After a week at sea, I was thoroughly annoyed with Pantheon Entertainment. Before, I had seen their commitment and efforts to make Road to Purgatory the incredibly immersive game that it was as something commendable, the time spent on the road an often-times interesting and rewarding experience. The sensation that the Road was the goal, that behind every tree could be something hidden, every valley inviting exploration and a nice brook sending an invitation to linger.

But while travelling by ship, there were no interesting experiences, no secrets behind trees, no explore-worthy valley and certainly no brooks to linger at. We mostly sat around in our quarters, talking with the other travellers and slowly going crazy. Or maybe crazier.

Without repeated experiments to explore the connection between Sigmir and me, I might have done something else to sate my craving for excitement and interesting experiences, something likely ill-advised. Granted, without her, I’d probably simply have logged out and not bothered entering the capsule for a few days, only returning to disembark, but that was a whole different consideration.

The report I wrote about the affair was a rather scathing one, decrying that people wouldn’t want to pay for the experience to stare at a wall all day, one that lacked even paint to watch dry. Curiously, there even was a reply, something I hadn’t expected.

What’s more, it read as if it was written by a human, though that didn’t mean much when thinking of the incredibly realistic citizens of Mundus and the capable capsule assistant. If a company had such incredible capabilities, wouldn’t it be an obvious step to employ them to smooth out their own workflow? Heck, just thinking that they used the technology they had to make a game made me shake my head a little, as it didn’t seem to be an efficient use of the investment. But given that I was one of those who greatly profited from their investment, I wasn’t about to complain. Only wonder.

Sadly, their response was both helpful and incredibly useless at the same time. It was wonderful to read that it was possible to create long-distance magical portals and to be encouraged to do so if I wanted to cut down travel times. But at the same time, adding yet another bullet point to my ever-expanding list of research topics felt like a kick to the shin.

After getting their permission, I added my report, alongside their response, to the topic that collected complaints about certain in-game mechanics, alongside suggested alleviations that players could develop on their own.

Going to that threat made me realise that the company did a rather smart thing there. If players were the ones who actively changed the world of Mundus, it would make them feel more connected and immersed within it, making it less likely that those players would destroy that world, and the sandbox we all wanted to play in. I even went down one of the link-rabbit holes and found a thread of various spellcasters, all pooling their ideas, some of it backed by a level of in-game-achievement, to create such teleportation circles. After a bit of hesitation, I added a couple of ideas based on my own experience with shadow stepping and Astral Projection, the idea to link those two sounding reasonable in my mind. I never went out and explained how exactly the effects I described could be achieved, or what limitations there were, but it might help someone, without exposing more of my abilities than I was comfortable with.

But the journey wasn’t just experimenting with Sigmir and complaining on the forum about sea travel, I occasionally joined the far-more sociable members of my group, which were all of them, in talking to the other travellers.

Curiously, the group of humans was utterly uninterested in conversation, treating everyone, even their fellow human Olivia, with completely guarded, yet polite, decorum. They talked amongst themselves, but never in anything but a whisper, giving cautious glances to us all while huddling in their corner. A part of me was curious about them, the idea to dig up their secrets somewhat tempting but at the same time, I wasn’t sure I wanted to wade into their mess, not if we had to remain in closed quarters.

On the other hand, the dwarves, halflings and the two valkyries were quite happy to talk about their experiences and plans, though I mostly remained a passive listener. As I had expected, they were all adventurers and were heading across the Mare Tempest to seek different adventures. While I felt there was something subtly off about their statements, I was never able to put my finger to it. Another curiosity, but one that I didn’t even consider trying to solve, as it would require me to work and get along with people. Or magically rip the answers from their head. I wasn’t sure which would be easier.

Either way, I wasn’t willing to make either effort, so they could keep their secrets.

With such thoughts in mind, I felt overjoyed when I felt the now somewhat familiar magical emanation that precluded the captain’s announcements. There had only been a few, the one when leaving the harbour, a single warning about rough weather and a few general orders to the crew, to quickly organise manpower. In a way, the journey itself had been about as interesting as the loading screens that occurred when changing areas in the games of old, only that this loading screen lasted a week. A thrice-damned week.

“We are on pace to dock in Nobost in thirty minutes,” the Wavecaller’s voice announced, bringing a happy smile to my face. During our meals, I had been able to catch that we were on schedule, but it was a great thing to hear it confirmed.

The other passengers around us let out quiet sighs of relief, I don’t think anyone had actually enjoyed the journey, and people started to pack their stuff up.

As so often, time slowed to a crawl when having to wait for something, to the point I checked if I had accidentally activated bullet-time. I hadn’t and finally, after what felt like a small eternity, a shudder ran through the boat and Tideseeker Relani came to get us, so we could depart. She had been the primary contact between us and the crew, a liaison of sorts, making sure that we were in an okay state and would get ourselves, or their ship, into trouble.

“Follow me, you can disembark while we plan the unloading process,” she told us and all passengers followed after her, all too happy to get off the ship. The humans were even more vigilant than they had been all journey, their stances reminding me a little of a porcupine, putting up all their quills and guarding against anything that might come too close. Their odd behaviour made my own hairs stand on end, and I felt myself get tense, ready to fight if anything untoward happened.

“Welcome to Nobost,” a different Naga greeted us when we got off the ship. She exchanged a quick, hissed greeting with the Tideseeker, before focusing back on us.

“The local authorities seek to have a record of all people who enter their city. You will have to go through their checkpoint or make your way out of our enclave on your own.” she paused for a moment as if waiting if anyone wanted to slink off, before glancing at Tideseeker Relani.

“I hope you all had a pleasant journey, I know it can be a little hard on passengers. May your journey follow the currents, and the tides be in your favour,” Relani gave her greeting, alongside the slightly strange half-bow of the Naga.

“Thank you, Tideseeker. The journey has been as pleasant as one could hope for, considering the circumstances. May the tides be in your favour,” Adra returned the greeting, before moving to follow the other Naga. We all gave a brief greeting to the Tideseeker who had taken care of us and followed along.

As we walked, I looked around to sate my curiosity. It was a different continent, and yet, the Naga architecture looked just like the buildings in their enclave in Torop. They were so similar in style, I wondered if they had been grown from the same mould and considering their crustacean appearance, I didn’t know how unlikely that thought was.

In the meantime, Adra began to inquire from the local Naga, asking about connections to move further south. It turned out, the Naga did very little trade along the coast, something about regulations and taxes making it incredibly difficult to compete with the land- or river-bound trade. It sounded like a major annoyance for them, but there was little they could do about it, outside of abandoning the entire continent.

Closing my eyes for a moment, I let out a deep sigh. Yet another major step on my journey had been taken and what a journey it had been. And how much further it would be, from here, down the coast, across even more water and through the elven forest.

All, to fulfil a quest that promised questionable rewards, all for the purpose of getting an achievement grande enough to be able to remain with Sigmir.

If that was even possible, and I wasn’t just deluding myself.

As sudden as that thought appeared in my mind, I quashed it. There had to be a way, and if there wasn’t, I would have to make one. How, I didn’t know just yet, but I would find one.

I had to.