Chapter 87 - Glorious Return

Notes :

Apologies for the late upload, forgot to schedule it and got into an extremely bad Pathfinder session, where I failed to roll above a 7 and the writers of the module were insanely obtuse and clearly had good ideas, but with terrible execution.

Chapter 87

Starborn Mountains, Starfire Valley

Settlement of Astralis

To say that there was a crowd would be a considerable understatement.

As far as Kalia could see, the entirety of Astralis had turned up. Waiting in the cold morning, watching the edge of the clearing that surrounded the town.

Sentry guns tirelessly watched over them, ominous structures of metal and firepower, slowly sweeping back and forth. Ever vigilant.

In a ditch nearby were the remains of the first monsters to have challenged those mighty defenses. Not that anyone was likely to forget the hail of gunfire that had ripped the night apart.

Suddenly, someone pointed. A reflection in the woods.

Then, it was just there. A gigantic mass of metal, darting out of the forest.

There was a massive cheer as the snowpiercer reached Astralis, redoubling as it came to a halt.

Everyone knew the expedition had been a success. Half a cargo hold only, perhaps, but that was still a gigantic amount of mana crystals.

The snowpiercer still stood there, and slowly the cheers died down, replaced by puzzlement as no one exited.

Finally, Sapphiria came out, and Kalia's eyebrow rose. She was close enough and had seen enough of her to realize that despite her phenomenal balance and reflexes, she'd been none too subtly pushed out the door.

The cheers restarted as she waved to everyone, before hopping down onto the ground.

Their gazes locked. Kalia didn't even remember stepping forward.

She just suddenly realized she was in the artificer's arms and their lips were pressed together.

They stood there, seemingly forever. Finally, they parted, Kalia simultaneously relieved and disappointed she wasn't left gasping for air again.

"Welcome home." She said. "It's good to have you back."

The shorter woman smiled.

"I recall making a promise. And I keep my word."

Kalia leaned forward again...only to be stopped by thunderous cheers. They both blushed as they parted.

Kalia's glance flicked to the door to the Snowpiercer, where Ramina was disembarking, a huge grin on her face. Oh that little minx had done it on purpose.

Kalia extended her hand as the white haired artificer came down, and after a second's confusion, her fellow mage took it.

"Ramina! Glad to have you back." Said Kalia, and suddenly the artificer looked a lot less certain as the mage-magistrate smiled wickedly. "I'm sure you'll be delighted to hear that Malry is waiting for you. I wished to make the return as...memorable as possible, so I was sure to grant her a full day to prepare everything."

"...Oh."

Kalia grinned, before smoothing her expression back to neutral seriousness as the rest of the crew disembarked. She made sure to greet them all by name and congratulate them. Then she stepped back, and gestured at the assembled crowd.

"Everyone insisted on some celebrations for your return." She looked at Sapphiria. "Since I understand that there are...vital military missions to undertake immediately, they will take place this evening. So take the day off. Rest. Recuperate. And welcome home!"

This was the signal the crowd had been waiting for, and it surged forward, more or less swarming the heroes of the hour. Except for Sapphiria, whose semi-mythical status created a bubble of calm around her, more effectively than any arcane wards or bundle of bodyguards ever could.

Kalia slipped into that bubble, leading the artificer out.

"You know I'm heading out, right?" Said Sapphiria, the mage-magistrate nodded.

"I know. As much as I'd like you to take some rest..." She gave a meaningful glance to the artificer's arm and chestplates, still not fully repaired. "I understand that you need to do some stuff." She put a hand on the shorter woman's shoulder, stopping her. "But you will be back by sundown, understood?"

Sapphiria licked her lips, and nodded.

"O-Of course."

"Good. Now, off you go. Gregor's waiting for you at the edge of town, near the wood stockpiles."

"He wasn't here?"

Kalia laughed.

"He said that someone needed to keep an eye out. But between you and me, he's not good with celebrations." Kalia's face softened. "Probably because he can't partake much anymore."

"Ah. Well, I'll go drag him on a trek to clear his mind."

"You go do that. And stay safe." Kalia leaned down, and Sapphiria met in the middle for a brief kiss. "I don't want to lose you after just getting you back again."

"...Of course." Sapphiria smiled. "Another promise then?"

"Let's go with that."

Fortunately, Astralis was rather small, and they caught sight of the wood stockpile before long, Gregor raising his arm in salute, and Sapphiria answering in kind, trotting off to meet him.

They headed into the forest together, and Kalia returned the artificer's goodbye wave as they disappeared into the treeline.

Then she turned around, and headed back into town.

She had some preparations to complete for tonight.

*****

"Glad to have you back." Said Gregor as they jogged through the forest. Technically they could both go at a dead sprint and not suffer too many ill effects, but the skeleton seemed keen on limiting their pace, in case they ran into something unexpected. Which...was fair. "Honestly I've kind of been feeling naked without you around to help kick ass."

"Why, did things get too quiet for your liking?"

The skeleton laughed, throwing his skull up towards the sky.

"AH! I wish!" He shook his head. "If anything, we're having too much activity. You read my dispatches, right?"

"Yeah. The Hand got ballistae?"

"Six of them. Good quality too."

"Will it help them hold on?"

Gregor shrugged.

"Probably. Won't hurt at any rate. It'll certainly complicate a conventional assault, or an artillery duel. Catapults don't shoot very far, and if they bring more ballistae the Hand's will have a height advantage."

"What about siege towers?"

"As I said, complicates a conventional assault. Towers, ramps, ladders...All that can be destroyed by ballistae." He shrugged again. "They could try to do some trenchwork creep, but it's going to be dicey against a powerful mage. Trenches are all well and good until they summon a rain of acid or flood them with liquid fire."

Sapphiria shivered. Right. A good thing to keep in mind was that what she had seen in the manastorm wasn't just a manifestation of magic, the aberrations it left behind were also the foundations of spells. Chances are, whatever she watched happen, a mage somewhere could probably replicate to some level.

Even the meat rain. If...there was any use in showering people in mystery meat.

"I see." She patted her leg. "I didn't get to use it much during the expedition, but I do have my dr-golem with me."

The skeleton smiled. Somehow. Seriously, how did he do that? It's not like his bones were moving at all according to her sensors. How did he manage to emote?

"I was hoping you did. Aiming to take a look at the other side?"

The AI nodded.

"As much as I dare anyway. I'd rather not gather too much attention. The less those new arrivals know about us, the better."

"Agreed. Information is power. And what they don't know, they can't plan for. I mean, they can make contingencies but...you get the gist."

Sapphiria smiled.

"I do." Her face went back to seriousness. "Any news about the pass?"

"The wall's almost complete. Not sure what the Hand will build afterwards."

"Maybe another defensive line?"

Gregor shook his head.

"They never will have the time to make anything worth a damn. Plus they'd have to build it too close, or just leave the pass altogether and have to make it far too wide for the troops they have left."

Sapphiria blinked as she processed that, absentmindedly moving a branch out of the skeleton's way.

"Why would it be a problem if it was too close?"

"Only purpose of having layered defenses like that is to give you the ability to retreat to the next one. There isn't much point if it's right next to you. There'd be no killing ground to stop an assault, and they could mass troops under the cover of the previous line."

"Oh." That made sense. Despite her archives, there was still a lot she didn't understand about ground combat, let alone primitive warfare. "So, do or die at this point?"

The skeleton shrugged.

"Pretty much. Though they might try to reinforce the second line. There wouldn't be much point, except to deter some light attacks. Honestly I'm amazed they haven't flooded it with velites and started peppering the wall with harassment attacks."

"Throwing spears against an actual fortification?"

"Velites aren't just spears. But you'd be amazed what you can do with a little magic." He looked at her, then at her plasma gun, still clamped on her back. "...Or perhaps not."

"One can always be amazed by the arcane. Or technology."

"That's true. Every time I think progress can't go possibly go any further, the kids these days prove me wrong." He chuckled. "I swear, in a couple centuries, they're gonna start overtaking the Vestiges."

"Maybe." She hesitated, then asked. "Have any been discovered up here?"

"If there was, I never heard about it. There's rumors about Icerend of course. Every Convergence has some Vestiges." Sapphiria's ears prickled at that. "But otherwise? I don't know. Maybe the expeditions knew more, but some of the files were missing."

"Missing?"

"More like...redacted. Someone purged records. A lot of records. I'm assuming to cover their asses about the disaster of losing most of an expedition trying to mine some ore."

Records the Bane probably didn't have either. Or they'd have brought in some heavy artillery, not a barebones unit to take the valley.

Actually...what if the new wave did know?

"The joys of imperfect records."

"Agreed. But such is life. And I know I've written my own fair share of paperwork with a, ah, rather unique outlook on objective reality."

Sapphiria's eyebrow rose.

"You falsified your After Action Reports?"

The skeleton chuckled.

"Actually, I meant my tax returns. But yes, let's go with that." He came to a halt, and so did Sapphiria. "Should be close enough now for you to do your thing."

The AI looked around, before checking their positions on her map.

"Should be. But we went a lot farther before."

"That was before I knew you could deploy your little golem. And before an entire army marched into the pass. Look, you're tough as hell, but not 'kill a whole army' tough. And don't tell me I'd be surprise. I've seen ancestors and archmages get swarmed and die by a thousand cuts. I delivered some of those cuts myself in fact."

Sapphiria looked at him, and slowly nodded.

"I happen to agree." Even the mightiest dreadnought could get downed by a thousand corvettes. Plus...she had some really harsh reality checks on her actual combat power during the expedition, and her enemy's when their enchanted primitive weapons obliterated one of her junkbots at Myrtran, and when their centurion lit the entire forest on fire when she defended Astralis.

Which reminded her, she'd have to check up on the huntmarshal. See how the old woman was doing.

"Good. Now let's get to it. You said you needed to do some kind of survey, right?"

"Yeah. I need to find a place to set the howitzer."

"Right, the...I'm sorry, the WHAT?!?"

Oh. Right. She'd told Ramina and Paul, but not included it in her dispatches to Astralis.

"I'm having my golems make an artillery gun. Drop shells into the pass."

"What? Why-" The skeleton stopped, and looked up at the mountains, and the rend between them, even high in the sky. "Oh. I see. Indirect fire. Like shooting over a defensive wall. You want to attack them, without having to go through the Hand?"

Sapphiria smiled. It was nice to work with professionals. "Bingo." She took out her drone, and quickly checked its pre-programmed trajectory, adjusting it slightly, before launching it. "And now we wait." She looked back at Gregor...

Who had a card deck out already. Because of course he did.

"We could just do the ground survey while we wait." She offered, and he smiled.

"That afraid I'll crush you again?"

"No, I'm afraid of Kalia if we stay out too late. She really wanted me back before sundown."

The card deck didn't so much as go back into the skeleton's pockets as teleport there. Hot damn. Clearly he didn't want that to happen.

But...why?

A few alarm bells distantly rang in Sapphiria's mind

"Yes. That would be...problematical." He looked at the skies, where the drone had already disappeared into. "Will it return here?"

"Yep. But I programmed...err, told it to check the survey sites I marked if it doesn't find me here." Its power supply was limited, but it should have enough to make it, according to her simulations.

"If you're certain. Lead the way."