AA3 10 - Questions (Patreon)

Verdan agreed on a time with Ciaran for when the Kranjir arrived before setting off back to the estate.

Barb was quiet for the trip back, only speaking up once they were back at the doors of the mansion and Verdan was heading inside. 

“Thank you for listening to them and offering to help. It can be tough in the north. There’s not many places a Clan can turn to for help.”

“We’ve seen what the Darjee are like. As far as I’m concerned, helping them fight back is in all of our best interests,” Verdan said, his mind going back to his conversation with Dirk. Creatures like the Darjee were precisely the sort of threat that the average person needed to be shielded from.

“Regardless, there is little concern south of the mountains for those in the north. Thank you,” Barb said, absently touching her prosthetic before leaving Verdan to head inside.

Barb’s words echoed in Verdan’s mind as he found his way to his room. It wasn’t surprising that the lands north of the mountains were mostly ignored, especially not with what he’d learned about their lack of Sorcerers. 

That didn’t stop it from being any less disappointing.

-**-

Verdan’s thoughts were still dwelling on what Sebastian had told him the next morning while he was going through Dirk’s training.

“Is everything okay, Master?” Dirk asked with a slight frown, making Verdan realise that his attention had wandered and Dirk had been asking him something. 

“Sorry, Dirk, everything is fine. I’m just somewhat distracted. What did you say?”

“I was asking about learning another Word. I’m making good progress with this one, but I’d like to know more.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Verdan said, thinking back on his discussion with the Kranjir and the threats in the north. Dirk would likely head back at some point, and Verdan wanted him to be prepared. “Ast.” A shield of blue energy flickered into life in front of Verdan for a brief moment before he dismissed the spell.

Dirk’s eyes went wide, and he excitedly began to work on committing the Word of Power to memory. 

Dirk still hadn’t mastered casting his spells without an emotional intent to them, but that was less of an issue with a shield spell. 

Verdan helped his apprentice with the pronunciation and gave a few more demonstrations of it before ending their training session for the day.

“Anything planned today, Dirk?” Verdan asked as his apprentice packed away a sheaf of notes he’d made on the new Word.

“My mum is taking me over to the caravan to introduce me to the Keeper. I’m old enough to get my first set of caelin now, which marks me as an adult, but we haven’t seen a Keeper since we came south,” Dirk said, starting off with a bright smile that faded as he spoke.

“I don’t want to pry, but what happened?” Verdan asked, remembering Samuel mentioning something about Dirk’s father dying.

“My Clan was attacked by something. The Keeper and the Chosen went to fight it, but they never came back.” Dirk paused as he fought to keep his composure. “My grandfather took everyone who was left and fled. We were heading to another Clan at first, but things kept going wrong, and in the end, my mother and I found our way here. I don’t know what happened to the rest of the Clan.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Verdan said, reaching out to squeeze Dirk’s shoulder.

“It’s part of why I wanted you to teach me so badly,” Dirk said in a soft voice. “One day, I want to take our home back and give the Clan back its rightful place.”

“Finish your apprenticeship with me, and you’ll have the tool for just that.”

Dirk’s smile was a little strained as he left, but Verdan couldn’t blame him. He’d known that things had been bad for Dirk before he got to Hobson’s Point, but not that it was that bad.

Sighing to himself, Verdan grabbed his staff and headed into the city. He was due at the guild today to sell some of his enchantments and top up existing ones.

The same worries that Verdan had for the Kranjir still applied to the adventurers that he helped at the guild. Sooner or later, one of them would leave with what he’d given them and use it to hurt someone. That much was guaranteed.

The difference was that the adventurers and mercenaries working through the guild were a known quantity, and Verdan could see the good they did. The requests were on a different scale as well.

The city was once again busier than usual, though not as busy as the day before, so Verdan made reasonable time across to the adventurer’s guild.

The guild was quite busy, but Verdan was a familiar face by now, and in no time at all, he was set up in his usual room. The first few people were already queuing by the time Verdan signalled that he was ready.

More and more adventurers were getting minor effects onto their gear, with some of them getting quite ingenious about what they wanted.

The first person of the day was a good example of that, as they were looking for a shield that would repel flames and heat. 

It wasn’t exactly a straightforward request, as a general spell to do that would be active all that the time and useless. That being said, Verdan was able to spend a minute or so creating the right intent before applying the Aether construct to the shield.

The city’s reviving economy meant that more money was available for subjugation requests or resource gathering, which gave adventurers more money for their gear.

The end result was that Verdan made more than enough to pay for all his expenses while also assisting the city and the nearby settlements.

Once Verdan had worked through the requests, he took a moment to put a new request in for monster organs before starting to head back out into the city.

A familiar limping figure caught Verdan’s eye as he walked through the guild, and what the Kranjir had said about the Vespa came to mind as Verdan saw Hans.

“Hans, do you have a minute?” Verdan called out, moving over to the brown-haired man.

“What do you need?” Hans asked, stopping and leaning against the wall as he massaged his left leg.

“I had some questions about Vespa behaviour I wanted to ask you.”

“Top me up, and we’ll call it a trade,” Hans said, tapping the large crossbow slung on his back as he spoke.

“Deal,” Verdan reached out and pressed a finger to the crossbow, filling up the nearly empty Aether reservoir within it. “Done. You were almost out of magic.”

“Yeah, been busy,” Hans grunted as he began to limp off to one of the side rooms of the guild. “Let’s grab a seat.”

Verdan followed Hans into a small meeting room and took a seat opposite him as the older man stretched his left leg out before motioning for Verdan to speak.

Taking a moment to order his thoughts, Verdan gave Hans an edited version of what Sebastian and Ciaran had told him.

 The Kranjir had shown a lot of trust in being so honest in their situation, so Verdan was careful not to give any specifics that could be used against them.

Hans didn’t seem the kind to pass information out without thought, but it was Verdan’s responsibility to be careful with what he was told.

“Hmm, sounds like a bad situation,” Hans said once Verdan had explained what was happening.

“How so?”

“Well, Vespa are all about their queens, remember?”

Verdan nodded, thinking back on their last discussion about Vespa. “Yes, you said they are very protective.”

“Exactly, and their territory is basically just the area around where the queen is nested. So if you’ve got a group that is getting aggressive and is wandering, to my eye, something is wrong with the queen.”

“Have you come across this before?”

“Nope, I’ve seen them react to most things, but not like that. I’d be real careful if I were you.”

“Thanks, Hans, I will,” Verdan said as he got back to his feet. “If you think of anything else I should know about Vespas, please let me know.”

-**-

Verdan had just enough time to arrive back at the estate and set up his initial test for the Kranjir before Ciaran and five other warriors arrived.

Four of the other Kranjir had similar amounts of caelin, as he’d learnt the ritual scars were called. The last of the group, however, had the same extensive amount as Ciaran, though the designs were different.

“I was unsure how many you would need for this. Will we be enough?” Ciaran asked as Verdan came out to greet them.

“Yes, this will be a good sample size. Please come with me.” Verdan said as he led them into the workshop and through to a room that he’d prepared earlier.

In a similar manner to what he’d done with the guards, Verdan had laid out a number of weapons with different Aether constructs on them.

If any of them were Aether-sensitive, this would be a good opportunity to check.

“If you can come in one at a time when I ask. Once you come in, please pick up each weapon and tell me if you can sense the magic within it. Don’t guess. Simply let me know when you are certain.”

The first Kranjir got to the third of the five weapons before announcing that he could feel the magic. 

Verdan hummed to himself as the next warrior came in, though this one got to the end without sensing anything. The third was much the same, though he might have sensed something on the strongest spell. It was hard to tell.

The fourth warrior picked up the spell on the second weapon, her tone full of conviction as she declared it to him.

“Next, please,” Verdan called out as the warrior left the room.

“Jarn, you’re up,” Ciaran’s voice came from the corridor as the other heavily marked warrior walked in.

Jarn was a muscular mountain of a man, with arms thicker than Verdan’s thighs. His bald head had caelin running up and over his scalp, giving him an intimidating look.

Jarn paused at the door and gave Verdan a curious look before moving to the side that Verdan indicated and picking up the first weapon.

“By the ancestors,” Jarn stared at the sword in shock the moment he touched it. “Ciaran!”

The other Kranjir burst through the doorway in response to Jarn’s alarmed tone, but the big man simply tossed him the sword and shook his head mutely.

Ciaran deftly caught the blade, a shocked expression spreading across his face as he stared down at the sword.

“Is something wrong?” Verdan asked, looking between the two men with growing concern.

“Nothing is wrong,” Ciaran said after a few moments. “We’re simply surprised by how easy it is to sense the magic within.”

“I see,” Verdan gave a slight nod, not wanting to push the point but not believing them either.

They’d come here knowing that the weaponry would have a magical effect attached to it, so he couldn’t imagine what they’d found so surprising.

“I apologise for our surprise. We have little experience with such weapons,” Ciaran said, his face schooled into a neutral expression as he placed the sword back on the table. “What else do you need from us?”