When evening came around, Tarwantrad visited the Tower along with Tamosmed and asked to speak with him. Fortunately, there were no major decisions to confer with his council on and no particularly enticing options in the daily purification rewards, so after celebrating the victory and selecting more mana Belissar gathered with the two elves. From there, they relayed what had happened when Tamosmed reported on the slime bees to his father, the leader of the black elves. Apparently, things had not gone as they had hoped. Belissar looked over at Tamosmed.
“Are…are you ok? Do you need to do…something about your father?”
Tamosmed grimaced and shook his head.
“No. This is bigger than me, or that old fool. This is about the fate of our entire people, and he’s too stubborn to see it. I’ll do this with or without him.”
Belissar frowned. Now that he was being honest with himself, he could admit he had spent most of his life longing for his parents. Even now, just the thought of them sent daggers through his chest. So, the idea of being separated from a parent that was still alive was…inconceivable to him. But Tamosmed seemed pretty serious about this whole thing and the fate of his entire people did seem like a pretty big deal, so Belissar held his tongue. He didn’t know what to say about all that anyways, so instead he focused on his own involvement.
“So…what are you going to do then?”
Tamosmed looked him in the eye with an intensity that nearly caused Belissar to step back.
“I’m going to offer you my full cooperation. All of my knowledge regarding all crafts and professions. Blacksmithing, mining, golem construction, enchanting, the works. All the secrets my people have guarded from the times before we began recording history. All the resources and metals I possess.”
Belissar did his best not to gape at that, especially as Tamosmed’s gaze grew even sharper.
“It’s fine, he’s helping me too.”
Tarwantrad’s smile grew for a moment…before dropping to a frown.
“Now, to my own business with you. Belissar, I’m going to introduce you to another dungeon master soon.”
Belissar tilted his head.
That sounded like a good thing to him, but Tarwantrad kept frowning. In fact, she now leaned forward with an intense look in her eyes not unlike Tamosmed.
“The dungeon master in question is a pixie princess, so you need to be extremely careful. Her patron is the God of Mischief and she’s always dreamed of toying with humans, so she will try to trick you. Don’t make any deals with her, don’t agree to anything, in fact, try not to say yes or nod in response to anything she says at all. Don’t accept any gifts except the boon and confirm it’s the boon before doing so. Try not to tell her anything about yourself, or the bees, or your Tower, or the karnuq. Try not to even tell her your name if you can help it.”
Belissar gulped at Tarwantrad’s barrage. Tamosmed crossed his arms.
“The name is a…slight exaggeration. The name thing was a one-time occurrence in very specific circumstances and by her mom rather than her, so you…shouldn’t have to worry about that…much. But Tarwantrad is not wrong about her generally. She once offered me mithril for my services. She neglected to mention it was mithril plated silver that was absolutely useless to me. Or the time she offered me charcoal…from a blasting tree that exploded when lit.”
Belissar was no longer looking forward to meeting this dungeon master. He narrowed his eyes.
“She better not hurt the bees.”
Tarwantrad’s face turned dark and she nodded a couple of time. Eventually, though, she let out a sigh and calmed her expression.
“I definitely agree. To be honest, I didn’t want to expose you to her at all if I could have helped it. But…right now, we need her help. Or more specifically, her mother’s help.”
“With the forgemaster being a fool, the pixie queen is the most influential signatory who hasn’t indicated where she stands regarding you. The only one with enough influence to counter the forgemaster and get the Compact to make a decision before those Tower Lords show up.”
Tarwantrad took a deep breath, letting it out very slowly.
“We need someone to convince her. So…the princess.”
Belissar furrowed his brow.
“But…how do we do that? Especially if I’m not supposed to agree to anything with the princess?”
Tarwantrad made a light smirk.