Aegis Online

The next few weeks pass, and I stream regularly, my following growing to about fifty-thousand viewers on average, heading out a couple of times off-stream to forage for more metals, gems, and wyverns, having to compete against a couple groups of stream-snipers, but, while I sell off the wyvern hides, claws, and fangs, as well as all the Alvenite and mythril I can find, I instead have a portion of the gems refined and cut by Trinity in exchange for not taking payment for the gold and silver. I even manage to level up a good few times! My level goes from 44 to 50!

Kettrin

Bulwark Level 44 -> 50

CON: 40

DEX: 36 -> 40

STR: 40 -> 44

WIS: 30 -> 35

INT: 30 -> 35

LUCK: 40

I don’t spend most of my ability points yet, wanting to save them for something special. I do spend 10 points on a passive skill that allows me to perform woodwork.

The dance practices go on as usual each Saturday, and so do my appointments with Yaya. She’s smiling all the time now, and I attribute that to her new wife. I spend time with Dana, Jeffrey, and Jared as well, inviting Jeffrey’s new boyfriend to join our group. We even go on double-dates!

Jared’s very witty, and has a dry, perpetually-amused tone to his voice, and I can’t help but laugh at his jokes. Dana’s also tickled pink by the dark-skinned boy’s anecdotes, and I secretly squee about how happy Jeffrey looks whenever his boyfriend is around.

In Aegis Online, I hire a helmswoman to take the wheel of my Devil Hunter, so I don’t have to steer every time.  I also hire a few more crewmembers, all of whom are capable of flight. Two Alvs, another Skyborne with red-feathered wings, and a jovial dwarf with a helipack, recruited from Gimmel’s group to act as a machinist aboard, to maintain the repeating heavy bolt-slingers, the net-launchers, and the like.

Finally, I seek out a cook, since a ship like this has a reasonably-sized galley. I head through the main square of Vassim, thinking about hitting a restaurant or something to poach a chef, before pausing. In the town square, I can see a large gathering of Argonauts, and… that smell! It’s… incredible!

I start pushing my way through the crowd politely, before pausing. Wait, why am I being a dummy?? Taking flight, I hover above the throng, getting a better view. In the centre of this gathering, a pair of large metal-topped tables are set out opposing each other. A fire burns brightly at one side, a clay oven mounted over each.

On each table, knives, chopping boards, various culinary tools, and many ingredients are set out for use.  At one table, Ulged is working on a bowl of thick red sauce, whisking it and adding a pinch of this and some of that, tasting it with a clean spoon each time, then adding something else.

At the other table… is a… gnome, I think? He’s very short, wearing a chef’s toque that’s almost as tall as he is, busily basting a slab of meat with a dark reddish paste, while a pan in the oven sizzles with a mound of onions and mushrooms, the smell of garlic and spices wafting upwards. I beat my wings enough to keep myself airborne, savouring the scents as the tiny chef reaches out, bare-handed, and grasps the handle of the pan, pulling it smoothly and tipping the contents into a large, flat tray, before rolling the meat into a cylinder and tying it into position.

I turn to look over at Ulged, and see he’s cubing meat and cutting vegetables into large chunks, skewering them on thin, strong metal sticks, before coating the kabobs with the thick sauce, placing them directly into the flames as he turns and begins preparing something else, a thick batter, which he coats sausages wrapped in thick-cut bacon, placing them in a pot full of bubbling golden oil.

I can’t help but laugh softly. “I can’t believe it. It’s a cooking contest!”

A small, but clearly adult voice, chimes in from beside me. “It is, ain’t it!”

Starting, I turn to look. A small, winged humanoid, about a foot tall, with blue skin and red hair, who grins at me. There are half-a-dozen more like them flitting through the air. Pictsies!

I smile back at the one who’d spoken. “Oh, hi! I haven’t seen many of you around! You have any idea WHY there’s a cooking contest going on?”

The Pictsie leader shrugs. “No idea. I DO know that the human there challenged the hairy one!”

I take another look at the small figure in the chef’s hat. A human? Huh. I thought they were a gnome.

The cooking continues, and I find myself growing hungrier and hungrier, the enticing smells growing stronger as the contest heats up. While the tiny human chef’s roll of meat sears on the outsides, he dices the onions and mushrooms into a fine paste, almost a stuffing, before grabbing some dough left to prove in a bowl, and rolling it out, cutting it in half lengthways. Brushing it on the inside with melted butter or oil of some kind, he seasons it, before coating it with the stuffing.

Whipping the pan out of the oven and placing the rolled meat in the centre of the pastry, the miniature master chef rolls the meat in the pastry, covering it entirely before taking the other piece he’d cut off and turning it into a lattice pattern, which he overlays on top and slides the whole thing back into the oven after basting the outside with liquid butter, seasoned with herbs. I recognize thyme and rosemary, as well as garlic, but that’s about it.

A bell rings about an hour later, and the two competing chefs set out their dishes. Ulged’s made some kind of battered double-meat sausages, and a tray full of spicy meat-and-vegetable skewers, judging by the flicker of flames around them. I giggle, remembering Randy’s ill-fated attempt to out-spice the giant gnoll.

The small human cook sets out a tray with a dish that I vaguely recognized. It looks like a beef Wellington, only absolutely enormous, surrounded by lightly battered and deep-fried vegetables with a thick, honey-coloured sauce!

I can feel my mouth watering as I look down. “Damn, I need to get a cook for my ship… Ulged’s out since he’s already running a store, but… maybe this other guy is interested? Or knows someone who would be?”

The Pictsies nearby all chatter, looking greedily at the spread on each table. I see the two competitors producing jugs of drink as well, and swoop down, landing in an open space to check out what’s going on. A few people whisper excitedly about my presence, but I’ve grown used to that. One of the by-products of being a relatively-well-known streamer.

Upon the contest being declared a draw, the tiny human and the huge gnoll pour mugs of drink. Ulged’s provided a dark amber liquor, some kind of beer or ale.  The miniature human cook has offered up a light, yellow-gold beverage that smells strong, even from here. Each of them offers a stoup of drink to the other, and they drain the contents. The human seems unaffected, while Ulged reels back in surprise, laughing uproariously. “Strong stuff, ma wee friend! If ye can drink this wi’out any ill effects, ye’ve got quite the resilient constitution!”

The tiny chef grins up at the gnoll. “You’re not so bad yourself, ya big lug!”

Then, he turns , throwing his arms wide. “C’mon, eat, drink, celebrate LIFE!” Everyone surges forwards, as Ulged brings out another tray of kabobs,  the chef drawing a knife and cutting thick slices of Wellington for any interested parties.

I furl my wings tighter to avoid bumping into anyone, and claim a piece of the wellington, biting in. my eyes widen. “Thish… ish… incre’ible!” I mumble through a mouthful of perfectly tender and juicy meat, coated in a savoury mushroom-and-onion layer, with the flaky pastry shell surrounding the whole thing. It’s quite possibly the best thing I’ve ever tasted. I can’t help myself; I go back for seconds, as well as a skewer of Ulged’s volcanic-level spiciness.

Once the crowd’s dissipated, with the Pictsies being the last, each one struggling to fly, carrying a slice of wellington between two of them, while another pair carry a skewer like hunters carrying a deer carcass lashed to a pole. I giggle at the sight, approaching the short human in the chef’s hat. “Hey, I was really impressed by your cooking. Do you happen to be open to a job offer?”

He looks up at me, grinning. “Oh? And why would a Skyborne have need of little old me, eh?”

I smile. “I’m the captain of the Devil Hunter, an airship that you may have seen cutting through the skies above the city. I’m also the Guildmaster of the Wings of the Storm, based out of said airship. However, we lack a few crucial crewmembers, and one of those roles going currently unfulfilled is a cook. Having a professional such as yourself aboard would do wonders for morale.”

The tiny chef grins up at me.

“Well, I don’t see why not! I always say, never turn down an interesting opportunity, and this promises to be VERY interesting indeed! I accept your offer of a job, captain!”

I smile. “Excellent. We’re berthed at the skydock, it shouldn’t be too hard to find. Tell my crew I hired you, and then make yourself at home. Let me know what you’ll need for the galley once you’ve had a look, then we can outfit it to suit your needs!”

“Aye, I’ll do that. Good t’be working with ya, captain!”

I smile and take to the skies again, deciding to see if I can get one of those Stones of Rapid Transference that Dana let me borrow…

“What, one of those? Yeah, I can tell you where to get one. There are two options! One, you can farm a rare enemy that spawns in only a couple of locations, or you can do a quest. Look for one that has it as a reward. You should be able to find one of those in a tavern. I picked my one up from the enemy, but that was more luck than anything else.  Need me to come along?”

I smile. “No, it’s fine, I was only asking because it would make short trips easier. No need to bring the Devil Hunter everywhere, after all! And, I want it for mining purposes. That way, I can go into a cave to mine and anyone trying to stream-snipe me will be wasting their time unless they come in after me. And, in close quarters, my defences and reach will have the advantage, even if I can’t fly!”

“That’s my girlfriend and her clever thinking! Well, let me know if you need help, or extra information! I’ll send you the pin for the rare mob in case you wanna try farming the stone the old-fashioned way!”

“Sounds good, thanks! I’ll be sure to check it out!”

I wait for Asteria’s map data about the rare enemy spawn point to arrive, and then pin the location to my own map. It’s not far from Tillberry, the starting village I’d appeared near when I first started playing AO. And, now that I’ve gotten stronger and faster, a journey that took a few days to get from there to Vassim will only take a couple hours of full-speed flight! And, with my increased stamina, I won’t even have to rest mid-trip! Yeah! Time to get moving. And, even better, Anri and Randy haven’t shown their faces recently. Maybe they’ve decided to find easier targets to harass and bully. That’d suck for whoever they pick on, but I could definitely do with a break from their nonsense…