Author’s Note: So I meant to have this chapter written and posted Friday or Satuday, but then I got really sick Friday and was sick through the entire weekend. Actually I still feel like shit right now so I’m keeping this short. Please enjoy the chapter.
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Chapter 22
“Lass, where did ya get this pure adamantite?” Huvreck asked.
I shook my head. “Where I got it isn’t important right now. I still need you to identify these other materials. I might tell you after that. No guarantee though.” I replied
“That’s fine. After seeing this adamantite, I’m curious about what else ya might have brought.” He said. He took the titanil next and examined it, eventually his expression turned perplexed. He sat that one down and picked up the chromanite, but again he could only examine it with a blank expression. After putting down that one too, he sunk to the ground with an aggrieved sigh.
“Is there something wrong with identifying these two?” I inquired.
“My pride as a craftsman has been hurt. I’ve never seen materials I couldn’t recognize before!” He gloomily stated.
He can’t recognize these either? That’s not good at all. Does that mean this world has etherenite, well adamantite here, but not titanil or chromanite? These materials are vital for my warp drive’s shield casing and frame. “You’ve really never seen these before?” I asked.
“Nope. Never seen in my life. Where did ya get these unknown materials lass? The adamantite too, for that matter.” Huvreck questioned.
“I can’t say. All I can say is that the source is used up, so no reason to bother looking for it.” I answered.
“I see. So, I get the feeling ya needed more than just an identification of these?” He asked.
“That’s my business. I don’t know you well enough to give out that kind of information.” I stated.
“Well now, it doesn’t take an Oracle to figure out that if someone asks about materials, it’s usually because they’re making something. I would guess ya be looking for more of these materials for whatever it is. Sadly, I can’t help ya with that.” He said.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Of course, I can’t tell ya where to find materials I’ve never seen, but for the adamantite it’s damn near impossible to get. There’s only one place I know of to get it but because of the circumstances, ya’d never get any.” He declared.
“So there is a source for adamantite somewhere at least? I’m willing to admit that I do need a lot more of that.” I replied.
“The only people that trade in adamantite are the dark dwarves.” He said ruefully.
“And, as you said before, there’s a problem with that?” I inquired.
“Aye. No one knows where the dark dwarves live or where their mine is. They trade only through a certain organization and that group is very protective of that relationship. Lots of folks have tried searching, but they all ended up dead. I’m not even going to tell ya the name of the organization, because I don’t want to end up on that list too. Actually, I might have already said too much.” He said, while scratching the back of his head.
“Are you sure you’re not willing to give me a name and maybe a location to search from? I can promise that they won’t find out from me that you gave me the information.” I replied.
“Lass, I don’t want a target on my back. I know ya be strong since ya could use that bow, but that group is damn scary and they have their hands in everything, the guilds, the military and even the nobility.” He declared. Then he rubbed his hands together. “I’m willing to give ya just the name though, in return for a small favor.”
“What kind of favor?” I asked suspiciously.
“Nothing big or difficult for someone with ability, but it’s something that is almost impossible for me to get in this town. Ya know of the dungeon near the town right?” I nodded, so he continued. “In the deepest part of that dungeon is a tree that grows out of a small pool. It’s an excellent tree for staff materials and I’ve had a commision for a pair of staves from that for a while for some sorcerers that I know from way back. Basically I need ya to go through the dungeon and cut me some branches off of that tree. That’s all.”
“If your sorcerer friends want those, why don’t they just get the materials themselves. Also why don’t you just hire some adventurers from the city here to do it?” Honestly this favor didn’t seem that hard, but I still wanted to establish these details because there might be some hidden risk factors.
“My sorcerer friends are a retired adventuring couple. They are busy raising their kids. They want the staves for their kids when they reach the age to start training in magic. That’s why there hasn’t really been a rush since they put in the order to me. There’s still a few years before the kids are ready to even use the things. As for why I can’t ask other adventurers here, most of the adventurers here are too bloody weak to get to the deepest part of the dungeon since it requires fighting the boss. The boss is at least double the level of the other monsters in there. Adventurers just raise their level here and then go off to one of those other dungeons. Also to be honest with ya, I just don’t have the money to hire good adventurers. You’re the first one to come by in a while with a shot at getting me the materials and I really want to take my time and do a good job making those staves, ya know?”
“I see, that all sounds pretty straightforward. I was planning on checking the dungeon out anyway. I hadn’t planned to bother clearing the place, but I can do that too if necessary.” I said.
“So, ya agree to my favor and I agree to give ya the information when ya get back with the goods, aye?” Huvreck asked.
“Yeah, I agree. I won’t promise them later today, but I’ll be in town for a few days, so I’ll get you it sometime before I leave.” I stated.
“Alright then, I’ll give ya this hatchet too. Ya’ll need it when ya get to the tree and it will probably be helpful for the boss too.” He hands me a hatchet off his own belt. The axe head was a peculiar red color.
“Why would it be useful for the boss?” I asked.
“The boss of the woods is an Elder Treant, the bow wouldn’t be very effective against that. For the branches, just get me a couple two meter long branches. I’ll give ya this bag to put them in too. It’s a spare so it will work for ya.” He picked up a small pouch that was lying on the ground.
“Is this a bag of holding then?”
“Course it is. It’s empty and it’s registered to me, so ya won’t be able to take out anything ya put in, but that should work fine right? I’ll check over the goods when ya return.”
“Yep, seems like negotiation is complete then.” I slipped the hatchet in my belt and then tied the pouch there too. “I’ll be going.”
“Next time you visit, bring some good ale. We’ll have a drinking party.” He laughed as he waved me off.
“I’ll think about it.” I walked to the doorway leading out of the backroom before turning my head back. “Oh yeah, Huvreck?”
“Do ya still need something lass?” He asked perplexed. He looked like he was just about to get back to the work my visit had interrupted.
“Just wanted to tell you. That if I do this favor for you and then it turns out that the information you gave me was false…” I let my voice trail off eerily. It promised all kinds of unpleasantness. “No worries though, you just have to keep your side of the bargain as you said.” I smiled and left the store.
Was there any other business to take care of? I have a weapon and an ID. I already had supplies in my pack, so I don’t need to worry about that. I guess all I’m missing is the location of the dungeon. I didn’t ask about that and all Seran said was that it was to the north of town. I guess I could go back to the guild and ask for directions again. I think if I do that, I’ll end up embroiled in the idiots. I guess that only leaves one place to ask unless I ask a random person, which I’ll pass on. I hadn’t expected to visit there again the very next day. I backtracked toward the plaza and then into the apothecary shop.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Witch girl noticed me as soon as I came in, but there were other customers today so she couldn’t rush over to me. It was kind of amusing watching her facial expression that kept flicking to Coa on my neck as she was conducting business. I took some time looking around the items on the shelves. I had no idea what anything was but there were lots of salves and lotions and other things of that nature. There were some powders too. I only see women shopping in here, so maybe it’s that kind of female oriented product store? Probably why the merchant recommended me here. Eventually the store emptied of the other customers and witch girl beckoned me over to the counter. “Hello, I saw you brought the cutie in today! I didn’t expect you to visit me again so soon. I did bring in my familiar just in case.” She brought up a small basket and inside it was a small white kitten sleeping. “Isn’t she adorable?”
“She is.” I agreed. I was being honest too, I tended to prefer cats over dogs if I had to make a choice. I brought Coa down from my neck and let her see the kitten too. ”Actually I’d love to stay and play, but I needed directions to the dungeon. All I know is that it’s to the north of town.”
“You’re not going to take the cutie there are you? You should leave her here with me. I’ll let her sleep in the warm basket with Nirvi and take good care of her I promise!” She pleaded.
“She’ll be safe with me. I just really need those directions if you would?” I asked pointedly.
“Boo boo boooo! It’s pretty simple to get there. Just follow the road that goes past the adventurer’s guild entrance and then keep following it out the city gate. The dungeon is only a few hours away from town. You have to come visit tomorrow and actually play alright?”
“I promise to visit again tomorrow and for a longer stay.” I agreed. There were a lot of things regarding magic that I could ask a Witch.
“Good! You be careful too, cutie, I don’t want to hear about you getting hurt okay?” She whispered to Coa as she patted her gently. I allowed her to continue that for a few minutes before I finally had to stop her, since I think she would have patted Coa the whole day if I let her.
As I walked through the plaza stalls, Coa perked up and started whining. I looked at what drew her attention and it was a stall selling meat skewers. She couldn’t still be hungry could she? Apparently that was a foolish question because she started whining even louder and that started drawing a lot of attention to me. I sighed and walked over to the stall. “Excuse me, can I have one skewer.”
The man working the stall nodded. “That will be eight copper miss.”
I pulled out a silver coin. “Here.”
The man looked a bit taken aback. “Sorry miss, I don’t have enough copper yet today to give you change for a silver.”
“That’s fine, just give me more skewers next time I see you. I think my pet will be happy if you do.” I replied. Honestly, I have two hundred silver coins, losing one isn’t a big loss.
I received the skewer of grilled meat and had to continue making my way, though I was quite aware of all the eyes that followed me or more specifically followed the little dragon that was hanging from around my neck straining to reach the skewer that I was holding just a bit out of her reach. I took Coa from my neck to my left hand and then with my right hand held the skewer in front of her and she started taking bites out of it. I had really hoped to keep Coa as out of sight as possible, but it looked like expecting a child to follow all your directions was an impossibility. When I think of the price I was told earlier about how much Coa would be worth, I foresee that I’m going to have some trouble arise because of this.
The attention followed me all the way until I reached the city gate, which I passed through easily after showing one of the guards my new ID. A few hours distance to the dungeon though, shouldn’t be more than a few dozen kilometers. Too bad there are other people around at the moment or I could hurry this along, but I’m stuck to my current slightly faster than normal walking pace. The people just ahead of me look like another adventurer party. There’s four of them. One using a shield and sword, one using a large axe, one wearing a robe and using a staff and the last has a bow. Pretty well balanced party I suppose. Coa finished off the skewer, so I tossed it to the side of the road and let Coa move back to her spot around my neck.
After about an hour of following them, the one in the robe turned around and noticed me or maybe they had already noticed my presence, but they finally turned around to see who had been behind them for so long. Ahh, they drew their party’s attention to me. The rest of the party now turned around to glance at me too. Well, if they want to chat with me, I’m fine with it. It would at least kill some time. Contrary to what I expected, they didn’t start a conversation with me, if anything it seemed like they were disgusted by me? At least that’s the emotion I was picking up from their minds. That was odd. It bothers me to be hated on sight for seemingly no reason.
I don’t feel like bothering to stay behind these assholes anymore. So I sped up and went around them leaving them behind as they became shocked by the sudden turn of events. I didn’t bother slowing my pace down until I caught sight of a large number of adventurers and a building ahead. The building was decently sized and there were even some stalls next to it selling some goods. The main thing that caught my attention though was the forest I saw next to the building and where I could see some adventurers going into. It was probably one of the spookier forests I had ever seen and there was a thick mist that was flowing out of it, though it dissipated once it left the forest’s boundaries.
It appeared that I had found the dungeon. I got to the crowd of adventurers and it seems like most of them were either chatting about random things or waiting for party members that were running behind. One of the stalls was selling lanterns, which I guess made sense. If the mist was thick as it seemed to be from the outside, then it was likely going to be very dark in there. I had excellent night vision so I didn’t bother with one of those. I pushed my way through the rest of the crowd and eventually made it to another stall, but this one wasn’t selling anything, but seemed to be something of a check in point right at the dungeon entrance.
There was a brief line that moved pretty quickly and I had my ID ready for when I made it to the front of the line. The man gave the ID a glance, but then glanced at it again before he spoke up. “Miss, are you entering the dungeon alone? Where’s the rest of your party?”
“Yes, I’m entering alone. Is there a problem?” I asked.
“No, but even if the guild is keeping the dungeon at a low level, it’s still a dangerous place.” He answered.
“Then that’s fine. I can handle a little danger, or will you stop me from entering just because I’m alone?” I inquired.
“Sadly, I’m not allowed to stop you, even if I think you’re making a mistake.” He replied. “Do you at least have a lantern with you?”
“No, I don’t think I need one. If that’s all the warning you have to give, then I’m going.” I said. Without letting him hold me up anymore I went past him and into the twisted together trees that served as the entrance. As I reached them a window appeared just like it had when I found that other dungeon.
*You have discovered the Dungeon
I quickly dismissed it and strode into the mist. I was looking forward to getting to let loose a bit.