StarChaser: Another (18+)

Name	Sex	Callsign	Role	Species	Combat Type
Ingrid Lily	F	Starchaser Actual	Leader, Tank	Human	Melee + Ranged
Cecil	M	Overlord	Adjutant, Team Iroquois Leader	Slime	Ranged (Guns)
Zefir Aargrove	M	Baseplate	Mission Control, Assistant	Ciltran (Formerly Human)	N/A
Kvaris Enthana	F	Anubis	Scout, Fighter, Chief Adviser	Garm (wolf-girl)	Melee
Kinu Enthana	F	Amarok	Scout, Fighter, Chief Adviser	Garm (wolf-girl)	Melee
Philia Lovelock	F	King Fish	Artificer, Assistant Adjutant	Human (Daos Disguised)	Ranged (Guns)
Gwen Hartpenny	F	Outlaw	Mission Control, Maid	Ciltran	N/A
Sammy Foster	F	Night-Rider	Rearguard, Tank	Half-Orc Half-Human	Melee
Viel Yulga	F	Kitty-Five	Cantrip Sorceress	Ciltran	N/A
Siria Bluethorne	F	Ranger-Two	Sorceress, Field XO	Elf	Sorcery
Iohann of the Treanthorn Tribe	F	Prophet	Cleric	Felmoon	Melee + Sorcery
Neith	N/A	Glados, HTX	Porter, Mission Control, Drone Operator	Sentient AI	N/A
Arek Ixilos	M	N/A	Mission Control, Adviser, Supplier	Gulan	N/A

___

Falzo, or by his clan name Edward Blumley put his tankard down as he surveyed the newcomers. One was a human dressed as a drow assassin, judging from the audacious criss-crossed scarves in the style of an elven Solenrala and what could only be deep-dragon armor for her limbs. Her master was either compensating too much by puffing her up to look more dangerous than she really is, or an elf really saw her as intelligent enough to warrant such an honor. 

Her companion was even stranger. It was a talking slime that occupied a flying portal, around him was an entourage of armored swarm mice bearing weapons that while he did not know how they worked were clearly ranged weapons considering how they squinted down the length of the weapon like crossbowmen. This flying portal was accompanied by four smaller ones, each manned by a mouse like an archer at a loophole.

“Positive ID on Baker.” The human said, but it didn’t sound like she was addressing anyone, and she had a finger on her ear.

“You must be Falzo.” The slime said, bringing his portal at a respectful distance from his table. “You should come with us.”

“And you folks are?” He inquired gruffly, already buzzed by the good ale meant for his guests.

“Ingrid Lily, I’m the boss of the adventurer team the Whales from the Fenrir Guild.” The human said.

“Fenrir?” Falzo asked, then let out a porcine grunt of recognition. “Ah, those folks back at New Gorpisal, whatever you heard from them is probably wrong. I’m a baker, not an adventurer. Just because I have the Valiant God’s face doesn’t mean I have his strength.” he flicked a thumb at his boar-head. “Not that I regret not having it.”

The tavern’s few other occupants didn’t know whether to laugh at the idea of a human acting like she’s people or be worried that she looked too much like a smart Nemesis-Stalker, which wasn’t good news. Cecil caught their worry and wondered if they were looking at the equivalent of a talking T-rex with functioning arms holding a minigun.

“We’re looking for a baker actually.” Ingrid said, seating herself in front of him and helping herself to his ale. “I got this town I’m starting you see…” as Ingrid gestured with her hand, the slime and his portal-dwelling cohorts suddenly turned and used their strange weapons. Holes were blown through the bodies of Falzo’s companions, followed by a warhammer appearing smashing their heads.

“All clear.” the slime said, before flying around to inspect the tavern.

Falzo glanced at the dead bandits nonplussed, he was long unimpressed when the bandits took over the town by violence, seeing a talking slime and a human come to him and casually murder his acquaintances and put them in his service wasn’t news to him.

“...we don’t have a baker and based on what these Guileheads have for rations, they look pretty good.” Ingrid said after she had a drink. “This town doesn’t have a farm, so I’m guessing you’re importing wheat and grain elsewhere. For better or worse, my town will have its own farm, and with your direction we can grow the grain you need to make better bread. I’ll be honest, since we’re starting out it might be a little rough living at first, but that’s an expected investment if you’re aiming for something big… like a town that answers not to perfumed nobles but adventurers like us who just want to spend our days out in the stars, someone who doesn’t mind having their hands dirty for living.”

Falzo ran a hand through his silky white fur in thought, letting out a porky snort as he thought about it. Then, he shrugged.

“Fine, I never liked these Guileheads anyway. Sooner or later I’m going to be on the chopping block, or be asked to do something that will land me there.” he said.

Ingrid rose and held out a hand, Falzo shook it immediately.

“Will you help the other villagers here?” he inquired.

“We’ve taken all that we can. Head to the barn now.” Ingrid replied. She turned around and touched the charm to her ear and spoke cryptically. “This is Starchaser Actual, we have our baker. Ranger-Two, King-Fish, proceed with the mass feather-fall to the barn. Activate Wind Wall and Purification field as soon as possible. Kitty-Five, standby for instructions from Glados. Sarin bombardment authorized! Starchaser out.”

“Authorization clear.” Neith replied. “Kitty-Five, set coordinates to niner-five-eight-six…”

___

“Why’d we climb up here if we were going to jump down to the barn anyway?” the goat-folk villager asked as Siria and Philia began casting their spells.

“Acquiring livestock wasn’t in our plans.” Neith spoke, keeping her voice only to the speakers of the spider-bot for the villagers to hear. As she spoke to them, she kept a separate, simultaneous conversation to Viel back in Selfir, providing her instructions in aiming the howitzer. “The convenient location of the barn in terms of defensibility had led our leader to choose it as a place to take refuge when this town gets flooded with Sarin gas.”

“Sarin?” one of the ciltran errand boys, the one that Ingrid personally “recruited” a few moments ago asked.

“It is a poison gas that will envelop this whole town.” Neith replied. “Follow the instructions of Philia and Siria if you want to live. You will all be granted Feather Fall to jump down to the barn below.”

The feeling of warmth and lightness then spread to everyone up the cliff’s edge as the two mages finished their spells. Neith played back the conversation through her speakers, letting everyone know of the incoming attack.

“This is Kitty-Five, Sarin cluster munitions loaded and ready to fire. Coordinates set.” Viel announced.

“Jump down now.” Neith said. “And head to the barn. Corral all animals into the barn while you’re at it.”

Philia, Siria, the 189, Kvaris, Kinu, Iohann, Sammy, and then Nod then leapt down from the cliff first, their descent slowed gradually that by halfway through it was now a gentle glide to the ground. The villagers followed suit and some of them, including the two ciltran errand boys quickly waved at the pigs and chickens to the barn.

“Standby Kitty-Five, we are setting up our barrier.” Ingrid said, laying down a big barrel of ale taken from the tavern. Iohann and Siria began casting their respective spells together while Cecil quickly approached the villagers.

“Get those animals in the barn now!” He told the villagers urgently. “Stay behind the fence!”

Neith’s spider-bot in the meantime was halfway down her climb, scaling down the cliff-face with ease. She entered the fenced off area just as everyone felt a deep thrumming sensation as Iohann's purification barrier came on, Siria’s wind wall enveloped the area as soon as she did.

“Fire.” Ingrid said after doing a quick headcount.

“Twenty seconds to impact.” Neith said.

“Warriors stand ready!” Ingrid said over the radio. “There’s a chance those bandits may come this way, we must fend them off!”

“Corral those animals, but do not stray from the fence!” Kvaris repeated some of the villagers pulling and shooing the livestock to the barn. “Close the doors!”

A ripple of explosions went off at the direction of the river, followed by shouts and screams of the bandits caught by surprise. There were shouts and panic as the bandits tried to organize and find out what’s wrong, and the few recalcitrant pigs that didn’t want to go in were suddenly spooked and dashed to the barn for safety.

“Maintain that barrier, girls!” Ingrid said.

“Hard to believe the town right now is far more dangerous than an angry dragon’s den.” Sammy said, recalling Philia’s explanation earlier that morning. “A colorless, odorless gas that kills like an extreme version of the paralysis spell huh? Nasty piece of work.”

“You mentioned this weapon was forbidden.” Kvaris said, turning around to the sound of various bandits shouting an alarm and calling for everyone to arm themselves for an attack. “What sort of moldy lab did you warp this in from?”

“Well that’s the thing…” Philia said. “This chemical weapon was supposed to have been forbidden over thirty years ago, along with the destruction of all stockpiles of Sarin. Yet when I summoned these at Elion-Nosco back then, these ingredients were not only fresh but the alchemy had been massively improved. It seems they’ve restarted the production ever since the Dark Empire invaded my old world.”

“That makes sense…” Ingrid remarked. “We Starchasers aren’t immortal after all, I mean, you guys are looking at two dead ones. In case they fail, then of course Earth would need to retaliate using every weapon they have at their disposal to rid themselves of the SEEDs.”

Kvaris clucked her tongue. There were now shouts of horror and dismay as the bandits were now either screaming in pain or shouting in horror as they witnessed some of their comrades beginning to succumb to the effects of the deadly nerve gas. “Some of those voices are a lot closer to here than the explosions by the river… it’s spreading fast.”

"Steady!" Ingrid called. "Nobody steps out of the fence. Shoot anyone who stumbles into sight, use your ranged weapons."

The cacophony of choking and panic grew louder with each passing moment, the invisible killer doing its grisly work on the Guileheads. The Whales remained vigilant, their eyes focused on the perimeter of the barrier where the Wind Wall warped the view of the gas-stricken town. The purification field hummed with a soft blue glow, a stark contrast to the mounting chaos outside as the bandits were trying to figure out what was causing everyone to get violently sick as well as develop painful muscle spasms and seizing.

 

As soon as Nod was dismissed from the control room earlier that morning, The Whales had all been briefed regarding the use of Sarin Gas, including the symptoms to look out for. And so, seeing some bandits stumble into view displaying the worst effects of Sarin did not fill them with shock. The wind wall prevented those already weakened by the nerve gas from entering. Some still had the strength to push through, but of three of them that did, they were so spent by the effort that one dropped dead from the sheer strain as the increased gas inhalation accelerated the effects on his body, and the other two were taken down by Cecil and the mice with a single shot.

“What’s the plan?” Kvaris said as she threw an axe at another bandit that managed to get in.

“We sit this out for an hour or two, Iohann and Siria have enough rejuvenation potions to keep things going, then we take the villagers to Selfir, double back here with Zefir in tow to take the livestock as well as anything of value here.” Ingrid replied. “Of course we can’t take everything, just the stuff that the bandits took.”

“Irons has apparently been a hideout for these bandits for quite some time now.” Siria told Ingrid “It’s fair game if it doesn’t involve activities living off this land.”

“That means no magic fishing rods for you, Ingrid.

” Zefir said. “Or magic anvils, I guess…”

“I think we can take the smithy for Russet.” Ingrid said “Those tools are way too specialized after all..Iohann, can the food here be purified?”

“It’s quite a bit of work.” Iohann said “But we can tithe some of these to the temple at Selfir, I’m sure they’ll be happy to help.”

“That’s good, besides salvaging Falzo’s bakery, I found cheese in some cellars.”

At the mention of cheese the mice excitedly squeaked, hopping up and down.

“Easy guys! We need to purify them first or we’ll all get sick from eating them…”

___

An hour later, Philia eased the ATV down the incline and pulled up near the barn. Neith’s drones had ceased to detect any movement or sound from the town and laid out a path for Philia’s to follow. Most of the team sat atop the roof, while Ingrid, Iohann, and Philia sat inside with the villagers as she tried to see who would be interested in moving into her town of Autumnhollow.

Bryce and Bosco, the two ciltran errand-boys were poor shepherd boys picked up by the Guileheads to do menial work for them. They had no real attachment to the gang as their village was effectively uprooted and scattered when the bandits moved in on their nearby hamlet. They agreed to work as herders for Autumnhollow.

Meanwhile the goat-kin (later Ingrid would learn was called a Jodove) slave that was found working in a kitchen, Lirene Dewfoot, also wanted to move in. She was a traveling chef and was pressed for work by the Guileheads when they ambushed her caravan a year ago. Falzo had been her protector and thus seeing her among the rescued villagers he stipulated that he’ll stay if she does.

Three kobolds rescued from the storehouse; Dax Zax, Grulf Aristin, and Malri Aldrio were each travelling workers who were waylaid by the bandits and also pressed for slave labor. Not wanting to risk another experience like that, they were only too happy to join Ingrid’s village to indulge in their art.

The rest were natives of the village who decided to move to Selfir for the moment, while others were travellers who decided to take up work in Selfir to build themselves up again before moving on. Ingrid didn’t press the matter.

 

As the villagers disembarked, Ingrid took a look at the houses that her new carpenters Farlan and Rell had been making. She nodded in approval at the sight of a cottage being built with the help of some townsfolk, even more surprised to see two of them already built.

“Why are you surprised?” Philia asked as they looked over the cottages. “You’ve never seen an Amish barn being built?”

“No.” Ingrid shot back.

“One barn only needed thirty guys for ten hours. What do you think twenty demihumans can do?” Philia laughed.

“Fair enough, we still need to bring those over to Autumnhollow and I don’t want to strain Viel too much.”

“I need the exercise.” Viel said, standing next to Ingrid. “Besides, I’ll probably be asked to carry close to that amount with how good our party is when it comes to killing monsters, big monsters at that.”

“Alright Viel, but I’ll have someone watch over you.” Ingrid said, patting her head.

“Don’t baby me, I’m-nyaaaaaaa…” Viel melted as she felt Ingrid’s warm hands ruffle her hair.

“Protecc the Kitty.” Ingrid say affectionately. “You two head back inside for lunch, I’ll talk to our villagers and tell them they’ll need to stay put here for a day or two since we’ll be going in Autumnhollow.”

“10-4” Philia replied, pulling Viel along with her. Meanwhile, Ingrid approached the townsfolk and waved over to Farlan.

“What is it?” The fox-kin said, taking off his bandanna.

“I’m putting you in charge of our village.” Ingrid told him. “Right now, I need you to spend the night here. Me and the team will be stationed back in Irons while we find more information about these bandits. If the townsfolk here haven’t sent a bird to the local landlord, have someone do it. Alright?”

“Understood.” Farlan said and Ingrid jogged back to Autumnhollow, as she did, she heard Farlan calling out to his folks to let them know what was going on. Along the way she picked up Iohann who had just left the temple.

“Told them about the purification request for food?” Ingrid said as she literally perched Iohann on her arm. The felmoon cleric bleated in surprise but found that she was completely stable on Ingrid’s arm.

“I…I did! They said they’ll only be too happy to do so…and… why did you have to carry me?” Iohann said.

“To make you look as important as you should.” Ingrid smiled as she continued jogging away from town. As they entered Autumnhollow they got suddenly sprayed by Gwen with a decontaminant “just in case.”

“Welp, guess we gotta bathe…” Ingrid said, seeing Philia and the others making use of the outdoor hose. Gwen had been instructed to bring the bathing accouterments from the bathroom and lay it here. Letting Iohann down, the two of them hurried over to wash up while Gwen quickly picked up their clothes to dump into the washing machine.

“Interesting.” She said, “Those new mice are picking up really quickly.” noting at how the Calico mice were lathering up and rinsing after seeing the others do so only once.

___

“Do we need to do that again?” Kinu asked over lunch.

“No, Sarin has a short lethal lifespan and we’ve had Siria use a windspell to help decontaminate the place.” Philia assured them.

“Not that I mind.” Kvaris shrugged “any poison mist worth its salt does merit some extra caution.”

“Blew down some homes in the process but it's worth it.” Ingrid remarked. “Also, it’s a good time to see how our livestock will be doing now that we’ve left them there. Hopefully they’ll remain healthy.”

“They should.” Siria said.

“If Siria says so, then I’m convinced.” Ingrid told them, turning back to her lunch. It resembled overloaded pastrami sandwiches, everyone however observed a peculiar custom topping the area they were going to bite in with a spicy pickled vegetable before chowing down on it. It was also served with a dish that looked very similar to moussaka but a lot more cheesier, to the delight of the mice.

“So we take Autumnhollow to the village of Irons and bring the animals in?” Zefir asked.

“Yes, and of course take anything that’s fair game.” came Philia’s answer.

“We can deal with the herding.” Roofe said, “Just one of the many things we know how to do.”

“Thanks Roofe!” Ingrid chirped, “It’ll be really helpful, I can help with the initial part as well, I did grow up on a farm after all.”

“Me too, just another skill I picked up when I arrived in Ontala.” Zefir said. “Thought I gotta get back as soon as possible to work as Mission Control”

“We’ll watch the animals and make sure they don’t wander out of the portal. Leave it to us.” Mink said.

“Much obliged, Mink!” Ingrid said.

“Sounds like we’re the thieves now, not that I mind taking from a thief.” Kvaris remarked, taking a big bite. “We should all be careful however. There’s no telling if more of them arrive, or if there are any survivors. We should stop once it gets too dark.”

“Agreed.” Ingrid said. “Once we’re done rooting around the town, ideally we should pick a place to set up Autumnhollow. Ideally up the cliffs where the forest was. That way we’re out of sight should any unexpected guests come along while we’re all asleep. That and I don’t want to sleep in a town that got struck with nerve gas.”

“Although Ingrid and I have slept in worse…” Cecil snickered, snatching up another sandwich.

___

They were back in the town of Irons in an hour and a half, the area at the back of the town where the barn lay was wide enough to set up Autumnhollow. Mink, Roofe, as well as Ingrid and Zefir quickly herded the pigs, chickens, and surprisingly enough, geese into Autumnhollow and into the arcane pasture that lay beyond the portal.

“C’mon guys! Shoo! Shoo!” Ingrid said as she waved her arms at the herd of pigs oinking their way to the pasture. The sight of the aurochs curiously staring back and letting out deep moo’s enthused the animals to come over, with the geese now excitedly waddling faster at the sight of water.

“Well that was easier than I thought.” Philia said, turning around to see Viel using telekinesis to carry the crates the birds were using to nest and lay their eggs on. Siria had cast another round of wind spells to air out the barns and Iohann once again cast her purification spell just to make sure the animals weren’t affected but they all seemed quite healthy and for some, as ornery as usual, especially the geese that couldn’t help but goose Ingrid, causing her to yelp and Zefir to laugh.

“If there are survivors.” Mink said, “The darkness would be their asset. You best hurry while there’s still light and we can leave this accursed place.”

The rest couldn’t agree more. They quickly organized themselves in pairs while Neith’s drones kept a lookout for the town.

 

Philia and Kvaris headed for the mansion, revisiting the area where Cecil had apprehended the HVT, a quick search found none of these cabinets booby trapped and Philia obtained a series of letters.

“We should give these to the authorities, we’ll hand them over to the village elders and they can handle bringing it over to the local lord.” Philia said. “Glados can record these later.”

“Acknowledged.” Neith replied.

“Heh, nice sword these guys have.” Kvaris said, pulling out one of the dead guard’s swords. “A Janus blade. These Guileheads are well connected.”

“Yanoos blade?” Ingrid asked. “Some kind of magic sword?”

“Yes, you wear it and it takes just a bit of your mana to keep it on. Then with the same effort as swinging a sword, you can summon a blade to strike your opponent. Basically a sword you don’t need to draw.” Kvaris replied.

“Sounds like Prophet’s Raptor Greaves.” Ingrid replied, referring to Iohann’s enchanted greaves that summoned a shadow clone to perform kicking techniques.

“Yes and no.” Philia replied. “The Raptor Greaves allows one to summon the Simulacrum anywhere from one pace to a couple…forgot how many, eight? The Janus blades on the other hand conjure a spectral sword only, the range of its swing is the same as the wearer's normal reach if he had the sword in hand.”

“Sounds pretty useful, take the swords.” Ingrid said.

“I’d definitely have a use for that.” Kinu remarked. “But wearing yet another sword will just hamper my movement, the point of using an Apport Ring is that I’m not encumbered or have anything that I could knock my hand against.”

“You forget, we have that Rhokalian dress form. That should let us circumvent having to wear these swords.” Philia said, she nodded to Kvaris. “Take them, even if it doesn’t work it’s still worth good money.”

“We do have people to feed…” Kvaris said, stripping the guards of their weapons and armor. Philia joined her and they settled for just tossing them out the window.

___

Ingrid laid the last of the cheese atop the Anti-Grav plate on Neith’s spider-bot’s back.

“Well, that’s all the cheese I can find.” She said, before nodding for the bot to move on. Its servos whirred to life then quickly skittered back to Autumnhollow to lay them on the courtyard.

“This is Starchaser Actual to all mice. Do not eat the cheese yet. Consider it contaminated until we have the clerics purify it.” Ingrid called on the radio.

All of the mice, including the Calicos after lunch had been fitted with earpieces. Cecil turned his mic on so Ingrid could hear the mice squeak in response.

“That’s an affirmative Starchaser.” Cecil said over the line.

“Acknowledged.” Ingrid then moved to the next house. She smelled spices and sighed. “Starchaser to King Fish, we really screwed the pooch on this one… Sarin-laced spices… I won’t be surprised of the temple wants to take half of these.”

“It only looks expensive when all of our party is alive and well Starchaser.” Kinu replied.

“Point taken.”

___

 “Standardized armor, a little expensive for a bunch of bandits, don’t you think?” Sammy said as she took off another bandit’s brigandine. “Just a shame that whichever noble is paying these goons is a little too humble to put his seal on them.”

“Yeah, at least I’m feeling less horrible about having Ingrid use her Sarin gas on these folks.” Kinu remarked as she peeled off another suit of armor. “It's a bit scary to find out that her world has developed sneaky poisons like these.”

Sammy shrugged “She did say they were ‘forbidden’ which means if anyone did use them, it’s probably limited. Just some few remote towns at best I imagine, and considering she mentioned how short this poison mist remains effective, I suppose it’s made that way so nobody could find clear evidence on exactly what was used.”

Sammy plucked an amulet off of one of the bandits. “Finders keepers. I recognize this one, a Moon Shield.”

Kinu knotted her eyebrows. “Be sure to swing Silent Storm around first and see what happens. Last thing you want is to find out your Guardian swords don’t work.”

“True…” Sammy put on the amulet then gave her halberd and then sword a couple of test swings, the phantom swords still swung true.

“Looks like it still works.” Sammy said, she touched her earpiece and spoke quickly “Night-Rider to team, I've taken a Moon Shield off of one of these bandits. Over.”

“Moon Shield?” Ingrid said.

“What’s that?” Zefir asked.

“It’s a holy amulet that creates a spectral scythe to cut down an attacker when you’re struck.” Siria explained. “If you’re looking for justification for using that Sarin, that man Night-Rider took from is one of them. Our melee warriors could’ve been seriously hurt if not killed had they struck him.”

“Night-Rider should use it.” Kvaris said. “Amarok and I are already sporting shields, she needs the extra protection. Also, it doesn’t work if one’s using a shield, but it does consider armor.”

“Any side effects we should know?” Ingrid asked, wanting to know if it came with any nasty surprises.

“Well the main thing is that you do need to take a hit.” Philia told her. “And there is a bit of a delay before it comes out, so it’s not like your defensive aura that mangles anybody trying to touch you. Also it does drain your stamina, just about the same effort it takes to bring up that scythe and swing it. Night-Rider will need to remember to switch it off if she’s getting exhausted.”

“Oh, I see. Alright, it’s your call Night-Rider.” Ingrid said. “I gotta get back to bagging these spices… looks like an Apothecary I stumbled in.”

“By the way, I’ve also acquired some Pavise charms for Anubis and I to use.” Kinu said, tying one to her shield strap. “Found it off our Guilehead friends here.”

“Those provide a buffer for worn shields by giving them an extra force field the size and toughness of a pavise, that’s those big shields, Starchaser.” Philia explained preemptively.

“If you have extra, see if you can get a buckler for one of our mice.” Zefir suggested. “If going by their ability to all make use of a single apport ring, then they should also be able to avail themselves of this charm.”

“What do you think, Ranger-Two, King Fish?” Ingrid asked hopefully.

“It should work,” Siria replied after some thought. “I also think they could make use of that Janus blade so long as one of them has that enchanted brooch King Fish mentioned that lets her link the wearer to the Rhokalian Dress Form.”

“Lots of work for me but I’m not complaining.” Phiia remarked. “I do plan to build two more SCARs so we have four mice on the ground, but that will have to wait until we get to Teth-Odin.”

“Need to get some high-end stuff at Teth-Odin?”

“Time actually. Unless you don’t mind waiting another day or two.”

“We’re already spending this day looting from bandits.” Kvaris said. “Also, considering how fast we got here, we’d still be on the road by oxen. Also we’re using this opportunity to secure food for our villagers.”

“Point Taken.” came Philia’s reply. 

___

Team Iroquois on the other hand, prised open a chest by having two of the Calico mice approach it via their sub-portals and using their glaives to open it from a distance. As they did so, they quickly retreated. Iohann who was standing by felt no malignant spell and visibly relaxed her barrier.

Seeing nothing wrong, Cecil flew in his Dialogue Window to have a look.

“What the…!?” Cecil was dumbfounded. “There’s like Golden Tixi Mice in here! They’re asleep but… they can’t be still alive!”

“It’s a Stasis Box. Cecil.” Iohann said, examining the sleeping mice. “They were spared from the Sarin Gas because this box was sealed. They were probably put to sleep through some manner and then stuffed in here to be sold to some perfumed aristocrat as pets.”

Cecil screwed up his face and the mice squeaked angrily. The slime however found it funny that what he was thinking was going to be no different from those nobles, as he hoped these mice would join them.

“C’mon guys, wake them up, but don’t force them to join us…” Cecil urged them. Excitedly the mice hopped out of the portal to shake their new friends awake. “This is Overlord we found four golden Tixi-”

“Gold mice!?” Siria, Kvaris, Kinu, and Sammy said excitedly and simultaneously.

“Something about this stinks!” Kvaris followed up quickly, her voice annoyed. “Someone big has to be behind this, first the stuff we’ve been getting, now golden mice! And all these good weapons and armor!”

“I’m guessing the golden mice are rare?” Ingrid asked.

“Very rare. Starchaser.” Siria replied. “As far as we know they’re mostly from the far western isles.”

“It’s like catching a hundred pound lobster in Maine, Starchaser.” Philia said. “You’re legally allowed to be shot just for plucking one up. Well almost, most people don’t take kindly to having golden mice, at least not unless we can show they’re really our familiars.”

“Well what do we do? Send them back to some ship?” Ingrid asked. “I don’t want to explain myself to every wildlife gestapo.”

“I doubt it unless we personally escort them back to wherever they belong.” Philia replied. “We should be fine if they appear as familiars. If they decide to…”

“Too late, they’re joining us now.” Cecil said, watching as the mice sniff and hug each other, squeaking happily. “Looks like they’ve just joiiiiiiiin~” his voice melted as the golden mice started patting him with their plushy paws.

“All the same, we should report this.” Kinu cut in pretty quickly. “Both to the guilds and the local lord. These aren’t some small-time thieves we're looking at.”

“On the good news, since they’ve entered my room they’re all decontaminated and mostly clean.” Cecil remarked, patting the gold mice back. The calicos quickly led them further inside to feed them rations.

“We need to be more careful with our use of WMD’s” Cecil added, his tone somber. “We could have killed them…”

Ingrid sighed. She sounded like she was going to say something but Cecil quickly continued. “Don’t think about that last time Starchaser… that was then, let’s just thank our lucky stars now.”

“What happened?” Iohann asked.

“You can tell them. Everyone’s got a right to know.” Ingrid said after a while.

“Right… So before we became part of the Starchaser troupe we were vigilantes, living outside of the law to kill as many SEEDs as we can, for vengeance and all that. One time we recieved information that SEEDs were using a network of abandoned tunnels. We talked to our friends in the shady side and bought from them a lot of deadly chemical gas, we planned to flood the tunnels with the deadly fumes to kill them off wholesale…”

Cecil paused as the memory made him feel a painful twinge of regret. Ingrid followed up for him.

“The tunnels didn’t just contain SEEDs, there were people there. People like us, who lived outside of the law to claim revenge for all the SEEDs had done to them and their friends and families. One of them, realizing what was happening, collapsed the tunnels to ensure our mutual enemy couldn’t escape.”

“Don’t bonk yourself on the head with this, it was I who suggested and owned the Sarin gas.” Philia said.

“I’m the leader, King Fish, everything's my fault.” Ingrid said.

“Spoken like a real general.” Kinu chuckled, her voice wasn’t sarcastic but rather amused that in her moment of weakness Ingrid showed a strength many failed to take up.

“If you were born in our tribe, father would’ve picked you as his successor already for simply admitting that.” Sammy said her voice wasn’t patronizing at all or trying to sound like a hallmark card. “A chief who doesn’t hide behind his followers’ mistakes is truly a chief.”

“Detestable sure, but only the righteous would feel the weight of a harsh decision.” Iohann said.

 ___

It was dark by the time everyone retreated back to Autumnhollow. Arek had come through with his Miquoan vests as well as another batch of rations.

“Whoa, really? They got stasis tech? I mean magic.” Arek said incredulously as Ingrid told him over dinner.

“Yes”, Ingrid replied over her dinner of pilar with slices of leftover pastrami-like meat “looks like they were planning to sell these gold mice to some rich guy, apparently they’re so rare.”

“Probably someone a little bigger than…what’s the lowest rank of nobility there, a baron? Maybe something bigger.” Arek thought out loud. “There’s a chance that reporting this via the village chief at Selfir could tip off whoever’s funding those crooks. If it was me, I’d skip them and tell the guilds instead since they seem to be separate from the usual power structure.”

“Been thinking about that too…” Ingrid said. “But now that you mentioned it I think that’s the most prudent case.”

“If you do report it, you are aware that your team will be credited for wiping out that many thugs. People could start asking questions.” Arek told her. “And last you told me, you preferred to stay under the radar.”

Ingrid was quiet for a while, letting her gold mouse eat her dinner while she rubbed its cheeks.

Siria spoke up. “We could always tell the guild the truth, then ask them to disseminate the information with a layer of confidentiality, that way on the outside, it was a guild effort or…”

She paused letting everyone know she was hinting something that was in the gray area of legality “...that the guild dispatched people to investigate and simply found them killed by an unknown party. Fenrir guild has done tasks like these before on my behalf, wrapping my deeds as the work of multiple guildsmen acting on orders of the guildmaster.”

“Hopefully they’ll buy it.” Kinu leaned back on her chair, scratching the ears of her gold mouse sitting on her lap. “I mean, we’re looking at a party here with golden mice, Siria Bluethorne, a talking slime, and a Nemesis-Stalker, and the Red Banner of the Nightmane.”

“Don’t forget the daughters of King Tulan's Iron shield.” Iohann said pointedly. “But in the larger scale of things we’re not that big of a team. We’re only an Iron Rank team.”

“That means just above Bronze, which is the lowest rank.” Philia spoke, preemptively guessing that Ingrid will be wondering what that rank meant. “Iohann’s right. We may attract some attention from who we are all-in-all we shouldn’t be seen as gods among men.”

“Agreed. They say some Platinum-Ranks have dragons as familiars.” Kvaris said. “These are really big shadows to hide under. We maybe Amaduscia’s daughters but we’re far from what he’s capable of right now…”

___

“Are you guys really planning to go out now?” Ingrid frowned as she saw Cecil, Kinu, Kvaris, Iohann, and Sammy preparing themselves, Neith’s spiderbot, with a big holding crate on its back wheeled in close to them.

“There’s a few more houses we haven’t checked yet.” Kvaris said. “This is also the best time to check our night gear, we’ll be moving as a single group. What about you?”

Ingrid shrugged “I’m done for the night, but keep your comms on, don’t forget, you’re keeping Zefir up for too long acting as mission control.”

“We’ll give ourselves three hours.” Kvaris said, holding up her wristwatch, which Philia had summoned from Arek’s basement along with the Miquoan vests and rations. She had taught the team how to work them and they quickly picked it up.

A series of shots rang out as Gwen was teaching the golden mice on how to shoot. There were squeaks of joy as the mice discovered the power of firearms.

“Alright then. Keep in touch. So long as you’re not in Autumnhollow always act as if you’re on mission.”

“Yes mother!” Kvaris laughed as the team jogged into the darkness.

“Walked right into that one, Starchaser.” Cecil joked.

___

Cecil switched on the lights of his portal-mounted caddy, illuminating the darkened town around them.

“You think they sent the entire chapter here?” Zefir asked over the line.

“If they didn’t it would probably take another day or so.” Sammy replied. “It’s been only one day and for all they know their imaginary enemy The Braves won’t be setting up shop until another day or two at least.”

“Oh right, The Braves, that’s what Philia called our group… did you find that Impression Totem?”

Sammy cleared her throat “We did, for a while I considered activating it but decided it wasn’t for me.”

“Same” the Enthana sisters chorused.

“There it is, the house with the blue roof.” Iohann pointed out. The door was closed but not locked. Sammy quickly entered first and found only a few thieves slumped on the floor, these were unarmored and carried either nondescript swords or knives on them along with their personal effects. Only Neith remained outside as her holding crate was too big to fit through the door.

Cecil hugged the wall to illuminate the room as the team opened up cupboards and try to see if there was anything there of use. Each member also had chest mounted flashlights along with the ones on their tac-cams mounted on the sides of their heads.

“Hmmm…these plates and utensils are too high-class to be here.” Sammy said, pulling up some fine porcelain and laying them on the table. “We give these to our villagers and sell the rest. Or give our potters some inspiration to work with.”

“I guess this is where they keep their fine living items.” Zefir said, keeping an eye over the town via his Oberon Drone. “We could make use of those as well as our villagers, they deserve some of those after living like prisoners here.”

“Agreed.” Iohann said, laying down a big batch of perfumed candles on the table. “It’s the least we can do since they’ll be living rough for the first days.”

“If we have time tomorrow I suppose we could take some of those mattresses for our folks to sleep in.” Sammy remarked, she was on the second floor of the blue-roofed house and found it stacked with fine rugs, cushions and mattresses.

“Baseplate to team.” Zefir announced. “Night-rider has found a big stash of carpets and other goods, looks like they must’ve raided a caravan full of textile merchants or something.”

Kvaris hurried upstairs and saw the sheer volume. “This looks more like they were brought here for storage and subsequent reselling, not snatched from some random caravan. Starchaser, do you copy this?”

“I do, if the team desires it we can spend this morning getting all the stuff we need for our villagers and our living. Also it wouldn’t hurt to damage anything they could recoup from this town.” Ingrid replied.

“We’ll skip the second floor for tomorrow then.” Sammy said, motioning for Kvaris to come down. “We’re moving to the next house now, the round house designated as Falzo’s bakery.”

“Right, that was last on our list since any bread there was likely contaminated.” came Ingrid’s remark.

“They are.” Philia replied, still winded from her summoning spell. “Just lay them out with all the contaminated food. This is King Fish, advise all mice and all team members to not touch the food on the patio. They are all contaminated until properly purified. Out.”

“10-4.” Gwen replied over the sounds of gunfire.

“Anubis here, just my thoughts on the matter. We shouldn’t stay in Irons for too long, tomorrow is pushing our luck. There’s stored merchandise here for resale which means there’s also a chance we may run into merchants or other middle-men with connection to whomever these Guileheads are connected to.”

“It’s your call team. Do you want to burn the midnight oil?” Ingrid asked, “Anubis has a point.”

“This is a lot of good money, money that we need considering what we plan to do.” Philia said. “I’m still a little exhausted but I can still function.”

“You’re benched, King Fish, stay on Mission Control tonight.” Ingrid said. “I’ll play mule with Glados. Outlaw, continue teaching the mice. Dallas and Wayne, could you two gentlemen fix our team some coffee later? We’re going to be up all night. Glados, I want one drone high up in the air with infrared, I don’t want us to be caught with our pants down in case a whole bunch of Guileheads come this way.”

 

“Understood.” Philia and Gwen chorused.

“Right up, boss!” Mink and Roofe replied in unison.

“None of you guys out there are wearing pants, Starchaser.” Zefir chuckled.

“Can’t have you sleeping on the wheel now, can I?.” Ingrid deadpanned but he could feel her smile.

___

After giving Ingrid directions for the house, the expedition team then headed for Falzo’s bakery. The oven was still smoldering and Sammy decided against opening it, as whatever was baking in there could already be burnt now that the attendants have been slain by the grisly gas. Quickly, the team loaded all the bread as well as tools onto the spiderbot’s crate.

As Sammy opened one cabinet, she accidentally knocked on the wood panelled back and heard a hollow noise. After a few seconds she found it loose and found a hidden compartment.

“Falzo… you liar.” Sammy chuckled, unwrapping the cloth-swaddled object. She held up the dagger for the camera to see. “Ranger-Two, King Fish, you recognize this?”

“Picture taken, you may take it now.” Neith replied over her earpiece, allowing Sammy to resume working after she tied the dagger’s sheath to her belt.

“Valiant God’s Dagger.” Siria replied. “Forged by the combined magic of an Elf and Orc, if you throw it, it would transport you near where you struck, alternatively you can stab this onto the ground and use it as a way to teleport yourself back. Either way you end up with the dagger back in its sheath.”

“Exactly.” Sammy smiled. “A lot of riders would bleed themselves just to have his weapon, brings them to the thick of the fray like a true warrior.”

 

Neith’s spider-bot was able to take all of the baker’s usable items before trundling back to Autumnhollow. The expeditionary group then gathered up and proceed to the next house.

“Yellow brick walls.” Zefir reminded them. “Just needs a road to go with it.” chuckling to himself to a joke that only the earthlings knew.

“Keep your wits about.” Sammy reminded the group.

Kinu tried the door and found that it opens side outwards, she nodded to the rest to stack up. With Sammy’s signal, she quickly and quietly opened the door, with Cecil and the mice aiming at the open space. There was nothing inside, not even any corpses and the team quickly filed in.

“What do we have here?” Sammy asked nobody in particular. It was full of big earthenware jars arranged neatly on the floor while dried meat hung on the ceiling.

“A big deli” Cecil said, noting the jars were all sealed airtight with clay over the lids.

Iohann tapped one of the clay sealed pots, cracking the clay open and brushing off the dried dust. Opening it up, a pungent, but not unpleasant smell filled her nose.

“Good quality pickles… this whole town has got to be a depot of some kind.” Iohann remarked.

“We need something to reseal that one.” Kvaris said, coming over for a look. Her eyes shone with hunger as she peered down the big pot full of pickled vegetables.

“Good thing we have a potter in our village.” Philia said.

“Bring it here so I can decontaminate it.” Cecil said.

Kinu was looking at the markings of the pot, now seeing the markings. “Vegetables, and I think that one cross means one month since I smelled ferretberries on it.”

“How long do those keep?” Cecil asked

“About six.”

“These don’t need decontamination except for a quick rinse on the exterior. That dried meat is off-limits until we bring it to the temple.” Philia said.

“Starchaser. We found preserved food.” Cecil said.

“Rog.” Ingrid replied. “Let me just finish this blue-roofed house”

 

___

That was the last that Ingrid spoke for the evening, and she became unusually quiet as she continued to help the team transport the goods they found. After transferring the pickle jars. Ingrid called for the team to gather at Autumnhollow and quietly called for Iohann to come with her.

She refused to answer any questions, leaving a curious Philia, Cecil, and Kvaris to follow her, both for security as well as to find out what upset her. Ingrid and Iohann returned to the blue-roofed house, for a few moments, the rest waited outside.

Iohann was the first to emerge from the house, her thurible was out, sending divine smoke into the air. Ingrid emerged moments later, carrying in her arms a bundled cloth of fancy looking blankets.

Neither Philia, Cecil, nor Kvaris asked what was in it. It didn't rattle, It didn't make clinking sounds. All that was inside was limp and more than one, it's outline only too familiar.

Ingrid carried the bodies into Autumnhollow. She noticed Viel putting a hand to her chest in horror, Sammy put a hand on her shoulder and shook her head, Wordlessly telling her she was not the one responsible. The orc looked at Ingrid and she nodded.

"I did this." Ingrid told them, absolving them of all guilt.

"I ordered the Sarin strike. The responsibility is mine alone."

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