CHAPTER THREE-HUNDRED NINETY-ONE

Old Staiven

The wizened old ratkin peers intensely at the recipe his enthusiastic apprentice gave him, carefully taking in every detail.

“Queen herself gave this to you?” he asks, not taking his eyes off the parchment. Thanks to Rhonda’s large hat, he can see her energetically nodding her reply. “Hmm… did you gather all the ingredients?”

“Yes! Though we accidentally got the fool’s coal mixed in with some normal coal that Larrez mined,” she admits, gesturing at the myriad herbs and a large bag of what must be the mixed coal. Old Staiven frowns at that for a moment.

“I didn’t show you how to separate it?”

She shakes her head, and pulls out her thick notebook to be able to jot down his advice. He mentally berates himself for missing that particular lesson, and moves to his tiles of runes. “I suppose we haven’t had much need for coal in a while. Runes are simple enough to produce heat with, and it’s generally an ingredient in low-tier fire enchantments, mid-tier purification, and a few specific antidotes. Where did I… ahah!”

He pulls out a plate with a specific rune set on it. It’s not really something one can buy, but more because it’s simple to create and very niche in use. Still, why not give his apprentice a small test? He sets it down on the table in front of her, fighting the urge to laugh at how eager she is to examine it. “What do you think this does, Rhonda?”

It’s her turn to examine something closely, and even her jumping spider familiar, Lucas, hops down from her hat to look at the runework.

“Let me see… mana gathering runes for power… not very potent, so it doesn’t have much draw. And… more mana gathering runes? That doesn’t seem right…” Rhonda carefully traces the runes with a finger as Lucas takes notes for her, and the young goblin soon brightens as she figures out her mistake.

“Ah, not mana gathering! These are earth and fire runes!” She pauses as she considers that. “So coal is a mix of earth and fire?”

Old Staiven shakes his head. “Not quite. It’s mundane, so it doesn’t need mana to form. But earth and fire are essential to the nature of coal.”

“But… shouldn’t fool’s coal be the same?”

Her mentor smirks. “Perhaps you should look closer.”

Rhonda frowns in thought as she does as asked, and soon finds the last set of runes. “Oh! Repulsion, linked to… life runes?”

Old Staiven nods with a smile. “Indeed. So, how does it work, my apprentice?”

Lucas helpfully holds up the notes for Rhonda to check, and she taps her cheek as she pieces it all together. “It attracts the coal’s nature, but repels life… fool’s coal has life essence?”

“In a form, yes. Fool’s coal is grown, where normal coal is mined. That difference lets this array easily attract ordinary coal while leaving fool’s coal behind. You could also design one yourself to attract fool’s coal instead, but I’ve always had much more of the fruit than the mineral. How much of each do you think you have?”

“I… think I’d probably be better off pulling out the fool’s coal, Master.”

“Then get to engraving. I’m going to ensure we have all we need to create this… ‘freezebang’ you called it?”

Rhonda nods again. “Yes! It’s incredible! I can’t wait to be able to recreate it!”

The ratkin smiles and lets her get her engraving kit, hiding his own apprehension at recreating the attack vial. While he recognizes the ingredients and what they should do, he doesn’t know how they would create the effect Rhonda described to him. The ingredients are just not energetic enough for that! At least the process is complex enough that he can think about it as he gets his lab prepared.

Much of the recipe is full of emulsifiers, diffusers, inhibitors, catalysts, and other reagents that ensure the unique ingredients react properly. Tossing everything into a cauldron and hoping for the best will make an unpleasant tea in the most optimal outcome, and could burn down a significant portion of the town at the worst. Most of the ingredients proper are easy enough to understand: iceberg kelp for the freeze, fool’s coal for the bang. But it should need something more for the energy to produce both the ice and the loud sound.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

He shakes his head as he pulls out the small still and checks to ensure it was properly cleaned. If it doesn’t need more energy… how is it doing it? Even six months ago, he’d still be stumped, but his Ice Sage apprentice has shown him quite a few odd things, like creating ice by taking away energy. It seems like madness, some kind of trick. Every established theory of magic says that’s simply not how it works! Ŗα𐌽ó𐌱ЕṤ

And yet he’s seen it. Not only has he watched Rocky do it, but even his little apprentice can do it. If it’s a trick, it’s one of knowledge, not falsehood. If he assumes the energy that should be making the ice is instead created by it… that should be enough to produce the effect Rhonda described.

It would also explain the dire mosquito proboscis as an ingredient, too. It’s an obscure ingredient, the best use he knows of is as a potion of mana regeneration. He hasn’t brewed those in quite some time, come to think of it. The Rangers frown on its use outside of dungeons, and though they don’t really have the authority to ban it, the ingredients are difficult enough to come by that most don’t mind using the more ordinary mana potions. So long as they can last through a fight, or have a friend able to buy them time to chug one in the middle, it doesn’t make much difference to delvers.

But it is

supposed to make a difference to dungeons, if he remembers correctly. It’s another reason he hadn’t made any in years: the local dungeons were not one delvers wanted to encourage. But with Thedeim solving that issue, he should make a test batch, maybe even show them to the dungeon. As he understands it, the potion makes a person better able to absorb ambient mana. If he understands what the Rangers has told him correctly, it would also increase a delver’s output of agitated mana, which the dungeons absorb to do what they do.

He wouldn’t be surprised if Thedeim started giving out the potion once he learns of it, if that’s the case. He gets the lab prepared, and sees Rhonda still working on her runes, so he pulls out the book and goes over the recipe while he waits. The ingredients should be simple enough to get. The hardest thing will be the proboscises, but a quest to the guild should make that simple work. He understands the Underswamps have an infestation of the surly insects.

He may even send Rhonda and her friends out to gather some. Which reminds him. “You and your friends are growing well, Rhonda. That new lad is catching up quickly.”

Rhonda doesn’t reply for a few moments, taking the time to get her current rune just right before she leans back and replies. “Tupul is great, yeah! Freddie and Fiona are great at holding the line, and Larrez engages in melee so things don’t get too hairy. Tupul is still kinda figuring himself out, but Thedeim is helping him with his class!”

Old Staiven’s eyebrows climb up his forehead in a mix of alarm and interest. “Really? Like with you and Freddie?”

“I think even more. Teemo says he wants to be more careful with Tupul than with me and Freddie.”

“Oh? Does he want to make sure the lad can measure up to you two?” Staiven asks with a chuckle, only for Rhonda to shake her head.

“No. Tupul is kinda vague with the details, but he says… well, my class is all about learning and teaching. Freddie’s is about protecting. Tupul’s is about fighting.”

Old Staiven’s chuckle dies in his throat at that idea. “Like Rocky?” he asks, trying not to imagine the kind of things a delver with Rocky’s skillset could accomplish.

“Not really?” Staiven sighs in relief, before Rhonda continues. “Rocky is a blend of arcane and martial techniques, and he has a lot of power to put behind them, too. I think he might be more like Fluffles, but martial instead of magical. His movements are all about efficiency, or at least he’s trying to get there. He’s also getting really good at spotting weaknesses, and slipping through attacks.

“I think, once he gets the advancement Thedeim expects him to, he’ll be a mix of mid-range and melee. He says movement is important, too. Honestly, it sounds even more complicated than what Freddie and I got.”

Old Staiven does his best to keep his concern off his face as he processes what Rhonda tells him. While there are certainly those who know the dungeon better than he does, like his very own apprentice for example, from what he can tell, Thedeim doesn’t do things halfway. Rhonda is a student at her heart, and her class is the very embodiment of the need to learn. Freddie’s version of paladin is the best bulwark for a party that Old Staiven has ever seen, and the Shield’s eagerness to teach others only proves that point.

Even something as simple as a class dedicated to hauling is something that Thedeim has revolutionized. The kobold doesn’t deliberately draw attention to herself, but there’s hardly a merchant in the entire town who hasn’t had her deliver things to or from them with speed and efficiency.

If Thediem has turned his attention to making a class specifically designed for a fight… who even knows what will happen. The only thing that keeps Old Staiven’s hands from trembling as he starts gathering ingredients is the fact the dungeon minds the details, too. He doesn’t like wanton destruction, and has shown time and time again a willingness to take the least destructive option, even if it would be a more difficult one. If he’s going to make a class for fighting, Old Staiven will simply have to trust he’s not going to just unleash a monster.

“Have you finished your array?” he asks, changing the subject to something much more comfortable. Rhonda gasps and gets back to work as her mentor looks at the freezebang recipe once more. He probably shouldn’t be too worried about whatever Thedeim is doing with Tupul. The young lad isn’t the only one getting to test out something new thanks to the dungeon.