The Mission
ATTENTION: HELP WANTED
A BANDIT GANG CALLING THEMSELVES
BAZZA’S BOYS HAVE BEEN PILFERING TRADE ROUTES
BETWEEN BALSAM, DRIFTVIEW, AND ALBERON
IT’S MEMBERS ARE NOT NOTABLY STRONG
THOUGH THEY APPEAR TO HAVE A SMALL NUMBER
OF MAGES IN THEIR EMPLOY
A REWARD OF 185’000 JEWELS IS TO BE DIVIDED
EQUALLY AMONGST ALL WHO PARTICIPATE
IN THIS MISSION
“Hark! A vile dark guild known as the BEASTS OF THE BURNING WASTES have PLUNDERED and LAID WASTE SEVERAL TOWNS along the road to Balsam, we must put an end to their devilish misdeeds!”
“I- What?”
“Indeed Lady Fontpale, the atrocities they commit are so vile and repugnant that one feels almost incapable of speaking after hearing them. We must valiantly ride to their defense posthaste! Without us, the entire kingdom may fall!”
“No, I mean everything you mentioned was wrong, they don’t call themselves that, they rob travelers not towns, and so far the worst they’ve done is shake down some wealthy merchants.”
“Nonsense Lady Fontpale, where are you getting such blatant misinformation?”
“The… back of the poster in your hand?”
“I have no clue what you’re talking about, young lady.”
“Hey, uh, Cat. Could you keep it down? It’s four in the morning and I’m trying to sleep.”
“Ah! Miss Lovelace, we could use your help in taking down these vile fiends! Come along now, there’s JUSTICE to be done!”
“I haven’t agreed to anything yet!”
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Midday, near a small town between Driftview and Alberon. The scorching desert heat was not helping the general mood of the two women Cat Sid had “persuaded” into joining him.
“You know Cat, if you had given me time to prepare before you literally dragged me out here, I might have actually been able to bring one of my many inventions that would have allowed us to survey the area.” Curie wasn’t exactly in a good mood, her constitution was poorly suited to the sun beating down on her, as was her choice of clothing.
“Hmm… Yes, perhaps it was a slight miscalculation on my part. Nevertheless, I expect us to clear out the devils quite quickly! I have you two S-Class mages supporting me as well!”
“I can’t fight on my own Cat, without my gear I’m pretty much useless,” Curie replied bluntly, unfortunately, her reply was not noticed and if it was, Cat Sid had chosen to ignore it.
“I’m a little new here, is Cat Sid always so… quixotic?”
“Yes Esty, yes he is.”
A few weeks had passed, and so far nothing notable had happened. The haphazardly assembled team was using Esty’s rail magic to zip through the desert, faster than any train could, while using what little food could be conjured by Curie or scavenged by Cat Sid’s beasts.
“It’ll be nightfall soon, we should set up camp before the cold sets in.”
“Indeed, I’ll get back to work on some replacement drones, they’ll be half-assed and slipshod, but better than nothing.”
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On the other side of the road connecting Alberon and Driftview, a very different kind of story was playing out, Buster Henri was dealing with a couple of goons working under Bazza, they were fodder, as the hulk of a man expected them to be but they had the advantage in numbers. “Tch. We can keep goin’ or you can tell me where your boss is.” “Fuck you man, I ain’t telling you shit!” A swift uppercut to the jaw knocked the bandit flat on his back, knocking him unconscious. “Man, was hoping he’d be a little tougher than that. Guess I’ll turn him in either way.”
Having never done guild work before, Buster was looking for some easy work, just dipping his toes into it to test the waters. He was well suited to the job, though the man didn’t actually consider himself a mage, nor was he officially in any sort of guild yet, being something of a freelancer for now.
Alberon wasn’t exactly near his hometown, and the journey wasn’t particularly pleasant but none of the other jobs were all that interesting to him, he wanted at least enough challenge for it to be interesting. “Damn. How the hell is there a town this nice, this green, this far in the desert? I’d almost say it’s like magic.” The town’s unusually cool climate was in fact, due to magic, though Henri had no way of knowing that himself.
A long-forgotten relic lay buried underneath the town, supplying it with a near infinite amount of water and was responsible for the permanently pleasant weather. The town was a desert paradise, an oasis in a sea of sand that brought travelers from near and wide to its resorts. For most of its history, the town was isolated from the world, the trains from Balsam and Driftview having been constructed only very recently. Despite that, tourism and trade were booming, which meant banditry was soon to be booming as well.
“They got seafood here? How the hell does that work?” Buster was walking past a restaurant, almost considering ordering something just to see if he’d actually get real lobster. Restaurants like these were pretty common in Alberon, surprisingly the artificial lakes and miniature seas had actual life in them, though how they got there was a mystery that eluded even the greatest scholars.
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”We’re almost at Alberon now, did you remember to bring some gold for lodgings while we’re out here?”
“Oh no Lady Fontpale, such things are unnecessary, Moon’s Watch has a branch all the way out here!”
“I remember Mond saying something along those lines a while back. Apparently, it’s actually one of the major players out here. Though I guess that’s to be expected, we’re pretty big as far as guilds go and Alberon never really had any major guilds of its own, never really needed any as far as I’m aware. I’ve heard there’s some sort of merchant guild here that specializes in magitech components. I plan to see what they have to offer. I’ll meet up with you two later.
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Across town, Buster had finally gotten into some real action. He had staked out one of the fronts the bandits were using to launder their ill-gotten gains; it was, perhaps unsurprisingly, disguised as an auction house.
Crossing the threshold of the worn-down building, he prepared for an ambush, his muscles tensed. Bafflingly, there was nobody standing guard, priceless jewels and pilfered goods seemingly stored without concern for being robbed themselves. This wasn’t because they were too tough to even conceive of angering, Buster knew for a fact that they were rather weak. The whole situation was bizarre and a thought gnawed at the back of his head that he’d somehow been played. He slowly made his way back outside, considering what his next move should be.
As he exited the doorway and back into the sunlight, an axe came swinging down with lethal speed, it would surely cleave his neck in two before his eyesight even had a chance to adjust to the brightness outside.
“Heh.”
All twelve bandits were frozen in place, blood as cold as ice.
“You think I wasn’t expecting you chumps to pull this sorta thing?”
A fist as hard as steel smashed through the axeman’s jaw before his swing was even halfway through, his body flying back and bowling over two of his compatriots. He was like a human meteor, moving through the air so fast that you’d have to assume it was a cannon, not a punch that he was struck with. Buster let out a mocking chuckle, steam rising from his upraised hand as if he was daring his foes to see who was next.
“Things are finally getting interesting around here, seems you realized that you don’t stand a chance against me in a fair fight.” He was slowly walking towards his next opponent, not even entering a fighting stance. Wordlessly the brigand gang had already decided amongst themselves to flee back into the scorching desert, the human jackhammer in front of them required a level of power they just couldn’t dish out.
“Running away so quickly? You should know that you won't be able to run away, I’m faster than a speeding train!”
He began to give chase to them, his feet pushing off the cobblestone road hard enough to dislodge some cobbles. A chill began to creep over him, and the moisture in the air rose exponentially, a deep blow glow enveloping the street. Buster had no clue what was coming but he knew that he had to block whatever it was, he had to block it or he would die. As he raised his arms to cover his vitals, a massive beam of pressurized water shot past him. He thought for sure it would be too late for him to cover his head before the blast smashed through his skull. The surge of water never even hit him, whizzing past him by mere inches instead.
“Job poster never said anything about this, no way I’m getting paid enough for this shit...” The mage who fired at him left without uttering a single word, though his severe face conveyed his anger well enough. “No way a man like that leaves after missing a single shot… unless that shot was never intended for me…”
Turning around, Buster confirmed his worst fears, the mage was never aiming at him. No, he in fact cast such a lethal spell merely to silence the bandits knocked unconscious in the earlier scuffle. “What kinda psychopath kills his own men?” The imposing man stuck his hands in his pockets, looking at the mangled, soaking corpses behind him. “Whoever he is, he just made a fatal flaw, I know what he looks like now, and I know for certain he ain't a local.”