RavensDagger

  Chapter Two Hundred a - Dine Hard

  “Dig in!” I cheered.

  Most of the crew, minus Steve and Oda, were spread out around the dining room table with their share of supper before them. We didn’t do anything special before eating, but somehow--without ever actually talking about it--we teo wait until everyone had food on their pte before we’d dig in.

  There were some nioises of agreement from the others as they tucked in. The pe seemed like a good pce to start, and some were already cutting into their slices of grilled fish. “I o thank Amaryllis and Awen, they helped a lot,” I said.

  Everyo the two girls slowed down aated to tiing.

  “Aww, don’t be like that,” I said. “They’re gettier. I bet they might eve a cooking skill one of these days.”

  “Oh, please no,” Amaryllis said. “That would be such a waste of a general skill slot.”

  “Really? I wouldn’t mind it too much,” I said. “It’s not something too awesome, but it’s very practical. I still have a couple of general skill slots to fill, you know?”

  “I do have some unused slots,” Amaryllis allowed as she picked at her fish. There were still bones and su it, which made it tricky to eat. “I’m not sure if I should foore exploratioed skills, or some that would be more practical in the day-to-day.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “Most people,” Bastion replied. “Will have to make a choice between obtaining skills to help them do the things they do every day, or skills that assist them with their work. Something like Sword-Fighting is a wonderful skill for a Padin like myself, but it would be wasted on a Farmer. Likewise, I wouldn’t have much use for a Pnting skill. But in both cases we’re assuming that a person is heavily specialized. If you’re not, then it makes seo i in skills that help you make your everyday life easier.”

  “It’s a trade, then,” I said.

  Bastion nodded. “That’s it. The best people in their field are almost always those that have ied everything into being the best. Every css and every skill. They will be impressively good at the ohing they focused on, whatever that may be.”

  I nodded along while I sidered that. “I don’t know what I want to be,” I said. “I know what I want, but I’m not sure if I need any csses or anything to do that, just hard work.”

  “I know that your answer is going to be some siingly sweet, idiocic tripe, but I find myself pelled to ask anyway,” Amaryllis said. “What’s yoal?”

  “To make the best friends, and to make sure they’re as happy as be,” I said.

  Amaryllis rolled her eyes and Awen giggled. A few others at the table ughed, but I didn’t mind, it was a good ugh.

  “I recall you mentioning wanting to be strong,” Amaryllis said.

  “That too,” I agreed. “But I don’t o be crazy-strong, just tough enough that people will hesitate to hurt my friends.”

  Bastion hummed, theured to me with his fork. “Perhaps focus on skills that will help your role as a captain then. Leadership skills do help in a tight spot, and they’d assist you in your current role as captain, obviously.”

  “Awa, maybe you should just accept the skill you get naturally? That’s what uncle does. He says that if yetting skills because you’re doing something you like, then those skills are the ohe World thinks you’ll enjoy best.”

  “Huh. I guess that makes se also means I don’t o worry about it!”

  “Moron,” Amaryllis said.

  We tinued eating, our stant yammering slowing us down a bit. On the far end of the table, Howard and Clive were having an ih discussion about fishing of all things, and Sally and Joe were talking to Gordon about different ports the harpy had visited.

  I ehe babble of versation, it made the Beaver sound like a wonderfully happy pce. e strutted down, walking on air as only a spirit cat could, a herself down on Amaryllis’ p and started purring up a storm.

  “I suspect that we ought to pn our steps,” Bastion said as he set his fork down. He always ate quickly, as if his meal might slip away at a moment’s notice.

  “Do you mean the part of the trip, or the adventure?” I asked.

  “I mean the Insmouth dungeon,” Bastion said. Howard looked over at that, and Bastion caught his eye. “ you tell us more about it?”

  Howard nodded before pulling a pipe out from his old coat. Clive already had his pipe out and was carefully pushing some stuff in it from a little tin jar oable. “Our dungeon’s fairly old, but it was never oo grow fast. Three floors for the loime. Four now. Not too many monsters, but plenty of tricks.”

  “I see,” Bastion said. “What are the floors like?”

  “Hmm,” Hoaused as he lit his pipe and took a pull while flig out a match. It left the room smelling kind of smoky and fruity. Not the worst smell, but not the best. I let my ing aura expand a bit to remove the smell. “The floors are all ected by this long, narrow cave. You skip a floor, but it’s mighty dangerous.”

  “Moypes?” Amaryllis asked.

  “Large fish-like creatures, things with tentacles, and the mist. You ’t really fight the st.” He puffed out a perfect ring into the air. “Your worst enemy is yourself and your friends. Something about the dungeon makes it hard to trust folk. The longer you stay, the more you start doubting them. It’s why I tend to spend some time with people about to go in for the first time, get some drinks with them, maybe smoke together a little, get a good retionship going, because that makes it take longer for the ck of trust to set in.”

  “That’s awful,” I said.

  “Some sort of paranoia effect,” Amaryllis said. “Or something close to that. Does it vary in power?”

  “The more folk that go down, the strohe feel of it is,” Howard said.

  “So we send in as few people as possible,” Bastion said. “How many do you usually go in with?”

  “Just myself and the person needing the css,” Howard said. He pulled his pipe out and traced a circle in the air with the mouthpiece. “Three’s fine if they trust each other, but more than that and it gets harder, unless you really trust each other. Still, more people often means moving along faster too. So it’s a bang act, in the grand scheme of things.”

  “We’re not just going down with one of us,” I said. “That’s way too dangerous.”

  “Up to you folk,” Howard said.

  “Right. So the pn’s pretty simple, I guess. We arrive in town, anchor the Beaver down, then head over to the dungeht away. The longer we wait, the worse it’ll be. We don’t want to go too fast, because that’s dangerous, so we want to start as soon as we . Maybe we bring some supplies to st a day or so.”

  “Only takes an afternoon to clear it,” Howard said.

  “It might take longer now,” I said. “We don’t know that yet, so it’s best to over-prepare.”

  There were nods all around.

  “I think it’ll be... um, I o be there for the ing magic. Amaryllis should be there to lightning things, and Awen to meic things, and Bastion because he’s fun. And Howard, of course, to act as a guide and local expert.” I nodded, very much pleased with my leadership abilities when it came to pig out a good team.

  “You idiot, you just want us to be there because you think this is some big adventure,” Amaryllis said.

  “Isn’t it?”

  Awen nodded. “It is.”

  “Hmph,” Amaryllis hmphed. “Well, whatever. As long as we get this over with. We’re a few days behind. We were supposed to arrive in Sylphfree the day after tomorrow. A quice at any map will reveal that we’re some three days away now, if we fly straight ht away.”

  “Ah, but we were going to be a week early, right?” I asked.

  “Yes, and that’s not worth anything if we arrive a week te,” Amaryllis snapped.

  I shrugged. “Alright. So, who wants to help me with the dishes!” I asked as I stood.

  The room cleared pretty quickly after that, only Awen staying behind to help me pick up. I, of course, cheated with ing magic, because doing the dishes wasn’t actually fun at all unless you were doing them with someone.

  “Ah, I think I should run back to do some work,” Awen said. “My crossbow needs some maintenance. I had some ideas for it, but we won’t have time for that before we arrive in Insmouth.”

  “Anything I help with?” I asked.

  Awen shook her head. “No, it’s fine. I might look around town to buy some supplies. We have some here, but I’d feel safer with more, in case the Beaver needs repairs.” She blinked , then looked my way. “Is there anything you need, Broc? I tinker now. Sometimes I just don’t know what to make though.”

  “Hmm,” I said. I didn’t want to say ‘nothing’ that wouldn’t be too niot when Awen seemed so eager to actually put her skills to some use. But there wasn’t too much that I actually needed, not for adventuring. Maybe for my role as captain? “Oh! I need a cool telescope,” I said.

  “A telescope? Like, to see things?”

  “Yup. All good captains have o’s a staple, right up there with a cool pet. Usually that’s a parrot or a monkey, but I think e fits there.”

  The cat iion gnced my way from her spot on my seat at the head of the table. I think she was just there because it was warm.

  Once everything was tucked away, Awen said she’d be heading to her workshop, so I gave her a quick hug--for skill practid because hugs--then I checked over my colle of teas before pig a couple aing them aside. Then it was bato deck.

  I jumped to helping the others when I saw that Clive was starting to pull the Beaver around a rather tight turn. It only took a gowards Insmouth a bit to the north to see why. We hadn’t overshot the vilge, exactly, but it was a hing.

  Sails she propeller hissed and the engine rumbled below deck while the Scallywags and the harpies and I ran arouing everything in order to aim back towards the town. Soon enough we were stowing the sails, slowing down as best we could to coast ihe town.

  It ast mid-day, and out in the bay little fishing boats were bobbing along, a few of them already heading bato the docks with their day’s catch.

  The people of Insmouth must have been expeg to see the Beaver because we barely warranted more than a gnce as we came to a stop over a nearby clearing and dropped anchor.

  The airship tugged at the anchor and bobbed about for a bit until it settled down. The engines idled and Clive ordered the crew to run a quispe of the lines and sails.

  “An iion?” I asked.

  “Aye,” the old harpy said. “If we’re going to be sitting here for the evening, might as well ehat everything’s in w order. ’t do that well while we’re in full flight.”

  “Right,” I said. One of these days I’d get the hang of it. For now though, I had more pressing things to look forward to.

  My friends came up, o a time, and soon all of us were gathered on deck, backpacks on and equipment ready for another adve was time to do our part to save... maybe not the world, but at least this little er of it!

  ***

  RavensDagger

  Huge thank-you to everyone who participated! (PM me for your rewards!)

  ing in third pce, by the incredible Melsa:Cat-Print Cat

  In sed pce, by the hyper-talented Preega:Cat Pew Pew

  And finally, in first pce, by the insane and utterly bonkers Albreo:The Beaver Cleaver

  I'm... fbbergasted by how good these are! Thanks everyone! You really warm an old birds feathers!