Journey West 07: Sae-Auto

   The walk ahead of them is nothing short of annoying, in their escape from Sae-Fram, they left something rather important behind, the cyber-horses. With out them they are forced to walk through this land by foot. Of course given they can all fly, and have incredible stamina its not as daunting a task as one might imagine, only slower, and more annoying as unlike back east this land doesn’t have small towns scattered everywhere, the people tend to congregate in larger cities or near bodies of water only. In fact along this road to the south they haven’t come across any traveling merchants, of course given what is happening not far North, and the fact this land has radio equipment its perfectly understandable they would be the only ones on this road as everyone else may be trying to avoid getting mixed up in the fighting. Unfortunately they don’t have radios, and with out horses its going to look rather odd for them to show up at the doorsteps of the nearest city, Sae-Auto.

    “You know,” says Betty who has been thinking all this, “Even with horses we look weird around here.”

    The others stop and give her a questioning look, “I mean,” she says, “back east we looked fine, every other group we met were in costumes you know, but its like everyone out here is dressed…all normal or something you know.”

    “I…don’t know.” says Hollia who would just thinks the people are dressed like towns people, “We…haven’t met any other adventurers really.”

    “Hunters,” says Gold Wolf, “out here they’re bounty hunters and mercenaries, you don’t get costumed types out here, in fact like I said you don’t really get magic out here either. Best I can tell you people tend to have costumes when you have magic or some other crazy power and want to single yourselves out as something special. Up north, back east, hell most of this world in fact, just this one place despite all its post apocalyptic desert land feel thing going on with it feels the most normal to me.”

    “huh?” says pretty much everyone save for Betty Rhulan who get the reference after a moment.

   Up ahead they see Sae-Auto.

   ******

   The city is so different from anything they knew back east, and so different from anything so far in this dusty land. The very structure surprised Hollia, as the town is open; there is no gate, no walls, no special mystical guard posts running the outskirts of the town to keep away dangerous beasts. She isn’t even certain the path they are on is even the main road into the town. They do of course garner a few odd looks from the towns people, but these people in their dusty pants and shirts go about their lives as though they have no idea of the battles going on up north, that is the impression they get, an impression spoiled by an odd sounding voice, a crackling voice coming from a box sitting on a bar with men and women around it eating.

   [*the extremists hold in Sae-Fram, along with the unfortunate escorts of the Magnus caravan heading to Sae-Crita were both destroyed by arcane bolts, officials are still trying to determine if this was a divine act or more likely a sneak attack by some new weapon in the hands of the elitist imperial forces of Stratalia.*]

   “A recording,” says Rhulan to Hollia directly, and indirectly to the others, “propaganda by the Magnus Empire, likely being said over and over again, along side other news.”

    They listen for a moment, noticing the bar patrons paying the radio no mind, it mentions the weather, local farm yields, a musical number or two which sound very strange to them as though the instruments were brass drums, and then repeats word for word the news about the conflict up north.

   The sound stops mid sentence though, or rather cuts off the period at the end as a woman’s voice comes over in a clearer tone, “Sorry to interrupt the cycle listeners but we have something just in.”

    “About time,” says one of the patrons checking a watch on his arm, “time for the new bounty listings.”

   Almost as though waiting for him to talk the radio continues, “Today listeners we have news on the local bounties, the job to hunt the Arimaki weasels has been filled,”

    “kid work,” says the man

    the radio continues, “the criminal Girber Gandalaz has been apprehended by the hunter Viana, and don’t forget nomadic hunters that the annual migration of the blood sand swarms is going on so farmers really need help out there…and oh…we have a very…odd one today right here in Sae-Auto, seems some mutant giant Blue Blobs have been attacking the areas just to the south of the city, if you want this job or any other minor listings we don’t have time to mention here then please come by the bounty offices.”

   “Giant Blue Blobs?” says the gruff man, “ain’t those Stratalian critters? Hmph, more propaganda if you ask me.”

   “Not if it’s really a test of our defenses way out here,” says a younger man, “this could be a test to try out some chimera stuff you know, I heard about that stuff in Sae-Rin from a Croix merchant.”

    “Your full of shit,” says the old man, “A Croix merchant in Sae-Rin, you might as well just come clean,”

   “Okay, okay, old man,” he says, “I took a boat over to Osopika, you know we can’t get good trade goods here, but I really did hear about that stuff from a Croix merchant.”

    “Excuse me,” says Rhulan drawing the men’s attention, and she got it, everyone at the bar were surprised they hadn’t noticed the odd looking group standing right behind them,

“but where might we find this Bounty Office?”

    ******

   -A dusty field, a few destroyed chicken coops, some dead looking grass, and a watering hole for the livestock most of which have been sent to the barn, here and there one could see chicken feathers, blood, and chicken carcasses.
    The wind blowing across the barren field.

   *whoooosh*
   …..
   *whoooooosh*
   …..?
   *whooooooooooshhhh*

   “So?” says Cata

   Gold Wolf raises an eye brow

   “Uh?” says Betty.

   “Well,” says Hollia, “the farmer said they’re right in there.”

   She points her finger at the murky watering hole which makes Lin Lin cock her head at the surface.

   Rhulan crosses her arms, and eyes the water.
   ….

   *SPLASH*

   “Saint’s Barrier!”

   Hollia raises her barrier in a flash, and just in time to avoid being drenched by a strong blast of water.


   The source of which is a large (about the size of a cocker spaniel) blue jelly like blob creature, with a most ridiculous face, two beety eyes and a smiling toothless mouth.

    “It,” says Hollia, “does kind of look like a Blue Blob…”

    “Except,” says Rhulan.

    “Except,” continues Hollia, “Blue Blobs are never this big, don’t live underwater, and definitely don’t spit water.”

    “Not only that,” says Rhulan, “feel that?”

     They all eye the creature as it chirps, and chirps some more, and behind it several more appear.

    “Yeah,” says Hollia, “its…life essence…its not an animal…but…”

    *SPLASH, SPLASH, SPLASH, ect…*

    Several of the blobs attack with jets of water from their mouths. With a wave Hollia extends the barrier to a full dome around them.

    “Chainsaw Beam!” yells Rhulan as the thin blue beam with the circular waves on its edges fires from her index and middle fingers on her right hand pointing at the monsters.

    *WHOOSH*

    The blob hit by it vanishes in a puff of blue flames.

    Hollia mouths a *wah*

    “How,” starts Hollia.

   “Creations,” says Betty, “I knew it, these things are creations.”

   “Heh,” says Gold Wolf as a gold orb of energy manifests in his outstretched palm.

    *boom!*

    The blast from this ball of energy vaporizes another of the blobs and leaves a crater in the ground.

    “Uncle!” yells Hollia much to everyone’s surprise, “one of the first rules of adventurers is not to needlessly damage a client’s property.”

    “Uh,” says Gold Wolf with a raised brow, “sure.”

    “These things are low level.” says Rhulan with a smirk.

   Lin Lin coils around in a ball, red fire forming around her, a great serpent of flame manifests and flies down, but doesn’t hit the ground, instead it flies just above the small swarm of blobs, they steam a little, the steam coming from their eyes and mouths in a
most horrifying fashion as though racked with pain and then…

    *pop!* they all pop like balloons, balloons filled with blue flames.

    Lin Lin floats back down into Hollia’s arms.

   Cata has just been standing there with her arms crossed. Now with Hollia’s barrier down Cata walks over to the spot they were at and bends down, her hand to the ground and looks to be either sniffing or tasting the air as a cat may do.

   “multi-dimensional aggressive abominations of magic.” she says.

   “What,” says Hollia.

   “A generic term,” says Cata, “The Kuhrai have encountered things like this, I personally have as well, usually things like this manifest between dimensions.”

    “Creations,” says Betty, “made of pure goddess energy, usually that of…”

    She pauses a moment, “well I’m not sure, I’m not like a magic wiz or anything, but I think my instructor back home said the color of the flame is blue if they are…”

    She hits her fist in her palm, “neutral!” she says loudly, “just general interdimensional force, it can be woven to resemble life and have basic behaviors, but…hmmm…I’m forgetting something.”

    “They’re summoned,” says Rhulan, “the person who creates them calls for a basic type, but there are spells for the different specific creatures, although most spells just summon a random thing at different power levels.”

    Hollia nods, “Then, that means this job isn’t done, there is some villain around here who summoned them.”

    “In a place where magic is practically unheard of?” says Cata, “the people out here rely on their specialty powers, we saw it with those soldiers, a bunch of impressive powers and techniques for…them, but you’d think someone with magic would be in their ranks.”

    “Why?” says Rhulan.


   “Yeah,” says Hollia, “I bet its some old man, hiding away in a cave, or ranshack house out in the hills, or something, and he is holding a grudge against the Sae-Kingdom because they look down on magic and wont fund any of his research, so he’s summoned these magic creatures with some long forgotten spells from the Rhulan Empire age, or…ohh, I know, we’re out in the desert, its out here that the Shining Black Dragon had its giant temple, so maybe it’s a scroll from the dragon’s treasure, and he’s trying to get the people to see the true power of magic.”

    “By attacking chickens?” asks Gold Wolf tapping a shredded chicken carcass with his foot.

    Hollia shrugs, “have to start somewhere right?”

   They all look at Rhulan, who shrugs, “Hell if I know,” she says much to everyone’s surprise, “It could be a scroll from my time, I had a few for these summoned monsters, nothing this low scale though myself, had one for a Tempest Tower that was used to guard my castle…” she nods her head back and forth a bit, “Gyro and his group did a better job fighting that then I would have thought, but like I said don’t know what that dragon had, I was kind of a statue buried in rubble at the time, or anything anyone might have found by some other means, so,” she shrugs, “who knows.”

    “I do,” comes a voice above them.

    “That voice,” says Rhulan, “that all too similar to my own apparently, and looks too much like me…only a blondy, individual.”

    From thin air manifests Corinth, who had apparently been invisible this whole time floating above them, and was able to mask her presence from the, something that doesn’t sit right with everyone save for Hollia and Lin Lin who aren’t all that surprised someone like this could pull that off with her.

  “and what pray tell,” says Rhulan, “do you mean by that?”

  “What I mean,” says Corinth, “Is that where I am from, monsters like these are common place…on every planet in the system in fact, they manifest from portals naturally. However those like myself can summon them at will.”

   “Why?” asks Hollia

   Betty taps a dead chicken, “yeah…” she says, “why?”

   “To test you of course.” says Corinth, “As the Light decrees it is my task to test heroes and guide them on their way. Your group is clearly one of adventurers and heroes. I would have loved to have given you a greater test, but as the rules of the Light decree I must always start with lower level tests.”

   *flash*

   She vanishes,

   “Does,” says Cata, “she even know what…or who we are?”

   “I don’t believe so,” says Rhulan, “clearly she can tell two here are elves, but I get the feeling she’s not from this world.”

    “Really?” says Gold Wolf partially sarcastically.

    “Another wackjob dogging us,” shrugs Rhulan, “why not, but to be honest I’d rather have some crazy priestess who thinks she’s going to test us with weak fake monsters than some incarnation of evil, alien assimilators…”

   She pauses for a moment looking at Betty, “or really especially some cosmic ass-hole with demonic minions and even has death demi-gods in its employ.”

   Betty looks sheepish for a moment.

   “Don’t worry,” says Rhulan and then says in a strangely menacing tone, “I’m sure that particular problem will be resolved at some point.”

   She thinks as they start to head back to town, “Although…she looks like me, serves a higher power she calls the Light, and the timing of her showing up….”

   Rhulan narrows her eyes looking off into a field away from the others, “Are you up to something…”

    Hollia sees Rhulan’s look and looks back at where they were and thinks, “I wander.”

    ******

    The hunters’ office, if it can be called that, being a small wood plank room with a reception desk at the front and a simple door. As the party receives their payment an odd sound draws their attention, a machine known as a fax machine, as it spits out black and white wanted posters, posters their keen eyes see behind the receptionist facing them are of them. Mere nods are all that pass between them as they leave quickly but quietly.

  Well outside of town they stand thinking over their next move,

  “Well that’s not good,” says Rhulan, “wanted posters,”

   “What for though?” asks Hollia.


   “No doubt,” says Cata, “for aiding terrorists who took control of Sae-Fram and assaulted the Magnus Empire caravan on its way to Sae-Crita.”

    She nods as they look at her, “I have very fast eyes, and very good distance with them; it’s what was written on the wanted posters.”

    Betty takes out her map, showing two more towns to the south and to the west of them.

   “Those,” says Gold Wolf, “would be Sae-Mit, and Sae-Sis.”

   “and,” says Rhulan, “they are still inside the very kingdom that has a bounty on us, a kingdom with radio and fax machines, so every bounty office undoubtedly has those wanted posters and the radio will now be announcing a job to hunt terrorists. Plus the fact we just did a job in Sae-Auto means that this bounty office will no-doubt call the others and report our location to aid those hunters.”

   “Which means,” says Hollia, “We can’t get work…rooms…or anything in any town in this kingdom.”

    “And not likely anywhere else in the Magnus Empire with this same level of technology.” adds Cata.

   Gold Wolf takes a breath, “Okay, Sae-Mit is directly to the west, and going around it means going into bounty territory, so we could do the one thing they wouldn’t expect.”

    He points at the large space between Sae-Fram and Sae-Crita, “If we go north into the desert land and then make a curve around Sae-Fram where no one lives, we could then head west till we hit the river and follow it as far west as it goes.”

   “That’s kind of a long way out of the way,” says Hollia,

   “True,” says Cata, “but it is a move no one would expect, if anything they’d think we’d head east, likely assuming we are Stratalian spies trying to return home.”

   Rhulan has been looking thoughtful, takes a look at Gold Wolf and the map and says,
“Yes, I don’t really care for it, but right now it’s the best plan we got that doesn’t involve needless bloodshed from guys just trying to make a living.”