Monroe

Chapter One Hundred and Forty-six. Settling into Glacier Valley.

Bob looked at the crowded table where Amanda had taken charge and was running down a checklist of necessities, making sure everyone had what they needed before they left.

Vera's roommate, a quiet girl named Sarah, and Tony's wife, Lakisha, both appeared apprehensive. Apparently, they'd been briefed by their respective links to the group, but neither had seen evidence beyond the spatially expanded bags and for Lakisha, her mother's miraculous recovery.

Lakisha was holding onto her mother's hand firmly, squeezing it from time to time as if to reaffirm herself that her mother was really sitting next to her, smiling and cooing over the two infants ensconced in their car seats beside her.

"Well, that's pretty much everything," Amanda announced, making a final checkmark on her notepad.

Bob nodded and thrust his hand into his satchel, calling for another pouch of a hundred mana crystals. "I'll open the Portal to the tavern," he said, "then I can get everyone settled, and in the morning, we can get you started."

Bob pulled mana from the crystals and poured it through the ritual pattern of his Portal spell, establishing a bridge between worlds. The ritual snapped into place, and Bob turned, gesturing to the group to precede him.

Burdened with overnight bags, and for Vera what appeared to be a small suitcase that echoed with the clink of glassware as she juggled it along with her bag and Sarah's hand, the group walked through the portal.

Bob followed them, and the portal twisted shut behind them.

In the tavern of the Adventurers Guild in Glacier Valley, Bob found his group of gamers standing stock still, hands raised, bags at their feet.

Framed by the open door that leads out of the Adventurers Guild was a spirit of air in the shape of a woman, lightning flashing across its form, its hands crackling with the power of the sky as it stood aggressively.

A brilliant flash of lightning seared his vision, and before it could return, he heard Bailli's voice. "Ah, sorry about that, I hadn't thought you'd be back so soon," she said happily.

Bob blinked his eyes clear and moved to meet Bailli as she entered the Tavern.

"Bailli," Bob said warmly, reaching out to clasp her shoulder, "what brings you out to Glacier Valley?"

"Just looking for a likely place for Huron to build a temple," she replied with a huff, "he came back to town yesterday," she shrugged, "it's hard to say no to a Priest of the Light, let alone the head of the Church," she finished.

Bob nodded, "I can understand that. I think Kelli called it the Hierarchy of Tiers, but I know the feeling." Turning, he gestured across the group, waving a hand over them. "This is the first of hopefully many people from my world," he said, "I'd introduce you, but they don't speak Thayland."

He frowned. "Given the number of people I'm bringing here, I think it might be best if instead of teaching everyone I bring Thayland, I instead have Kelli stick English into a few people."

He turned his frown into a smile and directed it at Bailli, "I don't suppose you'd mind being one of the people I hold up as an example of the people of Thayland?"

"I don't have time to act as a shepherd or an instructor," Bailli replied, eyeing the group from Bob's world, "but I wouldn't mind knowing your language," she grinned sharply.

"Great, I was going to take them into town to buy some armor anyways," Bob's grin faded, and he sighed. "There are a lot of things I didn't really consider," he confessed, "like armor, weapons, and meals," he shook his head.

Bailli reached out and clasped his shoulders, "You're doing the best you can," she said softly, "and you'll manage. If you need a cook, I know that Kevin has had to turn away people who wanted a job in the kitchens because he already has more people in there than he has room for them to move. I'm sure we can find someone who'd be willing to work here."

She released his shoulders and quirked a smile at him, "I'll see if I can dig someone up; you said you were bringing this lot in tomorrow?"

"Bright and early," Bob replied, then paused. A tiny black nose was peaking out from behind the gentle waves of Bailli's pale tresses. "Is that Icy?" Bob asked as the curtain parted to reveal brilliant blue eyes as the kitten drug itself forward with the tell-tale click of a Makres.

Bailli reached up and carefully extricated the kitten from both the Makres and her hair, cuddling Icy to her chest. "It is," she said happily, "it turns out that when I use my elemental form, she comes with me, turning into part of my form."

Bob reached out to carefully rub the Icy's velveteen ears.

"She just gets cuter and cuter," Bob cooed.

"We should meet up for breakfast," Bailli suggested, "I'll drag Kelli out to stick your language in our heads, and then you can do your shopping; it'll give our familiars a chance to reconnect." She mimed covering Icy's ears as she mock whispered, "With Harv and Elli being so busy, she's been a little lonely, and Erick hasn't accepted the inevitable yet."

Bob nodded his agreement and reached up to stroke Monroe, who was trying to climb down his arm to give Icy a sniff. "Looks like my feline overlord misses her as well," he replied, "we'll be there at sunrise."

Bailli shot him her brilliant smile before carefully clicking Icy back in place on her shoulder and striding out of the tavern before flashing into lighting and disappearing.

"Bob," Jack drawled out slowly, "who was that?"

He slumped into a chair, tension washing away.

Bob turned, and Jack watched in fascination as the man flushed. "That was my friend Bailli," Bob answered, "She was here looking for a good spot for the High Priest of the Church of Light to build a temple, and she wasn't expecting me to bring people back so soon."

Dave beat him to the punch. "That's a lot to unpack," Dave said as he and Amanda both slumped down into chairs, followed by the rest of the group, "but let's start with why she looked like the Queen of Storms."

"She's on the Path of Elemental Conjuration," Bob explained, "the capstone of that path is the ability to take on the form of your chosen element," he took a seat himself, facing the group, "she's one of the people who have been contributing mana crystals towards helping me save everyone."

"Does everyone in this world have a cat?" It was Sarah who spoke up the first time she'd addressed Bob.

Bob reached up and scratched Monroe's ruff, an action Jack noted was apparently subconscious as he answered Sarah, "While it would be nice if everyone accepted the hegemony of their Divine Feline Overlords," he replied, "no, from what I've seen most people don't have pets, it's just that there is something called the Path of the Arcanist's Familiar, which allows you to increase your familiar's level, and have it provide an additional bonus to the maximum level of your spells."

He nodded to Amanda, who was opening her mouth, "Yes, it's a four-level boost to the 'Summon Mana-Infused Creature' spell, which does change the math on your maximum level from fifty-two to fifty-eight."

Amanda closed her mouth and pulled out her notepad.

"And what about this Church of the Light?" Jack asked, this time preempting Talima, who nodded to him.

"The Church of the Light is comprised of seven gods that represent the seven cardinal virtues, I think," Bob shrugged uncertainly, "presided over by Vi'Radia, which I think is sort of the god of actual light."

"Why are they building a temple here?" Jack asked. He'd never been a big proponent of religion.

"They need a place to stay?" Bob replied uncertainly. "The Church stations a healer at the entrance of the Dungeon to make sure healing is available for anyone who gets hurt," he explained, then a wicked grin crossed his face. "I guess you could say I found religion when I came here. Several of them, in fact," he said, "but all the priests and priestesses I've met have been fairly nice," he looked thoughtful for a moment and added, "I'll have Kelli stuff English into Austan tomorrow morning," he muttered.

"Aren't you going to teach us the local language?" Vera asked.

Jack shook his head, "Bob's going to bring millions of people here," he said, looking at Bob, "you said there were what, two thousand people in that town?"

"About that, although due to some recent developments their population is going to grow rather quickly," Bob replied, "however a quick take away is that there are roughly two million people on the entire planet."

Jack squinted and shook his head. That seemed a little low.

"Why so few?" Tony asked.

"Monsters," Bob replied somberly. "You can prevent them from popping up in your basement or under your sink by having a Dungeon pulling the local mana down into it, but during the spring and autumn equinox, the lunar alignments cause a wave of monsters to coalesce, and monsters have only one instinct; to seek out and devour the largest source of Mana nearby, which happens to be people," he finished grimly.

"The result is an endless wave of millions of low-level monsters swarming the areas where people live," he continued, "so people take shelter behind the walls of the town, where Adventurers man the walls to defend them."

"That sounds rather awful," Dave muttered.

"Oh, it is," Bob replied, a dark expression on his face, "made all the more so because if people had the paths I've discovered, they'd never need to worry about it again. Just twelve people at level twenty-five are more than sufficient to protect Holmstead against a wave, with not a single monster even reaching the wall," Bob spat angrily, "but the fucking Nobles hoarded that knowledge, lording their power over everyone else."

Jack exchanged a glance with Dave, after Dave had exchanged one with Amanda. They all got the message that Bob had a serious issue with the Nobles in this place.

"So," Jack said carefully, "You're going to go see someone named Kelli and have him stuff English into someone named Austan?"

"Yeah," Bob's expression cleared, "I'll be taking everyone who is going to delve the Dungeon into town tomorrow morning and have Kelli rip the English language out someone's mind, and then stuff a copy of it into Bailli and Austan."

Jack noted that Bob seemed incredibly comfortable with the idea of mind magic.

"Then I'll see if I can drag Kelli with us to Nikki's, which is the local leather shop," he explained, "and then to Joseph's, who is the local weaponsmith. I can't imagine that they'll mind learning the language of a potentially massive customer base."

Bob winced and muttered, "I should see about having them training some people up, maybe on a percentage; there isn't any way they'll be able to provide all the armor and weapons we're eventually going to need."

Bob pulled out his cell phone and tapped on it for a minute.

"Is everyone on this world stupidly pretty?" Sarah asked.

"Huh?" Bob asked, rather obliviously.

"That Bailli girl, she's impossibly pretty," Sarah spat out, "and you're like the cover of a romance novel, only better," she glared out from under the emo slash haircut she sported.

"I know Bailli is pretty," Bob replied, nonplussed, "but if I'm handsome at all, it's because of the Beauty attribute increasing by one point every level, combined with my having gone past tier five."

"I think the Beauty attribute sort of takes what you have and builds on it?" Bob said hesitantly, "honestly, I didn't give it much thought; it doesn't really matter, you know?"

Jack shook his head wordlessly.

Sarah sat on the bed while Vera tucked her belongings into the shelves above it. The accommodations offered were very basic, each room having a bed, a toilet, and a tiny shower. Vera had taken her outside and shown her the two moons in the sky and the impossibly tall glacier that towered above the valley, and she'd pulled up her status screen.

This was absolutely real. She'd walked through a magic portal and into another world.

Vera had been thrilled beyond words, spurting out a few nonsensical sentences as she gathered her things before asking Sarah to come with her.

Sarah was all too aware that she couldn't afford to live on her own. She made jewelry and tiny sculptures that she sold through Etsy. It kept her fed and usually paid her half of the rent, but she had no illusions about her ability to live on her own. When she and Vera had graduated as best friends, it had only been natural for them to get a place together.

Her therapist, back when she could afford one, had told her in no uncertain terms that she suffered from an unhealthy degree of codependency in regards to Vera. Following her to another world was likely a clear example.

"So, you're going to punch experience points out of monsters and become a mage?" Sarah asked.

"Initially, for like, a day or two," Vera replied as she finished putting her clothes away and sat down next to her.

"Then I'll be summoning my own monsters and letting them do the work," she grinned.

"Do you think they'll let me do it?" Sarah asked quietly. She didn't do well with new people. Or people in general, really. Just Vera.

Vera reached out and carefully took her hand before squeezing it gently. "I'm sure they will," she said softly, "Bob said they need a ton of help, and the Endless Swarm Path seems like something that can solo really well and safely, so you won't have to be around people, if you don't want to."

Sarah smiled and squeezed back. Vera understood that she could only handle so much when it came to being around people.

"I'll skip going to town tomorrow morning, though," she muttered.