Chapter 430: Entering a Dryad Community

Technically they were going to deal with much bigger problems as soon as they reached the dryad town, but Kai was mainly glad that he hadn't screwed up his marriage. Surprisingly, Zae Zin Nim hadn't been hostile toward Nirka, instead opting to ignore her, and Omilaena hadn't poisoned anyone, so he called that a win. It definitely seemed like they were both trying to stake their claim on him, but after that morning, he wasn't going to complain.

Even the clouds ahead couldn't dampen his mood. Lifrinyne had said it always rained over the dryad settlement and Omilaena had speculated about various elemental methods that could maintain the clouds, so it seemed they would be heading directly in. Finally he was within reach of answers, or even a way of stopping the sect that was enslaving so many people.

"It should be safe to enter, but..." Lifrinyne paced around her tree from its position on the deck. "If they were kidnapping people months ago, it might have gotten worse."

"How secure is the area normally?" Kai asked.

"Before, I would have told you it was the only place I felt completely safe on Cloudspire. We provide useful materials to the Verdant River sect, so we should have been an untouchable ally. I hope that's still generally true, and I'm sure the community will help us if we can get to them, but... maybe it would be best to be cautious."

"Then I'll start." Kai glanced over the others and, when no one challenged him, stepped over to the edge of the ship. "I'll scope out the dryad community under stealth and make sure that everything is above-board, then we can move in."

He jumped over the edge and had activated Mutefang's Stealth before he hit the ground. From the air, the layout had been obvious: the heavily-defended area to the west, the sect's main headquarters to the south, and the dryad community to the east. They had needed to stay quite far away to avoid attention, but he could cross the remaining distance easily enough.

As he ran closer, he entered the heavy wall of rain. It rolled off his skin easily, but Zae Zin Nim was not going to be happy about this.

Kai was actually looking forward to exploring a dryad community. Visiting the Southern Reach had never been a particular dream of his, but he knew that it was one of the tasks some hunters took on, since the dryads and other races on Deadwaste were their allies. Hypothetically, in another life he might even have traveled south to start a second career there.

From a distance the walls of the community looked very different, since they were built from pure wood that had been artificially grown. As he got closer, however, he saw many familiar signs of Cloudspire architecture. The main entrance was an arch similar to the others he'd seen, and inside the walls there were plenty of completely normal buildings. At least there weren't many guards and the defenses were weak, so he was able to slip inside.

Immediately he noticed all the dryads on the streets, some anchored in the soil and others wandering further. Compared to that strange sight, the cultivators barely registered, but they were actually more important: there was a major human presence here. Most likely they were all members of the Verdant River sect, so any of them could be informants.

Some of the humans he saw had strange bubbles around them that kept them from getting wet, presumably a local cultivation technique. Many of the others wore large cloaks that seemed to shed the water, and he saw quite a few bamboo umbrellas as well.

The dryads, by contrast, seemed to ignore the rain altogether. That meant a lot of glistening green bodies, but the average dryad was just like anyone else, so not particularly alluring. After reuniting with his wives, Kai only looked at them long enough to confirm that they didn't seem terrorized or under control of the sect.

So they could enter, just carefully. After he finished his scouting, Kai purchased several of the cloaks for the others as well as one of the large umbrellas.

When he returned, he found that Lifrinyne and the male dryad were talking, turning over potential plans. Everyone turned to look at him and he realized that he should have shaken off the water, but all he could do now was drip all over the deck while he explained the situation.

"They must not have kidnapped too many others," Lifrinyne concluded once he was done. "I doubt the Verdant River sect remembers me in particular, but we should still be cautious."

"Then how are we getting in?" Omilaena asked.

"I should be able to use the dryad entrance, then I can get back to my primary tree. Just to be safe, the rest of you should use the main entrance. I can let you in from the other side, because by then everyone will have heard the story. After that, I promise you, the entire dryad community will be on your side."

Their group split up along those lines and then the humans split further: Kai would enter with his wives, while Cragrila and Nirka stayed to guard the ship. Their best defense was keeping it hidden in the forest, anyway, so it was probably best to limit how many they brought inside.

When they got to the edge of the rain, Kai revealed the umbrella from his spatial ring and gestured for them to get underneath it. Zae Zin Nim smiled and moved to his arm, but Kai unfortunately had to pull back.

"We don't want to look too much like a couple," he said, "and if all three of us are together, some cultivator will probably call me a toad eating swan meat again. Do... toads eat swans, actually?"

"Toads aren't very discerning," Omilaena said. "I think they probably eat whatever they can."

Zae Zin Nim reluctantly let go and instead moved ahead so that Kai held the umbrella over the two of them from behind. "You're going to get wet, though." She glanced back at him apologetically. "Sorry to make you do this."

"Not a problem," Kai told her as they entered the endless rain. "I figure this way you can avoid the attention you don't want, and that's better for everyone. We can repeat it in other cities if we need to, if it keeps obnoxious cultivators away from us."

So Kai played the hulking servant guarding two maidens as they entered the dryad community. Security was nowhere near as tight as in other places he'd seen, and they weren't formally checked, but he did notice several cultivators sweeping their spiritual senses over the new arrivals. It was a good thing they'd taken so many spiritual precautions, and he could only hope that the dryads were right about their own path.

By the time they made their way through the city, Kai was soaking wet, but they hadn't run into any problems. He got a little attention due to his height, but the dryads who were bound to trees were often larger, so he didn't tower over the crowds. After passing through many common streets, he spotted the dryad community ahead: instead of Cloudspire roofs, there was a region covered by heavy boughs that actually looked like they kept out the rain.

When they approached, several dryad guards turned on them, but at that moment Lifrinyne appeared behind them, waving. She looked much brighter green than before, and though her soul hadn't changed, she was visibly healthier.

"Those are the ones!" she announced. "Let them in and keep this within the community."

Her word seemed to be enough, because they were ushered inside without a second glance. Once underneath the canopy of leaves, Kai was surprised to find that it was completely dry. Certain areas of the dryad community were open to the rain, but those had recessed floors, leaving significant parts warm and pleasant. Within he saw far fewer humans, and none of them wore sect robes.

"As soon as I put down roots I tried to communicate with Nymidria," Lifrinyne explained. "Unfortunately, there's some sort of barrier that's been set up recently. But the rest of us pooled our knowledge, so we should be able to tell you more."

"Has anyone else been able to contact her?" Omilaena asked.

"Not via root or seed, but some have visited her, yes. I'll tell you all about that in a moment."

They followed her deeper into the community before she abruptly turned and stepped through a wooden arch. There was a courtyard outside with a single large tree in it, unremarkable aside from unusually bright green leaves. When Lifrinyne stepped up to it, however, her body seemed to relax against the bark and the two synchronized. The leaves overhead shifted and stiffened, forming a roof that kept off the rain.

"This is your real tree?" Zae Zin Nim asked.

"That's right, it's an essential part of me. Switching to another is like learning to walk with new legs." Lifrinyne gestured for them to approach and settled back comfortably. "The others have been worried about the Verdant River sect isolating Nymidria from the rest of us, but before now, they didn't have any proof anything illicit was going on. We need to warn her."

Kai folded his arms as he began considering the issue in terms of a problem that could be solved. "But it sounds like the usual channels are closed off, or you'd just send someone."

"We need to get into the sect headquarters, but we'll come to that. Apparently only three or four dryads have disappeared mysteriously, and one of those might be for unrelated reasons, so it seems that the sect isn't kidnapping large numbers of us. Still, what they have done is a massive violation of our agreement, so it's essential to speak with her."

"Sounds like that could start a diplomatic incident," Omilaena said. "You sure you want to do that?"

Lifrinyne shook her head and the boughs of her tree shook with her. "I don't think it will come to that. As the others see it, the problem isn't the sect itself, it's a specific man: the heir to the entire Masterful Crown clan was teleported here last year and that was when everything turned worse for us. He was the one who cut off contact with the sect, the others think he's isolating Nymidria, and he's most likely the one who organized the work camps."

"And why would he do all that?"

"That's one of the secrets we've uncovered: the Masterful Crown clan has discovered a new path to immortality, apparently a powerful one. That's why they sent the heir of one of their strongest to supervise everything himself, and that's why security is increasing. Apparently the method requires constantly using the Loam of the Gods, and also... it must be fed with human lives. I know it sounds shocking, but there is evidence of it."

"We believe you," Kai said dryly, remembering the bodies being dropped out of the airship. "We have our own issues with the Masterful Crown clan, so we're willing to help."

"Oh, excellent." Lifrinyne took a deep breath and met his gaze. "We can get command medallions that will allow you to access the sect, but if one of us attempts to go meet Nymidria, we'll be under extra scrutiny. That's why we have no choice but to ask... can you infiltrate the sect headquarters?"