IWUAaDNW: Initiative 6.2

See, Ulfric had had a point when he talked about my minions. They were weak. They were pathetic in a fight. Sure, any one of them would have been a viable minion that I would have loved to have back on Earth Bet, but here on this world where everyone and their grandma had access to an internal force that made them possible superhumans? Where anyone could achieve a brute or blaster rating with a bit of training? They were woefully inadequate.

I did, however, have a weapon I could use against adventurers.

The adventurers themselves.

I started slow. A flap of wings here, a flashing pixie here, a screaming bird there. A couple of spiders pulling at the webs in the canopy to simulate a gust of wind, only without any accompanying wind.

The entire time, I followed them with a couple of wasps perched on spiderback, buzzing their wings far too slow to actually fly––more importantly, just low enough to produce a low, monotone hum, just barely loud enough to be audible. Infrasounds, which I knew from experience were a great way to make people nervous without letting them know exactly why.

And, hidden under the cloak of my luminous pixies, a few dozen Lesser Ravens, all empowered by the upgrade “Fearsome Flock”. I had tried it on a couple of my other minions, and the effect reminded me a bit of a low-key Glory Girl; their stares had a minor emotion-manipulation master effect, causing whoever and whatever was affected to feel a very mild sense of fear. This usually made the target afraid of the ravens themselves, but if the ravens were hidden, then the anxiety had no direction, which, from experience, I knew would only worsen the effect.

Alone, each of the little things I was doing was a minor annoyance, at best. Combined, they amplified each other. I had turned the entire floor into a sustained psychological attack, which I hoped even experienced adventurers wouldn’t be prepared for.

It worked wonders. It wasn’t long before I spotted nervous sweat on Karjn’s brow. Ulfric’s grip on his battleaxe was far too taut. Eira’s breathing was louder than usual, and she’d taken off her hood. Raffaa wasn’t smiling.

Pixie floors had passive spookiness.

Mine had active terror.