CHAPTER 10 DAY 8
As I logged in the in-game counter read 388,290 people logged in. Wow. The game had gone into its second stage release. Everyone who had purchased the Fantasy Realms Promo Cocoon had early access for the next week. I had gotten off track. I wanted to sell my rings but had not made any extra. Stupid of me.
To make matters worse I was not in my hiding spot I had chosen when I had left. I was swinging in a light breeze in a wooden cage off the ground. Cat men and women moved about below me. I was stripped to my loin cloth. I still had my translocation bracer and my bag of holding but everything else was gone. I was afraid then angry and then relieved because in a similar cage next to me was Harrash. “Bout time you woke.” He muttered as he turned to me. “Not looking too good. They really enjoyed plundering your body while you were unconscious. The shaman especially loved your rings.”
Damn I could teleport back to Bluewater and it would take me a day or two to resupply but Harrash was stuck here. “Are they going to kill us?”
“Not sure. They questioned me for a while. They kept asking about the goblin pirates. From what I gathered they have been fighting them for months and it is not going well.” This was perhaps a way to get on their good side. “I already volunteered to fight the pirates but they don’t trust me.” Maybe my 7 in charisma would allow me to do a better job.
“Hello down there! Can I speak to your leader?” I yelled. The cats looked up but only a tiny young one responded, running to a wooden building on the far side of the village. While I waited I studied the inhabitants. The cat people moved with grace. The men were tall and well muscled. The women were very feminine looking. There looked to be six breeds. The fur came in black, golden, leopard, striped, gray and white. There were 40 buildings in the village and many cats were working their crafts. After a few minutes the child cat returned with an older female cat in tow. At least I assumed she was older because she did not move as fluidly as the other cat people.
My cage was 30 feet in the air. The older cat women spoke loudly so I could hear, “You have awoken. Lower the cage.” She ordered. Two large striped cats unlashed a rope and my cage lowered as they let the rope out to the pulley above me. It squeaked as I came down to meet the older cat face to face. “Kiranith is my name invader. What be yours?”
“Daedalus. My friend, Harrash and I, are not invaders. We were ship wrecked after a storm. I am a travelling enchanter and my friend is a fisherman. Please release us so we can continue on our way.” My acting was not great but I wanted to be as direct as possible.
“Humans are not welcome on our island. We fled here from human oppression and cleared the island of threats and now the goblins are raiding and enslaving my people and selling them into slavery. Half my people are gone and the goblins come in greater and greater numbers.” Kiranith stopped talking. Her tone was level and not accusing, just stating the facts.
I thought of an approach. “Tell you what I can do. If you are an honorable people I will make you magic rings to help defend yourselves.” To emphasize my point I sat down and removed a black and white stone from my bag. I rolled them out and proceeded to make a ring, cast the preparation enchantment, drank a potion and then cast +3 constitution enchantment on the ring. I handed it to Kiranith. She took and inspected it for a time before putting it on her hand. Her back straightened a little.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
She looked at me, “So the rings you had on you were made by you.” I nodded affirming the fact. Her mind was turning. “Why?” Was finally her response.
“I hate goblins and so far you have not harmed me or my companion so at this point I trust you. I will need my gear and my friends gear back before I start making rings for your people.” I waited.
Finally she said, “let them out and give them back their possessions.” A large white male cat roared in anger. “Derth they have not attacked us and if we don’t gain allies soon our clan will be whipped out.”
It took some time to get our things to us. They also brought us some meat stew. We ate while standing and everyone was staring at me and the dwarf in apprehension. “Do you have an alchemist in your village?” I asked while eating.
“Yes a young novice, our master was taken in the first attack many months ago.” Kiranith replied. Between bites.
“I will need a steady stream of magic restoration potions to make your rings. I will make you 120 rings of either strength, magic or constitution. Or a combination there of.” I stated scraping the bottom of the bowl with a piece of bread.
She spent some time thinking. “We have 37 warriors. Please make 80 constitution rings and 40 strength rings for us. I don’t think it will turn the balance but it will help.” She wasn’t trying to get me to up my offer just once again stating the facts.
“If your weapons are of high enough quality I could enchant them to do extra damage. I also can show your alchemist the recipe for this potion.” I removed a battle potion from my bag and handed it to Kiranith.
She examined the potion, smelled it and tasted it. “Very nice. Our master alchemist used to brew these. Celina does not know how. Your knowledge will be most welcome.” A golden furred female cat came forward. She was quite striking and if it wasn’t for her fangs I would have thought she was beautiful, well maybe a better word would be sexy.
A was too busy looking at her ‘features’ to notice she had produced 6 vials, “These are left over from before my teacher was abducted. I know how to make them.” She smiled and even with her fangs it was beautiful. What was happening to me, first Gina and now Cerina. I must be horny. I smiled back and took the potions.
Items Acquired: Six Potions of Magic Restoration, restore 600 magic over 30 seconds
Great. This was going to make things much easier. I drank one of the potions to get my magic to full. “I will work all day on your rings. Bring me your best weapons for enchantment as well.” I got up and went to a table bench and pulled out the stones I would need and all my minor magic potions I had created. I would save the ones I had purchased from Zolan for emergencies. I started with the 12 rings I had prepped on the boat. I made them all strength rings and mindlessly handed them off to a cat warrior who was close by.
A young gray cat came by and put a vial on the table and mumbled that Celina was working as fast as she could. I was focused on the stones and making rings and enchanting them as fast as I could.
After 9 hours I had finished all the rings. I was exhausted mentally and physically. My mouth tasted like ass from all the potions I drank. I lay down on the table and took note of my skill increases.
Enchant 4 +1 Channeling
Enchant: Imbue 6 +1 Magic
Earth Magic: Stone 4 +1 Constitution
Artistry: Sculpture 3 Tier 3 unlocked: +1 Charisma, sculptured objects are higher quality
The rings were looking quite good. Almost like something I could buy in a store in the real world.
In the game it was early in the morning and I had worked through the night. I logged out.
Flicka was close by and hoped into the Cocoon and licked my face. I petted her for a while then went to something to eat in the fridge. A sandwich was on a plate with a note, “egg salad”. I woofed it down and it was awesome, well seasoned and had some sharp cheese in it. Gina was a good cook. It was 5:12am. I let Flicka out to pee and then went to bed. Setting my alarm for 10am.