Base Camp

Teri held herself back from sighing as she led the small squad of three of her tribesmen through the thick underbrush. She knew that this ‘critically important’ scouting mission the elders insisted she spearheaded was just an excuse to tie her up and prevent her from joining the expedition with the others. It reeked of them, mostly Vrexty, wanting to distance the clan from being too dependent on the ‘good will’ of their hosts. She also knew the direction they suggested she go in was roughly in the opposite direction Verida had indicated was a good place to start looking for a mine.

‘If I wasn’t sure I sensed no one else around when we figured out the best place to start looking, I’d think Vrexty had someone listening in on us,’ she thought. She was sure any long distance means of eavesdropping would have been detected by Verida at least. Anything that was above the goddess’ ability to sense would be something far too powerful for the elders to pull off. After all, if one of them had such power, couldn’t they have prevented the attack that befell them?

“Lot on your mind?” Gryit asked, placing a hand on Teri’s shoulder, carefully avoiding Kitai’s tail. The little drakeling let out a small mewl but remained calmly resting. “Your face is all scrunched up like you’ve got a whiff of shit.”

“Just a bit miffed that the elders seem to be doing this just because John and the others are going exploring today,” Teri grumbled as she pushed aside a low hanging branch.

“Ah, you’re missing out on quality time with your lovers,” Gryit teased, prompting Teri’s ears to twitch violently at both Gryit’s words and the sheer smugness radiating off her. “I can’t blame you. One day of bliss and you’re being kept away. It’s like one of your stories.”

“Don’t think I ever recounted such stories to you,” Teri deadpanned. “And I would prefer it if you didn’t blab about that.”

“Lelib won’t speak a word of it, so what’s the harm? Right, Lelib?” Gryit called back to their third member. The squat warrior that paced behind them looked at them with a dull expression.

“Don’t care. Just don’t drag me into anything,” he said tersely. Teri frowned a bit. Lelib was not someone she would consider competent for this sort of ‘mission’. He had been a woodworker before, content with just carving away all day, uncaring about the going ons with his neighbors, all his focus on whatever piece of furniture or art he was commissioned to craft . As such, he was not in the best shape, his round gut a sign of his former good fortune.

There were several others Teri would have picked for this. The only thing she could think up for why Lelib was picked for this exploration was for him to look for trees that could be felled for high quality wood. The notes of disinterest, annoyance, and a hint of confusion that came from Lelib made her think that wasn’t the case, or if it was, the craftsman wasn’t informed of it.

Pushing down thoughts of rebellion, Teri sighed. “We’ve been given a job and we’re going to do it. Keep your eyes open for anything useful or interesting.”

Gryit grumbled out a ‘fine’, and jotted forward a few yards to take point. Teri hated having to play the bad cop, but it was for the best to do the honest best they could at this likely pointless task to appease Vrexty’s paranoia. At least it was something that could help the clan.

As they marched, the light peel of amused bells just reached Teri’s awareness, causing her to stop short. But as soon as she stopped, the sound of that faint amusement faded, leaving Teri to shake her head in confusion.

“You okay?” Gryit asked, looking back at Teri with concerned eyes.

“Thought I felt something,” Teri answered, frowning. Her senses were rarely wrong, but now all she could hear with her empathic sense was the repeating tense strings of Gryit’s worry and Lelib’s droning horns of disgruntled boredom. “But that can’t happen. There shouldn’t be anyone else here. Verida would be alerted immediately if someone we don’t know entered.”

“Maybe they pulled a u-turn and flew over in this direction?” Gryit offered as an explanation.

‘Amusement would fit flying on Verida’s back’, Teri supposed. ‘I can totally see Beth and Anita cheering like they were on one of those rollercoasters.’

Thinking about that soured Teri’s stomach and she shook her head. “I think we would have heard that. I’m probably just imagining things. Let’s just keep moving.”

As the goblin trio trekked further through the wood, a disembodied smile appeared, hovering above a tree limb like a toothy crescent moon.

The cold wind lashed against John’s face as Verida flew towards their destination, the mountains growing closer every minute. His jaw ached a bit as he kept his mouth tightly closed. He wasn’t that much a fan of rollercoasters, and even if the dragon goddess didn’t pull loops or steep drops, her quick flight brought back memories of the few times he tried them. He wasn’t a big fan.

And neither was Kiera it seemed, if the **** grip she had him in was any indication. She was glued to his side, arms wrapped around his midsection and head buried against his chest. It made keeping a good hold on Verida’s back a bit more difficult, but it was a small price to pay to assure Kiera that she was safe.

‘I’m sorry I’m going this fast,’ Verida’s voice boomed in John’s head, freaking him out for a second before he recalled she could do that. She hadn’t since that initial meeting and her ability to do so had slipped his mind. ‘Beth and Anita seemed to be the only ones that liked to ride me. Vivian seemed quite queasy when we landed.’

John wanted to assure her that he was fine but their one way communication made that impossible. And the rushing wind meant that telling Kiera so she could relay was likely not an option.

‘Guess it’ll have to wait for when we land,’ he resolved then glanced back at their third rider. Estelle had a look of concentration on her face, one that John found cute, her lower lip lightly pressed between her teeth. ‘Maybe she’s holding up a spell to keep her hat on.’

Despite the wind whipping her ponytail harder than an excited dog, Estelle’s hat remained firmly affixed to her head. If he didn’t know any better, he would have thought Beth had used her magic to keep it in place. Estelle’s eyes snapped up and met his gaze. She gave him as best a smile she could but quickly returned her focus to whatever subtle magic she was weaving.

Which was fine as it meant John was able to turn his attention to Kiera as she gripped him tighter when Verida had to twist through a patch of rough wind. John squeezed Kiera in what he hoped was a reassuring manner.

‘I think you holding her will always be a reassuring thing,’ Senka remarked, her clear voice contrasting somewhat oddly with the rushing wind that dominated John’s hearing.

‘I hope that’s true for everyone,’ John said somewhat jokingly.

‘It is,’ Senka replied with all the seriousness she could muster. Suddenly, the chill of the rushing air didn’t bite as hard.

Thankfully for Kiera’s sake, Verida soon began her descent, aiming for a point where the forest thinned out as the landscape began to transition into the foothills of the mountains still several miles away. Verida coiled her way down to the ground, where John noticed the rest of their group waiting.

Verida landed like an autumn leaf, barely disturbing the grass beneath her claws. The flight ended, Kiera stiffened in John’s embrace when their return to the ground registered in her mind. John ran his hand up and down her back reassuringly.

“You don’t need to feel embarrassed about not liking flying,” John told her in a soft voice. “Or about holding on to me. I don’t mind being your anchor.”

Kiera let out a whimper, but didn’t immediately try to break away, so John took it as a win. He helped Kiera stand, when she finally relented and let go of him, her face beet red as she backed away from him, but a small, sincere smile graced her lips. John returned her smile with one of his own then moved to help Estelle up as the bluenette turned to slide down off Verida.

The witch took his offered hand with a tired smile. “Thanks. Didn’t think we’d run into that much wind.”

“Looks like whatever you were doing took a lot out of you,” John noted. “Do you want some time to rest before we start this thing?”

“I need just a few minutes,” the witch said. “I think it may have been a mistake to try keeping my hat in place with that spell. Should have just taken it off for the ride.”

“Is there some rule you need to keep it on?” John asked. “You didn’t wear it at the mall yesterday.”

“Well, the hat is a mark of a witch’s mark of office,” Estelle said proudly. “And since this is sort of a proper job, I need to wear it. Plus, it’s where I keep most of my stuff.”

That the hat was pocket storage did not surprise John. It seemed a convenient anchor to serve that purpose if it was something a witch was expected to have on them. It did lead him to wonder if using the hat as storage was the origin of mundane magicians pulling rabbits out of their tophats.

John followed Estelle after she slid down Verida’s flank, and the goddess returned to her humanoid form. As she did, John’s eyes found Aeolia, Beth, Vivian and Anita, the redhead looking a bit disheveled.

“You okay, Vi?” he asked, walking over to the redhead. He knew just how much she didn’t like flying.

“I’ll be fine,” she attested. “The flight wasn’t too bad.”

“I tried to make it as smooth as possible, but my domain doesn’t extend to the skies above,” Verida apologetically said.

“No need to fuss over me,” Vivian stated, as she leveled her gaze on the goddess. “It was as smooth a ride as it could have been. And you didn’t give into the whims of these two.”

She shot a pointed glare at Beth and Anita. The gnoshroom looked confused at why Vivian was seemingly cross with her while Beth feigned innocence.

“What? I just wanted to cut down on the travel time,” the dark haired girl said.

“And Verida effectively being a rollercoaster had nothing to do with it?” Senka asked as John manifested her, a pointed stare boring into Beth. John was surprised to see that she had changed up her outfit, opting for something more fit for the hike they would be taking: jeans, boots and a purple flannel shirt. Though she wore the shirt with several buttons undone, exposing a good amount of cleavage.

“Hey, I wasn’t just going to sit back and pretend flying on a dragon isn’t rad as fuck,” Beth remarked, before rubbing her arm. “Okay, maybe I got a little carried away by doing the rollercoaster scream.”

“I had a feeling that you were comparing me to something out in the mundane world,” Verida said.

“Can anyone blame me for that?” Beth asked, eyes going to John and Estelle.

“I can’t,” John freely admitted. “Not that I like coasters, but the thought did cross my mind.”

“See, one of the brains is in my corner,” Beth said.

“Can’t fault a girl for liking to go fast,” Aeolia chimed in. “Speaking of speed, are we going to get moving soon? Figure the faster we get to searching, the sooner we can find something good and make our way back. Not sure about anyone else, but flying in the dark isn’t something I want to do.”

“Aeolia’s right,” Vivian said. “We don’t want to waste time when we’re this far out from home.”

“So, what’s the plan?” Estelle asked as she squatted down, her backpack on the ground in front of her, the largest section open.

“I think we should get a good lay of the land first,” John said. “You said you would be bringing along a drone?”

Estelle beamed at John then shoved both her hands into her bag. A moment later, she hauled out an x-shaped drone, much like the ones John had seen delivering purchases from the Auction. Only this one was painted in Estelle’s personal color of purple and covered in numerous bunches of symbols etched in gold.

“Here she is,” Estelle proudly presented, gently placing it down on the ground. “Sky-Eye Mark 1. I spent last night syncing her to the leyline scanner, so we can scan for those at the same time we’re looking for a spot that could be good to start digging.”

“We’re digging?” Anita asked. “Did you bring a shovel? I don’t think we did.”

“We’re not digging today, Anita. It was more of a turn of phrase,” Vivian explained. “We’re on the lookout for possible spots where a mine could be built.”

“We might need to dig a bit, now that I think about it,” John interjected. “Maybe not today, but we will need evidence we’ve got ore to get the dwarves on board.”

“Going to be a bit annoying to have to ferry them out here on the regular,” Senka noted before looking at Estelle. “Anything you and Nephele could do to shift the portal up here?”

“That’s going to be a bit harder than linking the original entry point to other spots in the mundane world,” the witch answered. “I’m not sure Nephele and I would be able to do it even if we were far stronger.”

“Maybe I’ll get something that will link to the various work sites,” John mused. “A fast travel system linked to the world tree hub seems like a fair reward.”

“Are you trying to convince Gaia to make that happen?” Beth asked.

“Just saying what would be nice to have,” John answered. “If we don’t and can’t think of a magical means to get to and fro, we’ll have to think up a more low powered way out here. Don’t think you want to take up a job as a bus, Verida.”

“I would feel a bit awkward about ferrying people and material on a regular basis,” the goddess said after a moment's pause.

“Maybe we should focus on getting the lumberjacks first so they can clear space for a road?” Aeolia half joked, half suggested. “Still will suck, but it’d be better than nothing. Your quest doesn’t say anything about having to get everyone on board at the same time, right?”

“Nothing about timings at all,” John reported. “So doing it staggered might be the way to do it. Only issue I see with that is the time it could take to clear a usable path. By then, the dwarves might not be able to set up shop with us.”

“We can cross that bridge when we find a good spot for a mine,” Vivian said. “Which hopefully won’t be too long a search.”

“Only one way to find out,” John grinned before turning to Estelle, “fire up that baby and let’s see what’s around.”

Estelle gave him a thumbs up and waved her hands over the drone, powering up its propellers. Then she reached back into the bag and produced a large controller.

With a flick of some of the controls, Estelle sent the drone skywards. “Alright, flight controls are responding well, sensors are on. Verida, any particular area you think we should start looking at?”

The goddess frowned and closed her eyes. “There is a strong leyline emanating from the mountain to the north. I think searching that way first might be the best option.”

“Okay. Do you want me to send Sky-Eye that way to scout ahead while we stay here, or are we going to march right there and have her take point?”

“It’s got the range for that?” Beth asked.

“I can fly her about fifty miles,” the witch answered, prompting an impressed whistle from Beth.

“I think we should go there ourselves,” Vivian put forward. “Not that I’m doubting the sensors of your drone, but it can’t account for or see everything, right?”

“Well, not the Mark-1, no,” Estelle confessed. “She got a good basic detection range, but I suppose John’s Observe greatly outpaces it.”

“Still good to have her go ahead of us,” John said. “Just to be safe.”

“Well, sounds like we’re all set,” Senka chimed in. “Shall we?”