Outpost Vulcan
Outpost Vulcan is a forward operating base located on the Ashen Wastes in the Rovia Region of the Moon Izi. It was established in September of the year 2990 I.A. by the Order of the Phoenix to support two field teams of knights as they carry out an investigation into the origins of Frostrot, an icy plague that infects elves and slowly turns them into elemental creatures. The base is a last line of defense for the knights before they are forced to enter a portal back to the World of Vreathe.
Master Knight Leon Ferrarius is in charge of this base, and he has 48 knights under his command, as well as various support personnel. Even after the mission is complete, Phoenix Commander Moore is hoping to keep the outpost running, to use it as a check against any incursion on the World of Vreathe from this world.
The outpost name Vulcan was chosen by Ferrarius before he even stepped foot on the moon Izi, expecting it to be an appropriate name for a volcanic hellscape. He wasn't expecting the world to be so yellow and frozen. It is still a sort of hell, so he decided to keep the name.
Buildings
Command Tent
A large 10 meter by 10 meter square tent. Inside three areas are blocked off as private quarters for each of the commanders. Important documents are kept here. Outside, there is a stack of sandbags guarding the entrance and the tent itself has several aethercite crystals enchanting it to protect from attack. If someone goes wrong and the field team can't get through the portal to Vreathe, they are to gather in the command tent and take defensive positions.
Supply Tent
A large 10 meter by 10 meter square tent. Inside are enough extra rations that the two field teams could survive for three months. Also inside this tent are a dozen extra mobile shelters, packed and ready to be taken wherever they are required. There are also dozens of spare Aether Suits on the chance that one is ruptured and can't be quickly repaired while in the field.
Medical Tent
Constantly manned by an Elf Warden from the Order of Dragons, Auriella. She has the expertise to heal almost any injury and has the skill to regrow damaged organs or missing limbs. A surgical table is also set up in case there is a situation where magic fails. Numerous medical supplies and potions are kept here.
Prison Block
Created by several Earth Mages on arrival, this building is a large square hole in the ground measuring 3 meters by 3 meters. It is 18 meters deep. There are no stairs, and the gravity on Izi is such that most people can jump around 9 meters. At the bottom of the hole are openings to four rooms that also measure 3 meters by 3 meters. There are no bars in this prison block and there are no guards. Instead, Time Divider potions are used, which will slow down time for a prisoner so much that they freeze in place.
Barracks Tents
Around two dozen barracks tents are set up in four rows of six tents each. These cylindrical tents are about six meters long and four meters wide. They can house up to six people each. They are the same tents that the Field Teams carry with them to use as Mobile Shelters.
In the center of each row of tents is a shower and latrine tent, roughly the same size as the barracks tent. Showers operate using Aqua Crystals which generate water when charged with mana. The latrines are no more than holes in the ground.
Teleporter
Just outside the base on an elevated area is an large stone circle, a relic of the Silver Age. These rings were used by the Olimians to teleport instantly to incredible distant places. These rings became inactive after the The Silver Age Cataclysm, though with a little help from the Orcs of Veracrul, the Knight Council were able to get at least one set of gates running again. All the supplies needed to get Outpost Vulcan operating were brought through this gate.
This circle isn't the only way to get back to Vreathe, but considering that the other portal is inside the Mount Cendi Lava Lake, and would require surviving the burning hot temperatures there, this circle might as well be the only way to travel between the two worlds.
Renelle felt her insides turn as she passed through the gate. Once she got to the other side, she became light headed and fell to her knees. "Dammit! I know they said passing through the gate was going to feel strange, but..." Renelle pushed herself to her feet and pushed so hard that she pushed her entire body off the ground by several meters before she slowly floated back down, eventually landing on her feet. None of the mission briefings said anything about lower gravity!
When Furio passed through the gate second, he had a similar reaction to Ren, except that he fell face first into the icy soil. Renelle pulled Furio to his feet and warned him about the gravity. The two then took turns catching the rest of the knights as they passed through the gate. All of them had similar reactions.
When Lucia passed through the gate, she felt a sharp pain in her head and the pull of something unmistakable. She felt blood magic, but couldn't tell the source of it. She needed a little longer to adjust than the rest did.
There were a few immediate challenges to deal with on this world. They learned that due to the very thin atmosphere, sounds travel quite slowly and are much quieter than they would expect on Vreathe. If they were wearing helmets they might not have heard anything at all. If they were too far away, they resorted to using hand signals common between the various knightly orders, otherwise their voices, even when shouting, would be quieter than a whisper. All of them could hear their own breathing, otherwise it was always quiet.
Another challenge was walking. Renelle herself tripped several times trying to get a good gait in the low gravity. She tried doing short hops, but eventually got annoyed by that. Instead she charged her gravity steel with mana, specifically earth mana, to make it heavier. She did this until she was able to walk normally. Other knights hopped around, but they weren't really much faster than Renelle was. Some of the more agile knights like Axia and Mirielle were gracefully dashing across the slushy landscape, seemingly weightless and immune to the conditions compared to everyone else.
Lucia weighed down her armor in a similar manner as Ren and tried to walk normally. The quiet was what really bothered her. Every so often she would think she heard someone whispering, but she would turn and around and no one was there. Lucia would close her eyes in an attempt to concentrate, but it didn't help.
Renelle gave the knights a few minutes to get used to their surroundings while they wait for the other team of knights to pass through, then they were to head out. Several of the knights had a contest to see who could take advantage of the low gravity best and jump the highest, wagering gold when they returned to Vreathe. Axia won when she reached a height of thirty six meters. Furio and Mirielle tied second at twenty meters. Renelle was fourth place at eighteen meters, but she admitted she was holding a magic crystal that literally doubled her ability to jump. Most of the other knights reached eight to ten meters.
Lucia and Ellis didn't participate, instead helping the other team as they passed through the gate until all fifty knights were on the moon Izi. Additional teams of support came through the gate as well, carrying supplies. The support team's job was to build a forward operating base. After several tents were set up, the field commanders Renelle and John, and several of the master knights gathered in the command tent to go over their objectives. They were huddled around a table with several old maps, a compass, and copies of an old journal.
"All we have to go off of is a few crudely drawn maps," John said, "I think they are from the initial expedition two hundred years ago, but they could be from the later treaty expedition. They're too old to tell."
Renelle tapped the compass on the table. It occasionally wildly spun around before settling back in place. "If our bearings are correct, the main elven population center is around two hundred kilometers to the southwest. It will take a few days to get there by any measure. This thing keeps spinning so I'm not really sure..."
"Any idea what might be causing it to spin? Magic or something else?"
"I thought this might happen!" Viktor spoke up, "The moon Izi orbits its parent Tarsuros very closely, and the planet has an overwhelming magnetic field. Occasional pulses will cause our compasses to become useless for several minutes, but they should return to normal. After seeing it a few times, I calculate that it will happen every ninety seconds. Unless there's a magnetic storm, then these pulses could last for days." Everyone looked at Viktor. He stared back and shrugged, "What? I'm an expert in magnet and gravity magic. I pay attention to the scientific areas too!"
"Well, there you have it," John said, "Compasses might become occasionally useless. We'll need another way to navigate the terrain, and I have the perfect answer."
Renelle turned towards John and started shaking her head, "You better not say what I think you're about to say..."
"There's a Dark Citadel about eighty kilometers south of here, and another one about as far to the west." John pointed at a large black square on the old map. "It's tallest tower is twelve hundred meters tall. If we secure that tower, we'll be able to see any threat to the horizon and we'll be able to see the mountain ranges for hundreds of kilometers all around. If we take both towers, we'll be able to signal each other and the reserve team at the gate!"
"Oh no, we aren't going anywhere near these things!" Renelle slammed her hands on the table. She wanted to yell, but took a second to compose herself, "If the writings from Scholar Caio are accurate, there's Nameless Horrors that live there. I fought enough of them in the dungeons below Vreathe to know they aren't worth screwing with. They won't help us make contact with the elves anyways!"
"We don't need them to contact the elves." John retorted, "We just need their tower! And besides, who doesn't like murdering those tentacled bastards?"
"Why don't we just climb to the top of the Volcano north of us? It's much taller, and probably less dangerous! But... It is probably better to destroy that dark place so they don't do anything while we're here. My team will take the south tower..." Renelle stood up and ordered her knights to follow her.
After about a dozen hours waking through ashen slush, Renelle ordered the knights to stop for the day. They pulled off their packs and set up camp. The large inflatable shelters filled with pressurized oxygen, and once inside, pretty much every knight was relieved to be able to hear at normal volumes again. Gravity was still off and they were ordered to watch their actions or they might damage the shelter. The knights ate, played card games, and went to sleep for the next day. Several knights guarded the others in shifts.
Smoke and Frost IV
Previous:: Phoenix Expeditionary Force
Next:: Vampirism
I was confused about whether this outpost was already there built by an advance party, or if the expedition built it when they got there or if it was something they created later. Anyway - as always, great work!