Legend of Ransera

31 Ash 124

“How many?” Talon stood before the excavation site, his brow furrowed as he regarded the devastation.

“Twenty-four unaccounted for, Your Highness.” Beside him, the site foreman worried his hat. He was a Zaichaeri man who had traveled to Kalzasi following the devastation. Talon could see the nervousness threading his aura. From reports to his family's company, he knew that he was relatively new to his position. The man was likely worried that his job was at stake, in Zaichaer it likely would be but from what they had been able to discern, this was not an accident that happened through lack of leadership.

“Bertrand, was it?” The man perked up. “Please work with my staff to make the rest of the site secure.”

“Y-yes, Your Highness.” Talon looked to one of his retainers. Immediately the Avialae Dawnmartyr stepped forward, gently taking the man by the arm.

“Shall we call in the Sky Guard?” Talon looked at the massive cave-in. Novalys Mining Co. was no stranger to cave-ins and had strict safety protocols that went into ensuring the safety of its miners. Dragonshards were the lifeblood of many aspects of not just Kalzasi but of all the Free Cities of Karnor. His family's company supplied the overwhelming majority of crystals across the entirety of Karnor.

“The Sky Guard will be concerned with the rippling effects of this cave-in. Undoubtedly it will have stirred up nests elsewhere in the Deeps.” He looked to Aoren. His husband was nodding.

“So the Dawnmartyr's then?” Aoren folded his arms over his chest, rocking back on his heels as he followed Talon's train of thought. Talon shook his head.

“The knighthood is currently augmenting patrols in the outer townships.” He knew without a shadow of doubt that the knights would answer his request with expediency. Over the past year or so the Dawnmartyrs had been working fastidiously to integrate themselves not only with the guard of House Novalys but to become what many regard as an extension of the Sky Guard's capabilities. It was comfortable alliance primarily because Talon was the patron of both in his capacity as the Daizoku of House Novalys and the Demigod to whom the knights pledged fealty to.

“So it'll be freelancers?” Aoren smirked, flexing his raven wings. Talon nodded. “You know, we could just go in and do it ourselves.”

“We could.” Talon conceded. A simple rescue mission was entirely within their capabilities. “If we solved every disaster that befell our people however, they would soon forget how to solve problems without us.”

“I will put the word out with the guilds.” As Aoren stepped away to begin putting out contracts to hire freelancers to aide in the search and rescue, Talon stepped forward. He drew in a deep breath, centering himself as he extended his senses to expand over the piles of rubble and rock. Weaving together his kinetic aether sight and the more refined sensory perceptions allowed by semblance, Talon began using kinetic sculpting to carve a massive alchemic Sigil of Dissolution into the rock and dirt obstructing the pathway into the deeper mines. Once the large sigil was completed he activated the alchemic circle, dissolving what was likely thousands of pounds of rock and dirt that would have taken days for normal miners to dig through. Using kinetics, he collected the aetheric liquid created by the Sigil of Dissolution. He sculpted the liquid into square blocks and set them to the side. Beneath them he carved a Sigil of Reconstitution and transmuted the blocks into solid quartz crystal.

Talon ceased concentrating on his arcane craft and turned to look at an awestruck worker.

“Would you please send word to the Circle of Spells? Tell them that these are theirs to collect as materials for their spellcraft.” The worker blinked, shaking his head as though coming out of a trance. He nodded quickly before running off to find the foreman.

With that, Talon rest his hands at the small of his back, wings fluttering slightly. Time would be of the essence in rescuing the trapped workers. They would be at the mercy of the hazards of the First Deep, which was never to be taken lightly.

Per usual, Aurin heard about an opportunity from someone who had it from someone else. He was people who know people, and most things of note trickled down to him eventually. While he had clawed his way out of the Midden years and years ago, Elwes remained down there and he always kept an eye on her even as she fed him gossip out of the down below. He had even taken a bit of a shine to the dragonborn lad, Uwyn, who might prove another font of information should he cultivate it.

More importantly, he paid heed to news out of the Midden and the Warrens because he held a key that unlocked something that ought to remain closed, most likely, and whoever wanted it might or might not be some revenant of Jacien Novalys. A godling had taught him how to shield it, and he had it shielded away somewhere few would think to look. All the same, if he had learned anything in his years of travel and meeting some of the worlds most fucked up people, it was that there was a work around for almost anything, arcane or otherwise, and he wanted to be ready.

Most people who knew him had seen him in more than one place, and often those places seemed strange when juxtaposed.

He was the boring face of the Golden Peacock, and he was wearing the same face here, whether a concerned citizen (he was not a citizen), a dragonshard seeker, or something else, he was here, wearing older clothes fit for whatever they might get into, or they might have just been glamoured to look that way. Even when he was there, presenting his true face, it was likely as not he had changed something about himself, whether to better fit in or to stand out.

As he approached, he recognized the one who had given him the means to shield the cursed key away and... well, intoxicants might have eaten away at some of his memories, but he would never forget that ass.

Talon turned to face the two women. He inclined his head with a smile, his wings fluttering slightly as he adjusted them. Nerves were beginning to creep along his spine. On the peripheral of his mind he could feel the urgency of the situation eating away at his patience. People were in danger and that compelled him to act. But he had to be cautious. The Warrens had been particularly volatile in days of late. While he had not been to the Warrens in some time due to having to attend to other matters, he still read reports from the Sky Guard and the Dawnmartyrs that told him of events that had transpired over the past several seasons.

“It was a Sigil of Dissolution carved into the rock and stone using the aetheric sight of Kinetics and Semblance.” He motioned to the quartz crystal blocks that were now neatly set to the side with a nod of his head. “Please, take as many as you like.”

Talon glanced over the work site. Already miners, guards and leaders were working to organize the site to ensure the rescue operation went as smoothly as possible.

“If you have need of supplies, I would recommend speaking to the site quartermaster.” He looked over Hilana and Athalia. “I…would also recommend that if you have more durable attire that you change into it.”

He did not doubt the skills of Hilana and her sister but the Warrens was a dangerous place. Talon himself was dressed in the Skyforge Raiment. He wore a form-fitting leather bodysuit covered with a white cloth robe. Various leather belts held accessories that he thought would be useful for the endeavor ahead. On his hands and covering his forearms were a pair of gauntlets encrusted with an ice and fire dragonshard respectively. He wore a pair of heavy leather boots well suited for traversing the hazardous terrain of the Warrens.

With that, Talon politely excused himself so that he could coordinate with some of the site leaders to gather information. He left instructions with one of the guards to establish a central meeting place for those who would be accompanying him and Aoren on the rescue mission.

---

Talon closed his featherlight bag taking a mental inventory of the supplies that he had collected. Some were rations, some were for shelter, and some were for medical attention. There was no telling what awaited them when they went into the Warrens and it was always best to be prepared. This venture could be as swift as a single day or as long as several days though he was hoping it would not come to that. The Warrens were notorious for being treacherous.

“Ready?” He looked up as Aoren joined him in the temporary command tent that had been set up. His husband was also dressed in his Skyforge Raiment though his was accented with more red and black as opposed to Talon’s white and black.

“Ready.” Talon stepped out of the command tent and went to the area where those gathered to join their rescue mission. He looked over those who were there recognizing each of them.

“Thank you all for coming.” He nodded to Aurin, though he was surprised to see the theatre leader there. Resting a hand on the pommel of his sword, Talon acknowledged Hikami and his aunt.

“We are missing twenty-four workers due to a cave-in. They were mining for earth gems and uncovered a pocket of voidrillium. For those who do not know, voidstone is highly dangerous and volatile. It destroys and corrupts much of what it touches.” Talon let that statement linger in the air for a moment before pressing on. He hoped that the survivors had not been mutated by the dark dragonshards. It usually took exposure for a long period of time but given how violent the cave-in had been, the void stone they encountered could have been far more potent.

“Where there is voidrillium, there are monsters. If you do not wish to accompany the rescue party knowing this, no one will cast judgement upon you.” Talon waited before moving forward.

“Time is of the essence. If you have any last minute needs, the quartermaster is standing ready.” He nodded to a group of men and women near a stack of supplies.

Aurin, a seeming wastrel even sometimes when wearing finery appropriate for rubbing elbows with Avialae lords, didn't like dying, so he paid attention. That didn't mean he didn't smirk at Hilana's flirt; he might have tried to glance at the sister if he didn't know whether the sister would try to emasculate him for peeking.

"Nice to be seen," he said with a smirk.

There were plenty of circus attractions around, so he didn't try to stand out, but rather blend into the background. While others changed, he looked over what was on offer, unabashed about his pilfering. Of course, he was hot to go as soon as the demigod and his monster boyfriend came back from a probable canoodle.

Aurin nodded back to the princeling-cum-cult leader, and proceeded to ward himself against those dangers the Avialae laid out for them. Some people had called him paranoid over the years, but then many of those people were also dead. True, he had killed some of them himself, but that was beside the point. He had even warded his wiener before plumbing Hilana's depths. It was just best business practices.

He tried to remember how much voidrillium was selling for these days, doing some internal calculations.