The Floating District was named for the trait that every building in the district shared. Once you pass the border separating it from the Gold District, gravity itself shifts by the sheer amount of den in the air. This place is home to the Guild of Infinite Thought, a group of sorcerers and wizards dedicated to trying new, experimental magic. Their leader, Franklin Fent, was a half-orc sorcerer who was revolutionary in the modern applications of den transference and was a black-ranked adventurer. In Everwatch, black was the highest rank an adventurer could achieve, followed by brown, red, blue, purple, green, gold, and white.
As Jordan entered the district, he thought about the history of this place that May had told him about. Fent had conducted an experiment 10 years before that had caused a massive shift in the gravitational field of the entire district. He was caught in the explosion the experiment caused and hasn’t been seen since. The citizens of the district were evacuated, and once it was discovered they could no longer freely walk through the streets, most ordinary citizens left. The Adventurers Boon Skill was required to control den, so people who weren’t adventurers were unable to stop themselves from floating along with the buildings. Once the normal people cleared out, the Infinite Thought had complete control over the area.
After Fent's death, they turned into a more extreme version of their original selves. Very few people approached the area since it was unknown what kind of unthinkable projects they were working on. However, that didn’t stop Georgina’s from opening a location. The Zepthal staple, a Georgina’s diner could be found in every district, usually with multiple locations. They were also a very common pest control quest, so Jordan was not a frequent client. It did impress him, however, that they were determined enough to build a location in the floating district.
“Mad scientist wizards need cheesy eggs too I suppose,” Jordan thought as he approached the entrance.
The gate separating the floating district was basic iron, standing about 15 feet tall. Behind it, Jordan could see the street floating about 5 feet above. He stepped forward, opened the gate, and began his ascent. As he floated further in the air, he closed his eyes to focus. Telling the den in your body what to do was a learning process. Jordan knew as he got used to it, the process would become easier. That being said, this was his 3rd time ever trying this, so there was much to be learned still.
“Feel it in your chest, and tell it where to go,” Jordan said, repeating the advice his wizard roommate had given him.
He felt a warmth in his chest that reminded him of a warm drink when you’re sitting in the cold, comforting and soothing. When he attempted to move it, however, it felt as if a hot liquid was moving through his body. Not burning hot, but too hot to be comfortable, especially when it reached the legs. Once he felt the den in his feet, he focused on matching it to the amount in the air. It took several minutes of him floating in place, but eventually he landed on the street, looking at the Gold District below.
The Infinite Thought seemed to enjoy the floating buildings, considering they used their own magic to float the street up to accommodate them. Looking at the light foot traffic around him was all Jordan needed to paint a clear picture of the type of people who chose to live in this district. Every person he saw had either a staff, wand, or magic hat and they all were muttering to themselves. Whether it was about the results of a failed experiment or a chant to an ancient spell, he could never be sure.
What he did know is everyone around him was really creepy and he wanted to leave.
Speed walking through the streets and aggressively avoiding eye contact, Jordan proceeded to Georgina’s, the local diner chain. Burgers, chicken wings, and now slick rats were on the menu. Even if the deals were hard to beat, everyone who does low level jobs for Everguard knows to stay away from Georgina’s. He pulled the mask on his cloak to his face and threw the front doors open, flooding light into the darkened restaurant.
Gross.
The smell was so intense Jordan felt his eyes begin to water, and as he looked around, he saw several different kinds of piles that attributed to the stench. However, the most intense smell was the oil from the rats themselves. The moment the door opened, Jordan was met with a chorus of squeaks and the squelching sound of the vermin attempting to skitter away through a thick layer of film on the floor. Slick rats were one of the random experiments of the Infinite Thought. Rumors were they attempted to experiment with implanting permanent spells into animal, and a rat and grease spell were the first and only result. The fact that the experiment caused the normal size rats to grow to the size of large dogs most likely played a role in the lack of any further experimentation.
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The tables and chairs had been cleaned out of the restaurant, leaving the main lobby empty except for the 7 pests desperately trying to escape from sight. The difficult part about slick rats is their unpredictable movement patterns, but the reason they’re unpredictable is because the rats are just unable to stabilize themselves and lose their footing every time they try to move. Jordan drew his bow and aimed it at the closest rat to him. As he drew the arrow back, he felt his untrained hand begin to shake.
Relaxed Hand Skill Activated
He smiled as he felt his hand steady involuntarily. Relaxed Hand is one of the first 2 skills Rangers receive upon joining Everwatch. It steadies the users hand automatically through the use of den. Jordan took his shot, hitting the first rat directly in the head, killing it instantly.
“Wahoo” Jordan said unenthusiastically, knowing what had to come next.
He loaded a second arrow while charging into the disgusting diner. He managed to hit a second rat, piercing it to the floor by the leg. He looked around him, holding his breath as he examined the horrendous battlefield. 3 rats bolted into the kitchen, and the other 2 slammed into each other while trying to regain their footing. Jordan knew he had to be decisive, the more time he gave them to find places to hide, the longer he would have to be in this stink pit. He jumped in the air to avoid the grease pool around him and aimed at one of the remaining 2 in the lobby, exploding the left eye of his unfortunate target.
Jordan winced, he was still getting used to the gore part of adventuring. As he landed, the remaining rat charged at him, and he knew he didn’t have time to draw his arrow and fire off a full shot.
“Special budget attack activate!” Jordan shouted, thrusting the bow nock first. The kitchen knife he had taped to the bow stabbed into the rats skull, falling in a gurgle of blood and grease. As effective as that was, he really wanted better weapons. He was going to have to wash that knife thoroughly.
He heard the remaining 3 rats thrashing in the kitchen, and peeked through the window to see the rats in a confined space. After retrieving the arrows from the previously killed rats, he opened the kitchen door, funneling his remaining prey toward him. These were essentially practice shots, and the final rat was dead shortly after. The job was not quite done, but Jordan knew he had to step outside and purge the odor of the tainted Georgina’s from his nostrils, even if it was only temporary.
After collecting himself, he took a deep breath and plunged back inside. Using one of his arrowheads, he removed the ears of each rat, placing them in the jar with Tulie’s beautiful smile shining back at him. Once his grizzly work was done, he walked briskly outside. Being out in the open air was something the average person took for granted. You don’t know what you have until you’re in a diner with garbage can size piles of rat greasy rat waste.
As he proceeded down the streets of the floating district, he made a point to observe the people around him. Most of them were dressed in standard wizard robes, the most common being the Grey robes of the Infinite Thought. Considering slick rats were their invention, Jordan wasn’t the biggest fan of them at the moment. He did have to admit though, some of their inventions were very useful.
“Maybe I’ll be able to afford to use some them in like a few years, if the economy doesn’t crash” he said outloud, the other bystanders too wrapped up in their own thoughts to notice him.
Every person Jordan saw was furiously scribbling notes or actively mixing potions while walking down the street. More than one person in the half mile walk had a mini cauldron that was boiling floating beside them. Not a single person looked like they had slept more than 2 hours, with their eyes bloodshot and faces gaunt. Every one of them was more dedicated to their craft than Jordan could imagine. Of course he had goals and ambitions but he was also going to allow himself a full nights sleep when his roommates kept their antics to a minimum.
The memory of his roommates hamster experiment distracted Jordan from initially hearing the lightning rail above, so when it passed directly overhead he let out a small yelp that he was immediately ashamed of. Looking up at the magical marvel of technology, he thought of where he might go when he was settled and had free time.
The beach in Rohimo that has all those free roaming dinosaurs, or maybe the mountains in Kulmi where the demigod city is. It would be a long road to make that kind of money though, Jordan thought smiling to himself. Ranger abilities are more useful in the nature environments outside the cities obviously, and the jobs are compensated quite nicely.
When Rangers work in open environments like forests, mountains, and all sorts of other terrain they usually go on long campaigns where several groups work together. The only ones with the skills to guide them are Rangers, which is why they are compensated so well. However, these dangerous missions will usually require a base level of 15, which most adventurers spend the first 20 years of their careers attempting to achieve. Most people that try to be rangers give up and switch classes, starting from scratch with a skillset more suited to traditional dungeon crawling and missions within cities.
That wasn't the path Jordan wanted though. He wanted his adventuring career to be full of travel and exploration. He didn't care about getting rich quick, though he wanted to be not poor quick.
Jordan continued down the road out of the floating district, covered in grease and smelling of gross death. He was on his way back to Everguard to turn in a jar of ears for a quest he was not getting paid for. He was broke, no party, and smelly.
Yet he smiled to himself.
Despite his circumstances, today felt different. Call it instincts, intuition, maybe even the den contained in his body. Something was telling him that today was different. Was it good, bad, both? He didn’t know, but he recognized this feeling. He felt the same way on his 14th birthday, a day he wasn’t allowed to forget.
“What could possibly be next?” Jordan said, wiping rat brain off his shoulder.