“See Drevock, I told you that door was lighter than it looked. You didn’t need to push it open so hard, you likely startled the people inside half to death. ”
The speaker, an older gnomish man wearing large round glasses with lenses so thick they made his eyes seem much larger than they were, stepped into the Guild Hall flanked by two human companions. The one to his left, who must have been Drevock as he gave a short grunt in response to the gnome’s statement, was outfitted in armor that appeared to be well-maintained and gave off the faint glow that indicated it was enchanted. He carried two large axes that were strapped to his back and was currently scanning the room, likely trying to identify any threats. His whole demeanor screamed mercenary to Gabe, especially because he was the only one armed and armored of the group. The gnome wore a simple linen shirt and pants, though there was an intricate pattern stitched in pale orange thread on his right sleeve. The other member of the group was outfitted similarly to the gnome, however his shirt did not have the pattern stitched on it. Additionally, he appeared to be struggling under the weight of the massive pack he wore on his back. The pack was easily taller than the gnome and was thick enough that the sheer size of it caused the man holding it to wobble slightly as he tried to find a stable position to hold the thing. The gnome, who was evidently the leader of the group, set off towards one of the attendant desks on the other side of the hall, Drevock a step behind him and the one with the large pack stumbling after them.
“I know this is the Adventurer’s Guild and we see all kinds of people pass through here, but there’s something off about that group, don’t you think?” Gabe asked Freya as they watched the strange trio approach the desk and the gnome began to animatedly speak with the attendant.
“Looks like a researcher with some hired help,” Freya said tersely, their previous conversation clearly still on her mind. “Probably here to study the Dwellers.”
The reason so many people had flocked to the Iochant mountains was because of a discovery of the remnants of an ancient civilization, nicknamed the Dwellers, hidden deep within the stone. An enterprising dwarf named Sofrena was hoping to find a vein of gold and instead dug right into a massive chamber big enough to hold a small village. It likely did contain a small village, though all that remained was building-sized piles of rubble and tunnels branching off deeping into the mountain. Curiously, when the dwarf searched through the piles of rubble, she found a metal spoon of all things. Despite being buried under stone in a hidden cavern inside a mountain for an unknown amount of time, there wasn’t a single scratch or dent on the spoon, nor did it appear to have any rust or other blemish. In fact, once she wiped the dust off it, its polish would rival that of any spoon owed by the king. It turned out that the spoon was made of an unknown metal that was magically resistant to all forms of decay and could repair itself, albeit slowly, when damaged. Even more, later tests had revealed that the metal was a perfect mana conductor. Once word got out, every enchanter and artificer on the continent wanted to get their hands on some of the metal and soon the Iochant mountains were abuzz with people trying to find a way into the mountain.
Sofrena was fortunate that she dug directly into one of the Dweller settlements. Since the initial discovery, a vast maze-like network of tunnels had been discovered throughout the mountain range. Gabe was often hired by teams who scouted through the dense forest that covered this part of the range, looking for new entrances to the cave system. Many were located hidden in the back of a cave, often one that served as the den to some nasty beast. The tunnel system had its own dangers though. Between the trapped sections, paths that abruptly end due to cave-ins, and the various creatures that can be found wandering the tunnels, it took someone incredibly brave, stupid, desperate, or some combination of the three to choose to explore there. It’s said that for every ten groups that enter the tunnels, two are never heard from again and most of the others come back with nothing but injuries and nightmares. Despite all the danger, people still flock to the mountains in droves because every once and a while, a team is lucky enough to stumble across a new Dweller settlement. Most are around the same size as the one Sofrena found, containing small amounts of Spellsteel, the name given to the metal, usually in the form of common household objects. Utensils, dishes, even a small pile of nails once, were all found buried beneath the rubble.Usually only a few pounds worth of the metal would be found in each settlement, but those few pounds were worth hundreds of gold. The nails were particularly valuable as so far, no one had been able to figure out how to melt the metal down to recast it. An enchanted spoon was a novelty, but an enchanted nail could be used as a weapon. It was widely believed that if Spellsteel was common enough to use for a spoon, then surely there would be weapons or armor made of it as well. Each team that entered the tunnel did so thinking they would be the ones to uncover a secret cache of swords and shields, only to come across pit traps and venomous spiders instead.
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Gabe didn’t begrudge the people who entered into the tunnels, even if he didn’t think the risk was worth it. Without them, there wouldn’t be as much of a demand for teams to scout the forest looking for a new entrance. While the tunnel system was expansive enough that two groups that entered from the same point could quickly distance themselves as they took diverging paths. Since each settlement contained only a small amount of Spellsteel, it was often a race to discover a new one as the first team to find it would take all the metal. You could access multiple settlements from the same entrance, but it was often preferable to find a new entrance as you likely wouldn’t have to travel the tunnels too far to find an untouched settlement.
The trio of strangers had been directed to a different attendant who pulled out a stool so that the gnome was eye-level with her. Watching them, Gabe pulled two apples from his satchel and tossed one to Freya. She caught it and glared at Gabe one last time before relaxing her expression and taking a bite out of the apple. Glad that she accepted his peace offering, Gabe began eating his own apple.
Between bites, Gabe asked “I wonder what they’re doing here. You think maybe he got turned out trying to find the Scholar’s Guild Hall?”
“Nah, if that was the case Mark wouldn’t have sent them over to talk to Thalia. She handles special requests from influential people. Usually that means arranging teams to guide some pompous nobleman through the tunnels. Even though they come with their own guards, they want local teams to lead them so they don’t have to deal with any of the traps or monsters themselves. It works out for the guides though as Thalia ensures that they’re paid fairly and nobles usually either have someone with them trained in life magic or a large amount of healing potions on hand for trips like these. Thalia makes sure that any team that goes on these expeditions is entitled to full access to any healing the noble has with them.”
Gabe’s heart sped up at the mention of full trained life mages. He had come to Aranthia to find someone who could train him to be a true Knotted wizard, a distinction he still didn’t know the exact requirements for. While people being able to access one of their mana nodes, either innately like Gabe or through rigorous training, and draw out mana threads to cast spells wasn’t too uncommon, Knotted wizards were a rare and powerful group. Even the Scholar’s Guild refused to answer any of his questions when he’d gone there. All he knew was that somehow Knotted wizards gained access to mana types outside of the ten base ones and were able to cast spells of immense power.
“Huh, that’s weird. Why is she leading them over here?”
Gabe had been lost in thought, so it took him a moment to register what Freya had just said. He was about to ask who she was referring to when suddenly it all clicked as he saw Thalia guiding the gnome and his companions towards Gabe and Freya. Even more strangely, unless Gabe was mistaken, the elderly gnome was staring right at him.
“Good morning Thal. Is everything alright?” asked Freya once the group neared her desk.
“Good morning Freya, and to you as well Gabe. I’m glad you’re here already, it would have been a pain to find someone to go get you. I’d like to introduce you both to Professor Alrik and his companions, Drevock and Simon. Gabe, they’d like to hire you for a job.”