DEGM 4, Chapter 29: Flying Types (Patreon)

A few days later, when Hans finally had the chance to venture back underground ahead of a round of classroom sessions, Luther stopped him in New Gomi. Maurice darted back and forth nearby, occasionally stopping to peck Luther’s ankle before zipping away again. To Hans, it seemed like Maurice wanted to play. Judging by Luther’s expression, Luther knew that was the case but didn’t want to completely reveal the softest side of his character that only a loved pet ever got to see.

“Honk wanted to book time with you,” Luther said. “He didn’t say about what, but he did say it would need to be in his crypt.”

“He called it ‘his crypt?’”

Luther nodded. “Weird to me too.”

“He keeps life interesting. How long ago was this?”

“Maybe a day or so? Haven’t seen him come back through here since, so I don’t believe he’s in town.”

And Hans hadn’t seen him at the surface, so the Black Mage was likely still at home, in his crypt. Ogre Valley was a bit of a hike, though. Looking at the waterclock in New Gomi, Hans estimated he had six hours or so until the next reset. That should give him enough time to be back somewhere calm before all of the monsters regrew.

New Quest: See what Honronk wants.

A low undertone of buzzing reached Hans ears. When he perked up at the sound, Luther noticed.

“Our first apiary,” Luther said. “Came in with the last caravan. We’ll need more bees to grow the volume of fruit we want, but it’s a start. We got some apple seeds and peach seeds. A few grape vine cuttings too. Not sure if those will pan out, though.”

“Cuttings? Not seeds?”

“One of our new sisters worked on a vineyard for many years. According to her, vineyards use cuttings for propagation. Never seeds, but that’s a lot of travel for a cutting, so who knows. I’ve never grown grapes before, but setting up a vineyard is a good use for all the extra fence wood we’ve collected.”

“Interesting. I’m going to head over to Honronk’s now. You busy?” Hans asked. “You’re welcome to join if you need to stretch your legs.”

Luther thought for a moment. “Yeah, sure. Let me grab a waterskin.”

A few minutes later, Luther shut the door of his home. Maurice immediately started to squawk, so Luther opened the door again.

“You can come, but we’re going past the harpies.”

Maurice went still.

“Yes, I said harpies.”

The zout went back inside. 

With a laugh, Luther closed the door again. When he came up alongside Hans, he said, “He’s not a fan of flying predators.”

“I mean, yeah, same.”

Post-cull, the trek to the Lich Crypt was uneventful. When they entered Ogre Valley, they kept their eyes on the sky as the nature of harpies made it difficult to completely clear them each run. No matter where the dungeon was in its cycle, a hungry harpy was potentially flapping around. That had become much less of a problem, however, now that Honronk used harpies to feed his monster followers.

That made the forest walk relatively pleasant. 

But Hans had difficult questions he needed to ask.

“Where’s your head at in terms of Gomi and the rest of the kingdom?” Hans asked.

“Galad and I talked it through. We ended up somewhere in the middle.”

“How so?”

“I was being rash, and he wasn’t being rash enough,” Luther answered. “Where is the line when we aren’t doing enough and should be more aggressive? We decided that’s the border of the Gomi forest.”

“Really?”

“You disagree?”

“It’s hard to argue with not protecting your own doorstep.”

“We also agreed there was no real winning for us in that case.”

“That sounds pretty pessimistic for Galad,” Hans said.

“All that’s left for us if that happens is a moral victory. We can’t overpower an entire nation, not with how many of us are still alive. The best we can do is not lay down if they want to finish wiping us out.”

“I see.”

“You don’t seem impressed.”

Hans thought about that for a minute. “After living here and seeing the commitment you all have to each other, this is shameful to admit… the closest I’ve come to being that invested in something is the Adventurers’ Guild. Moral victories never got me anywhere in that case.”

“Do you regret trying?”

“Huh?”

“Would you step away from those battles if you had a chance to fight them again?”

“Wow,” Hans said. “No, I wouldn’t. I’d still fight them.”

“Why?”

“Whether or not you win doesn’t change what’s right. I couldn’t live with myself otherwise. So even if you can’t win…”

“Put up a fight,” Luther said, finishing the thought. 

When the crypt entrance came into view, Hans put an arm out to stop Luther. The tusk had lived in the dungeon long enough to take that signal seriously, so he stilled and looked around quietly.

The hells?

Hans blinked a few times and crept forward. Luther’s eyes were locked on the same thing, so Hans was reasonably certain he wasn’t hallucinating. That was a griffon sleeping outside of the crypt. A mostly eaten harpy corpse lay nearby.

A griffon traveling from its desert nest and into Ogre Valley wasn’t impossible, but as far as Hans knew, the griffon run was always on the culling schedule. Did that cull go wrong and they not notice it somehow? How could that happen without triggering a full blown rescue operation for the party that botched it?

Luther nudged Hans to get his attention.

“Is that a scarf?” Luther asked in a whisper.

Squinting as he looked for a better angle through the leaves, Hans saw that Luther was correct. The griffon had a Honronk scarf wrapped around its neck. This advancement in his taming project must have been what Honronk wanted to discuss. 

Yet, Honronk wasn’t outside to confirm that this griffon was in fact friendly. After a great deal of internal debate, Hans mustered the courage to creep by the winged beast. When it lifted its head at the noise of two people passing, Hans couldn’t help but run the last few steps into the crypt. He was embarrassed about that little jaunt until he realized Luther did the same thing. He didn’t want to hang out in front of a juvenile griffon either.

“I didn’t know we were taming griffons,” Luther said, still whispering as if the monster might suddenly decide to follow them down the long stairs.

“Me neither.”

As the bottom landing drew closer, Hans shouted ahead to announce his approach. Visiting Honronk officially felt like arriving at the foot of a wizard in their tower. Even if the wizard was your best friend, assuming total safety was unwise. 

“I’m here!” Honronk yelled back. It occurred to Hans he hadn’t heard the tusk yell, ever. Even in training when he was making calls, he didn’t shout. He just projected his voice more deliberately.

Honronk’s home had become something of a menagerie of monsters. Five imps floated about. Four cave crawlers slept in a pile in the corner, and Hans assumed at least one more was moving about underground. As for the dead specimens from the torc expansion, Honronk had those stowed in one of the six lich labs that connected to this central common area.

Chisel sat at a table in the corner, multiple books open in front of her. She waved when she saw Hans and Luther enter but returned to her studies immediately.

“Taming griffons now?” Hans asked.

Honronk nodded.

Laughing, Hans said, “Thanks for the warning.”

“I didn’t warn you.”

“I know, that’s why- nevermind. So you did tame the griffon? It listens to you and everything?”

“Yes, but it’s not large enough to ride.”

“Is that the plan?” Hans asked.

“Yes.”

In the early days of Honronk’s taming project, the intent was to pass off his monster companions as familiars to avoid drawing attention to the Blood magic tattoos that made their taming possible. If Honronk started riding a griffon around, that cover story wouldn’t work. Hans was unaware of any domesticated griffon, familiar or otherwise. People would have questions.

Lots of questions.

“Is that what you wanted to discuss?”

“Partially,” Honronk answered.

“What’s the other part?”

Honronk went to one of the tables around the outside edge of the room and returned with a gray egg speckled with white. It was about the size of Hans’ fist. For all of his study of monster biology, he didn’t know what creature produced an egg that looked like this.

“My chickens are producing eggs,” Honronk said.

“Chickens? Cockatrice chickens?” Hans had never seen their eggs before, he realized.

The Black Mage nodded. He opened a nearby door. Three cockatrice chickens pecked at the body of a petrified harpy, which was how the monsters fed–they petrified their prey and then ate the stone.

“The eggs are edible,” Chisel said, setting her studies aside for a moment. “There’s a little bit of a chalky taste, but that goes away as soon as there’s anything else with it. We’ve done a few mushroom omelets, for example. Tastes like any other omelet.”

“What prompted this?” Hans asked, handing the egg to Luther. 

“Another food source didn’t sound like a bad idea,” Chisel answered. “Honestly, though, I was complaining to Honk about how much I missed chicken eggs. Since all of those are down the mountain, we don’t get them very often in the dungeon.”

“What happens if a tamed cockatrice chicken pecks you?”

“You turn to stone.”

“Is that a danger if it’s Charmed?”

“Not as much.”

Luther laughed. “I’ve raised a lot of chickens. They’re not aggressive, most of the time, but they take a lot of handling.”

“That’s why we wanted to check before we tamed more,” Chisel answered. 

Rubbing one of his tusks, Luther said, “Aggressive animals aren’t unheard of on farms. It would have to be a little elaborate, but you could build a paddock and coop to manage the chickens without getting pecked.”

“Sounds like you’re picturing it already,” Hans observed.

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Do you think it’s worth the risk?”

“I really miss eggs too,” Luther said, chuckling. “If they’re tamed and we have some precautions… I mean, that’s more food for everyone, right?”

Hans nodded.

Crossing his arms with confidence, Luther said, “I’ll put a design together and we can go from there.”

Chisel was thrilled. Honronk listened quietly.

“Which leaves griffons,” Hans said. “I take it we aren’t harvesting their eggs.”

“We don’t have adult griffons to lay eggs,” Honronk responded, plainly.

“Right, so what’s the plan for the griffons?”

“I’d like to commission a saddle and train it to be ridden.”

Which was more or less the answer Hans expected even though he hoped for a use of the monster that wasn’t so attention-worthy. Hans was aware of one adventurer who rode a dragon, and the list of flying mounts in history stopped there. The griffon peacefully sleeping outside of the crypt was a huge story in its own right simply by being tamed. As soon as word got out that a Mage was riding griffons in Gomi, that would be yet another thing that drew attention to the Dead End Mountains.

But also, it was fucking cool.

“What input were you looking for from me?” Hans asked.

“Permission,” Honronk answered.

“I have no desire to stop this work,” Hans answered. “We have to sell the story of you being a monster tamer, I guess. Would be great if we could hide the tattoos.”

“When the griffon’s coat is fully grown, the tattoo will not be visible.”

“Oh yeah?”

Honronk nodded.

“That definitely helps. Please don’t kill yourself the first time you try flying.”

“I won’t.”

Quest Complete: See what Honronk wants.

“Can I keep the egg?” Luther asked.

Chisel smiled. “Yeah, of course.”

“Jerry, obey the orders of Hans,” Honronk said to one of the imps. He addressed the Guild Master next. “This is Miss Olza’s imp.”

“Ah,” Hans replied as the imp hovered toward him. “I’ll see that she gets it.”

New Quest: Deliver Jerry the imp to Olza.

“Thank you.”

Though Hans and Luther knew the griffon was under Honronk’s control, they still gave it a wide berth when they left the crypt and put a little hustle in their steps for good measure.

Jerry followed. Hans immediately disliked the sensation of a familiar trailing just behind him. He very much hated showing his back to a monster, tamed or not.

Jerry had no complaints.

***

Quest Complete: Deliver Jerry the imp to Olza.

“So he just listens to me now?” Olza asked, staring at Jerry the imp as he hovered in the doorway of her Leebel lab. 

“That’s what Honronk said. I tell it to obey you, and that’s it. Supposedly ‘intentional thinking’ will let you give those commands telepathically.”

“Does it work?”

“No idea,” Hans answered. “I don’t like the idea of connecting my mind to a monster, Charmed or otherwise.”

A small finger tapped Hans’ shoulder. He startled when he saw Jerry directly behind him. When he turned back, Olza wore a mischievous grin.

“That wasn’t funny,” Hans said.

“Jerry and I think so.”

“Can we agree to no familiar pranks?”

“Request denied,” Olza answered. Jerry floated over to a cupboard and retrieved a graduated cylinder. He set it down on the counter in front of Olza. “Oh my. That’s convenient.”

“Not picking at an old scab, but you’re okay with this?”

Olza sighed. “That question turns my stomach a bit to be honest.”

“Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay. It’s fair to ask. I can’t tell if I actually changed my mind or if the selfish part of me has rationalized its way to victory. I’m okay with summoning magic. Is that really different from Charm tattoos? Is it better? Worse? I never thought I’d be in a position to consider the merits of Blood magic.”

“We have certainly experienced a lot of change,” Hans said. “It spins my head too.”

“I want you to know that I recognize my hypocrisy here.”

“It’s okay. I’m not trying to rub your face in anything.”

“Thank you. I heard we’re up to our ears in adventurers now.”

Hans laughed. “Yeah, we are. Looks like all of them are staying for winter.”

“That’s good, right?”

“It’s what we hoped. Whether that pans out in our favor or not, we’ll see.”

“It’ll be fine,” Olza assured him. “I suppose Shandi didn’t come in with them?”

Hans shook his head. He had been on the lookout for Gret’s wife ever since her letter said she intended to visit, but he had not heard from her since. In a few weeks, she wouldn’t be able to get through the pass.

“How’s work been going down here?” Hans asked.

“I’ve got three people who want to apprentice, so I think I’m going to take all of them and let Willow begin hers early. It would kill her to watch a bunch of other people start before her after all the work she’s done.”

“Good thing you’ve got the space.”

“Good thing, indeed,” Olza said, smiling. “Should be a fresh round of trade apprentices starting soon too. Galinda’s worried the school on the surface won’t get enough activity over the winter. She’s thinking of relocating it down here, permanently.”

“Permanently? That doesn’t sound like Galinda.”

“I think she’s coming around to Leebel’s Rest. I’ve never known her to be okay with sitting idle when she could be helping.”

Hans agreed. That sounded like the Galinda he knew as well. “Maybe we should be thinking about a properly structured academy? Those are usually private, but we could swing making it open to all, I think.”

Jerry hovered across the room and returned to hand the Guild Master a sheet of paper.

The paper listed a bunch of names and then their specialties. At a minimum, they had instructors to cover beginner and intermediate reading, writing, and arithmetic. Then there was a music teacher and a literature teacher as well, among several other subjects.

When Hans looked back at Olza, she had a big grin. “We just need a building and budget for the teachers and supplies.”

“They’ve all agreed?”

“Yep. They’re excited too. I think they don’t feel like they're contributing enough, so this would be good for everyone.”

Hans rubbed his chin. “There’s a building near the guild hall that could work. If you’re leaving the guild hall, it’s across the courtyard to the left.”

“I think I know which you mean. You’d be okay with kids coming and going with the adventurers?”

“I’d prefer it that way, to be honest. They’d be in separate buildings, so they wouldn’t be in each other’s ways for anything important. With how much Gomi counts on adventurers, I’d like the adults to have reminders of what they’re fighting for, and it would be good for the kids to see that commitment as well.”

“If you say so.”

Feeling a tap on his shoulder, Hans turned. “Oh for gods’ sake.”

Jerry flapped behind him while Olza cackled.

“Jerry, stop doing that,” Hans said.

“He doesn’t listen to you anymore.”

“We’re taking him back.”

“The hells you are.”

***

Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

Address the Night Terrors.

Investigate the possibility of the orc lich being the orc’s Wargod.

Rebuild Leebel’s Rest.

Monitor the changes in the dungeon core.

Be the friend Devon needs.

Investigate uses for sedimander teeth.

Complete the next volume (Bronze to Silver) for “The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers.”

Establish a Hoseki-grade library in Gomi.

Collect knowledge from visiting adventurers.

Finish renovating and move into your new home.

Find any possible lead for fixing the poisoned forest.

Search for more leads about torc-orcs and alps.