Aries Floor 7, The Emperor’s Ascent - 12:19 PM

  The newest challenge put us on a cliff overlooking the ocean. I breathed deeply, taking in the salty breeze as it washed over us. An unplowed field was nearby with a yoke and a pair of oxen milling about. Beyond that was a field of flowers, herbs, and weeds as far as the eye could see. It couldn’t be seen visually due to the landscape, but there was also a cave leading underground amongst it.

  I stood and admired the sea with Jeff and Corwin while the others looked around. Their attention was immediately grabbed by the oxen as there wasn’t much else here. They chewed their cud, studiously ignoring us newcomers. Aside from brass hooves, they looked like normal animals.

  Until one of the beasts snorted and sparks erupted from its nostrils. Not quite a full flame, but enough to give the game away.

  “This is the story about the golden fleece,” Kayla said almost immediately.

  She wasn’t the only one, though. “Oh sweet, we’re Argonauts!” Mercury exclaimed. He shared a glance with the Double Agent and gave her a questioning look. “What? I love this story. I’m here for it.”

  <<<>>>

  [[Emperor’s Ascent: Aries Story Room]]

  Sol Ligatus Players: 7

  The story of Jason and the Argonauts is a tale for the ages, lasting from Greek antiquity to survive to the information age. Out of his journey, the Golden Fleece was perhaps the most memorable part.

  Landing in Colchis, Jason was promised the fleece by King Aeetes only if he could perform three tasks.

  The first was to yoke the Khalkotauroi, the fire-breathing oxen, to plow a field.

  The second was to sow the teeth of a dragon into the field.

  The last was to overcome the sleepless dragon that guarded the Golden Fleece, a terrible and powerful enemy.

  Everything you need to reenact or subvert the story of Jason and the Golden Fleece is here. It is your choice how to proceed.

  Objective: Obtain the Golden Fleece

  Reward: 1,000 points, Teeth of the Dragon, the Golden Fleece.

  <<<>>>

  Kayla glanced at me, but I pulled a chair out of my inventory and took a seat. “I’m hanging back, remember?” I asked. “Feel free to give me a job if you want, but it’s your call. We, and Mercury, know what needs to be done.”

  She nodded and turned to Jamie. “How fire-proof are you?” she asked.

  “Thanks to my newest evolution, I’m almost completely immune to fire,” she said proudly.

  “It was a good use of the Saltation Jerky,” I replied, nodding my head.

  Even though there was no outward change to the Half-Dragon’s body, she had chosen Enhanced Fire Evolution when offered. Not only was she immune to the vast majority of fire sources out there, only being affected by flames that specified they were something else, but she could also breathe it.

  It was something we were keeping under wraps for the time being. She wasn’t fishing for Patrons so there was no reason to show off. Right now, it was a secret weapon that was hard to defend against when the enemy didn’t know it was coming.

  “Okay. Jamie, take Corwin to go teach those ox a lesson,” Kayla ordered. “We don’t want them injured, just tame enough to yoke and plow the field.”

  Jamie frowned and turned to look at the oxen, placing a hand on her hip. “I could yoke them, but I have no clue how.”

  The Double Agent looked around at the rest of the guild. No one had extensive livestock experience, so I raised my hand. “I can do it,” I offered. “Won’t even have to leave my chair. Jamie, you just have to get them side by side so I can get it on them, and then get them moving after that.”

  “That sounds easy enough,” she replied with a nod.

  “And whatever you do, Jamie, stay on the field,” Kayla warned. “There’s a dragon around and I haven’t forgotten Ant’s warning about how you being what you are is supposed to mess things up for us. If it doesn’t know you’re here, it can’t take offense to your presence.”

  After a short pause, Jamie nodded. “I suppose if we’re not planning on fighting it, then that’s a good call.”

  “How are we supposed to get materials if we don’t kill it,” Ash muttered, but it seemed like I was the only one to hear her.

  Jeff turned away from the ocean to look at me. “Can you make sure Corwin understands what he’s supposed to do?”

  Smiling, I turned to the Evolution Hound. Even though I had told his owner that I wasn’t going to talk to his dog for him often, this was a bit of a delicate operation. Corwin gave me his undivided attention as I quietly explained what we needed from him. Kayla continued as I did.

  “Okay. Once the soil is tilled, Mercury and I are going to plant the dragon teeth,” she said, nodding to the ninja. “Everyone else should be off of the field when we do this because it’s going to cause skeleton warriors to grow. If we’re doing this according to the story, then we’ll be the best suited for this part.”

  “Even if we’re not just throwing a rock,” Mercury added. “We’ll be doing invisibility and shenanigans.”

  “That’s right,” Kayla acknowledged before looking out at the field of flowers. “While this is all happening, I need Ashley and Bethany to find herbs capable of putting a dragon to sleep. Preferably with something to spray it down with. I know some of us probably want to fight it, harvest it, etcetera, but I think we should stick close to the story for this first one to see how we do. Whatever the next Story Room throws at us, we’ll deviate and compare.”

  “That’s a damn disappointment,” Ash sighed. “Yeah, whatever. I’ll watch the kid as she picks out whatever she needs to make the concoction. It ain’t monster parts, so I’m not going to be any good.”

  There was a pause as Bethany signed to Mercury, and he translated. “She’ll do her best. Making it an aerosol might be a challenge, but she’ll do what she can.”

  “We believe in you, Bethany,” Kayla said and signed with a smile, which the girl returned as she slid off of Corwin. “Jeff, I want you to look for the dragon’s lair. Don’t go inside if you can help it, just let Ant know so he can tell if there’s a dragon inside or not.”

  “Yes, my queen,” he said, putting a fist over his heart in salute.

  “Then, any questions?” the Double Agent asked, looking around the group. Everyone shook their heads and she clapped her hands. “Alright, get out there and let’s figure this out.”

  Jamie jogged out onto the unplowed field with Corwin transforming at her side. In the original story, Jason used an ointment to protect himself from the livestock’s fire breath in order to get his task done. There was no doubt that the plants required to make such a thing were in the field, but having something like a Tea Witch, alchemist, or herbalist wasn’t necessarily a given.

  The Khalkotauroi turned to face the newcomers while everyone else gave them a wide berth, heading to take care of their specific jobs. Both of the oxen stepped side by side. They threw their heads, stamped the ground, and small tufts of flames came out of their mouths.

  “Come on,” Jamie said, clearly unimpressed by the display. “You two are some of the least threatening things here, and I’ve spent all day with sheep.”

  Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

  Neither one of them understood her, of course, but she continued to approach. Corwin, at her side, lowered his head. While not a sheep dog, he was smart and had learned a lot over the course of the morning. He didn’t growl but maintained eye contact with the one he thought was likely to run off.

  Both of the Khalkotauroi opened their mouths and released a torrent of flames that blackened the ground. Fire rolled over both the Half-Dragon and the Evolution Hound. From the outside, they were obscured, but I could see through their breath weapons just fine.

  Jamie put her hands on her hips, eyes closed as the flames touched her but seemed to deflect off. Her plastic armor was taking damage, slowly becoming black, but it was incredibly sturdy. This much was fine.

  Corwin had started shaking like he was getting water off of his body. Lava seemed to drip from his hair, none of it falling to the ground but instead coating him like armor. He didn’t need to put it on to become immune to the damage, but I had told him to do it for the coolness factor.

  Coming out of the fire breath clad in literal lava made for a great visual.

  After roughly twenty seconds of straight aggression, the Khalkotauroi closed their mouths. The surprise in their aura was tough to decipher, given that they had animal-like intelligence, but warranted. Jamie walked up to them, and they started backing up. Corwin moved behind them, nipping at their legs so they knew they couldn’t retreat, and the Weapon Master reached up.

  One of them tried to gore her, but she grabbed their horns first. I watched as she strained herself lowering their heads. The other shot flames towards the ground, getting her feet, but she kneed it in the nose almost on reflex. It stopped, shaking its head from the blow.

  “You going to yoke them already?” Jamie asked over her shoulder, raising her voice at me as she kept the two oxen still.

  “Yeah, I’m working on it,” I answered.

  Even though the Khalkotauroi fought back, it was clear that they were starting to give up. My Peacekeeper’s Will helped a little, not that I was going to say that out loud when I was supposed to be taking it easy.

  With practiced ease, I yoked the oxen and hitched the plow to them. Once that was done, Jamie let them go. They were sufficiently calm, so I dropped my aura and watched as the Weapon Master was suddenly distracted by something that popped up in front of her. She read it before swiping it away and positioning herself to the left of the beasts.

  “Up,” she commanded, and the Khalkotauroi started meandering forward. Corwin moved to the right of the livestock, flanking them although it no longer mattered.

  With that taken care of, I turned my attention to Jeff. He was checking the fields for the Dragon’s lair, but only along the outskirts. If he kept going in a spiral motion, Jamie would already be done plowing the field by the time he arrived. It really wasn’t as far from us as he was expecting.

  So I used Pull on his jacket sleeve a couple of times, tugging him back. He stopped and looked down, expecting Bethany, but became confused and looked around. It didn’t take long for his eyes to settle on me over the distance. I gave him a wave before Lifting his sleeve and pointing him in the right direction. My troubles got me a thumbs up from him and a click of the tongue from someone much closer.

  “You just can’t help yourself, can you?” Kayla asked, crossing her arms.

  “What can I say? I’m a helper,” I responded cheekily.

  “I suppose you’re going to get into trouble no matter where we put you. So long as you’re parked in that chair it’s fine, I suppose,” she sighed.

  “But your majesty, he can probably just use his telekinesis to lift it up and fly around like some kind of really terrible throne,” Mercury pointed out.

  Kayla rolled her eyes before looking down at me. “I’d say don’t give him any ideas, but…”

  “I don’t need the seat to fly,” I scoffed, sticking my nose in the air. “I can do that myself now. Haven’t leveled it up yet since I didn’t need it for the Soul Shearer, but I’ve got it.”

  The Double Agent arched her eyebrow. “That boss was scary enough to make you break and join the rest of us at the level cap?”

  “What? I like challenges, I don’t like dying. Seemed like a necessity, given the administrator threw a Reaper at me,” I reiterated, shouting it to the sky for the benefit of any Patron still watching us. I wasn’t about to let them forget.

  “Yeah, and I’m tired of hearing you complain about it!” Jamie called from beside the Khalkotauroi. “You won, get over it!”

  “You’d best get used to it, because I’m going to keep complaining until my soul’s back to normal!” I shouted back. She threw me a rude gesture that I returned with a grin before looking back at Kayla. “So, yeah. I’m at level cap, too. Except for my flight ability, called Flight, which is still level 1. I’ll up it eventually.”

  “Flight’s cool,” Mercury offered. “I mean, I assume it’s telekinetic and therefore not as cool as the six-winged Angel form you’ve got, but it’s still cool.”

  “Sure is,” I agreed before tilting my head to the right. “You’ll find the dragon teeth by the cliff, by the way. There’s a little altar over there behind those trees. Jamie doesn’t have to prepare much for you all.”

  Kayla nodded. “Mercury?”

  “On it,” he said before disappearing in a flash.

  “Jamie, take them off the field!” she continued, and the Weapon Master gave her a gesture of confirmation before leading the oxen away.

  Mercury reappeared, carrying a leather pouch that he was digging through. “Only about twenty, I think,” he said as he dug through it. He pulled his finger out a moment later, having cut himself on one of the serrated teeth. It went straight into his mouth to stop the bleeding. “Der sharh.”

  “They’re sharp,” I translated.

  “Yeah, I think I got that from context clues,” Kayla said, amused. “You need something?”

  “Nah, it’s just a small cut,” he replied, taking his finger out of his mouth to check it out. “Thanks, though.”

  “Found the Dragon’s cave,” Jeff informed, having jogged back instead of yelling from the entrance. Which, all things considering, was probably the smart play. Corwin, free from his molten armor, leaned up against his owner happily. “According to Ashley, Bethany only needs to find one more ingredient before she can make something to put the Dragon to sleep. She thinks, anyway. It’s more charades than sign language over there.”

  “Thanks, hon,” Kayla said, getting on her toes to kiss her husband on the cheek before turning to Mercury. “Ready to plant some teeth?”

  “More than ready,” he replied, dumping some out onto his hand to pass to her. Carefully this time.

  “You three should probably find someplace to hide…” she started to say, but was cut off. “Okay, Skuld says as long as you’re not on the field you should be okay. I’ll trust her on that.”

  When Jamie and Jeff moved behind me, the other two moved off to sow the teeth into the plowed ground. They weren’t very careful about it, sticking them in the ground willy-nilly with no effort to space them out, but they didn’t need to be. Not really.

  Mercury waited until Kayla was done, holding the last one up. “It would probably be best if I do this alone, your majesty,” he said. “I mean, there’s no need for both of us to be in danger. Kinda easy since we know how the story goes, too.”

  The Double Agent looked ready to argue, but thought about it instead. I knew she wanted to do more for the team. It didn’t feel like she was settling into the support role as well as she could, and I suddenly wondered if she was being pushed into it. Or perhaps delegated herself to it because someone got hurt protecting her.

  Maybe it was time for another talk.

  Either way, Kayla nodded. “You’ve got this, Mercury,” she said before moving back to the group. Jeff put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close.

  Taking a breath, the ninja shoved the final dragon tooth into the dirt. I stiffened, watching the scenes in front of me with interest in case I needed to intervene.

  Mercury disappeared to all senses except my awareness aura, and the ground erupted when the warriors emerged. The Spartoi, which sprouted from the planted teeth, were serpent-like humanoids with green scales as thick as armor and slitted eyes. They held spears in their hands, as they were grown fully armed, and started looking around.

  Even though we were only about thirty feet away from them, their eyes glossed over us. It seemed as though Skuld was right about them only caring about what was on the field.

  Mercury pulled a big rock out of his inventory as he slowly walked away. Without turning around, he tossed it backwards. It hit the biggest one in the head, and the Spartoi snarled and spun in search of the one who hit him. Seeing nothing but its brethren, it immediately went berserk and started stabbing indiscriminately.

  The fight that ensued was both quick and horrible. Despite their thick scales, each one was strong enough to pierce through with their spears and well trained enough to do so. Blood covered the land as the Spartoi cut themselves down, reaping themselves like wheat to a scythe.

  “Seems like some good spears,” Jamie noted.

  “They are,” I agreed, relaxing. “We’re going to need to collect things fast, so be ready.”

  “Is the Dragon coming?” Kayla asked, not taking her eyes from the fight.

  “No, that’s already been taken care of,” I answered with a chuckle. The others all looked at me, missing Mercury’s final blow on the bloodbath’s victor. I cupped my hands around my mouth. “Chuck them in your inventory! Quick!”

  <<<>>>

  [[Emperor’s Ascent Aries Quest 6 Complete]]

  The Khalkotauroi have been yoked, the teeth have been sown, and the Colchian Dragon has been put to sleep. The Golden Fleece is, by King Aeetes’ word, now belongs to you.

  One more room remains.

  Reward: 1,000 points, Pouch of 5 Dragon’s Teeth, the Golden Fleece (Ashley Reilly).

  <<<>>>

  “Ash?” Kayla and Jamie exclaimed at the same time.

  Mercury managed to get five of the Spartoi and their weapons into his inventory before we were transported back to the mountain. He was mid-heave, and almost fell over when the weight in his arms was suddenly gone.

  We all turned to Ash, who had Bethany hiding behind her, with a mass of golden wool fleece, green scales, and a couple of vials in her arms. She arched an eyebrow at us before tossing it into her inventory. “Take a picture, it’ll fuckin’ last longer,” the Monstersmith said.

  I had to laugh as the other’s incredulous stares continued. It was the only proper response, really.