The people of the Crater Lake Village were jubilant as they climbed aboard their own Disks, parents hugging their children tight. Everything started off with a demonstration that they would not fall off if they did not let go, namely by tilting everything sideways and people gasping and flailing as they and their belongings didn’t go tumbling.
That little bit of fun done, we just headed southeast for the Crater’s slopes. I flew up parallel to the cliffs as the Disks followed behind me, heading up to the rim of the Crater, and I waited there as the Mick came running in from the distance.
He flashed a new Major Smoldering Stone at me before tucking it away, and we leapt over the edge of Mount Esper’s scorched black rim as the neighboring Elementals, having backed politely away at my warnings, watched all the cold mortals stream past and go over the edge after me.
The roller-coaster was mild, as these were civilians, not adventurers or soldiers, but I still had a bit of fun with them as we descended a couple thousand feet over the miles towards the headwaters of the River Esper, eventually settling down above its surface and streaking down the length of it, just above the waters, to many cheers and gasps of relief from behind me.
Everyone was looking and pointing at all the trees and things to see outside the crater, even the rocks in the waters and small waterfalls and streams gaining attention as new and wonderful.
It was a world without Fire Elementals everywhere, and if strange and alien to some of the children, no doubt they’d get used to it quickly.
Of course, there were many other kinds of monster spawns around, which, like a good tour bus operator, I went around, pointing them out and identifying them for the people, noting that they were all uniformly hostile, and that one of the things they’d be learning to do as they grew up was Seal those Summon points so people didn’t have to worry about such things anymore.
Veering east off the river to go overland allowed us to show more of the local hostile creatures, especially the olthoi, which utterly terrified many of the children and made the adults grit their teeth to see them once again.
The undead who’d attacked the Crater were the boogeymen of the children, and now they finally got to see the boogeymen of their parents, too!
They had never moved overland with the speed we were traveling at. The Mick was pacing me as, Wings spread, I skimmed over the surface of the ground in a relaxed and composed manner. He could have played the donkey, but I let him run about and show off to them what a true paramount could accomplish now.
He did a lot of one-hitting the landscape Summons who were in the way, too, making the kids whoop and impressing the wide-eyed adults who had a much better idea how hard it was to chop a Hunter Shreth fully in half with one sweep of a Sword.
Of course, the Lady Magos with the wings full of stars and moons was impressive enough on her own, but they hadn’t seen me put out much magic that was showy… although the beam of fire that had thrown the sun into shadow and chewed through a section of the Inner Crater before blazing a thousand paces through the air had been pretty spectacular…
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We rolled through Eastham, taking only an hour’s rest as the villagers got to speak and mix with the others living there. The few Aun with the villagers elected to leave at this point, taking up with the Hea and Aun there and leaving to be escorted to surviving relatives by them, giving them time to re-familiarize themselves and their children with the old ways as they made the overland journey by themselves.
Then it was on to the south, past the crater and memorial that was all that was left of the virindi treachery at Dryreach. We continued on down the coastal trails to Hebian-to, where they were first exposed to the Freeholder undead who had risen up to buy enough time for the living survivors of the south to retreat up the peninsula to freedom.
From there it was south along the road to the new trade city of Nanto that was slowly rising into importance, and thence to the major settlements and farms that were building up around Mayoi and the local hills of the bay and valley.
We’d naturally Messaged ahead, and so there were already potential homes and settlements being arranged. Specifically, I ran them to an area to the west of Mayoi after introducing all of them to Master Ben Ten and his skeletal Legion of the Sun, reimpressing on them that the south in many ways owed the undead more than their lives here.
Of course, those who demonstrated desires to take up arms and magic had to be assigned to the right places, but places were cleared and set for them even as they helped their friends and neighbors settle into new homes, buildings that hadn’t even existed until I got there shortly ahead of them and built them.
But that was something for another time.
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As we didn’t want the undead to have any chance of infiltrating the Halls of Lost Light and finding or destroying the Fountain, it necessitated having at least a small garrison present who could seal the way to it. I had closed most of the tunnel from the lower level off from outside access, but I could certainly open it from the outside myself and seal it behind me, so entering the Halls, even with Interdictions up to foil dimensional shenanigans, was not difficult.
Word had already spread about the Major and Minor Elemental Stones, and we’d delivered the news of the availability of the Esper Essences to followers of the Lost Light. Thus, there was a bit of a crowd as we brought the burning white flames of Mount Esper to the Font of the Lost Light, and there deposited them one by one into the ghostly white tendrils and whorls coming out of the Font.
The effect of the mystical Flames was instantly visible. The seals were dissolved away from the Infusions, and flows of hot white energy shot through the Font repeatedly. Ghostly energies solidified into brighter and more solid displays, and the whole room visibly brightened to a considerable degree.
“Imbuing the Weapons drains the Font, and it needs to be replenished,” Princess Kristie nodded, staring at the display with a pleased smile on her face. “You dropped a Seal for easy Teleporting?” she asked, as we turned and headed down the stairs to the altar.
“Three. One at the village, one at the Jahannan Vault, an’ one outside o’ the magical shenanigans goin’ on,” the Mick assured her. The Major Smoldering Stones were already being distributed among the Knights of the Lost Light and Royal Guards, and had earned the villagers a whole lot of trading capital and favors for themselves from them, who Kristie would make damn sure repaid them in full. “We still have to get into the Crater Caves to get a Bellows or two, so we’ll be going back shortly. You want us t’ be bringing some men who can occupy the place an’ harvest Stones, serve as a jumping-off point t’ get Essences for ‘em?”
“We’re going to tie getting the Essences to getting Aspects of Fire to make things easier all around. Since they give ten at a time, we will send men in groups of five or more, with any extra being used to help the Font. They will also have to get a Smoldering Stone from the Vault to pass onto their juniors or replace that given them by the villagers there, as appropriate. Taking the Stones gained by children is just not appropriate.
“They aren’t allowed to equip a Major without first gaining the Minor Stone, either. So there’s going to be time delays as we accumulate the Minor Stones.”
Us three, Briggs, and the royals were on the short lists for the first Minor Stones. Borelean didn’t technically need them, but not having them would have looked bad, even if most of his Karmic gains were coming from Dungeons and not active landscape reclamation.
All three Royals were urgently trying to make Nine in Matrix Casting and gain the ability to Teleport, however!
“Also,” Kris looked to me, “am I correct in saying that a Linejump should be able to bypass the dimensional uncertainty there? So, a group could Linejump from the base or a nearby mount to the Vault without having to make the climb or try some pyric method of flight?”
“Might be easier to just make stairs from the base to the top,” I shook my head. “Just conceal it with an illusion that only opens to the Lost Light.”
“Better,” she agreed with a nod. “Can you commit to a weekly trip to get more Essence with a group?”
“Certainly.” Just an hour of my time and getting the mana back for the spells. A Mass Aspect of Fire wouldn’t be all that much to get back.
“We’ll get a post set up by the Vault there, they can rotate in and out on a weekly basis. You cleared a route in and out by foot, so they have a way to retreat without magic.”
“Might want t’ include another, if the stairs do be compromised,” the Mick suggested.
“Feather Fall and jump?” I asked archly.
“Or just ropes and rappelling, or a one-way drop tube?” Kris reasoned.
“All three?” was the Mick’s contribution.
I just rolled my eyes. “Making work for me…”
“Well, of course. After you secure a couple Bellows, what are your plans?”
“For personal purposes, Ulgrim’s Island. Yourself?”
“We’re going to Xik Minru and securing the Deru Tree there. The moarsmen Summons before the ingress point is a superb mass combat practice arena. It is going to become a regular training point for the army.”
I sighed. “And you want me to set up a Long Jump for it from Ithaenc.”
Kris beamed. “She does think ahead so much, Lord Mick!”
“Aye, one o’ those troublin’ traits o’ hers, gettin’ away from so much fun spontaneity an’ foolhardiness, I know, I know,” he sighed dramatically. “How’re me Roaches doing?”
“Moaning and complaining that they don’t measure up to the specializing Knights, who moan and complain about the versatility and group coordination of your Roaches. It’s rather fun listening to them think they don’t measure up to one another.”
“And Briggs?” I asked.
“He wants to secure access to the other two Vaults.” Kris pointed at the Mick. “Guess who gets that mission?”
“I be only at Seven in the Magery. I can Linejump out o’ danger, but not Teleport,” he said. “An’ that be not workin’ all that well from inside a Dungeon. I be not going in without a team.”
“Wouldn’t expect it. We want a Teleport Seal placed close by for the teams who will go in. Are you confident in working overland and getting such things in place solo?”
He looked north, towards the unseen Direlands past the walls. “Aye. Aye, I can do that. I can run away with a Linejump easy enough if wounded, an’ recover fast enough on me own with the Wands and the like.”
“We fully expect certain areas of the Direlands are going to be completely impassable to normal dimensional magic, including pretty much all of the Obsidian Plains. So, we’d like reports on the status of several areas you can shuffle through with speed, not needing to kill anything. The Shadow Mines, the ruins of Ayan Baquar, the Lightning and Acid Vaults, and the Gotrok Chorozite and Aetherium Mines.”
“Isn’t the biggest o’ the latter o’ those up by the Plateau?” he asked with a frown.
“Yes, so lower on the priority. Actually, Elder Oswald and his students should be taking that one, as he considers the North his private turf. Clearing it would be a good test for his people.”