Chapter 172
The group followed the crowd to the dining hall and waited their turn as the line slowly moved forwards. Night had almost fallen and a number of magical lights had been strung up outside of the dining hall to brighten up the area. They reminded Jay of white Christmas lights that his family would string up outside every winter.
“What is this?” Norri asked as she spotted plates, each with a dark colored loaf on it which was itself wrapped in strips of something else.
Aiden smiled widely, “Mmm. Bacon-wrapped meatloaf. And buttery mashed potatoes! Oh thank the Goddess, I'm so hungry,” he said as he began to stack plates on to his tray. One plate of meatloaf was followed by two plates of mashed potatoes. That was followed by another plate, but this one had corn on it, buttered, salted, and sprinkled with a touch of pepper.
Jay watched Aiden stack up a ridiculous amount of food on to his tray before Aiden moved down to get his drink. Jay shook his head. Aiden was always starving. Jay wasn't starving but he was hungry. A single plate of meatloaf and a plate of mashed potatoes was enough for him. He wasn't going to take anything else but M'redith nudged a plate of corn in his general direction. So he took that too and moved down. M'redith grinned as he did so.
“What? No gravy?” M'redith teased Jay who shrugged.
“Never much liked gravy.” Jay admitted.
Aiden looked offended, “How can you not like GRAVY? It's delicious! It's gravy! What do you eat with biscuits?”
Jay smiled and shrugged but didn't try to defend himself. Aiden was still too excited to eat and let the matter drop after a moment. Jay took a glass of strawberry lemonade and set it on his tray before he turned to face the room and began to search for a table.
The others were finishing up gathering their meals and queued up behind Jay – there wasn't a lot of room to spread out.
Normally when one sat down to eat they would do so at their own table. Even if there was extra room at a table occupied by someone else the unspoken rule was you don't sit at a table where someone is already sitting – even if a space was open. You got your own table and sat by yourself, like an adult.
Due to the overcrowding the rules had changed and people now sat wherever they could find a spot. They still would act embarrassed about it and would ask if it was ok to sit there, but it was expected that the person being asked would say yes.
Jay looked out over the sea of tables and people eating and was trying to figure out where to sit when a woman began waving at him. Jay looked confused and pointed at himself before he turned to the side and noticed Norri waving enthusiastically back at the woman.
“Follow me guys!” Norri said excitedly as she strode in to the room towards the woman.
Jay shared a look and a shrug with M'redith before they followed along behind her. Aiden took up the rear and had already used a finger to scoop a bit of mashed potatoes in to his mouth. He chewed happily as he trotted along with the group.
“Norri! Sit!” said a beautiful older woman, her long white hair woven in to a braided crown.
“Alize, right? I'm M'redith, this is Jay, the one already eating is Aiden, and I guess you already know Norri. Thanks for the invite, this place is packed!” M'redith said with a warm smile as she shook Alize's hand before she sat down next to her. Norri sat on the other side of Alize. Jay sat next to M'redith, and Aiden was already sitting and eating, tucked in between Jay and Norri.
Alize smiled warmly, “Don't mention it. So you must be Norri's Group that she was telling me about yesterday! It's great to get a chance to meet all of you,” she said as her eyes flicked to the collar devices each of them wore. “Fancy sigil you all have there. Norri didn't mention the name of her Group and I didn't want to assume anything at the time, but are you the group that made all of the changes to Kagan's Dome?”
The group went quiet for a moment and Alize spoke quickly in to the lull, “If you don't want to talk about it that's ok too!”
M'redith waved her hand as if to indicate that wasn't the case. “Who we are seems to be becoming common knowledge – as is the identity of who made changes to the Dome. That was us – we're the Glimmerhides,” she explained easily.
“Well thank you from one dungeon runner to another. The Dome is one of my favorite dungeons to run at this point. It's almost too good.” Alize explained happily.
“Too good? How so?” M'redith asked curiously.
Alize made a quick movement and shrugged with one shoulder, “Everyone gets a reward! The reward you get is your pick out of three choices! The dungeon is fun to run and not overly dangerous. It's almost too easy if you know what you're doing.”
M'redith tilted her head and asked, “Do you know if a lot of people feel that way?”
Alize shook her head, “I've been doing this my entire life. That's the only reason it's easy for me. It's a good challenge for most groups and the rewards are extremely fair, maybe even a bit overly generous. No one is going to want to run other dungeons for a while though at this rate.”
Jay stopped eating, “Well that doesn't sound good. What would happen if other dungeons aren't run as often?”
Alize shrugged, “No idea. Probably depends on the dungeon. I wouldn't worry too much about it though.”
“Why not?” Norri asked as she gazed at Alize with an almost star struck look. Alize was most likely the first and only Druid that Norri had ever met.
“Experience points. Kagan's Dome doesn't give runners very many xp points – and since runners need those points to level up they'll be forced to go elsewhere to get those levels. Kagan's Dome is amazing for loot, not so much for leveling up. So things will probably quiet down a bit over the next few weeks but will remain a popular dungeon.” Alize explained.
She chewed a bite of her meatloaf and scooped up a bit of bacon as well before she spoke again.
“New graduates will probably always want to hit up Kagan's Dome as one of their first dungeons to run though. A few major rewards could increase their combat abilities by quite a lot depending on what they got. And they can run it every day. I mean, they can as long as they have a silver to get in,” she said as she raised an eyebrow at the group.
Jay smiled, “We were told that there are records going back hundreds of years that show Kagan's Dome used to be practically the first dungeon a new Guild graduate would run. We couldn't figure out why before we were hired. It makes perfect sense now. New graduates would visit the Dome to gear up so that they could tackle the more difficult dungeons that rewards higher experience points.”
“Well I'm just happy you guys did whatever it is you did. My run yesterday was so much fun! It was almost a walk in the park compared to what we usually are faced with. And the rewards!” she exclaimed as she stopped eating long enough to rummage around in her bag that sat on the floor next to her.
“The dungeon rewards seem to be very unique and they either complement a person's already present combat abilities or they have nothing to do with combat at all!” Alize said as she pulled something out of her bag and set it on the table with a thunk sound.
“People are selling their rewards for high prices and then using that money to buy upgrades to their combat abilities. Better armor, better weapons, and so on. Here, look at this!” Alize said as she pointed at the figure she had set on the table.
A sculpted metal frog the size of an apple sat heavily on the table. It had been meticulously carved out of a single piece of metal and was a dark almost tarnished color. The eyes were made out of glass and glowed faintly.
“It's... a frog?” Norri asked. She wanted to be excited but it looked just like a frog sculpted out of metal. “The eyes glow a little though – that's pretty cool” she pointed out helpfully.
Alize laughed, “Pet it on its head!” she offered encouragingly.
Norri hesitantly reached out and tapped the frog once gently on the head.
“It's warm!” Norri exclaimed and it was at that moment that the frog let out a very life like sounding ribbit.
Norri snatched her hand back quickly, unsure of what was about to happen. The frog's mouth opened and its head tilted back slightly before a bubble floated in to the air. It looked just like the soap bubbles that Jay had played with as a kid except these ones glowed brightly with enough light to see by.
It was an enchanting display and additional bubbles floated in to the air as the frog continued to ribbit and spit out glowing bubbles. The bubbles floated in to the air up and over the heads of those sitting at the table. As the bubbles reached the ceiling they burst but not like a bubble would – they burst in to a miniature fireworks display that sent off bright glowing greens, radiant reds, and every other color one could think of.
“What is that?” Aiden asked as he was momentarily distracted from eating - an incredible accomplishment in and of itself.
“A toy. Something a child would love, or an adult that likes bright colors. I've never seen anything quite like it and the crafters I've spoken to have been flummoxed at how it works. Magic, obviously, but not any kind that they are familiar with.” Alize explained happily.
Nearby tables had all stopped eating just so they could watch the display and a few people had clapped in appreciation. Alize waved to those clapping and said thank you before she reached out, tapped the frog on the head to deactivate it, and then stored it back in her bag.
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“A lot of the rewards are like this. Valuable to the right person but useless in combat. I could sell this to a rich first time mother for a small fortune. At auction I can't imagine what it might fetch for a price. It's valuable but in a unique way. It won't shatter the economy or anything, but it will make one person ridiculously happy to purchase it.” Alize said as she finished her explanations and returned to eating her dinner, which had cooled a bit.
“I want one!” Norri said with a grin.
“Get your own!” Alize grinned back. “Mine!”
Norri giggled and the others smiled as Jay thought about the sudden deluge of magical items that Kagan's Dome was giving out. They were magic items, yes, but they wouldn't be enough to destabilize an economy, would they?
Jay knew that if the Dome gave every runner a magic sword then after a while the city would be overstocked with magic swords. The prices would be pushed down and magic swords wouldn't be worth as much money. More people would buy magic swords. Those that depended on selling magic swords for a living would have a hard time making as much money as they were used to. Some people would get mad.
That wasn't what the Dome was doing though – it was handing out unique one off items that weren't available anywhere else. Those one off items would fetch a good price but wouldn't put anyone out of business. The ones that were combat oriented tended to be unique in some way as well. None of the items given out would be enough to put anyone out of business.
Jay estimated that the overall effect would be an increase in the overall wealth of K'tharkle as a city. More people would go there, run the dungeon, win a magic item, sell that in K'tharkle, and then spend that money, again, in K'tharkle. It cost K'tharkle nothing. It took nothing from K'tharkle.
Jay realized that he had been sitting there silently lost in his thoughts while the rest of the table had eaten their meal. Jay was quite behind when he finished his thoughts. He tried to catch up with a couple of overly-full bites but managed only to prolong how much chewing it took before swallowing. He returned quickly to normal sized bites.
“So, you all planning on anything fun tonight?” Alize asked as she finished her last bite of mashed potatoes.
M'redith shrugged and Jay looked up.
“I'd like to get my final evaluation out of the way, if there's time. I don't like having that hanging over my head.” Jay pointed out.
Alize laughed, “Goddess, final evaluation. That was a lifetime ago! I can't imagine you'll fail considering what you lot have managed to accomplish with the Dome! They'd have a hard time explaining that away,” she said with a chuckle.
Jay nodded, “I'm more worried about what comes next. It sounds like we'll be split up, at least for a time while some of us go to additional training.”
Alize nodded and looked at Norri seated next to her, “And you little one? Are you going on to additional training?”
Norri shook her head, “I don't think so. Our trainer said what I really need is experience and practice.”
Alize folded her hands in her lap and sat up straight but her eyes narrowed, “Oh did he now? Who are your trainers?”
M'redith smiled as if she had figured out what was going on but Jay looked lost and leaned up next to her. He leaned over towards M'redith's ear so as to not interrupt the ongoing conversation.
Norri gave Alize the name of their trainers as Jay whispered to M'redith.
“What's this all about?” Jay asked.
M'redith shushed him with an excited smile, “Just watch!”
Jay returned his attention to Norri who had just spoken up again, “Why? Do I need more training?”
Alize gave Norri an emotionless look, “I don't know Norri, you tell me – do you need more training?”
Norri went quiet for a moment before she nodded hesitantly and tried to get out what she was feeling at that moment, “I think I do? I'd like to be trained as a Druid.”
Alize's face bloomed in to a smile as Norri finally said the words that she had been waiting for. She continued to smile warmly at Norri and Alize began to speak in much lighter almost joyful tone of voice.
“Seekers must ask to be sponsored. Druids are not chosen by others but by themselves. No one can make you a Druid, but I can teach you what a Druid is, if you are willing. I could not offer that to you until you asked for it yourself. Now that you have expressed your interest however...” Alize said with a kind smile.
Norri has been offered a Druidic Apprenticeship...
The notification was area wide which meant anyone within six feet of Norri saw the notification. Although Druids were rare, apprenticeships were not. An agreement between master and student, apprenticeships were the primary method used to pass on rare class based knowledge.
One could be a Fighter and have Class Abilities without serving an apprenticeship, but would learn much faster and possibly gain additional abilities outside of Class Abilities after serving an apprenticeship under a skilled master. Other classes required an apprenticeship to progress properly.
Norri had been offered a much more detailed notification and read through the terms carefully. She would spend one month studying under Alize's care. She would obey her and follow her instructions with question.
Norri had to read that twice just to be sure. It actually said 'with question' instead of 'without question.'
She looked up at Alize and Alize smiled approvingly, “Rule Number 1: Druids question everything.”
Aiden laughed, Norri certainly was always full of questions.
Norri went back to reading the terms and the people at the tables around them had gone quiet. Many of them knew the significance of an apprenticeship announcement – and those that did knew that an additional notification would soon go out. It was that notification they were all waiting patiently for.
Norri saw that she would be expected to grow her own staff, master her own garden, along with a host of other tasks. It was quite a list. She loved every item on the list and couldn't wait to do all of them.
Norri read the last sentence.
Do you, Norri, agree to take on Alize as your Master for the purpose of a Druidic Apprenticeship? YES|NO
Norri quickly selected YES and looked over at Alize excitedly. Before she could say anything however another notification popped up and caused the people around them to break out in to applause and cheering. Other tables took up the cheer as well and soon a large portion of the tables around them were applauding.
Druids, rejoice! A Seeker is found! Congratulations to Norri on her Druidic Apprenticeship with Master Alize!
Alize had just enough time to say “Welcome!” warmly to Norri before people began to come up to the table. They were all excited and smiling. At first they had to point out which of them was Norri but that became less of an issue as more people crowded over. Each person handed Norri a single copper coin before they then punched her happily on the arm.
At first Norri was taken aback when she had her arm struck but it didn't hurt and seemed to be part of the process. A pile of copper coins had formed in front of Norri as each person would hand her a coin, congratulate her, and then punch her on the arm before leaving to make room for the next person.
As more and more people approached M'redith tried to explain to Norri and her friends. “It's tradition! You used to get a patch you'd wear on your sleeve when you became an apprentice! Your first day people would give you a coin but then get to punch your patch to help 'tack it on.' Hazing, essentially, but you got a few coin out of it too which most apprentices didn't have a lot of. Now there are no patches but people still punch your arm where there would have been one.”
Thankfully people didn't punch Norri's arm too hard and most just made light contact. Norri smiled as she was swept up in the festive mood.
“Congratulations!” people kept telling her but there really wasn't enough room for people to be lining up at her table. Thankfully it didn't take long to hand her a coin and punch her on the arm and a short time later things had settled down. People still would wave and shout congratulations when they made eye contact with Norri from across the room as word of what had happened quickly spread throughout those present.
They had all finished eating minutes ago and were taking up a table others needed to eat at. “Congratulations Norri! You want to get out of here?” Jay asked kindly.
Norri nodded happily as she scooped the pile of copper coins in to her coin pouch. “That was a lot! Thank you Alize, I promise to listen and learn!” Norri said excitedly.
Alize nodded and smiled, “I'll come for you after you graduate. Until then learn what you can. Anything nature related will help you.”
“I'm taking Extreme Foraging!” Norri pointed out.
Alize laughed and nodded, “That sounds exciting. It is precisely what you should be learning! And I'll try to make time to start your garden with you soon – the sooner the better if you're going to be growing yourself a staff.”
Norri nodded as she listened. “Ok!” she said agreeably.
“Well. That's enough for now. I'm excited to have you as an apprentice Norri, I'm sure you'll do well. As for me – I need to get going – I have somewhere I have to be. Great meeting you all, you've picked a fine group member,” she said as she patted Norri on the back.
Everyone said their goodbyes and M'redith took everyone's trays up to the drop off area. Alize was a bit surprised to have her do so but didn't try to stop her. Alize was gone by the time M'redith returned.
M'redith had Norri lead them out of the dining hall and after a few feet Jay understood why. Everyone they passed wanted to give Norri a coin, a congratulations, and a punch on the arm. Norri now understood why she was being punched and didn't mind nearly as much. The coins all went in to her pouch and after a few minutes they were finally outside.
“Where to now?” Norri asked happily as they milled about in a group on the edge of the open area in front of the dining hall.
Jay spoke right up, “I'd like to go try to get my evaluation done, if you guys want to come along.”
That had sounded like a great idea and they headed over to the administration section of the Guild grounds. It normally would have been work trying to find which offices were T'lly's and Warren's but the long line leading to each tipped them off.
There weren't two lines – just one long one. Whenever someone left one of the offices the person next in line would replace them. You didn't choose who you spoke to – it was T'lly or Warren based off of who was available when it was your turn.
They got in to line and waited their turn. It looked like it was going to be a while.
“I'm going to be a DRUID!” Norri said excitedly as she patted at Jay's and M'redith's arms. Aiden looked on happily – mostly because he had just ate. Aiden didn't do too well on low blood sugar it turned out.
“You sure are!” Aiden said agreeably. “Can't wait to see what you learn!”
“So everyone has a place to go after graduation now except for me. I wonder what Warren will suggest...” Jay said as he trailed off.
M'redith shrugged and reached out to hold his hand. She gave it a squeeze. “It'll be ok. It's only for a month after all!”