Chapter Three-Hundred Five

I keep watching as they delve, carefully picking what denizens to send their way.  If they were doing a more ordinary delve, I think they’d get overwhelmed.  Tula does her best, but there really is a significant gulf in her power compared to the others, and I don’t know that they’d be able to pick up the slack if I treated them like a larger party adventuring in the cavern layer.

Luckily for them, they’re headed for the enclave, so I make sure the denizens take it easy on them.  They still need to pay the toll, but I have no intention of cutting my spiderkin off from the surface.  By the time they reach the enclave, Tula is looking a bit haggard, but at least not traumatized.

“I can’t believe you all do that for fun…” she grumbles, much to the amusement of the others.

“Aw, it wasn’t that bad, was it?” asks Freddie, forcing Tula to sigh and admit the truth.

“It wasn’t as bad as I feared, but… I don’t think I’m coming back without all of you, or maybe Olander.”

“Hard to argue with the experience, too,” adds Larrez, earning another grudging nod from the scribe.

“Let’s go find Norloke.  The enclave is as safe as Fourdock, so don’t worry.”  Rhonda nods at the guards as the group enter the enclave, giving Tula her first sight of my spiderkin industriously going about their day.  Right now, they’re focused on ensuring their capture baskets are properly repaired for the harvest.  The cave lobsters are about ready to be culled and distributed to the live wells of the residents, making room for the next generation of tasty little pinchers.

Larrez is the first to notice the reason, or at least the first to voice it as they head for Norloke’s home.  “It looks like they’re getting ready to harvest their lobsters.  Have you guys had them before?”

The others shake their heads, with Rhonda replying first.  “I hear they used to be a pretty common food back before Hullbreak went nuts, but they’ve been too rare for orphans like us to try.”

“I’ve had crayfish, but there’s no lobsters where I used to live,” adds Tula.

“I’ve had them before,” admits Larrez.  “They’re alright.  Well, sea lobsters.  I haven’t tried the cave ones.  They’re supposed to be pretty easy to cook.”

“Maybe we should come back later to see if they have any extra to sell,” suggests Freddie.  “The spiderkin seem to really like them, so they can’t be terrible.”

Rhonda looks uncertain about that.  “They look weird.  But I guess a plucked chicken looks weird, too.  I’d be willing to give it a try, at least.”

“I wonder why they always leave the head feathers on…” muses Freddie as they arrive, and Rhonda knocks on the door to the ground level of Norloke’s elaborate home.  While many spiderkin are starting to take to making stone or brick homes on the floor, Norloke and the others weavers especially still like to weave their homes up near the ceiling of the cave.  Of course, they still have guests, so they have at least a small room or two built on the ground floor, and generally keep their live wells there.

The knocking gets the spiderkin’s attention and she pokes her head out from her silken abode in the ceiling, smiling and waving as she recognizes who’s come to call.

“Ah, Freddie, Rhonda, and Larrez!  And Lucas and Fiona, too!  Oh, and a new friend?  Give me a moment to get these last few stitches and I’ll be right down!”

They oblige, with Tula looking around the enclave at the busy spiderkin.  “I’ve never been in an enclave before.  I’m not sure what I was expecting,” she admits.

“I wonder if they could make you some silk robes,” ponders Freddie.  “Rhonda’s going to be asking about some, so you could, too.  I don’t think them dying it would be a problem, either.”

“I’m not sure I could afford it.  These work well enough.”

“No harm in asking,” points out Rhonda.  Tula shrugs in defeat at that as Norloke exits her silken room, nimbly climbing down to greet the group.

“Thank you all for waiting!  Now, to what do I owe the pleasure?” she asks with a smile as she opens the door, ushering them all in.  The room itself may be made of stone and bricks, but the weaver has covered practically every surface in soft silks, lending it an elegant, almost ephemeral atmosphere.  She waves a hand for them to all take a seat as she takes her own, eagerly awaiting their answer.

“Well, we wanted to visit and catch up some,” starts Rhonda, before pulling out the nice robe Rocky had made for her.  Norloke’s eyes twinkle in recognition as the goblin continues.  “And to ask if you can do adjustments on this?  I’m kinda outgrowing my current robes.  I was going to ask for something new, but Teemo reminded me of this.  It was just too nice to wear for ordinary delving, but…”

Norloke laughs brightly as she holds out her arms for the robe.  “Oh, it is a very nice robe.  I remember when they were presented to you!  I hope you weren’t worried about ruining them somehow?  Rocky had these made specifically for delving, just like Freddie’s hatchet and Larrez’ rapier.”

“Did you help him make the robe?” asks Freddie, and Norloke shakes her head.

“No, he kept it a secret until the reveal.  We probably should have realized he was up to something when the aranea started watching us for a while, same with the ratlings at the ratkin forges.”  She chuckles in hindsight as Rhonda hands it over, and starts examining them.

“Oh my, they even used widow silk!  Remarkable.  I hope Jeb domesticates some of them soon, their silk is remarkably strong.”  Her fingers flow over the garment as she observes out loud, her attention moving from the guests to the piece of clothing.  “Oh, you can feel Thing’s runework, too.  Clever, I think he used some of the metal transmutation elixir to reinforce the threads, too.  Hmm…”  She pulls and pushes on the fabric before nodding.  “I think I can let it out some without disrupting anything.”

She turns her attention to Rhonda, her hands measuring on the fabric as she analyzes the goblin girl.  Rhonda speaks up as she watches her work.

“How much will it be?  And how much to get some simpler silk robes for Tula here?”

“Oh, it shouldn’t be too much for either.  We can talk about the details while I get your measurements.  Freddie, Larrez?  Do you two know the way to the armory?  Teemo stopped by and asked about the new composite armor.  Folarn is in charge of that, or at least our part in it.  I believe she wants to get some pieces to Rocky so he can put them through their paces.  Honey had a whole book of things she wanted tested.”

Freddie and Larrez laugh about that.  “Sounds like Honey,” comments Freddie as he stands.  “Do we take them to Rocky’s arena, then?”

“I think Teemo wants them down in the secret training room.  He should be waiting in the armory for you, though, so he’ll tell you there.”

Larrez nods and stands as well.  “Then I guess we’ll meet you two there once you’re done?”

Norloke nods.  “It shouldn’t take us too long.  You boys help move the armor and they should be along by the time you’re done.”

The guys nod at that and go, and I follow them, giving the girls a bit of space to themselves.  At the armory, Teemo meets with the guys and shows them the armor suits, and they get to work without much complaint.  Freddie is pretty incredulous about how light they are, but Larrez just chuckles about more of my nonsense.

The harder part is in moving a few dummies in to put the armor on, but once Rocky sees everyone hauling things around, he lends a hand.  True to Norloke’s word, Rhonda and Tula arrive as the guys are getting the last of the armor set up.  The elven woman looks curious, but Rhonda is the one who gets to voice her curiosity first.

“Is that the armor?  Is it dipped in glass or something?” she asks, poking a set designed for a ratkin.  Rocky snorts in amusement as Freddie shakes his head.

“Teemo says it’s some kind of lacquer?”  He looks to my Voice who shrugs.

“Resin, but I’m still a bit fuzzy on the actual difference.  It’s tough, but it doesn’t dent like metal does.  Go ahead and give it a few attacks, you’ll see.”

Freddie smiles and pulls up his hatchet.  “I’ve been wanting to give them a test since I picked up the first piece.  Ordinarily, I’d expect to chop through it easily, but there’s definitely some Thedeim weirdness going on.  Hyah!”

Despite his words, he doesn’t seem to put any special skill into the attack as he swings for the chestpiece.  The hatchet digs in slightly, leaving a good scratch in the finish as he pulls away.  The orc shakes his head before taking a closer look.  “How’s it do that?  It almost felt like wood, but it took a hit that should have dented normal armor at least.”

Curious, Larrez gives a testing jab with his rapier and finds that, though he can make a pinhole in the outer layer, he can’t get much deeper without using a skill.  Teemo elaborates as the guys give the armor a couple other experimental whacks, stabs, and slices.

“The Boss calls it composite armor.  It’s like, you know how silk is supposed to be really strong, but is too flexible to make a good plate out of?  The resin makes it stiff, and you can embed a bunch of other stuff, too.  He says that, if done right, each material adds its own strength to the whole.  The design is pretty complicated considering how in the end, it looks to me like they just paint the resin onto a very impractical robe or even a bedsheet.”

“It seems pretty effective to me.  Why does Thediem want to test it more?” asks Freddie, looking like he’s already ready for a suit of his own.

“Mostly, it’s in the maintenance.  Metal can be bent back into shape, but this can’t.  It accumulates the dings and scratches until something finally gets through, or the layers come apart and the whole thing becomes useless.  It also doesn’t handle most affinities too well.  Things like kinetic and metal are pretty easy to stop, but fire, ice, lightning and such are still a problem.”

“Is… is that why you have Rocky here?” timidly asks Tula, eyeing my zombie scion and clearly thinking about his long list of affinities.  He grunts and nods, then gestures to Rhonda with a questioning look.

“I’d like to help too, if you don’t mind?  I really want to see you work with kinetic first, if you don’t mind?  I’m close to a breakthrough, I can feel it.”

Tula looks confused where Freddie and Larrez are trying to look casual.

“Yeah?” asks Teemo, glancing to Tula as Rhonda nods.

“Yeah.  Please?”

Rocky grunts with a smile and sets his mouthpiece before stepping up to a dummy, motioning for Rhonda to step up to another one.

“Why is she…” quietly asks Tula, and Freddie answers.

“Just watch.  Trust me.”

Confused, she looks to Larrez, who nods and points as Rocky and Rhonda start.  My boxer summons an orb each of fire and ice as he starts punching the armor, going slow and not using too much force just yet.  Tula gasps at the display, and gasps again as Rhonda follows suit.  She raises her staff and calls forth her own orbs, and lets them float to either side as she hits the staff’s head against the armor.

Rocky grunts and nods, keeping a steady rhythm even as he increases the force of his hits.  Rhonda sounds frustrated as she tries to focus and hit harder with her staff.  “I can’t hit as hard as you!” she complains, much to the amusement of Rocky.  He grunts again, getting Rhonda’s focus as he starts hitting much harder.

She’s the first to notice, but as Rocky continues, the others can see the ball of flame slowly growing with each hit.  “It’s…” her eyes widen as she seems to understand, though she doesn’t have the words to explain her epiphany.  Rocky grins around his mouthguard as he merges the orbs, ending with a smaller ball of fire for a few moments, before he consumed the energy and puts it into his punch, sending the armor smashing against the cave wall.

Rhonda doesn’t have his mastery, but she’s got the idea now.  She lets the orb of ice fall to the ground as she focuses on the fire.  “Like an explosion…” she mutters to herself before the fireballs winks out of existence.  A heartbeat later her dummy crashes into the wall next to Rocky’s, and the goblin slumps to the ground, spent.

Freddie quickly moves to help her, while Tula stares at the scene.  “That’s… it’s…” she stammers as she points an accusing finger at Rocky.  “First you… then she...?!”  Her finger alternates between them for several cycles before she makes a decision and points it back to Rocky.

“How’d you do that?!  Why fire and ice?” she demands, much less demure now.

“To show me,” grunts Rhonda as she gets to her feet with Freddie’s help.  She smiles at him, resting a hand on his before he steps away.  She leans on her staff slightly, and is distracted by the head for a moment.  “Kinetic definitely needs a diamond…” she mutters to herself before turning her attention back to Tula.

“And probably show you, too.  Don’t let him fool you, his brain is anything but rotten.  This is why I wanted you to come meet Rocky, Tula.  Karn told me about your quest.”

“He’s an Ice Sage?  It’s a type of undead?”

Rhonda shakes her head.  “It’s a class.  My class.  Inspired by how Rocky fights and uses his affinities, and shaped by the trials Thedeim made for us.  It’s a class all about learning and teaching.  Each new understanding gives a greater insight into not just magic, but how everything works.  I had ice affinity innately, and gained fire affinity through an epiphany… and now kinetic, too.”

She raises her staff and lets it go, making it float for a few moments as frost creeps along it.  She doesn’t keep it up for long, though, and soon grabs it to lean on again.  “Whew, still not easy, but I’ve definitely got it.  Anyway, Tula.”  She focuses back on the elf, who looks utterly dumbfounded at what she’s seeing and hearing.

“I’d like to teach you, if you’re interested.  I think that’s why Laermali sent you, instead of a high priest or something.  My mentor tries to learn, but he’s pretty set in his ways.  I think we could help each other.  I’m not sure that Sages should be common, if that’s even what Laermali wants, but I’m willing to at least teach you, Tula.  If you want to learn?”

She smiles and holds out her hand to the elf.  Tula stares at her, eyes wide, before the elf faints.

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Whew, sorry about the delay with this one, but hopefully the longer chapter makes up for it. Today has been a busy one, heh. I hope you enjoyed the chapter :)