Okay. So. It's been a couple weeks since we logged out after that Thursday night, and it's now near the end of the first week of November. Rachel's move went very smoothly. We actually all pitched in to come and help her, and ended up spending our Saturday entirely in the real world (after a vigorous Friday crafting and gathering escapade in the Marshes of the Wyrd). At the end of it all we ended up celebrating with pizza, and then Lizzy drove Mary, Anhe, and myself home when it was late. Sunday after church we celebrated in Panarena, and then we settled in for another week of epic adventures by night and mild-mannered students by day. Oh -- we also had some pretty epic Hallow's Eve adventures. My personal favorite was the one in the Marshes of the Wyrd, as well as the one in the Wastes, though the Aldholt's was pretty nice. Xuanpu's event was fun too, but something about the one in the Marshes just stuck with me, y'know?
By now you're thinking and wondering a couple of things. Sean, why are you skipping so much? Ehh. Because intermingled with that epic spooky adventure was a certain real-life shenanigan that got carried out much to the all-too obvious delight of the girls. Yep. They got to dress up as princesses for Halloween, and I got a raggedy peasant outfit. I'm still trying to get over that semi-torturous escapade, so I'd rather just move on with the story in general.
What's that? Oh, the Homecoming Dance.
Okay. Sure. That wasn't so bad. It happened the weekend before Halloween and after Rachel's moving in with Andrea. As she had hinted to me, I picked something in blue, while Rachel herself wore this amazing sky-blue gown with a silver shawl and sky-blue shoes. If I thought she was a princess the first time I had seen her, this time I was sure I was with an angel.
Of course, the obligatory family photos were taken. My mother, as you might imagine, was greatly surprised when I had asked for “something in blue”, but had then giddily obliged me with a smirk on her face all the way to the store and back.
In the end, all of the more humiliating things were made up for when we got to the dance itself. We weren't the homecoming king and queen, of course; that honor went to the quarterback who had replaced a certain bully a few weeks ago, along with the cheerleader's captain. As far as I was concerned, though, Rachel was and is the only queen in my life. I wasn't aware of it at the time, but afterwards some of our friends told us that we had ended up eclipsing our homecoming royalty. When I thought about it later, I was kind of stupidly proud of that, and Rachel herself was pretty happy about it as well. After all, as Ariana, she had been practicing dances with me for several weeks in Panarena.
“And now the Journal and Paper Club doesn't know what to do, since a fair few of the good photos are of you too and a lot of the ones we actually got of our homecoming royalty weren't that good, except for their coronation...” Rachel's friend Amy, who was one of the chief editors and journalists for the school paper, had told us.
“Ah-heh-heh-heh...” the two of us had bemusedly laughed in unison.
Anyway. Oh, by the way, much to my surprise (but not to our theater teacher's, I presume), the Robin Hood musical won out against all the others. I'd spent weeks worrying about all that for -- no, scratch that, Rachel was determined to go for Maid Marion, so that automatically signed me up to try out for the leading role. I mean, between Theo and Robin, I had more of a Robin personality anyway... I wasn't some respectful, dreamy and romantic prince, I was a sorta scoundrel who liked flaunting and bending rules. Mostly.
I think that brings us up to date...
No, wait, my bad. Our crafting rampage had borne some fruits as well. Maryn, through some rather clever and ingenious techniques, had gotten her Architect skill to twenty-five, and Anhe, after some initial stumbles, had worked up her Shipwright skill to twenty. Myself, going down the middle, was at eighteen in both skills. Healina and Ariana had gotten their Alchemy skills to forty, and Lizzy, who had already had a lot of experience before we joined, had passed her crafting quest and continued leveling the skill clear up to fifty-five. As a hobby, Ari was also working on her Cooking skill -- which was at a respectable twenty-seven. As to our combat levels, we had managed to even ourselves out at eighty for now.
Oh right; we also did find out that we could hire NPCs to work around both Cloverbell and Queen's Haven. So at the former we have a groundskeeper, a cook, and a couple of watchmen, and at our new residence we have eight watchmen, a butler, a cook, some gardeners, a couple of harbor assistants, an info-dealer, four merchants (who moved in the second week of our ownership automatically because we had developed the land and leveled up our crafting skills), and a stable-master. How did we manage to hire that many? Well, some of them offered their services for free as a quest reward. Aside from that, we're not rich players by any means (some of the pros have gold in the millions -- the hundred millions), but we manage to have a steady income. Nowhere near those pros, but hey. They can do them, and we can do us. All right, that should be pretty much everything.
We're doing pretty well in school as well. Our grades haven't slipped, and we haven't pulled any all-nighters again for a while (well, not as a group, anyway). Ellie's been hard at work for her job as well, so it's pretty amazing that she's kept up with us. Sure enough, she got a job up at the Fun Castle. When we asked her what exactly she was doing, she had only winked and told us to come and see her in action sometime. The rest of us grinned around at each other, silently agreeing to get together on a Saturday and see.
Right. That's definitely everything.
This brings us to the new hot-topic of the forums in Panarena: the Grand Tournament. It's not for another week, but the preliminaries are this week already. Because it's a combat-match event, Maryn, Anhe, Ariana, and myself are going to participate. Lizzy wanted to, but she has her job now, so she decided to be content with watching us. And Healina, on account of being a healer, didn't think she'd make it far in a combat event, so she's going to cheer us on with Lizzy.
As we expected, the event is taking place in Harmonia City -- on our side of the virtual world, that is. On the evil side of Panarena, it's taking place in Royal Onyxus. There's probably going to be a mixed tournament somewhere down the road, but not this time.
“And then after that, we'll have to prepare for the next event,” Mary said as we all sat together in the club room.
“They're definitely focusing on the oceans for the next one,” Andrea noted.
“I saw that too,” I nodded back. “We'll need at least one good ship, though if we could get three that'd make for an interesting dynamic.”
“And we could find quests to get sailor NPCs, or just hire some from one of the ports.” Ellie suggested. “Come to think of it, the ports would probably be good to check for those kinds of quests...”
“Unmo, Weishoni, Yu, Gatz, Fizero, Yifu, Floraline, Diamond City...” I recounted.
“There were that many?” Rachel wondered.
“That we've come across in some way so far, yeah,” I replied. “Gatz is in the Firelands and Fizero in Stormwraith Hold; Yifu is in Kunlun, and the last two are back in the Aldholt.”
“I'd rather we focus on the Jade Sea ports.” Ellie said.
“Right,” I sheepishly grinned. “So Gatz, Yu, and Fizero.”
“Oh! By the way, I got clearance from Mrs. Brown to have one of our educational field trips at a broadcasting station. And then we can do a working tour of the newspaper building. They'll happen the week before Thanksgiving, if that works for everyone?” Andrea then broke in.
“Sure!” Ellie nodded.
“That works.” Mary agreed.
“We're in!” Rachel beamed, holding my hand up as well.
“I can go; and my mother will probably volunteer to go with us as a chaperon, just to let you know,” Anhe replied.
“Excellent!” Andrea smiled, jotting it all down on her pad. “Anyway. Back to our game!”
“I can't believe it's the first tournament already, and I have to sit out of it...” Ellie said with a mild groan.
“S-sorry about that...” I returned bemusedly.
“You'll get over it.” Andrea quipped to her with a gentle smirk. Ellie made a face and made a show of poking her until the other girl lightly shoved her away.
“Blehhh...!”
“Anyway.” Mary grinned.
“Anyway, luckily we didn't have to have a certain amount of members to get into this event. A lot of solo players are actually entering as well, so it's less a guild competition and more a player competition.” I then said.
“I wonder if we'll meet any recruits!” Rachel wondered.
“Wouldn't rule it out,” I smiled back.
“I wonder if any of them will be going to school here...” Ellie said with a mischievous grin.
“Wh-who knows...” I returned, and the others laughed.
“Still, Harmonia City... that's quite a long way, isn't it?” Rachel then said, leaning back in her seat as she pondered the distance.
“This is a huge game world, after all... I can't imagine the hardware requirements that are necessary to keep it running...” Ellie remarked.
“Right?” Mary agreed. “I think I read somewhere that they also have several back-up databases and stuff on top of all that manages the actual game itself.”
“They'd have to,” I shrugged. “It's standard procedure for any online game these days to have at least one or two; and all the data they have for this game in particular is way beyond your average MMO. But that doesn't help us get to Harmonia City.” I then said with a faint grin.
“Then it seems like Fyu will be getting his exercise soon!” Anhe smiled.
“Still, that's a lot of mileage...” Andrea said, a wry expression on her face. “Isn't Panarena about the size of Canada?”
“Hence all the back-up server modules and terrain data,” I nodded back. “More accurately, I think it's about two-thirds the size?” I added, trying to recall the figures I had seen.
“Somewhere between that and three-fourths,” Ellie replied. “I know for sure that Onyxus and Harmonia's border is a jagged sort of line that goes from like the northeast to the southwest; it's not an actual border like most real countries we know, it's a zone of its own called the Borderlands. It's pretty much the PvP area of the game.”
“Nice.” I said.
“That means it's basically the purview of high-levels and pros, right?” Andrea asked.
“Pretty much,” the blonde girl nodded back. “I mean, I tried it out once or twice in the beta test, but now the player-level there is in the triple digits at minimum, two-hundreds at least.”
“Wow.” our club-president whistled.
“By the time we all graduate that minimum level will be way up there,” Rachel said with a bemused smile.
“Definitely,” I said with a wry grin of my own.
“Oh wow, it's already four-thirty,” Mary suddenly noticed.
“Yikes!” Andrea exclaimed.
“Ahh... that gives us, what? An hour, maybe?” I wondered.
“What are you worried about? I drive you all home anyway. Except Mary and Anhe, of course.” Ellie shrugged. “Besides, I didn't get too many homework assignments.”
“Same.” Rachel nodded. “But we had that history paper to do, right?” she asked me.
“Hmm? Oh, the Lewis and Clark thing, yeah.” I replied, nodding as I recalled the details. “I think I want to focus more on the Sacajawea side of the story...” I mused aloud, thinking more seriously about it.
“Same.” she nodded back. “Good thing this was also a paired assignment!” she added with a bright smile.
“What, no Thanksgiving extra-cred assignment this year?” Ellie said with a hint of disappointment.
“Did we get one?” I asked Rachel.
“I think it was hinted at?” she returned with a faintly puzzled look. “It's in my notes, I'll look later.” she then shrugged.
“Nice... our big thing is that rotten science paper,” Ellie said as she shared a tired smile with Andrea.
“I have to finish up my Literature assignment...” Anhe remarked with a slight shudder.
“At least none of you took the Philosophy and Debate elective...” Mary sighed, an unusually stressed look on her face.
“Ehhh?” I wondered with dread.
“Heinrich's legendary conundrums getting to you?” Ellie asked her with a twitch of amusement.
“Ugh.” was the only reply that came forth from the older girl.
“I-is he that tough?” I wondered.
“You never did pay attention much to anything before this year, did you?” Andrea said to me with a grin. “About ten years ago, Dr. Klaus Heinrich promised only one test for the entire year, so long as everyone showed up to class every day, which they did. The final exam was a moral paradox based upon sociopolitical tensions. Almost no one passed that exam, and our principal Dr. Robertson had to beg him to not pose such a hard question for high school students ever again. Though he still brings out some toughies!” she recounted for us.
“I remember dad coming home from that discussion looking like he had been through a hazing at a boot-camp.” Mary said, a slight look of dread on her face.
“I bet,” Ellie nodded. “So what's this year's philosophical quandary?” she wondered.
“This year it's two; one for the mid-terms and one for the final. The first one is being built up on a bunch of smaller issues, and the second one is going to be one of those 'toughies', as Andrea put it.” Mary replied.
“I'm sure you'll get through it.” Andrea smiled at her. “But anyway, let's get our homework done and get going, or five-thirty will be here before we know it!” she said, and we hurriedly did so.
We managed to get all of our assignments done just as time finished ticking away for our club meeting, and then we went our separate ways home--well, somewhat separate, anyway. Ellie said something about getting a van for her next car so she could drive us all home someday. What an experience that would be, I thought as Rachel and Andrea were dropped off. She then had me move up to the shotgun-seat, and we set off for my home.
“Hahh... so, kiddo, you seem well-adjusted to being 'one of the girls' these days.” Ellie remarked. I blinked uncertainly as she grinned over at me.
“Ahh...” I started with an awkward smile.
“Ha-ha! It's not like we do anything weird, after all. But it's getting harder to tell it's actually you sometimes, the way you get in the hotsprings and stuff with us so naturally.” she said.
“Th-that's true...”
“Well don't think too hard about it now. It's not like you've actually seen us. Not that I really care, though.” Ellie shrugged.
“If you keep saying things like that it might get more awkward.” I replied with a tiredly goofy expression.
“Hah!” she returned, reaching over to pat my shoulder. “So what if we get other people in our guild or our club?” she then asked me.
“Hm?” I wondered.
“Will it be a case-by-case thing, or will we just start saying 'Oh hey, by the way' or something?”
“About Lana?”
“Of course about Lana!”
“Ehh... I think Rachel and I both agreed we like to keep it a family secret, so to speak,” I replied.
“Hmm...” she returned. A red light halted our passage to let the afternoon rush go by us. “I wouldn't mind that. I like Lana as a 'family secret'. But nothing stays secret forever, kiddo. And did you ever think about the long-term effects of being a girl in VR for extended periods?” she then asked me.
Here I had to stop and think. It was true I hadn't thought that far ahead. Apparently there were studies being conducted on that exact sort of topic by several research firms, but as for myself I didn't really feel any different than before.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
“I'm not so abandoned to the virtual world that I forget who and what I am,” I said to her with a shrug. “Fantasy is fantasy, reality is...” I started to add, and then wondered if I was really still understanding the distinction myself. A sigh left my lips. “I mean, I can stop being Lana in real life, that's no problem. Even if it would be nice to just stay in that world...” I murmured. Ellie looked over at me with a hint of concern, but then smiled.
“I totally get that.” she agreed. “Maybe one day there'll be some sort of tech that allows us to actually cross over and live our lives in a world like that...”
“I'm sure the Dream Machine's makers are already looking into that.” I nodded.
“Would you cross over to be a girl in that kind of world?” she asked me.
“I dunno.” I said honestly. “I like being someone other than me in those worlds, but if it became a truly alternate reality... I just don't know.”
“You've never even talked about this with Rachel, have you?”
“We've talked about it a couple times.”
“I mean, we all get it, and we love Lana... but we love you, too, you know. Some of us more than others.” she added with a wink.
“Maybe some day I'll be comfortable as myself in a game like that; but right now I'm just used to being Lana.” I said with a shrug.
“Hmm.” Ellie nodded as the opposing traffic slowed and we got the green light again. “Nothing wrong with that, so long as you know the day will come when the crutch won't be needed anymore.” she smiled.
“I hear you.” I returned with a faint grin of my own. After a few minutes more we pulled up to my house and I got ready to exit the vehicle. “Ellie...” I said, and she looked over at me, “Um... I mean... thanks.” I said awkwardly, and she grinned.
“That's what big sisters are for!” she quipped. “I'll be on tonight for an adventure or two.” she then added, and I nodded back.
“See you then.” I smiled as I got out of the car, closing the door behind me. She beeped, and then headed home herself.
Dinner--and a mini-inquisition about my afternoon--passed by in a more or less comfortable way. As usual, so long as my homework and assignments situation wasn't slacking, the 'rents didn't have any problem with me being out and about. All the better if I was actually doing something productive with my friends instead of just fooling around. Personally I believed I was always doing something productive with them... which could be an indication that my reality wasn't as solid as I claimed, but then we were all fairly dedicated gamers, to be fair.
Anyway; after the usual routine of dinner and a few chores, I was released into the wild once again to be with my pack.
***
I materialized as Lana on the beach of our Xuanpu estate, wearing a beach-outfit we had gotten from a visit to Diamond City in the Crystal Coasts a few days ago. Okay, I say “beach-outfit”, but it is in fact that quintessential visual tease that nearly every guy thinks about when they hear the word “vacation”: a bikini. Specifically a tartan-patterned one of violet, green, and black colors. A few moments later Ariana and Healina popped near me, both with their own variations, Ari in a red one with sun designs on it and Heali in a shimmering white one.
“That never gets old,” Heali smiled as she caught sight of me.
“It's only been a couple day we've had them,” I said, feeling my cheeks color.
“You know what I mean.” the Sea Elf grinned back. Ariana came up and gave me a hug.
“Where are we going today?” she asked as I hugged her back.
“Hmm...” I sighed, pondering the question.
We had spent most of the past couple of days here at our new house, focusing on craft skills or enjoying the beachfront we now had. Some of our friends we had made in the Aldholt had dropped by for a visit the other night, and it had turned into a fairly large beach party, complete with a player band of musicians from Floraline. By the time they had all gone home it was time for us to log out anyway, so we had called it a night.
“Whatever we do, no more huge parties for a while...” I said with a grin.
“That was fun though!” Ari returned, and then withdrew a bit to take my hands. “But it was a bit much,” she agreed with a giggle.
The other girls turned up at that moment, all of them wearing their own bikinis as well. Lizzy's was green and gold, Anhe's was orange with tiger stripes on it, and Maryn's was a solid ruby red.
“Ah--!! I'm still wearing this!” our shield-user suddenly noticed, and we laughed.
“Well, then, what should we wear and where should we go?” Lizzy then said.
“I don't know,” Maryn returned with a smile, “Maybe we can just hang out here like this again for another night.”
“Or we could start our trip to Harmonia City,” Healina suggested.
“True!” Ari nodded. “Let's talk with Fyu about it and see what he thinks.” she then added. We agreed to this, and we changed out of our beach-wear to put on casual-wear before heading up to visit with the dog-beast. Ariana presented our query to him, and he pondered things for a moment before replying.
“Harmonia City is a long way without a wayport, masters,” he said to us frankly. “One could get a Scroll of Recall from the mages to hasten the journey, however.”
“Hmm? Do they sell such convenient things here?” Anhe wondered, as did I.
The item in question is a convenience item that turns up in some fantasy MMOs. It has different but similar names in each game, but the principle is the same: a scroll that you can use to magically transport yourself to a different location, usually preferred for long-distance travel.
“Your standing must be good with a local guild, but yes, they do have such things in our world, masters.” Fyu replied. “Any mage or wizard's guild will suffice, so long as you are in their good graces and favor; a high enough standing will even merit Skills of Recall.”
“Ooh... nice,” Lizzy remarked, and then we all looked at Ariana, who blinked for a moment and then made an apologetic smile.
“I don't have that great a standing in any wizard guild... what about you, Heali?” she said quickly turning to our healer, who was also technically a mage.
“Ahh... same...” she replied bashfully.
“Fyu,” I turned to the dog-beast, “Does standing with a monastery count?”
“My apologies, master, a monastery will not count as such a guild.” he told me with a shake of his head.
“L-lana...” Anhe remarked with a nervous smile.
“Just checking!” I smiled over to her.
“It would take a couple of weeks to build up a good standing with a guild.” Lizzy noted. “Which means we can do one of two things: we can have Fyu take us, or we can see what our ship-makers can do for us.”
“If we built a boat we'd still have to take someone with us to watch over it.” I reminded her.
“True! But we have a few guards, now, so that'd be no problem.” she shrugged.
“I am willing, masters; it will be a long journey, and it has been an age since I set foot outside the boundaries of Xuanpu. Let me accompany you on your journey to the great capital,” Fyu then said to us, and I smiled back, placing my hand on his head.
“We'll do that, then.” I replied. “Hmm... Rolf being a butler counts as a steward-role, right? So we can leave him in charge of things here,” I said as I turned to the others.
“Right,” Ari nodded. “And Bjorn will keep things safe at Cloverbell, too. We don't have to worry about our houses for a moment.”
“That just leaves plotting our route to Harmonia City,” I then said.
“We would have to go northeast and then northwest, masters.” Fyu told us. “Such a road passes through Stormwraith Hold and through the Tundralands to the Grasslands of Inyan; it would then turn north to traverse that land to Memphani, before turning northwest to pass through Thessalia and Bretony to Kingsmark, where the city lies.”
“Wow,” I replied, “And that'd take several days in this world?”
“Certainly, masters.” Fyu nodded.
“We don't want to exhaust Fyu at all,” Healina said. “If it takes a couple days to get to Stormwraith Hold...”
“One and a half days.” the dog-beast interjected, and she nodded, pulling up the map.
“Maybe two days across Stormwraith Hold, possibly three across the Tundralands, about four or five through the Grasslands, and then... hmm...” Healina frowned, gauging the distance.
“I can certainly recover in the three days that accompany your absence from a great galloping,” Fyu then snorted. “To get to Memphani at such a distance would take me eight days, and then perhaps ten to get to Harmonia City. My body is strong, masters, and you have need of haste. The only thing which could get there faster than I would be a dragon--!!” he explained to us, and then suddenly his eyes lit up and he looked towards the northwest.
“Fyu?” I asked him.
“Even eighteen days may not get you to the tournament in time, even if you start tonight; but, masters, I have heard rumors of a great dragon that makes its home near the Torching Mount in the Firelands... perhaps he could be made to serve you.” Fyu said to us.
“A--”
“--dragon?” Ari and I gasped together.
“Yes, masters,” he said to us with the hint of a twinkle in his eyes. “I long to prove my good service to you in defying your expectations, but I will let wisdom rule myself, and give you cunning advice instead. A dragon can carry the six of you on its back and carry you to Harmonia City in but four or five days. The secret of gaining its service will certainly be found out by such clever masters as yourselves.”
“Will you take us to the Torching Mount, Fyu Dongtian?” I asked him softly.
“I shall, master.” he said to me.
“Then you will have proven your good service, as always. We rely on you a lot, you know.” I smiled at him, and he wagged his great tail, the hint of a smile on his wise face.
“I am much gratified, masters.” he returned.
“I guess we found another epic adventure I can take part in!” Lizzy smirked happily, clapping her hands together.
“We'll probably be relying on you, Heali, when we get to the place in question,” I said.
“If we find no clues otherwise, I'll do my best!” she replied.
“All right, let's all gear up and head out!” I then said, and a few minutes later we were on our way to the Firelands, that volcanic region just north of Xuanpu where not only dragons but phoenixes and salamanders also dwell.
Okay. So it's not just those three types of creatures. We found this out as soon as we crossed the border a couple in-game hours later, nearly crossing paths with a tribe of nomadic giants with their herds of pachyderm-type creatures -- or were they some kind of dinosaur?. These glared at us threateningly, but Fyu avoided going too near them so that we didn't draw aggro.
“They are grondons, masters,” Fyu told us when we asked him what the animals were. “Such animals are peaceful, unless you attack them.”
“Wouldn't want to try attacking one just yet,” I muttered with a wry glance towards the beasts.
To be more specific, they looked like some sort of cross between a triceratops and a hippopotamus. Each of them were as big as a bus, their backs had triangular ridges, and the tails had spikes on the end. One let out a loud, rumbling bass-toned cry as it plodded along with its herd; I swear the ground actually shook, but it was probably my imagination.
“Dragons make great sport of them in these lands, as I recall,” Fyu continued as we sped away from them and towards the Torching Mount.
“… wait, wait, wait...” Lizzy then spoke up, “If we're trying to tame a dragon, what in the heck are we going to feed it? We can't go catching dinosaur-sized beasts every day!”
“I assure you, masters, a dragon seeks its own prey. You need never fear about such a creature starving.” the dog-beast told us.
“Right...” our smith replied, unconvinced.
“He's got a point,” I shrugged, sitting back to enjoy the ride.
The Firelands was not a bleak area in terms of landscape, but it wasn't entirely lush, either. Trees and underbrush grew nearer to the coasts, and the closer to the volcano we got the more barren it became. Yet again, I couldn't imagine how they'd even begun to detail things like this. A breeze came sweeping by from the east, blowing the faint scent of palms and the seaside our way; when it dissipated we were left with the acrid taste of a volcanic region once more. The ground was dark in color, and in the distance we could see rivers of lava flowing from the Torching Mount, to say nothing of the smoke billowing out of its cone.
“I bet there's a lot of nice ore and stone in there...” I muttered softly, and Ariana nodded beside me.
“Only in a game world.” she smirked.
Fyu carried us through a winding maze of deadwood forests and lava-streams for the next couple of game hours and then he halted at a set of ancient ruins that had been blackened with ash. It was close enough to our destination, so the six of us hopped out of the waggon to begin walking. I handed Fyu a treat for his services, and gave him a pat on the head.
“Go ahead and make your way back, and tell Rolf we said to unhitch you when you get home.” I said as he quickly gobbled the treat.
“As you wish, Lady Lana.” he said to me with a reverent nod, and then he carefully turned around and began heading home.
“Not bringing him along?” Ariana wondered softly as he departed.
“Well, he stopped here probably because it was the safest place to do so with a waggon while still being close; he might have come along with us, if we'd unhitched him, but I'm not sure how I feel about risking him on this little adventure.” I replied to her.
“Meaning you're not sure how dealing with a dragon will turn out.” she smiled at me wryly.
“You saw what it eats, right? How big do you have to be to eat something the size of a bus?” I said to her with an equally wry grin, and she nodded back.
“Of course you make me realize this just now...” Lizzy muttered, and Heali giggled.
“Let us try and sneak in to see what we are dealing with,” Anhe then said, and with a nod to each other we set off across the volcanic landscape to finish our journey to the Torching Mount.
***
It was definitely a different experience crossing the terrain here than it had been in the fiery reaches of the Marshes. The heat was more intense, for one thing, and there was also intermittent flurryings of ashes and smoke that came down. We heard the faint sounds of a ghostly choir rising and falling in mournful pitches. Where the Marshes of the Wyrd had been eerie, the Torching Mount was all about despair.
As we drew closer to the flaming mountain, we were able to make out a set of stairs that wound about to head about two-thirds of the way up the volcano itself, where we could see the outline of a doorway. Healina brought up a lore-guide as we walked along, and after she read a couple pages she summarized things for us.
“There was an ancient culture here in the Firelands before the volcanoes burst forth; this was one of their temple-mounts, but when the great disaster of fires from the earth came it was blackened and defiled by demonic creatures, and then the dragons came with their kindred to conquer the area. The Torching Mount is significant because it was their greatest temple, and here one of the greatest dragons settled... not sure I know how to pronounce this name,” she said, showing us the panel.
Dracuoatlax.
“Hmm...” I frowned, not sure myself.
“I'm sure he'll announce himself to us.” Maryn shrugged.
“True!” Ari agreed. “There's more than a few fantasy dragons who love doing so.”
“I think it's more of a game trope, but I'll go with that.” Lizzy said, and I nodded in agreement.
“I think so, too. Rygar and Loh'krat from Eldritch Tomes are good examples.” I said.
“Ooh, forgot about them!” she remarked.
“So... up the stairs?” Maryn then said, drawing out her sword and readying her shield.
“Soon as we get to them, yeah,” I nodded back, preparing my bow as we kept going.
The six of us soon reached the burnt and blackened stairs, cautiously ascending them. There was no living thing other than us that we could detect outside or upon the volcano. Neither my vision-skill nor Ari's could peer into it. Not that I really wanted to look inside.
You know, of all the sucky ways to go in a video game, I've always hated pools of lava the most... I mused to myself with a faint grimace. And this is a double-whammy, come to think of it; the dragon might incinerate us if things go badly. Dragon-fire, lava; lava, dragon-fire... dragon-fire... lava... almost the same thing, really, except that -- newp, nope, nope, nooo... not gonna think about *that*.
I looked around to distract myself from that train of thought quickly, catching a faint hint of white clouds far to the east. Overhead, grey and black belchings of smoke nearly covered the sky. A quiet sigh escaped my lips. I then tried to not think of anything at all, which kind of worked, because the next thing I knew Ari put her hand on my shoulder and I stopped. We were at the door.
Whatever it had looked like before, it was now a black and charred frame of stone with figures and designs that had been warped by lava flows. The doors themselves were actually long gone. A long passageway bored straight into the volcano at a barely noticeable descent; we could see a red-orange glow at the far end. I headed in first, followed by Maryn. Ariana and Healina came next, when Anhe and Lizzy just after them. With as little noise as possible, the six of us crept along the passage, each of us feeling the heat significantly more intense as we went further in. Then we heard the sound.
It was a rumbling sound, a loud one. It only took a few seconds for me to realize that it was the snoring of the dragon, probably being amplified by the hollowed chambers of the volcano. We continued with even more caution, and then Maryn nudged me. Ari and Heali had stopped to look at something I had gone past without thinking.
There in a little alcove that was off to the right of the descending pathway was a series of reliefs carved into the stone wall. Unlike most of the ruined portion of the area, this was practically fresh in appearance, though not recently made. I was able to discern seven distinct scenes, and all but the first of them seemed to involve the dragon.
This first scene depicted what was probably the temple in its heyday; then there was an eruption, with the dragon far in the distance. The third scene showed the dragon raining down fire upon those who continued to defy it, and the fourth showed their submission to it. In fifth place was an offering of tribute, but the sixth showed backing away from another kind of tribute, a ring-like object... a collar? The final panel showed the object, whatever it was, being placed by dragonic servants in the lowest depths of the volcano as their master looked on.
“Once upon a time, all was blissful, and then the volcanoes and the dragon came,” Healina said softly. “Then we fought against him, but in the end we suffered him to be our overlord. And then we lavished gifts upon him, but then someone brought him a gift he recoiled from, a thing which he hid away in the deepest chambers of the Torching Mount...” she mused, gazing curiously at the scenes.
“Wanna bet...?” Lizzy whispered.
“I can guess already.” I nodded back. “We probably need to get this thing first, whatever it is.”
“I doubt we will be able to just take it,” Anhe remarked quietly.
“True. And we may have a volcano full of minions to go through as well.”
“To say nothing of the volcano itself, and the dragon.” Maryn added.
“Oh...” I returned flatly, suddenly bringing to mind the fact that the Torching Mount was not just a fancy name but a literal one.
“You mean an eruption might happen while we're here?!” Lizzy hissed.
“I thought that would be obvious from the name 'Torching Mount'!” Maryn whispered back to her in a slightly annoyed tone.
“Let's just focus for the moment!” I softly clapped my hands. “We need to try and figure out the most efficient way possible to get this thing before the dragon or any possible minions figure out we're here!” I said, placing my hand upon the seventh scene.
Just as I did, it receded into the wall, and on the other side of the passage a secret door opened. A panel?! A secret door!? Wait -- bingo!!
“There we go!” I whispered excitedly.
“Niiice.” our smith quipped.
“Let's go, quickly!” Ariana said, and without another word we stole across the way to head inside this new passage, whereupon the door closed behind us.