Nate, Fuzzball, Zeff, and Krypdyr stood around the cooking station that was Nate's Interface Podium.
“How would you like to have gratuitous amounts of energy?” Nate asked with vigor as he fed multicolored berries into a juicer on his Interface Podium.
“This some new ability?” Zeff asked, suddenly more interested.
“How would you like to move so fast that Mother Nature tells you to slow down, but you instead say ‘F you’ and kick her in the face with your ENERGY LEGS?!” Nate kept amping up his intensity.
“This a new type of speed potion?” Fuzzball asked, watching closely as Nate blended several fruits together.
“Who's Mother Nature?” Krypdyr asked as Nate finished his concoction with a small burst of magic.
“Whoopi Goldberg, of course! How dare you not know Gaia. She gave us Captain Planet!”
“Huh?”
“Not important. I got my first Cooking Perk. And as it turns out, I can rename them.” He linked them in a quick party chat and showed them his new perk.
Powerthirst! Novice Cooking Perk. When creating a drink that reduces your Thirst, you can imbue the drink with your Magic to reduce the consumer's Exhaustion level by 1 percent per 25 Magic used. This effect will fade if not consumed within 15 minutes after its creation. This ability may be used once per day.
He handed each of them a drink.
“What's in this?” Krypdyr said as he savored the sweet concoction.
“Various berries we've been growing. Getting the mix just right was tricky, but the Rawberry mix is complete!”
“Rawberry?”
“Say it with a bit more intensity. RAWBERRY!” Nate demonstrated.
“You are a confusing man, Nate.”
“Thank you!”
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The warehouse near the airship docks in Tempeste was, on paper, abandoned and condemned. Spring Jack ducked through a rooftop window and landed softly on the catwalk overlooking the Carrot Crew operations. Large chemical processors were steadily manufacturing explosive gel on the western side and weak healing unguents on the eastern side.
People dressed in unmarked coveralls spotted him as he took the numerous stairs down to the working floor. They stood at attention, eyes full of fear and wonder.
Spring Jack ignored them and entered one of the southernmost offices they'd built against the warehouse wall. A chimeran with the head and upper body of a black feathered duck sat at the desk applying some of the healing ointment to a relatively fresh gash across his arm.
“Blackwing,” Spring Jack said casually as he collapsed into a soft armchair.
“What do you want?” Blackwing asked without looking from his application.
“We have a job from Zolis.” That got his attention. “Triple standard pay.”
“Send me the detes,” Blackwing tapped his slate on the desk. Spring Jack instead handed him the parchment.
“Off the books, eh?”
Spring Jack frowned, “It would seem so.”
Head to Gronwood. Someone there has activated the Astral Collector and acquired the Interface Podium. Capture that person and bring them to me. If it is a group, I only need the one who activated the podium.
Blackwing picked up his slate and searched the database. “Astral Collector absorbs ambient magics to create essence gems or, given time, Sigil Stones.” He tapped the slate a few more times. “There's nothing about an Interface Podium. The hell is that?”
Spring Jack shrugged, “I couldn't find anything on it either. Do we still have that airship?”
Blackwing sighed heavily, “No, you lost it in a card game, remember?”
“Oh, right! Shall we go steal one?”
Blackwing smirked, “Already have eyes on one. Just waiting until the changing of the guard.”
“Have I ever told you how much I appreciate you?”
“Not nearly enough.”
Several hours later, Spring Jack stood with Blackwing on the deck of the Carrot Crew’s newest acquisition, the Sky Strider, flying southeast toward Gronwood.
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Captain Luma motioned to the empty chair and Ellisandra sat, an inquisitive look splashed on her face.
“Is everything okay?”
Luma poured them both glasses of a purple liquor before sitting across from her. “Everything is great. I just wanted to talk to you about something.”
“Shoot.”
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“We need to get back in the air, meaning we need a new airship. Once we get another one, I'm going to need to find a new mechanic and first mate.”
“I'm not going anywhere!” Ellisandra protested.
“When we found you on that derelict airship a decade ago, I knew this wasn't forever. You've been amazingly good at your job, but now your job is changing. Nate is a man who is going to be changing the world around him even if he doesn't want to. He managed to thwart an Expert Ranked spell as a Novice with basically no magic training and was gifted eight Sigil Stones for existing, each of which could've gotten us an airship. But instead of hoarding them for trade or coin, he gives them away freely so those around him are better prepared. You'll see more of the world and learn more from him indirectly in a few years than I can teach you in ten times the time.”
Tears streamed down Ellisandra's face, but her voice was resolute, “We're going to help with getting the next airship before parting ways.”
“I hoped you'd say that,” Luma tapped her glass to Ellisandra's and they drained their glasses before she pulled her into a strong hug.
A short time later, Zeff entered Luma’s office. “Ellie said you wanted to see me?”
“Please sit,” she already had the glass of water Zeff preferred ready for him.
“This is about going with Nate, right?”
Luma leaned back in her chair, bemusement across her face, “How did you know that?”
“Ellie doesn’t really cry all that much, and I figured whatever it was must be big. I’m surprised you’re willing to let her just leave, especially now that she has her full set of Sigil Stones. Her Dragon Titan power could single-handedly take over an enemy ship.”
“I wouldn’t have sent Ellisandra to help you in the portal fight if I didn’t fully expect to be losing her as my second in command. Same reason I didn’t come get you after you ran off without permission.”
Zeff smiled abashedly, “Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to make trouble.”
“Far from it, Zeff! Far from it. I think you did exactly what you were supposed to do. And now we have a foot in the door of a gracious Luckomancer.”
A soft knocking startled Zeff, but Luma smiled and called the knocker in.
“Did I hear you say gracious Luckomancer?” Nate asked as he pulled up a chair.
“I did indeed. Ellisandra sent you, right?”
“In a manner of speaking,” Nate pulled from his inventory a glass flute full of his mixed juice drink, its enchantment having long since worn off, and savored a sip anyway. “Why is she mad at me?”
“She’s more mad at me, I think, and is just deflecting. We could use your help, if you don’t mind.”
Nate smiled widely, “Of course! I owe you and yours much. What do you need?”
“We need a new airship.”
“As in, help stealing one, building one, or buying one?”
“Usually we steal one, but if you have ideas…” Luma left the thought open.
“I do indeed! But I think we need to deal with the corpse vine first. And it will be a great time for us to try out our new abilities as a team.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Zeff said, pulling his slate out to show Nate. “I have a few ideas for tactics that use all of our abilities.”
“Excellent!”
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Quest: Corpse-Vine.
Objective: Destroy the corpse vine.
Reward: Random Magic Item, 50 gold pieces.
Accept? Yes No.
Nate accepted the quest as they approached Saltwatch. The crimson vines with vibrantly colored leaves was spread along the ground and covered the trees fifty feet from the outermost buildings. They could see vine covered creatures ambling around the town, passing from building to building.
“Remember that it's vulnerable to cold, and we need to find the core,” Nate said as he called up his Elemental Bolt spell.
“Fuzzball?” Zeff asked as Ellisandra's hands expanded into blades. Fuzzball focused and used his Frost Touch power, pulling water from the air around him and freezing it onto their weapons.
“We'll see how long it lasts,” Krypdyr swung his large ice covered sword.
“Stay close to Fuzzball, his healing aura should help us fight off the diseased seeds this thing spreads.”
Nate flexed his fingers, cold steam rising from his fingers, “And if you see a muscular woman named Abby, kill her immediately.”
“Hush, you,” Ellisandra said as she focused, “start the party.”
Nate stretched out his hands and cold magic lanced out, striking the outermost vines. The leaves hardened and cracked, shattering as they fell to the ground, the vines shriveling and snapping as the cold bit in. A shudder rippled through the blanket of vines and the creatures moving about the town all turned at once, charging to the location.
No one was there for them to attack. Krypdyr's Night's Wrath aura hid them as they maneuvered around the town, Nate casting his spell once they had gotten far enough away from the first site, drawing the corpse vine's creatures circuitously around the town. Once the faster creatures were far enough away from the slower ones, they struck out.
Fuzzball's healing aura was the smallest in terms of radius, and Krypdyr and Ellisandra left the range as they charged at what looked like steelbeak topiaries. Icy blades sliced easily through the beasts, who collapsed into piles of writhing vines. Ellie was struck in the leg by one of the wriggling vines and she retreated into Fuzzball's aura. The bright red seed popped out of the wound as it healed.
Nate continued to focus on his cold spell, breaking up the vines with stomps and kicks from his Terry-armored legs.
Hulking shamblers made up of the crimson corpse vines began pouring around the nearest building and rushing at Nate. He focused his aura on them and they began to trip over one another. Elemental bolts of ice froze chunks of the vines making up their legs and Ellisandra ran through, severing them at her eye level, which only got their legs at mid thigh.
As they collapsed, rat moles erupted from within them, covering Ellisandra as she ran. She screamed and thrashed about, throwing them off as quickly as they clambered back, cutting many into writhing vines. Fuzzball’s Verdant Aegis shot vines out around her, pulling many away so she could slay the rest. She looked sickly and shifted back behind Fuzzball, the stacked diseases slowly going away. Her draconic scales had thankfully stopped most of the lashing vines and rat mole bites.
The vines around them began coiling and looping together. An enormous body began to form, four thick legs, a long spiked tale, and five trunked necks leading to spiked spheres where heads should be.
Zeff's fire based abilities were of no use, not wanting to heal the corpse-vine. His Stalwart ability, however, was immeasurably helpful. His armor stopped the whipping vines and as their diseased seed implantation had magical elements, each attack recharged his shield as fast as it was deteriorating.
“I have to find the core,” Nate called over chat as he sent cold bolts against the corpse-vine hydra, “Stay near each other to keep the pressure on. Should keep my path clearer. Terry and I will be back soon.” Nate pulled Terry’s head over his own like a cowl, extended his claws, and leapt high into the air, creating a portal that landed him gently on the top of the tallest building that looked to Nate like a town hall of some sort.. The rooftop was clear of enemies, and the loose vines were quickly frozen and broken away.
Nate shifted his eyes into his Astral Sense power granted by Terry. Terry stepped out of Nate’s back and stood next to him as they looked over Saltwatch. Now that Nate had gained several levels, Terry now stood around seven feet tall, nearly a foot taller than Nate himself. His tongue lolled out the side of his mouth as he hungrily gazed over the town.
The corrupting magic of the vines looked a deep purple that was almost black, and was of lesser intensity nearly the outermost tips. He addressed the group through chat.
“The magic of the vines becomes more dense the closer to the core, but there are so many overlapping vines, it’ll be difficult to pinpoint it until we clear more of it. Ellie, you feeling up to going Titan?”