Corvayne only gave himself a moment to grit his teeth at the incoming flock of black birds, trailing tentacles and shimmering with displacing magic. He upped his initial estimate up to nearly twenty monsters flying at them.
“Into the crevice. If they can't surround us, we can whittle them down. I'll take one side, Grunt get the other.”
Grunt used his boots to speed ahead of them as the group made for the ramp down. Hari stopped to throw out another marking spell, lighting two birds up. Corvayne jogged after Wick. “Mind if I take the rapier?” She pulled it out of her belt and turned and passed it to him. His shadowy limb appeared and stowed his spear as Corvayne swirled the airfoil blade around in a figure eight. The wind magic left a little trail of playfully swirling green. He clenched the shield glove and with a flick a blue-green field shaped like a shield formed on his arm.
He supposed he hadn't shown Wick it before. She pointed at his arm. “What the hell is THAT?”
“Something from the dragon I fought.” He motioned with his head to focus on their enemies.
With the ledges covering their sides, the monsters were forced to attack either Corvayne, Grunt, or strike from directly above. Mister I hit one of the marked ones. Grunt had two swoop at him and for a moment let loose a frenzy of club strikes. One bird fell to the ground, the other got a claw into his shoulder. A mistake: the large man dropped a bat and whipped his hand closed on the invisible bird. There was a horrible crunching sound and cries of pain as the bird appeared, both talons firmly held by Grunt who used it as a bat for the third bird coming in, knocking it back even though it appeared to never get close, then following through to splat his 'club' against the wall.
Corvayne had to cut watching short as two of the birds were now diving at him. He didn't mess with success: [Crescent Blade] was perfect for this. At least, until he remebered the rapier made three images nearly on top of each-other: One bird hit all three and was torn to shreds in an instant. The other slashed Corvayne's face and score a cut on his neck. He spun with the impact and tried to throw a barrage out at the quickly retreating bird. No hits, but his neck wasn't gushing blood. Two more of the birds dove him while others were diving into the group. This time when using [Cross-Skill: Crescent Blade] he slowed his strikes down as much as the rapier would let him, getting a half wall just in time for both birds to hit images. He forced his arm to move without his eyes guiding the weapon, aiming about five stabs in each gap before the birds could move. Both appeared and fell to the ground.
Mister I had one bird harrying him. Even with a nasty gash on his bald head the monk had time to call out “No! My beautiful hair!” then use his hunting bow as a stick to try to fend the monster off. Mosh had his spear wavering between targets, but Hari was next to him throwing out more markers and nailing one bird with a thrust of her quarterstaff.
Corvayne didn't waste her effort as another bird dove at him. He forced the rapier to spread out it's barrage of attacks, two of them connecting what felt like open air. Thankfully the monsters were not durable and two stabs was enough for it to fall to the ground, flailing it's wings and trying to scratch him. Corvayne just gave it a solid kick as the next bird dove him from behind. He let his danger senses guide his movements and it seemed it worked better then his eyes: the bird was hit by nearly every jab and appeared before falling to the ground dead.
Grunt was bleeding all over, but now had four birds dead by his feet with a fifth joining them as a titanic crack marked him breaking yet another bat and a bird with it. Two more birds dove Corvayne, one getting a grip on his rapier arm while the other snuck a hit and run on his other shoulder, missing his head only because he leaned away. He willed his shadow limb to strike above where he had a gash and the snake-like jab of it's black claws punched through something. He spun as the dead bird fell off his arm, taking some of the arm with it. He felt burning pain with all those wounds but didn't hesitate to use [Phantom Knife] with the rapier. He threw his weapon, missing the bird still above the group harassing Wick but also forcing it to back off. The skill ensured his foil returned to his hand. It's grip whipped back into his hand and he watched as Mister I hit the monster he had distracted with a well placed arrow.
After a few seconds Mosh asked “Was that the last of them?”
Corvayne held a hand up and climbed to the top of the ridge. He surveyed the sky and looked cliff to cliff. When he was satisfied that he didn't miss anything he raised his hand. “Clear.”
Mister I got to work bandaging up minor cuts and scrapes. Mosh insisted on healing Corvayne, perhaps because he was covered in his own blood. “Don't give me that 'I'm fine' routine Boss. You are leaking from a dozen places.”
Corvayne unsummoned his shield and let the goblin work as Hari strode over to the chest and started checking it. No trap or mimic. Hari showed off the first item: what looked like an eyeball. “It looks almost like a clockwork eye! Oh this has got to be good...” She used her spell then got excited. “Exceptional! It's a... I don't know what it means. Corvayne, do you know what an occular implant is?”
“Yeah. It's a body part replacement. Given it's an eye, it probably improves what wavelengths you can sense. I have no idea why it'd be in a wooden box.”
“Wait... you would take out your own eye?” Hari paled at that.
Corvayne smirked. “I assume it was for a slightly less organized group who fought those birds.” He frowned when no one laughed.
“Not very reassuring Boss.” Mosh also looked a shade of green lighter.
Hari held the eye away from her. “Well, I don't understand everything it's telling me, but the implant also is enchanted with dexterity.”
Mister I sighed. “That would be something I'm interested in, but nobody else here can do surgery.” He looked at Mosh who responded by shaking his head.
The Monk pointed at Mosh and the goblin laughed before saying, “You are NUTS if you think I'm going to try it. Or use it!”
Corvayne thought about it. “We might sell it. Or wait until we have someone who's missing an eye and needs a spare. If it's perfect for someone but we can't use it, my instinct is that we might as well turn it into money so we can dive in here and find things that we can use.”
Hari handed Wick the eyeball, then bent over to reach into the chest. She pulled out a piece of chalk, pinkish in color. She felt it, then turned it about. “Chalk of rest. Putting a circle around an area makes a relatively safe camp. It can't stop extremely strong monsters.”
“Useful to us, almost no value out in the real world.” Wick accepted the chalk as well.
Hari pulled out potions. A gray one, a vial with clear fluid, and a little cluster of bottles shaped like pencils with wax handles blocking green fluid.
“The gray one is strength. Temporarily bulks you up.”
Wick took it and waved it to Grunt. “I say it's for our strongest guy to double down on being the strongest.”
Corvayne also might have taken it, but he had kept a healing potion on him since the dragon incident. He focused on Hari who was holding up the clear vial.
“Oh. Vial of sleeping. Considered a poison as you can apply it to darts, getting it into the blood or body via consumption puts the target into a magical sleep. Not recommended you use it with bladed weapons or a lance as the sleep has a threshold for how damaged something can be.”
The weird green cluster of potions she pulled out next caused her to raise an eyebrow. “It's ammo: Bolts of acid. Really really strong and dangerous. They will hold their form while pulled out of the wax and fired, but once shot they become super corrosive.”
“We don't have a crossbow... could we even sell them?” Corvayne didn't think they were the kind of magic that people wanted.
Hari nodded. “There would be a market for them where I come from. And buying a mundane or even toy crossbow to fire these would be worth it: one shot offensive items tend to be extremely strong.”
Corvayne considered the rather dangerous feeling vial. Hari reached into the chest and pulled out a fur coat. “Mundane, but very luxurious.” She pulled out a pair of blue boots. “Also mundane, but they feel soft.” Then she produced a bag of coins. A mix of silver and gold. “There's one more thing... looks like another painting.” She produced another one of the coast of Cascadia.
Grunt took it and placed it carefully in his backpack with the other paintings.
“All this loot is getting heavy.” Wick showed off that her pack was full.
Corvayne nodded. “We are almost out of here. I figure we'll find another chest on the fifth floor, and if our hands are full walking back to the car, that's probably a good problem to have. The meat will definitely sell.”
Mister I laughed. “Not every man owns a crossbow and kills with it, but every man eats.”
Still, they had to get back. Corvayne kept them on the route for another two islands. The first was far above surrounding pillar-cliffs, giving him a view of a gradual gradient in the islands and the view of more then a few bridges. He picked the only path that would lead to a higher cliff to the side of where they were going. He very much welcomed the second island having tree cover. Everyone felt some of the tension drop as they no longer were constantly craning to look up for potential threats. They didn't spend long in the red and blue trunks before they spotted a cave in the rocky wall leading up.
The next floor Covayne stepped out under a shining blue sky. The grass was green, the trees were browns and grays with proper green needles. It looked at a single glance like they had crawled up to Cascadia National Forest, abet one where there was a sun overhead rather then endless clouds. There were large towers made of wood that dotted the landscape. It was the detail that established it was still a tower floor. To corvayne they looked like long brown varnished tuning forks holding up tracks also made of wood. He saw a 'car' that looked more like a cage of vines glide along the track. Looking further around, they were everywhere, cruising off what looked like a titanic cliff and stopping at fortress-like stations. Down and in the distance, perhaps a mile lower then him, he could see the shimmering of an endless sea, with more tracks running out along them and more pillars fading into a blue haze that matched the horizon of sky and sea.
He gave everyone a straightforward plan. “Let's look around the interior of this island, then we'll storm one of those wood forts to ride to a different island.”
Mister I was looking up in the air. “Just be aware that once more there's danger in the sky.” He pointed with his finger and Corvayne followed. He saw more birds gliding in the open air between the huge cliffs. He needed to watch the distant monster before he saw they were far bigger even then the displacers on the last floor. They were not roc sized, but that was what came to mind.
Corvayne met the Monk's eyes. “Take heart Mister Icariii. The bigger they are...”
The monk smiled and nodded. “The better they taste!”
The woods had a few furry slugs and large armadillos, with the former not being a problem and the latter not attacking. There was a path around the island and across the hill in the middle that Corvayne visualized as a figure eight shape, but there were no chests or an exit up on the island they could find. There was a path winding down the cliff to another station lower down, but the group decided that unless they absolutely had to trek down the steep path, they wanted to stay away from the edges.
The fortress didn't have any monsters in it, which came as a small suprise to Corvayne. It wasn't as interesting inside as he had assumed at first glance: The wood structure was a pair of stairs and a framework of logs supporting a platform rather then having rooms inside. The top had a few covered areas but otherwise was mostly open to the sky. The wood they were standing on looked like a hardwood floor that had scattered objects along the walls that reminded him of the train stations he had seen at Cascadia. That was only a first impression as looking closer Corvanye could see the benches, signs, garbage and the lone vending machine were made of plants with leaves arranged as if someone carefully pruned and shaped it to mimic objects. He peeked into a garbage can and saw the interior was a leaf collecting rain water.
As interesting as those plants were, he didn't let his curiosity distract him. Looking out over the vast gap Corvanye spotted that a pair of the huge birds had turned and was gliding their way. They looked to be blue and green, shaped like desert scavengers. He wasn't the only person that had been keeping tabs on the skies. Mister I had set his meat-laden hiking pack down and had pulled an arrow out of his quiver. Grunt had also noticed the incoming monsters as he had drawn one of his baseball bats and was leaning on it, watching the monsters fly towards them.
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“Incoming. Big birds.” Corvayne called out before turning to the monk. “Mister I, we might as well use some ammo here.”
Corvayne then pulled his own pistol out of a side flap of his pack and had his shadow hand grabbed a spare clip. Mister I put his bow on his pack and pulled his rifle off his back then loaded it, and lined up with one of the distant birds. There was a crack and Corvayne could see a puff of feathers trailing one of the two monster birds. Mister I was very serious as he aimed again and cracked off another shot. Seeing him so focused made Corvayne think the previous floor had given him and everyone else respect for what a moderate sized bird could do. Wick pulled out her wand and aimed at the birds, then started firing off distorted green orbs the size of eggs.
One of the incoming giant birds got clipped by a [Disrupt] and slowed considerably. The other took enough rifle hits that it's wing went a little lame and the huge bird started losing altitude in a wobbly spiral. Corvayne took a shooter's stance and fired four times at the remaining bird once it was within a hundred yards. He didn't feel the pistol was very powerful, but it helped bloody the bird further before he switched his spear. There was another disruption and rifle round that hit the bird before Corvayne dug his feet in and set for the huge monster diving him. He looked at it and saw it had no eyes, just a head with a huge beak on it.
Corvayne watched the line that formed the huge bird growing and gliding then suddenly it was all wings. He fought the impulse to run away as the bird impaled itself on his spear, it's huge claws twitching inches from him before his spear caught something in the monster's body and jerked him backwards a step. Corvayne would have fallen over over but he had set his feet and spear just well enough to hold his ground. The monster kept writhing, blood streaming from it as it tried to snap his head off with it's beak. Corvayne twisted his spear and the monster shrieked in rage. He saw a staff come down hard on the monsters skull and felt the bird jerk one more time before falling limp.
Corvayne breathed a sigh of relief. Given how active that monster was he sure he was going to get shredded by it had it kept pushing into his weapon. Perhaps next time those birds attacked them he'd use the meat cleaver and aim to dodge then strike when it passed him.
Mosh clapped. “Good work everyone!”
Corvayne leaned down and offered him a hand to help him get out from under the bench shaped bush he'd hidden under. “I'd recommend setting a spear... there's no way a bench will stop a monster like that.”
“Sure Boss. I'm the guy they can pick up and just carry off but let me try to play chicken with those giant birds.”
Corvayne shrugged. He passed on calling the goblin a reliable chicken. “Good counter point. But we are going to be stuck on a train soon.”
As he spoke the car was arriving. It looked to have rolling wood components that connected the base of the car to the rail and was made up of three long cars, connected by more vines that were parting to let them aboard. There were seats made of wood, all fashioned out of what looked like roots and branches woven together in a way that left the sitting surface smooth. The entire contraption looked like a cage: hopefully strong enough that birds wouldn't attack them over the open air. Grunt looked over the wood lip of the carts walls, past the vines down at the distant ocean. Corvayne took a seat where he could watch Grunt's back, and Hari sat next to him and grabbed his hand very hard.
They had a full minute and a half after everyone was on before the gap in the vines formed bars again and the tree-train started building up speed as it followed the wood rails floating on nothing out into open air. Wick looked and laughed but then Corvayne felt one of her hands grab his, perhaps without noticing she was digging nails in.
“Easy. We'll be to the next station in no more then a few minutes.”
He saw a pair of big birds and a flock of smaller ones flying between two distant cliffs start to slowly veer to them.
“Oh great.” He looked between them and started gauging the speed they were going vs the flock. “Mister I, can I borrow your rifle?”
Icariii handed him the weapon. Corvayne checked the clip: ten shots. More then he'd get off. The monk asked “Do you think you can hit the big one enough times to stop him?”
“I'm going to try one of the abilities I couldn't test inside.”
He lined up the rifle using the lip of the cart to steady the gun. For as much as Coming-In-Hot made training miserable by shooting everyone, she was unquestionably the best sharpshooter in the Watcher's village and had endlessly snipped away Corvayne's bad habits when shooting while harping at him to think about what he was fighting. That meant for a monster like the bird he'd have to hit something vital. He decided to try to clip the monster's head. He let his hands and eyes guide the sight on the rifle. He breathed in once, then out, held it, aimed and used [Drill Shot] as he squeezed the trigger.
The shot left a faint red spiral to his eye, and he heard two cracks: the bullet firing and the sound of the skill activating. The effect on the bird was instant as it jolted then plummeted with wings trailing. Corvayne took a deep breath in and out as he placed the rifle on the rim, and aimed once more. The other huge bird was closer now. One more chance. [Drill Shot] fired off another spiral and the second bird stopped for a moment then started to flap wildly, losing altitude. He had missed where he was aiming, but got enough of the wing to send it plummeting to the sea below. He handed the rifle back to a stunned Mister I
The monk then cried out “I want to do that too!”
Corvayne kept his face neutral. “No time to train you before the birds come. Try to keep them out of the cage.”
He drew his spear and his shadow hand passed Hari the airfoil rapier. Then the squawking monsters struck and he had no time to do anything but stab and run about trying to keep birds from squeezing in. Corvayne and Hari moved between sides and Grunt took charge of killing any that snuck in. No time to think of anything but skewering and flying feathers and birds screaming.
A huge bird slammed into the car from the other direction and for a moment it was on two wheels. Corvayne used [Leap Strike] immediately, his little hop slamming onto the elevated side of the car and knocking it back onto it's tracks. Someone was screaming and he put even money between Hari and Mosh.
He saw that Grunt had grabbed the goblin before he could fall out, and that the girls were still in the car, as well as a trio of birds. He didn't dare deal with the small ones, not with the big monster tearing away part of the cart. He tried to jab it's face and got a gouge on his arm from a jagged piece of wood. The eyeless bird was still rocking the car as it opened a gap large enough to stick it's upper body in. He met it's head with his spear, using [Cross-Skill: Shield Bash] on the bird. The moment it was stunned was enough for it to lose it's grip on the car. It only fell ten feet or so before it started flapping to catch up, aiming to perhaps ram the car again. There were sounds of something being slammed into the cart and more rocking but Corvayne didn't look back and instead drew his pistol with his shadow hands and took a firing stance. He lined up with the bird then fired at a steady clip, each shot aimed at the base of the wing. He emptied the clip then let his arms down as he saw through broken branches the big bird was dead.
Then Corvayne heard the last small bird go quiet. He looked around the cage and at the group, where everyone was okay but all looking nervously at the damage done during the fight.
Besides Corvayne, everyone else jammed the gap out of the cage when they arrived at a platform. He stepped off last, hoping there was a way out on this island rather then forcing them to ride again. One of those large birds hitting the car nearly killed them all. Maybe: He could possibly survive and have enough working parts to swim. That and Wick's robe and the scroll he had that seemed designed for falling. If at all possible he'd avoid ever testing any of them.
Corvayne let everyone take a moment to collect themselves as he looked over the wooden lip of the station down at the hilly forest. This cliff top had a central rocky peak with hills up out of the woods. There were some bluffs that he suspected might hold the next stairway.
It wasn't much more then five minutes walk to reach a fork in the path. Corvayne took the route which guided the group up a steep grassy hill, keeping an eye out for any caves. They didn't find any by the time they were standing on a high point above the forest. Corvayne could trace a few paths winding through the trees, but the only treasure was a spectacular view of the ocean and it's titanic pillars. He even envied the birds as he could see himself wanting to fly over the sparkling water and cruse past the mile long cliffs under each island.
With no stairway the group pressed on around the island. There were painted dogs and a few tentacle birds that were more of a distraction then an actual threat. Corvayne kept them moving at a slow and steady pace. The big birds were not nearly as dangerous as the steel-wired trees had been, but he didn't want to get impatient with the way out somewhere on the floor.
On the fourth rise, overlooking the opposite side's station fort, they found a chest.
Hari started her usual inspection then backed up. “Mimic.”
Corvanye nodded and struck out, his spear flashing as he used [Thrust]. A moment later the chest sprouted a mass of whiping tentacles and he used [Flow-like-Water] to get out of it's range. Wick started lobbing disrupts into it and Mister I peppered arrows into it until the beast bled out. Moving closer, Corvayne cut his way to the center of the monster and pulled out a single slimy pouch. It contained about twenty copper coins, two silver pieces, and an amulet forged of blue metal in the shape of branches, with an amber carved into a heart shape. When he cupped it in his hand he could see the amber was glowing. He handed it to Hari.
She just shook her head. “Apex. Again! You guys... have some absurd luck.” She thumbed through the book and showed them an illustration of a slightly different amulet. “It's an amulet of health. Makes you harder to kill, resistant to disease, and improves your regeneration. It's a must have for any front-line fighter.”
Corvayne nodded. “An amulet that helps it's user stay alive... I think we give it to Grunt.”
Mosh pointed to himself. Grunt shook his head. He pointed at Mosh as well.
“Really... you sure?”
He made a few complicated hand signs, something like big guy hurt, little guy mends. Little guy hurt, can't help him.”
“Boss I get it, it's a big ticket item. But I'd only wear it in a dungeon. Outside? I don't really have to worry about getting sick or aging or healing.”
“Something about the HAF?”
“Yeah. Something like this I could pay for. Heck, the HAF appreciates when people bail their civilians out. You guys will have it made when we get out! They got gold and magic and tech up the wazoo!”
Corvayne hefted his backpack. “I think we got a pretty good haul of stuff as-is, but for now let's keep you alive so you can wow us with your large theoretical wallet.”
“It's REAL I'm telling ya. Even Wick's icy heart will melt.”
Corvayne gave Mosh an even look. “I would say spending less time talking about her private life might help.”
Wick's eye was twitching, but she didn't comment and they got back to scouring the clifftop for a fifth floor exit. When they had exausted following all the pathways, Corvayne picked a platform that continued them moving the same direction. Getting to the station was easy. Getting everyone to agree to another trip was not.
It took about ten minutes of wood carts arriving and leaving for Corvayne to convince everyone to board the fourth to arrive. Their luck was better the second trip as no monsters attacked them and they arrived at a third large cliff top island after a smooth ride.
The plateau they were on was devoid of trees. Instead, the island sprouted fifty foot tall blue stone monoliths sticking up and out of the grass. They, and the paths on the island, all radiated like spokes in a wheel from a central hill. With all the signs pointing to a single stone spot, Corvayne was not surprised to find the stairway up in the lone stone arch built into the rock at the top.