Valkyrie Black

Chapter 25: Desperate for exploration

Valkyrie, Age 17

Val was feeling restless and needed to get away from the fortress. Cade had been sent on three missions in the last year, each time returning with tales of adventure. Fall was setting in, and the snows would start soon.

Valkyrie’s own missions so far had been mostly simple find and recover. Word would arrive that a hunter was needed to find some piece of art for a nobleman. It seemed the Surian nobility had a fascination with anything from the outside world. They had no contact beyond the mountains to the point most of the 8 realms believed all of Suria to be a myth or just a blank spot on the map.

While she could hunt for Scath shadow plasma, the quartermaster had been reducing her pay recently, citing an overstock since she had started. Even Morgessa seemed to have enough after their quarterly hunt.

The most profitable venture was a dangerous one that Val was uniquely suited for. About one hundred miles north, along the barrier mountains there was a hot spring that bubbled up high up on a summit. Val had to climb three hundred feet up a sheer face of mountain to reach the sheltered lake.

There was a population of small scorpions that made its home there. The venom from this scorpion was potent and was highly sought after by apothecaries both in Suria and around the realms. She had made the trip a few times but it was only accessible in the middle of summer, when enough of the snow had melted to make the cliff face climbable. Once fall set in, the whole area would be impossible to reach until early summer the next year.  

The venom commanded a healthy price of 300,000 dret per oz. The problem was, even if she found every scorpion in the little grotto,  she would still only manage to get a single milliliter. At 10,000 dret per milliliter, it was worth the trip and she would often stay for up to a week, attempting to milk as much from the scorpions as they could produce in that time.

Eager for something to do this fall, and needing to still make her self scares any time Varian, Kane, or Asura were around, Val made her way to Lauren’s map room. The woman was in her usual place, leaning over the three dimensional map while glancing at notes as aids brought her various notes and data.

“Cara, bring me that report from Jax. His comment in there about the gauntlets doesn’t fit.”

A girl just a few years older than Val rushed over with a pile of papers and set them next to Lauren, before skimming through them for the section Lauren had indicated.

“Umm, he says that rumor in the area is that a mercenary group on the west side of Emre has a general with a silver gauntlet on his right arm. Reports are that he is undefeated with the sword. Apparently, he commands quite the price for his services.”

“Silver? Hmm… definitely sounds like one of the missing sets. But who had silver?” Lauren mused.

Cara frowned as she flicked through her notes, “Umm, I think there was mention that…. oh where is it… Aerdrie? Aerdrie Celanil! That’s it!”

“Aerdrie Calanil? The moon blessed? Hmm, she is not one you hear of often. Alright, go find the file on her spark. Lets see what we can find. Ah! Valkyrie, good to see you again. What brings you to my corner of the mountain?” Lauren said, finally noticing Val.

“I want to go. If Cade is going, then let me. Alexa and I make a steller pair, and with Cade, we are nearly an unstoppable triad.” Val insisted.

“Go? Go where?”

“This… I don’t know, this silver gauntlet thing. You need it retrieved right?”

“Val, while it is true that its near blasphemy for someone like this merc to have one of the spark blessed armor, I am not about to send a bunch of kids after a fully armed and well trained mercenary group.”

“What’s the reward on a mission like that?” Val asked, determination in her voice.

Lauren sighed, “It depends. It’s a two week ride to where we believe the group is stationed. Likely somewhere on the border of Emre and Verril. There are some good mountains for them to hide in, and Verril is always getting into small wars. Emre is the cultural center that allows a group like that to move goods and supplies easily. So whoever does go would need likely a month and a half worth of provisions and accommodations.”

Lauren flicked her hand at her aid, and Cara instinctively passed her a clipboard.

“Lets see. A proper force of hunters would have three spark hunters, a cook and quartermaster, a wrangler, and five to eight Surian marines. So three carriages and a wagon. On a budget, it would be 200 dret per day in food, plus the horses, so 500 just in food.”

Lauren did a few more calculations, “the marines are O1 ranked, so they get 500 dret a month, so about 6000 dret for them, another 3000 for the hunters plus any loot they find, and the two hands and three drivers. Then the gear and cargo; this would be a 50,000 dret mission. So the reward on such an undertaking would be dependent on what one finds and loots. Whoever we do send will likely take a few mail parcels and other contracts along the way to off set the cost.”

“But what is the reward? Surely the council of lords has a standing bounty for such things.”

Lauren frowned and hesitated before responding, “There is. It’s how they convince many of the hunters to stay out for so long. The lords have around 30-40 full sets of armor, and several of the minor lords have incomplete sets from the original war.”

“They have a standing bounty of 20,000 dret for any piece of Spark technology, so to just go after the one piece would at best be a 30,000 dret LOSS. That being said, various lords do have special rewards if they are seeking a specific piece. I am not aware of anyone possessing the silver armor, so likely it would just be the standard reward, plus if a Spark of Suria captures it, they would likely be able to keep it. The council cares little for who possesses it as long as it is a Spark of Suria.”

“That seems dumb. That would be a massive loss.” Val exclaimed, disappointed.

“As I said, no such mission is planned, and it will likely just be passed on to the hunters in case they happen to come across the mercs on a good day. A single gauntlet is not going to convince any of the investors to fund such a mission. The only rewards would be if the whole merc company was destroyed and there was enough armor and weaponry to sell to make up the difference. “

“Are there any other missions that I might be able to take?”

“There is a mail run going to Emre, another to Vintas and one to Durres.”

“Durres is one I can take. It would be good to be back and see Maggie.” Val said, the dejection obvious in her voice.

“Stop by and see the quartermaster. He has been griping about a lack of Shadow plasma so perhaps he will help make the trip more profitable.” Lauren offered.

Val doubted that, but perhaps a merchant was due that would clean out his supply.

She wandered off to find Lorenzo, and see what she could be on the lookout for on this excursion.