Ar'Kendrithyst

Erick woke up in a startled second.

He was alone. Drool stuck him to the pillow clutched in his hands. Yellow-white lightorbs cast steady light from the upper corners and center ceiling of this pillow/resting room. The sound of rushing water was far away, but audible. His MP and HP were full. Did that wake him?

Erick stood up and cast a [Cleanse] where he had laid, standing himself in the burst of thick air as it went to work. Eleven more of those and he’d reach spell level 3. He brushed his clothes down. He had already [Mend]ed everything of his and of Jane’s, but maybe, if the pay here was good, he could buy some local clothes soon. He was wearing a traveling outfit when they fell to Veird, and he was still wearing that traveling outfit. Jeans, t-shirt, shoes and socks meant for car rides more than hiking through the desert. Jane was in the same boat.

“I wonder what’s happening with her.”

A giant appeared in the doorway.

“AHHh! Oh.” Erick tried to not look like an idiot. “Sorry.”

Al smiled, saying, “Back to work! You have more mana, yes?” Al beckoned Erick to follow.

“Yes.” Erick followed. “Full on mana.” Then he remembered the one [Cleanse] when he woke. “Uh. Mostly full.”

“Concentration?”

“And Mana Shaping.”

“Mana Shaping we can work on later. [Meditation]?”

“No [Meditation]. Not yet.”

Al nodded. “We get you to level five today. Buy the necessary skills. [Meditation] very important. You work on that on your own until you can meditate without afflictions.”

Erick tried to work out what he was saying. Working on [Meditation] on his own? That sounded about right. Makes sense. But Erick didn’t want to Meditate in the sewerhouse until he thought he was safe to do so.

- - - -

Down the staircase they went, past the terrifying underground river, back through small metal door #2. The trip wasn’t as terrifying the second time. That darkness past the metal bars of the cesspool room, though… That was still terrifying.

Erick dumped 12 [Cleanse 2]s and three [Cleanse 3]s into that cesspool, chunking two and three meter holes into the settling sludge, but the pool itself was something like ten meters across and several meters deep. The water was almost as nasty after his cleanings as it was before. Al didn’t seem to mind that Erick couldn’t clean the whole thing. He just made Erick go back to the pillow room and lay back down. This time, Al left Erick with some bread, cheese, and water, then went across the hallway to his well appointed office and shut the door.

The cheese was strong and so good. Erick would have eaten more, but being at 6 mana was exhausting beyond belief. He laid down.

- - - -

He woke up, startled. His HP and MP were full.

Jane snored on the couch next to him. The little food that he had left on the one plate was completely gone, but there were two plates on the table in the center of the room. Did Al give Jane some food, too? That was really nice of him.

Maybe working here was a good idea. It’s not like it was a full time job, since the pools got cleaned and processed every four days. Maybe that’s how long they took to fill up?

Status: Cleanse.