Tunnel Rat

Milo trudged into the Mining Guild Assay Office with his bag of ore. Several miners were ahead of him in line and nodded politely. He'd been seen before, paid his dues, and was coming back with a full load of ore. He had a good pick, a full bag, and mine dust all over him. That earned him a bit of respect, even if a couple of people were scowling at him. He'd take indifference over outright hostility.

The indifference lasted until the dwarf at the counter emptied his bag onto the heavy metal table they used to sort ore. He looked at one chunk, then another, and then whistled a small tune and smiled at Milo. "This is all deep copper and freshly mined." Milo just nodded. Several of the miners took notice. "Any nuggets?" Milo tossed the three nuggets of pure copper on the table and then the chunk. The dwarf whistled again. "Copperheads?"

"Two," Milo said. "One was a hatchling; the other was bigger, a Vein-Lurker. Tough as hell. It dropped the chunk." At the mention of copperheads, several miners cursed and made signs. No one liked the snakes. There were too many tales of horrible deaths from poison. Dwarves were very resistant to poisons in general, but copperhead venom was potent and deadly.

"Well, the guild will certainly buy all of this. Pure copper is especially nice to get. There's a noble family in the capital, the House of Franklin; they pay top dollar for it. " He handed Milo two gold coins and swept the ore into a cart. Puffing on his cigar a bit, he looked Milo over. "You plan on mining more of this? I know you have to haul it a long way. I might have a deal for you."

Milo was intrigued. "Sure, what kind of deal? And yes, it's a long way down."

The assayer came back with three large and sturdily constructed leather sacks. "These are guild ore gathering bags. Each one holds 150 chunks of ore but only weighs as much as 25. Here's the deal. I'll give you three of them. You return and give me one full bag load of deep copper chunks, and I'll call it even for all three bags. It’s a risky loan, considering where you’re going, but if you can make it out with a full load, it will pay off for both of us. If you can spend less time hauling and more time mining, the guild will buy it all, and everyone benefits. Most of these pansies are afraid of a few snakes. I can turn a good profit on this ore, and I’d like to encourage you to mine more. A lot more."

Milo said, "Hell, I am scared of them too. That poison hurts like hell. I was lucky I had some potions from Harry."

The dwarf nodded. "Thought that might be the case. My folk are pretty resistant, but we still avoid copperhead territory. Hope you stay lucky. You'll need it."

After he was gone, three dwarf miners pushed forward, angry. “You just gave a wet-behind-the-ears human three ore gathering bags for free! What’s the deal, and when are we getting some of those?”

The miner’s faces fell when the Head Assayer sneered at them, “Are you three going to head down to Shakytown, risk cave-ins, copperheads, cave mantis, and who the hell knows what else and bring me back a load of deep copper?”

They shuffled their feet and shook their heads. That was crazy talk! The assayer yelled at them, “Didn’t think so. Now get the hell out of here. If I want to take a chance on some crazed human, that’s my prerogative.”

Milo had the empty sacks in his pack and was headed upstairs to find the Alchemist Guild.

It turned out to be only a few blocks away. He got directions and headed there, walking through the night market. He saw a halfling waving excitedly at him and stopped to talk. Milo assured him that he'd be by the family shop in just a bit to pick up some more cheese. The young halfling went off to tell his cousins the good news.

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There was a guard on duty at the alchemist shop. Milo had to explain three times that he had items to sell and mention Harry's name. Finally, he was taken to a room and told someone would be with him shortly. He took advantage of being alone to summon his chest and pull out all of the bags of various mushroom powders Harry had sent with him. It made quite an assortment. Some of the bags were also sealed in jars and had labels on them with small skulls. Milo had sampled nearly all of those and could attest to their potency.

As a wise man once said: “While all mushrooms are edible, some mushrooms are only edible once.”

Eventually, a sour-faced man in a brown robe entered the room, along with a young woman in a blue robe who walked behind him. The man was immediately interested in what Milo had to sell but acted suspicious for some reason. "Yes, we do buy all of these goods, but I'll have to test their potency, and frankly, I'm wondering where you go so much and in such variety."

"Oh, well, that's easy to explain. I'm just playing delivery boy for Harry Earthtongue, the Mycologist. I'm sure you know of him?"

The girl in the blue robe got excited. "Oh, you got to meet him? I'm so jealous! We still use a collection of his scrolls to teach Mycology 101. Are you apprenticed to him?!”

The sour-faced man's face tried to grow a smile. "Ah, Dr. Earthtongue, you say? Yes. We know of him.”

Milo smiled back hesitantly at the girl. "I guess you could say that. He's teaching me Mycology in exchange for my help at his mushroom farm and in delivering his goods. I also spend a lot of time gathering wild mushrooms in the caverns."

She was looking through the powders he had brought from Harry. "Ooh, False Agaric and Black Thistle powders? We need these. We haven't had any for months." She made small comments on each of the bags, getting happier and happier. "Oh, sorry, my manners go right out the window sometimes. I am Journeywoman Amarilla, and this is Senior Alchemist Roulf." Milo shook his hand and said simply. "I'm Milo."

Milo looked at Roulf, remembering Harry’s words. "I should be on my way. Dr. Earthtongue said this load of stuff would be 20 gold pieces."

Roulf seemed unhappy, but Amarilla nodded as if that seemed like a fair price. As she started to gather up the bags, Roulf let out a snort. "Well, I suppose since Harry is an old friend, we can pay a bit extra." He counted out ten gold coins. "I'll also get you a bottle of his medicinal tonic. I know he'll be anxious to get it. The tonic will cover the remainder of the cost of the powders."

Milo smiled. "No need to go to the trouble. 20 gold is fine. Harry is feeling much better. Totally cured.”

Amarilla clapped. "Oh, that's grand. It was so sad to see him withering away. Maybe he'll consider coming back to teach!"

Roulf was not happy. At all. He scowled at Amarilla. "Please, don't think to presume such things. I'm sure he's happy down there, where he belongs. Obviously, the stronger concentration of Earthen Mana in the caverns is essential for the survival of trolls. Many races have evolved that way. It’s why the surface isn’t overrun with races like ratkin and trolls. But since I have doubts about a complete cure, I'll keep the medicine handy, just in case."

He counted out another ten gold pieces. Milo helped Amarilla carry the bags into another part of the Alchemist guild. With her help, he purchased the glassware Harry had requested. Then, with Harry’s errands done, he headed off to an appointment with a cheese shop.

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