Chapter 124: The Rational Decisions of Students of the Arcane Arts

Chapter 124: The Rational Decisions of Students of the Arcane Arts

Milo left the house of the Shadow Skulker clan in a good mood. He was getting tired of having to play 'surprise' and be on guard all the time. While it was good for his perception, he had a lot of things he wanted to do, and the distraction was annoying. The temptation to beat them all with his engineer's spanner had been growing. Hopefully things would ease up a bit now. And if they didn't...well, he could start using the wrench.

The clan wasn't all sneaky ninja types, but that was what it was known for, and everyone trained in skulking and climbing when young. Old Healer had told him that some of the whelps became scouts who explored the large area of caves surrounding the hollow, while others trained to defend the Hollow using stealthy methods. The clan also produced many of the Hollow's healers. The novice healers got a lot of practice putting back together the students who failed to surprise guards, or who poisoned themselves in alchemy classes. It was an odd system, but it worked for them.

The day had been eventful. Trying to catch Larry who was chasing two skulkers had worried him. He was happy things had turned out well. Larry had walked away very content with his cookies. Old Healer was happy his novices were still alive, and Milo was happy that Larry would soon have a new friend. Charlotte had shown she played by the rules, so he had made it a rule that anyone exploring the old tunnels with him would have to make friends with Larry first. Larry wouldn't like not-friends going through his house. With Charlotte meeting Larry for the next couple of meals, Milo had time to catch up on other things.

The market place was busy. It seemed like everyone in the Hollow was either shopping or selling. He strolled casually through the vendors, looking at stands selling cookware, weapons, clothing and food. Players were here in force, selling things they'd found in the caves and buying new weapons and armor. It was like the bazaar in Shadowport, just with more fur and tails. He found Scrap Hunter at the end of the marketplace, working his way through a pile of bones, cleaning and sorting them. He waved to Milo as he came up.Ñøv€lRapture marked the initial hosting of this chapter on Ñôv€lß¡n.

"Back for more? I made a trip out to some old lairs that have been cleaned out and loaded up a bunch of the bigger bones. I have forty of the size you wanted. That's them tied up in the bundle over there." Scrap Hunter pointed to a bundle of femurs and arm bones wrapped in a piece of scrap leather and tied up. "Found this old thing as well." He held up an old weapon made of a wooden haft with several carved bones or fangs mounted to it. It looked similar to Milo's own weapon, but the wood was rotten and he could tell that most of the bones were gnawed by animals and falling apart.

"I've seen something similar before." He examined it more carefully. Two of the bones were in good shape, though covered in ancient blood and dirt.

Scrap Hunter nodded. "It's a popular design, or was, before the Hollow started making metal weapons. Out in the caves they still make a lot of weapons like this old thing. Shamans sometimes enchant them. There's even a record of a bone-carver who used to come through the area every couple of years and would enchant weapons for a large chunk of cheddar."

"Really? Where can I learn more about him? That sounds interesting."

"The records would be over in the Tower of Strife, but I'd wait for a day when you don't see poison clouds forming up top or hear the thunder. Those tower mages go at it all the time and you don't want to get between them when they fight." The older ratkin rolled his eyes and looked in the direction of the top of the tower.

A student from the tower in a ragged black robe was banging with an old hammer on the side of the machine, while two others in blue robes laughed and gave encouragement.

"Maybe if you hit that bolt a few times, it will give up and turn!"

"Maybe...but he hasn't hit it yet. Put a Death Cloud on it Gehlter! Then it won't dodge so much."

"I'll put a Death Cloud on you two idiots! The bolts are stripped! It isn't coming off!" Gehlter hit the bolt with the hammer a few more times, deforming it further."

Milo couldn't take it anymore. Both the noise, and the stupidity of abusing a poor bolt that way made him angry. "Excuse me, but what are you doing! That's not how you dismantle a machine."

All three turned to look at Tallsqueak. They knew all the student mages in the tower. Despite the tattered cowl that the interloper wore, they knew he wasn't a mage. That was further emphasized by his black pants and the large spanner in his hand. They closed ranks, and tried to look as inscrutable as they could.

"And who are you to tell us what to do? We don't answer to silly skulkers, do we guys." Gehlter had been the one to step forward and speak, but he also checked to make sure that the other two were backing him up. They were friends, but from opposite sides of the tower, and you never knew exactly how far you could trust a student storm mage. The lightning tended to fry their brains. But both Squiggel and Bunt were backing his play, preparing spells and letting sparks dance on their fingers. There adversary seemed unimpressed.

"Ok, we can do this one of two ways: We can have some silly magical duel with explosions and pain where someone gets hurt, or we can all calm down and I can show you the proper way to turn a bolt. Which way do you want it?"

The three students looked at each other, nodded together, and yelled, "Duel!"