Ragnar was working his huge double headed axe like a farmer digging a field with a spade. He stopped for a moment resting the head on the floor wile he wiped either sweat or blood from his brow. He had to kick one of the badger-type lesser monsters away as it came at him in a rage, killing it instantly. As he glanced up at the setting sun his hovering hand axe was dashing around behind him, tumbling over itself in the air as it smacked into the small monsters again and again.

The Mitchells had all been out. The boys had chosen to do a desert run the village they stopped at was famous for, the vistas were breathtaking going from open desert to the lake, around and back, traditionally done wearing suppression collars. The girls were in the town, Kyra in the healing hut treating patients and doing some teaching to the staff and Lucy was in the markets stocking up and exploring.

Ragnar had stayed with the Serenity. And had been the only one on board when the red flash weakly came through inside the ship, warning of monster activity nearby. He had gone out on the top deck and seen he was surrounded by tiny holes in the ground like an insect hive. He had jumped down to glory and combat to only find berserk lesser monsters that must have spawned underground. These kinds of monsters were able to be dealt with by normal rank people with guts and crude weapons. Ragnar was mostly bored as he dispatched them.

When he was done he trudged back up the stairs into the Serenity. He trusted the minuscule ripples of tiny facets of crystal would shift the blood and filth he was walking in back overboard. He made his way to his cabin and unlocked it with his aura before going in. He had taken some persuading by Kyra but he had finally decorated it how he liked it and it made him happy every time he opened the door. Thick furs on the floor and bed that his feet sunk into, scenes of battle captured in paint and canvas on every wall. He had a few trinkets and art from each place they visited, picking up the habit from Kyra. He made his way to the shower and got in with his armour still on. It was mildly crystal wash infused, part of the luxury design of the Fourth-Stage crystal vehicle. When his armour was clean he took it off and hung it outside the shower to dry whilst he luxuriated in the hot water. When he was done he towel dried and put on a soft silk set of training clothes with a quilted jacket that had a wide lapel before heading up to the top deck to watch the sun set and wait for the others.

Lucy and Kyra headed back together. Lucy had a few new books that she was reading while Kyra drove the buggy, easily able to hold a conversation whilst reading complicated material and they had all got used to it now and it wasn’t considered rude.

“So she told me that she couldn’t understand why the guy kept coming in with the infection. Every few weeks he’d come back in with the same foot fungus and she would treat him again, when she offers him the ointment to take with him he turns it down saying he would just lose it. Then two weeks later he’s back in her hut.”

“Huh” Lucy said without looking up. “She attractive this healer?”

“She was very pretty, the right age and single. I had the same thought. It’s not often when I come through healing somewhere that a guy wants to see the regular healer.”

Lucy did look up at that, looking over Kyra. She wore her ever present diamond armour, not entirely made of diamond but large chunks of it were covered in solid diamond panels. It was figure hugging like a wetsuit or a costume design from a marvel comic. For modestly she had some loose flowing clothes over the top, a neck ring with strips of cloth attached that billowed with large gaps until they reached her waist where they cinched in before flowing to the floor like a loose skirt. She was stunningly beautiful even by essence user standards, her long braided hair reached past her waist, tied in multiple miniature braids with carved barrel charms that glinted with divine light even when not in the direct sunlight.

“So he’s in love then.” Lucy stated flatly going back to her book.

“Not wanting to sound big headed but yes. Once he’d had his treatment and sent on his way I poured her a cup of tea and explained this too her. She honestly had no idea.”

Lucy snorted to show her amusement and packed away her book. As they got near the Serenity she grabbed the dashboard in front of them and it started folding up. The timing was perfect so that as they got a few steps away from the ship the bottom folded out from underneath them and they stepped out no onto the drop deck. Kyra had held onto a plate of the crystal that it all folded into and she slapped it into the side where they stored the buggies.

Making their way to the top deck they found Ragnar lounging on a recliner. A large tankard in easy reach as he played on an instrument like a ukulele but with a longer thin neck and only three strings. It gave a surprisingly rich and deep sound for such a small instrument more like a double bass.

“Ah shieldmaidens! At last! Do we find drink or do we find fight?”

Lucy made his day by pulling two contracts from her pocket she had copied from the local noticeboard. His face lit up and he nearly exploded from his lounger, his hand axe leapt from the railing it was resting against into his hand.

“Onwards! Fell the foul foe in their fetid festering fortresses of futile fosterment.”

“Ragnar I’m sorry they’re more pest control than epic battle.” Kyra said kindly.

Lucy was still holding up the contracts like a pair of tickets in shock. “Wow, we really need to get you out, have you spent all this time thinking up that line or do they just come to you like that?”

Ragnar blushed a little through his beard. “Mine axe has had fruitless conquest in the days of recent and yearns for a worthy opponent.”

“But we fought those huge round blob things two days ago?” Lucy said.

“Indeed so…”

“And the huge bird lizard that almost ate you a day before that.” Kyra interrupted.

“Truly you speak truly but…”

“What about that big hairy one last week that you almost lost your hand axe inside except you had it cut its way out from inside?” Lucy interrupted.

“A thorough battle can only…”

“And it was only two weeks ago we put down that silver rank monster all together.” Kyra pointed out before he could finish what he was saying.

He sat down with a thump. Little shockwaves of crystal accommodating his large frame.

“Ah fine adventures we have I admit. More is ever the plague upon us. We must ever seek more, do more, help more. For only then will we find the deeds that are sung about us in the halls of heroes.”

They were interrupted from consoling Ragnar in his pouty toddler phase of having nothing worthwhile killing by the boys getting back. Teddy teleported straight to the top deck with no sound at all and zipped over to hug his wife. He gave Lucy a quick high five and thumped Ragnar on the shoulder as he zipped past to the Captain’s chair, it had taken him a second or two. He started the Serenity moving then came back to the others.

“So what’s going on happy shiny people?”

“Well we’re trying to cheer up Ragnar, he’s upset that he’s not killed anything today.” Lucy said, sitting down.

“Nae, prithy I have not spoken fully. I have slain many creatures today.”

“Err, what or who have you been killing today?” Teddy asked, slightly worried.

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“Lesser monsters, a small swarm of Bother-Badgers. They fell to my axe in the lee of the village.”

“Well, lets move on, there’s plenty monsters around I’m sure, we’ll find you something worth killing.” Teddy got up to head back to the driving station.

“We did pick up these two contracts…” Lucy said, looking to the table where she had put them down, there was only one left.

“Yeh, did you get those from the village? About those…”

He was interrupted by a large monster the shape and size of a horse dropping in the dirt next to them, it had heads at either end and knees that bent to allow it to travel in either direction. Undignified in death its four foot long spiked tongues lolled out. A griffin landed ahead of them and shifted into James who jumped up on board. The second contract dissolved in front of their eyes.

“We also picked up those contracts and decided to take them out before we headed off.” Teddy held his hands out in supplication. “Sorry?”

James released Koda on the front deck where he had landed from his jump and was making his way round.

Teddy quickly in hushed tones spoke to the others. “Look, don’t mention the run to James, he didn’t enjoy it and is very grumpy about it.”

“Four. Fecking. Hours.” James said, clearly overhearing Teddy. “Of course I’m grumpy.”

“Why was it so bad? You fought underground at Stonewall basically power suppressed by the natural array?” Lucy asked putting a hand on his forearm to calm him.

“Because that wasn’t running.” He said grumpily, but placed a huge hand over her tiny one.

“You remember I was pretty spritely in the tasks on Baboa’s ship?” Teddy asked. “Turns out my body has got good at that sort of thing. Our personal human bear that walks on its back legs and sometimes showers… well you can imagine how comfortable a bear running on its back legs for four hours in the desert is.”

“And he cheated, he was still wearing those damn boots.” James grumbled.

“What did you want me to do?! Run barefoot?”

“You didn’t have to top them up with sand quintessence when they ran out!”

Kyra tutted at both boys and got up to go to the front of the deck to see Koda in front of the tarpaulined gun, both of them out of sight.

“She’s been spending a lot of time with Koda recently…” Teddy wondered for a moment before brushing off the thought. “Anyway, we should hit the coast soon, we’re meeting the edge of a river that parallels what we would call the Red Sea, the locals call it the Gulf of Arngote.”

“We follow the water north until we hit the next coastline which is the coast of what we would know as the Mediterranean Sea. They call it the Arngotian sea, you can see the naming convention for the area.” Lucy pointed out. “There’s a major city that controls the output for the trade routes we’ll stop and re supply then we need to make a decision about travelling overland or over sea.”

Ragnar looked sulky at the mention of this and twiddled his thick bushy moustache, having already been told off for acting like a toddler he kept his mouth shut about his opinions of travelling over water.

They travelled the rest of the day in peace, the road network was well built in this part of the world and they saw other traffic going both ways, very few vehicles were as big as theirs and they were almost exclusively cargo ‘trucks’ as James called them. Mostly it was wagons pulled by heidel or other beasts of burden, a few of which the Mitchells hadn’t seen before.

The team were confident in their abilities, between them they had fought silver rank monsters, been ambushed, taken much higher odds and gone toe-to-toe with other bronze rank essence users. Many travellers on the road sought shelter for night time but the Serenity kept going. With less traffic on the road with the approaching twilight they could actually speed up. They reached the waterfront at full dark. Out on the water they saw lots of rowboats lit up by different coloured lights. They were all at anchor with no one on board, all facing upriver as they were held by anchor with the eddy lines flowing around them reflecting the lights.

The lights were also attached to lines that lead to the shore to small fishing villages. Instead of one large town there seemed to be a continuous sprawl along the shore. They turned north and kept to the road. There was a continual crowd of locals blindly walking across the road, either casually heading home for the night and then later more drunks winding their way across the road away from the water.

Teddy was driving as he was able to dodge the huge vessel out the way easier when drunks randomly stepped onto the road.

“Screw this…” Teddy said.

He found a big enough gap and checked a small ball of normally clear crystal on the dashboard, it was covered by a clam shell piece of crystal he had to roll back and it showed an almost solid bronze colour swirling like oil within. It showed the current ambient magical density surrounding the ship. With a clear power margin in mind he found a roughly big enough gap to aim for between dwellings. With a practiced manoeuvre he ‘jumped’ the vessel out over the water, cushioning the landing so there wasn’t even a splash.

“THEODORE!!” Came a deep below from within the ship and the rest of the occupants came up to join Teddy on the top deck.

“What foul plan is this?! How can one achieve fair footing without earth beneath ones feet?!” Ragnar exclaimed, holding onto James with one white knuckled fist and a railing with the other as they came up the rear stairs. His body language firmly turned away from looking overboard.

Teddy connected the dots pretty quickly. “Ragnar, can you not swim?!”

“It is not a skill I have mastered no. It…”

He was cut off by four rapid boats coming at the Serenity from different angles.

[Stations, standard boarder repel layout, hold fire incase they want to talk.] Teddy snapped off rapidly.

Everyone’s ‘home page’ on the interface was suddenly populated with a diagram of the Serenity with positions labelled for each of them with arcs of fire that were their responsibility. Teddy relinquished the controls, having four versus four incoming was better right now than trying to run. Ragnar and James lifted thin panels on the top of the railings and took the swivel guns out, a corona of light visible in the dark on the muzzles. Kyra leant over the bow, pulling two seamless doors apart and pulling the huge harpoon gun over the railing to aim at one of the boats. Lucy was set with a rune circle under her feet and one attached to her left wrist, her Athame in her right hand balancing the edge of the blade over her left Vambrace ready to fire.

The four ships shone bright spotlights onto the Serenity, painting the hull in magnesium bright light. Teddy was still standing at the drivers station when they did this and he matched them and more. The crystal hull of the Serenity was incredibly magical, it stored sunlight throughout the day to be used in different ways, a common trait in high end magical materials. In this instance he manipulated the controls so that he not only flooded the incoming vessels with a much brighter light than they were producing but also set it to a rapid strobing effect whilst keeping the water around them pitch black. This had the effect of blinding those on board but making them easy targets for those onboard the Serenity.

Two of the rapid attack craft almost gently crashed into each other with the swearing of five or six men on board, it was hard not to find it funny as one of the boats was obviously sinking.

“STOP!” Came a magically enhanced voice from one of the non-crashed boats. “You are being detained by the authority of Arngo waterway authority!”

[Does it feel like we’re being detained to anyone?] James asked on the interface.

[Shh James, let Teddy do the talking.] Lucy admonished.

“Lo there, we were a little surprised to be set upon like that. Stop your craft, preferably all together you can save that other one from sinking.” Teddy shouted back. [Pack it all up guys, if this is the ‘authorities’ then lets not antagonise them.] and he shut off the strobing light.

The three serviceable attack craft surrounded the damaged one and lashed themselves to it so it wouldn’t sink further.

[I’m going to go out as a measure of good faith, James slip off the back side and give me some underwater backup but stay out of detectable range, I’m sure you’ve got something up your sleeve. Everyone else stay fresh incase it’s a red herring.]

[Theodore, whilst I am still not happy with you I must ask, what does this irksome situation have to do with a fish?] Ragnar asked.

Teddy smiled and slapped him on the shoulder as he jumped overboard, as he slowly fell using his Winged Feet ability to give him time to slip some blue quintessence into the top of each of his boots, they bled a dark blue colour like they were being soaked from the top down and when he reached the water he stepped onto it like solid ground. He made his way over to the boats where a man stood on the prow with a bow and arrow pointing at him. Teddy had got used to holding his hands out to either side to show he was unarmed rather than hands up as more powers required the latter to attack.

“I think we got off on the wrong foot, we must have missed something. We are team Mitchell and associate Ragnar who is an acolyte of the church of Hero, we’re currently under contract with the Adventure Society.”

“Caleb, Captain Caleb. I’m tonight’s night Guard Captain. Your boat is not registered with us, we’ll need to escort you off the water and charge you. There’ll be no proceedings against you as you’re on Adventurer business, that is, if you can prove you are.”

“Happy to, if you can prove who you say you are, we’re not local and you could be pirates for all we know.”

The man un-nocked his arrow and it vanished. He pulled out a badge and held it out for Teddy to see. He had to walk closer over the surface of the water to get to see the markings.

By city Authority Arngo

His Royal Majesty King Arn divulges responsibility of policing his waterways to the bearer of this token.

Any action against this agent will be taken as against the crown and will have the full might of the crown against the perpetrator.

There was a subtle magic to the badge which made Teddy believe it was genuine.

[Guys I think we were very nearly in real trouble here.]