Chapter 193: Kiepalt Forest
Aegis stood alongside Tullan atop the Kordas Skyport with Lina, Pyri, Darkshot, Rakkan, and Snowflake standing behind him. It was mid-afternoon, a few hours after the meeting had taken place. A light breeze blew through the air that billowed their cloaks as they looked down across the city below them.
Towards the western gate they watched two long lines of players on the backs of various beasts, marching out of the city. What they were watching exactly was the bulk of both the Night Hunters and the Blades of Kalmoore guilds as they headed out towards a dungeon delve into a high level dungeon.
“There they go…” Tullan said as the last few players in the line passed through the threshold of the city walls, following the road out of Kordas. Once they had, the creatures they had mounted went from trotting to galloping, and within a few seconds, they had disappeared into the treeline surrounding the outskirts of Kordas.
“Do you really think they’re going to find any mithral gear from grinding a level 180 dungeon?” Darkshot asked.
“It’s possible.” Rakkan replied.
“Doesn’t matter, we’ve got our own stuff to worry about.” Aegis shrugged and turned back to look at the others.
“Hell yeah we do. You said Leonard’s gonna fly us to Kiepalt Forest in his airship?” Darkshot replied excitedly, rubbing his hands together and causing Darkwing to coo from his shoulder.
“Yep. He’s eager to help out against these abyss guys, after what they did.” Tullan nodded towards The Sky Darling, Leonard’s airship. There, the group looked and saw Gregory and Leonard moving about the deck and getting the ship ready for departure.
“Oooh, I finally get to ride an airship!” Pyri squealed excitedly, stepping forward towards the pier.
“Wait… I think there’s a misunderstanding…” Aegis moved to cut her off, immediately catching a glare from Pyri.
“Heeeeh?” She replied with a low growl.
“You guys aren’t coming with us…” Aegis spoke timidly.
“Heeeeeeeeeh? What was that? I think I misheard you.” Pyri continued with a slightly louder growl. Following this, Aegis looked to see Rakkan and Darkshot looking equally displeased, while Lina looked at him with concern.
“Listen.” Aegis quickly tried to calm them down. “It’s my advanced class quest to find the dragon, and it’s my job to craft us the best gear, not you guys. Making you tag along would be a waste of your time, and right now we’re pressed for time. We need to be efficient.” Aegis explained.
“Keep goin’, bucko. You’re on thin ice.” Pyri continued to glare on behalf of the others.
“We’re all level 150 now, so you guys should start working on getting advanced, instead. Right?” Aegis shrugged. “I heal and craft, and you guys cut down anything that gets in the way.” Aegis finished with, causing Pyri to let up her glare momentarily and sigh.
“There’s no way we’re finishing our advanced class quests in two weeks.” Rakkan replied.
“He’s right… It'll take at least a month, even if we know where to start. It’s better if we stay with you for now…” Lina insisted.
“I’m not talking about the class quest.” Aegis replied while pointing in the direction of the Kordas training hall. “Advanced Weapon Mastery skills. That’s something you guys can unlock in time. It could mean the difference between winning, and losing.” Aegis explained, as everyone briefly followed his fingers off the side of the skyport to look down in the direction of the training hall.
“Eh, Aegis. I’m all fer’ gettin’ yer pals stronger, but…” Tullan explained as all eyes moved to him. “‘Bout 2000 players so far have reached advanced classes now, and of those 2000, less than 100 have gotten their advanced weapon skills. One thing they all agree on, is that advanced weapon skills are stupidly hard, even compared to the advanced class quests…” Tullan continued, but as he spoke, he slowly lost confidence in his speech as he watched the grins on Rakkan and Pyri’s faces begin to grow.
“Ah, I fergot who I was talkin’ to…” Tullan rolled his eyes.
“Alright, fine. You go play around in your pretty little airship. We’ll go do the hard stuff.” Pyri smirked.
“I’m not gonna be last this time.” Rakkan said confidently.
“I don’t know, Aegis…” Darkshot hesitated.
“I think it’s better if I stay with you.” Lina replied, still looking worried.
“He’ll be fine.” A familiar voice called out from the top of the ramp leading out of the tower. The group all looked over to see Artaphernes and Yorgi stepping up onto the top of the Skyport tower. “He’s got a babysitter.” Artaphernes smiled while motioning to himself.
“Hi, everyone. Big fan…” Yorgi squeaked out shyly as they looked over him, Pyri noting that he was now level 60.
“Oh, you grew up a bit.” Pyri tilted her head curiously at him. “You’re a sage?”
“Oh, me? Hehe…” He nervously began fidgeting as he glanced between Aegis, then Pyri, but had trouble maintaining eye contact. “Yeah, I guess. Not as much as you, though. I mean, not that you leveled insanely fast or anything. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just normal, quicker than average leveling. Hehe.” Yorgi answered her, causing Pyri to roll her eyes at him.
“Relax.” She walked over and patted his shoulders.
“You guys know each other?” Aegis asked curiously.
“Yup. Yorgi here was training in the Wizard tower at the same time I was doing my intermediate quest.” Pyri responded without turning back to Aegis, instead continuing towards the top of the ramp. “Don’t expect us to take long on our advanced quests. I expect a new set of gear waiting for me when I come out.” She gave a wave and a smile before heading down the ramp. “Oh…” She stopped after a few steps down the ramp and turned to Artaphernes, as the others looked towards her.
“If you let them hurt my son, I’ll come for you.” She tilted her head down and glared at Artaphernes uncomfortably.
“Yes ma'am, don’t worry. I’ll keep him safe.” Artaphernes smiled back awkwardly.
“Good. C’mon guys. Let’s show the rest of the world just how easy these advanced quests are.” Pyri motioned the others, causing Darkshot and Rakkan to get in motion. Rakkan moved forward excitedly, but Darkshot not so much, and Lina not at all.
Instead, Lina remained firmly in place, staring at Aegis long after Darkshot, Pyri and Rakkan had disappeared down the ramp.
“Lina?” Aegis asked her curiously, but she continued to just stare at him, while the others awkwardly glanced between them.
“How ‘bout we go ‘n help prep the ship?” Tullan suggested, motioning for Artaphernes and Yorgi to follow him.
“Right, good idea.” Artaphernes nodded, and the three quickly walked away from the situation to leave Lina and Aegis with some privacy. Aegis followed them with his eyes and waited until he was sure they were out of earshot before speaking.
“Is everything okay?” Aegis turned to Lina, while Snowflake curiously glanced between them.
“I don’t want to leave your side.” Lina replied while lowering her head shamefully, her cheeks beginning to glow red.
“I’m going to be okay, you know I can handle myself…” Aegis replied while stepping forward closer to her, and lightly taking one of her hands in his. There, he wiggled around the ring that Luryala had given him to make sure Lina saw it. "Worst case, I've got this. I'll be fine."
“I know, it’s just… I don’t want you to get bored of me, and leave me behind. All I’m doing is what you tell me to do, right?” Lina replied shyly, still keeping her head down.
“What are you talking about?” Aegis asked her, confused. Still, she remained silent and didn’t answer, and he got the feeling it was bothering her more than she was letting on. “I’m not going to get bored of you, why would you say something like that?” Aegis scrunched his eyebrows curiously.
“Guys get bored of girls who only do what they say, right? You know, girls who are just boring and obedient...”
“You don’t only listen to what I say… Is this about what happened at the red river, with the smoke bomb?” Aegis asked, and she nodded slightly. “When you ask me to do something and I do it, do you get bored of me because I do it?” Aegis asked her.
“Well, no…” Lina replied shyly.
“Exactly. It’s not because the other person is obedient, it's because we trust each other. We can rely on each other to do things the other one can’t. I’m not some relationship expert but I’m pretty sure trust is the most important thing, right?” Aegis replied.
“Yeah, I guess…”
“And, I'm not going to get bored of you. If anything, you'll get bored of me with all this grinding..." Aegis chuckled.
"No, I won't! It was fun..." Lina replied quickly. She lifted her head and looked up into Aegis eyes, causing him to smile back.
"This is turning out to be one of the most fun summers I’ve ever had. Don’t tell Darkshot I said that, though…” Aegis quickly added on the end, causing Lina to chuckle. “It’s not just because of the game, but because of everyone playing together. Especially you. You don't have to worry about something like that.”
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“Okay…” She sniffled, replying weakly and smiling.
“When all this is over, and if the island is still here, let’s build that castle together, and then have a proper date, okay?” Aegis said, and Lina nodded while he wiped tears from her eyes that began to fall, then leaned in and kissed her. With their eyes closed, the two remained joined by their lips for a long while, until finally Aegis got awkwardly out of breath and wasn’t sure how to manage it, so pulled away and let out gasps of air, of which Lina did the same. The two watched each other do this and both giggled at each other.
“I should go, then.” She suddenly spoke with determination and a shift in her demeanor. “We have to save this island so we can build the castle together.” She added with a nod.
“Yeah. If you have advanced dagger mastery, and I can craft you mithral daggers, no one will be able to take us out.” Aegis replied. With these words, Lina clenched her fists excitedly.
“Be safe.” She said with another nod, then turned to head towards the top of the ramp. As Aegis watched her leave, he briefly eyed his live streaming icon and remembered that he had it turned on, to a viewership of 400,000 players, holding steady. He immediately rolled his eyes in the direction of the icon.
“Oh, shut up Hae-won.” He grumbled to no one in particular before turning to face the pier leading to the Sky Darling. He then began his walk down the narrow pier with Snowflake following closely behind him.
“Hoho, there you are, dear!” Leonard cheered excitedly from the side of the airship’s deck, leaning forward with one knee up on the railing. “You grow older, but I stay the same age, it seems. Oh, they grow up so fast!” He cheered while motioning to his level of 30, and Aegis’ level of 150.
“Still no pilot intermediate quest?” Aegis asked as he ascended the boarding ramp.
“To be honest, I haven’t really been looking for it.” Leonard shrugged. “Been busy hunting someone else down.”
“Simon, right? I heard… I’m sorry.” Aegis apologized with a polite bow.
“No need, it’s not your fault. It was only a matter of time before the vile wretches of humanity crawled their way onto our island of paradise.” Leonard gritted his teeth as he spoke angrily in a way Aegis had never seen. “Quinn tells me that you’re close to making some nice weapons to punish them?”
“Yup. Sort of. We’ve got a lead on a silver dragon possibly being in or around the Kiepalt forest area, which we’ll need to complete the forging process.” Aegis replied.
“Right, then. Let’s not delay. Prepare to sail!” Leonard shouted out to everyone on the deck. Aegis looked around to see Gregory making last minute preparations to the sails, while Artaphernes stood towards the front of the ship and looked down at the city, spear at his side. Tullan and Yorgi were discussing something off in a corner but turned to give Leonard a thumbs up as he hurried to the upper deck where the stern was.
It’d been a long time for Aegis, but it still felt just like yesterday that he was flying on the airship towards Arallia. Aegis watched Leonard get behind the stern and wave his hands around in familiar motions, causing the side sails to open up on the airship and the wind begin to blow into them. Gregory untied the ship from the pier, and within seconds, the ship was slowly flying forward away from the Skyport, narrowly maneuvering around the tall buildings of the city of Kordas nearby.
“Kiepalt’s about a days journey from Kordas on foot, but since we’re in a hurry…” Leonard began to speak as the Sky Darling had cleared the tall buildings and was now soaring above the open air with nothing in its path. “We oughta make it there in under an hour. Might want to hold on to something, kids.” Leonard shouted, and Aegis looked to see Gregory hugging the base of the mast tightly. Aegis wasn’t the only one who saw this, and immediately after, there was a scramble between Yorgi, Tullan, Aegis and Artaphernes to find something to cling onto.
Ultimately, Aegis grabbed the mast on the opposite side of Gregory, while Artapherenes grabbed the railing that went around the edge of the deck, and Yorgi and Tullan ran below deck.
"Hold on tight, okay?" Aegis instructed Snowflake who was looking around curiously, but squawked back in acknowledgement. Snowflake then lowered his head and abdruptly drove his talons and claws deep into the wooden planks of the airships deck, much to Aegis' dismay.
“All secured? Great. Let’s get going. Air burst!” Leonard cheered excitedly, and suddenly a huge rush of magical air exploded into the sails, causing the ship to launch forward through the sky at incredible speed. Within seconds, the city of Kordas had completely disappeared from view, and they were above the wilderness of Kalmoore.
When the ship slowed down back to a normal speed, Aegis looked to see that Artaphernes had nearly been flung off the side and climbed back to his feet, looking as though he might hurl.
“I hate airships.” Artaphernes grumbled.
“That skill has an 8 minute cooldown. We’ll be using it again soon.” Leonard cheered jovially to his passengers, of which no one reciprocated his joy.
Aegis quickly went to check on Snowflake, who still had his head down and had dug his talons into the wood. As Snowflake lifted his talons up, it revealed large marks in the wood which Aegis awkwardly moved towards and tried to hide from view from the others, but he glanced back and saw Gregory eying him and the talon marks with disdain.
“I’m not repairing that.” Gregory huffed as he lifted his chin up and closed his eyes, strutting away from the mast and towards the door leading below deck, while simultaneously Tullan and Yorgi emerged from below deck.
“You okay lil' buddy?” Aegis ruffled Snowflake's feathers and he squawked excitedly with a nod.
“So, what’re we thinkin’ we’re lookin’ for? I’ve never been on an Aegis adventure before.” Tullan asked as he approached with Yorgi behind him, and Artaphernes closed in as well.
“I’m not sure exactly. We’ll go to the location that the scales were found, and search around. Hopefully with a vantage point on this airship we’ll be able to spot some useful clues.” Aegis shrugged.
“I have a lot of sage skills at the ready. Trexon trained me well. So, just let me know what you need.” Yorgi replied with enthusiasm.
“You sure it’s a good idea to stream this? I’m a bit uncomfortable with you holding a target above our heads.” Artaphernes motioned to Aegis’ livestream.
“It won’t matter… Unless you have a way to block scrying, like Trexon?” Aegis asked Yorgi.
“That skill… I haven’t learned yet. Sorry.” Yorgi lowered his head shamefully.
“Yer so sure they’re gonna scry on us? Y’know they can’t scry usin’ just regular ol’ items like what ye' sold on auction. It’s gotta be somethin’ personalized by you, like hair, or somethin’ you…”
“Autographed?” Aegis finished for Tullan with a sigh. “On the day after the concert, I met Simon at the top of the Skyport Tower, and he asked for my autograph.”
“You didn’t… Did you?” Artaphernes rolled his eyes.
“At the time we didn’t know who he was. He acted a bit weird, but… he was persistent…” Aegis answered shamefully.
“And that didn’t set off any red flags for you?” Artaphernes replied.
“I didn’t even know a spell like scrying existed at the time.” Aegis grumbled back.
“Great. Wonderful. So, the worst member of their entire group has front row seats to everything we’re doing. That’s comforting.” Artaphernes crossed his arms.
“That means they’ve likely had front row seats this entire time.” Tullan shrugged.
“Yep. So, you see,” Aegis smiled awkwardly. “No point turning off the stream.”
“I really gotta ask Trexon where he learned that spell…” Yorgi mumbled weakly.
“Hold on to something, almost time for round two!” Leonard shouted down at them from the upper deck.
“Oh god…” Artaphernes groaned as he began anxiously looking for something to grab onto.
Several more air bursts later, the ship arrived above a vast expanse of emerald trees that covered the uneven landscape below them.
“Here we are! Welcome to Kiepalt forest!” Leonard announced. Aegis and the others emerged from the safety of below deck to get a view of the land, Artaphernes looking pale and queasy as he did. The group approached the railings at the front of the airship as Leonard retracted the side sails and the Airship stopped moving, instead hovering in place a few dozen meters above the forest’s canopy.
“So, where do we start?” Tullan asked as the four of them began panning their eyes across the forest. It wasn’t long before Leonard moved up to join in.
“Any clue what it is we’re looking for?” Leonard asked.
“A dragon, like what I saw in Hrath’mir. They were pretty big. Silver, shiny. Maybe in a cavern, or something that looks like a dragon's lair?” Aegis suggested.
“There’s a lot of hills underneath those trees, the land is uneven…” Yorgi pointed out.
“Aye, there could be a cavern hidden under the canopy of the forest. We wouldn’t be able to see it from up here.”
“Yeah, maybe… but look…” Aegis pointed down in the direction of several flashing lights. As the group focused on it, they identified a group of five players that were battling ape-looking NPCs. After pointing them out, Aegis spotted a few other parties of players who were grinding, or questing, within the forest.
“It’s a pretty popular grind spot. If there was a dragon lair, a dungeon or a cave down there, I’m pretty sure one of those questing groups would have found it already.” Artaphernes said what Aegis was thinking.
“What’d Chax say about where the scales were found?” Tullan turned to Aegis who quickly opened his interface, fidgeting with it to send a message to Chax. After a few moments, he got his answer and closed it out.
“He said the players who sold scales told him they found them in the rocky clearing…” Aegis replied, and immediately following his words, the five of them began scanning the surrounding forest for something that matched the description.
“There, that’s it, right?” Yorgi spotted it first, pointing to a small clearing atop one of the larger hills of the forest. Atop it, there were several large, jagged stones protruding above the surrounding canopy.
“Looks like it.” Artaphernes squinted, placing his hands on his forehead to shield his eyes from the sunlight and get a better view. The others quickly followed suit.
“Doesn’t look like there’s anything like a dragon’s lair over there…” Leonard pointed out.
“Nope.” Tullan shrugged in agreement.
“Hm.” Aegis began scratching his chin as he looked over the hill. “The game runs on fantasy logic, but logic nonetheless, right?” Aegis asked Tullan.
“Aye…”
“Anything strange about those rocks to you?” Aegis asked him.
“Now that you mention it, kind of…” Tullan nodded as the two continued to stare at the rocky clearing curiously.
“What? What’s strange about them?” Yorgi asked curiously.
“I can’t quite put my finger on it…” Aegis said as his face began to crumple while he went deep in thought.
"Hang on, I'll get us a bit closer." Leonard said before rushing back to the stern. Within a few moments, the Sky Darling began moving forward once more, closing in on the clearing. The closer they got, the better view that the others had of the rocks, until Leonard came to a stop nearly directly above them and rushed back over to the others.
"Look, around the floor of the clearing..." Yorgi pointed out several broken trees, bent and knocked over, scattered about around the jagged rocks.
"It's not a normal clearing, that's fer sure." Tullan nodded as he saw it.
"What do you mean?" Artaphernes asked.
"Typically, in a dense forest like this, a clearing is caused due teh a change in the ground's makeup. Like, the ground in that part bein' too rocky to support the roots of the trees. That'd make sense. But in this case, the trees were growin' fine, but somethin' knocked 'em down and created the clearing." Tullan explained.
"Maybe a silver dragon just happened to land there at some point, and smushed the trees, leaving behind his scales?" Yorgi suggested.
"No, that's not it. Chax said the players found the scales at different times. It'd be weird for an elite NPC to repeatedly land in the same spot over and over again."
"Then what else would've knocked 'em over?" Artaphernes asked, and Aegis went into thought, rubbing his chin as he looked more closely around the clearing, until he spotted strange ripples and cracks in the earth around each of the jagged rocks.
"The rocks knocked over the trees..." Aegis said as he came to the realization.
"Huh? The rocks did it?" Leonard asked, raising his eyebrows as he looked at Aegis skeptically.
"You mean like, they're golems?" Artaphernes suggested.
"No, I mean, they fell from the sky and broke the trees on impact." Aegis replied as he tilted his head up towards the sky above. Looking at several long clouds drifting by over the forest, it wasn’t long before Aegis spotted out a small, singular cloud that failed to move in the wind like the others. "From there." Aegis pointed out the cloud to everyone else.
“Holy shit…” Artaphernes looked at it with disbelief.
“I can’t fly the airship up that high…” Leonard replied apprehensively.
“Snowflake!” Aegis called out, causing Snowflake to run forward excitedly, squawking along as he did. Without hesitation, Aegis hopped onto Snowflake’s back.
“Oh hell no, you’re not leaving my sight.” Artaphernes shouted as he quickly jumped onto the back of the saddle at the last second before Snowflake launched himself off of the deck of the ship and into the air, spreading his wings and flapping vigorously to carry the two players on his back up into the clouds.
“Wait for me!” Yorgi shouted, casting fly on himself and going after them.
“Oi!” Tullan yelled up at them angrily. “You better send that sky chicken back down for me! I wanna see it too!”
“Yeah!” Aegis waved dismissively as they soared up, wind on their face, closing in on the strange, unmoving cloud in the sky.