The way back to Avennar was rather uneventful. After gathering our bounty and parting ways with the duergars, we marched back to Blessingdale, reunited with Rhodarr, then walked the long way south, to fulfil the terms of our contract with Baron Alton.

“What will happen now?” mused Beldrak, after we were let in through the gate.

“Why, we go to the inn, find Baron Alton, sell him that fancy axe of Durgeddin we found in Nightscale’s hoard, and get filthy rich,” I answered. “Or is there an obstacle to that in your opinion?”

“I mean what will happy to our merry company,” specified Beldrak. “Last time we run out of enemies to fight, Jim went insane, and you fell into a depression.”

“Oh. That.”

“I am not planning to go insane again,” said the tiefling. “Gods are jerks, and if I punish myself for their dick moves, that will only make them happy.” He looked at the sky and sighed. “I will live a long and happy life. I am rich now and an accomplished adventurer. I will go on other adventures, get even richer, and start a company. This world really could benefit from some railroads.”

“If you say so,” I mused. He did tell us about these “railroads” before, and I grasped their purpose quickly, but the process of their building and working was still nebulous for me. I guess I will see it when he starts his company.

“And what will keep you sane, Arnold?”

“Well. Back then, on the worst day of it, when I saw everything in different shades of black, I had a chat with my dead brother. Not, really. He was not there, like that mage Arundil. He was just in my head. But he reminded me that no matter how bleak and terrible my life seems, I only have one. It would be a sin to throw it away.”

“And, well, I am rich now, a beautiful girl is waiting for me in Golden Grove, and there is so much to learn, so much to see. I think I will enrol to the university for a while, maybe travel a little. Do some more mercenary work. Buy an estate, start a family, if I get bored. Maybe find my way home. Either way, I will have a purpose now. I will be fine.”

“That is good to hear,” said Beldrak.

“What about you?”

“With all these books and money?” he laughed. “What do you think? I will retire. I will start a smithy in Sky Hall, and I will spend my free time working in my library. If it gets big enough, maybe I can live from working there alone.”

“I wonder how these two will get anything done without you,” Rhodarr replied, shaking his head. “Two muscle-brains without someone sensible to help them can quickly end up in their early graves in your line of work.”

“Believe it or not,” I answered sharply, “I mostly came up with the plan against Nightscale myself.”

“And you almost got us all killed several times before that,” pointed out Jim. “It does no good to deny the truth. Without Beldrak’s wits and magic, we won’t be half as good as we are now.”

“Well, that is still some time away,” said Trueanvil, making a gesture with his hands, as if to dismiss the thought. “We will be travelling to Sky Hall together. Or at least Arnold’s way goes through the city, and if you have no urgent business elsewhere, I would gladly see you as a guest as well, Jim.”

“I don’t have any business currently, urgent or otherwise,” shrugged the tiefling. “As you very well now. But I think we have arrived. That was the inn, wasn’t it?”

We opened the door and walked in. Baron Alton was sitting at the same table, on the very same chair, and was in the process of consuming his lunch. As if he hadn’t moved since the last time, we saw him.

His secretary noticed us first.

“Your Lordship, I think, ehm, these gentlemen are looking for us.”

“Aha! So it is! The fellow with the big shield, the tiefling and the dwarf! Exquisite! You have been very punctual, gentlemen, extremely punctual!”

“It is the 29th of Frostdawn, and we promised to arrive on the 30th at the latest,” said Beldrak humbly. “A less generous man might say we were cutting it short.”

“Nonsense!” shouted the noble. “Utter nonsense! You are right on time! What have you brought to me?”

We gave him the map I drew of the maze and put on the table the weapons that bore Durgeddin’s mark. Without hesitation, he offered six thousand pieces of gold for the magical axe we took from Nightscale, and thousand-thousand for other, lesser works of the smith. He bought Arundil’s diary, and several other trinkets as well. Even the eggs of the troglodytes were of interest to him. He expressed his desire to obtain a copy of the research papers and blueprint that Beldrak and the duergars created together, and Truenvil gave that to him free of charge.

“Exterminating orks takes precedence even over monetary considerations,” he told the baffled noble. “Even the duergars agreed with me on that. The more people know how to make this weapon, the better.”

All kinds of dwarves were zealous about their antagonism against the orks. I often wondered what the poor greenskins must have done to piss off this entire race of level-headed craftsmen and merchants. I have already asked Beldrak, but surprisingly even he didn’t know what precisely laid behind this enmity. He just rattled off a few incidents that didn’t really warrant anything like this kind of hatred, then said that there were many other examples, and declared that he was finished discussing the topic.

I was no stranger to blood-feuds between nations, but I don’t think even the Samnites or the Volsci hated us as much as dwarves hated orks. Well, it’s not like it was any of my business.

Meanwhile, the conversation turned towards the maze we mapped out.

“So, these duergar fellows won’t have any objection against me sending another expedition into their territory?” baron Alton asked.

“I doubt your next expedition will find them there in the first place. Now that their work is done, they were planning to return to Spirit-shaft.”

“Are you saying, ehm, that the fort is now, well, unclaimed?” asked the secretary.

“Something along those lines. Though I personally wouldn’t put money on how long it stays empty. The orks will probably want it back, and there are always some wandering tribes in the North that would gladly settle to a secure place like that. Oh, and you might run into a giant lizard we set free. It is very tame, but still dangerous, if hungry. So keep some oxen close at any time, to pacify him if the need arises.”

“You did what?” asked the groom, incredulously. Then turned towards her employer. “Your Lordship, you have been cheated by these ruffians! Instead of doing their work properly, they set free a dangerous monster like that, and they are openly willing to admit it?! What else might they have done that they aren’t willing to disclose? I suggest you retract their payment immediately and severely punish them!”

“Enough, Anna,” answered the noble absent-mindedly. “The fellow did say the lizard was tame. It was just harmless eccentricity on their behalf, I am sure.”

The woman huffed, and shot us a hateful glare, but didn’t argue.

“Is there, ehm, anything else to discuss, gentlemen? Because if not, his lordship’s lunch is going cold…” said the secretary.

“Well, we would like to have a promissory note, if it’s not a bother,” I smiled.

“Of course!” exclaimed baron Alton. “I will write it at once!”

This world really knew how to handle money. I never thought I would once possess so many coins I would be glad to exchange them for a piece of paper, but that was precisely what happened in the nearby bank after we walked there.

All in all, I had little over six thousand pieces of gold after we exchanged all our silvers, coppers, and sold everything we didn’t want to keep. That would have been a real bother to carry around. So I only kept five hundred for unforeseen expenses and exchanged the rest for a promissory note. Supposedly I could trade that back for money by any debtors and partners of the bank. I received a list of these, which mostly included other banks all over the Misty Hills and opulent aristocrats in various cities.

It was a very comfortable way of transporting wealth, that’s for sure.

“Up to Sky Hall, then?” asked Beldrak after we left the bank.

“At least have lunch first,” begged Rhodarr. “Have mercy on my poor stomach that had not had a proper meal in five days!”

“Proper meal with some proper ale, I wager. Perhaps a little hootch too?” smirked Jim.

“That is only natural.”

“Then our answer is no!” shouted Beldrak and I at the same time. We both remembered too vividly what happened in Blessingdale on the night of our departure.

“On the road again, in snow, rain, wind, and without even a proper bellyful,” grumbled Rhodarr. “I am starting to think you don’t appreciate me enough.”

“We appreciate your appetite for hard liquor,” I answered.

“And that’s why we will keep you away from inns and taverns at all time,” added Beldrak.

“It’s for your own good,” finished Jim.

Rhodarr sighed, then sank his head in resignation. “Up to Sky Hall it is.”

The last day of fall was right around the corner, and snow covered much of the land already. But our hearts were light, and our mood bright. We have won and we were on the road again, after all.