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  [colpse]Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Three - Hello Darkwoods, My Old Friend

  We were up bright and early the m to a breakfast of oats and a bit of cut sausage with some boiled veggies on the side.

  The Beaver’s crew, all gathered in the port dining area, chowed down with acrity while the rising sun painted e patterns across the table. I munched and ched my way through some carrots while occasionally pig up some sausage with my fork and pg it into Awen’s pte.

  She was a growing girl. She had to eat to bee big and strong so that she could give Rosaline some prs.

  “So,” Bastion asked as he dabbed his lips. “Into the Darkwoods to front some dryads about lumber rights. Not how I expected this trip to go.”

  “Ah, well, sorry?” I said. “But that’s how adventures should be. One big detour after another, so that you grow strong and experience all sorts of hings. But, ah, if you want to stay aboard the Beaver, or even at the camp until we return, I’d uand.”

  Bastion shook his head. “No, no I don’t think I’d miss this for the world. As I said, it’s not what I expected to be doing, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing.”

  I nodded along and finished my meal while sneaking peeks at Bastion.

  He was a bit strange, a bit calmer than my other friends, but he was also surprisingly nice. I couldn’t help but feel that that was all it was though--him being nid polite. He didn’t think of me and the others as friends.

  Not yet at least.

  I khat with a few adventures and some quality time together, we’d break through his tough polite exterior ao the gooey friendship inside.

  “Broccoli,” Amaryllis said. “I don’t know what you’re thinking right now, but it’s stupid, so please stop.”

  “What?” I asked.

  “Your face. I’ve grown so aced to it that I tell when something dumb is happening behind it. If we’re going to be going on any sort of diplomatic mission this m, then it might be best if you keep the idio a low simmer.”

  “That’s a bit mean,” Awen said.

  “She’s got a tough skin,” Amaryllis said with an airy wave.

  I pouted at her while stuffing the st spoonful of oats in my mouth. I would have liked to tinue, but with breakfast do was time for work. “Alright. Anyone want to volunteer for the dishes?” I asked. “We’ll eve and Gordon and Clive up top, of course.”

  “Any amount of hauling rope around to avoid the dishes,” Steve said.

  “Awa, I’ve never done dishes before,” Awen said. Resolution lit up her eyes. “I’ll try my best.”

  “And I’ll be as far away from that impending disaster as I manage,” Amaryllis said.

  Clive finished his pte, pulled out a pipe from his coat and started to pad some leaves into it. “So where are we going, Captain?”

  “First, I think we’ll head over to the camp. Pick up the East Mattergrove representatives there,” I said. “Then we’ll head off towards the Darkwoods. I... don’t know how deep into them. Do you think you mahat kind of flying?”

  “Bit tricky, but if we stay low enough, we ought to avoid any nasty problems,” Clive said. “The magic above the woods is messy when it es to navigating. They’ll spin your pass the wrong way round and all, but we’ll be eyeballin’ it anyway.”

  “I trust in you,” I said as I hopped to my feet. The Beaver’s chairs were all, by y, bolted to the floor. Some had mags on their feet that could click them in p the studs across the floor, but most were just bolted there. It made it a bit annoying to sit down properly. “Alright, let’s get this show on the road.”

  “Are you implying that we’re a circus?” Amaryllis asked. “Oddly suitable.”

  Rolling my eyes, I led the charge out the bad onto the deck. The m air was just shy of cool, and a nice sparkling yer of dew had collected on the rails where they were melting away with the rise of the sun.

  The wind was just shy of brisk, and the sky pletely bare of clouds. “Looks like a nice day for flying,” I said.

  “Bit of a headwind if we’ll be heading deeper into the woods,” Clive said. “It’ll make travel slow, but escape fast. Might be for the best.”

  I gri him. “Good. That might e in handy. What do you need me to do?”

  Clive stretched a bit, his knees snapping and crag with the motion, then he began giving orders to everyone on deck. I jumped to it, doing the best I could. It wouldn’t do to be zy, especially not while learning how to fly my own ship.

  The Beaver’s anchors rose, and with a burp and a roar, the ship’s engines came to life. Soon, we rose into the sky once more, though we levelled out less than fifty meters from the ground.

  Clive stayed at the wheel, gently guiding us over to the lumberjack’s pound just a little ways away.

  I could see a lot of young men in overalls and checkered shirts standing outside of their shacks and looking up to the Beaver as he came in and slowed dht o the camp.

  “Port anchor down!” Clive called.

  Being the closest to the anchor, I hopped to it and started spinning the k to lower the heavy metal hook with a series of gs and rattles as the unwound itself.

  Some of the lumberjacks grabbed the anchor and secured it around the roots of a chopped tree. I pulled the taunt, then locked the meism with a handy wedge. “We’re anchored!” I called back.

  “L the dder,” Amaryllis said as she punted a rope dder off the side. It smacked against the hull aled a moment ter. “Let’s see if they make it all the ,” she said.

  I made sure my outfit was nid straight, then came to stand by the side of the dder. It wouldn’t do for ao e aboard the Beaver Cleaver without being greeted by its captain. The first to e up was Edmund, the big old lumberjack tugging himself through the gate in the guh no difficulty.

  “Ma’am,” he said with a nod.

  “Hello Edmund,” I said. “Wele aboard.”

  He gruhen turned around to look over the edge. “You need help down there?” he asked.

  I moved over too. Geoffrey aien were both making their , the older of the two he top. He was obviously having a bit of trouble with the dder. It was swaying, even with a couple of guys at the bottom holding it in pce, and he didn’t seem all that strong to being with.

  There was nothing for it. I sidered getting a rope to sso him around the chest and tug him up, but I couldn’t imagine someone so serious accepting that.

  Edmund and I helped him over the edge, theien came up with a bit more acrity, even though he was carrying a briefcase in one hand.

  “Wele aboard,” I said with good cheer.

  Geoffrey waved at me, then found one of the benches he rails to sit on and recover. Sebastien was a bit wioo, but not nearly as badly. “Permission to e aboard, Captain?” he asked.

  I appreciated the formality. Mostly because it sounded so cool. “Granted!”

  A couple muys came up, all of them lumberjacks with smaller axes in their belts and heavy coats on their backs. Guards? Or just helpers?

  “If that’s everyone,” I said. “Then we’ll lift the anchor and head on out. Does anyone here kly where we’re heading?”

  “I do,” Edmund said. “It’ll be a bit strange from the air, but I figure I’ll manage.”

  “Brilliant,” I said befesturing to the quarterdeck. “Clive, that’s our pilot, is up there. You might want to join him. And... could I ask one of you gentlemen to help me with the anchor? It’s a bit heavier pulling it up.”

  “You two, help the misses,” Edmund said as he poio two young ds with lots of muscles and sharp chiseled s.

  Pulling the anchor up was very sweaty work that unfortunately ended all too quickly.

  The Beaver turned a bit to face due east, and its engine ged tones as we started to push out ahead. I figured Clive had things in hand for a bit, so I moved over to Sebastien and Geoffrey who were both sitting down.

  “This ship is quite nice,” Sebastien said. “I’ve never seen a design like this.”

  “It’s a bit of an experimental one,” I said. “Made by the Owl d refurbished by the Albatross. This is actually his maiden voyage.”

  Sebastien’s eyebrows rose. “How fortuitous.”

  “Is it meant to be painted in such garish colours?” Geoffrey asked as he gestured around.

  “Nah, it was a much more b colour. I’m thinking of painting some things purple, to serve as ats to all the yellow.”

  We were making good time over the top of the forest. Not moving too fast, but not too slow either. I think I could have out-hopped the Beaver while moving in a straight line if it wasn’t for all the trees below.

  I saw Edmund pointing off to starboard and the Beaver soon veered off that way, with Clive calling out to deploy some sails on that side.

  The pce Edmund seemed to be direg us towards was a little clearing with a river running through it, covered in boulders and rocks. Maybe calling it a river was an exaggeration, actually. The stream was maybe three meters across, and didn’t look all that deep. The clearing around it hihat the water would be higher at other times in the year though.

  At first, I thought it was clear, empty, but then I saw movement and could make out that some of the trees along the banks had bright green leaves and looked a bit out of pce, too close to some others and in some cases moving in the wrong dire to at for the wind.

  “There are dryads down there,” I said.

  Sebastien spun around and looked down, and I saw some of the lumberjacks tensing up.

  The Beaver started to fight against the oning wind, holding ih only Clive’s geouch preventing us from being blown away. “Lower the anchors!” the harpy called.

  “Make sure you hit rocks, not trees!” I added. The st thing I wanted was to start any sort of diplomatic meeting by having to say sorry for squashing someone.

  The anchors came down slowly, with a bit of help from the lumberjacks and soon with the Beaver firmly anchored, we didn’t have to fight against the wind as mud could just rest in pce. Clive even lowered the ship a bit more and brought the keep just below the treeline.

  “I’m going to get my adventuring gear!” I told the others before rushing off to the s.

  When I got to my room, I ditched my captain’s hat and carefully threaded my bun ears through the holes of my trusty adventuring hat.

  New Skill Acquired: TurtlingRank: FI wasirely sure what that skill did, but I figured it would help me take a blow. My hat-wearing skill was almost ready to level up, so maybe by then I’d be able to see what the acquired skills did more easily.

  I grabbed a bahat had a few pouches and a khen my trusty spade, and was out to the top once more.

  The lumberjacks were all gathered by the dder and my friends were right o them. Awen had her big repeating crossbow slung over a shoulder, and Amaryllis looked petently bored o her. Even Bastion was there, testing the fit of his sword in its sheath.

  “Is everyone ready?” I asked. “Because It’s time to go meet some trees!”

  ***

  RavensDagger

  Bit sad that my backlog's not bigger, but I posted martha than I wrote this month, and I just barely kept up with Stray Cat Strut's chapters.

  Oh well! Joireon if you wanna jump ahead! At the 5 tier you get access to everything, including the Discord where lot every day, and where you take part in crafting the silly story! Also, I get to pay rent!