Spiteful Healer

Chapter 182: Tablets of the Ancients

“Where exactly are you taking me?” Aegis asked Kaef’aktos as he followed behind him. They’d initially been traveling through the elegantly bright halls of the palace, illuminated by the natural interior wood of the White Tree. But as they continued on, the halls went deeper into the core of the tree, became more narrow, and as a result, the glow of the walls began to dull to that of a dark gray. It was still easy to see due to the lighting, but it was much more gloomy and ominous.

The sounds of other people moving about were gone, replaced only by the sounds of Aegis and Kaef’aktos’ footsteps tapping down on the wooden floors.

“My father was very protective of what he’d discovered, so he took extra precautions to keep it safe. He first showed it to me when I was only 50 years old.” Kaef’aktos explained.

“Only 50 years old? Is that considered young for Dark Elves?” Aegis asked curiously.

“Yes, quite. Why, is it not young for your kind?”

“Not really. At 50, we’ve lived half of our life already. Of course, medical science lately has been proving that not to be the case…” Aegis mumbled the last part to himself.

“Interesting. With such a short lifespan, it must be difficult to accomplish things, no?” Kaef’aktos asked curiously.

“That’s why humans prioritize working together to accomplish things more quickly, and relish our free time away from work so that we can pursue our own goals… or, just relax and enjoy life, I guess.” Aegis shrugged back.

“That makes sense. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt my people to adopt those tendencies and have more free time to pursue such ways of living…” Kaef’aktos nodded before stopping in front of a dead end in the long narrow hallway they’d been walking along. “It’s here.” He motioned to the wall.

“What is?” Aegis looked suspiciously at him.

“Only one of his blood may open the way. If I recall, I place one hand here…” Kaef’aktos placed one of his hands on the wall, then placed his other hand in another spot. Nothing happened at first, but he shifted his second hand around a few times until there was a loud clicking noise, and suddenly the wall began to shift and rise up, revealing a doorway into a chamber at the end of the hallway.

“Here we are.” Kaef’aktos motioned Aegis forward into the room, then stepped inside himself.

The interior was cylindrical, and much brighter than the hallway outside. All around the walls of the round room stood stone altars, and upon the stone altars were large rectangular stone tablets sitting atop them upright, depicting images and text written in the ancient language. With one exception, however. One altar had a glass case atop it with a large book sitting inside, that did not appear ancient at all.

“This rooms walls have been enchanted with numerous protection spells. Not even the most powerful warlocks, sages, or druids could breach them. You don’t need to worry about being scryed on inside here."

“This is incredible…” Aegis said with wide eyes as he approached the first tablet. He recognized the images carved into the tablet, of that of a miner digging away at a strange looking ore deposit he’d never seen before. “But, I can’t read ancient…” He added with a hint of disappointment.

“Do not worry. My father translated everything in his journal, over here.” Kaef’aktos explained as he walked over to the altar with the glass case and lifted it up carefully, then removed the book from the altar and handed it over to Aegis.

“Thanks…” Aegis excitedly took it from him.

“I believe his discovery begins on page 237. He located these tablets in an ancient ruin far off on the outer depths of the underrealm. They were made by, and for, an ancient civilization of dwarves, as you can see…” Kaef’aktos motioned to the humanoid depictions on the tablets resembling dwarves.

Aegis, excited to read the book, quickly flipped it open to page 237. Sure enough, detailed translations of all of the tablets were written down on the pages.

“I’ll leave you in silence for now, let me know if you have any questions.” Kaef’aktos said once he’d spotted Aegis reading the book. Aegis read it with intense focus, taking in every last detail, and it took a good long 30 minutes before he’d gotten all the notifications he’d been hoping for.

Mining Proficiency Learned: [Mithral]

Refining Proficiency Learned: [Mithral]

Blacksmithing Proficiency Learned: [Mithral]

Once the last notification came down, he let out an excited sigh of relief and a big dumb smile fell over his face.

“Finally. You don’t know how long I’ve been trying to learn this stuff.”

“Just remember, Mithral is much more powerful than Iron. It tips the balance of power, and could disrupt nations if the power is not respected. At least, that is what my father said.”

“Right.” Aegis nodded back as he flipped through a few more pages. “I’m curious, though. According to your father’s journal, he taught you these things. You know how to mine, refine, and forge mithral, right?” Aegis confirmed.

“Yes, I am capable of doing it. No experience doing it myself, but I understand the theory behind it all.”

“Well, then why teach it to me and give me the quest? Why not do it yourself and keep the power within your family?” Aegis asked, which caused Kaef’aktos to let out a hearty chuckle.

“I suppose that’d make sense from your point of view, but… did you ever wonder why not all of the Royal Guards were wielding mithral?”

“I assume due to trust, right?” Aegis replied curiously.

“Why did Viella not have mithral daggers, then? Surely my father trusted her. He also only had mithral weapons, not armor…”

“Oh…” Aegis came to the realization before Kaef’aktos had to say it directly.

“As you likely read in his journal, when my father found the tablets in that ancient dwarven city, he also found a storehouse containing old chunks of mined mithral. He used that mithral to practice, and forge the weapons for himself and Krael, but once he ran out, he ran out. Even though he figured out how to mine, refine and forge mithral, he still never found out where to look for it.” Kaef’aktos explained, causing Aegis to let out a frustrated sigh.

“And now we’re back to square one. The original problem. No one in the world knows where to find Mithral.” Aegis mumbled to himself as he went deep in thought. He carefully looked over the tablet depicting the dwarf mining it, but there were no direct clues on where it might be mined from.

“The only clue my father ever uncovered from the ancient ruins was a line of text in an ancient dwarven tome, mocking a race of ancient humans that were attempting to mine mithral themselves. The line read: ‘those idiots can dig for thousands of years, and they’ll still never find it’.” Kaef’aktos quoted the text.

“Well, that’s not very helpful.” Aegis sighed.

“No, it wasn’t.” Kaef’aktos chuckled. “But, I hope, with this information I’ve shared with you, and your vast knowledge available to you on the surface, that you may be able to locate Mithral, so that you may re-arm my people against the darkness of the underrealm.” Kaef’aktos said.

“Right.” Aegis nodded. “I’ll do my best. It isn’t just the underrealm filled with darkness, but these would be great to use against the abyss. Do you mind if I take this journal with me?” Aegis asked him.

“I’d prefer if it stays here.” Kaef’aktos replied.

“Right… well, I’m actually a decent scribe. Would it be alright if I made a copy of it? Just to keep reading over it for more details on where to find Mithral?”

“I suppose it should be fine. But I should warn you about sharing the information in that book and spreading the teachings of these tablets to the world at large.”

“I won't share it irresponsibly.” Aegis smirked as he pulled out several empty parchments that he’d brought with him from Rene, then his own ink quill. He then plopped down on the floor and sat cross legged, and got to work copying everything important from the later pages of the journal.

Despite it taking well over two hours for Aegis to copy it all down onto multiple parchment pieces, (gaining several levels in scribing in the process), Kaef’aktos waited silently and patiently, seemingly going into meditation while Aegis worked.

“Finished, that should be the last of it.” Aegis spoke up once the last pages had been copied. He gently closed the journal and handed it over to Kaef’aktos.

“Wonderful.” Kaef’aktos smiled and bowed politely before moving back over to the glass case and placing the journal inside it once more.

“The moment I discover mithral, your swords will be the first thing I forge.”

“I look forward to it. I must return to my mother and brothers, and look over those documents. I will escort you back to the upper halls so that you may rejoin your companions, and I’ll try to have an answer for Quinn as soon as possible.” Kaef’aktos said.

“Right. Sounds good to me.” Aegis replied as he added all of the parchment to his inventory and stood up off the floor. From there, the two headed back out of the chamber and Kaef’aktos sealed it shut behind himself. They then made their way back down the narrow winding hallways from once they’d came until they arrived back at the main hall of the Palace, of which Aegis was familiar with.

“Once more, I wish to thank you personally for saving our people.” Kaef’aktos said as a final farewell.

“It was my pleasure.” Aegis bowed back, and the two parted. Aegis made his way down the large entrance hall until arriving at the front gates of the Palace, and the guards standing watch gave him nods before pushing the palace doors open for him to leave.

As he stepped outside, he saw his party waiting together, and Quinn’s group standing off to the side. Surprisingly, though, they all looked very anxiously at Aegis and stood staring silently at him.

“Hey… guys? What’s wrong?” Aegis looked over the group, his eyes landing on his own companions. There, he saw Darkshot and Lina giving him eye gestures that pointed in the direction of Quinn’s group. Aegis turned to look at them and saw Cheryl leaning in and whispering something to Tullan, which seemed to prompt him to push past Quinn, Herilon and Trexon that were standing in front of him as if to hold him back.

“I’ll tell ye’ what the problem is.” Tullan growled at Aegis, startling him as he saw an angry expression in his eyes he’d never seen before. “You. Yer the problem.” Tullan snapped at him, wagging his index finger out at Aegis.

“What do you mean?” Aegis replied, looking confused as he glanced between Tullan and Quinn.

“He’s refusing to build the portal altar. He… he says-” Quinn began to explain, but was interrupted.

“I said what I meant. I’m done with this guild. Done doin’ all these crafts for ye, runnin’ around like yer little worker bee.” Tullan shouted at Quinn angrily.

“But, we pay you a good amount of gold to do it, it’s not like you’re a slave or something…” Trexon replied.

“That gold aint nothin’ but a drop in the bucket compared to what this kid is gonna be makin’, now that he’s got the secret to mithral on his character sheet.” Tullan motioned to Aegis.

“It’s about the mithral proficiencies?” Aegis asked.

“Yer goddamn right it’s about the mithral proficiencies.” Tullan shouted. “I was watchin’ the stream. Quinn turned down the chance to learn ‘em herself just now, all because she thought it wasn’t fair to you. Eh? WHAT ABOUT ME? WHAT'S FAIR TO ME?!” Tullan shouted at her.

“Hey, we’re the ones that came here and found the quest. Aegis earned them. I didn’t see any of you coming down here exploring the underrealm.” Pyri interjected.

“OH REALLY?! I WONDER WHY THAT IS!?” Tullan shouted at Pyri, startling her with his abrupt anger. “Maybe it’s because we’ve been busy keepin’ Rene safe from all those damn bandits that Feng and Makaroth brought over!?” Tullan added.

“Wait, what?” Aegis looked over the Night Hunter’s with a surprised expression. “Makaroth was here, on Kalmoore?”

“Only for a week… him and Feng just brought over some priests to do the shattered healer quests at the monastery you built…” Trexon explained.

“Seriously? They’re stealing Aegis’ class?” Darkshot shouted with a surprised tone.

“It’s not exactly stealing. The class isn’t exclusive, and has some unique skills, so it's only natural they’d want members in their guild with it…” Herilon shrugged.

“You didn’t think to tell me any of this was happening?” Aegis replied.

“I didn’t know that I had to.” Quinn answered him with an annoyed expression. “Besides, you were busy grinding in Belmiure. Would you have really wanted to know?” Quinn asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I don’t like that you decided for him.” Pyri chimed in.

“She didn’t decide anything for him. It aint her job to babysit Aegis and keep him updated on everything that happens. Damn streamers always think they’re the center of the universe.” Tullan jumped in angrily. “We’ve given him plenty of chances to join the guild, or form his own guild and join our alliance. But he aint never taken ‘em, cause he’s too focused on himself, and gainin’ power for you lot. Doesn’t think to give back to all those who’ve been lookin’ out for him.” Tullan added as he stomped forward and closed in on Aegis, wagging his finger furiously at him.

“Who took you to Arallia, eh? Stayed behind to help you save those Arallian’s despite the danger it put us in? Who guarded you while you started out in Orm? Who gave you that god damned necklace yer’ wearin’ right now, and helped you with the raid boss under your city? All that, and what the hell has he done fer us except attract a guild of bandits to our island!?” Tullan roared, his words directed both at Aegis and Quinn.

“And yet, yer’ still givin’ him special treatment, thinkin’ more about bein’ fair to him, than bein’ fair to your own god damned, hard working guild mates. Turnin’ down learning Mithral when it was handed to you on a silver platter, that was the last straw.” Tullan shouted directly at Quinn. Following these words, it went deafly silent as no one had anything to immediately refute Tullan’s words, but Aegis’ mind was racing and thinking over it.

“Forget it. I’m done. Trexon, give me a portal outta here.” Tullan marched over to Trexon, who turned to Quinn. Quinn gave Trexon a hesitant nod, so Trexon began preparing to cast a portal, but was stopped by Aegis.

“Wait.” Aegis called out, causing all eyes to turn onto him. Once they had, he realized that he hadn’t quite finished collecting his thoughts yet and didn’t exactly know what he wanted to say. He took a deep breath and looked down at his feet. Part of him was angry to hear about Makaroth, but he did his best to swallow that anger and frustration in favor of dealing with the more immediate issue - the Night Hunters were hurting, and it was all his fault.

“You’re right. The Night Hunters have done a lot for me. I’ve seen first hand what its like on other islands, so I know you guys must put in a lot of effort to keep this island peaceful.” Aegis said as he gave a nod of respect to Quinn. “Ultimately, we’re on the same team, even if I don’t wear your tabard. We both want what's best for our friends, and the people on this island. It’s because of you that we were able to level up and explore the underrealm, undisturbed. You guys did something about Emerill, didn’t you?” Aegis asked.

“Yeah, busted his ass.” Herilon smirked proudly, while Cheryl’s eye seemed to twitch slightly.

“We’re only able to quest, level, and explore peacefully because of the hard work you guys do. So it’s only fair to share it. It’s also, logically smarter, to work with you, given your class.” Aegis thought it out while motioning to Tullan. “So, I’ll make you a deal…” Aegis looked Tullan in the eyes.

“I’m listenin’.” Tullan replied.

“I’ll share the mithral proficiencies with the best Night Hunter crafter, only if he plans to use it to help the Night Hunter’s keep Kalmoore safe. And in return. I want to be a part of every craft of mithral we make together, through work projects. Your class has access to skills that will allow you to craft gear beyond what a Shattered Healer can, but I want to be a part of all of it. I’m just as excited about discovering these proficiencies as you are.” Aegis explained.

“Aegis, are you sure?” Lina asked.

“Mithral proficiencies will be worth millions…” Rakkan added.

“Yeah, which is why it’s okay to share it with someone I trust. There will still be plenty of gold for both of us. Tullan’s right, we’ve been standing on the shoulders of the Night Hunters for awhile now.” Aegis explained.

“Very mature of you.” Pyri smiled. After this, it went quiet again as Tullan was clearly deep in thought, but slowly, his expression turned to that of guilt and shame, and he reluctantly nodded back at Aegis.

“Al… alright.” Tullan nodded. “Sorry fer’ yellin’, it’s just… it aint fun like it used to be. The NPCs in Kordas, they just keep complainin’, makin’ demands, no matter what we craft and supply ‘em with. It’s been wearin’ me down.” Tullan mumbled.

“It’s alright, I understand.” Quinn nodded and gently put her hand on his shoulder.

“They’re wearing all of us down.” Trexon replied. Aegis listened and was reminded of how the NPCs had been treating Savika, and a hint of worry filled his heart. But while Aegis was thinking on it, Pyri heard the sound of sucking teeth coming from an annoyed looking Cheryl, which piqued her interest. She kept her eyes on Cheryl from that moment forward, but Cheryl quickly noticed she was being watched and evened out her facial expressions so that she appeared emotionless.

“Come, let’s talk over here. I’ll teach you the proficiencies. Besides, I could use your help with something.”

“Wait, ye’ can teach the proficiencies to me yerself?” Tullan asked, surprised.

“Just, come. Let’s talk in private.” Aegis smiled and motioned him to follow, heading away from the group.

“Ain't gotta tell me twice.” Tullan replied excitedly, his short dwarven legs waddling after Aegis.

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