The Newt and Demon - Book 5 Chapters 19,20,21 (Patreon)

Chapter 19

Sulvan Flametouched

Shafts of sunlight filtered through the boughs of the cypress trees overhead. Theo and his group landed on the walls of Broken Tusk, right behind the dutiful marshling. Tresk turned, eyes narrowing the moment her sight locked onto Sulvan Flametouched. The alchemist expected her daggers to appear in her hand, then the attack that would follow. But she remained where she was, looking more puzzled than angry.

“What’s he doing here?”

Sulvan stood, slightly less tall than he was before. His normally imposing demeanor had been drawn out of him by Glantheir. Now he seemed just as likely to provide comfort as an inquisition. With a slight bow of his head, he regarded Tresk. “Through sacrifice, I have been given another chance.”

Tresk crossed her arms and snorted. “Didn’t think you were gonna bring him back so quickly. Thought you’d make him squirm.”

“Uharis can do squirming enough for the both of them,” Theo said, dismissing the tension in the air with a wave of his hand. “How many people remember how much of a dick Sulvan was?”

“Almost everyone who was here when you arrived remember him,” Sarisa said, making herself known. “Just another dickish bully from the outside.”

Theo grunted a response, his mind drifting away from the problem. People would accept Sulvan because they needed to. He doubted that there were many holders of a Glantheir core outside of Tarantham. And once the cleric got some levels in his new core, he would be vital to fighting the undead. In the alchemist’s mind, all was forgiven. Things lined up perfectly to bring Sulvan here. Transporting someone from the moon to planet below was a massive feat. It required the approval of both Uz’Xulven and Khahar.

“Let’s go,” Theo said, turning on the spot. Sulvan fell in line behind him.

It was a quick walk to the Adventurer’s Guild. The place was bustling with people from Broken Tusk, Gronro, and Rivers and Daub. Theo pushed his way through those people, finding Aarok in his office on the floors above. The half-ogre’s mouth hung open as Sulvan took a seat, folding his hands in his lap as though he were an attentive student.

“All right,” Aarok said, mouth hanging open. “This is a development.”

Theo forestalled each coming question, explaining the situation. As always, Aarok listened to the newest string of weird circumstances the alchemist presented. He nodded along, eyes never leaving Sulvan.

“So you can teleport to the moon?” Aarok asked, scratching his head.

This was the complicated part. It wasn’t really teleportation. Theo had borrowed the authority of Uz’Xulven and Khahar to poke a hole through reality using the Bridge. He then invited Sulvan to step through. This was an act only accomplished because of their connection. Khahar or Uz’Xulven could have denied the transport. The alchemist had a feeling that the other throne-holder in the world, Fenian, had a say. Whether he could say anything was still a mystery.

“Yeah. Kinda.”

“Are you certain he’s on our side?”

“I’ve been reduced to Level 30,” Sulvan said. “Each personal level I gained while in the Eye's service has been stripped.”

“Oh. Okay.” Aarok leaned back in his chair, smiling. “I could take you, then. Half the town’s adventurers could take you. That works.”

“I doubt he started with an ability to help with Balkor’s magic.” Theo drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair, staring into the middle-distance. “But this is a start.”

“Alise won’t have a problem with it.” Aarok gave a massive shrug. “She’s from… Veosta or whatever.”

“Alise is from an area north of Qavell,” Theo corrected. “She wasn’t here when Sulvan was a problem. Sorry, Sulvan.”

Sulvan shrugged.

“We’re going to sign a contract, then I’ll introduce him to the administrators,” Theo said, pulling up his [Contracts] ability. He began drafting his standard contract. “After that, we’ll get him a place to stay and a stipend for his healing abilities. You can heal, right?”

“I was gifted two spells by my lord. [Cure Wounds] and [Purge Disease].”

“Perfect,” Theo said, typing away. “We’ll work out the details, but you’ll have enough to live on. I suppose I should ask. Do you have any plans?”

“My plan is to follow the word of Glantheir. Once I have atoned, I have business to settle elsewhere.”

“Excellent. Very mysterious,” Theo said in monotone as he copy-pasted most of his old contract. He made sure to change the names. Once he was done, he sent the contract over. Sulvan didn’t read it. He signed it immediately.

“Time for introductions,” Theo said, rising to his feet. “Don’t glower at Alise too much. She’ll take it personally.”

Theo and Sulvan bid farewell to Aarok. They headed over to the Town Hall, finding it even busier than the guild. Seeing so many people coming here to solve their problems gave him pause. He didn’t want to be the sole person these people came to. The alchemist had built his administrative team to sort those things out, leaving him to work on projects like this. He heard the cleric beside him muttering a prayer to Glantheir.

“Better than worshiping demons, I guess,” Theo breathed, ascending the stairs to the third floor.

Theo cracked the door to the meeting room open, spotting Alise, Gwyn, and Gael lounging. They all looked exhausted. The alchemist entered the room, putting on his best smile.

“Guys, this is our new cleric,” Theo said, gesturing to Sulvan.

“Awful big for a cleric,” Gael grumbled. “A cleric of which god, archduke? We’ve had just about enough of Spit’s magic.”

“Tada! He’s a follower of Glantheir.”

Gael sputtered. “I think not. He’s hardly an elf.”

Alise narrowed her eyes at the cleric. “Sulvan?”

“She wasn’t supposed to know about you,” Theo whispered.

“Isn’t he supposed to be on the moon?” Gwyn asked, still slumped in her chair.

“He was. But I went and got him. From the moon. Now he’s here to help.”

The administrators all shared looks, then shrugged collectively.

“Whatever. Weirder things have happened,” Alise said with a sigh. “Like the dragon? The dragon who still refuses to make a solid trade deal.”

Theo let out a slow breath. He thanked the town and its tendency to produce weird scenarios. The administrators broke off into their own conversation, complaining about various things. The lizard-folk from the south were hard to work with. Bantein had sent a representative, but the requirements for trade were arduous.And, of course, there were the frogs. Well, frog-like creatures. After Bilgrob, follower of Spit, healed Salire when she got her demon cores, the frogs approached.

Once the group had settled down, Theo excused himself and Sulvan. After a quick tour, the cleric seemed eager to do anything else. True to his devotion to Glantheir, he went off to heal citizens. That left the alchemist recalculating his day. His mind landed on the lab in an instant, and he was off to meet with Salire. After pushing his way through a field of toad-rabbit hybrids, he entered the Newt and Demon.

“We’re gonna need something to wipe our feet on,” Theo said, noticing the trail of slime he left. After splashing the ground with [Cleansing Scrub], he made his way upstairs.

Salire seemed less frightened by the frogs by the day. She stood in the lab, taking notes on something. When she turned and spotted Theo, she smiled. The next batch [Greater Hallow the Soil] was ready for brewing, along with 500 units each of the standard restoration potions. The stock in the shop downstairs was filled with low-tier potions, but the citizens didn’t seem to mind. Still, it was good to have some good stuff waiting for a high-roller to buy.

“Nothing to report,” Salire said, turning to jot something down. “Less requests for attribute potions, with more requests for weird stuff.”

Theo joined with her, checking the stock of essence in the building’s magical storage. This batch had produced less essence for the undead, but with Gronro purged they didn’t need as much. Until Throk figured out his floating platform thing, the alchemist considered them in a holding pattern. He worked with Salire to create barrels of the brewing [Greater Hallow the Soil] potions, burning some of the day away getting those sorted.

During the bottling process of the restoration potions, Theo had some time to think. When they had finished the task, he turned to Salire. “Let’s leave a few stills empty this time. Should give you room to work on leveling your core.”

Salire offered him a sheepish smile. “Thanks. I was about to ask Thim to build me a few stills for myself.”

Theo nodded. The rush to get the anti-undead potions together had left her floundering. He picked three stills for her to work with, then prepared to load the other seven for another round. Working near the stills drew beads of sweat onto Salire’s forehead. The alchemist was comfy in his coat and avoided bringing the topic up. It was never a good idea to gloat about a coat.

After the stills were running, Theo retreated to the second floor of the building. It had become a storage area, but was also great for experimentation. While Salire ran downstairs to work with customers, he went through his long list of reagents and their effects. During downtimes, he liked to experiment with unused reagents. It often resulted in new, exciting potions.

There were more spirit fruits to consider, but Theo didn’t have the desire to discover those. The results of spirit fruit distillations were often something too impractical to use. Even [Dragon’s Dance] was risky. The alchemist withdrew a vial of [Grimeling Ooze] from his inventory, setting it down and leering at the contents. The sooner he forgot about those disgusting little creatures, the better. With no desire to eat the ooze, he deconstructed the reagent to discover its properties. True to the item’s description, the cloud of smoke it produced smelled of rotten eggs. He inspected the ooze.

[Grimeling Ooze]

[Alchemy Ingredient]

Uncommon

The stinking goo left behind by a grimeling.

Properties:

[Sludge] [Filth] [Rust] [Deteriorate]

Every property was disgusting. Theo waved his hand through the air, desperate to clear away the foul stench. Nothing worked, so he abandoned the idea and left the lab. Salire shouted something about ‘vile smells’ as he left, forcing him to pick up the pace. The alchemist picked a lazy path toward the harbor, excitement flooding him when he spotted a trade vessel. Foreign traders had become common enough in town that it wasn’t news. That was a great thing for Broken Tuskers and Broken Tusk. He dangled his legs over the harbor’s edge and watched the folks from town visit the trader’s stalls.

If Theo could get a few more boats in their fleet, the Southlands Alliance could become a trade powerhouse. Once again, it was a problem of production and consumption. The alchemist didn’t know if that’s the road they were going down. He only ever wanted this place to be a safe spot for people to live. A harbor in a storm. But the decision didn’t rest solely with him. The administrators handled most of the trade deals and there were people in town who had spent their entire lives here. They had more of a claim to the alliance than him.

“I’m just the figurehead,” Theo said, withdrawing a [Reanimated Skeleton Fragment] from his inventory. Continuing with his discovery of new properties, he decomposed the fragment in his hand. The smoke rose into the air, leaving behind a pile of primal essence in his hand. “Guess I’m okay with that.”

“Are you talking to yourself?” Alex asked from somewhere above. “Is that healthy?”

“You tell me.”

“What are we doing?” Tresk asked, joining in the conversation. “We being sad today?”

“I’m not sad,” Theo said. “I’m proud of all the Broken Tuskers. They’ve accomplished a lot.”

“Oh. Yeah. I’m super proud. Yay!”

“Me, too!” Alex said.

Theo smiled to himself, pulling another skeleton fragment from his inventory. Alex and Tresk carried on about how proud they were about different things. He really was happy with the way Broken Tusk was going. Khahar’s little experiment was going well, and all Theo had to do was ride until the end. He inspected the fragment.

[Reanimated Skeleton Fragment]

[Alchemy Ingredient]

Common

Skull fragment of a skeleton reanimated by necromantic powers.

Properties:

[Withering] [Hone Edge] [Assail] [Animate Dead]

Theo groaned. This was a common reagent. Why did it have the [Animate Dead] property? He returned the fragment to his inventory, scratching his chin. [Assail] was a new property to him, so that might have been useful. But a property that animated the dead? That was dangerous. The only positive use he could think of for the property was in suffuse potions, or through linked wards. Both approaches would produce a different effect entirely, and might provide another anti-undead weapon. It was a longshot, so the alchemist invested little thought into it.

A small cluster of frog-octopus-things swam in the water below. They suctioned half-way up the seawall before falling back into the water. Once again, Theo was left to think about anti-frog measures. And once again, he drew a blank. The only potions he could brew that targeted a type of monster were his anti-undead potions. He pushed himself to his feet, heading over to Town Hall. Alise and the gang were too busy with their duties, so he pulled a junior administrator aside.

The overly-excited half-elven man had a lot of information about frogs. Since Bilgrob’s casting, Alise had invested a lot of junior admin time into frog research. The most interesting part of that research was that there was a race of frog-people in the world. The records they had didn’t say where the frog-folk were from, but it was good to know. Through experimentation, the administrators had discovered that frogs didn’t like being near spicy things.

“Hardly helpful,” Theo muttered, flipping through the notes. “We can’t spice-bomb the town.”

“Lady Plumm was certain you would find a solution.”

Theo looked up over the notes. Alise had too much faith in him. There wasn’t an anti-frog property he could cast. “We may just need to wait for it to pass…”

“Ah.”

Of course, that got Theo thinking. He handed the notes back to the administrator, then walked off deep in thought. When he arrived back at the lab, Salire was dealing with a customer. He went upstairs, grabbed a few things, then headed back down toward Throk’s workshop. The grumpy marshling was banging a hammer on something, but the alchemist spotted what he was looking for.

“I’m taking this,” Theo said, snatching the backpack sprayer the artificer had been working on.

“I don’t care,” Throk grumbled, not looking up from his work.

Theo didn’t use it often, but he had a mortar and pestle in his inventory. He withdrew it, sitting on the side of the road to grind a pile of red eggshells. After combining a unit of ground shells with normal drinking water, he snatched up a nearby frog-lizard hybrid. A single drop of the liquid sent the creature squirming in his hand. After setting the frog on the ground, the alchemist watched as it ran as though its life depended on it.

“Excellent,” Theo said, grinding more eggshells. He created more of his non-alchemical mixture, loading the sprayer until it was filled. Citizens were watching him with curious expressions as he loaded the sprayer on his back. He cleared his throat, approaching the field of frogs outside of his lab. “Begone!”

With a pull of the trigger, Theo released a misting stream of spicy water. The frogs squeaked in chorus, dashing in every direction to get away. Notably, it didn’t seem to harm the frogs. Perhaps they absorbed the liquid through their skin, sending a burning sensation throughout their body. A Wisdom of the Soul message appeared, confirming with certainty that the frogs wouldn’t be harmed.

“I got a present,” Theo said, entering the shop. Salire was still dealing with a customer, so he bottled his excitement and took a seat.

The transaction took longer than he expected. The alchemist sat awkwardly as Salire sold some potions. Once the customer was gone, she shot him a confused look and faked a smile.

“Yay. A sprayer,” Salire said, clapping half-heartedly.

“This is a spicy sprayer,” Theo said, unclasping the backpack and setting it down. “One-to-five ratio of fire salamander eggshells to regular water. It makes the frogs run.”

Salire grimaced. “Uh-huh.”

“Oh, come on. Strap it on. A demonstration will ease your mind.”

Salire pulled the sprayer on, tightening the straps while giving Theo a concerned look. “You sound like a crazy person. You know that, right?”

“Just test the sprayer. Some functionary at Town Hall had done research. No idea how he found out that frogs hate spicy stuff, but he did. Look! Frogs! In the distance!”

Theo and Salire exited the lab. Sure enough, there was a scattering of frogs in the distance. They hopped along the ground, their little eyes going wide when they spotted the poor half-ogre. She held the sprayer wand at the ready, doubt still lingering on her face. She pulled the trigger, releasing a stream of water that splashed against the creatures. They emitted the same squealing sound, and retreated the moment they were hit.

“Woah. It worked?”

“I tested it!” Theo shouted. “Why is this the one thing you doubt me on?”

“Because I look like a nerd,” Alise said, looking over her shoulder at the pack.

“Yeah, but you won’t be accosted by frogs.”

Salire sighed. “Yeah. You’re right. Thanks, boss.”

“You’re welcome. Let’s go squirt some frogs.”

Chapter 20

The Tunnel To Nowhere

The twin mountain ranges of Gronro-Dir stretched in either direction. Theo stood on the imagined walls with Tresk and Alex, gazing off into the distance. The alchemist had even rendered the bubble surrounding the town, protecting it from the lingering corruption. It shimmered in the early morning air, battling against the concept of necromantic power.

“Well, it looks a lot better,” Tresk said with a nod. Alex honked with agreement. “That was a lot of potion, though.”

Theo nodded, gazing off into the distance. The area around Gronro-Dir had consumed almost all the [Hallow the Soil] potion he had created. “One solution was never the answer. Between my potions, golems, wards, and Sulvan we’ll have a fighting chance.”

“Yes,” Alex said, honking in agreement. “But according to history, didn’t it take Glantheir himself to purge the continent before?”

“A small wrinkle,” Theo said. “If Glantheir approved of Sulvan, then the god has a plan.”

“Hmmm. God or patron?” Tresk asked, laughing.

“Glantheir was the first god I met that actually acts like one. I wish he was the one that made me champion.”

Tresk and Alex remained silent. They didn’t have as strong opinions on the gods as Theo did, and he could feel their minds wrapping around the problem. Things were getting complicated in the heavens and no one knew Fenian’s true purpose, yet. As one, the Tara’hek’s thoughts centered on the lost elven trader.

“Maybe we could look for him,” Tresk suggested. “You know. Probe the other realms.”

“That’s the problem. Can your mind reach Balkor’s realm?”

“His place is a steel box. No way I’m getting my little brain in there.”

“We can’t search every realm. But we can ask around,” Alex said.

That was as good a plan as any. The group discussed it further, but didn’t draw any conclusions. The Dreamwalk was its own steel box. Only Tresk could send her mind outside of this place, and it wasn’t far. She had a limited view of the area around their sleeping bodies, but no more. They couldn’t reach out to probe the realms until they were out on the mortal plane. Until then, Theo decided to casually grind experience and relax.

Like Tero’gal, the Dreamwalk had become a place where he preferred to mentally rest. Despite that desire to relax, the alchemist still gained considerable bursts of experience. During the business of brewing potions with Salire, he had hit Level 26 in alchemy core, herbalist core, and his personal level. Those three things were synced perfectly, and he made the decision to place a point into Intelligence. Thanks to his busy schedule, he hardly noticed getting the levels and was well on his way to Level 27.

There were no new secrets for Theo to discover in the Dreamwalk. He was certain that the key to getting past Level 30 had to do with his distillation methods. Adding alcohol to the mix had been the key for his alchemy core, and he had a feeling that the key to his herbalist core rested with grafting plants. Either that, or something related to cultivation methods. It was always impossible to tell what the system wanted him to do for advancement.

Perhaps that lack of information was something that Fenian and Khahar wanted to fix. While they claimed their goal was to remove the destructive cycles brought by the system, they seemed eager to change other things. And Khahar was eager to make sweeping changes. Theo just hoped he was considering the repercussions.

Dawn came quicker than Theo expected. His eyes snapped open and his fingers instinctively grasped at the air. He had just been holding a vial of essence when Tresk abruptly shut the Dreamwalk off. She was already jumping out of bed to teleport down to breakfast. Both the alchemist and Alex were left there in their respective beds, looking off through the window to greet the rising sun. The alchemist eventually rose, cracking his knuckles and resting there on the bed. He took a moment, considering all the good graces he had been given before starting the day.

Sarisa had cooked breakfast herself. Instead of buying meals from Xam, she had created a spread of Whisper’s sausages, eggs from Miana’s pozwa, and little fried dumplings made from Earth-style wheat. Theo was feeling oddly peckish and sat down to enjoy the meal. He waited for everyone to take a seat, including his two assistants, before digging in. While Sarisa wasn’t as good at making moss tea as Xam, it was still great.

“I’d rather not remember the old days,” Theo said, taking a bite of one sausage. The exterior crunched, as Sarisa had over-fried it in the pan. The alchemist loved it.

“This is kinda better than Xam’s cooking,” Tresk said, dumping another plateful of sausages and eggs into her mouth.

Sarisa cackled from the far side of the table. Rowan buried his face in his hands.

“She’s been leveling a [Cook’s Core].”

“Damn!” Tresk shouted. “Damn! I should have known it! You sneaky little ogre.”

“Heh heh heh.”

Theo had expected both Sarisa and Rowan to take service cores earlier. As Tresk danced around the table, making up an off-key song about their new cook, he thought about the [Service Competence] upgrade he got for the manor. The upgrade would give all workers in the manor increased experience for servant cores. Whatever their reasons, he was happy if they were happy. And judging by the way Sarisa and Rowan smiled at the marshling’s dance, they were happy.

There wasn’t much going on inside the administration interface today. Alise had an interesting report on something Ziz was working on, so Theo planned to investigate that. Throk had submitted a report about his floating platform project. It had hit a slight snag, but would move forward soon enough. Duke Grot Stormfist also had a delightful report praising the efforts of Broken Tusk. He swore a thousand generations of loyalty to the alliance and offered to marry off his next child to whomever Theo wished.

Theo made a note in Grot’s overly excited report regarding the importance of keeping the corruption at bay. He also refused the duke’s generous offer of marriage. After eating breakfast, the alchemist made his way over to the lab to store their latest batch of [Hallow the Soil] potions. While he didn’t enjoy the burning sensation that filled his eyes when Salire was around, he appreciated the lack of frogs.

“That really worked, huh?” Theo asked, entering the lab at the same time as his assistant.

“It sure does burn the eyes… but you can’t argue with the results.”

Of course, Bilgrob didn’t have a clue how long it would take for the frogs to stop chasing after her. Theo just hoped that Sulvan could fill the role of town healer before long. The alchemist pulled his thoughts away from pepper bombing the entire town, focusing on the stills. With each run of a new essence, he and Salire got a little better at managing the process. She couldn’t handle some of the unstable materials, but knowing which ones she could touch went a long way to help.

“Let’s hold this batch back,” Theo said, patting the filled barrels. “We’ll leave the three for you to work for and do another run.”

“It was effective. Right?”

Theo explained the problems he faced as they worked. He used the building’s internal storage to dispense infused alcohol into the stills, then drew from his golem’s stocks to grind and process the reagents. Once the fires were lit, the alchemist turned his attention to his golem network. The farm was back in working order, and the new [Plant Golems] were doing an excellent job at the greenhouses. A thread of will spread through the realms, reaching him with a foggy sense of actions. The golem working in Gronro was wandering the countryside, using his ward to clean it up.

The bell rang downstairs, and Salire dashed off to greet the customer. She had plans to grind out first tier healing potions for the day, using Theo’s stock of [Spiny Swamp Thistle Root]. After only a few moments, she came back upstairs with a confused expression. “Sulvan said he could have free mana potions.”

“Yeah,” Theo said, turning to check his stills one last time. “He’ll be healing people, so he gets mana potions for free.”

Theo joined Salire downstairs, finding the newly christened Cleric of Glantheir standing there. He wore threadbare robes and a calm expression. “Good morning, Theo.”

“How’s it going?”

“I’m well. Thank you.”

And that was that. Sulvan got his mana potions and headed off to heal some people. With no exciting alchemy projects to work on, Theo headed off to the next interesting thing. Ziz had made some progress on the bridge to the lizard-folk. According to the administrative report, it came from a very Earth-like technique. The alchemist stopped and chatted with a few people as he went. They were mostly people visiting from Gronro, showing their appreciation for the purged corruption. They had families and loved ones still in the town, so all efforts to heal the land were appreciated.

Passing through Stabby Grove, and climbing the hill to the Quarry, Theo spotted massive marble pillars laying on their sides. Ziz spotted him approaching from a distance and placed his hands on his hips. He had a big, stupid grin on his face.

“Do you like my giant, silly marble pillars?” Ziz asked, slapping the side of one.

They were indeed silly. Far too massive to move by any means the town had. The new constructions seemed to be an incredible waste of precious stone. But Theo reserved his judgment. Ziz didn’t do things just because he wanted to.

“You’ll need to explain this to me,” Theo said, gesturing at the lone pillar.

Ziz raised a single eyebrow, leaning against the pillar. “Watch this.”

With a resounding pop, the pillar disappeared. Ziz turned, waving his hands through the air for a moment. The pillar popped back into existence, now resting vertically on the uneven landscape. It began tilting to one side, but came to settle on the gravel below. Theo stared up at the massive pillar for long moments. It was taller than the Newt and Demon was. And far too heavy for anyone in town to have moved.

“That’s the reaction I was expecting!” Ziz shouted. “Complete awe!”

“How did you do that?”

“New ability. I can stuff anything I build into an inventory and realign it in the real world.”

Theo had read the administrative report on this, but seeing it was another thing entirely. It reminded him of prefabricated parts of bridges back on Earth. They would build structures on land, then use heavy machinery to put them in place. This technique would absolutely work to build a bridge over the water. Assuming one thing.

“Can you place the structure underwater?”

“Yep. Already tested it.”

“How many will you need?”

Ziz laughed. “A few hundred. At least. This is an old design. I made the base larger, which requires more stone. Which means I’ve had to import stone for the first time.”

Theo scoffed. “You’re exceeding the generation speed of the quarry?”

“Yep. And this entire plan only works because we can weld the stones together. We’ve worked it so the structures are strong. Far stronger than anything we’ve made before.”

Theo had a lot of questions about how this would work. But creating something like this was the first step. Ziz could now take a boat south of the alliance and drop pillars into the ocean. The alchemist’s mind reeled as he realized how hard that would be. Ziz needed different depths for different parts of the ocean. He also needed to connect each pillar. Those pillars needed to be a certain height from the ocean, and he needed to account for the tides. It was a dizzying array of problems that needed to be solved for this to work. But if he learned anything about bored half-ogres, it was that they’d do anything to avoid being bored.

“You have my full support,” Theo said, marveling at the support standing upright. “Financial, if you need it.”

“Actually, we need potions. Those digging potions? You know?”

“The [Tunneling Potions]?” Theo asked.

“Those are the ones. We started digging a tunnel through the southern mountain ranges. Just off from Dead Dog Mine.”

Theo checked his administration interface one last time. There were no surprise meetings, or emergencies that had popped up since he read it last. “What are you guys doing today?”

“Digging a tunnel, I guess,” Ziz laughed. “Just me and you. The boys are building more pillars.”

Theo and Ziz departed the quarry, heading down the angled path toward the adventurer housing. “You already measured the depth of the ocean?” the alchemist asked, putting things together.

“Just out to the barrier islands. Ten-thousand halms out.”

The people of Broken Tusk needed to adopt freedom units. Ten-thousand halms was somewhere between a mile and five miles. Depending on who was measuring the distance. No one seemed to agree on the exact length of a halm.

“You’re a craft man.”

Theo had enough [Tunneling Potion] to last quite a while. The recent spat of monster waves had also given him enough [Living River Water] to make as much as he wanted. He even had to buy more storage crates to stow the frozen water away. On their way to the mine, Theo stopped by the smelter to check on Nira. She was dutifully working the sweltering furnaces, so he settled for a hearty wave from the road. The uncomfortable heat was too much for his coat.

“Just off the beaten path,” Ziz said, pushing through the sparse underbrush.

Ziz and his boys had done almost nothing to the side of the mountain. They had cleared away some topsoil, and scratched at the face of the rock with little to show for it. Theo shook his head, withdrawing a [Tunneling Potion] from his inventory. “How far is it?”

“I really don’t know,” Ziz said with a defeated shrug. “No one has surveyed this area. And we don’t have instruments good enough to get a read.”

“Naturally,” Theo said, tipping the contents of the potion onto the wall. He felt the familiar wash of a foreign will enter his mind. With a simple command, he ordered the potion to proceed forward.

This would cause problems in the future. Of course. The mountains were a natural barrier, preventing any attacks from this direction. It only made sense to install defenses at both sides of the entrance. Theo was drawn out of his thoughts when Ziz produced a glowing crystal from nowhere. It lit the darkened tunnel, revealing glittering gray rocks in all directions. The tunnel they were cutting out of the mountain had to be larger than most tunnels they dug with the potion. That required more potion to dig the tunnel.

Several hours later, the pair sat in the darkened tunnel. They had to run back to the lab to get more of the potion, only to return to the tunnel without a break. The crystal Ziz held cast long shadows on the wall, flickering slightly.

“I don’t think this mountain ends,” Theo said, letting out a sigh.

“We should have hit the other side by now,” Ziz grumbled.

“Magical space, maybe? Did we intersect the mine by accident?”

“I don’t think so.”

“This is going to be a lot of track to build. Then we’ve gotta cross the sea.”

“It was your idea!”

Theo cleared his throat, producing more of the potion and fording on. Several full vials of the potion later, and a pinprick of light shone through the far wall.

“Light!” Ziz shouted.

Theo pressed his face against the cold rock, earning himself a sight of the ocean below. Far below. “This thing is gonna be a roller coaster.”

“A what?”

One last potion and the wall gave way. Air rushed into the tunnel, almost pushing the two men back on their butts. Once their eyes adjusted to the light, they looked down to the ocean below. It wasn’t a sheer drop, but the angle was aggressive.

“Dang. The mountain looked smaller from the sea.”

From his vantage point, Theo could see the barrier islands in the distance. They were facing directly south, meaning that Broken Tusk’s port was to their left. Neither of them could spot the port, but there was a speck on the horizon. Either a trader coming in to the town, or the Cork fishing near the barrier islands. Either way, this was a massive move in the right direction.

“We’ll need support pillars here, too,” Ziz said, looking down below. “Then it’s a straight shot to the lizard islands.”

“Did we clear that project with Squeak?”

“I think so. Maybe. I don’t know.”

Theo shrugged. The lizard-folk seemed passive enough not to care. He and Ziz walked back to town, laughing the entire way. Carving the tunnel out took a lot of time, but walking through it was a breeze. They joked about the roller coaster, and the implications of safety.

“Imagine going over the edge,” Ziz chuckled.

“I’d rather not.”

Chapter 21

The Wavecrest Sails

The wind whipped, catching in the sails of the Wavecrest with force. The boat lurched forward, capturing the stiff breeze to send the vessel sailing down the canal. Theo leaned over the railing, looking down at the murky water below. The river met the ocean here, creating a brackish churn of spume. With Laedria at the helm, and Alex flying high above, they forged a path into the bay.

“You didn’t have to come along,” Ziz said, leaning over the rail with Theo.

“Nah. Riding a boat is fun.”

That seemed to be enough for Ziz. He stomped over to the helm to flirt with Laedria for a while. Theo hadn’t been far out into the bay before, let alone wrapping around the area to see the southern tip of the Southlands Alliance. The water here was a murky shade of green-blue, caused by silt stirred by the ever-moving tide. Beaches spanned only a few hundred feet to the west before turning into the craggy mountain.

Theo’s head swiveled to see the sights and breathe in the scents of the ocean. It was a joy to watch the sailors do their things. Even with Zarali’s enchantments on the boat, they worked hard to get rigging in place and angle the sails. In less than half an hour, Laedria ordered the sails trimmed and the anchor dropped.

“There it is!” Ziz shouted, shielding his eyes from the sun. The industrious half-ogre had hung a bright red sheet outside of the tunnel exit. “The area closest to the coast is the shallowest. Duh. So I have a few stunty columns to place here.”

The half-ogre moved to the boat’s edge, waving his hands through the air. He did a few more gestures as though he was guiding the pillar to the bottom. With a satisfied nod, the pillar snapped into existence. But it didn’t just delete the water around the pillar. The ocean was forced away from the structure, sending a wave to crash against the ship’s hull. Everyone braced themselves, grabbing onto whatever was near. After a beat, Ziz chuckled nervously.

“Should’ve expected that. But look!”

The pillar stood perfectly in the water, standing at a perfect angle. Ziz explained that his new skill allowed him to place objects in the terrain, and came with angle checking and everything. The result was a pillar that had sunk into the seabed, far beyond the top layer of mud. After placing the first one, the ship moved across the bay to place more. Theo enjoyed his time on the deck. Especially when the half-ogre placed the structures down. It became a bit of a ride.

“That’s the open ocean?” Theo asked, squinting against the blistering sun overhead. It held a deeper blue color, and none of the murky green of the inshore waters.

“Yep,” Laedria said, coming to clap a firm hand over his shoulder. “We’ll be sailing out there to place these stones. Working our way over to the lizards.”

Theo inspected the line of pillars. Ziz had an ability to line his structures up perfectly. It was a perfectly straight line of pillars with every center lined to the inch. They all stood up straight, ready to receive the bridge.

“Let’s take her out into that wide blue,” Laedria said, rubbing her hands together. She shouted orders at her sailors, commanding them to make way for the sea.

Theo watched as they passed between two islands, narrowly avoiding scraping the bottom of the boat on a sandbar. Life clung to those islands. Patches of grasses and dotted palm trees marked the islands. They were bordered by rings of white sand and mottled with tiny crabs and other creatures. Sea-garbage had washed on on the far side of the island. Seaweed mingled with pieces of rotting wood in the froth of sea foam. The scent of salty air and decaying sea life and plant matter lingered in the air. It was a strangely nostalgic scent.

“This is where it drops off,” Ziz said. “The islands mark the shelf. It’s called a shelf, right?”

“Yeah,” Laedria said, coming down from the helm. “That’s what I call it, anyway. We’re in deeper water. Take measurements.”

Ziz found his measuring device. It was a rope with knots tied at equal intervals and a stone secured to the end. He plunked it into the water, waited a few moments, then marked the knot. Even at speed, the weight of the rock sent the measurement device to the bottom in moments. The half-ogre stonemason seemed happy with the depth, and the Wavecrest pushed on.

Despite Ziz’s fears that the ocean would get too deep, they sailed for hours without seeing much of an increase. The pillar that the half-ogre had displayed back at the quarry would be tall enough for their purposes. Even if the ocean’s depth increased between here and the lizard islands, it wouldn’t be too bad. Everyone on board was satisfied with the test, and Laedria ordered her people to make way for the harbor.

Theo realized what the trip into the ocean had done for him. He saw the lands of his people from a new angle. Putting aside how interesting and fun the bridge to the lizard-folk islands would be, sailing out to sea brought a new perspective. Ziz’s new ability also showed him that others were outpacing him. Drogramath’s alchemy was a discipline that lacked specialization. Given the chance, other cores would outpace his own in specific areas. All he could feel was pride for the stoneworker and his new method of building bridges.

“We got a long way to go,” Theo said, leaning over the edge.

Ziz lost his lunch over the boat’s edge, but smiled through the discomfort. “Don’t worry about where we’ll be. You can’t worry about that stuff.”

“Are you telling me to live in the moment?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Ziz said, wiping vomit from his lips. “I’m not made for the sea.”

A sense of general nausea lingered in Theo’s gut. While he hadn’t blown chunks, he was on the edge. “I don’t think I am, either.”

Only after the boat was moored, and Theo’s feet were on land did he decide he really enjoyed sailing. Perhaps only brief trips out of the bay, but it was enjoyable. Alex honked somewhere above. The alchemist had relayed a few messages from the goose about Ziz’s line of support pillars. She claimed they were straight from her position in the sky, but the stonemason was confident in his work. It never hurts to double-check, though.

Theo checked the vendor stalls on his way back into town. He didn’t find anything that interested him, aside from a scatter of [Monster Cores]. After buying several gold worth of high-level monster cores, he found his way to the greenhouses behind his lab. He didn’t trust the golems to detect a random splicing of two plants, so inspected each one himself. There were no sudden mutations within any of his greenhouses, or his mushroom caves.

The good news was that the [Dragon Talon Mushroom] was cultivating itself well. The jagged hard-edged mushrooms grew larger every day, and the golems knew enough to pluck the ones with lower cultivation ratings. Hybridizing plants had been a goal of Theo’s for some time, but the [Azrug’s Truffle] was a mistake. It made more sense to combine reagents that had similar properties, but combining plants intentionally was likely a skill he needed to unlock.

The door to the greenhouse swung open, and Throk stepped inside. He had that look on his face every time he made something cool, so Theo dropped what he was doing and followed the marshling.

“Ran into some problems,” Throk said, pushing his way past the cluster of greenhouses. “Hovering is easy over short bursts. Over a longer time, stuff blows up.”

“Did we solve the exploding problem?”

“No, not yet. But I’m getting there. I won’t bore you with the details, but I’ve got interference problems, mana transfer problems… lots of problems.”

Throk opened the door to his workshop. Inside was a hover engine similar to the one Theo had seen before. He wasn’t up on the way artifices worked to know what had changed and why. All he knew was that it differed from the one he had seen before.

“How about a demonstration?” Throk asked.

“Absolutely,” Theo said, taking a few steps back. He didn’t want to explode.

Throk’s development of the hover engine had been a slow thing. Becoming proficient with artifices meant understanding how each component interacted with the others. Combined with the collection of those pieces—a collection process the grumpy old marshling wouldn’t share—this made for an annoying task. The artificer prodded at his machine, loading it up with one of his synthetic coins. It hummed to life, rising a hair from the metal stand on which it stood. The sound was deafening.

“This is cool,” Theo shouted, his voice barely carrying over the sound.

“Right? Feel that? Magical buildup in one of my components,” Throk shouted back, prodding at the machine with an alloy rod. “Once I figure out how to vent that extra magic, we’re golden!”

Theo waited patiently for Throk to disable the device. It took longer than he was comfortable with, but the engine finally went silent. As with most extensive projects in Broken Tusk, it was hard to tell if the platform would still be useful for the task when it was completed. There was always room for airships, though. The marshling explained his plans for the future, detailing a process to refine the engine. Developing a better hover engine meant developing a better maglev.

“The techniques feed into themselves,” Throk said with a nod. “Airships would be easier to run from here to the lizard islands.”

“Except people are always telling me about the dangers of magical interference. So, we didn’t consider airships for that project.”

“Your fancy wards solve that problem, right?”

“Permanently? No. We need to do more testing. My shields only stop ambient magic. And the biggest problem I was told about was magical attacks. That’s why people don’t run airships, right?”

Throk shrugged. “Not so sure about that. Problem is that we don’t know.”

Which looped back to Theo’s worries about airships. They didn’t know enough to say for sure that anything would work. What they did know was that the maglev worked. They had the supplies to make stupidly long rail lines. So why the hell not?

“Anything that keeps our people busy is good,” Theo concluded. “Instead of worrying about which one is best, let’s just build both.”

Throk rubbed his hands together. “I like the way you think.”

Theo left the artificer’s lab, promising town funds for yet another project. He knew he could supplement every project with his personal earnings anyway. Turning his attention to the town’s finances, he found they were making a killing with the harbor. Every ship that docked had to pay a fee. Then they had to pay another fee based on the amount of goods they sold. Word from both Partopour and Bantein claimed that the price was lower than most other ports. Gronro and Rivers were selling their wares through the harbor, adding more coin to the mix.

But with profits came expenses. The [Kingdom Core] needed charging. Ziz needed his stone, and it was always wise to import food. Folks might have liked their mud-grown food, but variety had been appreciated in the past. The high expense of the rail projects was offset by a need the citizens had. People wanted to travel to other places, if the results of the tram were anything to go by. That made both the airship project and the rail project vital.

On his way back to the lab, Theo spotted Salire walking through the streets. She swept the path before her with a spray of choking spicy water. A sea of frog-like things parted, dashing off into the lightly forested areas in town. Waiting for a chance to strike again. She offered a shy wave, making her way to Town Hall.

Theo sent a quick mental message to Tresk and Alex, inviting them both to Tero’gal. He made his way to Zarali’s enchanter’s workshop, inviting her instead. She jumped at the chance to see her brother again, hugging the alchemist.

“Let’s go!”

“I need to grab some stuff,” Theo said awkwardly.

“Oh. By all means.”

Snatching the barrels of [Hallow the Soil] brewing in the lab, the alchemist prepared to depart for his realm. Zarali signaled that she was ready, and they fell through the void. Uz’Xulven didn’t invite them onto the bridge, but a flash of odd light signaled her transfer to Tero’gal. The moment the rolling fields of his private realm came into view, the alchemist spotted her gate appearing.

“I’ll be in the tea room!” Uz’Xulven shouted, exiting her portal and entering the tiny cottage.

“We need a bigger meeting area,” Theo said, making his way to the collection of homes the spirits had built.

“The tea shack is too stuffy for my liking,” Zarali said. Her eyes went wide whens he spotted Belgar. “Brother!”

Both Dronon came together, embracing each other in a hug. Belgar’s form was becoming more solid by the day. There were only faint patches of wispy purple energy on his body. The new body he had forged for himself was different from the original. Zarali didn’t seem to care, embracing her brother’s new form. Theo set his barrels near the alchemy work area, then headed for the cottage. His purpose for this visit was to do some alchemical experimentation and to allow the barrels to brew. But Uz’Xulven had become something of a conversationalist.

“Where is that bear?” Uz’Xulven asked, craning her neck to see out of the cottage’s entrance. “I require tea and scones.”

Theo put the teakettle on, then found a seat at the round table. “Sometimes he’s busy.”

“I can see into his realm. He isn’t busy. He’s baking.”

Not wanting to wait, Theo pressed an issue that lingered in his mind. “Any news on Fenian?”

A pained expression flashed across her face. She laughed, covering the hurt. But Theo saw it. “He’s working himself out of a jam.” Instinctively, Uz’Xulven looked behind her, expecting Khahar to appear and clap a hand over her mouth. He didn’t show.

Theo stretched his weak senses through the void. He visualized the different realms as bubbles floating in a sea of black. While he could imagine Balkor’s realm, he couldn’t penetrate the bubble. The slightest brush against the Demon God of Necromancy’s realm revealed to him that not even Tresk could get through.

“Are you peeking?” Uz’Xulven said with a scoff. “Of all the whelpish, upstart, no-good things to do.”

Theo grinned. “I don’t see Khahar clamping his hand over my eyes. If the Arbiter says I can do it, I can do it.”

Uz’Xulven crossed her arms. “Your tea isn’t as good as the stuff the bear makes.”

“Your monochromatic bridge is ugly.”

Uz’Xulven mouth hung open. Her eyes slowly drifted across the room, locking onto Theo. “How dare you.”

Theo laughed, cutting himself off when he felt another presence in his realm. Benton stepped through his gate outside. He entered the cottage, tutting when he saw the alchemist’s water boiling. The bear god snatched the kettle up, tossed the water out, and started again.

“Yay! The man who can make good tea is here. Hooray!”

“I brought cookies,” Benton said, unloading the contents of his inventory. It was, as always, filled with confections.

Theo grabbed a plain sugar cookie, nibbling on it while Benton got set up. He paused, smiling at Uz’Xulven. “But for real. Can I help Fenian?”

“He was certain the potions you brewed him would be enough.”

“You could invite Balkor to your realm,” Benton said with a shrug. He plopped a sachet of tea into the boiling water.

“Any chance of corruption?” Theo asked.

“That’s not how realms work. He would need to overpower your authority here, which is… Well, that’s impossible,” Uz’Xulven said. “Watch!”

The Queen of the Bridge of Shadows swiped her hand through the air. A wave of dark fire rolled over Theo, engulfing the cottage. The flames passed over him harmlessly, not even scorching the interior of the building.

“That attack would have leveled a city on the mortal plane,” Uz’Xulven said, nodding with satisfaction. “In a place where you have absolute authority, it’s a stiff breeze.”

Theo closed his eyes, reaching out to his imagined version of Balkor’s realm. Confident that the demon couldn’t affect Tero’gal, he sent an invitation. Within a single heartbeat, it was rejected. “He declined.”

“Of course he did,” Uz’Xulven laughed. She paused, her eyes going wide. “Do you feel that?”

Theo saw the notification before he felt anything. Drogramath was attempting to enter Tero’gal and had requested a friendly entry. The alchemist accepted, but didn’t dare stand from his chair. Moments later, the form of the Potioneer lumbered through the door. He was taller than mortal depictions. Even the rendering provided by the temple in Broken Tusk. With dark purple skin, a coat similar to Theo’s own, and his left horn missing, Drogramath entered the cottage. He cleared his throat.

“May I share in your tea?” he asked awkwardly.

“Wow,” Uz’Xulven said, leaning in over the table. “Wow, wow, wow. I haven’t seen you in twenty-thousand years, Droggy.”

“Don’t call me that,” Drogramath scowled.

“Please,” Theo said, gesturing to an empty chair. “Take a seat.”

“Thank you, champion,” Drogramath said, sitting and folding his hands in his lap. “I see you’re collecting the souls of lost dronon. A noble cause.”

“Do you remember the First Ascension War?” Uz’Xulven asked, sighing as she took a bite of a cookie.

“I wish I didn’t.”

“We used to meet like this!” Uz’Xulven slammed her fist on the table. It didn’t move an inch. “Don’t you miss this?”

Drogramath shifted in his chair. He cleared his throat, eventually. And smiled. “I miss it dearly. We’ve become insular.”

“By design,” Uz’Xulven grumbled.

“Not anymore!” Benton said, pulling the pot of tea from the fire. He poured everyone a cup of tea before taking his seat again. “Seems to be no restrictions here. Anyone can come.”

“Thanks to me,” Uz’Xulven muttered. “No one appreciates the support gods.”

“I appreciate you.” Theo smiled.

“I also appreciate you,” Drogramath said with too much gravitas.

Benton clicked his tongue. “Come on. Cookies aren’t gonna eat themselves.”

The strange group grabbed at the sweets and drank their tea.