The Heroics managed to squeeze in some exploration last year before swarm season set in, even if some of them hung around to guard the bridge builders. Heroic adventurers are much more common around here than Epic ones. Reports from them indicate that it’s fortunate we were so close to the edge of the domain, and difficulty ramps up the further south they go.
“I’m still not sure why the In-Between hasn’t been explored before,” I say. “We had two Legendary adventurers living here, after all.”
Uncle Hawk shakes his head. “My mother and Aunt Laurel didn’t reach Legendary in this domain. They traveled a lot, but once they hit Legendary and were no longer in danger of dying from old age, they came back to spend some time with their family. A vacation that lasted a few decades, but once you don’t age, you can afford to do so.”
“I see,” I say.
“For the most part, Tempest’s Middle Caverns—as they’re called in other domains—haven’t been accessible,” Uncle Hawk goes on. “It only opens up during swarm season, and it’s too dangerous for most people to go investigate then. Stable openings like the ones near Grubwick and Splott? Those are new. That you and Rowan wound up falling into the second layer by ‘accident’ is a strong indication that Tempest wants us to go down there and explore now.”
Along with Uncle Hawk’s Epic-ranked party, I’ll be traveling with Anise, Meadow, and Basalt. Our first stop will be Talgarth to pick up Rowan, who spent the fall with his family.
Uncle Hawk’s party includes a dwarf named Schist, who is fascinated to meet a newly spawned dwarf from a lost Hearth. They spend much of the trip chattering with one another and Basalt shoring up his “pop culture dwarf” knowledge with whatever dwarves in this world are actually like. (Which still seems like “pop culture dwarves” to me, but I’ll admit I’m not paying close attention to the conversation.)
The snows are deep this year, but that’s not a problem with the group we’re traveling with. Violet, the pink-haired elf in Uncle Hawk’s party, uses a skill that makes the whole group simply walk on top of the snow. That’s well beyond Enhanced Feet (Walk on Top of Snow Like a Freaking Elf) or whatever the name of the skill is. Maybe this is Hermetics (Make Your Whole Party Walk on Snow Like Freaking Elves). I’m sure she’d tell me the name of the skill if I asked, but I don’t bother. I’m not even entirely sure what Hermetics is, besides the form of magic associated with the feet for some reason.
Talgarth is in spitting distance of the edge but isn’t close enough to actually look over. The bridge we built last year is still standing strong over the River Lear.
“Is this that new bridge you built?” Uncle Hawk asks. “That’s a nice Deed for everyone involved.”
“I only really played a small part in it,” I say.
I look across the water warily to see if I can spot the aura of another avanc, but no lizard-beaver monsters (or any other sort of monsters, for that matter) come into view today. I suppose having an Epic-rank adventuring party with us is a bit of a deterrent. And Tempest is probably short on Legendary surface bosses at the moment, what with swarm season having just ended.
When we get to Talgarth, Violet has to clear out the snow around the gate with magic before we can go inside.
“I wasn’t expecting you to show up so soon after New Year,” Rowan says, meeting us inside the guest house.
Uncle Hawk chuckles. “Well, it won’t be winter underground, so I figure it’s a perfect time to explore the second layer.”
Rowan gets his adventuring gear in order and we head out for the caves in the morning. The entrance is buried in snow and if we didn’t already know exactly where it was, we might completely miss it. At least if we didn’t have an Epic Ranger along with us who probably has a bunch of skills to help with that.
Once inside the caverns, we no longer need skills to keep us warm. We make a quick stop at Splott’s lakeside encampment to say hi and let them know we’re here. They’re just getting started on reclaiming and cleaning up the inn after monsters swept by, but fortunately they tend not to damage inanimate objects much.
From there, it’s on to Hebron following Basalt’s cairn markers. We’d been back here to guide the Heroics last year, but hadn’t stayed long. Just enough to let Hebron know they’re cool and to open the way for them, but since there’s Corwens in the party, it’s happy to accommodate us.
I’m itching to get down there and explore myself, but everyone insists that I need to grow up and level up more. While I can’t exactly argue, it doesn’t make it any less of an itch.
“The staircase isn’t very impressive right now,” Basalt says. “I haven’t had a chance to make it pretty for dignified guests or anything.”
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Uncle Hawk chuckles. “Not to worry. It does its job, and that’s the important part, right?”
We give the Epics a tour of the place, and they seem far more fascinated in the carvings of elephants than expected.
“This was the Legendary Apocalypse of 100?” says the dwarf, Schist. “I’ve heard tales of the Safari Apocalypse, but to see it documented like this…”
“The… Safari Apocalypse?” I have to ask.
“That’s what they called it,” Schist says. “I’ve only seen it mentioned in history books and heard it spoken in whispers by ancient Legendaries. Apocalypses tend to bring strange creatures not normally found in a domain.”
“I would have really preferred that there not be one apocalypse, never mind needing to use a plural, but this is the world we live in…”
We stay in Hebron for a week as the Epics get their subterranean expedition going before we Basics and Elites return to the surface. We no longer have Epics to guide us and keep the weather off of us, which on the upside means that we might actually get some skill levels now.
Like so. Seeing numbers going up is totally worth all the shivering and sinking into the snow.
“Why, exactly, are we coming back out into the cold while they’re exploring the nice, warm caves?” Rowan grumbles.
“Ah, come on,” Anise says. “It’s a good chance to train your Survival skills! Anyway, our next stop is Amroth.”
“I haven’t been to Amroth before,” Rowan says. “Despite it not being too far from Talgarth.”
“What’s Amroth?” Basalt asks.
“It’s a city out on the edge of the domain,” Anise says. “Well, I say ‘city’, but it’s a city so far as Tempest is concerned. The entirety of Gleam, Flux, and Rust domains are cities. That’s hard to imagine, yeah? Anyway, there’ll be a bunch of people, and one of the main skyports in the domain is in Amroth so there’s a lot of foreigners who come through.”
As we near the edge of Tempest Domain, the clouds overhead start to break and afford a stunning view of the violet sky over snow lit by gleaming green, yellow, and orange skymotes. The disc of Zenith above us reflects the yellow light of Tiganna. The “horizon” grows steadily brighter as we approach the point where the ground simply stops, and as we crest the final hill, we see it.
Perched upon the edge of the world sits a shanty town encircling a large Hearth. A massive, smooth, beige-gray wall forms a half-circle right up to the drop-off. Skyships of different sizes and styles hover over the port, tied to each dock as if they were balloons about to float away otherwise.
Anise leads us away from the town gates and toward a side path with a sign labeled Gawker’s Overlook. A balcony with a sturdy railing hangs slightly off the edge, giving a good view all around us. The other only occupants at the moment are a young man and woman making out, who ignore us tourist kids.
Just below the disc of Tempest, the crystalline “sun” shines with a cold yellow light that does nothing to assuage the winter’s chill. The three city domains, Gleam, Flux, and Rust, hover in the sky just below it and to the side. Far below, the wilderness of Thorn stretches out into its own wide disc five times the size of Tempest. To the left, the lands of Crux sprawl out in hexagon-shaped farm fields, suburbs, and urban centers. It’s hard to make out the details from here but it’s definitely covered in a distinct hex grid.
Clouds drift freely through the skymote’s atmosphere. Snow gathers into flurries that twist through the air to fall into a domain’s gravity. Gleam gleams with a white blanket covering its many buildings and filling up the cup created by the wall that borders the entire edge of the domain.
In Wonderland, the sight of the starless Void filled me with dread. But even the soft violet light of early winter is light, and the sight of the Great Orb is comforting. It’s a sign that we will be remembered, not consigned to dissipate into slowly cooling atoms. (Sometimes I wish I didn’t understand what Alex understood about the universe.)
The sight of the glorious sky floods me with Inspiration.
I try to scan the large aether core in front of me. It’s much too far for my normal Clairvoyance, but I can detect the aether pouring off of it as it reaches me. I can’t even identify half the concepts I’m seeing, though. Still, I can pick out freedom and travel, and use that burst of Inspiration to draw them into me.
“You can visit all the domains in Tiganna someday,” Anise says. “Once you’re high enough level to handle things being buffed when you’re not. Maybe someday you’ll even be able to fly to another skymote.”
I need to visit the edge more often. Being able to see Tiganna and the other domains massively increases the amount of Inspiration I can generate. I’m suddenly looking forward to visiting Crux, not for classes or whatever but just for that alone.
We eventually stop gawking and leave Gawker’s Overlook to head through the gates. Meadow leads the way as we make our way down the haphazard streets.
A large wooden building sports a sign that says Adventurer’s Guild. Of course there’s an adventurer’s guild. Why wouldn’t there be an adventurer’s guild? Meadow heads toward it, and we follow suit.
“What are we looking for here?” I ask. “Jobs?”
“Visitors,” Meadow says. “No one specific. Either a foreign adventuring party at Elite or Heroic rank looking to hire on a local, or a solo adventurer at Basic or Elite rank willing to join our party for a while.”
“Why foreigners, specifically?” I wonder.
“People are stronger in their own domain and weaker in another,” Meadow explains. “Unless they have a local in their party. So long as at least one person from the domain is in the party, they won’t get the penalty.”
“Cool system,” Basalt says.
“It applies to skymotes, too,” Meadow goes on. “Someone who isn’t from Tiganna will be weaker here too, and the other way around.”
“Why are they called motes if they’re thousands of kilometers across?” I wonder.
Anise shrugs. “They’re pretty small when they’re very far away.”
Meadow opens the door and we file into the guildhall.