Chapter 71: Captain Leonard
Aegis arrived outside the Skyport that late afternoon. Standing at the base of the tower was intimidating, he had to tilt his neck all the way back to look up and see the top where the singular docked Airship sat, casting its shadow down over the city. Aegis found that just by staring at such a magnificently constructed building, his Architecture skill allowed him to ponder what would go into building such a thing, but he shook it off to focus on the task at hand. The building had a lot more Kordas Guards than any other building in the city, Aegis taking note that the guards in this city averaged around level 30.
Aegis stepped inside to see the interior of the tower on the first floor was plain, consisting only of a wide ramp that circled around the walls of the interior as it ascended upwards to the top floor. There were the odd windows here and there that enabled light to shine in, but apart from that, nothing. Aegis was at least thankful that it was a ramp and not a staircase but he imagined that was not for his convenience, but for carts and wagons.
Ramp or not though, it was a long climb to the top. Each time he passed one of the windows as he climbed he could see more and more of the city and the rooftops, taking in more of the architectural style as he did. Soon enough he was higher up than he had been in the Restaurant with Chax, and it still kept going until finally he arrived at the top floor. The tower flattened out to a wide wooden floored landing that extended out in all directions in a circular fashion. In the center was a stonewalled room under the open skies, a counter built into the wall facing him with an NPC sitting behind it, leaning back in a chair sleeping. There were 8 guards standing about in various locations who took notice of his arrival, but all remained standing still and silent, backs straight and spears at their sides, all donning the Kordas Knight’s armor.
Aegis did a quick scan of his surroundings to see that while only one was in use, the tower had a total of three piers extending out from the tower on opposing sides from one another. Staring out at the occupied pier he saw the Airship that he’d seen from the streets, just floating idly in the air. There were ropes that tied the Airship to the pier but aside from that it was just floating there. Aegis couldn’t wrap his head around it. He tried looking for propellers, or a hot air balloon, or something, but he found none. He gave up trying to make sense of it and started walking towards the pier.
It wasn’t until he took his first few steps out onto the pier and looked over the wooden railings that he got a real sense for just how high above the city he was, and a primal fear of heights slowly began to trickle up inside of him. The fact that the only thing standing between him and a several hundred meter drop was a pier made of some thin wooden planks didn’t help.
He could see at the end of the pier a pair of Kordas guards flanking an older human player wearing a black suit and tie, [Gregory - Level 30], who was watching him approach expectantly. Aegis tried his best to gulp down his fears and walk calmly towards him, but a heavy wind blew over the tower causing the wood to make an ominous creaking sound. Aegis nervously grabbed the railings tight and stood still for a moment as he waited for the gust of wind to pass, all the while the player in front of him just stared at him with a blank expression.
Aegis sighed at himself and regained his composure as quickly as he could before walking cautiously the rest of the way across the pier to stand in front of Gregory as he stood blocking the single wide wooden plank connecting the pier to the ship. Though only a few meters away from the ship now, the Airship’s deck was still slightly elevated and above Aegis’ eyeline so that he couldn’t see anything onboard.
“Yes, how may I assist you?” Gregory spoke, his voice carrying a British accent.
“Well, I was hoping to speak with the Captain of the ship.” Aegis replied.
“Is he expecting you?” Gregory asked.
“N-no.” Aegis replied nervously.
“Then I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave. The Captain is busy at the moment.” Gregory replied as politely as he could.
“Oh pish posh, What does he look like Gregory?” A feminine male voice called out from somewhere on the deck of the Airship, also a british accent.
“He’s garbed in a Priests’ attire, sir.” Gregory shouted back while looking Aegis up and down.
“Well? To which god?” The voice called back.
“Which video game god do you serve?” Gregory asked, and Aegis could hear the disdain in his voice. It reminded Aegis of himself the way he used to talk about the game. Aegis pointed out the symbol of Eirene on his vestments to him, but Gregory just continued to stare blankly at Aegis.
“Eirene…” Aegis replied.
“He says Eirene.” Gregory shouted to the person on the deck.
“Oh, we love her. Absolutely delightful shrine, cute star, polygamy... easily my fave.” The voice called back. “What level is he?” Gregory clearly looked up above Aegis’ head to look at his level.
“Thirty.” Gregory shouted back.
“Is he handsome?” the voice asked.
“I can’t say, sir.” Gregory replied uninterested.
“Well what does he want? He isn’t another one of those people begging for a ride to go and play with their friends, is he?” The voice asked.
“Are you-” before Gregory could finish, Aegis interrupted him.
“No.” Aegis replied.
“He says no.” Gregory repeated loudly for the man on the deck to hear.
“Well, send him up then. Chop chop.” The voice shouted.
“The Captain will see you now.” Gregory groaned in annoyance as he stepped aside, motioning Aegis to board the ship.
“Th-thanks.” Aegis tried to politely bow, but Gregory didn’t seem to care at all. As Aegis walked up the wooden plank onto the deck of the ship he wasn’t sure what to expect, but his imagination was running wild with excitement. That is, until he actually got onto the deck.
On the far side of the deck of the ship, near the front, was a large circular wooden tub filled with soapy water, steam rising out of it. Sitting in the tub completely nude was a male human player. Behind him, outside the tub, sat a shirtless male orc who was in the process of massaging the players shoulders as he lay relaxed, leaning back with his legs crossed hanging off the end of the tub closest to Aegis.
Not far from him sat two completely nude female NPCs laying on wooden lawn chairs with mounted umbrellas overtop of them to partially protect them from the sun. One was clearly an elf, the other a human, but Aegis didn’t stare long enough to take in any details other than that and instead embarrassedly looked away.
“Oh, a streamer, I hope your profanity filter isn't on.” He said playfully as he and Aegis locked eyes. As he did, he watched as the man in the tub winked at him and uncrossed his legs with a smile. Aegis could not stand to look directly at him, but he caught a glimpse of his face long enough to see his wavy blonde hair and muscular physique with [Leonard - Level 30] above his head.
“It’s on.” Aegis replied quickly.
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“Aw, that’s a shame. Your character is pretty cute.” He smiled playfully. “So, Aegis, the level 30 Priest of Eirene, how may I help you on this fine day?” He asked as Aegis looked down at his feet, unsure of where to point his eyes at this point. As he did, he noticed the portion of the deck he was standing on wasn’t made of wood, but a large flat circular stone with magic runes carved into the stone work. He felt uneasy standing on it and took a light step off of the magic circle before responding.
“I was hoping, if it’s not too much trouble, if you’d maybe consider helping me get to another island.” Aegis replied.
“Of course you did, darling.” Leonard stood up from the tub of water. Aegis couldn’t see him do it, but heard the water moving and the sound of his feet stepping onto the wooden deck of the ship. “That is why everyone comes up here. But pray do tell, why is it I should help you?” He snapped his fingers as the orc pulled a silk robe out from his inventory and put it on Leonard. Aegis took a chance to look up and was relieved to see Leonard now robed, and that the Orc was at least wearing shorts.
“Well.. I could get you gold. I could pay.” Aegis replied as he looked up to meet Leonard’s eyes to catch his smiling gaze. Leonard brushed his hands through his wavy hair as he approached, the orc following behind him - he saw now the NPC Orc's name [Golmak(Elite) - Level 45].
“Do I look like I need gold?” Leonard replied as he waved his hands at the Airship they stood on.
“I, uh.” Aegis tried to think what this player might be looking for. The worst things came to his mind first, and he veered away from them. “I could craft you something. Anything you want.”
“I’ve already got plenty of crafters at my disposal.” He faked a yawn. “I’m losing interest in you, Aegis.” He stopped approaching and looked at him with disapproval. “Material things aren’t going to cut it.”
“I don’t know what you want, but… I need to escort a Priestess of Eirene to the island of Kriene for a quest. It’s really important that I do this quest, and without your help I don’t see how I can possibly get there. Please.” Aegis bowed respectfully to him.
“Oooh.” Leonard pursed his lips. “A cross-island escort, those are rare. Usually exciting, epic quests. And you seem desperate. You have my attention again, Aegis.” He grinned from ear to ear. “What is this quest for?”
“Well, it’s…” Aegis wasn’t sure how much detail he should share, but after contemplation he felt he didn’t have much choice. “It’s for my intermediate class quest.” Aegis finished. Leonard sucked this teeth at this and turned away, waving him off.
“Boring. Remove him from the Airship.” Leonard motioned to Golmak, and suddenly a gigantic Iron Greatword appeared sheathed on the orcs back as he marched toward Aegis.
“W-wait, please!” Aegis shouted over Golmak to Leonard as he was making his way towards the two nude female NPCs. “If you turn me down, then all the work I put in would be for nothing.”
“Nice try, boy. Plenty of players come up here thinking they can trick me to get an Airship ride to another island. You think because I’m some rich player with an Airship, I must be an idiot who knows nothing about the game, huh?” He shouted with a hint of anger in his voice. “I know all of the Eirene Priest intermediate class quests in Kordas, and none of them require Airship travel.” Leonard replied dismissively without looking back at him. The orc firmly grabbed Aegis shoulder and forcefully spun him around, leading him towards the plank off the ship.
“I’m not lying!” Aegis tried to struggle against the Golmak's grip to have a chance to explain himself, but he couldn’t get free, the strength difference was too great. “It’s an undiscovered class. I don’t know what it's called yet, because the quest lists it as unknown, but, I swear I’m not lying!” Aegis shouted out desperately.
“Can you prove it?” Leonard turned around to look at Aegis as he was nudged to the edge of the Airship overlooking the pier. He could see Gregory was now staring up at him from below, but turned his neck as best he could to face Leonard.
“I… uh…” Aegis’ mind raced for a way that he could prove he was telling the truth. “The Priestess of Eirene, from Orm, the one I need to escort - she can tell you it’s true. She’s waiting at the Shrine of Eirene.” Aegis explained desperately.
“Right, more lies. I’m not an idiot, I’m aware that these NPCs are just as real as the people of our world.” Leonard sighed. “A few gold coins and they’ll tell a lie or two for you, even the good Priests and Priestesses, isn’t that right Priestess Sashana?” Leonard asked the nude female elf.
“Yes, my love.” She replied with a chuckle.
“Goodbye, Priest of Eirene.” Leonard gave him one final wave off.
“Wait!” Aegis shouted as he desperately held his ground. He felt himself pulling out his knowledge of his brace and shield mastery skill to hold back against the force of the Orcs hand forcing him off the Airship. He knew here and now, if he couldn’t convince this Captain, there was little to no possibility of him reaching Kriene anytime soon. “I have a one of a kind skill. I’m the only one who has it, it’s the reason I was able to get the intermediate quest. If you use identify on me, you’ll see I’m telling the truth.” Aegis shouted, and this caused the Orc to stop pushing him down.
“Hm.” Leonard was clearly pondering Aegis’ words, eying him up and down carefully. “Bring him back here.” Leonard finally decided, motioning to Golmak. The orc forcefully pulled Aegis by his shoulder and lead him to stand in front of Leonard once more as Leonord pulled out from his inventory a familiar Wand of Identifying - it looked identical to the ones that Keldan had tried using on him. Leonard feigned flicking the wand and caused Aegis to instinctively wiggle and try to avoid its cast while wincing, but Leonard hadn’t actually used it yet.
“Ooh.” He pursed his lips again. “You really are hiding something. Don’t worry darling, your secrets are safe with me.” He smiled ear to ear as he flicked the Wand, this time for real, and Aegis saw the familiar lights of the identify spell swirl around his body. Leonard began wagging his finger around in front of his face as he looked through his interface, reading the stats and skills of Aegis’ item card. It felt awkwardly invasive - despite Aegis being the only one fully clothed, he felt more naked than anyone else on the Airship deck as Leonard peaked through his skills.
“Ooh la la, me oh my oh my my my.” Leonard’s face turned to shock as he went over the skills. “Goodness gracious you’ve been a busy bee. You might just be telling the truth.” Leonard let out a giddy shiver. “Alright.” Leonard waved the screen away to look Aegis in the eyes once more.
“You’ll take me?” Aegis asked with hopeful eyes.
“Perhaps. Where did you say you needed to go for this quest?” Leonard asked.
“Kriene, the city of Arallia.” Aegis replied.
“That’s where the Great Prophet of Eirene is. I suppose your story really does check out, but unfortunately for you, Kriene’s Skyport is one of the problem Skyports.” Leonard pursed his lips to one side.
“Problem Skyports?”
“My dear Priest, did you come up here asking for an Airship ride without knowing anything about them?” Leonard looked at him disappointedly, but he didn’t need to answer, he saw the look on Aegis’ face that said yes, causing him to sigh. “Airships are able to fly above the Abyss through the use of modified Island stones, like the one carved into the hull of this ship. These are rare, unobtainable stones - at least not a single new one has been found since the game has launched. Do you know what that means?”
“They’re expensive… and exclusive?” Aegis asked.
“Worse. When the game launched, players assumed that we’d eventually be finding more of them, so they treated Airships like fun little sky pirate vessels. Raiding them, stealing them, attacking them. Who doesn’t want an Airship, right?”
“Right…” Aegis replied.
“Well, what do you think happens when an Airship falls out of the sky into the Abyss due to such foolish actions? It’s gone, forever, and that’s one less available in The Shattered World Online. It wasn’t until we got below 100 Airships left in this entire gameworld that players started being more protective of the ships and stopped recklessly destroying them.” Leonard explained as he began pacing in front of Aegis, while Golmak had released the grip on his shoulder.
“That explains why travel is so expensive.” Aegis mumbled to himself.
“Precisely. Nowadays, players don’t risk attacking Airships over the abyss lest the battle goes poorly and an Airship is lost for ever. They will however gladly attempt such actions over land. Here in Kordas, we’re lucky, the Skyport is within the capital and thanks to the Night Hunters, under the protection of the top guild and all of the city guard.” Leonard motioned to the two guards standing on the pier in front of the ship.
“But a city like Arallia… The skyport is on the outskirts of the capital, not inside it. It’s not under any protection but the protection I bring with me.” Leonard explained, and with this, Aegis knew what he was getting at. “So, my young Priest of Eirene. If you wish for me to take you on this epic escort quest, you’ll need to guarantee me I won’t be raided and robbed by a guild of Arallian thugs when we land. No, I won’t take you there unless the guild leader of the Night Hunters herself is on board.” He finished as he turned away, walking back towards the two female NPCs.
“If you can convince her and a few of her high level guild members to come along as protection, then you have yourself a ticket to Kriene. Until then, toodles.” Leonard motioned for him to leave. He was expecting Aegis to sound dejected or frustrated, but it was the opposite - he had a chance, he just had to find a way to convince the Night Hunters to help him.
“Okay, thanks Captain Leonard!” Aegis shouted cheerfully, and with that he turned and made his way off the ship.
“Good luck.” Gregory mumbled half heartedly as Aegis walked past him back onto the pier, which caused Aegis to stop and spin around to face him.
“You wouldn’t happen to know where the Night Hunter’s guild hall is, would you?” Aegis tried asking Gregory. Gregory simply returned a blank stare as if he couldn’t believe Aegis thought he’d know something like that. “R-right, I’ll find it.” Aegis smiled awkwardly in response before turning and heading off the pier, making his way back down the Skyport Tower, and into the city streets of Kordas.