Chapter 16

Oh boy were we suckered

The object we were after was quite obvious, in looking the room over. There was a pedestal in the center of the room that held what looked like a clay disk, about 15cm across with a skull embossed on it.

"And this object is a curative object, despite the skull I clearly see on it?" Hanz asked skeptically.

"That's what I've been told," Malachite agreed, grabbing it. "I see you reaching for something Snarly."

"I jes wanted a clother look at 'omthing, I wasn't gonna take it."

"Uh huh. Just back away, that's it. We've gotten what we came for. Let's go."

I hung back as Malachite went for the box. "Go on ahead," I told the others. "I'll stay here and secure this place again, as best as I can until Alveindros can get here and decide what he wants to do."

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that," he admitted. "I hope this cures the old lizard instantly but what if it doesn't? You could be here for days."

"True. But as I neither need to eat or drink I am suited to the task."

"Why bother at all?" Snarly asked. "Itsh not our problem we were jes supposed to get the thing."

"That was before we knew the location of the place was compromised," I told him, gesturing to the men that were tied up. "I won't leave this place unguarded. I can't. If we leave and another group shows up and cleans the vault out, after we so helpfully made that possible, how angry do you think the dragon is going to be? Do you want an angry dragon after you? I don't. There would be no way to prove we didn't make off with his treasure even magically. You know my magic can make me look like anyone, he would just believe we were framing others to get away with it. He would come here, see an empty vault, become enraged, and go after the people he knew were just there. That's us. Honestly, I don't mind staying until you can get an answer. Take these fellows and go. Hopefully they can be checked over for magical compulsion or whatever and not just killed. Let the town decide what to do with them."

"I believe you are forgetting an important point," Hanz spoke up. "I also do not need human sustenance. As I too am concerned with you remaining here on your own I will also offer to stay. The two of us can work together to secure the location and defend it, should more rival townspeople arrive to try looting it."

"Oh. Thanks Hanz. If you're sure, I was willing to stay alone."

"But there is no need for you to do so."

"That makes me feel a little better," Malachite admitted. "He can always make us another shell if we need one. You're sure you're going to be okay even if it's days you have to stay here? You're not immune to the cold and it's pretty cold here."

"I won't exactly be 'here' once everything is set up. And I can warm up in the cave. I'm sure there's something I can burn around here if I needed to. Just get back, get Alveindros healthy again, and when he's up to it get him here to figure out if he wants to move this vault or secure it differently or what. It's the best solution."

He stood there a moment, considering. "I guess you're right. And maybe it'll mean you'll get a separate reward from him, for putting his vault first over your own comfort. Okay, up you get fellows, we're heading back. Snarly, you're not staying here are you?"

"No way! Itsh too cold here and I'm hungry."

"Of course you are. Come on." Everyone got in a circle and he took out the next shell. "See you two in a bit. Don't die or anything."

"It'll be fine."

"I hope you're right. Return." They vanished.

"Okay then," I chortled, rubbing my hands together. "Let's get this place secured a bit, shall we?"

"Is there anything I can do specifically?" Hanz asked.

Do you have a dazzling array of magic at your command? "Uh, probably not?"

"Then I shall simply find a good vantage point and watch for any intruders." They moved off but I called them back.

"Hold on a second. I can maintain a spell or two, I'm not doing any sort of battle magic at the moment. Stay here and I'll put the spell on you to allow your use of the light weapon without end."

"Ah, that would increase my effectiveness many times. Very well."

I nodded and got to work. First I sculpted the hole closed completely, leaving the previous entrance as a solid, blank wall. Then I got out Athame, having her grow to dragon sized. Changing maintenance of the spell to the pendent I then cast my disguise spell on her, making her look like a dragon. Thankfully this hallway was quite large, but then, how would the dragon have gotten in here to set all the traps and store their treasure otherwise? So of course he would fit. I then backed off and gathered ambient mana, taking all the time I could to cast my webbing spell over the entrance. I could get quite a lot with extra mana shoved into the spell, and was pleased to see the entire entrance covered with sticky webs. This will slow them down, and give me something to cast my fire spell on, should it become needed. I would hate to do so, but if there's ten or twenty people that show up it'll be my only option. I then put my technology powering spell on Hanz, and they went to go hide somewhere while I stepped into the astral. The cold went away and I sat down to meditate and wait, hoping my ruse with the Alveindros "clone" or the webs would keep anyone else away. If they scryed the area they would see a dragon wandering around and even if not, if they somehow got past the web before I could get there it would attack them. Not with claws and fire like a real dragon but the size of her would make up for any deficiency there. I just wished I had seen the real thing so I could make the illusion more convincing. I was counting on someone peeking in, seeing a dragon, and stopping the spell right away in case "the dragon" had countermeasures going. Thus not taking any time to study the dragon and say "hey that's a different dragon than I expected!"

We waited.

It seemed to be several hours later, it has hard to say where I was, but I perked up as another group appeared out of nowhere. They were looking around not like people there to loot the place, but as though looking for someone. Me, perhaps? They seemed to be dressed in the colors of Alveindros but that didn't mean anything. I noticed Malachite in the crowd and let go of my dimensional spell, coming back into phase with reality. He noticed me and waved me over. It was getting dark at that point, it really had been some time.

"Alveindros is healed," he announced. "But still weak. He agreed he needed to probably move this vault now that the location is known, and thanked us for thinking of it. These soldiers from the village have volunteered to guard it until he can get around to doing it himself. He's not exactly thrilled about more people knowing the location but as he has to move it anyway, it's fine. We can head back." He held up another shell.

"Sounds okay to me," I agreed. "Ah, here's Hanz."

We found ourselves back in the village square, and Malachite took us to the town hall. "We actually hid the prisoners," he told us. "We didn't want the draigs here tearing them apart. So they're still alive Orchid, I knew you would want to know."

"They took their fate into their own hands," I explained. "The soul of whoever decides their fate is the one in peril, not myself."

"I suppose."

"We're back, Valris," Malachite called to a robed draig. "He's a high priest or some such. He's in charge anyway."

"Nice to meet you," I told him. Where's Snarls?

"We're having a feast in your honor tonight," Valris told us excitedly. "It won't be long until it's ready. Please, this way! You can refresh yourselves and be seated, the food will be ready shortly."

"An interesting irony," Hanz whispered to me. "A feast for a party of four and only two of the four eat."

"I could eat," I reminded them. "But eating means the other thing and that's always a pain. Especially for those of us on the road most of the time. Maybe I'll just have a bit of cake or something and retire. It's been a long day."

"Stay to honor our hosts, yes, that much would be expected," they agreed.

We, or at least I, freshened up with some water and went to find the others. They were seated already, and Valris seemed to be waiting for me. As I sat he leaned towards us. "I wanted to talk to you about those people you brought back," he said in a low voice. "They can't really stay here and executing them would only make Isincala even more hostile to us. Now that her plan has failed to curse our master we don't want to make her any angrier. Would you be willing to escort them back to her village? It's not that far away, and could be seen as a diplomatic mission."

"You want to send me on a diplomatic mission?" Malachite scoffed. "Have you seen me?"

"Yes, believe me, it's not my first choice," he admitted. "But you have the best chance of not simply being killed on sight. Dragon rivalries, never pretty. They spill over onto the followers of the dragons as well, as though it wasn't simply a quirk of being born in one place or another that determines what dragon a person follows."

"Much like religion on Earth, before the Chaos Moon reduced us to a single continent," Hanz remarked. "And opened the Heaven gates and such."

"I suppose if that's all you wanted," I told him. "Just to drop them off, make sure they 'get home' safely. We do have other things to be doing this was only supposed to take a few days." Hopefully the Gloom cultists haven't made any moves on the town.

"It won't take long, believe me. And we may want to use this as a sort of peace offering, maybe improve relations? I just figured I would run it by you all. If it's not a hard no I'll talk to some others, see what we can come up with. I don't need an answer now."

"We'll be paid extra for the service?" Malachite asked shrewdly.

"Of course!"

"We can discuss it tomorrow then," I agreed. "I think the food is ready."

And it was! I had a small amount to eat and drink and asked where I might take a room for the night. Valris directed me to a nearby inn he said was expecting our party and would be complementary for our stay here. I wished everyone a good night, and headed up to bed.

I woke up refreshed the next morning, and headed out alone to see the city. I didn't mean to, but none of my party were in evidence in the common room so I took my pack and went exploring. I asked around, and it turned out there was an expert in town that assisted Alveindros in cataloging any magical artifacts he wanted to place in his hoard, a priestess Agela. I found her easily enough and with my status as one of the saviors of her lord she was more than happy to give me some tutoring in the basics of feeling out magical artifacts to tell what they did. She informed me the boots I had picked up did allow one to walk through fire, which was good to know. To be technical about it they had the spell of Elemental Protection: Fire woven into them, which I did manage to discover on my own under her guidance. So I knew she wasn't lying, and that I had the basics of the skill down and could practice it on my own. I thanked her, tried to pay but she wouldn't accept anything, and I headed back to the inn to see if everyone was up so we could talk about what Valris had asked about the night before.

"There you are," Snarly told me, perking up as I walked inside. "Malachite is askinth about you. I think he drank thu much lasth night."

I barked a laugh. "Don't know what he wants from me apart from a kick in the shins, but okay. What room is he staying in?"

He told me and I slipped into my friend's room. He was still laying in bed, holding his head.

"Who's there?" he weakly asked.

"I would say your delicate flower, but you seem to be the delicate one this morning. It's almost noon and you're still in bed? That's late even for you."

"May have had a little too much last night," he admitted. "Everyone is just so friendly and wanted to drink with me."

Naturally. You cured their dragon. "Glad to see your hometown doesn't hold any grudges. And now that it's out in the open you can just be yourself."

"Not so loud. Do you have a spell that can help?"

"A hangover? Sure, there's a spell."

"Use it please?"

"It's called, I'll go and get you a glass of water." Or maybe a bucket? But you get to empty it after you drink the water and do the other thing.

"Uggghhhhhh. Don't joke."

I laughed. "Ah, my fiend. Every moment of pain is a lesson. Let me get you that water." Honestly, you drink a weak poison for hours and expect nothing to happen the next day? Never could come to grips with why someone would do that.

He stumbled down into the common room not too long after that, looking miserable. Snarly ordered himself some lunch but Malachite just wanted more water. Hanz and myself of course wanted nothing. Snarly was going on about all the great things he had gotten to eat last night, making Malachite groan, when Valris walked in and spotted us.

"Ah, good afternoon!" he greeted us. "I've come with your payment for the job!" He tossed a small coin pouch on the table and Malachite winced away from it. I rolled my eyes and grabbed it up, looking inside. There was a pathetically small number of coins in the pouch. I narrowed my eyes, about to complain that saving a dragon's life was only worth this? But he went on. "And to say thank you for accepting the diplomatic mission. Will you be leaving after lunch? I'll have the three 'guests' brought to the edge of town in that case."

"The what now?" I said instead.

"Did he not tell you?" Valris asked, seemingly with genuine concern. "Malachite accepted the mission last night. You are to return the three guests to their home village, and hopefully bring back an ambassador to open relations with our town. All this hostility must be put to a close. This is the perfect opportunity, we can't let it go."

"You agreed to this?" I asked Malachite.

"Did I?" he wondered. "I don't recall."

"You seemed so thrilled to be asked last night though."

"I'm sure," I told him harshly. "You didn't notice him drinking rather a lot last night?"

"Not that I noticed, no."

"Of course. He doesn't speak for the group, but on the other hand if it can improve relations between these two towns I suppose we are honor bound to try."

"Let us not forget the 'guests'," Hanz reminded me. "They would no doubt be killed if discovered here."

"Indeed!" he quickly agreed. "And I wouldn't ask you to do it for free. I'll almost double what you've been given already. I can't be quite as generous because this comes out of the town's money, not my lord's coffers."

Generous? This tiny amount of coin? Sure, sure. Act like I didn't see the hoard, see how far that gets you. I mean I know dragons are loathe to part with any of their treasure but is this the amount their life is worth? Seems they don't value themselves very highly- or this guy skimmed a bit off the top?"If I am going to walk around the countryside with a bunch of draig who were trying to kill me a day ago I'll need to do some divination. I haven't said yes. Come back in an hour and you'll have our answer."

"Of course, whatever you need. I will return then." He got up and left.

Jerk. He knew what he was doing. There's no doubt in my mind. But I suppose it has to be done?

"Sorry about this," Malachite offered. "I really don't remember much about last night."

"It's fine," I sighed. "Let me think a moment."

I come up with some questions to ask the universe, and threw them out there.

"Will the followers of Isincala be hostile to us when we come near their village?"

No

"After returning the three captives, will the followers of Isincala be willing to speak to us about furthering relations with the village of Alviendros."

No

"Huh," I mused, coming out of the magic. "That's a minor surprise."

"So we are going then?" Hanz asked.

I took a deep breath. "So it seems. They won't be hostile towards us, but at the same time it seems they won't want to talk about improving relations. Best we'll get is just seeing them safely home."

"Tomorrow," croaked Malachite. "I can't go anywhere today. Sorry."

"Just try not to let it happen again?" I mean really, how many times does this have to happen before you learn?

"I'll try."

We gave our answer to Valris who seemed quite pleased and said leaving the next morning was not only no problem, he would have recommended it anyway. As it took about a whole day to walk to the next village we didn't want to arrive in the dead of night. He gave us a map, told us the 'guests' would be waiting just outside town after sunrise the next day, and thanked us for this chance.

I guess he's just trying his best. He didn't want us to say no and took advantage. But as the magic says they won't attack us on sight, maybe it'll be fine. Could be a cultural thing I'm not aware of or maybe he really just didn't know how drunk Malachite was.

Malachite drank more water and went back up to bed, leaving me shaking my head. Why create a drink that does this to you in the first place? Doesn't make sense to me. I gave Hanz and Snarly one of the gold pieces from the bag, as we discussed putting the rest into buying a home when we got back to Gloomhaven. At least they could buy supplies and anything else they found around here. I then had the rest of the day to wait around, and basically just walked around seeing how the draig lived their lives here. I spent some more time practicing my new artifact reading skill, and went to bed. It was probably going to be a long day tomorrow.