Later that morning, Sigmir and I went out to turn in the quests for Thekk and Cisar. The tale Kallista had told us was still weighing on our minds, causing us to hold closely onto each other.

Thekk was once more in his smithy, hammering away at some piece of metal. We waited until he paused in his rhythm, not wanting to disrupt his working.

“Greetings, Master Thekk, we return from the Barrow Den and have the Death Metal you wanted with us.” I greeted the smith. “Where do you want us to put it?”

He gestured to an empty bin at the side so I walked over and started tossing the metal we had gathered within the dungeon inside. Extracting it was quite hard as we had to jam the metal and the bones together to get all our loot out of the dungeon. In the end, I held the bag and Sigmir emptied it.

When we were done, Thekk came over, inspecting our loot and then nodding.

Quest Completed Thekk goes Death Metal You gained: 25.000 EXP

“Good, that's a decent amount. I'll have to melt it to get rid of the annoying drain-effect that stuff has but it's the best you can get out here. Thanks a lot.” For the first time, I saw him crack something akin a smile, not that it was readily visible behind his bushy beard.

“Now, I promised you an item made by my hand. Come, look at this.” he handed me an ornate silver dagger. It had a straight blade, double-edged and a slight fuller for some reason. The fuller didn't end slightly above the quillon as customary, it extended down to it and was even extended into the quillon itself, tracing a channel to the two ends of the quillon. Both ends were fashioned to hold something, as if there were supposed to be gems inserted. The rest of the hilt was covered with a dark wood grip, ending in a pommel that had a round, silver-white gemstone inserted into it.

Silver Athame Rarity Rare Type Ritual Dagger Base Damage 10 Damage Piercing Base Damage 3 Damage Slashing Base Damage 0 Damage Blunt Strength Modifier Very Low Special Effect Blood Drinker – This Ritual Dagger is made to allow for easier bloodletting, allowing the user to draw the blood into two prepared positions. Special Effect Rune Weaver – The pommel of this Ritual Dagger holds a spell-focus, allowing to draw runes with it. Ice-Runes drawn this way use less Astral Power. This Athame is not made for combat, it is made to facilitate better spellcasting, acting as a focus for Ice Runes and a guiding-tool for Blood Magic.

Looking at the Athame, it's shape, stats and special effects, everything told me, that was no martial weapon. This blade was designed to help with my spellcasting. The blade was so delicate, it would snap if I tried to use it for anything more strenuous than cutting vegetables and doing so would be a grave insult to the fine workmanship. No, this blade was supposed to be used to stab into a downed enemy to draw the blood through the fuller into the quillon and a prepared container. Or maybe, I could learn to create those Bloodspheres I had seen in the Snowbold-Den a month ago. They would fit into the quillon as if it was designed for it, which it probably was.

But what interested me the most was the spell-focus, I'd love to learn how it works so I could create one for all my magic, not just Ice-Runes.

While I was inspecting my new tool, Thekk watched me with interest, as if he was judging me, judging his work. I bowed slightly in thanks, “Thank you, Master Thekk, it's a beautiful piece, both in form and in function. I'm sure this will help me with my spellcraft. Say, can you tell me how that spell-focus works?”

He cracked something akin to a smile at my compliments to his work, even if it was hard to see it below his beard. “Honestly, no I can't, girly. All I know is that there are some materials that can be used by enchanters to create those foci. I had a prepared frost quartz laying around and inlaid it into the pommel.”

“Ah, too bad. Another question, can you tell us why a magic item we found in the Barrow Den stopped working as soon as I wore my armour over it? When I just put on the shirt, it worked just fine, when I wore the armour over it, it stopped working.” I asked, as he seemed to be in a good mood.

“I guess it had some kind of passive effect? Some Attribute-strengthening or something like that? Those need to be worn in a specific fashion. They need to absorb astral power from the ether around you and if you cover them up in unintended ways, they can't do that. Same if you disrupt the intended connection to your skin. For example, your Athame will only work as intended if the blade is not in a sheath and the hilt is in your hand.

In addition, if you wear too many enchanted items too close together they will interfere with each other, making them all worthless. Well, unless they are created to be worn together, then it works. But for example if you try to wear more than a single ring per hand, they will most likely stop each other from drawing power and just become pretty baubles.” He gave a thorough explanation.

“Say, while we are on the topic of magic items, would you, or anyone here in Neyto, trade for magic items from the Barrow Den? Two of the items we gained are pretty useless to us and one of those two is even cursed.” I explained, hoping to exchange them for something useful, or at least not as dangerous as that cursed dagger. Just the thought of using it gave me the creeps.

“No, I don't think so. You need to remember, all the permanent inhabitants of Neyto are quite powerful. If they weren't, they'd be dead by now - living next to a nexus is lethal if you aren't strong enough. Kallisto filters most of it out, but not everything.”

“Drat. I'm almost at the point that I'd just throw this thing away.” I told him, while looking into my pack. While looking at the useless shirt and the cursed dagger, I saw the Obsidium Rock the Schandmaul had left behind.

“What about this, can you do something useful with it?” I took the rock out and showed it to him.

“Obsidium? So you met that old thief? He must have been ground to size by now, if the two of you can deal with him.” his smile changed a bit, making it ferocious. “Yes, I can use it, with the size and seeing that your friend has added an axe to her gear, I'd make you a shield. Obsidium is best used for hard, non-bladed gear, you know, like shields or maces.” He looked first at me, then at Sigmir.

“Yes, a shield would be useful.” Sigmir told him after looking at me for a moment.

“Good, now, leave me to my work if there is nothing else. I'll need a day or two, and the metal you brought me is enough to compensate me for both the Athame and the shield. In addition, I like working Obsidium.” With that, he shooed us out of his shop.

There was still one more quest to turn in, so we walked over to Cisar's farm, knocking at his door as he was not to be seen or heard outside.

“Ah, you are back. Good, do you have the bones for me?” he asked, right after opening the door.

“Greetings, Cisar. Yes, we have the bones you asked for. Where do you want them?”

He guided us over to a large mill and pointed to an empty crate. “Put them in there. I'll take it from there.”

I emptied the bag into his crate, taking care to get them all in.

Quest Completed Bones for the fields. You gained: 25.000 EXP You reached level 46

“Oh, great, most of them are already cleansed. It's the easiest way to destroy skeletons but not everyone can do it. Normally, I have to cleanse them before grinding them, you saved me some work.” Cisar said with a smile. “Now, for your reward, I'll show you outside.”

We followed him out of the building and he stood in front of us, holding two slim crystals up. They were glowing with a strange but warm green-brown light.

“Now, I said I'd give you two Command Crystals. I know that you will probably have to travel quite a bit for the tasks of the Grandmother, so they will serve you well. I summoned two equine spirits and exchanged Astral Power for their service for half a year. To remain in this plane, they are bound to the crystals and the binding will break as soon as their time is up. I've engraved the two crystals with the pattern to create fitting shells for them so you only need to channel Astral Power into the crystals to materialize a Spiritgolem-Mount for you. While they can't help you in combat - the shell is far too weak for that - they will serve you as transport easily. And the best thing is, they don't need shelter or food, you can simply send them back into the crystal. Even if you never materialize them, I've given them enough Astral Power to keep them happy during their stay.”

With that, he lifted one of the Crystals a bit over his head and it started glowing, then light shone out from it and the light coalesced into a equine form. It looked just like a sleek sorrel, maybe five feet at the withers so only a bit taller than me and for some reason it came out saddled and with reins, ready to be mounted. I blinked for a moment, not sure how to react.

The horse looked at me and what I saw in it's eye reminded me so much of Ylva and Lenore that I was sure it was truly sapient.

“Greetings, Spirit. I'm called Morgana, how would you like to be addressed?” I asked politely.

The horse blew out it's nostrils, walked over to me and pushed slightly against me. “You can call me Elding. I think we will get along just fine.” the playful voice I heard was clearly female,

I looked back and saw that Cisar had handed the second crystal to Sigmir and she was doing what he had done before.

Another shape took form, this one a lot larger than Elding's, maybe six feet at the withers. It looked a lot more muscular in comparison to the sleek Elding and was dun coloured. But the most striking feature were it's eyes, they were an insanely blue colour, creating a distinct ring-shape in its pupil.

It looked at Sigmir with a measuring gaze and I heard it's voice as well.

“I am Hringur. Together, we will ride.” The voice was clearly masculine and sombre, not playful like Elding's had been.

Looking at the two animals, I just had to voice one problem. “I don't know how to ride.” I said with a small, embarrassed, voice.