Tsaimath
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Chapter 307
🕑 Added 2020-07-06 16:00:04 +0000 UTC
Reporting to the Thane demonstrated that he was an intelligent dwarf. After sending Helmaic on some errands, including one to bring tea and some snacks, he made himself comfortable and let me speak. The only interruption was from a servant, bringing the ordered snacks, otherwise he let me fully report, without interrupting, before asking his questions. And those questions demonstrated that he had experience in the field, had walked to walk and was now able to talk the talk. Not only did he want to know everything when it came to the geography but also to tactics employed, both by us and the enemies in the swamp, special characteristics, anything that might give his people an advantage in the future.
Part of me wanted to use Observe on him, but I didn’t want to come across as a rude or uncultured person, so I kept my curiosity in check. It was at that time, when my curiosity flared up that I realised just how uncommon it should be, for the ruler in a world like Mundus to be left alone with an unknown operator like me. Yet, here we were, sitting in his office, without anyone I could detect nearby. Now, whether that was a testament to their trust or stealth, I didn’t know and wasn’t inclined to test.
Instead, I focused on answering the insightful questions, to the point that Lenore and I had to work together, using our connection to sift through the others memory, something I hadn’t quite believed possible, to answer the Thane’s questions. There were times when even both of us together were unable to come up with a good answer and in those times, he was courteous and explained why he had asked the question, in order to give us something to work with, joining us in forming theories on our observations and drawing conjunctures from them.
What we ultimately concluded was that the changed area had been a long-past battlefield, from a bygone era, quite possibly the era of the ancient empire, and that countless beings had died there. Over time, slowly but surely, natural processes had accumulated Astral Power into the area, until the Astral Power had attracted a swamp-spirit, the Tzar Bolotnik. During the winter, said spirit had been forced to remain passive but the change in season and the accompanying changes in the Astral River had allowed it to become more active. Whether the Bolotnisa was a subordinate spirit the Tzar had summoned to his side or a local spirit that had been corrupted was a question neither of us could answer while the future of the area was unknown as well.
We hypothesized that the spirit had infused enough of itself into the swamp to turn the swamp into an extension of itself and while Lenore had drained a lot of power from the swamp, time would allow new power to accumulate, eventually allowing the Tzar to gain a new body. How long that would take was unknown but the Thane was confident that the time would be measured in months, maybe even a year. I was rather surprised at that estimation, given that it had taken centuries for this event to occur and now he was talking in months? When I asked him about it, he explained that natural processes were generally slow but now a spirit was in the area, with a direct link into the Astral, speeding the process up by orders of magnitude.
Finally, after the tea had been drunk and the snacks eaten, he again thanked me, declared me to be a Friend of the Dwarves of Ashenforge, with a small blue window declaring the change in reputation, and explained how we would receive our rewards.
The silver, or gold, was easy, it would be delivered in a bag, but he asked with a twinkle in his eyes that we would use some of it locally, to buy supplies.
The magic items were a little more complicated, he had already sent for the best Craftspeople of the Clan and they would talk to us in order to create items that we would wear with pride, remembering the Clan as we rose to prominence.
I raised an eyebrow at that. In response, he only told me that we, as a small group, had managed to clear out an area that would have taken a bloody price from his clan, with a couple dwarves dying until they managed to figure out how things worked, especially with the Will-o-Wisp. Apparently, adventurers rarely stuck around their home, they went out on, well, adventure so only those who had little interest in gaining power remained at home, or those who were old but necessary to defend the Hold. I realised that there was something more to his tone but given that he was the ruler of this place and we were in his office, I could hardly question him.
And last but certainly not least, there was the time I was allowed to spend in the Hold’s Library. I noticed a sly grin on his face when he told me that I would get my three days and that he would ask a Master Runesmith to join me there, so he could translate the books for me, as they were obviously written in dwarven. I had a sudden feeling that, if we the service we had rendered hadn’t been important enough he might have forgotten about the translator or sent a simple scribe to do the task. It was a slightly underhanded way to do things but I couldn’t complain too much, especially with my ability to speak Dwarven thanks to Lenore and the help he promised me. It made me wonder about my ability to record what I was reading, how that would interact with my ability, but I would have to see. Worst case, I would have to make notes, or rather dictate notes, for later consumption.
Once everything was fully laid out, we both stood, shook hands again and he summoned a runner, a young looking dwarf, to guide me back to the surface and my friends. As I walked next to the dwarf, he soon began to ask questions about the world away from the Hold, about distant lands and adventures I had been on. I felt my lips curl into a bit of a smile as I spoke about a few of the places I had seen, some of them only in recordings on the Forum, causing a look of awe to settle onto his face. In return, I learned that the young dwarf, Fendelin was his name, had plans to become an adventurer himself, to travel the world, gaining power until finally returning to the Hold and become one of its protectors.
A bit of probing garnered me the information that the protectors were a group of older dwarves, all retired adventurers, whose sacred task it was to defend the hold, that they essentially never left it. It was an interesting tidbit of information, one I should have suspected and it was certainly good to know.
Soon, we were back at the surface, even as I questioned whether we had taken the same way up as we had taken down. I thought so but couldn’t be sure. Even Lenore was rather unsure but she wasn’t a fan of being below ground at the best of days, being a creature of the sky and all that. But we were back out and nearby, comfortably sitting in the sun, were my companions. I had to smile at the picture they presented, they had been given a checkered blanket and apparently a basket full of food and set up camp on one of the roofs, looking down into the valley as they were eating and soaking up the sun. I softly thanked Fendelin, who was quickly on his way, doing whatever tasks young dwarves had to do.
Ylva must have heard me, her head swivelling around, quickly followed by Sigmir, who gave me a bright smile. I hesitated for a moment, the sun was a lot less enjoyable if you were sensitive to heat and the glare, but after that moment,I decided that it would be alright, at least for a bit.
Sadly, the glaring sun was even more uncomfortable than I had thought, the heat instantly making me feel as if I was in an oven, sweat breaking out all over my body. Part of it was due to my still too warm clothes but the majority was due to my sensitivity. Grumbling, I considered what would be the best way to deal with it and came to the conclusion that I needed a personal cloud. A little bit of Ice-Magic quickly conjured up a cloud of cold mist, constantly replenished and cooled by my magic, making me comfortable, at least for now. I had no illusions that what I was doing was long-term sustainable but it solved my predicament and allowed me to tell the others about the events below.
Once I was done, I focused on the notification I had received earlier, the one telling me about the fulfilled quest and the EXP gained. When we had fought the centaurs for the wolf-den, we had received a massive amount of almost half a million EXP, for the entire quest. Now, with a higher level and a similarly long quest, the reward had been a comparatively paltry eighty-thousand.
As I thought about it, I realised the difference. The Swamp-Quest had been one we could have completed in a day, simply go in, figure out what is going on, maybe even without attacking and fighting the Tzar Bolotnik, or there might have been a way to escape without being forced to kill him, and get the EXP. The centaur-quest had been one that needed us to take the time, especially for the best reward, without giving us a nice source of enemies to grind, like the Shambling Crawlers had been. Killing them had been part of the quest-reward, in a way. And what a reward they had been.
Just as I was nodding to myself, feeling like I had understood a little more about the system, a familiar voice brought my attention back to my surroundings.
“Morgana, you are back! Please, tell me, who is the Grandmother?!” Dargira asked, looking quite excited.
