Chapter 148: A visit with the Eels
Milo watched Petey walk away. He seemed like a nice guy, and the twins got along with him. Well, except for when they framed him for stealing jelly beans. Having wanted to hit the twins in the head a few times, Milo felt Petey was entirely justified in bending their legs. Maybe he was even helping them get a contortionist skill.
As he headed across the street to the Tower, he saw two young whelps tacking up a notice to an announcement board. As he got close to it, it seemed to light up and glow.
Welcome to Limburger Hollow
It takes a village to make the cheese.
You have 412 Contribution Points!
One Point
One day's normal meals The initial instance of this chapter being available happened at N0v3l.Bin.
Special Cheesy snack!
New clothes (per piece)
Backpack
Mining pick or other tool
Spikeystick
Trade Token for use in the market.
5 Points
Advanced Class on making cheese with Master Bleusnout.
Advanced Class on Tail and Claw Fighting with Master Gilad.
Advanced Class in Magical Theory with Professor Arlothe
Advanced Class in Mycology or Gathering with Mistress Brownfur
Advanced Project with Master Clawhammer
Advanced Class in Healing or Alchemy with the Old Healer
Party basket!
Special meal for you friends!
Set of spiffy new clothes!
Nourishing cheese!
I'm not sleepy cheese!
Moray smiled at the compliment. "One of the oldest. Hollows come and go. Clans may move from one to another. The wars created chaos. When some of the hollows were overrun, our clan moved to Limburger Hollow, and since many of the remaining members were mages, we chose to become part of the Tower of Strife. We have been a leading clan here ever since."
Milo nodded. There was more to the eels than just some hot-headed duelists. "I need to talk to you about the types of cheese that you took to the cellar of the mess hall. Would you have a list we could go over?"
Moray felt his stomach drop to his toes. Had they found out he'd shorted the count by a few wheels? "Of course, professor, let me run and get that." How had he known?
Milo walked around the room, staring at the various trophies, some of these were quite old. A skull of a cave bear glared at him from on high, its pelt tacked up on the wall beneath it. Milo hoped to never meet one of its descendants. A shield made of bright emerald scales was in a spot behind the head table. A small plaque was below it. 'Shield of Vexanor the Green, gifted by the great wyrm herself to our clan, made from her cast off scales.' Milo thought it had an odd smell to it. He examine the other trophies, all things any barbarian warlord or king would be proud to display. In the corner was a strange collection of bones that were held together with wire.
The creature stood upright on two legs, and had six arms. A skull that looked like it came from a cow made the head. They all felt different. This wasn't a creature, just something made from the bones of various creatures. Still...there was something odd about it. He ran his hand over each bone, trying to get a feel for it. One of the leg bones was actually a much smaller bone from a larger creature. He could feel residual magic within it, and a few runes moving within the mana. He didn't know those runes!
Moray returned to the room and saw Milo looking at the creature. "Hideous, isn't it? It was a project by one of our founders and we've had to pack it all over the place for a couple of centuries. I'd love to have a reason to get rid of it. Frankly, it smells odd."
Milo looked at it. "It is a horrible thing. And because of that, I'd love to put it in the faculty library as a joke. What if I traded you something for it?"
Moray was surprised by the offer. That really would be funny. And he could claim he had 'donated' it to the faculty of the tower and never have to look at it again. "Let's say I'm open to offers."
"Five wheels of aged cheddar cheese? I'll approve of your clan keeping them here, not at the mess hall."
Moray tried to keep his face calm. Cheese! A start at rebuilding the hoard! "As the current head of Clan Emerald Eel, I accept!"
Milo and Moray went over the list, the student very happy to find out that Professor Tallsqueak was simply looking over the types of cheese and the size of containers they were packed into. "We packed everything into many large crates. They were a little heavy and took two of us to move each of them. Bleusnout made this list as we packed in each crate, and Smiley and Rifkin stacked it all up by the back wall. Those crates were heavy by the time we got to the cellar, but Rifkin really wanted it at the other end so we had to pack it another hundred feet."
"Sounds like a lot of work. This is a lot of cheese. I'm not familiar with some of it. Did any of it use any strange type of molds or strange ways of maturing the cheese?" Milo actually knew nearly every type of cheese on this list. Nothing seemed that out of the ordinary.
Moray couldn't think of anything like that. "Not that I know of. A lot of those odd names are just different varieties of cheddar. There was a time whe every hollow was making up a name for what was really just common cheese with berries or spices added. Do you have anything specific you were looking for?"
"Yes. A small bit of Black Mold was found in the cellar, in an odd spot, along with spider mites. Did any of the cheese contain those?"
Moray made a face. "Spidercheese? Ugh. Never. That stuff is insanely gross. I read an article on it once. The mites eat the rind of the cheese and when they die it gives the cheese a distinct flavor. I can't imagine eating it. And I can't think of any cheese that uses a Black Mold. Are they cleaning things up? I'd hate to see any cheese ruined."
"Nothing to worry about. It was a very small crevice and may have come in with a shipment of mushrooms. I'm just being thorough. Like you said, no one wants to see any cheese lost. I'll be by to drop off those rounds of cheddar tomorrow. Just sneak that monstrosity upstairs sometime when Professors Arlothe and Cremona aren't around. I can't wait to see their faces."
Milo took his leave of Moray. Brer Moray raced downstairs to toss some bets on the last couple of Lizard races.
Milo heard nothing from the Tea Party, and assumed it had ended. He went to the mess hall where he found Rifkin struggling with getting out the food for the evening meal and offered to help. Rifkin turned him down. "No, I can handle it. I'm sure I can get someone to help serve. It wouldn't look right for our new Master of Scouts to be washing dishes." Milo shrugged, got his food, and sat to eat. His tray had a small piece of cheese on it. He was tempted, but he wasn't eating cheese anymore, if Larry wasn't. It took a great effort to do so. This was several days he'd gone without cheese. He wrapped it in a napkin and put it in his pocket.
What Willpower?! You have denied yourself cheese through sheer stubbornness to give in to a substance your body craves.
Cheese Addiction is now in remission.
You have gained the skill: Master the Cheese at rank 0. This is a WIS based skill that allows you to go longer without cheese, and to negate some of the bad effects of cheese.
But how long can you last?
How long could he last? Yes, that was a good question. If it wasn't helping Larry, then he wouldn't even be trying. But maybe for a few days more?
Milo sat in the back of the mess hall, thinking. Things simply weren't adding up correctly. He needed to do some investigations in the cellar, and he needed to do them when Rifkin wasn't around. The mess hall was the territory of the interim Master of Cheese and he couldn't go down to the cellar without Rifkins permission, and he wasn't going to ask. There were times when Rifkin wasn't here, he just needed to be patient.
He walked outside, thinking of waiting for Larry in his friends house when he saw Brutus walking quickly towards him.
