Mike looked at the group, slightly confused. "What?"
[Wait a second. Did Shy just say something too? I thought he was mute.]
Kate had her hands raised, fingers grasping, like she wanted to start strangling him, but was hesitant to do so. "Don't you get?! A Rank 3 adventurer should be a high Tier 1 or low Tier 2 at best. If you are Tier 3, you should be a Rank 6. At least! What in the hells are you doing working a Rank 3 mission?!"
Mike rubbed his ear. Her screaming was starting to hurt a little. "Hey! I just joined recently. Technically this is only my second request. Really, you could still consider me a newbie."
"That just raises more questions!" She said while throwing her hands into the air, before slumping down dejectedly. "Whatever, I'm just going to have to accept it, I guess. Perhaps its better this way. A Tier 3 should make this mission easy."
Philip grimaced slightly, shook his head, and finally sighed while glancing at Mike. "Look, you have to understand, this flies in the face of everything we know about how guild ranks work." He rubbed the back of his head before continuing, "But you've already proven yourself useful, so if you don't want to explain any more, I won't ask you to."
Mike was impressed. Philip was more mature than he gave him credit for.
Mike stepped forward and clasped hands with him. "Thanks, Philip. That means a lot."
"I'm not saying I trust you just yet, but I'm willing to work with you to complete this request."
"Fair enough."
Philip leaned in closer and whispered in a voice low enough that the others wouldn't be able to hear. "However, you stay away from Kate. As her long time friend, I can't let her associate with shady figures like you."
[Well, maybe not that mature.] Mike just smiled ruefully in response.
Kate clapped her hands. "Alright, now that's settled lets get a move on. We can make it to a good camping spot by nightfall if we hurry. I know a good place."
"Are you really planning on taking the road through the valley? That will take us hours out of the way!" Philip replied almost immediately.
"Oh, and I suppose you want to take the cliff route?"
"Yes!"
Kate leaned forward, hands on hips, "Do you even remember the last time we tried that route? You were picking briars out of your a** for weeks!"
"I told you, it was slippery because of the rain!"
Mike chuckled at their bickering while he followed Shy. The quiet fox beastman started walking, placid smile in place. He obviously had quite a bit of experience with the duo's fighting, and it no longer bothered him.
Kate and Philip ended up following soon after, still in mid argument.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The group spent the rest of the day, and much of the following one traveling.
Mike enjoyed the strange camaraderie of the three. It was clear that, even though they fought like cats and dogs, Kate and Philip cared a great deal for each other.
Shy seemed to act like their protective older sibling, making sure that the fighting never got too serious, and taking care of the little things that the pair forgot in the midst of their conflicts.
Mike realized that this was precisely what he was missing.
[Maybe I need to look into joining a party officially once I get back.]
He broke of his reverie when he sensed a change. The air seemed different all of a sudden. It almost looked hazy,.....or ash-laden. The landscape and sky had taken on a grey pallor, and the normal sounds of the plains became strangely soft and muted. He started to feel dizzy.
Evidently noticing the look on his face, Kate offered an explanation. "This must be your first time near the Ashmourne. Everyone has a similar reaction at first. Its such a dramatic difference, and you can never really see it coming."
"Wha-What is it?" Mike felt deeply uncomfortable with his surroundings.
"Don't worry. The disorientation will pass in a few minutes. You'll get used to it faster next time." Kate said sympathetically while patting his back. "You haven't heard of the Day of Ashes?"
Mike shook his head, feeling a little nauseous now.
"Hmm. Well, there used to be a powerful dwarven nation on the other side of those mountains. I believe it was called the Kingdom of Thorivanti." She pointed at the jagged gray mountain range they had been walking towards for the last few days.
Mike stood up straight again, starting to feel better.
"That was really fast. You must have some pretty impressive endurance." There was a hint of curiosity in her voice, which caused Philip to frown in disapproval.
"Anyway, its said that these dwarves were gifted artificers, capable of creating miracles with their technology. For a long time it was a flourishing capital of industry and civilization, but then the Day of Ashes happened."
She paused before waving her hand in the direction of the mountains. Her features bearing the excitement of telling a good story.
"About 270 years ago, some kind of event took place. Most people aren't really sure what happened, but most accounts agree that there was a bright flash of light, like a second sun had appeared, just over the mountains. Then came a noise, a groan like the world itself was in pain. With the sound came a cloud of ashes that blanketed the entire central continent for a full year. It took a few months for the Almirans to recover sufficiently to launch an expedition, but once they did, they were shocked by what they found."
She paused again or dramatic effect, clearly enjoying this. Both Mike and Philip frowned.
She pouted. "You were supposed to say 'What did they find, Kate?' Anyway, the once lush plains of Thorivanti had been devastated. The cities were in ruins, buildings twisted and warped as if exposed to a great heat. Not a single living thing could be seen anywhere. It was like every creature, plant, and insect had simply evaporated."
After another dramatic breath, she continued. "The explorer sent back reports that said, although they never saw a living being, sometimes they could hear strange moaning voices in the wind. Voices that were said to whisper dark secrets. It was about two weeks into the expedition that the first people started disappearing."
"The strange thing was, judging from their tracks, it seemed they just walked out into the barren fields and simply vanished. After nearly half of his crew went missing, the leader of the expedition called off the exploration and tried to return to Almir. Its not clear what happened after that, but only one of nearly 200 explorers made it back alive, and even he soon died."
She spoke softly, causing her listeners to lean forward to hear properly. "Right up to the end of his life, he refused talk about what he had gone through. Its said that a few days after he returned, he was found hanging from the rafters in his room. The walls of the room were covered in scrawled words, all saying one thing. 'The voices in the wind still speak to me.'"
Mike felt a shiver run down his spine. He could almost hear a soft, whispering voice scratching at the edge of his consciousness, before Kate concluded her story.
"Ever since The Day of Ashes, the area around the old dwarven nation has been covered in a supernatural cloud of ashy dust. Even on this side of the mountains, we are still touched by its effects."
"No other expeditions have been launched in the place they now call the Ashmourne, and the only beings willing to make their home in the mountains are the orc tribes, desperate miners, and a few dangerous cults of madmen and demon worshipers. It is truly a realm of the cursed and the lost."
She lowered her hands and took a mock bow.
[Kate seems to be the type to enjoy horror stories. Perhaps I should tell her a few from my old world.]
"So, remind me. Why are we heading into this horrible place?" Mike couldn't help but ask.
Philip chimed in, "She's exaggerating a little. The Ash foothills are generally considered fine to travel through and live in, if a bit unsettling. You don't usually have to worry until you pass through the mountains themselves, and enter the plain on the other side."
He pointed to a patch of trees in the near distance. "The Palmeray Bees we are looking for only exist in this one small region. Otherwise, I can promise you that we wouldn't willingly get so close."
He shivered. "I can't imagine having to live here. I don't know how the miners in the mountain towns can stand it. Anyway, it looks like we won't be able to make it today, so I think we should set up camp here. I don't like sleeping to close to the Ashmourne if I can help it. It gives me strange dreams."
The other two agreed, so Mike follow suit.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Night evidently came quickly in the Ash Foothills, changing from a murky twilight to pitch black in a matter of minutes.
Not quite tired enough to sleep, Mike decided to pass the time with an activity he enjoyed in his previous life.
"Hey, Kate. You love scary stories, right?" He asked.
"I wouldn't say I love them...." She said while twiddling her fingers. Shy was nodding his head enthusiastically behind her.
"Well, let me know if you've heard this one." Mike made himself comfortable, glancing around at the others over the fire. "It all started with a girl named Sadako....."