Chapter 196: A Brand-new Guildhall

A/N: For those who celebrate, I wish you a happy and safe holiday season!

 
Aliandra

Breakfast was tasty but eaten quickly; everyone was eager to get to town and take care of various errands and chores. Ali packed a few arcane magic books in her ring, just in case she needed to adjust something on the fly. She had just discovered a potential solution to her teleportation problem, and she was eager to experiment with it from the guild. The solution had come to her in a moment of surprising inspiration while studying the obscure triggers in a dusty, and decidedly ancient magic tome Ryn had unearthed somewhere deep within the bowels of the Ciradyl Grand Library’s extensive section devoted to cataloging this magic of lost or forgotten cultures.

It had been torturous to unravel the dense and overly technical manual, written in an archaic dialect of the Dwarven language, but what she had teased from its fragile pages was the method to trigger her spells based on various attributes and properties of the triggering mana itself. She could trigger on her own mana signature, or even recognize the specific mana ‘shape’ of a target runic circle. The ancient design principles, when applied to her runic magic, introduced so much complexity that it placed very real limitations on how well it would scale – mainly because the formations of the triggers had to be duplicated and built into the runic structure itself, essentially making two runic circles with copies of each other embedded within the design. And that was if she wanted a single trigger. She had tried sketching out a double trigger design, but all she had earned was a headache. However, it had given her the method for activating a teleportation locus based on a single specific source teleportation circle. It was a bit of a round-about approach, but she was certain it would accomplish what she wanted – a teleportation locus that could only accept incoming teleportation magic from a specific designated source circle. She had even inscribed the first half of her experiment in the flagstones at the bottom of the atrium beside the circle that would take them to the Novaspark Academy.

Teleportation Locus – Linked Magic – level 51 (Arcane)
A magical locus that serves as an enhanced teleport destination.
Mana Key: [incomplete – unknown teleport runic circle]
Runic Circle

She had inscribed the mana key trigger to require her own personal mana signature and to match several runic variations she intended to inscribe in the teleportation circle at the other end. It would be a little over two hundred and fifty mana to maintain the teleportation circle in the guild hall, but the convenience of it was worth it. And she could break it in the case of an emergency. If it worked, the library may just become a mini-hub of travel; a study destination for the growing guild.

“Ok, I’m ready,” Mato said, stepping off the spiral staircase to join them at the bottom of the library. His eyes lingered on the brand-new circle of electrum-inscribed runes Ali had completed. “That looks complicated – pretty, though.”

“It took some work to make the destination locus secure,” Ali said, quirking an eyebrow at the grinning Beastkin. “I don’t want just anyone showing up – you know, like people specifically called Mato.”

“Huh,” he snorted. “What’s your favorite dish, again?”

“All of them! You’re in. Permanently.”

“Mmm, so easily bought,” he rumbled.

Blushing mildly, Ali sorted through her minions, deciding to leave most of them behind, choosing only her Hellfire Imp, a Kobold acolyte, and her new Abyssal Stalker to accompany them to the guild.

“You’re bringing that thing?” Calen asked, gesturing toward her chosen minions.

“I want to practice getting used to its Blood Scent,” she said, glancing at her murderous-looking spider demon. It had taken some time to get used to the overpowering sense around just her friends, and it was certain to be even harder up in town around all those people. “Besides it has great stealth, nobody will see it. Here watch.” She quickly instructed the stalker to hide, and it vanished from most of her senses, only the ooze and her own Martial Insight able to tell where it was.

“That is pretty good,” Mato said. “It has no scent, and I can’t even detect it in my sanctuary aura. I can hear it when it moves, though.”

“It can cloak its mana,” she answered, proud of the newest additions to her forces. Even the Vampire Hornets – which she had set loose in the forest cavern to scout for sneaky rogues or assassins.

“I think he meant the other one,” Malika said, pointing at the imp she was using to boost her intelligence attribute. “Mieriel will yell at you if it burns her precious carpet.”

“Oh, right,” she said, frowning at the tiny imp. She had gotten so used to them that she had forgotten it was permanently wreathed in hellfire. “Maybe I can leave it outside?”

“Tabitha will probably try to figure out some way to use the hellfire for cooking. Imp-roasted marshmallows, anyone?” Mato said with a grin.

They stepped through Ali’s teleport circle to the Novaspark Academy locus one by one and then made their way to the Adventurers Guild, but when they arrived, the entire place was in disarray. Half the building was torn down, and unfamiliar people were crawling all over it with an intensity of purpose and constant flickers of mana as they worked.

“What’s going on?” Ali asked, finding Vivian Ross out on the street observing the work beside Tabitha’s food cart.

“Hi, Aliandra,” Vivian said, giving the imp a suspicious side-eye and then arching an eyebrow in the general direction of the invisible Abyssal Stalker. “With all the crafters coming in and out every day, and all the new recruits, the guild was just getting too small. So, I bought the abandoned plot next door and we’re expanding. We’re going to have a bigger guild hall, more training rooms, a dormitory, and expand Weldin’s store substantially.”

“More store space?” Malika said, excitement oozing from her voice.

“Oh, that seems good,” Ali said. It was rather shocking, to be honest, and she hadn’t expected the entire building to be torn down when they arrived. But she had found it rather cramped the last few times she had been up here.

“Congratulations on reaching gold rank,” Vivian said, addressing the others. “Why don’t you all come with me? Mieriel has set up around the corner and we can get you your rings.” And with that Ali found herself left to her own devices amid the bustle and banging of furious construction.

Curious, she wandered around the site, practicing tracking people by the scent of their blood – which was not nearly as overwhelming as she had feared – but every time one of the crafters and artisans did something unusual with their mana, she found herself gawping in amazement. How does she afford it? The guild must have been doing rather well financially for Vivian to be able to undertake such a big project, and Ali couldn’t help wondering just how much of that was because of her own group’s efforts.

A bigger store… Weldin always seemed busy with crafters coming and going constantly. Nothing remained on display in the store for very long, but the scale of this undertaking implied far more success than she had even imagined. I should check my account. She generally left the group’s finances to Malika’s capable management, and she had a few arrangements that regularly funded her bank account, but she rarely checked on it herself, relying on Ryn more often than not.

She peered down into a large hole in the middle of what used to be the guild hall, where an impressive amount of earth magic was being wielded to excavate. At the bottom of the hole, she found two dwarven women pouring their mana into the stone, making it warp and bend, flowing like water as they restructured it into a staircase that led down to what looked like it might eventually become a lower floor or a basement.

“Oi, careful!” one of them exclaimed. “Go any deeper and it will collapse into the sewers below.”

“Aye, I forgot.”

“Can ya not see?”

“Shut yer yapping gob, Belra.”

The banter between the two stone crafters seemed good-natured; at least Ali decided the absence of dwarven profanity lent it a sense of camaraderie rather than actual annoyance. Their words made her focus on the rock below their feet instead of their earth magic, and to her surprise, she could see the mana of her domain leaking through.

Could I link my spell? she wondered. Leaving them to continue their work, she eagerly retrieved her book on arcane magic that had been stashed in her ring for a while and looked up the mana key trigger, curious to discover if linking her domain to her spell would mess up the signature she had designed into the library locus.

Aah, here it is, she thought, finding the chapter for the obscure trigger magic. She began tracing out the runes carefully while using her minion’s senses to avoid tripping and falling on her face as she navigated the construction clutter, returning to where the Guildmaster had said Mieriel would be.

Oh, interesting. It looked like she wouldn’t know exactly until she tried it, but her personal mana and her own domain should match closely enough. Probably she could get an exact answer from her mother’s book, or Nevyn Eld’s tome on dungeons. She grimaced at the last thought briefly. But the trigger text suggested that even if it didn’t work, she could update the locus after the fact, so her work wouldn’t be wasted.

“Oh, hi Ali,” Malika said. “We were just finishing up. I brought Vivian up to date on the rift situation and she said she will work out some contingency plans with Commander Brand.”

“Did you explain my boss?”

“Yup,” Malika said. “Also, we got our new rings.”

“Can I see?” Her own ring had been amazing, and she was excited for her friends.

“Here, this is mine,” Malika said, sharing the ring with a happy smile on her face.

Gold Guild Ring – level 60
A ring signifying gold-rank membership with the Adventurers Guild. It serves as a key granting access to private areas in the guild hall.
Owner: Malika Yu
+23 to all attributes.
Requirements: Wisdom 210
Quests
Eliminate undead in and around Myrin’s Keep – 0
Mana: Store or retrieve an item. Capacity: 150 / 800kg
Quality: Rare
Value: Soulbound
Created by Giddy Clicksprocket.
Ring

“Wow, all attributes?” Malika’s ring had only a single enchantment, but it was incredible and perfectly suited for her monk class.

“I know, I’m going to stop by and thank Giddy Clicksprocket in person,” she said.

“Share mine too, please,” Calen said, holding up his hand with the gleaming golden ring prominently displayed. Malika did.

Gold Guild Ring – level 60
A ring signifying gold-rank membership with the Adventurers Guild. It serves as a key granting access to private areas in the guild hall.
Owner: Calen Avery
+39 Dexterity.
+36 Intelligence.
+12% movement speed.
Requirements: Dexterity 210
Quests
Eliminate undead in and around Myrin’s Keep – 0
Mana: Store or retrieve an item. Capacity: 62.5 / 800kg
Quality: Rare
Value: Soulbound
Created by Giddy Clicksprocket.
Ring

“Movement speed is a great choice for you,” Ali said. Obviously, the two primary attributes for his damage would not go to waste either.

“Here’s mine,” Mato said, surprising her. Given that he spent most of his time in Bear Form, and occasionally Tree Form, whatever enchantments that were on his ring would not matter. But when she saw the ring, she realized just how wrong that assumption was.

Gold Guild Ring – level 60
A ring signifying gold-rank membership with the Adventurers Guild. It serves as a key granting access to private areas in the guild hall.
Owner: Mato Bahr
+40 Endurance.
+34 Strength.
+12 Vitality.
Mana: Shapeshift.
Requirements: Shapeshifter, Endurance 210
Quests
Eliminate undead in and around Myrin’s Keep – 0
Restore blighted farmland – [complete]
Mana: Store or retrieve an item. Capacity: 146 / 800kg
Created by Giddy Clicksprocket.
Ring

“You can shift the ring?” she asked in amazement.

“Yes,” he said with a huge grin.

With the ability to shift the ring into his Bear Form, he would be able to take advantage of the attribute enchantments when he was fighting. It was truly a masterfully crafted item, perfect for him.

“Hey, Vivian. What’s the big hole in the middle for?” Ali asked, pointing back the way she had come. The discussion of everyone’s rings had given her yet another improvement for her idea.

“It’s a lower level. Storage rooms for the guild store, equipment, and things like that. The dorm will be down there too. It was cheaper to hire the stone crafters for two extra days than to buy more land,” the Guildmaster said.

“Can I have a room down there?” Ali asked.

“What for?”

“I can make a teleportation circle right to the library,” she answered.

“Are you sure you want that kind of access?”

“I can make it to require a guild ring,” she answered. It should be a simple matter to use a detect trigger for that.

“Can you make it silver or gold rank only?” Vivian asked. “If the silver or gold adventurers can escort people to the library it would be a very nice privilege for earning that level, and it could eliminate a lot of issues monitoring access given the number of new recruits we’re getting lately.”

“How about I make it big enough to take several people, but it won’t activate unless one of them has the right ring?” It would make the enchantment just a little more complicated, but nothing too challenging.

“That works.”

With the Guildmaster’s approval, Ali headed back to the big hole and levitated herself downward. After explaining herself to the two dwarven stone crafters, they suggested an area for her to use, right beside the now-completed stairwell.

Reaching down, she brushed her fingertips along the stone, finding most of the floor infused with her domain mana already, with some of it leaking up into what would become the new room. Pulling on her mana, she shifted the floor, lowering it by nearly two meters.

“Be careful going too low, the sewer is under there.”

“I can see it,” Ali replied absently, shifting her skill to use her stone imprint and transmuting the entire floor into the extremely hard Aether-fused Obsidian that had kept Naia prisoner for centuries. This stone, she knew, would be more than strong enough to hold the floor without cracking.

“Ooh, that’s a thing now, isn’t it?” one of the dwarves exclaimed, immediately squatting down to examine it more closely.

“Sure you aren’t part-Dwarf?” said the one called Belra.

Ali smiled at her and then sat in the center of the black stone floor, smooth enough to be polished, and began to inscribe her runic circle, first creating each rune in gleaming silvery-yellow inlaid electrum, and then imbuing the entire structure with the mana of her Runic Script. It was quick work as she had most of the runic structures planned out already, and as the magic circle completed, she bound it to the domain mana leaking through the floor and it snapped into completion, glowing powerfully as the magic flowed through the runes.

Static Teleport – Linked Magic – level 51 (Arcane)
Teleport to a preset teleportation locus.
Locus:  Dal’mohran Grand Library Arcana.
Detect: Gold Guild Ring or Silver Guild Ring.
Voluntary Trigger.
Runic Circle

Accept teleportation to the Dal’mohran Grand Library Arcana?

It worked! She smiled happily at the notification, especially delighted at the ‘Dal’mohran Grand Library Arcana’ designation for the locus. What an honor! Her circle had detected her gold ring and offered to teleport her back to the library. And the fact that the mana pulsed with power, ready to send her, meant that the locus she had inscribed back in the library was ready to receive her.

That should make Vivian happy, she thought, declining the teleportation for now. She stood up and surveyed her work – she had linked the triggers so that the person wearing the gold or silver guild ring would be the one receiving the voluntary trigger for the teleport, but everyone within the circle would be sent. Vivian’s idea would help allay her security concerns – at least initially, the only people who could activate it would be the Guildmaster, Mieriel, and her own group. But she was certain the bronze-ranked adventurers would reach silver quickly, and then they could be responsible for ferrying the recruits in and out of the library as needed – and she appreciated Vivian’s idea for setting up additional guild perks at each milestone.

“This is beautiful work, lassie.” The two dwarven stone crafters were staring at her stone floor, touching it and examining it with their mana, and studying the runes made from mana-infused electrum.

“Thank you,” she said, at least a little embarrassed at their overt appreciation for what she had made. Although she did have to agree, the shiny glowing runic circle embedded in the obsidian made a very striking image. She would still have to test it all extensively, but she could do that later after she had finished up in town. As she watched, the two dwarves quickly erected walls, turning her teleportation circle into a room with a doorway.

Malika

Malika pushed open the well-oiled doors to Thuli’s forge and took a moment to adjust to the noise and heat before stepping inside. Her business in town consisted of selling the mountain of essences that had been filling her rings to Weldin and dropping off some of the hellfire essences and the abyssal brimstone tar with Morwynne Fizzlebang for evaluation at her alchemy shop. But after she had taken care of all that, she had found Sabri waiting for her so that they could go to the blacksmith together – one thing had led to another, and their small group had grown to include Mato and Havok.

“I can’t even identify you,” Sabri said, eyeing the Goblin paladin.

“Havok strong. Twenty-two,” he answered with a firm nod and stepped across the threshold into the din.

“You’ll get there, Sabri,” Mato said, giving her a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

“Greetings,” Kavé said, glancing up from where she sat wiping oil onto a pair of delicate-looking swords with a well-used rag. “This one will let the master know you are waiting.” She slipped back into the din of the forge where, presumably, Thuli was working industriously to create the noise.

“How’s she doing?” Malika whispered. Ali would certainly want to know.

“Level twenty-four, now,” Mato said, smiling.

Malika surveyed the antechamber of the forge, studying the many shining pieces on display. Few, if any, would be of use to someone like her, but she couldn’t help grinning at Sabri’s obvious excitement as she dragged Havok over to examine the shields. Not that the little holy Goblin needed any encouragement, his jaw was literally hanging open at the display of exquisitely crafted defensive equipment – a stark contrast to his worn and battered gear.

“Hey, hey,” Thuli said, voice booming through the room as he entered with a big smile. “Welcome back, what can I do for you all today? Oh! Rift Warden! There’s a fancy Title!”

The dwarf’s stamina circulated smoothly through his muscles using a technique that was surprisingly similar to what Rezan had been teaching her.

“Hi, Thuli,” Malika said. “We wanted to…” but she was interrupted by an earnest Goblin.

“Havok need shield. But…” he glanced mournfully at some of the display items, “not have lot gold.” He pulled out a shield that had deep scratches and notches in it, so bad that it looked like it was about to fall apart.

“Aye, fierce one. That ya do.” Thuli picked up the shield, examined it with a critical eye, and then tossed it into a trash bin behind him. “Scrap.”

Havok’s eyes widened as they followed his shield flying into the bin.

“Kavé, why don’t ya see what you can hammer together for Mr. Havok here? You’ve reached a high enough level to make him something good, now. And it looks like young Sabri could use some upgrades, too. Congratulations on reaching level nine, lass.”

“Thanks, sir!” Sabri said.

“Yes, Master,” Kavé said, almost simultaneously.

“What did I tell ya about that master twaddle?”

“Yes, M… aah, Thuli.” It was clear that Kavé was surprised, but extremely happy to be given another customer by the master smith and she quickly drew the two of them off to the side to discuss what they needed.

Thuli chuckled and turned back to them. “Kavé is about ta surpass every apprentice smith in Myrin’s Keep, and I can’t wait ta see the faces of their masters when it happens. Now, what can I do for you two? Do ya need an upgrade on your bear plate?”

“That would be great,” Mato said. “We just got a bunch of levels recently and something more advanced would definitely help.”

“Something to do with yer shiny new titles?” Thuli asked knowingly.

Mato shifted uncomfortably.

“Yes, something like that,” Malika said. Beating about the bush wasn’t going to change things, and they needed the smith’s expertise if they were going to get stronger. She quickly retrieved the chunk of Abyssal Bloodstone Ali made from her ring and showed the darkly gleaming blood-red gem to the heavy-set Dwarf. “I was wondering if this might help – Ali said it’s a form of magicite.”

“By Thovir’s beard! Where did ya get that!” Thuli exclaimed, his voice ringing through the smithy, causing the others to stop and stare for a moment before returning to their planning.

“We encountered an abyssal rift down in the fire dungeon near the ancient forge. This was growing on the walls in the cave on the other side.”

“Does that mean ya can get more?” Thuli asked, his voice hushed in stark contrast to his earlier outburst, conspicuously ignoring the circumstances of their finding it.

“Probably,” Malika answered. But it wouldn’t be because they could go back and mine it – although she didn’t need to tell him that. By tacit agreement, they seldom mentioned which of the exceptionally valuable materials Ali could actually just make. It would probably be a disaster for the economy and result in people pestering her for materials. All Thuli really needed to know was that there could be more if he found a use for it.

“I can do so much with such an advanced material, but I’d need to employ a jeweler to cut it properly. Nothing I could make would require such a big chunk. But I think I might be able ta convince that Giddy Clicksprocket lass to do it for cheap, she’d love the opportunity to work with such a high-level material,” he looked at her, his eyes speculative. “I’m not sure I can afford to buy this outright, though, but I could split it with you and make him an upgrade for his bear armor as part of the payment.”

“That sounds great,” Malika agreed, watching him store the egg-sized jewel as soon as she agreed. I bet we’ll see Giddy Clicksprocket at the guild store pestering Weldin for some of this bloodstone before evening, she thought – she had personally witnessed just how persistent that Gnomish jeweler could be.

While Mato discussed the specifics of his armor with Thuli, Malika watched Kavé work the forge. She had her hands elbow-deep in a crucible of molten steel and she was manipulating and extruding plates of the stuff from it using what had to be her steel-shaping skill. Stamina flickered and warped through her body and out from her hands into the steel. Sabri looked on, openly awestruck as the dragonkin handled the molten steel like a baker rolling dough, all the while Havok kept up an excited, mostly one-sided conversation with the two of them.

Malika watched fascinated for about half an hour while Kavé worked her skills and craft, surprisingly using stamina-based skills almost as often as mana, as seen by the intricate flow of energy through her Soul Sight. Mato and Thuli eventually joined her, around when she quenched the steel and finally put everything together.

“Yours will take a couple of days ta forge,” Thuli told Mato while helping tweak the fit for Sabri’s new breastplate and adjusting the straps for Havok’s shiny new steel shield. Both seemed overjoyed with their purchases and settled up quickly with the dragonkin apprentice.

“Ok, not a problem,” Mato said, clasping hands with the dwarven smith with a momentous slap that echoed throughout the forge.

Men… Malika thought, rolling her eyes. She was, however, extremely eager to see what Thuli was able to fashion for Mato with the bloodstone. She didn’t know any specifics, only that Appraise called it exceptional, and rare – and that it could help enhance certain enchantments. If Thuli could do something good with it, she would need to let Ali know to make a few pieces to sell to the guild store – they were not exactly running out of money, but they were always in the market for good new equipment, and who knew what Giddy Clicksprocket might make if she could get her hands on some of the bloodstone. As long as people didn’t ask too many questions about where it came from. It was called ‘abyssal’ after all, and anyone with an advanced Appraisal skill would be able to see the Demonic trait.

“Oh, before ya go, Mr. Havok, take this,” Thuli said, reaching into a bin and retrieving a plain but sturdy shortsword and handing it to him. “Ya need something better to go with that shiny new shield o’ yours.”

Havok stared at the sword and then glanced at the dwarven smith, momentarily nonplussed. “No gold,” he said, turning his tattered money pouch inside out to demonstrate. A pinch of dust and half a dead moth fell out.

“Take it,” Thuli insisted. “On the house. It was just gathering dust in that bin over there. Just bring your business back to our shop when ya grow outta it.”

“Ok!” Havok declared, his eyes lighting up and accepting the gift.

“Where to next?” Mato asked.

“Back to the guild to drop these two off, and we have a lesson with Mieriel in an hour,” Malika said, holding back a grimace.

“Oh, right,” the Beastkin said, nodding his head with a suddenly serious look in his eyes.

Malika left it unsaid, but it was time to pick the Sun Elf’s brains for the best mind magic defensive techniques.

Aliandra

Ali snapped her head up from her studies as the electrum-inlaid locus at the bottom of the library atrium surged with mana. Visitors? Intruders? It hadn’t even been half a day yet and already her runic teleportation circles connecting the library to the guild were getting their first use.

Easy, Ali. It’s probably just a few of the novices coming to check it out. She slipped her mind into one of the minions she had left to keep watch over the locus at the base of the Elder Tree. Oh, it’s Vivian… and Mieriel? Vivian was staring at the barrier across the entrance to the jungle, where the rift break had finally been halted. As the dragonet’s eyes flickered across the locus, Ali froze.

Towering over the human and the elf were three wiry trolls. Flanked by his two aides, the elder troll in the center stood easily two and a half meters tall – he wore an elegant, flowing silk robe of the deepest purple and a look that said he owned the place. His sky-blue skin was adorned with ritualistic sigils and runes, delicately rendered in snow-white warpaint that matched his shock of spiky white hair. Ali was no expert in troll culture, but even she could tell the ceremonial tusk braiding was overly ornate. Visitors of importance.

It took several minutes for the party to ascend the stairwell, and yet even that wasn’t sufficient time to still her racing heart. They climbed in complete silence, giving Ali ample opportunity to observe how deferentially even Vivian acted around them. An aura of intense cold billowed off the largest troll, leaving frost riming the stairs as they passed, but his aura was shot through with eddies and swirls of violet mana that reminded Ali of Ryn.

“What is it, Ali?” Ryn whispered, clearly reacting to her body language.

“Trolls!” Ali whispered back, scrambling to her feet.

As soon as they stepped onto the uppermost landing, Ali identified the party and gasped inwardly at their levels.

Mage [Seer of Divergent Paths] – Troll – level ??? (Ice, Divination)
Mage – Troll – level ?? (Ice)
Warrior – Troll – level ?? (Ice)
Warrior – Human – level ???
Spy – Sun Elf – level 52 (Mind)

“Aliandra, you have visitors,” Vivian said, her voice formal and stilted. “This is…”

“Tol’zerath!” Ryn exclaimed with a gasp and immediately bowed low.

For a moment, Ali froze. A Tol? Here? How does Ryn know him? But her experience with visiting lecturers from the troll kingdoms took over and she bowed low enough to match Ryn.

“Tol’zerath is pleased to be received with appropriate respect, even out here in the human lands,” one of the attendant trolls said, her voice husky and pompous even through the heavily accented Common. “You may rise.”

Ali lifted her head in time to see the largest troll fix her with an icy glare. “Enough. That elvish whelp informed me that you have the Lich’s book. You will give it to me. Now.” His voice crackled and snapped like a grinding glacier while his mana flared around him, filling the air with a biting chill.

Not again…

Ali took a deep breath, ready to defy trollish royalty, but her impending impertinence was snuffed before she could even voice it.

“Tol’zerath,” Lira said, her voice filling the room with resonance and the sudden scent of pine and wildflowers that somehow pushed the frost back. She said a few harsh words that seemed to stagger the big troll, guttural utterances that sounded impossible falling from the dryad’s lips. Then she switched back to Common, and added, “So nice of you to visit. Look at how big you’ve grown.”

She just treated him like a toddler! Ali stifled the surprised chuckle that threatened to burst from her lips at the look of pure shock and startlement upon the wizened troll’s face.

“Great Mother of the Deep Woods,” he said, forcing a spine that was painfully unaccustomed to genuflection into the semblance of a bow of respect.

“That won’t be necessary, child. I was just telling dear Aliandra here that we don’t get enough visitors,” Lira said. “Come, sit. I will make us tea.”

As Lira turned toward the kettle, her face momentarily concealed from the visitors, she gave Ali a wink. Suddenly, all the tension she was holding faded and Ali stepped up to usher her guests to appropriate places at the table. She wields that tea like a deadly weapon. I need to learn a few of her tricks, and maybe an imprint for different teas?

Lira distributed the small steaming porcelain cups and then sat beside the Tol and placed a hand on his arm. “So, to what do we owe the honor of your visit?”

The big troll cleared his throat awkwardly and retracted his mana as he reached for the teacup. “Nathaniel Sunstrider has a copy of the Blind Lich’s book. According to him, the original is here. I have had a vision of dire import. The fate of the troll kingdoms may hinge on what is in that book. You must let me have it.”

“Why didn’t you read his copy?” Ali blurted out, before even considering who she was speaking to.

The two troll attendants gasped, but Tol’zerath silenced them with a gesture. “That elf’s fate is shrouded from me. I do not trust him. The portents that surround him are obscured by something…”

“… something dark, like writhing tendrils of eldritch mana that seem to be feeding upon him?” Ali asked. The image she had seen was unforgettable.

“How did you…” Tol’zerath began, his eyes darting between her and Ryn who sat nearby. “You do not possess the sight.”

She could not suppress a shudder. So, he saw it too. “No, not with her magic,” Ali answered, guessing what was on his mind. It had not been a divination, at least that she was aware of. “I saw him when I used my spell.”

The troll collected himself with a deep breath. “Tell me, how is it that he has the book, then?”

“I copied it for him,” Ali said softly, “in exchange for him allowing me to copy my mother’s book.” She reached over and tapped Clarence’s cover where he sat quietly, resting on the table.

“Then you must trade with me,” Tol’zerath declared. “What I can offer is of far more value than anything that self-important elf gave you – the purity of trollish magic has never been surpassed by anything produced by the lesser races.”

Not likely, old troll, Ali thought. Matching her mother’s work would be impossible, even for the vaunted reputation of the trolls. However, she stopped short of saying anything as he summoned a meticulously crafted book bound in purple-tanned leather of a texture and lightness that made Ali hesitant to ask where it came from. Yet, despite his arrogant declaration of trollish superiority, his manner seemed surprisingly tentative as he placed the tome on the table beside Clarence. The words on the cover were written in a script she could not understand.

“Tol’zerath is the realm’s foremost visionary on the subject of divination,” Lira said, surprisingly injecting herself into the discussion right at that moment. “The reputation of any library would be greatly enhanced by boasting his work.”

“Exactly,” Tol’zerath said, drawing himself up to his full height while his mana flickered along the backs of his hands and across his shoulders, leaving a brief dusting of snow to float down to the table. “My work on divination is groundbreaking, and there are few left alive who can even comprehend its significance.”

Should I? Can I afford to let him see my Grimoire? Ali studied the powerful troll sitting across the table from her, masking her scrutiny under the guise of considering his words. Despite his arrogant superiority – or perhaps because of it – she found herself more inclined to trust him. Besides, I already showed this ability to Nathaniel Sunstrider.

“Very well, you have a deal,” Ali said, and choosing to follow Lira’s lead, she flattered the troll leader further by adding, “But I will owe you a favor for your great generosity.”

By the grin that creased his leathery face, she knew she had chosen her words well.

Ali glanced at Ryn, but her friend’s eyes were glued to the divination tome like it was the only thing in the room. I’m going to have to learn to read and write Trollish soon. Ryn will need a translation, Ali thought as she listened to Lira and Vivian quiz Tol’zerath about his vision and the implications for the Troll kingdoms. It didn’t take long for her to duplicate Nevyn Eld’s book again, but Tol’zerath’s tome had to be copied by imagining the words to be pictures – a far more difficult undertaking, and one she would not have been capable of till recently.

“Oh!” Ryn exclaimed as soon as the duplicated divination tome appeared, and Ali could instantly tell she had leveled up. Twice!

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