“What do yeh mean they haven’t looked at my missive yet?!” Ulgrin roared, stubborn fury filling him. He slammed a hand against the desk, an action which caused the scribe to let out a sigh.

The elven man looked like he had to deal with such things daily. Bored acceptance filled his eyes as he tapped the paper in front of him. “I’m afraid they haven’t. You have to realize that the Council deals with dozens, sometimes hundreds of issues a day. There simply isn’t enough time to get through it all.”

Damn it all, Ulgrin thought. “But this is important business that threatens the entirety of the Stoneborn Collective. They can’t simply just push it off.” This was the end of the world at stake. He had to get through to them somehow. “Is there no way to get the message to them quicker? I’m not exaggerating when I say every day counts.”

An eyebrow was raised. “You’re not trying to bribe me, are you?”

“No!” The dwarf said instantly, quite shocked. “I mean official channels. It’s very important.”

Sighing again, the scribe reached under his desk and pulled forth a small leather binder. “Very well. I can arrange for your case to be looked at and appraised by a senior officer. This will require quite a bit of paperwork, however. I need this in triplicate.” A sheaf of papers were set in front of Ulgrin.

Amused at the fact that even as an adventurer he was still doing scribework, he took the stack and walked over to a small table. Retrieving a quill and ink, he started filling it out. Even as trained as he was, the forms were rather arcane in nature. Navigating the legal nonsense was a bit of a challenge, but not beyond him.

Getting into the thick of things, Ulgrin reached down to his satchel and opened it. Glowing light poured outwards. “You’re doing alright in there, Lorekeeper?”

[My condition is acceptable.] The orb pulsed once, transmitting the information into his mind. [Comfort is not an issue.]

“It’s the thought that counts,” he replied. Closing the satchel, he continued his work. An hour passed and left his hand slightly cramped. Ink still somewhat wet, he returned to the front desk of the government building and gently set them down.

The scribe accepted his offering and briefly looked over the files.

After an annoying few minutes of examination the elf looked back up. “Alright. This looks acceptable enough. You’re quite the learned soul, hmm? No matter. I’ll have this delivered right away.”

Silence filled the chamber.

Ulgrin blinked. “Well?”

“Come back tomorrow.” The scribe replied, already turning his attention away from him and towards some other matter needing attending.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Ulgrin turned to leave. “Well, Lorekeeper. Seems like we’ll be waiting another day. Now I’m somewhat regretful of those days we spent back doing pretty much nothing of importance. How many days do we have left on the clock?” It probably wasn’t great for his mental wellbeing to keep asking, but it was practically a habit for him now.

[We have approximately one thousand, two hundred, and eighty-one days left.] She paused for a moment. [Please do not worry, Ulgrin. Our goals are proceeding at a nominal pace. You don’t need to fret over the small things, not yet at least. I understand the humanoid condition requires rest.]

“I can’t help worrying.” As much as he tried to put on a happy face for his friends, truth be told he was still worn around the edges. Knowledge was a burden.

He still didn’t know if he was strong enough yet.

Stepping back out and onto the streets of the Mithral Halls, he tried to let the atmosphere calm him down. This was his first visit to the noble district and it was quite the beautiful sight. Looking up and seeing the inverted castle hanging above the city sent a rush of pride down his spine. He’d try to make his ancestors proud.

Finding a wagon to bring him back to their current base of operations wasn’t hard. Ferrymen littered the city. Carriages, carts, litters, and beasts of burden could be found aplenty.

Ulgrin hopped on the back of an ant-drawn cart, paying the woman a few coins. The trip back wasn’t long, but he could see the lights above them dimming for ‘night time’. An artificial darkness filled the cavernous city, about as dark as a full-moon’s night. The city, however, did not go to sleep.

Nocturnal races made the night hours their own. The Mithral Halls was a city with a large enough population to effectively never stop running.

The Dripstone Delve had accepted him and his company once again, providing good food and good rooms. Now that they had some serious capital, he no longer felt like his little group was hemorrhaging money. Selling all the various knick-knacks, relics, and gems they’d found had left the group with heavy pockets.

Lionel waved at him as he entered. “Good evening, lad. Hungry? Your friends are in the gambling parlor.”

“Something quick and easy to eat would be nice.” Ulgrin said with a nod. He was tired from walking all over the city for the whole day. “I picked up a snack a few hours earlier. There’s this stall in the silver quarter that sells amazing meat rolls. Do you want the recipe? I’d love to see your spin on things.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Of course! You know I can’t resist trying out a new meal.” Nodding, Ulgrin quickly wrote down what he had learned from the stall cook.

Waving as the feline man walked for the kitchen, Ulgrin turned to enter one of the side rooms. Heated conversation filled the air as tavern goers made risky gambles. Scanning the room, he found his party had taken up one of the tables and were playing a personal game for fun.

Stepping closer, he looked at the table. “Ah. How in the hells is Alyss winning?”

His lizardfolk friend groaned. “Saezz has no idea. She has a luck streak that could make a fey pissed off. This is not very fair.”

“Hey! Don’t be a sore loser.” Alyss preened, grinning widely as she pulled back a stack of copper coins onto her side of the table. “Your poker face is excellent, but sometimes you need to believe in the heart of the cards.”

“Actually, she’s cheating.” Raelza said suddenly.

“Wuh-”

“Alyss, don’t think I haven’t noticed you hiding cards in those long sleeves of yours. You’re a good rat, but you’ve got tells.” The drow ranger leaned forwards and grabbed the alchemist’s hand. Shaking it roughly, Ulgrin could see several wooden cards fall out.

Saezz narrowed his eyes. “Of course. Saezz sees that to make it a fair game we must all become dishonorable.” He tensed up like a cat about to pounce.

Holding up a hand, Ulgrin spoke up. “Calm yourselves. Game’s over. I’ve got news for you all. That, and your toys.”

At the sound of ‘toys’, his gathering of adventurers turned. “The craftsmen are done?” Raelza asked.

“Done and then some. We’ll all be getting quite the upgrade.” He gestured to the heavy pack on his back, a source of no small amount of soreness. “Let’s head to our rooms and I can open these up and we can see the results. I paid quite a fortune for this.” And it had taken quite the chunk of their cash to do so.

“Right!” Alyss said, glad that her penance would not be enacted this day. “Lead the way, leader.”

Amused, he let them gather up their cards, coins, and cups. Leaving the hazy room, they entered the small five-room suite they’d chosen to occupy. Four rooms and a central lounge, it suited their purposes well enough. Plus the lounge was big enough for Wreath to occupy comfortable.

Reaching into his satchel, he pulled forth Lorekeeper’s vessel and set it on the table. “Sorry for keeping you in there. We don’t want you to be stolen.”

[Theft would be rather inconvenient.] She replied, summoning the child-like avatar and sitting on the edge, legs kicking back and forth. [Good evening, friends.]

“Likewise.” Raelza said, smiling and ‘patting’ the construct on her shoulder. “Hope it wasn’t too boring sitting in the boss’s questionably smelling satchel.”

Ulgrin frowned. “Hey, I’ve cleaned it out. It doesn’t smell.” Right?

[My vessel does not possess olfactory sensors. Smell is not a concern.]

“Can we get to the point yet?” Alyss asked with just a hint of frustration. “I wanna see the goods!”

“Yes, yes,” Ulgrin replied. Setting his pack down, he dug into it and retrieved the first of their equipment upgrades. Removing the cloth sheet from it, he placed a long, curved wooden tool. An atlatl, albeit one whose design had been altered to accompany round objects instead of javelins.

The weapon had been carved from the wood of the strange magical tree they’d created. Runes had been carved into its surface to apply a ‘sheath’ of wind to whatever was thrown with the tool. Simply put, it made throwing bombs much more accurate. Alyss let out a high pitched ‘squee’ as she took the tool and hugged it.

“Oh, you and I will get along so well.” She hummed, caressing the weapon.

Ulgrin grinned. “Glad to see you like it. Hopefully we won’t get our arses blown up now.”

The short woman pouted angrily. “I’ve not once blown any of you up! I mostly blow myself up.”

“Saezz believes it is only a matter of time.”

“I’ll have to agree,” Raelza said with an amused chuckle.

Rolling his eyes, Ulgrin reached into his bag and pulled forth the next object. A rather large set of wyrm-skin leathers, sized to fit their lizardfolk companion. Acquiring the hide of the Lindwurm had made them quite the pretty penny, but the real value had been in its hide.

Saezz stepped forwards, a toothy smile filling his face. The set was sleek and scaled, well suited to their ally in his fighting style. A thick breastplate covered his chest, with vambraces, bracers, and gloves covering the rest of his body. To top it all off, the helmet was adorned with spines and two horns for easy headbutting ability.

“Now this is something Saezz can wear.” He let out a rumbling hiss of joy. “Armor like yours is too restricting,” he said, gesturing towards Ulgrin. “But this? He can wear this.”

“Glad to see you like it.” Ulgrin replied. “The leatherworker was all too excited to get a chance to work with wyrm-skin. It’s currently unenchanted, but it should have quite the affinity towards such things.”

“I’m almost jealous,” Raelza said.

“If it fits you, Saezz would be glad to share.” Saezz said, smirking.

She sent a glance towards the armor. “Yeah, nah. You’re like twice my size.”

Ulgrim pulled forth the next gift. “Not to worry, Raelza. Yours is pretty good, too.” He gingerly set down a leather quiver filled to the brim with arrows. Not normal ones, mind you. The heads had been forged of the same metal they’d discovered in the ruins. “Not only are these bastards sharper than steel, but they’re each enchanted. Fifty bolts. Ten are simply more forceful, ten of are of a flame-typed enchantment, ten are similarly made but for cold, another ten will blind your opponent for a short time, and the last are something special.”

Raelza eagerly stepped forwards and picked up the bulky quiver. “You know the best way to a girl’s heart, huh? Not bad. I definitely want more, but this is a good start.” She picked one at random and examined the shaft, gauging its accuracy. “And what do you mean by something special?”

“You’ll see.” Ulgrin said. “I’ll leave it a surprise. Just use it for something scary, yeah?”

“I can agree to that.” She said, placing the bolt back.

Saezz looked down, his intimidating helmet now worn. He struck quite the image. “And what of you, our leader? Saezz has noticed the long, wrapped object strapped to the bag.”

Ulgrin grinned and pulled it free. “This? This is mine.” He unwrapped the object and revealed the horn of the pteranodon they’d encountered. Only, this was no mere horn, at least not anymore. It had been painstakingly carved into a much more manageable shape.

Lines of gold wire had been drawn and wrapped around the newly crafted staff. Naturally conductive to both magic and electricity, it made for easy channeling of power. More runes had been carved to further hone its power channels. Even just touching it sent his arm hairs on end.

He hefted it into the air and struck a pose. “I shall call it ‘Fulmination’.”

A moment of silence filled the room and then was broken by Alyss snorting. “Yeah, yeah. We get it, boss. You’re very cool.”

Blushing, Ulgrin returned to a normal stance. “Ah-hah. Well. This should greatly amplify my spells of lightning-affinity. With it, I can finally step into the level of an adept spellcaster. Limitless power at the tip of my fingers!” He felt a wave of mania run through him at the potential. “But likely not unlimited. Simply ‘a lot’ is more than enough.

“Saezz can sense the power coming from such an implement.” He nodded sagely. “Your power will be greatly improved. More firepower is always appreciated.”

Alyss grumbled. “We could’ve ground it down into so much powder…”

“Not everything needs to be made into a potion,” Ulgrin replied in an amused tone. “Though it is strange just how many things can be used for potions. I suppose all you need is a magically infused object, of which there are many.”

“Hence why so much of our loot goes into her stocks.” Raelza said, tucking the quiver over her shoulder. “Now, I know that you’ve got more for us. How did your trip to the noble district go? Well, I hope?”

“If it didn’t go well, he wouldn’t be so happy.” Alyss said. “Or in the mood to act like a storybook hero.”

“Well enough.” Ulgrin replied. “Tomorrow we’ll all be heading there and speaking our case to an officer. Best put on your best faces.”

And so we have arrived in Arc 02! Ulgrin and company have received some upgrades that'll let them tackle bigger threats. If this were a traditional rpg, I would say they've all reached level five. Ulgrin can cast fireball now! Very exciting. Hopefully they can get back into the action once the paperwork is handled.