After we finished the transaction, Jade walked off with Starla, and Stix wandered back up and, according to Bella, departed the shoppe. I made my way back down to the main level with a plan to check in on Red in the Map room, but partway, Bella intercepted me.

  “Master Downwin is waiting for you in Meeting Room One.” She said, walking up beside me.

  “That was fast,” I remarked.

  “He seems agitated, or, at least, more so than usual.”

  “Thanks, Bella,” I said and noticed that she was already gone.

  I walked past the map room and heard Red and several others talking. “One thing at a time,” I said to myself quietly, but out loud.

  The Gray Master, aka Master Downwin, the cloth merchant, was sitting in my usual spot facing the doorway. A quick glance around the room showed me that we were alone.

  “What can I do for you, Master Downwin?” I asked, closing the door behind me.

  He got right to the point. “Have you spoken with the Duke yet?”

  I knew he was referring to the wealthy citizens' desire to have a get-out-of-Keelwell ring in case things went poorly.

  “No, I planned to do so shortly.”

  “They will not be patient and may already be seeking other options that may not be in the city’s best interest.”

  “I understand that. You made your case quite clear.” I said.

  He chewed at his lower lip but let it pass. “I am actually here on another matter.”

  “Oh?” I said, as I sat down in the chair that he usually occupied.

  “Yes.” He began. “The number of undead in the sewers is far greater than we had first estimated, and they are taking over large sections of the Undercity. It is more than the Gray Brotherhood can safely contain, although there are many among us who refuse to admit this fact.”

  “So, what does that mean?” I asked.

  “While I had not expressly told you about it, at the urging of the Duke, I had begun to create safehouse locations and stock them with large quantities of food should large sections of the city get overrun and we moved into the Undercity to fight a defensive war.”

  I nodded. “Hopefully it will not come to that.”

  “But plans must be made, regardless. In any event, several of these locations have been compromised by the undead and their human cult leaders.”

  “This is the first time you have mentioned cultists.”

  “I assumed you knew. There are not many, but they do the bidding of their leaders and the dark powers that drive all of this chaos.”

  “What do you need?” I asked.

  “Clerics, mages, soldiers, lots more firepower.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t know. We are spread pretty thin.”

  “Gwydion,” he said patiently. “If this is not handled soon, and when we are now in a position of relative strength, these forces will only gain in numbers and attack from below as the goblins attack from above. Surely you must see this.”

  “I do. But most of the soldiers are either working to keep order or assigned to defensive efforts. There is food and supplies to bring in from the outlying regions, and a hundred details that I am not privy to.”

  He sighed. “And still, the threat below remains.”

  “Maybe we can get adventurers to help with this.” I offered.

  “How so?” He asked. “There is already a hunt going on at 10 gold per confirmed undead skull that you have sponsored based on our initial meeting.”

  “I thought we agreed that it was your idea,” I said with a smile.

  “Even so, you are paying out the rewards.” He added magnanimously.

  “Did your people take to the idea?”

  “Oh yes, up until we discovered there were ten times the number of undead that we had first imagined. We suffered losses that can not easily be replenished.”

  “I am sorry,” I said, and I truly meant it. “If we plunged into the sewers, we would need guides, and it might put a crimp on your normal activities. It is why we avoided that before at your suggestion, I believe.”

  “My logic was sound, but the undead are in far larger numbers than our highest projections. The work we had planned in creating tunnels under the goblin armies is all but impossible now.”

  “I’ll add it to the meeting with the Duke. At worst, maybe a couple Special Services teams could go down and, in partnership with your people, clear out some of the larger holdouts.”

  He nodded. “That would save a lot of lives and no doubt put a wrinkle into the plans of those behind the invasion.”

  “It’s my turn to ask a favor,” I said as he began to get up.

  He looked at me and then sat back down.

  “As a fabric merchant of some notoriety-,” I began.

  He held up his hand and said, “Master fabric merchant and of significant notoriety.” He corrected me.

  “Yes.” I agreed. “I would like your advice or assistance in purchasing high-quality fabric for magical enchantment use.”

  “What did you have in mind?” He asked.

  “Special robes for my journeymen, magical cloaks for the Irregulars, that sort of thing,” I replied.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “Single-use or permanent enchantments?” He asked.

  “Say both.”

  “Then there are only two reasonable options: Elven Silk or Merino Wool.”

  “I presume that Elvin Silk would not be easy to come by?”

  “Indeed not.” He said. “And it is very expensive. Both are, in fact. But getting the silk would take weeks, and you don’t have that much time.”

  “But you just happen to have a connection for the other type,” I suggested.

  He smiled widely. “I do. It is not cheap, but nothing else will do if you want fabric for enchantments. The Merino Wool produced by halflings and refined in the capital is the only option.”

  “How much?” I asked.

  “I have one bolt that I would be willing to part with for, say, 200 gold.”

  I laughed. “That is ridiculous. A bolt of cloth would be five or ten percent of that.”

  “Not Merino Wool. Very few types of cloth will hold an enchantment for very long. Merino Wool is your best option.” He argued.

  It didn’t sound right to me, and I said as much to him. “Wool is itchy and coarse. It couldn’t possibly be what we need or cost that much.”

  “I do this for a living.” He said, and catching the tilt of my head, he added. “Well, I fleece people for a living, but genuine wool fleece, not the cheap blends, is what you need.”

  “Would it be cheaper to go to the source?” I asked.

  “The halfling baronies are all in chaos right now. Even though Fletcher’s Chase, where the city of Merino is located, is halfway between here and the Dwarven Wall, it still would not help much. The refining needed is not done in the village but in the capital. It is there you will need to go and pay even higher prices if you don’t work through me.”

  “How much fabric would you need to make robes?” I asked.

  “For mages? I’d say six yards for a robe. A bathrobe would use far less, but an elegant yet stylishly useful mage robe would take 6 yards.”

  “How many yards in one of your bolts?”

  “One hundred yards.” He answered. “But it is far cheaper to buy an entire bolt than just enough material for a few robes. Besides, once you have these made, you will probably get orders for others, and with your enchantment work, you may need materials later for other work you don’t even know you need today.”

  “Do you ever stop selling?” I asked.

  “No.” He answered with another of his disarming smiles.

  I sighed. “Red has asked a couple of times about going to the capital to pick up some things, and I can see some benefit to it as well. I’ll get with him and work out the details. He will let you know when we plan to leave. It could be very soon.”

  “I won’t need much prior notice. I always have business in the capital, and tagging along with a mage means getting there far faster than by cart.”

  Bella said, Gwydion, you have a delivery from the Duke coming into the shoppe.

  “I have a delivery arriving. Was there anything else you wanted to discuss?” I asked the Gray Master.

  “No, but if you can check with the Duke as soon as possible about both the list and the Undercity, it would be very helpful.”

  “I will,” I promised.

  I walked him out and met one of the Watch sergeants coming in with a team of ten city guards carrying five chests.”

  He walked up to me and saluted. “Commander, if you will sign here.” And he handed me a roll of parchment.

  I opened and read that this was a delivery of coins from the Duke. Five chests with 10,000 gold coins in each.

  I signed the scroll and said, “Sergeant, I will need additional coins. If you and your men wouldn’t mind waiting for a minute, it would save you some hassle in an hour.”

  He saluted and said, “Do we have time for a quick bite up in your dining area?”

  I grinned. “How about twenty minutes?”

  “Where would you like these carried?” He asked with a wide smile.

  Bella was standing beside me, and the sergeant did a double-take, as if he had not noticed her a second ago. Which, of course, was because she hadn’t been there.

  “I will lead them to the outside of the vault and give them your request as soon as you draw it up.” She said.

  “Very good. Sergeant, please follow Miss Bella.”

  “Yes, commander.” He said, and turning to Bella, he said, “After you, Lady Bella.”

  She smiled. Something that I rarely see her do.

  They carried the chests to the back of the shoppe and then went up to the second level by way of the magically hidden stairs for a quick bite. The sergeant walked right through the marble column, as did two of the other ten, but the remaining Watch had never been in here before and were much slower to follow.

  I realized that the secret staircase was probably not very secret anymore, but at least it was not the talk of the town, otherwise, the other guards would not have been surprised.

  With a smile at their nervousness, I walked over to one of our shoppe counters and asked a retail apprentice for parchment, pen, and ink. I wrote up a request to the Duke but addressed it to his Steward, Jonathan Beltman. I asked for 20 bags of 500 copper pieces in each, 20 bags of 500 silver in each, and 10 bags of 100 platinum in each.

  Bella appeared beside me and took the parchment. “I will see that they get this as soon as they come back downstairs.”

  “Thank you, Bella,” I said.

  Biff walked over to me and handed me a note. “This just arrived by messenger.” He said.

  The envelope was fancy and had Davon’s long title across the top of it. I opened it and read the brief note, which only stated, “Call me.”

  I stopped by the dining area, grabbed a sandwich, some fruit, and a mug of hot tea, and retired to my chambers to place a call.

  “Gwydion!” Davon said cheerfully as I used the rune stone to call my friend. “You got my message.”

  “Of course. I would have called earlier, but I needed the time to read all your titles listed on the envelope.”

  He laughed. “It’s all about the advertising, so they say.”

  “I bet,” I said with a smile. “What’s up?”

  “I got to thinking that we should expand our rune work as part of our defenses, and a trip to the capital might be in order.”

  “No kidding?” I said. “We are just talking about that. We need to pick up some supplies. You want to come along?”

  “Not me!” He said. “Adventures are for the young.”

  “You are thirty. That hardly qualifies as old.” I argued. “And the capital is hardly an adventure.”

  “Well, they also say that age is a state of mind.”

  “You need to stop listening to whoever ‘they’ are; you are getting bad advice.”

  He laughed again. “I won’t be joining you, but I can arrange for a meeting. There is a grandmaster sage in the capital by the name of Thaddeus Aurelius Harper. I spent time with him. He is over two hundred and near the end of his days, I fear. He is a genius, and I’d say that he has forgotten more about runes than most will ever learn in their lifetime, but I doubt he has ever forgotten anything. He was a patron in his youth as well. So he’s in good company.”

  “What do you want me to pick up?” I asked.

  “I’ll reach out to him about a shelf of books on runes I had intended to come back and copy during a visit, but never quite got around to making the trip. He’ll make copies of the books for us, and I’ll focus on pulling together some better defensive options and more varieties of attacks than just exploding runes.”

  “My team has been thinking along the same lines.” I agreed.

  “Great minds!” He said with another laugh.

  “In fact, I have a rune lord on my team now.”

  “What?” He said, surprised. “You were holding out on me!”

  “She just arrived. I intended to send her over to you for a visit if you like.”

  “Are you kidding? I’ll clear my schedule all day. Have her come to my offices whenever she is free.”

  “Sounds good. I’ll speak with her about it this morning.” I said and then asked, “Will I need a letter of introduction in the capital?” I asked.

  “No, I’ll make sure he knows who you are and that you will be arriving in the next day or so unless you can give me a more exact time.”

  I didn't know when we would leave, but it would be soon. “I’ll call you or send you a note to verify the exact time, but your ballpark is probably right. We don't have a lot of time to waste.”

  “Sounds good. I’ll reach out to him as soon as we are done. Do you need anything? Can I assist in any way?” He asked, helpfully.

  “If you have ideas about Single Use Spell ring effects that are area of effect, drop me a note about that. Otherwise, keep working on runes to defend the city walls.”

  “Will do.” He said.

  “Oh, and if you have any adventuring groups that are local that you know about, we are sending people into the Undercity. Apparently, the undead are drastically growing in numbers down there. We almost didn’t find out about it in time.”

  “That’s not good news.” He added, darkly.

  “We need to send capable groups down there to thin out the threat,” I suggested.

  “I do know some groups that have worked for me in the past, plus some new groups just sort of arrived recently and are looking for work. My guess is that they have already heard about your undead bounty.”

  “Oh, you got wind of that, did you?”

  “Hey, I’m the city's Lore Master!” He said. “And in the future, give me a heads up and I’ll advertise for you.”

  “I didn’t even think about it. I’ll keep that in mind.” I said.

  He laughed again. “You do that!”

  “Thanks again, Davon. I’ll be in touch.” I said.

  “Stay safe.” He replied.

  I passed my hand over the stone like he had shown me to shut off the connection. I set it down on the desk instead of putting it in my pocket like I usually did.