Limitless Path

The first thing they did was, surprisingly, take a break, though Beth didn't have to be pushed particularly hard on that point. They took a couple days off, Beth leaving the gate open for the others while they all went off and did their own things. She and Sera visited a very familiar place while Blood went off on her own somewhere, though Beth was pretty sure she was focusing on flying, which was a genuine passion of hers. Bjorn and Kris disappeared for a week, together, of course, and Beth didn't pry into where they were going or what they were up to. Her sisters and the others stayed in the Hall, using their keys to make use of the gate, which Beth left running in the common room of the suite.

A week of not having to operate around someone else's schedule was super liberating, and a week of rest was just what they needed to refresh and refocus on the task at hand. That task was now narrowing down their efforts to exploring and clearing in the area taking up a huge chunk of the center of North America. They had multiple dungeons they had to clear repeatedly, with spikes, as well as several others areas they either needed to explore or delegate to other people. Those areas included things like the wraith dungeon, and Bjorn had just the ticket for it, which was a group he was familiar with from years before. He had given them a call, a small mercenary company that specialized in dealing with monster outbreaks and infestations.

"What're these guys like?" Beth asked Bjorn when they were all reconvened.

"Small team," the huge man grunted. "Ten fighters total; work in a rotation most of the time. Support staff of just the same; team of about twenty-two total. Support staff are decent fighters, but it's the main team that do the brunt of the work. They'll be here sometime early tonight."

"Anything else?" Beth asked when he finished after a couple sentences.

"They'll take care of your problem," he said with a shrug. "Depending on the value, they might pay you a fee for finding the place. They're doing all the hard work with killing the monsters, though, so don't expect a lot. They charge a massive premium for their services."

"The White Lotus?" Beth asked with a raised brow, reviewing the information Bjorn had sent them all.

"That's right," Bjorn said. When he didn't continue, Beth looked at him rather expectantly, and he sighed and said, "They've been around for a couple centuries. Their strongest member right now is an Enlightened, partway through the grade. He might reach Ascended in another hundred years, if he pushes, and he leads the group. Not the original leader, from what I know, but very competent. Nothing you showed me will pose much of a challenge to them, and they'll take care of it quickly and easily. You don't have to worry."

"Wasn't really worried," Beth said with a shrug. "Was more curious about the group and what they're all about."

"I ain't a member; ask them," Bjorn said with a shrug.

"I'll do just that," Beth said, sitting back with a small chuckle as she finished reviewing the information.

The next couple hours passed quickly, with Kim and her team emerging from Beth's gate at some point during that time. They were all exhausted, barely speaking to Beth's team before retreating to their suite to shower and rest. Neph floated between the suites, preferring to spend more time with her first bond, Blood, than anyone else. Bjorn got a message the merc company was showing up right before Baelvyr appeared, sticking his head in their suite for a quick check.

"You order a damn squad of goons, girlie?" he asked, halfway through the doorway.

"If you mean to ask if we asked a mercenary company to come over to handle a problem then, yes, we did," Beth said.

"They're outside," Baelvyr grunted, leaning back out of the suite. "They ain't members; you gotta meet 'em in the lobby, girlie."

"Strange," Beth muttered, looking at Bjorn.

"Not everybody joins the CRA," he grunted, standing and following Baelvyr into the hallway. "Some people don't want to be tied down, or keep a low profile, or a hundred other reasons. People won't even get Copper Emblems because of such reasons."

"The CRA is so beneficial, though," Beth said.

"Preaching to the choir, girl," Bjorn grunted as they made their way downstairs and to the front lobby.

"Right, right, I was just saying," Beth replied, glancing back to see Sera had followed them out. Baelvyr was still in front of them, though he hadn't waited, and he took up a place in the lobby, arms crossed over his bulk and glowering at a group standing and sitting in a tight clump in the corner. Apparently, they recognized Baelvyr as well, as they went on high alert when he entered the lobby, which Beth found pretty funny. Tazeen was standing at the front counter and he could've wiped the floor with everyone there with just a single gesture. Beth found it extra amusing since, if the merc company could manage to break through all the defenses Tazeen had layered to fool others, they would find he was 'merely' an Enlightened. Of course, he had mastered the sword to such a degree that he wasn't merely anything, and in a Hall that had an Exalted and an Ascended holding down the fort, he was either the second or, quite possibly, the first most powerful being there.

Bjorn led the way over to the group, which got a reaction of its own, especially since basically everybody had to look so damn far up at him. Hell, Baelvyr and Sera were both tall as hell, with Baelvyr being absolutely giant and even he had to look up when standing near Bjorn to meet him eye-to-eye. The mercenaries were no exception to this, the tallest of them being not much taller than Beth herself, meaning it was a long, long way up to look Bjorn in the face. He had a bit of a habit of unintentionally towering over others when he was near them, something that was just natural due to his ridiculous physique. The leader clearly recognized him as well, as he held out a hand for Bjorn to shake, the titan taking practically the man's entire forearm into his meaty grasp.

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"Bjorn! Good to see you again!" said the man, shaking Bjorn's hand quite heartily.

"Tove, good to see you," Bjorn replied, shaking the man's whole arm before letting him go.

"And who's this with you?" Tove asked, giving Beth and Sera a curious look.

"They're the ones that want your services," Bjorn said, walking around an armchair and sitting in it heavily, making it groan rather ominously.

"Good to meet you," Beth said, shaking his hand. "I go by Beth."

"Sera," said Sera, copying Beth. "Nice to meet you."

"So, what do you have for us?" Tove asked, motioning for them to take seats in the arrangement as well.

"Wraiths," Bjorn grunted.

"Very helpful, as usual," Tove said, giving the titan a glare. Bjorn just shrugged it off, looking at Beth.

"Here's the full data packet," Beth said, sending Tove the full report she had compiled on the wraith region.

"Lots of wraiths," Tove said, sitting back and paging through the materials.

"Underground, too, as usual, boss," said one of the other mercs.

"High enemy density already," another made a comment.

"No place within more than a hundred miles to resupply," said another member of the team, likely one of the support staff.

"We'll have to set up an advanced camp, just to be safe," another one added.

"And nobody's been in the portal yet?" Tove asked Beth.

"None of us," Beth said, exchanging a glance with Sera.

"We didn't have any equipment on us to tackle a wraith zone," Sera explained. "When we found the gateway, something that didn't immediately identify as some kind of dungeon, we figured it was safer to step back and make some preparations. Somehow, we never got around to doing any more than clearing some of the wraiths out at one or two points since then. The place is basically still untouched."

"There's minerals in the walls, too," Beth said. "Some pretty rare stuff, judging by what we were able to pull out the first time we went down there. Don't know if it'd be worth it for you guys to dig it up. The mana density will have made the rock even tougher to get through in the time since we've investigated the place last."

"We have everything we need for resource retrieval," Tove said. "We're looking at a fee of a handful of platinum coins. We're taking all the risk and putting in all the effort, unless you're willing to lend a hand…"

"We're not interested in pursuing this opportunity," Beth said with a grin.

"Very corporate, dear," Sera added slyly from the side.

"If you're not interested in helping with the clear and retrieval, then it's only the finder's fee," Tove said. "We have a sliding scale that is based on how difficult the task is and how much we're able to retrieve. That's why I said it's likely you'll get a few platinum coins, though we can't know until we're at least partway through the operation."

"The money isn't a big deal," Beth said, waving a hand. That got her a few raised eyebrows, so she continued, "The money's nice, don't get me wrong, but I'm much more concerned about, you know, the whole wraith problem that's currently brewing out of control on my home planet that nobody else is taking care of. A couple platinum coins are nice, but stopping a problem before half my planet's a wasteland and the CRA has to step in and correct it is a whole lot nicer."

"Point taken, point taken," Tove said, waving the questions away. "Anything else you have for us?"

"Information's all there," Beth said with a shrug.

"Good. We'll get started then. I don't like the way the ogre's looking at us," Tove said, giving his company some hand signals.

"He looks mean, but really, he's just grumpy," Beth said, laughing at their disbelieving expressions.

"I don't want to test it," Tove said with a laugh, herding his people out of the lobby. "I have your information. I'll update you once we get started."

"I look forward to it," Beth said.

When the company left, Baelvyr walked over and said, "Don't be afraid to give 'em the business if they try anythin'."

"I don't know what that means, but sure," Beth replied, laughing before she turned and led the other two back up to the suite.

"You weren't quick to defend your pal, there," Beth said to Bjorn as they walked.

"Acquaintance," Bjorn corrected. "And he's a merc. I wasn't arguing with an Exalted about a damn merc company."

"They're not that bad. Surely," Beth said.

"They're mercs," Bjorn grunted in response, as if that explained everything.

"It takes a really supreme merc company to have a good reputation," Sera explained. "A company like the one that Laselle runs, that's quality. People don't question what they're doing or what she's up to, but other companies, well…"

"You're making me a lot less confident," Beth said.

"They'll do the job," Bjorn said. "They might even give you a fair rate. Just don't go out drinking alone with them or trust them at your back if you're not paying them top dollar."

"That's kinda bleak," Beth said as the entered the suite.

"It's the truth," Bjorn replied gruffly.

"Well, we have our own stuff to take care of right now," Beth said.

It was true; they did have things lined up to work on right now. Running spiked dungeons was the biggest of those things, and they could focus on that task exclusively now. No more waiting a month between runs or only doing a single run at once before having to focus on something else. The first thing Beth wanted them to take care of with their newfound freedom was the golem dungeon. That felt like another axe that had been hanging over her neck, but they had kept it under control with the work they had been doing on it. Now, they could focus on it with a full set of spikes and get it fully under control. They wouldn't be making the dungeon disappear; far from it, as that was a very different activity than just bleeding off excess mana. Beth wasn't sure it was even possible to do it to a dungeon as high-level in such a mana dense area, not that she even wanted to.

They took the airship after waiting just a bit; Bjorn said it was best that the merc company had packed up and gotten well on their way to their work site. Not that he gave the merc company very good odds against Beth's airship, but the idea was that it was best not to run around tempting fate if they didn't have to. They also took a slightly different route from normal, something that Blood was quite happy with, as it meant more time in the air for them to do the same flight. The golem dungeon was one of many places they hadn't told anybody but Tazeen about, and possibly Jaq knew, as Beth had shared some basic mission details with him to get the spikes out of the miser. That meant that they shouldn't be chased or challenged by anybody in the area, which was another reason why Beth was happy to get out of the Hall and head out there, not that they were getting bothered now that their ref duty was complete. It was going to take another couple weeks to decompress and get the idea of being on the clock or having a tight schedule out of her system.

The golem dungeon was even easier than Beth remembered, even with a spike, and they cleared it the first time in near-record time. Beth was convinced they could go even faster while still staying safe and got the rest of the team onboard with a time rushed clear. Their second run was unlucky, as it was a massive, complex layout with moderately strong enemies, but the third layout was their lucky shot. They got through everything, including the boss, in less than thirty hours, and that was on a spiked run. That did lead Beth to a realization that Jaq, that stingy bastard, had only given her a handful of spikes to use for their missions and they were fast running out. They had, in fact, already used more than half of what he had given them, and now Beth was concerned about what she had told him coming true, but in a different way. She was going to need to either go begging him for more spikes or she would have to buy them. Well, she would try tactic one and when that failed, she would resort to tactic two.