Chapter 75: Chapter 75: Lornetop

They had left Lucerna's End before the sun had rose, under the cover of darkness. Nay, Quincy and Ilyawraith atop fauglirs and Lain and Tuk-Tuk in their mobile forms of elk and polar bear. Their first destination was the location of the Tundra Wolf so they could slay it and extract the Marrow. But that was over a day away.

They took camp the first day on a rock formation that was part of a duo of hills called Lornetop, where the ruins of a watch tower were left to erode. It was once used to patrol the Lorne Plateau by the men and women of Stitchdale. Now it bore the remnants of camps that had been used by travelers over the years.

For a party like this, traveling with two stellar cooks and one who could store a lot of supplies in a magical inventory, it went without saying that they didn't have to worry about eating well. Nay cooked them all tomahawk steaks on that first night with garlic mashed potatoes and roasted vegetables. She cooked the meat medium rare, except for Tuk-Tuk who had asked for rare.

"If one of you had asked for well done," Nay said, "we would have had problems."

"Is that something that would happen in restaurants in your world?" Quincy said.

"All the time," Nay said. "Had a guy once come in and order the rib-eye. He told the waiter he wanted it well done. Okay, so I make it well done. Waiter brings it out, and the guy looks at it, doesn't even cut into it, and says 'I asked for well done'. The waiter tells him it's well done. The guy says he can clearly see it isn't. So the waiter brings it back. What the hell?I think. I throw it back on the flames for a few minutes. When I'm done I'm sure there's no blood nor flavor left, everything is brown. Waiter brings it back out. Same thing. Guy sends it back. It's not well done enough for him. If I was irritated before, now I'm pissed off. So I throw the thing in the microwave and nuke it. Then I throw it in one of the fryers and leave it there and forget about it for a while. When I pull it back out it's black as a hockey puck. The waiter brings it out and the guy smiles. He eats the whole thing. At the end of his meal, after he's left, the waiter discovers he's written on the check, 'This is the best steak I've ever had'."

Nom laughed the hardest while the others chuckled.

"What's a microwave?" Quincy said.

"Oh, it's a device in my world that runs off electricity," Nay said. "It's a small box with a door. But the door has a window you can see inside. You put food inside and tell it how long you want it to cook. And it heats the food really fast, using microwave radiation. It's a type of energy that causes the water inside of food to vibrate. That's how it cooks it. It's mostly for heating up leftovers when you want to save some time. More of a device for convenience. The food doesn't taste as good after, but hey, it's warm."

"Electricity?" Quincy said.

"It's a type of energy my world uses to power things like devices and lights," Nay said. "Pretty much everything is connected so it has access to electricity. We run wires and cables underneath the ground or on poles in the air so everyone has access."

"So it's like vigor?" Tuk-Tuk said.

"Not exactly," Nay said. "People can't really harness it like vigor can be harnessed. It's science, not magic."

"Seems magical to me," Quincy said.

For dessert, they had some of the leftover crystal berry cobbler from the feast a couple nights ago. Nay found a nice perch to sit and eat while she looked out over the snow-swept plateau. It was a commanding view and Nay could see why a watch tower once existed here. She could even see the lights of Lucerna's End in the distance.

Quincy joined her with two plates of the cobbler for himself. Between mouthfuls he said, "The clans that once existed here used this as a focal point to monitor Stitchdale. It was easy to send word here in any direction, as you can see."

"What happened to the clans?" Nay said.

"They bred with the maugrim," Quincy said. "The stitchmen are their descendants."

"Maybe they should rebuild part of the tower and have watchmen out here," Nay said. "With current events and all."

"With current events and all," Quincy said, "it's not a bad idea."

"Have you met with the Twelve Tribes before?" she said.

Quincy licked one of his plates clean and began on the other. He shook his head. "Never. This is a first for me."

"A new adventure," Nay said.

"So it seems," Quincy said. "I'll tell you one thing though. I never ate this good on the road when I was adventuring." He shoveled down his last bite of cobbler and burped.

/////////

By the camp fire, Tuk-Tuk introduced Nay, Lain and Nom to a game his people played while Ilyawraith and Quincy smoked cheroots and talked amongst themselves on one of the perches affording a view of their surroundings.

Tuk-Tuk had produced a clay bowl and he shook it, rattling around the pieces of bone inside. He poured the contents onto the ground, and dice-like bone carvings spilled out. There were different images painted in different colors, either black or red, on each side.

Nay studied the images that the bone pieces were displaying now. There was a man pulling on a bow. It was painted in black ink. There was a bird in the sky. That was red. And there was a moon in black ink.

"So, how many points is that?" Nom said.

Tuk-Tuk frowned. "Only one point. A bad roll." He marked a 'one' in the snow next to him.

"And the first to twenty-five points wins?" Lain said.

Tuk-Tuk nodded. He swept up the bone pieces and passed the bowl along to Nay.

"So, to recap," Nay said. "Two black and one red is one point. But two red and one black is two points. Three red is four points. Three black is three points."

"Yes," Tuk-Tuk said.

"But what do the pictures mean?" Nom said. "Is there some significance if you roll certain pictures?"

Tuk-Tuk nodded. "Yes, but that is for once you are used to the game. I'm showing you the simple way to play before all the meaning comes into play. It can be confusing and too much all at once."

"I don't know, bud," Nom said. "I'm what you call a visual learner. If I see little drawings I want to know about them. I want to know if I'm rolling good or bad omens, you know?"

Lain agreed. "Yes, I'd like to know, too."

"Fine," Tuk-Tuk said. "I shall interpret."

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Nay shook the bowl and rolled the bone pieces. They tumbled across the cold dirt and stopped. There were three reds and the three drawings were a person with a bow, an elk and a tent.

"Four points!" Nay said.

"A very fine roll," Tuk-Tuk said. He processed the images for a moment. "You are a hunter who will always have enough food to share. Not only that, but you will do so from your dwelling. It will be a place people come to for nourishment."

"You're just saying that because you know I'm a cook," Nay said.

"I interpret the bones truthfully," Tuk-Tuk said.

"Me next!" Nom said. He grabbed up the pieces and the bowl.

Nom held the bowl between his protuberances and then rolled the bones. He got three blacks. "Alright, three points! Not bad, eh?"

The images were of a fox, a snake and a pregnant woman.

"Now what the hell does that mean?" Nom said.

Nay elbowed Nom and pointed at the etching of the pregnant woman. She raised her eyebrows up and down, ribbing him. "You sly bastard. You might be a future daddy."

Nom shook his body 'no' at that. "That's not what it means, is it Tuk-Tuk?" Tuk-Tuk didn't immediately respond. "Is it?"

“To my people, the fox means good fortune,” Tuk-Tuk said. “And – “

“But a snake,” Nom said. “That’s bad, right?”

“No, not at all,” Tuk-Tuk said. “The snake means rebirth and transformation. And it’s a powerful symbol of eternity. I would say that there is a continual renewal of life in your future.”

Nom processed this and his worried mood shifted to one of happiness. “You know, my life has transformed since I came to this world. Before it was always, ‘Nzxthommoccus, help hold this subject down so we can torture them. Nzxthommoccus, wave and whip around more to make these people uncomfortable. Nzxthommoccus, undulate harder so we can move faster, we’re gonna be late!’ Now I get to hang out with cool people and cook and go on adventures.”

Lain took the bowl with the pieces next. She rolled the bone pieces. She got two reds and one black. “Two points,” she said.

“Kinda mid,” Nay said. “But could be worse.”

The pictures on the bone pieces were of an arrowhead, the sun and a pumpkin. “Interesting,” Tuk-Tuk said.

He continued. “The harvest season is when you truly shine. Strength and protection follow you. You will be a source of clarity in the near future when someone needs it the most.”

"Does this really affect our futures?" Nay said.

"It’s just a game," Tuk-Tuk said. "But, if you find some meaning in the story the pictures tell, then hold onto it. My people have a saying. It takes a thousand voices to tell a single story.”

“I don’t know what that means,” Nom said. “But I like how it sounds.”

“It means that the people and things in our lives each add a voice to our story,” Lain said.

Tuk-Tuk confirmed her interpretation and said, “Our ancestors, our family, our friends, the signs and symbols that try to speak to us, they bring color and laughter and tears into our tales.”

“No man is an island,” Nay said.

Tuk-Tuk thought about this and he smiled. “Exactly!”

/////////

They had a breakfast of eggs and bacon and there were also oats and crystal berries for those who wanted the extra stored energy. All of the food was enhanced with Buffs to stimulate quick recovery and extra stamina, so no one was tired and everyone was in a good mood.

The plan today was to hunt for the Tundra Wolf, whose territory crossed the Lorne Plateau. It was about half a day’s travel North and with her companions, it should be a quick kill. The only monsters that Quincy showed concern about were the Ice Harpy and something called the Njorbane.

“What’s the Njorbane?” Nay said.

“Tier 3 monster,” Quincy said. “It spends most of its time hibernating but it comes out every couple of years to hunt. We need to take care while hunting it. If the stories are true, its killed many men who have come questing for it, hoping to make a name for themselves and get a Delicacy.”

“But we have Ilyawraith with us,” Nay said. “What danger is a Tier 3 monster to a Silver Rank Marrow Eater?”

Quincy chuckled. “Maybe not much, but when hunting any monster, we must always be alert and take them seriously. Underestimating something you are trying to kill is never wise.”

Nay soaked this wisdom in. “Even with people?”

“Especially with people,” Quincy said. “You also never know when someone is pretending to be weak only to surprise you later. Those can be the most dangerous opponents. Because by the time you realize your mistake, it’s usually too late.”

“Deception is a weapon in itself,” Nay said.

“Deception is a powerful tactic. Always be suspicious. It could save your life one day.”

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