Chương 114: AF Chapter 113 – A Rose by Any Other Name

"There were a Quest ye could undertake, dealing with a missing husband an' one o' the priestesses o' the T'Thuun movement on Vissidal Island, or something. Undead harridans tossing magic all get messed up in me memory after all this time. But ye go back to the wife at the end with the fate o' her husband, an' the woman, the… NPC?" Kris nodded at the use of the term.

"Aye, she gave ye a copy of the Ring, saying it were the wedding ring he gave her.

"Also, Lord Harlune were an Empyrean." We both looked at him in surprise, as Harlune was the name of one of the two men who had made the original famous Ring, one of the prime sponsors of the Orts who had stood against Queen Alfrega the Mad.

"Aye, a distant cousin o' Asheron himself, an' a fellow student at the same Academy on this island. Not sure if he made another Ring an' pawned it off t' be replicated fer the quest, but 'tis likely it's related." He looked pleased at the connection he'd made.

"Huh. Well, if so, it should duplicate the powers of the original." She tossed it to me, and I caught it to re-examine.

"It seems almost identical to the original. That should be increased healing rate, a Ward against Fire, an increase to foot speed, and a boost to Healing skill, as my memory serves me." I studied the burned-out Ring of purple-red metal and gemstone, its signet intricately carved in the shape of a rose, more intently than before. Like prior magic items, it must have been empty of mana at the time of the Fall, so it didn't have any internal reserves to explode and break it.

The scorching of the mana veins inside it was the only damage. I could probably restore it with a Make Whole V, when I reached Nine. But… I turned the Ring over, following a lot of burned control veins and small nodes dancing all throughout the Ring, not just in the top of it. Aelryinth was a Ringlord. I didn't have the Title, but I was still sensitive to Rings!

"That is… the lowest order of spells on this Ring," I told her calmly, startling both her and Lord Mick.

"You focused on the primary Node atop the Ring, which masks most of the effect. This only has the stamen of the rose symbol energized. There are potentially six different upgrades for this ring, based on the number of internal petals layered through this."*"What?!" the Mick blurted out in shock, his eyes locking on the Ring.

"I never heard o' another quest t' increase the power o' the Ring!" I tossed it back to Kris, who this time didn't look at it after she caught it, simply holding it in her fingers and dancing the black nails of her other hand upon it, visualizing it more and more clearly as she fine-tuned her tremblesense down into it with her ki. The Mick could tell she was working with ki, and was dying to see if he could do the same as her nails clattered on it quickly.

"You're right. Unenergized, inactive Rune-nodes, mana veins that were never opened and empowered, but plainly could be. This is potentially a very powerful magic item, although it seems designed for defense and reinforcement, not attack." She looked at me, I held out my hand, and to the Mick's astonishment, I slid it onto my right ring finger, opposite Zeks.

"I'll get it working again, and when I do, I should be able to divine a path forward for it. We'll see if there's something hidden it was supposed to do, a quest that was never discovered or found, hidden under the nose of those doing it."

"Can ye replicate the effects of an Aegis, lass?" the Mick finally asked, after he finished digesting this new turn of events, gesturing at the not-shield on the Disk.

"I'm sure between Kris and I we can break down the effects. It would be best to find someone who actually worked on such things and had knowledge of the lore related to it to see if it could be improved, however."

"There should be a smith or two who survived the Fall who worked on Aegis shields. Come to think o' it, Lord Harlune's not been seen since the Fall, either. He an' Master Ben Ten actually founded the Celestial Hands Society together, although he were more hands-off making the supporting magic an' teaching some of the members, as opposed to directing people hither an' yon on valiant tasks in defense of Dereth an' all its peoples." I noted his irreverent but wistful tone.

"You weren't a member of his Society, I take it?"

"No," he admitted with a straight face.

"I were in the Radiant Blood. We were a fine bunch of lads and lassies, running all over Dereth prying secrets out o' the cold, dead hands of whoever we could take it from, bringing it back to researchers for the benefit of us Isparians and ours… and, I'll add because ye think so highly o' her, Nuhmudira, who were the inspiration for those 'sacrificing themselves for the benefit of all Isparians' in the Blood, she were." His dry sarcasm didn't escape anyone listening in at all, but they obviously knew all of that.

"You had some connection to Aisley, it would seem?" Kris smirked knowingly.

"She were one o' the heads o' the Eldrytch Web scouts. Used to run into them all over the place when we had disagreements over the proper ownership of uncovered knowledge an' lore an' magic an' who deserved to have knives put into 'em an' whatnot. Her personal knowledge an' managing 'em is what got her the position she's in. I never had the stomach fer making up the jobs, I just got sent out on 'em in the Blood.

"She were still an eager pawn an' tool for the undead. I were never a high-minded an' noble fool, an', well, ye know me clan's nae had much use for the Kings of Aluvia, so I had nae use for Strathelar or her boy claiming they ruled me. So, the Radiant Blood were fine by me, an' if it had nae use for Lugians, Tumeroks, enlightened Undead, Shades, or Gearmen, well, that were sure no skin off me nose now, was it?"

"Given you were likely in competition with him, I am surprised of your relationship with Master Ben," Kris wondered aloud, an elegant eyebrow raised. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"The man be the first actual hero I ever met," the Mick confessed with a straight face.

"Didnae care about money, nor magic, or gear, or anything. He lived for the sword an' swore by his Joji mumblings, an' were just as kind and generous as the legends said o' him.

"I thought he were a total fool, but I took some lessons from him when I were just starting me light-fingered an' throatslitting career that I use t' this day, aye, an' will for the rest o' me days.

"And then the noble idiot got up out o' his own grave t' defend the last survivors fleeing the undead an' Gotrok an' Hea, drove them back, an' has held the line on them ever since.

"When ye lose the coin an' the gear an' all that's left is the people, Highness, yer view of the world changes. It were something Master Ben knew all along, an' I came to it too late t' appreciate who an' what I had. But Master Ben will always be that first true hero t' me, an' now more than ever, I can finally appreciate what a real hero be… an' I definitely were not one, blatherings o' the Radiant Blood an' everything included."

He didn't back down as he said it, dark eyes looking her straight in the eye, deep sorrow and deep serenity mixing there. I could see he'd probably had a lot of talks with the skeletal swordmaster. Princess Kristie just nodded once, clapped him on the shoulder, and said, "We're done here. Let's get to that Cloudrider Mansion, see what we find, and then on to the next."

Nobody said anything else as they got on the Disks that would lift them all up and out of there, and we headed back upstairs. The Black Aluvian clans were known for their wild independence and not having much use for outsiders of any stripe. I could see how an organization devoted to Isparians alone would have sucked him in, especially with his mercenary leanings. His zealous protection of his scouts was likely a direct result of the losses he'd suffered in the Fall.

I could imagine just how much he didn't want to lose any of the young men and women under them, and just what he'd do to that end. He also would probably never forgive the Hea, Gotroks, and undead, either, although I noted he specifically invoked the clans responsible, not all lugians or tumeroks. Well, I supposed he'd be getting his due at some point, because after what she'd seen and heard, Princess Kristie probably wasn't going to be satisfied until those responsible were vivic dust ground under her heel.

Couldn't say I didn't feel the same, either.

The Cloudrider Mansion was visible from a couple of hills away, still standing fairly tall. It had the normal knock-on damage from time and the elements after losing its ley line tie, and the walls showed definite signs of having been hit by some big rocks and spells at certain points. Still, it was largely intact. There were stairs leading up the motte to the front door, and even a slide down the rear one, so you didn't have to risk breaking your ankles with a jump down it.

However, it was still Kris who pointed out, "So, this place is on a K'Nath feeding route, too?" All the Royal Scouts blinked at her in shock. She just pointed at the scatter patterns across the facing of the front of the Mansion.

"I've seen those blast patterns before, at two Mansions up in the Blackmire Swamps we went through. I'm assuming the basement is flooded, then?" The Mick clapped his chest in exaggerated pain.

"Aye, now ye've done ruined our surprise, Highness. There's always a pack o' the jelly blobs around here, an' if they see light here they hurry right over t' cause some excitement.

"A whole herd o' 'em comes through about every six weeks an' cleans the worst o' the muck out of the place."

"Upper floors still intact?" Kris asked perfunctorily, only nodding.

"Aye, we an' the Gotrok will sometimes use it t' camp out against the weather. Sometimes with knives in the dark, depending on who gets here first." I watched the hard smiles break out all around at that news, the nods showing that they'd likely done that more than once, and the Gotrok probably didn't come back often. The Mick pointed at a big rock stuck under the main balcony.

"The lugians will clamber up on that and can generally reach up just enough to pull themselves up. We have t' be a bit more acrobatic about it." He cupped his hands, and without missing a beat, Selena stepped up, into his hold with her lead foot, and with an easy surge of his back and legs, the Mick sent her flying up and over the edge. She did an easy tuck and roll, and landed smoothly on the balcony above us.

Without stop, he heaved the other scouts up one after another, basically ignoring what they weighed, and without having to put down a rope or anything, the scouts rapidly fanned out through the place, looking for any squatters or surprises on any of the floors. We just went in the front door, the Mick going first, just in case.

"Gotroks find using traps beneath 'em, but the Hea who make it out here consider it good fun t' leave a surprise, even if it's just shit tossed in yer face," he explained, making way into the entry hall, where one of the common colorful Joji fountains was fallen over to one side and never put back up.

He pushed open the hanging door beyond, and we looked over the gaping hole that was the main floor, having fallen into the basement just like the other Mansions, and then into the dimensional chamber below that after it was forcibly brought back into reality. The dark gleaming of water that hadn't drained out greeted us. It was more than twenty feet deep, completely covering the second floor of the dimensional area and most of the walls.

"Must be a flow coming in through the walls," Kris judged, looking at the black surface without expression.

"Going to be a problem, Ryin?" I just looked at the gleaming surface, and shook my head." Hydrous Spells breach the water divide without a problem. It'll take more time, especially if we have to move stuff, but we can still get it all, whatever is down there."

"Good. Spin up some Disks, and let's get to work."

*There was an interview with the developer Stormwaltz over an early quest line he made up that he never actually instituted, one that was eventually rewritten into the quest where you get the Rose of Celdon. He wanted it to be a Ring that you could upgrade over the course of your career, putting in new quests to improve it as time went on… but naturally that never happened, although it was a very nice Ring for its day, back then. Well, Stormwaltz, someone was listening.

If anyone can get me into contact with him and he would like to give me some details in a timely manner, I'll happily work them into the story. Otherwise, I'll just wing it.