Buying materials proved near impossible despite my Charisma and the new Brokering Mastery. The copper and iron parts were easy enough to find. To ensure no one could figure out what we were making or copy our design, we approached five different blacksmiths for individual parts and frames. Sourcing aetherite became our primary hurdle. All the major crafting guilds had contracts with suppliers bringing the material upriver and picked them up from the harbour. The bits that reached the market were too obnoxiously priced for our tastes.

Asking around suggested that the Seekers of Oth were responsible for throttling the market. They didn’t want independent artisans operating without their control. At first, they had demanded craftsmen join their order and work for them. In retaliation, most had signed with the other guilds. Our talkative source believed the Seekers had infiltrated them too. Another claimed that if the guilds turned against the strange gnomish organisation, they’d lose their current power no matter how deep their pockets.

Hruk asked the Mages’ Guild, but he lacked the standing to buy from their stores, too. We found ourselves looking at the possibility of wasting at least twenty days in Eldar’s Port while burning coin, instead of making it. I didn’t like the prospect at all.

Half of what Grog gave me for defeating Kraine—a fraction of the former shaman’s assets—was now in Tom’s hands. He’d taken a ship down to Schwartzberg. The downriver journey wouldn’t take as long as travelling by land. I hadn’t just given him money for materials and processing them in Dil’s Nook, but enough to hire a guard through the Adventurer’s Guild. He didn’t need a big party, or an overly experienced one. The numbers alone would deter most attackers.

While I wracked my brain for solutions, Hruk made enough progress with the Mages’ Guild for them to help fix Booger. It took Life Magic way beyond my capabilities to fix him up. I wasn’t sure of the process, but when he returned the brorc to our inn’s stable, the hide around the wound appeared pink and new. He had a powder to stir into Booger’s drinking water, too.

We were lucky enough to find good housing. Tom introduced us to a struggling business run by one of the hill folk and his human wife. All the lodge’s four rooms were empty, and the pair relied on the dining room to keep it afloat. When we showed up looking to rent beds and workspace, they jumped at the opportunity to house us. Hruk and I took a bedroom each. It wasn’t in the best of locations, but we had an unobstructed view all down the waterfront.

The lounge between our rooms served as our workspace. While Hruk worked on runescripts behind me, I stood at the window, watching the boats come and go. Four days had passed since we arrived in Eldar’s Port and I was getting bored with the view.

“How’s it coming along, mate?” I asked, trying to figure out what to do with myself.

“Good, but we will not have anything worth selling if I can’t get any aetherite for the magic circuit,” Hruk answered.

Perhaps there was something wrong with me, but to some extent, I missed my time in Grog’s Table. No matter how much I thought about it, I failed to figure out what it was that I craved. I didn’t have my freedom. A megalomaniac goblin shaman wanted to kill me, and several magical beasts had gotten rather close to pulling it off, too.

“Thrill,” I whispered.

Perhaps the several falls and close calls had resulted in a brain injury. Despite the hardships, my time in Grog’s Table had come with suspense and heart-thumping excitement. Besides the bandit attack during our journey, I hadn’t experienced the same thrills since leaving the Blacknail Mountains. It made little to no sense, but a part of me wanted to be back there, getting up to no good and messing with Kraine. I wanted to hear my heart thumping once again, to get up to no good, and I didn’t care if I needed to walk an amoral path to get what I wanted.

Being a good guy wouldn’t help me get ahead on Arena Disk. If I wanted to bring down Tracy’s Champion, the Coward’s Brand wouldn’t let me do it using lawful or honorable methods.

As I watched a large cargo barge pull into the docks, a rough idea took shape. “We need to rob the docks,” I said.

“What?” Hruk asked, half yelling. His inscribing tools clattered noisily on the wooden floor. “Did you just suggest we steal from the very guilds we’re trying to join?”

“No,” I replied. “I’m suggesting we rob that boat.” When Hruk joined me at the window, I pointed at a barge bearing the Seeker of Oth’s emblem. “I’ve been watching that vessel for the last two days. Members of the Mages’, Tinkers’, and Artificers’ Guilds have met with the vessel’s captain several times during that time, but he keeps turning them away. I bet they have aetherite and aether crystals on board.”

“This is insane, Perry.” Hruk turned me around by the shoulder. “We’re trying to start a legitimate operation here. Don’t get me wrong, I hate gnomes and their crooked organisations as much as everyone else. However, this carries too much risk. If we rob them and then our equipment shows up on the market, someone might put the pieces together.”

“Every day we waste waiting for Tom, our operation gets closer to failing. If we can’t find a legitimate way to source materials, we need to take some risks. I’m not sure we can afford to wait for Tom to return, then have you finish the pieces, then find a shopfront to sell everything.” Hruk’s brows furrowed. He looked past me at the docks outside. “Yes. It is kind of crazy. Before I broached the subject, I was just thinking about how risky it is, but I don’t see many other options. Just sitting here not doing anything is driving me crazy.”

“What if we only take what we need?” I asked. “Then, if possible, we can dump a few crates into the water. Perhaps light a fire and then flee.”

“Thanks to the designs, I don’t need much to complete the hot plates and flasks,” he answered. “My side project needs even less.”

“Side project?”

Hruk nodded, passing me a glass sphere. Runes covered it and aether crystal fragments sat at four equidistant points around the circumference. “I just used the chips and shavings from processing what we got from the bandits.”

Alarmed Light Sphere

Value: Undetermined—New Invention

When activated, the sphere floats and follows its activator, tethered using mana. Its light reaches ten feet and can shift between visible and invisible spectrums.

The user may use mana to add a list of allies to the sphere’s memory. When anyone but them enters its sphere of influence, the crystal will mildly shock the owner, alerting them of the intrusion.

Identify has progressed to Novice Rank 1!

“I haven’t fine-tuned it yet, but I think it’ll work brilliantly as a set with the flask and hot plate,” Hruk said. “When camping they can use it for light and a proximity alarm.”

“This is brilliant, mate,” I told him, holding the sphere up to light. “We can field test it tonight.”

“Are you sure about this, Perry?” Hruk still appeared hesitant. “The crew appears to have left the ship, but there are quite a few guards around the vessel. How are we going to enter it without getting detected? Perhaps we should wait a couple of days and watch them.”

“I’m not sure how we’ll do it, but I think we have all the necessary tools for it. Given how much time has passed since the vessel arrived, I bet there’s some disagreement going on between the Seekers of Oth and the guilds. That’s why the boat is yet to be unloaded. If we wait too long, there’s always the risk of the problems getting resolved and the crew coming back.”

“Fine.” Hruk sighed. “Just don’t get me killed or arrested now that we’re so close to getting everything I’ve ever wanted.”

“I haven’t yet, have I?”

Hruk didn’t answer my question. He returned to his tools and picked up his bauble maker. The device had failed him during the encounter with the bandits and required adjusting. I hoped we wouldn’t need it at all.