Lord Ashburnum looked with a growing disdain across the small table set with tea between himself and the two wizards.

“Really!” he exclaimed, standing up. “This is too much. I can’t imagine why my chamberlain allowed two such unhinged ruffians into my manor.”

“But it’s true, father,” protested Rurth. “I’m your son. Ask me anything, I can prove it to you.”

“It is true, sir,” said Stephen. “There was a magical mishap that was my fault that has led to you forgetting that Rurth is your son. But he is. You sent him to the Hopedale Wizard’s Guild to learn magic.”

“Impertinent knave, to call me sir! You are addressing a count!” said Lord Ashburnum, turning red. “And it is well known that Hopedale does not have a wizard’s guild. I should have my men give you both a good thrashing before I throw you out.”

“If you could just let us examine Starfire, father, we think it could be useful for our studies,” said Rurth.

“If you call me father again, I will have you beaten,” said Lord Ashburnum. “And I’m not letting you anywhere near the ancestral blade of my family. Our business here is done, please don’t return!”

“Is there anything a pair of wizards could do to help you, Lord Ashburnum?” asked Stephen. “Let us prove our worth to you, and perhaps you’ll have a change of heart.”

Stroking his chin, Lord Ashburnum looked at the two men, sizing them up. “A den of ghouls has taken over one of my mines and driven off my workers. If you were to drive them out, I would consider talking to you further about Starfire, but enough of this father nonsense. I have been considering posting a bounty at the Hopedale Adventurer’s Guild, but adventurers these days demand such high rewards and are rather unsavory characters.” He eyed Stephen and Rurth, clearly debating with himself whether they were part of this category as well.

“Absolutely,” agreed Stephen. “That’s been my experience as well. We shall begin preparations to take back your mine. Another way we could assist you is your s… err, that is, my friend Rurth here tells me that you don’t have water wheels. If you let me use a group of your laborers, I could teach them how to make a machine that grinds wheat without the need of wind. It harnesses the power of water by building it on a river or waterfall. We would be happy to do this in an attempt to get back into your good graces and as an apology for the unpleasantness of our introduction.”

“I will give you five men and materials to work on this scheme,” decided Lord Ashburnum. “Do not return until you have results to show me.”

***

At the inn where they’d taken up residence, Stephen worked on his design for a water wheel. “The premise is fairly straightforward, but I don’t remember any actual designs,” he said to Rurth over their dinner. “It’ll be exciting to see whether I’ve made any mistakes. Are we ok for money while we’re here?”

“We had 83 gold pieces from the textbook sales when we left Hopedale, so no problem,” the apprentice wizard assured him.

“And that’ll cover us for a few weeks?” Stephen asked.

“For a few years,” Rurth said.

“What’s the plan for these ghouls? We can cast magical light. Is that enough to kill them?” Stephen asked.

“I don’t actually know if that affects ghouls,” Rurth admitted. “I guess we could summon Blargh to help us too.”

“Yeah,” agreed Stephen reluctantly. “He can be our front line defense.”

***

Standing on the riverbank, surveying the project, the two wizards kept referring to the plans and examining what was being built. The servants assigned to them had been surly and uncooperative, but Rurth remembered them, even though they didn’t remember him. He was able to cajole all five of them such that they were working hard, despite the uncertainty of the project.

“I’ve adjusted the plans in a few places,” said Stephen. “I suppose this is the difference between theory and practice. It’s exciting to see my design come to life and to be standing there on the bank of the river. Are we ready to give it a try on some wheat?”

“Sure thing, boss,” said Rurth. “It’s lucky that we could use so much of the same machinery as a windmill.”

“It’s the same premise, just harnessing different sources of power,” said Stephen. “Let’s train some millwrights.”

The seven men stood around watching the first flour come out of the mill, Stephen swelled with pride at his knowledge being put into physical form and doing useful, novel work for the people of Lord Ashburnum’s estates. He examined the moving pieces, noting the adjustments he’d made to the initial design and reflecting on everything he’d learned during the construction process.

As before with the Wizard’s Guild, the newly constructed mill suddenly vanished, and he found himself standing on the side of the river with the other men. The five workers muttered about needing to get back to work and started walking back to the estate.

“Wait, you need to build a water wheel,” Rurth called after them. “Don’t we need them to make a water wheel to show my father?” he asked Stephen. “Where did the building go?”

“Don’t know anything about that,” one of the workers responded. “We do what we’re told, and no one told us to do that.”

“I don’t think your father will remember anything about the water wheel now,” said Stephen. “At least I’ve got another card. We can supervise another construction, if we need to, now that we know what we’re doing.”

“Could you summon the waterwheel back here, and we could show my father that?” asked Rurth.

“I’ll have to cast ‘identify’ once we’re back at the inn and I have my mirror, but it doesn’t feel like something I can unleash. I think it’s another battery card. It’ll hopefully provide energy for other cards to use.”

***

Looking at the card, after casting ‘identify’ and taking out the mirror, Stephen saw a new card that was similar to the Wizards’ Guild.

“So, tomorrow at dawn we’ll summon Blargh and head out to the ghoul mine?” asked Rurth.

“That’s the plan,” agreed Stephen absentmindedly.

“And we’re sure this is a good idea?” asked Rurth.

“I’ve hit my stride,” replied Stephen confidently. “Back home, I’ve killed tons of ghouls in computer games. How tough can it be?”

***

Creeping through the dark passage, Blargh in the lead lifted his sputtering torch and examined the mine’s walls. A damp, rotting smell permeated the passages they’d moved through. A few feet behind the innkeeper, the two wizards paused and craned their necks to see what the bartender was looking at. Magical lights floated next to each of the wizards, moving along with them and maintaining their position.

“Let’s keep it moving,” instructed Stephen sharply. “I want to clear this place out and get back to Lord Ashburnum as soon as possible.”

“My lord,” replied Blargh cloyingly. “I suspect you might be underestimating the difficulty of our current endeavor. Rushing into a ghoul den isn’t a wise choice.”

“Come on, you coward,” said Stephen in exasperation. “You can’t die. If you do, I’ll just summon you back. How can even ghouls stand up to an endless army of filthy innkeepers?”

“Very good, sir,” mutter Blargh as he resumed his forward motion.

Trailing the barkeep, Stephen continued. “Plus, we’ve got silver inscribed swords. I think we’re looking pretty good here.”

“The blacksmith seemed confused when you asked for silver swords,” said Rurth. “He didn’t seem to understand why we wanted the silver inscribed weapons. Are we sure that silver is good against ghouls?”

“Silver is good against everything,” explained Stephen. “It’s a poor man’s magic weapon.”

“None of use really know how to use a sword, though, do we?” asked Rurth.

“We’ll kill the ghouls and take their treasure. There’ll probably be at least one magic weapon in it. We then use what we’ve learned here, along with the loot, to take on tougher monsters. It’s role-playing games 101. Trust me, I know how this goes. I’ve been preparing for this for the last fifteen years,” said Stephen.

They came to an intersection and the passageway continued forward, with other corridors leading off to the left and the right.

“In your extensive experience, which way?” asked Blargh sourly.

“Right,” said Stephen. “That’s how you canvass a maze. Take the rightmost choice you’ve never taken before each time, backtrack when you hit a dead end, and you’ll eventually explore the entire space.”

“Very good, sir,” muttered Blargh.

The three men proceeded down the right corridor.

“Why would the ghouls have so much treasure? And if they have a magic weapon, won’t they use it against use?” asked Rurth.

“You’d think so, but they don’t seem to do that for some reason. It’s just there for us to collect after they’re dead,” said Stephen.

A growling noise echoed down the corridor.

“I think we might be getting close to them, men,” said Stephen, peering ahead.

“Are you sure that they’re…” began Rurth, then suddenly had a pale, hairless creature appear out of the darkness from behind them and lunge onto him, sinking its shark-like teeth deep into his neck. Blood splattered outwards as the creature ripped away from the young man, taking a quarter of the apprentice wizard’s neck in its mouth. Rurth reached for the wound on his neck, then slumped down onto the mine’s floor. His magical light winked out as he fell.

“Die!” screamed Blargh, after he drew his sword. He rushed past Stephen at the creature. Swinging his decorated sword at the fiend, it caught the blade in mid-swing. The blade bit into the creature’s hand, but it seemed mostly unbothered, and it snapped the blade in half.

In a panic, the innkeeper thrust his torch in the ghoul’s face. Eliciting a howl from it, it lunged forward and bit deep into Blargh’s neck, much as it had done to the apprentice.

Recovering from his shock, Stephen released Rurth, causing the apprentice’s body to disappear. He started directing energy to the apprentice wizard’s card in his mind.

The innkeeper fell to the ground, dead, and his torch rolled away from the body. As the torch rolled along the floor, shadows danced on the sides of the passage. Growls echoed from the darkness in the direction they’d originally been heading. The advancing ghoul ignored the fallen innkeeper and closed in on the graduate student from Earth.

Although the orange circle on the apprentice’s card was charged, Stephen decided there wasn’t time to fill the green circle. He gave a shout as he drew his sword and ran at the ghoul. It braced itself for the attack, but seemed surprised when Stephen instead dodged to the side and ran past it. It managed to slash a claw along his bare arm, leaving a bloody gash.

Stephen dropped his sword as he ran full out back towards the mine entrance. He heard the ghouls in pursuit behind him. As he ran, he finished filling the second circle on Rurth’s card.

“What’s up, boss?” asked the apprentice as he appeared. Not slowing down, Stephen kept running along the passage and yelled back, “Do what you can to slow them down.” As he ran, he released Blargh, then started filling his card’s single orange circle. Like the apprentice, the innkeeper appeared when he unleashed him, and was immediately left behind the sprinting graduate student.

“What can I do you for?” Stephen heard the innkeeper ask from behind him.

“Ghouls chasing me, slow them down!” Stephen shouted as he ran. He briefly considered that it was impressive that he was running as well as he was, considering his limited physical activity in recent years. Along with this thought, a painful cramp began in the right-hand side of his chest. A wet shriek that was suddenly cut off behind him, renewing his determination, and he kept running for the entrance.

As a sunlight came into view ahead, he felt a wave of relief wash over him. As he looked ahead, his foot caught a rock jutting out, and he fell hard to the ground. On the ground, he looked behind him and saw the ghoul entering the edges of his magical light. Its face was splattered with blood. Stephen crawled on his back, pushing himself away from the advancing ghoul. Two others entered the light behind the first, also with blood splattered on their faces and naked chests.

“Perhaps we can discuss this?” asked Stephen to the trio. “What do you want? I can bring you something you need?”

The lead ghoul fell onto Stephen. As the graduate student scrambled to escape him, it caught him and bite down hard on his foot. Teeth slicing through his boot, it removed the front half of his left foot. Keeping its hold on the graduate student, it swallowed the half foot and gave what looked like a toothy smile at the prone, bloodied man. The other two ghouls began approaching more cautiously, anticipating the kill.

Releasing Blargh, Stephen pushed through the pain and summoned the innkeeper again. About half the blood disappeared off of the ghouls when he released the bar tender. I guess Blargh’s blood is considered part of him and disappears when I release him, thought Stephen. If they catch me, my blood will stick around and my body parts will stay in their stomachs. Stephen gave a small titter, on the verge of hysteria. After Blargh appeared, without waiting for instructions, he lunged at the ghoul holding Stephen and gouged one of the creature's enormous eyes with his thumb. With a cry of pain, the creature let go of Stephen’s foot and assessed the new threat. Stephen realized that their swords were dropped deep in the mine and Blargh was fighting without a weapon.

The graduate student pulled himself upright and began to limp as quickly as he could towards the sunlight. He began filling Rurth’s card with energy again. He heard a wet thud behind him and assumed the Blargh had fallen again. Focusing only on the entrance and the sunlight coming in, he completed powering the apprentice wizard card and released it.

Like the innkeeper, Rurth immediately saw the situation they were in and began casting his magical light spell.

“The magical light doesn’t bother them,” shouted Stephen as he recognized the spell being cast. Another sickening thud sounded behind him. As he energized and re-summoned the innkeeper, he felt a painful claw rake across his back and throw him forward. Falling down, he looked backwards and saw the three ghouls were starting to smoke as they’d entered the faint edges of sunlight. Blargh positioned himself between Stephen and the creatures and raised his fists in desperate defiance. The lead ghoul grabbed his right arm, pulled him off balance, then sank its toothy maw into a deep bite on the innkeeper’s shoulder, severing the arm he’d grabbed. The innkeeper fell to the ground in shock, missing one of his arms.

The other two ghouls continued after Stephen, moving cautiously into the light. As they advanced, the black smoke coming from their skin increased in volume.

It turned into a slow speed race as Stephen pushed himself backwards and the ghouls continued their advanced. He kept releasing then unleashing the innkeeper and apprentice wizard, which now were managing to slow down the advance. The ghouls seemed to recognize them as a distraction.

As he dragged himself into the full sunlight, he saw the ghouls behind him give up the pursuit and retreat back into the mine. Summoning Blargh once more, he passed out.

***

At their inn, Stephen, Rurth, and Blargh sat around a table at the inn near Ashburnum estates. They were working through a collection of full flagons of beer, moving them to a stack of empties as they drained them. The woman behind the bar didn’t have celestia or anything stronger.

“So, how many times did I die?” asked Rurth.

“Not sure. At least three. Or at least four,” said Stephen, taking a long swing of beer.

“I don’t love that I kept dying, but I prefer not remembering it,” said Blargh. “So who is running my inn?”

“We got some journeymen wizards to do it,” said Stephen. “They work well with the visiting wizards. I cast ‘identify’ on myself once we got back, and apparently I have six wounds. My capacity is seven, so that’s not great. It also has in parentheses that I’ve contracted a ghoul infection and that it’s ‘stage 1’.”

“What does ‘stage 1’ mean?” asked Rurth.

“No idea, but I imagine it means it gets worse,” answered Stephen.

“What’s a parenthesis?” asked Blargh. Stephen rolled his eyes at the barkeep. “I actually don’t know what they are either,” admitted Rurth.

“It’s a pair of curved lines. When text is in parentheses, it often indicates less important or tangential information,” explained Stephen. (At their confused looks, he took out a scrape of paper and wrote an example).

“Is becoming a ghoul less important?” asked Rurth. After Stephen shrugged, Blargh said, “I’ll still serve you, even when you’re a ghoul boss. I won’t like it, but I’ll do it.”

“Honestly, long term, I want to free both of you. I’m not sure if I’m fully comfortable that you’re both magically coerced to obey me,” said Stephen thoughtfully. “Throwing you at the ghouls while I made my escape came a little too easily. I don’t want to view people as disposable.”

The two other men looked at him blankly, and the graduate student sighed. Lifting his left boot off the ground, he said, “The local healer patched up my wounds, but she couldn’t do anything about the missing foot or the ghoul infection. Apparently a larger urban center, like Hopedale, will have temples that I can get the foot regenerated and clear up the infection. I think we’d best head there immediately before the infection becomes irreversible.”