NORTHERN MARKETS
Episode 59+ Screw happy endings

9:05 AM [5:45 SEA Time]
Bob spun around, damn near crapping his pants; thinking that the hackers had him!
It was Commander Laini of the Justice Arrow.
“Oh crap!” the level 71 fighter breathed.
“Are you from the ground team?” Laini demanded.
“Yes, ma’am”
“Let’s go! This mission is a failure! The sin is dead, and so is everyone else!”
“What about the hackers?” Bob asked. He knew the J.A. was hell bent on destroying them and its a disgrace to just let them go, especially after all this bloodshed.
“Let them go! They want to go to the North anyway, and they will not be a threat anymore! We’ll be back to blow up the bridge!”
“Oh,” Bob answered, shivering in the cold. He had frostbites now and they started to hurt.
“They’re gone. Let’s go!” Laini said, shoving him along.
“Where we going?” he asked.
“The Calypso is 7 miles due west. We’re walking half way, then I’ll call them to pick us up!”

10:15 AM [6:15 SEA Time]
The Sun cast its bright rays into the snow covered valley, revealing the carnage and destruction of the night’s battles. The bridge of Cold Death Pass was badly twisted and chewed up from the bombardment. The stone was cracked everywhere and rocks kept falling out. The metal re-bar that re-enforced the whole structure was also bent out of shape. Wrecks that used to be cars, trucks, winnebagoes, campers and old motorhomes littered the entire
Cold Death Pass area on both sides. Crap that used to be bodies of people and buildings was strewn everywhere. All the fires stopped as the frigid seeped through. On the other side, everything was demolished beyond recognition. the great Sino Army cannons were no more, and shreds of bodies littered the ground, already coated in frost. The intense sunrays bounced off the snow, reflecting light powerful enough to burn one’s eyes out.

The two hackers, Owl and Azure made their way across the bridge. Owl, who was used to immense energy that
temporarily reduced your mind to that of an animal, guided Azure across the busted bridge to the People’s Territory of Zhong-Guo*. Both of them were stripped of the ponchos that guarded them against the cold, and the ski masks that
filtered the dangerous light the snow reflected. They both had to squint to see. Owl led Azure up the road away from Leng Si Lu*. The cold bit them and it stung all over. But Owl knew the hackium would protect them no matter how painful it was.

The last remaining airship, the Calypso, looked like a boat with mounted jets hanging from a giant gas cell, like a blimp. The ship was built out of tough wood in Henesys to a Roikan military design. The crew on board recieved the call after several hours of no contact, and they flew over the Tholin Hills, a place where black snow falls. The ship landed on the eastern edge where the remaining two survivors of the decimated Justice Arrow force stood. As Laini and Bob waited,
they stared in awe at the flakes of black snow falling from the clear sky. Black snow formed when UV rays from
the Sun mixed hit the methane gas around here. Laini and Bob climbed aboard the Calypso and the ship took off, south bound.

6:31 [10:31 AM]
Owl had by now worked up enough energy to throw some wind that carried her and Azure along the road. The Sinorean Mountains looked far meaner than the Corazon Mountains south of the canyon. They were taller, more jagged looking, and the weather here was absolutely unpredictable. Fierce winds whipped in between the mountains, stirring up snowstorms so violent that the snowflakes actually cut exposed skin.
Owl had to exert extra energy to keep up a magic sheild and keep up enough wind to carry Azure and herself.
Azure already passed out as the energy wore off, but Owl fought on.

8:91 [5:21 PM]
SINOREA-SHAN, ZHONG-GUO
Night settled in, but the full Moon above lit up the Sinorean Mountains like a blue midnight sun, and Owl navigated her way; flying through the Wan Chai range, past Great Ice Peak, and past the road that led from the mines to the cities
of Shanga Wai Tan, Pandaville, and Lan Town.
But Owl flew over the same road, heading straight. She knew it was important to get past Mt. Elune,
the border between Zhong Guo and the SEA Lands territories. The locals here, who lived at the truck stop near
Great Ice Peak never took kindly to SEA Landers, nor Victorians.

9: 64 [6:44 PM]
The Mao Glaciers were a treacherous trek for people driving over the smooth yet deadly ice fields.
Cracks and crevasses formed and swallowed up people and vehicles without warning. Lakes of heated water
appeared because the glaciers covered geothermal vents below. An our later,
Owl, now on her last reserves of energy, flew past Mt. Elune. The giant cone like mountain glittered
and glowed in the moonlight, and eventually, she saw a cluster of lights ahead. She smiled. for a brief moment,
Owl forgot all about everything that happened to her and Azure and she was happy to finally be
in the S.E.A. Lands Territory.

10:31 [7:50 PM]
MOON’S VALLEY
This place is a wonder itself. Specialized plants flourished in this place, most of them clear or white in color.
Giant trees that grew what looked like snowflake leaves filled the valley, and plants resembling great crystals
of a variety of colors covered the forest floor. Silver moss coated the ground, and the animals and reptiles that
adapted lived off the land.
The village, called Bulan Kampung, was the home of the beautiful humanoid-like Yeti population of 12,000.
These giants, looking almost like really tall humans, were cloaked in silvery white fur. The males had manes like lions, and the females’ hair grew long on their heads. They wore a few clothes, though, as the biting cold was dangerous, even for them.
Bulan Kampung was one of the few places not devastated by the Jungle War in the 1970’s. Unlike their Yeti
cousins in El Nath, they fought furiously and defeated any force that tried to invade their homeland.
In the Maple War, the Sino Army dared not approach the Moon’s Valley, and in the Forest War, the MPC
steered clear of the airspace here.
Here is where the refugees who survived the Justice Arrow’s attack were stationed for the night.
Owl landed in the camp they had set up. However as soon as she landed, the remaining energy drained from her and she passed out.
The Yeti people came to the girls’ aid. They wrapped them up in thick blankets and gave them to a group of people who were camping out in the backs of pickup trucks.
Without hesitation they tended to thw two hackers. One man used to be a doctor in Kerning city’s 7ung-Hwang district and he carefully administered some mana fuel to them both, and let them sleep in the warm trucks.
Stories and rumours passed around from witnesses who said it was Owl who wasted the enemy, and people stayed up for the night talking about it.