"Please, it wasn't my fault this time either! These are the same knights as before. They tracked me down and were going to kill me for botching their scheme at ruling. Then they made me kidnap the pepper shop owner's daughter!" Kandar pleaded.
"So you've been taken advantage of twice?" asked Suzanne. "Once maybe, but twice is starting to get out of hand."
"Kandar," Thomas cut in. "Do you know what that blue paint you've got on does?"
"Yeah. I know. They told me. Than they made me put it on to make me fight better. That's where we were before we came back. Said I'd be able to slaughter anyone who tried to rescue those two," Kandar explained.
"We'll spare you, but we're turning you in. Then we can discuss you and these knights," said Suzanne.
"No wait! You don't want to do that!" yelled Kandar.
"Oh what this time!" yelled Ron. "Is there another village out there under an elf curse? Maybe the unicorns are going to attack!"
"No but these two are still in danger," Kandar said nervously. "Have ya ever heard of Tricebane?"
Thomas, at the mention of the word, immediately walked up to Kandar and looked him angrily in the eyes. "You didn't! You did not poison those two with Tricebane!" he demanded.
Kandar looked like he was going to cry at the sight of the enraged healer. "I didn't do it!" he protested. "The knights did. It was their defense against a rescue attempt!"
"What is Tricebane?" asked Suzanne.
"It's a deadly, though slow-acting, poison that is immune to magic and can't be treated with normal antidote herbs," explained Thomas. "If these two have it, they only have about six days to live unless we can find the antidote, which is incredibly rare."
"I know where the antidote is!" yelled Kandar. "They didn't want to risk poisoning themselves, so they kept it around."
"I still can't believe we let that dirtbag go again!" yelled Ron, as the group waited in the pepper shop.
Unlike last time, Kandar had lied about the poison. The antidote he gave the group was nothing but died water, so that Thomas would not immediately know it was fake based on the color. Kandar then escaped by having the group teleport him out of the cave and taking another wing of wyvern. After finding themselves duped, Suzanne had Thomas do a full check-up on the two, on a hunch that if Kandar lied about the antidote, he lied about the poison. Thankfully, the two had not actually been poisoned.
"After last time, he probably did a lot of research to find himself another way out if he got caught again. There are few non-clerics that know of Tricebane," Thomas had theorized.
After getting into town, Tania and Galen had run to find Daniel. However, it was already morning of the next day when the group made it back, and Daniel had already left to try and negotiate for Tania's safety. Ron and Thomas quickly went out to find him and were able to bring him back. Daniel was greatly relieved to find Tania and Galen safe, though he did not know Galen had been kidnapped as well. Meanwhile, Suzanne and Alice had taken a quick trip to Romaly to turn in the four knights they had captured. Emperor Vilisik was thankful to see them brought to justice at last.
Just as they had promised each other in the cave, Tania and Galen were soon wed. After their incident with Kandar, they wanted it done as soon as possible. The group attended the wedding a week later and were treated to a great day of celebration. After that, Tania and Galen were given Daniel's pepper business as the old man handed it over to them. The pepper shop was open in another week and the group was anxious to procure what they had originally come for.
"We won't be seeing him again, I think," said Thomas.
"What makes you say that?" asked Suzanne.
"I recognized that paint he had on. It was used to strengthen men way back in the First Great War. When it was first used, humanity thought it was a miracle. It turned the tide at first. Then we found out some of its side-effects," explained Thomas.
"The paint heals wounds at a remarkable rate and stops the person from feeling the pain but it comes at a terrible price. First of all, you can't wear armor or even clothing where you have the paint. Any of that will burn and mold into the skin, an incredibly painful process that can even kill," Thomas continued.
Thomas than sighed and went on, "But more terribly, it doesn't really heal the pain and wounds you receive. It only delays them. Once the paint fades off, Kandar will feel every slash and every fireball that was thrown at him. In the First Great War, men died in excruciating agony when the paint wore off. Those that didn't often went insane with the pain."
"My goodness," gasped Suzanne. "Is it possible to keep the paint from wearing off?"
"You can keep reapplying it, but the result is almost as terrible. Constant exposure to the paint drives a man to insanity as well. In this case, the subject is overcome with insatiable bloodlust and just wants to kill everything that moves. The person won't even eat or sleep so long as it can hunt whatever lives," said Thomas grimly.
"I guess even Kandar doesn't deserve that," Ron said grudgingly.
"We still don't know if he's even at fault," said Alice. "He may have been telling the truth all this time, except for the poison. Have we ever seen or heard of him actually kill someone?"
"I guess we haven't," replied Ron. "But a man doesn't get into that much trouble if he's a good man. He should be brought in to answer for what he's done."
At this point, Galen stepped up to the counter. "Oh my heroes!" he greeted. "What can I do for you today? I assure you, everything is on the house as far as you're concerned."
Suzanne stepped up and laughed nervously, "You may want to take that back in a second. We need to place an order for King Saldor of Portoga. He wants a year's worth of black pepper."
Galen's smile did not fade at all. "When I say everything, I mean everything! The lack of the king's money will be a blow, but now that we're back in business we have enough customers to make up for it. We will get the king his pepper, at no cost to you! It's the least I can do for what you've done."
"The least!" laughed Alice. "After all the money you'll be losing, I don't see how you can say that word."
"Oh well, money is nice and all, but now I see other things are more important," said Galen. "My life, and more importantly, the life of my beloved Tania are the most important."
Chapter 11: Enlightenment
"Could you give me an explanation for how this works?" Alice asked.
"Basically, it takes all the experience and skill you've accumulated in your line of work up until now and converts a lot of it towards another line of work," explained the cleric. "You will not be as skilled in your new calling as you were in your old one, but you will also retain a good deal of the skill from your old calling."
As it had turned out, the King Saldor of Portoga had not expected the group to be able to acquire so much black pepper. He had sent them away hoping they would be unable to meet their task and give up. He was quite surprised when the group came back with a contract from Galen promising a year's worth of black pepper, free of charge.
Fortunately, the king was not one to go back on his word, and agreed to give the group a ship and crew. However, still skeptical that the contract was legitimate, he demanded that three month's worth be delivered before he would hand over the reward. After consulting many maps of the world, the group found that they would be unable to reach any more nations without a ship and rather than hire one out they decided to wait until they had their own.
In the meantime, the team had taken a detour to the north of Baharata to visit the famed Temple of Dhama. The group had heard many interesting rumors about the place from citizens of Baharata. They had been told that many people who sought fresh starts or just a change of pace in their lives went to Dhama. Alice found herself very curious of the strange powers held by the clerics of the temple and had since gone about researching as much as she could.
Alice returned from the temple's library to the inn in which the group was staying. Since Dhama attracted many people from all around, an inn and a
few shops had sprung up just outside the temple. The group had decided to stay at the inn for a while until they found something better to do.
"Hey guys," Alice addressed the group enthusiastically. "I've got something we can do while we wait!"
"What's that, Alice?" asked Suzanne.
"I've done some research, and I've found some amazing things! You guys have heard the stories of the ancient sages, right?" Alice asked.
The group all nodded. The sages were a group of people who had lived during the time of the First Great War. It was said that Simon, the hero of the war, himself had been a sage before the war began. The sages were said to have great magical ability. They could cast both the spiritual spells of a cleric and the arcane spells of a wizard. Besides that, they even had decent proficiency with weapons and armor. The sages had been instrumental in winning the First Great War, though their order had been wiped out in the conflict.
"Well, there might be a way for one of us to become a sage!" exclaimed Alice.
"Is that even possible?" asked Thomas, skeptical. "All of the teachings and ways of the sages were lost after the First Great War. We barely know anything about them at all."
"Not all of their teachings of been lost," said Alice. "According to some of the clerics and some of the books in the library, there may be something in the Tower of Garuna to the north. Apparently the tower used to be some sort of test that needed to be completed in order to become a sage. The task and reward for completing this test was said to be finding a copy of the sage's code, the Book of Satori, inside the tower."
"Even if that's true, wouldn't the last copy of this book have been lost by now?" asked Suzanne.
"Not necessarily. Given the knowledge the sages had of magic, both the books and clerics acknowledge that these Books of Satori may not have even been physically written by the sages so much as conjured into existence," Alice explained. "The tower itself is said to be a magical structure. Who knows? Maybe it's the tower itself that creates the books."
"Besides that, the history of the Temple of Dhama suggests that it was where new sages were initiated. We've heard of the strange powers that the clerics here have. Maybe this is how new sages were made," Alice theorized. "They got the book and then they came here to become a sage. What do you guys say?"
"Considering that Susie here practically is a sage, I think it's pointless," said Ron.
Suzanne shook her head and answered, "I may have some skill with the two kinds of magic, but not anywhere near as much as the sages did. I'm definitely no sage."
"Oh well, I've already gotten bored from hanging around here the last few days. If it'll give us something to do, I say why not?" Ron said.
"What are your thoughts Thomas?" asked Suzanne.
"I highly doubt that we'll find this Book of Satori inside the tower. Even if we did, there's no guarantee that Alice is correct and that all one needs to be a sage is to come here with the book. Though I do agree having a sage would be a great advantage," Thomas answered. "If we're going to do this, we should do so with caution. No sense in putting ourselves in too much danger over a long shot like this."
"I agree. We'll make an effort to find this book, but if the going gets too tough, we'll head back and call it a day," Suzanne said.
It took a day's journey through the mountains surrounding the Temple of Dhama to reach the Tower of Garuna. As they entered the tower, they walked through a small hallway lined with statues, some of which holding staves and some others holding weapons and shields.
"I'm guessing these are statues of the ancient sages," said Alice.
The group came to the main lobby area of the tower. From this room there were two hallways in front of them to the left and right, and three rooms: one directly in front of them and two to their sides. The group went inside the room on the right and found a woman standing there. However, this woman was semi-transparent.
"Who are you?" asked Suzanne.
"Life is pilgrimage toward enlightenment and salvation. I welcome you to the Tower of Garuna," said the woman. As she talked, her image flickered and the group even thought she would disappear completely.
"Are you some sort of guardian for this tower?" asked Alice.
"Life is pilgrimage toward enlightenment and salvation. I welcome you to the Tower of Garuna," the woman repeated.
"I'm thinking it's just a message. She'll reply with the same phrase no matter what we say to her," said Alice.
The group proceeded to the room across from the one they entered, the one that had been to the left when they had entered. Inside they found a similar flickering image of a woman.
"Are you another message?" Suzanne asked the image.
"If you possess the Book of Satori, a sage you may become," replied the image.
"See? I told you guys! That must mean this Tower has the book in it and that with it, one of us can become a sage!" Alice said triumphantly.
"It doesn't mean there's a book in this tower. It doesn't even mean that there ever was a book in this tower," said Thomas.
"Don't be such a spoil-sport Tom!" Alice said angrily. "I know there's a book in this tower! I just know it!"
The group proceeded into the room that was directly across from the entrance. Inside they found a spinning blue vortex, similar to the one they had found inside the Cave of Enticement.
"Is that a Traveler's Gate?" asked Suzanne.
"It must be. Ron, would you do the honors?" replied Alice.
Ron went through the Traveler's Gate. Like last time, he spun around and around at an alarming rate. As he emerged on the other side of the gate, he was unable to stay standing and fell to the ground. His comrades emerged after a few seconds and shared similar experiences.
Alice groaned as she hit the floor, "I forgot how much I hated the one back in Aliahan."
The group was teleported just outside a large room somewhere else in the tower. After regaining their senses, the group entered the room. Inside they found four creatures that looked like giant bird heads with legs but no torsos. The four creatures had been facing the entrance to the room and immediately sprung at the group to attack.
"We've got company!" yelled Ron.
The group quickly drew their weapons and Ron, Suzanne, and Thomas cut the four creatures off. Alice sent a stream of fire at the giant bird heads and burned all four of them pretty badly, though all of them survived. One of the bird heads came up between Ron and Suzanne and pulled off a quick maneuver as it pecked at Suzanne while leaping and scratching Ron with its legs. Another bird pulled off a similar maneuver on Suzanne and Thomas. One bird went up and both pecked and scratched Ron. The last bird ran past the front line at Alice but pecked Thomas as it did so.
Suzanne tried to block the blows coming at her but only managed to block one, taking a beak to the shoulder. She returned with a slash to the attacker who had scored the hit, taking its legs off the rest of it. The bird head fell to the ground, dying and incapacitated. Ron was also only able to block one of the attacks aimed at him but scored a great wound down the middle of the bird head that had focused on only him. It fell dead to the ground, almost cut in half.
Thomas was unable to block the creature's strikes and tried to stop the one from getting to Alice. He managed to stab it in the back just before it left his reach and the creature fell to the ground and rolled into a wall. The bird did not get up after that and appeared dead. Suzanne and Ron focused on the last enemy left and killed it, but not before it scored another peck to Suzanne's side.
"Damn, those things were pretty agile! I wouldn't believe that those things could attack with their beak and their legs at the same time," said Ron.
"Those things were definitely capable of dealing a flurry of blows. Luckily they couldn't get too much force behind them," said Suzanne.
Alice looked around the room and found that nothing else was to be found inside. "I wonder if these things aren't part of this test. There doesn't seem to be anything else here. Seems like this dead end was mad
e on purpose for these things to catch whoever went through," she theorized.
The group went back through the Traveler's Gate. This time, they were ready for the dizziness and kept their feet, though they still needed a few seconds to regain their senses. They went down the hallway to the right as they exited the room and quickly found another room on the left. Inside was a chest containing some gold. They returned to the hallway and found it took a turn to the right after a while.
Soon after the turn were two rooms on both sides of the hallway. Both led to ascending staircases. As usual, the group decided not to go up a staircase until they had explored the entire floor. They went further down the hallway and took another right turn. The group guessed that this would lead to the other hallway they had found. On their left was a second exit to the tower. The group passed by and went further down until they almost returned to the lobby they had entered into. They found one more dead end room and returned to the two stairs they had found and took the one on the west side.
They went up the staircase and came to a room that had only another ascending staircase. They went up this one and came to a dead end. They went back down the two sets of staircases they had gone up and went to the other ascending staircase. This one led to a very large room. The group could see another ascending staircase and a treasure chest in the middle of the room. Blocking their path to these two things was a large crack in the ground.
"This could be a problem. Even if we take our armor off and leave our bags, there's no way we'll make that jump," said Suzanne.
"It doesn't look like we can fall down and just climb back up either. The floor is completely smooth in this spot, not that we'd be able to reach it from below anyway. We can't climb up there from downstairs. I'm guessing this was put here on purpose, not a result of wear and tear," said Ron.
"There weren't any other ways to go in the tower either. If this is part of the test, I don't know how we're going to get past it," said Thomas.
"Let's recheck the bottom floor, there's has to be a way past this!" said Alice.
Dragon Quest Novel Page 14