Chapter 78

From Temple to Mausoleum

Brewer’s Reputation: 517.

Fieef was the only one to insist that I take compensation for the master copy of an ethereal plane. To all else, the deal was done after Grafth, Perage, and I had agreed on the conditions of our transaction.

…I couldn’t help but feel like I was making a mistake. I hoped my feelings were just nonsense, nothing more. Things were out of my hands where those ethereal planes were concerned.

As far as Fieef went, there was no way I could accept a demon core as compensation. I didn’t want anything to do with it. In order to put an end to his relentless insisting, I did end up accepting what I thought was a bovine drinking horn with a cork.

“Not bovine,” Fieef had whispered.

When he popped the cork out, which was strapped to the horn by a leather throng, a glow emanated from the horn.

“Don’t worry about the green,” he continued. “It’s just decoration now. Ever studied the Demon Battle at Fayrrun Glen in school as a lad? It’s history, young man. Yuklik—nasty, nasty demon—entrapped the glen and turned humans into ghouls; the whole glen was a pit of necrotic waste. This horn belonged to Yuklik—his right horn. I entered Mythic rank after that battle. It’s a small thing now, so it’s a fine gift. The efforts of others should be recognized. Though it is void of magic, keep it. Drink from it, time to time.”

Then they had gone. Their colossal and transparent steeds of light receded over the southern trees. Perage lay back in his canoe shaped feather as he whistled a tune.

My Brewer’s Reputation rose to 445. But how could I, a mere hermit who wanted nothing of adventure, ever reach a Brewer’s reputation of 1? Especially after the beer that Grafth had shared? Ah, nonsense!

A drift of snow billowed around me. Abigail’s form suddenly appeared with a blink.

“So that’s it?” she said, gazing south.

“I hope there won’t be other kingdom seekers.”

Abigail sighed. “I couldn’t find Slime-tooth.”

“Really?”

“I left him healing beers, food beers, and some for comfort. I looked. I tried to track his footprints with libation beers, but as you could guess, it was a mess of footprints. I couldn’t find him.”

“I think we should continue to drop off attribute beers, even if he continues to decline coming with us.”

“Escaping, you mean.”

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Snowflakes fell in larger clumps. Abigail donned her cloak. We shared warm-warm beer.

“At what point do we step in to save him?” I said.

“That’s been on my mind.”

“I left him Third Hand Attribute beers to help him with moving barrels.”

“Other goblins will steal them.”

“I found where he sleeps. In half a broken barrel, like a crib. It’s a small room with only his footsteps leading in and out. I stashed the beer in a barrel of his things. The barrelhead was ajar. I don’t get why there are so few goblins on his ship…Are they not allowed below deck with Slime-tooth?”

Abigail turned us from the southern oaks. She led us to the northern trail. Her hand was hot against the cold. I could feel the beat of her heart in her fingers.

“Come and see,” she said.

We hiked deep into the forest. She stopped and pointed. In the midst of a patch of cocoons, piled like misshapen balls of silver yarn, the inside of one cocoon blinked a bright fluorescent yellow-green.

I crouched. Abigail followed. We spoke in whispers, remarking on the wonder of a single blinking monstrous firefly. All around us, hundreds of thousands of cocoons throbbed and wriggled. We were leaned in close to each other. So close.

I felt Abigail’s breath on my cheek. “The Wild Growth trees, the cocoons, we could really do something with this wilderness, Hawkin. We could deepen these woods, really care for the wilderness here; help things grow.”

“More barrels of Aggravated Wild Growth? More Honey Cocoons?”

“Attributes beyond those. There is an attribute called Resident Earth Sentient. The beer gives sentience to the land. A 15.5 gallon barrel is enough to create a half inch tall golem. The golem meditates where it was born. As it meditates, new things begin to grow in its perimeter. New plants. New animals. Is that something you’d like to do with me?”

I took her hand in mine and kissed her knuckles. “I love everything we do together.”

For some time, we shared small smiles and soft gazes. And after we had our fill of watching the blinking cocoon in wonder, we returned to the cabin.

There I made tea for us while Abigail stared through the open door. Her stare seemed absent. I delivered two mugs of dandelion root tea at the table. A fire crackled in the stove. Our sips were sharp.

In the snow, just outside, Thrush appeared. He was chugging what must have been Abigail’s Anti-gravity beer straight from the barrel as he sank into the earth. The more he chugged, the slower he sank until he stopped. He climbed out of the small crater and waddled inside. We met him with hugs and cheers. I pulled out a 5 gallon barrel for him to sit on and poured him a bowl of dandelion root tea.

Thrush rubbed his belly. “My Composition is one hundred and two percent. Lots of elodon meat, lots of fish, lots of bread, lots of beer. I’ll be forced to sleep soon. I can feel it.”

It was true! His limbs were thicker. Fish scales covered his gigantic eyelids and the top of his snub nose. The pink of salmon colored the sponges of his eyes.

“How did the delivery go?” said Abigail.

“Hiccup was content. I had fun seeing Eileen. We talked a lot about elodons. Evon was there. He gave me all of these.”

Thrush began withdrawing items from his inventory. He set things on the table with great care. Each and everything was neatly labeled with two names in what I assumed with Evon’s handwriting. There were urns, lockets, wood boxes containing ash, soft boxes covered in decorated paper, bones wrapped in bundles of dyed cloth...

“I guess it begins,” I said through thick air.

[New Ongoing Quest: From Temple to Mausoleum.]

[Quest Objective: Brew 100 Loved Ones Libation ales for Dellia Lucerne.]

[Quest Details: The remains of loved ones will begin to appear in your inventory. Brew and label Loved Ones Libation beers with each ingredient. Donate each beer to Dellia Lucerne.]

[Reward: 1 rare silver ranked Brewer’s loot chest. 1 rare silver ranked Planes Cutter loot chest.]

[Quest Level: 0]

[Accept Quest Objective? Y/N.]

Thrush toppled over and landed flat on his face. Abigail gasped. Thrush’s snoring shook the floorboards.