Seeing Shapiro's reaction, Charles' lips curled with a faint smile, but he made no attempt to press further. Instead, he turned to Nymeria and Hanni. "You two go with Shapiro. Try to find Hanni's family over at the Dark Elf market. Hattie, Theresa, and I will handle buying the boat from the fish people."
Shapiro spoke up, "Actually, I don't have to buy from the Dark Elves. The materials for the magic circle are pretty varied—I may need to cross to the other side as well."
He was used to being a loner; moving in a group made him uncomfortable.
Charles dismissed him outright, "Then just go with Nymeria and Hanni anyway. It'll be easier to keep an eye out for each other, and it'll make it easier for us to find you later."
Shapiro lowered his head, swallowing back what he wanted to say. He didn't argue further. Noticing this, Charles' smile widened just a bit.
Nearby, Nymeria nodded, her eyes suddenly brightening as she nudged Hanni. "I never thought I'd actually get to visit the Underdark! I never studied the guides for this place. So, what's the best food here?"
Hanni tilted her head, then replied with certainty, "Mushrooms!"
Nymeria's excitement died instantly. "Ugh, is that all?"
Hanni pouted, visibly annoyed. "Hey, come on! You'll see for yourself—our mushrooms are delicious…"
With that, she grabbed Nymeria's hand and started leading her toward the Dark Elf market.
Once everyone was moving, Charles wasted no time, setting off westward with Theresa and Hattie out of the small town.
Outside the Town.
Lotuen's so-called fishfolk village wasn't far, considering the settlement itself was built along the banks of Darklake. After following a downward slope for less than two kilometers, aided by the bright light Theresa provided, Charles saw a group of fish people working and gathering along the shore.
It made sense—these were kuo-toa.
Kuo-toa have dimly violet skin, fishlike heads, squat dwarf-like bodies, and slender arms and legs—odd, weakened-looking humanoids.
Back in the heyday of the Mind Flayer empire, they served as aquatic slaves. When that empire fell, the kuo-toa, unlike the Duergar, failed to regain their sanity. In fact, the ability of the Duergar to stay sane after such prolonged enslavement was a miracle.
As a result, the entire kuo-toa race slid into collective madness.
They're intelligent and creative, but now live little better than piranhas, unable to find spiritual fulfillment and channel all their energy into killing, looting, predation, and mindless worship of bizarre things—hoping these cults could fill their emptiness.
Driven by this, their collective fanaticism often gives rise to Distorting Evil Gods.
Many weird evil gods worshipped on lonely islands in the surface world are literally creations of kuo-toa madness.
Yes, after the Mind Flayer empire fell, kuo-toa spread to the surface, seizing stretches of ocean floor and isolated islands to fuel their deranged faiths. But in time, their destructive cults sparked widespread massacres by other surface races, so now only a few remnants survive in the Underdark.
Still, by the look of things, these fish people had gotten by just fine underground. At least, they'd learned to build boats and do business with other races.
With those thoughts, Charles stepped closer, raising his arm to wave at the fishfolk and calling out, "Boat!"
Before arriving, he'd learned a couple of Undercommon words from Lotuen—not nearly enough for easy conversation, but hopefully enough to communicate "I want to buy a boat."
A few fat, squat fishfolk hefted their harpoons, aiming them warily at the strangers.
But when they understood his call, they relaxed a little. One burbled at Charles in an unintelligible fishy tongue, while another pointed repeatedly toward the interior of the village, clearly giving directions.
A third spoke up, in horribly mangled, barely recognizable surface Common: "Inside, find big priest."
Charles was genuinely surprised. He'd expected the kuo-toa to at least be wary or openly hostile—yet these ones were far more sensible and approachable than he'd anticipated.
Following their directions, Charles entered the village. The moment he stepped inside, the fishy stench hit him so hard that he instinctively pinched his nose.
The village itself wasn't large—thanks to Theresa's bright light, the whole cluster was visible at a glance, probably less than a thousand strong. Their huts were made of zerkwood, a native Underdark fungus with woody stems, while two makeshift altars loomed beyond. It struck Charles as odd: a kuo-toa village shouldn't usually have two different religions.
But he had no interest in the theological details. Braving the stench, he pressed on, and soon enough, a stooped, white-robed, wizened fishwoman leaned on her staff and hobbled up to them.
"Welcome, surface travelers," she said in halting surface Common—a clear female voice, though flat and toneless, like a foreigner reciting a language textbook. "I am Prupurupin, leader of Sloebdollop, priestess of the Sea Mother."
So the village was called Sloebdollop.
Listening to her voice—bubbling like popped foam—made Charles feel even more uneasy.
"Greetings, High Priestess Prupurupin. I'm Nigel Charles, and I'm here to buy a boat," Charles replied, mimicking her speech and even attempting to "bubble" his words.
The fish priestess nodded. "Please, follow me."
Her dead-fish eyes swept up and down his body, then she said, "All of you are powerful spellcasters. I can sense the strong magical waves you emit. But your power is different from the gifts we receive from our deity…"
Before she could ramble on, Charles abruptly interrupted, "That's not relevant today. I'm here for a boat—a small one, for twelve people. What's the price?"
He knew full well that following this thread would lead to a string of side quests. Completing them might save him some gold, earn prestige, maybe even let him be worshipped as a god among fishfolk…
But Charles was in a rush—this wasn't a video game, where the main quest would just wait for you to clean out every corner and max your stats at leisure. Sulpharlo was moving forward with her own secret plan every day, and Charles didn't intend to fall behind.
Cut off like that, the priestess paused, her bulging, blank eyes staring at him in a way that made Charles a bit uneasy.
But instead of showing anger, she simply nodded serenely. Apparently, her faith in the Sea Mother gave her unshakeable composure. "Very well, guest. This way, please. I'll show you the boats."
She slowly led them, staff in hand, through the cramped village, the fishy stench everywhere. At the dock, Charles saw ten boats of varying size lined up quietly along the lakeshore.
"You may choose," the fish priestess said in her slow, heavy cadence. "If you need a boat for twelve or more, start here and go right. The bigger, the more expensive…"
Charles followed her along the dock, studying the vessels and nodding.
Then he called out, "Hattie, dive and check which boat is the best quality."
The fish priestess shot a confused look behind him and saw a human woman dressed in a heavy black nun's habit step forward and leap into the water—
—strangely, not even making a splash as she hit the surface.
~~~
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