An Owl's Rise

The day before Evelyn was to set out on her missions that had been given to her by Melisandre Anneli was set to give her a tour around the Roost.

"So, you have only seen the alchemy hall and the records hall. Lady Melisandre really has been too focused on getting you ready for alchemy." Anneli said while shaking her head.

Normally upon arrival a new owl to the Roost would have been shown to all of the major halls and given a brief overview of important information about these places.

However, Evelyn's arrival was quite unusual since Melisandre just picked her up and whisked her away to the Roost and only explained what she cared about.

Of course, this did happen very rarely when a high-ranking members of the Roost decided to immediately recruit an owl from the entry trial. But the number of times this had happened could be counted on both of an owl's feet.

"Now you have at least heard about the mission hall so you know a bit about that place so we will start there since it is very important." Anneli said before they left Melisandre's mansion

Once they were outside, they both took to the skies and Evelyn felt a sense of relief flying around in the open again since she had been cooped up in Melisandre's mansion for a while at this point.

Quickly Anneli led her towards another of the largest sixteen trees that was the mission hall.

As they got closer Evelyn went wide eyed seeing how many other owls were moving around this place.

The alchemy hall had its fair number of owl's flying in and out, but there was a massive and constant stream going to and from the mission hall.

Though this made sense as it was apparently one of the main ways that owls were able to earn the credits necessary to purchase anything within the Roost. Especially if they had no other talents other than combat.

Anneli took Evelyn down towards the bottom of the tree where the most owls were congregating, nearly all of which were peak fiend beasts of low tier awakened beasts.

Once inside Evelyn could see that there were a number of counters set up like at a government office on Earth, and the owls at these counters were registering and approving the completion of missions.

'Whoa.' Evelyn thought as she saw the wall at the far end of the floor.

On it were thousands of blue mission tokens like the ones that Melisandre had given her, and hundreds of owls were hovering around it and snatching whatever missions they wanted.

However, there appeared to be some rules to the area. The strongest owls got their pick of missions and bullied the weaker owls away if they tried to grab anything that had caught their eyes. Leaving them with less desirable jobs.

And on another wall was a number of green token missions which was only beign visited by the weakest of the owls in the hall. Most of which were high ranking fiend beasts like Evelyn.

"I see you have spotted the two mission boards. The blue ones are like the ones you have received, though I doubt any of the ones over there pay as well or are as safe as the ones you got. The other board is mostly for manual labor work within the Roost. They do not pay much but the weaker beasts without any connections have to take them to earn enough credits to pay for their living expenses until they grow a bit stronger. Luckily you will not need to worry about that thanks to Lady Melisandre." Anneli explained.

"What about the floor above this one? I saw a number of owls going into hem as well." Evelyn asked.

"Ah the floors above here give out missions for stronger owls that have higher ranks. This floor is mostly for fiend beasts and recently evolved awakened beasts. Above you will find more mid and higher tier awakened beasts. Then above that is the mission for tyrant rank owls, and then the final floor is for those select few like Lady Melisandre that have reach the realm of a sovereign beast."

As Anneli said this last part Evelyn could hear a bit of reverence in her tone and understood just how much she respected Melisandre.

Still this did leave a question for Evelyn and she asked Anneli hoping for an answer.

"What about any owls at the final rank? Is their no floor for calamity rank beasts?" Evelyn asked

Hearing this though Anneli looked at Evelyn in surprise wondering where she had heard of the highest rank of beast.

"I am surprised you know about that. But I am afraid I do not know. I am not even sure if there are any calamity rank beasts within the Roost at this moment. But if I had to assume, then perhaps our elusive leader who maintains this domain is such an exalted existence." Anneli said.

She then explained that the leader of the Roost was supposedly living in the colossal tree in the middle of the domain, but that only the hall masters like Melisandre ever actually met with this entity.

"Now enough about speculation around things neither of us could know. There are still a number of places that I need to show you."

With that they left the mission hall and made their way over to the warp hall where owls could enter and exit the Roost from designated points.

When she arrived Evelyn saw that there were dozens of platforms set up like the personal one that Melisandre has on the outskirts of the Roost.

Each one of these platforms allowed for owls to move to specific locations within an area and open up portals to return home.

But these portals were not completely stationary and moved around the area they were set up to prevent any enemies of the Roost from ambushing their members upon exit.

"This is the one that you will take to the Glowing Woods. All you need to do when it is time is present your mission tokens to the operator along with a warp pass and you will be allowed to head to your destination." Anneli told Evelyn as she went over what she needed to know.

"What about my return trip? How will I get back if the portal moves around?" Evelyn asked.

"Ah that is not a problem. The return talisman will lead you to and open up the portal for you. All you need to do is follow its direction when the time comes."

After explaining that Anneli took Evelyn out of the warp hall and brought her to what she considered the next most important location within the Roost.

"This is the inscription hall. It is a place that you can buy magic items like the storage amulets you have. You can also get one use talismans and other useful items. Though what is the most valuable is definitely weapons and armor." Anneli said.

She brough Evelyn over to one stall and showed her some leather armor fit for an owl that had magic circles inscribed on it.

This took Evelyn completely by surprise as she had yet to this point see any owls wearing armor or wielding weapons. But apparently it was actually common.

Of course, things were very different from what humans would have to fit an owl's anatomy but there were still a number of weapons and armor.

And when Evelyn asked why she did not see any owls wearing armor or carrying weapons around the Roost, she told her it was because it was against the laws of the Roost.

"No owl is allowed to openly wear armor or carry weapons while inside the Roost. This rule was decided on before I even came here, but apparently while it was allowed there was far more violence, and everyone moved around armed to the teeth and on edge. The only time it is now permitted to wiled a weapon is in times of emergency such as an outside invasion. But that has never happened, so I have never seen anyone with weapons out while within the Roost."

When Anneli was done with her explanation she took Evelyn around to look at a few more things before taking her to the next of the halls.

"Now this is the Crystal Hall. Here you can purchase magical crystals from the vendors within. It is the only place within the Roost where these items are traded so make sure you do not purchase any from a shady source. Oh, and only owls with a special license can sell magical crystals to the hall, so make sure not to try that even if you have some. It would give you an unfavorable reputation if you made such a mistake and you might find it harder to purchase magical crystals int eh future." Anneli said with a stern expression.

Once they had finished up at the crystal hall Anneli took Evelyn around to the rest of the hall though she considered them less important than the ones she had already shown Evelyn.

Along with that she brought her to the area just outside the ring of sixteen tress which was filled with restaurants and other types of service care like spas.

Around the same area were also theaters and numerous other places that catered to entertainment for owls that had credits to burn.

"I believe that just about covers it. Everything else beyond this are lesser establishments you will have no need of and housing. Now let us head back. They day is almost over, and you will have to leave early tomorrow."