The meeting point for the academy expedition was unsurprisingly on the academy grounds. They took the pilgrim’s steps to the top this time, partly to save on coin, but mostly because Bud had been on at them for days that he wanted to experience them at least once. And they were an experience…

Hump stopped bothering to count when he reached five-hundred and wasn’t even half-way to the top. There was a constant stream of people moving up and down to the plateau; many were traders, and many were refugees on their pilgrimage to the gods. Hump hoped they found some solace in it.

They were one of the last parties to reach the academy, and drew many odd glances from the various students and nobles that had been accepted into the expedition as they passed through the courtyard. Hump did his best to ignore them, trailing behind Bud as they headed inside where Ricard Godward was handing out assignments to the final few.

There was something about him that put Hump on guard, as if he could instinctually tell this man was powerful. He’d caught a few words about him at the guild and learnt he was a former graduate of the academy and had now been a professional adventurer for eight years. Anyone that reached silver rank before thirty was a person to be impressed by. A metal spear with a long pointed head rested against the wall behind him, a red tassel on the end and fine enchantments woven up the shaft. Not only was he powerful, but he was wealthy.

Brilliant, Hump thought. Another noble prick to pander to.

He looked them over as they approached and gave a friendly smile. “You must be the new ‘students’ I was informed of.”

“That’s right, it’s good to meet you, sir,” Bud said, then introduced each of them.

“It’s good to have you all onboard,” he said. “I was briefed on your exploits at Fishers Lake, a difficult quest indeed. We need people like you.”

“That’s very kind of you to say,” Bud said. “We certainly didn’t perform perfectly, but we’re here to learn and we’re here to help.”

“Wonderful attitude. I must say, I’m looking forward to seeing what you can do. It’s not often that Lady Daston takes a personal interest in a party. Speaking of…” He shuffled through a stack of parchment and pulled out three pieces. “Here are your assignments; they’re in the southern region and I expect them to be a good challenge for you. Two have an Iron 3 rating, while the third is Iron 4, so they will go a long way toward promotion.”

While it wasn’t unheard of for parties to take on quests beyond their rank, it didn’t slip past Hump that these may have been saved for them for less noble reasons. Or more, depending on how one looked at it. You need to keep the most important people safe after all—the future leaders of Sheercliff. It was peasants like them that could take the risk.

Hump took the assignments and looked through them. The Iron 3 quests were standard stuff: a nest of some unidentified monsters had settled into farmland and was eating the crops and attacking anyone that came close, and another village was being hunted by a beast in the forest. There were a few dead, but it seemed that it would only attack villagers caught alone. The Iron 4 quest, however, put Hump on edge. It wasn’t hard to guess why it had fallen to them rather than the students there.

“The Iron 4 quest requires us to hunt down bandits,” Hump said.

“Correct,” Ricard said. “They’ve been ambushing tradesmen along the Southsea Road, and now a caravan has been found dead near Milton. Awful stuff, to think people are killing their own in a time like this. The guild suspects they are ordinary peasants, but the rating has been upped as some information is lacking.”

It was exactly because it was a time like this that people were forced to kill their own, but Hump decided not to voice that.

“It will be alright, Hump,” Bud said. “We can handle it.”

Hump looked at him, but the knight didn’t seem to realise what he was saying. Hump had killed one man before, and it was to save a person. At the end of the day, if it paid, Hump would do it. He wasn’t so sure about Bud and Dylan though…

“Is there a problem?” Ricard asked, studying him. Just from the way he said it was obvious he knew very well what Hump was thinking. He’d spared their prized students the task of hunting down humans, and it had gone to them.

Celaine snatched up the parchments and looked through the quests. “No problems. We can handle it.”

“Very good,” Ricard said. “Good luck to you all. I shall look forward to your return.”

As they left the hall, Bud caught Hump’s arm. “What was that about?”

“Nothing,” Hump snapped. “It just annoyed me that he’s singled us out for the dirty work.”

“It needs doing,” Bud said. “Bandits are as much a plague as monsters.”

“Yeah it does,” Hump said. “But tell me, can you kill a man that’s powerless to face you? Could you freeze them solid with your god given power or carve them into pieces with your sword? I can.”

Bud frowned.

“They wouldn’t be the first I’ve killed,” Celaine said. “And they won’t be the last.”

“I…” Dylan paused. “Those that take from others have turned their back on the path of the gods. People should be held accountable for their actions.”

“Exactly that,” Bud said stoically. “They have chosen their path. They have turned their backs on the path of the gods and committed evil. If the only path to preventing further atrocities is their deaths, then it is necessary.”

“Good,” Hump said. “Then we have no problems. There aren’t many iron ranked quests like this. It’s a good opportunity. Now then, we best start getting together our gear. I’m going to see if Sir Isaac is finished with my cloak.”

“We’ll pick up our orders,’’ Celaine said. “Do you want me to pick up some new wizard’s robes for you?”

Hump shook his head. “I’ll manage like this for now. Best we save what coin we have left for an emergency. It’s not like it would be much of a defence anyway.”

She nodded. “We’ll see you back at the inn.”

He didn’t find Sir Isaac in his office, instead, his assistant directed him to the artificery. Hump felt more out of place than ever as he walked across the courtyard to the other building, every party of students from the academy gathered outside and talking over their quests, glancing at him as he walked.

The artificery itself was a massive workshop. Sir Isaac was at the front, helping a student with their gear. He spotted Hump as he approached and called him over as he finished.

“Ah, Wizard Humphrey, wasn’t it?”

Hump nodded. “Good to see you again, sir. We’ve received our quests and I was hoping to collect my cloak.”

“Of course, son. It’s all finished for you. Here, follow me.” He led him into the backroom. “Just wait here a moment, I’ll go get it.”

Hump watched him go, then looked around at all the artefacts, a little wide eyed. It had to be worth a fortune. Immediately he thought of his spellbook. It would take a few minutes to identify anything, so he had to pick carefully. He strolled through the aisle after aisle of artefact, many with dust gathering on the surface. Hundreds, no, thousands of gold worth of equipment gone unused.

His eyes fell on a set of dark brown wizard robes, so dark they were almost black. Hump glanced over to the door where Isaac had gone, the man’s footsteps echoing down to corridor. He took out his spellbook and examined the various runes visible on the robes, willing his book to record it. The footsteps stopped, and his heart started to race. He heard the creak of a door.

Come on, Hump thought. And then the spellbook shook, lights shone across the page, and ink started to shift.

Item Index
Devilshorn Goat Battle Robe

Artifact | Universal | Bronze

 

Description

A battle robe crafted from the wool and hide of the Devilshorn Goat. Highly resistant to physical and cold attacks. Mildly resistant to elemental attacks.

Origin

Sheercliff Academy - Artificery

 

Hump traced a hand over the cuff of one of the sleeves, the fine wool incredibly soft to the touch. It was covered in dust, and from the looks of it Hump wasn’t sure it had ever been worn.

Isaac’s footsteps started again in his direction and Hump quickly put his book away.

“Fantastic piece, isn’t it?” Isaac said walking over. He had Hump’s Springleaf Cloak over his arm. “It was a class project. The Devilshorn wool was harvested while questing in the field and we brought it all back here. The class did everything from themselves from harvesting to turning the parts into usable materials.”

“Students made this?” Hump asked, more than a little impressed.

“Yes, well, they had a little guidance too.” He smiled. “It was a good few years ago now, back when I was still an instructor.”

“It’s never been used?”

Isaac shook his head and laughed. “That’s the thing about the exorbitantly wealthy, son. Most have generations of heirloom artefacts just waiting for them. Myself, I believe there’s something profound about wearing equipment made by your own two hands.”

Hump nodded along, an idea forming as they talked. “It’s such a waste to see such a fine piece gathering dust. Would you consider selling it?”

Isaac looked at him—actually looked at him, his eyeglasses down, which wasn’t a good sign… He studied what Hump passed as his clean clothes. “Either they are assigned to someone, or they come here for future students to feel inspired. We don’t typically sell on our class projects, not for money at least.”

“Then what?” Hump asked. His gaze fell onto Hump’s pouch, and his heart almost stopped.

“Well… I must admit, I’m rather curious about what is in your bag, there.”

Hump gave his glasses another sharp look, noticing the sheen in the coloured lens of his glasses. Vivienne had enchanted the bag to keep the egg’s essence signature hidden from those with the power to sense it, but clearly it hadn’t been enough to surpass the sixth circle Chosen of the crafter god. Hump felt suddenly aware that he was alone in the back of an artificery workshop, far from anybody that could help him. Scratch that, he wasn’t sure a person in Sheercliff could help him right now even if they were there. And he couldn’t escape the thought: if the man could sense his egg, what else might he have seen?

“Goodness, it’s been many years since anybody looked at me like that.” Isaac chortled. “Even if it is only on a technicality, you are a student of this academy. You have no need to fear me. I mean only to see.”

Hump frowned at him, weighing his choices. “All you want to do is see and in exchange you’ll give me this?”

“It is as you said. I had to see a piece as fine as this go to waste when there is somebody that could make use of it, especially when said somebody will be using it in aide of Sheercliff.”

Isaac winked, and Hump felt a little more at ease. He supposed he had no reason to lie. There was nothing he could do if the man decided to just take it.

“Very well,” Hump said, unbuckling his pouch. “But only to look.”

He took out the dragon egg, carefully holding it in both hands, the smooth scales warm to the touch. Sir Isaac’s eyes widened and he leant in closer. His glasses glimmered, the green tint turning blue, then red.

“Amazing! Truly stunning. So much life and essence contained within a single egg. You are truly blessed to have bonded such a creature.”

“You can see that?”

“It is clear as day to my eyes, a stream of pure essence between your souls. Would you like to see it?” He indicated an artefact nearby. It looked like a box without any panels, just metal edges covered in enchantments. “This is a principle permeator. The device is able to see through the physical and see the essence within. It’s completely harmless, I assure you.”

He activated the formation with the touch of his hand, the runes shining vibrantly, lighting up one by one. Within the box, pale blue essence gathered, so pure it was almost invisible. Isaac held his hand inside and his skin and flashed vanished to reveal the bones of his hand and a gleaming web of essence channels within. Even in his hand, there was so much power.

He pulled it out. “Try it out if you’d like.”

Hump did just that, putting his hand inside. He felt nothing, but the surface of his hand vanished just as it had done for Isaac. His essence channels were far from as dense as the man’s, but it was still fascinating to see. All these years he’d envisioned them as a parent river, with only a few smaller rivers splitting off to his limbs. That wasn’t the case at all. There were dozens of them to each of his fingers alone.

“And it won’t harm the egg?” Hump asked, suddenly curious himself.

“Not in the slightest. You have my word as a Chosen of Loften, may he smite me down if I say it false.”

Hump hesitated only a moment before slowly setting the egg down inside. And gods above, it might have just been the most wonderful thing he’d ever seen. Light streamed from it in vibrant spiralling wisps, full of red and blue light, and the egg at its core shone brightest of all. Within it, curled up soundly in a ball, was his dragon. The tiny creature had soft, smooth scales, and small feeted with blunted claws. It had the bump of two horns on its head, and with every beat of its heart, power ebbed from the core.

Hump wasn’t sure how long had passed when Isaac deactivated the formation, but it wasn’t long enough.

“What a magnificent being,” he said quietly. “Truly.”

Hump nodded, taking a gulp to try and get some of the dryness out of his mouth. Even then he wasn’t sure what to say. In the end, all he could manage was, “Thanks.”

“You may well be the luckiest young wizard I have ever met,” he said. “Be careful that luck doesn’t run out. I wish you well on your travels, and I hope the battle robes serve you well. Just do me one favour, if you are ever done with them, bring them back to me.”

“I’ll do that,” Hump said, extending a handshake to the man. He may have been a Chosen and a noble, but he was of the kind Hump liked. A man that wanted to understand the mysteries of the world. “It was good meeting you again, Sir Isaac.”

“And you, son. Take care.”