Chapter Twenty One: I Feel The Need For Greed

Zuglah went directly to Wizard Gamstone and asked, “Do you mind if Pliesson and I do a quick sweep for Iron Blossoms? There wasn’t a lot of blood, but you never know.”

The Dwarf shook his head. “No Blossoms. Not this time. Grapes.” He pointed to the edge of the platform. Zuglah walked over to where he had pointed but could see nothing. He looked back at the instructor, but he simply shrugged. Apparently that was all the help he was going to get. He noticed that when Wizards taught, they never gave you the answers directly. When asked a question, the best they would do is say “The answer is over here, somewhere.” Caldwell had very much been the same.

Pliesson, who had been listening to the exchange, called out. Not just Zuglah, but everyone took interest. The Driole had earned a lot of cachet with his peers, it would seem. When Zuglah trotted over to where he was laying down on the edge of the platform, Denton, Warwick and Randall, along with basically the entire class, came over to see what he had discovered.

The grapes were hanging underneath the platform. Although they weren’t grapes, they were spores. They looked so much like purple grapes with a cowl of lichen that he could see exactly where the name came from. He Identified.

Bearded Grapes, reagent. Primary effect: ring of fire. Secondary effect: ???.

Wow. It was some sort of a fire shield, maybe? Or an incendiary? He’d really hate to mistake one for the other.

Either way, he was about to have more of it. Denton and the other group members all started scouring the edge of the platform for more of the grapes. Others attempted to join in, but Gamstone began bellowing at once, and sent them all through a portal back to the tower.

“Zuglah Glun.” He stood up carefully, so as not to break the delicate spores. “That blink spell of yours. Caldwell teach it to you?”

“What an odd way of putting that.” Redda Mo observed. “Of yours?”

“Yes, he did. It was the first spell I ever learned. Why do you ask?”

“Because it’s unteachable. I can’t do it. Nobody can. Blink is a fifth level spell, and we don’t even have access to it until level ten. Blink is not a cantrip. Except that Caldwell, one day, comes into the tower and says ‘Hey everyone, I think Blink is actually a cantrip.’ We all laughed at him, and then a couple of days later he figured it out. Starts popping all over the place without so much as a ding dang doe. And even he can’t step directly into Veiled Shadows. That, my tall blue friend, might just be the most impressive thing you did today.”

“I’ve been practicing. It’s tough because the ring takes a while to come back to life.” He figured that he could use it about once a fight, unless it was a really long scrap.

They had a lot of stuff to carry. Even the glaive and giant spears were worth a lot of gold, and the lads definitely wanted to sell it all. When Denton approached him with a kerchief full of Bearded Grapes, Zuglah held up his hands. “Those are exotic potion ingredients. They are worth a ton of money. Keep it, it’s your loot.” The others had gathered, and Randall stepped forward.

“No, you have them. For the Pots.” He opened Zuglah’s sling, and carefully put them inside. The others did too. He thanked them, and told them that he would make what he could of these, and share them around. They started to protest, until he mentioned the phrase “Ring of Fire,” and then they were singing a different tune. About how maybe they were willing to ‘give them a try’ after all. He decided not to tell them about Stone’s Throw, keeping it as a surprise.

They carried everything, including the elaborate chest containing the sword, through the portal. Zuglah was surprised to find the courtyard completely dark. They had been in Spellman’s Cavern all day. The rest of the students had left. When Zuglah remarked to Pliesson that he was looking forward to the following class to see who was going next, Gamstone turned to him and said, “You are.”

The others explained to him that The Exquisite Phantom was a unique item, and the rarest loot in the dungeon. Once it was finally found, the dungeon would be changed for something else. As the team that beat the last Boss, they would have the honors of the inaugural run.

“I wish I could be there for that. I will definitely come and watch, though.” Denton sounded like he really did want to be there. Zuglah was not so sure, himself. Warwick, who was also tier six now, said that he would jump into Zuglah’s party any time, all he had to do was tell him where and when. Denton agreed. “If I find a quest or dungeon, you can be sure that I’m going to come looking for you. Both of you.” He indicated Pliesson, who had helped him immensely with Sarna.

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“Gentlemen.” Foadan Gamstone pronounced loudly. “I have known Denton Stelgard for nigh onto ten years. You can bargain in good faith with him. He’s like an ugly Paladin or something. Congratulations on a very good run. And enjoy the stairs.” He opened a portal and was gone.

“So that’s why Wizards love towers!” Redda Mo said. “Because they don’t have to climb the stairs, but everybody else does.” Zuglah thought he may have been onto something.

“Sit down, guys. I need to talk to you,” Denton said. Zuglah sat down around the huge pile of loot cross-legged, with Redda Mo across his lap. Denton was across from him, and he was balancing Phantom on the tips of his fingers. “The Exquisite Phantom.” He said it with reverence, so softly that even Zuglah had to strain to hear it in the noisy courtyard. “For a caster, this would be a career-making weapon. Myself, I hope to have skill equal to this blade one day. If I won the roll, I would very likely be forced to sell it. As would Warwick. So what I propose is this.” He reached out to the loot pile and picked up Sternhammer, placing it in front of the Priest. His eyebrows shot up.

“Are you sure? We didn’t even roll.” Everyone nodded.

“Need before greed.” Randall said. “I will also not be rolling. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you guys deserve it and I don’t.” He looked downright miserable. Zuglah regretted punching him.

“So I guess that means congratulations, Pliesson.”

The Driole looked up at Zuglah and said, “What? Me? What do you mean? You should obviously have it, Zuglah. You killed Bulgo single handed.” He kept trying to push the sword away, but Zuglah took it from Denton and held it out towards him.

“Pliesson, I already have a career defining weapon. I don’t need two. Besides, swords are gross.”

Redda Mo’s reaction was subdued. Reserved, even. “YES! This is why I am Team Zap Captain for life! Oh, I’m so relieved. I thought I was going to have to kill my master again. I can’t go back to prison. I can’t!” He started fake sobbing, so Zuglah opened the potion sling and withdrew his Bag of Holding. He dropped the runestick inside unceremoniously.

“That’s a sweet Bag.” Warwick said admiringly.

“Potion sling, too. Real hardcore crawler gear.” Randall had gotten a peek inside.

Zuglah briefly told them about Caldwell, and how much he owed the man. “I gave him some potion ingredients, and he gave me a new life.”

They all agreed that Randall could have ‘the ugly staff,’ and Denton told Zuglah that he should take Watch Yer Ankles! to help with the new dungeon. He was also awarded all of the magic bolts, which he tried to share with Denton.

“You’re the long range fighter, not me. Use them in good health.” Randall showed him how one of his side pockets had been designed for quick access to bolts the same way the bandolier held battle-ready potions. There was a similar pocket just for arrows.

Denton and Warwick packed all of the great weapons and various bits of armor that they had thought they could sell, and put the ornate chest onto the bed of a hand cart. Then they each took one end of the contraption, gave a final wave, and set off, pushing. The three casters turned to climb the tower.

Randall was housed on the floor below them, and they could all hear the great roar that went up among the Humans when he entered. They were glad for him.

Their own reception was a much more casual affair. The Elves were sprawled out over the common area again, and Zuglah suspected that this was probably their habit of an evening. They began a sober round of applause the second that Zuglah and Pliesson opened the door leading in from the stairs. That served to let the people in their dorm rooms know that they had arrived. They wandered out in twos and threes to congratulate them, and everyone asked to see Phantom. Pliesson was the talk of the whole tower that evening.

Chayah came straight over to Zuglah’s side, hugging him quickly and telling him that she was insanely jealous. She had never gotten past the Boss once in all her runs. “And now I don’t even get to run the new dungeon!” She pouted.

When he and Pliesson went to the kitchens for a late supper, she came with them. He could tell that she was excited about something, and once he had a big plate to hunker down on, he found out why.

“I have found a lead. I tried all of the cities in Hallowed Mills, but they are really focused on commerce. Not a lot of interest in regional history. Then I found a farmer a couple hundred miles away whose grandfather was a local history buff. I’m told that he had old maps and almanacs that he was trying to sell. Perhaps we can find something that helps us.”

“I can’t go.” Zuglah felt embarrassed. It had only been a day!

“What? Why not? I can get us a portal. All we need to do is go talk to this farmer. If his almanacs are still for sale, we’ll be back in an hour. If we need to track down whoever he sold them to, it might take an afternoon. We can do it tomorrow.”

“It’s too soon, Chayah. I haven’t had enough time to get to goan sazal. I’m still a novice.”

They both laughed. “What are you talking about?” Chayah asked. “Surely you ascended when you cleared the dungeon? How could you not?” He just shrugged.

“Trolls take a really long time to power up. Only as wizards and mages, I’m told. Please don’t tell anyone. It’s not very well known. It’s actually embarrassing.”

He shoveled food in silence for a few more minutes. He hadn’t eaten all day.

Finally, Pliesson cleared his throat. “Actually, I think I can help you with that.” He looked up at Chayah, which made his whiskers twitch and his tiny black-furred hands start to dry-wash each other. He seemed unaware. “Can you get us a portal to Dreymar?”

A little startled, Chayah said, “Why, yes. That shouldn’t be a problem. But let’s not tell Stuglas where we’re going, okay? He can be so tedious about accompanying me everywhere.”

“Well,” Zuglah said sympathetically, “he did agree to guard you in exchange for school, right? He’s probably afraid of losing his job.”

Chayah looked at him in surprise. “Stuglas isn’t my protector.”

“No, he’s her husband. You didn’t know?” Pliesson’s eyebrows rose, which was an interesting sight for a creature with no actual brows.

“Don’t worry,” Chayah said, taking his hand. “It’s not serious.”