Cinnamon Bun Chapter Five Hundred and Seventy-Eight – Maker’s Marks

If you want more to read, consider joining my Patreon! Or check out my other original works:

Stray Cat Strut (A cyberpunk system apocalypse!) - Ongoing

Fluff (A superheroic LitRPG about cute girls doing cute things!) - Ongoing

Love Crafted (Interactive story about an eldritch abomination tentacle-ing things!) - Completed!

Drear's Ten-Tea-Cle Café (An insane Crossover about cute people and tentacles) - Hiatus

Cinnamon Bun (A wholeso LitRPG!) - Ongoing

The Agartha Loop (A Magical-Girl drama!) - Volu Two Complete!

Lever Action (A fantasy western with cha!) - Volu One Complete!

Heart of Dorkness (A wholeso progression fantasy) - Completed!

Dead Tired (A cody about a Lich in a Wuxia world doing Science!) - Ongoing

Sporemageddon (A fantasy story about a mushroom lover exploding the industrial revolution!) - Ongoing

Past the Redline (A girl goes too fast, then she does it again) - Completed!

Magical Girl Crystal Genocide (Magical Girls accidentally the planet, and then try to fix it) - Completed!

Magical Girl Rending Nightmare (A sequel to Crystal Genocide! Cute girls in a soviet dystopia having a picnic on the roadside) - Volu Two Completed!

Noblebright (A shipcore AI works to avenge humanity) - Completed!

The Complicated Love Life of Ivil Antagonist (The Empress of Mars finds love) - Completed!

Pokebun (Broccoli Bunch in the world of Pokemon) - Hiatus

Queen Violence (An Assassin Reborn as a Kitten) - Completed!

No Strings Attached (An Elden Ring/Bloodborne inspired progression fantasy) - Ongoing

Save Scumming (A ti-looping system apocalypse) - Ongoing

Chapter Five Hundred and Seventy-Eight - Maker's Marks

Amaryllis wasn't happy with the old village head, but I was half-certain that that was just the morning grumpies. Still, she insisted that we have an all-hands-on-deck eting about the Black Avatars and to decide what our next move would be.

There were a few things to look over. The tir, the device, both letters, and now the little knife pendant that the village head had given . He said that it was paynt for help rendered, which I took to an that I could keep it. I wasn't sure if it would help us find the Black Avatars, but it was the best lead we had at the mont, maybe.

"Are 'all hands on deck' monts usually this literal?" Desiree asked.

"I guess so. This must be where the phrase cos from," I replied.

We had gotten a few chairs out from below, as well as so stools and a long plank from Awen's workshop to serve as a makeshift bench. It was enough seating so that everyone had a place to rest their butts while we had a chat.

We sat in an oval so that everyone could see everyone else. The day was warming up pretty quickly, and I was actually happy for the shade provided by the Beaver's balloons. It kept the sun off our heads.

"Okay," I said as I stood up. I was the captain, which made this my job.

Well, technically, Orange was an admiral, but she had relocated to Caprica's lap and was snoozing, so since the admiral was predisposed, it fell on to officiate.

"We're gathered here today to..." Awen's giggles interrupted .

"Sorry," she said. "It just sounded... wedding-like?"

"Heh! No, not for that," I said. "We've gathered up so clues! Now we need to figure out what they all an, and Amaryllis wants to rant a little and she's happier when there's an audience to listen."

"Pardon ?"

"Forgiven," I replied with my cheekiest grin. "So, let's start from the top! The village head confird that the Black Avatars once had a base here. A sort of castle. Only one day they up and left with their castle and now live in the clouds above the sea." I gestured north, towards the not-so-distant shores. If it wasn't for the trees and a few hills, we might have been able to see the sea from here.

"That's sure sothing," Calamity said. "Picking up your ho and leaving ain't so uncommon with more nomadic sorts, but those sorts don't usually do castles."

I nodded. "Honestly, it would be surprising, except we live in a fantasy world, and so flying castles are a must."

"A fantasy world?" Caprica asked.

"Yeah, with dragons and knights and magic," I said. "Uh... sorry. It's a thing from my ho? I'm just saying that flying castles make sense to ? At least, according to the stories I read when I was a bit younger."

"What's so fantastical about dragons and knights?" Caprica asked. "And just about everyone has so access to magic."

"Nevermind," I said. A fairy princess wouldn't understand. "So, the first clue we have, so far, is that the village head said that the Black Avatar's keep is sowhere over the Moonstruck Sea, to the north of here."

"That sea ain't small," Clive said. He was cleaning out the inside of his pipe with a little cloth and saring so sort of polish over the old wood. "Big place if we need to scour the entire thing."

"If it helps, he did say that the keep was floating atop so storm clouds," I said.

"That does help," Caprica said. "It'll at least be visible up to the horizon line, but even if we can search a wide swathe at once, the sea is still a dozen tis wider. We'll have to fly around, perhaps in a grid?"

"I think it's safe to assu that if this flying keep is wandering around the sea, it'll be nearer to the southern shore of it," Amaryllis said.

"Oh?" I asked.

"The northwestern part of the Moonstruck sea is close to the capital of the Endless Swells. Even if they have no idea what they're dealing with, they'd still complain and gossip about a permanent storm interfering with their shipping lanes, and they'd definitely try to do sothing about it. The northeastern part of the sea is close to the Snowlands. They'd likewise co out to investigate. Besides, we know that they left from nearby, don't we?"

"Yup! I asked, and he said that the keep used to be on a sort of island just over that-a-way," I said, pointing in roughly the sa direction the village head had. "It's barely an island, really. There's a way to walk all the way to it when the tides are lower. Apparently they used to just cart things over when it was possible."

"Interesting defence," Bastion said. "With the exception of a force that can fly, having a keep on an island with limited, tid access to land would make a siege complicated. If there are cliffs and other natural protections around the area, then it could make for a formidable defensive location."

"I bet the Black Avatars chose it for that," I said. "And then they made the castle take off and fly away. I guess that also makes it pretty good against sieges?"

"That... would, yes," Bastion agreed after a small pause. "It would be like trying to lay siege to an airship."

"That's just a boarding action," Awen said.

"Exactly."

I giggled. "Okay, so, we have three things to examine. Does anyone have a preferred order?"

I'd draped a cloth over a crate and laid the three items in question on top of it. There was that timing device that Rainnewt had given Booksie as a wedding gift, the thing we'd found around the dungeon's core with the letter next to it, and the small sheathed knife that Headman Eikon had given .

"Let's start with the obvious," Caprica said. "The letter?"

I nodded, unfolding both letters and laying them out on the table, pinning them down with so random knickknacks.

"That... looks the sa to ," I said.

A few of my friends crowded in a little closer, but it was Desiree that confird it. "That penmanship does seem very similar. Look at the shortened loops on so of his letters, and the way he puts a dot at the end of every sentence."

"A period," I said. It was a little different from how people in this world wrote their own punctuation. "It's an Earth thing. At least, in so languages."

"Dirt?" Amaryllis asked.

"No no, my planet of origin," I replied.

"Ah, I see. So, that's another point--pardon the pun--in favour of this being Rainnewt's work," she said.

"Yeah. I think so. The other passages are in a different handwriting, so he has at least two friends. Which is more friends than I'd expect him to have."

"It could well be nothing more than lackeys," Desiree said.

"Could be," I said. "Just to be sure, though--Awen, have you looked at the thing we found in the dungeon yet?"

Awen looked up, blinked, then slowly shook her head. "No, not yeah, ah, but I can? I didn't bring my tools, but I can use so inspection skills on it. It'll be non-destructive. What am I looking for?"

"Well, we're about ninety percent sure that Rainnewt made that thing, but you've seen so of his other work. Can you confirm it?" I asked.

Awen nodded slightly, then approached the things. The clockwork tipiece had been thoroughly inspected already, so she focused on the device ant to wrap around the dungeon's core. Mostly she gave it a poke and a prod, and then looked at it crooked.

"I think it's him? See how he joined these pieces? This is solder, for so reason. I would've just bolted it; it'd be less hassle. Ah, there's a few other little things, overall it mostly looks like the sa kind of construction style? I can't be completely sure, of course. It does look... cleaner? The welds are better."

"Maybe he levelled up a skill or two?" I asked. It wouldn't surprise if Rainnewt had a Doomsday Clockworks skill of so sort.

"That could be it," Awen agreed. "The stuff I make now is much better than the things I made just a month ago. Maybe Mister Rainnewt is experiencing the sa kind of growth?"

"Let's hope not," Amaryllis muttered. "But... that's a lot of things that match. I think we can consider this definitive proof? The letter, the device, the... style of this whole thing. It's definitely that man's work."

"Okay, so, knowing that, should we keep chasing the Black Avatars?" I asked.

"We can always return ho," Calamity said. "But that sounds dull, don't it?"

"I'd rather not abandon the quest halfway," Caprica replied.

I nodded. "Right, so last item. The village head said that this was a way to call out to the Black Avatars." I tapped the little knife. "Should we try it?"

"I'm curious to see it at work," Amaryllis said. "But let's take so precautions, yes?"

***

A note from RavensDagger

Posting before nap ti! nn