Your lives will take a turn. Today? Maybe. Tomorrow? Maybe. In the next week, month, or year? Maybe. Eventually? Absolutely. The world moves along with or without you. A lucky break. A tragic misfortune. A fatal mistake. Anything can turn your life around, all at once. Pray that it is in your favor.

-Final words of an unnamed clock cultist

*=====*

Mori, Fara, and Zubov walked through the front doors of the Green Blood Hall, Fara carrying a hefty bag of jingling metal coins. They walked down the sandstone street, a calm, serene silence between them. Some took the time to glance in their direction, but every passerby had little to no interest in the small group, even with Mori’s unique visage. A short walk later, they reached the mod dock. Fara opened the door and let the other two in before closing it behind them. Mori and Fara gave out heavy, deep sighs, “I don’t ever want to do that again…” Mori said.

“Agreed…” Fara echoed.

“Come on,” Zubov groaned, “It wasn’t that bad, was it?” 

“Yeah, it was,” Mori said.

“Why? Just because you had to do a bit of paperwork to get your reward? If that gets you like this, then be grateful you don’t work there! It’s a lot!”

“We are, Zubov. We are,” Fara added as they walked up the scaffolding surrounding the Kharon, finally making their way into the dining hall. The room was mostly as they had left it. Norta and Mokan were both sitting at the table, reading the book about mana types, while the pyraustas were all crowding around Unio. The blood slime himself was sitting on a table at the far side of the room, a forgotten hilja bug shell skeleton thrown on top of his head. The two undead jiggled against each other, as if fighting for dominance, before they both fell to their left. The pyraustas either smiled or frowned as the two undead toppled. “Alright, what are you guys doing?” Mori asked as she entered, sitting down on the closest stool and sliding up to the closest long table.

The undead all stopped their game and turned to Mori. Faint worry was obvious, even to the lich, but they were all perfectly still. At that moment Aerolat’s orcish body manifested in the air beside her, giving a small bow, “Mistress. How was your trip?” he asked as if he were a butler.

His demeanor did not go unnoticed by the lich, but she stopped herself from asking any odd questions, “Well, we met with the gods, almost got killed by a bunch of priests, met with a Grand Chief, and got conscripted to be a part of Green Oasis’ detachment to the Joint Aekan Liberation Force. I’d say pretty eventful,” she said. Fara wore a wry smile while Zubov wore a smile exactly opposite at her retelling of events.

Aerolat nodded calmly, “I see, then. What will we do next, then?” he asked. 

Before Mori could reply, Norta stood, “Wha- How can you just ignore that whole thing and just say ‘what next?’ Don’t you have a single question!?” she yelled. 

Fara sighed while Zubov was failing at holding back a grin. The pyraustas stood there, slightly stunned at the woman’s outburst. Aerolat gave the woman a confused look, turning back to his mistress as if asking what he was supposed to say. Mori, in turn, looked at the woman in amusement, “It’s the norm around here,” she said, “Loosen up a bit. You’ll get wrinkles if you don’t.” Silence reigned for a moment before Zubov broke, laughing while bent almost double. Fara tried to hold back her laughter while the pyraustas gave the woman awkward, freakish smiles. Even Mokan gave a big smile to his sister.

Norta, taking a moment to understand what was said, deflated at the lich’s words, “What have I gotten myself into…?” she mumbled. She sat back down, resting her head on the book in front of her. Mokan gently took the book out from under her head, putting it in front of him and continuing to read. 

“Now then… Actually, what are we going to do next? Fara?” Mori asked.

The woman in question sighed, “I thought that was obvious: I upgrade the skiff, we wait for the Liberation Force to be gathered, and we prepare for the counter invasion. It seems pretty simple to me.”

Mori shook her head, along with the other pyraustas, while Aerolat pointed to the pouch of coins Fara had, “How much money, Ms. Fara, has the mistress and you collected?” he asked.

Fara’s eyes glazed over for a split second, “Hmm… 137 thousand in total, but we have about 129 thousand after a few purchases. Why? I doubt the ship upgrade will take more than half of that.”

Aerolat nodded to her, “While that is true, that is not the problem. I do not wish to be rude, but money is required for more than simply skiff upgrades. More research materials for the mistress, items of comfort for the living passengers, weapons, armor, expensive components that you may require for new inventions, all of it costs money,” he explained, “I am dubious as to whether that amount of money will be able to supply everyone’s needs.”

They all nodded as one as he spoke, understanding the problem at hand. Mori, too, wondered how they could solve the issue when she recalled their original plan for coming to the city, “I have an idea,” Mori said, “We were originally planning on becoming hunters to raise funds and travel to Mount Averus, but why can’t we still work as hunters?” 

Fara thought for a moment before nodding, “I guess that could work… But how will we travel around while I’m upgrading the Kharon?” 

Fury and Desire shared a knowing look, the latter raising her spike-arm, “Actually,” she began, “Why not use the small skiff you brought? In fact, Avarice could make a version that runs off of ambient mana either gathered directly or channeled through the rider. I think… Avarice?”

He shook his head, sighing, “Nope. I can’t mess with complicated mana like you Pride and Jealous can. Actually, the only ones here who can play with runes are the mistress and Ms. Fara. Either that, or Aerolat chose a mana-related Trait?” he asked while shifting his gaze to the orc-shaped floating pool of blood. 

He shook his head, “Unfortunately, I invested my Trait slots into making my presence unnoticeable and being able to communicate with others beyond the servants of the Mistress. I regret to say that the mistress must be the one to make the personal skiff.”

Mori, glancing out onto the deck of the Kharon and staring at Fara’s skiff, nodded, “I did get [Multi-rune Casting] because I wanted to be a mechanic, but I got more interested in sigil magic. I can try my hand at a bit of runecraft, though; it seems interesting.”

Fara gave a satisfied sigh, “Seeing everyone like my skiff this much makes me happy. Well, I can teach you, Mori, about runes when I make the propulsion actually useful. I will need a few prototypes first, though,” she said while stretching her back, “Okay, no more putting this off… I’m going to get going on the upgrade plans. I’ll be around the ship if you need me.” Fara excused herself, entering the hold of the skiff and leaving the group.

Crave stepped away from the table catching everyone’s attention, “I think we should come up with something to do as well; once Ms. Fara needs our help, we can do some of the heavy lifting for the upgrade, but I think we should make the most of our time now.”

Avarice nodded, “Sure, but I have a better idea: we should come up with what we need for ourselves on the skiff!” he proposed. Murmurs of agreement were passed around and they all fell into contemplation about what they wanted on the skiff. After a moment, Avarice began to speak, “Everyone have something?” he asked. They all nodded, “Then I’ll go first: I want a workshop somewhere in the skiff.”

Aerolat gave the pyrausta a stern look, “How much space do you think that will take up? It will probably take a lot of space, space that we all need to share.”

Mori’s eye-flames rolled a bit, “Ah, cut him some slack, Aero. It’s not like he’s the only one who’ll use it; Fara will make good use of it as well,” she chided, “Well, since I’m already talking, I’ll go next: a library. Most of us will have books we want to study from, so having a secure place to store them is important.”

They all nodded, Crave doubly so, “I’ll go next. I kind of want to keep that little kitchen area over there,” he said, pointing at the corner of the dining room, turned into a kitchen, “The living around here can’t live on jerky alone, and I do want to learn how to cook.”

They all nodded, Aerolat visibly holding himself back from saying anything for fear of displeasing his mistress, Mori guessed. After a moment, he straightened his back and stood tall while floating, “Then it is my turn. I personally believe that giving everyone their own personal space will be important for mental wellbeing,” he stated, “I myself really want a container that I can rest in, using my liquid form.”

“That’s fair,” Mori said, “Even now, we have enough rooms for everyone to use, but reworking it to have everything we need may make spatial arrangements a bit tight. If need be, bedrooms are the most important things in that case; the living need sleep, after all.”

Desire stood next, “I don’t have anything other than a personal space, honestly,” she said, soon sitting down.

Fury stood, “I want an open deck. That’s it.”

Idle gave her choice, “I want to be able to rest in the highest point in the ship,” she said, “I like being able to see everything from there.”

Their attention turned to Pride, who shrugged, “Library,” he said simply. Jel, who timidly pointed at Pride.

The final two, Mokan and Norta, received the full brunt of attention from the undead and Norta had to take a quick breath to calm herself, “I want an open deck to be able to practice on,” she said, “I’m a worker by trade, but I am also a brawler on the side so an open space to practice would be nice. I don’t think Mokan wants anything,” Mokan shook his head, “Nope, he doesn’t.”

They nodded, “Fury wanted the same thing,” Aerolat said, “Do we have everything, then?” he asked.

“We want a workshop, a library, personal spaces, to keep the kitchen, an open deck to train in, and a high point on the ship to scout from, I believe,” Crave listed.

Mori nodded, “Thank you, Crave. For now, let’s just wait for Fara to do her thing. Good?” everyone present nodded, “Alright then! Time to relax, then!” she said as she slumped in her seat. The rest of those present slowly went back to their own devices, returning the dining hall of the skiff to serenity once more.