You keep quiet about your indirect involvement in the recent weather disturbances. If Vira doesn't know that it was your killing the grimstalker that made its lord's messenger throw a fit, you're not about to reveal the truth - and if she DOES know, you're not going to admit to being partly responsible for her inconvenience.

Whatever she knows or suspects about those events, Vira says nothing further on the subject.

"So," she says instead, "what is this mysterious project of yours, that requires so much ore? Something more involved than a blade or a piece of armor, I would venture."

"EXPLAINING THAT REQUIRES A BIT OF BACKSTORY..."

In brief, you recount how - quite unintentionally - you managed to inspire all of Robin and Briar's many, many siblings to pursue the construction of the Fairy Death Machine.

Vira stares at the lot of you. "The fairies of Hyrule - of the Lost Woods - are building a Death Machine?"

She even properly capitalizes it.

"THAT IS CORRECT."

There is a moment of silence. Then...

"Pfft!"

The teacup rattles as Vira's manicured claws swiftly pull away from it to clap over her lower face, as she struggles to suppress her amusement.

"No, no," Briar sighs. "Go ahead, get it all out."

Vira throws back her head and laughs: "BWAHAHAHAHA-"

"Yeah, that's about the reaction I expect most people will have when they first hear about it," Robin admits, in a tone almost identical to his sister's.

"-HAHAHAHA-" Your hostess's previous air of dark, self-possessed decorum is entirely gone at this point, and the support of her well-balanced chair is pretty much the only thing keeping her upright.

Cat looks on in amazement, clearly never having seen such a display from this particular individual before.

Then she turns to you. "Broke her?"

It's... not precisely an accusation?

"GIVE HER A MINUTE," you suggest, taking a sip from your tea. The vaguely minty flavor isn't bad, though it is perhaps a bit... subtler?... than the cultivated blends you've sampled on Earth. Or maybe that's your Goron tastebuds getting in the way, you honestly aren't sure.

"-HAhahaha... ha... hooo, my darkness," Vira finally manages to get out. She produces a small bit of dark lace from somewhere, and dabs gently at her teary eyes with it. "Oh, it's been quite a while since I had such a good laugh. That, and the advance notice of something entertaining to look forward to, are entirely worth the minor trespass."

"Glad to be of service," Briar grumbles sourly, before slurping her tea.

"SPEAKING OF SERVICE," you begin leadingly.

"Yes?" Vira obliges you.

"I HAPPEN TO BE INVOLVED IN INTER-PLANAR TRADE," you say. "CALLING MINOR SPIRITS TO TRADE FOR REAGENTS; SHIPPING SMALL QUANTITIES OF FRUITS, VEGETABLES, AND SPICES BETWEEN WORLDS; AND MOST RECENTLY, PROCURING SAMPLES OF A LOCAL SILKSPINNER'S CRAFT TO SHOP AROUND FOR INTERESTED BUYERS."

One elegantly oversized eyebrow arches. "You've made a deal with Lia?"

You nod, not particularly surprised that the Bat Lady and the Spider Lady know each other. They are, after all, basically neighbors, and some of the fewer Big Folk living in this corner of the woods.

"ONLY A TENTATIVE ONE, AT THE MOMENT. RECENT EVENTS HAVE SET MY INQUIRIES BACK A BIT, BUT THE TROUBLE SHOULD BE RESOLVED IN A COUPLE MORE WEEKS."

"Oh?" Vira looks interested. "Has something happened in Hyrule? I hear rumors, but you understand, there's always some delay and confusion."

"IT'S NOT IN HYRULE, BUT IT DOES INVOLVE ONE OF THOSE ANCIENT FORGOTTEN EVILS ABOUT TO AWAKEN AND SPREAD CHAOS AND DESTRUCTION." You shake your head. "FOR ONCE, THE PROPER AUTHORITIES WERE INFORMED OF THE DANGER AHEAD OF TIME, AND THEY ARE MOVING TO DEAL WITH THE SOURCE OF THE PROBLEM BEFORE IT GETS OUT OF HAND."

"My, my," the Bat Lady murmurs. "That IS a change. The Forces of Light aren't usually so... proactive."

You're not sure you'd call the Shinigami Forces of LIGHT, at least not if your read of the ones residing in Karakura is at all typical, but Amaterasu certainly counts.

"THEY HAVE THEIR REASONS, I'M SURE."

"And YOUR reasons, for mentioning all of this, are...?"

"A GOOD BUSINESSMAN IS ALWAYS ON THE LOOKOUT FOR NEW POTENTIAL PARTNERS," you answer. "THAT IS, IF TRADE IS SOMETHING THAT INTERESTS YOU...?"

"Not especially," Vira answers. "I'm fairly self-sufficient, and the few things I need that I can't easily make or obtain on my own, I have arrangements for - mostly through Chloe and her husband."

"I SEE. WELL, IF NOT TRADE, THEN PERHAPS AN EXCHANGE OF SERVICES? I AM GIVEN TO UNDERSTAND THAT THERE IS A CERTAIN WATER-SERPENT THAT HAS CAUSED YOU SOME ANNOYANCE..."

"Oh, that thing." Vira tsks. "If you're offering to catch it for me, yes, that IS a service I'd be willing to make a deal for. Are you at all interested in potions?"

The first thing that comes to mind is the Red and Blue Potions of Hyrule. Red Potions in particular appeal to you, as while you've got a reasonably steady supply of magic-restoring consumables through Gen's shop and your own efforts - even if the individual products are inferior to Blue Potions - you currently lack a good source of healing potions that aren't of your own making. As you still haven't completely eliminated the extra mana cost for casting divine spells as a sorcerer, any healing potions you brew would be less effective than they truly ought to be, and it's a bad field to accept inferior substitutes in.

While you aren't certain of the nature of Vira's ties to Hyrule, they clearly exist, and while potions aren't the most significant of the kingdom's goods, they're almost ubiquitous across the length and breadth of its history. With that in mind, you ask if Vira knows how to brew them.

Her answer is a wince.

"I learned the recipes from my father, who learned them from a Hylian witch," the Bat Lady explains, "but some of the materials they call for either develop different properties when cultivated in Faerie, or else don't grow here at all. At least not locally. I've tried coming up with substitutions, but they always have some sort of flaw. One formula made you FEEL like you'd drunk a Red Potion, but only truly healed minor wounds; the rest of the effect was a shot of energy that wore off over time. Another variant came out toxic, and then there was the 'Blue Potion' that turned the drinker into a Chu."

She shudders in distaste at that.

You do likewise.

"Thankfully THAT was only temporary as well," Vira adds, shaking her head. "My best results to date are only about half as effective as proper Red and Blue Potions; anything more potent than that seems to invariably go wrong. I've never had much need for more potent restoratives, so I shelved the project."

There is an obvious possibility here, but do you want to bring it up?

After restoratives, you're most interested in potions that would permanently improve one's physical, mental, and/or metaphysical abilities, whether by direct and immediate magical enhancement, or as part of a gradual, long-term regimen.

You acknowledge that it's an unusual request, and could be a bit of a tall order besides, but you ask anyway.

"For the former, no," Vira answers. "Temporary enhancers are well within my skills, but permanent ones would require more powerful magic than I care to meddle with. For the latter, however... I do have a few things I brew to help my garden and my little servants grow up healthier than normal, but I've never tested those on a mortal creature." She smiles thoughtfully, eyes lighting up with curiosity. "That could be an interesting project..."

"Alex," Briar says warningly.

Um.

Beyond that, you're torn between asking for something that would let Vira show off her skill in the field of potion-making, or just asking if she'd be willing to give you lessons. Ganondorf's memories have given you a fair grasp of the subject, and Batreaux has offered a few pointers, but a refresher course from someone who appears to be a habitual if not professional potioneer certainly wouldn't hurt, and could give you some valuable insight into a different branch of the field.

Though if you're going to ask her to undertake a research project, seeking lessons on top of that might be asking too much...

"IF I WERE ABLE TO PROVIDE YOU WITH THE NECESSARY REAGENTS," you venture, "WOULD YOU BE AT ALL WILLING TO RESUME YOUR RESEARCH?"

"I might," Vira says noncommittally. "It would be... satisfying... to finally be able to say that I could brew those potions, provided the necessary materials were available. But," she adds, violet eyes narrowing at you, "that would increase my debt to you, and I rather doubt that just one or two such concoctions would clear the obligation."

"I DID HAVE A MORE LONG-TERM ARRANGEMENT IN MIND," you admit.

"I'm sure. Yet as I told you, I have little need for restoratives of such potency, and hence, little inclination to spend more time working on them than absolutely required. I do have my own projects, you understand."

"THE SEARCH FOR KNOWLEDGE IS NEVER-ENDING," you agree, nodding, "AND I WOULD HARDLY EXPECT A FELLOW SEEKER TO GIVE UP HER PERSONAL GOALS IN FAVOR OF MINE. BUT I AM ALSO FAMILIAR WITH THE DISCOVERIES THAT CAN BE MADE WHEN ONE SECURES ACCESS TO PREVIOUSLY UNAVAILABLE MATERIALS, AND I KNOW THAT HYRULE IS HOME TO MANY A PLANT, ANIMAL, AND MINERAL WHOSE PROPERTIES ARE USEFUL FOR MAGICAL ENDS, ABOVE AND BEYOND THE CREATION OF RED AND BLUE POTIONS - OR INDEED, POTIONS IN GENERAL. YOUR OWN WORDS IMPLY THAT ACCESSING THE KINGDOM'S BOUNTY IS SOMEWHAT... PROBLEMATIC FOR YOU; SURELY, AN ONGOING LINE OF SUPPLY WOULD BE OF INTEREST?"

Vira grimaces. "It would, save that it would increase my debt to you yet again, and likely in a manner impossible to resolve."

...hmmm, fair point. Unlike a relatively straightforward exchange of goods and services, such as paying a brownie for the chores he performs by leaving out a bowl of milk each night, you can't easily put a price on knowledge. Worse, every discovery the Bat Lady made using materials you'd acquired for her would increase her obligation to you, in a vaguely defined but ever-escalating cycle.

Such would be a decidedly unwelcome prospect for one of the Fae.

Fortunately, there are alternatives, which revolve around minimizing your involvement in the process and reducing the debt owed you as much as possible - ideally, to a single transaction, one service for another of equivalent value, although a limited series of lesser exchanges would also do.

Vira's remarks imply that she doesn't have the ability to travel to Hyrule herself, or to call natives of the kingdom to Faerie to make deals of her own with. Given the fact that her home is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside, the problem likely isn't a lack of proficiency with the school of Summoning Magic in general; rather, you suspect that the Mistress of the Dark (hail!) either did not and cannot learn the necessary spells, or there's some external factor getting in her way.

Assuming it's merely a lack of proper teaching, the simplest method of resolving this impasse would be for you to teach Vira the Lesser Spell of Planar Binding - or perhaps its Planar Ally equivalent, but your hostess's aura feels like that of an arcane spellcaster. Spells aren't just intangible knowledge, after all; they require effort and often materials to perform, and those things can be measured, have a value placed upon them, and be traded for in a much more reliable manner than words on a page or formulas in someone's head. That would reduce Vira's unquantifiable and steadily increasing debt to a fixed number, easily repaid. She'd still incur future debts to who- or whatever she called up from Hyrule, of course, but she'd be deciding for herself when such obligations were worth taking on, as well as making the bargains from a position of power that is... somewhat lacking when dealing with certain prodigal sorcerers.

Regardless, the greater freedom in managing her own affairs is something you believe the Mistress of the Dark (hail!) would appreciate.

Another approach would be for you to fashion a magic item with the ability to invoke the Lesser Spell of Planar Binding on its own, and trade that to Vira. This method would likely be less valuable to you personally, but would be all the more appreciated by Vira for that very reason. That said, you currently have no openings in your schedule for such work; it would have to wait until post-Auswahlen at the very least, and possibly until later in the summer or even the start of the new school year.

But there remains the question of whether or not something is preventing Vira from accessing Hyrule on her own, and it's an inquiry you think you'd better make before voicing any offers. A broken promise to a Fae is something you wouldn't want hanging over your head at the best of times, but especially not now, with everything else that's going on.

So you ask.

And Vira coughs into one delicate fist, looks away, and mutters something about her father being on "bad terms" with the Goddesses, and her having "inherited" some of that divine displeasure.

That's a polite way of putting it.

Briar squints at Vira, and then asks, "So which side of the family tree does the Vire blood flow from? Mom's, or Dad's?"

"My father was an Elder Vire," Vira admits.

Well. That would explain why the Goddesses didn't like him.

An Elder Vire is exactly what the name implies; an older, more experienced, and more powerful form of the bat-like demon. They're recurring villains in Hryulean lore, credited with the ability to assume humanoid form, perform various grades of Dark Magic, and weave fiendishly cunning schemes. Sometimes they're lieutenants to the Dark Lord(s) of an era, while at others, they're overlords in their own right.

You'd almost call them Hyrule's answer to vampires, except you don't believe Vires have ever been said to drink blood, or to suffer from the many and varied weaknesses attributed to vampires.

So, the question now becomes, do you want to strike a deal with someone who is somewhat disfavored by the Goddesses?

On second thought, you would really rather not be a test subject for a Fae magic-user.

That said, you could see your way to acquiring some mortal animals for Vira to test her work on; you're thinking mice or rats, which are commonly used in lab testing on Earth. If it's good enough for a few centuries' worth of scientific endeavor, it's good enough for your purposes, right? It's not like anything has ever gone horribly wrong/right in experiments involving rodents, right?

Idly swatting down images of the Black Death, the Secret of NIMH, and Master Splinter, you make the proposal.

Vira is delighted to accept, although she does caution you that she has no idea how long it will take to complete her study, what the results will be, or how valuable they would be. Meaning that if and when the time came, you'd have to make another deal with her to secure a supply of the finished product.

You have a feeling there's more to the story of Vira's difficulties with Hyrule than she has told you, as the Goddesses have never given you the impression they're the sort to buy into a "sins of the father" mentality - rather the opposite, really, in light of who YOU used to be and how positive your interactions with them have been in spite of that.

Plus, if it turns out that there IS a legitimate reason for Vira to be barred from the kingdom, you'd like to know about it before you finalize the terms of any deal you make with her. Going to a little extra trouble now could save you from a lot of trouble later on.

With that in mind, you ask your hostess if she'd object to you communing with the Goddesses to get their input on this matter before you proceed.

She grimaces, but agrees, asking only that you not call down divine attention inside her home.

Fair enough.

Rather than step back out into the garden cave, you end up being directed to the end of the hallway, where another suddenly lit-up doorway reveals a stairwell that goes down at least one more level, and up four. You follow it all the way to the top, where - instead of a long hall lined by multiple rooms, as was the case with the levels below - you find yourself in a stone-walled foyer with only other point of entry or exit. Opening that door, you find yourself in a roughly hemispherical chamber with walls of earth and roots, a moss-covered floor, and a curtain of roots and vines hanging just a few feet in front of your face. When you push through those, you find yourself back outside, somewhere on the slope of the hill; the only familiar landmark in sight is the peak of the hill itself, although the gnarled tree that's basically sitting atop Vira's front door is memorable enough that you expect you'll be able to find it on future visits without having to resort to magic.

You move a short way down the hill, looking for a relatively level spot to work on. Finding one, you start setting up for the Ritual of Communion, taking out your Incense Burner and filling it with some of the Black Turtle Incense the Shuzens gifted to you. Leaving that unlit for the moment, you take out your Hylian Glass Bottle, give it a quick scrub with the Spell of Prestidigitation to be sure it's clean, and then fill it with conjured water, upon which you subsequently cast the Spell to Bless Water.

Having followed you outside from pure curiosity, Cat hunkers down on the slop a short distance away, ears and tail twitching as she watches you work. Briar and Robin do you the favor of keeping watch for possible interruptions, while Vira hangs back in the shadowed hollow.

Once all the physical trappings are in place, you sit down and ponder what questions to ask, and how best to phrase them. Before long, you've drawn your companions and hostess into discussing the matter.

The obvious first question to ask is, "Does the part-Vire Fae known as Vira hold your disfavor?" and if the answer comes back "Yes," then asking, "Is it because of who or what her father is?" seems a reasonable follow-up.

From there, it gets murky. Vira explains that she has tried to travel to Hyrule using the natural portals that exist in and around this part of Faerie. Finding the way took some doing, as such planar passages are well-known to be finicky even when one end of them isn't located on Faerie, but that part of the task was manageable. The problem came when she tried to pass through any of the portals; as soon as the way was properly open, Vira was hit by a sudden crippling weakness, one that grew more intense as she drew closer to or became more set upon entering the portal.

"It was like trying to stand against a flash-flood or an avalanche and NOT get swept away," she recollects, shivering in the shadows. "And if it was that bad on THIS side of the portal, I didn't care to imagine how bad it would become on the other."

"AND THIS HAPPENED AT ALL OF THE PORTALS YOU TRIED TO USE?"

"Every last one," Vira confirms. "I tried to divine the cause, detected the power of the Golden Goddesses at work, and got a mild sunburn for my trouble. When I mentioned it to Father, he flew into a rant about how we'd been cast out and accursed, and how he would yet have his revenge." The shadows of the hollow make the rolling of her glowing violet eyes more apparent. "It was all very dramatic and villainous."

That's interesting.

What you're taking away from this is that a divine spellcaster of some power wanted to bar Vira's father from entering Hyrule - possibly just by means of planar travel, possibly entirely - and the Goddesses were willing to grant that request and keep it going for however many years it's been since then. And whether by design or accident, the effect has spilled over to include Vira-

You pause and ask the Mistress of the Dark (hail!) if she knows of anyone else subject to this forbiddance.

She mentions that her mother, brothers, sister, spouses thereof, nephews, nieces, and ALL their bat servants are also locked out.

-make that the Elder Vire's entire bloodline, and their closest servants besides.

This is starting to feel like a curse - one of those SPECIAL ones that hits whole families, because some foolish ancestor pissed off a witch who was already having a bad day.

"Is Vira's family magically barred from entering Hyrule?" is sounding like a good third question to add to the list. You think you might spend another question confirming if it's a curse or not, and if so, a fifth on whether or not giving her the means to summon Hyruleans would trigger it.

Do you have any others?

You don't mind having to reopen negotiations in the future. Right now you don't have any idea what Vira's research will be worth, which could end up with one side or the other of the exchange ending up cheated.

You don't want to cheat a Fae if you can avoid it.

After some further discussion, you believe you have a workable list of questions. Lighting the incense - to some curious sniffing and nose-wrinkling from Cat - you sit yourself down to begin meditating upon the Goddesses and your magic.

The thought crosses your mind as to whether or not you should stay "in character" while addressing the Goddesses. After a moment, you decide that doing so would be taking too great a liberty with the deities, and potentially hazardous as well; there's a non-zero chance that Din and/or Farore would answer you in kind, which would be awfully hard on your ears.

A few minutes on, you frown, sensing something moving closer-

"Cat, leave him alone," Briar warns.

"Bored," the Fae catgirl complains, from rather closer than she was when you closed your eyes.

"It takes ten minutes to cast the spell. He's about half done, but if you break his concentration, he'll have to start all over."

There is a grumbling sigh.

-but the presence moves back without incident.

Finally, you complete the ritual, open your eyes, and ask your first question of the divine presences hovering so very close: "Does the part-Vire Fae known as Vira hold your disfavor?"

Aw, I was looking forward to using my VOICE OF GODDESS.

Stop that.

"In part."

Somewhere behind you, there is a mild expression of surprise. It's almost drowned out by a sudden yowl and scuffling from Cat; when you glance her way, you find that she's backed away and is regarding you with the wide-eyed wariness of a spooked cat.

Pushing down an urge to inquire if she's okay, you press on with your questioning: "Is it because of who or what her father is?"

"Yes."

"Is Vira's family magically barred from entering Hyrule?"

"Yes."

"Was the means used to accomplish this a curse?"

"Yes."

Okay, so bloodline curse confirmed. You do wonder if that was intentional or not, but it doesn't really seem relevant at the moment, so you don't ask.

Instead, you say: "Would giving Vira the means to temporarily call Hyruleans to Faerie trigger that curse?"

"No."

That tentatively suggests you aren't dealing with another manifestation of the Curse of Demise. Just to be sure of it, you ask: "Would Vira meeting someone with the Soul of the Hero or the Blood of the Goddess trigger the curse on her?"

This "No" is markedly more emphatic than the previous one, and settles your concerns on that particular detail.

In the face of those answers, asking if giving Vira access to Hyrulean reagents would be an issue is perhaps going overboard, but you do it anyway. After all, potions can be dangerous for reasons that have nothing to do with curses.

Once again, the word "No" is chorused at you.

You inquire if any or all of your priestly tutors would be able to help in this situation, and are told, "No," but when you replace their names with Batreaux's, you get a surprisingly firm, "Do not interfere."

Um. You think you'd better spare another question for that.

"Do you mean, 'do not interfere with the curse on Vira's family'?"

"Yes."

Right, then; message received. The Goddesses WANT this particular curse to remain active for some reason, and Batreaux is most likely powerful enough to break it - and the wording of the warning suggests you'd have a shot at doing so yourself.

On a related note, you're becoming very curious indeed about Vira's father and what he did to tick the Goddesses off so much. However, this is neither the time nor the correct method to go about indulging your desire for more data.

Though it is perhaps not a coincidence that your next question is if the family are barred from Hyrule for their own protection.

The subsequent "Not intentionally..." sounds a little bemused.

"Is there a danger the curse is keeping Vira's family from?"

Your last question seems to have slightly surprised the Goddesses, and while you can picture situations where catching a deity off-guard would be a positive thing, this particular instance doesn't feel like one of them. If there's a threat to your hostess and potential business partner-slash-teacher that might be touched off by putting her in contact with Hyrule, you'd kind of like to know about it.

You doubt Vira's interest in the answer is any less than your own, and so you entreat the Goddesses for a little more clarity on the subject: "Is there a danger the curse is keeping Vira's family from?"

The response is a wry, "Link."

...okay, yeah; you have to admit, if returning to Hyrule would draw the Hero's attention to Vira and/or her family, that IS a pretty good reason for them to stay out. Though it also hints at the scale of the trouble that Vira's father must have been involved in before he wound up in Faerie and cursed never to return, or whatever the terms where.

Before your thoughts can wander too far - because seriously, what did that guy DO? - you shake your head and focus on your remaining questions. There's little point in asking if the Goddesses know the terms of this curse, as it's been made fairly obvious that the answer is "Yes," and the Spell of Communion wouldn't allow your patrons to convey the details. Likewise, there's no reason to ask if the shining sisters know how to remove the curse when they've already warned you off from interfering with it. Calling for help with the matter would certainly count as interference, so you can rule out asking about that, too. What does that leave...? Ah.

"Are there any other effects targeting Vira's bloodline that are relevant here?"

"Yes."

From the hollow beneath the gnarled tree issues a startled, "Wait, what?"

Oh, blast it.

You can feel the spell starting to fail around you, the presence of the Goddesses fading back into an unfathomable distance. You've got maybe two more questions left before the magic completely unravels, and you were kind of hoping to use those to confirm if this information was the sort of thing you should keep under wraps, in a "national security" kind of way, as well as ask after a matter that - while only tangentially related to this business - has the potential to be a little terrifying.

Because seriously, NOBODY needs to see what would happen if the Curse of Demise took over a Cucco. There's interesting theoretical exercises, and then there's nightmare fuel.

Still, it might take both of your remaining questions to figure out anything useful about whatever ELSE is afflicting the Mistress of the Dark

You can inquire after Curse resistance for the Poultry of Doom some other time; it's not a truly pressing need (you hope), and it was honestly a bit random.

Though speaking of Demise's final act of bad sportsmanship... "Are the other effects targeting Vira's bloodline due to THE Curse?"

"Indirectly."

Not the doom-bell tolling of a "Yes," but not the calming confirmation of a "No," either.

With the spell collapsing around you, you voice your last question: "Is keeping this information secret in the interest of Hyrule's security?"

"Yes."

And with that, the Spell of Communion ends. The threefold presence of the Goddesses vanishes, the flame in your Incense Burner is snuffed out, and the holy water that you used to cleanse the ground and your person sublimates away, leaving the grass, the soil, and your stony skin as dry as they were when you started.

"Well," Vira says shortly. "That was... quite something."

"Gone?" Cat asks, looking around warily.

"They're gone," Briar assures her. Then your partner pauses, and adds, "Actually, check that; they're MOSTLY gone. The Goddesses like to keep an eye on Alex, so they're kind of always watching him."

He's Din's favorite show these days!

There is a nervous feline growl.

"Don't worry, though," the fairy continues. "I have yet to see them physically manifest, even when Alex was throwing around enough holy magic to make a town full of demons quietly freak out-"

You sense two- no, THREE Fae gazes turn towards you at that remark. It seems Robin hadn't heard about that particular incident yet.

"-and even if they DID show up, Farore's the only one who's really a hugger." Again, Briar pauses. "At least, that's the impression that I get."

There's a time and a place, little one.

Most mortals are just so fragile...

Aw, does someone need a hug?

Get off me, you midget!

Briar's words do not appear to soothe Cat's nerves.

While your partner is failing to calm down the catgirl, you magically dry out your Glass Bottle, clean out the residue of the Black Turtle Incense from the Incense Burner, and cool the latter off. All the while, you turn over the information your session of communion with the divine revealed to you.

While you have several new questions - such as what Vira's father was up to, what the terms of this familial curse are, and what else is afflicting the family in addition to some priest's attempt to keep them locked out of Hyrule - you were at least able to confirm that giving Vira the means to call and trade with Hyruleans won't be any more (or less) dangerous than deals with the Fae usually are, as long as she stays out of the kingdom herself. So that's one method of payment for her potion-making skills that's open to you - maybe two, if she's willing to accept your aid in figuring out what her other apparently hereditary issues are.

Leaving the latter aside for the moment, you consider how to handle the former. Teaching Vira the Lesser Spell of Planar Binding could take a while, and you'd have to get her consent to summon her to Earth (or at least your Mirror Hideaway) for the lessons, but the whole process wouldn't cost you anything except the time and effort involved. Vira would also be paying those costs, though, which would cut into her efforts elsewhere - something both of you might honestly prefer not to happen.

If you went with a magic item - you're thinking a summoning circle cast in metals appropriate to the calling of (mostly) mortal beings, such as antimony, lead, or tin - the costs would be entirely on your end. Yes, your busy schedule means you'd have to wait a bit before you could start the project, but that would give Vira time to work on her potion research, and - meaning no disrespect to the Mistress of the Dark (hail) and her magic abilities - you'd probably finish crafting the "Circle of Mortal Summoning" much faster than she'd be able to master the spell.

So what is your preference?

Honestly, it doesn't much matter to you whether Vira decides to retain your services as a tutor or as an item-crafter. The former option would be the more materially profitable arrangement on your end, but not hugely so, and it would cost you AND your client a fair amount of time - anywhere from weeks to months, depending on Vira's ability to learn, how well your teaching skills would apply to a Fae student, and how often you summoned her. Item-crafting would yield less pure profit for you, but be quicker overall for both sides of the deal, and more convenient for the lady.

In any case, you've heard it said that "the customer is always right," so after heading back inside for a fresh round of tea - and so your conversation isn't overhead by any passing or remotely viewing individuals - you leave it to Vira to decide which of the options you can provide is more to her taste.

You aren't overly surprised when she states a preference for the magic item.

The remaining discussion of services available for trade, and the negotiations subsequent to that, result in the following not-yet-finalized arrangement:

On your side, you agree to remove the aquatic serpent from these caves, provide Vira with a supply of live mice and/or rats for use as test subjects in her potion experiments, and forge a Magic Circle of Mortal Summoning. Given that your schedule is booked for the immediate future, Vira is willing to wait until the winter solstice to take possession of the Circle, which gives you six months to work on it - far more time than you should need, unless the world ends next week or you get sucked into a Hell-dimension or something.

On her end, the Mistress of the Dark (hail!) agrees to research the short- and long-term effects of those ability-enhancing potions she is currently able to brew on mortal life, and if necessary, to develop safer formulas. In addition, once you have provided her with the Circle, she will acquire the necessary materials to brew Hyrulean restoratives and practice until she's able to produce Red and Blue Potions. Once those lines of research are concluded, Vira will then sell you the finished products, for prices yet to be determined.

Two outstanding points remain.

First, do you want to try and add potion lessons from Vira to this arrangement? As you currently lack the means to travel to Faerie independently, you would have to call her to Earth and let her into your workshop, and thus, your home, which is an idea not without potential issues. True, you've allowed strange fairies into the house and around your family before this, but Vira is an entirely different beast from Briar's Earthly cousins, and guest right would only constrain her actions while she was actually under your roof.

Second, would you prefer to count the favor of getting rid of the snake against the future cost of those potions yet to be developed, or would you rather trade it in for an equivalent value of the healing and mana draughts Vira is currently able to provide?

You decide to set aside your natural inclinations where Hyrulean monsters are concerned, and take a chance on allowing the Mistress of the Dark (hail!) into your home. Vira lives in the domain of a Great Fairy, after all, so while she might not be a purely benevolent individual, there is a limit as to how bad she can possibly be.

That said, if she accepts your request, you're going to be careful when you summon her. Making sure the door to your workshop is closed and your Magic Circle Against Unsupervised Little Sisters is working normally would be the least of those sensible precautions.

...the part of you that is as close to a typical nine-year-old boy as possible is probably enjoying that particular spell a little more than is really appropriate.

Vira proves somewhat reluctant to part with any of her knowledge of potion-making - which is understandable, given how it's the chip she's been bargaining with this entire time - but the prospect of at least starting to clear the debt she'll owe you for getting rid of the intrusive water-serpent as soon as possible clearly holds an appeal.

"Would you be returning here for lessons, or would I be expected to go to you?"

"WHILE I AM WORKING TO OVERCOME THE ISSUE, I AM CURRENTLY RELIANT ON THE AID OF OTHERS FOR PLANAR TRAVEL," you admit. "PRIMARILY ROBIN AND BRIAR'S MOTHER. IN FACT, MY PRESENCE IN FAERIE TODAY IS PART OF REPAYING HER FOR A SERVICE, SO YOU CAN UNDERSTAND MY RELUCTANCE TO FURTHER INDEBT MYSELF, EVEN TO A GREAT FAIRY."

Vira nods wryly. "I understand entirely," she assures you.

And given she lives in Chloe's domain, she's likely being completely honest with you.

Perhaps due to that streak of divinity in their natures, Great Fairies and their offspring are more relaxed about the topic of favors and debts than some other types of Fae. Those born and raised in mortal worlds like Hyrule are even more so compared to their kin who reside in Faerie itself, but in the end, they're still Fae. Hence the tales of the Hero recorded in the Holy Books always mentioning him doing favors for the Great Fairies or facing Trials at their behest BEFORE they gifted him with whatever lost spell or forgotten treasure they had laying around.

"AS MY ONLY OTHER CONTACTS WITH THE MEANS FOR PLANAR TRAVEL ARE EITHER LIMITED TO PLANE SHIFTING OR... UNRELIABLE FOR OTHER REASONS" - you do NOT want to get Ambrose involved in this if you can help it - "IT WOULD BE EASIER FOR ME TO SUMMON YOU TO MY WORKSHOP."

Vira frowns. "But if I can't go to Hyrule-"

At this, you clear your throat. "I NEVER ACTUALLY SAID I WAS FROM HYRULE."

She pauses, and thinks back.

"No," the half-Vire Fae woman says slowly, with a look of dawning amusement and interest. "No, you did not."

Fae don't like being directly lied to, yet they appreciate deception and pranks - all the more so when one manages to perpetrate them while telling the technical truth, if not the complete truth.

On a related note, you're kind of looking forward to Vira's face when she finds out you're not actually a Goron. From the way none of the rest of your party have so much as hinted at the fact - not even Cat - you suspect you aren't the only one.

You might need to get pictures of that...

"Well," Vira murmurs, "now you've gone and gotten me curious. And Father did say that you could learn as much about your craft by teaching as by studying alone... I suppose a few lessons wouldn't be out of the question, then."

Success!

Although, how many lessons does "a few" cover? Obviously, more lessons will be better for expanding your knowledge and practicing your skills - to say nothing of your supply of potions - but by the same token, they'll use up more reagents than you usually do, eat into your time, and increase the chances of things like unplanned meetings between your latest teacher and one or more members of your family. Then again, a longer period of training would also give you more chances to build on your relationship with Vira...

While you think Vira might have been willing to give you a year's worth of instruction, she did seem a little reluctant to promise that much, given the two research projects she'd also agreed to take on for you. On top of that, your schedule is still going to be fairly packed in the months and year ahead, with a significant amount of time, materials, and money already earmarked for other projects.

For all that you want to conserve your resources, though, limiting yourself to a single "moon's" study feels like it would just be a wasted opportunity. If you could commit yourself to several hours of study and practice each day, and Vira was willing to go along with it, it might be a different story, but as it is, two hours every couple of days alongside everything else you have going on just isn't enough time to make any real headway in the subject.

Going with a "season's" worth of training strikes a good balance between what you're asking of Vira, how much you can afford to commit to her lessons, and what you hope to get out of them. And it doesn't preclude the possibility of making another deal for more in-depth instruction sometime in the future, particularly if you manage to impress Vira in the interim and when your potion skills prove sufficient for her to entertain the idea.

Gained non-Priority Bat-Winged Brews

With that, the terms are settled and the deal made, which leaves you with a snake to catch.

AFTER you finish your tea, that is.

While nursing your last cup, you idly ask Vira if she knows, or even just knows of, the Celestial SORCERER OF DARKNESS, Batreaux.

She blinks slightly at the added emphasis you place on the title. "I can't say that the name is familiar. Why do you ask?"

You explain that the Risen Demon is your tutor in the DARK ARTS, and that current circumstances have been reminding you of his particular... aesthetic... rather keenly.

"How so?"

"WELL, ALTHOUGH I SUSPECT MY DREAD MASTER WOULD BE THE FIRST TO ADMIT THAT HE SHARES NONE OF YOUR GRACE OR LOVELINESS-"

"Flatterer."

"-THE TWO OF YOU NONETHELESS HAVE A NUMBER OF TRAITS IN COMMON. A CERTAIN SHARPNESS OF THE TOOTH AND CLAW AND MENACE OF THE VISAGE, IF YOU WILL, AS WELL AS A PREFERENCE FOR LOWER LEVELS OF ILLUMINATION, AND A SENSE OF STYLE THAT MOST WOULD CONSIDER EERIE, OR EVEN MACABRE."

"And then there's your title," Briar notes in agreement.

Vira groans. "Oh, for Darkness's sake... I take it those silly bats have been singing my praises again?"

After spending most of the afternoon working and singing with what felt like half the forest, you find it entirely too easy to picture the little colony nesting a few rooms away raising their squeaky little voices in musical homage to the Mistress of the Dark (hail!).

"...NOT LITERALLY, AT LEAST?" you offer. "THOUGH ON A RELATED NOTE, MASTER BATREAUX IS RATHER FOND OF BATS AS WELL. AND NOT JUST BECAUSE OF HIS NAME."

Though he's long since rid himself of it and ascended to a higher state of spiritual being besides, Batreaux retains a fondness of and pride in his original demonic form. Once your relationship was close enough for you to feel comfortable broaching the subject, months ago now, he didn't hesitate to cast a Spell of Illusion to show you what he used to look like, and those were definitely bat wings he had back then.

In any event, if Vira really is unfamiliar with Batreaux, you don't see a need to suggest summoning him. At least not now. Maybe another time, after you've had a chance to bring your tutor up to speed on today's events and get to know the Mistress of the Dark (hail!) a bit better.

At last, you finish your tea. Complimenting Vira on her hospitality, you rise from your seat - as does everyone else.

"COMING ALONG TO WATCH?" you guess.

"Mm," Cat agrees, apparently unaware of the mustache her milk-heavy tea left on her upper lip.

"If I can't keep you out of trouble, I can at least spot its weak-points for you," Briar says.

"And laugh at your fishing technique," Robin adds.

Cat smirks. "Mm!"

You have no friends in this room, you swear.

Before you leave, you ask Vira if there's anything she knows about the snake that would be helpful to you. Anything from how big it actually is - because you didn't get more than a fleeting glimpse through your Prying Eyes - or what sort of magical resistances it has to whether or not it'd be willing to talk or make a deal.

Vira describes a creature some twenty feet in length and about a foot across, with whitish scales and glowing red eyes. You already knew that it had a remarkable striking speed, but Vira's assessment makes it sound like the serpent is just quick in general, able to maneuver swiftly enough in the water to dodge precision-based spells and get out of the effective range of ones with a larger area of effect. The largely lightless conditions of the snake's preferred hunting grounds don't appear to inconvenience it at all, and Vira notes that when she tried throwing a Curse of Blindness at the creature, it did seem to be affected - for all of about three seconds, before recovering entirely.

Whether that means the snake shrugged off the curse or has some form of high-clarity non-visual sensory perception - or for that matter, both - is open to interpretation.

On a related note, the snake has evaded and resisted other spells Vira cast at it, but she can't say for certain whether or not the creature has proper magic resistance, or if it's just very resilient and lucky. The fact that it never left the water didn't exactly help; you know that many spells have their function altered or impeded if cast into or through water, as opposed to open air, and the snake seems to know and actively exploit that fact.

It also has some magical abilities of its own, which it knows how to use quite well. Due to her Vire lineage, Vira can see in the dark with her eyes and by means of echolocation, but she attests that the snake was able to obscure itself against both sensory methods and blunt her attempts at tracking it via Divination Magic besides. She further states that the "troublesome beast" has a degree of control over water, having used pressurized jets to attack from a distance, pulled up swirling shields to protect itself, and quite likely to increase its mobility. Vira further suspects the snake may have some command of healing magic, or just incredible vitality, but she can't offer any proof of that beyond the fact that she hurt it fairly badly a couple of times, and it recovered.

Naturally, the serpent is also poisonous - supernaturally so - and besides delivering the venom via bite, it can spit it for some distance, with enough volume and force to cause bruises on top of the contact effect.

"I found that out when I tried to talk to it," Vira recollects sourly.

"Was this before or after you attacked it?" Briar presses.

"BRIAR," you chide.

"Hey, it's a legitimate question!"

"She's right," Vira admits. "Plenty of Fae, including members of my own family, would have reacted to such an intrusion with violence. Under different circumstances, it would have been my preference as well, but out of respect for Lady Chloe, I did try to talk first." She bares her fangs in a scowl of distaste. "On that note, snake venom tastes awful."

You blink. "YOU'RE SAYING THAT YOU TRIED TO NEGOTIATE... AND THE SNAKE LITERALLY SPAT IN YOUR FACE."

Vira nods impassively.

Well, then. There goes the diplomatic approach.

When it's clear Vira has nothing more to add, you thank her, move into the hallway, and fetch your hardhat from its hanger before opening the door and stepping out into the darkness of the mushroom cave.

"They return! Alive!"

"The Mistress is merciful!"

"HAIL!"

"YOU FOLKS MIGHT WANT TO SHIELD YOUR EYES," you advise them. "I'M GOING TO RENEW THAT LIGHT SPELL FROM EARLIER IN A SECOND."

"Must you?"

"Aw, not again..."

"Thank you for the warning," Sir Bats says over the complaints.

There is a faint rustle, as of dozens of leathery wings folding over delicate optics, after which you cast the Spell of Light on your hardhat, following up with the same for each of your companions as they emerge from Vira's stone dwelling.

Then you blink, as the lady herself emerges-

"Behold! The Mistress graces us with her presence!"

"HAIL!"

-and shakes her head with a sigh at the antics of her minions.

"YOU'LL BE JOINING US AS WELL, I SEE," you remark.

"It should be entertaining," she replies.

"Mm," Cat agrees.

"Entertainment, Mistress?" Sir Bats inquires.

"Hail?"

"The young sorcerer has agreed to rid us of a certain ophidian annoyance."

There is much muttering among the bats at this. Then:

"I have to see this."

"I agree!"

"Everyone, then?"

"AYE!"

"To the Dark Lake!"

"ONWARD!"

And there is another, much louder fluttering of wings as the colony collectively takes flight, heading for the crack in the wall that marks the exit of this cave. As they pass through, several remarks are dropped in their wake:

"See you there!"

"Hope you put on a good show!"

"Try not to drown too fast!"

"Yeah, that would just be boring..."

Seriously, you have no friends on this plane at ALL.

Shaking your head, you opt to seek verification of Vira's information about the snake, and fire up the Spell to Know the Enemy, to see what the Goddesses have to say on the subject.

...

Huh. Didn't work.

The problem is readily apparent. The Spell to Know the Enemy only functions when the designated target is a creature you have encountered in the past 24 hours. You've found that the magical definition of an "encounter" can be a little loose, including anything from a face-to-face meeting with the subject to viewing them through a Spell of Scrying, but it seems that it doesn't extend to viewing a recorded image of a creature gathered by what's effectively an automated probe. Or possibly not when the image in question is little more than a speed-blurred smear of white and two streaks of red, further obscured by water. You're pretty sure the former is the real cut-off point, though.

Annoying, but good to know. And you still have Vira's information, which - given she wants this thing gone and has already failed in her own efforts to kill it or drive it off - you think you can trust.

So you ask yourself: Self, what tactics and spells are appropriate for dealing with a relatively large, fast-moving, and evidently fairly intelligent aquatic monster with access to poison, combat hydrokinesis, and magical stealth?

And Self replies: obviously you want better mobility in the water, so shifting to Zora form seems called for. That has the bonus of allowing you to breathe underwater as well, sparing you the need to cast a Spell of Water Breathing.

Under different circumstances, you might opt to take on the form of a Water Elemental and dispense with breathing entirely, but turning into a mass of living water when you're heading into battle with a hydrokinetic seems like a bad idea.

Moving on from shapechanging, you consider other options. The Spell of Freedom of Movement will let you fight normally while in the water, and also prevent the snake from constricting you, if it has that sort of ability; both are very good benefits, so that spell goes on the list. Haste would counter the snake's demonstrated speed, so you include that one as well.

The Spell of Augmentation you cast for mining is still going strong, so you can skip the usual ability-enhancers, and your Memorian Warmage's Robe gives you more protection than Mage Armor, so that's out as well. On the other hand, the Shield Spell would provide superior protection to the Vambrace of Force Shielding, so you might want to use it. Or heck, use both, and try to layer your defenses.

Seeing as how the snake can use water-based attacks, you'll get some mileage out of your Spell to Resist Water - Kahlua will probably find that funny when you tell her this story later - but you lack a similar blanket defense against poison. The Spell to Delay Poison will at least prevent the serpent's venom from affecting you for the course of the battle, and the Spell of Persistent Vigor (once extended a bit) would increase your chances of throwing off the poison's effects entirely, as well as providing several additional benefits - not the least of which is accelerated healing.

Round it out with Greater Magic Weapon and Keen Edge to up the deadliness of your Blessed Blade, and you think you have a pretty good suite of buffs, consuming... about a tenth of your maximum mana, actually. More like a seventh of what you currently have in the tank, but still, you'd have enough energy left that you probably don't need to down a mana potion like you were planning.

Is this acceptable?

As you turn over the spells in your head, it occurs to you that you haven't accounted for the safety of your "audience" in the coming battle, or, for that matter, taken Briar's current form into account. At her usual size, she's small and nimble enough to be quite difficult to hit, but she can't even fly in her human guise.

You query the Fae accompanying you where they'll be watching the battle from.

"Hm," Cat replies thoughtfully. "Climb down?"

"We'll remain at the top of the cliff," Vira replies firmly. "That's far enough to be well out of the snake's reach, and we likely would have had to use magic to see it clearly in any case."

Ah. "WILL YOU BE TAKING CARE OF THAT?"

"I shall."

Well, then; that frees you from having to worry overmuch about them. As for your partner...

"DID YOU WANT ME TO CAST A SPELL OF FLIGHT ON YOU, BRIAR?"

She considers it for a moment, but shakes her head. "Better not; I'm not used to flying at this size, let alone without wings, and this really isn't the time to experiment. And since you're done exploiting me as free labor for the day-"

Oi!

"-I don't really need this form anymore. On that note..."

*Pop!*

"Ahhh," your partner sighs, once again about two inches tall and - judging by the drawn-out noise of tinkling bells and the brief puff of fairy dust - literally stretching her wings. "That feels better. Still not sure how you big people can tolerate carrying all that extra weight around all the time."

"You get used to it," you and Robin reply in unison, before doing a mutual double-take.

As the entrance to the great cavern where the "Dark Lake" is located comes into view ahead, you start casting your chosen spells. Since you were perhaps being a little optimistic about how quickly you'd be able to find and defeat the snake, you extend their duration a bit, giving yourself a couple of hours to work with - just in case.

"That is a... Zora, correct?" Vira asks, as your Goron form compresses along every axis other than height.

"It is." Robin studies you for a moment before adding, "Though I don't think I've ever seen a Zora with gold highlights on his scales like that."

You pause between casting two spells to look yourself over. Huh, he's right; you DO have a very slight dusting of gold on your otherwise red and white scales. A mark of divine favor, perhaps? Or is it just the echo of the Triforce shining through?

A little from Column A, a little from Column B.

Putting that aside, you return to casting, finishing up the last couple of spells at the top of the cliff where you previously dispatched your Prying Eyes to scout the vast dark chamber. Making one last check of your multi-layered enhancements, as well as the lesser, entirely defensively focused set of spells shielding Briar, you turn to the humanoid members of your audience.

"WISH US LUCK?"

"Good luck," Robin says agreeably, "and if you get my sister hurt or eaten, I will have to kill you."

...what, no confidence in a fellow Big Brother?

Well. See if you ever consider offering HIM a machinegun again.

"Win!" Cat says, pumping a fist into the air with an eagerness that belies her largely impassive expression.

SHE, on the other hand, gets extra fish and/or boar meat the next time you make a deal for food.

"You've got enough magic wrapped around you at this point that I doubt you NEED luck," Vira says, gaze sliding over you as if piercing through the Greater Spell of Magic Aura you added. "But I'd rather not jinx the proceedings, so: good luck."

"Fight well!" Sir Bats calls, from... out over the lake?

"I've got five bugs on him lasting a minute!" another of the bats says.

"Ten bugs says he doesn't!"

"You're on!"

Shaking your head, you call on your ki, slip over the edge of the cliff, and sort of half-climb, half-slide down the rock face.

Gained Climbing E+
Gained Ki Grip F++
Gained Slow Fall F++

If you were any less skilled at the Ki Step technique that underlies the Slow Fall technique, or if you'd retains Goron form to this point, you think you'd be falling normally about now.

After a remarkably long descent, you spy the bottom of the natural stone wall coming up beneath you. In the light cast from your hardhat, you see that the shore of the Dark Lake is mostly stone, mud, and a carpet of fungi - literally so, where the mosses and lichens are dominant, although mushrooms make up a respectable percentage of the population. Somewhat to your surprise, there's also a small, weathered wooden dock nestled in between the shore and a "reef" of tall rocks, with a chair and a table. A small boat sits to one side, devoid of sail, oars, or engine.

The bats DID mention that Vira used to fish down here, or just hang out and listen to the cave-toads. However, it's clearly been some time since the Mistress of the Dark (hail!) was able to take her leisure on the shore of the Dark Lake. The dock has been ravaged by something, its planks sundered and at least half submerged, the furniture flipped and smashed to bits, and the boat torn loose from its moorings and driven right up onto the rocks, its hull staved in. The fungi have since encroached on the wooden construction, covering most of it.

Between the fungi, the placement of the docks, and the fact that you did lose a few of your probes, you can see how the remainder might have missed the place.

When you reach a reasonable distance, you "dismount" from the wall, kicking off to convert some of your downward momentum into lateral movement. Landing easily from the five-foot jump - albeit to the detriment of some of the lichen - you straighten up and look around, sword in hand as you consider the lay of the land. You aren't picking up any signs of active magic - if that boat was enchanted to be self-propelling, the magic was lost with its breaking - but some of the fungi, the mushrooms in particular, glow under your Mage Sight. Several of those also seem a bit brighter under Fae Sight than you might credit.

On the positive side, nothing else seems to be in range. Yet. That does beg the question of whether you should set up to face the snake from the shore, or venture out to meet it in its element. You DO know the Spell to Shape Wood, and there's a good amount of material laying about to work with, plus space to put it in. For that matter, Shape Stone and Wall of Stone are also in your repertoire. You could try to fortify this beachhead against ophidian oppression...

You've never actually fought an opponent from a fortified position before, but you have done the "confront giant monster in a large open space" thing on numerous occasions, and you're well aware of the disadvantages. A large enemy with the space it needs to move around freely can leverage its size and power to the fullest extent; defensive architecture can potentially take that advantage away, on top of giving the smaller party in the fight something to take cover behind. And the tougher said cover is, the more effort the attacker has to expend to punch through it - if they can do so at all.

With that in mind, you compare spells for a moment, before deciding to go with Wall of Stone. At your level of skill, it simply has a much larger area of effect, which is what you really need to raise (nearly) instant fortifications.

As you gather your mana, you look over the shoreline again, noting where the rock of the cave peeks through the built-up (or worn-down) muck and silt that accounts for most of the rest of the non-living portion of the "beach," and consider how best to secure the site.

If you're going to fight from land, you might as well get some solid footing. That'll be easy enough; just lay a segment of your "wall" on its side, and you've got a five-by-five platform about three inches thick. Chain a few of those together, and you'll have a walkway or an impromptu arena depending on your preference, and you could leave other segments upright to form screening walls - perhaps solid, or perhaps with gaps between sections, to lure the snake into striking at you "the easy way" and thus exposing itself to your blade.

The shore of Vira's little abandoned cove is perhaps sixty feet long. A single casting of the Spell of the Wall of Stone would let you cover that entire distance with stone platforms and still have enough material to spare to raise those defensive walls, whatever form you prefer they take. However, this wouldn't do much to hinder the snake's movements. If you prove too troublesome, it could simply turn around and swim back out to deeper waters.

For that, you think you'll need a second casting of Wall of Stone, held in reserve until the serpent is in the cove proper. Once you've drawn it in, you can raise the Wall from the deeps- okay, from the shallows behind it, fusing with the stone reef as it goes until the whole area has been walled in. Not only will that prevent the snake from escaping, it'll cut the beast off from the water of the Dark Lake, and potentially weaken whatever hydrokinesis it can bring to bear.

There are other options, of course. Wall of Stone is pretty freeform, and your mana reserve is over half full, which would allow for a great many castings. If you want to go totally nuts and raise a proper fortress wall or a miniature tower for a dramatic confrontation, or turn the beach and the cove into a maze of open-roofed, flooded-out passages to hinder the snake and hide yourself, you can. You might even take a page from the book of the (possibly insane) makers of the Armos, create a bunch of knightly statues, pretty them up and sever them from their bases with Stone Shape, and finally use the Spell to Animate Objects to bring them to life to fight the snake in your stead! Assuming you can get that last spell to work; you've been practicing it with Batreaux, but this would be its combat debut, and your control over multiple and/or man-sized objects is still a bit iffy...

You decide to limit your renovations. A semi-shielded path along the shore will give you the footing you want, the openings in the shield wall will provide the opportunity for melee that you'd like, and the whole thing should take up a small enough area not to disturb any of the might-be Fae mushrooms rooted about the place.

Some of the lichens are going to get displaced when you start growing walls out of the existing rock, but you feel that's an acceptable compromise; none of them have the suspiciously strong auras that might or might not indicate proper sentience.

With your decision made, you cast.

Mana flows out of you, and in response, the substance of a broad but short stone on the beach flows outwards, mass coming from out of nowhere to form a square stone platform, five feet to a side and three inches thick, anchored atop the rock below. A patch of lichen is essentially lifted off the top of the small boulder and left sitting near the middle of the panel, looking a little forlorn.

At the direction of your will, the magic and the stone continue to unfold and expand. Three more five-by-five sections branch off of the first, one rising vertically to form your first shield while the other two head off in opposite directions. As they grow, small pillars push their way out of the sand below and rise to fuse with the bottom faces of the new sections, before rapidly thickening into proper (if very short) support columns.

And so it goes. In short order, you've paved over the entire shore of the cove, uprooting a few more lichens and mosses along the way and displacing maybe a quarter of the smashed dock besides. The stone screens are big enough to cover you completely no matter which way you stand, thick enough that they should be able to stand up to the force that a twenty-foot snake capable of blasting water with the force of a firehose can bring to bear, and properly anchored along the base and back so that they won't simply get knocked over. You also included a series of semicircular platforms that extend out from the front of the boardwalk in front of each of the open spaces, reinforced from below.

As soon as your mana calms, you cast again, and those projecting platforms bulge and begin to expand upwards. What forms as a result can't really be called statues, or even pillars; they're just blank cylinders of brown stone about seven feet tall and four feet across. You place one of these atop each of the semicircular spaces, and give it a moment to see if anything breaks off, because that is a LOT of weight you just pulled out.

Gained Architecture D++

When your new additions fail to break their supports and tip over, you start casting the Spell of Stone Shaping. It takes three separate attempts to fully sculpt one cylinder into your desired form, chunks of brownish rock falling away in miniature avalanches as your magic takes a bit off here, a bit more off that, and a LOT off the top. Much of this detritus plunges into the water with splashes of varying volume, and nearly as much piles up around the base of the forming statue.

When your first attempt at shaping an Armos Statue is properly finished, you pause to look it over, and can't repress a wince, for despite your best efforts, the result is really rather crude. Certainly, the shape is that of an armored humanoid, with two horns rising from the top of the helmet, a shield on its right arm and a sword in its left, but beyond that? The details are vague, lines irregular where they should be smooth and blurred where they should be distinct, and the whole thing has a decidedly blocky aspect - almost like a sprite from one of those old 8-bit video games brought to life.

It would appear that even with Din's Favor and your refined affinity for the Element of Earth, the limitations of the Spell of Stone Shaping can only be pushed so far.

Eh, fair enough. And good to know for when you get about doing some REAL architectural work...

"Harder than it looks, huh?" Briar inquires.

"ACTUALLY," you reply, lightly rapping the back of one webbed hand against the breastplate of your bit of magical masonry, "I'D SAY IT'S EXACTLY AS HARD AS IT LOOKS."

"Oh HO, stone puns," the fairy drawls. "Save those for when you're a Goron, partner. They work better."

Setting your short conversation aside with your plans for the future, you proceed to sculpt each of the five remaining cylinders into Armos-like statues. Each individual casting isn't overly difficult, but as you keep piling them on, you start to feel like you're lifting some of that stone by hand.

Once that's done, you check your reserves, and WOW, that ate a lot of mana! No wonder you feel a little tired, you just burned a solid third of your maximum mana in under two minutes.

You make a mental note to consider developing a more powerful - and ideally, more precise - version of the Spell of Stone Shaping before you start trying to make entire castles appear out of thin air, or anything similarly amibitious.

In any case, your concerted effort has left you with six crude but recognizeably knightly statues, each about the size - if many times the mass - of an adult human or Hylian.

Looking over your little squad, you take a deep breath, and call the words for the Spell to Animate Objects to mind. You've managed to animate an object with approximately man-sized VOLUME before, but never anything with near this much MASS, nor more than one at a time.

"YOU'RE SAYING I SHOULD MAKE FISH AND WATER PUNS LIKE THIS, THEN?"

"OR IS THAT A RED HERRING?" you conclude.

"See, that's better," Briar replies. "Minus points for announcing it first, though; I saw that coming from a mile off, and dragging it out just made things worse."

There is a pause.

"...NOT GOING TO SAY ANYTHING ABOUT LOW-HANGING FRUIT?"

"Puns, Alex. That's pretty much a given."

Based on your past practice sessions with Batreaux, you figure there's a good chance you'll be able to animate one of these statues at a time. The real question is whether or not you can animate more than one of them simultaneously. Everything you've studied about the Spell to Animate Obejcts tells you that such a feat should be entirely feasible, given the level of power you're able to dedicate to it; the only question is whether or not your skill at directing the magic is up to snuff.

With that in mind, you decide to go all-in from the start.

That's my boy!

You gather the necessary mana - and then pause, considering.

In the big scheme of things, Animate Objects doesn't last very long. Even in your best test performances, you've barely gotten it past the seventy-five second mark, which isn't too far off what you've calculated to be your current upper limit. Also, given that you developed this spell out of a mix of Witchcraft principles and quasi-divine stubbornness, it's not quite as smooth as pure sorcery; the extra power you have to devote to making it work tests the limits of your grasp of Transformation Magic.

Not that this is a BAD thing, mind you - more practice is always welcome - but it does mean that if you want this casting of the Spell to Animate Objects to last longer than usual, you can't simply add more mana and be done with it. Given all the mana you've been throwing around setting the stage for this fight, you have to assume that the snake has noticed you and may already be coming to investigate; since you don't want to get jumped in the middle of a ritual, that method of boosting the spell is out. You also can't free up some mana by reducing the number of targets; the way the spell is designed, you're going to need almost everything it can give you to animate your little fighting force.

Fortunately, there is some room in the formula regarding range. If you were to shorten the "reach" of the spell by a step, you'd get the mana you need while still be able to affect all six statues at once.

Or you could just leave things as they are. If your test-run works, you can always re-cast the spell when you need it, it would just be more efficient to have the spell up and running before the snake gets here.

You make your choice.

You speak the words.

You enforce your will.

And slowly, with trembles that shed the last lingering chips and flakes of sloughed-off stone from their broad armored shoulders, the brownish hue of your newly-made statues lightens to a mild shade of orange. With a grating slither of stone upon stone, the six Armos Statues slowly turn on their pedestals - which you severed from the platforms beneath during their creation - until all of them are facing you.

Moving nearly as one, they raise their swords in salute, and hop in place-

*BA-BOOM*

-making the ground shake under their combined weight, and sending more bits of loose stone flying over the edges of the platforms, into the water below.

Learned Animate Objects
Gained Transformation C+++

"Hooo-boy," Briar exclaims nervously. "Old Kingdom ruins vibes intensifying, partner."

For your part, you have to work to limit yourself to a shark-like grin of satisfaction, rather than throwing back your head and laughing in triumph like the dark sorcerer you are.

So, that's your plan. Draw the snake into the cove, raise a Wall of Stone behind it to keep it from escaping, and then turn loose your bargain-basement Armos Statues to hack it to bits and stomp it flat.

Anyway, if your abundant use of mana HASN'T gotten the serpent's attention by now, the noise of your warriors bouncing up and down almost MUST have alerted it to your presence.

With that in mind, are there any last-minute preparations you'd like to make?

You go ahead and tighten up the range aspect of the Spell to Animate Objects, and use the freed-up mana to give the statues a longer operational lifespan.

Have you mentioned lately that you love being a sorcerer? Because you do.

Actually, scratch that; Master Batreaux would be TERRIBLY DISMAYED if he knew you weren't properly getting into the spirit of things. After all, wielding DARKEST SORCERY isn't just about having ridiculous power or tapping into the Dark Element - make that, THE DARKEST OF ELEMENTS - and it's not even about committing GREAT OFFENSES AGAINST THE GODDESSES - which is a GOOD thing, as otherwise you'd be pretty much screwed.

No, DARKEST SORCERY is about STYLE. Instead of being all business, all the time, keeping your emotions as rigidly in check as your mana, Batreaux has encouraged you to EXPRESS your feelings and power, or as a certain cackling Emperor (and your New York fellow in kung fu sorcery) might put it, to LET THE DARK FLOW THROUGH YOU.

And so you allow yourself to revel in your success, throwing back your head and laughing like a mad scientist or necromancer whose UNHOLY MASTERPIECE has just risen from the operating table and let out its first groan.

"THEY'RE ALIVE! ALIVE!"

"...give that old bat a kick in the shins, I swear..."

"DID YOU SAY SOMETHING, PARTNER?

"Nope! Not a thing. Carry on as if you were a complete lunatic."

"VERY WELL. BWAHAHAHAHA!"

You've delayed long enough. Your defenses are set, the battlefield prepared, and your audience waiting.

IT IS TIME.

Leaping atop a nearby stone that wasn't entirely subsumed into the creation of your little beachside wall, you clear your throat, and then call out to the darkness beyond the circle of your head-mounted light.

"HEAR ME, O SERPENT OF THE DARK LAKE! I AM ALEX HARRIS! WARRIOR! SORCERER! CHOSEN OF DIN, THE GOLDEN GODDESS OF POWER! AND I AM HERE ON BEHALF OF VIRA, MISTRESS OF THE DARK-"

From above, there comes the sound of half a hundred squeaky voices raised as one: "Hail!"

"-TO CONTEST YOUR OCCUPATION OF THIS CAVERN! WILL YOU FACE ME AS A PROUD SERPENT, OR WILL I HUNT YOU DOWN LIKE A WORM?"

For a moment, there is no response but the echoes of your own voice, carrying across the water.

You give it a minute.

...

"...DO YOU THINK HE DIDN'T HEAR ME?" you finally ask, turning your head in Briar's direction.

"I can't see HOW," she mutters. "Well, unless he's not-"

!

"-wait, scratch that," the fairy corrects herself, even as your attention is drawn out to the dark waters, where something has just PINGED on the edge of your sensory range. Something that is moving closer at fair speed, and in a matter of seconds, has entered visual range.

Through your Spell to Animate Objects, you feel your Armos warriors tremble with something that might be anticipation, or at least threat-recognition.

You will them to hold still as stone, preserving the element of surprise as long as possible.

At first, all you can see of your oncoming opponent is its wake, plumes of water thrown up and out to the sides of an unseen form rocketing - or perhaps, torpedoing - along just under the surface. But as the disturbance draws rapidly closer, you catch sight of a long, lean shadow, which is shortly revealed to be a glittering, almost metallic silver-white, save for two points that glow bright red - perhaps reflecting the illumination of your Light Spell, perhaps of their own accord.

The jetting water dies down as your soon-to-be foe approaches the cove, slowing its advance to avoid slamming into the stones. It comes to a stop-

!

-just outside the mouth of the cove, perhaps thirty feet away, and there is another long moment as nothing happens.

*SPLASH*

"HISSSS!"

Then, with an eruption of water and a sibilant snarl, the snake emerges from the Dark Lake. Perhaps ten feet of powerful coils extend above the surface in a typically serpentine S-curve, tipped by a head some four feet long and eighteen inches across at the jaw, though it narrows quickly until the snout is only half that. Vira estimated the serpent to be twenty feet in length, but either she miscalculated or the beast has grown since their last enounter, because what you can see puts it somewhere past thirty feet long.

The huge white snake regards you for a moment, red eyes narrowed in a glare that reveals as much cunning awareness as any of the other Fae you've encountered to date.

Then it opens its maw, revealing foot-long fangs and a tongue longer than your leg, and hisses a clear challenge of its own.

OPHIDIAN TROGLOFAE: ALBOA

You're holding the mana to cast the Spell to Create A Wall of Stone in reserve, until the snake is properly inside the cove. While this temporarily denies you the use of magic for other reasons, you're hardly without options for fighting at range, should you wish to employ them.

Even as Alboa returns your challenge, you are already gathering your ki. You want to get the big snake to come closer, ideally right up to the wall where it'll be in reach of your Armos warriors' weapons, but you'll settle for getting it inside the cove. The best way to do that, you feel, is to annoy it enough to come after you, and since your mana is on standby for that Wall of Stone, ki will have to do the job.

You dismiss the Ki Wave technique out of hand, as simply too weak to be useful against a foe of this size, and hence a pointless drain on your reserves. Ki Shot is probably the most likely to hit, given the spread-out rapid-fire nature of the move, but again, the individual projectiles probably wouldn't have enough punch to do the job. That leaves a Sword Beam or a Ki Blast, both of which you're approximately equally proficient at.

After a moment's consideration, you go with the latter technique. Sword Beam is more of melee- to short-range move, and while thirty feet isn't an unreachable distance, the added step of channeling power through your Blessed Blade would impose a delay - perhaps enough of one for Alboa to sense and dodge the attack.

Ki Blast, by comparison, is just point and shoot.

Which you do, snapping your left hand forward, palm out, with a kiai.

Gained Ki Overload C

White energy flashes across the surface of the cove, aiming not for the head that Alboa could readily shift out of the way, but the lower portion of its exposed body, which has to support the weight of everything above it on top of being somewhat constrained by the resistance of the water around it. The combination should make that area somewhat easier to hit - in theory, anyway.

The white serpent shifts its body, trying to move out of the path of your attack, but with the added boost of your Ki Overload, the Ki Blast is too quick. You still don't score a clean hit, striking more to Alboa's right than dead-center, and some of the force seems to glance harmlessly off those glittering scales, while more is simply absorbed by the monster's thick body.

But the following hiss carries a distinct note of anger.

The water surrounding Alboa swirls about, and several streamers - thin in comparison to the serpent's girth, but not that much smaller than your own forearms, you think - rise from the surface of the Dark Lake to twist and coil around their summoner.

Anticipating a barrage of watery projectiles, you ready yourself to duck behind one of the nearby shields-

!

-only for your eyes to widen in surprise as, by pulling its head up and letting out a rasping cry, Alboa causes an aura of Elemental Water-

And Fire? Wait, is that-

-to form almost directly under your feet!

Haste on top of Ki Enhancement on top of the Spell of Augmentation on top of your natural physical prowess is enough to carry you out of the immediate path of the GEYSER that seemingly erupts from the blank stone and blasts dozens of feet overhead. It does not, however, suffice to keep you completely dry, as innumerable droplets are flung outwards from the column with enough force to leave bruises. Your Spell to Resist Water "soaks" those and your Zora scales shed the residue-

"Owowow!" Briar yelps. "Hothothot!"

-but neither defense does anything to protect you from the intense HEAT of the boiling beads, or that which is radiating off of the surging column. Worse, it seems that Alboa's spell is not a one-off blast; it continues to erupt, casting more and more water high into the air.

And what goes up, must come down.

You manage to get out from underneath the sudden rain of scaling hot water with minimal further searing, but this leaves you standing at the far right end of your fortified pathway, with very little room to maneuver. Alboa's Geyser - and that is its proper name, for you recognize this effect, having the exact same spell in your repertoire - continues to jet a good forty-five or fifty feet into the air, with force enough to carry you straight to the top of the column if you were fool enough to throw yourself into it. The dangerously hot rain, meanwhile, falls over an area almost exactly as wide as the Geyser is tall, covering most of the rock- and fungus-covered shore and the majority of the cove besides.

And Alboa is gathering the waters again, preparing to cast another spell.

Options flash past your mind's eye.

Environmental Adaptation is out. There's a difference between being able to adapt to hot bathwater and water hot enough to COOK you, and it'll be some time yet before you can attempt the latter feat.

Resist Fire would work well enough. The only real drawback there is that you won't be able to cast Wall of Stone right away, but given Alboa isn't in position for that anyway, this is hardly a loss.

On the other hand, you might want to do something about the spell the snake is casting right now. Your first Ki Blast didn't work out so well, but now that you've moved to the end of one "arm" of your boardwalk, you're somewhat closer to Alboa's position, and it's working magic besides; another Overloaded Ki Blast could well connect, and might disrupt the snake's spellcasting on top of injuring it. Alternately, you might be close enough to make a Sword Beam practical.

Yet another option would be to try and dispel the Geyser. It'll run out eventually, now that Alboa's stopped focusing on it, but "eventually" could be quite a while as far as this battle is concerned.

Ki rushes down your arm and swirls about your Blessed Blade, which begins to resonate with the infusion of life-force, thrumming in your hand.

You spare a moment to reflect that it would have been less costly to do this if you hadn't gotten seared by the hot rain of the Geyser, before pushing more ki into your weapon.

The thrum increases to an audible "charging beam" noise, which is now accompanied by an aura of white energy emanating from your weapon.

Alboa doesn't seem to notice. The glow of your weapon is faint enough - and sufficiently lacking in any exotic hues - to not stand out against the cone of illumination projected by your helmet-mounted Spell of Light. The comfortingly ominous hum, meanwhile, is drowned out by the booming hiss of the Geyser.

When the Sword Beam reaches its peak, you swing-

*SKRA-KOW!*

-and a brilliant blast of light flies from the tip of your blade, screaming through the damp air towards Alboa.

Gained Sword Specialization (Hylian Sword) E+++

The snake definitely notices, but between the lack of any obvious warning, its focus on its spell, and the increased speed of your Overloaded Sword Beam, it can't get out of the way in time.

The hit is direct, taking Alboa almost right in the middle of its thick, scaly belly. The serpent's body recoils from the blow, bending back at the point of impact and bringing its head forward and down sharply - not quite enough to count as doubling over, you'd say, but more than enough to make it clear the Fae predator felt that hit.

From the way the coiling streams of water suddenly burst apart and fall back into the lake, you disrupted Alboa's spellcasting, too - and judging by the angry hiss and the way the water-snake surges towards you, fangs bared and water jetting to its sides, you've also made it angry!

Huge success!

Several things happen in rapid succession.

First, Alboa closes to biting distance.

Second, you simultaneously dodge the serpent's fangs and add the final twist to that collected packet of mana you've been holding onto.

Third, and as a direct result of the above, a Wall of Stone rises from the submerged floor of the cavern, forming a straight line across the twenty-foot-plus gap that distinguishes the waters of this little cove from the rest of the Dark Lake, and fully separating them. You pile stone upon stone, aiming to raise the Wall a good fifteen feet high or more above the water's surface, while also expanding it over the rocks that shield the cove, to make it that extra bit harder for Alboa to escape.

Fourth, the white snake's tail erupts from the waters of the cove and lashes out at you, either trying to smash you into the boiling rain of the Geyser or to seize you as a prelude to constriction - the latter objective already foiled, not that Alboa could know it.

Fifth, while leaping over the heavy tail and getting in a quick counter-strike with your blade - to no obvious effect, the lack of proper footing having robbed your blow of enough power that your sword's edge skitters over silver-white scales, leaving little more than a scratch - you send a mental command through your Spell to Animate Objects.

Sixth, the nearest of the Armos Statues jumps in place, turning about in mid-air as it does so, and brings its stone sword down at Alboa's neck with the full force of its short fall behind the cutting edge-

!

-only for the serpent to frantically evade on rocket-like jets of water, its red eyes wide with alarm at this attack from an entirely unexpected foe. Some of the spray of Alboa's emergency maneuver catches you, but fortunately, it's just ordinary lake water, and not especially cold at that; your Spell to Resist Water is able to reduce the force of the blast to tolerable levels, and keeps your clothing dry in the bargain.

As Alboa twists about to see what you've done to the landscape, with water once again snaking up from the lake around its scaly form even as it does so, you consider your next move. With your trap sprung, you're free to cast spells again - not that you have a huge amount of mana to work with, but you could probably manage four more big spells, and of course your Spell to Animate Objects is still going. Now that Alboa is aware of the danger one faux-Armos represents, it's probably going to try to avoid the others on general principle. Under different circumstances, you'd just send your warriors out after the snake, but you are concerned that their sheer weight will make it difficult or even impossible for them to properly maneuver anywhere except on your stone walkway.

You could PROBABLY extend the walkway out into the cove, to give the Armos Statues a way to get closer to Alboa without immobilizing themselves. Unlike the Armos Knights you saw other people fighting at your birthday, however, your creations don't seem to be able to jump very far; that means you've have to lay down complete paths for them to move along, and due to the limitations on how much material you can conjure with a single casting of Wall of Stone, they'd have to be very short paths or partially submerged ones.

And that Geyser is still thundering away, making most of your fortifications and better than half the cove too hot for you to venture into unprotected...

You consider your options, and decide to spend some of your remaining mana on a multi-pronged magical offensive.

First, you call up one of the simplest bits of Witchcraft that you know: the Curse of Ill Omen, which imposes a temporary case of bad luck upon the victim.

As you chant the words of the spell, you spare a moment to regret that there is no means of increasing its chances of punching through whatever spell resistance Alboa possesses - or at least, none that you currently know how to apply. Batreaux has mentioned such techniques, but hasn't gotten around to teaching them to you just yet, and you've not really had the need.

You take some reassurance from the fact that spell resistance is the ONLY way in which the snake might withstand this curse as you let it loose.

There is no visible aspect to this particular magic. The caster simply focuses their power, makes the sign of condemnation at the intended target, and utters the words, at which point-

!

-something like a heat-haze goes shimmering and shifting through the air between you and your opponent, leaving a faint aura of ill-will in its wake!

...that'll be your own bad luck with curses showing up again.

The good news is that THIS time around, the curse doesn't start to physically manifest itself or try eating its victim alive.

The bad news is that, from the way Alboa's head whips back around to stare in alarm at the magical distortion hurtling towards it, your spell was noticed. The giant snake tries to shift out of the path of the oncoming misfortune, but the haze has been growing as it goes, extending half-visible tendrils of magic in all directions like the web of a spider or the manifold arms of some shapeless horror.

At least a dozen of those "limbs" snare Alboa's body and hold fast, whipping the main "mass" of the curse around and into the snake's back-

!

-and then the whole thing just kind of shatters, residual mana spattering in all directions like a spilled drink all over the kitchen floor.

You recognize the phenomenon from certain spars with Altria, and let out a sound that mingles annoyance at the monster's spell resistance standing up to your craft, and relief that you don't have a giant snake thrashing around, screaming in agony as some curse-born abomination eats it alive.

That time with the Mother Gohma was bad enough, and THAT thing was an almost literal demonspawn.

Speaking of which, the way the Curse of Ill Omen DIDN'T materialize in mid-air is interesting, as is the fact that you didn't experience an internal wrenching from something trying to suck out your mana and ki when you cast the spell. Is it possible that there's some kind of threshold of power and/or malice that a curse has to pass before this whole "giving birth to a monster" thing becomes an issue? Did the fact that you weren't aiming at a Hyrulean monster, ultimately born of Demise's power, play a role? Or was it a mix of those factors?

Because if any of those are indeed true, that would be a) a significant relief, and b) could free up at least some of the darker portions of your spell repertoire for testing, or even use.

After what happened to the Gohma, you've kind of been avoiding experimenting on live subjects with that particular branch of magic...

Pushing those thoughts aside, you focus on the fight. Your enemy is uncursed, but seems to have been spooked enough by what just happened - and determined to shake off every last bit of the mana involved - that it hasn't tried to attack you again.

Tactically speaking, it makes sense to try and land the Curse of Ill Omen again.

Besides, the power of SCIENCE compels you!

But before you do that, you cast a different spell, another piece of Witchcraft that you've never had cause to call upon outside of periodic practice sessions. The Spell of Sure Casting hones the caster's Mage Sight, causing the elements of the an enemy's aura that specifically reflect its resistance to hostile magic to become more apparent. This in turn makes patterns and weaknesses easier to pick out, and increases your odds of slipping a spell through.

This is the sort of effect that would be incredibly useful to have active for the duration of a fight, but Sure Casting was designed strictly as a one-time effect, probably to simplify the formula as much as possible and so make it accessible to the greatest number of users. Just lengthening the duration of the magic won't change the fact that it automatically shuts off after the very next spell you cast, and you can't change that without extensive research - so you don't bother trying.

As Sure Casting goes to work and part of Alboa's aura seems to surge forward in your awareness, you start gathering mana for your next spell.

The snake doesn't sit still for this, of course; behind the brightly lit lines that represent its defensive power, you see the rest of its magical energy shifting in the manner that presages the monster casting a spell of its own - one that you immediately recognize as a fourth-tier Spell of Summoning. Alboa started casting while you were in the middle of shaping the Spell of Sure Casting, but it doesn't finish its spell until you're mid-way through re-casting the Curse of Ill Omen. That suggests a proper summoning-!

Before you can get the curse off, Alboa raises its head to the dark, distant roof of the cavern, and hisses loudly.

Summoning Magic flares behind you, and when you twist to take a quick look, you see that four snakes have materialized amid the moss and rocks. Though far smaller than Alboa, each is still easily six feet long, and their proportionately more slender build suggests they're the sort of snake that incapacitates prey by biting rather than constriction. Their scales are a ruddy, almost rusty hue, their eyes glow a bloody shade of red, and they give off an aura of poison, water, and demonic taint.

Even as you ready yourself to dodge and your sword to be swung, you turn back the other way, just long enough to get off your second attempt at the Curse of Ill Omen. This time, you try to give it a dramatic boost: "AS YOUR OWN COILS TWIST 'ROUND YOUR PREY, SO LET FORTUNE TWIST AGAINST YOU!"

"What's with the poetry all of a sudden?" Briar wonders.

This time, when you let the spell fly, there's no almost-visible manifestation or sudden sense of lurking malevolence. Through your Mage Sight, you can still see the invested mana shooting over the surface of the cove, spreading out as it goes, but this time it looks far more like a net - or even a shot of webbing from your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man - than some eldritch predator.

Once again, Alboa tries to dodge, but the look of alarm and sudden burst of fear-born speed you saw last time are absent - and that's all you have time to watch, as the menacing hiss of the lesser snakes draws your attention back to them.

But that's fine; your Mage Sense still picks up the moment when the Curse of Ill Omen comes into contact with Alboa's aura, and - rather than being spattered across it and shed like a loose scale - twists and binds around it like a nest of constrictors.

As for the summoned snakes now attacking you, they landed in a very loose line, with one perched atop a fuzzy boulder, two more down amid the smaller mushrooms, and the last one on a piece of mouldered wood from the ruined dock. They didn't bother to form up before attacking you, which leaves the one that was on the rock is trailing behind the rest a bit, having lost a second or so slipping down from its perch while those three sidewound their way towards you.

On open ground, with your fitness and active enhancements, they'd never be able to catch you.

Under these conditions, with rocks to the left of you, searing rain to the right of you, and open water behind you, your mobility is somewhat... impaired.

"Hiss!"
*Zip*

But if you don't currently have the space to run like a cheetah, you've still got plenty to dodge the lunging bites of the ophidian attack squad-

*SHING*

-and strike back.

One strike from your Blessed Blade proves to not be enough to kill one of these serpents, at least not right away; the bloody gash you just carved into the creature's side would likely kill a mundane snake eventually, although given that these ARE demonic-

"Hiss!"
*Whoosh*

-they're almost guaranteed to be unnaturally resilient.

"Hiss!"

Aggressive, too, and evidently not overly bright-

!

-although their numbers, (lack of) height, and close proximity DO present something of a problem. You don't want to hack at the stones with your Goddess-given sword, and the snakes are low enough that your Armos Statues can't hit them with their own swords-

*BA-BOOM!*
*Squi-poof!*

-but on the other foot, they can just jump on them, as your only currently revealed minion just did, pulverizing the body so totally that it immediately discorporated.

This does nothing to prevent one of the remaining snakes from lunging at the statue, and promptly chipping its teeth on the stone armor.

And in the handful of moments it's taken for all this to happen, you've gathered and shaped the mana for your next spell. All you need now is a moment to cast it-

Gained Spell Combat E+

-which you easily obtain by rushing past the snakes, deflecting one with your sword and the other with your Shield Spell. Once you're clear, you skid to a halt on the mossy surface, spin about, and focus on Alboa-

"HISS!"

-who is gathering mana for another Spell of Summoning.

Better to be sure, you decide, before employing Sure Casting to once again reveal the weaknesses in Alboa's magical defenses.

As you wait for your mana to cycle and become available for casting your next spell, you hold your ground for a moment as two of the surviving summoned snakes slither closer, hissing angrily. When they get close, you dash past them, once again fending one of the pair off with your Shield Spell while driving the other back with your blade. You make more of an effort to try and injure the latter serpent this time, partly because it's the one you wounded before, and partly because you don't particularly enjoy being outnumbered, even if your multilayered defenses make it vastly unlikely that these creatures could actually hurt you.

"Hi-"
*Slice!*
"-SSSS!"

You are somewhat gratified when your blow connects cleanly along the top of the snake's head, causing the demonic serpent to thrash in what you hope to be the beginning of its death throes.

For your part, your speed carries you past the two snakes and back onto the path, where you note that the third remaining serpent has backed into the boiling hot rain to get away from your only actively moving Armos Statue. The searing spray of the Geyser doesn't seem to inconvenience the serpent at all, probably a legacy of its supernatural heritage, but it wouldn't harm the Armos, either.

Due to the limited space involved, however, your warrior has paused at the edge of the downpour, waving its sword menacingly. You run behind the animated statue, using its bulk as an additional shield against the snake-

*BA-BOOM!*
*Squi-poof!*

-and also keeping the creature distracted as, behind it, the second Armos leaps into the air and comes down with serpent-squishing, summon-ending force.

At this point, you start casting what you hope will be the deciding spell of the battle, but before you can finish, Alboa concludes its second Summoning Spell.

What appears this time isn't a snake, but some kind of blue-skinned imp-like creature about three and a half feet tall, with short, straight horns and thin, leathery wings. Rather than manifesting on the shore, Alboa has called in this creature in the waters of the cove, out from under the curtain of the Geyser's spray.

The newcomer looks around, groans wetly, and utters something in one of the Elemental Tongues that you don't fully catch. Something about snakes?

Gained Aquan F++

Alboa hisses with a distinct note of annoyance.

Waving off the admonition, the aquatic imp turns to you and burbles what sounds like an apology, even as it takes a deep breath that causes its body to swell up to an almost disproportionate degree.

When the imp spits out a cone of clear liquid a moment later, you've already ducked behind one of your stone screens. From the hissing that ensues when the faintly oily-looking substance splashes upon the stone before and around you, this was a good move.

With stone on two sides, you lower your conjured Shield to block the last remaining snake once more, as you focus on completing your spell. Then you lean out of cover, taking aim at Alboa as you call out: "THERE ARE TOO MANY IDIOTS IN THE WORLD! UNFORTUNATELY, I'M ABOUT TO MAKE ANOTHER!"

And then you fire off the Spell of Feeblemind.

It connects, your magic sliding through Alboa's defensive aura without resistance, and focusing on the serpent's head.

Alboa thrashes, hissing violently as if trying to throw off something physically clinging to it, and in response, your spell flares brightly in your Mage Sight.

For a moment, you think it isn't going to work, that even when cast as the equivalent of a seventh-tier spell - the best you can currently manage with Enchantment Magic, barring rituals - the mind-affecting magic will just shatter on those scales and slide away like your first attempt at the Curse of Ill Omen did.

But then something changes. Alboa's face wasn't exactly expressive before, but the cold malice that you've been seeing in its red-eyed gaze since the beginning of the encounter just sort of fades away. More dramatically, the great snake stops looming so high above the water, lowering itself to the surface of the cove and beginning to swim about rather aimlessly, and with no evidence of the jet-like spray you noticed before.

The elemental imp calls out in its wet voice.

The snake doesn't reply.

When the imp turns back to you, HIS expression is both easily read, and distinctly worried. He bubbles something new.

"WHAT DID HE SAY, BRIAR?" you inquire, as you continue to casually hold off the last snake with your force-shield. Though you leave an opening for the serpent to slither up onto the stone walkway, it's not taking the bait, and is in fact actively keeping a distance from your Armos.

Not entirely stupid, then.

"He says, 'Mercy?'"

Although taking prisoners and then ransoming them off is a time-honored tradition, you decide not to follow it - at least not this time. For one thing, the practice breaks down a bit outside of proper military actions, coming across more as kidnapping, and for another, trying to ransom a summoned creature is a bit silly.

True, you could have tried demanding that the... elemental, maybe? Because despite his imp-like appearance and the tainted nature of the snakes Alboa summoned earlier, you aren't getting a sense of corruption from this creature, only Elemental Water and spiritual energy.

Whatever his provenance, the elemental imp isn't a particularly powerful creature, and the nature of the magic that brought him here would limit what he could do. Practically speaking, there's little profit to be made here and now, unless you were to demand his name so you could summon him yourself.

And really, if you were to show him mercy, wouldn't that just make him more inclined to deal with you in the future?

"HE DIDN'T ACTUALLY HURT ME," you observe to Briar, "SO SURE, WHY NOT?"

Your partner repeats that, and the imp throws up his hands with a single exclamation akin to a splash.

"'Saved! Hahaha! And they said my lack of killer instinct was a BAD thing!'"

Gained Aquan F+++

Then you notice Alboa moving his way.

"LOOK out!" you and Briar yell in tandem.

The imp spins around.

Alboa's mouth gapes wide.

The little blue-skinned fellow makes a sound you're pretty sure is not supposed to be repeated in polite company.

*GULP*

And then the snake swallows him whole.

All of a sudden, you're feeling fresh out of mercy.

"BRIAR," you say flatly, "YOU MIGHT WANT TO COVER YOUR EARS."

She does so.

You take a deep breath, shift a few degrees to your left, and reinforce your throat with ki. Then you let out a roar backed by a massive amount of mana, and a lesser, somewhat clumsily shaped amount of ki.

Gained Ki Shout F++

The surface of the enclosed cove and the curtain of steaming rain instantaneously deform as your Greater Shout slams into them, the water driven out of a cone-shaped area that reaches from your position at the upper end of the crescent across to the far side-

*CRACK!*

-where the shockwave does some unfortunate damage to your stoneworks, before proceeding past them to rip up the wet sand and ravage the fungi-covered rocks that lie beyond, and then echo thunderously from wall to wall of the vast cavern.

Alboa is almost entirely engulfed by the blast, save for the last five feet or so of its tail, and the silver-white serpent stiffens in shock and agony as the sonic attack rolls over it.

You note with some surprise that your spell blew quite a lot of water clear out of the cove, revealing and then tearing up a stretch of the muddy bottom and causing a sudden, massive downpour further back on the beach. The exposed area doesn't remain so for more than a second or two, water doing as water does and seeking a new level, while the cast-off "rain" of the Geyser begins to fall once more, but with the main body of the Dark Lake cut off by your wall and unable to pour into the lowered pool, the end result looks distinctly shallower than before.

You consider the situation for a moment, then shrug and cast one more spell, raising a couple of walkways of stone that project out from your fortified boardwalk and as close to Alboa's writhing body as possible.

*BA-BOOM!*
*BA-BOOM!*

Four of the Armos Statues - one of them visibly cracked and deformed - respond to your mental command, thumping along the paths to the wounded and disoriented serpent. Alboa is so large that the Statues can't get quite high enough into the air to jump on it, but that's fine.

Taking up flanking positions, the warriors raise their swords.

It's over quickly-

*Ssssuuuuck-POP!*

-or so you thought, before something blue, dripping wet, and stained an appalling shade of purple by the serpent's blood gushing everywhere drags itself out of Alboa's severed throat.

The elemental imp stands there, not quite hip-deep in the rapidly darkening water, trembling violently and with a look of horror and misery on its face.

Briar sucks air through her teeth. "Oh, THAT'S a summoning memory I don't envy him."

"AKKIKO WOULD PROBABLY AGREE," you observe, thinking of the unfortunate end to the woman's shot at the Ring of Trials.

You consider your remaining mana, which is lower than you think it's ever been, but still sufficient to cast a spell or two. And you DO know the Spell of Memory Lapse...

As much as you sympathize with the elemental being, your mana is down to the dregs, and you're still in Faerie. This is not an ideal state of affairs, to say the least, and you'd rather not push your luck even farther.

Besides, the imp just saw you mindwipe Alboa. Summon or no, he'd probably have some Concerns about the idea of you poking around in his brain after that.

Still, you ARE honestly sympathetic to his situation, so you decide to offer your condolences.

Aw, that's a good-

Knowing that such things sound more genuine when not filtered through a translator, you make the effort to speak the words yourself: "YOU HAVE MY SYMPATHIES."

Pfft!

-bahwuh?

Briar and the imp both turn to blink at you, the latter gargling something with a note of dull confusion.

You sigh. "WHAT DID I ACTUALLY SAY, BRIAR?"

"'You have my tears,'" your partner says dryly.

Hee-hee-he- ahem!

"And he said, ''What tears? Your face is dry as the shores of Earth and Fire.'"

"...I'M CRYING ON THE INSIDE?" you offer.

Bubble-whimper.

"'So am I. So. Am. I,' is what he says."

Gained Aquan E

Uh, we should... probably intervene, before he hurts himself.

Further conversation is interrupted by a golden glow from the direction of Alboa's remains, which are slowly sinking into the waters of the cove. Unlike some prior monsters that you've defeated, the Ophidian Troglofae's corpse doesn't dissolve into motes of energy; instead, particles of power rise from the body and begin swirling around above it, quickly gathering to a point of light that flares brightly, revealing a Heart Container.

The imp makes a sound of awe that needs no translation.

For your part, you glance at the waters of the cove, particularly where they're stained with Alboa's gore, and decide you'd rather not wade out into that. The Geyser is still blasting away, boiling rain falling over most of the area and making an approach by dock a rather painful prospect, unless you go ahead and cast that Spell to Resist Fire you were considering.

Then again, you DO have a few Armos Statues standing around within reach of the descending crystalline blessing, and it's high enough in the air that one of them could catch it and bring it to you. Some people might consider it irreverent to have a magically animated servant handle a gift from the Goddesses rather than going and getting it yourself, but you don't think any of the sisters would take offense at it.

You're a Dinnite, after all. It would just be leveraging your power.

...still, you have to admit that the Goddesses might appreciate the show of respect on your part.

This would be an absolutely ideal situation for the Spell of Mage Hand, save for the fact that the minor telekinetic magic doesn't work on magical items. Items with untapped magical potential, yes, and those marked with lingering energies of expired spells or failed enchantments, but anything imbued with active magical power produces enough interference to disrupt the humble cantrip's "grip."

Shrugging, you issue a mental command to the Armos Statues. While three of them about-face and start hopping-

*BA-BOOM!*

-back up the piers to their original positions along the walkway, the fourth reaches out with its right arm to catch the gently descending Heart Container on the blank face of the stone shield. The construct draws its shield back to its chest and raises its weapon-bearing hand to balance the Heart Container, then turns with a grating slither to begin-

*BA-BOOM!*
*BA-BOOM!*

-a booming and somewhat awkward advance through the Geyser's hot rain, keeping the Heart Container steady as it goes.

*BA-BOOM!*
*BA-BOOM!*

Shortly thereafter, the statue stands before you, dripping and steaming, and lowers its shield.

You reach out and take the Heart Container, and disappear it into your pocket for later analysis and absorption.

You know, when you've got some mana to spare.

Gained Heart of Water

The Armos Statue salutes you, and you return the gesture. Then the construct rotates one hundred and eighty degrees-

*BA-BOOM!*

-and goes banging back along the boardwalk to its original position. When it has returned, all the Armos Statues leap into the air, spinning about with their swords extended as if performing a Spin Attack-

*BA-BOOMBA!*

-and raising the rocky blades high as they land.

You swear you hear a wordless victory cry.

"RIGHT," you muse, dismissing the Spell to Animate Objects and turning to the imp. "NOW THAT THAT'S SETTLED, HOW ABOUT WE- AND HE'S GONE."

The only indication that the summoned creature was ever here is a fading aura of magic and a spreading cloud of snake-blood, spittle, and stomach acid.

After a moment's consternation, you shrug. You can always summon that particular imp later; having encountered him in person isn't quite as good a hook as having a name or title to attach to your Summoning Magic, but it's plenty to distinguish him from others of his kind.

"Our work here is done, then?" Briar asks.

Technically, you HAVE fulfilled the terms of your agreement to get rid of Alboa. However, as you glance from the displaced wreckage of Vira's old dock to the massive amounts of stone you conjured up, you privately admit that you might want to do some cleanup. You're a bit unsure as to HOW, though.

The Spell to Transmute Rock to Mud would be ideal - you've got more than enough coverage with that one to account for everything you created, and a few minutes' ritual work would cover the mana issue - except that it almost certainly won't affect conjured and magically shaped stone.

Maybe you could cast an extended Spell of Hairline Fractures to weaken the rock, then turn yourself into a huge elemental or something similarly powerful and smash it to bits? Or just Shout at it again; either approach would be rather noisy and leave a lot of rubble, but otherwise ought to work.

You could also (very carefully) use the Spell of Stone Shaping to sever the foundations of the wall blocking off the cove from the rest of the Dark Lake, then cast the Spell to Animate Objects again and just move the massive piece of stone aside. That would at least give Vira back her old view, and allow her to convert the walkway and pier at her leisure; given that she carved her home out of the interior of a giant stalactite, she obviously knows a thing or two about Earth Elementalism.

Or you could just leave it. The point about Vira knowing how to work stone applies here, too, and it's not like you made any promises about keeping this cove intact.

There is also the matter of Alboa's remains to consider. You have made something of a practice of crafting magic items from the bodies of your slain enemies, after all, or at least the ones that don't disintegrate upon death, and even putting that aside, you imagine Gen could find some clients who would be willing to pay well for reagents sourced from a giant Fae water-serpent.

...then again, you think, eyeing the huge corpse uncertainly, you've never tried to butcher something that big before. It promises to be... well, disgusting. Also seriously effort-intensive, but mainly disgusting.

As you look upon your works, you despair of removing them. It would be really nice if you'd mastered the Spell of Disintegration, but that one is amazingly dangerous, too powerful for you to conceal, and can leave rather obvious traces of its use besides - there's nothing in nature, and few things even in the supernatural, that leaves holes in targets quite like Disintegration does. Throw in the Mirror Plane's tendency to reflect rays of energy even when it really shouldn't, and it's made practicing the spell rather tricky.

With that convenience unavailable to you, you're left looking at a lot more work than you really feel up to providing, for results that would be questionable at best. And when you consider that nothing was said during your negotiations with Vira about cleaning up the aftermath of your fight with Alboa, you don't want to accidentally do her a favor.

So instead, you decide to just leave the boardwalk, statues, and lake-wall as they are. Vira can deal with them herself, if she feels the need to, or you could always come back to clean up after mastering the Gate spell.

The disposal of Alboa's remains is an entirely different story, however. That's a LOT of high-grade potential reagents in one inconveniently large, slightly mutilated package, and whether it's your predatory productive instincts or Gen's mercantile influence speaking, you find you just aren't willing to leave it all to rot.

As with the clean-up of the Walls (and Other Pieces) of Stone, however, you find you're just not in the mood for a round of bloody butchery. So instead, you consider the idea of shrinking Alboa down and storing it for later.

The white snake is rather too big for the Spell to Shrink Items to affect, but if you were to double... no, better make that triple the target volume, just to be sure...

You wait a few moments more for the Geyser to finally give out, and once the last of the hot rain has fallen, you hike along the steaming and slightly slippery stone pier until you're standing next to Alboa's remains. As you're about to begin a ritual-casting of an Expanded Spell to Shrink Items, you hear the flutter of dark wings.

And then not-so-suddenly, bats.

"Three cheers for the Serpent Slayer!" Sir Bats calls from somewhere in the living cloud.

"Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!"

"Yes, yes, well done, and all that," Vira says over the echoes of her minions' cheering, as she just sort of emerges from the swarm, a slightly wild-eyed Cat tucked under one arm. Letting the smaller Fae go, the Mistress of the Dark (hail!) looks around at your renovations with a slight frown. "I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all of this, but the snake is dead as we agreed, and good riddance to it."

"Good riddance!" Sir Bats adds.

"Bah!"

Gained 1 Gratitude Crystal

"Good fight," Cat offers, sending you a thumbs-up.

"You didn't use the Heart Container," Robin notes, as he drifts down on his own wings. "Again."

"He likes to analyze their effects on him," Briar informs her brother.

"Hm. You're aware that could be considered impious in certain quarters?"

As long as he doesn't damage the Heart Container, I've got no issue with it.

Trying to understand the effects powerful magic has on one's self is perfectly sensible, especially in this case.

Meh.

"I THINK I'LL BE FINE," you note.

The smith shrugs. "As long as you're aware of the possibility. So," he adds, clapping his hands, "are we done here?"

"ALMOST. GIVE ME A FEW MINUTES?"

With that, you turn and begin a ritual casting of an Expanded Spell to Shrink Items, keeping your fingers crossed as you try to increase the volume allowance.

In the end, it works, and you're left holding a slightly soggy plush snake a little over two feet long. Its scales are silver-white, its eyes are little red Xs, and a forked tongue hangs listlessly out of one side of the serpent's mouth.

Sometimes you wonder about your magic.

Gained Alboa Plushie

You've got one final stop to make before calling it a day, and that's to re-visit Lady Chloe and Lord Raka to let them know your mining trip is concluded, and seeing what they have to say about that Fae emissary that stopped by the other day.

You let Cat know where you're going, and ask if she'd like to accompany you.

Wide-eyed frantic head-shaking and paw-waving ensues.

"THEN THIS WILL BE GOODBYE," you say. "WE HAD A GOOD HAUL TODAY, AND I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE SERVICE AT THE MANSION."

"Mm!"

"What's this about a mansion?" Vira wonders.

"Oh!" Sir Bats exclaims. "It's a wonderfully relaxing place the Snake-Slayer created to feed his workforce! And the food was delicious!"

"Wait, you got to eat when we didn't?" one of the other bats exclaims.

"Unfair!"

"'Those who do not work, do not eat,'" Sir Bats repeats, somewhat smugly. "And unlike you lazy furballs, I was keeping an eye on them for the Mistress."

Ha-

"A likely story!"

"Traitor!"

-il?

"I HOPE THIS WON'T MAKE TROUBLE FOR YOU," you say to Vira.

"Oh, this happens at least once a week," she sighs. "Pay it no mind."

"...VERY WELL."

You conclude the farewells, and then start a Ritual of Relatively Short-Range Teleportation, to take yourself, Briar, and Robin to the edge of Raka's territory.

When you blink back into existence, you take a moment to study your surroundings, curious to see if there have been any changes since your last visit. If that thunderstorm you heard about WAS the work of the Fae lord's messenger, or even if Chloe or Raka were responsible, the effect probably would have been centered here...

"Yeah," Briar says, hovering over a leafless, blackened stump that you're pretty sure was a young tree just a few days ago. "This looks like a lightning strike."

"IS IT ONE OF RAKA'S?"

"I don't think so..."

"There's another spot over there." Robin nods towards a point off to your right, where an older and larger tree managed to weather a hit from a thunderbolt, albeit at the cost of having one side of its trunk scorched and most of the branches on that side burned bare and black, or else blown off entirely. Dozens of tiny green buds are scattered along the seared bark and surviving branches, producing a picture you honestly find a bit incongruous until you look closer and detect Fae magic at work, shoring up the injured tree's life-force and encouraging healing and new growth.

Looking around with your Fae Sight, you spot a few more locations where similar effects are at work, suggesting-

"Halt, trespassers!" a small, angry voice bellows as well as it can. "Surrender or-"

"Hey, it's the magic guy!"

"Is that a snake?"

"Are we supposed to take him prisoner again?"

"Yeah, let's do that!"

"Seriously, what's up with the snake?"

"SURRENDER!" several fairies chorus.

You turn to the fairies, and do a double-take.

On previous visits, you've been accosted by a clouds of two dozen fairies, of sizes ranging from "no bigger than the tip of your little finger" to "a bit shorter than Briar"; of those, the only one you saw wearing armor or carrying a weapon was Newt the would-be guardsman. Today, there are only ten fairies, all close to Briar's size, and every single one of them is wearing a helmet and chestplate fashioned from hollowed-out acorns, and has either a spear or a bow and arrow in hand.

To someone who has a fairy partner and has generally tried to cultivate good relationships with the Little Folk, the sight is... concerning. Especially with that new challenge, which you're fairly certain was supposed to end in, "or death."

You glance at Briar, who is radiating her own concern down the familiar bond, and then at Robin, who is frowning at the squad of fairy guards - although whether that's out of worry at what prompted the change or because their choice of armament offends his sensibilities, you can't say.

Despite the increase of martial sensibility among Chloe's kids, they ARE still young fairies, and prone to chatter and short attention spans. It would be a headache and a hassle to keep track of half a dozen different conversations at once, and there'd be a limit as to how much they could really tell you anyway; instead of trying, you decide to spare yourself the migraine and just ask the parents directly.

On that note, you raise your arms, wrists held together and hands limp. "WE SURRENDER OURSELVES TO YOUR CUSTODY, GUARDSMAN NEWT. PLEASE ESCORT US TO THE LADY CHLOE AND LORD RAKA, THAT WE MIGHT THROW OURSELVES UPON THEIR MERCY."

"Oooh, not a good time for that, Magic Man," one of the fairies warns.

"Yeah, Mom's been all out of mercy since she got through with that jerkface bigger."

...well, THAT'S worrying.

Despite those ominous statements, you begin your march-

"You're not flying this time?" Newt questions.

"IT'S BEEN A LONG AND EVENTFUL DAY, AND I AM RUNNING RATHER SHORT ON MANA AS A RESULT," you explain. "HOWEVER, IF SPEED IS REQUIRED, I DO HAVE ENOUGH LEFT TO MANAGE A SPELL OF FLIGHT - WITH YOUR PERMISSION, OF COURSE."

"Granted," Newt says at once.

You blink at the prompt response, but obligingly start shaping some of your last drops of mana. Once that's done, you take to the air alongside the rest of the party - Robin having extended his own wings while you were casting - and then hurry along to the clearing at the base of the Great Raka Tree.

You pass a few more fairies along the way, and note with increasing concern that they, too, are visibly prepared for conflict.

Also, the waterslide and pools you passed on your last visit are devoid of swimmers.

When the meeting area comes into view, you are a little relieved to see that most of the littlest fairies are still dressed normally-

"Look, look! It's the Magic Man!"

"No, no, he's the Snake-Slayer, now, remember?"

"But I don't-"

"Hail to the Snake-Slayer!"

"-wanna talk like-"

"Hail!"

"-those dumb bats!"

"No, really, what is all this business about snakes?" that one guard fairy wonders again.

-and they're acting much the same as ever. Also, they've apparently been looking over Chloe's shoulder while she observed you today.

Speaking of the Great Fairy, she is already present when you arrive, sitting next to - ugh - another area of blackened growth, which is located directly atop one of the Great Raka Tree's massive roots. The thickness of the root makes the burn look small, but with Chloe close by, you can see that the dark spot has a greater surface area than her wings would cover at full extension. And while there is more of that magically aided new growth around the edge of the lightning-struck area, the center remains lifeless, cracked, and stripped of some of its outer bark, hinting at a fairly serious injury to the Great Tree.

It is also perhaps telling that Raka's humanoid avatar is nowhere in sight.

The Great Fairy looks up at your approach, and if her expression is not quite the gentle welcome of prior visits, it's far from angry or despairing.

"Welcome back," she says.

"LADY CHLOE," you reply, nodding. "HAVE WE... COME AT A BAD TIME?" You can't quite keep your gaze from trailing towards the burn on her husband's true body.

"Oh, don't worry about this," Chloe says, gesturing towards the damaged area. "If Raka hadn't figured out how to deal with lightning strikes, he wouldn't have survived this long after becoming a Great Tree."

You suppose that makes sense. Raka IS the tallest tree in this part of the forest, by several times the height of the next-nearest contender, which would make him something of a magnet for lightning...

"Incidentally, he sends his apologies for his absence," the Great Fairy continues, "but he is quite occupied expressing his displeasure to the rude little wretch responsible for the damage."

You blink. Does she mean-

"Huh," Briar exclaims. "I guess that explains why Cat said nobody knew where the guy went."

Chloe smiles a most unsettling smile.

-apparently, she does.

Brrr. You would NOT want to be in that emissary's shoes right now.

Aside from recounting the completion of your quest, is there anything you want to say to or ask of Chloe?

The Fae take the obligations of host and guest very seriously, and calling down a thunderstorm on your host's property - much less on the host themselves - is a pretty major violation of guest-right. You're not sure what could have happened to drive one of the Big Folk to the point of committing such an offense, but you think you can live without the answer - mainly because you REALLY don't want to know what Raka might be doing to the guy.

That having been said...

"ON THAT SUBJECT," you cautiously venture, "HAVE THERE BEEN ANY DEVELOPMENTS REGARDING THE GRIMSTALKER'S FORMER EMPLOYER THAT WE" - you make a gesture that takes in yourself, Briar, and even Robin - "SHOULD BE AWARE OF? OATHS OF VENGEANCE, VOWS OF INVESTIGATION, OR JUST SIMPLY BEING ON HIS RADAR?"

Chloe frowns slightly. "What's radar?"

...right.

"A TECHNOLOGICAL FORM OF LONG-RANGE DETECTION, MAINLY USED FOR TRACKING AIRCRAFT," you explain.

"Ah. Well, if you're asking whether he's aware of you, then at the moment, I would say, 'Probably not.'"

She explains that she was keeping an eye on the emissary when he went off to check on the sungold deposit, and once he got over the shock, his first recourse was to rather literally storm back to the Great Tree to demand an accounting.

"The arrogant little shhhhyster didn't even attempt to contact his lord," the Great Fairy recounts, shaking her head. "He seemed to be of the opinion that we'd ignore his bad manners and bow to his demands just because he was making them."

That seems entirely stupid of him.

"Is he related to the lord in question?" Briar wonders.

"I believe he's a nephew by marriage."

Ah. "SO THIS IS ANOTHER CASE OF 'SPOILED NOBLE BRAT' SYNDROME?"

"'Another'?" Chloe echoes curiously.

You briefly recount your secondhand knowledge of Jermafencer's encounters with the son of the Lord of the Withered Wood.

"There are definite similarities," the Great Fairy admits. "I doubt this one has ever had any aspirations of knighthood, though. He seemed to be going for the 'foppish courtier' archetype."

"...why?" Briar and Robin wonder together.

Chloe has no answer for that.

"WHAT DOES 'FOPPISH' MEAN?"

"Someone who's way too concerned with his clothes and appearance," Briar explains. "It's sort of like the male equivalent of those girls who freak out over a broken nail and insist on replacing their entire wardrobe two or three times a year."

"IN OTHER WORDS, HARMONY?"

"Pretty much, but with less unicorns."

You try to picture a male version of Miss Kendall, with the power to call down thunderstorms when he's in a bad mood.

...

It is a concerning picture.

In any case, from what Chloe says, the Fae Lord has yet to even hear back from his agent. The Great Fairy notes that it'll likely be as much as a week before a second emissary is sent to find out what's keeping the first one from reporting back, which is time enough for the magical residue of your battle with the banaan to have completely faded. Throw in the masking effects of the artificial thunderstorm, and your involvement in this whole affair is about as well-concealed as it can get, short of you pulling out the Spell of Mind Blank.

Which is something you've already planned on doing, as soon as possible.

With that angle covered as best you can manage, you return to the original point of this visit, letting Lady Chloe know that you have completed the task assigned to you by Navi, and that your stay in Chloe's domain is at an end. Not your BUSINESS, of course - even leaving aside the arrangement you made with Vira today, you still have that outstanding deal with Liantiel, the furtherance of which has gotten a bit delayed due to everything else going on right now - but you'll be handling those with Planar Binding going forward. You have no plans for actual in-person visits to Faerie, much less this particular portion of it, in the immediate future.

"It has been amusing to have you here," Chloe returns. "If you're ever in this part of Faerie again, I hope you'll consider stopping by."

With the lady's permission, you start gathering mana to teleport your group to your pick-up site.

As you work, that one fairy guard plaintively asks, "Does nobody else find it weird that he's been holding a stuffed snake this whole time?"

"Nope!"

"No."

"Nuh-uh."

Just before your magic takes effect, you-

You'd love to visit again!

"I WILL TRY TO STOP BY, THE NEXT TIME I'M IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD," you declare, before adding, "I HAVE NO IDEA WHEN THAT MIGHT BE, THOUGH. SHOULD I CALL AHEAD, OR...?"

"If it turns out to be anytime in the next two or three weeks, that might be a good idea," Chloe admits. "Otherwise, don't worry; I notice anytime someone crosses the borders, whether that's physically or by magical travel."

It probably WON'T be in the next couple of weeks - the next week in particular is going to be busy, busy, busy, and you'll likely need at least a few days afterwards to get through the aftermath of Auswahlen - but you never know.

Anyway, standing invitation, get!

Gained Chloe's Invitation

You look at the fairy guard, and allow a slow, smug smirk to stretch across your face.

As it happens, he's not looking your way, instead glaring helplessly at some of his unhelpful siblings, so he fails to notice your expression.

The other fairies, however, have a perfect view.

They giggle.

"Uh-oh!"

"You're in trouble now!"

"He heeeeaaaard you!"

"Wait, wha-"

Before the guard can fully spin around, the Spell of Teleportation whisks you away.

"You do realize," Briar notes, after the trilithon has appeared before you (or vice versa), "that particular guard is going to be watching you closely the next time you visit."

"I'LL HAVE TO REMEMBER TO BRING A SNAKE NEXT TIME, THEN. OR MAYBE SOMETHING ELSE PLUSH..."

Briar considers that, then giggles. "That could be funny, yeah."

"Plotting an inter-planar prank war, are we?" Navi's voice sighs from empty air next to the standing stones. "Well, at least you finished my request first."

You spare a moment to be relieved that Navi was already "present" and observing you. Your mana is low enough without having to cast the Spell of Sending as well.

Speaking of Navi's request, though, a part of you has been hoping to see the Fairy Death Machine when it finally rolls out of Robin's workshop - or even to help combat-test the thing. That said, another part of you - which may or may not be linked into your sense of pattern-recognition and past-life experience - would be just as happy not to have anything more to do with a death machine, much less one made by the Fae AND originating from Hyrule.

Even discounting your involvement, there's a fair chance the thing is going to go berserk at least once. That's just how it works where Hyrule is involved.

I wish I could argue with that, I really do.

You also can't help but feel that the odds of an Incident will only go up if you are personally present for - much less directly taking part in - the future test-run of Robin's masterpiece. Like calls to like, after all, and even if that Curse nested in your soul isn't active, it's still there.

On the other hand, if the Fairy Death Machine IS so likely to run amok, shouldn't you at least offer to be there to help out your partner's family?

As tempting as it is to offer your assistance testing the Fairy Death Machine, you remember a piece of wisdom dropped by one of your relatives at a family gathering: "Never volunteer for anything."

Granted, you're fairly certain that was being said in relation to the military, but the same principle applies; if you don't actively involve yourself in a hazardous situation, the odds of it putting you at risk tend to go down.

Unless you're dealing with something like an end-of-the-world scenario, of course - Auswahlen immediately comes to mind - but there are exceptions to every rule, and even then, you have the Heart of Courage. You can involve yourself without actually being there in person.

Shadow Alex would probably have a complaint to lodge about that, if he were here, but he's not.

In any case, you've completed two tasks for Navi: you scouted out sites of Fae ores and got samples for Robin; and now you've assisted him in mining the raw materials required for the Fairy Death Machine.

"WILL THERE BE A THIRD PORTION TO THESE TRIALS?" you inquire.

"Of course!" Navi replies cheerfully.

Naturally. Events in Hyrule tend to be set up in multiples of three, for obvious reasons-

Hello!

-and Navi and her ancestors have lived in the kingdom long enough for that cultural influence to rub off.

"Robin already has the other physical materials and reagents necessary to build the machine," the Great Fairy explains. "The only thing left is the force to animate it. I COULD take care of that myself, but-"

"-BUT YOU HAVE A SORCERER WHO OWES YOU, SO WHY BOTHER?" you conclude, nodding.

There's a pause.

"...YOU... DON'T ACTUALLY WANT ME TO CAST THE SPELL TO ANIMATE OBJECTS-?"

"Oh, Goddesses, no!" Navi laughs. "There's asking for trouble, and then there's throwing a party and inviting everyone in the kingdom EXCEPT Trouble. Besides, for all the artifice involved in this project, arcane magic isn't really ideal for a FAIRY Death Machine. We need something a little more directly sourced from Nature, something... vital."

You catch the hint. "A HEART CONTAINER?"

"That would be just about perfect, yes - and before you ask, I'm not asking you for the one you just picked up. Mainly because its elemental nature isn't really suitable for what we're working on."

Yeah, in the Hyrulean school of mysticism, a motive source derived from Elemental Water wouldn't be the best choice to power a body composed of Elemental Metal. It wouldn't be the worst option, either, but unless Robin was specifically building a machine to work with and, like as not, IN water - and everything you've seen and heard thus far says he's not - there are better candidates. Fire is a classic, but Lightning would work well, too...

Hm. There's a thought.

You don't have a spare Heart Container on your person, but you DO have another kind of Heart: the Heart of the Storm, a potent mass of Lightning, Thunder, Wind, and Water, plucked from the center of a thunderhead. While not a concentrated mass of raw vitality, it's every bit as directly sourced from Nature - more so, even - with the added bonus of NOT coming from a creature of monstrous heritage. That last part largely cancels out the absence of any blessing from the Goddesses, which Navi would be able to make up for on her own anyway.

If you don't want to give up the Heart of the Storm, you could promise to hunt down a Heart Container for the fairies. That might take a while, though; you never know when you're going to run into a worthy candidate...

...okay, there IS the upcoming raid on Silbern, but you have SERIOUS reservations about the idea of trying to acquire a Heart Container there. For one thing, you're not going in person, and you're not sure if the Goddesses would be willing to reward Shadow Alex in your stead. For another, you have to imagine that the Shinigami would have Questions if a divine relic just popped out of thin air in the middle of the invasion, and you'd rather not give up the Answers until you know those guys a bit better.

Or, you know, at ALL.

And quite aside from all of that, you are NOT comfortable with the idea of using Heart Containers derived from human beings. That's one, MAYBE two steps removed from human sacrifice, which would be all SORTS of nope even without Ganondorf's occasional attempts at the practice.

"I'M NOT SURE I CAN GUARANTEE THE ACQUISITION OF A HEART CONTAINER BY THE TIME ROBIN FINISHES BUILDING THE DEATH MACHINE," you say after a moment. "HOWEVER, I MIGHT HAVE AN ALTERNATIVE..."

So saying, you reach into your dimensional pocket and pull out the little-b bottle containing the Heart of the Storm.

Robin's gaze immediately locks on to the miniature thunderstorm-under-glass. "Now what is that, and where did you get it?"

You explain how you flew into a thunderstorm some months back and collected its metaphysical "heart" as a reagent.

"The storm," Robin repeats. "But JUST a storm, not a Lightning Elemental or a storm-SPIRIT or anything like that?"

"NOTHING LIKE THAT, NO."

The Fae smith grins and rubs his hands together eagerly. There may or may not be a "hee-hee" in there as well.

"I take it this is a good alternative to a Heart Container?" Navi asks her most mature son.

"Ohhhh, yes," Robin replies happily. "In fact, this gives me more options than most Heart Containers would. With those, we'd be limited to animating force and one, maybe two elements. This gives me at least three to work with." He pauses and leans closer, looking not at the Heart of the Storm, but the glass that holds. "This is... ordinary glass?"

"IS THAT GOING TO BE A PROBLEM?" you wonder.

"Only because I have curious little fairies buzzing in and out of my workshop," the smith answers.

"...AH. I HAVE A SPARE HYLIAN GLASS BOTTLE, IF-"

"No need, I've got one of my own." So saying, Robin takes out that Bottle-

"It's about time!" the tiny fairy stuck inside says peevishly.

Briar just about falls out of the air laughing.

Navi sighs. "Really, Robin?"

"I warned him."

"So mean!"

-releases his sibling, and then works with you to transfer the Heart of the Storm from your conjured bottle to his somewhat sturdier container.

You spare the Heart of the Storm a somewhat wistful final glance as it disappears into one of Robin's pouches.

Lost Heart of the Storm
Gained Empty Conjured Bottle

"And with that," Navi says, "you have officially cleared whatever debt the authorities on Earth would say you owed me, including the cost of your trip home. On that note, shall we be off?"

"WE SHALL," you agree.

"But I just got here!" the little fairy protests. "...where IS here, anyway?"

"SOMEWHERE IN FAERIE," you reply honestly, if unhelpfully. "I'M NOT SURE OF OUR LOCATION IN ABSOLUTE TERMS, BUT THERE IS A STRETCH OF FOREST CONNECTED TO THE LOST WOODS LAYING THATAWAY." You gesture off towards Skull Kid's hangout. "I MET A SKULL KID THERE LAST WEEK."

"Oh." The little fairy looks at you, and asks, "Who are you, anyway? And why is Briar hanging out with you?"

"THAT WOULD BE BECAUSE I'M HER PARTNER."

"Ohhh... wait, why are you a fish?"

You glance around, then lean forward, raise one finned hand to shield your mouth, and whisper, "I'M IN DISGUISE."

"Ohhh... what's with the snake?"

"THAT IS... A SECRET!"

Thank you, Xelloss.

A moment later, you're back on Earth, in the forest north of Sunnydale, minus a little fairy and a Fae smith.

"I'll see you in Karakura in a few days," Navi's presence says.

"Until then," you reply, as you start dismissing your various enhancements. Checking the sky past the canopy, you see that it's still some time before twilight, so you end your overlapping Transformation Spells as well, resulting in a moment of disorientation as you shift from Zora to Goron form on the way to human. Following that, you ritually cast the Spell to Dispel Magic, purging the last traces of the manifold magical effects that you called up to face Alboa.

Once that's done, you head home to rest.

Auswahlen awaits...

"Alexth got a new pluthie!" Zelda says. "Lemme thee!"

...and in the interim, you have a little sister to wrangle.

"No, Zelda."

Out come the Little Sister Eyes. "Aw, but-"

Manfully resisting the formidable strike, you explain, "It's not actually a plushie."

That earns a Blink of Confusion, followed by a Quick Glance at Alboa, and then a Look of Suspicion.

"This-" you say, holding Alboa up for emphasis "-is in fact the body of a very large, very mean, and very dead snake, which I am going to cut up and use parts of for magic. And you shouldn't be playing with dead things."

There is a Moment of Silence.

"...but it'th a pluthie?"

"Briar, back me up, here."

"He's not kidding, kiddo."

"But... pluthie thnake?"

With some effort - and Briar running distraction - you manage to get out of Zelda's line of sight and scurry down the stairs to your workshop, where you set Alboa up on a shelf out of reach of little fingers, and mostly hidden from view at a lower altitude. That and the "dead snake" argument should be enough to discourage any problematic attachment, but if need be, you could always activate the No Little Sisters Allowed ward on your workshop.

As a show of trust and affection, you're not going to do that yet, but it's an option you will be keeping in mind.

"What's this about a dead snake, Alex?" your father wonders as you come back up the stairs.

"A Faerie asked me to get rid of a snake that was annoying her," you admit honestly, if a bit misleadingly. "I killed it and kept the body to cut up for materials. Waste not, and all that."

Tony frowns. "...you're not going to stuff it, are you?"

"No! No, definitely not." It will be a long, long time before you forget the Taxidermied Terrors, and even when you make peace with the memory, you doubt you'll ever feel the urge to take up Uncle Rory's creepy pasttime. "It's just that snake parts can be useful for certain kinds of magic, and parts from a MAGICAL snake are even more so." And a GIANT magical snake has a lot of those parts to go around, you don't add. "I think I can sell it off at Gen's for a pretty good deal."

Your father seems relieved, and nods.

"Out of curiosity," he asks then, "could you use magic to catch other kinds of animals? Or insects?"

Not insects, they're kind of tricky to affect without specific spells you haven't bothered to learn, but you do have enough of a grasp on druidism and certain elements of witchcraft to be able to deal with most animals.

For a value of "deal with" that doesn't involve setting fires or rearranging architecture, that is.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, I was just thinking that there might be a business opportunity in the realm of extermination, or even just animal control..."

Eh, maybe, but...

"I'm not sure I want to bring myself to the attention of the S.P.C.A., Dad."

"Ah, you could take 'em."

You spend the rest of the evening relaxing and performing no magical activity at all. A little put out by the disappearance of the "pluthie thnake," Zelda spends the time before bed not so much avoiding you as not looking in your direction. That stings a bit, but on the other hand, it lets you plough through another part of Twentieth Century Sorcery without interruption. By the time you call it a night - around midnight - you've finished off the third book in the series.

Four hours of Blanket-aided rest later, you wake up, do some quiet stretches and katas, and then spend an hour or so reading another entry from the Book of Koans and pondering the implications. After that, you forge through a large section of Toil and Trouble before breakfast, with an eye towards finishing the book later in the day; seeing as how you're going to be taking brewing lessons from Vira in the not-too-distant future, you feel it behooves you to hone your skills as much as possible before then.

You want to make a good impression, after all.

Even after a full night's sleep and a few hours of inactivity besides, your mana reserve is only about a third of the way to recovered. You were expecting that, and once a reasonable hour rolls around, you call Larry and see if he's up to spending the day just hanging out.

You would call Cordy or Amy, but their family plans have kicked in, and - short of the use of scrying or teleportation on your part - you doubt you'll see either of them again until the last week or so before school starts again.

Anyway, Larry takes you up on your offer, and the two of you agree to meet in another half an hour. The day that ensues is... pretty mundane, really, but not in a bad way. You stop by the grocery to while away an hour or so on the arcade games near the check-out counter, then hit the comic book store to see what the latest releases are. Along the way, you and Larry draw a small group of your schoolmates whose families haven't abandoned Sunnydale for the summer (yet), which leads to an impromptu soccer game in the park and lunch at one of the fast-food joints.

Ah, greasy goodness.

The next couple of hours after that are mostly spent roaming around town, going nowhere and talking about nothing in particular. Well, no, that last part's not true; most of these guys have heard the story of your Awesome Martial Arts Championship Final Bout(s), but a couple of them are (relative) newcomers to the 'Dale, and when the others make mention of your Awesome Kung Fu Action, a re-telling and a certain amount of practical demonstration proves necessary to provide proper context.

Then you admit that Lu-sensei was talking about taking you on a trip this summer, to see one of the major training halls dedicated to the School of Five Elements.

"What, like a big traditional dojo in Japan or something?" one of the guys asks.

"The style actually comes from China," you reply, thinking of Grandmaster Wen, "but Lu-sensei hasn't said yet where we'd be going. Pretty sure he's trying to keep it a surprise."

Which is only appropriate.

As the afternoon wears on, your group starts to break up, a boy heading home here, two buddies wandering off to do something else there. You decide to call it a day, and Larry goes off with the last couple of guys, while you head home to see what Briar and Zelda have been up to in your absence, and then take Moblin for a walk.

Zelda, Briar informs you, has in fact NOT attempted to steal a certain serpentine doll from your workshop.

"But she did ask a lot of questions about what exactly we've been up to on these trips," your partner adds.

"Did you tell her?"

"Just the bits that are safe for little ears," Briar replies. "Mom's doing you a favor to help some people in trouble, you did Robin a favor to pay her back, and you had some Adventures along the way. I'd say it went over well enough, although..."

"Yes?"

"She wants to see the Fairy Death Machine."

Well, of course she does. Who wouldn't?

Thinking on it, it wouldn't be too difficult to arrange a viewing of the Fairy Death Machine's activation ceremony. Not in PERSON, of course - you're not sending your little sister anywhere you can't escort her, much less into a situation that's liable to become dangerous - but the Spell of Scrying would let her watch from complete safety. You'd just have to get in touch with Robin ahead of time and work out a schedule that was convenient, or at least manageable, for all involved.

"I suppose I could set up a Spell of Scrying for her to watch the show," you muse. "I'd have to arrange it with Robin ahead of time, figure out the schedule and all that, but that shouldn't be a big deal...?" You trail off on a questioning note and glance at your partner in an inquisitive manner.

"Give him a week to get some work done on the robot, first," Briar advises. "He'll be able to give you a better idea of how long it'll take, and he'll have calmed down a bit besides."

"He DID seem excited when I handed over the Heart of the Storm," you agree. "Is that normal?"

"Big Brother does have a tendency to get lost in his projects," the fairy admits.

You pause at that. "How lost are we talking here, Briar? Loses track of the time, forgets about other jobs, forgets to eat, what?"

You're thinking of the birthday present for Kahlua that you wanted to commission, and the Grimstalker's Armor you were going to trade as payment for that.

"He's been known to skip sleep and meals, at least when Summer and Mom are both too busy to keep an eye on him. Considering how worked up all the brats are about this project, this is probably going to be one of those times."

Ergh.

"Robin doesn't forget about orders, though," Briar continues. "That would be bad for business, and worse for his health."

Okay, that's... somewhat relieving, at least for your immediate interests. It's a little worrisome in regards to your own ambitions about professional item-crafting, though.

The only other thing of note that happens on Monday is that you finally finish off Toil and Trouble. Overall, the contents of the book were nothing revolutionary as far as technique or tools go; you've had some practice at potion-making, whether as standalone items or as part of crafting more complex items, and the basics are pretty universal.

In terms of materials, however, you learned quite a bit. For all the study and experimentation you've performed over the last few years, your understanding of the qualities and uses of Earth-native reagents is still very much a work in progress. Your only other reference before this was what Catherine Madison was willing to share, and while she's never misled you or kept too much in the way of secrets, she's still only one person, following a family tradition - one that's been localized to the Hellmouth for a while, at that.

Extra points of view are always helpful, particularly when they come from somewhere a bit less dark.

The reaction tables were nice to have, too.

Read Toil and Trouble
Gained Herbalism D

When you wake up at somewhere past two in the morning on Tuesday, you are pleased to note that your mana has completely recovered, though you're also mildly disappointed that nearly emptying your reserve doesn't seem to have accelerated your recovery. On the other hand, it didn't slow it, either, so that's... something.

Maybe you should completely drain yourself, just once, to see what happens?

...meh, something to think about when you don't have an apocalypse bearing down on you.

On that note, you get out of bed, dress, and quietly pad downstairs to your workshop.

It's just three more days before the potential genocide of the Earthbound Quincy, and there's work yet to be done setting up your safe haven for the handful of families you've been able to contact, as well as preparing for Shadow Alex's participation in the raid on Silbern.

Best get to it.