By: Indumati Eveningnight
When Gran made his way to the guild hall in the small town of Earthenwood, he noticed a lot of multiculturalism in the streets, Demihumans of all kinds from centaurs to beastfolk to lamias to dwarves and humans that seemed to get along well. The guild hall was smaller than most of the ones in major city, but carried significant influence, though most of the people here are tradesmen and craftsmen rather than fighters, so new hires for adventure were always welcome. After all, Gran Mason and Alucarda needed a guild card and enough of a rank in order to operate freely and pass gates without paying the fare, and Gran needed to build a reputation as an adventurer. When he was back in the newly appointed dungeon-realm of New Elfshiem, which the elves he helped named the place after they repelled an A-rank team, they gave him some advice as to what to set his class to. To set it towards summoner, which is an uncommon job for some, and to set Alucarda's class to mage, which she already had strong affinity for fire and dark magic. They were also told to be careful because the guild and the church use crystals to determine if people are telling the truth or not. Additionally, Mr. Mason decided to make a couple more powerful monsters based on his old and more modern ideas, such as a friendly fairy mixed with an illusionist who had a simple blue and white dress on and had a crest on her clothing resembling a butterfly on the back and a butterfly patterned graphic stockings on with silvery hair and a circlet resembling a butterfly on it whom he named Azure Spring, and he created an angelic servant for himself with blonde hair dressed in silver and golden armor with a red cross-like designed brooch on her plate mail and having a reddish skirt on and having blue-gray eyes like storm clouds on whom he named Maria Goldbridge. They, of course, would disguise as humans and pretend to be low level adventurers in seemingly cheap looking gear while hiding their wings from mortals like Alucarda did. They followed him to the front of the desk and registered as a team with him. The guild receptionist then saying, "Very well, I shall register all of you and give you your cards. Of course, they act as ID's and officially let you engage in low level missions from the bottom. Also they have magic infused into them to make sure they aren't lost or stolen." Mason signed up as a summoner, which the receptionist was a bit surprised at, and said, "We don't have too many of those, so that's welcome." She also registered Alucarda as a black mage, Azure as an Illusionist, and Maria as a Paladin. She was surprised because, "Huh, most paladins work with the Church of Protagonism. Are you part of it?" Maria then said, "Nope." Maria made her best smile to pretend like she didn't dislike Protagonism due to their activities involving her master, and the receptionist didn't catch that and simply said, "Very well. Now, we have some quests...since you're already a team, we do have an urgent one involving goblins, they're rather weak monsters but swarm quickly and it's rumored there's a goblin chief among them. They've been causing a bit of problems. However, I recommend leaving it to more experienced people for now. Just...be careful if you run into them, okay?" Mason looked at the job listing for the goblins. It seemed like anyone who could do it was offered a promotion immediately. He wondered if it really was that serious. After all, in most games he played back on Earth, goblins weren't the most powerful entities. He decided that, however, he would try his hand at it. The receptionist then said, "Sir, it's a bit difficult...I hope you understand the risks." Mason was confident he could do it, but hid it and said, "They're causing problems for the people, right? I think it's an adventurer's duty to take on dangerous tasks for the better of the community." The receptionist was impressed and said, "You know, I think I like you a bit. If you're serious, make sure you do prep before you go. After all, that one is considered high risk." Azure looked over the board by herself with her small wispy frame while Maria kept watch for danger. She didn't detect any. The adventurers seemed rough, but inexperienced and unorganized...maybe all their experienced members were busy with other tasks. Maria asked about it and the receptionist said, "Sadly, prospects aren't so good for adventuring in a small town like this. On top of that, the goblins are making hunting difficult and many of the higher-ranking adventurers got injured and hurt...they said there was some unusual activity from the goblins recently. I think whoever really can defeat them will have the lord's thanks, since the church is putting pressure on the town because of it, and most folks want to maintain their independence." Mason took note of this, and they quickly made their way to an Inn to rest up first into the city streets...
There was a bunch of church officials from Protagonism going through the church. Mason noted that people seemed to avoid them and the church was rather pushy about people being in their way, while their leader was making a declaration by ringing a bell. The richly clad priest then said, "Hear ye! Hear Ye! We now declare the Forest to be a no-go zone due to unusual monster activity!" The people seemed to sigh and groan. Mason tensed up. What could this mean? The priest, who looked like a fat man with an ugly mustache and a mole, then declared, "There's an S-rank dungeon that popped up inside the forest! We suspect the elves have something to do with it!" the people murmured, saying that the elves had always been pretty nice to them, up until recently when the church had attacked them to try and claim their Emerald of Courage. The priest didn't like this and said, "We will make a quest known to all! Anyone who can clear The Great Forest Cathedral will get a massive reward from the Church!" However, most didn't seem interested, and were just annoyed about their resources. Mason watched and made a note of this. Perhaps he should contact Robin and Lark about all this later, to clear things up, and make a re-connection to the local lord? That way, he could get the church off this town's back...
In the Inn, Mason used a long range magic device resembling a phone to contact Lark and told him of the situation in Earthenwood. Lark then said, "Ah, thats no problem, we will send Robin by later with some of our guard to talk to the lord about re-connecting. After all, he's a friend of mine. He'll be happy to know we've rebuilt and are happy to trade resources once again." Mason then said, "That's good to hear." Lark then said, "And you? What will you do?" Mason then said, "I plan on taking care of the goblins in any way I can. However, I prefer to settle it peacefully if I can. After all, going over the notes, it seems the goblins weren't always so aggressive but are definitely seen as monsters and "inferior" by the Church of Protagonism. I just hope I'm succesful." Lark laughed a heartly, gruff laugh and said, "Delightful. Now, how about having someone in your team work with Robin, for now?" Mason then replied, "Azure, you up to it?" Azure agreed to do it and made prep to do it after using the sylphs to collect information from town on the 4 winds. The message was finished after that. Azure said to him in a kind, childlike manner with a hint of worry, "You know, they marked the forest as dangerous too." Mason then said, "As long as the people stay away from the lost woods itself and are open to trade with the elves, it should be safe enough, I think. In fact, I think we can give a few people the right to access that area as long as they have no hostile intent." Alucarda then replied, having a bit of distain towards humans, "Why do you care about them anyway? About humans, I mean." Mason then replied, "You know, we should look into information about the "odd behavior" by the goblins. As for why, it's simple. By helping this town with its current problems serves our own interests." Maria then said, "In that case, allow me to serve as the frontline for you against the Goblins and protect you when we go out. We may have to be prepared for violence." Mason sighed, thinking Maria was right, but wanted to be careful. Azure left to meet up with Robin as she entered town to act as a bodyguard and used an illusion to disguise as an elf and was on spy duty. Meanwhile, Mason mapped out the location using his "map" skill, to look for the goblins. Alucarda also joined Mason as well.
Mason soon set off for the Goblin's encampment, which was a shabby wooden fortress that was in a sorry state and Mason noted that the goblins that came to surround him had some sort of black bands on them. Maria analyzed this since Mason pointed it out as odd. She replied, "There's a curse on it. Some sort of brainwashing spell. It's also enchanted with multiple stat booster spells" Alucarda then said, "What shall we do, Mason?" Mason then said, "I have a way to destroy that. We should capture but not hurt the goblins. Are you willing to work on it?" Maria agreed. And cast a protective buff offer her team, while Alucarda used a stealth skill to render the team invisible to throw off the attacks of the goblins coming towards them. Mason focused on setting non-lethal traps and snares while Alucarda confused and blinded the goblins to make them easier to subdue. Maria stuck with defensive spells and used her speed and flight to lead the goblins into the traps so they could be snared. Soon, all the goblins were captured, however, Mason made note that inside the hut nearby was a very large muscular goblin chieftan, who was affected a bit worse by multiple brainwashing spells placed on him by the strange devices on his allies. Some of them gave things like an increase to strength as well as blessings of a berserker which strengtened him further but caused him to fly into a blind rage. Mason then said, "Be careful, he could potentially hurt his own allies if we're not careful..." Alucarda smiled a bit and teased Mason and then said, "Don't worry, I have a plan. After all, he may have a lot of physical power, which is true, but he's been reduced to a brainless brute." She then cast darkness upon the goblin chief to blind him while Maria baited him into attacking and defended against his blows with her shield while Mason quickly used a sand trap to slow his movements and get him stuck in the ground. He then said to his team, "Stand clear" As he threw a bomb that sprayed out a purple gas that made the goblin chief sleepy and slump over and collapse.
Mason and his team quickly undid the collars, which thanks to Mason's knowledge of cursed items due to his dungeon-making skills, he was able to break without triggered a bad reaction. Maria healed the Goblins and her friends of any injuries no matter how minor. The Goblin Chieftain returned to his senses and asked, "You...what happened? Why are we like this?" Mason replied, "Someone put you guys under mind control, but it's okay, it's over now." The Chieftain then said, "You are not bad, human. I remember being attacked and captured by people from the Church of Protagonism. They used magic to capture and enslave us to attack the villagers. I was conscious through part of it which is why they put extra on me to drive me into a frenzy." Alucarda then said, "So what now?" Mason then said, "I have an idea. What is your name, Mister Chieftain?" The Chieftain and his people did a polite bow to Mason and said, "I am Big Hammerer, and on behalf of our people, we thank you." Mason thought for a moment and said, "Say, would it be okay to put you in a temporary dream-space? I am a dungeon architect and am thinking about making a base somewhere nearby soon. I can protect your people, of course, if you're willing to let me make you guys part of my staff there. After all, it's too dangerous to leave you guys here since the guild believes you guys are dangerous and the church is clearly involved in way bigger schemes then then I realized." Big Hammerer than proudly stood and said, "Acceptable." And then he left his hammer and a bunch of rare loot and weapons from his tribe behind to act as proof that the goblins had been defeated as part of Mason's plan. They then walked into the Dream-space dungeon one by one and disappeared from sight. Alucarda smiled and said to Mason, "Good job, Mister Mason." Maria then replied thoughtfully, "You know, if the church is willing to enslave monsters for their unjust cause, we may run into more monsters like the goblins we can recruit. We should be on the lookout for more of them." Mason replied calmly and coolly, "Agreed. After all, I don't know why they would do that, but if they're using them to put pressure on other people on top of gathering the keys for themselves, it could be a sign of a much larger problem." Alucarda then said, kissing Mason, "Let's return to the guild. After all, we need to be C-rank for our next venture." Mason then said, "I also have an idea for my next dungeon too...I'll circle back to that once we complete our tasks." Maria and Alucard were looking forward to it. After all, it would be a home for them all. A permanent one.
Meanwhile...at the Manor of Lord Eric Ramheart, who was a strong muscular man who was deeply troubled by the church and their demands as of late, received his old friend's stepdaughter, Robin Galefeather. Eric saw with her was a young lady clad in a maid outfit with blue hair and a butterfly emblem on her brooch he didn't recognize. Probably a retainer. Which is actually secret Azure Spring, along with a couple of guards of the elven clan. Eric asked, "So how is Mr. Lark doing these days?" Robin then replied, "A bit older now, and slower, but wiser. He hurt his leg during the raid on our village, yeah? So he needs a cane to walk, so that's why I'm here." Eric was a bit sad to hear this and then said, "You know, the church declared your people their enemies." Robin then said, "They're just after the Emerald of Courage, obviously. However, it is not with us right now. It's in a special place, protected far from here." Erik then said, "Is that so? Well, I don't like them anyway, the church has been trying to put the squeeze on this village, trying to get us to deal with our current goblin problem and declare the Forest off-limits." Robin then said, "In that case, we are willing to negotiate trade relations once again." Erik then said, "Already? I thought you guys lost your home." Robin then replied and smiled and said, "We did, but we had some close friends of ours help us to rebuild." Erik furrowed his brow and said, "The church has been saying...you guys are working with monsters and are connected to The Dark Lord." Robin then reassured him sweetly as she could, "We tamed some fairies and elementals who are helping us protect our home, yes. If the church considers them monsters after leading invasions into our homes and trying to kill us, so be it. Besides, I'm sure this "Dark Lord" is just their silly superstition." Erik laughed heartily and said, "Ah, is that so? Well, I guess it is their own fault then. Besides, the people in this town don't like the church. After all, they're asking us to discriminate against our friends and neighbors and always push people around and act like they're holier than everyone else, while attacking so many good people trying to satisfy their greed and lust for power. Screw those clowns with a ten-foot pole. I would be delighted to re-connect with you guys." Robin then said, "In that case, we will make sure your people aren't bothered in the forest while you guys gather resources and openly trade with us. And that way, the church can stay off both our backs." Erik agreed to this, thinking it would be interesting to do so. He noted that the elves, especially Robin, seemed much stronger and keener than he remembered from years back. Had they truly come into some strong power recently? At any rate, he was happy with the arrangement, and they shook hands on it. Then Robin and her entourage left for home, while Azure broke away to meet up at the guild where she met Mason along the way. Mason then said, "Oh hey, how did it go?" Azure whispered to him everything secretly she overheard and he then said, "Ah, it seems the local lord is happy. In that case, let's turn in the loot. Then afterwards, we should get started on the next big project."
Mason soon turned in the rare loot and the club from the Goblin Chieftain Big Hammerer into the guild as "proof" he had defeated the goblins. The guild receptionist was surprised that he brought in rare and common loot as proof of his victory. She then said, "Not bad. You got them all?" Mason then said, "Their settlement should now be empty." The receptionist was happy and said, "In that case, I think the guild leader would like to see you." The guild leader was a large man with an eyepatch and a bald head but a handsome and kind face. He then welcomed Mason and his team in. The guild leader than said, "Kid, I'll level with ya, to take down a Goblin Chieftain and get the rare loot to boot from one is not easy. The last time a C-rank fought one, they barely made it. And you defeated a bunch of goblins to boot too. I'm impressed, personally. And happy. Do you know why?" Mason pretended not to know and asked, "Because the town is safer now?" The guild leader burst out laughing and said, "Well, that's part of it, I admit. However, I need to tell ya, the goblins were quite the problem recently. It's weird, right? Normally, they're not very powerful, but they were beasts recently, ransacking the fields and attacking travelers and whatnot, on top of sometimes getting into fights with the town guard. Why, one even got into a fight in town after breaking the line and it took down several people somehow before being put down." Mason was sad about this, which the guild leader took as him being sad about the loss of people, which was partially true. Mason silently wondered how many goblins and people were lost due to the church's activity. The guild leader than said, "We were about to be forced to ask the church for help with it, but I am thankful we don't need to anymore. With you and your team, I think it would be appropriate to give ya a C rank promotion." He then made it official on everyone's cards. The guild leader asked, "Whatever you do now, you should have permission to do higher level quests and be able to pass in and out of most towns without issue. You got any plans?" Mason then said, "I certainly do, though it will take me out of town." The guild leader than said, "That's perfectly fine. If you ever come back here, you're definitely welcome here." Mason then left kindly after shaking the guild master's hand, and then got a hefty reward, which Mason was quick to place in a bag he was carrying, which secretly led to his item box to deter thieves, and then left the office. The guild was abuzz with excitement and rumors about the mysterious newbie who took care of the goblin problem, and they celebrated, because it meant them and their relatives would be able to hunt and gather and travel in peace without worrying about it anymore.
There was a church spy who heard all this and quickly left on his way out. He had to check the goblins out for himself. After a brief journey, he found that the goblin fortress was intact, but empty and devoid of life. He tried to look for them, but they were all gone. He wasn't surprised. Monsters, when they die, turn into dust and return to The Aether, so didn't leave corpses. He saw signs of a battle, meaning someone was fighting here. He sighed a bit and decided he needed to contact the church. When he did, the fat priest just thought that perhaps they were some pretty strong upstart adventurers that merely got lucky and had wiped out his Goblin Slaves. The fat priest then said, "Oh well, this town is small potatoes anyway. After all, Goblins aren't very strong so of course they would fail. It is, however, unfortunate...the elves are getting back together with the town on top of it too and the town is just flat out ignoring our orders. Nobody here respects purity or refinement not to mention it's the sticks for savages and inferiors. I'm going back to The Capital. At least the people there are decent and don't associate with filth." He took his officials and quietly left for the capital city where the major branch of Protagonism's church is, which was weeks away, far from the sticks the fat priest hated. The spy, however, made a silent note of this "Gran Mason". He didn't know if Gran Mason knew about the brainwashing magic collars or if they were an enemy of the church and he was sure that they were just a simple adventure with a small group of capable friends, but he decided that they were worth keeping an eye on. Maybe they could make useful recruits for the church one day, if they climbed up from the ranks from C to B. After all, he agreed they had some slight skill, and he was going to make sure the Church knew of his seemingly unintentional interference with their operations.
Gran made some plans in the inn and decided...he should connect his dream-space dimension to the dungeon he wanted to build. He asked Maria to do some research into the world from the local library and wanted to know if humanity in this world had airship technology. She found that it was considered a lost art. He then said, "In that case, how about we build in the sky?" Alucarda then thought and said, "Is such a thing possible?" Gran then said, "Back in my world, there were many games with various flying continents and floating islands. Plus it is a good way to make our fortress mobile. And we can set up waypoints from the Dream-Space Dimension there so that we can use it as a way to travel to and from the building." Maria was impressed, "Hence why you wanted info on Airships. You were worried the church might have it and be armed and dangerous." Gran then said, "We can always set up a barrier around it, just in case." Azure then said, "Maybe we can use illusion magic to make it seem invisible too." Gran then patted her head and said, "I like that idea." He then had his three friends take him into the sky during the new moon night in the middle of a stormy night. And began building the "Great Flying Fortress" which resembles a massive "Ziggurat" like structure that resembled an 8-sided triangular fortress that seemed highly advanced on the inside and outside. He then asked his 3 companions, "I will make different areas and minions therein for each and every one of you. Whatever you guys like. Azure then said, "I prefer natural environments with lots of pretty flowers and clean water." Maria then said, "Can you make a temple like area for me to do petitions to the Goddess of Creation and her servants, Luna and the Constructor especially?" Alucarda then said, "Ooh can we make a haunted manor and give me lots of books from your world, Mr. Gran? I would like to understand it a bit better." Azure and Maria then agreed and said, "I know, we could combine each of them!" Alucarda then said, "As long as we don't clash, it's okay." Gran agreed. And make a beautiful moonlight hanging fairy-filled lake garden for Azure complete with a beautiful field of flowers, and used the temple and mansion structure to make up the combination of living structures with Azure's styling to fuse it with a fancy clean fairy-like environment, and filled it with all sorts of monsters that each of his three friends commanded, giving Azure a bunch of fairy like minions to maintain and clean while acting as defenses, while giving Alucarda a bunch of spooky undead and daemonic minions to act as security enforcers, complete with some inspired by horror novels and movies while being legally distinct, and gave Maria a bunch of angelic and eldritch servants who would act as support and healers and teachers to train each other and the other teams to work together. Gran himself made his main office a place where he could watch over and maintain not only what he came to call the "Ziggurat of Shadow" but also to watch over the Great Forest Temple Dungeon he made previously as well as to connect to his previous works. Gran also filled the fortress with puzzles and traps that would let the monsters and his 3 allies pass without issue but would challenge intruders who tried to attack the place. He then summoned Big Hammerer into the Ziggurat of Shadow. Big Hammerer was impressed with the environment, and the goblins were really happy with the place. Maria handled teaching them while Azure showed them how everything worked and Alucarda put them to work, helping them to each develop their talents and take on jobs such as "Redcap" and "Goblin Engineer" and "Goblin Shamans", just to name a few, while Big Hammerer became a "Goblin General" to command and oversee his own forces. The monsters also got along well with them. Gran made sure that nobody could reach his office without challenging his three allies in their respective boss rooms and would need three "books" to get past that each of them guarded, while giving his own office a bit of a high-class office/mall flair with a technological flair based on sci-fi. With more robotic minions maintaining it and acting as security and having all sorts of snacks and clothes and shelter available for his allies and even making a food court too watched over by monsters resembling different food who maintained it after a silly comedy book he read long ago.
Once everything was settled in, the 3 allies gathered with Gran as he set up an illusion to make the place not only invisible but seeming to not exist to anyone or anything around it, and then Gran said to them, "Alright, now, let's test the final thing, the Dream-Space Dimension transport. It should work point-to-point to take us where we've already been. It should take us back to the city entrance. Once he activated it, it was quickly to be a quick jaunt through a rainbow subspace that took them back as intended. Azure danced about, Maria made a prayer, and Alucarda jumped in Gran's arms, much to his surprise. Gran then said, "That takes care of that!" The four of them then decided together, "Let's head off for the mountains." They were soon off, following Gran's map skill which saw the location marked due to Maria's guidance. Azure then said, "Gran, you got a device to keep up with our wings?" Gran took out a magic item-a hoverboard. And quickly got on it and rode after them as they quickly headed off for the mountains, across the plains, past the farmlands, through a small forest, and to the mountains across a bridge at a river, and soon, they reached the approach of the city, making sure to disguise themselves the whole way using one of Azure's illusions to make it seem like they were simply riding in a carriage the whole way and looked like their adventurer personas. They had finally reached the Mountain-Town's limits of Granite Valley.
The guards quickly verified their identities without much issue and saw they were C-Rank. One of the guards then said, "Ah, you guys have a bit of experience then and have a pretty decent party. You should help out with the war effort over the keys!" Gran noticed they were church soldiers with the same hexagonal spiked crest with the book and sword in the center that the Church of Protagonism had. Gran then replied, "Ah, we'll see what we can do here, that's for sure." And they headed to the guild. The guild receptionist looked like a red head in glasses who looked a bit rougher but had a kind face. She looked at their cards and said, "Ah, you guys were in Earthenwood? And dealt with some goblins including a chieftain? Then maybe you can help out with something major going on, before trying your hand in the war effort for the Ruby of Love? People have been going missing recently in town and we suspect a kidnapping ring is behind it, and we could use someone to take it down. We already tried asking the Church to deal with it, but they said the war effort's more important, and they have no time to hunt down some thugs, can you believe it? Anyway, if you guys can deal with it, I think everyone will be very happy." Gran thought for a moment and said, "Very well, we shall try our hand at it." The receptionist then said, "The reward is high due to the risk, the guildmaster even said whoever does it gets a promotion, but there's rumors that a powerful gang is behind it. So I understand if you wanna pass it up." Alucarda then replied, almost haughty, "Should be no problem." Maria then said, "We should exercise caution and make prep first." Azure then says, "I insist on helping out this time." Gran agreed. After all, getting to B rank would make many things easier...not to mention dealing with kidnappers would be a way to build reputation. The receptionist mentioned, "Be careful though, this town is rough and a lot of people here aren't the nicest. I think they're just stressed from the war and the church's demands on top of the crime." she then whispered to Gran silently, and said, "I shouldn't say this, but rumor has it that the Church is ignoring the kidnappings on purpose." Gran then replied, saying, "Ah, is that so? I'm sure they're just rumors...right?" He said, making sure no one was listening. The receptionist nodded and said, silently, "Just be careful, okay?" Gran decided to rent a local room at an inn to rest up before engaging in the night, after such a long journey. He couldn't imagine what the church was doing with the people they were snatching, but he knew it wasn't good...he felt he needed to address this. After all, it suited his goals...for now.