Chapter 196
Day 45, Thursday
Jay awoke to the sound of fighting. Two tiny blue feathered birds stood just outside of his bedroom window and were screeching back and forth at each other as they fought over what looked like a berry.
Jay lifted his head just enough off of the pillow so that he could see the birds fight over the berry before he dropped his head back on to the soft material. The noise faded as one of the birds won and flew off with the berry.
The second bird tweeted sadly and pecked at Jay's windowsill in search of food. The little chirps and peeps were mournful and Jay finally slid his legs out of bed and rested his feet on to the cool wooden floor. Jay's jaw opened as he yawned widely and loudly. The bird on the windowsill froze for a moment and stared at Jay through the window.
Jay scratched at one arm as he stood up and wandered over to where he kept his armor and all of his pouches. He riffled through them until he found what he had been looking for – the remains from a travel ration that had settled in to the bottom of one of his pouches. He picked out some crumbs and held them in one of his hands, cupped. He opened the window and the bird startled and looked ready to take wing but did not do so.
Instead the bird watched carefully as Jay sprinkled the emergency ration crumbs on to the windowsill and then shut the window. The bird waited until the window had closed before it ran over to the crumbs and pecked at it for a moment before it spit it back out. It turned to face Jay and screeched in displeasure before it finally flew off.
Jay sighed as he dusted off his hands. “Beggars can't be choosers unless you're a bird apparently.”
Jay dressed quickly, he needed to get ready for class. What class would he have today? Wait. What day was it? Jay pondered that question as he put on his underclothes and then his armor. Over his armor went his belt and vest which was covered in pouches.
Jay collapsed his staff and hung it off the back of his backpack before he struggled in to the straps.
Yesterday had been the auction. So that made today Thursday. Did he need to get a day planner? Did they have those on Eden or would he have to make his own? Jay thought that maybe things would settle down a bit after he graduated. That would free up quite a lot of his time hopefully.
So if today was Thursday that meant today was their scheduled ruins run with Sha'li. M'redith had set up the outing and Jay knew very little about where they would be going or what they would be doing once they got there. He had some experience with ruins – a traveler dungeon that was mostly ruins was his first foray in to mapping and trap finding. Then he had his run recently when he had run a ruins with Carly and some children.
So Jay wasn't entirely ignorant of ruins – he was just ignorant of the one they'd be visiting that day.
A banging at the door made Jay smile. Jay was all suited up and had everything he would need for the day so he walked over to the front door and opened it.
“Jay! You're up! I'd hoped you would be. You excited for today?” Aiden asked a bit breathlessly.
Jay nodded with just a tad of confusion, “Sure, I mean, as much as I am for any other day.”
That gave Jay pause. His day would consist of searching through an abandoned ruins with a group of his friends, his girlfriend, and a very attractive and somewhat mysterious half-elf. There might be traps, or monsters, or treasure. It would be a very exciting day, so why wasn't he more excited? Was he getting used to adventure?
Rather than spend any more time in introspection Jay finally just shrugged. It was something to think about another time, not right now. “Let's go. I want to hit up breakfast real quick before we head out.”
The mention of food distracted Aiden who frowned as his stomach growled loudly.
Jay closed the door behind him as he stepped outside to join Aiden and he twisted the handle on the door after he had closed it just to make sure it had locked.
The weather had initially looked sunny but as the two friends walked to the dining hall the sky gradually darkened until it was a nondescript gray. A light fog had gathered and it made it difficult to see very far ahead while they walked.
Thankfully by that time they could have walked to the dining hall with their eyes closed. The fog slowed them down slightly but wasn't a major problem. They reached the dining hall along with a group of other people, some in armor, others in fine dresses or more formal looking outfits. The majority of the crowd looked tired.
It seemed that they were headed in to fall and the temperature had been getting steadily cooler. Today, for example, was probably 70F at the most – a nice cool break from some of the hotter days.
Jay was about to mention the weather when the two were joined by M'redith and Norri. The two approached the men and M'redith held a hushed conversation with the people behind them in line. Jay guessed that she was smoothing things over as she was about to cut in front of them in line.
The people behind them nodded and smiled at M'redith and the two women joined Jay and Aiden in line. M'redith wrapped an arm around Jay's waist and gave him a quick kiss while still smiling.
“Morning you guys! How'd everybody sleep?” M'redith asked with a grin. She seemed as excited as Aiden was.
Jay grinned and was still glowing from the kiss that M'redith had just given him, “I slept great!”
Norri was smiling as well, “No glade?”
Jay shook his head, “Nope! Just sleep and normal dreams. I feel so rested!” Thankfully Gaia had let him sleep the night before. While dreams in which he spoke with the Goddess were always helpful they were also always exhausting.
Breakfast was cheesy scrambled eggs, spicy sausages, buttered white toast slices sprinkled with sea salt and cut in to triangles, fruit salad cups that only had strawberries, oranges, and grapefruit, and a tall glass of orange juice – Jay took his with the pulp. Each of their group took a tray full of food along with Aiden who took a tray and a half worth of food but jammed it all on to just one tray.
Jay was done first and guided them to an open table of which there were very few. The group made their way through the seated crowd and plopped their trays on to their selected table. Jay pulled out M'redith's seat for her and Norri did the same for Aiden just for fun. Everyone sat down and got right to eating without any joking or talking.
It seemed that all of them had the same idea – eat fast so that they could leave. While breakfast was normally a more relaxed activity for the group that day all they wanted was to get moving, to get on with their day. Even Aiden seemed to eat a bit faster than was normal for him.
Jay finished first, an unusual accomplishment for him. As he leaned back in his seat he watched the rest of his group eat. “After breakfast I think we should deposit our gold before we head out – I worry about just having it laying around – or even worse, I worry about bringing it with me.”
M'redith smiled as she chewed a strawberry, one of the seeds stuck to her lip. She used her tongue to remove the seed before she spoke, “We don't have to go to the bank – just send a runner and ask to make a deposit – they'll send someone here.”
“That reminds me – where are we supposed to meet Sha'li?” Jay asked as he tried to work out the schedule for the day.
“She's meeting us at the portal house,” M'redith said before she sighed, paused her eating, and put her fork down.
“I thought we were walking to a nearby ruins?” Norri asked in between bites of her spicy sausage link.
M'redith shook her head, “I found somewhere better. We're going to the Lincoln Shire Ruins. I'll go over more when we meet up with Sha'li. That way I don't have to repeat it a hundred times.”
“I thought portals were expensive?” Aiden asked in a worried tone of voice.
M'redith shrugged, “For Lincoln Shire I already checked with the Portal House and we can get a Guild rate today of 10 silver each. Lincoln Shire Ruins isn't that far although I'd hate to have to walk there. The ten silver is worth the trade-off I think. We can all afford that, right?”
Aiden looked worried before he remembered that he had money now. He still hadn't come to terms with that yet. “Right!” he said, as a bit of his excitement over their planned day made the word come out louder than he had planned on. The others all looked at him for a moment before they continued eating their meals.
Jay worked out the math, “I'll cover the cost for Sha'li.” He had more money than the rest of them combined so it wasn't that wild of a suggestion for him to offer to pay for the half-elf. They were paying half a gold total for a journey that would have taken them less than a day. Jay wondered if that was a good price or not.
M'redith nodded, “Thank you Jay, we all appreciate that.”
The others nodded in agreement. Having a wealthy friend was quite helpful.
Aiden then stood up suddenly and began to take people's trays. Jay had already finished and M'redith snatched her last slice of toast off her plate before Aiden could take that too. Norri dropped one arm on to the table around her tray protectively and guarded her food against theft.
“C'mon Norri, we have to go,” Aiden pleaded but Norri refused.
“We can go when I finish my strawberries!” she insisted and Aiden was forced to wait another minute before she finally sat back and waved at her tray. “NOW I'm finished,” she said with a nod and a crooked smile.
Aiden huffed and took everyone's trays up to the counter.
“Should I send a runner for a deposit at the main courtyard of the Guild?” Jay asked M'redith after a moment.
She shook her head, “That would just slow us down. The Portal House will have runners too. Let's do it from there – that way we can meet up with Sha'li if she shows up before the runner does. Otherwise there is a chance we'll be late to meeting her.”
Jay frowned. Not a great way to make a good second impression. “Good point. I'll wait until we get to the Portal House.”
Aiden returned and clapped his hands once, “Up and at 'em! Let's move!”
Jay chuckled but didn't say anything as he stood up. Aiden sure was excited – either about the ruins, or about Sha'li. Jay guessed it wasn't about the ruins.
Everyone got up and followed Aiden out of the building and in to the gray misty fog that had thickened over the intervening time period while they had eaten.
“Is the fog going to be a problem?” Norri asked curiously as she picked a strawberry seed out from in between two of her teeth.
M'redith shrugged, “It depends on how foggy it ends up being where we're going. We'll be spending some time indoors as well so that should help a bit.”
Norri pursed her lips and nodded once, then went silent.
Foot traffic had slowed down due to the fog, not that it was strictly necessary. It wasn't as if they were in any danger of walking in to anyone – it was foggy but easy to see where you were going – as long as you weren't going more than a few feet in front of you.
It took a bit longer to get to the main courtyard than it normally would and they found that it was just as packed as it had been yesterday once they had arrived.
“Shouldn't there be less people around now that the auction is over?” Aiden asked out of curiosity.
M'redith shook her head, “The auction was just last night – everyone went back to their rooms and slept. They'll all probably leave today or tomorrow if I had to guess.”
They reached the courtyard and knew that they would be late to the Portal House. The fog had gotten so thick that carts in the middle of the courtyard couldn't even make out the courtyard's exit through the fog. It took a few minutes but eventually Jay's group was next and a cart pulled up. Their group quickly hopped inside and M'redith gave the driver their destination as well as some coin.
Jay and his friends were already in the cart by the time M'redith walked back to hop inside. Jay gave her help getting over the edge of the cart and pulled her up and in. She half fell on to him and he helped her rearrange herself so that they were sitting next to each other.
“You two are a mess,” Aiden said with a smile. Norri shook her head but was smiling too.
The cart rolled in to motion but did not pick up speed once it had pulled out in to city traffic, which was moving along at a walking pace so as not to hit anyone in front of them that they might not be able to see.
They passed numerous restaurants and food carts not to mention walking vendors that just carried their food around with them and shouted the names of their wares out to drum up business. Aiden didn't even ask to stop once for food. He must be really excited to spend some time with a half elf, Jay thought to himself.
The cart stopped and the group thought maybe they might be there but the driver informed them they were just waiting for traffic up ahead to clear up before they could continue. After a few minutes the cart rolled in to motion once again and they continued on.
The streets smelled like a mix of breakfast foods from all of the surrounding restaurants and rain on dry soil, petrichor. The group sat and digested quietly as they continued on their journey.
“Is it often foggy like this?” Jay asked no one in particular.
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M'redith shrugged, “It happens on occasion, usually during the fall.”
“And is it fall?” Jay asked with a smile that she could see even in the fog.
She laughed, “You don't know what season it is?”
Jay looked at her with a raised eyebrow, “I'm new here, remember? How would I know?”
Norri and Aiden laughed as M'redith blushed lightly and smiled.
“I forget sometimes just what exactly that means. Sorry, Jay. It's the end of summer. We're headed in to the fall – that is why today is so cool for example. Fall tends to be a very foggy time around K'tharkle,” M'redith pointed out.
Jay smiled, “I did not know that. Thank you for telling me.”
Aiden chuckled, “If you two are through I think we're here!”
The driver turned them off of the city road and in to a sizable courtyard that had plenty of room for their modest cart. He didn't hop down to help them out – this was a cart, not a carriage. Jay's group wrestled their way out of the back of the cart and M'redith tipped the driver with thanks.
The driver waved and turned his cart around before he pulled back out in to city traffic – slowly. Everything seemed to move slower in the fog.
Jay's group stood there for a moment, alone, in the courtyard before a young woman wearing a funny blue hat ran out from the nearby building and bowed her head a few times in apology. “Right this way please,” she begged them, “my apologies for not being present for your arrival!”
She led them inside the main entrance and in to the Portal House itself. “Your name?” she asked M'redith who replied in a kind tone of voice, “Glimmerhide Group.”
The young woman nodded and flashed M'redith a bright smile, “Of course! Your room is number 12, right this way please.”
The Portal House was more of a mansion from Jay's point of view and he was entirely lost by the time the young woman and led his group through a dizzying maze of twists and turns until they found themselves in front of a room with the number 12 on it in forged metal numbers.
Inside the room Jay's group found the same room as was usual for the Portal House – a round table, this one with six seats, the door they had entered through, and the door to an adjoining room where their portal would be prepared.
“Is there anything else I can get you?” the young woman in the blue hat asked.
M'redith nodded, “We are still waiting on one of our party,”
“Of course!” the woman in blue replied. “They will be escorted here immediately upon their arrival.”
“Also, could we have a runner please?” M'redith added.
With a nod the woman in blue quickly stepped out to speak with someone else before she returned after only a brief moment. “A runner will arrive for your use shortly. Would you like any refreshments while you wait?”
Aiden was about to say yes when M'redith cut him off, “No, thank you, just the runner.”
The woman in blue nodded, “In that case, thank you for choosing the K'tharkle Portal House and we hope you enjoy your stay!” With a nod the woman let herself out and shut the door behind her.
Everyone took a seat at the table – there was nothing else to do. Aiden was the first to speak.
“Some of us might have liked some refreshments you know,” Aiden pointed out.
M'redith glared at him, “Do you have any idea what they would charge you for that food? Nothing is free here,” she pointed out and Aiden winced.
“I, uh, hadn't thought about that, sorry,” Aiden said sheepishly.
The door to their room opened from the hallway and a runner stepped in to the room. “You lot need a runner?”
Jay smiled and nodded, “I'm looking to have a message sent over to Boland at the First K'tharkle Bank offices.”
The runner nodded, “Written message or verbal?” he asked when Jay made no move to hand him anything.
“Oh! Verbal. Just tell him I'd like to make a deposit and tell him where I am.” Jay suggested.
The runner nodded and held his hand out. “Coin?” he asked.
Jay pulled out his coin pouch and was about to go through the coins when M'redith intervened. She picked out a few copper, five to be exact, and handed them to the runner. The runner grinned and thanked her quickly before he ran out of the room, barely shutting the door behind him.
“What? Didn't think I could pay him the right amount?” Jay asked M'redith with a frustrated look and a slightly snappish attitude.
M'redith shook her head but smiled rather than reply in anger, “Tell me that you weren't about to pay him a silver and I'll never bother you about money again.”
Jay opened his mouth but then closed it before he muttered “Damn it,” to himself. After a moment Jay finally spoke up. “Sorry. I'm still getting used to the money here and it's frustrating me. I didn't mean to snap at you,” Jay apologized.
Aiden and Norri watched the two have their first real lover's quarrel but kept quiet so as not to interrupt.
M'redith nodded, “I forgive you. I was just trying to help.”
Jay sighed, “You were, and I appreciate it. I was just frustrated with the situation – not you.”
They sat quietly after that and time passed slowly.
Sha'li was late.
“Well, so much for starting on time,” Jay pointed out.
M'redith chuckled, “You had best get used to it – it's like this all the time during autumn in K'tharkle. Appointments become more of a suggestion than an actual deadline as the fog fouls up most plans in the city.”
Someone knocked on their door. Hard.
“Er, come in?” Norri said after a moment of silence.
The door opened and admitted two knights – there was no other way to describe them. Bedecked in plate armor no portion of their actual skin was exposed anywhere. Their helmets appeared to be sealed units with no holes for light or oxygen. The only way to survive in a helmet like that was magic. Eyes and a mouth had been welded on to the front of the helmets for appearances sake.
Both helmets had blue colored eyes welded on, Jay noticed – a particularly useless detail. They each had a bag strapped across the front of their chests and Jay would bet all the money he had that they were magical items as well.
Both of the two knight's chests bore the sigil for First K'tharkle Bank along with the initials FKB in cursive on a thin banner engraved beneath it.
One carried a sword and knife in a sheath at their waist while the other had a flat faced war hammer designed for close in fighting.
The one wearing the sword approached Jay directly. “Boland sent us,” the man said in a mechanical voice that Jay had only ever heard before in science fiction movies. The armored man searched through the bag he wore across his chest and removed a writing implement and some paperwork which he handed to Jay.
There were papers for just about everything and Jay pulled out a deposit slip and filled it out before he handed the man nine gold coins along with the slip. The man accepted the coins with one armored hand that proved to be surprisingly dexterous.
“Anyone want to start an account?” Jay asked. They all did. Jay handed them papers and his writing implement and they each spent some time filling it out before handing a stack of gold and the paperwork back to the armored man.
It was over in a few minutes and once done the knights nodded to Jay. The one wearing the sword and knife said, “Patron,” nodded a second time, and then the two left and shut the door behind them.
A few minutes later Jay knew that Sha'li had arrived long before she entered the room or even knocked. Each of them could suddenly sense a hint of something in the air – a scent that was both unfamiliar and intimate all at once.
The door opened and the same young woman that had guided Jay's group in to their room entered once again, this time with another woman, this one tall, willowy, and covered in an emerald green hooded robe.
The young woman in the strange blue hat stared up at Sha'li with a wondrous look on her face before she remembered where she was. At work. Working. The woman shook herself out of her thoughts and struggled to focus on her job.
“This is...this is room 12...your room,” the woman said as she stumbled over her words.
Sha'li smiled and the room was filled with the scent of roses, fresh lemonade, and the scent of clothes dried in the sun on the clothesline. “Thank you for your help. I can take it from here. It was wonderful to meet you!” she said to the woman who smiled widely before she remembered that she was a grown adult and shook herself out of it.
With no small amount of embarrassment the woman in the blue hat said goodbye to Sha'li and slowly closed the door as she left.
Jay looked at his group and saw that Aiden was breathing a bit heavily. M'redith looked ok but even Norri seemed a bit flush.
“Sorry,” Sha'li said – apparently even she could get embarrassed – and after a moment the overpowering scent faded. It never left entirely and enveloped her group constantly – an ever present reminder that they were standing close to a half-elf.
Jay wondered what being near to a full elf would be like. What would that even do to a human, Jay wondered.
Once the scent had settled a bit Sha'li smiled again but this time the background scent merely changed rather than increase in intensity. “It's good to see you all again!”
The group all spoke up in a mix of voices all replying alike – it was good to see Sha'li again.
“I'm really glad you decided to join us,” M'redith said with a smile. “Don't worry, we'll take good care of you.”
Sha'li grinned in excitement. As exciting as it was for Jay and his group to spend time around Sha'li, she was just as excited to get out of the city and go exploring – something she rarely if ever had the time and opportunity to do herself.
She could always just go to a ruin by herself, but that could be dangerous. Going with a group she wasn't familiar with could be just as dangerous if not more so. Jay's group was the first one she felt comfortable enough with to take them up on their offer. Aiden would have been surprised to learn that she was more nervous about the outing than even Aiden was.
“Well everyone have a seat, let's talk about where we're going to today,” M'redith said with a happy tone of voice. Everyone settled in to a seat at the round table and M'redith got right to it.
“Today we're going to visit the Lincoln Shire Ruins. We will spend today there and return by nightfall. I already checked our class schedules and we are all off for today so we have the full day to work with,” M'redith explained. Everyone was still watching Sha'li even though M'redith was the one speaking.
M'redith tapped the table and then cleared her throat. Everyone turned to her. “Thank you,” she said as she stared at Aiden and he blushed. “These ruins were cleared out ages ago but never fully mapped. With so many working dungeons out there most people tend to avoid ruins. So there is a chance that we could find some overlooked loot there.”
Everyone seemed to perk up a bit.
“There is also a chance that we could find some monsters there,” she continued and the group was a little less happy. “Traps are a possibility too. Even though it isn't a full dungeon we should still be careful and treat it like one until we know what we are dealing with.”
“The ruins aren't close to any settlements and aren't a popular destination. As far as ruins go this is one nobody has bothered with, mostly because there are just so many other more profitable dungeons in the area. We will go in, work our way through the ruins, and see if we can find anything hidden that others might have missed,” M'redith continued with a smile as she watched Aiden desperately try to not look at Sha'li.
“Combat. Sha'li do you have any combat skills, abilities, or training?” M'redith asked politely.
Sha'li shook her head and her scent changed and grew stronger around her for a moment, a complicated mix of clean water, wet metal, and smoke. “I can run very fast,” she said with just the hint of a smile.
M'redith laughed and the others smiled as well, “Hopefully you won't need to run at all today. You shouldn't need to fight at all today Sha'li, just stay behind me. As for who goes where, I'll take point, then Jay, then Sha'li, Aiden, and Norri. That will be how we line up while traveling.”
“Loot!” M'redith said with a wide grin and finally she felt like she had their attention. “We will go with need before greed so long as there is no disagreement?”
“Sorry,” Sha'li said, “I'm really new at this – how does that work specifically?”
“If you can use it you can roll on it. If you can't then you don't. If no one can use it then everyone rolls unless everyone agrees to sell it and split the money instead,” Norri explained with a happy grin. She was enjoying sitting next to a half-elf who she thought smelled amazing.
Sha'li nodded and her complicated scent wafted across the room, fresh dough in the oven, a blanket from childhood, the smell of home when you first open the door. “Oh, ok!” she said excitedly. “That seems easy enough.”
“Moving on. Traps. Jay is our trap hunter – when he is searching for traps we all stay back. We don't go past Jay. We only step where Jay says it is safe to walk. If Jay ever says stop, we all stop.” M'redith said with a very serious face indeed.
Sha'li again nodded, “Ok. I'll be careful,” she promised with another smile. She was getting excited.
“Any questions? Anyone?” M'redith said as she came to the end of her introduction.
Sha'li spoke in to the resulting silence, “Not a question,” she said but paused as the scent of grilled cheese filled the room.
“Sorry,” Aiden said as he chewed at grilled cheese he had just removed from his foil pouch, “that scent was all me.”
Sha'li laughed, “You're eating? Didn't you just eat?”
Jay grinned, “Aiden is always hungry,” and Norri giggled in response.
“Right then,” Sha'li said, “as I was saying, thank you all for taking me, I've been in K'tharkle for years and never really gotten a chance to see much of what is outside. I know I don't know how to fight but I promise to stay out of the way and follow directions.”
Jay chuckled, “Better than my last group mate,”
“What was that?” Sha'li asked.
Jay shook his head, “Sorry, nothing. Just remembering my last run is all. We're happy to have you, glad you were interested! If during our run you have any questions just ask no matter how silly it might seem at the time.” Jay stopped speaking to give the others a chance to join in but no one did.
Finally M'redith nodded once and stood up, “That's that then. Everyone ready?”
Aiden licked his fingers clean and put his empty foil pouch back in to his bag. The others all stood up and helped each other arrange their gear properly so they would be ready for a fight. Finally, they got in line in their traveling order and lined up at the door to the next room.
M'redith knocked once and the door opened right up. They were waiting for them it seemed.
A portal mage stood next to an opened portal and was holding it open and maintaining the connection. Another mage approached M'redith and gave her the device she would use to return. After a brief discussion M'redith waved at the others.
“Follow me!” M'redith said with an excited look on her face as she stepped through the portal and disappeared.