B5 Chapter 564: Setting Up the Pieces, Finale |
Despite Kaius’s initial worries, it seemed like Guilewind had taken their previous night's outing in stride. A little annoyed, perhaps, but Kaius was mostly sure that the man’s scowl was just down to the particularities of his uruk features.
Leathery skin and pronounced fangs had gifted the man somewhat of a permanent slight sneer.
Once they’d accepted the Guildmaster’s idea to loop in the Lords after they left, the man reached under his desk to pull free two sheets of parchment from a drawer.
“Normally, you would fetch these yourselves from the Silver mission hall, but considering what you outlined in your meeting request, I did you a favour,” Guilewind said, sliding the pages towards the middle of his desk.
“Realistically, taking these on is a boon for the region. High ranked missions are ballooning. In the past, most senior teams would roam from city to city, picking up the odd mission here or there when one was available,” Guilewind continued.
“I’m guessing the phase change messed that up?” Kaius replied.
“Damn right, it did,” Guilewind said. “It’s gotten worse in the last six months. Beasts are growing strong, forming hunting grounds and territories — largely with little care for mortal concerns such as land rights and trade routes. Even if every second tier delver spent their entire lives out in the field, we still wouldn’t be able to keep up. Thank the gods it’s been largely economic damages — at least, until another Tyrant turns up.”
Kaius scowled at the mention of the monstrosity that had assaulted Deadacre. He could only hope that the existence of Droplets of Tyranny was enough of a price for the creatures to be proactively hunted.
“Won’t the delvers be growing soon? I’ve seen an awful lot more Iron and Steel in recent days than I did when I first travelled to Deadacre,” Porkchop asked.
Taking a closer look, one seemed to be a few paragraphs about some sort of beast, while the other seemed to be a list of… materials? Kaius frowned, tilting his head to get a better angle. Definitely materials — hide of a blackscaled kaltroth, shining bloodblossoms… it was an extensive list, and varied.
Guilewind chuckled at his confusion. “That one's quite easy to explain. There’s a lot of industry that relies on difficult to acquire materials. Some are widely used enough that they are basically commodities, others might be requested in specific amounts by individual craftsmen. With Baanswell being a major hub, we keep a list on premise for things that can be found in the region.”
The Guildmaster nodded his head at the list. “These can all be found in Vainblood Forest. The requests have been piling up, since the increased danger has meant Steels don’t dare to make the trip, and general urgency of more immediate problems has left more powerful teams too busy. That’s also done wonders for the value, so you’ll make plenty if you bring back any of this.”
Kaius shared a glance with his team, grinning. “Sounds perfect.”
It really was — they’d spent a significant chunk of their liquid funds on securing their Rings of Unseen Empathy, and their expenses weren’t getting any cheaper as they grew in strength. Besides, it was the perfect excuse for them to actually journey to Vainblood in the first place.
Of course, Kaius didn’t intend to actually hunt for the things until after they’d rescued Kanmost — before then, he could only hope they would stumble upon a listed beast or reagent.
“What about the other one?” Kenva asked. “Some sort of kill contract?”
Guilewind nodded. “Indeed — a troublesome one. It’s my hope that you might be able to solve this problem en route to Vainblood. Show me your route?”
The Guildmaster waved his hand, a thin stream of mana coalescing around his claws. A breeze kicked up, pulling on a wound scroll in the packed bookshelf that lined the wall next to him. It stayed fast, trapped underneath a faceted orange stone the size of Kaius’s fist.
Guilewind frowned, and flicked his finger to his desk. The scroll flew towards him as the stone resettled with a clatter. “There we go.”
Unwinding the scroll, Guilewind revealed a map — covering almost the entirety of his desk, it was far larger than the one Kaius and his team had been studying at the Ruby Crown. It showed the whole of the Dukedoms, a massive swathe of land many times the size of the Frontier. Ballisandra, the capital lay at the rough centre of the country, and twelve dotted lines radiated outwards — designating the territory of each Duke.
Facing Kaius, stretching across the southwestern and southern boundaries of Greenseed, was the Duchy of Flowers. The closest to the Frontier to the southwest, the map was detailed enough that Kaius could make out every major landmark — including Baanswell and Vainblood Forest.
Kaius nodded to Kenva. She’d been the one planning their actual route, as much because she was their ranger as she was Hiwiann. Growing up in a nomadic culture of caravaneers had made her far more experienced in avoiding terrain that might slow the Pegleg down.
The ranger leaned over the desk, pointing to the road that led east out of Baanswell. She followed it through fieldlands and forests, towards the city of Tennereth, before stopping.
“We’re going to leave the road here — we’ve got no actual reason to visit the city, and the road that leads to the nearby stone formation is a winding one.”
She cut straight to the south east, before tapping a pass through a spine of jagged rocks that cut through a significant portion of the local region, cutting off Tennereth and Sidora. “Thought we could pass through Aslo’s Pass, then leave the road again — it’s basically a straight shot to Vainblood after that.”
Guilewind nodded. “Good, that’s what I hoped. That pass used to be one of the major trade routes between Tennereth and Sidora.” He pointed to a city on the other side of the hills, north of their intended route. “A caravan went missing a good eight months ago, and shipments on either side of that one had trouble controlling their draughtbeasts. When a caravan scout caught wind of a Silver aura, the decision was made to reroute. It’s adding weeks to trade.”
Kaius frowned — that wasn’t much to go off, though he supposed it was on the way.
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“No description?” he asked.
“No,” Guilewind confirmed. “Don’t even know if the thing is low or peak — hells, it could even be Gold by now, or it could be a pack creature. Regardless, that’s why I felt it would be a good mission for you. With your Honours, you’ll be able to deal with even the worst case scenario.”
“Sounds fun,” Porkchop said, eying the map thoughtfully. “Plus, if the scout sensed the creatures, they’ll be watching the pass. We probably won’t even have to look for them — our simple presence will be taken as a threat to their territory.”
A fair point. Plus, they had to move through the pass anyway. Kenva had been quite clear that taking the Pegleg directly over the hills would add days to their journey, and the closest alternative was an even longer diversion towards the northern centre of Greenseed.
“At worst, we can deal with the problem on our way back,” Kaius decided. “I don’t want to spend days hunting for a beast when a man’s life is on the line.”
“Understandable,” Guilewind said, rolling the map back up. “A couple extra weeks makes no difference when caravans and travellers are already being warned away.”
The rolled up map drifted up from the table, and slotted itself into an empty slot on the Guildmaster's bookshelf — the only sign of his involvement a slight glow of magic. It really was an impressive display of mastery. Maybe some sort of specialised manipulation skill? The man wasn’t casting any spells, more just exerting direct control on the surrounding air.
Their conversation wrapped up quickly after that. Taking the details of their missions, Kaius packed them away as Guilewind promised to send word to Lord Flowers personally.
There was still a bit more to do before they left, so they split off to cover more ground. He and Porkchop would be gathering basic provisions — largely foodstuffs, as they were still well stocked on tonics. While they did that, Kenva and Ianmus would be taking the time to check the guild Archives. The information they held on the Vainblood Forest would likely be out of date, but it was still useful.
Even if the beasts had gotten stronger and stranger, they could still get an indication of the types of threats they may encounter. More importantly, even if mana levels had generally equalised, the old high mana zones had been steeped in the stuff for millenia. Rich with old power, the environment was twisted in strange — and often hazardous — ways.
Walking towards the markets with his brother at his side, Kaius couldn’t help but smile. Rescuing a man from the clutches of the Onyx, discovering a Place of Power under the very nose of the nobility, and exploring strange and twisted lands?
This trip to Baanswell had proven more eventful than he’d first thought.
…
The sun dipped low on the horizon, slipping through the slanted shutters. It drenched Nox’s room in a half light that did nothing to hide the grey mould that was invading the wall paper, or the omnipresent musk of rot that wafted in from the alley outside.
Sitting on the slightly damp mattress as she tugged on a boot, Nox breathed lightly through her mouth. The taste of dust was preferable to the smell of this dump.
Still, it was safe, inconspicuous, and only she knew it existed. Who knew that Uncle Jorge would end up worth something more than sinking two dozen pints of piss? She didn’t even know why he’d left it to her. Sure, it was a decrepit hole in the third worst suburb of Baanswell, but it was still Property.
Even now, with a bag full of platinum, and a smuggler's ring securely on her toe, it was hard to believe she was actually landed.
Pretty good for a gutter rat.
Planting her boot on the swollen floorboards, she scowled as it gave way slightly. She hadn’t used this place in years. Never thought she’d have to again, honestly — more the fool to her, it would have been far more tolerable if she’d maintained it even slightly.
But this bloody job.
She’d checked the dead drops. Shade and Blundswithe had gone dark. Likely dead, or screaming on some butcher's table. Even Margnos only escaped by the skin of his teeth — and was still running, from what she’d heard. It never should have happened! They’d planned that raid immaculately, scoped it out, even caught wind of a potential interloper.
Two Silvers had ruined that, and now their best damn hideout was gone. No word of who they were or what had happened to them either. She doubted the fates would be so kind as to have killed them off in the raid.
Bastards had hit them so fast they must have already been in the room. Shade had been followed. Nox knew she should have kicked up more of a stink when the woman had turned up looking like an over-charred steak. But no, the woman had insisted she’d gotten away clean.
If the Silvers had been that close, it was entirely possible they’d overheard her destination.
So not only did she have to waltz her ass into the middle of fucking Vainblood Forest — with far more heat than they’d planned for, mind you — but she had to do so with cold-blooded killers on her tail. Ones that had managed to track Shade through Baanswell.
Fucking hells — what was she doing?
Roughly yanking on her other boot, Nox huffed as a half-rotten floorboard gave up completely. As she laced them tight, her attention dipped into the ring around her left middle toe. The space inside it was small, barely enough for all her supplies, but it had still cost her nearly a decade of saving. Still worth it — she made the investment back half a dozen times over with the kind of jobs it allowed her.
She settled on the small stack of leatherbound journals within, then her spear. Gods’ scorn, she hoped she wouldn’t have to use it.
As much as she regretted taking this job, there was nothing for it. She might not have been enamoured with the idea of Onyx membership and the connections it could bring, but she was still smart enough to know that you didn’t cross someone like Brokenlight.
Deliver the damned journals, then get the hell out. Hopefully Brokenlight could just pay her her cut directly, because the coming winter was making a change of scenery seem like a damned good idea. She’d already be halfway to the Heartwood duchy, if she greased a few palms — maybe signed on as a caravan scout — she could slip over the border to Franlen before autumn was even over.
Of course, there was always the chance that Brokenlight wanted her to stick around for assurances. The only thing stopping her from reading the journals herself was professionalism, and more than a little good sense — but if the man thought the job was that important…
Damn it all to hells. It had to be. Why else would the man pay so much for a stack of books after he’d already taken the Archivist who’d bloody written them?
Banishing her sense of her storage ring, she stood up and grabbed her jacket from the hook on the far wall. At the end of the day, her neck was the only thing that mattered. If those Silvers found her, they could have the damned things. Shade had mentioned that they were going after the Archivist.
Either they’d kill Brokenlight, or Brokenlight would get the journals from their corpse, and she would be assumed dead. Either way, all she’d lose was the commission. That solved the problem of the Silvers — Vainblood itself was a different story.
Clenching her jaw, she did her best to banish her doubts. Just don’t get cut — easy. It wasn’t like she had to enter the Crater itself.
Leaving the mouldering apartment, Nox locked the door behind her — swearing that this was the last time she would ever use it. She only had an hour before the caravan she was joining left for Tennereth.