The team were all standing on the top deck again, where they had been ‘people watching’ on the outbound trip. This time they were the only ones on deck other than the crew. They were watching them roll out massive ballistae onto the deck. In the distance they could see faint specks of harpies. Using James’ aura they could see them quite clearly.
The bodies of naked women, covered in scales and scraggly hair, their faces were mostly human but with thick round beaks. They’re long arms were lean and speckled, ending in razor sharp claws. The wings that held them aloft were leathery, ragged and seemed too small to enable flight, especially for how little they flapped them, they figured there must be magic involved in it. Lucy had the best view, Lechuza was high above the Harpies, too high for them to notice and had a good view of how many and where they were. She had spotted eight of the bird women, some circling in the air, others scrambling around the rough nest on the rock.
The captain came out to stand next to them watching the monsters with hunters eyes.
“Harpies were a nice blend of water, ground and air combat, I used to enjoy these contracts. When they realise you don’t want to take to the water then that is where they will go. You wont have much time to take them before they make that choice, none of you have really practiced water fighting from what you said the other night?”
“No, other than the mandatory water modules at the academy annex, supposedly more than most iron rankers at our experience level.”
The ship was now slowing as it approached. One of the harpies came within range and a crew shot a ballista at it. The giant bolt blasted from the machine, hit the monster and exploded vaporising it. Seven monsters left. The captain pulsed his aura and the harpies backed off. The team looked at him in surprise.
“Those bolts cost money, and this is good for you.” He smiled.
They turned back to the rock to look it over. They had discussed the plan last night and they liked the idea of making it a team practice to move with no outward communication. The boys moved. James blinked away, appearing high above the harpies using his peregrine dive power. Teddy ran full speed at the railing and jumped, slashing the air in front of him he jumped through a rift, the arrival rift was just in front of a swooping harpy above the nest, it tried to bank but hit the rift and lost half a wing, spiralling out of control. Kyra ran, sprang off the railing and spread her arms and legs wide, suddenly covered in solid diamond using her Encased power, Lucy aimed and blasted her with a magic missile, Kyra shot through the air, the armour disappearing after a few seconds and she rocketed straight towards the nest like a woman fired from a canon in an old circus act. Lechuza swooped down, using all of her significant height to build speed and Lucy raised a hand to grab a claw. Lechuza wasn’t strong enough to to fly her far but strong enough to get her to the nest.
James’ peregrine dive smashed into the topmost airborne harpy, he usually transfigured a foot into a birds claw to make the attack more potent, this time he smashed fist first into it, his bear engraving on his vambrace adding the slashing and bleeding effects. The Harpy monsters were high attack low defence monsters, they relied on striking hard and fast, their bodies were relatively weak, the slashing effect rent the body open. Six monsters left. He then transfigured both his arms into wings, the giant wings were lined in a multitude of different metals. They weren’t enough to fly with, birds are a lot better to design to fly and simply adding wings to a human body doesn’t make up the difference. What it did allow him to do was glide, he had struck out at the highest monster and now could control his way down.
Teddy came through the rift at the same speed he had entered the other, the harpy lost more than half a wing and went into an uncontrolled spiralling dive that ended in a sickening crunch on the floor. Five monsters left. He the got his bearings, flattening his body into a free-fall position. He was picking his next target when he heard a screech behind him and flipped to see a harpy diving claws extended towards his face. Before he had time to do anything about it James’ wing sliced from the monsters hip through the spine in the middle of the wings to the opposite shoulder. Four monsters left. Teddy smiled and flipped downwards again. He saw his next prey and sliced down with his dimensional blade, slicing a monster neatly in half. Three monsters left.
Kyra landed in the middle of the nest, her shallow trajectory digging a furrow in the ground towards a harpy in the nest, she stopped her slide by digging her feet into the ground, the earth moulding around them, a spike shot up from the ground at her foot carrying the rest of her momentum in its point into the harpy’s face. Two monsters left.
Lucy was dropped in the nest by Lechuza, making it seem like a mumma bird dropping off their chick. The chick in question started streaming runes down her arm and shot a magic missile, the blue missile flared on hitting the rune circle and burst into green discs that sliced into the other harpy in the nest, cutting great chunks off its torso, slicing its wings to ribbons, even though they obviously used magic to fly the wings seemed to need to be intact for it, she closed in to grapple with the monster. It didn’t take long, she had knuckle dusters on that added magical damage to every hit, the monster was dead at her feet in a few blows. One monster left.
All four Mitchells turned to see the last monster diving for the water. The contract was to destroy the nest which they had, the lone monster couldn’t threaten any ships, but they liked to be thorough. Teddy threw a black hole grenade from his plummet towards the earth which stopped the monster from finishing its dive, the monster was then simultaneously hit by an earth boulder and a vanilla magic missile before the grenade exploded, making a huge explosion just above the water that caused a massive tower of water to shoot up. Zero monsters left. Teddy was still in free fall and was caught just above the ground by James and lowered them both smoothly to the floor, James’ arms returning to normal. They looked around and smiled, they dealt with the contract in the time it had taken Teddy to free fall from only a moderate height. They looked at the ship and saw the captain clasping his hands together above his head in a victory gesture at their efforts. Lucy got a lift back with Lechuza, Kyra blasted herself off the rock with an earth spike through the air and onto the ship that was now much closer, Teddy teleported onto the ship using his standard teleport. James took out a mana potion and downed it, he then dived off the rock, legs transforming into one giant flipper and he powerfully swam up to the ship and using powerful strokes blasted on board. He stood dripping wet on the deck.
“Did you enjoy your swim honey?” Lucy asked with a a raised eyebrow.
“Well swimming is banned for guests on board so I figured we’re contractors now so I’m allowed to swim?” He replied.
“Contractors. At sea. Does that make us pirates?” Teddy asked.
The captain shook his head at the boys discussing the ins and outs of whether or not they classed as pirates now.
“Well done, that was fast and slick. I’m impressed.” He turned to James, “I had to lower the defences for you to get back on board that way, they’re back up now so I wouldn’t recommend trying anymore swimming.” He winked and strolled off back to work.
They felt the power in the ship spool up and James gulped feeling the gold rank power of the defences come back on.
The rest of the journey went smoothly and they enjoyed the cruise lifestyle all the way to the rendezvous with the smaller boat to take them into Greenstone.
They were met by two. The team hovered near the captain as he met the captains of the other two boats. He knew the family was were there and allowed it.
“Hail, I’m expecting just the one boat for rendezvous.”
One of the captains, a short stocky man who was the regular ferry from the large ship into greenstone waters spoke up.
“No worries Bally, this’n here is just here to see if you’ve got any adventurers to help with a spot of bother up the coast.”
“Aye, I’ll take whatever you’ve got in a way, we’ve got mad problems up the way. We’re a way a ways from the city way so the fishing is better as they stay away from all that wayward madness!” The second captain babbled, like a drunken irish accent he enthusiastically engaged them.
The captain had beckoned them into the conversation after the first boat captain had spoken up, while everyone looked baffled at the second captains turn of speech James jumped in.
“Is there a way we can help you? In a roundabout way we don’t need to head straight back to the city way just yet, we’re a way a ways from home and don’t mind coming your way to see if we can weigh in.” He said copying the man’s accent, turn of speech and enthusiasm.
The second boat captains face brightened up at James while everyone else turned a groan towards him. Teddy spoke sense to the captain and got from him that they would be taken a good way down the coast and have to make their way back up to the city on foot which would take at least a week. They agreed and sent messages via the first boat captain to their contacts in Greenstone that they were going to be delayed. They said a warm farewell to the ship captain and he told them that he had to write a second report on their adventuring activities on his ship which would be headed in to the greenstone adventure society branch. They boarded the second boat, little more than a fishing boat with a few extra cabins. James seemed to have made a friend for life, the captain was taken with him and wouldn’t leave him alone, Teddy was interested in the fishing and joined in with the crew. The girls sat at the back and Lucy pulled two cocktail glasses full of drink from her rune storage, because of their outworlder bodies and not having to breathe the fishing smell didn’t bother them and they made some comfy chairs from piles of nets and carried on with their cruise experience.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
The boat was a slow fishing vessel so it took them a while to get back to the village it was from. Teddy had earned a basket of fish for his help with the crew, all normal rank crew they were amazed by his iron rank strength and his speed with his Swift essence in hauling in the lines and casting out. James on the other hand had cost them fish, when discussing his essences he had mentioned Koda and the captain had insisted on meeting him. He then was overjoyed to see how many fish he could feed the big bear. When they got near the village they could see why they had come actively looking for adventurers rather than wait for the society to post a notice for them. The village was in tatters, too many attacks had come for them to rebuild the defences and they were fighting a retreating battle. There were no monsters there now but they could tell the attacks had been too regular to deal with, the area needed a good cull to cut them back.
“Wouldn’t be long till we needed to cut lines and make a ways up the way to the fortress town like. We got our ways and we’re stubborn to not give em up, but were not so stuck in our ways to see the ways are changing and we either need help or to move see.” The captain said soberly.
“What kind of monsters have you been seeing? Anything out of the ordinary? Anything above iron rank?” Teddy asked.
They discussed the monsters, referencing the magic society monster records and double checking with the captain. It seemed there was nothing unusual, it had just been a while since the adventure society had sent anyone this way.
“No bother, we’ll set up camp just outside the village and spend a few days clearing them out.”
The captain looked slightly wide eyed at that.
“We don’t have many coins, not many ways to make em see, we sell some fish up the way but mostly we catch enough for us and keep to ourselves.”
“Don’t worry, the society will pay, they’ll be grateful we’ve been this way, the fact you stay to yourselves is probably why you’ve slipped their notice.”
They were greeted warmly when they disembarked. The village was made of mud huts with leafy roofs, there were plenty of drying racks out for both fishing gear and drying fish. A big community hut was a unifying strong construction in the middle. It was reinforced, there was a solid roof and seemed to be where everything was happening. The captain was taking them towards it, Lucy, Kyra and James subtly let their familiars out and the owl, dog and bear disappeared into the jungle behind the village. Inside the hut was much darker and a little smoky from the big cook pot to one side. They were lead over to the village leader who was a wizened old woman, next to her was a young man who they sensed had at least two essences. She tapped her gnarled stick on the floor and he spoke.
“Well met adventurers, we are very happy to see you. I am Mallorn and this is Maven, she is the village leader and I am her hand.
[And mouth by the looks of it.] James quipped. Even though he had said it on the interface Lucy nudged him in the ribs.
“It has been a long time since we had outsiders in the village and desperately need your help.”
“Well met Mallorn, Maven.” Teddy bowed slightly to the old crone and she smiled slightly and nodded her head. “We are new adventurers but are confident in our abilities.”
“The young are often bold. Plenty of young bold adventurers, less of the old and bold.” The old crone rasped. They all waited to see if she would speak again but she went back to stirring the dry dirt with her stick.
“Do you have sick and injured? I have healing abilities” Kyra asked.
“Yes we do.” Mallorn answered and beckoned over a woman in a long homemade dress. “Margery would you mind taking this lady to see to the infirmary please?”
“Who has been coordinating your defences so far? We would like to get you back to a defensible position before we start clearing the nearby area.” Teddy said.
“Old man Mason has been doing the defences for as long as anyone knows, we haven’t been able to send anyone out to mend anything due to the jungle being full of monsters.”
“That’s no a problem at the moment, the jungle nearest the village is currently safe.”
“How can you know? They come at all times. We don’t have the numbers or experience to deal with them.”
Lucy had been riding backseat in Lechuza’s vision and had seen the nearby area, Lucky and Koda couldn’t communicate back to James and Kyra but they had planned it so they would be where Lechuza could see them to see what areas of jungle they had swept and what was safe so that she could relay it to the others.
“We know.” Teddy said with a smile. “Can we meet with Mason and anyone who would be willing to help repair the defences?”
It turns out that the whole village downed tools to help rebuild. It was a fairly high mud wall that ran around the semi circle of the village and met the floating ring of blocks that had a reinforced net that went all the way to the bed of the sea to keep out water monsters. After speaking to Mason James went to check the water side, he picked up a large boulder and strode into the water, easily sinking to check the perimeter. Once Kyra was done with the infirmary she made her way out to the wall. She had used her mana sparingly, only healing the most desperate cases and making the rest comfortable. On reaching the wall she began earth shaping, her instant earth wall power she used to reinforce the main wall, starting at one end and adding a section every time it came off cooldown. Earth spikes were added to the outside to keep monsters from climbing. They got a large section of the wall done before dark and they all met in the middle of the village. James was done with checking the underwater defences.
“Well you’ll be shocked to hear but the guys who spend all their time on the water know their stuff about water defences.”
“Good to hear, we’ll need you on some jungle clearing tomorrow dude, there’s no point having a wall like that with the brush so close.”
“Thankyou so much!” Mallorn said coming over to them with plates of food. “Even without killing any monsters you’ve already done so much for us!”
“Oh I wouldn’t say that.” Lucy said. “Plenty of monsters have been killed today, the work drew them in.”
Mallorn paled slightly.
“We didn’t hear or see anything.”
“Our familiars did the monster killing work today, speaking of which, my familiar didn’t pitch in today, so I’ll take the night shift.” Teddy got up finishing his food and walked out.
“On his own?! What if he gets in trouble?” Mallorn asked.
“Oh he wont be seen or heard unless he wants to be, which he wont.” Kyra answered.
Lucky bounded in, having spent the evening in the infirmary clearing it out as all the patients slowly felt better. He gambolled about getting fuss and tummy rubs off everyone. It was hard not to love the dog as he instantly made you feel better. They stayed and socialised with the villagers until it was time for sleep when they made their way out to a set of tents they had set up in a demolished house on the outskirts.
In the morning they went to the main gate of the village in the wall to find Teddy sat on top meditating, spreading his aura senses out as far as he could.
“Ah good you’re up, Mallorn good morning, nice to see everyone so ready to work again!”
“Mr Mitchell”
“Teddy please, it gets confusing with two of us.”
“Teddy, thankyou, the wall seems to have put them off for now, we feel we may have called you in for nothing.”
“Hmm maybe not.”
He mentally approved the looting notifications and the jungle erupted into rainbow smoke, some of the thickest they had seen as it streamed away.
“I had a busy night, it was fun.” He turned away from Mallorn with his wide eyes and turned to the others. “James, have you got anything good for chopping this lot down?” He gestured at the thick jungle. “I’m going to start at the middle and work left, you go right. Lucy you’re on burning detail, anything thats felled gets cleared. Kyra back on wall duty. Everyone happy?”
They set about beating back the thick jungle. Teddy used his dimension blade, running through the the jungle holding it low. The low mana required for cutting wood meant he could keep going for a long time. James changed his arm into a preying mantis style scythe and got into a mechanical rhythm cutting great swathes with each swing. When it timed out he would re-summon and go again. Lucy followed them, a rune circle at the end of her arm and bursts of scorching flame vaporising the fallen flora and fauna in bursts each time a missile hit the circle. They were clearing a space as wide as a football field from the wall. By the end of the day they all had mana headaches, trying not to use potions as they only had so many they were at the end of what they could do that day. Teddy had finished his side before James; having a lower mana cost for his cutting. He joined James on his side and helped until it was getting late. James had been curious and had downed a mana potion and used his newly enhanced wing sweep attack on the last chunk, feeding less mana into it than he did in the mirage chamber, there was no shockwave preceding it but the wing that came out was metalled and cut easily through the trees. He staggered a little in place but recovered quickly enough. They all met back in the village centre again, Kyra had finished reinforcing, spiking and terraforming the wall into a cohesive whole. It was the familiars who took the night shift, patrolling the dead ground they had cleared. The villagers provided an abundance of food for the adventurers, showering them in thanks, they even brought out some moonshine they had brewed in the village which was a little rough going down but just about got through their iron rank resistances. They went to bed in their tents, asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillows.
The next morning there was a collection of monster bodies in the clearing, they were drawn to the new clearing so not a true representation of what was a typical night. Lucy drew out a sketch on a broad leaf big enough to cover the breakfast table, they split down the area into sectors, no two sectors got wide enough apart that their interface power would be out of range. Teddy was to take centre as the quickest to provide help if anyone got bogged down and Lucy took the other centre slot so she could coordinate. With the wall and the clearing complete the villagers went back to normal life. The adventurers went hunting, they split into their sectors and stayed out all day and night.
They met Mallorn and Maven at the gate the next morning. The elderly lady had insisted and had the villagers bring food for travelling with them.
“It seems you already know we are done here.” Teddy said.
“The muscle that goes unused will atrophy, you must keep using it to get stronger.” She said.
“We cannot thankyou enough, we were ready to all move.” Mallorn added.
“No thanks needed, it’s what we’re meant to do.” Teddy pulled out the leaf map Lucy had drawn. “We have cleared these areas.” He pointed at the rings closest to the village. “We’re going to leave now using this route.” He highlighted the outermost ring that ended at the rough track that made its way out from the village. “When we hit the road we’ll do our best to widen it slightly to the next village. You should keep better contacts with them and the outside world. If this was to happen again we wouldn’t want your village swallowed by the jungle.”
Mallorn looked thoughtful.
“The ways…” he started.
“The ways always change, sometimes slowly, sometimes faster. They are only painful in change when we resist.” Maven spoke.
Mallorn nodded.
“Very well, do not worry too much about the path, we have the skills to widen and deepen it, the nearby village I think has been waiting for us to do just that.”
The Mitchells said their goodbyes to all in the village. The infirmary was empty. The wall was three times as strong as it have ever been and reinforced with spikes. The outside of the village was cut back so they could see anything approaching and no large trees to jump the wall. Steps lead up the wall and it was wide enough to walk so that villagers could arrange a watch to keep an eye out. The Mitchells didn’t tell them how close they had been to being overrun, the amount of monsters they had dealt with showed a very severe lack of care from the adventure society they were going to have to ask about when they got back.