Ar'Kendrithyst

‘Are you okay, Jane? You didn’t call last night, again.’

Erick had awoken as normal; purple and gold stretched across the sky outside of his window. In the middle of swirling hot water over grounds of coffee tea into a large coffee pot, he decided to call Jane. There was no immediate answer, but that was okay. Erick left the line open and went about making the rest of breakfast for everyone. Rats was already up. Rats poured himself some of the communal coffee and was now sipping from his own cup in his seat at the kitchen table. He looked like he was talking to someone with [Telepathy]; two minuscule lines of intent were coming out of his head to fade into the surrounding mana.

Erick cracked eggs into a large bowl with his actual hands, using a pair of Handy hands to keep the freshly cracked yolk and white separate from the rest, to make sure the egg wasn't bloody. Erick had already experienced enough of that on Veird to know not to add fresh eggs directly to a full bowl. He also used his Handy Aura to turn the stove on and get the pans and butter into position. As he was adding the eggs to the hot pan, Jane’s voice came through.

‘Hey, Dad. Sorry about the delay. It’s been a busy night and I’m still in the middle of it.’

Erick smiled. ‘Don’t worry about it.’

Jane seemed to groan on the other side of the connection, like she was just sitting down for the first time in 48 hours. ‘I’ve been killing shadows for the last day trying to rescue a pair of idiots from the Middle Reaches, inside the Teleport Lock Zone, directly under the eyes of a Shade.’

Erick remained calm by virtue of needing to not burn breakfast; these were the last of the eggs. ‘Go on.’

‘Fallopolis— I told you about that one, right? She’s an old Shade who watches everyone who comes through the Crack. Well these two idiots I’m beside right now decided to piss her off, even though this is one of the specific things an Ar’Kendrithyst permit specifically requires people to acknowledge is a bad idea.’

Jane continued, ‘Fallopolis alerted her displeasure to another Shade, Porter. Porter, you need to understand, is capable of forcefully [Teleport]ing people into prepared locations. The other Shades contact him when they want to fuck over some adventurers in some unique ways. Which is what happened yesterday morning.’

The eggs were done. Erick pulled them from the fire and put a lid over them, as he listened to Jane.

‘Porter [Teleport]ed these two people into the Arena, which is a common punishment game overseen by a Shade named Gora. These people managed to beat the Arena, so now they just had to escape back to the Crack to make it to freedom. But Fallopolis was waiting for them and she kept them on [Teleport] lock. They were able to get a message to Forward Base, though. Somewhere in the middle of that, Fallopolis struck a deal with Forward Base: She would allow me and one other person to escort these people back to the Crack, and if all four of us managed to make it, she would let them go unmolested. Otherwise she was just killing them right then and there. Tormenting two people is not as fun as four, Fallopolis said.

‘Kiri and I are currently in the middle of this. We’re about 40 kilometers away from the Crack.

‘Fallopolis noticed your [Telepathy]. After some hectic bargaining regarding the exact wording of the rules she laid out, she is allowing us a break so that I may talk to you.’

Erick felt cold. He sent, ‘I’m sorry.’

‘The Shades are all horrific monsters, but Fallopolis is the most… Eh. Well she’s not honorable. But something like it. Don’t worry about it too much, okay? I have five more minutes.’

‘Uh.’ Erick stumbled. ‘Uh. What… I don’t remember why I called.’

‘Something to do with your Class? We can have a much deeper conversation later.’

‘Uh. Is this a normal event for you?’

‘This is the first time I have had to do this sort of thing, but other people tell me that it happens from time to time. None of the Shades have ever reneged on their sides of these sorts of bargains as long as we stick to the rules, so we should be fine. It’s still dangerous, but mostly there’s just primal shadowolves and umbral giants. We’re not on a set course; we’re just running through the Middle Reaches, avoiding the more dangerous parts of the city while Fallopolis watches and tries to force us into those more dangerous parts.

‘Please call me when you’re through.’

‘I will. I’ll talk later. I love you.’

‘I love you, too.’

Jane cut the connection.

Erick found that he was sitting at the kitchen table, over a plate of untouched eggs. He looked around. Rats and Poi were eating eggs and toast at the table with Erick, but Poi was watching him, worried.

Erick asked, “My daughter is currently being chased across the Dead City by Fallopolis. She and Kiri are escorting two adventurers back through the city, through the Middle Reaches, toward the Crack. How much danger is she in? Why is she doing this, and not a veteran?”

“I’m hearing about it right now.” Lines of intent filtered into Poi as he said, “There are risks, but Kiri and Jane should make it back to Forward Base without undue injury. Fallopolis does not usually kill except in error or exuberance. I don’t know about the people they’re escorting; apparently one of them propositioned Fallopolis in a carnal manner. The reason it's Jane and Kiri, is because those two are at the relative strengths of the two they’re escorting. And when the time came for someone to step up, both of them volunteered for the mission.”

Erick felt a sudden rush of pride, like a warm drink radiating from inside his chest. And then he tried to think about how he could help. “Do you guys use magical items in there?”

Instantly, Poi said, “It has already been decided that any Staff of the Withering Slime you produce will not be allowed to enter Ar’Kendrithyst, under penalty of the Shades actively attacking Spur.”

Erick paused.

Fuck.

Then he ate his eggs.

He cleaned up, silently.

He made more coffee, and then it was time to go to the farms.

After starting the rain, and failing to make a proper [Familiar]—