The next floor was near the steep fold in the neighborhood that Corvayne had pointed them to. He had spotted a gap in the houses from a block away and veered that way to find a path off into a wooded lot. If the landscape was flat it would have been a blue dirt path downhill to a stream bed in normal orientation. With the weird origami folds, the resulting area was like foot path going up a hill with trees all pointing out forty five degrees from an uphill slope.
“It's like we are climbing a big blue porcupine.” Seru commented. Whatever she and Mister I had discussed, she had calmed down. The Monk himself looked thoughtful, and Corvayne hoped Mister I would give him and Wick guidance on what to do with Seru once they had a moment to stop and talk.
There was a concrete stairway near the end of the path that branched off and back down the slope at a dizzying angle that lead to a tunnel where a normally aligned stair way was. Corvayne lead the way up the stairs to the next area, emerging in a misty forest once more. Both pine and deciduous trees loomed out of the mist, covered in moss and surrounded by smaller plants creating a blanket of teal against red and blue wood.
Corvayne didn't see any threats, and there was a clear path forward to a more open area. Stepping forward away from the trees he saw the new orientation of the floor was long needles of forest floating in a slightly yellow foggy void, with what looked like ski-lifts and power lines strung on floating rocks between them... or stretching off into the mist at least. There were also a few monorail tracks but they looked bent and he could see a ruined train car on one line, covered in vines. The outlines of the land-needles that were not swallowed up in fog were oriented in a particular direction and slightly tipped upwards.
Wick looked annoyed. “This looks like a huge pain in the ass... Let's find a different floor.”
Mister I looked thoughtful. “So far it's always been possible to get around without getting too crazy, like with the moving platforms on the other fifth floor.”
Corvayne gestured. “I want to see if we can use the train track to get around. It looks thick enough to walk on. Let's explore before we resign our selves to go back to the robot floor.” Not waiting for more complaints he lead and others followed, moving along a path that was a few trees away from the drop off into the vast yellow void. He lead them slightly up hill.
Grunt gave him a little tap then pointed out a tree with what looked like porcupine quills stuck in it.
“Monsters on this floor shoot needles.” He announced. Not much different then the drones, hopefully. Corvayne went up to the tree and tugged one of the thin spines out. “Might mean there's a second creature that fights them maybe.
Nyxion strode to the front of the group. “I'll walk with you then. I want to see how the new belt holds up.”
Corvayne looked back at the other needles stuck in the tree. “If it fails though...”
“A face full of needles! No worse then a bullet.” Nyxion laughed. What the hell did Wick say to him that flipped his attitude?
Corvayne heard something not twenty steps later and held up a hand, putting his head down and pushing through the brush slowly. A game trail led him to a clearing where he saw the monsters themselves. They looked like three foot tall porcupines, but with elongated snouts, showing off brown sharp teeth in slavering jaws rather then a sort of cute rodent face. There was the smell of blood and a terrible gutteral hissing as they pushed their back feet up to aim their spikes at Corvayne and Nyxion.
Corvayne dove behind a tree while Nyx just held his arms out as the barrage harmlessly scattered off his shield. Then he undid his mace and strode forward. Corvayne felt him radiate something cold. No, not actual cold, it was a feeling he generated. The Rodents trying to fire quills started to hesitate as he strode up to them. Some were still flinging spines but a few froze up before he waded into them, Mace swinging as he laughed.
Corvayne shrugged and used [Flows-Like-Water], the forest rushing past him as the world blurred, with his spear darting out to find three of the monsters. He aimed for faces and their bellies, spear piercing the soft parts of the monster and causing terrible damage. He landed past the first three, and saw the monsters flip on to all fours, aiming their backs at him as they for a moment puffed up. Corvayne just kept moving and used [Flows-Like-Water], forest blurring again as his spear jabbed one monster in the face killing it, and wounding two more. As it hit one of the monsters, there was a popping sound and the monster deflated around the wound, body flying back as if he had hit it with a warhammer. He stepped out of the ability past where the pack was facing. He could see they were fixated on Nyxion, with Wick adding spells from cover, and Mister I hitting a few with arrows. Grunt just took a chest full of spikes to run up and bash the rodents to death.
Before Corvayne had turned to fight the remaining rodents were dead. Grunt made a cocky thumbs down: Too easy! He then ripped a bunch of bloody spikes out of himself and tossed them off to the side.
“No poison, right?” Mister I said, looking at the wound.
Grunt shook his head. Aside from the big man, Corvayne didn't see any injuries. After giving Mister I a few minutes to collect a few, they resumed their walk until they reached the fat and high end of the needle. Out of the mossy forest around them, a steel platform covered in vines had stairs leading up to what looked like a chain link covered bridge. It looked old but intact, and more importantly the path had a measure of protection. He couldn't see the next needle, but he could spot where the bridge was anchored to small floating clumps of rock.
Seru tugged his sleeve. “Couldn't we go back to the other floor? This looks creepy as hell.”
Wick snorted. “And an empty neighborhood full of the dead isn't?”
Mister I held up a de-quilled monster and shook it. “There food is likely better here, however!”
LBC looked back. “I think this floor is better. The threat here is clearly the spine throwers rather then something insurmountable. As long as we can find passage between needles that's sure footing.”
Corvayne gestured for them to follow him and started down the bridge. The concrete and chain link structure curved a little for about half a mile, then had a larger floating rock that it had a little side stairway down to. Corvayne took a moment to step down and survey the island, only a hundred feet on any side and with a handful of trees. He found a small cave on a path leading down to the side, but no treasure. Still, it was the kind of place that might have loot. He waved at his curious friends and stepped back up the stairs to lead the way forward.
It was a full mile to the next needle. The path landed midway onto the needle, and Corvayne diligently went uphill. A smaller back of quill beasts blocked the way. Corvayne had a trio of needles hit his arm while killing the five. Getting struck hurt but not badly. Wick got nailed in the leg and had Mister I just bandage it up, and they went another third of the way up the needle before coming to what looked like a Ski lift. It was running, the machine making squeaking noises with a generator hidden in a shed rumbling. It looked like there was room for two or three in each car.
Corvayne was wary of being in those cars while they floated over the void. “I want to see what our other options are, even if this leads upwards.”
Wick nodded. “If we are going to fight these stupid rodents, we also should go ahead and check the entire island.”
Nyxion lead the charge when they found another group of quill-flingers. He saw the monsters flinch as Nyxion ran forward. Corvayne was pretty sure he had some effect that actually intimidated the monsters as they kept hesitating before attacking. it was the first time he saw any of the mindlessly aggressive monsters ever ran away rather then attacked. It wasn't the particular species of monster, as Corvayne squared off with a few of the spiny monsters who always moved closer to him if they were not lining up an attack.
He had time as they stepped away to consider it might be Nyxions power. Wick had, after all, gained magic after exiting the fifth floor. He had developed his shadowy hands. Seru had thrown Wick nearly twenty feet away when she had been pinned to the ground... he'd have to sit everyone down once they reached camp to try to figure out if everyone got something or it was just random.
The third pack Corvayne got a dozen quills in his leg and his side. The had traveled far enough that they didn't dig all the way into his tough skin, but it hurt pretty badly to get hit with so many at once. Grunt was such a showoff, acting like the things didn't sting like crazy. That or the large man was much more used to pain then Corvayne was. He kept a straight face the entire time Mister I was humming and pulling quills out.
He turned and offered his side to Mister I, who had a pair of pliers he was using to pull the quills out. There was pressure, a sudden release, and terrible pain. While trying to look at anything else besides the spikes getting pulled out of him, he saw Grunt was biting his lip and had watery eyes. The big faker was just acting tough!
They uncovered two other ways off the floating needle they were on. First was a monorail track with a single metal handhold bolted onto the wildly twisting trail. The second was a crank-driven trolly cart on a pair of wires. Given the group's size, the cart would require two trips, with someone cranking the cart to carry them back. The only other feature Corvayne felt was notable on the needle was a stream that came from a waterfall running down a tree. Corvayne considered climbing it to see where the falls were coming from, but it looked like people wanted a break from walking. They found a spot with a fallen logs that would let them sit.
“Let's eat something, I want to see how these things taste.” Mister I held up one of the quilled monsters. Grunt nodded then started breaking firewood bare-handed.
Nyxion looked horrified. “It's going to taste like rat, old man!”
Mister I arched an eyebrow. “Oh! Has our esteemed prince dined on four star rodent before? Paella Ratton? Pasta Rattus?”
“Paella can have rabbit! No, I would vacation on Oscard, a similar backwoods planet like this one. There were trappers who ate rats. Told me it tasted like beaver.”
“I am surprised you would lower yourself to dine on beaver. I didn't think there was much bush meat in high society.” Mister I said.
Wick started to laugh. “He probably had no idea the trapper was fucking with him.”
Nyxion waved his hand. “He meant it literally. I've done survival training and I actually caught and ate a muskrat. Even cooked it's not very good. I've also had the best rabbit Paella you can get on the capital world.”
Corvayne was surprised that the man had ever caught anything. “I didn't peg you for the camping type. Or one to eat beaver, either.”
Mister I agreed, his face too serenely pleased to be taken seriously by Corvayne. “I think it's good. You cannot appreciate the rich things in life if you don't lower yourself to embrace the simple pleasures. It's sad that many men and women in high society look down on eating beaver. Perhaps it's not befitting of one who seeks enlightenment, but I never pass up beaver when it's offered. One can perhaps find serenity in a hearty meal of beaver with a friend.”
Nyxion smirked. “Har har har, cunnilingus joke. Since you brought it up... Most high class girls barely want to hike their dresses up enough to get at it, let alone have someone smash their face into their unmentionables. Maids and governesses on the other hand love seem to love sitting on men's faces. Especially if they were bossed around the same day. Same with the male servants and having a haughty lady get on her hands and knees.”
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Corvayne was still listening but started to lay down the wood Grunt had broken into a fire. Most of the logs were wet, but he was pretty sure his dagger would do just fine starting a fire. He was trying to figure out if Nyx was making it all up or not as he let a short burst ignite the starter pile, then started placing larger pieces onto the fire to keep it going.
Seru frowned. “Isn't that like, an abuse of power?”
“I never slept with my own employees. I rarely saw them! No, being a member of high society you spend an ungodly amount of time at other people's homes, and only match it when you spend two months at home out of twelve hosting a dozen other families. So there's a never ending stream of frigid girls to sleep with. I made a point to have breakfast with the staff. It was a good way to get the dirt on their masters, as well as making myself available for curious maids, governesses, female bodyguards, and so on.”
Seru was leaning forward. “I'm interested now, why don't the girls who are your equals like sex if they are having it?”
Nyxion laughed. “Half of it is fuel for gossip. That and at some point it became very poor taste to not 'entertain' your guests. Why would people come to your nice estate if they don't make fabulous memories? Asking your staff to handle it would be abuse, so back when there was a mass shortage of staff two hundred plus years ago related to 'Guest Bedding', parents would push their unmarried adult children to go have flings with other single guests as a sort of courting and alliance forming exercise. It's something you get nagged about, but because you have families who make their marriages out of such flings, or remember them fondly it's hard to even speak of the practice as bad without a few men and woman loudly calling you a lowly prude. I don't know what sort of obligations commoners have to do to please their parents, but my dear great aunt felt it was important so I had to go along with it if I wanted an allowance.”
Wick looked sick. “If you wonder why people who deal with nobles think they are scum...”
“The noble girls who really don't want any part of it are perfectly happy to simply fake a few minutes of passionate noises and take a night off of frippery to get solid sleep.” Nyx continued. “It was a little tricker in places where their parents bug the guest bedrooms directly...”
“Wait what?” Seru was shocked. Grunt was just shaking his head.
“Do you have any idea how degenerate the peerage is?” Lady Blood Claw asked. “There's a reason I'm loyal to this man.”
Nyxion bowed as best he could on a log. “What a low bar you've set at merely not being a perverted cur! I had a problem of having too many bored third or fourth daughters knocking at my chamber doors. I suspect it's because a few families knew I was the grandson of the former emperor. I can say firmly that I don't miss much of my dalliances with bored socialites besides seeing some impressively well made underwear. Of course, sometimes at the provincial estates you get a wildcat daughter. Go for the shy ones who still make eye contact over a fan.”
Corvayne thought of Hari being coy until the lights were off. “Be careful when you go hunting tigers, as you might catch one.”
Seru folded her arms. “I'm totally down for bad behavior, but I've never heard of any of this before and I grew up in high society.”
Nyx gestured at the woods. “On Cascadia? You have what, three major cities strung out over an entire planet? What's the worlds population? It's under a hundred million, right?”
Wick picked up the slack. “Something around fifty to seventy-five million, the majority of that is rural towns plopped down around the cities. I'd say four major cities, but I'm guessing you don't count space ports under a million population. Hey, you know the actual reason for pushing their kids to have all sorts of affairs is, right?”
“Go on Wick. I delight at your theories.” Nyx gestured.
“Obviously to get some accidental heirs, but also... Sports team.” Wick's glasses gleamed from the fire.
Corvayne knew what she wanted from her audience and beat Lady Blood Claw to the punch. “What the heck does that mean, Wick?” He added with a hint of bewildered shock in his voice. He saw her grin.
“Nobles don't actually do much. They have a lot of passive income, only a handful of passive expenses. Maybe if you get a string of really permissive emperors they get to participate directly in local law... but to what end? The development of the wormhole designed ships shook it up a little, but the upper class exists as-is because noble sounds better then interplanetary trust-fund baby. Most of them are pampered, clueless, and prone to just accepting the rut previous generations have worn in for them. The parts of the family who are good at business have to monetize for the rest of them. So someone figured out you can do branding. Not every planet plays every sport, but they all understand sleeping around and are encouraged to live vicariously through nobles. Society thrives both on striving to be 'betters' and thinking they are not better.”
Nyx folded his arms. “You think then whenever something really embarrassing happens...”
Wick smirked. “It's leaked. Who cares about what the public thinks as long as they are thinking about the peerage? And more importantly, do you think it'd be wise for someone on Tripic who isn't a noble to drag them back down reality? There was an age where they were tinkering with laws to make money. But they did most of that hundreds of years back. The last big change was... the emperor's father taking over.”
Corvayne looked around. “I'm curious. How much money do these nobles have? In stories, they get a lot then spend it all on lavish stuff, so eventually those who rise fall...”
Wick pointed at Corvayne. “That's why I like you! You ask good questions. The poorest noble families on Tripic have combined net worth in the hundreds of trillions of credits if you have the patience to research and add up a maze of trusts and assets. There is a huge gap between people who can scrape together a billion credits, and people who own multiple planets who's very smart ancestors tampered with everything to make sure a few dumb generations wouldn't squander it. Most of those poor nobles are that way because they spend more money on investments rather then just save their interest. The Brines Brothers will make the jump over to landed nobles probably in a few years, if Cascadia jumps in value, that is.”
Corvayne felt that her certainty there was a little weird. “Okay, but why do the super rich leak stupid things the families do?”
Wick held up all her fingers. “It's almost always the same ten tepid scandals! Drug problem. Cheating. Dumb social blunder at some event. Got scammed out of a pittance of money that sounds like a lot. Weird Sex habit, legal kind. Hooked up with criminals, in 'legal trouble'. Major diplomatic blunder with a figurehead. Caught nude at a beach. Sired a bastard. Got knocked up by a commoner. For the last two the pool boy is always actually the son of a successful merchant elsewhere. Do you know how many shotgun married maids are really billionaire heiresses? Fifty percent at least. The core families take in new genetic material when it happens to come with another small piece of the pie. Same with breaking up families and dumping bad assets. I dare say that's why James Brines is running all the bad properties his dad and uncle don't want.”
Mister I sighs. “It's why one chooses to live in the hinterlands. People here are still making their fortunes... and there are riches to be found yet on Cascadia! At least until the Brines family reaches peerage. Now who has the courage to munch on some angry beaver?”
Grunt pointed at Corvayne. Wick didn't see it or care to comment.
Corvayne accepted a paper plate with a plastic fork and a glistening pile of steaming monster meat on it. “Thanks Mister I.”
The first bite of a new monster was always a joy. It started off salty but became sweet like fruit, lemons and blackberry perhaps, as he chewed. He had to slow himself down and savor every bite, as much as he wanted to just chew his way through the entire plateful. It was sort of like eating fruit, in that he didn't feel the need to drink with the succulent meat.
Nyxion actually stood up after his first bite. “How in the hell does a mutant porcupine taste this good?”
Lady Blood Claw shrugged. “Monsters are basically full of magical aspects you can't absorb through regular food. That's part of why it tastes so good.”
The noble turned and stared at her. “Well how come you never told me this?”
Lady Blood Claw's skin shifted colors to something like orange with bands of yellow rippling up it. “I didn't think you'd accept a motive other then revenge for finding such a place.”
Corvayne nodded as he swallowed the mouthful he had. “Imagine how good beaver tastes in here.”
He heard Wick mutter “About the same as anywhere.” which made Nyx start laughing.
After finishing his plate, Nyxion stood. “Cheers to our fine cook, and to foolish ventures that will certainly lead to us dying a-”
LBC elbowed him in the leg. Corvayne clearly thought to himself 'do not look at Seru to see if she noticed' while looking at Seru to see that she had noticed.
The woman looked between them then gave Corvayne a flat stare. A darker part of him lamented that they had helped her. Curse the dungeon for giving her the phone back as well. He decided to divert and distract.
“Nyxion, how much was our take last time you fenced something for us?”
He looked to Wick, who actually gave him a small smile.
Nyx tapped his chin and hummed before speaking. “Oh. Minus what I put away for things like replacing my shield belt and renovating that building...”
Wick stood up. “A belt like that is at least a million credits on the black market!”
Nyx waited for a few seconds after her outburst then quietly said “Your cut was Sixteen million.”
“For all seven bags?” Wick was wide eyed. “That's a lot of money.”
“No, I sold one pair of boots that granted magical flight for sixteen million credits. Granted, that was the easiest object to sell as the wings on them make them look like the classical crap my client eats up. It was luck a buyer like him was on Cascadia...”
Seru looked around the campfire. She had finished her plate when he wasn't looking at her. “You guys are millionaires too?”
Corvayne shook his head. “Our money is gone. More importantly: Remember how I said you could die hanging around us? The six people who had our money, all about as strong as we are, were murdered in moments because of that sale.” Corvayne made an effort not to lie after being told by Grunt he had a crappy poker face. There was a part of him pleased by what he just said.
Nyx nodded. “That's why you should stick to, I don't know what you do... take pictures of yourself?”
Seru smiled and stood up and then sat right next to Corvayne, between him and Lady Blood Claw. She leaned against Corvayne and stretched her arms in a way that showed off her cleavage.
Seru then looked at everyone, smiling. “Taking pictures is nice, but that was yesterday. I REALLY want in now.”
Wick laughed and folded her arms. “We are here, now, because you couldn't even FUCKING lie to us about not just exposing everything!”
“See... but here's the thing: you have experts in a lot of things. You have a Tripic Noble who's your access to resources you need to eventually get a private ship as well as bringing his alien who seems to know about where we are right now. Wick, your obviously the leader, and you have Corvayne who is your heavy hitter and planner in here. But you guys need an information specialist! I'm really good at digging out stories, yes I know I'm not very professional, and maybe I was totally actually going to run off with your stuff, but it's different now because...”
Corvayne dug his fingernails into his fist. Do not say we had sex. Do not say we had sex. PLEASE Seru.
“You guys are in a time loop.”