Chapter 33

The journey to the city of Port Sept was exactly what the guys needed. Errrkkkk got to soar in the open air high above the Green Sea. He stretched his wings wide and was able to glide on the warm updrafts. Riakon took the opportunity to work with Grok on some people skills. They practiced smiling in a less toothy manner with little success.

He did manage to teach Grok to make simple hand gestures to describe his needs for things like food or a need to relieve himself. A truly fortunate feature of gargs was their prodigious digestive systems. Which meant Grok almost never needed to poop and when he did it was reminiscent of a tootsie roll that just happened to weigh a pound. That tidbit of information ended up being the most eventful part of their trip between cities.

When they arrived in the city of Port Sept, they were greeted with the spectacle that made the city a famous destination on Mir. The city itself was built out of a high cliff. The city had been constructed at the height of magic prior to the Dark Times. Mages had used elemental magix to shape the stone and redirect the waters. The site of Port Sept was selected for its port access, but also because of its position on a conflux of Magi-Meridians.

The overlaying meridians caused a concentration of magic in the area which led to one of Port Sept’s main attractions, The Great Geyser. Which was a plume of water that, prior to the intervention of people, flowed vertically up through the rock of the cliff and flowed over in a waterfall. The builders of Port Sept turned that magical geyser into a source of power for everything the city could possibly need.

All throughout the city of Port Sept were water wheels of various sizes that served any number of purposes. Some were used to power the massive lifts that moved people and goods from the lower port level to the other levels that formed plateaus across the city. Many of the plateaus were connected by bridges or walkways of some sort.

Indoor plumbing was ubiquitous throughout the city as much as the spectacular outdoor fountains that put on dazzling displays of water artistry. If any city on Mir could be considered metropolitan it was Port Sept.

There were essentially three ways to enter Port Sept. The first way was the most obvious and required docking by boat via the Eastern Sea. The most common route was to enter through the gates at the port level.

Port level was the lowest and most inhabited level of the city. That was where the vast majority of the city’s everyday business took place. However, unlike Coastall, Port Sept’s major export was people. Primarily, the clergy of the various churches built into the cliffs that gave the city its name.

Port Sept was the capital of worship for the entirety of Vairhon and the kingdom. There were temples for nearly all of the dozen or so gods regularly worshiped by the people of Mir. Not all of the gods were worshiped or maintained a congregation.

Some of the more malevolent gods were more appeased than worshiped and as such did not have a church. In those cases many of them did have shrines so the people of Mir may at least pay respects to those capricious gods.

The third way to enter Port Sept was by taking one of the large lifts to the top of the cliffs known as the Heaven's level or its less grandiose name, the Cloud level. The lifts were massive platforms that traveled up the steep slope of the cliff at a steady pace.

Each one was large enough to fit multiple wagons at a time. These lifts got their power from a series of massive water wheels placed directly into the Great Geyser. It was such a spectacle it was made open to the public to encourage tourism.

The lifts were exactly how Roden and his group were first introduced to Port Sept. His mother had brought a rather large and luxurious travel wagon on their trip which required it to be stored on the Cloud level. The view from the lift was beautiful. From their vantage they got an amazing view of the Southern Sea. They had arrived in the late morning of their fourth day of travel so they got to enjoy the sun’s rays on the ripples of the water.

Once they had everything situated with the wagon, at what amounted to a ye old parking garage, they had to take a much smaller lift to the city proper. Miriana was the leader of this expedition as she had visited Port Sept many times in her duties as a Priestess of Zamira.

She took them to a building reminiscent of the Golden Dew except the sign read “Silver Wind Inn”. Miriana spoke with the man at the door and flashed a small black card that made the burly man’s eyes go wide.

The four were then escorted around the back of the building where there were multiple villas situated on long docks of expertly carved stone. Each villa looked as if it had been sculpted out of a single block of granite then slowly worn smooth by years of weathering, which wasn’t far from the truth.

“Wow Lady Miriana! This place is huge!”

“Oh this place? It’s okay, I stay here whenever I have to come to Port Sept. You boys can have the rooms on the lower floor if you like or I’m sure you can convince my son to set up his treehouse for you.”

All three men were a little surprised to find there were in fact stairs that led down to a lower floor. There was a rather large sitting room with three walls of clear glass from floor to ceiling granting everyone a view of the reef from under the waves.

Errrkkkk was the only one who didn’t take a room with an underwater view instead opting for a very personalized version of the treehouse complete with a nest that spanned the entirety of the tree top.

Roden was absolutely loving the customizable nature of his Adventure Domain spell. There really couldn’t have been a better spell for him, a consummate city boy thrust into a world where sleeping in a bed was a luxury instead of the norm for an adventurer.

Miriana had priestess things to do during the day so she left the three men lingering around their villa and the Silver Wind Inn for the first few days while they got their bearings in the new city. At some point, they popped over to the Port Sept Adventurers’ Outpost to register and establish their place of residence in the city.

It was on the walk back to the Silver Wind Inn that Roden noticed a sign that caught his eye. The sign read “ The Enchanting Enchanters Applicable Applicators”, at first Roden thought the name was ridiculous and was way too wordy for a shop name. Then it occurred to him that he had come up with that name and it was paramount they entered that shop.

“Hey guys, we should check out this shop over here.”

Errrkkkk and Riakon stopped at his words, shrugged and followed.

The inside of the shop was relatively plain, especially in comparison to G’Vaddle’s in Coastall. The major difference though was that instead of rows of selves there were revolving columns that resembled impulse towers that cluttered up the check out line of every retail store.

Each tower had a few small items, mostly jewelry or a magic foci of some kind such as a wand or spellbook.

One wall held a large bookcase full of various scrolls sorted neatly. There was a tall man with shaggy brown hair standing in front of the scroll case with an arm load of scrolls. He turned at the sound of the men entering the shop and greeted them with a surprisingly jovial voice,

“Oh hey dere guys! Welcome to The Enchanting Enchanters Applicable Applicators! I am Pa’teem the owner of this fine establishment. What can I do for you today?”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Errrkkk and Riakon stood slack jawed at the sight of the big man. He was nearly eleven feet tall with long drooping arms. His skin was a darkish green, which was left visible by the sleeveless vest he wore over a bare chest. Pa’teem was a troll, if the rest of him didn’t make it clear enough his long hooked nose, bright yellow eyes, and sharp teeth were a dead give away.

“Hello, I am Roden and these are my friends Errrkkkk and Riakon. It’s nice to meet you, good sir.”

Roden stretched out a hand for the troll to shake. Pa’Teem’s massive hand gripped Roden’s in a way that made Roden feel like a small child shaking hands with a grown man.

“Well hello der Roden! What brings you gentlemen into my shop today?”

“Well, we just so happen to have some items we need enchanting and I was hoping you could help us out. Do you do custom work here?”

“Oh yes, we do plenty of custom work whether you are looking for a specific enchantment or you are looking to create a custom effect we here at The Enchanting Enchanters Applicable Applicators can help you.”

“That’s great!” Roden turned to Errrkkkk and Riakon, “Guys, show him your items from Jehb so we can get these things commissioned.”

Each man produced their items and placed them on the counter. Pa’teem’s eyes went wide at the pearlescent shimmer of the collection.

“Oh wow! Opal steel, I don’t see much of dat. Do you boys know what enchantment you would like placed on your items?”

Riakon piped up first, “I would love something that let me hit harder or gave me some added protection.”

Pa’teem looked over the Dragonkin, he eyed the hammer on his back before picking up the ring he had set down.

“Hmmmm something that could make you hit harder…” He tapped his chin with a long finger,

“You know an idea does come to mind. Are you able to wield a shield?”

Riakon nodded.

“Well that’s great! I could put an enchantment on this here ring that would make any weapon you pick up feel about the same weight as a typical long sword. That would make it so you could use a shield with that big ol’hammer of yours.”

Riakon perked up at the thought of swinging his hammer around one handed.

“I love that idea! Would I be able to get a second enchantment on there too?”

Pa’teem waved a hand over the ring and his eyes sparked with arcane energy.

“Oh yes! It seems there is enough room on this ring and all of these items for two moderately sized enchantments. Did you know what else you wanted?”

Riakon thought hard, but came up empty. “Come back to me, I’m going to think about it while I walk around.”

“Fair enough, what about you guys?” he said looking at Roden and Errrkkkk.

Roden gestured for Errrkkkk to go first.

“I would like something to help with ranged attacks, cacaw.”

“Oh okay, are you talking about projectiles or more area of effect stuff?”

Errrkkkk thought for a moment considering, “I think something for area of effects would be nice, cacaw.”

“Well that’s easy I could put an enchantment on here that would grant you a specific resistance to particular elemental attacks.”

It was Errrkkkk’s turn to pause in consideration, “Could you make it so I could change the type?”

“Oh no, not your own, but if you brought it back to me I’d be able to change it to a different type rather easily.”

“That’s great, cacaw.”

Pa’teem studied Errrkkkk with a thoughtful expression, “Now don’t take this the wrong way, but you look to be a practitioner of the martial arts, yeah?”

Errrkkk nodded.

“Excellent, well then I assume the majority of area of effects you are dealing with are from those pesky spells, yeah?”

“More or less, cacaw.”

“What if I placed an enchantment on here that created an area of noiselessness that you could turn on and off? That way those pesky casters couldn’t cast spells if you were up close doing your thing with your martial arts.”

The thought of being able to nullify enemy spellcasters was too tantalizing for Errrkkkk to pass up.

“Yes, I want both of those enchantments, cacaw”

“Great! And last, but not least. What would you like?” He said, turning his glowing eyes to Roden.

“I am not really sure.” Roden admitted.

“Well what is your main method of attack, by looking at ya I’d guess caster.”

Roden looked himself over, he didn’t think looked like a caster based on his clothes and realized the troll must be referring to his physique.

“You would be correct, but I also have spells for getting up close.” Roden said a little defensively.

Pa’teem put his hands up, “Ope, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to offend. I was just thinking that if you were a caster you could use some extra protection, aye?”

“That would be nice. Maybe one enchantment for offense and one for defense?”

“My thoughts exactly! What would you say to an enchantment that gave you a little boost to all of your defenses. It will boost your mental defenses against mind attacks. It’ll give your reflexes a boost so you are better at dodging things, and if all that fails it has a tiny buffer that dampens the damage you do take.”

Pa’teem was clearly getting excited at the prospect of all the enchanting and getting to talk about his work.

Roden spoke honestly, “I really like that. Now what about something offensive? I mostly use fire spells if that matters.”

“Hmmmmm well do you have an Elemental Augmentation for fire?”

Roden was shocked at the question. His brow furrowed. He was unable to put together the question and his answer.

Errrkkkk spoke up for him, “Is that the thing that changed your flames colors, cacaw?”

“Oh yep that’s an Elemental Augmentation for ya. So no on that one…Hmmmmm what about something that gave you more control over your flames?”

Roden finally found his voice, “That sounds interesting. What kind of control?”

“Well I could make it so you could create safe zones inside your wide area spells so you don’t hit your friends. Or I could make it so you could expand the area of your spells.”

“Hmmmmmmmmm” was all Roden could do in the moment when faced with such good options. He imagined how each option would look in a fight. Dropping a Conflagration on himself while surrounded by enemies just sounded like fun, but felt a little underwhelming considering Pa’teem was great at custom work.

“Would it be possible to make it so my own fire makes me stronger somehow?”

It was Pa’teem’s turn to “Hmmmmmmmmmm…” He trailed off to a moment of silent thought before he shook his head.

“I’m not sure my friend. Let me ask the others. Hey Pa’t and Eem can you guys come up here for a minute? I need a consultation.”

Out from behind the curtain that led to the backend of the shop came two shorter versions of the troll. One was slightly taller than the other, a little over five feet. Besides their height they looked identical to the shopkeeper.

The taller of the two mini-trolls spoke his voice identical to the original “What can we do for ya prime?”

“Thanks for coming out here, but this fella here is asking for a custom enchantment for his fire spells.”

The shorter of the trolls gave a disgusted look, while the intermediate of the three looked more excited than anything.

“Oh how fun!” He turned to Roden, “ I am the combat magic specialist among the Pa’teems. I do some great work with fire magic. What would you like?”

Roden was feeling less confident in his request with so many glowing troll eyes on him.

“I–I was just thinking it would be cool to have my fire spells give me a buff or something…”

“Hmmmmmmmmm…” The troll tapped his chin with a finger. “What about an effect that triggers when you get burned?”

“I’d rather not get burned.” Roden said flatly.

“Oh yeah true true. What about an effect that triggers when you are about to get burned?”

“I’m listening.”

“Well I’ve been working on a sort of fire protection for umm… folk who have a greater aversion to fire than your average trol…I mean adventurer.” He smiled broadly showing all of his sharp teeth.

“So like fire resistance?”

“No No, the enchantment is a healing enchantment that triggers when you get…are about to get burned. So you’d heal instead of being burned. The enchantment heals a bit based on how strong the flames were that almost burned you.”

Roden had a sinking suspicion he was going to get burned in the process of all that, but figured it was as good as he was going to get. “I’ll take it.” he offered his hand for the troll to shake.

The intermediate troll was ecstatic and pumped his hand up and down. “You won’t be disappointed my friend. I have been working on this for a long while now. I am beyond excited to see it get some field test…I mean see it go to a worthy adventurer.”

With the deal struck they started haggling on price when Riakon stepped up with an arm load of items, much to Errrkkkk’s annoyance. Riakon had pulled so many things off the shelves that they made a mound on the counter.

They sorted through it all and started calculating the cost of everything. Riakon had to put back the majority of it after Pa’teem told him the prices. By the time he had to put back the boots of flying Riakon was grumbling profusely.

Eventually, they had come to an agreement for the enchantments on their opal steel items, plus Riakon was able to purchase a black cloak that could wave about as if tussled by a slight breeze at the touch of the fastener. Riakon had also picked out an Empathy balm that when applied to him and Grok would eventually confer the ability for him to be able to feel how Grok was feeling. Pa’teem seemed particularly proud of that item and bragged a bit.

“Oh boy that one is a favorite of mine! If you and that little guy develop a strong bond over time you should be able to share mental images too.” He pointed at Grok as he spoke, who was laying belly up getting a rub from the smallest troll clone.

It was then Pa’teem pointed at Errrkkkk, “Would you want something for your little guy too?”

A look of utter confusion appeared on Errrkkkk’s face. “What little guy are you talking about, cacaw?”

“That one der, in your pack.” He pointed toward the branch protruding from Errrkkkk’s backpack. “Don’t you know what that is?”

“Well yeah, but it’s just a branch right now, cacaw.”

“Oh yeah for now, but you give that little guy a few years and he’ll be moving about. Or if you are interested I have a Wand of Growth here that could have him up and about in a few weeks.”

Errrkkkk’s eyes went wide, “We’ll take it, cacaw!” his wings flapped ever so slightly in excitement.

“Now I’m not a hundred percent sure exactly what that little guy is going to be, but I am sure if you checked the Port Sept Library they’d have plenty of information on various sentient plants.”