Pallas’ Watch, Godsfall Mountains. Day 09.
“Get those last tie downs secured! I don’t want my new toy getting dropped!” Will-I-Am shouted down from the airship's deck to a pair of spiderlings busying themselves around the massive crystal cannon Saiph had allowed Will to take when they left.
Saiph watched the work to dismount the cannon and tie it to the airship and sighed. “When he said he wanted to take that cannon and I said he could have it, I hadn't imagined he actually had a plan to move it.”
“Never underestimate the will of a cat hunting for their new toy,” Nix joked. “What I want to know is how he intends to use it. The thing is huge!”
The early morning show had started hours ago when Will had sent a message to have everyone who could fly meet him near where they’d fought the cockatrices surrounding Pallas’ Watch. Will had arrived with two airships built by his ship steward’s uncle, a tinkerer by the name of Wilhelm Clarke.
A day of watching the cockatrices had shown there was a ceiling most weren’t willing to fly above. Anyone with a dragon form could fly well above it and so could the airships, with help from a pyromancer providing more lift than the ship’s burners alone could provide.
And so they escorted the twin ships back to Saiph’s guild castle, only having to fight a handful of cockatrices that braved flying higher. They were swiftly dealt with and became food for the wiser cockatrices below them.
“Cannon’s secured in her cradle! Take her up!” Spidarren shouted. As a carpenter back on earth, he had had very little trouble rigging up a means for the airship to carry the crystal cannon Saiph had promised Will back to Orleana.
The airship lifted lazily upward, dragging the heavy crystal cannon skyward before coming to rest level with the cliff’s edge outside the castle's courtyard beside the second airship.
Though virtually identical in design, the ship carrying the cannon was about thirty feet larger than her sister at a little over one hundred and fifty feet from end to end. Their keels were smooth and flat with four metal rails running the entire length spaced evenly apart that the airships rested on when on the ground. Their gas bags above were even larger at just shy of two hundred feet and one hundred and eighty feet respectively.
Will leapt from the railing as his ship steward, Abigail Clarke, jumped down after him.
“We’re ready to make for Orleana if everyone else is. We’ve got serious planning to do if we’re going after Avanyu,” Will said.
It was Saiph’s intention to gather Calburn and Clarent before the meeting of guild leaders being arranged in Araedi in several weeks to have more to show to the audience he’d need to convince to fight with him down the line. That put a serious time crunch on them all.
“I think we’re set.” Saiph stepped aboard the airship, the wood groaning slightly under his feet.
Though the ship's wooden surfaces were unfinished, Saiph could see the great care that had gone into its construction. Copper tubing came out of the floor near the handrail posts, transitioning to a flexible hose that went up the length of the gas bag’s tie downs before disappearing inside the red fabric.
In the center of the open deck, forward of the main superstructure, was a hatch. Curiosity getting the better of him, Saiph opened it and looked inside.
Warm, humid air blasted Saiph in the face. He blinked his eyes several times to clear the tears and when they adjusted to the darkness, he could see a tangled mass of steam lines criss-crossing the ceiling. The space was cramped and he would definitely feel uneasy walking around there given his larger size. The tight confines were a serious burn hazard.
Saiph closed the hatch and walked along the deck aftwards towards the superstructure. Inside was a modest bridge with seating along the port and starboard walls and a table with a map of the continent inlaid on it in the center of the room just behind the steering wheel.
The steering wheel itself confused Saiph. There weren’t any mechanical connections, and upon asking, Wilhelm explained it used a crystal inside the wheel to input the direction of turn which activated wings on the gas bag with their own attached crystal. This allowed the ship to have gross steering along long distances. Fine steering was controlled by a windrunner directing the currents of air around a series of three rudders along the airship’s keel, much like on a sailing ship, in sequence with the wings on the gas bags.
Travel was slow, but steady. Saiph and Lueur Rose kept a lookout for any cockatrices until the floating Godsfall Mountains became sparser and sparser.
With the ability of players within a party to come and go, many of their friends did over the hours, though Saiph and Nix stayed the entire time. Saiph aboard one ship, Nix aboard the other.
It was late in the evening when Saiph got a message from Nix.
Hey, you know where we are, right?
After scouring the forest canopy for several moments, it clicked, and Saiph immediately went to Will to give him directions for a place to land for the night.
A familiar grizzled old guard met them at the clearing just south of Firestone Village when the airships set down.
“Mikel, it’s good to see you!” Saiph reached out and shook the guard’s hand.
“And you as well,” Mikel returned the shake. He looked up at the twin airships in the background, the second of which was just now touching down. “Ha, flying ships! What other marvels has our little village missed out on?”
This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.
Wilhelm Clarke happily gave Mikel a quick tour of the airship. The guard was fascinated particularly by the boilers, which used either a fuel source or a mage versed in fire magic to provide steam to heat the large gas envelopes above each ship.
The familiar old tavern Saiph and Nix had had their first meal in this world and whose owner's son they'd saved the life of after a pair of goliath huntsmen, or rather, their night spawn versions, nightstalkers, had ambushed their caravan.
Sylas welcomed them with a wave from behind the bar, offering an appreciative glance at the larger group Saiph had arrived with.
“How's your son doing?” Saiph asked, walking up to the counter.
“He’ll have a nice scar, but he is on the mend.”
“I'm glad to hear. We're going to need several rooms if you have them. And are Slaine and Cassi around?”
S141-13, or Slaine as Lueur Rose nicknamed him, was a Berserker, the tank class known for high mobility and even higher HP and HP regeneration. C4551, or Cassi, was a Caster, a support who used magic to trap or debuff enemies and buff and assist allies. Both had been in the mine for which Firestone village had been named. A mine which had become an instanced dungeon, or a magic dungeon as the nonplayers called them
Probably the most interesting fact about the pair was that they were bots; accounts who did tasks without player input such as mining, gathering alchemy ingredients, or even fighting low level mobs with the intent of funneling the resources acquired into a single account for profit.
Saiph wasn’t sure how the pair had evaded detection long enough to make it into the mid level fifties, especially considering “bot-hunting” had always been a favored passtime of players. But these two had and had amassed quite a bit of firestone in their inventories, which was made easy to carry by the fact that someone had dumped all five hundred of their stat points into Strength. Saiph and Lueur Rose had felt first hand just how much all that strength could pack in a punch when Slaine had mistook them for the undead lurking within the mine.
Sylas had a warm grin on his face at Saiph’s mention of the pair. “They’re probably in the library at the townhall. Those two have been glued there when they haven’t been helping just about anyone who will let them. They should be back soon, they are nothing if not punctual in regard to eating and sleeping.”
Lueur Rose took a seat at the bar beside Saiph. “I’m glad they’re getting along well here. I was worried about them.”
“Me too. While we’re here, I also wanted to take a look inside the mine again.” Saiph saw the deeper meaning in the frown Rose wore at the mention of the mine.
She had been the only one to see Eric’s wife and the dungeon’s boss, Samira, just as the party left the cave. The woman hadn’t said anything to Rose, but had apparently been crying just inside the mine’s entrance as they were leaving it.
The creepiness of the experience had bothered Saiph. Here was proof that the monsters inhabiting instanced dungeons hadn’t always been monsters. Raine von Alder, Nix’s summoned sword princess, had confirmed that line of thinking when she’d revealed that she’d been the one to create the instanced dungeon that held the sea monster Avanyu. Saiph had to find out: who created the others?
It hadn’t been lost on Saiph that instanced dungeons were likely an extension of the System he and the prior incarnation of himself, a robotic-stone-like being named Anathi, had built. He wasn’t sure how they fit into it, but he wondered just how much unintentional harm he had caused by going through with Anathi’s plan. Was the monster he, Reylynn, and the other warriors trapped so much of a threat that the thousand years of suffering this land had endured was worth it?
It was pointless to dwell on that. Saiph had fought the monster Isiphelo firsthand and had seen Anathi’s memories of the war that had been waged some countless years before that war took them to the icy world of Ciel and this place he now called home, Terre.
“Right on schedule,” Sylas laughed as Cassi and Slaine entered the tavern. “Dinner’s ready!”
The pair eagerly sat down at a table in a corner. Slaine stood When he recognized Saiph and Rose. He and Cassi nearly knocked each other over while running to meet them.
“Saiph, Lueur Rose. Thank you both for the wonderful gift you have given us. We have both learned a lot from the people of this village.” Cassi said in her quiet, mouse-like voice.
Rose hugged Cassi. “I heard you two were getting along well. I'm glad!”
It was clear that Cassi was uncomfortable with the gesture and Slaine reflexively reached for the giant, enchanted pickaxe on his back. Rose quickly let the Caster go and apologized.
The exchange reminded Saiph of the circumstances they had met the pair under. Both had been trapped in the dungeon’s safe zone, repeatedly being killed by the undead who roamed the passages. Despite that, both had insisted upon returning to the dungeon to mine the firestone inside after they’d managed to find the dungeon’s heart; an item which would allow the creation of a monster-free instance, albeit with extremely reduced loot drops.
Though, that had been until they’d actually left the mine and seen the surface world for themselves. The child-like wonder Slaine and Cassi had shown the woods when they stepped out of that mine was a memory Saiph knew he’d hold onto forever.
Saiph brought them all past the awkward moment. “What have you guys been up to while we were gone!”
Though he had initially recommended they check out the library, Sylas encouraged the pair to try as many unique hobbies and jobs as they could. Slaine had taken an interest in music and was becoming good with the drums. Cassi really enjoyed making things and was apprenticing with the village’s toy maker. Neither had the ability to create anything unique, but Slaine needed only hear a song once and he could perfectly reproduce it and Cassi was a 3D printing machine.
Cassi handed Lueur Rose one of the toys she had made, a small stuffed bear with a simple red dress. “I want you to have it. As a thank you for helping us leave the mine.”
Lueur Rose squeezed the doll. “I love it, Cassi!”
Saiph turned to Slaine, pulling two small bottles from his bag. “I didn't forget about our conversation. These potions will allow the two of you to change your stats to a spread more useful for your classes.”
Slaine's eyes went wide with eagerness and he reached for the bottle.
Saiph pulled it back with a laugh. “Hold on! These potions are extremely rare. That said, they are yours and if you want them now, I'll give them to you. But I think you’ll both get much more value out of them if we can sit you down with a Berserker and a Caster to help you plan your levels. And maybe get you something better than starter gear.”
The respec potions were cash shop items. Saiph didn't have access to the cash shop anymore and no one in his guild did, either. Though his guild did have many potions in their guild vault, it would still be a shame to waste them by not getting the pair the most knowledgeable people in the Berserker and Caster classes to help them with the important decision of stat allocation.
There was a bit of hesitation, but Slaine finally said, “I understand. I can wait.”
Saiph returned the potions to his bag. “You won’t have to wait long. We want to try something with the dungeon. Maybe we can help the people trapped inside rest, if not save them like we did you two.”
Both Cassi and Slaine affirmed their desire to help.
Though this wasn’t solely about helping Samira and the victims of the mine find peace, that was a big part. Saiph hoped that by figuring out a way to remove this horrifying aspect of the instanced dungeon, they might be able to do the same on Raine’s Islands and the other instanced dungeons across the globe.