Day 14
No record…
Day 15
No record…
Day 16
No record…
Day 17
No record…
Day 18
No record…
Day 19
Speculation as to what happened during the early days had lost all records of the end and start of the third week, it is rumored that Bloodstone had a nervous breakdown, and went crazy after dealing with the potion makers. There is no known record of what happened. Bloodstone has not told anyone what happened, and as a result there is no information.
Day 20
Lady Aladeana does however have a record of her first encounter with Bloodstone. The excerpt is from her personal diary.
My men informed me that an older gentleman had arrived with a number of women, as well several guards. When he was escorted in to the main hall, he came alone. There was something about him that both drew my attention to him as well as something that made him stand out. Looking back I remember his eyes, They were strange, gold and white and black. I at first thought he was some demon that had gotten past the walls and convince my men he was from the king.
I realized my mistake when the women and men behind him knelt. He did so as well waiting for my permission to approach. Since I had been startled, I looked over the papers he had delivered; two still had seals, and were addressed to myself. Opening them, I found that the king wanted me to return to the capital, and that this Lord Bloodstone would be taking my place. I had never met this man before and was intrigued as to what his qualifications were.
I also had someone else telling me about him before he arrived, a friend of mine Lord Jetarious’s daughter had somehow been convicted and sent here, for hard labor. There was a letter that had arrived the day before she arrived asking if I could do anything for his daughter. She had arrived two days before Lord Bloodstone,
Vella Jetarious, I have met before on several occasions she was always a carefree child when I encountered her when she was younger, as a young woman I found that she had matured and become a fine young woman. The fact that her father had sent a letter prior to her arrival spoke volumes as to her disposition.
She told me that some Lord who was on his way to here had caused a stir, and had gotten her to be sent off. Knowing her father as I did, I felt that she was either lying or exaggerating this Lord Bloodstone’s influence.
I let him stay knelt for a good five minutes, and yet there was no complaint or change in his position.
Having seen that this Lord Bloodstone was indeed different I could see why the king had sent him, I was to evaluate him The king obviously was taken with him and wanted a second opinion.
“You may rise” Informed them.”I will have an area set aside for you and your people. Until then I have things that need to be attended to. Alfonz will take care of you.”
I informed Alfonz my butler to take care of his needs, I wanted to reread the letters that had been brought to me, as well as decipher the real message.
I retired to my own quarters, and reread and deciphered the letters. The king indeed wanted me to test the mettle of this man, who according to the letter was from another world. It appeared that the King had been using the Stone that had been found centuries ago, in the wastes to bring people to this world. This Lord Bloodstone was one of those from the other world.
I decided that I would see if this Bloodstone, was the right person to be here. So I sought him out, I found him talking to Alfonz outside the quarters he had been assigned.
“Sir, these are some of the better quarters, I don’t understand what the issue is.” Alfonz said to the older man.
“I am not disagreeing, with the accommodations, I was asking if there was a larger room that I could occupy, I have several more people that haven’t arrived yet.”
“How many are we talking sir. We could set aside one of the rooms for the overflow”
“At least five, possibly more. I haven’t spoken with Coreen for four days. They should be here in a couple of days, I just wanted to be sure we had everything set as not to disrupt them a second-time reorganizing.”
“I see, I will have the two rooms on either side of yours as overflow, would that work?”
“What about the rooms on the third floor, now one is using them.”
“The third floor has some leaks in two of the rooms, they have not yet been repaired.”
“I wouldn’t mind the work still needs to be done, and it would save us and you from having to move us again. If it’s a question of the repairs, I have gold I am willing to get it done.”
“Let him have the third floor Alfonz, if he’s willing to have the repairs done, let him” I said hearing the conversation.
“Very well Lady Aladeana, I will have them moved to the third floor” Alfonz replied.
“Lady Aladeana, I am looking forward to our talk.” Bloodstone said.
I am not sure if he knew I was there, or if he had some important information to impart. Alfonz began having the rest of his group moved to the third floor, of the fortresses living quarters.
Excerpt from Lady Aladeana notes on the fortress.
I have made some changes to the fortress, since I have been here over a decade. The first floor is dedicated to soldiers as well as the support staff, the second floor, is primarily storage with the main living quarters in the center. The third floor hasn’t been used for more than just storage, and the fourth floor, is more guard stations and further storage. There is less area on the fourth floor, and we have had some issues with the roofing tiles in two areas. When I arrived the Third and fourth floor needed major work, and had not been properly repaired since the antinum conflict. Several rooms had to be stripped to the walls due to mold and pooling of water. It took the better part of six months to get the third floor renovated, and the cost of hundreds of gold. The second floor also has some water damage and that was fixed once the third and fourth floors were repaired. The one issue was that there were two rooms that seems to have water always leaking into them. They were stripped down so that there would be no mold, or rot. The stone works in those rooms continued to have water.
“Walk with me” I informed Bloodstone, more of a command than a request.
“Certainly,” He fell in step next to me.
“What happened in the second district with Lord Jetarious and his daughter?”
“Well, it’s not a pretty situation, I felt bad for him. His daughter went behind his back and started a bandit group. I had the unfortunate luck to run into the group, it came out that she was the leader. I really didn’t want to get involved with the politics or the legality of the situation.”
“I understand that you refused to help her.”
“Not true, I refused to help her the way she wanted. She was a spoiled brat thinking she could get out of the situation, or have her father step in. My being there, didn’t help the situation, if he had then it would have been known that he was weak on enforcing the law. If I had stepped in, it would have helped him save face, however Vella wouldn’t have learned a valuable life lesson.”
“You knew she would be sent here”
“I suspected, my guess is that she is already here. If I may ask what did you do with her.”
“I put her to work”
“I see, have you decided if you are going to take her with you to the capital?”
“Is it true that you refused to help her”
“I refused to give her gold, and she refused my terms to borrow it.”
“You didn’t make very good time through the third district.”
“I had to make some stops on the way here.”
“I want to get you up to speed on the current plans and disposition of the troops.”
We had gone to the first floor to speak with [commander] Uvain.
“LadyAladeana, what a surprise.”
“This is Lord Bloodstone, he will be taking over when I return to the capital.”
Commander Uvain, was older and had been a regular soldier during the antinium conflict. His graying and balding hair gave him an air of authority. He also tended to wear armor and had that strange metallic smell that those who wore armor had. His staff was in the and out of the room the commander had chosen, it was busy but not so much so that we could not talk to him.
“This is [Commander] Uvain, he is second in command, and coordinates all the patrols and forces in this section of the district, as well as the garrisons of the staging areas.”
“Commander, have you had any problems recently with incursions past the new fortresses?”
“Some, nothing major, mostly goblins and monsters. We had several demon patrols last week.”
“You don’t have a map to track your forces?”
“No, I keep it all up here.” He said tapping his head.
“I want to help you, if you will let me.” Bloodstone said.
“What classes do you have”
“I have several you may not have heard of, I recently leveled up in a new class. I wouldn’t take too much stock in classes and levels. I will tell you I have close to ninety skills, I have been in Rhir for a little more than three weeks. I have three Hero levels, six lord levels, five swordsman levels, Eight Visionary levels. I also have fifteen levels in a special class and two levels held.”
“Hold on a moment, the king reported that you had wizard and psion and engineer classes, what happened to those?” Lady Aladeana asked.
“They consolidated to the special class, it allows me to use magic if a different manner, since I have been studying all the books I have acquired, it’s given me insight into how magic works”
“That’s absurd, there is no class that can combine those different classes.” Uvain said.
“I can explain it, if you want.”
“I would like to know about this strange class you have and how it works.” Uvain said sitting back down.
“What’s more important the class and levels or the skills you get?”
Uvain thought about it for a moment, “Without the levels and classes you can’t get the skills. For sake of your question the skills can be important if you have rare or unusual skills.”
“What if I told you I have around ninety skills”
“I would say you’re either lying or crazy, there’s no way you could have that many skills”
“Normally I would agree, there just one thing, I can steal your class and levels, I still gain the skills, and keep them if I return the class.”
“That’s not possible.”
“The king says that Lord Bloodstone is able to steal classes.” Lady Aladeana said.
“What classes can you take?”
“Honestly, I could strip every class you have, including ones that are gender specific.”
“That is a terrifying class.”
Bloodstone smiled, “I think you’re just now understanding just how dangerous I am, and why the king sent me.”
“What happens to the classes?”
“I can hold them, and give them to someone else, or change them. I am still figuring out the skills of the class.”
“Could you removed on class and leave the others?”
“I can if I know about the class itself, I brought a Half Gazer with me who is able to see the classes.”
Uvain looked over at Lady Aladeana, “I think I know a few uses for someone of his abilities.” He looked back to Bloodstone,” What about monsters or demons?”
“Monsters are fun as they have monster class levels, they can be converted to any class or amplify a class. I haven’t encountered any demons so on that I can’t tell you.”
“There have been some raids by demon forces, it may be a scouting to see if they can stop our work on the new wall. Would you be willing to help stop them?”
“I think we can help, between myself my wife’s, we really would like to get a chance to really cut loose, I feel like I have been tip toeing through the districts, the one monster we encountered was a rush.”
“Monster, in the districts?” Aladeana asked.
“There was a landshark in the first district a farmer and his son alerted us to it, and me and my kids took it out.”
“Seriously?” Aladeana asked.
“Well we did lose Gregory, one of our members, we buried him in the field.”
“Landshark, if that’s true, that’s impressive, even for a group of gold adventurers that would be a feat. I would like to hear how you and your kids defeated something like that.” Uvain said rubbing his chin in thought.
“I will leave you two to get acquainted, I would like to meet your wives” Aladeanareplied leaving them to continue their discussion.
I got a report later from my commander, that he was impressed and interested in what he could do in the wastes. I was taken off guard when I met with the women who traveled with him.
I had returned to the rooms that had been set aside for them and realized they had already moved to the third floor. It was quiet at first, I wasn’t sure if anyone was on the floor. One of the larger rooms on the floor the door opened and one of the maids, left. She noticed me and bowed, and I swear she was smiling. I knocked on the door, and a half-elven woman answered.
“Lady Aladeana, please come in, is there a problem?” She asked.
“I wanted to speak with Bloodstones wives, I understand he has multiple wives. I also wanted to see if there were any issues.”
“Oh well we are all here, well except Coreen and Hellen, they should be here in a few days. Come in”
She opened the door wider and there were others in the room. “I am Xyrdiane, I am his sixth” the half elf said introducing herself. I noticed she was wearing elegant caster robes and gave of little noise when she walked.
There were four other women in the room, one of them was not human. The half gazer was unusual since her kind are extremely rare on Rhir. There appeared to be a conversation that was interrupted, when I entered. Everyone there stood up.
“Ladies this is informal, I just wanted to chat with you for a bit if that is all right.”
“We were just serving tea,” The youngest woman said. She couldn’t have been more than sixteen or seventeen. She handed her a cup of tea.
“Thank you, I wanted to talk with Bloodstones wives.”
“That’s all of use except Rana,” The half-elf said.
The half gazer turned a brighter shade of orange. “Xyre stop teasing me about that.”
“I apologize, I didn’t really get to meet you earlier. Which of you is Lady Amethyst”
The older woman who was sitting across from the door, “That would be me” She seemed tired, and her hair was turning gray in places. She had her hair up with some cloth tying it. She was attractive, she didn’t give off any aura of authority. I had been told by the king that she was just as dangerous as her husband, and had an unknown class.
“I wasn’t informed that there was more than one wife, so it was a little shocking to hear that he had six.”
“Not to say I am alright with it, it kind of just happened. My husband decided that he had to do something, to protect me and my kids, adding them to our family was his idea.”
“I don’t really understand that logic, perhaps you can explain it to me.”
“I can’t speak for the others, since we are from another world he felt it best to ensure that the local laws were observed, it’s not like I could prove that he was my husband before.”
“That part makes sense, what about the rest of you?”
The younger woman, “I used to be blind, my husband gave me sight. The king knew enough to see the potential.”
The blind girl had been mentioned, I was going to ask where the blind seer was, this girl had the most beautiful eyes, a deep green color. “You can’t be serious, you’re the blind seer?”
“I was blind, my husband gave me my sight back,”
“How is that possible?”
“You would have to ask him, it was only a two days ago.”
The last woman was darker skinned with jet black hair, she seemed to shy away from the others. “What about you my dear?”
“Me?” Violet said surprised.
“Yes you, what can you tell me about Lord Bloodstone.”
“He’s been very strange since yesterday,”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s been anxious, and unfocused.”
“I told you his suggestion the other day wasn’t for him, it was for us.” Lady Amethyst said.
“What happened?” Lady Aladeana asked.
“We went to the beach, everyone had fun, we didn’t see him the whole day,” Violet said sounding a little upset about it.
“The beach, that’s two days to the west. When did you leave to get here?”
“We traveled at night, mostly in the carriage, it wasn’t a bad trip, the roads seemed to be less bumpy. We also had the guardsmen and soldiers with us, among other things.”
“How many soldiers did you bring, I never really asked?”
“We have about thirty men, some of them used to work for a lords daughter, we convinced them to work with us, after two days they settled in.” Lady Amethyst said.
A cat jumped onto the table, and sat down.
“Who’s cat?” Lady Aladeana asked.
“Two things that’s Azalar, and he is not a real cat.”
She looked at the cat. “Looks like a cat to me”
“I assure you I am not a cat,” Azalar said
A talking cat is one thing that did startle those who were not aware of Azalar. “Azalar? Whom do you belong to?”
“Madam, I am a guardian. I guard, currently I am associated with Lord Bloodstone and guard things he requests at my discretion.”
It was at that moment the door opened and two girls ran in, seeing Azalar they ran towards him. Azalar grinned and bolted out the door. “Kiki, Abagail, stop chasing Azalar” Amethyst said chastising them.
“Awwww, but he’s so fluffy” Kiki said.
“He said if we caught he would teach us some magic.” Abagail said eyeing the door.
“have you caught him ever?” Rana asked.
“No, be we are getting really close!” Kiki said enthusiastically
This set off a giggle from the rest of the room, Lady Aladeana didn’t get the joke.”I don’t know if them catching that cat would be a good idea”
“Its fine, Azalar likes children, he says it give him an insight into the kind of person they will become.” Isabel sail eyeing the door as well.
The two girls sat down and eyed the tray of cookies, that had been brought out.
“It still amazes me that you know how to bake as well.” Xyrdiana said picking up a cookie.
“I used to bake a lot around the holidays, and sent them out as gifts, it hard to find all the right ingredients, just to make sugar cookies here, never mind thinks like chocolate chip or mint, or macadamia. I haven’t found anything even close to macadamia nuts.”
“What’s chocolate chip,” Rana asked.
“Well it’s a ground up bean, or seed from a plant. At least that’s what my husband says. He’s been keeping an eye out for unusual fruits or seeds being so far from the capital we may not see them unless someone specifically knows about the fruit or seed.”
“What are these?” Rana asked pointing to small round white powdery balls.
“Walnut butter balls,”
“What is a walnut?”
“They are stone fruit seeds.”
Everyone pick up one of the small round white sugary powered treats and munched on them. They were all gone in about two minutes.
The two kids then grabbed a sugar cookie and ran back out of the room.
A soldier stood at the door, “Ma’am, there is a currier here for Bloodstone”
“He should be with the commander, where is the currier?” Lady Aladeana asked.
.”He’s waiting in the front hall”
“Let us go take care of this currier” She said following the soldier. On her way to the hall she had another soldier fetch Lord Bloodstone”
There was a human currier standing around, he looked like he was gawking at everything in the hall.”I understand you have a delivery for Lord Bloodstone” She asked.
“Yes Ma’am,”
“Can you tell me what this delivery is?”
“I am contracted to deliver it to Lord Bloodstone.”
Bloodstone entered the hall and was talking with a woman she was dressed in mage robes, and had a scowl as she listened to him talk. The woman was the resident Mage, a level forty two mage. He blond hair stood out from the dark blue robe she wore.
“I am kind of surprised you didn’t know that.” Bloodstone said to the woman
“I don’t get to do a lot of research; I just fix the enchantments here on the wall, and make sure no one messes with the defenses. I still don’t see how what you’re saying is right”
“I can explain it in detail if you want. My sixth wife helped me figure it out” Seeing the currier, he walked over to him, “I hear you have a delivery for me, oh and you need a seal” He fished out a small token from his bag, it glittered with gemstones, and he handed it over to him.
“Yes, wow, most of them are made in silver, never seen a gold token with gems before” He pocketed the token and handed hover a bag and a letter. “I was asked to wait and see if you had anything to return”
Bloodstone opened the letter, read it and then closed it and then put it into the bag he had been given.
“I see here you are also supposed to get a commission” he started counting out ten gold coins and held them out for the currier.
“Seriously!?” The currier said excited and confused. He held out his hands to receive the coins.
“I am kind of surprised that the alchemists guild figure the potion out in a week’s time. I don’t have anything to send back at the moment.” he dropped the coins into the curriers hands.
“What alchemist’s guild,” Lady Aladeana asked.
“Oh it’s a new guild, a bunch of alchemists got together to make potions and do research, I fronted them a large cash advance to do some research.”
“Researching potions?” The mage asked.
“The nature of magic in potions, I have several inquiries I asked them to research, This must be some of what they found.”
The currier excused himself and left the hall.
“You do potion research as well?” The mage asked.
“No I asked a guild to do it, should be interesting what they found out.”
“What kind of research?” The mage asked.
“The nature of how healing potions actually work, do they regenerate flesh or so they super charge the cells. I also asked about if there is a way to measure how strong a potion is, and if they could have a standard, you know like red for healing blue for mana, and other colors for specific effects.”
“That’s always been a grip for me, not knowing unless you label them properly, in a pinch you need a mana potion and down that stamina one, doesn’t really help you much. “
“Were you an adventurer before?”
“I can answer that, “ Lady Aladeana said. They brought her in from the wastes, her whole team had been attacked, she was unconscious and when she woke up she asked to stay here.”
“So you worked out there?”
“More or less, a lot less now, I tend to the magic defenses here on the wall. Well this section that lady Aladeana is in charge of.
“Your still repairing it?”
“A bit, when we find things that are malfunctioning I take a look and fix it or replace it.”
“What do you do if it’s not fixable”
“Depends on what it is, for example we found a wall repeller charm that was facing the wrong direction, I have a couple of apprentices breaking it out of its housing and turning it around.”
There was a commotion and several soldiers came inside soaking wet. “Sorry Lady Aladeana, its pouring outside.”
“That’s fine, get dry.”
Bloodstone opened one of the double doors, and saw that it was pouring outside. “Is this normal weather?”
“This is normal for springtime, usually lasts a day or two then a few good warm days.”
“I guess its one more thing to get used to.” He sighed.
“It was nice meeting you, stop by if you get a chance. I am three doors down from the commander.” The mage said and started walking back the way she came.
“Whatever did you say to her, I barely can get her nose out of a book” Lady Aladeana asked.
“Oh I asked the commander if he had any mages on staff, he pointed me in her direction. I do recall she was deep in a book. I asked her if she had any constructs on the defense force”
“Constructs? I don’t believe we do, at least not any that are functional. Why?”
“I wanted to try and build a few, I have a couple of ideas, that I want to make.”
“After seeing that cat, I would imagine you could make something far more dangerous.”
“You mean Azalar, I didn’t make him, another mage did, I do however have all his notes, books and research on construct construction, I wanted to see if perhaps we could have some wandering constructs mixed in with the patrols.”
“That seems kind of dangerous, and time consuming would you have time to deal with the day to day issues of the fortress?”
“Well My wife is pretty capable, as are the others, once Coreen and Hellen get here we should be able to get this place really humming.”
“Humming?”
“Yeah I want to make a electrical generator, nevermind.. ”
“You have a strange way of speaking, you have been on Rhir for how long?”
“Technically about three weeks, subjectively I lost track.”
“What do you mean,” She asked.
“Oh that’s right I keep forgetting, this is the first day we have met from your perspective.”
“It would take too long to explain, and it’s kind of a personal secret.”
“I think there is something you are not telling me, or I do not understand what you mean.”
“A little of both most likely, I wanted to know if there is a room I can work in that has a window and a lock.”
“We can find something. I want to ask you if you would be up for a trip to the forward fortress that’s being built.”
“No problem, do I get to pick who goes with me?”
“I would prefer just the two of us there is no reason to get others wet.”
“Well I wouldn’t mind asking two of my wives to go, Rana would be invaluable as well.”
“You mean the half-gazer why would she be invaluable?” She asked.
“My first wife, Amethyst and Xrediane, and Rana the four of us make a deadly team, and addig your and your talents makes it more so.”
“I am a [scout] and a [swordsman] so we will need to move fast.”
“No problem if you let me get them, I can meet you here.”
“Very well, I will change and get the horses ready.”
Bloodstone headed off to the third floor to collect his two wives and Rana.
The four of them returned, each was wearing different gear.
“You’re not going to wear any armor?” She asked Bloodstone.
“Don’t need it, it seems getting monster skills from a landshark solved that problem”
“Let’s go, follow me”
They headed out into the rain, and to the stables on the side of the large mansion, they stuck to the covered walkway, for most of the run.
Two soldiers were holding seven horses, that appeared to be covered in a light cloth, to protect them from the rain. Everyone mounted a horse, “Whats with the cloth?” Bloodstone asked.
“It keeps the water off them and masks both scent and heat.”, Some monsters out there hunt with one or the other.
“Rana is a [blade dance], Xyrdiande is a [geomancer] [mage], and Lady Amethyst is a [raid enchanter], I am a [Visionary], [Swordsman] and several other classes.”
“These are my best [scouts], and you know I have [swordsman] and [scout] classes.”
The seven of them rode through the small opening through the wall, it was large enough for a cart.
There rode into the rain.
Two hours into the ride, Rana signaled to one of the scouts and pointed in a direction.
They rode away from the direction Rana had indicated. They continued to ride.
After a few minutes they stopped, and clustered together in the rain, “What was it?” One of the scouts asked.
“Goblins about twenty of them”, Rana said, “I hate goblins”
“We avoid them for the moment, we are almost to the outer Fortress, once we get there we can rest the horses and then head back if the goblins are still there we eradicate them.” Lady Aladeana said.
“This rain is pretty heavy” Bloodstone said shaking water off. It didn’t make any difference as it was coming down it large droplets. There were puddles and small rivulets of water everywhere. “It’s a good thing I can tell where the mud is.”
“How do you know what direction to go?” Rana asked.
“We know where true north is and how far away the fortress is.” The thinner scout said.
They plodded on for another ten minutes, when Rana said, “Some things coming” and she pointed.
They stopped, listening.
A large creature shambled out of the mist, it was gray, and larger than the horses. The water seemed to steam off as it lumbered forward on two legs.
“Shambler, ride!” Lady Aladeana said
The two scouts took off with the lady, and were gone into the mist.
Bloodstone slid off his horse, and stood in front of it in the rain. The creature didn’t have eyes, at least not eyes that were what you would expect eyes to be, it had horns where its eye should have been. It was a grey skinned bipedal beast it stood at least twenty feet tall, and its arms could touch the ground. It looked more like a mutated hairless gorilla than anything else.
The beast raised its massive clawed left hand as if to crush Bloodstone. As the blow descended the beast suddenly was thrown backwards into the mist.
“I tossed it!” Lady Amethyst said.
He grabbed the reigns and ran after it. It stood as if confused, its arm still held up. He swung the blade, and as it struck, there was a stench as it sliced through the leg. The creature roared, as it fell.
Brown and green fluids pulsed from the stump as the beast thrashed around. Rana moved through the swinging arms, and stabbed it in several places, more green fluid leaked from the wounds. The beast thrashed some more and then it was still.
“Goblins” Rana said
Three goblins came out of the mist, two small ones and a much larger one that was at least the size of a human. They made a strange guttural noise and saw the slain beast.
Bloodstone turned towards them, and put his sword back in its sheath. “They just want the corpse”
The green goblins eyed the humans. Rana had not put her sword away. “Go on if you want it.”
The goblins eyed the corpse and the humans, and half-gazer and backed away slowly.
Three horses rod out of the mist, “Why didn’t you.. You killed it?” One of the scouts said.
“Yeah, I messed up, not really worth it didn’t have many monster levels, easier to kill it.” Bloodstone got on his horse, as did Rana, “There are still goblins around we need to go”
They rode through the rain following the scouts. They arrived a the entrance to the fortress, its door was closed. They stood in the rain for a minute or two before the doors slowly opened. They all went inside with the horses, it was the same size as the passage that usually went through the walls. Pools of water were under the horses as the water beaded off. Four soldiers stood by the door watching them. The scouts dismounted. “We will need fresh horses, to make the return trip.”
“Is the ground always that flat?” Bloodstone asked as he dismounted two soldiers stepped over and took the horses as they dismounted. They led the horses off to one side.
“More or less, there are some places where its very hilly. I know of a couple of placed north of here were there are deep chasms into the earth, we avoid those during the rainy seasons. They tend to collapse.”
They were shown a small room where they could get warm a fireplace had been lit. An older man came in , “My lady, we were not sure if you were going to make the trip” There was warm food set out a stew of meat and some strange looking vegatables.
“This is Lord Bloodstone, I wanted him to see what you do here, and meet with you.”
The older man eyed Bloodstone as if taking a measure of him.
“He killed as grey shambler, I saw the corpse myself”
“Really! You have my thanks there have been a few of them causing use trouble in recent weeks. The two adventuring groups that have been working out of here have been unable to kill them. One of the teams is here.”
“There were also a group of goblins about an hour south of here, they didn’t attack”
“Thats unusual, they usually attack on sight”
“What team is here?”
“The red blight”
“Nerris and her group” He just nodded in reply. “You might as well meet them Lord Bloodstone, they are one of the two teams we have.”
The commander gestured to Bloodstone, “They are on the other side, I try and keep adventuring groups to themselves its usually better that way.”
They crossed back through the main entry way, and through another side passage, They could hear arguing before they could see who was causing the commotion.
“That’s why we keep them on this side, I have men sleeping for the night patrol.”
The stood at the entrance to the room, a woman was being very loud, “It’s just a little rain The Lady comes out every time it rains to check up on the people here, we should be out there making some coin.”
“Uhh um,” The [captain] cleared his throat.
The argument stopped as they looked over at the group in the doorway.
“Lady Aladeana” The woman said
“Nerris.”
“Are these another adventuring group?”
“Not exactly, Lord Bloodstone and his two wives and body guard, I invited them out to see the fortress, since he’s taking over for me while I visit the capital.”
“Those swords you have for show?” One of the men sitting at the table said.
“No, they are for killing monsters, a blacksmith in the capital gave them to me, me and my wife enchanted them” Bloodstone said eyeing the man.
“Really?” Another man said skeptically, the chainmail he wore shifted and clinked and he moved..
Bloodstone carefully drew one of the blades on his belt and set it on the table for them to see. “Yes Really”
The five adventures crowded the table. One of the two women cast, “Holy crap!” She said looking at the sword then at Bloodstone.
“What?” The man who was dressed in chainmail said.
“Theres no bleed, or noise that’s a high level blade, can I pick it up?”
“Careful its razor sharp, I went a little overboard of the sharpness, it’s not monofilament sharp but it is really close.”
“What’s that mean?” he asked picking up the blade.
“Whoa, its lighter than it looks. Haran, you should at least take a look.”
One of the other men, sitting at the table, “Why it’s not like it does me any good”
She set it back down, “He just mad since his own sword was broken last week.”
Bloodstone looked over at him, “Broken?”
“Yea, cost a good four hundred gold, and the dam thing shattered.”
“We found most of the pieces, not that it does any good.” Nerris said.
The man got up and pulled a pack out from a pile of gear. He returned to the table and opened it at the table.”
There was a hilt with shards of metal.
Bloodstone looked over at the shards, “May I take a look at that?”
“Sure its junk, I just am so pissed that it broke.”
Bloodstone stepped over to the table and looked at the pieces, they each started to move, and arrange themselves into a more organized looking sword. “There are pieces missing, there are enchantments still on the blade, looks like they are pretty damaged. The hilt is solid; it might be easier just to make a new blade from the metal. Would you be willing to sell it?”
“It’s not worth much, “
“Actually I can give you two hundred for it and lend you my blade until it’s repaired. I haven’t named that blade yet, so if you find its name it is yours.”
“You must be joking, why would you lend me a sword and buy my broken blade?” Haran asked.
“No I’m not joking, your five are out here, if you are not killing monsters you’re not making coin. I want to keep you here, if it means letting you borrow a blade that is worth it to me. She can’t make that kind of offer, I can. I also need to know how the blade hold up with the enchantments, you encounter more monsters and demon, consider it a loan, until I fix your blade. If you don’t like the new blade you keep the two hundred gold. “
There was a spark, “You think you can fix it?”
“I said I can try, there are some pieces missing so it will have to be forged into a new blade, you have any preferences?”
They spend a hour discussing the sword, and Bloodstone ended up leaving the ruby blade and scabbard with the adventuring group.
They were discussing heading out to recover the grey walked corpse, when they left.
“Why did you give him one of your blades?” Lady Aladeana asked.
“Truthfully, my blades are linked, I know where it’s at, I wanted to see if he could figure out all the enchantments on that blade. This also gives me something to do.”
He had the bundle of sword shards, it had been decided that while he borrowed the blade that Bloodstone could keep the shards and if the new blade was better her would trade it back.
“Are we heading back now or in the morning?” Lady Amethyst said yawning.
“We can return in the morning.” Lady Aladeana said
“Is there a forge or anvil I can borrow for a bit.”
The blacksmith that was in the fortress was young, he looked exhausted, several different projects could be seen in various states of repair or construction. “Whats now!? He said gruffly.
Bloodstone and Lady Aladeana along with the [captain] stood in the doorway.
“Would you mind if I borrowed your tools, If it’s not ok, that’s fine.”
“Are you a blacksmith?”
“Not by trade, I have ten levels of [blacksmith] and [goldsmith.]”
“Still an apprentice, sure you can borrow my tools. I am almost a master smith, just need to hit thirty”
They left him to talk with the blacksmith.
“Whats the biggest issue you have with this setup here?” Bloodstone said looking around.
“Not being able to get the fire hot enough, I have the bellows but no one here really to help.”
“So a hotter fire, I might be able to help with that, you do any forge casting?”
“Not really there is no need for melting anything, it’s hard to get the fire up that hot, and I really don’t need to make things in that manner.”
Lady Aladeana returned two hours later and found Bloodstone, and the blacksmith working. She wasn’t sure what had gone on after she left, but it appeared that the blacksmith had completed a few projects. Bloodstone was hammering on a piece of glowing white steel. She left them and returned to the room that had been set aside for her visits.
It was later that evening when Bloodstone finished, the blade needed more work and he left it with Cory.
“I am going to turn in now, If you need the magic recharged any mage should be able to do it.”
“Thanks, this should help a bunch”
“No problem it’s been kicking around in my head for a while to do something like that I am just surprised it works so well.”
Bloodstone left with the incomplete blade. there was a pace for him to rest, with the others and he was asleep shortly after lying down.