by Pirateaba
“I can’t believe it. Can you sense the ambient mana in the air, Pisces?”
“I can and do, Ceria. It is simply astounding—when I consider the ramifications of such a Skill—”
The next morning, the inn was in an uproar. Well, a quiet uproar. Mainly confined to all the mages, really. The other adventurers just stared at their magic-using comrades when they exclaimed over Erin’s new Skill. Ulrien blinked constantly as Typhenous raved about the mana in the air, Halrac ignored Revi, and Yvlon plugged her ears rather than listen to Ceria and Pisces discuss what had happened.
To show solidarity, Ksmvr put two of his hands over his earholes. Jelaqua and Seborn listened to Moore out of politeness, but the Selphid’s eyes kept wandering in different directions.
In the end, the mages congregated at one table where they could properly express their amazement and get back more satisfactory responses.
“So? What’s the verdict? Is my inn cool or is it magical?”
Erin smiled as she brought over a basket of rolls to dip in the honey. Typhenous levitated the soft butter up and sliced some off. He accepted a roll with a smile for Erin.
“My dear, your Skill is nothing short of extraordinary. Why, I consider it quite an achievement to have created for all intents and purposes a magical leyline in your own inn. When I think of the positive applications…”
“Yeah, it’s cool, but I can’t do magic. Does this mean all your spells are super-powerful now?”
Erin propped her hands on her hips as she regarded the mages with amusement. Ceria shrugged.
“It’s not as if they’ll become that much more powerful, but we could cast the same spell almost twice as many times here. And like Lyonette found out, if no one else is using the magic here, it can accumulate and boost a low-level spell to a great degree.”
“That’s super-powerful. Well, I’m glad it helps. I just hope it’ll recharge my door faster.”
“At the very least it will!”
Pisces seemed outraged by Erin’s lack of enthusiasm. He ripped one roll apart and dipped both ends in the honey, glaring at her.
“Do you understand—mph—what this—nmf—could mean? You could use the mana supply here to power any number of enchantments—”
“Ew. Don’t talk when you’re eating. You mean, like the [Field of Preservation] Skill?”
“It certainly seems that way.”
Moore smiled as Erin presented him with a roll that was more like a loaf. She thought about this as the mages’ conversation about what they might use the mana source for devolved into an argument over who would get how many rolls. But their conversation had given Erin an idea.
“Hey, Lyonette! Want to try an experiment?”
She called the young girl over and brought out an apple. It was a small one, and slightly wizened—not to mention expensive! Erin sliced it open and both she and Lyonette stared at the pale slice of apple.
After a while Lyonette coughed.
“Um, shouldn’t we come back later?”
“Right…”
Erin slapped her head and left the apple. She bent down to catch Mrsha before the Gnoll could leap onto the table and grab the apple for herself.
“Hey there Mrsha, how are you doing on this fine day? Do you think my new Skills are cool?”
Mrsha licked at Erin’s face frantically, making the young woman laugh and let go.
“Hey! Stop that!”
“Mrsha, don’t bother Erin! You can play after breakfast.”
Lyonette pulled Mrsha back. As she put the reluctant Gnoll on the ground, she saw Erin giving her an appraising look, far different from yesterday.
“You’re pretty good at handling Mrsha, aren’t you?”
“Well…I suppose I have had practice.”
“Good! Actually, that’s great.”
Erin smiled at Lyonette, and the girl flushed with pride. Erin turned and frowned around her busy inn.
“Last night you told me you stole something else from those evil bees, right? Honey, dead bees, and…uh, what was it? A larva? Where is it?”
“Oh! I put it in my room so it wouldn’t bother anyone. I can go get it—”
“Why don’t you show me?”
The two Humans went up the stairs, Mrsha right on their heels. Erin peered at the fat, yellowish-white grub sitting in the bowl of slightly congealed liquid and shuddered.
“Aw. It’s so…gross.”
Lyonette giggled.
“Isn’t it? I was going to feed it to Klbkch, but then I got a [Beast Tamer] class! Um…”
“You want to keep it?”
Erin gave her the fish eye. Lyonette nodded.
“It grows on you. And it’s not hard to feed—I keep adding more royal jelly to the bowl. Actually, I’ll need a bigger bowl; it keeps getting bigger.”
Erin studied the slowly wriggling grub. She frowned at it pensively.
“Have you named it?”
“What?”
“You’ve gotta give it a name. How about Pudge?”
“Pudge?”
“Well, it sort of looks like Pudge, don’t you think? No? Okay, what about a bee name? It’s going to turn into a bee someday, so how about…Buzz?”
Lyonette frowned at Erin.
“I don’t know. Those names sound a bit…”
“Wait, I’ve got it! Beeyonce. That’s perfect! No—wait, that’s horrible. Let me try again…”
“It’s just a grub. You don’t have to name it yet.”
“Apis? That’s the word for bee in uh, Latin. I think. Buzzana? Buzzany? Is it a boy or a girl bee?”
Lyonette just stared. Erin tried out several more names, and then realized she was getting a funny look from Mrsha as well. She threw up her hands and walked away.
“Fine! You can name the bee whatever you want when it gets big. But for now I’m calling him Mr. Ugly Fat Worm. It is a him, right?”
Lyonette and Mrsha exchanged a glance. The Gnoll reached out to poke the big larva and Lyonette smacked her paw away.
“What are you planning on doing now that you’re a Level 30 [Innkeeper]?”
Jelaqua asked as Erin went around the room with a pitcher, refilling cups. Erin paused and then shrugged.
“I’ve got some ideas. I mean, I’m not going to expand or anything; this is plenty for me as it is. But I might do more with what I have.”
The Selphid raised her eyebrows.
“Oh? Such as?”
“You’ll see. In fact, you’ll see in five minutes if you wait. I might need your group’s help for something I have in mind.”
“Really now. In that case, I think I’ll have a refill.”
Jelaqua smiled and leaned back in her chair as Erin filled her cup and moved on. Seborn leaned over to her.
“What do you think she has in mind that involves us?”
“No idea, but I’m curious, aren’t you? I heard stories all over Liscor about the crazy innkeeper, but we missed all the action. I want to be up close and personal for this one.”
One table over, Zel turned his head to frown at Erin’s back. He wasn’t so positive as the Selphid, and his premonition only got worse when Erin marched back over to the table full of mages.
“Hey, can I ask you guys to do an estimate for me?”
“Of course. About what?”
Ceria frowned as Erin pointed to the door.
“Now that I’ve got mana coming out of the walls and stuff, how much do you think I’d be able to transport through the door? I mean, in pounds? Or is it kilograms?”
The mages glanced around the table and began to speak. Pisces was the first person to come up with a response that wasn’t immediately shot down.
“I would wager the door could transport, oh, sixteen to thirty bodies between Celum and Liscor on a daily basis. I say sixteen as a lower estimate given the increased costs based on weight and mass, you see. If you had a group of armed warriors, sixteen would indeed be…”
“Okay, that’s not bad
. But what if you all added your mana to it? How many then?”
Pisces broke off, looking confused. Revi exchanged glances with Typhenous.
“Well, we could add a lot. If you mean like last night, to bring a lot of people through—”
“No, I mean as much as you can. What if you drank mana potions, and put in everything you had into the door? How many people could you transport then?”
Ceria frowned.
“At least a hundred. But why? Erin, you aren’t planning on actually turning your door into a big shortcut between the cities, are you? Because mana potions aren’t cheap, and neither are mages. We could do it once or twice, but adding our mana to the door isn’t that easy.”
“No problem. You’d only have to do it once. And I guess one hundred people is good, but not enough. What if you went and got more mages?”
“What?”
Erin leaned forwards and put her hands on the table as she stared at the astonished mages. The other Gold-rank teams had stopped eating and were listening closely. Klbkch, sitting alone at his table, raised his head and waited, uncertain of what was coming next, but certain that it would be ‘awesome’.
“Mister Typhenous and Miss Revi—can I call you guys Typhenous and Revi? You’re big shot adventurers, right? And so are you, right Moore?”
“I’d say so.”
“By some standards, yes.”
“Among local adventurers, we are somewhat well known.”
Erin turned to look at Pisces and Ceria.
“And you two guys are Wistram mages, right? That’s important too, isn’t it?”
The two Silver-rank adventures fidgeted. Ceria coughed, blushing slightly.
“Not as important as Gold-rank, Erin—”
“That’s fine. But if I asked you to, could you get all of the mages in Celum and Liscor to come here and charge the door?”
“Why?”
Everyone looked astounded, but Erin just grinned.
“I want to bring in supplies. And people! Adventurers, [Guardsmen], [Guardswomen] too—I know there are some in Celum, food, clothing, blankets, pillows…I want as much of it as this door can teleport, today.”
“Why? What is this all for? And where would you put it?”
Revi looked exasperated as she asked. Pisces’ mouth formed an ‘o’ of comprehension as Erin smiled at the Stitch-mage.
“Esthelm.”
The room fell silent. Halrac blinked, and Ulrien sat up at the same time Jelaqua nudged Seborn with an elbow. The Selphid’s whisper was quite audible.
“See? What did I tell you? Isn’t she great?”
“You want to send aid to Esthelm?”
“That’s right.”
Erin turned and met Zel’s eyes confidently. Revi frowned.
“No offense Erin, but why would you want to do that? Esthelm isn’t your home, is it? Why would you waste your coin and energy helping them out? I heard they already had control of the city, anyways.”
“But they need food. I went through there the other day—they might be in control, but their walls aren’t great, and they need blankets, supplies—more people. If Celum and the other cities are too afraid to send help down the roads, why not come up from Liscor instead?”
“There’s still danger on the roads, though. The area around Liscor isn’t safe from Goblin attacks.”
“Yeah, but what if we sent a huge Antinium army and a bunch of Gold-rank adventurers with all the wagons to protect them?”
“What?”
Halrac and Jelaqua said it at the same time as Zel. At opposite ends of the room, Ksmvr and Klbkch sat up.
“My Queen would never allow—”
“Erin, I do not believe I could persuade my Queen to—”
Both Antinium broke off. Ksmvr shrank down in his seat while Klbkch stared, until the Antinium looked away. Erin stared around the room, frowning slightly.
“Well, why not?”
“Erin, you can’t just ask an Antinium army to go marching—and you want Celum to just hand over all the goods? Your idea is…I mean it’s crazy…”
Ceria shook her head, frowning. But to her surprise, Yvlon stood up.
“Why not?”
Everyone looked at her. Yvlon looked at Erin.
“I think it could work.”
Revi raised her eyebrows incredulously.
“You do? Because I think it’s crazy too, like Miss Half-Elf said.”
“I think it can be done. Celum has the supplies and manpower to send—it’s just a matter of convincing their leaders to act. And if Ksmvr and Klbkch talk to their Queen—”
“Um. I am technically banned from entering my Hive—”
“And I do not know if I can convince my Queen.”
Erin stared at Klbkch. He was giving her an odd look. She walked over to him.
“Are you sure?”
He stared into her eyes. Klbkch’s face was inexpressive, but Erin could tell by the way his mandibles opened and shut repeatedly that he was troubled.
“I…could try. But I do not have high hopes of convincing my Queen.”
“And are we just going to ignore the part where you get an army of wagon drivers to take everything to Esthelm? Where are you going to get that? And are you going to pay for all of this, or do you expect Celum to foot the bill? I don’t think Liscor would pay to help Humans.”
Revi kept talking, determined to point out the obvious. She indicated Typhenous, Ulrien, and Halrac with one hand.
“And what’s this about volunteering us to guard the wagons? We might be guests here, Erin, but we don’t work for free.”
“I’ll let you stay for free if you help. And I can pay.”
Erin turned back to Revi, putting her hands on her hips. She stared challengingly around the room.
“Why can’t this work? Okay, it’s sudden, and okay, it’s crazy, but so what? There’s a city that needs help, thousands of people that could starve if someone doesn’t do something? Why not us?”
“Why should we do it?”
That came from Ulrien. Jelaqua glared, but Ulrien’s face wasn’t hostile. He was impassive, questioning. Erin stared at the big man without flinching.
“Because it’s the right thing to do. And I’ll make you a huge lunch for the road. Plus, you’ll be famous if you help.”
Ulrien thought about that for a few seconds, and then glanced at Halrac. The [Scout] nodded. Ulrien looked back at Erin and gave her a slight smile.
“We’re in. We’ll help—free of charge.”
“What?”
Revi cried out in shock, but Typhenous smiled and stroked his beard.
“Don’t fuss, Revi. This is for a good cause. Besides, I think this might prove to be quite an entertaining diversion.”
“We’re in too!”
Jelaqua shot to her feet, visibly disappointed not to be the first to offer. Moore stood up as well.
“This is a big undertaking for one day. Are you sure we can do it in the time given?”
Erin smiled up at him. Moore’s lips curved upwards in reply.
“I think we can do it. And if we split up, why not? All we have to do is get someone to yell at the Mage’s Guild in Celum—why not Revi and Typhenous and you? I bet you could scare the socks off of them. And if Halrac, Jelaqua, Ulrien and Seborn all go to visit the Council—”
“Do you think they’d listen to a few Gold-rank adventurers?”
Jelaqua frowned, but Ulrien nodded confidently.
“We’ve talked with city leaders before. It can’t be worse than persuading them to evacuate a neighborhood or muster the local army.”
Halrac was decisive. He seemed to be the most passionate, if his scowl was any indication.
“We can do it. Gold-rank adventurers have the pull, and this is an issue that the city-states agree on. They support one another or they all fall.”
“Huh. Using our authority and good name to influence others. Well, it’s never worked for our team, but I’ll try and help.
”
Jelaqua grinned as she pushed her plate back. Erin turned to Klbkch.
“Can you go and talk to your Queen? If she can send, I dunno, some Soldiers and a lot of Workers to help, that would be great. And if your Hive has supplies they can spare like wood and stuff…”
Klbkch seemed torn. At last, he nodded.
“I will speak with her. I cannot promise you she will agree, but I will try, Erin.”
Erin smiled at him.
“Thanks, Klbkch.”
He stopped, wavered. And then Klbkch nodded firmly.
“Forget my last statement. I will obtain what is needed.”
“Thanks. And uh, I hate to ask, but I guess we need to talk to someone in Liscor. Do you know if Watch Captain Zevara could…?”
“Leave the Watch Captain—and the city leaders—to me, Miss Solstice.”
Zel Shivertail walked forwards. He didn’t look at Klbkch as the Antinium stood aside, but he smiled a bit as he stared down at Erin. He seemed bemused, but he too was smiling.
“I think I can get them to pay for a few wagons, at the very least. I’ll head down and talk with them now.”
“Oh, would you really? Thanks so much!”
Erin was full of gratitude, but Zel just shook his head slowly.
“I—it would be my pleasure, Erin. This is a good idea, and a good cause.”
He headed towards the door, catching Lyonette’s eye on the way over. Zel shook his head as she beamed at him.
“What about us, then, Erin?”
Ceria stood with Yvlon, Pisces, and Ksmvr. Erin turned to them, full of excitement and energy as the adventurers began to argue about how best to approach things.
“I need you guys to coordinate Liscor’s Mage Guild. They do have one, right…? Okay, so you guys can charge the door up as much as you can here—Pisces and Ceria, you know how to do that, right? And Yvlon and Ksmvr can help me organize the wagons. There’ll be goods coming through that door fast, so we need a lot of people to haul stuff away—”
“What about us?”
Lyonette came over, excited, Mrsha leaping from table to table as she did. Erin laughed as Moore snagged Mrsha out of the air and put the Gnoll gently down on the ground.
“You can help me clean up and cook more food!”
“Cook? But what about helping…?”
Lyonette’s face fell. Erin shook her head.