Town of Gnawnia Chapter 7

Read Table of Content | +Kyla Sturchio
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       I was once again seated at the kings table my pages of notes scattered everywhere. He was scrutinizing them eagerly.
"Well done Plankrun! Well done. With your help I'll be able to give the trap smiths a heads up and new things can be developed.” said the King as he laid down my sketches of the Harbor mice.
Zugzwang sat in a corner with a smirk on his face clearly bored. The King glanced at him now and then itching to know more, but Zugzwang had already shared all he was prepared to share. And most of it was the same things he had told me.

       "Sire, if I may, can I suggest that we don’t let certain hunters out of the Town unless they are absolutely ready. Some of these mice may be too crafty if you are not
prepared."
"No worries, no worries." He shook his head as he went to a desk near the door and rummaged in a drawer. He returned with a cloth that was folded in half. He lifted the fabric away revealing tiny little shields. The first one said Novice on it. I also saw Apprentice and Journeyman.
"What are they?" I asked reaching out for one to get a better look.

      "I have created different Ranks for the new hunters. For their own safety I only want the best to hunt the best mice.  So far I am allowing Novice to hunt in the Meadow and the Town and I will send out Apprentice to the Harbor now that I have your OK. I want you to take your friend here and go to the mountains and give me feedback on the difficulty of hunting there before you return again."
I put down the little orange shield that said Journeyman on it and nodded.

     We spent another hour discussing strategy and passing off basic knowledge to the king so he could inform the town hunters thoroughly.
"The best cheese is by far Brie, Cheddar has a low attraction rate and is not great for the Harbor" I told him. "But Swiss should be fine to use for most hunters right now with little pocket change." I pulled out my bag of white cheddar and placed it on the table. “Also, we need to get a new merchant down to the Harbor to sell the salt and the curds and whey that is in there. Mixed together they make this cheese, white cheddar. It’s brilliant; it keeps away the colored mice most hunts, leaving more opportunities to catch bigger better mice. It’s easy to make and cheap, just one salt and one curd and whey needed to make a piece."

     Zugzwang joined in on the strategy conversation with enthusiasm. "Patience is the hard part; you can’t just run around sounding your horn every ten seconds it scares off the mice. But if you have the right trap and the right cheese they'll come. It’s only too bad I lost mine in the ship wreck." He finished sounding annoyed.

    "Uh Zugzwang, what do you mean 'sounding your horn.'" He gawked at me.
"It’s only the easiest, quickest way to get mice to come to your trap. It’s like they are entranced by the sound of the horn. I've timed it out perfectly myself. A fifteen minute wait is all you need and they'll come running; and not only to your trap but to every trap in the area, saves the hunter loads of stress."
The entire time we were there I sat with the journal entry about the Digby scientists in my pocket. I decided it wasn’t the right time to tell the King about them, and Zugzwang never brought it up.  The note felt heavy by the time we were ready to leave.  I hated keeping things from my King.

    We headed out in search of the trapsmith.  He was behind his counter surrounded by people prepared to buy traps. His price list was posted at the entrance. I heard Zugzwang whistle when he saw the, 256,000 gold, price tag on the NVMRC. Clearly it was ready to go. Though my gold sack was indeed heavier again I wasn’t about to buy a trap that expensive yet. I considered crafting my own soon.
When the trapsmith saw my head bob into view his face lit up.
"Plankrun, my man. Come in, com in."

    He led us to the back of the Shoppe. We sat at an old table where he wanted the complete run down. Zugzwang started, leaving me to examine things in the Shoppe.
"Tactical mice are battle strategy mice, so you have to create traps that will suit them, but I have yet to see any around here so the traps would be sort of useless. Perhaps we'll find them in another region soon. "

    I heard him compliment the trapsmith on his fine physical traps and then filled him in on the weakness of shadow and hydro mice before we decided to set off. I did purchase a new base.                         "Explosive base -A base made of plastic-explosive, the ultimate back-up plan for any weapon."
If anything the base would give me a good laugh later. Zugzwang at least found the base amusing and even purchased one himself. Though I didn’t think he actually planned to use it for hunting.

    We both stocked up on cheese at the Cheese Shoppe and I relayed my white cheddar recipe to the merchant.  Then we headed to the Tavern for a much needed drink. My pack was now full of Brie and Swiss, and growing heavier all the while. Thankfully I was built strong. Zugzwang kept everything in his pockets and I couldn’t understand how they weren't bulging yet. Wizard indeed.
The Tavern was full that night. Many new hunters had come in for a few drinks, bragging about the mice they caught. I chuckled as one guy tried showing off a dead dwarf mouse. I'd come to know them as common and nothing special just another bait snatcher. The Town was a buzz of rumors and theories.

    "I heard the mice can get up to three feet tall." said a man who had had perhaps too much to drink. Others claimed they could handle the mice no matter what, saying they could catch them with their bare hands. Zugzwang sat in silence, tipping back a pint of beer as he listened to the town spread wild tales.