Exiting the long tunnel at long last, the party were annoyed to find that it was dark out. Or, at least, nearly dark. There were some slight lingering signs of a setting sun off in the west, but that was fast vanishing.
What had a bigger effect on their moods, however, was the fact that this area was clearly far less dry than the deserted coast they’d been walking along before. It was no lush jungle, but there were shrubs and grasses covering much of the surrounding hills.
“We must nearly be at Mezora,” Illyxa said as they pressed on, despite their exhaustion.
They wanted to get as much space between them and the ossuary’s entrance as possible. Especially while it was still dark. Even if they felt half starved, only eating whatever they had that didn’t require preparation. Even if their feet were aching from what had to be nearly twenty hours of walking. Even if they wanted nothing more but to sleep.
They had to make sure they were a safe distance.
“Normally I would never want to go back there,” N’ratha muttered. “But I’d rather deal with what’s ahead of us than what’s behind us.”
“So you are from there,” Illyxa said, though she couldn’t muster half the judgement she’d planned to have when she revealed she knew the truth.
“Yes… I’ll explain later,” N’ratha said.
“Now may be a good time to share it,” Fuan said. “The city is getting closer with each step and the conversation may help keep us awake… or, most of us.”
He nodded towards Gragya, and the slumbering form of Hyi that she was carrying. It seemed that the priestess had rather less endurance than the rest of them. Pin also seemed to be nodding, and Illyxa suspected it wouldn’t be long until N’ratha had to carry him.
“Very well,” the half dragon woman said. “I was… I was in the Prince’s personal guard. A common enough employment for half dragons, I’m sure you’re all aware?”
Illyxa and Fuan gave nods of agreement. Gragya’s nod, however, showed it was news to her. Still, Illyxa couldn’t blame her. She was reasonably new to adventuring and had yet to visit Mezora.
“As an easy way to meet half dragons who aren’t part of the royal family, Princes of Mezora also have a bit of a habit of finding brides within that personal guard,” N’ratha explained. “The current prince… I caught his eye. He was rather forceful, and I was only able to discourage him by explaining that I was—or, rather, that I thought I was a lesbian. While he was stubborn, he wasn’t one to chase an impossibility… then, well, Pin arrived. His troupe spent some time in the palace, and I found myself falling for him. The Prince found out I’d fallen for a man, and decided to try to pursue me once again…”
“He chased my troupe out of the palace to sepaerate us, and all but locked N’ratha in the palace,” the adorable Halflet added. “She escaped in the end, however. And we fled into the Waste to escape him.”
“How long ago was this?” Fuan asked.
“Seven… maybe eight months now?” Pin replied, before yawning.
“Well, let’s hope the Prince found another woman to distract him… either way, you two need to try to keep a low profile,” Illyxa said. “Hmm… we’ll split into two groups. Pin can travel with Gragya and Hyi, while N’ratha and I travel with Fuan. That should reduce the risks of detection.”
“I don’t like that,” N’ratha muttered.
“We’ll only split up for a few hours. We can find our way to the same inn, but you’ll still want to avoid being seen in public,” Illyxa replied.
“It shouldn’t take too long to get a ship in a city, right?” Gragya asked.
“Not in Mezora, no,” Illyxa replied. “Might be the only place we could get a proper ferry up to somewhere in the Dragon lands… assuming the Prince has kept the city as neutral as it normally is.”
“Let us pray for that,” Fuan muttered under his breath.
“I’d prefer not to invoke the gods when travelling into Dragon country,” Illyxa grumbled.
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After that, they were relatively quiet as they walked. N’ratha had picked up a dozing Pin, not too long after the conversation. Illyxa had quietly wished she could sleep, but knew Fuan couldn’t hope to carry Hyi, so Gragya couldn’t have handed the sleeping priestess off. Which would have left Illyxa carried by Fuan. And… that was not an option.
So she fought off the drowsiness as best she could and continued to march. While she had no love of the sun god, she gave thanks to some aspect of the universe when the sun finally rose. Seeing no great army of skeletons pursuing them, she made the executive decision that they would stop here and promptly passed out.
Her dreams were filled with terrors about the skeletal elements of her wardrobe turning on her and the idea of being turned into a lich (and being stuck never able to escape that smell), but she felt at least moderately rested when she woke again.
Waking to food being cooked certainly helped her mood and her need to dismiss the nightmares. She gobbled down the stew Gragya offered, even if their rations were little more than salted meats, spices, and oats at this point. It tasted passable most of the time, and was a true luxury when she was this hungry.
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As she ate she realised the others were still rather drowsy. She supposed they hadn’t pulled as many all nighters at the Gzargank Mage’s School, so weren’t as prepared for the poor sleep.
“We have to keep moving,” she said, while helping herself to a second bowl of stew. “I’d like to get as much distance between us and that crypt as possible before sundown.”
There were groans from the others, but no coherent arguments.
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They found a farm that night, the human owners agreeing to let the party stay in an outbuilding for a few copper. The farmers also helped them get their bearings better, after growing a little lost in those Dwarven tunnels. The group still knew their cardinal directions, due to the rising and setting of the sun, but estimating how far they’d travelled had been a bit trickier. It turned out panic had been stronger than exhaustion and they were further south than they realised.
Heading towards the coast, the farms grew denser as they approached the Mezora delta. Being the one part of the waste for hundreds of leagues with any significant greenery, the locals certainly did everything they could to make use of the fertile soils.
The next night was spent in a small inn, before the two sections of the party decided it was best to separate, to keep a low profile. Sure, Illyxa didn’t like being separated from Gragya (both because she’d miss her cousin’s use as a meat shield and because she didn’t trust the Gorc to not get up to trouble when left unsupervised) but she wasn’t about to leave her cash source unattended for any extended period.
They agreed to meet up again in the small dock town across the river from Mezora proper. There were fewer guards there, which both made keeping a low profile easier for them and likely meant there were more potential cargo ships open to transporting some passengers on the cheap.
For the moment, though, they needed to hire a water taxi to get from the small town up river to the more bustling portion nearer the docks. The taxi driver, a lizard man, navigated the small gondola quickly down the river, until the traffic on the water grew denser and it became ever more important to value maneuverability over speed. Thankfully the man was quite capable of both, slipping them between larger ships. Some of the ships were still moving on sales, others oars, but the ones that took Illyxa’s main attention were those ones pushed by magic. Only the wealthiest merchants could afford such things, but it was the most reliable and controllable means to control a ship.
The work of enchanters fascinated her even if it took far too much patience in repeating the same runic inscriptions hundreds of times for her to ever try it.
At last, they reached the wooden settlement across the river from Mezora’s great stone fortifications. It wasn’t exactly a shanty town. It was too rich for that. But it had a similar taste of chaos about it, any central planning being theoretical at best. The water taxi let them off at a small dock, Illyxa paying the rest of her fare before hopping off.
Finding a decent inn was their first mission. Plenty looked reputable, but not necessarily well priced. Eventually she found one that seemed acceptable. Oriented towards common travellers, rather than merchants or adventurers.
The clerk at the desk did eye her with suspicion as she haggled for the price, however.
“We don’t like trouble at this establishment,” the man said.
“I don’t like trouble where I sleep either,” she replied. “We’re not looking for work, so we’ve got no reason to stay at an adventurer’s inn.”
“They’re bodyguards,” Fuan added, leaning in. “I mean to travel somewhere a bit more dangerous than I would like, and so I hired them. The more trouble they get into the less they’ll be paid at the end.”
The clerk gave a slow nod. “Very well. But we will be holding you responsible for any damages.”
Fuan took in a slow breath before nodding. “Acceptable.”
Their inn room secured, N’ratha and Fuan both stretched out, relaxing in the proper beds. Illyxa, however, had other business, and trusted N’ratha to keep Fuan safe for a couple of hours. If they stayed put.
When the half dragon woman promised to, Illyxa headed out, hunting for one of the few stone buildings in the town: a bank. Not just any banking establishment would do for her, however. She needed the most reliable, secure, and independant banking network. The Automen’s banking guild.
Merchants, especially the type to trade with dragons, also tended to bank with the Automen so she knew there’d be a branch here. Not to mention that Mezora had more than a fair number of draconic merchants and travellers who visited. Other banks avoided business that could be tied to dragons, the gods having a tendency to threaten those doing trade in draconic gold with unpleasant rebirths for the ‘betrayal’, but Automen had no such worry. They ran on clockwork and runes, not the reincarnating spirits that everyone else had, so a thousand years of damnation was a hollow threat to them.
Plus, they were just better at math than folks of flesh and blood.
“Lady Illyxa,” the banker behind the till said, when she reached the front of the line and handed over her identification papers. “There is a private room to your left, if you would care to use one.”
“Thanks!” Illyxa said, skipping off in the direction instructed.
She was finally going to get those orihalcon and platinum coins out of her pocket, and have them converted into an actually usable currency. She slipped into the small room, sitting in one of the plush chairs within. It only took a few moments of waiting for an Automan to amble into the room, the whirling gears and shimmering runes keeping her eyes locked on it.
The motion and lights of it all kept her as fascinated as any gem.
“Would you like some complimentary cheese?” the Automan offered, producing a chilled plank of wood and placing it on the desk between them.
She was happy to accept some, even if she always judged Automen for the cheapness of their complimentary cheese… it had holes in it. To reduce the amount they were parting with for free, no doubt.
“I’m here to break some coins and deposit most of the value,” she said, after gobbling down a cube of cheese.
She then placed the sack of coins on the desk as the Automan sat down. It sorted through the coins with a few nods.
“You are in luck, Lady Illyxa the Inferno. Such high value coins are in great demand due to the war,” it said. “You will be able to gain a preferential conversion.”
That made sense. Dwarves tended to like cold hard coin over paper currency, and payment for arms and armies added up quickly.
“Break it now, then. But hold most of it in my accounts. I’d just like fifty or sixty golds’ worth, in silver,” she replied.
“Confirmed,” the banker replied, pouring the coins into a compartment within itself.
“Also, you bankers tend to know more than the rest of us… are there any good captains sailing north to Dragon Country?” she asked.
“Unfortunately, with the war, our clients have generally been quite tight-lipped,” it replied. “You may find gaining such information similarly difficult to acquire from other sources.”
“Stupid war,” she muttered.
“War is indeed unfortunate for all sides. There is a reason my kind stay neutral in such matters,” the clockwork being replied.