Chapter 40: Beaches, Boats & Bonfires

Nausea.

Nausea and the sensation of my liquified and booze-brinned brain swishing back and forth in my skull.

Nausea, the sensation of my liquified and booze-brinned brain swishing back and forth in my skull and…  

And… 

And a mouth that was furrier than my unbrushed tail and dryer than the well of human kindness that lay within the heart of The Second. 

I could only imagine how dry the well within the heart of whoever was shaking me awake and unearthing me to this torture must be in comparison. How could they? Every sound and slight movement exposed me to new tortures as I paid for the evening’s sins with suffering. Purgatory was real and it was here and now. 

As to when and what now was? It couldn’t be morning as I felt like I had barely slept yet at all. Blinking to clear my pained eyes of gunk and ease them into the cavernous chamber’s torchlight, I attempted to identify my assailant but they remained blurry to my too pained and tired to focus eyes. 

Releasing a desiccated croaking whimper, I did my best to summon up some saliva to swallow and force some fluid back into my mummified throat and mouth.

Oh no. Shit. Bad idea.

As if suddenly reminded of the existence of a passage leading up and out, my traitorous stomach instantly began to heave and contract.

Oh gods n— 

Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh

* * *

So, putting aside vomit and the wretched experience of a hangover in a VR world programmed by sadists, we were now trudging through thick forest under the star and moon. Walking through the dark forest at night, surrounded by a pack of pirates and guided by a poacher. Which was part of the reason why I was so rudely woken up, it had been time to leave. 

I’m not sure how the NPCs were marking time in that man-made cavern deep beneath the baronial capital, but we had needed to be on our way to embark on our mission.

Anyway so back to caverns, vomit and hangovers, fortunately (somehow), neither the world, our allies, nor our mission could afford to wait for hangovers.

Even more fortunately for me, there existed in CORA a miraculously effective hangover cure in alchemical potion form capable of dispelling hangovers, residual drunkenness and accompanying status effects. Which meant once they’d managed to pour one down my bile burned throat, I was on a speedy road to recovery and a quick meal of warm fortifying porridge, campfire toast and slightly burnt bacon.

And from there with barely a moment to stop and breath the sewer air, we were escorted to where a small crowd were waiting at one of the outgoing tunnels. 

Some of those waiting were to be expected like El who had their own mission, or the leader of the Underground Alaïs to see us off, but the rest were less expected to say the least. Standing besides El was a pair that looked dressed for burgling, all in black with soft soled shoes for sneaking, and clustered together in a group a pace away was a group of very piratey looking roughs loaded for bear.

And when I say loaded for bear I meant it. Five of our party, three humans, a wolf alrec and a darkling, were carrying an assortment of belt and boot knives, hand axes, cutlaces and sabers between them. And that was on top of the rough looking runed blunderbusses they and Gael were each carrying or the small quiver of bolts they were wearing at their hips. 

The blunderbusses especially caught my attention because of their strange pairing with what appeared to be metal crossbow bolts for ammunition. My fingers were itching with the desire to grab one and examine it, but I forced myself to settle for examining them from a short distance. Each blunderbuss was made with a barrel of iron strips of metal banded together like a cask of beer or wine and roughly engraved with crude runes down the length of the barrel. And at the back of each located behind the trigger mechanism and between the rear of the barrel and the wooden stock was a silvery gold hammer inlaid with a small gem, that when cocked back looked like it would make contact with a larger gem that was set within the stock.

From all appearances, it was cheap rough and ready magitech. Magitech, outside of mentions of mad foxes and military hardware, I’d only heard of it as something that was as much of a luxury item as the Lux VR pods I’d rescued were meant to be. 

In the two and something weeks I’d been playing I hadn’t heard of any magictech so cheap, improvised or me when it came to magitech. If I was going to remain in this game world or come back to it once I was free, I had to pick up whatever tradeskill would allow me to start making some magitech of my own. 

Pulling myself back from drooling over the prospects of back alley magitech, I cast an eye towards the sixth member of the party waiting for us. Whereas the previous five screamed swashbuckling cutthroats, the less sophisticated cousins to El’s roguish act, the sixth was cute from an altogether different cloth. 

Short and grizzly with short gray hair that looks like he’d cut it with his own knife, the weathered woodsman was dressed in heavily stained brown pants, tunic and an equally stained green hooded coat. Instead of magitech blunderbusses, the man (or poacher if my guess was right) had a six and half foot unstrung bowstave hanging diagonally across his back, bound to the quiver he was wearing. He had knives too, don’t go doubting that, and from the few I could see had me wondering if he was competing with Gael for most knives carried. But most threatening was the six feet of boar spear he was using as a walking stick, sword like spear tip, cross bar and all.

“Great! You’re up and ready to move,” said Ser Alaïs, clapping her hands together as we came to a stop in front of her. “During your revels earlier and while you were sleeping them off, I undertook some last minute preparations calling in a few favors arranging some extra muscle and talent.”

Looking at the “fun” company planned for us, my hopes this was going to be a quiet scouting and fact finding mission had grown less and less by the second. Already there had been a preemptive stress migraine waiting on the fringes of my mind that had me vividly recalling all the varied reasons I’d avoided signing on with any of the Phili crews and had stayed solo.

“El. You don’t have to admit it, but I know you’ve done a job before with the brothers previously,” accused the former knight, before then, in response to El’s wide eyed look of feigned innocence, adding, “Yes you heard me, I know.” 

“As for Aisling and Roxi, I know from El and Gael that your magic is versatile and packs a punch, but I’ve called in favors with the Bloodswell Raiders for some muscle. Don’t worry, I trust Gael to keep them in line. As Ser Short and Scowly, that’s Salt, one of most successful and longest running poachers this side of the Highlands. He’ll get you where to go without ever stepping on a road or being spotted,” she’d said, introducing our companions for the night’s mission.

Following goodbyes and good lucks, we were led through a succession of drains and tunnels reminiscent of the one we had escaped Fort Brightspring through. Until the soft sounds of water trickling along the tunnel’s floor had turned to a gushing murmur as the tunnel opened up into a large wet natural cave system and the trickle flowed into a merging of underground streams.

The question of whether or not to follow the water downstream, or whether to follow one of the branches upstream was quickly decided by Salt choosing to go with the flow.

From there it wasn’t long before we emerged from the cave system into a forested gorge carved out by the escaping water and from there the forest proper. Which brings us back to hiking in the forest at night surrounded by pirates.

You’re probably expecting me to start complaining around about now, aren't you?

Well, I’d like to think I’ve grown during this journey and can now undertake a long hike in a forest at night, gracefully and without complaint. Despite stubbing my toes on rocks and almost tripping several times due to roots, only saved by my cat-like balance.

To be honest the endurance gains were really helpful and as we were not expecting to be hiking several days across the duchy so I was able to travel light leaving my pack in the Underground and only taking the essentials and a few snacks.

Without the additional weight, the forest and hiking under the stars was almost relaxing. The cool night air was both refreshing and invigorating. Just me, my warm… uh, my amazonian goth, our catgirl berserker, a salt of the earth woodsman and five bloodthirsty pirates out on a romantic moonlit stroll through the forest.