5.32 - The Pale Elf


    Theo let out a sigh of relief as he departed from the train. The conductorughed as he stepped off, allowing others to board before resuming his back-and-forth path. Standing there with Sarisa, the alchemist spotted a familiar face grinning from near the gate. Azrug waved as the duo approached, looking unapologetic in his fancy clothes. The more time that passed, the more the young man looked like Fenian. Too many ruffles for one half-ogre.


    I got a problem, Azrug said, providing no other greetings. He pushed off the stone wall, beckoning Theo to follow him.


    With a shrug, Theo followed the merchant. Azrug had done some interesting thingstely. He had two businesses in town. His item shop earned him the bulk of his coin, while his stables were effectively bankrupt. No one ran beasts ovend anymore, and the only creatures to take care of in town were the wolves, karatan, and pozwa in Mianas ranch. But he had taken the failure in stride, focusing on his item shop.


    So, are you going to share your problem? Or is it a secret? Theo asked.


    Ah. Well, I think youll just want to see it first. Just a quick walk to the farm.


    This gave Theo a chance to view a part of the town he wished he frequented more often. Traveling north from the main road, he got to see Xams tavern and bathhouse. Next up was the school on the left and the tightly packed neighborhood on the right. The farmers hill rose in the distance. That ce was a remnant of some powerful mage back in the day. The wizard had diverted the river, raising thend to allow people to farm. That was before the town was made into a seed core town for the Kingdom of Qavell.


    Theo, Azrug, and Sarisa climbed the hill to the farmers fields. At first, everything seemed normal. Fields of zee were growing in their various states. Farmhands scratched their heads at the edge of fields, shrugging on asion. Banu himself just leaned against the farmhouse, shaking his head.


    Notice anything weird?


    Theo didnt remember when Azrug got in the habit of ying weird games like this. He approached the field, brushing his hand against the stalks of zee. Then he noticed the beads of fruit growing near the stems of leaves. Larger than a grain of processed wheat, they were covered in something like corn silk and smelled sweet. After a moment of thought, the alchemist realized what had happened.


    They hybridized on their own? he asked, clicking his tongue. How did that happen? My wheat field is pretty far.


    Who knows? Azrug asked, plucking one bundle of fruit from the stalk. He held it out for Theo to inspect.


    <strong>[Throks Weed]</strong>


    [Alchemy Ingredient] [Hybrid nt]


    Epic


    A unique hybrid nt created from a zee nt and wheat nt. This ntbines the healing properties of both zee and wheat.


    Properties:


    [????] [????] [????]


    Theo gave Azrug a t look. Throk isnt going to like that.


    A smile spread across the young merchants face. Thought youd like that.


    Inspecting the nt, Theo found there to be no issues. As far as zee went, it was a weird nt. The fruit normally grew at the top, resulting in a fewrge kernels, depending on the individual nt. The fruit here grew on the sides, near where the leaves sprouted. But so long as the yield was simr or better, there shouldnt have been an issue.


    So, whats the problem? Theo asked.


    We need to know if this stuff is safe to sell. And eat.


    Theo had the impression that being dragged here was solely for Azrugs amusement. He held the nt in his hand, ring at the merchant as he deconstructed the reagent. It went up in a plume of smoke; the ashes falling to the ground. It revealed the Efficient Healing property, which was in line with both wheat and zee. While the alchemist had never seen the property, he could assume it was safe. He repeated the process, finding the next two properties to be Efficient Regeneration and Aura.


    I dont see any negative properties. Do we have a grown version of the crop?


    Hey Banu! Azrug shouted, waving the farmer over.


    Banu trotted across the farm, dabbing his forehead with a cloth. Yeah?


    Tell him how fast it spread.


    Yeah. Like a wave, Banu said, chuckling nervously. nts just started being different.


    I dont see a problem with farming <em>Throks Weed</em> Ugh But youre saving kernels from the same field, arent you?


    Yep.


    Theo knelt near a nt, inspecting the way it grew from the ground to the top. Depending on howrge the fruit got, the hybrid nt might produce more than the old version. It hardly seemed to matter, though. There was no going back from where they were. Every field in the farm had been infested with Throks Weed.


    Do you have any untainted samples on hand? Theo asked.


    Just a few. Not enough to rent quickly.


    Well, that doesnt matter. Hand the samples over to me and Ill get it sorted.


    Banu ran off to grab what few unchanged samples of zee he had stashed away. The n for those was simple. Under closer observation, Theo could make sure they didnt randomly hybridize into another nt. This was honestly the best oue, considering the concept of monsterized nts. At any point, a nt <em>could</em> monsterize if given the right condition. The only conditions Theo had found for that was the introduction of too much growth-stimting potions. Thats why they relied on the power of seed core buildings instead of alchemy.


    Once Theo had his samples, he stowed them in his inventory and chatted with both Azrug and Banu. The merchant seemed excited to name more random things, but his Loremaster ss core had given him insights on more than just items. Each new thing he discovered gave him insight into the history of thend. He joined with the alchemist on his path north, to the quarry, and shared the tales he had learned.


    I mean, were all aware of the original seeding of the world. From what those old people let slip, Azrug said, picking at his teethzily. But just consider how much stuff has happened here. Wars were fought. Kingdoms rose and fell. My core has been drip-feeding me information about the kingdom that was here before Balkors fall.


    Really? Theo asked. How old was that kingdom?


    Pretty old,pared to the length of time kingdoms normallyst. The longeststing single-body government in the world has to be the Tarantham Empire. That only works because theyre always killing each other in small batches. The system wont give me the name for the ce that was here before us, but it spanned the entire continent.


    Theo was aware, to a lesser extent, of this kingdom. He knew that the Qavellinguage was based on whatever came before. Something he tried not to think about often were the bones they stepped on every day. It struck too close to home.


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    Did you learn anything interesting? How vague is the system when it tells you about the old kingdom?


    Journal entries. Bits from old books. Folk tales. I got one page from the king of that kingdom. King, leader whatever. It was so mundane. Aside from the invasion from the north.


    Maybe itll go back further in time the higher your core gets.


    Thats my hope. Its not really useful, but very fun to read all that old stuff.


    The group was approaching the quarry. The sound of chipping stone and grunting half-ogres issued over the sloped hillside. Ziz and his boys were forming bs of stone into blocks. Despite their failure with the bridge, he had a big smile on his face when he spotted the alchemist.


    Theo! How are ya?


    Good. Just came to check on my favorite stonemasons.


    Were the only stonemasons one elf muttered. The half-ogres around himughed.


    Zizs workers had expanded recently. Unsurprisingly, they were still almost all half-ogres. But the influx of elves had resulted in those fair people joining his ranks. It wasnt simple work. Working the quarry was back-breakingbor that required them to dump attribute points into Strength and Vigor.


    You heard about the bridge. Didnt you? Ziz asked.


    Theo smiled. I heard it was a massive failure.


    Yep. Ziz stretched, seeming almost apathetic to the colossal failure. When we set the tform on the pirs, the waves and the wind just knocked it over. Can you imagine that much stone tumbling over from the <em>weather</em>?


    The amount of stone required to make the pirs sturdy is too grand, Azrug said, waving his hand through the air. The entire project is a boondoggle.


    Yeah, but it was fun, Ziz shrugged. Were setting our sights on more manageable projects. Just keeping busy and stockpiling stone before wee up with something better.


    Good to hear it didnt crush your spirits, Theo said, pping a hand on his friends shoulder.


    Hah! Never! Ziz shouted, striking a pose.


    The group chatted for a while, but Azrug was dragged away by his duties. Theo carried on polite conversation with Ziz. The problem with the alchemists work today had his mind spinning. nts rarely hybridized in his greenhouses and mushroom caves, but it had happened before. That event resulted in the creation of Azrugs Truffle. While the new reagent was interesting, it spoiled an entire batch of Swamp Truffles. Further study was required to understand what was going on.


    Theo left the quarry after a while, walking with Sarisa back to the Newt and Demon. He nned to clear space in his greenhouses for the untainted zee kernels, but a dedicated greenhouse would be better. That way, they could keep all their baseline samples safe from the ravages of random hybridization. Until someone with a magical carriage that could traverse dimensions arrived, that wasnt possible. Perhaps traders would bring seed cores with their ships, but that had not been happening.


    Sorting through the tangle of overlyrge nts in one greenhouse, Theo found a spot to nt one zee kernel. This seemed like a lot of effort to preserve something that closely resembled giant corn, but the zee had cultural roots in the region. Thest thing Theo wanted to do was to strip away the culture that half-ogres and marshlings had built here. He kept the remaining kernels in his inventory, preserving them for as long as he held them there. After offloading some junk in his own inventory, and clearing out some crap in the Tarahek shared inventory, he turned away from the greenhouses.


    Interesting, a cool voice came from around one greenhouse. Theo recognized it, after a moment of thought, as belonging to the pale elf, Twist.


    Are you allowed on the surface? Theo asked, moving to catch sight of the masked elf.


    Twist stood there in white robes, hood pulled up over his head. His clothes were tattered from the years, ripped and torn in various spots. Especially around the sleeves. But no part of the elf was exposed to the sun hanging above. He jabbed a thumb back toward a group of Broken Tusk adventurers. With an escort. Your reagent farming operation is interesting. Using golems to care for them is smart.


    Are you an alchemist? Theo asked, walking away from the spot. Twist followed, forcing his minders to follow as well.


    No.


    I dont know anything about your people, Twist, Theo said. He had nowhere to go, but didnt want the pale elf to linger around hisb. What do you call yourselves?


    Not for you to care. Everyone else calls us deep elves, and thats good enough.


    Are you rted to surface elves?


    No.


    While Twist was being annoying, that was good information to have. Theo was always interested in learning more about the various races in the world. He could reveal one fact about the deep elves from that statement. Twist could have been misinformed about his races origins. The deep elves might havee from the surface elves, but they might draw their lineage from another race. It was also possible that they were a seed race. The alchemist still didnt understand where any of the lizard-folk came from, or the ogres. Every race that couldnt track their lineage back to the start could have been another seed race.


    Our Loremaster, Azrug, would be interested in talking to you, Theo said, moving in no direction in particr. He headed north, toward the harbor.


    Have you made progress on your promise? Twist asked, ignoring what Theo saidpletely.


    We have, actually. The path north of Gronro is clearing by the day. I have a few methods to remove the undead, but it is slow.


    As expected. If you dont deal with Qavell before you clear the way, I will need to find another path. That is <em>undesirable</em>.


    If youve got a defensive weapon tucked away somewhere feel free to bring it out.


    Twist ignored thement, following Theo up the battlements near the harbor. Several foreign ships were docked there, unloading or loading cargo. The alchemist recognized the gs of Bantein and Partopour, but there was also a much smaller boat belonging to the Khahari. Khahars people hadnt made good on his promise of trade, but it was hard to say how his absence affected them. Broken Tusk would be happy with any trade.


    Why dont you travel the underground to reach Qavell? Theo asked the question, but knew the answer.


    Because thats where my people live. Locked in constant war.


    Theo nodded, but didnt respond. Instead, he climbed a long staircase down to the harbor below. With Twist still following him like a lost puppy, he talked with several vendors to check their supply of seed cores. It was disappointing to learn that Tarantham was the worldsrgest producer of seed cores, and they had stopped exporting when thetest civil war kicked off. One trader had something <em>simr</em> to a greenhouse, but it wasnt the same. Instead, it was something altogether more interesting.


    Ive never seen one, Theo said, holding the Herbalists Workshop Seed Core in his hands. How much?


    Never one for negotiation, the alchemist settled for the over-priced seed core and left the harbor. He made his way to Sledges sawmill, but didnt find her there. The workers directed him to the school instead, where he found the marshling hissing at several children. She was lurking over a wooden crate, stuffed with straw. Inside were a few spotted eggs, roughly the size of Theos fist.


    Oh, Theo said, blinking away his confusion. Your clutch.


    My <em>babies</em>, Sledge hissed, snapping her jaws at the alchemist.


    Think you could get Bob to watch those for a minute? I need a new road.


    <em>Babies</em>, Sledge responded, jerking her head toward the clutch.


    Perhaps another day, Twist said with an amused tone.


    Theo left the school without his Fabricator, making his way back to the Newt and Demon. The alchemist had wanted a road running from the main avenue, heading east next to hisb. After his first n crumbled, he considered the next-best ce to put his new workshop. The next building south of theb was Pergs tannery. Theo counted out twenty dronon-sized paces before selecting a spot for his new workshop.


    Is this what you do all day? Twist asked, watching as Theo pressed the seed core into the ground.


    Sometimes. Other times Im helping folks with stuff. Or brewing potions.


    Fighting the undead?


    I dont really fight, Theo said, stepping back to watch the seed core grow. Roots sprung from the ground, wrapping around themselves. He had a feeling that this one would take a minute or two to form, even with the help of some Monster Cores. I just toss bombs. Sometimes knives.


    Throwing knives can be effective, though. Twist nodded.


    Theo had absolutely no idea why Twist was hanging out on the surface today, but he didnt like it. Everything he had heard about the deep elves painted them as people who enjoyed waging war more than anything. Mercifully, the elf stopped talking to watch the new seed core form into a building. The roots tangled amongst themselves, and a pulse of recognition radiated from the core. For the first time, the alchemist felt the seed cores will feeling out around itself. It probed the surrounding buildings with faint willpower, then sent tendrils off to the other buildings. He realized it was getting an impression for the buildings around itself to blend in.


    Thats new


    Wisps of will pulled back, and the seed core constructed itself. It matched most of the local buildings, forming a stone foundation with wooden walls. Sometimes the seed cores would go for all-stone construction, while other times they would assume abination of stone and wood. Narrow windows formed near a heavy wooden door, then the roof emerged from a tangle of dark roots. A straight, stone chimney poked from the top of the building, seeming to burst from a blue roof.


    Cute, Twist said, entering the building without asking Theos permission.


    Come right in, Theo grumbled. Make yourself at home.