Quite Well!

Having woken up a bit earlier than you had planned due to how excited you were with finally being able to help your brother, you decided to look over what you would trade down in Khaldur. The bolt of Spidersilk, amethyst, bronze ingots, fruits, and rabbit pelts will sell for a tidy sum. You even spent an hour weeding the secondary garden for two pouches of Sweetleaf. The Aethelim is already brewing into tea with the kettle you crafted earlier from the new workbench you built. All it needed was just a few wood and stone. Certainly was easy but you doubted it that would continue much longer. Rowan said there were public forges for use for the heroes in every town, along with tanneries, bakeries, etc. Apparently, they all only cost a single copper piece per item made.

When Rowan and Fenris were up and satiated, you took them to the Sanctum to witness the Star Well being reborn. Thankfully you spent part of your ‘morning’ fiddling with the forge and noticed that you could remelt the glass into proper panes, it seemed if you did not then there would have been a resource penalty via twice the cost. It did not delay you much as you got enough out of it for the repair. ‘Excited!’ “Heh, yes me too Fenris.” You pet his head, flitting through the menus before hitting yes. All three of you whacked away, watching the progress bar fill up ever so slowly. With a puff of glitter, the Star Well was repaired, within seconds the crystal-clear water started to shimmer before turning into a soft glowing blue, albeit still mostly transparent.

Unique Structure: Star Well (Silver)
A well that collects magical energy from the stars. Can collect mana into bottles to outside use. Some gathered mana also coalesces into an ingot of religiously significant metal at the bottom of the well every few days.
Level 1: Silver
Upgrade to Level 2: 10 Silver Ingots, 24 Stained Glass, 70 Marble
Yes/No

Well, that was a steep price increase! Tracing your fingers over the surface you felt the raw mana tingle up your hands. With such an abundance of glass, you made quite a few small empty potion bottles to stock up, the rest will be used for the tea which for now is acting as your health potions. When you were about to leave you noticed something forming in the middle of the well. Activating the Star Wells menu, you could see:

Resource Recharging (Silver Ingot)
23:24:37

Hmm, is that so? An entire ingot of silver once a day for free? You certainly will not say no to that! You wonder if you upgrade it a few more times if you might get your people’s holiest of metals, Manasilver… ‘SPLASH!’ Fenris leapt into the Well, splashing you and Rowan with liquid mana. ‘AWW!’ Fenris huffed, standing with his head poking out. While your people may have been a little too loose with the word Well, it was still funny seeing Fenris’ sullen look that he could not go swimming. While you felt the need to chastise him, the water purified itself so there was no need to worry about tasting wet dog in future mana potions. Besides, having a place to bath would be nice, Stars forgive you until you got access to the Undercroft, the level even further below. “Well, Maeva, it seems as if we are taking a step in the right direction! Did you want to see if maybe the mayor of Khaldur knew anyone in town who might be able to cleanse the ring or decipher the grimoire?” That was something you were pondering yourself earlier. Surely there was at least one magical merchant in Khaldur, or at least some sort of hero who could help right? You nodded at Rowan who went to collect both pieces, Fenris hopping out of the Well and shaking his wet fur, soaking you. ‘Sorry!’

“If you were sorry, you would not have done that silly dog!” He stuck his tongue out at you, trotting away rather cockily, you could not help but notice that he was a fast-developing puppy. In more ways than one as you note that pair of balls bouncing along to his stride. You dismiss that thought, focusing on setting a list of things for your Harvesters to do while you are gone. It seemed storing foods in a crate extended their longevity by 100%, adding another 100% if that crate was put in a cellar. So, you designated them to clear the pantry, gagging as you remember that putrid smell, and then clear the cellar out. Afterwards, when they were not working on weeding, planting, or harvesting materials from the gardens or working in the mountainside or jungle, they were to dig out the remaining rubble from all three levels. If all went to plan, they would be almost finished by the time you returned, but it is better they have too much to do than too little. So, with a simple flourish you also assigned them to recycling any materials in the new cells bar the Scriptorium.

Heading downstairs, you gathered all the necessary things you were wanting to trade, organizing them between you and Rowan. ‘Hey!’ Alright, and Fenris it seems. Outfitted with a bundle of rabbit furs tied to his back, you had Rowan fetch your brother who did not say a word, just staring off into the distance. Setting off within minutes, you reached into your robes to feel the warmth of one of the items. You made sure to bring the Welkynd Stone with you as well, never knowing when you might need its mana or holy protection. The journey to Khaldur was rather mundane, Fenris snagging a few squirrels and Rowan picking some poisonous mushrooms he might have a use for when he acquired a mortar and pestle. You tried talking to your brother a few times, but he was always silent. Most of his character sheet was fixed of those horrible blotches, but quite a few remained where his name and class were.

Thankfully, Dave was not on duty, so Frank chatted with you a bit. He eyed your brother, confused as to why he was not saying or doing anything but look forward. “Don’t worry Frank, long story short he got mixed up in the wrong crowd and we are here to uh…” Glancing at Rowan, you saw him mouth a few words, “Escort him back and collect our rewards!” Frank visibly relaxed, patting Maelor on the back.

“Ah, that makes sense! Have a good time!” Waving you in when he saw you were there to peacefully trade and turn in a quest.

“Maeva, do you want me to go scout out any magical places while you handle the bartering?”

“Sounds good to me, Fenris can put on his cute charms and maybe budge the prices more in our favour!” It seemed he did not know whether to take that as a compliment or insult so he just huffed, walking over to a post and marking it as his. You tried to arrive before the sun set to make sure more merchants were around, judging by the how low it was on the horizon you had about half an hour to conduct your mercantile business. Hunter-of-Beasts should move to the tavern, so you need not worry about him. After three easy transactions and 'Pose!'s you walked away with everything but the Spidersilk sold for 34 silver pieces. Finally, you found a human man who seemed to deal in more exotic goods.

“Hello! Hello! Welcome to Chrix’s Emporium!” It seemed that Chrix was an Azulem, a race of humans out on the opposite side of the map from where you currently are. How or why he is here, you have no clue. Giving him your brightest smile, Fenris barking, ‘Hello!’ softened the merchant, your silver-tongue paying off quite well. After some negotiation and learning of a strange business arrangement called ‘The Exchange’ you learned that Chrix would take your Spidersilk and put it up for auction where people, generally heroes though there was always a moderate demand from commoners, would bid on items and then receive them instantaneously. All it cost was a 5% commission for the merchant for handling the process, he assured you that your three yards of silk would easily net you 30 gold pieces. After further inquiring you were told that while 100 silver pieces equaled 1 gold piece, the actual price of silver to gold was 12 silver ingots to 1 gold ingot. Made zero sense to you, but in the end that meant your silver was worth more than eight times as much as you originally thought it would be! The sun set, you felt the Star’s Blessing activate, so you went to the tavern to meet up with Rowan and find Hunter.

He was easy enough to find, loud and boisterous as you assumed he would be, ale leaking down his broad scaled chest as his filled his maw with more ale than it could handle. “Hunter!” He seemed to not hear you, so you moved closer, “HUNTER!” A snort and slam of mug onto the bar table had him looking down at you with his slitted eyes.

“Ah, the pretty lady returnsss. What do you want from me?” You are not exactly sure where to look as his chest was glittering in the torchlight, his legs spread wide showed his fur kilt was pretty much the only thing he was wearing aside from a leather arm band. “Want to get some hatchlings in your belly~?”

Tilting your head, you brushed a strand of hair behind your pointed ear, “No, no. Thank you for the offer, I actually need your help. I was told to find you. You can lead me to a place where I can break my brothers curse.” You gestured to Maelor who, as usual, was just staring blankly ahead. Hunter chortled, though seemed to look somewhat more professional.

“Yesss, I can. There is a priccce though. One a pretty lady like you might not want to pay…~” Just then Rowan came in, stepping off to your side.

“And this price is?” Hunter wordlessly lifted his fur kilt, showing his massive balls hanging off down from the stool, his sheath was fat, the opening was even parted a little showing a red tip leaking.

“A sssimple ssserviccce~!”

“Done! Pretty lady Rowan, get to it!”