Better Than One - Chapter 6 Soulless.

We had picked up an unwanted stray – a ginger cave troll named Globba. She followed us as we were heading back from the mushroom farm, maybe she was looking for company. Tried as we could to tell her to go away, she’d loudly proclaim ‘Globba!’ and then would mumble something incoherently and continue following. She wasn’t aggressive and didn’t try to stuff down any Kobolds into her wide gullet. She was as big we were, and just as ugly. Aside from attacking her, I didn’t have any ideas how to rid of her, and hoped she wouldn’t eat all our food. She sat in the corner the whole time scratching at her sagging tit that was protruding out of a short leather apron strung up by thick rope. According to Zoey the troll was a pest that lived in the mountain, but hadn’t really bothered the kobolds.

“Globba, food!” she suddenly bellowed out and left, but I had a bad feeling she’d be back.

Estra’s depressed mood was somewhat uplifted – she has been engrossed grinding a dried glowing mushroom into a paste for over an hour. The formula for a mana potion was simple: dried glowing mushroom paste, mixed with the same water it grows over – the one with a film that looked like gasoline. A single mushroom produced nearly a sack full of material. Estra picked out the best portions first, setting them aside for more potent mana potions. There wasn’t a single glass containers of any sort, instead they used a wide range of glazed stoneware containers.

While she was doing Alchemy with both of our arms, it left me with gathering information from Zoey about the clan. In order to increase our numbers we could just have the kobolds start laying eggs, for which we would need more food. The recent bigfoot was a good start for that, but the bigger issue is the years it takes for the Kobolds to reach maturity. Another way is to simply absorb another clan, along with their territory. This is done by challenging their clan leader to a fight to the death, though they can pick a champion to fight in their stead. Such events were extremely rare and most often ended with one chief running away into exile instead.

This place wasn’t seriously guarded, the kobold simply relied on running away into the tunnels. A cost effective solution, but one that left their items open for the taking, which is probably why the place was mostly bare. Though they had some caches of items spread around. This clan hasn’t been faring well for a while. Out of the eight clans occupying this mountain, they were second to last as far as size and strength. Tomorrow we would be meeting with other clan chiefs before the arena battles on the following day.

Estra had her fill of Alchemy, and managed to produce five mana potions. There would have been more, but we were short on the ceramic vials. I also spent half my mana shooting [Kinetic Spikes] into the wall, mulling over what I’d like to upgrade about the spell, or perhaps invest the essence into stats. In the end I decided to upgrade [Kinetic Spike] because it was the only spell I had. I spent 900 on two more projectiles, and then another 900 to upgrade cast speed, lower mana, and harder material to tier 3. The rest of the essence I spent on [Intelligence] increasing it by 14 points to 103, leaving me with just 32 essence. I can’t say I felt any smarter, or could remember anything with greater details, but the [Kinetic Spike] saw a definite improvement. Instead of just one, a total of three spikes would materialize quicker and slightly larger in size.

Spell: [Kinetic spike]

Tier: 1

Mana: 96 [120]

Cast time: 1.6 sec [2.0 sec]

Materialize and shoot a small stone spike. Projectile speed and size depends on [Intelligence.] Projectiles: 3; material hardness: 1.20x.

There was a commotion in the main cavern. Globba had returned, dragging something monstrous behind her – a large spider that looked a lot like a cooked king crab, but the size of a large sheep. The creature was still moving, though barely, it’s head was caved in on a side spouting a trickle of thick blood. Globba sat down comfortably by the central cooking fire, ripped off its legs and placed them into the hot coals. The legless spider was shrieking as Globba pried off its carapace and dug around in its insides. A noxious smell began filling the area.

Zoey and Estra looked on with mouth opened and a disgusted look on their faces. “Ugh, that’s just foul – a Blood Spider. Only thing it’s good for is its carapace. I hope she’s not planning to eat that.” Zoey said.

Globba’s plan was exactly that. She pulled out a fistful of organs out of the spider, and in they went straight into her mouth. This went on until the legs were cooked, which must have been a delicacy for her. She was happily humming and muttering to herself as she pulled them out of the coals and sucked out a goopy mess like drinking an egg through a straw. With a toothy smile she offered a leg to anyone who would have it, but nobody would go near. Satisfied with her meal she went to our chief’s chamber and went to sleep right on top of our sleeping rug. We’d be skipping our afternoon nap today.

This was a good time to check on the blacksmiths. The crew of four were busy at the furnace, smelting iron ore. The furnace fumes were channeled up through a large opening in the side of the cave. They have been at it for hours, adding layers of charcoal and iron ore to the top of the furnace. Two of them were working hand bellows, taking turns when they got tired. Out of the bottom of the furnace they would pull out a large glowing mass of iron and slag, which was hammered into a compact form by reheating and folding it a number of times. A quick [Inspect] showed me the end result:

Wrought Iron Bar.

There were probably a few things I could improve upon, starting with the bellows. I could rig up a water wheel to the stream, and use that for blowing air and improve air quality inside at the same time. As interesting as it was for me, Estra was bored, and had other plans, it was time for our daily exercise. Like a dog hearing the door open, Globba somehow sensed us going outside and decided to tag along. We started with a light jog to warm up and it must have been the oddest sight for miles – a two headed ogre jogging with a ginger cave troll in tow like a puppy on a leash. It was disturbing to see Globba emulate us doing burpees and jumping jacks, like watching Jason doing Pilates.

Back at the cave, Globba went off on her own again, she probably worked up an appetite after some fresh air. I wanted to see about getting started on the water-wheel, but Estra wanted a bath. The problem was that the water in the stream is frigid cold, so we asked Zoey, and she led us to a hot spring. It was back outside and around the mountain, northwards. A short walk and we arrived at a number of pools of clear water. They weren’t naturally formed, someone must have arranged them like rice paddies on a slope, in a step down manner. The water was fed from the top downwards, getting progressively hotter and the steam thicker as we went upwards to the source. This place was divine, and just what our aching muscles needed. It was surrounded by trees on both sides creating a vibe that would have been ideal for couples on a honeymoon.

We progressed upwards through the pools as we got used to hotter water. Near the top we realized that we were not alone, another occupant was lying back against the rim of a pool, half submerged in water. An elderly human with grey white hair and a full beard. He must have heard us approach because he glanced up to look. Something about his eyes caught my attention. I fully expected him to panic at our sight, but instead he surveyed us a moment, sighed, and went back to relaxing with his eyes closed like we weren’t a bother.

I tried [Inspecting] but it didn’t work, like he wasn’t even there. I glanced over to Estra, and she was just as confused.

“Don’t just stand there staring, hop in.” He said without looking up and waved us in. We hesitated a moment to see if it was a trap, but then climbed up to the top most pool. It had deeper water and was almost too hot, yet bearable. We sunk down to our chest, still leary of the old man, and soaked in the hot water for a few minutes before he spoke up again.

“Just so you know, I didn’t have anything to do with you being here. You have Lou to thank for that. But now that you’re here, I suppose we can come to an arrangement.”

“Arrangement? What arrangement?” Estra asked.

“I wasn’t talking to you princess, I was talking to Kevin.” He looked up and made eye contact with me. His eyes seemed to pierce straight into me, making me reel back as if was physically struck between the eyes.

“How do you know my name? And who is Lou?” I asked.

“I know a lot more than just your name. I also know where you’re from. As far as Lou, he’s a nuisance.” He said in a nonchalant tone, leaned back and rested his head against the rim.

“Who are you?” I asked, but he ignored the question, and just kept lying there, facing upwards.

After a time he spoke, “I’m not sure what Lou is up to. His actions might as well be random, but maybe this could be a good opportunity. It might work out.” He sighed, stroking his beard for a time. “I tell you what, I have a good feeling about this. I’ll take the gamble.” He proclaimed louder, then continued stroking his beard, lost in thought. “Hmm, yes. Let’s try that.” He looked up and smiled at us. He snapped his fingers, chuckling to himself. “Perfect.” He examined the palms of his hands, appeared satisfied, climbed naked out of the pool, and ran into the woods.

I had no idea what just happened and what he was talking about. It was if he was on a phone and I only got to hear half the conversation.

“What just happened? W-who was he?” I asked Estra.

“Do you have any idea ” She stammered. “No. Of course you wouldn’t.” She appeared alarmed and disturbed, she clambered us out of the pool in a haste, and we went back to the cave. It was getting late.