Guild House
"And done for the day!" Bursting forth from the iron door of his smithy with a small wooden box in hand was Blake done with a job from Deller about making Flameworks for the city's craftsmen. "Well, best to see how the front desk is doing?" He wondered out loud, making his way through the once empty room between the hallway to his smithy and the front desk, now turned into a small bedroom.
"Yo, how's my favorite secretary doing?" Blake asked, pushing past one of the doors to the front desk and the first thing he saw was Vasha smoking her pipe and out of that skimpy black tunic, now sporting a brown skirt, white top with a black bodice but kept those black straps around her arms and feet.
"Good and I'm your only secretary..." The Goblin answered in monotone, taking her pipe out of her black lips to blow a stream of smoke from atop a high stool that put her up to Blake's chest. "...and thanks for the clothes, Chief." She mumbled, tugging at the hem of her skirt.
"No problem, like I kept telling you, you're about Mari's size, so clothes weren't that hard, granted, you're 'bigger' in a few places, not that I have an issue with that!" Blake roughed up some of Vasha's already messy black. "Anything?"
"Nope, nothing..." Vasha answered, putting a frown on Blake's face. "...hey, I'm not really up for the hold getting turned into a lump of rock thing that the others went through." She pointed out, knowing what Blake was trying to do after he explained things to her.
"Come on! You're the first one that this thing hasn't worked on," Blake muttered before setting the box he was holding down and leaned on the countertop. "Hmm?" Then he looked at the work she had gotten, which was a fat zero. "No work again, huh?"
"Other than that bird and lizard, no one comes here for anything unless they live here." Vasha took a few drags from her pipe, talking about Gregor who comes by to see if Blake was living by 'his' standards and Sarah dropping off treats for Saffire. "Oh, and that messenger from the Guild Union dropped off some more quests and item orders, but everyone else just pokes an eye in here then turns around, I wonder why...?" She trailed off to look around at the Guild House's lobby or lack thereof.
"..." After taking a quick look around as well, Blake's face held a blank stare. "...Well, I guess looks do get you somewhere, right? And here I thought that goat would've gotten things fixed in here by now." As much as he hated it, Blake was planning on letting Stefon handle the upkeep of the Guild House. "But you said that some new quests got dropped off right?" He pushed off the counter and looked at the quest board.
"And regular work," Vasha smirked, watching Blake's shoulder drop a little. "Hey, that's my job, you know?"
"I know, but I've been in there for two weeks straight...I need to see the outside world, Vasha," Blake sighed, feeling a bit overworked, but he was happy doing what he loved. "Hmm, let's see here?" He poked around a bit at few random posts; mostly, everything was odd jobs that didn't pay to well for the effort.
"Oh, yeah? You also got this," Vasha held up an envelope with the Crafters Of Gorz emblem stamped on it.
"What does that Orc want now?" Blake pulled himself away from the quest board and tore open the envelope.
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To Blake, Smtih-knight
Greetings, this is Anthony, Craftsmaster Deller's top student if you have forgotten me. I hope you have not. I have heard you started not only your blacksmith business but also a guild acting as its leader, safe to say you must be a very busy man at the moment.
But if you are willing to, I have a bit of an offer for you? No, it is not another dual, although I would like a rematch against you at some point. But, back to the proposal; you see recently something quite mysterious happened over the last week.
Out of nowhere what appeared to be an ancient ruin was found near a settlement named Lovo in the outer city area. It was not found in any of the city's record books, and the oddest thing about it is that there happens to be a stone anvil in front of a sealed door...sound familiar?
Master Deller has reason to believe that this one may be connected to the ones you found Risabeel inside of and on your away to Gorz. Currently, I am tasked with finding a way inside this one and also researching its contents. I thought it would be worth your while to assist me in my efforts, any knowledge and riches within would be shared between us.
I shall be at the ruins for most of the day. Thus you are welcome to come at any time while the sun is up.
A fellow Craftsman,
Anthony, The Tinker
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"Ruins that appeared out of nowhere, huh..." Blake reread the letter over then turned it over for some directions, this was the 3rd time one of these ruins appeared, and with the way the last one went, Anthony might get more than just some knowledge and gold out it. "...Who's home right now?"
"Hold on..." Vasha opened one of the few working drawers at her desk and pulled a small book. "...Uhm...the mage is giving a magic lesson to Risabeel, the Elf and that annoying Fairy took a quest to deal with some angry Ents near Mt. Gylch was it...?" She trailed her eyes on the page a bit before speaking again. "...When that lizard came by she asked your sister if she wanted to help out at her tavern, so she and her boyfri-"
"Servant..." Blake corrected Vasha looking as serious as he could get, one of the few times Vasha felt like Blake was her master and not some weirdo. "By the way, Saffire's sleeping in today."
"Servant...are spending the day there..." Vasha grabbed a feathered pen next to her and made the correction then added Saffire's status to her book. "...Gram's outside with Nash and that bag of air is up in her tower." She rolled her eyes at mentioning Baba, the first thing that happened between them was the older woman making sure that Vasha wasn't any competition for Blake's affection being put on the on her 'watch list.'
"Sorry about that..." Blake apologized for Baba's behavior while trying to guess who to bring along with him on this then a certain someone came to mind. "...Wait? Where's the thief?"
"I'm right here!" Mordecai raised a hand from the other side of the counter, sitting stylishly on a beat-up chair with one leg over the other.
"..." Both Blake and Vasha stared at him for a moment as he held his pose expecting one of them to ask how he got there and how long he was there but with a shrug from Blake, it never came. "Good, you're here for once, I've got a job, and I need people...you're coming with me, and that's an order from your leader."
"S-s-sure thing, leader..." Mordecai was left dejected after the duo's reactions or lack of one from his sneaky entrance, but he hid his embarrassment behind a poker face. "But did you get done with that thing I wanted?"
"It's in that box," Blake waved at the wooden box he left on the counter. "It's yours, so open it and tell me what you think."
"Done!" Mordecai held up a dagger with a black scale bonded handle and a small green orb at the end inside a brown sheath while the box was left untouched. "Not bad! It's pretty light and small enough for me to hide it like nothing!" Pulling it out of the sheath, he took a few swings and stabs. "Like so!" With a wave of his hand, it disappeared for a moment and reappeared in his other hand. "But what's it do?"
"It's made out of Basilisk Ore, what do you think? Try focusing on it for a bit," Blake explained, the thief came to his smithy one day and asked for something that 'fits' him, so Blake took a look at the Ore he had on hand came up with a Basilisk dagger.
"Like this...?" Mordecai did as he was told trying to remember how the Basilisk was spewing venom at all of them when it showed up. "Huh?" And as he was doing that the blade of his new dagger turned green while the green orb went black. "On-demand poison? Nice!" He seemed to have got the hang of things quickly as the blade and orb returned to their normal colors.
"Just be careful with it," Blake warned, coming out from behind the counter. "Then again I don't really get why you need that thing? You got those swords of yours, don't you?" He asked, looking at the twin swords Mordecai had at his sides.
"Well, these ladies are useful, but there's nothing special about them either, the guy I got them off was just looking for something nice to put up on a wall...lazy," Mordecai took one of his swords handles in hand and gave it a shake. "This bad boy here is my kind of speed!" He returned the Basilisk Dagger to its sheath and added it to one of the many straps on his chest. "I think I'll call it Dantwen!"
(Dant means tooth in Welsh and Wen comes from Wenwyn which is poison)
"Well, since you're all set that just leaves me with getting a few more," Blake muttered, trying to figure out who to bring along.
"~Oh~ going somewhere, Hubby?" Baba's voice came from the stairs as she floated down from the upper floors.
"Yeah, it looks like another one of those ruins things appeared in Gorz, you want to come with?" Blake asked, looking up at her as she flew above him in circles.
"Why does she get a choice?" Mordecai said under his breath, giving Blake a side glance.
"Hmm? You found Risabeel in one of those, didn't you?" Baba quizzically cooed, coming to Blake's side. "I'm always willing to help you with anything, Hubby." She answered, taking hold of Blake's left arm. "Oh? We aren't alone." She spotted Mordecai, reading the letter along with Vasha. "Are you also bringing the 'help' along?"
"Thankfully, no..." Vasha rolled her eyes at the Ala, trying to act as if she was doing some paperwork. "...Hey, Chief, mind bringing something back for your ~favorite and only secretary~?"
"Ask for drizzle, and you might get a storm," Baba warned, keeping her head pressed to Blake's arm. "And I don't think she could protect our little love nest with those little arms of hers maybe her backside but even then..."
"Hey, no fighting," Blake warned both of them, making the women stare off at something random. "And don't worry Vasha, you'll have Nathan and Saffire here in case something happens and I'll try to pick something nice up for you if I get the chance." He waved to Vasha as his quickly put together party heading out.
"Yo, Alpha, off somewhere?" Gram raised his head from the ground, laying in front of the door to the Guild House.
"That's right, and you're coming with me," Blake answered, rubbing Gram's head then looked around for Nash and found him watering a sapling where Blake had Bread dig up a hole to plant an apple tree.
"?" Nash looked up from his light gardening. "!" And at seeing Blake, he tossed his watering can into a brush and acted like he was eating grass.
"I never knew you had a green hoof, bud, now come on we're heading to a town called Lovo, let Mordecai ride." Blake pointed over at Mordecai while Gram came up next to him. "I'll be on Gram."
"?" For a moment Nash looked confused then came up to Gram and motioned over to Mordecai.
"Sorry, friend, unless someone's dying I'm only letting Alpha and Mari on." The wolf told Nash having a small staring contest for a bit until Nash submitted giving Mordecai a blank stare.
"Hey, come on, buddy! You'll be safe with me driving!" Mordecai assured Nash, reaching up to pat him on the head. "Uh?" But Nash whipped his tail at Mordecai's hand. "Sorry?"
"..." Nash blew air at him from his nose then went over to the cart to grab his saddle and reins holding them out to Mordecai looking all too confused by the horse.
"Don't worry about that he's just upset," Blake told Mordecai, seeing how confused he was, and got up on Gram. "Is this how Mari does it?" He patted and tugged at some of Gram's fur to see where best to hold on to. "Hey, Baba?" When he looked up, he saw Baba floating in front of his face.
"You know flying around gets tiring after a while..." Baba faked a tired pout, going up and down as if staying airborne was hard. "...and I don't believe we've had the chance to take a horseback ride together yet or in this case a wolfback ride." She added, dangling her feet at Gram's nose. "Any problems doggie?"
"Like I said earlier, only Alpha and Mari get on," Gram answered, walking around a bit for Blake to get the hang of riding him.
"Go ahead, Baba, you'll just keep nagging me about it until I say yes," Blake muttered, patting the spot behind him for Baba with Gram snarling and growling at her. "Stop that." With those two words, Gram went quiet.
"Why thank you, but I think I belong ~right here~" Baba cooed as she sat in front of Blake and leaned back into him. "Consider this punishment of making me red in the face that one time."
"I understand how you feel now, Nash," Mordecai whispered to Nash and got a nod from the horse as they watched Baba rub up on Blake like a cat to furniture. "Hey, can we get a move or do you two need a room?"
"Sh-shut up! We're going!" Blake yelled at them, red in the face as he got Gram moving followed by Mordecai on Nash.
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Near Lovo
"Yo, Alpha, I think we're here." Gram currently sniffing the air pointed out.
"Really? I don't see a thing," Baba was resting her head on top of Gram's meaning Blake was currently crotch to butt with her. "What about you, Hubby? See anything interesting?" She turned around to look up at Blake.
"No, I don't," Blake muttered, keeping his eyes anywhere but down. "Can't you just wait for nightfall and bedroom?" He thought while Gram was the one in control of where they were going and continued to sniff at the air.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
"I can smell that carrot top you fought." Gram brought them down a path that looked like a cart had gone through it and came to the sight of an open field where a crumbling stone building no bigger than a small house stood.
"That the place?" Mordecai asked from behind the three.
"Looks like it," Blake answered as they got closer finding a small cart partly made of iron and a work table with all manner of examination tools thrown on top of it.
"Hmm, these stones' composition and age would suggest that they are from the far north? East? No...there are still signs of southern craftsmanship, but the entire structure mimics the style of...ancient Laudonia?" Anthony was standing there, holding a stone, and talking to himself. His monocle was switching color with each detail he listed. "Oh? Hello," He turned around to meet face-to-nose with Gram. "Ah! Blake good to see you here!" He waved at Blake and Baba on seeing them.
"Same, but ugh? What are you doing? I thought you were checking this place out not the rocks around it?' Blake asked, getting off Gram followed by Baba floating next to him while Gram went off to smell the ruins.
"I am doing just that! I chipped a piece of the ruins when I tried to force my way in, as you can see that didn't work, so I'm doing the next best thing," Anthony explained, holding up the stone to Blake's face. "Strangely enough, there's nothing all that odd about it other than where it might have come from, who made it, and the fact that it's impossible to enter. By that logic, there might be something worthwhile inside, a bit like a well-guarded chest, eh?"
"Huh? A mysterious and unopenable chest, you say? Heh! Good thing I'm here!" Mordecai boasted, jumping off Nash to take a look at the ruins and after a quick nod, he turned to the others. "Get me some black powder, a wooden crossbeam, and a bucket of butter!"
"Tried that with some of my Anthomatas...granted without the butter." Anthony pointed over to a pile of burnt steel in a humanoid shape with an iron crossbeam stabbed through three of them. "...but may I ask who are you?"
"I am Mordecai, the Honest Thief, at your disservice!" Mordecai did a playful bow then turned back to the door of the ruins, trying to figure out some other outrageous way of getting in. "Hmm?" Then noticed the stone anvil next to it. "Uh? What's with the anvil?"
"I'll handle that." Blake walked up to the anvil, flipping his hammer in the air a few times then held it high. "Open up!" He cheered as he brought it down on the aged stone.
"Pfft! Like that's going to work!" Mordecai chuckled, watching Blake smack a piece of rock like it would do anything. "Uhm, what's that sound?" But in his disbelief, a loud rumbling sound came from the ruins along with some shaking as the once-sealed door started to slide downward. "Huh?"
"What? Haven't you ever seen a door opened by anvil hitting?" Blake jokingly asked, shrugging his shoulders as Mordecai looked on dumbfounded. "I'll take that as a no."
"I would have to agree with the thief there as well, Blake..." Anthony was shocked but not as badly as Mordecai, currently looking at the anvil with his monocle lighting up. "...but, I find it odd that it worked for you? I tried that myself when I was examining the ruins earlier...hmm?" He shifted his gaze from the anvil to Blake, looking for answers.
"Well, I don't get it either. These things just pop out of nowhere, and I can open 'em with a swing of my hammer. Kind of creepy if you ask me," Blake shrugged not knowing what to make out of these weird ruins.
"Hmm...?" Leaving Anthony to think it over. "...then the most likely cause must be due to you being a Smith-knight, but that only brings more questions to the table?"
"I had the same guess, but the only problem with that is, Nash." Blake agreed with the tinker, but his last words left the other man staring at him bewildered. "Oh, right? He was the one that told me to hit the anvil the first time around." He pointed a thumb at Nash eating grass.
"What?" Anthony took a quick look at the horse who looked up at him and swatted a fly with his tail. "*Ahem* Well then, for now, we should find out what mysteries this place hides!" He declared, turning to the entrance where Baba, Gram, and Mordecai were looking into.
"This is fishy and not just in the metaphorical way," Muttered Mordecai holding a hand to his nose.
"Got that right." Gram took a large sniff of the air coming out of the ruins and picked up the scent of briny air. "We got salt water up ahead."
"Oh? The sea, you say? Now that doesn't make sense the closest ocean is over the mountains and past the sky." Baba mused, waving around a hand to get some of the air into a ball, and gave it a look over. "It really is, it's been a while since I went to the sea,"
"That's one mystery already, hope the others are just as tame." Blake took a step into the ruins. "Huh?" And was met with a light blue glow coming from a small pool of water at the start of a hallway that went into a stream of glowing water deeper inside. "Guess, we don't need light in here?"
"It would seem so? But to be on the safe side." Anthony clapped his hands and out of his cart flew a small metal bird that came to rest on his shoulder. "This one has a built-in magic stone that produces light and as for my things." He snapped a finger and out came a group of humanoid Anthomatas that stood guard in front of the ruins. "These should keep any unwanted away."
"Well, backup plans are good to have, and that means Nash gets to come along this time," Blake nodded over to Nash who looked at his owner annoyed. "What? You were mad about me not riding you earlier so shouldn't coming with me in here make you happy?"
"..." Nash walked in a quick circle then nodded at Blake.
"Hey! I was the one that got caught in a tornado of darkness, not you! And that was my fault, not the ruins!" Blake understood what Nash was getting at easily while the others were shaking their heads. "If anything bad happens it'll probably happen to me, not you..." He assured the horse but didn't take away the worried look on his long face. "Which is what you're annoyed by?" Nash nodded to that while Blake sighed. "You are a weird horse."
"That's weird, right?" Mordecai asked Anthony after seeing Blake and Nash having a normal conversation like they spoke the same tongue. "The rest of the guild just rolls with it but something ain't right about those two."
"Undeniably..." Anthony agreed wholeheartedly but left it there as they began their journey into the ruins.
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Inside the ruins
"Hey, uhm, this might sound like I'm complaining, but haven't we been walking for a while?" Mordecai asked arms behind his head as he stopped to look back and lost sight of the entrance some time ago. "Not only that, but we've gone in a straight line this whole time, right?"
"If I weren't thinking the same thing then I'd say you are complaining," Blake answered at the lead with Gram sniffing at the air. "Going off the size of the main building we entered, we should have reached the end of a long time ago..."
"Agreed, the only way to explain this would either be Spatial Warping Magic or a constant rearranging of our path..." Anthony theorized currently passing a hand on a wall as he walked. "...but, taking the size of the outside into account the latter seems unlikely."
"Wait? If this place has that kind of magic on it doesn't that mean we could end up at the bottom of the ocean or something like that!?" Mordecai yelled with his voice echoing throughout the hallway, seemingly going on forever, which might be right at this point.
"That would be bad." Baba mused, taking a ride on Nash for the time being. "But if so when Hubby opened the door we should have gotten a big splash of water, no?"
"Huh? I guess that's true..." Mordecai calmed down after hearing that bit of reassuring news, but now he was stuck thinking about how out of the world most of this was sounding. "I thought this guy was just some special smith not a magnet of all things weird...wait does that mean I'm weird?" His mind went wild as he looked at Blake's back, seeing an opening up ahead. "Finally! Something other than walls and wat-!"
The moment they got to the opening what came before them was a large circular room, most of the room was taken up by a pool of deep blue water with the steam the group was following going into it. Up above was a blue dome with painted clouds and birds. There was also a giant glowing yellow orb hanging off the center of the room that looked and acted like the sun.
"Any idea how that works?" Blake nudged Anthony as they both looked up in the direction of the fake sun.
"At the moment no, my best guess is magic but I'm starting to highly doubt that anyone would waste that much of their power on something like that, whoever built this place must have been some craftsman even greater than Master Deller," Anthony answered, looking away from the fake sky to the pool. "Hmm? And it appears that we have reached the end of things..." He scanned the room for any way out of it, but there was only the one they used to get here.
"Really? I was expecting some huge plump of treasure in here not just water..." Mordecai stepped up to the pool and peeked over the edge. "..." He only saw his reflection and a blue abyss staring back at him. "...I wonder if there's fish in there? Too bad I don't have a rod might've been fun, eh?"
And as Mordecai asked, out of the floor next to him appeared a traphole from which came a stone rack holding fishing rods, nets, rope, harpoons, cages, and by the look of things all of it seemed to be in working order.
"Uh, did you do that?" Blake came up to Mordecai, swapping between looking at him and the sudden armory of fishing tools.
"I think?" Mordecai answered, looking at the rack as well until an idea popped into his head. "Can I get a chest full of gold and rare gemstones!" He yelled to the room and waited with anticipation...but after a full minute, nothing happened. "Maybe not?" He slumped his shoulders at his failed attempt at easy money.
"Okay, so we got a pool of water and a bunch of fishing stuff? Is this some kind of test?" Blake asked, taking a rod from the rack and looked at the water. "Huh?" And in answer, a wooden sign appeared at the water's edge reading the following 'Conquer the Master Of Challenge Ocean to prove your worth.'
"It would appear so?" Anthony said after reading the sign then stared off into the water. "But I wonder what this Master Of Challenge Ocean is? A large fish? Water spirits? Oh, maybe it's a Kelpie!" He was eager to see what might be lurking in the deep.
"Well, whatever it is, it better change its name to Master of Big Pool 'cause this ain't an ocean," Blake joked, pointing a thumb at the pool with his back turned to it.
"It is too!" A soft girl's voice yelled at him, followed by the slash of water.
"!" Immediately the members of the party whipped their heads out to the water only, seeing a ripple ringing out from its center.
"Was that a kid?" Mordecai asked, trying to find something else. "Nothing..."
"Gram, you smell anything?" Blake asked, looking at the Greater Wolf currently sniffing the air while taking a short walk near the edge of the pool.
"The salt in the air is making it hard, but there was something there," Gram answered, quickly coming back to Blake's side. "If it went under, then I can't find it, kind of need air to use my nose."
"By the way they spoke it looks like you got the master of the water mad, Hubby, I think you should be careful," Baba warned, keeping her eyes on the water. "Especially if it lives in there."
To that, Blake cast a line into the water and sat down at the edge. "Well, with all of you looking out, I should be fine."
"Sure thing, leader! We'll save your ass if you get dragged under..." Mordecai jokingly assured, taking a rod himself cast it out as well. "...Hah! Not like you could cat-!"
"Got a bite!" Blake called, standing up as his rod shot forward, almost pulling him into the water. "Yikes! This is a lot harder than fishing in those lakes back home!" He flicked the rod up and out of the water jumped a 4-foot-long yellowfin tuna. It flailed in the air until it dived back into the water. "That thing's as big as Vasha!" Blake gasped, getting dragged forward by it as more and more of the line was getting pulled under the water's surface.
"Ohoho! I have never seen such a fish before it looks quite strong, hmm? If I got a better look at..." Anthony pulled out a note and pen, every time the tuna jumped into the air; he tried to take a sketch of it. "...I could get a new idea from this!"
"Ugh, even worse than freshwater fish..." Gram grumbled, choosing to lay down on the floor for the time being with his eye set on the water for anything that wasn't the fish Blake was fighting.
"You guys could help you know!?" Blake yelled back at the others as he was getting pulled towards the water.
"Go. Go. Hubby, catch that fishie," Baba unenthusiastically cheered from Nash's back, seeing nothing to worry about while Nash came up behind Blake and bit on his shirt to pull him back a little.
"Fight on! Leader!" Mordecai cheered as well and grabbed a spear from the rack if needed. "I'll be ready for you!"
"That's good enough!" Blake slammed a foot he had held up when trying to keep his balance and tighten his hold on the rod. "Okay! You can't be worse than a river snake!" He felt some air from Nash's nose after saying that. "That was all you, and you know it!" He yanked the rod up and out jumped the tuna looking to dive back down quickly. "No, you don't!" Swinging his arm like he was using a sword Blake threw the fish to one side keeping it in the air for a bit longer before letting it down and watched it swim off to the left while he pulled from the right.
"And now we go left!" Blake pulled to the left as the fish went right. When it dived, he'd pull it up. When it jumped, he kept it in the air. They repeated these motions a few times over until the result came in as the once lively tuna was nothing but a puppet now. "Aww! You could have gone for a bit longer."
"Not bad, leader, if everything doesn't work out for you, I hear fishing makes good coin." Mordecai somewhat joked, holding the spear he picked up aloof now.
"Hah! This is nothing! Back in my hometown, there used to be some old guy living next to a lake that traded Ore for fish. I got a lot of practice in when I was a kid," Blake explained, reeling the fish in by hand with little resistance from it other than a bit of tug at first. (That was a Swordcraft 2 reference BTWs)
As Blake pulled his catch out of the water, the first thing he saw was a gasping fish face, followed by a bright streak of yellow running down its side and mixed with its dark blue top and silver underside. Following its yellow fins down, one could see a pair of small blue webbed hands holding onto the fish's tail. The tip of which was unseen since it was currently inside the jaws of some big-mouthed creature.
"Wha?" Safe to say, Blake, as well as everyone else was shocked to see the catch of the day getting eaten bone and all by the top half of a child with fish-like features.
From where the party was they could tell that the child had jet blue skin, small fins hung off the sides of their hairless heads, and a maw packed with three rows of saw-like teeth going from ear-fin to ear-fin. A thick line of white from their bottom jaw went down a flat chest and underbelly. Finally, they had gills on either side of their abdomen. The rest of their body was still covered by water but soon enough climbing up Blake's catch by taking chomp after chomp out of it came the swishing jet blue tail of a shark but flipped sideways.
"*Munch*...*Slurp*...*Crunch*" Silence befell the party as the shark-child hybrid kept eating until the only thing left of the once 4-foot long tuna was the head which the fish-child had taken hold of with their tiny blood-covered hands. "Ahhhh! That was good! Thanks for the food!" They thanked Blake in the same voice that yelled at him earlier and was holding onto the fish's head to keep herself up. "Hehe!" She had a grin of nothing but teeth with two small slits for a nose and completely black oval-shaped eyes.
"Uhm...you're welcome?" Blake said to the grinning fish-child, turning to the others as if asking them what was going on with all of them looking as confused as he was. "So? Ugh, who and what are you?" He asked, turning back to the kid with a shark tail, seeing his own reflection in the pools of black that were her eyes.
"I am the Master Of Challenge Ocean! And I'm a Merfolk, chum! Ahhhh!" The child answered, keeping her maw open wide as the last drops of blood drained out the fish's head.
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People of the deep, Merfolk: Also known as Merpeople. Merfolk are the people of water. Some live in rivers and lakes while others swim about in the vast oceans of the world. They are aquatic creatures in humanoid form, which may be anything from a common goldfish to a deepsea monster along with clams and sea slugs.
Merfolk are often able to control water causing massive waves and whirlpools with enough skill and take command of the less intelligent sea beast.
Items made from the Ore of a Merfolk are usually polearms, cutlasses, and jewelry with watery powers.
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"A Merfolk? Well, that explains the water," Anthony said, coming up to Blake holding the Merchild up. "But for what reason are you here?"
"I am the Master Of Challenge Ocean! Don't you speak common?" The Merchild asked, chewing on the fish head, giving Anthony an annoyed look then set her gaze on Blake. "You're really strong, Chum, you must be the Smith-Knight, right? You got the hammer with you." She flicked her tail up at Blake's hammer on his belt.
"Yeah, that's me, why?" Blake asked, taken more off guard by the Merchild now.
"Good, we'll get right to it then!" The Merchild cheered, diving into the water only having her a dorsal fin peeking out of the surface as it went to the middle of the pool. "Prepare yours! Or be taken down to the deep!" She overdramatically declared as if putting on a show.
"Prepare for what, fish-legs?!" Mordecai yelled out to the child starting to get a bad feeling about this as his hands went to his swords.
"Ugh...why'd my first challengers have to be so dumb..." The Merchild groaned, dragging a webbed hand over her face. "...this is Challenge Ocean! I'm its master! And you have to beat me, or you're not getting out..." A large ripple came from where she was and the opening the party came from was sealed off by a wall of stone with water running through it.
"Well, now this research outing has taken a bit of an odd turn," Anthony passed his hands over the many tools and gadgets on his belt. "What say you, Smith-Knight? Care to answer the call?"
"Tch, I was hoping this wasn't going to be more work..." Blake threw the fishing rod into the pool and then held out his arms. "...Baba! Gram!" The two quickly came up to Blake and transformed right into Blake's hands, giving him his wolf tail and extra digit. "But if you want to make this hard then I'll beat your challenge lake!"
"Ocean!" The Merchild yelled, sending a wave crashing towards the group. "Huh?" But before any of the water could land Blake held up Baba and created a wind wall to stop the wave flat then pointed Gram at her. "Grrr!" She sent daggers right at the Smith-Knight as the water around her started to ripple and bubble with six large shadows appearing around the Merchild.
Chapter End