Chapter 254: Questionable Cooperation (2/2)
Ilea grunted but if there was a reason not to fight underwater, she definitely welcomed it. “Any other places or monsters? Not underground maybe?”
Terok scratched his beard but looked skeptical, “None of the beasts are any easier to deal with than what is down here. The few you might be able to kill without getting overwhelmed are either below your level or too elusive to catch, even for specialized trackers. You could go look for dark ones farther north or hunt Feynor but you don’t strike me as a murderer.”
At least I don’t look it. She considered coldly, her mouth a thin line as she remembered all the people she had killed. The faces blurred together. His assumption was right of course, she wouldn’t hunt intelligent life, conscious feeling creatures for her own power alone. Revenge, self defense or at least a highly irritating character would be reason enough but purely for her own gains? That was a line she didn’t want to cross. The human in her, the one born and raised on Earth with modern morals and ideas couldn’t simply shed it all. Perhaps, she thought, if there were a reason standing above life itself. For the greater good or to stop some overwhelming force threatening all she holds dear. Even then it would be a hard choice, one she hoped she’d never have to face.
“Never heard of Feynor. Another kind of awakened beast?”
Terok grunted as another plate of metal floated his way, the dwarf starting to cut into it with a thin black knife, “No. They reside as close to the highest mountains in the north as they can. Sentient and apparently related to Dragons themselves. The look apparently is closer to Lizardmen but I’ve never met any. Everyone who has though reports they attack on sight. A tough people but as long as they stay far away from here I don’t care what they do.”
“Well I don’t care about sentients as long as they don’t stand in my way.”
The dwarf finished another enchantment as he talked, “You mentioned you’ve fought Taleen? There’s a dungeon a couple hours flight northwest but I’ll be honest, that one would be more personal interest. Guardians would hardly make a dent in your experience and any of the higher class machines are few and far between.”
Ilea looked at him, “Fought Centurions before. I think I could trash them easily now. They were around three hundred so if there was a dungeon with more of them…,”
“Doubt it. What I heard was a bunch of Guardians and enough traps to kill a whole expedition of veterans. Then again that’s the usual when it comes to Taleen. Paranoid fuckers.” He murmured the last part.
“Sounds similar to what I’ve seen. I think I’ll go with something else. Definitely plan to face another Praetorian if I hit another power spike.” Ilea said offhandedly, the dwarf just shaking his head.
He continued his work, “Well let me know, their tech is amazing and I’d love to see the inner parts of their production facilities.”
“You think you could replicate anything?” Ilea asked, remembering the teleportation gate Claire and Christopher were working on.
Terok laughed, his voice reverberating in the big hall. “You don’t think anybody has tried? No, I go my own way about it. The best dwarven engineers have cursed the designs as impossible, I’m not going to pretend I’m better than them. Inspiration is what I seek. I’m a metal mage and engineer, not a machine designer. They can try to figure out the autonomous designs of the Taleen for as long as they want to. I doubt they’d have made it easy enough to simply replicate. Not with how many traps and defensive measures their towns are lined with.”
Maybe a teleportation gate might not be in the books then. Christopher would continue to try of course and both Ilea and Claire would likely fund him anyway. Just for the chance of bringing such a technology to humans and the Shadow’s Hand. Travel time and supply lines could be cut significantly if something like a working teleportation network existed and was in their hands. “I’ll think about it. Maybe if all the other options don’t work out.” Ilea said but she saw the chances of that as rather low.
The Descent already seemed much more promising, even the Miststalkers did. If at some point she could overwhelm them with her own magic. “Tell me about the Kingsguard. I won’t be much help in the Descent but I can scout out this palace you talked about and maybe find out how to get in.”
Ilea sighed, “Didn’t we talk about this? I don’t want you to die Terok.”
The dwarf clasped his hands together and smiled, “I think you want to fight by yourself. You don’t want to look after someone and you don’t want to be responsible for people’s deaths. I know how you feel. Trust me, I do. With that said you’re not going to change the way I think, I live. I’m not going to let an opportunity like this go and the people waiting for my debt are not going to wait forever. I’d like to still have a house when I get back. Either you give me ten pieces of gold or you tell me all you know about this palace and I’ll find my own way around and into it. My choice and my fault if I end up as a bloody smudge in this city.”
Ilea grinned, “Are you blackmailing me with your own life?”
“Why not? You obviously care. I’d expect you to do the same. Maybe you should start trusting in my abilities as much as I trust in yours.” Terok said.
Ilea stared at him. He was calm and cocky. A grin was on his face as he waited for her response. There was a reason she liked him, the feeling hadn’t been wrong after all. Despite his abilities he had a drive and he was willing to take risks. Risks that would cost his life if he fucked up. “Yea alright I’ll tell you what I know. Not much by the way. Whatever you find I get first pick. Take any history related things, books and such as well. The elf likes that stuff.”
One of his eyebrows was raised at that but Ilea kept talking, “If I find anything I can easily kill we can at some point go together so you get to two hundred finally. You’re working with me now understand? No secrets. Try not to be useless.”
“I won’t be. I’ll repay the debt I owe you doubly. We can work out the relationship as we go.”
Ilea snorted, “You’ll be dead before that ever happens. The elf I mentioned, he should come back here at some point. Just mention that you work with me and that you help me look for artifacts. I doubt he’d kill you but I’d definitely give it a chance.”
He waved her off, “At least I can work with him if you never return. Only reason he probably talked to you is because he doesn’t want to go in there.”
“Then you know how to bargain with him at least. I don’t think he’s particularly dangerous anyway. Maybe he can train you to resist curses if you find something to trade with him. Then you could visit Goliath without me babysitting you.” Ilea suggested with a smirk before flipping her notebook to the Tremor map. “Come have a look.”
Terok put down the metal plate he was working on and checked out the map she had already worked on. “You’re a lousy cartographer.” washis first comment, Ilea flipping the side of his head before she moved to the next page, a rough sketch of the palace and the different rooms.
“Copy that and go from there. The doors are closed and in this section everything is still powered.” She motioned to some of the rooms and hallways. I think it looks nice. “This would probably be the best place to try and get in. There’s a single guard and he didn’t patrol as far as I could tell. The door is open. I suggest putting something between to allow teleportation to work.”
“This door here has two guards, why I think it’s the most interesting but they’re somewhat close and you might have difficulties getting there depending on how far you can teleport. I’ve only fought one of them, the variant with a single big sword and no shield. They have wind magic or something of the like that could cut through my Niameer armor from fifty meters away. Faster than I could move with my wings so I suggest you don’t alert them.” Ilea explained what she knew so far.
“The elf is still translating the log book of the captain of the guard but he got bored and went to explore other places. Maybe you’ll find something in there that helps.”
Terok nodded, “Not a lot to work with but I’ll check it out. I assume that coloring means you’ve cleared the area?”
Ilea confirmed with a grunt, “You can check the rest out as well but I didn’t find anything other than undead, dust and really… really old furniture.”