Short Story 2: The Spy's Ring (Part 1)
Of all the regular passengers of the Ultros, there were many one could consider "strange", but one of the strangest was a golem that took up very little space and most of the time did nothing whatsoever. Its presence represented the connection between the group known as the Chosen of the Oracle and the master of the greatest magical forge in all the known lands.
Langlicia had spoken to this construct before, but approached now with a bit of trepidation to speak with it again. "Am I correct that I can speak to Forge Master Vulcan through you?"
There was a brief pause with no response at all. Then, out of nowhere, the golem's head tilted down as if to look directly at her. "Ah, it is you, the Unseen One. Yes, you speak with Vulcan at this time."
"I'm sorry, but this is terribly awkward." Langlicia began. "I suppose I wish to register a complaint."
"Strange.", the golem said, with no facial expression at all but a tone of voice that suggested that this had never ever happened before and so the one who heard it was entirely unprepared for how to proceed. After an even longer pause of motionlessness, "What sort of complaint?" the golem asked.
"A short time back, I contracted with your Forge to fully unlock the enchantments that this ring can provide. These rings are created by the top enchanters of Aresia, those who are retained directly by the Crown. They are designed to be progressively unlocked by . . . hmmm . . . we'll just say "lesser enchanters" . . . as one rises through the ranks of the organization. The problem is that recently, I found myself in a situation where it was made clear to me that a portion of its higher-level capabilities--those that prevent another from infiltrating the mind--did not protect me as expected."
"What is it you would have me do?"
"Can you . . . I don't know . . . double-check? The main reason this concerns me is that there is also a fail-safe system in these rings to preserve the mind of the wearer in the event of an untimely demise, and I genuinely fear to continue using it without being certain that at least THAT particular bit is working properly." After a short pause, she added, "And I hope I need not explain why this is something I hesitate to want to empirically test."
"I can do this, but it will take time, and we are very busy right now . . . both with orders from your shipmates on the Ultros as well as from others. It will take some time before I am even able to look at it--at least two to three weeks. I am sorry."
"I understand your hesitation, and I certainly do not intend to insult your reputation or skills for they are indeed truly, completely peerless. Would a small donation to your forge operations help to speed things up?"
"Are you trying to bribe me?"
She smiled brightly. "Oh of course not, that would be all sorts of inappropriate.", she said while putting one hand on the golem's arm in a gentle, caressing touch while using the other to smoothly slip her Spy's Ring into the golem's trans-dimensional Bag of Holding. "But, ..." she continued, "...there must certainly be difficulties you face--particularly at this especially busy time--that some additional coin can help smooth over and help you more efficiently and effectively meet those demanding timetables." She deftly switched hands so that the one that that dropped the ring was now similarly touching the golem's other arm, and the other very smoothly and naturally dropped a medium-sized box of coins into the golem's Bag of Holding. "Of course you have to maintain stores of expensive raw materials, you have to maintain your tools, you have subordinates' salaries to pay. None of this comes for free and we here on the Ultros have a strong vested interest in your continued success." The honey that dripped off of her words was nearly palpable. "If it presents any sort of legal or ethical barrier for you, we can both just consider this a loan."
After a brief pause, the golem sighed--complete with the body language that goes with it. "I will look at your Aresian Spy Ring a second time and have it back to you in five days." it replied after another awkwardly-long pause.
"Now THAT'S what I wanted to hear. Thank you SO much. You truly are the pinnacle of your craft and there is simply no one else I could trust with this task."