“Enough of this depressing talk!” Gertrude’s aged voice broke out. “We know the realities we each face, and we Will make them better in our joint efforts. Let’s move onto better topics.”
“Indeed.” Flourana again agreed. Turning to Victoria she inquired. “Before departing, your apprentice spoke of seeking a trainer for self-defense.” Her eyes turned mischievous. “Do you have a certain proper looking elf on this city council, that you feel could easily fulfill such a request?” Her teasing tone was obvious at the red blooming on Victoria’s face.
The apothecary’s eyes cast about as if building various thoughts and ideas into a profitable return for herself. “That would actually be a very good idea. He seemed particularly interested in my apprentice’s wellbeing, bracing himself enough to come into my shop when he knew the likely outcome.” She smiled with relish. “I do so enjoy upsetting his carefully articulated professional demeanor. I’m seriously betting that underneath that too polite exterior, he has a burning heart just ready for the ravenous attentions of a willing woman.”
“Well now.” The exclamation came from Hanna as she peered over her steepled fingers in delight at this admission. “Please do go on.”
Even Gertrude and Flourana had both sat more upright in their seats, to better witness this romantic and wild side of their dear friend Victoria.
A blush once again lit up her face as she realized what she had spoken aloud. *Ahem* “I do believe that he will be a good choice to send Andrew to, in order to procure some lessons in self-defense. That’s all I meant to say.” She added halfheartedly.
Hanna looked at her with a raised eyebrow and speaking in a dry sarcastic tone. “Yes, certainly that is all that you meant to say.”
*Sigh* “Okay enough of this bickering and exclaiming of unrequited love.” Gertrude’s voice rang out in the room. “We came here for a much greater purpose than that of our dear Victoria’s love life and the needs of her apprentice.”
“That is the case.” Flourana agreed. Her voice grew grave as she spoke up with severity. “As such, I call to order the start of our meeting as the Hidden Sentinels of the Northern Expanse.”
A pall of silence came over the four ladies as they took on a much more serious demeanor.
The brief silence was broken by Flourana who again spoke up. “I bring more news regarding the happenings among the arriving Travelers.” She took a sip of her water in front of her before expounding. “As the earlier arrivals did foretell, I have been getting reports of subsequently larger waves of arrivals in each of the cities that I have my networked based in.” She grimaced at what she had to say next. “There has been a notable decline in the general display of propriety and sense of goodwill to these subsequent waves. Not to say that they are all decreasing in proper behavior, however, the average individual’s high level of good intentions and proper decorum has vastly decreased.”
Tapping a finger to her chin she added, “I can only venture to say that the Otherworld overseer likely planned it this way, in order to engender our more willing cooperation. He almost certainly is aware of the personalities of those that he sends our way and knows that first impressions are highly regarded.”
“Yes.” Victoria interjected. “I’ve seen the council here in our City of the Falls made a recent decision to create a Travelers welcoming guild of sorts several paces from the Travelers stone. It appears that Andrew was an outlier, as he first appeared at the falls. All the subsequent Travelers have arrived within a couple of paces of the stone itself, allowing them to easily press their hand upon it and gain the ability to speak our language.”
The others listened on to Victoria as this appeared to be news to them to some degree or other. “The newly created Travelers guild has been recording the images, names, and basic elemental compatibility of the arrivals. For those that accept placement into the military, they provide a light stone and one other basic elemental affinity stone, along with some basic gear. They have also created a kind of display of apprentice level and mass-produced weapons for the Travelers to choose from. Most appear to be more than willing to be shuffled off to the front lines for military training, but some do stick around.”
Turning to Hanna, Victoria’s voice took on a somewhat accusing tone. “Speaking of weapons.” Then nodding at Flourana in apology she continued. “I know this is off topic, but I must ask.”
Turning back to Hanna she continued. “When my apprentice was away on his adventure with the patrol, he left behind the staff that he had gotten from your husband’s forge. I took the time to go into his room at this rare opportunity to take a closer look at his staff. I mean, ever since he got the thing, he has never let it leave his side whether he was awake or asleep. When handling it, I felt a notable yet benign repulsion from it. I cannot fully determine the materials that it was made of, however, I can sense that they were certainly not within the price range of what my apprentice has accumulated.”
“Care to weigh in on this?” Victoria asked Hanna with a tone of challenge and inquiry.
Hanna and Gertrude gave each other a look before Gertrude was surprisingly the one who spoke up. “This is actually my fault.” Victoria turned her curious gaze to the wizened turtle.
“Ever since I saw how Andrew reacted to the translation amulet, saw his results with the affinity testing, and heard him voice his longing for the sensation of the gift or ability he remarked to have in his own world . . .”
Pausing for a moment to take a deep breath she continued. “I collaborated with Hanna here to see if there was a material that she could make, utilizing powdered Sin and Will stones in order to form a tool or weapon that Andrew could use that might boost his recovery of said ability.” Giving a sidelong glance of her own at the other guilty party she added. “I hadn’t expected her to utilize so much of the other very precious compounds in the creation of his staff. It truly is a weapon bound fortune that he has his hands on.” She finished with.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Looking exasperated at the both of them, Victoria then faced down Hanna alone. “How much is that staff worth that your husband designed, and what else did you put in it?”
Fidgeting with her hands for a bit, Hanna finally responded to the pointed questions aimed her way. As if recalling the materials that had gone into the mixed compound for Andrews staff she began mumbling under her breath. “Let me see here, mithril for magic flow, adamantium for reinforcement, meteorite iron for ethereal enhancement, the obvious powdered Will and Sin stones requested, as well as a special ingredient of my own procurement. . .” Here eyes glazed over as she calculated. “For the measurable ingredients it should cost about 12 Perfect Light stones, more or less.”
Victoria appeared about to have a heart attack at this development. “My. . .” She was momentarily lost for words, then with a fixated glare she continued with clipped words, “My . . . Apprentice. Has been walking around . . . With a weapon, costing about a dozen Perfect Light stones for The Past WEEK?!” Her voice had notably risen at the end.
Hanna responded with a somewhat somber tone as she defended herself. “If it’s any consolation, it would take another metallurgist like me at the Sentinel level or higher to discover the true value of his staff. I was able to use my special ingredient to mask the other materials quite well.” Her tone turned into one of satisfied accomplishment.
Pressing her hand against her head as if with a blooming headache, Victoria inquired. “And what may I ask is the special ingredient that you used?”
Hanna’s lips twitched in suppressed humor. “I may have in the past, knocked off some of Elder Wyrm Geode Terran’s scales the last time he dared to leave the confines of the earth labyrinth. In an attempt to discover how to better penetrate his defenses, I experimented heavily with his scales and after much trial and error, I was able to render them down to a powder form. I threw in a few handfuls of that into the mix as a bonding agent and aura suppressor to hide the other components.”
Victoria moved to pinching the top of her nose at this revealing declaration. “Hanna. . .” She said. “If my apprentice comes to any harm from this new weapon of his. I promise that I will make it my personal goal to freeze those core earth fires in your special forge, that you are so very proud of, until there is not the slightest trace of heat emitting from them.”
The dwarven lady appeared truly stricken at this proclamation. Gertrude and Flourana each appeared to be stifling laughter at her predicament.
“I. . . I will make sure that my husband Brutus knows not to share the true value of it to anyone. Even his own apprentices, are unaware. He made sure to give them the impression that this was simply a new experimental product that might eventually become more widespread in its release. As for the price your apprentice paid. My husband, being a skilled metallurgist himself, was able to sense how much was in Andrew’s money pouch. That was simply just to instill within him a sense of greater appreciation and value for that which he bought.”
Seeing Victoria’s continued deadly stare, she hurried on to say. “There will be no request for repayment.” Then she added again somewhat pridefully. “You might not be aware of it, but with the sheer magnitude of minerals, metals, and various other rare treasures I have accumulated beneath the surface, I could crash the entire economy of this continent, if I were to release even a tenth of my treasures on the market.”
*Sigh. . . * “Whatever.” Victoria finally conceded in weary resignation.
“As interesting as that is, we should get back on topic.” Flourana sounded out to the room.
Agreeing nods confirmed her request before she again spoke, addressing Victoria’s comment before. “Was there anything more you had to say on this City’s organization of the Travelers welcoming?”
Victoria shook her head to the negative.
“Very well.” Continued the deer lady. “As I was saying before, that the antics of the Travelers leaves much to be desired at times. A great number of them have been arriving with clearly great misconceptions as to how our world works. Requesting things such as immediate apprenticeship to various trades people, asking various vendors if they had any requests for deliveries. They’ve also been hounding the mage and adventurer’s guilds for magic spells, weapons techniques, and information on their request boards. Many of the other cities have initiated a request board of sorts to be created for the Travelers due to their incessant nagging. However, their notable lack of literacy in our common language, has proven quite troublesome at times and requires a heavier employee load to accommodate them.”
Waving her hand as if to say good riddance, Flourana spoke again. “Moving on to other topics, there has been a notable influx of black-market transactions for basic and inferior tier Will Stones, specifically among the cult of Broam. I’m afraid of what that might portend. I haven’t noticed a notable increase of overwritten memories since the last time we spoke. It is my hope and dread that they are simply trying to reinforce those that they already have under their sway. I dread such as I don’t know what they may be planning. But I hope that this means fewer non-initiated will be dragged into their following. That is all I have to say at the moment.”
Gertrude then spoke. “Thank you Flourana. We appreciate you keeping us up to date with these great concerns.” Raising her neck to look out at the other three gathered she spoke up. “I have some potentially good news. Most of the deities and even devils have spoken to their followers and banned the use of Will stones upon the Travelers. I don’t know if this was an additional agreement made with the Overseer from the other world, or if this was something decided on their own. It mayhap be, that they are concerned such meddling may diminish the potential value of these new Travelers.”
“They have been appearing to maintain an above average affinity to various elements that prove more effective as compared to that of the majority of their previous and now deceased followers. We all know that the use of Will stones to supplant the will of another, weakens their potential if the invading will overtakes that of the consumer. Successful assimilation of a Will stone, albeit rare that is, without losing oneself however boosts their potential.”
Spreading her scaly claws in appeal she concluded. “That is all the news I have to say on the Esoteric front.”
Flourana turned to Hanna and asked. “Are there any changes to the underdark or below ground?”
“Pshaw! Nope.” Hanna exclaimed. “That spineless wyrm still continues to hide like a tick inside that impenetrable labyrinth. Honestly, and I’m not even sure he knows this, but if he stays holed up for too much longer, that eventually the labyrinth will likely assimilate him, rather than the reverse as he is attempting.”
*Humph!* “That would actually be a positive outcome, if disappointing for me as I am not yet ready to challenge the labyrinth itself.”
Gertrude placed a comforting claw on her arm, patting it gently. “We will all get there eventually as we strive to stimulate and enhance our potential.”
Silence reigned for a moment, which then Victoria broke. “As for the Elder Ice dragon north of the front-line battles going on, I have good news. It appears that Arctis Ventus has decided for now, on a more passive front as she guards her eggs. She neither urges any of the more powerful forces to join the battle, nor has she personally taken part in any of the conflict lately.”
Seeming to have concluded with what she had to say, she relaxed back in her chair.
“Well.” Flourana spoke up. “It appears to be mostly hopeful news this time around. I’m grateful that we are able to secure the stability that we currently have. I just hope that we can retain as much as new elements are introduced into the volatile mix.”
All of them jointly nodded at that before she then added. “Well let’s talk more about what we read in the romance novel then shall we. . . .?”