While I stay at Splott for the moment to start in on a skill exchange, the others return to the surface to visit the village of Talgarth, Rowan’s Hearth. It’s prudent to let them know he’s okay before they do anything about it that might get people hurt. One of the Splott goblins goes along with samples of what resources the local Hearth has to offer in trade.

“So, how do you build boats here, anyway?” I ask.

“You teach us first,” one of the goblins says. “You have many more things to teach than us. We only have our boats.”

“Let me tell you a little about [Masonry], then,” I say.

“Stacking stones doesn’t sound so hard,” says a goblin.

“Well, there’s a little more to it than just that,” I say.

After I give my first lecture and demonstration, and create a few example tools, we move on to my first lesson. I look over their piles of hides and bones.

“So how do you put these boats together?” I ask.

“We’re not starting with that,” says the head boat goblin, Smop. “We have to show you through every part of the process. It’s tradition.”

“So where do we start?” I ask.

“With a harpoon,” Smop says, picking one up and handing it to me so I can take a closer look. “You see how the end has a hook on it? We carve Splottfish bones into hooks to catch more Splottfish. We make boats out of Splottfish hide and bones.”

“What exactly is a Splottfish?” I ask.

The goblin gestures to a large creature in the process of being processed. It’s about the size of a horse, with frilly violet fins like a betta fish but tusks like a walrus.

“I see,” I say. “Alright, show me how to make these bone harpoons.”

Smop walks me through instructions, gives demonstrations, and lets me try my hand at it. I ruin some of the bones, but he assures me not to worry about it. Everyone has to learn sometime and I’ll be replacing the materials shortly anyway once I actually catch a Splottfish.

Congratulations! You have crafted a Poor quality weapon. Skill acquired: Crafting (Bonecrafting)

It might be Poor, but at least I successfully made one, and got the skill unlocked at the first harpoon that could actually be used as a harpoon. The line is made from sinew, and I’m not sure if devil-goat wool would be an improvement here even if it’s stronger than normal wool. I’ll leave experimenting to these fisher goblins once we actually get a trade going with them. I’m just trying to unlock as many crafting skills as I can.

“Good!” Smop says. “Now, these days we go out in boats to drive them toward the village so we don’t have to drag them as far. Our boats are, obviously, not big and strong enough to actually carry a Splottfish. Don’t worry. You won’t have to haul it back by yourself. We all work together! First off, though, we need to see how far you can throw. Here, just use one of the messed up ones with broken barbs to practice. Probably won’t get caught on the rocks and no big deal if you lose it.”

After determining how well I can throw a harpoon, I also determine that I’m not as strong as an adult goblin. Curse these low child attributes. Oh well. This might just take more practice.

On the banks of Splott Island, where Splott Hearth is in the middle of Splott Lake, I scan the murky waters for a Splottfish. These goblins are certainly intent upon putting their Hearth’s name into everything. Not that I can blame them. What else were they going to call it?

“Yell when you see one!” says Smop. “Sometimes they get mad and try to attack people. Those tusks aren’t just for show.”

My [Aura Sight] picks up a fish-shaped monster moving around not far from shore.

Category Monster Type Fish Gender Female Rank Elite

“I see one,” I say, pointing and giving a distance.

“Good eye!” Smop says. “You have Search (Fish)?”

Stolen story; please report.

“No, I have Clairvoyance (Aura Sight),” I say. “It also tells me that this one is female and Elite.”

“Ooh! The females are bigger and meaner. See if you can hit her!”

“I’ll give it a shot!” I say, hefting my harpoon.

The first throw comes nowhere near the fish. The second clips her fluttery purple fins. Although it doesn’t catch, it does have the effect of pissing her off, resulting in her swimming closer. The third throw sticks, and the goblins around me let out a whoop as they grab the line and help pull her in. As she gets closer, two more goblins hook their own lines into her to help.

The glistening purple fish reaches the rocky shore, thrashing about wildly and flailing with her tusks in an attempt to gore the goblins who dared attack her. The goblins stab her with smooth long spears to keep their distance while making sure she’s actually dead.

Congratulations! You have caught a Huge fish. Skill acquired: Striking (Harpoon) Your Survival (Fishing) skill has increased to level 2.

“Good hunt!” Smop says. “Good eye, Drake. And good work, everyone! Praise be to Splott!”

Smop shows me how to strip its scales and trim its gossamer fins. They look like they could be made into a fancy dress with very little effort, and yet none of the goblins wear clothing made from Splottfish fins.

“Why don’t your people wear these?” I ask, holding up a handful of fins big enough to cover me from head to toe.

Smop seems so puzzled by the question that my empathy detector has a new prime example for utter confusion. “That wouldn’t be very practical. They don’t offer any protection or warmth. Would humans wear them?”

“Maybe,” I say. “Humans might think they’re pretty.”

“Your Hearth considers gray pretty?” Smop asks. “You all wear those dark clothes.”

“Gray?” I ask, emitting the same shade of puzzlement. “This is bright violet.”

“Ah!” Smop says. “Goblins can’t see violet.”

“Oh, right,” I say. “Milo mentioned something about that. And… wait, do you mean you see my clothes as the color ‘dark’?”

Smop nods. “It’s beautiful! I hope we can trade for some of your Hearth’s materials, whatever sort of material that is. I’ve been told violet is more blue than blue, though I can’t imagine how. I might say dark is more red than red, but that probably doesn’t mean anything to you either.”

Once this part of the task is finished, I’m rewarded with a system window.

Skill acquired: Crafting (Skinning)

The other goblins help me with dismantling the innards, and I immediately realize that this so-called fish has absolute nonsense for internal organs. It’s like a lootbox containing a several units of meat, a few units of fat, and units of fish oil, ink, and ambergris, not to mention the two ivory tusks on the front. It’s downright implausible that all these useful resources would have naturally developed in the same animal. The goblins just consider it the gifts of Splott.

I would be greatly surprised if none of the human villages wanted any of these. I’m already thinking of what might be crafted from these materials.

The goblins insist on teaching me every part of the process, and I’m quite sure that there’s no one that knows more about processing Splottfish than Splotts. They’re unique to this lake and effectively part of the Hearth, much like the devil-goats are part of Corwen. They’re spawned monsters and not animals. I’m guessing it costs less essence to spawn something as a baby, even one that quickly grows into a full-sized monster, than it is to simply spawn the resources and give them to the goblins. From what I’ve seen, aether cores don’t simply give people things without demanding a challenge from them.

With the huge fish reduced to its raw materials, it’s my turn to give a lesson and then it’s over to the boatmaking. Boats are frequently damaged or lost, so new boats regularly need to be made. The goblin crafters take great pride in their craftsmanship and are happy to prove themselves to a human who has so much more to teach them than they have to teach me. I know a little of a lot of things, though, and I don’t have any one skill I have pushed very high.

Just as I’m starting in on the boat building lessons, the rest of my party returns, along with a blond human man I don’t recognize.

“Hey, Drake!” Anise says brightly. “We’re back! I hope you’ve made good use of the time. Do you know how to make a boat yet?”

“No, I’m only just starting that,” I say.

“Aw, so what have you been doing?”

“Fishing. Check this stuff out.” I show her the violet frilly fins. “You think anyone would like to wear a dress made from these?”

“Oh, neat,” Anise says. “Maybe! Hey, this here is Dale Talgarth. He’s here for boring trading stuff.”

Dale says hi before going off to do the boring trading stuff. I’m sure Milo is thrilled. I, however, am going to catch up with my friends and family.

“Hey, Rowan,” I say. “How annoyed at you was your mom? Were you gone long enough that she was more thankful to see you than mad at you?”

“A bit of both,” Rowan says. “They might not have let me leave the Hearth again at all until it’s too late if Milo hadn’t persuaded them. What in the Void is his Charisma at?”

“Dunno,” I say with a shrug. “Why don’t you ask him that? He might even tell you.”

“I’ve started learning Goblin as well. I guess I should have expected that I ought to learn it if I was joining a party with goblins in it,” Rowan says. “Your mom has been very… I don’t know if patient is the right word, but she’s definitely enthusiastic. Like everything is the most fun.”

“It is!” Anise interjects with a grin. “I’m getting to see and do new things. I don’t know how Drake has the patience for all this crafting stuff, but it’s kind of his thing and he seems to enjoy it so to each their own. I won’t complain if it keeps leading to cool things to use. Will Splott have an inn soon too?”

“I’ve been teaching them [Masonry] but, again, we’ll need to wrangle a trade agreement from Penbryn before we can actually build anything. And by ‘we’ I mean ‘Milo’.”