While their meal of pork stew was well seasoned and quite tasty, the hall was not as unoccupied as Sister Young had expected. A class of orphans from the Temple of Love were still there, so they ate quietly amid the mild cacophony then went their separate ways.
Returning to his reading nook, Saul began going through the records of the Sorcerer, Fisher, and Cook. Each had the water icon, the death icon of course, then the wind, fish, and hunger icons, respectively. The combination of the water icon and fire fragments with the Cook idol turned out to be potent and grisly. The nobleman had abilities that allowed him to essentially steam an opponent alive while fighting.
The Fisher noblewoman’s record lent credence to a supposition that Saul had read in the dwarvish text about the overlooked utility of specific creature’s icons. The woman had used the more general fish icon to complete her soul, then used icon fragments from five different specific fish to get an array of abilities more versatile than he would have expected from fish powers.
The Sorcerer record was largely a bust, other than contributing a single possible icon fragment. Saul made a list of the icons and icon fragments he thought likely to contribute to an aquatic theme with defensive utility. He then continued reading about the escapades of the three nobles until it was almost evening.
Returning to the Ficial estate, he cleaned up a bit, wet his hair down, and looked over the list the steward left for him. One of his top three ideas for the icon was available. There was a rounded fragment that would go perfectly with it, but there were three more fragments that would pair very well. Saul could only take four fragments, and it was expected that at least one of them would be a death fragment. Saul did have a few death fragments in his own vault, but he was reluctant to give one to the man immediately.
He was still undecided when he went to the interview, putting his death amulet under his shirt before leaving. He met Bart in a small room adjacent to the training complex used by most of the family and the guards. After the man bowed low, there was a pause as Saul looked him over. The former fisher was slightly taller, maybe 5’10”, with tanned skin and an older, more weathered look than Saul was used to seeing on people in their 20’s.
“Take a seat,” Saul instructed, sitting at the square table, “now, let’s begin with, in your own words, why you want to work for us.”
“Well, your lordship,” Bart began haltingly, “your house is very important for the people of the march and I’ve heard that the Viscountess is the strongest in the region and you have a few important people with water powers and I like working on it. The water, er, sea?”
“I see. And what are you looking to get out of working for my house?”
“All I want is a whole soul, your lordship,” Bart replied, visibly uncomfortable, “and to go to the Water Temple sometimes. That’s all I need, and I’ll work my hardest for whatever you need. And a place to live and eat too, apologies.”
“What about salary?”
“My aunt asked for a single payment, my lord,” Bart hesitantly corrected.
With a slight frown, Saul skimmed through a few pages of documents that he probably should have read earlier instead of focusing on the icons. He found that the remuneration had been negotiated to a single payment valued at just over 350 rings, all of it going to the Eastfisher family. He hadn’t expected that, but if the family was in the middle of some kind of attempt to raise their station, the lump sum now was likely crucial even if they could have made more over a few decades.
“Ah, I see,” Saul said, sliding his eyes from the page to the man in front of him, “and all of it goes to your family as well. Very generous.”
“They’re currently looking to expand their fishing operations, and I want them to have all the money they need for such a risky endeavor.”
That sounded practiced, and decidedly unenthusiastic.
“I see,” Saul moved on, not interested in dragging this out, “now, what do you have to offer us? What sorts of roles do you see yourself filling?”
“I have the death and simple icons, my lord, and I have trained with several cantrips. I also have considerable experience sailing both on the river and out at sea. I have worked almost every job on a fishing ship over the last twelve years—”
“Twelve?” Saul cut in, “how old are you exactly?”
“Uh, twenty six, my lord?”
Bart did look like he had been a sailor for twelve years, but he didn’t look twenty six. To Saul’s eye he looked more mid-to-late thirties.
“What about experience with guarding or fighting?”
“Yes to both, my lord,” Bart continued, “keeping watch over the sides of the ship is important on overnight trips. I’m pretty good with a long spear for similar reasons. Also cutlasses.”
That was better than Saul had expected. He was curious what the specific threats they had to watch for at night were. The nobles with the water icon he had read about all eschewed water travel for one reason or another.
“Alright, that’s good enough,” Saul said, finally getting to the tricky part, “so, you specifically requested an aquatic icon, correct?”
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“Yes, I did,” Bart agreed, perking up slightly, “with all of my experience on the water, I’m sure I could put the powers I get to good use whatever you need me to do.”
“To be clear, what was negotiated was a water-related icon, not necessarily the water icon itself. While relatively common as icons go, it’s also a very popular choice. There are a number of aquatic plants and animals that are cheaper to acquire, however. The duckweed icon and sturgeon icon are two of the main options in consideration.”
Bart didn’t exactly sag in his chair or sigh, but somehow it seemed like a spark of hope had left his eyes. Saul felt a bit bad, but continued with his plan.
“That isn’t to say there’s no chance of getting the water icon, if you can demonstrate sufficient competence with the icons you already have.”
That got the man’s attention. Saul led him out to a training yard with a small range that had been prepared at his request. It was used by guards or distant members of the house that had the simple icon to train with the most basic cantrip modifier, bolt. The most common variant was the ubiquitous death bolt, which the range was currently set up to test. Various sized plants rested on small platforms staggered at fixed distances.
The test was to kill the largest plant at the farthest range one could manage. Bart used the closer targets to get a feel for the set up, then started aiming down range. Saul was impressed with the man’s accuracy, if not the power of the bolts. He was also paying attention to how much effort each recitation of ‘Death Bolt’ required. Using cantrips in sequence caused strain in a low-power environment like the Enchre March; how well the man handled it was potentially relevant.
Bart's performance was predictably average in effective range, a bit slight on the strength of the death in the bolts, and commendable in how long he fired them before pausing with the grimace of a headache that Saul knew well. It felt to him like having porous stone pressed to his mind, prickly and desiccated.
Saul fed a quarter to his tattoo, then stepped up to the firing line next to Bart and pointed at a plant one step larger and further away than the man’s best.
“Death Bolt”
The faintest shadow of death passed across the range and the plant withered rapidly. He looked at Bart, who hesitated for a moment before speaking up.
“Not to question you, your lordship, but I wouldn’t think I’d be near as good as you.”
“I don’t think you quite understand,” Saul said with a thin smile, “I have neither the death nor simple icons. That is what I can do with external tools to simulate a connection to the icons. I do in fact have the mirror icon, however. Observe. Mirror Bolt”
The air seemed to twitch for a moment, magnifying the largest plant on the furthest post. Then the plant fell apart as though set upon by a swarm of invisible knives. Bart swallowed audibly. Unfortunately, cantrips were only that effective on unresisting targets. On even an unsouled person it would just cause some lacerations. They returned to the meeting room, Bart still somewhat subdued.
“So, the water icon is off the table, I’m afraid,” Saul said, trying to sound sympathetic, “but your resilience to using successive cantrips was reasonably impressive. Getting water as one of your icon fragments is very possible.”
“My options are duckweed or sturgeon, then,” Bart sighed, “I’ll take the fish. Maybe my eternal afterlife will be in a nice pond instead of the void.”
“That’s good,” Saul said, shifting gears, “that’s a good icon, really.”
He was going to accept the man as a personal guard, so he needed to turn that attitude back around.
“That decided…” Saul trailed off, pretending to consider something, “I think it’s time to tell you a few details the contract didn’t mention.”
“What would that be, my lord?”
“Although my House is making the payment to your family, you will be signed as my personal peon. I’m preparing for an important trip, and your work ethic and experience have impressed me.”
“Will the trip require water travel, my lord?” Bart asked, clearly more interested.
“That is a distinct possibility, though I’m not sure at the moment. Now, I consider myself something of a thaumaturge, so—” Saul noticed that the man looked confused, “that’s a magician specialized in the study of icons themselves and powers generally. So, I obviously took a personal interest in the icons that were available. While water isn’t an option, in my experience, animal icons are underappreciated. In fact, you could look at the sturgeon icon as a combination of the water icon and earth, or maybe strength. Duckweed wouldn’t have been that bad either, it is my personal favorite water plant.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really,” Saul said, trying to show his genuine interest in the subject, “I visit the Temple of Knowledge every day, and just earlier I was reading a record about a woman who had the fish icon and chose to use fragments from five more fish to awaken all of its abilities. The results were more powerful and varied than you might think.”
“Is that what you want me to do?”
“Not quite, the four icon fragments that would probably work best with sturgeon are bone, fire, water, and catfish. I think they are most likely to give you abilities with some watery aspects, without forcing you to be underwater to actually use them.”
“Bone, fire, water, catfish,” Bart muttered, looking at the ceiling, “and not underwater. That’s good. Animals aren’t that bad…what about a tree?” he asked, “maybe I could get a boat ability or something?”
“I honestly have no idea what combining a fish icon and a tree icon might give you, so let’s do it.” Saul said, “which of the fragments would you want to switch?”
“Well, the fire one, my lord, it doesn’t seem very watery?”
“I was hoping it would give you a steam related ability. I read about a man with the water and fire icons who had several of those.”
“Oh.” Bart shuddered slightly, “steam can certainly be dangerous. Maybe replace the water fragment then? Since they’re more valuable?”
Saul raised an eyebrow, “I’d be willing to make that switch if it’s what you want. I didn’t have a clear expectation for the water fragment anyway. But to be clear, I really have no clue what you’ll get with a tree and a fish. And you’re fine with bone?”
“Some fish scales are bone, so I assumed you want me to have that defense, my lord.”
“Yes, exactly. I suppose you would know your fish. It won’t literally give you scales, if you were wondering. Possibly temporary scales when using the ability, but that’s still unlikely.”
After a bit more discussion Bart agreed to the sturgeon icon with bone, fire, tree, and catfish fragments. Saul emphasized discretion about the specifics of who Bart would be working for, then the man left for the day.