Kyra woke up and luxuriated, stretching out in the fine silk sheets she spread out to take up as much of the bed as she could. Curling the bed spread around her she smiled and enjoyed the space for a little longer to herself. The joys of being an essence user seemed to be nearly endless. She was enjoying in particular right now the fact that she had never slept better. The room was the perfect ambient conditions for sleeping, it blocked both sound and auras from outside with the right settings, the room was also kept the perfect temperature by a fourth-stage crystal environmental module that was installed as standard. Physically she was in perfect health, she didn’t have to worry about a niggle in her shoulder to stop her lying on her side or a twinge in her back meaning that she couldn’t sleep on her back. Bizarrely she had also got used to sleeping on her front with her face buried into the pillow as there was no longer any need to breathe.
After long enough she got up, choosing a simple outfit for the day she got up and went through a series of stretching holds, designed to strengthen the body and connect the mind to movement.
When she was done she left the room, sensing that Ballah and Lucy were in the crafting room and the boys were on the top deck. She chose to head to the back of the Serenity and up the rear staircases to the top. When she opened the sliding door at the back she was mesmerised by the clouds all around them, scattered here and there were perfect fluffy white clouds with startlingly blue sky between.
On the top deck she saw that Teddy and James had collapsed down the rear table and benches and were sparring. The size difference was ridiculous, James height and reach was so much further than Teddy’s, factor in the seven foot staff that he was wielding and it seemed there was no way Teddy stood a chance. The reality was that he needed every inch of that advantage to stop the smaller man, he dove and weaved around James, who was by no means slow but Teddy was yet to put on all his speed and was just feeling James out.
Kyra had seen them fight so many times she had no need to watch again. She made her way forward, snatching some fruit from a basket next to the drivers station and sat on the prow.
The view underneath was stunning, green as far as the eye could see. There was no way to tell how big the trees were underneath as the canopy was impenetrable, they could be a few feet or hundreds of feet. The latter was the case, Yarraballah had told them over dinner that this jungle was incredibly large, so that it could house incredibly large gold rank monsters and animals that could keep up with gold rank monsters.
She sat and watched it all go by, enjoying the peace, only broken by the rushing wind and the clacking of the weapons behind her every now and then. The magic carpet the Serenity was sat on seemed to not need any direct guidance as Yarraballah was nowhere to be seen, the speed was deceptively quick however, the lack of defining features beneath them and they’re altitude made it hard to judge just how fast they were going. Kyra made herself busy reading some advanced healing textbooks whilst munching her fruit.
After a while Lucy and Yarraballah made their way up to the top deck also. By this time James and Teddy had finished their sparring and had reset the top deck back to normal, they were sat having a coffee and chatting over the fight, giving each other tips, mostly coming from Teddy to James as he had been training with the sword since that got to Pallimustus and staff fighting was relatively new to James as part of his repertoire.
The team plus their gold rank guest all sat around the rear table and shared the morning with coffee, Yarraballah was as taken with it as everyone else has been so far. Lucy caught them up on what they had been working on in the workshop for the summons on the team and Kyra and James were impressed and keen to try them out.
Yarraballah looked up at the prow all of a sudden. “I’m glad we’re all up here together, you may want to see this.” He took his mug of coffee with him and walked to the front. The others followed him, looking at each other curiously.
They stood either side of the gold ranker looking down. They saw the tops of the trees starting to thin out and towards the horizon the edge of the jungle. As they got nearer the edge they swore the trees were moving in one area. James spread his aura over them and they benefited from the enhanced perception power. There were flashes of light and blooms of fire from that area. Now that they had a reference point they saw how fast they were travelling. They rapidly approached the point of interest and saw what was happening. Giant tree monsters were slowly lumbering out of the jungle towards a band of entrenched adventures.
“What’s happening here? You don’t seem surprised?” Kyra asked.
“The jungle produces an abundance of high power monsters, those who live on the periphery must be prepared to beat it back every now and then. These particular monsters will wait until there are enough of them then they will march. These adventures are specialists and many of them are silver rankers working in concert with a few golds to beat back the monsters.”
James looked down at the amount of ‘trees’ that were walking out of the jungle. “And all those monsters are gold rank?”
“Indeed.”
They were almost on top of the conflict now and Yarraballah slowed down the magic carpet.
“Lucy, your familiar can share some of your racial abilities correct? Does this include a looting power?”
“It does, She has used it quite a lot in areas we cannot reach in the past.”
“If you would be amenable to the risk I would have her escort me, the opportunity is in your favour but I would understand if you think the risk is too great.”
“You’re going down there? Amongst the gold rank monsters?”
“I have often assisted in the cull, I have a tried and tested relatively risk free approach to tackle them, any kills of mine I will give permission for your familiar to loot.”
Lucy thought about it and shrugged. She released Lechuza and explained to her to follow Yarraballah’s orders.
Yarraballah smiled, he placed his mug on the side of the Serenity and rolled backwards off the deck. He plunged towards the ground, punching through small patches of cloud. As they were watching him drop a blur dropped through the air in front of them, startling all four of the Mitchells. As it dove further away from them they could see it was a translucent bird, it caught up with Yarraballah and enveloped him, arresting his fall and carrying him out and over the conflict. Lechuza then swept out behind them, keeping a safe distance away until called in. What ensued was hard to keep up with even with the teams perception advantages. What they assumed was another bonded familiar burst out the ground underneath one of the ponderous tree monsters almost swallowing an entire leg. It was a lamprey looking worm monster that would have been roughly the height of the top deck of the Serenity. It’s full length hadn’t yet come out the ground.
“Just so we all realise, that ridiculous monster, even though it’s a bonded familiar, must’ve been following us since the lake. Underground. At the same speed we’ve been flying.” James commented. The thought was sobering at the power of the gold rank familiar.
Yarraballah tag-teamed his familiars on the first monster, as he got down to ground level he used more traditional summoning circles and called forth multiple summons. He called Lechuza in once he had taken the first monster literally apart. His team of familiars killed another which he allowed Lechuza to loot again. After that he sent her back as he went in to help the entrenched adventurers.
“That’s a nice little boost to the family coffers!” Lucy said, reading through the loot notification.
This monster kill was not yours. You are unable to loot this monster.
The Mighty Yarraballah has approved looting for this monster.
[Jungle Warden] has been looted.
[Monster core (Gold rank)] has been added to your inventory.
1000 [Plant Quintessence] have been added to your inventory.
10 [Gold Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.
She had the same message for the next monster.
This monster kill was not yours. You are unable to loot this monster.
The Mighty Yarraballah has approved looting for this monster.
[Jungle Warden] has been looted.
[Monster core (Gold rank)] has been added to your inventory.
1000 [Plant Quintessence] have been added to your inventory.
10 [Gold Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.
Stolen novel; please report.
“Damn I wish we had all these gold spirit coins when we were back at the lakeside village.” Teddy said.
“Oh I’m sure we’ll find a way to spend them either way.” Kyra replied.
They all looked at her and she shrugged innocently.
“Doesn’t all have to be on decorations but some would be nice.”
The flying carpet hadn’t stopped, only slowed and they were now looking back at the confrontation, having taken two and assisted with some of the others Yarraballah was headed back towards them, being carried by the translucent bird again. He alighted on the deck and smiled at the four adventurers.
“How was your first experience of gold rank combat?”
“Profitable.” James answered before anyone else had a chance.
“More than we could follow really.” Teddy admitted.
“Well I’m glad we were successful in our endeavours worth looting.” He beamed.
“How much would you like to split?” Lucy asked.
“Oh no, I have my own looting abilities, I want to offer you the chance to earn some extra cash. I can only just remember the pressures of first starting out and any leg-up was welcome, coming from a community family including some very high rank members meant I was afforded some excellent opportunities.”
“Thank you this is very generous!” Kyra said.
They all looked out in the direction they were travelling. The jungle was rapidly giving way to a bleak featureless desert. There were giant cracks running through it and a shimmering multi-hued haze rose off.
“The wastelands,” Yarraballah said gravely. “We’re almost at our departure.” He turned the carpet and started a descent towards a settlement.
They wondered at the type of people who would choose to live sandwiched between the wasteland and the gold rank jungle.
“This is the village of the people we have just seen, they are a small core of people that like the villages around the lake make the most out of the remote but high magic area for natural resources. There is a high turnover of powerful adventurers that come through to try their mettle against the jungle monsters. We need must descend and see if they have any word of Baboa.”
They circled down but there was no clearing for them to alight. The accommodation looked like a mix of treehouses and bunkers to survive a zombie apocalypse.
“You are by no means confined to the vessel but I would suggest staying aboard. These settlements are the premise of silver and gold rankers.” Yarraballah said with an apologetic expression.
Kyra’s aura spread out, it was like a hole in Yarraballah’s world, first her aura disappeared to his senses then her companions auras became fuzzy, impenetrable to the point where they felt much tougher than the bronze rank he knew they were.
“Well that should about handle that!”
They made their way down, Yarraballah employing gold rank abilities, Teddy teleporting the girls and James gliding down on transformed arms into wings of metal. They made their way into the town and Yarraballah explained he would make enquiries while they had a little look around. There was less a bustling market place like what they found in lower rank areas and more of a professional atmosphere. Kyra still managed to find some shops. Gold rankers by virtue of the fact it could take so long to reach that rank developed other interests, many of these were intellectual and artistic. As such she managed to find some artwork of the jungle that she could happily add to her collection.
Yarraballah made his way back to them and hastened them to board.
“Not much news of my friend but they think he may be to the north.”
They took off and made their way north, circumnavigating the edge of the jungle. They stopped off at two more small settlements to see if they could pin him down. The third settlement they stopped at they got a positive location for the mysterious gold ranker that traveled the wasteland. They flew out, right to the edge of the wasteland and Yarraballah stopped the Serenity in mid air.
“Mitchells, I would suggest that this next part may get uncomfortable. Baboa has already departed into the wasteland and we cannot call him back. Unfortunately this means committing to this as a course of action with all caveats, the very air will degrade you and your vehicle and the only means of traversing the terrain will be as Baboa’s guests. Are you happy with this?”
“All these caveats sure are confidence boosting I must say.” Teddy said. “We are sure, we will have to see what the price is for travel when we get there, we have enough gold spirit coins now!”
“He will not take any coins… away we go, get yourselves below deck and turn on any and all defences that will still allow the Serenity to be carried by my carpet. I will make this as quick as possible.”
The team set up in the front lounge looking out over the wasteland. They felt the strain as they crossed the threshold. The Serenity vibrated, the walls and floor shuddered in reaction. The Mitchells felt as if they had been poisoned all of a sudden, the deleterious effects of the wasteland were no joke and they were being shielded by Yarraballah’s aura and the Serenity itself was shielding them significantly.
Near the edge of the wasteland they saw very few carcasses then the skeletons of animals, very shortly they saw nothing but the cracked and canyoning desert. No vegetation grew and no birds flew. The further they went in the worse they felt. Kyra didn’t want to let Lucky out as she didn’t want to hurt him, she sporadically sent out healing bolts as they travelled but her mana wasn’t restoring as they travelled as a side effect of the wasteland debilitation.
They saw a block on the horizon in the featureless vista. It rapidly grew in the window. All four of the team were now heavily reclined on the sofas, struggling to stay conscious. It grew until it towered above them. A monolithic rusty rectangle, it travelled on giant tracks, over a dozen wheels on each side drove the track, the length of the Serenity could have easily been the diameter of each wheel. The front of the massive vehicle was over a hundred feet tall and slanted forward. Yarraballah’s carpet flew around the vehicle and into a massive landing bay halfway up.
As they landed the Mitchells barely noticed but the carpet beneath them retracted to a normal size and Yarraballah rolled it up before coming up the back deck of the Serenity. As the huge hanger-like doors closed behind them the Mitchells felt like they had suddenly been cured. The Serenity relaxed and Teddy went to a panel built into the wall to check for damage indications. Lucy went downstairs to check the cargo to make sure the desert hadn’t adversely effected it. Kyra and James moved to the rear to open the door for Yarraballah.
“We have been allowed on board, I hope the journey was not too stressful for you.”
Kyra looked back at the others, she had been monitoring the interface closely to see how everyone was getting on and was content they were fine. Teddy gave a thumbs up for the ship and Lucy came back upstairs and nodded that the cargo was fine. She turned back to Yarraballah and nodded that everything was ok.
“We must make haste, the longer that we leave Baboa the more trickery his fiendish mind can think of.”
“We can’t just leave the cargo.” Teddy said.
“My dear boy, no one, or nothing is leaving Baboa’s territory without his say so, he will not tolerate anyone interfering with a guests property on his ship. We are quite at his mercy now.”
They left the ship and locked it up behind them. They made their way through the corridors away from the hanger. The vessel was vast, there was no perceivable motion as they knew it was rumbling along. The corridors were wide, you could fit a dozen people across and they were long with many branches. The walls were clean but industrial, the floors the same rust metal as the outside. After ten minutes of walking following Yarraballah they came to a large wooden door.
“Ms Lucy, we spoke about your interface before now.”
Lucy Michell would like to add a temporary guest member.
Accept The Mighty Yarraballah (GUEST) Y/N
(Pre-loaded custom permissions will be added)
“I meant to ask you about this,” James said. “The Mighty?”
Yarraballah was accepted by the others into the interface.
[My village does not have surnames, as an extra given name we are given an additional name, my birth parents chose this for me, they were rather aspirational. My this system is very intuitive. What I wanted to say in private is not so much a warning as advice that Baboa might not find flattering. He is a bored man, he is old, content in his gold rank with no aspiration of diamond but he had amassed great wealth over his life and seeks perpetual entertainment entertainment in his own ways, nothing sordid but not the norm. He is not adventure society and has no master above him, he chooses the wasteland as his main home as there is no government here and so is a law unto himself. Do not anger him, do not simper to him, be your usual selves but with a little more survival instinct, he has thrown the bodies of those who have disrespected him before out onto the wasteland. Be aware that this interface may be the only privacy that you have whilst on board.]
There as a beat or two while the four of them looked at each other, they didn’t look scared only determined, they knew that they were committed now and they had to see it through.
[Lead the way Ballah, lets see what we’ve got ourselves in for.] Teddy said.
Yarraballah nodded and turned, he knocked once, a booming echo, and the doors opened inwards.
They opened onto a vast banquet hall. It was a stark difference to the hallway outside. There were plush banners and warm lights all around, the walls were a warm red with a sky blue ceiling and the floors had furs and rugs all over. The main space was taken up by long banquet tables covered in food and tankards of booze and jugs to fills them. The tables were packed with people, men and women, humans, Elves, Leonids, Smoulders even the Draconid were scattered throughout.
There didn’t seem to be any uniform on the serving staff, regular looking people were carrying refills and food in from side doors. The room all orientated towards a raised dais, the banquet tables were in a horseshoe around so that the head of the centre raised table can look over them all.
In the centre of the top table was what could only be referred to as a throne. A huge man sat atop it, casually leaking his gold rank aura out, not enough to be harmful but a slightly arrogant amount to be showing. What surprised them the most was that the man was large, but not in an athletic or strong way, the man was big but he was also fat. It was shocking to think that an essence user could get fat. He looked down at them with a friendly smile but a mischievous twinkle in his eye.
“Baboa! You old, retired, failed pirate. How has the limit of gold rank longevity not caught up with you yet and cast your soul to the astral.” Yarraballah called up to him.
[And he said to us about not insulting him.] James said on the interface just to the team.
“The ‘mighty’ Yarra. Still babysitting on the ‘mighty’ society’s behalf, I see you have brought some of your babies to me this time. Are they the price for your charter this time or have they come to me to see what the adventure will cost them?”
“You haven’t changed, I have warned them of your traditions, they come knowing they will barter for passage.”
“My poor visitors! We old timers are nattering on like senile old men. I call you visitors yet, it has been explained to you then that this is not an adventure society enterprise, you are not guests here yet.”
The tables had gone deathly silent. Everyone had turned their attention to the exchange, it seemed to be a common occurrence and the mood wasn’t hostile but jovial and good natured.
Teddy spoke for the group as usual, not the leader of the team but they recognised it was easier for one person to front.
“Mr Baboa, it has been explained, we’re under contract with the adventure society at the moment and would greatly value passage across the wasteland to the north. We understand that we must barter with you for passage.”
“It was such the way, Yarra you need to keep up with the times! You accuse me of not changing but you’ve yet to see my new toy!” At Baboa’s exclamation a huge wheel of fortune was rolled into the room from a door of the dais.
[Are you for real?!] James exclaimed.
[Well what do you know, the wheel of fortune is a universe spanning tradition.] Kyra said.
[More importantly what options are on the wheel?] Lucy pointed out.
The wheel had the traditional sections on it. There were slots for mystery potion, take a hit, blank, basket of fruit, tell a joke, sing a song, be stabbed by the chef, invent a cocktail, six months on board, one months service and clean the halls amongst others.
“So tell me, who is going to spin first?” Baboa said smiling, leaning forwards.