The new pipe bomb soared through the air towards the camp, and I discovered that it differed from its predecessor.

  Abernathy had tweaked some internal mechanism, allowing the middle canister to shift within the larger part. This inner motion registered as an impact with Kinetic Overload, allowing me to trigger the explosion before the bomb hit something.

  Before this change, I wasn’t able to expend charges of Kinetic Overload until the thrown object hit something, usually a person or thing. Abe hadn’t told me about this minor adjustment with major implications, but the potential to expend charges of the explosive energy registered the second it left my hand.

  The heavy man began shifting as he screamed a warning, sitting up. He fell back and shifted his weight again to throw himself forward and out of the chair. The two armored men turned towards his shouts, their eyes locking on the metal canister that reflected the firelight as it flipped in the air over their camp.

  I detonated the bomb as it soared over the fire, ducking behind the cart. The explosion echoed throughout the mountain pass.

  BWUAH! Bwuah! Bwuah! Bwuah! Bwuah!

  Thrown Weapon skill increased! (10/50)

  Magical Explosion skill increased! (10/50)

  The blast shook the cart and echoed from the distant mountains for several seconds. My ears rang with a familiar pain and I consumed a minor healing potion from my Quick Slot, restoring my hearing. Something heavy and loud in the distance shifted and roared as the reverberating sound waves triggered a landslide or avalanche far, far away.

  A thick film of off-white goo, speckled with tiny metallic fragments, splattered several feet beyond the cart and through the gap between the front and back wheels. I had crouched behind one of the wheels, which were broad, solid circles of wood and blocked the webbing.

  The lizards reared back, just beyond the reach of the webbing, tearing free from their tethers and running away into the deepening gloom of night, hissing and clicking in terror.

  I stood and took a few steps away from the cart, avoiding the webs. The entire camp, and thirty feet in every direction beyond the camp, was covered in a thin layer of webbing. Clumps of the sticky material had formed at the base of the small wall on the eastern portion of the camp, as well as at the bottom of the tower on the western side.

  Three humanoid shapes lay under the web. The fat man that had been struggling to sit up from his chair lay motionless, a scarlet stain spreading from several bits of metallic debris penetrating the webbed area around his head. The other two shapes twisted and writhed in the webbing, yelling, completely covered by the thin membrane.

  The cannister had detonated above the fire pit, spreading a wide swathe of webbing across the camp and beyond. Webbing extended halfway up the ruined tower, and coated every surface in and around the camp.

  Near the center of the camp, where the fire had been, a small ember emerged, sending a single curl of smoke into the air. I saw it and turned, running to distance myself from the area.

  I went to send a message, but it happened too quickly for me to warn Katarina. The fire spread along the webbing in a flash of intense heat and a whumph that shoved me from behind. The trapped men’s muffled curses turned to screams of pain and terror, then to silence.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  The field of webbing ignited and burned away in a flash of intense heat, leaving a field of charred black streaked with embers and bits of metal. All three shapes now lay motionless, smoking from the intense wave of heat. A heady mixture of burned smells filled my nose consisting of hair, flesh, and an odd chemical scent.

  Abernathy: Are you both alright?

  Chanter: Kat? You ok?

  A body soared through the air from the tower, dropping the twenty or so feet to land on the opposite side of the camp, beyond the burnt webbing. The fourth man, bound and with one shoulder laying at an unnatural angle, lay unconscious. I hurried around the charred camp as Katarina made her way back down the tower.

  Katarina: I’m fine, got the lookout. Didn’t think the web-bomb-thing would be incendiary. Nice touch, Abe!

  Abernathy: Incendiary? It shouldn’t have… oh no. Did you throw it at the fire? I didn’t think to warn you…

  Chanter: Yeah, it would have been good information to have, though it was definitely effective. Was that because of the webbing?

  Abernathy: Partially. The alchemical compound I used to suspend the central chamber and keep the webbing in a dormant state is also flammable, so the two together are highly flammable. I am so sorry. Are you sure you’re okay?

  Chanter: We’re good, it worked out. Go ahead and bring the cart back up, if the donkeys didn't turn tail and run like the lizard things they had.

  Abernathy Galileo and Copernicus are alright, I distracted them with carrots.

  Katarina laughed, kneeling down and turning over the unconscious man. “Good, he survived the drop.”

  Katarina: Those donkeys and their damn carrots. Glad you could keep them calm. That was a big boom.

  She winked at me. “Real big, nice job.”

  I noticed a bit of blood on her cheek. One eye was swollen slightly. “Are you okay? What happened there?”

  She reached up touching her cheek. “Oh, this? He moved faster than I expected, got an elbow in before I had him tied up. Lucky hit, I’m fine.”

  I released a stored instance of Radiant Winds, topping her health off and removing the swollen cut. She smiled. “Thanks, lute boy.”

  I smiled back, performing the song to refill the Songcache. Encore joined in and I added a few mana to strengthen it, finishing the song at 95% success. “You okay, Encore?”

  “I’m fine, your head is hard and makes a good pillar to hide behind.”

  I laughed, rustling the fur behind hie ears. Several tails quivered as he pushed into the scratches.

  “Do you mind making a quick loop around, just to make sure that didn’t attract anything dangerous?” I asked.

  “On it.” He turned and leapt up, clearing six feet with ease before lifting into the sky under two sets of powerful, feathered wings.

  The man shifted at our feet, groaning. Katarina had hog-tied his legs and arms at his back before throwing him off the tower. The side of his face that had landed on the rough earth was bruised and scratched. The shoulder looked worse now that I was closer, extended beyond what I would expect a simple dislocation to be, but mine was far from a professional medical opinion.

  He began making an awful sound, a blend of moans, groans, and shuddering coughs. “Oh gods it hurts. What in the —”

  He lifted his head, looking around, his face a tight knot of pain. He looked at me, his eyes widening for a moment, then his gaze fell on Katarina. He jerked back, cried out at the sudden movement, and began sobbing. It was difficult to make out exactly what he said, but I could make out the words ‘demon’ and ‘nads’.

  Katarina walked over and kicked him in the ribs. His health dropped down into the red.

  “Teach you to talk to a lady like that. Swine.” She moved her foot to kick him again and I stepped over.

  “Wait, wait. We don’t want to kill him. Yet. We need information, remember?”

  Katarina exhaled through clenched teeth before nodding. “You’re right — you’re right.”

  She settled for kicking some dirt over the man, who lay as curled up as his bound state would allow, crying into the ground.

  Katarina pulled a chair out of her inventory. “Help me with him, please? Want to get him sitting up before we question him.”

  I helped her shift the man into a sitting position and lift him on the chair. He screamed when we angled his arms over the back of the chair. I felt a moment of empathy for the man. Katarina, sensing this, caught my eyes and pointedly looked at the cart full of cages just down the road. The fire had burned away the fabric awning and the cages were visible in the bright light of the waning moon.

  right now on my !