Dungeon Life - Chapter 183
Rezlar Larrez
The discussion about deities occupies Rezlar’s thoughts as he returns home, and makes him wonder if he should try to attend some services regularly. He’ll need to talk to Larx or maybe even Lady Aranya, to see if they’re willing to talk more, too. He may even try to attend to both faiths, at least to a degree. He doubts he’ll ever devote himself to anything wholly enough to change how he works his magic, but both the Shield and Thedeim aren’t quite so intimidating to him anymore.
That will have to come later. He has the rest of the afternoon free, and he would very much like to see if Freddie and Rhonda might like to go delve Hullbreak. The very idea makes him chuckle. If someone suggested that just a few months ago, he’d think they’re mad! But now it’s no more abnormal than any other friendly activity.
When he puts away White Waves, he wonders if he might be able to disguise the horse in some way, too, but has to regretfully abandon that idea. It would just stretch believability, and there’s no simple disguise that would hide the health and breeding of the horse. No, he’ll have to settle for the brief forays, rather than joining Rezlar and his friends on adventurers.
Besides, an ocean is no place for a horse, even if the horse is named for it. It doesn’t take long for Rezlar to get changed, and soon Larrez is walking down the street to go meet his friends. He heads to the church first, and is relieved to hear Freddie is simply reading in his room. He always feels a bit bad to interrupt the young paladin’s training.
Freddie has his door open in an effort to get some of the warmth of the various hearths into his room, as he doesn’t have a personal fireplace. Larrez knocks on the frame as he looks in, and sees Freddie relaxing on his bed, with Fiona fussing over his shield.
“Hello Freddie, Fiona. I hope I’m not interrupting?”
Freddie smiles and marks his place as he shakes his head. “Nah. I’m just reading some old accounts from the archives. I think the priests like to pretend like they’re boring history, but they read like fantastical stories.” He smirks over at Fiona as she chitters to herself, refreshing the web on his shield. “Fiona’s trying a new design, but it’s not coming out quite how she wants. It’ll be fine, Fiona. It’s not like I actually have any heraldry in the first place!”
The large spider gives him a scandalized chitter as she keeps working, and Freddie laughs as he turns his attention back to Larrez. “She says that’s all the more reason to keep looking for the right one, so it’ll be ready when I do get heraldry.”
“Do you get to design your own?” asks Larrez, honestly uncertain how that kind of thing works. He knows all about displaying and the meaning behind heraldry, but he doesn’t know about making your own.
Freddie just shrugs. “Most paladins either take the symbols of the church, or just use their shield as their heraldry. I was actually reading about Vory of the Torn Banner, and his heraldry. He and his fellows would often suffer hardly a scratch in battles, but his banner would always get ruined in some way. A lance would tear a gash in it, arrows would perforate it, stray spells would singe or even melt some of it, and so on. So, before one battle, he took his sword and rent his banner from the center to the bottom. Some say it was out of frustration, some say it was a bit of humor to lighten the mood before the fight. Whatever the reason, no other damage happened to it in that fight. He used that same banner for the rest of his career.”
“Huh.” Larrez looks over at the book, wondering if he can get a copy for himself later. It sounds like an interesting tale. But he didn’t come here to get distracted by stories. “Do you have the free time to go delve? Rhonda still needs to get the bubble… moss? From Hullbreak?”
“Bubbleweed, I think?” tries Freddie. “Whatever it is, it’ll be on her to get the right stuff. And yeah, I should have plenty of time to delve today. Give me a few minutes to get ready, and I’ll be right out.”
“Alright. Do you think I could talk the archivist into letting me borrow some of the histories of the paladins?”
Freddie shrugs. “Maybe? I don’t think they’ll want to let the originals out, but there’s probably some copies laying around done by the scribe acolytes. They have to practice their writing somehow, right?”
It can’t hurt to ask, so Larrez does just that as Freddie prepares. As it turns out, they have some copies of shorter histories they could lend, though Larrez holds off for now. He wouldn’t want to take a book into the sea right now. If he understands the variety of water potion Rhonda was working on, it will let them all breathe, but won’t keep them from getting wet. It’d be pretty rude to immediately ruin someone’s work like that.
He’s simply perusing the shelves as Freddie approaches, and he can hear Fiona giving the orc an earful, and the orc trying to not interrupt the scribes with the noise. “Foina, please keep it quiet, at least until we’re out of the archives? I know you said it’s not ready, but I need my shield for this.”
Larrez fails to suppress his smile as he sees Fiona fold her forelegs and hmmph at Freddie, but at least she’s quiet for the moment. Freddie is looking a little embarrassed, so Larrez simply motions for them to exit, and soon they’re on their way to Rhonda’s. Fiona fusses over the shield on Freddie’s back the entire time, while the other two simply chat.
Once at the Emporium, Staiven greets the three warmly. “Ah, I was wondering when you two scoundrels would return to whisk my poor apprentice off to danger again!” Fiona chitters in response and Staiven nods. “I know, my dear. You’re the only responsible one of the lot, and that includes Rhonda and Lucas,” he says with a smile, and whacks the hatch to the basement with his staff.
“Rhonda! Your friends are here!”
A muffled yell comes up, and Staiven quickly answers. “Just finish that bunch for now. I can hang them later, and bundle whatever’s still loose. I think they want to go get the bubblekelp,” he says before turning his attention back to the lads. “Unless you two just like to wear your full kit around town for some reason.”
They shake their heads and Staiven smiles. “Then she’ll be up shortly. She’s preparing some herbs for drying, and then you two can help her test her new potion.”
Larrez and Freddie exchange looks at the mention of testing a new potion, but Rhonda bangs open the hatch before they can make any real movement towards the door.
“Freddie! Fiona! Larrez! Good timing! I’m pretty sure I’ve gotten all the kinks out of the equilibrium potion, so we should be able to get the kelp so Master can make more proper aqua affinity potions! Let me get ready, and I’ll explain on the way!”
Freddie’s eyes follow her as she heads up the stairs, and linger for a few moments, before Larrez brings his focus back to the here and now. “We could probably get away before she’s done,” he jokes, and Freddie smirks at his friend.
“Only for a while. Fiona would probably help them catch us, too.” Fiona nods and gives a no-nonsense clack of her mandibles.
“I suppose we’re doomed, then,” sighs the elf with mock defeat, and Freddie smiles at the stairs as he nods.
“There are worse fates.”
Soon, Rhonda comes back down the stairs, but not in her typical robes. While not exactly indecent, they’re much more form fitting than usual. Freddie just tries not to stare as Larrez looks confused.
“Why the different robes? Are those even technically robes?”
Rhonda shrugs and heads for the door. “Technically, I think? I just know they work a lot better when wet than my normal robe, or even my adventuring robe. I haven’t had a chance to enchant them with much, but Hullbreak is a lot friendlier now, so it should be fine.”
Larrez elbows Freddie to get him into gear, and the orc shakes his head to clear it and focus. “When wet?”
Rhonda nods and waits for everyone to get outside and walking before she explains. “The aqua affinity potions are so great because you can basically take anything with you and it’ll be fine in the water. The water breathing potions that Thedeim designed only let you breathe. They don’t protect from all the water. With winter here now, it’s especially important to get proper potions to delve Hullbreak, rather than what we’ll be using.”
“Then why are we using them?” asks Larrez. “Breathing might be fine, but that water is going to be cold.”
Rhonda grins and pulls out an odd blueish-green potion. “That’s what the equilibrium potion is for! I designed it with what I know about fire and ice affinities. Basically, it should keep you at a normal temperature, no matter the environment!” She pauses for a moment before continuing. “Well, I don’t think it’d work against something like lava, or even boiling water, but it should make ordinarily-dangerous temperatures feel almost pleasant!”
Freddie looks impressed. “That must have been difficult.”
“It wasn… ok, yeah, it was pretty hard, actually. The first batch was too insulating, like wearing a thick blanket next to a roaring fire. Then I made it too conductive, and even next to a fire felt like I was soaked to the bone and standing in the wind. I’ve made a few more batches since then, and this should be just right! We’ll have to drink a water breathing potion and an equilibrium potion, and then basically just dive in. Make sure you don’t have anything you can’t get wet.”
Larrez takes a few moments to go over his gear in his head. “I should be alright. With my affinity, I need to take some water into consideration anyway. I’ll probably need to oil everything properly once we’re done, but that should be it. How about you, Freddie?”
Freddie looks much less certain about his gear. “I don’t know if my armor can stand up to being in water for that long. Even if it can, I don’t think I can swim in it anyway.”
“Let’s head by the church, then, and see if they have something leather or even cloth for you to wear,” suggests Rhonda, and Freddie nods.
“Probably a good idea, yeah. I might grab a short spear or something, too. I don’t know how well my axe will work under the water.”
Larrez speaks up almost immediately. “Swings underwater are difficult. Thrusts are the best.”
“Then I think we’ll be doubly-reliant on you in the water, Larrez,” says Rhonda with a smile. “For your affinity and your rapier. You’ll probably be the best suited to any actual fighting we might need to do. If Hullbreak is learning from Thedeim, we’ll probably have to overcome at least a few encounters to gather some bubblekelp, especially for the amount I want to get.”
“How much do you want to get?” asks Freddie, looking mildly concerned.
“As much as we can carry!”
Everyone laughs at the obvious answer, and Freddie speaks up as the church comes into view.
“Then I’ll also ask if they have any spare packs or maybe baskets. Something we can take under the water without too much trouble.”
