Chapter 36: Isekai Life & Well-Laid Plans

On top of the things that I asked Bekker to pick up, it turns out he had reminded Voss and Enna of my wish for a strongbox and padlock. They had found a hardwood, rectangular chest banded with iron and longer than a child was tall. Enna promised that she picked out a padlock which would prove challenging to open without the key, which was great, although it only had to hold out for another level or so until I got my hands on Wizard Lock.

The first thing I did was place the greatsword inside, and there was just enough room for it to fit diagonally. The other magical blades could sit lengthwise. So, we packed up the weapons, and then I took out the stash of potions. At some point, Katriana had returned the lavender potion, probably at the same time she dropped off the broadsword. I guess, for now, her point was clear- no point carrying these things around if she had no use for them.

“Alright, the first person to demonstrate some level of mastery with these weapons gets to keep them,” I said, indicating the pile of magical-but-so-far-useless swords, “But those arrows belong to Katriana, she’s pretty handy with a shortbow.”

“Well, that’s fair,” Voss said, “Turns out this one is a real quick study, and already mastered that crowbill.”

Enna smiled. “It ain’t a crow anything, it’s a dwarven war pick,” then she shrugged, “I guess it’s my dwarven heritage showing. Trounced this guy thrice in a row in practice this mornin’, when we were still waitin’ for the pile of comely maidens to finish warmin’ up your bed.

Well, that worked for me. “Now the fun part,” I said, picking up the two as yet unsampled potions, “Any volunteers?”

It turns out, no, people don’t generally line up to sample unidentified liquids. So I took it one myself. The minty green liquid was some kind of healing potion- at least, it eased the ache in my so-recently-used penis. Which was good to know. The next potion was the rainbow-hued draught that I had gotten out of Lord Gauthi’s liquor cabinet. I already suspected what it was, and the way everyone giggled at me when I drank it- even Bekker smiled and glanced away- confirmed it. It was a Potion of Rainbow Hues, which would temporarily render your skin a selected colour after quaffing a portion- apparently after my brief sample I flashed purple as a blueberry for a second. While it sounds like a neat party trick and little else, you never know when you might need your entire party to pass as half-orcs, and I retained my 21st-century understanding of camouflage.

The potions were packed into their own little bag and tucked away in the side of the chest. We would need dividers of some kind, in time, I noted.

Finally, it came time to tally up the coin. Voss and Enna were given the gold coins to split between them, I had the big bag of platinum, and Bekker had all the miscellaneous other coins to tabulate before moving on to help Voss and Enna. Calliope was there to sum everything up in the ledger.

As it turned out, we had a huge amount of money between us. Two-hundred and ninety-nine platinum coins, four electrum, fifteen silver, fifty copper, and a whopping five thousand, five hundred and thirty-seven gold.

Having noticed that hungry looks on Voss and Enna’s faces, plus the fact that they also noted Calliope’s new jewellery, I then counted out three hundred gold for them and Calliope, and another fifty for Bekker. “Here are your wages for the next month,” I said, “Including danger pay.” When Voss looked disappointed, I added, “Remember, I’m paying for all your necessities from here on out, so you just have to worry about fun money and saving up for your own estate and things.”

That seemed to mollify him.

“So, if we’re done fussing over gold and such,” Calliope went on, “I wasn’t just pleasure reading all morning. I went through that guy’s ledgers and journal. I think his cult was- or is- planning something big, and I really don’t think we wiped them out when he killed all his guards and such.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well, okay,” she look a deep breath, “On top of the big pots, he order pitch- gallons of it- lumber, tinder, and paper, too. Way more than he’d need to burning a few human sacrifices, too. His journal repeated mentions some kind of big sacrificial ritual, and that he was only waiting on word from a ‘mistress’ before he set everything in motion.”

That gave me chills. I thought we had taken care of everything- after all, Lord Gauthi was well guarded. I knew there was the rest of the cult somewhere but he struck me as the leadership guy. Now, with what Calliope was saying, he sounded like he was the resources guy- doing all the purchasing and logistical arrangements for someone else.

“Hey, Voss,” I asked, “What day is the joust supposed to end?”

“Uh ... tomorrow,” he replied, “It always wraps up the day before the All-Father’s holy day, so the award ceremony happens on the holy day itself. You think they could be planning something at the joust?”

I nodded. “Think about it. The arena is going to be packed, there’s plenty of room for all this flammable material under the seats, and this ‘mistress’ he was waiting for is probably coming from out of town with all the crowds. They’re going to sacrifice the arena crowd in this ‘Purification’ that was mentioned in the cyphered note. The mistress is going to preside over things, so the plan is probably already in motion.”

Calliope frowned. “Great, and we’ve just committed a break-and-enter, robbed the place blind, and even if we get off the hook for all that by bringing this cult to justice, nobody is going to be light on poor Enna getting involved in all this.”

“Well, if’n it means we can put away these folks-” Enna began, before I interrupted.

“As your liege, I cannot allow that to happen,” I said, “I’m not going to sell you out now just because it makes things easier. No, we need to come up with a plan here.”

I think I had everything figured out. I knew what pieces I had and didn’t have, and I could guess at what our enemy had on their side. I took a deep breath and started yo explain my conclusions and plan.

Eventually, Katriana and Ashryn joined us, resplendent looking in their new suits of platemail. I didn’t mind having to start from the top, though, as everyone seemed to have an idea and we incorporated them into our plans as we went, so it helped having a break to refresh everyone on our main goals and objectives. Ashryn had a little trouble swallowing our conclusions, but once everything was broken down, she seemed to understand, though her bubbly optimism had wilted somewhat.

Bekker at some point excused himself to make arrangements for dinner, and I realized with a shock just how hungry I was. I guess I was so into reorganizing everything and discussing this plan that I had skipped lunch. Still, that gave us something of a deadline, to stop discussing the what-ifs and small inconsistencies and just commit to something.

Of course, our first objective was gaining access to the arena, and I knew just who to ask about that.

Ashryn, Katriana, Voss and I headed downstairs to the common room, and, not spotting them immediately, I went to rap on the door to the private dining room Mariska, Ricard and Gogol used.

Ricard’s servant was the one to answer the door. “Can I help you, sir?”

“Yes, can we borrow Ricard’s attention for a short while?” I asked, “We’ve reached some disturbing conclusions about the joust tomorrow and we could use his help.”

The servant closed the door and conferred with the people within, then allowed us in. With use standing in the little space available, it was quite crowded, but Ricard greeted us warmly.

“My young friends, I am glad to see you’re in good health!” he said, giving me a pat on the shoulder and shaking Katriana’s hand, “You’re in need of help, I’m told?”