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Chapter 138: Vacation's End
🕑 Added 2023-09-29 15:11:00 +0000 UTCAfter Amanda and Mikey arrived, the various advisors of Ghost Reef made their way through the crowds to Coop’s hangout spot. Each of them decided they should get the scouts’ intel as soon as possible, just in case urgent action needed to be taken. They really took their responsibilities seriously.
The beach party raged on while Coop was pulled into the spontaneous council meeting. Normally, he wasn’t present for such things, but it just happened to form around him while he was essentially minding his own business. Buck had the good sense of bowing out, joining Mikey and Amanda as they went to find more drinks after their scouting report was entirely relayed.
The fact that the oathsworn interloper had come from the settlement currently ranked first was met with mixed reactions among the advisors.
“This is perfect!” Kayla declared with an excited smile spread across her face and Sharkbait looming behind her. “We can kick them off their pedestal and prove we aren’t to be messed with.” She smashed her first into her other palm and her first mate huffed, possibly in agreement, but only his captain would know for sure. “For all we know, we’ll usurp their spot at the top if we destroy them, then others will really think twice about raiding us.”
“Now, hang on,” Marcus interrupted before she really got riled up. “There’s no real proof that we would need to engage with the Yucatan settlement at all. It seems more likely, to me, that this Chakyum is operating from the outside, especially with how cagey his envoy was.” Marcus argued, advocating for a diplomatic approach, naturally. “It’s certainly a large settlement to be ranked first, with a huge population to expand their territory over hundreds of miles, it wouldn’t be hard for them to have blind spots underneath their noses.”
“The envoy wouldn’t have been shy about threatening us with the might of a top ranked settlement. He threatened us in so many other ways.” Arthur added, at least agreeing that they didn’t need to jump straight to armed conflict with the most formidable foe they could find. “We might need to make contact on the inside before coming to any conclusions. Even if we can’t organize a joint effort, it would be an opportunity to gather some valuable information before action is taken.”
Shane fixed his hair and grumbled quietly before speaking up. “I wouldn’t be comfortable committing a large enough force to assault them either, even if we could. Ghost Reef would be left vulnerable to them and to anyone else with bad intentions, some ambition, and lucky timing.” Shane pointed out, weighing in for the more diplomatic approach. “Almost all of our tactical advantages come from our defensible location. We lose too much if we leave the islands behind.”
Gideon nodded, agreeing as he assessed the fresh phantoms. “The army personnel may have been replenished, but we are in need of time to gather experience. The settlement would be overly exposed if we committed to an attack. Only those who survived the siege are prepared to contribute to a defense. The rest of us need to train hard to catch back up.”
It was Olani, standing at Jones’s side, who offered the obvious solution. “Just send Coop.” She stated firmly, leaning both hands and her chin on the end of her gnarled driftwood staff.
The group looked at him, almost as though they hadn’t realized he was there. He just shrugged. Of course his plan had been to go by himself, but he was letting them work out the details. He figured, collectively, Ghost Reef would be fine without him, but he wouldn’t oppose some company. Obviously, he’d need a ride at the very minimum.
Marcus frowned. “His last diplomatic effort didn’t exactly go to plan.”
“But, it worked out for our purposes, and it proved he can somewhat fill either role, depending on the circumstances.” Arthur pointed out, not for the first time making a results-based determination. “Got ourselves a decent first advisor as a bonus.”
Marcus chuckled a bit bitterly at the compliment. “Don’t forget the bard that came along. I think it may have been a wash.” He sighed heavily. “I can concede that it’s not like we did much better with the envoy’s visit.”
“I’d take our Champion against anyone.” Kayla chimed in with a firm nod, advocating for throwing Coop to the wolves without hesitation.
Coop looked at Jones, naturally looking for advice from the original advisor. Jones cleared his throat, taking a turn, despite being dragged to the group by Olani, at Coop’s subtle prompting. “No half-measures. They already know where we are, so if there ends up being a fight, as Coop is the Champion, we should consider it war and act accordingly.”
Shane didn’t disagree, though he offered more food for thought. “We would still need to make contingencies. No matter how well it goes, or what relation Chakyum has with Yucatan, there will be fall out.”
The group settled into a brief silence, considering how to divide their forces and the best ways to apply their resources in preparation for potential war with a formidable opponent. Coop wondered if it was so different from what they were already doing. They currently had the planet-wide war with the Primal Constructs that had already ramped up. The real difference would have to be in his own behavior. He sighed, just wishing he could grind monsters and have more low-key beach parties, instead of being dragged into what he saw as side conflicts with humans.
“Well,” He broke the silence. “I guess, since you’re all here, it’s a good time to share the next settlement upgrade quest, and the rewards from the previous objectives.” Coop took the opportunity to take center stage of the little meeting.
He extracted a mana pylon from his spatial storage. Surprisingly, it looked identical to the civilization shard, except it was miniaturized. It was only about the size of a partially deflated basketball, but it glowed all the same, something like a crystallized lava lamp. “We got these things from completing the quest, called mana pylons. I guess they emit settlement mana to increase our territory or establish outposts. I got four, but we also have a free service building that can produce more.” Shane and Gideon immediately started whispering about the implications they would have for the army of phantoms, it obviously gave them a way to project force that was unavailable before.
“The quest and the bonus quest also yielded the ability to recruit a guard captain, more advisor slots, and an additional subordinate shard slot.” Coop wasn’t sure how useful most of the rewards would actually be. “I’ll leave recruiting the guard captain to Shane and Gideon. I suppose they would become an underling of some sort, but I don’t know if he’ll throw off the structure you guys have already developed.”
“It won’t be a problem.” Shane promised, confirming that they would gladly recruit the alien.
Coop accepted his declaration and moved on. “Obviously, I’ll make everyone here an advisor, but we’ll actually have a few empty spots even after you’re all official. So, I dunno, keep an eye out for areas that need more attention and we can get someone else to take on some responsibilities.” A few of them nodded, apparently already having some suggestions for later.
“Then, there’s the additional subordinate slot. Faction capitals have no limit on subordinates, and I guess technically Ghost Reef is a faction capital now, even if the faction isn’t official yet. The janky chip we used to get started only came with limited features other than the purification aura, so maybe we should hold off on using up our subordinate slots until we know for sure what the limitations are.”
“Gets the roster started at least.” Olani grumbled, being the one who was interacting with the newest, partially functional system the most, as she led the recruitment efforts from behind the scenes, letting Camila be the public face after Coop volunteered her for the job.
Coop continued by explaining the new quest. “But, to upgrade the settlement again, we need to claim a subordinate settlement, and the optional objective adds the stipulation that the subordinate has to have a population greater than 100 thousand.”
Kayla barked a laugh. “Well then! I guess that settles it. Their fates were sealed the moment they established a settlement neighboring ours.” She pointed at Coop. “Pop one of those pylons down near them and we can have a proper siege ourselves.”
“Doesn’t solve our issues at home.” Marcus pointed out. “We also don’t need to engage in a war in order to claim a subordinate. I’m sure a negotiation would be better. Especially if we want to keep what we claim.” Marcus nodded to himself. “I’m going to explore the new services we have access to after the upgrade. There’s probably more we can utilize before we dive in. There’s definitely something to make up for any shortfalls we would be left with if we sent expeditions.”
The other advisors appeared to agree with tabling the decision for the moment, but Coop stopped them before leaving, ready to share his own plan first.
“I’m gonna finish another Slayer quest, then I’ll have Kayla drop me off over there so that I can poke around. I think I’ll use one of these pylons to make a safe port for us. We can either have an outpost or establish a shipping lane, depending on how things go.” He shrugged again, feeling like his plan would be to just go with the flow once he was in the right place. “We don’t need to overthink things, right?” He looked around at the too serious faces. “Try to enjoy the party in the meantime.” He suggested, unsure if they were all capable of doing such a thing.
“I’m just gonna check really quickly to see if there are buildings that add functionality like the Admiralty did. Plus there’s the apartment upgrades and potential defenses that could change our calculus.” Marcus continued to excuse himself. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
“The fact that we haven’t had any further contact suggests that the envoy hasn’t been missed.” Arthur observed as they watched Marcus head back up the beach. “We should still be vigilant, given that the largest settlement is involved, one way or another. The last thing we should allow is being caught by surprise. By them, or anyone else looking to snag a subordinate settlement.”
As the group of advisors dispersed, now a bit preoccupied with more potential conflicts on the horizon, Coop settled back into the sand. His plans hadn’t really changed at all. He just had the direction he needed to go in order to settle things.
First, he’d finish with the Primal Kites. Then, he would be within spitting distance of another skill choice, so he’d grab that, cross another threshold in power, and head out. Hopefully, there would be new Primal Construct variants over there for him to grind while he scoped the situation, and if everything turned out to be a misunderstanding, all the better. A little bit of travel wouldn’t get in the way of his progression. It might even become an opportunity to diversify his targets. If he could add a few more Slayer titles that he wouldn’t have had access to otherwise, he’d call it a win.
“You thinking of grinding right now?” Camila asked, suddenly, as she peered at his face from underneath her sunglasses. She squinted at him suspiciously.
“What?” Coop had been imagining the perfect archetype for him to grind in a jungle, but was struggling to come up with one given that the environment would play a huge role. “Why’d you ask that?”
Charlie gave him a side eye from over her shoulder. “You get a stupid look on your face when you daydream about hunting.” They were teaming up on him.
“No way.” Coop shook his head, denying everything. But, the two girls just looked at each other knowingly.
The party continued right through the afternoon and into the evening. People exhausted themselves in the initial burst of excitement and some gradually moved back into the fort, diminishing the crowds bit by bit. Quite a few ended up setting up seats on the roof of the fort, overlooking the beach or watching the ocean on the other sides with the best vantage point they could find. Others relaxed on the beach or at the picnic tables, watching the sun paint the sky in vivid, fiery colors as the sunset claimed the horizon. Dispersing the population made everything more comfortable.
The fairy lights illuminated the path once darkness gradually claimed the sky, like a strip of floating stars, twinkling just above their heads. The Cleary brothers had clearly demonstrated that humanity could adapt, even with mana’s interference.
Most of the food was gone, and the limited leftovers were being swiftly consumed. The sport activities had all but ceased and the music had calmed down while the sun set. Most people were simply lounging, letting the relaxed atmosphere wash over them, whether they were on the walls of the fort, at the picnic tables, in the sand, or in the water.
As night covered the island, the pirate ships arranged themselves off both beaches and started launching specially designed cannon shots that burst in the air in colorful designs, directly above the island. Some burst into patterns, while others shot across the sky, leaving a trail of sparkling color as they repeatedly burst, causing the spectators to gasp and point.
At first it was a bit disconcerting to have magical explosions being fired from cannons across the night sky, but the spectacular displays won people over. Even Sunny, who Coop would have expected to be a nervous wreck at the sound of the fireworks, was appreciatively watching the sky, not showing any fear at all.
The grand finale of the firework display was an eruption of sound and color, painting the island in vivid pinks, greens, and dazzling blues with deep booms that rumbled in Coop’s chest and echoed off the fort.
It started with a single loud bang that was nothing more than a huge air burst of fire, but it was followed by dozens of sparkling fountains. Then the shaped cannon shots began and they saw patterns that were unique to each cannonball, designed by the pirate who fired them, showing snowflakes, smiling faces, hearts, flowers, and not just a few skulls and crossbones taking over the sky. Those were then followed by larger fireworks that competed with each other in size and color and kept escalating until they culminated in another singular explosion of flames that lit the island as if it was day time for a full 30 seconds while people cheered.
After the fireworks, a series of bonfires were lit and the s’mores were revealed. None of the ingredients were what would be expected, but they got the job done, and the imitation treats ended up being a hit for aliens and humans alike.
Coop sat in the sand, Sunny asleep under his feet, with a faux marshmallow on the end of a stick, being kissed by flames, while Charlie chomped on hers, getting smears of chocolate on her cheeks.
“We’re gonna go with you.” Camila declared from the other side of Charlie, bringing up the future central american expedition. They may not have been a part of the little council meeting, but they had listened in since it took place right next to them. Charlie’s eyes caught the flickering light’s reflection as she peered at Coop to gauge his reaction.
“You think it’s a good idea?” He asked. He wasn’t sure himself. There were too many ways to look at it. Charlie flipped her gaze back to the other side, to watch Camila.
“Doesn’t matter.” Camila declared. “We watch each others’ backs anyway.” Charlie nodded as she agreed with the sentiment.
“Alright.” Coop wasn’t about to start telling people what to do, and that was doubly true when it came to someone like Camila, who wouldn’t listen anyway. “We probably shouldn’t bring too many more, or we’ll be taking all of Ghost Reef’s power houses.”
Camila snorted. “Please,” She said dismissively. “We all know the cat will take good care of the settlement.” She pointed out, only half joking.
Cleanup was slated for the next day, and there were a ton of people who had decided the beach was where they would sleep for the night, beneath the stars, with the gentle waves guiding their dreams. All in all, despite the excess of guests, the party had been a massive success. Brewbot had to be the MVP, producing enough alcohol to satisfy even the unexpected phantom surge, but the first effort of pirate fireworks had been a surprising hit, especially among the animals and aliens who had never been able to appreciate such a display before, either due to fear and misunderstanding, or a simple lack of recreational explosives.
Coop was full, satisfied, comfortable, with good company present. He scratched Sunny’s ears and thought he couldn’t ask for more.
