Chapter 13

I spoke with a few different adventurers the next day over breakfast. The crowded nature of the trading post forced everyone to share benches, tables, and seating. Thus, I was sitting snug between a few other healers by a hearth on the far side of the building, before a window.

Snow had accumulated overnight. The city employed mages to plow the streets with magic. They simply parted paths in the snow with great billows of wind.

A door nearby was propped open while firewood was being delivered. My flagstaff was leaned against the wall by the window and I cocooned myself in my new cloak. Probably my favorite piece of gear so far. I’d spent a long time debating over the material and design. I was absolutely delighted with the waffle stitching. It was quite thick, and the healers around me admired it as well.

“I’m jealous,” Antoine said.

Antoine was a healer, and had just reached level 100 in Gryf’s Hawk Familiar. To celebrate, he’d commissioned a runic medallion made of silver. It hung from a chain link necklace. The rune called forth Gryf’s Hawk Familiar, which he explained would dive bomb damaged allies. The hawk would hover and beat its wings, buffeting allies with healing.

I was entranced with the idea of a healing familiar and I couldn’t wait to get one. My excitement was quickly tempered by my latest failings. My heart still suffered the weight of feeling like a failure to my party. The fact that they reported me for being unprepared, really stung.

I ran my thumb over the stump of my missing finger. I’m not sure why. Perhaps it was a reminder to why I became an adventurer. Otherwise I found no comfort from the gesture. Only grief.

“You alright there?” Samantah said.

Samantah was also a healer. Her highest proficiency was a level 440 Toppirius Lantern. “A rare divine item that uses gold mana,” she’d explained.

The item required the user to convert blue mana into gold mana. The lantern was essentially an entity that had its own mana bar. The mana could be replenished just like anyone else’s, but adding to its mana pool required a permanent conversion of blue to gold mana.

“Gold mana is always indicative that it belongs to an artifact,” she’d said.

The lantern hung from a beautifully ornate chain. A glittering gold vine grew up along the chain, sustaining itself from nutrients not of this plane. Samantah explained that as the user, she could use the lantern’s own mana bar to draw out orbs of healing potential that she would shoot out to allies. Each gold point of mana equated to one orb of the lantern’s healing. Each orb healed 110 points.

Samantah was perhaps thrice my age, with long brown hair that fell to her hips. The ends of her hair bobbed in curls that twisted to form shapes of woodland creatures. Having just come in from the snow, she sat beside me, brushing fresh snow from her hair with a handleless brush. When she brushed out the curls that formed the shapes of woodland creatures, her hair would bounce back to form new depictions. There were squirrels playing with foxes, leaping deer, hunting bears, and fat winter birds.

It was honestly mesmerizing. I had a hard time looking away, but she didn’t seem to mind. The longer I looked, the more each scene seemed to tell a story.

“She’s my mentor,” Antoine said. “She’s teaching me everything I need to know.”

“I’m guiding you, not teaching you,” Samantah said. “You’re learning through your own experiences. I’m just giving you a little nudge here and there when you need it.”

I droned out the rest of their chatter. I was still bummed about my last adventure. Though I bought two cure poisons, which were quite expensive, it would only help two comrades. In the traditional party of five, what would I do about the other two and myself? What if they got poisoned again afterwards? Twice poisoned in a party of five meant 10 cure poisons. That’s a single gold’s worth!

I gave a great sigh and watched the snow fall outside. Snowflakes the size of open hands floated down and encrusted Klayvale city. Wood was still being delivered through the open door and let the wind in. From one side I was cold, and from the other I was bathed in the warmth of the roaring hearth. Though I was somber, being in the presence of Samantah and Antoine was somehow disarming. No—not disarming. It was relaxing. I felt lighter and both my body and mind melted into the moment.

I was leaning in to drink from my coffee, and the steam that was rising from my mug was split by my face as I was drinking. The coffee was smooth and velvety and chocolate and campfire-ish. Firelight and snow-light were dancing across the surface of the coffee. The flavors were filling my body with life and with fortitude.

My cloak was keeping me warm, and a small wind was faintly howling at the open door. The pile of split logs were stacking evermore and the chatter of adventurers was blending in with the crackling wood in the hearth.

I gave a long and weary sigh.

“You seem tired,” Samantah said, drawing me from wherever I’d been.

“Yea. I’ve had a rough couple of days. I let down my teammates. We fought a poisonous boss and I had nothing to cure poison.”

“I see,” she said. “Well if it makes you feel any better, that’s the healer’s learning curve.”

“What do you mean?”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Well, every party member is always expected to do more than their fair share. A warrior can only take so much damage, and deal so much damage, before they need help. A healer is expected to solve all the problems of adventurers. It sounds like that burden fell on your shoulders.”

“I don’t think that’s helping,” Antoine said.

“No it’s alright guys, I bought some cure poisons, but they’re so expensive. I just wish there was something else I could do.”

“There are herbs, and therefore potions,” Samantah said. “You’ve said you already purchased some. That covers that. Otherwise, there are also scrolls and runes that deal with poisons. A scroll will run roughly the same price as a cure poison potion.”

“And a rune?” I said.

“A rune will cost you a permanent mana point, nothing more. Cure poison runes are single use, and start at a cost of 30 mana to trigger.”

“I don’t have that big of a mana pool to begin with. I’m not sure I want to spend a permanent mana point every time I want to use a rune to cure poison.”

“That’s why you need a spellbook.”

A spellbook. Sounded interesting. I was curious to learn more. I was told that spellbooks were quite pricey, so I doubted it could be a viable option.

“I don’t think I could afford one.”

“The reason I mentioned a spellbook is because of one of their purposes. They lock runes and enchantments in their pages. This means that a single-use rune will be reset by the spellbook itself so that you can repeatedly use it. In other words, once a rune or enchantment enters the spellbook, it’s in there until the book is destroyed. Once you have a spellbook, you can spend a permanent mana point to draw a cure poison rune in one of its pages, and fulfill its 30 point mana cost whenever you need to use it.”

“The drawback is that I would need a spellbook in the first place,” I said.” “Secondly, a cost of 30 mana points is nearly half my mana pool.”

“True. As for your second point, mana potions are a tenth of the cost of cure poison potions. I’m telling you. In the long run, the spellbook way is more efficient.”

“I still don’t have a spellbook,” I said, “but I appreciate it though.”

Antoine sat forward as if to mention something, but he stopped, catching himself. He and Samantah shared a look and an entire conversation was exchanged between them in their silence. Eventually Samantah nodded and gestured for Antoine to continue. He lowered his voice and leaned in.

“Samantah and I are going to follow the rumors of a spawned spellbook in a cliffside dungeon. You want to come with us? Yes or no, we hope that you’ll keep quiet about this.”

“What if it’s not true?” I said.

Samantah shrugged, completely unbothered. “Then we get more experience, more loot, more mana crystals. It’s win-win.”

“Other people have to know about these rumors too. You can’t be the only one, right?”

“We’re not,” Antoine said. “The fewer that know, the more likely we’ll each get a spellbook. You should come with us.”

“So that you’re aware,” Samantah said, “Only one item spawns in a dungeon at a time. This means we’ll have to repeat the dungeon several times so that we each get a spellbook. We’ll have to move fast, in case other adventurers overwork the dungeon and it goes fallow.”

“But we’re three healers,” I said.

“We’ve put in a request for a few warriors willing to repeat the same dungeons.”

“I’ve never dungeon crawled with another healer before.”

“Then this could be a good opportunity for you,” Samantah said.

“I wish I had paired up with another healer sooner,” Antoine said. “You learn a lot from other adventurers that share your class.”

“Plus,” Samantah said, “You might end up getting a spellbook to collect runes and enchantments for all your future needs. I wouldn’t pass this up if I were you.”

“Why me?” I said, a little dubious.

“Honestly?” Samantah said. I nodded and finished off my coffee. “I too was down in the dumps once. A healer took me under their wing and I’ll never forget the experience. I’m not particularly high leveled, but It’s sort of a way for me to pay that healer’s kindness forward.”

My mind was whirling with thoughts. Could this spellbook be a chance to solve my cure poison issue? What about the next affliction that comes along? I guess the spellbook could potentially help with that too right? Was adventuring with two other healers weird? Would we be putting ourselves at a disadvantage? Even though we might have a few other warriors with us?

Just then, a golden beam of light columned around Samantah. Her hair bounced and floated in the light, and more scenes of woodland animals morphed in the curls of her hair. I felt a soothing sensation suffuse my body. I felt calm and relaxed. Not in a sedated kind of way, but in a clarity of the mind kind of way. Totally awake and tension-less.

The golden column was a sign that someone accepted her request, or was at least curious about it. Three warriors found us in the next few moments. They each wore identical plate armor on their torso’s. Their helms varied, the rest of their body armor varied, and one sported a dark red cape. One had a longsword, the other had a shield and shortsword, and the third had an oversized cleaver.

“Jorge, Henrick, and Seeud,” They said, introducing themselves.

“Samantah, and this is Antoine,” Samantah said, bidding them to sit with us. “You understand our request?”

Seeud removed his horned helm. He was an older man with sea-faring wrinkles creasing his forehead and eyes. Sweaty, and wiry strands of red hair settled down over his recessed hairline. He had a red beard with ageing patches of white on either side of it.

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Call me Samantah, please.”

The warriors settled themselves down after a neighboring group shifted over to make room.

“So you’re looking for a specific item?” Seeud said. “You need us to help you fight through the same dungeon several times?”

“Just as described in my request,” Samantha said.

“That’s fine with the lot of us, but I’d like to know what the item is. Otherwise you’ll have to look elsewhere for warriors.”

“The item is a spellbook,” Samantah said quietly.

“I’m guessing you want to repeat the dungeon so that each of you will get one?”

“That’s the plan.”

The other two warriors lifted their helms off their heads and dropped them onto their laps. Henrick rubbed his face and said, “spellbooks fetch quite a nice price.”

The warriors looked between themselves before silently coming to an agreement.

“Here’s our offer,” Seeud said. “Long as we can get a spellbook too—each of us that is—we’ll be more than happy to work with you.”

“So then,” said Jorge. “That’ll be five dungeon runs.”

“I agree to your terms,” Samantah said. “However, it may be six runs. That depends on whether Tosin here joins us.”

“Pleasure to meet you Tosin,” Seeud said, and we clasped hands. I greeted the other warriors equally.

“What’ll it be Tosin?” Samantah said.