TS5: Chapter 39 (Patreon)

The sun was just setting over the horizon when the team arrived back at Old Iron Village, and the valley was cast in a dimming light that dyed everything in pinks and blues. At the village gate, the team was met by two guards dressed in worn armor that had clearly seen a lot of action.

"Hold and identify yourselves," one of them called out, lifting his hand.

"We're one of the challenger teams," Thorn said. "My name is Thorn."

"Oh, I recognize you," the guard replied, taking a step forward as he scanned Thorn up and down. "You're the big guy, staying at Golden Meadow. Welcome back."

"Thank you," Thorn said. "How have things been here at the village today?"

"Quiet for the most part," the guard replied, looking at his companion, who nodded. "There was a bit of tension between a couple of the challenger teams, but things didn't devolve into a fight, so that's good."

"Does that happen often?" Velin asked. "I mean, things devolving into a fight."

Leaning on his spear, the guard scratched his chin as he thought about it.

"Not very often," he said, "as fighting is strictly forbidden in the village. Every once in a while we get someone who wants to test things, but for the most part, no one wants to risk getting in trouble here. But tensions can get pretty hot."

"All right, we'll be careful," Thorn said. "Have a good night."

"You as well," the guard replied, waving goodbye.

Thorn and the rest of the team headed for their rooms at the Golden Meadow Inn. When they arrived at the inn's great room, they found the air tense. Noticing that all five god beasts were sitting at one of the tables in the corner, Thorn immediately understood why. While Kitsek's team was nowhere to be seen, Joresh, Tolariah, and Muras were all sitting together at a table in the center of the room. Their team members were scattered about at tables of their own. When Thorn opened the door and ducked his head to get through the doorway, he felt everyone's eyes turn towards him so he smiled and waved, and walked over to the table where the other Prime Ascendants were sitting, greeting them with a nod.

"From your standings on the board out there, it seems like you all had a fruitful day," he said.

Muras' team currently held the top spot on the Team Challenge leader board, with Thorn and Tolariah underneath him. Both Joresh and Kitsek's teams were further down, having only completed the first stage of the Team Challenge at their respective shrines.

"More of a fluke than anything else," Muras replied. "It just so happened that the three heroic minions on the third stage attacked me."

"Yeah, that would do it," Thorn said with a laugh, pulling out a chair and sitting down.

He found it curious that the chairs, that all of the furniture in the Golden Meadow Inn, fit him well, bearing his weight without any issue. But he didn't think about it too hard as he rested his forearms on the table and leaned forward.

"We weren't so lucky," he said. "In our third stage, a couple of us were ambushed, and when we gathered to help deal with the attack, they circled around and attacked our shrine."

"The same thing happened to us," Tolariah said, nodding.

"Which shrine did you go to?" Thorn asked.

"We were at the Earth Shrine," she replied.

"Air for us," Muras said.

"We challenged the Light Shrine," Joresh said when Thorn looked at him. "But we only got through the first stage because we were exploring the surrounding area, trying to get a good sense of the terrain."

As he sat and chatted with the other Prime Ascendants, Thorn could feel a few gazes on his back, and turning, saw that the god beasts were all looking at him. Raising his eyebrows, he smiled and waved, chuckling when they all frowned and turned their attention away.

"I heard there was a bit of tension in the village earlier," Thorn said, jerking a thumb at the god beast table.

With an angry snort, Joresh nodded.

"They tried to pick a fight with one of my retainers and they nearly came to blows."

"What for?" Thorn asked, frowning. "Fighting in the village is forbidden. What would they gain out of that?"

"I think they were trying to test the village's defenses," Muras said, his finger tapping on the top of the table, "to see what sort of response they would get."

"That seems a bit foolish to me," Thorn said. But Tolariah shook her head.

"It's actually fairly common," she said. "Up in the mountains are bandits. And when the puzzle has been open in the past, one of the tasks has always been to defend the village against their assault. Normally it happens a few months into the opening of the puzzle. But in the past, different sides have joined with the bandits to attack the village."

Leaning forward slightly, Thorn's eyes narrowed.

"Is that right? And you think that Numamir and the others are trying to scout out the village to see if it would be best to join the bandits?"

"Something like that," Muras replied. "At least, that's our guess."

"I see. We'll have to keep an eye on them."

Sliding his chair back, Thorn stood up.

“What are your plans for tomorrow?"

"We'll be heading back out to the shrines," Muras said. "To continue our challenge."

"Because we failed one, we have to wait 24 hours before we try again," Tolariah said with a sigh. "So we might look at the solo challenges in the Shrine of Earth."

"That's what I was thinking of doing," Thorn said. "Heading back to the water shrine and attempting the solo challenge. But keep me informed about how things with the god beasts are going."

Shooting a glare at Numamir and the others, Joresh nodded.

"We'll be keeping a really close eye on them," he said.

Waving goodnight, Thorn was heading to the stairs when he saw Pel approaching him. She looked nervous and to his surprise, she gave him a stiff bow before speaking.

"I want to apologize for our defeat," she said, her expression faintly fearful.

"You don't have anything to apologize for," Thorn said, shaking his head.

"We just misjudged their strategy, but as the one leading the mission, it was my responsibility to anticipate what the enemy would do," she said, still looking troubled.

Reaching out, Thorn patted her lightly on the shoulder.

"Don't worry about it. We were going to lose sometime, and I'm just glad nobody got hurt. And now that we know their strategy, we will be able to deal with it next time."

"Yes, but we've lost 24 hours," Pel said. "We won't be able to re-enter the team challenge until the day after tomorrow."

"Sure," Thorn replied, "but that might not be a bad thing. We can take it slow. We're in no rush. And it'll be nice to try out the solo challenges and see what they're like."

Pel's expression eased and relief filled her eyes as she bowed to Thorn again, this time her body not nearly so stiff.

"Thank you, Prime Ascendant," she said.

"Don't worry about it," Thorn replied, as he passed by her to head up the stairs towards his room. "You're doing a great job."

The next morning, the team was up bright and early, but not all of them joined Thorn in heading out into the valley and making the long climb up to the Shrine of Water. Corvo, Mina, and Velin set out on another project, deciding that their time was better spent trying to map the valley with the thought that they would be able to turn around and sell the maps for some decent profit. Corvo, Mina, and Velin were confident that between Corvo's ability to fly, Mina's divination magic, and Velin's mapping ability, they would not only be able to come up with a highly accurate map of the valley, but they would also be able to identify both opportunities and dangers. The rest of the team either stuck around the village to try to find quests or decided to go with Thorn to check out the solo challenges. Before he left the village, Thorn stopped by Felmer's General Goods. Felmer met him at the counter, hiding his yawn behind his hand as he waved at Thorn.

"Welcome to Felmer's General Goods," he said. "You're up early this morning."

"No time to waste," Thorn said with a smile. "I've got those wolf skins you asked for out in the yard. Where would you like me to put them?"

"You can just leave them there," Felmer said. "I'll send someone out to grab them. If you stop back in a couple of hours, we'll have processed them, and I can get you your money."

"I'm going to be heading out to the Water Shrine for some solo challenges," Thorn said, "so I may not be back until this evening, but one of the other team members should be around. Do you remember Velin, who came in with me yesterday? She'll probably be the one stopping by to pick up the reward."

"Sure," the shopkeeper said, nodding. "That won't be a problem. Are you looking for another request to solve?"

"I was actually wondering if the Bounty on Wolves is still open," Thorn asked.

"It is," Felmer replied, giving Thorn a long look. "Are you thinking of still hunting them?"

"I'll be heading that direction, and we saw a couple of other wolf packs in the general area, so I think I might."

"All right, good luck then."

"Thanks.”

As Thorn walked out of the general store, he saw a heavyset young man struggling to lift up the giant stack of wolf hides that they had brought. They had killed a dozen wolves, and the stack of their skins weighed hundreds of pounds, so it was no wonder to Thorn that the young man was having trouble. Walking over, he grabbed the large bundle in one hand and lifted it up.

"Why don't you show me where you want me to put these," he said. "I can carry it for you."

"Ah, thank you," the young man stammered, bobbing his head appreciatively, grabbing the bag of wolf fangs that lay next to the pile of pelts.

The young man led the way behind the shop to a large barn, where a few other pelts had been hung up to dry.

"You can put them there," he said, pointing to an empty space next to a table.

Putting the large bundle of skins down, Thorn looked around the barn as he brushed his hand off.

"Are you the one who processes all these pelts?" he asked.

"I am," the young man said, putting the bag of fangs on the table and beginning to examine them. "I process most of the monster materials that come into the village."

"In that case, we'll probably see each other fairly often," Thorn said. "My name is Thorn."

"Paulson," the young man replied, offering a hand for Thorn to shake.

"Nice to meet you, Paulson. Are you also the one who sells the material?"

"I am," Paulson replied. "Is there something in particular you're looking for?"

"Not quite yet," Thorn said, "but I'm a bit of a craftsman myself, and I have a feeling I'll be working on things soon and will have need of some monster material."

"Then this is the place for you to come," Paulson replied. "Most of the stuff that I make, I sell to Felmer or send to the forge, but if there's anything in particular you're looking for, I'd be happy to sell to you directly."

"Thank you," Thorn said. "I'm headed to the shrine this morning, but I'll probably stop by tomorrow to take a look at what all you have."

After saying goodbye to the young man, Thorn headed toward the gate to meet up with the members of the team who were coming with him. Alph had elected to stay and see if he could work something out with the owner of the potion shop to try to borrow a workspace. Though he didn't actually need it, as he carried around a mobile workstation on his back, Alph was quite curious about some of the potions in the shop, as he had never seen their specific recipes before, and so was determined to learn as much as he could about them.

Faintly, Thorn could hear the hammering of metal drifting in the air from the forge in the distance, and he imagined that the draw Alph felt towards the potion shop was similar to the way the forge called to him. Still, he knew there was plenty of time, and thought it best to figure out how the solo challenges worked before doing anything else. With everybody gathered, the team set out, waving goodbye to Muras and Tolariah, whose teams were leaving at the same time. Though their full team wasn't present, Thorn and the others still made good time, as they headed up towards the water shrine on the cliffs in the distance.

Thanks to his mental sense, and Corvo who was scouting overhead, Thorn was able to pick out a few smaller packs of wolves, but none of them were close enough for the team to encounter without going out of their way, and so Thorn decided not to pursue them, instead heading straight for the shrine. When they arrived, and entered, Lyssia, the Lady of Waves, was waiting for them. This time, sitting elegantly on a glistening throne of coral and mother of pearl shell, that floated in the air in the center of the shrine.

"I had a feeling you'd be back," she said, her chin resting on her palm, "and since you are not eligible to challenge the shrine as a team, I can only assume that you are here to participate in the solo challenges, is that correct?"

"Greetings, Lady of the Waves," Thorn said, bowing. "That is correct, we are here for the solo challenges."

"How delightful," she replied.

With a wave of her hand, the air rippled, and suddenly Thorn found himself standing alone. Nothing else about the shrine had changed, but Thorn could feel that he had been separated out into his own space. Lyssia slowly stood up from her throne, extending her hand to Thorn.

"I owe you a special welcome," she said, "and I apologize for not extending it yesterday."

His brow furrowing slightly, Thorn was about to ask her what she was talking about when it suddenly became obvious. A faint smile graced her lips as she walked down through the air to stand in front of Thorn. She was a full two feet shorter than him, and though she would have towered over a normal man, Thorn found himself looking down to meet her gaze.

"I greet the inheritor," she said, dipping in an elegant curtsy.

As she did, Thorn felt the air shift once more, though this time it was because Lyssia was allowing her power to manifest around her. Feeling a familiar aura, Thorn's eyes lit up.

"You're an Elemental Emperor," he said. "A pleasure to meet you."

"I was an Elemental Emperor," Lyssia replied. "Urmag’Tal is my master, and I served as one of his generals. I've long since retired, my position taken by another, and now I continue his work to serve and teach future generations of inheritors who come to the puzzle to learn. But we will have plenty of time to talk about such things in the future. You've come here to challenge the shrine, so let us begin."