by Tao Wong
Pulling up to the building that the City Council has taken over right opposite Roxley’s building, I watch as Mikito and Richard clamber out of the truck. Rachel shakes her head, detouring to spend some time window-shopping at the Shop as she’s not invited, already pulling a cigarette from her pocket. From the number of vehicles outside, it looks like we’re one of the last to arrive. Luckily, most people aren’t that particularly bothered by things like that anymore – after all, most time-keeping devices have gone on a fritz. Inside, we move to our customary seats and I put my feet on the board table, half-closing my eyes as Richard and Mikito move to mingle. Even hindered by her incomplete English, Mikito’s still more of a social butterfly than I am.
Underneath half-lidded eyes, I read lips, flicking from conversation to conversation as I dismiss idle gossip and pleasantries, my lips twisting in a half-smile. Yeah, I might not want to be here but there’s no reason I can’t learn something. This time around, I learn nothing of import before Fred and his entourage enters to bring the meeting to order.
“In conclusion, food stores continue to hover at the 2-day mark. While the hunters have been able to bring in higher number of animals due to their level increases, many of these animals are not as suitable for mass cooking. As per the Council’s decision, we have canned and stored a fifth of the most recent harvest which will provide a small vegetable surplus during the winter months but our projections show that we will need to purchase a minimum of 8,000 Credits worth of supplements. I again must request that the Council earmark these funds,” Battleaxe – Miranda Lafollet pronounces.
Fred thanks her for her presentation, pushing her request to another budget specific meeting while we continue the updates. The next by Minion is shorter as he’s not only purchased the ability to but spent the time learning, how to manipulate the System screens to send information direct to us. He instead just highlights the information we need on the buildings. I tune him out and not just because he’s nasally – I have learnt most of this in much more detail speaking with Roxley directly. We’ve purchased just over 30% of the land in Whitehorse as a group, with the parks-gardens and the community gardens taking up a major portion of that.
“Once again, I must insist that we purchase and upgrade the dam. We’ve been inspecting the dam for potential failures and while the spillway and emergency releases continue to function as designed, the potential for damage is significant. In addition, purchasing the mana engine and upgrades required would provide us a consistent energy source which will be important during the winter,” Minion concludes and I have to admit, he has a point.
Nic taps at his screen for a moment and then with a frustrated sigh, swipes it away and leans forward, “For those of us who weren’t here, how much is that going to set us back?”
“350,000 Credits,” drawls one of the other councilors – Norman Blockwell. He doesn’t speak often, but when he does, most people listen. Nic chokes at the number, eyes widening further as Norman continues, “Just for the structure.”
Fred raps his hand on the table, stopping any further discussion and nods to Jim. Jim stands, looks around and says, “We’ve got nearly three hundred hunters now, about half of them on rotating guard duty. Roxley has half of those on his payroll keeping an eye on the roadways. Two thirds of my group are in the low-teens in levels, the rest below that except for my three strike groups who are above level 20. ‘Course that doesn’t include the Circle, John’s Group or the Brothers of the Wolf.”
The Brother’s grin and I swear, the two kids who represent them almost look like they are about to howl. Kid is the right term too since the entire group is in their late teens. I’m both extremely proud of the kids and rather perturbed at their inclusion – they are our first true success of the babysitting program but they are still kids. They’ve been throwing every Credit they’ve made into upgrading their equipment and themselves which didn’t sit well with Fred. So, he got them to contribute to the city by bribing them with a seat on the table.
The conversation drones on, going on about less important to me subjects. Non-combat characters are working on their levels and skills quite well and the stuff they’ve been producing has actually started getting good enough that our combat classers will actually use them directly. It’s helping to keep some of the Credits we make in the local economy.
I tap my fingers on the table, trying to distract myself as they drone on and on. Fuck, but I hate this shit.
“And that is everything on the agenda,” Fred smiles at all of us. “Great job everybody.”
Thank god…
“The Raven’s Circle would like to bring an expedition to Dawson City to the table again,” Luthien speaks, flashing a smile at everyone at the table and I do my best to suppress a groan. An elbow by Richard to my side tells me I am not as successful as I thought. “Dawson City is the most likely location in the Yukon for a large group of survivors. We have abandoned them without access to the Shop for over a month now. There have been no supplies, no survivors who have traveled from there. If we are to help them, it has to be soon.”
Luthien leans forward, her voice urgent with need, “The Circle is willing to risk the journey, but we can’t do it alone. We need more volunteers, more supplies, more help. Are you willing to abandon them to their fate?”
When she finishes, the room erupts in discussion. I groan, burying my head in my hands as everyone has something to say. Fuck me sideways, we’re not getting out of this room for hours.
My guess is just about correct as it’s well past lunch before we finally exit the room. The Council is deadlocked, our resources spread thin but the call of a rescue tugging at heart strings. I let Richard do the talking for us since my history with Luthien is well-known by now. Better to keep out of it, since we strongly oppose the idea. It’s a 7-hour drive to Dawson City pre-System on a good-day and there aren’t any good days anymore.
We find Rachel sitting on the bed of her truck, working on a spell while waiting with one hand, an unlit cigarette in the other. Mikito, who snuck out the moment the Dawson City discussion broke out, is going through forms next to her. I pull a liquid meal from my inventory as I walk up, waving to our waiting passengers as I eat a quick lunch. Richard makes a face as he sees what I’m doing but does the same, rapping on the truck to get Rachel’s attention. Where there’s space, the trucks are loaded with non-System supplies, mostly excess food and clothing though the vast majority of the supply run lie in the body of the passengers that join us. Using the System’s trans-dimensional inventory option makes supplying the town significantly simpler than before. No more giant trucks making daily trips. Of course, it comes with the added danger of losing all the inventory stored if the individual dies which is why they hire us.
“Constable,” I nod to Gadsby who is engrossed in his conversation with fellow ex-RCMP member Amelia. Gadsby has gone down the cybernetic route, a chrome left arm replacing a damaged limb rather than regenerating it and I have to admit, the look suits him. As I come close, they fall silent though what I lipread is intriguing.
“... not just me, Fred tried to Kevin and at last three others.”
Gadsby smiles at me, offering his hand as I straddle Sabre. Outside of the party, I’ve been able to keep her full abilities a secret, at least as far as I know. You never know when having your personal mecha in your back-pocket would be useful. “Good to have you on this run. Something was moving around Archer Lane, something about 30 feet long and blue. Looked like a weird lizard, snake hybrid with a horn coming out of its head. Gave us the shivers from the glimpses we saw.”
I glance over to my team, Richard is already in the driver’s seat and Mikito has taken her preferred place in the back with the huskies and his most recent acquisition, a foot-long pet turtle. Yeah, someone’s pet turtle mutated and now breathes fire and Richard just had to tame it when we found it on one of our rescue runs. In the other truck, Rachel sits behind the wheel as one of Gadsby’s men climbs in to play shotgun.
“Real inspiring boy-o,” smirks Ali as he spins next to me in all his 2-foot glory. He gets a few snorts of laughter at his comments which of course makes him preen. Unfortunately, a side-effect of my increased levels is Ali’s growing ability to interact with the world. He can stay visible without effort now and with a push, even physically effect the world. He’s also got very, very limited access to his Affinity, which thus far he’s mostly been using to play practical jokes with. Making a person blind after they get hit on the head in the middle of the fight is not funny, no matter how hard you laugh. Asshole.
Once I get everyone’s acknowledgement, we roll out.
The trip to Carcross is pretty quiet at first. Regular hunting by Jim’s teams have reduced the number of hostile monsters near the city significantly, so for the first thirty minutes, the drive is almost peaceful. When we hit the Cutoff, we make the customary stop-off at the fort to switch control around to give his people a little experience boost before I take it back.
The Hakarta – a race of mercenary space orcs - are still an anomaly, their original presence at the Cutoff a strange blip in the radar. It’s just another thing to worry about, but since no one has attempted to take the Cutoff by force in the month I’ve had control of it, it’s a concern for another day. Experience farming completed, I depart first to scout ahead. It’s a ten-minute drive to where Gadsby’s spotted his monster and I intend to take it slow.
Gadsby is correct, there is something in the woods. He was incorrect on the number though, there being a couple. I’m a good 300 hundred yards distant, watching them through the scope in my helmet as they move around in a dip in the road. Considering the creatures have managed to fell power lines across the road in the time since Gadsby has come through, I can’t decide if they are either sentient or just lucky.
Xu’dwg’hkkk Beast (Level 44)
HP: 2380/2380
Behind me, I can hear Richard pulling to a stop, the rest of the convoy a little further back. Mikito hops off the back the moment the truck stops, that disturbing smile already making an appearance. Her naginata levels against one and I nod absently, exhaling as I pull the trigger of my rifle. The flash and hit happen almost instantaneously, my target shrugging the beam off without seeming to be injured. I trigger another shot soon after with the same pitiful results but this time, I notice the way the energy seems to disperse around the skin, concentrating on the horn.
Shit. I throw myself aside a second before the creature returns fire, the shot disappearing off into the horizon due to the slight upward angle the creature has to shoot from. I drop the rifle into my inventory with practised ease and start running to the side of the road, looking to split the two creatures attention and take it away from Sabre. Fighting without her in mecha mode always sucks but I’m pretty sure we can handle it.
Richard spots the difficulty almost immediately and lets out a whistle, signaling Bella, Max and Shadow, the huskies to join the fray even as the turtle – Elsa - trundles off the truck. I doubt Elsa is going to make it there in time, but she always tries. She’s our heavy hitter if something charges us, though we do our best to ensure she isn’t needed.
Bella and Shadow are clad in newly made bone-armor taken from a loot drop picked up by the Brothers. The entire armoring project is where Richard’s funds have been focused in the last month. The bones have been shaped to fit the dogs, covering their body and the crown of their heads, gleaming a dull red. Whatever creature it was that the Brothers of the Wolf killed, it must have been a tough fight as the bones themselves are harder than steel but significantly lighter pound for pound.
Mikito is running at an angle to her target so that it can’t get a good shot, occasionally switching directions. The moment it gets within fifty yards, Mikito changes direction again and sprints directly to it, activating her latest ability. A flicker of fire engulfs her and she accelerates, a fiery homing missile that slams into the creature at an angle and staggers it. She doesn’t stop though, unleashing a flurry of blows with another skill that she calls the Thousand Cuts.
I don’t have time to pay attention to her fight anymore since my opponent has charged up its horn again, using the leftover energy to send another sizzling blast to strike at me. This time, I don’t get out of the way completely and catch a touch of it on my leg, causing muscles to clench in agony. I hit the ground and roll, crouched over with a hand splayed before me as the monster charges me with intent to gore.
A screech is all the creature has time to hear before Orel lands, smashing into the monster at an angle, throwing the creature’s momentum entirely off even as claws dig into eyes. The Huskies arrive moments later, tearing into flesh and bone as the monster is distracted. Thankfully, the puppies haven’t grown larger, though the constant hunting and leveling has given them new gifts. Bella bites and rips, her jaws encased in a metal that crushes through the monster’s thick hide like it’s nothing. Next to her, Max blurs as he jumps back to avoid a clawed foot, moving so fast that for a brief second, he almost seems to be in two places at once. Shadow is most disturbing of all, as its very shadow joins in on the attack, tearing into the monster’s body and gulping down raw flesh into its dark throat. Leg recovered, I run in to join the fight, though really, I’m superfluous.
By the time Richard’s animals and I are done killing our oversized lizard, Mikito is finished with hers and is cleaning her naginata, all calm and collected. I shake my head at that sight, once again deeply thankful she is on our side. I’m a jack-of-all trades with the ability to take a ton of punishment but she’s just death on her feet if she can reach you.
We loot the body quickly but Ali warns us against eating the creature, one of the rare cases where eating it would be bad for us. I somehow don’t think his advice include Shadow’s shadow. We shove the bodies aside and clear the road to complete the quest in Carcross. The town is as busy as it always is, walls fully built and reinforced with carefully spaced lookouts and gun posts. Inside, children play in the streets under the idle supervision of teenagers as the entire town is now a safe zone. You can guess how happy that made Roxley and the City Council in Whitehorse to learn especially when people started asking to be moved there.
As we get ready to turn around after depositing the supplies, Elder Badger comes out. “John. We need a word.”
Seated around another board room table with the ubiquitous bowls of meat stew and bannock, we listen to the scout’s report on his findings. The room is now filled with maps, colour coded with various pins stuck through them and a giant white board with projects outlined. I glance at the maps, smiling slightly as I realise they are keeping track of which houses and subdivisions they’ve raided.
“Ali,” I shoot a look over at my Spirit when the scout runs dry, waiting for his assessment.
“No idea boss,” Ali states. “The way he reports it, it’s probably a monster lair that hasn’t become a dungeon yet. Leave it alone long enough though and it’ll become a full dungeon.”
There’s more than one stifled groan, Gadsby’s face drawing in a grim line.
“Ali, care to give more details on Dungeons? The notes I have are rather short – ‘Don’t. Just don’t’ isn’t particularly useful,” I prod my Spirit for more information.
“That’s a pretty sound advice there boy-o,” Ali points out before he flashes a pair of fingers up, “There are two kinds of dungeons really. You’ve got the natural ones – places where monsters congregate or just mutate into because of the extremely high mana density. That’s what it sounds like the scout find. The Canada Games Centre would be such a pl
ace if those Circle members didn’t go into farm it so often. They’re the easiest to deal with, normally the monsters aren’t significantly more dangerous than the surrounding zone. Of course, if you leave them alone long enough, the monsters get more powerful and the mana itself will warp the space. Always better to deal with them before they become full dungeons.
“The second are temporary dungeons. Those are dimensional holes in space connecting two high mana areas together. Those generally aren’t very stable, and don’t always lead to dungeons. However, since most high mana hot spots are in existing dungeons, it’s a pretty good bet it’s a dungeon behind the glowing blue portal of doom. Most smart people don’t go in to those – since the locations are random, you never know what you’ll find. Of course, that means there are about a hundred or so Guilds dedicated to finding and jumping down those rabbit holes,” Ali spins a finger next to his head as he speaks before continuing. “Either way, temporary dungeons are bad because they start warping the areas around them as they shift the mana flows around both locations significantly.”
“Lastly, you have the System created ones. You know how your entire world is a dumping ground for mana for the galaxy? Well, on a smaller scale, System created dungeons in a city work the same. Mana is drawn out from the surroundings and focused into the dungeon, forcefully speeding up mutations and breeding in the dungeon and creating occasional rifts. That reduces the total mana flow in the city though which means that zones around the city lower too, eventually forcing bigger monsters out. System created dungeons are weird. Since most dungeon owners are too frigging lazy to manage the day-to-day operations, they purchase dungeon cores to handle it and those cores, well, they make some truly insane decisions sometimes.”
“You said two,” Jason points out.