World Sphere - 168 -

Chapter 168

I checked in with Aelyn on the walk back to the Maelstrom, and they were already with Sana Velin.  I decided not to take the cats into the city and drop them off at the skyship, even if they would not be happy about it.

The guardswoman who had escorted me from the tower was waiting for me at the Maelstrom.  She bowed and offered her services, “King Nihraan has permitted you to keep your skyship docked here, Master Artificer.  I am Captain Delilah, and will be at your service during your stay.  Anything you require, just let me know.”

“Can you escort me to the Mountain Goat Tavern?”  I requested.

Under her helm, I could see her processing the request.  “It is on the city’s eastern side and a twenty-minute march,” the Captain acknowledged.

“I am going to leave the cats on the skyship, Captain.”  I boarded the Maelstrom and found the two Wolfsguard, Neoma and Tibault.

The two Wolfsguard were playing cards in the cargo hold.  Neoma looked up, “High Mage, are we done here?”

“I am finished in the palace for now.  The cats will remain with you.  Is anyone else on board?”  I asked.

Tibault answered, putting down his cards, “They all came back and rested before heading out to meet Mage Sana.  There have been no problems, and the King’s guards have been keeping their distance from the Maelstrom.”   I nodded, happy to hear that.  We had a number of detection systems on the Maelstrom, so it was unlikely anyone would sneak aboard.   I had wished I had brought more than just the two Wolfsguard after the King’s interest in my artificing skills.  But Neoma and Tibault were two of the better fighters among the Wolfsguard on the estate.

“Don’t let Kiara and Adrial off the ship,” I told the two.  Kiara hissed her displeasure, and Adrial mimicked her a few seconds later.  I scratched Kiara’s massive head, “I will be fine.  Make sure no one steals the Maelstrom.”  Kiara considered my request and jumped up on a crate to use as a perch for her watch.  Adrial meowed for a snack, and I gave each of them a bowl before leaving, but I had to serve Kiara on her throne.

I left the ship and fell in step with Captain Delilah.  We left the palace grounds through a single-person gate guarded by six men in heavy runic armor.  It seemed like a lot of security for a single door.  The city streets were lined with colorful stone buildings that I had seen on the flyover.  The majority of the people were elves, but there was a fair mix of the other races of the Sphere.  The only unusual person was a troll dressed in fine clothing.  The Captain was quiet, but her presence caused the crowds to part in front of us as we walked.

“Is that an Adventurer’s Hall?” I asked, indicating the white and silver stone building.

Delilah nodded, “It deals mostly with quests within the city. There is a much larger Adventurer’s Hall near the dungeon.”

“Just a moment then,” I paused to enter the building. In the last year, I had not advanced my Adventurers Card or my Skyship Captain’s Card. My adventurer’s card was still copper with just 19 pips marked off. My Skyship Captain’s card had forty-nine pips completed, almost entirely from hunting the pirates and defending Skyholme from the Black Mauraders.

I was disappointed to find that the small Guild Hall only had quest postings for copper and silver ranks in the city. The attendant explained that this Hall catered to the beginning adventurer. I sighed as I got my card adventurer’s card punched for two pips for completing the King’s sword commission. It was a gold-ranked assignment, but it didn’t matter; it just added two pips and was more intended for the adventurer to bring a master artificer to the King, not complete the quest yourself. Well, two pips was two pips. 21/500 were now complete toward my silver card.

The Captain watched me impassively during my interaction in the guild hall, and if she was surprised I only had a copper plate, she didn’t show it. With that small task completed, I followed her to the tavern. The Mountain Goat Tavern was a blue stone building with a monstrous black goat statue over the entrance.  Captain Delilah commented, “I hear it is one of the more dangerous creatures in the dungeon if you can’t fly.”

“What?”  I asked, confused and studying the normal-looking goat.

“The mountain goats.  The fifth layer of the Thunder Witch dungeon is a climb up a mountain, and the goats charge you and attempt to knock you off.  I am told the fall is very unpleasant,” the elf woman said seriously.

“Huh, I will remember that,” I retorted back, but I had learned the flight spell nine months ago, so I had nothing to worry about.  We were also only planning to delve into the top two layers of the dungeon.  Inside, the tavern was packed with patrons.  A balcony was on the right, with a number of tables looking down onto the common room. The scent of various dishes wafted in the air, and a buzz of conversation floated as the patrons enjoyed the food.

I could see Aelyn, Remy, and Sana sitting up at a table on the balcony, and Aelyn waved to get my attention even though it was not necessary.  Captain Delilah followed me up the stairs as I met Sana, and we had a brief hug.

“Storme, you look well,” Sana noted and sat.  Captain Delilah stood behind my chair. I guess she was going to be my shadow.  Sana looked up at her, somewhat annoyed, and cast a privacy screen around us, encasing us in a milky sphere. “Is that a problem?” She indicated the guardswoman.

“No, I did a task for King Nirhaan, and she has been assigned to be my assistant,” I said jokingly.

Remy pushed a plate toward me with small bite-sized sandwiches, “Storme, try these.  We should add them to the Shiny Platinum menu.”

Sana explained the mini-sandwiches, “Smoked goat, thinly sliced and soaked in gravy with herb goat cheese spread on the split-butter bread.  It is my favorite dish at this tavern.  The entire menu revolves around the mountain goat from the dungeon.  I have never eaten a bad dish here.”

I tried one of them, and the small butter bun practically dissolved on my tongue.  The goat meat was rich, and the cheese cut the fatty gravy perfectly.  “Wow, that is good!”

Aelyn rubbed her stomach, “I had like twenty.  But your cooking is still better.”  She didn’t say it emphatically enough for me, but that was fine.  I barely had time to cook anymore, and we had six cooks at the Black Spire who rotated from the Shiny Platinum and Shiny Too.

I took another of the sliders and addressed Remy, “I see the crates are still in the cargo hold.  No luck in selling?”

Remy smirked, “Everything is sold!  We are looking at twelve hundred profit after local taxes.  I just can not get the stevedores to unload while the Maelstrom is parked at the palace,” Remy said, taking another slider sandwich for himself.

I thumbed toward Captain Delilah behind me, “Have the Captain help you, Remy.”  I focused on Sana, “So Sana, you said your friend is willing to come to Skyholme and look at the sealed room in the Spire?”

Sana Velin, who was much older than her apparent forty years, nodded, “Ah, yes.  My old associate is willing to try his luck on your Archmage’s arcane lock.  You will have to pick him up at a village in the Ice Pick Mountains.  He is delving into a dungeon up there.”

I hadn’t planned on another side trip, and I was unfamiliar with where the Ice Pick Mountains were. “Can he do it?  What will his price be?” I asked, eating my third slider.

“He has cracked more than a few ancient arcane locks in his time.  If he succeeds, we just need to keep an eye on him if there are valuables in the open.  As for payment, he will ask for some astronomical fee or share of what is behind the door,” Sana revealed, sipping on some red wine.

“What constitutes an astronomical fee?”  Remy asked for me. Remy’s merchant blood boiled at not making a profit or paying more for services than was required. During the rebuilding of the Skyholme cities, he kept a tight leash on my coin and leveraged the burgeoning trade to build his mini-trade consortium. Remy got ten percent of all profits, and I assumed he had amassed a sizable fortune.

Sana answered, “Hundred thousand, maybe twice that if he thinks trying to open the door is a danger to himself, and we already know it is.  But I will say he is the best chance you have of getting to the Archmage’s chambers.”

“Two hundred thousand,” I muttered.  Today, it was not a lot of gold for me.  I had just been paid eight hundred thousand in adamantine coins for artificing a powerful sword for the King.  That adamantine was destined for my aether disruptor cannon, though. It was really not a decision, “When we finish in Myththorne, we will pick him up.  Are you coming with us?”

“Of course!  We never discussed my fee!   Don’t worry.  I just want the freedom to study any tomes we find in the Archmage’s residence in the Spire.  I will make copies of anything I find important.”  Sana looked eager to get access to the library.  I trusted the woman, and she had not steered me wrong in the past.  I knew she had her fair share of secrets as well and was grateful for the time she took to teach me at the Academy in Hen’s Hollow.

“Agreed, Sana.  Where is Bleiz and Gareth?”  I asked, realizing Gareth and his two team members were not anywhere in the tavern.

“After we left the Auction House, they went to find out how to gain access to the Cavern of the Thunder Witch.  They should eventually be back at the Maelstrom,” Aelyn answered for the group.  “Bleiz was too busy drooling over the Auction items.  I think he was counting every copper he had.”

“I have an invitation from the King to share his box at the monthly auction.”  Aelyn’s eyebrow raised in mild surprise at my statement.  “What items of interest are being Auctioned?”

Remy was eager to answer, “Three skyships are the big items, but there are dozens of tier two dungeon essences. Only a handful of tier-three dungeon essences and some unique dungeon artifacts as well.  I think Bleiz had his heart set on one particular tier-three essence.  It can hide him from all tier-three scrying spells and abilities.”

“What will something like that cost?”  I asked, thinking he deserved it if he wanted it.

Sana leaned forward to answer, “Bidding will start at ten thousand, and it will go as high as someone is willing to pay.  If some rich person wants it, maybe one hundred thousand.” Sana answered.  “You are better delving for your own tier-three dungeon essences.  The prices at these auctions almost always get out of hand.”

“How deep before you start getting tier-three essences from a dungeon?”  Remy asked, interested for his own reasons.

I never realized that Sana was so knowledgeable about dungeons as she answered him, “At least the eleventh layer, and they are rare rewards.  A general rule of thumb is that every five levels, an essence’s tier strength can increase.”

Remy scoffed, “There are not any dungeons in Skyholme that are that deep!”

“That is why Skyholme has struggled in the past, Remy. The floating islands could not compete with the lowland dungeons in terms of resources. That and the Adventurer’s Guild was handcuffed by the Triumvirate as they hoarded dungeon essences,” Sana lectured.

Rather than get into an argument, I turned to Aelyn and said, “How did your shopping go, Aelyn?” The coin I had given her was part of her delve team earnings. She actually took pride in spending only her own coin.

Aelyn’s eyes lit up.  “I got the High Mage a few formal outfits.”  I groaned as Aelyn liked buying clothes for me just as much as she liked buying clothes for herself.

We ordered some more food, and I invited Sana Velin to the Maelstrom, but she declined. She was doing some research in the local library. We exchanged communication stones so I could call her when I left. She was also not interested in attending the Auction. Captain Delilia walked us back to the palace, and she was clearly making sure I did not leave.

“If the King wishes, he can send me the specifications for the adamantine ring and enough adamantine to complete it. My services will be two adamantine coins,” I informed the elf woman. Captain Delihia finally showed some emotion. She was in disbelief at the cost of my services.

Personally, I thought adamantine was a terrible material for a ring as it was so difficult to work, and miniaturizing the runes was nearly impossible for the average artificer. The benefits were that the ring could create a much stronger effect, but the limiting factor then became the aether crystal powering the enchantment. How big of an aether crystal would you want on your finger? The Captain rushed off to confer my message to King Nirhaan.

Gareth was still not back when we boarded, but Bleiz had returned, and it looked like the three Wolfsguard had been practicing. All of them looked fatigued and were resting.  I could see Bleiz’s face studying me. He had some pride and would not ask me outright for the dungeon essence he wanted. I spent some time praising Kiara’s guardian duties. Adrial nearly knocked me down to get the same attention.

“How much coin do you need, Bleiz?” I asked while being pushed around by Adrial’s furry head.

“They told you,” he shook his head. “It is too expensive. The few people I talked to said the price will be in the hundreds of thousands.”

“What is the essence?” I asked. I had over a million gold worth of coin in my dimensional closet.

Bleiz used his cleanliness spell on himself before responding, “It is called secret core. It allows you to prevent spells and abilities from targeting your aether core. It is a tier three essence and should protect you from all spells and abilities up that tier, even beast abilities.”

“It is yours if you want it,” I offered. I could see Bleiz was torn on saying yes. He already had the tier-three invisibility necklace I had given him. He loved that artifact and was probably invisible more than he was visible.

He finally broke, his want exceeding his pride. Bleiz said softly, “We can try for it. If the price gets out of hand during the Auction, then we can forget about it. It will take me decades of delving into the Progenitor Dungeon to pay you back.” I was about to say that was more than Gareth would have committed to, but Gareth came swaggering up the ramp.

“Stormy, look at this!” Gareth was clearly intoxicated and holding out a gaudy orange bracelet on his wrist. I could see the runic patterns but didn’t think too highly of the work.

“Fascinating, Gareth. What does your new accessory do?” I asked my friend.

“It is something you promised me long ago!” Gareth said excitedly. He touched three of the largest orange beads, and nothing happened. Gareth looked disappointed. He walked over to a canteen, poured it on his head, and then tried again. Every so slowly, his clothes and hair dried. He held out his hands like he had performed a magic trick.

Tobias, also drunk, clapped his hands, but I sensed some mirth in his appreciation of the trick. “Gareth, how much did that charm cost you?” Aelyn asked bemused.

“I talked him down from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and five,” he said proudly.

“Can I see it?” I asked, holding out my hand. Gareth removed the orange abomination and handed it to me. I studied the runes and figured out how it was made. Orange glass beads were split in half, then the runes were applied, and then the beads were formed back together. I handed it back to him, “The artificer used silver for the runic work and tier two aether crystals. You may get fifty or so uses out of the device before the runes are burned out.”

It was clearly the work of a beginner artificer, and he or she had done an excellent job writing out the runes with a stylus before connecting the beads. It might have been worth the coin Gareth had paid if they had used better materials. He was frowning at his purchase and quickly sobering up.

“Permission to come aboard?” Captain Delilah announced herself from the bottom of the ramp.

“Granted,” I acknowledged. Captain Delilah walked up the ramp, a scroll case in and a small pouch in one hand. I walked to her and took the offered materials.

I took the scroll out of the case and looked at the runic pattern and sketch the King wanted for the ring. The ring was shaped like a lion’s head with two aether crystals for the eyes. The runes were an encasement rune. An impenetrable aether shield that was immobile and would quickly drain the aether crystals in the ring. I did the math in my head, and if the aether crystal eyes were tier-seven crystals, the ring would only function for about nine seconds. The good news was the runes were relatively simple.

I poured the contents of the small bag into my palm. A small cube of adamantine, a spool of mithril wire, and two pea-sized tier-seven crystals. “Okay, Captain. I can have it ready tomorrow for the King. I will also take up his offer to join him in his box at the Auction in two days.”

“The offer to stay in the guest wing of the palace is still open, Master Artificer,” the Captain said.

Gareth was quick to respond, “The palace? I say we go!” His constitution had cleared up his minor intoxication.

“We are fine on the Maelstrom. Gareth, you are free to use the city’s inns. Captain, if you could help Remy here get these crates to their destinations, I would appreciate it.”  I motioned for the cats to follow me as I sensed Gareth was not the only one who wanted to stay in the palace.

I fell onto the bed, more than ready to get some rest. The intense focus on molding the adamantine sword had been draining, and I needed some actual rest. Aelyn came into the cabin, “Gareth got passes to enter the Cavern of the Thunder Witch.” She didn’t press me to spend the night in the palace.

“After the Auction. The King wouldn’t sell me the adamantine, so I think I can milk a few more coins out of him by making him a few minor artifacts,” I motioned to the desk where I left the schema and materials. I was lying down on the bed in our cabin while Aelyn looked over the drawing.

“How much are you getting for the sword and the ring?” She asked while examining the block of adamantine and crystals.

“I got eight adamantine coins for the blade and will get another two for the ring,” I said smugly.

“What! That is just not fair!” She launched herself at me and straddled me on the bed after a brief wrestling match that I let her win. “Is the King going to lock you away in a glass case so he can show you off to visitors!” She attempted to tickle me in retaliation for my past transgressions, but I could ignore her efforts and just smiled up at her while she wasted her efforts. Adrial’s tail twitched, waiting for me to call her and come rescue me. It was not needed.

“He definitely has an interest in my skills.  But he is wise enough not to force the issue,” I reversed our positions in a blink of an eye, and she was much more susceptible to my tickle attack.

Over the next day and a half, I did not leave the Maelstrom.  I spent time writing out the runes in my style before I made the King’s ring, and after he confirmed its functionality, he sent me the two adamantine coins.

As I had expected, he had another request. His next request was for a pair of adamantine rings. They were communication rings, and with the adamantine, tier seven crystals, and mithril, their range would exceed 500,000 miles. We never discussed compensation for the matched communication rings, but it took me all the way up until the Auction to finish them.

I would present them to King Nirhaan in his box at the Auction. One of the formal sets of clothes that Aelyn purchased for me was an all-black suit. I wore the black suit as Captain Delilah escorted Aelyn, Bleiz, Remy, and myself to the Auction in the Adventurer’s Guild Hall.