Lazy looked up and saw Moonlighter standing above him. Her green eyes were a huge contrast to her darker skin.
"Moon. So good to see you. How's the family?" He said with a chuckle.
She extended a hand to help him up. He reached out grabbed it and pulled himself up.
"Been having fun dealing with the hordes?" He asked while patting her on the back.
"Oh darling you know it's been wonderful. Singing all day it never hurts" she said sarcastically.
"Let me show you around."
She started to walk away. Lazy followed and told the guys to enjoy the trip. The two left into the ship.
Everyone glanced at each other all having the same thought.
{He really ditched us for a girl. What an asshole}
Nitro helped the guys up. Queen D left to go check on the other crew members. SaintLord was left.
He grabbed Swift by his shoulders and kissed him on each cheek.
"Swift it's so good to finally meet you! Hammer has told me a lot about you! You have to add me to your friends list…Oh! My apologies! I am SaintLord. I'm the guild leader of Black&Gold. Sorry about Queen D. She would normally be here but she is excitedly preparing for the festivities tonight. Moonlighter is also a new guild leader but she only has a few members. They are going to put on a show tonight. The three members that belong to HammerFists guild are on guard duty till tomorrow. They all offered to pull double shifts. I'll introduce them to you after that."
He quickly lead the group down the halls of the ship showing them to their rooms, where the cafeteria is, where the buses are held and the main deck for the festival. SaintLord barely let the group have a word in over the hour they took on his tour.
Circling back to their rooms Saint stopped and said.
"We should reach Fort Riley by tomorrow evening. TridentWaterfall has informed us that the base it was well equipped irl and will be huge help for the future. In a couple hours the festival will start and we have showing going on. You are all free to go but Swift I will need to borrow you. We have a meeting with the guild leaders. Is there any questions before I borrow Swift?"
Grimm was the first to speak.
"So what exactly is this festival for? We only just got here and you guys are throwing a party. Better question. Will alcohol be involved."
Saint laughed.
"Oh yes. Queen actually proposed the idea to me a couple days ago to raise moral. I figured it was a good idea and supported it. During the fighting Moonlighter made her guild and offered to be a support guild for everyone. Her guilds music helped with fighting but the number of goblins would never decrease. We also found a tons of alcohol on the cruise and scattered around the city. Figured it would be a fun way to use it. Getting to Kc from the military base is a day and a half's journey. Having a small party will help when fighting whatever may come."
The group was silent and had no more questions. With that Saint lead Swift and Tantrum to the command deck. The rest of the group were on their own.
During this time Lazy was meeting the other band/guild members.
First member she introduced was BronzeToothy. He had spiky read hair and a wolf personality. He is the drummer of the group. Oceanbreeze was next member. She was Asian with silver hair and a guitar on her back. She was very cheery to meet Lazy. The last member was MelodyCurrent. He had long black hair and eyeliner. He seemed to be slightly mood. Moonlighter said he was their keyboard and sound member. Her and these members made up her guild Midnight Star. They planned to have their debut performance tonight.
Bronze was laying back on the couch twirling his drum sticks in his hands. Lazy say on another couch opposite with Ocean next to Bronze, Moon next to Lazy and Melody was setting up some equipment. Bronze was eyeing Lazy up.
"So what's your plan" Lazy sheepishly asked cutting the silence.
"What's it to you mate" Bronze said snappily with his Australian accent.
"Leave him alone" Ocean slapped him on the chest.
"Sorry about him. He doesn't like new people that much."
Moon gave him a stern look and he backed off.
"I'm sorry about that dear. He doesn't always know his place. You're a treasured friend. We have a couple song we will be playing. Our last one will be a solo I wrote. Actually fits perfectly about our current situation."
"Ah that's going to be good! How many performances will we have?"
"Four in total. We will be second. Queen D has her burlesque show first, then we will go on. I do know there is two other bands. One is a tribute band called Phantom. Some heavy metal band and the other is…. I'm actually rather embarrassed by them. Hot Apple Pie. A country band from the Black&Gold guild."
"Wow. That's quite a line up. Do you guys need help with anything?"
Moons eyes lit up.
"Of course darling. I was planning to ask you to join our performance tonight. You were always good with machines, and I had the idea for you to be an opening act for tonight. Maybe something. Techno? Little out of the ordinary. Would be a nice change from Techno to Indie. Well…not a nice change but it would keep the audience guessing!"
Lazy hesitated before saying.
"I'm not entirely sure-"
"Good! We don't want ya anyway" Bronze interrupted him. Ocean slapped him again.
Lazy ignored the comment and continued to talk.
"I'd normally say yes but I no longer can build fast. Plus I don't have the equipment I need. Oh and did I forgot I'm terrible at music?" He chuckled embarrassedly.
Melody finished setting up and walked over saying.
"Uh…that's not a problem. I saw what you did and have some ideas. Can keep it secret from the group."
Moon looked back at Lazy wanting him to accept.
He hesitated before speaking again. Feeling the pressure of the room he gave in saying.
"Fine. I will. Although I do want to get paid"
"Well this world no longer has money. So we can't really pay you." Moon said "but we can always give you favors" she said with a wink.
Lazy chuckled to himself saying.
"If it's fair with you guys. Do you have any crystal gems? Id prefer to be paid in that."
Everyone besides Bronze opened their inventory and looked through. Moon said she has 75, Ocean had 20 and Melody said he had 30.
"A hundred and thirty-five? Damn. Oh well. Ya I'll take it."
"Oh do you need more" Ocean asked "what's it for?"
"So I have this device I can make but it's a one time use only and I need a total of one hundred and fifty for three of them. Two for my friends and one for me, but if that's all you got I can use it on my friends first."
Ocean once again hit Bronze and told him to check his inventory.
"Sorry mate. Only got zero. None for you."
Ocean have him an evil look.
"Fine. I have just enough for you. But you get it after the show."
Lazy agreed. He hugged everyone, but waved to Bronze, and followed Melody to set up for his performance.
During this time the 3 members left on their own went to look around. Power went to the cafeteria and checked out the food. Lots of seafood and Cajun cuisine were being made. He went back to the kitchen to meet with other chefs and offered to help. They were higher level chefs and taught him a few things. How to make good meals out of smaller ingredients.
Grimm went around to the main deck with Nitro tagging along. He was looking for a group of people to drink with. He found a red haired guy. He already had a few empty bottles around him. BronzeToothy was the name above his head. Grimm sat down next to him and ordered two beers for him and his new friend.
"How's it going man" he asked Bronze?
"What's it to ya?"
"Just trying to drink and make friends! Ready for the festival tonight!?"
Bronze grumbled saying "oh yaaa! Cant wait to see my crush put her crush on stage. He can go bugger off."
"That bad huh? Well why don't you just skip the performance? Drink with me and have some fun?"
"I can't be a cunt. I will perform. And then party. You interested in drinking later?"
"I'll be drinking all night! Names GrimmHeart by the way, but everyone calls me Grimm."
He patted Bronze on the back. Bronze got up and left to go set up. Nitro was sitting next to them and only drank some soda. Grimm offered him some beer but he declined.
Swift was lead up to the command deck. There were Black&Gold members steering the ship with TridentWaterfall as the helm. Saint showed him around and introduced him to Trident. He had blue eyes and blonde hair with a toned build. He was very reserved but seemed to know a lot about machinery. He told Swift that the base has some armored vehicles and told by PrimusMight himself to give him a good one. And personally upgraded by him. Swift was taken back and great full for the vehicle.
Both Queen and Moon walked in.
"Ah welcome! All the guild leaders are here. I will set up the call with Primus." Saint turned around "would everyone mind leaving for a couple minutes. Trident can man the helm. He already knows this information."
The rest of the crew reluctantly left leaving the 5 people alone.
Saint set up a call with Primus.
"SaintLord. Good to hear from you. Is everyone here?"
"Yes sir. Queen D, Moonlighter and SwiftCodex are all here"
"Ah SwiftCodex, glad to have you here. I was going to wait to tell you all this but things have gotten slightly worse. You've all noticed the goblin infestation we have. The cause is the Crowning of the Goblin King event."
The guild leaders gasped and realized the situation they are in.
Moonlighter interrupted.
"The crowning event? But that happens every other year. It already happened last year."
"Yes you are right, but things have changed since we have been brought here. Reports from members in New York have seen Goblin generals meeting. Normally they would fight to the death for control but they are peacefully meeting. Well as peaceful as goblins can be. I am making plans to prepare for other events. If you are unaware the next event is Rising Oceans. Atlantis. We will have to create supply chains, capture military bases and level up everyone to meet the challenge. We have half a year from this point to get everyone above level thirty. At the very minimum. I will be creating and leading an army of players to New York to deal with the crowing event. If you wish to join then stay at fort Riley. If you wish to start preparing for the next event continue to KC. We will have a meeting with all fourteen guilds. We will discuss who is going where and what supply chains we need the most over others. Spread the message to everyone. Primus Out."
The call ended and the guild leaders looked at each other. If the events are yearly that's two events each year. This is going to be a long 20 years. Hopefully they can meet other over sea players. Everyone needs to work together.