Rise of the Living Forge
Chapter 446: Dirty Eater

Arwin returned to the Devil’s Den late that night. He’d spent a long day along with Wallace and Koyu brainstorming ideas for the armor and testing out the materials that they’d gathered up until this point.

It had been tempting to just launch right into the work, but that was a trap gilded in honey. Any satisfaction Arwin would have gotten from moving fast would have been quickly swallowed by wasted time when something inevitably went wrong.

They didn’t have time for mistakes. Their deadline was approaching fast — and if the next prototype of the armor had any flaws or serious gaps in its function, then it would all be for naught. Arwin couldn’t have it failing on him.

Or worse, blowing up on me. I don’t want to imagine the fallout of accidentally blowing a bunch of noblemen up because they were standing too close to me when my armor decided that its time on this world had been spent.

No, everything had to be about as perfect as a protype could ever be. Fortunately, three minds were a hell of a lot better at doing that then one. With Wallace focusing on the different materials, Koyu on the soulmancy aspects, and Arwin’s ability to communicate with just about everything they were working with, the three of them wrapped all of their preparations by the time night had started to properly set in.

It was easily the most complex piece of armor that Arwin had ever planned to try and make. There was literally a print of it hanging on the walls of the armory — Wallace had whipped out several large sheets of parchment and quills with ink when he’d arrived to help that morning.

As it turned out, the dwarf was quite the artist. He’d drawn a detailed diagram of everything they were planning, taking careful note of all the most likely stress points for the projects and the areas where things were most liable to go wrong.

Arwin had thought that drawing everything out was a little bit overkill, had never realized quite how useful having everything laid out before him could really be. The mind’s eye could only go so far when things got this complex.

Ideas were still spinning through his mind when the door of the Devil’s Den closed behind him and Wallace.

The inn was surprisingly empty. That wasn’t to say it was completely empty. On the contrary — there were quite a few people sitting at several tables that had been pulled together near the middle of the room.

It was just that every single person before him was part of or closely related to the Menagerie. More specifically, it was everyone in the Menagerie. Even Esmerelda and Madiv sat at the table. The entire guild sat around large platters of still steaming food that smelled absolutely divine.

But it wasn’t even just the core members of Menagerie. Not only was there Art and Vix, Maeve and Elias and Kien, but seated alongside them was also Raen, Melissa, and — for some reason — Eleven.

Then again, Arwin wasn’t sure if Eleven counted. Her arms were crossed in front of her to cradle her head and she was snoring away, completely deaf to the outside world.

“Whoa,” Arwin said. “What’s going on? It’s been a while since I’ve seen everyone together. Did something happen? Nobody’s under attack, are they?”

Melissa let out a laugh. The young woman looked good. Her eyes had always been sharp, but they’d gained the confidence that came with being the head of a powerful noble house. Her clothes were fine, not so fancy as to be extravagant, but clearly of quality make. It looked like business was going well for her.

“Lillia said you’d ask that,” Melissa said. “Rodrick invited all of us tonight. We’ve just been waiting on you and… I don’t believe I’ve met your friend yet. Care to introduce us?”

There was a note of professional interest in her tone. Something told Arwin that Melissa was still on the hunt for more business opportunities. The corner of his mouth pulled up in amusement.

“This is Wallace. Dwarven Master Smith and professional hardass. He tried to kill me the first day we met.”

Wallace let out a sputtering curse and sent Arwin an affronted look. “You broke into my house! Why, you’re lucky I didn’t ring your skull like a gong for that!”

“Master Smith, you say?” Melissa asked, eyes sparkling.

“Hands off, Melissa,” Raen said with a good-natured grin. “We agreed no business tonight. Not of our sort, at least.”

Melissa let out a small huff, then inclined her head. “You’re right. My apologies. It’s a bit difficult to switch off, even when I’m trying to.”

“Tell me about it,” Monica said with an exasperated grunt. The orc picked at her teeth, then shook her head. “Raen blabbers about that shit for hours on end at night sometimes. I occasionally have to remind him that there are better things in life than a little extra coin.”

Raen coughed loudly into his fist. “Perhaps we can turn to matters at hand? Tonight’s meal is beckoning to me, and it is quite the temptress. Someone please drag Lillia out of the kitchen… should she want to leave, of course. It wouldn’t be right to start without our host.”

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No sooner than he had finished speaking did Lillia pop out from within the kitchen with one last large platter bearing a dozen meat pies upon it. She strode over to the table and deposited the tray in the final open space with practiced precision.

“The Infernal Armory told the Den you’d be wrapped pretty soon,” Lillia said as she caught a glimpse of Arwin’s surprised expression. “And a good thing, too. Rodrick was kind enough to herd everyone together for a meal. Where’s Koyu?”

“He phased off,” Arwin replied. “He must have known there were a lot of people here. I don’t think he’s much one for introductions.”

“Definitely not,” Wallace said as he strode over to the table and took a seat. “But I damn know that I’m one for some of that ale.”

Arwin followed suit and took the empty chair. It had been so long since he’d seen everyone in one place that it was actually somewhat surprising to see just how large the Menagerie had gotten.

Reya was midway through sneaking a few pieces of food from her plate and into her mouth. Olive was doing the same thing, but much less discreetly. Art was staring at everyone he didn’t know like he was trying to peel them apart with his eyes, while Eleven was completely dead to the world.

Maeve and Elias both looked far more relaxed than the last time that Arwin had seen them. They sat beside Vix, and Elias was busy translating Maeve’s gestures for Vix. Rodrick and Anna both sat patiently while Madiv and Esmerelda had gotten themselves into yet another argument.

But, the very instant that Lillia took the chair beside Arwin, every single eye in the room went from whatever it was that its owner had been doing to the food piled high on the table. Everyone dug in without restraint.

Even Eleven managed to rouse from her sleep long enough to eat.

It was nearly fifteen minutes before anyone spoke so much as a word. But, finally, Rodrick broke the silence.

“Thank you all for coming tonight,” Rodrick said. “I know everyone’s been quite busy with their own tasks. But I felt it was a good idea to bring everyone together to touch bases on some fairly important events that will be occurring in the near future.”

“Should she really be here for anything like that?” Art asked, glancing at Eleven. “Eleven isn’t directly allied with us.”

Eleven yawned, then rested her head back on the table. “Don’t worry about me. I really don’t care. I’m just going to take a nap. Food always makes me so tired.”

“Why is she here, exactly?” Kien asked. “Having a spy within our ranks seems risky.”

Eleven started to snore.

“Nothing being shared today is information we care about Setting Sun getting,” Rodrick said with a wave. “Besides… Setting Sun is the reason we’re doing this in the first place. I’d normally ask Eleven to fill everyone in since she’s the one that requested our aid, but she appears to be asleep.”

“I’ll fill in,” Arwin said. “The Blacktongues — a noble house, for those of you unaware — are throwing a party in two days. For some reason, the Adventurer’s Guild is sending representatives. The guy that’s responsible for giving Hein the dagger… he’ll be there as well.”

Kien’s eyes narrowed into slits. “Mask. That’s bad news. What are they planning?”

“We don’t know,” Arwin said with a shake of his head. “But that’s presumably why Rodrick brought everyone together. We need to find a way in.”

“Breaking into a noble party is annoying,” Art said. “They tend to be just well defended enough to notice someone trying to sneak in, but not anywhere near enough to provide proper protection should things go wrong. You’ll need to somehow secure an invite.”

“Hmm.” Raen pursed his lips. “I might be able to do something, but I don’t have very good relations with the Blacktongues. Melissa?”

The argument between Esmerelda and Madiv grew louder.

“Nothing. Haven’t dealt with them,” Melissa said with a shake of her head as everyone did their best to ignore the bickering duo. “I’ve been focusing all my attention on partners that are actually relevant. The Blacktongues are old money. All talk and no bite. They won’t even invest. I can look to see if there are any old favors I can cash in… but I’m not optimistic.”

“That’s ridiculous!” Esmerelda snapped. “You couldn’t sell a knocker to a promiscuous door!”

“Esmerelda! Madiv! Is now really the time?” Lillia asked sharply. Shadows twisted behind her with displeasure.

The old woman glanced over to Lillia. “Sorry. Got carried away. Your pet vampire has the sales acumen of a hamster. Oh — Arwin’s here.”

“Did you really just notice that?” Arwin asked, somewhat impressed that she’d managed to completely avoid notice of his presence. She must have been really involved in her argument with Madiv.

“I was preoccupied,” Esmerelda said. She ignored the stares of everyone boring into her back. “I believe you have something for me.”

Arwin blinked. For a moment, he had no idea what she was talking about. Then he remembered the ring. Someone must have told her.

He dug through his bag and pulled the box holding the Acid Thumb ring within it. Now hardly seemed like the right time for this. They had a rather important problem to deal with first.

We’re probably going to have to ask Rodrick to track Thane down in whatever town the Blacktongues reside in, then send someone to ask Thane to give us an invitation. Egh. Pulling that off in the time we have left is going to be difficult… and I don’t even know if Thane can invite us yet.

“Perhaps you can handle this later?” Elias suggested. “I—”

“Bah. You want pay, do you?” Esmerelda asked, squinting at Arwin. She pushed back from her chair and walked around the table to make her way over to him. “I should have known. Here. Got this thing earlier today. I’ve no use for it, so I figure the shop had me go get it for someone else. You can figure out who.”

Esmerelda snatched the box from Arwin before he could respond, then slapped a piece of paper down on the table before him. She then made her way back over to her chair and sat down with a harrumph.

Arwin looked down at the paper despite himself.

Then he blinked.

“What?”

Sitting before him was an invitation for a delegation to a certain Blacktongue’s coming of age party, signed by none other than Thane Blacktongue himself. Arwin stared at it for a second.

Then he looked up at Esmerelda.

Lillia peered over Arwin’s shoulder at the paper. Her eyes went wide with surprise.

“Is that an invite to the Blacktongue’s party?” Lillia asked in disbelief. “How did you get this?”

Every single eye in the room turned toward Esmerelda.

The old woman paused. Her brow furrowed as she realized that she’d suddenly become the center of attention.

“What do you all want?” Esmerelda asked, looking up and grabbing a napkin from the table to dab at her mouth. “Is there something on my face?”