We kept going over the shield technique Instructor Goldo was teaching us. Bron kept using his shoulder and great axe. He also tried that scaling the wall, cock the crossbow with your feet thing. He fell off the wall a lot and I don’t think he ever did it but he’s trying.

The whole day passed in an exhaustion fueled daze. At lunch I sat with Niobe, Jackson and Izzy and I don’t think anyone even spoke. We all just stared off into the distance. Izzy went to sleep in her granola.

After lunch we had an independent study period. All four of us were asleep almost instantly. Instructor Falaise woke me up.

The little sea elf woman was standing over my bunk, hands on her hips. “Asleep? All of you? Its independent study, not nap time! Get up.” She pushed against my ribs with both hands, then went and did the same to the others.

I felt like someone had poured sand in my head. It was SUPER tough to sit up. I looked at Falaise and said, “Ugh-murgle-fits?”

“What?” She came back over and pushed me on the shoulder with her full body weight. It rocked me back. “That made no sense. Get up!”

Niobe stretched in a way only a cat could, bending nearly double while yawning and showing her fangs. Izzy moaned and pulled her blanket over her head, curling up facing towards the wall. Jackson sat there blinking.

“Did you trainees know that one of the most basic divine spells is summoning gallons of water?” Instructor Falaise asked in a conversational tone of voice. “This is normally only useful when you’re thirsty. However, when you have layabout students that won’t get out of bed, I can think of another use for it.”

I turned my feet towards the floor and slipped out of my bunk. “Oh man, I must have been hard asleep. What time is it?”

“Time for your spell lesson!” Falaise turned to me.

“Spell…?” My brows furrowed, “Lesson?” I was feeling stupid from just waking up.

The magic instructor sighed dramatically and rolled her eyes. “Come with me.” I followed her out into the hall. I could hear the thuds as the rest of my roommates went back to sleep. “And bring your spell book!” I grumpily went back into the room to retrieve the tome. Izzy and Jackson were already snoring.

I went with Falaise to the third floor. There hadn’t been any reason for me to visit this floor before, so I was curious about what we’d find. The instructor lead me to one of eight doors in the hallway. Opening it, she gestured for me to go in.

It was a medium-sized room with a neatly masoned stone floor and no windows. Against the far wall was a table with two chairs. Stacks of paper, a thick book and some quills took up most of its surface. In the center of the floor was a scribed circle, with numerous runes surrounding it. “This is a null magic circle. If you’re stretching a spell, it’s best to do the rune work in something like this. It helps ensure you won’t accidentally mana charge what you’re writing and blow it up.” Falaise told me.

“Is that a danger?” I asked, eyebrows raised.

“Do you think we’d go to the trouble of scribing that circle out of silver if it weren’t?” She cocked her head.

I looked down at the floor, studying the circle and runes closely. “Is this actual silver?”

“Trust a dwarf to focus on that part.” Falaise laughed. “Yes, it’s actual silver. Now, come on. Let’s get to the fun part!” She clapped her hands and moved to the table.

I dropped the spell book on the table with a thud. “Okay, what’s the lesson?”

“I’m told you increased your magic priority?” The instructor raised a single eyebrow.

“Yup. Raised my Acumen again and my Perception.” I nodded.

“Very good. So now we’re going to stretch a spell!” She grinned at me, which always looked so funny when elves showed their rabbit teeth. “What components have you gathered?”

I thought about this one for a minute. “I have some spider parts. Fangs and poison glands or spinnerets.” I pulled the monster parts out of a pocket on my bandolier.

“Gross, but good.” Falaise laughed at her own joke. “Now, with the spells you currently have, what could you do with these components?”

“I don’t know. What should I do?” I shrugged.

“Ugh, you have to think!” She leaned over and tapped me on the forehead. “Break those components down and see what you have.”

“Okay, fangs, poison glands and web spinners. I guess I could make webs?” I asked.

“Good, what else?” She leaned across the table.

“Poison.” I told her.

“What else?” The instructor demanded.

Thinking for a moment. I had the fangs and poison glands or spinnerets. “I suppose I could have the spell stab something?”

“You could inject something! That’s totally different from just getting stabbed.” Falaise reached over and separated out the spider parts into three distinct piles.

“Oh, I also have the core of the slime.” I remembered, then reached into my bandolier and got it out.

“You never should have taken that thing, but it is a good component. Let’s put it aside for when you can cast first order spells.” She shook her head. “Do you want to make your magic injectable, poisonous, or webby?”

“Is webby a word?” I asked.

“I just used it, so obviously it is.” She tossed her hair.

“Well, let’s take it spell by spell.” I said. “Candleflame summons fire. Injectable flame sounds awesome. For poison, may smoke? Flaming web would also be good.”

“It’s a touch spell, so keep that in mind. We need to keep it at zeroth order.” Falaise told me.

I nodded. “Do you think I can do anything with my Summon Lesser Beast?”

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She shook her head, “Not and keep it zeroth order. Once you can cast first order then absolutely, but we have to keep it simple for right now.”

“There’s also Snowball.” I mimed bowling, and she laughed. “It’s a ranged touch. I did raise my Agility once but it still sucks.”

“Do you want a ranged spell or point blank spell?” The instructor leaned forward.

“Ranged is better.” I shrugged. “Keeping the enemy far away seems like a winner.” I paused, thinking. “Though I could see a combination I could use even as I advanced.”

“Oh, what’s that?” She put her elbow on the table and her chin on her hand.

“What does the spider venom do?” I asked.

“For those spiders? I’m pretty sure it inflicts Brawn damage. Once you’re down to zero, you are unable to move and it either webs you up or eats you.” The instructor answered.

I picked up the fangs and set them between my fingers with the sharp ends poking out. I mimed striking. “Is there any way we could make the poison keep working?”

“Inflicting the Brawn damage?” She asked, pursing her lips.

“Ideally. If we’re going to be a hit squad, then having a paralytic attack might be good.” I spread my hands.

The sea elf thought for a moment. “Okay, I can see that. Before we get this started, go ahead and get a permanent component made like this fang,” she picked up the hollow spider tooth. “With and handle and everything you’ll need to use it as a weapon. I believe that will make it much easier to create the spell.”

I looked at the fang. It was about as long as my finger and slightly curved. Looking into it I could see light through the hole. “Yes, ma’am.” I stood. “Did you mean go now?”

She waved me away. “No time like the present.”

I walked away, thinking about which of the other dwarves I would hit up for this project. Probably El Tar. He’s a weaponsmith and this is most likely closer to that than anything else.

Going out past the parade ground, I saw the foundry was going full blast. I walked in and warmed my hands by the forge. El Tar was hammering away at something. It looked like he was turning a bar of metal into a sword. I waited until he put it in the water trough by the anvil.

He looked at me as the steam raged into the air. “Hey Mike. What can I do for you?”

“Am I that transparent?” I asked.

“Pretty much.” El Tar said with a grin. “I don’t think you’ve ever come here when it wasn’t to get something.”

“I did drop those alchemical items off.” I shrugged.

“True, true. So, are you dropping off or collecting?” He asked, putting down his hammer.

“I do have a request.” I held up the spider’s fang. “Can you make me one of these as a weapon? Sharp, with a handle, strong enough so I can use it in combat.”

He took the fang. Looking it over, “Did you get this off one of the spiders in the last dungeon?”

“Yeah. It gave me an idea for a new spell. Falaise thought I should get a permanent item made before we try the spell.” I told him.

He looked through the hole. “Does the one you’re asking for need to be hollow?”

“It does. As close to that as possible.” I nodded.

“Hmm. Too small to beat it into shape. Do you think casting will be strong enough?” His brow was furrowed.

“You’re the expert.” I shrugged.

“Let’s try that.” He told me and went to get his supplies. El Tar came back with a couple of blocks of soapstone. Breaking out a quill and inkwell, he said, “Let’s trace it first.” And drew careful lines around it. Then he got a small hammer and chisel, carefully etching the shape into the soft stone.

He’d knock the chisel in, then blow the fragments out, then repeat the process. After a while, he had a really good rendition of the fang into the stone.

“You’ll need to get on those bellows. I have to get a metal with a high melting point for the wire to make it hollow. The only one like that I have is platinum.” The smith told me.

I sighed and got busy. With the wooden handle from the top piece of the bellows in hand, I’d raise and lower it, up, down, up, down. Over and over and over. It blew air over the coals and made the flame leap up. He put a dull silver metal into a thick tray, then set it into the fire. I kept pumping, up, down, up, down. At long last, the metal in the tray melted.

El Tar took it out and poured it into a long narrow trough in some soapstone and put the other half back on. “No sense wasting that heat.” He said and put the bar of iron back into the forge. Before long it was glowing red and he took it out with tongs and set to beating it on his anvil. Sparks flew out.

“Do you see these sparks?” El Tar yelled. “That’s carbon. With too much of it the metal will be brittle.” He kept hammering until most of the sparks had stopped. Then he put the bar of iron in another tray and back into the fire. He motioned for me to start back.

Pump, pump, pump. As I did that, he took the platinum wire out of its mold. The smith put it onto a plate of steel with several small holes through it. He poked it into one of the holes, barely getting it through. Once the end was visible on the other side, he got tongs and PULLED. It stretched out the platinum into wire.

While he was doing this, the iron melted. “Let’s try this.” He said with a grin, sticking the wire into the mold. Then he poured in the iron. It scalded and roared, then eventually was still. Before it completely cooled, El Tar pulled out the platinum wire.

After a few minutes, he cracked the cast and pulled out a solid replica of a spider’s fang.