The room-hallway area they seemed to inhabit was filled with a dim haze of light coming from a walk down. Shigeo was nervously fidgeting with his pant pocket, Gale’s tail tucking itself slightly in between her legs. Jamey took in the sight before starting to walk towards the source of the haze, stopping once Shigeo’s hand started to pull him back.
“Where are you going? Shouldn’t we wait before exploring more?”
“We might as well scope out the area to know what to expect, who knows what could be here.”
Shigeo hesitated before releasing Jamey and following a few steps behind him. Gale silently nodded before following the two as well. The floor seemed to be of cobblestone to some extent, the walls more of dirt and wood as they walked down a slight decline.
“I really, really think we should go back,” Shigeo whined consistently every other minute as they continued to follow Jamey.
The haze’s source seemed as far away as it was in the beginning. That’s… strange… Jamey looked to the ground, is it the floor? He slowed his pace then caught something in the corner of his eye, the tiles of the floor seemed to move just slightly slower than his pace. To minimize their travel speed.
Jamey halted, making Shigeo’s eyes light up, “So we’re going back? Great, come on, this way.” He started to tug the sleeve of Jamey’s tunic slightly.
“We might as well since we aren’t going anywhere,” Jamey deadpanned, making an air of idiocy strike the three silently. Gale slowly turned around and walked towards the exit, which was ironically three solid steps away.
“Okay,” Gale said, elongating the O, “I seem to have miscalculated, we need to go to Siana’s first.”
“Siana?” Shigeo trailed after her, simply glad he didn't (under the circumstances of a monster from a passage) die today.
“Yeah, she’s the best wizard in Losdon, saved the place from a marauding troll once, famous with the townspeople ever since,” She explained casually as they stepped out of the disguised entryway, “she opened up a shop in town once she retired from protecting Losdon. It's the 200 year anniversary of opening the shop, so they are starting a ‘hodge-podge and hexes’ class for beginners. We could get some help with the jinx on the corridor from her.”
“200? How old can the people here be?” Shigeo commented, remembering the mayor.
“Granted, Mayor Lambar is a Dwarf and Siana is an Elf,” she informed him, shutting the door behind Jamey, watching the handle recede into the cement.
“Why are Dwarves so old?”
“There are some races who have really small life spans too.”
“Like what?”
“Inugen and Torin are some examples.”
“Torin?”
“Torin are bird people, their lifespan depends on the kind of bird.”
“What about Inugen?”
“They’re dog people.”
“Like you?”
“No, I’m Hinu. Inugen are more like bipedal dogs that can speak, quite literally.”
Their conversation continued until they reached a building that said “Siana’s Spells and Serums” where Gale warned the two cadets (mainly talking to Shigeo) to not speak about age, especially around Siana before they entered.
“Just keep stirring the pot diligently until it becomes a soft blue- be right back.” A voice was heard from somewhere inside before a glowing circle of unknown runes appeared in front of the doorway and a thick tendril of smoke coiled into a small capsule, dissipating to reveal an Elf with nice white hair, simplistic glasses, and who was as tall as Shigeo.
“Hello Hello! Are you here for the beginner magic classes?” The woman who Jamey assumed to be Siana greeted them cheerfully.
“No, we’re just here to look around,” Gale responded.
“Alrighty, the class ends at 2:00, if you need anything just say ‘Siana’ and I’ll be there shortly.” The she-elf walked off gracefully.
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“I kind of want to watch the classes,” Jamey said before excusing himself, Shigeo and Gale started to simply loiter around the shop, every now and then Shigeo asking about magic produce that was being sold. After what felt like a few minutes, the class was dismissed.
Gale ambled over to Siana once realizing this and said, “I’m looking for something specific, I need help finding it.”
“Ah, what is this specific something if I may ask,” she responded.
“I need something that can dispel jinxes,” Gale explained.
“Hm… let me check,” she tapped on her wrist, a smaller version of the erqua materialized, hovering meekly above the elf’s wrist.
She scrolled on the screen, closing the erqua before swiveling on her heel, “right this way if you will.”
Gale followed her as the two cadets stood near where the magical decks of cards were located. The two individuals were toying with an oddly textured rope when Gale returned, a small ball-like object in hand. Shigeo messily put the rope back in its previous shelf space and they headed out, Gale thanking Siana before they left.
“So what next? Should we brave the passage again?” Gale asked, Jamey trying to identify if the question was for comical reasons or if she was serious.
“I say we wait until tomorrow, who knows how long the passage is,” Shigeo shrugged, Jamey rolled his eyes at the statement, your cowardice is showing he hummed internally.
“Fair point, maybe we should get you two some weapons to attack anything that might be inside,” Gale chirped.
“Huh?” Shigeo blinked.
“I would think the Smithy Siblings would still have their shop open.”
“Who?”
“They are the blacksmiths of the town: Skazu is the oldest and does the artillery, Sisdra is the middle and the battle smith, then there’s Tori who does the armor, he’s the youngest.” Gale explained as they walked to a more rural area of town, a noticeable clanking of metals being sharpened to the smithy’s preference. They walked down the dirt road to come across a large house-like building with an open area where two gray dwarves were talking.
“Darn it Tori! I told ya’ the request said full iron! Full!” The one with a more mangled appearance said roughly.
“How can I when you’re hoggin’ the furnace?” The one that was called Tori snapped, dropping a half-leather half-iron chestplate on the ground.
“Shut it before I make the two o’ ya’ sleep outside with Bessie!” Another one barked as he entered the garage-like area through a door that led inside the house.
“Uhm Skazu?” Gale called shyly, getting the Dwarves’ attention, the three smithies turning to scan their visitors. Mr. Mangled slowly letting go of so called Tori’s shirt.
“Ah Gale! Does Brutus need a new ax? Or did ‘is break?” The previously homebodied one hobbled over, “who ‘re these lads?” The Dwarf lifted his head to inspect the five foot and above trio.
“This is Jamey and Shigeo,” Gale introduced them, pointing to each cadet respectively. “We would like to get some light-weight weapons,” she briefed the Dwarf.
“Any specific type? Knives, Guns, Axes,” Skazu started to list armaments animatedly.
“I think we might need a fitting,” Gale replied, glancing at the confused trainees.
“Hmm… Alright, just wait so I can set it up right quick,” he turned around to face his brothers. “Sisdra! Help me set up the fittin’ targets. Tori! Go get da’ sample weapons.” The Dwarf instructed replacing the O with an I in “weapons”. It was a solid 10+ minutes before Skazu hobbled back to explain further.
“Here’s the deal, I gotta assortment of sample knives, guns, etcetera for ya’ to try out. Just tell Sisdra or me if you’ve foun’ the one ya’ like da’ most, we can change most everythin’ ‘bout it.” He pointed to the seemingly short tempered one as he talked about Sisdra.
Jamey paused before hesitantly picking a throwing knife from the assortment of quote-on-quote sample weapons which included axes, guns, swords, even flails and nunchucks which slightly surprised him. Comically, Shigeo on the other hand, instantly started trying out the nunchucks while making 5y/o ninja sound effects. Jamey started to feel the handles of each weapon to get the sense of it all. He could make out Gale and the Dwarves conversing among themselves somewhere out of sight as he imitated throwing a throwing ax, though putting it back soon after. Jamey started to browse the gun samples before picking up a sniper rifle and holding it carefully in his hands. He inspected it before coming to the conclusion that it was a HK G28 M110A1 417 sniper rifle to be exact. He held it cautiously, jumping when the barrel retracted to show a rapier blade. So it turns into a rapier? Okay.
“I think I’d do the nunchucks if I could throw them and they come back, kinda like a boomerang,” Jamey heard Shigeo reporting to Skazu.
“I can do ‘dat, any other things ya’ want? A specific design perhaps?”
“Oh yeah! I want dragon heads on the ends where it meets the chain and,” Shigeo started to ramble, reminding Jamey of a little kid specifying what specific kind of Nerf Gun he wanted for Christmas.
“I see ya’ like ‘dat melee sniper ‘dere,” Sisdra hobbled over to Jamey.
“So that’s what it’s called when it turns into a sword.”
“Yup, one ova kind. Skazu and I made it when we were mere lads,” the Dwarf’s eyes seemed to go distant with nostalgia. “Do ya’ think it's ‘da one yer’ gonna pick?” He asked after dispersing the old memories.
“I think the handle of the gun, post-transformation, should shift to be more hilt-esqe, just my opinion,” Jamey pointed out.
“Alright,” Sisdra scribbled something down on a notepad from his pocket, “anythin’ else?”
“A rapier blade can only do so much so I say we change it to a more broadsword-like blade, but still keep it around the same size because of the amount of space we have to work with.”
“Ayup.”
Gale, who was observing the Tori’s armor forging, couldn’t help but smile as she watched the two ramble about their choice of weapon. Eventually, the two Dwarven brothers rendezvoused for Sisdra to give Skazu Jamey’s order and break apart to do their assigned tasks. Skazu waves the two cadets down to double-check the requests. After two nods of affirmation, the men walked over to Gale.
“So how long until they're finished with the weapons?” Shigeo asked, excitement just noticeable in his voice.
“I would assume it depends on how focused Sisdra and Skazu are,” Gale answered, shrugging.
“Why… Couldn’t it be shorter?” Shigeo whined, reminding both of the others of an impatient child.
“I say the two of you head back to the cave so you can be ready for tomorrow,” Gale said, Jamey obliged and dragged Shigeo off to the cave.