Chapter 164: Burning Ring of Fire!

Chapter 164: Burning Ring of Fire!

Jenny was contemplating a second dinner when she got the call. It was important that she get enough to eat - very important if she wanted to stay in this cozy little house, in this strange little village. Jenny liked it here. There were enough strange things going on that no one bothered an old lady who liked to bake cookies and had a liking for rabbit legs and porkchops.

She was surprised at actually getting a Call to join a quest. An impromptu witches circle? She'd never heard of such a thing! Idly, she wondered if this was some clumsy trick by one of the Inquisitions or Witch Hunter groups. She laughed at the thought of several bungling Witch Hunters wondering why no one showed up to their clever trap.

The names used intrigued her. Jenny didn’t wander the town much. She stayed in her little house and baked cookies for the few children in the village and didn't venture out.

But she knew who Suzette was. The little Fey who dabbled in shadows and enchantment was at the center of too many stories. She seemed to have the handsome Butcher wrapped around her finger. And now she had charmed the Baron into making her the mayor. Did she have her sights on running a larger town? That could be interesting. If Suzette became the new Baroness, would she keep the Butcher, or cast him aside? Jenny was patient. She'd wait and see if the poor dear needed consoling. Until then she wouldn't cause trouble. Trouble got you noticed. And noticed meant running through a swamp with hounds baying at your heels and flaming swords ready to cut you down.

She decided to take a look at things while she had another plate of the tasty porkchops that Ozzy had brought by just that morning. She debated cooking them, but the day was turning rather hot. She'd skip using her stove again and eat them raw. The nearby stream yielded a large trout that jumped into her hands. She bit off its head, only needing half of it, and gathered a bowl of fresh water. In her home she stirred the water with the half-fish, seeing how the blood painted the water with scenes of what was happening nearby.

At first, she thought she'd absentmindedly stirred up one of 'those' visions! There was the Butcher, covered in nothing but sweat and that little kilt, muscles bulging. But the vision expanded, showing more of the scene. The Charnel Pit roared like it never had before, the old smoke creature stoking it higher and higher as the Butcher tried to control it. Inside of the flames, a creature that gave even Jenny nightmares screamed in a language she knew, but had never heard spoken before.

And there was the circle that was forming. Titania she knew, but by another name. So interesting that she was here. There was the little Fey, the Seamstress and her little Potion Maker. The one with the bucket was a stranger, but she recognized the bucket! And was that a Goblin that was quickly scampering into town? Madness. It would be shear madness to join such a group and become known.

But Jenny liked a little madness now and then. She needed it like she needed fresh meat. She decided to go. She'd take some cookies with her. She made the best in town and if they lived, she could show off her baking to the others. She started to walk out the door and then laughed at herself. She'd almost forgotten her teeth! She took out the set she was wearing with their sharp fangs of iron, and put in a set of made from human teeth. It wouldn't do to shock someone with a smile. Best renew her glamour as well. She hoped they liked her cookies.

Mimosa, Chief's Daughter was drinking with her friends Mojito and Julep.

It was a hot day and they had stolen two bottles of Red Wizard to wile away the time. The cheap whiskey went down easily and quickly refilled her pool of mana. They'd gone squirrel hunting this morning and the fights had been more vicious than usual. The beasts were either learning, or leveling up fast. They killed three of the small ones and one huge beast. Her father had been very happy with them and their contribution to dinner. He'd pretended not to notice at all as the three girls stole the bottles of sacred alcohol. Her brother, Screwball, scowled at them. He and his lackeys had come back scratched and bleeding with only one small squirrel and a groundhog. Her father would only give them beer to drink. Not even the good dark beer, just the piss-water they bought at the keep. The good Dark Beer of Bludgeon was almost as good as whiskey. You had to drink a lot of it though.

They were on the second bottle when the Call appeared to her. Neither of her friends saw the Call, which just proved that it was a true quest. Not just anyone would get called! She hurried to her tent and slid into her ceremonial garb. Her mother hated it! By her mother’s standards Mimosa would only dress in a skirt of bones and some well-placed skulls. She hated the new fashions that used tanned leather and chains to create stylish clothing. She tied her hair into a high ponytail, grabbed her fetish bag, and ran to her father.

The old Chief saw her coming with her fetish bag in one hand and half a bottle of Red Wizard in the other. Chains glittered and jangled as she ran. Every male in the camp turned to look at her, and half the females. He sighed as he wondered what sort of trouble was the girl going to cause now? She was almost a full two years old and ready to be married off - except that she was a Chiefs daughter, and the most powerful of his brats. He'd give her until she was three seasons to either do something sensational, run away, or force him to step down. He was really hoping to retire soon.

"I see you, Daughter. What is little Mimosa up to in that outfit your mother hates so much?" The Chief actually didn't mind it. Let his wife fight this fight.

"I have a quest, Great Chief of the best tribe ever. The mayor of the town calls for me. CourierBen's friend! I must run to aid her!"

"And instead of just running off, you came to tell me?"

"Of course, Daddy. I need another couple of bottles in case it's a long quest!" Without waiting to ask, Mimosa grabbed two more bottles of Red Wizard Whiskey from the collection of bottles by his throne. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, yelped as he pinched her, and ran off to the village. She could feel the heat coming from the town and see the fire that was growing on the far side. She drank as she went, topping off her mana and gaining an extra point or two of INT and CON at the same time.

Running up to her sisters, she joined the circle and waved to her Uncle, CourierBen!

Ozzy was concentrating as hard as he could on his Pit. As Joe tried to increase the heat of the pit, it was getting harder to hold things together. He wished he knew how hot they needed to get that chunk of metal to melt it down. Luckily, he had an expert on that who was just arriving. Jorges rounded the corner with his anvil on a shoulder. He swung it down one handed next to Ozzy. "Don't mind me. This is how I focus heat. We're going to need quite a bit."

"That's the exact question on my mind. How much more heat do we need."

Jorges stroked his beard and stared at the flaming hole in the ground. "That's going to depend on a few things. First, everything I’ve seen so far with metallurgy corresponds pretty closely to the real world, as long as we are dealing with non-magic things. Iron behaves like iron, and steel heats up like steel. Things burn at roughly the temperature you'd expect.”

“An oak fire can reach about 1500 degrees. That's not even hot enough to forge a steel knife. Charcoal can get you there. It burns upwards of 2000 degrees with a good man on the bellows. Steel gets soft and malleable around 2k to 2200 degrees. That's a sweet spot for forging."

"You need it a lot hotter than that if you want to melt down steel. A good grade of carbon steel needs about 2600 degrees. For that we need a coal fire. If I was to toss this anvil down in your pit it would be liquid in no time at all. You're past the maximum temperature of a normal coal fire. Joe is pushing a constant stream of air through the fuel, and adding some fire mana to the mix. Coal fires top out at 3500 degrees and I'd toss a guess your pit is over 4000 by now. There's a lot of heat down there, and it isn't leaving. That's the good news."

Sweat was pouring off of Ozzy, "And the bad news?"

Jorges looked down at the meteorite, "The stone your pit is made from melts down at less than 4000. A lot less. It’s only holding its shape because you upgraded it to Tier 2, and it has some mana to work with. And it’s going to get worse.”

“I'm having trouble smelting Dark Iron, let alone a high carbon Dark Steel mix. It takes a hot coal fire, my own magic, and three people on the bellows. Nearly killed Rufus the other day. He tries, but just doesn't have the stamina to keep up."

Johannes was burned badly and tossed forty-feet through the air. Two workers threw his smoking body into the duck pond. He would later proclaim the experiment a great success, and the pain of growing new skin well worth the advancement of experimental magic.

Squirmie spread her glittering wings wide to protect Coglin. The bard was only slightly singed by the experience. Runt had hit the ground just in time to avoid any damage. His years as a minion giving him excellent timing when he needed to avoid damage. Rolly probably should have ducked, but he was having a great time on his improvised drums. He survived, but only because Squirmie dumped his smoking body into the duck pond next to Johannes and then began healing him.

In the Pit, the metal ball lost its shape, the liquid metal pouring down over the screaming coal that was rapidly burning away. In its place was a twisting thing of pure energy and wrong geometry. Ozzy felt his Pit trying to take on a new shape and a vision of a seven-sided cube slid into his head.

Titania brought the circle up to the pit. She began casting an exorcism hex.

"Mgr'luh throdogoth ot ya final ye'bthnk! cahf ah nafl mglw'nafh hh' ahor syha'h ah'legeth, ng llll or'azath syha'hnahh n'ghftephai n'gha ahornah ah'mglw'nafh.

M'F'ARGLE! ahor ymg' mggoka Iiahe mgepnah sll'ha'drn!"

M'F'ARGLE! mgep attained h' final ye'bthnk ng evolved ph'nglui level 19 epic boss!!

Behold the Glory of My Final Form! That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die.

M'F'ARGLE! shall take you as a new host!

M'F'ARGLE! Has attained its Final Form and evolved into a Level 19 Epic Boss

The being of energy flew at Titania, only to be stopped by a very angry Betty, "I told you not to show your face in my town ever again!" She swung her milking bucket at M'F'ARGLE double handed like Babe Ruth hitting a ball over the fence. M'F'ARGLE was hit high up into the air with a sharp crack. Titania and the circle finished the exorcism hex and the Star Spawn was ejected from this reality, briefly becoming a shooting star going in the opposite direction.

The Pit became hotter. As far away as Rowan Keep, where all eyes were watching a glowing Star Spawn get launched into the stratosphere and beyond, a message appeared.

Rejoice! Your realm has been saved. M'F'ARGLE, Level 19 Epic Star Spawn has been exorcised from this plane.

The Circle of Sequestered Mages sends their congratulations and returns to Defcon 5 from Defcon2.

High in the air, half a dozen wizards riding upon fast flying hippogriff turned away from the town and began flying for home. The salamander eggs that they hadn’t needed to drop would be saved for the next emergency.

Ozzy barely noticed the flying horses or the wizards; he had other problems.

You have far exceeded the ability of your Charnel Pit to exist. You have some choices:

1. Allow your pit to explode, taking out a small part of your town. Better than being nuked by the Circle, right? We can still call this a win.

2. Channel the massive amount of heat and mana into a crack in reality, and deal with what decides to visit now and then.

3. Allow your Charnel Pit to evolve to a higher level. This will consume a huge amount of fuel, strange metals, and mana currently in the Pit. You will be responsible for supplying mundane materials to add to it, consisting of a vast amount of wood and stone.

"SHIT! Suzette! This thing is going to blow, unless I try to evolve it. But that's going to take a lot of supplies from the town."

Suzette looked at the roaring firepit-of-doom, and at Ozzy who was straining hard to hold it together. "Go for it. Maybe I'll get some building points out of it."

Ozzy chose option three. The flames began to die down and stone began to shift. The molten metal that had been in the meteor began to coat the stones and fill in the cracks in the mortar.

SUCCESS! You have begun the process of creating a Tier 4 Charnel Pit!

Requirements: 350,000 board feet of hardwood lumber. 50 tons of stone brick. 10,000,000 mana or stamina.

Ozzy stared at the message, "Well, damn. More overtime."