World Sphere - 176 - (Patreon)

Chapter 176

We were brought mugs and pitchers by a dwarf woman. Some food was ordered, and the negotiation duel was about to begin. I had Beliz and Sana with me while the others had moved to another table.

Sana had warned me about the Toblan.  He was talented but would try to get as much out of a job as possible.  I noticed at least four artificed items on his body.  The bracers looked rather intricate, as did two of his rings.  The fourth was the buckle on his belt.  He obviously had plenty of coin.

Toblan started the negotiations, “I should finish my research in about a month, and then I can head to your floating islands.  My fee is half of what is in the vault.”  Sana was going to let me negotiate on my own behalf but snickered loudly at the absurd offer.

“That will not be possible. Give me your fee in coin to leave tomorrow and open the vault as soon as possible,” I said, taking a pitcher of ale and pouring a mug.

The gnome chuckled, “My research is too important to me. I need a month longer here.”

I considered the gnome who was trying to drive up his fee. Sipping the ale, I asked voicing interest, “What is your research?”

The gnome grinned, “I am charting new dungeon locations in the Sphere.  I need to triangulate where in the Sphere’s shell this dungeon entrance teleports delvers to. Once I do that, I believe I can leave.”

“Interesting, but by your own admission, the data you speak of will not change while you briefly visit Skyholme.” My words caused the gnome to narrow his eyes at me. He started rolling a coin across the back of his hand, flipping it between his nimble fingers. I knew he was deciding how much I could pay.

“One hundred and fifty thousand.  Half paid now. The other half paid on the successful opening of your little vault.”  The gnome finally opened up the negotiations in coin.  It was lower than Sana had guessed for his services as she thought I would have to pay upwards of two hundred thousand.

I tried to look constipated.  For whatever reason, I felt like I wanted to get the better of this gnome in negotiations. He hadn’t asked about the vault, and Sana had just given him a little information. After a few minutes of shifting uncomfortably in the chair, I countered. “Ninety thousand.  Thirty paid now, sixty on success.”

The gnome huffed, “I don’t think Sana would have brought you here if you didn’t have the coin.  My time is precious, and my research more so.  I am not going to live forever.  One twenty.  Sixty paid now.  Sixty on completion. A mage’s arcane lock that has lasted thousands of years will not be easy to break.”

“Ten thousand for coming with us. Fifty for making the attempt and fifty for success,” I offered. I thought there was a good chance he would not try again after seeing the arcane lock on the door. From my understanding, the arcane lock was powered by a powerful aether crystal.

I had tipped my hand a little too much. “Fifty thousand for an attempt?” He let that trail off in his head. “What if I just try the handle and leave?”

I held a smirk, “Your standard of professionalism will not let you take a valid attempt at the door.” Maybe I was wrong, but I thought this gnome valued his reputation as much as the gold.

Toblan looked at Sana, “Once of your devious students, I take it. I had thought he was your young stud lover, or maybe there is something in the vault that you want?” He tapped his fingers on the table rapidly, calcultating in his mind. “Ten thousand now, fifty thousand for an attempt and one hundred thousand for success or a pick of what is inside—two items of my choosing.”

I placed one mithril coin on the table, equal to ten thousand gold. Toblan frowned as he took the coin and examined it. I could tell he was casting spells on it. It had a hydra on one side and phantom cat on the other side, so it was a mithril coin I had created. “A dungeon coin? Which dungeon did it come from? The signature doesn’t feel right.” He put it down, “It is real though.”

I was impressed with his evaluation. “The dungeon doesn’t matter. We will leave in the morning. Bleiz here will get you settled on the skyship. How do I access the dungeon here?” I asked the gnome.

The gnome laughed, “The dungeon only takes four delvers at a time. It is booked out to over a week!” He slapped the table thinking I had been silly for thinking I could just enter.

I announced to the room, “One hundred gold for the rights to the next delve!” I stood looking around the room at the adventurers. A graying man stood and walked over to me.

“Show me your gold,” his gravely voice came out. I looked to Toblan to make sure this was a legitimate transaction. He smiled but nodded. I produced ten large gold coins and placed them in his hand. He grunted, “Golden Boars gives up their turn in the dungeon.” He pointed to the old woman, and she went to the chalkboard and looked at me expectantly. The old delver turned and brought the coins to his table, gave two gold coins to each of his three companions, and pocketed four for himself. I guessed a harvest might only be worth fifty gold if this was a young dungeon.

I told the old woman, “Shiny Platinum Delving, and she wrote it in place of Golden Boars.”

“Should be an hour or two,” she informed me before going back to her duties.

When my turn arrived, the dungeon was accessed by an entrance in the side of the mountain. I paid the old woman a gold to send  someone to get me on the Maelstrom. I was interested in trying my lightning elemental spell and not so conserned with the actual dungeon itself.  The gnome would be quartered in the hold with Maerlyn, Delilah, and the Wolfsguard.  As he made himself comfortable,  he was immediately intrigued by all the bottles of ale.

“What can you tell me about the dungeon?” I asked the gnome going through the crates.

Toblan opened one of the bottles and sniffed it, “Well you didn’t pay for that information.” He sipped the ale, “but this will do for payment.” He took a long draw on the bottle before continuing. “The first level of the dungeon is a night forest. Giant owls and giant rats. Very unoriginal. The challenge is a fake werewolf. It looks like a werewolf but it is just a beastman.  The second level is even simpler.”

He drank again and belched, “A swamp that is knee deep for a person your size. Giant frogs are the biggest threat. Don’t get swallowed. A few poisoness snakes swimming about but they don’t attack unless you attack them. The final creature is a troll.  Not a very challenging troll as it is only slightly bigger than you.”

“Is that all then? Harvestables?” I asked.

“Nothing notable on the first level.  The frog meat is good and troll blood is pure and good for alchemy.  Reward chests are just some silver and common tier one spell books.  The spell books are the only real prize, worth about twenty gold each.” Toblan capped the ale to save for later.

A young man, bundled in furs, walked up the ramp. “The dungeon is open. You have twenty minutes to enter or we will announce the next group.” He jogged off, and I whistled for the cats. Adrial and Kiara came bounding down from the upper deck.  I did’t even have to tell Kiara to keep her coat black. Toblan stumbled backward and erected a powerful protective shield that had green arcs of lightning. He had fear in his ears.

Seeing the gnome thrown off made me grin as I petted Adrial’s head, “Don’t worry, the phantom cats are well-behaved and well-fed.”

Toblan muttered, “Phantom cats are not pets! Bloodthirsty beasts are what they are.”  The gnome obviously had a bad experience with phantom cats in the past.

I didn’t press the gnome, and signaled the cats off the ship so the gnome could relax. “We will be back soon.  Bleiz, you can come if you want.”

Bleiz considered but then studied the gnome. “I will stay on board and help our guest settle in.” I guessed Bleiz was going to keep an eye on Toblan due to Sana’s warnings. My cabin was locked with an arcane lock spell, but I had tens of thousands of gold worth of artificed items I had made at the work table.

The only thing I would be worried about being stolen on the Maelstrom was the six synchronized aether crystals. They were hidden behind a panel in the central runic room with a faux aether crystal mounted on the panel. It wouldn’t take a skilled enchanter to figure out where the actual crystals were. As I walked in the snow, I used the stone to talk with Bleiz, saying, “Don’t let the gnome in the power core room.”

Bleiz said seriously, “One of the reasons why I remained on board.”

“Good. I will just clear the dungeon and be back soon.” I returned the communication stone and followed the heaviest path leading to the mountain. Two Adventurer’s Guild proctors stood near the entrance, and they tensed upon seeing the two large black cats.

I showed them my guild card, “Storme of Shiny Platinum Delvers. We bought the slot from the Golden Boars Guild.”

A nervous guard spoke, “We were told. Your delve is limited to eight hours. If you stay longer, you will have to skip your next spot in the queue for entry.” I didn’t plan to return, but I planned to race through the dungeon anyway. I stepped into the entry.

The dark forest had multicolored stars in the sky to give the woods a shadowy appearance. I could hear squeaks in the distance and a hoot from different directions. It might have been spooky if I didn’t know exactly what to expect.

Adrial growled up at me in anticipation. “Go ahead and have your fun.” Adrial bolted into the trees, and a breath later, a rat was squealing in pain and then silenced. I looked at Kiara, who had released her black coat and had her pristine white coat, “Are you going to play too?” Kiara’s red glowing eyes looked at me and yawned, her fangs showing. She was clearly bored.

I was here to test my lightning elemental. I cast the spell, and the blue sparking dragon appeared. I ordered it, “Kill all the owls and rats you find. Leave the wolfman alone.” The elemental took off into the canopy, and soon, an owl was crashing from the trees.  I moved to watch the elemental work. It just flew into the dungeon creature, and a few sparks occurred, and the owl was finished. A tier five elemental versus a tier one creature was not a fair matchup.

Adrial came out of the trees with two broken rat bodies in her jaws and dropped them at my feet. I patted her and told her to get some more. Each rat was easily over thirty pounds and had sharp yellow teeth. The dungeon was just too far below our ability, but Adrial was having fun.

I walked with a disinterested Kiara as the elemental took down an owl or rat every thirty seconds or so. The forest was only about two square miles, so we quickly crossed the area to the clearing containing the wolfman. The dungeon designed the trees to funnel delvers to this area.

Kiara’s tail twitched, “On, you were just waiting for something more challenging, were you? Fine, it is yours.” Kiara bolted forward.  The wolfman howled in a challenge and charged. Kiara’s phantom whips slapped its arms aside, and she bowled into him. As the wolfman rolled away, Kiara pounced and latched her jaws onto the back of its neck. Then, she shook him like a rag doll, snapping his neck.

She dragged the body and dropped it at my feet. I knew she was showing up her sister’s dozen rats. I gave her the praise she wanted, scratching her behind the ears, “You are quite the warrior.  And I suppose you want me to clean you?” She pressed her head into my hand and purred. I hit her with the cleanliness spell.

The reward for defeating the wolfman was the spellbook for light and ten silver coins.  Not very impressive. The elemental dragon landed, and Adrial pranced out of the trees with two more rats. I found the portal down inside a larger trunk, and we entered.

I was a little surprised when the elemental didn’t arrive with us in the foul-smelling swamp on the second level. By my estimation, the elemental had over five minutes remaining. The dungeon had ended the spell. I think Kiara was confused as well, but she soon scratched her nose to try to eliminate the persistent smell of the swamp. I extended a privacy bubble around us to block out the smell.

I was curious how and why the dungeon had ended my spell between floors. Protection spells were not canceled. The cats were waiting for directions as I contemplated the implications. A very disturbing thought occurred to me. The elemental was completely created from aether. Maybe the dungeon absorbed the elemental, and I accidentally seeded the dungeon with a powerful tier-five creature.

I wouldn’t worry about it now, but I would dissipate my elementals in the future when traveling between floors. I created a new lightning elemental and commanded it, “Kill every frog and snake in the area and practice with your breath weapon.”

The elemental zipped into the air, and I made a mental note for it to flap its wings from now on. It wasn’t required, but the aesthetic look was lacking; right now, it looked like it was just floating as it moved in the air. We watched inside the bubble as the elemental took to the air and blasted a giant frog nearby. The lighting strike struck the frog and danced across the top of the water. The frog deflated and sunk into the water. The electrical bleed stopped just fifty feet from the target in a concentric circle, but was much weaker than a direct strike.

The level of the dungeon didn’t have any flying creatures, so the lightning elemental had an easy time going from creature to creature. Adrial was itching to fight the frogs, but I held her back for fear of the lightning attacks. She understood she was much stronger now and wanted to put her new strength to the test.

Only an hour later, the lightning elemental had slain sixty-two frogs and dozens of small snakes in the water. I had to recast it in the middle as the breath weapon drained its aether investment. The lightning elemental was very close to advancing to level eleven from all the combat.

The cats didn’t like walking through the murky water that was now full of dead snakes and horse-sized smoking frogs. The troll was barely seven feet tall but had superior regeneration, and a spiked club weapon rested on its knees.

The troll was sitting on a pile of frog bones. It watched us, its wild, matted black hair, and bloodshot eyes giving it a menacing appearance. I sent the lightning elemental at it. The troll was a tier two variant of the species. The most dangerous creature in the dungeon.

The blue dragon turned in the air and dived on the troll. The troll threw its spiked club, and the lightning elemental had no trouble dodging and opened up with its breath of lightning. The troll covered its eyes as it was enveloped in brilliant blue lightning. The strike ended as the elemental hovered in the air, and a smoldering troll stood. It was not in good shape, and the smell of cooked flesh reached us on one of the mossy islands.

Rather than use the ranged attack again, the elemental landed and started to claw the troll. Trolls were strong, even small ones like this one. I was slightly shocked when the elemental claw attack removed an arm. Was the elemental actually that strong? The dragon’s long neck snapped forward and clamped on the troll’s head. The troll struggled feebly to free itself, and blue electricity coursed on its skin. The elemental clamped harder and harder until the head suddenly came free. Its mouth was not big enough to crew, so it dropped the troll’s head into the water.

Another anticlimactic fight. I walked through the water and noticed the troll was regenerating. It needed fire or acid to stop its regeneration. Even though it couldn’t fight in its current state, it was not defeated, so no prize chest was revealed by the dungeon.

I pulled out a vial of weak acid from my dimensional space and poured it over the head and then the body. The acid sizzled as it burned into the skin. The fingers on the body stopped twitching, and to confirm the death, the chest was now on top of the troll mound of bones.

I opened the chest disappointed once again, seventeen silver and a spellbook for the tier one spell darkness. I couldn’t see the value in delving into this small dungeon. The spell books would be useful to sell, but as Tablon had said, they were all common spells.

I took the loot and we exited the dungeon through the convenient portal by the troll mound. The two Guild guards looked up, “You back? Are you finished? It has only been two hours”

“I can enter again?” I asked surprised.

“If you want, or we can call the next team in the queue. You have eight hours,” he explained.

I called the cats to me and we entered again. I ended up clearing the dungeon three more times getting spellbooks for the tier one spells, arcane armor, acid splash, disguise self, and protection from fire. I also got another copy of light and darkness. I would be able to start my own spell emporium if I kept delving this dungeon. The dungeon silver was not needed but nice to have when I was buying meals or to give out tips. I walked back to the Maelstrom in a heavy snow after tipping each Guild Guard ten silver each.

I opened th ramp myself and walked into the cargo hold. Everyone was here eating. Aelyn asked, “How did it go? That was not very quick.”

“Yeah, I ended up clearing it three times. My lightning elemental managed to get an evolution.” My evolutiuon was an aether siphoning ability. It could pull our 1% of a target aether on a successful claw or bite. Not too impressive but in a large battle the elemental might be able to sustain itself from its own attacks. I was considering the dual cast option that would have let me create two lightning elementals at once but the siphon ability could be upgraded to 3%, 6%, 10% and then 15% if Sana’s information was correct and she hadn’t been wrong yet. This was a costly evolution path but if I was fighting a creature that relied on aether it could turn the tide.

I looked for Bleiz who was not visible. Neither was the gnome, Tablon. “Where is Bleiz and the gnome?”

“Tablon has been snooping around the ship but Sana and Bleiz have been keeping track of him. I think they are on the bridge looking at the map collection.” I found them on the bridge. Bleiz was leaning against a wall watching Tablon page through my maps and gave me a short nod. Tablon looked up, “Impressive collection here. All Guild maps too. That is smart, easier to read.”

“We are leaving now. You can make your way to the hold where your bunk is,” I informed the gnome.

“What spell books did you find in the dungeon? Any that were not common?” He asked interested in my delve.

“Eight spells, all were common.” I told him.

“Four runs? Interesting. How long till we reach your floating islands. Three days if I made best speed and no one stops us.” I told him as I began plotting the course. Remy joined me to check my work and Toblan left with Bleix on his heels.

An hour later the Maelstrom was in the air and speeding toward Skyholme.

Snooping around