Feral Beast Master: A Gamelit Adventure, page 4
Sara said it was normal. They’d eventually figure out a way to use every scrap of the enchanted hide. While she went to have dinner with her family, Kaden counted the stack of silver he’d gotten from Mistress Scylla, along with her thanks.
Then went shopping.
If the battle with the wolves had taught him anything, it was that a hammer was a good weapon, but not always a great one. Bryce, head of Pest Patrol, had recommended he work up to a dual headed hammer/axe.
The second floor of the Adventurer’s Guild was far larger inside than out, and Kaden wandered among the many stalls. The way Sara explained it, Crafters were honored members of the Guild, not second class servants. They were scouted, trained, protected, and when a crafter wanted a material, the Guild made it happen.
For instance, all of Sara’s dead Ice Wolves had been delivered to a furrier who could make functional, but not enchanted equipment from them. But right now, he moved from blacksmith to blacksmith. Almost everyone made blades, but a few specialized in blunt weapons.
“You going to stand and look or you going to buy?” A burly [Shield] blacksmith asked after his third hour of wandering. “You want a cudgel, a club, a hammer, or an axe?”
“I want a war hammer with an axe blade on one side and a hammer face on the other.”
The blacksmith rubbed his chin, spreading ash on his chin. “That’s an odd request. You need skills in both to use it. You got [Brutal Blows] but it’ll work at half efficiency. And your edged weapons doesn’t have an Axe specialization. Go talk to Thatcher, seven rows over and all the way to the end. The man’s not a smith as much as a scavenger. He makes metal for other smiths to use. If it’s weird or useless, he’s probably got it.”
Kaden thanked the man and followed his directions to a blacksmith’s stall that was nearly falling in. Covered in rust. Farm implements, curved blades on the end of chains, a spiked ball so large Rocky would look small next to it—
A moment’s notice, and a grey blur blasted past, carrying something in its mouth. *Fast*.
Kaden reached for Vip with his binding, and pulled her into his soul, then out to his arms. In her mouth, she carried a wand that oozed flames. “Drop it, girl.”
She put her head on his shoulder and rested. *Love!*
“Where’s Eve?” he asked.
Vip looked up, and around. *Slow*.
He was going to have to get her more ways to communicate. “Did you steal that wand?”
*So Fast!* she responded, along with an image of a shop, nothing but wands hanging in row upon row. Better not to touch the wand, in case the owner came looking. In fact—he banished Vip to the depths of his Soul, then introduced himself to Thatcher.
Thatcher was ridiculously thin for a blacksmith. His arms were like a prisoner’s, his skin pale. But he glanced to the forge behind him, and the hammer rose on its own, beginning to pound again. “What do you got to sell?”
After Kaden explained what he had in mind, Thatcher began to rummage through the piles of metal mounded around his shop, if one could call it that. More and more metal clanged and piles collapsed, as he searched frantically. “Ah, ah, yes. Here you go. I’ll make you a deal on this. Say, five hundred silver? Half a gold piece is a bargain for a weapon like this.”
Kaden took what he’d brought out. A rusted war hammer with a broad head on one side and a wide axe on the other. The hammer head curved up and back to form a bladed hook with a wicked spike. A rotten wood handle jutted out of one side, and a hollow spot in the center held the cracked, empty remains of a mana core.
[Remembrance of Battle - War Hammer]
Once a weapon of legend, even the memories of it are now lost. Without a mana core, without a handle, without a wielder, it waits for time to claim it, and dreams the echos of battles long past.
The head alone weighed twice as much as his current hammer. But…Kaden shook his head. “Sorry, can’t afford it. Got anything I won’t have to rebuild?”
Thatcher cocked his head, listening to the air. “Did I say five hundred? I meant a hundred silver.”
“Pass.” It was time to take that wand and figure out where it came from.
Thatcher grabbed his arm. “Twenty silver. Don’t be fooled by what you see. This was once a magnificent weapon. I’d hate to melt it down for ghost armor. That’s all I forge, made from metal that killed people, or whose owners died.”
A high quality war hammer would cost at least two hundred silver. This one might cost as much to repair. He counted his coins again, mentally. Then counted out twenty.
Thatcher wrapped the hammer head in cloth and tied it with what Kaden was sure was dried intestine. “Go on. I know you’re going to find someone to put a handle and an edge back on her. They’re going to tell you I tricked you. They’re going to say you were a fool. But you’re going to take this and use it to create hundreds more ghosts. And when you do? Sell me the ruined armor. Never enough Ghost Steel.” The man’s eyes were so wide he looked like a ghast, and his grin showed teeth with bits of black in them. Sanity no longer lived with Thatcher. In fact, Sanity had fled to a safe house and sought a restraining order to keep him far away.
Kaden backed away, keeping his eyes on the man until he was far enough to turn. It wasn’t a run so much as a fast walk. Then he summoned Vip. “Keep an eye out, all right?”
Because he couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching. With a thought, he stored the war hammer head and went to find the others.
5
FIVE - IT’S A ZOO
By morning, the feeling of unease Kaden held had let up. He woke to find Trella curled up against him, her arm over him just like normally and roused her to get a better breakfast from anywhere but the Guild.
“You got scammed,” Trella said as she looked over his purchase. “This is junk. You paid him twenty silver so he wouldn’t have to melt it down.”
With someone else beside him, it sure seemed more likely. The rust spots on the head were more pits than surface rust, and just as [Identify] had said, the gap where a Mana Core would go was depressingly large. “I should have brought you with me.”
“Of course you should have. I’m not going to disappear on you. The Sisters approve of me staying here, since I explained about the skills, and they’re hoping it’ll happen again.” Trella shrugged. “If you get hungry, I had the chef package more food. Stuff in Inventory doesn’t get hotter or colder, so, it sure beats a biscuit.”
“Room for one more?” Eve asked as she approached. She wrapped her temple robes tighter and shivered as the rain began to spit down.
“Best breakfast in the City is that guy over there,” Kaden said, keeping his tone neutral.
“I ate what I could choke down at the Guild. Breakfast is not their specialty.” Eve said. “Do we have a new quest?”
“Sara’s meeting the Quest Broker,” Kaden answered. Then tapped out a message to Trella.
She rolled her eyes and produced a plate of eggs. “The first few weeks when you haven’t had enough to eat, it’s hard to focus. You are going to need to focus.”
Eve didn’t answer, staring at the plate, but then she grudgingly began to eat. “This. Is. Good. I’ve eaten at banquets thrown by kings, but this tastes better.”
Kaden smiled as Trella produced another plate, unprompted, and tapped to her. You’re going as soft as I am.
He hadn’t finished it before she jabbed him in the arm pit. “Which of us is soft, Kaden? Say it.”
[Fortress of Stone] made the pain distant. “We both are.”
“Would you two please, stop.? And where is your wonderful dog?” Eve asked.
“Vip hates the rain. She’s aware of our conversation, but not keen to get her fur wet unless there’s something to bite.” Kaden closed his eyes and smiled as he pictured her, curled up on a pillow while a warm fire crackled, and a mana rat squeaked feebly in her jaws. “I have to run to the crafter’s floor.”
“He got scammed,” Trella said. “Don’t ask to see the rusty, dull, ruined war hammer he paid twenty silver to a junk dealer for, and is now going to pay even more to some crafter to sharpen and put a handle on. I thought the plan was to wait for the auction and buy good gear?”
Kaden glared at her as he answered. “I was just looking, and then I found it, and it…sort of spoke to me.”
“Literally? Sentient weapons are the best!” Eve said. “I’ve heard. That’s what I’ve heard. I never owned one, of course. But I knew someone who had a hair comb that would gossip all day. Are there any more of those eggs?”
“She’s got more,” Kaden said. “And orange juice. And I’d bet sausage. Yep, that guilty look says ‘I have sausage and will feel terrible if I don’t share.’” Kaden’s grin widened as Trella scowled. Served her right.
After going to six different crafters, Kaden finally found one who did weapons repairs. He dropped the hammer head on the table. “Well?”
“Oh, this here, you want to take it to a guy named Thatcher. He buys junk weapons for Ghost Steel.” The Crafter turned and pointed. “His stall—”
“How much to put an edge on it and a new handle?” Kaden asked through gritted teeth.
“A hundred silver. It’s not about time, weapons like this have to be worked with condensed, solidified Mana. They’ll grind down the sharpening stones otherwise, and unless it’s mana reinforced, the handle will shatter on your first blow. You could have bought a new one for—” The crafter wisely closed his mouth and accepted his payment. “I’ll have it ready in a few days.”
The only thing Kaden hated more than being scammed was that without a doubt, Trella would never let him live it down.
“Tell them about the heat stone you bought for our room when you were fifteen!” Trella said with glee as they followed Sara through the city. “It turns out that if you carve a bunch of runes on a rock and put it in a fire, it doesn’t magically become a heat stone.”
“It was hot,” Kaden said. “I was young.”
“Tell them about—”
Kaden grabbed Trella, lifting her with both arms above his head. “No more stories.”
In the blink of an eye, the Trella he held became a shadowy afterimage, who grinned at him and patted a cold, damp hand on his cheek before fading away, while actual Trella walked beside Sara.
Sara turned to the group. “More stories, please! But later. And maybe when Kaden isn’t around. So much of this somehow never came up during his time at Beast Control. Now, good news and bad news. Which do you want first? The bad news? Good.”
Her cheery demeanor was normal. But also forced, which made Kaden suspicious.
“You may remember that the Guild Master has a grudge against me, because I sort of forced him to let me join on my own terms. Also because I formed my own party, made myself leader. Also because I told him his hat is hideous.” Sara shrugged like it was to be expected. “We’re not the most junior team. We’ve got levels on five others. But, mysteriously, there’s nothing on the board for us, and our Quest Broker flat out said he’s not supposed to have anything for us until every other team has a level up on us.”
Trella swore under her breath, while Eve studied the floor. “That does explain why I arrived at the Guild and then was told my team wasn’t ready. I’m guessing he planned to introduce us that night.”
“So, I went and got us a job on my own. It’s not through the Guild, so won’t count for stars, but it does pay, and it’s the right level of danger. Everyone have happy memories of Gernoz Zoo?” Sara asked.
Kaden did. He watched the posters around the city during holidays or when traveling caravans brought new Beasts. Visited once a year on the holiday when entrance was free. And exchanged gossip about how what event had ended it. “A noble’s daughter got eaten.”
“No, a noble’s daughter fed her father to the Slime in the petting zoo,” Trella said. “Or, depending on who you believe, a crowd of commoners shoved a noble and his daughter into the [Griffin]’s enclosure.”
“I heard it was an entire family of nobles,” Sara said. “But none of that was true. The zoo was shut down when Lord Doosh lost his Holding and couldn’t afford to pay for the Beast’s upkeep. Mom personally handled taking custody of the most of the dangerous specimens, and Mr. Dervish auctioned the ones they could. But not everything was removed.”
“Oh, I can imagine where this is going,” Eve said. “What are we going to clean up? And why wasn’t this just sent to the Guild?”
“Or Beast Control?” Kaden asked.
Sara turned and headed through the center of town, past the Administration, toward the section where Nobles and wealthy merchants lived. “The Guild wants more than the city wants to pay, and Beast Control can’t get involved when there is a question of ownership. There are two problems, only one of which we need to resolve.”
Kaden had listened to so many disputes over who owned a Beast in Customer Service. “I hate to say it, but Eve’s got the important question. What kind of Beast is this?”
“There was an exhibit on [Lashkivores]. Of course, no one wanted to bid on owning them, and the Guild didn’t see them as a threat. They escaped, and for the most part, don’t leave the zoo.”
Lashkivores. The name was familiar, but Professor Treadle had regarded them as rats with wings and the ability to eviscerate their prey with tails like saws. He concentrated. “They’re an avian hive creature, aren’t they?”
“Right. It’s not enough to kill one or a dozen, we need to wipe them out. The good news is, we’re not the first Party to try. The pay is now a bounty basis for reducing the Hive’s strength.” Sara stopped outside the gates of the Gernoz Zoo.
As tall as a two story house, the walls held reliefs with dozens of creatures carved into them. Sara stopped at the double iron gates and drew a key from Inventory, unlocking the gates, then locking them again after the Party entered.
The zoo itself bore distant memories to the trip the Saint’s Hall held for younger orphans, ones who couldn’t work at menial jobs. The buildings had stood taller in his memory, the stone cleaner, and most of the displays stood empty, without the magic barriers Kaden recalled.
Lashkivores were dark grey avians with long fan tails and wide claws, as he recalled. They didn’t use their beaks to attack, but their claws could slice through leather and flesh, and long serrated tail would do even more. The tail ended in a mouth of its own which wasn’t capable of digestion, but was capable of biting. Kaden found it curious that there weren’t any. [Beast Empathy] didn’t sense a thing. “Are we sure they’re here?”
“We’re sure. Now, there is another Beast to be aware of. The plan is to avoid it, and it’s important we stick to the plan.” Sara’s tone said she was no longer joking. “Everyone remember feeding time for King BrownBeak?”
Kaden’s stomach filled with lead. The [Griffin] had been old then, but still capable of a scream that made children and adults alike run from the enclosure. “I thought he died.”
“Went blind, refused to leave his enclosure. And put a team of four [Shields] on a fast trip to the Resurrection Pavilion when they tried to take him. After that, letting him starve to death was considered the wiser option.” Sara shuddered. “Except King BrownBeak isn’t dead. Two groups of mercenaries reported seeing him prowling the grounds around nightfall. One group planned to stay overnight and hunt Lashkivores. There’s a bounty on their bodies, so I can guess it didn’t go well.”
“Free loot is the best loot. I call bodies!” Trella shouted, letting her voice echo through the zoo. “That should have upset something, right? Loud noises? I mean, it’s not like the city is quiet, but I’m being loud on purpose. We’re by the gate. Running is easy, right now.”
“Kaden, I was hoping your skills could give us an edge.” Sara’s eyes narrowed as she worried.
He was hoping that, too. “The Zoo is roughly shaped like a pie piece. We’re near the top of the piece right now. The Griffin enclosure is built into the city walls. They used to let it fight Monster Swarms. Do we have any idea where the Lashkivores are?”
“We think they took over the merchant’s court first. That’s here.” Sara pointed to an old stone map carved on a pillar. It had probably served to let visitors find their way through the zoo, though Kaden recalled sprinting straight through the center for the Griffin’s Lair every time.
Trella tapped a dagger point on the map. “Normally I’d say alleys are a great way to get ambushed, but these are flyers. I like them having to navigate narrow spaces here next to the wall. We should find an empty building—or make one of them empty. If we get overrun, we retreat and use the doors to choke them.”
“Good tactics. Vip will be in danger from the Lashkivores, Rocky will be impervious, most likely.” Sara looked over the group again. “Our goal is simple: Put levels on Eve, while making money. She’s got a dagger, and whenever possible, make sure she does damage, if not the killing blow. Don’t get overwhelmed, cut the tail-head off as proof for the bounties.”
And with that, they set off, Trella leading the way, nearly invisible, and Kaden following, Sara and Eve close behind.
*Sleepy.*
Kaden waved for attention—then pointed to a building they’d nearly passed. When Trella sprinted back, he tapped out. Something in that one.
Trella’s shadow tore away, flowing over the cobblestone until it seeped through a crack in a window. A moment later, she opened her eyes. “There’s six of them in that building, one at the front who is stirring, the others are sleeping in back rooms. The one up front is an ugly bastard.”
Kaden looked to Sara, who nodded.
No one would ever mistake him for a [Rogue]. He tromped down the Alley, hammer drawn, and crashed through the broken storefront.
[Lashkivore]
Is it a monkey, or is it a bird? The wings and feathers say bird, the prehensile claws and tail say monkey, and the head on the end says ‘It will kill you’ in not quite so many words. This one is ostracized from the colony for challenging the leader.
