Merchant Crab

The enchantress pulled a silk drape to the side and walked the crab through a doorway hidden behind it, into a tight corridor.

“I am going to tell you the truth openly, Balthazar,” said Ruby as she walked in front of her guest.

Balthazar rolled his eyes while following her. That would be nice for once.

“We have been hoping to find someone like you to help us,” the woman continued. “No matter how many of us there are, what we know, and how much we try, it never feels like we get close enough to our objectives.”

“Which are?” asked the merchant.

“To find answers, of course. To know who or what is in charge of this whole system, and what they are trying to achieve by placing countless adventurers on this world, on a rat’s race towards an arbitrary goal.”

She arrived at a corner, but to the crab’s surprise, instead of turning towards the next corridor, she instead waved a hand in front of a bookcase, which quietly slid to the side, revealing a new passage.

“Every adventurer has the same innate desire to level up,” she continued, while ducking through the new passage and into another corridor. “To reach level 100, despite none of us knowing what’s so important about it, or even if anyone has ever really done it. Our theory is that whoever is pulling the strings is seeking something, and it requires finding one adventurer who can reach that level. What for, is one of the many questions we have no answer for.”

The crustacean sighed as he followed along.

“Fascinating, but this is still none of my business,” he said. “Not unless it somehow involves a big pie in the sky. What in the world could you need my help for?”

Ruby let out a sigh of her own.

“You continue to not get your own potential,” she said. “Your unique system… peculiarity makes you able to interfere with it and do unpredictable things that none of us could ever hope to. We seek to poke holes into this system until we find a way through it, and you could be our most valuable tool.”

The crab’s eyestalks frowned. “Did you just call me a tool?”

“Metaphorically, Balthazar,” said the enchantress with a tired tone.

“Still, I’m nobody’s tool,” the merchant reiterated, crossing his arms as he continued skittering behind the woman.

“No, but what I want to show you is a tool,” said Ruby. “My mentor, the one who brought me into the Birdwatchers, created it alongside a close friend of his a very long time ago.”

They arrived in front of a solid brass door with several engravings on it, and the adventurer began tracing her fingertip across its lines in a careful and precise manner.

“Is it a baking tool?” asked the crab.

“No?” said the woman. “Why would it—”

“Not really interested then,” Balthazar said. “I came out here to find answers that would help me with my friends, not to get involved in your school project to… Woah.”

The crab’s jaw dropped as the door opened and a radiant glow shined onto him from within.

Warm light reflected off the many polished metal surfaces inside the small circular chamber, an amber glow flooding into Balthazar’s eyes from the copper and bronze instruments, tools, and gear displayed around the room, all lit from a single hollow orb hanging from the ceiling, a phosphorus light spot suspended at the center of an armillary sphere that made up its delicate structure.

Ruby, standing off to the side, gestured for the merchant to step into the room.

“This is a part of our archive,” she said. “Sources of knowledge and banished pieces that once were in the world, kept by us in hopes of solving Heartha’s riddle.”

Balthazar walked in, and his eyes marveled at the wonders around him. Bookcases filled with hardcover tomes and copper artifacts inside glass display cases. Old tapestries covered the walls, depicting ancient myths through complex patterns. An array of bronze instruments stood around the room, hung from the ceiling, or simply resting on tables. All so very shiny and captivating to the crab.

Almost as pretty as gold…

“We know that all roads for answers will inevitably lead to one source,” said the enchantress. “The Creator.”

The crab turned to her with a puzzled look. “Hey, I remember the crow mentioning something about a creator.”

“Indeed,” Ruby said. “We know next to nothing about this figure, who or what they might be, but it’s clear that the birds are simply the underlings to this creator. If we ever hope to get to the bottom of what’s behind the system, we will have to find this individual.”

Balthazar nodded. “You tried asking people you meet on the side of the road? That’s usually my method for finding things.”

“The tool I mentioned,” the woman continued, ignoring the crab’s insightful tip, “is how I hope to find The Creator.”

She stood next to a table at the very center of the room, with a small scarlet sheet covering something atop its surface. With a smooth pull at the piece of cloth, the enchantress revealed the object underneath.

An armillary sphere sitting on top of a solid metal base, entirely made of spotless and shiny brass, finely engraved rings suspended around the central frame, which itself held a small copper-colored ball. It was a complex piece of mechanical clockwork like the merchant had never seen before.

“Pretty…” said the bright-eyed crab. “…what is it?”

“It is called the Amil Astrolabe,” Ruby said.

Balthazar cocked an eyestalk thoughtfully. “Wait, I’ve read books about these things. Don’t you mean an armil astrolabe?”

“No. This is no simple armillary sphere. This unique instrument was one of my mentor’s creations. His name was Amil.”

“Oh,” said the crab, rolling his eyes. “So he just liked to name things after himself. Got it.”

The adventurer glared disdainfully at him over her glasses. “Remind me again, what is the name of your trading post?”

The merchant scowled, and decided to carry on with admiring the delicate instrument by walking around the table. “So, what does this thing do?”

“At the moment… nothing,” said Ruby. “Once complete, it would be able to lock onto the strongest point of power in this world—the so-called creator—and point us in its direction. But there was one last ring piece left to finish in order to complete it, and sadly, Amil did not live to see it done.”

“Oh,” said the crab. “Sorry.”

The lady in red stared longingly at the sphere for a moment, tracing a fingertip across the edge of one of its rings.

“It was his closest friend and research partner who had the final piece,” she continued. “But after Amil was gone, so was he, and we could never reach him again.”

“Right,” Balthazar said. “But you said we had a mutual interest, regarding Bouldy. What does he have to do with your contraption there?”

Ruby’s eyes lifted from the sphere as if breaking away from a long-lost memory.

“Your stone golem? Nothing. It’s who you seek to help you restore him that is important.”

“Wait,” said the baffled crab. “You mean that old loony wizard?!”

“Tweedus,” the woman said with a nod. “He was my mentor’s greatest friend, a long time ago.”

Balthazar stared at the enchantress for an awkward moment, blinking with a puzzled expression. “Seriously? That old lunatic is the guy you’re after?”

“Don’t be fooled by his touch of madness, Balthazar. Tweedus is one of the oldest and highest level adventurers still roaming these lands.”

The merchant chuckled while looking at her in disbelief.

“A ‘touch’ of madness, you say? Lady, that man showed up shirtless at my place screaming for mana potions the first time I met him. The second time, he was flying through the sky on a carpet and drinking tea while heading to a date with a sea creature. He’s completely off his rocker!”

Ruby smirked at the confused crab. “And yet, is he not the one you seek to bring your friend back to life?”

“I… that’s because I don’t have any better clues to follow!” said the crustacean, throwing his arms up. “Do you know how to repair a broken golem core?!”

“No, I do not,” the adventurer said. “But I am also certain if someone does, it would be Tweedus. Despite his… appearance, he is extremely knowledgeable and likely knows more about Heartha than all of us combined. Which is why we need his help, just like you.”

The merchant squinted his eyes at the scarlet lady. He better than anyone knew that nothing is free.

“So what’s the deal?” he asked. “Because I’m still not interested in watching birds.”

“I understand,” said Ruby. “I will not pressure you into joining us. I only ask that you consider it. I believe that when the time comes, with your help, we could uncover the truth. For now, we could help each other while you ponder it.”

“Help each other how?”

“I believe Tweedus has the final ring to the astrolabe,” explained the enchantress. “With it, this instrument could finally show us the path to The Creator, and everything we seek.”

“Great,” the crab said. “Why haven’t you just asked the old guy?”

“We would, except Tweedus does not seem very keen on talking to us, or most people, for that matter. Every attempt to reach him throughout the years has always failed, with him always leaving us in the dust and disappearing without a trace. Whether it’s old age, his flavor of madness, or… something else, he seems to be an extremely reclusive wizard.” She paused and gave Balthazar an intense look through her red-tinted lenses once again. “You, however, seem to be an exception. He appears to have taken a liking to you, for some reason. Hardly anyone gets to meet the legendary mage once, yet you’ve met him twice already.”

Balthazar shrugged. “Maybe it’s my naturally charming personality.”

“I am certain that if you were the one to seek him out, he would not vanish like he does when we try to approach him.”

“That’s a nice theory, but with me having no clue where to find the old fool, it’s all pointless conjecture, lady.”

Ruby smiled.

“That’s where we can help you. We have a lead on where one of his homes might be located. If one of us tried to reach him there, we would likely find our attempt at contact being frustrated by him once more, and we would lose his tracks yet again. However, if you go there yourself, I’m confident he will listen to you.”

The red lady moved around the armillary table and closer to the crab.

“Find him, ask for his assistance with your golem, and all I ask is that you try to get him to also help us with our own problem. Get him to give us the missing astrolabe ring and perhaps after we could further discuss you helping us yourself.”

Balthazar pondered to himself for a moment.

It’s not like I have any other ways to find the old guy, and her demand isn’t that bad…

He reached back into his backpack and touched the surface of the cracked stone resting within.

“Fine,” the trader said after a quiet sigh. “I’ll do it. You have my word that if I find Tweedus, I’ll ask him about your bronze instrument, but that’s all I can promise. It’s up to him to help you or not.”

The scarlet woman smiled openly. “Excellent. That is all I ask of you. I have full confidence in your charisma.”

“So, where is this abode of his?”

“Our informant tells us he has a hiding place up in the mountains,” Ruby explained, “somewhere near the east coast of the continent. Give me your map.”

The merchant pulled the rolled up piece of parchment from his pack and gave it to her.

Spreading it open over a nearby table, the enchantress produced a long, pointy crystal from her robe and began tracing lines with the tip of it over the map while whispering unintelligible words under her breath.

“Here,” she said, offering the map back to the crab. “This is now an enchanted map. It’s a common item among adept adventurers. It will reveal the locations of your objectives during your travels.”

“Neat,” said Balthazar, looking at the page with an approving nod.

“You will find it much easier to explore and discover all Mantell has to offer with it.”

“Mantell?” repeated the crab, with a cocked eyestalk. “What’s that? Is it something I can eat?”

Ruby stared at the crustacean with a hint of bewilderment in her expression.

“Mantell is the name of the continent you are on,” the woman said. “By the arcane, how you have managed to come this far will never cease to amaze me.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere with me, lady,” the smug crab said as he stored the rolled up map into his bag.

The enchantress let out a brief sigh before heading towards the bronze door.

“Come, let us check on your archer friend now.”