A Bright and Shiny Life

A sudden exhaustion hits me as I walk into my room, half collapsing into the chair despite the boons. I stare out the window and watch the gathering storm– feeling the pressure change on my skin with enhanced sense of touch.

The tiredness isn’t physical, it’s all the people today. So many expectations to figure out and either match or shift. Always blending in, just like the cult taught me… Those five idiots certainly didn’t help.

I spent so much energy trying to figure out their trump– building each sign of weakness up into a cunning ruse. But it turns out not only did they not have one, the idiots didn’t even have the common courtesy of thinking they should!

It almost sours the power I gained from them… though I suppose it was nice to see how much my hard work over the last three years has put me above the unempowered.

… Maybe it’s my perspective that’s off. Everyone I fought with the resistance knew how dangerous we were and so only attacked if they had some ability. Here, they’ll only seek out a god’s help if there is an obvious need. Some might seek out benefits for their daily lives, but most might view casual transactions as too expensive, especially if they screw up the oath and receive a curse.

Yeah, but there are plenty of gods who aren’t very demanding while giving out good boons. Calmar’s basic oath for instance just requires you to protect your friends and family, always be armed, and abstain from heavy drink.

It would have been a perfect fit for them. The first part is what they presumably are resorting to violence for, the second part is just a good idea in these circumstances, and the third they probably can’t afford anyways. The extra strength and other minor benefits would have made the fight much harder.

Yeah, but most people don’t have an encyclopaedic knowledge of various gods drilled into them from childhood as hated enemies. Their boons threats to defend against, and oaths weaknesses to subvert.

They simply don’t have the knowledge to analyse which god is offering a good deal for their circumstances. Organizations can guess what their members will need and offer recommendations from collective experience, while nobles are educated enough in general to figure it out. But a random peasant? They’d be too worried about getting ‘ripped off’ as Morri put it.

Besides, it’s easy to criticize when my deity is so easy when giving out power. The decision tree is just: Question one, will I be killing this person for other reasons? If yes, might as well give them to Anar. If no, maybe consider it anyways?

There’s not even an oath in the usual sense, or any threat of curses, since Anar receives his due in the form of souls rather than influence in the world. I’ve never actually had to calculate if a god’s bargain was good or not, at least for myself, though I did help the cell pick theirs.

Tala knocks on the door and brings a plate of food which she places on the small table in front of me with a smile.

“Thankyou.” I say, returning the smile.

“We’ll be up in a short while with your bath water.” She says and exits– leaving the door slightly ajar.

I turn my attention to the food. Innkeeper Bathan was not underselling it. The bread–which seems to be rye and barley– is very hard, the broth very thin, and the ale watered down enough that it wouldn’t affect an infant, much less someone stacking five of Anar’s boons.

Of course, the ale wouldn’t be much stronger in better times, since the alcohol isn’t to get drunk but to purify the water. The rest however wouldn’t cost more than a copper piece.

It’s not too bad though. The bread is at least sizable, and the boons mean that even broth this thin has some flavour. Though sadly there isn’t enough broth to finish the bread, so I start dipping it in the ale instead.

I’m almost done eating when Tala and another servant enters carrying buckets of steaming water and towels draped over their shoulders. I finish the last few bites and hand them the tray when they’re done filling the basin.

“Towels rent at three copper each. Hand cloths one.”

“All right.” I say, paying for two towels and a cloth.

“Would you like to send your clothes to launder while you bathe?” She asks.

“Uhm sure.” I say, thinking that a professional would be better at cleaning any blood that I might have gotten on me despite my best efforts.

“All right, that’ll be three coppers. I’ll be in the hall, if you’ll just hand me the clothes through the door.”

I pay her, strip naked and give the clothes in the suggested method as she leaves.

Locking and barring the door behind them, I immediately get in the near boiling water. They left a bucket of unheated water to cool the tub to my taste, but I don’t use it– trusting my boons to quickly regenerate any damage from the heat. In fact, damage might be good. If it scalds off a bit of skin, any left-over blood will be gone with it. Besides, freshly regenerated epidermis is very smooth.

Not trusting mere heat to beat a knight’s sense of smell, I take the rented handcloth and the soap I bought today and scrub every inch raw, just in case some blood got through some unexpected place or lingered from my last bath.

I laugh. Frathith was so concerned about my feet. I promised I’d rub some herbs on them, but they’re already healed back to perfect form.

When the water is sufficiently soapy from my scrubbing, I get out, dump half of the extra bucket in, kneel on a towel, and cast a lesser version of the fire stream spell meant for starting campfires at the water.

Careful not to burn the sides, I sustain the spell until the water starts to boil again, and then dunk my entire head and shoulders in.

My face being the body part most exposed to stray blood, I hold it under as long as I can while scrubbing it furiously before the pain forces me to surface.

Feeling lightheaded I collapse on the smoothish stone floor panting for minutes while the boons regenerate the burns on my face, fully aware that would have killed me without today’s sacrifices. Eventually I gather enough strength to wrap a towel around me, and drag the chair over to the tub. Then I crush the remaining fragrant herbs I kept for my self into my hair and let it soak in.

Once soaked, I lay with my back on the chair and dangle my mid-length dark hair into the water. I can’t avoid having the still steaming water contact my scalp, but it’s cooled enough not to be overwhelming. The slight pain is almost relaxing. I stay like this for a while, letting everything that might be in my hair soak out and occasionally massaging it.

… I should really cut it. That soldier grabbed it too easily, and it soaks in blood and other filth.

Eh, maybe another day. This is too nice even if the water is too hot… and Gebal was the one who always cut it before.

I wake to the sound of Tala knocking on the door and I realize I somehow nodded off in this awkward position. The room is dark, and the water has cooled significantly, but is still warm.

She hands me my cleaned and fire dried clothes, but I say I’m not done with the towels and bucket.

“You shouldn’t stay in the tub so long. You’ll catch sick.” She says, and I hold back a laugh at the thought of a mere bath borne disease defeating Anar’s might.

“Thankyou, I don’t think I’ll be needing anything else tonight.”

“See you in the morning.”

I nod and relock/bar the door. Then I slowly dump the remaining water in the bucket over me to rinse off.

Feeling cold, I wrap the second towel around my head and use the cooling bath water to wash my dagger. Then I take the chair back to the table where I look out the small window. Night has fallen, and the first rain of the storm is just rolling in. I watch it come as I finish drying off.

Once dry, I put the wet towels on the stone floor by the tub, and wrap myself in my new wool cloak– not bothering to fully dress– as I sit at the table to take stock and make plans now that I’m in a safe location. Well, not safe. The empire might decide to make a random raid on the inn at any moment. But I’d hear them coming, and at least I’m secure from anyone else.

First thing I need to know is how much money I have. I light the one free candle and dump all my coin pouches on the table. I have two pouches besides those I gained today. First is the one I have all my copper pieces and the second I have everything else. I keep them separate both because I use the copper more frequently and so keep the less valuable metal in an easier to reach but less secure location, and because copper is harder than the other two metals and will damage them if left together.

I add coins I stole today to the table and am further disappointed by my would-be robbers by discovering that some of them kept copper and silver mixed. Perhaps they intended to sweat them. Their other pouches contain some rather mouldy bread and a few worthless trinkets. I immediately eat the food, trusting my boons to keep it down, and put the trinkets in a pile to throw away. The largest coin they have is a small silver, while the rest of the silver is pieces.

Counting it out, their additions to my funds are a quarter medium silver, two and a half small silver. A large copper, two medium, and twenty three and a quarter small. Totalling to ninety-nine and a quarter raem.

Moving to what I had before and gained from Morri, I still have two small gold, one and a half large silver, three medium, eight and a half small, six and a quarter large copper, nine medium, and fourteen small. Totalling to eight hundred and twenty raem, or nine hundred and twenty one with the money from the five.

It should be more than enough, so long as I get out of Caethlon soon. The minimum daily wage in the empire is one medium copper, though that doesn’t mean anything here with the standard price controls not in effect yet.

One raem can normally buy two pounds of bread and some seasonal vegetables– enough to feed an adult for a day not counting fuel to cook it. Others cooking for you when travelling increases the price to between three to five raem per day, for basic meals at inns and premade trail rations. Buying those same rations here might cost as much as a large silver a day.

Including a buffer for non-food related expenses, I should safely have enough money for a hundred days of travel. More than enough for the expected one-month journey. Assuming I don’t have to buy any food here.

I have about four pounds of hard travel bread and a quarter pound of jerky which should last about two days of walking. Using divination to find berries I should be able to extend that to four. However, even with divination finding berries will take time, and relying solely on it for food will slow progress to a near halt. I only have two months to get there and the sooner the better.

Leaving Caethlon will take five to six days, or up to ten if I continue looking for herbs. It seems like I will have to stop in at least one more town before leaving, meaning one more security check, and unknown prices there.

I might be able to solve this problem by hunting, but I don’t really want to kill an animal. Oddly enough the cult was vegetarian. I think they wanted to associate the act of killing with divinity, and Anar gives very little for animals– almost none for most. The most he gives are for cats, and the cat god gets very angry when you harm them.

So, while I don’t adhere to that dietary restriction anymore, I also don’t actively seek meat out. Besides, I don’t really know how to process the meat. I’ve seen it done while I was in the cell, and the anatomy seems similar enough to humans, but I never did it myself. It seems easy, but there might be hidden issues.

…Alright, tomorrow before the tailers I’ll buy two hundred and ten raem worth of waybread and whatever dried fruit and nuts I can find. It should be enough to get me out while leaving enough coin. Once I collect my ordered items, I’ll head out immediately and take the most direct path out of Caethlon.

I’ll remove all criteria from the divinations except speed and avoiding pursuit. I’ll only stop to collect herbs of significant value, and food directly in my path. Hopefully the food will last without me needing to go into another war torn town, and if I do maybe prices and security will be lower by then.

If I’m going for speed, then maybe I should take Frathith’s suggestion and get a boat. Pavlos wouldn’t be good, as they might be on the lookout for resistance agents trying to flee the kingdom. However, the next port past the former border should be fine.

I was planning on accumulating coin on the way as an herbmonger, but I might still be able to make some on a ship. Once out of Caethlon it’ll be safe to reveal myself as a mage, and I can hire myself to a boat as a diviner and security against pirates. I might even be able to manage a private cabin to practice magic while being paid under the excuse that my divinations mustn’t be disturbed or something.

I smile remembering the one time I’ve seen the sea, and decide to make this the plan. What will it be like on the water? I’ll need to research if the crystal pendulum might be affected by the waves.

There’s also the slight problem that I don’t know where the nearest imperial port is, but I’m sure it’ll be fine.

The plan determined, I move on to thinking about the entrance exam.