Draith
patreon
Chapter 51 - Intensive Investigary Process
🕑 Added 2025-03-22 14:00:13 +0000 UTCIn the morning, I set Calbern to the task of tracking down Bevel and assigning her a room near ours. Instead of giving her a room in a different building, he restored one of the galleon’s old floors, turning it into a partition. That done, despite his talents, Bevel evaded his attempts to find her until evening.
I'd been on the western cliffside all day. It had gone better than my first attempt, but I still had another half day of work before I'd be finished. It’d been a lot of climbing, the harnesses not working as smoothly as the day before. Something had gotten into the ropes, nearly turning them to glue.
When I returned to the storehouse up top we'd repurposed for administration, I wasn’t looking forward to the lesson. I was exhausted. So it was with some relief that Bevel and Calbern weren’t waiting for me. As I took a seat on a salvaged crate nearby, I noted the way they were sitting over another crate where Calbern had spread several books.
"And this one?" Calbern said, pointing to a word in the book he was holding for her.
"Cat?" Bevel asked, squinting at the page.
"Very good, mistress Bevel. And this?"
Instead of interrupting them, I simply watched for as Calbern worked with Bevel on reading Elinder. It brought forth memories of when he'd done similar with Perth. The smile that had already been on my face broke into a soft chuckle, alerting them both to my presence.
Well, Calbern had likely already known I was there, but he hadn't indicated it in any way until Bevel looked over.
She narrowed her eyes, then turned back to the book, ignoring my presence. I traded a glance with Calbern, but otherwise left her to her reading lesson, choosing to grab us dinner instead. I was famished, having skipped lunch to keep working.
By the time I returned, Calbern had finished his lessons for the evening. Then we all ate.
Bevel didn't say anything as I started my own lessons, quietly picking at the remains of her stir fried wyvern. It was only after the lessons, when I asked her if she wanted to stay with us or head back to her room on her own that she spoke.
"I'll stay," Bevel said, her tone flat.
"Good," I said, nodding to Calbern to lead her back.
After they’d departed, I activated Memory Palace, resuming work on the spellkeys for the staff.
As I stepped over to the workbench, I thought over how I'd spent my days since arriving in Tetherfall. Far too much of my time had been spent simply casting spells to set up basic food production.
It was satisfying work, though it probably hadn't been the best use of my time. How many of the staff's features could I have unlocked, if I'd focused on it? Were there more spells like Sculpt Stone that would’ve helped more? Could I have found Balthum's hidden-
I cut myself off.
While I couldn't change my choices, I decided I wouldn't be spending the rest of the next day finishing the western cliffside. Most of it was done, and we'd already quadrupled the village's total food production area. The rest could be done by the villagers, if they still felt the need.
I only allowed myself an hour working on the staff that night, but I still made good progress on the second spell key.
The next day, instead of dangling from a cliff I found myself tinkering with the staff while sitting with Calbern and Bevel for breakfast. The thin brown noodle-like roots had just a hint of sweetness, and when combined with a little water, they almost reminded me of oatmeal with honey. The roots were one of the staples grown from the mats, and one of the first we could expect to harvest from the new patches.
They were also the source of the only alcohol in Tetherfall.
While I had no personal interest, the locals had produced a sort of rum that Calbern assured me wasn't terrible.
As I was contemplating a future where we might export cliff-vine rum, an explosion brought me out of my thoughts. Trading a glance with Calbern, I rose to my feet. "Bevel," I said, turning to the kid.
She glared back at me, her arms crossed.
"Grab your stuff, we're going to check that out," I said, throwing a thumb over my shoulder in the direction of the door.
Bevel just stood there, staring at me with her jaw open.
"Quick now, unless you want to stay here," I said, already striding towards the door, the staff tapping with every step.
A flurry of scratching sounds and the soft thud of a bowl hitting the ground informed me Bevel had decided to follow.
Once we were on the nets, Calbern nudged my shoulder, pointing to a line of smoke drifting over the top of Tetherfall.
Nodding, I started making my way up the nearest rope ladder.
Bevel had passed us by, and she could have easily reached the top before either of us, except she didn't. Instead, she'd get a dozen feet ahead then stop and wait until I was only an arm's length away before skittering ahead once more.
Like this, we made our way to the top. Right as I was pulling myself over, there was another explosion, this one nearly sending me tumbling into the air.
Bevel caught me, her legs still anchored in the rope ladder. Her grip wasn't that strong, but it was enough for me to regain my own, hauling myself up and away from the ledge.
That achieved, I pushed to my feet and walked towards the source of the explosion. And where we'd left Inertia tinkering with Fang the night before.
Inertia was standing at the epicenter of the explosion, the remains of Fang's Forgeheart lying broken on the ground next to her. I took a deep breath, reminding myself that we'd never have built Fang without her assistance.
Calbern wasn't as restrained. "By the elder dragons, what imbecilic notion brought forth this calamity, you arrogant piece of scrap metal?!"
Apparently only noticing us after his shout, Inertia stood taller, turning towards us. There was no understandable answer forthcoming. Inertia did produce a series of whistles and hisses but with Tresla nowhere in sight, their meaning was lost. Which was probably for the best. Inertia seemed no worse for wear, but Tresla had indicated more than once that she wasn't as durable as the Forgeborn.
Considering the state of the nearby storehouse, made entirely of stone, that’d half-collapsed in on itself, I was wondering just how durable Inertia was.
Instead of joining Calbern in his anger, I inspected what was left of Fang. The skull was still intact, as were the major support elements. The wheels were both completely destroyed, though it seemed they'd been disassembled before the explosion, and the explosion had sent the pieces into the four winds.
"Is it still dangerous?" I asked, motioning towards the still beating Forgeheart, which was emitting irregular pulses of light.
Inertia gave a rough approximation of a shrug, which was far from reassuring.
Taking a couple steps back, I asked, "Can you fix it?"
This time, Inertia tilted her head to the side, tapping the sharp ridge that ran down alongside her chin. After several seconds, she nodded.
I let out a sigh of relief, only to have it ruined by the shrug she added a second later. Before I could continue my bare bones interrogation, Tresla arrived, her cloak billowing out behind her yet still managing to hide her features.
After a few seconds of Inertia whistle-hissing at her, Tresla turned back to me. "Inertia apologizes for-"
Tresla cut off as Inertia let out a loud whistle.
Holding up her hands to Inertia, Tresla pulled out her pipe and spent another few seconds blowing rings in Inertia's direction. Then she finally turned back to us. "Okay, that was my bad. What Inertia actually said, was she regrets the unintentional detonation of the Forgeheart during her intensive investigatary process."
I squinted at the sudden rephrasing, but chose not to comment on it. Calbern on the other hand, took a half-step forward, his hand on his sword.
"She also needs to inform you that she'll need at least five Ehms worth of powdered essence to repair the Forgeheart," Tresla said, shaking her pipe before returning it to her robe.
"Is it going to explode again?"
After another consultation, Tresla said, "Not unless someone attempts to infuse it with mana… again."
"Again? Why was Inertia infusing it with mana?"
"Inertia was experimenting. She wanted to figure out the limits of its capacity," Tresla said.
"And in so doing, she has ruined a masterpiece," Calbern stated, his stature perfect even as he glared at Inertia, his hand still caressing the handle of his sword.
Tresla just gave a small shrug. "She knows. But Inertia believed that any risk was worth it, now that she had successfully guided you to your domain. She does apologize for the unscheduled noise."
“Calbern, can you make sure to get a list of everything we need to restore Fang? And please don’t kill Inertia. It’ll be much harder to rebuild Fang without her,” I said, deciding there wasn’t much more to do here.
“As you wish, master Perth,” Calbern said, a gleam in his eyes as he stepped forward to confer with Tresla.
Moving away, I found Bevel hiding just behind the nearby corner, watching us.
Waving her after me, I moved to the junction between Tetherfall and the cliffsides where we'd expanded the mat fields. The entire area was filled with lumber and ropes, including a spot where several people could tie off before moving down to tend the mat fields.
I went to the edge, looking down at the people working. Thankfully, it seemed the explosions hadn't knocked any of my hard work loose. Stepping back, I considered what I'd be doing with the rest of the day, now that scouting my domain using Fang was off the table.
"Why did she blow up your mount?" Bevel asked as she walked up beside me.
"Curiosity."
"That's stupid," Bevel declared with the sort of confidence only a child or an idiot could muster. Or a very pissed off Knight Exemplar.
"It certainly wasn't the most useful thing she could've done," I agreed, turning to look back at the smoke that was still rising. "But I suspect her curiosity is the only reason she's assisting me in the first place."
"It's still stupid," Bevel insisted, crinkling her nose. "What if you needed to go hunting again?"
"We'll have to go by foot. It'll probably take us a week to get to the vale, but it can be done. If she can't get it fixed, it's not gonna be long till we're short on meat," I admitted, not exactly thrilled with the prospect. Another reason to ascend to Pegasus. Once I had flight, distance would be much less of an issue.
"What if…" Bevel trailed off, and I glanced towards her. She stood there, her toes just over the edge of the cliff, teetering back and forth. It felt like a perfect metaphor, since I could tell she was struggling to come to a decision about something.
For several seconds, we stood there in silence.
I hoped Inertia wouldn't set off the Forgeheart again, though I honestly doubted she'd be that careful. Already, I could hear several of the villagers gossiping about the explosions.
"What if you had another way to get to the vale? A faster way?" Bevel asked, her hands twisting around each other, her body turned away from me.
"That would be nice. Do you know a path?" I asked, my eyes shifting towards Mount Aeternia in the distance.
"Sort of," Bevel said, her voice quiet as she turned to look back towards the trail of smoke. "Come on, I'll show you."
Chuckling, I shook my head. Even if she did know a shorter route, the mountain wasn't exactly close. To my surprise, she led me further into Tetherfall, working our way down the nets towards the back. There were less people in this part of the chasm, most of the old ships having been mashed together in a jumbled mess. She stopped in front of a smaller vessel. It looked like it might’ve been a personal sailing ship in a previous life, though its rear was completely gone, so I couldn’t be sure. Mixed in with the rest, there wasn’t anything particularly special about it.
She glanced around, making sure none of the villagers were looking before lifting a set of planks that were loosely nailed together and sliding past them.
Crouching down, I followed her, holding the crude panel to the side. The passage behind was cramped, to the point that even Bevel had to crouch.
Shuffling forward on my knees led us to the stone wall at the back of the ship.
In my previous life, this would've been where I questioned whether she was playing a trick on me. In this one, I waited to see what sort of magic she'd unleash.
I wasn't disappointed. After a few seconds, I felt her magic push at something buried in the wall. Then we both disappeared.
It'd been a while since I'd been subjected to the gate, but I knew that twisting of the essence, that complete lack of weight. It was weaker than the Gate, but it still had the same feel.
Looking up, I found myself standing in a chamber. In the center was a large crystal, floating in the air. It was dim, though it had an occasional flicker of colour dance within its depths. There were three rings of walkways around the crystal, with numerous doorways set in each ring. We were standing just inside one of those doorways.
Most of the other doorways were broken, visibly missing most of their frames, and one was even missing the platform where it had once stood.
Turning back to Bevel, she was beaming up at me, the giant smile threatening to split her face.
"Welcome to the Ways Between."
Comments
ThoMiCroN
Investigary->Investigatory*
Jason Hardman
If it were me I'd be rather passive aggressive in pointing out Inertia's actions were causing more of a hindrance than the agreed upon support she's obligated to provide. Wonder if the crystal is something to do with the pylon he's meant to be finding, or is it some ancient civilisation tech or something?
