Chapter 7

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[Sigurd]

I awoke to the sound of knocking at my door. Groaning, I sat up, gasping in pain as my chest tried to kill me. I guess that’s the rib then, fractured most likely. I’d have to visit the healer in Oar’s Rest or Barkamstead if there wasn’t one there.

Sliding my feet over the side of the bed, I completed the sitting manoeuvre and just stared at the wall for a few seconds as my body learned it was awake.

Stretching, I rolled my head around, rubbed the back of my head, wiped my eyes and stood up, yawning as I went. Reaching over, I took a sip of water from the mug I kept beside the bed, before hobbling over to the dresser.

I slipped on a pair of trousers and a crude cotton shirt, enough to be decent. Some sandals to walk on and I was ready to greet the day, and I supposed, the person at my door. I walked through to the kitchen, put a pot of water on and then went to see who was at the door.

Unlike the frantic knocking of John, this was the slow measured knock of someone who was not in a hurry, just someone living at their own pace.

As such, I didn’t feel the need to rush to the door either, which was good, as walking hurt a little right now. Taking a second, I opened the door and blinked at the harsh light. It seemed to be midday, I must have overslept then. I guess I can forgive myself as I did do quite a lot yesterday, delving a dungeon is exhausting after all.

With a quick glance, I confirmed that the man standing with his fist raised to knock again was a friendly, before mumbling “come in.”

“Thanks” he replied in a neat and clear voice.

He followed me through to the kitchen and took a seat when prompted, whilst he was settling down I made some Aeldra to drink. It had a strong earthy taste and got blindingly hot, it was refreshing, and I loved the taste.

It was made from the great Ael tree that grew in mana rich environments and as such it absorbed it, the drink used the inner bark and as it steeped in the water, the mana seeped out giving the hot water a nice infusion of flavour and mana.

Aeldra was a great pick-me-up and was a phenomenal way to start the day, the only problem was the expense, it cost an arm and a leg and the only reason I had lots was because of my days as an adventurer, still, I only got it out when I had guests or when I really needed it.

I poured two mugs and set the pan back on the heat to keep warm.

I set the mug down in front of him and took my seat. As I sat down, he sighed in contentment, placed his mug back down and started to talk.

“Sigurd, thanks, that really hits the spot. Now, about that dungeon. It is a dungeon if I’m not mistaken, especially from the state of you.” I nodded in confirmation.

“Ok… well… right. It is a dungeon… It’s a dungeon! It is a damn dungeon man! Oh, thank the gods, this could be so good for us. Don’t you see?” he exclaimed in increasingly excited statements, before frowning at my expression, I just wasn’t as ecstatic as him.

“Yes, I see. But it will also be a time of great change. With this discovery, the quiet, quaint little village we once knew will surely disappear and, in its place, who knows what will be built. The dungeon guild will want control of the area for sure and it’s hard to dissuade them. They’ll build an outpost and small town at the entrance, but they will need a centre of trade. And it’s easier to convert this than to build from scratch on the side of a mountain.” I replied with measured words, offering caution and what I considered wisdom.

“Yes, good points, and points well made. But, we’ve been stagnating here. This village hasn’t seen change in many many years and nothing new ever happens. By all measures we’re peasants. This will bring in gold regardless of the finders’ fee. We’ll see a period of great economic growth and if we play this right then we will no longer be peasants, and think about the kids, what future do they have here, a life trapped in a village with no excitement or future. We’ve no need of more blacksmiths or farmers or whatever, what can they do but leave, with the dungeon though the village will evolve, and opportunities will come flooding in.” He responded offering a verbal riposte.

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“True, all true, but we must preach caution. You’re right about that, but only if we play this well will we come out ahead, but if we don’t we’ll be thrown in the deep end and left to drown. Let’s not drown in our excitement. Besides we have to do something, now the dungeon’s broken the surface it’s not going to be secret for long. We’re lucky there aren’t many settlements nearby. At least on the human side. Who knows about the other sectors.”

“Too right Sig. Will you head off tomorrow then, if you take the T-pads it’ll only take two or three days.”

“Yeah, I’ll head off once I’ve healed up enough should be tomorrow or the day after when I’m well enough to ride, it’s a hard ride to Oar’s rest and a fractured rib ain’t gonna help matters much.”

He winced at that, fractured ribs are blasted painful in the saddle and I wasn’t looking forward to traveling on one.

“So, what was it like?”

“Well, where to start? Where to start? Hmm… I guess, it was different from the usual.”

“Whatever do you mean?” He asked entranced. Even for the peasants the dungeons were interesting.

“It started off with a pitch-black entrance, so you can’t see anything at all. Then you fall out into this huge cavern. Unlike most dungeons which usually start off as small rocky passageways with creatures along them, linear pathways as well. You’ve got to fight to proceed. Here though, it was full of nature. Plant life abounding. There were no predators to speak off but responsive trees from the start. It was very easy for a first level. In fact, you could just walk straight to the next floor if you wished.”

“Really.”

“Yes, in fact, there was really nothing to the first floor, unless you wished to earn some loot in which case you would have to fight off the trees, trees? I know, surprised the hell out of me. Pissed my right off it did.”

-And so, they continued chatting for a good hour before the man named Dale said he had to go report the info to everyone else in town-

“Thanks for the Aeldra and the chat” Dale said before letting himself out.

“No problem” I replied to an empty house as the door slammed shut just a fraction too soon.

Standing up, I took a few minutes to wash up the mugs and pan, soaking my bruised and battered hands in the process.

I need to get better gloves. When I had come out of the dungeon they had been shredded. Proper mage-styled leather that wouldn’t be destroyed by the dungeon was in order.

Putting the stuff away, I applied a healing salve and some bandages washed my hands again and then went to sort out my stuff from last night. I grabbed my bag from the entrance hall and dragged it through to the washing room, trying to avoid flexing my side too much.

The washroom had a couple steel racks that were heated by waterfilled tubes from a mage fire that required only a handful of powder and lots of wood to keep going, the artificers had mundane ones they called radiators, but I wasn’t going to rely on technology when the mage powered ones worked just fine, I knew where I stood with them.

Anyway, these heating racks, I kept on constantly, they warmed the house and helped dry my clothes. Passing through the drying part was the actual washing room, separated off by two cheap doors I had scavenged from the carpenter’s apprentice, he had thought them failures so I snapped them up for a pittance.

Dragging my pack through, I emptied it on the floor, letting my armour, clothes and supplies tumble out.

I went and set three tubs of water on to heat (one full, one half and one almost empty) and in another smaller one I placed a block of soap. I also set one tub of oil to heat on the higher racks, so it was only warm, not hot.

Whilst that was heating I placed the armour on the stand and then gathered up my supplies and separated it into two piles: ruined and fine. All my herbs, bandages and a few potions as well as the food went to the ruined pile as well. Straight to the bin.

By now, the soap had melted and that got poured off into the full water tub. A quick stir made some bubbles and cleaned the soap pan enough to be put away again.

I threw the clothes into the soapy tub and walked over to the armour. Unclipping the plates, I chucked them into the one full of oil. Next, I pulled off the cuffs from the leather and chucked them into the soapy water.

The cuffs were cotton sections that clipped to the leather at each end and stopped it rubbing against my joints whilst also extending over the metal to stop or at least limit the sounds of metal clanking together. Clangourous sounds ringing out were not the best if you wanted to be sneaky.

The leather was then placed into the tub half filled with water. Next came the weapons. I unpinned the axe blade and placed it in the oil. The wooden haft was set up above to dry. The blades of the swords were strung up so that the blades were resting in the oil whilst the handles above were out and they could dry.

Once this was done, I went over to the cupboard and pulled down the scrubbing rack. Placing it into the soapy water I took the clothes and started scrubbing them thoroughly until the water turned a fairly disgusting shade of brown. This took about 15 minutes, enough time for the leather to soak, it was then taken and set to dry alongside the wooden axe haft and the pack itself.

Taking the tub half filled with water that used to have the leather in, I placed it beside the mangle. The one almost empty went underneath and the soapy one went on the final side. Taking the cloth, I ran it through on setting one before dropping it into the half-filled tub to rinse. I repeated this on setting two.

I quickly placed the now dry leather into the oil and went back to the mangle. Once through the five stages I emptied the tub underneath and replaced it. Checking the clothes, I found none had any excess dirt, so they were all strung up to dry and the water thrown out to the grass.

Taking the leather out of the oil I set that to dry over a set of tubs and then pulled the metal bits out. Wiping them dry with a cloth I set them to finish drying before sharpening the blades and tidying up. I restocked the fire and went off to the kitchen to have dinner before heading off to bed for a nice rest before a big journey on the morrow.