Srsli
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55: Cold Reception
🕑 Added 2025-08-17 15:17:38 +0000 UTCWe waited, letting the silence of the cave linger, listening for the slightest sound of movement. When none came, we advanced.
Milo dismantled the spikes that had blocked the creature from flanking us and conjured another orb of light, sending it drifting into the middle of the cavern. As we passed, I stored the corpse—there could be something valuable, and if we needed to retreat quickly, we wouldn’t have the luxury of picking it up.
I stayed in the middle of the group with Crisplet beside me. His flame burned a deep crimson, almost demonic in colour, unsettling in its own right.
The cavern floor was littered with bones, and the air hung heavy with the stench of death. Still, no sign of life stirred. No one lowered their guard as we hugged the cavern wall, checking carefully for branching tunnels or hidden ambushes. Only after a thorough sweep did Hari finally relax, though his weapon never left his hand.
“I’m going to need to get my shield repaired,” he muttered, inspecting the deep gouges left by the Chironid.
“You nearly killed me with shock when I saw you get cut down!” I snapped at Liane, glaring at her.
“You’ve seen my decoy before! But it’s good to know you care,” she replied with a chuckle.
“Not like that I haven’t,” I grumbled. I’d only ever seen her use Decoy for mischief—sneaking into wagons while her image stayed on horseback—not in the middle of a fight.
“Could we check out that glowing vein?” I asked, pointing across the cavern. Curiosity gnawed at me; I had no idea what it was, only that it pulsed brightly with light.
“Sure, let’s head over there,” Hari agreed, taking the lead.
The group kept formation as we crossed the dark cavern. It stretched far above and plunging deep below, like a vein of light carved through the stone. When we reached the cavern wall I’d pointed out, Milo cast an orb of light so we could see the area clearly.
I deactivated Arcane Foraging and peered closer, attempting to find the source without the blue glow.
It was Milo who spotted it first. I was looking in the right area, but I mistook it for a reflection from Crisplet’s fire. There were deep red crystals appearing occasionally across the rock. Activating my foraging again confirmed it—there must have been a huge vein of the stuff running through this part of the mountain.
“I don’t know if it’s possible, but there’s a massive vein of this running through the mountain here. Can you move some of the stone with your magic so we can break some off?” I asked.
The others were looking at it as well, but no one said they knew what it was. Milo glanced around. “I can move some, but we won’t be able to get the whole thing. I don’t have enough mana for that, unfortunately,” he said, before placing his hands on the stone wall and shifting it so more of the crystal appeared.
The new challenge was how to break some off, even with it exposed. As I stared at it, confused, Hari stepped forward.
“Leave this to me—I already need to repair the shield.”
He smashed the base of his shield into the crystal until a large chunk, about double the size of a fist, broke free. After looking it over, I stored it to get the name.
Would you like to store [Rare] Pyrrhosite Crystal x1 for 5 mana? Yes/No
Selecting Yes, the crystal vanished.
“It’s called Pyrrhosite, and apparently it’s of rare quality,” I said, looking around to see if anyone was familiar with the name.
When I was met with equally confused looks, I shrugged. “Maybe it’s in that book I got? I’ll have to check later.”
“You said it’s rare though?” Milo asked, still looking at the wall.
“Yeah?” I was confused why it mattered. Was he going to get it all out? It looked massive.
Instead, Milo manipulated the stone again, covering it up fully and marking the wall with a shape.
Wait... was that—
“Did you just mark the wall with the picture of a cat face?” Jen asked, her hand covering her face to hide her laughter.
Liane made no such attempt and snorted aloud.
“Why?” I pleaded, staring at the cat face in the stone.
“To mark where it is. It’s the new ‘Trevor was here’ mark,” Milo said, making exaggerated hand motions across the face while chanting the words. “I figure we mark it, Hari can note it on the map, and if we find out it’s super valuable, we come back and clear it all out—make ourselves rich.”
“We’ll need to seal the cave mostly, or another creature will move in here. We were lucky this was a small Chironid. They get much larger,” Hari said, looking around.
Milo nodded. “That won’t be a problem. I’ll seal it up when we leave—and put a giant cat face on the rock!”
“NO!” I protested, but the damage was done. Both Liane and Jen were giggling while nodding in agreement.
We searched the cave one last time, checking for anything of note. On our way out, we looked at the Galvonson to see if anything valuable remained, but honestly, it was just scraps of rotting meat at this point, so we moved on.
Milo didn’t put a giant cat face on the closed cave entrance in the end. Hari mentioned that after our recent run-in with the dragon, such a mark might draw its ire if it noticed. The thought of contending with the Dragon-kin it could send persuaded Milo to use something else.
Instead, he carved a crude drawing of Crisplet into the stone, marking the location. Much to Crisplet’s amusement, the little flame elemental floated up near it and struck a pose?
Yes.. He was definitely striking a pose.
When we left the cave, I once again activated Arcane Foraging to see if there was anything in the area—but there was nothing. It was odd, because when we’d travelled through the forests on the way to Boltron the whole place glowed blue. Now, the only thing glowing was that vein of Pyrrhosite.
Getting down was just as bad as going up—worse, even. I’m sure the only reason I made it in one piece was that Jen held my shoulder the whole way; I felt like I might slip with every step. Once we made it down, the descent became much easier, since the ground was already compacted and we could just follow the path.
“So, was that creature particularly dangerous for the mountain?” I asked curiously.
“No, not really. Chironids are fairly common once you get about halfway up. They pack a lot of speed and physical power but lack magic. Once you go higher and start facing creatures with the same level of melee finesse and magic, that’s when it gets dangerous,” Jen explained.
“They’ll give me nightmares,” I said with a shiver. “Uh, so now that we’re heading back, how are we going to deal with the meal I need to cook?” I asked curiously, making conversation on our way down the mountain. Honestly, with the barren landscape and no signs of life at all, I was bored.
“Not sure,” Hari said thoughtfully. “I can’t imagine you need to cook the whole thing, and we’ll likely need to involve the guild due to the money on the line with that one, but also to ensure it’s kept secret.”
“Oh, like the scales?” I asked, remembering the armour and jewellery we’d seen in the guild shops.
“Not just the scales,” Hari explained. “Almost every part of it is incredibly valuable—blood, horns, teeth, eyes, scales, any skin not covered in scales. All of it’s worth a lot.”
“If Troy knew what you were carrying now, he’d never have short-changed you on those truffles. He’ll be kicking himself if he ever finds out,” Liane said, almost to herself.
“He short-changed me?” I asked, confused. I thought I’d gotten a good deal on those.
“Of course he did. He sold them for nearly two gold each, and he paid you what, fifty silver? Or less? He knew you needed money, and he knew you didn’t know better. I told him if he tried it again I’d slip poison in his drink. After that, he just started avoiding you,” she said with a chuckle.
“Wait—I thought he avoided me because I joined you guys,” I said, genuinely shocked. Why would he take advantage of me like that?
“Nah, just a good excuse. Troy’s alright for the most part, but he’s a merchant. Almost all merchants are greedy and will take whatever they can get. Just be mindful and patient,” she said.
I didn’t know what to say. How had I been so trusting and naive? Sure, I would’ve needed to sell one just to get some starting silver, but the second one? That one I should have kept. I’d be more careful in the future.
As we walked, we passed the structure Milo had set up earlier. This time he went over and dismantled it—I watched as it sank back into the ground before we continued down the path.
It was late in the afternoon when we finally reached our goal and saw the village appear on the horizon. With the sun setting and smoke curling out of chimneys, I wondered if we’d get to stay in the longhouse tonight.
It didn’t take long to reach the village once it was in sight. Entering, we didn’t see the adventurers this time, so we made our way straight to the longhouse to update Londor.
After a brief knock, he quickly answered the door.
“Oh, you’re back already? Is it safe?” he asked.
“It’s been dealt with. The young Galvonson was already dead when we arrived, and we took care of the creature that did it,” Hari replied, before continuing, “I was hoping we could intrude on your hospitality and stay the night here? It’s rather late to be heading back to Boltron.”
“Oh yes! Yes of course, please do come in. We have baths in the back. If you need water there is a well just outside. I will show you the rooms we have. I hope sharing is okay?” Londor said, stepping aside to allow us to enter.
The baths sounded amazing. I wasn’t covered in muck like the others, but Liane even had Milo throw water at her just to wash the blood off her armour. I decided not to cook anything that night, not wanting to risk more trouble by making food in front of people we didn’t really know well.
We ended up having Buvul jerky—which Liane had been hoarding this whole time! She gave me a hard time about snacks, yet she had her own stashed away? I’d get her back for this. I passed out several rolls to go with it, and after washing off, we all had an early night.
The next morning was much the same, only this time Londor had been up early and prepared breakfast for everyone. It was just a basic porridge with honey, but it was really nice, especially with the morning chill.
Londor informed us that the other adventuring team had left yesterday morning since the rebuild was complete. What shocked me most, though, was hearing that one of the villagers sent to get help had been found at the forest’s edge—drinking himself stupid, having never passed on the message. Apparently, a group had set off to bring him back to answer for his actions, and from Londor’s tone, I dreaded to think what the man had in store for him.
We left shortly after breakfast, collecting our horses from the stables. After checking everyone was ready, we set off. Liane immediately tried to persuade Hari to take us back towards the forest, claiming she had very important business to attend to in that direction.
Jen pointed out this very important business was, in fact, catching spiders, snakes, and scorpions for snacks—among other things.
“That is important! Think of the buffs!” she pleaded.
None of us believed her.
“We’ll go back through there soon. After we get our next job, I’m sure. We won’t be sticking around this mountain if we can avoid it,” Hari said. “I’ll give you extra time to go hunting when we go that direction, okay?”
This seemed to appease her.
The trip back to Boltron was pleasant.
We passed several caravans on the road. The weather had cleared, the storm clouds around the peak now drifting apart, and as we crested a hill and began our descent into the valley, the city gates came into view.
The line was longer than usual. Much longer.
“Looks like we may have some trouble getting back in,” Milo muttered.
“You think all that’s for us?” Jen asked, eyeing the checkpoint set up.
“What else would it be? They’ve got a full checkpoint set up—checking every wagon,” he said, gesturing toward the bottleneck at the gates.
“Well, we left Boltron to take on the job,” Hari said firmly. “And if they ask, we were already out of the city before things went crazy.”
Everyone nodded—even Crisplet bobbed along in agreement.
As we drew closer, suspicion became certainty. A cluster of mounted guards broke from the checkpoint and rode out to meet us.
Having spotted us coming down the road from the hill, they quickly surrounded us before their leader spoke.
“You five,” the man called. “The captain needs a word. Follow us.”
“What is this about? We are just returning from a job,” Hari said. I couldn’t help but notice his hand rested on his sword instead of his reins as usual.
“We’ve been tasked to look for a group of five adventurers with a fire elemental, regarding questioning about the events that took place here four days ago,” the guard replied.
“This is ridiculous. We were not even in the city then. Get your captain and bring them here. We won’t be paraded around like criminals. And while you’re at it, inform the vice-captain of the Adventurer's Guild, since we’re under his orders right now,” Hari said forcefully.
The nerve of the guards seemed to falter at that. Their leader stammered for a moment before sending one of his men off, presumably to fetch the captain.
“We’ll wait here then for them to arrive,” Hari said.
I almost laughed when Crisplet fired off sparks and turned a dark red, making a couple of the guards back away a little.
Comments
Bookwyvren
I’m thinking it will be like a seasoning salt?
Metafy
Thank you for the chapter!
tabitha
I wonder how he will be able to use the crystals!!! Tyftc
