Hailey

The main bar at the [Get Well Water Tavern] in [Sparks Junction] was pleasantly empty as the sun crested over the horizon. In her early adventuring days, Hailey couldn’t have imagined the [Get Well] ever being packed with less than a hundred people, day or night. No matter the season, the weather, or the time of day, there were always calamities to address, riches to quest for, and monsters that someone was willing to pay to have slain.

Of course that was all back in the [Fallen Kingdoms].

In the world that was shaking off its shadowy bedsheets and revealing the multi-hued forest valley below the tavern, adventuring was still alive and well, but the calamities had calmed down enough to let people catch their breaths a bit.

Hailey pulled up a seat to the bar and checked her [Coin Pouch of Holding]. They’d been running flat out to stop the world from ending for so long that she hadn’t even considered if she had the money needed to pay for her stay the previous evening, or to treat her team to the breakfasts they deserved when the arrived in a couple of hours.

Rather than any coins spilling out of the bag when she opened it, a number appeared in bright green digits. 

A large number to be sure, but one that was far below what her in-game gold balance had been. Comparing it with the prices on the chalkboard that was hanging behind the bar, Hailey saw that she was still comfortably wealthy, just not at the level of “corner the entire world’s market on cakes” if she chose to invest her fortune in pastry. If she wanted to, she could probably retire for life on what she had, provided she was willing to live somewhat modestly.

Or she could take a sabbatical for a year or two and pick up some new gear off the auction house at ‘buy it now’ prices. 

There were a lot of perks to the ‘retire for life’ option, but of the two, Hailey had to admit that she was more likely to go for the second. 

Or, if she was being honest with herself, her real answer would be ‘skip the sabbatical, get the gear, and loot some forgotten treasure hoard to pay for more’.

Assuming her party was up for all that.

They hadn’t talked about what would come after they saved the world, in part because none of them had expected to succeed.

Success had been a pleasant surprise, but it left open the question of who they were to each other. As a group that had been thrown together as the world was falling apart there weren’t longstanding ties that bound them. On the other hand though, they’d proven they could work well together, and that they could rely on one another even in the worst of conditions. 

Which unfortunately didn’t say much about how they’d handle working together when times weren’t quite so tough.

Hailey thought back to all the guilds she’d been in. Some had lasted a while. Others had dissolved to nothingness in only a few weeks or even days. There were a few commonalities to the long lasting ones, but ultimately it boiled down to how much energy people were willing to invest and just how compatible they were, neither of which was easy to guess at the outset.

Cambrell was the first to arrive, wandering into the tavern after a dozen or so other patrons had shown up. The serving lad directed him over towards the table off the main bar that Hailey had moved to.

“Expecting everyone will show?” he asked, seeing how many seats she’d reserved for them.

“More like hoping,” Hailey said. “Even if folks want to head off to do their own things, it’d be nice to be able to wish them well and exchange contact info in case we need it later.”

“Any more apocalypses coming?” Cambrell asked, taking the seat one away from Hailey to her left.

“I hope not,” she said. “All my special knowledge is basically obsolete at this point. The Consortium forces are either dead, in ruin, or freed from Consortium control. With the Fallen Kingdoms rising too, all the data I had on locations and points of interest is all old news.”

“You don’t sound too unhappy about that?” Cambrell asked, eyeing her steadily.

“I’m relieved and delighted by it,” Hailey said. “It was nerve wracking knowing that I could ruin everything if I said the wrong thing at the wrong time to the wrong person. Plus, a new world means new things to explore, new dungeons to run, and new loot to find.”

“And new people to kill,” Cambrell said.

“Thinking about going back to your old job?” Hailey asked. “Or, wait, how would that work now that everyone can use the [Heart Fires]?”

“Quite well apparently,” Cambrell said. “Assassination business is booming since people feel like it’s okay to hire an [Assassin] for basically any reason at all.”

“People aren’t guaranteed to come back though,” Hailey said.

“Oh, I know. Doesn’t seem to be slowing anyone down though,” Cambrell said. “Or maybe that’s just the view I got from the guild’s office.”

“Easy millions for you then I guess, right?” Hailey asked.

“Could be,” Cambrell said and hesitated before adding, “Don’t think I’m going to take them up on it.”

“Got a better offer you want to pursue?” Hailey asked.

“I’m hoping so,” Cambrel said, nodding at the empty chairs around the table.

The serving lad brought over the plate of fruits and cheeses Hailey had ordered and the two of them had just started to dig in when Wrath Raven arrived. 

She strode over to their table without needing direction, pulled back the chair opposite Cambrel and plunked down into it, diving into the fruits without saying a word.

Hailey let her eat for a few minutes, noticing as she did the care with which Wrath                                   Raven was selecting and consuming the food. Wrath didn’t spend much time move from one piece to the next, but each bite was chewed and savored for a clear moment before she moved on to the next one.

“Did you want me to have them bring a meat dish over too?” Hailey asked, thinking that most [Berserks] she knew tended to eat like obligate carnivores.

Wrath Raven looked up, met Hailey’s eyes, and shrugged.

“If you want,” she said. “The fruit’s good too.”

Hailey signaled to the serving lad to bring another platter. When she’d ordered she’d been thinking of Earthly appetites but if there was one thing all [Adventurers] were capable of, it was packing away enormous quantities of food and drink, at least during those times when they weren’t starving themselves in order to reach an ever deeper level of whatever dungeon their were in.

Hailey was trying to work out how to ask Wrath Raven if she was staying when an unexpected-yet-delightful guest arrived.

“Oh, good, does this mean you’re sticking with us?” Glimmerglass asked, sitting down between Hailey and Wrath.

“Yah,” Wrath Raven said. “That okay?”

“Definitely!” Hailey said. With Wrath and Glimmer they had healing and off-tanking covered, and between herself and Cambrell damage dealing wouldn’t be a problem.

At least not for small party fights. They wouldn’t be able to tackle big battles without more help since none of them were decked out in the newest top of the line gear yet, and maybe not even once they were, not with just four of them.

“Hope that means you’ve got room for us too,” Mellisandra said. She arrived with a floating tray of various beverages while Damnazon had two kegs hoisted under her arms.

“And I’m hoping we brought enough ale!” Damnazon said. It was still well before lunch but Hailey recalled a bit of lore that mentioned [Half-Giant] physiology having a rather different relationship with alcohol thanks to their high resistance to poisons and toxins in general.

“For those without heroic-tier livers, we brought some [Exotic Juice Concoctions] from the [Bizarre Fruit Bazaar]. Supposedly the risk of accidental transmutation is low, but we did have to promise to inform anyone we gave them to that it’s not guaranteed that they’ll retain their current form,” Mellisandra said.

“Bah, they said best case the transformations only last about ten minutes,” Damnazon said and placed the two kegs beside her own chair and Wrath’s.

“You two look happy today,” Cambrell said, a sly smile stifled on the edges of his lips.

Damnazon sat down on the over-sized chair next to him, and Mellisandra slid onto her lap.

“We are,” Mellisandra said, snagging a piece of fruit and offering it to Damnazon.

Cambrell let a happy huff escape his lips and said, “surprised you two didn’t figure that out sooner. The whole world could have ended without you saying anything to each other.”

“I didn’t want to distract her,” Mellisandra said.

“And I’m, uh, kind of a chicken,” Damnazon said.

“You literally ran into one of the Consortium’s [Cleaving Machines], twice,” Hailey said.

“Yeah, but, that wasn’t anything that could really hurt,” Damnazon said.

 Which meant they had two off-tanks to work with. Hailey liked where this was going. High damage parties were always a wild ride. There was one problem though. If everyone else from their original party showed up, they’d have too many for just one party.

“That brings us to six so far,” she said.

“Six total I think,” Glimmerglass said. “I talked to the others and they’re going to try their hands at [World Walking].”

Hailey was both relieved and disappointed to hear that. She’d hoped their team would stay together, but she understood that lure that had called the others away.

[Adventurers] were driven to seek out new challenges, and new vistas. With the world reborn there were plenty of those in the [Risen Kingdoms] but the temptation to explore other, even stranger worlds was hard to resist.

She suspected in time they’d be back though. There was something special about the world that your heart called home.

The thought surprised her only in that it had taken her that long to put into words. She’d chosen the [Fallen Kingdoms] over Earth not only because she was needed in one far more than in the other, but because this was where she’d always longed to be.

Always who she’d longed to be too.

“That puts us a little short of a full party, is that right?” Cambrell asked.

“Not necessarily,” Mellisandra said. “I was talking to someone who’d like to join us if we’ve got room still.”

Hailey saw a man talking to the bartender glance over and notice their table, specifically Mellisandra and Damnazon.

Unfortunately she knew who he was.

“Oh my,” Byron said walking over to them, “I didn’t expect to meet you again so soon.”

“Him?” Hailey asked, her hands reaching for the hilt of her knives.

She hadn’t had any direct dealing with Byron but she’d seen him in the [High Beyond] and she’d read the minor bits of lore the EE dev team had developed for him. An arrogant bastard through and through.

“Oh, uh, probably not,” Byron said. “I’m only here because I saw the help wanted sign on the door.

“Were you able to get a room at the [Cozy Whale]?” Mellisandra asked.

“Yes. Thank you for recommendation,” Byron said. “It seems I can start here tonight as well, so allow me to return the gold you lent me.”

“Wasn’t a loan,” Damnazon said. “I got ten times that from a [Berserker] when I was starting out, so this is just paying it forward.”

“Thank you again then,” Byron said, sketching a small bow. “I’ll keep an eye open for the chance to do likewise.”

And with that he wandered off, troubling them no further apart from perplexing Hailey beyond words for a few moments.

She caught back up on the conversation when Mellisandra added a new person to the party channel she’d apparently setup between them all.

“Hi folks,” Feral Fang said. “So my old party decided to jump ship for a world of racing cars. Mellisandra you could use a warm body to fill your ranks though?”

“Uh, yes!” Hailey said, recognizing the name of one of the God-tier fishers who’d been instrumental in stopping one of the deeper apocalypses. “Where are you at now?”

“[Heliot],” Feral Fang said.

“Where’s that?” Cambrell asked.

“Currently it’s cruising over the [Amaranthine Scar]. [Heliot’s] a [Balloon City],” Feral Fang said.

“What’s it doing there?” Damnazon asked.

“Acting as a mobile [Adventuring Guild] base,” Feral Fang said. “The Scar got formed by one of the apocalypses that we got to a bit late so it runs from the [Risen Kingdoms] down into the old Fallen lands right on through to the [Sunless Deeps]. Nobody knows how big the dungeon is, or whether it’s multiple dungeons, but people are queueing up to find out.”

“Are there low level areas there?” Mellisandra asked.

“Oh yeah. It seems to start at level 1 and we know the [Sunless Deeps] can hit the level cap and beyond for raid content.”

“In that case, I’ve got one other person who’d like to join us too,” Mellisandra said. “If we don’t mind doing some power leveling to get him caught up?”

“I like that idea,” Cambrell, of all people, said. When Hailey looked at him quizzically he added, “This is a new setup we’ve got here, and, well, I’ve never run a proper dungeon before. Be nice to take it slow learning the ropes.”

“No arguments here,” Feral Fang said. “The Scar is so huge I think trying to rush through it would be madness.”

“Who did you have in mind?” Glimmerglass asked.

“I think that would be me,” a fledgling adventure said. Hailey looked up to find Mellisandra’s Earthborn partner Brandon waving a tiny greeting at them, somehow standing in the [Risen Kingdoms], the stat bar over his head proclaiming him as a level 1 [Paladin] named Sir Ton Tee.