~‌‌ ‌‌2.08 ‌‌-‌‌ Quit It, You’re Going to Start a Howl ~‌‌

Duskgrove Prison Camp

3rd Fireday of the Full Moon

Kyle and I spent a full day down in the mine. With the ore from the previous expedition, we were now sitting at a hefty 166 iron ore. We were attacked by the bugs far more often on this trip. Nevermore than three would attack us at once, but they kept coming every few hours. The bugs netted us twenty-five Clouded Cores.

As soon as we got back to the surface, Kyle had me meet with my new friends. I left through the gates, no guards were around, as the red Crystals kept the prisons where they belonged. It didn’t take long to find the trio from yesterday, along with quite a few more of the pack.

“Hello. My companion Flea says he would like to help free your friends as soon as he’s out of prison,” I said.

“That’s great to hear, Bob. We have talked, and we may be able to help you get him out sooner. Kellie here, found out the Dream Leech’s wings and glands can be sold to the alchemists in town for a large sum of coins. We will start collecting them tonight when we farm more cores, Bob.”

“I’m extremely grateful for you and your family’s help. I thought we would be stuck down there mining for months,” I said.

“We were able to kill and gather over a hundred and forty cores from the Dream Leeches last night.”

A massive dog walked over to me with a large basket in his jaws. He placed the basket at my feet and walked back to where he had previously been. Looking into the basket, I could see it filled with Clouded Cores.

“Thank you again. It just dawned on me. A Dwarf back on Noto Island said cores sold for a pretty good sum of coins. Once I hit level 10, it may be possible to sell the cores as well. Once we get Flea out of prison, we may be able to pay to get your family members out as well.”

“Can we?” The poodle Kellie asked Zan.

“I don’t see why not. Once Bob’s companion is free, we must rescue those the baron holds first. Those in prison are protected while they remain,” said Zan.

I placed the hundred and forty-six cores into my backpack and ran back into the camp, leaving the pack of dogs to talk. I found Kyle shortly after arriving as he was sitting around the campfire speaking with Uglar.

***

“Ah, you’re back already, Bob. Uglar was just telling me he should have your bow, quiver, and arrows tomorrow.”

“Thank you,” Bob said.

Flea got up and started walking towards the mine. Bob got up and followed. As soon as they were away from Uglar and anyone else, Flea spoke up.

“How well did they do?”

“Hundred and forty-six.”

“That will help us out greatly.”

“They are also going to try and raise gold to get you, then the others out of here sooner.”

“Wait, why don’t we have you go sell our ore in town? We could get the full price that way, and not the discounted price here,” said Flea.

“Good idea. I will let them know tomorrow. We might even be able to sell the ore from their companions here as well,” said Bob.

Two hours later, they reached their deposit site. Bob took out the cores and handed eighty of them to Flea. The two then began to absorb them.

Absorbed 91 Clouded Cores

+ 643 Energy

Bob has

Absorbed 80 Clouded Cores

+ 562 Energy

Flea transferred over his 652 Energy to Bob and then pulled up his status. Bob now had 1218 Energy to use, so Flea began leveling up his attributes. Finished, Bob’s status showed he was now level 6.

Companion Lv.6: Bob

Persian Earth Cat

28 Energy ➕

10

Strength

10

Constitution

8

Dexterity

➕ [90]

3

Intelligence

➕ [40]

2

Wisdom

➕ [30]

20

Magic Bag 🛈

➕ [25]

“Oh, man, this feeling is divine,” Bob said.

“Alright, let’s see how fast you can mine now. Hopefully, after tomorrow you’ll be Lv. 10, and we can hunt some bugs to get that better pickaxe from Uglar.”

Starting to mine, Flea found Bob almost keeping up with him. For every three iron Flea dislodged, Bob would be finished with two.

The two companions mined through the entire night and morning, only leaving once it was time for Bob to meet up with the pack. With Bob now getting two iron an hour, and Flea’s three, they farmed a hundred forty-three iron. Two or three bugs would come to investigate every few hours, causing them to stop their mining.

Flea gave Bob three-hundred iron ore to give to the pack to sell. Getting to the surface, the two went into the cabin first so Flea could log out. Once Flea came back online and went to sleep, Bob left the prison to meet up with Zan.

***

After meeting up with Zan and speaking to him about selling our ore, I realized a huge problem. None of the dogs had magic bags. Three hundred ore would take them forever to transport back to town and sell.

“I’m going to run into town myself to sell the ore Zan. Also, my companion and I thought it might be a good idea if you let us know who in your family was in prison, so we could sell their ore as well,” I said.

“We thank you for your generosity by thinking of us. At this time, I must decline. We don’t want to bring any unnecessary eyes upon them,” Zan replied.

“Alright. Thank you for the cores and coin you’ve given me. I will head out now to sell the ore and find armor I can wear. We plan on going deeper into the mountain to exterminate the mine’s bug problem.”

Zan shuddered a bit at the mention of bugs. It looked like dogs also hated the creepy-crawly. I said my goodbyes and started running towards the town. I could tell instantly that I was slightly faster. Three and a half percent faster by my calculations.

Entering town, I made my way to the Adventurer’s Guild to ask for directions. The bored-looking Elven receptionist gave me the directions to the blacksmith and a good leatherworker. I had over 2 gold on me from the pack’s selling of the Dream Leach’s parts.

Finding the blacksmith was easy. With my cat ears, the constant thumping of a hammer led my way. The blacksmith eagerly paid me 8 copper for each iron ore. The Dwarf explained the prison was the only source of iron in the territory and charged over 10 copper apiece.

Making my way to the leatherworker’s shop took a little longer. It was located near the gate facing the mountain path on the other side of town. Getting inside, I found the place to be empty.

“Hello,” I called out.

“Just a moment, please,” I heard a voice say from the back room.

A bit more than a moment later, an older Elven woman came out of the backroom and went behind the counter.

“Um, Hello? Where are you?”

“Down here.”

She bent over the counter a bit and looked down at me.

“Oh, I’m sorry. We don’t get many Beastkin in these parts. Definitely not those as small as you. Sorry! My manners.”

“It’s alright. I’ve gotten that reaction before. I require some armor. Would it be possible to put in an order?”

“Oh, yes, please! We don’t get a whole lot of business these days.”

“Why is that?”

“The prices of raw materials keeps going up. The baron has raised tariffs on all imports and run out most of the local adventurers. Dustgrove has become a ghost town of its former self.”

“Why would the baron do that?”

“Who knows? As the Crystal’s sole owner, he has complete control over the city and territory. We used to have a group of elders, but they vanished ages ago. There is nothing we can do if we wish to stay in our homes. Those who speak up are sent to the mines, or banned from the use of the Crystal and executed to spawn somewhere else on Mea.”

“Thank you for letting me know. What do I need to do to order armor?”

“Well, what style are you looking for?”

I had to ponder that question for a moment.

“I’m going to be using a bow, so something light, that I can easily move in.”

“Alright, I know a decent pattern and style for those with fur. Can you please jump on the counter so I can take your measurements?”

I jumped up onto the counter.

“I’m Bob, a pleasure to meet you.”

“I’m Starlene. A pleasure.”

Starlene then began to take my measurements with a white strip of cloth. The strip had no lines on it, but she would mark each measurement with what seemed to be a black piece of coal or chalk.

“Do you not use a measuring tape? Would that not be easier?”

She seemed to become visibly embarrassed.

“Oh, I would, but such things don’t seem to ever get imported into the city. This is how my mother did it and how I learned to do it as well.”

“I’m sorry, didn’t mean anything by it. I was just curious.”

She just smiled at me and kept taking my measurements. A few minutes later, she was done.

“Do you know what quality of leather and cloth you would like, Bob?”

“No idea. What are my options?”

“I can craft you a basic leather and linen set for 40 silver. The next step would be a tougher boar hide and spider silk. That would run you 1 gold and 50 silver. Anything of higher quality than that, and we would be talking 10 or more gold.”

“The boar and spider set, please.”

Starlene smiled at me before walking into the backroom. A minute later, she returned with two rolls of materials.

“This is thunder boar hide, and this is mud spider silk. Do you have any preferences in colors?”

“Maybe a light blue for the leather. Red for the cloth.”

“Alright, your total is going to come out to be 1 gold and 60 silver for the armor and dye.”

I paid Starlene 2 gold, getting 40 silver back. She said the armor would be ready by tomorrow afternoon, as I was currently her only customer. I left her shop and made my way towards the gate, heading back to the prison camp. I found if I ran and jumped across the buildings roofs, I could make better time. Also, it was just plain fun.

Jumping over an alley, my ears picked up a whimper coming from below. Stopping and turning around, I peered down into the ally. Two Elven men were standing over a bleeding and whimpering dog.

“Where are the rest of you, mutt? If you don’t tell me your kind’s secrets, the baron is going to kill that bitch princess of yours.”

The dog just kept whimpering as it licked its bleeding leg.

“Fucking mutt,” the fatter of the two Elfs said as he kicked the dog again.

I’m unsure of what happened to me, but I saw red. Seeing the Elf kicking the helpless dog made something inside me snap. I pulled the daggers from my bag and lept onto the back of the fatass Elf. I plunged both daggers into his throat and tore them out towards his front, spraying the poor dog and building with the Elf’s blood. His partner, startled by the blood, turned to see what happened just as I jumped off the fatass. I timed my leap so as to land on his face, quickly slashing one of my daggers across his eyes and then leaping off before he could react.

“What the hell, you guys have felines?!” he screamed as he covered his eyes with his hands.

Landing and turning around, I jumped upon his chest and sliced his throat. It took a few moments before both of the Elves’ bodies stopped twitching. Turning to the dog, who was now staring at me, I looked at the wound on his leg. I was pretty sure it was broken.

“Easy buddy, are you a part of Zan’s family?”

“You must be the cat they’re all talking about. Can you run and find them? I can’t move. My leg is broken, and I’m losing blood. Tell Zan that they have the princess in Baron Gabriel’s basement and know about us. They are trying to get her race’s secret out of her for the baron’s use.”

“Don’t worry, you can tell them yourself.”

I took out the Lesser Healing Potion from my bag.

“Um, this is going to hurt before it gets better.”

I had him drink most of it, and then I poured the rest over his wounded leg. The wound immediately started to heal. The poor dog began howling in pain as his bone snapped back into position. The howls of pain were then answered by more howls from within the city. It didn’t take long for the sounds of paws on cobblestone to come from behind me.