The battle with the Orcs, Goblin, and their demons had been dangerous, and the subsequent encounter with the Demon of Shadows would have been a party wipe if it had not been for Ewtain’s immunity to the creature’s attacks. They were fortunate to have survived, but they had been rewarded with the core of the demon, which they hoped would be a powerful piece of treasure. They had traveled through a portal that put them several days closer to their goal, the city of Ildul.
The group spent the next few days navigating the hills. While they traveled, Taloc used his Ranger abilities to track and kill several small animals and one small deer. The deer had a full rack of antlers, but it was only a third of the size of a deer in their world. Vanya contributed to the food haul by identifying edible plants, fruits, and vegetables to go along with Taloc’s game. They gathered enough food to keep them all satisfied except Maroftis, who now had an increased food requirement that was proportional to his increased size. When the party came across a stream, pond, or small lake, the Korak would swim and hunt for fish and anything else that he determined edible. Some of his favorites were birds; he could swim underwater and attack floating ducks from below as an alligator might. He kept his meals for himself, but he also took very little of the meat from Taloc’s haul and none of what Vanya had brought to the table.
The ordeal with the demon had left them more cautious, so they actively avoided any potential encounters. They all knew how close they had come to death in that encounter, so until they were able to make it to town and get more information about the monsters in the area, they planned to steer clear of anything that might be hostile.
As they approached the mountains, they began to see a few houses, usually built on the side or peak of a hill with fields of vegetables alongside them. They had approached the first house they saw in the hopes of getting information and food from the occupants, but it had been empty. They had picked some onions, cabbage, and carrots, and they even found a few potatoes in one field. They discussed taking a larger amount of the food, but that would require time, and while there was room in their inventories, they didn’t know if the food would keep well in the inventory system. All the meat that they had stored had been eaten rather quickly, and while there had been no obvious spoilage, they didn’t keep anything for more than a day or two. They also didn’t want to steal everything from the owner. Besides, they were now close to the city and would be able to get the things that they needed there.
Early the third day, they arrived at the gates of the city of Ildul. There were guards there, but they waved the party in. Some people stared openly at Maroftis as they made their way through the gates, but there were no comments made.
They found an inn—aptly named The Silver Penny—that charged one silver per night for a room. They gave the innkeeper three silvers and headed to their rooms. The women shared one room, and Ewtain decided that Vultressant and Maroftis should pair up given that they were the largest and smallest members of the group; he and Taloc took the other. The innkeeper informed them that dinner was at first setting.
“We have several hours until dinner, and I want to see if we can get any silver for anything that we have,” Taloc said. “Most of what we have are weapons that I’ve been scavenging, but there are a few gems as well. Maroftis, can you give me the gems and jewelry?” Maroftis retrieved the requested items from his inventory. Taloc put the items into a pouch before continuing, “Vult, can you come with me? This town is made up primarily of Dwarves and Gnomes, so you fit right in.”
“Sure. I want to map out the city anyway.”
“I can go see about selling some of the herbs that I’ve collected,” Vanya offered.
“Maybe just check into the prices and uses,” Vultressant said. “If you can make some healing potions or something, I would rather you keep the herbs that might be ingredients for that. Oh, and pick up some oregano and basil...and whatever other cooking spices you can find.”
Vanya looked at him as if he were insane. “I was with you until the cooking stuff.”
Vultressant looked at her seriously. “I prefer to spice the meat that I cook—well, anything that I cook—so if we can get some cooking spices, then I can make our meals tastier.” He pouted. “I miss my spice rack.”
Vanya laughed. “Do you have any vegetarian options that you can cook for me?” she asked.
“Sure do. I make a mean garlic soup, vegetable barley soup, eggplant parmigiana…”
Smiling, she put a hand on his arm, cutting him off, and said, “I’ll see what I can do.” She turned and headed for the exit.
“I want to ask around and get some information,” Ewtain said vaguely before following Vanya towards the door.
“I heard that a river runs to the west of town, and there is a dock at the south end of the city,” Maroftis said, breaking into a huge grin. “I’m heading there.”
Isla held up her hands in a defensive gesture. “Don’t look at me. I’m going to lie down. I haven’t slept in a real bed in ages. Maybe I’ll come down later and see if this world has any wine.” She turned and went into her room, closing the door noisily for emphasis.
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Vultressant and Taloc went in search of the innkeeper. “Pardon me, sir, but could you point me to any place that might want to buy used weapons?” Taloc asked in his most courteous tone.
The innkeeper, a Gnome that looked like an older version of Vultressant, looked up from a ledger and smiled. “No pardon needed,” he said, waving a hand. “Head to the foundry in the southwest part of town and ask for Blassie; he runs the place.” When they nodded and thanked him, the old Gnome went back to his ledger.
Taloc wanted to go straight to the foundry, but Vultressant wanted to map out the town. Vultressant paused frequently to make notes on the map that was being created by his cartography skill as they made their way to the foundry. Many of the buildings had a sign with the name of the establishment hanging out front, so he just needed to enter the name of the appropriate building on his map. For other buildings, he had to stop in and ask, or sometimes there was someone to ask outside.
After at least a half hour of this, Taloc pointed to a large stone building with smoke coming from several stacks. “Look. I think that’s it. Can we get the names of the rest of these on the way back?”
Vultressant, who’d been looking at his HUD, turned it off and said, “Sure. Sorry, man.”
The foundry contained several forge stations, with a sweaty Dwarf manning each of them. There were also other Dwarves and a few Gnomes bustling about the place as well. A stout Dwarf in the center of it all was barking orders. He clearly ran the place, so they approached him. “Blassie?” Vultressant said when the Dwarf paused his yelling to take a breath.
“Who are you, and more importantly, why are you interrupting me?” The Dwarf said it in a heavily accented voice. He looked annoyed, though not any more annoyed than he had been before they interrupted him.
Vultressant bowed briefly; they had decided that he was to do most of the talking. “My name is Vultressant, and this is my companion, Taloc. We have some weapons to sell.”
The Dwarf looked them over. “I got weapons, and you lot look to have little that I need.”
Taloc opened his inventory and produced one of the nicer weapons they had found. Vultressant recognized it as one of the swords that the demon cultists had fought with during their encounter at the desecrated temple in the forest. Blassie looked horrified. “How are you pullin’ a sword out of thin air?”
Clearly, the people of the world didn’t have the same inventory system as their party did. Vultressant kicked himself mentally—he had thought that since others had the HUD, the inventory system would be the same, too. He hurriedly tried to settle the Dwarf down. “It’s just a trick he can do.”
Blassie eyed him skeptically. “Look, lad, I did not just fall off of a turnip cart! Your friend here has a portable storage container of some kind.” He looked to the side and broke into a wide grin. “I am told that I was conceived in a turnip field though,” he said, slapping Vultressant on the back and nearly knocking him over. “You there!” he said, pointing at Taloc. “Let me see the rest of ‘em.”
Taloc obliged him and proceeded to withdraw several swords, daggers, axes, a whip, and the large morningstar that had belonged to the Gnoll captain. He also brought out two chainmail shirts that looked very weathered and damaged. When he was done, Blassie looked at him and said, “Is that all?” before chuckling deeply.
The Dwarf sorted through the equipment, then separated them into three piles. He pointed at the largest pile. “That is crap! I can melt it down for scrap, so I can offer you three silver for the lot.” He then went to the second pile, which contained the swords that the cultists had used as well as a pair of daggers. “These I can sell if I clean them up first. I will give you 90 silver for each of them.” There were eight weapons, so that would certainly keep them housed and fed for a while.
“How much will you sell them for?” Taloc asked in an accusing tone.
Blassie looked up at him as if he were a fool. “More than 90 silver each, obviously.” Taloc looked like he was about to say something else, but the Dwarf held up a hand. “If you do no like my prices, then go to the other foundry in town.”
Vultressant knew where this was going. “There isn’t another foundry in town, I assume.”
Laughing, Blassie hooked a thumb towards the Gnome. “Now that one gets it.” When he was able to control his laughter, he went to the smallest pile, which contained only one item. “Now this,”—the Dwarf ran his hand over the morningstar with an almost loving caress—"this is nice. Good craftsmanship.... Something big wielded this.”
“How much for that one?” Vultressant asked.
Blassie turned and shouted, “Jallik, go and fetch Rena!” A Dwarf who looked to have been supervising one of the forge stations looked towards them and hustled out of the room. A moment later he returned with a Gnome woman following him, but she was making no effort to match his pace.
When she reached them, she looked at Blassie, then at the morningstar, and then at Blassie again. “Whatever could you want me to do,” she said as more of a statement than a question. When Blassie’s grin grew wider, she simply sighed and said, “Move away from it.” Blassie obediently stepped to the side. “It is clearly magical.” She then put a hand just above the weapon. “Hmm, it has an amplification ability. It looks like it is for wind magic.” She turned to Blassie. “Anything else?” she asked.
“Pardon her manners, but this is Rena Strass, my Enchantress.” Blassie motioned to her with a flourish.
“Your Enchantress?” Rena asked in a huff. “I belong to no one, you ox of a Dwarf!” she retorted, repeatedly poking a finger into Blassie’s chest.
“Beggin’ your pardon, m’lady,” Blassie said in an exaggerated tone. “I meant no disrespect.”
The two continued to argue, and Vultressant surreptitiously muttered to Taloc. “Is it just me, or does he sound Scottish?”
Taloc nodded. “He might be programmed that way. It’s normal for Dwarves to speak in that accent, certainly in movies and in some games, but he might sound different to someone from another country, say China or Japan, or even another planet than ours.”
Vultressant watched the two of them bicker and tried to think of a way to interject. He was looking for someone to ask questions about magic to, so he blurted out the first question that came to his mind. “Can you show me how to do that?” The two stopped midsentence, and Rena looked at him quizzically. “How you identified the weapon, I mean,” he added lamely.
“Do you have skill in either spirit magic or wind magic?” she asked.
“Wind,” Vultressant said, growing hopeful.
“Then hold your hand over it. You might have to touch it. Then, focus your mana and will the weapon to give up its secrets.”