Holding up the lid to an empty strong box, Cire peered around the vault they had discovered on the third floor of the keep. He had so many questions about the imposing magical construct. They had done a cursory once-over of the floors and found many oddities for what it was.

The first floor was large and open, windowless and built for defense. Nothing decorated the walls and harsh white light blanketed the room from glowing orbs set into the ceiling. A stairwell at the back had a similar set of thick metal doors as the entrance, but these were already open.

Ascending the stairs had revealed a dormitory on the second floor with bunks from wall to wall. On the back wall was a large cooking area with a similar cooking top to the one he had seen in Constantine’s panic room. There was also a small commode set in the opposite corner. Between the two areas was the next staircase up.

Separated into two halves, the floor they were currently on, held an empty vault and armory respectively. Weapon and armor racks lined the walls in one room and shelves with chests filled the other. Letting the lid to the lock box he was holding fall closed, Cire voiced his curiosity to Selene.

“What do you think happens to stuff I put in this chest when I dismiss the keep? Will it be here when I summon it again? Durg’s armor turns back into mist and goes inside him. If I put something in here, will it turn into mist and go inside me?” He got a disgusted look on his face. “What about things inside the washroom? You didn’t already use it did you?”

A delinquent grin flashed to Selene’s lips as she started making her way out of the room.

“Why would I know? It’s your ability. I’ve never seen anything like this. While most women worship Hera at some point in their lives personally, the Tempest Treetops is bound to other gods,” She dipped out of the room, leaving a parting sentence.

“Try leaving something in here and we can find out.”

“Good idea, I’ll leave an extra tunic as an experiment.” Cire halted and then turned to run after her, catching her just as she was climbing up to the next floor.

“You never answered my last question. You didn’t did you?”

Selene didn’t make eye contact or speak, she tortured him with uncertainty until she’d had her fill. When they got to the large suite with open windows that dominated the top floor, satisfied, she relented.

“No, I didn’t. But if it’s like most magical devices, physical waste won’t be left behind, it will be broken down and consumed. You’ll just have to test it yourself.”

“I hope you’re right. At least if I test the bathroom it won’t be too bad, I suppose.” Cire complained, but he kept pace with Selene, who had walked across the room to the last set of stairs. As they headed to the roof, Cire followed up with his next question.

“So, why all the of the zig zagging stairs? Why isn’t there one large staircase? It feels weird to have to walk across each room to get to the next floor.”

“Defense. Attacking enemies would have to fight through each corridor. Multiple defensive barricades, an armory most of the way up the building, and…,” She paused as they threw open the trap door to the roof and made there way to the parapets.

“A strong firing position. This entire structure is based on securing a defensible foothold in a hostile environment.”

Cire looked down over the side towards the mountains and then he stepped back to take in a three hundred and sixty degree view of his surroundings. He hadn’t been up so high on this side of the mountains. Across from the forest, to the west, lay another mountain chain bisecting the entire island. To the south he could barely make out the twisted trees and half rotted plants of the swamp. Above the forest, the vegetation changed and a lush jungle abutted against the tall pines of the Shadowed Forest.

Carving a meandering path through the middle of the vast woods, a wide river rushed with white water from the spring thaw. He could barely make out the headwaters where it sprang from the mountains to their backs. Finally having some perspective of the island, he pointed out to the river cutting through the treeline as a reference point.

“What’s the name of that river? Where does it flow to? Is the Tempest Treetops settlement south or north of it?”

“That’s the Swiftwater River, it’s navigable all the way to Meadow and the ocean during the summer and fall. It runs too fast in the spring and it gets too low in the winter for an easy trip.” A small frown creased her lips, but she continued.

“The Tops’ are south of the river, just after the first large bend. We’ll be sticking to the middle of the forest, far away from the swamp. We got close enough when we went after those gnolls in the southern reaches of the forest.”

“That’s fine with me. The closer we got to the swamp, the worse everything smelled. I’ve been thinking about when Gene was telling me about how animals leveled their skills. The boars in the valley mainly put their effort into finding food, for them that meant foraging. Is that why everything in the forest is more dangerous? More predators and more competition means that the animals have skill sets to kill or hide?”

Selene nodded as she took aim at a tree next to their campfire and loosed an arrow into its trunk. She seemed pleased with the results, but quickly drew back the string to fire another. Then she angled her bow to the sky and loosed another missile, watching its long arcing flight.

“There are also more monsters for the animals to compete with. Monsters are mainly animals that at some point were exposed to magic and created a new species. Sometimes they are more intelligent, sometimes they have more fantastic adaptations. Dire boars instead of boars, for example.”

Running a finger along one of the reinforcing dire boar bone plates woven into his armor, Cire tapped it lightly.

“So, that’s also why everything is higher level than back in the valley? Or is there another reason for that?”

Firing another arrow along the same trajectory, Selene tracked the perimeter of her range from the elevated emplacement. Done with her testing, she dismissed her bow and it disappeared in a puff of black mist. She shook her head as she responded.

“No, well, partially. There is more abundant life in the forest because it has a higher density of mana than the mountains. Part of that is it’s location in the world and the number of divinely touched sites. Some of it is because of the level of the settlements within the forest. The more people there are, the more divine presence there tends to be. No territory on the island has enough magic to support a high level population of animals or monsters, Belleria is simply too small.”

Selene’s words gave Cire a decent amount to mull over. He released how much he still didn’t understand about this world and how isolated the small section of it he had been dropped into was. If he had started out in the forest, let alone some different island, how much harder would it have been? Would he have made it through the experience with his sanity intact?

Taking in the view, and seeing no movement besides the occasional animal, Cire got another idea. This was the perfect time to test out something else that he couldn’t around other people. Pulling the crown out from the depths of his pack he fidgeted with it in his hands.

“Thank you again for letting me keep the crown and ring. I can’t argue that I need them the most, but I have some idea of how valuable they are. Hopefully when we sell the top and the duergar armor we can find you some suitable items. I know you and Durg said we will need the funds to build the capital, but it wouldn’t feel right if you both didn’t get something for your efforts.”

Waving away his gratitude, Selene shot straight to the point.

“You’re welcome. Now, I assume you want to give it a test to see if the Clear Mind effect will work to control your blood rage?”

Cire nodded and then slipped the circlet onto his head.

“Mind waiting up here? I’ll get a good distance down the hillside and then give it a go. That way, if it doesn’t work out, you shouldn’t be in harms way.”

Over a mile away from the base of the keep, Cire stood on a patch of dusty tan earth. Granite outcroppings spotted the small rise, but besides a few pieces of scrub, it was barren. His pack was back in the tower, along with his arms and armor. He figured a bit of meditation wouldn’t hurt either way, so he was currently regulating his breathing and clearing his mind.

Reaching a peaceful state of mind was remarkably easy while wearing his new headpiece. Dwelling in the blank space of calm, all noise and smell dropped away. He could feel the vampiric beast within his blood, surging through him, screaming a promise of strength. For the first time, he could sense something more. The benevolent warmth of his sun elf soul bathed the hunger and rage with a quelling light. The light didn’t fight the burning flame of the curse, but it tempered it, held it back from consuming him.

With the crown in place he could feel the moment he released the monster of fury caged deep within his blood. His body’s transformation felt like an after effect. The tremendous well of anger endemic within the energy assaulted his mind, but failed to breach his consciousness. He was still himself.

The abilities deleterious sapping of his intelligence, spirit, and charisma were unaffected by the crown. Bulging under his tunic, his arms felt strong and his blood sang as it rushed through his body, thundering in his ears. But he was in control.

Opening his blood shot eyes, he looked through them with clarity. He took a moment to stretch and acclimatize himself with the filled out physique. Nicking himself with his sharpened and elongated talons, he focused and made them retract to half their length. He tried to shout towards the keep to let Selene know he was alright, but his fangs made speaking impossible.

How do the naga do it? Probably has something to do with their crazy long snake tongues. Okay, let’s see what I can do. Without the drive to attack everything and anything, I have to re-learn how to use this effectively. At least I won’t go off trying to eat my friends, that’s obviously more important.

Starting with a light jog, Cire zipped around the clearing. Then he started to jump from boulder to boulder, using his increased dexterity to great effect. Towards the end of the five minute restriction of the ability, he picked up one of the boulders. Straining under its heavy weight, Cire still struggled to lift it. However, without the ability enhancing his strength he wouldn’t have been able to even budge the rock.

Once the ability faded, he made his way back up the slope and rejoined Selene. Sitting next to the campfire pit, she was packing up their gear. Cire went back into bottom floor of the keep and stowed the crown in his pack. Then he dressed in his armor and belted on his sword before exiting the structure.

As soon as he focused on the thought of dismissing the keep, the whole thing started to roil and dissolve. The large cloud of black mist reformed and crawled over to Cire and enveloped him in a storm of purple lightning. Falling from the sky, his stored tunic landed square on the top of his head irreverently.

Cire could hear laughing, but by the time he got the clothing clear of his eyes, Selene’s expression was flat and without humor. Looking back to the space the keep had occupied, Cire sighed.

“It would have been nice to have a magical storage space, even if I could only access it once a month. But I suppose that does answer the other question too, one way or another.”

Adjusting a heavy set of straps around his shoulders and waist, Durg tested the harness against the ropes connecting it to a makeshift wooden sled. Piled high with boxes of provisions the dwarf grumbled that Cire had roped him, quite literally, into fulfilling this task. At least the naive elven vampire had managed to clear Durg’s long standing bar tab with Stout while trading in the star ruby for supplies. Although, Durg didn’t think that Cire truly understood the value of the gem he traded. It was a good thing that Maisy was dealing honestly with them, because if she hadn’t been, Cire would have gotten fleeced.

Durg had Andreas along to help him with the delivery, but the human, as strong as he was, couldn’t manage the sled like a dwarf. Trudging to the middle of the valley wasn’t enjoyable, but it wasn’t hard either. Andreas kept a lookout and cleared Durg’s path of small sticks and stones to make his passage easier.

When they approached the burned out grove of Twin Pines at the center of the valley, both had lapsed into quiet plodding with their heads down. Which was why they were startled when a sing song hissing voice called out to them. Standing by the ropes, on a pair of long elegant legs, was an elven female with vibrant purple hair and a delicate pair of spectacles. Her red mushroom leather tunic hung to mid thigh and she wore no shoes.

Durg slapped his thigh and gave a hearty laugh before waving.

“Good afternoon to ya missy. I doubt ya be understandin’ what I am sayin’, but I brought more of the meat that Cire promised. Plenty o’ folks were willing to hunt down some game for the extra coin.”

Grinning, the dwarf turned to Andre, who was looking at the elven bodied naga with an entirely different spark in his eye.

“Now we know how they were gettin’ up the ropes before we installed the platform yer buildin’. Cire said he wasn’t sure if they could change entirely or not, but he knew that they be startin’ to come out of the cavern. I best tell Maisy when we get back, otherwise there’s gonna be trouble.”

“Ahh huh, sure.” Andre’s response was perfunctory and his eyes never left the elven shaped naga.

Alana listened as the dwarf babbled at her with words she couldn’t comprehend, and promised herself that she would learn to speak the inelegant language as soon as she could. Wafting from his packages, the promising scent of meat caused saliva to pool in her mouth. She waited patiently for them to finish speaking, pushing her glasses back up to the bridge of her nose as they slipped down.

Giving up on trying to speak with Alana, Durg and Andreas unloaded the sled and piled the foodstuffs on the ground. Then they unpackaged a large rope net and pulled up four of the ropes. They tied off the four ropes and then loaded the net with most of the goods. Alana helped once she understood what they were doing. After it was filled up, they lowered the net down into the cavern together.

Once they finished, before the two men departed, Andreas walked up to Alana and held out his hand. She looked at it, then she spent longer than he was comfortable with looking him up and down. Finding him dissatisfying, Alana simply turned away and walked back to the ropes. Durg didn’t stop laughing at Andre’s misfortune until they reached the hamlet. The lumberjack bought him a drink to keep quiet.