Stone Troll; Troglodytarum petractus- Straight out of a child's cautionary tale these creatures inhabit, caves, crevices or holes in the ground. Like their moniker, they have skin made of stone with varying shades depending on their habitats. Some trolls are moss green, most likely to be found inhabiting forests, others are grey for craggy cliffs and crevices and can sometimes be a variant called the cave troll. While their name alludes to their skin of stone, they are also known to be somewhat intelligent monsters capable of making crude tools and weapons from stones. Threat levels fall between Steel and Gold rank on account of their resilient natural armor, resistance to some forms of magic save for fire, lightning and ice and their regenerative capabilities. from Philiarz Warnerskemander’s Bestiary for Adventurers: ‘Exotic Beasties and Where To Find Them.’

Constantly skirting against Guard patrols was wearing on his nerves, already he'd crossed two pairs of four checking for some clingy citizens. The cloak could help him when he stayed very still, but he didn't fancy such a thing; the enchantments were not full proof.

If one looked at the spot he was hiding for too long then they would have likely spotted the incongruity in the space around his hiding place. The Nightstalker's abilities were for ambush, not hiding. The moment you spotted a Nightstalker was the moment that it had its teeth over your throat.

And it was on one of the corners he was hiding at when his psiphone suddenly chimed. The clatter of armored boots against cobble stones suddenly paused at the sound and Arthur felt his stomach drop.

“Hey Oswern, you heard that?” voices came from around the corner. Arthur shuffled back into the wall. He cursed forgetting to keep the thing on vibrate; how could he though? He'd barely looked to see if it had a settings tab, or notification panel. Everything was displayed in an in your face kind of UI. No home button, just one continuous screen . He barely even looked like icons replaced by stylized runes; he was going to have words with the developer.

“I swear, if you're jumping at noises man—” another voice protested . Nonetheless, the sound of footsteps against wet cobblestones rang out through the alley.

“I hope it's not a monster that got through,” the first guard murmured. A metallic ring was heard as they rounded the corner.

“Hello?!” the guard called out in a not so confident voice. “Aldmoor's Guard...if you're still hereabouts best be getting a move on before the storm rolls in. ” the Guard said. They were wearing a leather poncho; rain gear. Their hood was drawn against their sallet hem, with the visor peeking through the edge. Colored black and you'd have gotten the equivalent of a riot police helmet, with a metallic instead of a glass visor.

The two guards looked green though, Arthur could tell from their nervous countenance as they cast their eyes around for anything that would jump from the roof. He felt pity for them seeing as they were just soaked though despite their rain gear; they looked weary and sallow faced.

”See, there's nothing,” the more jumpy of the two chittered nervously. He smacked his colleagues across his back, making him stumble as a result. Arthur took that chance to ever so slowly walk around the wall, careful not to splash the mud and puddles backed up from clogged drainage.

“I thought I saw a wall move I swear,”

“Seriously, we're just low on sleep, that's all. So much for spring graduation…” the other said sadly. It was just when Arthur's cloak ran out of mana when the two pulled out from the alley. He sighed, from then on, he didn't want to use it if he could help it. Filling it up strained his system. He wasn't sure if he was still charging it wrong. That said, he had to get to cover.

After waiting to ascertain the guards were no longer within earshot he moved towards the exit of the alley. There was not a soul to be seen. The town streets felt eerie, personal belongings strewn about and abandoned in flight; a button eyed doll in the mud, a checked scarf trod upon by wagon wheels, a bag of flour that had gotten wet and spilled onto the road, now soaking up the rain and murk. It all felt so real.

Arthur almost slumped there and then but he bit his cheek; he needed someplace secure to look at the [Message] on his Psiphone. The most promising place seemed to the stables that rented out horses near the main gate. From there, it was a straight shot outside as soon as the guards there evacuated as well.

Arthur also peered to the eastern walls; there too, he could see silhouettes of whatever defenders had been on that side leaving. The mana storm was almost there and if he didn't want another bout of mana poisoning, he’d have to move fast. Even though he had potions to clear out poisoning, the sensation of feeling his marrow so raw was not once he fancied.

Ascertaining there was no patrol nearby, he got up from his crouch and exited the alleyway. He kept close to the eaves, not for the sake of keeping out the rain, but guarding from archers hopping on the rooftops as they backed up the rear guard. Without incident he did make it to the stables. They were bare.

The indents of many hoof prints on the mud showed that they had already been evacuated. He sighed in relief, he could hole in here a while perhaps even let the storm pass before rejoining with the rest. Be as it may, the deep wurm was not going to wait for him to decide when it was comfortable to move. He’d have to whip out the Azure Surfer for this.

With furtive steps, he entered the stables. Stalls lay empty with disturbed hay while wooden doors groaned on their hinges swinging as the wind blew in from the large barnyard doors left open.

There was a little illumination from hurricane lamps, only powered by duller Lux crystals. It was so staggeringly normal if you discounted the size of the hoof and three clawed prints muddying the saw dust floor. Also, there was no discounting the smell of the animals who’d been its occupants.

Arthur found a relatively clean stable and sat down on the hay, well some ways from the open doors. He retrieved his Psiphone, hoping that the other side had good news.

However, before he could, the sound of footsteps had him up in a fighting posture with his dagger already drawn. His hood was low so whoever it was wouldn’t recognize him if they knew who he was.

“Easy child, there's gold in the little shack over by the corner,” a woman's voice called out to Arthur before the person came about. She was an elderly sylvani woman, though elderly was pushing it.

The sylvani never seemed to truly age; laughter lines and crow's feet were the only indicators. Her gray hair was held up in a messy bun and she had a two pronged hay fork by her side. However Arthur had learnt to study tells of threatening posture from his tutelage under his combat tutors and could see that she meant him no harm

Arthur relaxed somewhat, hiding the dagger behind his back as if holstering it, only to place it in [Inventory]

“I mean you no harm,” Arthur said, hood still low. “I just want to be left alone. I'll just leave if you let me be,” he added,raising his hands in front of him. The woman stepped away from the stall door, nodding as she did. The hay fork was still held non-threateningly; no threat of being skewered there.

‘Damn, can't catch a break can I?’ Arthur mused, as he hesitatingly stalked forward. He had reflexively began casting, [Thunder Bolt] spell matrix ready and primed for a warning shot. He passed the woman, her own gaze tracking his advance. But as he was about to break into a run—

“If you're running, then you're going in the wrong direction Orhill's little zapper,”

Arthur came up short. Was that a bluff? It was oddly specific that she called him a zapper. ”You've got the wrong person.” Arthur mumbled, eyes still on the barnyard door. His left side was diagonal to the woman's , yet he never raised his head.

“Please, I only know one other [Aeromancer] with an aura so prickly it feels like standing to a mana storm itself.” she scoffed, but not condescendingly. She seemed…amused?

Arthur wanted to humour her, but the [Message]—

”Why are you still here? You should've left... Something big is headed this way.” Arthur said. Just as well out of courtesy because she was acquainted with the Old dragonkin. Despite the rocky start with Orhill, he at least owed it to himself to warn her even if he didn't know her. She could've been someone's grandma; she definitely had those vibes.

”Haha, leave child? Where to?,” She chortled. “ Everything I built is right here.” she said, speaking fondly. Arthur saw one of her hands motion to the barn around them.

“And while I have smack to say about the dwarves, they'll eventually bring down the monster. However, It's a coin toss whether they'll be a city left to rebuild after they're done.”

“Hmm,” Arthur’s eyes flitted to the oncoming storm outside. He could tell it was about to break over the walls. Its lethargic progress had finally brought it close.

“You're hesitating.”

‘Ooh, how did you know?’ Arthur wanted to retort snarkily.But he bit down his tongue, instead he said, “Yeah, I think all of this is somehow my fault you know.” Somehow it felt cathartic to say it to her.

“Haha,” the woman doubled over in mirth. Arthur felt offended, but then she stalled his words with a raise of her free hand. “You think you're that big of a person already? Please, no one would have predicted that a mithril class monster was slumbering right beneath our noses. We've always lived on the edge of danger I suppose,” she said, drawing herself up as she too looked at the east-facing walls.

Some tenacious wyverns were still swooping down, only to get cut down by a certain guard captain with a bastard sword. It eerily reminded Arthur of Aeskyre the way she was dexterous with it. Her hair whipped about her, even this far out he could swear he heard laughter.

“Whatever it is you think you did, child, unless you're a [Voyeur], you couldn't have expected it. Now run along before I sic the guards on you.”

Arthur again hesitated. There―right there, was a choice he had to make; a break for the gates or something absurdly stupid that even Aeskyre would’ve smacked him into the next realm if she heard about it. And there it was, he just could not leave a big old mess that would forever be a stain whenever people heard his name.

He was no longer a nobody with average Joe skills; he knew how to make things fly and he sure as hell knew how to make them explode as well. How hard could it be to cause an intentional accident? ‘No such thing as an intentional accident stupid,’ he chasterned himself. He turned around to ask his acquaintance’s name, “ Ah, thanks...Miss?”.The woman was gone. Alone with himself, he sighed despondently, ‘Erythean women are scary.’

Arthur got out the psiphone and whilst noting Arcis’ reply, composed another [Message] spell. “ [Message]; We’re going monster hunting, kaiju levels of big. Pick me up at the Alchemist’s.”

The ascent to the direhog’s former tunnels had been uneventful. They were abandoned and save for the remains of whatever residents had once made the place their home, there was nothing prowling about. Not within range of Arcis’ [Scan] at least.

The Stormbreaker had been precariously parked in the cavern, though with the headspace, it was a tight fit. The ledge on which it had perched with its landing gear, protracted for the first time also looked like it could give any moment.

As for the occupants of the said ship, some had gone to get some shut-eye while three remained in the cockpit, waiting. The grimalkin lay on the cockpit, she too looked outside the obsiderite wind shield like her two mistresses. Her ears flitted to and fro, as if listening for little critters of the underground.

“ Auntie Nora,” the synth girl mumbled with a faraway look in her eyes. She was looking at the motes of colors dancing in her vision, the colors of mana invisible to mundane eyesight but alive to hers.

“ Hmm?” the dhampir hummed, turning her gaze to the smaller girl

“ What does Ar—Papa think of me?” the synth girl whispered, almost afraid to give voice to the words as she rested her chin on her knees. She turned off her magic vision as she’d taken to calling it. It was not a skill per se but an imitation that used the properties of her eyes, they were made of crystal; mana forged diamonds.

“ Why do you ask?” Nora asked, befuddled.

“ I think he wasn’t ready for me to suddenly drop in on his life,” the girl mumbled. Suddenly, there was none of the overly-confident girl who would single-handedly helm an unconventionality of a vessel but a lost child, suddenly cast out in the world. Nora’s heart went to the girl; she was starting to warm up to her and starting to see her as a person and not some peculiar thing.

“ No one is ever ready for anything,” Nora shrugged. “ I was never ready to leave the desert, the Clan you know? Things just happen.”

“ Mmh?” Arcis seemed to draw into herself.

“ Does a child ask to be born? Do they ask if they’re ready?” Nora added. “ What you don’t realize about Arcis, compared to other children, is that you can choose how Arthur sees you.”

“ Huh?” Arcis squinted from below her bangs.

“By the gods, you’re too aware for a child. Don’t you know that?” Nora said.

“ Oh, I watched other children play. They’re pretty dumb.” Arcis said unfiltered. Nora giggled, was not what she’d been getting at, but it was close. Just a little deflection because that's the only way Nora knew how to make children focus on other things when they asked awkward questions.

“Yes, I imagine, if you were just a dumb three months old baby dropped on his doorstep, he wouldn't know what to do with you.” Nora said, faraway look in her eyes. “He might have given you up to an orphanage or something.”

“But that still doesn't answer my question,” Arcis added after a blink.

“That still brings us back to the same issue, you're aware of it; of how he would perceive you...why don't you ask him, yourself?”

”Ah,” Arcis suddenly stood up as her eyes twinkled. “ New [Message]...eh?!” there was surprise written all over her face.

“What's it say? Nora asked worriedly.

“ Uhm, how to say this? That monster I told Papa about? It's pretty big... I think he's seen it—”

“And?” Nora inquired, expectation evident on her face.

“He wants us to go kill it…”

“Oh…” the dhampir slumped back in relief.

“You don't get it. It's humongous,” Arcis said, floundering over how to explain an alien term to someone not conversant with Earth's pop literature.

Nora gave her a once arched brow. “Well, he made the Stormbreaker fly without mana sails didn't he?”

‘Ah, fine…’ Arcis thought. The trust the dhampir had in her father was so unshakeable. The synth got up, went to the helm controls and brought the ship alive. The Stormbreaker rumbled and purred.

Flicking some switches retracted the landing struts with a hiss of steam. The Stormbreaker once again descended into darkness just as its two slumbering occupants came onto the cockpit.

“Hey, where are we going? Did Master Arthur come around?”

“No,” Arcis said curtly. “We're going monster hunting.”

“What are we hunting?” Elena asked, yawning. The bowlights illuminated their descent.

“Something bigger than the ship?” she grinned.

“What?!” three people exclaimed.

“Wait, what about the aerships at the port?” Nevine blustered. “ We're not a sanctioned ship, hell we don't even have a flag or documentation.”

“Mmh, the only way we'll be in trouble is if they catch us huh?” Arcis said indifferently. The gurgle of the river below announced they had come back to the large cavern. ”Also he told us to watch out for a dwarven aership already at the town,” she said as an afterthought.

“By Oonaris! But we have no armaments!” Elena said, stating the obvious.

“How fast have you people flown?” Arcis asked. The Stormbreaker had come to rest above the surface of the river. Everyone looked at her with confusion. “ Ah, neither of you have ever flown before?” All shook their head, except for Nora who proudly said, “ I’ve flown in a sylvani wyvern gondola,”

“ What!?” This time only Nevine exclaimed, astonished. Arcis shook her head wryly.

“ Well, you might want to go sit down and strap down with something then.” Arcis narrowed her eyes. “ I don’t think the Stormbreaker was made to be a slacker,” she said, shifting pedals. Ventral thrusters suddenly cut out. The aership dropped, a slight delay before all thrust was sent to the Mark Three. Arcis, pushed the throttle halfway—

Lezbahn Brasscup was alone in the port tower that day. It was idyllic, watching the rain trickle down the curved obsiderite at the top of the tower. Another dwarven master-piece; curved glass.

It was not a hard thing to do by any stretch. Creating curved glass was just something a certain smith did on a whim, tired of all the rectangular and circular panes that adorned many buildings, aerships and any window that their owner saw fit to pane.

Obsiderite was as easy to shape as iron too. That meant you got some people with glass ceremonial swords strutting around the dwarven cities, just showing off who could make their own the most ornate.

For Lezbahn, the best thing about Obsiderite was the glass mug in his hand, steaming hot with rootberry vodka and shots of cavae. That’s the only alcoholic thing he could drink today as he watched over the movement on the port; work policy and all that. Dwarves could be functional drunks if they wanted to, well, what were two livers for?

There was no sailing from Riftedge that day, only offloading things before the aerships were tied down on the dry berth in readiness for the storm. That was another good thing for him beside the steaming cup of brew—no interruptions.

Even the big scrying station, the armacus mark II was dark, message runes pretty much inert indicating the relay obelisk hadn't had any [Messages] after the Ikaros left. The two other aerships were undergoing an overhaul in the dry dock, so the platform in front of the port tower was empty. What a view unhindered, of the Great vale as the trees leaves bowed to the cloudburst from the heavens.

‘Wait, that's not right,’ Lezbahn started. He squinted at a blur that seemed to have shot out of the rift like a void-bat from the Pits. It didn't look like some flying creature or any flier. He almost thought that the rumor about a flier who was faster than a wyvern and yet had no wings was true.

He hesitated, eyeing the scrying station; the [Port Master] was not in today but its added functionality meant it could send [Message] spells at the touch of a rune. What if he had sent a false alarm?

He looked at the drink in his cup; before he could wonder whether someone had spiked his drink, the blur seemed to come towards him, rapidly gaining resolution into the unmistakable outline of a—mastless ship

“ Eog’s pendulous jewels!” Lezhban swore as dived under the work station. There was a sound like thunder booming as the unknown blur passed close. Lezbhan only got a split-casion glimpse from underneath as an oddly shaped aership whizzed by. The room rattled, and the glass mug tipped, puring its hot contents into his hair. But the young dwarf was not of the mind to pay attention to that, he’d drank hotter rum still.

“[Ship Master] Dansoir…the Ikaros must know,” he stuttered, scrambling for the scrying console, bushy beard quivering with equal measures excitement and trepidation at what he’d just witnessed. That vessel had flown faster than the Ikaros.

“ [Urgent Message]; is this the Ikaros?An unidentified vessel just flew out of the Rift.”