Ring of the Flamespeaker

Tier V Spell Ring

…

The ring glowed in my hand with a warm firelight, like a dancing flame within a hearth. A black snake slithering around the yellow golden band of the ring, its maw holding onto the powerful magical gem holding the spell. Inside was raw, palatable fiery magic, a tool now at my disposal.

This ring gives the user access to the Tier 3 spell Fireball. If the user is not able to cast Tier 3 spells then the spell effectiveness is reduced.

…

The ring had more information that was locked away, taunting me with its hidden properties. I had managed to dredge up a percentage bar when I had the ring on, telling me how much of a charge it had with some help from the scholars. The bar slowly ticked up as we walked ahead of the wagons and beasts, and best I could tell it could hold enough juice to cast a fireball about three times per day.

“So, how long does it need to recharge?” Lin whispered. Her tail swished from side to side, slapping snow off the snowbank into the ditch beside the road. “This is so awesome!”

I checked to make sure we were alone at the head of the pack. Yara was a stone throw behind us talking to Sen the sorcerer, the leader of the villagers, and a cat girl with her kid driving the wagon beside them. I slipped on the ring to check the bar to see its charge, showed Lin and slipped it back into my pocket.

“Needs about a third, which takes a few hours. I do feel a little guilty having it…” I scratched at the back of my head. “It is pretty cool.”

“Josh, it’s alright. People understand these things here. It’s not the tool it’s who uses it,” Lin said, dipping her head as she gave me her sagely advice. “Unless it’s sentient, and cursed. Then it’s probably evil and the tool is at fault.”

With the coiling black snake and fire motif on the ring definitely tipped its hat to who it originated from. “Right, ring from evil fire cultists with unknown effects. Perfectly fine.” I said. I patted the pocket one more time for good measure. “Thanks for convincing them to let me have it.”

Lin threw her arms back and wove her fingers behind her head. “Ah, but my lord you hired me as your royal treasurer. Getting capital in our pockets is my number one job!”

“Well you are doing a bang up job,” I said. I gave her a reassuring pat on the back. “I’ll even double your salary.”

“But…I technically don’t have one yet,” Lin said.

I gave her a sly wink and slowed down to let the others catch up.

Sen dabbed his brow again, the man sweating profusely despite the chill that was setting into the air. The wagon driver near him scooted over making room for the man suffering from manablight. “...as you see, great priestess, I think that’s why a shrine to Undra would help! After all, Ishaka is the golden goddess, and it’s hard to praise her without gold, which my god of merchants would help bring in.”

“Oh yes,” Yara sneered. “The backroom dealing, backstabbing dragon god we get the term underhanded from. I’m quite sure we are more likely to get attacked by true skyfliers if we have a shrine to him, won’t we?”

A small entry appeared in my vision, a rather scant info box detailing the rather elusive dragon god. At the bottom of the knowledge page there was a metric ton of links to bits of information about other great dragons and the massive list of controversies surrounding him.

“Erm, well yes. Undra’s family is quite large,” Sen said, clearing his throat. “But as the patron of my bloodline it’s usually good faith to respect one's elders.” His voice dropped low, whisked away in the wind, barely audible. “Even if they are a little crazy.”

I matched the slow wagon with my stride, and Yara gave me an exhausted salute. She switched off and walked with Lin ahead of us, giving me the chance to finally speak to the black dragon sorcerer.

“Say Sen, what brought your people out here?” I asked.

Sen rolled back in the seat, his pointed horns striking the wooden wagon with a dull thud. “It started with a protest, and went a little out of control. I don’t wish to bore you with a long rant, but we are from Bladehold, a city around the river lord lake. The two lords raised the wealth tax, and the experience tax, both to nearly sixty percent-”

“Sixty?” I felt my jaw drop. I felt the wind get pulled out of me. “Wow, and I thought tax rates were getting bad where I was.”

Several grumbles came from people behind us, and I heard some rather unkind comments about their previous leaders.

“We couldn’t save any gold or silver to move ahead, and experience gains for crafting and work are already slim,” Sen said. “I’ve been stuck at level six for over a year, and we decided to do a walkout. Either the lords would down one of the taxes or we would make our own community. You can see how that turned out. Most groups split into little villages around here, hoping to return after a few springs for better results.”

“So the abandoned village I found was one of the groups?” I asked.

The cart driver beside Sen spat onto the road, his massive shaggy goat pulling the cart also spat. The driver then shook his fist to the sky. “Damn Calum boys, ruined the dyer’s guild with their cheap products. Then they had the audacity to want to run our village. We voted them out, and put Sen in charge.” The driver jabbed a large, blue stained thumb towards Sen. “Sen went to college, he can read three languages, and do math. He was the only capable leader we had.”

Sen held up a hand. “Valas please. I’m sure others could have done better. What did school even do? I enchanted sails to make ships the slightest bit faster for coppers on the silver. Not very glamorous work.”

We slowed to a halt as a few frozen logs and branches from the last storm were blocking the way. I lent a hand as we pulled the debris out of the way and moved the wagons along again. My companions and I got a few appreciated nods and words from the people. I found my way back to Sen, who was back on his feet, his eyes watching the sky.

“I found traces of an enchanter at my place when I settled down I think,” I said. “Know of him?”

Sen shook his head. “No, and it was the reason we didn’t visit. We got a missive from one of the villagers telling us to stay in our area of the river, and both villages would respect the other's area for hunting and gathering. The boy running the message over seemed…nervous of their hired mage. At one point one of the families moved over for a night, then headed towards Swordhaven in the ‘morrow. They didn’t even say a word about what had happened there, just that they had wanted to head back to the city and were the last to leave.”

That was less than inspiring, and perhaps problematic. I racked my head remembering what little I had on the previous keeper.

Lin had told me he had been slain, the adventurers boasting about their work and haul, but not the location. He had been a weapon’s enchanter who betrayed several other connected factions, the forgotten in the keeper pool room, the hobgoblins and goblins. Obviously a stellar example of what keepers were and in no way would make it more difficult for me if anyone ever found out.

Using this information I made a plan in my head of how to spin it if it ever came up in conversation. Something I would have to talk over with my more persuasive helpers.

“Thank you again Lord Hale,” Sen said, shattering me out of my thoughts.

I looked back at the line of people following us. “It’s what friendly neighbors do right? I’m sorry we weren’t there sooner to help.”

“It’s the way of the world,” Sen said. “I also appreciate you letting us bring our dead along. A more proper ceremony will help the spirits of the people, rather than let them burn in the pits with the enemy.”

I craned my neck further. At the back of the caravan was a group of hand picked warriors. Mala the dwarven woman marched in sync with Elkan watching the open cart with the bodies of the fallen. Maran sat in the cart with a bottle of holy water, sprinkling it on the cloth covered corpses whenever one started to twitch. Behind them was the bundle of remaining beasts the gnome had, with a rather brave and quick footed beast-kin holding a wand, commanding them along.

The animals were surprisingly tame. I had even tempted fate and had pet one of the stag hares, the pelt warm and incredibly soft to the touch. It was almost unfair how fluffy they were, considering how murderous every other encounter with them had been.

The snow crunched under my feet as the roadway worsed. The forest, rocks and river looked more familiar. I felt a tingling sensation in my hands, the call of the crystal and with the evening sun low over the horizon, at the very edge of my vision I could see the top of a tower poking over the tree line. We were almost home.

In a hurry I tried to call up the minion work order queue, but it was in vain. We were too far away and the more I tried the more a pit of pressure built up behind my eyes, growing in pain as I pushed. I could feel sweat collect at the base of my neck, and my heart rate kicked up as the mass of strangers behind us neared my dungeon. The only saving grace we had was the setting sun shining into our eyes, casting a dark silhouette of the town. With any luck it would buy me time to get the minions out of the way.

“Pa, look!” a dwarven carpenter pointed ahead. He shook the shoulder of a well weathered dwarf beside him that matched his looks, with a bit of extra grey in his long beard. “We can crack open that old keg once we kick up our feet by the fire.”

Murmurs of excitement washed over the tired cold people, and they quickened their pace. Their beasts of burden could feel the sense of relief in the people and they too walked faster, catching up to me. I had to push my exhausted legs just so I could stay an arm’s length ahead of them.

As my foot struck the ground offside the road heading towards my quiet little fort over my dungeon I was finally in range. In a blind panic I sent off a flurry of commands ordering all minions to hide below, and to send whatever free automations we had in the tower. Following that I had the crystal order the construct warriors to stand around the wall, with one or two on the tower for visibility sake.

“...roads sure are…” an inaudible voice uttered behind me.

Sen put a hand on my shoulder and ripped me out of my hasted orders. A single pear of sweat rolled down my cheek despite the chill.

“You seem a bit anxious Lord Hale, is everything alright?” he asked in a worried tone, although it was unclear who was worried for, me or them.

“Ah, just a rare occasion to have visitors, I hope everything will be to your liking.” I quickly found my focus back on the queue, sending more haphazard commands. What had I told them about so far, had I forgotten anything?

Deception Check : Success!

+1 XP gained.

The voice from before came up again. “These roads sure are less trodden.”

The countryside roads truly were less trodden, and bumpy. Curses came from the line of wagons, with the cart drivers complaining about their behinds as their seats jostled around. It was a godsend as it ground the march almost to a standstill, buying precious seconds. Maran and Elkan moved ahead of the back of the caravan, and they blew a low whistle.

“Actually looks quite nice up close,” Elkan said, running a hand through his beard. “I’m kicking myself now that we didn’t even stop in for tea.”

The head height stone brick wall surrounding the town along with the accompanying moat looked rather impressive up close, and had been a great help against the non-flying pesky invaders during the last siege. Eklan with a few dwarves was carefully inspecting the stonework. One of the carpenters reached out a pitchfork to tap at the mortar and bricks.

The wooden gates creaked open, scraping snow out of the way. Pulling them were four damaged warrior automatons, ones mostly destroyed by us, held together by spit, glue made by Burn, and prayers.

A gasp of awe came from the people, and Maran checked her reflection in the shiny forehead of a hobgoblin machine.

“These things are pretty neat,” Maran said.

She reached out to tap it on the forehead and I shot out my hand, lowering her arm. “No offense, but I’m just getting used to controlling these things. Best not to tempt them.”

The hobgoblin machine looked at me. “Lord Ha-ale, a-are these all-ies.” The mechanical voice sputtered from a damaged voice box, and sparks came out of its neck.

“Yup,” I replied, quickly waving my arm behind me. “All allies, good people.”

The machine warriors saluted me, their motions stiff and jittery, and they walked off. A few climbed up on the wall and stood there with their shields and spears, gazes aimed at the horizon. With the machines out of immediate sight the people turned their gazes to organized streets, the houses stretched out ahead of them, and warehouse by the hidden entry to the dungeon in the shack.

Perception : Partial Success!

Hushed whispers came from the crowd, and I only caught singular buzzwords of their talks.

“...shrine, workshops, underground…”

My heartbeat quickened. I hastily checked the work order and wondered if I could have one of the minions move up some material to create a makeshift shrine on the surface. I would have a long night ahead of me if I wanted to uphold this façade for much longer.

Yara placed a hand on my shoulder. “I’ll help them settle the beasts down in the warehouses. Then I’m taking a bath. You and Lin have this, right?”

Lin blew a kiss towards Yara. “You go and relax, we got this.”

“Yara,” I said, patting her hand. “Crack open a bottle and relax in the bath. I’ll have someone run you dinner. Day and night catering right?”

Yara’s demonic fangs flashed as she tried to suppress her smile. “Yeah no offense, but I’m done freezing my tail off. Talk to you two later.”

Lin and I returned to the little group of villagers standing bewildered in the heart of my town. The curious villagers stuck their heads into the empty houses, with family groups splitting off to see what might fit them. A handful were crouching down or tapping on the walls, asking their fellows if they saw hidden entrances.

“You said there was more underground, right?” Sen asked. His gaze swept along the street, and up to the automatons. “I must say those machine workers do well if they made all this for you.”

Lin was at my side, and waved her arm in presentation. “Welcome everyone! We don’t have a name for the place, but it’s home! Take a look around, see what you like. When you think you found somewhere nice, go to the hearth to find the secret tunnels. First ones there might get a little prize!”

There was a hint of confusion, and the two leaders, Sen and Mala followed us into the nearest home. The cozy little two floor abode was scant for furniture, and what little there was here was rather poor. Some of Carter’s earlier attempts had made their way up top, being out of the way. The uneven rough cut chairs wobbled as we walked past them.

Mala inspected the fireplace, pushing on the bricks. She tapped on the mortar and hummed to herself. “Decent work, but I don’t recognize it. Is it southern clan style? You said the secret is by the hearth. Ah, found it.”

Click!

A wooden side panel in the plain dining and living room shifted, and the dwarven woman pushed on it, finding a staircase heading down. She paused as she looked up at the pale blue dungeon light overhead in the stairwell.

“You said there was a goblin engineer tower down below?” she asked.

The sweat built up along the base of my neck, and I felt my palms get hot. Lin simply smiled at the dwarf woman, and tapped on the light, causing the colour to shift to a more sunny yellow.

“Yeah they had all kinds of neat gizmos. You know those goblins, learning from the others like dwarves and putting their own spin on them,” Lin said.

The dwarf woman glared at the light, as if her fury alone would reveal its secrets.

An ally has succeeded at a deception check!

“Damn magic lights,” Mala grumbled. She took out a lantern, and headed below with us following. “Now you're going to tell me your arcane generator won’t fail, and blah, blah, blah. Right wizard?”

Sen laughed behind us. “Such things do quite well my dear. I don’t why you are nervous. With a bit of care it can last a generation.”

I tugged at my cloak, feeling the worry creep up, blood building behind my ears. “Actually last I checked it was a bit buried. Some damage to the tower, but my friends might have gotten to it. And cleared out the mimics.”

Mala stopped at the bottom of the stairwell, hand on a rough plank door. She let out a long huff, and grabbed her hammer. “If I see one table wink at me, and try to offer me a drink I’m going to rage.”

She opened the door revealing part of the dungeon I hadn’t been to very much. When we had planned to make the town above for appearances most of them had a route underground, leading to a central meeting hall. The hall led to the closed gatehouse to the true dungeon, same as the much nicer ramp up to the shack.

This one long meeting hall, just barely tall enough for Bent, was wide and quite long with lights stretched out to illuminate the place. Here I found all the stuff we couldn’t sell to Rodney, or move easily.

Metal or clay stoves the minions had tried to make that didn’t pan out well were along the wall, some middling quality furniture and cookware was assembled in one area. There were signs the minions had taken to make a little meeting area with the goblin sized chairs and tables next to an old stove from before. The side was dented in, and permanent soot embedded deep into it from when a burning roof had collapsed on it. Propped up behind it on the wall was a chipped and dented blade over a cracked shield, a trophy from the siege.

Overall it was cluttered and gave a less than stellar presence. Other doors along the hall opened with curious villagers looking around the space. The wolf guy we had helped during the fight with the gnomish keeper was one of the first ones and he excitedly wandered over to us. Lin gave him one of the remaining pieces of taffy she had.

“Taffy?” The wolf guy popped it into his mouth, and his tail wagged furiously behind him, slapping into a stack of chairs. “Is it okay to take a look around?”

“It’s okay folks, you can take a look around,” I said, waving a hand. “Just stay inside the walls as it’s getting dark.”

The invitation set them off, turning the hall of clutter into a bargain day deal. Quickly they found what rough gems were hidden in the stacks, and I saw one mother get her two kids to sit on a few chairs as she searched for a matching one. The two of them excitedly waved in my direction, and I gave them a friendly wave back.

Sen gestured at the wide array of goods and placed a hand over his heart. He stood tall, his dragon horns reaching up towards the ceiling as he took a regal pose. “Now I owe you folk a bit of coin for saving us, don’t give me that look I promised. Would it be okay to take out a bit of tab to let the people have a few amenities?”

Lin bit her lip and leaned over to whisper into my ear. “I know I’m the treasurer but I think we can let some stuff go, right?” She looked at the tired mom sitting beside her two kids, all of them beast-kin with ears up and curious eyes. “I might also dip down to give out a few blankets.”

I nodded in agreement and Lin squeezed my hand, beating away the nervousness. At the very least giving them gifts, and letting them pick stuff out should keep them busy for the meantime. The more they could focus on settling in the more time I had to build up our little deception.

“We can help get them some basic furnishing and blankets for free. As long as you two are willing to manage everything so everyone gets their fair share,” I said.

Mala ran a hand along one rough table, and tapped her knuckle on it. One of the other clan members walked over to her, offering her a bronze tool covered in notches, lines and a retractable metal strip. She measured a few edges and wiggled the table seeing it was unbalanced. “Sen, you help keep stuff fair. Bring it to us and we can modify them before we get any more grays.”

With the people busy we excused ourselves and headed towards the dungeon. A single goblin automaton stood beyond the gate, and after seeing we were alone I just waved a hand having the dungeon automatically open it for me. I rolled my shoulders, feeling the weight of my armour, sword and cloak finally beating me down.

“Glad to be home?” Lin asked, her sly smile curling up. “Or hoping for some alone time later?”

I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and squeezed her in tight. “Depends. Want to show me how flexible you are at a table?”

Lin laughed and walked with me towards the kitchen. “After a snack I’m starving-”

Burn was coated in green and purple goo, standing with a heroic pose on top of a massive half melded mass of a steel cabinet and tentacles, with eyes and teeth. The mass was coated in a layer of jelly, the horror beneath frozen in time, while equipment, cogs, and glassware were scattered around his feet. A cheerful Rolada, Sten and Bent were in the same condition, with stacked plates in front of them. Sliva had a brush in hand, trying to get the goo out of Rolada’s hair, swearing under her breath as she snapped her fingers, casting spells to help her.

“Hey boss, we got rid of the mimics like you asked!” Burn broke his stance to give me the finger guns. He kicked the mass under him, and slid down, rolling along the filthy tiles on the ground to reach me. “Even killed this mimic queen and we got a sweet talent out of it!”