Escape From Litchfield Read online

  "That reminds me. Are you up for a spending spree at Maybelle's? We have the funds. May as well gear up as much as possible."

  Jare replied, "For sure. At least we can break in the gear while we wait for a guide. Let's finish up our planning and go shop."

  ***

  Maybelle's General Goods was one of the best general goods store for adventurers. It was the best market for adventurers with its reputation of buying just about anything found in a dungeon. Yes, they will buy bat wings, roots, turtle meat, and frog eyes. They had everything an adventurer would need for most outings. The secret to their success was that they had talented craftsmen and salesmen that would either resell or melt down the gear to be repurposed. They have their own blacksmith, jeweler, leatherworker, and tailor working full time, and if you have the skill, you could even rent out tools, supplies, and your own crafting station. The store was truly massive! However, it dealt mostly with generic items and commissioned work, leaving high end and specialty gear for other shops.

  Maybelle greeted them as they entered. "Welcome to my humble store!" Beaming, she greeted them personally. Nodding to Jare, she said, "Jare! Glad to see you are well." Turning to Auth, she said, "Auth, it's always a pleasure to serve you! Gentlemen, do you have gear to sell? Perhaps you're looking to buy?" She shifted a bit and tried to conceal her interest as she said casually, "Perhaps you have more permacrete to sell?"

  Auth replied, "Hi Maybelle! I do happen to have some permacrete. Did you need some more?"

  Eyes locked on like firedarts aimed at Auth, she replied, "Why, I could always use some more permacrete for storage purposes. How much do you have?" She leaned forward towards Auth, almost to the point of falling over, despite her poker face and casual voice. She must be desperate for more permacrete to give away so much through body language.

  "I've got one ton of permacrete separated out into 1 pound increments, like the last batch. Do you prefer the batches in any other size?"

  "I have had a few inquiries on blocks of permacrete, but they did not commit to a down payment, however, I could stock some sample blocks."

  Auth nodded. "That sounds reasonable. Keep in mind that we can provide blocks of permacrete as you need them. In fact, if provided the design, we can inscribe all sorts of artwork onto the faces at no extra charge."

  Maybelle's jaw dropped and her eyes sparkled with the intense possibilities presented to her. Even in that state, her voice dripped casualness as she said, "You have given me much to think about. I'll go ahead and take your current load of permacrete off your hands. You're reachable by magic messenger bird, right? I'd love to make orders via bird if you find that suitable?"

  Auth recalled the permacrete from storage, placing it in the corner of the room. Turning back to Maybelle, he put on his best merchant smile and said, "Yes. I am available by bird. If I become unavailable, I'll contact you with a representative." Auth confirmed the transfer of 200,000 credits. "I'm sending you my contact glyph, but keep in mind that we're in the process of securing our city against rogue birds. There is a high chance that my glyph will change to meet the security standards we develop. If that happens, I'll send you it via bird." Including the sale from the last time he was in town, he now had more credit than entire cities usually held at any one time. You could buy a lot with 400,000 credits. It was technically Hopetown's credit, but as a de facto leader, he was keeping the credits in his account until Tamara could take them. Hopetown technically had its own credit account, but Auth wasn't authorized to deposit or withdraw from the account. Meanwhile, he and Jare needed to fund the city and Tamara's rescue attempt.

  Maybelle sighed in happiness at the pile of permacrete, credit signs in her eyes. However, she wasn't so far gone that she didn't want more profit. "Thanks! I'll be sure to look for the new glyph. And please, please, explore my store! I have a massive selection of wares that every adventurer needs! There are even rooms for tutoring and crafting. No appointment necessary, we always have tutors available on a first come first serve basis. And just for you, for a limited time only, a 10% discount off of the listed price." She wasn't wrong. Auth and Jare had been credit poor the last time they visited the store, but now with vast sums of credit available to them, they needed to shop til they dropped!

  Jare asked, "Maybelle, do you know of any weapons, enchantments, or items that will give you an edge in a fight against higher level foes?"

  She looked thoughtful, then said, "I know of situational use items. It's possible to use powerful scrolls and one time use items that can change a battle. But such items are rare enough that it's not a viable leveling up strategy, except for the truly wealthy." Pausing to consider her words carefully, she added, "Even I would be hard pressed to procure even a handful of such items."

  Auth clapped Jare's shoulder. "Good thinking!" Looking back to Maybelle, he said, "If you happen to procure some of these items, we would love the chance at purchasing them." Considering that Maybelle was responsible for most of their budget, he was sure she would be able to steer them in the right direction.

  She replied, "Of course, anything for my favorite customers!"

  "Thanks! Your generosity is greatly appreciated! After we've found some excellent gear, I'd love to discuss some of the needs for my home town. I assume that the discount would apply for bulk purchases?"

  Maybelle's eyes grew as wide as saucer bowls. "Of course! Of course! I had no idea that you were a noble. All bulk purchases of over one thousand credits automatically qualify for a minimum of 10% discount, but even steeper discounts await for larger purchases." Pausing, she looked over her shoulder and called out, "Greyan! Greyan! Please get some refreshments for our noble guests!" Turning back to Auth and Jare, she curtsied. "Please forgive me for not realizing your nobility! We'll have some refreshments brought to you as you browse our wares."

  Nodding in acknowledgment of his due, he took Maybelle's advice and steered Jare to browse her wares.

  Jare was checking out the different potions available for weapons, when he mentioned, "Auth, I finally found a good alchemist that can fill my spiked shield that Tamara made for me! The shield supports fire, frost, poison, and acid damage. I got a load-out for all of them, but I love the poison the most. The properties of the potions are really interesting. The frost potion load-out does 10 damage and has a chance to slow down any enemies hitting the shield by 20%. The fire potion does 10 damage with up to 100% bonus damage. The poison potion does 10 damage over 10 seconds, however, each dose stacks. And lastly, the acid damage does 10 damage and deteriorates their gear. I like the acid load-out the least, but every load-out has its uses."

  Jare said, "I've also maxed out my skills for sword, shield, and bash skills. We're ready to leave." He paused his browsing as he came across a pound of permacrete for sale for 500 credits. Permacrete Messenger birds were on sale for a starting price of 100 credits.

  Auth said, "I've been training as well. I've managed to max out my skills for fire, water, earth, and air magic. And we're still buying gear and preparing. We're not ready." Following Jare's gaze at the birds, he recalled the first time they had entered the shop to haggle for permacrete sales with Tamara. "We should stock up on birds. Technically, I can make them, since I have the spell. But molding the permacrete into animal shapes takes skill that I don't have. The birds here will fly faster and be less prone to damage than anything I'd make. See? We didn't even have nice well-made messenger birds. How could we be ready?" The silence stretched for a good couple of minutes before he brought the topic back to Jare.

  "Does your alchemist have better health and mana potions than here?"

  "Yeah, I'll show you the place after we finish here," the warrior replied.

  They both picked up a small and a large bird for themselves. Auth grabbed a handful for the town.

  "So. How many credits do we have now?" asked Jare.

  "We're still selling permacrete at 200 credits per pound, and we've sold 2 tons, giving us working credits of 400000ish credits. We
've been outfitting the town though and we will have personnel costs coming due soon, so we have about 320000 credits that we can spend. We do want to keep some to pay salaries though."

  This was a paradise for lowbie adventurers. There were +1 and +2 rings of every attribute type. Potions, spell scrolls, amulets, and books galore! They each had some magical items, and with so much credit, they may as well max out their gear. "We both have one ring. And a full set of armor. Let's make sure to get two rings for each hand, an amulet, two bracelets for each arm, and a cloak."

  Jare nodded as eyed a +2 ring of strength. "Why is it that we can only wear two rings per hand? If we could use a ring for each finger, we'd have more than double the boosts!"

  Auth replied, "It has to do with enchantments themselves. Otherwise, mages would load up with a hundred enchanted necklaces. Not only that, but the enchantments have to be compatible with each other. If you have a ring of water and a ring of fire on the same hand, you're liable to blow up! So if you must wear enchantments with conflicting spells, you should keep them as far away from each other as possible. I could use one of each conflicting type on different hands, but I'm doubtful you could do it with a two handed sword. You'll be fine most of the time, but at some critical moment, they'll probably blow up or misfire on you."

  "That's good to keep in mind. Strength gear is a good bet for any of the subclasses available to me. I'll also need to stock up on health potions, bandages, and spare mana potions to toss out after battle, " commented Jare absentmindedly.

  "I'm going to be going with intelligence gear, myself. I could use agility, but at this point nothing beats Intelligence unless I want to round myself out a bit. We should both keep a supply of consumables in case we get separated."

  They wandered around the store and chatted about the various items in the store. Coming across some dimensional bags, Jare whistled. "Damn! Ten slot bags! All of our food and water would only take up two slots, leaving eight more, right?"

  Nodding, Auth replied, "Yeah. We need a couple of those. 1000 credits per bag after discount isn't cheap, but we can afford it." They had gotten closer since Tamara had left, and they were dead set on saving her. Nothing would get in their way!

  Jare replied, "Tamara bought a five slot bag for 100 credits. It's hard to believe that a ten slot bag costs 10 times more."

  "It's because the 5 slot version can be made by a new enchanter working on leveling his skills. The 100 credits barely cover the cost of the materials. Ten slot bags require more resources and skills."

  After wrapping up their gear situation, they went to see Maybelle to purchase their gear and the needed supplies for Hopetown.

  Maybelle said, "Two dimensional bags, bracers, amulets, 50 mana potions, 50 health potions, messenger birds, and several stat rings come out to 6000 credits! After the discount, the total is 5400, you saved 600 credits!"

  Jare grinned and gave her a thumbs up. "We saved a bundle! Thank you!"

  After they gathered up their purchases, he decided it was time to have a talk with Jare. Auth was nervous, but he had something to get off his chest. "Jare. About my family."

  The warrior waved him off. "You don't need to tell me about your family. It's fine, whatever your secrets."

  Auth nodded. "Still. I have something to get off my chest." He suddenly noticed that his hands and robe were drenched in sweat. The robe was in good shape due to its self-cleaning nature, so he carefully used his robe to wipe his hands before he took a deep breath. Then he plunged in. "A family friend warned me about a prophecy that may involve Tamara. He said that she fulfilled several difficult requirements and that she was bound to fail." He chose to omit the scavenger techniques that Sir Robins had suggested.

  Nodding solemnly, Jare replied, "Thank you for telling me. I can see how that can be awkward. Your family friend has put you into a position that you didn't ask for. But for the record, I don't believe in prophecies. We take fate into our own hands."

  Chapter 2

  I'm dreaming again. I know. I'm back at Hopetown battling Jenny. The entire battlefield belonged to me. Massive power was flowing through my body. I was a death song and the battleground was my masterpiece. I knew everything - every item, every movement, and every sound. Spells, steel, and arrows flew past me, inches from my skin but not touching – just like I wanted. They tickle me as they pass by. It excited me to cheat death.

  ***

  I'm dreaming again. I know. I'm back at Hopetown battling Jenny. And I danced, oh how I danced! Song flowed out of me. Perhaps it was my imagination, but I felt my ancestors singing with me – guiding me. I come from a long line of bards stretching all the way back to the birth planet of Man. The song started as a haste song and ended up something more. Something divine. Time was meaningless. Even Jenny was meaningless.

  ***

  I'm dreaming again. I know. I'm back at Hopetown battling Jenny. If it wasn't for my chronometer rattling in my head, I would have missed Jare throwing the package. Even with the alarm deafening me, I still didn't comprehend its meaning for a good while, and when I did understand it was too late. Ever since she had learned to meditate, she had been using the skill nonstop. Always, in the back of her mind, she could sense that ocean of mana dripping into her own meager pool. Somehow, I mentally grabbed the line of power leading to the source and twisted it into a fireball rune. And the magic formed into a fireball arcing towards the engine. I could see and sense the magic gather and disperse into the ball of fire. Somehow, instinctively I did it again with the blink spell. Instant rune casting. How did that happen? What's going on?

  ***

  I felt my ancestors singing with me – guiding me. I come from a long line of bards stretching all the way back to the birth planet of Man. The song started as a haste song and ended up something more. Something divine. Time was meaningless. Even Jenny was meaningless.

  ***

  I'm dreaming again. I know. I'm back at Hopetown battling Jenny. As a dreamer, I noticed that the sky was an amazing shade of blue with just small clumps of clouds even as I pulled the thread of power into a rune of Fireball. The power does as I command, and the fireball flies to the brown package. As I grabbed the power to blink away, I saw massive power trapped in the gravity engine waiting for my fireball to free it. Tiny specks of black, but the blue glow of mana emanated out like the sun. So much power is trapped in those microscopic particles.

  ***

  I'm dreaming again. I know. I'm back at Hopetown battling Jenny. The explosion behind me was catching up, but I'm making it work to catch me. The explosion is so beautiful. Opposing forces join in a kiss, and the world lights up. I saw it. Time flowing backward. Time flowing forwards. Objects disappearing and reappearing meters away. Why didn't I see it earlier? It was so clear. My mind spun with possibilities. Such is life with five hundred intelligence.

  ***

  I'm dreaming again. I know. I'm back at Hopetown battling Jenny. I see the power flowing through everything. Cores all around me were pulsating with power. Tiny robots shout out their little messages. And magic flows. I saw everything. And apparently everything was staring back at me. I am the One, and the universe will never be the same again.

  ***

  I'm dreaming again. I know. I'm back at Hopetown battling Jenny.

  ***

  I'm dreaming again. I know. I'm age six in Belleville. This was THAT day. The day a girl became an adult. Little Tamara and her family are having an afternoon picnic in the park. It was a gorgeous day – warm with a slight breeze. Tamara was wearing that Yellow Sundress with large white circles. The one that would billow up and about with the slightest wind, and even better, was when she'd whirl around pretending to be a one of those Maple seedlings/helicopters. You had to yell when you did it! Giant Pink bow on her waist and little ones for her hair. Her father wore his blacksmith clothes – just dusted off. Her mother in a cream sun dress. Elegant, yet excellent for picnics.

  Munching on a sandwich, Tamara asked, "Dad, why is the s
ky blue?"

  "Tamara, I don't know."

  "Dad, why do we have three moons? I wanna fly to Luna Prime! Can we fly to Luna now?"

  A little piece of lettuce falls out of Tamara's sandwich. "Why do things fall to the ground?"

  "Tamara, I don't know."

  "Why don't you know?"

  "Arrrggg. No More Talk."

  "What's wrong dad?"

  "Grounded"

  Tamara is grounded 1 month.

  "Mom, what is wrong with dad?"

  "Argg. Grounded," she replied.

  Tamara is grounded 2 months.

  Crying, Tamara drops her sandwich and wipes tears streaming from her eyes.

  "Argg. Grounded."

  Tamara is grounded 3 months.

  Shivering between sobs, Tamara says, "I didn't say anything."

  "Argg. Grounded."

  Tamara is grounded 4 months.

  "Argg. Grounded."

  Tamara is grounded 5 months.

  Tamara is grounded 6 months.

  Tamara is grounded 7 months.

  Tamara is grounded 8 months.

  "Argg. Grounded."

  Tamara is grounded 9 months.

  Tamara is grounded 10 months.

  …

  ERROR! ERROR! Tamara can not be grounded past the age of majority.

  ...

  ERROR! ERROR! Enter a valid number, 99999e999 is not a valid entry.

  ***

  I'm dreaming again. I know. I'm back at Hopetown battling Jenny. Even so far away, I sensed the package. As I grabbed power to blink away, I could hardly miss the massive power trapped in the gravity engine waiting for my fireball to free it. Tiny specks of black, but the blue glow of mana emanated out like the sun. So much power. If mana could sear eyes, I'd have gone blind. It doesn't matter to me because only the dance mattered. Fortunately, I closed my eyes as the world unraveled and an intense heat seared my back, threatening to envelop me even as it propelled me forward. What is happening?