WQ - Setting the New Stage

The Silver Willow Tavern. The Whaler’s Lament. The Anvil and Hammer. The Rocky Road Inn. The Chrysanthemum Evening. The Old Queen’s Bar. Hagatha’s Abode. Dantalion’s.

Though his reputation had not yet reached as far as Tertoria, outside of his encounter with one of its more prominent nobles, Cain’s voice alone had, if he were feeling particularly prideful, been a powerful asset in reeling in new customers to a variety of establishments. Cheap and masterfully skilled, with an abundance of songs both from Falderen and Earth to draw upon, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call him one of Terrasphere’s rising stars in the performance arts, a mysteriously handsome muse who wandered from place to place, enjoying the local culture, charming the local ladies, and singing local songs, before disappearing like a sweet dream.

Now, why was Cain tooting his horn so much?

Because after all that hell and bullshit, he needed SOMETHING to latch onto that wasn’t inherently negative, and this was the only thing that he could think about.

Because the power of his presence alone would be capable of bringing prosperity upon the devastated regions of Western Astorea! The rumors were enough, that the legendary Flagbearer of Miracles, Double Blessed by Idna and Iedi, was to construct a whole host of brand new taverns within the region, and start giving out charity concerts in each of the new taverns, as a ploy to pull people towards the west. Was it going to work? Who the hell knew?! But at least, once the dust settled, Cain was going to have a bunch of new stages to perform in, and places for booze were going to be popular, not matter what the season!

To draw even more attention to this crazy little plan of his, he had even enlisted the help of some of the most popular women in Terrasphere! Corvella, the strongwoman memed about as the ‘true Empress of Astorea’, who distinguished herself very well as a protector of the people! Vina Skysong, the OTHER songstress of fame amongst Astorean players, who had a variety of dirty, dangerous rumors swirling around her about how ‘easy’ she was and all. It was a small miracle that he even managed to meet those two to begin with, considering how uncoordinated the whole thing was, but, well, now that they were there, they just had to do it!

Before the trio stood the abandoned ruins of a village. Three fourths of the population was swallowed whole by Titanius, while the remaining fourth had booked it alllll the way to eastern Astorea, having sworn to never come back to this place again. Though this would be a sad story in any other place, and though once upon a time, he would have loved to absorb the depressing ambience, this wasn’t the time for that. No, all these abandoned ruins were perfect! Glorioussss! Existing infrastructure to build around! Existing roads to work with! Existing everything to base their reconstruction efforts around!

Cain mentally hyped himself up some more, before realizing how hard he was trying.

He also realized how meaningless all this internal monologue was.

And that he probably still had some really fucked up problems after the whole thing with Seigi and Nalla and Wendy and…

Nope.

Nope nope nope.

Hxppy thxughts xnly.

“Allllll right,” Cain said, flashing a smile at the companions that were obviously there the entire time, “Let’s get shit done, eh? Lotsa work, and not a lotta daylight, so I’d say…making three taverns before sunset is totally within the reach of our capabilities, eh? Considering the size of this place, a tavern for the poor, the middle class, and then the elite sounds basically about right!”

Yup, no matter how small the town, one should always have multiple taverns for different classes of people.

Even though Astor was nuking the nobility and all.

@Corvella @Vina Skysong

 

This abandoned village looked so pitiful, with the withered roads and buildings and all. Luckily, there had been initiatives in rebuilding the infrastructures all over Astorea, even if the nation is in the middle of a political crisis.

A player nation, with players themselves doing the rebuilding again and again is pretty tiring, to be honest. Not all players are willing to volunteer to go construct a bridge or some taverns, and preferred to go and hunt monsters or nobles instead. A really perfect time for noble hunting, indeed.

Speaking of which, the two companions she managed to somehow transform into a bunch of last-minute building contractors are ready in the site with her. @Cain Darlite, a devilishly handsome man, legend has it that he has killer voice and killer abs that might have literally killed someone. Also @Vina Skysong, fellow member of the Lions that has very fluffy tail. Together, from this day the three of them shall be known the three constructeers!

Eh? They're going to build the taverns themselves?

Corvella's left brow twitched a bit. Three taverns, by three people, before the dusk? Man, this oddly sounds like that one Indonesian folklore where someone had to build a thousand temple before the dawn. Tavern is also a temple in some way, no? "Yeah, we can do that. Absolutely." She comically flexed her right arm, because there's no way in the seven heavens that they would be able to build them before the night comes. The knight is not doubting her own strength, but heroic might be a better choice for first-hand builders.

At least the foundations and most of the buildings are still intact, technically. "Few woods are still good, we can use them. We would have to grow more. Can you handle it, Vina?" The woman knocked on a ruined wooden pillar laying on the roadside, before hauling it on her shoulder and setting it down on the nearby, usable foundation where she decided that it would provide the best start for the poor, um, low-end tavern.

Using her mighty broken paddle of the legendary ship Grubby Skipper as a makeshift hammer and plentiful of DIY building supplies, Corvella was ready for hammer time.

Hidden: This plays in her head

Nah, this song won't do. There's this hope that Cain will put his singing skill to fill the dead environment of the ruined village, along with their boring construction work. Something energetic, maybe? "Hey Cain, I've heard about your performances. Some tunes to lighten the work up, maybe?" She grinned at Cain.

 

Vina hadn't imagined that anyone would invite her for building taverns of all things, given that she didn't exactly have an impressive physique nor did she have much experience or knowledge in construction. However here she was, invited by the handsome @Cain Darlite to aid in the reconstruction of one of the villages that had been wrecked by the monstrous Titanius. Shielding her eyes from the sun with one hand she studied the remnants of a prosperous settlement, once again feeling the sorrow of many lives lost or harmed with no rhythm or reason behind it. There wasn't anything she could do about what had already happened, so she'd do everything she could to make the future brighter to make up for it.

Although from the way that Cain had talked about it they were primarily going to be working on the taverns, with the actual homes being a secondary concern. For adventurers to prioritize the taverns sort of made sense, and it'd be easier to get people to come back here if there was some kind of travelling inn available.

As Cain declared his intent of building three whole taverns before the sun was gone Vina raised her eyebrows, then chuckled before nodding, her tail enthusiastically swishing behind her as her ears were standing up and her azure eyes were bright. While she wasn't sure how far they'd get she liked the man's motivation, and she definitely would try her best to be of use.

It's definitely worth a try. I'm not a builder though, so you'll have to give me a lot of hands on instructions~

She turned her heard to look at @Corvella as the other Lion mentioned that most of the wood that remained was in a poor state. At the request for her to grow some more wood the druidess nodded, walking over to the beam that Corvella just easily manhandled with impressive strength. Placing her hand on the wood she focused.

I'll do my best, and since I've had some experience providing wood for the Pride's tavern this should be pretty easy. Although we don't have to grow too much, I can bring most of what's still lying around back to a workable state.

Humming softly she began to channel her magic into the wood, the scarred and marred pillar releasing a groaning sound as the damage began to disappear, the wood stretching to cover the parts where it had been damaged and extending to reform the parts which had been removed forcefully during the assault on the village. This pillar was in good enough a shape that it took little effort for Vina to return it to an acceptable state, the white-tailed Felis then looking back around at the other two.

So I'll grow the wood, Cain will enhance us with his music and Corvella will show off her strength some more~? Sounds like we've got a good plan, although Cain will still have to show us what his plans are for the tavern. I know that we'll need walls and a bar but there's probably more to it than that.

She then blinked, looking as if she just remembered something, which she in fact did. Placing two fingers to her mouth she let out a sharp whistle, the high sound briefly cutting through the air before fading away just as quickly. After several seconds there was the sound of footsteps as something approached quickly, followed by a decently sized white wolf dashing past Cain and Corvella to join Vina, who knelt to nuzzle and lick the canine's muzzle while running her hand through the fur on the beast's neck.

Sorry for not calling you earlier. Can you help us out as well?

The wolf nuzzled Vina back, the druidess nodding happily before standing back up and indicating the white furred animal, her own obscenely long hair and fluffy tail a near perfect match for the wolf's appearance.

This is Snøvær, and while he can't really build he can carry stuff. That should help a lot, right?

 

Perhaps Cain could have broken into song. Perhaps he could have recommended certain ways of utilizing magic to do certain things. Perhaps he could have helped out with carrying wood, even if his killer abs and rippling pecs wasn’t indicative at all of his actual physical strength. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.

But despite the thousands of futures that the phantasmal noose offered him, despite the myriad of options his lightning quick mind could conjure up for the midnight haired muse, everything was blown away when the absolutely adorable pet of Vina Skysong came bounding out from nowhere. Oh my god, oh my god! What a total bucket of loveliness! Sure, Snøvær was an average sized white wolf that probably coated his white fur in the blood of his foes when Vina was threatened by dastardly forces wandering the hellscape that was Terrasphere, but in Cain’s eyes, the friendly beast was just too much to bear!

Compared to the mangy dire wolves of Brisshal and the frenzied blood-cursed hyenas of Norfova and the crystal-scarred hounds of Crystallized Zalra, something with such a luscious, fluffy coat was a sight for sore eyes, and the Flagbearer of Miracles immediately became the Petter of Very Good Boys. Three quick steps brought him beside the Felis and her super duper cute pet, and he stooped down, dropping on his knees before running his hands through the wolf’s pelt.

“Omg, omg,” Cain gushed, “You’re a good boy, aren’t cha? A super good boy! Oh yes you areeee! Gah, my heart, this wolfy’s way too cute! Was totally thinking of just playing cheerleader here, but ughhh, Sno Sno’s definitely getting the spot now. Corvella, get over here! This fluffy good boy’s way too fluffy for the touch. Where did you find him, Vina? Hylands? Has to be the Hylands, right? Never saw anything this heart melting in Brisshal or anywhere else, and I’m almost certa-”

Wait, no, they were here for a job. And a job was a job. So it was time to job. Forcefully extracting himself from the much too fluffy form of Snøvær, Cain took a deep breath, the relaxed tranquility of his face hardening. He had to be cool now, had to show off his good side.

His expression hardened further, into that of one badass, veteran warrior, who had gone through two wars, one raid, and countless quests, garnering an endless amount of experiences under his belt. Dark eyes, like nightscape, glinted an intelligent light. His virtual cranium sparked, a million synapses firing off, as he readjusted his hat and his feathers.

“Alright, time to be cool,” Cain spoke aloud, before a confident, professional grin formed on his figure. “Vina, Corvella, allow me to elucidate you upon a special engineering technique that can only be done in an abandoned village. This technique is what will enable us to easily construct three taverns within the scant daylight hours we have left, and perhaps even more, if the fates smile upon us. Simply put, what we do is this…”

His fist struck an adjacent wall once, the brick crumbling under the sheer audacity of his punch.

“DEMOLISH. RENOVATE. COMBINE.”

And with that, the thespian persona took over, gesticulations wild as harmonics spewed freely from his imaginary veins. “This village is abandoned, but the shells of abandoned buildings remain. With so many pieces already present, the fastest way of constructing new buildings will be to uproot current ones, stacking them upon each other to quickly form the rooms of our fancy taverns, before using cement and vegetation to keeping them in place! Of course, while the adhesives form, we’ll no doubt need a particularly strong individual. But that’s where Corvella comes in, hoisting up houses like the female reincarnation of Atlas!”

The sun was setting. It was their enemy. And with that, Cain twirled around, jabbing his finger towards the scarlet descender.

“The people may be gone, and their homes may have fallen to ruin, but let us show them something great when they return! Let us show them that their past lives were not wasted, that even unpleasant memories could be recycled into something beautiful! Other villages may have wonderful taverns constructed by professional companies, but there are no places that have the combined brain and brawn of three top tier adventurers following the vision of a madman! Imagine, in the middle of the wasteland, an oasis of greenery! Walls crawling with vines! Patios blossoming with petals! A canopy of green leaves, bearing delicious fruit! A slice of a dense forest within a destitute lostscape!”

Cain snapped his fingers, a winning smile on his face.

“Uproot, stack, reinforce! With these three steps, I wager even five taverns wouldn’t be out of reach between the four of us! Now, are you ladies IN?!”

With that, his hand stretched out, ready for the enthusiastic hand-stack that he saw in all those movies with good feelings and good friendship.
@Corvella @Vina Skysong

 

While doing some petty woodwork, the voice of excited Cain distracted her, prompting Corvella to put down the legendary paddle and look for whatever's causing the manly man to gush like that. "Cain, what is wro-" The protest is soon stopped by the appearance of a very good boye. "Oh, my, god! What is his name? Snøvær? Vina, I can't believe how fluff he is! Here, have a pat in the head." The girl dropped everything she was holding and rushed to join Cain, patting the white wolf in the head.

After some patting, petting, and cheek squeezing, they both realized that they've gotten distracted by the presence of Sno, Sno what? She forgot how to spell his name the second time. Getting gloomy that she had to restrain herself from petting the fluffy white cloud incarnate, Corvella went back to distance herself. "Yep, yep. This is nothing. I have watched over one hundred of puppy videos on Instagram in a single day and not melt away." She boasted to Vina.

The greatest showman Cain apparently has a secret, state-of-the-art, special engineering technique that allowed them to build as many tavern as they can. Was this the art of building that was used in that Indonesian legend, too? With that, the three secret spices of the construction engineering escaped his mouth.

Demolish. Renovate. Combine.

Corvella's green eyes sparkled in amazement as she listened to Cain's speech of wisdom. What a great idea! And it seems very doable, too! She might want to get her brain checked after this, but whatever, they got taverns to build. "Alright! Plan's solid, no objection, Mister Cain!" She reached her hand out, putting it above Cain's. "Let's go get this job done and go back to play with the fluffy wolf!"

Hidden: Then, this shit plays again

​

Step one, uproot. The light-haired girl went back to the spot where she found the rather small building with the good foundation. This thing looks like it won't fall apart should I pull it off the ground. Getting the good grips with her bare hand, Corvella grunted as she exerted the last of her actually nonexistent strength, to no avail. Right, she'll have to trigger the Berserk first to get a massive power boost, but the question is how to hulk out at this moment. She turned her gaze to the other two, hoping that they would offer a solution, before her eyes stopped at the fourth furry teammate.

With the dramatic images of Cain's vision playing on her head, she shouted. "Let. This. Thing. Uproot. So. I. Can. Play. With. The. Wolf!!" And that worked, even if Vina never actually gave her the permission to play with Snøvær. Bluish glowing vein appeared on the surface of her skin, allowing some monstrous strength to flow through her body and it slowly helped her to lift that part of the building off the graying soil. Still hoisting the building, Corvella grinned. "Now, where should I stack this?"

@Vina Skysong @Cain Darlite

 

Despite having become the pet and friend of the cheerful druidess Snøvær was still a wolf who took himself pretty seriously, doing his best to help the pack (which consisted of him, Vina, and whoever was accompanying them at the time) while also listening to his alpha, the upbeat nature mage who walked on two legs despite being the leader of a wolf pack. The fact that the pack was as tiny as to be a duet was of little importance to the wolf, who had better things to do than nitpick about how small their pack was.

So, that said, he always tried his best to help out and keep an eye out, since for an animal who wasn't used to the luxuries of society life was quickly lost if you weren't careful. Which was why he was somewhat caught off guard when suddenly the two other biped pack members both dashed over to him and began to pamper him, the wolf's ears twitching as he glanced at Vina.

For her part Vina just giggled as she saw how enamoured both @Cain Darlite and @Corvella were with her friend and companion, enjoying herself immensely as the two of them gathered around the wolf and began to give him headputs and stroked his fur while the wolf himself looked rather nonplussed (at least, to her, who had gotten to know the wolf a bit). She gave him a tiny nod to indicate that he was allowed to indulge himself, after which Snøvær let his tongue hang out of his mouth while he wagged his tail, once the alpha had allowed for him to be at ease relishing the sensation of two people doing their best to pamper him. Although he wouldn't bark, since that was beneath the dignity of any grown wolf. Barking was for dogs.

I found him near the foothills of the Hylands yes. Given the expedition hasn't started yet I couldn't enter the mountains but he was wandering around on his own near the outskirts, and it didn't take much to convince him to accompany me instead.

SInce the other two were already doing it Vina didn't hesitate to give her friend some more strokes and headpats, smiling brightly as she nodded in agreement with Cain's words.

Oh yes, he's a very good boy. Of course I've had to introduce him to some stuff of civilization but other than that he's been very friendly and helpful even without me having to ask him~ I'm very glad I got to meet him.

Aside from watching Snøvær fade away into the sensation of several pairs of hands patting and stroking him it was also fun to watch two strong and experienced adventurers completely melt at the sight of the wolf, and Vina was somewhat disappointed when they pulled themselves together (although watching them switch gears was somewhat funny as well). She giggled once more when Corvella boasted about her ability to endure watching cute puppy videos before she returned her attention to Cain, avidly listening as he explained how he was planning to create several inns within a scant few hours.

So, we're going to stack buildings? That sounds fantastic! I can't do much lifting myself but I'll take care of the plants that'll hold it all together!

It wasn't really possible not to get all fired up with Cain's masterful performance and method of explanation, the white druidess nearly bouncing with excitement as she placed her hand on top of Cain's to answer his call for a hand stack. Once they'd all added their hand Vina whispered something at Snøvær, who sniffed the air and then walked over to one of the buildings that Corvella wasn't busy uprooting. Placing her hands against the building Vina closed her eyes, beginning to sing gently and slowly to herself as she let her magic spread through the structure.

The earth embraces us
A mother to us all

While we all make a fuss
We will still heed her call

Whether we're small or big
Whether we're plant or beast

She cares for fur and twig
Her love only increas'd

But like birds leave the nest
And trees reach to the sky

Though mother knows best
We'll still say goodbye

With her song she channelled the harmonious magic into the building, causing it to very gently but persistently vibrate, effectively shaking itself loose from the ground until it could more easily be lifted up, at which point Vina stood back up and pointed at the building.

Can you do this one next please?

She then moved onto the next building, having Snøvær identify the ones which looked like they could endure being picked up.