Corvayne walked out of the barracks, got on his hoverbike, and sighed.
"Fuck."
He put his head in his hands. That was two allies knocked out from curses, and Kirae didn't have much to go on for the attacks. The storehouse had a few things that were not claimed including the jade slip 'phones' that some of the people who were killed, both the unlucky ones who had died from mysterious circumstances, and the corpses that had been sucked dry.
He possibly broke a whole bunch of social conventions just telling the first person he saw at the fort to round everything up, but a single black crystal got him a storage ring full of personal affects from intiates who died and had no next of kin. Not surprising was there weren't many more than a few rings up the power ladder, but he figured he'd have a good idea what the next step was once he got the jade slips opened up.
Compass set to Mosh, he blasted across the sect, heading across the flats and around the mountain to the norther forest and headwaters of the big rivers that ran through the area, stemming from a huge rip in the blue starry sky that revealed a red starry sky beyond the water splashing down. Corvayne had studied maps and guessed that it was similar to some of the lower Cascadia floors where the landmasses took up enough room that there were only little holes and cracks like this one.
The result of the huge gap with water pouring off of it were hills formed of grit and calcite deposits, odd trees growing alongside mushrooms and a sickly rainbow of crystal blooms, all big enough that some of the roads passed under wood constructs that kept the crystal from impeding traffic. The weathered stone had water that shimmered flowing over it, vibrant plants swaying in water that covered everything. His hovercycle thankfully didn't lose traction, though he got soaked riding in it through what was essentially a rainstorm.
Getting closer to the crafting center, more and more his views of the crystal studded forest were obscured by mist until he arrived at the steaming heart of forging operations. The blast furnace looked like a power plant, two stone towers bellowing out heat and turning much of the water into vapor.
The complex was much larger than it appeared, having been built and rebuilt as layers had formed over it. He could see a nearby hill where workers in protective gear were braving the steam to keep a vent open. The rain had over the ages formed a hill around it, though he could see glowing red tumors on some of the trees where leaking fire mana had concentrated in the sap. He wondered if it made good syrup.
Stepping into the main entrance hot air was pouring out, almost instantly drying out his skin and starting to evaporate the water on his clothes. There were formations to blast cool air into spots in the hall and up to the stone desk, but even with magic it was a losing battle to hot dry air bellowing out of the ramps that lead deeper in. He didn't bother asking the desk where to go, just letting his compass and the appearance he was supposed to be there keep him out of trouble.
The hall he was in was open to the outside with dozens of doors dug out through the thick stone, rainwater helping cool some of the area. The room itself looked to be a lunchroom, with people sitting down and eating. Many of them were covered in soot and wood dust. Corvayne's path lead him around a shipping area with trucks lined up to be loaded with crates. Passing each door he was blasted with hot air and the smell of burnt metal.
Corvayne's actual goal was a wing that had far less activity. First was a series of cages built into the mountain, crystal poured over gates to keep powerful monsters secure. There was an area for butchering high powered monsters with all sorts tools, chains and huge wooden slabs being cleaned off by initiates likely one some sort of punishment duty. These chambers were laid out so they could be restocked from a broad wide road, suggesting some of the monsters they had to deal with were probably as big as Big Bessie had been. One of the larger ones reeked, and Corvayne held his breath as he stalked past. He entered the last area, which had been converted from a bio weapon butchery to a rather cozy workshop.
Juggernaut was the first thing he noticed - curled up on one of the huge wooden tables, signs of destruction visible where snapped metal chains still hung from the ceiling and links were embedded in walls. Someone had carved those chains into fanciful depictions of monsters on the floor: Cute mandragora bombs holding lanterns, metal links shaped to look like moles using claws and back paws to stick together, the wood holding the table changed to resemble chargers, rammers, skewersteeds, and a creature that looked like a cat with a shovel for a head which Corvayne wasn't familiar with... but would wager liked to hit things with its head given the theme of everything else holding the table up.
All over, the slaughterhouse had every surface cleaned and covered in quilted tapestries, book cases, and gentle lights and plants. Corvayne could smell wood shavings and flowers. From behind a partition, there was the rising whine of a kettle boiling. June appeared in a moment with a teapot.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“Oh Corvayne! It's good to see you.” She smiled and bowed. [[Unity]] picked up a moment of her thumbing through what she should do next before she called out for Mosh.
The goblin had been asleep up in a corner work area that Corvayne had assumed was stonework. He shimmied down a ladder and jumped off halfway, using a sofa to soften his landing and sending pillows flying.
“Boss! God DAMN I had worried when they told me you vanished!”
Corvayne accepted a goblin hug and appraised the too-big robe Mosh was wearing. “I take it they didn't have much luck trying to open Juggernaut up.”
“I do good work! He TRASHED the place! They had to beg me to come calm him down.”
Corvayne saw the things eye open, blink, then close. There was an approving snort.
“I also heard there was a monster that attacked.”
“Oh yeah, it was a moving hole in the universe. Gylwin got it! You'd be proud, I enclosed it in glass and disrupted the ground it was trying to hide on.”
June poured tea, and produced a third cup. “He took a hit for me.” She said, blushing slightly.
The goblin rubbed his head, bashfully looking away. “Aww shucks honey.”
Corvayne took a moment to fill them in, though aside from his dungeon run he did note Mosh nodding a lot. Perhaps Gylwin had already filled him in on some of it.
“With LBC and Spears both out... huh I guess your calling the ol Mosh out of retirement!”
Corvayne thought about it. “I'm worried that our humanoid enemies are going to be a step up from the monsters we beat to get here.” He paused and wondered for a moment how the sect moved goods between floors without triggering boss fights, but he guessed there was likely a way to keep a corridor between floors open once a boss was defeated... he personally had hit a switch to open up the one-way floor.
June nodded. “Mosh can't match the speed of most cultivators, unless Juggernaut is protecting him.” She put an hand on his arm, as if to stop him from running off with Corvayne.
“I'm not confident with the top brass of the sect either. But that's not what help I need right now... I want to see if there's a pattern for the last contact with the Jade Tablets people had on them when they died.”
“Eh, you asking me to HACK these? I ain't a hacker!”
Corvayne smiled. “You are a crafter though, so I got a new one that has a per-programmed code.” He tossed the stone device to Mosh, who sighed and took a scroll with instructions in his hands while holding the phone in the same hand. He kept his other arm free to gesture.
“You want me to just futz with this and magically I'm going to see how to trick every one of these to open up and get you into whatever and whoever's cultivator phone so you can help these idiots out? We should be booking it.”
“There's a good chance that this sect founder has a connection to me. Rio mentioned I'm their spitting image, and they use a black crystal weapon. If I can get access there...”
Mosh shook his head. “No way, they don't want anyone messing with the leaders when they try to get a breakthrough. You know how you flopped out like a dead fish for a few weeks whenever you broke a curse?”
“Recently I didn't...” Actually he might have, he hadn't thought to ask Bayou, Lepin, or Little Wing how long he had been passed out. “Anyway, yes. They stay under for a long time.”
“If they don't know you for certain, there's no way in hell they will let you in there. Believe me, that's almost 100 percent where they put all their best treasures and likely the place has got some insane traps and guardians. You know they got a guy trying to Frankenstein up some bio weapons.”
Corvayne got that reference. “Uh, do you mean make them run away from town like the monster, or patch them together like the doctor?”
Mosh sighed. “Well, if in a few months I can figure out how to skip the code for these slips, we can-”
He finished registering his new one then paused. “Woah woah woah hold up boss. I can see right where the essence goes! Hah! Okay and... zap. Did I tellya I'm a Master Omnicrafter now?”
Corvayne held up one of the locked tablets. “Why don't you call me and tell me all about it?”
One sensible chuckle later they were busy switching each phone's code to 1111. Corvayne had taken notes about which jade belonged to who. Reading through the last few calls and the history of what they looked at, the ones sucked dry had three numbers come up frequently. The ones with bad luck, he looked through their searches and maps. The older jade phones had monochrome or even rippling surfaces that made them hard to read, made worse by the screen sometimes getting hijacked by pop ups.
“Bleh, all those phones have malware on them! Bigger dick and bigger cultivation core!”
June showed an add. “This phone has a quest to have sex with an esteemed elder sister in cultivation, no questions asked, click here.”
“Unclog your meridians...” Corvayne snickered, then frowned. He checked the texts.
“There's an address in Neo Nashville that these keep referring to. Same one that this number sent them.”
Mosh laughed. “Holy crap, these cowboys got phished to death?!”
Corvayne shook his head. “There's a lot of pressure to push upwards so you don't end up like the guys shoveling dirt or poop for two thousand years...”
He stood up. “I'm going to check this out...”
“Boss, maybe get backup?”
He smirked. “Of course, do you think I'd just run in alone.” He frowned as Mosh and June both looked away. “Well, I guess I walked into that one. Alone.”