StarChaser: Another (18+)

Elmir_Arch-Ham_of_Omega

Story So Far:
Kinu, Kvaris, Sammy, and Iohann show their new weapons. Arthur and Sully get upgraded guns. Arek social engineers his way to buy tons of gasoline. Cecil's refrigerator gets stocked up. Gwen is benched. Zefir sets up the Command Center. Cecil's room gets new storage furniture. Iroquois Team is inaugurated. Everyone's EDC is standardized.

That morning, The Whales got up early because they had much preparations to do. Ingrid and the mice were first at the master bedroom’s bathroom, which like the room it was connected to was magically enlarged by the same arcane forces that made Autumnhollow possible. 

After the induction of Philia, Gwen, Sammy, and Viel the bathroom had expanded itself and reminded the Earthlings of a Japanese-styled bathhouse, the decorative tiles who normally would have depicted traditional artwork straight out of Hokusai’s catalogue was replaced with more realistic renaissance-styled depictions of forests and waterfalls in a misty far-away world. A low wall bisected the room and jutting out from either side were mirrors, faucets, and shower heads. The raised base of this wall served as a table to put their bathing supplies such as soaps, shampoos, loofas (obtained locally), among others. Connected near the entrance of the bathing area were the half-baths, mercifully their own closed-off rooms for privacy. 

No one balked at Zefir’s presence. Ingrid initially assumed she was the exception given her circumstances or of his. Then again, despite there being enough room to accommodate everyone in at least pairs, everyone still preferred to bunk in together at the master bedroom for one good reason, or as the earthlings quickly found out; three. 

The only ones who weren’t with them were Cecil and Mice who opted sleep in a different room, with Cecil closing all doors and drawing the drapes to darken his 24/7 sunlit pocket dimension.

It didn’t take long for the rest of the team to file into the bath and start washing up to get ready for the day.

“Are we moving out today?” Zefir asked as he lathered up Siria’s hair, snickering in amusement as the mice goofed around covered in suds and bubbles, causing Viel nearby to squeal in laughter. The dog-sized rodents ran around chasing each other, running in circles around Viel.

“Yes,” Ingrid replied from the other side of the low wall, scrubbing a bleary-eyed Philia’s back. “Unless any of you have any lingering business in New Gorpisal.” 

Everyone echoed that they’ve all settled up their business and were ready to move. 

“Good! Then I’ll get started on breakfast!” Ingrid said, rinsing herself and Philia, hearing Ingrid volunteer to do breakfast knocked her out of her sleepiness and she quickly got up with her.

“Eggs Benedict, Ingrid! Eggs Benedict!” She cried, hurriedly following her.

“She loves her eggs Benedict.” Gwen shook her head. “All these years  she can’t have breakfast without them.” 

“A belated welcome to the club, Gwen.” Cecil said from the tub across the room. “She needs it to get her brain going.”

“Well it does look good.” Sammy said as she playfully poked at Cecil who hung down from the portal of his room. Viel, who had finished rinsing, hopped into the tub to warm up. This novel way of bathing was very relaxing and the two of them couldn’t get enough of it. Predictably they would be the last to leave the bath to join the team for breakfast.

“I just noticed…” Zefir said as he joined them. “Ingrid doesn’t like hot water, doesn’t she?”

“She hates it…” Cecil said, sighing pleasedly as he enjoyed the warm water. He was about to say something but waited for Viel to stop her giggling as the mice dove in to play in the tub. “...never once have I ever seen Ingrid use hot water if she can help it.”

Ingrid and Philia had a full British breakfast going. Yesterday, Gwen’s suggestion of making a bean stew had prompted Ingrid to pull Cecil to the market so they could hunt for black pudding-like sausages and mushrooms, so she could make some that morning. Philia was able to reserve one stove to herself so she could get water boiling for her favorite eggs Benedict, which prompted Ingrid to just have all eggs cooked that way.

Soon the dining room was filled up, and everyone was helping themselves with the coffee as Ingrid and Philia threw in the last of the mushrooms to stir fry in all that accumulated gravy. 

“Given the distance of Teth-Odin and the speed of our ATV…” Ingrid told the group as she stir-fried the mushrooms “I figure we’ll reach the city before sunset at the very least.”

“We’ll still need to meet with the guild.” Siria said as she buttered her toast. “That could further delay our finding of lodging unless Zefir and a few people accompany him in search of a good place…”

Ingrid shook her head, her black ponytail with a few streaks of bright violet waving around like a fancy tassel. “We’ll move as one and we all need to present ourselves so they know who’s who in our group.” She then turned around and poured the mushrooms and gravy into the big serving bowls.

“At the worst, we’ll just have to make do with some lodgings in an inn, or we just take our wagon out of town somewhere and find a temporary place to put down Autumnhollow.” she finished. “Iohann?”

The sheep-like felmoon cleric summoned her Thurible and waved it around, letting the sweet scent of sacred incense waft into the air as she said a few words of benediction, and then everyone dug in. 

“Philia, Zefir, and I will take turns driving.” Ingrid began again. “In the meantime we’ll also take turns teaching the others to operate the ATV, Cecil included. We’ll do it one at a time so we don’t crowd our driver. Alright?”

Zefir, Philia, and Cecil gave their assent.

“You would teach us how to use your vehicle?” Sammy asked. 

“There’s a saying among our world’s sailors” Zefir replied “Learn the job of the man above you, and teach your job to those below you. When you’re out at sea, you can’t afford to be ignorant of how to sail a ship…so the saying goes.” 

“Mhmm…” Philia said as she reached over and placed another eggs Benedict on her toast, before laying strips of bacon atop it. “There may be occasions where you will need to operate the ATV or any other vehicles we may bring in the future, it’s best all of you know how.” she  finished by laying a sauteed mushroom cap over her toast and taking a bite.

“That includes Saber.” Ingrid said, looking at the mice. The mice, which had been quietly squeaking amongst themselves, looked at Ingrid wide-eyed. “Yes, you guys need to know how to drive too. You’ve been taught to shoot a gun, maybe one day you’ll get to drive a little tank.”

Philia vehemently waved her hands. “No! A tank’s just an armored coffin! The mice move fast, speed will be their armor.”

“What’s a tank?” Iohann asked. The idea of being armored sounded like a good idea.

“It’s an armored wagon with a big gun, sounds good in paper.” Zefir said “But Philia’s right, all the tank’s heavy armor just presents itself as a big target for everyone to attack. The mice should be on their feet, where they can easily move out of the way.”

An hour later, Philia backed the ATV outside of Autumnhollow’s territory. Gwen made last minute checks to make sure everything’s properly cleaned up and shut down while Ingrid peeked into the portal to make sure Philia’s aurochs were still happily grazing in the rich meadow beyond.

Ingrid was the last to board the ATV and called for Philia to get going. Meanwhile, Zefir then cast his spell to dismiss Autumnhollow while Neith activated her two drones Aquila and Falcis. One would scout ahead while the other watched from behind.

As Kinu predictably found out how to roll down the window and stick her head out (much to Ingrid’s amusement), Kvaris was called over by Zefir so he could instruct her first on how to operate the vehicle. By that time, everyone had the windows rolled down or slid away, prompting Philia to switch off the AC unit as everyone stuck their heads out. 

“Stay inside, Cecil, no need to be a turret” Ingrid said, reaching over to give him headpats.

“Okayyyyy” he said in a melting voice as Ingrid pulled him in for a big hug.

“Looks like we got our getaway and roadtrip, Cecil.” Ingrid said with a bit of melancholy in her voice.

“Don’t be so glum, Ingrid…” Cecil whispered, petting her hair with a squishy tendril. “We got Philia now.”

“Yeah but…” Ingrid’s said in a low voice “Sometimes I remember what happened and it just feels so wrong… I was punching her in the face, Cecil! Sometimes it’s hard to look at Philia when I remember what I was doing when we got isekai’d.”

“Well to be honest, we got blasted to atoms so all’s well.” Cecil whispered.

“Yeah, but don’t you remember when we first met? She had a gun…she knew that wouldn’t work on me. She was planning to kill  herself! After spending all those years lonely! It’s just…” Ingrid sighed and Cecil wiped a tear.

“Let’s not worry about what could have been, Ingrid.” Cecil replied, prompting Ingrid to hug him tighter.

The Whale’s first encounter on the road was a travelling caravan consisting of a few wagons. Neith flew her drone Aquila over to the side so as not to surprise them.

“Good morning, fellow travelers! Please do not mind us!” Ingrid said over the mic in a cheerful voice. “Our big wagon will be passing by on your left, no need to give way. This friendly greeting is brought to you by the blessings of Qhetar the God of Abundance and the Merciful Saint Ygris… did I miss anything else out? Oh! The mic was still on!”

The travelers looked on with wonder as they beheld the gigantic eight-wheeled ATV effortlessly trundle along the rocky, uneven terrain beside the road. The Whales where leaning out of the window waving at them and Iohann was swinging her thurible around dispensing blessings. The travelers waved back as they continued along the road, conversing amongst themselves about what kind of magical wagon they just beheld… it sure would be a story to tell for ages to come…

Zefir was laughing as Ingrid made her greetings. “Ingrid… I swear you’ve still retained your goofy Theme Park employee mode. Not that I’ve ever seen you in action.”

“You should’ve seen it.” Philia giggled as she eased the ATV back up the road again. “Her Happy Dino costume was just pure nightmare fuel! Big googly eyes and that wide open mouth… I tell you, it was like the poor T-Rex was on bath salts!”

As Zefir guffawed loudly, Ingrid protested “Hey! Happy Dino is cute!”

“No, he’s funny!” Philia cackled “But at the very least, the costume doesn’t scare children away, like a clown would…”

Neith’s Aquila drone flew further forward again. 

“Good morning! Please don’t be alarmed, our big wagon is just passing by…!” Ingrid said cheerily down the line.

“Ingrid?” A familiar voice said.

“Roofe?” Zefir looked up at the monitor mounted above the windshield.

“Stop by them, Philia.” Ingrid said quickly “Roofe? Mink? What are you folks doing there? This isn’t the way to Ontala!”

Zefir stepped back and saw the two fluffy dog-like kobolds standing at the side of the road, looking at the hovering drone curiously, their tongues lolling out as usual.

“We were heading to… Is that you in that big wagon?” Mink said.

“We’re heading to Teth-Odin.” Ingrid said “What about you?”

“Mink and I are going on a journey. We’re drifters you see. We’ve planned to move from Ontala after the Red Moon…”

The two fluffy kobolds looked on curiously as the big horseless wagon ground to a halt in front of them. A door opened at the side and Ingrid hopped out. 

“If you want, you can ride with us, we’re heading to Teth-Odin and we've got plenty of room.” Ingrid paused “It’s the least I can do to pay you two back for helping me.”

The two panting dogs looked at each other. “What do you think? Teth-Odin?” Mink asked Roofe.

“Why not? Demon Cities usually don’t have to worry about Red Moons.” Roofe replied.

“They don’t? Why not?” Ingrid frowned, that was definitely news to her.

“Something about the magic of the Rifts under the city, it ironically shields them from monster attacks… that just means they gotta worry about the influx of monsters from the inside trying to claw their way out.” Mink explained. “We’re just trying to find a place that gives us some peace and quiet…places like those do exist after all…”

“I think we can get that arranged…” Ingrid said. “Give me a second…” she hopped back into the ATV and tapped Zefir on the shoulder.

“Mink and Roofe, what do you think?” She asked quickly.

Zefir nodded his head. “They’re drifters, moving from one town to the next inbetween Red Moons, that’s what I heard. As for being reliable, they’ve been around for much longer than I have and they’ve never pressed me on where I’m from. They should be good…if you’re planning to bring them to Autumnhollow.”

After a few minutes of conferring with the group, Ingrid then left the ATV.

“Come along!” She said. “I think I may have a place for you guys.”

“We would be grateful.” Roofe said, Ingrid only seemed too happy to hold his paw and pull both of them in for an embrace, tails wagging.

Zefir, Sammy, and Kinu hopped out of the van to help the two fluffy kobolds pack up their camp. The procedure only took a few moments and then once again Ingrid was the last to board the ATV. 

“Wheels up!” she called and Philia started the engine once more.

“We were among the archers in the defense of the southern wall.” Roofe said “fortunately we weren’t hurt but I think I might have pulled my shoulder from shooting too fast.”

Iohann quickly placed a glowing hand on his shoulder and uttered a prayer, Roofe quickly groaned and then sighed as he felt a warm spread over his shoulder and then the pain had stopped.

“Thank you… ummm?” 

“Iohann of the Treanthorn Tribe, I’m from Fairhaven.”

“Fairhaven? We’ve been there long ago.” Roofe said as they shook hands. “Is… the town still having trouble with those thugs?”

“Thugs?” Ingrid frowned. Eyes narrowing. Iohann uncomfortably looked away and Ingrid put a hand on her shoulder.

“They control the town of Fairhaven, my Arch-Deacon recommended I leave the town and further my studies somewhere safer but…” Ingrid rubbed her shoulder , letting her know it’s alright.

“Looks like we owe Fairhaven a debt after we finish our business in Teth-Odin.” Ingrid darkly.

“B-but that’s my own troub-” Iohann looked up and only saw Ingrid’s glowing eyes.

“Your enemies are our enemies.” She grinned widely.

“I do need things to shoot.” Cecil said innocently, and the mice squeaked in response.

“Office Intern here, I don’t like bullies.” Zefir said.

Kvaris growled “Father would not approve of their presence… “

“...thieves are a merchant’s enemy.” Kinu added.

“I don’t like people who push others around.” Siria chimed in.

Sammy grumbled. “Our tribe cannot abide by those who harm our hosts.”

Viel quietly nodded.

“I left my corrupt home to leave behind such things.” Philia said, keeping her eyes on the road. “I won’t let it fester in Veles.”

“Miss Philia found out who had been slapping me around… I’ve yet to know what happened to her…” Gwen said quietly. Philia laughed in the background.

___

The party took a break at a pleasant-looking riverside. The mice were gathered around the grill, tails wagging as they stood on boxes and excitedly made barbecue for the team, squeaking their mouse-songs in unison as they swayed left and right as one. 

Ingrid stood the furthest away from the group, keeping an eye out for anything that might approach the party while Cecil hovered near her, keeping watch on the group itself. 

“Better enjoy this while it lasts Ingrid, we’re gonna spend weeks in a dungeon, depending on how long greed takes hold of us.” Cecil said, noticing Zefir and Philia fishing. 

“You really think we’re going to be there that long?” Ingrid said as she scanned the vast expanse of grass and flowers, seeing only large herds of bison-like creatures lazily moving along hundreds of feet away. 

“Wouldn’t you?” Cecil asked. “Arthur and Sully have mythril guns with jacked up parts, they pretty much outclass my M240 machine gun in terms of durability. Eli and Brody have at most 60-round magazines  thanks to Qhethar’s blessings. I hope we won’t have to need that much, but it’s a possibility.”

“We won’t rush into the deepest parts of the dungeon, that’s for sure.” Ingrid said. “Ammunition will be one of our benchmarks for how far we can go, keeping in mind the trip back.”

“Don’t forget the time to build ammunition. We gotta do that ourselves.”

“That too. We can’t rely on Arek for everything.”

Cecil thought for a while “Mink and Roofe could definitely help us, but that’s just two additional hands.”

“If we can find more reliable hands, Cecil, let me know..”

“Yeah, I’ll get back to you on that one, Ingrid.” Cecil said after a while.

“At the very least we can have the parts for the bullets made locally.” Ingrid said. “Dain mentioned a Bvalinn who runs an excellent smithy, and Rhathmin has given his recommendation of a couple of apothecaries that could make our gunpowder and explosives. Philia also has mass-crimpers so at the very least that part can be simplified.”

“At the very least the pellet guns should provide stopping power.” Cecil said, looking down on his modified bb-un in the shape of an MP5 with a generous drum magazine. 

“Do not hesitate to use bullets, Cecil.” Ingrid said. “We may need their penetrating power to punch through multiple targets. Those could end fights much faster.”

“Of course…” Cecil told her. “Of course, there’s still Fairhaven to think about but I think we should still gear up anyway, we can’t afford to think they’re just thugs.”

“We will take care of them…” Ingrid said. “We will…and I when I catch them I’ll…”

Gwen had just finished gutting the last batch of fish when Zefir and Sammy plopped in the next batch.

“I think these will be enough.” Zefir said. Gwen did a quick count then nodded in assent. 

“Overlord to Whales, don’t fill up, we’ll be in Teth-Odin long before the sun sets, give most of them to Mink and Roofe, they’ve been sleeping rough the last few days. Over..” Cecil said as he surveyed the team.

“Ten-Four Overlord, Baseplate out.” Zefir replied as he and Sammy cleaned up and packed their fishing gear. Philia and Viel meanwhile were teaching Mink and Roofe how to use their earpieces as well as thinking of callsigns for them.

“Dallas and Wayne.” Ingrid said, listening to the conversation. 

“I’ll be Dallas then.” Roofe said.

“That makes me Wayne.” Minke remarked.

“The idea is that if anyone tries to listen in, they will have difficulty understanding.” Viel explained. 

“Makes sense.” Roofe said, tightening his earpiece.

The team quickly took their lunch by the river, with Neith’s drones Aquila and Falcis keeping watch.

“Does anyone have any business in Teth-Odin before we begin adventuring tomorrow morning?” Ingrid asked as she picked at her grilled fish.

Iohann was the first to speak up “If possible, I’d like to visit some churches to make my prayers.” 

“Necessary, sure.” Ingrid said.

“We know some people we could visit just in case we don’t find a location to put up Autumnhollow, some of them might have a wide enough courtyard or garden to set up our home.” Kinu said. Kvaris nodded in assent.

“We know a few people as well.” Mink said, and Roofe nodded, 

“Yes, please do.” Ingrid said “Since we got radio it shouldn’t be too hard to update each other on what’s going on. As soon as we’re done with our meeting with the Guild of…?”

“Jormungandr” Siria answered for her “led by Guildmaster Whiskers…”

Ingrid’s face scrunched up and she doubled over trying to suppress a laugh. She should have known better. Why oh why does every Tephran have to be named like the pet of some crazy cat-lady? She thought. 

Philia on the other hand despite finding the name funny kept her stone-cold poker face, one of the few silver linings of being brought up in a life of throne room intrigue was the mastery over one’s voice and facial expressions when receiving information that provoked emotion.

“Please excuse Ingrid, she’s…. where we’re from, those names are….well it’s a cultural thing, it takes too long to explain.” Zefir said.

Siria smiled, she understood and decided to humor Ingrid “...anyway Guildmaster Tibbles, and Guildmaster Whiskers know each other very well. As a matter of fact, they’re part of a Tephran association along with Archmage Meister…”

As Ingrid dissolved into giggling fits, Cecil pressed on “Interesting! Who else is in this distinguished group?” 

Siria grinned wider and began enumerating more and more distinguished Tephrans with their funny names. Philia’s face had lost color maintaining her expression and Zefir was masking his amusement by being amused by Ingrid.

“And there you have it, our great hero’s weakness, a litany of the names of great Tephrans.” Kvaris grinned. 

INDEX: The Whales' Party Sheet