Ar'Kendrithyst

In the evening, Clan Pale Cow set up next to a small riverside. Tomorrow, the clan would move into their designated territory near Ooloraptoor, and begin meeting with other clans, to speak of Integration. Tonight, though, there would be a pre-meeting, and Erick was to host them.

He had already spent all day meeting people from Ooloraptoor already, and though he had done some counter-Hunting, mostly he just spoke of how he would counter-Hunt to a lot of different people. And now, some of those people were coming here.

Erick set up his yurt a kilometer to the south of Pale Cow and Shaped some platforms and tables and chairs out of the grasslands. Wardlights went up on the corners of the raised platform to drive away some of the night, while cushions were taken from the yurt and set upon the chairs to make seating a bit more comfortable than otherwise. And then, it all looked kinda trashy, so Erick spent a good twenty minutes making it look nice.

The raised platform of stone turned white, like marble. The stone chairs were replaced with scrollwork chairs made of eternal stonewood which Erick then embellished with small lightsculptures that resembled tastefully placed gems. Erick combined the assorted tables into one main table with a grand design of curled edges and a perfectly flat surface. And then Erick Shaped a side table for the food to be placed upon. With some [Bug Ward]s the various small insects wouldn’t be a problem, while a subtle [Air Conditioning Ward] kept the space comfortable. He even brought some beer and wine from Alaralti, along with some nice dinnerware. Erick did not go all out; this was not everything that he could have done. But it was a lot, especially for this area of the world.

… With a few last minute adjustments, Erick diminished some of the designs, and erased some of the embellishments, trying for a ‘homey’ atmosphere, and less of an ‘expensive dinner’ theme. He also added a ‘teleport square’ of stone off to the east, so that people would know where to blip in and out without drawing any more attention than usual.

Half an hour later, as the sun began to set in the west, guests began to arrive.

Niyazo, Koori, and Speaker Yorila were the first to walk across the distance from Pale Cow to Erick’s own location. Amasar, the man Erick had saved, and a few other cowherds came with them, carrying trays of food, acting rather professional. The lot of them gazed at Erick’s overt magics, though only Yorila had words to say about the spellwork.

“It’s all so lovely!” Yorila said, “And the colors are perfect sunshine and hearth.” She pointed to a firelight that Erick had set into a warming cauldron. “Is this firelight actually warm, itself, or is that an overlapping effect?”

Erick smiled, saying, “That’s just an overlapping [Ward] effect.”

“I thought that was what I was seeing, but I can’t tell where one ends and the other begins; truly well crafted.”

After they dropped off the food, Amasar and the cowherd went to vacate the premises; they did not feel comfortable here, at all. Amasar did manage to say a few words, though.

“I was a toad in a well, when I made the promise of my life to your service. I can see that I am unneeded.” Amasar bowed quickly, saying, “I apologize for my presumption.”

Ah. He was mad that Erick hadn’t accepted his ‘life debt’. Erick had missed that, until now.

“I didn’t seek you out to accept your promise, Amasar, because I don’t like that sort of debt.” Erick said, “We’re culturally not on the same page. Sorry if my unwillingness to accept your offer has offended you; it was nothing personal.”

Amasar had been very offended, and he had also been very good about not showing that emotion. Now, though, he was offended, relieved, and embarrassed that he had been anything other than professional, all at the same time. But he accepted Erick’s words in the nature they had been given. He said, “If you change your mind, I am here. Thank you for saving my life, Archmage Flatt.”

“You’re quite welcome.” Erick asked, “Are you going to stick around for dinner?”

Amasar said, “It is not my place.”

And with that, Amasar and the cowherds turned and left, returning to their own dinners among the circled yurts of Clan Pale Cow. The people over there were already strumming stringed instruments or telling stories around fires, while cooks dished food out of massive cauldrons.

The teleport square blipped pink with the arrival of more guests.

Sin Seeker Vania had come, along with three Elders; Elder Uriol, Elder Teer, and Elder Puuroi. A few cowherds had come along with them, too, but only to carry their food. Erick already had casual contact with all three of the elders, but it was good to see them in a personal setting. But… Only three of them? And only elders?

Erick asked, “I expected a few more Clan Leaders, and elders, too?”

Elder Uriol, an old man who was easy to get along with, said, “We had a few more coming, but now they’re all in a tizzy because of all the uncovered face stealers. Just updating our methodology has uncovered more and more, all over the place.”

Elder Teer, a stern woman of at least 110, shook her cane a little as she said, “After you stopped for the day we found two more cells among two of the further traveler clans who almost never come to Ooloraptoor. Silver gods; I never thought we would suffer this particular indignity.”

Elder Puuroi, a short and skinny woman of 70, explained, “Which is why we need Integration. If we had a functioning guard force with set rules that worked, then some of these clans wouldn’t have been infiltrated in the first place.”

Teer glared at her smaller counterpart, then turned to Erick, saying, “Usually, we know too much about each other to let something like this happen, but, apparently, my usual objections to Integration have faltered in the face of this disaster.”

Uriol said, “Normal societies have face stealers in them, too. Integration is just one of many necessary solutions to this problem.”

Of the first two Elders, Erick already knew that Puuroi was a staunch Integrator, while Uriol was a moderate, but Erick was just now finding out that Teer was on the side of the True Travelers. Or perhaps she was a neutral Elder like Uriol who had been won over in the face of this current crisis? No way to be sure, at the current moment.

“We’ll deal with the uncovered evil soon enough, but first—” Erick gestured to the table of drinks, saying, “Want a drink?”

Uriol went straight for the beer. “Don’t mind if I do!”

Niyazo and Koori greeted the Elders next, while everyone got their first drinks, and first dishes. Soon, Erick was seated around the main table with all of his guests, as well as Nirzir, who sat on his left. Conversations rapidly turned to Integration talk, and then trade, and then it meandered in another direction. All the while, Nirzir didn’t join any of the conversation topics. Erick wasn’t Nirzir’s father, but he felt a certain responsibility to her, since she was with him, for now, so he wanted to include her in their talks when he could, but there were no opportunities for a long while.

In the third course, though, there was a great opportunity. The conversation had moved on to vehicles and the laws regarding them while inside Songli’s borders.

Elder Teer said, “Almost every caravan and clan gets down to Alaralti for trade with some of their outer cities… Perhaps once a year? Average of once a year. But we’re only able to get into the first cities on the edge! It’s disgraceful of Songli, if you ask me. All these city dwellers purposefully keep us out, and when it’s not purposeful, it’s part of entrenched building practices. For the vast majority of Songli cities, there is simply no room for the yurts and the cows.”

Niyazo smiled, saying, “We travelers do not travel lightly.”

“Like turtles!” Uriol laughed.

Everyone else gave a light, polite chuckle, which was completely lost on Erick. There was some cultural significance there, for sure. So Erick asked, “What about turtles?”

Uriol smiled. “We destroy the roads wherever we go, just like turtles.”

Nirzir looked like she wanted to object, but she did not.

So Erick asked her, “There are [Mend]ing forces out there that clean up the roads, though?”

Nirzir froze under the sudden sights of everyone else. Then she set down her fork, and said, “The roads can handle the tonnage; they’re built for such work loads. But it is the… uh, volume of people, that’s the problem. Caravans travel together, and with all those cows, too. So all grass traveling caravans are required to stay outside the cities. It has become a point of contention, actually.” She added, “But we’ve been at war more often than not, so that’s not lent itself to great relations, either. Though it’s always been Polite… from my understanding.”

Teer smiled, and there was an edge to her countenance. “It usually starts Polite, but then Songli thinks they can renege on their agreements when they lose.”

Nirzir was quick to say, “I don’t know much about that.”

Teer saw an opening, and so she took it. “Then why are you sitting at this table if not to discuss historically significant events and how they relate to the present?”

Erick smiled softly, as he ended further prodding in that direction, “To learn; same as me.”

Nirzir just went silent; she wasn’t quite sure why she was here, either.

Erick let that lay.

“Fair.” Teer asked Erick, “So, speaking of learning. I heard that you came to Veird in a wheeled vehicle. How did your vehicle compare to the style of yurts?”

“Ah? You heard about the car, did you?” Erick asked, “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, but it always surprises me when people hear odd things about me.”

“Us oldies often have nothing to do but talk, so we get to it rather thoroughly,” Puuroi said.

Uriol chimed in with, “The body can’t do much beyond moving the mouth, so we make do.”

Puuroi scoffed at the old man, and she wasn’t the only one. Some people looked scandalized, including Vania, but Erick just smiled.

Uriol said, “Take Teer, here, for instance. Though she can whip a brat with her cane if they give her cause.”

“I’ll whip you with my cane, you old turtle,” Teer scowled, but there was no heat to it.

Uriol just laughed.

Teer sighed, then said to Erick, “I heard about your car because 50 years ago my family and I emigrated from the Wasteland Kingdoms, to get away from the war. Been happy here, ever since. I still have some family back there, of course, so when I heard you were in the area, I gave them a call. None of them are highly placed, but I heard some noble family or the Magisterium retrieved some sort of vehicle from your crash site, and when my uncle described it to me…” With a curious and slightly joyful tone, Teer asked, “I have to know: Did you travel the stars in a yurt?”

The other people at the table looked at him as though he had suddenly grown another head, but Erick just chuckled.

“No. Not in a yurt. Here.” Erick held up his hand and conjured a see-through image of a stereotypical car. “We don’t travel in yurts back on Earth. We have homes, but we also have cars to get around in.”

“But you have no magic?” Teer said, “That’s what I heard.”

“The combustion engine.” Erick dismissed the image of the car and conjured a lightward of the engine, the frame, and the wheels, and then he started explaining, “That’s this part here. It uses tiny explosions of gasoline to…”

Erick knew he was giving something away even as he spoke of fuels and rotational forces and gears, but this was fine. Everyone was highly interested in what they were seeing, and what he was telling them. Niyazo and Koori seemed extremely interested, actually. Why were they— Ah. Erick saw the appeal. This was movement without magic. Obviously, this sort of thing would appeal to orthodox grass travelers.

As Erick got to the wheels, though, he did say, “The wheel sections of cars are much different than the wheels of yurts, too; they have to be, both because the turning of the drive shaft has to turn the axle of at least one set of wheels, and so that the wheels can turn independently of each other, so we can take corners in roads. Yurts are very good at going the distance and requiring little maintenance, but they can’t turn at all, and the bouncing can be a bit much if the plains are not level.” He conjured more images in the air as he said, “See this part, here? Instead of an axle on a leaf spring, we have a rigid axle on a set of spring-leveled arms. These arms can move up and down, so that one wheel hitting a rock doesn’t move the whole vehicle; or at least not as much as it could. This gear set in the middle of the axle is what allows the yurt to turn without one wheel skipping out of the dirt, or dragging the dirt along with it as you turn. And… Ah. I think that’s about all there is to how a car works. That’s the major systems, anyway. Questions?”

The elders had been rather interested the whole time he spoke, but Teer was both interested and skeptical.

Teer asked a cutting question, “And how fast can you go?”

… Erick wasn’t quite sure why Teer thought she was asking a cutting question, but he answered anyway, “A hundred kilometers per hour is easy to achieve.”

Teer retreated a little, her skepticism giving way to plotting.

Uriol went next, asking, “Could we commission you to build us a prototype?” Uriol said, “I am interested in the turning capabilities and these gear boxes, for I have never been happy with what the Metal Clans have for sale, and— apologies to the orthodox among us— But all of this is easily workable without this engine. I’m not asking for that part. The axles and the rest would be wonderful, and [Control Machine] isn’t that hard to make.”

Teer frowned at her fellow Elder, saying, “But the engine is the most interesting part! Erick has listed the rate of travel as ‘per hour’, which means that they routinely travel in multiples of hours—” She looked to Erick. “You do travel for multiple hours, correct? Routinely? Without needing to stop for a ‘tired cow’ situation?”

Erick smiled a little. “With a car, you stop when you need fuel or a break, but the only limitations were our own desires to keep going, or not. There were no cows or other animals involved, at all.”

“Ah ha!” Teer smiled. “Yes. The engine is the most important part. [Control Machine] can’t compare, either; not without an excessive amount of mana. All you need is fuel! And not much of it, either. Even gear systems can’t compete with this idea.” She said to Uriol, “We have the same wheel and axle designs he has here; just on smaller vehicles. I know what I’m talking about. The engine is the important part.”

“Then you must be aware of some history that I am not, because I have never seen these ideas before.” Uriol said, “For if we could get ‘cars’, then perhaps our problems with trading among the cities of Songli would vanish, for we could keep our yurts outside the city, and then drive a car into the city to get goods. No need for cows to come along, either!”

Puuroi said, “If we Integrated into a real city then resource scarcity would also vanish, for we could set up Teleport Squares and have permanent trade routes.”

Uriol ignored the smaller elder, and said, “I don’t like only going to the places they allow us to go, Puuroi. I want to explore with a ‘car’.”

Teer scoffed, saying, “I could get you a prototype ‘car’ myself, Uriol. Just ask Metal Rider or my own clan of Silver Yurt. There’s nothing here we don’t already have except for the engine.”

With an accusatory edge to her voice, Puuroi asked, “And why, pray tell me, don’t we have these systems already, Teer?”

“You might as well ask why we don’t all have artifacts in all of our yurts!” Teer said, “They’re too expensive and they require too much specialized knowledge to repair and replace. But I’ve never seen an engine before, and so that is the interesting part.”

The elders moved on to a discussion among themselves that did not involve Erick, at all. They kept those smaller discussions to a minimum, though, and rapidly came back around to wanting a prototype of Erick’s design.

They spoke of cars well into dessert.

Erick would have a prototype ready whenever he got around to making one, for he had never worked on a car before. He also didn’t have any materials for such a construction. The elders rapidly offered to provide all of the raw materials.

This started another round of small debates among the elders as all of them wanted the completed prototype for themselves and their clans, so they each wanted to be the ones to provide the raw materials, all by themselves. Soon enough they came to an agreement; Erick would have his raw materials waiting for him when Pale Cow got to Ooloraptoor tomorrow evening.

Erick was more than happy to have an easy task ahead of him, for a few different reasons. Giving away some axles and some gears seemed non-destructive, especially if the grass travelers already had them; they just didn’t use them for various technical and economical reasons. In addition to that, since the Wasteland Kingdoms of Glaquin were already dissecting Jane’s car, they had all of that stuff, too. Therefore there was no problem at all with spreading around some basic technologies to prevent a monopoly. The elders' true goal here was to establish working ties with Erick, anyway; no one cared about the tech.

Except for the engine. Teer wanted that engine. Too bad Erick probably couldn’t make one!

But besides all that, Erick plain wanted something to take his mind off of all the recent shit happening around him, and the Blessings that he had been doing in the mountains all this while.

He was up to 500 people Blessed, so far. There had been two attempts to steal the Crystal Star, but both were rather inadequate attempts. The would-be thieves didn’t have Domains, and they had vastly underestimated the amount of [Luminosity] that the [Undertow Star] could put out against forming magics. The [Undertow Star]’s Extreme Light had even brushed against the Crystal Star, too, but to no effect. Perhaps the thieves had been trying to get Erick to break his own artifact? Well, that just seemed impossible. The Crystal Star had a spark of divine fire in it, after all, for Koyabez had helped to make it a greater artifact.

Those attempted thieves were both Blessed now, though, which was probably not what they wanted.

Meh.

Erick didn’t feel sorry for those people. He tried but… it just wasn’t happening.

The night ended with a farewell to the elders, and to Niyazo, Koori, and Yorila.

Soon enough, everyone was inside the yurt, in their beds, or in the chairs scattered around the circular room. It was nearly bedtime, but no one was ready to sleep. It had been like this many times already since this ‘camping trip’ started, for danger seemed an easy possibility, and no one was truly safe out here in the open world. They were still, technically, on high alert, after all.

As [Prismatic Ward]s and Erick’s [Domain of Light] wrapped around the outside of the yurt, leaving the interior comfortably dim, no one was ready for bed, and yet, someone would need to take first shift, and the others would need to stay awake. Erick usually left that up to Poi, and yet Poi hadn’t set out the order.

… Unless they were actually safe, right now? Were they? Was Erick just being paranoid, and was everyone going to go to sleep at the same time? Leaving Ophiel as the only one awake?

Jane broke Erick’s cycle of thoughts as she asked her father, “So you’re going to make a car?”

“Not much of one. But some parts? Sure.” Erick glanced to his yurt, saying, “The turn radius on these things sucks pretty hard; it could use an improvement.”

Nirzir chimed in, “They have to have that axle compensator that you showed in your car diagram; the one that allows easy turning. We have those in the cow carts all over Eralis. I think we have solid axle stabilization designs, too.”

“I’m pretty sure they only asked for this because they wanted some easy contact, and this was what came up.” Erick shrugged. “Or maybe they do have actual problems with size? Maybe cart-sized solutions don’t work for yurts.”

Jane said, “Maybe it’s a problem of orthodoxy. All of the carts in Songli used [Force Platform] to make themselves lighter and less bouncy, and that solution doesn’t work for grass travelers.”

Nirzir got an unsure look as she asked, “Could Teer be asking you for this ‘car’ because of the Wasteland Kingdoms?”

“Probably.” Erick said, “All world powers have connections with each other, though, but also: Koori and Niyazo looked particularly interested in the designs of a car. If anything, then the elders might have asked for this because they knew the value of such a thing to Clan Pale Cow and others of their kind. Tonight wasn’t just them trying to use me, but they were also trying to use everyone else at that table. They tried to use you, too, Nirzir.”

“… Yeah. People have been trying to do that a lot.” Nirzir said, “It was one of the reasons I had to get out of Songli for a little while.”

Erick said, “Perhaps ‘use’ was the wrong term. To me, ‘using’ and ‘working with’ seem rather interchangeable when it comes to working with governmental bodies. Those elders were certainly trying to work with everyone they could.”

Nirzir’s lips scrunched as she hummed a bit, then nodded.

Erick asked, “What do you think, Teressa? Poi? About the cars?”

“Carts and yurts don’t work well in the Forest, so we made do with lots of assistance from [Force Platform] and [Gravity Ward]s to get our carts through the deeper parts. We never had cows, though; we did it all by hand or spell. Cows are just tasty morsels when they’re inside the Forest.” Teressa said, “Personally, I think cars are trinkets and nothing more than novelties. So it doesn’t matter if you make them for these grass travelers. The more complicated they are, though, the easier they break down; like Elder Teer said.”

Poi said, “In the Underworld, you don’t need much more than a giant barge to get large loads moving, because once the load gets large enough, everything floats down there.”

Jane startled, then she smiled. “Let’s hope we don’t see any spider clowns when we get down there.”

Poi startled too, as he looked at Jane. He went a bit paler blue. Jane startled all over again.

Erick asked, “What’s this about? What’s going on there.”

Jane frowned while staring at Poi. “I think there are clown spiders in the Underworld?”

“There are.” Poi said, “They’re not called that. But the spider Jane is thinking of does exist— Not in that exact way. But you’ve already seen them. They’re ballooning spiders.”

“Oh!” Jane laughed, “Ha! Those aren’t that bad. Oh hey! Maybe I’ll get to eat one of them this time— Why are you shivering, Poi? They’re not that bad?”

Poi said, “Ballooning spiders are everywhere down there, [Cleanse] doesn’t always work on their venom, and though their hive mind hordes aren’t in the millions, they are still hive mind hordes. The hives are just smaller. Thirty to a hundred, usually.”

“At least they’re not dimensional spiders,” Jane said.

“Now that sounds like a story I want to hear.” Teressa asked, “But since it’s already almost midnight: Do we want to stay up tonight, or sleep in smaller shifts? Are we on high alert?”

Erick said, “There is some merit to staying awake for at least another hour to make sure nothing is coming this way. Then we can do sleeping shifts. You all can sleep while I drive the cart tomorrow, too.”

“Excellent.” Teressa said, “Then let's hear your dimensional spider story, Jane. A full story, too! You heard me tell some, and now it’s your turn.”

Jane turned concerned. “Ah. I’ve never told this one, actually. I did write it down for the Headmaster, I think… Yeah. I can tell it. Okay. Let’s do this.”

“Sounds fine to me!” Teressa said, “Ah. Wait. I need to refill my mug. Anyone else want another beer?” She went to the cooler.

No one had drunk much of anything tonight, but there had been some drinking.

Erick decided to continue drinking. He gestured to his mug, saying, “Fill me up, too.”

“I’ll take a little,” Poi said.

“Half for me, too,” Jane said.

“I’m good with tea,” Nirzir said.

As Teressa filled up cups all around the yurt, she told Jane, “Make some pictures, too, otherwise it won’t be scary enough.” She crashed into her chair, eager for the show, saying, “You got [Illusionshape], yeah?”

“I can do that.” Jane smiled wide, getting into it more and more with every passing second. “I’ll make it good and scary.”

“Now that’s what I wanna hear!” Teressa said, smiling.

Poi frowned, though.

Nirzir breathed out heavily as she crawled into her bed and under the covers, whispering, “I don’t know if I like this idea.”

“I’m sure it won’t be that bad—” And then Erick saw his daughter’s face, and knew that it would be that bad. “Oh… Uh. Jane. There’s no need to go overboard, right?”

Jane’s wicked smile seemed to expand past her face as she lifted her hands and began Shaping images in the center of the yurt. [Greater Lightwalk] and [Greater Shadowalk] joined together to form an illusion, transporting the five of them to the center of a main street that would not look out of place in any small city in the northern United States.

And Erick’s memory was tickling.

He didn’t know this one… But he thought he did? Did he?

Jane’s voice was a gentle knife in the dark, “Our story begins in a small town named Derry, located in the middle of rural America. Everyone knows everyone else, and yet the city holds a dark secret in the sewers, known only to the kids…”

Erick frowned as the rains started and the edges of the street turned into minor rivers. A little boy placed a small folded-paper boat onto the rushing water, to watch the boat float down the way, to a storm drain where a gloved hand snatched the boat and dragged it deep into the dark.

Eyes appeared in the dark of the sewer and Erick suddenly knew this story.

He spoke up, saying, “Don’t you dare shift to a spider form to make this more realistic, Jane! I’ll blip you away! I’m not kidding!”

Jane cackled, and the serrated mouth in the sewers cackled with her.

“Oh bright gods,” Nirzir mumbled.

- - - -

Teressa had some comments here and there, which helped to ease the mild terrors inside Erick’s head.

“What the FUCK is wrong with that guy’s face!”

“Jane. You cannot kill a kid. You just can’t. This story cannot be about killing kids.”

“Wait a second. This thing eats fears? And you kill it by not having fears for it to eat? That’s so stupid. A mental mage would tear it to pieces.”

At that last one, Jane dropped the illusions, and said, “Okay. Look. This monster is the equivalent of a mental monster in a world without any defenses against it, at all. Also, I might have given up too much information in that last part; you’re not supposed to actually know that weakness yet. I’m working off years-old memories here.”

“Okay okay. Fair.” Teressa said, “I’ll stop.”

Poi said, “Just so you all know: The Shades have tried to make this kind of pure mental monster before. It didn’t work out well. I think they were called Hope Eaters and absolutely everything preyed upon them.”

“Guys. Stop criticizing the monster.” Jane softly added, “And my story telling.”

Nirzir offered, “If it makes you happier: I’m perfectly terrified.”

“Thank you!” Jane said, “The rest of you all are just desensitized.”

“Yup.” “I’m getting there.” “I agree with that statement.”

- - - -

“It ends with them bullying the monster to death!? No twist?” Teressa said, “What the fuck!” She rapidly added, “Otherwise: Enjoyable. Good job.”

Jane glared a little.

“Like I said,” Poi said, “Everything kills these types of monsters.”

Erick said, “I didn’t need to sleep anyway. I’ll take first shift.”

“I’m not sleeping yet, either.” Nirzir said.

“Then I’m tucking in! See you on second. Good night,” Teressa said, as she laid down in bed and shut her eyes. She was out cold within minutes.

Everyone else took a while to calm down, though Poi was a second place finisher in the ‘sleep as fast as you can’ game. Poi probably cheated by casting [Sleep] on himself.

- - - -

The day dawned.

Nothing had happened that night. Which was great! Soon enough, the yurts and cows of Clan Pale Cow were moving right along, toward the north, toward Ooloraptoor. Today was the final day of travel; they should arrive at their designated spot by early evening.

Breakfast was served from the cooking yurt, as usual, but it was breakfast-on-the-go for a lot of people, including Erick. Jane and Nirzir had to rush across the grasses to get some bowls of congee, but they brought back enough for everyone.

While Erick enjoyed the breakfast made by the cooks of Pale Cow, while sitting in his captain’s chair, he got to work with the Elders of Ooloraptoor, to suss out face stealers among their clans. By noon, he had found four hundred and thirty five impostors, while another five hundred to seven hundred people had simply vanished during the search. No one was quite sure of those final numbers, because those numbers were gathered from hundreds of clans, all over the grasslands. And so, began a more methodical type of search.

The vanished people left behind a lot of family and friends. The Sin Seekers questioned those left-behinds about the whereabouts of the suspiciously vanished, but all those people had to say about the vanished was about how their brothers or their sisters or their parents or children were ‘just out for the day’, and ‘they didn’t know we were counter-Hunting! Or else they would have been here!’ According to what Erick was seeing, and what the Sin Seekers corroborated, the left-behinds were innocent of wrongdoing. The missing people, however, were suspect.

Erick did manage to find some of the vanished people, though.

Some people were out and about, doing everything from stealing from others, to having secret trysts, to hunting monsters in the Tribulations for fun, profit, and/or levels. Those people were not a problem. It was the other people who were the problem. Some were face stealers, for sure, hiding out amid their trophies of past kills, or in the very act of eating the heart and brain of another, hoping to escape Erick’s search. Twice, he even found his targets amid the cows, looking like cows themselves. He would never forget the sight of a cow realizing that they had been found out, and that there was no escape.

But other than that…

Nothing too exciting happened in the morning, or all through lunch, except more Blessing of people in the mountains. Erick hadn’t stopped doing that at all, except for the brief hours of sleep he caught before dawn. Now that it was past noon, though, and the counter-Hunting was done for the day because the Sin Seekers of Ooloraptoor needed a break and to reorganize...

Erick set a sign onto the blessing dais telling people that he would be back in a few hours, and then he took a nap.

Nothing happened while he slept.

When he woke up, he found that the yurt had trundled along without interruption.

Everyone was working on something of their own, which was better than them being under siege, for sure. Jane was working on some magic creation; but it was only gridwork at the moment. Teressa was experimenting with [Future Sight], and her greyed-over eyes showed that she was not home right now. Poi was talking to people through [Telepathy], but other than that, he was on active alert. Erick cast his gaze back to the mountain—

He had left a hole in the [Undertow Star]’s area of effect, specifically so that the people who showed up for a Blessing could have a place to stay where they could still use their magic. When Erick had last seen that place, that area had held four utilitarian buildings. Now, those buildings were gone. Now, there was just a wardlight statue to Koyabez, reaching down from the clouds, lifting up a mass of eyes and scales and Darkness back into the light. It was a lightsculpture done by a true artisan.

Erick ignored the sculpture for now, though it was very hard to ignore, and he focused, instead, on the Teleport Square-like area in front of the statue. People blipped onto the mountain, to stand under the wardlight sculpture, to then walk a path across the mountainside, to end up at the blessing dais.

There was a collection of people waiting for Erick to return. Some were seated on the ground. Some stood, their arms crossed. Some wore armor while others wore clean robes. They were ready to be changed. They were ready to move on.

The wardlight sculpture was not the only change to take place on that mountain.

Beyond that dais, a kilometer away from the [Undertow Star]’s effect, was the start of a city.

There were three, hundred-room apartment buildings of utilitarian make that were little more than organized stone boxes with beds. There were no doors. The first ‘hotel’ was full-up of people. Almost all of those people were in various stages of catatonia or wailing or normal-ish weeping. Only one of the buildings was full. The other two were empty, still. Erick had Blessed more than 500 people so far, so some of them had moved on already. Some were not capable of moving on, just yet.

And there was Daizing and Roia, helping two different groups of people to settle in to their new life, both of them giving small, animated talks about redemption and new possibilities. It was not only Daizing and Roia, but other Knives of the Night were also organizing the people Erick had Blessed. They were becoming a force of their own. Some of the recently Blessed were even [Grow]ing fields of food down in the valley where a thin river ran through the rocky land.

… Whatever!

Ophiel stepped out of the light, onto the dais, as Erick took the ‘be back later’ sign and blipped it away. Thirty four people watched as he did this, each of them gazing at Ophiel with varying levels of hope and rage and desperation in their eyes.

Before now, Erick had not spoken as he Blessed people. But now, he felt an urge to speak. He told these people, “This Blessing is not salvation. I won’t save you from your crimes. But with this Blessing you might find out how to live again, without hurting others. I believe that redemption is possible, but I am not the judge of your lives. Now. With that said—” Ophiel floated away from the dais, opening the space to those who wanted to step up. “Any takers?”

A man with a scarred face and mismatched eyes, who seemed more serious than most people in life, instantly stepped forward; he had been the next person in line, after all.

Erick Blessed him.

A moment passed as the weight of the world fell upon the man and he buckled under its weight. He breathed out hard, ragged, as he fell to his knees. Tears flowed like blood from a rock.

Erick blipped him closer to the buildings that Daizing and Roia had set up.

And then the next person came forth.

Erick devoted half of his attention to Blessing people, but the other half was spent on his own surroundings, for while nothing was happening around him, something was happening to Nirzir.

Nirzir had decided to climb onto the top of the yurt and sit crosslegged with her eyes closed. The wind flowed across her, ruffling her robes and playing with her long, loose white hair. Spots of violet light sprung up around her as she hummed a gentle tune of power.

He wondered what she was working on.

And then he wondered what he should work on. Maybe making some sort of magic would take his mind off his current problems. But what to make—

No. Let’s work on aura control.

Yes.

Erick sat down on his chair, and willed his aura to fruition. It didn’t work, of course, but he kept trying.

It was a quiet afternoon.

About three hours till sunset, Erick got a message from Sin Seeker Vania asking for more Imaging services. They had uncovered some more problems, but with the speed Erick had displayed earlier in the day, they didn’t expect the job to take more than half an hour. Erick readily agreed.

- - - -

Half an hour later, Clan Pale Cow reached the edge of Ooloraptoor’s parade grounds.

All day long Pale Cow had been adjusting their course to match their designated spot, so when they reached the city, they also reached their spot. It was like all the other multi-kilometer areas set up all over the place, most of which held the spread-out yurts and cows of various clans. In this place, shallow pools of water were connected by pipes which reached far under the ground, to connect to the lake itself, providing safe access to water across many thousands of square kilometers of prairie land. The actual lake and Elder House were still ten kilometers forward, out of direct sight. From the captain’s chair of his yurt, Erick mostly saw cows, and pools, and other yurts here and there among the herds. It was all rather sparse, actually; plenty of space for the cows to graze wherever they wanted. Some of the cows were actually in the waters, wading and mooing their joy into the evening air.

Erick pulled his yurt up to one of the pools near Clan Pale Cow, since Niyazo’s ‘kilometer distance’ rule was not applicable in this space. He still picked the pool furthest from the clan out of courtesy; about a hundred meters away from everyone else. Erick smiled as he looked down at the placid waters of his own private pond; this was a nice place.

He said as much to Jane, “This place is pretty nice.”

“… It’s a calm way of life, for sure.” Jane glanced down at the pond. “It’s a bit mucky.”

“Bah!” Erick threw a [Cleanse] at the pool. Muck turned to mana. Thick air boiled out of the waters. In seconds, a shallow, sloping basin of solid white stone stood exposed under crystal clear water. “Just needed a bit of cleaning! Reminds me of the sewerhouse, actually.”

“Probably a fair bit of ‘sewer’ in the water around here, too.”

“Aye.” Erick said, “Luckily, our cows are not real cows.” He glanced to his illusory cows; they were still stuck to the front of his yurt. With a mental command, the four cows unraveled into glittering white mana, giving one quiet chorus of moos before they vanished completely. “No cow poop here!”

Teressa spoke up, “We’re heading to the cooking yurt for dinn—” She whipped around to face Nirzir.

Erick followed her gaze to the top of the yurt.

Nirzir had been meditating atop the yurt since noon, burbling with purple lights and tiny sounds, as her unfocused eyes stared into the far distance. She hadn’t shifted much from that position. But now she did. Her eyes glittered with violet light as she focused on a point ahead of herself, and then up. Words spilled out of her, like a precious song spoken to a loved one.

“I establish here a star of light

“Shining from a Void so bright.

“Pulling. Draining. Never maiming.

“Tendrils touching, always aiming

“For those who are a living blight

“Let them know power, sustaining!”

Nirzir had spoken to the world, and the world responded.

A diffuse brightness took hold in the sky above, becoming a nebula of purples and violets and pinks. That nebula collapsed here and there into pinpricks of light; stars birthing at the start of a nascent universe. A thousand thousand lights tumbled out of the sunset air, only to swirl around a central density, like dancers at a ball. And then that central density flashed into a cascading Star, similar, and yet so very different from Erick’s own [Undertow Star].

Shadows and Void crawled forth and Erick deployed his [Domain of Light] across the land, protecting almost everyone from the power coming down from above. He left Nirzir out of his effect, though, for he did not want to disturb her spell creation unless he absolutely had to. The girl was too enamored with her own spellwork to see what Erick was doing, anyway, so defending everyone from her errant magic likely wouldn’t break her concentration.

The tendrils of her Void Star touched down upon Erick’s light. Pressure built. Erick felt nicks and cuts here and there in his power, and then great big swaths drilled out of his Domain. He startled. There was a lot of power in Nirzir’s spell, as well as her Domain.

Nothing to be too worried about, though.

With a pulse of intent and directed focus, Erick strengthened his Domain, and Nirzir’s Void bounced off of his power.

Nirzir, for her part, was still insensate, sitting crosslegged atop his yurt, with her eyes staring upward. The tendrils from her own spell reached down and touched her, but those tendrils moved right along, as though Nirzir wasn’t even there.

Erick kept his Domain pressed against Nirzir’s, containing the young girl’s magic, and stopping everyone else from interfering. Through his light, Erick saw a lot of nearby people wondering what the fuck was going on. Erick spoke through his Domain, saying that his light was just a magical protection to hold off a magical experiment in the sky, and that nothing was happening. Nothing to worry about.

His explanation helped some people, but not all.

Surprisingly, though, expanding his Domain across all of Pale Cow revealed some secrets. Koori had a Domain, and she was able to push back against Erick’s Light; all around the angry woman, Erick’s Light turned to thick air. She wasn’t able to push far, and she stopped pushing the second she felt Erick’s attention on her, but she had a [Cleansing Domain], for sure.

Erick, Teressa, Poi, and Jane, looked up at Nirzir.

Jane spoke first, “Is she gonna come out of that trance? That’s Void up there, right?”

Teressa asked, “Should we... Do something?”

Poi said, “She’s almost back. She’s not in any danger, either. Nirzir is well defended against her own magics.”

Jane looked to her father. “Maybe ask her for some pointers about how not to kill oneself when casting. You could use some of that, and since she’s obviously copied your magic for herself, you should have no trouble asking her for this much information.”

“It’s not [Undertow Star].” Erick said, “That spell up there is all sorts of unstable. Look: it’s already breaking apart.”

The dancing stars in the sky began to falter in their twirls and whirls. One by one, lights fell from their track, into the center star, like falling into a black hole. Within a minute, every single light was gone, and the tendrils followed, getting sucked up into the Void above. The spell lasted a single minute.

Nirzir frowned as she looked upward. “Ah. Hmm.”

Her spell broke into fractured violet mana.

Erick relaxed his Domain, telling people that the experiment was over as his light retreated to the much smaller size he kept localized to the center of his back. He called up to Nirzir, “Did it work?”

Nirzir jolted, as though waking from a daydream. Perhaps that was exactly what had happened. Erick had surely been knocked out by his own magic, so he certainly understood what the young woman was feeling.

Nirzir looked down toward Erick, her face turning red as she suddenly exclaimed, “Oh! Sorry! I didn’t mean to do that here! Is everyone okay?”

“Everyone is fine.” Erick said, “I know you didn’t mean to do that. Sometimes the mana simply wants to be magic.”

Nirzir briefly experienced pure joy, as she said, “Exactly! I was—” And then she looked around. Her face fell. “Oh. We’re in Ooloraptoor. Ohhh. I didn't mean to—” She eyed a squad of people walking their way. Erick had already seen them but he wasn’t worried, for they didn’t look angry, but when Nirzir saw them, she paled. “Oh. Uh. That’s probably not good.”

Erick said, “Don’t worry about them. Did you manage to make the Undertow effect?”

“… No.” Nirzir frowned. “Not the most important part. The spell collapses after a minute.”

“We can talk about that later, but I’ll talk to these people for now.” Erick turned back toward the approaching envoys and called out to them, “Hello! Just some experimenting gone large. Nothing to worry about; we had it under control.”

The three approaching people did not stop approaching. Two of them looked like professional guards of some high order, for they wore silver armor and flanked the third person, a woman, who led their way toward Erick. The woman was of regal bearing and dark ruby-red skin, and while she had horns, those horns had been clipped down to flat spaces on the sides of her forehead. Her silver robes swished as she walked, unflinching, toward Erick, while a silver star glinted on her chest.

Oh. Erick knew what this was.

The silver star upon the woman’s chest was instantly recognizable, for Erick had had one just like it. He still did, in a way, but his silver star was now the Crystal Star. These people were from the Church of Koyabez. Maybe from a different part of the world, or maybe from some smaller church in Songli, since all of Koyabez’s major churches in the Highlands had been destroyed by Terror Peaks. Erick had been wondering if some of those people were going to show up, considering that he had been Blessing people upon the holy symbol of Koyabez. Erick had kinda expected Koyabez himself to say something, or to issue a Quest, but mortal agents were fine, too.

The priestess of Koyabez called back to him with a calm, strong voice, “We’re not here about that. We’re here about the Knives of the Night.”

“Of course!” Erick said, “I was wondering when someone was going to show.”

Erick’s people arrayed themselves behind him, while Nirzir remained on the top of the yurt, watching.

The woman and her people stopped five meters away. “Greetings, Archmage Flatt. My name is Lorizal Ex, the newly appointed Head Priestess of Koyabez for the Highlands region. I have been charged with rebuilding the temples of Koyabez in this part of the world, and as such, I have been made aware of various actions taking place in my God’s name. I would like to discuss one action in particular with you.” She pulled out a piece of paper from a fold in her dress; it was one of Erick’s own meeting forms, and yet it was not. The ink of the form boxes was a slightly different color, and the calligraphy of the text was nicer. Someone else was copying his forms and distributing them, eh? Lorizal said, “I have your paperwork here. This meeting need not take long, but it needs to happen now.”

“Of course.” Erick gestured forward, extending a tendril of sunform to take the offered paperwork. It floated up to his hand, and he quickly read it, then he put it aside, and said, “We can meet inside. Or I can set up some chairs down there if that is more comfortable. Privacy is available if you wish it.”

Lorizal said, “Some chairs down here on the grass is acceptable; thank you. I have no need for privacy for this.”

With a flick of light, Erick took some chairs from inside and set them down onto the short grasses beside his yurt. With a light step, he stood upon those grasses, next to a chair, saying, “When I saw you coming this way, I expected you to be from the Elders of Ooloraptoor to talk about the problems of open use of magics.” He sat down in his chair.

Lorizal took her own seat, then said, “There was actually a line to speak to you from all of those people. But the display of magic scared off many of them. I found myself rushed through the queue, as it were. Well. My acolyte did; I have been rather busy recently and could not hold my place in line myself. I only just arrived in Ooloraptoor in the last five minutes, but it is my understanding that people have been waiting for you to arrive for days, now.”

Erick glanced toward the next land over. He had wondered why there were people over there, standing how they were, but now that Lorizal had told him what they were doing, it was easy to understand them. There were about fifteen groups amid the scattered yurts and cows and otherwise, each of them looking like they had wanted to come this way, but they had refrained. One of those small groups even had a small cart with them that was loaded with dark metal ingots. That one must be the elder’s promised metal to use in the construction of a car.

Now that Erick had retracted the light, and Nirzir’s spell overhead had vanished, some of those scattered groups were coming back out of hiding.

Ah.

Erick was not going to get any rest right now, was he? Oh well! He chose this.

He turned to the priestess. “What does the Church of Koyabez require of me?”

With stoic mien, Lorizal spoke, “We wish for your oversight and protection as we go out to the mountain you have blessed in Koyabez’s name, so that we might meet with these people and help to decide what the Highlands is going to do with all of them.” She said, “If things go well, the Church of Koyabez formally requests the dispensation to use the space you have altered to create a Church of the Silver Star; to have a location in this war-torn land that is unassailable—” She breathed. Her eyes watered, but she held back those emotions. This was tough for her. She likely lost a lot of people when Terror Peaks destroyed Koyabez’s churches in Songli. “—To have a space that is unassailable by outside forces. You should know that none of these are requests from Koyabez. These are requests from the mortal advocates of the Silver Star, with the goal to ensure peace and prosperity in these lands.”

Erick felt in his heart and saw with his eyes that Lorizal was a good woman, or at least all of her words were true. It was, perhaps, too early to make a judgment of her character, but the Silver Star on her chest looked genuine and priests were generally a good sort of people.

So Erick simply asked, “What is the church’s goal with these people I Blessed?”

Lorizal nodded, then said, “The Church of Koyabez is always in pursuit of peace. Sometimes, we take in exiled people and give them new homes as members of our church, either rehabilitating them or placing them where their characters and excesses are virtues, rather than vices.

“Our goal with these people you have Blessed is something similar to that, but different.

“Another function of the Church of Koyabez is that of a neutral party, through which two or more warring factions are able to talk to each other without emotions and destruction getting in the way of productive conversation. Your own [Zone of Peace] that you gifted to Koyabez has been a great stride forward in these sorts of talks.

“In the case of these Blessed, the Church of Koyabez will find out if these peoples’ intentions for requesting your Blessing are true, and then, if they are, we will negotiate on their behalf with communities that are willing to take them in. They all have dangerous pasts, but they’re also all high leveled, and therefore they have powers that are beyond the range of normal citizens of this world. In the end, we expect to take many of them in, ourselves. Our only concern is for the long term effects of your Blessing, and what effects might come out of such a magic, but we hope for the best.” She finished, and waited for Erick’s declaration.

Erick was quite happy to say, “I did not know if Koyabez would want to take them in since the vast majority of them are Cultists of Melemizargo, but I am glad to see that I am proven wrong.”

“Everyone is capable of redemption, Archmage Flatt. Even cultists. We have taken in these types of people before, and we will do so again.” Lorizal said, “Your Blessing does ensure that these people have a desire for actual change, though, so in this case, we’re a lot more hopeful for these cultists than for others who have tried to come in from the Dark only to bring the Dark with them.”

“… What do you do when the desire for change isn’t real?”

“Execution. This is especially true in the case for those who attempt to call themselves Silver Priests, and who will use our good names to commit evils. We will not allow anyone to use Koyabez’s name in dishonest ways.”

She had said it so calmly, and the words themselves were so very honest, that Erick could not help but know them as truth.

“I probably should have expected that.” Erick said, “Koyabez is the god of peace, but peace doesn’t necessarily mean pacifism, and it very much does not mean weakness.”

Lorizal nodded. “Peace is only possible when all participants in a society are faithful actors toward a common good. Usually, almost all people are capable of being faithful actors, so this is not a problem. But we do deal with the Dark edges of society, so we do see the problems more than most.” Lorizal said, “It is our hope that your Blessing ensures that it is impossible for a person to become truly unfaithful, and in that case…” She smiled a gentle, loving smile. “In that case, everyone gets redemption, for everyone deserves a new chance, just like any other faithful actor.”

“Of course.” Erick glanced toward the north, through the Ophiels he had floating around the cultists of Melemizargo. He Blessed another person who had been waiting. He said to Lorizal, “Let me know who you’re sending out to the cultists’ mountain and I can approve them for operation under the [Undertow Star]. You know how the Star works, right? You shouldn’t need much more of my direct help outside of that.”

“I respect the need for certain secrets, but I would know if there is something important I should be aware of. Does it do much more than simply Drain everyone, and stop most magics from working, except if you are approved?”

“Nope. That’s about it.”

“Then I am satisfied.” Lorizal stood. “If you do not mind, and since this meeting went how I hoped it to go, the people I have tagged for assisting with the cultists are able to appear here. Now, if you would allow it.”

Erick stood with her, gesturing to the side as he said, “They can come in right over there.”

Lorizal nodded, then she turned to her pair of guards. One of them was already telepathically linked to someone. That guard then nodded at Lorizal, then turned toward the spot of land to the side.

Ten meters away, the air blipped bright yellow, revealing a trio of priests in silver robes. Two women, and a man, all demi, ranging in ages from 35 to 55. Lorizal introduced them by name, and Erick spent a few minutes talking to them, to get a feel for them as people, but other people were already lining up a hundred meters away, waiting to talk. Some of those other people even had paperwork. Only a few of those papers were the ones Erick had actually made, himself.

The priests of Koyabez seemed like solid people, more than capable of dealing with cultists, so Erick enabled them as allies of the [Undertow Star] he had cast into the mountains to the north, and had an Ophiel lightstep them to that area.

Then he turned to Lorizal, and said, “I hope this goes well.”

“I do, too.” Lorizal stepped back, and bowed, saying, “Archmage. Thank you.”

“I didn’t expect to be Blessing so many people so quickly, but the option to end a sect appeared, and I took it. I think Daizing wants to form some sort of joint, Dark/Silver church, or something. I have no idea how to handle that, and my appointment book is very full right now.” Erick said, “So thank you for taking this over.”

Lorizal bowed again, and her people bowed with her. Then they stepped away.

The next people to come forward were the ones with the metal ingots. Erick quickly discovered that they were a joint venture from Silver Yurt, Elder Teer’s people, and Metal Rider, who got in on the action after they heard what Erick was doing. They dropped off a good three tons of solid steel, while asking a few questions of their own about the plans Erick was going to use, of which Erick mostly decided not to answer; they would get their answers in the shape of the prototype, whenever Erick finished making it.

Then the envoy from Metal Rider noticed the suspensions on Erick’s yurt, and asked where he got them.

Erick smiled, and said, “You have a good eye. I got those from Metal Rider, actually. Paid a grand core, too.”

The envoy seemed incredibly embarrassed, vowing to refund Erick the grand core and saying how he never should have been charged anything. Metal Rider was honored that he was using their suspensions, though. Erick waved the envoy off; he was fine with paying for things.

And then the envoy from Silver Yurt asked if Erick wished for a comparative set of suspensions, to see how much better Silver Yurt’s metal work was than Metal Rider’s.

Erick laughed that off, and ended the conversation diplomatically, before Silver Yurt and Metal Rider had some sort of clan-feud, which seemed very much possible, considering the barely hidden animosity he sensed between the two envoys this entire time.

The next people in line were from a poorer clan known as Sand Rider. Their homeland was about 1500 kilometers southeast of Alaralti; they were among the most southern of all the grass traveler clans, near where the verdant prairie began to turn into the dry prairie, and then further still into the drylands. Clan Sand Rider made a living traveling the grassy dunes, but lately, a rockmulch glider infestation had driven them out of their homes, eaten all of their livestock, and then settled into the water holes that were already in rare supply. There wasn’t much rain down that way, so water was always at a premium. Gliders, as they were usually called, were monsters that were usually easy to deal with, but in the recent war with Terror Peaks, the warriors of Sand Rider had tried to help their allies in Alaralti, and they had been killed for their efforts.

Would Erick please kill the gliders for them? Sand Rider couldn’t offer him much, but they had brought a grand core for payment.

Erick agreed to kill the gliders. He did not accept payment; he did it for free.

The monsters were dead within three minutes.

The envoy from Sand Rider had no idea what to do with themselves when Erick denied payment, and even less of an idea of how to act once Erick had told them it was done. Rapidly, though, they pivoted and invited Erick out to drinks and dinner and for hospitality whenever he came around that part of the world. They brewed a mean spirit wine that would get someone with a hundred Vitality drunk in one cup! Guaranteed!

Erick happily said that he would accept a small keg of the drink, and then sent the ecstatic clansmen on their way.

The next people in line had a monster kill request, too.

Erick managed to grab dinner between appointments, but only because Jane went to Pale Cow’s cooking yurt and grabbed him some food.

Eventually, Sin Seeker Vania showed up, taking the forward place in line only to walk up to Erick and give a reluctant, “Please don’t do large scale magics around here unless it is necessary, Erick.”

Erick smiled wide at that, and said, “I was wondering who they’d send out to me. So I guess you pulled that shit duty, eh?”

“Apparently.” Vania frowned at no one in particular. “Everyone is scared of you, and finding out that you’re after dragons doesn’t make you any less scary.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I found the dragon I was searching for. Now, all that dragon needs to do is stay out of my way, and I’ll stay out of their way, and nothing else needs to happen.”

Vania perked up, but then she instantly frowned. “That only worries me more.”

“I’ll keep it nonviolent while they keep it nonviolent.”

Vania’s frown deepened. “… Thank you for your consideration.”

The meetings went well into the night, but Erick stopped accepting visitors an hour after sunset, for though he was getting through the line rather quickly, more and more people were showing up to take a spot, and to fill out an application. He dismissed the twenty three remaining groups in line, telling them that he would be available for meetings tomorrow afternoon.

The morning would be for him.

Erick wrapped his yurt and the surrounding ten meters of land, as well as the pond, with Ophiel’s [Prismatic Ward]s. No one would be getting through that layered defense without a lot of work. Or with a simple [Chaining Ward Destruction]. But that was a very rare spell!

- - - -

Before he finished being outside for the day, Erick tracked down the source of extra applications. The trail led to a Knowledge Mage in Alaralti, who was making the applications by hand and selling them for a gold apiece.

Erick let that problem go.

- - - -

Erick entered his yurt.

Poi was talking to people through [Telepathy].

Jane was messing around with gridwork that contained the parts for [Lightshape] and [Shadowshape] which combined to form [Illusionshape], but she was trying to do more than that. She was going for [Mysticalshape].

Teressa was writing what appeared to be notes for a story.

Nirzir was meditating with her eyes closed. Little sparks of violet light danced around the area in front of her chest.

At Erick’s entrance, all of them looked to him.

He said to his people, “Do any of you have any needs? I want to be sure you’re all doing okay, too. And Nirzir, we can talk about some of what you might be missing with the Undertow effect tomorrow morning, for sure. I just got sidetracked with all the other people.”

Nirzir smiled softly, then nodded. “Thank you.” Then she rapidly added, “Uh! And I can trade you information for how to make a nice [Personal Ward]? If that is something you would be interested in? Though I am not sure I have something that you actually desire…” Her voice trailed off as she frowned.

Erick said, “Then we can have an exchange, and that would be fine.”

Nirzir brightened.

“I don’t need anything, dad, unless you get someone asking you to kill a giant spider, or some other exotic monster.” Jane said, “Some unique Familiar Form might be good, but otherwise, I’ll stay here.”

“Sure.” Erick nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Poi said, “I have no needs, though there are other Mind Mage communities out there that are thinking about sending in a request for Imaging services for monsters.”

“Right.” Erick asked, “Where would we need to go next for that?”

“Wherever you decide to go, we will find monsters there.” Poi said, “But if you want an actual itinerary, we have a plan for the systematic elimination of every mental monster on Nelboor. Afterward, Nergal would be an easy continent to clean, for we would mainly focus on Eidolon and Archipelago Nergal. We would skip the Toxic Forest altogether. Glaquin would be a mire of Quiet War problems if we approach the problem openly, but we’ll only do that after you’re done with the Worldly Path, anyway. As for Quintlan: we have no desire to tackle those ooze-infested lands, or the undead metropolises of the Fractured Citadels. We don’t need to go to Quintlan at all.”

Erick paused as he considered the depth of that sort of commitment. “That could take… two weeks? I imagine?”

Poi smiled. “Maybe only one!”

Erick said, “Let’s start on Nelboor tomorrow, after I work on the car for these people… Okay. That’s a fucked up priority. We’ll start on the mental monsters of Nelboor first thing tomorrow.”

“All we need you for is the Imaging, Erick.” Poi said, “You can still work on the car. I doubt we need to move on to Nergal yet, anyway. We were already planning on going there to visit the Orrery of Rozeta, and that need not happen right now, either.”

Erick felt a tension unwind in his chest, for Poi was going easy on him and that was nice of him, but then that tension tightened right back up. Erick said, “People are dying every second that I do not help. We could start tonight, actually. I don’t need to sleep—”

“Dad.” Jane stared at him. “You need to take breaks, too. Like right now, you need a break.” She gestured to Teressa. “Teressa’s been working on a redo of the story I told last night, and I want to hear it, and I want you to relax and hear it, too.”

Teressa waved Jane off, saying, “It’s not necessary—”

“Yes it is. Breaks are necessary.” Jane said, “You do too much, dad. People don’t need you to hold their hand 24 hours a day, ten days a week, forever and always. You need to let others live their own lives, free of your influence.”

“Obviously, that is true, Jane,” Erick said, “But it’s hard to stop, since it’s literally the work of ten minutes to save the lives of countless people who won’t survive the night unless I act.”

Jane frowned. “Everyone is always in danger, all the time, and it is your responsibility to be there to help against the big things; not to prevent every single death-by-monster in the whole world.”

“She’s right, Erick,” Poi said.

Teressa just nodded.

For a long moment, no one said anything.

Jane added, “So how about we all just take a break, and listen to Teressa’s take on It. It’s not like we’re under attack right now. Let’s cherish these moments while we can.”

Erick just breathed, and had a deep think.

Erick decided, “Okay. Yes. You’re right, Jane.” He went to his bed, and sat down, saying, “So. Yeah. I want to hear your take on ‘It’, too, Teressa.”

Teressa had looked unsure, but now she smiled. “Let’s do this!”

The tense atmosphere of the room became something less oppressive and then vanished altogether for four of the five people in the yurt.

Nirzir let out a pained sigh, trying to convince herself, “It won’t be as bad since I heard it once already.”

Teressa’s smile widened, exposing her lower fangs. “I think I’ve cobbled together something that will properly terrify you. I even managed to make [Illusionshape]!” She added, “I had to Remake all the Shaping spells to begin with, since I never bought them, but that was easy enough with some aura control and your recommendations.”

Erick laughed, feeling happy for Teressa, and then he seriously warned her, “If I see a giant spider then you’re getting blipped into the sky.”

Teressa lost her smile. She checked over her notes, then stoically asked, “How about some spindly legs in the dark? That’s all Jane did.”

“And I almost got blipped for it,” Jane said to Teressa, “Just so you know! I’m going to complain every time you make it not-scary, Teressa.”

“I would not have it any other way.” Teressa then asked Erick, “All the other fake monster forms are fair game, right?”

Erick decided, “… Yes. All the other monster forms are fair game. Just don’t make them loud.” He added, “And constrain them to the center of the yurt! No creepy crawlies shuffling across the corners of the room!

“I can work with that,” Teressa said.

Ragged words tumbled out of Nirzir, “It’s okay, Nirzir. It’s just illusions.”

- - - -

Twenty minutes into Teressa’s rendition of It, the clown burst into a million spiders that got absolutely everywhere.

Nirzir screamed. Teressa got blipped into the sky.

Erick apologized afterward, but Teressa just laughed.

And Jane, good-natured, complained how no one screamed when she told the story.