Chapter 17-433: Forces in the Felldeep (2/2)

“For the sake of politeness, Elder Felderjaw, may I have the names of the other Guardians of their Caverns?” Legion asked with exacting patience, as if these measures of propriety and respect of personal territory were all-important... as they most certainly were in the Felldeep.

“Perhaps we could return to our settlement, and speak more at length, Elder Legion?” the saurial Druid asked politely.

Legion considered that, and how much time it would take... and then the fact that this was a first contact scenario, and setting up proper ambassadorial relationships was the right thing to do, even if took some extra time.

“Please lead the way, Elder Felderjaw,” they agreed courteously.

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I watched two of the simian Aspirant Druids clamber aboard the feather-frilled saurial with all the teeth, Legion flying effortlessly alongside, hands clasped behind them as they glided alongside the bounding saurial Druid. The third Aspirant took to the trees, brachiating on ahead of them with energy and great agility, as powerful and sure as any great ape, hooting and letting the jungle know their Guardian was coming and don’t try anything stupid or they would be dinner.

I groaned again. Sleipner popped up on his screen, More Problems?

“Legion just encountered the edge of a potentially friendly civilization down in the Felldeep. Just how many bloody secrets does this planet have?!?!”

The motorcycle hummed beneath me as we shot along just above the waves that spread out around us, giving us a miles-long perfectly smooth track to hurtle along on. Do You Think There Is Another Blessing Out There?, Sleipner finally asked hopefully.

I sighed again. There were only four known Blessings of unicorns on the planet. One had taken shelter in the Ælvashin Forest of the elves in Norway, one was in the Amazon jungle, and two were scattered in the northern forests of America and Canada.

For completely believable reasons, their trust level of humans was very low, indeed, and the werewolves didn’t help, enjoying the use of their horns as magical fetishes of the highest caliber... while the Magi and Alchemists also loved using alicorns in their experiments and ceremonies.

Master Fred had been one of the few people alive to actually witness a Blessing gather at the call of its Herd Stallion, when he had brought Sleipner back to them.

“I doubt that there are any in the Felldeep,” I said to him softly. “But there may be a couple in the Hollow World’s forests. I believe there is a forest down there that is guarded by a ki-rin, and I do not believe they would not succor their kin.”

!!!. Sleipner obviously thought that was very good news.

Now we only had to find the forest...

I sighed, and etched another half-smile. Ahead of Legion, a tree-city built into jungle giant darkwoods was revealed in the distance before them, while the Florans and Aethrans were scrambling to put together a proper embassy... and some people interested in getting rid of a bunch of yuan-ti.

The geoic society down there probably relied on their crystalline realm to stay alive, so negotiating with them over selling stuff or mining it was probably a no-go on the face of it. On the other hand, they were aggressive about coming up for the salt mines, and proper repayment for that aggression was definitely something that could be talked about... over fists, if need be.

More Karma to earn on the stack. I reflected that despite conservation for lower Levels, that Gettysburg Shroudzone, the last Shroudzone north of Mexico, was almost gone, and there were a lot of people who wanted a diversion, and not necessarily via an immediate trip to Russia.

Legion had already passed them by, and could certainly lead an effort if desired, sooner or later. The last thing we needed was an empowered serpentfolk race if they got hooked up directly with the Demon Prince that had started them in the first place began reinforcing them.

No, we didn’t need that at all, and that meant that before the Shroud fell we were going to have to kill as many of them as inhumanly possible...

-Lady Traveler,- a polite /voice broke into my thoughtstreams, and I turned my attention to Starsister Stillmoon, who hailed from Preugia in Italy, and the Temple of Starry Dreams there.

-Starsister Stillmoon?- I /replied politely. There was little way in Markspace to disguise who and what I was, so the Sylunar who Swore to me tended to be literally starry-eyed when they addressed me.

-We have a request from the Alchemists to speak with you, Lady Traveler.- She had to deliberately not call me ‘Chosen’, a Title I had expressly forbid anyone from calling me until Sylune Herself bestowed it upon me.

That was literally never going to happen, given I was consigned to the Shroud, so I didn’t have to put up with it at all, logical as the claim was.

An invitation from the Alchemists, now?...