Return of the Runebound Professor

After an uneventful return to Dawnforge, Noah turned his job and a little under half of the teeth he’d collected to the adventurer’s guild, collecting on his seven hundred gold. The person who had placed the job had hidden their name – rather wisely – so Noah just had to settle for handing everything to one of the inn workers and leaving in an annoyed huff.

He then headed straight over to Thaddius to sell the rest of the teeth he’d collected. The large merchant bared his teeth in greeting as Noah walked inside.

“Welcome back,” Thaddius said, splaying his hands out on top of his table and leaning back. “What brings you here today? Did you muster up the coin to buy a Space Rune?”

“Afraid not.” Noah dumped the remaining Wylf teeth on the table, then pushed the pile closer to Thaddius. “I want to sell these. Some idiot placed a job that grossly underestimated how many monsters would be there.”

Thaddius let out a booming laugh and plucked one of the teeth, holding it between two fingers as he squinted to get a closer look. He turned it over, then nodded. “Decent. Not particularly rare, but not garbage either. This all of them?”

Noah nodded.

“I’ll buy the lot for one eighty.”

“Three hundred,” Noah countered.

“Three – three hundred?” Thaddius’ eyes bulged and he shot upright, slapping his palms on the countertop. “Are you insane? They’re teeth, not gold!”

“They’re parts that came from monsters with poison Runes. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out those are probably going to be pretty useful in weapons or something. Hell, I bet you’d make a good amount selling them to someone who focuses on potions. Anything poisonous feels like it tends to have multiple uses.”

“They’re not Imbued. They’re just teeth. Any poison attributes that linger are going to be weak at best. You’re trying to run me for my money. I’ll do two hundred.”

“Two fifty, and only because I’ve got better things to do than haggle for an hour. I’m pretty sure I could get better for them if I went to a potion maker or the like, so just take the damn deal already.”

“Two fifty it is,” Thaddius said with a wry grin, pulling out several stacks of coins and counting them off by tens before pushing everything over to Noah. “There you go. Your friend is a much better haggler than you are, by the way.”

“I’m aware,” Noah replied as he stuffed the gold into his bag. “I don’t have the patience for it. Speaking of money, though, how’s that auction going?”

“Slower than I had hoped, but only because there are a couple collectors interested. They’re fighting with each other, which is good for us. You and I will be making a good amount of money very soon, friend.”

“Good to hear. How soon, exactly?”

“I will put an end to discussions by tomorrow night if they have not decided by then, but I suspect things will be done earlier,” Thaddius said with a shrug. He scooped the teeth off the desk and into a box that he tucked under the counter. “Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“I had a question, actually. Do you know if there are any protected Great Monsters near Dawnforge?”

“Protected? No. Only the Bastions do that,” Thaddius said with a shake of his head. “Anything actually in the city is obviously off limits, but outside it – that’s free game. Just don’t get yourself killed picking a fight with something you can’t handle.”

“Noted,” Noah said, inclining his head. He bid the merchant farewell and headed out of the shop, making for Olive’s store. It had been over six hours since he’d left, probably bordering on seven. Olive had claimed to work fast, and Noah was hopeful that the Imbuer hadn’t been exaggerating.

When Noah got to Olive’s shopfront, there was no light in the main room. Noah peered through the window, confused. There was still a faint yellow glow coming from the back room, which was promising.

Noah tried the door and was surprised to find that it swung open easily. He’d been half expecting that it would be locked considering the store looked like it had closed for the day. Noah headed inside, shutting the door behind himself.

There was a thump from the back, followed by some quick shuffling. The back door swung open and Olive poked his head out. His hair stuck out in every odd direction and he looked like he’d just run a marathon.

“Ah. You’re back,” Olive said, wiping his brow and sending a glance over his shoulder before he stepped out into the dark main room. “A little earlier than I expected.”

“It’s been nearly seven hours,” Noah replied. “Was that too fast?”

“No, no.” Olive shook his head. “I just ran into some… unexpected difficulties. I suppose everything is done.”

“When you put it that way, I get concerned.” Noah’s eyes narrowed. “What happened?”

“It might be easier if I showed you.” Olive pushed the back door open fully and beckoned for Noah to follow him.

Noah obliged, stepping into the workshop. A lantern flickered above Olive’s work desk. Tools were scattered across it, beside various scraps of cloth and furs. Sitting at the center of the desk was a small plush made from the snowy white fur that Noah had given Olive – but it certainly wasn’t a bear.

Little red spines ran down the stuffed animal’s back, and a fluffy tail curled around its feet. It was a cat – one that would have been unmistakable, even if it weren’t for the twin antlers sprouting from the top of its skull.

“What,” Noah asked, his eye twitching slightly, “is that?”

Olive heaved an exhausted sigh. “The work of some little demon. You’ve got something following you. As soon as you left my shop and I got to work, a little cat monster started screwing with me.”

You have to be kidding me.

“How does getting screwed with result in creating a perfect replica of it?”

“Every single time I took my hands off or paused, it would pull my work apart. Damn thing was so slippery that I couldn’t even so much as catch it. Trust me, I tried. Wasted an hour chasing the thing around, but every time I came back to my desk after giving up, it had undone my stitching.”

“So you…”

“Gave up,” Olive confirmed with a chagrined grin. “And, as soon as I stopped fighting with it, the cat dragged out a bunch of my supplies and guided me until I made… well, it. It clearly had something to do with you based on how focused it was on the project, so I figured it might be better to go along with things.”

“Right,” Noah said dryly, examining the stuffed cat closer. He did have to admit that it looked pretty cute, although it wasn’t exactly the cuddliest creature he could imagine. “You’re telling me you got bullied into making this.”

“For lack of a better word, yes. I can try to take it apart and start again, but…”

Noah rubbed his brow and shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. The damn cat definitely won’t let that happen. I can’t say it’s not well made. It isn’t really what I was expecting, but I suppose it’s got a lot of personality.”

Relief flashed across Olive’s features. “I’m very thankful to hear that. I’ve never had anything like that happen before. The cat monster is yours, then?”

“I don’t know if it’s anyone’s,” Noah replied. “But it’s taken a… liking to me, I suppose. There’s not much to do about it now. This is more unique than a bear, anyway. It’ll grow on me.”

“As long as you’re happy. Luckily, I had no such issues creating the cloak. The cat didn’t seem too concerned with that.”

“I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not,” Noah said dryly, but he glanced around nonetheless. “Where is it?”

Olive walked over to the side of the workshop and picked up a velvet cloth bundle. He brought it back over to Noah and set it on the table, unfolding it with swift, practiced motions. From within it, Olive pulled a half-length cloak.

The majority of the cloak was made from the white fur that Noah had brought Olive. Thin silver thread trimmed the cuffs and collar. They wound throughout the entire piece, shimmering faintly beneath the fur when looked at from just the right angle.

Olive handed Noah the cloak, and he was surprised to find how light it was. Despite the thick fur, it felt like he was holding something the weight of silk.

While the quality of the piece was clear, it wasn’t extravagant. It never would have been a casual-wear piece on Earth, but in the Arbalest Empire, it fit right in. Olive grinned at the expression on Noah’s face.

“You approve?”

“It looks fantastic. I was worried it would be a bit gaudy, but this is everything I could have wanted you did a great job.”

“Of course I did.” Olive shot Noah an annoyed look. “I am very good at what I do. Now, we haven’t gotten to the Imbuements yet. I included the most obvious ones, of course. Self-repair, mild protection against most attacks, all the like. It’ll draw energy from your surroundings and siphon off a little bit from any kills you take to keep itself running, so you don’t have to worry about it dying out.”

“That’s convenient. It’ll work indefinitely, then?”

“As long as you don’t manage to completely destroy the entire thing in the blink of an eye and keep it topped up with energy, yes. That’s hardly the interesting part, though. I’ve also added a few extra Imbuements. That cat had some real interesting properties, so I plucked a bit of its fur and wove strands of it into the cloak.”

Noah started to nod, then froze. “You what?”

“While it was messing with the stuffed animal. It was pretty distracted, so I just took some. The cat was a slippery bugger when it was moving around, slipping in and out of walls. I don’t know what Runes it had, but I figured I could work some of that into the cloak. Besides, the cat was very furry. I doubt it even noticed.”

“Somehow, I find that hard to believe, but continue. What did its fur do?”

“I am not entirely sure,” Olive admitted. “You wanted a gift, and so I did my best to keep my own influence out of the last Imbuement. I’d imagine it’ll have some similar properties to that cat of yours, but it’ll need to gather some energy before the full functions of the Imbuements are revealed.”

“Well, damn. That’s pretty impressive,” Noah said, studying the cloak closer. Olive held his hands out and Noah returned it to the Imbuer, who wrapped the cloak back up in the velvet cloth.

“I am well aware. I am quite proud of it,” Olive said. “Your cat seemed quite insistent on helping out with this project, and judging by the fact that it hasn’t come back to mess with me since I finished, I imagine it approves as well.”

“I certainly hope so. I owe you another nine hundred gold, right?”

Olive nodded, and Noah handed over the rest of the payment for the job. Olive tossed it onto his desk, then put the plush on top of the velvet and wrapped the whole thing in a layer of soft cloth.

“Pleasure doing business with you,” Olive said, handing Noah the bundle.

“Likewise,” Noah replied. “Thanks again. You did a brilliant job.”

“So you have said. On with you, then.”

Noah departed the Imbuer’s shop and headed back for the inn, his chest unexpectedly tight. He hadn’t expected to be quite so nervous about giving someone a gift. On his way back, his eye caught on a vendor selling pies at the side of the road.

He swung by, buying half a dozen of them – most of which were for Lee – and then continued his trek toward the room.

I’m not sure why the cat was messing with things, but I’d like to think everything still turned out nice. Maybe I’ll ask the thing the next time I see it.

I just hope Moxie likes this.

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