World Sphere - 210 - Laying The Keel

Chapter 210: Laying The Keel

A few days later, I was talking to Sana, who turned my idea over in her mind to feed the dungeon goblins the bread. “Interesting. It is not unusual for recipes found in a dungeon to have an effect on the creatures there. Usually, it results in better rewards if you return and use them to effect. Did you find anything in the records?”

I pulled out the pamphlet I had bought from the guild. “Twenty delve completions by the guild teams. The notes were slightly inaccurate since the hobgoblin harem transformed into plague wolves. None of the previous delves listed the recipe book in the rewards matrix,” I said as I traced my finger down the chart showing the percentages of finding the loot.

“Just twenty delves? An expeditionary team usually does a hundred for a new dungeon,” Sana said, surprised.

I summarized the pamphlet. “They were getting discouraged and labeled it as a new dungeon—one hundred and six years ago. It was supposed to be assessed again after a century, six years ago, but the guild didn’t send anyone. It is difficult to reach without a skyship, so it’s not too surprising.”

“There is good gold in an exploratory delves. It should be a few thousand gold for a two-level dungeon, but you need to record everything on one hundred successful delves,” Sana said, mildly interested.

“A hundred delves?” I said, astounded. “With the resets, that’s a hundred days!”

Sana laughed softly. “Depends on the particular dungeon. Most exploratory teams do a review of one dungeon a year and live fat and happy from the dungeon rewards and Adventurer Guild gold. But if you are planning to delve into it regularly already…” She let it hang in the air. “Yes, it can be Shiny Platinum Delving and not the same team doing the delve over and over. If you want, I can contact Logan and set up the contract?”

“Would it be filed with the guild? Would others know that Shiny Platinum Delving was conducting an exploratory audit of the Goblin Vault Dungeon?” I realized the exploratory team had named it that because, in fact, there was no vault, and the rewards were terrible.

Sana put on a wide smile, “I am sure Logan can file it directly with one of the central guild halls if you don’t want Guildmaster Huckle to be aware.”

“Please do,” I said with a smirk. I left Sana’s office in a good mood for the day but started to consider the logistics of supporting repeated delves in the Goblin Vault. I was going to need both the hunter-skiffs and a skyship to base them on. That skyship would need a crew, and probably, it would be wise to incorporate invisibility. Although pirate activity was down in this region, it was best to play it safe.

After artificing the echo stones that evening, I traveled to the Black Spire to artifice one of the Navy’s harbingers. The crew went to the small replica of The Shiny Platinum II while I worked. The got to enjoy my hospitality a cheap food and drink while I worked.

The captain shadowed me as I worked, but I had Kiara keeping an eye on him the entire time. We talked through our link, and I gave her cues to intimidate the captain: showing her teeth, letting out a low growl as he approached me, maintaining steady eye contact, and lightly clawing at the floorboards. I didn’t like being watched while I worked. Even though he was the captain of this ship, I would never do anything to sabotage it. Eventually, he excused himself.

After finishing the artificing, I retired to the tower. I needed to buy a new skyship, well maybe not new. I decent used ship that I could update with what I needed. I was so excited at the prospect I slept very little and left for the Shiny Platinum even before Bleiz came for me.

I found Remy and Rippon laying out the hulls of the two hunter-skiffs. “He has that look,” Rippon said as I approached.

I looked behind me, “Who has what look?”

The old man chuckled, “The one you get when you think you have a grand idea that you plan to shower with gold to get done.”

“Yeah, I have one of those ideas. We need a new skyship,” I said and Remy perked up. Rippon groaned and grumbled about being too old to build a new ship.

“What kind of ship?” Remy said eagerly, ignoring the old shipwright.

“Enough to carry these two skiffs with their crews, plus two delve teams, support personnel for the delve teams, and a healthy crew for the skyship.”

Remy quickly did the math in his head. “That is 32 to 40 men and women.”

“That many? Damn. Let’s search for a ship that holds fifty then. A decent cargo hold for spoils. I want the hull tonnage low for speed and the crafting work. I plan to give it a minor aether shield and invisibility runes to stay stealthed while the teams are delving.” I explained.

“A wasp could do the job for you,” Remy suggested. A wasp was our Navy’s version of a quick-attack scout skyship. I didn’t think Loriel would give me one, though, and I didn’t have time to buy one.

“All the cost is going to be in the crystals, Storme,” Rippon said cautiously. “You know that. If you want to keep a ship invisible and in the air for such a long time—a large tier seven will cost at least two hundred thousand gold.”

I had actually been planning to obtain the crystals from a donation by some pirates, so I was not worried. “Understood. Search the registry and find me a ship for sale, Remy. Two hundred fifty thousand gold is the limit without aether crystals.”

“Where is the coin coming from?” He asked, unfazed.

“I am sure you can find it in the accounts,” I said, and he frowned. I knew he kept a growing reserve.

“I will need you to artifice one hundred and fifty weapons.” I waved him on like it was not a big deal. Just a week’s worth of extra work. “What kind of offense and defense capabilities?” Remy inquired, walking away from the skiff and applying his energy to this new task.

“Perhaps a light aether cannon to go with the light shielding and invisibility, but I believe it will be designed focused on speed and will depend on avoiding a fight rather than facing an enemy.” I replied.

Remy rubbed his chin, smearing dirt across his face. “I think I know the perfect ship. It’s a dwarven hauler built in Bherturm, a dwarven kingdom about twenty thousand miles from here. I talked to the captain of one a few weeks back. The skeleton is made of ironwood with blood elm plating. Their artificers aren’t great, but they have good shipwrights.”

“Do they sell to outsiders?” I asked.

Rippon interrupted, “Dwarven ship? Are you going to hit your head on the ceiling?”

I laughed, but Remy was serious. “They build interiors to standard: ten feet in corridors and at least nine in rooms. The hauler has 450 cubic yards of cargo capacity, twenty passenger cabins, and a crew of twenty. Its beam is about 30 feet, and its length is approximately 100 feet. As we added trade routes, I was considering this ship. Cilia and Leda thought it was ugly, but it is functional.”

I frowned because aesthetic looks were important to me. “We can take a trip tomorrow after my weapons training at the Academy. I’ll talk to Mia to see about crewing the ships.”

“I already talked to her about the skiffs,” Remy added and then flushed. I just smiled and went to find Mia.

Mia was responsible for our security in Aegis City, which included the Shiny Platinum and the Dungeon Academy. Since she was quite young, just a year older than me, she didn’t receive much respect from veteran guards when she started. Now that she was in charge of one of the most lucrative positions in the city, she earned a lot more respect. It didn’t hurt that after one year, the guards were given a runic weapon forged by me, and after five years of service, they could keep that weapon. It was a significant incentive, as they could sell that weapon and happily retire.

The talk with Mia was not long and she could crew the ships with the exception of the pilots and navigators. I would have to hire them elsewhere. I used the communication stone to have Cilia and Leda do it: three pilots and a navigator.

“Storme, I already have one pilot for you,” she said tiredly across the connection.

“Rebekah?” I guessed.

“Got it in one. She is not cut out for a large bulk ship. Those skiffs sound ideal for her,” she said hopefully.

“Fine. I will take her off your hands.” It had been less than a week, and Rebekah was already being dumped.

I contacted Talia next to see how the delve teams were coming together. We had decided on two week repeated delves in the Goblin Vault before returning to Skyholme for a week. She had twelve members training for the challenges we observed. Things were coming together nicely.

Two days later, I was crafting some short blades, daggers, and knives for Remy when Sana found me in the Shiny Platinum. “It must be important if you aren’t using the stones.”

Sana smirked, and I guessed it was good news. “I talked to Logan, and his assistant is pulling together the paperwork. Since the original audit only included 20 delves, he is treating this like a first audit. You will be compensated as such once the hundred delves are complete and all paperwork is filed with the guild.”

“And how much is a first delve?” I asked, seeing where this was going.

“Ten thousand plus five thousand a level. But you need to turn in any unique or unusual items you find to be examined by the guild. They will be returned after processing.” Sana tempered my excitement.

“Reasonable. I expect to send an expedition in two weeks. I am getting a skyship, crew, and delve teams together now.” I said determinedly.

“A skyship?” Sana frowned. I think she believed that every copper coin we raised should go to the Dungeon Academy. She tapped her chin in thought. “I may need a vacation, but exploring a tiny dungeon could be fun. Maybe I’ll join one of your runs.” We quickly worked out the details, and Sana agreed to show my delve teams how to properly document a dungeon for the Guild. After Sana left, I continued with my artificing.

Aelyn found me the next morning as we were preparing to leave for Bherturm. We hadn’t seen much of each other over the last few weeks. She was either delving into politicking in Skyhold. I didn’t mind, because as long as she was politicking, I didn’t have to. “Heard we’re going to a new city,” she said with a Cheshire grin.

“I am going to a dwarven city to purchase a new skyship.” I replied.

“Shopping! Sounds like a perfect vacation!” Aelyn grinned madly at me.

“You have your gold to spend,” I teased. Even though her delve team was affiliated with Shiny Platinum Delving, they kept a larger share of the harvestables. I justified this by mentioning that one of her members, Maerlyn, was also involved in the dungeon seeding operations. We were steadily seeding the Progenitor Dungeon for another evolution. I was moderating the progress on it because I couldn’t afford to have it closed for a time to evolve again.

“Maybe I can make you change you tune?” Aelyn said suggestively but I just shook my head. “You are no fun! I am going to invite a few people if that is okay with you?”

“Who?” I inquired.

“A small trade delegation of Loriel’s. You would just be dropping them off. They would not be returning,” Aelyn shrugged.

“Why don’t they just use the portals to get there?” I said, a little annoyed.

“Didn’t you do your research?” Aelyn chuckled. “There are no portals within a thousand miles and no dungeons within five hundred. Bhertrum is quite isolated. They quarry various stones and export them on slow-moving skyships.”

“Of course I did,” I lied. Aelyn patted me on the shoulder and left. But it now made sense why their skyship artificers were terrible.

Three days later, the Maelstrom took to the air with Remy, Rippon, Neoma, Thibault, Aelyn, Maerlyn, and four members of Loriel’s government trade initiative. Even though I didn’t know any of them, they were amiable people and showed gratitude for the lift. With all the construction happening on the islands, they were interested in the stone exports.

The trip was relatively short for the distance we traveled, lasting just over three hours. Aelyn and the trade delegation were on the bridge with me as I approached a massive canyon below. One of the delegates thought it prudent to share his expertise. “It’s called The Scar. Two dwarven cities are located at either end of the canyon. They have been quarrying the stone for millennia. They usually trade only with cities within a thousand miles, but the stone is of good quality.”

I nodded as I brought the Maelstrom closer to the southern end of the chasm. The city sank into the chasm, and a tiered series of landing platforms decorated one of the walls. I followed the flaggers on the cliffs to one of the ledges. There weren’t many skyships docked here. The delegation disembarked, and the fees for the Maelstrom were even settled. Loriel seemed to finally show her High Mage some proper gratitude and respect. I suspected Aelyn had a lot to do with it.

Aelyn and Maelryn disappeared down the stairs to go shopping. Neoma, Thibault, and the cats stayed on board as Remy and Rippon joined me on the walk to the shipyards. It was a long walk as we had to descend to the bottom of the canyon. The chasm was constantly illuminated since the sun was centrally located in the Sphere. A sprawl of buildings with raised dry docks containing ships in the middle of construction.

Rippon left us to study the ships under construction. He needed to approve the building before we made a purchase. Remy and I made our way to the central offices. Most of the people walking on the streets were dwarves, none taller than four feet. However, there were a few humans with various skin tones and a scattering of bugbear laborers.

The yards foreman was an ancient-looking dwarf, and we needed the translation spell to communicate with him. He spoke the common language on the Sphere, but his accent was so thick that it was nearly impossible to understand him. “Looking for ya ship or two?”

“Just one to start,” I said. “Remy saw one of your ships in our islands and thought it was well suited to our needs.”

Remy and the old shipwright started to engage in a rapid conversation about the technical schematics of the ships they built. From what I gathered, they constructed two different transports: one medium-sized and one larger, both with a similar design.

The problem was that they were both heavy and slow, but the dwarf chuckled that they never transported anything other than rock and wood, so the pirates ignored them. Even if a pirate captured one of their skyships, it would take weeks to reach a port to sell their spoils.

Their skyships were designed specifically to haul heavy loads of quarried stone. The skyships featured two decks and an open top deck. The cargo hold occupied the bottom deck, with a fifteen-foot ceiling on the medium transport and a twenty-foot ceiling on the large transport. There were cargo ramps on both the port and starboard sides for unloading, which would be perfect for our hunter-skiffs. Remy was already grinning. The second deck was designated for crew and passengers and could be configured for the number of cabins desired. The top deck had a stern castle with the bridge.

Rippon joined us and shared his findings. The reinforced keel was designed for extremely heavy loads and added weight to the hull. He believed the ship was better suited as a ramming vessel but overall appreciated the structural integrity. The extra weight meant we would need larger aether crystals to power the ships. Typically, the crystals they used allowed the medium ship to reach a top speed of 60 miles per hour, while the larger ship had a speed of half that. Both ships had a lot of difficulty slowing down as well since they had terrible inertia runes. Another large negative was the wood they used to lay the runes was terrible. It was not sourced from a dungeon and deteriorated rapidly.

After some discussion, Remy, Rippon, and I decided that the medium transport would suit our needs. We then began negotiations. An unmodified medium cargo hauler was just one hundred thousand gold—a steal in our opinion.

A had seen several empty dry docks in the yard. “How long until completion?"

“We have some of your best crews in the Sphere. Three weeks from laying the keel to lift-off,” the foreman said proudly. That was an impressive turnaround time for the size of the ships. Remy nudged me with his elbow. We could inquire about used ships, but there were at least four nearing completion in the yards. I considered myself an excellent negotiator as well.

I gave the old dwarf a friendly smile. “Maybe we can come to an arrangement. I just happen to be a master artificer with extensive experience on skyships...”

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