This Used To Be About Dungeons полностью

“Speaking of overcharging,” said Isra, stepping forward. “I’ll take the arrows for a thousand.”

Eddel shook her head. “That’s half their asking price. You should think about it in terms of what you save by never having to visit a fletcher again.”

“I have thought about it,” said Isra. “The arrows pay for themselves, but that will take time. They’re blunt, and there’s no way to sharpen them. And they’ve been sitting in that display case so long there’s discoloration on the wood.”

Eddel shifted in place. “I need something more than a thousand.”

“We’ll come here first when we come to Tarchwood,” said Isra. “You’ll have first pick of whatever we pull out of the dungeons. But then you’d have to knock another hundred off the dagger.”

Eddel sighed. “Fine, I can already tell you’re not going to be my favorite dungeoneers.”

“If you wanted the dagger?” asked Isra.

“I think I do,” said Alfric. “If I could hire a cartier, I’d be able to travel around quite a bit faster.”

“A deal to both then,” said Eddel. She went behind the counter and pulled out a sack of rings, different denominations on separate loops. “Have you gone to see Wilch yet? He’s the ectad man in Tarchwood, though he doesn’t have full facilities.”

“He’s our next stop,” said Alfric. “And then we were hoping to head back to Pucklechurch and get there before nightfall. That should be doable, right?”

“Depends on if you can find Wilch,” said Eddel as she took the rings Alfric was offering. “He runs odd hours. If you want a recommendation on an inn, I’d say the Hare’s Rump would suit you.”

“If we don’t spend the night, that’s nearly twenty-four miles of walking for the day,” said Alfric. “I’m already feeling it in my shins.” The book was almost fifty pounds, which was most of the issue.

“This will be my second time staying at an inn,” said Isra as she put her arrows into her quiver.

“Really?” asked Eddel. “So you’re all very new at this.”

“We are,” said Alfric. “But we’ve got good plans in place and a good party.”

Eddel didn’t quite roll her eyes at that, but Alfric could feel her skepticism. “Well, you feel free to look around and spend the rest of your rings or square away what you don’t have funds for. I can put a hold on things for up to a few weeks, if you’re serious about coming back with the money.”

Alfric did end up selling her one of the entads they didn’t want, the red cloth, but she didn’t seem terribly interested in the book that recorded conversations, so he held on to it. It was the kind of thing that you’d get more for in a larger city, they both agreed on that, and Alfric hoped he wasn’t being derelict in the mission that the party had entrusted him with. Once that was finished, Alfric and Isra browsed the store together and spoke about what they’d want in the future.

“Food is easy to find,” said Isra. “An hour or two in the woods can get you what you want.”

“But it’s an hour or two you’re spending,” said Alfric. “There are better things to do with your time.”

Isra shrugged. “I like hunting.” She looked over the entads. He was relieved that she seemed perfectly capable of reading, which had been in question given some of the peculiarity that clearly accompanied her upbringing. “Storage would be good. Something to help carry a deer.”

“Strength could do that too,” said Alfric. “But they’re more rare. Might help you get more draw from the bow though.”

“Mmm,” said Isra. “And you want something that can take the others to a dungeon while you spare them the travel.”

“I’d like that, yes,” said Alfric. He did have the dagger now, but they would have to properly test its limits. It was best to assume entad sellers had already done a good job of that, but you never knew. “We have a good party, I can feel that, but we need to stick together, and we need to be hitting the dungeons as quickly as we can. With the right travel entads, we could be doing two a day.”

Isra nodded, though Alfric didn’t think she was nodding because she thought that was a good idea.

“The dagger is good,” said Alfric, who had carefully stored it in a cloth. “It’s also possible that we could use it as a shortcut.”

“It can be used to collect whoever wants to be there least,” said Isra.

“Yeah,” said Alfric. He wanted to ask whether she was committed but held back because it seemed like perhaps he was gaining ground with her. From a pure utility perspective, he could afford to lose her more than he could afford to lose the others, even if she’d gotten an amazing bow from their first dungeon and seemed to have more of a head for combat than the others.

They found nothing else they wanted and followed Eddel’s directions down to Tarchwood Ectads. It was on the shore of the enormous Proten Lake that Tarchwood nestled against, and had a dock sticking out the back.

“The sea is enormous,” said Isra when they were halfway down the hill.

“It’s not a sea, it’s a lake,” said Alfric. “The Gornorian Lake. Fresh water, not salt.”

“Ah,” said Isra, but she still had a look of confusion on her face.