Once I made it home, I headed straight to the church of Thanatos. There was no way that I was going to let those bones exist for a second longer than necessary! I stormed inside, still seething about what happened to poor Alnoss. “Brother, I have some terrible news.” I went on to fill him in on the situation with the bones, and he agreed that they must be destroyed.
“Thanatos and I thank you for bringing this to our attention, brother.” The Cardinal said after we had brought all the bones out to the main altar. “My magic can easily reduce a body to ashes, but will not touch the altered bones. Instead, we will have to call out to Thanatos, and have his power destroy them.” He explained. “Place your hands on the altar by the feet, and I shall stand by the head. Then pray, in whatever manner you find appropriate, and see if Thanatos answers.”
Bowing my head, I called out to Thanatos in my mind. I went through the important parts that Lolth had passed on, especially how I believed Goliath and his guild would never give up so long as the bones existed. After all, what was the worst we could do to adventurers? Kill them?
I opened my eyes when I felt heat on my face, to see the bones being consumed by a greenish flame. “Thank you, Lord Thanatos.” The Cardinal spoke, and I mentally echoed his sentiment. It took over ten minutes, but I watched the entire time until the last of the bones was consumed.
“Thank you again brother.” I said. “For making sure this was done as soon as possible. Sadly, I have to go and do a bit of running around.”
“It’s ok brother. Each deals with grief in their own way. Just make sure you are dealing with it, and not hiding from it, ok?” He asked the last bit with surprising tenderness, until I realized that he dealt with people who have lost friends and family all the time.
“I will, don’t worry brother.” Turning, I headed out and down to the barracks. I was conflicted, but had to do this. Though I hoped he wasn’t working, I would still need to be able to get along with Khaliss. This information couldn’t really wait. At the door to the office, I found myself procrastinating, reaching for the door handle several times before I finally gathering my courage enough to walk in.
“Khaliss, I.”
“Khaliss isn’t here.” Shrik answered, staring at me. “Do you absolutely need him right now Angus?”
“Sorry Shrik, I assumed. No, I just need whoever is in charge while he is dealing with his loss. I guess that is you?”
“Indeed.”
“Ok.” I said, closing the door behind me and taking a seat. “Earlier today I went to the drow at the invitation of Lolth. She gave me some information about the group that attacked us last night. I guess she got one of them to turn on the others, but here is the summary. Those adventurers last night were after two things: the bones of the dwarf that I returned from the necromancer, and killing as many of us as possible.”
“A suicide mission? Why? And what can we do about these bones? Even if we seal them in the ground, they will keep returning, no?”
“The bones have already been destroyed, thanks to Thanatos. As for the rest? I have no idea. It looks like the church of Pelor is going to be against us no matter what, so we should be prepared for attacks. The adventurer guild Breaking Dawn can pretty much be considered an arm of the church.”
“Alright, at least one of the issues is taken care of. I’ll put the guards on alert, and we will be checking to make sure none of these Breaking Dawn make their way back in. Anything else?”
“No, but with Khaliss out of action I’m glad to see you stepping into his shoes. Thanks Shrik, I’ll see you later.” As I was almost to the door, I turned to look back, “Oh, and I threw up a little shack on the east side of town. If you need me for something head over there. I just, I can’t stay at the inn right now.”
“I understand. Thanks for the update.” He replied, and I headed out. Going through my mental checklist, I was in a decent spot. Lolth was taken care of for now, and the city had been warned about any possible issues that would be coming. The bones had been taken care of, and in a permanent manner. Now I just needed to head to the alchemists guild and, DAMNIT! I forgot to warn Shrik about the portal!
“Hey Shrik, I almost forgot about this.” I said as I headed back into his office.
“Knocking?”
“Huh? Oh, sorry about that. Did Khaliss leave some notes about an odd graveyard south of town?”
“Graveyard. Graveyard.” He muttered to himself a few times as he was sorting through a stack of papers. “Here we go! Graveyard. Says you were going to investigate it and report back. I take it you found something?”
“Yes. At night, a portal opens to a negative plane. It’s guarded by something called the faceless men. Don’t use magic against them, and attacking from range is best as they are fast, but they drop an ichor that might be useful. I’m on my way to the alchemist guild to check that out, as well as this possible poison. It might be a good place to generate some revenue for the city as well as get our people some combat experience.”
“Did you explore this plane at all?”
“Very little. It seems pretty barren, and watch the plant life. They have some thorns capable of piercing our scales.”
“Alright.” He said with a sigh. “I’ll send a squad to check it out, but what can you tell us about the enemies?”
“Weaknesses in the center of the head and near the solar plexus, detection range around fifteen feet is my best guess. They can sense mana so use regular bolts from the arbalests and they’ll never see it coming. Minor shapeshifting to weaponized their bodies.”
“That’ll be good enough. Thanks again Angus.”
Job done, I headed out to see Djarleen. As soon as I entered the store, she flew across the room and nearly tackled me in a hug. “Angus, I heard about Alnoss I’m so sorry!”
“Thanks Djarleen.” I said, hugging her back. I seemed to be cried out, as I didn’t immediately start crying, but I did feel a heaviness in my heart.
“What are we going to do about it?” She asked, scared.
“Shrik is on it.” I said, patting her back. “We know the who and the why, and will be on guard against letting them into the city. I didn’t say anything about the teleporter from the guild, but it might be something we need to secure somehow.”
“You think the guild?” She asked in a horrified voice.
“No, I don’t think the guild would sanction anything. But there is a chance that someone would use it without the guilds permission isn’t there? I mean, we just walk around and are trusted to use the transporter appropriately.”
“Damn, I never thought of that. Master Faraldo came through earlier with another dwarf, do you think?”
“No, no. Master Faraldo and that dwarf were innocent.” I reassured her, as losing her mentor like that would be devastating.
“Ok, alright. I’m ok now.” She said, collecting herself. Taking a deep breath, she asked me, “So, what can I do for you, apprentice?”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Well, a few things. First, do you have any recipes for extraplanar ichor? Second, I have a bit of what I think is a poison from an extraplanar plant, and could use some help identifying it. I also think I got one of its seeds.”
“Oh? Excellent, excellent. Yes, we can do some amazing things with the ichor. As a potion base, the inherent magic in it can boost the effects of potions.”
“Wouldn’t that affect the elixir recipe?” I asked, thinking back to that first set of elixirs I had made. Could I boost it, get a new elixir recipe and add to my achievements?
“Nope.” She crushed my short lived dreams with a ruthless reply. “Any potion brewed will have boosted in its name somewhere, and you can’t get an elixir recipe from a boosted potion. At least, nobody has found one yet. Probably because of all the different things you can add to boost a potion.”
“Damn. There goes that idea. Alright, well I have about ten vials, can you think about what we can do with them? I’ll be back, I need to see Master Faraldo and Guildmaster Willow. I’ll see if they can secure their end of teleporter.”
“Alright, I’ll see what fun stuff I can come up with will be. See you soon.”
I headed through the transporter to the alchemists guild, and I swear I was starting to develop a bit of a resistance to the stomach churning portion of the trip. Or at least, I hoped so. Maybe it was just in my head. Walking up to the front desk, I was glad to see Markus. The other two just irked me.
“Hey Markus, how’re things with you?” I asked as I strolled up to the desk.
“Well, if it isn’t Djarleen’s miniature terror, Angus. It’s been fairly nice since that week of magical instability has calmed down. I do hope you aren’t going to ruin it for me?”
“I hope not. I do need to see Master Faraldo and the guildmaster, if they aren’t busy. Not at the same time.”
“Hmmm, the guildmaster is in a meeting, but should be done in about a half hour. Master Faraldo was hoping you would be dropping by. Him and another dwarf are in the first conference room on the second floor.”
“Thanks Markus. And I hope they gave you guys a bit of a vacation after that hellacious week you went through.”
“Hah! Good one Angus. You know what they say about the reward for good work though.”
“Yep. More work!”
“Amen.”
“At least they are recognizing the good work you guys did. They could be of the mindset that the beatings will continue until morale improves.”
“Heh, yeah. Can you imagine what Montgomery would do if they threatened to beat him?”
“Eh, what people enjoy behind closed doors is none of my business.”
“AH! AAAAAAAHHHH!!! DAMNIT MAN, WHY DID YOU GIVE ME THAT VISUAL?! GET THEE GONE!” He dramatically waved me on, acting as if his eyes were burning. I was laughing gleefully as I went upstairs. Three steps up and I imagined Alnoss’ reaction to that joke, suddenly it wasn’t as funny. That damn weight in my chest was back too.
Knocking on the door, I entered when I heard a gruff voice said something indecipherable. “Hey there Master Faraldo, how are you holding up?” I asked as I entered.
“Angus? Didn’t expect to see ya so soon lad. I just want ya ta know, me an’ Grimlet here had nothing to do with the nasty business last night.”
“I know. It never even crossed my mind that you would be, but it is good to know that there are still decent players out there.” I said, nodding to the dwarf. “Do you happen to know what they were hoping to do?”
“Yeah. I sent a rather pissed off email to our guildmaster demanding an explanation.” Grimlet said. “I guess he thought he could have them claim the bones and earn a lot of standing within the church of Light. It hasn’t come out yet, but Pelor has called for a crusade against the shadows, and there are a bunch of zealots chomping at the bit.”
“A crusade already? We haven’t even done anything!”
“Yeah. I was shocked too, but when you are a god of Light and a new monster race with shadow in its name comes around, well. You can see what the followers would expect, right?”
“Yeah, I understand but I don’t have to like it. Just like spiders. No matter how many insects they kill, people still are scared of them.”
“Yup. Must be all those extra legs, or in your case, the scales. People have always been scared of reptiles.”
“Either way, at least we have taken care of one thing. Sorry to tell you, but the bones have been completely destroyed by Thanatos himself. I know you dwarves are big on letting them rest beneath the ground, but it became clear to us that people wouldn’t ever stop coming after them.”
“Aye, tis a sad thing but we understand. I’ll pass the word along to me people, ya have my word.” Master Faraldo said.
“Aw shit, I had been ignoring my notifications. I got the quest updated to failed.”
“Sorry it had to end this way. Anyhow, I just wanted to pass along to you two the news about the bones and that the city doesn’t hold you responsible for the actions of your bodyguards. Though you might not want to head over there for a while.”
“Understood, and thanks for tha warnin’.” Faraldo replied.
Before we could talk further, there was a knock at the door and Markus stuck his head in. “Hey Angus, the guildmaster is up in his office but says he can spare five minutes. I’ld take it, as this looks like the only break he is going to have for a few hours.”
“Thanks Markus.” I said, turning to Master Faraldo and Grimlet. “Sorry for the situation guys, but I need to go. Take care.” They replied in kind, and I followed Markus up. He opened the door and announced me, and I heard the guildmaster telling him to go ahead and let me in.
As I walked in, Guildmaster Willow was behind his desk as normal. However, there was an absolutely massive human sitting in a chair off to the side. Dark hair, muscles on top of muscles, and a set of scars that any warrior would be proud of had me immediately wondering who he could possibly be. “Hi guildmaster, thanks for seeing me on such short notice.”
“Angus, always happy to have you drop by. Especially since you bring such interesting stuff. This guy here is Vice Guildmaster Mardigan.”
The man stood and shook my hand, saying, “Drop the Vice Guildmaster title. Just call me Mad Mardigan.”
“Angus, pleasure to meet you. Any, uh, particular reason for that nickname?”
“Ha! I’m always up for crazy stuff. I think I hold the record for the most number of experimental potions tried.”
“By a long shot.” The guildmaster added. “Most stop at one or two. You’re up to, what now, 153?”
“One fifty-five.” He corrected, sitting down. “But I doubt that’s why our friend is here. What’cha need?”
“Two things. First, we have had some issues with the church of Pelor and the guild Breaking Dawn. While we haven’t revealed that the alchemist guild has the ability to teleport people into the city, we will need you to secure that somehow. Djarleen is probably going to have extra security installed as well, but it is better to have too much security than not enough.”
“I’m sorry that we have to do this, but we do have the means. May I ask what brought this on?”
“A murder, and most recently the revelation that a crusade has been issued to members, but not the general public.”
“Sorry for your loss, but it doesn’t make sense about the crusade. Those usually have widespread support.” The guildmaster answered.
“Willow, you’re forgetting politics. The new drakeling city is a massive opportunity for trade, among other things. Who knows what materials they have access to? Doing it this way, they can paint the drakelings as untrustworthy and unwilling to make treaties.”
“Eh, a fair point Mardigan. That’s why I always preferred potions, they react the same way every time.” Waving away the conversation, he continued. “Anyway, you asked for two things? What is the other?”
“I was wondering if I could use the teleportation arrays in the guild to travel across the continent. I would be willing to pay, of course, but right now it isn’t really safe for a drakeling to be out exploring on their own. Even if they come back from death, it isn’t a pleasant experience.”
“Hmm, we would need something like a badge for you to wear so the guards don’t arrest you.” Mardigan spoke. “But I think it is doable. I’m sure you had something you were willing to trade for this?”
“Yep. Though I have no idea of its utility. I recently found myself on a negative plane, and managed to get the seed of a thorny plant that had some rather dangerous sap. I also have some of the sap, if that is helpful.”
“What type of plane?” Willow asked, immediately moving to the edge of his seat.
“I’m not sure how they are described. This one was mostly barren, with a dry, rocky countryside.”
“Enemies?”
“Faceless men, faceless gluttons, and some form of hound were all that I saw.”
“I know the plane, though the name escapes me at the moment.” Mardigan said. “Yellowish green plant with thorns?”
“Yep.”
“Deal. We will also see if we can get you some of the potions produced, especially if we manage to get the plant to grow. Since you won’t stop pestering me until I tell you, the plant is a thorny blood siphon Willow.” The guildmaster shrank back into his seat, slightly embarrassed.
“I wasn’t going to pester you.” He muttered. “But that should be a fine deal. It will take us a few days to put it together, is that ok?”
“That’s fine, I wasn’t expecting it even that soon to be honest. I was more concerned with Djarleen’s safety.” I said as I placed the vials of sap and the seed on the guildmaster’s desk. “Thank you both for seeing me again on such short notice, but I do have to get going.”
“Pleasure meeting you Angus, and I look forward to hearing of more of your exploits.” Mardigan said, and I cocked my head at him in confusion. “The magical instability? The broadcasted dungeon? You’re fairly famous considering the small number of people who have actually met you. By the way, you need more alchemy in your dungeon traps. It’ll open up a whole world of new ideas.”
“Thanks.” I said, shocked that he recognized me from my name. I would have to look into something to hide my name from people in towns, as I didn’t want a crowd of players surrounding and pestering me. Or even worse, waiting for me to leave a city so they could attack me. I made my way back to Djarleen’s shop, waving to Markus on my way. Just when you think you are getting to the end of your list of things to do, more things just keep popping up.