Chapter Two-Hundred Ninety-Nine

Chapter Two-Hundred Ninety-Nine

Rhonda

The goblin girl scrutinizes her spell as she cycles it, ensuring every last detail is correct. On the cluttered table nearby, her familiar, Lucas the jumping spider, stands ready with a bit of charcoal to take any notes she needs. He watches the spell as well, interested in what his master has created.

Rhonda tries to slow the spell further, which has been the truly difficult part of studying it. In theory, it’s a pretty simple spell, at least for her. In the entire world, maybe only she and Thedeim’s scions understand the principles behind it, but once you get them, it’s not difficult to apply. The spell is a cycling hot explosion/cold implosion, the small fireball transitioning to shards of ice as it dissipates. The shards converge back to the origin point, where the low temperatures combine back to a hot temperature, and then just a lick of mana is all it takes to reignite.

The efficiency still surprises her, even after having seen Rocky weave fire and ice together effortlessly. She feels like she’s getting closer to that now, thanks to the advice of Vieds, the changeling pyromancer. Ice has always come naturally to her, but with the examples he’s given her on the few delves she and Freddie have been able to tag along with his group, fire is feeling more and more natural, too.

Even better, she can feel something else, some secret in the explosive force fire can sometimes produce. Is this how Rocky expands his affinities? She’s still missing something, but the more she watches the mana cycle in her spell, the more she feels like there’s something important there, if only she can figure it out.

“Ah, my prize apprentice, stuck,” comes the voice of her mentor, Old Staiven. The wizened ratkin smirks at her as he descends into the basement lab, her pout at his words only egging him on. “Such potential, and she’s wasting it in the basement.”

“Master Staiven, this is important!” she protests, only for him to grin.

“Oh, I’m sure it is. But how long have you been staring at that spell? It’s been doing wonders for your control, which is why I haven’t tried to stop you, but you’re at a wall, I think.”

Rhonda winces at that, and the old ratkin’s smile softens as he moves to put a hand on her shoulder. “It happens to all of us eventually. You’ll get through it, I’m sure. But not down here.” He waves a hand through her spell, disrupting her concentrating and ending the cycle. “You need a break. Go get your friends and do something fun, get your mind off this. You’ll come back refreshed and ready to try something new.”

She brightens at the thought of hanging out with Freddie and Larrez. It really has been a while since they were able to hang out and maybe go on a more casual delve together. “Do you think they’ll be available?”

Old Staiven waves off her concern as he moves to his shelf of alchemy recipes. With the new forest expansion from Thedeim, the ingredients for some of his old favorites might finally be available once more! “Torlon won’t begrudge the lad of a break, I’m sure. Larrez might be a different story, but you can at least go ask. Maybe you three can go pester Rocky about his upcoming fight.”

“Upcoming fight?” she asks, looking to see if Lucas knows what he’s talking about. Her familiar gives her a couple shrugs all at once while Old Staiven laughs.

“You really have been down here too long! Focusing on your studies is all well and good, but you can’t let the world pass you by, Rhonda! The Dungeoneers have contracted a semi-retired adventurer to help with the spring delves, and Thedeim has officially challenged him to fight Rocky.” He eyes sparkle like he knows something she doesn’t. Which he probably does, the wily old rat. “I think he’ll be Rocky’s biggest challenge yet. You’d do well to make sure you watch the fight, Rhonda. Getting to see him go all out can only help your studies.”

Her eyes widen at the idea of Rocky being able to go all out, especially against a delver! Thedeim doesn’t kill, but it’s difficult to imagine anyone strong enough to go toe to toe with him at his full strength. “When is it?!”

“In a day or two. There’s fliers all over Thedeim’s territory with the details. Go get your gear and your friends and see for yourself. Ah, this one should do.” He smiles as he plucks a book from the shelf. “I’ll be going over some old recipes while tending the shop today. If you can get any information on what will be in the new forest expansion, it’ll help me decide what new formulae to dust off.”

She nods as Lucas hops into her head, forgoing any hat while in the basement. “I’ll do my best! You know how his new expansions can be, though.”

“What the- Rhonda! Head Priest!” He smiles and stands, accepting a hug from his friend. “What are you guys doing here? Er, you and Lucas, I mean. Torlon can be here if he wants without a reason.”

The gnome chuckles. “I came here to get you to head outside, get some fresh air, maybe delve, and let High Priestess Aranya know the Shield is glad to see her safely home once more.”

“Old Staiven said I should get out of the basement and do some delving, too, so here I am! Get your armor!”

Torlon smirks even as Freddie looks reluctant. “You heard the little lady, lad. It’ll do you some good to get out of these walls.” Before Freddie can respond, Lucas bounces in, ricocheting off him and Torlon before Rhonda grabs him out of the air. Fiona isn’t far behind, a web raised in several of her legs as she gives chase.

The young orc laughs as he scoops Fiona into his arms, the ogre-faced spider pretending to glare at her elusive friend. “I think it’d do Fiona some good, too. Alright, let me go get my armor, and we can go see if Larrez is available.”

Torlon waves at the group as they exit the archives, and Rhonda waits outside Freddie’s room as he changes. “How’s your armor doing, by the way? My robes are getting a bit small, so I’d imagine your armor is the same? You’re not only getting taller, you’re getting all buff from training, too.”

She can hear Freddie snort at that from inside his room. “I think ‘buff’ is a bit far, but... yeah, my armor is getting kinda tight. I should try to commission some chainmail or maybe splint mail? Chain will probably be slower to grow out of, but splint is definitely better protection.”

“Do they not have any here in your size?”

“I mean... they do, but some of them are pretty old. And if I buy some and grow out of it, that’ll just be a new set for the next paladin in training, right?”

Rhonda nods at that, despite the door between them. “That makes sense. Do you think the ratkin might be able to help you with that? I want to ask the spiderkin for some help with new robes. Maybe even Thing will want to help me with the runes.”

Freddie grunts, either in agreement or just in trying to get into his armor. “Maybe. Oh, Jello might be willing to help me, come to think of it. She’s a metalworker now, apparently. That’s not an armorsmith, but if we can get her the materials ourselves, she’ll definitely be more affordable.”

“Mmm! If she’s anything like the aranea, we’ll probably need to do a couple quests to pay for it, and maybe a couple to pay Thing, too! Do you think Larrez needs any new gear, also?”

Freddie opens the door, fiddling with one last strap as he answers. “I don’t think so? He’s a bit older, so he doesn’t have as much growing to do. We can always ask, though. Even if he doesn’t, he’ll probably get some good experience just mining Thedeim’s more exotic ore nodes for materials.”

Rhonda nods as Fiona helps Freddie with that last strap. “Then you’re ready to go?”

He nods, patting his Simple Hatchet and shifting his shoulders to ensure his shield won’t fall from his back. “Ready! Let’s go get Larrez!”