Once the Merchants get settled in, Triss quickly buys up a large portion of their spices, and all their remaining crystal dishes. Spices are expensive in Graska, and she wanted the dishes for special occasions. That's left the merchants basically empty for the final leg of their journey only a few items that are reserved for a buyer in Assah and the Dwarven made tools are left. That's a relief to the caravan, as they weren't expecting to find anything along this route, and now they've only got easy to sell items left.
During lunch the Merchants notice Princess Aramia, the Daughter of the Spider Queen in the Beastkin Dungeon of Graska, who is currently hiding from Triss, who caught her chugging a pot of coffee. Spiders get drunk off caffeine, so the Princess is pretty much wasted, but she's doing an alright job of escaping the frustrated bartender, whose coffee she drank.
"You've got an interesting bunch here. Say, have you heard about that Silk Quest in Behar? Your spider kin looks like one of the Royals, so it made me think of it. The King there has a Legendary Tailoring recipe, only usable by a Tailor over level 400. He's gathered everything it needs except Royal Moon Silk. Only a female Royal of the Spider Folk can make it, and it takes two full days.
They're extinct you see, you'll only find them in dungeons, but it takes too long to make the silk, so even if you have the talent to bring one out and get it to cooperate, you don't have time before the dungeon resets and the Spider Dissappears."
Both Lickity and Misha look excited at this, before the fact they'd have to be level 400 to craft whatever the item is finally sinks in.
"He's offering an unspecified reward, basically a name your price quest given by a billionaire with Castles on every continent." One of the guards elaborates.
Now that sounds interesting. Cain isn't sure their Princess can create any such thing, but if she can, the Guild might get some very good stuff out of the deal. Maybe some proper castle defenses. Cain can create a lot of puppets, but they're not great fighters, but with some magical Cannons or something they might be useful.
The two groups sit and chat until mid afternoon, when the temperature begins to fall and the merchants need to start getting ready to move out. Traveling in the middle of the day is too hot, but they don't want to rest a whole day when they're almost to Assah and out of the dangerous portion of their journey.
"They seem trustworthy, but I wouldn't guarantee they won't sell us out if they run into bandits." Maggie says. The otherwise gentle Orc is always serious about her duties as a Lieutenant.
"Neither would I, but eventually people are bound to find out the castle is here and not all of them will be friendly. Especially with the remnants of the Montauk Guardians out there." Cain agrees. For now, they don't have the manpower to constantly patrol trade routes looking for bandits, but given time the Guild members will get stronger.
That's not to say Cain can't go out now and mess with some bandits if he wants, but with two new Lieutenants and a new Companion he really feels like he should spend some time at the castle. Summoning them in just to ditch them seems a bit cruel.
"Does anyone know where we could find magical Cannons? I think they'd work well on the walls if we didn't need to stockpile ammo." Cain suggests as everyone gathers to explore the reconstructed ruins and look for new favorite spots to pass the evening. Being able to spread out and have your own space to relax is one of the great benefits of an underpowered castle garrison.
"You can get them at any port. Though buying them in Assah isn't the best price for them. If we could get to the eastern continent they've got some Pirate ports where you can get cheap ship parts." Carlos adds with a knowing smile. He's likely traded equipment there before.
"Well, for the moment, we have no ship, so that might have to wait. Any other suggestions?"
"Yeah, get that drunkard of a Spider to stop pining for her mother and make some Silk and you could trade it for one in Behar." Nila suggests, giving Aramia a pointed look. The Spider has a coffee cup in her hands again.
The downside to living with a bunch of workaholics, there's always a pot of coffee on.
"How about it Princess. Care to make us a bunch of Royal Moon Silk?" Cain asks, taking the coffee away from the Spider Princess.
"Why would I *hic* have to make it? Mother used to make me practice every day. I've got loads and loads of it in my inventory." The Spider slurs before going off on a tangent about how great her mom is.
Visiting didn't really pan out because of the dungeon resets, but Cain thinks he's got a solution. He can certainly spare a Summon when he's not in combat, and the Spider Queen recorded as a Supporter, so he calls her here into the compound, the appearance of her large, shiny black Spider body with its distinctive golden Lauren that denotes Royalty and Silk covered human upper torso, draped in a slinky black dress with a golden crown on her head startles everyone.
[Get this drunkard back on the straight and narrow. She misses her mom too much to function.] Cain instructs and the Spider Queen promptly grabs Aramia by one long leg and drags her behind a nearby building.
"Mama no! I swear I'm not drunk *hic* I just had one cup of coffee. Not the ear, not the ear! I'm sorry mama."
A mere ten minutes later the two return, a teary eyed Aramia sitting on the back of the Spider Queen. "Here's four bolts of Royal Moon Silk. I'm sorry I got out of hand, I promise I'll do better."
"I'm sure you know that version of your mom is a Summon, but I'm going to leave her with you for now to keep you sober. Just try to behave and you'll be fine. If not, I hear your mom can be very strict with discipline."
Most of the Guild chuckles at that and the Spider Queen smiles.
"Duke Cain, while I'm here, might I call forth just a few more followers? Spiders like to live in groups, and there's just the two of us."
As Cain recalls she can Summon a huge number of low grade worker Spider kin, as well as actual spiders.
"Sure, if you want to set up somewhere, the second underground level is unoccupied and won't see any visitors for a while. Call as many as you want down there, you've got free reign of the castle." Come to think of it, her spiders would make great defenders. They're not strong, or durable, but they're poisonous and fast, plus she can Summon hundreds of them, possibly more now that her level has increased.
Forget simple curses and hexes, a Poisonous Spider filled haunted labyrinth would really keep the enemies out of the basement.
"The Silk you make, will it disappear if you're dismissed?" Misha asks the Spider Queen with great interest.
"No, once we make it, it's made and no longer part of us. Why? Do you need new clothes? You would look good in Spider Royal fashion." Cain can't help but agree with that. The queen's gown shows as much skin as it hides, and it would look amazing clinging to Misha's curves.
"We've got a few Silk based recipes to try, and a minor shortage of materials you see." Lickity says, joining them.
Unless Cain's eyes are deceiving him, she's visibly larger than she was the day before yesterday. Succubus pregnancies are really something else. If she's going to get any baby clothes done, she had better hurry.
"That's totally cheating. Do you know how hard I tried to get Aramia to stop sulking after the last time the dungeon reset on her?" Triss whispers in his ear as the four find a spot under a tree to discuss Tailoring.
"Funny you should mention that. Cheap tricks and cheating are my specialty. In case you'd forgotten." Cain laughs.
Now, it's time to make a plan. Most everyone will be going home tonight, so they'll have residents at every Guild House to alert the Guild to problems. That leaves Cain free to do whatever he wants, and what he wants is a better furnished castle. So the first order of business is to get to Behar and trade this Silk for good stuff. If the King wants another bolt for a second crafting attempt, Cain intends to get Cannons for the walls, plus a ship, so they can go visit other continents, or even just go fishing.
He'll need to check his skills though. Fishing might not be their specialty.
[Skilled Constructs] grants constructs without existing ability in a Life Skill Apprentice 1 level talent in that skill.
There's a whole list of skills in the tool tip, and sailing and fishing are both on the list. If he can get a suitable boat, he can totally staff it with Puppets. They're up to level 15 strength now, so they should be even more capable than the average crew member.
His very own luxury yacht. Wait, do they have those here? Maybe his own Galleon?
