddy debris Devon's entrance had made. When that wasn't enough, mana coalesced into the grains of sand waiting to carve a piece of retribution.

As soon as Billy parted the cloud stuff, a bolt of lightning zipped towards Jolene. My Shard Axe Hammer easily interposed itself, Fievil growling in my head as the air mana coursed through him before he released the reins on his Arcane Sink. Fievil spared no expense stifling the lightning and forcing the elemental into a vaguely avian shape of electricity that hurt just to look at with the sheer weight of his mana field. Then I brought down the hammer. Thunder rumbled in the building before the sparks that made up the elemental fractured like spun glass.

Unexpectedly, the deluge of sand I was expecting to grind the creature thanks to my Skill took on a familiar mental image. The ghost of a mole appeared, clamping onto the scraps of lightning as if they were delicious worms. 's halo continued to pour out as Fievil co-oped my Skill until all of it was spent. Everyone that had been watching the end of the fight stood shocked for a second before the remnants of both elementals vaporized. Only into energy, since there were no Material or Infusion remains, which quickly branched into all of the participants of the unwelcomed visitors.

The one at my feet seemed to only produce half the juice as the other, which was mainly notable because the Pith cloud rising from the whirlpool elemental looked twice as big as I recalled one at Q5 being. Nevertheless, our spheres manifested with now practiced ease. Yet another surprising thing happened as no part of the streams were filtered. More precisely, if the lack of discomfort from the absorption was to be believed, there had only been pure Pith to absorb that had somehow assimilated to each of us perfectly.

"Too many questions again..." I grumbled, glancing at the shiny new 5.55% bit banked towards my Traits. Not enough to tip me over by a hair but it would work better with the plan I had in mind. My oldest Trait was ready for an upgrade.

"How's he doing?" Daniela asked, shaking her whole body as if that would clear the banked Pith off her skin.

"His Health is low, but it hasn't crossed the superficial range," Sam explained as he ran his hands over Devon. I might have been mistaken, but it looked like tiny sparks of light rippled from Sam's skin through his neurofilaments. It looked like I wasn't the only one to have finally Assimilated a Trait.

"Superficial range?" Billy asked, the elf half stumbling down the tree with help from Jolene.

"How have we been operating together this long and we haven't had this conversation?" Samuel asked, more to himself than to us, before shaking his head and turning up his 'lecture' tone. "The Health metric in our Status has ranges for what the percentages mean. It's not hard set, especially when you take into account the kaleidoscopic mess that are Attunements and their subsequent Traits."

"Do I still die if it hits 0?" I asked, the question drawing a heavy eye roll from our squad's healer.

"Yes, Ron, you do. Dreg Warriors have taken such a wide range of damage that we've been able to get a good set of rules for evaluating damage and correlating it to the Health in our Status. To put it simply, the first 50% is the superficial range. Not to say it sucks the big one, but your innate healing will recover that with some scarring.

"Beyond that, we have the crippling range which is 50 to 25%. This is a... fluid range, because it can happen after crossing the superficial range or it can happen individually. Say, with losing some fingers or something of the like. This general functional loss can be healed around but your maximum health is lowered. Interestingly enough, it seems your body has an acceptance threshold, or perhaps it is a factor of Traits, because a missing limb can still let your Health return to 100%; surprisingly Igor was the first to confirm that-- okay, based on how you are all nodding I am going to assume it didn't surprise at all."

"So, that final 25%?" I asked, frowning. It was important information we needed to make sure got spread around as thoroughly as possible. Not every healer had vitality vision, or Sam's anatomical tactility, and sounding off your health could improve triage of injured members.

Samuel grimaced, pausing to use one final to bring Devon to what I assumed was an acceptable level. The Lichtenberg marks that had crept up to his neck from the obvious strike point on his shoulder blade receded as if reversed. He turned the man over, and Daniela released her clenched fists when she watched Devon take a steady breath. "The final range is the functional failure range. This is also often the organic range in which us Life-- and Death-- Attuned operate. Afflictions target the functionality of organic structures in too many ways to count but unless it is an external Affliction, this is what they affect. Sleep effects, Blindness effects, Discombobulation effects, Health draining and Health providing effects all target this deeper range before spilling over into the others. It's why the Overhealed Affliction is even a thing. There is only so much cellular duplication that can happen within a minute without other systems in play."

Jolene was rubbing at her temples. "Suddenly I have even more respect for our healers than I already did. This lecture dealt me direct damage."

"Ha!" Samuel chuckled. "Not the first time I've heard that one. It's important, so that's my bad for not making sure you all knew."

"Do you have to scream right by my ear?" Devon grumbled from where he was recovering at Sam's knees.

"Devon!" Daniela tackled the elf back down from where he'd been trying to sit up. Of course, the show of concern was short lived. Daniela started to smack him right on the injured shoulder, criticizing him for not using the door like a normal person. Samuel sighed, and checked on Billy even if his own injuries were already scabbing over. Lightning against Earth and Air Attuned was the least effective after all.

"Something tells me we aren't going to be able to remain passive anymore," Jolene said, bumping my shoulder gently as she headed for the kitchen.

You have no idea... Vibrosense had been relegated to the background thanks to the constant static of falling rain. Now, even through the interference, I could feel a group headed right for the Embassy and it wasn't the exchangees with their escort.