Chapter 2355 Your Grunkle’s Advice Part 2

--- Kat ---

Appoline and Grunkle got a bit lost talking about the effects various weather conditions had on certain plants. Appoline knew a bit of this because of her family’s greenhouse, but allegedly didn’t know more than that when it came to the wider world, having lived in a dome city for so long. She ’speculated’ on a few things that Kat suspected was just using her actual knowledge without getting Thyme to complain.

Grunkle seemed to similar know quite a bit about the topic. His study of weather meant he also looked into not just how the weather changed, but how that change effected the things around it. Though in a world with so much mana it was just as important to realise that things could effect the weather just from their magic. A lot of plants that liked the rain didn’t just live in rainy areas, they helped reinforce it.

Eventually though, the conversation wound down a bit. Ultimately, Grunkle couldn’t get too into the specifics. He knew how the weather effected things... when it was somewhat within the standard range for the area. He knew what plants liked what weather to some extend... but more exotic ideas were never tested, because that wasn’t really the point. On the other hand, Appoline couldn’t even justify properly knowing the long term consequences of basically anything. So it was all ’guesses’.

Thus, it left an opening for Kat to ask. "Considering you watch the sky so much, could you let us know how many beams of light were around recently?"

Grunkle nodded, "Ah yes, those are in fact incredibly recent. I notice that they come in pairs and thus, I have visually confirmed five pairs, and my monitoring equipment assures me there has been two more I did not view with my own eyes."

*That seems like a lot. Just one left...*

[One left before eight are in play. Remember there are extras.]

Grunkle continued, "Which I suppose means there has been a grand total of fourteen of them to spot if you were lucky enough. Which I sadly was not. Then again, they don’t tend to change the weather much, and I’m not even sure if they count as weather in this case. Plenty of rare events, plants blooming, monsters being born, these can all effect major change in the weather just... those lights did barely anything so." Grunkle shrugged.

"We’re somewhat interested in those, would you be able to show us where they all happened?" asked Kat.

Grunkle nodded, "Sure if you want me to. Not sure it’ll help much. They weren’t all that close..."

Kat nodded, "Perhaps not but it would be good information to have." *Might even give us an idea of what areas might still have one of them left to find.* "Though, I am also wondering, are you any good at navigating the portals around here?"

Grunkle shook his head, "Not at all. I’m no spry young elf. My adventuring days are mostly behind me. Though, come to think of it, that lack of knowledge on the nearby portals is probably what’s making my delivery take so long..."

Right... sure it is...

"Perhaps," Kat decided was safe enough to say out loud. Grunkle seemed to be nodding along with it. "Are you familiar at all with the areas around here?"

"Oh, a little I suppose. Down one side is my fishing pond, and from there it breaks off into the nasty swamp and a rather monster infested underground cavern. I haven’t really bothered to explore either. If you take the other portal near my home you go to an icy area that has one monster that can move through snow, or maybe one kind? It always seemed to know where I was, and attacked me constantly but I was never able to kill it.

"The few times I’ve made it past the blasted thing and near one of the other portals I had to turn back. Both look to be FILLED with lava and I simply wasn’t willing to deal with that sort of risk," explained Grunkle.

*Ok that... is something potentially to worry about. Good we know now, perhaps Appoline can provide some lava resistance, or I guess just fire or heat resistance potions? If we have those ahead of time for everyone other than me we should be fine as a group... though might need to use some more cold resistance ones to get through the ice area. Not sure how deadly that monster is...

And there is of course the monster caverns if we go the other way. I’m not sure if that’s a good idea or not, hard to say. It would be a lot of fighting, but arguably it’s actually less hazardous to our health. It really depends on how good Appoline’s potions are. Damn how are the rest of the groups meant to get past stuff like that?*

[I suspect they’re meant to either have found some good armour, or if not go for the monster filled portal... except I have literally no idea where that one could be. Grunkle does clearly know, so I suppose we can ask him, but I didn’t notice it personally so I’m not sure if it’s still there. He’s been waiting at least a decade for some ’deliveries’ and it’s possible the portal isn’t there anymore.]

*Ah that’s a risk I hadn’t properly considered. What are you thinking looks like the better path?*

[I think if Appoline is confident in her potions we should go for the lava route. It likely leads us towards the top of the mountain faster... but Grunkle said there was two of them. So we might need to worry about one of the paths backtracking us. There also might be more portals in the swamp. I didn’t exactly spend forever looking around and it IS decently large. Grunkle likely hasn’t explored it either or he’d have known about the rune portal that no longer exists.]

*So we have to ask Appoline either way... do you think her potions will work in Wiggles?*

[Probably? That’s a worry that I hadn’t consider on my end of things. She seems to have an answer for everything... but also that’s due to her career. Not sure how often making a rabbit fire immune will have come up. Though maybe for pets and stuff? Then again with resistance maybe it’s just a size thing and we can work out the dosage?]

*Not sure... though I’m now also wondering if Grunkle has any equipment we could use to get through either the ice or the lava area.*

[Counterpoint, we’d need to give him something for that, and it would likely still be potions from Appoline because I’m not sure we have anything else that’s valuable enough for people to be interested you know?]

So I guess we’ve just got to talk to Appoline either way...

[Seems like it. Not sure he even has equipment though, considering he never ended up going himself...]

"Grunkle, would you have some equipment we could borrow or purchase to head into the lava area?" asked Kat.

Grunkle shook his head, "No, that was one of the many things that were meant to be delivered but never arrived. Not sure I ever would’ve used them myself, but I was thinking of hiring a team to set up some devices for me to read the weather on the other side of those portals... alas,"

Hmm... seems like a quest hook but we didn’t see the delivery on the way up or hear of it from anywhere...

[Yeah... too many options I think.]

Before Kat even needed to ask, Appoline put forward an idea. "I should be able to make some fire resistance potions. Perhaps not the highest quality, but a decent number of them to allow for our team to make it inside for at least a few hours. What were you thinking of paying to have those devices set up?"

Grunkle nodded, "I see where you’re going with this... but I’m afraid it wouldn’t be the full payment either way. I’ve only got about a quarter of the devices on me, and even if I could bash together the rest in short order, the rest of the delivery was meant to be the parts to make more. Still... I suppose I wouldn’t be unwilling to reward you if you did some setup for me... BUT I’d need the devices placed FIRST. I’m not getting stiffed on the delivery a second time!"

Kat glanced at Appoline who shrugged and gave a look to say ’this is best I can do really’ before Kat glanced over at Lily. *Alright what do we think of that then? I suppose, if we have to visit him for the reward... I could head out ahead of everyone else to place whatever devices he needs while Appoline works on the potions and you all rest up in a relatively safe location.

I can then swing back through, or just let you know via the link that it’s all in place and we can meet up somewhere along the way?*

[It’s a good plan... factually speaking but emotionally? Not sure I really want to let you go off on your own right after we were forced to separate. I’d be willing to ’waste’ some time for the potions to brew... urgh but coming back around for the reward afterward. I see the problem. Though... perhaps WE could go on the adventure and then come back for Appoline and Wiggles? If they’d be safe enough here?]