I bring this up because Penny's Library in the Aedificium has started talking to me. Well, whispering actually. My ESP doesn't work here, but I can see. Just a little really, but enough so I don't trip over the furniture or miss the chair when I sit down. The vision of my youth is returning perhaps? Or the ghost of it that remains in my cerebral cortex.
But I still can't read. I can pick up and open the metaphysical books, turn the pages, even smell them for some reason. But I can't make out the writing. I guess because I hadn't learned to read before I lost my sight.
The books whisper to me, though. My brain trying to make sense of things again? The problem is that I can't understand what they're saying. That's annoying in the extreme. The sort of thing that could drive a guy crazy.
And I don't know how to solve the problem. I can't bring the pages into focus well enough to begin learning how to read. Maybe I need to hire a helper? Frustrating. But that’s life, I guess. Presenting me with another challenge.
For the first time since arriving here, I’m truly having fun. Truly able to set aside my cares and worries for a while and get lost in the moment.
I am playing Marle Pahn; a unique game which combines elements of chess, board wargaming, and role playing. And it’s fascinating. Not only is it challenging in multiple unexpected ways, but it is also customizable to an absurd degree. Games can be solitaire; games can be between two people, three people, twenty people, however many people you want.
Games can be played on a field of any size; from as small as a chessboard to as large as a football field. They can be designed to reflect a specific real world scenario or some wild flight of fancy. I’m not ashamed to say that I’m in love.
And the people here can play! They are efficient tacticians, brilliant strategists, and cunning schemers. Which equates to great opponents. They’ve welcomed me with open arms. It almost brings me to tears how happy I am.
Thanks to Kari and Rio, of course. They’ve known about this for weeks. They’ve been using it for training: each in their own way. And now I can too. It’s a great weight off my shoulders. My role as Family leader is a constant stressor. Marle Pahn will allow me to test my ideas and strategies. Give me a forum for gathering feedback that doesn’t involve risking our lives.
Plus it’s just so incredibly much fun!
A business is a place. This is a concept I’ve had some difficulty wrapping my mind around. All business is anchored to the place the business is done. For example, a farm is a business, a workshop is a business, a bank is a business, and a restaurant is a business. The place can even move; a traveling merchant might have a whole train of carts, but she will designate one cart as her place of business and everything else is considered part of that cart.
Sounds a little weird when I describe it that way. I don’t know how else to describe it, though. People don’t pay taxes in this part of Emulgren. Businesses pay taxes. And it is purely a tax on the exchange of goods. It gets complicated there, according to whether you are selling to another business or to a person. No need to go into further details now.
I am writing this down just to clarify my thinking. People can produce goods but they have to sell them through a place of business. Harvesters harvest goods but they have to sell them through a business. More accurately, since harvesters harvest materials from Hexes in teams, the team (in the form of their cart or possibly the house where they live) is a business and handles all transactions while paying the applicable taxes.
Businesses are registered with an appropriate Guild and it is the Guild which collects the taxes, does the audits, and levies penalties if necessary. I kind of like this idea.
“Hi, my name’s Kari and this is my hammer, Alexa B. I hope we’ll do well together.”
“I know who you are, you nitwit,” Rio responds.
“Who you callin’ a nitwit? You’re a nitwit! And a … a double nitwit, too!”
“Yeah, yeah, okay. We should get on with it. Did Addie tell you what the mission is?”
“Yep! We’re gonna go into this here Dungeon, kick ass, take names and win glory for the Family.”
“Not quite. We’re going to enter the Dungeon as a team of two and, hopefully, map out the first floor. Addie is going to lead us on our first Family team dive in a couple weeks. We need to get her enough information so that she knows how to train us to get ready.”
“And get lots of loooooooot!”
“And that too. But please try to stay focused.”
“Pfffft! Who you talkin’ too? It’s Kari here, not some foo’ off the streets.”
“Yeah. It’s Kari. That’s what has me worried. Are you ready?”
“Yup! Alexa and I are ready. Did I introduce my shield? Her name is Chyna.”
“We’ve met. I believe you bashed me in the face with her during our last spar.”
“Yeah. That was funny.”
“No. No it was not.” Rio draws his rapier, “Go!”
So we goed. With a giant leap (‘cause I’m the Tiny Giant), I jump up into the Dungeon portal. One weird sensation and a bit of vertigo later and I’m standing in a stone chamber with a ROUS chomping into my leg. With a scream, I kick it off just as Rio appears on the other side of the room.
He catches the rat with his face. Don’t know who is more surprised, Rio or the rat. Rio grabs the rat and throws it right back at me. Probably on purpose. I deflect the rat upward with Chyna, step up to the plate, and catch it with Alexa on the way back down.
“Home run!” I shout as the poor critter explodes into a mist of gore. Rio doesn’t say anything. Just pulls out a handkerchief and wipes the blood off his face.
“Thanks,” he says, acting all cool. “I’ve been meaning to take a blood bath today.”
“Looked like more of a shower, really.”
He pulls a piece of paper out of his inventory and starts drawing his map. This chamber is kind of dull. About ten feet by ten feet with one flickering torch in each corner. The portal is a looming black hole in the wall behind me while there’s an archway in each of the other three walls.
“Right or left?” I ask.
“Let’s go left,” he answers. So I run through the archway on the right. I hear a muffled curse as he puts his paper away and runs after me.
###
“Ow,” I say.
“Hehehe, that will teach you to run blindly through a Dungeon.”
“Who would think there’d be traps here?” I whine.
“Just about anybody. It’s a Dungeon, of course there will be traps.”
“S’not fair! Next time you go in front.”
“Not happening. Standing in front of you when you start swinging your hammer around is just not wise.”
“Whaddaya tryin’ to say?”
“Nothing. Come on.”
“Hey! Hey, where you goin’. You gotta help me get outta here!”
“What? Did you say something? I’m having trouble hearing you from the bottom of that pit. You should come up here.”
“Har de har har. Just throw me the rope wise guy.”
###
“I have to say that the first floor of this Dungeon is pretty straight forward: simple layout, weak creatures, basic traps.”
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“Yup. Let me cast Scan real quick. Nope. Nuthin’. Just the one room up ahead, which I assume is the Boss room for the floor.”
Rio gathers up the dirty dishes from our lunch and stows them away. “Let’s go, then. Are you tired? Want me to take out the Boss?”
“Ha! In your dreams. I’m the Boss of this and every other floor. I just gotta exert my dominance.”
“I think you mean assert.”
“Nope. Making rat pancakes takes effort.”
The door opens and we step into our first Boss battle. Which takes all of about fifteen seconds. After which we’re left with thirteen large rat pancakes and one extra large rat-splat. They disappear in a shower of sparks just like all of the previous ones and Rio collects the tiny mana stones they drop.
In the center of the room is a stone chest. “Rio, why don’t you open the chest?” I ask, mindful of the possibility of it being a mimic.
“Good idea. I have a better one. How about you bash the lid off with Alexa while I back you up?”
Guess he’s on to me. I proceed with his plan and discover that it is - make that was - just a regular chest. Inside is a pile of copper coins and a spatula.
Seriously. A wooden spatula. Once we clean out the chest, a door leading to a stairway appears.
And that’s it. All in a day’s work, really. Possibly we’re a bit overpowered.
I watch my men as they laugh and joke around the fires of the camp. Each and every one of them is a professional. From the eldest grizzled sergeant down to the youngest raw recruit, they know their jobs and perform them to the best of their abilities every day. I’m not saying that there isn’t learning to be done. That’s why we do so much training, and learning is just one more aspect of being a professional.
An aspect which I didn’t understand until recently. I have to admit that when I arrived here I was immature. A boy, really, with the arrogance of youth fueling my beliefs, the power of a Great Hero gifted to me out of nowhere, and the pride of a boy who doesn’t understand his place in life.
But I was learning, too. I learned that my pride and arrogance hurts those around me. More than them, it hurts me. The arrogant are easy to manipulate. The prideful are easy to mislead.
And the strong? The strong are everyone’s target. Be they enemies, friends or allies, everyone seeks to control you for their own reasons. Most especially if the strong aren’t in control of themselves. I’d let my control slip and now I was paying the price.
Which is what I deserve, I guess. The others tried to warn me but I ignored them. Even actively mocked them for their efforts.
Now I live in fear. My actions are not always my own. I know who I am; what I do, what I say, and how I say it. Yes, I’m truly the dick that others have labeled me. People may not have liked it, but at least I was predictable. Now I’m not. Sometimes I go off script. Wildly and unpredictably so. I don’t know why or how that’s happening and it scares me.
“Hail Ettiene,” a voice says as someone sits down on a rock near me. “Are you well?”
It’s Commander Travess, nominally my boss and the person with the unenviable role of curbing my worst excesses. “Good evening, Commander,” I say. Being civil is a recent change I’ve made to my public persona. “Do you need me for something?”
“Not really. You haven’t eaten yet, so I thought I’d come check on you before the field kitchen shuts down for the night.”
“Ah. Yes, I should get something.” I hesitate for a moment, wondering if this is a moment I should seize to address a different issue. “Commander, I need your help.”
“That’s what I’m here for,” he says, somewhat warily.
“I need to understand strategy and tactics better. Or maybe more broadly. Beyond what we’ve been doing in our exercises.”
He looks relieved. I imagine it’s a common need for young officers. “I have just the thing. You need to play Marle Pahn.” I must look quite confused for he elaborates, “Marle Pahn is a game. A game designed for teaching strategy and tactics.”
“How can I learn?”
“There is a group that meets several times a week at the Palace. It’s open to all, although mainly you’ll find soldiers. One of your classmates came yesterday.”
“Very well,” I said while wondering who that classmate might be. “Will you introduce me to the group when we get back?”
“Certainly. If you like, I could start explaining a little bit about it while you eat.”
That’s another subtle reminder about the schedule for the mess tent. We get up together and go to find supper.
It’s nearly impossible for a blind man to sneak around. An obvious fact if you think about it. So it was no surprise that I got busted before I even got started. I’d been feeling a little bit stifled, sitting around in the Haunting all the time, so I snuck off to have dinner in the cafeteria where all of the Heroes and Saints eat. I figured if I sat in a corner behind a pillar no one would see me.
Guess I was wrong. “Hello, Altan,” I say in greeting to the man who is setting his tray on my table. “How are you doing?”
“I’m good, Nix. I’m good. Bit busy but who isn’t?”
I don’t know what to say to that, considering I’m not particularly busy at the moment. So I take a different tack. “I hear you’re a healer, now.”
“Among other things. We spend a lot of time training.”
“Me too. Not the kind of life I was expecting to live before I graduated, that’s for sure.”
Altan grunts in response, taking a few moments to start eating his food. After a while, he sets his utensils down and takes a sip of water. “You’re a healer too, aren’t you?” he asks.
I freeze for a moment before responding. “Yes. Yes, I am.” It’s not exactly like it’s a secret. Then he hauls back and hits me with a verbal full body check.
“I hear you’re dating a hot elf.”
Altan laughed, “Oh gosh, Nix, the look on your face. You could probably start a fire with your face right now!”
I give a little cough, “It’s kind of embarrassing … and even problematic. In fact, that’s the problem I’m wrestling with right now.”
“What? Too many girlfriends, not enough time? Or are you trying to keep them all secret from each other? Nix you dog!”
“Nonononono! That’s not it at all. Like I said, I’m not dating anyone. The problem is … look, can you keep a secret?”
He hesitates for a long moment, “I believe I can.”
“Well, the problem is that whenever I heal a female, they get a … a sort of a crush on me.” I’m fidgeting like crazy. Saying it out in the open like that is really awkward.
“Aaaannnnd, that’s a problem how?” asks Altan.
“Well, what if the girls don’t actually like me. What if my magic is - I don’t know - coercing them somehow.”
“Ah. I see the issue now. You have morals. Most guys our age wouldn’t think so deeply about this issue.”
“I know. I do feel I might be overthinking it, but still …”
“But still maybe you’re not. You make a good point. I’m hardly the one to give relationship advice, but why don’t you just roll with it. It shouldn’t be a problem as long as you don’t let it go too far.”
“Um, you do recall we’re talking about hot elven maidens, here? And I’m not known for my strength of will.”
“Oooh. Another good point. Can’t really help you there.”
“Plus, there are … other complications.” My mouth just keeps right on going.
“Do tell.”
“Well, there’s a girl who I really like. And she seems to like me, too. I’ve never healed her, so I don’t think there’s magic involved either. Plus we’ve … engaged in kanoodling.”
“Is this really Nix I’m talking to? Are you sure you’re not Rio in disguise?”
“Ha ha. No, it's me. And every time another girl crushes on me I feel guilty. Even though we can’t be together because of … reasons, I still want to be with her and don’t want to … you know … cheat on her, even though we aren’t actually a couple.”
“That sounds kind of sad, Nix. Don’t worry, if you bring her around for a visit, I’ll tell her what a great guy you are.”
“Um … that’s one of the reasons. She’s a … uh … a gorgon. If you looked at her you’d be turned to stone. Plus, uh, there’s the hair snakes - both poisonous and painful. I can heal myself but it’s a bit off-putting to be honest.”
“This conversation has taken a weird turn, Nix. Maybe …”
“And then there’s the nereid and the bunny girl living inside my soul. Both of them have crushes on me. But, you know, it doesn’t feel right to even think about doing anything with them because technically I’m their master because of the soul contract.”
“Uh…”
“And I don’t even dare think about the lamia. She’s just plain scary. Keeps talking about discipline and … well, best not to talk about that.”
“Nix, are you sure you’re well?”
“You don’t believe me do you?”
“Um … I admit some of that sounded a bit far-fetched.”
“Eh, I don’t blame you. Is anyone watching us right now?”
“What? No, I don’t think so.”
I flex my power a bit to summon Holtasoley.
“Holtasoley, meet the Great Saint Altan. Altan this is Holtasoley, she’s a nereid.”
“Ooooh, a Great Saint?!? I am such a lucky girl. Tulika is going to be sooooo jealous! And so many muscles! Can I touch? Wow! Your arms are bigger around than Master’s waist. I don’t suppose you’re a summoner, by any chance?”
“Um, nice to meet you, Holtasoley. Could you please not … whoooaaaa hands to yourself now, please. Miss, Miss … Nix! Help!”
With another flex of power I send her back. “Now do you see the problems I have to deal with? I don’t know how to handle polite demur girls, let alone aggressively amorous akka.”
Altan is breathing a little hard, “Me either. I thought I was a goner. Please don’t do that again.”
“Ha ha! Too late! Next time she gets out she’ll probably come looking for you. Just hope she doesn’t bring the lamia with her.”
“I came over to sit with you because I thought it would be relaxing.”
“Sorry. I’m just kidding.”
“Thank the Gods!”
“It doesn’t help that I crush on the hot elves right back. I’m hoping it’s just a teenage hormonal thing and I’ll outgrow it.”
“Probably.”
“You have a Sigil, right?”
“Um … yes?” Altan is a little disconcerted by my abrupt change in conversational direction.
“It’s a pity. A person can do so much more without a Sigil. Especially someone like you. I can feel your power just kind of dammed up inside you.”
“Um … what?”
“Forget I said anything. Nothing you can do about it right now, anyway. I’d better get going.” With that, I get up and quickly leave. Pretty sure I came close to letting out a few secrets. Oh, who am I kidding? I let a bunch of skeletons out of the closet. And a nereid. I hope Altan really can keep a secret.