“Hey, Thavim, how are we getting there tomorrow?” I ask.
“How d’ye think lad? We’re gonna walk.”
“I was afraid of that. I walk a little too slow for most, it would seem.”
“Wha’ d’ye mean? Didn’t it only take ye a night t’ get all o’ way back here from Faelynn’s?” he asked.
“I didn’t walk back though. I kinda flew,” I replied wincing.
“Lad, this is th’ part where I tell ye t’ stop kiddin’ an’’ ye prove me wrong. I’m guessin’ this is why ye wanted t’ not tell me how ye got back.”
“It’s part of it, yes.”
Thavim stops in his tracks. He had been busying himself preparing dinner. “Y’mean there’s more?”
“Nope. Certainly not. You now know all my secrets. A-ha-hah-ha-hah-haa,” I do a fake and awkward laugh and try to slink out of the room but then remembered the point of this all.
“Oh, right. Any idea how I can keep up with the party tomorrow without having to reveal that to everyone else?”
“How’d yer dad travel with ye?”
“He put me on his shoulders. I went so slow that even with him slowing down for me it still wasn’t enough.”
“Hmph. We’ll come up with somethin’. Can’t have ye usin’ up all yer magic or stamina just gettin’ there,” he resumed making some kind of meat for dinner.
“Can we keep that part secret, though?” I ask. “I’m already starting to get weird looks. I’d rather stand out a little less.”
“Aye, lad. Long as ye don’t go off an’ do it in front o’ groups o’ people, we can keep tha’ one under wraps.”
“Wait a second, Analise said something about hunters guild members using carts to bring animal bodies back to the city. Couldn’t that work?”
“Aye, that it could.”
We both sit down to eat. I may need to get something in my diet other than meat soon.
“I’ve a few experiments to do before I go to sleep for the night.”
“An’ what mae’ those be?”
“Actually, is there already an enchant that allows you to use multiple enchantments at once?”
“Nay. Only one enchantment can be used at once.”
“Then that’s what I need to create tonight,” I say while stabbing some meat over to my plate.
“Ye mind if I watch, lad?”
“Not at all! I’ll be glad to have you,” I respond.
“I was ‘bout t’ say how crazy it sounded, but crazy’s been losin’ its meanin’ with ye ‘round.”
After dinner we get out the clay again so I can run some tests. Thavim and I both begin rolling the clay out into balls. First order of business: relays! Step one in creating a distribution station is confirming that mana can be transferred between magical items.
I first enchant the test ball with the standard heat enchant. Then I enchant the next ball and try to visualize it receiving mana from the user and sending it to...to… Here’s the problem. I haven’t given any of the enchantments an address. Meaning that if I were to activate it in a room full of enchanted items, it very well could drain me dry just like that orichalcum did. I squish both of them at the same time and get my notebook.
I’ve a suspicion that enchantments are going to work like ip addresses in the future. I’ll need to develop some sort of handshake process.
“What was wrong with those?” Thavim asks.
I take a moment trying to figure out how to answer his question in a way that would make sense.
“What’s an especially common name among dwarves?” I ask him.
“I suppose ‘Kozan’ was fairly popular last decade.”
“Right. Let’s say that you have a sword that was commissioned as a gift to deliver to Kozan. Kozan is currently in a room full of people. Only, because the name is so common, everyone in that room is named Kozan. Who gets the sword?”
“Hmm. Mae have t’ get back in touch with th’ one what commissioned t’ find th’ correct Kozan.”
“The person that commissioned it has paid in advance and insisted that it be delivered right now, at this moment, with Kozan in the room with all the other Kozans. You agreed to this before starting work on the sword and the one who commissioned the sword is otherwise unavailable.”
Thavim shrugged, “Then there’s no way t’ get it t’ th’ right Kozan.”
“That was what was wrong with those. Even if I had done it correctly, there was a possibility that in trying to get one enchant to connect to another, unless the enchant knows precisely which one, there’s a chance of it trying to connect to all nearby enchants. If that happened, it’s likely that it would suck my mana dry.” The 'like that orichalcum did' dies on my tongue just before I'm able to say it. Seems I still don't want to screw over Faelynn.
I line two balls up side by side. Maybe I need to enchant both of them together, as a whole. Not quite ideal for what I wanted for the relays for, but is a possible workaround for the distribution station. I imagine the circle overlaid on top of both clay balls. The enchant just won’t seem to stick. This is feeling like a failure. I don’t think I can lay these down like a jigsaw puzzle and then paint my own image on top.
I lean back in my chair and stare at the ceiling. If they are to handshake, then both sides need to acknowledge the other. To do so, they both need adequate systems of checking each other. Since I’ve found that I can do shapes and not just a circle, why not a keyhole? House keys have five or six different places that must measure correctly and simultaneously by spring loaded pins in order for the lock to turn. All those hours of watching people lockpick things online is finally paying off.
With this newest idea in mind, I get my notebook and sketch out three or four different methods to accomplish this and go with the one that looks the easiest for right now. It’s just a two point check rather than the five or six of the house keys, but since I’m literally inventing the magical spell lock, I feel like it doesn’t need to be terribly complex. None others yet exist and neither do lockpicks.
The heat ball I give a pyramid to focus the blast of heat off of the ball, and have two circles form a makeshift tube that the ‘key’ will be inserted into. And for the relay ball, I make an identically sized tube save for two portions that are noticeably smaller. If the magical resistance through the keyhole matches that of the key, mana will flow through the first ball and into the second. I finish enchanting it and sit back briefly before trying it out.
“Success! It works!” I shout as I jump on my chair and do a fist pump.
“Lad, can ye explain t’ me what is so excitin’?” Thavim asks while scratching his head.
I separate the two balls. “Activate this ball and ONLY this ball.”
He dutifully does so only for the second ball to activate and start spewing hot air directly at him.
“Now,” I switch the two balls, “activate just this ball.”
“Well, I’ll be. I cannae do it.”
“This one acts as a key and distributes mana to all-- actually, wait.” I quickly enchant the second ball to have the same lock as the first but configure it for cold output. I set them on opposite sides of the key ball and activate the key. Both the heat and cold balls simultaneously activate.
“YESSSSS!” I shout out, then realize I was mid explanation. “Right, sorry Thavim. I was mid explanation when I realized I was about to explain a portion that I hadn’t yet tested.”
“As I was saying this one acts as a key and will provide mana to any enchanted item that has an accompanying lock. All simultaneously! I can now activate multiple enchantments at once!”
“Here, try it. Activate this middle ball and pay attention to the other two balls while you do it.”
“By Thrumgar’s beard,” he marvels as he does so.
“The issue now becomes a balancing game. How many enchants at once is enough to drain someone dry and kill them versus how sustainable using all these enchants at once is. Perhaps it can be designed around a one shot wonder. Oooo, I wonder if there are any mana recovery enchantments. Could I rig an item to self recover its own mana and build a perpetual motion machine? I feel like that shouldn’t be possible. It’s more likely that recovery only works for the user and not for the item itself so the user would have to force the mana back into the system for–“
“Lad!” Thavim grabs both shoulders and shakes me. “Calm down a bit. I’ve been tryin’ t’ get yer attention fer a while now.”
“Oh, sorry, sorry. What’s up? Hey, how many rings, amulets, and pendants can we get me before tomorrow? Actually, skip the rings. I’m so small that I probably would only be able to wear them for just a year anyway.”
“None ‘ere, lad. We’ll have t’ leave a wee bit earlier in th’ mornin’ t’ pick ‘em up on our way. Speakin’ o’ which, we shoul’ be gettin’ t’ bed if we’re gonna be at all useful tomorrow. Did ye finish out all o’ what ye needed?”
I squish the balls, “Other than updating my notes so I can replicate it on the pendants and necklaces tomorrow, yeah. I should be able to get to bed pretty soon.”
“G’night lad.”
----------------------------------------
“Which ones normally work better for enchantment,” I whisper to Thavim in the jewelry shop.
“Any o’ th’ ones with big gems,” he whispers back, “but we don’t have th’ coin f’r tha’.”
“I thought the king was gonna cover it,” We’re going back and forth holding our hands to our mouths and stage whispering. We both look ridiculous and are living up making the pompous staff at this establishment feel uncomfortable.
“We haven’t got his writ o’ credit yet.”
“Do we leave?”
“Aye.”
They totally heard everything we just said. We know it, and we know they know it.
“It seems that your paltry selection of goods is not quite up to our standards, good man,” I say affecting as pompous and self-important an accent as I can.
“Here here,” echos Thavim.
“It seems we must take our considerable wealth to another establishment, possibly one a little more….” I pause for effect and glance around, “sanitary.”
We both waltz out of the shop as fancy as we both can muster, we only make it two shops down before we have to dip into an alleyway to bowl over with laughter.
Once I finally have my breath back, “Think there will be any repercussions for that?”
“Doubt it. Besides, they were th’ ones tryin’ t’ look down their noses at us.”
“Do we actually not have that writ of credit?”
“You think I’d have left the kings side after ye heard that ye got no budget on toys without it?”
This sparks another bout of laughter from me and Thavim is quick to join in. Eventually we right ourselves and seek out a jewelry shop where being rude to customers is not a standard practice.
We find one and enter, looking at all the varieties of necklaces and pendants. The shop owner looked to be a sweet old man who merely waved at us as we entered but otherwise did not bother us. I found a couple necklaces with pendants that I thought might could work. As we’re gathering up the items we’re to buy I spot a bracelet among the normal bracelets that’s very clearly enchanted.
I briefly consider giving it to the old man so he can sell if for what it’s actually worth, but I also don’t want to be found out. If I can find a way to do it without being caught, it might be alright, but I’m not searching very hard for it. We pay for our stuff and leave, heading towards the main gate.
Everyone else was already there and waiting for us. Analise is sitting atop a wagon with a donkey. Man, is she great or what! I didn’t even need to worry about the wagon. Once we finally join everyone, Thavim apologizes for our tardiness.
“Sorry we’re late,” Thavim says, “this runt of a human has legs shorter than a dwarf.”
“Hey!” I cry in mock outrage and give him a little shove. I’ve my bow slung over my shoulder with the quiver of arrows – actually maybe that’s why that first jewelry shop was talking down to us so much. I’m kitted like a hunter. I climb up to the wagon seat so I can be seen by everyone.
“I’m Alvis. I’d like to thank all of you for your help today. This is Analise from the Hunter’s guild, here by special invitation from me. If you don’t think you can work smoothly with either her or a child, you should feel free to return to your original stations.”
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I wait a few beats before continuing, “Wonderful! I’ve got some exciting plans! Today should either be revolutionary or deadly, and I’m really hoping on the former! Might I know each of your names before we set out?”
The dwarf in full plate removes his helmet and steps forward, “I am Brokdruc Bottlebuster. I am here to represent the Kings Guard.” He does a curt nod, replaces his helmet and steps back.
Next steps up a dwarf in very shiny golden robes. “I am the court wizard of King Thrumgar, Detrouck Silverheart.”
I can already tell that I’m going to have issues with this one. His tone says that this particular task is beneath him. Wait a second, isn’t he here for me? My temper begins to flare up. It was one thing getting this treatment from jewelers that I’ll never see again, but from a coworker that’s going to spend the rest of the day with me?
I cut in before the hunter could begin their introduction, “You seem displeased Detrouck. Do you wish to be elsewhere?”
“You mean somewhere other than babysitting a human whelp what thinks he’s too big for his britches? Perish the thought,” he responds, his voice dripping with sarcasm. I hear Thavim groan a little bit in the background.
“That portion where I asked if everyone could work with a child was meant specifically for you. Please leave.”
“You insolent little whelp! If you think for a moment that I’m going to –“
I froze his lips together. “Brokdruc, please watch carefully so you can explain the events to the king as to how and why a child of seven winters had to kill his court jester.”
“Alrigh', that’s quite enough from th’ both o’ yous!” Thavim cuts in and starts aggressively pushing Detrouck in the direction of the castle. “Detrouck, head back to th’ King an’ report on what has happened here. Go on, now.”
The court wizard finally relents and turns to walk back alone.
Thavim turns toward me, “And you. You knew full well the King ordered him t’ be here today.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry Thavim. After those jewelers, the thought of having to put up with that all day got my blood boiling. And honestly, he is still alive, so thank you for leading us to the best outcome.”
“Fancy words from th’ one what was talkin' ‘bout killin’, Thavim grumbles. “If the rest o’ yous don’t know, I’m Thavim. A sort of mentor f’r th’ lad.”
I turn toward the as yet unnamed hunter, “My apologies for cutting you off earlier. I thought it best to remove the rotten apple from the barrel early.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m Danté, from the Monster Hunters Guild. I’m just here to kill monsters and sell their parts. I am correct in that none of you want any of the monsters parts, right? Save, maybe Analise?”
I look around at the others and none of them are speaking up, “Looks like that’s the case.”
“Then you won’t have a single problem from me. A group this size should attract a good number of monsters, and I’m planning on raking in the dough!”
I chuckle at his enthusiasm, “You are most welcome Danté.” I turn toward Analise sitting down on the bench I had stood on for the speech, “Would you mind if I sat next to you for the trip? I really do have short and slow legs.”
“I don’t mind,” she says with a smile. She waits for me to sit before adding in a whisper, “Though from that speech, I’d say you were at least nine feet tall.”
I blush a little from the embarrassment of her teasing me, but recover quickly and excitedly shout out, “Here! We! Goooooo!” Several of the members of our now five man party chuckle at the childishness of it and we begin the trek out the doors of the cave.
----------------------------------------
The journey was only a few hours ride from the entrance, but I made good on the time by enchanting a few items on the way such as the black opal pendant from the jeweler as the key, and a few others as locks such as the bow.
I finally get down from the wagon and survey the area. Rolling green hills with a forest off in the distance and a mountain behind us. “I think over here will be good for a few of the experiments. Does anyone know this area? Are there any caves nearby?”
Brokdruc speaks up, “There is one on just the other side of that hilll.”
“Oh that is perfect! Okay, lets move over there. The experiments will be conducted on this side of the hill, but everyone, donkey and cart included, can hide behind the hill and take shelter in the cave if needed.”
Thavim sounds a little nervous, “Will it really be tha’ bad?”
“It could be, but I’m hoping not. I’d rather look like a cautious fool than a daring corpse.”
Once we move everything over to the hill I open my pack and start setting things up. I pull out the clay and start rolling little balls of it, contemplating the enchants I’m about to do. I stick a clay ball on the end of and arrow shaft and enchant it with the lock and a 64-sided cone.
I unsling my bow and nock the arrow with the clay ball. “This one shouldn’t be too terrible, but you guys might want to take cover.” I move so that I can see just above the hill but if I duck I should be completely covered.
Analise and Dante stand at the bottom of the hill holding fast to the donkey’s reigns while Brokdruc and Thavim come to stand right next to me.
“I’ll not get behind cover an’ leave a child out in dangers way,” Thavim announces. Brokdruc says nothing but doesn’t make a move either.
Well, I did warn them. I aim at a large boulder a little further than a hundred feet away. I want the clay ball to activate after it’s left my sphere of influence. I activate the key and the clay ball and bow both start glowing. The bow hovers and begins drawing itself as I pour more and more mana into the key. Finally I sense the clay ball nearing full and I loose the arrow.
I probably should have practiced with the bow and arrow before we came out here and before I strapped a magical equivalent to a grenade to the arrowhead. The arrow falls at an alarming rate but rather than watching where it hits, I duck down behind the hill. Not a moment later the arrow heralded its success with a thunderous ‘booooom’.
Thavim managed to duck down with me and the two of us our getting pelted by clods of grass and dirt as they rain down from the sky. Brokdruc, however, is no longer standing. After the initial rain of dirt subsides, I make my way over to him. There’s a particularly large dent in his helmet which I’m able to ease off his head. In his scalp seems to be a large gash causing blood to run down his face.
Hm...I’ve never actually tried healing magic before, but I do know that it’s nature based. What if all healing magic does is encourage the body to heal faster? That would be nature based, right? And honestly, the worst that happens is that Brokdruc keeps his concussion.
I place my hand over the gash and imagine the blood cells forming clots faster, scabbing over, turning into new skin. I imagine the swelling going down and any cracks in bone healing over anew, and then I push my mana into the gash. It resists for a moment before beginning to glow green. The gash closes, then goes away entirely and there’s no bump on his head! This magic stuff really is...magic!
Once I feel like I might have done everything I can for him, I turn back to the others. “I don’t know how good it went, this was my first attempt at healing magic. Can someone stay with him?”
Analises’ mother instinct kicked in and she sat beside him while I climbed the rest of the way up the hill. “Should’ve practiced with the bow before coming out here. This was avoidable,” I intone, mostly to myself.
The place where the arrow struck is halfway between the hill and the boulder and the hole it left is the size of a minivan. I intentionally put a wide cone on the clay for two reasons. The first was to see if breaking the enchant still released the energy in the manner of design. In this case, that would be forward instead of outward in all directions. The second was to see if I could do a more wide range attack version of the pickax. And this looks like a resounding yes on both accounts.
We come back to the top of the hill to see Brokdruc sitting up. “You’re alive!” I exclaim loudly, to which he put a hand to his temple and Analise makes a shushing motion. Well, this won’t do. That was just the first experiment. The next few will also be loud.
I make my way back over to them and reactivate healing magic, this time just using a generic image of a headache quickly receding. The spell worked but uses an enormous amount of mana. I guess knowing exactly what each portion is supposed to do decreases the amount of mana required.
“Take it easy for a bit. Your body might be in shock from the rapid healing. Go sit in the cave for a bit and make sure you drink water in the meantime,” I tell him as he unsteadily gets up.
After we watch him stumble himself towards the cave, I turn back to the hilltop and pick back up the bow.
“Alright, that was only a partial success. I want to try one more of the same type at least,” I stop and think for a moment. “Actually, everything I had set out to test worked perfectly.” The problem is that I aim like a storm trooper. “Maybe I can try out a relay.”
I enchant three clay balls as relays and place each of them about eighty feet from each other in a straight line. I head back to the hill and enchant the arrow-ball the same as before, knock the arrow, and turn around to warn everyone.
“Hey guys, I’m going to test another. You might want to take cover,” I shout to them. The two hunters grab the reigns of the donkey and start running with it towards the cave. I guess they catch on pretty quickly. True to his word, Thavim still stands next to me, though a pace further down the hill than he was last time.
I supply mana to the key causing the bow to hover the same as last time. I can feel the increased draw from the clay balls off in the distance and the one on the arrow seems to have charged twice as fast. This time I aim forty-five degrees into the air and release. The arrow soars into the sky and I continue to supply mana to the clay balls I can’t see off in the distance.
I drop down to the side of the hill and have maybe an entire whole second before an impact that rattles our bones.
My ears are ringing. Oh, there’s Thavim. Why’s he shouting? I can’t hear him. I try to stand but fall over. I wonder what’s gotten him so excited. Huh, his ears are bleeding. He almost seems like he’s moving in slow motion. There’s something wet on my neck. Oh, my ears are bleeding too. Well, let’s fix that real quick.
Lying on my side in the dirt, I put both my hands on my ears and imagine the ear canals fixing themselves. Almost as an afterthought, I add the inner ear to that as well.
“YE ALRIGH’, LAD? I CANNAE’ HEAR MYSELF, CAN YE HEAR ME?”
Nice, I can hear again! I think I might have repaired a concussion somewhere in there as well. I was scary calm just a few seconds ago. I repeat the same process for Thavim and he stops his shouting.
“I should go check on the others,” I say and slide down the rest of the hill.
I go to the mouth of the cave, “You guys okay? Hellooooo?”
Just inside the cave is Danté lying face down. I check for a pulse. It hasn’t been that long, maybe I can still… No pulse. There’s a pool of blood under him so I struggle for a moment and roll him over. His neck has been slit. Okay, that’s not from my experiment.
I look around for anyone else and see Brokdruc right where we left him.
“Was this Analise?” I ask him. No answer. I walk over and open the visor on his helmet but that little bit of movement causes the helmet to fall off. Brokdruc is no longer wearing his armor; this suit of plate mail is empty.
“Analise? Brokdruc?” I shout further into the cave. No answer. Fuck. I head back out to Thavim who’s inspecting the first hole.
“Nev’r thought they would’a had tha’ much power, lad!” he exclaims.
“Danté is dead. In the cave. Throat slit. Analise and Brokdruc are missing. You know any spells to track people?”
“I don’--”
A high pitched scream sounds from just inside the treeline. Thavim and I look at each other before we both break into a run. Aaaaand I’m left in the dust. I really gotta fix this speed issue of mine.
I finally make it to the place where Thavim disappeared into the underbrush and enter in the same spot. I stop abruptly as the scene opens before me. Brokdruc is now dressed in all black and holding Analise by the hair with a dagger pressed to her throat. Her left arm is covered in blood and looks to be dangling uselessly, while her right seems like it’s trying to lessen the grip on her hair.
Thavim looks like he’s attempting to mitigate the hostage situation. He’s slowly approaching with both hands slightly raised, “Now Brokdruc, we don’ haveta go like this. I can just ask th’ King t’ take ye off these missions an’ everythin’ will be fine.”
I’m angry. I’m actually a little impressed with how calm I’m remaining with how utterly enraged I am. I don’t want to kill him; I want him to suffer.
I concentrate on the knife at Analise’s throat and excite its molecules. The blade quickly turns a bright orange and drips down to the handle and onto Brokdruc’s hand. He screams and throws the molten knife to the ground. I imagine a thin plane passing through the wrist of his other hand and pour mana in. Any molecules that pass through that plane get organized into a grid, stopped in their tracks, and frozen in place.
His hand breaks off at the wrist, still tangled in Analise’s hair and she stumbles forward. Brokdruc, still screaming, looks at his now stump of a hand and turns to run. I make another plane at his ankle and he trips leaving his foot in place as he attempts to fall on his elbows rather than his stumped arm or his burnt hand.
Thavim has an ax above his head and ready to swing it down on Brokdruc.
“Don’t you kill him,” I shout. Thavim very nearly didn’t have the time to stop his swing. Where was he hiding an ax, anyway?
I heal what I can see of Analise’s injuries as I walk past. I cauterize the two stumps on our new friend as I walk closer, drawing more screams from him. He gets his screams under control for a moment and I hear gravel. Shit. The ground underneath me seems to open itself and I plummet. I try to make my shoes fly like I had that branch and it kind of works. It’s enough to slow my fall at least.
I look back up once I’m at the bottom. He must have dropped me down twenty feet! The bottom is one large boulder, larger than the hole itself. Maybe I can use telekinesis to move all this dirt into a ramp to walk out? Hmm. Wait, a second. If I can use telekinesis on molecules, couldn’t I just imagine the molecules of a solid object just...leave? And make the shape I want that way?
I imagine another small plane and use it on the boulder beneath me. This time I force any molecules touching the plane to blast away from the rock. A small explosion happens and what’s left is an extremely straight line cut into the rock. It looks as if someone had one of those really big circular saws that I saw people on earth use when doing masonry. Never learned the name of it, though.
I repeat the process four more times to make a square and then separate the chunk from the rest of the boulder. Now I have a nice little platform to stand on! I use telekinesis on it and levitate out of the pit. Once I’m to the top, I find Thavim and Analise both lying on the ground, an assortment of rocks covering them, and a few limbs sticking out of the rock piles at odd angles. There is no sign of Brokdruc.
Analise is breathing rather hoarsely so I head over to her first. I remove the rocks from on top of her and heal what I think is most of her broken bones. Then I head over to Thavim and do the same for him. I don’t think they’re going to die now, but they’re definitely going to be sore. I don’t often find myself running low of mana, but I’m feeling pretty drained at the moment. Healing is just not my forte. I lean against a tree and slide down the side of it. My eyelids are just so heavy.