Chương 31: Chapter 30: Wolf Pendant

It turned out that I could not just re-heat an old meal to give a food buff. It made a lot of sense - I'd cooked it before I'd gotten the skill to rank C, after all. Right? So that logically meant that, like the knife I'd made, it would only be as good as I was when I made it. Still though, the pilaf was even better with a night to congeal a bit and let all the juices and goodness become a bit more uniform.

I reheated it, stirring constantly, and added just a little water and salt so it would be tender again, and served up steamy plates of rice, veggies, and meat with some more queenslace for garnish. The bowl of queenslace seeds and the bowl of salt made rounds again, and soon the group of us were sitting around the table and strategizing as Gelidia carefully brushed out and braided my hair.

"So just to go over this again for your sake Emily, Torch? You've got good eyes and that Danger Eye skill-" Roxala began, and Torch cut in with"Dangersense" he corrected"Right. So you have that Dangersense skill, you'll see traps coming. I'll be a bit behind you, watching over the two Sages we're bringing into the dungeon." she said to Torch, then turned back to me.

"You bring up the rear as what we call the Stinger - you keep your eyes and ears up, use those senses of yours to see danger coming and respond with overwhelming force. The safety of the Sages is just as much your job as mine - Torch has other things to worry about." she said, and crossed her arms.

"Not going to lie to you, Goldtail - the Stinger is the most dangerous job. Ambushes from behind will hit you first, and your survival will rely on your mind being sharp. You're not invulnerable - werewolf or not, you can very-much die if your Health reaches nothing." she warned.

"We can expect a little extra resistance too, because we're bringing five people inside. The town doesn't recognize anyone but Emily as a citizen here so maybe the dungeon won't think Gelidia counts, but we will proceed under the assumption that it will." she went on.

"Any questions?"

"Yeah!" I said, after swallowing a mouthful.

"The dungeon changes if there are more people?" Roxala looked to Fel, who cleared his own throat and washed down a mouthful with tea before speaking.

"Yes, current thought is that the dungeon is responding to the mana within your own body, and resonating to it. This gives it a very accurate sense of where you actually are, and how many of us there will be. A being like Gelidia is a bit of a mystery - she is fed on the Dungeon's energy, even if she is her own being, so it is entirely possible that she won't be detected." he said "But I agree. We should proceed like it will. It will mean the dungeon will be able to push more challenges at us overall."

he explained.

"What is a dungeon... for? I mean, I know it disperses mana into the world, right? Filters it so things can use it." I asked, and Fel smiled.

"Now we're breaching into Theology, but I'll abridge things a little in the interests of time." he began"Please." Roxala sighed, enjoying her meal, the scrape of her spoon audible as she ate.

"The World, in her benevolence, does not allow us to become stagnant. The Dungeons are one way she tests and strengthens us, and gives us something to strive to overcome. It is hard to remember sometimes, but she is a mother - and a good parent does not simply give you everything you need, she gives you a chance to become stronger." he explained, and I could hear how he believed what he said. The Water Sage smiled a bit ruefully.

"It is especially hard to remember that when you lose someone or your home is destroyed." he said with a sigh. Gelidia frowned a bit.

"The Corrupt are swept aside. The World has little patience for those who stagnate and stop." she said, as if completing some rote remembered teaching. Fel nodded.

"Get to the damn point, Fel." Roxala grumped, and the wizard shook himself visibly!

"Right! So the World's dungeons do their best to challenge the people who come inside within their level range. Gelidia is higher level, and a fifth person - so we can expect more traps, monsters, and challenges overall, things to put her skills as a Wind Sage to the test, things to put my skills as a Water Sage to the test, and tests for Roxala, Torch, and Emily as well. If we are right, we will be ready. If we are wrong, we will overwhelm the dungeon. Either way, it will help to be prepared."

Everyone around the table, myself included, nodded at that. We finished up eating, and began to get ready. Turns out, choosing what gear to bring was a fine art. You wanted a bedroll, as you never knew how long you'd be in a dungeon. It could take days to get through, or mere hours, so you had to plan accordingly. Things that weren't needed - stuff like extra sets of clothes, non-relevant books, maps of the outside world, extra gear, you left it behind - that was the conventional wisdom.

I didn't have much, but I left my books behind, and the scraps of paper. I decided to carry the party's food supply. I brought a bag of rice with me, tucking the heavy thing into the bottom of my backpack. The mug of glue, that was coming too! Never know when that might be handy! I also put some queenslace into a mug, and some fairy potatoes into another sealed mug. The little runestove I'd used to heat breakfast came too, and my cast iron skillet, once I'd cleaned it. What about - OH!

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. I checked on the soap I'd made days ago now, and found it beautifully cured and dried out completely! Awesome! It was a milky green color, and smelled lovely like sage and the best parts of soup, and very-much smelled of soap! Soup soap! Carefully, I started cutting the stuff into bars using my ceramic knife.

I wound up with 28 bars of soap from that single pan, each waxy brick of the stuff a couple inches thick and dense, but it was definitely soap! I put the others with my books, but packed six bars into my bag, and gave one each to the others, apart from Gelidia who refused.

"What would I do with soap?" she asked, with a chuckle! Good point! Roxala left hers behind, as did Torch, but they thanked me for them just the same. Fel tucked his away in his bag like I did. Never know, right? Last, my Lucerne Hammer. It was in the straps under my bag. With a motion that was starting to feel familiar, I screwed it together and felt it lock together to become a solid thing. How did it do that?

I knew for a fact that something with threads like that had no business being used as a weapon - the screw threads were not exactly solid, and something made to come apart WOULD come apart in a fight. But this thing had put up with all the abuse I could throw at it, and I had to assume that Roxala had been anything but gentle! And I could still take it apart easily just by pushing a latch on the side of the head and haft to bust off the head and then break it in half with ease.

I did it again, paying attention this time. As I screwed the two halves of haft together, metal rods and clasps slid up and around it as I finished the final rotation, driven by a clever little mechanism built into the grip. The metal wasn't exactly iron, either - it was some kind of black metal that smelled funny to me. Once they were clasped around the threaded portion, the seam seemed to disappear before my very eyes! Whoah! I realized as I pushed the catch, it just fit... that perfectly together.

That, or magic was afoot here, which I wouldn't doubt. The head did the same thing. I could smell oil on it, and the scent of metal. I sniffed it, and Roxala grunted.

"I sharpened it for you." she explained.

"Here." she said, and handed me a squarish stone and a cloth.

"Whetstone. The rough bit first, then the fine bit. Know how?" she asked, and I shook my head. She grunted again.

"I will show you later, when you need to use it." she grunted.

"This locks together very well.. how does it do that?" I asked, and Gelidia grunted again.

"Dunno. I'm not a blacksmith, but something about the way he alloys it, and the precision of his craft make it possible to make something like this work well. It's something of a specialty of the Snorrison bloodline. Threadlock, he calls it, it's something his clan has passed from smith to smith across the centuries since the Old Kingdom and before. Dwarves have a long memory for such things." she explained, and my eyes lit up!

"So cool" I said! Dwarves were real! And why not? Humans and Orcs were, after all, why not a Dwarf? Or an Elf? Or anything else? I had no idea what to expect. Roxala gave me a quirk of a grin, and rumbled a chuckle at me as if she'd read me like a book. Heck, she probably had! That was alright. Then, she shouldered her pack and turned to us. I got up to my feet, and secured my own to my back, holding my hammer.

"Let's get to it." she said, and started for the door. Torch was apparently traveling light - and Fel was apparently traveling with his things. It made sense - wouldn't want the scout to clatter or make noise, right? And Fel wouldn't have to move quickly - he could carry stuff! My pack was pretty light, as was Roxala's, and Gelidia of course didn't need anything.

"Emily. Here." Gelidia said, and held out her hand to me. I blinked at her, and looked around at the faces of the others, as confused as I was. Obediently, I held my hands out under her own, and she dropped a... kind of pendant into my hand. It had a long, sturdy looking chain of some kind of bronze metal, and on a clasp... was a familiar golden coin, held securely on the chain. I blinked at it, and she smiled.

She took it, opened it with a sturdy looking carabiner, and slid her arms around my neck in a kind of embrace as she put it on my neck. It was super long, even when she looped it once around my throat, and dangled onto my breast. Then, it hit me. It was her coin. The one she'd given me, so she could come with me, the one she'd thrown in the town fountain on her sixteenth birthday! She'd made it into a necklace? She made sure my braids wouldn't get caught in it, and nodded, clasping it shut.

"It will slide and remain on, even when you change shape. I did a little figuring, it should have more than enough leeway to allow for it easily" she said.

"I had the town's Silversmith work on it." she must have seen my expression, because she chuckled"No, a silversmith is a jeweler - he does fine work. Look!" she said, and lifted the pendant she'd made from the coin to show me the detail on the bronze-metaled casing around it. It had... a motif of a wolf running on it! Each instance of the wolf had it running in a slightly different position, and the artistry on it... was gorgeous.

Cursed Wolf Pendant, uncommon, quality: Excellent, crafted by Gordon Tinyhammer This pendant is cursed, and cannot be removed. It allows the shade of Gelidia Windbinder to speak and interact with the wearer.

"Do you like it?" She asked, and I kissed her, hug-scooping and twirling her in my arms with a squeee! She laughed and the others smiled at the pair of us as Roxala paused in the doorway, trying to keep a smile from her face.

"Oh, I love it! Thank you!" I said! Sure it was kind of like a collar, but GELIDIA had given it me! And it was very pretty, really! I'd treasure this. I tucked her coin into my tunic, and the metal warmed against my breast slowly. I'd have to get used to that, but I didn't mind at all.

"It's cursed?" I asked, and she nodded.

"Oh - yes. You're cursed anyhow. The curse was on you to begin with, but..." she hesitated, as if suddenly feeling guilty, and I shushed her before she could speak again with a loving smooch to her lips, and shook my head.

"It's fine! I don't want to be without you anyhow" I said, and Torch muttered"Weirdest. Romance. Ever." he said, and Fel fwapped him in the chest, pushing him towards the door.

"Coming?" Roxala called back to me, and I chuckled, following after the trio, backpack hiking high, and shade in my hand, our fingers interlocked.