Ruthless ~ 16! :D

~ 16 ~

“Joe, is it?” Sam stated affably. “I’ve met so many ‘Joes’ in the last few days that I feel like it is going to get listed as the number one name in Eternium in the next few days!”

“Ah-ha… yeah.” Joe nodded at the group and stiffly turned away. They started walking, but stopped short when Sam called out to them.

“By the way… Joe. I think we might be looking for the same thing, and I’m going to tell you this right now. I will be the one going home with it.” Sam was staring at Joe with a small smile on his face. “Though I feel like I have another book that you would love. The information inside it is… explosive.”

Joe’s stare turned to ice. So, this was the guy that had sent a bomb home with him? Even more reason to destroy him. They got a good distance away before Joe turned to his group and explained what he knew about Sam. Really, there wasn't much to tell, as the man seemed to know about him, whereas this was the first time that Joe had met Sam.

Poppy turned and half-drew his rapier. “That fool sent a bomb along with you? Into a random populated area? He could have hurt dozens of people with that stunt! Let’s put that rabid dog down!”

Bard held him back, shaking his head. “Poppy, yah can’t jus’ attack. You’ll get a player killer aura, an’ then everythin’ll turn inta ah right mess.”

“He attacked Joe without provocation! I say we return the favor!” Poppy snarled as he pulled against Bard.

Joe was touched that Poppy was ready to go to war for him, though still he shook his head. “We are here to get an item, not to fight over being in the area. If it comes to that, I’m glad to see that you are ready to fight, but let’s hope it doesn’t get there. If we are able to get in, get out, and walk away with the prize, we win long-term.”

“Sometimes, don't you think the correct thing to do is the one that is not logical?” Jaxon asked thoughtfully. “If they die, they have a long way to go to get back here, which gives us time to search and prepare. So, let’s wreck them!”

“I…!” Joe looked at the serious stare down that he was getting and reluctantly nodded. “Let’s get ready and ambush them at least.”

They crept around the area, keeping the road in sight. After about ten minutes of searching, they found that the other party had vanished entirely. Alexis looked around and groaned, “Ugh… I bet they had the same idea and went hunting for us. We’re probably circling each other and don't even know it.”

“At least we don't know it.” Jaxon ominously uttered. The silent plains around them suddenly seemed much more ominous. “Then again, since this grass is almost neck-high, we could be completely surrounded and not even know it. Nature is crazy like that.”

“Let’s get down closer to the coast,” Joe ordered with a dry throat, “the vegetation is sparse there, and we should get on the hunt.”

“Good call.” Bard readily agreed. The group moved as silently as possible to the waterline and pulled out the map Boris had included with his letter. 

Joe opened it up so everyone could see it “We’re gonna need to account for hundreds of years, and it’s also possible that this place doesn't even exist anymore. It is entirely likely that someone else has been here before us and walked away with whatever scraps remained. It's equally likely that this place is buried. Luckily, if it is hidden, I actually have a better chance of finding it.”

The group offered their own ideas, and then they decided that they would start by figuring out exactly where they were on the map, and then they could look for inconsistencies in the area based on the differences. They started walking, but Poppy came to an abrupt halt and looked up at the top of the hill they had descended to be at the waterline. He pulled out his weapon and pointed with it. “They posted one person to watch us. I bet the others are sitting and having a picnic while they wait for us to do all the work.”

“Then all we need to do is figure everything out and get the goods before they can react to it.” Joe was starting to get a little snippy from the constant concern the other party created merely by their presence. “Does anyone see anything that we can use as a landmark? I can't get a read on this map at all.”

“I think that this section is…” Alexis leaned in and they went over what they were seeing. “But I can’t imagine that the coastline would have changed so drastically in the last couple hundred years.”

“Could be anything!” Jaxon joined in happily. “Imagine a powerful earth or water Mage that came through and was angry, or just wanted to test out what they could do! I bet Joe could make some really area-altering effects if he wanted, right? He’s only been doing this for a short while! Think about someone that had trained at this for their entire lives!”

“He has a point.” Joe nodded along, getting an arched brow in return from Alexis. “We ran into the same issue with the forest. It was hundreds of miles closer than it should have been.”

“What do you think we should do, then?” Poppy looked to Joe.

“I think… that we need someone who knows maps better than I do.” Joe started walking back toward the shrine. “Let’s go get Jess. It's time for her to earn her pay.”

The trip was swift, and it turned out that Jess was spoiling for a change of scenery. She came along without fuss, and by evening they had their bearings with the map. Jess slapped Joe on the shoulder, hard, and smiled widely. “You were close, but it seems that the water has moved in closer over the last while. That’s why you have such a steep hill to get down here, all the sloping land was dropped down.”

“If I’m correct, the temple should be right… there.” A glowing orb erupted from the water and shined purple light down in a perfect circle on the water. “That’s only visible to you guys, by the way, it's a new skill! I can ‘ping’ a location that I want you all to go.”

“We jus’ gonna slog our way down ta it, then?” Bard tightened his chest plate and took a step into the surf.

“Better idea.” Jess pulled out a sack full of dead snakes and animated them. “I’ll send these out to make sure that we can get there without a boat, and that we’ll be able to breath and such in there.”

“Good call.” Joe and the others sat down with Jess as she pulled out a paper and began mapping the ground along the coast. 

“Pretty shallow… there’s a drop-off, but if we go a few feet to the left…” Joe left her to her muttering as a small map took shape. “Oh, that’s not good. Evasive maneuvers, snakes! Go, go, go!”

“Found the building, lots and lots of creatures in the area!” Jess was frantically writing out her map, and it was getting less detailed as a result. “They’re all carnivorous, and they apparently don't mind if their food is fresh or not. Ah, down to one snake. Slithering around the building…”

“Got an entrance, looks like they expected this to go underwater… it goes to the top of the building.” Jess was back to making details on her map, but suddenly swapped the paper with a fresh one. “It’s a dungeon, alright. A big one too, if the top floor is anything to go by. Found a monster… what is that?”

She sighed and handed the papers over to Joe. “They got my last snake, that’s the best I could do.”

“You did a great job, Jess.” Joe looked at the maps and bound them to his own personal map. The paper in his hand crumbled into ash. “Any details you want to share?”

“Sure.” Jess stood and brushed the sand off her legs. “You can walk almost all the way there, but there are a few drop offs that have monsters living in them. You fall in, and at best you have to fight a monster on its home turf. Otherwise, the ground is pretty even, almost as if there’s a strong tide that will clear most of the way.”

“We were here all day and the tide didn't go very far out.” Poppy denied after a moment’s thought.

“The moon’s gonna pass us pretty soon.” Jaxon pointed up, drawing everyone’s attention to the oddly empty sky. “Maybe close and full moon means that the tides will shift.”

“Good catch… Jaxon.” Everyone was keeping an eye on Jaxon, who had been shockingly normal and helpful today. Joe cleared his throat and looked up at the moon. “I think that will be tomorrow, so that gives us a day to prepare. Let’s get back to the guild and get everything that we might need.”

Poppy looked up the hill at the heavily-armored, giant weapon-wielding woman that was currently watching them. “Alexis, I’m gonna need some potent poison.”

Alexis followed his gaze and nodded sharply. “I think that I have exactly what you need, Poppy. Exactly what you will need.”