Chapter Three Hundred and Eight — Away
Chapter Three Hundred and Eight — Away Caprica showed us to a guest suite in the palace where we each got our own room to sleep in. The day had been pretty long, so it didn’t take long for all of us to head to bed. The next morning started with a light breakfast in the suite’s shared dining room.A few hours after breakfast, when we were still wondering what to do, Caprica returned and gathered us up. “Is there any equipment you need?” Caprica asked.“We have some equipment at the inn,” I said. “Armour and such. We can’t go tackle a dungeon in borrowed dresses, I don’t think.”“Oh, you certainly could,” Caprica said. “With the number of people helping in this dive, you should be relatively safe if you choose not to help at all. But yes, I wouldn’t want to go into a dungeon without good equipment.”“I could use a crossbow,” Awen said. “Maybe a warhammer? Mine is back on the Beaver.”“If you have a dagger I could borrow, one suitable to be held by talons..?” Amaryllis said. She didn’t quite end her sentence, letting it float there as an almost-question.Caprica nodded. “Certainly. I’ll poke around in the armoury, we should have everything you need. Broccoli, do you have a weapon of choice?”“I use a spade most of the time,” I say.“A spade,” Caprica repeated. “Does that have any relation to why you used a broom in the arena?”“I have a makeshift weapon skill,” I said.“Ah, that makes sense. There was speculation that you used a broom and dustpan as a sort of message for Francisco. Not taking the fight as seriously as you could. Your explanation makes a lot more sense, knowing your personality.” Caprica escorted us out of the palace to a waiting carriage. “This is where I’ll be letting you go. We’ll see each other soon enough though, I’m sure. Do be safe while in the dungeon.”“You’re not coming with us?” I asked.She shook her head. “No, I don’t need to face a dungeon for a while, and besides, it’s... no place for a princess.” She frowned, then carried on. “It’ll only make the army folk going in more nervous. They’d no doubt insist on tripling the number of guards and it would take twice as long to accomplish half as much. Best to stay back and maybe try to help from here.”“That sucks,” I said. “I’d love to go on a proper adventure with you someday. Bye-bye hugs?” I asked. It wasn’t actually a question because I was already reaching over for a hug.Caprica chuckled and patted me on the back as I gave her a quick squeeze.Getting back to the inn only took a few minutes of clattering along the busy morning streets of Goldenalden, then we had a quick dash upstairs to get ready for a quick dive into a dungeon. “You know, I expected a lot of things from our visit here, but I didn’t consider that we might go dungeon diving again,” Amaryllis said.Awen shrugged her long coat on. “It’s not that unusual, is it? We’ve been going through a lot of dungeons to fight those Evil Roots. I guess it’s not too strange that we’re taking on another one.”“I guess,” Amaryllis said. She closed up the front of her own coat, then patted it down to make sure it was fit properly. “I think we’ve tackled more dungeons than most people will see in their entire lives, and that only in the space of a few months.”“That’s because we’re proper adventurers,” I said with a firm nod. “We’ll see a whole heap more before we’re done.”“And when will we be done?” Amaryllis asked.“Well, if Awen’s uncle is any indication, then we’ll be done when we’re old and fat and want to spend more time talking about all of our adventures instead of having new ones.”“My father always said that uncle would never stop. That the only way for him not to go on another big adventure is for one of them to finally be more than he can chew,” Awen said. “It always worried me that one day, he wouldn’t come back to brag about all the interesting things he saw.”I gave her a side-hug. “Don’t worry! I’m sure the way things are going, we’ll bump into him in the field one of these days. Maybe we can hit a dungeon together? Bet he’d be really proud to see some of the things you’ve invented.”Awen blushed, but she nodded all the same.We left the inn in another rush, Amaryllis being worried that we might be a bit late. We weren’t even sure where we were going, so I didn’t worry too much about being late.The carriage driver seemed to know where to head out, so once we jumped back in, we took off across the city once more.It took a bit, but eventually the carriage rolledto a stop and the driver opened the door.We were at one of the city’s docks, the more militaristic one, where every ship docked next to a pier hanging off the edge of the mountain was one of those boxy military ships, with big ballistae and metal sides.“Ladies, Captain,” a young sylph soldier said as he moved up to the side of our carriage, he gave us a hand to help us down. “Knight-Captain Covenseeker is waiting for you by pier A8. He asked that I escort you over.”I glanced around as I stepped out. There were several levels of piers here, with some reaching way out so that much larger ships could dock. It wasn’t nearly as busy as any of the commercial docks we’d been to. There were people moving things around, but it seemed pretty calm overall, very clean and orderly.I regretted not getting a coat or something as a chill wind whipped past us. There weren’t any buildings between us and the open sky to protect us from the weather.Pier A8 wasn’t too far off, a smaller pier with an all-black ship docked next to it. It wasn’t a huge vessel, barely half-again the length of the Beaver with the same boxy build that the sylph military ships seemed to favour. The crew were already moving about, preparing the ship to take off.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.A group were gathered next to the pier, sylph in nice uniforms, some of them tugging on pipes or big cigars so that a long stream of pale smoke trailed out of their group.The Knight-Captain was easy to make out, he was the one in full plate armour. He grinned and detached himself from the rest of the group to head over and meet us halfway. “You must be Captain Bunch,” he said as he shook my hand. “And Ladies Albatross and Bristlecone,” he continued, this time bowing to my friends.“You’re the Knight Captain?” I asked.“Indeed,” he said. His smile had his big bushy moustache twitching up. “And you three are my saviours today. Come, come, you should meet some of the others.”“Are they the ones we’ll be going into the dungeons with?” I asked.“Oh no, most of us are too far past our prime to be crawling in some old dungeon. We’ll be sending younger, sharper folk down with you. They’ll be better able to keep you safe, no worries. I made sure you’d be accompanied by the very best the Knights of the Long Rest have to offer.”We reached the other older gentlesylph and were reintroduced, then there was a long list of names and titles and ranks, so many that I lost track after the first three. They seemed like important people though, a general, one admiral, and a few directors and members of some groups that were interested in fixing the dungeons in and around Goldenalden. We were going to be working with their subordinates.A bell tolled and the introductions were put off as everyone started to board the airship.“Captain, ladies!” a young sylph called out to us. We turned to find a soldier running over with a stack of boxes in his arms. He was sweaty and red-faced, as if he’d just been sprinting over. “Package for you, from Princess Caprica.”Amaryllis frowned and opened the topmost package to reveal a long crossbow in a box carefully crafted to hold it in place without rattling about. Dozens of bolts were strapped in there too, ready to be used. “Caprica’s weaponry,” Amaryllis said. “Thank you, we’ll take these off your hands.”Amaryllis handed Awen two of the boxes, then took the smallest one for herself. The last was mine, at least that’s what the little tag looped around its handle said.“The Princess also gave me this letter,” the sylph said. He bowed as he presented a letter to us.Amaryllis took it, then unfolded it unceremoniously. “Oh, she says we can keep the weapons. As long as they’re boxed up, we shouldn’t have any trouble with law-enforcement, and if we do, we can always just complain to Caprica about it.”“Ladies!” Knight-Captain Covenseeker called out to us. “Do you need assistance?”“We’re good!” I called out. We rushed over to the airship and up the gangplank to climb aboard.A sailor led us down a level to a smoking room where the sylph officers were pouring over a map amidst clouds of smelly smoke.“Did you want to see the dungeon layout?” Knight Captain Covenseeker asked.“Uh, can we have a copy of that map?” I asked. I didn’t mind spending time with the officers, they’d been polite so far, but all that smoke was a bit much. Besides, I kind of wanted to see what was in the box Caprica had sent over. The crossbow Awen received had looked really cool, though I didn’t get much time to look at it.“I’m afraid we only have the one map. The Order of the Long Rest doesn’t make a habit of spreading maps of our dungeon around.”“Oh,” I said. “In that case, maybe we’ll look at it later? Uh, is there a room we could use maybe?”The Knight-Captain seemed very understanding as he led us to a small resting room. It had a small porthole looking out of the ship, and a couple of long sofas that someone small could lounge on. He told us to rest up and not to worry before heading back out.“He’s nice,” I said.“He has nothing to lose from being nice,” Amaryllis said.“What’s that mean?” I asked.“Oh, nevermind,” Amaryllis said. She sat on the very edge of one of the seats and opened her box. “Let’s see what the Princess found.”Caprica, it seemed, found a really pretty dagger.It was nice and long, a bit longer than the knife Amaryllis usually carried, with a blade shaped like a spread wing, it even had a few little carvings in it that hinted at a feathery shape.“This is gorgeous,” Amaryllis said. She spun the knife around, and I noted that the handle was strangely curved. “I think this is spoils of war. No way the sylph made such a beautiful harpy spellsword.”I used Insight on the dagger.Featherlight, quick cast dagger, old“It suits you, I think,” I said.Amaryllis nodded, then found a sheath in the box. “No hidden sheath, but I can hardly complain,” she said as she stood up and strapped the knife to her hip.“Awa, do I go next?” Awen asked. She was practically bouncing on the edge of her seat.“How about you do one, then I do mine, then you do your other one?” I asked.Awen laughed. “Sure,” she said before she popped open the box with the crossbow. She laid it down and very carefully reached down to touch it. “It’s... it’s a Snowlander crossbow,” she said.Standard Sharpshooter’s Bow, NewThe box didn’t have much by means of decoration, it was still pretty though, nearly all metal, with a few pulleys and a folding crank on the side. It even had a small sight that could unfold from its side. “A Snowlander weapon? From the north?”“My uncle had something like this once,” Awen said. She seemed almost reluctant to take it.“Then you’ll be just like him, right?” I asked.She paused, nodded, then picked the weapon out of its box. “I’ll use it well,” she said.I grinned. My turn!
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Chapter Three Hundred and Nine — Weedbane the Dandelion Slayer
Chapter Three Hundred and Nine — Weedbane the Dandelion Slayer I always loved opening presents. It never happened too often, which made every event where I did get a gift that much more special.Technically, the boxes that Caprica had sent over weren’t presents-they lacked the always-fun wrapping paper-but I decided to count it as one anyway.The box tagged Broccoli Bunch was as long as I was tall (not counting my ears) but quite thin, made of some sort of wood covered in leather bound in place with big knobby brass studs. It was quite long, longer than any of the other boxes by a good bit.My tail was twitching with nervous energy, and my cheeks were starting to hurt.“Well, are you going to open it today, or are you just going to stare at the box?” Amaryllis asked.“I haven’t decided yet,” I admitted. "On the one hand, opening the box means I get the present. On the other, leaving it closed means I get to anticipate the present, and sometimes that’s even more fun.”“You... you absolute moron,” Amaryllis muttered. “Come on, open it up or I will.”“No! You can’t! Opening a present is a sacred moment,” I said. Dropping to my knees in front of the box, I undid the two clasps holding it shut, then pulled the top open.What waited for me within was a long wooden staff with a curve near its middle and a small handle poking out mid-shaft. At the end was a curved blade tucked along the side of the shaft, long and narrow and super thin, made of something that almost glowed. It was fixed to the end of the staff by a rather complicated looking swivel mechanism, with some sort of lock on it.“A scythe?” Awen asked.“Huh,” I said. Reaching down, I grabbed the scythe by the middle and lifted it up. The blade clunked down and something went ‘snick’ as it locked into place. “With an unfolding blade. Not what I expected.”“It’s a gardening tool,” Amaryllis said. “Or farming, I suppose. Magical too.”Magical? I used Insight on the scythe.Weedbane, Ancient“Whoa,” I said.I noticed Amaryllis crouching down next to the box for a moment, and when she stood, she had a small note in hand. “A bit of history on your new toy,” she said.“Oh?” I asked. I looked around for a place to put the scythe, then handed it to Awen when she reached for it. “I want to see.”Amaryllis handed me the note.Dear Broccoli,This old thing has been sitting in storage for an eternity. I believe it was gifted to a gardener who worked at the old palace, but no one has claimed it since. It should be enchanted with a few dozen old utility spells. May it serve you well in your quest to rid the world of a new sort of weed.-CapricaThe writing was hasty, but still very pretty. “So, it’s old, huh.”“That's good. Older items tend to interact better with their own enchantments,” Amaryllis said.“The mechanism here’s not too complicated. See, it’s just a bolt that unfolds and locks the blade in place, with a little leaf-spring to keep the bolt from unlatching. You just need to press in... here.” Awen’s face went red as she pressed hard on a little stub with her thumb. Something eventually clicked, and she was able to refold the scythe’s blace. “Easy.”“Cool,” I said as I took Weedbane back. “How do I even use this? There’s a handle here, and I guess you hold this part?”This was going to be a great improvised weapon, if the level of improvisation was equivalent to how hard it was to use as a weapon. Maybe if I planned to exclusively fight people by hitting their ankles. Or if I was fighting really short enemies.I gave the scythe an experimental swing, then held back. It was the sort of thing that would require a lot of space to move around in, and we weren’t in a very spacious room.“Watch it with that thing,” Amaryllis said. “I bet the edge is magically sharpened.”“Oh, right,” I said a bit sheepishly. “I should put it away for now, at least until we arrive at the dungeon.”Putting actions to words, I fiddled with the catch-it really was hard to press in-and then folded Weedbane back into its case.“Alright. Awen, you have a present left right?”Awen nodded. She closed the box with her new crossbow in it, then set the second box she got atop it. This one was narrower and a bit shorter, about the length of my arm from shoulder to fingertip.She undid the clasps on the box, then flicked it open. Within, resting in some cloth padding, was a warhammer. It was boxy, with a long square-handled hilt and a head that wasn’t any rounder.“That’s a sylph hammer if I’ve ever seen one,” Amaryllis said.I leaned forwards and used Insight on it too.Sylph Heavy Infantry Hammer, NewAwen pulled it out of the box and spun it this way and that. “I can’t see anything too special about it,” she admitted. “It looks almost like it was drop forged.”“If it’s a plain old standard arm, then the only enchantments on it will be to prevent rusting and maybe to lighten the weapon. Both the sylph and harpy are keen on having lighter tools,” Amaryllis said.“Wouldn’t that defeat the point of it being a hammer?” Awen asked. She gave the hammer a couple of experimental swings, then nodded. “It feels nice. My other hammer’s handle is a bit bigger. I think it was made for a man’s hand, and mine are small. This is nicer.”“Neat,” I said. “Should we pack everything up and head back out? I want to ask the Knight-Captain about the dungeon before we reach it.”We found Knight-Captain Covenseeker in the airship’s smoking space still, the gentlemanly old knight chatting up a few of the generals. He brightened when we approached. I hoped that no one noticed the aura of Cleaning magic around me getting rid of all the smoke.The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.“Ladies, Captain, how can I assist?” he asked.“We were hoping to see the map of the dungeon,” I said. “And maybe you can tell us a bit about it too?”“Certainly,” he said. “Rumour has it that all three of you are part of the Exploration Guild?”“Yup,” I said. Technically Awen hadn’t signed on, actually. We needed to get that rectified at some point. I was certain the local guildmaster wouldn’t mind adding her to the rolls. “We’ve dived our share of dungeons before. This will be my... uh sixth, I think.”“Impressive,” he said with a nod. The other generals nodded as well. There was much pipe and cigar waving for a moment. “The Long Rest Dungeon might not prove so difficult a challenge then.” With a gesture to the side, he presented us with the dungeon map.Six floors, each one taking up a square on the large map, with some arrows and lines showing where the floors connected to each other, and little notations pointing out facts about the dungeon.“The Long Rest is a relatively young dungeon, five floors, each connecting back to a central room.” He tapped what I had thought was the first floor. “This room here. Every time you complete a floor, you return to this room, and when you re-exit the room back into the dungeon, you’ll be on the next floor down.”“Does it move?” I asked.“The dungeon? No, I don’t believe so. It might well be some magical effect. Teleportation, perhaps. Though it is seamless. A portal, maybe. We had some academics study the passageways some time ago, but nothing came of it.”“Interesting,” I said.“What’s the dungeon’s theme?” Amaryllis asked. “Beyond sleep, I mean.”Knight Captain Covenseeker hummed. “Difficult to say, exactly. Or rather, difficult to sum up in a single word. I believe the dungeon’s main theme centres around lullabies. Perhaps dreams?”“Oh, that sounds like a lot of fun,” I said. “And it gives you a knight class?”“It does! Nightie Knight. We’re quite fortunate that the name is respectable.”“Respectable?” I asked.One of the generals chuckled. “The poor Knights of the Dark Burst.”“Why? What’s so poor about them?” Awen asked.“The class given by their dungeon is the Flatulent Boomer class. Deadly, yes, but perhaps not a name worthy of polite company,” the Knight Captain said.I held back a giggle with great effort. “Yup, that’s... yeah. Nightie Knight sounds much cuter.”“What kind of threat are we talking about here?” Amaryllis asked. “A five-floor dungeon won’t be without risks.”Covenseeker nodded. “Indeed. But you won’t need to worry about any of that. We’ll have some of the very best down there with us. And I’ve gone through the dungeon a dozen times already. Nothing will harm a hair on our heads, I promise it on my honour.”The generals all nodded and made a big show of making it look like what he was saying was very impressive.“If you say so,” I said.“You just need to worry about showing us how to get rid of those nasty roots that settled in. Quite the pest, I hear.”“Have you tried to deal with them?” I asked.“We sent a few younger knights down to deal with them, but they came back banged up and bruised and claiming that there was nothing to be done. Silly young boys that don’t know better. We’ll show them how it's done.”“Right,” I said.I glanced at my friends who both seemed equally worried. Being confident was great and all, but sometimes the Evil Roots turned a dungeon weird, and that might mean that previous experience in the dungeon wasn’t worth as much.“Well, thank you, Knight Captain Covenseeker. I’m sure we’ll all feel very safe down in the dungeon. Do you know how long it will take to get there?”“Another half hour, winds willing,” he said. “Our little fort isn’t all that far from the capital. That way if an emergency arises, we’ll be some of the first on the scene.”I felt like that last part was directed to the others more than it was to us. Was he going to use this trip as a way to make the Knights of the Long Rest look better? That wasn’t terribly kind.“We’ll go rest for a bit then,” I said. “Maybe get our stretching done before we have to walk all over the dungeon.”“Of course, of course,” he said.My friends and I excused ourselves to the far end of the room where we found some seats next to one of the only portholes on this level of the ship.“They’re clueless,” Amaryllis said. “Or they’re downplaying the threat posed by an Evil Root.”“How long do you think the root has been there?” I asked.She frowned. “They sent people in. Which means they knew about it. Call it one day to learn about it, a day to send someone in, another to return to the capital and ask for assistance, then today. So that the very least four days have passed. That’s a strict minimum. I’m going to assume that the root has been active for much longer.”“That might be troublesome,” I said.Awen nodded. “We’re going to have to be careful. Plus, we’ll be going in with a lot of people.”“Won’t that make it easier?” I asked.“These won’t be expert adventurer buns taking things very seriously,” Amaryllis said. “Half of the people we’ll be with will be there because they’re an expert of some sort or another, not a fighter. We might have to carry a lot of dead weight.”“Oh,” I saidThis whole expedition was starting to feel like a bit of a bad idea.“We’re just going to have to do our best, I guess,” I said. “Make sure everyone that goes in comes out in tip-top shape, and wipe out the root while we’re at it. Maybe they’ll take the threat of the roots more seriously too?”“We can only hope.”
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