The next several days go by quickly, with everyone getting ready for the expedition to the north. Poe and Zorro are keeping tabs on Pul, and he seems to be buying a lot of cheap cleavers to practice with, along with the list of things Teemo gave him. Aranya and the party also get their own supplies. While the others know what they need for a long trip in the wilderness, Aranya isn’t as used to doing Ranger work.

Vernew has been hanging out with them as much as she can, both to make sure she has what she’ll need, but to get to know them all better, too. If they’re going out into danger, they need to be able to work together. Happily, they all get along well.

For my scions, the glorified box is finished quickly, able to hold a lot more space inside than it would seem. I’d call it a tardis box, but it’s the opposite of fancy and refined. It’s very much a prototype, but one that fulfills all the function, even if form was never considered.

The bees and poppers don’t care about luxurious accommodations, so they happily pile in, with Honey organizing everyone, as she does. Doppler and her seem to have an agreement that he’ll handle the ones outside, while the ones inside are free for her to use, so long as they will come running if he suddenly needs them.

Rocky and Onyx have been sparring more, each very eager to test the other, and Rocky is enjoying refining the tidal forces technique. Even the Quartermaster has been coming to hang out. He still looks awkward around the delvers, and even a lot of my scions, but Rocky and Onyx welcome him warmly, and he’s starting to open up a bit as the three spar.

Lastly, Leo is making some preparations, too. He might not be going, but he can still organize some of the denizens to use the opportunity to practice. It looks like he wants to trail the party with rockslides and wyrms, setting up outposts in their wake to keep a good communications line, and possibly even use the living vines to be able to create an emergency shortcut back.

I heartily approve, and hope it works out well. The scouts are going to need to be in top form to get a look at the Betrayer. They have a bit of practice with being far from home, but they’re going to be a lot further away than they were for the Maw fight. Even the expedition into the Green Sea won’t be that far, relatively, but it’ll still be good practice.

Before too long, it’s time to go, and everyone meets up near the shortcut leading to the Southwood. Pul is looking eager and nervous, like a kid about to go on a long field trip. His dad’s there, too, looking pretty uncomfortable, but I don’t think he’s going to suddenly change his mind and make Pul stay. He just wants to be there to see his son off.

Yvonne is reassuring him as Teemo slips out of a shortcut. “Don’t worry, sir. Tupul will be surrounded by my friends and Thedeim’s scions. We’ll all keep him safe.”

“And she said she’s going to teach me some archery, dad. I’ll be at range for the fights anyway.”

He doesn’t look very reassured. “I know… but I still worry. You be safe out there, son. Listen to them, watch yourself, and come back safe.”

Teemo smiles and speaks up. “He’ll be back before you know it, full of stories of what they all did out there.”

“Stories are what I’m worried about. I want him to have a boring time,” his father insists, much to the amusement of everyone else.

“We should get going,” says Yvonne, meeting the eyes of everyone gathered, including the scions.

“I’ll be tagging along to the Southwood,” informs Teemo, taking up position on Yvonne’s shoulder. “Boss wants to offer him some compies, if he’s interested, and ask if he has a scion he wants to send on an adventure, too.”

“D’ye thin’ he’ll make a new scion t’ send?” asks Ragnar, and Teemo shrugs as they make for the shortcut.

“Hard to say. I think his income has been improving since he made the Bear, but I dunno if he has another scion in mind for anything just yet.”

“A fox scion would be great to have along,” comments Aelara. “Not only are they adorable, but illusion magic is incredibly effective when used properly.”

Teemo nods at that. “Definitely. Fluffles saw a bit of what Torlon was doing to keep a Harbinger locked down, and he was impressed. Zorro’s going to need to step up his illusion game.”

The others laugh as they enter the shortcut and officially leave my territory, but I have Teemo and the others to watch and listen through as they go.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“How long is it to the Southwood?” asks Pul, and Teemo answers.

“Ordinarily, a few days, but we should get there around the afternoon. You guys can do a bit of delving while I hang out with the Bear or Stag, whichever’s available, and head out to the Green Sea in the morning.”

Yvonne nods at the plan, with Vernew speaking her mind. “I really want to hunt a few things in the Southwood before we go. Last time I came through, I wasn’t in much of a mood to do much hunting. I even grabbed one of those fancy new mana potions to make sure he’ll gain from it, too.”

“I got a couple from Rhonda, also,” speaks up Pul. “She said to be careful about using it when deep out in the sea, but we’re here to see what happens with stagnant mana, right?”

Yvonne nods. “That we are. And to scout deeper than the Rangers have records of. Once we’re out there, only use those potions if I tell you to, though. As I understand it, the potions make the mana very energetic, which will draw stagnation beasts like a beacon. It might even create another dungeon, which we should probably try to avoid. Thedeim and the others won’t be able to offer it much support that far out.”

Aranya nods her agreement. “He would still try, but we shouldn’t burden Him like that if we can help it.”

“Still, I wouldn’t worry too much,” assures Yvonne. “I think Vanta’s coalescence was a special situation. Even if we stumble on another knot of stagnation, I don’t think it’ll be able to encourage a dungeon to spawn.”

“Hopefully,” comments Teemo. “Otherwise, we’ll probably make a couple. Boss doesn’t have any hard goals, but getting to look at as much as possible will probably mean clearing at least a few knots.”

“How dangerous are the knots?” asks Pul.

“N’ that bad,” comments Ragnar, chuckling as Aelara smacks him with her staff.

“That’s because you’re happiest when surrounded by enemies! But you shouldn’t worry, Tupul. We’ve helped Yvonne deal with a few before, and that was without having Aranya, Vernew, or a few scions around, too. Monsters will charge from outside, trying to get in to protect the knot while Yvonne deals with it. If they spot us before we reach the knot, it’s a slow fighting advance, nothing too worrisome.”

Pul still looks plenty worried, so Rocky grunts and slaps him on the back, with Onyx soon mirroring him. Doppler manages a smile on his bipedal form as he translates. “They’ll both protect you, and make sure to train you enough to be able to handle something like that, too.”

“...thanks?”

“That reminds me,” speaks up Aranya. “Lord Thedeim showed you a new technique with gravity, Tupul? May I see it? A lot of the priesthood is still trying to wrap their heads around what it even is, myself included.”

“Uh… alright. Let’s stop for a second, then. I’m still trimming the gristle on it, so I need to concentrate.” The group stops and looks at him, even my own scions, as Pul pulls out a cheap cleaver. That earns a few confused looks from people, but nobody voices it as Pul concentrates.

He summons the two gravity wells about six inches on either side of the blade, with Rocky nodding at his technique so far. The distortions aren’t easy to spot, but everyone is observant enough to notice as Pul brings the wells closer and closer.

He gets them about a finger’s width apart, just like Rocky had back in the training room, before he makes a slight mistake. The wells are just barely out of alignment, and with them so close, the cleaver snaps in half under the strain. The broken blade gets further twisted and mangled between the two wells before Pul releases the technique, panting from the exertion as Teemo speaks up.

“That’s already pretty good, Tupul. You can make the wells even weaker to get them closer. The force is a lot stronger the closer you can get.”

“So that was… what happens when something has two opposing downs?” asks Vernew, and Pul nods.

“Basically, I think? It’s like using both hands to try to tear something open, instead of only one.”

The others mull that over as Teemo turns to Rocky. “Make sure to teach him the disorienting thing, too. That’s a great trick.”

“Disorienting?” asks Pul, with Aranya and Vernew looking especially interested.

“It was one of the first things Boss came up with for gravity. To keep it simple, deep in your ears is how to sense where down is. I know, it’s a weird spot for it, but it’s true. Anyway, if you put a fluctuating field in there, suddenly your equilibrium is telling you you’re tumbling down a mountain, despite your feet being firmly on the ground.”

Aelara looks uncomfortable. “Wouldn’t it be simpler to just… kill the target with that?”

Teemo shakes his head. “It takes a lot of gravity to actually kill someone, but hardly any at all to destroy their balance and make them seasick at the same time.”

Ragnar’s slowly building grin vanishes in an instant at that answer. “Ah, I’ve been seasick b’fore. I’d nae wanna feel tha’ ‘n th’ middle of a fight.”

“Especially when your body is desperately trying to fling itself all over to try to keep down in a sensible direction. You wanna see what it’s like?”

Ragnar quickly shakes his head as Rocky takes a step forward. “Nae! Ah’m good!”

Rocky pouts but steps back, and they resume walking, talking about techniques, gossiping, philosophizing, and otherwise enjoying a nice walk together. Once they get out in the stagnation, they’ll need to be all business, so it’s a good idea to get caught up now. I idly listen in as I refocus on my territory, continuing to make the small tweaks to encourage new delvers to head to Violet, and the mid-tier ones to head to the spheres.

It’s nice to have friends in the background while you work. It reminds you why you’re working in the first place.