Sanity's experience with Ares was an... Unusual one that could be discussed later but she was finally out of the pagoda and happened across a rather jolly cat. Apparently things had gone well for this seemingly smitten kitten and, to Sanity's shock, she got an earful from Havanah about Ares. The cat didn't typically go on long monologues like this so she must have been in a fantastic mood... That or someone snuck amphetamine into her kibble. Regardless, it sounded like Ares was incredibly powerful if he could soundly put even this dumb nyanderthal in the dirt so convincingly although Sanity was already fairly confident of that to begin with. The Gods and the pillars had offered nothing but praise for the destruction pillar so it was only natural it lived up to the expectations and Sanity was relieved because it meant one more competent ally. On the flip side, basically nothing had been heard about the creation pillar who's presence was dwarfed by his destructive counterpart. There were some rumours, obviously, now that Terros was back but the main one that caught everyone eye, unfortunately for Mako, was that he lost in a fight to Ares. That was enough to divert everyone's attention from him but that was also annoying for Sanity who wanted to understand everything about the people she was going to be entrusting her life to. She was not a fighter on the frontlines, even if she could do it, so these other pawns were going to have bravely take up positions on the board in front of her and she wanted to know they weren't going to fold the second a real threat came their way. To that end, Ares, Havanah, and White were all very promising.
Havanah was about to waltz back into the pagoda because she wasn't leaving this place any time soon. Aside from being convinced she could win a fight eventually, as her own apotheosis was nothing to sneeze at even though she was still in the early stages of familiarity with it, she wanted to actually share a few words with Ares because he was interesting. That revenant form alone made upwards of five questions pop into Havanah's head and she wanted to know more about how he could muster this much power. If she'd known he was THIS strong she would have paid attention to the rumours herself! Screw work, Sanity could take on her fundamental duties for a week or two! She wanted to play with Ares so Sanity begrudgingly accepted but demanded a few other favours in response. Apparently she really liked some of the meat from a specific wild monster on Havanah's home planet and she wanted a bunch of it, as well as a few other forms of payment, at a later date. Havanah was happy to oblige, as she would probably be headed back home after she was done here anyway, to chat with her father and mother about finalising her choice of mate, so she gave Sanity a thumbs up and a pat on the back. Sanity kissed her teeth and turned her face aside but she clearly wasn't in a bad mood per se.
"Woohoo! That Venator took a while to put down. He was a real biggun, that one was, but I'm back and ready to boogie!" This voice came seemingly out of nowhere, spawning from right next to Havanah's head, but Sanity knew who this was and wanted to leave as soon as possible before the rest of their body appeared. Havanah's God summon had shown up and, simply put, he had too much energy for Sanity to handle. He wasn't bouncing off walls or anything but he was incredibly talkative and annoying, constantly pestering everyone around into listening to him talk for hours on end about all his crazy stories. Being the God of the technical pillar meant he had a particularly versatile skillset and could use it in just about any situation he found himself trapped in. This meant he had a lot of heroic moments in which he turned the tides of fate in seemingly impossible ways for he was Nickel, the only the current dwarven God!... Which also meant that the current deity of the forgery pillar was not a dwarf and their race, as a whole, viewed this as the biggest failure of all time. Forging was their specialty and yet they couldn't even hold the most prestigious forging status of all...
That embarrassment aside, Nickel here was a pride of the dwarven race as he helped cover up the aforementioned shame. His miniature form, the one following Havanah around, gave off an air of adventure and play. Being around him led weaker individuals to see hallucinations of completely random dreams that never stood still, constantly evolving from one moment to the next and taking them on a whacky adventure. He was short in stature with angel wings, a lion's tail, triangle shaped pupils, four extra ethereal, bronze, and muscly arms floating out of his rib cage, a mechanical foot on his left leg, and last but not least was a matryoshka doll tied to his hip with a string. The doll looked exzactly like him because it WAS him! He'd invented a technical that gave him multiple lives so, whenever his current body died, he would spawn out of one of the dolls and be reborn anew. Gods were usually quite hard to kill and most had arts up their sleeves along these lines. Still, Nickel was one of the few to openly flaunt his borderline immortality and many lives.
All in all, Nickel was one of the more lively Gods and perhaps the one that had been invited to the most parties. He liked to get drunk, as most dwarves do, and was generally polite even if a bit braggadocios at times. Still, he was generally considered friendly and a good person so he was deemed a good fit for Havanah. The two simpletons could stick together and rub their two brain cells together to get through life. Plus Nickel's experience with varied magics, thanks to his never-ending list of technicals, meant no matter what kind of rule breaking Havanah wound up pursuing he would be able to give advice on the matter. Nickel looked around to see where exactly he was, as he hadn't discussed Havanah's plans with her before he left to go deal with a Venator stomping around in the upper domains as was his duty, and finally caught sight of Sanity which froze him in his tracks. Sanity didn't much like Nickel but there was a bigger fish in this intricate web of relations that Nickel himself despised...
"... They aren't here, are they?" Nickel quadruple checked the surroundings before sighing in relief and wiping the sweat off his brow. If there was anyone out there who could creep him out, it was them. Honestly, Nickel wanted this parting between Havanah and Sanity to hurry the hell up because the longer they stood around like this the higher the chance those spooky lot would show up. For whatever reason, they had some weird obsession with messing with Nickel and constantly trying to frighten him out of his wits. If their taunting was to be believed, a part of their conscience contained within it a fragment of one of Nickel's long lost ancestors who always had a penchant for playing tricks on his descendants when he was younger and, well, actually still alive. "EEP!" Nickel shivered and jumped in fright as the air around him changed. The air grew pinkish in colour and spiralled visibly through reality, causing confusion and dizziness in anyone who dared stare at the swirls. Anyone caught within this bizarre oddity could feel their innards dancing around inside them and travelling up through their body to mingle with the brain that had been lit on fire and was being treated like a campfire. Strange runic symbols and ancient imagery flickered in the fires o their brain's hallucinations and people could easily get lost in a perpetual daze. They would snap back to reality only to later discover this was yet another false reality that had been layered on top of an already bad dream they could no longer wake up from.
This phenomenon could only mean one thing, the very thing Nickel had been dreading... They were here... Nickel slowly turned, shuddering every few inches, until he finally managed to twist his body around. "OH FUCK!" Nickel leapt backwards to run away from the ever rotating owl head that had positioned itself as close as possible to him without directly touching him. Those chills he felt were this deity's warm and cold breaths tickling the back of his neck and that thought just sent even more shivers through his body. The owl head kept turning, like a slow record in a jukebox, while Nickel caught his breath but this was a 'normal' sight because Hoo's head never stopped spinning. If it angled its body horizontally the head could continually stare at you no matter how much it turned. This was made even more discomforting by the fact that their eyes were perfectly round, large, and symmetrical and they stayed perfectly still while the rest of the head and neck twisted infinitely. Hoo was an owl in form but a gathering of dead souls in actuality. Their body was wrapped in a straight jacket and there was nothing else discernible about what bodily horrors lay beneath. Hoo was technically a bunch of Gods and Goddesses all in one body and 'spoke' with multiple voices... Sort of. There was a bloodied bandage wrapped around its ever-shifting mouth so it only ever communicated via mental messages that were raspy and lacking in harmony between the voices speaking over one another.
[We greet you. Do not run from us, Nickel. We want to be closer to you.] Hoo floated ominously through the air towards the dwarf who'd nearly gone completely pale! He wanted no part in his freak show's decision to toy with him and implant nightmares into his brain! Those nightmares were seriously bad news! This was the deity of the psychic pillar, after all, so being targeted mentally by them was a death sentence. They were omnipresent whenever and wherever they wanted to be and could plant effigies of themselves inside other people's brains who would then unknowingly carry them around. It wasn't strange to turn up to a meeting for Gods and Goddesses with each of the attendees carrying an effigy, all of which would burst out of their host and create a room full of creepy owls! None of them were real, as they were just figments of imagination that had been converted and moulded to store information about Hoo and replicate his form, but it was annoying because you never knew what thought or memory had been consumed in the process of becoming a Hoo fragment. Of course this was also the real Hoo's clones, and not this tiny bird following Sanity around, so when these figments were summoned they were each disgustingly massive. A domain filled with twenty or thirty horrifying bird Gods all peering down at you and infecting or eating your dreams was hardly a pleasant sight.
This stupid bird enjoyed feasting on the memories and dreams of others because it could convert them into power for itself to launch deadly attacks. The mental realms of Gods were delectable to this carnivore of minds and so it bothered them the most frequently. It did occasionally pillage the minds of mortals and other random cultivators as well so it wasn't exactly a benevolent God. Nobody really understood this thing's moral compass but it was willing to help with the Xhilihx issue and train Sanity if nothing else.... Although really that was probably just because they were interested in the mind pillar and wanted to understand it better. What kind of dreams did a mind pillar champion have and what did they taste like? Whatever went on between Sanity and Hoo was anyone's guess but Sanity seemed to at least be somewhat in control of this foul bird so nobody dared ask. If she could cage the feathered fiend, or at least go toe to toe with it in the mental realm, then nobody was going to complain. Of all the fundamental champions, Sanity was the most appreciated by the divine because she actively kept a hold on Hoo's interest so it rarely bothered them anymore and focused solely on its new prey.
Luckily for Nickel, Havanah really wanted to go fight Ares again so he was dragged to safety through the portal to the pagoda. Of course there was a Hoo fragment buried deep in his brain already that was going to haunt him at night but he wasn't skilled enough in mental magic to sort that out or even detect it. Sweet dreams, Nickel.... Maybe he'd get lucky, though, and get accidentally hit by one of Ares' disintegration attacks as that would wash away the Hoo fragment. Actually, the meeting between Nickel and Ares would be quite something but that was a topic for another time because, back down in Sheryashka right about now, Ares was waking up from his first sleep in Xasca!
Over in the Oasis sect, inside the palace of luxuries that Ares was residing in.
Yawn
Ares stretched every limb one by one before tiredly rolling out of his warm bed and prepping breakfast within the Blade. He'd done some exploring around the palace yesterday, after his run in with Digger, but it wound up taking a lot longer than he expected given how big this place was. He only got about five hours of sleep as it was incredibly late by the time he managed to find his way back to the room. It didn't help that he had to go on a hunt for his thieving brother who also didn't make things easy by trying to hide from him! The little roach wanted to keep stealing like a phantom in the night but Ares' Omniscience was simply far too good at what it did. Also Ares' pressure helped feel out the coward who w as trying to hide behind curtains! Honestly, he looked like a child playing hide and seek when Ares finally found him! Still this place was ginormous, and Ares really didn't want to have a repeat of last night, so he threatened to let Aejaz starve if he wasn't obedient and didn't return to his room in time for the curfew Ares was setting! Again, it was like Ares was dealing with a kid, but he knew all too well what this shmuck would get up to if left to his own devices! To sweeten the deal, though, Ares did lend out his Prowler again. It's not like he had any immediate use for it anyway as he was going to be spending most of his time with the Deep Blue for now. He had to pressurise it, along with the converter and the Blade, as well as practice casting arts with it. He was making good progress on the former but water pillar arts had a very weird feel to them that Ares didn't much like. He likely had a bad affiliation with the pillar but it wasn't so atrocious he couldn't learn if he put the effort in!
Anyway, after making himself a quick breakfast, but not Aejaz as he'd already left his own room and headed to the place downstairs that was serving pancakes right about now, Ares got changed and headed towards the exit. His plan today was to check out the quarry, see what was wrong with it and if he could do anything there and then, and finally head out of the city to go check the Riddlemyd and climb a couple floors to get a proper lay of the land. There was plenty of time to do all of this and he'd already come up with a schedule of sorts which included when he'd be meeting Aejaz at the gates leading out of the city. Plans were made and in motion so Ares departed from the palace, passed by Digger at the front gate who's scowl could make a baby cry, and returned to the outer core area. He bumped into the disciple from yesterday who'd caused a fuss but the the guy didn't speak even a single word and just ran away with his tail tucked between his legs. Ares understood why but, again, did these people think he was some kind of demon in the flesh? Why on earth would he hold such petty grudges over such a minor slight from someone he viewed as little more than an ant? That guy was not worth his time and he wasn't going to chase him down to repay borderline non-existent debts. The guy hassled him for five minutes while Ares was waiting around not doing anything anyway. It's not like Ares was going to be friends with the guy but the disciple didn't need to flee in terror like he'd spotted a mecha dryad out and about in the sect.... Ah well, whatever, all this proved was that people knew who he was now which had its own benefits. Namely that nobody would be stupid enough to try and do what the other disciple did... Unless their name was Digger? Digger either still didn't know who Ares was or just didn't give a toss. He had an expansive information network thanks to the scavengers but likely hadn't connected all the dots just yet due to his own laziness; that was the impression Ares got.
As for why Ares had come to the outer court, this was just a temporary stop as he was looking for Drai and Massai. Massai hadn't stayed in the sect for whatever reason so Drai was personally welcoming him back at the entrance to the sect and would guide him to the quarry. Ares didn't know exactly where it was and figured it was better to be safe than sorry and just stick with this guy to take the guided tour. Ares wasn't entirely convinced, knowing his luck, he wouldn't finally find the quarry and then get into a spat with security for some dumb reason. Maybe some new hire-ee would be working their shift, not know who he was, and treat him like some random disciple who wasn't supposed to be there. Ares was well enough versed in his own unlucky fate such that he knew better than to tempt it because it would always bite and play this game with him! Arriving alongside Drai would clear him of any complications, and it was nothing more than an extra five minute walk, so he headed over to the front gate and found the man in question. Drai wasn't going into full details just yet but he was in the middle of giving a quick brief to Massai about the problem.
"I don't know if you encountered them last time you visited, as they'd already done their their nonsense before migrating off into the desert, Massai, but have you ever seen the plague spreaders in person?" With a silent shake of Massai's head, Drai continued. "Put simply, they're bulky weasels. Nimble and fast with one hell of a bite thanks to their strong jaws. Plus their tiny arms and legs carry a shocking amount of power in them. They'd evolved to live comfortably in the desert thanks to these muscly limbs as they have the power to dig through the ground like a mole and hide down where its nice and cool. They create intricate tunnel systems and pop out where they're least wanted, in farms and such, to cause havoc and steal food. This is where the quarry comes in. They've snuck into it countless times before, and usually nibble on the unrefined fine grind blue as they seem to enjoy the taste of the ore, but it's never really been a problem before. Sure some of our quarry would have random holes in it but it was never too much or worth investing defensive measures into to prevent... Which was why we'd never contacted Hunter up until now. Losing a few kilograms of fine grind every time they showed up overnight was something we could ignore as weasels do keep out other pests as well.
There are far more annoying poisonous beetles that would give the disciples excruciating illnesses if they were able to enter the sect but the weasels eat them often and so it was a mutual co-existence of sorts. That all changed when the weasels begun carrying that plague you bore witness to last time that had shrouded our quarry in a grey and black miasma. We don't know what changed with the weasels but, suddenly, they began carrying around a dark aura on their bodies that would infect anything they bit into, effectively turning them into highly mobile plague rats. When we understood they were responsible for our woes we tried to double down on security but it was already far too late. They'd set up too many tunnels in and around our quarry and could outrun our elders with ease. We can't launch any large scale attacks because that would damage the quarry but we also don't have the tools to chase the trickster weasels down in their tiny tunnels. Last time seemed to be a test run of their capabilities, which was why they only infected part of the quarry before scampering away, but now the number of infected weasels has multiplied at least a hundred fold and they've become an impossible to deal with problem for us. We can stem the bleeding and delay the inevitable but we need outside aid to fully solve this issue. Even if we purify the quarry and remove the infection, whatever it is, the weasels are still lurking and will just do it all over again. That's where Hunter was supposed to come in as we figured his monster hunting expertise would allow him to fumigate the quarry with cleverly tailored pesticides..."
Ares overheard this explanation and got the general gist of things... But damn, how strong were these weasels!? if they could bite through ore then these creatures must have been real tough! They'd have to be, though, when growing up in a ruthless environment like this and being at the bottom of the pecking order in terms of monster hierarchy. Ares still had a question about everything he'd heard, actually, so he walked over, made his presence known, and asked for clarification. "Hey, I heard everything you just said and have a question. What does this 'plague' actually do? If the ore is unrefined then shouldn't it be inert? You mentioned in your letter that this was a very serious problem but I'm not seeing why part of the quarry being infected would cause that much trouble? Doesn't it just mean you can't extract anything for now? I get that it's a source of revenue for the whole country in its own way but it's not like lives are at stake, no?"
Drai sighed and shook his head. "If only it were really that simple... We don't know what exactly that plague is, as we've never been able to examine it properly, but we do know it's capable of activating fine grind blue even in an unrefined state somehow. Put simply, our quarry is constantly exploding because of the fine grind's innate trait being stimulated by the plague. On a small scale it's fine but the problem is that fine grind chain explodes whenever another nearby fine grind goes boom. As the quarry is so densely packed, if the core of the fine grind quarry is detonated... Well, at bare minimum, this entire city would be wiped out of existence and a sinkhole massive enough to swallow the country would appear. None of that factors in other potentially hidden quarries across the country that have yet to be discovered. In a detonation as big as the one we've forecasted it would chain to every other buried quarry in the region, and, well, I don't think I need to tell you what happens next in such a scenario...
If the problem couldn't be solved, we were going to try and board the Federation to escape en-masse... Had you not saved the country from the krakyrn we would have been in a rougher spot and been forced to evacuate to the Isasz region which our people typically do not do well in given the frosty environment. Regardless, we would rather just have the problem be solved than be forced to flee out home country so we do hope you can help us. Either the weasels need to be killed, they need to be purified, or we need to figure out what the plague is exactly so we can counteract it. Any of those options would suffice and we have a decent amount of time. The core of the quarry will still take a few weeks, at the very least, for the weasels to reach and we can increase that time slightly if we station even more elders there. We didn't want to, though, as it might cause concern and panic amongst the citizens and disciples... Forgive me for saying this but, given the nature of your magic, can you really help us with this predicament?"
Ares understood why the sect master was cautious but Ares himself wasn't too concerned. He didn't have any solution in mind but he was always the resourceful type that would come up with a solution on the spot instead of planning ahead for every last potential outcome. Unless he could accurately and comfortably predict a result in his favour he wouldn't even try to and would just wing things for the most part. "I guess we'll just have to see. For what it's worth I should be able to understand what the plague is if nothing else..." Ares' Omniscience would play a big role in understanding what was happening here exactly so, with those reassuring words, Drai led the two helpers back to the core area of the sect and towards the quarry. The weasels infesting the area were about to meet the king of weasels himself, Ares! Who would win in the end? Well, hopefully for Xasca's sake, Ares would...