StarChaser: Another (18+)

Ram Ranch,a village in the Arcane Pasture, Autumnhollow:

The bullhorn mounted on Farlan’s home back in Ram Ranch played the sound of jingling bells. The same kind of sound the earthlings would have recognized as an old-school rotary phone’s ring sound.

The fox-like Vulpei wiped his hands on his workman’s apron as he entered his cottage. Remembering what Neith had taught him, he sat himself on his desk and pressed the button on the radio set.

“StarFox receiving…” He said loud and clear into the microphone, opening up the notebook that Zefir had written for him. It contained the list of names of the Whales as well as their callsigns, and his was (though he didn’t know it, was uncreatively called) “StarFox.”

“This is Starchaser.” The black box said in Ingrid’s voice. “We’re at the market, do you now have a list of things we need to buy?”

“Yes we do,” Farlan replied “as well as ingredients for Cata-” he paused and looked down the list of callsigns, sliding his finger down the page for Cataline’s callsign which was Sabrina. “We also have a list of ingredients mentioned by Sabrina, there’s recipes here for fertilizer, ingredients for a nutritious animal feed, there’s also some medicine ingredients she needs to mix together to make poultices for cuts and scrapes, as well as powder ingredients to use for common illnesses…”

“Excellent.” He could feel Ingrid smiling from the market. “Bring her over and as well as other craftsmen with you. Looks like we’re getting a good deal over where in the market thanks to Anubis.”

Farlan’s eyes darted around the list of names. She was referring to Kvaris Enthana. Amaduscia’s daughter. 

“Very well, where should we meet?” Farlan asked.

 

Outside Farlan’s cottage, Edward, the orc baker from Irons, looked curiously at the big white trumpet that had inexplicably played the sound of bells before mysteriously falling silent. 

“What was that, Nod?” he asked, turning to the Garm fisherman, jerking his head at the white trumpet mounted on Farlan’s house.

“It’s for their talking magic. Edward.” Nod explained, Falzo had long ditched his alias after accepting residence at Ram Ranch. “It seems Farlan’s called to talk to them about some matters.”

“Talking magic? You mean he’s talking to Ingrid right now?”

“I’m sure you must have seen them wearing some kind of charm on their ears.” Nod said. He was sure that Edward had seen them considering how much they were talking on the line.  “Haven’t you seen them touch their ears and talk to nobody in particular?”

“Oh, right.” Edward said. “Now that you mention it, that human did that when I first met her.”

“They were talking to each other, Edward.” Nod told him. “They can communicate from long distances. That’s how they silently stormed Irons. I know, because I was up there on the cliffs watching some of them observing the town from below. They moved like assassins, and with one mind like an ankheg swarm.”

“Interesting…” Edward said. He looked up and saw Farlan step out of his house, he walked over to the two.

“Edward, Nod, I need you two and some others to come with me, take baskets, and help me find Cataline and Russet.”

“What’s up, chief?” Nod asked.

“We’re going to the market. The Whales have been selling or trading nearly everything they found in Irons to get things for our village.”

 

___

Farlan, Edward, Nod, Cataline, Russet, Malri, Scaine, and Lirine were animatedly talking with each other as they stepped out of the Arcane pasture; the extradimensional land their town of Ram Ranch had taken root and into Autumnhollow.

As they did so, they saw that the Whales had fifteen swarm mice as their familiars, with four of them; which caused them to stop in their tracks, were near-mythical golden mice.

Even more fascinating was how all of them were wearing lamellar armor and helmets, as well as red scarves around their necks and a brooch pinned on it to show they were familiar. 

More fascinating still however was how the mice were acting. They were not scuttling around playing and fighting amongst each other, nor where they gathered around a big bowl of feed and gorging themselves, neither were they just huddled up in a pile and sleeping. 

Instead the mice were being… industrious. None of the Whales were overseeing them to do anything. 

On one side some of the mice were like archers practicing their marksmanship. Instead of using bows they were using those arcane staves that made loud explosions from the end, similar to the ones they used when the Whales came to their rescue. Immediately after the explosions from the staves, the practice dummies had holes blown through all of them. 

 

“They’re evaluating their marksmanship!” Cataline said in wonder.

Despite using such deadly weapons in their paws, none of the Whales paid them any head. Philia continued to work on some kind of doublet or gambeson placed around a dress form. Arcane force flowed through her hands and around the dressform itself, causing it thrum with energy. The young ciltran girl, Viel was helping her too and despite the noise from their weapons they carried about their enchanting unconcerned.

Meanwhile, the two kobolds, Mink and Roofe, were busy talking with Sammy as they inspected the various goods which were still in huge quantities lying in neat stacks over the patio.. The sudden loud reports of the staves didn’t cause them to flinch. Their hands steady as Mink held up a jug and hefted it. From the racket the mice were making, they could filter out that they seemed to find these too good to use in the village and better off selling them for more useful things as well as considering another place to sell them considering that if too many were sold in New Gorsipal it would look too suspicious. 

After shooting a couple of times, one mouse squeaked and they all simultaneously put down their staves and began inspecting the dummies.

 

Nearby another set of mice were gathered on a table, squeaking happily amongst each other, their paws busily filling strange containers with small metal cylinders. Their movements were precise, not wildly banging them into the containers; a combination of animal speed and dexterity but with the precision of intelligence, allowing them to quickly fill these containers of varying shapes and sizes. 

The golden mice on the other hand were practicing with glaives, the blades wrapped in cloth so they could spar with each other with a little less reserve. 

 

“They’re like soldiers.” Edward remarked. “I’ve never seen anything that could motivate them to act like this…”

The mice that noticed them squeaked and nodded, some waving in a friendly manner. Even Nod, was greeted in a friendly way. Nod sighed in relief, feeling good that wasn’t being seen as suspicious anymore. 

 

___

Rhathmin’s Atelier, New Gorpisal:

As Ingrid, Zefir, and the Enthana sisters go to work obtaining resources for Ram Ranch, Siria radioed in from Rhathmin’s Atelier.

“Ranger-Two here, I need a headcount on how many will be making use of the Janus Blades.” she said quietly.

“Sis and I need them.” Kinu replied.

“That makes two.” Siria remarked. “Who else?”

“I’ll take one as well.” Sammy replied.

“That’s three now.” 

“Our mice need them.” Cecil replied.

“Four.”

“Add me as well.” Philia said, there was a loud “BANG!” and she yelped. “Don’t mind me! I’m fine.”

“What the!?” Ingrid said suddenly ”you alright?”

“Spaghetti code magic, don’t mind me.” Philia said.

“Five.”

“Our two Wolians could also make use of them.“

“That makes seven.” Siria said. “I’ll get a quote on the price.”

“It’ll prolly cost us quite a bit from the money we got at Irons.” Philia said “But we need that to earn big at Teth-Odin.”

“Seven it is then.” Siria said, walking to the counter to make an order for “Blank” Amulets. 

 

“How’s the Rhokalian dress form going?” Siria asked as she watched the mages work on the amulets.

“Testing an old amulet of mine that I’m not using anymore.” Philia replied. “The Janus Blade is working well.”

Everyone could hear the sound of a blade whipping through the air along with a hum of energy as the phantom sword rippled and reacted with the air around it.

“The range is definitely limited to how far my arms could reach based on their current position, and seems to be only within the limits I could realistically bend my arms, so no, I can’t swing from an angle I can’t do myself…The strain of using them seems quite lighter than the sword’s actual weight.”

“Can the mice use them?” Ingrid asked.

“Let’s give it a try…”  There were a couple of seconds as Philia whistled and called Brody over. There was the sound of footsteps along the stone floor and then she signaled for Brody to give it a try.

Philia let out an excited sound.

“Yes! It works!” Philia said happily.

“Great work King Fish.” Siria said.

“You’re the best, King Fish!” Ingrid exclaimed.

“Thanks you two!” Philia sounded genuinely happy.

“Hey.” Ingrid told her. “You did great, you’ve always been doing great. That's a fact. Don’t worry about the last time. That was on me.”

“Got it.” Philia replied.

“So, what about the armor?”  Siria inquired.

“I’ve put a miquoan vest over it. Right now it only applies to the actual armored area, nobody hold their breath though, looks like making this into a full-body field is a little too complicated. If I mess around too much I’m liable to make it not work at all.” 

“One second…” Cecil posed a question. “How does that work with multiple people using the same sword or armor?”

“A little bit on the technical side, Overlord.” Philia said, “I smelled a lot of soultones together to give it a huge buffer of energy. That lets it provide the enchantment to more than one recipient. I had to remove the safety valves in a manner of speaking, to get that to happen. The Amulets serve as a safety valve to properly direct that extra energy.“

Cecil thought for a while. “You mean it’s possible a single recipient could say like… get ten times the protection?”

“Yeah, that’s where it gets very technical, Overlord.” Philia said. “Short answer, no you can’t. Long answer: all you’ll end up with is a suicide vest. The amulets have a ‘fuse’ that prevents that from happening. It’s why I’m leaving the amulet enchantments to those experts at that Atelier.”

“Okay, so everyone’s armor from that dressform is a separate instance from everyone else?”

Philia sighed a little, “I would say 80%, and the rest is shared.”

Siria thought for a while. “Is this something like my Drow Harness?” she asked, referring to the leather corset she wore over her Riflana-Biscala leotard.

“I’m not familiar with how it works, except for maybe an implication that it works like Sammy’s pauldrons, or the Pavise Charms.” Philia said. 

“Basically I have a protective field with the toughness of a forest elephant.” Siria told her. “The only way to hurt me is to attack in a way that could breach its thick hide.”

“You mean like…” Ingrid asked. “...if you rolled around on caltrops all day, nothing would happen to you?”

“Yes” came Siria’s answer. “you need to use something that can either cut or pierce through, or deal enough damage to break a forest elephant’s bones in the corresponding area. That’s for each and every strike against me.”

“No.” Philia said after digesting this information. “For this dress form, any and all damage is sustained for an hour. Cutting and stabbing attacks have the best chance in sustaining damage while impact force… hardly any.”

“Still pretty good.” Zefir said. “It’s carbon fiber after all, one of the toughest things known to man. We use that in our world to stop pistol bullets and knives.”

“Alright, what about a headcount for those using the armor?” Ingrid asked. “Is it also on the amulets for the Janus Blades?”

“Oh right.” There was a sound of Philia slapping her forehead. “Let’s get a headcount for those who will need armor, keeping in mind that the more people use it, the weaker it gets due to the 20% shared damage.”

“Obviously not me.” Ingrid said.

“I’d say Anubis, Amarok, Night-Rider, Prophet, and the mice by virtue of the golden ones capable of making simulacrums of themselves to attack. Basically our fighters who are expected to close the distance and fight.” Siria suggested.

“I don’t plan for Prophet to rush forward and attack.” Ingrid said “her role to step up and defend is secondary, but I have no objections.”

Everyone else muttered the same. 

“If the price exceeds the budget I can write another Honored Note of Debt.” Kvaris offered.

“That’s a Promissory Note, Starchaser, in case you’re wondering. It’s legally binding.” Philia explained preemptively.

“Hopefully it doesn’t come to that, we’re already buying quite a bit, we deserve a discount.” Kinu told Siria.

 

“10-4 Amarok.” Siria said, she walked up to Rhathmin and waved at him to get his attention.

“I’d like another five of those amulets. Could you give me a discount on those?”

The bird-folk proprietor inflated his crop and made a genteel warbling sound.

“Reasonable, agreed.” he said.

___

That evening, a funeral service was held for the innocents slain by the Sarin gas attack at the church of Saint Ygris. All the Whales attended. Ingrid had half a mind to dissuade them, but chose not to. They all had their reasons after all. 

“I guess WMD’s are off the table now?” Philia said quietly, barely a whisper.

“No.” Ingrid replied. “Continue with your weapons program.”

Philia glanced at Ingrid, maintaining the appearance of intently attending to the priests’ prayers.

Ingrid continued “Earth can easily replenish whatever stockpile we take from. We have Red Moons, we have big criminal gangs, and we have countries like Elion-Nosco seeking to cause trouble. Those define our reasons for taking whatever WMD’s we need.”

“So much for Geneva suggestions, it’s Geneva rejections now.” Philia replied, slightly smiling.

“We’re in Terragalia, so we don’t play by Earth’s rules anymore, Philia. We’re adventurers, we -”

“-are not bound to any nation, philosophy or ideology. If necessary we’ll be vigilantes, criminals, or even terrorists, we’re the deterrent for those who have no recourse, we don’t need a reason to act, we act because we’re needed. Gotcha, big boss.” Philia smirked.

Ingrid suppressed a smile, she appreciated the levity. “That’s right. Also, I totally forgot you had to live your life from zero while I reincarnated only recently, guess I kept you waiting, huh?”

There was a pause as both girls hid their amusement.

“Don’t go building any giant death bots now, Philia.”

“Too late.” Philia whispered. “We already have Neith.”

 

___

The Next Day:

Ingrid, Philia, Selphie, and Kvaris sat at the guildmaster’s office early that morning.

“How’d the selling go?” Millarna asked as she laid down the coffee.

“Kvaris and Kinu didn’t get the prices on more than half of what we were carrying. So we only sold barely half that more or less matched the price they were negotiating for.”

Tibbles chuckled. A deep feline rumble that made Ingrid and Philia think of a lion, which Tibbles was comparable the size of.

“You should do that in Teth-Odin, leave here as soon as possible for reasons you will know now.” he said, he nodded his head to Millarna, who handed them letters with Tibbles’ seal on it, as well as written instructions for which letter goes to whom.

“I want you to take that letter to the guildmaster of the Jormungandr at Teth-Odin when you arrive. Deliver it personally to guildmaster Mittens-”

“PFFFT!” Ingrid doubled over quickly so as to hide her face. Philia patted her back, pretending that Ingrid was feeling sick. 

“She’ll get over it, sir.” Philia lied, rubbing Ingrid’s back. “She was feeling so bad she ended up physically sick.”

Tibbles continued on in an indifferent tone. “That will give Autumnhollow precedence over what area you choose to deploy your home. That also contains a summary of your report. I recommend you take shelter somewhere inside the city, but that is up your discretion as a team.”

“Our plan was to hide out in the woods at the perimeter of the city.” Siria told Tibbles and Millarna. “Ingrid however expressed concern regarding the regular logging going about the forest which could lead to its discovery.”

Ingrid straightened up, clearing her throat quietly as she composed herself.

“I’m sure there’ll be places in Teth-Odin that has the necessary amount of space that could house Autumnhollow.” Millarna replied. “It’s best you find a place nobody could expect an invisible house to be placed on.”

“Agreed.” Philia said.

“Like a rooftop or an empty lot. Or if there’s a condemned building or one scheduled to be taken down we can use that material.” Ingrid suggested.

“Good, finally you have that adventuring spirit back.” Tibbles said to her. 

“Thank you sir,” Ingrid replied. 

Tibbles nodded at Millarna who laid a bag of coins at the coffee table in front of the group

“That’s a portion of what we have earned at the resale of those items. Some were highly priced, found in places too far from here. Evidence of corruption is afoot, a serious crime.” Tibbles regarded Ingrid with a stern look in his eye “Don’t you ever dare consider tempering your decisions, Ingrid. Your decisions led to this discovery, your little indiscretion costs nothing compared to the lives you have just saved.”

“Understood, sir.” Ingrid took the bag of coins.

“Use that to improve your gear, which I believe is the reason you called your Sarin strike early. Save it till you get to Teth-Odin of course.”

The team nodded.

“Also, you are not to sell anymore of your finds here in New Gorpisal.” Tibbles said. “Too many of those goods end up here and the wrong people might start asking one too many questions.”

“Yes sir.” Ingrid winced, feeling really stupid.

“Not that it’s unnatural if some landed here. New Gorpisal is nearby and thus a logical place to try selling some of the goods.” Millarna assured them. “But only some.”

“Now go.” Tibbles yawned, showing off his impressive canines. “Clear the dungeons in our guild’s name. That’s another thing you can do for us.”

 

Outside the office, Siria, Philia, and Kvaris looked excitedly at what’s inside the coin bag.

“Quite a lot of Platinum coins here. Good and bad news.” Philia said. 

“Agreed.” Siria added. “Stop all selling in this town, we do that in Teth-Odin. It’s a good thing we didn’t get reprimanded for doing that, although I suppose the guildmaster intentionally took all the things too big for us to sell.”

“Alright,” Ingrid said, tapping her earpiece. “This is Starchaser Actual to Whales. Halt all selling of goods found from Irons. Repeat. Halt all selling of goods found from Irons. Many goods suspected to be of high profile in origin, we will do that in Teth-Odin.”

“10-4 Starchaser Actual.” Kinu replied. She was followed up with everyone saying their acknowledgement.

“We are packing up and leaving town as soon as possible in two hours.” Ingrid said firmly. “Good job Amarok and Anubis for your appraisal. We’ll get our real worth in that town.”

 

“Where to for now, Ingrid?” Philia asked.

“We pay Rhathmin our balance.” Ingrid said.

“Too late, he’s probably sent that note of honor already.” Kvaris said. “I’ll just send money to father by mail.”

“Oh right, Philia did mention she needed to write to people in Elion-Nosco… let’s get some birds.” Ingrid said. “All firearms practice will now be in the Arcane Pasture away from Ram Ranch.”

“PFFFT” now it was Philia’s turns to unsuccessfully stifle a laugh.

“Ram Ranch should be Autumnhollow house’s name.” Kvaris said, slapping Ingrid’s butt.

“We don’t have eighteen girls. Kvaris” Ingrid said. “But you’re all welcome to run a train on me.”

“What does that mean?” Kvaris asked.

“Probably means that thing where we all took turns with her, like a train of caravans.” Siria said.

“Oh. Looks weird if you put it that way.” Kvaris frowned.

“Why is that, Kvaris?” Ingrid queried.

“Because in Garm culture, it's the girls who take multiple lovers, it’s a contest among the guys who’s kid is actually birthed, something about it being a statement of which dood was the ‘worthy’ one of the bunch. You saying you’re having a train run on you suggests you’re the bottom. In Garm eyes you’re the top.”

“You’re a selfish girl, Ingrid. Making all of us just wait in line just for you.” Kvaris snickered. 

“All Hail Empress Ingrid.” Philia tapped an arm to her chest raised an arm.

“All Hail Empress Ingrid.” the others followed in a comical monotone.

---

INDEX: The Whales Party Sheet