by Pirateaba
Bird turned to Erin, stricken. She waved her hands.
“No, no. It was a favor. That’s how I got it so cheap.”
“Some favor. Gnolls love bows.”
Halrac grunted. Erin nodded.
“Yeah…I owe Ryoka for that one. But that’s what [Innkeepers] do, right? We trade in favors and good will and stuff. Speaking of which…can you do me a favor right now?”
The [Scout] eyed Erin.
“What?”
“Can you teach Bird how to shoot the bow properly? I mean, I don’t want to insult Bird, but you’re a master [Scout], right? Maybe you can show him a few tricks? Skills? How to make an arrow?”
Halrac glanced at Bird. Erin knew he didn’t like the Antinium that much, but Bird’s obsession with bows and shooting things seemed to win the grumpy man over. He nodded.
“I can do that. Come on, you. Let’s find something to shoot at.”
He strode out of the inn. Bird alternatively bowed to Erin and ran to follow. Lyonette stared at them and then looked at Erin.
“That was really nice.”
“Yeah. Well…I’m uh, going to get you something too. A sword. Or a mace. Hammer. What kind of weapon would you like if you used one? Do you use one?”
“A sword? Me?”
“Didn’t you say you wanted more classes? I’ll get you a sword and you can practice fighting, okay?”
Erin poked at her upset stomach while Lyonette gaped at her.
“But I—I’ve never held a sword before! Ever! I wouldn’t know where to begin! Erin, I’d need a teacher—”
“I’ve got one in mind. Maybe. I’ll let you know. Sorry, I’ve got to talk to Octavia.”
Erin opened the door to Celum and saw Octavia selling a bunch of matches over the counter. Erin stared at the crude match boxes and saw Octavia accepting silver coins for them. She felt…that was a rip off. The [Alchemist] was grinning when she turned to Erin.
“Can you believe it, Erin? I’m getting rich! All thanks to your little Gnoll cub! I’ve been selling shipments of matches to the [Merchants]—people want what I’ve got! It’s only a matter of time before other [Alchemists] start copying my design—hah, obviously—but I’ve leveled up three times from developing the matches!”
She grinned in delight at Erin. Erin nodded, smiling, and poked at her stomach again. The feeling hadn’t gone away since this morning.
“Great. Do you want another job? Aside from perfecting the penicillin, by the way. I’ll need some of that too if you’ve got more.”
“The mold? Leveled up from that too. Sure!”
Octavia laughed as she brought out some of the mold poultice she’d mixed up for Erin a few days ago. Erin carefully took the jar of paste and passed Octavia a few coins.
“It’s not completely effective, you know.”
“I know. I’m trying to isolate the exact stuff Ryoka was mentioning. I’ll work on it. Now, what’s the other thing you wanted to talk about?”
“Healing slimes. And I want pepper potions, more healing potions, and whatever other alchemist weapons you’ve got. Or any you can get.”
“Well of course, I can get you some pepper potions—brewed up a batch just the other day. And I’ve got a tripvine bag—I could see if anyone else is selling a burn blast mixture, although that’ll cost—wait, back up. What was the first thing you said?”
Octavia frowned as her brain caught up to her mouth. Erin was busy pulling potions off the shelf. She dumped them in front of Octavia.
“Healing. Slimes. Can you make a slime? Can you make one made out of healing potions? Can you make one for me?”
Octavia stared at Erin.
“I have no idea. But a healing slime sounds…very profitable. Or it could run me out of business. Why don’t you talk to one of your [Mage] friends about that and uh, tell me if it works?”
“Will do! How’s fifteen gold coins for the lot sound?”
“Fifteen—hey, wait!”
The Stitch-Girl saw all the potions and items Erin was trying to walk out with. She rushed out from behind her counter to stop Erin.
“That’s worth way more than fifteen gold coins! Even with my usual markup! You can’t just take them, Erin!”
“Well, that’s all the room I’ve got in my budget. Look, I need this stuff, Octavia.”
“Yes, I understand that by you trying to take them. But—”
“Who told you how to make match sticks?”
Erin stared at Octavia. The [Alchemist] opened her mouth, and then closed it.
“But—”
“Just this once. One debt paid, how about that? And I’ll give you more ideas in the future.”
“But—I—”
“I really need these, Octavia. Please?”
Octavia looked like she might have an aneurysm as she stared at the potions piled up in Erin’s arms. She looked around for inspiration, and stared at the boxes of matches on display in her shop. She gnawed at her lip and nodded.
“Just once. Then we’re square, got it?”
“Charge me as much as you want another time. Thanks!”
Erin left the shop and carefully lined up all the potions in one of her pantries in the kitchen. Lyonette stared at the bottles and bags in awe.
“How did you pay for all of that? Is there any money left over?”
She looked almost afraid to ask. Erin nodded.
“I got it for cheap. Again. I’m cashing in favors here.”
“Why?”
Lyonette looked curiously at Erin. The [Innkeeper] hesitated and poked at her stomach. Same feeling.
“Call it a hunch. Look, I’ve got to go into Liscor for one more thing. Can you tell Ceria, Typhenous, Revi, Pisces, Moore…you know, all the mages that I want their help? The key word is ‘slimes’. Also, ‘healing’. Maybe ‘acid’, too.”
“Slimes? Healing? Acid? Okay, but I think they’re busy…”
“Tell them I’m calling in my favors if I have them! I also want to talk with Pisces about the undead! Tell him he’s not in trouble so he doesn’t run!”
Erin called out and left the inn at a trot. She had one more destination that day.
—-
“Thank you for doing this, Erin.”
Brunkr sat in Krshia’s apartment as Erin applied the poultice that Octavia had given her. She spread it gently on his infected arm, trying not to make the Gnoll wince.
“How’s it feel? Better?”
“Much.”
Brunkr gingerly flexed his arm as he stared at the red gash in his arm. It had stopped leaking pus. The first few molds that Octavia had managed to isolate hadn’t done much for him, but this one was effective—or the honey and regular cleaning were doing their job. Erin had checked on Brunkr all week, and he was looking better each day.
Now the gash was actually healing. Brunkr was also well enough to be hungry, and he’d eaten half a cow already, or so Krshia told Erin. He seemed fit again as well.
“Have you been working out?”
“I have been running. It does not bother my arm, and I am restless, now that I feel better.”
Brunkr grinned at Erin. He let her wrap his arm carefully with the bandage she’d prepared and then offered her something to eat. Since Erin had forgotten to have lunch, she had some of the sliced raw meat the Gnolls loved so much. Someday she was going to get sick from it, but it tasted really good.
“I’m glad. If you keep healing like this, Ryoka thinks you might be able to use a healing potion soon.”
“I would not risk it after last time.”
Brunkr flexed his arm and grimaced at the memory. He nodded to the wound as he spoke to Erin, smiling at her. He had become very welcoming and hospitable as of late.
“A wound like this—if I take care with it, I may still use my other arm, yes? Why not let it heal with time and train in the meanwhile? I feel able to practice with a sword—this is my shield arm.”
“Oh, right. You’re a [Warrior], aren’t you?”
He said that without modesty, but without bragging as well. Erin remembered Brunkr fighting when he’d attacked Toren and she had to agree that he was pretty good. He’d taken a lot of her punches without falling down.
“If you want to practice, I have an offer for you. Would you be willing to uh, go by my inn and train Lyonette? I want to let her learn to be a [Warrior], if she’s willing.”
Brunkr froze. He stared at Erin.
“Me? Train Lyonette?”
“Yeah. And maybe Bird too. If he wants to learn how to fight with a sword, that is. I don’t want to learn—I use a frying pan and a knife. But some tips would be good. Maybe you can make up with Mrsha too. She feels bad about what she did.”
Brunkr stood up and paced about slowly while Erin snacked on more of the meat. What did the Gnolls call it again? Ssarish? No, that was the Drake version. She’d forgotten.
“Teach—I can teach. But why? I would not mind, but…it is an odd request coming from you. My Aunt tells me today you bought an expensive bow for your guard.”
“And I stocked up on potions. I’m going to buy a burn blast potion too, if anyone’s selling.”
The Gnoll sat, staring at Erin.
“A powerful item. Silver-rank adventurers use that, as do Gold-ranked ones. Why would you need such a thing?”
Erin hesitated. She poked at her stomach and Brunkr noticed.
“Are you feeling sick? I cut the meat for the Rashgr myself. It should not be—”
“No, I’m not feeling sick from the food. It’s something else.”
Erin shook her head. She’d been feeling the sensation all morning. She looked at Brunkr and decided to confide in him.
“Actually, Brunkr, I’ve been feeling worried all day. I felt a bit worried yesterday, actually, but then I played chess and…but I felt it today as well.”
“Felt what?”
“Uneasy. As if…something’s coming. I know Pawn has his Soldiers and there’s Gold-rank adventurers in my inn, but they’re not there all the time. And the dungeon is dangerous—Relc is always talking about it. So…I’m just taking precautions. I’m going to talk to Pisces about one more thing he can do, and try to cross-breed slimes.”
Brunkr stared at Erin. She knew she wasn’t making too much sense, but she just felt strongly that she should be doing something. Her head turned.
The Gnoll saw Erin looking around the room, and then look towards one of Krshia’s walls. There was nothing there, but Brunkr knew that Erin was pointed northeast from the position of the setting sun in the sky.
“There’s something…coming. Something bad, I think. I just feel uneasy.”
“Hrr. If you say so, I will agree. But what? Could it be the Goblin Lord? The monsters from the dungeon? Something else?”
Erin shrugged. But she looked uneasy. Brunkr had seldom seen Erin looking nervous, but now she did.
“I don’t know. But I just feel like I should be ready. Like we should all be ready.”
She reached out and pushed the half-full jar of poultice towards Brunkr.
“If you want to help, come tomorrow. Or tonight. And tell me where to buy a sword. I don’t have that much money left after the bow and potions, but Ryoka can lend me some money. I’ll talk to the Horns of Hammerad—see if they’re ready too.”
“Ready for what? A war?”
Erin hesitated. The young woman looked around, and Brunkr saw her eyes fix on that same spot to the northeast.
“Bad things, Brunkr. Just…bad things.”
—-
“We have arrived.”
Venitra, first-born of Az’kerash’s creations and loyal servant to her master, paused as she stared at the distant walls of the city. They weren’t as tall as she had expected, but then, she had seen the Walled Cities up close and few structures could match the memory of their colossal fortifications.
In any case, the city was not important. She drew the travelling cloak tighter around her undead form. The white bone from which her entire body was made—an armored body that any Dullahan would envy, but far stronger, woven with spells crafted by her loving master himself—was concealed from any eyes at a distance. She had to stay hidden.
She was not here for war. Not yet. She had to find someone. The Runner. For that, she would traverse the world. It had been an arduous journey getting here, but at last they had arrived. Venitra, and—
Ijvani.
Venitra turned her head to regard her companion. Ijvani usually travelled in a cloak of woven shadows, a production of magic that protected her from sight as well as attack. However, she too had exchanged her usual garb for a simple traveler’s cloak. It was just as well no one was around, however. A single look into either undead woman’s hoods would reveal a nightmare.
Two kinds of nightmares, in fact. Where Venitra’s hood would have revealed a sculpted face of bone, something similar to a Golem but far more unsettling, Ijvani’s cloak concealed a different secret. An unsettling one. A thought—inspiration from the Necromancer’s mind given form.
Two burning golden eyes stared at Venitra. They were placed in the hollow, grinning skull of a skeleton. That was what Ijvani was. A skeleton mage. No ordinary mage, though. Her magic was on par with any Gold-rank adventurer. Yet even that did not set her apart. It was her body.
Bone, yes. Reanimated, yes. But her bones were not the pristine white of Venitra’s form, or the yellow of bones left to rot. Instead, Ijvani’s bones shone. They shone black.
Black iron. Ijvani was not as heavy as Venitra, but she weighed far more than she should. Her entire body was a kind of armor, and carved into the metal were glowing runes, symbols of destruction. She and Venitra were made for battle, made to kill, each in their own way. They would find the Courier, find the Runner, find who she had told and slay them all.
“It is time, Ijvani.”
The skeleton mage nodded. Venitra strode towards the city of Liscor, preparing herself. To find their quarry, they would have to search. Hide themselves. The Drakes and Gnolls could be tricked. This would be the first city they searched through, for any trace of the Runner’s passing. After that, would they go north? Only time would tell. Would their master grow weary of waiting and contact them? Venitra longed to hear his voice. Perhaps—
“Ah, Venitra.”
Ijvani’s voice stopped Venitra. The bone-white woman looked back at her companion, annoyed.
“What is it? We are wasting time.”
The black skeleton was consulting a bloody map they’d found on the corpse of someone they’d horrifically slaughtered on the road here. She was peering at the city and at the mountains. She turned and stared south.
“Remember that mountain we climbed over?”
“Yes. What of it?”
“I think…we shouldn’t have done that. According to this map, we’re not at Liscor.”
“We’re not?”
Venitra stared at Ijvani. The skeleton nodded.
“This…is Esthelm. Liscor is that way.”
She pointed. Venitra stared. She stared at Ijvani, the map, and then towards Liscor. She sighed. Ijvani looked at her.
“You really should have brought Kerash. He knows this continent far better than I do.”
“I brought you because you and Oom are our best trackers.”
Venitra’s face contorted into a scowl as she looked accusingly at Ijvani. The skeleton mage nodded.
“At tracking. But I need a quarry to locate them by magic. Oom needs a scent. We have neither. I’m not good at reading maps on the other hand, or signs. You’re supposed to be our master’s most competent creation. Why can’t you ever find where we’re going?”
Venitra shook her head.
“Shut up. We’re leaving.”
She started walking towards Liscor, her heavy tread cracking the earth. She’d gone ten fe
et when Ijvani called out after her.
“I lied. Liscor is that way.”
She pointed in the other direction. Venitra stopped, stared at Ijvani. Her tone was thick with malice.
“If you were not our master’s creation, I would destroy you right now.”
“You can try. I am the greatest skeleton to ever walk the earth. So my master designed me.”
She couldn’t argue with that. Venitra stomped towards Liscor. When she found that accursed Runner, she was going to rip her toes off one by one. To start with.
4.19
The Wandering Inn was full today as well. That was unusual, at least to Erin, Lyonette, and anyone who knew the inn well. Erin had developed an inn based around the idea of ‘just enough people to survive’ for quite some time. To have an inn that was actually bustling was surprising.
However, word had gotten out that Erin’s inn was a place with excellent cooking, fast service, interesting things, and most importantly, magical food. That, combined with the influx of adventurers into Liscor meant that her inn was a hotspot. Having a magical door leading to Celum helped.
Indeed, it would be more surprising if Erin’s inn hadn’t become so famous. After all, Drakes and Gnolls might not like Humans that much, but who could resist going for a five minute walk and then popping into another city to see what the smelly Humans were up to? And when you were tired of that, you could have a drink or quick bite on the way back. You didn’t have to wait—the inn had food pre-prepared that only needed warming up before it was hot and ready to eat!
Some might go as far to say that Erin’s inn was now a huge concern for the other inns in Liscor and Celum. Erin’s current set of Skills had made her inn three times as attractive as every other inn. Well, except for Peslas’ inn, the Tailless Thief. It was still a byword for Drakes in Liscor, but it was specialized. Erin’s inn accepted everyone.
Everyone. From [Farmers] who stopped by for some food and a break from the cold, to [Guardsmen] and [Guardswomen] from Celum and Liscor who had learned that Erin had a soft spot for their kind. They sat and diced and laughed at tables next to [Merchants] who might be playing games of Chess and keeping an ear open for saleable news. However, these were all minority populations. The clientele that dominated Erin’s inn at the moment were all of a different kind.