The basement itself, now that they’ve come back with a looted torch from the dungeon, looks to be a normal, standard fare basement. There are some old, dusty shelves and the walls are made up of rock and brickwork, same as the floors. Though here too, things are dilapidated. Rocks have fallen from the sides, down to the just as broken floor. Still, it’s going to be nice to have a basement again. The workshop in the east was fine, but it was always a little cramped and there just wasn’t enough room for all of the things she wanted to do.

Fresh holds the struggling spriggan against herself, walking towards Basil, who is presenting the door that she found. The little creature kicks and squirms in her arms, trying to escape. But Fresh holds on tight, Jubilee had threatened to kill it the second she loses it from her grasp. They’re going to bring it back to the dungeon in a minute.

As for how it got here, well, that’s still a mystery. Their current assumption is that the previous owner of the house had simply taken it with them, or ‘looted’ it and left it down here by itself.

“Ta-da!” says Basil, pulling open the door.

Dampness and heat pushes out from it right away, coming to push against them as the hot draft escapes the underground, rising up past them and up the spiral staircase as the air flows to somewhere else.

“Pakew!”

Fresh nods, looking inside of the room to see what Basil is so unusually excited about. “Pakew,” she consoles the little spriggan as she takes a peek.

It’s not just the heat that comes to meet her, or the dampness of the air, or vapors of hot, mineral-tinged steam. There’s also a glow; soft, but persistent. Fresh lets out a wowed gasp as she steps inside of what is clearly, undeniably, a cave. Sort of.

It’s essentially the same size as the basement, just a large room. But there isn’t a floor here that is hand-made and there aren’t any walls either, made of brickwork or such things. Rather, it’s all natural stone and from the thick, cavern walls shoot out a few giant, glassy crystals of solid colors, pointing in all directions together with tips of some giant roots. A glow of their shine escapes each of the crystals, painting the correlating sections of the room with whatever color they might represent. In the center of it all is a pool of extremely bright blue, transparent, hot water, catching the light of the many glowing bodies.

“Careful,” says Basil as they step inside. “Natural water can be dangerously hot,” she warns.

Jubilee nods. “Throw the spriggan in,” they say. “Let’s see if it survives.”

“Jubilee!” gasps Fresh, horrified. “We’re not going to do that!”

Shamrock bubbles his way past them, carrying some rocks and sediment in his goo as he slides over towards the water’s edge. He pokes a gooey tendril inside. “It’s fine,” he says, before dropping himself inside entirely.

Jubilee sighs. “Well now it fucking isn’t,” they say.

“Don’t be mean to Shamrock,” scolds Fresh.

“Shamrock’s a fucking gross, slimy mess,” they reply, rolling their eyes.

“No. You,” is all that the man replies himself as he sticks his gooey head out of the hot water a moment later.

Fresh bends down and examines the water.

“What a blessing,” says Basil, dipping her fingers into the water. “We finally have a real bath again,” says the priestess, looking at the large pool and soundly deeply relieved. It’s easily three or four times the size of their old bath in the west. It’s basically a very small pool. Fresh walks around the basin, looking at it from all sides. It’s about three to four Shamrocks in length and width, or about three times as many Jubilees, if one wanted to measure with them. “It’s beautiful too,” she says, looking around the small cavern.

“It’s a fucking gold-mine is what it is,” says Jubilee. “Looks like those fucks at the city didn’t even bother to look at this place before putting it on sale,” they say. “Underground springs are great for water, but..”

“With properties of the soil beneath the tree,” finishes Basil. “It’s powerful.”

“Fifty Obols?” asks Jubilee.

“Per bottle?” considers Basil.

Fresh rolls her eyes, they’re doing it again. “We’re not selling our bath-water, guys,” she says. “That’s gross.”

Jubilee sighs. “Technically speaking, only Shamrock’s bathed in it so far.” They look at a large, red crystal that is down lower to the ground and tap against it. “Hmm..” They look around the room. “You know, maybe this shit-heap is going to work out after all.”

“Stop calling it that,” says Basil, splashing around in the water with her hand. “It’s our house.”

“It’s both things,” sighs Jubilee. “Okay people, let’s make a plan.”

Fresh lifts her hand, holding the spriggan against herself that seems to have given up the ghost, having accepted its fate of inevitably being eaten. “Can we take a bath as the first step of our plan?”

“No,” replies Jubilee, raising an eyebrow. They point a finger at her. “The first step of our plan is to throw that little runt into the dungeon, so that this chapter of my life can end.” Fresh and the spriggan look at each other for a moment, before turning back towards Jubilee. “Then we’re going to start doing what we can to make this place salvageable.”

A large slime pulls itself out of the water, having inflated itself with the nutrient rich liquid. “Agreed,” says Shamrock. Basil nods too, getting up and shaking off her wet hand. Fresh nods and holds the spriggan against herself as the four of them head back out, closing the door behind themselves as they make their way to the dungeon.

“Here you go, little guy,” she says, setting the spriggan down after the five of them had stepped into the blue fog of the dungeon. It stumbles off a few steps in terror, like a prey animal escaping the clutches of an inattentive predator.

Confused, it looks back at them as it stands half-way down the hallway towards the first room of the dungeon.

Fresh waves to it. “Stay safe! Try not to get lost again!”

“Pakew!” yells the little spriggan as it runs off into the depths of the dungeon.

Jubilee sighs, not having anything left to say. They shake their head and head back out. The four of them walk back home. “So?” asks Jubilee.

“So what?” asks Fresh.

The three of them turn her way as they walk, looking at her expectantly. “Oh!” Fresh realizes what they want and appreciates them for doing so, entrusting themselves in her judgment once again. They’re looking for guidance from the party-leader. “Uh.. Basil, Shamrock, we need to get the roof fixed first thing. So that more snow doesn’t get inside,” she explains. “I’ll do the work, but I need some materials and a way to get up there,” says Fresh.

Shamrock and Basil nod. “We’ll figure something out.”

“Thanks, guys. Jubilee, can you clear out an area for us to sleep in and then get it ready? Somewhere that feels safe.”

“Sure. Whatever.”

Fresh smiles. In a way, it’s a little daunting to have such a mess of a structure standing before them. They’ve never had to do this kind of work on a building before. But at the same time, it’s oddly exciting. She’s looking forward to this new challenge and to all of the excitement that it might bring, both good and bad and she’s looking forward to finally seeing the expressions on her friends’ faces, after the four of them have finished transforming this construction site of a building into their warmest, safest and snuggest home yet. Perhaps even one that they might be able to stay in for not only the winter, but for the four seasons to come after that and then perhaps even, in her greediest, most hopeful desires, another four after that.

Fresh feels her friends looking at her, somewhat perplexed and she realizes that she’s been smiling and humming excitedly as they walk. Feeling their gazes however, she doesn’t let that stop her and shamelessly lets them know with both the odd tune from a source that she doesn’t remember and with the bright smile that is painted solely for them, how she truly feels.

She pulls open the front door to their home. There’s so much work to do and she’s so excited, she can hardly wait. “Let’s work hard guys!” she exclaims.

Jubilee sighs, walking past her. “As if I ever get to do anything else.”

“We’ll do our best,” says Basil, running a hand over Fresh’s shoulder as she passes by.

“Always,” says Shamrock.

“PAKEW!” shouts the spriggan, standing at the foot of the spiral staircase, as it angrily waves its stubby arms at the four of them.

They stop and stare. Jubilee tilts their head, “What the fuck?”

Basil leans in, squinting. Fresh realizes she doesn’t have her glasses on. The dragon must have gotten them. “Is that the same one?”

“It appears so,” says Shamrock, his armor rattling as he walks towards the little monster. He picks it up, grabbing it. The little creature squirms and kicks. “I will return,” says the man, walking back towards the dungeon by himself. The three of them look at each and shrug, waiting for him to come back. A minute later, he comes back, dusting his hands. “Done.”

“You didn’t hurt it, did you, Shamrock?” asks Fresh. The man shakes his head.

“Okay, whatever,” says Jubilee. “Weird, but we’re wasting daylight. Let’s get to work, I want to sleep at a normal time tonight.”

“Agreed,” says Basil. “I’d really like to take a bath too, if you guys want to join me?”

“Weirdo.”

“It’s just a bath!” argues Basil. “We took communal baths together all the time at the cathedral.”

“Yeah, I bet you kooks did,” says Jubilee, raising an eyebrow.

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” asks the priestess in a huff.

“PAKEW!” interjects the spriggan.

The four of them turn their heads, looking at the staircase, where the little creature has appeared once again.

Razmatazz

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