Nanomi realized she was awake, but her eyes were not yet open. She had what felt like lingering images of a dream fleeing from her conscious mind. She had been part of an interrogation, a familiar memory, but she was both the questioner and the questionee, simultaneously. She was laying on a cot, her armor and belt were missing, and she felt like she’d been sleeping during the day, so something was wrong. Nanomi could sense another person in the room, and she had a fairly good guess on the identity. “How long have I been out, Renda?” Nanomi asked without changing her breathing or opening her eyes.
“Cheeky little witch.” Renda said, warmth evident in her voice. They were in what passed for the infirmary at headquarters, what used to be another private bedchamber, now with two raised pallets and a chest filled with medical supplies. “Five, maybe six hours. They found you in the lab, no trace of the creature anywhere. Alonzo and Weej made a litter and carried you back then returned to the others. They’ve been at the library all day trying to figure out what in Lontoh’s name happened, but they should be heading back this way soon. I had to call some of beta team in early, they’ve been keeping up appearances down at the docks. Shift change is in about another half hour.” Renda stood from the chair she had been sitting in and came closer to the bed Nanomi was laying on. “How are you feeling? What do you remember?” A look of genuine concern crossed Renda’s face. “As far I could tell, you don’t have a scratch on you, but we couldn’t get you to wake up.”
“After sending Lores back with a casualty, I made my way further into the basement, trying to track down the creature.” Nanomi sat up, putting her back against the wall and swinging her legs off the bed to plant her feet before continuing. “I heard something in the room behind the old lab they found. I tried to detect the presence of a mind, and I found one.”
Renda interrupted. “That’s one of your special Orichan Tenkan things, right? Like how Wartles can conjure up a Dust Devil?”
“Yes. Hharco do not have the same innate magical aptitudes as Orichan.” Nanomi said. “I don’t use it that often, nor do I advertise the ability. It makes people nervous to think I could be reading their thoughts. But it has been useful occasionally, like last month when we had that murder case out at the winery just west of the falls.”
Renda scoffed. “That probably answers why you have such a higher clearance rate than any other guard on the books.”
“Mum’s the word.” Nanomi smirked, raising a finger to her lips. “But anyway, the mind felt odd, like no mind I have ever touched. It was looking for something. Or I should say, she was looking for something. It definitely had a feminine aura to it. I tried to push deeper, to see more than just the surface thoughts, but she was too strong. She expelled me, then I was rushed by something from the other room, and I have no memory of what happened after that.”
Renda looked long and hard at Nanomi. “You’re on light duty tomorrow, maybe longer. You hold down the desk, I’ll go out with the team.” She saw the protest rising in Nanomi before it was even voiced. “And yes, that’s final. We need to make sure you don’t have any lingering issues, and I want to check out that damn lab with Alonzo and Mitri, they got some experience in that sort of weird crap. Going to have those researchers singing too. Sayta can run solo and Weej can take Lores.
“Yes ma’am.” Nanomi said.
Renda put her hand on Nanomi’s shoulder and squeezed. “Don’t scare me like that again, old lady. You’d be hard to replace.” She said with a warm smile. “Your gear is under the cot. I’ve got to brief the rest of beta team when they get in.” She turned and left the room, closing the door behind her.
Nanomi got up and retrieved her gear. She began strapping it on with practiced ease, fingers tying and buckling without needing to think. “Is she gone? We need to talk.” An unknown, but familiar voice said. Nanomi swung around in the blink of an eye, brandishing a dagger, finding no one in the room. She turned slowly in place, checking every corner of the room, blade held ready, but still found herself alone. “Put that away, you don’t want to hurt me. Not that you could really.” The voice said again, seeming to be said right into Nanomi’s ear.
Not willing to put the weapon down, Nanomi backed into a corner of the room and slid down to the floor, not even wanting to blink. “Who are you? Where are you? What are you?” Nanomi asked, steel in her voice.
“Some of those questions are easier to answer than others.” The voice said into the ear opposite the one it had spoken into before. Nanomi’s head did not twitch as she kept her eyes focusing into the middle distance, alert for any sign of movement. “My name is Myca Bramblebum. I am, well I guess I was, a Phae Goblin Sorcerer of some renown.” She paused as if waiting for something. “But your apparent lack of reaction to my name makes me think one of two things has happened. Either I wasn’t as famous as I thought I was, or a very long time has passed since…well, we’ll get to that.” Myca said. “Can you tell me the date?”
“Nilavosh’s 22nd, 606.” Nanomi said. A pregnant silence stretched for long enough that Nanomi thought Myca might have disappeared.
“Wow. Uh…that’s just, sheesh.” Myca gaped. “Three hundred and fifty-eight years. I’d been stuck in that jar for three hundred and fifty-eight bloody years!” Her voice rose with anger. “If Garren wasn’t dead already, I’d kill him.”
“Where are you? What are you?” Nanomi reiterated her demands.
Rather than answering directly, Myca asked. “How much do you know about Goblins?”
“I can count the number of your kind that I have met on one hand. Assume I know nothing.”
“We have a symbiotic relationship with several species of fungi. They are pervasive in our body. We’re hardier and heal faster than most other races thanks to them.” Myca explained. “I was double crossed by someone I trusted. I was attacked in my personal lab. They came prepared, they knew my countermeasures and defenses. I was nearly killed.” Myca let out a dry chuckle. “I guess I was killed, but the fungi brought me back.”
“I am growing impatient by your meandering tangents.” Nanomi growled.
“Sorry, sorry.” Myca said. “Here, let’s just cut to the chase. A demonstration will explain things a bit quicker.”
Nanomi finally saw movement, and her eyes focused on her forearm. Her skin seemed to be moving, shifting, growing paler, but she didn’t feel anything. A portion began bulging, and Nanomi wasn’t sure it was still her flesh she was seeing. A pseudopod slowly grew from the bulge. After reaching a foot long, the end expanded into a spherical shape, the trunk pulsating as material was shifted from below. Several symmetrical growths appeared and expanded, as other sections sank inward. Nanomi realized a face was emerging, and had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. “Ko’Vum, let me wake from this dream.” Nanomi prayed.
“You’re not dreaming.” The face said, features sharpening into an older Goblin woman. “As the killing spell lanced through me, I felt the fungi call to me. I poured all my remaining energy towards that welcoming pull. My body was gone, but I continued to exist as part of the fungi. I don’t know how I ended up in that jar, it took me a while to get used to the senses available to me, but that was still my lab.” Myca continued. “I went dormant, being stuck in that jar. Being exposed to the air again woke me, but I had no clue how much time had passed. I was angry, I lashed out, I apologize for hurting all those people.” Myca sounded genuinely sorry. “When I came to my senses I went back to the lab to try and find the research Garren was after, but it was gone. That’s when I felt your presence.” Myca said. “You touched my mind, and the fungi called out to you as well. It was almost like I didn’t have a choice, I was drawn to you forcefully. So now, like the fungi were symbiotically a part of my body, we are a part of yours.”
“I want you gone. Now.” Nanomi demanded.
“Well let’s not get too hasty. You did hear the part about symbiosis, didn’t you?” Myca asked. “You protect my flabby, amorphous form and I lend you some power, the capital P kind.”
“Not interested. Please leave.”
“Well…I don’t know if that is going to be easy. I’ve tried.” She said flatly. “I had to be pretty discreet with that lady sitting in here, but I haven’t been able to get more than a portion of myself out, like this.” Myca gestured, bending her head and stalk. “I think we may be stuck with each other, at least for the time being.”
Nanomi didn’t like that. “How do we get you out then? Do we need to visit a Cleric?”
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“Hold your gnorses. I think we can both benefit from this arrangement. I’ve got all sorts of skills and abilities that could help you.” Myca said. “And I really don’t know if it’s going to be easy to leave. It’s sort of getting painful to have been exposed this long. The fungi aren’t used to being out in the open. It was actually a relief when I was drawn to you. Like I was slowly suffocating and then suddenly I was able to draw in a full lungful.”
“Do not injure yourself.” Nanomi said, her previous demeanor softening. “Retreat. We’ll deal with that issue later.”
Myca nodded. “Thank you.” She said, and the face and pseudopod deflated and collapsed. A moment later, Nanomi could not even tell where it had grown from her skin. “When I speak to you like this, no one else can hear.” Myca said, seemingly coming from right beside Nanomi’s ear. “If you speak softly enough, we can converse without anyone else knowing.”
“Tell me of these skills and abilities that you possess.” Nanomi asked, trying to speak as quietly as she could while moving her mouth as little as possible. “If I am to benefit from this arrangement, I must have knowledge of the tools available.”
“Sure sure.” Myca said. “But first, can I ask you what may be a personal question?”
“Proceed.”
“You had said you had met very few of my kind. I’ve actually never met one of yours. It sort of makes sense, the Tenkan Principalities are a long way from here.” Myca hypothesized. “What is the significance of the markings on your face and tentacles? They look ritualistic, not natural.”
“The Principalities haven't existed since before I was born.” Nanomi said. “Bo’Gantha consolidated his rule after his rebirth in 301, by Yorpa’s calendar. He is now the Autarch, and my people’s homeland is his Autarchy.” Despite the historical context, the topic was still of great importance to Nanomi. “The Ka’Zanto Combine hopes one day to topple the Autarch. Their mercenary Companies range far and wide on Gomarche. Acquiring funds and planning for the long term. But I digress, you must be rubbing off on me.” Nanomi said. “All Tenkans tattoo themselves in this fashion, usually at important personal milestones. This was for my first kill.” She began pointing to different marks in turn. “This was for the birth of my son. This series was to show my ranks in the Grey Company. Private, Sergeant, Corporal, Ra-oho. There would be a fifth in that line, but I turned down the promotion and left the Company.” Nanomi’s stomach began to growl. “But that will have to do for now. I need to procure a meal, a large one. I seem to be more famished than I should be for simply missing lunch. Is that your doing?” She asked.
“Maybe. Goblins are known to eat more than our stature would suggest. The fungi is the obvious answer.”
“Hmmm, noted.” Nanomi said. “You keep speaking. I need to know what you are capable of. I will get…us…dinner.” She stood up from the corner she had been sitting in.
“Well, Grandma Bramblebum was a Cleric of Rekkul. A little on the nose for a Goblin to worship Rekkul, the Goblin Sliver, but what are you gonna do? She was a true believer.” Myca said, going off on yet another tangent. Nanomi left the infirmary and made her way out the back door of headquarters, making sure that the humidity-swollen door shut and latched behind her. She pulled her cloak tight, hiding her tunic now that she was off duty. “She must have been one of Rekkul’s favorites, because she passed down some of that power. I’ve had this drumbeat in my head my whole life, and I remember asking grandma about it one time, when I was maybe five or six, since she had Rekkul’s drums as her holy symbol.” Myca continued, as Nanomi bee lined through the evening crowd to a favorite purveyor of hearty stews. “Grandma was very interested, and asked me if I had ever made things happen without touching them.”
Ducking down a tight alley between buildings, Nanomi entered an unmarked door. A bell on a spring chimed daintily as the door opened and closed. Thick wooden pillars, dark with age, broke up a room containing half a dozen tables and their accompanying chairs. Several groups were already seated and eating. A few looked up, but nearly all nodded and returned to their meals without giving Nanomi a second glance. Standing behind a counter at the back of the room was a Halfling man with a grey mop of hair topping his head, the counter construction allowing him to be eye level to most others races. Four barrels lay tapped on their sides on the wall behind him, as well as a pass through window into a kitchen beyond. “The usual, Nanomi?” He asked as she made her way from door to counter.
“Make it a double, I missed lunch today Ehnri.” Nanomi said. Myca had thankfully paused in her rambling story as Nanomi and Ehnri conversed.
“Travits, two browns and soppers.” Ehnri turned and said through the window. He reached under the counter and produced two mugs and filled them with a pale amber liquid from one of the barrels. Identical platters were placed in the window, each containing a bowl of stew, spoon, and hunk of bread. Ehnri placed the mugs down in front of Nanomi, then turned and did the same with the platters.
Nanomi put three silver coins on the counter, then took the mugs and platters, carefully balancing them. “Thanks Ehnri.” She said as she turned and made her way to a seat against the wall near the door to the kitchen otherwise devoid of other customers.
“I didn’t see a menu, or even a name of this establishment.” Myca said, implying rather than asking her questions.
Nanomi brought a spoonful of stew to her mouth, attempting to use it to block the view of her lips. “Ehnri’s is invite only. I lived and worked nearby for ten years before receiving such an invitation. They have bread, two beverages, light and dark, and four stews, brown, white, red, and green. Ehnri likes to keep it simple.” She ate several more mouthfuls before speaking again. “Continue. You were describing your grandmother’s interest in your burgeoning magical talent.”
“I had apparently been casting some spells, cantrips mostly, without even knowing it. Grandma was thrilled, said it was a gift from Rekkul. She began teaching me some of the more formal aspects of spellcasting, but it always seemed to work better for me to do it my own way.” Myca said. “Grandma paid to send me to the Lyceum, and that’s where I really figured out what I was good at.”
“And it only took you this long to get to the point in your story where my questions are going to be answered.” Nanomi quipped, ripping off a bite of bread.
“Hey you wanted information, the context is relevant.” Myca said. “My forte was extracting the magical energies of raw materials for the purpose of fabricating magical items. There, that’s my life’s work in one sentence, are you happy?” Myca sounded bitter.
“Only fools ignore the small details that make up the larger picture, and I am no fool, Myca Bramblebum.” Nanomi said. “Tell me of the types of things one has to do to accomplish such work that you spent your life honing.”
Myca’s voice had a bit more spark to it after Nanomi’s reassurance. “It’s sort of a keapo and egg problem. In order to store a magical raw material, you need a container capable of storing it, and by that I mean a container that won’t let the magic dissipate.” Myca continued, clearly enjoying explaining the process. “Now the quick and dirty answer is just make the containers out of Argonite. Nobody does that, obviously. It’s too expensive and valuable a material to just make a jar to store powdered mole claws. But different materials needed different sorts of containers to maintain their potency, so knowing those details saved resources.”
Nanomi took the momentary pause in Myca’s explanation to summarize. “So you in effect transformed raw materials into refined materials, and stored them in such a way others could benefit from them. Neither the harvester, nor the craftsman, but still a very useful skill.”
“Yea. You could put it that way.” Myca agreed.
Nanomi was starting on her second bowl by now, and was becoming accustomed to the low voice she had to use to covertly communicate with Myca. “I have a question that you may be able to answer, given your skillset.” Nanomi said. “We’ve been having a bit of a smuggling uptick that we have been dealing with. Most of it has been the usual stuff, mundane undeclared imports to avoid paying tariffs, but there has been an oddity. Live HornedTreeWeasels. Do you happen to know why, or for what purpose, they would suddenly be being smuggled in from the Red Maple Forest to the east?”
“Urongceros? Really?”
“Nobody calls them that anymore, but yes.”
“And how long ago did this start?”
“Three weeks, maybe four.” Nanomi said. Something about that timeline seemed more important now.
“Urongceros have a number of useful parts, but if they started being smuggled in quantity recently, something new must have a use for them.” Myca sounded like she was frowning. “I was working on something involving Urongceros bone marrow actually, well Garren and I both. But no…” She trailed off. “...it couldn’t be. Has there been a new type of painting being sold recently, by any chance?”
“Not that I am aware of.” Nanomi admitted. “Can’t say that fine art is something I pay close attention to, though. You seemed to be looking for something when I touched your mind. What was it you were looking for?” Nanomi asked, connecting dots as more information began falling into place.
“My research notes. The stuff that hadn’t been published yet. I had them hidden, but they were gone by the time I checked, after coming back to my senses.” Myca said.
“I was told they discovered your lab last month sometime. Your notes may have been taken by the researchers to catalog.”
“Your boss said you were on desk duty tomorrow, right?” Myca asked rhetorically. “Can we go through some of the reports on the smuggling, track this timeline back. Something doesn’t smell right.”
“Agreed. And I can get in touch with a contact of mine in the morning, one closer to the art scene. Ask him about new paintings. Is there anything specific I should ask about?” Nanomi asked.
“I’d rather not say right now, in case I’m wrong.”
Nanomi didn’t like that, but arguing seemed a waste of energy. She stood up and took her dishes back to the counter. “Can I get these two mugs refilled Ehnri?” Nanomi asked, laying another silver coin down. He gave her a raised eyebrow, but declined to voice his question, and turned and refilled the mugs. He set them down in front of Nanomi, and gaped like a fish as she downed both in the space of a few breaths. “Until next time, my friend.” She said, giving him a curt nod, then left the small restaurant.
“What was that about?” Myca asked, confused at what had just transpired.
“Old soldier’s trick. If you want to wake up early, drink extra before going to bed.”
“Why does that wo– oooooohhh.”