Chapter 80: Arallia
“LAND HO!” Quinn shouted from the deck of the ship, interrupting a game of cards Aegis was losing against Tullan, Herilon, Clara, Ren and Sapphire.
“Finally!” Tullan let out a sigh of relief as he threw the cards down on the dining table. Everyone stood up and rushed up the stairs to the deck of the ship to get a view of the island visible on the horizon. It was mid afternoon, the 7th day in-game since they’d departed from Kalmoore, and everyone was eager to get off the ship.
In the distance Aegis could see the orange-yellowish hue given off by the large chunk of land protruding out of the Abyss in front of them - it was very different than Kalmoore with its rocky hills, lush green fields and thick forests. All Aegis could see here was large sand dunes in all directions.
“Prepare for the uplift.” Captain Leonard shouted to them from behind the helm as Gregory and Trexon joined them on deck to watch the island get closer and closer. Once the Sky Darling was within several hundred meters of the island it began to slowly ascend upwards, rising higher above the mist and the island.
“That’s a bit odd.” Leonard said as the ship rose up and crested over the land, evening out. He turned to look backwards off the stern of the ship once it had settled, causing Aegis and the others to follow him and look curiously as well.
“What’s odd?” Quinn asked.
“The mist, around the ledge.” Leonard pointed out where it looked as though the mist was creeping up from the abyss all around the edges of the island. “I’ve never seen it doing that before.” Leonard said.
“What do you suppose it means?” Trexon asked curiously.
“Probably nothing, could just be a storm inland that is upsetting it.” Leonard shrugged.
“Could be.” Quinn replied suspiciously. “Alright everyone, listen up.” Quinn turned and positioned herself so that everyone could see her. “Kriene is not Kalmoore. It's filled with a lot of big ego players and guilds, so don’t expect a lot of lawfulness. Keep anything you can in your inventory at all times.” Quinn said as she began pacing.
“Herilon, you’re with me guarding the Airship.” Quinn said and he gave a nod. “Tullan, Trexon, Ren you will be talking with the lead guild of Arallia and negotiating favorable trade deals using the goods we brought with us. If there is any time left over, you’re free to explore the libraries and expand your bestiary.” Quinn instructed them and the three of them nodded.
“Sapphire, you’ll assist Aegis and Priestess Clara and make sure they arrive at the monastery in a timely fashion, to give Aegis as much time as we can to get his quest done. Aegis, don’t take too long on your quest.”
“Yes M’am.” Sapphire replied while Aegis gave Quinn a nod.
“Good. You’ve all got seven days before we’re taking this ship back to Kalmoore. If you aren’t back on the ship by then, you’ll be a proud new resident of Arallia.” Quinn finished, making Herilon chuckle. “One last thing. Turn on your viewership numbers, we need to know what we’re going to be dealing with.” Quinn said to Aegis.
“My viewership numbers?” Aegis asked curiously as he looked at the livestream icon above his head, no numbers present.
“Stream snipers. You are broadcasting to the world that we’re arriving on an Airship, so there’s bound to be a welcome party.” Herilon explained and Quinn nodded, it was something Aegis hadn’t considered but he recalled what it was like during his first days in the game when everyone thought he was Makaroth’s son, and remembered how fast it got populated in Orm just because of Keldan. He was a bit anxious to see his numbers as he’d expected them to have dropped a lot, but relented and went into his interface to turn it on. The viewership count showed at 2000, a significant drop from what he’d last seen.
“Not bad, looks like people want to stick around and keep watchin ya.” Tullan shrugged.
“It’s pretty normal for a big drop after something like a World announcement.” Quinn reassured him as Aegis tried to hide his disappointment. “2000 means there’s still a good chance people in Kriene know we’re coming.” Quinn added to the others, and Aegis watched as all of the members of the Night Hunters began equipping their high level armor, switching out of their casual attire. As they did, Clara moved to stand closely behind Aegis.
“There it is, the Heart of the Desert, Arallia.” Captain Leonard motioned to the horizon where a tall mountain could be seen in the distance. As they got closer, Aegis and the others looked over the side of the Airship to take in the scene in front of them.
The City of Arallia was built primarily using yellow sandstone with tall Sandstone walls surrounding the entire southern facing side of the Mountain it was built into. A large waterfall could be seen showering crystal clear water into a river that flowed down the mountain and into the city through winding canals, ending at a large lake just outside the walls to the west. All around the lake were lush green palm trees and ferns, which contrasted heavily with the sand that it slowly transitioned into the further out from the water Aegis looked.
Aegis could tell from this distance that the architecture required to build these structures was vastly different than what he’d worked with thus far, but despite this, he still understood how they were built thanks to his skill. The structures varied greatly in sizes, and from this distance he could make out the purpose of some of them such as a public furnace, the training grounds, a Wizard’s tower, and the barracks. Most noticeable of course was the Palace built at the very base of the mountain with large beautiful walls covered in statues and carvings depicting iconography and figures Aegis wasn’t familiar with.
Many banners, flags, and other cloth flailed in the wind, strewn about the streets and buildings, which gave color to the otherwise sandy yellow city, and there were thousands of players visible moving about the streets below,- as much if not more than what Aegis had seen in Kalmoore.
“There it is, the Monastery of the Stars!” Clara pointed excitedly up at the top of the mountain. Aegis hadn’t noticed it at first, but at the very peak of the mountain, some ways outside the city walls, stood a large sandstone tower reaching high up to nearly the clouds themselves, and at the base of it a square-shaped structure. He could barely make out a narrow winding road on the mountainside that led from the city, to just past the top of the waterfall flowing out of a cavern in the mountain, and then up to the monastery.
“That’s where we’ll be going.” Sapphire slapped Aegis on the back as she pulled out a carrot and crunched into it. The Airship suddenly slowed down just as they were closing in on the outskirts of the city and began to descend downwards. Aegis looked down to see that there was a large flat pentagonal shaped platform made of sandstone built just outside the greenery of the Oasis, with a road leading from the platform towards one of the the southern gates of Arallia.
“That’s the Skyport?” Aegis asked as he looked down at it, seeing a few buildings built around it, including what looked to be a stables.
“I know, it’s an insult to Airships.” Leonard replied in between his ability uses. Aegis watched as he flicked his hand towards the main sail and it curled upwards, while simultaneously the wing sails began to fold inwards, and a few moments later with a light thunk, the Airship had landed on the Skyport of Arallia.
There was a light whistling wind blowing over them, carrying specks of stand with it, and Aegis could hear the sounds of the city in the distance, but it was otherwise quiet.
“That was anticlimactic.” Herilon sighed with disappointment, but as he did, one of the buildings at the base of the large platform’s doors opened, and out of it began to flood numerous players wearing high level equipment, weapons already drawn. “Ah, there we go.” Herilon said excitedly as he spotted them.
“Maybe they’ve come to trade with us?” Tullan asked.
“I hope not.” Herilon started stretching his muscles while Quinn walked over to Aegis.
“Stay on the ship and focus on protecting Clara, we’ll handle this.” Quinn said to him before drawing out her longbow and approaching the side of the Airship with her guildmades, while the players made their way onto the platform.
“Hello there, are you the Arallian welcome party?” Quinn called out to them as the players began to form a line. Aegis could see that a few of them were in the level 40 to 50 range, but most were showing up to him as ?? players. The style of armor and clothing they wore was nothing like what he’d seen in Kalmoore, and most of them were wearing a matching green tabard with a black lion’s face in the middle.
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“We’re here to take this vessel off of your hands, Kalmoorians.” One of the ?? players spoke up as he stepped forward, and Aegis saw he had two weapons in his hands and 5 floating behind him, indicating that this person was playing the intermediate Battlemaster class.
“We’re not here to donate our Airship, we’re here to do trade and complete some quests.” Quinn replied politely.
“I don’t give a shit what you’re here for. You weak ass Kalmoorian’s don’t deserve an Airship. It’s a waste having one all the way out in the middle of nowhere, on that island for crybabies who couldn’t hack it on one of the real islands.” He spat on the ground as several of his companions laughed. “Give it up to us so real players can make use of it, and we might let you keep some of your cargo.”
“D’you here that? He thinks we’re weak because we’re from Kalmoore.” Quinn said to Herilon with a mischievous grin. “How about this, your strongest member against ours. If you win, we’ll accept your premise that we are too weak to deserve an Airship.” Quinn shrugged.
“Hah, fine. You idiot’s don’t even have a battlemaster. Who's your strongest?” The leader shouted up, and without any words, Herilon jumped off the side of the Airship and landed in front of him. “A berserker?” He laughed, and his companions joined in. “Stand back guys, I’ll deal with this clown in a few seconds.” He replied and watched as the players cleared out an area for Herilon and the battlemaster player.
Aegis couldn’t see their levels because of his own, but when he looked at Leonard’s face and the other Night Hunter members, not a single one of them looked the slightest bit concerned.
“And the Airship duel begins in three… two…” The battlemaster player was counting down mockingly as he and Herilon took positions a few meters away from each other. “One.” He finished, and the two continued to stare at each other, pacing a bit to the side.
“What’s this, a berserker who is too afraid to charge in?” The battlemaster mocked Herilon, but Herlion just grinned and pulled his Greatsword off of his back, twirling it around a few times as if it weighed nothing.
“Typical Meta-chasing Battlemaster. All bark, no bite.” Herilon faked a yawn.
“I’ll show you some bite.” He sneered back, breaking into a Charge strike just as Aegis had seen Rakkan do several times, but this player’s was much faster. Herilon seemed to still be able to see his movements though because just as he was about to reach Herilon, Herilon took a wide frontal swing at him, releasing a huge wave of blue energy from his sword that shot forward, forcing several of the spectating players to duck, dash, or jump out of the way of it.
Both Herilon’s sword and the wave of energy clashed with the battlemaster player. He tried his best to block the strike with all 7 of his weapons, but it did nothing, and Aegis saw a ‘duel victory’ Icon flash above Herilon’s head. The battlemaster player stumbled to the ground in disbelief.
“What the hell was that? He one-shot me?!” He shouted out angrily in disbelief.
“I guess that means we’re strong enough to deserve an Airship, huh?” Quinn shrugged as she smirked down at them from above.
“Kick their asses out of this game!” The battlemaster shouted to his companions.
“Here we go.” Sapphire cracked her neck as they all started charging towards the Airship. Trexon pulled out his staff while Ren shapeshifted into a large brown bear, and Quinn nocked an arrow in her bow, but before any of them fired off any attacks, a blast of flames came from the opposite end of the platform, directed at the attacking players. Aegis looked over to see a party of five more ?? players, wearing blue tabards with a white flame embroidered on the front, approaching. They fired a plethora of spells at the aggressive players as Herilon joined in, and before any of the Night Hunters aboard the ship took any action, all of them had been wiped out save for the Battlemaster who was immune to damage for 10 seconds after a duel.
“Damage immunity gone in three… two…” Herilon said mockingly, but instead of saying one, he did another swing of his sword at the player, forcing him out of the game at 0 health.
“Sorry about that, thought we’d get here sooner.” One of the five in blue tabards called out. “I’m Erikson, Leader of the White Flames. We’re the Leading guild of Arallia at the moment, and we’d like to welcome you with open arms to our city.” He smiled.
“We’ve been having a bit of a bandit problem as of late, but it seems it’s nothing you guys can’t handle.” Another member spoke up.
“Eh.” Quinn shrugged. “I’m Quinn, leader of the Night Hunters of Kalmoore. We’re planning on staying here for a week, for trade and quests. I hope that isn’t too much trouble.” Quinn called down to them as they stood at the base of the ship, whilst Gregory moved to the side of the ship and fiddled with a few mechanisms until a step ladder slowly lowered down towards the ground on the starboard side.
“None at all. This is our Merchant Leader, Ivan, you can discuss with him in detail any business you’d like to conduct with the Kingdom of Arallia.” Erikson motioned to a player who stood beside him. Aegis couldn’t make out any unique details on any of these players as they were all wearing full sets of expensive looking Iron armor, including full helmets.
“I guess that’s us.” Tullan said as he motioned Trexon and Ren to follow him down the ladder off the ship, and they did just that. Aegis watched as Ivan walked alongside them, immediately breaking into discussion as the group of four headed off the platform and towards the city gates in the distance.
“And the quest, is it something we could assist with?” Erikson asked.
“This Priestess needs to arrive at the Monastery of the Stars safely, along with this Priest.” Quinn motioned to Aegis and Clara as Sapphire moved to stand in front of them.
“Yes, of course. Aegis. Congratulations on the world notification. Very Impressive.” Erikson smiled and waved at him, Aegis nodding back awkwardly. “This is Josephine, our very own Cleric of Eirene, she’d be happy to help guide you to the monastery.” Erikson motioned to her beside him and she bowed politely. Quinn leaned in and pulled Aegis’ ears close to her mouth by grabbing his shoulder.
“Stick with Sapphire and follow her instructions. They’re probably just chasing screen time on your stream, but don’t trust them or anyone in this city. Like I said, this isn’t Kalmoore.” Quinn warned him before pulling away.
“Let’s go!” Sapphire cheered before biting into her carrot and heading down the step ladder. Aegis and Priestess Clara followed behind her, Quinn’s words ringing in his ears as he took his first steps onto the Island of Kriene.
“Right, I’m going to get hammered and see if I can’t find myself a fourth bride or groom.” Captain Leonard said excitedly as he followed Aegis and the others off the ship, whilst Herilon jumped with great strength back up onto the Airship to stand beside Quinn and Gregory.
“Have fun.” Herilon waved.
“This way, I’ll show you the quickest way up to the Monastery.” Josephine said politely as she motioned Aegis, Sapphire and Clara to follow her. As much as Aegis wanted to feel excited about arriving in a new Capital City, Quinn’s parting words left him tense. The four of them headed down a large brick ramp leading to a paved road towards the city gates in front of them, sand that had blown in from the wind was lightly overtaking the path and it crunched under his leather boots as they walked.
Not just in the game world, but in the real as well, Aegis had never traveled to an environment quite like this. Looking out away from the city it was nothing but sand and dunes in all directions and he’d wondered what it would be like to try and level up in areas like this. What monsters, creatures, or dungeons could be found underneath the sands? When he looked towards the lake and greenery surrounding it, he had some of those questions answered as low level players could be seen battling with small level 10 scorpions in the distance.
Aegis made sure to keep a close eye on Clara as they stepped through the gates and entered the noisy city, seeing a look of excitement on her face as she looked upon her surroundings with familiarity.
“Welcome to the Capital City of Kriene, Arallia.” Josephine smiled at them, her face barely visible through the holes in the front of her iron helmet. The wagons and carts were made of lighter colored wood, pulled by horses, camels, and other strange looking beasts that varied differently from what’d been in Kordas - no sign of a lagnok anywhere. The clothing that the people wore was colorful and light, showing a lot of skin, but many wore see-through veils or turbans wrapped around their heads - both NPC and player alike. The sun was bearing down on them with excessive amounts of heat and Aegis felt the sweat trickling down his face despite them barely moving and his stamina being full.
“This road will take us towards the Monastery.” Josephine motioned them down one of the streets once they reached the first intersection. Aegis glanced around to see a few [Arallia Guard - Level 30]'s standing around wearing tan-colored leather armor and wielding spears and round shields.
“Wait, one second.” Aegis stopped the others from walking forward, and the three turned to look at him. “I’d like to make a short detour, if that’s okay.” Aegis said. It was his last chance to try and promote Clara to Elite before his final intermediate class quest.
“Where would you like to go?” Josephine asked politely.
“Well…” Aegis looked to Priestess Clara. “You wanted to visit someone, right?” He smiled.
“Oh.. right… Are you sure it’s okay?” Clara asked nervously, looking between all of them.
“Of course.” Josephine gave a nod, though Sapphire looked visibly annoyed.
“O-okay.” She replied. “I’m not sure if they still live there, but, I hope… It is this way.” Clara motioned them down another street and they followed behind her.
“What’s this about?” Sapphire leaned in to grumble in Aegis’ ear.
“Just something she requested.”
“You’re making quests for the NPC now?” Sapphire groaned. “You know that intermediate quests are hard, right? You’ve only got a week.” She reminded him.
“It shouldn’t take long.” Aegis waved her off, but after he had she intentionally bit a carrot loudly beside his ear.
They made their way down a few streets to a quieter section of the city until Clara suddenly stopped in front of a small single story sandstone house with a light wooden door, and an open, glassless window off to the side covered with plain gray curtains.
“This is it.” Clara nervously motioned to the door for the others, and they stared back at her.
“Well, aren’t you going to knock?” Aegis asked her.
“R-right, of course.” She nodded awkwardly, stepped forward, and knocked on the door.