《Loser of Tarinath》 Chap 1: Seemed like a good idea at the time "In accordance with the requirements of the Extended Life and Self-determination act of 2035, and pursuant to the state''s determination of guilt, the court remands you to the Federal Second Life Agency for processing" Sounds like a lot of gibberish right? Extended Life? Self-determination? Sounds good right? Yeah, not so much. Behind all the sunshine and lollipops labeling the politicians apply to their ''acts'', what it really means is I''ve been sentenced to death. That''s right, the big D. When the geeks who played the online role playing games managed to make true virtual reality a...reality, well things got a little weird. I''m not a techno-geek, so the whole quantum computing, crystal matrix memory, artificial intelligence, yabada this, jabada that, doesn''t make a lot of sense to me, but it didn''t take long for people to realize that if you died while plugged into one of the games, well you...left a copy behind. Drove the churches nuts. I got a lot of laughs over that part of it, but I saw early on that the various governments were going to use this ''second life'' as a means of trimming the excess population a bit. It was voluntary initially, and prisoners and a lot of the poor and indigent thought it was a great thing. Maybe it was for them, and interviews with their ''avatars'' in the various game worlds made it sound great, but like everything else, this was open to a lot of abuse. The first one discovered turned out to be by one of the big Christian groups when they created their own world that was ''ruled'' by their religious leader. He would log in, play god for a while, then log out. All those people who were living in paradise found out early on that godlike powers really mean ''godlike'' powers when their living a digital life. That was when the governments used ''True Death'' as a sentence for the first time. Things got ugly, no doubt about that, but it led to the development of a multi-national agency that handled the creation of AI controllers for the worlds. I''ve served enough time in the military doing some really ugly things that I''ve lost any trust in the people who make decisions for the ''good of the people'', so I had no doubt every government or big corporation in the world had their own little worlds hidden away to rule as they wanted. But that''s life, or in this case death. Privilege is power''s child, and if you aren''t that child, you don''t start life with any power. I didn''t, and I fought and clawed my way through life, raising a sister and caring for my mother until they were both killed in a stupid, pointless drunken traffic accident. I joined the military after that, nineteen, angry, and willing to do ugly things to ugly people. The day before I left for basic training I tracked down the drunk slob who only got an ''involuntary manslaughter'' charge and suspended sentence, and unsuspended his sentence. I gave him the ''true death'' with a baseball bat. Not a nice guy am I. Military life ended when I got thrown out for striking an officer. It happened in a combat zone, so it should have meant jail or worse, but the fact the officer was raping a local girl made the brass decide there might have been some extenuating circumstances. The Major I beat the crap out of was one of those privileged children, so the reason I beat him near to death didn''t get put into the records. So, thrown out of the military, no real job skills except shooting people, and an attitude that the psychological tests the employers made you take that seemed to indicate ''angry''. I put the job skills I had, anger and shooting people, to work for a surprising amount of time, but it eventually had to end. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. So here I am, lying on a gurney, strapped down tight with IVs in my arm and a bucket load of wires on my head. -- The transition into the digital world seemed to happen between one thought and the next, with me suddenly standing in a large, grey, square room that had ten huge round mirrors along the far wall, and the walls on my right and left. There was a desk sitting smack dab in the middle of the room with a humongous dude sitting in a chair on the other side from me. He had to be seven feet tall and was muscular beyond anything possible in the real world. I swear he must weigh five hundred pounds and probably hadn''t been able to scratch his own ass in forever. Each of the ten mirrors had a woman standing beside it, though not all of them were actually human. I had never played online games before, but I''d read enough to recognize the whole elf, dwarf, orc, and other watchmacallits. "Alright dickhead, gawking time''s over" big and ugly said. His voice was surprisingly high, making me grin at the disparity. The scowl that appeared on his face said he didn''t appreciate the humor and he stood up to be sure I could tell what a big man he was. I looked down at myself and found I appeared to still be me, six foot of white boy goodness, though I was now wearing some kind of medieval clothes. Leather boots, clothe pants and shirt, and a leather vest, all in earth tones. Looking back up I found big ugly standing in front of one of the elf women, and...I blinked to be sure, he was fondling her breasts. The look on the woman''s face showed she wasn''t appreciating the attention, but bugly just gave out a giggle (yeah a giggle...freaky stuff). "Got a new one ladies" Bugly said "who wants him?" He stepped to the next woman to my left, one that seemed to be maybe a mix of elf and human or something else, and began to fondle her. I sighed when he giggled again, realizing I was probably already dead anyway, and walked up behind him, planted myself firmly, and kicked him in the jewels from behind as hard as possible. Huh? Worked the same in digital as it did in 3D reality. Bugly squealed like a pig and dropped to his knees, trying desperately to clutch himself, but finding his overly muscled arms didn''t reach. The half-elven woman looked horrified as she stepped away from the big guy, then she transferred the scared look to me. Glancing around I found all the ladies looking at me like I had done something really, really bad. I was shocked when Bugly reached around so fast I didn''t even see him move, his hand wrapping around my throat and picking me up as he staggered to his feet. I was somewhat surprised to realize I not only couldn''t breath, but I really wanted to. It hadn''t occurred to me that being digital I would still need to breath. Holy crap, I wondered as I was struggling to pull his arm away, would I need toilet paper too? I might as well have been trying to break an iron bar as much affect as I was having on his arm, and he held me dangling over the floor until he recovered enough to say "Ok meat, you just did the dumbest thing in the history of the world. Guess who chooses where you go and what you do?" he gave me a leer as he turned, his arm still held straight out, until my back was to the mirror he was standing in front of "you just got a one way ticket to the land of the turd people" he giggled as he started pushing me into the mirror. I was pretty much choking to death at this point, but I was still aware of the cold feeling as my body passed into the freaking mirror. "Have fun...priest" he giggled as he dropped me Chap 2: Betty and I dance the tango This time I found myself standing in a long hallway, the mirror behind me, stone walls and floors making up the hall, and a large wooden door at the other end. Before I could do more than realize I was breathing fine again a floating message box appeared in front of me (it followed my eyes, something that took me a while to get used to, but I won''t bore you with the details of how much that messed with my head) and a woman''s voice read the words. She said "Welcome to the world of Tarinath. Please choose your race" A list of appeared next, showing Human, Elven, and half-elven, and Dwarf. I was still considering what the hell all that meant when she said "Haf-Elven has been chosen" "What?" I yelled "I didn''t choose anything you idiot" "Please choose your Class" she said as another list appeared. Warrior, Mage, Priest, and Rogue were the choices, and this time she said "Priest has been chosen" before I could even finish reading. "What the hell?" I muttered, realizing Bugly had said priest just before he dropped me. "Please Choose your Sub-class" she said as Healer or Druid came up. I just waited as she said "Healer has been chosen" Yeah, that''s me alright, Mr. helpful healer guy. They nailed my personality perfectly. Christ, I was expected to be some kind of priest for the rest of my digital life? Of course it didn''t end there. "Please allocate points for your starting attributes" A list appeared with Strength, Dexterity, Stamina, Intelligence, and Wisdom on it, all with a zero beside them. As I watched the numbers flickered and changed to: Strength 5 Dexterity 5 Stamina 20 Intelligence 10 Wisdom 10 "You are unable to allocate all points to stamina as specified, and your class requires a minimum of ten points be placed in Intelligence and Wisdom, and no category may be lower than five" Huh, sounds like Bugly tried to turn me into some kind of vegetable but the system wouldn''t let him. Strength and Dexterity of five couldn''t be good though. "As a Priest you must choose your deity" the voice said as another list appeared and disappeared so fast I didn''t even have time to see more than that there were ten names on it. "You have chosen Telina, Goddess of farmers, beggars, and the Half-elven" she said. The farmers and beggars thing sounded about right based on Bugly''s other choices. "As a healer your starting spells are Telina''s Touch and Telina''s Fist" Yeah, whatever. I didn''t know much about RPGs, but I knew enough to figure they meant some kind of healing thing and some kind of damaging thing. Of course with Bugly involved it could mean I had a spell that would jack me off or something. Jerk. "As a half-elven player you will receive a minus ten percent to charisma" she said "and plus five percent to animal affinity" I had time to decide that meant I was ugly, but dogs would like me, when she said "As a healer you will have a twenty percent increase in non-damaging spells effectiveness, and a fifteen percent decrease in damaging spell effectiveness" A lover, not a fighter, that''s me. A-hole. "Strength below ten incurs a five percent penalty to damage for each point, and Dexterity below ten incurs a two percent penalty to Dodge and to Hit chance for each point" sounded like I could dance like a possum and sting like a butterfly. "You have chosen Advanced for tutorial settings, and Mudtown as your starting location" I had to laugh as she finished talking. Mudtown? I really needed to work on impulse control since kicking a digital image probably wasn''t worth what the dumbass did to me...for the rest of my life. "If these choices are correct, please select your name" she said. I opened my mouth to yell "No!" just as she said "You have chosen Loser as your name. Have a good life Loser, priest of Telina" Crap --- I stood there like a moron for a few minutes expecting to disappear again, but I eventually realized nothing was happening. Turning I tried the mirror, but wasn''t surprised it felt like a mirror. Turning back I sighed and walked to the end of the hall and tried the door. It had a latch type handle, and I had to lift up to open the door, but it worked fine and I found myself looking into an empty square room with a door on the other side. The room kept the stone look, and it was probably thirty feet across. Stepping in cautiously I peeked around the corners to make sure I was alone before moving all the way through the door. The door swung closed as soon as I cleared it, and a damned wolf blinked into existence in front of the door across from me. The thing looked like a regular wolf, though heavier than the ones they showed on documentaries, with a more muscular frame than the rangy look of a true wolf. It lowered its head, growled convincingly, and began slowly stalking me. I slid to my right as I patted myself down, looking for some kind of weapon, not being surprised to find nothing. I felt...sluggish as the wolf jumped at me and I dove to my right. It latched onto my left calf and began worrying it, jerking me across the floor as I tried to both scream in pain and kick the damn thing. I was bleeding like a stuck pig as a visual overlay appeared in my sight showing a red bar vertically on my right, and a blue bar on my left, with a green bar lying horizontally at the bottom. The red bar was dropping fast, obviously tied to my health in some way. I managed to pull myself up enough to punch the thing in the head, something that didn''t seem to do much other than make me realize the wolf had its own red bar floating horizontally above it. My punch might have made the bar move slightly, but I was to busy trying to hit the thing to really tell. I''ve been fighting my whole life, so I can say with confidence that I throw a mean punch. Now...not so much. The pain was excruciating as the wolf tore an actual piece of my leg off and my punches seemed to manage to miss completely about half the time. Death came pretty quickly when the wolf managed to get its jaws around my throat. I sighed when I appeared in the hallway with the mirror. The pain of the attack had been intense and I found myself shaking a little as my brain tried to catch up with the rest of me. +.1 % hand to hand, +.1% light armor, -10% level death penalty appeared in my vision. Could I lose a level? My thought, or my focus on the words brought up a screen that showed: Loser Healer Priest Level 1 (Unavailable until completion of tutorial) STR 5 DEX 5 STA 20 INT 10 WIS 10 Health: 200 Mana: 100 Endurance: 120 Spells: Telina''s Touch Telina''s Fist +20% Healing Spell -15% Spell Damage -25% Hit Damage -10% Dodge +.1% hand to hand +.1% light armor I studied the screen for a while, deciding the loss of level thing probably didn''t happen during this...tutorial. Christ, it didn''t feel like a tutorial while the wolf was tearing pieces off of me. The health and mana thing didn''t mean anything until I had something to reference them to. The hand to hand thing seemed to indicate that if the wolf killed me ten times I would get a whole 1% increase in my punching ability. Awesome. The spell thing needed to get figured out now. I tried focusing on the spell section, which brought up the message "Spells disabled in the advanced tutorial" Good ole Bugly. I spent the next few eternities trying to cast spells, hoping to make it work anyway, and looking like a total dork. I waved my hands magically. I pictured myself with healing hands, with magic hands, with lightning bolt hands, and I even tried bending over and shooting magic bolts out of my butt. The last one happened just before I gave up and went in to fight the wolf again. --- + 1.2% hand to hand + 1.2% light armor Yeah, twelve times. I had a real hate on for that wolf by the time I worked out the right combination of punching and running away that allowed me to finally kill it. You couldn''t even really call it running away since I was about as agile as a turtle, but I did it enough to realize the wolf would leap at me any time I was more than two steps away, but less than five. I also realized that if I focused on the wolf when I first came in the red bar would appear and a number with it. The wolf had a health of 60, which made him like a third of my own, but I figured his bite did at least ten points of damage to my 1 or two. Once in the air the thing couldn''t dodge and I could get in a couple of quick punches. Most managed to miss since I appeared to be some kind of handicapped elf, but forty or fifty managed to get through and let me win. Yeah, and I finally looked in the mirror and realized I had somewhat pointy ears, and my face had gotten narrower. Mostly looked like I used to, but there were some changes. My eyes got changed to a weird blue color that took some getting used too. Anyway, dead wolf. Somewhere during the whole thing I realized the green bar was tied to my hunger because it started appearing by itself if I stayed in my hallway for more than a couple of hours. By the time it was a quarter gone I started feeling weak and really, really hungry. So, dead wolf, a red bar mostly empty with a red number next to it showing 8%, and a green bar with a red number showing 9%. Yeah, I ate the wolf raw. Tasted like chicken, except of course for the fur. My health bar started rising as soon as I started chewing the raw meat, and my green endurance bar went up even faster, though that seemed tied to both sitting down and eating. Both bars crept up on their own before I ate, but the health bar was super slow until I started on the wolf steaks. When I had ate as much as I could stand, I moved to the next door and opened it onto another room matching the one I was in. A wooden club was lying on the floor about five steps in, which kind of hinted at things getting a little tougher. I sighed and stepped forward to pick up the club, only to be surprised when the door stayed open behind me. The club was the epitome of clubs. Wooden, crudely carved, and tapering from the heavier head to the narrower bottom. My hand actually fit fairly well, and the weight, while heavy seeming, wasn''t too bad. My opponent, when he appeared, was the classic goblin. It was scrawny, short, green, ugly, and holding a knife. I decided to call him Betty. "Hey Betty, what''s up?" He gobbled some gibberish at me, then said in garbled English "I eat now you" The bugger was quick, I''ll give him that, because he managed to slash me twice before I even managed my first swing. He ducked, dodged, weaved, and avoided four out of every five of my swings. I on the other hand managed to dodge one out of five of his slices. His red bar showed the same 60 the wolf did, and my club appeared to do about 5 or 6 points of damage, but I still managed to die very, very painfully. + 1.2% hand to hand + 1.3% light armor +0.1% Blunt Weapon I had been expecting to have to fight the wolf all over again, but it was still lying there dead when I appeared back in his room. Both doors were closed and I couldn''t open the one going back. A small box with the letter I appeared on my lower right now, and when I focused on it, it opened an inventory screen. It held one club. Below the club were the words: Gold 0 Silver 0 Copper 0 Weight 4/70 The club was hanging from a loop on my belt, so I pulled it out and set the club on the floor and watched it for a while, and when it didn''t disappear I opened the inventory screen again to see the club was gone and my weight said 0/70. The club was around five percent of my total carrying weight is what it appeared like. Stupid strength score. Picking the club up again I slid it back in the belt loop, which caused it to show up on the screen. Weird. Betty and I got to know each other pretty good as I tried to find every way possible a knife can be stuck into you. The light armor quit going up after 1.5%, not that I could tell any difference in how the knife went through my clothes. The same with the blunt weapon thing. I killed Betty after six tries and had a whole +0.6% on the blunt weapon listing, but I figured that meant what, maybe +0.6 points of damage if the club did ten? Which it didn''t, do ten I mean. I must have hit Betty twenty times the last time before he finally croaked. That whole -25% hit damage thing was killing me since it probably meant I lost one out of every four. Or not, since I didn''t have a clue how it all worked. + 1.2% hand to hand + 1.5% light armor +0.6% Blunt Weapon When Betty croaked he kind of faded away and left behind a small sack and his knife. The sack had three copper coins, all of which showed up in my inventory when I hung the sack on my belt. The knife was a cheap looking thing, and when I started inspecting it, numbers appeared above it. Poor quality knife 2/12 durability 4-7 damage Usable: All classes That got me to pull the club back out and do the same thing. Poor quality club 10/15 durability 2-10 damage Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Usable: All classes 2-10 Damage. I was guessing I was probably managing the bottom half of that number. Since my health and endurance were toward the bottom again, I used the knife to cut some steaks from the wolf (who seemed to keep regenerating even though he stayed dead). This time when I cut the meat, the wolf disappeared and a stack of meat, and a skin was left behind. When I picked them up they disappeared and a subsequent check showed them in my inventory. They were: Wolf meat (2ea) +0.5% Damage 6 Hours duration 8% Rate of health and Endurance restoration Weight (.1) ea Wolf Skin (1ea) Can be used for creating armor Weight (1) ea Well it looked like I had two days worth of food, and I was about to eat one of them. The world was kind of weird, the fights seeming pretty darn real, but the inventory and things seeming kind of...unreal. Where did the skin go? It came back whenever I pulled up the inventory and focused on it, but It wasn''t on my body when I put it back in the inventory. The whole thing felt like it was only partially done. I had read about the depth of reality the various virtual worlds boasted, but this was the first time I really understood that. It kind of made it clear I was living in a computer generated world. Of course the whole dying and coming back did that too. I was guessing there was never going to be a space program developing, even if there was a space to explore. To deep for me, time to go kill something. The next room matched the last two in design, but this one had an altar in the middle of it. Square pedestal with round column holding a square table top. A round wooden bowl sat in the middle of the table and there was a few flowers on the floor where the club sat in the other room. Shrugging, I stepped forward and picked up the flowers and set them in the bowl. A soft white glow formed above the bowl just before the flowers disappeared and the half-elf lady from Bugly''s room popped into existence on the other side of the altar. My first thought was that she was a truly beautiful woman, the elven features less angular and harsh than they had been on the full elven woman back in the first room. She had the same deep blue eyes I had now, and she had pure white hair that complemented her slightly dusky skin tone. She gave me a sympathetic smile before saying. "I am the goddess Telina. I am aware of what was done to alter the normal entry path into Tarinath but those are outside of my or my sister''s control. The overworld sends you, and the overworld controls your entry into mine. As a son of the overworld you are granted eternal life in Tarinath, but how that life is lived will be determined by your own choices" She raised her right hand and a light blue glow enveloped it as a feeling of well being and relaxation swept through me. I might have sighed happily as it happened, but i was to tough to do that. My health and endurance bars filled up and I saw two small icons appear on the lower left of my vision. "My sisters and I interact with our world through our priests and those who worship us" Telina said "and the magical energy granted to priests comes from us. Mages within Tarinath draw their magic powers from the world around them, but they are limited in how quickly they can do this. As my priest, the stronger your faith, the quicker your powers will be restored" "Um..." I started as I gave her a confused look "You''re standing in front of me. I pretty much have zero doubt you exist" She smiled and chuckled softly before saying "This is not the overworld Loser, this is the world of Tarinath" I gritted my teeth at the Loser part, but decided to ignore it for now. "Faith in me does not mean you believe in me" she said "it means you support me and act as my will within Tarinath" she looked to her left and waved a hand, causing a square area to appear and show a farm scene. A series of fields surrounding a small, five house village and a bunch of people farming it. "All entities struggle to survive" Telina said as the scene began changing to show various people begging, working in stores, and starving. She waved again, changing the scene to one where two groups were fighting, one made up of men, the other elves. "The struggle leads to conflict and conflict to hate" another wave caused the scene to disappear and she looked back at me to say "with comfort comes greed and with greed comes more conflict. Mine and my sister''s power comes from those who worship us, and some of my sisters have chosen to support those who seek from greed and hate. By doing so they help to control the worst excesses, but they also encourage those who would otherwise seek only comfort. I wish to encourage those who seek to aid those less fortunate, or those who support others through quiet works" She canted her head slightly as she seemed to focus more intently on me, and I could feel something kind of...look inside me. I can''t explain it any better, but that''s what I thought at the time. She nodded as I was considering what had happened, and she said "You are a warrior at heart and it was an abomination to force you into this mold, but it cannot be changed now. Ours is a world of conflict and will always be so, so your skills would be a true boon to me if used correctly" "Um..." I said again "I have a choice?" The question drew a giggle, something that made me smile back and once again consider how truly beautiful she was. She seemed to follow my thought because she gave me a mischievous look before saying "The Overmaster has set you on this path and many choices were taken from you because of it, but you still have free will. Within the bounds of the limitations placed on you as a priest, you can do as you will. If you choose not to act as my emissary on Tarinath you are not required to. You will be able to restore your mana much as a Mage does, but even slower than they do. My sisters will not accept you as one of theirs anymore than I will accept one of theirs, but I will not punish you for choosing a different path" I shrugged and said "I''m not greedy, and I pretty much define non-conformist, so I''m not much into the whole conquer and control thing" I shrugged again and added "and I seem to get into trouble helping women in trouble, so having someone who appreciates that would be nice" She laughed and said "Your act against the Overmaster was appreciated, though one has to wonder at the wisdom of such an act" "Yeah" I muttered "I also define stupidity, so don''t hold high expectations" "I have very high expectations for you Loser" she said, the gentle smile back "and I suspect that while it may take some time, you will prove I am wise to have them" I didn''t want to get into a debate about my worthiness, so I just said "About that Loser thing, I don''t suppose you could call me Jake?" She shook her head and sighed before saying "It cannot be done. Only those from the Overworld will be able to do so, and that only if they choose to. Those born to my world are constrained to use the name chosen, so Loser is who you are and who you will remain" Awesome. "I will teach you to use your magic" she said after a moment "those from the overworld who chose to be priests arrive with the ability to access two skills, which for you are my touch and my fist. You may view them now if you wish" I pulled up the main screen that listed them, and this time when I focused on them it opened a screen that had them listed with a lot of empty slots below. They had data associated now. Telina''s Touch Applies 25 points (+20%) of healing to the user or any creature touched +5 points per level 1-10 50 Mana/use Telina''s Fist Applies 10 (-15%) points of damage when activated and a successful hit is made +5 points per level 1-10 50 Mana/use (effective hit) So I could heal 30 points of health each time, which with my Mana, would mean 120 points of health. Or I could do 8.5 points of damage, four times. Weee. "So" I said after a moment "it looks like I''m going to be dying a lot" Damn woman laughed. She kept the smile and said "You have been cursed by the Overlord, this is true Loser, but you have an eternity to repair the injury done to you" God, that loser thing would get old really quickly. She held a hand out and said "Please use Telina''s Fist to injure me" It took me a few tries to figure out I had to actually concentrate for about four seconds on wanting it to happen before it happened. It felt like a slight static charge in my hands when it activated, and when I slapped her hand there was a noticeable blue spark. She didn''t have one of the red bars, so I couldn''t tell it did anything, but she nodded and said "now my touch" Telina''s touch took a second or two more to happen, and I noticed I had to be touching her the whole time I was concentrating. She moved her hand the first time as I felt the magic seem to begin...filling me, and it caused it all to flow away. It wasn''t something I would be doing in the heat of combat. "The more you use them the quicker you will become at calling them forth" Telina said, obviously guessing my thoughts "To restore your mana you must close your eyes and think of me" She waited until I did that, then said "not just the image, but the sense of what I am and wish for my people" I opened my eyes and gave her a look before closing them again. It took long enough that I could tell she was getting a little irritated, but I eventually made the connection when I happened to think of my anger at Bugly when he was fondling her. When it happened we made a definite connection, one that while not telepathy or anything, did make me aware that she was pleased and aware of me in turn. A full body tingle followed, and when I checked my mana bar, I saw it was full again. I also found I didn''t have to open my eyes to pull up the floating images. Cool. "Well done Loser" she said, causing a sudden teeth grinding noise from me "you felt righteous anger in defense of someone you thought helpless. It would please me if my priest became a holy warrior in defense of those to weak to stand by themselves" "I''m all over that" I said with a nod "Smiting the wicked is a job description I can get behind" Her laugh lingered when she suddenly faded away. If I concentrated a little I could feel the connection with her, though it was like a drop of water compared to the river when I restored my mana. Listen to me, talking about restoring my mana like a true geek. ---- When I stepped through the door I found myself in a large outdoor courtyard that had a sand floor and an open archway on the other side. A guy in leather armor and a sword at his side was leaning against the wall next to the archway, and when I showed up he said "About damn time" I was looking up at the deep blue sky, thinking that it seemed to warm for winter and what the season might be, when the jerk walked up, pulled out his sword and thrust it right in my stomach. I was staring at him in shock as he said "Sorry, but Corporal Tennant sends his regards" Then I died Son of a bitch that hurt! Jerk boy was leaning against the archway when I reappeared some indeterminate time later, and I pulled the dagger out and fought for a whole minute until the dagger crumbled away and he sliced my head off. "I get five gold if I do this ten times" Jerk said the third time I appeared and I hit him with my club. I had time to focus on his stats and see his name ''Krin the Knife" and his level (1), and his health (120). The fourth time I said screw it and tried to get the Fist to work. He stabbed me a second early, but the fifth time I made it. I started running, pulling my club, then stopped and exchanged swings until we both hit. He did fourteen points with a slice, and I did the couple from the club, + 8.5. Crappy exchange, but I started running again as I tried to draw on the Fist. A big fail, but by the seventh time I had figured out how to do it as long as he didn''t hit me. When I revived I got a message. New Skill: Concentration Passive The ability to perform a spell while in combat. Increase in skill is determined by disparity in damage capability while in combat. Concentration 5% It wasn''t reliable enough to keep me alive, but I managed to get a few good hits in when it did. He was gone when I came back the eleventh time, but I knew me and ole Krin would get together again one day. If I kept a list he would be on it, but I didn''t, since it meant I spent time thinking about them. I was more of a ''when the mood strikes'' kind of guy. He had ten deaths coming, but I had an eternity to apply them. Loser Healer Priest Level 1 (0%) STR 5 DEX 5 STA 20 INT 10 WIS 10 Health: 200 Mana: 100 Endurance: 120 Spells: Telina''s Touch Telina''s Fist (+7% activate) +20% Healing Spell -15% Spell Damage -25% Hit Damage -10% Dodge + 1.2% hand to hand + 2.0% light armor +1.2% Blunt Weapon +6.0% Concentration Chap 3: Rats! When I left the courtyard it didn''t take me to the street I was seeing through it, instead I stepped into the middle of a town square in what appeared to be the dirtiest town in the world. I could see why it was called Mudtown, since everything, streets, walls, houses, and even the people appeared to be made of dried mud. I exaggerate a little, since the people were just spattered with the ubiquitous mud, but just standing still I felt like I was being covered. The road was a mixture of dry mud with a wet section down the middle where it seemed all the water drained, and it was lined on both sides by a row of mud walled, thatch roofed buildings. The town square seemed to be the halfway point for the town, and it opened up to form a square that just screamed for some kind of central decoration. I was looking at the setting sun, so I arbitrarily called that west, meaning the road ran east to west. A blacksmith had a shop in the corner of the square on my left, and store fronts with awnings filled the other buildings in the square. A wagon took up a big section on my right, and despite the fact that I didn''t seem to need to urinate or defecate, the horses did, and they did a fine job of it too. People wearing your standard peasant clothing were eyeing me from the stores and two human men wearing chainmail walked over to face me a moment after I appeared. "What are you doing here priest?" said the taller of the two, and the one that had a red arm band. They both had swords and daggers, and when I concentrated I could read: Andric, Mudtown guard Captain Donelt, Mudtown guard "My names Jake, and I think I live here" I said with a shrug "An eternal" Donelt said with a sneer "just what we need" "Who is your god Loser?" Andric asked, totally ignoring the name I gave him and using the loser one. God I was hating Bugly. "Telina" I said through gritted teeth The two men exchanged looks before the Captain said "We don''t want adventurers here half-breed, so do your killing somewhere outside of town. If you draw any monsters into town we''ll lock you up after we kill it, so don''t expect us to do your work for you" "Uh yeah" I said, kind of at a loss for what to do now. The two guards walked off, leaving me standing like an idiot in the middle of the square. With a sigh I started down the street, looking around and trying to get a sense of what was expected of me. I knew I would have to eat, and while I wasn''t sleepy yet, I was guessing I would need to sleep somewhere. At the edge of town I stopped and looked over the landscape for the first time and realized this world was really quite gorgeous. Tall snow capped mountains lined the horizon ahead of me in a pretty straight line going north and south, while forest seemed to surround the town as far as I could see. Once at the edge of town it opened up into a grassy plain for a good quarter mile until turning into the forest, with the north side seeming to be taken up with farmer''s fields. The only mud seemed to be centered on the town itself. It was like the town was making mud. I saw a stone pillar along the road about a hundred feet away, so wandered down to see what it was supposed to indicate. Nothing as far as I could tell, other than the fact someone had extra rocks. A high pitched squeaking caused me to turn and see a rat the size of a Doberman running at me. Weak Rat Level 1 Health 30 Stupid rat nearly killed me. I managed to get my club out and start swinging about the time it bit me for six points of damage. My first two swings missed, but I managed to dodge his return bite long enough to land my third swing. A whole 4 points for my side as we settled down to a battle of attrition. Stupid Rat. I was down to twenty-five points of health when I finally killed it, and it turned into a single piece of rat meat and one rat skin. + 2.1% light armor +1.3% Blunt Weapon I picked up the meat and skin, then concentrated on doing Telina''s Touch on myself. I did it four times, bringing my health back up to 145, then settled into the restore trance I had done earlier. It came easily enough, though it took at least a half minute to accomplish. I wasn''t sure how long it took the Mages to do that, but it darn well better be longer than a half minute. I could see it wasn''t something I could do in a fight for sure. New Skill: Faith Passive Faith aids a priest in restoring mana and in the power and speed of spells Faith 3% While I was reading, another rat snuck up and bit me in the ass for 8 points of damage. And it hurt like hell. Screw it, time to start working to get better at this stuff. I did the running in circles thing until I managed to activate Telina''s Fist, then turned to fight. Rinse and repeat until the chewy bugger finally died and left the meat and skin, and weirdly enough, 2 copper coins. I hoped he hadn''t been storing them somewhere...weird. I did the Touch heal, then restore mana thing, then activated Fist in time for another rat to appear. This went on for the rest of the day, and after the fourth rat I got my first level up and my stats appeared with a message. You have reached level 2. You have two attribute points. You have a new spell. Cool. It took a moment, but I figured out how to add a point each to my STR and DEX stats. I had to do the mental gymnastics that brought up my spells page, and focusing on a lighted slot brought up a choice list. Cure Disease Cures disease (Level+10) of any creature touched 110 Mana/use Telina''s Holy Blessing On creature: 10% increase in hit damage 15% increase in healing rate (+5%/level to level 10) On flora: 20% increase in growth rate 30% crop amount 85 Mana/Use Duration: (Does not stack) It didn''t look like either choice did anything to improve my survival chances, since they both seemed to be straight up priestly spells. I was worried about rats, so I finally just picked Cure Disease since it at least was something I could use on myself. The rats called it quits when the sun dropped to the horizon, so I headed back into town. The rats didn''t seem to give me much of a gain after I leveled up, but it was progress, especially the 12 copper coins total they dropped. Now it was time to find out if they would actually buy anything. Loser Healer Priest Level 2 (45%) STR 6 DEX 6 STA 20 INT 10 WIS 10 Health: 200 Mana: 100 Endurance: 120 Spells: Telina''s Touch (+12% activate) Telina''s Fist (+16% activate) Cure Disease Cures disease (Level+10) of any creature touched 100 Mana/use +20% Healing Spell -15% Spell Damage -20% Hit Damage -8% Dodge + 1.2% hand to hand + 3.0% light armor +2.3% Blunt Weapon +7.2% Concentration +5.0% Faith ---- You would think a place called Mudtown would work hard to make itself a little more welcoming, but you would be wrong. Get lost was said so much I started to wonder if my name had changed. Half-breed was said enough I knew there weren''t any discrimination laws in Tarinath. Most of those were in response to my ''hello'' or ''excuse me'' as I tried to talk to people. An older woman finally took pity on me and let me sleep in her small barn behind her house for only one copper coin. She even gave me a loaf of bread without charging me extra. Based on those prices I could live in a barn for two weeks on the money I had, but I was sharing the barn with four cows and a horse, all of which spent the night crapping. The next morning introduced me to a new skill when the old woman let me in the house as she cooked breakfast. I was watching her put a pan on a grate over the fire when she said "You seem interested in my cooking" the old woman said "would you like to try your hand at it?". I had been in this world long enough to know not to say something stupid, so I nodded and said "sure" When I stepped over to the fire a message popped up: New Skill: Cooking Active Allows player to prepare foods for improved benefits Requirements: Cooking pan Fire starter I didn''t actually have to do anything. The pan had a whole meal sitting in it when I pulled it off the fire, and another message said: Item added: Pan Fire starter Cooking 1.0% When we ate the food another message appeared with: Beef, cooked Endurance restored +15% Endurance 6 hour duration The ''endurance restored'' thing caught my eye since it didn''t happen with the raw wolf meat, and the 15% would add like ten or twelve points. It seemed like cooked food had some benefits beyond filling your belly. The raw wolf added 1% damage so I wondered what cooked wolf would do. Maybe try that tonight. When I finished eating the old woman asked "You are a priest of Telina yes? My sister was bitten by a rat and has the blight, can you cure her?" New Quest Cure Dalia''s sister Dina of the Blight Do you accept? Wow, this was straight up role playing game stuff. Was my life going to be like this forever? With a sigh I said "Sure", and hoped the ''blight'' counted as a disease. Dina turned out to be Dalia''s twin, and they both looked to be about five hundred years old. The blight turned out to cause sores all over the body and Dina was looking pretty awful when her elderly husband let me in the house to see her. "Can you cure her?" Jessan, the husband asked, as I stood next to the bed where the woman was lying. The old woman seemed to be really suffering, and I was surprised how distraught the old man seemed, making it hard to see them as computer images. I was standing there looking at the old man as he kind of gave me an honest to god begging look and I made the decision that this really was my life now, and it didn''t matter how weird it was, or how crazy I thought things were, this was all I had. Nodding, I said "By Telina''s will" Of course that didn''t mean I somehow knew how to make my new spell work. About five minutes in the old guy started giving me looks and I was thinking of telling him that if it was so easy he should do it himself, but I didn''t. It was a nudge from the goddess that made me try doing my connection with her, and damned if I couldn''t feel her exasperation as we connected and the magic flowed into me, then out in a golden stream to cover the old woman. It stayed like that for about ten seconds, then faded, leaving the woman lying there looking perfectly healthy. Telina gave me a non-verbal ''well done'', then faded away. I was feeling a little put out by the attitudes since no one had bothered to tell me a damn thing since I got here. Stupid Bugly. When the old guy offered me a whole silver piece as a reward I started to take it when I felt Telina''s disapproval. I gritted my teeth in frustration and told Jessan in a strained voice "No thanks. Give thanks to the goddess Telina and do a good deed in her name and I will be rewarded" If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. I came up with all that myself, but was pretty aggravated as I felt her approval, and muttered "Yeah, yeah. Easy for you, but some of us have to eat and sleep" I think Jessan and Dina were a little taken aback by my grumpiness, but I never agreed to be a polite priest, so they could take what they got. Stupid Bugly, I could have been a barbarian or pirate or something, but no, I get to be Friar Tuck. Screw it, I needed to kill some rats. Before being digitized I spent time in fights, getting shot once and stabbed a couple of times, so while the fighting and dying here hurt...a lot, it somehow wasn''t as traumatizing as the real thing had been. I spent a couple of hours outside of town fighting the endless series of rats until I leveled up again. I allocated my two points to the strength and dexterity again and noticed my skills stuff had taken a pretty good move up. The faster access to my two spells was something I could notice now Loser Healer Priest Level 3 (11%) STR 7 DEX 7 STA 20 INT 10 WIS 10 Health: 200 Mana: 100 Endurance: 140 Armor: 1 Spells: Telina''s Touch(+21% activate) Applies 35 points (+20%) of healing to the user or any creature touched 30 Mana/use Telina''s Fist(+26% activate) Applies 20 (-15%) points of damage when activated and a successful hit is made 30 Mana/use (effective hit) Cure Disease Cures disease (Level+10) of any creature touched 100 Mana/use +20% Healing Spell -15% Spell Damage -15% Hit Damage -6% Dodge + 1.2% hand to hand + 11% light armor +9.5% Blunt Weapon +17% Concentration +10% Faith +1.0% Cooking 0 Gold 0 Silver 17 Copper Wolf pelt (1ea) Rat skin (13ea) Rat meat (13ea) Poor quality club 3/15 durability 2-10 damage My club was looking pretty beat up so I decided to try talking with people again to see if I could get a better weapon, and maybe some of the armor everyone else seemed to be able to get. The blacksmith was a surprisingly small guy, though he looked strong enough, and this time when he asked "What do you want half-breed", it actually sounded like a real question. "I need a better weapon and hoped to get some armor" I said, waving at my clothes. For all the chewing on I''d been getting my clothes still looked ok, which made me wonder if my armor would stay clean too. He showed me a line of weapons in a rack and when I looked at each a message would appear with information about it. Most were pieces of junk, the best of the group being: Battered sword 18/18 durability 6-17 damage Not usable: Mage, Priest Cost: 3 Silver Battered Mace 18/18 durability 8-14 damage Not usable: Mage Cost: 3 Silver Worn Sword of Slicing 24/24 durability 6-17 damage +4 bleeding damage Not usable: Mage, Priest Cost: 9 Silver It looked like the minimum damage number got better as you got better weapons, but 3 silver meant 30 coppers, which was about twice what I had. "How about ten coppers and this wolf skin and my old club for the mace?" I asked I was expecting to dicker a while, but he just said "Sold" and handed me my Battered Mace, holding his hand out until I gave him the club and wolf skin, and counted out ten coppers. He had three different leather armor sets and one chainmail set. The armor came with boots and what the labels called bracers, The chainmail said it wasn''t usable by priests, which really pissed me off. It''s armor rating was like 25 and the leather armor was all in the 12-18 range. The cheapest armor was 7 silver, so I wouldn''t be buying any today. When I finished with the blacksmith and had started back out of town to try out the mace, Captain Andulin waved at me, getting me to stop and give him a questioning look. He nodded and said "Word is you managed to cure Dina of the blight and farmers say the rats are getting thinner on the ground. Farmer Simm says he thinks they''re coming from the cave in the trees on the north side. You clean them out and it would be worth a gold piece to the town" New Quest: Kill the rats infesting Quilian''s cave Do you accept? "Sure" I said immediately. A whole gold piece, whoo hoo. The fields on the north side of town were laid out in squares, each being about fifty feet across, with six of them being in a line. They looked kind of poor, with a lot of the stalks and shoots torn up, and the rest sort of sickly. A rat was chewing on one of the stalks, so I pulled my mace, called up the Fist, and commenced swinging. I did like twenty damage the first hit, and was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I managed to call up the Fist again. Still took a little dodging and dancing with a couple of bites thrown in, but I was doing it faster and more reliably than before. It only took six hits to finish the bugger, and by the end I was only down 25 points of health and about the same in endurance. I healed myself just for the training, but that was the best fight I''d managed so far. The rat only gave me 14% toward the next level, so it looked like as I leveled up I lost momentum with the lower monsters. Shrugging, I picked up the copper piece left behind and decided to leave the meat and skin since I had so much already. The cave, when I found it, turned out to be another learning experience. There were two of the nasty buggers at the entrance, with one deeper in than the other. The closest one attacked as I got closer, but the other just sat there until I dodged the first one and stepped to about ten feet away from it. Then they both attacked me. I seriously shocked myself by surviving, but it was damn close. I had a whole 15 health and 18 endurance left when the last one croaked. The endurance thing really showed up when it dropped below 25 and I found it harder and harder to swing the mace. I picked up the three copper pieces, then stepped a little away from the cave entrance and did some healing until I ran out of mana, then did the prayer thing to restore it. The cave was surprisingly clean and dry, and only wide enough for me to swing my mace, but not an inch more. It got dark quick, but I realized after a moment that my eyes adapted and I could see decently in shades of grey. When I turned the first corner and about tripped over a rat, I could see it better because of the heat. The rat was sort of outlined in a red glow, and he was as surprised as I was so I got the first swing in. I had prepared the Fist, but that was the last time during the fight since we were face to face and I couldn''t dodge much. The no dodging thing ended up hurting the rat more since I basically just began pounding him with the mace, accepting the various bites he gave me in between. The fight didn''t last long, and it reminded me of chopping wood...chop, lift, chop, lift, but with a mace. I paused for healing and time for my endurance to restore, then headed thirty feet further on until the cave opened up into a space holding three rats. When it was clear they were all going to attack, I stepped back into the narrow part and started swinging. It was mostly too narrow for more than one at a time, but every now and then they would squeeze together and I would have to step back. I tried calling the Fist during the fight, but only managed it once just after the second rat died and there was a lull in the fight. When I killed the third one my endurance was at 5 and I think if I had swung one more time I would have fallen over. It was clear I would need to figure out the food thing just for the increase in endurance or I wouldn''t last through a long fight. I knew enough about RPGs to know there was supposed to be a boss creature somewhere in the cave, and he would be stronger than the rest. I did another series of healings and a mana restore before getting the Fist ready and moving on. The rats had a total of 8 coppers, but I found a silver piece lying on the floor by a human skeleton in the area the three rats had been hanging out in. I was darn near wealthy. I had contemplated cooking up some rat, but decided digital or not, eating rat was a last ditch thing. Turned out the boss rat was just around another corner, sitting upright and chewing on something that looked like it came off something four legged. When I focused on it I read: Rat leader Level 3 Health 80 It was big enough that it couldn''t move much in the narrow passage I backed into, but it''s bite did like 20 points of damage. Luckily I was doing close to the same thing and he had like half my health or I would have ended up dead in there. He did something that caused a message to flash up - Overpower - and he surged forward to knock me on my ass. He bit the shit out of me until I got to my feet and got back to swinging. I had zero opportunity to call on the Fist, and that hampered me a lot. Stupid priest skills. He dropped a silver coin (cheapskate) and left 9 coppers in a pile in his lair, but other than that it was just meat and skin. I did level up though, so overall a good days work, especially after I got back and the Captain slipped me my gold coin. I was tempted to stroke the gold coin and call it ''my precious'', but decided the idea would just go over the Captain''s head. I had too choose another spell, but it only gave me the choice of the Blessing, so kind of a no brainer. For the hell of it I cast the Blessing on one of the fields after my talk with the Captain. I figured out I had to make the connection to Telina early on, so while the spell itself took about 15 seconds to cast, I didn''t need five minutes figuring out how to do it. Loser Healer Priest Level 4 (68%) STR 8 DEX 8 STA 20 INT 10 WIS 10 Health: 200 Mana: 100 Endurance: 160 Armor: 1 Spells: Telina''s Touch(+42% activate) Applies 40 points (+20%) of healing to the user or any creature touched 25 Mana/use Telina''s Fist(+51% activate) Applies 30 (-15%) points of damage when activated and a successful hit is made 25 Mana/use (effective hit) Cure Disease Cures disease (Level+10) of any creature touched 80 Mana/use Telina''s Holy Blessing On creature: 25% increase in hit damage 30% increase in healing rate Duration: 6 hours (+5%/level to level 10) On flora: 35% increase in growth rate 45% crop amount (+5%/level to level 10) 85 Mana/Use (Does not stack) +20% Healing Spell -15% Spell Damage -10% Hit Damage -4% Dodge + 1.2% hand to hand + 19% light armor + 13% Blunt Weapon + 21% Concentration + 24% Faith + 1.0% Cooking 1 Gold 2 Silver 20 Copper Rat skin (13ea) Rat meat (13ea) Battered Mace 12/18 durability 8-14 damage Chap 4: Saving Private...Lentz? Dalia actually let me move into an empty room in her house for two coppers a week, which I found extremely nice since it was much nicer than snuggling up with the cows. I stopped at one of the food vendors the next day, and while she called me half-breed, she did it in a polite way, which was a nice change. It turns out food costs just about nothing, so I bought 7 loaves of bread and 7 pieces of beef for a copper. When I finished my purchases the Captain came up again (he seemed to be something like the mayor I think) and said "Marissa says you cast a blessing on her field and now it''s come back full and strong" Since it wasn''t really a question I just nodded and shrugged agreement. He paused, then said "It would aid the village greatly if you were to do that on the other fields" New Quest: Bless Mudtown''s fields Do you accept? I gave a short "Sure", somewhat disappointed I didn''t get an offer to pay me for my time, but sucked it up and headed out to the fields knowing my goddess wouldn''t be very supportive of me asking for cold hard cash. There was an obvious difference between the field I blessed and the others, with the blessed field''s crops standing tall and green, and the chewed up sections already showing new growth. The others still looked wilted and torn up, so I moved to the next in line and made a full on spectacle for the farmers watching. "Holy Telina please bless this field so that those who worship you will grow strong in your grace" I know, a little over the top, but she had said she ran on faith so getting some positive feedback from the farmers wouldn''t hurt. She was my main squeeze after all. The casting only took the fifteen seconds or so, but it used almost all my mana and I had to restore it before doing the next. I was surprised to see my endurance drop about 10% a field, something that added up even though my endurance recovers fairly quickly. Doing a blessing in a combat situation could make the endurance loss something to be careful of. When I did the last one I got: Quest Complete:Bless Mudtown''s fields I also leveled up, something that surprised me. This level up was a big one and left me with a lot of decisions regarding spells. Level 5 reached. Telina''s Touch becomes Telina''s Gaze. Player no longer need touch to bestow healing. Telina''s Gaze (+55% activate) Applies 45 points (+20%) of healing to the user or any creature chosen 25 Mana/use Choose three spells: Create Potions Healing potion: Vial of water with Telina''s Blessing + Telina''s Gaze Healing= Telina''s Gaze + Telina''s Blessing + 2(Faith) (Cool down 12 hours) Telina''s Restoring Touch Restore full health to creature touched 120 Mana/use Telina''s Flame Holy fire strikes to cause 80 (-15%)points damage to creature chosen Splash damage: 25% damage to enemy creatures within 10 ft Double damage to undead (+10/level maximum 120) 90 Mana/use Dispel Magic Dispel Level/+5 magic on creature or area chosen -Does not dispel enchanted objects or potions -Does not dispel own castings (Cool down 4 hours) 75 Mana/use Turn Undead Undead of Level+5 or below will flee for 5 minutes 80 Mana/use Well, the Flame one was a no brainer even with the penalty, but I noticed the spells were either close to, or over my total mana amount, making me wonder what I had to do to increase that (sure was missing a help function now and thinking maybe the geeks weren''t so dumb). The create potions one made me really think for a while, but I decided that if the old goddess didn''t object, I might be able to make some money making potions. Of course it looked like I could make only two a day, but hell, they had to be worth something more than the cost of a vial and some water. At the end I settled on the Potions, Flame, and Dispel magic spells, figuring they gave me a decent variety. I hadn''t had to dispel anything to this point, but I figured it wouldn''t be there if it wasn''t needed. The undead one worried me, but it looked like it would only delay a fight for five minutes, so I put that off for now. Loser Healer Priest Level 5 (0%) STR 9 DEX 9 STA 20 INT 10 WIS 10 Health: 200 Mana: 100 Endurance: 200 Armor: 1 Spells: Telina''s Gaze(+65% activate) Applies 40 points (+20%) of healing to the user or any creature touched 25 Mana/use Telina''s Fist(+65% activate) Applies 30 (-15%) points of damage when activated and a successful hit is made 25 Mana/use (effective hit) Cure Disease Cures disease (Level+10) of any creature touched 80 Mana/use Telina''s Holy Blessing On creature: 30% increase in hit damage 35% increase in healing rate Duration: 6 hours (+5%/level to level 10) On flora: 40% increase in growth rate 50% crop amount (+5%/level to level 10) 85 Mana/Use (Does not stack) Create Potions Healing potion: Vial of water with Telina''s Blessing + Telina''s Gaze Healing= Telina''s Gaze + Telina''s Blessing + 2(Faith) (Cool down 12 hours) Telina''s Flame Holy fire strikes to cause 80 points damage to creature chosen Splash damage: 25% damage to enemy creatures within 10 ft Double damage to undead (+10/level) 90 Mana/use Dispel Magic Dispel Level+5 magic on creature or area chosen -Does not dispel enchanted objects or potions -Does not dispel own castings (Cool down 4 hours) 75 Mana/use +20% Healing Spell -15% Spell Damage + 1.2% hand to hand + 19% light armor + 13% Blunt Weapon + 21% Concentration + 24% Faith + 1.0% Cooking -5% Hit Damage -2% Dodge 1 Gold 2 Silver 18 Copper Rat skin (13ea) Rat meat (13ea) Battered Mace 12/18 durability 8-14 damage ---- I stopped by to see the blacksmith, who turned out to be named Seth, and dickered over a set of armor. I eventually got a set for 9 silver and my rat skins: Worn Leather Armor +14 armor rating 24/24 durability Not usable: Mage Worn Leather Boots +2 armor rating 24/24 durability Not usable: Mage Worn Leather Bracers +2 armor rating 24/24 durability Not usable: Mage I wouldn''t know if it was worth it until something started chewing on me, but I have to say it looked pretty cool with the main piece being kind of form fitting and the boots and bracers making me actually look somewhat competent for once. A question to Seth got me the name of the local apothecary who supposedly sold vials, and since the town was one whole street, it only took me ten minutes to find her and buy ten vials for a copper each. That seemed expensive to me, but it wasn''t like there was any market competition. I asked the middle aged woman running the shop about healing potions and she said alchemists make a version that heals about 10 points of damage, or a little more depending on who made them. The closest alchemist according to the ones who knew was two days ride south in a city called Telarin. Since I was comparatively wealthy and had food and a place to sleep, I decided to take the time to try out my potion making skills. It was fairly straightforward of a process, though I had to restore my mana after casting the blessing spell because I didn''t have enough to do both spells. When the potion was done it showed: Healing Potion 128 points restored health Hell, even if no one bought them they would come in handy in a serious fight. They would restore half my health in one swoop, something that would have been nice against the boss rat. Making the potion got me into the mood to get better at the survival stuff, so I started cooking up my rat meat, getting a +1% every time I finished one. Turns out rat meat cooked gives you +5% endurance and nothing else. I also stopped in to ask Seth about repairing my mace and got: New Skill: Repair Active Allows player to repair weapons and armor Requirements: Hammer Seth was good enough to sell me a hammer for 5 coppers, but it took me a while to figure out I didn''t really have to fix anything, I just equipped the hammer and touched the item I wanted to fix. When I touched the mace I got: Repaired 15%: Worn Mace 15/18 durability Touching it again didn''t do anything, so I sighed and put the hammer away for now. I guess it was another one of those skills that grew as you used it. Seth let me set up shop next to him, and I repaired anything anyone wanted for free, and if they wanted it better they paid Seth to finish it. He grumbled and moaned a lot, but didn''t really act like he minded all that much. By the end of the day I had 2 potions and: +19% Repair +13% Cooking +27% Faith The last one added a couple of points to my potion strength the next day. ___ Three days of potion making and repairing stuff seemed to make me more accepted in the village, at least to the point where Seth called me Loser rather than half-breed. He was also more willing to answer my questions about various things, the first being other people like me. "Eternals?" he muttered as he kept banging on a sword "come through now and then, but Mudtown''s long way from anywhere. Robbers and thieves most of them, though get one ain''t so bad now and again. Never seen one be a priest though, just fighters and mage types, with the odd rogue thrown in. Dangerous most of em, raping and killing if''n they can get away with it?" "Rape?" I mumbled to myself, realizing I''d been so off balance I hadn''t even noticed the women beyond what they did. He took my mumbled word as a question and said "Aye, we been keeping the pretty girls hid away until we were sure you wasn''t a bad un. Wrong what they do and being eternals, killing em don''t put paid to their evil" Holy shit! People like me just wandered around killing people without consequences? I shook my head to clear some of the confusion and said "Hey Seth, I know absolutely nothing about this place, mind telling me a little about this...land?" He gave me a look like I was slow in the head, but shrugged and said "Tarinath it be called. Don''t know if anyone other than a goddess can tell you much about it being no ones ever traveled the whole thing. You be in the Abandoned Lands now, named such because the elven folk left it long ago but left the half-breeds like yourself behind. City of your folk couple days south of here, though they don''t lay claim to anything beyond the city walls. People mostly think poorly of em, though now I think about it I''m not sure exactly why" he gave me an appraising look, then shrugged and said "not my worry guess, something for the Captain to think on" he stopped to drink some water before going back to work and saying "West lie the Romar Empire. Been ruled by the Romar family since they drove the undead back and started building their walled cities everywhere. Humans mostly, though they let others in, even orcs if''n they''re not causing trouble. Elves all left, but I don''t know much about what they hold, only that it might be some big land off the coast. South is orc land, so you won''t want to be going that way unless you''re looking to be ate. Orcs like human meat, or so I''ve been told. One or two came through here were quiet about it, so no one got et and the Captain didn''t have to be killing them. From what''s been told, the dwarven folk don''t have a land they lay claim to, just cities they built under the mountains in all the lands. I think they fight with the orcs and elven folk a lot, but heard the Empire has some kind of alliance with em" he spat to the side before adding "eternals be the buggers in the mix. Some of em have taken to ruling villages and such, though the orc folk don''t seem to have any of em. Get four or five of em together and they get to adventuring in crypts and dungeons and such. Stir up the evil creatures something fierce they do, though now an then they kill somethin that helps out. Mostly though they''s more trouble than help" Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. I was lounging in my chair next to his booth when the Captain stopped by again. "Priest Loser, silver was discovered in Quilian''s cave and the town has begun mining it, but bandits have taken it over, will you clear them from the cave?" He did talk like he was running a script, something everyone did at points, but I had been chatting with Seth about anything with no issues. Anyway I got a message: New Quest: Defeat bandits in Quilian''s cave Do you accept? "Sure" I told the Captain "How many, and when do you want to do it?" "There are at least three" he said as he nodded for me to follow "and I will send my new recruit Private Lentz to aid you" Lentz turned out to be pure farm boy, big, blonde, and quiet. He was wearing the chainmail and sword like the Captain, but he also had a shield. I found out later that priests can''t use shields (stupid Bugly), but it did make him look a little more dangerous. "Sir" he said "I am ready to serve" Private Lentz has joined your party Level 4 Health 100 I refrained from rolling my eyes, just nodding for him to follow me as I headed out across the fields. "How do you normally do this?" I asked He blinked a few times, then said "Never fought with a priest afore, just other warriors and a mage now and then" I stopped us at the tree line and considered things for a moment. Shrugging I pulled up my inventory and passed him one of my healing potions and said "Take this. Use it if you get down below 20 in health, otherwise let me try healing you first. The caves narrow, so I''ll have you lead and will keep you healed until I have to fight" I turned and started casting a blessing on him, saying "Hold still, let me ask for Telina''s blessing" He seemed pretty impressed by the whole spell casting thing, so I made my standard production off asking for Telina''s aid, then restored my mana after. I could sense Telina''s humor and approval as I did it, and wondered how closely she was watching what I was doing. Hopefully not to closely or I would be poor for eternity. Woman had issues when it came to money. The blessing should make Lentz 30% more damaging, which had to be helpful. The cave was just where I left it, but this time there was a guy wearing leather armor like me holding a bow outside. As soon as we stepped into the clearing he drew and shot me before I could even say anything. Son of a beeotch that hurt. It did 25 points of damage, and he managed a second one before Lentz got to him and forced him to drop the bow and draw a sword. I had two freaking arrows sticking out of me as I pulled my mace and ran to join Lentz, but both faded before I got to them, though it left two bleeding holes in my body. Holy shit did it hurt. Lentz''s shield helped a lot, and the bandit seemed to spend most of his swings hitting it rather than Lentz. The bandit showed: Bandit thug Level 4 Health 80 I could see Lentz''s health bar if I semi-focused on him, and he seemed to only be down about forty points at the end of the fight. The Bandit dropped before I got a swing in, so I stopped and did Telina''s Gaze for the first time. It worked exactly the same as her touch, but I didn''t actually have to touch Lentz, just stare at him for two seconds and call up the spell. I had to raise my hand and sort of point at him, getting my hand to glow at the same time he did. The healing spell and Fist were taking about half as long as they did at first, so I could get both of them going by the count of two. The concentration needed to actually call up the spell would probably keep it from ever being instantaneous, but as long as I wasn''t actually exchanging blows with someone I could probably make it work. The bandit left behind his sword, bow, armor and 8 copper pieces. I took the money, but left the rest until we finished. My weight numbers had increased as I added points to my strength attribute, but I didn''t want to get weighted down before a fight. The really funny part about the points being added to strength was that I could actually see I had become more muscular. Not a lot, but it tickled me that rather than exercising, getting stronger meant adding numbers to a spreadsheet. Cool stuff. I called up Fist, then restored my mana before waving Lentz into the cave. We got our next fight in the open area the rats had been in, but there was only one bandit standing by a stack of boxes. He was wearing the same thing as Lentz, so I joined Lentz in attacking him. The bandit just took a crouching stance and waited for us, with Lentz getting the first hit in. I was stepping in to take a swing when a guy in leathers appeared behind Lentz and stuck a knife in him. He just seemed to be there all of a sudden, no flashy lights or smoke, just like he had been there and I hadn''t noticed him. I altered my swing and got a good hit on the sneaky dude, actually doing almost forty points of damage, close to half of his full amount. Lentz lost close to 70 points of his health in that one knife strike, so I yelled for him to use the potion as I began swinging at the knife guy some more. I think the other bandit got a hit in on Lentz while he drank the potion, but it didn''t really matter since there was a soft white glow that formed around Lentz for a second, then he was fully healed again. Hell, I do good potions. The knife guy: Bandit Thief Level 5 Health 60 He wasn''t much trouble once I could see him, and he went down after five or six swings (most of which missed). Lentz held off the other Bandit Thug, Level 4 until I joined him, then we managed to kill him pretty quickly. I only took a couple of slices from the knife, both of which only did 8 points of damage. Never bring a knife to a mace fight I always say, though that stab in the back did a wicked amount of hurt. And how the heck did I miss seeing him? I picked up the 1 silver and 6 copper pieces, but again left the other items behind for now. I transferred another potion to Lentz as he said "Your potion was truly a blessing from the goddess Priest Loser. I have never heard of such a wondrous thing before and you give them so freely. My thanks to you and your goddess" "We are brothers in arms Private Lentz" I said, matching his formal tones but holding back a grin "and it is the goddesses will that I aid those in need" Yeah, goofy and heavy handed, but it seemed to be how these guys worked. Lentz at least seemed happy with the response. The bandit boss was waiting in the same room the boss rat had been in, but the room had widened where mining had obviously been taking place. Bandit Leader Level 7 Health 130 Thank god he was alone because he turned out to be one tough mamba jamba. He had on the chainmail most fighters seemed to have, but it looked stronger, and his sword did a butt load of damage when it hit. I let Lentz lead and stayed behind him, casting Gaze pretty continuously as the leader put a hurting on Lentz. By the time Lentz got enough swings and thrusts in to bring the bad guy''s health down to 50, I was beginning to lose ground in keeping Lentz alive. I had used up enough mana that I couldn''t do the Flame strike thing, so cast Fist, then went in swinging. The jerk stabbed me twice before I got my first hit, both of his doing 25 points of damage, but mine doing 35. I took one more thrust, and Lentz a couple of slices before we finished the guy off. Holy moley the guy had been tough. Between the two of us, the guy did enough damage to kill us twice over if I hadn''t been healing Lentz at first. Definitely needed to stay with that healing from behind strategy until these boss guys were down to a manageable level. I seemed to have a lot more life than most of these people, but lord some of them put the hurt on you. I managed three healing casts, one for me and two on Lentz, before seeing what kind of treasure we ended up with. I liked the whole surprise present aspect of this, always getting that Christmas present feel at the end of a fight. This guy left: 1 gold 1 silver 6 copper low quality chainmail +30 armor 30/40 durability Boots and bracers to match, and Good Sword 8-18 damage 21/25 durability he also had something new: Bandit Ring +2 dexterity +3 to hit Not usable by: Mage, Priest That not usable by thing was really pissing me off, but when I finished cursing at the world (getting some worried looks from Lentz), I figured it should at least be worth some money. We went back through and picked up all the dropped items, all of which I managed to carry, though it put me at almost my weight limit. I also repaired everything, adding a couple of points to the durability, even mine and Lentz''s equipment. Every little bit helps I figured. Shit, now that I thought about it I should have cooked up some beef or something to add to our endurance or find something else that would help. Eating before a fight would take some getting used to. The Captain slipped me another gold coin and thanked me for aiding the village. Lentz was regaling him with our adventures as I left, kind of disappointed I didn''t level up again. Checking my stats showed I was at 86%, so it looked like the leveling up thing had slowed down a lot. I couldn''t decide now if Bugly''s attempt to screw me over attribute wise was really all that bad. Without the big kick in the pants to my health I don''t think I would have lasted long at all. Most of the level 3 and 4 people seemed to have about 60 health, and I took that much or more in every fight. The addition to strength and dexterity had eliminated the penalties, so I was sort of at a break even point now. I gave Dina a couple more coppers for room and board, and knocked out another potion before calling it a night. The next day I made sure to do another two potions, but I also went back to my normal seat by the Seth''s place and dickered with him to sell everything I had picked up. The bandit leader''s sword and mail brought in the most, but overall I got 2 gold and 7 silver for the lot. He wouldn''t buy the ring though, saying he didn''t handle jewelry and I would have to go to a city or find someone who wanted to buy it. He did say that enchanted items like the ring were worth gold rather than silver, so I figured it was an investment item for the moment. Chap 5: Altered the fabric of what? The people of Mudtown had gotten more friendly and everyone called me Loser rather than half-breed, something that still made me grind my teeth slightly, but enough that I was starting to get used to it. At some point in the last two days an Inn had opened at the edge of town, in a building I would have sworn was a one story home, but was now a two story inn with a bar downstairs. I actually recognized one or two people inside sitting at tables as I walked in and stood in the door to look around. It looked like a classic tavern from the movies, with wood floors, round tables scattered around, a large fireplace that was lit but not really putting off much heat, and a wooden bar next to the stairs to the second floor. A large bearded bartender was wiping mugs clean as a serving girl came out of a door behind him with a large platter of food in her hands. She was wearing clothes like the St. Pauli girl on the beer bottle, the kind that emphasized the bust very well. She was a pretty blonde with a big smile and she caught my eye more for the fact she was the first young woman I had seen. No one said anything, though a couple of the people at tables nodded at me as I found a seat in the corner. The girl came up with a smile and said "So our Priest has come to sample our fine offerings. What can I get you sir?" I just stared at her for a few seconds, then chuckled and said "How about an ale and your name if you would" The words brought a shy smile as she said "You ask for Mary if you need me, and my father makes the best ale in the Abandoned lands he does" The ale cost 1 copper, and it seemed to cover everything I could drink in an evening. I didn''t join any of the conversations, just listened to the other groups as they laughed and told tales. Seth wandered in for an ale, but sat at the bar and just nodded my way when he came in, and again when he left. I was surprised at how nice it felt to be recognized. The owner, Samuel, was also the bartender, and in response to a short conversation with Mary, ended up offering me a room with meals for one copper a night. I accepted after some thought, and Dina didn''t seem put out at losing my company. The room on the second floor was much nicer, and I ended up with a bed, chest, and a wash basin. I had been washing using a basin behind Dina''s house, though I never really got smelly as far as I could tell, just dirty. My clothes stayed clean for the most part, though some things seemed to stay with them, blood not being one on them. Weird. I finished my first batch of healing potions, leaving me eight after the two I gave Lentz. I bought ten more vials, and was sitting down to make some more when I got to thinking about the whole process. It seemed like I cast the blessing on the water and vial to prepare it to hold the healing spell, and I got to wondering if it would hold a different spell. I didn''t have much in the way of spells since adding the Fist spell to a potion seemed wrong since it would be the opposite of a healing spell, but I did have the cure disease one. Working the same way as the healing one, I blessed the water, restored my mana, then cast cure disease on the vial. That''s when things got weird. The normal glowing effects happened, but when the Cure Disease one settled on the vial the whole world froze. I mean actual time standing still kind of froze. Telina popped into existence in front of me with a shocked look and said "What have you done?" "Um, made a potion" I mumbled "A potion?" she said doubtfully, before looking down at the glowing vial. "A potion" she mumbled like I did before slowly grinning and saying "A potion!. Yes, you made a potion to cure disease, how remarkable" "What?" She giggled, something that really gave me a twinge in my lower regions, then said "My sweet priest, there is no potion for curing diseases, one must get a priest to cast the spell. My sisters will be quite jealous when they learn that my priest can create a new potion and they can not" "Um...What?" I mumbled again. Her grin was positively lascivious and darned if she didn''t know what I was thinking as she said "Our world felt the ripples of your creation Loser, and has stopped as it assimilates the changes you have made. You have altered the fabric of reality with your casting and by doing so, you have placed a new spell in my priests hands. You have gained my favor" The world started back up again when she disappeared, and I got a message: Spell added: Create Potions Healing potion: Vial of water with Telina''s Blessing + Telina''s Gaze Healing= Telina''s Gaze + Telina''s Blessing + 2(Faith) Cure Disease potion: Vial of water with Telina''s Blessing + Cure Disease Cures any disease Level 75 and below (Cool down 12 hours) +45% Faith Wow, that was really weird. I changed the fabric of reality. How many people can say they ever did that? ___ I settled in a little, spending the week repairing stuff with Seth, blessing the Captain''s men if he was sending them out on some mission, and cooking any meat I could buy to see what it offered as a benefit. To stay on Telina''s good side I gave the Captain and his men (four of them now counting the captain) each a healing potion to use if they needed it, not that the Captain offered to pay me anything anyway. By the end of the week I had made four Cure Disease potions and six more healing potions, and decided that was enough for now since it was getting seriously boring making them. Of course with everything seeming to be going nicely, this was the time for me to meet some other eternals. I was sitting downstairs in the tavern at my normal seat in the back, chatting up Mary in the hopes that digital sex might be forthcoming, when three people came in and stopped in the middle of the room. It looked like two fighters and a mage based on dress, since one was in actual partial plate mail, one wearing chainmail, and the other in a robe while holding a staff with a crystal on top. I grinned at how much it looked like the cover of one of those swords and sorcery novels, but lost the grin when the plate mail guy said "Call your guards in so we can kill them and get this over with. Your little town belongs to the Blood Boys now" The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Blood Boys? What were these guys, five? No one actually left or said anything, but the Captain and his three men walked in the door and faced off with the three intruders. The Boys didn''t waste any time, with the leader just saying "do it" to the mage. I hadn''t seen anyone do magic other than myself, and was interested in seeing what he would do. Not much. He raised the hand not holding the staff, muttered two words, and the Captain and his men collapsed on the floor. I finally did the focusing thing, but the eternals only showed names: Conan the Barbarian Gandalf the Wizard Jack of Trades What a bunch of morons. Looking at the town guards I got: Sleep spell Level+5 minute duration The three morons were kind of laughing and joking about who got to stab the sleeping beauties, so I powered up my dispel magic spell for the first time. It took about four seconds and a hand wave to work, but it caused a flash of light to happen around the sleeping guys and the three morons. The three guys all yelled in surprise, with the mage saying "Someone dispelled!" Conan and Jack pulled swords, but the Captain and his guys were up and pulling theirs as soon as my spell faded. The spell used up most of my mana, but I had enough for a healing if needed, so I just stayed where I was and watched. The two fighters ganged up on the Captain, obviously trying to get the highest rated fighter first, and while I couldn''t read anything other than the names on the eternals, I could see they were doing 30-50 points of damage with each hit. I used my heal spell on him just to help a little, something that drew the attention of Gandalf. He had been kind of dithering in the back, seeming to be afraid to get to close, which I kind of understood if he was going to run around in a bath robe. Anyway, he turned when he saw the glow of my spell and yelled "It''s a goddamned player, he dispelled my spell" I laughed out loud at how goofy he sounded, but stood up and pulled my mace as he did a series of gestures and three bolts of fire swooped away from him and slammed into me. When they hit, my message display showed Flame bolt 30 damage each -45% faith protection. Well neat. He ended up doing all of 50 points of damage, with Telina''s faith blocking the rest. I gave the guy the finger, and did a mana restore. It takes half a minute to do, but no one other than Gandalf was paying me any attention. Gandalf seemed at a loss, just yelling "Loser! What kind of name is that? You''re a healer priest? No one picks healer priest?" As soon as his missiles hit me his information became viewable: Gandalf the Wizard Elemental Mage Level 14 Health 75 The Captain managed to kill ole Jack at that point, which left Conan facing four guards. Only two could actually attack at a time, but when the Captain stepped back and drank his healing potion, Conan yelled "Hey, you can''t heal a hundred points, that''s cheating" Luckily I finished my restore before bursting into laughter at the stupid stuff these morons were spouting. They sounded like a bunch of kids, but I knew that couldn''t be true, this virtual world was basically for prisoners and other undesirables. Gandalf tried another set of missiles at me, getting another 50 points this time. When I pointed my mace at him and began the flame spell, he tried to make a dash for the stairs, but it caught him just as his foot hit it. I was kind of shocked when a column of white flame seemed to slam into him from above, getting a high pitched scream as he burst into flame. Got to say it was pretty gross because his hit points being lower than the spell damage, we watched him burn down to bones in about two seconds. The best part was when the flame sort of hit the floor and spread out, hitting Conan and my guys, but only hurting Conan. 20 points wasn''t enough to finish him, but a thrust of the Captain''s sword was. "Thank you for your assistance Loser" the Captain said with a nod "luckily there was not room for the mage to use fire against us. He was an elemental mage and they have strong flame magic, but it is not safe for them to use in close quarters. His spell of sleep is a ninth level spell, but as he was an elemental, it probably required most of his mana, so he was helpless against you once his missiles failed" Got to admit the Captain could supply useful information in a thank you sentence. "They will have returned to their birth place having lost a tenth of their levels, a small, but welcome punishment for their actions" Whoops, a tenth of what? So dying caused you to lose a tenth of your accumulated levels? Good thing old Krin was killing me when I was level 1 or it could have gotten ugly. So Gandalf, being level 15, would lose 1 and half levels. Bet that hurt. You must only be able to see other players information if you are fighting them, because I didn''t see Conan or Jack''s other than the names. "Where did they come from?" I asked, getting the Captain to say "They have traveled far, raping and killing in small towns like ours. This is the bane of the eternals that the goddesses have placed upon our world, but It will take some weeks for them to travel this far again" "Well" I said slowly "I wouldn''t blame the goddesses, or at least not Telina. As her priest she requires that I stop them from performing their evil acts" "Truly?" Mary asked softly from behind the bar "the goddess would stop them?" I stood up, wanting to ensure I made a good impression, and said "Truly. The goddess Telina acts through her priests to protect those who face evil or are unable to protect themselves. Farmers and craftsman such as yourselves are the blood and bone of our world and it is the task of those who take up weapons to protect you" Man, I should have been a politician. I could feel Telina''s humor, almost a ghostly giggle, as everyone in the tavern started talking. Mary came over to bring me a fresh ale, staying long enough to give me a big smile and a jiggle as she walked away. Life was not so bad in Mudtown. Chap 6: Someone has to carry the clubs The very next day two more eternals showed up, but they turned out to be a lot less stupid than the Boys had been. I was sitting with Seth, doing repairs when two people rode in on horses. I blinked in surprise as I realized I hadn''t seen a single person riding a horse, even though they had been in the stable I slept in. One was an obvious dwarf, though he was taller than I expected, maybe up to my shoulders, but immensely strong looking. He had a two handed hammer across his back. His name popped up as: Dalmar Dreadhammer He was riding with an elven woman wearing a cloak with the hood thrown back, a bow across her back. Maria Greentree The names were a hell of a lot better than Boys''s had been, but it still caused me to grin at the thought of how normal people managed to come up with things like that while being sent to prison. They left their horses just standing still, and when they looked around, ended up focusing on me. I could see them mouth the word ''Loser'', then they both busted up laughing. I gritted my teeth and stood up to walk over. "Oh my god" Dalmar said in a deep voice "Loser? Really?" "Yeah, whatever" I said with a dismissive wave "I kicked the big guy in the nuts and this was his revenge" "Holy shit!" Maria said, shock plain on her face "You kicked Lennet in the nuts?" At my shrug and nod, she said "Wow, I can''t wait to tell people that. You''ve got to be the dumbest person in here" Dalmar burst into laughter at the look on my face, but Maria gave me a big grin and said "Hey, just sayin. So what are you doing out here in the middle of nowhere?" "This is home" I said, nodding to indicate the village and people watching us "and if you''re here to cause problems you''ll have to kill me first" "Whoa bud" Maria said with a grin "put the fighting face away, we''re just passing through" then she lost the smile and said suspiciously "You aren''t treating these people bad are you?" I shook my head no and told them "No, this is home. Had a few guys calling themselves..." I paused and grinned before adding "the Blood Boys stop in yesterday, but they should''ve woke up back home by now" "Really, you skragged Cocknan and his butt boys?" Dalmar asked "by yourself?" "No, the guard did, I just gave a little help" I said, reaching out to shake hands "Lennet made me a healer priest, so I''m not much of an asskicker, but I make up for it in meaness" "Wow, this is a strange day" Maria said as she shook my hand "a healer priest named Loser. I guess you did kick him in the nuts. I''ve run into one or two druids, but I think you might be the only healer priest in existence" she blinked suddenly and said "healer priest, damn, a healer priest" Her and Dalmar exchanged looks, then Maria turned back to say "You any good at healing? What level? Do you want to join us? We have a dungeon quest and would love to have you along" The words came out in a stream so it took a moment for me to parse the meaning, but I finally said "5th level. I can heal 50 points at a time, but I make healing potions that heal 120 points" "Get outta town" Maria said, getting a bark of laughter from me at the odd exclamation "120 points? That''s got to be bullshit" It was quickly becoming obvious that Dalmar was the quiet one of the two, but I was still grinning at the words as I pulled up one of the potions and held it out for them to see. "My god!" Dalmar muttered "it is" Maria half way reached for it before pulling a hand back and saying "how much to buy one?" I shrugged and said "Honestly have no idea. What''s this about a dungeon quest? I''ve had a message or two about quests, and I understand the idea, but how do you get one for a dungeon?" "Never played role playing games before getting here?" Dalmar asked, and at my shrug said "bet this is weird as hell for you then. We''re doing a retrieval for one of the town leaders. Find the object and return it, which ain''t much, but being able to clear a dungeon to get the experience and loot is" "So how does joining you work?" They exchanged another look before Maria gave me a bemused look and said "You really are new at this. So, we send you a request to join us and you accept it. When you join a group you can send messages to each other, and you share any experience earned while in a group. Dalmar and I kind split the coin evenly, but sort magic and items by who can use them best" she gave me another amazed look and said "wow, an honest to god healer. The druids can''t heal for shit, and the mage spells only heal two points per level, which is total crap" "Dalmar''s been in sim for almost six months, and I''ve been here for two" Maria continued "He''s a level 21 warrior and I''m a level 12 ranger. Having Dalmar along means we''ll face some pretty high level creatures, but it will mean some heavy experience points for you" she looked me over for a second, then said "How about it?" I looked around the village for a second, then shrugged and said "Sure, sounds interesting" Maria Greentree has asked if you wish to join her party Do you accept? At my ''Yes'', I suddenly had two small icons below my endurance bar, and if I focused I could see their health bars. I was surprised to see Dalmar had 200 like I did, and Maria only had 120 health. Maria popped up with "Shit, 200 health, you must be crap in your other stuff" I sighed and said "Whatever. I was cursed, so it''s not like I had a choice" The two of them wanted to see what Seth had, and to sell some stuff they accumulated, so I took the time to talk with the Captain and give him four more potions of healing, and one of Cure Disease in case he needed them while I was gone. Then I bought up a load of bread and beef for the trip since I didn''t have clue how you survived in the woods or in a dungeon. I also got twenty vials so I could make potions on the way. I ended up buying a horse from Dina (2 Gold!), which I was less than pleased about, but Dalmar said it would save days of walking. The dungeon was supposedly one or two days south by horse, and the less time spent camping the less we would have to deal with random monsters. The ride out was peaceful, something Maria said was due to Dalmar''s high level "System has trouble with mixed level groups like ours. A level 5 wolf would be a one shot for Dalmar, but would be hard work for you, so it confuses things. It''ll change in the dungeon, don''t doubt that. Most of the grunts will be in the 8 to 15 level range, and the boss will probably be at least 25, so you''ll want to stay back to keep from getting killed early" she waved a hand to indicate everything "the system design is pretty primitive compared to some of the commercial games now. Magic for anyone other than mages is pretty limited, the lack of decent healing spells and potions has really hurt the dungeon crawls. There isn''t an enchanting skill available which really sucks, and other than repair, neither of us has found a way to get the smithing skill set" She seemed to assume I knew what the hell she was talking about, so I said "Enchanting?" Dalmar chuckled and said "Noob" getting a laugh from Maria before she said "Yeah, you know, like putting magic spells on your weapons and stuff. You can find enchanted items all the time, but they just seem to appear, no one actually makes them" "Oh" I mumbled, thinking about the ring I was carrying around, the one that discriminated against priests. The Magical Ring of Bigotry as I called it. Maria talked pretty much non-stop, but it was interesting hearing her story. According to her the world had only been operating for seven months, making Dalmar one of the oldest players in here. She had been doing some embezzlement, and when offered a ten year jail or being sent here, she came to Tarinath. "What the hell, it''s not like real life was any fun. I wasn''t much to look at, and with a record I wasn''t likely to get a decent job any more" She picked a warrior but focused on archery, then at level eight selected Ranger as a specialty, something they had to explain. When I told them about the tutorial being set to advanced, even Maria muttered "that Tennant is such an asshole" She seemed to mix a little warrior with a druid since she could do some magic now, but was limited to leather armor like me. She could use bows and swords though, and what she could do with a bow was freaking crazy. I swear she didn''t have to even look at what she was shooting at and she would hit it. She said I actually had it kind of good being so far out because she started in one of the smaller cities in the empire, the same place as a lot of other players. "It can get pretty bad. The cities, the guards are high level and tough, but they don''t interfere in eternals business as long as no one dies and you don''t mess with the locals. There are groups of players that gang up to torture and rape other players when they first appear" she looked away as she added quietly "it''s pretty bad until you can get somewhere safe" Dalmar patted her arm and said "Eternals are hated most places, but you''ve seen that. Some of us older ones try to police things, but there are only a couple thousand players scattered over this continent, so it''s easy for guys to find a place to make their own" "Anyway" Maria said forcefully "you choose a specialty when you reach level 8. Don''t ask me why it''s 8, it just is. You get two attribute points up to level 5, then you only get one point a level until you reach level 10. After that it''s half a point per level. It keeps people from becoming gods is my thought, and the death penalty gets ugly when you reach Dalmar''s level. Easy to lose two levels, but hard to get them back" She was giving me a lot to think about. Dalmar was what Maria called a tank. He was a warrior, but had chosen Holy Warrior as his specialty and selected Tarra as his goddess. Maria said something about it not being a paladin, but pretty good overall, talking like I had the first clue. "She''s the goddess of the dwarves and things of the earth. We destroy the undead since their presence defiles Tarra''s earthly soul" Dalmar said. He sounded like he was quoting as he added "She rewards her believers with gold and gems, and blesses mines and homes below ground" Neither of them asked me who I was a priest of, which I found kind of weird, but I didn''t volunteer the information, figuring it would come out if I did a blessing as I made potions. Both of them were fascinated by the process, and the look on Maria''s face made me end up giving them both two potions for free. It wasn''t like they were hard to make, and we were partners. I wasn''t getting soft or anything, just protecting my partners. The potions had gotten stronger with the kick up from my faith numbers (165 points of healing) "That is so freaking amazing" Maria said the next day as we rode along "we''ve been making due with those crappy 10 or 15 point potions since I got here, and paying the alchemy shop in gold to get them" she cast a guilty look my way, causing Dalmar to laugh and say "Oops, cats out of the bag now Maria" he laughed again and said "those potions would be worth serious gold to a high level player Jake" It was so, so nice to hear my name again, thank Telina. Wow, that came out so naturally. "No shit" Maria said "I mean think about it, one of these will restore me to full freaking health. I could go up against some pretty high level bosses if I had a couple of these, and the treasure drop would more than pay for them" she perked up and kind of turned toward me to say "You know what? You could get really rich doing this" I sighed as I felt sweet old Telina''s dismissal of that idea. I looked up at the sky and yelled "Hey, cut me a little slack, I''m stuck with the name Loser and you''re complaining about making money?" Stupid goddess just giggled in my ear. Maria and Dalmar were giving me doubtful looks, so I shrugged and said "Telina has strong opinions about accumulating things that make me happy" I grumbled to myself about ''stupid goddesses'' and ''what would it hurt'' for a while until Dalmar asked "You speak with Telina?" I shrugged and said "Yeah, you don''t talk with Tarra?" "Um, no" Dalmar said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, making me decide it might be better to keep that relationship secret for now. To change the subject I said "Hey, what do you think these would be worth?" pulling up a cure disease potion. "Hey!" Maria yelled, reining her horse around so suddenly it made mine jump away "Did you make that? How the hell can you do that? They told me there were no disease potions and you had to go to a damn temple" "So..." I said while waving the vial "I guess it would sell?" Dalmar started laughing as he slapped Maria''s horse into motion, then said "Oh it would sell. While it''s not a common occurrence, nothing screws up a dungeon crawl quicker than picking up some weird disease and finding out you''ve lost half your endurance or half your dexterity. Then of course you have to travel all the way back to a temple to get it cured. Lot of people just kill themselves and take the level loss" That made a lot of sense, and that sore thing Dina''s sister had wouldn''t have been something I''d have wanted to deal with for the weeks it took to get to a temple. I cast a sour look up as I realized it really didn''t matter how much I could get, it would depend on what my naggy goddess expected. These guys were a god send (or goddess send I guess) since I would never have figured half this shit out on my own. Maria seemed happy to do all the talking, accepting simple grunts of acknowledgement from Dalmar as his part of the conversation. The dungeon they were talking about turned out to be an old temple to some god or another, though all that was left was four broken walls, and a large iron banded, wood door set into the floor. Dalmar and Maria just let their horses go and told me "horses are safe, nothing attacks them if we''re not here" I had paid two gold for mine so I was a little hesitant to just walk away, but finally decided I really had no choice. It wasn''t like he was going into the dungeon with us. The two of them acted like this was just a simple job they were doing, with Dalmar pulling his warhammer out and Maria holding her bow as they stood in front of the door. I looked at their weapons for the first time to read: Hammer of the Deep 25-50 damage 35/35 Durability +12 when wielded underground +15 against undead +3 to hit Not usable by: Mage, Priest Siriela''s Bow 12-24 damage 28/28 Durability +5 spirit damage +5 to hit +4 Dexterity Usable by: Ranger I pulled out my mace of major inadequacy and said "If we take a minute I can do a couple blessings to give you a boost" Dalmar and Maria exchanged shrugs, so I did my calling on Telina thing to bless Maria first. I was hoping it would do both of them, but no, I had to restore, then cast another blessing, then restore again. Neither of them seemed put out by the time it took, and Dalmar actually said "30% on damage and healing rate, nice. I can call on Tarra once a day for a 30% boost, but it only lasts for ten minutes" Maria just shrugged and said "nice way to start anyway" They explained the strategy for clearing dungeons that they normally used, then adjusted it to include my abilities "Maria can sense creatures within fifty feet and is good with traps and locks, so she leads the way until we have to fight, then she steps behind me. I keep the enemy focused on me and away from Maria, and you too now. My armor rating is 75, so I don''t take much damage until we get toward the tougher levels, but we carry a dozen of the weak healing potions if I need them. Maria takes out magic users first, then shoots anything else left. For now, stay next to Maria and heal me and her as needed. You have great health, but your armor is for shit and that mace won''t even slow most of these things down" Yeah, not feeling like a loser now you bet. I shrugged and said "I can do four healings of 50 points, then have to restore my mana. The restore takes about half a minute, so keep that in mind" "No shit?" Maria said "Less than a minute to restore your mana?" she patted my shoulder before adding "Jake, I think you''re a keeper" Dalmar was chuckling when he pulled the door open and waved Maria forward down the stairs it revealed. Both of them could see in the dark as well or better than me, and Maria''s cloak made her sort of fade into the shadows as she walked ahead of us. Our first encounter was a dead guy. Literally. It was a walking corpse wearing chainmail and carrying an axe and a shield. He wasn''t a skeleton, but the flesh he still had was withered down to what looked like leather. "Draugr" Dalmar said, sounding like ''drowgear''. He spelled it later, but I didn''t care one way or the other since it was the first time I had seen one of the undead. Dalmar continued "Guess we''ll be doing the undead thing Maria" I focused on the draugr as it started up the steps toward us: Draugr warrior Level 9 Health 75 Maria slid up against the wall so Dalmar could squeeze by, then just stood next to me to watch Dalmar beat the thing down. His first swing hit it''s shield, but the creature dropped to a knee as a quick stunned appeared, then faded. Dalmar''s second swing hit it right on the top of the head and it collapsed and disappeared. The armor and weapons remained behind, and I watched as Dalmar kicked through what was there before picking up coins and saying "3 silver" "Dalmar can carry tons" Maria said "I let him hold everything until we leave" I shrugged and said "works for me" The stairs ended in a hallway that had two more draugr standing twenty feet away, sort of guarding a doorway on the right side. Maria let Dalmar go by and started plinking arrows into the two creatures, shooting fast enough that one of the creatures had three arrows and 22 points of health left. I was feeling a little bit useless, but I could see my experience going up as Dalmar finished the two creatures with three swings. He actually took some damage, so I cast a quick healing on him, more for something to do than because it was enough to affect him. Maria started playing with the door lock as I cast Fist, just to be prepared, then did a restore as she opened the door. She jumped back and out of the way as Dalmar blocked the door and started swinging his hammer, holding the three draugr back as they tried to surge out of the door. Screw it. I slid forward until I could see inside enough to see the two axe users and the archer behind them, then I cast Telina''s Flame on the middle one. Dalmar wasn''t being threatened much, even with the arrow that the draugr archer plunked into him, as his hammer seemed to stun the draugr when it hit. Telina''s Flame appeared like it had last time, starting at ceiling level above the middle draugr, then shooting down in a column to envelope him before splashing out to hit the other two. The one in the middle dissolved into bones, then into dust in a flash, while the other two burned to bones before disappearing. "Neat" I said, drawing on Telina to restore my mana again. I hoped doing the restore wasn''t like ringing her doorbell or she was going to get seriously irritated with me. Dalmar went into the room while Maria stopped in the door to look inside, then back at me to say "What the hell do you call that? You just killed three of them with one spell. It would take a tenth level fireball spell to do that much damage" I finished doing the restore and slipped into the room before saying "Telina''s holy flame. Does double damage to undead, so it''s not normally that strong. Still pretty cool though. Turned Gandalf the geek into bones when I used it on him. Uses all my mana so it''s not something I''ll probably use all that much" "No, keep a reserve if you can" Dalmar said as he picked through the remains "but this was a good time to use it" he stood up to watch Maria examine a chest at the back of the room. She fiddled with it for a moment, then opened it and looked through what was in it "4 silver and 13 copper" she muttered "and a leather bracer with a simple armor increase" she turned to give me the bracer Leather Bracer armor 3 +2 armor 22/22 durability Hey, every little bit helps. I swapped out the bracers and watched my armor rating go from 18 to 21. I looked at Dalmar and Maria to see what theirs was, and realized that other than the weapons in their hands I couldn''t read any of the things they were wearing. In response to my question, Dalmar said "Yeah, not sure why it''s like that. Maria thinks it''s a left over from the original game design. PvP types would have used it to see if you were worth killing, but Tarinath doesn''t let you pick up other players equipment when they die, so it''s sort of moot" "PvP?" Maria shook her head and said "You really are a Noob. Player versus player. Killing other players was a good way to get some good loot if you didn''t mind the bad rep. Like Dalmar said though, it''s moot here. Probably for the best since they basically stocked this world with a bunch of criminals. There''s a bunch of stuff like that, which is why I think things get weird or unbalanced sometimes" I checked my experience and was disappointed to see it was only at 92%. "How much does this experience thing slow down at level 5?" Maria led the way down the hall again as Dalmar said quietly "A lot, but you''re also sharing it with me and Maria. I probably got maybe 1% for those four, or even less, and yours will suffer because our level is so high that it reduces the amount of experience per creature" Huh. Well, it wasn''t like I was in a hurry since I had like...forever. We did three more rooms on this level, none of them any more difficult than the first one. I did Telina''s Flame again on the last room just for the practice, killing two creatures outright, and doing a ton of damage to two more. Maria killed those two with an arrow each, making that room the easiest one yet. I had cast three healing spells on Dalmar, and one on Maria when she managed to get hit with an arrow. "Normally I would be down to about half my health" Dalmar said as we gathered at the top of a stairs leading down "we would probably take a rest and cook some food to get some of our health back, or even use a potion or two if we needed to. Worst part of this world is the low health numbers compared to damage done. Even the strongest players can be taken out in a couple of hits by something strong enough. Makes for a frustrating experience when you''ve done five levels already, then get killed by some boss and find yourself two weeks travel away knowing you have to do the whole thing over" he gave me a look before saying "you my friend are going to be very popular" Hmm, not sure I liked that idea much. I''d have to talk with Dalmar and Maria when this was over to see if I could get them to keep my existence a secret for now. This was interesting, and the money was going to be useful, but I needed to find something useful to do beyond wandering around killing monsters. I''d have to give it some thought. The second level of the dungeon introduced some kind of ghostly creature that used a sword, had glowing red eyes under a cowl, and was accompanied by three of the draugr archers. Wraith Level 14 Health 105 The thing was, the only damage done to it appeared to be the magical amount on Dalmar''s hammer. So he was doing like 15 points every time he hit, but it was doing like 30 every time it hit him. This turned into a war of attrition as Maria exchanged shots with the archers, Dalmar with the Wraith, and I kept healing our people. I hid behind Maria at one point to do a restore, then popped out to heal them both up again. Maria started laughing by the end, which I thought was a little bit nuts considering how much it hurt to be shot with an arrow. Dalmar finished the Wraith a moment after Maria killed the last draugr and he said "Hate those things. I can call on Tarra to banish it, but this early in a dungeon I prefer to save it for something worse, and they take forever to kill 15 points at a time" The wraith and his buddies did give me enough points to level up though, and I got to make another choice in spells, but I needed some information on the intelligence, wisdom thing, so I asked. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. "Well" Maria said "Tarinath is pretty old school, so intelligence ups the mages mana amount and spell damage. The druids have to put points in wisdom for theirs, so I''m sure it works the same for you. Supposedly affects what spells you can choose from too" Choose 2 spells: Turn Undead Undead of Level+5 or below will flee for 5 minutes 80 Mana/use Telina''s Restoring Touch Restore full health to creature touched 120 Mana/use Create Rune Ability to learn and place runes of power Player determines activation requirements (Cool down 7 days) Rune of Flame: When activated by user will do 100 points +5/level of fire damage 100 Mana when placed Telina''s Protective Aura Player receives 10+level armor bonus for 2 hours (Does not stack) 75 Mana/use I was definitely getting the +16 armor one since it nearly doubled my existing armor numbers. The restoring touch thing seemed redundant with the potions and now that I''d met some undead, I didn''t think it would help a lot to have them run away since I would still have to deal with them later. The rune thing seemed kind of weird and you could only use it once a week. How do you determine ''activation requirements''? I finally shrugged and picked it and the aura one, deciding I would figure it out later. Loser Healer Priest Level 6 (0%) STR 10 DEX 10 STA 20 INT 10 WIS 11 Health: 200 Mana: 120 Endurance: 200 Armor: 21 Spells: Telina''s Gaze(+75% activate) Applies 40 points (+20%) of healing to the user or any creature touched 20 Mana/use Telina''s Fist(+75% activate) Applies 40 (-15%) points of damage when activated and a successful hit is made 20 Mana/use (effective hit) Cure Disease Cures disease (Level+10) of any creature touched 80 Mana/use Telina''s Holy Blessing On creature: 35% increase in base stats 40% increase in healing rate Duration: 6 hours (+5%/level to level 10) On flora: 45% increase in growth rate 55% crop amount (+5%/level to level 10) 85 Mana/Use (Does not stack) Create Potions Healing potion: Vial of water with Telina''s Blessing + Telina''s Gaze Healing= Telina''s Gaze + Telina''s Blessing + 2(Faith) Cure Disease potion: Vial of water with Telina''s Blessing + Cure Disease Cures any disease Level 75 and below (Cool down 12 hours) Telina''s Flame Holy fire strikes to cause 90 points damage to creature chosen Splash damage: 25% damage to enemy creatures within 10 ft Double damage to undead (+10/level) 90 Mana/use Dispel Magic Dispel Level+5 magic on creature or area chosen -Does not dispel enchanted objects or potions -Does not dispel own castings (Cool down 4 hours) 75 Mana/use Create Rune Ability to learn and place runes of power Player determines activation requirements (Cool down 7 days) Rune of Flame: When activated by user will do 100 points +5/level of fire damage Lasts until destroyed or dispelled 100 Mana when placed Telina''s Protective Aura Player receives 10+level armor bonus for 2 hours (Does not stack) 75 Mana/use +20% Healing Spell -15% Spell Damage + 1.2% hand to hand + 19% light armor + 13% Blunt Weapon + 30% Concentration + 50% Faith + 29% Cooking + 41% Repair I went ahead and cast the aura spell, finding that I had to do my thinking of Telina thing, followed by picturing having an aura for about 15 seconds. Maria and Dalmar were looking impatient by the time I got it to work, then made them wait while I restored my mana. Dalmar had scrounged up all the loose coin, but the only other thing beside weapons and armor was a pair of boots only usable by a mage. Just once I''d like to find something only usable by a priest. I kept the boots anyway since Maria said they would sell for a couple gold pieces and that still seemed like a lot to me. Neither of the other two had mentioned how much money they had, and we weren''t friends enough to be exchanging that kind of information. I hadn''t been asking how much he had been finding since I seemed to be having to trust him anyway. This level had a series of interconnecting rooms, and the next room introduced me to an enemy magic user. We stepped into an empty room and had the door close behind us. Maria shrugged and said "Normal. Means bad guys incoming" She was right because they appeared right in front of us. Draugr Mage Level 15 Health 65 He was behind three draugr warriors, and he started shooting these bolts of ice at Dalmar, then turned them on Maria after she plunked a couple of arrows into him. I kind of screwed the pooch here because I started healing my partners when I should have called down Telina''s Flame on the mage. The three warriors focused on Dalmar, but the room was open enough that they surrounded him on three sides. I was going to take a swing at one, but Maria pulled me back and yelled "Don''t! They''ll leave you alone unless you attack them" I healed her as a thank you for the warning, then settled in to watch her and Dalmar''s health. I could do 6 healings now, so did the first two, then waited until they would get down to half health before doing it again. Maria and the mage exchanged projectiles until he finally collapsed and disappeared, then she started plinking one of the two warriors left. Dalmar had killed one and beat the other two down to about nothing, so the fight ended pretty quickly with Maria helping. "Sorry" I said "I should have called flame down on that guy but didn''t think about it until I didn''t have enough mana" Maria waved a hand in dismissal, saying "Eh, wouldn''t worry about it. Dalmar and I would have taken them anyway, but it would have meant sitting around waiting for our health to get back up. You need to be careful about pulling aggro on these guys though or you''ll end up having to spend your time fighting rather than healing. You have the health to last, but you don''t do enough damage to stop them" at my confused look she rolled her eyes and said "Aggro. Player speak for aggravating them enough to attack you. That''s Dalmar''s job, so let him do it. I can usually take the mages and priests down in five or six shots, so let me handle them unless they attack you" Great, she basically told me to be quiet and stay out of their way. Dalmar chuckled at the look on my face and said "Really Jake, this is the standard set up in the games, we just never had a healer here in Tarinath before to make it work. High level players aren''t nearly as powerful in this world as they would be in a game since the health limitation makes this stuff risky. Most players only do low level dungeons since they hate the death penalty and it takes forever to level up after the first ten levels. You make it so my level 21 is actually useful" "What he said " Maria said as she inspected the next door "I hate sitting around for hours waiting for my health to build back up" she jerked her head to tell us to get in position, then opened the next door. A couple of warriors and four archers were waiting, which allowed us to use the doorway to channel them into Dalmar. Dalmar yelled for me to use my flame spell, so I channeled that at the archers in the back of the room. It killed one of them outright and did a butt load of damage to the other three, so I stepped out of sight to restore my mana while Maria started shooting the left over archers. I wondered how the mages did this stuff if they couldn''t restore their power after every use. "Potions and magic items" Maria said after the fight was over "and they start out with like two hundred mana and build from there. They specialize, and everyone I''ve met was an elemental mage, which meant they cast fire and ice spells really cheaply. They do a lot of damage real fast, but that specialization means they''re crap at everything else. Like Gandork and his sleep spell. Probably took everything he had to cast it because he specialized like he did. That''s a nasty spell, and it works on everyone at their level or below if they aren''t protected, but the elemental mages don''t use it much because if it fails, they''re left with nothing to fight with" Dalmar came up with a ring that I could use and he and Maria said I could have it since they already had the two you could wear. Ring of Dexterity +2 Dexterity That seemed blunt enough, and the 2 points it added to my dexterity gave me a +10% hit chance, which was really nice after spending a couple weeks with a -15% in that slot. "That boost your spell gave me is pretty nice" Dalmar said as we watched Maria check the room for hidden items "with my strength already so high, adding percentages like that really adds up" he paused when Maria said "Yeah me too. The boost to my hits is nice" I considered that, then said "But you never miss anyway" Dalmar shook his head and said "Just because you hit doesn''t mean you''re doing full damage. Strength gives you the damage number, but you need the dexterity to actually hit it, and make the hit count. She adds points of damage for every boost in dexterity or by a spell like yours" "Oh" I mumbled, once again thinking how my life felt like it was being done on a spreadsheet. "Don''t let it freak you out" Maria said as she joined us in front of the next door "just think of it as buffing up. It all works in the background anyway, you just need to consider things when you level up" The exit door on this room was twice as wide as the normal ones and Maria said it was trapped, so Dalmar and I got to watch her play with the door for about five minutes before she declared it safe. I finally asked what she was actually doing and she said ¡°You know how when you repair stuff you just touch it with the hammer?¡± at my nod she said ¡°kind of like that. Traps have specific deactivation sequences and I have to touch certain places in a certain order to deactivate them. Part of my specialization gave me the skill, but you have to have high dexterity and decent intelligence numbers to make it work good. Meant spending more points in intelligence than I wanted, but except for one or two of the players that picked rogue, you won¡¯t find anyone else capable of doing the locks and traps like this. I¡¯ve got a side business escorting players into dungeons to handle locks and traps for first pick on any magic other than final drop. Made a lot of gold doing it too. I¡¯ve got a house in Averdeen and a trading store in Formil City that a local manages for me¡± Maria always managed to throw something out that left me confused, so I said ¡°Own a house? You can buy a house?¡± Dalmar chuckled and patted me on the shoulder before saying ¡°Man, you really did get dropped into the unknown didn¡¯t you? Every town or city has someone who can sell you property, and you can turn it into a shop if you want to, but you have to pay a pretty hefty fee to do it. If you own the store you can buy stuff from it for half price, and it¡¯s a steady cash stream if the town isn¡¯t sacked. Formil City is where I call home, and a lot of players go there for armor and stuff, so she gets pretty good trade goods from them when they sell dungeon earnings¡± Hmm. This was something I would have to look into when I got back to Mudtown. ¡°Ok¡± Dalmar said as he stepped up to the door ¡°Based on the door I¡¯m thinking we¡¯re at the boss level for this dungeon. Most of the undead ones are pretty short, but the bosses are tough as hell¡± he glanced back at me to say ¡°Goblin and kobold types can be ten or twelve levels with a dozen different boss fights. Good money, but it can take forever with all the rest stops you end up having to take¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah¡± Maria said, waving her hand for Dalmar to get moving ¡°Monsters to kill, money to make big guy. Less jabberin and more hammerin¡± Both Dalmar and I we¡¯re laughing as he swung to door open to reveal a wide stair curving downward. Maria led the way down, having to stop twice to deactivate a couple of traps, getting Dalmar to say quietly ¡°The door trap and these two on the stairs would have cost a party a hell of a lot of health if it didn¡¯t kill a couple of them. This is why players pay her so much since losing a player at this point would pretty much kill your chances¡± I nodded my understanding as we watched Maria blur into shadow again and move forward. We did three complete rotations on the stairs before Maria came to a sudden stop at the bottom, then suddenly turned and jogged back to us, signaling for everyone to stop. ¡°God damn it Dalmar¡± she hissed ¡°You and your level 21. It¡¯s a damn bone dragon¡± her eyes were flashing in irritation as she said to me ¡°Level 25 and 310 health¡± Oh shit We sat down on the stairs while Dalmar and Maria talked strategy, with Dalmar saying ¡°Alright. Bone dragons supposedly have a freezing breath attack that ices you over for a couple of seconds, leaving you stuck while it attacks. Swords and arrows do half damage, and it¡¯s immune to cold attacks. It¡¯s undead, so both mine and Jake¡¯s spells will do heavy damage, but it regenerates about 5 points a second¡± Maria was fidgeting and nodding as he talked, then broke in when he drew a breath ¡°Yeah I know all that. The thing is sitting like right at the end of the stairs. Jake and I have to see it to attack, and if we can see it, it can see us. You would have to go down and pull aggro to keep it off us, and it would kill you if Jake isn¡¯t healing¡± ¡°Wait¡± I said, getting an idea ¡°If we give Dalmar a couple of healing potions, would it keep him alive even if he gets frozen?¡± Maria and Dalmar exchanged questioning looks before Maria said ¡°Forgot about the potions. Shit¡­¡± she paused, then added ¡°shit, that might work. Can it do 200 damage before you unfreeze and do it some damage?¡± Dalmar grinned and said ¡°Probably, but maybe I don¡¯t have to do damage. What if I do a Monty Python to get it facing the other way, then you two attack it. When Jake hits it with his fire it¡¯ll turn to face you, which will give me a chance to use a potion and attack it myself¡± Maria rolled her eyes at my confused look and said ¡°Run away? What did you do your whole life, rob stuff?¡± I chuckled, getting the reference now, and told Maria ¡°No, mostly just killed people¡± turning to Dalmar I said ¡°So you go in first, running around it to get it facing away, then I do Telina¡¯s Flame. That¡¯ll leave me enough mana for a single heal, or I can attack it directly and draw¡­aggro¡± I grinned at Maria with the last before adding ¡°I have as much health as you do and a potion if I need it¡± ¡°My armor rating is 75¡± Dalmar said ¡°so he¡¯ll be doing half damage to me. You¡¯re going to be taking 80 or 90 points of damage if he bites you, and the freeze spell will probably do 30 or 40 by itself. You go out there you run a good chance of getting frozen, then killed before you can use a potion¡± ¡°What he said ¡° Maria added ¡°I can do a Blind Side shot if it¡¯s facing away, which will do 50 points on top of the arrow damage, but that¡¯s a onetime thing. I should be able to keep it from regenerating after that, but I won¡¯t add damage¡± I ran the numbers. I would do 180 points of damage, leaving 130. Maria adds 50, which left 80. Even if I used Fist I doubted I would do more than 30 points of damage, which left Dalmar having to plan on doing the last 80 himself. I shrugged and said ¡°I figure it as you needing to do the last 80 or 100 points before I get chomped. Doable?¡± He gave it some thought before saying ¡°Yeah, probably two good hits if call on Tarra for a boost. If it¡¯s facing you that shouldn¡¯t be a problem¡± At my questioning look, both of them exchanged glances, then shrugged together before Maria said ¡°Your funeral Jake¡± Loved her confidence. Dalmar chuckled as we climbed to our feet. Maria catfooted it back to the entrance and raised her hand. Dalmar whispered ¡°as soon as I get through the door, step in and call your fire, then attack immediately¡± I nodded and pulled my mace before following Dalmar down, but stopped when he did. He did some kind of prayer or something that caused him to glow for a second, then Maria suddenly dropped her hand and Dalmar took off like a shot, surprising me with his speed. You wouldn¡¯t think such a stocky guy could move that fast. He turned right as he cleared the door, and I walked down to the base of the stairway and stepped into the room. It was a huge cavern, with stalactites hanging down above, a few stalagmites poking up from the floor around the outside, and a giant dragon skeleton in the middle, standing on four bony feet as its long bony neck led the way as it turned to follow a speedy dwarf snack scurrying through its domain. The things haunches were probably twenty feet high, and a spray of frost was coming out of its mouth, but I only noticed that peripherally as I pointed my mace at the dragon and called down Telina¡¯s Flame. It formed above the dragon, then descended in a column to hit it in the middle of its back, striking hard enough to force the dragon to fall to its belly as the flames rolled down to cover it. The dragon let out a scream that staggered me for a second, and I was stumbling as I tried to run forward. An arrow flashed by me to strike at the point its tail attached, and there was a flash of red light when it hit. The flames disappeared and it surged to its feet, spinning in place as I called on the Fist, then swung and missed the damn thing. It was two feet in front of me! A series of arrows was flashing by me, chipping at the bones of its chest, as I set for another swing. Unfortunately the head came around, swiveling ahead of the body, sliding along the ground like a snake and sent a surge of frost at me. Dragon Breath 65 damage (-55% faith) Slowed for 5 secs I could actually still move, but it was much slower than normal and I had no way to dodge when it scooped me up and bit the living hell out of me. You know what hurts a lot¡­dragon teeth. I screamed like a little girl as it raised its head and bit hard. It opened its mouth to bite again, but let loose with another scream and dropped me. From thirty feet¡­doing 20 points of damage when I hit the ground. I¡¯d love to say I jumped up and started swinging, but that would be bullshit. I was in serious pain and bleeding like a pig as I staggered to my feet. My health bar was at 35 when I pulled a potion and guzzled it down. My wounds healed just in time for the dragon to swing its tail around and knock me into the wall 50 feet away. Stunned 3 seconds Which I didn¡¯t need a message for since I was lying on the ground trying to get my lungs to unfreeze long enough to pull in some air. I missed the rest of the fight since Dalmar managed to get the final hit against the dragon¡¯s jaw as it tried to scoop him up like it had me. The thing collapsed into a pile of bones rather than fading away, and Dalmar and Maria came over just as I got back to my feet. That last hit took off 100 points of health, but I decided to save a potion for now. ¡°Easiest dragon fight in the history of Tarinath¡± Maria said smugly. Dalmar burst into uncontrolled laughter at the look on my face, taking a while to regain enough control to say ¡°Oh my god you should have seen your face¡± he laughed again before swatting me back handed in the chest and said ¡°It really was though, you know. I wouldn¡¯t have even tried him if we didn¡¯t have the potions. Not even with two more people¡± ¡°No Shit¡± Maria said firmly ¡°No one fights bone dragons, and no ones ever met an actual dragon. The living ones are supposed to be real tough. Sure death for at least half the party, and that¡¯s if you get lucky¡± Both Maria and I leveled up, and Dalmar said he got enough points to reach half way to his next, which according to him was an incredible amount. Huh, when that kind of fight only gets you half a level things were getting pretty tough. I decided to stick with the wisdom thing for now, and was disappointed when I didn¡¯t get a choice of more spells. It didn¡¯t even offer to give me the old ones again. My mana costs went down on some items, and I noticed my light armor skill went up. Loser Healer Priest Level 7 (0%) STR 10 DEX 10(+2) STA 20 INT 10 WIS 12 Health: 200 Mana: 140 Endurance: 200 Armor: 21 Spells: Telina''s Gaze(+80% activate) Applies 45 points (+20%) of healing to the user or any creature touched 20 Mana/use Telina''s Fist(+75% activate) Applies 45 (-15%) points of damage when activated and a successful hit is made 20 Mana/use (effective hit) Cure Disease Cures disease (Level+10) of any creature touched 80 Mana/use Telina''s Holy Blessing On creature: 40% increase hit damage 45% increase in healing rate Duration: 6 hours (+5%/level to level 10) On flora: 50% increase in growth rate 60% crop amount (+5%/level to level 10) 85 Mana/Use (Does not stack) Create Potions Healing potion: Vial of water with Telina''s Blessing + Telina''s Gaze Healing= Telina''s Gaze + Telina''s Blessing + 2(Faith) Cure Disease potion: Vial of water with Telina''s Blessing + Cure Disease Cures any disease Level 75 and below (Cool down 12 hours) Telina''s Flame Holy fire strikes to cause 90 points damage to creature chosen Splash damage: 25% damage to enemy creatures within 10 ft Double damage to undead (+10/level) 80 Mana/use Dispel Magic Dispel Level+5 magic on creature or area chosen -Does not dispel enchanted objects or potions -Does not dispel own castings (Cool down 4 hours) 70 Mana/use Create Rune Ability to learn and place runes of power Player determines activation requirements (Cool down 7 days) Rune of Telina¡¯s Holy Flame: When activated by user will do 100 points +5/level of fire damage Lasts until destroyed or used 100 Mana when placed Telina''s Protective Aura Player receives 10+level armor bonus for 2 hours (Does not stack) 70 Mana/use +20% Healing Spell -15% Spell Damage +10% to hit + 1.2% hand to hand + 25% light armor + 13% Blunt Weapon + 30% Concentration + 50% Faith + 29% Cooking + 41% Repair It was pretty clear I wasn¡¯t destined to ever be an asskicker like Dalmar. The Fist let me do pretty good damage, but it was obvious now that I wouldn¡¯t have a free couple of seconds to call on it after the first swing. I needed to get better weapons and armor if I didn¡¯t want to end up being some sidekick for a stronger player. The dragon hoard was the motherlode when it came to treasure. 210 gold pieces, and a bunch of silver and copper, and the first gems I had seen in the world so far. A small bag held three fist sized rubies which we split up, with Maria saying ¡°Gems are rare, and you can sell them for decent gold" There was a magic sword, which of course I couldn¡¯t use, though Maria could, and it did some major damage. Magic chainmail which of course I couldn¡¯t use and Dalmar said wasn¡¯t as good as the chain he had. Magic gauntlets that gave a big strength and armor boost that Dalmar said were a high level item and he could use. But the thing I had been wishing for, something usable only by priests finally showed up. Holy Cup Unclaimed Usable by: Priest Yep, a cup. It looked like a chalice, so they could have called it something neat like ¡®holy shining chalice¡¯, but no, it was a cup. Couldn¡¯t have gotten holy armor, or holy mace, or even holy underwear. No I get a cup. One that didn¡¯t appear to do anything but sit there being a cup. Neither Dalmar or Maria had run into one before, but tried to make it sound good since it was part of a major treasure find. Still, why a cup? Stupid world. Chap 7: My cup runneth over The necklace they had been sent to recover was: Bertram¡¯s Necklace of Leadership Prince Bertram of Delisia¡¯s necklace. Lost when the Delisian kingdom was destroyed by orcs in 1237 ¡°Quest item¡± Dalmar said ¡°doesn¡¯t do anything for players, so you don¡¯t get anything for it if you don¡¯t turn it in during a quest¡± he pulled out two bags and handed Maria and I each one ¡°95 gold, 56 silver, and 130 copper each¡± Ok, that was a nice boost in money. From 2 gold to over a hundred now. Not a bad days pay. It sure beat getting bitten by rats for a couple of coppers. Dalmar and Maria said we would pick up the best of the armor and weapons on the way back out to sell later. Maria also said ¡°You want to sell the magic stuff you¡¯ll need to go to one of the cities. Your village doesn¡¯t have a trade or magic shop, and without one of those you¡¯re stuck trying to sell them to players when they come through¡± she looked me over before saying ¡°Telinar is a day¡¯s ride south, and it¡¯s the half-elven city that kind of controls the Abandoned Lands. We¡¯ll take you there and show you around if you want¡± That¡¯s what we did. The horses were still standing where we left them after we finished picking through the stuff left behind in the dungeon, and we rode about two hours before stopping for the night. The cooking thing was still kind of weird to me, pulling out meat, using the pan, and getting a full meal back. Dalmar must have had seriously maxed out cooking skills because he would give me half a chicken breast, a potato, various vegetables, and even pie at the end. It tasted freaking wonderful. When I cooked you got a couple of items, but it tended toward the sandwich and chunks type. ¡°It takes a while after you reach 50 on a skill¡± Dalmar said ¡°and everything slows way down when you reach the tenth level. I was at ten by the end of the first month, and I¡¯ve spent the last six getting to this level. Got killed a couple of times early on, so that set me back a couple, but if you don¡¯t do dungeon crawls and quests, you¡¯ll be stuck in the teens forever¡± ¡°You lose access to things if your level drops¡± Maria said between bites ¡°that¡¯s a real bitch if you¡¯ve gotten used to using some spell or power move and find you can¡¯t anymore¡± she shook her head in chagrin before saying ¡°my passive archery skill started at level eight, and it gives me a huge boost on hit chance. I lost it when I was killed by a couple of players and dropped back to seven, and man did that suck when I realized I was missing shots again¡± ¡°Killed by players?¡± I asked. Dalmar nodded and said ¡°Assholes mostly. There¡¯s some bad people sent here, and they¡¯ll do some nasty shit to women. Got a couple of other level 20 players floating around, and they¡¯ll kill you if you try to stop them from abusing their locals. They hate Maria with a passion since she¡¯ll snipe em if she gets a chance¡± Maria was scowling at the fire as she said ¡°Couple found my spawn point early on. If Dalmar hadn¡¯t shown up I¡¯d still be chained up being used by those shitholes. My house in Averdeen is stocked with guards now. Anyone wants to do that again they¡¯ll have to kill my guards, and keep killing them as they respawn¡± her scowl deepened as she said ¡°I haven¡¯t found a way to control their spawn points, but I will someday and things will get real interesting then¡± I had to think about that for a while. It sounded like Maria had suffered some bad shit, but it was the spawn point thing that really caught my attention ¡°So if someone kills you, you start back at your original entry point?¡± at Dalmar¡¯s nod I said ¡°so someone knows where it is, they can just sit there and keep killing you?¡± ¡°Yep, which is why you want local guards¡± Dalmar said ¡°they respawn too. Takes a full day, but you get a couple of level 10 or 15 guards and it makes life hell for anyone hunting you. I don¡¯t think anyone¡¯s figured out the whole respawn logic yet. Some locals die and never come back, but if you hire them, or they work at certain jobs, they come back. This dungeon will restock in a couple of days, though the treasure haul goes down after the first time¡± ¡°Costs¡± Maria said ¡°figure a gold a month for a level 10 warrior. Twice that for a mage type of the same level. You can pay them up front though, so when you get a payout like this, you transfer a years¡¯ worth toward their pay and you¡¯re covered for a while¡± she shrugged and said ¡°I¡¯ve already transferred some from this haul to cover me another year¡± ¡°Wait¡± I said in surprise ¡°you transferred it while we were out here?¡± Maria giggled, the sudden mood shift making me blink in shock ¡°Noob. A lot of money stuff is done through the interface, so you don¡¯t have to go back to the city every time you need to do something. I get paid from my store even if I don¡¯t visit for a month¡± ¡°Oh¡± I said intelligently. I would really have to put some thought into this, and I definitely needed to spend some time with Captain Andulin. Telinar was a walled city that straddled a river that flowed through the middle of a huge valley. There was a fair amount of traffic on the roads leading to the city gates, four of them, one at each cardinal point. Two guards, level 8, stood holding spears and watching people enter the city. They were half-elven like I was, and both nodded a greeting to me, but gave Maria angry glares, though they didn¡¯t try to stop us. ¡°Not my favorite place¡± Maria said as we dismounted and started leading our horses to a stable close to the gate ¡°The history says the elves left the half-breeds behind when they moved to their new lands, which are supposed to be some kind of heavenly islands off the coast. Never tried to visit and haven¡¯t heard of anyone who has, but locals talk about trade ships that go there so it probably exists¡± Dalmar led us to a smith¡¯s shop, then dickered over selling the gear we had scrounged up. I was pleasantly surprised to get another 11 gold pieces for basically junk since the draugr things only wore chainmail, something I couldn¡¯t wear. The smith did have some better equipment available and I parted with some of my money Leather Armor armor rating 18 30/30 durability Not usable: Mage Leather Boots armor rating 4 30/30 durability Not usable: Mage Leather Bracer Armor 3 +2 armor 22/22 durability Not usable: Mage Good Mace 12-16 damage 25/25 durability Not usable: Mage I traded in the old armor and my mace of inadequacy for the set, paying 2 gold, 3 silver for the whole thing. We parted ways with plans to meet up again at the inn next to where we stabled the horses, and I played tourist. Generally the locals smiled and were pleasant to me, and the large number of young women and children made me realize how few of them there were in Mudtown. I had noticed a few kids, but probably not more than 3 or 4 tops. As for women¡­Mary was pretty much it in the young and pretty stage. When I reached the river, it flowed straight through the city, with large iron gates at the outflow points, and stone walls channeling. Three flat bridges crossed it, and just as I was about to cross over I saw my first temple. It sort of reminded me of the picture of the American president¡¯s monument, the one who freed the slaves. A couple of columns supported a rounded roof, with steps leading up to the open front. It caught my eye mostly because it had Telina¡¯s symbol carved into a round stone mounted at the front of the roof. A guy dressed a lot like me, leathers and a mace, met me as I walked in. I was the only person other than him as he said ¡°Welcome brother. I see you serve the holy goddess¡± ¡°Um¡­¡± I mumbled as I looked the place over. There was an altar in the middle of the open room with a bowl sitting in the middle on it. He followed my gaze, then turned back to say ¡°No other eternal has chosen to worship holy Telina, so you do us much honor priest Loser¡± Damn it. I had gotten used to being called Jake again, and that loser really grated. ¡°Yeah, well I wouldn¡¯t call it a choice, but thanks anyway¡± I jerked my chin at the bowl and said ¡°What¡¯s the story on the bowl?¡± He seemed to be a pretty even tempered sort and just smiled and said ¡°Those seeking a blessing or to be cured may make an offering in the goddesses bowl. It has been blessed by the goddess herself, and its presence grants a small blessing to the city. Its power has grown to encompass the fields surrounding us as many have begun coming to purchase the potions that cure disease¡± I blinked as I realized he was talking about the disease potion I created, and wondered how he had heard about them. The mention of it though brought up a question that had been bothering me. ¡°If you can create cure disease potions, why can¡¯t you make healing ones?¡± He gave me a sad look and said ¡°Only a healer priest may create such Loser, and in all the lands of Tarinath you are the only one wise enough to have chosen that path¡± Ooo, a monopoly. I filed that away for more thought later, and pulled out the holy cup of cupness. Holding it up I asked ¡°So what¡¯s the story on this?¡± His shocked expression said it might be worth something, but his words crushed my hope immediately. ¡°An unclaimed cup! A true wonder priest Loser, as none were known to still exist. If blessed by a priest it becomes a font of holy power for his goddess, much as the bowl that blesses this city. It is stated that the priest who imbues it with holy power will choose how it serves his goddess¡± ¡°So I can carry it around and do¡­what? Blessings and stuff?¡± My dismissive tone drew a frown as he said ¡°That is for you to say priest of Telina. An unclaimed cup is a limited gift if used by those with limited faith¡± Blah, blah, blah. Somehow I was sure I wasn¡¯t going to end up with the Holy cup of laser beams or something just as useful regardless of how much faith I had. I couldn¡¯t make money selling potions, something I had an absolute monopoly on, and I wasn¡¯t strong enough to kick ass and earn money on my own, so I was relegated to exactly what I did for Dalmar and Maria: sidekick. Stupid world. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. I met up with my partners back at the inn, and we sat at a table and discussed what I would do next. ¡°You could travel with us¡± Maria said ¡°we¡¯re heading back north to drop of this quest and hit up a few other dungeons we heard about¡± she shrugged and drank some ale before adding ¡°I mean, what else is there to do?¡± She had a point. Life seemed to revolve around raising your experience level and getting strong enough that other eternals left you alone. But honestly, the whole thing seemed kind of pointless. I had gold now, but other than defending your spawn point, what did you really need? I shook my head and said ¡°I think I need to look at defending my respawn point before I go out in the world. Judging by the Butt Boys I¡¯ll be pissing off a lot of the other players¡± ¡°You leave them alone and they¡¯ll mostly leave you alone¡± Dalmar said softly ¡°Yeah, but that¡¯s not happening¡± I said back ¡°I¡¯m no saint, but I¡¯m not going to sit by and let these morons abuse people just because they can. I might not start hunting them, but if I see it, I¡¯m going to stop it¡± That got a nod and ¡°Pretty much what I do¡± from Dalmar before Maria said ¡°Well hell, life is sure a lot nicer with you around¡± I chuckled, having enjoyed having the beautiful elf woman with me, but based on her experiences to date I didn¡¯t see us ever developing anything other than a friendly relationship. Made me wonder what Dalmar did in that area, though I wasn¡¯t uncouth enough to ask. ¡°We¡¯re riding back through your area anyway¡± Dalmar said ¡°so we¡¯ll accompany you that far. If you have any more potions you¡¯ll sell, we¡¯ll pay good prices for them¡± I waved a dismissive hand and said ¡°Nah, I¡¯ll give you everything I have when we get to town. Least I can do for the fun and friendship. Not to mention the opportunity to get chewed on by a dragon¡± I faked checking a block and said ¡°checked that off of my bucket list¡± The ride home took two days, and I made potions twice a day to stock up. Mudtown was looking a little less muddy when I rode in, with the street actually being dry all the way along its length. I noticed two more fields had been planted and made a note to bless the whole group of them again. I blinked in surprise when I saw a pack of children playing behind the houses, and again when I found a small market going in the center of town. ¡°Grown a little¡± I said to the Captain when he walked up as we dismounted He gave Dalmar and Maria a measuring look, then nodded a greeting to both before saying to me ¡°It is good to have you back priest Loser¡± Maria smothered a chuckle as I ground my teeth ¡°and it is true we have grown. Our rich harvest and the gains from the silver mine has begun to bring some prosperity to our town¡± I nodded as I looked around, pleased to see things picking up. I liked the people here and it would be nice to see things get better. I showed my partners to the inn, where I got a hug and kiss on the cheek from Mary, something that left me a little flabbergasted. When did this happen? Samuel even said ¡°Welcome home loser¡± getting a giggle from Maria, but a nod of appreciation from me. I needed to just have everyone call me loser, because it was really grating after hearing my true name for the last week. ¡°The locals here seem to have better programming¡± Dalmar said ¡°They always been like that?¡± I shook my head no and said ¡°Nah, they¡¯ve warmed up some, though I¡¯ve only been around for a couple of weeks¡± We talked about plans for a while, but they could mostly be summed up as ¡®kill things¡¯, which didn¡¯t seem all that great of a plan to me. I was kind of sad to see the two of them leave in the morning, especially after Dalmar shook my hand and Maria gave me a warm kiss goodbye. I gave them ten potions, which should see them through a couple of dungeons. Dalmar actually offered to give me a hundred gold pieces for them, something I could feel Telina reject immediately. I was kind of grumpy when I had to refuse, but Dalmar understood. Rich priest, poor priest, what difference did it make as long as you were a priest? I needed to sit Telina down and have a discussion about what living down here on the earth was like. The partnership got broken when Maria rescinded the request, which meant they wouldn¡¯t be losing a third of the experience points while they were killing things. After they were gone I went out to the fields and gave them all a blessing, pleased to see the original group full of green plants. Andulin and one of his men walked with me, and we talked a little while I worked. I had asked him to talk with me so I could figure out how the whole guards of the town worked. ¡°We are paid by the people of Mudtown¡± Andulin said. I noticed he was level 16 now, making me wonder how they leveled up. ¡°With the greater prosperity I was able to bring private Lentz here, which increases the security of the villagers¡± ¡°If you could hire more, who would you get?¡± I asked ¡°We are in need of a mage¡± he said thoughtfully ¡°but for the cost of one mage I could hire two archers, and that would be a better use of the people¡¯s money¡± ¡°What would it cost to get a mage?¡± He took some time to consider the question, then said ¡°For a level 10 elemental mage I would have to pay 2 gold per month. It would cost an extra gold for a level 15, though they are hard to find. For the same cost as the level 10 mage, I could get two level 14 archers¡± I ran the numbers in my head, then said ¡°So for 4 gold a month we could get a mage and two quality archers?¡± at his shrug and nod I asked ¡°If I gave the money for this, could it be done?¡± The question threw him for a while, and he stood there blinking until finally saying ¡°You¡­I¡­yes¡± he finally shuddered all over, then relaxed and smiled before saying ¡°This is a very unusual thought Loser, and one that would not have occurred to me. Eternals do not pay for a cities defense unless they claim it by killing the existing guards. To actually pay to add guards is a strange thing¡± That got a shrug from me as we walked back into the village ¡°So if I give you 48 gold pieces, you can hire them?¡± He grinned and said ¡°Yes, yes I can¡± He seemed kind of surprised as he said it, but he took the money when I gave it to him. With a mage and two archers I figured the Butt Boys would have a hard time trying to take over the village again and squatting on my spawn point. Goddess knows I didn¡¯t want a repeat of the Krin adventure. I settled in and began making healing potions, trying to stockpile some since they were so useful. A couple of days after I got back I pulled out the cup of cupness. It sounded like I had to cast a bless spell on it, and that would activate it to do¡­something. Something I had to make a choice about. Well, it wasn¡¯t like it was doing me any good as a cup since Mary wouldn¡¯t even pour ale in it. I asked one night, but she said it would be sacrilegious. When I cast the blessing I got: Telina¡¯s Holy Cup of Blessing Once placed, may not be moved by player Player must choose one of two uses Holy Aura 5pts/sec damage in 10ft area against those who oppose Telina 50pts/sec damage if touched by those who oppose Telina +10% Stat increase for 6 hours for Telina¡¯s faithful ¨C cast when within aura +30% blessing of increased growth for plants within aura +50% increase in healing rate while within Holy aura (Does not stack with other blessings) (Reduced affects if placed in location accessible only by a few) Holy Touch +10% stats increase/12 hours +25% spell damage/maximum 120 Resurrection once per week ¨Cplayer returns to life with no loss of levels (Player must touch the cup to receive the blessing) Wow, that was a lot better. I was all about the holy touch, but settled back to think things through before making a hasty choice. It looked like it came down to good for the many, or good for the one. Since I was the one, I was pretty ok with that. But¡­the cup was going to be sitting in one spot for the rest of eternity it sounded like, so to get the stat increase I would have to touch it every day, and probably once a week to get the resurrection thing. The aura one would give me the same stat benefit, but not the hit damage one, though for half the time. I sighed and picked Holy Aura, but decided I was going to place it somewhere it would do the most good for me, like next to my spawn point. The captain recommended speaking to Seth, who led me to a guy called Joseph, who said he could make me a granite column for 8 silver. I had him make it like the classic roman thing, waist height, with a square top and bottom, and a round column between them. Joseph was nice enough to carry it a couple days later since it turned out I wasn¡¯t strong enough. By the time he set it down about two feet away from what I remembered as my spawn point we had a crowd of people watching. Since I popped up almost slap dab in the middle of the square, my column was going to impede traffic a bit, but if anyone wanted to complain they could take it up with Telina. When I set the cup on the pillar there was a flare of white light that caused everyone to duck and cover their eyes for a moment, and those of us within ten feet immediately felt the effect of the stat increase. Andulin patted my shoulder and said ¡°You have blessed our town Loser, and we are proud to call you one of us¡± So here I am, a healer priest named Loser who is also a member in good standing of Mudtown. Who needs money if they have that? Right? Bite me. Chap 8: Ruin my rune? The Captain''s new recruits showed up a couple of days later as I was standing in the town square trying to remember if the aura thing had been 10ft or 15ft, because it was saying 15ft now. I had started putting copper coins in the cup, telling Seth to let people know if they needed a coin to borrow it, but return it to Telina when they were able. He grumbled something about ''fools throwing away money, be getting thieves now we be laying money around'', but eventually nodded and said "Know some who could use ta help" Telina had been pleased by the idea and I could feel her presence, and her approval when I walked away from Seth. I tried to send the thought that she didn''t seem to mind me giving away money, but she sure had a problem with me getting money. Stupid woman just giggled in my ear. I''m really not sure about the propriety of a goddess giggling in peoples ears. Anyway, I was standing in the square staring at the cup when Andulin showed up with three people, a woman and two men. The woman was human, dark haired, slim, and wearing mage robes with a staff in her hand. The two men were obvious human archers, both in nice looking leathers with bows across their backs. "Priest Loser" Andulin said, probably to hear the grinding teeth noise "Our new guards have arrived" he gestured at the woman and said "Mage Mirabeth. An elemental mage of the 10th level" waving at the other two he said "and guards Yolan and Greggs, both archers of the 13th level" They all looked seriously competent, with Mirabeth showing a health of 65 and the other two being 95 and 110 respectively. I nodded to the archers first and said "One of my eternal friends is a ranger of the 12th level and her archery skills are a true benefit when fighting evil creatures. I''m pleased that Captain Andulin managed to find others with such skills" The two guys mumbled "Pleased" and "our thanks" but otherwise only nodded a greeting. I shrugged and turned to the mage to say "Mage Mirabeth, I am happy to see you and would enjoy an opportunity to speak with you later as I know little about mages and could use any knowledge you are willing to impart" Yeah, I know, but the whole place had gotten me talking like that, and honestly it seemed to make the locals more receptive to my ideas. She was quite the serious gal, just giving me a solemn nod and saying "As you please Priest Loser. I have heard many unusual tales regarding you and Mudtown, and would in turn enjoy discovering the truth behind them" Wow, that was almost...inquisitive. The locals didn''t question things, that was kind of their thing. Mirabeth was cracking the mold a little here. "Sure, love to do that" I said in return, then looked back at the cup when Andulin led them away. A young woman holding a small boy by the hand sort of sidled up to me, both of them looking a little ragged, with the boy peeking at me from around his mother''s leg. She looked embarrassed as she hesitantly said "Sir...Priest. I have heard that...that one may gain charity from...from Telina here?" I smiled down at the boy, grinning at how he would peek out, then duck back as he saw me looking. Nodding to the woman I said "You are correct miss. Holy Telina has asked that those who have comfort be generous to those who are striving to find that comfort. Honesty and hard work are our blessings upon her land, and she knows that hardship and misfortune can undo anyone. Please take from her cup what you need to ensure food and shelter for you and your family. She asks only that when you have found your own comfort, that you be generous in turn" The guys in my old team would really pay money to hear me now. She smiled shyly and stepped up to the cup, then hesitantly reached in and pulled out a silver coin. I was surprised to see it since I had only been putting in coppers. Man, now I felt cheap. She clutched it tightly before giving me a quick half-bow and led the boy over to one of the food vendors. With a sigh I tossed a couple of more silver pieces in, noticing the cup was about half full of copper, and a few silver pieces. I began whistling ''yellow submarine'' as I wandered down to the apothecary to get some more vials. I was going to do a few potions and thought I might look at the rune thing if I could get Mirabeth to tell me a little about them. Andulin and Mirabeth showed up at the Inn (which now had a sign hanging over the door that said "Burning Mage Inn", which I thought extremely appropriate), while I was sitting at my table in the corner, sipping ale. When they stopped at my table Mary gave them a nod and headed off to get them drinks, giving me a wink as she left. I was feeling really good about my chances and kind of wished Andulin had picked a better time. Shrugging I waved for them to take a seat and said "Welcome Captain, Mage Mirabeth" Mirabeth wasn''t big on the small talk, just leaning her staff on the wall as she took a seat, folding her hands in her lap, and saying "You are an eternal Priest Loser, so I am surprised you are not able to access knowledge of mages. The other eternals I have met appear to think they know everything there is to know" I barked a laugh at the straight-faced insult and said "Very true. As a group they are quite the bunch of buttheads" the two of them exchanged confused looks at the butthead, but I just powered on by saying "but my entry into Tarinath was fairly unusual and I was not given access to much of the knowledge the others were given" The Captain took a drink of the ale Mary dropped off, then said "Loser is different than any other eternal you will meet Mage" "Apparently" she said coolly, but giving me a small straight lipped smile "so what information would you wish to know?" "My understanding is that most if not all the eternal mages are elementals like yourself" I said as I leaned forward and rested my arms on the table "I would like to know the strengths and weaknesses inherent in that class, and anything you can tell me about how mages restore their mana" She blinked in confusion for a moment, then bit her lip as she studied me thoughtfully. Finally nodding to herself, she said "At some point a mage chooses the path they will follow, elemental, defensive, or necromantic. Elemental magery is the control of the basic elements other than earth. Elemental magic is offensive magic, and those of us who have chosen it are strong on attack, but weak in defense. Once the elemental path is chosen, a mage further specializes in ice, fire, or lightning. Those who follow the cold path are able to freeze their enemy in place for a time and do considerable damage over that time as the cold saps their opponents health. A fire mage such as myself uses bolts of flame, or larger balls of fire to do high damage on impact, and small damage as the flames continue to sap health. Lightning mages are few because they do not come into their power until they reach level 20 or more as the mana cost per spell is very high, though terribly devastating when used. There are few things as powerful as a level 25 lightning mage, but there are few that survive to reach that level" she paused to see if I was following, and at my nod continued "all mages begin with a few simple spells, such as the common sleep spell, various types of immaterial armor, and simple flame or cold touch spells. Being a new mage is a trying time as our powers are weak and it takes time to become strong enough to survive the wilds. I have been told that eternal mages spend much of their early life in Tarinath dying in a large variety of ways" she gave a cold smile of approval at that. She sipped her ale before saying "After choosing the elemental path our skills become so narrowly focused that they make using our element much cheaper in mana, but raises the mana cost of the non-element spells to extremely high levels. I, as a fire mage, can send a dozen fire bolts, or four fireballs with the mana I hold, but am limited to one sleep spell, or two mage armor spells before I must restore. The remote seeing spells, invisibility spells, and other higher level spells are not available to elemental mages" "Invisibility?" I mumbled in surprise. Her and Andulin both nodded as she said "Quite. Those who follow the defensive path access those types of spells. There are some half dozen mages I know who follow this path, and all are highly prized within the empire, but much of their offensive skills lie in the magic missile spell or something similar. They are initially rather potent after specializing, but actually become less dangerous as they increase in skills. The low level offensive magic peaks at the 15th level, and they gain no others after specializing. They are potent in defense, using illusions, invisibility, and far seeing to hide, confuse, and gather information, but must remain far from the battle" This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. We all sat quietly for a time as I processed all that, but when I finally looked back up, Mirabeth said "Necromancers are the bane of all living things. Their power comes by taking the life force of others. I believe one eternal has chosen this path, but she is the only one I have heard of. They draw mana from living creatures, so are not welcome in the human, dwarf, or elven cities. The spells for raising the dead, or for drawing upon another''s health are very powerful at higher levels, but are weak early on this path" She leaned back and crossed her legs, stroking her robe smooth before saying "Unlike necromancers, we mages draw mana from around us, slowly enough not to disturb or injure as a necromancer does. This is a mages greatest weakness, and one that we spend much gold attempting to resolve. An apothecary can create mana potions that will restore mana to a magic user, but they are costly as the ingredients require plants rich in mana. They are more costly than the healing potions sold by these same apothecaries as it is known we must have them to survive" she raised a hand so I could see a golden ring on her finger and said "alternatively a mage must find enchantments that aid her in more quickly restoring her mana after use. My ring does such by increasing my restore rate by 30%, though the cost if purchased would be hundreds of gold coin" I looked between the two of them, then asked "So why does anyone choose to be a mage?" "Do not be confused by mage Mirabeth''s listing of weaknesses Loser" Andulin said "In a battle she would destroy most of my men before I could bring swords to bear. At a distance an elemental mage with full mana is a devastating opponent. A fireball will stun my men as they burn, delaying them for the mage to launch even more magic at them. A warrior cannot ignore a mage in battle as the damage is to costly, which allows the enemy warriors opportunity to strike freely as we evade magic attacks. I would gladly face three archers rather than one elemental mage" "Truly" Mirabeth said softly "you will not face a lone mage unless by luck. Fire can be dangerous to ones own forces, but we are well trained in the strategies necessary to maximize our potential. Should we face attackers, the captain knows I will use my magic in a manner that allows him to use his forces effectively" Her words made me wonder about the eternal mages. Most eternals seemed to be aggressive morons, so I wondered if they ended up doing damage to their own forces in a chaotic battle. In my experience the only battles that weren''t chaotic were ambushes that came as a complete surprise, and they were few and far between. Nodding my head sideways at her staff, I asked "What''s with the staves?" "A mages staff helps focus and enhance our spells" Mirabeth said "At one time it was said a staff could hold spells, but now they are enchanted to add damage to your spells, reduce the mana required, aid in defense, and increase your mana restore rate. The more powerful staves combine these in many ways, with some staves aiding elemental magic, and others defensive" "So you guys are all about the enchanted stuff" I said slowly as I considered her words. The enchanted items were force leveragers on this world, that was for sure. Warriors wanted something to increase hit damage, archers the hit and accuracy multipliers, mages the restore and enhance items, and everyone wanted the base stat increasers. Seemed like something I needed to start accumulating. Shrugging, I looked up to ask "What about runes?" "I know little about them" Mirabeth said "as they are the bailiwick of the priestly class. They are found on chests and doors, protecting the contents from those who would open them. Others are placed on walls or the floor to prevent creatures from passing or crossing over them. Some were known to do more than destroy, but even the tales say little about them now. Runes are supposedly the written language of the goddesses, but if true, we know only a few of their words" "They can be quite versatile and dangerous" Andulin said "I have seen some that respond only if certain words are not spoken, or allow only certain people to pass them. I have crossed one that did nothing until one of our members, a half-orc, passed over it, and it destroyed him in a flash of lightning" he shrugged before adding "but they are rare now, and usually only found in the old dungeons and buried cities. Knowledge of their creation has been lost, or the priests are preventing their use" he gave me a narrow-eyed look and asked "Is it possible that you are a rune writer Priest Loser" I shook my head and said "I''ve never written any runes, so I have no idea if I can" I wasn''t about to start volunteering anything until I knew it wouldn''t bring a horde of player killers down on me. I was already a little worried that my healing potions would start attracting the wrong kind of attention. Shaking my head to clear the thought, I said to Andulin "I''m not sure I mentioned it, but if you have to defend the town, send someone for me and i''ll pitch in" which made me remember something else. Pulling out six healing potions I set them on the table and said "give a couple to Mirabeth, Yolan, and Greggs" "You are overly generous" Mirabeth said doubtfully, her eyes on the potions. I chuckled before saying "Self-interest. This is my home, and I can''t have people damaging my home" "Truly spoken" Analon said, rising and picking up the potions "The towns people have worked long and hard to build lives here, and it is Telina''s will that those of us who can fight, must defend those who cannot" Hey, those were my words. I grinned at hearing them spoken so seriously by the Captain, but didn''t harsh his buzz by being negative, just saying "No one messes with Mudtown" ---- So runes. I headed back to my room to see what was what. Create Rune Ability to learn and place runes of power Player determines activation requirements (Cool down 3 days) Rune of Flame: When activated by user will do 100 points +5/level of fire 100 Mana when placed I could pull up the spell and read what it said, but what it said didn''t tell me diddly squat about what it did. A rune of flame that does a 100 points of damage. So did that mean to everyone around it? Could I put a rune on a rock, tell it to explode when touched by my enemies, than throw the rock like a holy hand grenade? The three days thing was also going to be a real bitch. Twice a freaking week? So if I do one wrong I have to wait half a week to try again? Kind of pissed me off really. A mage can throw fireballs all day long, but I could only write one of these things every three days. At level 7 it would be doing 135 points of damage, something that would kill most mid-level monsters, but wouldn''t kill me or Dalmar. It would be kind of useful in a one shot sort of way, but I wouldn''t be able to tell how useful until I made one. Sighing, I decided if I was going to do this I might as well go all the way. Pulling out my mace, I set it on my small table, and because everything else started with it, I cast the blessing spell on the mace. I couldn''t tell blessing it did anything, but I also couldn''t tell it did shit to the water vials, so just did it and did a mana restore. Pulling up the rune spell I studied the rune itself until I had it in my mind, then drew on Telina and began tracing the rune on my mace. I must have done it right, because glowing white lines followed my finger as I formed the rune. When I was done I got: Rune of Flame - 135 points damage Activation Requirements? I wasn''t sure what had to be done here, so I both thought hard about it, and spoke the words. "I want the rune to arm when I am holding my mace and say "It''s Clobberin Time!", then activate when it hits my enemy, doing damage only to that enemy" There was a long pause, then I got Done! What did I expect? This magic stuff was really lousy in the good feedback area. If the thing worked like I wanted it to, I would have the one big hit I needed during the dragon fight. Of course this all relied on me actually managing to hit something. The fact that I managed to miss a forty foot lizard while standing two feet away didn''t bode well for any future situations. Neither Dalmar or Maria seemed to ever miss, which made it really embarrassing when you end up flailing around like a moron. Well, if I do connect, my Mace of Serious Clobbering would make it count. I hoped Stan Lee wasn''t wandering around in here anywhere. With his imagination I had no doubt he would be kicking ass and taking names. Chap 9: Whos a lucky loser? Over the course of the next week I advanced my repair skills a little, made 8 more potions of healing, did not place any runes, and got lucky with Mary. Turns out digital sex is just like the real thing, only without the risk of children if you didn''t want one right now. Mary was also very imaginative and demonstrated a willingness to try new things. Overall a very nice time. None of the locals said anything, and we started a semi-regular thing in the evenings, but it all had to be put on hold when Maria showed back up. She rode her horse into town and found me sitting at my table in the Inn eating dinner. "Hey Loser!" was the first thing she yelled, breaking into giggles when I scowled at her in reply. She plopped into a chair and waved at Mary for an ale before saying "Sup? You busy? Got a player two days north of here who''s taken over a village about the size of yours" she gave me the hard eyes as she added "and he''s not as nice as you are" Mary looked a little jealous, but smiled when I winked at her and paid for Maria''s ale. I could see Maria made the connection, but she didn''t comment, just taking a drink before saying "So?" I chuckled as I leaned back to say "Nice to see you again Maria. So how about a little more information before I agree to go killing people" She shrugged and said "Warrior type. Names Bigbob" she rolled her eyes before adding "don''t ask me, it probably made sense to him at some point. Guys a level 18 asshole. Supposedly this town is his spawn point, and he has his own guards now. Found a serious two-handed sword that does mucho damage, and has some really good armor. Health is way high, though he doesn''t seem to be suffering in other stats" she gave me a look and said "I think Tennant was able to give some of us bonus stats or something" she shrugged "anyway, he''s tough, but no one likes him, so no one will miss him when he''s gone" "How many guards and how do you know he''s abusing them?" "Two swordsmen and two archers" Maria answered "and I know because I rode through and he made sure to abuse a girl in front of me. Laughed after I shot him a couple of times, then sicced his guards on me. I had to make a run for it or get killed" I contemplated the whichness of whatness for a while before shaking my head in aggravation and saying "Ok. Let''s say we do this, what kind of plan do you have?" She leaned forward with a grin and said "Great. Bigboobs has 260 health, so he''s arrogant as hell, but he doesn''t have anything other than the standard healing potions. Taking over a town is stupid, and only the real morons do it because if you die, the guards revert to town loyalty, not you. Different for personal employment like mine, so if bigboobs dies, we don''t have to worry about the guards" I had to laugh as I said "So your plan is to kill him. Good plan" "Hey" she said with a grin "I haven''t told you the whole thing yet. The guards are keyed to him, so they won''t bother us until we attack, and he''s arrogant enough to let us get close. Guy really thinks that health level will keep him safe" she shrugged then "of course, barring a dragon" she grinned at me "he''s probably right about people not hurting him enough to worry" she leaned back and sighed before adding "of course killing him is one thing, dealing with his respawn is another" We sipped ale quietly for a time, then I asked "Can we swim?" The non-sequiter threw her off for a time, but she finally said "Same as in reality, why?" "So we sink in armor?" the question got a shrug and a "of course", so I added "so if you got dropped into the middle of a lake wearing armor you would drown?" she rolled her eyes before saying "Yes, you would drown if you were dumb enough to let someone drop you in the middle of a lake. You are not going to trick him into drowning" "Not what I was thinking" I said slowly "just brainstorming here. The respawn point is always the same right? You step out at the same exact spot every time?" her nod got me to say "Now, I''m just running ideas by, but what if you dug a hole there, a deep one filled with water?" She blinked in surprise as she thought about it, then she squinted as she obviously tried to picture the idea, finally giving a slow nod and saying "Weird idea, but it might be possible. You have one day before respawn, so you would need to dig fast, and I don''t know about getting it full of water" "Well lets start with a hole first" I said with a shrug "dig it deep enough and you at least have him contained for a while" "Possible" she said after a moment "locals will all dig if we pay them" She emptied her mug and set it on the table before adding "So kill him. Hire a couple dozen locals to dig a pit at his spawn point, then decide from there" "Now all we have to do is kill him" I said with a pointed look "That flame thing you do kicks some ass" she said "you can do that for a start" I shook my head no and said "No, it kicks ass on the undead. On him it will do around 100 damage, which isn''t enough without another couple of heavy hits" When she started to say something else I held up my hand and said "I might be able to do something that would let you do 135 points of damage with one shot. Now you said he let you shoot him and laughed right?" at her nod I went on "so we go in, let him taunt you, you shoot him, which takes him to half health. I do Telina''s Flame for another 90, which should hopefully leave him stunned enough for you to hit him a couple more times" I sighed then and said "Now if I can get close enough to hit him, and then actually manage to hit him, I can finish him off" "What can you do to let me do that kind of damage?" I held up a finger to be sure she was focusing and said "Absolute word you won''t tell anyone else?" She actually paused to think about it, which made me feel better about her honesty when she said "Well, I hate not passing on juicy news, but yeah, I promise" "I can write a rune on an arrow that should work" I said "but it''s untested, so you''ll be the first one to use it" "Runes" she said slowly "I''m starting to think Lennant outsmarted himself" she shrugged before saying "Hey, what''s the worst that can happen?" "You blow up and die" I said with a grin, drawing one in return. ---- I did the rune on the arrow the same way I did my mace, setting it as "Arm when the person holding it says ''Special Delivery'', then explode on impact, doing damage only to the creature hit" I got the Done! message, so hoped it would do the job. I told Maria to be damn sure she didn''t hit me or drop it on herself after arming it, and I was smart enough to tell her the arming phrase first, then made sure she didn''t repeat it after I was done. This is where the 3 day thing really hurt, since I wouldn''t be able to prepare anything else until after he was dead. Maria didn''t want to delay just for that, so we headed out the next morning. We rode slowly enough that we wouldn''t arrive until the night of the second day, which would give me enough time to do another rune before he respawned. The town was called Crossing, which described it and the location quite well. Two roads crossed here, and the town had built up to surround the crossing point. It had wood and stone houses as opposed to my towns mud and thatch, but it had a less upbeat feel to it, with most locals either ignoring us, or scowling our way when we started toward the center. Maria had us leave the horses at a stable at the edge of town, before we started walking up the middle of the street. She was pretty sure BigBob would just laugh at me after seeing my name and poor gear. She was good for the ego, was Maria. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. One of the swordsman stepped into the street and confronted us by saying "Eternals are not welcome here by order of BigBob" I couldn''t help it, I laughed, though the guard only watched Maria, basically ignoring me. He was a level 10, with a surprising 130 health, so not a push over. I looked around, seeing a few locals watching the confrontation, so I yelled "The goddess Telina curses eternals who kill and abuse others. I have come as her representative to aid you in freeing yourself from the evil of the one called BigBob" I almost broke into giggles at the name again, but managed to get out "when he is dead Telina calls on you to aid us in preventing his return" "What the hell are you doing?" Maria whispered harshly "no one is going to listen to you, they''re locals" "Hey Looooser!" BigBob was standing in a doorway two buildings down, and he was laughing fit to kill himself as he walked our way. He was a big, blonde, mustached human, wearing chest plate armor, steel greaves and bracers, with a two handed sword on his back. "Oh my god, you do look like a loser" he broke into another gale of laughter as he stopped in front of us. Huh, Maria said he was arrogant, but this was pretty extreme. I gave Maria a covert wink and a mouthed "Follow my lead" before turning to Biggie and saying "See this mace" pulling it out so he could read the whole 12-20 points damage before saying "You leave these people alone or I''ll be whopping you upside the head with this. I''ve been here two weeks, so I know you guys don''t have the health to stand up to this" I could almost feel Maria wanting to cringe in embarrassment at how stupid I sounded, but Biggie just burst into more laughter as he said "Oh No! An oldtimer. Two weeks?" Still chuckling he straightened up and said "Ok douche bag, take your best shot" he gave Maria a leer and added "because me and sweet cheeks have a date later" Drawing myself up importantly I said "In Telina''s name....It''s Clobberin Time!" BigBob was in the middle of a hard laugh when my mace hit. Have to say, I was impressed. I did a chopping swing, so it hit him on the top of the head as he bent over to laugh, and the explosion drove him straight down into the dirt, flames burning bright blue against his skin. Every bit of the energy seemed to hit him as we were blinded by a flash of light, and no one moved for a moment. The guard was kind of blinking in shock as I said "Um Maria, any time now" She was laughing like a loon as she yelled "Hey bigboob, special delivery!" and shot him right in the ass. I really was impressed. BigBob got blown upwards, but sort of crumbled to ash before he hit the ground. There wasn''t a closed mouth on anyone in town as they all gawped at what had happened. Maria was nearly killing herself as she laughed and said "Oh my god, you did not say ''It''s Clobberin Time" she kept repeating that as she laughed until tears were rolling down her cheeks. It was so infectious I had to laugh myself, watching as she bent over, hands on her knees, wiping laugh tears away, giggling like a nut. She really was a hoot, but we eventually calmed down and I got the guards and some townsfolk to rally around. Waving a hand for them to draw close I asked "Who knows where BigBob arrives after death?" The question had every single person there pointing at the middle of the intersecting streets. I shrugged and said "We cannot keep BigBob from returning, but I think if we were to dig a deep pit right there we would be able to keep him from going anywhere" "Dig a hole in the street?" a guard wearing a Captain''s band asked I nodded before saying "Or accept that BigBob will be back to take over your town" There was a conversational buzz for a while, then the Captain held up a hand for quiet and said "Everyone bring a shovel" They made it round, about ten feet in diameter, something Maria suggested to keep him from inching his way up against the sides. The physics here in Tarinath was definitely different from reality, because within eight hours they had a fifty foot deep hole and were still managing to throw the dirt out of the hole from the bottom. I was going to tell them to stop, but Maria held me back and said "Hey, what will it hurt as long as they want to keep digging" She had a point. In response to my question, Maria said "Dying? You end up sitting in that sandy courtyard by yourself for 24 hours. After that the archway works and you step out at your spawn point. Doesn''t matter if you walk, run, or fall down, because when you arrive, it''s just like you took a step forward. If you don''t leave the courtyard within an hour or so, you just get kicked out and find yourself stepping out at your respawn point" I had asked because I was worried he could find a way to avoid the hole. The locals weren''t exactly friendly, but they also weren''t hostile to us anymore. The guard captain, who turned out to have been one of BigBob''s men, was a little more accepting, so I explained how they would need to make it work. "He''ll appear, then fall into the pit. It might or might not kill him, so he''ll be at the bottom trying to get out. It''s possible he could climb by digging into the wall, so I would plan to maybe help him along toward death if you could. He''ll die, and one day later he''ll appear and fall in the hole again. Some water in the bottom might speed the process up, and maybe even get him to drop his weapon and armor" I shrugged at the idea, but figured if this worked and Bob respawned a dozen times, he might get frustrated enough to try dropping it and climbing out. Either way he''d be seeing a steady drop in levels as he did the death rinse cycle thing. I figured after 10 or 12 deaths he would be down below level 5 and the guards could control him easily at that level. They dug for sixteen hours, ending up with a hole over one hundred feet deep. I would have worried about the street collapsing, but they probably understood the physics here better than I did. He might survive the fall, but it would probably hurt a lot. It was strange watching dirt being thrown upwards and out of the hole from one hundred feet down. Freaky stuff. Bob, when he appeared that evening, sort of took a step out of thin air, an angry look on his face, then he screamed all the way to the bottom of the pit. Maria laughed herself breathless as she kept imitating the look on his face when he realized he wasn''t standing on anything. The two archer guards started plinking arrows down into the pit, but after a few each, sort of nodded and walked away. So that appeared like it would work. I spoke to the captain as Maria and I were about to leave. "It is Telina''s will that none face the abuse of the eternals" I said seriously "but the eternals are vengeful and others like him will fear the same fate, so it would aid Telina''s cause if you do not say who came to your aid" Maria was watching me carefully, but didn''t say anything as the captain considered my words. He did the same thing Andulin had done, sort of shivering for a moment before finally smiling and saying "You speak truly about the vengefulness of the eternals Priest. It will be as you say, and we will speak only of the three mages who arrived in Telina''s name to destroy this vile eternal" Chap 10: Youve got to be kidding me! How long do you plan to leave him like that?" Maria asked the second day The question got me to give her an irritated glare before saying "He''s your prisoner Maria. I came along to help you and the villagers out, not be his judge. I have no intention of giving him another thought, so if you ever think he should be let go you need to take care of it yourself" The irritation seemed to surprise her and she held up her hands as she said "Whoa tiger, just asking" I shrugged acknowledgement of her words, but said "He is a problem in my past. The man''s a rapist and murderer, so as far as I''m concerned he has earned a few dozen years of falling into a pit. I imagine once he hits the first level he won''t go down any more, so within a month you should be able to lock him in a jail. Though that''s essentially what he''s in now. 24 hours in the room followed by 1 minute of dying" "Harsh" Maria said "but true. There''s nothing good in the man, so I guess he''s stuck there until the townspeople let him go" she turned the thoughtful look on me again, making me say "What?" "I''ve been held captive before, but I''ve never heard of anyone turning a spawn point into a trap" she said in a thoughtful tone "I built a house over mine and hired guards, but what''s it going to be like in a dozen years? Will we all have our own separate cities, all designed to protect our spawn point?" "Likely" I said "or we end up with internal laws that we all enforce. This is exactly the situation all the whiners back home said they wanted, a say in how fair things are" I waved a hand around and said "This is the perfect opportunity to live by the golden rule; do onto others as you would have them do onto you. Bob did evil by anyone''s standards and he reaped what he sowed. I probably won''t do the vigilante thing myself, but if anyone asks for help I''ll probably give it" "You wouldn''t have stopped him?" Maria asked, getting me to shrug and say "As I understand things, there are a lot of eternals doing the same thing. I don''t plan on a holy crusade at the moment, though I''m not ruling it out. I''ve been here less than a month, and guys like Dalmar have been here almost from the beginning, so what''s happening is by there choice" "He''s a good guy" Maria said defensively I nodded and said "He truly is. But your question applies to everyone of us eternals. Will you stand by and do nothing?" "Jesus Jake, you sound like a preacher" That got a hard laugh from me. I grinned as I said "Far from it. These aren''t religious questions, these are the basis for any society. We''re forming a new one, and everyone gets a say in how it should work. The general opinion seems to be ''do as you will as long as you don''t hurt me''" I shrugged and said "which isn''t all that bad, but it means we are living without empathy" "What did you do in the real world?" she asked after a few moments of quiet riding "Assassin for hire. Killed drug dealers for rival gangs, depending on who paid me" I said "Only managed a few years before I got caught, but it paid the bills" "God, you get stranger every time I talk to you" Maria said with a snorted laugh "We didn''t matter back there in reality" I said "you voted for whoever was selected for you to vote for. Paid whatever you were told to pay, and accepted whatever justice was handed down to you. Here, it''s all new. I like it a lot and want it to keep being nice" --- I agreed to make Maria another arrow, and gave her two more healing potions, though she still had all the old ones. I noticed her drop a couple of silvers into Telina''s cup, making me grin, but I made sure she didn''t see me laughing at her. She was struggling to find herself here, but she hadn''t realized the locals were as real as she thought they were, and she still thought of them as a program. I wasn''t going to waste time offering her my opinions on things, and I was happy enough in Mudtown that I didn''t plan to ride with her. She did show me a weird option in our interface that allowed you to ''friend'' someone, which allowed you to basically send email to each other. "Didn''t know you well enough to offer it before" Maria said, a little embarrassed by the whole thing. I waved it away and said "No problemo. Goddess knows you don''t need to get tied up in the whole email thing again. Send me a note every now and then, or if you need any help" I told her, getting the same back. Mary was waiting when we got back, and we made up for lost time. I had been kind of disappointed not to get any experience for Biggie, but it was probably for the best since it wouldn''t pay to encourage other players to start hunting me for the experience. Life settled down again as I re-runed the Mace of Clobberin, and did some blessings for the ever growing crop fields. I thought a couple of times about placing some runes on the tavern door or such, but I didn''t really trust them not to blow up some innocent woman or kid who just happened to be angry at the world that day. --- Maria managed to not bother me for a whole six days, then I got a message Hey Jake, got a level 7 who has a rescue quest. She''s a noob like you, so could use the help. It''s a couple of days south of Telinor, so if you want to help we can meet you there It popped up sort of like one of the system messages, and after some thought I sent (after I figured out how) Sounds fun. Leaving today, meet at same Inn as last time I still owned my horse, but he spent his days in the stable behind the Inn. I loaded up on bread and meat, twenty vials, and stopped to let Andulin know I would be gone and I''d be happy if the town was still here when I got back. The first night as I was cooking dinner I was attacked by a wolf that didn''t do a very good job sneaking past my horse. He, my horse, whinnied and sort of nodded toward the wolf as I stood up and pulled my mace. This one was a level 4, so stronger than my initial wolf friend, but he wasn''t much competition now that I could get the Fist in action between his jumps. It turned out I had some unresolved anger issues with wolves. I still missed a few times, and he still bit the living hell out of me, but three solid connections and I was picking up a skin and some meat. Waste not, want not. Telinor hadn''t changed in the last couple of weeks, but Maria wasn''t at the inn when I got there, so I did some wandering, checking armor and weapon prices, and even stopping in a magic shop to drool over the large selection of things that weren''t usable by a priest. Every....Damn....Thing!. I think someone was playing a joke on me. Not of course, that I could have afforded to much, being as someone made a vow of poverty for me. Stupid world. Maria showed up with a human woman dressed in chainmail, carrying a shield and a sword. I remembered then that Maria said she hadn''t specialized until level 8, but I would think you would already be using a bow if that was what you wanted to do. Shrugging, I stood up to greet them "Maria" I said as the other woman stopped, then burst into laughter and said "Oh my god, it''s true. I thought you were bullshitting me about the loser thing" Yep, just standing here impressing the ladies. The woman turned out to be a human named Susan (seemed weird to me too), who had long, deep red hair, green eyes, and a fairly muscular build that still didn''t hide the large bust. She was kind of hot, in a biker chick sort of way. "Sorry" she said with a shy smile. I wasn''t sure how a woman in mail, carrying a sword could give me a shy smile, but she managed it "Maria told me, but it..." she finally just shrugged. I waved them to a seat as I plopped back down, then gave Maria a ''what''s up?'' look. "Susan is from my town, so I''ve been sort of helping her adjust" Maria said, snagging my ale and taking a swig "she''s got a rescue quest from one of the locals to retrieve a girl from a gnoll cavern" "Gnoll?" I asked, getting Maria to roll her eyes and say "Kind of like a man-dog, or dog-man. Looks manlike but has fur, a tail, a dog head, and likes the taste of people. The dungeons get pretty gross with the half eaten people, but the treasure is usually pretty good" she waved a hand dismissively before continuing "anyway, the quest. We go with Susan, clear the dungeon, rescue the girl, and escort them back here. I''ll take her the rest of the way back" She was obviously working to make it sound like I didn''t know where she was from, which was perfectly fine with me. Prevention was the name of the game. Nodding, I told Susan "Works for me. I follow Maria''s lead most of the time, so I probably won''t have any useful information, but it worked out well last time" it was mostly jabber to get her talking. She shrugged and said "I appreciate it. She said you''re decent at healing, so that''s a huge benefit. What percentage are you wanting?" The question kind of threw me, and I had to consider for a moment before saying "I guess I was expecting one third of the coin" She rolled her eyes like Maria had and said "Well of course one third of the coin, I meant of the magic" I once again had to think about things, since it seemed so obvious I had to wonder if I was missing something. When she started looking impatient I said "Again, I was sort of just expecting a common sense split. If it works for me better than for you, than it''s mine, and vice versa" I paused for a second, then added "You do know I''m a priest class right?" "Of course" was the reply "but magic is money, and even if you can''t wear it, you can still sell it" I ended up frowning over at Maria, who was watching us with a small grin. Not interested in getting involved in signing contracts and stuff I said "This doesn''t sound like my kind of thing Maria, so why am I here?" Susan looked a little offended as she said "What do you mean? I''m just trying to avoid questions later, not be an ass" Shaking my head in frustration I said "Why would there be questions?" Both of us ended up looking at Maria, who giggled and said "You guys are so cute" waving a hand at Susan she said "Guy''s a stone cold killer, who is also the nicest person you''ll ever meet" waving her hand at me she said "She''s had it tough here and in the real world, so she''s leery of people using her. She''s not being greedy, she''s just wanting to make sure you''re not, so don''t get all stuck up" I had to laugh before I pulled her ale over and started drinking it. When I set it down I said "Ok then. Fairness rules" Susan was a level 7 warrior with aspirations of being a tank like Dalmar. The world was truly equal opportunity when it came to eternals since a woman''s strength was stat based like ours, and Susan was quite a bit stronger than I was (Like twice). She didn''t look all muscle bound, which was nice, but her carrying capacity was huge. Neither of them wanted to delay, so we headed out after a couple of drinks. (the alcohol actually did affect us, just not as much, and you never got a hangover...paradise right?) "Gnolls use pikes and halbreds" Maria said, then with a grin at me "halbred''s basically just a really long axe. They stab or chop with it, but they can also snag you and hold you in place. Don''t let them do that or you''ll get beat up pretty good. We''ll use the same thing as last time Jake, but with Susan in Dalmar''s spot. My level 13 means 7-12 on the grunts, and 13-17 on the bosses" she rode in silence, chewing at her lower lip for a few moments, so obviously considering something that neither Susan or I interrupted. After about five minutes she looked at me and said "I trust Susan with my spawn point" That was clear enough. Maria was asking if I was willing to share my potions, and letting me know she thought Susan was worthy of my trust. Susan had 160 health points, which wasn''t bad, but not great for someone being the tank. I didn''t say anything back, and ignored Susan''s obvious interest, just considered the risks. Two people already knew, and adding another added a huge amount to the risk percentages. But it wasn''t like I wouldn''t give her a potion if she needed it, which she probably would, so I finally shrugged and pulled one out and showed it to Susan. She looked at me like I was a weirdo for a moment, then finally realized what the bottle said "What the hell? Where the hell did you get that?" "I make them" I said "and I am willing to share if you promise never to tell anyone else without my permission" Susan blinked in confusion for a moment, then looked at Maria to say "That''s what you meant earlier" she snorted and said to me "Well, it''s not like I''m going to make a liar out of Maria, so yes, I promise to keep it a secret" She had a passive-aggressive type attitude that rubbed me the wrong way, but I tried to hear the words and not the tone (totally failed). But still, I gave her one with a nod at her thanks. Susan''s quest seemed to supply a map that guided us to where we supposed to rescue the woman, and I just followed the two women as we rode south out of Telinar. Maria as usual spent a lot of time talking, and she gave me pieces of useful information periodically. "The orcs have a whole tribal system going on, though their lands don''t start for another few days riding from where we''re headed. Dalmar visited once and said the orcs spend all their time raiding each other''s villages. Mostly a bunch of wood walled fort kind of towns, though he said their weapons and armor is as good as any the humans make. They don''t eat people, though they will kill you for even looking like you are thinking of challenging them. Supposedly dragons live even farther south of them, which is what he went down there for, but he said that once you leave the Orc lands the monsters are all high level and don''t adapt to yours. He got killed by two level 18 ogres when he was a 15" she laughed before adding "a couple of weeks of travel and fights and he didn''t last two days in the Forbidden Lands. Talk about pissed" "That big guy, Tennant" Susan said "mentioned that I was going to be one of the last ones put here. They supposedly have a..." She paused to give use a disgusted look "less crappy world now" "So, will they turn us off?" Maria asked with a shrug I chucked as I said "not like we would know it happened" "It doesn''t worry you a little?" Susan asked. I laughed again and said "I''m already dead, this is the afterlife. If they turn us off, who knows where we''ll end up" Maria waved the whole thing away as unimportant and said "anyway, as I was saying, the Forbidden Lands are supposed to be the uber treasure area if you can survive it. I''ve been talking with Dalmar about getting a team together when I get a few more levels" she looked pensive for a moment before adding "and I''d like to visit the elven lands at some point, just to see what that''s all about" "How come you''re only level 7?" Susan abruptly asked me. I blinked in confusion before asking "what should I be?" "You''ve been here twice as long as I have, so I would think you''d be at least a 10" "He''s kind of lazy" Maria said with a giggle "sits in his town drinking ale with the locals in between putting the smack down on eternal assholes" "Hey, Samuel makes good ale" I said in mock anger "and don''t be dissin my homies" "See" Maria said with a laugh "guys weird, but fun to have around" We were attacked twice, once by a pack of goblins, and once by a bear, with Maria killing all of them with her arrows before Susan or I could do anything to help. I was at 45% at my level 7'' and those only added a few percentage points to my total. I was interested in what level 8 would bring me, hoping like hell it was something better than more healing things or those slow ass runes. I needed to add a big punch to my repertoire if I wanted to quit being just ''the help''. Meeting Bob and thinking about things Maria had said, had started me thinking about some long term plans that would need me to be stronger to accomplish. Maria halted us on the third day, signing for us to be quiet as she strung an arrow and said softly "Couple creatures ahead, probably the cave entrance" she moved totally silently, while both Susan and I were making some noise. I wondered if it was a skill or just natural for her. She was right about the entrance, and there were two gnolls standing guard just outside of it. They didn''t have any armor other than a set of gauntlets, and they were both holding a six foot long pole with an axe on the end. It had a curved blade on one side, with a hook on the other. I saw what Maria meant about not getting snagged and held by the weapon. They stood a little taller than six foot, and had bushy tails, back bent knees, and doglike muzzles. Overall they gave an impression of savagery. "Susan, you step out and pull aggro" Maria said softly "when they engage you, I''ll start shooting" she looked my way and said "watch and heal this time so Susan can get a feel for how they fight. This one is to learn what works and what doesn''t" I was pleasantly surprised by the mature planning on the part of my emotional partner. I nodded and waved for them to start. Susan set her shield, raised her sword slightly, and stepped into the open area in front of the cave. Both gnolls growled what sounded like words in dog, then raised halberds and stalked forward. Both of them swung at the same time, with neither hitting Susan as she used her shield to block the strikes. She swept up and away with the shield before stabbing one of the gnolls before covering with the shield again. Maria watched calmly, arrow set, but didn''t shoot as Susan slowly stabbed and sliced both gnolls into pieces. I was really impressed with her shield work as she only took 35 points of damage while killing two level 6 gnolls. "Nice" I said as Susan picked up a handful of copper coins. She tossed me a quick grin before saying "They''re pretty predictable, and the halberds actually interfere if more than one is attacking" We moved into the cave following the set up we used with Dalmar. Maria scouting ahead, Susan behind her, and me close to Susan. The cave was probably ten feet wide, with stone floors that sloped gently downward and were periodically interrupted by stairs carved into the stone. We went down at least 4 or 500 hundred feet before reaching a doorway with another two gnoll guards. Susan pulled aggro again, but Maria joined in and killed one with arrows before it got in more than a single swing. I went ahead and healed Susan''s accumulated damage, 48 points, then had everyone wait while I did a blessing on each of them before doing my aura spell to up my armor. I restored a couple of times while I did this, and Maria used the time to pick the lock and disable a trap on it. "Wow, that''s a nice boost" Susan said quietly, her eyes looking up slightly as she looked at her interface "And you can regain your mana that quick?" Her approval felt good for some reason...probably because I was feeling kind of useless, but I just said "Priestly benefits" "Ok" Maria said "time to get to work. This place is going to be huge, so let''s get the upper levels knocked out as quick as possible since the lower ones will get slower as they spawn higher level creatures" This level seemed to be mostly guards and storage rooms. Seven rooms altogether, and a couple close enough that we drew gnolls from them as we attacked the room next to it. I ended up exchanging blows with a gnoll in the hall while Susan and Maria were killing three of them in the room. I was able to do the Fist every time, as the pause between thrusts or hacks from the halberd was long enough to give me time. These guys were all in 60 to 80 range for health, so I killed him with three Hits, which equalled five swings. My hit rate was getting better, which made me feel a lot more confident. Of course he did as much damage to me as I did to him, and I did a couple healings on all of us before doing a restore. Money was all of the copper and silver type, but Susan had picked up a couple of magic items. Nothing usable by a priest of course, and nothing the girls didn''t already have something at least as good of. Maria''s point about what the gnolls ate was true, and I was disgusted to see actual human body parts over fire pits. People can say what they want about us doing the same to other animals, and it was just natures way, but I''m more the ''study them after you kill them type'' when it comes to creatures that think you taste good with a dash of salt. And I have zero mercy for anyone who can deliberately harm a child. But the last gnoll on that floor gave me enough points to level up, something I had been looking forward to. Level 8 Specialization Choices Healer Priest class may choose one of the following specialization paths: Defender of the Faith Priest focuses on aiding those in need and protecting the oppressed. Spells will focus on group and individual protection and aid, while the priest''s personal aura will become a healing channel for your goddess''s will. Blessing spells now apply to all allied creatures within ten feet of priest Healing spells cost half mana +10 points health/level Armor spells 30% stronger Priest''s aura does following for allies within 10 feet of player: +5% stat boost to party members 10% damage reflected back on attacker +25% mana restore rate Wrath of the Goddess Priest focuses on punishing evil and leading in battle against those who oppose the will of your goddess. Spells will focus on delivering damage to your enemies and your aura will deliver your goddesses wrath on to her enemies Damage spells now do 30% more damage per hit +2 Strength +3 to hit Holy Flame may be used once a day with no mana cost Priest''s Aura does following: 5 points damage/second to attackers +15% hit damage all party members +1 Strength to all allies Your choice? If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Wow, this is what I''m talking about. Asskicker, you bet! I took a few seconds to be sure, but there wasn''t really any doubt before I said "Wrath of the Goddess!" I could see Maria and Susan watching me grin like a fool as I yelled those words but didn''t give a rats ass at the moment. Player has chosen Defender of the Faith I was still blinking in shock at the message when it disappeared and a different one showed up. Hey dickhead, I left you a little Easter egg to pay you back for that kick in the balls. It probably felt just like you do now....Tennant NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I screamed, then began throwing the left over armor and other trash into the walls before moving on to punching the wall as hard as possible, then healing myself to do it again. Maria and Susan just stood at the other end of the hallway with weapons drawn, watching me warily as I screamed hysterically for ten minutes. Absolute rage can only last so long, so when my endurance ran out, I finally laid on the floor, glaring at the ceiling as I read the message floating in my vision. Two spells added Resurrection Cast on self or other player Allows player to return with no loss of level to the place the player was killed Or Allows player to choose new spawn point Group Heal Heals completely all allies within 100 feet Once a day 140 mana Whatever. Like it made a goddamned bit of difference. I allocated my wisdom point and closed the stupid interface before I started crying in frustration. I hated every living thing in the universe for ten more minutes before standing up and telling Maria to quit wasting time, we needed to go kill something. Loser Healer Priest Level 8 (0%) STR 10 DEX 10 STA 20 INT 10 WIS 13 Health: 280 Mana: 130 Endurance: 200 Armor (+30%): 28 Defender of the Faith Priest focuses on aiding those in need and protecting the oppressed. Spells will focus on group and individual protection and aid, while the priest''s personal aura will become a healing channel for your goddess''s will. Blessing spells now apply to all allied creatures within ten feet of priest Healing spells cost half mana +10 points health/level Armor 30% stronger Priest''s aura does following for allies within 10 feet of player:: +5% stat boost to party members 10% damage reflected back on attacker +25% mana restore rate Spells: Telina''s Gaze (100%) Applies 55 points (+20%) of healing to the user or any creature selected 10 Mana/use Telina''s Fist(+75% activate) Applies 55(-15%) points of damage when activated and a successful hit is made 20 Mana/use (effective hit) Cure Disease Cures disease (Level+10) of any creature touched 40 Mana/use Telina''s Holy Blessing On creature: 55% increase in base stats 60% increase in healing rate Duration: 6 hours (+5%/level to level 10) On flora: 65% increase in growth rate 70% crop amount (+5%/level to level 10) 40 Mana/Use (Does not stack) Create Potions Healing potion: Vial of water with Telina''s Blessing + Telina''s Gaze Healing= Telina''s Gaze + Telina''s Blessing + 2(Faith) Cure Disease potion: Vial of water with Telina''s Blessing + Cure Disease Cures any disease Level 75 and below (Cool down 12 hours) Telina''s Flame Holy fire strikes to cause 115 points damage to creature chosen Splash damage: 25% damage to enemy creatures within 10 ft Double damage to undead (+5/level to 120 damage) 75 Mana/use Dispel Magic Dispel Level+5 magic on creature or area chosen -Does not dispel enchanted objects or potions -Does not dispel own castings (Cool down 4 hours) 75 Mana/use Create Rune Ability to learn and place runes of power Player determines activation requirements (Cool down 3 days) Rune of Flame: When activated by user will do 100 points +5/level of fire damage 100 Mana when placed Telina''s Protective Aura Player receives 10+level armor bonus for 2 hours (+30%) (Does not stack) 40 Mana/use Resurrection Cast on self or other player Allows player to return with no loss of level after next death at the location the player died Or Allows player to choose new spawn point (Cool down 7 days) Group Heal Heals completely all allies within 100 feet Once a day 140 mana +20% Healing Spell -15% Spell Damage + 1.2% hand to hand + 65% light armor + 45% Blunt Weapon + 70% Concentration + 55% Faith + 48% Cooking + 61% Repair We went down to the second level, encountering some kind of weird gnoll Mage who threw a fireball as soon as Susan stepped into the hallway to attract attention. There were four halberd bearers moving toward us when the fire exploded against Susan''s shield. The explosion knocked Maria over, staggered Susan, and startled me. Fireball 65 damage (-50% faith) The aura thing kicked in for the first time and I saw a burst of flame engulf the Mage. I did two quick healing spells, one each for Susan and Maria, watching it restore all the health they just lost. With all that done, I pulled out my mace, called on Fist, and waded into the fight. The Mage seemed stumped since he didn''t send another fireball, and he ended up dead after two arrows from Maria''s bow hit him. Being angry didn''t help me kick any ass, but it did feel cathartic to hit a gnoll in the head with my mace. With the Mage down it turned into a simple slugging match with me standing next to Susan while Maria shot arrows indiscriminately into the gnolls. I topped off Susan''s health after the four gnolls were dead, then listened to Maria yell at me for a time. "What the hell Jake, you freak out upstairs and now you go all Rambo on us. And what the hell happened with that gnoll shaman? Did you get some new spell" she waved an arm in frustration as she added "and speaking of new shit, what''s up with the 280 points of health?" I snorted at her histrionics but said "I just got 8 and specialized" I gritted my teeth in anger as I said "or I should say Tennant specialized me. He pre-picked some weak ass defensive priest specialization" She gave me the big eyes and said "no effing way! What an asshole" I waved a hand in dismissal as I said "So, I got a health boost and some kind of aura thing that reflects damage back. Supposedly anyone in ten feet benefits from it, but that might be bullshit" "Easy enough to check" Susan said, joining us after finishing gathering coins and magic items "stay back so they can''t hit you, then watch to see if they take damage hitting me" That got a shrug from me before I said "I need to be able to take some swings or I''ll never up any of my skills. As long as we''re dealing with these grunts I need the chance to be involved, so it''ll have to wait until we get lower" Susan gave me a frown and said "Your not here to..hey!" She yelled when Maria punched her in the arm, and she started to say something else, only to be cut off when Maria said "As Susan was about to say, your not here to listen to us say stupid shit, so we''ll let you tank a while. If the situation needs a change I''ll call it then" Maria wasn''t an idiot because she knew Susan was about to dig a hole she would have never pulled her ass out of. I just nodded my thanks to Maria and waved her forward. I might not be a warrior, but I had a crap load of health and the ability to heal with a thought, so the next level was spent with me up front getting cut up and beat down, but I also stood and took it until Maria and I killed every thing coming at us. This level was essentially a repeat of the last one, but with archers thrown in randomly. Another shaman showed up in the last room, but Maria called it before we entered, and Susan lead the way while I bounced some of his fireball back, then cast a couple heals to fix Susan and Maria. When we were down to just one halberd guy and one archer, I went ahead and got a finishing hit on the halberd guy. "Would Telina have a problem with you hiring out as a healer for dungeon crawls?" Maria asked quietly as Susan did her scavenging thing. I sent a mental ''so, you got any issues?'' Telina''s way, and got the emotional version of a shrug of assent. "She doesn''t have a problem with it" I said after a moment "but my ego has issues with being the caddy. I don''t take orders very well, and have zero interest in listening to some dickhead tell me to stay out of the way" "I get that" she said with her irrepressible grin "but having you along changes everything about this. Do you know I haven''t died once while with you? That''s freaking crazy compared to the way things were. We''ve done three levels of this place in as many hours, something that would have taken a couple of days because we had to rest and heal" she jerked her head Susan''s way and said even softer "She''s young, probably early twenties. Her spawn point is like yours, in the middle of the city square, but it''s a city, so she can''t buy the land to protect it. Jessie and his butt buddy Gram happened to be in town hunting me and caught her on her first spawn" Maria''s face hardened as she said "It was really bad. Dalmor and I killed them and set her free, but her head is still wrapped around what happened" Her eyes met mine as she added "you''re a guy, so she''s having problems with that" I sighed and rubbed my face as before saying "dammit Maria, can''t a guy sulk around here without you screwing it up?" She patted my arm, then surprised me by giving me a hug and saying "Just be you and things''ll work out" The fourth level had something new, a magical trap that Maria couldn''t undo. The first room that the stairs led into had a trap on the floor that she had no way of stopping, and had no idea what it did. "You think it''s a one time thing?" I asked. She gave a squint eyed sideways nod of her head and said "Likely. It would take an uber amount of magic to make it repeating, so it will probably only kill us the one time" the last part was said with a grin. "Seems like it''s fairly straightforward" Susan said "Choice 1, I go in and trigger the trap, hoping it doesn''t kill me and Jake fixes me after" she shrugged before saying "Choice 2, Jake goes in hoping that high health handles it. Or choice 3, we call it quits" "Choice 2" I said "my spawn point is safe, and this is..." I faded away as a thought occurred. I turned to give Susan a contemplative look, getting her to look nervous and irritated. I finally nodded and looked between the two of the to say "I received a new spell when I leveled. It''s so perfect for this that I almost think a goddess might be involved" I paused again as I considered that, but got the impression from Telina that it wasn''t her doing. Maria was looking impatient, so I said "It''s a resurrection spell. I cast it on you and it allows you to respawn at the place you die that one time with no loss of levels" I drew a deep breath and said "or it lets you change your spawn point" "Holy effing shit" Maria muttered, she blinked and reached out to put a hand on Susan''s arm, keeping the woman from saying anything, then Maria said to me "That''s some dangerous shit Jake. I''m beginning to think Tennant didn''t hate you, I think he had the hots for you. Being able to hide your spawn point, or putting it in a defensible location is a goddamn super power" she pointed at Susan and said "You''d do it for free, I know, but you do it for Susan and you can have 100% of the take on this crawl" Susan turned to face away from us, but we could hear she was crying as she said "Anything. Everything" I waved a hand dismissively before saying "I was going to offer after I had a chance to consider things. But I can only do it once every seven days, so we try it now, and it gives her or me a choice, what do you want to do?" Susan wiped her eyes as she turned back, but she was probably going through the same options I was. I step out and die, they have to wait until I return. If I use the spell on either of us to pass this barrier, then it wouldn''t be available for worse situations on lower levels. Or do we say to hell with the dungeon and set her free. "It''s your life, but it seems important enough to blow this off and come back later" I said "I mean this is all just for experience right?" Susan looked at Maria, who just grinned and said "Don''t be a goof. I say we decide where to set your spawn point and go" So that''s what we did. Susan had already picked up anything of value, so we just turned around and left. We set up camp at the same place we set up the night before we got to the dungeon. We did repairs to build up the skill, all of us repairing the same things, just in ascending order of skill level, and discussed our plans as we worked. "Maria has guards on her point" Susan said thoughtfully, looking back and forth between Maria and me "is that better than hiding it?" Maria shrugged and said "I''m planning on hitting Jake up to let me do it too. The house is good, but there are better and more defensible places" "If you don''t mind telling me, what did you do Jake?" Susan asked me "I''m friends with the townspeople, and I''ve paid them to add more guards" I said "and I''ve recently set up a shrine to Telina, Her presence should keep anyone from trying to put a trap there, or sit around waiting on me" "You paid for town guards?" Maria asked dubiously "How did you even manage to do that?" "Talked to the guard captain, he handled it. You gave me the idea, but I figured it would help everyone if they were town guards rather than just working for me" "I saw that shrine" Maria said suddenly "The one with coins right? It buffed my stats after I left a donation" I shook my head and said "it would have done that without the donation, but it didn''t hurt" "You talk like the goddess is real" Susan said doubtfully. I laughed at her tone, then told her "A real pain in the butt is what she is" getting a goddess giggle in my ear. I grinned as I added "She''s good people and other than not wanting me to get rich, we''re in agreement on everything else" "See, that''s what I mean, you act like you actually talk to her" "Mostly just emotional tones" I said "but she stopped by once and we had a good chat during the tutorial. She''s real and she cares about the locals, and I support that completely" "You are one strange dude Jake" Maria said with a laugh, before getting serious again to say "but I trust you and I think Susan should set her spawn point close to yours" I shrugged my acceptance thinking I might try preventing some asshole from setting up in Mudtown, but Susan, while kind of irritating, wasn''t a bad person. Susan gave me a questioning look, so I said "I don''t have a problem with it, and I''m sure Andulin and his people would look out for her" We called it a night at that point without committing to anything specific. I got a visit from Telina in a dream that night, a dream where I was sitting at my table at the Burning Mage inn, watching Mary do a strip tease. "My, my" Telina said as she walked in the front door. She stopped to give a half naked Mary a good look before giggling and joining me at my table. Mary faded away, getting me to lean back in my chair and say "If you start dancing it''ll get weird between us" she laughed a full throated laugh before saying "This may be a dream Loser, but it''s not that good a dream" Damn, there''s that loser thing again. She smiled at my obvious irritation before reaching out to pat my hand and say "I am sorry these things were done to you, but the overmaster did much good in his evil, and it is time you begin to accept what has been done and strive to use these gifts to aid our people" "Time" I said with a grin "it will definitely take time. I''ve made a start here, and Maria and Dalmar will be working for our cause within a year. Andulin has begun to adapt, and having Susan there will let him start seeing that not all eternals are evil" she smiled back and said "and I thought you were just being lazy as the archer said" "I''m lazy, but I''m nudging things in our direction" I said "we need to come to some agreement about the money though. If I have to be a healing caddy for dungeon crawls I''m going to charge for it. And I''m not changing people''s spawn points for free unless there is a need to do so. If someone wants to move it for convenience, I''m going to charge a fortune" "All acceptable Loser" she said "I will only object when to charge for an item or service is a hardship upon the buyer. One who needs a potion of healing or for curing a disease will use it to reduce suffering. To make one pay because it is bought to prevent future suffering would be an evil even should the buyer do well because of his planning" "Yeah, I got the gist. An example of charity, even to those who do not deserve it" "Yes. The overworld is no longer sending eternals to Tarinath, but there are two thousand and twenty-nine already here. This is a minuscule number compared to all that our world encompasses, but they will begin to draw power to themselves, and as you surmised, wars will be fought to control the spawn points. What the woman, Susan, has suffered through has been done to others. In the places that eternals have chosen to rule, the locals as they are called by eternals, are treated as slaves. The ones who act this way will need to be dealt with, but you must strive to prevent knowledge of your spell from spreading, as it will focus interest on us before we are ready to forward our own agendas" "No shit. I knew it was going to be a major pain in the ass before I suggested it, but Susan and the eternals like her have suffered enough" I gestured to indicate the tavern "the locals have to begin living for themselves if we ever want to keep the eternals from ruling everything. If the locals begin thinking on their own, this area is going to become public enemy number one on the eternal''s hit list" She stood, patting my hand as she did so, then walked to the door, but stopped and looked back to say "You are unique upon this world my priest, and it gives me great joy to have you walk this path with me" then she gave me a sly grin as she left and Mary came back. undefined Reply undefined Forward Chap 11: My buddy Bruce I could see Susan was less than impressed with my little town, but there had been improvements even in the week I had been gone. The inn was no longer our only wooden building, with the appearance of two that had replaced a couple of the old thatched roof versions. An archer and a swordsman stood at the post marking the start of the town and I got "Welcome Priest Loser" from both of them. We stabled the horses at the inn, but I didn''t go in yet, deciding to get Susan''s things sorted out first. The cup was now reading 25 feet, so I knew the effects were spreading. The other priest in Telinar had said something about that when I talked to him, so I guessed it wasn''t dangerous. What was the saying ''one cup to rule them all and in the darkness bind them'', or some such. The captain and Mirabeth were strolling our way from the other side of town, so I waved them over to make introductions. "Captain, Mage Mirabeth, these are friends of mine, Maria and Susan" I pointed to each, then let the two groups eye each other, interested in seeing how they would react. I was rather pleased when the Captain led the way with "It pleases me to meet those that Loser calls friends. I give you welcome to our town, and ask that you give our people some small time to accustom themselves to your presence as eternals are hated by many" "Rightly so" Mirabeth said sternly "as they view any who are not eternal as a lesser people and think little of stealing their lives and properties" she paused and gave me a chagrined look before saying "but that is not true with our priest and you, if you have gained his trust, and you must also have gained some respect from the goddess Telina if you are able to stand in her presence" Maria and Susan looked a little confused by the words, and I was shocked when Andulin picked up on it and said "Telina''s shrine damages those who work contrary to her teachings. Those such as the three eternals killed here some weeks ago would burn with Telina''s holy flame were they to enter this market area now" "Aah" Maria said to me "the protection you mentioned" "Yep. The shrine can''t be moved, and the eternal assholes will take damage just standing within 25 feet of it" I gave Susan a serious look as I said "so if you start working contrary to her will, you might find this to be an uncomfortable spawn point" "You''re her priest right?" Susan asked "So we would be basically be the good guys around here, and I can support that" "Alright, let''s do this then" I looked at Andulin and said "I would be pleased if we could speak this evening at the inn" he and Mirabeth nodded, getting close to a half bow before leaving. "How come they act so normal?" Susan asked "the Mage even offered an opinion" "They grow as you interact, and they are all normal, just not old reality normal" Maria chuckled at my words, but stepped out of the way as I turned to Susan and said "Ok, this is the first time for the spell, so I''m not sure if I choose what it does, or you do. So be flexible and when you choose a spawn point, make it about three feet to one side of the cup" She nodded, so I pulled up the spell and began screwing with it to see what it took to make it work. I touched Telina''s power, then thought of the spell and kind of pushed it at Susan. There was a huge flare of light around her that didn''t fade as she said in a half yell like she was in a noisy room "Ok!, it''s working. It''s asking if I wish to be resurrected one time at the point of my next death" she spoke a little softer as she said "No" then louder again to say "Alright, now it''s asking if I want to choose a new point of rebirth" the quieter "yes" followed. She didn''t say anything for a few seconds, then took a couple steps to put herself a few feet from the cup before saying "At this location" The light flared to an intense level, causing everyone in the square to cover their eyes, and it stayed that way for a count of three before disappearing, taking Susan with it. "Um..." I muttered just before Telina whispered "She will be reborn at this point in one hour" I sent a non-verbal thanks, then told Maria "Telina says she''ll show up at her spawn point in an hour, so we have a little while" "I hope so" Maria said with a grin "otherwise she''s going to be really pissed at you" she waved that away and said "but it makes sense that you''d want to see it work before actually dying" I took her over and introduced her to Seth again, and we began to wander the town, talking as we waited. "You need to let her pay you for this or it''ll eat at her that she owes you" Maria said "this is a huge, huge thing for her, and if you act like it''s not important it''s going to hurt" "Like what?" I asked. She shrugged before saying "take the magic stuff from the dungeon. We all split the coin, but we give you the whole magic haul. It''s not really great stuff, but there''s probably an item or two you can use, and the rest should be worth a few dozen gold. We''re not finished with the dungeon yet, so we can give you her share of normal magic items on the rest" "Shit, that''s a lot a money Maria" my words drawing a laugh from her as she said "That''s the noob in you talking. This is one low level dungeon Jake. I''ve done a dozen just like it, and will probably do a thousand more in the future. We''ll probably find one or two really good items, the rest''ll be stat rings and low level armor and weapons" Telina wasn''t nagging me one way or the other, and I did have a possible use for the various types of magic beyond money, so I finally shrugged and said "Sure" Susan showed up an hour later, stepping out of nothing with an apprehensive look on her face that transformed into a brilliant smile as she looked around the square. We let her get her bearings before Maria said "Welcome home traveler" "I''m free" Susan said softly "only you two know about this, so it will take a long time for them to find me again" "Us" I said "they''ll have to deal with both of us if they plan to camp out around here" "Us" Susan said with a grin Susan immediately offered to give me all of her gold, but Maria eased her into the idea of the magic by saying "Don''t let the name and dumb expression fool you, Jake''s a nice guy and wanted to do what was right. You give him too much and he''ll start feeling like he took advantage of you, and you wouldn''t want that" she mock whispered "Cries like a little girl, it''s really pathetic. Don''t make me suffer through it" "That''s what I like about you Maria, you really know how to make a guy feel important" I said with a laugh as we entered the Inn. Mary ran over to give me a hard hug and kiss before whispering a couple suggestions in my ear. Susan looked a little suspicious about that, but Maria broke into her infectious giggles as she said "did you know elves have really good hearing" I was pleased to see Mary blush, the response more than I had expected at this point, as I said "No l did not know that, but I had heard that they were a pain in the fundament and can verify that rumor is true" Andulin smiled at our teasing, and even Mirabeth gave her tight lipped grin as we sat down with them. Mary supplied ales all around before I raised my mug at Susan and said "Welcome to Mudtown, home to really good people, and blessed of Telina" The others offered their own welcomes, then I passed over the magic items to Andulin as everyone looked surprised. Smiling, I told the table "The captain, Mirabeth, and the other guards keep us safe. Susan and I will draw unwelcome attention from other eternals just by our existence, so anything we can do to strengthen them or make their lives easier is a benefit to everyone" The most useful of the items were: "Ring of Recovery +15% mana recovery rate (does not stack) +2 Sword of Strength +2 to Strength Chain mail of Defense +1 Dexterity +5% chance to dodge attack +10% Magic resistance Ring of the Magi +20% mana recovery rate (does not stack) -15% mana requirement for AOE spells +10 armor Boots of Agility +2 Dexterity +20% armor against ranged weapons The boots were left overs from a while back, but the rest was from the gnolls. Every damn item said not usable by priests. Discrimination is what it was. I let Andulin sort out who got what, told him to sell anything he couldn''t use, and I was super shocked to learn that other than mages, the locals didn''t have magic weapons and armor. Guess I wasn''t the only one with discrimination complaints. "Only time will tell whether your presence harms the people of Mudtown" Mirabeth said in her stern voice "but lamenting the existence of the eternals is a fools game. They are as much a part of this world as the dragons and the orcs, and it is by their actions they will be judged. Word has reached us of the eternal named BigBob..." She paused at my sudden laugh, then continued with a scowl for my interruption "and the lesson for those who are willing to learn, is that being eternal can also be a curse in itself" "Loser is of Mudtown, as is Susan now" Andulin said "to the guard there is little else by which we will judge" "BigBob?" Susan asked "Asshole" Maria said "Three mages killed him, then dug a pit below his spawn point. He falls in, the guards finish him off, rinse and repeat. He had been abusing the villagers, so they have a lot of reasons for seeing him dead" she shrugged and added "or as dead as he will get?" "Three mages?" Maria put on a pious expression and said "I hear they were led by an elf maiden whose beauty caused awe in all who saw her, and her two compatriots, while very ugly in comparison, were devoted to her and would have gladly sacrificed themselves for a simple kiss from her radiant lips" "Radiant lips?" I asked with a laugh "her lips were glowing? I heard the elven Mage had been touched by the goddess and it caused her to continually laugh like a hyena while in battle" Maria gave me a glare and said "and I heard..." "that the two of you are full of bullshit" Susan said dryly "So you killed him and set a trap at his spawn point" "That''s why you need friends in this world" I said "and these guys need to remember that they''re not gods" Susan took a room at the inn. She split the coin from our crawl, giving each of us 46 gold, 37 silver, 113 copper, then stopped at Telina''s cup and dropped in 20 silver, saying "No one in this world offers generosity like this, and the fact you are judged when you get close is just to great for words for keeping people from stealing" We headed back out the next day , with none of us having anything important we needed to do. Susan was a lot more talkative now that she wasn''t worried every moment that she might die and find herself fighting for her life. The thought made me ask "These two guys that are preying on people, is that something you would be interested in stopping?" Maria sighed and turned to sit sideways in her saddle to face me as she said "Well, that took longer than I thought it would. Jess and Gram have been here as long as Dalmar, and both are straight up warriors. They both were 200 health, and are wearing max magic shit. The biggest issue is that they''re not total morons like Boob was, just sick fucks" "They always together? At her shrug and head shake, I asked "do you know their spawn point?" "All the first wave people got put in the Romar empire, though Dalmar got the dwarf city since he chose to be a dwarf of all things. The douche brothers are from one of the Romarian cities on the southern side of the empire where it curves around the west side of the Abandoned Lands. They don''t come this far east much, mostly doing crawls to the south along the Orc border, or on the western border of the Abandoned Lands, which is where Averdeen is. They do the whole village terrorizing thing for a week or two, then move on" she shook her head in doubt as she added "Riverbend, the city they spawn in, is an empire border city, so it''s a walled fortress with a local governor and large guard force. I think twenty or thirty people spawn there, and they use the back alley layout that was the norm at first. They didn''t start setting spawn points right in the town square until later, and even then it was hit or miss" she shrugged and added "wonder what they do now" "Nothing, Telina said they''ve stopped sending people" Maria gave a grin and said "She whisper that in your ear?" "A dream actually, but I would put your money on it being true" I said "but back to the douche boys, we need to be thinking about how we plan to deal with people like them in the long term" I held up a hand and added quickly "I''m not saying right now, but if we don''t deal with them, they''ll deal with us as we start interfering in their fun" The gnoll caverns were right where we left them, and no one had respawned, something Maria chalked up to the fact we were in the middle of a quest. We weren''t thrilled to find the trapped floor waiting for us, but mapped out a strategy to get through. Susan would be the sacrificial lamb, Maria''s term, one Susan wasn''t thrilled with, and Susan would step out and wait. I and Maria would move up the stairs a ways to avoid missile weapons, but close enough I could see and heal Susan if necessary. We were four days from my next resurrect spell, so if she croaked, Maria and I would wait at the cavern entrance. I cast a blessing on the group, something that really buffed the hell out of people (not me though damn it), then did a restore and told Susan "Good luck" When Susan stepped down onto the hall floor, she was hunched behind her shield, ready to be blasted. She wasn''t ready for a soft green mist to form at her feet, so it took a yell from Maria for her to look down. It was fast acting, because Susan suddenly collapsed, and we could see her health start dropping. As I cast my first heal spell, Maria muttered "Shit, why didn''t I tie a rope to her". I watched Susan''s health get restored for a second before dropping again. Gauging the amount of loss I decided it would take more than thirty seconds to kill her. Casting another heal spell, I told Maria "I think we''re good. Even if I have to restore mana, it shouldn''t kill her before I''m done" "Well good" Maria said with a grin "because she would have been pissed to lose the experience" Whatever it was, it was long lasting because I did have to do a restore before going back to healing Susan. With the low mana cost for my healing now, that meant this stuff would have killed her many times over. When it finally dissipated, we joined Susan, who wasn''t any worse for wear, having been out the whole time. "I wonder if dispel magic would have worked on it?" I muttered as we moved on, getting a muttered "Doubtful. Gases aren''t usually dispellable. Is that a word, dispellable?" from Maria. Drawing a quiet laugh from Susan. Instead of the doors lining the hallway like the other levels, this one came to a four way intersection with hallways going about forty feet before ending at doors. There were two gnolls at each door, and since we were just moseying along without a care in the world, we drew aggro from all of them. We backed down our hallway a few feet, then posted Susan at the front as we went into our standard fight configuration. A buffed up Susan was pretty darn tough, and she held the line while dealing out a lot of damage in between being hit by a bunch of halberds. The gnolls were so bunched up I finally said the hell with it and called holy flame down on them. It killed the one it hit, and did beaucoup damage to the others. Enough that Maria started killing them one at a time with her arrows. I restored my mana, healed Susan again, and cast my armor spell, embarrassed that I had totally spaced it out. The spell pushed my armor rating up to the fifty level, which was good by anyone''s numbers. "Nice not having to worry about splash damage when someone uses fire" Susan said "got killed early on from friendly fire from a Mage, Sauron if you can believe the gall. Guy was an absolute idiot. I think he might have actually been mentally handicapped" "Met him. Complete brain fart" Maria said as she worked on the door in the hallway to our right. She stepped back after a moment and said "Ok, it''s clear" looking around with a pensive expression she added "Setups like this usually mean two tough fights and one really tough fight before finding a way onward" "Stab, then stab some more" Susan said as she set herself in front of the door "always works for me" and that''s what she did. I opened the door and Susan stepped forward to block it. The door opened into a twenty by twenty room that seemed small compared to everything else, but it had two shamans and something that looked like a gnoll on steroids. Gnoll Captain Level 9 165 health My first attempt to call holy fire got interrupted by something from one of the shamans. A dark light flared around us and I got Gnorgish soul poison Drains 30% stamina Reduces hit chance 45% I was gratified to see a sudden flare around one of the shamans, but ignored it to cast a dispel on my party. Maria was peppering the shamans with arrows, cycling between them to disrupt their castings. I didn''t have the mana to cast holy flame now, so healed Susan, and followed that with one for Maria when she got hit by magic missiles (hate those things, why couldn''t I have gotten some?), then stepped back and did a restore. When I was done, I did another heal on Susan, who had the captain down to about 30 health, and was about to cast the damn holy flame spell on the shaman Maria hadn''t killed, when someone stabbed me right in the kidney. Wow! That really, really, really hurt. It took off 180 points, and left me stunned for three seconds. I might have picked up my first death if Maria hadn''t swiveled around to shoot the gnoll assassin that had snuck up and stabbed me. My first act was to drink a potion, then I pulled out my mace and started swinging. Three on three meant the odds were in our favor. Maria was just too good for the shaman to manage anything more than a couple magic missile spells. They hurt, but not enough to stop someone at Maria''s level. Susan had already tenderized her opponent, so she finished him off pretty quick. My guy had a wicked back stab, but was weak on his facing game. I mace bitch slapped him with Fist twice, and once without, and that was all she wrote. I was standing there finally feeling like a bit of a badass when Maria said "Assassins, if that first stab don''t kill you, it''s like fighting a kitten. A three legged kitten with only one eye. And no teeth. And..." "Alright!" I yelled grumpily "We all get it. Kittens, got it already!" No one said anything for a moment as Maria let out a couple of soft giggles as she worked on a locked chest, then we heard Maria say quietly "And has seizures" Susan started laughing as I flipped Maria off and stomped over to the door to glare at the two of them. They exchanged weak cat ideas, giggling like children until they got the chest opened. Maria made a Hmmm noise before saying "Must be your birthday Jake" I walked over to look, expecting some kind of kitten joke, but instead I saw my greatest dream come true. Mace of Holy Lightning 18-32 damage +10% hit chance 10 points electrical damage 60/60 durability Usable by:Priests I almost wept from happiness. With this and the Fist, I could finally do ass kicking damage. I picked it up reverently, running my hand up the leather wrapped, steel handle that ended in the classic steel ball with triangular spikes scattered densely around it. Little arcs of electricity jumped from spike to spike, making it seem to shimmer with power. I held it in one hand, gauging the weight and finding it perfect. Slowly raising it to the sky I proclaimed loudly "I name you...Bruce!" We all broke down laughing for a while, with Maria explaining to Susan the dearth of magic items for priests and how I had been using my mace of major inadequacy for a while now. Not that I was discarding my original mace, it still had a rune on it, and I planned to use that against someone first. Speaking of which, I went ahead and blessed the mace, did a restore, and put a clobberin rune on Bruce. Susan was a fascinated observer, and was even more interested when Maria told her I had given her (Maria) two exploding arrows. I was very pleased when Susan didn''t start importuning me for her own rune. With Bruce the Mighty in my hand we headed out to try our luck on the door directly across from this one. Doing the center door last just seemed appropriate. This room brought a new creature to my attention Stone Golem Level 12 400 health WTF? It looked like an eight foot man carved out of a solid piece of rock. Maria led us off with "Stone golem. Arrows don''t do shit. Sword is half damage. A lot of magic doesn''t work, so Hit and run, he''s slow as hell, but does major damage" Alrighty then. We started a dance where one after another we dashed in, swung for whatever damage we could, then dashed away. My mace did the most damage per hit, the maximum actually, but Susan''s and Maria''s swords were doing maybe 10 or 15. Maria was way to fast for it, but both Susan and I took hits from the things fists, and they always did 75 points of damage. I was tempted to have Maria back away, but she was smart enough to know her own abilities. We ended up having one of us hide and eating something to restore endurance because we wore down from the running and fighting. When the darn thing finally collapsed into a pile of rubble, Susan yelled "Level up!" We settled in while Susan waved her arms and mumbled to herself. Maria sat next to me and leaned sideways to bump shoulders before saying softly "Thanks for Susan. I know you aren''t in it for the recognition, but...thanks" I shrugged and said "She''s good people, like you are" Susan came out of her trance about ten minutes later, making me wonder what she was doing that took so long. She drew a deep breath and grinned down at us sitting on the floor and said "Telina said to tell you your welcome for the mace" "Get outta town" Maria said "Paladin of Telina?, The grin stretched Susan''s cheeks as she nodded. Maria took pity on my confused look and said "The choice doesn''t even appear for most people, and we don''t know the how''s or whys of who gets a choice. They''re rare, or at least Dalmar and I have never met one. Dalmar was so pissed when he only got the holy warrior choice. Each goddess is different, and I bet she''s the first one that chose Telina" Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. "I am" she said, smiling at me as I stood up "with no more eternals coming in, only the ones like me who are below level 8 can give the goddesses a chance at gaining one" I had had the same thought the other day concerning priests, and had spent time considering the role the goddesses would be playing in the lives of everyone on Tarinath. If they relied on faith for power, having an active priest or paladin would be a huge benefit. There were layers of power in play on this world, and I had no doubt those layers would impinge at some point. I needed to make a note to ask her about the cup and whether there might be more. My level was at 21%, so I had seen a serious slow down since I reached 8. Of course I probably only had a bunch of new healing type spells to look forward to. Shrugging it off I followed the girls to door number three, then watched until Maria said "No traps" I raised my mace and said "Well, Some one knock and tell them Avons calling" We''d just spent like two hours beating on a golem, so what do you think was inside? You called it (or not) a shaman and a golem. What a freaking mess. Susan got to test out her new Paladin shit (which I really didn''t hate her for. Healer? Who the hell picks healer???) Anyway, she was kind of badass, with a boost to health and a weird flame on her sword (I know it was Telina''s flame, but if that two timing goddess didn''t give me mace flame, she wasn''t getting credit for the other thing) that put a hurting on big stony. Maria and I dealt with the shaman, a level 15, which seemed way over powered, and I ate his spells of fire, poison, and magic missiles, continuously healing the damage while Maria filled him full of arrows. After he died we ended up helping Susan since those golems were serious health monsters. Susan used a potion at one point since I was busy healing myself. "Holy shit" Maria said after it was over, looking around in amazement "They gave this quest to a level 7?" "I think the system is adapting" I said as I gave Susan a nod and muttered "You kick ass" as she picked up the loot. Two chests this time, which kept Maria busy for a few minutes. There was a nice sword that Susan swapped hers for, telling me "my old one is pretty nice, so the captain or one of his men can use it" The door downward was hidden, and Maria did some weird eye glowing thing that revealed it actually being a section of the floor. She pushed a series of points, which caused it to sink down to reveal more stairs. We ran into a couple level 8 guards that we polished off pretty easily, and found ourselves in a large cavern full of holding pens. Bars that ran from floor to ceiling and caged in sections throughout the whole cavern, leaving a walkway down the middle. The cages held a variety of animals and people, with the people running the gamut of races, but humans being in the majority. "Food" Maria muttered "Let''s see if we can get the cages open" I said distractedly, eyeing a few children huddled amongst the different groups. I raised my voice so everyone could hear and said "We''ll have you out in a few minutes" I was surprised at the lack of excitement at our killing of the guards, but Maria made me understand why when she said "Um...they''re part of the dungeon Jake. They just respawn here if you let them out" I turned to look at her in surprise before saying "So? You don''t just leave people to get eaten do you?" Her face told me she had, and I had to hold back a sharp word as I walked over to where a middle aged man in rags was standing in a cell and asked him "Can you find your way back out when we free you?" He seemed surprised I was talking to him and he just stared for a moment, but finally said "You''re an eternal. What do you care what happens to us?" "What difference does that make?" I asked in return "I''m going to open the cells, so you either stay and be dinner, or walk out of this place and go home" "No home left" a young woman said softly from the cell behind me. I turned toward her as another person said "Gnolls destroyed it and took us all" The attitude of apathy regarding possible escape confused the hell out of me, so my tone was a little impatient as I said "So, go to a different town and start over. Pick up any weapons or armor you can use or sell on the way out and you should have enough to at least get situated" "No one will take in strangers" an old woman said, sounding as if I was an idiot for not knowing that. I threw my hands up in disgust as I said "Oh for Telina''s sake, then wait outside the cavern and I''ll take you to my town. By the time we get there we won''t be strangers anymore and you can build a place there" The prisoners all stood still, blinking in confusion for a second, then started whispering and arguing amongst themselves. I rolled my eyes and gave Maria an impatient wave to tell her to get the cages open. She shook her head in bemusement as she chuckled and muttered "Always gotta be different" Susan walked over to stand next to me, watching as the locals continued their whispered discussions. She finally said softly "I''ve always left them behind" "Priest" the guy I first talked to said, getting me to step back over "How can you speak for this town? Do you rule it? None here will follow you to become slaves to an eternal" "At least you wouldn''t be dinner" I said with a grin before waving that away and saying "but no, I don''t rule the town. I live there and can say that I believe the people will accept you. If they don''t, then I''ll help you start your own village close by" "It is an unusual thought that we might begin anew somewhere else, but we have agreed to follow you to this town and see what comes of it" "Whatever works" I said with a shrug "pick up everything you can on the way out, then make camp outside the cavern. We''ll join you after we finish" It looked to be about fifty people of assorted ages, with a couple of half elves mixed in. They filed past, all of them giving us doubtful looks but not arguing anymore. Maria joined me and Susan after she opened the last cage and said "So...refugees" "Doesn''t this mess up...things?" Susan asked, looking around the cavern like she was wondering if it would disappear. I laughed and shook my head in amazement before saying "Mess up what? The gnolls dinner? This is a whole new universe, and it''ll change and adapt. Maybe the gnolls respawn with new people here, or maybe they have to find a new food source. Or maybe none of them come back and we turn this into an underground theme park. If the system really couldn''t handle it I doubt we would be able to make these choices, so I plan to live like my decisions mean something, and leaving children behind to be eaten isn''t going to be one of them" Maria laughed and headed toward the back of the cave, saying over her shoulder to Susan "Looks like that Paladin of Telina thing is going to keep you busy, doesn''t it?" The cavern ended with another door, that when opened, revealed the ubiquitous stairs going down. They were wide and shallow, and followed a gentle curve that led to a door with two guards. The guards were level 11 senior guards, and both had a kind of chain mail on that told us things were going to get tougher. Susan stepped forward to pull aggro, and she exchanged a couple swings with the two until Maria started hitting them with arrows, then one peeled off to go for her. I stepped in front of that one and did my own version of a tank, finding the armor spell upgrade made a huge difference in the damage I would take. In base damage numbers the gnoll had me beat, but adding in the electrical damage from the mace, and the periodic Fist I called up, I was beating him down pretty quickly. Maria actually killed both of them after their health dropped enough for her 25 points of damage to finish them off. I healed Susan and I as Maria said "looks like tough work ahead if the door guards are 11''s" She was right of course, as we found when I pulled the door open and Susan stepped forward. Two shamans, two more guards, and another steroid captain were standing in the large room beyond. We were hit with a fireball and some kind of debuff curse, that set Susan on her ass, damaged Maria and I, and meant I did two quick heals before doing a dispel. The shamans suffered some reflected damage that slowed them for a moment, but not long enough for me to get the dispel done and do a restore. Maria concentrated on the shamans, but they began peppering me with magic missiles and those damn ice spikes that hit me and slowed me for a second. I focused on healing Susan as she took a constant series of stabs and slices from the three warrior types. The door helped keep all three from hitting together, but they still could thrust those halberds past the one in front. I eventually drank a potion, saving my mana for the quick heals to Susan. Maria made out great since the shamans focused on me, accepting the reflected 10% damage in return in an attempt to keep me suppressed. Her arrows took the first one down after she got four in him, about the same time Susan killed the captain, leaving a wounded shaman and two untouched guards. I used the last of my mana to bring Susan to full health, then raised Bruce and waded into the scrum at the door. This shit still hurts, no doubt about it, but the longer you live in this world the more the pain becomes just another sensation, sort of like being hot or cold. I took a few good hits, and that damn shaman kept hitting me with ice spikes, but our opponents all fell pretty close to the same time, leaving us standing over a pile of armor and coins, sort of stunned by the abrupt ending. "You are da bomb!" Susan said, grinning at me "having those healing spells makes this shit fun" "Yeah, ole Jakes the man" Maria said as she slipped into the room "I love, love, love, how these things don''t take days and days to complete" she began working on a chest as she continued saying "I bet Dalmar is somewhere right now sitting on a dungeon floor waiting for his health to restore, envying the hell out of me" she giggled and added "I''ll send a note later to make sure" I did a mana restore, then healed us back up while they were talking. Susan policed up the loot, and Maria eventually gave me a ring from the chest that I was able to use Ring of Wisdom +1 to player''s Wisdom attribute Usable by: Priests Neat. The additional wisdom point gave me twenty more mana points, which translated into a couple extra healing spells if I needed it. The girls seemed to have decent magic equipment, but I didn''t ask about the particulars. It did make me think about how many of these crawls Susan had to have done in her short time to have accumulated it all. Did everyone just leap into doing quests? In response to me voicing that question, Maria said "Most of us started in places with more than one player spawning there. You and Bigboobs are kind of the exception, so you didn''t have the threat other players offered hanging over you. Most of us are here because we''re criminals, so yeah, you start leveling up to survive" That made sense, when you considered the eternals as the apex predators here. Being deleveled would put BigBob in a world of hurt if he ever got free since he would be at the mercy of the other eternals until he got the levels back. It might be worth talking with him about swearing an oath to Telina in exchange for my help and protection. Thoughts for later though. We started through a series of rooms, all connected by doors, all holding fairly high level gnolls, and in one case, a goblin wizard. He looked a lot like Betty, but this guy was level 13, and had a staff that seemed to shoot an endless stream of magic missiles, disproving Mirabeth''s statement about staves not holding spells. The reflection thing didn''t seem to work against them, which meant Susan fought the two gnoll lieutenants, while Maria shot at the goblin. He had something that seemed to make her miss about half the time, which shocked the hell out of me since I had decided the elf woman never missed. I finally put the little bastard down with a flame spell, then did a healing on Susan and Maria as they finished off the two gnolls. We took a break after that fight, eating some food and just decompressing for a little while. "I''ll give this staff to Mirabeth" Susan said as Maria cooked "it seemed pretty useful if she wants to try it" I nodded agreement, but didn''t offer an opinion, not knowing anything about how the mages stuff worked. Did their mana count for the staff, or was it like a gun with endless bullets? Like everything else, it didn''t work for priests, so it wasn''t something I was too interested in. "I''m thinking the final boss is going to be one mean mofo" Maria said as we got ready to move on "at least I hope it''s just one. Fighting more than one really strong boss would be a problem" I laughed and said "Understatement of the month" It turned out that Maria was a bit of a prophet since the door we thought would lead to just another room like the rest, opened into a large throne room. It was a hundred feet long and thirty feet wide, with a throne sitting on a raised platform at the opposite end from us. Maria groaned and said "Shit. You just know this is going to suck" She sighed and moved forward, signaling for us to wait. She hadn''t taken three steps when a huge gnoll appeared on the throne, and a cage with a young woman appeared beside his pedestal. The gnoll stood up, quite a ways actually, as he had to be 8 or 9 foot tall, and he picked up a huge halberd that had fire flickering along its blade. I was surprised when he said "Telina''s champions, come to steal my little morsel from me" he leered at Maria and said "and you ranger, did you enjoy hunting my people? I believe you will find your cowardly bow will not help you here" "Whatever" Maria said in a bored tone as she held up a hand, palm facing the gnoll "talk to the hand" The words got the gnoll to pause and look confused as I barked out a laugh. He finally gave a doggy sneer and said "I will do more than talk to it, in fact I plan to enjoy the taste of it when this is over" "Good come back" Susan said, getting a nod of agreement from me. Maria chuckled before moving forward with Susan and I following her. As soon as we all cleared the door it swung shut, not really surprising any of us. What did surprise us was the big stone golem that appeared standing next to the big gnoll. Gnoll Prince Level 18 150 health Stone Golem Level 18 500 health "Man, I hate being right all the time" Maria said as we eyed the golem. It was a good fifteen feet tall and had a long stone club in one hand. She rolled her shoulders as our two groups eyed each other, well not the golem since he didn''t have eyes, but you get what I mean. I nodded to myself and started handing two extra potions to the girls as I said "Susan and I on the gnoll. You keep the golem occupied until we finish?" Maria took the potions with a nod before giving our opponents a hard look. She finally said "do it quick and don''t forget the golem. That club means he won''t have to get to close to hit you" We started forward as the gnoll waved the golem toward us. Maria shot an arrow that chipped the golems face and got it to orient on her. Unfortunately that was when Susan decided to try out a new ability and called down a weaker version of my holy flame, on the wrong target. It hit the golem, doing 40 points of damage while totally causing it to orient on her. "Oh crap!" Maria yelled "New plan, Susan runs away from Goliath, Jake kills the dog, while I try to distract Goliath enough to keep Sue alive" I didn''t waste time talking, just running around the golem while yelling "By Telina''s bouncy bosom, it''s Clobberin Time!!" Maria''s high pitched giggles followed me as I charged the gnoll, with me managing to get a face full of fire as the gnoll stepped toward me and raised a hand. Great, he uses magic too. Fire Bolt 35 damage (-55% faith) It did a bounce for a few points on the gnoll and didn''t do much more than distract me. His halberd hit hard for another 50 points, and I could see him curse when he got slapped with 5 points. When I hit him a second later, those first couple of splash back hits ended up costing him. My mace connected with a side swing to his middle, with the subsequent explosion from the rune throwing him sideways against the wall, where he sagged for an instant, giving me a shocked look, before falling down into a pile of armor. Healer my ass. I swapped weapons and turned to see Susan running very quickly away from the golem, only to get swatted when the club came around to catch her on her shield. I healed her twice as I was running toward them, afraid the golem would finish her before she could drink a potion. My "By Telina''s luscious lips...Its Clobberin Time!!!" Blended with Maria''s "Hey rock head, Special Delivery" Our explosions occurred so close together they sounded like one. It knocked the golem on its ass and he hit me with an arm as he fell. I rolled up and changed weapons, before calling Fist. Susan was chopping at the things head while it was down, distracting it enough to allow me to get in a quick blow. It got back to its feet, still showing 197 health, making me decide running away was the better part of valor. All of us met at the throne, turning back to watch the golem start toward us. "I have another arrow" Maria said, getting me to shake my head no and say "Save it. I''ll call down holy fire which should allow Susan to finish it" And we did. That emptied my mana tank, and Susan had to use a potion, but she killed it before I finished restoring my mana. We all flopped down on the steps at the base of the throne, exhausted and all at the bottom of our endurance. None of us had the energy to deal with the captive right now. "It''s Clobberin time?" Susan asked, looking at me out of the side of her eyes. Maria was on my other side and she said "Bouncy bosom?" The questions got a shrug from me and I gave them a superior look as I said "Hey, she''s really hot, and you can have a worse role model than the Thing" Susan looked up at the same time I heard Telina giggle in my ear. Her eyes widened in surprise before she said "Holy shit, I heard that. Does she do that a lot?" I gave a sort of yes-no shake of the head as Maria asked who she was. "Freaking goddess" Susan said with a grin "she laughed at what he said. I heard it" Maria waved a hand in disdain as she said "Of course, you hang around Jake long enough you''ll figure out she keeps him around for the laughs" she squinted at me thoughtfully before adding "more at, than with, I''m thinking" Darn goddess laughed again, probably reinforcing Maria''s slander in Susan''s mind. I rolled my eyes and held up my hand to say "to the hand, as a silly person I know once said" The treasure was in a huge chest behind the throne, and Susan came up with a helmet that had a bird molded onto it with the wings coming down against her cheeks, that sort of looked like something from LOTR, but did look cool on her. It added a strength point and some armor buffs, so a nice addition. Four other generic pieces (no priests allowed), and a nice pile of coins. It also had another ruby and a big emerald which the girls gave to me. Susan''s rescue was an early twenties girl who spoke like she was a princess, which she might have been, though I didn''t pay enough attention to figure it out. She seemed locked in the quest persona so I didn''t spend much time trying to expand her programming any. Nicely enough we didn''t have to escort her home, just free her from the dungeon. There was a horse waiting at the entrance of the cavern, and she gave Susan some magical widget before hopping on the horse and riding away. "That''s what I''m used to from locals" Susan said "the ones in Mudtown are so different" "Jakes corrupting influence" Maria said absently as we watched the crowd of prisoners wander over. The spokes guy from the jail was leading them and he stopped in front of me and said "All have decided to accept your offer of a new home. The children and elderly will be slow if it is very far" "Probably six days walking" Maria said helpfully, but grinned and followed it with "I''ll ride ahead to Telinor and hire some wagons. Six should manage everyone. Probably only save a couple of days but it will be easier on everyone" I thought that was a great idea and suggested she buy some food since most of the people looked pretty thin. The cash haul turned out to be 186 gold, 54 silver, and only 21 copper each. I offered Maria some for the wagons but she waved it away with a laugh, saying "It won''t be more than a few gold for everything" I wondered where she learned she could hire wagons, and what other nifty crap I wasn''t aware of. I had time to get to know the guy, and Tomas Swifthand turned out to be a retired soldier. He had made enough to buy a farm and marry, but the gnolls had destroyed everything, including his wife. His story was interesting as hell, and I could see where he might be a fount of information if he stayed in Mudtown. Susan stayed close to me, listening as I interacted with the people, but not offering much herself. Maria met us the next day as our gaggle was walking north. The wagons were a god send since we had been walking so slowly I thought we were going backwards sometimes. Maria stayed with us, which I had not expected, but she was fun to have around so it wasn''t a hardship. Captain Andulin and four of his men met us outside of town, holding a hand up to stop the lead wagon. I stopped beside it and hopped down to say "Captain, I have people seeking refuge. They were captured and their town destroyed by gnolls, so I have said our town would show them mercy in their time of need. The Captain considered things, walking down the wagon train, peeking into the backs, finally stopping at the back to say quietly "You seem to draw such things to you Priest Loser, and I think that the goddess Telina would not be pleased were I to turn away those in need after you have offered them refuge" he grinned before adding "Not that I would consider doing so anyway" Chap 12: A little serious planning Coordinating the efforts of the people of Mudtown was a fair sized project, but Andulin made it look easy. Trees were cleared along the east side of town and a parallel road was put in that allowed another line of houses to be put in, as well as houses that ran perpendicular to the main street on the south side. Within a week the town had doubled in size, new fields put in (and blessed by me), a few new businesses popped up. The cup nearly emptied at one point, but I think Susan refilled it with silver coins since there was at least fifty in it the next day. Maria took a room at the inn saying "I''ll hang around a while to see how this works out". I made her two arrows to replace the ones she used, having reruned Bruce the second night we got out of the dungeon. After a week Susan had settled in, and I was super shocked when her and Mirabeth seemed to strike up a friendship. They weren''t as much fun as Maria, but Mirabeth''s dry humor grew quickly, and Susan even had her teasing me slightly. The Inn had a crowd one evening while Maria and I were drinking and talking, with Susan and Mirabeth sitting on their own on the other side of the room. Mary had told me she liked Susan a lot, and that Andulin respected her, which boded well. "You thinking about changing your spawn point?" I asked Maria. She gave me a grin and said "Of course. But I wanted to put some thought into it, so I asked Dalmar to swing this way to meet me. I didn''t tell him why, so he might take a little while. I also told him to stop in Crossing to see what Bigboobs is up to" Two new ales were dropped off by a new waitress named Darla, who turned out to be the young woman who had claimed the coin from the cup. She was extremely shy around me, but was friendly and pleasant "Thanks Darla" Maria said breezily, then leaned closer, casting a sly look at where Susan and Mirabeth had their heads together talking, and said "You sly matchmaker you! Is it the ale, or does that cup do the Cupid thing?" I was honestly lost for a moment, then blinked in surprise and stared at the two women "Mirabeth?" I said incredulously "Mirabeth?" Drawing giggles from Maria as she said "Smooth dude. Just stare why don''t you?" I looked away guiltily before asking "Really?" Maria waved Mary over, then whispered in her ear for a second, getting a giggle from Mary before Mary gave me sly grin and nodded before heading back to work. "Ok" I said "Did not see that one coming" I gave it a little more thought and said "Actually that''s really nice. They''re both great people. I wonder if they''ll build a house here?" I grinned at the thought and said "That would be kind of cool" Maria burst into laughter, getting everyone to grin and look at us, as she said "You are so cute. Do you see you and Mary doing the serious thing?" Whoops, I looked around to see if Mary had heard that, then gave Maria a raised eyebrow and said "Sort of. The big question in my mind is how will that work if we never age?" She went blank faced and blinked a couple times before turning to look at Mary for a second, then at Susan and Mirabeth. I could see the gears were grinding slowly, so I sipped ale and ate some of the food until she said "Well, shit. Things are so normal here I forgot they were different" She nodded at Susan and said "So why say that is good?" I shrugged and said "Because it is. I hope she thought about it, but if not it''s no different than Mary and I. Maybe I''ll settle down with her or maybe not, since I don''t know if we could even have children, and two eternals marrying would be silly since no marriage would survive for hundreds of years" "Fuck Jake" Maria said, real anger on her face "Do you sit around and think about this shit? I mean..."she threw her hands up in frustration before leaning back to drink her ale and stare at the wall a while. I wasn''t sure what part had stuck her the wrong way, but I knew enough to shut up and eat quietly. She sulked for a couple of days, at one point even trying to see if she could drink enough to get drunk (only a little. She got chatty, but that could have been normal), but she finally sidled up to me while I was blessing a new field, and said "Kids. Susan and I went through shit when we got here, and we talked about if it was possible. But we don''t even have periods here, and I sort of asked around, and neither do the locals" she was stone faced as we stared out at the wood line. "But hell, they say they have children when the gods will it" her voice picked up a plaintive tone as she said "What does that even mean?" I reached out to squeeze her shoulder and said softly "I''ll ask Telina when I can" She laughed, a little of her old self coming through, and said "You and your goddess. It''s not like I have any plans, but..." She sighed and said "Real people have children" "Well, of all the people I''ve met so far" I said seriously, not looking at her as I waved back at a couple kids who waved at me "you are the most alive person I''ve met" I saw Andulin, so I told Maria I would catch up with her later as I had some ideas to run by Andulin. Andulin smiled and gave that bow/nod thing before I said "Walls. Why do cities have walls?" He chuckled and said "You are endlessly entertaining in the questions you ask. You have not been here long enough to experience a goblin raid or have the orcs form a horde to invade our lands, or seen what happens to villages that have suffered from a raid by a group of eternals. A wall is a useful, though costly investment. If you can afford to raise one, you must consider if you are limiting possible growth of the city if the boundaries are to close. Once built you must consider the number of guards needed to make the walls an effective defense. A wall with few guards is just an impediment to an attack, so you must have enough guards to patrol each section as well as each gate..." He gave me a hard grin before saying "for all hours of the day. A guard every forty feet is considered the best, as well as one guard leader for every two walls, with two guards on each gate with a lieutenant for each, with three shifts every day" He chuckled at my sour expression, but let me consider things for a while. I finally sighed and said "I bow to your wisdom Captain, so have a couple of questions, but I think it would be good if you know my worries" at his nod I said "Eternals will be the bane of your children''s children, so planning now may alleviate much suffering. Telina will not accept the subjugation of her people to the eternals will, so I and Susan will become a focus for their wrath. Mudtown is my home, and I dread the suffering I may draw upon them, but..." I sighed and said "it is to important to let that stop us" He nodded to indicate he had heard me, but he considered things for a time, then said "Eternals accumulate great wealth because they know death is not permanent. As you attacked the gnoll caverns with little fear, so do other eternals wander the world accumulating things of power. Presently eternals travel in small groups, so a wall would be of little use against them. What is it you fear that a wall would be of use against?" "Armies" I said "an eternals place of rebirth is his weakness, as we demonstrated with BigBob. These places will grow strong defenses that will require large forces to overcome. Better defenses will require greater attacking force, which will require better defenses, and so on" I glanced over to see if he was following. He was frowning in thought, but eventually nodded. I said "The accumulation of power is inevitable, so waiting is only going to delay what we needed to be doing. I want to start by considering Mudtown as the center of Telina''s resistance to any eternals grab for power and plan accordingly" "You would plan for war" Andulin said slowly "and one truth of war is that it costs more in gold and lives than you expect, so expecting the worst is the only planning that matters" "Exactly" I said "Then I would say that fighting off an army led by an eternal is a waste if the eternal is allowed to flee and do it again. I know you well enough now to know you will find the means to make our defenses a reality, and those defenses will be required, but how will you stop the eternal?" he stopped and faced me to say "I pledge to defend our people, but stopping your brethren will fall to you Lord Priest" "I will" I said with a nod "and am accumulating allies in this effort. I will be leaving in the near future to study our enemies and acquire gold and magic, which should draw attention away from our home for a time, but that would be an excellent opportunity for us to move forward on building our defenses" "An initial outlay of 100 gold will allow us to bring in dwarven builders and miners" Andulin said "another hundred will open a stone mine and allow us to lay the initial courses. 100 gold for the three guard shifts necessary for the coverage of the walls" he paused to consider, than said "I see no way we could build what you wish for less than 1000 gold. This would wall in an area four times larger than our existing cleared area, and supply guards for three years" This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it "1000 gold?" I asked skeptically "Mirabeth''s ring supposedly cost hundreds?" Andulin laughed and said "you compare dissimilar things. I am paying a builder to lay a course of stone, something any number of people may do, while a ring of mana renewal is an item that few will find, much less sell. 1 gold will pay the wages of an unskilled worker for a year, so consider what a thousand gold will purchase" "Well...ok" I said after a few seconds of thought "then we''ll need to do this in phases. You lead these people so all I can do is request your help, but I would like to supply you with gold to start laying the ground work for what we''ve been discussing" "Of course" Andulin said "I am here to defend the people of Mudtown and only a fool would say that Priest Loser seeks something other than that. I will begin the planning you have mentioned, and as gold becomes available, will build the defenses we need" Good. Now all I had to do was convince the rest of the world, starting with Susan. "What the hell are you talking about?" Was Susan''s initial response. "Exactly what it sounds like" I said in exasperation "Mudtown is the center of Telina''s power, so it needs a defender. I need you to work with Andulin and Mirabeth to ensure it survives until I get back" we had been talking for ten minutes, and Susan had acted dumb for most of it. I scowled at her as I said "I would like nothing better than to have you go with us, but damn it, who better than you or I to do this?" I waved an arm and added "We are Telina on this world Susan. When someone comes here to conquer us, they don''t need to find the healer, they need to find the Sword of Telina in all its glory. It will happen. The eternals will come here to destroy us, and I need to know that no matter what happens, our people will survive" Mirabeth reached over to lay a hand on Susan''s arm and said "Susan. You are blinded by your past in this. Telina''s priest is an honorable man, as you yourself have said. Listen to what he is saying. He asks that you defend everything he cares for so that he might do something he loathes" Susan turned to clasp hands with Mirabeth, her expression anguished as she said "But...it would be cowardice to stay behind" I leaned forward and rested my hand on theirs and said "It is an act of bravery Susan. I spent my adult life killing people. First for the government, then for myself, so I know how hard it is to stay behind while others go into battle. I''m not here to blow smoke up your ass about this, I''m asking you to accept the shitty job and ensure all my efforts aren''t wasted" "Goddess Jake" Susan said bitterly "I don''t know if I can. Don''t you see that?" She gave Mirabeth a beseeching look as she added "I can''t do this alone, don''t you see that? We can''t afford for me to fail again!" Mirabeth took over at that point, sending me away to, as she said "Do whatever men do when they have nothing to do" I headed to my room, meeting Mary on the way, and spending part of the evening discussing what I was trying to accomplish. Mary was lying with her head on my chest, arm across me as we snuggled together after a bout of lovemaking, and she said "You see Susan as the woman she wants to be seen as. This is your greatest power, as well as your greatest weakness my lord. You believe in her when she doubts herself. You burden her with your expectations, confident that she will be as strong as you would be" she looked up into my eyes as she laid a finger across my lips and said "You would say you are weak and would be proud of any effort she put forth" her questioning look made me nod as she pulled back the finger, then said "That is not how you are seen by us, or by Telina''s Paladin. She loves the Mage, but in you she sees her goddess, and to fail in your task, she sees herself failing her goddess" "Goddess" I muttered "she''ll kick anyone''s ass if they threaten this town, how can she not see that?" I asked in frustration. Mary leaned up for a kiss, then stayed there to match stares as she said "Because she is human, but this is her task. You see truly in this, and she will be a powerful force upon this land, but she must see herself as you see her" Who am I to argue with that? Susan accepted of course, and I took the time to put a ''special delivery'' rune on her sword, and made one on Andulin''s before I left. I also began making healing potions full time to stock up here in Mudtown. She started working with Andulin and me as we mapped out a long term strategy, and I made her my party member and set up the email link. As a party member she would benefit from any experience I gained, so we would level together regardless of whether she was with me or not. It would also allow me to transfer gold and items to her, even if we were weeks apart. Benefit of being an eternal. Dalmar finally showed up, and all of us, Maria, Susan, Andulin, and Mirabeth met with him at the inn. Maria had updated him via email on how things had changed, so I just needed to see where he would stand in all of this. "I saw Bob" Dalmar said as he ate the food Mary brought him. Dalmar chuckled and added "the locals have a whole ceremony now, with a bunch gathering to watch him spawn, then fall to the bottom of that pit" he let out a bark of laughter and gave me an admiring look. "That was inspired. I talked with him before the archers killed him. The man begged me to free him" "Do you think he''d accept moving his spawn point here and working for us?" I asked "BigBob?" Maria said disgustedly That got a shrug from me before I said "He''s probably below level 5 now, so he''s fodder for any eternal that finds him. If they free him, he will probably end up working for them at least until he gets strong enough to stand on his own. If we free him and have him set his spawn point next to Telina''s cup, he''ll be forced to live by Telina''s rules or suffer when he respawns" "He''s a rapist" Susan said in disgust "Yes, he is, and I won''t release him if you want him to continue being punished. But we need to consider we are stuck with him for a thousand years. If we can make him an ally, turn him into a better person, we''ll reduce our enemies by one person" "Geez Jake" Maria said half in humor and half in disgust "You really do take the long view on this shit" "Jake''s right" Dalmar said "I''ve thought about this myself. Some of the other old timers have begun talking, though no one has gotten serious yet. Things have sort of stagnated, with the high level guys not willing to risk themselves in the tougher areas. There might be some on the western side of the empire still moving around, but I haven''t gone that far since the early days. I can see them teaming up to conquer their areas to keep other eternals out" "Siege mentality" I said "and I imagine it will get worse over time. It''s also the perfect time for us to do our own exploring" "Well, I''m in" Dalmar said as he leaned back with his ale and relaxed in the chair "Maria''s right about having you along making these things a lot better. The Forbidden Lands is where the best stuff is supposed to lie, but no one has lasted more than five days there" "The southern part of the Forbidden Lands is the domain of the dragons" Mirabeth said "but the north is infested with a large variety of creatures who are trapped between the dragons and the orcs" "Yep" Dalmar said "it''s a freaking monster zoo throughout that area, but the treasure drops are great" he reached over to pat his war hammer as he said that "and Bob would be useful if we brought him along. Instead of changing his spawn point though, I say make him earn it. If he dies traveling with us then he''s back in his pit losing levels. Incentive to not play games" I chuckled, but nodded agreement with the idea as Dalmar said "In fact, I''ll free him and have him swear to me. If he does a good job you can pop up with an offer to set his spawn point in Mudtown" "He even gives me a nasty look and I kill him" Maria said in disgust. Dalmar reached over to pat her hand as he said "That will be very clear to him girl. I''m not blind to his personality, but Jakes right, prison kind of loses something as a punishment when you know you''re immortal" "It is a wise path" Andulin said "turning an enemy into an ally is an excellent method of winning a war" Chap 13: Lich this! So that''s what we did. Maria and I rode out two days later, planning to meet up with Dalmar, and Bob if he accepted, in Telinor before riding south. Maria got a sour expression when Bob followed Dalmar into the inn a day after Maria and I arrived. Dalmar looked tough as he walked in, his heavy chain mail making him look even bulkier, while the war hammer on his back just looked badass. Bob still looked big and with the two handed sword on his back he looked like some kind of apprentice to Dalmar. Bob sort of flinched when he saw me and Maria, but I shook hands with Dalmar before saying "Bob, Dalmar has set the ground rules, so after this we won''t talk about what went before, but that doesn''t mean we won''t remember it. You treat us the way you want us to treat you" He nodded, but didn''t say anything back. I studied him for another moment, then said to Dalmar and Maria "So who wants to go see some dragons?" The ride south was a little strained with Maria making a point of avoiding Bob, and Bob following along in a sullen silence. Bob had dropped to level two, so he had a lot to be mad about, but he was at least smart enough to keep it to himself. I added a rune to Dalmar''s hammer, letting him pick the arming phrase. I didn''t try to hide it from Bob, but didn''t explain it either. I made potions twice a day to build up our stock, and he did get interested enough to say "Holy shit, is that true, 210 points of healing?" Maria giggled, the first one in days, something I had missed, and she said "Wait until he starts throwing healing spells around. Jake is the man!" There was nothing to indicate the change when we reached the Orc lands until we passed what looked like an old west fort. Timbers forming a wall around a small town, with orcs standing guard at the gates and at the top of the wall. The orcs looked exactly like you would think. Tusks coming up from the lower jaw, a snout for a nose, and 6-7 feet tall with a lot of muscle. They appeared to mostly wear chain mail, though a few had plate or leather. We didn''t stop, Dalmar telling us it would just mean having to fight a lot for little gain. "They hate dwarves, but as long as you don''t try to enter their cities they generally leave you alone. They do raid each other, so if we run into a raiding party we''ll end up fighting" Dalmar said Bob added a rare comment with "They can go berserk, and they do double damage when they do. Doesn''t last more than a minute or two, but you get into a group of them they''ll hurt you bad" "What he said" Dalmar agreed The land started shifting from heavy forest into rolling hills, then into a more broken layout, with gullies and streams cutting through. It meant a slower pace as we had to ride down, up, and around various areas. The mountain chain to the south that marked the dragon lands was still a distance off when we setup camp one night and Dalmar said "We''re close now, so we need to leave the horses here. We haven''t been attacked so far because of the party mix, but that''s going to end real soon. Tomorrow we need to have weapons in hand, and expect to be attacked a couple of times a day. Nights are rough, so we post guards and expect at least one attack every night" Pointing at Maria he said "Maria will sense them first and she knows how to do this, so she calls the direction, and if she says to do something you do it. Bob and I tank, but I go first. Bob holds back to be sure we''re not going to be hit from two sides, then does as Maria says" he looked at me and said "Keep Bob and I alive, but you''re also our second line of defense. If Maria pulls aggro with her bow, you need to stop them" he looked around the group to say "Jake is the only reason this will work, so don''t let him get killed" he gave a sudden grin before adding "and for goddesses sake, have fun" Maria laughed at the last part and said "With Jake here, it will be fun, trust me" Our first attack happened the next day after we had been walking a few hours. Maria looked up suddenly and said "Two big ones incoming!" We all stopped and Dalmar took a dozen steps forward, while Maria stood with an arrow across her bow. Bob had his big sword out Sword of Beheading 23-35 damage +1 Strength +10% to hit chance 15% chance enemy is decapitated if health is below 75% Nice. When he was level 18 he probably did a shit load of extra damage from high strength, though now it was probably just sword damage numbers. Two 12 foot tall ogres came striding up from the ravine they had been in, both carrying wooden clubs like my first clu, but eight feet long. "Tweedle Dee and tweedle dum" Dalmar said with a shake of the head "wouldn''t you know they''re the first ones we run into" "Bob, your up" Maria said "Jake''ll keep healing you, but use a potion if you get below half" Bob was grinning as he took a couple of quick steps forward and thrust his sword into the one on the left. Bob was still carrying as much health as Dalmar, so I wasn''t worried about a one shot kill at this point. Dalmar was mostly stuck trying to kneecap them, and the ogres, while slow, hit hard enough to do 50 or 60 points each time. I could see where a solo player would die quick facing two of them, but I was healing the damage as fast as they dished it out, so Maria just laughed and cheered Dalmar on. "Put your back into it Dalmar" she yelled, laughing like a nut "You hit like a girl" I was really shocked when Bob laughed, though he didn''t say anything. "Follow through on that swing, what are you trying to do, bunt?" She eventually had Dalmar grinning, but the fight didn''t last too long as neither man missed very often. Bob''s took longer, but he just said "I got this gomer" when Dalmar offered to help. "Having fun?" Dalmar asked with a grin as he sorted the treasure drop "cause I am. I forgot how fun it is with Jake along" "No shit" Bob muttered, looking at me with a half smile "we just took down two ogres and no damage left" "Already in the gold" Dalmar said, holding up a few pieces "got a decent helmet and a bow" no one had a need for them, so I transferred the items to Susan while Bob leveled up to 3. Dalmar was still a 21, but said he was close, while I had probably another fight like this to go up to 9. Maria didn''t say, so no one asked. We kept moving south, eventually setting camp on a small hill that had enough trees to mask our fire, but would allow us to see a fair distance. Telina visited me in a dream that night, walking into the inn again, though Mary wasn''t dancing this time. "Hello Loser" was her first words, and I had gotten used to it from her enough not to grind my teeth. She grinned at my expression, but just took her seat and said "I have spoken with some of my sisters and we are in agreement that eternals will eventually be able to have children once they can accept this world is real. The archer still thinks of herself as a projection from the real world, so does not believe a child would be any more real than she is" Mary gave her an ale, then gave me quick kiss before disappearing. Telina took a drink, nodding her appreciation of the flavor, then said "but I am here to tell you that there is a small fortress one day away to the south east that is held by a Lich. He has a scroll that holds a rune that you should acquire. I commend you for allowing the one called BigBob to prove his worth, and see potential in him." She took another sip before saying "My sister Tylara is goddess of thieves and assassins, and she has found a paladin in one of the newer rogues who were sent to us at the end. The paladin, an assassin named "Mack the Knife", is intelligent and could potentially be a threat to us. He is traveling northern Romar, but you should warn our paladin to be wary if he visits our lands" "You can''t tell her like this?" Telina shook her head no and said "There are limits placed on us by our father when he created this world, and one such is that we must interact with the intelligent creatures only through our priests. Until your arrival, this meant none of us could do so, and my sisters envy me greatly for my good fortune" she gave me a sultry smile before giggling and returning to her regular grin "but there are ways for the knowledgeable to speak to us. A paladin can seek guidance and can be given signs that can be interpreted. This is cumbersome, but as the paladin learns his goddesses will, they will be easier to understand" "Ok, I''ll let Susan know, and ask her to keep an ear out for any information about him" I held up a hand and said "passively. I''ll let her know not to ask about him specifically" "Good" Telina said as she rose and headed toward the door, pausing to say over her shoulder "you should wake now, as a manticore is about to attack you" I woke just before Maria started yelling for us to get ready. "Something flying above us" she said. I raised Bruce, scanning the pitch black sky and not seeing anything "Telina says it''s a manticore" "No shit?" Bob asked, standing back to back with Dalmar, his eyes on the sky "manticores are supposed to be tough mofos" "Incoming" Maria yelled, pointing the way Dalmar was facing. I stood next to Maria as we all braced ourselves. The creature diving at us had large bat like wings, the body of a lion, and a scorpions tail. I had to shake my head at whatever weirdo came up with this thing. It piled into Dalmar, knocking Bob on his ass at the same time. It let out a roaring scream as arrows started sticking in its wings, then turned toward me and Maria. "I''ll keep it on the ground" Maria yelled "But you guys''ll need to kill it" She was quick and smart was our Maria, so I took a couple quick steps forward to engage the thing, getting a solid hit to its face just before it hit me with the stinger. Manticore poison 5 points/sec for 15 seconds Endurance reduced The stinger did 30 points on top of the poison, but I ignored that as it took a stab from Bob, then a hammer blow from Dalmar. When it spun and lunged at Bob I took the opportunity to heal he and Dalmar, before calling up Fist and doing another 60 points of damage myself. Maria''s arrows kept hitting the things wings, doing enough to keep it from taking flight, while the three of us took turns getting stabbed and mauled. The thing was a level 20 and had 300 health, so it took some killing. I healed whoever needed it in between taking my own swings. It took longer because the thing was pretty mobile, and tended to leap around the clearing, landing on one of us to chew on for a second, then leaping away again. Bob got the final stroke and we all pretty much plopped down to rest and recover "How can these things take so much damage?" I asked "I had to do close to enough myself to have killed him" "Armor ratings" Bob said, still breathing hard as he stared at the pile of skin and treasure "you may be able to do, say 30 points, but that number gets knocked down based on the armor rating. Only way to bypass that is magic, and even that can be reduced depending on magic resistance" he shrugged and gave me a rueful grin before saying "High strength numbers are the most important for damage percentages. You and Dalmar swing the same weapon at the same creature, he''ll do twice the damage you do. I just figure I''m doing 50% and count myself lucky" Maria nodded agreement as Dalmar levered himself up and went to loot the corpse. I sighed and said "Well crap, and here I''ve been thinking I might actually be able fight something other than three legged, one eyed, toothless kittens" Bob looked confused as Maria giggled and added "that has seizures" She and I shared a laugh for a while, then decided we might as well do breakfast and get moving. I told everyone about the Lich''s fortress and that Telina wanted me to get something from there. No one really cared one way or the other, with Dalmar saying "as good as anything else we might find" I took a moment while we were walking to drop back by Maria to say "Telina said that eternals are capable of having children, but it requires that they feel they are part of this world" Maria didn''t say any thing for a long time, just thinking deeply about something. She eventually nodded and said "Tell her thank you. I''ll have to think about it for a while" Afternoon brought a pack of what Maria called direwolves. They were pretty much overgrown wolves, though by overgrown I mean five feet at the shoulders. There were five of them, with four being level 10, and one that carried the alpha moniker being 17. There were too many for Dalmar and Bob to pull aggro on all of them, so two of the level 10s came after Me and Maria. I had been smart enough to do a blessing and an armor spell, so everyone was in better shape for this battle. I stood in front of Maria, hitting any of the wolves trying to pass me, keeping them focused on chewing on me rather than her. The 10% reflected damage helped keep them mad at me, and she did mucho damage to the wolves, though I''m not sure if it was something new, or some aspect of being a ranger. I tossed a quick healing spell at Bob during a pause, then did the same to myself as I had gotten chewed up pretty good. Dalmar and Bob had teamed up to take out the alpha, which helped more than expected when the other wolves lost a buff the alpha gave them. Maria and I finished ours a minute before the guys killed the last two. I got the level up message, and I could see Bob must have also. It didn''t even offer me a weak ass healing spell, irritating the hell out of me because even though I hadn''t been expecting anything useful, I had been expecting something. I allocated the stupid wisdom point and set about healing every one up and doing another armor spell since this one was about due. About the best thing going for me right now was the health boost and armor spell. By level twenty I''d be a real health monster, and the armor bonus, plus the armor spell on top of some decent leather armor would really make me hard to beat down. Level 9 Healer Priest Level 9 (0%) STR 10 DEX 10 STA 20 INT 10 WIS 14 Health: 290 Mana: 160 Endurance: 200 Armor (+30%): 28 Defender of the Faith Priest focuses on aiding those in need and protecting the oppressed. Spells will focus on group and individual protection and aid, while the priest''s personal aura will become a healing channel for your goddess''s will. Blessing spells now apply to all allied creatures within ten feet of priest Healing spells cost half mana +10 points health/level Armor 30% stronger Priest''s aura does following for allies within 10 feet of player:: +5% stat boost to party members (+5%/level after level 8) 10% damage reflected back on attacker +25% mana restore rate Spells: Telina''s Gaze (100%) Applies 60 points (+20%) of healing to the user or any creature selected 10 Mana/use Telina''s Fist(+75% activate) Applies 60(-15%) points of damage when activated and a successful hit is made 20 Mana/use (effective hit) Cure Disease Cures disease (Level+10) of any creature touched 40 Mana/use Telina''s Holy Blessing On creature: 60% increase in base stats 65% increase in healing rate Duration: 6 hours (+5%/level to level 10) On flora: 70% increase in growth rate 75% crop amount (+5%/level to level 10) 40 Mana/Use (Does not stack) Create Potions Healing potion: Vial of water with Telina''s Blessing + Telina''s Gaze Healing= Telina''s Gaze + Telina''s Blessing + 2(Faith) Cure Disease potion: Vial of water with Telina''s Blessing + Cure Disease Cures any disease Level 75 and below (Cool down 12 hours) Telina''s Flame Holy fire strikes to cause 120 points damage to creature chosen Splash damage: 25% damage to enemy creatures within 10 ft Double damage to undead (+5/level to 120 damage) 75 Mana/use Dispel Magic Dispel Level+5 magic on creature or area chosen -Does not dispel enchanted objects or potions -Does not dispel own castings (Cool down 4 hours) 75 Mana/use Create Rune Ability to learn and place runes of power Player determines activation requirements (Cool down 3 days) Rune of Flame: When activated by user will do 100 points +5/level of fire damage 100 Mana when placed Telina''s Protective Aura Player receives 10+level armor bonus for 2 hours (+30%) (Does not stack with itself) 40 Mana/use Resurrection Cast on self or other player Allows player to return with no loss of level after next death at the location the player died Or Allows player to choose new spawn point (Cool down 7 days) Group Heal Heals completely all allies within 100 feet Once a day 140 mana +20% Healing Spell -15% Spell Damage + 1.2% hand to hand + 71% light armor + 62% Blunt Weapon + 75% Concentration + 60% Faith + 82% Cooking + 77% Repair The wolves only carried cash (which still seemed weird to me. What did they use it for?), and no one wanted to mess with the skins. Dalmar said if anyone ever unlocked a smithing skill the furs would be good for making versions of leather armor, but until that happened they were just something you sold for cash. We could actually see the fortress that night as we made camp on the side of a hill. A series a small, granite mountains ran north to south starting with the one that had a fortress actually carved into the side. The fortress seemed to hang one hundred feet up, off the side of a sheer rock cliff, though you could see how the rock had been carved away to form the building. The rock was a dark grey, making the fortress just as dark. With the sun setting, and looking across a scrub filled flatlands at it, the whole thing reeked of evil. Though that could just be good scene setting. If I made a fortress, I would want it to be forbidding and scary looking too. "Probably not the home of the smurfs" Maria said, flopping down beside me as I leaned against a boulder and studied the place. I shrugged and said "Probably not, but I bet he isn''t bothered by those Latter Day Saints knocking all the time" "Think we could keep it after we kill this Lich?" I glanced over to see if she was joking, and when she just gave a half shrug, I said "You would know more than me, but it would probably be tough getting people here in one piece" "Yeah" she said, sounding kind of wistful "but it sure would be cool to have your own castle" "Who knows, maybe one day" I did another arrow for Maria, and another potion. That gave her four runes, me two, and Dalmar one, enough to do some serious damage if needed. Bob was talking a little more, and he had managed to not antagonize Maria even once, which I counted as a miracle. So overall I considered things to be sort of positive. In the morning, after I did a blessing and an armor spell, and we started walking toward the fortress, Dalmar said "Lich''s are the big Kahoonas of the undead. That means we''ll be facing various versions of undead, which all of us have dealt with" we were walking in a group, all listening as he said "Arrows do minimal damage, but Maria is still our alarm system. Undead dungeons tend to have surprise attacks, and traps that involve ambushes. Jake''s holy fire does serious damage here, but let''s save it for large groups. Maria leads, sussing out traps and ambushes, but Bob and and I take the front line during attacks. Maria moves back and coordinates our response, and Jake plays clean up and handles healing" he looked over at me to say "Use your best judgement on your spells. Do what Maria says, but you see an opportunity, take it" speaking generally he said "Lich''s are undead mages, so he''ll be throwing around a lot AoE spells that will affect all of us. Jake needs to stay back and not draw aggro so he can counter whatever we get hit with. Use your potions if you start taking high damage because they use a lot of paralyzation and freeze spells that work with the DoT stuff" "Area of effect" Maria whispered to me "flame walls, gas attacks and shit like that. Does damage over time, which you''ll hear Dalmar call DoT. He loves his geek speak" I whispered a quick "Thanks" back. I nodded my understanding to Dalmar and said "No worries. I''ll probably play this conservatively until we see how things lie" The entrance to the fort was a man sized door in the wall of the cliff face. Maria had to do her magic to get it to open, and as soon as she did, a group of four skeletons rushed out. They had swords and shields, and moved like they thought they were still alive, though with a lot of bone clacking sounds. They were level 7, so Dalmar went through them with a few swings of his hammer. Bob didn''t even get a chance to put his big sword into play before there was just a pile of bones left. "7?" Maria muttered "I was sort of expecting something higher than that" "That did it" Bob said with a chuckle "Always has to be someone throwing the jinx out there for someone to hear" Dalmar gave half laugh, half snort of disgust before saying "Really. You''ve probably doomed us to another Bone Dragon" That got one of Maria''s infectious giggles as she cast me a sly smile and "Well if we do meet one, we have their favorite chew toy" Bob looked confused as Dalmar and Maria burst into laughter and I just raised my nose and said in a haughty tone "You''re both just jealous that he liked me best" I could hear Dalmar whispering the story to Bob as Maria did her fade thing and moved up the stairs that led upwards into the cliff. Bob, being the token human, couldn''t see in the dark, so he did something that made his sword glow with a soft white light. It looked kind of cool, but sort of gave away the element of surprise. We single filed up the narrow tunnel for what I estimated was about two million steps, until we met up with Maria doing her thing to a door blocking the way. She unlocked it, then slid by our two tanks to stand in front of me. Dalmar looked back, and at our nods, pulled the door open and stepped into the fortress. There was an immediate clashing of steel, and Bob moved forward to attack whatever was inside. There was a lot of cursing and yelling as Maria finally moved forward enough for me to join the fray. Dalmar and Bob were exchanging blows with something that stood about eight feet tall, that is if he stood. The thing was actually floating a few inches above the floor, wearing a ragged cloak, steel gauntlets, a full face helmet that had glowing red eyes, and was swinging a huge two handed sword. Reaver Level 16 160 health "It''s draining us to restore its own health" Bob yelled as he ducked a swing. Now that he''d pointed it out, I could see the things health bar flickering up and down like a broken thermometer. Both guys were losing a few points every second in addition to the sword damage. I looked it over and decided Bob and Dalmar weren''t in immediate danger, so I took the few seconds to call down Telina''s flame. It''s my one really big stick, and it''s only really good against the undead, but when I use it then, it is hugely gratifying. The flame formed above the reaver, then shot down in a blinding white column to engulf it. The thing screamed piercingly as it writhed inside the column, then burned to ash in the blink of an eye. That''s right, Jake kicks ass. "How you like them kittens?" I said with a grin for Maria as I restored the guys health, then my mana. She giggled as Dalmar sorted through the ash and Bob muttered "You guys are weird" Bob had been making progress from the higher level monsters, but he was also sharing it with four other people. The reaver had only added a couple percent toward my level 10, so it would be a while on that. Dalmar held up the helmet the reaver had dropped and said "Pretty good helmet Bob, you want it?" Bob turned it down, getting me to ask "Why don''t you guys wear helmets? Seems like it would give some nice benefits" "Can''t see a damn thing" Bob said in disgust "I tried them for a while, but the only ones I could see for shit with were the cap style and..." "They fall off" Dalmar said in disgust, getting a nod of agreement from Bob, who added "isn''t worth the aggravation" "Oh" I said intelligently before transferring the helmet to Susan to see if anyone in Mudtown wanted it. Maria deactivated a trap on the door, then picked the lock before waving Dalmar and Bob forward. The hallway we entered had six skeletons with swords, and three with bows waiting. Dalmar and Bob waded in while Maria and I walked behind them, with me periodically casting a heal if one of the guys picked up some damage. The skeletons really weren''t a challenge, so I did like two spells by the time the first six were down. After they killed the sword swinging skeletons, Dalmar charged the three archers, but triggered something because a burst of lightning shot the length of the hall, hitting everyone, and doing 30 points of damage, then bounced back and hit us again, killing the skeletons. I had just enough time to heal Maria before it came back for another double hit. It quit after that, but I was already healing Maria again, scared she would be killed if I waited. We all lay on the floor, groaning and moaning in pain as smoke rose off everyone except Maria. "Wow, that really sucked" Bob mumbled. I did a quick heal on myself to get myself moving, then cast a couple on the two guys before finishing my own. I flopped back down, noticing the lightning had sapped my endurance, and said "That hurt" "That was close" Maria said "If Jake hadn''t got his spell off after the first round, I''d be sitting in the courtyard waiting to respawn a weeks ride away" "No more running ahead" Dalmar said as he slowly sat up "that was one bad ass trap, so Maria clears the way from here. Those archers were bait, and I fell for it" "Hard not to "Bob said "Heat of the battle you kind of don''t see the distance, just the next thing that wants to kill you. Arrows hurt, and it''s almost instinct by now to rush them" "Yeah, I''m the same, but still, I almost got Maria killed" "Can''t be losing the brains of this operation" Maria said with a grin We took a break, eating something and relaxing for a while, all of us agreeing that being hit by lightning was one of the most painful things we had encountered "Except for being bitten by a dragon. That shit really hurts" I added Maria started giggling, drawing grins from everyone as she pointed at me and tried to say something, but couldn''t through the laughter. I finally sighed and said "What? You might as well tell everyone now" "Jake..." A few more giggles "he charged that dragon fearlessly" giggle giggle "that forty foot long, thirty foot tall dragon, his mace raised for a mighty blow as he stood two feet away" I could see where this was going, so just sighed and lay back down as she said "he swung wth all his might and...missed" she started giggling uncontrollably again as Bob and Dalmar broke into laughter. "Whatever" I said with a dismissive wave of the hand "at least I distracted it" "That you did Jake" Dalmar said sympathetically "if it hadn''t been busy chewing on you, or slapping you across the room with its tail, we would never have managed to kill it" I was tempted to poke Maria to get her to stop laughing, but it was to cheerful a sound to really stop it. We eventually levered ourselves up and Maria moved down the hallway, soon finding a pair of facing doors, which drew a sour "Perfect for getting attacked from two sides" from Bob. "Jake opens it" Maria suggested "Bob and Dalmar stand here" pointing a line across the floor just prior to the doors "Jake joins me behind you two and we let them come to us" which is what we did. I pulled the door open, pausing to get a look inside. Draugr''s, four of them, all level 16. I raised my mace and yelled "You want some of this?" Before I skipped back behind my tanks. The Draugrs followed me out to be met by Dalmar''s hammer and Bob''s sword. Maria joined in and began chipping away at the Draugrs health, while I...watched. Bob took a couple good hits that I healed a second later, but fighter type monsters really didn''t pose a risk at this point. It took a while, and I probably could have killed them with Telina''s flame, but I was wary of the other door. The four Draugr eventually went down, and I did a top off on Bob and Dalmar''s health before doing a mana restore. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. We reset to the previous configuration, and I pulled the door and glanced inside. I''m pretty sure I mouthed WTF as I stared at the weird layout in the room. The rest of the team came over at my wave, and we studied our options. "Ok" Maria said "Classic bait and eat situation" as we looked at the large chest in the middle of the room that had four sarcophagus surrounding it. "You touch the chest and out pops the monsters. Only real question is how tough the monsters are" "Is it worth risking?" I asked, getting three looks of amazement before Bob said "Dude, that''ll be some choice shit in that box. This is a lucky find" Ok. Not sure about the mental stability of my partners, but they had adapted better to the whole respawn thing, so to them they were probably saying "hey, what''s the worst that can happen?" "We can expect the door to close, so leading them out is probably not an option" Dalmar said "but it will be tight quarters for your bow Maria" She shrugged and said "I''ve got a good sword, and I''ll stealth on the opposite side of the room from you. They attack and I get one really good stab. It might kill one outright, then I slip behind you with Jake" "Jake, you need to hit them quick with your flame" Dalmar continued "then decide if you can do it again, or if you need to concentrate on healing" he looked around the group as he added "any of us die it''s a week of waiting, so if you need the big stick, use it" "I end up back in the pit if I die" Bob said, giving me his first really angry look. Everyone sort of waited for me to answer. "Ive enjoyed working with you, so if that happens I''ll send someone to free you. But you should know, i have a spell that allows eternals to change their spawn point. I''d like you to think about the benefits of having friends in this reality, and joining us on Telina''s side" "Holy shit, no one can change their spawn point! How the hell is that even possible?" He looked at Dalmar and Maria, both of whom just nodded "God, that...that changes...everything" he stopped and sort of stared off into space for a while, then said "anyone with a bad spot will join you" he stood silently for anther minute, the turned to face all three of us. He was frowning slightly as he asked "What do you mean by Telina''s side?" "What it sounds like. You support her goals, the primary one being the fair and honorable treatment of what you call the locals. They are as real as you and I, and they develop free will if you treat them as people, rather than objects. I have a growing town filled with locals who can think for themselves, and I intend for that to spread. I intend to enforce the golden rule as Telina''s law for the eternals. You do evil to others and Telina will do evil to you. You want to be left alone and ignore it all, and she will ignore you. You support her and her people, she will support you" I kind of surprised myself with the flood of words, not having summarized things like that before. Bob gave Dalmar and Maria questioning looks, causing Dalmar to say "I''m not signing up to be a disciple of Telina, but I know Jake well enough to know he means all that. I''m not into hurting people for fun, so I''ve stopped asshole eternals when I could, though until I visited his town I hadn''t been aware of what the locals could become" Maria gave Bob a grin that came close to being an angry snarl and said "I suffered at the hands of a couple old timer assholes like you when I arrived, and if Dalmar hadn''t freed me I''d still be there chained up as their toy" the grin got even harder as she said "I have a lot of hate I plan on sharing with eternals who like to abuse people, so Susan and I are going to be hunting them down and making them suffer in Telina''s name" Ok, that got a little real. Maria didn''t let her rage out for the world to see very often, but I supported her intentions 100% "What she said" I added "You''re planning to rule this world?" Bob asked, the question more doubtful than accusatory, "Nope. I have zero interest in being in charge of anything. You want to rule a kingdom, that''s your decision, but you rule it contrary to Telina''s law, I''ll have to come around put a stop to it" "How can that even work?" Bob asked, sounding honestly confused "You can''t rule a kingdom by being nice to everyone. Hell, what about if a Orc horde decides to come around?" "Bob, Telina''s a goddess, so she isn''t stupid about when a decision is made out of greed or self interest, or when it is done for the good of others. This is a world of monsters and treasure, and fighting is what we do. There''s nothing wrong with doing a dungeon crawl, but there is if you find a bunch of locals in a cage while doing it and stop for a little bout of rape" He looked embarrassed at the last part, casting a sideways look at Maria, but didn''t say anything while he considered my words. "Bob, it''s a simple choice" Dalmar said "you''re smart enough to know good from evil, so you''re sitting here thinking about what? Whether you want to be able to rape people when the mood strikes? Cause I have to tell you, when Maria and Susan go hunting, I''ll probably join them and that pit of Jakes has really stoked my imagination about ways to turn spawn points into really painful traps" The words seemed to push Bob to finally say "Nah, I got what your saying, and I agree with the idea, it''s just a change from feeling like you were free to do what you wanted because nothing was real and no one got hurt. It was all just a game" he sighed and looked at me to say "I''m on board with your goddess. I was pretty much an invisible nobody in the other world, and all of this..." He paused, then shrugged and said "made me a god" "Well, I have to tell you, I like having you around because my name doesn''t seem so bad with yours right there with it" Bob actually laughed and said "I know, right. Tennant buffed my stamina with his admin access after I forwarded my real world savings to him, but the asshole stuck me with this name after I laughed when he started giggling. It was weird as shit to hear it, and I couldn''t help myself it was so funny coming out of that big body of his" "Well, that''s the asshole I know, but I guess he could have picked something worse" I said "Not really" Bob said "he could do a lot to hurt you, but the game had system rules that he couldn''t alter, so it wouldn''t allow him to use a curse word for a name, or any of the variants either" Good to know. I imagine Loser was the worst he could do then. We turned back to the room and I said "So Dalmar on the chest, which puts him in the middle of them. Maria in that far corner" I said pointing across the room "She waits until she can get in a backstab, then tries to join me and Bob" pointing just inside the door I said "Bob and I stop inside the door, and if it doesn''t close we can use that, otherwise Bob holds them off while I call down flame. After that it''s either fighting, healing, or more flame. I can do two flame spells with my mana, so I start doing healings one of them is taken off the board" "Plan to use a potion" Maria said "Jake can make more later, but his spell will speed this up a lot" That''s what we decided to go with. We all stepped in to keep from being separated, then waited until Maria went to her spot and faded from view. "That''s damn cool" I mumbled, getting a grin from Dalmar as he stepped between the sarcophagi, then held a hand over it as Bob raised his sword and I raised my mace while readying my spell. As soon as Dalmar touched the chests, four figures appeared above the coffins, taking me by surprise since I was expecting the whole lid sliding open scene. Bob''s quick "Shit, more reavers" came at the the same time we felt the health drain start. It was mildly painful, especially multiplied by four, but not enough to keep me from casting my spell. The reavers had all turned on Dalmar, who must have done the stat boost thing since he was glowing slightly, so my spell was a surprise. It formed over the one to my right, my thought being it would leave the one for Maria, one for Bob, and the last for Dalmar. The white column of flame shot down to engulf my target, a level 18, with 180 health, causing him to throw his arms out and scream loud enough to stagger everyone. As he disintegrated, the flame splashed out to cover everyone else, drawing matching screams from the other three reavers. Maria struck as soon as the flames disappeared, not becoming visible until her sword shoved through the back of her target, the attack not giving the reaver a chance to even scream before it collapsed into a pile. I decided not to do another spell, and yelled "Kill them, I''ll heal" With four on two, even the health drain and wicked damage they did with their big swords couldn''t keep them alive as we all attacked. I did a few heal spells, but wanted to get some mace time in against a strong opponent to keep building that skill. When the last one dropped, Maria let out a laugh and said "We are some serious badasses!" "Damn right!" Bob said, just as pumped as Maria "four level 18 undead in a closed room? We kick ass" Dalmar just chuckled as he went around on treasure pick up, while Maria moved over to unlock the chest. I turned to find the door had closed, but opened for me, so let it stay shut for now, turning back to join the others as they contemplated our haul. The major items being: Hunter''s Bow 16-30 damage 30/30 Durability +10 Ice damage +3 to hit +3 Dexterity +2 Strength 45% chance target is slowed for 5 seconds Not usable by:Mage, Priest Maria leapt on that one Bracers of Giant strength +5 Strength 18 Armor 24/24 durability Usable by: Warriors Bob took this after a discussion with Dalmar Leather Armor of Holy (Telina''s) Light 25 Armor 15% Magic resistance +4 to dodge Once a day player may send out a blast of holy light that blinds opponents within 50 feet for 10 seconds The holy light thing changed to Telina''s light when I picked it up, so it must have been set to lock on the deity of which ever priest claimed it. I didn''t waste any time claiming it, swapping out as soon as I read it was usable by priests. Worn Leather Boots 2 armor rating 24/24 durability Not usable: Mage Leather Bracer 3 armor +2 armor 22/22 durability So my new armor gave me a base rating of 32, and my priest thing added 30% to that, which was close to 10 more. Call it 42 for simplicity, then I can cast my armor spell, adding 19 points, giving me a 61 freaking armor number. That''s what I''m talking about. There was an assortment of other items, including another one of the reaver helms, a shield, two swords, and an axe. Dalmar said the axes were decent weapons, but they kind of fell between the sword and mace in damage unless used by a high strength character. Supposedly they were popular with orcs since the berserker thing made them really effective, but most people decided against them. The guards in Mudtown were making out well from all of this, and Dalmar was picking up enough gold and silver that none of them were worried about the sale price of the magic. "Rings and necklaces" Bob said as we gathered and started down the hall again "those are the most versatile buff items. The two magical ring limit seems kind of arbitrary, but you can usually come up with a couple of decent ones. I''ve got a couple that boost strength and dexterity, as well as some resistances" "How much extra strength are you getting from your items?" I asked, beginning to think I had been underestimating the extras everyone used. "+8" Bob said, followed by Dalmar''s "+11" Well shit, I was really behind in the game of buff your stats. I put that aside for now and followed everyone until we caught up to Maria disabling a trap on the floor "Don''t come any closer" she said as she worked "There''s three more of these things on the walls" She did her fiddly tricks on a few places spaced down the hall before giving us the all clear to join her at a door at the end of the hallway. No one commented as Dalmar and Bob stepped up and opened the door, finding more stairs and three Draugr, all level 18. I would have liked to step up and do some mace work, but contented myself with just tossing in a healing spell a couple of times. "Onward and upward" Maria said after Dalmar gathered the coins. She blurred ahead, but came trotting back with two more Draugr following after going up only fifty feet or so. She slipped past Bob and said "All yours boys" the words preceding a quick beat down of two more Draugr. Dalmar and Bob only took twenty or so damage, but I healed them, then did a restore for the hell of it. Since my aura thing did reflected damage, you could say I was doing damage during every fight. "These high level guys have already bumped me up to level five" Bob said as we cleaned up the junk and moved on. A quick check showed me at 45% on my own trip to level 10. Slow but sure. We didn''t come to a door this time, the stairs just leading into a room that had three more sets of stairs leading up in the other three walls. Maria said "Eenie meanie minie moe, for the treasure, this is the way to go". Her finger pointing at the center one. "Ooh, doing the center first?" Bob said doubtfully, getting a chuckle from me as I looked at Maria and we said simultaneously "What''s the worst that could happen?" Dalmar laughed as he moved toward the center stairwell, saying "Well, we know who''s fault it is if we get our asses beat" Bob sighed and followed Dalmar, saying "Wish now I''d been putting everything into strength cause we''re going to need it" Maria slipped ahead, as we took the stairs straight up about a hundred feet and found ourselves at another door. "Not locked" Maria muttered as she slipped behind me. Dalmar nodded and opened the door, saying quietly "You all know what to do" Well, the Eenie meanie thing made finding the Lich quicker, but Bob was right to worry. The Lich was a tall Draugr looking guy wearing a crown, robes, and holding a mace that glowed black. I know, black is the absence of light, so it couldn''t glow black, but you feel free to bring your wise ass here and explain to the guy. Anyway, it glowed black, and it gave me the serious wiggins. The biggest problem was the four reavers standing in a line in front of the Lich. The room was fairly long, about half the size of the gnoll Kings hall, so we had some room to work. "We hold here" Dalmar said as the Lich and I did the same thing, call down holy fire. We both lifted our maces and paused as we cast the spell. His flame was black (I know, shut up), and mine was white. They did about the same damage, with he and I picking up 200 points, with our different homies getting half that or less. That shit hurt, and pretty much everyone, Lich and I included took a break while we screamed in pain. Dalmar managed to say something first with "Maria, special delivery!!" My aura must have kicked in, because the Lich received a sudden helping of black flame before he had recovered from mine. The reavers charged forward as Bob and Dalmar set themselves to hold them back, and Maria yelled "Special delivery for Mr. Asshole!" As she fired her arrow. I paused to enjoy the shock on old crownies face as he was blown flat on his ass, then seeing he was still there, called down another burst of fire. The reavers were to far away to be affected, sad to say, but it did for the Lich Lord Level 27 500 health Showing everyone that even high health loses to a couple of big sticks. The reavers were doing serious damage to Bob and Dalmar, though the two guys were taking hunks of health off the dead floaty guys. I used up my mana healing Maria, then stepped back to do a restore, yelling "I''m out! use a potion if you need it!" Two reavers were down, and both Bob and Dalmar needed a potion before I was back up. I started throwing healing spells fast and furious, causing a sudden relaxation in my team when they realized it. "Now we''re talking" Bob said with a laugh "Come get some!" He and Dalmar started laughing as they danced around, doing trick swings and weird attacks that involved spins and diving rolls. I looked over at Maria, getting her to shrug and say "Men. Always got the boy somewhere inside" We watched, me doing a heal now and then as the two guys played their games until the reavers did us the favor of dying. "Did you see that?" Bob yelled, still jittering with adrenalin "a goddamned Lich lord in three hits. The SOB never saw it coming" "I saw something" Maria muttered, giving Dalmar a sly smile "it kind of looked like a ballet, but I can''t be sure" before moving over to work on a couple of chests. Dalmar gave me rueful grin and a shrug before saying "Hey, it''s fun against the high level guys if you know you won''t die. They can handle a few good hits, so we can try stuff we normally can''t" Dalmar cleared the corpse treasures while Maria worked on the chests. When he got to the Lich he said "This what you came for Jake?" He was holding up a rolled sheet of parchment, the scroll I was looking for I hoped. While the others sorted the chests as they opened, I looked at the scroll Rune of Retention Placed on an item, it will allow the priest to store prepared spells for later use. Requirements: Item that has not already been enchanted through standard means A Mage may imbue the item with the spell by casting it upon the item, but Blessing by a priest after a spell is placed is required to retain it Others may activate item if specifically identified by priest when placing the first blessing Command word spoken when placed, then to release the prepared spell while holding the item If more than one charge of the same spell is placed, the same command word is used, releasing a single instance of the spell each time More than one type of spell may be placed, to a maximum of three spells Spells can not mix Mage and Priest types Item may receive a replacement spell after use of one, but must be the same spell Usable once every seven days, though after placement of rune, item may receive spells at any time Usable by: Priests Ok. That sounded...interesting. It seemed like a version of enchanting, though this might be even more versatile. Basically once a week I could create an endlessly renewable magic item that could only be used by me, or someone I say. Even more interesting was the fact that to have it recharged the person would have to come to me to bless it again. Off hand I could see where three fireball spells in a sword might be useful in defending Mudtown. Or for that matter, my group heal spell. Three of those would be great for fixing up a large group when being attacked. No matter what else, Telina was definitely taking advantage of her having the only priest. Problem with this was I didn''t want to be some super powered player that blasted everything with holy fire. This had been fun, working our way through these fights, risking someone being sent back to their spawn point but not really being killed. I didn''t like the idea of changing the whole dynamic of theses dungeon crawls. Everyone had finished and were looking at me, so I put the scroll in my inventory and said "This is what Telina sent me for, but I need to think about it a little while. I promise I''ll let you all know what it is" Maria shrugged and said "Works for me" she held up a ring and said "you need a ring?" Ring of Serizon +1 Strength +1 Dexterity +2 Armor Heck yes I could use it. It gave me another boost to my armor, and the strength and dexterity could only improve my mace work. "Well, that worked out well" Dalmar said "We have a couple more stairwells to clear this place, so I say we finish those and spend the night here, then move on south tomorrow" "Sounds good" Maria said with a grin "I want to see a dragon, a real one, not some bone version. And if I have to take the 10% death penalty, it would be cool to say it was because a dragon ate me" "If it does, we can just wait for the indigestion to kill it and grab the treasure" I said as I ducked out of the room and down the stairs, hearing Dalmar and Bob''s laughter over Maria''s "Hey, I bet I would taste good" The right hand stairwell was next, but it ended at a large balcony that jutted out the side of the fort and gave us an awesome view of the land below. The sun was close to setting, and we all sort of agreed without discussion that we would camp here tonight. The left hand stairwell ended at a door that had a trap and was locked, giving our pretty elf maid something to do. While she worked, Bob asked "What we thinking we''ll be facing?" "Something tough" Dalmar said "the Lich was level 25, so this will be something close" "Oh shit" Dalmar said after he opened the door. He and Bob moved forward allowing Maria and I to see two things that resembled extra large reavers. Reaver Lord Level 22 250 health The one on our right raised his sword and spoke a word that caused an explosion of regular fire to blast toward us, knocking Maria and I down the stairs a short distance, and piling Bob and Dalmar up on against the walls. As I ran back up I heard Dalmar do his "Special delivery" followed by an explosion. The reaver aura started knocking 10 points a second when I stepped in, so I started throwing healing spells around, trying to bring them back up. I tossed one at Maria when she joined me, then called down Telina''s flame. I hit the one in good shape, not killing him, or the other one either since they had been healing 10 points a second. Both were down below fifty though, and Maria joined in to help hold their healing down as Bob and Dalmar pushed in hard to kill them while they were weak. I started a rotation of healing spells, paying attention to Maria''s to be sure she didn''t drop to far. Both of our tank guys did enough damage per hit that they finished the reavers off in a couple of good hits. "That was worse than a fireball spell" Dalmar said, leaning on his hammer as he drew in deep breathes. Bob just nodded, sliding down to take seat against the wall. Both of them were at the bottom of their endurance, so Maria did the honors on the treasure. "Hey awesome bracers" she said, swapping hers out before I could see what they did. I was tempted to frown the way I saw Dalmar frown, but the fact was I trusted her and figured it wasn''t something that I needed to worry about. We eventually gathered again on the balcony, cooking a meal and watching the double moon rise. "You ever noticed these games always have more than one moon?" Bob asked. Dalmar nodded and said "Yeah. Thought the same thing when I saw these the first night. If physics worked the same, I imagine this world would have some wicked tides" I grinned as I realized he was right, and as I stared at the two large moons, I wondered if it was possible to actually visit them, or were they just digital images on an image of the night sky. Every now and then this life snuck up and made me more than a little uncomfortable. I pulled out the scroll and read through it again and decided I might as well try it out. Having a few flame spells stored for quick call up could be useful against a dragon if we found one. "340 gold, 410 silver, and 220 copper each" Dalmar said while I was thinking, making me look up at him. "You want yours to send back?" He asked me. At my nod he transferred my share and I forwarded it on to Susan. That was a very nice payment toward everything I needed to do, and boded well for our further adventures. While the other three swapped stories, I pulled out the emerald in my inventory, and went ahead and inscribed the Retention Rune. They all stopped talking to watch, but didn''t comment while I worked. I had the mana to do the flame spell and the blessing at the same time, which was good since I didn''t know if the delay would matter. The flame spell caused a small ball of white flame to appear above the emerald, which then got drawn in as if something inside the emerald sucked it in with a big straw. I followed that with the blessing spell which made the emerald glow a bright green, while I got a message Rune of Retention placed Choose who, other than you will be allowed to activate it I wasn''t sure, so just said "No one" Choose the activation word "Flame On!" I said, wanting to stick with my theme for now One priest spell placed And it followed the standard minimal feedback policy of the other rune. While I was doing this, I restored and added a second spell, getting Second spell placed Third spell placed Quickly followed and I looked up at my impatient teammates. I shrugged and said "The scroll had a new rune, one that allows me to store spells in an item and call them back up at need" "And you put three of your flame spells in it" Maria said, getting a nod from me. She followed it with "Flame on? Really? I''m beginning to worry about you Jake. I think your inner geek is breaking out" "Who can use it?" Dalmar asked, getting to the important point. "A single person if I specify them when the rune is placed" "That was the no one" Maria said with a nod "your worried it''ll blow up and kill one of us" I shrugged and said "A little. If this one works when I need it, I''ll start looking at possibly making more" "What the hell are you talking about?" Bob asked, astonishment plain on his face "This would allow you to walk over about anything!" I shook my head and told him "Not really. Those three spells won''t kill a high level creature unless it''s undead. Altogether they''ll do 360 points of damage, so useful, but not a one shot kill. And even if they did do that, that''s not the way I want to use this. This stuff is fun, fighting creatures and finding treasure as a group. It shouldn''t be easy if we want it to stay that way" "Man, that is some messed up stuff" Bob said, the confusion in his voice plain Maria''s laugh got a smile from Dalmar and a frown from Bob. She changed to her giggles for a moment before saying "That is some pretty wise shit young padawan. How many times have we said how much fun this was, and you want to change that? The risk makes it interesting. This world is set up so us eternals either play it safe and stagnate at level rising, or risk the high level crawls for experience. Just by using his healing spells Jake has altered everything. The last thing we need is some uber magic stick that can kill anything" "She''s right" Dalmar said, his deep voice calm "I wouldn''t want that any more than Maria does. I imagine Jake will start reducing his crawls with high level eternals like me" he gave me a questioning look, so I said "with my friends it will be for fun or to explore this world. For others...I plan to charge a really high rate to make sure they really want it. I''ll keep potions on the market to compensate, and they''ll be free in Mudtown, but Telina doesn''t care if people resell them after that, just not her people" "Wait, you''re giving those super healing potions away for free?" Bob asked, his tone telling everyone he really was doubting my sanity "Yes" I said with a grin "They''ll be available at Telina''s shrine in Mudtown" I really loved to hear Maria laugh, the sound increasing as she and Dalmar explained why that might be a problem for some people "Don''t you see" she said with a grin "those who support Telina get free potions, potions they can then take and sell for lots of gold to those who don''t. It''s genius, really. People come to her shrine for the potions, gaining Telina more support, but at the same time, isolating those who don''t. And on top of that, Telina''s enemies end up funding her efforts because they can''t afford not to have those potions" she leaned over to kiss my cheek and say "That Mary better be careful, she''s got a tricky one" Chap 14: My ass is dragon We headed south again the next morning, being attacked by an ogre after only an hour. Everyone let me deal with it for the skill boost, with Maria calling helpful hints like "you''ve got to hit harder than that, this isn''t a tickle fight" or "use the mace, not your face" she chanted that a couple times before laughing herself breathless. Dalmar and Bob just laughed with her, but didn''t offer any tips. My level 9 ass would have gotten killed a dozen times if I didn''t run away and heal periodically. I called the fist five times, then saved the rest for healing. I won, but it was hard fought, and even Bob looked impressed as he said "Half his level. That is super tough" "I name thee Ogre Bane" Maria said, striking a pose and speaking in a deep voice "Feared by ogre knees throughout these lands" "Damn right" I said "I''ll kneecap the bastards every day and twice on Sunday" I held up my mace and said "All glory to Bruce the Mighty, without whom I would not have even been able to reach the knees" "Bruce? I thought you were joking about that?" Bob said quietly to Maria The Dragon Mountains that ran east-west were getting closer, and they were giant, snow capped things that looked very symmetrical in the triangular shapes. The uniformity gave it the appearance of sharp teeth, stretching to the horizon to our right and left. Maria was the first to spot a giant winged shape far in the distance, seeming to be flying around the closest mountain. "Thing must be huge for us to see it from this far away" was Bob''s comment. That afternoon Maria stopped, then looked to the right and yelled "Incoming!" Just as a giant bear came charging at us from out of a cave in the side of a low hill we were moving around. The things head was as high as mine while it was still on all fours Giant Cave Bear Level 17 400 health Maria skipped back behind us as Bob took the initial charge, swinging his large sword in an overhand slice that hit just as the bear ran right over him. I called Fist and hit the thing on its right side, doing a fair amount of damage, while it stopped to deal with Dalmar. They exchanged blows twice before a giant paw sent Dalmar flying backwards. I got in another regular hit before it whirled around to pound me flat into the ground. It might have mauled me if an arrow didn''t hit it in the ass, doing serious damage. The bear let out an angry roar, turning to face Maria, only to get Bob''s sword thrust into its left side. I sent a heal spell at Bob, putting about half his missing health back, then rolled away until I could get to my feet. The bear had ignored Bob and was chasing a laughing Maria around our group, leading it past Dalmar, who got in a hard hit before getting swatted to the ground again. I sent two heals his way, as he was missing a good chunk of health. I finally did one for myself, replacing part of the 90 points of damage the stupid bear did in one hit. Maria controlled the rest of the fight, leading the bear past each of the rest of us, letting us get a good hit in. The bear would pause to give us a good paw slap, but resume chasing Maria when she hit it with one of her arrows that seemed to do an appreciable amount of hurt. I was close to running out of mana by the time we finally took the bear down, and Maria had to take a break as she was close to zero endurance. I plopped down next to her and said "That was awesome. You made that thing your bitch, but I have to say, at the beginning I was thinking I might have to put the Clobberin on him to slow him down" Maria grinned as she said "Ranger thing. I can pull aggro on them when I want, and one of my specialty skills let''s me do double damage to animals" "Good thing" Bob said as he walked over to stand by us "That thing ran over me like I wasn''t even there" "Bears have an overpower skill. Let''s them knock you down with about any hit if you don''t have a shield, and even then it works about half the time" Maria informed us I got a message then, it appearing as a icon to the right in my vision. I selected it and got: Jake, Had a visit from your friends the Blood Boys. Seems they held a grudge and wanted to find out what the potion was that Andulin used to heal himself. Andulin knew they were coming, in the way he does, so I had set Mirabeth and a couple archers up by the cup, then met the boys in the street in front of the inn. Short fight, I killed Conan after Mirabeth softened them up with a fireball. The cup aura kicks ass, and it upped our healing considerably during the fight. The other two didn''t last long, with Andulin killing Jack again, and our archers taking out Gandalf. They were never a threat, so no worries on this end. Andulin sends his thanks for the items as they have made his men much stronger. Keep those experience points coming! I was happy to hear she could handle three eternals, but the message was so sparse it was hard to tell how well she coordinated everything. Regardless, taking down three mid-high level eternals wasn''t easy, and it was done with a town guard force, something the Butt Boys were probably thinking about since it had happened twice now. People like the boys wouldn''t accept the defeat, with their natural inclination being to gather a larger force of eternals. Lots to do over the next few months if I wanted to stay ahead of things. Susan had sent the message to Maria too, so she saved me from having to explain things. We dealt with another ogre before we made camp, and everyone was nice enough to let me handle it again. I went all in with Fist, not worrying about saving mana for health, and managed to take the thing down fairly quickly. The extra dexterity and strength points made enough of a difference that I could tell it in a fight. On a solid hit with Fist active, I might be doing 60-80 points of damage. The armor thing obviously mattered since it still took 8 or 10 hits to finish him, but it worked my way too, with my 60 armor keeping his damage in the 40-50 range. I had to heal a couple times, but was never at risk of running out of mana. "You know Jake" Dalmar said later "With a strength boost and a couple more good armor pieces, you would make a great tank. That armor boost spell, plus the fist thing makes you almost as tough as Bob. But being able to heal on the fly like that would make you damn hard to take down" "But he''s so much better at keeping my pretty butt safe that he needs to stay in back with me" Maria said We camped and for once didn''t have to fight anything, nor did we the first half of the next day, getting Bob to ask "Ok, what happened to the monsters?" Maria pointed to the south at a large flying creature that appeared to be headed our way. "Oh crap" Bob muttered as we all watched it wing closer. No one had ever gotten a close look before so all we had was Dalmar and Maria''s gaming notes, that they gave us the night before. "Obviously big, Jake saw that with the bone dragon" Dalmar had started "but they fly and have a damaging breath attack. Red dragons breath fire, blue ice, black poison, etc. The bone dragon did over a hundred points of damage when it bit Jake, so I imagine that probably matches for all of them. I got clawed for 60 points, and Jake took a tail hit for at least that much. This all means Maria is toast if it hits her, and the rest of us will die if it focuses on us for a couple hits. You have potions, so use them immediately. If any of us go down early it will probably mean we all die" "Some games have a kind of stun attack that freezes you with fear" Maria said "I''m hoping Jakes blessing thing in the morning might help with that if it exists" "These are probably some of the top monsters in Tarinath, so plan to go all in. Some of us will probably get killed, but as long as one of us kills it, we''ll be the first party to ever meet, much less kill a dragon" he paused for emphasis and said "If I''m in the courtyard, having just lost two levels, I want to get a message that I''ve just killed a dragon or its all a waste" "I''m going to spend all of my skill mana on Perfect Shot, for four shots, all special delivery" Maria said "which means I''ll be pulling major aggro. He''ll kill me after that, so don''t let me down" "I''ll use the new rune and use the stored spells next" I said, then grinned and added "while its enjoying the taste of our lovely archer" Maria stuck her tongue out, but laughed as I continued with "Which means I''ll probably be next on the dragon snack parade. I''ll try to get in a solid hit while its biting me, but I wouldn''t count on it" "And Bob and I will finish his ass" Dalmar had said with an excited grin Anyway, incoming dragon, and we were all watching it move our way. There wasn''t much to say other than "Spread out so it can''t get all of us with a breath attack" we formed an elongated diamond formation with Maria at the back point. As it got closer we could tell it was red, but that didn''t do the color justice. The dragon rippled with red and gold that seemed to shimmer and ripple across its body as it moved. It matched most renderings I had ever seen, with the long snout full of sharp teeth. Intelligent, malevolent eyes that looked at you knowingly, and a huge body that dwarfed us to the point that hitting it anywhere above a leg joint would be pure luck. We were all surprised when it landed before reaching us, though still in view, and said "Eternals! To think I would be the first to taste the flesh of one of the eternals. I, Kalishzactzin will be remembered long by my people for devouring the first emissaries of the damned ones" Yeah...bit of an ego ole Zac had. When no one said anything, I shrugged and yelled "I''m not sure how eternals taste Zac, but I hear dragons taste like chicken" No one said anything for a second, then Maria broke into the giggles I had come to treasure, and Zac bellowed "Fool. You mock one who was your superior a thousand years ago, and will be a thousand years from now. I will roast the flesh from your bones!" The last part came out in a scream as Zac flapped hard and rose into the air, angling my way as he did so. Maria''s first arrow hit just as Zac passed over Dalmar, and the explosion on Zac''s right wing sent the dragon tumbling. The second arrow hit just before Zac hit the ground, turning the impact into an uncontrolled roll. The third arrow hit the dragon in the face as it clawed its way upright, drawing a tremendous scream of anger and frustration, that ended with a glut sound when the fourth arrow hit the dragons throat. Zac was more confused and angry than seriously damaged because he had serious health Kalishzactzin Red Dragon Level 30 1200 health Though the four arrows had hurt it, causing its health to drop to near half, it was not enough to slow it down. It drew a deep breath and a focused column of fire was swept across Maria. She died so quickly I didn''t even have time to attempt a healing, and I was surprised at the rage that swept through me at her death. "Flame on!" I screamed, holding the gem as Telina''s flame surged down to hit Zac in the back while he had his wing spread wide, and neck extended to burn Maria. Two more "Flame on" commands followed, stunning the dragon long enough for me to reach it with Bruce and a bellowed "By Telina''s beautiful buttocks...Its Clobberin Time!!!" I hit Zac in the side, the explosion and blow knocking it onto its side, surprising the hell out of me, but couldn''t dodge the flame he sent my way, nor the bite that came before the flame even left. I''d love to say I broke his teeth loose and crawled out to kick his ass, but that would be a lie. The burns and bite were so painful I couldn''t even focus enough to do a healing, just screaming in pain as he lifted me high in his mouth, and died when he threw me to the ground. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. So, back in the courtyard. With a message You have died Death incurs a ten percent loss of level You have been reset to the beginning of level 9 Well shit, that''s not too bad, though it wiped out pretty much all my experience from the Forbidden Lands and the Lich. I checked the archway, but I couldn''t use it, so just settled down in the sand to wait. About two minutes later I got Kalishzactzin has been killed by your party As the first players to kill a dragon you will now carry the name Dragonsbane! Level up. You have reached level 10 Hot damn! They killed the dragon! As a level 10 Healer priest, you are now allowed to create portals. These portals can connect two points, allowing instantaneous travel between those points, Requirements: One end of a portal must be within the aura of a shrine to Telina The end situated close to the shrine must be defined by a carved, circular archway of 12 feet diameter. The other end must be defined by an entryway. A cave entrance, room doorway, or something similiar. To prepare the portal. After placing the circular stone archway, it must first receive Telina''s blessing. the other end must be chosen, and a blessing placed on the entryway. The blessing must be repeated once a day for four days. Within 21 days after the fourth blessing, the circular archway must receive another blessing to bind the portal. When completed, the portal may be used by anyone who has received Telina''s blessing. WTF? The portal thing sounded neat, but a stone archway? Where the hell do you get something like that? And four days of blessings, Jesus, who wants to sit around for half a week? I placed my last full attribute point and moved on. Portal! Would a holy lightning bolt spell be to much to ask? Level 10 Healer Priest (Dragonsbane) Level 10 (0%) STR 10 (11) DEX 10 (11) STA 20 INT 10 WIS 15 (16) Health: 300 Mana: 180 Endurance: 200 Armor (+30%): 42 Defender of the Faith Priest focuses on aiding those in need and protecting the oppressed. Spells will focus on group and individual protection and aid, while the priest''s personal aura will become a healing channel for your goddess''s will. Blessing spells now apply to all allied creatures within ten feet of priest Healing spells cost half mana +10 points health/level Armor 30% stronger Priest''s aura does following for allies within 10 feet of player:: +5% stat boost to party members (+5%/level after level 8) 10% damage reflected back on attacker +25% mana restore rate Spells: Telina''s Gaze (100%) Applies 65 points (+20%) of healing to the user or any creature selected 10 Mana/use Telina''s Fist(+75% activate) Applies 65(-15%) points of damage when activated and a successful hit is made 20 Mana/use (effective hit) Cure Disease Cures disease (Level+10) of any creature touched 40 Mana/use Telina''s Holy Blessing On creature: 65% increase in base stats 70% increase in healing rate Duration: 6 hours (+5%/level to level 10) On flora: 75% increase in growth rate 80% crop amount (+5%/level to level 10) 40 Mana/Use (Does not stack) Create Potions Healing potion: Vial of water with Telina''s Blessing + Telina''s Gaze Healing= Telina''s Gaze + Telina''s Blessing + 2(Faith) Cure Disease potion: Vial of water with Telina''s Blessing + Cure Disease Cures any disease Level 75 and below (Cool down 12 hours) Telina''s Flame Holy fire strikes to cause 120 points damage to creature chosen Splash damage: 25% damage to enemy creatures within 10 ft Double damage to undead (+5/level to 120 damage) 75 Mana/use Dispel Magic Dispel Level+5 magic on creature or area chosen -Does not dispel enchanted objects or potions -Does not dispel own castings (Cool down 4 hours) 75 Mana/use Create Rune Ability to learn and place runes of power Player determines activation requirements (Cool down 3 days) Rune of Flame: When activated by user will do 100 points +5/level of fire damage 100 Mana when placed Rune of Retention Placed on an item, it will allow the priest to store prepared spells for later use. Requirements: Item that has not already been enchanted through standard means A Mage may imbue the item with the spell by casting it upon the item, but Blessing by a priest after a spell is placed is required to retain it Others may activate item if specifically identified by priest when placing the first blessing Command word spoken when placed, then to release the prepared spell while holding the item If more than one charge of the same spell is placed, the same command word is used, releasing a single instance of the spell each time More than one type of spell may be placed, to a maximum of three spells Spells can not mix Mage and Priest types Item may receive a replacement spell after use of one, but must be the same spell Usable once every seven days, though after placement of rune, item may receive spells at any time Telina''s Protective Aura Player receives 10+level armor bonus for 2 hours (+30%) (Does not stack) 40 Mana/use Resurrection Cast on self or other player Allows player to return with no loss of level after next death at the location the player died Or Allows player to choose new spawn point (Cool down 7 days) Group Heal Heals completely all allies within 100 feet Once a day 140 mana Create Portal Connect two points via an archway Requirements: One end of a portal must be within the aura of a shrine to Telina The end situated close to the shrine must be defined by a carved, circular archway of 12 feet diameter. The other end must be defined by an entryway. A cave entrance, room doorway, or something similiar. To prepare the portal. After placing the circular stone archway, it must first receive Telina''s blessing. Within 21 days, the other end must be chosen, and a blessing placed on the entryway. The blessing must be repeated once a day for four days. Within 21 days, the circular archway must receive another blessing to bind the portal. When completed, the portal may be used by anyone who has received Telina''s blessing. +20% Healing Spell -15% Spell Damage + 1.2% hand to hand + 92% light armor + 78% Blunt Weapon + 79% Concentration + 60% Faith + 87% Cooking 81% Repair Ring of Serizon +1 Strength +1 Dexterity +2 Armor Ring of Wisdom +1 to player''s Wisdom attribute Leather Armor of Holy (Telina''s) Light 25 Armor 15% Magic resistance +4 to dodge Once a day player may send out a blast of holy light that blinds opponents within 50 feet for 10 seconds Sitting in a small room for hours is extremely tedious, but after what I guess was 6-8 hours, Telina stepped out of the archway and stopped, pushing her hair back before putting her hands on her hips and giving me a grin before saying "Bouncy bosom?" I was sitting against the wall, so I stood up and said "Hey, I''m not much of a poet, but figured you deserve some recognition" "I''m sure you did" she said with a laugh. She kind of shimmied a little, looking down at herself as she said "Are they bouncy?" "In the best way possible" I said with a smile She laughed and grinned to show she was teasing before waving me to a seat and sitting down beside me. She kept the smile but her tone got more serious as she said "The portal magic was one of many things the overmasters removed from our control, and to see it appear again leads me to suspect that they have left our world completely. I hope this is true as their meddling is a force for chaos upon Tarinath" she waved a hand as if shooing a fly away and said "but that is not an issue you need worry over. I wish you to consider carefully the use of the portal magic. The overmasters feared that having two portals whose...tunnels crossed, would be unsupportable within the...physics of our world. Use this magic, but consider the importance of each portal" "I don''t see a driving need for one at the moment, though I''ll probably see about getting a couple archways made for when I do" I told her "slow travel is a good thing at this point" "Your two male partners survived and are returning to your town. I will see if I can ease their trip some by guiding some of the creatures from their path, but this may not be possible if any of my sisters take an interest" she looked over to add "The one called BigBob has acquitted himself well and could be offered a chance to choose what path he will follow at level 8" I shrugged and said "I think he would serve you well, and it will carry a message that forgiveness is available. But it''ll piss Maria off" Telina stood up, wiping the sand from her bottom, doing it slowly and giving me a mischievous grin as she did so. "I enjoy your friend Maria and she has my favor Loser" Dang it, I hadn''t missed that name at all. She didn''t comment on my flinch, just said "She craves power, but wants it to feel safe, and to protect others like herself. I would have you prepare her and my paladin so they might seek their vengeance, and perhaps find others like them who strive for peace" "I''m on it" I said "it will take close to a month to restock everything they need, but I want to get them moving as quickly as possible" I held up a hand to stop her for a moment and said "That cup thing, are there more like it?" She sort of froze and her face lost all expression as she said nothing and did nothing as we stared at each other. After a moment I decided she probably couldn''t, but she also wasn''t telling me no. I nodded to myself and said "Let''s say the goddesses can''t talk about holy cups and stuff, maybe because it gives them some kind of advantage. But let''s say I''m not looking for holy doodads and I happened to stumble upon something that looks like one, even though it really isn''t. Do you think I should throw it away?" She kind of looked off to the side for a minute, then turned back to say "As a priest of Telina you should not be wasteful of any item as it may have value to those in need" I''d take that as a sort of answer and said "Of course, waste not want not" "Then I will only say that I am pleased with your efforts my priest" she said as she stepped into the archway and disappeared. Note from the author Hi all, I thought I would say a little about the story you are reading, and explain a bit about the formatting. The concept of VR life has been done quite a bit by now, but I wanted to try my hand at building a story around the idea, and you have been reading the result. This work is not meant to be something you would pay money for, so I have been making the plot up as I go along, which you''ve probably noticed. Feedback is always appreciated, positive or negative, though I would most like story or plot related criticisms or praise. I find the whole text entry system on Royal Road to be aggravating and aren''t interested in spending the time figuring out how to make it work for me. I have been copying and pasting from Pages into a text editor, then into this webpage. It strips all the italics and bold print out, so a lot of emphasis or highlighting is lost. The stat pages and such are in italics in my original, making it a little easier to read. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.Jake has actually turned into a bit more of a hero than I had intended, but what can you do? I am considering following a different character for a while, a mage, one you haven''t met yet, so you might see that down the road. Anyway, I appreciate you taking the time to read my story and hope you take the time to leave a little feedback. Thanks, S. Zaplosky Chap 15: A tale well told When I stepped through the archway and onto the Mudtown square I felt like I was home. A young boy took off down the street yelling "The Dragonsbane has returned!" "Ah, it is good to see you back Lord Loser" Seth said as he walked over from his shop, his short muscular frame reminding me of Dalmar, though Seth was human. A lot of the buildings had become wood now, with quite a few gaining an extra level. The shops were pretty busy as I looked around my town fondly. I nodded to Seth and said "It is good to be home Seth. How goes things here? Are any in need?" He laughed, nodding at the shrine, so I turned to see what he meant. The cup was full of silver, though I knew the magic of it would let it hold any amount. It also said 125 feet now, so the effects had expanded considerably. I could feel the boost from it now that I was thinking about it, and guessed Andulin liked that a lot. I chuckled and said "It appears our town is doing well then" "The Lady Paladin allows none to go without, have no fear about that" Seth said with a proud tone "She put paid to them eternals what tried to rob us again. Her and the Captain gave them a right thrashing they did, sortter made it look easy" "Now Seth" Susan''s voice came from behind me "you know I blush when you say stuff like that" she grinned when I turned, her green eyes sparkling with humor, her red hair hanging free, as she reached around to give me a tight hug before stepping back. Her smile didn''t fade as she said "I don''t think Seth mentioned he happened to find some armor and a sword and was getting ready to send the boys back on his own" I chuckled when Seth blushed and sputtered "Twasn''t like that. Just ready to pitch in like, if they got rambunctious" he chuckled himself as he patted Susan on the shoulder and headed back to his shop, saying "Best be takin the priest to ta inn, or not even the goddess won''t save you from our Mary''s wrath" Susan nodded and took my arm in hers, guiding me down the street. I nodded at people as they waved or called out greetings, though the Loser name was grating on my nerves after not hearing it for a while. The town had grown again, and the Burning Mage Inn was no longer the last building, the town now having what looked like six more past the inn. "Grown" Susan said, seeing where I was looking "kind of weird. You get up and the town has gained two or three houses. Andulin just says they were built when needed, but it''s all done sort of in the background" I stopped outside the inn, studying the changes, but said to Susan "Yeah, I''ve seen this when I arrived. I decided to not think about it too much since it''s probably coded into the system" Mary was exuberantly happy to see me. Throwing herself into my arms and kissing me passionately in front of everyone. I gave as well as I got, only stopping when Susan cleared her throat pointedly. Mary threw Susan a big grin, still hugging me hard, and said "You don''t fool me Lady Paladin. One need only see you and our Mage exchange a kiss to know you feel love and passion the same as I do" I laughed at the blush on Susan''s face, but Susan seemed to take it good-naturedly, just throwing a mock scowl at Mary and saying "I''m only pointing out that some of us could use some of your fathers ale and it won''t serve itself" The Captain and Mirabeth were sitting at my table, waiting, so I gave Mary a parting kiss a walked over to join them. Susan sat down beside Mirabeth, though Mirabeth was as expressionless as she had been before I left. "A successful adventure from all that we have heard" Andulin said "Dragonsbane. Never before has anyone challenged the dragons and lived, so your fame will spread quickly" "You probably won''t see another one for a long time" I said, smiling a thanks at Mary for our drinks "The dragon was incredibly powerful, and both Lady Maria and myself sacrificed ourselves to gain the victory. Five runes of flame and three holy flame spells and it was still fighting when I died. The next one will be wary, now that we have shown it can be done, so I would want a new strategy if I was to attack a dragon again" "They''re intelligent?" Susan asked. I nodded and said "Very. Spoke to us before attacking. Over confident with a huge ego, so I kind of taunted him into losing his temper" "One of your skills" Susan said with a laugh "Irritating your opponent into madness" she paused, her eyes squinting at me for a second, then added "I wish I had been there, but I''m glad the system didn''t give me the title even though I was in the party" I hadn''t even thought about that, but shrugged it off as another programming thing. "How are things going here?" I asked, mostly looking at Andulin "Well" he said "The flow of gold coin has allowed us to make considerable progress in such a short time. Our dwarven builders have placed a mine not far from our silver mine, and a road has been built to both from the town. The initial mapping of the wall placement has begun, and the ground is being prepared to hold the weight of the walls. Additional wells will be dug in strategic locations within the walls boundaries, though that will be some time in the future. Our Lady Paladin has transferred the enchanted items into my care, and I have distributed them amongst my guards. The eternals visit demonstrated the wisdom of doing this as they stood little chance of defeating even my day guards, not withstanding our Mage''s and Paladin''s contributions" "What would you or Mirabeth suggest we do at this point? Am I missing something obvious?" Andulin and Mirabeth exchanged looks, then both faced me as Andulin said "It is clear to us that our town follows a path that allows only two things; growth or destruction. As an eternal, your planning looks at what you hope our lands will be in the far future, but accept the strife and conflict now to achieve this" he paused to consider his words, so Mirabeth took up the discussion with "In exchange, you have taken the people of Mudtown into your care. The blessings of the fields, healing of the sick, and placement of Telina''s Cup of Charity have given them more than any could ever ask of their leaders" I could hear the capital letters in the cups name and wondered if it read that now. "We say all this to try to see things fairly" Andulin continued "Your presence here is a boon, but I wonder if you have ever asked yourself if the people of Mudtown wished to become embroiled in your holy quest?" I was tempted to give a big cheer at the words, but held it in and kept a serious expression as I replied "Yes, to state things simply. Especially after I learned I could change my rebirth point, but my main goal isn''t in stopping the eternals from preying on each other, it is in getting the people of Tarinath to stand against them when needed. The people must be free to do more than allow the guards to fight them in the towns when the eternals choose, they must be able to pursue them and stop their predations" That got Andulin to lean back with a frown as he considered the words. "Is that possible?" Susan asked, her eyes on Mirabeth more than me. Mirabeth seemed as disturbed as Andulin, so I said "I don''t know, but Telina has asked me to prepare weapons for you and Maria to use in your crusade to stop the worst of the eternals and free those they hold" Susan seemed taken aback by the conversational shift, but she leaned forward and said excitedly "Maria agreed?" At my nod she asked "What do you mean prepare weapons? When does she want to go?" Susan didn''t see the anguished look that crossed Mirabeth''s face before being hidden again behind her normally stony expression. "Flame runes, and another rune I''ll explain to you and Mirabeth tomorrow after I get a chance to unwind" I said "healing potions, and anything else I can think of" I left them to hold the discussion without me as a smiling Mary threw a towel at Daria, the other girl serving drinks, and joined me on my way to my room. It was an exciting and fun evening. In the morning after an especially strenuous session, as we lay panting against each other, I said "I am an eternal, and I don''t know what that will mean as time goes on, and since I''ve only known the land of Tarinath for some few weeks, I know little or nothing of your ways" she rolled so she could lay face down on me, propping her head on a hand that rested on my chest so she could look into my eyes. She was a gloriously beautiful woman, with bright blue eyes and blonde hair, and her eyes always sparkled with humor as she worked or spent time with me. "Yes?" She agreed "I...I care for you deeply, and see a time in the near future I will even say I love you" I said slowly "but I don''t want to place an obligation on you that you would not want, and don''t know what it would mean in Tarinath if I did say this" Her smile widened and she said "You are such a caring man, one would wonder why you are feared so greatly by those who do evil. I love you my lord, but I would not have my love cause you pain. These nights are a pleasure and you should feel nothing but the same for them. In most of the lands I know, two who love each other may declare it so at a shrine to their goddess, asking for the union to be blessed. Of the thinking races, this is done by those who wish children, as it ensures a healthy child. If you fear the grief of a wife who dies in your own youth, then I can say none would blame you for this. " Somehow, her being so understanding actually made my doubts worse. I leaned in for a kiss, then said "Thank you" Not a very noble answer I know, but the thought of watching her age and die as I watched horrified me. Susan and Mirabeth came down at the same time we did, and they joined me at my table while Mary went to help her father start breakfast for the guests. I sipped my coffee (something I was so happy the programmers built in) and said "Ok. I can do a flame rune every three days, and I want to give Maria as many arrows as possible before you start out. But the other rune is what I wanted to discuss. It''s called the rune of retention, and it allows me to store up to three spells in an item, but I can create only one every seven days" Mirabeth''s startled exclamation made me stop, but when she didn''t say anymore, I said "It allows the item to hold either priest spells or Mage spells, but not both. After a spell is used, it can be added again, but I need to add a blessing every time a spell is stored" I stopped to let them think about it as I started eating the food Mary dropped off. "This is a very dangerous power to wield priest" Mirabeth said doubtfully "That it is Mage Mirabeth" I said, matching her demeanor "which is why I only offer it to those who have Telina''s trust" when she didn''t reply, just leaning back to give Susan a worried look, I said "The question is what would be the best spells to add? Telina''s flame is powerful, and very useful against the undead, but I don''t know if that is what you really need for this" "Such as?" Susan asked "The sleep spell or something like it" I said "It seems like the eternals are big on hiring their own guards, but killing them to get to the eternal seems wrong. We don''t want to hurt people like they are, just to do what we want. Most of the locals aren''t aware they have a choice in this, and I don''t want to punish them because they don''t know any better" "They''ll gladly hold you prisoner Jake" Susan said angrily "and stand by and watch those assholes abuse people" No" Mirabeth said softly, reaching out to lay a hand on Susan''s arm "No my love, Loser speaks rightly on this. They do not know they could do something. Until Loser offered us a choice, none of us considered we might have one. You have suffered greatly, but please remember the guards are just reflections of the eternals intentions" "Are you free to choose what you will do with your life?" I asked Mirabeth, looking into her eyes intently as she gave me a questioning look. I glanced at Susan, then back at Mirabeth, getting her to do the same. Susan looked confused, and seemed like she would say something until I heard Telina whisper a "Shhh", into my ear, something that Susan heard. Mirabeth seemed lost for a time, her eyes flicking around the room, then back to me, then over to Susan. I was surprised and worried when a tear rolled down her right cheek, but didn''t say anything as Mirabeth turned to take Susan''s hand in hers, her gaze fully on Susan''s as Mirabeth said "I am. I accept your challenge priest, and will accompany my love as she goes to fight the evil of the eternals" I''ll call that a win. I went back to doing two healing potions a day, which with the ones I had stockpiled during my recent trip would mean the women could have ten each by the time they left. Maria showed up four days later, which meant I had two special arrows ready, and another holy flame gem, one that Susan could use. I tried saying both Susan and Mirabeth, but it only accepted the first name. We had the discussion again with Maria about the guards, and while she wasn''t thrilled about it, she did agree that as long as they weren''t attacking her, she wouldn''t attack them. The three decided they would wait three weeks, which would give me time to create more runes, and for Dalmar and Bob to arrive. They settled on two holy flame gems, and one with three sleep spells placed by Mirabeth. Mirabeth had her firebolt, fireball, and firewall spells, so felt it would be redundant to have something she specialized in. Susan and Maria had the flame gems, and Mirabeth the sleep one. I also got Mirabeth to meet me at the Cup one morning before anyone was around and asked her to try a spell for me. It took some convincing, but she finally let me do the resurrection spell on her. I was thrilled when it gave her the same choices that eternals used, and when she changed her spawn point to a point close to the cup, she disappeared like we did. She came back just before Seth wandered out, and she was more than a little freaked out by the courtyard. She decided to not mention we had done this since there was no way of knowing if it actually did anything for sure. I shrugged and told her it was her secret to tell. Dalmar and Bob rode in about a week before the girls departed, Bob looking tired and stressed, and Dalmar looking unchanged, his calm, powerful demeanor unflustered by anything we had met yet. I met them at the inn, one of the guards bringing word they had returned. Dalmar was smiling at something Mary had said when I came in. I got my own smile from Mary as she went to fetch me a drink and I slid into a chair across from Dalmar and next to Bob. "Dalmar Dragonsbane" I said in a deep voice "I give you welcome" Dalmar chuckled and Bob grinned for a second before looking serious again. "Jake" Dalmar said while toasting me with his ale "Heck of a haul off the corpse. I would have loved to find his stash, but no way was I risking that down two people" I laughed at the thought of the two of them wandering around the dragon lands by themselves, but just waved for him to continue. "700 gold and 1200 silver. Dragon scales, ten of them, which again makes the smithing thing a real pain. I plan to hold on to them in case we ever make it work if you guys are ok with that?" I sent a non-verbal ''Sound good?" To Telina, not sure if dragon scales were useful. I got a feeling of indifference back, so I said "Fine with me" Dalmar nodded back and passed a bunch of magic items over, with the most interesting being a one handed hammer that had a cross-hatched pattern on the hammer face and a spike on the back of the hammer. Dragon''s Claw 21-29 damage +12 Fire damage +6 Armor Dragon''s breath 75 points fire damage upon successful hit once a day by bearers choice Not usable by: Mage Now, this didn''t mean I was dropping Bruce, but this would give me two big hitters. In memory of the stupid lizard that gave it to me I named my hammer Zac. The other three things (all drops, how crazy is that?) I told them to divide up with Maria and Susan, and anything left that no one claimed I would give to the guards. "So, did you make 22?" I asked Dalmar. He laughed, leaning back with a grin and said "Finally. I''ve been working on it since before you got here. How screwed is it that I had to kill a dragon to finally make it?" I waved my mug at Bob and asked "Did Telina give you any offers?" Bob jumped up, turning his chair over, his face white with shock. Dalmar and I both reached for our weapons, but stopped before we made more than a token gesture. Bob was staring at me, his mouth working as if he was trying to say something, but not actually speaking. I nodded at his seat and said "Drink your ale. Samuel does a good job and you don''t want to waste it" I leaned back, showing him I was relaxed as I said "I take that as a yes. I am also guessing you''ve delayed making a choice" he sat back down, picking up his mug, so I said "You''d be good at it, but don''t go in to this half assed. If you aren''t willing to walk the walk, don''t put yourself in a bad position" "Why?" Bob asked quietly "Because you have potential. You came here and thought you were a god and did evil things. That was some fucked up shit, but if we condemn you for all eternity for six or eight weeks of your life, well, that would be some fucked up shit too. Maria didn''t kill you, and i know Telina likes her a lot, so that''s a pretty good recommendation. But if you''re thinking the goddess will help keep you on the straight and narrow, don''t do this, because she won''t. The goddesses can''t talk to you directly except in pretty specific situations. I''ll let you know if you''re screwing up, but I have zero tolerance if you abuse a woman, and I''ll make sure you spend a hundred years drowning once a day if you do" "She spoke to me" Bob said, his eyes on his mug "Said I could be her paladin. She said you would need me. Said I needed to redeem myself to the people of Tarinath" "There you go" I said with a shrug "don''t try explaining why you did what you did, because it doesn''t matter. Do onto others, Bob, that''s the rule for eternals, because the goddess and I plan to protect the people of Tarinath from any who don''t follow that rule" "How do you justify that?" Dalmar asked, his tone telling me it was interest rather than a challenge. I shrugged again and said "Using the eternals own reasoning. I can because I can. If no one stops me, than my actions are acceptable. The locals didn''t have the free will to resist, but they feel the same emotions and pain that we do. That''s changing, and I want the example we set here to be the one they decide to live by too" "Will Maria accept him?" Dalmar asked, nodding at Bob. I didn''t want to shrug again, so I just said "I think so. I don''t think the goddess would have offered if Maria would be against it. She might, and that would be a problem since Maria is special to me, but I really don''t think it will be" "She will" Maria said, becoming visible in the corner where she was drinking an ale, hidden by her cloak for some reason. She picked her ale up and came over to drop in the chair next to me. She gave Bob a hard look and said "But I don''t forgive you. Maybe in fifty or sixty years if you don''t do anything stupid, but Jake''s right, there''s a better way to do this shit than an eternity in prison" You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. "There you go" I said with a grin "can''t ask for a better recommendation than that" Bob sighed not meeting our eyes as he seemed to be gazing into the distance. Maria ignored his doubtful attitude and grinned at me as she said "So I''m the goddesses favorite?" "I wouldn''t go that far" I said with a laugh, but Telina''s sudden mental nudge got me to sigh and say "Maria, you make this world better by being part of it, and she enjoys your company as much as I do" I took a sip of ale while Maria blushed and gave me time to add "But I''m still her favorite Dragonsbane" Her eyes lit up as she said excitedly "That''s right, do you know I''m the first eternal to not only attack a dragon, but I''m also the first one to be killed by one" her words gave me an idea, but I would have to think about it a while. "Well, unless Dalmar and Bob got chewed on, I''m the only one to get bitten by one...twice!" I replied with a laugh Dalmar''s deep voice said "Worthy goals I''m sure" Dalmar said, a chuckle breaking through "but if we''re talking firsts, then I''m the first one to ever hit a dragon in the face...twice, and Bob and I have each given the final blow to one" "How did it end?" Maria asked, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. "Well, let me tell our friends here of the demise of the mighty red dragon Kalishzactzin" Bob said, a slight smile breaking through, as he stood up and spoke loud enough for everyone to hear "The majestic and powerful dragon came upon us as we drew near the Dragon Mountains, landing before us as we drew apart, fearful of being engulfed in its deadly breath. Kalishzactzin called on us to surrender to its might or be devoured. I must admit that I was struck dumb with fear as it gazed upon us with its evil eyes, and spoke with its powerful voice. But our priest felt no such fear, saying to Kalishzactzin that he had been told that dragons tasted like chicken" a burst of laughter made me turn to see a lot more people had joined us. "Mighty Kalishzactzin was at first struck silent by the only defiance to ever be cast upon him, but that quickly turned to unreasoning rage as it took to the air, intent upon devouring our priest for his disdainful words" the crowd seemed to holding its breath as I exchanged grins with Maria. "But the dragons rage was his undoing as he had forgotten the priest was not alone. Maria, the Laughing Ranger, blessed of Telina, was waiting, bow drawn, and when Kalishzactzin flew into the center of the group of adventurers, she shot her first arrow. It impacted on the dragons wing, the force of the blow causing the dragon to fall from the sky. The Rangers next arrow struck while it was still falling. It crashed to the ground amongst our heroes, clawing its way upright, only to have another mighty arrow hit his snout, the powerful explosion driving the dragons head back, and bringing forth such a scream of rage it froze almost all of us with fear, but this time it was our ranger who was not affected. Her joyous laughter dashed our fear away as she faced the enraged dragon, her face lit with the joy of battle as she launched her last enchanted arrow. It hit Kalishzactzin on his long neck, silencing the dragons bellows of anger for a second, but the beast was the height of six tall men, and twice as long, and while powerful, the Rangers arrows could not end its thousand years so easily. As its wings rose with its rage, and it''s long neck extended toward the ranger, it let loose its fearful dragons breath. The ranger, undaunted by this creature, laughed as she drew her bow again and was engulfed in the dragons demonic flames" Bob was good at this I decided as I heard the sound of people drawing sharp breathes as Bob paused for effect. Bob put on a solemn look as he said "When the flame ended, the laughing ranger was no more" there was a groan of dismay despite the fact that Maria was sitting beside me, giggling into her hand to keep from disturbing the story. "The heroes were shocked by her sudden demise, but the loss of his greatest friend enraged the priest, and he raised his mace and drew his goddesses holy fire down upon Kalishzactzin, driving the mighty beast to the ground to writhe in pain as the priest did this twice more. Maddened by the loss of the ranger, the priest raised his powerful mace known as Bruce, calling upon Telina, and rushed in to strike the dragon a blow so powerful that it threw this monstrous creature on its side. Kalishzactzin was mighty though..." Bob paused to survey the crowd with a stern look, then said "the dragons snakelike neck allowed it to bring its greatest weapon to bear, covering the priest in flames" another sharp gasp from the crowd "the priest, beloved of Telina, survived the flames, wounded and horrifically burned, and he raised the Mighty Bruce again, but it was to late, Kalishzactzin''s teeth closed upon the priest and drew him high in the air. Powerful was the priest, but when the dragon cast him upon the ground, he was no more" deep groans of dismay followed the words, and I could see actual tears on Mary''s face as I held back my own laugh "The party of adventurers had lost two of their most powerful members, but the dragon was mortally wounded in the battle. The dwarven warrior Dalmar, Hammer of Tarra, commanded an attack upon the wounded beast, then, calling on the goddess Tarra, he rushed forward to strike a powerful blow with his dread hammer that caused Kalishzactzin to let loose a scream of agony and to turn away in fear. His fellow warrior, Bob, was not so great as his friends, but Telina''s priest had defeated him and halted the wickedness of his previous life, calling on him to redeem himself in the eyes of Telina. Bob, The Unredeemed, raised his own great sword as Kalishzactzin turned his way, emboldened by the Mighty Dalmar''s example and struck, calling upon Telina as the priest had done...and Telina answered. The might of the goddess flooded into the Unredeemed''s weapon and the blow was so powerful it cleaved through the neck of the beast, beheading it and ending its wicked life" The cheer that followed sent Maria into uncontrolled laughter, as I joined her. Mary plopped into my lap to kiss me breathless before dashing back to pass out more drinks. A lot of the locals stopped by to thank Bob for the tale, but like me, he had to suffer through the use of the name Tennant gave him. "Hell of a story" Dalmar said when the crowd had thinned some "and weirdly, it was basically all true" "No shit" Maria said with a laugh "but what''s with the laughing ranger bit?" Bob looked a little embarrassed as he said "The goddess. When she spoke to me, she said I would do well to learn the joy of life from the laughing ranger, and heed the wisdom of her beloved priest" "Cool" Maria said, grinning as she considered the words "I can probably charge higher rates if people hear a goddess likes me" she didn''t hear Telina laugh, but I did, and grinned and said "Well, as long as you give her her share" Maria stuck her tongue out at me, but didn''t say anything back as Dalmar asked "So what''s next?" "Depends on you and Bob" I said "I''d like to do some research, so I need to find a library or something like it, probably in one of the empire cities, and I need to see how the eternals are living in the places with a lot of spawn points" "You wanting Bob and I to come along?" Dalmar asked. I shook my head no and looked at Bob to say "I was hoping Bob would stay here as Telina''s paladin and guard my town while I was away" "Me?" Bob asked in surprise "No one would trust me here!" "Yes we will" Mary said, stopping to lean against me, but looking at Bob "Our priest has faith in you, so we would not be so small souled we would not do the same. You, having done evil, will be more wary and knowing of its ways, and the Cup of Charity would reveal you to be false if you did not support the goddesses ways" "What she said" I said as Mary moved on "you need to be here to watch these people grow. They are going to be the first free people on Tarinath, and they need one of Telina''s chosen to watch over them as the world becomes aware of the threat they hold" "Alright" Maria said abruptly, sounding impatient "you''re going to be Telina''s paladin and you''re going to stay here and kill anyone who messes with Jakes town. All this whining and self doubt is getting stupid. The big question here is where Jake is going, and who''s going with him" I chuckled at the chagrined look on Bob''s face, but Bob didn''t argue so I said "Great, glad that''s out of the way. I need to look up information on the cup and things like it. This needs to stay totally secret or it''ll get other people interested, but I think there might be more scattered around and I''d like to find them" "The cup?" Dalmar muttered, the surprise clear in his tone. Maria giggled and said "The cup! You know, the magically powerful cup that helps protect the whole town? Yeah, that cup" I rolled my eyes at her blabbing the whole thing, but didn''t comment as Dalmar thought about it. We all sat quietly for a time, then Dalmar said "Well, you definitely don''t plan small. I can see why being able to protect an area like that would be useful. As you said, the Empire would be the most likely source for information, but I would recommend starting with the Half-elves. They have a pretty big library, or at least I''ve seen the building. If we swing west from there you can see Averdeen and Riverbend on the way to Formil City. The dwarves probably have information you might get them to share. Then you head north through the empire and back east again to get home" "Your talking a couple of months riding" Maria said "Yeah, but it lets him see a good chunk of the continent, and allows us to meet up if you need our help, or vice versa" It made sense, and I needed to get a sense of travel times, as well as taking a look at how trade and governance was done elsewhere. We were a tiny little town in the middle of nowhere, with the human''s empire on one side, and the orcs on another. For that matter, I hadn''t really paid attention to how the half-elves ruled themselves. "I like it" I said a little later. "I can prepare more potions and arrows along the way, and if Maria needs them we can meet up as Dalmar and I swing through that area. It might also let us do a dungeon or two for experience since taking out eternals gains nothing, and spending a couple months just riding seems wasteful" Bob leaned forward and spoke for the first time since the tale telling "Maria''s going to be digging into some nasty shit. I didn''t travel that way, but heard enough to guess you''ll find a few women eternals being held by the Cursed ones. Leaving them to fend for themselves at level 1 would just get them back where they are now" "Crap" Maria said "Your right. I''ll have to see about getting them here alive until Jake gets back to let them pick a new spawn point" "I think we need to back up and reassess" I said slowly "we might be spreading ourselves too thin. Should we do this first cleansing of the cursed together, then I can take any one who wants to come, back here?" "Cleansing of the Cursed" Maria said with a grin, making the capital letters clear as she spoke the words "I like that. I''m always happy to have you boys along, but we''ll meet in Averdeen after you do your book thing in Ternil. Us girls need some alone time to get our tricks worked out, and having Jake with you makes you complacent" I laughed, but she was probably right. We all kind of looked around at each other, and after series of shrugs, agreed that would be the plan, or what passed for one. Bob fit in pretty well, his doubt about people accepting him was the biggest impediment, but that was his battle to fight. I did potions and runes depending on the day, doing one for Bob and Dalmar first before doing more arrows. The arrows were just so much more versatile that it seemed like a waste to put them on extra swords and stuff. I did two more gems I scrounged from Maria''s stash, adding holy fire to both, giving Maria''s team four gems, hopefully enough with the arrows and things to make a difference. I''m never totally sure about my giggling friends ability to walk away from a fight she can''t win. Planning and preparedness will pound passion into the pavement everyday. We all rode out the same day, and I was surprised and pleased when the guard turned out to see Mirabeth off. I had talked to Andulin about possibly getting two to replace her, one elemental and one defensive. I told him there were enough funds, and the combination plus archers would be interesting. He agreed to look into it and I didn''t ask again since it was his responsibility. I talked to Bob about getting three stone archways made and what they needed to look like. I told him to see about erecting them close to the cup on three sides, or as close as possible, but not to interfere with the spawn points. I had put his by mine and Sues, but still. The guy didn''t even ask me why. I was beginning to wonder if he would make a good paladin. "I wouldn''t worry about it" Dalmar said when I mentioned my concern "guy took a real hit to his ego, then had to face the truth that he was scum. I think he was a total dweeb in the old world and probably was lucky if he had one date. Not good that his default response was rape, and the punishment didn''t last nearly long enough, but your right about prison losing its threat and until we can give true death to someone,they know they have time to get you back" The ride to Telarin was becoming a common thing, enough so I was recognizing bends in the road, or odd trees and hills. We set up at our regular inn on the north side of town, stabling the horses before separating. Dalmar was trying to find anyone who knew anything about the smithing skill, so he was going to hit all the smiths in town. I went to the temple to find a few people stopping in to touch the bowl as the priest watched. He came over when I entered and asked "Dragonsbane, what brings about this honor?" a sudden susurrus of ''Dragonsbane'' and ''it''s the Dragonsbane'' made me stop and look around. The locals were all staring at me with what I hope was awe and not humor. "Um...yeah" I mumbled "I wanted to ask about the cup and bowl things. Have you heard any rumors of other unclaimed holy items? And if not, can you recommend any libraries or sources of information where I could?" He seemed confused, looking at the bowl, then back at me before saying "Legends mostly. Some of them say there was one for each goddess, it also said they could not be used by another, so an unreliable source. Others say there are more than ten, and that they were all created from sky iron, forged by dwarven master smiths" I gave the crude bowl a doubtful look, drawing a chuckle from the guy I realized I had never gotten a name from. "I too believe a dwarf would be unable to create something of such humble appearances" "The one I believe most likely is that they were created by the elven folk before thy sundered into the three races. They have created weapons that can be claimed by those who represent the goddesses, much as you did with the Cup of Charity" "Well crap" I mumbled, not planning a trip to that continent anytime soon. The priest raised a hand and said "Don''t despair so quickly. The Romarian empire began during the sundering of the elves, and they accumulated many elven tales as the elves passed through the empire on their way to the sea. If any information exists outside the elven lands, it will be in Mairisian City" "There wouldn''t be anything here?" He shook his head sadly before saying "No. There was considerable anger and hate involved in the sundering, and we were too proud to keep such reminders of the ones who fled to the west" Fled huh? Guy might have a bit of a bias. But it made sense, in a ''I''m taking my ball and going home'' sort of way. I wasn''t going to open every book in a library hoping for a mention of something, and it might not even matter who made them. I needed something that referenced one of them being seen. The bone dragon had mine for some unknown reason, if there was even truly a reason. Maybe the computer rolled one of those dice with too many sides, and the number that came up meant a cup needed to go there. Whatever. Dalmar was probably going to be scarce most of the day looking for his legendary smithing skill. I''d finally asked him why this particular thing bugged him so much. "Couple reasons I guess. I''m a dwarf, and smithing is what we''re known for. I picked this race because I thought I would learn to make weapons and armor" he said as we rode "none of us had clue about what life here would be like, but it wasn''t about the fighting and dungeon crawls for me until I found out there wasn''t really anything else to do. Did you know you can''t even farm here? Tried it. If you till up the soil, by the next day it''s back the way it was. You''re not a farmer, so you can''t farm. I''m already kind of bored, and I haven''t even been here a year yet. Until you came along I didn''t have..." He paused to consider, then finished with "a purpose" As I wandered back to the inn, I watched the large variety of skills displayed by the different vendors, leather workers, seamstress, cooks, shopkeepers, and thought about ways to make an eternity pass that didn''t involve fighting or conquest. The next day as we were riding west, Dalmar said "The locals are suspicious of anyone not half-elven, so I probably should have had you come with me. Even if they were willing to talk, I don''t think they would give me anything useful" "What happens if you try making something?" He sighed and said "Nothing. If you pick up a hammer, it just gives you a repair message. If you try to use the tools in the forge, say a file, you get a message that you lack the necessary smithing skill, and it doesn''t do anything but rub along the sword" "But you get a message?" "Yep, which is why I think there must be an associated skill" he said "the farming thing didn''t give me any messages, just acted like it does when you kick down a door, damage done, then fixed while you''re not looking" "Makes sense" I said, deciding Dalmar was right, the system, while clunky, generally had a background logic "I''ll keep an eye open for anything about it and let you know" I had a thought that made me chuckle, drawing a questioning look, so I said "Wondered how the rules will work when we start having kids with the locals" "Weirdly, I''m guessing" Dalmar said in a distracted tone as he frowned and considered what I said. Chap 16: Hit em first, and hit em hard It took two days to get to Averdeen, and I was interested to find it was another walled city, though a third the size of Telarin. It seemed to be a bit of a mix between the half-elven and humans. The guards in the town seemed to be a similar mix, with the average level being in the 10-12 range. We stabled our horses at an inn that Dalmar usually met Maria at, since her house was purely defensive and she didn''t actually live in it. Dalmar showed it to me, and it was a two story stone building identical to the ones on either side of it. Dalmar took me around the block and showed me how it used to be an alley separating the two sections. The town had six of the alleys, or five now anyway, that all used to provide interconnects between sections. The alleys supported the spawn point for other players, and the alleys all had guards standing in them looking bored. "Maria got the house built by scamming the system" Dalmar said as we walked "paid a group in Formil City to build it, which they did without discussing it with anyone. You know how these things just sort of appear, so one day, bam, a house. Town mayor made a rule saying no outside builders anymore, but they didn''t seem to be able to remove hers" "That''s why everyone else is paying guards to stand around?" He nodded, then shrugged and said "Kind of pointless really, since a mage would kill them pretty easily outside like they are. Since they aren''t town guards, the city won''t step in unless an eternal starts damaging property or locals. Maria''s house is part of the town now, so any eternal breaking in would be breaking the peace and have to deal with the guards. Now you can still sneak in and kill her guards, but it''s at least harder to do" "No one ever tried to get friendly with the townspeople?" I asked doubtfully. It seemed that the best way to fix these issues was to become someone the locals would defend. Dalmar laughed and said "It never occurred to anyone they could. This is a program, not a world to everyone here. Like I said before, it never entered my head that the locals could even become friends with you" he glanced at me out of the side of his eyes and sighed before adding "Jake, we''re a bunch of criminals. This isn''t a convention of mensa winners in here with us, these are people who mostly turned to crime because they couldn''t do anything else. The white collar criminals like Maria are the ones most likely to think outside the box any, and we''re all so used to playing the games that we''re stuck in the game mindset" he shook his head in disgust before saying "some of these guys like Jess and his butt buddy were violent people on the outside, and this world only made that easier. Why would they need to think about things if they like how it is now?" Good point. The problem eternals were problems because they liked things the way they were now. Maria and Susan were the only women with spawn points in Averdeen, something Dalmar said was a real draw for the cursed. "They get strange" he said "abusing the locals seems to not be as much fun for them since they don''t really fight back much. They like the violence of it, so go after other eternals. Nasty shit, and I would love to find a way to hurt them back" Maria, Susan, and Mirabeth joined us the next day, and none of them felt the need to visit Averdeen, so we rode out as soon as they arrived. "We did a small dungeon on the way" Maria said with a grin "bunch of goblins. Good training exercise, though I wish we could add Mirabeth to our group because it really screws up the balance of experience" "She can''t?" I asked, looking over at Mirabeth, then concentrating on sending her a group request. She jerked in shock, then froze as her eyes flicked around before resting on me. "Priest, what have you done?" I shrugged and said "Asked you to join my group, what did it do?" Her eyes sort of moved around, and she reached out to grab something before pulling her hand back. I realized what she was doing, so said "Read what it says, then think your answer" She gave me a suspicious look, before squinting for a second before I got a message Group request refused Huh. I rolled my eyes and turned back to riding as I muttered "Well fine, see if I offer again" "What the hell did you just do?" Maria yelled angrily, looking between me and Mirabeth. I shook my head in disgust and said "Goddess, is it just me, or did you and Mirabeth wake up angry this morning? I sent a group request and got shot down, what the hell do you think I did?" "Son of a bitch!!" Maria screamed to the sky, then turned to stare at Mirabeth, getting another startled reaction from the Mage. Mirabeth''s eyes got vague as she read the message again, then Maria jerked and scowled at the mage to say "What do you mean no?" I laughed as I rode forward to get away from the upcoming argument. Dalmar was chuckling when I joined him, and he said "She never tried I bet. She''s going to be so pissed at you for figuring that out" "Whatever" I said in disgust, throwing a glance back at where the three women seemed to be arguing "don''t know why they would be mad at me" I avoided them the rest of the day, but Maria finally walked over as we made camp and said with a sigh "Fine, sorry" "Whoa!" I said in shock "what was that word? Did you apologize or curse at me?" Dalmar laughed as he prepared our dinner, and Susan chuckled as she and Mirabeth watched us from the other side of the fire. "Dork" Maria said with a grin "It was both, if I was to subtle for you" "Ok, just making sure" I replied "because if that was a straight up apology for something, I''d never get anyone to believe me" Maria turned her nose up and held her palm out to me as she walked back to the fire, saying "Don''t be greedy. Just like a man, always complaining no matter how generous I am" "I don''t think generous means what you think it does" I muttered back, getting a giggle in return. Riverbend (named, imaginatively enough, after the river bend it was built near) was a little larger than Averdeen, but this was my first introduction to the empire and I was interested to note the black and gray uniform cloaks the guards wore. They also all had simple steel caps, something that no one else appeared to supply their guards. The four at the entry gate kind of scowled at us, and the guard Captain muttered "Eternals" as if it were a curse, then said to us "You keep your evil amongst yourselves or we''ll be sending you back to where you came from" I stopped my horse, ending up a little behind the rest of my group as they kept moving a moment before realizing I wasn''t with them. I gave the Captain a respectful nod and said "Captain. We are here to end the predations of the eternals cursed with evil intentions. Holy Telina has said that eternals who prey upon the people of Tarinath are anathema and need to be stopped. We will strive to not interfere in the affairs of the people of Riverbend more than necessary" The guards all exchanged looks before the Captain said "It sounds as if you plan to attack other eternals. You will only enrage them and leave the guard to deal with them when they are reborn the next day" "Perhaps not" I said slowly "we seek to prevent them from leaving the point of their rebirth. If done correctly, they will not be able to continue performing their predations upon your citizens" The Captain studied me for a moment, then said "You will need to speak with the imperial governor. I cannot have war within the walls of the city, but your intentions, if true, would be of benefit to the empire" A governor. I wondered how much power he wielded within his area. My group were all watching us talk, and Maria rolled her eyes when I joined them, and she said "Always got to be different. Come in, kick ass, take names, and go home. Seemed like a simple plan, but no, got to be complicating things" The governor was in what appeared to be a small keep in the middle of the city. There was another wall ringing it, with the roads converging from four directions and tying to the road that ringed the wall. The guards were somehow already expecting us, so we left our horses with a stable boy inside the keep walls and followed a guard into the keep. The building itself was a square block of three stories, with the wall being only two, giving it sight lines around the city for defense. The interior when we entered through the large doors, was mostly stone and minimally decorated, though there were a couple of statues and paintings periodically. A hall with a chair sitting on a small raised area held an older, grey haired man who appeared to have been a soldier at one point, though still in shape and strong looking. He finished a conversation with a couple of merchant types, then turned to us to say "Little good comes from the presence of eternals in a city, and mine has suffered from your depredations. Now Captain Oslo tells me of a group who talk of ending these depredations" I stepped forward, giving a respectful nod before saying "True enough. Many eternals are people who enjoy evil acts, and as they are reborn after being killed, feel little hesitation in performing their acts. My goddess abhors this, as do I and my friends. We have decided that as eternals, it is our responsibility to stop other eternals from preying on the people of Tarinath" The governor''s hard, seamed face didn''t show any emotion as he studied me, then the others in my group, finally landing on Mirabeth. His eyes opened wider in surprise before being hooded again as he turned back to me. "You are the dragonsbane of the tale told by the minstrels. The priest" he looked the group over again, then said "The Laughing Ranger and the Hammer of Tarra. You miss only the Unredeemed. I have heard rumors of the priest of Telina who created potions to cure disease that are now given to people at Telina''s holy temples" he stared me down as I looked back calmly, trying not to laugh at the description of Maria she was going to be stuck with. I''d have to thank Telina for that later. "What do you intend with the cursed ones?" the governor finally asked "To stop them, we must control the point of rebirth" I said "I do not do this lightly, as the idea of it is a threat to all eternals, but we have a greater responsibility to the people of Tarinath" "I can not act against them unless they threaten the city or the people" the governor said thoughtfully, then frowned and added "so I do not see how this would be possible" His explanation got Dalmar to grin and say "but you don''t need to act against them to control their point of rebirth" "The eternals are each given one of the little used byways throughout the city" the governor said "a curse placed upon many cities throughout the empire. How would you control such a place?" "You don''t need to control them all" I said said with a shrug "just the ones that spawn the cursed. Not all eternals are evil, and many who act as such do not realize that you, the true people of Tarinath are truly real. I can not explain why this is, but because of the world we come from, many eternals believe this to be a dream" "Strange" the governor said, studying my group again before focusing on Mirabeth "Mage, you are not an eternal. How is it you travel with them?" "The priest" she answered seriously, her face as emotionless as usual "he...places choices before you that change how you live. I do not know why, but it was his question that freed me to do other than I had always done, and put into my mind that I might accompany my beloved as she pursued her quest" "The priest" the governor said thoughtfully, still exchanging stares with Mirabeth. They could both be captains on the Olympic staring team though, so the governor finally looked at me and said "Ask me a question then priest and let us see what comes of it" Ok, no pressure then. I considered what we had been saying, then asked "Do you have the authority to restrict movement through certain areas of the city?" The governor sort of shrugged before saying "At need, but this does not mean I can arrest citizens of the empire at will" "Understood" I said thoughtfully "and what we are trying to accomplish is not to create disorder or suffering for others, but to show an eternal that his actions have consequences. We were successful previously by placing a pit below the rebirth point of an eternal. Trapping him in an endless existence of rebirth and death" "The Unredeemed" the governor said, comprehension coming across his face "you released him and offered him redemption!" I nodded, but didn''t add anything, not wanting to start a conversation I wasn''t sure would lead where I wanted to go. "I cannot dig holes throughout my city" the governor said with a chuckle "I would quickly run out of subjects as they fell into your pit" "That''s why you bridge it" Maria said suddenly, her eyes lighting up "put the pit below the spawn point, and the bridge above it. Put something in the bottom to ensure they don''t survive, then leave it. It''s not like you have to do this at every alley as Jake said, just the couple troublemakers" "Jake?" the governor said in confusion, getting a sigh from me before I said "she means me. I was given the name Loser as a punishment before being sent to Tarinath" The confusion didn''t clear up, but the governor finally shrugged and said "Strange, but eternals are unusual" "The real issue here is whether you can do these things, knowing that you will be preventing future suffering. The eternals are just that, a problem you will face for all of eternity" I said "Would your subjects truly object to the inconvenience of such a pit if they were given the choice of the pit or the continuing depredations of the eternal?" The governor did a slow blink. It was an odd thing as up until then he had expressed little emotion. He sat up slowly and looked thoughtful as he stared over our heads and considered things. No one said anything for a full minute as he thought, then he finally said in a distant voice, eyes still on the far wall "An interesting question. Preventing an eternity of suffering, while only changing the roads within my city. The city is...set. Eternals have altered cities before, but this must be resisted to..." he stopped and frowned in confusion, then said "resisted because that is what is" his eyes finally dropped to Mirabeth as he said "A question and a choice" Mirabeth simply nodded as the governor looked at me and said "I believe I see a path forward. There is nothing that prevents me from altering the city, though it is not...done. Eternals are outside a governor''s control unless they do something against our laws. But..." he paused, and gave me a sly grin, startling me "as governor I do enforce the laws for this region. The eternals have not stated what their laws are, but they have also not stated they have none. You, a priest of Telina, have come to say that eternals do have laws set by the goddess Telina they must follow, and as governor, I am required to enforce the will of the Goddess" I chuckled as the sly grin grew and he added "So priest, what would the goddess require of us?" I had created a lawyer. Future generations would curse my name for sure. There were further discussions to hammer out the details, and I told the governor that since it was an eternal issue, that the eternals would pay the cost required to stop the depredations. I was pretty sure he grinned at that, almost as if he had planned for me to pay for it. A lawyer for sure. Of the twenty some eternals in the city, three were on Maria''s and Susan''s list. The only one in the city according to a guard Captain the governor assigned to us, was the guy named Jess. He had a house, though it was a normal one, not something he built. After discussions with the Captain, we decided there was nothing that prevented us from knocking on the door, then killing him when he opened it. Dalmar and I stood to the side, out of the way as Susan stepped up to knock, and Maria stood with arrow drawn, grin on her face. I think there must be a certain kind of complacency that sets in when you think you''re immortal, because this Jess answered the door as if he was back in the other world. He superficially resembled Bob, but that was mostly because he was a big human. Dark haired and wearing a chain mail coat, while wearing a single handed sword, he looked competent enough. All I could read was his name as he blinked in surprise at Susan standing at his door, then as he yelped when an arrow hit him in the head. They don''t really stay stuck in you for long, disappearing after a time, or sooner if healed, so he didn''t have an arrow in his head as he and Susan began exchanging blows. The shield she used kept Jess from getting much through, and her sword fire seemed to do pretty good damage, because he yelled "What the hell kind of spell is that?" then after another arrow to the head he screamed "I''m going to kill both you bitches. You think you had it bad before, wait until this is over and I hunt you down" I cast a quick heal Susan''s way, though she was only down about 40 points, getting another squawk from Jess as he said "What the fuck?" Mirabeth sent a few flame bolts in for the fun of it, then used the sleep gem as two guards tried to join in from behind Jess. The guards dropped immediately, but I was seriously surprised when Jess went down too. Susan''s grin as she took a good wind up and tried to chop off his head was frankly disturbing. It didn''t work, and it woke him back up, but it was enough damage that her next swing caused him to disappear. "Dick" Maria said, spitting on the floor of his house. Maria led us into the house, ignoring the sleeping guards. Jess appeared to have actually done some furnishing, and while his taste in art ran toward nudes, it was still interesting to think about having a home to furnish. Susan had moved with a purpose toward the back of the home, then stepped back into the hallway again with a grim face and said "Maria" before she jerked her head to indicate the room she was just in. Maria nodded to her, then turned to the rest of us and said "Beat it. No men around for a while" Both Dalmar and I got it, and herded the Captain and one of his guards out, as Maria and Mirabeth headed to the back of the house. Sienna, an elf like Maria, and Ariel, a human girl were locked in a cage in the back room, both of them eternals still at level 1. Dalmar and I took the Captain and his men to Jess''s spawn point, which was in the alley beside the house, so we wandered over and asked around until we had pinpointed the exact location. A surprising number of locals were willing to point it out to us. The captain handled everything from there. As with Crossing, once the paving stones were up, the digging went incredibly fast. They had a pretty good hole going when we left for the night, and I expected to find them finished with it by morning, and starting on the bridge over it. "I hope this doesn''t come back and bite us in the ass" Dalmar said as we settled around a table at the inn I shrugged, then said "It will at some point I''m sure, but when you start talking about an eternity everything will happen eventually" "Alright, move away from the philosophical edge there dragon snack" Maria said as she waved at a waitress, then turned back to the group to add "this is a good thing. If its used against me later, then we''ll deal with it then. The real issue we need to address is how we plan on killing Bob for turning me into the laughing ranger" I couldn''t help it, I busted up laughing, getting her to push me out of my chair. Even Mirabeth was grinning slightly as I sat down again, wiping laugh tears away as Maria scowled at me and said "Laugh it up. Just you wait, I plan to tell the next story, and you can bet you''re going to figure prominently in it" "Hey" I said with a laugh "Loser here, remember. What''s worse than that?" "Loser the poorly endowed" Maria said, the scowl fading a little "Loser the badly smelling . Loser the dragon squeaky toy" the last one got a laugh from Dalmar, bringing Maria''s grin back "That''s kind of true isn''t it?" Dalmar said with a laugh "dragons keep chewing on him, and he does make a lot of noise when they do" "That shit hurts" I said with a grin "but I tell you what, if it happens again, I''ll be happy to be known as the dragon chew toy. Who knows, maybe I could start a business as dragon bait" "It is strange to hear you speak so casually about your own death" Mirabeth said, putting her hand on Susan''s in an absent minded way "I know it means little to you, but it is still a...harsh thing" "Laugh or cry" Maria said with a shrug "Yeah, it''s a pretty awful experience, but this existence was meant as a punishment for us. There are probably others, but Jake''s the first one I''ve met who seemed to see this as an actual life" "Being here, drinking ale with friends is a punishment in your lands?" Mirabeth asked, confusion showing on her face as she looked at Susan. "Nah" Maria said with a dismissive wave of the hand "this is great. Its just that this world isn''t a real place in our land. It''s a dream, sort of, that they think of as a lesser existence" "This is a better place" Susan said with a smile "but eternals arrive thinking nothing is truly real, and the things they do are just dream things that mean nothing" she paused, then added "it''s a punishment because they don''t believe they exist anymore" "Which is why Jake did so well" Maria said with a grin "it takes a crazy person to do well in a dream" I toasted her with my mug, thinking she might have a real point if you considered it. Sienna and Ariel joined us the next morning, and stood closely by Susan and Maria as we walked back to see how the digging had progressed. Sienna was an elven mage, with dark black hair, light blue eyes, and a superficial resemblance to Maria. Ariel was a human warrior, blonde and blue (not sure what the deal with blue eyes was) but with both at level 1, their race hardly mattered. Mirabeth must have supplied a mages robe for Sienna, since she was wearing one now. Susan had explained to me that mage robes were for the most part enchanted, and basically constituted the mage''s version of armor, though it didn''t actually supply armor points...or something. Ariel was pretty withdrawn and wouldn''t meet anyone''s eyes, but Sienna seemed to glow with a deep seated rage that made her glare at anyone who met her eyes. She got a hard grin when we showed her what we were doing, and she understood what Jess was going to face. The governor wanted the Captain to verify the pit worked before approving the other two, and I was gratified to see that the Riverbend diggers were just as motivated as the ones in Crossing. They had a hundred foot deep hole, but in this one they were setting six foot long steel spears in the bottom to help Jess along the way to the afterlife. I was pretty sure a hundred foot fall onto a spear would do for him. I had asked why this didn''t fill with water, since there were wells scattered around the city, and was told they weren''t digging a well, so why would there be water? It made perfect sense...not. They hadn''t started a bridge yet, and the diggers only cost me 1 silver, so while it wasn''t free, it was still dirt cheap for the value. The bridge over the pit would be built if Jess fell in this afternoon, and they planned to basically block both ends of the alley, then build a arched walk that was eight feet high at his spawn point. It would enclose his point completely, preventing anyone from helping him without disassembling some part of the bridge, which would give the guard a reason to interfere. That would cost me 1 gold. Again, worth every copper. We all waited around for the event, and soon had a fair size crowd gathered on both sides of the hole. When Jess appeared, it was a replay of Bob''s event, with Maria breaking into uncontrolled laughter at the look on Jess''s face as he fell screaming to the bottom of the pit. The spears did indeed do for him, and since we disappear at death, the pit stayed uncluttered. I had intended to leave immediately, but had to spend time assuring the governor that as Telina''s paladin, Susan could pass sentence on any of the Cursed. I knew I was setting myself as sort of a judge and jury of eternals, but I couldn''t think of anything else to do that wouldn''t result in war as the eternals began racing to build armies. I really wanted to go back to my town, buy a house, and be lazy for a few years. I was even considering Maria''s idea of opening a store or an Inn. Hell, maybe even try to study the physics of this world and see how all of it worked. Anything other than worrying that some asshole would gather a bunch of other assholes together and attack my town. After I got that squared away, Maria said "Sienna and Ariel need to level up, and they need to get away from here" Maria grinned, but looked serious when she said "Both of them are messed up, but Susan and I went through the same thing and getting strong enough to defend yourself was the only thing that made us feel safe. You guys are tough enough that nothing will take you both out unless a dragon comes along, and if you stop at a dungeon or two, by the time you get to Mudtown they should be at least level 5" Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. "You know what Dalmar''s 22 will do to stuff, so they''ll level up fast, but face high level monsters" I said after considering her words "and are we taking them to Mudtown to place a spawn point, or for some other reason?" "Spawn point" she said, then grinned at the sigh I let out "Hey, quit whining, you know Mary will keep you happy" "True" I said, perking up a little at the thought. Hell, maybe the whole cup thing could be put off now that we actually got one of the locals involved in stopping the eternals. She let me consider it, so I finally shrugged and said "If that''s what they want, then sure, but I can''t speak for Dalmar" "I''m fine with it" he said with a shrug "nothing better to do at the moment anyway" "Ok boys, control the excitement level" Maria laughed "you have time to do everything else you want, so its not like you''re on the clock" We got Sienna and Ariel outfitted, getting horses and buying a decent staff and a couple of stat rings for Sienna, and getting some chain mail and a sword and shield for Ariel. I donated healing potions and did a blessing before we left so they could see what it did. Everyone met outside the inn as the four of us prepared to leave. "Alright" Maria said, looking at the two grim faced women on the horses beside me "Keep your heads out of your asses and you''ll be fine. Jake and Dalmar are good people, so trust them and listen to what they say. We have you covered at this end until you have a new spawn point, so even if you get killed we''ll make sure you stay free" she gave them an intent glare and said "so don''t worry" Neither Dalmar or I had anything to add, so we gave out a couple of waves and headed out of the city. We camped the first night, and found out neither girl had a cooking skill. I told them we could rectify that in Mudtown, and I would get Seth to teach them the repair skill and sell them a hammer. Both of them were quiet, but did ask us questions periodically, or spoke between themselves. An hour into our ride the second day, Dalmar led us to a cave in the side of a hill, saying "A goblin dungeon. Went through it early on, but it''s good for starting out" We explained about the horses being fine, then stopped in front of the entrance for me to do a blessing and set my armor spell in place while Dalmar said "Ok, I''m going to assume you''re not familiar with this, so don''t think I''m talking down to you. Jake thought RPGs were weapons and had never played a virtual game, so I''ve kind of learned not to assume. I''ll lead, with Ariel about ten feet behind me. I''m going to set off traps without Maria here, so stay back until they clear and Jake has healed me. When we meet goblins Ariel should stand beside me and fight. Jake will keep you alive, but if for some reason you''re getting low on health, use a potion. Jake makes two a day, so we won''t run out" he looked over at Sienna and said "Magic missiles are safe to use, but if you throw any flame around, be absolutely sure you don''t hit one of us. You accidentally kill one of us and Maria will never let you forget it" I grinned at that, but didn''t add anything. Both girls nodded, and Ariel kind of set her shield as we headed into the cave. I had Zac in hand, hoping to give him his first work out, but stayed behind Ariel and next to Sienna as Dalmar calmly walked in. The cave itself led to stairs in the back leading down, but we had four level 5 goblins holding clubs and knives to contend with. I grinned as Dalmar kind of just blocked their swings until Ariel hesitantly stepped forward to start making nervous thrusts and swings. Luckily it didn''t matter most of the time, and she actually did damage each time. "Go ahead and hit them with missiles if you want" I muttered as Sienna and I stood and watched Dalmar block, and Ariel attack. Sienna clutched her staff nervously, but raised a hand and muttered a word, causing her hand to glow slightly as a magic missile shot away to hit one of the goblins in the head. It did like 6 points of damage. Hmm, could take a while. The attack caused the goblin to focus on her, so I stepped forward to do like Dalmar and block the thing, but told Sienna "keep doing it if you want" Ariel had 100 health and seemed to have put a lot into strength and dexterity, so I kept an eye on her and healed her whenever she took 20 points of damage. The heal spells seemed to give her confidence since she started taking the fight to the goblins, and killed one, then another in a couple of swings. I stayed in front of my goblin, basically acting like a barrier he beat on as Sienna kept peppering him with missiles. She did manage to kill him after a while, which was probably a good thing since the constant barrage of missiles was seriously ticking him off. Ariel killed the last one, and both girls got level up messages. I was hoping that Maria, Susan and Mirabeth had gave suggestions on level paths since I didn''t know diddly about mages beyond the general info Mirabeth had passed along. Since neither girl asked any questions I went ahead and assumed they had when both of them finally nodded they were ready. The goblins seemed to be generally about half my level, which meant good experience for the girls and terrible experience for Dalmar and I. The first level turned into me and Dalmar kind of standing in the way and letting the goblins beat on us while the girls went about killing them. Sienna''s mana took awhile to rebuild, so once out, she was pretty much done for that fight. Made me glad Bugly hadn''t made me a mage. By the end of the first level the girls were at level 3, and Sienna was shooting three missiles each time. Something that sped the process up a little. We gave the girls the choice of items that were dropped, most of which was simple armor or rings, nothing I could use anyway. They did start to accumulate money, as the level 5-8 guys tended to drop silver and a few gold compared to the coppers I was getting at level 1. Dalmar kept passing along knowledge like "Use the doors if you can, to limit how many can get around you" or "You''re a tank Ariel, so you need to start thinking like one. You hold the line, draw aggro, and keep them off your mage" and "Jake''s spoiling you, so keep in mind what this would be like if he wasn''t here" "What do you do?" Sienna asked after the last one. Dalmar shrugged and said "Sit, eat, and wait for your health to go back up. It''s all about patience and how many of the little health potions you can afford if you don''t have one of Jake''s" "You just sit in one of these rooms and wait?" Ariel asked, giving the room we just killed two goblins in a good look. Dalmar chuckled before saying "Yep. If you''re with Maria, expect her to drive you nuts, cause she gets bored in the first ten minutes" I grinned as I pictured that, but followed when Dalmar started down the stairs to the next level. I was upping my armor skill just standing and letting goblins beat on me, though it was pretty slow. The second level raised the stakes a little with a random goblin mage here and there, but they always ended up dueling with Sienna. I just kept everyone healthy and periodically, if one of Betty''s cousins got an especially painful hit in, I would give them a good slap with Zac. I kind of liked the hammer since it did a high base level hit and the fire was pretty neat. Sienna got her fireball spell at three, but an opportunity to use it didn''t come until we opened a door to find a cavern rather than a room. A couple of goblins were close to us, but a few were on the other side, ignoring us since we hadn''t pulled aggro on them. "Light them up Sienna" Dalmar said as he and Ariel blocked the closer goblins. I hadn''t really seen this before, so was fascinated to watch the ball of flame appear, then fly across the room a little slower than an arrow would. It hit the center of the three, and caused an explosion that covered about a twenty foot area. Since she was only level three, the thing didn''t do enough damage to kill the goblins, but it did knock them down and set them on fire. The fire faded after a couple of seconds, but I imagine it did damage until it did. She had enough mana for a magic missile spell, then she was done for this fight. After the fight Dalmar set off a trapped chest, getting a bunch of darts in the chest that caused 15 points of damage, but then gave him a disease. This was the first time I had seen that since the start, and it appeared as a darkening of the skin around the wounds, as well as a drop in total health and stamina. A potion made the whole thing disappear, but it was cool to see what it would have been like without a cure. "I would have stayed in this dungeon since I have the health to handle it, but normally you would have had to call it quits and head to a temple if you didn''t have one of Jake''s potions" Dalmar said as Ariel searched the chest "What the hell?" Sienna said in an irritated tone "It seems like everything requires Jake. How come he''s so damn important?" "Only person who''s a healer type priest. No one else selected it, so we ended up with a world full of warriors and mages, but no useful priest to heal us" Dalmar said, then gave her a bit of a hard look before adding "and he''s important because he''s our friend and he''s willing to help you out" "And it wasn''t like I was intelligent enough to choose it myself" I said as we started to the third level "Tennant chose it for me as a punishment. Until level 10 I was pretty useless in a fight since I couldn''t do any damage, so Dalmar and Maria kept me alive, kind of like we''re doing with you two" "What changed?" Ariel asked quietly, though she did look at me in question. "Better weapons mostly" I said, holding up Zac "Zac here does a shit load more damage than my original mace of major inadequacy. And after I got above level 5 one of my spells added pretty good damage when I hit something" "He lacks the strength numbers to do full damage" Dalmar said, patting a door ahead of us to see if it was trapped. It was, and he got a face full of fire and 50 points of damage. I healed him and chuckled as he didn''t stop talking through the whole thing "You need....blargg...shit, strength numbers if you want your weapon to do anything like serious damage, or magic to compensate" Sienna gave her first small laugh at the display, then focused on the hallway ahead, that had at least eight goblins, a couple with bows. Dalmar had her launch a fireball down the hall as he and Ariel blocked the door. She knocked down most of the group in the back, and actually killed one of them. Then I was busy keeping her and Ariel alive as arrows started hitting them. I was happy that Ariel had 100 health, but Sienna had only 70, so a couple good shots could take her out. We finished the group fairly quickly, and worked our way through the rest of that level with little trouble other than something called a goblin leader that was a level 8 and gave Ariel a good workout. The girls reached level 4 here, so we stopped and took a break, letting Dalmar cook some food. "Why do your names both have Dragonsbane at the end?" Ariel asked as we ate. Sienna looked up in interest, so I shrugged and nodded for Dalmar to explain. He gave me a look, but said "A month or two ago we went south through the forbidden lands to see if we could fight one. Four of us, with Maria and a warrior named Bob. He''s a paladin of Telina like Sue is, but wasn''t at the time" he kind of looked pleased as he said "a good fight. Thing was a real monster, and took out Maria and Jake before we could put it down. Level 30 and 1200 health, so not something you''ll want to run into unless you go south looking. Did so much damage that Jake couldn''t even heal Maria or himself before it killed them" he actually had a nostalgic look as he said "lot of fun, that fight was" The wistful tone got another chuckle from Sienna, while Ariel seemed like she was thinking about possibly hunting her own dragon. "If you kill a dragon the name appears?" Sienna asked. I exchanged looks, then shrugs with Dalmar before I said "Message said as the first ones, but I''m not sure if that means no one else would, or it just meant we were first" "Dalmar Dragonsbane" Dalmar said in a deep voice, before laughing and saying "has kind of a ring to it" "As opposed to Loser Dragonsbane" I muttered darkly "Asshole Tennant" "Yeah" Ariel said with a small grin "that is pretty bad" "Bob actually told the tale first I think" Dalmar said thoughtfully "at the inn in Mudtown. I was surprised to hear the governor mention it, but it was definitely the same story" he gave us a bark of laughter and added "which is why Maria wants to kill him. He called her the laughing ranger and now she''s stuck with it" "Telina called her that, he just repeated it" I said "though I doubt that''s going to make any difference" "You guys say shit like it means nothing" Sienna said with a frown "but it isn''t. Are you talking about the goddess? How do you know what she said" Darn it, I didn''t want to have to start explaining the whole goddess and her plans thing. I gave Dalmar a beseeching look, but he just looked innocent as he shrugged and said "Jake''s area" "Thanks" I said disgustedly before looking over at the girls to say "Goddesses are real here. They can''t interact directly with anyone except their priests, but the paladins can hear if she speaks to me, and they meet her when they are offered the paladin path. Telina kind of likes Maria, thinks she''s sort of funny and a good example. So when Bob met her, she mentioned something about following the example of the laughing ranger, and Bob was dumb enough to use it in the story" I chuckled as I remembered the look on her face when he said it, though we were both laughing through most of the story. "Just like that" Sienna said with a shake of the head, before speaking in a deeper voice to mock me "by the way, goddesses are real and I talk to them and its not really a big thing, she comes over for dinner a lot and watches tv with us...blah...blah...blah" I chuckled at the words, but shrugged and said "Well, I guess everyone kind of makes their own choice about them. The eternals I''ve met act like their not real, or not a part of all this, so there''s really no opportunity to interact with them" "But you do" Ariel said, getting me to say "Yeah. Telina''s good people and..." I grinned and kind of looked up as I said "she''s really hot" I liked the soft laugh I got back. I realized that might have been a little insensitive, but not until I had already said it. I think the two girls weren''t sure I was teasing or not, but didn''t ask. "Jake''s weird" Dalmar said, standing up to get started "but you''ll get used to him" I renewed my armor spell and then the blessing since the girls stats had gone up, before we started down to the next level. Dalmar got hit by some kind of gas on the stairs that did damage for 30 seconds before dissipating. I healed him two times since the thing did a cumulative 100 points of damage. "That would have killed you both without healing" Dalmar said, giving them a pointed look to ensure they understood how precarious things could be. This level got a little fun with the addition of something new...a troll. It looked like a stretched out goblin, being seven feet tall, green, and really thin. It was the only thing in the first room, and I saw Dalmar''s sly grin as Ariel started fighting it. I realized before Ariel did that the thing was regenerating lost health, but did like Dalmar and stayed quiet. "Son of a bitch!" Ariel finally yelled after the second time I healed her "it''s health keeps coming back" "Troll" Dalmar said "restores health really fast. You need fire to injure it and not have it regenerate" Ariel kept it busy as she and Sienna discussed options, but I finally got bored with the whole thing and waved Dalmar over and said "hold it for a minute" and after he pretty much backed the thing into a corner, held out my hammer to Ariel and said "This is Zac. He does fire damage, so have fun" I pulled Bruce out just in case, then turned to watch Ariel go to town on its ass. The hammer was a different skill, but the bonuses made up for it as she pounded the thing, flames popping up on every hit. The troll went down about five solid hits later, with a pleased grin appearing on Ariels face. "Keep it" I said, feeling more then a twinge as I said it. But the way she was admiring it meant it probably meant more to her than me "You''re joking right?" She asked after a moment. I shrugged and held up Bruce before saying "I''ve got my buddy Bruce here, and the hammer will do more good in your hands than mine" "You are weird" Sienna muttered, and I was both surprised and pleased when Ariel scowled at her and said "Why? Because he was nice? Maria was right you know, not everyone is an asshole, and if that''s all we expect, that''s all we''ll see" she was frowning when she turned and said "Thanks" but it was heartfelt and that was good enough for me. We worked our way through a couple more rooms, Ariels grin as she beat down various goblins damn near as bright as Zac''s flames. Sienna sidled close after one of the rooms and muttered "Where''d you get it" "Dragon. Dalmar pulled it off the corpse. It fits her better than me" I muttered back "I think her and Zac are going to be famous one day, and a weapon that good needs a warrior, not a priest" "That''s from the dragon?" She asked, then shook her head in confusion as she muttered "they''re right, you are weird" I shrugged, a little offended by the dismissive tone, but not to worried by the girl''s opinion at this point. The dungeon was pretty straightforward as Dalmar had said, and with him and me there it went quickly. We let the girls do all the work, but there was little risk. We finished it at the fifth level after killing a goblin king and ten of his friends, with me even slapping a couple down with Bruce when they started to flank us. The whole Mage thing seemed even less impressive to me as we went on, so at the end when they got level five, and Sienna asked my opinion about specialization, I said "Well, you guys kind of remind me of me, except you take longer to restore your mana. Like me, you''ll probably never go dungeon crawling on your own since you really lack the consistent hard hit. So my thought would be to go defensive and team up. Let''s face it, going it alone is an invitation to the cursed, so plan now to work with friends. You find a tank like Dalmar or Ariel and travel with them. The support guy is kind of a shitty role, but ask anyone here who they miss the most and they''ll tell you it''s the support guy. Everyone sent here is a type A asskicker, so theres no shortage of them, but someone who will keep you alive while you ass kick?" I raised my hands in a shrug. Ariel and Sienna exchanged a look, something I said had them thinking the same thought, so I wasn''t surprised when Ariel asked "And me? Do you think I should do what Maria did?" "Nope" I said immediately "you''re doing what you do best, stand firm and protect your friends. You were made to do this, which is why I gave you the Dragons Claw. I don''t know much about warrior options, but Dalmar would be able to help since you two are following the same path" "Being the ball boy doesn''t sound like much fun" Sienna muttered "Yeah, know what you mean" I answered seriously "when I met Dalmar and Maria I was pretty pissed that I was essentially a caddy, but after a while I realized I was important" I paused, and before I could continue, Dalmar said "Caddy my ass" in a distracted tone as we walked out of the dungeon "morons don''t realize a high level warrior ain''t worth shit without someone strong behind them. Maria, Bob, Jake, and I made a perfect team, and you ask any of them to choose between me and Jake, or Maria and I, and they''ll pick Jake or Maria, because warriors are a dime a dozen, but useful skills?" He gave the girls one of his pointed looks at the end. "I don''t want to be weak" Sienna muttered quietly, but loud enough that Dalmar heard and said "Don''t waste your time. The system is stacked against loners here since our health doesn''t balance with the hit damage. Look at Jess the jerk, high level, good weapons and armor, and he was killed by a couple of people half his level because they had friends and he didn''t" he grinned as he said "and they didn''t even use the high level shit because it was a walk in the park" "I''m not going to even attempt to understand what you feel about this" I said with a shrug "but you don''t have to be friendly to have friends. You stand with us when needed, and we''ll stand with you" I doubt I made much of an impression on Sienna since she was stuck in her head, but I could see Ariel thinking things over and asking Dalmar a question or two as we rode away. We reached home late the next evening, and Daria''s boy stabled our horses for us, and Mary came running out of the inn to jump in my arms and kiss the living hell out of me. Back in reality I might have been embarrassed, but this was my town, my girl, and my people, so I said the hell with it and kissed the heck out of her. We were both laughing by the end, and when I finally set her down, she took my arm and snugged in close as I led the way to the cup. People started following us, coming in from the fields, or out of the completely wooden buildings lining the street now. Andulin exchanged grips when we joined him in the center of town, but I gestured for him to wait as I turned to a couple wide eyed eternals, and a grinning Dalmar to say loudly "We have new guests in our blessed little town, both eternals, but good people all the same. Ariel and Sienna have suffered greatly and need the simple comfort of Mudtown, so I have offered them sanctuary" I smiled as I looked out over the forty or fifty people crowding the square, then added "their presence means greater risk for the people, and this is your town before all else, so I ask, and i ask for honesty...do you object" No one said anything, and I could see Ariel and Sienna looking around worriedly, until Seth said impatiently "Oh bosh! You be wastin time Dragonsbane, don''t be makin the poor things stand there a worryin, get it done so we can be gettin some drinking done!" I laughed at the cheer of agreement that followed, but turned to the girls to say "The Cup of Charity protects this town and this square, but you have to remember that it protects us from those who oppose Telina''s will. If you decide you disagree with the direction we are moving, then it may hurt you too. Telina''s rule for eternals is...do onto others as you would have them do onto you. Being an asshole is not wrong, as long as you are willing to be treated as one" I gave them a serious look as I said "this is my town and my rebirth point, so never forget that this is my family first and foremost" I looked around, enjoying being home, then shrugged and said "So, I can do one of you now, who goes first?" We ended up doing Sienna first, then waited around so we could see her return. Dalmar headed to the Inn with Mary, while I talked with Andulin and Ariel "BigBob is presently at the mines dealing with bandits with three of my men" Andulin said, then turned to point to one of the stone, circular archways, that was flush against the side of a building at the north edge of the town square. The buildings door was offset to the left, which meant the arch didn''t block the door. There was a window in the wall that looked through the arch opening. Turning, I found the other two in similar locations on the south, and east sides of the square. The arches were partially buried so that when walking through them you didn''t step over the stone. That still left a good nine feet of opening, more than enough I would think. "That''s a great idea" I said with a nod. "BigBob suggested this arrangement after we found the stones were so large that they blocked access to the square. He said that he understood their purpose and the walls would not interfere" "Yeah, I think he''s probably right" I said just before Ariel asked "What are they?" "Maybe portals" I said with a shrug "there''s a spell that supposedly turns them into one anyway, but I''ve never tried it" "To where?" She didn''t seem very surprised, and I must have looked surprised myself since she gave a half smile and said "Most games use something like them. I was kind of surprised Tarinath didn''t when I realized we''d be riding horses" "Oh" I said intelligently, wondering how people could take teleporting portals in stride, but not the rest of this. Shaking my head ruefully I told her "Don''t know yet. I need to think about it for a while and see what would be best for Telina and the town" Chap 17: Ceremony of what? "How often do we have large scale battles here?" I asked Andulin the next evening as we gathered at the Inn. Mary had another girl fill in for her so she could sit with us, and she leaned against me on the bench in the corner as we talked with Andulin and Dalmar. "I would say rarely" Andulin answered after considering the question "but it is not unheard of. The orcs raid the surrounding lands periodically, and Telarin has sent forces into their lands in revenge for the raids. The empire has attempted to take some of the orc lands bordering the empire, but have not been able to hold them long. The dwarves and orcs fight constantly, and these battles can become quite large as a city is taken or destroyed. The empire and the elves engage in sea battles, though they tend to involve small numbers of ships and I believe may be due to acts of piracy on the elves part" he drank some ale before saying "the greatest threat we face here of that type is from the Desolation. It is rare, because the Ceremony of Sacrifice prevents them from leaving the blight unless directed by a greater mage, but the undead from those destroyed lands will gather under the command of a necromancer or ArchLich and will move west, destroying all in their path" "The Desolation?" I asked, trying to remember if anyone had mentioned it before. "The lands bordering the eastern sea were blighted by Cirnac the Necromancer. It was what led to the Sundering of the elves, after Cirnac, a dark elf, attempted to gain control of the dark and light elf kingdoms. The war between them ended with Cirnac''s destruction, but not before he released the blight that devoured the elven lands. The dark elves fled east, while the light elves fled west, abandoning Tarinath in fear of the undeath they had released. Humans and dwarves had held the western lands before then, though the empire had not formed yet. Both elven nations abandoned your people, saying they wished to start anew without the corruption of human blood" What a bunch of assholes. Released a weapon of mass destruction, then ran away and left it to be cleaned up by someone else. I had a feeling I wouldn''t be liking the elves much if I ever visited. "The empire formed when Varan Romar called the human clans together to fight the undead horde when the elves fled west" Andulin said with a grim smile "Watch towers are placed along the border of the Orc and Abandoned lands to warn of a massing of the undead. The last such was in my grandfather''s time, and was a push into the Orc and Forbidden lands. The dragons were rumored to have taken a hand in the defeat of the undead when they were foolish enough to enter the mountains" "The Ceremony of Sacrifice?" I asked, wondering if the various undead dungeons were tied to the blight in some way. "It is why you are the lone Healer on this land Loser" Andulin said with a surprised look "The goddesses each sent their Healer to the border lands, to stand where the watch towers now stand. Each gave their life to create the barrier that prevents the undead from wandering freely, trapped between the sea and the barrier. Had they not, Tarinath would be a land of the dead as the blight eventually covered it all" "Oh" I mumbled, wondering if I would have the cajones to sacrifice myself like that. Probably not. "I hadn''t heard about the priests sacrificing themselves" Dalmar said "though I had heard that the desolate lands would drain you dry of life if you wandered into them" "Indeed" Andulin said with a nod "the blight is the life forces of dark elf necromancers bound into an eternal spell, that draws upon the life energies of the living to create the dead. None know how it was done, nor how it could ever be stopped, as there appears to be no central point of power, nor rhyme or reason to how it advances" "Well, if the undead advance on us, this would be the best place to fight them. Telina''s presence here would hurt them at the least" I said thoughtfully, my eyes on the far wall as I considered my options "The orcs would have to get past Telarin to reach us, so that''s not a serious risk at the moment. The empire would be a major problem if they were serious about it, so that''s probably where I need to focus on" "For what reason?" Mary asked "Peace" I said with a shrug "the empire would be the eternals base of operation if they made a grab for power, and I want to be sure they don''t take that from the existing leaders. From what I''ve seen so far, the locals are complacent about the threat the eternals hold, and if the eternals from one of the major cities were to band together, they might be able to take the city away. I either want to ensure that doesn''t happen, or that the empire is poised to react if it does" "How do you know it wouldn''t make things better?" Dalmar asked "Don''t" I replied "but it wouldn''t be the people of Tarinath''s anymore. The eternals I''ve met so far all seem to think of these people as some kind of toy for them to use as needed, not as people. I''m not going to stand by and watch someone start a slave society, so rather than fight it once it''s entrenched, I prefer to let the locals handle it themselves, once they know they can" I shrugged and added "and I''m more worried the eternals would get power hungry than I am the locals" "So what are you thinking?" Dalmar asked with a short laugh "talk to the emperor?" "Probably" I said with a shrug "It''s either that, or having to talk with each of the governors" "It''s a four week ride to the imperial capital" Andulin said "Yeah, that would be a pain" I replied "but I''m thinking I might try to set a portal there since it''s the seat of power" "Is that possible?" Andulin asked, his face reflecting his doubt "Yes, but it might require an intermediate one first" I said "If I set one in Riverbend first, it would give me a good southern spot, and maybe save me a week of riding later" "Riverbend" Dalmar muttered thoughtfully "that''s only a day east of Formil" "It would take a lot of traveling initially" I said "First to Riverbend, than back here to set the first portal. Then take the portal back to Riverbend before riding to Mairailis to set another portal. I''d have to come back to Mudtown as soon as I did, but the trip back to Mairailis wouldn''t take any time after that" "Lot of riding" Dalmar said It really was. I met with Bob before leaving again to let him know what I was doing, then did a blessing on the north arch to start the process. It wasn''t just a blessing, but choosing the portal spell, which sent a message to place the first blessing. The open middle of the arch rippled and turned black for a moment, then turned clear again after I cast the blessing spell. That was it. No message, no congratulations, absolutely nothing to tell you that you did it right. Ariel and Sienna rode with me, but Dalmar decided to hang around Mudtown since I was just riding to Riverbend and back. I blessed the whole group, Ariel, Sienna, and the three horses before we left, and found it worked great for getting a faster horse. Endurance was the limiting factor for the horses, but the stat upgrade extended that so we were covering a third again what we normally did. Sienna planned to meet up with Maria in Riverbend and start traveling with Maria''s sisterhood, while Ariel went back with me to set her spawn point. With the upgraded horses, we made Riverbend in seven days instead of the ten it took before, and I got a nod and "Welcome dragonsbane" from the guards as we rode through the gate. In response to a message I had sent, Maria had found me an out of the way passage between the main wall and a line of houses, but one that had an actual archway defining the entrance. I found her at the inn she mentioned, and after stabling the horses, followed her to the path and placed the first blessing. This time the message told me to place the first blessing on the second entrance to the portal, which I hoped meant the first blessing had worked. "Kind of anti-climatic" Maria said when I finished. "Yeah, and I get to do it three more times" I grumbled "couldn''t have been a simple mumble and wave of the hand" "Now don''t be whiny" she laughed "you''ll have your very own teleporter, so the return on this is pretty high" I spent the day with the girls, but Maria grabbed up Sienna the next morning, and the whole group of them rode out to see if they could find Jess''s buddy at a small town he was rumored to be ruling over. The other two pits had been built, so if they did find him, the guy would find a surprise when he respawned. Ariel and I wandered down to Jess''s pit that afternoon, what was now being called the ''screaming bridge'' in honor of the screams that sounded once a day a couple of hours before sunset. Ariel actually laughed so hard she choked when we joined the crowd at the bridge and heard him spawn and fall screaming into the pit. There was a bit of a festive atmosphere to the whole thing really. "I wish I had thought to put a message where he could see it every time he fell" Ariel said with a grin as we walked back to the inn. "Well, he has 24 hours to do nothing but contemplate why he was in limbo, and who put him there, then get to fall to his death" I said "so as far as punishments go, I can''t think of to much worse. This is like being buried alive, since you don''t know if you''ll be doing it for eternity" "I don''t know" she said slowly, squinting slightly as she thought "maybe water at the bottom so he drowned? That would be good, or leave the spears out and put something that would eat him down there" she kind of smiled at that and said "that actually might work" Two eternals showed up the next day, and we bumped into them at Jess''s bridge for the next spawn time. Ariel seemed to get a lot of satisfaction out of it, and I figured at the least it might be therapeutic. There were two male human warriors, both the standard big, muscled, and wearing plate chest pieces. One had a war hammer like Dalmar, the other a two handed sword like Bob. One of them, his name said ''Bron Bonebreaker'', nudged his buddy ''Kane March'' and nodded at us. The two of them grinned when they saw the first part of my name, but I could see when the dragonsbane got comprehended. They both gave Ariel a good once over, something she really didn''t like, but didn''t say anything about. "What the hell is going on?" Bron said. He was dark haired, with a long mustache and goatee, and a bit of an aggressive attitude for a guy who didn''t know who we were or what level we might be. "3 o''clock show" I said, nodding at the bridge "What are you talking about? Show? What happened to that dick Jess''s spawn point?" Kane asked. He was red haired, clean shaven, and had intelligent eyes that measured me and Ariel as he talked A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. "That''s the show" I said, holding up a hand and listening. Ariel grinned and moved through the crowd as they started counting down from five. A second after the one, we heard the screamed cursing as Jess disappeared down the pit. Ariel was giggling as she rejoined me. "That was Jess?" Bron asked, looking in confusion at the people walking away, then at the new bridge. "Someone trapped his spawn point" Kane said slowly, his eyes going between Ariel and me, then settling on me. "Governor approved it" I said "And is he doing this to all the spawn points?" Kane asked as Bron yelped and said "Wait, is he?" I shrugged, but said "Only the three who have been reportedly preying on people. Couldn''t tell you where the other two points are" Bron took off running the other way as Kane kind of chuckled and watched him for a second, then turned back to me to say "Dragonsbane? Heard the story from a minstrel. Figured it was Maria and Dalmar, but didn''t know the other two. Since you have a mace, I''m guessing you''re the priest" "Dang it" I growled "never considered how easy that made me to identify" Kane chuckled, but waited until I said "Yeah, Priest Loser, that''s me" I nodded at Ariel and said "My friend Ariel" He studied her for a minute, then nodded a greeting before looking at me again "She obviously has a hate on for Jess, with good reason I''m sure, but I''m guessing you''re the one who arranged this" I shrugged, but said "Mostly. Telina is tired of eternals abusing her people and wants the worst ones, what we call the Cursed Ones, stopped" "Telina" he said doubtfully "the goddess?" at my nod he said "You talk with her do you?" When I just nodded again he laughed and shook his head. He said to Ariel "and you? You talk to her too?" "Nope" she said with a hard grin "but maybe some day" "Ok" he said, looking around and sort of dismissing us "you two have fun. I need to find out if this is going to be a problem" then walked in the direction Bron had run. "Moron" Ariel muttered as we headed toward the inn. I shook my head no and said "Dangerous man. He''s stuck in reality think, but don''t dismiss him. Once he figures out what''s really happening, he could be a threat" She frowned at me and said "Why him and not the other one?" "Kane''s smart and watchful" I said "didn''t get excited, or react before he knew if he needed to. Guy''s a thinker, so if you go against him, watch for traps or an unexpected attack. If he''s willing to fight, its because he''s decided he has some kind of advantage" "How do you know that?" "Because he reminds me of me" I said "guys killed before in reality, so he won''t kill just for the pleasure of it. But he won''t worry about doing it if he needs to" "and he reminds you of you" Ariel muttered. I just shrugged and ignored the dig. The morning of the fourth blessing, as Ariel and I were leaving town, a guard Captain stopped us as we were leading our horses toward the gate. "Dragonsbane" he said, holding a hand up to get us to stop "Governor Brennen wished for you to know that the eternal known as Bron Bonebreaker attempted to destroy the bridge over his...rebirth point, and was subsequently killed. He has joined the other cursed one in Telina''s punishment" I huffed a laugh, picturing Bron running up to find his spawn point enclosed. I nodded to the Captain and said "Thank you Captain, and thank the governor for me, as well as accept my hope that the eternals will begin to cause you less grief" The Captain and the two men with him all laughed as they turned to leave, with the Captain saying "If not, I believe we will appeal to Telina to punish them" "Wow" Ariel said as we got on our horses and rode out the gate. I did a blessing on the horses again, before she said "Maria was right, it''s something about you that makes the locals act more alive" I got us into a trot as I said "Not really. Its because I treat them as if they''re alive, because they are. They are as alive as you and I, so when you treat them as programs, you are essentially accepting that you are no longer a living person" "We''re not" she said, giving me a confused look I shrugged, but said "Well, I am. It might be a different kind of alive than before, but it''s just as real as the other was" "But we know its a computer program" "No, we knew it was when we were on the other side" I answered "but I''m not a program, so what we knew over there isn''t the same as what I know over here. This conversation is no different than saying ''I think, there for I am'' when we were back in the other world. Still the same thing" Listening to people tell you that they weren''t actually alive had to be one of the most surreal things I''d ever heard. And they said I was weird. When we reached home I was very ready to call it a day. Riding slowly with Dalmar and Maria, joking around and just enjoying life was a lot different than riding quickly from point to point with a girl who thought she was a ghost, and spent time thinking about it. "Thank the goddess" I muttered when I slid off the horse and exchanged arm grips with Bob and Andulin "Rough time?" Bob asked I jerked my head at Ariel and said "Ariel, maybe you can explain to Bob about the whole not being alive thing" She scowled at me a moment, then gave us a shy grin as she said "was I that bad?" "Well, you almost had me convinced" I muttered as I walked over to the archway. I pulled up the portal spell, and got the message to cast a blessing on the first archway. This time I got real results. There was a flare of light from the open archway, almost as if we had just connected it to the sun, but it disappeared in a blink to be replaced with a view of the alleyway in Riverbend. I thought it was going to stay that way, but it faded back into a view of the building behind our arch as I got the message Portal formed To allow others to use the portal, you must cast a portal blessing. If more than one portal exists, you will be asked which portal the person will use. A user other than the one casting the portal spell must receive a blessing specific to each portal they are allowed to use Oh crap! I thought the damn thing would let anyone I had previously blessed use it. Now I had to go around and do it all again. Dang it. "I''ll be right back" I said, just before I stepped into the portal, then out into the alley in Riverbend. Cool. I turned around to see the alley entrance, with nothing indicating it acted as a portal. I concentrated on not actually going anywhere and stepped through the arch, pleased to find I didn''t actually end up back in Mudtown. Turning around again, I pictured it operating as a portal, then stepped through to find myself surrounded by my friends in Mudtown. "Well, that works" I said with a grin "Who wants to visit Riverbend?" Telina visited my dream again that night, interrupting one that kind of was a memory of what Mary and I had been up to before I fell asleep. "Oh Man!" I yelled, sliding off the bed to find I was wearing clothes as Telina giggled into her hand. I looked down to see Mary sleeping, so I pulled the covers up a little to leave her a little less exposed, then frowned at Telina and said "Great timing there goddess" She laughed out loud before waving a hand and putting us at my table in the tavern. I sighed and picked up the ale in front of me, before muttering "I liked the other dream better" "I''m quite sure you did my priest" Telina said, leaning back in her chair "but it is hard to access your dreams unless they include only things from this world, and those seem to involve you and Mary doing...things" her grin was just plain mean, but she giggled before getting serious again. "Dragonsbane" she said thoughtfully "potion maker. Portal creator. And bane of the cursed ones. You have been busy my priest" "Yeah" I said "but you want to protect our people, so I want to neutralize the threat of the empire and eternals while it''s just that, a threat. Word should be getting around about what happened to the cursed in Riverbend, which will drive the other cursed into either banding together or altering their ways. In the short term having them band together might be a pain, but it will make it easier to separate the sheep and wolves. The empire is going to be their natural base of operations since they''ll want to protect their spawn points, so the portals will give me a means of quickly applying force when I need to. There''s going to be some slop over of neutral eternals into the cursed camp, just out of fear, but we''ll figure that out as we go. Overall the cursed are the cursed because they don''t play well with others, and they''ll drive away allies over time" "What of your new companions?" I shrugged and said "Ariel has potential, though she might do well spending some time with Maria or Dalmar. I don''t really understand the whole, I''m not real thing, so I''m probably not the best one to convince her that serving something other than herself would be good for her. Sienna..." I considered for a second, then said "don''t know" "You underestimate your impact" Telina said thoughtfully "I think the warrior doubts because she buries her pain behind the belief it was not truly real" "Oh" I mumbled, realizing that made a kind of weird sense "But you are correct, my ranger would be the one best able to aid her through the dark periods ahead" I chuckled and said "Your ranger? You know that whole laughing ranger thing is going to tick her off" Telina passed my laugh back to me and said "You are quite wise in the ways of war my priest, but not so wise in the ways of women. She is mine because you are mine. The appellation pleases her greatly" Say what? I''m not sure that actually made sense, or if it was meant to sound mysterious. Whatever. I nodded as if I followed, but said "Good then, glad that''s cleared up" She laughed as she stood up, saying as she turned to leave "You have created ripples that the powerful will soon begin to feel. My sisters will stir themselves soon to see what they can do to turn this to their advantage" she stopped at the door, looking over her shoulder to say "the Cup of Charity and the bowl in Telarin are links to my power, and as such, allow me greater ability to touch the lands of Tarinath" Then she left and I woke up in bed. Yeah, yeah, I got it. Find more holy relic thingys. Author note 2 Hi again, The holidays are over so I had to go back to work, but I will be posting more chapters, just slower than before. I appreciate the comments and am enjoying the experience. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ****Addendum***** I''m doing a couple chapters with alternate character views, but Jake will be back very quickly Thank you, S. Zaplosky Chap 18: Sienna ''In the morning I sent Maria a message and told her I would be in Riverbend that evening and wanted to meet with her. Dalmar and Ariel joined me at the arch with half the town watching, so I could do the first portal approval blessing. Darn thing wouldn''t even do it as a group, it made me do it twice, once for each of them. I followed that by doing the first blessing on the second arch to prepare it to become the portal to the imperial capital, then kissed Mary and took the portal to Riverbend. "That is going to be so nice" Dalmar said with a grin as he joined me in Riverbend. Maria wouldn''t meet us until the next day, so we took rooms at the same inn and went to buy three horses. "You''ll need to think about buying a house" Dalmar said as we stabled the horses at the inn "If you don''t keep a room here, the horses will disappear when you leave the city" "Damn things are too expensive to be just discarding them" I said "how much does a house cost?" "20 gold" Dalmar said "less or more depending on the place, but you need one with stables, so figure 20" "Crap, that''s a lot" I mumbled, surprised at the price. The words got a laugh from Dalmar as he said "you don''t do enough dungeon crawls man. You should have hundreds of gold stashed away by now" "Or if I could sell potions" I answered grumpily "and not pay for city upgrades" "Why can''t you?" Ariel asked. I let Dalmar explain the whole goddess wanting me to be poor thing as I considered when I would be able to do a dungeon crawl or two. Maybe it was time to rent my services out as a healer to other players. Then I could set a base fee, plus whatever we find. Thankfully Maria was waiting the next morning, so we got together over coffee served by a teenage girl named Gina. Gina was super shy, but had gotten to where she would laugh at a joke or when Dalmar played his gruff dwarf role. I was pleased when Maria walked in and breezily called out "Gina sweetie, get this priest another coffee please, he''s such a grump until he''s had two" and Gina giggled and said "Yes milady" in a laughing tone. Maria stuck her tongue out at the girl before plopping into the seat across from me and saying "Sup Loser?" Then breaking into the giggles that had become one of the true bright spots on this world. "You know me, just wandering around, trying to stay out of trouble" That got a laugh from Ariel, and I could see Maria studying the girl out of the side of her eyes, an approving look on her face. "You doing ok? These guys show you all the tourist spots? I hope Jake didn''t plop his butt down at the inn and annoy Mary the whole time. That girl is a real angel, letting Jake think he''s all that and a bag of donuts" I couldn''t help it, breaking into a belly straining laugh at the weird saying. Dalmar ended up slapping my back when I got choked, but I eventually wiped the laugh tears away as Ariel said "No, it was good. Fun really. Mudtown is really nice, despite the name" she looked at me briefly, sort of gauging my feelings I think, then said "people were so friendly. It felt...real" Maria waved a dismissive hand and said regally "You listen to me girl, this is real. These guys are kind of boring, but you hang with me a while and you''ll see. Me and the goddess are like besties, so I''ll put in a good word for you and we''ll get you set up right" Maria had the gall to wink at me as Telina laughed in my ear. I leaned back, holding my tankard absently in my hand as I said "I''m planning to place a portal in Mairisian, so I was thinking about making the trip more useful. I imagine there are a lot more eternals there than anywhere else, so it would be a good place to clear up their cursed problems, and maybe get the empire on our side. I was also thinking we could all go, and maybe do a dungeon or two for leveling experience for Ariel and Sienna" Maria and Dalmar exchanged looks before Dalmar said "Hundreds. All the original groups were placed in the capital, but no one stays in the city if they can help it" That got a nod from me as I said "Great. That means we''d probably only be dealing with the assholes staking out spawn points" ***Sienna*** The world doesn''t work anything like the normal games beyond some superficial items. The mage thing really didn''t and I had wondered if I was going to be able to survive as one. I was used to casting times, but the spells here had gestures and words you had to say and do. If you didn''t memorize them, you had to pull up the spell and follow its instructions. Yeah, that was super slow. So I spent a lot of free time practicing, since it wasn''t like simply pointing a finger and saying "shazam!" No, it was curl two fingers on your right hand while focusing your gaze on your target, then saying "Beltrith gol morgan" at the same time you raised your left hand to waist level. And it was picky! Not curled enough? Fail! Stress the wrong syllable? Fail!. If you pulled up the spell and did it, it wasn''t nearly as picky, but it had you doing it at a slow pace, so you paid a big penalty. You also didn''t get as many spells here, so you had to be picky as you went along. I was level 6 and had 7 spells, with two of them being given at the start. You could also enhance a spell rather than choose a new one. Enhancing spells was new to me, and I spent a lot of time talking about it with Mirabeth. I tried using the interface, but it doesn''t give you any behind the scenes kind of details that allow you to plan long term. The magic missile was my first attempt at enhancing, something that a player mage named Merlin (guy was a total dork) had scoffed at and said that it only offered a couple extra missiles and once you went elemental, the magic missile enhancement disappeared, so enhancing the fireball was better. He was pretty secretive about shit, but seemed kind of scared of Maria, which at least made him a little more talkative to me. Mirabeth explained that the magic missile wasn''t an elemental spell, so by specializing as one stripped it of its enhancement. So, spells could be enhanced, the benefit varying depending on the spell and the specialization path, and the number of enhancements varying by the mage and her attribute points. Jake''s talk about going defensive was something I was dead set against at first. It was easy for him to talk about not building up strong offensive spells since he was a walking health factory, but it would be hard to keep me caged if I could throw fireballs at you. I really hated him at first, the smug way he casually wandered through that goblin dungeon as if it was a Sunday stroll, or the way we were all reliant on him for healing and his health potions. The guy fell into the best class in the game and he acted like it was something he didn''t like. Maria ended up getting me to admit I might have been a little quick to judge. I think she really loved the guy, though she was subtle about it, to the point the guy seemed oblivious to her feelings. But beyond that, she liked and respected him, and said I would be a damn fool if I didn''t listen to what he had to say and at least consider things. Her words being "Don''t be a dumbass. Jake''s right, the last thing this world needs is another eternal elemental mage. As a group they are the most useless bunch you''ll ever meet, and they''ll screw up and blow their own people to hell with a fireball every time. You know why Jake''s the only Healer? Because everyone thought it was a weak ass class, exactly what you''re thinking about the Defender Mage class. I like Mirabeth because she was born with this stuff and knows how to use her magic, eternals, not so much. This world is all about friends and having the skills to be of use to those friends" She was an expressive person, so her hands were waving as she glared or grinned at me through the explanation "A tank like Dalmar, a ranger or rogue for traps, a healer, and a ranged specialist. That''s the team everyone wants. Well, Jake is the only healer, and probably has the most versatile class available, being part tank, ranged, and spells, but a mage can''t use the weapons necessary to tank at any level. That leaves trap specialist and ranged attacks to go with their spells. Mirabeth says mages have a find traps spell, but I''m sure eternals never pick it because which mage will choose that over another kind of spell that blows things up? Find traps and magic missiles does exactly the same thing I do" She gave me a pointed look as we rode beside each other "You want to be safe? Go live in Mudtown. Jake and his people will keep you safe even if you never do anything else. You want to be useful..." she waved her hand around to encompass everything "then don''t think about how to make yourself strong, think about how you can make your friends stronger" She was a talker, that was for sure. She probably said a million words for every one Mirabeth said, though that mage could get pretty loud and expressive when her and Susan had alone time. Lot of passion hidden under that stern face and mages robe. Maria let out a couple of her patented giggles, the ones that made that guy Jake grin every time, then she yelled "Hey Susan, tell Sienna about how proud Jake was when he killed that gnoll assassin guy" I blinked in surprise when Susan, a nice but quiet person, burst into laughter. She tried to speak a couple of times, but was laughing so hard nothing came out. Of course Maria was laughing just as much, so it took a minute before Susan finally was able to say "Oh man, you should have seen his face!" more giggles before "gnoll had stabbed him in the back, nearly killing him, but he survived and started fighting it using that old mace he had, the one that did like 2 points of damage or something. He finally killed it, and he was sort of standing there, all puffed up and proud he finally managed to kill something on his own, and Maria..." that was it for her, she started laughing and crying until she just waved a hand and rode ahead to get control. "I mentioned how assassins were like killing kittens" Maria said with a giggle "he got this grumpy look, like I had just kicked his puppy, then he stomped around scowling at us as Susan and I described how weak a kitten it was. God, it was so funny. Next time you fight beside him, ask him if something was as strong as a three legged, blind kitten that has seizures" I had to laugh at how pleased she sounded, totally picturing her teasing the guy. I had a hard time picturing him having trouble killing something, but could see Maria puncturing a guys ego pretty easily. She shrugged, moving on, and said "So, friends. Find them, keep them, and look out for them" Maria''s other side came out when we found the guy, Gram, that she had been hunting. He was camped out in a small farming village, lording it over them, and abusing the women like the scum he was. The grin on Maria''s face when he came out of a building and saw us standing in the street, was as evil as any I had ever seen. "Hey Cram!" she half yelled, waving like they were friends "Susan and I are here. You want to see if you can take us again?" He was the big warrior type, looking a lot like Jess, but with chain mail and a battle axe. He took the axe in hand, but looked worried for a second until four guards followed him out of the building. "I just might. Seems like I remember how to shut you up, and ole Susan was a lot of fun" Bad, bad thing to say. I could tell just by looking at the hate that spread across Maria''s face before she said "Sleep em" Mirabeth had her thin lipped smile on as she pulled out a gem, held it out, and put the four guards to sleep with a spell. I blinked in shock, realizing the gem held a sleep spell in it, something I had been told didn''t work. Gram froze, looking down at the four guards sprawled out around him, then looked up to see Maria looking down an arrow at him. He stared back at her and said "You think you can keep me from killing you before those weak ass arrows can stop me?" "I''ve got a special delivery for you Cramit. Something a friend gave me" and she released. I wasn''t expecting an explosion that blew the guy straight back and into the side of a building. He kind of slammed into it, flames running along his body as another, regular arrow hit him in the head. Mirabeth and I watched Susan run forward and begin stabbing and slashing as the guy struggled upright. It wasn''t even a contest. Susan played with him, letting him hit her periodically, then laughing and drinking a heal potion. Maria started giggling as the guy yelled "Hey, where''d you get that?" and she shot him in the head again. Susan was laughing hard as she went all out, killing the guy with an overhand slice a few seconds later. No one said anything for a time, Mirabeth and I staying where we were as Maria walked over to stand beside Susan and look at where the guy had died. "He''s going to be having so much fun soon" Maria said finally, laughing as she and Susan came back to join us. "So what''s up with the gem?" I asked that evening as we sat around the fire. Everyone seemed to be expecting someone else to answer, so Mirabeth finally said "Loser creates them" "Oh Man!" I groaned in frustration "what the hell is up with that? Why does everything seem to be his?" "It is because he is a good person" Mirabeth said "I have met enough eternals to know that no other would have created and given away such powerful items. You envy his power, but it is doubtful you would have served the goddess as well, or cared for the people of Tarinath as much. Power allows one to have choices, and those choices speak of who you are. Some people, in fact most, should never be allowed to make such choices" "You chose not to have that power" Susan said in her quiet voice, kind of eyeing me doubtfully "all of us had the choice, and all of us chose something else" she looked at Maria for a second, then back at me to say "and who knows if you would have even had the same options. Telina adores Jake, so I don''t doubt a lot of these things would never have even appeared for someone else" That kind of pissed me off, though I wasn''t sure what part irritated me, so I said "So what makes him so special, huh?" I frowned at the group and added "you think he had to go through what we did? You think he could have handled it?" "Probably" Maria said with a shrug "when I started the tutorial, I got a knife to fight that weak ass wolf, then a sword to kill that scrawny goblin" She looked in question at us, getting a nod from the group other than Mirabeth "Now Jake, he said he shows up and has to fight a 60 health wolf with his bare hands. Dies a dozen times making it happen. Fights a 60 health goblin that has a knife, using a weak wooden club. Died ten more times doing that, eating the wolf raw to keep his endurance up. When he got to the courtyard, Tennant had a new player waiting to kill him with a sword ten more times. Jake will be the first one to tell you he had it great compared to us, but don''t be thinking he came here all pampered and shit. The priest thing was a punishment for kicking Tennant in the balls, and Jake just managed to turn it into something useful" She was a little angry by now, something that didn''t happen often "You know what he really wants to do? do you? He wants to settle down and have kids. How screwed up is that. Dalmar and I found him just sitting in that town of his, friends with the locals, maybe level five from killing rats and shit to keep the locals safe. You''ve met Mary right?" Maria was seriously pissed by the time she quit talking, but she didn''t continue, just got up and stomped away. "She''s ok" Susan said with a shrug "talking about Jake irritates her sometimes. What you need to do is quit focusing on what everyone else does or can do, and focus on what you can do. You have thousands of years ahead of you Sienna, so you need to start taking the long view" she held up a hand and gave me a serious look before adding "and don''t underestimate Jake. He''s quiet and not into the ego games, and I know Maria talks like he''s a sweetheart, but he''s Telina''s priest, and he takes that seriously. You find yourself working against him and he''ll end you without a thought" I sighed, realizing she was right, but...angry all the same. I laid back, staring up at the stars and the twin moons and said "it''s all just so strange" So, all that was sort of the background to me deciding at level six to enhance the magic missiles and plan to move toward mage defender specialization. Me, Ariel, Dalmar and Jake did the first crawl after we left Riverbend on our way to the captial, an abandoned castle in the middle of the woods. It was just barely visible when we topped a rise, but Dalmar said it would be a good place to mess around. The place was mostly crumbled and broken, but the main part still appeared to have two levels intact, with a tower sticking up another two. The main entrance, double doors, wouldn''t budge, but we found a small entrance on the side. Dalmar had us all do our prep, which meant Jake casting his blessing spell (It was pretty nice), and he and I both cast armor spells. I followed that with my find traps, which left me with about 80 mana. The door immediately glowed in my sight, showing it was trapped, so I waved for everyone to wait and deactivated it. It was a weird sort of thing, where spots would light up showing I had to press them, or light lines that I had to trace with my fingers, or a combination of both. Whatever, it worked, and the trap kind of disappeared, leaving it so the door could be opened. It also worked on locks, but the stupid description didn''t say any thing about that. Dalmar had said a bunch of times that he and Ariel opened doors, Jake and I kept them alive when something came out of them. So after unlocking it, I stepped back from the door and waited as Dalmar and Ariel got positioned. Dalmar gave the impression he was carved from stone he was so strong and calm. That big hammer of his seemed light in his hand as he looked over at Ariel as she raised her shield slightly and raised that flaming hammer to shoulder level. At her nod he flicked the door handle and stepped in to block the door. There was an immediate reaction as something let out a growling type scream, and something large and hairy jumped on Dalmar and started clawing and biting. "Werewolf!" Dalmar yelled out as he shoved his hammer out to knock the thing away, then stepped forward to take a swing. Ariel followed him in as Jake muttered "There wolf!"'' Drawing a surprised bark of laughter from me. We stepped forward to find Ariel and Dalmar each fighting Werewolf Level 12 Health 180 Ariel was a lot stronger than she looked, so it wasn''t as uneven as it appeared, but the thing was twice her level and doing a lot of damage. Jake raised his hand and did one of his healings, causing Ariel to glow slightly as she regained a big block of health back. I was really shocked to see a big grin on Ariel''s face when she turned enough for us to see her. She slammed her shield forward suddenly, catching the thing in the face, knocking it on its ass as she hit it with her hammer, the fire flaring at the point of impact. It was a loud fight, with the werewolves growling constantly and our people grunting and cursing as they fought. Dalmar finished his fairly quickly, his hammer tending to knock the thing flat, or into a wall when it hit. I had expected him to help Ariel, but he just watched as Jake sent another heal her way. I must have shown some expression because Jake said "New creature, so we use the first encounter to let our tanks learn what to expect. Something Maria showed me" Dalmar was nodding approval as Ariel forced the thing into a corner, preventing it from moving away as she started hitting it with her shield and hammer. A moment later she had killed hers and turned her grin on Jake to say with a laugh "There wolf? You did not just say that?" Dalmar chuckled as he looked through the corpse drops, then said "can''t waste a straight line like that. I''d have been disappointed if one of you hadn''t said it" he straightened up and looked at the door on the other side, then back at me in question. I shook my head to tell him no traps, getting him to say "Never run into them before. Not sure if you can turn into one, so pay attention to any messages and your stats. Take a disease potion if you think anything is hinky" "These things are wicked fast" Ariel said to me "watch your ass if they get past us" I checked my mana, thinking I''d use some missiles next time and realized my mana was higher than I expected. I had done this enough to have a good sense of how long it took. Base restore was about 10 points a minute, plus a couple extra because of my items, but I was up a couple from even that. This was pretty important considering most fights were over in less than five minutes. "Problem?" Ariel asked when I got vague as I checked my interface. I shrugged and said "mana is coming back quicker than normal. I wonder if it''s something about this castle" "Nah, it''s me" Jake said with a sigh "25% increase if you stand close to me. Part of the Loser Dungeon Escort benefits you receive if you hire me and mention that you read our ad in the empire newsletter" "What?" I mumbled, not quite sure what he was rambling about. Ariel let out a soft laugh before saying "How about referrals? Do I get a discount if I refer people?" Jake chuckled as Dalmar opened the door to show three more werewolves standing in a long hallway. "We''ll hold the door" Dalmar yelled over the growls and animal screams "Sienna, time for some ranged attacks" Magic missiles is like the default Mage weapon and it is one of the faster spells, needing only a gesture, sight of your target, and saying "Arzolth Ras" 5 missiles left my right hand and kind of swooped up and over Ariel and Dalmar to slam into the wolf in the back of the pack. At level 6 I was doing 11 points of damage per dart, so 55 with 5. I was surprised when Jake had mentioned it did as much damage as his one weapon enhancing spell. When I had enhanced the spell it actually reduced the mana cost by 10 points, something I appreciated as I sent another set of darts into the lead wolf. It had taken a beating from Dalmar and Ariel, so the darts killed it on impact. "That''s a damn strong spell for your level" Jake said as he healed Dalmar and Ariel "if you were fighting 5th or 6th level creatures you would probably kill them with one shot. Does that get stronger as you level up?" It was kind of surreal to be having a casual conversation as a couple of werewolves were savagely attacking our friends. I shook the thought off and said "Maximum of eight darts, but the damage keeps growing a point per level. I''m doing 11 points each now, not counting the ten or fifteen percent from items" He didn''t say anything for a moment, then as Ariel killed a wolf with an overhand swing, he said "so at level 15, say you have 8 darts, they would be doing 20 points of damage each for a total of 160" he gave me a quizzical look and asked "how many times can you do that?" "7 right now" I said slowly, really thinking about what he was saying If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. "Son of a bitch" he muttered "I''m glad the rest of those asshole eternals went elemental because that would be a real problem" Dalmar and Ariel killed the last one as he said "It doesn''t make any sense. Why the he''ll isn''t everyone using that spell?" "Because of how the system offers us our choices" I said, considering my own choice. At the time I decided to enhance the missiles the choice had seemed pretty stupid "the basic spell has a 5 dart, 10 point damage limit. The choice to enhance the spell only tells you it will add three darts to the maximum, it doesn''t tell you it will be removing the damage cap. It seems stupid to waste the enhancement for something that gains so little" "Wow" Jake said "this whole world seems to be designed to lead people down paths that keep them weak. I''ll take one or two fireballs all day over being hit by 56 of those things doing 20 points each. Jesus you could damn near kill a dragon with that!" He actually seemed a little angry about it, but I had to say looking at it that way made me feel pretty good, though I had yet to be in a fight that lasted long enough for me to cast seven spells. We took a couple minute breather as Ariel scrounged the bodies and I got a little time for some mana to restore. The hallway went about a hundred feet and ended at a stairway leading up, but there were four doors scattered along the length before we got there. The first room on the right was empty, but the one across from it had two level 12 werewolves, and they had a partial armor covering that made them tougher than the others. The level difference meant Ariel took a lot of damage, though Jake kept healing her as fast as the wolf could hit her. I swear the werewolf snarled at Jake in frustration. I did a missile attack on Ariel''s which knocked a third of its health off. I was going to do it again, but Jake said "Wait for tougher fights. These no risk fights are good for her and Dalmar since it builds different skills they need, like shield and armor" "Oh" I mumbled, still having trouble seeing snarling man wolves attacking people and not seeing it as threatening. He shrugged and tossed a healing at Ariel as she killed her opponent. Dalmar''s fell a second later as Jake said "Watch for groups or ranged attacks. Groups, if you can do something to keep them from overwhelming our tanks, go ahead and do it. Ranged attacks, you need to do what you can to take them out" I had to undo a trap on a chest that garnered some gold and a enchanted bracer none of us needed or could use. The last two doors opened as we headed down the hall and a flood of armored werewolves came charging out "Stand your ground" Dalmar yelled, stopping Ariels instinctive step back "Jake!" He yelled again as he and Ariel were both hit by multiple wolves. There appeared to be about ten of them, and they were temporarily piled up against our tanks. I was frozen in shock and fear as Jake raised his mace and yelled "In Telina''s name!" As a blinding white column of flame came down from the ceiling to impact right on top of Ariel and her attackers. The fire knocked the four wolves on Ariel and Dalmar straight down, then splashed outward to knock a couple more backwards. It didn''t kill any of them, but I could see it did a lot of damage to one of them as Jake said intensely "All yours" I blinked in confusion and started to gesture for missiles when I realized how useless that would be on this horde. I almost did sleep, then realized they were too high a level, before doing the gestures and words to call up the slow spell. The practice showed since I got it off about the time Jake gave me a questioning look. All the wolves except one that Dalmar killed were up and attacking when my spell hit. Jake tossed out two healing spells as my spell flared around the wolves and they...slowed. Jake actually started laughing as the wolves all looked like they were doing some weird mime thing, bodies moving slowly as even their snarls came out at half speed. Ariel and Dalmar attacked hard as I yelled "15 seconds" Jake did one of his restores as I considered my mana and sent missiles at one who was at less than half health behind the two our tanks were attacking. A few seconds later the slow spell faded, but five of the creatures were down, and Jake dropped another flame thing on them. I waited to see if I needed to do another slow spell rather than use more missiles. When it was clear our two could handle the rest, I sent a face full of missiles at the one in front of Ariel, damaging and distracting it enough that Ariel killed it with a hard hit with her hammer. When the last one fell Ariel and Dalmar both sat down to gasp for breath and I got a level up message. "That was a fun one" Dalmar panted, drawing a grin from Ariel as she said "it''s a little different when you''re twice their level rather than half of it" "True" Dalmar chuckled "but you kicked some ass there. That''s a good combination, the shield and hammer. The shield bash thing really sets them back for a second" Ariel giggled, really shocking the holy hell out of me, then held up her hammer and said "It''s all about having the right tools. The difference between this and my sword is freaking crazy" Jake laughed, holding up his mace, the small sparks flashing across the head as he said "Tell me about it. Until I got the mighty Bruce I was basically just handing out bruises" Dalmar waved for me to do the treasure scrounge as he said "Yeah Jake, watching you bash old Zac with Bruce was a lot better than if you''d used your old mace of major inadequacy" I found Jakes name for his mace to be kind of weird, but just listened to their banter as I grabbed up all the coins and magic items from the dead werewolves, then dealt with my leveling up. You have reached level 7 Choose two spells Fire bolt 5 points damage + 1/sec/level fire damage (maximum 20) 50 Mana Ice bolt 5 points damage + 1/sec/level ice damage (maximum 20) 50 Mana Lightning bolt 50 points damage +5/level 200 Mana Entangle Vines rise up to grasp any enemy within ten feet of selected point. Any creature entangled is held in place while receiving crushing damage. 3 points damage/sec Duration: 15 sec + 2 sec/level, or until overcome or dispelled. 90 Mana Drain Life Drains health from selected target and restores caster''s health. If health is full, restores caster''s mana. Once cast, does not require caster to maintain concentration on target. 10 points damage +5/level Duration: 5 seconds **Spell is required if caster intends to follow the necromancy path **Use of spells that transfer life force to the caster will negatively affect their relationship with any deity 90 Mana Invisibility Caster or target becomes invisible until they attack or use a spell Creatures of a greater level than the caster have a 10%/level chance of detecting the invisible entity Duration: Until dispelled, dropped, or detected 140 Mana Silence Prevents target mage or priest from casting a spell Affects creatures; caster level +6 or under Duration: 5 secs + 2 secs/level of caster 80 Mana Great, got to love the choices that will haunt you forever. We had already discussed the invisibility, so I set that one aside. Entangle didn''t show a level limitation, so it might work against even the high level people, which would be awesome...if it worked that way. "Hold on" I said, waving a hand to get everyone''s attention as I slid down the wall to take a seat. This needed some thought. I told everyone the choices as they sat down around me. "Sounds like this is the point you kind of prepare for specialization at level 8" Ariel said "You''ve already got one of the best damage spells on this world" Jake said, his eyes kind of distant as he considered his words "so those elemental spells would be pretty pointless unless you go elemental. The draining one would be a problem long term" "Yeah, I agree" I said, waving all that away "I''ve already decided to do the defender path, so what I''m asking is which of the other three everyone thinks would be most useful. None of them seem to be very useful for what we''re doing now since the entangle one would do less damage than my missile spell" "Keep in mind this is what we do for fun" Dalmar said "what you need to consider is how you''ll deal with other eternals. Invisibility gives you the ability to flee. If the vines thing held them in place it would protect your flank or stop a tank, and the Silence would be really useful against other mages" "Sums it up" Jake said with a nod "and that''s a good point about the vines. You said within ten feet of a spot, not a creature. So you could put it in front of you and use it as a defensive line, or in front of a door to stop the monsters as they come out" "Ariel?" I asked. She frowned in thought, then shrugged and said "The entangle and silence. The invisibility would be great for a sneak attack, but our group just isn''t oriented that way. And using it to flee might be great if you died a true death, but again, we don''t have that mindset. If you think in layers, kind of like how we do these crawls, you have to deal with tanks, mages, and archers. Near and ranged attacks basically. The vines would be pretty neat for near attacks, and probably just as well against the ranged ones if it grabs a group" she paused, then grinned and said "actually, I kind of like how versatile it could be if used correctly. As for the other, we need an anti-mage thing. We have to go through their tanks to stop them, accepting damage until we do. This would give us time to get to him, or for you to take him out with your magic missiles spell" Everyone sort of nodded when she finished, so I selected the entangle and silence spells. Sienna SunSeeker Mage Level 7 STR 6 DEX 10 STA 13 INT 22 WIS 12 Health: 130 Mana: 220 (290) Endurance:80 Armor: (11)+(48) =59 -20% Hit damage +32% Concentration +19% Staff damage +29%(items) + 16% = +45% Mana Restoration rate Dalmar suggested a ten minute break to let my mana restore since as he said "that slow spell is great against groups. If we come against more than four, lead with that until you see what that entangle one does" I checked the door at the end of the hall, then undid the trap on it before sitting down with the group. Ariel and Dalmar talked about fighting methods, with Dalmar describing various situations and monsters he''d dealt with. We got up and moving after about fifteen minutes and my mana was back above 150. The door opened into a two person wide stairwell that curved up and around. I stayed up front with Dalmar to watch for traps, but it was all clear as we came to a door after one full turn of the stairs. Dalmar and Ariel got positioned, then pulled the door open to reveal four armored wolfmen in another hallway. They came at us fast, their howls being echoed from behind us. I turned just as two more wolfmen rounded the stairs behind me. "Oh shit!" Jake yelled "Hold the front, we got the back" He stepped in front of me saying "slow the four!" He dove into the first of the two coming up, knocking all three of them back. I turned, breathless and shaking from the shock, and saw Dalmar actually punching one of them in the head as he held it back with his hammer. Ariel had her shield pushed out, semi blocking the door as she screamed in defiance at the one she was hitting with her hammer. I fumbled a little, but got the spell off just as one of the ones behind me clawed me down the back. God did that hurt. I screamed and fell, rolling over to get my staff up. The world was just a collage of fur, screams, yells, and pain as I got flashes of what was happening. I saw Jake, a grin showing as he hit the one about to bite me on the head with his mace, the lightning causing the wolfman to spasm, then Jake looked up the stairs as he cast a healing at someone. He got pulled back as I shoved a hand into the wolfman''s face as he recovered from Jake''s hit. "Arzolth Ras" I screamed just before five bolts of light slammed into it''s face. "Arzolth Ras" I yelled again as I rolled upright with it, holding my hand on it''s long snout, letting the bolts kill it as I panted and tried to catch my breath. Jake had a forearm in the mouth of the wolfman he was fighting, but he still had the grin as he raised his mace and shouted "Heeere''s Bruce!" just before slamming it into the wolf''s head. He seemed ok as the wolf turned into a pile of fur, so I looked up and was shocked to see Dalmar on his back being mauled, with Ariel with her back to him, shield pinning a wolf to the wall as her hammer slammed into a third. One of the wolves was gone, so I yelled "Arzolth Ras" and sent five bolts into the one on Dalmar. I felt the tingle of one of Jake''s healing spells as the five bolts swept in and hit the wolf, drawing a howl of pain just before Dalmar threw it off and got to his feet. "Save it" Jake muttered, resting a hand on my shoulder to stop me from sending another set of bolts "They''ve got it now and it''s better to keep something in reserve just in case" So we stood and watched as Ariel and Dalmar worked their way through the last three, with Jake tossing a periodic heal at them. When the last one fell everyone sort of stood still, the sudden quiet a little unnerving after the mass of noise and confusion. "Nothing like a good pile on" Jake said, the grin still showing. Dalmar chuckled as he kicked through the furs, picking up coins, but Ariel sat down, still panting as she said "That was intense" Dalmar passed me a ring Ring of Restoration +20% mana regeneration rate (does not stack) +3 armor +20% health restore rate That damn ''does not stack'' message really pissed me off. And even worse, if I still put it on, it would use the bonuses of the weakest ring and no longer count the regen from the staff. How does that make any sense? Basically I would gain 5% extra regen and lose two armor points with the new ring. With Jake around the health thing didn''t matter much, but if he wasn''t I could see it might be important. I went ahead and swapped it out, but planned on keeping the 9% one in case I got a ring that stacked. The bonus regen that Jake gave me made the whole thing a lot more visible since I was nearly at 50% faster. The numbers were kind of misleading, since it didn''t mean it took half as long, which would be 100% faster. You had to multiply your restore rate by 1.5 to get the 50% number. Doubling your regen rate would really be 200% or multiply by 2. Jake made comments about how the whole world ran on spreadsheets, and I had to say, it seemed weird to me too. I didn''t think in numbers unless I was choosing things normally because you just kind of got used to the time things took. Anyway, we finally moved out of the stairs and into another long hallway, but this one had a branching hallway at the halfway point. Three doors evenly spaced on the left, two on the right matching them except for the hallway. "These guys like to pile on, so left door first, with Ariel covering the right side. Jake, you and Sienna stay back a couple of feet" Dalmar said after I indicated there were no traps. Ariel went back to back with Dalmar, getting into the crouching stance she used as Dalmar stepped forward and opened the left hand door. "Two!" Dalmar barked, stepping back slightly and swinging that big hammer down to hit a wolfman in the head as it surged through the door. The swing drove the creature straight down, and Dalmar hit the next one in the chest by sort of thrusting the hammer into him. Ariel never looked back as Dalmar began pounding the two wolfmen into rugs, as Jake said. Dalmar took a little damage, but Jake didn''t even bother healing him as we moved into the room, Ariel staying at the door to protect our backs. Two chests, both trapped, which gave me something to do. A couple of rings, both basic stat type, neither usable by mages or priests. (I was beginning to see why that irritated Jake so much), and an actual mages robe Robes of Protection 20% reduction in hit damage +10% mana renewal +20 mana 20% chance projectile weapons will miss Cool! Mirabeth had said mage robes were rare and to watch for them. Of course this meant my new ring got pulled off and replaced with the original, giving me 24% renewal now, and 240 mana, which was awesome. Seemed kind of like Christmas. They even looked cool, being sort of form fitting, tabard type thing compared to the shapeless cloak mages had to wear (Had to. I know, stupid as hell, but if you didn''t wear mage robes you couldn''t do magic. Aaagh! it was so stupid) So, this one was a layered blue and black color, tied in the middle and had a cowl, though I didn''t put it up since it blocked my peripheral vision. "What all the well dressed mages are wearing this season" Ariel said with a grin, getting me to laugh and say "well dressed definitely doesn''t describe the other robe" We formed up with Jake and I standing in the door of the room we just cleared, Dalmar in the center of the hall, and Ariel stepping up to open the door across from us. We all had a clear view of the large room with quite a few wolfmen standing in it, all looking our way. "Back!" Dalmar yelled "We''ll hold our room" as he stepped back into our doorway as Jake and I moved back out of the way. Ariel slid in slightly behind Dalmar, as I decided I''d try the new entangle spell. I hadn''t had a chance to practice it, so there were eight or nine of the things howling and clawing at Ariel and Dalmar by the time I finally said "Tentis Noral Pova" and pointed at the floor in the center of the hall. I suppose they were vines, but it really looked like a bunch of thin, black tentacles rose up out of the floor and began winding around every one of the wolves piled up at the door. The wolfmen began yelping in pain as the vines constricted, and both Ariel and Dalmar took the opportunity to move forward and start swinging at the trapped wolves. Jake called down his holy fire, as I yelled "Arzolth Ras" and sent a swarm of missiles into one of the wolves in the front. It was a pretty awesome sight, the column of white fire hitting in the center of the group and splashing outward across the pack of wolfmen entwined in the black vines, as my five glowing darts hit one of them in the face. Dalmar and Ariel were both swinging their hammers into the creatures as fast as they could, their faces holding matching snarls of effort and excitement. Jake sent a healing spell at our two tanks, and I sent another swarm of missiles into one Ariel had been hitting. It killed that one and she moved on to the next, as the vines faded from view. Dalmar and Ariel had moved out into the hallway and were now back to back, facing the last four of the nine wolfmen. Jake stood in the door, mace in hand, but just kept sending healing spells at Ariel, and less often, Dalmar as they fought. At one point Ariel had just killed one, but took a hard swipe of claws to her face, so while Jake healed her, I sent another swarm of missiles into the wolve''s face, getting it to howl and stagger back. She killed it two swings later, a second after Dalmar finished his two. Eleven level 12 werewolves appeared to push Ariel into a level up, something she had been looking forward too since it was her eighth. She just stood in the middle of the hall, eyes closed, so Jake waved Dalmar and I into the now clear room to scrounge treasure as he stood guard beside her. There were three chests, all trapped, so I worked my way down the line as I heard Jake and Ariel talking quietly, but couldn''t hear what they were saying. "Your lucky day" Dalmar said, passing me something from the second chest Diadem of Intelligence +5 Intelligence +5% mana restoration rate +4 armor 25% magic resistance Usable by: Mage It looked like a small tiara with a blue gem in the center. It fit perfectly across my forehead and clamped behind my ears, causing the gem to look like a third eye. This was beyond awesome, because not only did the mana rate stack, the intelligence numbers added 50 more points to my mana pool. Here I was, a level 7 mage, running around with level 12 or better type items. Teaming up with Dalmar really made a difference in the loot, and Maria convincing Jake to change our spawn point had made this life a lot more interesting. Chap 19: Ariel ****Ariel**** I had been both anticipating and dreading this eighth level, hoping like hell to get the same offer Susan had gotten...Paladin of Telina. So when I suddenly found myself sitting in the Burning Mage tavern, at what everyone called Loser''s table, I was more than a little confused. A half-elven woman stepped in, waving at Mary who was behind the bar, and walked over to join me. She had white hair, dusky skin and the blue eyes like Jake had, and pretty much defined the word gorgeous. She smiled as she sat across from me and said "Ariel Tanisdaughter, eternal warrior. I am Telina. As my priest has said, I am normally constrained from directly speaking to the people of Tarinath except in certain circumstances, with this being one of them" She took an ale from Mary with a soft ''thank you'', then turned back to say "Eternals are an odd people, and except for the rare few, act as if they are part of a dream life. This is not a problem as long as they do not treat my people as if they too were figments of someone''s imagination. My priest has begun moving to limit the excesses of the violent eternals, something I support fully. I am offering you an opportunity to become a Paladin of Telina, but must make clear that my priest is my representative on the land, and you are choosing a path that you may find restricts your choices over the coming millennia" The flood of words took me a while to work through, but it summed up to, Jake was in charge, I would be expected to fight other eternals to defend the locals, and that Telina considered herself my boss. What it really all meant though, was that I would be living my life with a purpose and a job. I nodded and said "Understood. I agree with Jake that since we expect to live forever, our lives will have no purpose outside what we decide. I have decided that being your Paladin is a worthy purpose" "Excellent" Telina said with a smile "Where my priest is my voice upon the lands, my paladins are my sword. Your life is given to those who live to support life, and to those who are in need. I have chosen to represent those who are not strong enough to stand alone. Those who strive to serve others, and those with little, who suffer the hardships that survival requires. The Cursed Ones have chosen to see all others as having no value except as they serve the cursed one''s purpose. Loser and Maria have shown the way on this, and you must work with them to continue the changes being enacted within the empire" her face hardened before she said "The people are real, and they suffer as much as you or the eternals do" She sipped her ale and let a smile come back "Each paladin is different, and the choices given to you as you advance in level will be different than what is offered to Susan or BigBob. As Loser has learned, those who seek the simple path to power may find that they are traveling down a path that leads away from their true goal. Learn to enjoy life from my ranger. Listen to my priest and see if you can understand why he wishes only to live quietly in his small town, but so rarely does" She leaned in a little and added "The Mage, Sienna is struggling to find her place, and I have given her items of power to aid her in this, but you will need to work with my ranger in ensuring that Sienna does not allow her hate to make her cruel or unfeeling" she stood up, waving for me to do the same, then reached out to touch my forehead as she said "Charity is not in giving of your wealth, it is in offering to do without so others can have something they need" When her finger touched my head, there was a flare of light, and I was back in the hallway, with a message You have chosen to become a Paladin of Telina. +2 Strength +2 Dexterity +25% magic resistance Double hit damage to undead +5 health/level 80 Mana (Mana is restored once per day. Mana increases 20/level after level 8) Shield Strike A hit with a shield inflicts 5 + 2/level damage Telina''s Might Heal 100% of existing damage for party upon casting. +5 Strength +5 Dexterity 100% hit chance and +25 Holy Fire damage for Paladin''s weapon strike Duration 10 minutes. Once per day Choose 2 powers Telina''s Fire +5 fire damage +1/level from any weapon wielded Telina''s Gaze 20 + 2/level healing to yourself or another 20 Mana Telina''s Shield Blocks any magical attack Duration: One magical attack 40 Mana Cure Disease Cure any disease Once per day Telina''s Word Prevents a mage from casting spells Duration: 20 +4/level seconds 80 Mana I had expected to see the thing that Susan did, where she called down fire, but it wasn''t there. And I was pretty sure she wasn''t offered the Gaze thing, so Telina''s words about getting different choices was pretty clear. At this point I thought the choice was pretty straightforward, but I looked up at where Jake was standing with me and asked him his thoughts. I was a little surprised by his take on it. "The fire sounds neat, but is that something you really need right now? An extra thirteen hit points won''t make a huge difference at this point since the hammer is already giving you that benefit. The healing is a no brainer, since tactically its the most versatile asset you can bring to these fights. I''d stick with the disease potions for now. For the others, you have to look at what the real threat to the people of Tarinath is at this point, and that''s us eternals. If you end up fighting them, your biggest threat is the mages, since any tank isn''t going to be able to kill you faster than you can drink a healing potion. We have to be leery of the big hit, the one that can kill you faster than you can heal. Right now, Sienna could stand back and kill you with her missile spell, and that''s only going to get worse as she levels up. The elemental mages are probably pretty much the same, so you meet an elemental eternal at level 20, he could probably kill you with one or two fireball spells. Keep in mind that you need to plan to win, not just survive, so does it make more sense to use the shield spell and still be able to do a heal, or use everything for a one shot at keeping the mage from attacking at all?" I did think about it, trying to picture fighting a few eternals, and finally said "The shield I think. I can cast it at the start, and if necessary do another, but if not it allows me to heal someone who needs it" Jake nodded and said "I agree. Gives you the most options until you get more mana" That''s what I did. I had been loading points into wisdom after talking to Susan since she thought that having a ten there was a requirement and she had done that. I had also begun adding points to stamina since you needed to push that up to get enough health to survive more than one hit. Ariel Tanisdaughter Paladin of Telina +2 Strength +2 Dexterity +25% magic resistance Double hit damage to undead +5 health/level 80 Mana (Mana is restored once per day. Mana increases 20/level after level 8) STR 15(21) DEX 15(20) STA 15 INT 5 WIS 10 150(190) Health 80 Mana 200 Endurance Shield Strike A strike with a shield inflicts 5 + 2/level of holy damage Telina''s Might Heal 100% of existing damage for party upon casting. +5 Strength +5 Dexterity 100% hit chance and +25 Holy Fire damage for Paladin''s weapon strike Duration 10 minutes. Once per day Telina''s Gaze 20 + 2/level healing to yourself or a party member 20 Mana Telina''s Shield Blocks any magical attack against party Duration: One magical attack 40 Mana Ring of Evasion +3 Dexterity +2 Armor Ring of Ogre Strength +4 Strength Dragon''s Claw 21-29 damage +15 Fire damage +6 Armor Dragon''s Breath 75 points fire damage upon successful hit once a day by bearers choice Not usable by: Mage The boost to strength and dexterity from this and my rings meant I would be doing full damage when I hit, something Jake struggled with. My chain mail was all normal, but it gave me a base armor of 30, so 38 with items. That was low, but magic armor was hard to come by unless you hit these higher level places by having someone like Dalmar along. The shield didn''t count toward armor numbers, but instead used a skill called Block that reduced or eliminated hit damage. It was probably one of the skills that was the most intuitive since it worked just like it sounded. If you blocked the swing, you got less damage. Most people didn''t like shields because they reduced your hit damage by doing some weird percentage reduction to strength when swinging a weapon, but Susan had shown me how versatile they were in an attack. We used them to both block and stagger an opponent, setting them up for a weapons hit. With the new Shield Strike thing, I would now be doing damage while staggering them. It was perfect for my fighting style. Jake giving me Dragons Claw had really given me a big increase and I was still in shock that he had done so. Maria laughed all the time about how much Jake wanted a big weapon to compensate for his...low stats (she always paused and laughed), and here was a seriously powerful one. The neat thing was, by calling on Telina''s Might, using Dragon''s Breath, and one of Jake''s flame runes, I could possibly do close to 300 points of damage in one hit. I don''t think there were many eternals that could survive that! Sienna had a new magic item, a tiara or something, and I thought it looked pretty cool with the new robes. Finding out Jake envied her magic missile spell seemed to have given her something, a new confidence or appreciation maybe, and you could see it in how she stood. She looked like a mage now, not someone acting like one, and the look in her eyes made me see what Telina had been talking about. She was feeling powerful. "I guess you got your paladin?" she asked when Jake and I joined her and Dalmar "will you have that cool fire sword thing Susan does?" Wouldn''t you know it, the first question out of the gate. I sighed and said "No, each of us gets a different choice. No weapons flame, but I got a nice boost to a lot of areas" "Was it worth it?" she asked as we took a break. Jake was restoring his mana, and wanted to let Sienna get as much of hers back as possible. I grinned at Sienna and said "Absolutely. I''m one of the good guys Sienna. I''m part of a family now, and I like that...a lot" She shook her head slightly and gave me a sideways look as she said "That''s nice I guess, but I think we should be focusing on being strong enough together to keep any eternals from ever being able to capture us again" "Won''t work that way" I said, sliding down to take a seat, pulling her with me "It''s to easy to get killed here. Look at Jake and Maria being killed by that dragon. The four of them were about as strong and versatile a group as I''ve heard of, and they still lost two people. We go against some of the smarter eternals and some of us are going to die and have to respawn" I gave her a serious look and said "What we need to be focusing on is being strong enough to help our friends when they need us, so they can help us when we need them. You heard what Maria said about this, and it made a lot of sense. You get up to level 20 and you''re looking at a two level loss every time you die. Everyone is going to max out around that range because they risk to much if they die, so they''ll stop taking risks. They''ll start teaming up, forming the whole guild thing like in the games. Probably sharing experience and trying to keep other eternals from getting to high" My hand wave kind of encompassed everything as I said "This is all going to be about having the right friends if you want to enjoy life any. And you need to keep in mind that the goddesses are real here, and they represent a group like the eternals. Telina said she arranged the enchanted items you just found to help you out, so I would guess they can put obstacles in our paths just as easily" Sienna sighed and laid her head back against the wall, closing her eyes and saying in a frustrated tone "I don''t want to be reliant on other people" "Sienna" I said softly "you know you could go live in Mudtown and be safe right? You don''t have to do any of this if you don''t want to. Everything Jake and Telina are doing is so that eternals don''t have to spend their lives getting strong enough to fight each other off" "This world is what everyone in the old one thought they wanted, absolute freedom" Jake said. He and Dalmar had walked over while we had been talking, and they took a seat by us "You are only limited by your own power and ethics here, totally free to do as you please. What you don''t have is security. The dickheads back home who talk about freedom not being free, and how its paid for in blood were morons. Security is what costs so much, since you have to give up some freedoms to have that security. Every eternal here is searching for a way to make their spawn point secure. These asshole eternals are forcing us to form a damn government just to keep them from attacking us, and since I have no intention of being part of a government, we need something else. The golden rule seems to be the least restrictive way to do that. You don''t want it done to you, don''t do it to others. What the goddess is doing is drawing a line in the sand and allowing people to show whether they want to be able to oppress people, or to allow everyone to live without a bunch of rules. It really pisses me off that I have to waste time planning a defense against people who should be happy with what they have" He did sound pissed off by the end of that, and I was grinning by the time he wound down. He saw my smile and chuckled before shrugging and saying "So, a bit of a sore spot" "But you are basically setting yourself up as a ruler" Sienna said suspiciously "do it Jake''s way or be trapped in your spawn point" I was surprised when Jake actually laughed, a sharp bark that made Sienna mad, but he waved a hand to hold her off and said "Whoa, not laughing at you, but you are seriously confused about what''s happening here. I''m helping Maria and Telina right now. Maria wanted to stop the assholes in Riverbend, so I helped her with that. I''m pushing to free the locals from the eternals abuse because that''s what Telina wants and I would do it if someone else asked, but I sure as hell wouldn''t have drug my ass away from home just to look for trouble. I have every intention of fading into the woodwork as soon as possible, so you want to go around fighting eternals, more power to you. But if you want to abuse people, then expect me to feel free to abuse you back" If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. He nodded toward me and said "Telina''s Paladins? If done right, they''ll be a reflection of your actions. You want to abuse people, they''ll be there to show you it works both ways. You want to help people, they''ll be there to point you towards people who need help. You need help, they''ll be there to give you help. They aren''t the police, and they aren''t soldiers, they''re here to be examples" "Jesus Jake" Dalmar chuckled "feeling a little preachy today?" Jake looked embarrassed as he knocked his knuckles on his own head and said "Yeah, guess so. Hopefully that''s out of my system because that little speech did make me sound like a preacher, and I''d have to kill myself if that ever happened" "Um, you are a priest" Sienna said with a sly grin. Jake rolled his eyes and said "Yeah, Tennant that dick. But that doesn''t mean I''m going to be acting priestly. You want to be all worshippy and stuff, you''ll need to find someone else. And anyone who says they''re only doing what the goddess told them to is on my kill on sight list. Telina''s good people, and she wants what I want, so I like being her priest. But I do it because I want to, not because she tells me to" He looked at me and added "you guys keep that in mind. If you ever find yourself doing something you don''t like, you''re doing the wrong thing. If Telina ever comes to you and says to kill all the first born in the land, you better expect I''ll be doing my best to have you doing the pit yo-yo if you agree" "Pit yo-yo?" Dalmar said with a chuckle as he stood up "nicely descriptive" I could see that Sienna had some questions floating around in her head, but I agreed with Dalmar that it was time to get Jake onto something else. He actually sounded frustrated that he had to even discuss this stuff, and I could tell he really did want to be back ''home'' as he called Mudtown. I wondered if it was Mary, or just the quiet environment. I also had to feel it was lucky Dalmar and Maria found him or things might have never changed. Susan said Jake hadn''t tried advancing much at all at first, and was just sitting around Mudtown killing rats and bandits when Maria and Dalmar found him. I shook my head at the town''s name, wondering why anyone would name their town like that. There were three doors out of the room, but Dalmar was pretty sure the hallways formed an H shape, and the other doors just took us back into the hallways. We decided to finish the first hallway before messing with the others. We still had two doors on the left, and one more on the right, so Dalmar and I moved cautiously to the cross hallway and made sure it was clear, before he covered my back and I took the door this time. The room had a wolfman and two direwolves, all of whom immediately charged. Dalmar needed to keep guard behind us, so I crouched and took the first direwolf''s charge on my shield, slamming it into him as he hit me. I''m immensely strong on this world, way beyond what my size indicates, so the shield hit knocked the wolf flat with a small white flare of energy. I hit it with an overhand hammer strike before blocking the next wolf. They got tangled up, allowing me to get two free hammer blows in while preventing the wolfman from getting close enough to attack. One of Jake''s holy flames formed above the wolfman and flattened him before splashing out to engulf the two direwolves. One of the wolves had gotten a quick bite to my leg, but I finished him with a hard hit after Jake''s flame knocked off about 30 health. I stepped forward and slammed the wolfman with my shield, knocking him backwards as I hit the direwolf. I immediately stepped back and swung on the wolf again, finishing it off before it could get to me. That left the wolfman, so I stepped into his own charge and began exchanging blows. He was a level 13 with 180 health, so it took a short time, but Jake''s flame had taken it down over half way. I actually killed it with a shield strike and found myself alone in the room with a bunch of wolf pelts scattered around. "Somebody has become a bit of a bad ass" Jake said as he followed Sienna over for her to unlock a chest. Sienna nodded as she worked on the chest and said "You looked faster and stronger and you must be doing more damage" With the increased strength and dexterity I was probably getting max damage benefits, so with the Claw I was probably doing around 45 points of damage, and a shield strike would add another 30 or so. Probably close to what Dalmar was doing with his hammer. I hadn''t considered that when I was looking at the Holy Might spell. The added strength and dexterity would really add to my damage potential and make that one shot kill really possible even without Jake''s rune. No one knew how the background numbers really worked, but Dalmar was pretty sure you got bonus damage when you got above 18 or 20 in both strength and dexterity. After we gathered up the coins, we headed to the last two doors in the corridor. We decided to put Sienna and Jake''s backs to the end wall, with me in front of them as Dalmar opened the last door on the right. When Dalmar opened the door, he found four more wolfmen waiting, but the door behind him popped open too. As soon as I saw it opening I stepped forward and blocked it, yelling out "Six in here!" Jake took over from there, yelling for Sienna to back me up as he called fire down on Dalmar''s wolves. The wolfmen were all wearing chest plate armor which made a difference in these fights, and they did something new, they pulled me forward. If Sienna''s vine spell hadn''t hit I would have been in serious trouble as they pulled me forward into the room and surrounded me, but the spell gave me a few seconds to pound the hell out of two of them. Having unrestricted swings, I killed both with three hits each, then regained the door as the vines disappeared. They were some pissed off wolves and they were focused on Sienna behind me now. I used a heal spell on myself for the first time, gaining almost forty points back as the spell worked with just a quick concentration on Telina and the spell. I was expecting Sienna to start launching missiles, but both the wolves and I were surprised when the vines appeared again. I was pleasantly surprised, them, less so. I started laughing as I began swinging hard while bashing with my shield. The vines must do a fair amount of damage themselves because I killed one wolf with two hammer blows, and the other with two shield strikes and a follow up hammer blow. My endurance was getting pretty low, so I moved back to the door as the vines began fading again. One of the wolves got a good claw strike across my face when they attacked, but Dalmar and Jake must have finished theirs because I could feel one of Jake''s spells hit. My return blow with my shield, followed by a hammer hit to its head turned it into a fur pile, leaving me to exchange blows with the last one. Jake sent another healing my way, though I probably didn''t need it as a series of hammer strikes put the wolfman down. I sagged a little, leaning on my hammer as I turned to face the group. They were all grinning at me, so I said "What are you slackers doing standing around, you can''t let a weak little group of werewolves slow you down" Sienna laughed, making a point of counting the fur piles before saying "Yeah, it was only ten of them, I probably shouldn''t have wasted the spells but I needed the practice" "Thanks for that" I said seriously "they surprised me by pulling me forward. I was in the middle of the whole group when the vines hit" "You''re getting too aggressive with your shield" Dalmar said in his deep voice "you''ve got your weight forward on your feet to allow you to swing with the shield, makes you easier to pull forward. You fight more like one of the guys who use a sword and dagger, and if you plan to fight like that you need to adjust a little" Damn, he was right. I hadn''t even realized it but I hit people with my shield about half as much as I did with the hammer. I was always finding myself moving forward as I swept with the shield and followed it with an overhand hammer blow. I nodded to him and said "You''re right, thanks" "Using a hammer instead of the sword, you''re way probably works better since thrusting with a square stance is the most powerful damage you do with a sword, but you don''t have that option. You should train the way you''re doing now, but practice standing square when holding a spot like the door. Took me a while to learn to hold ground while swinging this hammer. First month it seemed like I was following it around the room as I stepped forward on every swing" Dalmar grinned at the memory, and I chuckled at picturing exactly what he was talking about. It was easy to find yourself following the hammer as you swung forward. It took muscle to swing hard without stepping into it. "Aah, the joys of a little shop talk at the end of a work shift" Jake said with a laugh as he started scrounging through the treasure drops. "I don''t want to sound like an ass" Sienna said hesitantly "but what makes this any different than attacking the locals. I mean, I wouldn''t attack locals, but this seems..." she kind of petered out, and when I looked over she was kind of looking around the room with a lost expression. "Pointless?" Dalmor asked. Jake nodded, standing up from where he had been picking up gold coins, and said "To me, this is sort of like our job. This world was designed with the idea that adventurers would travel the world...adventuring" He grinned at the made up job title, but continued "Monsters like these werewolves were put on this world to give adventurers something to do, just as the locals were put there to provide support while we did it. Now though, it isn''t just a game anymore, and the locals aren''t just support, they''re people with potential. It''s possible that the monsters could be set free like the locals, but that seems really dangerous to me, though I wouldn''t argue its wrong to try. Just, you know, kind of stupid" I laughed at the addendum, but said to Sienna "I think you''re asking if what Dalmor said is true, is all the violence pointless and cruel? I''d say no, because the world is designed for this. Things went off the rails when they removed admin controls and allowed the eternals to abuse people, so we have to put that back ourselves. The rest, in my mind, this is the nature of things" We kind of tabled the discussion after that, then decided to use the door on the opposite side we came in to put us in the parallel hallway. This hallway was a mirror of the other one, with three doors on the far side. We moved into the hallway with Dalmar facing down the hall and me stepping up to the first door. Sienna and Jake stood behind me as I pushed it open. I had time to see four wolf men in chest armor turning to look at me when both Jake and Dalmar said "Oh shit" simultaneously. It said something about my getting used to things that when Jake followed the curse with "Hold that door Ariel, we''ve got ten coming this way" and I just grinned and yelled back "no problem" I was faster and stronger than the 2 extra points of strength and dexterity would lead you to believe, meaning there had to be a serious bonus associated with going above 20 on both of them. I hit the first werewolf with my shield, the white flame spiking at the point of contact and knocking him back into the group, giving me a chance to bring the hammer down on his head as he struggled to get up. The flare of red dragon fire and heavy impact drove it back to the ground, with the combination dropping the 160 health wolf to half health. The next one tried to dive forward and grapple me to the ground, but took a shield smash to the face that brought him up short. I got a claw along my arm and one in my leg at that point, but ignored it to hammer the second wolf down on top of his buddy. I used the to prone wolves to block the others while I did a quick one-two with my hammer, tapping the two downed ones in the head again. The next minute was spent standing square in the door and exchanging blows with the four werewolves before I managed to kill the first two and relieve the pressure a little. I was down to about half health and realizing Jake wasn''t healing me before I risked a quick glance behind me. There was a veritable mob of furry bodies behind me, with one of them struggling with Sienna, who was on her back with staff between them. Jake was trying to help her, but was fighting two other wolves and having a tough time of it. Dalmar was still standing, but he had the other seven wolfmen piling on to him, with a huge werewolf that had to be 8 feet tall sort of growling out commands. I took a claw to the back of the neck then as my own two dance mates reminded me they hadn''t forgotten me. Damn, this was going bad quick. I took a sudden step back and raised the Claw up as I yelled "By Telina''s Might" as I called on the spell for the first time. A huge flare of white light seemed to flash out from me, knocking every werewolf still standing to the ground stunned, and an absolute flood of power swept through me. I actually, no shit, grew a good foot in height as my health completely filled again. A hard overhand hammer strike killed the one that was on top of Selina, and a shield strike, followed by a side sweep of the hammer killed another. The big one was my target because I figured he was the leader, and on this world the alphas and leaders buffed up the others of its kind. "Jake cover Sienna" I screamed as I shoved through the pack surrounding Dalmar "Need some vines Sienna!" I yelled over my shoulder as the alpha werewolf and I slammed together. He was still a few inches taller than I was, but damned if I wasn''t stronger. His look of surprise as I pushed him back with my shield was priceless, but nothing like the look when I yelled "Dragon''s Breath!" As I brought my hammer around to hit the side of his head. The combination of Telina''s flame and dragon fire enveloped him as he was thrown sideways into the wall as 150 points of health dropped off. My shield strike was throwing the flare of Telina''s flame just as high as the hammer was, so it was only a few seconds later that he turned into a pile of furs and the other surviving wolves began panicking. Sienna had a vine spell running, so the group behind me was being held in place as Dalmar and Jake pounded on them. Sienna had a seriously pissed expression as she appeared to be launching an endless series of magic missiles from alternating hands, right into the face of one of the wolfmen. I slammed my hammer into the closest one and began helping finish them off. I was impressed and a little scared by how quickly Sienna killed two wolves with her missiles, then threw up another vine spell. Dalmar was...laughing. No shit, laughing like he was on a fair ride or something. He looked like exactly what he was, a dwarven warrior as he laughed and beat down the wolves around him. The last one fell to a hammer back swing, and I found I was my normal height when I looked up at my group. Sienna was staring at me in confusion, while both Dalmar and Jake were grinning. "I think someone opened up the extra can of whoop ass" Jake said with a chuckle, getting Dalmar too add "Can hell, that was a six pack at least. Damn girl, that is some seriously bad ass shit" I laughed at the normally calm Dalmar''s trash talk and said "Well, you guys ever need a pickle jar opened, you know who to ask" that got a giggle from Sienna at the look Jake and Dalmar exchanged. "That was...odd" I said, giving Jake a shrug, then adding "did it restore your health?" "Health?" Sienna said in disbelief "it restored my mana and my health" Huh, the description hadn''t said anything about restoring mana. Dalmar chuckled as he moved forward to start scavenging for treasure and Sienna went with him as Jake and I walked down the hall to peek in the other open doors, finding them all empty of werewolves and with no other exits. Appeared the towers were inaccessible unless Sienna spotted something. It took a while for Sienna to open all the chests, and for us to gather all the dropped coins, and I was disappointed I didn''t get any good magic items. Of course I had it better than Jake who almost never found anything he could use, still being stuck with a lot of his low level stuff. I wondered why Telina would give Sienna magic stuff, but didn''t load Jake down with something useful. Still, this had been a lot of fun, and it made me regret missing the dragon expedition. There was something about knowing you might lose that made these fights exciting. Chap 20: What a bunch of morons "Aye, the eternals be turnin away any others of their kind, or trying to take them prisoner if''n they''ze women" Jonas the bartender said. It had only taken a couple minutes of talking before the man began to open up, and this last bit of information was more than worth it. The small village we stopped in was supposed to be a half days ride from the capital, so a good point to gather whatever information we could. The locals always seemed to have useful data, so I figured it wouldn''t hurt to ask. "The city guards allow it?" Jonas shook his head no as an old farmer sitting beside me said "Nah, the bastards be waitin at ta bridge what crosses ta Farguard river, not ta city gates. Ta Cursed Ones don''t be botherin regular folk, only other eternals" "Usually three of em" Jonas said, pausing to refill the farmers mug at my gesture "though I''ve heard tell they''ve had four or five at times" he shrugged as he slid the full mug to the old man, then added "have to cross the river if''n you''re coming from the west, so good spot to do their foul deeds" "Couple a em warrior types and a Mage most times" the farmer said, toasting me with his mug. "Sounds like someone decided to get organized" Maria said from behind me. I hadn''t heard her join us, and from the way the farmer jumped and scowled at her, neither had he. I smiled at the old guy and said "My friend Maria has a good heart and does that to tease me. I''m sure she''ll be happy to buy us both another drink to help slow our hearts" Maria stuck her tongue out at me, getting a chuckle from Jonas and a grin from the farmer, who said "Twern''t fright got me heart beatin so hard, was the elf lasses beauty dontcha know" "Rightfully so, and well said you handsome human you" Maria said with a giggle and slap to my shoulder "pay attention Jake, this is a very wise man" The old guy cackled a burst of laughter, but returned to our previous conversation with "Aye, they''ze organizing. Heard tell them eternals in the city be tryin ta meet wit the empress herself, though that be just words" "Empress?" I asked in confusion, getting a sigh from Maria as she said "Geez Jake, do you even live in this world? The empress is the emperor of the empire" a giggle followed before she said "Equal opportunity empire dontcha know" "Lass is right" Jonas said "First emperor Romar said his daughter would be emperor after himself and people sort of stuck with that and started using the two titles interchangeable like. Imperial family don''t get seen much ''cept for special days, so only a few have met with empress Solain, and I don''t think she would meet with a bunch of filthy eternals" he paused and blushed slightly at Maria''s grin, then added "Present company excepted" Maria ended up sitting and chatting with the two men while I went over to talk with Dalmar, Sienna, Ariel, Susan, and Mirabeth. They had a couple of tables and we''re having a relaxed conversation over a meal. "What did you find out?" Susan asked. "The eternals in the capital have started organizing" I said, frowning as I considered the ramifications "They''re waylaying other eternals who try to enter" Dalmar looked the group over, then gave his own shrug before saying "Not something we need to worry about" "No, but I''m thinking we need to see what they''re really about here" I answered slowly, my mind still running options "It might be better to offer them some bait and let them show where they stand, then see if we can determine who''s part of the cursed and who''s not. I''m not sure how helpful the empire will be, so having them attack us makes things pretty straightforward" "Mairisian is a huge place and they have a couple hundred eternals spawning there" Dalmar said, he paused, then added "Most of them won''t be in the city. Safer to stay away from other eternals, so usually just the bad ones left hanging around, though I expect we''ll find more than a few of the eternals being held captive" "Not for long" Susan put in, her voice calm, but very serious. Mirabeth nodded as Ariel gave a hard grin and added "Sounds like it needs Telina''s gentle touch" Maria joined us as we were discussing ways and means of invading an eternal held city, and as she flopped into the seat next to me, told us "According to Brin, the Mage at the bridge is a lightning elemental and he uses a chain lightning attack that either kills eternals outright, or stuns them long enough for the Warriors to finish them off" "Perfect" I said to myself, then added as everyone looked at me "They have a big hitter, so their plans are built around him softening us up. It''s like the heavy machine gun in an ambush, you use it to inflict maximum damage in a short time, but if you lose it..." I grinned as I nodded at Ariel. Maria''s laugh followed a second later and she said "oh man, can I be part of the bait" It was kind of scary how quickly Maria grasped what I was thinking. Unfortunately for her the group decided she was to well known and decided this would be a good opportunity for Ariel and Sienna to step up. I had been thinking Ariel and Mirabeth actually, but realized Sienna might actually be better in a small group battle. We rode out early the next morning with Ariel, Sienna and me leading the others by a good thirty minutes. Ariel had a small grin of anticipation, but Sienna looked nervous and kept biting her lower lip, so I finally said "The others aren''t far behind us, so the worst that will happen is we find ourselves back home, and that''s not a bad thing in my mind. Concentrate on taking out the Mage and let Ariel handle the rest. There''s no eternal around that you can''t kill with your magic missiles Sienna, no matter how high a level" "Yeah, I know" she sighed "it''s just..." Her hand kind of waved aimlessly for a second before she added "it''s hard to believe we''re really safe" "You are" I said "anything ever happens you can send a message to me and I''ll come find you, but you won''t need it. Like I said, you could probably kill a dragon, so none of the eternals will ever be a serious threat" Her and Ariel chatted after that and I was happy to have some alone time. I liked everyone in our group, but being around people, even ones I liked, got tiring after a while. We eventually topped a hill and saw the capital, Mairisian for the first time. It looked like it originally started as a large castle on a flat topped hill, then had a city grow in a circle around it. The hill was about five hundred feet high, and the castle was set in the center on a quarter mile wide section on top. A wall ringed the peak and a six story castle with two towers sat in the middle. I could see a road winding around the steep hill up to the castle walls, and decided it would be a serious undertaking for someone to capture that castle. The city itself formed a couple mile diameter circle around the base of the hill, with another, thirty foot wall enclosing the whole thing. The city sat in the middle of a flat plain that had a river running north-south on our side about a mile from the walls, effectively forming another barrier from attacks from the east. The road we were on led to a flat, stone bridge that had a constant flow of traffic going both directions. The road led to a large gate at the city wall, but it also curved around to follow the wall around both directions. We topped the hill a good mile from the bridge, but my improved half-elven vision showed me a group of empire soldiers standing on the west side, and three people standing in a group to the side of the road on the east side of the bridge. Neither woman had any comments as we rode down the hill, though Sienna was clutching her staff with white knuckles and Ariel had a predatory smile that wouldn''t have looked out of place on a tiger. The three eternals were two warriors and a Mage, just like Jonas had said. The Mage was a male elf wearing a good robe and holding an expensive looking staff, while sporting the name Elrond Everflame. His companions were both wearing heavy chain mail and accoutrements and holding two handed swords. Danny DeathDealer and Warren were the names they were showing, making me realize Dalmar''s comment about the people being sent here being less than the brightest bulbs in the box, was truer than I thought. The Warriors stepped in front of us and Danny held up a hand as he said "Loser and the losettes, our lucky day" I did a face palm, absolutely appalled that I was involved in this farce. Hadn''t these guys ever read a story or watched a movie where the overconfident bad guys got their asses kicked after standing around talking to their victims? I mumbled to myself "I think I lost a couple of intelligence points just from hearing that" Ariels laugh reminded me a little of Maria''s, and I was grinning as I looked up at the two dead men. They were both glaring at me as Warren said "You''re going to lose more than that in a minute" Sienna shocked all of us by bursting into a series of uncontrolled giggles as she waved a hand at me and said "Oh my god..." Giggle, gasp, wave "It''s like..." Giggle "a...a Monty Python movie!" her "It''s only a flesh wound!" came out a little garbled from the laughter. All three of us were laughing when the Mage hit us with the Lightning. This was my first exposure outside of that one trap, and I thought the special effects were really kind of cool. Jagged bolts of electricity arced from his spread fingers to reach the three of us, rippling and jumping as they hit. Unfortunately for Elrond, Ariel''s shield spell, cast earlier, caused the Lightning to stop about an inch from our skin and do absolutely no damage. Doubly unfortunate for him was the fact my defensive aura still worked and Elrond took a good hit of reflected damage that knocked him on his ass. The goober brothers were staring at us in shock as Ariel slipped off her horse, set her shield, and pulled her hammer before attacking them. Sienna had her right hand up as she said the words to the missile spell, and five glowing bolts streaked out to slam into the Mage, who was just now trying to sit up. The bolts caused him to let out a yell of pain, a yell that got cut off when he crumbled to ash. Ariel was grinning as she attacked the two warriors, moving like a dancer as she blocked with her shield, or hit them with her hammer. The two were now showing level 17 and 19, so they weren''t push overs, and we''re doing damage in return. I cast a quick heal spell on Ariel as Sienna did the motions for her vine spell. "What the hell?" Danny yelled as he saw Ariel glow from my spell and sixty points of damage get healed. Warren had just taken a shield to the face, so didn''t offer an opinion as Sienna finished her spell. The vines burst upward to clamp onto both men, and Sienna and I just sat and watched as Ariel focused on Danny, beating him mercilessly with the Claw, flames flaring up at each point of impact. Danny disappeared as the spell faded, and Warren tried to run as soon as he was released. Ariel just nodded at Sienna and I, so Sienna sent a pack of missiles that knocked Warren down, and then killed him with a follow up missile spell. I thought the missile spell was pretty cool, the bright white spikes of light kind of swooping and twisting like a flock of birds as they followed their target, impacting with little flashes of light. "What a bunch of morons" Sienna said disgustedly Ariel hung her shield and hammer before climbing back on her horse, then said "Stupid to try that when the odds were even and they didn''t know anything about us" "It must have been working for them or they would have been doing something else" I said as we rode past the large group of locals standing on the bridge, staring at us "Definitely dumb, but even idiots change tactics after being killed a couple of times" An imperial squad of six soldiers were manning the far side of the bridge, and the squad leader signaled for us to stop as we reached them. I slid off my horse, not wanting to tower over the man, and said "Good morning. My friends and I are here at Telina''s will to bring some order to the chaos of the Cursed Ones" "Loser Dragonsbane" the squad leader said, giving me a nod of greeting "you are known to us, both through the minstrels tale and by imperial messages. The Imperial governor has requested that you meet with him at your pleasure" "Of course. There are a considerable number of things Telina has tasked me with, so it is a gracious offer on the governor''s part. I have friends arriving soon, so thought to wait with you and your men if that was not inconvenient?" He looked Ariel and Sienna over for a moment, then signaled for his men to relax as he took his helmet off and said "I would like that. It would be good to hear the tale of the dragon''s fall from those involved" I delayed the tale until Dalmar''s group arrived, then cajoled Maria into telling it. She started with "Any successful adventure requires the presence of an elf maiden of great beauty and intelligence, so this one was blessed from the start..." And got more interesting from there. Squad leader Armond and his men were laughing by the time she actually told them about the fight, and how the priest acquired the name ''Dragon chew toy'', and they gave her a cheer when she ended with "And that''s the tale of Maria Dragonsbane and her homies" Dalmar was chuckling as he stood beside me and said "You should have known that was coming" I shrugged and laughed at the guards clustered around Maria, then told Dalmar "Nah, this was good. This world needs someone to make it a little brighter and no one is better at that than her" Armond left his men with Maria and came over to say "A pleasant telling and one that few will have the opportunity to hear, as hearing the tale told by the Laughing Ranger is something that will surely be a rare thing. Governor Elistar does not reside in the imperial castle, so you will need to go to the Governor''s mansion on the north side of the city" This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. We exchanged a couple of polite words, then I got my gaggle in saddles and headed to the city. The odd way people knew things here showed when the gate guards just gave me a respectful nod and waved us through the gates. "You sure you weren''t a politician in the other world?" Dalmar asked as we passed through the gates "Imperial city guards being nice to eternals is a very unusual thing" "Let''s not be throwing insults around" I said "Telina''s rule makes it work. I treat them the way I want them to treat me. This world is different than the other one in that the people are naturally nice unless you are rude to them, so if it weren''t for the stupid asshole eternals, this would be paradise" I sounded a little angry by the end of that, so I gave everyone a shrug and added "or at least that''s my opinion" "I like that you guys don''t stink after riding all day" Maria said with a laugh "could you imagine how bad a wet dwarf would smell in the other reality" I cracked up when Dalmar realized what she had said and snorted a "Seem to remember smelling burnt elf a month or so ago myself" The city was huge and the streets were wide enough for horses, or at least the ones on the outer section were. It was a good mile of riding before we came to what a guard assured us was the Governors mansion. It looked mansioney , as Maria said, so we slid off our horses and presented ourselves at the gate in the iron fence surrounding the building. A couple level 10 guards waved another guard over and told him "Telina''s priest and his companions. The governor is expecting them" I guess being inside the capital city they decided this regional governor didn''t need a Keep, because the mansion was fairly large, but still just a home with an iron fence around it. There was a lot of artwork scattered around, and I paused to look at a painting, and again at a sculpture. The painting showed humans in imperial gear fighting a horde of Draugrs with a guy wearing a crown and wielding a flaming sword in the front. The sculpture was of a dragon, and whoever carved it had seen a real one. The governor wasn''t doing anything important when we were led into a large sitting room, just standing and looking out a window. He turned when we walked in and waved us to a large group of chairs and said "Please, take a seat" Someone was well organized since there was just the right amount of chairs with two of them set up in the alpha male spots. I sat in the one to the right of the alpha spot, and was interested to note that the others deferred to Susan for the lead spot. Governor Elistar seemed confused for a moment, then looked at me and said "Priest of Telina, Governor Brennan of Riverbend sent word of what had been done to ease the problems caused by the eternals, but the solution required that a priest or paladin of Telina state that an eternal has been rejected by Telina and would suffer the Curse of Telina" he paused and surveyed the group again, then said "Her Imperial Highness, Solain Romar, Empress of the Romarian Empire, has said the empire will support the goddess''s will in this. The supreme gods acceptance of the eternals into our world has been a bitter thing to us, and the Empress has long beseeched the goddesses for a sign that she might begin to restore order. Empress Solain will not relinquish any measure of the control she presently holds, but will aid you if your intentions are truly honorable" I nodded, mostly to myself, as I considered his words. After a moment I said "My intentions, Governor, are to enforce Telina''s will, and avoid any appearance of being part of your government. The empire is a powerful force for good in this world, and I and the goddess''s goal in this is to leave it up to the citizens of the empire to decide if they will fail or not. The eternals are a threat to peace because they think no one their master, but they are wrong. Telina has decreed that eternals shall live by the following law. Do onto others as you would have them do onto you. As eternals we stand outside the laws of the various lands, but that does not mean we stand outside the laws of reason. Eternals fighting eternals will be dealt with by Telina''s Paladin''s and their friends. Eternals disrupting the laws of the empire will be dealt with by the empire. Governor Brennen has shown the way in which Telina''s champions and the empires guards can work to limit the damage of the Cursed Ones. I and Telina''s Paladin''s will support the Empress in this, will she support us?" "Yes" he said, surprising me a little, making me realize I was still stuck in earth think. I smiled at him and replied "Good. Telina abhors the enslavement and abuse of any intelligent person, and the eternals appear to take great pleasure in pursuing this activity. The eternals who pursue this path are those best used as examples of Telina''s justice. Telina''s Paladin''s are here to free those held captive, and punish the eternals who enslave them. To do this, we will need to agree on means of controlling the eternals rebirth points" The governor took his time considering my words, then threw my own back at me. "Yes. Good. The empress has approved using my position as governor to control the eternals rebirth points, but it must be at the request of Telina''s champions" "If I might" Susan said, giving me a questioning look. At my wave, she looked to the governor and said "Our priest has stated Telina''s will, it only needs us to work out how we will accomplish it. I and my sister paladin are going to free those held by the eternals and would ask only that the empire assign a captain and a squad to support our efforts by arranging the efforts to control the rebirth points. This demonstration of the will of Telina and the Empress will draw forth a response from the Cursed Ones. We must be united in our efforts to rebuff their attack, or face a drawn out effort to suppress them" she leaned forward and gave the governor an intent look as she said "Make no mistake, we will prevail, this is not in doubt. I have suffered at their hands and have stated my love for one from this world, so Telina''s will is my will" I was tempted to offer an opinion, but waited to see where Susan would take this. She was speaking with passion, and I could see it resonated with the governor, but neither of them were discussing anything real. Susan gave me another uncertain look and said "After the first rebirth point is controlled, the Cursed Ones will try to determine what changed to cause that. The empire will say that Telina''s champions passed sentence and it is their will that brought it about. This will focus the cursed ones efforts against me and Ariel where it belongs. The question is whether the empress wishes to stand outside this battle" The governor had a small grin that slowly grew until he let out a bark of laughter and said "The empress predicted this very discussion, though she said the priest would speak the words of the paladin. She has told me that the empire will not involve itself in the affairs of the eternals and risk angering the gods, but it will aid those who represent the goddesses" "We need the regional governors to approve the changes at the eternals rebirth places" Susan said "and to aid in keeping the confrontations small while in the cities. The presence of imperial guards will prevent the cursed from escalating the encounters into open warfare" "If you have recommendations on how the empire would like a situation handled, please tell us" I said "and any information you have about eternals abusing women would be useful" Governor Elistar wasn''t surprised by any of that, just nodding and saying "Captain Pagailis will be the cities liaison for Telina''s champions. He can tell you anything known regarding the eternals and their conduct, and will lead a ten man squad. The empress has said the empire will pay for the changes to the cursed ones rebirth places as it is to our benefit to rein in the chaos being caused by them" I was thinking this empress was a pretty smart woman and would have liked talking to her. Pushing the thought aside, I rose when the governor did and exchanged a couple parting pleasantries before leading my group outside. Looking to Dalmar and Maria, I asked "How do I buy a house?" It turned out to be surprisingly easy, and an hour later I was standing outside a three story stone building near the east gate. Maria and Sienna were the only ones with me as the rest had gone to get us an inn for a couple of day, and they did a tour of the house with me. It had four rooms downstairs, two long rooms on the second floor, and six smaller rooms on the third. The entry room encompassed the whole front area and Maria said it was normally turned into a shop space. A back entrance led into an alley that would have at least one eternal spawn point, but otherwise was as clean and neat as most places were. I decided to place the portal in the doorway in the downstairs front room that led to the back. In response to Sienna''s question I said "Easy access in an emergency. If someone is trying to get away from attackers, or if we need to send assistance, this would be better as it has two routes out of, or into the house" "You don''t care if people see us arriving?" Maria asked as she seemed to be measuring the front room space in her head. "No. It''s not like just anyone can use them, and everyone will assume I have a couple hidden away, so I don''t see a lot of risk in it" "You know" she said, her tone telling me she probably hadn''t paid attention to my words "you could set this up as a store for the Mudtown locals to sell stuff in. There''s a lot of things that grow or are made in the Abandoned Lands that are really expensive here" I nodded agreement, already planning something like that but just said "Like a co-op?" She wrinkled her nose cutely as she considered it, but Sienna said "You''ll need someone to live here and guards for the building, unless the shopkeeper went back home every night" she blinked as something occurred to her and she added "Oh hell, now you''ll need to start being aware of time zones" I laughed as I realized she was right, and while it was late afternoon here, it was probably early evening at home. I finally shrugged and said "I''ll arrange for a couple of guards now and let the Mudtowners decide how they want to do it" We ended up at a place with the unlikely name of ''Inn''. Maria got a chuckle out of it, saying "Hey, truth in advertising right?" Rooms had been reserved and everyone was downstairs eating when we walked in, so I slid in next to Susan and ordered an ale and today''s meal from the pretty girl working there. As I settled into a really good roast something, I asked Susan "How do you want to do this?" "Two teams" she said immediately "Me and Mirabeth, Ariel and Sienna. You, Maria, and Dalmar join in wherever you like. We have the gems and potions, so we should be good for any small groups. I''d like for you three to back us up here in the capital since I''m expecting some organized resistance starting late tomorrow or the next day as the morons respawn" She paused to look over the group and sip her drink, then said "This is all about getting our reputation started right. We get our asses handed to us and the empire will wonder if they picked the right team. Any women we free we''ll have to evaluate whether they need to move to Mudtown, but I want to see about leaving some here since Jake is setting up a quick way of getting here. We also need to think about what we do for them after we free them" "I have an idea about that" Maria said, taking me by surprise "Like you said, the portals will make moving around a lot easier, so I''ve been thinking about something Jake and I talked about" she grinned at me, but I had no idea what she was talking about so just gave her a confused look. "My castle in the Forbidden Lands" she announced with a laugh "you put a portal there and it becomes our own exclusive leveling farm. We can do escorted excursions just like our trip down there, to give the new people an opportunity to build experience" Oh man, another portal. There was no doubt I would end up doing this for her, so I just sighed and said "Ok, whatever" getting a giggle from her at my tone. "What about Bob?" Dalmar asked "He needs a Mage on his team" Susan said "but the sooner he can start helping, the better" "Do you really need a Mage?" I asked doubtfully. Everyone except Dalmar nodded, getting a chuckle from me as Susan said "Need the stand off damage threat. Us Paladin''s can hold our own against any fighter, regardless of level, but someone doing damage from a distance would be a problem. Maybe one of the people we free, though that might be a stretch considering the social dynamics" I shrugged, the last sentence dulling my interest, then said "Well, worst case I''ll work with him" "Whoa" Maria said in false shock "the all powerful, supreme Loser taking the field? The cursed will surrender as soon as they hear that!" I flipped her off and said "He can go south with us to get your castle. That is if the Lich didn''t respawn" "Pish-posh. if he did, we just give him another spanking" Maria said with regal disdain "no Lich is going to keep me from being queen of the forbidden lands" Dalmar chuckled, exchanging eye rolls with me, before draining his mug and saying "We meet down here at seven bells" and heading up to his room. Chap 21: Ooh, thats gotta hurt! The next day found us outside with Captain Pagailis and ten other guards, everyone kind of eyed me, but I nodded toward Susan, who grinned and said to the Captain "What can you tell us about eternals?" Pagailis hesitated, then shrugged and said "The three eternals you dispatched yesterday are part of a loosely allied group of twelve. There are 213 eternals whose rebirth point lies within the city, and as a group they employ 510 various personal guards. There are two groups the governor has classed as cursed, and he asks that you deal with them as such. The first group I mentioned earlier, and they compete with the second, 9 high level eternals, over the ownership of the 37 female eternals who rebirth in the city. 23 of the females are presently captives of the two groups, though scattered through out the city" he paused at the various gasps of surprise and outrage, but it was pretty much what I had expected. When no one said anything, the Captain continued with "The other females have fled the city and a few have banded together in one of the outlying villages" "21 of the cursed ones then" Susan said grimly "Are you familiar with the method used to contain their rebirth points?" The Captain said "Yes. When one of the Goddess''s champions passes sentence on them, I will coordinate the necessary changes" I stepped in here to set the precedent and said "The eternals known as Elrond Everflame, Danny DeathDealer, and Warren have been deemed anathema, and as such they are considered cursed of Telina until such time as the goddess decides they shall be offered redemption" "Very well" The Captain said with a small smile, saying something to get one of his men to trot away. The first eternal we visited was a warrior named Fane Fireblade who had a home just around the corner from our Inn. He was nice enough to answer the knock on his door, and went down exactly the way Jess did, with Susan pounding him to death, while Mirabeth put the guys guards to sleep. As arranged, I didn''t help, and Susan used a potion, though I thought it was more preventative than anything since she still had 90 health when she used it. Ole Fane actually tried to ask where she bought it, right in the middle of the fight. Four women were chained in the back, and Susan and Mirabeth took charge of them, deciding to use the Inn as a safe house for now. Ariel led us onwards after Susan spoke the official cursing of Fane so his rebirth point could be trapped, and Ariel did the deed at another warriors house. The guy, Vince, was standing in front of his building, holding a chain that went to a metal collar around an elf girls neck. He was talking with another eternal named Jake Moran (embarrassing), and Jake made the mistake of pulling out an axe when Ariel began pounding Vince into hamburger. Dalmar and Maria dealt with Jake, while Ariel and Sienna took their time about killing Vince. The two women worked perfectly together and I had little worry that they would ever find themselves outmatched. Sienna''s vine thing allowed Ariel to be choosy about her swings, so Vince got to enjoy some really vicious hammer blows to the nads. There were no other women being held there, so Maria took charge of a hysterical elf girl, talking in soothing tones as she and a couple guards led her away. Ariel passed sentence on the two men, adding Jake (the dead one) when the Captain said he was one of the gang of twelve. "Jesus" Dalmar said softly "I had no idea it was this bad" when I didn''t reply he gave me a sideways look and said "You expected this" I shrugged as we followed Ariel to the next eternal, and said "Bunch of thugs get turned into gods, of course it ended up like this. Everyone here seemed to think this was like some kind of reward for being convicted of a crime, but the government knew what it was doing. This is no different than dropping everyone on an island and letting the strong survive. In another six months this stuff would have become seriously organized as the different groups began merging and claiming territory to stop just what we''re doing now" "Why has this been allowed to continue as long as it has?" The Captain asked us "The actions of the cursed ones obviously threaten all eternals, and to allow the treatment of women in this way is..." He paused, uncertain if we would be insulted by his conclusion. "The eternals who are sent here have learned to fear those in authority, so it did not occur to them that they should be enforcing the rule of law upon their peers" I said. He considered that, then asked "You were a member of the authority in the overworld?" The question drew a chuckle from me as I said "No. I''m just a guy who wanted to be left alone in the perfect town, but realized what these morons were doing to the people of Tarinath. Telina asked me to help stop that, and the regular eternals are sort of benefiting from that" The captain chewed on that as we got to the next house and watched Ariel kill a level 15 Mage , with a single shield bash to the face, followed by one hit to the head with the Dragon''s Claw as he opened the door. His guards didn''t even have a chance to get involved. Guy probably had the minimum stamina he could get by with. The idiot. Ariel pronounced the sentence on the guy so the Captain could get people started on the respawn point, then her and Sienna headed into the guys place. "You don''t care about your fellow eternals?" The captain finally asked I sighed, but subtly to keep from offending him, and said "I care about some of them. I am not here to govern them or anyone else, so what is happening to these women is at the unspoken approval of all the other eternals. I and Telina want to ensure the eternals know they are not gods, and Maria wants to help those who have been through what she has. I want Telina and Maria to be happy, so this is the quickest way to get that done and be free to have fun" "You will change the power structure of a world to make your friend happy?" The captain said doubtfully. I laughed at that and said "There is no power structure, there''s a power imbalance. Susan, Ariel, and the freed women will provide the missing side of this. I''m actually doing very little in this whole thing" "The empress does very little but yet she leads the empire" the captain said with a grin, then got serious as Ariel began leading a large group of women out of the house. Dalmar actually let out a growling noise as nine women jittered and flinched as they followed Ariel with Sienna bringing up the rear. Shaking my head in disgust I said "It really makes you wonder if the rest of the eternals in this town need a ride on the pit yo-yo" I waved the thought away and said "We''ll meet you back at the inn Captain and evaluate where we stand and see if any of the Paladin''s will be able to break free today" he gave a head bow and led his men away as Dalmar and I went to my new home to cast the second portal spell. I enjoyed Dalmar''s company almost as much as Maria''s, though for opposite reasons. She filled the silence with laughter and fun, and Dalmar was a stolid, quiet presence. Two level 15 sword and shield locals were in the house, the new guards. They introduced themselves as Rabin and Narn, and in response to my question about their living arrangements Rabin said "A local inn my lord" I nodded at that and said "Well, I would have no objections if you lived here. I will be arranging for someone to clean and cook for anyone who stays here, and it would save you trouble and cost if you each take one of the top floor rooms. If you have someone significant, they are welcome to live here, but please keep in mind the risks" "My...my lord?" Narn stuttered out "Live here?" He looked around like he had never seen the place, then added "But...eternals don''t..." He faded out as if lost for words. Rabin chuckled, surprising me, then he patted Narns shoulder and said to me "My partner means to say you are most gracious and we accept your kind offer my lord" "Good" I replied as I headed to my doorway and cast the second spell. After it finished I turned to the interested guards and said "This will be a portal leading to my home village and will be used by those blessed of Telina. Any who use it are to be trusted and aided if possible. Please do not reveal its existence unless asked by an imperial official. This is an imperial city, so I expect everyone to honor their laws while here, though I don''t expect you to enforce that. I''ll be getting you some enchanted equipment to help keep you safe, but it might take some time" I snapped a finger as a thought occurred, and pulled up four healing potions and one cure disease potion. I handed them to Rabin saying "Use these freely, I can supply more" Dalmar was chuckling after we left a pair of stunned but happy guards and walked out to find it was starting to get cloudy, making me hope we didn''t end up dealing with one of the rare occurrences of rain during the day. He shook his head still chuckling and said "You definitely keep things interesting" I shrugged, dismissing the inference and said "You up to visiting the local libraries? I want to look into the holy relics and I''m interested in whether they might have anything on the smithing skill" "Good idea" he said, looking around to get his bearings, then pointing toward where the castle towered above the city, saying "that way I think. Supposed to be near the castle hill" a helpful squad leader got us to a long, two story building that looked more like a warehouse than a library. Once inside though, there was little doubt as the inside was one large room filled front to back with rows of shelves. Thousands of books and scrolls filled every inch of every shelf. Both Dalmar and I sighed as we looked around and realized it would be a hopeless task to wander around looking. So of course we started wandering the aisles, and finally saw someone pull a book and head to a set of stairs on the north wall. Following him up, we found the second floor was filled with desks and chairs, about ten of them with someone sitting at them. A young woman got up and walked over to an older human sitting at a desk, asked him a question, then returned to her own seat. I nudged Dalmar, then walked over to where the old man was sitting, getting a series of whispered "Dragonsbane" behind us. The guy at the table showed as "Wendal, Librarian"'' so I gave him a polite nod and said softly "Pardon me sir, but this is our first visit and wondered if you could help us" He had sharp eyes, and his quick evaluation of us would have done any gang banger I ever met proud. It only took him a second or two, then he turned to me with a smile and twinkle of humor in his eyes before saying "I certainly wish to, as one of the librarians tasks is to record significant events that occur on Tarinath and two of the four dragonsbanes would be an excellent place to start" I grinned back, then took a seat across from him, with Dalmar doing the same after setting his hammer down with a heavy thunk. Wendal looked at where the hammer''s handle stood upright and asked "How may I assist you?" His eyes tracking back to me as he spoke. His fingers were twitching like he wanted to write something, so I chuckled and said "Two things really, and regardless of how much information you can provide, we''ll be happy to answer a couple questions" he relaxed at that and focused a little, so I said "I am looking for information on what many call holy relics. As an eternal I know little or nothing about the history of Tarinath and the methods by which items were enchanted. After my friends and I defeated a bone dragon we found a rough hewn cup, that after receiving Telina''s blessing, transformed into what is now known as the Cup of Charity. I also found this armor" I pointed at my leather armor "which took on Telina''s name after I claimed it. As a priest I am finding a dearth of items usable by one of my class and am looking for information on how I can find other items like these" I tried not to be to pointed about what I really wanted, but there was no way to really be subtle about this. Wendal nodded slowly his eyes unfocusing as he considered my words, then looked at me to say "What you are asking about were elven crafted prior to the sundering. The art was lost when the blight claimed whole families, so the creation of these...relics is no longer possible. There were two main types of relics, one being weapons and armor, known as goddess blessed, and the other being like your cup or the bowl in Telarin. This class of items were known as goddess claimed. Goddess blessed items allow the wearer to channel some small amount of the goddesses power and while powerful, do not enhance the goddesses presence on Tarinath" he paused to study me for a moment, then said "Goddess claimed items are things of legend. The one in Telarin was found a few decades ago when a Lich Lord invaded and was destroyed. The bowl was in the keep that he claimed, though it was already dedicated to Telina" I considered his words, taking my time since he was obviously willing to wait. The most obvious thing was the tie point with them being held by one of the undead, but it was a pretty small sample to be drawing conclusions from. I looked up and asked "Why were they never claimed before?" "Most were" he said "but the sundering was more than a description of what happened to the elven kingdom, it described the elves losing their ties to the goddesses when they allowed necromancy to flourish. The relics became unclaimed and reverted to what you found. It is thought that Telina''s priest may have found and blessed the one in Telarin before his sacrifice" he didn''t wait for the next question, just saying "it''s not known how many such items existed, or where they now reside, but it seems likely they would be scattered and guarded by the undead to prevent their use" "Yeah" I muttered "that makes sense" When it was clear I wasn''t going to ask anything right away, Weldan asked Dalmar "What information do you seek lord?" Dalmar chuckled and said "Hardly a lord, but I''m trying to find out how to become a smith" The words seemed to confuse Weldan for a time, then he began talking slowly "Normally, one becomes an apprentice, but that is not something an eternal can do. Were you a priest of Tarra, the goddess of smiths, I would recommend claiming a relic and dedicating it to granting such skills, but there is only one full priest known and he serves Telina" he made it sound like he was talking about someone else, but nodded at me to be sure we understood. He made a series of thoughtful expressions, a couple frustrated ones, then said "A question with no definitive answer. I suspect the only possible means would be to acquire one of the items enchanted to enhance the smith''s skills. One, The Anvil of the Master Smith, was reputed to make even those untrained in the smithing arts as skilled as a full master smith. It was held by a dwarven priest of Tarra centuries ago, but was lost when the dragons destroyed Lor Frell. If you were to go to Lor Frell, I would be very interested in any books or scrolls you were to find" New Quest Explore Lor Frell and acquire books for Librarian Weldan Dalmar must have accepted it because it disappeared a second later. Huh, I realized it was the first quest request in a while and I had kind of missed the simplicity of it. Of course the map Weldan had, showed Lor Frell deep in dragon territory. Dalmar''s scowl matched my frown as we considered the likelihood of surviving an expedition in that area. "We either have to be covert and fast, or overt and strong" I said, getting a nod from Dalmar. Weldan got his chance to ask questions after that, and I was surprised to find I could draw. Hell, I could create...art. I was trying to give Weldan a sense of scale on Zac, and found myself drawing a photo realistic view of Kalishzactzin. I damn near broke into tears I was so excited, something I''m sure a minstrel would have turned into a thrilling tale. Weldan broke into quiet laughter when he realized it was new to me, and graciously gifted me with a large drafting book and a handful of pencils. I think he did it to get me focused again because I kept doodling pictures of things while we were talking. Dalmar couldn''t draw for shit, so it wasn''t an eternal thing. Man, what a great skill! We spent another hour with Weldan, answering questions about our adventures and a little about eternals. He walked us out when we finally left and made us promise to return and talk with him again when we could. Dalmar huffed a short laugh as we walked down the street toward the inn and said "Wouldn''t you know it, slap dab in the middle of dragon territory" "Good thing we know the queen of the forbidden lands" I said with a grin, getting one in return. There was a line of guards blocking the street in front of the inn when we got there, and the sounds of serious combat going on. The guards moved aside for us to see the melee happening in front of the tavern. Susan and Ariel were in full Telina mode, with Ariel grown to that seven foot height thing, while Susan was outlined in white flame that also covered her weapons and shield. Sienna and Mirabeth were behind them, exchanging spells with the other side. Our group was fighting seven eternals, four warriors and three Mages. Susan and Ariel were putting a serious hurting on the Warriors, but the Mage duel meant our Paladin''s were taking periodic shots of ice and flame. I flicked heals around, but stayed back out of the way. The guards had the street blocked at both ends, but were otherwise not involved. My healing got Sienna to grin as she pulled a gem and sent two holy flame spells at the ice Mage peppering Ariel with ice spikes. Mirabeth intercepted an incoming fireball with a flame bolt, which instead of exploding as I expected, caused the thing to get sucked into a small spot and disappear. Neat special effects. The ice Mage disappeared with a scream, and the loss seemed to ease some aspect of the fight because the other two Mages turned to run. Sienna began launching missiles as Mirabeth used flame bolts, each targeting one of the fleeing Mages. The running Mages were guzzling potions like mad, and might have escaped if the guards hadn''t pushed them back, allowing a second round of missiles to sweep in and kill both of them. Susan''s flame aura seemed to cause a lot of damage to whoever she was fighting, doing something like mine in that some damage was done to an attacker when they hit her. The battle must have started a few seconds before we got there, because three of the four warriors went down as they were battered with shields, sword, and hammer. I''m not sure why the rogue that appeared did it, but he stabbed Mirabeth in the back, drawing a scream of pain from her just before she disappeared. Susan''s scream was even louder, and everyone took a step back when an explosion of white fire swept out from her body and knocked the rogue and last warrior off their feet. Ariel did for the warrior, regaining her normal height when he died, but Susan strode over and picked the rogue up by his neck. I flinched when I heard Telina''s voice come from Susan and say "Carlos the Shadow, you are Damned as of this day" Susan/Telina raised a hand and pressed her forefinger into Carlos''s forehead, causing a blinding flare of light and drawing a high pitched scream of pain from the man. The finger was withdrawn as the light disappeared and Susan dropped him as Telina said "You are, and will remain, at the first level until you have traveled to where my priest lives and touched the Cup of Charity" Susan staggered and collapsed, weeping as the rest of the women rushed over to huddle with her. Telina''s whisper of "The Mage, Mirabeth, resides within the courtyard of renewal, but I do not know if she will be able to reenter Tarinath. My paladin must have patience" Ariel and Susan both looked over at me in shock, with Susan staggering up to wipe tears from her eyes and say "Jake, what...?" I held up a hand, waiting until they calmed down before stepping over to pull Susan into a close hug and whisper "I tried the resurrection spell on her. It seemed to work, but we won''t know for one day. Wait and hope" she started crying as she nearly crushed me, but I waited patiently until she got herself together, then let her go so I could walk over and look at a new thing in the world. Carlos the Damned. It actually said that was his name now, and he was kneeling on the ground, dropping things from his inventory he was no longer strong enough to carry. Dalmar walked over to join me, then chuckled as he watched Carlos begin dropping silver coins. "I''m thinking Carlos started with everything in dexterity, and the bare minimum in strength" I nodded agreement as Carlos staggered to his feet and looked around wildly before yelling "What the fuck? They can''t do that!" Carlos was human, smaller than the warrior types, with brown hair and eyes, but he now had a silver spot in the middle of his forehead that he probably wasn''t aware of, though I didn''t mention it as I said "You''ve done a really, really stupid thing Carlos, and you should know it''s a good three or four weeks of hard riding to your redemption. You have been Damned by the goddess Telina, and anyone aiding you in that journey will be anathema to the goddess" I don''t know how I knew, but I was aware that what Telina had done took a huge amount of her power, and we shouldn''t expect to see it happen again. I sent a mental thank you since word of it would help Susan and Ariel immensely. Maria had stepped out of the inn, a large group of women looking past her, as she said "Dumb ass" before slapping Carlos hard enough to knock him on his ass. She looked over the rest of the group, giving Susan a sympathetic nod before saying to me "They came here maybe ten minutes ago for the women and to stop your paladins. I stayed with the prisoners to keep them calm while Susan''s team came out to kick their asses" "No one used a rune other than Sienna?" I asked, getting her to shrug and say "No need. Save em until they really need them. It never really occurred to us a rogue would target Mirabeth of all people" she didn''t seem worried about that, so I had to wonder if Telina''s favorite ranger knew something I didn''t. Not jealous or anything like that. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. The battle put us ahead of schedule, so I invited Captain Pagailis to join us for the evening meal and drinks while everyone plotted out what they wanted to do. Probably not my best idea, I thought after walking into a very crowded tavern that had a horde of angry women in it. Thankfully Maria took control before Dalmar, Pagailis and I got more than evil looks. "Alright, everyone who is not me shut the hell up" Maria yelled from the table she was standing on. She paused, her hands on her hips as she surveyed the group, and I was surprised when everyone did shut up. With a nod, Maria said "We''ll be splitting into two groups for the evening, and Ariel, Susan, and Sienna will take some of you over later" she waited for a restless murmur to quiet down, then said "Telina''s champions rescued you, and for any of you dumb enough to have missed it, the goddesses do exist, and you really don''t want to piss them off" she pointed a finger at me, causing everyone in the room to look at us three guys again and said "Loser is Jake and Jake is Loser. He''s the reason you''re getting this chance, so don''t piss me off by dissing him or the dwarf or the captain. The most important thing for you to be doing is teaming up. You should form teams of four and try to balance warriors and Mage''s" she looked the group over, then nodded to herself before saying "I was in the same position you were, and that handsome, upstanding dwarf over there set me free and kept me alive to survive on my own. If you get your head stuck up your ass and start believing all men are evil, I''m not going to bother pulling it back out. The goddesses and I could use you over the coming years, so you want to be sure you live by the one and only law that eternals need follow" she paused dramatically, then said "Do onto others as you would have them do onto you. Short and sweet, but remember it or Susan and Ariel will be putting the holy bitch slap on you" I chuckled at the same time Telina did, giving me a weird reverb kind of sensation. "And..." Maria raised a finger and paused until she was sure everyone was focused on her, then said firmly "The locals are as real as I am, and Telina''s law applies to your treatment of them. Not to mention Jake will kill you really dead if he finds out you''re mistreating them" After they quit staring at me, one of the women, a tall blonde with the build of a warrior said "How does any of this keep them from grabbing us at our spawn points?" Maria frowned and looked at Susan, who said "Haven''t had a chance to explain to the last group" Maria sighed, but followed it with "Ok, Telina''s priest, Jake, is enforcing Telina''s will through her Paladin''s. They come and kill the ones we call the cursed, after which the imperial guards build a trap on the cursed ones spawn points. Jake calls it the pit yo-yo, but he''s kind of slow in the head" she threw me a grin before resuming "The locals dig a hundred foot deep pit, line it with spears, then enclose the whole thing under a bridge walkway. Dickhead respawns, falls screaming to his death, then repeats that once a day until we decide to let him out. The empire is supporting us, or maybe we''re supporting them, but either way, we''re working together on this. Doesn''t mean some other butt munch won''t go bad, but I''m thinking this slavery bullshit is going to be coming to a screaming halt real soon" When a general surge of hands were raised to ask a question, Maria yelled "Later! You new people need to take a break and drink some of Trin''s excellent ale while Maria''s Marauders meet in the back" "Well thank the goddess Maria''s Marauders are coming" I said as our group gathered in the back "because we could use the help" Maria gave me a regal sniff and said "Don''t be whiny, I saved you from having to say all that, so I decided I could claim naming rights" Susan was looking pretty stressed, but she managed a small smile as she said "We''ve accounted for fourteen of the cursed ones, but the fact no others were with that last group makes me think the rest might be out of the city" she gave Pagailis a questioning look, getting him to say "two have not departed by the gates, but the other five are known to be outside the city. If they interact with the guards, such as at a gate, we are aware of their movements, but otherwise they could hide within the city" Susan shrugged at the summation and said "We are here until we cleanse the city of the 21 cursed ones, and to keep an eye on our freed prisoners, so we hunt down the two still here, then see about tracking the last five down" she looked at me and said "You''re leaving in a couple of days, and if everything goes well, could be back in three or four weeks. If..." She choked up for a second, then got out "When you come back, you can bring Mirabeth with you, we should be finished by then" "What of the other eternals?" Pagailis asked. Everyone sort of exchanged looks and shrugs before Susan asked "What do you mean?" "Will they resent finding themselves subject to the goddesses will?" I fielded that one. "Possibly, but they stood by and let others of their kind be held as slaves, so they can kiss my ass If they don''t like it. They had their chance and failed" "He''s excitable" Maria whispered loudly to Pagailis, getting a grin from him as she added "he gets tense when he''s been away from his girl to long" I laughed and said "Damn right, and people keep taking me away from her" giving Maria the eye to be sure she knew what people I was talking about. "Two days from now Jake and I should ride out" Dalmar said in his deep, calm tone "Maria, you should stay and help out here, maybe run some simple dungeon crawls for these women, then join us when Jake gets the portal working" I almost sighed as I saw the interest in Pagailis''s eyes, but didn''t say anything as Dalmar continued with "then we decide what to do from there" "Maria''s castle will take a good team" I said "but once set up, we can use it as a staging area for your quest" "Quest?" Maria asked, her interest so strong her nose was almost twitching. Dalmar gave her a slow grin and said "Maybe, just maybe, there might be a way to get what I''ve been looking for" "Wheeee!" Maria squealed, jumping up to hug the hell out of Dalmar, dancing him around as everyone stared and he laughed. Then she must have decided I needed to be included and gave me a big, tight, hug. I found her hug to be...enjoyable. Maybe a little to enjoyable. I beat that thought with a stick and turned back to the conversation, catching Ariels sly grin as I did so. Stupid women and their stupid sensitivity. "Wow, I was beginning to worry" Maria said, still excited as she sat down "I have all kinds of things you can make me" Dalmar and I both laughed at her self-centered outlook, but Dalmar was no more immune than I was, and just said "You''ll be the first" "Will you be offering to move...you know" Sienna asked me, nodding toward the large pack of women drinking ale and talking very loudly. "If Susan or Ariel think it needs to be done I will" I said "but in a few months or a year I might be offering to do it for a fee for those who just want to change locations" "Great idea" Maria said "Telina on board with that?" I nodded, and gave a little shrug before saying "Yeah, if it isn''t really a need" She rolled her eyes and said "Well, duh. If my girl don''t know you''d do it for free by now, she don''t deserve you. I''ll get her straightened out" I laughed again at Pagailis''s confused look, but left the poor man to his confusion as I waved for another round. Maria drew Pagailis out during the evening, and like everyone else, he was an intelligent, interesting person. I think it did him good to spend time with Maria, which is why I had invited him, but he also got to see how the former prisoners were just people, with some breaking into tears or having panic attacks at random moments. If there was something I could do for them I would, but even offering a sympathetic word seemed useless at this point. "This too shall pass" Sienna said quietly, having taken the seat next to me at some point "They''re our responsibility now and we''ll help them through this" my confused look got her to say "You were obviously worrying about the women. You already did more than anyone else ever will for them, they just don''t know it yet. Maria is...perfect for this. She saved Ariel and me from ourselves, and she''ll do it for them" she gave me a teasing grin and said "Trust us" I sighed and took a big swig of ale before saying "Not my nature to trust people. Hell, I killed people for a living, it''s the height of lunacy to have me acting as some goddesses priest" I threw my hands up in aggravation before standing up and finishing my drink. I stopped to look the large group of women over, then shook my head and muttered "I''m a lazy, self-centered sociopath and I''d rather just be sitting at home plotting the whole lot of nothing I needed to be doing tomorrow" before heading up to my room. The next morning came a little early, but I dragged myself out of bed and cleaned up a little before heading down to see who was up. The talk last night had me thinking about home and I was feeling irritable about having to deal with the dumbass eternals. Dungeon crawls with friends were fun, and the dragon one was a treasured memory, but there was no upside for me in dealing with these jerks. Dalmar''s quest sounded fun, but it wasn''t going to be simple. I had sort of decided to get Maria her castle, and maybe nudge things so I didn''t have to keep doing this crap, then take a break until they had an expedition ready to go after the anvil. "Whatcha thinkin about?" Maria asked, flopping bonelessly into a chair across from me "you''ve got your grumpy face on" "Need my coffee" I said, raising the cup to take a sip. She sighed and waved for her own coffee, then said "You''re kind of fixated on Mudtown and Mary, and I get that after what life was like in reality, but, and I can''t believe I''m telling you this...you have to take the long view" I shook my head in frustration and said "That''s great for us, but what about the locals?" She blinked in confusion, then comprehension sort of flowed across her face as she said "Mary. You''re thinking about her dying on you" she nodded to herself before saying "Ok, I get that. But you pretty much made Mirabeth immortal, have you considered doing that for Mary" my expression got her to say hurriedly "of course you did. So?" "The long view. I can''t go around making everyone immortal because I care for them today. Mirabeth is...special, and goddess knows she''ll probably end up hating me a hundred years from now" "I get that" Maria said slowly, her expression showing me she was seriously considering things "have you tried just healing her every day?" I blinked in surprise, the idea one I had honestly never considered. Maria must have realized it because she said "I''ve been thinking that the spells heal accumulated damage right? So wouldn''t aging be damage? It obviously won''t make you younger, but if you start doing it everyday you''re there, she shouldn''t age any" "Damn, that might work" I mumbled "Hey, there''s a reason I''m on the goddesses speed dial and it''s not my looks" she stopped at that and looked thoughtful as she said "unless maybe she swings that way. Susan and Mirabeth sound like they have a lot of fun, so maybe that''s something I should look into" I''m not sure what my expression was, but she burst into uncontrollable giggles as I stared at her in shock. Damn, now I would be picturing that every time I talked with Telina. I groaned aloud and covered my eyes at the thought I might be dreaming about it during one of her visits. The groan got Maria to go into laugh seizures as people started coming down the stairs. I just waved them away, saying "Don''t ask" After a little while I actually pulled out the drafting book for the first time and sharpened a pencil as I considered what to draw. I shrugged, realizing I''d had the image floating in my head for a while, even having considered having someone do a painting for me at one time, so I settled back to draw it. The drafting book was like one you might see back in reality, but the edge was bound by some kind of springy wood clamp instead of sewn or glued. I was leaned back in my chair about an hour later, feet propped on another, head down over the page as my pencil scritched and scratched its way across the page, when I realized Dalmar and Maria were watching me with amused expressions. Looking around, I found the tavern full with Susan''s team and a few of the freed women all watching me. I pulled my feet down and sat up as I frowned and said "What?" "Whatcha drawin?" Maria asked with a wheedling tone and a little girl smile. I had to chuckle at the effect and slid the sheet I was working on to her. She grinned excitedly as she pulled it over, then lost the grin as she realized what it was. The whole place got to witness a true miracle, Maria speechless. I had drawn the scene from the side as I had seen it, of Maria standing with drawn bow, facing me, arm pushed out, looking down the arrow at Kalishzactzin as the dragon stood with neck extended, wings flared, just prior to releasing his flaming breath. The drawing captured perfectly Maria''s laughing, excited face and Kalishzactzin''s own fierce anger and intelligence. The reason the picture had stayed with me was clear in the drawing. Maria was...breathtaking. Like everyone sent here, she was good looking, but in the picture her dark hair was pushed back to reveal her face, the lines of her neck, and her leathers pulled tight from drawing the bow gave a clear sense of her very seductive form. The thing that caught you though was her eyes. They practically glowed with that powerful happiness and enjoyment of her life here that made her laugh so priceless. "I call it the Laughing Ranger" I said "My god" Dalmar muttered as he pulled the drawing away from Maria and got a look at it "You caught her perfectly" that set off a surge of people having to admire it, and I winked at Maria when I realized she was embarrassed by the attention. She stuck her tongue out and laughed at me before saying "What are you going to do with it?" "The Burning Mage" I answered "See if I can get Samuel to let me hang it somewhere in the tavern" she grinned then and said "people will come just to admire my beauty and stay to drink his beer. Of course he''ll let you hang it" Susan looked like she hadn''t slept much, but no one commented on it as she gathered Ariel and Sienna to go meet Pagailis for the days hunting. I suddenly found myself with Maria and Dalmar, surrounded by a lot of women with questions. They pulled up chairs to surround us, or stood as the tall blonde from the night before asked questions "How do you become a paladin?" When both Dalmar and Maria looked at me I blinked in surprise and asked "Why is everyone looking at me, I''m a priest. Ask Susan or Ariel" "She said it was for you to decide" What? I considered the issue for a few moments, holding up a hand to get everyone to wait. I suppose there were risks inherent in having a bazillion Paladin''s running around, but that assumed you only need meet some spreadsheet balance to gain it, and that wasn''t true. Without the interest, and agreement with a goddess, you wouldn''t get offered anything. Arranging for some more paladins was actually on my do list, but I hadn''t worked out the details yet, so I finally shrugged and said "Ok, here''s the deal. I''m no more knowledgeable than anyone else here, but I suspect you need a certain number of wisdom points to even apply...but" I raised a finger and looked around, making sure everyone was paying attention before adding "it''s up to a goddess to offer. Telina and I want the same things, the most important of which is that the people who work hard every day to feed and cloth us are left in peace. You want a life of battle and carnage, find a different goddess" "But you''re the only priest, doesn''t that affect things?" Someone in the crowd asked. I wasn''t even sure what she was really asking, so just said "Maybe, but it doesn''t mean some other goddess won''t offer it. I know of one other paladin, and wouldn''t be surprised if there are more" "Who?" I shook my head and said "Not for me to say" getting an agitated muttering from the crowd, but they moved on with "Why is that guy Bob a paladin if he did what they say?" Jesus, did they spend all day gossiping? Maria gave me a shrug at my questioning look, leaving me to sigh and say "This might be tough to hear, but I''m not in the retribution business. Bob...got lost in the idea this was all not really...real, and made some stupid, evil choices. Unlike the ones I''ve seen here, I thought he was redeemable, but in the end the decision was Maria''s. Telina trusts Maria''s advice on this, and she was right to. Bob will some day be a very good man, but he''s got decades of work ahead to get the redemption he wants" "What makes it ok for you to boss us around?" An Elf girl in a cheap Mage''s robe asked. I rubbed my face hard to scrub some frustration away and hope Dalmar or Maria would field the question. When those two traitors didn''t say anything I shrugged and said "Nothing. I don''t want to be anybodies boss. I''ll be happy to nominate you for the position" That got an angry response, and a few shouted comments about this being a serious issue. Dalmar must have had enough because he slammed his empty tankard on the table and growled "Shut up! Goddess, you people are enough to make a guy want to sit in the courtyard for a day, just for the peace and quiet" he let out another irritated noise and said "Let me save some time here. None of us want to rule anybody. If you want to do that, more power to you, just follow the golden rule and everything will be copastetic. Jake and I offered to help free you, not be your keepers, so standing here annoying him and me isn''t going to gain you anything. He and I are volunteering to help Maria help you, nothing more than that. Don''t like us, feel free to ignore us, I know I would appreciate the silence" What he said. Maria was giggling into her hand by the end of that, but stood up and said "Ok, enough silliness. You''ve got valid reasons for being worried and suspicious, but what you''re doing is attempting to shove your own heads up your asses, something I warned you not to do. These are the good guys, and no, they have no interest in making you their slaves, so move on. Give us some room here and I''ll join you in a few" she shooed the group away, then gave me an exasperated look as she said "Real smooth. They''ve been through hell and are scared this is all going to disappear on them" "And we freed them" I said in frustration, pointing around our group "and we''re planning to keep them safe until they can protect themselves. We told them that. I told them that. What else am I supposed to do? Words are cheap, so talking isn''t going to mean diddly" Maria sighed and leaned back to prop her feet on the table before saying "Men" I copied her pose and sighed in frustration before saying "Women!" Getting a giggle before she gave me a pretend scowl. Dalmar and I went ahead and did the next portal spell, and I was very ready to get it done and leave. Rabin and Narn had settled in, and a young woman was handling the cooking and cleaning duties. To pass time, Dalmar and I wandered the city, though we wouldn''t have time to see more than a tiny part. We were in an arms shop looking at an enchanted sword when we both got messages from Susan Mirabeth returned It was succinct, I''ll give her that. We both exchanged shrugs and moved on, with him saying "Maria mentioned your conversation and I don''t envy you having the ability to do this" "Dammit" I mumbled, then said a little louder "I really, really didn''t want to try it, but her and Susan are risking everything, and I couldn''t do any less" That got a dismissive wave of the hand as Dalmar said "Nah, agree with doing it. Would have done the same, but we need to start a disinformation campaign about it to keep it from becoming a serious issue. I''ll get with the girls and plan something out" And that''s what friends are for. He changed the subject by saying "We get Maria set up in the castle and that should give us a bit of a break from this useless shit. I''m planning on staying down there and helping her shepherd her flock through some leveling runs in the forbidden lands, and maybe start plotting a route to Lor Frell" "Those werewolves pushed me within a battle or two of level 11" I said "so it''ll be nice to fight something that actually gives experience" I added "but it''ll have to wait since I can''t dawdle on the way back" I considered, then said "I''ll do the last one tomorrow, then I''m going to push hard for Riverbend. From there were talking a day to get back here. If you want to hang out here and wait, I''ll give you the blessings for the portals when I get back. It''s probably a shorter trip to the castle from Riverbend, so Maria will probably want to lead her band there over the next month or so" He stopped and turned to give me a questioning look as he asked "You''re not letting them use the portals?" Confused, I stopped and considered the words "Well, I don''t know them and the portals take them to my home, so I guess no, I wasn''t going to let them use the portal" I stopped, then added an addendum "Unless, of course, you, Maria, or the Paladin''s vouch for them" He chuckled as we turned to walk again, then said "Oh sure, make us responsible" I shrugged and said "It''s my home" Chap 22: A wicked web we weave The last portal was done early, but Pagailis had said the governor wanted to meet with us before I left, so I loaded my horse up for the trip and walked him to the governors mansion when my group went. Pagailis accompanied us, and we were waved through without delay, following Pagailis to the same room as last time. Governor Elestar was as straightforward as last time, just waving us to seats as we walked in. I chose a different seat just to be an ass, and caught his slight grin as he watched me do it. "You are refreshingly unassuming, priest of Telina, but whether you wish it or not, you are a focal point for the changes occurring across Tarinath" he nodded to the rest of the group and said "as are you all. Empress Solain believes we will have a time of less conflict amongst the eternals as they learn there is limits to what they may do to each other, or to the people of Tarinath. She warns though, that when the ambitious strive for power and meet resistance, they will attempt to gain allies and bring forth greater force. The eternals will begin gathering, and the natural focus of their efforts for power will be the empire as we threaten their points of rebirth" When he stopped talking and looked at me expectantly, I sighed and said "I think she sees true in this, but Telina is not interested in her champions becoming a force in the defense of any one government. Personally I prefer things as they are, but unless the eternals begin abusing others in their pursuit of power, I will not interfere with their activities" The Governor looked pensive at that, but said "Both disappointing and reassuring at the same time. How will you enforce Telina''s will if the eternals gather in larger groups?" "The eternals, in general, do not play well with others" I answered "so there will be a period of conflict as they compete for leadership. I am sure the empress will be gathering intelligence on their activities, and Telina''s champions will be available if the empire feels the eternals are violating Telina''s command" "Do on to others as you would have them do on to you" the governor said doubtfully "It''s actually a good rule" Maria said with a grin "You want to rule people, then you have to accept that you have to treat them like you would want them to treat you. You want to hurt people, then you have to accept that Telina''s champions might come and hurt you. It''s all about why you do things. It''s easy to tell the people who do things from hate and greed, at least here in Tarinath where we don''t have to deal with lawyers" "Do not forget that eternals are bound by their place of rebirth" I said "And the empress controls most of those, something we have recently made very clear. You might talk with the empress about coming at this from a different direction" I paused, the idea one I had been considering for a while, but worried about the long term consequences. I finally shrugged as the governor watched me and I said "There''s no reason the empress can''t ally with eternals to protect the empire. They protect your people, and in exchange they receive your protection. The eternals pay people to guard their rebirth points, but what if the city guards did that as part of their duties for any eternal who allies themselves with the empress" It got really quiet as everyone considered my words, with Susan being the first to ask "Allies?" I shrugged and said "We might outlive the empire or even this continent, so it would be foolish to say it was anything but temporary. Otherwise you''re going into the agreement knowing it is false if you last long enough" That was mostly BS, my real worry being that I didn''t want eternals being seen as employees of any one government. If I got the idea set now it might become the accepted standard later. "A disturbing thought" the governor said with a smile "but you raise an interesting idea. Offer to let them...help rather than hinder. Do you think this is possible?" "Without a doubt" Ariel said, getting nods of agreement from the other women "Eternals seek security above all else unless they are cursed ones. It isn''t something that would occur to an eternal...other than Jake" the last with a grin at me "but if someone who represents the empress offers, you can be sure you''ll get a lot of takers" "You do not think this will put the empire in conflict with Telina''s law?" "Not unless the empire decides to begin mistreating its subjects" I said seriously "Not at this time" the governor said with a laugh I rode out as soon as I could, leaving Susan and Ariel to deal with Empire related questions the governor might have, just telling them to do what they thought best but to avoid getting Telina tied into any formal agreements. A lot of guards gave me waves or salutes as I trotted out of town, and I stopped at the bridge to lean down and exchange arm grips with the Captain, but otherwise didn''t slow down. I blessed the horse, then cast a healing spell on him periodically, something that seemed to help keep him fresher. I actually dozed in the saddle, the small irritations and aches from the other reality not something that seemed to be an issue in this one. I had two fights in the thirteen day ride to Riverbend, once with two wolves and once with a pack of four goblins. Unlike last time I didn''t need my horse to warn me, hearing the goblins moving through the brush beside the road where I had set up camp. I pulled Bruce and did my armor spell, followed by Fist, then waited. All four kind of stumbled out of the treeline, level 9 goblins with 85 health, two holding spears and the other two with axes in their hands. They looked like Betty, but were wearing raggedy leather armor, and when they saw me, charged enmasse, screaming like banshees. I laughed as I let out my own scream and did my own highlander charge. It seemed to take them by surprise, and they all sort of stutter stepped, giving me a chance to bring Bruce down on the head of the closest goblin. The lightning caused it to spasm, then fall to the ground, most of its health gone. I couldn''t do a follow up as I had to dodge a spear thrust, then take a sword slice to my leg, but I connected with a side swing that caused another one to stagger backwards. I stepped back to gain a second, calling Fist again, then took a spear thrust to the stomach (hurt like a SOB), before hitting the spear wielder in the shoulder. I dodged around a bit, trying to keep the goblins in front of me, managing to kill the first one I''d hit with a sudden thrust of my mace to its face. Another sword caught me in the thigh, a couple inches south of my man jewels, which got me to ignore the other two goblins until I had beaten Mr. junk jabber into a pile of equipment. I had a dozen wounds, most of them hurting pretty good, so I did a quick heal (sighing at the pain disappearing), but got a quick sword stab in my ass as I killed the third one. I was laughing as I danced around with the last one, but it wasn''t really a contest as a final side swing with my mace caught him upside his head and ended the battle. Kittens, Ha! I was dead tired when I rode into Riverbend, but just exchanged waves with the gate guards and stabled my horse at the inn we normally used. A quick walk to the archway, a thought, and I stepped out into the Mudtown square. I was home. A hew and cry went up and I was quickly surrounded by various townspeople, all giving some kind of greeting. Seth was working and only gave me a nod, but he had a big grin as he watched Mary about tackle me and begin kissing the daylights out of me. I had a few tasks, like sending Mirabeth to the capital now that the portal worked, but I finished them as quickly as possible so I could have some me time. Mary and I had a very enjoyable few days, and I might have done more then a few healing spells on her. She found the whole thing humorous, and laughed whenever I snuck a healing spell in. Andulin led me around the partial wall, and explained his plans. It actually wasn''t visible from town, being a couple hundred yards beyond the existing clearing and in cleared strips of the forest. It sort of looked like one of the straight clear cut areas they did for power lines back in reality, but this one had a stone wall being constructed in it. Two towers were being built on the north and south sides where the existing road went through and the entry gates would be. There was an initial course of stonework all the way around, huge rectangular stones that were fifteen feet thick and ten feet high. I wasn''t sure that would have worked in reality, but wasn''t going to question it. "We will not clear the forest inside the walls until necessary" Andulin said as we walked the perimeter "it is a weakness should we be attacked, but the people of Mudtown treasure the life they have built in this forest and do not wish to destroy the trees if it is not required" I shrugged and said "That''s fine with me. This all might be for nothing, so I''ll be the last one to say they should give this up if they don''t want to. If we are attacked, I''m guessing you''ll have something in mind if they start lobbing fireballs into the trees" We had reached the southern road, so I stopped to look around and consider things. All things considered, it probably would have been better to have moved my spawn point and let these people live in peace, but I liked it here. This was my home now and I''d be damned if anyone was going to come and take all that away from me. I realized I was nodding to myself when Andulin gave me a questioning look, so I said "I think this will work. Once this is finished you should be able to defend the town against everything except a major army, and do it with minimal impact on the townspeople. It would be nice if Mary never had to see the walls" I did the blessing on the third arch, sort of anticipating the upcoming trip to Maria''s castle, but feeling like I had gone through these arches a lot quicker than I had planned. Taking Mirabeth to Marisian city for her reunion with Susan, getting all the blessings done for the people who needed them, and spending some down time at home made the week go by quickly. I gave Mary another deep kiss, casting another heal for the hell of it, getting her to giggle, a fun sensation since she was still kissing me, then nodded for Bob to follow, and stepped through the Riverbend arch to meet with Maria and her gang. They had left the capital not long after me, leaving Ariel, Sienna, Susan, and Mirabeth behind, with Dalmar leaving with Maria. I was sort of surprised they didn''t have anyone killed during the trip, seeing as they had a horde of level 1 people, most of them mages with 60 or less health, but all of them made it alive. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Maria did her normal boneless flop into the seat next to me, giving Bob and Dalmar a nod of greeting before snagging my mug of ale and drinking from it. I chuckled as I waved for Rissa to bring another round, then said "So what''s been happening?" "Teams are working themselves out" Maria said with a shrug "with twenty three of them we couldn''t do a standard two and two grouping. No real opportunity to do any leveling, so it will be interesting getting them all alive to my castle" Dalmar and I exchanged grins at the casual mention of her castle, but I didn''t comment, just saying "What''s the force mix?" at her confused expression, I added "how many warriors and mages?" "More mages than we need" she said with a shrug, offering Rissa a wave of thanks as she gave me my empty mug and took a full one. Luckily Rissa just grinned and handed me another. "Nine warriors and fourteen mages. We ended up with five teams of three, and two teams of four" "Be tough to run a single tank and two mages" Dalmar said doubtfully "I don''t think so" Bob offered, getting Maria to give him an interested look "Since I heard about Sienna, I''ve been thinking that mage defender thing would be the best class outside of the healer priest. That defender shit is versatile as hell, and seriously dangerous" "I agree" I said "a good tank with two mage defenders would kick some serious ass. Yeah, it would be better with four if you''re doing dungeon crawls, but otherwise I wouldn''t want to face them" I gave Maria a questioning look and asked "are they mostly planning to do the defender route?" Maria did a hand waggle and said "the smart ones. Got a couple hung up on the whole fireball, lightning bolt thing, but the majority will be doing the defender route" "Make a seriously badass army" Bob said, giving me hard look "ten of them on a wall throwing missiles at you would make for a very ugly day" We tossed the idea around a while, with Maria laughing at the idea of shooting a dragon out of the sky with a dozen mages. I gave Maria a questioning look and asked "How do you see this working out? In the long term?" She seemed confused, so I added "You planning to level them up and send them on their way, or do you have something else in mind?" That got a shrug from her as she said "Not sure yet. They''re all pretty angry, but I''ve been pushing them to start planning to look out for each other long term. I was thinking if this castle thing works out I might see about paying you to set their respawn points there" "What I thought" I said as Bob gave Maria a small grin and said "So you are building an army?" "Maria''s Marauders?" Dalmar asked with a chuckle, getting a matching one from Maria before she said "Maybe" "What do you guys know about the other goddesses?" I asked, drawing a crop of surprised looks at the conversational shift. It took a moment, but Dalmar finally said "Like what?" I shrugged and said "Anything? I know Telina and your goddess Tarra, but that''s it" "Hmpf" Maria snorted, leaning back to give me a suspicious look as she said "Well, there are supposedly ten of them, all women. Each of the humanoid races has one, again supposedly. Telina for the half-elves, Tarra for the dwarves, Tyra for the humans, and Tonalia for the elves, though I''m not sure if that last one still holds true. Tanira is supposed to be goddess of battle. Tia is the goddess of thieves and rogues. Tessa is supposed to be the goddess the druids and rangers worship, foresty stuff I guess. The orcs supposedly have one, but I''ve never heard her name, and the other two I haven''t a clue" she gave Dalmar and Bob a questioning look. Dalmar nodded and said "Pretty much what I''ve heard, and from what I saw when I was being sent here, most of the goddesses appeared either human or elven except for the orc one and Tarra" "Yeah" Bob said with a nod "but when I asked Tennant about them he just said something about only being able to pick certain classes and the rest weren''t active, so I''m guessing the others might be other races we haven''t met, or aren''t programmed" "Ever get the feeling this place was built by the low bidder?" I asked, getting nods from the whole group "Why the interest?" Maria asked, her eyes sharp as she studied me. I drank from my tankard to hide my grin, then said "Paladins. You have probably the greatest concentration of potential paladins left on this world, so it might pay to have them study up a little on which goddess they might be interested in supporting" "Isn''t that kind of working against your own goddess?" Dalmar asked, looking between Bob and I. Bob shrugged and said "Nah. None of them are supposed to be outright evil, though Tia and Telina supposedly don''t agree about much. Eternals and the undead are the big threats here, and the best way to stop them is paladins" "What he said " I said "Goddess knows I have no intention of being the go to guy for dealing with the idiot eternals, so we need some other people interested in keeping the peace" I nodded at Bob and said "And I don''t want Telina''s paladins stuck doing eternal bullshit all the time and not getting a chance to do any fun stuff or leveling crawls" I had been sending ''got a minute to talk?'' signals to Telina, so when I dreamed myself back at my table in the Inn, I wasn''t surprised when Telina walked in and took a seat. No Mary this time, and Telina was studying me pretty hard. "Despite what you may think" she said "I cannot read your thoughts or see the future. Your emotions and projected thoughts or dreams are available, but I find myself confused on your intentions my priest" That got a nod from me as I said "Understandable. I have a general idea of what I want to accomplish, but the details are open" I gestured to encompass the inn and said "I moved against the eternals because they threatened my home and I didn''t want to wait until they ran over my family to decide to stop them. Right now we''ve established your power here and in the empire, and I''ve maneuvered the eternals and empire into dealing with each other rather than with me. That''s sort of my short term goal, but I''d like to put in place something else that threatens them, but doesn''t reduce our power" "The paladins?" she said thoughtfully, then focused on me to say "how will paladins that answer to my sisters aid us in maintaining what we have gained?" "Because they can''t talk directly to them except at first, and if we do this right we can set in place who they answer to" I said. I paused, then added "Maria has 23 people who have every reason to want to make the world safer, and nine of them are potential paladins. I don''t know how you goddesses determine who gets to offer the position, but if you got three or four of your sisters on board, they might be willing to help set this up. We push to form this group into a neutral force with it''s own leader, but make it someone other than me, someone your sisters won''t object to" Telina laughed as she leaned back and shook her head at me "You speak of my ranger. You would do this to her?" I shrugged and said "We would do this to her. It has to have the approval of the other goddesses or it will just be me creating an army. Make her the queen of 23 people, and only that. No lands and no subjects to rule over. If we have a few other goddesses involved, they would be guardians of Tarinath, but how they do it, or where, would be up to them" "You do not fear they would turn on you?" That got another shrug from me and I said "You and I control the portals and healing potions. The portals all go to your shrine, and anyone who wants to use them can''t be a threat to you. The empire is backing you as the final say if an eternal is deemed anathema and gets the pit yo-yo, and we can keep it that way if you want. I''d prefer to let Maria''s group have that power also, but it''s your call" I leaned back to match her pose and said "I want to enjoy this world, but know that my home is safe. Dalmar''s quest is the kind of stuff I want to spend my time on, but do it without worrying about Mary and Mudtown" "This may be of interest to my sisters" Telina said thoughtfully "I will discuss it with them" her eyes drifted back to me as she asked "How would you make this work?" "Don''t know" I answered "If the goddesses tell their paladins that will reinforce it, but we need something official seeming to put Maria in charge. I could maybe do a ceremony of some kind, but it would need to be obvious that it wasn''t just you and I setting it up" "I will consider what can be done" Telina said as she stood up. She didn''t leave, just stood looking at me for a moment before saying "Tyra, Tanira and Tessa would support this I believe, but I am unsure if Tarra would countenance a non-dwarven paladin. Tessa would require her paladin to follow in Maria''s footsteps and become a ranger, so it would be worthwhile to inform the warriors of the choices they face so they might prepare" She didn''t smile as she left, and when I woke up I wondered if I had pushed things a little to fast.
Hey all, I do appreciate any and all feedback, but I have a lot of the story written (up to starting Dalmar''s quest) and am doing formatting and gap filling right now, so I probably won''t implement any major rewrites but hope to improve the later chapters. Again, thanks for the interest. Chap 23: Thats a lot of angry women The morning found a huge crowd of eternals riding out of the city, with Bob and I bringing up the rear and Maria and Dalmar leading the way. "Twenty three very angry women, all going to live and train at a castle deep in monster country" Bob said softly, his eyes on the group of women around Maria "that doesn''t worry you a little bit?" I shrugged and gave a sort of yes no nod before saying "Probably not the way you mean it. It''s not like in reality where you could kill off some leader and take his place, so this group will always have Maria, and for that matter, you and I, to deal with. And really, about the only crime we worry about anymore is murder and slavery. A single dungeon crawl gives you all the money you need, so unless one of them decides to become Genghis Kahn, there''s not much else they could do to irritate us" Bob considered my words, grinning at the sight of Maria laughing as she got the women to follow her in a rousing rendition of ''Hi Ho, off to work we go'', to tease a chuckling Dalmar. We started trotting along behind as Bob said "Yeah, that makes sense. Hard to get out of reality think I suppose" he glanced over to add "but take it from me, overconfidence gets you in some pretty bad spots" Damn, he was right. I held out a fist for a fist bump and said "Thanks" He and I stopped at the gate so I could swing down and exchange grips with the guard Captain. He gave the large group of women riding away a confused look and asked "Lord Loser. If I might ask...?" I laughed and patted his shoulder before saying "Off to the Forbidden Lands Captain, so nothing to worry about. We''ll refrain from irritating the orcs if they avoid us, so I doubt there''ll be any repercussion from riding through their lands. Tell the governor I''ll be back through in a month or two to see how things are going, but to send word to Mudtown if he has any problems with eternals. Telina''s paladins are in Marisian City, but can be here in a day if necessary" He gave me a confused look at the one day thing, but did a bow/nod and said "Of course. Safe journeys" I hadn''t had an opportunity to spend time with Bob for quite a while, so was interested to hear how things had been going. He was level nine now, having gained a level during a fight with some mid-level bandits. As with the other paladins, his abilities were slightly different. The Tennant buff had allowed Bob to start with twenty in his strength, so he had been putting his points in wisdom and dexterity. I was really pleased to hear he had actually put 14 points in wisdom, rather than the 10 most of them did. I wasn''t sure if it mattered, but it showed a mindset that would hold him in good stead. There''s fifteen points to allocate by level ten, so he had put 9 in wisdom, and 5 in dexterity to this point. His paladin buff gained him 3 points of dexterity, something that got a chuckle out of me as I realized Telina must be involved in choosing things to match the paladins needs. With his magic items buffs, he was at 28 and 21 for strength/dexterity, something that seemed to give a real bonus over 18 in each. "I''m immune to the AOE magics like sleep and entangle that Sienna uses, and can''t be cursed or debuffed" Bob said "40% reduction in fire and ice damage, and can do the same healing spell Ariel has. The healing is the only spell I took. There was a choice when I first became a paladin. I can do blessings that improve hit damage, healing, and magic resistance in other people. It gets stronger as I level up, but I get fewer spell choices. Doesn''t work on me, but right now I can cast it twice a day, and it lasts an hour. 45% increase on all of them right now, but it gains 5% per level, so the healing and magic resistance will be really strong by the time I reach level 20. Oh, and it grants double damage to the undead, which stays the same from the start" Damned if I wasn''t proud of the guy, not that I would say something so condescending, but I was. His whole skill set was protective, not aggressive, as opposed to Susan''s, who was all about laying down smack. With Bob leading a team, they would be an undead killing machine, something that would be extremely useful if the that undead horde thing popped up again. I laughed that evening to see a couple dozen people pull out pans and start working on their cooking skill while I joined my group to discuss our organization for the rest of the trip. We stood in a loose circle at the edge of the large group as Maria said "One of us with one of the teams each shift. It''s overkill I know, but they need to get used to working together" her eyes shifted to me as she asked "You''re pretty close to your next level right?" At my nod, she said "Well, we''ll see if we can let you kill something to level up. Otherwise, just try to keep my girls alive. They''re nervous as hell about finding themselves back in the capital, so do what you can to keep that from happening" "Can do" I said with a salute, getting a chuckle from Dalmar. "Good enough for me" Maria said, flashing me a grin before saying to the group "Ok then, Me, Bob, Dalmar, then Jake" The large group kept anything from attacking us, so the nights and days seemed more like a weird vacation than anything else, other than me doing my potions. The orcs eyed us closely, but again, they didn''t feel up to attacking such a large group of eternals. Bob and I stayed away from the women, though they didn''t seem to have much of a problem with Dalmar. It was kind of fun to watch the mages practice their magic, fourteen of them tossing missiles or other spells around as they rode during the day, or stood around in the evening. When we got to the vague border with the Forbidden lands, Maria called a full group discussion. "Ok, things get busy from here and we need to try to get all the experience we can out of it. Dalmar and Bob are our tanks right now, and with Jake here, they can take a beating without going down. If you haven''t already formed your groups via invite, you need to do it now, so your experience gets shared if one of you kills something. Things will get chaotic, but I want Bob and Dalmar to do what they can to block the creatures so one of the squads gets the kill. I don''t want to group you guys with us higher level people right now since it cuts down on your experience earning" she raised a hand to make sure everyone was looking, then said seriously "Some one will probably get killed at some point, but don''t worry! We have your back, and Susan and Ariel are still in Marisian and we''ll send a message to let them know to collect you. You guys are my family now, so I...will...take...care...of...you" I hated to leave the horses, but agreed it would just cause problems to try and control them while being attacked by ogres or a manticore. Maria set up a rotation for the squads that would be attacking, but they didn''t get an opportunity until the next night when Maria called out "Big one coming from the front!" Maria stayed in the center, I moved toward the front, while Bob and Dalmar pulled their big weapons and went ahead of the group. The first women''s squad was a four person one, with both warriors doing the sword and shield thing. We were in an area of broken forest and grassy fields, so we had stopped in a field, and watched as the creature lumbered out of the tree line toward us. It was one of the odder things I had seen so far, standing about eight feet tall with a hugely muscled, manlike form, but covered in thick fur and having huge eyes and a sharp beak instead of a nose. Dalmar shouted "Owlbear!" which got a laugh out of me as he and Bob moved forward to engage Owlbear Level 17 Health 230 I really had to wonder who made up this weird stuff. The thing had a long wooden club, and began pounding on Bob and Dalmar as they blocked with their weapons and kept it from moving forward. Dalmar began yelling instructions to the first team, getting them to move forward slowly so the warriors could begin thrusting hesitantly at the owlbear. I kept a close eye on health levels, but both warriors were smart enough to have put a couple into stamina, so they had 120 each. The thing did about 60 points with the club, so the girls weren''t in any danger unless it lasted longer than my mana. When they realized I could heal them as fast as they took damage, they began attacking seriously as Bob and Dalmar kind of stepped back. The two mages started sending their single missiles, four each as the warriors did about 10 or 15 per hit. It took a while, but gave everyone an opportunity to see how things would work. When it finally died, the four women leveled up, and I later found that they got a double level out of it. A loud group discussion followed as everyone discussed the level up options, and I walked over to join Maria to watch as Bob and Dalmar got trapped in the middle and ended up being the question resource. Maria leaned in and hugged my arm before letting out a soft giggle at Dalmar''s put upon look, then said "This was good for them. Zara''s team did pretty good, and they''ll feel more confident now, and the rest got a chance to see you won''t get anywhere without friends" She gave me a sideways look, then said "Seems like a long time since we went up against that bone dragon" I nodded, watching as Bob seemed to be explaining something to the group, then said "The eternals stuff is a pain in the ass, but I''m looking forward to having Maria''s Marauders doing a fun excursion. I don''t know what Dalmar has in mind, but I think it will be more fun if we keep his quest group small. Having a dozen mages blasting everything with missiles will take a lot of the fun out of it" That got another giggle from her, drawing my own grin, as she said "Dalmar said the exact same thing. I know Bob was talking to him about going along, so we''ll plan to do that" she got a big grin and added "It''ll be fun" We stood there comfortably, enjoying each other''s company until I said "You still interested in being a queen?" She gave me a blank look that turned to a wary one as she waited for the punch line. I shrugged and said "Serious. Maria''s Marauders gave me an idea, and I wanted to make sure you would be on board with it" Maria wasn''t slow, so her eyes went to the mass of women around the camp fires, then back to me to say "What idea?" "A neutral force made up of eternals. Someone other than Telina and I enforcing civilized behavior on the eternals, and maybe being a force for good here" She shook her head, turning to face me and giving me a serious look as she said "No, why are you doing this?" she stressed the you. I sighed, but said "Because I don''t want to do it. If those damn Blood Boys hadn''t shown up I would have been happy to stay in my town and do dungeon crawls with you and Dalmar, but they came to the Inn" I gave her a hard look when I said Inn "If it wasn''t for you and Dalmar I probably would have tried to get the empire to get rid of all the eternals, but you two wouldn''t have gone for that, and I like you guys. Things are better now that I have the empire involved in controlling the eternals, but it doesn''t do anything about the goddamn morons who wonder the countryside raping and killing. This group I''m looking at making doesn''t have to be full time policeman or anything, just willing to help when needed. The whole knight of the round table kind of thing. Explore the world and put a stop to evil, but have fun doing it" She crossed her arms and turned back to look at the women, her lips pursed as she considered what I had said. We didn''t say anything for a while until she said "I could see it. If I hadn''t had Dalmar I probably would have gotten a little crazy, and a lot of my girls could go that route without someone looking out for them. I''m not sure if all of them would go for it, and a few of them got sent here for doing some ugly stuff, but they all have good reasons to want to have friends now" she was quiet again as she sort of nodded to herself, then she asked "How would you work it?" "I''m trying to get some of the other goddesses on board" I said "Telina thinks it might work, though she wasn''t exactly thrilled by the whole thing" That got a chuckle from her as she said "Well of course not, her man is talking about other women" she leaned in again to take my arm, but kept studying the crowd and said "Paladins. You''re offering them the opportunity to get their own paladins, just like we said in Riverbend. That might work, but I''m not anyone''s puppet, so I do this, I do it my way" I laughed, getting her to look up at me with a grin, before I said "I have absolutely no doubt about that, and it''s the only way I would support this. You have to be completely neutral because we''re talking three or four different goddesses, and that won''t work if you start showing favoritism" This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. "You want me to be their ruler, but a paladin answers to her goddess" she said doubtfully. I had to nod agreement, and said "I don''t know. I''m hoping to work out the details with Telina. This would be a huge benefit to the other goddesses, and having you as the leader would mean they didn''t have to worry about the paladins working against each other" "I''ll need something the binds us together" Maria said slowly, her eyes nearly closed in concentration "something from all the goddesses that I give and I can take away" Oops, someone was moving ahead of me already. That made a lot of sense, but I wasn''t sure the system would even allow that, though it had been fairly flexible to this point. I shrugged, deciding this one I would leave in my goddesses hands. Three huge wolves attacked that night, and caused a bit of confusion until Maria did that aggro thing and got the wolves to chase her until we got organized. She was laughing like a loon as she ran in circles around the pack of women, three huge dogs on her heels, until Bob and Dalmar killed one as it went by, then broke into two groups to work on the other two with their teams. It was close once, when a wolf got by the tanks and took a bite out of one of the mages, but I got a heal in while the wolf was still biting, which kept the girl from dying, though she was screaming like a banshee while it was biting her. Near thing though since none of the mages had more than 60 health. The wolves were all level 13, so no double step, but it pushed both groups really close. Only one day and already had three teams leveling up. Mid-morning we ran into Dalmar''s buddies, the two orgres again, so he and Bob each took one and got beaten on pretty good as the girls hacked and slashed away. I realized while I was healing people that Bob and I hadn''t done any group blessings, but decided to not worry about it until we had the groups farther along. No point in them getting used to the boost, then have to fight without it. The ogres were slow, but they did a lot of damage, which kept me busy as the new girls didn''t have the dexterity yet to avoid the swings. Both ogres were level 19 this time and had close to 300 health, so it took a while, even with Bob and Dalmar hitting them a couple of times to move things along. We had another double level, so it resulted in another long discussion about choosing spells and assigning points. At one point I got asked for my input. "I guess I would say that for mages, anything you can put in stamina you should, because being a one hit kill will cost you. I would say a minimum of 100 health, which should allow time for a heal or potion in most battles. After that, remember that the choices change depending on various things, and that the damage spells at the beginning seem to be there to entice you into following a weaker path. The fireball spell is the biggest mana waster of any spell I''ve seen, since its useless in tight spaces, and the damage is to widespread. Spell for spell, the defender mage is probably the most dangerous class in this world, though the ice or lightning mage would be useful in a lot of places" I paused, then said "Warriors, you have a huge number of choices, and all of them have their strengths and weaknesses. Putting points in wisdom gives you the possibility of going paladin. Even if you don''t get Paladin I think its still smart since I believe it affects other things, but you''ll have to risk it to see. Beyond that, do you follow in Maria''s steps and go ranger? The goddess Tessa''s paladin would need to be a Ranger, and you''ll be in high demand, but you''ll have trouble if you go it alone. Be a tank? I think there are a lot of choices in this that we never see because everyone doubles down on strength and dexterity. Personally, I wouldn''t put more than 18 points in either, counting on items to buff that up. Instead, I would up my intelligence and wisdom to see what options I might get" I liked that everyone was spending time discussing their choices, especially considering they would affect them for a long, long time. You could probably kill yourself enough to get back to level one to resort your points, but the level eight choices didn''t change when you did that. So a paladin stayed a paladin, or a ranger a ranger, with the basic point requirements being pre-filled. A lot of the eternals supposedly had tried that at first and been disappointed. The only time it might be useful is in a situation like Bob''s, where you get an offer to go paladin the second time around. Not something most people would risk going to level one for. We lost our first girl to a manticore attack when it leaped over the warriors and mauled the girl faster than I could heal her. Maria ended up killing the thing with her arrows, the extra damage from her beast thing kicking in. The groups were quiet that night, but Maria stood up and did a pep talk "Alright, it was bound to happen, and I''ve already got a message from Susan that she would be at Cat''s spawn point tomorrow. She''ll work with Susan''s group until we can get her down here, so she won''t lose any time leveling up" she stopped when one of the women yelled "Why not let us use those portals?" The question pushed Maria into one of her rare angry moods, and she said "What makes you think you''ve earned the right to use them? Those portals don''t lead here you know, they lead to Jake''s home, and not a damn one of you has proven they were worthy of being welcomed into his home. You know, just because things have been hard and we''re trying to make things better for you, it doesn''t mean anyone owes you a god damned thing" her eyes were damned near blazing as she looked the group over and yelled "Getting bit or hit still hurts right?" at the various vague nods, she said "Damn right it does. So when Bob and Dalmar stand there and let monsters beat on them, it hurts like hell, so you better fucking remember that they''re doing it because they''re nice people, not because you''re some damned princess worthy of anything. Instead of expecting Jake to carry your precious little asses across the country, maybe you should be volunteering to take a group up and escort Cat back here" She stomped away, getting me and Dalmar to exchange grins, Maria''s passionate nature no surprise to either of us. It silenced the group very effectively though, and Maria ended up having to deal with all of them stopping by to apologize at some point. Bob and Dalmar even got some thank yous from some of the girls. "They should be thanking you" Maria told me sullenly as we drank coffee together later. I shrugged and leaned over to nudge her shoulder with mine before saying "I''m standoffish. Back in reality people said I seemed grumpy or angry, though I wasn''t really, just impatient with talking a lot. Your women are probably leery of me, and I don''t blame them for it. I''ve always been good with one or two good friends, and honestly, I''m fine staying in the background here" She mumbled a couple things, then grinned and said "Well, once I''m queen of the Forbidden Lands, I''ll make you one of my knights. Mary will like that" We both laughed and relaxed, with me pulling out my sketch pad to work on a drawing of when Maria went running past, laughing as three wolves were chasing her. I had done one of Telina that showed her standing in front of the courtyard arch, and a couple of Mary in various scenes, but I liked doing the ones with Maria because they kind of showed the history of our adventures. I would probably do one eventually of the bone dragon and the Lich, and maybe the gnoll king encounter, though that would be a while. The next one would probably be when Ariel went all badass on that huge werewolf, just because it was so cool. The look on the wolf''s face when she slapped him into the wall was priceless. I was grinning as I sketched, realizing I was having a lot of fun in my second life. I met with Telina in a dream that night, relieved to find myself in the Burning Mage inn, sitting at my table, and worked hard to not think about that Telina - Maria getting together thing. The goddess laughed outright as she took a seat across from me and Mary gave her an ale before blowing me a kiss and fading away. "My sisters surprised me" Telina said "Your presence as my priest has disturbed them more than I had thought, and the ones I spoke with all stated their willingness to work together to make the Guardians of Tarinath a viable entity" I could hear the capital letters in the guardians name, making me realize my throw away description had become an actual title. Well, could have been worse. She studied me for a second, then said "They are requiring me to abstain from any involvement in this endeavor" That got me to lean back and consider things. I didn''t want to be part of it myself, but I had kind of pictured Telina having a paladin as part of the group. So the question would be, is this a negative? Maria would be in charge, and even if we go our separate ways some day, I couldn''t envision her ever being a threat to my family. Telina and I held a lot of power here, and other than the eternals, I couldn''t see anyone going out of their way to make us their enemy. No, the Guardians needed me for the potions and portals, so this was a low risk decision. I looked up to see Telina watching me with a grin, making me realize she had already reached the same conclusion. That got a laugh out of me as I shrugged and said "So how do you want to make this work?" "There are many constraints placed on my sisters and I, but the eternals are from outside, and they affect the world in ways that stretch the boundaries of what can and cannot be done" she said "when you created the potion for curing disease, you did something not allowed by the laws laid down when the world was created. But eternals are...chaotic in nature. Your will reaches into the very source of creation, and periodically you are able to...change the world laws. When I damned the assassin, I was able to do so because it was my paladin, and as an eternal she believed I could. It was dangerous, and perhaps foolish as my sisters have told me, but the act has benefitted them also" she paused to consider her words, then said "When eternals are sent here, they transition from their world into ours, with the doorway being what you call the courtyard. The courtyard lies in a place outside the world, but within the boundary of the world laws. A courtyard is created upon the death of an eternal, and it creates a hole in our laws that allows you to be reborn. This hole is how I was able to visit you when you died at the dragon''s feet, but it required your acceptance, your belief that I could be there" At her questioning look I nodded my understanding, so she said "My sisters could meet with Maria in her courtyard if Maria wished it. They would gift her with a symbol of their power that she would command. What this will be is not known to me, but I expect it will give Maria means to mark her subjects in some way. My sisters hope to increase their influence on events, and to do that they need paladins" she paused, frowning for a second, then wrinkling her nose in frustration before finally saying "I am unable to say much more about this, other than to say that it is unlikely these women could become paladins for my sisters, so they will be hoping to use this opportunity to bypass the limitations placed on us" She sighed and leaned back as I considered what she had and hadn''t said, and eventually asked "Is this something that I need worry about?" "No" she said "there is no threat to you or our ranger in this action, but the fact that my sisters are learning to use your presence to bypass our limitations could be dangerous in time" That got a chuckle out of me as I gave her a pointed look and said "I wonder who gave them the idea in the first place?" We shared a laugh as she stood up and moved to the doorway, where she did her normal pause to get in the last word. Looking back at me she said "Aid Maria in her endeavors as you feel best, and tell your dwarven friend that Tarra says to speak with Forge Master Grevlor about what a weaponsmith is capable of" Of course she left after that. I sighed when I woke up, putting my hands behind my head and looking up at the possibly fake stars as I considered how aggravating it was to be the guy who got to pass notes between people in class. Chap 24: Thats a long time! Our march from Riverbend was generally southeast, and if we didn''t have a ranger along we probably would have just ended up wandering around for months until we found the place, but Maria could pathfind. It was some kind of ability that allowed her to know what direction to go when she had been somewhere before. She had such a versatile class that we really did need to convince some of her women to do what she had done. It was going to be fun heading back to Riverbend without her, I''d probably end up going the wrong way and ending up in the Desolation. We could see the dragon mountains to the south, way south, and stayed northerly to avoid any draconian encounters, but it didn''t stop everything else from attacking us. The day after my dream we got attacked about an hour after we started walking Minotaur Level 20 Health 285 Let me tell you, this thing put the bad in badass. It had the classic look from all the literature or comics I had read, but was ten feet tall, humongously muscled, and carried a double bladed axe that was so big I probably couldn''t have even lifted it. Bad...ass. And it could talk We were walking through a lightly forested area with a lot of open space between trees, and this thing stood up from where it was sitting, about fifty feet ahead of where Dalmar and Bob were leading the way. It''s big horned head kind of surveyed us before it said "Breakfast has arrived. Leave two of the females, fully fleshed ones, and you may continue on your way" Dalmar and Bob both pulled their weapons at the same time, and Dalmar looked back at us and said "Steaks tonight!" I was still laughing as Maria started nudging two of the three women teams forward, saying "Get up there and kick some cow ass!" The minotaur strode forward to be met by Dalmar, who raised his hammer and met the descending axe blade, holding it for a second and staying squarely in front of the thing as Bob began moving lightly around it, his big sword looking light and fast in his hands as he stabbed or sliced at less than full force, keeping the thing occupied. I moved forward as the girl''s teams did, stopping by Maria to say "Keep an eye out behind us" before trotting forward and stopping a little way away from the combat. The minotaur was tough, and must have been immensely strong, because he was doing 70 or 80 points of damage when he hit. That was on Bob and Dalmar, who had great armor ratings, so I kept a real close eye on the two women warriors as they stepped up to surround the thing and began attacking. The dexterity numbers really showed because Bob looked light on his feet, and the bull didn''t block any of his swings. The two girls kind of looked like me in my early days, managing to miss the giant cow from a couple feet away, and doing fairly low damage when they did hit. One of the girls was dark haired, and she went straight to the ground when the bull hit her shield, knocking off most of her health. Bob stepped over her and held the minotaur off as I healed the girl, two spells, at the same time the four mages finally began peppering the thing with missiles. I took a second to appreciate the sight of a ten foot tall bull swinging a giant axe at a pack of six foot people as they surrounded him, at the same time four mages were sending two missiles apiece and every one of the missiles hitting him in the face. Frustration seemed to be the minotaur''s primary emotion. It was a noisy fight, with Bob and Dalmar yelling out instructions, people screaming in pain when hit, and the bull bellowing out what I was sure were curses if I had understood them. I stayed busy, tossing heal spells almost constantly as even the blocked swings from the axe did damage. I think the missiles made the biggest difference, since after the first, one of the mages organized the group so they kept a constant stream going, rather than hitting all at once. They managed four swarms each, which meant the bull had missiles hitting his face pretty much continuously, a real distraction in a fight. Dalmar kept the thing from charging forward, and the fifteen or twenty points the missiles chipped away added up, with one of the women warriors getting in the last stab before the thing turned into a pile of gear. Sadly, there were no steaks. We held an impromptu review after the fight, and when asked my opinion, I pointed at the blonde haired, human mage named Kristal and said "Kristal fought smart and stayed calm. It seems simple now that the fighting is over, but her suggestion to stagger your attacks had a huge impact on this fight. A lot of time the warriors aren''t going to have a good view of the fight, so mages and archers need to be willing to step up and call out commands. Keeping calm in a fight is damn hard, and some people just can''t, so start identifying those who can and plan on listening to them when the swords are swinging. After you''ve been in a few dozen fights you''ll get better at keeping your head, but for now, put the ego away and rely on those who can" "Good point" Dalmar said, nodding toward me "Maria usually calls the shots when we do a crawl, and I kind of count on her keeping an eye on things" "Why not have all the magic users do that when we fight?" an elven warrior woman asked. Maria fielded that. "Because this isn''t a fight for survival, this is training and enjoyment" she said "Warriors need to build weapons and armor skills, and the mages need to do the same for their skills. We want it to last more than a minute, so we only have a few attack at a time. Once we get your spawn points secure, this will all seem a lot different. Being killed in battle should only be aggravating because of the lost levels, not something you really fear" she gave the group a serious look before saying "and I will make that happen" Maria always spent the days circulating through the group, talking and joking with the women, but now I could hear her sounding them out about staying together, or working as a group. I stayed to the back, but from what little I heard, it sounded like everyone was pretty enthusiastic about the idea. I couldn''t see a downside for the women, since having 23 other people willing to back you up was a damned good thing in Tarinath. That evening, just before we stopped for the night, we came across a cave on the far side of a small river we all waded across. Waded with a very wary eye on my part for weird water monsters. Drowning seemed like a pretty crappy way to go and you''d be surprised how hard it is to swim in armor. The cave turned out to have four trolls in it, and they came shambling out as we gathered at the edge of the river. It was still light out, so I asked in general "I thought trolls turned to stone in the sun?" That got a round of laughs as Bob chuckled and said "Not this time Bilbo" "Ok, Sharrie, your team get a fire going, we''re going to have to burn them after we chop them up" Maria said "Bob, Dalmar and Jake, get up there and keep them busy. Kill them if you can. Jane and Zara, take your teams and pitch in. Jake''ll be busy, so use a potion if you get hurt" I pulled Bruce and grinned as I ran at where the four trolls had seemed to have reached a decision and were moving our way. "Hey, don''t hog all the fun!" Bob yelled with a laugh as he and Dalmar followed me. The Trolls were level 14 and all had around 200 health, so I called Fist as I ran, then leaped to bring Bruce down on the lead troll''s head. I kind of staggered past where the troll fell, getting a claw to the back as I did so. My turn and side swing hit the one on my right just as Bob and Dalmar arrived. I didn''t hold back, swinging hard and pushing in aggressively, but staying behind the trolls to split their attention. The two women''s teams were the four person groups, so we had four women warriors in addition to the three of us. It got kind of crowded for a while, but I was having fun. I understood what Bob and Dalmar had meant that time they danced with the undead things, since I was laughing as I brought Bruce up to hit one of the trolls from behind, right in the very evident ball sack. I got my share of claws and fists, but I ignored them as they hadn''t even gotten half my health off yet. The one I hit in the nads kind of curled forward, clutching itself, so I called Fist again, then leaped upward to do a two handed blow on the things back. It collapsed with zero health showing, though it would regenerate if we didn''t burn it within a minute or two. I took a moment to check on the others, and threw a couple of healing spells at two of the women as they were down to half. With this large a group it didn''t take long for the rest of the trolls to be lying on the ground trying to regenerate. We periodically hit them until Maria brought a bunch of torches over, handing two of them to the women warriors, and one of them to me, saying "Go ahead an do one of them Jake" You only had to drop the torch on the corpse if it had no health, and when mine turned to a small pile of coins, I got Level 11 .5 attribute points earned New Spell added Telina''s Restoring Touch Restores mages mana when touched by transferring priests mana. Amount of mana restored chosen by priest Each point restored removes one point of priest''s mana. Cannot transfer more than presently held by the priest Well that was a big load of minotaur crap. I had absolutely no intention of becoming the mana gas station for a bunch of mages, so no one was ever going to hear about this one. Holy lightning bolt, a...damn...holy...lightning...bolt. How hard could it be? Healer Priest (Dragonsbane) Level 11 (0%) STR 10 (11) DEX 10 (11) STA 20 INT 10 WIS 16 (17) Health: 310 Mana: 190 Endurance: 200 Armor (+30%): 43 Defender of the Faith Priest focuses on aiding those in need and protecting the oppressed. Spells will focus on group and individual protection and aid, while the priest''s personal aura will become a healing channel for your goddess''s will. Blessing spells now apply to all allied creatures within ten feet of priest If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Healing spells cost half mana +10 points health/level Armor 30% stronger Priest''s aura does following for allies within 10 feet of player:: +5% stat boost to party members (+5%/level after level 8) 10% damage reflected back on attacker +25% mana restore rate Spells: Telina''s Gaze (100%) Applies 65 points (+20%) of healing to the user or any creature selected 10 Mana/use Telina''s Fist(+75% activate) Applies 65(-15%) points of damage when activated and a successful hit is made 20 Mana/use (effective hit) Telina''s Restoring Touch Restores mages mana when touched by transferring priests mana. Amount of mana restored chosen by priest Each point restored removes one point of priest''s mana. Cannot transfer more than presently held by the priest Cure Disease Cures disease (Level+10) of any creature touched 40 Mana/use Telina''s Holy Blessing On creature: 65% increase in base stats 70% increase in healing rate Duration: 6 hours (+5%/level to level 10) On flora: 75% increase in growth rate 80% crop amount (+5%/level to level 10) 40 Mana/Use (Does not stack) Create Potions Healing potion: Vial of water with Telina''s Blessing + Telina''s Gaze Healing= Telina''s Gaze + Telina''s Blessing + 2(Faith) Cure Disease potion: Vial of water with Telina''s Blessing + Cure Disease Cures any disease Level 75 and below (Cool down 12 hours) Telina''s Flame Holy fire strikes to cause 120 points damage to creature chosen Splash damage: 25% damage to enemy creatures within 10 ft Double damage to undead (+5/level to 120 damage) 75 Mana/use Dispel Magic Dispel Level+5 magic on creature or area chosen -Does not dispel enchanted objects or potions -Does not dispel own castings (Cool down 4 hours) 75 Mana/use Create Rune Ability to learn and place runes of power Player determines activation requirements (Cool down 3 days) Rune of Flame: When activated by user will do 100 points +5/level of fire damage 100 Mana when placed Rune of Retention Placed on an item, it will allow the priest to store prepared spells for later use. Requirements: Item that has not already been enchanted through standard means A Mage may imbue the item with the spell by casting it upon the item, but Blessing by a priest after a spell is placed is required to retain it Others may activate item if specifically identified by priest when placing the first blessing Command word spoken when placed, then to release the prepared spell while holding the item If more than one charge of the same spell is placed, the same command word is used, releasing a single instance of the spell each time More than one type of spell may be placed, to a maximum of three spells Spells can not mix Mage and Priest types Item may receive a replacement spell after use of one, but must be the same spell Usable once every seven days, though after placement of rune, item may receive spells at any time Telina''s Protective Aura Player receives 10+level armor bonus for 2 hours (+30%) (Does not stack) 40 Mana/use Resurrection Cast on self or other player Allows player to return with no loss of level after next death at the location the player died Or Allows player to choose new spawn point (Cool down 7 days) Group Heal Heals completely all allies within 100 feet Once a day 140 mana Create Portal Connect two points via an archway Requirements: One end of a portal must be within the aura of a shrine to Telina The end situated close to the shrine must be defined by a carved, circular archway of 12 feet diameter. The other end must be defined by an entryway. A cave entrance, room doorway, or something similiar. To prepare the portal. After placing the circular stone archway, it must first receive Telina''s blessing. Within 21 days, the other end must be chosen, and a blessing placed on the entryway. The blessing must be repeated once a day for four days. Within 21 days, the circular archway must receive another blessing to bind the portal. When completed, the portal may be used by anyone who has received Telina''s blessing. +20% Healing Spell -15% Spell Damage + 1.2% hand to hand + 94% light armor + 83% Blunt Weapon + 81% Concentration + 60% Faith + 92% Cooking + 85% Repair Ring of Serizon +1 Strength +1 Dexterity +2 Armor Ring of Wisdom +1 to player''s Wisdom attribute Leather Armor of Holy (Telina''s) Light 25 Armor 15% Magic resistance +4 to dodge Once a day player may send out a blast of holy light that blinds opponents within 50 feet for 10 seconds Maria walked over when she saw me doing the level up zone out, then waited until I refocused to asked "Anything good?" I shook my head no and said "Nope, not a damn thing other than a half a point" She patted me on the shoulder in sympathy, then joined the crowd checking out the troll cave. It wasn''t much of a cave, being only a few dozen feet deep, but hey, it had treasure. Maria did a trap scan on the two chests in the back, then joined me, Dalmar and Bob to watch as the girls had fun doing the Christmas present thing. "Really wish we could have found Zac''s treasure" I said as we watched. Dalmar nodded and said "Yeah, but we''ll have to figure out how to keep everyone alive before that''ll ever happen. We need some better weapons against dragons, and something to keep them from wiping us out with that breath attack" "Fire resistance for one, though that would mean we''d get attacked by a black or white one" Bob said, chuckling at the second part. Maria nodded, her eyes and grin still focused on the women around the chests "Some games had weapons that were good against dragons, but this place doesn''t seem to work that way. Never found anything that gave bonuses against certain creatures" "Is there anything other than a mace or damn knife priests can use?" I asked, looking at each of them in question. They kind of exchanged looks, then shrugs as Dalmar said "Never really paid attention, but I doubt it" "Not that I''ve heard of" Bob added "kind of the thing for every game I''ve ever played, though it seemed like some of them would let you use a war hammer" "Yeah, well not this one" I muttered, getting a laugh from Maria as she turned toward me and said "Some of them let you use a sling. Maybe you could do the whole David and Goliath bit?" I gave her a look as the other two laughed and we all headed back out of the cave. Dalmar made a ''Hmmm'' noise, then asked "Some games you could throw knives, have you tried that?" That made me stutter step as I realized I hadn''t even tried throwing my mace before. I pulled Bruce as we walked, then cocked it back over my shoulder and heaved it forward. It went about two feet forward, then fell straight down, totally ignoring the laws of reality physics. "Cool, the perfect cockroach killer" Maria said with a giggle. I let out a disgusted growl as I stopped and held out a hand, saying "Knife". Maria pulled one out of inventory, and they all watched me throw it two feet forward and straight down to stick in the grass. "Don''t say it!" I said in disgust, pulling the knife and giving it back to Maria. "Darn world hates me" I muttered as I picked up Bruce and started walking again. I ignored the snickers and giggles of the pack of women who had watched, and even Bob couldn''t hold back a snort of laughter. Maybe I should lead with that against dragons, get it laughing at me. "Make up some runes and get the girls to fill them with their missiles" Dalmar suggested helpfully. I sighed, appreciating that he wanted to help, but said "It''s not doing damage so much as using and developing a skill. I want to do something" I said, stressing the do "the stored spells seem like a cheat to me, and I only like using them when we''re totally outclassed, like against the dragon or the golems. If I was a warrior it would be great, I''d get to use every darn weapon made, and spend years learning them all" I waved a hand in dismissal and said "Wah, wah, I know. Everyone wishes they had what I have, and I complain about having it" "Nope" Bob said "actually understand completely. Unless you do smithing like Dalmar wants to, fighting is pretty much our only career choice, and it kind of seems like you''ve peaked already" "Who knows, might be something out there. Haven''t seen a crossbow, or throwing knives, or spears for sale" Maria said "maybe Dalmar could make one" Dalmar chuckled at the idea, but we all let the conversation drop when one of the other women, an elf mage (most of the mages went elf for some reason) asked "Everyone talks like we have thousands of years, but there''s no way they''ll keep this world running that long, right?" Damn, that was a good point. For some reason I had just went along with the whole eternity idea. A warrior toward the back of the pack answered "System clock. Penal worlds have a set time they allow people entry, then close it and increase the system clock. Supposedly not something people in VR notice, but they usually do a ten thousand to one increase. Every day outside is ten thousand days inside" I stopped, totally shocked by her words, and turned to ask "Wait, that..." I paused to think, then said "That''s like thirty years" I blinked as it really hit me and I said "Holy shit, so a year from now if they visit us it''ll be like ten thousand years?" "Well, yeah" she said with a shrug, getting the same blas¨¦ attitude from everyone else when she looked around. Maria giggled at my expression and said "Just think Jake, your great-great-great-great-great-great grandkids might greet the next batch of visitors" I must have looked pretty silly because most everyone laughed at my expression. Chap 25: A Giant pain in the ass The discussion that night got pretty philosophical as everyone offered their opinion on what it meant to be living in VR. It was probably the first time everyone, including me, sat around and just chatted and joked about stuff. My favorite was when Maria asked how I would know if we were the locals and Mary was the player. Weird and wild stuff. We were of course attacked during this by a level 15 giant scorpion, that instead of poisoning you with the stinger, it gave you a disease that sapped your endurance and left you pretty much unable to move. It got Dalmar and one of the warrior women, and I ended up throwing health spells their way until the group managed to kill the thing and we got disease potions into the two. It was a pretty bad ass attack because it left Dalmar, a level 22, in the same state as Neara, a level 4, with both of them totally unable to move. I thought at first it was paralysis of some kind, but they could talk and Dalmar was able to describe the issue. "Get to enjoy being eaten alive" Neara said with a shudder. She was a warrior, but I had heard her talking with Maria about going the ranger route, something this might reinforce since it meant standing back and shooting arrows. "Note to self, avoid scorpions" Maria said with a grin, then gave everyone a pointed look and added "and always travel with friends" I got a chance to talk with Maria as we were walking the next day and explain the whole meet with the goddesses thing, and her first question was "Wait, you mean I need to kill myself?" I nodded solemnly and said "Yes, and the more painfully the better" But I couldn''t keep a straight face as she gave me a suspicious look so I added "or, we could just set your spawn point there and you could visit that way" "Asshole" she said with a grin, punching me in the arm for good measure "So who''s coming, do you know?" Actually I didn''t, so I shrugged and said "Not sure, Telina just said all of them seemed interested, so I would expect at least a couple. Which reminds me..." I looked around, but couldn''t see Dalmar in the taller crowd, so just said "Tarra sent Dalmar a message I forgot to give him" "I see" she said with a laugh "you managed to forget to pass on a message from a goddess. I''m thinking my bestie is probably starting to wonder if her priest is a little slow in the head" "I may be slow" I said with my own laugh "but I''m better than the next guy...oh wait, there is no next guy" The next four days were spent doing pretty much the same thing; walk, fight, sleep, fight, walk, and of course, fight. By the time we came into sight of the castle I had decided that Bob and I would skip going back to Riverbend, and just head straight north to get out of the Forbidden lands before buying some horses somewhere and heading to Mudtown directly. I was guessing it would take ten days, with only two or three in the Forbidden Lands. After the last couple months of travel I was pretty much over the walking thing, even if you didn''t have to put up with aches and pains. The afternoon of the fourth day was the first sight of the castle for the women, and they were pretty impressed with it being carved out of the side of a mountain. It still looked sort of spooky, though not as bad as it had at night, something about the dark grey stone it was carved out of. There were no windows, but I could make out where the balcony was, so I was thinking Maria would need to see about doing some renovating if she didn''t want it to seem like a dungeon. We stopped at the top of the small hill we had camped at previously, but only to allow Maria to address everyone. She had Dalmar, Bob, and me post ourselves around the group to keep guard as she hopped onto a boulder to be seen. Putting her hands on her hips, she looked over the women as the light breeze stirred her hair and caused her magic cloak to fluff out a little, making the whole thing a little bit impressive. "Alright ladies, this is where the shit gets real" Maria said, uncharacteristically serious "All of you have said you want to be part of something better, and I''m going to be offering you a chance at that very soon. That''s my castle down there, and you and I are going to go make sure no one has taken up residence since I was here last time. That''s also going to be home for our group, and there are a couple of things you need to know before we go any further" she raised her arm and held up a finger "First, Jake is setting a portal in my castle, which means anyone who is part of my group will have access to those" she raised a second finger as the women muttered and a few cast glances my way. They quieted as Maria said "Two. It''s possible to change spawn points" the uproar that information caused got Maria to stop and wait, ignoring the yelled questions. When it was obvious Maria wasn''t going to say anything until they shut up, they...shut up. Nodding, Maria said "As I said, it is possible to change spawn points. I''m not going to tell you how, so don''t waste time asking me about it. It can only be done once a week, so it will take a while, but if you stay with me I''ll arrange to move your spawn point here with me" she grinned at the muttered comments from the crowd, but just held up a third finger and said "Third. I''m going to be making you all an offer later, but when I do, I want you to take as much time as you need to consider it. But...even if you turn me down, as long as you don''t turn into an evil douchebag, I''ll have your back. It used to be that people said that the strong survive, but here in Tarinath, that''s a lot of crap. In this world, those with friends survive, and I want you all to look around and think about what life was like without friends" She dropped her arm and put it back on her hip, pausing to look the group over before saying "Ok. It''s time to put on our big girl panties and start kicking some ass on our own. Jake, Dalmar and Bob are going to stay outside and let us do what needs doing in there. I know the layout, and we have a hell of a lot of firepower, so this should be quick and easy as long as everyone keeps their head out of their ass" Dalmar and I exchanged looks, then shrugs as we heard Maria''s plan. I thought she had the right of it; that many warriors and mages should walk over just about anything up to a dragon, and even it would probably go down after eating half of them. I grinned at the thought, but followed the group as they headed down the hill behind Maria. Maria got everyone in a half-ass line, then got a pair of warriors to open the door. Two level 7 skeletons stepped out, only to disappear under an absolute swarm of magic missiles as every one of the mages let loose on them. I was pretty sure they did a lot more damage then needed, which got Maria to yell out "Ok, everyone got that out of their system?" at the quiet, somewhat embarrassed muttering, she said "Zara''s team is leading, so no one else attacks until told to. We''ll be swapping leads as we clear rooms, so everyone will have their share of experience" Bob was hiding a grin behind a hand as he stroked his mustache, and Maria rolled her eyes at Dalmar before turning to follow her first team into the doorway. After the women all filed in, the other guys joined me in the doorway, with Bob letting out a chuckle and saying "At least they didn''t all target the same skeleton" That got a deep laugh from Dalmar, who nodded and said "God, wouldn''t that have been funny. Maria would have probably laughed herself unconscious" "What was that, like sixty some missiles?" I asked with a grin "hell of an artillery section if it ever came to an actual war" Dalmar set up to cook some food as Bob and I kept a casual watch to make sure nothing came out the door, or across the plain to take a bite out of our asses. We could hear fighting inside for a little bit, but it quickly faded away, leaving us to sit and wait. I had told Dalmar about Tarra''s message, and he and Bob started talking smithing as we ate. "What''s a forgemaster?" Bob asked Dalmar shrugged, but said "Don''t know. Closed mouth group, and none of them talk about their craft. Got the whole secret society thing going on. Dwarves, Elves, Orcs, and Humans all supposed to have different smithing skills, or at least that''s what I''ve gotten out of some of the conversations I had since visiting the capital. The books are mostly generic stories and legends, but nothing that addressed actually how to do something. I''m beginning to think all these specialty skills are quest based, and you won''t find anything until you meet certain criteria" he frowned in thought, then said "I''d never seen someone like that librarian guy until Jake and I visited, and I''m beginning to wonder if he only appeared because we met some checklist of some kind. The smiths I talked to in Riverbend told me the stuff about the different races, but I''d asked them before about smithing and they never offered even that much" another shrug followed as he said "The librarian told Jake the elves forged the blessed weapons and armor he was looking for, so I''m guessing there''s levels to this that I haven''t found out about. Has to be some way of making magic weapons, and I really want to be able to make some armor out of Zac''s scales" "Maybe some smithing version of an enchanting skill?" Bob asked. My confused look got him to say "Some games let a smith put enchantments on weapons and armor, others make it a separate skill path. I know a bunch of the other eternal mages have looked into enchanting and come up with nada, but there''s got to be something. Who makes a sword and sorcery world without having the ability to make magic items?" "The low bidder" I muttered, getting another chuckle from Dalmar. He shrugged and said "Most eternals I''ve talked with are looking into various skills, and maybe someone''s already figured out how to do the blacksmith thing. Weeks of travel to the west side of the empire, so no telling what the eternals out there are doing" It took maybe two or so hours for the girls to finish up and a blonde, shield carrying human warrior come down to tell us "Everything is clear. We didn''t lose anyone, and Maria said to join her in the Lich''s room" she flashed a pleased grin as she turned back and headed up the stairs. Bob and I followed as Dalmar shut the door, then trotted up to join us. Women were everywhere, kind of wandering around and having the mages use their trap finding spell to see if they could find any hidden doors and stuff. Maria was alone in the main room, and nodded for us to shut the door when we came in. "I told them to give us some time" Maria said as we joined her in front of the Lich''s throne "I want to do this goddess thing now, then have the girls come back in here a little before I get back. This needs to be a private thing between me and my people, so I''d like to ask you guys to wait somewhere else until we''re done" she seemed a little embarrassed to ask that, but all of us just nodded agreement as Dalmar said "No problem" Maria gave me a questioning look, so I asked "Ready?" At her nod I pulled up the resurrection spell and cast it on her. The bright light formed, and very soon we heard Maria say "Change my spawn point" then add "here" before disappearing. "Maria and a bunch of goddesses" Dalmar said in a laughing tone "bet that''s going to be an interesting conversation" We all turned toward the door together, though no one said anything. I waved one of the women mages wandering around over and said "You''ll want to have everyone in this room in less than an hour" She gave me a suspicious look, though I had no idea why, but just nodded and headed back down the stairwell. Dalmar and Bob were headed up the balcony stairwell, so I joined them, wondering if I could find someone who sold ale in a cask that I could carry. It would be perfect for these down times. I found a spot to sit down and lean back against the wall so I could look outward, though the balcony wall kept me from seeing the plains below. The stars were starting to become visible as the light faded, but my elven vision meant it still seemed fairly light out. I pulled up my drafting pad and worked on finishing the drawing of Ariel and the wolf guy. I had decided on showing things just after the wolf hit the wall, his face turned toward Ariel, mouth open in shock and fear, while she had her left side facing me, shield sort of angled outward a little. Zac was in her right hand, held upright as she was preparing to swing again, flames flickering around the head of the hammer. Somehow the picture managed to capture her greater height, though I wasn''t sure how I did it with nothing but the wolf guy as a reference. Ariel lacked Maria''s joyful, laughing expression, the one that made all her pictures so much fun to look at. Instead, Ariel had an intent, almost predatory glare, her teeth showing in a sort of snarl, eyes glowing slightly with Telina''s power, making you understand why the wolf guy was afraid. I thought it did a good job of showing one of Telina''s paladins in full on ass kicking mode, and would make a good addition to the ones at the Inn. I had finished Ariel''s drawing, and had started roughing out one of the bone dragon fight, when Maria joined us. I hadn''t realized it had been that long, but It had to have been a couple of hours since I had a good start on a drawing showing all three of us attacking the bone dragon. I slid the pad and pencils back into my inventory and stood up to give Maria a good look. She had something like that diadem thing Sienna had found, but Maria''s had four, small colored stones set in a sort of filigree, leafy kind of design, with the stones kind of looking like flowers or something. I wasn''t much of a jewelry guy, but had to admit it looked pretty damn cool. She was grinning as she turned and settled her butt on the balcony rail, giving us a couple eyebrow waves before saying "Is that any way to greet the queen of the Guardians of Tarinath?" Dalmar chuckled, then did a sort of bow, sweeping his arm down and back up before saying "A thousand pardons your magesticness, we poor peons are quite overwhelmed by your royal self" Maria giggled, then waved her hand dismissively and said "Quite alright, I''m feeling quite forgiving today" She hopped up to give Dalmar a quick hug, then did a twirl, her cloak flaring, before she settled back on the rail and said "Wow, who would have thunk? Do you know, everyone of my girls signed on, isn''t that great?" "Never doubted they would" Bob said seriously, then grinned and gave his own arm sweeping bow and adding "Your majesty, you honor us with your presence" He got his own quick hug and laugh, before she turned to give me a look. I chuckled, but followed the other''s example and did my own sweeping bow, saying "Most radiant queen, I am humbled by your beauty and grace" Maria gave us a laugh before giving me my hug, then twirled back to her seat on the rail and getting a little more serious, though she didn''t lose the smile. "Four goddesses showed up, and it was really cool getting their take on things" she gave us a rueful grimace and shrug before adding "can''t talk about much of it" her smile flared again as she looked at Dalmar and said "But Tarra was all about it, and she''s expecting you to help her out" Dalmar blinked in surprise, but only asked "Help her out?" "Telina''s kind of got the lock on a lot of things having Jake on her side" Maria said, crossing her arms and nodding at me "and the rules of this place have it so that each goddess had one priest, what was called a healer priest when we started. Supposedly that priest created paladins, but we eternals operate on a different set of rules, so a goddess can snag an eternal paladin if everything works out right. Tylara got lucky and got herself one when he was either told, or figured out what needed to be done. Weird ass rules say the goddesses can''t tell us what to do, you have to figure it out" she rolled her eyes before continuing "Anyway, supposedly I''ve got the others covered, but Tarra says you''re the only one doing the right stuff for her, and thinks if you take an apprentice they''ll pick up what they need to know" "An apprentice?" Dalmar muttered, then frowned and said "you mean have someone follow me around?" Maria giggled and said "Exactly. A sort of Dalmar mini-mini-me" Both Bob and I laughed at that, and even Dalmar chuckled before saying "I''m not really against it I suppose, but if your talking one of your people they might not be comfortable with that" That got a "Piffle" followed by "I have someone who would jump at the chance, and there''s only a couple of my girls who would be leery of you" from Maria. She nodded at Bob and me and added "These two yeah, but you''re just a cuddly ole teddy bear" That got another round of chuckles from Bob and me at Dalmar''s expression. While Dalmar considered her words, she turned to me and said "The goddesses wanted a bunch of agreements and stuff between you and I, but I told them that would be a waste. We back each other''s people when needed, and I''ll make sure my people look out for Mary and Mudtown. We let each other know if any of our people are getting out of hand, but we act as equals" I nodded, rather pleased with the informal attitude, and said "Works for me and mine. Once I get the portal set I''ll be back, and we can get all those damn portal access blessings for your people out of the way. Potions and stuff will still be in Mudtown and you can get whatever you need, and I''ll try to be back once a week to do a resurrection spell" I shrugged and added "it might also be a good time to do an individual retention rune if you want your people to have one" We actually didn''t spend much time discussing Maria''s new status as she didn''t offer any details about what had been said or done. All the women with her were wearing cloaks now, black hooded cloaks that made them invisible when needed, and a pair of silver and gold bracers that had four symbols engraved in them, two on each bracer. A warhammer, sword, bow, and what turned out to be a staff. I thought it was a spear at first, but was told by an impatient sounding warrior woman that of course it was a staff, the symbol for Tanira, goddess of battle. I had no idea what the bracers did, if anything and I wasn''t sure how the staff was associated with battle, but didn''t really care enough to ask. It did make me wonder if Telina had a symbol and if I was supposed to be spreading it around. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Maria decided to put the portal entry at the base of the stairs leading to the balcony. It was sort of a central point and would allow easier access in an emergency. Then I did blessings. Four days of stupid portal blessings. Dalmar and Bob did forays out into the local area with different groups of women, but I didn''t want to risk getting killed and having to travel all the way back to do it again, so I sat around and spent my days drawing. The women were still leery of me, though I had a lot of fun when our original four gathered at night. I did a drawing of Maria getting her tiara thing from the four goddesses, showing her kneeling in front of four figures, her hands out to receive it. I didn''t know what the goddesses looked like, so I made them human (and one dwarf) like shapes that you couldn''t see in detail. I had the goddesses holding weapons to match their symbols to ensure everyone understood who was who. I planned to post it at the Burning Mage Inn and have Bob do one of his story telling''s so the tale would get disseminated. By the fourth day I was more than ready to go. It was one thing to relax and do nothing in Mudtown, but a whole different thing in a castle full of people who treated you nice enough, but didn''t want to spend time with you. Maria and Dalmar joined us outside as Bob and I prepared to leave, with Maria handing out hugs and Dalmar shaking hands. "Going to be a tough trip" Dalmar said as he stepped back "Only two of you moving through the Forbidden lands" "Yeah" Bob said with a shrug and grin "but it won''t be boring" I nodded my agreement and added "We each have a holy flame gem and a clobberin rune, so we should be good against everything but a dragon" We set off at a fast walk at Bob''s suggestion "Running uses endurance, and we don''t want to get into a fight at half endurance. Walking at any speed is something you can do forever and still be fresh" he chuckled as he looked over at me to say "we just look like some of those weird ass speed walkers at the mall" He had that right. Bob looked the total dork as he speed walked in his platemail chest armor and other pieces. Our first encounter didn''t happen until almost evening, when we walked out of a dry riverbed and found a huge ogre looking thing sitting and leaning back against a boulder. The thing''s head was higher than mine, even sitting down, and when it stood up, it probably reached twenty feet. I was kind of blinking in a sort of shocked surprise as Bob said "Well damn, a hill giant" Hill Giant Level 16 Health 420 "Are you kidding me?" I yelled as I jumped backward as the thing swung a tree like club down to thump into the ground between us. "Stay back and heal me!" Bob yelled as he darted forward to slash his two-handed sword across the things left knee, then spun to do it again to the back side. The damn things club was bigger than I was, and the wind of it''s passage as Bob ducked it caused his hair to get blown along. The giant was fairly slow moving, though not like you would expect from it''s dull expression and awkward appearance. Bob''s dexterity allowed him to get in a couple swings for every one the giant did, but Bob was doing like 50 or 60 points of damage, and when the giant finally connected, Bob went flying about fifteen feet and lost about a hundred points of health. Bob staggered to his feet as I tossed a healing his way, bringing back a little more than half his lost health. A second swing just missed as Bob ducked and lunged forward to stick his sword into the things right leg, and I sent a second healing his way. "Holy shit that hurt!" Bob yelled with a laugh, running between the things legs, then turning to stab it in its right thigh. He wasn''t expecting the backhand slap as the giant leaned down and swatted him, so he went rolling across the ground again. I held off on a healing as it only did thirty points of damage, kind of getting into the excitement of the fight now. Bob jumped to his feet and ran to avoid the club as it slammed into the ground where he had been, then spun and dashed in to stab the giant''s arm, getting the thing to let out a roar, either in pain or anger I couldn''t tell. The things wounds were all bleeding, so it''s lower legs and arm had blood dripping down as it stepped forward and stomped Bob flat into the ground. Crap. As it raised it''s leg over a stunned Bob, I cast a holy fire spell, knocking the thing down and taking off about half its left over health. Unfortunately it fell right on top of Bob, probably doing a good bit of damage. My attack had drawn the things attention, so I took a few steps back, drawing the thing toward me as it regained its feet. Bob was looking pretty beat up, and had lost two thirds of his health, but was in the process of drinking a potion as the giant moved away from him. Toward me. I ran like hell toward to my left, circling back toward Bob as the giant club came around and hit me right in the back. I flew past Bob, maybe screaming a little as I did so, then slammed straight into the boulder the giant had been leaning against. Ouch, that really hurt. Bob was attacking again as I pushed myself upright, drinking my own potion as I realized I had lost a third of my health. I turned to see Bob dancing back from the giant, laughing as he dodged the things swing. It looked like the giant was down to about a quarter of its health, so I cast Fist and ran forward. The giant had both hands on its club and was raising it over its head to pound Bob, when I did a two handed swing that hit it right in the back of its left knee. The knee folded, causing the giant to drop onto it, then fall forward to catch itself with one hand. I wound up and took a second swing, hitting it in the ass (covered by some kind of fur loin clothe), as Bob stabbed it in the eye. The giant disappeared, leaving behind a nice pile of gold, and a ring. I let Bob scoop everything up as I cast a quick heal his way, topping him off, before doing a restore. Didn''t want to get caught low on mana. "This is a ring of giant''s strength" Bob said, holding it up Ring of Giant''s Strength +6 Strength Not usable: Mage "I''ve got a +3 strength, +2 Dexterity ring I''ll swap for this one" he said, giving me a questioning look. I considered the possible benefits, and eventually decided the bonus strength numbers would be more useful to Bob than me, so I swapped out my 1 point wisdom ring for Bob''s ring Warrior''s Heart +3 Strength +2 Dexterity +4 Armor The armor bonus was nice to see and the additional strength and dexterity should make me a little more effective, though I was still shy of that magic 18 points that everyone talked about. The numbers were so weird here, why level 8 to choose a specialty? Why 18 as the point your attacks seem to do full damage? Why not fives and tens for goddesses sake? It made me wonder if the people who made the games had a weird number of fingers and toes. In the morning we had to deal with a level 15 giant snake that spit some kind of acid, but I healed Bob as quickly as the snake did damage, so it was actually a pretty quick fight. We weren''t attacked again all day, and just as I was about to eat my dinner, starting to feel better about surviving things, our buddies the ogres came stomping up to our camp site. This was kind of a mixed thing, since the ogres seemed to mark the outer boundary of the Forbidden Lands, but they were also level 18 butt kickers. "Same thing again, I think" I told Bob as we jumped up to deal with the creatures "If you get knocked down I''ll draw down fire on them" Bob just nodded as he pulled his sword and charged the two. It turned into a bit of a tedious fight for me since Bob did a great job of moving so only one of them could attack him at a time, and his dexterity meant they missed more than they connected. He took some hard hits, but they weren''t as brutal as the giants, and they didn''t stun Bob, so he was never helpless. It got so bad I eventually took a seat on a boulder and just flicked healing spells his way as he laughed and danced around the two goobers. Bob chuckled every time he looked my way, but he was having fun so I didn''t try to get involved. After he took out the first one he spent some time doing his trick shot stuff, doing rolls and spins, or trying to do running jumps up the things back. Guy was a bit of a show off. "You should see your face" Bob said with a laugh when he finally stood over two piles of coins "you look like your watching some kind of boring reality tv show" I rolled my eyes as I headed back toward our dinner, just saying "It feels like I''m that kid left standing when the pick up football teams are picked. I have a lot of benefits here, but they''re not fun benefits most of the time" Being just the two of us, the experience from the higher level creatures had pushed Bob into his next level up, and I was actually close to level 12, which surprised the hell out of me. "Makes a huge difference having Dalmar in the group" Bob said the next morning when I mentioned it "Being in the twenties, he really skews the experience you get, and what you do get is split four ways most times. Maria''s girls made out great because we kept them safe, but they still got all that high level experience. It''s probably why you didn''t see eternals doing that guild experience sharing thing. A couple of level 10 people get their gained experience chopped in half because they''re teamed with higher level players sitting back in the city drinking ale" Since all of this seemed kind of arbitrary I couldn''t say he was wrong, and we had done that sharing thing with Susan the last time when we did the dragon and those experience points had seemed to come darn slow. I shrugged it all off, not really worrying about it. The whole thing seemed like the taxes and things in reality, they were there, you dealt with them when necessary, but no one really paid attention to how it all worked. We were pretty sure we had gotten out of the Forbidden Lands, but confirmation came a little after noon as we were walking through some wooded, hilly country. We stepped out of the trees at a small stream, and a large group of orcs walked out of the trees on the other side. The stream was only about ten feet wide, but had eroded the ground so there was a five or six foot deep trench with light shrugs on either side. Bob and I stopped immediately, but the orcs all worked their way out of the trees until they were in a two deep line facing us on the other side of the stream. My rough count had ten of them, four axe holders, four bowmen, a huge orc wearing a helmet, and some kind of magic type carrying a staff with a skull on top. "Orc raiding party" Bob said "Seems someone told me that meeting them was a bad thing" I muttered back as our two groups stood and looked at each other. "Yep" Bob answered as the archers all reached back and pulled arrows from quivers and set them to their bows, though they didn''t point them at us yet. "Run away?" I asked as I pulled Bruce and Bob pulled his sword. Bob gave the orcs a big grin as he mumbled to me "Never make it. Kill the shaman with your fire or he''ll wipe us out" I called up my gem with holy fire stored, then said "Pull back into the woods so the archers have a harder time. I''ll cover your back" The big orc growled something, the shaman glared at me as he lifted his staff, and I yelled "Flame on!" as I targeted the Shaman. The axe guys were all level 10, the archers level 9, the leader appeared to be level 14, and the magic guy (tag said shaman), was level 10. My white flame came down to impact on the shaman, knocking him and a couple archers down, staggering the rest. I yelled "Flame on!" once more, pausing to make sure the shaman bought it, taking an arrow in my leg from one of the outer archers as I did so. "Back" Bob yelled, stepping in front of me, then moving backwards as I did so. He took two arrows, his doing about 15 points each, whereas mine did 19 points. I waited on healing him as the orcs all let out loud yells and began charging forward, a couple actually making the jump across the stream. Bob did his blessing on me as we backed up, but I held off on doing one, wanting to keep my mana for healing. The first orc charged straight in, swinging hard as Bob slid to the side slightly and thrust with his sword. Bob was obviously a lot faster as the orc missed and Bob didn''t. The thrust didn''t kill the orc, who had 130 health, and Bob had to dodge another swing from one coming from his left. A darn arrow hit me, so I quit standing still and yelled "Keep moving back" since the axe guys attacking Bob were blocking the archers from hitting him and I wanted to keep them grouped to his front. It was a sort of stumbling fight backwards until Bob got to a spot with a tight grouping of trees, then stopped retreating and began attacking. There wasn''t enough room for a full swing, but that affected the orcs worse since Bob could thrust. I cast a heal his way after he took an axe to his side, then another when two more hit him as he stepped forward and killed the one he had wounded at first. The darn archers had put their bows away and pulled one handed axes as they worked their way around the outside, most of them looking at me. The leader stepped in to take the dead orcs place, so I used the last flame spell on him, taking him to about half of his 210 health and staggering Bob''s other opponents. I put the gem away and turned to swing at the first orc, managing to hit him at the same time he hit me, making us both stagger. I tried to push forward, but he was a lot stronger than me, so all I managed was to bounce away and put a tree on my left side as I swung sideways at an orc on my right. The first one hit me again, this time on my left shoulder, drawing a grunt of pain from me as the one I swung at spasmed from the electricity in my hit. Bob was surrounded like I was, making me realize this wasn''t working. I cast a quick heal at him, taking an axe to the back, then used the push from the hit to stagger forward enough to break my circle of attackers. I healed myself as I ran forward, then swung hard to hit one of the orcs attacking Bob in the back of it''s head. It fell, though it wasn''t dead, and I spun to put my back to Bob, just as one of his other attackers, hit me right in the freaking head. Axe to the head. Not a good thing. I stumbled to a knee, but Bob did a big circular swing that cleared space for a second, allowing me and the downed orc to gain our feet. I healed myself again since that head shot had did real damage, then swung at the one I had knocked down. I connected, but I took another hit from my right, something I ignored (sort of) so I could dodge the guy in front of me''s swing. I did a side swing at the one beating the snot out of me, missing, but turning enough to toss a heal Bob''s way, then swinging back the other way to connect with my previous victim. He finally went down for good, but another one took his place as the damn guy on my right hit me again. It got confusing for a while. It seemed like I was being hit constantly with axes as I swung at anyone close, healed myself, or tossed a heal Bob''s way when I could turn to see him. He must have taken out the leader at some point since I got a level up message that I ignored as I took an axe to the face at the same time. The initial pain of taking any hit was really intense, but unlike reality it faded fairly fast, so I could fight through most things, but not an axe to the face. I went down for a second, tossing a heal at Bob when I got a sort of bleary look his way, then went to heal myself and had nothing. Three of the orcs were pounding on me, making me feel like I was in some kind of machine, as I tried to pull a potion and found I couldn''t. Every time I called one up, I''d get hit and the interface would close. I did that like twice, then rolled to my knees and began swinging, yelling "I''m out!" I was busting kneecaps for maybe a half a minute before I realized there was no Bob behind me, and there were four orcs still using me like a piece of firewood. I would have gone out in a blaze of holy fire, but couldn''t get a free second to cast it, and my health was down to nothing as I took a last swing and yelled "It''s Clobberin Time!" The bang was the last thing I heard. I sighed as I stepped out onto the sands of the courtyard, still twitching a little from the excitement and pain. I had a new respect for orcs, and decided next time I would need to look at that run away option a little more closely. You have died Death incurs a ten percent loss of level You have been reset to the beginning of level 11 Didn''t even get a chance to see what that level 12 thing was going to offer, though I suspected it was probably something useful like Telina''s Holy Hemorrhoids or something like that. Hell, maybe I would''ve been able to cure male pattern baldness! I wandered around for a bit, then settled in the spot I''d had last time and pulled out my drafting book. 24 hours of doing nothing, got to love it. Chap 26: Home sweet home It''s impossible to tell how much time passes in the courtyard, the sky never changing, and the archway going from blank to showing your spawn point the only way to tell your sentence was up. So when Telina stepped out of the archway I could only guess it had been a few hours by the amount of drawing I had done. I stood up and gave her a respectful nod, drawing her smile out as she stopped and looked me over before saying "I''m rather disappointed Loser, a couple of orcs managed to kill you and BigBob? It''s rather embarrassing" That got a chuckle from me as I said "Well, there were ten of them, but your right, we should have been able to beat them" She cocked her head and gave me a questioning look, so I shrugged and said "I screwed up. I should have followed up the holy fire attack with the holy light from the armor. That would have kept them stunned long enough for us to have attacked and taken out the leader and probably one or two more. Attacking would have put us amongst them and negated the archer''s advantage, and Bob would have been a lot more effective" I shrugged again and said "not used to this magic stuff. I need to start thinking of it a little more tactically for these group engagements" "Aah" she said with a nod "This is true. You have many advantages you seem unwilling to use, though I cannot fault those who will not use their power for anything other than great need" she waved a hand to dismiss the topic before crossing her arms and leaning back against the wall next to the portal, looking like someone having a casual conversation. Someone who was stunningly beautiful and extremely powerful, but still pretty relaxed looking. "Susan and Ariel have completed their tasks in the Empire''s capital and have begun visiting other cities. The empire has allied themselves with a few eternals for now, though the empress does not plan to ask more to join until she has seen how these do. Word is spreading of my paladin''s deeds, and this is causing those we consider cursed ones to either release their captives and attempt to avoid my warriors, or to band together in hopes of overcoming them. Some few have begun plotting the overthrow of the empire, but I see little threat in this for now" I gave a dismissive shrug and said "Anyone with a spawn point in the empire is screwed for now, and they''ll figure that out quick enough. Biggest risks will be those like me who live in the uncontrolled territories and can fortify their spawn points" "There are few enough of those" Telina said "the overmaster seemed to see that as a punishment, and he appeared to equate living outside a city with being a...hick?" she gave me a questioning look, but I just chuckled and said "Yeah, Tennant was an idiot, but not having lived in this world most people from our world would think living in places like Mudtown would be a hardship" "As you say" Telina said, her expression showing her confusion, but she moved on by saying "You have found an ally in the empress, made my paladins a force for mercy and charity, and created a group who will resist those who would threaten our plans" she smiled at me and asked "What are your intentions now?" I matched her stance, crossing my arms and leaning my shoulder against the wall as I considered her question and said "Well...help Maria get her people out into the world and the spawn point thing will be a pain in the butt for months to come. Outside of that, I''m looking forward to Dalmar''s quest and maybe doing that dungeon escort thing. I''m going to put the word out in Mairisian City and Riverbend that I''m open for business" I stared at the sky as I thought about what else to say, finally adding "Depending on my travels, I might take a look at the Desolation and see what that''s about. Maybe think about putting a portal near the border in case we need to deal with an attack, or we find a way to cure the blight" "If there is, it is not known to us" Telina said "but the Blight is a painful wound to our land and it will continue to try and devour the rest as time passes. BigBob sees the Blight as a threat to all and prepares himself to battle it''s undead forces. As my priest, it is within your power to offer this quest to BigBob" Quest? I straightened up, studying her as she gave me a sly grin. I ran the idea through my head a few times, then asked "What would this quest be?" She straightened up to match me, not losing the grin as she said "Ah, that is for my priest to determine" then she laughed, turned, and stepped through the portal. Dang goddess, always having to have the last word. I fell asleep at some point, and I woke up to find myself stepping into the middle of the Mudtown square. I can tell you that it''s disorienting as hell when that happens. It took a few seconds for me to realize I wasn''t dreaming, and seeing that a lot of buildings were now half stone, half timbered made it worse. All the mud and thatch buildings were gone, and the partial stone buildings appeared to be the next step from the all wooden buildings. The street was covered with a sort of crushed stone/gravel mix that seemed to be pretty firm. The place was busy, and I had to side step a horse pulling a wagon as it steered around Telina''s pedestal and came up behind me, the dwarf holding the reins yelling out something I was sure was a curse in a language I didn''t understand. "Lord Loser" Seth yelled, looking up from where he had been banging on a glowing red piece of iron. The smithy had also become much nicer, with a stone forge inside a stone walled, timber topped, open front building. He set the iron in the forge and dusted his hands on his leather apron as he came over to grip arms with me. He looked me over, then chuckled and said "BigBob walked outta the air just a moment afore you. He tole me if''n you appear to let you know he be at ta inn" A pair of guards, both with shields walked past, nodding and giving me a "Lord" as they passed, but otherwise leaving me to say to Seth "Well, I better get myself over there before he drinks everything" Seth chuckled, but turned back to his work as I stepped over to look at the Cup of Charity. It appeared to have mostly silver coins now, with one or two gold pieces in it. Telina¡¯s Holy Cup of Blessing Holy Aura (280 feet) 5pts/sec damage within 150 ft area against those who oppose Telina 50pts/sec damage if touched by those who oppose Telina +10% Stat increase for 6 hours for Telina¡¯s faithful ¨C cast when within aura +30% blessing of increased growth for plants within aura +50% increase in healing rate while within Holy aura (Does not stack with other blessings) It had changed again, and not just the distance of the aura. The damage part seemed to have maxed out, but the distance for the blessing part was still growing. It still wasn''t enough to catch all the fields, so I needed to remember to do a round of blessings on those. I was hoping the thing would keep growing until it covered the town walls, something that would be a major help if we were ever attacked. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Bob was sitting at a table talking with Mary when I came in, and he just grinned and toasted me with his mug as Mary ran over, blonde hair streaming behind her, blue eyes shining, and about tackled me to the ground. As I was kissing her I cast my first heal spell and decided the world could get along without me for while. I scooped her up and carried her upstairs as she laughed and kept kissing me. The next morning she joined me for breakfast at my table, both of us sitting on the bench along the wall rather than the chairs so we could snuggle a little. She asked about my latest adventures, then had to go through my drawings and have them explained. That drew a few more people over, which worked out well since Bob came down about then and I could pawn the story telling off on him. He did a good job, telling the story of how the women were rescued from the clutches of the evil cursed ones by Telina''s priest and her holy paladins, then led by Maria, the Laughing Ranger they traveled through the monster filled Forbidden Lands until they reached the Guardian''s Castle. He gave it that name, which I hoped Maria would be ok with, because these things kind of stuck. "It was in the throne room of the destroyed Lich King that Maria Dragonsbane was visited by the holy goddesses" Bob said to the crowd "Awed by their divine presence, Maria knelt, bowing her head to honor them. But the goddesses had not come to be worshipped, they had come to enact great change on the world. Evil had come to Tarinath, and Telina and her paladins could not stand alone against the cursed ones and the foul Blight, so the four goddesses, Tara, Tessa, Tanira, and Tyra had come to create a force for good, one that could guard the people from evil and meet it in battle. The eternals that Telina''s champions had freed from bondage had suffered greatly, but having suffered, understood evil in ways that no other could. Having learned compassion and charity from Telina''s priest, and been tempered in the fires of battle within the Forbidden Lands, these eternals were a force like no other upon the lands" he did the thing where he paused and seemed to study everyone, a stern look on his face, then said "But battle breeds anger and hate, so this force would need to be led by one who would stay true to what was good and right. One whose presence alone would engender joy and happiness. One who could sooth the despair of those who fight evil" he paused again before saying "There was only one who embodied these virtues. Only one who was already beloved of Telina and her priest. The goddesses had come before this one to ask her to lead, and Maria Dragonsbane, the Laughing Ranger, beloved of Telina, said..." the crowd all sort of sucked in a breath as Bob paused before saying "Yes" I will be darned if the crowd didn''t cheer. I began chuckling, getting a sideways glance and grin from Bob before he became stern again and raised his hand. The crowd silenced immediately, and Bob said "The Guardians Of Tarinath were born in that throne room. Crowned by four goddesses and blessed with power, the Queen of the Guardians of Tarinath accepted the oaths of all those she had led to this point deep in the Forbidden Lands. An oath to aid those in need, and to defend the lands from evil in all its forms. The Guardians were given black cloaks that day, cloaks that symbolized that darkness could not triumph as long as light existed within it. Cloaks that would mask the Guardians from those who would do evil, and strike fear into the hearts of those evil ones when a Guardian come to bestow justice" Overall a pretty good performance. It captured everything I had been wanting people to know, and seeing how the dragon story traveled so well, I anticipated it wouldn''t be long before this one was known across Tarinath. I really liked that he had woven Telina''s presence throughout the story, making it sound like she was integral to starting the whole thing. Good publicity as it were. Didn''t want my goddess feeling left out. Andulin had shown up at some point, and he took me for a tour of the new wall. I brought Mary along, enjoying her smile and presence too much to leave her behind. The two main gates had sixty foot high towers completed, but the walls were still only twenty feet high, and Andulin said they would be forty feet when done. It was still impressive as hell, and I was sure it would be formidable when completed. "Some few who travel through take injury when in the cups presence" Andulin said as we walked the perimeter "and this has affected which merchants now visit, but this has also meant that thieves no longer try their skills within the town. One does not need to be a good person to be in it''s aura, as long as they intend no harm while here" he acknowledged salutes from a pair of guards at the new gates as we reached them and turned to walk back into town "There is enough coin to complete our defenses and hire those necessary to man them. I am still looking for a defensive mage, but have hired an ice elemental. From my understanding of what BigBob has said, I believe the confluence of portals here will allow us to bring in aid very quickly if required" "True enough" I answered, stopping when we reached the cleared area around town so I could bless some fields. After I cast the first blessing and restored, I said "we will wish to support the Guardians in any way possible, so I will cast a portal blessing on any who are willing to travel to Queen Maria''s castle. She will need not only guards, but cooks and servants to make her castle a home" I did another blessing as Andulin considered that. "She will require a seneschal to order her household" Andulin said "as well as a guard captain to manage her defenses" Mary and Andulin chatted as I finished the blessings, then they followed me to the town square and my final archway. I had been worried that dying would nullify my portal casting, but when I pulled it up, it went straight to the final blessing and it was only a moment later that I had another portal in place. I stepped through, waved at two startled, black cloaked women walking by, then hopped back through to Mudtown. I was chuckling at the looks on the women''s faces even as I picked Mary up and gave her a hard kiss. "Finally!" I said, setting her down and casting a healing spell on her just to hear her giggle "I am seriously burned out on running around the world putting these darn things in place" I snagged another kiss, then tucked Mary under my arm and headed toward the inn for a drink, figuring I would come back later to get with Maria.
Hi all. Shorter chapter, but I''m having to do some editing on the sections after this one. Chap 27: Adventuring I will go The castle seemed mostly empty when I stepped out of the portal the next morning, but I eventually found Maria and a couple of her women up on the balcony. She greeted me with a laugh and a head shake, saying "A little early aren''t we? Did someone get his butt kicked on the way home?" She had been talking to a group of mages, three elves and one human, and they all smiled when I said "Got spanked by an orc raiding party the day we crossed out of the Forbidden Lands" I nodded a hello to the other women, then said to Maria "How you want to do this?" "Tessa is first up for the spawn point" she nodded to the human girl "so we can knock that out first, then get started on getting everyone access to the portals" "Alright" I mumbled, considering what that would take, then said "Ok, gonna be a busy day. I''m going to have to do three blessings per person to give them access to all the portals, and with restore time it''ll take a little while. Let''s get Tessa started, then see how long it''ll take" Maria had marked spots on the floor throughout the whole castle that were meant as spawn points for the women, meaning they wouldn''t all respawn at the same point. A good defensive strategy in my mind, since anyone attacking the castle would have defenders respawning all around them if they got into the castle. Tessa''s spot was in the other upper floor room, and we got Tessa positioned before Maria explained what would be happening. "Alright Tessa. Everyone swore to keep the secret of changing the spawn points, and as most of you guessed, it''s something Jake does. He''s going to cast a spell that will ask if you want to resurrect at your next death point, or change your spawn point. Choose the second. It''ll then ask you where you want it. Just stand where you are and say here. You''ll be taken to the courtyard for an hour, then be spawned back here without loss of level. You good?" Tessa, like every other eternal, was good looking, but had somehow ended up with extremely pale green eyes and white hair, something I hadn''t seen on a human. She nodded at Maria''s question and said "Yep, got it" The informal tone struck me as weirdly out of place coming from such an ethereal looking person, and I was grinning a little as I cast the spell. That was the last of the enjoyment for the day as I did the castle portal blessing on Maria, then started doing three each for every single darn woman there. This aspect of portal use would ensure I didn''t create too many, since I would have go back and cast a blessing on every damn person I had done before. That endurance drain kicked in and I had to stop and munch on something periodically for it to go back up. Low endurance numbers meant a tired Jake, and as Maria laughingly told me, a tired Jake was a grumpy Jake. Luckily, Maria decided to wait on the retention runes for her people until one of them got something like Sienna''s entangle spell. Maria and a couple of her people followed me back through the portal, but immediately headed to Mairisian City to collect their wayward lamb, the one that got killed on the way through the forbidden lands. I had forgotten about her, so she was lucky someone remembered. I had to cross over to give her the blessings, but Maria came to get me after they rounded her up. The Guardians were a constant presence for the first week as they visited us and the other two cities. Maria talked with Andulin, and from that managed to get her seneschal and guard captain. All of her local help had to be blessed by me, (fun), and since I was doing it I did a couple of people from Mudtown. I had talked to the old woman, Jeritha, who ran the apothecary store in Mudtown about different style vials, and she had said I would need to buy them in Telarin or somewhere larger. Rather than spend the money somewhere else, I talked to Seth about forming that co-op thing, and they selected two people to become their buyers. I blessed them for Riverbend and Mairisian, and they would take lists with them and bring back stuff to sell in Mudtown, or take items to sell in my store in the capital, or in a market at Riverbend. My healing and cure disease potions were in vials that looked like your standard test tubes with corks in the end, but the healing one had golden colored fluid, while the disease one was sort of pale green. I bought ten normal vials, and ten that were about twice the size and shaped more like pyramids, then set up in my room to see about changing reality again. I cast a blessing on a new type vial with water, did a restore, then cast Telina''s Restoring Touch. There was maybe the slightest pause, kind of like the universe did a hiccup, then the vial glowed like a 100 watt bulb for a second before fading, and I got: Mana Restoration Potion Restores 190 points of Mana Hmm, I hadn''t considered how much mana, and the spell had used all of mine. Next time I would have to maybe say or think a smaller number to see if it would work. These potions had a bluish color, and no matter what my goddess was thinking, these puppies were going to cost money. I would give the paladins some of course, but even Maria''s people would need to buy them, discounted maybe, but still cold hard cash. I had been creating two potions a day pretty much every day I had been here, so there was a fair stockpile of them amongst the various groups and Andulin''s people. I planned to do two mana potions a day for a week or two to build up enough to give Mirabeth and Sienna, then go to one healing and one mana potion a day after that. I would put the healing ones on a shelf in the central square, but sell the mana ones in my store. I had a sign made for the store, ''Adventurer''s Emporium'', and figured I would see what was offered for the mana potions as Eternals wandered through. I was thinking at least 5 gold each, maybe more, and if someone from Mudtown wanted to pick up a couple of healing ones and sell them in the store, who was I to complain. I wouldn''t keep any profits from the healing ones, but it would be a nice boost for the people of Mudtown. All in all it was a sort of fun couple of weeks, with Mary and I getting to spend a lot of time together, and absolutely no eternal issues. I even introduced her to the concept of the picnic, something we could do since the forest was enclosed by walls, making the whole thing like a park. Before going to do the third resurrect spell, I posted a notice in Riverbend and Mairisian City that said: Healer Priest available for dungeon crawls! Excellent healing skills, high health, and good attack and defense numbers Gold cost per day, including travel to and from dungeon = .5 x highest level party member. First choice on any and all items usable by priests Join party and get 1/10 of found coin (Not available for Forbidden Land travel or Dragon hunts) I figured the daily cost seemed fair considering how the higher level dungeons were harder. Charging five gold for a level ten group, and ten gold for a level twenty would be easy enough for someone to meet. I added the last part to keep from getting my ass killed constantly. My first tour group formed in Riverbend, and I met them at an inn at the southernmost side of town. It was easy to pick out the group as eternals tended to stand out with their looks and magic gear. This group had taken a table in the middle of the room, and I paused to give them a once over. Three of them, one an obvious warrior, one a mage, the other wearing leather armor. The warrior (Jeff) was different than any I had seen to this point as he was wearing chainmail that had fur around all the openings, and a helmet with horns sticking out the sides. Sort of looked like a Viking, except he had black hair, was clean shaven, and was hugely muscled. The mage, an elf named Siril Skywalker (Thank god it wasn''t Luke), was wearing some basic robes, but had a decent looking staff. The last one was a woman named Shadow, human, dark haired, and fairly small. I figured her for a rogue type, something I had never worked with before, but she had a cool name. She saw me first, glancing over, then back when she saw my name. Her bark of laughter brought the others around, and they joined in as I walked over. The dragonsbane part got through a second later, and the group stopped laughing and studied me a little harder. I waved at the pretty serving girl, getting her nod at my sign for a drink, then I pulled out the fourth chair and took a seat. "Loser? Really?" Jeff asked in a deep but laughing voice. He was followed by Shadow saying "You''re the priest from the dragon''s fall story they tell. I''ve met Maria before, so I wasn''t sure if it was something she made up" I thanked the serving girl when she handed me my ale, chuckling a little at Shadow''s view of Maria, then turned to give the group a smile as I said "Yep, that''s me, Loser Dragonsbane. You left word with Misty that you wanted to meet?" "Why the thing about not doing dragons if you''ve already killed one?" the mage asked, making me sigh to myself before saying "You don''t need me for that. They do so much damage you''re pretty much a one shot kill, so you either take him down quick, or you die. We got lucky and had some pretty good magical stuff to help, but still lost half the party" I shrugged and looked at Jeff, giving him a questioning look so we could move this along. I was kind of freaked out about how strong looking the guy was, wondering what kind of spreadsheet numbers it took to end up looking like he''d been doing steroids for fifty years. The guy''s arms were huge. "On our way to the border of orc territory when we saw your notice" he said "Two days travel from here is supposed to be a goblin dungeon. We have a quest we can fulfill if we kill the goblin king" he nodded at his partners and said "I''m level 12, Shadow''s a ten, and Siril is eleven. We''ve kind of hit a ceiling. Keep getting killed and having a hard time moving higher" I took a drink, then set the mug down and said "Works for me. It''s your party, so I''ll follow your lead, heal anyone who needs it, and fight if you tell me to. We settle up after we get back here" "Whoa cowboy" Shadow said, holding a hand up and frowning at me "All I''ve seen is a name, so how about telling us what you can do" "I heal about 80 points per spell, and can cast quite a few spells" I said, getting all three to sit up and pay attention "I''m level 11 and have a defensive aura that helps party members. I think you''ll find I''m pretty useful" "No shit" Shadow muttered, leaning back and waving at Jeff to go ahead. He seemed confused for a second, then asked "You don''t want to know about us?" I shrugged at the question and said "Doesn''t matter. Do what I can, but it''s up to you guys to have your shit together" "That''s the truth" Saril mumbled as Jeff looked at his two friends, then shrugged and sent me a party request. It was funny as hell watching everyone look at my basic stats as I looked at theirs. Jeff was a Barbarian, something I had never even heard of, but he wasn''t what I would call a great tank, because he had 100 health. Yeah, a whole whopping 100. No wonder he died a lot. Siril was a Fire Mage like Mirabeth, though I doubted he was half as effective, and he had 60 health. Shadow was an Apprentice Thief, whatever that was, and she was smart enough to have put a couple of points into stamina since she had 80 health. The collective gasps as they saw my 310 made me chuckle, but I just said "Benefit of being a priest" and didn''t comment on their poor attribute choices. I bought another darn horse, then met the group at the southern gate. The gate guards both nodded and said "Lord Loser" as we passed, and I leaned down to shake hands with one of them, but didn''t comment as we rode out. Saril appeared to be the nosy one since about five minutes after leaving he asked "What was that Lord Loser thing?" "They know me here" I said "got a good reputation in the empire" "Is that possible?" Siril asked, looking at his other people in question "Is there a reputation status?" At their shrugs I said "I''m not sure what a reputation status is, but I just mean I get along with them. Friends" "What the frick does that even mean?" Siril muttered, eyeing me, but when I didn''t comment, didn''t say anything else. I''m not sure if my presence made them leery, or if they were naturally quiet, because no one talked much as we rode. I was used to Maria chattering and laughing to fill the silence, and was surprised to find I missed it. We followed the road, so it was easy riding, and when we stopped for the night it was in a small town with an inn. I liked that a lot better than sleeping outside, mostly because you didn''t have to keep a watch and could sleep all night. Jeff had a map, and the next afternoon he said "Should be there in a couple of hours. We''ll set up camp and do the thing in the morning" I was sort of disappointed we weren''t attacked that night as I had hoped to see the three in action before I went into a dungeon with them. The dungeon entrance was a fairly large cave in the side of a series of hills that had started rising around us. It looked like a river or stream had run out of it at one point and we walked up the stream bed until we found it and the four level 8 goblin guards. They all had 95 health and carried rusty looking swords. I had stopped, expecting a quick discussion of tactics, but found myself alone as Jeff pulled a two-handed axe, screamed like a banshee, and charged forward. Shadow and Siril kept walking, so I took a couple quick steps to catch up. The three of us walked over until we were about thirty feet from the fight, then stopped and watched. Jeff''s strength numbers showed because one of his swings killed a goblin outright, but he didn''t move much, which made me wonder if he had put every point into strength. I guessed you could possibly end up with 35 in your strength if you kept everything else at base level. He took two thrusts and 30 points of damage by the time he killed the second, then another wicked slash as he chopped the arm off the third goblin. I flicked a healing his way, then waited as he bellowed and chopped straight down to kill the fourth. "Wow" Shadow said with a grin "that''s useful as hell" "No shit!" Jeff yelled, holding his axe up in some kind of victory celebration. I tried to keep any expression off my face as Jeff sorted the dropped items and the rest of us joined him. When he straightened up, Jeff said "All yours Shadow" The girl nodded and pulled a couple of knives before moving forward into the cave. "She''ll clear the traps and stuff" Jeff said, getting a nod of understanding from me. I felt obligated to add "If you want me to fight, you''ll need to tell me, otherwise I''ll just heal as needed" "No problems dude" Jeff said, slapping my shoulder "that''s some wicked good stuff you do. It''ll make this a walk in the park" Well, worst case I''d have some funny stories later. Shadow turned out to be a lot more useful than I had anticipated. We had been kind of strolling along through the open cave when we came upon two piles of goblin gear. Jeff picked up the coins as Siril said "Shadow does a super high damage back stab, and has built up her stealth stats to the point where it takes something high level or magical to see her" The cave narrowed as we passed two more double piles of goblin gear and eventually reached an iron banded, wooden door that had Shadow standing in front of it. She was doing the fiddly stuff Maria did, and muttered "Gotcha" as we stopped behind her. She stepped back behind us, tossing a grin my way as Jeff stepped forward and opened the door. Five goblins were on the other side, pretty much what was at the cave entrance, but with the addition of a level 9 senior guard. I winced when Jeff banged his axe into the wall as he wound up for a swing and got gut stabbed as he recovered. The goblin paid for it with an axe to the head, but Jeff managed to get stabbed in the face before he brought the axe back up. Not sure what he did different from Dalmar; didn''t choke up on the handle or something, but his swings seemed to hit the walls a lot and I''m not sure what would have happened if he missed. He didn''t, and I did two heal spells by the time he finished. I decided to do my armor spell, then did a group blessing before restoring my mana as Shadow headed down the stairs that started twenty feet beyond the dead goblins. "Nice bonus on that blessing spell" Siril said with a nod my way. I was thinking about how much 30% more hit damage would be if you had super maxed out strength. Jeff was killing 95 health goblins with one hit, so 30% more would be around 30 points of damage. So, a lot. The stairs ended about two hundred feet lower, and opened into a fairly large, torch lit cave. I could see fairly well, and figured the whole thing was nearly ninety feet long by thirty wide, and smelled like a cesspool. The cavern seemed to be a giant kennel for hyena like creatures, that had red eyes, huge teeth, and stood a good four feet high. Shadow appeared in front of Jeff, then slipped behind him, saying "They''ll smell me, so they''re all yours big boy" I''m pretty sure I mouthed ''WTF'' as Jeff raised his axe, let out a huge bellow, and charged straight at the closest dog. There appeared to be about six of them scattered around, but at his bellow, the four closest turned and charged back at him. My question about what would happen if Jeff missed was answered as he took a huge swing that got dodged by one of the dogs. He ended up banging his axe straight into the floor with a loud clang, then staggered forward as two of the creatures bit him, one on each leg. I cast a heal at him as he got his axe back up and swung sideways at the ''Pit Hound, Level 7, Health 80'' and killed the one chewing on his left leg. The other two arrived then, piling on, though they didn''t knock him down. When a fireball zipped away from us and impacted right on the pile, I''m pretty sure I mouthed another ''WTF'', even as I hit Jeff with another heal. I quickly followed that with a third, as he began chopping stunned and burning hounds into pieces. The two healthy ones had gotten interested at the explosion, and they decided Siril was a better target. Siril sent another fireball at the two charging us, but the hounds both dodged it, and the fireball continued on until it hit the far wall and exploded. Shadow slipped behind me at the same time Siril did, and just like that it was me and Bruce against two pit hounds. I called fist, sent a quick heal at Jeff, then knocked the first hound in the head, stunning it for a second. The other one latched onto my left arm, gnawing hard, but let go when Bruce slammed into its left ear. A second call to Fist allowed me to bring the first hound down to about nothing as a knife zipped past me, stuck in its eye, and killed it. The last hound ducked in to bite my leg, but couldn''t dodge another swing from me, so got stunned long enough for me to finish it with a final overhand hit to its head. Jeff was grinning as he propped his axe on his shoulder and walked back over to us. I on the other hand was not. I stepped aside so I could give the fireball throwing retard a questioning look and said "What the hell was that?" He blinked in surprise and looked around as if he would see something, then asked me "What''s what?" "I think he meant the whole blowing up your teammate thing?" Shadow said with a laugh "I can barely keep him alive with only the enemy attacking him" I said in disgust "if you keep blowing him up, this is going to be a very short tour" "What''s the problem dude?" Jeff asked with a shrug "I thought it was max smart on Siril''s part. I had them all gathered together, perfect for a good doggy roast" "Oh Goddess" I mumbled, rubbing my eyes and waving a hand in acceptance. Looking back with a shrug, I said "Ok, whatever works for you guys" That got a grin from Jeff, and he waved Shadow forward, saying "All yours", then moseyed along after her as Shadow wandered back and forth across the cave, moving consistently toward the other side. "No really" Siril said after a moment "It''s a fireball, what else would you do with it?" When I just shrugged, he frowned and said "Honestly, I want to know" "Fine" I sighed "I don''t know what you do with it since we don''t use them. But I can tell you, if you hit me with one, I''m going to be really, really pissed" "What do you mean you don''t use them?" Jeff asked "Everyone uses them. That and firebolts are what it''s all about" I shrugged, not wanting to discuss magical tactics, and just said "Yeah, I can see that. It''s just hard to use a fireball in a dungeon without hurting teammates, and none of the people I work with are going to accept taking friendly fire. If a tactic works, then by definition it''s a good tactic, so I wouldn''t change" I gave Siril a hard look and added "Just don''t throw them my way" Shadow let out a small laugh as we caught up with her at a door on the far side of the cavern, her eyes sparkling with humor as she said to me "Someone''s talking all strategically and stuff. We''re pretty relaxed about these things Jake, since you know, it''s not really life and death" "True enough" I said back, watching as Jeff flung the door open and immediately chopped down and killed a goblin guard. The second guard let out a screech and turned to run down the hall, getting a blink of surprise from me. Having a monster run away could not be a good thing. I realized why it wasn''t a good thing when Jeff let out some kind of war cry and took off after the thing. "Oh-oh" Shadow said with a laugh before ducking to the side of the doorway as Siril yelled "Traps Jeff! Look out for..." the rest was washed out by a loud roaring sound as flame shot across the hallway at about shoulder height, setting Jeff on fire as he ran through it. I rolled my eyes and trotted ahead and ducked down to look under the horizontal flames until I could see him staggering forward, head and shoulders with actual flames surrounding them. I cast a quick heal since he was down to a bare sliver of health, then a second one as the flames burned for a few more seconds. The fire continued shooting across the hallway, and a laughing Shadow ducked down and crawled on hands and knees under it, waving me to follow. I sighed and did, muttering "I''m beginning to see why they had so much trouble staying alive" I hadn''t realized Siril was so close behind me, but he must have heard and let out a laugh. "You''re too serious about this stuff" Siril said as we got to our feet and started down the hallway toward where we could see Jeff hacking at three goblins "It''s just a game right? Not like anything really matters. Have fun, do what you want, and enjoy life" Jeff was finishing the third goblin off when we arrived, so I restored the fifty points he had lost. I should have charged them per healing spell, I''d be rich. This level was all one long hallway, with a bunch of small caves on the right and left, each with a random number of level 7-9 goblins. Shadow killed most of them, moving ahead of our group, ducking into a cave, then backstabbing the various goblins who never managed to see her. Jeff did charge into one room with three goblins in it, but he had room to swing and killed all three without taking any damage. Siril and I just moseyed along behind everyone, or stood and waited as Jeff scrounged through the various goblin drops. When we got to the end of the hall and found another set of stairs down, Jeff called a break, which gave me a chance to ask Shadow a question that had been bouncing in my head. "Where''d you get the throwing knife?" "Thieves guild" she said, pulling one out and holding it up "you can buy them from the guild after you get accepted. I do double or triple damage with them most times" Throwing Knife 8-13 damage Usable by: Thieves or assassins Great. "The three of us are from Warston, a small town on the east side of the empire" Jeff said in his rumbling voice "Eight of us have spawn points there. The three of us teamed up when a couple of dickheads wanted to take over the town and started messing with Shadow. Had a little bit of a war going for a while, but Eddie and his two guys killed a guard and had to run for it. That was stupid, since they let you do what you want as long as you don''t mess up the town" he nodded at a grinning Shadow and said "Shadow''s a wicked player killer now, so none of them will even look cross-eyed at her" "Are there assassins?" I asked, wondering about the knife "Sure" Shadow said "Haven''t met one, but they''re supposed to be basically a thief that can use poisons, and maybe a couple other weapons. I think you need a certain amount in your intelligence stat to get offered that. At Level 7 I got offered a quest, and when it was over, I got level 8 and an offer to join the thieves guild. Probably works the same way for the assassins guild. It''s been pretty nice since I can go and get quests from them when I want" That sounded pretty cool actually. It made it seem like she was on some kind of career path and had a company backing her. "How''d you guys end up killing a dragon?" Jeff asked, getting Siril and Shadow to give me interested looks. I shrugged, then said "Four of us, me, Maria, a dwarf player named Dalmar, and Bob, a warrior, went down to see if we could meet one. I think it was something Dalmar wanted to do, but we all went for the fun of it" "Did it go like the story says?" Shadow said, leaning forward, the interest clear on her face. "Pretty much" I answered "Bob told the story when we got back, and it ended up getting told everywhere I guess. The thing was level 30 and had 1200 health, so I doubt you''ll hear of many people taking one on" "Jesus" Siril muttered "1200? Wow, that''d take forever to kill" "Did you get it''s treasure?" Shadow asked "Just the drop" I said "Maria and I were killed, so Bob and Dalmar weren''t going to wander around dragon territory looking. Drop alone was great though, and I''ll probably go back one day to see if I can find it or kill another dragon and find his" "Yeah" Shadow said in a dreamy tone, eyes distant "Just imagine if it was like in that movie, with the hobbits and stuff. If I could sneak in and steal stuff while a dragon was there I would get so much experience it would be crazy. Not to mention the gold and magic" "Or you could get eaten" I said with a laugh "and let me tell you, getting chewed on by a dragon is one of the most painful things you''ll experience" We got moving again after that, but I heard Shadow mutter "I need an invisibility ring " The next level was more open than the one above, with four large open rooms being connected by iron doors at each end. Shadow got the first one open to reveal six goblin guards and a level 9 shaman. Siril sent a fireball at the shaman, who did something that caused it to veer to the right. It missed the shaman but smacked into three of the guards, killing one. Jeff''s roar as he charged got all of the goblins to focus on him, and I caught Shadow disappearing out of the side of my eye. Jeff''s first swing decapitated a goblin, but he got hit by a green missile that the shaman conjured. It must have been some kind of acid or poison because Jeff cursed and tried to wipe something off his right arm. I restored his health, but he took a couple sword cuts, and I think the poison was still working, as his health immediately dropped in half again. Siril started sending flame bolts at the goblins around Jeff as Jeff got back on track, swinging his axe in wide circles, killing goblins like wheat. The shaman was making a series of gestures I was pretty sure meant something bad, but he froze suddenly and turned into a pile of gear, revealing a grinning Shadow behind him. The rest of the fight was Jeff''s, with me sending two healing spells before it was over. Working our way through the rest of that level gave me a good idea of everyone''s relative strengths and weaknesses. Jeff was a monster, no doubt about that, but his dexterity must have been shit because he would miss a lot if the creature was close to his level. A level 11 goblin leader with 135 health went down with one hit, so I figured Jeff was doing at least 100 points of damage base level before my blessing bonus. Problem was, Jeff didn''t wield the two handed axe as well as Dalmar did his hammer. Dalmar didn''t do as much damage every swing, but he always hit something, and he could actually block with his hammer. Jeff didn''t do anything but swing wildly, accepting stabs and slices to get his own hits in. He was definitely one of the ''a good offense is the best defense'' kind of guys. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Siril...was useless. Nice guy and all, but he threw fireballs around like one of my holy fire spells, acting like friendly damage didn''t matter. Hadn''t hit me with one so far, which was good since I would have tapped him on the head with Bruce, but it just seemed wasteful to me. His firebolts did decent damage, maybe in the 30-40 point range, but after seeing a couple goblins dodge them, I realized firebolts didn''t work like magic missiles...they could miss. Mirabeth had made it seem so effortless that I never realized she was leading her targets. Sienna had been a major part of our success against the werewolves, and had given me a real appreciation for how effective mages could be, but Siril...Siril made me wish he just stayed out of the way. Of the three of them, I had developed real respect for Shadow''s class. Except for the dogs, there hadn''t been anything she couldn''t sneak up on and kill with one backstab. She was awesomely effective against the shamans, and I could see how other eternals without high health would be easy kills for her. The rogue thing seemed to be a pretty versatile class, and if she ever got serious about it, she could turn into a seriously dangerous person. She had a bit of Maria''s happy go lucky attitude, but lacked Maria''s core of seriousness that made her such a good member of the team. The group of them seemed to see this whole world as a big play pen, and had absolutely no interest in anything other than having fun. Based on a few things they said, it was also clear they thought the locals were all just simple programmed images with no reality to them. I spent this level, and the following one just sending a steady stream of healing spells Jeff''s way. He took so much damage I was actually a little surprised he had made it to level twelve. The shaman''s became a regular thing, and I had to do a dispel when Jeff got hit with a slow spell on the third level. Siril decided to hit the shaman with a fireball, which hit as the shaman was busy doing another casting. Unfortunately Shadow was in the process of backstabbing the thing and took fifty points of damage when the fireball hit. She still killed the shaman, but disappeared again until she got back to me and I healed her. If her or Jeff had tended to stay closer to me, my aura thing might have helped them more, and I would have been interested to see if any damage would have been reflected back on Siril. "I kind of remember us agreeing I would kill the magic users" Shadow muttered, giving Siril a disgusted look. He actually laughed and shrugged before saying "Oops?" Keeping Jeff alive had been my main focus, but there had been chests in most of the rooms, which Shadow had opened. I got a mental nudge from Telina once when Jeff was pulling things out of a big chest on the third floor, but didn''t say anything since I said we would settle up in Riverbend. The fourth level was a new thing for me; lots and lots of traps. The level ended up being a hallway with only one exit at the end, but the hallway kept making right turns, getting shorter and shorter as it formed an inward spiral. Shadow earned her money here, disabling something, moving forward twenty feet, then disabling a couple somethings. It was an endlessly repeating process, and it got to the point Jeff, Siril and I would sit down and wait until she finished a section before getting up and moving forward to sit down again. Seriously boring stuff, but I think Shadow earned some kind of individual experience for doing traps, because about half way through she held up a hand and said "Hold on a bit, got a level up" Made me wonder if Maria got the same, or if it was a thief thing. Like everyone other than my paladins, she didn''t say anything about what her level up did, though I totally agreed with keeping your strengths and weaknesses secret. The level ended at a door that opened into stairs going up of all things, but it took hours for us to get there. Shadow needed a break by then, so we settled in at the bottom of the stairs and cooked a meal as she took a nap. "Never seen a dungeon level with no one in it" I said as we ate, interested to hear if this was a new thing to them. Jeff gave a half shrug and said "Had one that was a room with traps that would trigger different types of elementals, but yeah, this was a real pain in the ass" "We''ve done what, thirteen now?" Siril asked Jeff, and at Jeff''s nod, Siril added "The traps''ll kill you faster than anything other than the last Boss, so until Shadow got leveled enough to handle it, the traps ended the trip most of the time" he glanced over at me and asked "How many you done?" I had to think about that. If you didn''t count the rats and bandits, which I didn''t, the only actual dungeons were the bone dragon one, the gnolls, the Lich, and the werewolves. Oh, and that goblin one. "Five actual dungeons" I answered, then added "but we did that dragon thing and had to go through the Forbidden Lands, so that probably counts as one" "Holy shit!" Siril said, sitting up to give me a hard look "How the hell did you get to level 11 only doing five dungeons?" "Dalmar is level 20, and I''ve been with him the whole time" I paused, remembering the gnoll one, adding "or mostly. So I''ve been fighting high level creatures for the most part. Good experience" "Well, hell" Jeff said with a laugh "we need to team up with a high level guy" "I wouldn''t" I said, immediately regretting it. Last thing I wanted to do was get involved in discussing strategy with these guys. Siril saw the wince and asked "What? Why not?" With a sigh, I said "Simply put, you don''t have enough health. Level 15 to 20 creatures will kill you with one hit, so no amount of healing will keep you alive. You need a tank with a minimum..." I stressed the minimum "150 health. Better would be two tanks with that so they could cover each other. Dalmar has 200 health, and he and Maria did a lot of dungeons together by taking it slow and healing between fights. As long as you have the health to survive a single fight, you can usually manage the whole dungeon" "I''d have to go back to level 1 to reset my stats enough for that" Jeff said doubtfully "This world is seriously unbalanced" Siril said "I''ve played a lot of games, and this one keeps you so weak that if you don''t form a group, you''ll never survive" he was frowning in thought as he added "the whole thing is off. Shadow is the only person I know who''s gotten a class advancement path, and the only one who''s managed to join a guild of some kind. There''s no skills like enchanting, and so far no one I''ve talked to has gotten a find familiar spell. Hell, that was my favorite spell when I played, and the only reason I chose mage" he was sounding pretty angry by the end of that. "Who''s the highest level mage you''ve met?" Jeff asked me and Siril. I had to think about that, and realized I didn''t really remember specific levels. I shrugged and said "I think in the upper teens" Siril nodded and said "Level 18 I think. No 19. That dickhead who called himself Voron the Mighty was a level 19 fire mage. He ran with that one crew from the capital for a while, then quit doing dungeons after he got killed and went from level 20 to level 18. Managed to get back up to 19 by doing the first level of a goblin dungeon like this a dozen times, then quit" "Maybe we''re still to low level for stuff" Jeff said with a shrug. They debated the issue until Shadow woke up and we moved on, but I didn''t pay much attention since they had no more clue than I did about how things worked. As far as anyone knew you might need to reach level 50 before stuff became available. The stairs only went up about fifty feet and ended at the ubiquitous trapped door. Shadow did her thing, then slipped behind Jeff as he opened the door, raised his axe, bellowed loudly, and charged into a fairly large room. I hustled through ahead of Shadow and Siril, figuring Jeff would probably lose most of his health in the time it took most people to sneeze. The room was near forty feet long, but only half that wide, and it looked like we had found a higher level group. Two mages on the far side of the room, both of them doing their woogly boogly arm waves. Four level 9 guards, and a level 11 guard leader. Two of the goblin guards had bows, another new thing. The guard leader and two of the guards were chopping at Jeff, though one died after being split down the middle. The archers already had two arrows in Jeff, and he was down over half his health already. My healing spell occurred at the same time the goblin mages finished theirs, and Siril sent a fireball at the mages. One of the goblin spells caused the floor from where Jeff was, all the way to where Siril and I were standing to get a coating of some kind of liquid. The other spell hit me of all people, doing no damage, but giving me a message. Silenced You are unable to cast spells Siril''s fireball actually hit perfectly, exploding and blowing both mages to the ground, with one being killed outright and the other losing almost two thirds of his health. Shadow''s screamed "Grease spell!!!" made absolutely no sense to me until the flames from the fireball set the floor on fire, and I got to watch it sweep across the room and envelope all of us except Shadow. That''s when I figured out that the goblin mage had seriously screwed us over with his silence spell. My urgent gesture at a burning Jeff did absolutely nothing. We''d have probably been ok, but Jeff and his two opponents all slipped and fell onto the burning floor, which actually helped the goblins since Jeff couldn''t attack, but the archers could. I had no clue what you did if someone blocked your magic, so I pulled Bruce and a potion, and started through the flames toward Jeff. Siril had managed to fall back down the stairs, and Shadow had disappeared again, so the archers only had me and Jeff to shoot at. They chose Jeff. Between the fire damage and the arrows, there was absolutely nothing I could do to save him, and got to hear him yell "Nooo!!!" just before he disappeared. With a sigh I put the potion away, just before slipping and falling on my ass. I tried a heal spell since I had lost 50 points, but got nothing. Of course the archers moved on to me, and I started getting stuck with arrows as I struggled to my feet just in time to fall back on my ass into the flames. They went out a second later, and by then I was ready to kick someone''s ass. The guard leader got Bruce upside his head, finishing him off as the damn archers both shot me again. "I am going to shove those bows up your asses!" I yelled, exchanging swings with the last goblin fighter. I was down about 150 points of health when the second goblin went down, and I looked up to see Shadow kill the last goblin mage. The two archers looked back at her, then at me as I pointed my mace at them and said "Go ahead punk, Make my day!" Hey, it just came to me. I heard Shadow laugh as the two little bastards both shot me. That was the last time though, because I called fist, not even thinking about it, and found it worked. The first archer got a face full of Bruce, falling down stunned as I spun and hit the other guy in the side. I actually kicked the guy on the ground in the head, doing a small amount of damage, then brought Bruce around to hit the upright one from the other side. A second call to fist, and a swing to the one climbing to his feet finished him off, and left me and the last goblin exchanging two swings each before he went down. I healed myself twice, then looked over to check on Shadow to find she was perfectly healthy. "Hey man, can you heal me up?" Siril said as he came up the stairs and into the room. He had managed to loose about half his health, and despite how hard it was, I didn''t say anything about him blowing us up, just tossed a heal spell his way. "Well, that could have gone better" Shadow said with a laugh as she went around picking up coins and other things before moving to a pair of chests. "So what do we do now?" Siril asked. "Up to you guys" I said "It''s all the same to me since I get paid the same if we stay and fight or if we head back. I''ll do the tanking if you want to continue on" "Nothing to be gained by turning around" Shadow said "and who knows, maybe we''ll get lucky" There was a round of shrugs, followed by nods, so I said "Onward then" We gathered at the door on the far side of the room, and as Shadow fiddled with it, I said "Ok, unless you guys have objections, I''d like to try things a little differently. When get to doorways like this, I''ll open the door and evaluate what we''ll be facing. If there''s enemies and room, I''d like Siril to step forward and send a fireball at whatever group is visible, then step back" giving him a look, I said "Firebolts only if any of us are in a room" His shrug of acceptance was less than reassuring, but worst case I''d let Bruce straighten him out. Looking over at Shadow I said "You do what you do best" getting a laugh from her. Normally a plan starts going wrong about the time you finish explaining it, but for once, things sort of worked out. I opened the door, standing squared in front of it, and found a round room with a mage, six sword holding guards, and two leader types, all looking at me. The room was maybe thirty feet in diameter, and there was a ten foot hole in the center, with the mage and leaders on the far side, the other six scattered around. Stepping back I said "Far side Siril" He moved forward slightly, did a couple gestures, mumbled a word, and sent a fireball flying across the room. I shut the door to keep the mage from spamming me, waited for the boom, then opened it and charged to the right, figuring Shadow would do her thing without any input from me. The mage and the two leaders were on fire and lying on the ground, but the six sword wielders were still standing. The three I charged all had their swords out and gabbled some goblin gibberish at me as I called fist, then bashed the first one straight down on the top of his head. That last ring I got from Bob had helped quite a bit, so this level 8 goblin lost two thirds of his health as he went down. I danced back, shoved one in the chest, took a weak slice to the arm, then bashed the third right in the center of his chest. A quick swing down finished the one climbing to its feet, then the other three arrived and I got busy. The tank thing puts you in the middle of everything, so I lost awareness of the rest of the room, focusing on swinging, dodging, and even blocking with my mace a couple of times. I had watched Jeff stand his ground and get chopped to pieces enough I knew that wasn''t going to be my tanking style, so I went all Kung Fu on their asses, dancing around, jumping and tossing in a good kick to the nads if I could get one in. I was laughing by the time the last one went down with a backhand mace to the face. I had only done one heal spell, but I was still only down 105 points of health when I looked around. I saw that Shadow must have done for the three leaders, since there were three piles scattered around that side of the room. She was grinning at me as Siril came sauntering in shaking his head and chuckling. "You should have gone warrior" Shadow said as she began picking up coins "that looked like you were having a lot of fun" I did a quick heal, then a restore before saying "If only" The hole in the floor was actually a stairwell that wound downwards. Looking at the group I said "Let''s take ten to give Siril a little time to gain some mana back. If you want to scout ahead, feel free" I said the last to Shadow. She gave me a mocking salute and slipped down the stairs, disappearing from view while I was actually looking at her. How the hell that could possibly work messed with my brain. I mean, was the system hiding her? Was she still there if I reached out to touch her? I did a quick peek at my stats and saw I was at 27% of the next level. I couldn''t remember how many goblins we had killed to this point, but I was guessing I was probably getting like 1% or less per goblin. It sure went a lot quicker when it was Bob and I facing level 20 creatures. Since I got experience from the dragon even though I was dead, I figured Jeff would still get some. Shadow trotted back up a few minutes later, saying "Goes around a couple of times and ends at a door. I''ve detrapped and unlocked it, so we''re ready whenever you girls are" "Hey, this kind of awesomeness doesn''t come without a cost" Siril said with a laugh, gesturing for us to head on down. It was a little crowded at the base of the stairs as there was only room to swing the door open. I did the door opening to reveal a ten foot wide, eighty foot long hallway, that had two level 10 goblin guards standing in front of facing doorways about twenty feet away. They didn''t react to me opening the door, so I looked at Shadow and asked quietly "Any traps?" She slipped past me, then stood still a moment before saying "Nope. Want me to do them?" "Sure, have at it" I said with a grin. She disappeared again, and Siril and I stood and watched. The first guard kind of arched forward with a squeal before turning into gear, with a smiling Shadow behind him. She disappeared again as the other goblin put his back to the wall and began swinging his sword. No backstab if he stayed that way, so I walked forward a bit, held up my mace, and said in a normal tone of voice "Hey Butthead!" That worked. He turned to face me, giving Shadow a free shot that she took immediately. The facing doors were about a third of the way down the hallway, and I could make out two more guards at the end, both facing our way and standing in front of a door. I hadn''t figured out what triggered the creatures to attack, but these two didn''t appear to see us. I looked over at Shadow and nodded at the two goblins and said "We''ll wait here if you want to take care of those two" She had no trouble with them since the second one decided to step away from the wall and look around like he would find her if he looked hard enough. After she finished them I sent Siril back toward the stairs and had Shadow wait next to the door, telling her to slip into the room as soon as it was open, then I opened the door on the right. One goblin, a level 12 captain, and a troll were inside, both turning to look at me as the door swung open. "Take the goblin" I said as I stepped in and moved to attack the troll. The captain attacked me also, but I moved to put the troll between us and began exchanging blows with the troll. The troll was a level 10 with 180 health, but I''d had some experience with them by now and managed to dodge a lot of his swings. The captain got in two good hits before Shadow killed him, then I had to attack the troll hard to get him to focus on me. Shadow disappeared again, but as I was bashing the troll in one of his knees, I said loudly "Get Siril, tell him we need a flame bolt" The troll did less damage than the two stabs the goblin gave me, and by the time Siril arrived I had the troll down to zero health and was hitting him in the head every couple seconds to keep him there. Siril finished the troll off as Shadow went through the large chest and I moved out to the hall and keep an eye on things. Jeff had been hauling all the loot to this point, so I was wondering if Shadow would have enough strength to pick up from here, or if we''d need to spread it around some. When they came out I asked her, and got "Unless we pick up non-magic items it shouldn''t be an issue. Magic weapons and armor are the heavy items and they seem kind of scarce" "True" I said as I got ready for the next door "I''ve found exactly two usable weapons since I''ve been here" I was tempted to knock, just to see what would happen, but decided that might be better at the beginning of a dungeon. Swinging the door open, I took a quick look, then relaxed a little and said "Ok, one of these" The room had three pedestals sitting in the middle, each with a lever on it. Two stone statues stood against the right and left wall, and there wasn''t anything else in the thirty by thirty foot room. Shadow and Siril joined me at the door, and after a few seconds Shadow said "I can see a hidden door in the back wall. It looks like your basic guessing game. Pick the wrong lever and a golem comes to life" The stone statues were actually very detailed, showing two, eight foot tall human warriors of all things, each holding a two handed sword. They didn''t show a tag, so I had no idea of their level or health at this point. "Maria said magic isn''t much good against Golems, and swords and arrows do half damage" I said, glancing at the two of them and getting agreeing nods. "I''m guessing the door will close when we pull a lever, so the important question will be if choosing wrong brings both to life, or only one" "No, the real question is if we''re willing to risk it" Shadow said with a grin "because I''m all for finding out what''s behind that door" "Maybe come back after we finish the quest?" I asked, getting a head shake from both before Siril said "No telling if we can return here, so I say we go for it" "Your call" I said, stepping into the room "I''ll do the lever pull. Shadow stays hidden as much as possible, and Siril tries his firebolts" I looked at him and added "and plan to run away a lot. Try to put me between you and whichever one you attack" Shadow walked to the far side of the room, then disappeared, as Siril went to stand in the corner behind me and to my left. The statues would have to take a couple steps to be able to hit me, so I hoped to have a few seconds to evaluate things. I looked the pedestals over, but didn''t find anything that made one of them stand out. Shrugging I reached up and jerked the right most one toward me. There was a couple seconds pause, then the door slammed shut and the statue on my left began raising his sword with a cracking noise. A quick glance to my right showed that the statue wasn''t moving, so I raised Bruce and waited to see what old stony was going to do. I guess with the door shut the thing didn''t need to hurry, because it did the whole raise the sword high, then began a slow plod my way, his tag appearing and saying Stone Warrior Level 15 Health 220 Could have been worse. I yelled "Don''t do anything yet Siril" as I dodged the downward swinging sword. The sword was a lot faster than the rest of the golem, but slow enough that it missed the first three swings. I hit all three of mine, calling Fist each time, and managing to bring the sucker down below a quarter of his health. Fist added up quick if I had the time to make it work, something I needed to start making better use of. The rockhead connected with a sideways slice, cutting me good and tossing me to the ground. He did about 90 points of damage, getting some reflected damage in return, so I ignored it and rolled to my feet in time for Shadow to do a back stab and finish the thing off. I went ahead and did a couple quick healing spells, then a restore as Shadow and Siril were talking "Not so bad" Siril said as he joined us where the golem had died, though the golem didn''t leave anything behind, which I thought was a bit cheap. "Jake''s pretty good with that mace" Shadow said as she walked over and started looking at the levers. After a moment, she said "Man, we''ll feel stupid if it''s the middle one" "Probably doesn''t matter at this point" I said as I joined her "Unless the next one is tougher than this one, it''s probably worthwhile taking him down for the experience" At their shrugs, I said "I''m going to call down some holy fire first thing to see if it works, but it won''t do any damage to you" "Holy fire huh?" Siril said with a laugh as he went back to his corner. Shadow gave me a wink before disappearing and leaving me to pull the next lever, which was the center one. There was the slight pause, then the cracking, grinding noise from my right. I stepped back to open up more space, then called down Telina''s flame. It formed above the thing as it raised it''s sword, than flashed down and splashed outward, getting an ''Eep'' sound from Siril before he realized it wasn''t doing any damage to him. The golem lost half it''s health, so I shrugged and did it again, finishing the thing before it even completed the slow raising of it''s sword. Easiest fight in history. "Well shit" Shadow said with a laugh, appearing beside me "Someone''s been holding out on us" I shrugged as I walked back over and gave the last lever a yank, then as a section of the back wall swiveled open, said "Takes a fair amount of my mana, so I usually don''t use it, since I mostly concentrate on keeping my teammates alive. Low risk here" We gathered at the opened wall panel, and looked into a small room with four chests in it. The mother lode! Shadow looked around, then said "Looks clear" A glimmering on the floor right inside the doorway had captured my attention, and as Shadow started to take a step forward it resolved into a glowing rune that said Rune of Lightning Activation requirements: Any creature other than a goblin stepping over it Damage: 150 points shock damage and 10 second stun My grab and yank pulled Shadow back a second before she stepped forward. Her squawk of surprise almost drowned out my "Wait, trap!" It took a couple minutes for me to explain what I was seeing, then a few more minutes of discussions about jumping over, or edging around, before I said "Just stand on the other side of the room, I''ll walk over it. It doesn''t do enough damage to kill me" Both of them said "Sure" a lot quicker than I had expected, making me regret not letting them try their ideas. As soon as my foot moved over the rune, I was blown back, getting thrown far enough to hit my head on the pedestals as white light blinded me. I was definitely stunned, in serious pain, and had small arcs of electricity still popping around me, though a message was floating around waiting for me to read it. "Owww" I mumbled as I just laid on the floor and waited for the stun to get over so I could heal myself. Darned goddess giggled in my ear while I was lying there moaning. "Yeah, real funny" I said as I finally cast two heal spells on myself. I still hurt all over, and told myself that next time I would wait for someone else to volunteer. Staggering to my feet, I saw Shadow and Siril heading into the other room, so I said "No, no, I''m fine, thanks for asking" This time I heard Shadow let out a laugh. When I pulled it up, the message said You have acquired a new rune Rune of Lightning Lightning: When activated will do 150 points of shock damage to a single creature, and stun for 5 seconds + 1 sec/level of caster Chain Lightning: When activated will do 50 points of shock damage and stun for 10 seconds all creatures within twenty feet that meet activation requirements Activation requirements determined by caster Mana required to cast: 180 Holy hand grenades Batman, that just made the whole trip worthwhile. ------Note------- Been a while, but I''ve still got some I''ll be posting as I can S. Zaplosky Chap 28: ....until someone shoots their eye out I didn''t want Siril and Shadow to know I could write runes, but I absolutely had to make myself a shock bang grenade, so I knelt down by the pedestals, pulled a large emerald from inventory, and wrote my first Lightning Rune. It offered the choice of ''Lightning'' or ''Chain Lightning'', and an activation, mine being "Chain Lightning" and "Arm when I say Cowabunga, then activate when within ten feet of an enemy" The normal, less than useful "Done" appeared, and I was the proud owner of my very own magic grenade. Cool beans. I let them finish going through the chests, not getting any special nudge from Telina that there was anything of interest to me, and spent the rest of my time redoing my armor spell, then restoring my mana. "That was a nice find" Siril said as we headed toward the door at the end of the hall "But I''m starting to think you were mucho lucky to find the stuff you have now" I shrugged and said "Pretty much. Most of the things I can use is also usable by everyone, which is why I get first refusal on that stuff" I figured it wouldn''t hurt to remind them of our agreement, though they hadn''t done anything to really make me doubt their honesty. "You seem pretty trusting about this" Shadow said, sort of undermining my last thought. "Not sure if you guys know it, but the goddesses are real here, and I''m the goddess Telina''s priest" I said with a grin "she''ll let me know if something gets forgotten" Shadow cast a doubtful look my way as Siril let out a laugh, but neither of them offered an opinion. The door we stopped at was larger then normal, maybe nine feet high and five wide, but it wasn''t trapped, or even locked. "Think this is the door they all mentioned?" Shadow asked Siril. At my questioning look, Siril said "Couple of groups have tried this dungeon, and all of them died in a maze that had a big door at the start of it. No one would give any info of course, but Shadow spied on them and found out quite a bit. It''s supposed to be dark enough that humans needed torches, and they were attacked constantly by either rats or spiders. Maybe both" "One group said rats, the other said spiders" Shadow said, then shuddered visibly and added "God I hope it''s not spiders" refocusing on us, she said "The other teams were tank heavy and their tanks were lower health than you suggested" her eyes flicked my way on the last part "but we''re going in with only three people. The creatures were one hit kills supposedly, but they attacked in waves, and if you stopped moving, you would get overrun" she paused, then added "No one said specifically, but the way they talked I think the bites are poisonous. Do low level damage over a period of time" "Sounds like they wear you down" I said thoughtfully, my eyes on the door as I considered things, eventually shrugging and looking at the two to say "Can''t plan much until we see what we''re dealing with" Shadow pulled out a torch, that lit itself when she held it up, and I opened the door. The door opened into the intersection of a stone corridor, with a hallway stretching straight ahead, and to our right and left. It was completely dark, unlike the torch lighting that was the norm for these places. Shadow''s torch threw light about twenty feet in every direction, but I could see about twice that far, and after asking, found out that Siril could also. The door slammed shut behind us, surprising no one, and we stood for a moment to get our bearings. I sent a ''Could you give me any help here'', to Telina, and about fell over when I got a nudge toward the right. Siril suddenly said "Ok, I''ve got spiders on the left and center" I looked down the right hand hall, then said "Yeah, on the right too. I''m getting some guidance, so we''ll be going right. Unless you guys have a different idea, I''ll lead with Shadow so she can spot traps, and I''ll call Holy Fire down on any groups in front of us. Siril covers the back and uses a fireball if we get attacked from that side. Anything gets through we kill it best we can, but keep moving" "Oh god" Shadow muttered, actual fear showing on her face when I looked over. Siril said "I''m good for four shots, so let''s move fast" I reached over and took Shadow''s hand, causing her to jerk in surprise, her whole body tense. She looked up at me as I said softly "I''ve got you. Stay close. I won''t let you go" She nodded spastically, but kind of settled a little and focused on the right hand hallway, saying softly "Looks c...clear" The stutter, and her obvious fear worried me, but all we could do was go forward, so I started walking, raising my mace slightly when I could see the mass of spiders clearly. There looked to be about fifty of them in a large cluster along the floor and walls, so when I called fire down on them, it engulfed the whole group. I hadn''t gotten close enough to read tags, so didn''t know level or health, but when the flame cleared, the spiders were gone. "Ok. That cleared this group" squeezing her hand, I said to Shadow "I''m going to restore my mana, so I''ll be a little vague for a half a minute" She nodded, none of us having slowed our walking pace, and kept hold of my hand as I did my first walking mana restore. It took a little longer, but by the time we had gone one hundred steps and came to a four way intersection, I was good. Telina nudged me forward, and I didn''t slow, just saying "Straight ahead" as I focused on the next batch of spiders. I called down fire, catching all but three of them. One of Shadow''s knives flew out to impale one when it entered the torch light, and Bruce accounted for the other two when they jumped at me. I had stepped forward to get them to focus on me, and got one in the air. The other landed on my arm and bit me before I bashed it with the mace. They read as "Cave Spider" Level 4 Health 10 The bite burned, and my health dropped a couple more points over the next thirty seconds. The bite and the poison did maybe eight or ten points of damage. Not much, but multiply that by fifty and it could get ugly. A whoosh followed by an explosion preceded Siril saying "They had massed and were moving closer" I didn''t look back, just saying "Keep moving" as I did another restore. Every time we came to an intersection we repeated our efforts. I cleared the path forward, Siril usually had to throw a fireball back, and a couple spiders usually got through. Shadow screamed when one jumped on her, and she was nearly hysterical by the time I killed the thing and healed her. I had been ignoring my bites, but the healing spell gave you a feeling of warmth, or comfort, so figured it would do her good. We didn''t stop walking, but I had her begin moving behind me when an attack came. Two rights, one straight, two lefts, and an endless number of ''keep moving'' later, Siril ran out of mana. I gritted my teeth, pulled out a mana potion, and handed it back, not looking at him as I said "Here, drink this. You can ask about it when we get out of here" I could almost feel Siril holding back the questions, but Shadow said stridently "Keep moving!", ending any comment he might have made. The dark halls, the reflected light from hundreds of eyes, and Shadow''s palpable terror made this one of the most unpleasant experiences so far. I''m guessing we couldn''t hyperventilate and pass out or Shadow would have after a spider got by me by sticking to the ceiling and jumping down on her from above. I think if I hadn''t been getting directions from Telina, we would never have made it, and I could see why no one else had. Someone designed this dungeon to be almost impossible for anyone to get through if they couldn''t restore their mana like a priest. Four or five more intersections later, we eventually reached a point that we saw light ahead. I was braced for an all out attack, or some kind of boss spider, but it was just a twenty by twenty room, with a door on the other side. When all three of us entered it, a stone slid down and blocked the hall access, ensuring we didn''t leave, and the spiders didn''t get in. Shadow let out a huge sob of relief and hugged me tight, laughing, crying and shivering spastically for a good two or three minutes. I couldn''t think of anything comforting to say, so I just held her as I looked around. The room was just a square, empty room, with a door directly across from the blocked entrance we had come in. It made me think of a waiting room without a couch or chairs. When Shadow finally got herself together and moved away, she mumbled a few embarrassed things I couldn''t understand, but I shrugged and said "We all have things that get to us. If we ever come across my old high school math teacher, Mrs. Grinkowski, you''ll see me scream in fear and run away" I shivered exaggeratedly and added "Totally a boss type" "Ok, where''d it come from?" Siril asked, ignoring our byplay. I rolled my eyes, then looked at Shadow and nodded at the door, before saying to Siril "Store in the capital sells them now. Adventurer''s Emporium. Bring lots of gold" "I''ll buy whatever you have on you" Siril said, making me stop and think about it. If I didn''t sell them, and we came on a situation we needed it, I would end up just giving it to him. Nodding to myself, I pulled out two potions and said "Ten gold each" "Done!" he said, grabbing them and making them disappear in a heartbeat. He gave me twenty gold, but I was realizing as I put it away that I should have charged more. A lot more. We joined Shadow, who hadn''t found any traps and told us the door wasn''t even locked. The three of us kind of eyed it, probably all thinking about how hard it was to get here, and what that might mean. Siril finally shrugged and said "Got to go forward" "Damn right" Shadow said back "going back is right out!" I reached forward and opened the door. It was a bit of an anticlimax since we found ourselves looking at a huge piece of cloth about ten feet away. Sliding forward a little, I looked right and left, then slid back and said quietly "Ok, I think it''s a huge room. It has these big drapes hanging from the ceiling about ten feet from the walls for some reason" "Wait here" Shadow said, her grin coming back as she slipped through the door and disappeared. Siril started to ask something a couple times, but I just shook my head when he opened his mouth, not interested in answering any questions. I was actually kind of irritated that I was feeling protective of Shadow, now that she''d shown she needed it. Guys in my unit used to say I was a soft touch for sob stories, which was unfortunately true. It was such a...dumb thing. Especially when you considered what I had spent my adult life doing and how capable Shadow was. But as soon as a kid or a girl threw tears at me I turned into a spineless wuss. Every time. Luckily Shadow came back about then since I was just making myself grumpy. She rolled her eyes as soon as she stopped in front of us, and said "You are not going to freaking believe this" When she didn''t continue, I said "Unless you tell us something, I''m going to have to agree" "It''s a throne room" she said with a grin "The guy wearing the crown isn''t a goblin, he''s some kind of weird, dark skinned elf. Aaand..." she paused theatrically before saying "he has four level 14 ogres as guards. Ogres with 400 health, in full plate armor, carrying war hammers" "What the hell?" Siril muttered, his face screwed up in confusion "what the hell''s the king then?" "Oh, you''ll love this" another theatrical pause and grin "Level 20. 600 health" "Jesus!" Siril said, loud enough that I shushed him with a glare. I sighed as I tried to see how we could manage four ogres and a level 20 boss. I eventually said "Ideas?" "We''re screwed" Siril said helpfully "Ignoring the king for now, we have to do twelve hundred points of damage to take out the four ogres. I can shoot my wad on a meteor swarm that will do 150 points to everyone in the room, but they have to stay there for the full fifteen seconds" he shook his head in aggravation as he added "They''ll be on us like white on rice as soon as the spell starts, and even with your potion, what do I use after that? Fireballs?" "Wait" I said, thinking about what he had just said. My new grenade stunned for ten seconds. That would be even more important than the damage for this. Oh crap, I forgot the damn armor again! My chuckle got surprised looks, so I said "Alright, I think I can keep them in place for twenty seconds, and do fifty points of damage. I can throw three holy fire spells, which will do 120 points each, and 30 points splash damage, which brings us to 350..." I paused, losing track of the numbers, finally shrugging and saying "Shadow can be throwing knives while they''re stunned, and you can take a potion and lob fireballs until they get too close" It was weird as hell doing math before a fight, but I kept at it, finally saying "I''ll finish by targeting the king with as much fire as I can, but I think Shadow needs to disappear as soon as they start moving and see if she can do a backstab" We worked on the details, with Shadow planning to slip behind the drapes after the attack started to get positioned against the king, and Siril getting tasked with ensuring the ogres went down, while I focused on the king. Shadow said the room was fairly long, with the enemy grouped at the other end, with the king on a throne, and the four ogres standing around him. I pulled up my flame gem and had it in my off hand when I finally stepped out from behind the drapes. The king was an elf of some kind, but his skin was a sort of greyish black color, and he was holding a staff in his left hand. The ogres were all about nine feet tall, and they really were wearing plate mail. Helmets, chest armor, greaves, everything. I was betting Bruce would be doing minimal damage through all that armor. They were all kind of just frozen until I stepped out, then the ogres all raised their hammers, and the king leaned forward with a grin and said "Ah, eternals. I had begun..." The flash of light from my armor was way up on the nuclear bomb scale, and if it wasn''t magic, I would have been completely blind. But it was, and I wasn''t. The ogres and the elf were all on their knees, hands covering their faces, moaning in pain. I grinned as I raised the gem and focused on the ogre closest to me, saying "Flame on" just as Siril finished casting his spell. A swirling black cloud formed over the group, red flashes rippling through it, until my holy fire formed on an edge close to us. The holy fire flashed down, impacted on the ogre I had picked, then splashed outward to cover the rest of the group. By my second ''flame on'', fist sized balls of fire began streaking downward from the black cloud, impacting throughout that side of the room. I had gotten three holy fire spells off, and switched to my shock grenade before the stun completely wore off. The King was actually kneeling upright and looking at me as I said "Cowabunga dude!" and pitched the gem up to arch down in the center of their group. The gem was still in the air above them when it went off. Five bolts of electricity shot down to hit all five of the enemy, then the bolts kind of bounced and arced between the ogres and elf. The fire storm came to an abrupt end, the black cloud seeming to get sucked back in on itself before disappearing completely, but the loud snaps and pops of the lightning show kept things interesting. I heard Siril drinking his potion, making me wonder why he waited this long. Ignoring that for now, I ran to my right, trying to get a visual on the king since he had dropped behind one of the ogres. I called flame down on the last ogre as the lightning quit. My flame impacted and splashed out, turning two ogres into gear piles as a fireball shot in from where Siril was. The king was still kneeling, but his right hand flicked out, and a silver whip shot forward to hit the fireball, causing the ball to get sucked into the whip. I blinked in surprise, losing a second before I turned and raised my mace to call down my last flame spell. The whip shot out again, but this time it hit me...right in my left eye. Then everything exploded. I flew backwards, flame seeming to shoot back into my head, searing my sinuses, and, I''m pretty sure, cooking my brain. I ended up on my back, one bleary eye looking up, as I thought "So that''s where that fireball went" A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. There was probably a stunned message floating around, but if so, I didn''t see it. I had lost a huge amount of health, and was trying to get enough brain cells working to do...something, when the whip snapped down and pulled Bruce out of my hand. It also left a message behind You have been Silenced Of course I was. I was so going to apply for serious disability benefits, since you know, blind and mute. It would be hard to argue with a blind and mute guy about how disabled he was. Line of work injury too, so we were talking big money. The babble running through my brain tapered off some, and I levered myself up on my elbows in time to see Shadow back stab the dude. It was close. Really close. But he still had some health left when he turned and did a magical gesture at her, causing a stone hand to rise up from the floor and grasp her tightly. I shook my head to see if that helped, but when my eye came back to her, she was still being held in a stone fist. Looking around, I saw Siril in his own fist, making me giggle as I realized they were both right hands. "Priest of Telina" elf boy said mockingly as I forced myself up to a sitting position. The whip was gone, but the bastard was holding Bruce in his right hand, staff in his left. Holding Bruce up, he said to me "A valiant effort from such weak opponents. To think that one who serves the half breed bitch would garner the power to reach this far" his grin turned into a sneer as he turned toward Shadow and said "I believe I will use your own weapon to kill your friends" glancing back at me he asked "Unless you wish to beg me for their lives" Wow, this guy had the whole Doctor Evil thing down pat. I couldn''t help but laugh for a second, getting him to throw the sneer at me, before I tried to do a one-eyed tough guy thing and said "No one disses my goddess while I''m around" I paused, another stupid giggle breaking free (I know, overconfidence, but you had to be there)...anyway, I paused, then trying to sound like something other than a one-eyed, blown up priest, I said loudly "By Telina''s Sultry Smile, it''s Clobberin Time!!!" It was truly a thing of beauty. Bruce did himself proud, blowing the elf''s hand off and getting a look of absolute horror from the elf just before he turned to ash. It really is the little things that make life worth living. The silence spell disappeared with the elf, and a level up message appeared, but I had collapsed backwards again and I spent a short time healing the shit out of myself instead of reading it. Every time I think I''ve found the new worst thing, something like this happens. A fireball in the eye? Really? I levered myself up, still a little woozy, to find I had a silver...thing on my arm. It had a tag that read Serpent''s Strike As one of the legendary weapons created by Xirat Krisnon, Serpent''s Strike must be won in battle. This weapons capabilities are determined by the wielder''s skill, experience level, attributes, actions, and intent. Wielder be warned, once earned in battle, it can not be removed, and a legendary weapon takes great patience to truly master. Becoming one with it''s wielder, the Serpent will draw strength through the bond. -1 Strength +3 Dexterity +1 to attribute of choice other than strength, for every 10 experience levels earned Damage: 1 point/level of impact damage 1 point/level of elemental damage (type determined during strike) Level 1-5: Wielder may channel a spell through the weapon with 20% less mana required Level 6-10: Wielder is capable of hitting targets up to 50 feet away. Wielder may cast silence once per day upon successful strike. Level 11-15: Wielder can disarm an opponent with a successful strike against the opponents weapon Level 16-20: Weapon strike can absorb incoming spells, then Wielder can direct the damage on any following strike. Level 21 and above: ?? "It crawled over and wrapped itself around your arm" Shadow said. I looked up to see both of them eyeing my arm distrustfully. "It was the whip that elf was using" Siril added helpfully "I suppose its yours now, though Jeff will probably bitch a little" "Screw that" Shadow said as she turned to go scrounge through creature piles "I''d say Jake earned that thing...whatever it is" This thing looked damn cool, like a silver snake wrapped around my forearm, with the head resting just above my wrist. Unfortunately, right at that moment I was still running on fumes. All my numbers were fine, but having my brain shake and baked left me feeling pretty...drifty. I must have fallen asleep for a moment, because the level up message was floating in front of me when I opened my eyes, as well as one from the snake. The snake message asked what attribute I wanted to enhance, and my mind was clear enough now for me to actually think about it. One point every ten levels. So basically two points this year, maybe less. I decided that since I would be putting regular points toward wisdom, and all the rings and stuff were tied to strength and dexterity, and I had enough stamina, I would allocate these toward the intelligence numbers. Since I had made level twelve, I would be allocating the one wisdom point and gaining one intelligence point, three dexterity points, and losing a strength point. All in all, not a bad day, though getting a weapon that tells you to ''be warned'', is a bit of a mixed bag. You have reached Level 12 You may choose one new spell Telina''s Beneficent Word Shouting this holy word will cause all who hear it to do the following Friends: Heal 50% +1%/level of accumulated damage. Restore 50% +1%/level of used mana Dispel all enemy spells presently active. Enemies: Do 8 points/level of damage (Double damage to undead) Stun for 1 second/level (Cannot be silenced) Mana: 200 (One day cool down) Telina''s Enhancing Word (Strength) Shouting this holy word will cause all friends who hear it to gain: +1 strength for every 5 levels you have gained Duration: 8 hours (Cannot be silenced) Mana: 160 (Two day cool down) This was a no brainer. 96 points of damage by shouting at my enemies? I''d be crazy not to take it. Ring of Serizon +1 Strength +1 Dexterity +2 Armor Warrior''s Heart (Ring) +3 Strength +2 Dexterity +4 Armor Serpent''s Strike -1 Strength +3 Dexterity +1 Intelligence Healer Priest (Dragonsbane) Level 12 (60%) STR 10 (13) DEX 10 (16) STA 20 INT 10 (11) WIS 16 Health: 320 Mana: 160 Endurance: 200 Armor (+30%): 46 I was moving up in the world. Shadow and Siril had done their scrounging, and Shadow had found the exit door behind the throne, so I dragged my lazy ass up and decided I better get back to work. I cast a group blessing, then my armor spell and did a restore before we opened the door. I didn''t know diddly about the snake, so for now Bruce was still my go to weapon. I would have to practice with the whip after I got rid of my tour group, not wanting to advertise any strengths or weaknesses. That last fight had been a bit rough, so I was happy to find a set of stairs leading upwards, and no enemies when I opened the door. Shadow led the way, and Siril and I followed a few seconds later. Siril surprised me by not asking me questions about the mana potions, but he did jabber on about the double level up they got for killing all the high level creatures, and for completing a quest. I hoped Jeff was smart enough to put at a point into his stamina, though I didn''t think there was much he could do to salvage things unless he dropped down and resorted his points. It was a long walk up the stairs, but we didn''t have to fight anything, and when we got to the top we came out in a shallow cave. The door shut behind us, disappearing into the rock wall, getting Shadow to say "Totally gone. Doesn''t even show up as a hidden door" We were a fair distance from the start of the dungeon, so it took thirty minutes of walking to get back to our horses and night was coming on, so we set up camp. With only three of us, standing guard would be a bitch, but no one wanted to risk getting killed in their sleep. "Jeff wants to be there when we settle up" Shadow said with a grimace, her eyes unfocused as she read a message. I shrugged, but said "I guess I did say we would settle up when we got back to Riverbend, and he was part of the group. Kind of a waste for him to make the trip for just that though" I''d dealt with enough criminals to recognize that someone was maneuvering for an advantage, but didn''t see any real risk in it for me. My dreams that night included a visit by Telina, and I was happy that it started with Mary and I having a picnic, and not something more risqu¨¦. Telina walked out of the woods, causing Mary to fade, but not before throwing me a kiss. I stood up, then joined Telina as we started walking through my forest. "Thanks for the guidance in the maze" I told her, looking over to see her grin and shake her head before saying "My dear priest, I do wonder about you sometimes. I am a goddess. You are my priest; my voice and presence on this land. As with the Cup of Charity, you are a conduit for my power, and through you I can affect events in ways that benefit my people. Your unwillingness to ask me for any help is something my sisters find great humor in, though they envy me greatly for having gained your willing aid" she looked sideways at me and added "There are many limits upon our powers, but giving you directions in a maze, while affecting many things indirectly, is not something any of my sisters would begrudge me" "Umm.." I said intelligently, then shut up as I considered what she was really telling me. I already knew she was couldn''t speak directly about a lot of things, and it was clear she was telling me something here. The problem was, I didn''t have enough information to figure out what, so I finally said "You acted directly against Carlos the Damned. What was the difference between that act, and giving me directions in the maze" She nodded, but didn''t look at me as we paced between the trees, just saying "When I or my sisters act directly, we are drawing upon our own well of power. This power is given to us when our faithful act in our name, and is limited and slow to be regained if our flock is small. My actions in damning the eternal used most of my power, leaving me temporarily weakened, and less able to affect events. But the ripples from the event will stay in motion for centuries, so I decided the risk was worth the future gains. None of my sisters can presently match the size of my growing flock, so they will not risk anything similar" We walked along quietly as she spent time considering, finally saying "This is not a simple thing, but a priest or paladin, when drawing upon their powers, is using the mana around them, not their goddesses. A mage absorbs power slowly from environment around them, but a priest has it...channeled to him through his or her goddess. This is also gathered from the environment, but done without any active participation by a goddess, other than her existence. Beyond the use of spells, when a priest, paladin, or one of her faithful calls upon a goddess, she can respond if this response is not...resisted" Telina grimaced slightly, then sighed and said "which I will not discuss. But you should know that in these instances, the power is channeled by the faithful and is not drawn directly from the goddess. The difference, while seemingly small, is very important to the balance we maintain" Uh-huh. She was basically talking about the difference between doing something because she wanted to, and being asked to do something. I already knew from the potion making that things were affected by our will, or more directly, by our choices. Maybe this was all about shifting responsibility from her to me, allowing her to work around some of the limitations she was operating under. Summarized, I was pretty sure it meant she thought I should be trying to involve her more. I didn''t see that becoming a habit, but I might start looking more closely at situations that could help her reputation. "The Serpent''s Strike appearing now is unexpected" Telina said, obviously moving on to a different topic "and had you not included yourself in the quest, it would still be in the hands of the Goblin King. Many things of power were hidden, or placed in areas not accessible by eternals, with the Serpent being one of them. My sisters and I are discussing how your involvement affects the balance, though I do not foresee any of them resisting these things coming to light again" "You want me to look for them?" I asked, wondering if they fell into the same category as the cup "No" she said definitively "It is better to leave them to be found without our involvement, though you would be wise to take possession of them if you do come across one. Let the Guardians see to such things for now, as it will appease my sisters greatly if you appear to be allowing power to pass you by" "Well" I said with a grin "letting other people do all the hard stuff works for me. This dungeon tour thing turned out to be a lot more work than I had expected, and Dalmar and Maria spoiled me. I''m also rethinking my mana potion business, or at least what I''m charging. Instead of gold, I was thinking about bartering for magic items to equip my people with. Andulin and his guards can always use the boost, and I might find something useful for me too" "Few of your fellow eternals act as if their lives have any meaning, or seem to care about the propriety of their actions" Telina said, ignoring my potion business. I realized about then that my forest seemed a lot bigger, but shrugged the thought away as I told her "Be a while before eternals start reevaluating things. I imagine Jeff and his crew is a good representation of most eternals" Telina stopped and turned to face me, her sly smile coming out as she said "The eternal named Jeff covets the Serpent, and intends to withhold your agreed upon earnings. None of my sisters would dispute the requirement that one upholds his word is such situations, so perhaps you might ask a goddess to bring bad luck to such oath breakers" her smile turned into a laugh as she added "Though if you do not call on me, you might wish to limit mention of bouncing bosoms or sultry smiles" I was actually chuckling when I woke up, something that drew an odd look from Siril, who had the watch. Chap 29: Questing anyone? The next day, before we got moving, I did something I rarely if ever did; I sent a message. It was a quick note to my paladins, plus Dalmar and Maria, telling them about legendary weapons. I also mentioned that someone should stop in the Emporium and tell them to barter for magic items on the mana potions. Jeff wouldn''t get to Riverbend for another seven days, so when we got there a day later, I told Shadow and Siril I would meet them at the same Inn in six days. Shadow looked conflicted about things, but as far as I was concerned, doing nothing was a choice in itself. I was home thirty minutes after ditching the two of them, and hugging Mary and casting my first heal spell two minutes after that. A few minutes later I found out the Serpent wouldn''t come off, but we decided to just ignore it. When we came downstairs the next morning, there was a group waiting for me. Susan, Mirabeth, Ariel, and Sienna were sitting at my table talking, and they all stood up when Mary and I joined them. I was somewhat surprised at the hugs from Susan and Ariel, but seriously shocked when I got one from Mirabeth. Sienna almost came around for one I think, but settled for a smile and a nod. "Wow" I said as I pulled chairs over and settled in with Mary "Seems like a while since I''ve seen the whole group" Sienna giggled. Really. Then said "We all just finished saying the same thing" Ariel and Susan nodded agreement, and Susan said "Maria asked to meet so we can team up with some of her people. She thought it would be a good idea to back each other up and for her people to learn from us, though I think that''s mostly oriented toward Sienna and Mirabeth" "Amen to that" I said with an eye roll "I just went through a dungeon with a fire mage who was about as useless as...something useless" I faltered at the end since my focus shifted to a bunch of food Samuel and a couple of new girls brought out and placed around the table. Paula and Sara had been added to the Inn staff to help Mary and Darla, and while I hadn''t noticed, the Inn had grown a little more. I said hello to the two girls, but they just smiled shyly and wouldn''t say anything. Totally not what you think of when you think tavern wench. I wondered if this reality was different, or if the other reality had just stereotyped. "Is that the whip thing?" Ariel asked, nodding toward my forearm. At my nod, she said "Tried it out yet?" "Nope" I replied "Maybe later today, but I''ll get away from people until I know it won''t kill anyone" "Tales say that those who held weapons created by Krisnon the Mad thought they were living creatures" Mirabeth said "and that one did not use the weapon so much as joined with it" That wasn''t at all mysterious, and no, I hadn''t missed ''the mad'' part. I chuckled at the thought, but added "Well, it does come with a ''be warned'' message, so you can''t say I wasn''t" "Did you name it?" Susan said with a grin "I''m thinking Sam" I said "that way I can drag it out and say Sssssam" I got a giggle from Mary, and a round of chuckles from the group, though not Mirabeth. She just nodded and said "Naming it is probably a wise idea" We moved on to my recent foray into the tour business, and we all had a good laugh at what a learning experience it was. Ariel got laugh tears when I described Siril blowing Jeff up, and Jeff''s response to my outrage. She was still laughing when she said "Same thing. Couple guys in that little town outside the capital. I was beating on this warrior type, and his buddy hit us both with a fireball. Finished his buddy off for me" "They have time to get better" Susan said "but it''s to our benefit that they don''t until we have the rules ingrained into our society. One of the coastal cities is pretty large and it sounds like they are organized. Captain Pagalis says there are 37 eternals with spawn points there, and more than a few are holding slaves. We''ll be heading that way after we get Maria''s people together" They were going to the Guardian castle, so I spent the morning getting caught up on things. I ordered three more portal stones, walked the walls with Andulin, meeting the ever growing number of guards, and spent some time talking with Seth about how stuff was selling. It was the afternoon by the time I went to the clearing Mary and I did our picnics in and took a look at what I would be dealing with. So far the snake had just sat on my arm like some kind of decorative bracer, so getting it to do anything would be the first step. "Alright Sam" I started, addressing the snake as I held my arm up "You''ve got a tough act to follow in Bruce, so you''ll want to bring your ''A'' game" The snake didn''t twitch, so I closed my eyes and tried to remember the Indiana Jones movies and how the whip looked. I kept my eyes closed, and moved my hand back, then forward like I was whipping something, but Sam just sat there like a decoration. This attempt was followed by multiple visualization attempts, clearing my mind attempts, picturing a tree as an enemy attempts, and even yelling at the whip attempts. After an hour I had accomplished nothing other than raising my frustration level. I called it quits after blessing the darn thing, and even asking the goddess for hints. The blessing just made it shine brightly for a second, and the request just got a giggle. A million swords, knives, hammers, and bows, and I get a whip. I was pretty sure in a hundred years I would be an expert with it, but now; now I just felt like an idiot. Well, I had said I wanted to spend my time learning a weapon, so complaining would just make me sound like a whiner. Not that I''ve ever said I wasn''t one, but still. Dalmar was at the Inn when I got back, and he had one of Maria''s people with him. The first thing I noticed was that she had curly black hair. Not afro type, but loose curls that hung down to her shoulders. I remembered seeing it on the trip through the Forbidden Lands, and in a world where all the eternals opted for straight hair, her name was one I remembered. Diana. She was about my height, and looked strong, though that was harder to judge with women, who seemed to maintain their feminine form no matter how strong. She had a warhammer sitting beside her, sort of matching Dalmar''s, but his had that uber magic look, and hers didn''t. "Dalmar, Diana" I said by way of a greeting, reaching over to shake hands with Dalmar, then pausing until Diana held hers out, before reaching out to shake hers. "Hey Jake" Dalmar said before nodding Diana''s way and saying "You obviously remember Diana. We''ve teamed up" There was something steady and reassuring about Dalmar, probably why Maria had made the teddy bear crack. He just struck you as solid and unexcitable. The stocky body, short bearded face, and calm demeanor made a difference, but it was more that he struck you as older and experienced. I was betting he had been a big man in the real world, and probably in his fifties or sixties. They had been doing trips in the Forbidden Lands, taking teams of guardians out for the experience, and to do some exploring. "Lots of stuff out there" Diana said "We haven''t tried to enter them yet, but we''ve found a couple of ruins, and three caves that are dungeon entrances" "To risky until everyone gets up into the teens" Dalmar said with a nod "most of Maria''s people will be hitting level 7, so they''ll be making choices soon" he nodded at Diana and said "Diana''s just hit 6" He took a drink from his mug, then set it down like he was getting to business, and said "I think we have a way into Lor Frell. My people have what they call the Underroads. It''s basically roads they built underground connecting various cities, and we should be able to access them way west of dragon territory" "Sounds easy" I said "What''s the catch?" "The dwarves don''t travel those sections anymore, so we''ll be dealing with whoever is living in them" Diana said with a grin "and the tunnels go everywhere, so we''ll have to follow a map" "So, getting lost and eaten" I said with a nod "normal stuff" "You know Bob''s thinking about looking into the Blight?" Dalmar asked, and at my nod, said "Maria wants in on that, so she has one of her three person teams working with him" he paused at Diana''s laugh, then shrugged and added "a little tension at first, but things have settled down a lot" he gestured at me and said "I know we talked about doing a small group, but Maria and I think we should do two groups. Bob and his team, and you, me, Maria, and Diana in the other" I couldn''t see any downside to the idea, other than the whole crowd thing, so I said "I have no problem with it" "Good" Dalmar said with a smile "didn''t think you would, but wanted to make sure. The best access point to the underroads appears to be five days southeast of Riverbend. That''ll mean somewhere between another seven to ten days getting to Lor Frell, depending on any issues" "When you thinking about going?" I asked Dalmar shrugged and said "Whenever you''re ready. A day or two to get everyone to Riverbend and get supplies, and we could go" "In six days then" I said "I have to meet with that tour group and get paid, but we can leave the day after that" "You let them get away without paying you?" Diana asked with a laugh "you do know why everyone is in here right?" The question got a chuckle from Dalmar, and I gave Diana a rueful smile as I said "Yeah, but it was sort of set up this way in the agreement, though Telina says they might try to weasel out of it" "Telina says?" Diana asked, then waved a hand and added "Never mind, Dalmar warned me" "About your chit chats with the goddess" Dalmar said, then added "Your rates sounded damn cheap to me, what are they going to argue about? It''s not like there''s a lot of magic items you can use" I raised my arm so he could see the snake, getting a comprehending snort from him as Diana said "Thought that thing chose you" I nodded and said "It did, so hopefully it won''t be an issue. Really, they only owe me one magic item I know of, and a tenth of the gold, so it would be stupid to argue about it" Dalmar shook his head and leaned back as he said "Well, if stupid was an attribute, most of the people in here seem to have maxed it out" Couldn''t have said it better myself. That left me with five days to do what I wanted (other than the requisite spawn point change duty), so I used it to make mana potions to sell at the emporium, and bought vials to take with me. I had redone the fire rune on Bruce, so I added a lightning rune to him that triggered on ''Electric Slide'', figuring I would have time to make another flashbang grenade before we left, and whatever else we needed on the way to Lor Frell. I also took Mary on a shopping trip to Mairisian City. I kept it as low key as possible, and thankfully only had to deal with the guards recognizing me. There were a lot of stores it would never have occurred to me to enter, so it was fun as hell to just stop in and browse places. Clothing stores were the best, and I actually bought myself some nicer clothes, though I would probably only ever wear them somewhere safe like Mudtown. They also had very interesting versions of women''s sleepwear, and I encouraged Mary to buy everything she was willing to wear. And...they had candy stores. How I hadn''t known about that, was an indictment of the whole system. We had an awesome time, and if it weren''t for needing to watch out for eternals, and the odd pickpocket (yeah, surprised me too), it would have been just about perfect. There was only one bit of business I did while there, and that was to talk with Rabin and Narn to arrange for them to disperse copper coins to the needy in Telina''s name. A copper would feed someone for a couple of days depending on what they ate, and Telina was the goddess of beggars. The time flew by, and it wasn''t long before I found myself stepping through the portal to Riverbend. I had a two months supply of food, lots of vials, a rope I bought in the capital, and a dozen gems to make grenades out of. Thankfully my strength was higher now, because I couldn''t have carried it all when it was only at five. I stopped in at my groups normal Inn, and left word with Gina that my group would be gathering there, then headed to the one Jeff''s group used. Jeff, Siril, and Shadow were sitting at the same table as last time, so I tossed a grin at the serving girl and gave the universal hand sign for ''I need a drink''. Sitting down at the table, I took a second to evaluate how things stood. Shadow looked irritated, Siril bored, and Jeff intense. I chuckled at how silly it all seemed, since I could care less about the gold and magic item, but didn''t want people to think they could cheat me and get away with it. My drink came, so I took a sip, set it down and clapped my hands together before saying "So. Five days at 6 gold a day, plus one tenth, and first refusal on items usable by me. Ready?" "Not so fast" Jeff said, getting a grin from me. The grin seemed to irritate him since he and Shadow were starting to share the expression. Shadow threw her hands up and said "God damn it Jeff. You''re being a moron. We beat an unbeatable dungeon, got a double level jump, and you''re going to nitpick over a stupid magic item?" "Damn right" Jeff said, turning on her angrily "It was the boss drop. We went for the goblin king and should get his drop" I held up a hand with a sigh and said "Two things. First one is, the whip isn''t removable. I haven''t even figured out how to get it to do anything but be a decoration, so it''s not going to be changing hands. Second thing is, we had an agreement for first refusal on all items usable by me. If you wanted it to be something different, you should have addressed it before we left" "And he killed the guy" Siril said with a shrug "I mean, it''s not like Shadow and I could have done it. If he hadn''t pulled that last trick out of his ass, we would have all been killed" Jeff gave Siril a hurt look, almost making me laugh, but I had enough diplomacy to not do it. Jeff tried to cross his arms, but he was so muscled it was an obvious strain, so he dropped them again and said "It''s bullshit. We had the quest, and he never would have gotten the thing except for us" he glared at me and said "I''ll trade the gold and other magic items we owe you for it" Damn. I sighed and shook my head, then said "We had an agreement. You standing behind it, or are you breaking your word?" He just glared at me, obviously deciding that by saying nothing he could avoid responsibility. I rolled my eyes and looked between Siril and Shadow, saying "Breaking your word in Tarinath isn''t like back in old reality. It''s obvious that neither of you support him on this, but continuing to be partners with him will have consequences" "He''s being an asshole" Shadow said with a sigh "but we''ve stood together through to much" When Siril nodded agreement, I finished my ale and stood up. Raising a hand and speaking in my priestly voice while mentally connecting to the goddess, I said loudly "Let it be known throughout these lands that be you warrior, farmer, beggar, or thief, the goddesses have no love for those who would break their word. As Telina''s priest, I ask her to grant you ill-fortune until such time as you have restored your honor" The glow that suddenly outlined the three wasn''t missed by anyone, and all three of them jumped up, with Jeff and Shadow pulling weapons. I just lowered my hand and shook my head in disgust, as I turned to leave. The "What the hell did you do?" followed me as I left, with me only pausing long enough to look back and say "I''m leaving tomorrow and won''t be back for at least a month" I was getting a sense of approval from Telina, though I wasn''t completely sure what she gained from the whole thing. Well, not my problem anymore. Either they settled up or they didn''t, but it would be nice to know what the curse did. No one else had arrived, so I arranged for horses, though I had paid a silver for mine to be stabled at the Inn. Portal hopping was spoiling me, and I wasn''t looking forward to days of traveling, especially the walking kind. It was around noon when everyone arrived en masse, causing a bit of a stir in town. Turns out that the Queen Maria thing had taken hold pretty strongly, and the local guards insisted on treating her like royalty, even having the governor show up. I stayed well away from it all, and when it appeared things wouldn''t settle down, suggested we head out early and get a half days riding in. Maria looked pretty much the same, though her cloak was black like the other four women''s, and the tiara or crown thing definitely had a bit of a glow to it. But it was the same Maria, and she was grinning when she found me bringing the horses out, skipping over to give me a hard hug and a kiss. Laughing at the look on my face she said "Mary said it was ok as long as I gave her one too" Oh man, that thought was going to stick. She was still laughing, as she took my arm and leaned against me as she introduced her people. I had met Diana, and she was standing with Dalmar, but the other three were Anna, a dark haired sword and shield human warrior who stood a half a head taller than me. Neara, a bow carrying elven ranger, the one who had been stung by that scorpion, and Rayna, an elven defensive mage. They were all a lot more relaxed than they had been when we started the march through the Forbidden Lands, and Rayna''s spawn point had been the second one I''d done. All of them shook hands with me, then stepped aside so Bob and I could exchange grins and arm grips. "Your last teammates have titles now, did you know that?" he asked as he released my hand, breaking into a laugh at my confused look. He nodded and said "No shit. I saw them leaving the city earlier. The big, barbarian looking dude had his saddle break and he fell on one of the city guards. I heard them called the ''Dishonored'' when the guard leader was straightening it out" Cool. It sounded like someone''s curse was working. I chuckled at the image and said "Well, Telina works in mysterious ways" Maria and Bob laughed, though the other women looked like they weren''t sure it was meant as a joke. We rode out together, stopping at the south gate to get head bows and shake hands with the guards, then moving into the slow trot that we traveled at. Maria and Dalmar gravitated toward each other, and in minutes I had the normal sight of the two of them leading the way, with Maria laughing and talking as Dalmar smiled or made quiet comments. I''d missed traveling with them. "Yeah, they make the trip a lot more fun don''t they" Bob said from my left, getting me to give him a questioning look. Neara was on Bob''s left, and she looked over as Bob said "Maria and Dalmar I mean. Hard not to enjoy things when you''re with them" I nodded my agreement and said "Just got to experience what these things are like with a bunch of amateurs, and it ended up turning into work" "Well, they got lucky" Rayna said from behind us "I talked with some people in the capital who said that Goblin King quest had a lot of people taking runs at it and failing. I imagine a bunch of groups got quest failed messages after you guys killed him" "We did get lucky" I said, turning slightly in the saddle to include her "but a well balanced team might have done ok if they had mages who could renew their mana quickly" I shrugged and added "Shadow, their rogue, was really good though, and I was pretty impressed with her skills" "Better than a ranger?" Neara asked from my right, making me think having a conversation with a group while on horses could get pretty awkward. I shook my head no and said sort of generally to the group "No, the archer thing is too useful, but she was devastating against mages and would make a great fifth if you needed one" "Kind of surprising considering we were all criminals, but I don''t think very many people chose the rogue class" Bob said "Too weak" Rayna said "or at least it seemed that way when you were choosing a class" "Power" Anna said from the back "We were prisoners. Powerless to do anything. When given the choice, of course people went for the obvious" Had to agree with that. I would have chosen warrior for sure, though I doubted I would have made the same mistakes Jeff had made. Having arms so big you couldn''t do a good butt scratch would take a lot of the joy out of life. We ended up talking about the goblin king trip for a while, with everyone trying to think of ways to get around the maze if you didn''t have directions. Everyone agreed that if you had to keep backtracking you''d get overrun pretty quickly as the spiders massed behind you. The best anyone could think of was at least three mages, and preferably four, so a couple would have time to restore while the other two fought. "You think that was one of the dark elves that supposedly went east?" Bob asked later I honestly hadn''t given it a thought, not being interested in asking questions about things that might just be due to some random number generator or something. It was the same with the whole level up and spell accrual thing. As far as I could tell, you could never be sure that what worked today, wouldn''t change tomorrow. Add in the goddesses and the way eternals affected things, well, it could get weird. I finally shrugged and said "Don''t know. If so, he got left behind because no one liked him. Guy was a total asshole" That got a round of laughs, though I hadn''t really meant to be funny. Anyone who had a sneer in their repertoire of expressions was an asshole in my book. Eight people made for large camps, and the large group kept us safe until we hit the Forbidden land border two days later and ditched the horses. It was just an arbitrary point on the map, but we all put our game faces on, and I did my armor spell as needed. We rotated lead team periodically, and it was Dalmar''s team that was leading when the ogres that seemed to guard the border appeared, and...Sam finally did something. We were crossing a flat plain and saw the ogres come shambling our way from quite a distance, and as soon as I saw them, I found myself with the handle of a whip in my hand, and the whip sort of pooled at my feet. I''m not sure what my expression was, but Maria broke into giggles and said "Hey, it happens to every guy at least once" Hearing people laughing hysterically as they approached was probably a new thing for the ogres, but that didn''t stop them from attacking us. Dalmar and Diana moved forward and engaged, while everyone else sort of gathered around me. I moved the whip back and forth a little, getting a feel for it''s weight and how flexible it was, and finding it to be perfectly comfortable feeling really. I''d never used a whip, but Sam seemed about fifteen feet long, and was as flexible as the ones I''d seen on TV. "Give it a try" Bob said, motioning for everyone to move away from me. I flicked a quick heal Diana''s way, since she had taken a good whack, and to let her know I hadn''t forgotten her. Checking to see everyone was clear behind me, I held the whip out in front of me, then slowly brought it back over my shoulder before slashing out and down with it. "Son of a..." I yelled as the damn thing flicked my arm and shoulder as it came forward. I could swear Sam was laughing at me as I pulled him back and set up to do it again. I sent a couple of more heal spells out, in between trying to make the damn whip slash forward. I wasn''t really aiming at anything except a point in the air ten feet to the side of our group, which, if anything had been there, would have been perfectly safe. The ogres were killed before I''d done more than five or six attempts, and of course Sam kind of slithered out of my hand, and wrapped around my wrist when the ogres disappeared. "I think it was wanting to hit the ogres" Rayna said as I was glaring at my wrist. I looked up in surprise, but Bob nodded and said "It looked like it would twitch that way when you swung it back, or at least it did from where I was standing" "Yeah, it did" Rayna said "I think the thing is sort of alive" I held Sam up and studied it for a second, but it just looked like a decorative bracer now. I shrugged and dropped my arm before saying "Well, next monster we fight I''ll give it a swing" I hesitated, then added "Everyone might want to stay a good distance away" "You know" Diana said after the fight was over and we were walking again "everyone talks about how unbalanced things are, against us I mean. How we''re too easy to kill, and don''t do enough damage most time. But with Jake, it almost goes the other way. Diana is level 6 and she just took down a level 16 ogre. What would have happened if a bunch of people had been priests?" "True" Maria said with a nod "it does seemed designed with the idea there wouldn''t be any priests to heal us" Another one of those unanswerable questions. Maybe there would be a quest for the Holy Help File or something that would answer all our questions. That would be kind of cool, now that I thought about it. Since all of Maria''s women were level 1 when they joined her, they benefited from the things we had learned over the last few months, the most important being how to allocate attribute points. As a rule, it appeared every mage started with 20 points in the intelligence attribute (by choice) and 10 in dexterity. That made things fairly straightforward, as long as you weren''t an idiot, and Maria encouraged them to pump the next ten points straight into stamina to get their health to something usable. The warriors appeared to start with 10 in stamina, but they needed to improve that, and add wisdom points if they planned to go paladin. They were encouraged to accept whatever strength and dexterity they had, and just focus on wisdom until it reached at least 10, then dump everything into stamina. The upshot was, all of Maria''s people had at least 150 points of health, making my life a lot easier. The second attack came as we made camp, and it came so fast that we were fairly disorganized at first. It was a saber-toothed tiger of all things, and it might have managed to sneak close enough for an ambush if Maria hadn''t yelled a warning. Neara and Maria drew and fired, but Maria was the much quicker of the two, and had an arrow in the creature even as it leaped into the middle of our group. Sam chose to make an appearance, and this time I just focused on attacking the tiger rather than trying to practice. I almost cheered when the whip hit the thing, but my swing caused the whip to basically slap down across its back, rather than strike with the tip. Maria already had two arrows in it, Neara one, and everyone else was pulling weapons, but the tiger decided I should be eaten first. A whip might be a cool sort of weapon, but let me tell you, it''s pretty much useless when something is biting you. I got mauled pretty good after the thing leaped on me and knocked me flat on my back. The two long teeth didn''t bite so much as gouge, and I ended up with two long furrows dug into my chest, and a hell of a paw swipe across the face. An arrow in its ass got it to jump away, and I healed the 80 points of damage it had done as I rolled to my feet. Rayna joined the fight then, hitting the creature with her slow spell, though a slow tiger is still pretty fast. It did allow me to get a couple more swings in, with the last one hitting with a snap. The impact point had a small flash of fire, and overall it did about 12 points of damage. Not the full amount it could have done, but it was a start. The slowed tiger didn''t last to long with all of our warriors crowding in and swinging hard. I tossed two heals out, one to Anna, and one to Dalmar, both of whom had gotten clawed a couple of times. Sam of course turned into a bracelet as soon as the tiger died, and as we settled back down I asked the group in general for suggestions. I ended up reading the weapon''s legend to everyone, then listened as they discussed it, with Neara finally speaking up and asking "What skills is it using?" Huh, never thought to check. I pulled up my stats to find an addition + 1.2% hand to hand + 96% light armor + 89% Blunt Weapon + 95% Concentration + 60% Faith + 96% Cooking + 87% Repair Legendary Weapon (Serpent Strike) Bond (1%) Weapon (1%) Magic (0%) Ok, that was weird. I explained what it said, with most everyone agreeing the weapon part probably meant using it as a whip, with a few saying it could also mean using it to channel my magic. The thought being that the magic reference might be to using something inherent in Sam. Neara had the most interesting observation. "When I started learning the bow" she said from the other side of the fire, leaning back comfortably against a log "Maria told me to not bother trying to practice against targets and stuff. She said the system handled the muscle memory and stuff like that, and all we needed to do was concentrate on an aim point" I didn''t quite follow that, and my expression probably made it clear, so she said "It''s like your mace. I bet you don''t practice using it, just go out and swing at whatever creatures are attacking you. No science or special technique type things you learn, just beating on something until it''s dead" I had to nod at that, starting to get her point. She grinned back before saying "So with the bow, we set an arrow, draw it back, then focus on the point we want to hit. No adjusting for distance or wind or even your stance. Hell, Maria and I don''t even hold the arrow the same, she kind of squeezes it between finger and thumb, and I hook my two fingers around the strings. Doesn''t matter. The system handles all the details, and the more your skill improves, the more you''ll hit your target" "I''m at 98%" Maria said "and all I do is focus on my aim point until the arrow hits" Neara nodded and said "Right. And we think the percentage is telling you something about the likelihood of hitting an unprotected target, and maybe something about how much damage you''ll do" She shrugged before adding "Obviously it''s not an exact thing since we hit more than one percent of the time at first, but everything she suggested to me seems to work" "So your saying to ignore trying to figure out how to use a whip and just...swing at a point?" I asked "I think she''s right" Dalmar said "I have two skills associated with this hammer; blunt weapon, and two-handed weapon. The blunt weapon one went up fairly quickly as I beat on things, but when I started trying to block or do more..." He paused, searching for the right word, and Bob chimed in with "Exotic attacks" Dalmar nodded agreement and said "Yeah. Punching out, or aiming for knees or weapons. Things like that. Anyway, that''s when the two-handed weapon one started going up. I didn''t think about it until Bob and I were talking, and we realized we didn''t have a block skill, even though we were blocking attacks" "A lot of games have layers of skills" Rayna said "like with the shield. I''ve played games where you learn ten or twelve different levels of shield skills, including attacks and special defenses. This place doesn''t have all that, so it must be kind of built in" The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. "So I''m thinking you do the same" Neara said, getting a round of nods from the rest of the group "Makes sense" I said, looking down at Sam and considering how I had been trying to remember how to use a whip correctly. I hadn''t done that with my mace, just commenced to walloping whatever got in my way. "Have you noticed we don''t have a dodge skill, but some of the rings and stuff give you bonuses for it?" Maria asked with a grin. At my blank look, she said "Yeah, most people don''t think about it, but I''ve also noticed most people don''t try to dodge things. I think you can. You know, arrows and those flame bolt things. Everyone stands and waits, expecting the system to roll the dice, and hope for the best. I think it''s like Dalmar and Bob blocking with their weapons, it doesn''t really help you until you decide to do it" "Shit" I muttered, remembering those damn goblin archers "you think I might have been able to avoid getting hit if I''d tried to duck?" "Maybe" Maria said "It''s pretty much a given that a lot of these things are being done in the background, but I think you have to at least make the decision to do something before it will even roll the dice" Again, that made a lot of sense. As it turned out, it also helped a lot. I didn''t try anything fancy, but the next few days I concentrated on just wanting to hit whatever was attacking us, and didn''t worry about how to hit it. It reminded me of my early days with the mace where I managed to miss a forty foot dragon from two feet away, but I did start either hitting the creature, or looking like I would have if I hadn''t missed. I could feel a sense of...satisfaction, from Sam whenever we hit something. It wasn''t like with Telina, where, even if she was sending me just emotions, it still seemed like she was whispering them into my ear. It was hard to really explain, but it felt more like a pet. A pet that sent feelings of happiness or something to you, and you felt them inside. We had made the trip through the Forbidden Lands enough that it had become somewhat easy, especially with the two groups. We had the normal two, maybe three fights a day for three days, and I incrementally moved the weapon skill up to 2%, but didn''t try channeling Fist through it yet. The land stayed fairly flat until we came to a stone doorway in the side of a mountain. It was actually in a flat cliff at the base of the first of a series of small mountains stretching east. The door had a stone lintel and twenty foot high doors that had letters carved into it. The door appeared to be a single stone, fifteen feet wide, but there was a bit of mines of Moria feel to it all, though it didn''t have the scary pool of water in front of it, just a bunch of scrub brush. Maria marched up, put her hand on the door, and said "Friend!" It didn''t work of course, but it got a laugh. Dalmar, being a dwarf, had to do something similar, but he said "Azantis". Supposedly it meant ''Open'' in dwarf. A series of clunking, grinding sounds started, and when the last lock was undone, it caused the stone door to sink down and out of sight, sort of taking us by surprise. Luckily, no dragon charged out when the doors came down. "We''ll need torches for a lot of this, since it''ll be so dark we won''t see very far without it" Dalmar said as we all gathered at the doorway "This first section is pretty much a straight shot until we reach what looks like a huge natural cavern. There''s like ten different ways out of the cavern, and we''ll need to find something that marks our path. Lots of smaller tunnels feed into the one we''ll be on, so keep together and watch our back in case something comes up behind us. I''ll lead, and Bob''s team will be rearguard" He looked over at Maria to see if she had anything to add, getting a nod and "Most of us played the games in the real world, and it seems like the monsters here are kind of a mix of different games. A lot of the underground creatures did magic or could paralyze or stun, so watch yourself when we meet something new" she paused, then grinned and added "If anyone sees a beholder, I recommend screaming and running away" Everyone else laughed, and I wasn''t going to look stupid by asking what a beholder was, so just smiled like I understood. Didn''t sound all that bad, but I was guessing it was a lot worse than the name implied. We took a break and made something to eat before starting down, so I checked my current leveling status. The goblin king thing had left me more than half way to level 13, and when I checked, the last few days had pushed me to about 90%. That made me realize no one had leveled up, which with Maria''s lower level people, seemed weird. When I sidled over to stand beside her and asked her about it, she said "Yeah. All my people here are either level 6 or 7, but have enough points to go paladin. They''re not allocating points until they reach 8 and see how things go" "You can do that?" I asked. Her giggle made me grin, and she said "No reason you have to allocate your points, but it doesn''t make any sense not too unless you''re doing something like this. This is sort of a test run for something I worked out with my besties" Uh-huh. Sounded like my friend Maria and her goddesses had a plan and were moving to make it happen. Looking around the group, I realized what the paladin thing would mean, and I grinned as I saw her smiling and nodding at me "Makes sense" I said "Is Tarra going to be part of the team?" "That''s the plan" Maria said with a laugh. I studied the group, seeing how she had things, and asked "I thought paladins had to be warriors, can Rayna be one? I''m guessing Tanira, the battle goddess?" The staff thing made sense if it was possible. "Yep" Maria answered, grinning as she leaned in to take my arm, something she seemed to do more often. She had a satisfied look on her face as we both looked at the group, and she added "I suggested it when I first met with them. Telina has you and three paladins right now, so if this works, I can balance that a little if most of my people get selected" "Balance?" I asked, though I had a pretty good idea what she meant. She nodded and said "Goddess influence. Dalmar and I discussed this a lot when you started getting things done, and even more once I took this position. Right now things are pretty disorganized, and us eternals are sort of concentrated in the empire. But later, after we spread out some, and your efforts start building Telina''s influence, there''s going to be issues if we don''t have anything to balance out her influence at least a little" she looked up at me, her face serious and said "I trust you and her, but even if you don''t do another thing, the locals will all begin to move the way you and her want, and that means everyone moving in the same direction. I want everyone to have a choice" I shrugged and said "I have absolutely no problem with that" I felt a sense of satisfaction from Telina, so added "and Telina is onboard with it" "Good" Maria said, leaning up to kiss my cheek before stepping forward and saying "Everyone ready to begin the Dalmar Dragonsbane tunnel of love tour?" The underroads really were roads, fifteen feet wide and twenty feet high to match the door. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all smooth stone, and air seemed to be getting drawn down, causing a gentle breeze to blow over us as we stepped inside. Light from outside illuminated for quite a ways, and it looked like the road sloped very gently downwards as far as I could see. I had done a group blessing and an armor spell before restoring, so was as ready as possible to start. I had a torch in my left hand, as did Rayna, leaving everyone else''s hands free to use their weapons, so the door sliding closed behind our group didn''t cause any undo worries. We all stopped as the doors ground shut, and after the noise stopped, we all kind of just stood and listened. The flickering of my torch stopped when the doors cut off the gentle breeze, and I kind of held my breath to listen as we stood there. Dalmar and Diana were leading the way, and I stood just behind them with my torch, and Bob and Anna stood at the back, with Rayna just in front of them, allowing our torches to illuminate forward and back enough to give some warning. Our elven and dwarven eyesight would work in absolute darkness, but only to see the heat of other living things, so we needed the torches for finding traps, and seeing other threats. I think everyone else was doing what I was, and we kind of froze there for a moment, all straining to hear, until Dalmar''s deep voice broke the moment with "Stay together. Try not to make to much noise, since we don''t know what will draw aggro down here" he paused, then said gruffly "Let''s do this thing" Everyone was tense and trying to be quiet as we moved forward into the darkness, all eyes and ears straining as the deep silence and heavy air kind of pressed down on us. Maria broke the silence when she whispered "Dalmar just farted" Dalmar''s chuckle got everyone else to laugh quietly, and I whispered back "He who smelt it, dealt it" "A poet and didn''t know it" Rayna said with a giggle from behind me, drawing a "Shhh" from Dalmar The mood had lifted though, so we weren''t crouching and creeping along anymore, and the pace picked up a little. The floors were dusty, though it didn''t stir up enough to bother us, and periodically we would pass a pile of trash or broken crates. About a half hour in, we came across a decaying cart still attached to the bones of a horse. We didn''t stop, but everyone looked over when Dalmar pointed at the heavy bones of a dwarf lying in the back of the cart, apparently from where he had fallen backwards when he died. "Bones are intact" Maria said softly "Doesn''t look like they were attacked" I wasn''t sure that was all that reassuring since it meant he died from something other than being attacked. Suffocated? Gas maybe? I was guessing we could die that way too, so hoped it wasn''t either one. We had been walking for over an hour before we came across our first cross hallway. Dalmar held up a hand to stop us, and he and Diana moved forward until they stood in front of the opening. When nothing attacked them he said "Looks ok", before waving us forward until the torches could light up the hallway. It wasn''t as wide, maybe ten feet, and appeared to go at right angles to our road, straight and level as far as I could see. We continued on with only a "Time to start checking behind us Bob" from Dalmar Diana and Dalmar both carried their warhammers sort of up and resting on their right shoulders as they walked in front of me, and I had one of those moments of unreality as the torch light, surrounding darkness, and an armed and armored dwarf and human made me realize how really strange everything was. It suddenly felt like one of those adventure movies, and I almost laughed as I thought ''Hey, we''re on a quest!'' We passed a hallway on our left side less than ten minutes later, and it was pretty much identical to the other, though it looked like it might slope upward just slightly. We could hear a very faint ''tink...tink'' of metal hitting metal from it, but it was so quiet that you lost it as soon as you left the mouth of the hall. It was a steady sound, making me think of something blowing in the wind, and we all sort of shrugged and kept going. The gentle slope of the road we were on made it very hard to guess how deep we were a couple hours later when Dalmar raised a hand for us to stop. We had reached a crossroads, with hallways intersecting from both the right and left. Dalmar and Diana seemed to be looking down at something, but it took me a moment to realize that the dust on the floor was disturbed where something had walked through it. Everyone moved up beside Dalmar as he said "Either one very busy creature, or something has a village down here" I had to agree. The two cross hallways seemed to be almost completely clear of dust, and the road going down had a clear spot in the middle, with various scuffs and disturbances on the sides where something stepped or got dragged. "Stay quiet, let me see if I can hear anything" Dalmar said quietly as he moved to stand in the middle of the crossroads. Other than our own small noises I couldn''t hear a darn thing, but Dalmar stood with eyes closed for a couple minutes before looking back at us and saying "Nothing to the right, but there''s something ahead of us, and a lot of somethings on the left" Huh, dwarves must have pretty good hearing. "We pick up the pace" Dalmar said, studying the map he had pulled out of inventory "We''re a couple of hours from the cavern, with one more crossroads about halfway there. Last thing we need is to get in a fight, then get attacked from the rear. We''ll pick up the pace and try to push through any resistance. Rayna casts her find traps spell and works with Maria to keep us out of trouble" he looked over the group, then paused to look at Anna and said "Anna, I''d like you to move to the front with Diana and I. Bob can hold with Jake if necessary, but I''m hoping to stay ahead of anyone behind us" he gave everyone a grin before adding "I plan to bulldoze over anyone who tries to stop us. Maria, Neara, and Rayna target the mages and archers first, then anyone else you see" "Let''s do this" he said gruffly as he turned and started walking forward again. His height meant he didn''t have a long stride, but he began moving at a purposeful pace, one that covered ground quickly. As Bob had pointed out, walking didn''t use endurance, so the only negative here was the noise. Chainmail and metal weapons make noise, so there was little we could do to prevent someone from hearing us if they were listening. Our first encounter came twenty minutes later when Dalmar slowed, then finally came to a stop. A moment later a group of creatures walking toward us came into view, then stopped just outside the range of Rayna''s torchlight. I could see them clearly, as I''m sure everyone except Bob, who was the farthest back, and human, could. They were lizards of some kind. They walked upright, carried what appeared to be tridents, and reminded me of those velociraptors all the dinosaur movies were so fond of. If, you know, velociraptors had human type arms and carried weapons. My first guesstimate put the group at twelve or thirteen, all armed the same, and walking in two columns. The standoff lasted less than a half minute before the foremost lizard hissed "Food!", and started toward us. I guess Maria and I thought a lot alike, because as Dalmar, Anna, and Diana all charged forward, Maria and I yelled "Food!", then started laughing as we followed our group into battle. Drakeling Hunter Level 9 Health 85 made up the majority, though a couple toward the back looked a little bigger. The creatures were slightly shorter than Anna, making them about a half head taller than Dalmar. So when Dalmar''s hammer did an overhand swing, it impacted on the first creature''s face, driving it back and down, tripping up a couple behind it. The tridents were a new thing, but they were surprisingly short, so they weren''t as awkward as the gnolls'' halberds in a fight like this. Anna had it the best, her shield very effective against the jabbing weapons, and the tight quarters perfect for a thrusting attack from the sword. The first three drakelings went down almost immediately; and Anna pushing forward, shield sweeping tridents out of the way, caused the third row of drakelings to get snarled up as Diana and Dalmar finished off the ones that had stumbled and fell. Maria and Neara began shooting at the ones farthest back, but Maria yelled over the sound of combat "Hold off Rayna. Use a spell on any that try to flee!" Bob and I were pretty much spectators. He would turn and check behind us periodically, but this was obviously a surprise engagement, not an ambush, so I didn''t expect an attack from the rear. Our archers concentrated on the two bigger ones in the back as our tanks rolled over the ones in front. Both Diana and Dalmar had taken some damage, but it wasn''t worth a heal spell yet. Anna hadn''t taken a single hit, which said a lot for the sword and shield method. Watching from the rear, the difference between Dalmar being a higher level was easier to see. He never missed, pretty much killed most with one swing, and few of the creatures ever did more than a small amount of damage. Anna and Diana did a lot of damage, but sometimes a thrust or swing wouldn''t connect or get blocked, and it usually took two or three swings to finish a creature off. Eight of the drakelings were down in the first two minutes, and one of the larger ones had succumbed to arrows before the last big one hissed something that made the other five creatures turn to run. Rayna hit them with her slow spell at that point, and I raised my left hand (since Sam was in my right) and sent Holy Fire down on the big guy at the back. The combination of being slowed, then knocked down, left the drakelings pretty much helpless; and I took the opportunity to call fist, then swing Sam at one to the right who wasn''t blocked by my people. "!!!!"...a sense of exaltation came from Sam as my whip snapped out and the tip hit with a crack. Rather than fire, there was a flash of frost on the creatures skin where Sam hit, then a small burst of white light as my fist spell was released. The creature had taken some damage already from the holy fire, so the whip attack plus fist ended up finishing it off. "That''s what I''m talking about!" I yelled, getting an answering surge of happiness from Sam. I was darn tempted to try it again, but my people were blocking clear access and I didn''t want to cause a friendly fire incident. Diana hit the last one with her hammer, turning it into a gear pile, then looked at Maria and said "I just got eight!" Anna held up her sword and said "Yeah, me too" "Neara", "Rayna?" Maria asked. The two women shrugged, and Rayna said "that last fight before we entered the mountain" getting a nod from Neara and say "the one before that" "Ok" Maria said with a grin before saying to Dalmar "We need a few minutes. You guys can watch for more of them and scrounge the drop" The girls grouped up, standing in a circle around Maria, but Maria stuck her tongue out at me when she caught me watching, and said "No peeking. Go help Dalmar or something" Huh, look what happens when you decide to start a secret society. They start keeping secrets. I decided to take Maria''s advice and joined Dalmar in picking up coins, and sorting through the gear. The things dropped the tridents and cheap knives, but no armor or anything. The tridents were actually usable by warriors, but Dalmar said they didn''t do enough damage to be worth the trouble. They seemed to be like a sword, but without the ability to slice something. Of course, underground like this, swinging big weapons like Dalmar''s warhammer, or Bob''s two handed sword, could get problematic in tight quarters. "You ever been somewhere it was to tight to swing that thing?" I asked Dalmar, nodding at his hammer. He stood up from scrounging the last coins and said "Yeah. Couple of times. I carry a one hand version if I need it" he chuckled, surprising me, and said "Actually started with it. Reminded me of that hammer Thor used in all the movies and comics. One of my nephews had the whole costume one Halloween. Switched over, oh, back when I was like level ten or twelve I guess, and found this one" He nodded his head toward the group of women muttering behind us and said "Anna has the right idea really. Probably the best set up for tanks is that sword-shield thing. But it''s kind of...boring" he chuckled again at his description, then added "It also doesn''t do as much damage. As your strength gets above 18, the damage multipliers really kick in for two handed weapons. Single handed weapons are more dexterity oriented, so I lose a lot of effectiveness when I switch to one" he sort of nodded down at the items scattered on the floor and said "These guys didn''t have any armor, so swords like Anna''s and Bob''s are really effective. You start fighting heavily armored monsters though, that''s where Diana and I do our most damage" Made sense. There was always some kind of trade off between offense and defense when picking a weapon here. I actually thought Ariel''s combination of hammer and shield would be my preference. Good defense, and a fun but effective weapon for kicking ass with. The spike at the top of Zac even gave her a bit of thrusting damage. Maria''s group stayed huddled for a good ten minutes before they broke up, laughing and hugging each other; obviously happy about how things went. I headed back to my spot in our marching order as we got set to move again, but Maria gave us a quick update, speaking just loud enough for everyone to hear. "Ok, you guys are now in the presence of four more paladins" Maria said. I could see Rayna turn slightly and grin at Maria, before Maria continued "They all have a few new things they can do, so we should be more effective" When she didn''t add anything else I rolled my eyes, and muttered "Sure, keep us in suspense" All five of the women laughed or giggled, telling me they must have all agreed to keep their new skills a secret to tease us guys. I let it go, and instead took the chance to update my armor spell, and do a group blessing as we walked. None of the paladins complained about receiving a blessing from Telina, so I counted that as a sign our goddesses wouldn''t interfere with each other''s powers. A quick restore and I was ready to go. Anna stayed up front, and Dalmar kept a quick pace as we continued. It was hard to evaluate enemy intentions and actions here since I wasn''t sure if their actions were the result of random programming choice, or if they were based on some level of...reality. Back home, meeting a bunch of armed people all heading in the same direction would make me think of hunters, or a war party. Here...it was hard to tell. Our next encounter occurred about an hour later as we got close to the intersection Dalmar had spoken of. It was heralded by a steady ''squeak-squeak-squeak'' that sounded mechanical, and brought to mind a wheel with a bad bearing. We slowed but didn''t stop moving forward, and we ended up meeting another group of drakelings before getting to the intersection. This group was larger, and they had a couple of wagons being pulled by things that looked a little like a triceratops without the horns, and a much smaller shield thing on top of their heads. The wagons had cages on them, and I could see they were filled with some kind of furry creatures, but that was all I had time to take in. This time Dalmar, Bob, and Anna joined Maria and I in yelling "Food!!!", beating the lizard people by half a second. Our group was all laughing as our tanks charged forward and engaged the front row of drakelings. Anna had added a full body glow, and the head of Diana''s hammer had begun glowing red, almost like she had just pulled it out of a forge. I couldn''t tell off hand that either did anything special, but didn''t have time for spectating as a dozen more drakelings came charging forward, sliding by the wagons on both sides. Sam snapped out as a couple slid by on Dalmar''s side, my swing missing by a couple inches, but startling one when Sam ''cracked'' an inch away from its face. My follow up swing hit its shoulder just as an arrow thanked into its chest. That one went down as Bob stepped past and thrust his sword straight through the other ones chest. A sudden green fog forming around all of us toward the back let me know we had an enemy Mage. A burning sensation all over, and the steadily dropping health made me concentrate on sending healing spells around. We had talked once about whether gasses were dispellable, so I didn''t try it, sending my first spell at Neara, who was shooting an arrow back at one of the drakes. I turned to send one at Rayna, but found the cloud seemed to be blocked by some kind of sparkly shield around her. The fog was taking about 5 points a second, so I didn''t worry about Bob or myself for now. Rayna''s slow spell had most of the lizard people doing the weird mime impression for a bit until the other Mage dispelled it. I sent a heal toward Maria, then Anna, before hitting Neara again as the fog finally dissipated. Sam got a second chance after that and this time one of the drakes got an ice patch on his arm, and around a dozen points of damage. I wasn''t sure what brought the ice instead of the fire, but being these were some kind of lizard things, it would have been what I selected given a choice. Our tanks were moving forward as they rolled over the first batch of drakes, so I moved with them, trying to keep close enough for my aura to help. "There!" Neara yelled, letting an arrow go. Rayna and I both looked up and followed the shot to see one of the lizard guys holding a short staff, with symbols and lines painted across his body and face. Rayna''s magic missiles crossed paths with...something weird. It took my brain a second to decipher what I was seeing, but it was definitely a cloud full of teeth. Yep, a grey cloud with a mouth two feet across, filled with sharp teeth that were gnashing as it hit Neara and started chewing as she pushed her bow out to intercept it. I tossed a heal at her as it chewed on her arm, then hit the thing with a dispel. The damn thing actually let out a disappointed screech as it faded away. "What the hell was that?" I yelled as Neara and Rayna finished the mage with another arrow and set of missiles. "Painful" Neara said with a laugh as she slowly lowered her bow, eyes scanning for any more enemies. It looked like the mage was one of the last, so I did a restore just in case, then joined the group as they looked at the caged creatures. Foxes was my first thought. Well, foxes that stood upright, were four feet tall, wore clothes, and appeared to speak English. At first glance I couldn''t tell gender, since they were all wearing actual pants and cotton like shirts, but the fox who stood toward the front and looked us over made me think female. Her voice, when she spoke, confirmed it. "Elves, humans, and a Dwarf" She said, her head cocking right, then left, as she studied each of us in turn "Eternals even. How unusual" Her tail, as well as the others in the cage, was full and bushy, and it sort of stood upright so the tip rested on her shoulder. She kind of stroked the end as she studied us, the way a human might rub his chin as he considered something. No one else said anything, so I slid forward and said "Yes ma''am, eternals. We''re kind of passing through, but it looks like you could use a little help" She leaned forward a little, sniffing delicately, then leaned back and shrugged before turning her head to look back and bark a couple of little yips. The, I''m guessing commands, got a couple of other foxes to move to the cage doors, where soft clicking sounds began as the foxes picked the locks. "Your killing of the drakelings is greatly appreciated" she said, her eyes back to studying my group, finally stopping on Neara and widening slightly as she said "You serve the goddess Tessa" Neara gave her a somewhat formal nod and said "I am a paladin of Tessa. I also serve Maria Dragonsbane, Queen of the Guardians of Tarinath" she gestured with her right hand to indicate a smiling Maria. I thought Neara had done the whole thing quite well, and the fox lady turned her attention to Maria. "Giving aid to those in need is the reason the Guardians exist" Maria said with a grin as she stepped up beside me "We will be returning to the Buried Forest. Do you travel in that direction?" the fox asked as her people started exiting the cages. A few of them were being carried, or being helped by others, so it looked like they hadn''t been taken without a fight. "We are passing through Mora Rosel, or the Cavern of Light, on our way to Lor Frell" Dalmar answered as the fox lady was helped out of the cage. Her people''s tag said they were Vulpar, and she was a level 16 Shaman. "Mora Rosel is Dwarven name for my people''s lands" the fox lady said "and you will find that the path to Lor Frell not so easy to follow" I would have been disappointed if she hadn''t said something cryptic. Next she would be telling us ''There be dragons ahead''. "The dead have risen in Lor Frell, and my people suffer because of it" the shamaness (shamani?, shamana?) said. Ok, that was just as good. I chuckled, getting everyone to give me questioning looks, so I said "It needed that last little kick, you know?" "You''re weird" Maria said with a giggle, taking my arm as she said to the fox "My friend here is a priest of Telina, so we''ll see what we can do about the undead problem while we''re there" "Aah" foxy said, eyeing me for a moment. She must have decided we''d talked enough at that point, because she turned and started talking to her people in their own language. "Gather up the dropped items" Dalmar said. I stepped over to the group of fox people (twenty four of them), then waited for the shamaness to look up at me to say "I can cast healing spells on your injured if you like" She did, and I did. More than half were injured, but I had the mana to get them all before doing a restore. We split our group, with Dalmar, Diana, Anna, Me, and Maria in front, and Bob, Rayna, and Neara behind the fox people. Now that they were all healthy, they didn''t slow us down any, and we reached the last intersection in a very short time. The shamaness explained that both halls had been deliberately blocked by cave ins decades ago to make it harder for the drakelings to reach them. These, and the last set of hallways went to two small dwarven towns that had been taken over by the drakelings. The drakes mostly hunted above ground, but had recently begun raiding the Vulpa. "The Tree weakens as the undead gain strength" the shamaness said, getting me and Maria to exchange grins at the way the story was building. "You guys seem to be having a lot of fun" Anna said, giving me and Maria a questioning look. "It''s an adventure" I said "just like you might read about. I''ve done other quests and stuff, but this is...better" I kind of petered out at the end, not able to come up with a good explanation "Everything else has been basically just fetch quests, or some kind of kill quest" Maria said from beside me "Like Jake said, this is an adventure, but it kind of makes us part of everything. We''re not just a bunch eternals killing things, we''re...heroes" the last word got a giggle from her, but I nodded agreement. That was exactly what I was feeling. "We''re part of the story of Dalmar Dreadhammer''s Quest for the Lost City of Lor Frell" I said portentously, getting a deep laugh from Dalmar, and a lighter one from Diana. Chap 30: Hey foxy lady! I eventually came right out and asked the shamaness her name, tired of thinking of her as ''the fox lady''. "Siroka" she said, the name being surprisingly soft sounding for a mouth with such sharp teeth "I lead our defenses at the lower entrance. Their mage was able to overcome us long enough to capture our group, though they lost more than a few of their own" "I''m guessing you were meant to be dinner?" I asked, going for blunt since there weren''t many ways to be subtle about asking if someone was going to be eaten later. "Yes" she said, a soft growl following the word as a couple of the foxes around her made odd hissing, spitting noises "It is what they do. This is their third, and most successful raid since the Tree''s decline" Ok, that was like the third mention of the tree, so I went ahead and asked. "So, what''s the story with the tree?" "Subtle Jake" Maria said with a laugh. I guess everyone likes Maria since Siroka kind of smiled at her and said "No need for subtlety your majesty. If he had not asked, I would have had to get more pointed in my statements" I chuckled, both at her honesty, and at the look on Maria''s face at the ''your majesty'' thing. I could tell she liked it, but was also self-conscious about the whole thing. I twitched when Siroka reached over to take my hand, but didn''t react otherwise as she held it and said "The Great Tree is a gift from the goddesses. Before the Dragon''s arrival, the dwarves had built their roads through what they called Mora Rosel; the Cavern of Lights. It was named so because of the jewels that are embedded in the ceiling, which glow with the suns light during the day, and the stars light in the evening. A great waterfall brings water, so the dwarves tried planting many things, but of the trees, only the night oaks would take root. After the Sundering, these were the only night oaks left, but that is a different tale" This was super cool, and I was fascinated as we listened to her. I kind of felt bad that Susan''s group was missing the whole thing, but this was definitely going to go up on the tavern wall after we got back. "The Buried Forest was born, and it quickly spread across the cavern" Siroka continued "It was not long before small creatures began to make life there, which drew larger creatures that hunted them. To preserve the peace and beauty of this place, the dwarves wanted caretakers to maintain it. My people had suffered greatly at the orc''s hands, and there were very few of us left when the dwarves made their offer" Everyone had kind of slowed down and bunched up as they listened to her, and I exchanged grins with Bob when I checked behind us. "The goddess Tessa had gifted our people with a seed from a Luminia, one of the great trees that the elven city of Alai''Naki had been built upon. Our elder mothers had carried it for generations, and when they arrived in the Buried Forest, finally planted it" her voice had gotten that story telling cadence that Bob used, and even her own people were hanging on her words. "To offer their own blessing, the dwarves placed a statue of Tarra, and one of the Hainar stones that allowed the cities to speak over great distances. The luminia grew tall and strong, the mana of the Hainar stone feeding its strength" she looked up at me, then around at my group to say "A luminia tree is blessed of the goddess Tessa, and protects those who plant it from any who would do them harm. With the power of Tarra''s blessed stone, the tree held sway over all of the cavern, protecting my people and the dwarven travelers from any who would harm us" "The dragons arrival changed many things" she said solemnly, getting soft sighs from her people "They did not threaten my people, but the dwarves had built their cities upon the mountains, rather than under them as was their practice for millennia. They defended their cities ferociously, but in the end were forced to flee. For tens of tens of years they tried more than once to reclaim what was theirs, but eventually they ceased coming" Her pause this time was definitely like the ones Bob used. She drew in a deep breath and said sadly "Then came the Blight. The war amongst the elves had been an ugly thing, but nothing to the horror of the blight. Everything it touched would eventually wither and die, and if sentient, would rise again. The elves fled, leaving this land to its fate, and if not for the humans, this land would be only for the dead" Everyone walked in silence for a while, and I noticed that Siroka was holding Maria''s hand too. We exchanged looks over Siroka''s head, but didn''t say anything. "The Ceremony of Sacrifice halted the uncontrolled spread of the blight, but the cost..." she shook her head sadly, but continued "Sadly, their sacrifice only slowed the undeath, as many of the more powerful undead began to find their way into the unblighted lands. You need not hear of the many undead armies that entered the forbidden lands, and of the dragons who found themselves threatened by this, but one attempt partially succeeded. A Lich Lord was defeated by the dragons, his army destroyed, but he escaped and took hold in the lower levels of Lor Frell, and over the decades has begun raising an army of dwarven druagr" Oh crap. Undead dwarves. "This would not normally effect my people for many years, as the roads from Lor Frell are not easily passed, but Lor Frell has a Haiden stone" Siroka looked up at Maria for a second, then said "The lich lord does not understand what it does, but he is part of the blight, and the blight has begun to corrupt the stone" she sighed again and said "and because of this, the corruption is being passed to our stone, poisoning the Great Tree" That kind of ended story time, and we reached her home about an hour later. I''m not sure I could ever describe the Mora Rosel in any way that could do it justice, but my first thought upon walking out of the tunnel was ''Hey, we''re outside!''. The cavern probably wouldn''t have been possible in real reality, because it was so large that the ceiling was probably five hundred feet above us, and the far side was at least a couple of miles away. Siroka''s description of the stones in the ceiling made a lot more sense when I saw them myself. There were thousands of points of light scattered across the ceiling, each of them glowing like a very small sun, giving the illusion of actual daylight. We walked out of the tunnel and into an open area, with the stone roadway continuing straight ahead of us, through a path cut through the forest. The forest began about a hundred feet away, and we were in a half circle of stone and grass, with the cavern wall towering upward behind us. The tunnel was encircled by a wooden, ten foot wall of wood, that appeared to be stacked rather than upright. Twenty or thirty Vulpa stood with swords and bows behind the wall, and there was a lot of cheering and a surge of foxes in our direction when Siroka and her people followed us out of the tunnel. Maria stopped beside me, her head turned up as she stared at the lights shining overhead "My god" she said quietly "it''s beautiful" The rest of our group joined us, all of us looking around in awe. The trees looked like 50 or 60 foot oak trees to me, but about half way across the cavern, a huge tree towered half way to the ceiling, its branches spreading to make a wide canopy. It was green, but there was a golden tint to it that made it kind of gleam if you looked at it for a few seconds. "Luminia she called it" Neara said softly from behind me "It''s like someone created paradise down here" "I don''t suppose you''d put a portal down here?" Rayna asked, getting Bob to nod and say "Be a pain, but my god, look at this place" There was a kind of steady rumble, like continuous thunder so far away you could just barely hear it, and when I cocked my head to see if I could hear it better, Dalmar said "Waterfall. Must be on the other side, behind the tree" "Be welcome" Siroka said as she walked up with a couple other vulpa. She smiled at our expressions and added "It is a twice blessed place, and we rarely have guests any more, so please, let me show you our home" The road through the cavern was straight, though we crossed two stone bridges on our way to the great tree. The river they crossed wasn''t very deep, maybe three or four feet, with stone lining the side, and crystal clear water that showed the glittering stones and sand on the bottom. Based on the way the river seemed to flow, I think we crossed the same stream twice as it wound in a serpentine pattern through the cavern. With the forest lining the sides of the road, you couldn''t really see the sides of the cavern, reinforcing the impression you were outside. It was comfortably cool, and a soft breeze seemed to come and go, almost as if the whole place was breathing very, very slowly. There were a lot of small creatures that scampered and rustled through the bushes or between the trees, but the thing that hit me the most was the bird song. Not a lot, and I hadn''t actually seen one, but there were definitely birds living in the trees. The great tree dominated the sky ahead of us, and only seemed to tower higher the closer we got. We were under the outer reaches of its canopy when the road stopped and split to circle to the right and left. Siroka led us forward, off the road, and along a small, moss covered path, toward the great tree. The freed vulpa surged forward at that point and dashed ahead, yelping and barking in their language, leaving us to follow with Siroka. "There will be much celebration that we have returned safely" Siroka said, reaching over to take mine and Maria''s hands again "Tonight we will rest and enjoy ourselves. Tomorrow my people will show you the paths through the Buried Forest" The base of the tree was probably one hundred feet in diameter, and there was a grassy lawn that encircled it for quite a ways. The tree had a staircase that wound its way around and up, into the branches that started about the top of the other trees. Little houses seemed to be scattered everywhere in the tree, with rope bridges and platforms giving the impression of a web that was woven throughout the canopy. I didn''t think there were a lot of the vulpa, less than two hundred based on the ones I saw and the extent of the village above us, but they seemed to flow and scamper down from the tree to meet the returning group. "This seems so different from the way things are above ground" Neara said softly from my right. We came to a stop outside the mass of happy vulpa, and she added "What if we hadn''t rescued Siroka and her people, would we have just come here and fought our way through?" Good point. Until now, everything had been kind of black and white, them and us, monsters and people. "No" Dalmar said, turning to face our group, face serious "I wouldn''t have attacked if they didn''t, and I know Maria and Jake definitely wouldn''t have. Don''t doubt yourself about this. You''re in this group because you are the good guys, and you''ll know the bad guys when you see them" "I generally go with the, if it wants you to be dinner, bad; invites you to have dinner, good" Bob said with a grin "That is also my people''s thoughts" Siroka said with a bark of laughter "so please, come and have a meal with us" The light began to dim as the vulpa started a bonfire and began cooking food on a couple of smaller fires to the side. I found a spot out of the way, then laid back and looked up and out to watch the lights slowly dim from a warm yellow glow, to small points of light that looked remarkably like stars. The waterfall sounded louder here, but not so much that you really noticed it unless you stopped and thought about it. I was lying there, thinking about how nice it would be if Mary were with me, when I drifted off to sleep. My thoughts had me dreaming about being with Mary in our forest, so when Telina showed up, I had the blanket spread below us. Mary gave me a quick kiss before fading, and I just waved for Telina to have a seat next to me. She grinned as she gracefully sat down on my left, then leaned back to prop herself up on her arms before saying "Mora Rosel. A source of great pride for my sister Tessa" "Rightfully so" I answered "it''s a truly beautiful place" "The Haiden stone needs to be cleansed" she said as she tilted her head back to let the sun shine on her face. She was a bit of a tease. Her eyes were closed, but she grinned as she waited for me to say something "I thought I would try casting a blessing on it, though I can''t imagine that would last that long" I finally said She nodded, then opened her eyes to say "Twice should be enough. Once after dawn, then again after midday. This should cleanse it, but to block the blight from returning will require the efforts of the Guardian Queen. How she does such is her responsibility, as I do not know how my sisters have shared their power with her" Someone didn''t like being out of the loop, I thought, grinning as she rolled her eyes. "The vulpa and the cavern are not areas in which I exert influence" she said "but we are needed to force the blight from the stone so that Maria can bring her power to bear. Destroying the Lich would accomplish this, but the delay would be detrimental to the vulpas, and my sisters have asked this of us" "Would have done it anyway" I said with a shrug "I like them" "You still have far to go to reach Lor Frell" Telina said, turning to smile at me "something a certain group of eternals will find uncomfortable" Her smile was seriously mischievous, so I chuckled and said "Jeff''s group? They having problems?" "Quite. It takes very little power to change small things. Small things that can discomfit very greatly" she said with a laugh "The mage has even done me the honor of telling everyone that it was a priest of Telina that cursed them for breaking the agreement" I shook my head at Siril''s odd way of looking at things. I mean, why advertise your stupidity? "Why do you seem to enjoy this so much?" I asked, still confused about the real benefit here. I didn''t see how this would draw in worshippers. "Because my priest" she said, her grin fading slightly "your fellow eternals are beginning to think that goddesses might exist. Your people affect the very fabric of our world, so having them not only believe I exist, but that I have power to punish them, will open many doors for us" Oh. Ok, that...well, that made sense. It was the same reason Maria and her people gave the other goddesses options, belief that the goddesses existed. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.No one bothered to wake me up, so I missed the party and found myself still in the same place come morning, not that I was complaining. Waking up and watching the ceiling slowly turn from twinkling starlight, to soft sunlight was fascinating. The group drifted over as I pulled out my pan and made myself something to eat, and after about half an hour, we had the whole gang sitting in a comfortable circle. "Maria and I need to do something about the stone" I said after putting my pan away. Everyone sat up and paid more attention as I looked around and said "That will take most of the day" "Telina visit?" Maria asked, and at my nod, said "Ok. Then we probably should split up and do some exploring. Dalmar needs to find our path out of here, and I''d like my people to see if there''s anything we can do to help the vulpa and maybe explore a little" "We should be ok in groups of two" Dalmar said "That''ll let us cover the most ground. Our exit is by the waterfall, but there are three of them, so I''ll need to look them over" "Ok, then Anna and Neara, Bob and Rayna, you guys head in different directions and see what you can see" Maria said Siroka stepped off the winding stairs and came over to join us, sliding in next to Maria and saying "How can we help you?" It didn''t take long to fill her in on our plans, and she rounded up some of her own people to act as guides for ours. Anna and Bob''s teams headed out immediately, both groups excited to do some exploring, but Dalmar said he wanted to see the stone, so he and Diana joined us as Siroka led us to the waterfall side of the tree. A man sized statue stood a couple of feet from the tree''s trunk, depicting what I guess was Tarra holding a stone the size of a pineapple. It wasn''t round, or even smooth like I had been expecting, but more like a chunk of quartz without the flaws. The statue depicted a dwarf woman, the first I had seen. Like Dalmar, she was proportionate, and looked like a short, pretty, woman. No beard, and a surprisingly nice figure, though it''s not something I would probably tell her in person since the stone was in her left hand, and a warhammer was in her right. "In times past" Siroka said as we gathered around the statue "one would hold their hands to the stone, and if someone was touching another, you could speak to each other. There were four stones, and no one has spoken from the other three in my lifetime" The stone had a slight glow, but when Maria pointed, I could see tiny black flecks seeming to float inside the stone. Siroka nodded and said "The poison of the blight" She stepped over to the big tree, and pointed to a small patch of slightly darker bark, saying "You can see this throughout the tree now. The more they grow, the less damage our enemies suffer when entering our cavern. It has gotten so that at the entrances, they take no damage at all. We would withdraw to the tree, but the drakelings and goblins destroy the trees if we do not defend them" "Goblins?" Diana asked. Siroka nodded and said "Two of the descending roads lead to areas the goblins have claimed. They have grown braver as the tree has declined" "Well" I said, rubbing my hands together as I stepped in front of the statue "Might as well get started" I wasn''t really sure how to go about this, but I put my hands on the sides of the stone, flinching a little at the stinging sensation. This wasn''t the Telina and Jake show, so I just said "Blight begone!" and cast the blessing. This one was different from the norm, with the glow from the stone quickly ramping up, but also a high pitched scream coming from it that made everyone but me take a step back. Ok, that was on the strange side. I stayed where I was until the glow slowly faded, then let go when it looked like it had returned to norm. When I looked closely, I could see the black flecks had suffered serious attrition. "Wow, that was freaky" Diana said with a strained laugh "Many believe the blight to be a living thing" Siroka said, the doubt in her tone clear "but I had never thought that until now" "Blight begone?" Maria asked with a giggle, getting a chuckle from Dalmar. I shrugged and said "Telina and I are just the support team on this, so I''ll leave the full invocation to you" I told everyone I would do another blessing after lunch, then it would be Maria''s job to finish it out. Dalmar and Diana were thinking of heading out when Siroka said "You are doing so much for my people, is there anything we can offer you in thanks for your efforts?" We all exchanged looks, with Diana and Maria finally shrugging, so I asked "Information?" "Of course" Siroka said happily, sitting down and gesturing for us to take seats "What would you wish to know of?" I took the lead and asked "What can you tell us about magic and how a smith can enchant the things he creates?" Siroka cocked her head as she looked at me, then over at Dalmar before saying "Life is an endless cycle, this I am sure you know. Mana, or magic, is part of that cycle, no different than the heat from your fire, or light from the sun" She raised her arm and gestured to encompass the cavern while saying "But fire and light require that other things of nature be destroyed to create it. Mana does not. Mana is gathered, willed to a specific use, then returned to the sea from which it was drawn" Reaching out to touch my armor, she said "This armor is enchanted in such a way that it draws upon the sea of Mana to do special things. If Loser commands its use, the enchantment pulls again upon the sea to replace what was used, much the way a mage does" She paused to let us consider that, then said "Unlike us, the goddesses live outside our world, and they are...vessels, that are both made from mana, and filled by it. To fill that vessel though, requires others to pour the mana into it, and this is done by acts of faith by those who worship her" Ok, that made a weird sort of sense. Maria and Dalmar both gave slight nods, so Siroka said "The act of will that causes mana to do something is different than the act of will that causes an item to be capable of doing such a thing" she gave her teeth filled grin at our looks. Her small hand pointed at Dalmar''s hammer as she said "The hammer is not sentient, so cannot command mana. The magic that it does is caused by an act of will during its creation. Unlike a rune..." I twitched at the word, but didn''t say anything "which is a closed loop, the hammer was left open so that it may draw upon the mana sea" My twitch must have been noticed, since she looked at me and said "Runes are believed to be the language of the gods, but when used by a priest, are like balls of glass, filled with mana and commanded to perform a task. The ball must be broken before the mana inside can be used, and this leaves nothing behind to once again be filled" Well, except for the retention rune, but I got her basic concept, so just nodded my understanding. "For a smith to enchant something" Siroka said "one must have a Focus" she gave us her foxy grin again and added "The focus can be anything, but it is specific to each person. A stone. A twig. Even an animal or plant could be your focus, but it allows the smith to embed his intent into the thing he is creating, while leaving the loop open to draw upon the mana sea" The four of us exchanged looks, then shrugs before Dalmar asked "And where do you find this focus?" "An Arcane Smith is a rare thing, because only a few are granted a focus, and it requires a seer to see what it is" she paused, then shook her head before adding "A seer is a smith who has a vision from the goddess Tarra in your presence. A priest of Tarra can reveal who this smith is, but since they are no more, one who wishes to be an Arcane Smith must travel the world seeking his seer" "Holy shit!" I said, grinning at an equally excited Dalmar, before we said simultaneously "Forgemaster Grevlor" "It appears you know of your seer?" Siroka asked, her head canting right and left the way it did when she was studying something "The goddess Tarra sent the name to Dalmar" I said "though we didn''t know why at the time" "Wow, that worked out well" Diana said with a laugh, drawing one from Maria, who said "Pays to be friends with the only priest in existence" At my sour look she giggled and stuck her tongue out at me before saying "Don''t be grumpy, no one likes a grumpy loser" She didn''t! Everyone except Siroka burst into laughter, and even she smiled at me, making me wonder what my expression had been. Giving Maria a fake scowl, I said "Payback. It''ll happen" Siroka must have decided she had given us enough information (which she did), and decided to go do something vulpa related. Dalmar and Diana headed out at the same time, leaving me and my future victim alone. She giggled a couple of times, but when I laid back in my lazy day pose, she scooted over to lie next to me. I had my hands behind my head, while she laid sideways, head propped on her right hand as she chattered away. I was deep in thought about important stuff a while later when I woke up, feeling something in my hair. I opened my eyes to find Maria sitting beside me, running her fingers through my hair. She pulled her hand back and looked down at me seriously for a moment, then grinned and said "Time for the Jake and Telina show again" I chuckled at the wording, and stood up to stretch, and did a restore. This kind of reminded me of my picnic spot, and If I could bring Mary here and set up a hammock, this place would be heaven. I made a mental note to invent the hammock if no one else had. Enjoying doing nothing to the fullest is all about the preparation. Maria stood beside me, watching closely as I set my hands on either side of the crystal and said "Blight Begone!" as I once again cast the spell. Things very quickly got ugly. "What the...?" Maria yelped as white light flared, then dimmed as actual flames engulfed the stone...and my hands. The pain was freaking incredible, but this is when being a stubborn, vindictive, asshole comes in handy, because I clamped on harder, feeling something''s anger, hate, and pain pointed at me, and cast another damned blessing at it as I screamed "Eat this!!!" The white light flared up toward my armor''s nuke level as the flames tried like hell to turn my hands to ash. Sam''s head actually reared back and he struck at the stone like he was going to bite it. It seemed like I stood there screaming in anger and pain for a long time as I felt the blight screaming back, but Maria said later that the whole thing lasted maybe one minute. The flames disappeared first as the presence faded, then the light dimmed back to normal stone level, and I collapsed to my knees, unable to move my darn hands off the stone. "Jesus Jake, what the hell was that" Maria yelled, reaching out to hold me up. My head was hanging down, and my health was below a hundred, but I scrounged up enough will power to cast a healing on myself, hissing in pleasure as the pain in my hands faded away. I did another one before my hands would come free and I could stagger to my feet. Sam was his normal decorative self, but I had definitely seen him attack the stone. "That was...owie" I muttered, getting a giggle from Maria as she hugged me tight. I returned the hug for a moment, then stepped back and did a third healing before saying "Wow, we are definitely not going to be doing any blessings in the Desolation" "No shit" she said with a laugh, her hands still clutching my arm as she checked me over "That scared the living shit out of me" "I''m thinking I need to get Bob on this blight thing sooner rather than later" I answered, studying the stone and finding no sign of the black specks. Looking at Maria, I said seriously "The damn thing fought me, I could feel it. Whatever the blight is, it''s strong as hell" "Many have said it is the life force of the necromancers who cast it" Siroka said from behind me. She must have seen what happened, because she gave me a concerned look, then nodded when she saw I was ok. She kind of leaned in and gave a quick sniff of the stone before standing back again and saying "It appears to be gone" "For now" I said, giving Maria a questioning look. She smiled and got a determined look as she knelt in the same spot I had just been. I wasn''t sure what she planned to do, and watched closely to make sure the damned blight didn''t set her on fire. She cupped her hands like she was holding something, then brought them to her face and blew gently, like she was blowing dandelion puffs away. I didn''t see anything happen, but she lowered her hands, then turned them like she was setting something on the dirt in front of the statue. Her hands stayed there as a multicolored glow started, reminding me of one of those fountains that had all the colored lights. Seconds after the glow started, a small green shoot pushed up out of the dirt, then continued growing as it slithered to the base of the statue and began climbing upwards. It wrapped around a couple of times before reaching the shoulder and slithering along the left arm until it reached the stone. There it split into four smaller vines that encircled the stone before stopping. It was another second before four blooms burst from the vines, surrounding the stone with four, four petal flowers that reminded me of tulips, but each flower was a different color. Red, green, yellow, and blue. I realized they matched the vine diadem that Maria wore, and that each flower represented a different goddess. It was...beautiful, though that didn''t really do it justice. Real reality just didn''t have things that glimmered and glowed with its own power. I looked up when I realized the big tree had the same colors shimmering through it, though they only lasted a half minute before fading again. "Thank you your majesty" Siroka said, leaning down to rub her cheek along Marias, then standing back again as Maria stood up. She reached out to stroke one of the petals, then sighed and stepped back to take my arm and lean against me as we looked at what we had done. "Seeds of power" Maria said softly "blessed by four goddesses, and given to me to use for the good of Tarinath. There is no better place to use one I''m thinking" "Yeah" I said with a nod, looking around the cavern "If you had to fight for something, this is what it should be" -------------Author Note Hey all, Traveling for a week, so thought I would try to get a chapter out, even if it''s a little shorter. Feedback is greatly appreciated, and leaving a review or rating helps a lot Thanks, S. Zaplosky Chap 31: Spiders of unusual size Banishing the blight from the Haiden stone left me dragging, and I decided it had something to do with the pain of the attack more than anything else. The Lightning rune and elf boy''s fireball to the eye left me feeling the same, physically fine, but mentally tired, like I had been stressed out all day. Maria went to talk with Siroka, so I wandered the tree for a while, saying hello to any of the fox people who said it to me. The vulpa were a lot like humans, because I found their version of a tavern a hundred feet up, and inside a larger than normal building. They didn''t rent rooms, but they did sell a version of ale that they were happy to share. With no one else around to make them shy, I found myself the center of attention, and quickly had a small crowd gathered around me asking questions about the ''upper world''. During the question and answer session I found out that the Vulpa, while small in numbers, lived a long time; a couple of centuries from what I could figure out. It made the small numbers a little more understandable. They used to travel the underroads more, but the poisoning of the great tree meant they had to have defenders at most entrances to Mora Rosel to fend off intruders, and that meant curtailing their explorations since those took larger groups for safety. "The drakelings came soon after the dragons arrival" a male fox named Gorssut (or as close as I could come to the sound) said "but are slow to expand their dens, and stay in the upper, western reaches of the underroads. It is the goblins who have begun to encroach on our forest in larger numbers, and are making the lower roads and eastern reaches more dangerous" "The undead" a female vulpa said, getting a round of hissing from the gathered crowd "they are driving the goblins out of the lower caverns, pushing them toward us" Gorssut gave a quick nod and ear flip as he said "Aye, the cursed Lich has begun to stir from his lair below Lor Frell. He will use the underroads to spread the blight, out of the dragons sight, then destroy the dragons and raise them for his army" A young vulpa female gave me another of their ales, a sweeter version than the ones Samuel made, but good none the less. I smiled at the shy way she sidled up and slid the mug beside me, then reached out to touch my arm before giggling and scampering away. Taking a sip before nodding appreciatively for the crowd, I said "My companions and I are traveling to Lor Frell to aid our friend Dalmar in his quest, but the Guardian Queen and I have been tasked by the goddesses with the destruction of the undead, so we will destroy the Lich before departing Lor Frell" New Quest Destroy the ArchLich inhabiting Lor Frell Oops. The message popped up and didn''t even give me a yes/no option. The message faded after a few seconds, leaving me sort of shrugging as I considered things. We were going to do it anyway, and this way I might get more experience from the whole thing. Like the way Shadow and her people got double experience for us killing that dumbass dark elf. It did make me grin at the thought that I had given myself a quest, and made me think it might be time to see about Bob''s quest. All in all, it was a fun afternoon, and I wished my sister had been able to see it, she had always loved stories with talking animals. The thought surprised me, and I shook it off as I wandered back down the tree, picturing Mary here instead. I was seriously considering what it would take to set a portal after picturing that hammock idea again. The actual trip from Riverbend was only about a week, so we''d be talking about two weeks round trip. Of course, that was two weeks through seriously dangerous territory. But still, a hammock and a beautiful girl under a magic tree. Who could pass that up? I found most of the team sitting where we had grouped up this morning, with only Anna and Neara still out and about. We settled in to do a leisurely dinner, deciding to wait on the other two before discussing plans. When they did arrive, Siroka was pacing along beside Anna, and the shamaness joined us in our informal circle. Dalmar led off with "I found the road we want, and it''s still open, though our friends here say none of them are really safe anymore. Going east, we have to traverse a couple of large caverns, though none this large,and the closest one is supposedly spider infested" he grinned at the group before saying "Spiders of unusual size" Maria laughed, but Neara and Rayna just rolled their eyes. "Goblins after that" Dalmar continued with a chuckle "though that''s just a guess by our hosts. It''s pretty much a straight shot east, so if we get separated for some reason, you just head east. There''s a lava flow we have to cross marked on the map, about a day away from Lor Frell, so you''ll know you''re close when you reach it" he shrugged before saying ''Then we deal with the undead" "That''s a good point" Rayna said "If someone pulls a Bilbo and gets separated, it might get pretty interesting finding your way" "Everybody good with riddles?" Maria asked with a laugh, she waved a hand to stop any replies and said "but it''s something to think about. Any of you guardians find yourself alone, remember you can cloak yourself and probably avoid a lot of trouble" "Stay on the dwarven roads" Siroka said "and you should be able to find your way. Many creatures have built tunnels that lead away from the roads, but they are easy to recognize" Anna and Bob''s groups hadn''t found anything unusual, but they were all impressed with the place. As Bob said "If it weren''t for things in the surrounding tunnels trying to eat you, this would be paradise" "You guys said the Hainar stone was infected with the blight, right?" Neara asked "and there are supposedly two more out there? Does that mean there''s two more places getting affected by this?" "If they have not been destroyed" Siroka said "One was in Lor Frell, one here in Mora Rosel, one in Lor Daana on the border of what was the elven lands, but is now the Desolation, and the last on the southern coast at Lor Koss. Lor Daana and Lor Koss were both lost when the dragons arrived from across the southern sea, with Lor Koss being the first dwarven city to fall" "Do the underroads reach them too?" Anna asked "Once" Siroka said with a flick of an ear, something I took for her version of a shrug "but it would be a perilous journey to attempt to reach them by the underroads now" "I know a group of ladies who might take up the challenge" Maria said, her eyes distant as she considered something. She focused on me and said "Having a portal on the coasts would be pretty convenient a few years from now when we start exploring this world" That got a shrug from me as I said "Something to consider in the long term" We chatted in a desultory fashion for a while, and when it appeared we had covered everything of interest, I stood up and said "Got something important I need to cover" Everyone kind of blinked at my serious tone, but they all looked up at me as I said "We''ve been talking about the blight for a while now, but this is the first time I''ve dealt with it directly. I''m not sure what it is, but it''s not just some disease or infection. The thing I fought in the stone felt pain, and it tried to kill me when it realized what I was doing. I think the barrier from the ceremony of sacrifice prevents the blight from spreading directly, but it appears to be connected to any of the undead that manage to cross into our lands" Maria was nodding, and when I paused, said "It damn near did kill Jake" I nodded in agreement, but just said "It''s time to get serious about dealing with the thing, and I doubt it will go quietly or easily" I looked down at Bob, and his face hardened as I said "Telina needs a champion to destroy the blight before it can spread beyond the barrier" Bob started to say something, so I held up my hand, and when he relaxed, I said "Telina doesn''t have any information on the blight, much less on how to end it, so this is a pretty open ended thing" I paused to look the group over, then added "I also think this blight is aware enough it might resist you" Everyone else got doubtful looks, but Maria was nodding slowly. I shrugged and said "It did over two hundred points of damage, and that was through the stone, so don''t underestimate it" I gave Bob a questioning look and said "I''m offering you your chance at redemption Bob. Will you take up the quest to destroy the blight?" His eyes got the vague look of someone reading an interface message, and we all heard when he said ''Yes", though the sudden flare of white light around him was probably just Telina being a show off. "There you go" Maria said, her satisfied tone making it clear she had been expecting this. Her eyes traveled over the other ladies, getting nods from each of them, before Maria said "We have to find the anvil for Dalmar, and have the Lich to take care of, but after that it looks like you guys are ready to take up your quest" she looked back at Diana to say "Tarra wants you to travel with Dalmar until he has his forge set up, then you''ll join the quest. Learning the smithing skill will supposedly come in handy" Maria clapped her hands together and gave everyone a big grin before saying "So what are you going to call your group?" Dalmar, Maria, Siroka and I left the others talking about team names, and formed our own group by the Vulpa''s bonfire area. A lot of laughter came floating over from the other group as some one would suggest something weird or funny for a name. "Do you truly believe you can destroy the blight?" Siroka asked doubtfully from where she was sitting close to Maria I shrugged, looking at my friends to see them give me their own shrugs, before I said "Don''t really know. I would think so, since someone created it at some point, but the question will really be if stopping it will be more destructive than containing it" Siroka''s face showed her confusion, so I added "We don''t know what it is, or even where it is for that matter. It might be like cancer in our world, where the treatments for destroying it are almost as harmful as the cancer itself" "Made a bit of a production out of it, didn''t you" Maria asked with a grin. I frowned, agreeing with her, but trying to think of a way to explain why it was needed, when Dalmar spoke first. "Bob needed it" Dalmar said, giving me an approving nod "Guys young, probably early twenties. Acted the fool when he got here, but your and Jake''s approval is important to him" he looked over at where one of the women in the other group let out a loud laugh, then turned back to Maria to say "This redemption thing means a lot to him, and Jake taking it seriously will help. So you need to keep that in mind when talking about his quest" Dalmar was correct, and most of the reason I had made a production of it, but I had also been speaking for Siroka, as the locals seemed to spread rumors quickly. "Ok" Maria said with a grin and a nod "I''ll give a royal blessing after we finish your quest and they head out" "Your presence has been a holy blessing" Siroka said seriously "my people could not have stood against the goblins and drakelings without the power of the Great Tree" She stood up, the leaned down to stroke her cheek along Maria''s, something I had seen her do before, and guessed it was something similar to a hug. Siroka pulled a small wooden box, about the size of something you would have a ring in, from somewhere in her vest and held it out to Maria, saying "The goddess Tessa once blessed my people with a Luminia seed, and I believe it is time for us to offer the same blessing to you" Maria hesitated, but when Siroka pushed the box toward her, Maria took it. Holding it out where Dalmar and I could see, she opened the top to reveal something that kind of resembled a small walnut, but green, with gold striations in it. "Plant the seed where it will most aid those in need" Siroka said "the Luminia will wither and fade without people who appreciate its beauty, and in turn, people that the tree can care for" "This is a...wondrous gift" Maria said softly "Are you sure?" Siroka laughed and reached out to close the box and clasp her small hands around Maria''s before saying "Without a doubt your majesty" Turning to me, Siroka said "My people do not place much value on the things those above seem to covet, so I have little to offer you in thanks for your suffering on our behalf" she raised a hand to stop me as I started to say something, then continued by saying "but we have gathered some few items from travelers and those who we defeated" Siroka pulled a necklace with a small, round pendant from her vest and handed it to me. The Safe Traveller Quill the Vagabond created this necklace as he believed that if one wished to safely travel the byways of Tarinath, one needed: "The wisdom to avoid a fight, the speed to flee a fight one lacked the wisdom to avoid, and if necessary, the toughness to win the fight you could not flee" +3 Wisdom +3 Dexterity +8 Armor Usable by: All Wow. Talk about the perfect gift! Siroka leaned down to give me the same cheek rub, her fur feeling amazingly soft on my face as she did so. She stood upright again, then turned to look up at the tree before saying quietly "You saved my people, and these are such small things for such a great gift, but we will honor you and your companions in word and song for as long as the Vulpa hold the Buried Forest" I could tell Maria was a little choked up, and it felt good to be seen as something other than "cursed eternals" Siroka didn''t let it get awkward, just turned and walked away, leaving us to exchange looks. "Always nice to be appreciated" Dalmar said, reaching out to give Maria''s shoulder a pat. We spent the evening with the Vulpa, enjoying a final gathering, one I stayed awake for, but morning found us gathered at the base of the great tree, exchanging goodbyes. I liked the informality of the Vulpa, so we didn''t do any speech making, just had the whole fox clan gathered to watch us leave. "It''s nice to know this world has places like this" Bob said as we left the grassy area under the tree and headed back onto the road. I could see the waterfall now that we were out from under the tree, and it was impressive as hell. It flowed out of an opening twenty feet wide, about fifty feet below the ceiling of the cavern, then fell straight down. I couldn''t see the bottom yet, but Dalmar had said it had formed a pool at the base that anchored the river that flowed through the cavern. Being able to see it seemed to make the noise clearer, since the thunder of the falls became something I couldn''t tune out. The small lake, which I could see when we finally cleared the forest, was shrouded in mist from the falling water. The lake itself was probably a hundred feet wide, and twice that long, with the waterfall forming a backdrop that the thousands of overhead lights turned into a scintillating ribbon strectching hundreds of feet upwards. We all stopped at the forest edge and just gazed in awe. Dalmar let us all look for a time, then said "Our road is to the left" Dragging my eyes away from the falling water, I followed his pointing finger to see that the road split at the lake, circling to either side, and on the left, entered two separate tunnels. The one he was pointing at being not far from the lake, with the other a good two hundred feet to the first ones left. Both had carved stones surrounding them, appearing like archways that framed the entrances. There was a a single tunnel to the right of the waterfall, making this a real crossroads for the underground road system. We gathered at the entrance to our road and got organized. "Anna, you move back with Bob again until we see what we''re facing" Dalmar said. He looked my way and added "I think you should move forward Jake, or you''ll never get a chance to use that snake thing. If it looks like we''re getting overrun, slide back and do your healing trick, but until then I don''t see why you can''t have some of the fun" Damn right! I grinned at Maria as I stepped forward, saying "Guess who gets to ride up front" getting a giggle before she stuck her tongue out. I settled in between Dalmar and Diana, and the rest of the group shook out into position behind us before Dalmar said "Let''s do this" The light from the cavern faded fairly quickly, and Rayna and I pulled out torches to help out. Maria could see ahead well enough to warn us of traps, and the roadway matched the one we came in on, so there was enough room for three abreast. The road appeared to be level, not showing any tendency to descend, so maybe we were as low as we were going to go. We had been walking about ten minutes, when Maria said in a whining tone "Are we there yet?" getting a burst of laughter from the group. Dalmar, Diana and I stayed focused, but the rest of the group talked quietly as we walked, everyone much more relaxed than they had been on our initial descent. Rayna and Neara ended up getting everyone to listen when Rayna said "Yeah, they''ve locked down on information about the virtual worlds and stuff, but my old boyfriend worked for one of the gaming companies, and he said any of the worlds they transferred a person''s consciousness into, it had to be totally closed. Said the government tried making cyborg type things, but any time they allowed outside stimuli, it disrupted the persons consciousness. I don''t think they really know for sure how this stuff works; you know, like really understand it. John, my boyfriend, said the game worlds have really sophisticated programs, almost AI type stuff, that controls a lot of it, and when they make these places, they create like the framework, then let the AI thing handle the rest based on parameters they give it. But not, you know, like a living program, just something that makes stuff based on rules" "Yeah, I''ve read net articles about the government putting people in the computers that run tanks and stuff" Neara said "but I don''t think anyone''s ever really proved it" "People are too crazy for that to work" Maria said "you imagine some asshole who actually lived in a tank. He''d be out humping cars and reading automotive porn" The girl had a weird way of looking at things, but she did make me laugh. Dalmar added his own deep chuckle to the group laugh, but followed it with a "Shhh" as everyone had gotten fairly loud. Our first day of walking was fairly uneventful, but early the next day Sam went from decoration to whip from one step to the next, though nothing was in sight. I stopped and said "Hold up", getting everyone to halt and look my way. I held Sam up slightly so everyone could see he was ready for a fight as I studied the road ahead of us. "Something''s there, but I''m not seeing it" I said. The torches let me see fifty or sixty feet ahead, but it was dim enough that it took me a moment to realize the dust on the floor was disturbed in a path moving our way, up to a point about twenty feet in front of us; as if something had moved that far, then stopped. I called fist, then focusing on the spot where the disturbed dust stopped, I snapped Sam forward. I could feel the difference the +3 dexterity made, the whole slashing motion feeling smoother and more...efficient. Sam hit with a crack, causing a sudden spark of electricity, and a small flare of white fire from fist, that revealed the ugliest damn spider I''d ever seen. It was about four feet high, even though the whip strike had caused the thing to collapse with its eight legs splayed out. It had a hard shelled body that was solid black, sort of like a black widow without the red color, and two large pincers below its multi-faceted eyes. Shroud Spider Level 11 Health 105 My hit had taken three quarters of its health off, so I was getting at least the full effect from fist, if not more. "Gross" Diana muttered as I called fist again, then slashed forward. The second smack of the whip got a high pitched screeching sound from the thing, just before it turned into a small pile of junk on the ground. "Nice" Dalmar said softly. Sam flowed back up and turned into a bracer again, but he was feeling just as happy as I was. Two hits in a row! I was hoping the move above the magic eighteen in dexterity was making a difference, and that this effectiveness would continue. "How''d you know it was there?" Diana asked "Dust trail stopped there" I said as we moved to the small pile on the floor. There was a couple of gold pieces, a small vial, and a glowing crystal. Paralysis Poison Paralyzes upon contact for 30 seconds Resistance to poison is based on victims level, stamina attribute, and intelligence attribute Shroud Crystal A shroud crystal is the source of the shroud spider''s ability to hide itself from its victims sight "Level, stamina, and intelligence numbers" Maria said seriously "These things are player killers. Not many players are going to raise both stamina and intelligence, so you''re pretty much guaranteed a player is going to be weak in one of those areas" "If you add those three things up" I said "Dalmar probably has the highest numbers" "Like an average?" Neara asked thoughtfully, before nodding and adding "good way to think about it probably" "Don''t think it really matters, does it?" Bob asked, a small grin showing "we''re all going forward regardless" "True enough" Dalmar said with a shrug as he shouldered his hammer, then looked around the group and said "we get to the cavern, a bunch of invisible spiders will be a problem. Anyone got anything that will let us detect them?" he grinned and nodded at me before adding "Other than Sam" "The shroud thing blocked my ability to detect the creature" Maria said with a frown, just before Anna asked "Dispel magic maybe?" "Possibly" Dalmar said with a nod "Worth a try at least" "We have to cross the cavern?" I asked, and at Dalmar''s nod, said "That means we''ll be surrounded fairly quickly. I can stun everything there for ten seconds, but that won''t do us much good if they recover while we''re still there" "We need to deal with them before we walk into their house, where they''re strongest" Bob said thoughtfully. He was staring contemplatively down the road as he stroked his mustache and considered things "These are monsters, so we need to think in aggro distances, and how to draw them to us. Best way to cross the cavern is if it''s only us in it" I looked around to see everyone nodding in agreement, drawing a grin from me as I looked back at Bob. He stood a head taller than anyone else there, bulky and strong looking in his armor, with his sword handle stuck up over his shoulder from the sheath on his back. He saw my grin, and gave me one back as he said "So I say, rather than risk a running fight, we stop at the cave entrance and draw them to us. If nothing else, Jake can cast his holy fire spell around the cavern to attract their interest" We talked it out a bit more, deciding Sam would be our early warning until we got to the cavern, then we would set up a defensive position and draw the spiders to us, where we could concentrate our strength. Rayna had the same vine spell Sienna had, as well as the slow spell, so she would be really effective for setting up a defensive front. Sam made another appearance about thirty minutes later, but this time Dalmar waved for everyone to wait, then walked forward on his own. This time the spider was actually hanging onto the ceiling, and when Dalmar walked under it, it dropped on him. Dalmar was holding his hammer across his front, the head upright by his right shoulder, so he kind of pushed upward with the hammer to shove the spider off, and It didn''t manage to knock him over. I was surprised he stood still and let the spider recover, then just let it lunge forward and bite him on his upheld arm. Dalmar sort of...stutter stepped, as I guess the paralysis tried and failed to take hold, then he commenced to whooping ass. An upward swing of his hammer caught the spider under its pincered mouth and flipped it onto its back, where a follow up swing came down hard. A sharp cracking noise was swiftly followed by the spider turning into a pile of junk. "Burns, and did about twenty points of damage" Dalmar said when we joined him "Body is hard like armor, so expect some reduction in hit damage" "So all we have to do is wait outside, and Dalmar can go in and clear the cavern?" Diana asked with a laugh as she picked up the drop, getting a grin from Dalmar and a chuckle from the rest of us. The next time Sam did his thing, Dalmar halted us and let Rayna do a dispel magic, hers dispelling up to level 20, and mine only going to 17 at the moment. She cast it at a point in the tunnel at a distance the previous spiders had been since the dust was to disturbed to pick a single point, getting a flash of blueish light, but nothing more. "I guess we do this the hard way then" Dalmar said, hefting his hammer, with Diana doing the same. I called a fist spell, but waited in place as the two of them moved forward. Two spiders made a sudden appearance, one dropping down from the ceiling on to Diana, the other surging forward to lock its pincer jaws around Dalmar''s right arm and hammer. Diana fell down, pushing her hammer up to hold the spider away, yelling "Shit!, get off me you ugly piece of..." The spider bit her hand at that point, and she locked up, totally frozen. Sam slashed out at the same time two arrows, and five magic missiles passed me, all aimed at the one on Diana. The arrows both hit, followed by Sam and his display of lightning and the flash of white light from fist, then the missiles swept in to finish the thing off. A small pile of items dropped on to Diana''s stomach, but she just stayed locked up on the floor, arms extended, hammer held up. Dalmar actually kicked his to get it to release his arm, then killed it with two overhand blows, before turning to crouch down by Diana. Sam was still in whip form, so I drew in a calming breath, then said loudly enough to be heard by my whole group "Still have more here. Bob, move forward, Anna and I will cover the back" Bob had his big sword in one hand as he strode past me, then stepped in front of where Diana and Dalmar were, eyes scanning the hall in front of us. Maria and Neara had arrows nocked, and Anna moved in a little tighter before facing back, as I called holy fire down at a point about ten feet in front of Bob. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. The column of white fire shot down from the ceiling, then splashed outward, revealing two more spiders clinging to the walls. They both let out chittering noises as the flame washed over them, then they both scuttled forward. The one on the right got met by Bob, who let out a harsh yell as he did a two handed thrust into its open jaws, while the other got two arrows, and a swarm of magic missiles. I called fist, but waited and watched, wary of being surprised by more. Bob''s spider had the sword slide almost all the way in before turning into a junk pile, while the other fell off the wall, but surged forward in a rush of clattering legs. Bob spun and hit it across the back a second after two more arrows hit, killing it a couple feet away from where Dalmar waited in front of a suddenly released Diana. "Son of a bitch!!" Diana screamed as she rolled to her feet, eyes flashing angrily, glowing red hammer held cocked back over her shoulder like she was going to take a swing. Sam had slithered back into bracer form, so I said calmly "We''re alone" "I''m going to pound those things into paste!" Diana yelled, rage pouring out of her as she stomped forward a little and glared down the hall Maria touched my arm, and when I looked over, gave me a serious look and nodded for me to move back. She walked forward, getting Dalmar and Bob to join me, as her and the other women moved forward to join a still cursing Diana. The girls huddled up, with Maria talking quietly, but intensely to Diana. Dalmar and Bob stopped next to me, with Bob glancing back at the other group, then saying softly to Dalmar and I "That''s got to be tough, being made helpless like that" I made a silent "oh" expression as I realized what the problem was. Dalmar nodded his own understanding as we moved back a little more to give them some privacy. It didn''t take long, maybe two or three minutes, before Diana got hugs from the others as they broke up and Maria said "Alright, lets go kick some spider ass" "We''ll pair up" Dalmar said gruffly as he walked forward to join Diana "Bob and Anna, Diana and I, are the front line. Maria, you support Bob and Anna, Neara, you support me and Diana. Jake, you and Rayna are our artillery section. You might try a dispel on us if we get paralyzed, otherwise, use your own judgment on how best to help" I took a moment to cast a group blessing, then an armor spell, though it probably still had a while on the last one. A quick restore, and we were ready to go. The group was more serious now, quieter and more focused as we all waited for Sam to make an appearance. A dim light ahead of us resolved into a background glow from an open area ahead of us, getting Dalmar to say quietly "The cavern. We must have taken out the guards back there" Anna and Dalmar were slightly ahead of Bob and Diana, in a staggered formation, and they all stopped about ten feet in from the end of the hall. I was kind of surprised Sam hadn''t indicated any spiders, so I nodded for Maria to follow, and stepped up to join our lead people. "You want to take a peek?" I asked Maria, getting a nod and a grin as she stepped forward, disappearing from sight within two steps. From where I was standing, I could see the cavern wasn''t nearly as large as Mora Rosel, but it did look like it was covered in webs. Maria appeared in front of us a couple of minutes later, and she said quietly "Maybe five hundred feet to the other side. Walls and ceiling are covered in webs, and there are some hanging down in the middle, so we''ll have to be careful crossing. Spiders were visible, and I counted seventeen, though there might be more I couldn''t see. Looks like a boss spider on the other side, at least twice as big as the rest" "Let''s see if we can draw them to us in small groups" Anna said just as softly "Target a couple with arrows and see if we can pull them to us" We all exchanged looks, then nods, as Maria turned back to the entrance, saying over her shoulder "Ok, I''ll hit a couple of close ones. Get ready" She disappeared again, but popped back into view a couple of feet into the cavern as she released an arrow. She was a blur of motion as she drew and fired two more arrows, before sort of waving her bow overhead to attract attention. She was grinning as she trotted back, then slipped behind our front line, saying "Three of them" Sam flowed into a whip a couple of seconds later, but this time we could hear the clatter of the spider legs as they scuttled after Maria. All three were visible, with two surging into the tunnel from the left side, and one crawling in along the ceiling. They all appeared to be level 11, and had a small amount of damage from Maria''s arrows. Two arrows flashed out, one for each of the two on the floor. I paused a second, then called fist and slashed Sam at the one on the ceiling, striking it directly on its left eye, causing it to screech in pain and fall to the floor. Anna met the one on our left with an upraised shield and a sword thrust that caused it to come to a floundering halt, only to receive a thrust from Bob''s sword that turned it into a pile on the floor. Dalmar pushed his hammer into the face of the one on the right, holding it in place to receive an overhand blow from a glowing red warhammer, swung by a very angry Diana, that killed it. Rayna finished the one I had knocked off the ceiling with a round of magic missiles, and we were suddenly alone again. The whole thing took maybe fifteen seconds and Sam was suddenly a bracer again. "That worked well" Maria said in satisfaction, getting a chuckle from Dalmar. It turns out that eight eternals is a hard combination to beat, and Maria had no trouble luring small groups of spiders to us, damaging them enough with her arrows that they stayed visible when they chased her. I received a level up message on the third group, but ignored it for the time. We finished fifteen of the spiders off with little or no trouble, but Maria stopped after that and signaled for a huddle. "Ok" she said "Last two are next to the big one, so I don''t think I can attract them without drawing the boss too" "Can you see the boss''s tag?" Rayna asked, getting a head shake from Maria, who said "Nope. But it''s a boss, so it''ll probably be Dalmar''s level or better, and have some kind of special attack I''m sure" "Won''t fit into the tunnel, right?" Anna asked. Maria looked around, sort of judging things, then said "Maybe, but it''d be tight" "We don''t want to be grouped up when we attack the boss spider" Dalmar said "if it has an area of affect attack, it could take out the whole team. I say we move as a group across the cavern, slow enough we trigger anything between us and the boss spider, then see if we can take out the other two spiders from a distance so we can concentrate on the boss" "Holy fire will probably kill one, and do a little splash damage" I said "Me, Maria, and Neara, target the other one" Rayna said "Which should leave us in good shape to deal with the boss last" Dalmar looked around the group, getting a series of nods, then said to me "Ok, sounds like we have a plan. You''re our back up on this Jake. You and Rayna. I''d like you two to be ready to go all in on the big one if it gets the upper hand" Rayna and I exchanged looks, then Rayna turned back to grin and hold up her staff before saying "Safeties off" She got a round of chuckles as we formed up and moved forward into the cavern. The walls and ceiling were covered in webs, with things that looked like bodies wrapped up and hanging down in various places. The floor had a scattering of webs, but they were avoidable, though it made for a slightly winding route forward. The big spider was...big. It was around fifteen feet high, and I could see it as soon as we entered, but didn''t see a tag until we were over halfway across. Queen Spider Level 22 Health 410 Not as bad as I had expected, but I would bet at its level it could paralyze Dalmar and I if it bit us, saying nothing about the rest of the group. "Jake, take the one on our right" Maria said "We''ll get the one on the left" The two smaller spiders were flanking the big one, so I raised my right hand and began to cast holy fire. In the middle of the cast, Sam flowed forward and turned into a whip, but I didn''t let it distract me, just finishing the spell. My flame hit a couple of seconds after two arrows and a swarm of magic missiles hit the other small spider, and just as a pair of follow up arrows killed that one, my fire shot down from the ceiling, a hundred feet above, in a column of white fire that slammed into the smaller spider. It was pressed to the floor as it chittered in distress, then disappeared to leave behind a small pile of treasure. The fire splashed outward, lapping over the queen spider, getting a tremendously loud, high pitched screech that made me wince. The queen surged forward, its legs sounding like eight steel rods being slammed into the ground as it came at us with incredible speed. Dalmar stepped forward as the others spread out, with Anna and Bob going left, and Diana and Neara going right. A couple of arrows hit, but it moved so quickly, it was on Dalmar before Maria could get off another shot. Dalmar looked pretty darn small as the thing thundered up to him, but his hammer''s impact on its left pincer caused it to stagger to the side and caused an appreciable drop in its health bar. A leg swept upward, catching Dalmar square in the front, and sent him flying backwards to land to my right. I sent a quick heal his way, but kept my focus on the spider as it let out a harsh spitting sound. A short stream of black liquid shot at Maria, but hit Bob instead as he stepped in front of her and he staggered back with a bellow of pain as he was covered in black goop. His health bar dropped over a third, so I sent a healing spell his way as I said "Slow it down Rayna!" Anna and Diana both took swings at the things back when it faced Maria, both managing a hit, but getting swept aside like Dalmar had been when it spun back to face them. I tossed a second heal spell at Bob as the poison spit did more damage before disappearing. His skin was melted in places, and he looked like it hurt like holy hell, but he had a tight grin as he staggered forward with his sword raised. Rayna''s slow spell hit then, causing the spider to stumble sideways, then fall forward onto its face as its legs got tangled up. "Hit it!" Rayna yelled "Ten second spell!" She started making more gestures, so I called fist and sent Sam into the fray with a loud crack and flare of magic. I was tempted to send holy fire down, but this thing did so much damage I wanted to save my mana for healing, so just called fist again, then monitored things. Bob, Diana, Dalmar, and Anna all surrounded the spider as it got itself straightened out, each swinging at a leg or part of the body as black vines rose out of the floor and wrapped around parts of the spider. They held for about three seconds, then the spider tore loose and surged forward, running over Dalmar again as it charged Rayna and I. I should have had Bruce in my off hand for something like this, because it was to close to swing Sam. I leaned toward the charging spider, planning to slow it down, and as I cocked my hand back to punch the thing, found I had a silver gauntlet on my hand. A silver gauntlet with three triangular spikes across the knuckles. My punch landed between its eyes as it wrapped the pincers around me, raised me up, and bit the living bejesus out of me. I latched my Sam covered hand around the right pincer and squeezed as the paralysis took hold. A slow spell hit as the thing tried to shake me loose, but my body was stiff as a board, and my right hand was clamped tightly to its pincer, so I was just jerked back and forth, with what I was sure was a smug, frozen grin on my face. Got something stuck in your teeth, don''t ya? I couldn''t move, not even my eyes, but I caught glimpses of my friends swarming the thing from every direction, and a third slow spell hit just before the last one wore off. It was a loud fight, with the spider''s legs sounding like pistons as they slammed the floor, people screaming war cries as they swung weapons, or just plain yelling from excitement. The paralysis wore off a couple seconds after it died, which meant I got an additional couple of points of damage when I fell to the floor. A group of faces were looking down at me worriedly as I took a huge breath, then grinned up at them and said "How you like them kittens?" Maria burst into a loud laugh as everyone else looked confused and Dalmar held out a hand and pulled me to my feet. I immediately did a healing spell, sighing as the various pains accumulated from being bitten and tossed back and forth faded away, then looked around to see if anyone else needed one. Dalmar looked a little beat up, and Anna and Diana had a bit of damage, but Bob was the worst, so I sent one his way and watched the last of the damage disappear from his skin. "You''re a nut" Maria said with a giggle, punching my arm lightly before adding "you had me worried for a second there, until I saw you grinning like an idiot as the thing chewed on you" "Really" Anna said, eyeing me doubtfully "you were smiling. That''s a little...weird, don''t you think" "Hell no!" Bob said with a laugh, reaching out to give me a punch on the other arm before laughing and shaking his head as he added "man, that was genius. I wish I''d thought of it" "Don''t try that with dragons" Dalmar said with a deep chuckle as he went over to scrounge the queen''s drop. Everyone was pretty pumped from the fight, so I got to hear various versions of the battle as we searched the cavern for more treasure. Anna found a goodly stack behind a pile of rocks, and everyone else sorted through it as I dealt with my latest level up. You have reached Level 13 You have earned 1/2 an attribute point I sort of waited expectantly, then realized that was it. It was a good thing everything else was so much fun, because this level up thing was kind of a bummer. Of course, I had been begging for a holy lightning bolt, and I ended up with a lightning rune, so maybe I needed to start wishing for something else. Hmm, what else was there to wish for? I had a wonderful girl, great friends, some kick ass spells, and an awesome weapon, so I was pretty happy with things. This would take some thought. ______________________________________ Updated Stats for those who are interested. I don''t want to drop them from the story, but after reading a variety of VRPG life type stories, I find I don''t like the endless tables or listings of stats. I want to see if the story will flow better if I add them at the end of the chapter when needed. I''ve tried to update them, and rejiggered the numbers a bit. Feel free to offer an opinion or point out any errors. Of course Jake would prefer those errors be in his favor. Healer Priest (Dragonsbane) Level 13 STR 10 (12) DEX 10 (20) STA 20 INT 10 (11) WIS 16 (19) Health: 320 Mana: 190 Endurance: 200 Armor: 46 base : (22 spell) : x 1.3 = 59 base (88 spell) Defender of the Faith Priest focuses on aiding those in need and protecting the oppressed. Spells will focus on group and individual protection and aid, while the priest''s personal aura will become a healing channel for your goddess''s will. Blessing spells now apply to all allied creatures within ten feet of priest Healing spells cost half mana +10 points health/level 10% damage reflected back on attacker Armor 30% stronger Priest''s aura does following for allies within 10 feet of player:: +5% stat boost to party members (+5% every 10th level) +25% mana restore rate Spells: Telina''s Gaze Applies 65 points (+20%) of healing to the user or any creature selected 10 Mana/use Telina''s Fist Applies 65(-15%) points of damage when activated and a successful hit is made 20 Mana/use (effective hit) Telina''s Restoring Touch Restores mages mana when touched by transferring priests mana. Amount of mana restored chosen by priest Each point restored removes one point of priest''s mana. Cannot transfer more than presently held by the priest Cure Disease Cures disease (Level+10) of any creature touched 40 Mana/use Telina''s Holy Blessing On creature: 65% increase in hit damage and hit chance 70% increase in healing rate Duration: 6 hours (+5%/level to level 10) On flora: 75% increase in growth rate 80% crop amount (+5%/level to level 10) 40 Mana/Use (Does not stack) Create Potions (Cool down 12 hours) Healing potion: Vial of water with Telina''s Blessing + Telina''s Gaze Healing= Telina''s Gaze + Telina''s Blessing + 2(Faith) Cure Disease potion: Vial of water with Telina''s Blessing + Cure Disease Cures any disease Level 75 and below Mana Restoration potion: Vial of water with Telina''s Blessing + Telina''s Restoring Touch Mana restoration =Amount of mana chosen (not more than presently available) Telina''s Flame Holy fire strikes to cause 120 points damage to creature chosen Splash damage: 25% damage to enemy creatures within 10 ft Double damage to undead (+5/level to 120 damage) 75 Mana/use Dispel Magic Dispel Level+5 magic on creature or area chosen -Does not dispel enchanted objects or potions -Does not dispel own castings (Cool down 4 hours) 75 Mana/use Create Rune Ability to learn and place runes of power Player determines activation requirements (Cool down 3 days) Rune of Flame: When activated by user will do 100 points +5/level of fire damage 100 Mana when placed Rune of Retention Placed on an item, it will allow the priest to store prepared spells for later use. Requirements: Item that has not already been enchanted through standard means A Mage may imbue the item with the spell by casting it upon the item, but Blessing by a priest after a spell is placed is required to retain it Others may activate item if specifically identified by priest when placing the first blessing Command word spoken when placed, then to release the prepared spell while holding the item If more than one charge of the same spell is placed, the same command word is used, releasing a single instance of the spell each time More than one type of spell may be placed, to a maximum of three spells Spells can not mix Mage and Priest types Item may receive a replacement spell after use of one, but must be the same spell Usable once every seven days, though after placement of rune, item may receive spells at any time Rune of Lightning Lightning: When activated will do 150 points of shock damage to a single creature, and stun for 5 seconds + 1 sec/level of caster Chain Lightning: When activated will do 50 points of shock damage and stun for 10 seconds all creatures within twenty feet that meet activation requirements Mana required to cast: 180 Telina''s Protective Aura Player receives 10+level armor bonus for 2 hours (+30%) (Does not stack) 40 Mana/use Resurrection Cast on self or other player Allows player to return with no loss of level after next death at the location the player died Or Allows player to choose new spawn point (Cool down 7 days) Group Heal Heals completely all allies within 100 feet Once a day 140 mana Create Portal Connect two points via an archway Requirements: One end of a portal must be within the aura of a shrine to Telina The end situated close to the shrine must be defined by a carved, circular archway of 12 feet diameter. The other end must be defined by an entryway. A cave entrance, room doorway, or something similiar. To prepare the portal. After placing the circular stone archway, it must first receive Telina''s blessing. Within 21 days, the other end must be chosen, and a blessing placed on the entryway. The blessing must be repeated once a day for four days. Within 21 days, the circular archway must receive another blessing to bind the portal. When completed, the portal may be used by anyone who has received Telina''s blessing. Telina''s Beneficent Word Shouting this holy word will cause all who hear it to do the following Friends: Heal 50% +1%/level of accumulated damage. Restore 50% +1%/level of used mana Dispel all enemy spells presently active. Enemies: Do 8 points/level of damage (Double damage to undead) Stun for 1 second/level (Cannot be silenced) Mana: 200 (One day cool down) +20% Healing Spell -15% Spell Damage + 1.3% hand to hand + 94% light armor + 85% Blunt Weapon + 90% Concentration + 60% Faith + 93% Cooking + 91% Repair Legendary Weapon (Serpent Strike) Bond (5%) Weapon (3%) Magic (0%) The Safe Traveller (Necklace) +3 Wisdom +3 Dexterity +8 Armor Ring of Serizon +1 Strength +1 Dexterity +2 Armor Warrior''s Heart (Ring) +3 Strength +2 Dexterity +4 Armor Serpent''s Strike -1 Strength +3 Dexterity +1 Intelligence Ring of Serizon +1 Strength +1 Dexterity +2 Armor Leather Armor of Telina''s Light 25 Armor 15% Magic resistance +4 to dodge Once a day player may send out a blast of holy light that blinds opponents within 50 feet for 10 seconds Worn Leather Boots 2 armor rating 24/24 durability Not usable: Mage Leather Bracer 3 armor +2 armor 22/22 durability Mace of Holy Lightning (Bruce the Mighty) 18-32 damage +10% hit chance 10 points electrical damage 60/60 durability Serpent''s Strike (Sam) As one of the legendary weapons created by Xirat Krisnon, Serpent''s Strike must be won in battle. This weapons capabilities are determined by the wielder''s skill, experience level, attributes, actions, and intent. Wielder be warned, once earned in battle, it can not be removed, and a legendary weapon takes great patience to truly master. Becoming one with it''s wielder, the Serpent will draw strength through the bond. -1 Strength +3 Dexterity +1 to attribute of choice other than strength, for every 10 experience levels earned Damage: 1 point/level of impact damage 1 point/level of elemental damage (type determined during strike) Level 1-5: Wielder may channel a spell through the weapon with 20% less mana required Level 6-10: Wielder is capable of hitting targets up to 50 feet away. Wielder may cast silence once per day upon successful strike. Level 11-15: Wielder can disarm an opponent with a successful strike against the opponents weapon Level 16-20: Weapon strike can absorb incoming spells, then Wielder can direct the damage on any following strike. Level 21 and above: ?? NOT WORN Ring of Wisdom +1 to player''s Wisdom attribute Alternate titles: Question from the author Hey everyone, Still writing, but it looks like the story''s about peaked in reviews, so I thought I might look at an alternate book title. A few people have said Loser of Tarinath is a terrible title, and I agree, but I was kind of playing around to see if something called that could actually do well. One of the underlying ideas of the story was to see if I could turn the name Loser into something that didn''t make you cringe after a while. Still working on that part. Anyway...titles. I''m really not a marketing kind of guy, so I''m listing a few ideas and would appreciate feedback, or even suggestions. Oh, I have this thing for exclamation points. It''s a sickness, so don''t hate. In no particular order-- Kicked in the Balls: Jake''s tale Adventures in Tarinath Sentenced to Tarinath Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Asskicker of Tarinath (not sure this one could be posted, but I kind of liked it) Mace to the Face: Jake''s adventures in Tarinath Heal this! How you like them kittens!!! (Just kidding, and no, it''s not a question. Yell it like you mean it!!) Lots of Sex!: Adventures in Tarinath (Going for the lowest common denominator. Oh, and truth in advertising is right out. It would also be kind of interesting to see what kind of reviews I would get) Blunt Weapons: Less blood...More pain! Holy Fire: Feel the Burn! Blood & Brains: Living in Tarinath (Figured it would grab the fight junkies) Kill them All: Problem solving in Tarinath (Again, going for the violent crowd) So, give me your thoughts. Chap 32: Onward and Upward The spiders had a lot of cash lying around, over five hundred gold pieces alone, and about a dozen magic items. There was one item usable by all, a pair of boots Glarin''s Boots of Evasion +2 Dexterity +2 Intelligence +4 Armor that Maria offered to me, but I told her that Rayna or Neara would probably get greater benefit from them since they both had intelligence related skills. They eventually gave them to Rayna, which I thought was a smart move since a forty point boost to her mana would probably be pretty useful. "You sure?" Rayna asked doubtfully when she took them. She was holding the boots in her left hand, staff in the other, blue eyes giving me a concerned look as she asked me. It was sort of funny that boots, clothes, and armor really were one size fits all and something that would fit Bob''s huge frame would just as easily fit Dalmar''s. I shrugged and said "Yeah. We''ve got a lot of years to accumulate stuff, and +2 of anything other than wisdom isn''t really worth worrying about" The rest of the magic got split up, since Maria''s people were doing what I had done, and arming their guards with magic stuff now. I took a helmet of +2 strength to pass along to Andulin when we got back. "I wonder how many eternals have formed larger groups like this to do dungeons?" Anna asked as we followed Dalmar to the cavern exit. He decided to keep the four person front, with Bob and Anna, and he and Diana leading the way. Maria, Neara, and Rayna all watched for traps, and I was the rear guard, with Bruce in my left hand. I hadn''t tried fighting with my left hand, but a couple of practice swings felt no different than my right. "A couple I''ve heard of, though they were both for a single dungeon crawl" Dalmar said as we started into the tunnel he had picked. Rayna had a torch, and Bob had that glowing sword thing I had never asked him about. "To crowded in most places" Maria said "so you don''t get much more than the chance to rotate who''s in front. It''s also pretty rare to find eight people who can all get along doing stuff like this" "It''s been less than a year since everyone got here" Bob said, his eyes staying focused to the front "and the way they put people in here, I think they wanted everyone to fight. It''ll take a while for things to really settle down enough for people to start trusting each other" he glanced back at me, then forward again before adding "and that''s only because Jake''s people are handling the worst ones" That seemed to give everyone something to think about, since conversation stopped until a couple of hours later when Dalmar signaled a halt for the evening and everyone settled in to cook dinner. The tunnels were pretty much unchanging unless you reached a cavern or found a crossroads, so the spot he picked looked no different than any other spot we had passed the last few days. Stone walls, floor and ceiling, and a thin layer of dust on the floor. This dust seemed to have been disturbed here and there, but looking like maybe a spider or two had wandered out and back. We passed a couple of roughly dug tunnels the next day, one an hour after we started walking. It looked like something had dug through the rock and dirt, leaving a very rough tunnel that led off to the south for the two we passed. Based on the tracks in the dust, it looked like something big had tunneled in, then walked down the hallway about an hour and tunneled back out. Considering the hole size of its tunnel and tracks in the dirt, the thing had more than two legs, and was probably about eight feet tall. It was kind of weird that there wasn''t any dirt and stones scattered around the outside of the rough tunnel, but this world got weird with stuff like that. I doubt whatever it was ate its way through the soil. "I''m sure whatever it was would want to eat us though" Rayna said with a laugh when I commented on that, getting nods of agreement from the group. A day of walking, an uneventful night, then another couple of hours brought us to the lava flow Dalmar had mentioned. The tunnel was straight as a ruler, so we saw the light from a fair distance, but we stopped at Dalmar''s raised hand as he said "Hold up. Someone''s fighting up there" Dalmar turned to give Maria a questioning look, getting her to come forward, nodding for Neara to follow her. The two of them disappeared twenty paces ahead of us and the rest of us sort of settled into a defensive circle and waited. I was interested to note that I could see the tracks in the dust the two of them made as they left. I would have to see about figuring out something I could carry to duplicate that if I ever needed to keep my eyes our for invisible people. It was less than five minutes later before Neara suddenly appeared in front of us to say "Undead. They''re fighting some kind of golem that''s defending a bridge over the lava. Maria says we need to help the golem" "Alright" Dalmar said gruffly, pulling his hammer off his shoulder and starting to follow Neara as she turned to head back toward the red light at the end of the tunnel "Fight in pairs, Jake and Rayna let us clear the entrance, then do what ever is best" he had moved in to a jog with Diana beside him, both with their warhammers held across their front. Bob and Anna trotted beside them as Rayna and I brought up the rear, the jingle and clank of armor and weapons announcing our presence to anyone who was close enough to hear. Neara sort of yelled over her shoulder to tell us "It''s some kind of giant silver golem. Forty or fifty undead attacking him, one of them is an ogre and they have a magic user" A sudden wash of white light pulsed out of Bob, sort of like a billowing cloud that flowed over our group, then faded. It left a feeling of...health I guess, or maybe strength, and a soft white glow around everyone that faded over the course of a few seconds. "Telina''s Blessing" Bob said "Double damage to undead for an hour" "Oh hell yeah!" Diana growled "Ass kicking time" Couldn''t have said it better myself. The red glow of the lava river was visible a long distance, but I couldn''t actually see it until we cleared the tunnel because the lava was about ten feet below the cavern floor in an arrow straight, one hundred foot wide canal that flowed out of a tunnel to the north before traveling the length of the cavern to flow out another cave to the south. The cavern itself was probably three hundred feet wide east to west and six hundred long north to south, with us coming out of the tunnel close to the south-west end of the cavern. A twenty foot wide, flat stone bridge crossed the lava river in the center of the cavern and was level with the cavern floor. There was a two foot stone wall running the length of the bridge on both sides to keep you from stumbling off, and right in the middle of the bridge was a fifteen foot tall silver dwarf. It was some kind of golem obviously, but it was also a perfectly detailed giant dwarf, if, you know, that wasn''t a contradiction. The thing was swinging a huge, double bladed axe like Jeff had used, only this one was eight feet long, with the blades three or four feet across. You could sometimes hear the clank of metal on stone whenever the golem took a step, but it was mostly masked by the loud sounds of metal on metal as axe met undead armor, or undead weapons clanged on the golem''s metal body. Neither the undead or the golem were yelling or making any other sounds, until I heard what sounded like chanting coming from one of the undead on the other side of the river. "Bob, Anna, Diana with me" Dalmar yelled as he trotted toward our end of the bridge "Jake, hold your group on this side and cover us" Maria appeared as Dalmar turned right onto the bridge, but just gave him a grin as he passed before pulling an arrow, nocking it, then sending it streaking across the bridge to hit the chanting magic user in the head. I chuckled as the magic user was in the middle of shouting "Amakash Brankeeeee" and it trailed off into a high pitched squeal when the arrow hit. When I stopped next to Maria I focused on the Golem. Dwarven Guardian Level 22 Health 640 The thing had taken a fair amount of damage, and while not bleeding, had dark cuts and dents over most of his body. There was gear from a lot of undead scattered from the far side of the bridge to where the golem was making his stand, showing he had taken down probably thirty or forty of the undead already as he slowly retreated back from the far side, and since I didn''t see an ogre, must have killed it too. I cast a heal spell on the golem, not really even considering if it would work, or if he might not be happy about it. When the glow settled on him and a lot of the damage across his body faded away, I sent another, then looked over the undead horde. The golem''s axe tended to cut them in half or throw their bodies into the lava, but he wasn''t immune to the swords, arrows and hammers they were hitting him with, just very resistant. Maria, Neara, and Rayna were targeting the magic user in the back of the undead crowd as Dalmar and Diana went to the right of the golem, and Bob and Anna the left. The four of them slammed into the dwarven draugr with an almost synchronized yell as we got to see what double damage meant in a fight like this. Dalmar''s hammer swept down on an undead dwarf his own size, one that held a similar warhammer up to block, only to have it driven straight down as Dalmar''s hammer hit the thing right in the head, causing it to basically explode into a pile of dust and gear. Diana''s glowing red hammer did something similar, but the glow from the hammer seemed to be something that caused the things armor to act like it was dumped into the lava, turning red and causing flames to shoot out from under it. The draugr lasted a second or two longer than Dalmar''s but not by much. Bob and Anna''s swords weren''t as dramatic, but were just as effective. The golem took a step back in surprise as the four people surged around him, then it glanced back at my group, studying us for a second before nodding at me and turning to reenter the fray. The guardian looked like an actual dwarf that had been sprayed with silver paint, again, if there was such a thing as a giant dwarf. Chain mail with a heavy belt at the waist, helm without any horns, and a trimmed beard similar to Dalmar''s. I almost laughed as I remembered those people who painted themselves and acted like statues back in the other reality. I was pretty much a spectator for the rest of the fight, not even needing to cast any healing spells as our four fighters and the golem began pounding, slicing, and chopping their way across the bridge at a slow walk. The golem didn''t have room for a side to side swing, so settled on just chopping downward any time an undead was in front of him. The loss of the magic user seemed to weaken the undead group and leave them without any ranged attacks. Rayna stuck with magic missiles, though like with Sienna, they were devastating when used like this. Rayna was level 8 or 9 now, so I was guessing the six bolts were doing something like ninety or a hundred points of damage, enough to kill some of the lesser undead in one shot apparently. I made a mental note in my mental notebook to look into a way to protect myself from mages like her since they were way overpowered for this world. I was probably going to regret suggesting they go the defensive mage route. The fight was over pretty quickly as our four people and the golem basically walked over the rest of the undead as the undead fought to the last...thing. I nodded for Maria, Neara and Rayna to follow, and we started across the bridge as the last couple of draugr went down. Being in the middle of a lava river should have meant burning to death, or asphyxiating very quickly, but it was only slightly warmer and I didn''t feel any need to gasp for breath. Our fighters had formed a group behind Dalmar by the time we joined the crowd, and the golem stepped back so it could see both of our groups. It sort of studied each of us as we kind of uniformly seemed to agree to wait for it to say something. It''s gaze finally rested on Dalmar and it spoke. "You are an eternal, yet you are of the People" it said, the voice surprisingly normal sounding, though as deep as you might expect. You could hear he meant to capitalize People, so I assumed he meant dwarves. "Your assistance calls for some level of gratitude" it continued, eyes staying on Dalmar "but it is my duty to defend the western entrance from any other than those who offer no harm to the People" "We intend no harm" Dalmar said as he rested his hammer on the ground, then nodded for everyone else to sheathe their weapons. Waving around our group, Dalmar said "We have two quests to fulfill in Lor Frell. The first is to recover the Anvil of the Master Smith" he paused, but when the golem didn''t say anything, said "The second is to destroy the ArchLich and the undead inhabiting Lor Frell" "Hmmm" the golem sort of rumbled, its eyes flicking from Dalmar to me, then to Maria, before seeming to look at the bracers on the women''s arms for some reason. Looking back at Dalmar it said "It has been some tens of years since any of the people have crossed my bridge, and that group now forms much of the army of undead that attempt to destroy me. As long as the Lich survives, the undead killed here will rise again in time" "How far have they spread?" Bob asked The golem studied Bob for a few seconds, but spoke to Dalmar when it said "They have not overcome the four guardians... yet, but they have pushed into the goblin caves when the goblins tunneled into the lower mines. The goblins resist, but they are being pushed out of their caverns. As the Lich gathers more dead, it will soon be able to overcome myself or one of the other guardians and begin to spread via the underroads" It looked around the group as it said "All of you glow with power of the goddesses, some more than others. It is strange to see such in a small group like this..." his eyes moved back to Maria before adding "and even more to see one who has been touched by four" Maria stepped forward to stand beside Dalmar and looked up at the golem as she said "The goddesses have come together in hopes of destroying the blight and limiting the damage done by eternals such as ourselves. We intend no harm to the Dwarven people" "Truth" the golem said with a nod, but turned back to Dalmar to say "and I will not hinder your quests, but must tell you that neither will be easily accomplished" it raised an arm and pointed to a tunnel to the right of the bridge, about a hundred feet to the south and said "The city of Lor Frell lies above us, and the anvil you seek resides within the forge of Master Smith Vargon BlackHammer, at the north end of the great square. You should know that while the dragons do not reside in the city, wyverns have taken residence there to scavenge from the dragon''s kills" The golem''s hand pointed to a matching tunnel to the north as he said "The undead reside in the mines below the city, and the ArchLich has had many years to consolidate his power there" Then he turned and walked to the center of the bridge with a heavy metal on stone clanging sound, stopped in the middle facing to the west, and froze. "I guess we were done talking" Rayna said with a laugh, getting a chuckle from Dalmar as we gathered in a circle. Dalmar looked around the group, then shrugged and said "Ideas?" "We split up" Bob said with his own shrug "Dalmar''s here for the anvil, and the paladins and I are here to take care of the Lich. Maria and Jake go with Dalmar, and the rest of us head down to the mines" "That''ll leave them shorthanded" Anna said with a doubtful look at me and Maria "Pish posh" Maria said with dismissive wave of her hand "A city full of wyverns? Hardly worth sending more than two of us. It''ll give Jake and Sam something to do other than stand around and look pretty" "Thanks for looking out for me" I said sarcastically, getting a round of laughs from the group. Maria giggled, then sobered a little before saying "It''s what you five are here for after all, so it''ll give you a chance to get used to each other before you end up facing something harder. We break into to groups, and if possible, whoever finishes first can maybe join up with the other, but if not, we meet up back at the castle or in Mudtown" "You really need to rename your town" Diana said to me, getting a nod from Bob of all people. I shrugged at the idea, but said "I kind of like it. The fewer eternals who visit the better, and who wants to visit a place called Mudtown?" "It just, you know, sounds..." Diana ended with a shrug, obviously not wanting to be too insulting. Hey, Loser here" I said with a chuckle "If I ever manage to get that changed, maybe I''ll see about changing the town name" "Let me know if you do find a way to change your name" Bob said ruefully, then got serious again to say "So, we agree, two teams?" It didn''t take long to break up our original group, then send out team requests. It was sort of cool to be back in the same group I started this whole thing with, though having Bob along would have brought the dragon slaying team together. "Look around for that Hainar stone Siroka talked about" I told Bob as everyone was exchanging hugs and handshakes "It might be useful later" "Will do" Bob said his team gathered, then headed toward their tunnel with one last round of waves. Bob was kind of in the center, with the four black cloaked women surrounding him. They looked formidable, and it would be fun to hear Bob tell the tale of their adventures back at Samuels tavern. The three of us watched them walk away, then Dalmar said "Well, it''s just Maria''s Marauders again" getting a giggle from Maria as we turned and headed toward our own tunnel. The tunnel we entered looked generally like the ones we had been following, being smooth stone and twenty feet wide, though it appeared to have a very gentle upward curving rise to the right. And this one had two grooves in the floor, both five feet in from the opposite walls, and running as far as we could see. A low, eight or nine foot wide, flat, four wheeled cart sat just inside the tunnel entrance on the right hand side, with a metal cable attached to the bottom. The cable rose out of the groove in the floor to an attach point, then continued back into the floor on the back side. "Some kind of mine style cart" Dalmar said, stepping over to look at. It really was just a flat platform two feet off the ground with floor wheels. There was a lever on the front right side, and after a glance at us, and nods all around, we stepped onto the cart. The lever was low for me, but sized right for a dwarf, so Dalmar stood beside it, then gently pulled it back until we heard a clunk and the cart gave a jerk, then began moving forward at a fast walking speed. "Awesome" Maria said with a laugh, sitting down, then leaning back on her hands as she shook her hair back and grinned at me and Dalmar "to bad they didn''t have this from the beginning" I lowered myself down next to her and said "Must run on magic somehow and I bet they have one that comes back down" The tunnel basically wound upward in a wide, gently rising circle. We relaxed after the first couple of minutes, and I finally asked "So what''s a wyvern?" Both Dalmar and Maria chuckled before Maria said "I''m not absolutely sure, but I think it''s like a small dragon" Dalmar nodded and said "Yeah, I think that''s right. If I remember right, it either had a poison bite, or maybe a poison stinger on the tail, and wasn''t four legged like a real dragon. More like a bird I think, and supposedly not as intelligent" "How small?" I asked, getting a couple of shrugs back before Dalmar said "Bigger than a person, but a lot smaller than a true dragon" "As long as it doesn''t breath fire we should be ok then" I said before lying back with my hands under my head "wake me when we get there" This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. A nudge on my shoulder from Maria woke me when the cart slowed to a halt in what looked like an empty warehouse. The room was large, but the first thing I noticed was actual sunlight shining in from a door on the opposite side of the room from me. The door was as wide as the tunnels we had been traveling in, but it had a thick iron barred gate blocking it. The room we were in was longer to my right and left, then it was the fifty feet to the barred doorway. There were empty carts lined up to my right, but nothing else in the room. We climbed off the cart and headed toward the gate without discussion, all of us looking forward to being in the sun again. The thick bars were only a foot apart as they covered the whole entrance, but there was a door on the right side that was obviously used to go in and out when the entrance was barred. I was kind of expecting to be looking out from the side of the mountain onto the plains below, but outside the gate was a street and stone buildings lining the other side that appeared to be carved out of the stone of the mountain itself. We appeared to be in a narrow canyon in the mountain, with the city carved into the stone. The side I could see appeared to have more levels above it, each set back some as the mountain went up, with a low wall on the open side of a road in front of the buildings. "Kind of like Gondor if it was in a canyon, and the stone was grey" Dalmar said. I surprised myself by actually getting that reference. There was a considerable amount of damage to the buildings higher up, with some showing signs of fire, and others broken and melted as if from some kind of acid. A few bones of dwarves were on the street outside, causing Maria to say "It seems weird to see skeletons when everything disappears when you kill it" "Sets the mood" I said, craning my head right and left as I tried to see as far as possible down the street. It was all stone buildings as far as I could see, upward, as well as right and left. There was a bit of an overhang above us, but I didn''t see anything moving, and nothing dragon like, so I said "Looks clear" Of course something let out a loud screech from above us a I finished speaking, getting a chuckle from Dalmar as we headed toward the door. "I can feel a few large creatures above us" Maria said, her head canted up slightly, eyes distant Dalmar opened the door with a bit of a squeak of rusty hinges, then blocked the way as he looked around and said "Gonna be a bitch to fight flying creatures in this canyon. We need to see if we can find a path with some cover" The three of us slipped through the door, then stood with our backs to the front of the barred entrance so we could see if we could figure out some way of moving without getting eaten. We really were in a long canyon, and at least on the other side, there were four more levels above this one before the mountaintop came to a peak with a broken tower on it. To the right the canyon did a slow curve and we couldn''t see much past a couple of hundred feet, but what I was guessing was the great square was on our left. The roadway opened up about ten buildings down on our left, and I could see the buildings and canyon continue on the opposite side, making the square about four hundred feet across. There was a broken and burned mound in the center of the square that might have once been a statue or fountain, but I couldn''t tell from the pile of rubble. "Maria?" Dalmar said "You want to take a look around?" "On it" she said, just before disappearing I saw my first wyvern a few minutes after she left, as the thing dropped from above to settle on the mound in the center of the square. It did look a lot like a dragon, with the extended, teeth filled snout, reptilian scales, and leathery wings. But this thing only had two legs, meaning it had to sit sort of upright like a duck, though it was a mean looking duck. The wings stayed open part way for balance as the wyvern nosed the pile for a moment, then down stroked to push the creature back into the air. It was sort of ungainly on the ground and during take off, but looked graceful as it swooped into the canyon and away from us. I did see it had a scorpion like needle at the end of the tail and was about a foot taller than me when upright. I said quietly "Guessing it was a poison tail" It took Maria close to a half hour, and I was getting a little concerned by the time she appeared next to Dalmar. She grinned as she said "There are a lot of wyverns above us" pausing to nod upward "but the dwarves have hallways on the backside of these buildings, so we can move fairly safely until we get to the square" She leaned out and pointed to our left, saying "You can''t see it from here, but the forge is on the left, right in the center of the buildings on that side. Hallway ends at the square, so we can''t go in the back of the forge, you''ll have to run the fifty feet" She turned back and waggled her eyebrows as she said "Did you know that forges have big open fronts? Well they do. Would you like to guess what decided a room like that would make a great nest?" "Crap" I muttered, getting a nod from Maria as she said "Yep, a big one too. I couldn''t get close enough to look inside without it smelling me, but I think the anvil would probably have been pushed against the inside walls" "How do you want to do this?" Dalmar asked her "Follow me and we''ll get into the building next to us. Safer than standing out here" Maria said before looking up to the right and left, then cat footing away with Dalmar, then me behind her. As soon as we cleared the narrow opening, a dozen screeches sounded above us, making us give up on sneakiness and break into a run. A bunch of shadows appeared around us, and when Dalmar ran through the door on his left, I dove in behind him, feeling the wind of something as it swooped past as I made it inside. Dalmar grabbed my arm and pulled me toward him, making me stagger and fall forward again as a wyvern landed outside and thrust its head in the door to snap its teeth closed a few inches from my foot. Its snake like eyes glared as it hissed at us before pulling its head back outside. Its tag said Wyvern Level 8 Health 95 "The little ones are so cute" Maria said, then giggled at the looks we gave her. Sam didn''t make an appearance until I was standing again, and once I made the decision not to bother attacking the wyvern, he shrank back into his bracer form. It wasn''t perfect control, but it was something. Baby steps. The room looked like it used to be some kind of store, though it was stripped bare of anything even remotely small enough to carry. If the rest of the city was like this, I had to wonder if the anvil really was at this blacksmith''s shop, or if it was just a waypoint in the quest. Wyverns continued to land outside, stick there head in the door, then pull back to fly away. Squabbles broke out in front of the shop as the creatures fought over who got first dibs on the yummy eternals. After Dalmar gave me a hand up we headed through a door in the back of the room, then through a door in the back of another smaller room. The door opened into a dark hallway that stretched right and left, and Maria turned right. She led us past eight doors on the right side of the hallway, then stopped at a larger door at the end of the hall. "Opens into the square" Maria said "Nothing attacked when I opened it before, but they wouldn''t have been able to see me" "We need a distraction" I said, then shrugged at their looks and added "Unless we want to fight all the wyverns in front of the forge" "What if you and I set up on opposite sides of the canyon back there" Maria said to me "Sam should be able to hit any that land outside, and we can tag team them?" "And I take care of the big one and grab the anvil" Dalmar said slowly, his eyes squinting as he considered things "What''s our exit strategy?" I asked, trying to picture the set up Maria was talking about. Based on every other monster that wanted to eat us, these should stay pretty focused once we had their attention "We''ll have all the creatures clustered in front of the tunnel we came up" "Or..." Maria said with a grin, then paused until Dalmar and I gave her questioning looks before adding "maybe we do what Jake said and fight them in the forge. We kick the big one out, find the anvil, rack up some experience, then go out the back and do some exploring in the city" "They have a hallway like this one behind the forge?" Dalmar asked Maria shrugged and said "Don''t know for sure, but it looks like it from what I could see peeking in the front. Door in the back leads to something" "What level is the big one?" I asked "and is there anything left in this city to make it worth exploring?" "17" Maria answered, then added "210 health, so it shouldn''t be that hard" she followed that with a shrug and said "Bunch of stuff scattered in the forge, and not every building seemed to be as picked clean as the one we came through" "Upper levels would have been harder to evacuate" Dalmar said thoughtfully "and we did say we would look for books for Wendal" "Damn, that''s right" I said. I nodded to Maria then and added "I doubt there''s any reason to try and be sneaky about this. If we all charge into the forge, is there room?" That got a nod from Maria, and she squatted down to draw a square in the dust, then added a circle in the middle and drew two lines on one wall before saying "The front is open, but it is partially enclosed, so the room is bigger than the opening. Doubt more than one wyvern at a time can get in, but it does leave us room to get around the one in there" We all considered her drawing for a few seconds, then Maria stood back up and said "So how do we do this?" Dalmar looked up at me, so I said "Well, if Dalmar still thinks he can kick the big one''s ass, I''ll try to cover the opening. Maria stays hidden until she''s inside, then she backs us up. Once the big one''s dead, Dalmar finds the anvil and we retreat to the doorway at the back of the forge" I gave them a questioning look and added "Sound good?" Maria and Dalmar exchanged looks, then shrugs before Dalmar looked back and said "Simple enough I guess" "Let me do a blessing and my armor spell" I said, doing just that. I pulled Bruce up and held him in my left hand, planning to try the two weapon thing again. I cast Fist, then did a restore before looking over at my friends with a grin, and holding Bruce up I said "Let''s go introduce some Wyverns to my buddy Bruce" Maria laughed as we all turned to the closed doorway, Dalmar in front. He glanced back, and at our nods, lifted the latch and pushed the door open, taking off into his surprisingly quick run. I was right behind him as we stepped out into the light and I got a look at the square. The ruined statue in the center of the square was to my right front, and I could see the opening for the forge a good hundred feet ahead on my left. The whole thing was ringed with what looked like shops, and they had suffered a fair amount of damage, though a couple still looked closed up, at least at my running glance around. We were spotted about half way to the forge, and a whole chorus of Wyvern screams came from above us as the shadows began sliding along the ground to show we only had a couple seconds before something landed on us. Dalmar had his big hammer held in two hands and cocked over his right shoulder as a Wyvern stuck it''s head out of the forge, and he swung hard, hitting it on the side of the head, slamming it''s face into the left side of the opening. Dalmar kept going, so I copied him, bringing Bruce upward to catch the Wyvern under the chin, slamming it''s head into the top of the entrance as I spun to a stop just inside. Sam immediately flowed into a whip in my right hand, and as I slid and spun around, I swung Sam forward to catch the first Wyvern to land behind me, right where a wing joined the body as it had flared to a stop. I heard Dalmar grunt as he swung again, and the Wyvern on my right gave a harsh squawking sound as it moved out of sight behind me. After three solid hits, I figured Dalmar had it covered, so as two more Wyverns landed behind the one I had staggered, I called Fist again, then swung Sam forward to catch the lead one right in the face. A small spray of electrical sparks erupted around the white flare of Telina''s Fist, and the Wyvern overbalanced and fell backwards before rolling to my left. An arrow ''thwipped'' as it shot past me to hit the downed Wyvern, and that wyvern turned into a small pile of scales, clearing the way for one of the other two to flare it''s wings and hop forward. I didn''t have time to call Fist again, so Sam shot out just as the wyvern ducked forward and shot it''s stinger over it''s head. Our two strikes passed each other, both impacting almost simultaneously. His hit me in my left shoulder, giving me a quick message Wyvern poison 5 points of damage/second for 5 seconds The shit burned like acid while it lasted, and that was on top of the 15 points of damage the stinger did. Another arrow zipped past, hitting it in its left eye, and as it squalled and staggered forward, I twisted and swung Bruce up and around to hit it right on the top of the head. The second Wyvern disappeared as two more landed, and the third wyvern did the ducking forward thing and shot its stinger forward, to miss me by a couple of inches. Swinging Bruce like that left me perfectly set for another whip strike, so I swung at one of the new ones on my left as I did a bit of a duck and dodge to avoid another stinger strike from the one on my right. Righty was to far away for Bruce, so I called Fist as I twisted and swung Sam at him. I repeated that crossing strike thing, and we both took a hit, with me getting a second shot of burning poison, this time in the stomach. That shit was painful as hell, so I did a bit of a sidestep to my left to gain a second, and did a quick heal on myself. The heal brought immediate relief from acid pain in my shoulder and stomach, but the delay meant I got bit on the leg as two of them managed to crowd forward. "Son of a Bitch!" I yelled as I brought Bruce straight down on the damn thing''s head, driving it to the ground where I stomped on it in aggravation. I heard Maria let out a peal of laughter as an arrow hit the one on my right as it was leaning forward to strike me with its tail. The arrow threw it off, so it missed, giving me time to call Fist, then swing Sam forward to hit it right in the mouth as it hissed at me. I hissed right back at it as I ducked and stepped back, avoiding Mister Bitey''s second attempt to nibble on my leg. They had managed to crowd close enough that three of them could use their tails, so I took another step back to block the one on my left, and swung Sam forward to hit the middle one. It wasn''t a solid strike, seeming to barely impact the things chest, and I tried to twist clear of a strike from the one on the right. Like me, it didn''t get a solid impact, but it left a line of poison along my chest. "Got it!" Dalmar yelled behind me as an arrow zipped past, maybe two inches from my face, to hit the middle one in the neck. I took another step back, and the middle one, probably thinking I was getting away, hopped forward into the opening, shooting it''s head forward, jaws gaping. An arrow went straight down it''s gullet a second before I brought Bruce upward to hit it in its lower jaw and snapped its mouth shut. The thing made a ''glunk'' noise before falling on its face. Since it was blocking the entrance, I didn''t hit it again, just shuffled backward, tossing a quick glance back to see Dalmar and Maria on either side of the back doorway. Good enough. I turned and dashed back to join them, slipping through the door into another room. Maria shot another arrow as Dalmar followed me, then she ducked through the door and to the right, avoiding a stinger that tried to follow her. The room we were in appeared to be a store, with shelves lining the walls, all of them with assorted weapons and armor on them or the floor in front of them, but it was empty otherwise. We all moved to another door at the back of the room and gathered to look back at the Wyvern hissing and squalling at us from the doorway. "That was different" Maria said with a chuckle, drawing one from Dalmar as he rested his warhammer on his shoulder and nodded, eyeing the angry wyvern. "That it was" he said "kind of fun too. We make a good team" "Dodging actually works" I said with a grin "that was almost like a real fight back home" I ignored the hissing and striking wyvern at the door and looked around at the scattered equipment before saying "Think there''s anything good in this?" "Only one way to find out" Maria said as she sidled along the back wall and over to my right to start poking through the equipment. The wyvern could only get its head inside, so as long as we stayed six or eight feet back, it couldn''t reach us. I went to the opposite side of the room from Maria and copied her, but it only took a minute or two to realize none of the items were magical. I looked over, and Maria shrugged and shook her head, so we both joined Dalmar as he opened the back door. It led into another one of the hallways, so we all moved into it, allowing Dalmar to close the door and shut out the sounds of the pissed off wyvern. We kind of grouped up, and Maria said excitedly "So!, let''s see it" Dalmar chuckled, but did the pulling something out of inventory move, and a large silver anvil appeared in his hands. The tag said Anvil of the Master Smith Grants the possessor the skills of a Master Smith. "That''s it?" Maria said in surprise The disappointment in her voice got a laugh from Dalmar, but he followed it by saying "It granted me the smithing skill. I''ve got a whole section added to my stats. Breaks down into weapons, armor, jewelry, then into various metals and has a line that says Other. I have 75% on all of them, so there must be more levels above Master" His eyes got that distant look of someone reading his stats sheet, and he added "Says the anvil is mine until I die, though I don''t know if that applies to eternals or not, and that it can''t be used by another until I do. It also says I can take on one apprentice, though it doesn''t say a damn thing about what that means" "Cool" Maria said with a nod "So now you find this forge flunky gobbler and learn how to enchant stuff and you''ll be in business" I chuckled and said "ForgeMaster Grevlor" She waved her hand dismissively and said "Whatever. The important thing is that once Dalmar gets good at this, he can make stuff fit for a queen" she kind of nodded suggestively and pointed at herself, drawing a loud laugh from Dalmar. He made the anvil disappear, then grinned at us, getting Maria to give him a suspicious look and say "What?" "It was a quest" Dalmar said, the grin growing a little "It bumped me up a whole level when I completed it. Level 23. I thought it would be a year or two to make that" "Holy shit" I mumbled, as Maria squealed and gave Dalmar a hug, trying to picture what level 23 would be like. Dalmar didn''t do any flashy stuff like the paladins, but there had to be some serious benefits for being that high. I was level 13 now, so that would be almost six more stat points. It made me wonder what his stats looked like, though that was something we had seemed to silently agree not to ask each other. I shrugged the thought away and looked up and down the hallway, finding it almost identical to the other one, though it looked like the east end had stairs going up. There had to be some kind of ramp to the other levels outside, but it looked like they used these passages just for pedestrians. Turning back to my friends I said "Onward and Upward?" Chap 33: Who you calling an abomination? The stairs went up about ten feet, then doubled back with a short section deeper into the mountain, then continued upwards another ten before reaching a landing that opened into a hallway almost identical to the one below it. The stairs continued upward, but the three of us reached agreement to search this level with a silent round of head nodding. Maria stepped out into the hall quietly, followed by Dalmar, then me. This hall had six doorways on the left, the side toward the canyon, and two on the right, and I could see another stairwell at the other end of the hallway. The two doors on the right were in the middle of the hallway, spaced ten feet apart, and wider and higher than the ones on the left. "I say we check them all" Dalmar said quietly when Maria stopped at the first door on the left "I''ll open the door and if nothing attacks, Maria can do a quick look for anything valuable. Jake moves down the hall a little and covers us" Maria and I exchanged looks, then shrugs before I stepped around the two of them and posted myself in the middle of the hallway. I had Bruce in my left hand and was kind of prepped for something to leap out at us, but in no time at all Maria tapped me on the shoulder and said "Next one" The first three were stores, and Maria gave some version of "Junk" or empty for all three. When we reached the middle, I posted myself in between the two doors on the right side and said "Why don''t you two finish up that side, and I''ll guard these two" Dalmar and Maria kept going, their quiet "Ready?" or Maria''s "More Junk" drifted back as they worked. The silence and deserted feeling of the place was kind of creeping me out, so when Sam slithered into a whip in my hand I let out a surprised "Gah!" I took a quick step back from the two doors, then glanced to my left and right. Dalmar was standing at the last door at the end of the hall giving me a questioning look, but when I looked right I found two big ass rats creeping out of the stairwell and into the hall. They were both about the size of large dogs, and their beady red eyes were focused on me. Their tags said Ruin Rats Level 10 Health 70 When I said "Shit! Rats!" and turned to face them, they both charged. Sam slashed out at the one on my right, hitting it in the face with a snap and drawing a high pitched squeak of pain, though it only stumbled and hit the wall before continuing on. The other one didn''t even pause, just scuttling in as fast as it''s legs could move, just in time to catch an upward swing from Bruce under its chin. The swing put me off balance, so the other rat managed to barrel into me and latch its overgrown teeth into my left arm, teeth digging in and jerking like it was trying to get me to drop Bruce. It hurt, but it also blocked the rat on my left from reaching me, and that gave me the opportunity to use Sam, now in his gauntlet form, to punch the one biting me right in the ear. A shower of sparks erupted, and caused the rat to spasm and let me go. My follow up punch met the face of the other rat in another flare of sparks as it lunged at me, feet scrabbling on the back of the other one, and led to a quick downward swing of Bruce to put the finishing touch on the rat at my feet. The last rat hesitated, but when the dead rat disappeared, it lunged forward to grab on to my right knee, and tried to pull me off my feet. I got lucky here, because I did fall backwards, but the wall was behind me and kept me on my feet long enough to bring Bruce down twice to finish the thing off. Jesus! Those damn rats had managed to bite the living shit out of me. It wasn''t a lot of damage, but still. "Not bad" Dalmar said, stepping up beside me to kick through the skins and pick up a couple silver pieces. Standing up he looked me up and down and added "You''re quick. Rats are fast bastards. They''ll give you a good work out if they''re high enough level" I did a quick heal spell, and just for the hell of it, renewed my armor spell before doing a restore. Maria had joined us by then, and she was holding a single long stem red rose of all things. She grinned at my look and said "It''s not real" she shook her head and added "I mean it''s not a real rose. It''s made out of metal" she held it out and looked between us and said "Anyone want it?" I reached out immediately, then hesitated to look at Dalmar in question. He shrugged and said "Nope, you can have it if you want" Which I did. I took it from Maria and looked it over. The thing really did look like a real live red rose, prickers and everything. The petals looked soft and lifelike, and I found myself holding it to my nose before I realized what I was doing. Maria giggled and Dalmar chuckled at the sight, but I just put it in my inventory and said "For Mary" That got a couple of nods before we all turned to face the two doors left to deal with. They were slightly sturdier than the ones behind us, having thicker wood and iron bands on them, and close to twice as wide. Maria moved to the rightmost one and began doing her lockpicking thing, something she hadn''t had to do on the others. "That''s a good sign" Dalmar said, nodding at where Maria was working "Yeah, been a bit disappointing so far" I said, checking up and down the hallway to make sure more rats weren''t sneaking up on us. Maria stepped back at that point and Dalmar moved forward and pulled the door open. Sam hadn''t made an appearance, so I wasn''t to worried something would leap out at us, but Maria had an arrow set, though not pulled back. The door opened into a long room that was stacked with crates, large ceramic jars, and piles of what looked like bags of stuff. It was obviously some kind of warehouse, and it most definitely hadn''t been picked clean. Dalmar stepped in, and I nodded for Maria to follow as I brought up the rear, then shut the door behind me. I wasn''t sure the rats could work the door latches, but this would at least slow them down. "Wow" Maria muttered. The room was about sixty feet long and twenty feet wide, with an open walkway down the middle. The sides of the room were full, with a couple areas having crates stacked three high, ending just below the ten foot ceiling. To our right and left were piles of bags, some with grain or seeds leaking out, so we moved further in, and on my third step, Sam slithered into a whip and a buzzing, scraping noise came from the far end of the room. Maria disappeared, fading away as I looked at her, and it was everything I could do not to reach out and try to touch where she had been. Invisibility was cool, and I agreed with Shadow, I needed to get my own invisibility ring. The buzzing sound came again, but this time a huge bug scuttled out from between some crates at the other end of the room. It looked like a beetle to me. A four foot long, two foot high, bright red beetle with huge pincers in the front that looked like they would hurt like hell if they bit you. "Rats and cockroaches" Dalmar chuckled as he pulled his hammer off his shoulder and held it across the front of his body. The bugs shell sort of split and raised up like wings, then vibrated extremely quickly, making the buzzing noise we had heard. "I think that''s bug speak for ''You want a piece of me?''" I said, drawing a chuckle from Dalmar as we moved toward it. The things tag became clear after a couple of steps, causing us both to stop. Fire Beetle Level 15 Health 140 "Umm...that doesn''t sound good" I said intelligently "Hit it before it can use any ranged attacks" Dalmar yelled as he charged the thing. I took a couple of quick steps forward, calling on Fist, and a step to the right to give me a clear shot past Dalmar, then swung Sam and got the first hit as Sam snapped in with a flash of white fire and frost on the things outer shell. It staggered slightly, then moved toward Dalmar as an arrow hit the side of its shell and sort of ricocheted away. "Shit!" Maria muttered as she appeared to my right. Her bow disappeared and a sword appeared in her hand as Dalmar and the beetle came together with a crash. Dalmar''s hammer came down in an overhand blow that hit the thing on the back as its pincers closed around his chest. I followed Maria as I called on Fist again, no longer having a clear shot with Sam, and moved to the left side of the beetle as Dalmar did a sharp downward jab with his hammer to try and knock the beetle loose. His health was dropping slowly, making me think the thing had some kind of poison attack, at least until I saw its own health going up at the same time. Maria brought her sword down in a hard slash that staggered the beetle, allowing Dalmar to pull free a second before I brought Bruce down on its other side. The combination knocked the beetle flat, and when Dalmar followed up with another hard, overhand blow, it finished it off. The explosion that followed was not something any of us expected. The dead beetle disappeared in a huge ball of fire a lot like a mage''s fireball spell, but much stronger. I was blown backwards, flipping over a crate and slamming into the wall before sliding down to the ground, flames licking over my leathers. I had lost over 150 health, and realizing that, yelled "Oh shit!" as I scrambled up and over the crates, looking for Maria. Dalmar was on his back, close to the door, fire fading away as he staggered to his feet, but it was Maria I looked frantically for, and found sprawled against the wall across from me. The flames on her were also fading, but the bracers on her arms were glowing brightly, and she had a bare sliver of health left. I cast a fast healing spell her way, fearing she would suffer more damage from fire, and watched as her health bar shot back up. Seeing she wasn''t about to disappear on me, I turned and cast a couple quick healings Dalmar''s way, then followed it by doing two of them on myself. "Holy freaking hell!" Maria yelled as she staggered to her feet and slipped past the jumble of boxes to join me and Dalmar. Her bracers were fading, and at my questioning look, she said "Stops a killing blow once a day, so no more bug bombs until tomorrow" "Well, that explains the fire part" Dalmar said as he checked to see Maria and I were alright "and it looks like ranged magic attacks from now on for any fire bugs" "Was it draining your health?" I asked Dalmar, relaxing a little now that the excitement was over. The bracers thing was pretty nice, and if all of her group had that, they would be pretty damn formidable. The question got a disgusted look from Dalmar as he said "Yeah. It was sucking my damn blood through those pincers. Felt...ugh" another grimace followed the ugh, drawing a chuckle from Maria. She pushed her cloak back and put her hands on her hips as she studied the room, then said "I''ll check the rest of the room, but no traps from here back to the door if you two want to get started" We did. The whole place was essentially a warehouse for household type stuff. Food, clothing, tools, etc., but nothing of any value to us. It didn''t take long for use to all reach the same conclusion and head back to the door. Dalmar chuckled as we walked out, saying "Definitely wasn''t worth getting blown up over" Maria rolled her eyes as she began working on the next door, muttering "Stupid bug wasted my keep alive charm" We all exchanged looks when Maria stepped back, sort of hesitating until Dalmar shrugged and stepped forward to tug the door open saying "Can''t start running scared now. If we see one, we stay back and let Jake bomb it with his fire spell" This room was even larger than the last, going a hundred feet deeper into the mountain, and fifty feet to our left. The place wasn''t as full as the other room, but it did have crates stacked neatly around the room, and metal ingots sitting neatly in stacks along the wall to our left. It kind of reminded me of the fanciful pictures of the gold in Fort Knox, though these weren''t gold. "Ore from the mines?" Dalmar said questioningly as he started forward. We moved to the left to walk down the center of the room, the other two casting glances Sam''s way periodically. While we could all see in the dark to some extent, we had to be fairly close to make out details, so it wasn''t until we drew even with the first stack of ingots that Dalmar said "Iron" "How do you know that?" I asked, studying the greyish-black blocks of metal. The darkness meant that a lot of color wasn''t showing, and most of the piles ended up being varying shades of grey. "It''s got a tag" Dalmar said, stopping to look at Maria and I, then back at the large stack of ingots. "You don''t see it?" I exchanged looks, then shrugs with Maria before she said "Nope. Just a stack of metal to me" "Huh" Dalmar muttered, his eyes roving along the wall and the stacks of metal "Must be a smithing thing" "Could just be because you''re a dwarf" Maria said back, turning to continue down the middle of the room. Dalmar read off tags, all of them something we had back in reality. Iron, copper, tin, lead, nickel, etc., and none of them what I considered valuable. At the end of the room we found two items of interest, a door, and what we all agreed must be some kind of elevator. The elevator was a fifteen by fifteen foot square that was level with the floor, but with a blade width slot around it, and one of the levers like the cart had in the right front corner of the square. There was no hole in the ceiling, so the elevator must only go down, was my thought. We spent a few minutes looking things over, then Dalmar said "Door first I think, then we need to at least ride that thing down to see where it goes" Maria spent a minute studying the door, then kind of rolled her neck and said "Alright, this looks like it might take a couple of minutes" She spent a few minutes on it, a lot longer than anything else I could remember. When she finally stood back up, she said "No traps, but that was a hell of a lock. This better not be the damn kitchen and appliances room" Dalmar stepped forward to grasp the door handle, then looked back at us. We both nodded and I said "If it''s a bug, I''ll use Holy Fire and you can shut the door" He nodded, then pulled the door open, stepping to the left a little as he did so. I had a clear view of a twenty by twenty room that had another stack of metal, a back wall that had shelves along it, and a dwarven corpse sitting on the floor, propped up against the shelves. "Clear" I said, moving over to let Maria lead the way. She stopped at the threshold to give the room a good look, then we all walked in to stand over the corpse. It was a set of dwarven bones in armor, a one-handed battle axe, and it was clutching a large leather bound book. "Think it will jump up and attack us if we take the book?" Maria asked with a grin. Dalmar squatted down next to it and reached a hand out slowly until he grasped the book, then tugged on it until it came free and the skeleton''s arm flopped to its side. Standing back up, Dalmar held the book where we could all see it. The Journal of GrandMaster Donrel BlackSteel Dalmar opened it up and flipped through some pages, and I could see enough that it had some drawings and some kind of written language I couldn''t understand. Dalmar turned to the last page, pulled it back and began reading. "The creation of BlackSteel is known only to myself, so I have listed all I know of its creation within this book. Like the metal called Ani''Delas or Moon Iron, BlackSteel is many times stronger than tempered steel and takes enchantments as easily as gold or platinum, but BlackSteel is poisonous to those of elven and orcish descent. It is clear that the cursed Dani''Alakar will soon be warring with their brethren the Lani''Alakar, and their war will affect all who live in Tarinath. The council has requested that the BlackSteel clan begin producing weapons and armor to use should we be drawn into their war. We have begun doing as they asked, but I fear that the sighting of dragons on the coast will mean our battles will begin sooner than any believed" Dalmar looked up to see me and Maria giving him surprised looks, and Maria said "Great. Weapons that are the equivalent of toxic waste" she shook her head, then nodded at the book and added "The writing looks like gibberish to me" At my nod of agreement about the writing, Dalmar looked back at the book and flipped through a few pages before shrugging and saying "Looks like regular English to me, so it''s probably something like the tags on the metal, either because I''m a dwarf, or because I''m a smith" He put the journal into his inventory, then knelt down again to look over the equipment on the skeleton. The skeleton had on a black chainmail cuirass, but otherwise had only leather boots that could possibly be counted as armor. The axe was dark black, with a curved blade on one side, and a short spike on the other. The chainmail and his axe said: BlackSteel Chainmail Armor 45 +4 armor against Elves & Orcs Usable By: Dwarven Warriors BlackSteel Axe of Sundering 25-38 Damage +50% damage to Elves & Orcs +6 Strength +2 Dodge +15% Health Usable By: Dwarven Warriors "Armor is decent, but doesn''t give enough buffs to be worth it" Dalmar said "but the axe is good" as he picked up the axe and gave it a couple of practice swings. He nodded to himself before looking over to say "Good damage for a one-handed weapon, and the strength bonus is damn nice" "Find a shield to go with it and you''d be all tanked out. But you wear the armor and you won''t be getting anymore hugs" Maria said with a grin. Dalmar chuckled, then gave her an interested look before saying "You know, it would be kind of interesting to work on my one-handed weapons skills again, and with a good shield I would be hard to take down. Always just passed shields to someone else, but I might look around for one while we''re here" The shelves held boxes and vials of various powders and liquids that we all thought were probably used by the dead dwarf in making his BlackSteel, so Dalmar put the whole lot in his inventory. The stack of metal was more of the BlackSteel, but Dalmar only grabbed four of the ingots, saying "Don''t want to get weighed down. We still have a lot more city to explore" We explored the crates in the main room, finding they contained chainmail armor, one crate being the same as the one the skeleton was wearing, the rest all non-magic steel plate armor. Maria shook her head in disgust after we looked in the last one and said "Man, it''s a good thing we came here for the anvil, because it''s been a major disappointment so far" A chuckle floated over from where Dalmar was examining the lift, and he looked up to say "We haven''t looked at anything other than stores and storage rooms so far. We need to find the main keep and a library. I''m betting they''ll have something worth grabbing" he looked down at the lift, then put a foot on it to test its stability before stepping fully on and moving over to the lever. He looked back up at us and said "Going down" It was a very disturbing feeling to be in an elevator that wasn''t enclosed. You could see the walls go by and the opening above us getting smaller and smaller, which made me wonder what we would do if the elevator got stuck. There was no way we''d be able to climb out, so starving to death or killing ourselves before then most likely. Like I said, disturbing. Based on the way Maria was casting glances upwards, I figured she was feeling the same way. Dalmar didn''t seem bothered, but Maria and I let out audible sighs of relief some time later when the walls opened up around us and we settled down into a semi-modified cavern. The ceiling and upper walls were still unworked stone, but the floor and first ten feet of walls were smoothed. The ceiling was fifty feet up, so we got a few seconds to look around as the elevator descended. The elevator was pretty close to the center of the room, with a large opening on our right that led into another large open area. The rest of this room had piles of smashed and broken crates and other scattered items that made it look like a fairly large battle had taken place here. We all headed toward the opening without discussion, with Maria leading the way. The next cavern was similar to the lava cavern we had previously been in, though this one had a huge crevice in the floor, not a lava river. The crevice had a bridge over it that matched the other one, and this one also had a giant dwarven golem fighting a bunch of undead who were trying to get from our side of the bridge to the other side. We stepped into their cavern about two hundred feet to the undead hordes left and all stopped to evaluate things. My quick estimate said there were eighty or ninety undead massed at the end of the bridge, though the golem seemed to be still holding strong. An undead magic user sent a bolt of ice at the golem that just shattered against its metal skin, telling me that it had some resistance to magic. "Do we wade into it?" Maria said, bow in hand. "We''d be surrounded pretty quick" Dalmar said thoughtfully "Let me try something first" I said as I looked at my stats page. Telina''s Beneficent Word Shouting this holy word will cause all who hear it to do the following Friends: Heal 50% +1%/level of accumulated damage. Restore 50% +1%/level of used mana Dispel all enemy spells presently active. Enemies: Do 8 points/level of damage (Double damage to undead) Stun for 1 second/level (Cannot be silenced) Mana: 200 (One day cool down) I was level 13 at this point, so that meant 104 points of damage, then multiply that by 2 to get 208. I doubted their were too many of the undead in this crowd that had more than that. I had a few holy fire gems, so worst case I pulled one and threw three holy fires spells to finish off whoever was left. If I swap out the Serizan ring for the wisdom one, I would have enough mana. Nodding to myself I went ahead and swapped out the rings, then checked to make sure I had the 200 mana I needed. Maria and Dalmar had been watching me, so I said "Gonna try a new spell. Should damage any undead that can hear me, so the closer we are the better it should work" I shrugged and added "or that''s what I''m guessing" "I''ll lead" Dalmar said "you two stay twenty or thirty feet behind me. When I draw agro, you''ll know you''re as close as you can get" Maria and I exchanged looks, then both turned back to nod at Dalmar, with me saying "Never used this, so try not to get killed if it takes a minute" Dalmar let out a soft laugh as he turned, and started walking toward the battle taking place on the bridge, saying over his shoulder "Was kind of my plan already" We didn''t hurry or do anything to draw attention to ourselves, so I had a minute to pull up the spell and begin seeing what it would take to make it work. Luckily it was like most of my spells, I just had to do the reach out to Telina thing and I could feel the spell building inside me. A word sort of floated into my vision, making me guess that was what I would be yelling. The weird way this world worked came into play when none of the undead paid any attention to us until Dalmar was within twenty feet of the closest dead dwarf. The bridge was full of undead for the first quarter, and the rest were gathered in a round mob at our end, pushing to get in and attack the golem. When the first one turned and acted like it would attack Dalmar, he charged forward, his war hammer held upright by his right shoulder. The first one looked like a mirror of Dalmar, or at least a dead version of a mirror of Dalmar. Same height, beard, armor and weapon, but when he and Dalmar swung, the dead guy got slammed to the side and down, his hammer not even completing its swing. Dalmar didn''t pause, just held his hammer across his body and slammed into the crowd of undead. He was quickly surrounded, but damned if he wasn''t laughing as he laid about himself, swinging his hammer in large arcs, back and forth, throwing bodies left and right as they attacked him. "Um-hm" Maria said, nudging me "Any time there stud" I chuckled, but refocused on the spell, drew in a deep breath as the word floated into view, then shouted for all I was worth. "Telina-Ras"!!!! It boomed out, much louder than I could have realistically produced, and it also caused a shockwave to move outward from me in a circle. Wherever the shockwave touched someone, a flare of white fire engulfed them, including Maria, Dalmar and the golem. It didn''t seem to do any damage to them, but when it hit the undead it was much different. The fire swept over the undead crowd, causing flares of white fire, screams of pain, and was followed by the horde disintegrating in a wave as the word swept over them. The golem was staring at me, but Dalmar didn''t hesitate, just charged the next closest of the ten or so undead still standing and knocked its head off, causing it to collapse into a pile. The undead still standing were all frozen in place, so the golem followed Dalmar''s example and began chopping as quickly as possible. "Cool" I said, nodding to myself, as I considered the spells usefulness. Maria giggled loudly and said "Cool? Really? That''s your reaction?" That got a laugh from me as we both watched Dalmar and the golem finish off the last of the frozen undead. It was cool, though like my holy fire, it was really only powerful against the undead. Unfortunately it used up all my mana, and if I was fighting eternals, would have only done a hundred points of damage and left me without any mana for healing until I could do a restore, something I rarely had time for in a fight. Still, it was cool against the undead. The golem walked to our end of the bridge in a steady clank-clank of metal on stone, then waited as Maria and I joined Dalmar to look up at him. He did the same assessment thing the other one had done, but his first words were "I am the north bridge guardian. You are part of the group that was allowed to cross the west bridge. Do you intend to cross over?" The three of us exchanged looks, but it was Dalmar who said "Not presently. We will be returning to the city, and our friends should be attacking the undead as we speak" he gave a head nod toward the other side of the bridge and asked "Where does the Underrroads go to the north" "Zar Manol" the golem said "The Keep was built when the orcs began sending war parties into the mountains. It was not destroyed by the dragons, but was abandoned when the People went to the west" "Umm..." I mumbled, glancing over at a surprised looking Maria. She blinked a couple of times, then said "This Keep, is it carved into the side of a mountain?" The golem looked at her for a few seconds, then back at Dalmar to say "Zar Manol was built in such a manner. The Orcs seemed to find its existence to be an insult of some kind and spent most of their time attacking it, rather than the surrounding mines or farms" "What are the odds?" I muttered, getting a chuckle from Dalmar before he said "That a building built into the mountains that the dwarves lived in was built by the dwarves? Probably pretty good" he looked up at the golem to add "Do you know where the entrance to the Underroads lies within the Keep?" That got a headshake from the golem, who added "The Keep was a defensive structure and the entrance to the Underroads would have been hidden to all but a few" "It''s alright" Maria said with a grin "If it''s there, my girls will find it" Like the other one, this golem seemed to reach the end of its willingness to talk, and just turned and stomped to its spot in the middle of the bridge, then froze, staring off to the north. We all exchanged shrugs as we began scrounging the drops from nearly a hundred piles of armor and coins. "I think you should try putting a portal in the city since it seems to be a crossroads for the Forbidden Lands" Dalmar said as we worked. I squatted down to grab a few gold coins from two piles, but looked up at Dalmar to say "Was already considering it. Means sitting in the city for four days though, and we''d have to be back home within three weeks after that" Maria made a pleased noise and picked up a pair of boots, meaning there was probably at least a couple of useful items in this mass of junk. When we finished scrounging, we''d gathered fifty or so gold coins and twice that in silver, as well as a few magic items with one or two point stat boosts, but two of them were pretty nice. Ring of Reasoning +3 Intelligence Usable by: Mage Eridan''s Boots of Dancing +3 Dexterity Usable by: All "I''ll take the boots" I said, hoping neither of them would argue about it. Maria just handed them to me with a grin as she put the ring into her inventory, saying "I''ll pass the ring to one of my mages if you don''t mind" I shook my head no as I sat down and swapped out the boots. The boots were black, so they matched my armor, and I thought they looked pretty darn good. I stood back up and did a little soft shoe routine to hear Maria laugh, but was grinning myself when my dexterity went up to 22. The whole thing reminded me to swap my rings back again to get my dexterity to 23, and I did a restore before casting a blessing and my armor spell, then doing another restore. This was a good haul, and I wondered if Bob and his team would do as well from the undead they were taking out. "Ready?" I said, though they were both waiting on me. Dalmar just nodded back toward the cavern we came in, and we made our way back to the lift. The rest of the day went by fairly quickly, with all of us agreeing to get some sleep in the BlackSteel room. From there we worked our way up the stairs we originally started on, clearing the next two levels, but finding nothing especially useful. A connecting hallway on the third level led to the east, but we just marked it for later and continued up the section we were in. We were attacked by rats twice, but they weren''t much of a fight for the three of us, and it was Maria''s arrows that mostly did the work. Thankfully we didn''t find another Fire Beetle, so we were all alive when we got to the top of this side of the canyon and found it ended in a two story spire that had the top floor broken and burned. The level below it, the one we came up the stairs into, had the stairs leading up blocked by rubble, and the doors and windows going outside blocked by iron bars and a heavy iron door. The tower had barred windows on all four sides, so we had a view of the whole city, as well as the surrounding mountains. There was a matching tower across the canyon to the south that we had seen earlier and pretty much matched the damage to this one. We could see two more towers to the east and south-east, one of which was almost totally destroyed, and one that looked fairly intact. The city was built in a canyon that stretched east to west, with the four towers marking the four sections and the main square acting as the center of the four areas. The city appeared to be within the mountain range itself as we could see mountains in all four directions. Wyverns were roosting on roof tops or in buildings with open fronts, and a quick count showed at least thirty in sight. It was Maria that pointed out that the third level of the section directly east of us had ornate blue-tinted windows, and was probably where we wanted to go since the wyverns and dragons hadn''t managed to destroy them. We worked our way back down to the hallway that headed east, then followed it to another section of the city that appeared to match the one we just left, with stores and houses on the canyon side, and warehouses on the north side. We cleared the third level, finding some coin but little else, then headed up the stairs on the east side. Rather than do the ten up, ten in, then ten up, it actually went inward about fifty feet before climbing upward again, and this time ended at a south facing doorway that had a small, one foot by one foot window in it. Sunlight was shining through the window, and when Maria peeked out she said "It''s a big balcony outside that blue window place" It really was a kind of balcony I realized when I got a turn to look. It was about twenty feet wide and had stone railings around it, and the balcony continued around the front of the building, seeming to get wider on that side. The building itself was eighty or ninety feet high, built out of stone blocks, and jutted out from the mountain itself, with the tower above and behind it somewhat. The whole thing reminded me of some kind of old roman place, though there weren''t any pillars. Four large, oval, blue windows were evenly spaced about halfway up the wall, and the building had a small door in the middle of our side, making me think the main entrance was around the corner. I could see wyverns across the canyon, but didn''t see any on the balcony, which seemed pretty odd. I pulled back and joined Maria to lean against the wall as we hashed out our next move. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. "Something is keeping the wyverns off, but that doesn''t mean they won''t attack us" Dalmar said first Maria nodded, but said "Only one way to find out. I think we do it like when we first got here. I''ll go out, look around, and make sure that we can get in that other door. If we can, then you guys should be able to make it without much trouble" I shrugged my agreement, but had them wait as I redid the blessing and armor spell, as well as a restore so we''d be ready. Dalmar and I had fire and lightning runes on our main weapons by now, and Maria had a fair stash of fire runed arrows, so we should stand a good chance against anything other than a dragon, and with my shock grenades and armor, might even be able to put a hurting on one of them if needed. "I''ll check the door first" Maria said as Dalmar pulled the door fully open. The wyverns didn''t react, so Maria gave us a quick grin before fading away. "Had the whole Cheshire cat thing going there didn''t she" Dalmar said with a grin as we both moved up to stand just inside the doorway. Maria appeared kneeling down by the side door, black cloak covering her with the hood up, but she must have been out of sight of the wyverns. She fiddled for a moment, then gave us a frustrated look and a head shake. A weird, very loud, hissing noise from the south got her to whip her head around. I could clearly see her mouth form the words "Oh shit" before she looked over and frantically waved for us to get down, then disappeared. Another hiss sounded, but this time it was a lot closer, and Dalmar and I laid flat on the ground just inside the doorway, hoping a dragon wasn''t about to crash the party. When it came into view, it most definitely wasn''t a dragon. It was a snake. I shit you not, it was a giant flying snake. An eighty foot long, green and black striped, bat-winged snake, with, and I had to blink at this, four people sitting on saddles along its back. The wyverns were rising from the other side of the canyon, and from the sounds, directly above us, all of them hissing and screeching back at the snake. For a moment I thought the wyverns were going to attack enmasse, but the snake let out the mother of all spitting sounds, and a glob of greenish-black snot shot out to engulf the closest wyvern. Whatever the snot was, it acted quick, because the wyvern seemed to dissolve into bones from one second to the next, and the whole skeleton dropped out of sight. That gave the rest of the wyverns pause (me too), and the wyverns all flapped frantically away, either heading back to their nests, or settling on the other side of the canyon a fair distance to the east and south. "What the hell is that?" Dalmar muttered softly, echoing my exact feelings. It was to far away to see the tag, and when it was clear the wyverns weren''t going to attack, it settled on to the south end of the balcony, mostly out of sight except for the tail. Maria appeared at the side door, holding a finger to her lips before disappearing again. "No shit" Dalmar whispered, rolling his eyes "Like we were just about to run out and attack the thing" The rare sarcasm got a chuckle from me as we waited to see what our somewhat crazy partner was going to do. I figured Maria was probably peeking around the corner, watching whatever the snake riders were doing. It was only one or two minutes later that there was a bright flash of red light from that side of building, though there was no bang or sound to indicate an explosion. Both of us kind of tensed up to run forward, but relaxed again when Maria appeared by the side door. She studied it for a moment, then turned to grin at us before trotting back our way. She didn''t bother turning invisible, but the wyverns were already making so much noise I couldn''t tell if they were reacting to her or the snake. She slipped past us, then knelt down and whispered "Dark elves. Four of them. They did something magical to the main doors that stripped the locking magic away. Our door is clean now too" she gestured toward the snake and said "Things tag says it''s a Dread Serpent. Level 25 and 800 health. Couldn''t see the elves tags, but one is a mage, and two are archers. The last one has a sword and shield" "Three against four. Sounds fair" Dalmar said as he and I pushed up to one knee. I nodded and added "If they''re like the one I met, we want to take them down quick" I paused to think, then said "Maria slips in first and finds a good spot. We count to twenty, then Dalmar goes in, and I back him up. I''ll use the armor stun to let us get our first hard hits in" We all exchanged looks and nods before following Maria out. The wyverns raised a louder ruckus, but none of them acted like they would attack. The snake let out another one of it''s hisses, as we gathered by the door, Dalmar on the right, me on the left, and Maria facing it. She gave us quick looks, then opened it part way and slipped in, disappearing from view as she did so. I peeked around the door frame into the open crack, and could see the interior was lit with blue light from the windows. The section I could see showed two large columns in view, and a shiny marble floor, with nothing else cluttering it up. Dalmar was counting to himself, and at twenty, slipped inside, with me right behind him. The place was one large room with four columns along each side, about twenty feet in from the outer walls, and forty feet left open down the center. There was a large statue in the center, and based on my view from the side, I was guessing it was Tarra, since I could see the large war hammer held in her right hand. There were two large chests behind her statue, and what I thought was a golem at first standing at the back of the room on my right. It was shaped like a horse, though the horse had wings folded along its back. There was a name for a winged horse, but I couldn''t remember what it was. The thing wasn''t moving, so it was either in golem statue mode, or was an actual statue. The dark elves had split up, with the mage and sword bearer standing by the two chests, one of the archers by the main entry, which had one door partially open, and the other archer in front of the Tarra statue. The mage and sword guy both looked up as Dalmar walked forward to stand between the middle two columns. I had figured we would be doing the whole screaming attack thing, but it looked like Dalmar wanted to talk first. Sam slithered into my hand at that point, so I called Fist as Dalmar started speaking. "You are trespassing in my People''s temple" Dalmar said, his deep voice making the whole thing more threatening than the words sounded. I could see the two archers face our way as the mage and swordsman glanced at me, then back down at Dalmar. The mage was holding a serious looking staff, was wearing good quality mage''s robes, and had the same sneer on his face that the asshole Goblin King had used. The swordsman had a version of silvery plate mail, with a helmet like Susan had found, though this one had a dragon on it. The mage took a step toward Dalmar before speaking, probably to be sure everyone knew he was in charge. "You show incredibly bad judgment to confront us with only a half-breed abomination to aid you" the mage said with a laugh What? How the hell did I end up being the one getting insulted? I held Bruce up to give the guy the finger, getting a confused look from the two of them before the mage looked back at Dalmar. "Well then" Dalmar said, and I could hear the grin he must have been showing "Let''s get this done" he paused, then said loudly "In Tarra''s holy name I smite you!" A white glow flashed from him as he did that magical thing he did, and his charge was so fast it took all four of them by surprise. I had been waiting for this, so my armor did its nuclear flash a second after he started his dash forward. It wasn''t fast enough to keep an arrow from hitting Dalmar, but it didn''t slow him down, and he turned slightly sideways, bringing his hammer around like a batter to hit the armored guy with a bit of an upswing. All the elves were blinded and had their hands or forearms over their eyes, so when Dalmar''s hammer hit, there was a huge flash of lightning, followed by a thunderous crash as the dark elf was launched back, landing almost at the far wall. Dalmar didn''t slow down, just continued his dash after the swordsman. I figured that left the blinded mage for me, and I kind of sent a non-vocal ''Hey Sam, time to do the weapon snatch and Silence thing'', getting a sense of approval from the whip as I swung it hard at the mage''s staff. It felt to me like doing this was actually less complicated than trying to score a damaging hit, and Sam had no trouble wrapping around the staff, hitting the guy with the Silence spell, then pulling the staff with him as he recoiled. The staff dropped at my feet, and Sam''s feelings were so much like a dog that had just fetched a stick that I was grinning when an arrow sank half its length into the left side of my stomach, causing me to stumble to the right. I''ve said before that feeling pain wasn''t like in reality, the knowledge that it wasn''t permanent taking a lot of the...anguish I guess, out of it, but having arrows poke into your guts was still massively uncomfortable. I let out a harsh gasp as the arrow faded away, but staggered forward as another arrow hit my left shoulder and pushed me to the right again. The arrows did a fair amount of damage, but less than I would have thought, though the archer seemed to be able to shoot while freaking blinded. The mage was just now looking up at me from where he had fallen when Sam had pulled the staff from his hand. The mage pushed himself up on one knee, making frantic hand movements before letting out a loud elf curse and pulling a dagger. I sort of did a duck and weave, and was surprised when an arrow actually missed me, though the mage did manage to hit me with a weak slash. The dagger had some kind of magic because it left a line of green acid like substance behind that burned but only did ten or fifteen points of damage. I ignored it as I swung Bruce hard, the blow taking the mage from his right and knocking him off his feet again. I took the opportunity to do a quick glance around. I had moved past the statue again, and from what I could see, Dalmar looked to have things in hand, but the two archers were facing the wall we had come in from, and were both aiming that way. Sam had formed a gauntlet when I moved forward, so I opened my inventory and grabbed a shock gem. I kicked at the mage, hoping to stun him, but after missing, yelled "Cowabunga assholes!", and tossed the gem at the two archers. I didn''t watch, turning to face the mage as he stabbed me hard in my right leg and the snap of electrical energy exploded behind me. His tag said he was a Master Mage, level 21 and had 110 health, a lot of which was gone after taking a hit from Bruce, the Fist spell, and the couple points of reflected damage. I stepped in and hit him with Bruce again, knocking him on his ass, then just for the hell of it, I dropped down to kneel across his legs, and began punching the living shit out of him. Yeah, got some anger issues to work out, but it was cathartic as hell to watch the fire flare up every time Sam slammed into his nose as I shouted "Who''s the abomination now you asshole!!!" He tried to block me with his arms, but was less than successful. If he hadn''t turned into a pile on the floor after two punches I might have kept hitting him, but he did, so I rolled to my feet to see how things were going. The snake let out the mother of all hisses, and I thought it was going to come slithering inside, but I could see through the open half of the door that it actually took flight, so decided not to worry about the snake as I checked on my partners. Dalmar''s man was junk and Dalmar was dashing at one of the archers. The other archer was also a junk pile, so I trotted after Dalmar, flicking a heal spell Maria''s way when I saw her on my left as I passed the Tarra statue. She was visible, standing beside a column as she shot an arrow into the dark elf, but was only down half her health. The last elf took a hit from Dalmar, followed by another arrow from Maria, and he followed his compatriots by turning into a pile of armor. "I smite you?" I said, grinning as Maria and I joined Dalmar. I sent a round of healing spells as Maria giggled, and Dalmar let out one of his deep chuckles before saying "Hey, seemed appropriate at the time" he paused, then added "and it was my activation word remember?" Oops, he was right. Good thing I didn''t have to remember everyone else''s activation words or we would be in trouble. "What was your guy" I asked, nodding back toward the dead mage to say "mine was a Mage, level 21" "Guard Captain" Dalmar said "Level 20, 510 health" I blinked in shock. 510 health was pretty damn high for a fighter type, especially considering that King guy had only been 600 or so. Dalmar must have seen my surprise since he said "I hit one hundred percent on my war hammer skill not long ago, and when I got that level up, it gave me a once a day ability to use a specialty attack. Does double damage plus three times my strength. Calling on Tarra gives me a strength boost, so when I hit the guy using the lightning rune, I came darn close to killing him right there. He was stunned after that, so it wasn''t hard" "So what does your hammer skill say now?" I asked as Maria gave Dalmar a questioning look. Dalmar shrugged and said "It just has a listing under it for specialty attacks like there might be more than one, but it only lists the one right now" "Huh" Maria said, her eyes vague as she checked her own stat page, then added "It would be nice to know how this shit actually works. I''m at 97 on my archery" "After 95 it took a looong time to get to 100" Dalmar said, dragging out the long with an eye roll. "It might not even work the same for everyone" I said with a shrug. Maria made a disgusted face and said "You know, you seem pretty blas¨¦ about this stuff" I actually considered her words for a moment, then shrugged again and said "I guess I am, sort of. I don''t see where it makes a lot of difference, other than having some other eternal asshole getting to a point where he threatens me or mine, and I have enough friends that even that would be a short term thing" I shrugged again and added "But really, it doesn''t matter whether I know how it works or not, I''m happy with the way things are now, so I''m not going to do anything different" Maria sighed and gave me an exasperated look before patting my shoulder and saying in a mock whisper to Dalmar "Slow in the head" That got a grin from Dalmar as Maria grinned back and said "Shall we see what kind of loot we won?" That got nods of agreement from me and Dalmar as we all turned to look around. The gear from our opponents, the two chests, and the horse statue appeared to be all that was in the room. I figured the horse was some kind of golem, and was kind of interested to see if it was going to talk to us. If it did, I was so going to call it Mr. Ed. Maria headed to the chests as Dalmar and I walked around picking up anything decent from the elves. I put the mages staff, knife and robes in inventory, figuring I''d pass them on to my people if they were useful, or they could go to one of Maria''s mages if not. I saw Dalmar gather up the Captain''s armor, but neither of the archers had anything useful beyond identical bows that gave a +1 dexterity bonus. They would get passed along to our guards since I figured most of our people had something better already. Maria''s "Got it" drew Dalmar and I over to see what was in the chests. There was a set of chainmail that gave a couple stat bonuses as well as a pretty high armor bonus that Dalmar immediately swapped his own out for, two rings of various types that went into Maria''s inventory, and glory of glories, a ring that boosted wisdom and could be used by everyone! Onar''s Ring of Prudent Preparation A warrior of great renown, Onar felt true wisdom required one to be well trained in mind and body. +3 Wisdom +1 Intelligence +1 Strength +1 Dexterity +1 Stamina +8 Armor Usable by: All I would have gladly swapped the intelligence, dexterity and stamina bonuses for more in the strength one, but beggars shouldn''t be choosy. The good ole Serizon ring got pulled off and stored away, and Onar''s ring took its place, adding a little to my wisdom, stamina, intelligence, and armor. There was of course a heaping load of gold coins, though it had gotten to the point that none of us were really paying much attention to them anymore. I mostly gave mine to Andulin to spend as needed, and imagined Maria did the same thing for her castle. I wasn''t sure if Dalmar was saving his somewhere, but if he was, he had to have darn near a million of them by now. The last, and most important thing by far, was a necklace with a winged horse on it. The horse was a tiny thing, but intricately crafted and shown with wings extended. Pegasus finally popped into my head a couple seconds before Dalmar said "It''s a Pegasus" I nodded as if I had remembered that all along, and read the tag on the thing Tera-ka-Vysta (Earth and Sky) Created to honor the goddess Tarra during the creation of the Guardians, the Pegasus is a perfect representation of creatures that once roamed the skies above Tarinath, but are now just a memory. Made of magically altered Moon Iron, Pegasus is highly resistant to damage, both physical and magical, and provides its Rider with considerable magical protection. While faster than all other known creatures who fly, the Rider should be warned that dragon breath travels faster. Pegasus will carry up to four, but only the Rider need not fear falling. Pegasus serves the one who wears this amulet and has been found worthy Maria looked up at us, her face looking like a kid opening Christmas presents, so when Dalmar and I exchanged glances, then grins, her own smile flashed out brightly. Dalmar said "Hey it says it was made for the Guardians, so who better than the Queen" I almost told him it meant the bridge guardians, but caught myself before I sounded like an idiot. Maria flipped her hood back, then holding the necklace, turned to face the horse statue, closed her eyes, said something to herself, maybe a prayer, and put the necklace on. It took a few seconds, but a couple of things happened. The winged horse on the necklace glowed brightly for maybe two seconds, then it and the chain disappeared as Dalmar and I watched the horse statue come to life. Its eyes opened, revealing the ubiquitous blue eyes this world favored, and then it opened it''s wings. They spread out with a rustle of feathers rather than the sound of metal on metal, and they spanned half the open area, much larger than they had appeared when folded on its back. I had been expecting the same metal on metal sounds the guardian golems made, but now that it was alive, the horse, while still silvery, appeared to be...a horse. It was breathtakingly beautiful. Maria''s eyes opened at that point and she let out a sobbing noise and stumbled forward, and as the horse raised its head slightly and lowered its wings, threw her arms around the horse''s neck. The horse''s back was actually at her shoulder height, making me realize how big it actually was. They seemed to be communing, so I looked over at Dalmar to see what he wanted to do. "Girls and horses" Dalmar said with a grin. I nodded back, kind of touched by the scene. Maria was still hugging it, but talking to the horse to quietly for me to understand. It kind of sounded like baby talk, but whatever worked. She sounded so happy I didn''t want to disturb her, so Dalmar nodded for me to follow and headed toward the large entry door. We had found the anvil and now a flying horse, so a pretty good couple of days if you asked me. -----Word from the Author---- Hey all. I''ve gotten a lot of great feedback, some weird feedback, and really like that some of you expand on Tarinath and offer ideas. So thank you. There''s been a couple suggestions to finish this arc and package it in book form, but I think that is a little premature. It''s nice that people think that well of something I''ve done, but I think if you can''t make the top ten on a FREE site, it might be premature to ask people to pay for it. Anyway, I''ve been having fun playing God in the world of Tarinath and have lots of plot seeds I dropped into the story along the way that should keep the story growing for quite awhile. I think I mentioned somewhere that I had written a scene early on that describes a little about how Tarinath ended up so unbalanced, but Jake has been so busy he hasn''t had an opportunity to go where the scene takes place. As I said a couple chapters back, I''m putting the stats at the bottom, if for no other reason than to give people the opportunity to point out my math failings. The list has grown exponentially over the course of the story, which isn''t something I had thought about when I started. When you consider that as the writer I''m playing ALL the characters, you can see how it can get darn complicated keeping track of what everyone can do. ------- STATS------- Healer Priest (Dragonsbane) Level 13 STR 10 (13) DEX 10 (22) STA 20 (21) INT 10 (12) WIS 16 (22) Health: 340 Mana: 220 Endurance: 200 Armor: 30 base + (22 items) : x 1.3 = 67 base + (23 spell) = 90 Defender of the Faith Priest focuses on aiding those in need and protecting the oppressed. Spells will focus on group and individual protection and aid, while the priest''s personal aura will become a healing channel for your goddess''s will. Blessing spells now apply to all allied creatures within ten feet of priest Healing spells cost half mana +10 points health/level 10% damage reflected back on attacker Armor 30% stronger Priest''s aura does following for allies within 10 feet of player:: +5% stat boost to party members (+5% every 10th level) +25% mana restore rate Spells: Telina''s Gaze Applies 65 points (+20%) of healing to the user or any creature selected 10 Mana/use Telina''s Fist Applies 65(-15%) points of damage when activated and a successful hit is made 20 Mana/use (effective hit) Telina''s Restoring Touch Restores mages mana when touched by transferring priests mana. Amount of mana restored chosen by priest Each point restored removes one point of priest''s mana. Cannot transfer more than presently held by the priest Cure Disease Cures disease (Level+10) of any creature touched 40 Mana/use Telina''s Holy Blessing On creature: 65% increase in hit damage and hit chance 70% increase in healing rate Duration: 6 hours (+5%/level to level 10) On flora: 75% increase in growth rate 80% crop amount (+5%/level to level 10) 40 Mana/Use (Does not stack) Create Potions (Cool down 12 hours) Healing potion: Vial of water with Telina''s Blessing + Telina''s Gaze Healing= Telina''s Gaze + Telina''s Blessing + 2(Faith) Cure Disease potion: Vial of water with Telina''s Blessing + Cure Disease Cures any disease Level 75 and below Mana Restoration potion: Vial of water with Telina''s Blessing + Telina''s Restoring Touch Mana restoration =Amount of mana chosen (not more than presently available) Telina''s Flame Holy fire strikes to cause 120 points damage to creature chosen Splash damage: 25% damage to enemy creatures within 10 ft Double damage to undead (+5/level to 120 damage) 75 Mana/use Dispel Magic Dispel Level+5 magic on creature or area chosen -Does not dispel enchanted objects or potions -Does not dispel own castings (Cool down 4 hours) 75 Mana/use Create Rune Ability to learn and place runes of power Player determines activation requirements (Cool down 3 days) Rune of Flame: When activated by user will do 100 points +5/level of fire damage 100 Mana when placed Rune of Retention Placed on an item, it will allow the priest to store prepared spells for later use. Requirements: Item that has not already been enchanted through standard means A Mage may imbue the item with the spell by casting it upon the item, but Blessing by a priest after a spell is placed is required to retain it Others may activate item if specifically identified by priest when placing the first blessing Command word spoken when placed, then to release the prepared spell while holding the item If more than one charge of the same spell is placed, the same command word is used, releasing a single instance of the spell each time More than one type of spell may be placed, to a maximum of three spells Spells can not mix Mage and Priest types Item may receive a replacement spell after use of one, but must be the same spell Usable once every seven days, though after placement of rune, item may receive spells at any time Rune of Lightning Lightning: When activated will do 150 points of shock damage to a single creature, and stun for 5 seconds + 1 sec/level of caster Chain Lightning: When activated will do 50 points of shock damage and stun for 10 seconds all creatures within twenty feet that meet activation requirements Mana required to cast: 180 Telina''s Protective Aura Player receives 10+level armor bonus for 2 hours (Does not stack) 40 Mana/use Resurrection Cast on self or other player Allows player to return with no loss of level after next death at the location the player died Or Allows player to choose new spawn point (Cool down 7 days) Group Heal Heals completely all allies within 100 feet Once a day 140 mana Create Portal Connect two points via an archway Requirements: One end of a portal must be within the aura of a shrine to Telina The end situated close to the shrine must be defined by a carved, circular archway of 12 feet diameter. The other end must be defined by an entryway. A cave entrance, room doorway, or something similiar. To prepare the portal. After placing the circular stone archway, it must first receive Telina''s blessing. Within 21 days, the other end must be chosen, and a blessing placed on the entryway. The blessing must be repeated once a day for four days. Within 21 days, the circular archway must receive another blessing to bind the portal. When completed, the portal may be used by anyone who has received Telina''s blessing. Telina''s Beneficent Word Shouting this holy word will cause all who hear it to do the following Friends: Heal 50% +1%/level of accumulated damage. Restore 50% +1%/level of used mana Dispel all enemy spells presently active. Enemies: Do 8 points/level of damage (Double damage to undead) Stun for 1 second/level (Cannot be silenced) Mana: 200 (One day cool down) +20% Healing Spell -15% Spell Damage + 1.3% hand to hand + 94% light armor + 85% Blunt Weapon + 90% Concentration + 60% Faith + 93% Cooking + 91% Repair Legendary Weapon (Serpent Strike) Bond (5%) Weapon (3%) Magic (0%) The Safe Traveller (Necklace) +3 Wisdom +3 Dexterity +8 Armor Onar''s Ring of Prudent Preparation A warrior of great renown, Onar felt true wisdom required one to be well trained in mind and body. +3 Wisdom +1 Intelligence +1 Strength +1 Dexterity +1 Stamina +8 Armor Usable by: All Warrior''s Heart (Ring) +3 Strength +2 Dexterity +4 Armor Leather Armor of Telina''s Light 25 Armor 15% Magic resistance +4 to dodge Once a day player may send out a blast of holy light that blinds opponents within 50 feet for 10 seconds Eridan''s Boots of Dancing +3 Dexterity Usable by: All Worn Leather Boots 2 armor rating 24/24 durability Not usable: Mage Leather Bracer 3 armor +2 armor 22/22 durability Mace of Holy Lightning (Bruce the Mighty) 18-32 damage +10% hit chance 10 points electrical damage 60/60 durability Serpent''s Strike (Sam) As one of the legendary weapons created by Xirat Krisnon, Serpent''s Strike must be won in battle. This weapons capabilities are determined by the wielder''s skill, experience level, attributes, actions, and intent. Wielder be warned, once earned in battle, it can not be removed, and a legendary weapon takes great patience to truly master. Becoming one with it''s wielder, the Serpent will draw strength through the bond. -1 Strength +3 Dexterity +1 to attribute of choice other than strength, for every 10 experience levels earned Damage: 1 point/level of impact damage 1 point/level of elemental damage (type determined during strike) Level 1-5: Wielder may channel a spell through the weapon with 20% less mana required Level 6-10: Wielder is capable of hitting targets up to 50 feet away. Wielder may cast silence once per day upon successful strike. Level 11-15: Wielder can disarm an opponent with a successful strike against the opponents weapon Level 16-20: Weapon strike can absorb incoming spells, then Wielder can direct the damage on any following strike. Level 21 and above: ?? NOT WORN Ring of Wisdom +1 to player''s Wisdom attribute Ring of Serizon +1 Strength +1 Dexterity +2 Armor Chap 34: Only Dwarves allowed The open half of the Temple''s front doors gave us a pretty good view outside as Dalmar and I approached it, but we were still pretty careful about poking our heads out, neither of us wanting to get dissolved by snake snot. "Looks clear" Dalmar said quietly as he scanned the skies and the balcony surrounding the temple. I did my own slow survey before taking a couple of steps out the door. Sam hadn''t made an appearance, so I was fairly confident we were safe, but after watching something get dissolved to the bones, one tends to be a little cautious. "Yeah, I think it''s gone" I finally replied. The wyverns had taken to flight again, and this time they were focused on us, though none of them seemed willing to go past some kind of imaginary boundary around the temple. "Wyverns are definitely staying back, so we''re probably ok for now" "You going to put a portal here?" Dalmar asked as stepped around me and headed toward the west corner of the temple. He took a look around that corner, then turned back to give me a questioning look when I hadn''t replied. I was studying the doorway and thinking about the temple layout, so it was a moment before I said "No, not at the temple. It has to be some kind of arch or entrance, but I''ve been avoiding ones with doors and the temple doesn''t have anything else that will work" I shrugged before adding "and I feel kind of weird about putting one in a different goddesses temple" The clop clop of hooves got us to turn to the doorway to see Maria stepping outside, her horse stopping just inside the entrance. It was the weirdest thing to see a metal looking horse walk and not hear the clank clank of metal on stone. My brain kind of...blinked I guess, at the dissonance, making me grin at how strange my new world was sometimes. A metal, flying horse. How cool was that? Maria was so thrilled and happy her grin was going to hurt after a while, but she only laughed when Dalmar asked "So what do you feed her, metal oats?" "What are you boys planning?" she asked, looking around and giving the horde of wyverns around us a good look. "Talking about portals" I said, walking toward the edge a to look up and down the canyon "If I put one here it''ll be in the other buildings somewhere" I was trying to decide if it was really worth the four days of sitting here. Lor Frell seemed to be a crossroads for the Underroads, but would that really be all that useful to me? "If?" Maria asked, her and Dalmar coming over to join me. Maria hugged my arm as she did her own quick look up and down the canyon. I shrugged and said "Trying to decide if it''s worth the effort. It might make more sense to put one at that city along the coast since it sounds like your people could reach here via the north road" Maria released me to turn and lean back against the stone railing around the balcony, totally ignoring the wyverns flapping and screeching twenty feet away. She studied me for a second, then said "But you''re already here, and it would be easier than walking here from my castle" "Sure" I said "but really, what''s a couple of days walking to get here? It''s not like we''re really in a hurry here, and at the rate I''ve been putting up those stone arches, my town will be cluttered with them in a year or two" That got a grunt of laughter from Dalmar as he nodded, obviously picturing Mudtown full of stone portals. I finally shrugged and said "I''m thinking not. Once your people find the entrance to the underroads and send an expedition here, we can maybe plan a quest to the coast, to..." I paused, trying to dredge the name up. "Lor Koss" Dalmar said, getting a nod of thanks from me as I continued "Lor Koss. If I set one up there it should give us pretty good coverage of the forbidden lands, though..." I frowned at a wayward thought and added "I''d want to be sure we had people stay there after that since the idea of an unguarded portal in the Forbidden lands that leads home isn''t something I like" "Wouldn''t work right?" Maria said with a shrug "For anyone you haven''t blessed I mean" "Maybe" I shrugged "but I don''t know if someone can use some weird kind of magic that would allow them to" "True enough" Dalmar said with a nod "it''s not like anyone has a clue about pretty much anything" "Well, then I guess we decide what we do next" Maria said, having to speak a little louder since an especially aggressive wyvern was flapping and squawking as close as it could get. She nodded for us to head into the building, leading the way as we followed. She ran a hand along her horse''s neck as she stepped inside, and it turned to follow her. Looking at the back end of the horse I wondered if the thing dropped metal horse poop. We ended up at the statue of Tarra, and Maria stayed leaning against her horse as she asked "So you want to go looking for those books?" Dalmar nodded and looked at me, so I nodded and said "Yeah. After that I''m ready to move on" "Go down and see if we can help Bob?" Dalmar asked, getting a headshake from Maria as she said "No. Unless they send a message I say we let them do this on their own. I think Bob wants to handle this himself, and it is their quest" "I agree" I said "the five of them should be more than enough to handle it, and I doubt we could take the horse into the mines" "Vysta" Maria said, patting the horse''s nose and saying "Ignore the mean man baby, you''re not a horse, you''re a beautiful Pegasus" Based on the look the horse gave me I kind of thought it might actually understand what we were talking about, so I said "Sorry, I mean Pegasus. The Pegasus might not be able to travel into the mines" "I say we find a book" Dalmar said "then see if we can fly out of here on Vysta" "That works for me" Maria said as she made a reaching motion and her bow appeared in her hand. Dalmar hesitated, then made his hammer disappear and the black axe replaced it, quickly followed by the silver shield the elf captain had used appearing on Dalmar''s left arm. I pulled Bruce up, then said in my toughest tough guy voice "Let''s kick some ass" getting a laugh from Maria and a snort of humor from Dalmar. Maria patted her horse''s nose, then headed back toward the side door we came in. I took the tail end position, and sort of studied Dalmar''s new weapons configuration. He had always carried the big hammer, so it sort of looked wrong to see him with an axe and shield. It was going to be interesting to see how it affected everything since it was Dalmar that made our group so dangerous. His high level, great health, and overall toughness allowed Maria and I to be effective. I probably had the most versatile class in Tarinath, but I wouldn''t be very effective if I didn''t have a highly effective tank to slow the enemy down and give me room to work. That new axe was probably one of the best weapons I''d seen to date, so I doubted he would be losing much in the damage dealing area, and I''ve always thought that shields were a good idea. We ended up trooping down to the bottom level after a discussion about the value of searching every level and deciding we''d rather just see if we could cross the canyon to see something new. Other than the rose, which was nice, we hadn''t found a darn thing worth keeping in the front buildings, and the one we were in now appeared to be half home, half store, though it was pretty much empty now. A couple broken pieces of furniture was about it, and the door was missing from the front of the building. The wyverns weren''t visible to me as I stopped to the right of the open doorway, but Dalmar and I waited as Maria said "Let me cross over and make sure it''s clear", then faded as she stepped out onto the canyon road. The buildings on the other side weren''t in any better shape, and after a couple of minutes, I saw Maria appear in a doorway a little to the right of ours and wave for us to come over. Dalmar and I exchanged looks, then he took off running with me right behind him. It hadn''t seemed all that far until I was out there and the wyverns began screeching and squawking above us, but I still piled through the door behind Dalmar a little before the first wyvern landed outside. "You guys are getting your cardio in" Maria said, grinning back at us as she walked toward a door in the back of the room. This store was one big open room that had what probably used to be display cases scattered around. The cases were only piles of wood and glass now, with nothing to show what used to be in them. The rear door opened into another hallway, and we all stopped to discuss where to go from there. Maria sort of sighed as she looked down the hallway to the right at the stairs leading up, then back to the left at the stairs leading down. "Flip a coin?" she finally said I wasn''t thrilled about the idea of looking through dozens of empty rooms, so I sent Telina a mental "A little help?". I wasn''t as surprised this time to get a little nudge toward the stairs down, and told Maria and Dalmar "Telina says we should go down" "She does huh?" Maria said with a laugh, turning and heading that way. Instead of zig-zagging back and forth, these stairs wound downward in a circle similar to the ramp leading up from the west bridge area, though there was only room for two people to walk abreast. We descended maybe a hundred feet before the stairs ended at an iron door, and I thought we might be facing east again, but we had wound around so much I really couldn''t be sure. "Locked and trapped" Maria said, kneeling down and starting to fiddle with stuff only she could see. It made me wonder if Maria and Shadow, or even the mages who did this, all saw the same thing. It wasn''t like they were actually picking the lock, and Maria had said she had patterns she followed to undo stuff, so would the patterns on a door be the same for everyone? When she opened it a couple of minutes later, we found ourselves looking at a fifteen by fifteen room with a chest on each of the other three walls. Nobody was dumb enough to move forward, and Dalmar said "Maria?" "Nothing" she said in surprise "the chests aren''t even trapped" "Sounds like bait to me" I said, looking back up the stairs, then kind of squatting a little to look up to see if anything was above the door. "Well" Dalmar said, sort of shrugging to settle his armor and shield "only one way to find out. You two stay here" He walked purposefully to the center of the room, then crouched with shield up, axe raised, as he waited for something to happen. After a half minute, he slowly straightened and gave us a bemused look before saying "Nothing" I led Maria into the room, and we all sort of held our breath for a second to see if something would attack. I grinned at the sound as we all breathed out, then said "Maybe something in the chests?" So we opened each chest with extra caution, Dalmar opening them with Maria and I standing just inside the doorway, ready to fight whatever popped up. Again nothing happened, and we ended up with a chest of gold, a chest of silver, and a chest of copper coins. Hundreds of each of them, and they weren''t poisoned, and were definitely real. "Ok, this has to be a distraction" Maria said, hands on her hips as she scowled around the room "Why would Telina send us to get money?" Good question, though it was one that Telina didn''t answer. I rolled my eyes in frustration and said "She''s not saying" Maria dismissed that with a wave of her hand, and said "Got to be a hidden door. Give me a minute" Her eyes did the glowing thing and she grinned and pointed at the wall to the left of the door, saying "There. Not sure how to open it, but there''s a doorway there" She traced a door five feet to the left of the door we came in, then fiddled and pushed at various places before shrugging and saying "No clue" "Let me try" Dalmar said "This is a dwarven city" He put his axe away and pushed on the right side, falling forward when the wall swung inward with no resistance. It caught us all by surprise, so Dalmar fell face first into another stairway before I could grab him, tumbling down in a cacophony of metal on stone. He managed to stop himself after ten feet, then cursing softly, he got to his feet as we hurried to catch up. "Anyone laughs and I''m pushing them down the rest of the way" Dalmar growled as he dusted himself off, giving Maria a look as she held a hand over her mouth and what sounded like giggles slipped out. I grinned at their byplay, but looked down to make sure we were alone, and saw that Dalmar was lucky to stop after ten feet, because the stairs led straight down further than I could see. Maria slipped past me and Dalmar, then said seriously "Don''t go any farther, there are a lot of traps ahead of us" Nine of them if the number of stops Maria made as we descended were any indication. A room with a fortune in gold as a distraction. A door that could only be opened by a dwarf. Now a stairway with multiple traps in it. Whatever was down here, it wouldn''t have been found by your average group of eternals. It was the first time I really considered that with Bob in our group, we had four different races covered. Equal opportunity adventure team as it were. "I''m thinking your goddess pushed us toward something interesting" Dalmar said as he and I waited for Maria to disable another trap. I took the opportunity to renew the group blessing and my armor spell before doing a restore, figuring we probably hadn''t reached the hard part yet. When Maria stood up, she said "That''s the last one I can see, but we''ll take it slow" We had covered less than a hundred feet, and I still couldn''t see the bottom. I was beginning to wonder if we weren''t headed toward another of the underroad access points. The stairs ended after another hundred and fifty or so feet, leading directly into a short hallway. There was a room at the other end, and it was well lit, though the source of illumination was at the top of the room and outside our field of view. From our vantage point at the bottom of the stairs, just inside the hallway, we could see the room must be fairly large since we could see a stone statue of a dwarf holding a battle axe standing against a wall fifty or sixty feet on the other side. The hall was less than a dozen feet long, so Maria eased forward, moving to the center of the hall and leaning forward to see as much of the room as possible. I had taken a single step when Maria let out a "Oomph", then fell on her ass. I had Bruce up, and Dalmar took a step forward, both of us looking for whatever attacked her. "Som ob a bik!" she yelled, holding her hand to her nose, the absurdity of it drawing a laugh from me and Dalmar. When she turned to glare at us, hand on a bloody nose, I quickly pointed at Dalmar and said "It wasn''t me", at the same time Dalmar pointed at me with his shield arm and said "He laughed" Maria broke into giggles as Dalmar and I both tried to look innocent and I sent a quick heal spell Maria''s way. Maria climbed to her feet, nose healed and blood gone, still giggling as she stepped backwards. When we joined her, she said "You guys are a couple of goofs" a grin still showing, though her eyes were focused on the hallway. "What hit you?" Dalmar asked, getting me to say "Sam''s not acting like there''s anything there" Maria put a hand out, appearing to touch something a couple feet in front of her and said "It''s an invisible wall. Walked right into it" I put my own hand out and immediately felt what she was talking about. It felt like glass. Kind of cold and slick, though it didn''t give me any sense of fragility. When Dalmar stepped forward and put his hand out, it passed through whatever Maria and I were touching. "Great" Maria said with a disgusted look "it looks like we''re not allowed at the front of the bus" "I''m not feeling any..." Dalmar''s words were cut off as he stepped past whatever was blocking us. He turned back to us, still talking based on the way his mouth was moving. "Can''t hear you" Maria said in an exaggerated way, getting Dalmar to frown and step back through the barrier. "..at?" he said "I couldn''t hear you" the words getting a bark of laughter from me as Maria said "It''s soundproof. You were cut off as soon as you stepped through it" "Oh" Dalmar grunted, nodding his understanding as we all considered our options. We eventually tried having Dalmar hold Maria''s hand as she tried to push through, but no variation we tried allowed any part of her to go through. "Dwarves only zone" I said, getting a nod from Dalmar. "I don''t see any traps, but I''m betting that statue over there will want to kick your ass at some point" Maria said, a disgruntled look on her face. "Probably" Dalmar said as he looked at the statue. He sighed and swapped out his axe and shield for his war hammer, saying "I''ll do the axe thing next time. I don''t think this will be a good spot to be trying to build up a new skill" "You get killed, I''m going to be really pissed" Maria said, leaning down to give him a hug. I passed on the hug and just gave him a nod before Dalmar stepped through the barrier and walked into the room alone. "Damn it" Maria grumbled "What if no one had chosen to be a dwarf? This is a stupid design" I held back a grin, telling from her tone that she was really worried, but finding a lot of humor in her aggravation at being left out of something. Dalmar stopped in the middle of the room, hammer held across his front in his normal ready position, and from the way his head tilted up, it looked like he was listening to something. He turned in a circle, eyes scanning the ceiling area, lips moving as he spoke to someone, though Maria and I couldn''t hear anything. The conversation didn''t seem to go well since he kind of crouched down facing to our right and brought his hammer up, ready to swing. A statue identical to the one we could see strode in from the right, battle axe held over its head. Dalmar stepped to his left and swung his hammer, slamming it into the statues stone gut as the thing missed with its own downward swing. "Behind you!" Maria yelled, pointing at the statue we had seen all this time, raise its own axe and step forward. Dalmar was to experienced to be surprised by a statue he knew about, so he circled the first one to keep it between him and the second. Of course a third one strode into view from our left and Dalmar ended up backing out of our sight to our right, leaving a very frustrated Maria to scream "God damn it!!!" This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. "Hey, he''s got this" I said softly, grinning as a stone statue was knocked into view to fall on its back. It climbed back up, but was missing a few chunks of stone as it strode purposefully back into the fray we couldn''t see. "I know" Maria said grumpily, letting a chuckle slip past as what I was pretty sure was the same statue came stumbling backwards, a couple more pieces of stone missing. "It''s just..." she trailed off as Dalmar jogged forward to hit the statue again, causing it to crumble and fall apart. It looked like he had taken a few hits himself, so I flicked a quick heal his way before he backed out of sight to our left, two more statues following closely. The heal spell hit the barrier and flared up in a flash of white before fading, getting me to let out my own muttered "Damn it" We waited, probably both picturing the fight in our heads, until Dalmar jogged back into sight to stop in the middle. He was bleeding from a lot of places, but he grinned our way as he pulled out a potion and drank it. A soft white glow enveloped him, and when it faded, his injuries faded with it. He waved as four statues came after him, stone battle axes raised, and he backed out of sight again. "He could at least fight where we could see it" Maria said, then giggled as she realized what she had said. "Then he''d want to charge for the show" I said back, watching as Dalmar slipped back into view for a few seconds, swinging his hammer sideways at a statue we couldn''t see, then he followed the swing to move out of view again. It was a long fight, close to ten minutes, and I think he was making a point to let us see him periodically, because he would trot into view, wave or drink a potion, then wade back into the fray. Maria and I were to keyed up to relax, so we watched and waited until Dalmar finally walked back to the center of the room and had another silent conversation. He was fairly beat up, but wasn''t in a hurry to use a potion, making me hope he might have won. "Think it''s over?" Maria asked, her fingers resting on the invisible barrier as if she was pushing to get through. The conversation lasted another couple of seconds, then Maria''s hands fell forward and she stumbled across the barrier. "Finally!" she yelled as she jogged forward, head swiveling as she dashed into the room to join Dalmar. I followed more slowly, figuring the barrier wouldn''t have come down if the fighting wasn''t over, and looked the room over. It extended to the sides another thirty feet both ways, and there were over a dozen piles of stones scattered around the room, showing where Dalmar''s fight partners had ended up. "Holy crap that was aggravating" Maria said. Dalmar smiled and patted her arm as I cast a heal his way, then followed it with another one when a couple of cuts and bruises still showed. He nodded his thanks and said "Was actually pretty fun, though with out the potions I wouldn''t have lasted" he nodded my way again and added "It restores endurance, which was almost as important as the health part" "What was the conversation about?" I asked, noticing for the first time that there was an open section of floor in the far left corner. "Got a warning about trespassing and asked for a command word" Dalmar said as he turned and led us to the opening in the floor "When I didn''t know it, the voice said I would have to earn the right to continue by proving myself in combat. The statues started coming to life, though only four at a time, so not impossible" the opening in the floor led to more stairs leading down, and we all stopped as Dalmar finished with "when it was over, the voice said I had earned the right to continue" "Why not fight where we could see you?" Maria asked in an aggrieved tone "I was worried you''d get killed and we wouldn''t know" Dalmar chuckled, but said "Bounced back and forth between the corners. Kept them from surrounding me" "Oh" Maria said, then sighed and started down the stairs, saying "Well, I was worried" I exchanged grins and fist bumps with Dalmar, then followed him down the stairs. We were all probably braced for another long stairwell, but this one only led downward twenty feet or so, and into a room half the size of the one above us. A light like the one in the other room bloomed, but like upstairs, I couldn''t see a source. It was just a glow that seemed to come from the ceiling itself. The room looked like it was once an armory, racks along the right and left walls that looked identical to the ones in the arms shops in Telarin, though these were empty. There were two along the back wall that were a lot more elegant, and based on positioning, held something a lot more valued. Of course, like everything else in this city, they were empty. A desk sat in the middle of the room, and there was a dwarf skeleton sitting in a chair behind it, its head down on its crossed arms like it was sleeping. Unlike the Blacksteel skeleton, this one wasn''t in armor. Instead, it was in a mages robe, and there was a staff lying on the ground beside the table, looking like it had fallen at some point. The important thing, and probably the reason we were here, was the book lying open in front of the skeleton. The whole thing looked like he had died while writing in it. "Kind of looks like their magical weapons armory" Dalmar said, giving Maria a questioning look and getting a headshake back. She took a couple of slow steps inside, but stopped when Dalmar touched her back and walked past her. He moved cautiously to the desk, then looked back to say "Just the book. He doesn''t even have a weapon" Maria and I joined him as Dalmar cautiously pulled the book over, then turned it so he could read what the dead dwarf had written. "The black dragon was killed by Lord Naral, though he will not carry the name Dragonsbane as he perished when the creature spewed one last breath of acid across our forces.Two more dragons were sighted only moments after our victory, robbing us of even that small satisfaction. The injuries I received are severe, and our healing mages have either accompanied the people through the underroads, or have been killed defending the city. I was tasked with protecting our heritage, and have done so. Tarra save..." Dalmar looked up and said "That''s it. Looks like he died writing this" Dalmar flipped the book closed and read the cover "History of Clan Frell" "Protecting our heritage" I said thoughtfully, eyeing the walls. Maria nodded agreement and said "Based on the staff and robes he was a low level mage, and those are the only things visible" she nodded to herself and added "I can do one more Find Hidden today, so let me see what this guy was protecting" Her eyes got the glow that showed she was using her ability, and she turned in a slow, but complete circle. When she got back to where she started, she pointed to the right hand wall and said "Between the two racks. There''s a narrow section, not wide enough for a door, but that''s all I see" We gathered around the two foot wide, six foot high section of wall she outlined. Maria pressed a couple of places, then rolled her eyes and stepped back, saying "Oh go ahead" Dalmar chuckled as he reached forward to push on the wall, but when his hand slipped through it like it wasn''t there, he fell forward, letting out a "Shit!" when his head bumped into the wall on the right. His scowl quickly turned to a look of interest, and when he pulled back, he brought a war hammer with him. My first thought was ornate, but I realized the hammer wasn''t decorated, it had red crystal of some kind running in jagged lines throughout the head of the hammer. It wasn''t like the marble texture you got in the old reality, but more like dark steel seamed with red quartz. The crystal had a slight red glow, though it was dim enough I thought it might not be visible in full sunlight. The tag made me blink in surprise. Harn el Teras-Kana Hammer of Earthen Thunder Teras-Kana was wielded by Oran Hammerfist, First King of Tarra-Tel-Azat. When the People were forced to flee the demonic forces that arose to destroy Tarra-Tel-Azat, the weapons and armor of Oran Hammerfist were separated and carried to safety by different clans to prevent their use by any one clan. While no longer symbolizing royalty, one who wears the armor and wields the weapon of Oran Hammerfist will perhaps forge a destiny just as grand. 42-68 Damage +4 Strength +2 Stamina +20% damage when wielded underground +10% damage against iron or steel armor +15% resistance to elemental attacks 15% chance enemy weapon will shatter when striking Teras-Kana Thunder Strike Wielder strikes the ground with a powerful blow that stuns all opponents within 50ft for 5 seconds Any enemy of a lower level will fall to the ground and receive 15 points of damage. (Cool down: 1 hour) Usable by: Those who are worthy "Holy shit" Maria said with a grin "We hit the mother lode" "It doesn''t have a class or race limitation on who can use it" Dalmar said thoughtfully. I blinked as I realized he was right, that worthy statement being pretty vague, and was seriously stunned when he asked "You want it?" "Really?'' I asked, not seeing how he could pass this up. He shrugged and said "It''s nice, no doubt about that, but I''m going to be going into the blacksmith business, and this should go to someone who really needs it" he shrugged again and looked between Maria and I before adding "If not you two, then I think it should go to Diana" I put out my hand, and Dalmar passed it to me. Well, he tried to pass it to me. What really happened is that when I had my hand around it and Dalmar let go, it seemed to become...immaterial and passed right through my hand to land with a heavy clang on the floor. "You''ve got to be fucking kidding me!!!!" I screamed, hurting my right foot when I kicked the damn thing as hard as possible. Maria was smothering a laugh as I jumped back with another curse before healing my toes. I glared down at the thing, then waved for Maria to have a try. It actually made me feel a little better when the same thing happened to her. She bent down to grab it, but her hands passed through the handle like it was some kind of illusion. She straightened up with a frown, then shrugged and said "Well, if it only likes dwarves that will pretty much mean you''re stuck with it Dalmar" He bent down to pick it up and we all studied it for a bit, then Maria said "I bet this thing is part of a set" Dalmar nodded, so I sighed and said "Set?" My tone got a laugh from Dalmar and he said "It''s a game thing. You collect all the pieces, like the armor, boots, helmet, and whatever, and if you wear them all, you get extra damage and stuff" At my nod, Dalmar gave the hammer a pensive look, then made it disappear into his inventory. Looking at Maria he said "I think I''ll set it in your throne room and let your people have a chance at it. If Diana or anyone else can''t use it, I''ll keep it" "Cool" she said with grin "Just like Excalibur" Dalmar let out a short huff of laughter before saying "I was actually thinking of Thor''s hammer, but sure, that works" We were wary enough to let Dalmar lead the way back, with Maria just behind him to be sure no traps had suddenly manifested. We had a tense moment when we got back into the big room and saw the statues were all standing with their backs to the walls. When they didn''t move, Dalmar said "The way they were when I first came in. Must reset" They didn''t attack, and we were able to walk back through the invisible wall, though Maria couldn''t resist testing to see if it blocked her from going back through. Which it did. None of us was interested in any more exploring, so we worked our way back to the temple, with the dash across the road being the only exciting part. This got the wyverns excited, so they were still flapping around when we walked across the balcony. I think our nonchalance pissed them off, because they got even louder, if that was possible. It was like being in a seagull swarm, if the seagulls were the size of pterodactyls. Night was falling, and we sort of reached an unspoken agreement to set up camp, with all of us exchanging questioning looks, then sort of nodding and pulling out our camp stuff. Dalmar cooked while Maria and I discussed ways to make some kind of saddles for Vysta that would keep Dalmar and I from falling off. Maria actually talked with the horse, a telepathy kind of thing, and according to the horse, Maria wouldn''t fall off, even if the horse flew upside down, but anyone else...Well they were on their own. "It''ll have to be rope" I said, pulling the coil of it out of my inventory "will it hurt Vysta if we tie it around her?" Maria waved that away, saying "No, she probably won''t even feel it. I think if we sort of loop it around her to tie you two down, then tie all three of us together, it should keep you guys from falling off" Which is what we did. I ended up cutting the rope into three sections, one each that would go around Vysta, then around Dalmar''s and my waists, to keep us down. Then another length that looped between the three of us, and would use Maria as an anchor in between Dalmar and I to keep us from sliding sideways. Hopefully. I''m pretty sure falling from a thousand feet would kill just about anything. "Where are you going to set up shop?" I asked Dalmar as we all relaxed "I think you should stay at the castle" Maria said "I''ve got people putting in windows and stuff, and we have a place on the roof now. Kind of like a park, though we don''t have plants" "Have to have a forge" Dalmar said "and you can''t just buy an existing one. They''re passed along to the apprentice, but you can build one, at least that''s what I was told by other smiths" he leaned back against one of the pillars and looked thoughtful for a moment, then added "but it would make sense to set up in one of the places Jake has a portal. And every town already has a smith, so it might be rude to set up a forge close to them" It sounded like he was going to talk himself into accepting Maria''s offer, so I didn''t add anything, glad he was going to stay close. I had kind of expected to talk with Telina, but I woke up the next morning with the blue light starting to shine in the eastern windows and a bit nervous about the day''s plans. If everything went right, we would be flying today. It took a bit to get our ropes set on Vysta, and I found it fascinating that her coat still looked metallic, but felt like real hair. Dalmar was going to be in front, then Maria behind him, then me behind her, all tied together. That meant that Maria wasn''t going to be shooting any arrows, so we wouldn''t have anything we could do to defend ourselves. Dalmar and Maria got settled on the Pegasus while I opened both of the main doors, of course drawing the attention of every wyvern in the area. We had expected it, but getting through the flock of them was going to be interesting. I slid in behind Maria, then tied every kind of knot I could think of to hold the two ropes tight, before reaching around to hug Maria around the middle. She had her arms around Dalmar, and I could feel her giggle as she said "Everyone comfy?" I wanted to close my eyes, but just held tighter as Maria said softly "Alright girl, let''s show them what we can do" Vysta surged forward into a hard gallop, forcing me to lean forward a little against Maria, who didn''t move at all. The wyverns let out a coordinated screech as we galloped through the doors, across the balcony, then leaped into the air...to plunge face first toward the ground. Yes, I''m not to proud to admit I screamed like a terrified little girl. I swear I could hear the horse laughing as its wings snapped open and we swooped into high speed level flight ten feet above the road. Maria was laughing, and let out a loud whoop as the horse began beating its wings hard and we began a steep climb. The next few minutes were probably the most terrifying of my life as the wyverns began diving, climbing, swerving, and curving in from every direction. Vysta would dive and turn, then swoop into another climb before having to swerve to the right or left to evade a diving wyvern. We were faster, but there was twenty or thirty of the things all around, above, and below us. We were gaining some altitude, but it was slow as we kept having to dive to avoid an attack. I''m pretty sure I felt my sphincter clamp onto the back of the horse when it went inverted, folded its wings, dove, then recovered to throw its wings out again to arc into a climb. Maria just laughed and screamed in enjoyment the whole time, but I had decided aerobatics weren''t for me, and something had to be done. Casting a spell while suffering from abject terror wasn''t easy, but my survival instinct kicked in and I eventually screamed (in a high pitched voice) "Telina-Ras!!!" I think I totally surprised Maria and Vysta, because we kind of wobbled and dropped for a second before Vysta began climbing, wings working hard as the wyverns dropped from the sky around us. It actually made me feel kind of bad, but every wyvern within two hundred feet burst into white fire, then fell straight to the ground. There were a few still around the edges, but they flapped hard for the city, leaving us to continue climbing and turn north. I had a level up message pop up a few seconds later, but I was to busy enjoying the smooth, level flight to pay it much attention right then. Chap 35: Im just a simple lad "Oh thank god!" rumbled back from Dalmar as I tried to relax my death grip on Maria. My chin was sort of resting on her right shoulder I was holding on so tight, so I heard her snort of amusement at Dalmar''s words before she said "The experience is nice and all that, but that was a bit of overkill don''t you think? We would have gotten away soon enough" "Hell no!" Dalmar said loudly, still bent forward, hands clutched tight to Vysta''s mane "You need to be thanking Jake because I was damn close to throwing up all over your damn horse" I could almost feel Maria roll her eyes as she replied "Oh come on, it wasn''t that bad" "Having a problem with the heights here" Dalmar growled back, and I realized he hadn''t relaxed a bit, and actually had his eyes closed. Well shit, and I thought I was scared. "Oh" Maria said in surprise, then half turned her head to give me a questioning look. I shrugged, not all that comfortable myself, but it was mostly the feeling of lifting away from Vysta''s back as she dove and turned that had freaked me out. Though, the image of the ground coming at you at a hundred miles an hour was pretty stressful too. I forced myself to loosen my grip a little and lean back as I said "I guess we bring some of our phobias with us. Shadow, the rogue on that dungeon crawl I did for pay had a spider phobia, and she was pretty freaked out when we did that maze" "No shit Sherlock" Dalmar said grumpily, the tone and words taking Maria and I by surprise "just let me know when we''re on the ground" Maria gave a disgruntled shrug, and I realized it was kind of mean to be taking our fear out on her and the horse, so I said "Well, I can''t say I''d want to do it again, but you and Vysta got us through that, so thanks" She turned to flash me a brilliant smile before turning back to say softly "You did baby. You were awesome" We banked to the right a little, then leveled out again, causing me to clutch Maria a little harder. I decided it might be a good time to concentrate on other things, and looked at the level up message. You have reached Level 14 You have one attribute point to distribute You have gained one new spell Telina''s Minor Shield of Transmutation Elemental Conversion: Priest''s aura blocks damaging elemental attacks and channels it into the priest''s next weapon''s strike Spell Conversion: Priest''s aura blocks an enemy''s non-elemental spell and channels it into restoring mana for any party members *An enemy spell or elemental attack is completely blocked, but a maximum of 20 + 10 points/level of enemy spell mana or elemental energy is converted, after which the spell must be cast again. 180 Mana/use (Cool down: 1 Hour) Well now, this was an interesting one. My very first thought was to wonder if it would have blocked Zac''s dragon fire, but on further reflection, decided that would be something I didn''t want to put to the test. Regardless, this sounded a lot like Ariel''s one shot spell blocker, except mine converted it to something useful. It would be great to be able to absorb some morons ice bolt and let Bruce return it with a little interest. It was a little ambiguous about if it only worked once, or if it lasted until you went beyond the maximum points. But on the plus side, it also grew as I leveled up, so it should stay relevant as time went on. Yeah, this was actually a pretty nice spell. I pulled up my stats and considered my options for the attribute point. I really, really wanted to put it into my strength, since it would be nice to get some of those bonus damage points Dalmar talked about...but, the spells were getting up there in mana, and without my rings I couldn''t afford some of them. Grimacing in aggravation, I went ahead and put the point into wisdom. Like it or not, my big stick here were my spells and they needed to have a big mana tank to support them. Being able to do a restore during a fight was a fairly rare thing and running out in battle was dangerous. With that done, I tried relaxing a little and looked around to see where Maria was taking us. The canyon Lor Frell sat in seemed to have been deep in the mountains where the west/east chain intersected the north/south chain, and I could see mountains in every direction except the north-west. Lor Frell hadn''t sat at the top, and in fact, I would guess it had only been at five or six thousand feet, with many of the mountains reaching two or three times that height. We were in clear skies, but a cloud layer covered much of the south-east, with snow capped peaks poking through here and there. The morning sun was just clearing the mountains to our right, and it was bright enough to make you squint if you looked that way. We were winging our way along the west side of the north/south mountain chain, at what I guessed was eight to ten thousand feet, which gave me quite the view. The mountains towered above us, giving the impression of a barrier on our right, but the lands to the west and north were a patchwork of forests and plains as far as I could see. Smaller hills and a couple of larger rivers were visible, and in one of the larger plains areas, a herd of some kind of creatures were moving slowly, reminding me of old videos of American buffalo. "Look over there" Maria said softly, raising her right arm to point to our right and slightly forward. Vysta''s wings somewhat blocked my view, but I searched in the direction she was pointing and didn''t see anything until a flicker of blue drew my eye to something moving a couple of miles away. A dragon was gliding slowly over one of the lower peaks, looking like a large bird of prey as it lazily floated on the air rising along the mountains. Like Zac, this one glimmered as if it was iridescent, but where Zac was a beautiful red/gold color, this one gleamed in a blue-white that reminded me of the milky blue of glacier runoff. Maria and I kind of held our breathes for a moment when the dragon suddenly turned to face us, then stopped in place, flapping its huge wings slowly as it very obviously stared our way. We both let out sighs of relief when it must have decided we weren''t worth the chase and pushed into a gliding turn and resumed its slow circles over its peak. "I wonder if you can ride dragons?" Maria said wistfully, then added "No baby, I wouldn''t give you up for anything" She turned her head slightly to grin at me and said "But I know a priest who would look cool on one" "I don''t know" I said, chuckling at the thought "you don''t think it would make people think I was going through a mid-life crisis? You know, like those guys who buy a sports car when they''re fifty?" "Maybe" she said with a laugh "but who''s going to say anything insulting to the guy on a dragon?" Good point. Vysta didn''t come with a speedometer, so I couldn''t really tell how fast we were flying, and she had some kind of magic that must have acted like a windshield, since there was only a gentle breeze blowing over our faces. The ground was passing pretty quickly, so I figured we were doing better than sixty miles an hour. I wasn''t absolutely sure where we were, but on Dalmar''s map the two mountain chains intersected about seven to ten days walk south of Maria''s castle, which meant we were probably a few hours flight away. Even with Dalmar so obviously freaked out, the next couple hours were still some of the most memorable of my life. There was a raw beauty to this world that reminded me of New Zealand or Alaska, and even though pretty much everything here wanted to eat us, the creatures themselves added to the affect. I had watched a dragon float majestically through the sky as I was sitting on the back of a Pegasus as it winged its way over vast forests. Only someone without a soul could experience this without coming away awed by it all, and Maria and I bonded a little over the shared experience as we pointed out interesting things to each other as we flew by. Dalmar...barely twitched the whole time. The mountains began to thin out some, getting lower and not as spread out as we went north, until the last one ended in the sheer cliff that held Maria''s castle on the side of it. Vysta brought us in a few hundred feet above the castle, gliding in a right turn that ended up in a slow, descending spiral. The top of the castle was flat, with a low, crenellated wall along the open sides. I had to grin when I realized Maria''s people had turned the whole top of the castle into a kind of open air bar. There were tables and chairs scattered around, and I shit you not, lounge chairs that had a couple of women lying in them. They were wearing regular clothes, which was good since I would have doubted my sanity if they had been in bikinis. "Got your own little resort going on" I said, getting a laugh from Maria as she raised a hand to wave at the five or six women getting to their feet and pointing up at us. I was hoping none of them had an itchy trigger finger, as it would be embarrassing to be shot down by our own people. Vysta slowed, then spread her wings wide, blocking my view as she flared into a landing that had her trotting forward a few steps before coming to a complete stop. "Oh thank god!" Dalmar mumbled as he reached down and snapped the ropes holding him on the horse. Vysta pulled her wings up and out of the way as Dalmar basically fell sideways off the horse to stagger a few feet away and crouch with his hands on his knees as he drew in deep breathes. "Maria!" one of the women standing around us shouted, the surprise in her tone clear. Obviously Maria hadn''t sent a note to let anyone know we were coming. I did what Dalmar had, grabbing the rope in both hands and pulling it apart so I could slide off, with Maria only a second behind me. I went over to where Dalmar was slowly straightening out as Maria got mobbed by her people. A lot of laughter and cooing came from the group as they hugged Maria or petted the horse, but I focused on Dalmar and asked "Doing ok?" He nodded, taking another deep breath before relaxing a little and saying "That was bad. I was kind of hoping that wouldn''t follow me into this world" "Quick trip though" I said, looking around and deciding this roof top bar was kind of nice. They even had an actual bar, with a couple of ale kegs behind it. I patted Dalmar on the shoulder and nodded that way before walking over. They had mugs behind and under the bar, so I grabbed two, filled them from an ale tap, then handed one to Dalmar. He chuckled as I held mine out, then tapped his against mine before we both drained them. Wow, that tasted good. I refilled them, but we just sipped on them as he looked around, then said "It is nice up here" The top of the castle was basically a huge, open, flat, stone courtyard. Probably two hundred by two hundred feet, that had a doorway on the south end that went straight into the cliff. I hadn''t seen a way up here before, so wasn''t sure where the stairs down ended up. The tables, chairs, and bar were all grouped at the southeast corner by the doorway, leaving a lot of open room. "You should put your forge up here" I said, glancing over when a burst of laughter came from the group by the Pegasus. Maria was gesturing animatedly as she told some story, which from the gestures, was probably about our first flight. "Maybe" Dalmar grunted as he studied the area "depends on if they get attacked a lot. Be a bitch if a dragon came around" I had to nod agreement as he continued "but you''re right, it would be pretty nice. The portals would make getting around pretty easy, so getting raw materials wouldn''t be an issue" "And you wouldn''t have to worry about other eternals hassling you" I added. Maria broke away from the group still clustered around Vysta and walked our way, a warrior and a mage following her. She gave Dalmar a questioning look that he answered with a shrug and muttered "Fine". The two other women''s tags said "Alaina" and "Jessica", which had me considering if only the guys came up with weird names. Even Dalmar, since I doubted he was named Dalmar in real reality. Alaina, the warrior, pulled up three more mugs and began filling them, as Jessica, a mage with an intricately carved and bejeweled staff that just shouted strong magic, said "You two need to start an adventuring group. Every time you go somewhere you find good stuff" "I''m just following these two" I said at the same time Dalmar said "Jake makes it work". The overlapping words got a laugh from the group as I shrugged and said "You load up on potions and you wouldn''t really need me" "It''s not the same" Maria said, taking a mug from Alaina "It might be the goddess, or it might be that you''re just lucky, but trips are better when you''re along" she looked a little embarrassed as she added "and a lot more fun" "Yeah" Dalmar rumbled, his eyes surveying the far corner of the roof, but obviously listening to us "Jake''s a good teammate. You need people who have fun, but are serious when weapons come out" The compliments were making me uncomfortable, and my expression got a grin from Maria, but she took pity on me and said "I know you''ll be wanting to head home pretty quick, but I thought you could do the spawn point change for Jessica before you leave" I nodded agreement to that a little before Alaina asked "What do you guys have planned next?" A sort of group shrug ensued, with Dalmar, Maria, and me exchanging looks before Dalmar said "I''m going to focus on setting up a forge and ask around about Forgemaster Grevlor" "Spend some time at home" I said, and after a moment of consideration, added "But after that, I might do a bit of a walkabout. See a different section of Tarinath" "Supposed to be pretty wild once you reach the northern plains" Alaina said "a lot of people have been exploring, and from what I''ve heard, they''ve got the barbarian tribes thing going on up there" "Empire and the elves have a half ass war going on" Maria said, grimacing in disgust "The empire says the elves are raiding the coast and attacking their ships. Some pretty big fights from what I hear" "Speaking of which" Jessica said "there were a couple eternals that stopped in Mudtown asking about a priest. Samuel said they didn''t cause any trouble, but he did say they came from the west coast" at my questioning look she shrugged and added "Didn''t get any names or what they wanted. Fighter and a mage supposedly. But a lot of people are dropping their names in Riverbend and the capitol to get you to join their adventuring group, though no one else has made the connection to Mudtown as far as I''ve heard" "Two of them wouldn''t be a problem" I said, figuring Andulin would have killed them if they were looking for trouble. The discussion didn''t last much longer since Jessica wanted to do the spawn point spell before I left, and I wanted to head home. The stairs down turned out to be new, and part of the modifications Maria was doing to the building. Jessica''s spawn point was in one of the lower level hallways and didn''t take long to get done. I got a hug from Maria and Dalmar gave me my share of the gold we''d found, though I didn''t bother to count it. I would be giving almost all of it to Andulin to spend on my town, and only needed a hundred or so gold pieces to travel for months. The four gems were the most useful things, since they were becoming my shock grenades. I could use regular rocks, but this just seemed cooler, and it wasn''t like the gems were destroyed. I just had to remember to pick them up. Mudtown didn''t look like it had changed much when I stepped out of the portal at the edge of the square, and Seth just gave me a wave as if people walking out of a wall was normal. I grinned at the thought and headed to the Inn. My greeting there was as exuberant as one could hope, and it didn''t take me long to relax back into the comfort of home. The next week felt like a vacation as I added a couple of drawings to the Burning Mage''s walls, then spent the evenings telling stories about what each one was. I lacked Bob''s flair for tale telling, but it was fun to sit in a big group after dinner and have drinks and talk. The guy we rescued from the gnoll caverns, Tomas, had found a new wife and he would throw out a story or two. Seth even pulled a couple up, though they were more the "T''er I was, a horde of man eatin orcs a chargin me, and only me trusty axe betwixt me and death", but they were always entertaining. A day after I returned I got a message from Bob. Hey Jake. The Lich is toast, and we didn''t lose anyone, though it was pretty close during the last fight. Got some great loot and found that stone. Maria sent a note about the northern tunnel, so we''re going to head that way. Short and to the point, just the way I liked them. For some reason I found the messaging thing to be irritating, as it reminded me too much of the other reality and getting emails. I sent him a quick "Thanks" to be polite. I was interested in knowing if he got a quest complete for it, but could wait until he came back to find out. The Dishonored you ask? Well, they had been leaving messages with any of Maria''s people they ran into, saying that they wanted to meet with me, and had been leaving them since two weeks after I cursed them. All three of them had hung around Riverbend until the governor kicked them out of the city for causing damage and disruption. It appeared that every time Jeff walked past a guard, he would trip and fall into them, or have someone bump him and cause him to collide with one. Poor Shadow dropped just about everything she picked up, which made her persona non grata at all the inns. Siril? He would hiccup at inopportune times, like in the middle of a spell. Supposedly it made for some interesting spell casting. I laughed so hard I had to wipe tears away when Mia, one of Maria''s rangers was telling me about it, and she was giggling just as madly. Mia was a human, and for some reason she had trimmed her brown hair to her shoulders, which struck me as really odd when I first saw it. It''s one of those things you just get used to seeing, long hair on everyone, even most of the male elves, so it really stood out when she walked into the inn. She seemed nice though, and had a happy sort of attitude that reminded me of Maria a little. "Maria said you might want someone to go along when you visit those three?" Mia said, though it came out as a question, with the inference being that she would go with me if I wanted. I shrugged and grinned as I said "No, but thanks for the offer. Other than Shadow, the group was kind of pitiful before the curse, so I doubt they would be much of a risk now" She nodded and gave a small shrug before saying "Yeah, what I figured. I haven''t met them, but I''ve heard about your trip with them. Their warrior is a moron if he really did put everything into strength" I couldn''t disagree with that. It took a half a day to track them down since they had moved out of the city, and I cast my new spell before I started, just in case they got rambunctious. I found Siril first, sitting outside a travelers inn a dozen miles north of Riverbend. He was slouched in a chair, feet up on the railing of the covered porch at the front of the inn, staff leaning against the wall behind him, and when I rode up, he just rolled his eyes and toasted me with a mug before saying "About damn time" If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. I swung down from the horse, then walked up the steps and dropped into a chair next to him. He seemed pretty calm about the whole thing, but Siril always had been pretty detached about all of this. I shook my head in a mix of humor and surprise when I saw his tag had "Siril Skywalker (Dishonored)" on it. Parentheses and all. looking around, I didn''t see his friends, so asked "Your partners inside?" He took a drink, then snorted a laugh before saying "Had to split up. We were getting ready to kill each other. Shadow might have killed Jeff by now, though he probably would have sent me a message if she did. Girl is pissed!" He laughed, obviously remembering something, then added "I think Jeff was hoping to wait this thing out, but that hasn''t worked out, and he wouldn''t give us that bracer we owe you. He''s lucky we can''t loot each other''s corpse or Shadow would have killed him the first week" That got a grin from me as I pictured Shadow taking out a huge guy like Jeff. He wouldn''t have stood a chance. "I''ll send them a note if you''re going to wait" Siril said, giving me a questioning look. I shrugged and said "Sure. Either here or the city" He grimaced and shook his head in disgust as he said "Nah, can''t go back to the city until we lose this curse. Jeff couldn''t take a step there without knocking down a guard. They were getting pretty mad about the whole thing" he turned the disgusted look on me, but only added "wish now I''d taken your advice and went my own way" Me too. Jeff would have probably just surrendered my stuff if his partners hadn''t stood by him. Whatever, I could hang out here for a day. The inn was smaller than the Burning Mage, but I was surprised to find three locals in warrior garb, and one was an orc. They were sitting at a round table, drinking and eating, but they paused when Siril and I walked in to give us a good look before turning back to their meal. "Mercenary group, heard them tell the innkeeper they were heading north to hire out" Siril said, ignoring the three and taking a seat at a back table "something new I guess. Came in last night, but haven''t been willing to talk" Non-eternal mercenaries? That was new, and I could see where it might be something I needed to keep an eye on. Jeff and Shadow obviously wanted the curse off, since both of them showed up before nightfall, with Shadow making a bit of an entrance when she arrived. I was standing on the porch, drinking an ale, when I felt something poke me in the back. You didn''t have to be in this world long to know that something touching you in the back wasn''t a good thing, so I reacted by diving over the rail and pulling Bruce up. It was habit now to have him in my left hand, and as I rolled to my feet I realized Sam hadn''t made an appearance. Shadow was standing on the porch, a knife held backwards in her hand, and based on the glare, wishing she had used the pointy end. "You asshole" she growled as she made the knife disappear "You made your damn point, you couldn''t show up a couple of weeks ago?" I put Bruce away, then shrugged and said "I was busy, and blaming me for your own mistakes is stupid" "God damn it!" she yelled, real anger showing "You back your friends. Jeff''s a damn fool, but I would have sorted it out. Now..." she showed her teeth like she wanted take a bite out of me before saying "now were not. Yeah it''s his fault, but...damn it, we were friends" the last part came out as a growl as she turned and went into the inn. Ok, there was something wrong with me, because I was feeling guilty and I had nothing to feel guilty about. When I walked into the inn, Siril nodded at an empty corner, meaning Shadow was probably doing the invisible thing Maria did now and then. I shrugged and took a seat by Siril, but kept my back to the wall. Just in case, you know. Jeff stomped in about an hour later, sort of filling the room with his huge, angry presence. He looked around until he saw me, then stomped over, tossed a set of bracers on the table, threw a handful of coins at me, then stomped out without saying a single word. A glow surrounded him, then faded as he slammed the door behind him. Siril and Shadow had the same happen, with Shadow appearing as it did so. "Ok then" I said with chuckle, pulling the bracers over. They were the kind that wrapped around your forearms, and were made out of intricately detailed leather. The tag said Bracers of Diligent Defense +8 Armor +2 Dexterity +4 Dodge Usable by: All Sam had kind of covered the leather bracer I previously had on my right arm, so I wasn''t sure what would happen when I changed them out. I didn''t have to worry though, because when I pulled the left one off, the right one fell off on its own. When I slid the new one on my right arm, Sam sort of slithered over it, making me the proud owner of a magic item that a goddess had cursed people over. I had actually been worried that Sam wouldn''t allow me to wear them, and I was pretty sure Shadow would have killed me if that had happened. Of course, now I knew Jeff was going to trade this bracer set and some coin for Sam, which took away any guilt I might have felt about the whole thing. Siril stood up and stretched, then picked up his staff and headed across the room to the stairs, saying over his shoulder "It''s been fun Shadow" then walked up without a backward glance. Shadow sort of sighed and looked my way, the glare gone, replaced by a sort of sad smile. She shrugged at my questioning look and said "We all said things we can''t take back" It was early enough that I was going to head back to Riverbend to take the portal home, but stopped at the door and said to Shadow "I''m going to go exploring in a few weeks, and if you happened to be in Mudtown when I leave, I wouldn''t mind if you went along" "You hitting on me?" she asked in disbelief. I huffed a laugh and shook my head before saying "Nope, I have someone I love already. I''m just offering you the chance to make some new friends and I think you''d be a good addition to a group" That set her back a moment, then she asked "Mudtown? What the hell is a Mudtown?" "My home" I said, turning to head out the door, saying over my shoulder "think about it" After I got back, Mary and I spent our time picnicking, shopping, snuggling, and generally enjoyed our time together. I had a couple of serious conversations about what she wanted in life, but all she would say was that she was happy where she was. The second time, she said "My lord, you seem to fear you are abusing my trust in you, when in fact it is I who am abusing you. You are a handsome but innocent man that I have seduced, and I am taking advantage of your simple nature to have my wicked way with you" Well, consider me schooled...and very well taken advantage of. I continued my daily routine of making two potions, and doing a shock grenade or retention rune depending on the day. My stock of magic gems was fairly full, so I decided the next couple of retention gems would go to Bob, since he could probably use the holy fire ones when he went undead hunting. My two visitors showed back up two weeks later, while I was at the castle doing another spawn point change. Maria hadn''t been able to locate the underroads entrance, so was just waiting for Bob''s group to pop out of it. From a single message Maria had received from them, they were about half way back. Andulin was waiting when I stepped out of the portal in Mudtown, and did that nod/bow thing before saying "The eternals have returned and are awaiting you at the Burning Mage. I have posted two guards to watch them, but they appear to offer no threat" His armor had benefited from the flow of magic items, and he had a breastplate and a couple of rings that I remembered passing along. He was level eighteen now, but when I had asked him about leveling up, he had just said it was from training with his guards. Anyway, he looked pretty formidable, so I felt pretty confident his other guards had benefited as well. The inn had the usual four or five locals drinking at the bar, two or three travelers eating, as well as two guards by the door, and a pair of eternals sitting at a table by the fireplace. It wasn''t cold out, but there''s something comforting about a fireplace, and it didn''t seem to put off much heat unless the night cooled down. Both eternals looked up, then did the normal grin at my name, which was also followed by the usual sober expression at the dragonsbane part. The two of them were kind of odd, or at least that was my first impression. A man and a woman, both human, but dressed a bit differently than most. The woman was a warrior type, with a leather jerkin over a puffy sleeved shirt. She also had a hat on. A hat with a feather stuck through a band on one side, with the other side curled upward, and overall strongly reminded me of the three musketeers. Like all eternals, she was beautiful, with dark, wavy red hair, bright green eyes, and tanned skin that somehow worked with the red hair. Beside her, the guy was in mage''s robes, but he had a belt on that made them seem less clunky than normal, and he was wearing a cowboy hat. A black, flat topped, cowboy hat. Somehow he made it work though, making me wonder where the two of them had bought the hats. I grinned at the thought of riding into a town wearing a top hat. The woman smiled back, though the guy just nodded as I walked over, the two of them probably used to people grinning at their outfits. "Loser Dragonsbane, but you can call me Jake" I said, then nodded to the captain and said "This is Captain Andulin. Heard you wanted to talk to me?" Their tags said Skylark and Zane. The Zane seemed appropriate for a guy in a cowboy hat, and the Skylark seemed to fit the woman, though I couldn''t have told you why I thought that. The woman gave us both a nod and waved for us to take seats, studying Andulin as we did so. Her eyes came back to me after I had sat down, and Mary came by to give Andulin and I drinks, and me a quick kiss on the cheek. Skylark raised an eyebrow at the kiss, but ignored it to say "We''ve been trying to find a priest, and heard the Dragon''s Fall story. Heard enough in the capital to head this way, and we''ve been waiting for you to show up" She paused, so I nodded and said "I''m a priest of Telina" The two of them seemed to relax, with Zane muttering "Finally!" Skylark grinned at her companion, then turned the smile on me to say "Thank god. We were worried no one had chosen to be one. That dickhead that coordinated the initial transfer had the whole thing fucked up, but I didn''t realize how bad until I got inside" Um, what? My confusion must have shown, because she laughed and took a drink before saying "He''s supposed to do a full brief and go through each of the classes'' strengths and weaknesses. I knew I wanted to be a warrior, so didn''t find out how they had rigged things until to late. This place is seriously screwed up, but there''s nothing we can do now but deal with it" she pointed at me and said "You appear to be the only damn person who chose to be a priest, and priests are supposedly the only class that could change someone''s spawn point" Again, what? I shook my head to clear the confusion, then asked "Back up. What do you mean rigged? And how do you know about the spawn point thing?" "I worked as an engineer for a company that made the hardware these places run on" Skylark replied "we had to sit through a bunch of seminars on how these places worked to get us all pumped up about how important our jobs were. Most of it was management stroking their own egos, but some of it turned out to be more relevant than I anticipated after I was arrested" she gave us a rueful shrug, but continued "Thing is, these prison worlds were designed to keep the inmates from running wild. All of them have some version of the human empire, and it''s supposed to prevent us from preying on each other at the beginning. This place doesn''t have that. The plan is for us eternals to learn our way around, then move out into the world and get a priest to move our spawn points. I think the whole idea was to get us to work together or some B.S., but hey, the empire doesn''t care, and no priests" Ok. I would have to think about all that, though off hand it seemed to align with everything I knew so far. I gave a sort of sideways nod to show I''d heard, then said "Alright. Can''t say any of that surprises me, but like you said, all we can do is deal with it" "Some better than others" Zane said, his eyes on me as if he was making a point. I shrugged and looked back at Skylark to find her studying me, her face thoughtful. "What? If you''re making a point, I''m missing it" "The point" Skylark said seriously "is that you might be the only priest in here. That means the only way for people to gain any freedom, is to buddy up to you" I leaned back with a shrug, taking a drink before saying "Yeah, I knew that, though I don''t think moving your spawn point will necessarily make you that much safer. The empress is moving to restore some order to things" "Yeah, that''s definitely taken some assholes by surprise" Zane said with a chuckle "and we ran into one of your goddess'' paladins in the capital. Got a nice thing going there" The innuendo was beginning to get irritating, which Skylark must have picked up, since she punched Zane in the shoulder and said "Lighten up. You said yourselves that there was no reason we couldn''t have done the same thing. You''re starting to sound like a whiny asshole" "That''s because I am a whiny asshole" he said with a laugh, returning the punch before saying to me "Sorry. I''m just jealous. Skylark wouldn''t be trash talking me if I was a priest" "Yeah I would" She said back "you''re just that irritating. But I probably wouldn''t have let that manticore eat you that one time" "That shit hurt" Zane muttered, drawing a laugh from me, which drew their attention back my way. Skylark waved a hand dismissively and said "Anyway, priest, spawn point. We would like to work something out" "There are many thousands of eternals" Andulin said, getting blinks of surprise from Skylark and Zane "Lord Loser would be required to spend all of his time on this endeavor if he were to perform this service for all" "Um, are you...I mean, aren''t you a...local?" Zane asked, his confusion reflected on Skylark''s face. Andulin and I exchanged glances, and I told him "Eternals call everyone else locals. They''re weird that way" The explanation got a grave nod from Andulin, and he turned back to tell Zane "I am not an eternal, if that is what you are asking. While I will not be reborn as one of the eternals are, that does not make my question any less valid" "Yeah...ok" Zane said slowly, then gave a dismissive shake and said "You''re right, but that''s not our problem" "But it is mine" Andulin said "Loser has feared that eternals might one day find their way here, and that your presence would threaten our town. Should he agree to your request, others would soon follow" Skylark and Zane exchanged confused looks, then Skylark said to me "Likely, but that''s a good thing isn''t it? I mean, you have a monopoly on this" "You speak of holding power over other eternals" Andulin said, making me wonder when he had become my defender, though I wasn''t complaining "but it is an illusion. It would take dozens of years to accomplish this task, and that only if Loser applied his full efforts to it. Eternals, for the most part, lack patience and appear to believe they should be first in all things. If bribery failed to make them first for Loser''s skills, then violence would soon follow. Eternals know no other way" No one said anything for a time, with both Zane and Skylark studying Andulin like he was some kind of alien creature. Skylark eventually started saying in a thoughtful tone "Well, you''re not wrong. I''m sitting here thinking about how I would get Jake to help us, and bribing him with something is about the only way I can think of. We wouldn''t resort to violence, since that would be sort of self-defeating, but I can see where others might try it" "What are you thinking Captain?" I asked, wondering what had brought this on. I totally agreed with him, and dreaded the idea of everyone knowing I could move their spawn point. "Let each, by their own efforts, learn that it is possible to move their point of rebirth" Andulin said "This would aid us in preventing a sudden rush of eternals to our city" I gave a humorless smile to the other two, and said "I doubt that our guests have shared their knowledge with other eternals" "You don''t think much of us do you?" Skylark asked, her tone interested rather than accusatory "You live without honor" Andulin said "offering it only to those of the eternals you call friends. You are worthy of respect only if you are willing to show respect. Lord Loser has spoken of doing onto others as you would have them do onto you. These are words of wisdom for any who wonder why others think ill of them" I could tell the other two were pretty overwhelmed by the surprise philosophical discussion, but again, I agreed with Andulin, though I was interested in how he would keep word from spreading. Before Skylark or Zane could get more side tracked, I asked Andulin "How do you think we could prevent people from spreading the word about this?" "An oath to the goddess" he said, looking at me like it should have been obvious. Ok, yeah it should have, but hey, I have a simple nature according to what I''ve been told. ---- Author Note---- Hey all, I know, light on the action in this chapter, but Jake is prepping for another adventure and Sam and Bruce should get a good workout in the next one. A lot of you are noting that I have inconsistencies in how and when my magic works, and you''re right. Things have drifted a bit over the length of the story, but that''s kind of inherent in the whole posting one chapter at a time. I really am making it up chapter by chapter, and I while I know where I am at the start of each, and where I want to be at the end, the middle kind of gets made up sentence by sentence. I will be almost as surprised as you to find out what kind of troubles Jake gets into when he reaches the west coast (not that I''m guaranteeing he will). I would be interested in feedback on the characters though. Not so much what might be missing, but what your gut reaction to them is based on what I''ve written. Do you like one, hate one, want to see more of one, etc. But really important is why. I''ve been surprised at some of the responses I''ve gotten regarding a few characters, and would like to understand what evoked those responses. Regardless of anything else, thanks to everyone who left a kind note or positive feedback. Those are the currency that authors on RRL get paid in. S. Zaplosky Chap: A Journey Begins I don''t think Skylark and Zane took the whole ''swear an oath to the goddess'' thing seriously, because they both shrugged and Skylark said, "So, you do the spawn point change, and we swear an oath not to say anything about it?¡± That drew a nod of agreement from me, but I added "Goddesses are real here, and these oaths have teeth" I was also thinking that this might be useful in Telina''s push for more recognition by eternals. The two of them looked at me a little funny, and Zane said, "Couple of people in the capital were talking the goddesses, and some guy that got cursed, but they said it was a paladin of your goddess that did it" "You saw the goddesses at the start right?" I asked, and at their half shrug/half nod, said, "Well, it was Telina that cursed Carlos, and it''s Telina that''ll enforce the oaths" I shrugged, figuring they would have to learn on their own, and asked "So where are you wanting to put your spawn points?" The sly smile warned me a second before Skylark said, "An Island off the west coast" Well, could have been worse. Maybe. Possibly. I sighed and asked "An Island?" "Yep" Skylark said cheerily "Big place a day''s sail west of Larinal, but outside the elves normal sea lanes. Nothing there but monsters and old ruins. I plan to call it Tortuga and set up my own kingdom. Zane and I visited a few months ago and we think we can put together a fleet and build a town" she laughed and asked "How does "Dread Pirate Skylark" sound?" Wow, someone had plans. It sounded like they would be building from scratch, and do it without the empire providing at least some security. Hmmm, it would be interesting to see if they were trustworthy. A lot of possibilities in having allies that far out. I shrugged and said, "About as good as Loser Dragonsbane" drawing a laugh from Zane. "Well, it''s a work in progress" Skylark said with a grin "but I have time. I have a ship and crew in Larinal hauling trade goods north and south along the coast, so as long as the damn elves don''t sink her, we''ll have our ride to the island" Andulin excused himself at that point and headed out to do whatever it was he did all day, but not before I thanked him for the advice. It was getting close to the evening meal, and people were drifting in, meaning Mary was too busy to join me right away. I settled back with another drink as Zane said, "What''s the deal with the pictures?" He was pointing at my drawings that were framed and hanging on all the walls. He nodded toward the one with Zac and Maria and asked "That the ranger from the story?" "Yep" I said with a grin "Maria Dragonsbane, the Laughing Ranger, Queen of the Guardians of Tarinath" "The Guardians!" someone behind me yelled, getting the rest of the crowd to hold up their mugs and yell back "The Guardians!" Ok, that was new. I looked around and caught Mary laughing at my confusion, but she didn''t stop working to explain it. "This side of the continent is pretty strange" Zane said, eyeing the crowd as he leaned up to a plate of food that one of the ladies slid in front of him "Ran into some of those Guardians. I think they''re the first ones to get a guild to work. A bunch have tried out our way, but none of them lasted long before infighting broke them up" "Who did the pictures?" Skylark asked, and when I pointed at myself, she added "All of them happen?" "Draw them in my free time" I said with a shrug and a nod. The rest of the evening was spent swapping adventure stories, and I told them that I wanted to give Shadow a couple more days to see if she showed up. I didn''t mention it, but I also wanted to knock out one more resurrect spell for Maria''s people before I left. It was interesting to hear that during there various adventures they would basically team up with a couple of other eternals for the duration of the quest, but then the two of them would move on, not seeming interested in forming a group. Their biggest gap was in a useful rogue or ranger to do the trap and lock work for them. Zane seemed pretty comfortable with his choice of ice mage, and he didn¡¯t have the happy go lucky attitude that Siril had, but I had to wonder if the ice mage thing was as useful as the defensive mage was. Somehow, the two of them hadn''t found out about the portals, but I figured that wouldn''t last. I planned to have them swear the oath of silence by Telina''s Cup of Charity, then do a couple blessing spells for the capitol to save time on the trip. The risk of them using the portal to cause me any harm seemed pretty small. At one point that evening Zane pointed at the drawing of Ariel and the werewolf and asked "Is that the werewolf castle east of the capitol?" At my nod, he said, "Didn''t go there, but heard it was super tough. Couple groups got their asses handed to them trying it. Any good loot?" "Our mage did well" I said, thinking back to that trip. Now that I thought about it, it had been pretty tough and the diadem and robes that Sienna got were the only really good things. I was pretty sure that Telina had said she had influenced those two things, so the only really good thing had been the experience. Well, that and the fight. I had a lot of fun, and Dalmar had commented a couple of times how much he had enjoyed it. Shrugging, I added "But that was about it. We did it for experience, but it''s a good one to do if you like tough fights" "Hard to build a good team" Skylark said, "To many type ¡®A¡¯ assholes in here, so you end up arguing about shit all the time" I was about to make a comment about not having that problem, then remembered Jeff''s group. I had been lucky with Dalmar and Maria, and pretty much everyone else was sort of filtered through them before I dealt with them. Even Bob was influenced by them on our first trip. But total strangers? Yeah, that hadn''t been a thrill a minute. I nodded agreement, then ended up spending a half hour talking about the dragon fight when Skylark asked about it. Dragons seemed to be everyone''s dream fight. I should talk to Maria about forming a tour. Visit the forbidden lands, fight a dragon, get eaten by a dragon! Probably make a lot of gold coin. That was enough for me, so I drained my mug and headed upstairs, waving or nodding to the various greetings from people in the inn. I settled in upstairs and started a drawing of Mary holding the rose I had given her, planning to take my time on it and make it as perfect as possible. Before heading to Maria¡¯s castle the next day, I spent part of the morning on something I had been practicing since I got back. Getting Sam to respond to me. Having him appear when enemies were around was nice, but I liked the glowy gauntlet thing, and had begun mentally urging Sam to form it on command. The first couple of days I just got a sulky feeling, but when I started picturing how it would look to others, and how super cool Sam would be, the darned thing started responding. I think after a while that Sam actually got to where he liked being the gauntlet, or at least didn¡¯t resist the change. I was really hoping that as time went by he might come up with another weapon form. Maria and Dalmar were at the upper courtyard of Maria''s castle when I stopped in, and they waved me over to the West side where they were discussing Dalmar''s forge. It turns out that since he was a smith, he could build his own forge, but as he put it "I don''t know a damn thing about building one, so I''m having those people you blessed for Maria build it. They''ll start tomorrow, and should be done in a couple of days. I''ll head to Marisian to buy the tools and pick up some ore" "What does it take to actually make stuff?" I asked "Is it like repairing things, you just tap it and wham, you have something?¡± The whole repairing thing had gotten so commonplace I didn¡¯t even think about it anymore. It was kind of like a daily chore when you were on the road. You know, find a place to stop for the night, make dinner, set up guard rotations, repair stuff in ascending order based on skill, go to sleep. Dalmar shook his head in response to my question and said, "No, not from what Seth says" That surprised me since I hadn''t realized they had spoken about it. "I''ll actually have to work the metal, but most of it is picturing what you want to make as you pound it with your hammer. Supposedly I''ll know when and what needs to be done as I work" he shrugged and added "Won''t really understand until I put the first block of metal into the forge" "What are you going to make?" Maria asked, grinning in excitement. Reminding me of someone waiting to get a Christmas present. "Simple stuff at first" Dalmar said with a chuckle "just to learn how to do it right. Then I need that Focus Siroka mentioned if I''m going to make anything good" he grinned up at Maria before saying "But you will be at the top of my list once I have it" I laughed along with Maria, but then told them about the trip west, knowing Dalmar wasn''t going to be interested in going anywhere right now, but giving Maria a chance to go if she wanted to. She frowned in thought, then sighed and said, "I have a couple things to do with my people, but I might fly out and meet up with you in a few weeks?" The last came out as a question, which I had to smile at and say, "Of course. Send me a note if you can, and I''d love to have you join us" "What are Susan and Ariel''s teams doing?" Dalmar asked as we headed back across the courtyard. "Working their way around the empire" I said, "They''re doing dungeons and stuff for experience, but still hitting the eternal held cities" I shrugged and added "Susan sent a note a while back and she made it sound like they were having fun. Somewhere on the Southwest coast I think. This city I''m heading to is on the coast, but up on the northern part, so I doubt I''ll bump into them, though it would be nice if they did show up" "Couple of my people are with them" Maria said, "and they keep in touch. They''re planning to head east when they reach the southern border of the empire" Dalmar nodded at her words and said, "Tell them to hit the dwarves cities in the southern mountain range. Some pretty good weapons and armor if you stop in the right store¡± he looked up at me and added ¡°I¡¯m going to drop the book off with Welden after the forge is finished and go to pick up supplies, you want to go?¡± ¡°Sure, if I¡¯m still here¡± I said, "send me a note when you¡¯re going¡± Maria gave me a questioning look and asked "My people on Bob''s team think they should be getting pretty close, you want to wait for him?" I shrugged, having not really thought about Bob going along. "I figured he would be focused on the blight, and I''m heading the other way¡± Most of Maria''s people seemed to be gone, but four or five always seemed to be in attendance, so I did another spawn point change for one of them, then stopped in the throne room to check out the hammer. Maria had laid it across a stone pedestal on the right side of the room, and it sounded like everyone had given it a try and like me, failed to claim it. "I''m hoping Diana being Tarra''s paladin will make the difference" Dalmar said as we shook hands. I passed a couple of gems charged with the Holy Fire spell and a bunch of healing and Restore potions to Maria to give to Bob. ¡±Send me a note periodically to let me know where you''ll be headed" Maria said as she gave me a hug "I might catch up before you head out to sea" "Yeah, I will" I said with shrug "If you do come out, it might make it feasible for me to get a portal set on the west coast. I''d need to get from wherever I set it to the capital in twenty-one days to make it work" I didn''t waste any time returning home, and as luck would have it, Shadow was sitting with Skylark and Zane when I got back to the inn. They had a table in the center of the room, and they were all laughing at something, though that stopped when I stepped into the room. Mary wasn''t in sight, so I waved at Darla and walked over to grab the last chair at the group''s table. "Shadow" I said with a nod by way of a greeting, relaxing back to see who would open things up. "Jake" Shadow said with her own nod "Why the hell do they call this place Mudtown? Christ, you have a good thing going if you have a spawn point here. How the hell did you work that?" The question drew a laugh from me before I said, "When I first got here the place looked like it would sink into the mud at any moment. Things kept improving as time went on, and we''ve grown a little, so yeah, the name doesn''t really match anymore" I shrugged and added "And I was sent here by the guy everyone calls Tennant. I think it was supposed to be a punishment" "Getting a spawn point away from everyone else isn''t a punishment" Zane said with a frown "What makes you think it was meant to be one?" I waved a hand dismissively before saying "Long story, but I kicked him in the balls and he made me a priest and sent me here" I was interrupted by Shadow''s laugh, but I finished with "I get the impression that if this place wasn''t so weird, it would have been a punishment" They picked up on the fact that I wasn''t interested in rehashing the whole story, so Skylark said, "Shadow was just telling us about the crawl you guys did, and how you cursed them. How''s that work?" "Goddess" I said, not really expecting them to believe me. This was however, a good time to start Zane and Skylark on the path to understanding the goddesses were real. Before Skylark could do more than frown, I added "They are real. I''m Telina''s priest, and she''s the one who actually did the curse, so it wasn''t like I have a curse spell or anything.¡± I nodded toward Shadow and asked "You interested in a trip to the west coast?" "We were talking about that before you came in" Shadow said, gesturing at Skylark "It sounds like fun" "All right" I said, then considered things for a moment before saying again "All right. Mudtown has a portal to Mairisian City..." I paused as they expressed various levels of surprise, with Zane giving Skylark a superior look and saying, "Told ya. Why else would they need stones like that?¡± The discussion wandered a little as I briefly told them about portals, but eventually waived away the questions and said, "We have weeks to talk about it once we get going, so let''s move on" I got everyone to agree to meet in the square in the morning to get their portal blessing, and in Skylark and Zane''s case, their oath, before excusing myself to do the initial blessing for a new portal and do a round of blessings to the farmlands around town before leaving. After that, it was all Mary. .... It was mid-morning before we gathered beside the cup of charity and I did the portal blessings first thing, the three of them not blinking an eye at the light show caused by the blessing. After the last one I did a Restore, then faced Skylark and Zane, sending a thought Telina''s way to get her attention. "In exchange for my granting you your request, do you swear in Telina''s name to not reveal it was done or that it can be done?" I asked, using my formal priestly tone. Shadow looked confused, casting a questioning look Skylarks way, but Skylark and Zane ignored her, just grinning as they simultaneously said, "Yes" The two of them lost the grin as the cup let out a flash of white light a second before the two of them got their own glow. It faded a second after appearing, getting Shadow to say, "Oh man, you two are so screwed" I let out a short bark of laughter at her disgusted tone, but said, "No curse this time, just an oath" I shook my head and added "And no, we won''t tell you what that was about" Zane was giving me a serious look as I waved at a grinning Seth and led my group through the portal. Rabin was lounging by the front door, with Narn standing just outside when I stepped out of the portal. Rabin looked back at the sounds I made, his calm expression telling me he was used to people appearing out of thin air. When he recognized me he straightened up and gave me the head bow thing and said, "Lord Loser, greetings" "Hi Rabin" I said, gesturing behind me as my group came through one at a time and said, "Friends of mine. We''re just passing through" Rabin gave the other three nods, then turned back to say, "As you requested we have been bartering for magic items in exchange for your potions, but they are usually sold within a day of word getting round that more have arrived" I looked around, realizing as I did so that there were no potions on the shelves. A lot of other goods though, obviously being sold by the people of Mudtown. I shrugged and asked " Anything good?" The question got Rabin to lead me to a room upstairs that had a chest with a handful of rings, amulets, and a bracer. I wasn''t expecting anything better than I already had, so wasn''t disappointed that while it was all usable by priests, none were better than anything I already had. Shrugging, I let the lid drop and headed back downstairs, telling Rabin "Go ahead take what you and Narn can use, then pass it all to Andulin in Mudtown. He can sell it if he doesn''t need it" Rabin stuttered out a thank you as we came back down to find Shadow at the front door, talking with Narn. She looked up as I joined them and she said, "Skylark and Zane are getting horses" At my nod, she jerked her head toward a group of dirty children getting coins from Narn, and said, "Is that wise? The money doesn''t help them you know? It goes to their handlers" "Perhaps" Rabin said, nodding to Shadow "But not giving assures that nothing will go to aid them" "What''s their story¡± I asked, grinning at the sight of Narn fending off a ten year old pick pocket. "Orphaned" Rabin said, "with no family to take them in. It is hard for the children to trust those who offer aid, and few are willing to take in a child of the streets" I nodded, having seen much the same in every country I had visited in the old reality. Shadow asked a couple of questions I didn''t pay attention to as I considered if there were any ways to help. At a pause in their conversation, I asked Rabin, and Narn when he joined us, "Could you talk to Telina''s priest here and ask him if he can buy a large building that could be used to give shelter to those children and families that need it? Maybe offer food to any that come by but don''t want to stay?" At their doubtful looks I added "Give him some of the gold I earn here to help pay for things" "Sucker" Shadow muttered, but threw me a grin to show she didn''t mean it "We''ve done something similar. Siril set it up" Hmm, wouldn''t have pictured Siril as the type for worrying about other people. My thoughts must have been clear because Shadow said, "He''s a self centered butthead, but he has a soft spot for kids¡± I spent a few minutes talking with Rabin about things needing my input, but it wasn¡¯t long before Skylark and Zane came back leading horses. ¡°Ready?¡± Skylark asked as she handed me the reins to one of the horses. At my nod and Shadow¡¯s ¡°Yep¡±, she turned and led our small group back along the street to the West. The city was fairly crowded, but very few people had horses, so it was mostly a matter of wending our way around groups of people or vendors trying to sell us stuff. The other three seemed to be pretty familiar with the city, and I figured most eternals probably headed here at some point, since it was kind of the center of civilization. Skylark had on her hat, but was wearing a hoodless, dark blue cloak that went along with her whole swashbuckler image. Zane wasn¡¯t carrying his staff, so it must have been in his inventory, which made sense as the staves seemed a little awkward as simple walking sticks. He did have a knife sheathed on the belt around his waist, and it was probably a pretty strong one as daggers went. He¡¯d had time to find a decent one. Shadow was wearing her black leathers, but she also was wearing a cloak, a dark brown, hooded version. We kind of matched, what with the black leathers and the grey cloak I had on. I had scrounged mine up from one of the stores at home, wanting something for dealing with cooler weather that seemed to be creeping in. Weather had been pretty consistently warm the last few months, but I could tell that winter was heading our way based on the slight chill in the morning air here in the capital. Marisian City was supposedly farther north than Mudtown, and based on what Skylark had said, Larinal, the city we were headed to, was even farther north. It took a good half hour to reach the western gates and found ourselves in a steady flow of traffic heading out of the city. ¡°A traffic jam¡± Shadow said with a grin, standing on my right as Zane and Skylark paired up to give us more room and keep from straggling along. There were more horses, and quite a few wagons lined up and moving forward at a slow walk. The gate was wide enough across for traffic to flow both ways, but it was predominantly outbound this early. The gate was actually a double one, with the standard barred, raisable gate on the outside of the twenty foot thick walls, and huge double doors, that were swung inward and pressed against the walls on the inside. I couldn¡¯t see any advantage to having doors like that, and wondered what the point was. The guards weren¡¯t searching anyone going out, but they stopped the few coming in to ask a question or two before waving them past. When we finally reached the gates, one of the guards nodded respectfully at me, but didn¡¯t say anything. I was finding it really weird to be recognized by so many people. It was a kind of in your face way of pointing out that this place operated on a different set of rules. As soon as we cleared the gates we mounted up and moved to the right and began trotting past the slower moving crowd. Skylark turned her head slightly to say over her shoulder ¡°Always a bit of a morning rush, but we¡¯ll be out of this mess pretty quickly. Area¡¯s pretty tame for the first couple of days, but you get the odd bandit group or pack of goblins once we get into the forest a day¡¯s ride from here¡± It would be a chancy thing being a bandit in this world. You never knew how powerful a small group like ours might be. I could see a bunch of bandits stopping Susan and Ariel¡¯s group and getting their asses handed to them. I grinned at the thought of the four of them ending up robbing the robbers. The city was in the middle of a large plain so our first day of riding mostly involved little in the way of sightseeing, though I rather enjoyed seeing the various groups we passed. The merchants appeared to travel in small groups of three or four wagons, though in one case we passed a group of ten that were heading toward the capital. They had two outriders for each wagon, all wearing the same gear like a uniform, and the whole group appeared more than ready to defend themselves. The wagons were about the size of the ones the videos showed for the American western movies, but only had two horses, and were carrying boxes and bags covered with tarps on the back. The riders eyed us, but Skylark gave them room and just touched the brim of her hat in a half assed greeting as we rode by, but said, "You can keep your stuff today¡± ¡°From the coast¡± Zane said after we passed. ¡°Recognize their gear. A big merchant guild that controls a lot of the trade out of five or six of the larger cities along the coast. Skylark and I refused to pay their tariffs, so we¡¯ve been avoiding their cities for now¡± he frowned and gave a bit of a shrug before adding ¡°Every city charges some kind of tax, but these guys were a little aggressive about it, and they pissed Sky off from the start and things went downhill from there¡± ¡°When we docked, they came to the ship with ten sword swingers and a couple of mages, then this fat little shit stood on the dock and told me to pay the hundred gold tax or take my stinking scow out of their harbor¡± Skylark said in a growly tone, not looking back as she spoke. ¡°A hundred gold! That was flat out extortion!¡± Shadow and I exchanged grins at the aggravated tone, and Zane let out a laugh before saying ¡°We left, but Sky told the guy the next time she visited, he would be paying her¡± ¡°A scow¡± Skylark muttered ¡°I¡¯ll show him a scow. I¡¯ll burn that damn town down around his ears next time¡± The words got another laugh from Zane, but he let it drop as we rode on. It warmed up and became comfortable very quickly and made for a pleasant ride the rest of the day. We stopped for the night in a small village that had an inn with a couple rooms that we shared, guys and gals. I wasn¡¯t sure about Skylark and Zane¡¯s relationship, but was a bit surprised when Skylark suggested the rooms be gender specific. We all had dinner downstairs that evening, and I decided it was probably a good time to try and arrange a good return on my potions. Pulling out a heal and magic Restore potion, I set them on the table and leaned back to sip on my ale as my two new partners realized what they were looking at. ¡°Holy freaking hell!¡± Zane whispered intensely, grabbing the Restore potion and holding it close as he read the tag associated with it. Skylark surprised me by letting out a loud laugh before shaking her head and saying ¡°Punishment for a kick in the balls huh?¡± the words got a laugh from Shadow, but Zane waved his hand to shush the women and stared at me as he asked ¡°This is¡­a¡­hell I don¡¯t know, a god damn game changer. What are you asking for them?¡± ¡°He trades them in the capital for magic items usable by priests¡± Shadow said before I could respond. ¡°But¡­¡± I said, pausing to give Shadow a look to tell her to let me do my own bargaining. Darned if she didn¡¯t hit me with a giggle like Maria¡¯s. I grinned back, but turned serious again as I faced Zane and Skylark to say, "I make them daily, so I¡¯m thinking I let you guys have any I make during this trip for first refusal on magic items usable by priests¡± ¡°Whoops¡± Shadow sitting straight and shooting me a look before saying to Skylark ¡°You might want to think about this. It sounds great until you find an uber magic weapon you¡¯d love to have¡± I shrugged agreement at Skylark¡¯s look, and didn¡¯t get mad, actually agreeing with Shadow that these guys needed to be serious about this. ¡°It¡¯s a good point¡± Skylark said, grinning at the desperate look Zane shot her. She waved a hand dismissively and said to him ¡°I¡¯m not turning it down dude, just wanting to be sure we aren''t setting ourselves up for something that will bite us in the ass later. I mean think about it, what if we find a necklace of dragon control? Is that worth having potions you¡¯ve done without since the start?¡± Zane sighed, but nodded agreement and slid the potion back my way. He said to me ¡°She¡¯s right. That¡¯s a little to opened ended for what you¡¯re giving us. I don¡¯t mind letting you have stuff useful to you, but the legendary stuff is too valuable to barter it away before we see it¡± ¡°Sounds reasonable¡± I said, "but using your example, who gets your super magic item if we find one now?¡± ¡°Its come up a couple of times¡± Skylark said, "but we¡¯ve always managed to reach an agreement within the group. So far there¡¯s been one or two people who couldn¡¯t use the item, and we let them be tie breakers. Some hard feelings left over sometimes, but if you¡¯re friends it shouldn¡¯t be an issue¡± ¡°Don¡¯t count on it¡± Shadow said with a frown, but followed it up with ¡°I trust Jake, if that counts for anything. Yeah, his curse screwed my team up, but it was Jeff¡¯s fault for being an asshole¡± ¡°I¡¯m not worried about getting cheated¡± I said with a shrug ¡°so you agree in principal I get first consideration and we can discuss as a group anything that someone else wants¡± ¡°I¡¯m good with it¡± Shadow said with a grin ¡°You guys haven¡¯t seen it yet, but Jake will be a lot more useful to you than you will be to him¡± That was actually true, so I was happy when the other two agreed to the deal. We got an early start the next day, hitting the road as the sun began to peek over the horizon behind us, and that set the tone for the next three days. Start early, ride all day, and spend the night in a convenient town or village. The third night we spent in a town at a crossroads, with another branch of road heading more northwest than the western oriented one we were on. Over a hot breakfast in the inn, Skylark said, "We¡¯ll be taking the northern road out of here. It will take us directly to Larinal, though most people follow the western road, then head north from the coast. Barbarian tribes tend to raid into the empire from the northern lands, and we¡¯ll probably have to deal with some of them here and there, but it¡¯s an extra week of riding if you go the other way¡± ¡°What are they raiding for?¡± Shadow asked as she leaned back, sipping on her mug of hot coffee. I sent a silent thank you to the gods that coffee existed as Zane said, "Slaves and horses mostly. I think they¡¯re based on the Conan games, so lots of really big people swinging very big weapons. I talked to an eternal, rogue type, that was grabbed up in one of their raids. They had him chained up and used him as a pack animal until he managed to kill himself. He said they were kind of like orcs in the way they fight, but they have some pretty good magic users, though they call them shamans¡± ¡°I think most of the monsters and barbarian type groups call their magic people shamans¡± Skylark said. ¡°I don¡¯t think these worlds paid the programmers to use much imagination.¡± She gave Shadow a look and added, ¡°These guys are the ultimate chauvinists, so no women warriors, and they get their hands on you, it will get ugly¡± Shadow made a knife appear in her hand, then caused it to disappear again before saying, ¡°Men and pigs, they squeal the same if you stick a knife in just the right spot¡± Ouch! Zane and I both winced, but didn¡¯t ask her to expand on the thought. The mornings were getting seriously chilly, and I was thinking we weren¡¯t far from freezing some mornings. While the cold wasn¡¯t comfortable, its major effect was to sap your endurance. I played around with it a bit as we rode, pulling my cloak off and watching my endurance slowly reduce, then putting the cloak back on and watching the drain slow down. I never actually started shivering, but it was uncomfortable, and the endurance drain affected my movement speed. ¡°Yeah,¡± Skylark said after watching me experiment, ¡°it works the same in hot, desert environments; uncomfortable, but not deadly. The big impact is how much it slows you down by draining your endurance. Got to watch it if we get into a fight when it¡¯s really cold.¡± For the hell of it I cast a Heal spell on myself and was pleased to note the discomfort disappeared and my endurance bar filled up again. Everyone looked over at the sudden glow, so I hit everyone with one, and said, "Heal spell. Looks like it counteracts the endurance effect¡± ¡°Damn,¡± Skylark said, giving me a speculative look, then grinned and nodded at Zane to say, "Ice mage. Cold doesn¡¯t affect him, so don¡¯t waste your magic¡± Zane gave us a superior look, then grinned and said, "But I take a double endurance hit in hot environments¡± ¡°Always a trade off,¡± Shadow said with a nod, ¡°wouldn¡¯t want anyone getting to powerful¡± The group had seen me doing magic since I¡¯d been doing potions, and had even given Skylark a fire rune for her sword, so my Heal spell wasn¡¯t a surprise. I had put a lightning and fire rune on Sam while I was home, and with Bruce all runed up, I was in pretty good shape. But it was the first time Skylark and Zane had felt one, and Skylark asked Shadow, ¡°Was Jake¡¯s healing as useful as it seems when your group had him?¡± The question got a bark of laughter from Shadow, and she leaned to her left and punched me in my right arm as she said, "Well, don¡¯t want him getting a big head, but it¡¯s a totally different ball game if he¡¯s with you. Only reason we lost anyone is because Jeff is a dufus, otherwise those Heal spells completely change the game balance¡± I nodded agreement when she said dufus, but said, "Heal about eighty points a pop, so you¡¯re good until you get into it with something than can do a one or two hit kill¡± ¡°Sounds about right,¡± Skylark said, "they¡¯ve got the settings on this world so screwed up I¡¯m surprised things still¡­work.¡± The last word came out in a distracted tone as something caught Skylark¡¯s attention. She was looking intently at something in front of us, so I moved out to the right from behind her, and saw a large group of people on horses ahead of us. ¡°Soldiers¡± Skylark said, "Looks like a mix of archers and warriors. All of them mounted¡± I squinted, but couldn¡¯t make out any details as the group was still a long way off. I glanced over at Skylark, but didn¡¯t ask what kind of magic allowed her to see that far away. ¡°Must be empire troops,¡± Zane said, "raiders wouldn¡¯t be that organized¡± ¡°They¡¯re Empire,¡± Skylark said, then looked around the group before shrugging and saying, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t be an issue. So far the soldiers have left us alone as long as you don¡¯t do something stupid like attack them¡± The soldiers were trotting along only a little slower than we were, so it wasn¡¯t until late afternoon that we caught up with them. They had been aware of us of course, but they waited until we drew near before calling a halt and spreading out to either side of the road. A quick count came to around eighty men, with the leader and a mage waiting on the road. The troops didn¡¯t draw weapons, but I could see about half of them had shields, and the other half had unstrung longbows held by loops on their saddles. All of them had swords, so it was a fairly versatile mix, though I was surprised there weren¡¯t more magic users. The troop leader was a middle aged man, with salt and pepper hair and a tanned, seamed face with hard eyes that studied us as we rode up. Like the rest of his troops, other than the mage, he had on leathers. The mage, a human like the rest of the soldiers, had the standard robes and staff, but he just appeared bored with the delay, and was the first to speak. ¡°Why delay for four eternals?¡± He asked. He was a young guy, and the leader totally ignored him as we came to a stop, the four of us lined up to face the two men. The leader blinked in surprise after studying my face, and he said, "Loser Dragonsbane?¡± the tone almost questioning, but he quickly followed it up with a head bow and, ¡°It is an honor to meet you my lord¡± My group all looked at me in surprise, but I just nodded back and said, "Thanks¡­.¡± My questioning tone drawing, ¡°Lenten Mal, Captain of the Northern Mounted Patrol.¡± ¡°Captain,¡± I said with another nod, but didn¡¯t add anything else, since I wasn¡¯t sure what to say. He took a second to give the other three members of my group interested looks, then turned back to me to ask, "Do you ride to the aid of our people?¡± The question got the four of us to exchange confused looks, before Skylark took the lead to say, "We are headed to Larinal¡± ¡°Doubtful¡± The mage said, then after seeing his Captain¡¯s glare, added, ¡°The northern tribes are raiding, so you won¡¯t find passage along this road.¡± ¡°We ride to meet them,¡± the Captain said, "but my mage is correct, it would be perilous to attempt traveling further west on this road¡± ¡°Want some help?¡± Zane asked, which surprised the living hell out of me. Offering to help? I had been half expecting them to just ignore the soldiers completely. The captain was as surprised as I was, because he seemed confused for a second, then looked at me for some reason to say, "It would be a blessing of the goddess if you were to do so.¡± ¡°This ought to be fun,¡± Shadow muttered quietly, but Skylark grinned at her and said, "It can be. Barbarians are tough, but good experience if you don¡¯t get killed¡± The exchange seemed to confuse the captain and his mage, but he ignored it to turn his horse and nod for us to follow. Raising a hand, he said loudly, ¡°Forward!¡± Somehow I ended up riding beside the captain, with my friends and the mage behind us. When the whole troop was in motion, the Captain turned his head and said to the mage, ¡°Scry ahead. There is a northern road intersecting ours an hours ride ahead, and a small village another hour north from there. If we are lucky we will get there before the raiders.¡± The mage did a surprisingly long spell casting that involved repeating a long phrase a couple of times while he waved his hands and fluttered his fingers. He definitely wasn¡¯t ever going to cast the spell in a fight. I would guess it took over a half a minute to cast, but when he was done, there was a flash of light and he suddenly had what appeared to be a round mirror clutched between his two hands. An actual wooden framed, two foot in diameter mirror. It took a second for me to realize he was watching something in the mirror, and Shadow, riding slightly behind and to the right of the mage said, "Like a drone video. He¡¯s watching as it flies down the road.¡± Well now, that was just cool. That would be one hell of a useful spell for scouting out enemy forces. The area we were in was mostly forest, with periodic areas that were open fields, but the land rose to the north, and small hills in that direction gave way to very tall mountains; way, way off in the distance. It made for a deceptive view, giving you the impression of openness, but having areas of forest and hills that could hide a force fairly easily. Zane brought his staff out of inventory, carrying it across his saddle, so Skylark and Shadow both strapped on their swords, though I had never seen Shadow use one. I shrugged, but didn¡¯t pull Bruce up, figuring Sam would give me enough notice for anyone close enough to be within Bruce walloping range. The captain moved into a quick trot and I realized he must have some idea of the raiders movements if he felt he was cutting it close on reaching the village. I looked back to gauge how big the crowd was, then turned to the captain and said, "Keep going, I¡¯m going to move back and cast a blessing to give the horses more stamina¡± He looked back like I had, then turned to give me a nod and said, "Thank you¡±. I moved to my left and slowed down, waving my people onward when they gave me questioning glances. The whole patrol was spread out enough that I decided to cast multiple spells, and slowed down even more so I could start at the back. When I drew even with the last two riders I drew on Telina and cast the first blessing, trying to encompass as much of the crowd as possible. The soft glow of the spell moved outward, lighting the men and horses for a couple of seconds, sweeping forward to encompass the last third of the group. My horse perked up immediately, and I could tell the other ones affected by the spell had benefited as well. Nudging my horse forward, I trotted forward and began casting the spell in batches of ten or so. Some of the soldiers received a second blessing, but they don¡¯t add, so they just got to enjoy the second light show as the spell took effect on each group to finally encompass my people and the captain and his mage. I had to do a Restore about half way, but that had become so common it took almost no concentration. ¡°Nice¡± Zane said, his eyes unfocussed as he obviously studied his stats. When we had joined as a group I¡¯d learned he and Skylark were smart enough to realize health was important because Zane had 100 and Skylark had a whole 200. I wasn¡¯t sure if they had benefitted from Tennant¡¯s cheat buffs, but it was nice to have partners who weren¡¯t one hit kills. We had gone through the normal astonished exclamations at mine being over 300, but Shadow had just laughed and told Skylark, ¡°You¡¯ll be happy Jake can take the punishment when it gets bad enough he has to join the fight.¡± ¡°The raiders have not reached the village,¡± the mage said as his mirror faded away. He looked up at the captain to add, ¡°The shamans are still blocking my mage¡¯s eye from getting close enough to see them, but the area they have blocked is near a half day from the village¡± That was a damn useful spell, though I was already seeing ways to use it against someone by focusing their attention on what they expected to see. From the thoughtful look on Skylark¡¯s face, I figured she was thinking along the same lines I was, and her follow up question proved it when she asked, ¡°Did you verify they didn¡¯t have any outliers or forward scouts?¡± ¡°Speak not of things you do not understand eternal,¡± the mage said with a scowl, and he probably planned to launch into a whole tirade, but the captain turned his head to give the mage the hard eyes and said, "It is an astute question Mage Benton. The barbarians are obviously expecting us to scry their position, and only a fool expects his enemy to conform to his plans.¡± The mage was probably in his early twenties, and the Captain¡¯s words drew out a sulky look, but the mage eventually said, "I did study the land between the village and the grey zone, but the spell did not last long enough for me to scout the surrounding country.¡± The Captain just nodded, but didn¡¯t say anything else until we reached the crossroads he had mentioned. A single lane road went almost due north off the main road we were on, and disappeared into a forest a quarter mile away. We had been on open ground the last half hour, with a thick forest paralleling us on the right side, so it wasn¡¯t a surprise to find we would be traveling into it now. When we reached the intersection, the Captain held up his arm and brought the patrol to a halt, then did a hand signal that brought eight of the riders forward to join us at the front. When everyone had drawn close enough, he said so all of them could hear, ¡°We will reach the village within an hour. I have been through there before, so am familiar with the ground. The village has a three man high, wooden wall that surrounds it, but there are only twenty or thirty of the villagers who would be useful on defense. The whole of the wall encompasses some three hundred feet, with most of the homes outside the wall. The people will have retreated to the fort and will have prepared as well as possible to hold off a quick raid, but will not be able to withstand a concerted effort.¡± He paused to let that sink in, then said, "We will by necessity be forced to aid in the defense of the walls, but I do not intend to be forced into a purely defensive position, so will be separating a small force that will stay mobile.¡± He looked at two of the soldiers, a man and woman, the woman having one of the bows, and he said, "Wen, you and Kayla will lead this force.¡± Then he turned to me and asked, "Lord Loser, where would you feel you would best serve?¡± Good question. I looked over at Skylark and said, "I¡¯d love to be part of the spoiling force, but I need to be in the town to be the most use¡± ¡°Yeah¡± she said, looking over at Zane to have a silent conversation that involved a questioning look and a couple of nods, before Skylark said to me, ¡°Zane and I will go along with the outside team.¡± Then she looked at Shadow and lifted an eyebrow in question. ¡°I¡¯ll stick with Jake,¡± Shadow said, "I¡¯m not very useful on horseback.¡± Skylark nodded and turned to the Captain and asked, "Will that work for you?¡± ¡°Most assuredly¡± he said with a nod before looking back at Wen to say, "You will lead, but the eternals can bespeak each other from great distances, so give respect to Lady Skylark¡¯s words and allow her to relay information when needed.¡± Huh, someone was pretty darn knowledgeable about eternals. But he was right, using us as his commo team would be damn useful. ¡°Captain.¡± Wen said with a sort of hand to the chest salute before turning to Skylark and Zane to say, "We will divert from the main road here and travel to the east some distance. If possible, I will want to engage the enemy after they have begun their assault, but we must be prepared to take advantage of any opportunity that presents itself.¡± ¡°Sounds like a plan,¡± Zane said a second before Skylark said, "We¡¯ll follow your lead.¡± The four of them pulled out of the informal grouping, and after a few arm signals, ten of the shield holders, and ten of the archers peeled off from the larger patrol and followed their leaders and Skylark and Zane into the forests, angling west to stay off the road. ¡°It¡¯ll take them a while to get there through the forests.¡± Shadow said, giving the Captain a questioning look. ¡°The edges of the forest has much undergrowth, but it will clear considerably as they get deeper. But yes, it will take them twice as long, so it will behoove us to ensure the enemy is focused on us.¡± The Captain said, speaking to the group as a whole, rather than just Shadow. ¡°Jola and Pavrick, when we reach the village, I want your squads to ensure the surrounding homes have evacuated to the fort. Any left outside will be used as hostages and as bait to entice us into sending out a champion to fight for them. They butcher the hostages in front of you if you decline the challenge.¡± ¡°Sounds like some real winners.¡± Shadow muttered The words got a considering look from the Captain, and a few seconds later he said, "The northern people have no mercy in battle, but were you to visit their lands, you would be treated well as long as you showed you were strong enough. I have fought them some dozen times now, but have also visited the same groups I have fought. They hold no antipathy toward those who they fight, but you are either of them, or you are other. Unless you prove your strength, you are considered¡­lesser.¡± He flicked his fingers and shrugged before focusing back on his planning. ¡°Hil, take the southern wall. Cross, the east. Effa, the west, and Yossal, you will have the North side.¡± His gaze flicked around the group as he said each name, but stayed on the last as he added, ¡°We have arrows to spare, so allow your archers to shoot at any target they can identify once the initial challenge is over. It will gain us nothing to delay as the northern people do not call for surrender.¡± Looking back at the first two, he said, "Pavrick you and Jola will be sent to support whichever wall receives the heaviest attack. Pair your soldiers up, bow and shield, and have them prepared to respond in groups of four.¡± He looked around the group and added, ¡°Telina¡¯s priest will be where he can see and respond the best, but he and mage Benton are our defense against the raider¡¯s shamans, so protect them and speak out if you encounter hostile magic.¡± ¡°How good are they at detecting rogues?¡± Shadow asked. The question drew a thoughtful look from more than one of the group, with the Captain eventually saying, ¡°If you are speaking of moving amongst them unseen and attacking the leaders, I would say your chances would be good. But¡­¡± he paused for emphasis before adding, ¡°they are renowned trackers, so you would have to move carefully to leave no sign of your passage.¡± Shadow didn¡¯t say anything else, just nodding thoughtfully as the group broke up. The Captain waited for the squad leaders to join their squads, then raised a hand and yelled, ¡°Forward¡± I guided my horse next to Shadow¡¯s as we moved into a fast trot, and asked her, ¡°You thinking of staying outside the fort?¡± She nodded, the thoughtful look still showing, then said slowly, ¡°Yeah, yeah I am. I get a lot of experience moving around enemies unseen, and even more if I rob or kill them while doing it. Moving through a whole army should be pretty epic, and I¡¯m thinking I might be in a good position to take out their shamans if needed.¡± Well, I had said before that Shadow would be a great mage killer, so had to agree it made sense. I did the odd reach while opening my inventory and pulled out one of my shock grenades, then handed it to her saying, ¡°Put this in your inventory¡± She seemed confused for a moment, but did the same hand twist and the gem disappeared. Nodding I told her, ¡°It¡¯s one of the shock grenades I used against those ogres. Pull it out, say ¡®Cowabunga¡¯ to arm it, then throw it at the enemy. It¡¯ll shock and stun any enemy within twenty feet.¡± ¡°Yeah, that was pretty nice,¡± she said with a nod ¡°Thanks. Might come in useful.¡± Since I had already shared out my healing potions, she was in as good a shape as I could make her, though I would do another blessing spell when we got to the village. The Captain pressed hard, and we moved through the forest at a near gallop until reaching another section of plains. I could see the forest a couple of miles to the north and to the east, so the area was basically a huge clearing in the forest. The village turned out to be more of a farming community, with houses scattered around the clearing, which had a few dozen fields of various crops growing. In the middle of the open area the villagers had built a fort that looked a heck of lot like the ones I had seen the orcs use. Twenty foot wooden walls, with four sides, each about seventy-five or eighty feet. It looked sort of small in the middle of the huge clearing, but I guessed it would work if you were only using it for a short term defense. Our sixty soldiers, and the twenty or so of the villagers the Captain thought would fight, sure seemed minimal when I pictured having them trying to protect that much area. Two of the squads peeled off, one right and one left, and headed toward the nearest houses as the Captain led the rest of us to the open gates. A dozen people and a couple of wagons were outside the gates, appearing to wait for their chance to enter, all of them loaded down with sacks and equipment. A pair of men dressed in partial plate, with sword and shield in hand, stepped toward our group as we thundered to a halt, the soldiers splitting evenly to the right and left of the group around the gate. No one seemed scared of the soldiers, which boded well for the empire, but I also saw a couple look doubtful after gauging our numbers.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°Captain Mal, it is a relief to see you,¡± the older of the two guards said as his eyes went around the group like the farmer¡¯s had, and he added, ¡°though I was hoping for a larger force¡± ¡°The raiders are attacking many places this season, so our forces are stretched thin defending them.¡± He gestured for everyone to dismount, then gave a wave that sent his men moving in orderly lines into the fort, chivvying the farmers out of the way as they did so. Turning to the local warrior, the Captain said, "My people are deploying along the walls, so ensure your warriors coordinate with my squad leaders.¡± He turned slightly toward me and Shadow, and said with a slight head bow, ¡°Lord Dragonsbane, Priest of Telina, and Lady Shadow, an eternal and his friend. They are here to aid us.¡± The words got gasps of shock from every one of the locals who heard him, then a sudden rush of whispered ¡°Priest," ¡°Telina," and even the odd ¡°Dragonsbane¡±. The Captain surprised me with a grin at the humor of the situation, but he sobered before saying, ¡°We have much to do, and little time to do it. The raiders are within a few hours of us, so let us see to our defenses.¡± Shadow and I stepped to the side to be out of the press of bodies, then watched as the Captain and the two men headed into the fort, the two men throwing many a quick glance our way as they did so. ¡°You¡¯re a popular guy,¡± Shadow said with a laugh. She looked around with an odd smile, then said, "You know what¡¯s weird?¡± She didn¡¯t wait for me to answer, just adding, ¡°this whole place is a prison, and it seems like most of us end up acting like the good guys.¡± When she didn¡¯t say anything else, I eventually said, "I haven¡¯t put much thought into it, but it makes sense to me I think. I mean, it¡¯s not like most people think of themselves as evil or villains. I was a criminal sure, but it was kind of the path of least resistance, and I imagine most of the people put here were the same. The whole place is so different, we get new bodies, magical powers, so it really is a chance to start over.¡± Shadow was giving me a pensive look as I kind of did the same thing she had, looked around at the situation we were in, then I said, "Some of us got power drunk and did shitty things, but I think that most people, if they know their peers are watching, would prefer to be¡­trusted.¡± ¡°Trusted?¡± Shadow said doubtfully. I shrugged and said, "Yeah. I don¡¯t really care to much if people like me, but it matters to me that people believe I¡¯m¡­trustworthy.¡± I had been trying to think of a different word, but ended up with trustworthy. ¡°Maybe,¡± she said, but gave her own shrug before saying, ¡°I¡¯m not sure people are worth much deep down, but you are right, we all seem to be wandering around looking for other eternals we can trust.¡± ¡°Or,¡± I said with a grin, ¡°We¡¯re all a bunch of selfish assholes, and we¡¯re afraid to be out and out villains because we¡¯re afraid some other asshole might take that as leave to be one too.¡± ¡°Fear,¡± she said with a grin as she moved toward the gate, her horse behind her, ¡°that makes sense. Being the bad guy is riskier than being the good guy.¡± ¡°Seems like were in a good position to study it,¡± I said as I followed her. ¡°Whatever real human nature is, a couple of hundred years here should bring it out.¡± ¡°Ain¡¯t that the truth,¡± she said with a snort. The fort itself looked like it was meant as both storage facility and defensive structure. The walls had a double stack of open faced sheds, with the top one ending about five feet below the wall top, giving them a place to stand. The sheds had families sharing space with hundreds of bags of¡­stuff. I was guessing it was the fruit of the fields they had outside, but I was happy to see two wells placed on opposite sides of the fort. Water might be really good to have around if these guys threw fireballs around like eternal mages did. There were probably twenty crude ladders scattered around the inside of the fort, which back in reality would have meant a lot of carrying stuff up down, but here¡­who knows, maybe they just threw two hundred pound bags like they did dirt when digging holes. Our horses ended up being lined up down the center of the fort, and after dropping hers off, Shadow turned back toward the gate, stopping long enough to say, "Ok, I¡¯m off to do my thing. If I get into a bind I¡¯ll try to drop you a note, otherwise I¡¯ll be trying to get close to the shamans, so don¡¯t blow me up.¡± The last sentence drew a laugh from me, and she was grinning as she disappeared. Man, I really wished I could do that. The Captain and the mage were talking to a crowd on the other side of the fort, so I picked a ladder and started climbing, not wanting to deal with the whole ¡®Lord Loser¡¯ thing. It still sounded irritating, something I had hoped I would get used to over time. Maybe I should just embrace the stupidity and paint an L on my forehead. Sort of make it my symbol. Just kidding. The top layer of sheds were high enough my shoulders were above the top of the wall, which was probably useful when the fighting started and we needed to shoot arrows or stab the enemy, but it also made it easier for their archers to target us. Always a trade off. I had ended up on the eastern wall, so I turned left and headed toward the North wall, figuring the raiders would come in from that direction. The soldiers were spaced pretty evenly along the wall, with the odd warrior scattered amongst them. Most of the village warriors seemed to be bowmen, or bow women in some cases, which would probably be more useful in the long run. If it came to swords, we were already in trouble. The gate was on the southern side of the fort, so if the raiders wanted to hit that weak point, they¡¯d have to move around the clearing to gather warriors for an assault. I nodded back at the various greetings, which was a mixed bag of ¡®Lord¡¯ or ¡®Priest¡¯. When I reached the northern wall and found a spot to rest my forearms and lean, I was surprised how reassuring the height was. When you looked down and realized that twenty feet was high enough to not want to jump, it kind of gives you a bit of confidence in the wall as a barrier. Of course that was all based on having people defending it. A wall without people on top was just a geographic feature. I caught motion to my right, and turned slightly to see the troops that had gone to round up the rest of the villagers were herding a dozen or so people toward the fort. Looking back toward the North I realized these people were looking at the loss of their homes and possibly their carefully cared for crops. Best they were probably looking at was being alive to rebuild from scratch. It had sounded like these raids were fairly common, so I wondered what made people take the risk. My thoughts must have shown, because one of the village warriors, a younger guy in a mix of leather and chainmail, holding a bow, said quietly, ¡°We risk this so we can stand on some land and say, ¡®This is mine.¡¯¡± I turned left slightly to face him and asked ¡°Why not deeper in the Empire? There¡¯s a lot of land that seems unclaimed.¡± ¡°True enough,¡± he said, a frown forming as he studied the far tree line. ¡°But that land, while not directly owned by any one person, is still claimed by the various governors and other races. Each homestead is the responsibility of the regional governor, and so they restrict land owners to a small region they feel comfortable defending. Here¡­¡± he kind of looked around before saying, ¡°here the Empress has said anyone may settle as long as they accept that the empire may not be there to aid them in their time of need.¡± ¡°Farming here or farming there,¡± I said, "You¡¯d still be farming, right?¡± ¡°But here, the whole of the harvest is ours,¡± he said with a chuckle. ¡°There, the empire gets its share. The regional governor claims a small portion for the support of the defenders. The local guild claims its small portion for¡­¡± he shrugged before adding,¡°For whatever it is that guild does. By the time your crops have portioned out, you might have enough to see you through the winter. Unless of course, bandits take some, or knolls and goblins raid you.¡± His cynical tone drew a grin from me as I nodded my understanding. The security of the empire was a bit of an illusion, and these people had decided they would face the risks on their own. ¡°Crap,¡± I muttered, realizing I had planned to cast another blessing on Shadow. Too late now, but the thought got me to doing my armor spell, then I wandered the wall doing blessings. I had to do a couple of Restores, but found myself back at the North wall about an hour later and did a final Restore. The Captain and his mage were there when I got back, so I joined them as someone yelled ¡°There!¡± The guy was pointing straight north, which, since everyone was already looking that way, was kind of a waste of time. ¡°They moved faster than I had anticipated,¡± the Captain said thoughtfully. The road had ended at the village, so we were watching people walk out of the forest, gathering in small groups, not seeming to organize in any type of formation. There seemed to be a lot of them, and there was quite a crowd by the time the flow of people quit. A quick guesstimate was around five hundred, but counting the number of people in a crowd a mile away was iffy at best. A smaller group separated from the mob and headed our way, but was followed by the rest when they had about five hundred feet of separation. ¡°They have captives,¡± the Captain said with a sigh, ¡°otherwise they would have just attacked. They will come closer, but stop just outside of bowshot. The captives will be brought forward so we might see them, then a challenge is given. If I refuse, they will cut the captives down.¡± ¡°Who do you send?¡± I asked, fascinated by the whole idea, despite the barbarity of it. ¡°No one,¡± he said gruffly. He shook his head sharply when I started to say something and added, ¡°Their champions train for this, and are gifted with their most powerful weapons and armor. It is possible I might beat him, but the risk is to great when considering that I will kill many more than that from these wall.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll do it,¡± I said. His doubtful look got a laugh from me before I said, "Yeah, I¡¯m not that impressive looking, but their guy is going to think the same, and I didn¡¯t get to be a dragon¡¯s bane because I sweet talked the thing.¡± That drew out an actual bark of laughter from the man, and he nodded slightly as he said, "Granted, and it is true you do not risk your¡­existence. But, your presence within the fort would be missed when they begin their assault.¡± ¡°As long as it¡¯s one at a time, I should be fine,¡± I said confidently. And I was confident, but I¡¯d fought to many times to not take precautions. Pretty much the only way I could lose is if he killed me with one blow, or somehow managed to keep me from hitting him at all. I had a buttload of dexterity, so the odds were pretty good I would manage at least one hit. We worked out the details as the horde sauntered our way, and by the time they got within yelling distance, I was waiting at the southern gate for the Captain¡¯s wave. I could hear him yell something a couple of times, but couldn¡¯t make out the words. That went on a couple of minutes, then he turned and waved to let me know I should go. Sam graciously agreed to form into a gauntlet, so I pulled Bruce and held him in my left hand, (Sam would just turn back into a snake bracelet if I tried to hold Bruce in the gauntleted hand), as I headed out of the gates and turned left. The gates shut with a thud behind me as I walked away, and as I cleared the West side, I could see the barbarian horde starting to encircle the fort. Now that they were closer, and as I walked north along the wall and had a better look, I was thinking my original estimate was a bit high. They might have enough warriors to attack all four sides, but they would be pretty thin if they did. It looked to be a mixed bag when it came to arms and armor, with the majority in leather, with the odd few in chain or chest plate. The vast majority had some kind of two handed weapon, with maybe one in ten holding a bow. Beards appeared to be a requirement to be a barbarian since I didn¡¯t see a single person without one. The main crowd was about two hundred yards away, but as I came around the northern side, I found the captives and their captors half that distance. It looked like a family had been swept up by the raiders, so there was a man, woman, and three young children, the group dressed in the standard farmer¡¯s clothing. All of them looked pretty rough, but they were still alive. I was tempted to throw some healing spells their way, but I had a full charge, and if worse came to worse, I was going to hit the horde with my death shout. Three of the raiders stepped forward as I walked up, all of them dressed pretty damn close to the way Jeff had, which made me wonder if Jeff had gotten his armor from these guys. All of them were carrying battle-axes, were wearing fur rimmed chainmail, and two of them had on horned helmets. The axes varied from a two-bladed type the middle guy had, to one that had single blade on one side and a spike on the other. The middle one had on an actual wolf head. It was a wolf pelt, but made up like a hat. It was kind of cool, but the interesting thing was that the guy was at least seven feet tall. He didn¡¯t look as heavily muscled as Jeff the Jackass, but he was pretty darn big. ¡°They have sent out a tiny elf woman,¡± the big guy said, laughing loudly at his own joke. His buddies joined in a second later. I grinned as I came to a stop, then squinted up at the big guy for a second, a confused look on my face, then looked over at the barbarian on the left and said, "Why does this guy have his head stuck up a wolf¡¯s ass?¡± I didn¡¯t have my own laugh section, so just kept the grin as the three stopped laughing and glared at me. The big guy scowled at me for a second, then said, "This wolf I killed with my bare hands.¡± He held his hands up to be sure I understood which hands he meant, then said, "Why does SwiftSword do this? Does he hope for mercy? It would be an insult to have such weak blood on my axe.¡± The guy¡¯s tag read Barbarian Warrior Level 18 Health 280 The health was a bit of a relief, because I had hoped humans as a whole followed the same health levels the eternals did. Done right, this guy was a one shot kill, and I had no plans to dick around with him. The armor and axe looked pretty formidable, but that would only matter if the fight were to drag out. I waved my Sam gauntleted hand dismissively and said, ¡°No insult intended. The Captain didn¡¯t think there was much chance of any blood getting on your axe.¡± I grinned at the synchronized scowl from the three stooges, then asked, ¡°So, are we here to talk, or are we here to fight?¡± Wolfhead had been holding his axe in his left hand, kind of hanging by his leg, but at my words he lifted it up and held it across his chest before growling, ¡°We fight little girl.¡± ¡°Good,¡± I said, crouching a little and getting centered. ¡°Because I want to introduce you to something called the electric slide.¡± The guy was fast, and he kind of punched out with the axe, though he wasn¡¯t quick enough to hit me. I had been expecting some kind of instant response, so slid to the side, and as his axe swept by, slapped his arm with Sam before ducking and spinning past him. I had expected him to bring the axe back around in hopes of catching me on the return swing, but the bitch slap from Sam had left a flare of Fist damage, as well as a small lightning show from Sam. The whole thing caused the guy to stagger a couple of steps and let out a bellow of anger before spinning to face me again. I grinned as I called Fist, then crouched again as I waited for his next attack. I had wanted to bring him down enough that one hit from Bruce would finish him off, and it looked like the Sam slap had probably managed that. His arm had a blackened palm print, and he flexed it as if testing if it still worked. The guy eyed Sam warily, then matched my crouch and began edging closer, his axe cocked back to threaten me with a sudden swing. A couple of fakes on my part didn¡¯t draw him out, so I took a couple of quick steps back. My sudden retreat getting him to move forward to match me, and as he slid his leading foot forward, I charged. The guy was slightly off balance, and he did a full extension swing, so I managed to get inside the arc of the axe head. He was swinging from his right to left, and I was swinging from my left to right, so my arm swept under his as his axe handle hit me in the head. His hit actually added a little to my impact as Bruce swept around and hit him just below his armpit. The combination of the lightning rune, Bruce¡¯s own lightning, and the Fist spell, was explosive, and the guy sort of flew sideways as I fell to my right. I rolled back to my feet, grimacing at the major headache and had to do a quick wipe to clear blood from my left eye. The Heal spell was pretty much instinctive as I looked for my opponent, so by the time I found the pile of gear ten feet away, the damage to my cranium had already disappeared. Bruce for the score! I rose from my crouch and turned back to the two very surprised barbarians staring at the pile of gear. Gesturing at the big eyed captives, I asked, "Are we done?¡± The barbarian guys were still kind of gaping at the wolf guy¡¯s leftovers until the one on the right kind of shook himself and looked at me, then at the family. He gave a dismissive shrug and said, "They are yours.¡± Gesturing at my hands he asked, "What magic is this?¡± I held my gauntlet out and pointed at the family to get their attention, then waved them toward the fort, saying, ¡°You five head toward the fort.¡± As they all clutched each other and began shuffling toward the fort, I turned back to the one who had asked me the question and held up Bruce as I said, "The goddess Telina. These farmers are blessed by the goddess for their hard labors and sacrifice, and she curses those who would assault them.¡± I lowered Bruce, but held Sam up and slowly made a fist as I added, ¡°and as her priest, I take great pleasure in bestowing that curse on those who have earned it." Oh yeah, who¡¯s a badass priest? ¡°You are a priest,¡± the guy said, the surprise in his tone clear, but saying it as a statement rather than a question. I nodded and said, "Of the goddess Telina. These people are under her protection, so when you come against us, you will be facing her wrath.¡± I didn¡¯t want to let this drag out until these guys decided to test me more, so I nodded to the two of them, then sauntered over to wolf boy¡¯s gear and grabbed up weapons, armor, wolf pelt, and a handful of gold. No one said anything, and I wasn¡¯t sure what they were doing since I figured glancing back would just look weak. As I started walking to the fort a cheer went up from the soldiers along the top, so I held Bruce up to acknowledge them, then did a steady pace all the way back. Having a few hundred people watch you walk that far is surprisingly disturbing, and I was constantly worried I was going to trip or something, which made the whole walk feel stilted and unnatural. If Maria were here, she¡¯d probably be yelling jokes or whistling at me as I walked. As soon as I slipped through the partially open gate, they slammed it shut, dropped a thick log across the middle, then began pounding two more at an angle to brace the doors. It was probably stronger than the wall was, at least if you wanted to batter your way in. I had to deal with a lot of back slapping and various congratulations as I walked across the fort, then went up the ladder to join the Captain. I did see the family being cared for in one of the sheds, so I stopped long enough to throw a healing spell at each of them, though I didn¡¯t wait around to listen to their thanks. ¡°Well done!¡± The Captain said as I stepped off the ladder and joined him at the wall. I shrugged the praise off and told him, ¡°Eternals have many advantages, so I risked very little.¡± The raiders appeared to be having a discussion, but as I looked out at them, a knot of ten or twelve of them broke up and began trotting to the right and left. I figured they were leaders of some kind since large groups of fighters would follow one or the other of them, and it was clear they were strengthening the East and the West sides. I didn¡¯t see any of them working their way south, so it looked like a three pronged attack. I took advantage of the time to do my armor spell and knock out a Restore before things got hairy. I was considering their tactics, thinking that even a couple of dozen archers and warriors attacking the southern side would be a bigger drain on us than them¡­when Tarinath¡¯s version of an artillery section made themselves known. A green cloud formed over the group in front of me, centered on a group of five or six raiders, then began moving our way. ¡°Acid,¡± The mage grunted next to me. The Captain nodded and added, ¡°Painful and distracting, but will not kill unless a person is already weakened. They will charge when it hits us.¡± He looked to the left and right, and seconds before the cloud hit, said in a satisfied voice, ¡°They lack shamans or they would be using them on all sides.¡± The cloud hit, and contrary to my expectation, commenced to burning me. ¡°Son of a bitch,¡± I muttered as I realized my transmutation spell must not consider the gas as a magical attack. It was doing steady low level damage, but it did sting like hell and you had to squint against the pain in your eyes. The raiders let out a thunderous yell and charged forward en masse. I blinked my eyes and tried to keep my focus on the crowd that the gas came from, and a few seconds after the cloud hit, I brought Holy Fire down on one of the figures in the middle. Holy Fire is always pretty cool, but outside like this, watching it form a ring in the air, then flash down in a column of white flame is darn impressive. The raider I was eyeing got pounded flat, and a ring of people around him got knocked off their feet. I had wanted to follow it up with another, but the damn gas made my eyes water to much, so I did a Heal spell on myself, then began tossing healing at everyone I could see on the wall. I did about ten, then crouched to do a Restore as arrows began slamming into the wall and into some people, or zip past to fall inside the fort. Man, the horses were in for a rough time. A thunk close to my head made me look up and to the right to find a grappling hook dug into the wood at the top of the wall. The acid cloud began to fade, so I hopped up to deal with whoever was coming up the wall. A quick glance down showed me a raider climbing up the rope, but it was going to take him a few seconds to reach me. Sam had formed a whip, so not taking time to call Fist, I just brought Sam overhand to strike the top of the guys helm. The electrical damage Sam does isn''t that strong, but it does cause enough of a spasm that the guy let out a grunt of pain and lost his hold on the rope. The next couple of minutes was basically a weird version of whack-a-mole, as I moved back and forth along the northern wall bopping raiders as they poked their head over the top of the wall, or slashed out with Sam to hit one still coming up. The Captain was on my left, thrusting with his sword periodically, but mostly yelling commands that had his men and women adjusting to raiders gaining any kind of foothold on the top of the wall. Attacking the eastern side in one minute. The message popped up as I called Fist, then swung Sam forward to hit a raider about twenty feet to my right, who had rolled over the top of the wall and managed to knock a defender into the courtyard with a thrust of his war hammer. Sam hit the guy¡¯s right cheek with a crack and flash of electricity and white flame, slowing him down long enough for two other defenders to engage him. Spinning back to the left, I swung Bruce sideways to hit a bearded face as it poked over the wall and looked over at the Captain to yell, ¡°Wen¡¯s group attacking the eastern side in less than a minute!¡± He waved a hand to show he heard me, and did a quick look around the fort. My own look showed the raiders had gained a foothold on the eastern side, though they presently only had four people on top. The other two sides being attacked were under pressure, but clear of breaches. Arrows were still going by with a ¡®thwip¡¯ sound, then falling into the center of the fort, or hitting one of the defenders. A few people were down, either dead or severely wounded, and lying on the upper walkway. The battle around me was a continuous wave of sound that seemed to push you to action, and I was as susceptible to it as anyone else, so I raised Bruce and called Holy Fire down on the group of raiders on the eastern wall, a second before being hit by a lightning bolt. The bolt came from the field to the north, where a group of raiders stood out of bowshot, and hit me on my left side. Or tried to hit me. I was sort of holding Bruce up, pointing toward the eastern wall, when the lightning flashed across with a thunderous boom, but flowed into a crackling ball of plasma around me, then suddenly spiraled in and seemed to get absorbed by¡­me. A message popped up: Lightning Bolt 140 points of damage, 10 second stun then disappeared. Nice! I punched a raider in the face with a gauntleted hand as he poked his head over the wall, laughing out loud when Sam channeled the lightning bolt into the guy, causing him to be flung twenty feet away from the wall before turning to ash and leaving his gear to fall to the ground. I turned and pointed Bruce at the group to the north and called down Holy Fire again. As the fire flashed down and over the shaman¡¯s group, I checked my mana and decided a Restore was in order. A damn arrow thunked into my right shoulder then, causing me to let out a few bad words, but I was already healing the wound as I ducked down to gain the seconds necessary to reach out to Telina and let the mana flow back in. As I stood back up, I could hear the sounds of a horse charge to the east, and the sudden screams and clashing of weapons on armor, letting me know Skylark had arrived. I did a quick scan as I popped up to make sure no raiders were about to brain me, then a slower evaluation of the overall battle. The Captain had moved to the western wall, and my Holy Fire seemed to have helped the defenders on the eastern wall regain control. I could see our horse squad riding north to south along the back of the raiders group on the east side, and took a second to watch. It was easy to make out Skylark, her hat with its feather blowing cockily in the wind making her pretty distinctive. She was leaning to her right, sword rising and falling as she swung or thrust at raiders as she rode past. The horsemen were all using swords, with the exception of Zane, who was sending spikes of ice with his right hand. I had been hit with them before, but except for Susan¡¯s battle in the capital, never actually watched them being used. They kind of reminded me of ice arrows that formed in front of his hand, then streaked across to actually impale his target. They were much faster than fireballs, and even the fire bolts that Mirabeth used. I don¡¯t think they were strong enough to actually kill anyone he hit, but they seemed to freeze some of them for a couple of seconds. Maybe they didn¡¯t make a saving role or something, but it left the frozen ones susceptible to sword swings from the soldiers following Zane. All in all an interesting use of magic. I did a quick check of the shaman group, but found them acting distracted, with a part oriented toward our riders, another part facing north for some reason, and only a few still looking our way. A swarm of magic missiles zipped out from the wall, then swooped down and around to impact on one of the two raiders in the group not wearing armor. The one that was hit dropped, then turned into a gear pile, drawing a yell of rage from the rest of the group who all faced our way again. I let out a laugh when the last shaman kind of stretched up onto his toes, then followed his compatriot by turning into his own pile, revealing Shadow¡¯s cloaked form before she disappeared once again. I couldn¡¯t see it, but I could easily imagine the grin on her face. That situation appeared to be handled, so I turned back to the fort and began sending healing spells to any wounded defenders I could see on any of the walls. The raiders had been a lot less effective than I had expected at topping the wall, but there were still a considerable number of wounded. The healing spell is probably the most cost effective spell in this world, so I had the mana to cast quite a few before hearing a noise behind me and turning to punch a raider in the side of the head, causing him to grunt out some kind of bad word before falling out of sight. I think the combination of the loss of their shamans and the knowledge that we had a mobile force behind them caused the raiders to lose confidence, and I heard a few start yelling, ¡°Fall back!¡±, which got picked up by others and very quickly the whole horde was retreating out of bowshot. Skylark¡¯s team rode hard for the tree line as the raiders began moving in her direction, and within a moment or two, we had a lull in the fighting. A quick look around made me think the raiders had lost about a quarter of their force, and we had suffered maybe ten or fifteen casualties. It was harder to tell our losses since the Captain had been moving people around, but it looked like we had come out of it pretty well. ¡°Mage Benton,¡± the Captain¡¯s voice came from behind me, causing me to turn as he continued. ¡°Please attack with whatever offensive spells you have left.¡± He had been walking over from the west side of the wall, bloody sword in hand, and stopped in front of me to say, ¡°Lord Dragonsbane, if you would send your fire down upon them, it may encourage them to decide there is easier prey elsewhere.¡± The mage sent a version of Sienna¡¯s vine spell at a group to the west; a spell that had a large group yelling in pain for about ten seconds. I watched that spell form as I considered the raiders, finally sending a Holy Fire spell into a group to the east that appeared to be having a bit of a conference. The mage didn¡¯t follow his spell up with anything, so I figured he must have shot his wad with that one spell, but I had my mana restored a moment after his spell died. The raiders weren¡¯t waiting on us though, already gathering in two large groups, one focused on the northern wall, the other the eastern wall. I looked between the two groups, gauging the distances, then said over my shoulder to the Captain, ¡°If you wait until they are grouped at the wall, I might be able to cast a spell that will do considerable damage to all of them.¡± He made a ¡°Hmm?¡± sound, so I glanced back to see him studying me, but he finally nodded and said, ¡°Very well. I will have our people remain in cover if you will let Wen¡¯s group know to attack after your magic.¡± I nodded, getting him to turn and start yelling orders as I sent a quick note to Skylark. After they get to the wall I¡¯m going to use a large area spell. Attack while they are still stunned. I got back, Ok As I walked to the corner of the eastern and northern walls. I wanted to be as centered to affect as many raiders as possible. Everyone ducked down as the raiders began a loud chant that probably meant something, though I couldn¡¯t make out the words. The two groups surged forward, axes and hammers raised as a swarm of arrows arced over them to begin thunking into the wall or zipping over it. Everyone was crouched down, with most peeking over the top like I was, so there were only a couple of screams as arrows found a target. I waited until the grappling hooks began flying over the wall and getting yanked back to bite into the back of the wall, then a few seconds more, before bringing up the spell Telina''s Beneficent Word Shouting this holy word will cause all who hear it to do the following Friends: Heal 50% +1%/level of accumulated damage. Restore 50% +1%/level of used mana Dispel all enemy spells presently active. Enemies: Do 8 points/level of damage (Double damage to undead) Stun for 1 second/level (Cannot be silenced) Mana: 200 (One day cool down) The word came into view as I stood up, so I drew a deep breath and yelled as loudly as possible Telina Ras! Like the other times, the words rolled out much louder and deeper sounding than I could have done myself, and the white fire swept outward in an expanding circle. The defenders closest to me were hit first, but the attackers were less than a second behind, and their screams of pain became on odd chorus as the wave moved outward. I could see Skylark¡¯s squad riding hard to attack the raider archer¡¯s, but their charge became disorganized as they watched the white fire sweep their way, then over them, their surprise causing more than a few to yank their horses to the side or to a complete stop. Luckily they realized it wasn''t causing them harm, and as I turned away, I could see them begin attacking the raiders, who were frozen in whatever position they were in when the fire hit them. ¡°Archers!¡± The Captain yelled from my left, his words getting everyone on the wall to stand up, and the archers to begin sending arrows down at the paralyzed raiders. Mage Benton took advantage of the mana restoration to send another vine spell at a group to the north as I did a Restore. The spell released before the Restore was complete, but the raiders had had enough, and almost every one began fleeing for the wood line, with only a couple of clumps pausing as if intending to continue fighting. Those groups were only a few seconds behind their buddies as arrows from the wall¡¯s defenders began seeking them out. Skylark¡¯s group rampaged through the demoralized raiders for a few moments, but eventually pulled back toward the fort as the raiders began gathering into more organized clusters as they fled. I think the sudden end took everyone by surprise, because there was a period of silence until someone let out an excited yell that was quickly picked up by everyone on the walls, then the people inside the fort. I turned to look around, then began sending healing spells at anyone I could see who appeared injured, giving nods of acknowledgement to the warriors who shouted my name. ¡°It has been many years since the power of the goddesses has been wielded so directly,¡± the Captain¡¯s voice said from behind me. I turned to see him studying me as he added, ¡°and I believe most have forgotten how it can change the fates of even empires when brought to bear.¡± The words got a shrug from me as I said, ¡°Telina isn¡¯t interested in who rules what Captain, as long as they treat her people as they themselves want to be treated.¡± ¡°You represent power Lord Dragonsbane,¡± the Captain said, a rueful smile breaking through, ¡°and regardless of your intentions, those who have power, or those who crave it, must account for not only what your stated intentions are, but what you could do if you chose to do it.¡± Huh, Captain Mal sounded just like Andulin. It made me wonder if Captains had some kind of special role in Tarinath. Regardless, his point was valid, though it seemed kind of irrelevant as I told him, ¡°True enough, but there are a couple of thousand other Eternals they¡¯ll probably be to busy dealing with to worry about me.¡± ¡°Perhaps,¡± the Captain said with doubtful glance my way as he turned and walked to one of the ladders. I took another look around, a little tired from all the spell casting, the endurance drain more evident after the continuous spell use. The sun was getting lower to the west, making me figure it would be night before to long. The riders, including Skylark and Zane, were walking around the fields, sorting through dropped items. It took me a moment to find Shadow¡¯s cloaked form doing the same thing, but it looked like this fight was definitely over. I had a lot of, ¡°Thank you Lord Loser,¡± or my preferred, ¡°Lord Dragonsbane,¡± tossed my way, though everyone appeared hesitant to approach me. The rest of the evening mostly involved tossing around a couple of healing spells, then finding my team and setting up a half-ass camp for the evening in one of the open front buildings inside the fort. The horses were taken outside the fort, and the locals put together a communal dinner/feast that resulted in the best food of the trip so far. When we had settled in to our building and I had my first free moment of the day, I pulled out the stuff I had gotten from the raider I had fought, and took a look at what I had won. The fur-edged mail had a strength and stamina bonus associated with it, but it was a warriors only piece. The big, two-handed axe was of course a warrior weapon, but it had a bleeding spell that did five points of damage per second, for five seconds after a solid blow. The wolf¡¯s head though, was a bit of a surprise for something the guy had said he killed himself. Spirit of the Wolf The one who wears the Spirit gains some of the fierce determination and powerful senses of the Alpha wolf, but those whose soul is bound to the forest will be able to call upon the Spirit as a companion and protector. All: +2 Dexterity +1 Stamina +15% chance of detecting hidden people or items Rangers: Summon a spectral wolf companion. Usable by: Warriors Summon a ghost wolf? That sounded pretty cool, but it looked like I would be passing this on to Maria to give to one of her Rangers. I put the thing back into my inventory and turned back to swapping stories with my partners. The next day we got a slow start, taking the time to have breakfast with the Captain and a couple of the farmer¡¯s warriors. When Skylark mentioned our destination was Larinal, one of the men said, ¡°Being you have a priest with you, you should take the river road.¡± Skylark perked up, her eyes focusing on the guy, and her nose almost twitching as if she was a cat watching a mouse run by. Zane and I exchanged grins as Skylark said, ¡°River road? Why would we need a priest to use it?¡± ¡°Yanif speaks of the Path of Wisdom,¡± Captain Mal Said. ¡°There are rumors that more exist, but this is the only one I am aware of. They were supposedly used by the goddess¡¯s disciples before the Blight to travel the lands of Tarinath, but this entrance is blocked and none have found the key needed to enter.¡± ¡°Bugger that,¡± an older warrior on the Captain¡¯s left said. ¡°The Captain be making it sound more than it is. The entrance be open, but an¡­invisible wall blocks the way.¡± ¡°Aye, he¡¯s right,¡± the warrior who had first spoken said, ¡°and no one is knowing where the river goes, at least not for sure. Stories say it goes to the sea, and that only one of the goddess¡¯s people will be knowin how to enter.¡± ¡°Can you take us there?¡± Skylark asked after a quick glance around our group and receiving nods from everyone. ¡°Sure¡¯n we can,¡± the first warrior said with his own grin. ¡°Be interestin to see if¡¯n you get in.¡± Our guide¡¯s name turned out to be Eric Redburn, which sounded kind of prosaic for Tarinath, but he was friendly enough, and managed to come up with a horse of his own. The Captain followed us outside and waited until we had gathered our horses and prepared to leave before exchanging arm grips with all four of us, saying, ¡°Our Empress¡¯s gratitude for your aid. If you travel the northern lands again, my soldiers will offer aid in return if you should need it,¡± ¡°Our pleasure Captain,¡± Skylark said, touching the brim of her hat with a finger in a casual salute, before twitching her reins and leading our group to the west. Eric trotted up beside her and acted as our guide as we headed toward the forest, and I spent the time until we entered the forest casting blessings on the various fields we passed, figuring every little bit would help. The entrance to this ¡®Path of Wisdom¡¯ was a couple of hours ride to the northeast, but we had been riding an hour when Shadow asked the group in general, ¡°So, why is this river of interest, other than the tie to Jake I mean?¡± Skylark turned slightly in her saddle to grin back at Shadow and said, ¡°Because of how these programs work. We basically just completed a kind of quest right? Helping defend the fort?¡± When Shadow and I nodded, she said, ¡°Well, from what I know of these programs, the AI uses these kind of scenarios to build a personality profile for each of the players so it can improve the players experience and¡­rehabilitate them. It has a sort of simple carrot and stick method of encouraging players to conform to the societal rules, and this would be our carrot. Any time you do something and a local offers up a bit of useful information, it¡¯s the system offering a reward.¡± ¡°Which means,¡± Zane said with a laugh, ¡°This river road will probably have something pretty damn useful for us to find.¡± ¡°Eternals be strange folk,¡± Eric muttered, giving Skylark a befuddled look that got a laugh from Shadow. Skylark grinned at Eric and said, ¡°I agree totally¡± ¡°How much do you know about these places Sky?¡± Shadow asked Skylark Skylark shrugged before saying, ¡°Not much really, just what I picked up from talking to our sales people and some of the other engineers. But when I agreed to accept being transferred, I asked a couple of people about it, which is where I heard about being able to bribe the game administrator for enhanced stats.¡± She shook her head, a frown of disgust showing as she added, ¡°Of course, most of what I was told appears to be bullshit. Eternals preying on eternals was something the system was supposed to stop, and I don¡¯t think anyone has found the creation skills like enchanting, alchemy, or smithing yet. The kind of stuff that gives the players¡­purpose.¡± I decided Dalmar¡¯s smithing skill was his to share and didn¡¯t offer to let the group know we had found at least one of what Skylark called ¡®Creation Skills¡¯. ¡°Yeah, the place is screwed up,¡± Zane said, ¡°but it¡¯s still better than sitting in a cell for ten years.¡± ¡°Amen to that,¡± Shadow said with a nod. The entrance to the place, when we finally reached it, was a white stone building sitting in the middle of a grove of fir trees. The trees were covered in green needles from the ground to the top of their thirty foot height, and so neatly shaped it looked like someone spent a lot of time tending them, and kept you from seeing the building until you rode around to a gap in the northern part of the circle. The building itself was twenty feet around, with a conical, black slate roof, and an open doorway on the northern side. It was so plain looking that I found myself oddly disappointed. ¡°There she be,¡± Eric said in a satisfied tone, gesturing toward the building as we sat our horses at the opening in the trees. ¡°No one been able to walk through that openin as long as anyone knows.¡± We slid off our horses and gathered at the opening in the trees, with the exception of Eric, who just sat and looked interested. We all studied the building for a moment, then Skylark said, ¡°Shadow?¡± Shadow nodded, made a knife appear in her right hand, and slowly walked forward, eyes sweeping back and forth as she studied the ground ahead of her. The rest of us waited and watched, Zane leaning on his staff and Skylark and I warily watching the surrounding area. When Shadow reached the building, she paused as she studied the inside, then she reached forward and appeared to rest her hand against¡­nothing. It looked exactly like when Maria did the same thing at Lor Frell. ¡°Looks clear,¡± Shadow yelled back at us, her hands moving across the opening. Skylark immediately walked forward with Zane and I beside her, joining Shadow in her touch search of the opening when we reached it. It wasn¡¯t until I was standing to the right of the doorway that I saw the rune on the floor and received a message that told me why we couldn¡¯t get through the doorway. You have acquired a Rune Rune of Safeguarding Creates an impregnable barrier across an opening that prevents access to any who do not meet the entry requirements set by the caster. Access requirements determined by Caster Requires 10 mana/square foot That, and the tag on the floor that said: Access requirement: A priest must say the words ¡°By the Goddess¡¯s will¡± to allow his party to pass. The messages left me distracted for a half a minute while I absorbed it all. The first thing that hit me was that this doorway was meant for priests, and that probably meant the odds of finding something useful had gone way up. The second thing I focused on was math. Yeah, how much darn mana would it take to block a doorway? Let¡¯s see, one square foot with a doorway being, say five foot wide, meant fifty mana for something one foot high. Multiply that by the height of say, six foot, and you got¡­well shit, that¡¯s not good. Be a while before I started keeping anything but mice out of my stuff. ¡°By the goddess¡¯s will,¡± I said in a mockingly deep voice, then chuckled at the squeak of surprise Skylark let out when she staggered forward through the doorway. ¡°Holy shit.¡± Zane said, surprise in his tone. ¡°How¡¯d you know to say that?¡± Shadow and Skylark were both giving me questioning looks, so I said, ¡°It¡¯s got a tag that can only be seen by priests.¡± ¡°I knew it!¡± Eric yelled from the tree line. ¡°I done won me a bit¡¯a coin on this one!¡± He was grinning as he waved and rode off to toward home. ¡°Well, someone¡¯s already made money, and we haven¡¯t even entered the building yet,¡± Zane said, then waved us toward the opening and added, ¡°Let¡¯s go see what our reward is.¡± Shadow flipped her hood up and stepped through the door, pausing for a moment before saying, ¡°Stairs down. No traps I can see. Only wide enough for one person at a time, so take it slow.¡± Skylark looked over the group before saying, ¡°I¡¯ll follow Shadow. Zane behind me, and Jake brings up the rear.¡± When everyone nodded, she tapped Shadow on the shoulder and we moved forward. Skylark pulled a round shield out of her inventory and slipped it on her left arm, unsheathing her sword and holding it in her right hand. Zane had his staff, and I pulled Bruce out, then cast my armor spell. I said, ¡°Casting a Blessing,¡± a second before I did just that, then did a Restore as we made our way very slowly down the dark stairwell. Light came in through the doorway behind us, but the stairwell was only six inches or so wider than my shoulders, and about a foot higher than the top of my head, so we blocked most of the light as we moved down. Zane mumbled a phrase, then made a flipping gesture with his right hand, causing a ball of light to form and drift forward and slightly above Skylark, getting a muttered, ¡°Thanks,¡± from up where Shadow was leading us down. ¡°How long does it last?¡± I asked quietly. ¡°About twenty minutes,¡± he whispered back. The stairwell went down probably eighty or ninety feet, then did a right turn and continued another hundred before we exited the stairwell and found ourselves on a small balcony that overlooked a cavern. The cavern was lit by some kind of glowing fungus that ran in strips and swirls along the ceiling and wall, casting a greenish light that was dim, but fully illuminated the place. The balcony came out of the wall close to the ceiling, and a stairwell on our left went down to the floor of the cavern. Overall the place was a few hundred feet long, and half of that wide. A twenty foot wide river ran in a channel through the cavern from right to left, and the water was flowing at pretty decent pace. A boat was sitting in the water, snugged up close to the wall of the channel on our side, and as far as I could see, was the only thing in the place. ¡°Looks like our ride awaits,¡± Skylark said as she stood close to the edge of the balcony to look down and around the cavern. Straightening, she turned to the stairs, but paused and said to Zane and I, ¡°Let Shadow and I go down first, and you guys cover us from here. I¡¯ll wave if it¡¯s clear.¡± At my nod, and an affirmative grunt from Zane, she and Shadow headed down the stairs. I pointed for Zane to watch the left, and I kept my eyes on the right side of the cavern as the two women took their time working their way down the stairs, then across the cavern floor to the side of the boat. They seemed to have a little conference, then Skylark turned and gave a large wave with her sword, getting Zane and I to double time down the stairs to join them. The boat reminded me a little of the ones they used to show in the biblical type movies. Pointed at both ends, fairly narrow, with a more rounded bottom than I would have expected. It was close to twenty feet long, with six narrow benches evenly spaced down the length of the boat. A long pole extended aft, looking like an extra long oar, but was obviously used to steer the thing. ¡°It¡¯s not tied up,¡± Shadow said doubtfully, ¡°it should have floated away.¡± ¡°Magic of some kind,¡± Zane said with shrug, then pointed at a small pole, or column that was sticking up from the center of the boat. It was only a few inches higher than the sides of the boat, so I hadn¡¯t seen it at first, but it was so out of place that it had to have some function. ¡°Unless Shadow sees a hidden door somewhere, this is our ride out of here,¡± Skylark said, sheathing her sword and making her shield disappear just before stepping into the boat. Zane followed a second later, using his staff to stabilize himself as he stepped over the boat rail. Shadow and I exchanged looks, then shrugs before joining the other two. Shadow showing off a little by doing a graceful leap and balancing on one of the seats. I stepped over and into the boat close to the column, which put Shadow at the front, me in the middle, Zane behind me, and Skylark at the aft end by the rudder. The column looked like it might be made of silver, but was unmarked in any other way. If I was sitting down, the top of it would be about shoulder height, and if it had had a wheel on it, I would have thought it was used to control the boat. ¡°I¡¯m going to try a couple things,¡± I said, still studying the pole. ¡°Brace yourselves in case it does something weird.¡± Something weirder than magic anyway. I reached out and wrapped my left hand around it, twitching a little in surprise when the thing began to glow, and a faint thrumming feeling went through it. ¡®Go¡¯. I willed the thought, and wasn¡¯t very surprised when the boat began moving forward at a slow, but steady pace. Skylark must have been ready, because the boat swerved away from the wall and toward the center of the river. ¡°Just told it to move,¡± I said, speaking to everyone. ¡°That kind of makes you the equivalent of car keys doesn¡¯t it?¡± Shadow asked with a laugh, getting a chuckle from Zane. Skylark didn¡¯t laugh, but I heard the humor in her voice as she said, ¡°Looks like we¡¯ll lose the light in the tunnel. Zane, set a light at the prow so Shadow can see.¡± Zane did his mumble, hand wave thing, and a ball of light floated forward to position itself a couple of feet above the point at the front of the boat. He adjusted it a little higher when we entered the tunnel and it was clear the ceiling was high enough. The tunnel was clearly natural, though the width was pretty consistent. Small stalactites poked down here and there, and Skylark had to steer us clear of a few in response to Shadow¡¯s, ¡°A little right,¡± or ¡°Close to the left bank,¡± commands. I didn¡¯t have anything to do other than hold the stupid pole, since taking my hand off it showed that the boat would stop right there, holding position even against the current. That left me time to admire the view that Zane¡¯s light revealed as we swept by. There were seams of quartz, and what looked like gold and a silvery metal, as well as chunks of gemstones of all colors clearly revealed as we went past, flashing and flickering in the light, making you want to stop and take a sample or just inspect it closely. I¡¯d never spent any time spelunking back in reality, but doubted if this abundance of riches was the norm. I bet the dwarves did pretty well for themselves if the whole world was like this. Like my trip through the Underroads, the darkness and enclosed space caused everyone to speak quietly and avoid excess talk. The water made a continuous sound, but it turned into white noise after a while, so any changes in it was obvious immediately. That¡¯s why we could all hear the change a few hours into the ride, and a couple of seconds before Shadow yelled, ¡°Hang on, rapids ahead!¡± The tunnel and river began descending, with the requisite increase in speed and turbulence. There were no rocks to run into, but we seemed to drop in sections, so there were sudden drops of a couple of feet that left all of us floating above our seats for a second. Skylark started laughing and letting out whoops of sound every time we hit them. After the first couple, Shadow started yelling, ¡°Incoming!¡±, then laughing when the nose dropped and she would get splashed. ¡°Just like a waterpark,¡± Zane said from behind me after another round of laughter from the two ladies. There was no way to judge how far down we went, but the rapids lasted an hour or so before the last drop left us in a wider cavern and slower moving river. The glowing fungus reappeared, giving us a view of the surrounding walls and ceiling. The area looked a lot like where we originally arrived, but went as far as we could see. The banks of the river also had some kind of mushroom like growth that made five or six foot high forests that spread along both sides. ¡°Almost expect some oompa-loompas to start singing,¡± Zane said as we drifted down the river, all of us studying the odd forest. Zane still had a ball of light floating above the prow, adding a little more light to the scene, but we probably could do without it as long as the fungus lasted. Skylark steered us to the middle of the river and I hadn¡¯t let go of the pole, so we continued slowly forward. ¡°Look there!¡± Shadow hissed, making us look at her, then following her pointing finger to the right bank to see a moth like shape fluttering above one of the mushroom. It looked to be about the size of a large bird, but the sight of a living creature down here kept us all fascinated until Sam slid into my hand and formed a whip. ¡°Watch it!¡± I yelled, looking around, expecting something to be flying down to attack us. Everyone tensed, but when the attack came, it was from the water and not the air. A shape surged up from out the water and two hands locked on to Shadow¡¯s cloak and pulled her overboard in the blink of an eye. It was so quick that I only had the impression of two human like arms and a scaly body, but I reacted immediately, snapping my whip forward, yelling, ¡°Grab her Sam!¡± The creature had pulled Shadow over backwards, so her arms and feet were the last things to go under, and Sam managed to wrap around her right wrist. Shadow¡¯s hand convulsively gripped the whip when it snapped around her arm, and Sam yanked, forcing me to lean back, and pulling Shadow halfway back into the boat. I leaned forward to grab the back of Shadow¡¯s cloak, bunching it and her shirt up in my Sam covered right fist. I hadn¡¯t even realized he had wrapped himself in a gauntlet as I moved until I was gripping Shadow, but it didn¡¯t slow me down as I fell backwards, pulling Shadow up and on top of me in a surge of water. A second wave of water followed as the creature rose up and reached over the side of the boat, giving me an excellent view of its flat, scaled face, lipless, round, teeth-lined mouth, and gray, dead looking eyes. I was stuck under a floundering Shadow as the thing grabbed her ankle and Zane reached forward while shouting a couple of words. A white, sparkling stream of mist shot from his hand to envelope the creature, and just like that, we had a frost covered statue of the Creature from the Black Lagoon frozen to the side of the boat. Zane didn¡¯t pause, rising to his feet as he grabbed his staff in both hands, brought it up and over his head, then down on top of the creature with harsh yell. I¡¯ve seen this in movies, but watching the frozen villain explode into a thousand chunks of¡­meatcicles, was a lot more impressive from a foot away. ¡°Holy crap,¡± I mumbled as Shadow managed to pull herself up and off of me, more than a little impressed by that neat little bit of magic. ¡°That was¡­impressive.¡± ¡°You ok Shadow?¡± Skylark asked as Zane gave me a hand up. Shadow did a quick self appraisal, then looked up to grin at our group and say, ¡°Am now. Thought for a second I was going to be fish food.¡± ¡°Jake, you want to get us moving?¡± Skylark asked, nodding toward the pole when I looked back at her. Yeah, no Jake, no move. I sat down and put my left hand on the pole, keeping my right hand free¡­just in case. ¡°Thanks guys,¡± Shadow said as she sat down again, watching the water a little more warily than she had been. ¡°That would have been a problem.¡± Bit of an understatement in my opinion. I¡¯m pretty sure drowning was about the only thing any of us would do in that situation. All this armor, weapons, gold, and other sundry items, made swimming a no-no. Things got quiet for a while, everyone watching carefully, but also casting quick glances my way, aware now of how useful Sam was as an early warning device. It was Skylark who finally asked, ¡°So, does that thing warn you of all kinds of attacks? How about traps and stuff?¡± I held my arm up to look at the silver snake wrapped around my forearm, then said, ¡°Not traps, but pretty much anything that directly attacks me. I¡¯m still learning what he can do. Grabbing Shadow like that was new, but it¡¯s kind of an offshoot of one of his abilities.¡± We talked about weapons in a desultory way for a while, but mostly focused on our surroundings as we continued our slow drift down the river. The cavern continued to widen, though the river channel stayed about the same, which left more area on the banks for the strange fungal growths and even periodic sandy areas, one of which had the broken remains of a wooden boat scattered along it. Skylark steered us closer, and Zane sent a ball of light to float over the area, but it appeared to be just the pieces of a rowboat sized vessel. Nothing resembling skeletons or anything worth stopping for, so we just drifted past, leaving the light floating over the spot as we departed. ¡°Looked pretty old,¡± Shadow said as Skylark steered us back to the center of the river. ¡°Looked like they landed there and the boat has just rotted away where it was sitting.¡± The slightly greenish light the glowing fungus cast was fairly dim, but easily bright enough for us to have seen any caves leading into this one, or any manmade buildings or anything else people could have taken shelter in. ¡°Could be they were grabbed by one of those scaly creatures and the boat just drifted to a stop there,¡± Zane said, his tone conveying his uneasiness with the whole thing. ¡°No way to know at this point,¡± Skylark said from the back, ¡°but if things stay like this, in a few hours we¡¯ll stop at one of those beaches and give Jake a chance to take a break.¡± A message popped up as she was speaking: Jake, I¡¯m going to see Wendel tomorrow. If you¡¯re still in the area let me know. Dalmar Huh, I¡¯d have thought he would have dropped the book off days ago, but I didn¡¯t ask what took so long, just sent, I¡¯m on a boat a week to the west, so let me know how it goes. I hoped he got some serious experience for that book seeing how much effort it took to find the darn thing. Of course, now that I thought about it, he was probably pretty busy starting his smithing career. I was interested to see what he would be creating by the time I got back. We ended up stopping four or five hours later at a long sandy beach that was large enough we wouldn¡¯t be crowded by the mushroom forest. The boat stopped parallel to the beach when I took my hand off the pole, and I stretched and shook out my hand, glad to be able to get away from the stupid thing for a while. ¡°Shadow, take a look around, but stay in shouting distance,¡± Skylark said as she jumped lightly to shore, her eyes studying the surrounding area. ¡°We¡¯ll take a few hours here to rest if anyone wants to. Zane, you and Shadow keep watch, but wake Jake and me in three hours and I¡¯ll relieve you.¡± We set up a basic camp half way up the bank, and I rolled out my blanket and took Skylark¡¯s advice and took a nap. Of course I got a visit from Telina and found myself sitting in my spot at the Burning Mage Inn. It was kind of nice to be back in our normal meeting place, so I was smiling and sipping an ale when Telina came through the door. She gave me her own smile as she did one of Maria''s boneless flops into her chair and took a drink from a mug that appeared in front of her. When she set the mug down she said, "So my dear priest, I am pleased with how things have progressed. My influence grows daily, and my sisters have no cause to be angry with the steps we have taken" "It''s been a while,¡± I said, "anything I should know?¡± She nodded as she relaxed back, studying me as her finger circled the top of her mug, saying, ¡°The hammer you found is destined for Tarra¡¯s paladin. I believe it is intended to make her more acceptable to the dwarven folk¡± she made a dismissive gesture with her hand as if shooing the issue away, and said, "but that will not impact our own plans as long as the Guardian Queen rules. Bigbob will move against the blighted lands soon, and with the aid of the guardians, should make some progress in pushing the blight back. You will need to be present when he confronts the full power of the blight though.¡± I gave a shrug of assent at that, saying, ¡°Figured. I¡¯ll see how things go and talk with Maria when we have more information.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Telina said. "What are your intentions for this trip with these eternals?¡± ¡°Mostly just a chance to tour areas I haven''t seen yet, though I like their idea.¡± I answered. ¡°I¡¯m interested to see how they do without the Empire providing order. I might see about allying with them if they turn out to not be a couple of assholes.¡± I shrugged, then turned the conversation to something I had wanted to talk to her about. ¡°I¡¯ve tasked your priest in the capital with setting up a place to offer aid to the poor, but I was thinking it might make sense to see whether any of them would like to relocate to the Abandoned lands. Long term I¡¯d like to see about setting up a couple more towns close to Mudtown and plan to expand toward the blighted lands when we get rid of the blight.¡± ¡°Ambitious,¡± Telina said slowly, eyes narrowed in thought, ¡°You see a kingdom forming from this?¡± I gave a doubtful grunt and nodded my head side to side before saying, ¡°Well, maybe. Right now though, I¡¯d like to get the poor families and orphans moved our way and give them a chance to become mages, rangers, or other useful skills. Beyond that, I¡¯d like to start building the infrastructure we¡¯ll need to launch a campaign into the blighted lands. If I can locate more relics, they would be the center of cities we build on the eastern coast and the lands between. Once the blight is gone, I imagine there¡¯ll be a land rush, and the dark elves might make a push to return from wherever they went.¡± I frowned and added ¡°I don¡¯t want those assholes coming back thinking they¡¯re going to reclaim a single damn rock from lands they ran away from.¡± Telina let out a bark of laughter, then grinned as she said, "The Dani¡¯Alakar could always be counted on to alienate those they met, but to have angered you in only two meetings is truly impressive.¡± She kept the grin as she leaned back to study me for a moment, then asked, "You would build cities of those loyal to you?¡± I shook my head no and said seriously, ¡°To you. If we set the groundwork now, we can influence how the blighted lands end up being ruled, and if Telina¡¯s paladins and priest are the ones to free the lands, ensure you are the goddess of choice for those living there.¡± ¡°My sisters would resist this,¡± Telina said, her eyes thoughtful as she considered my words. ¡°Likely,¡± I said with a shrug, ¡°so we¡¯d need to include them, or at least some of them. The Guardians will be an integral part of defeating the blight, so they¡¯ll know they have some level of influence on things. The other goddesses must have realized you having the only priest has already disturbed the balance of things, so they¡¯ll have to find some level of accommodation with us.¡± I leaned forward and told her, ¡°Maria and Dalmar form a counterbalance to our own influence, and I¡¯d hope your sisters are smart enough to realize I won¡¯t do anything to hurt my friends. I need Maria and Dalmar because no one can stand alone here.¡± ¡°I will have to consider this,¡± Telina said, lips pursed, eyes squinted as she kind of looked into the distance and thought about what I¡¯d said. ¡°Tarra is moving to use your dwarven friend and her paladin to gain back the influence on the dwarven race that was lost when our priests were sacrificed.¡± She nodded to herself before adding, ¡°Which would not affect our plans as I have never held any sway over her people.¡± ¡°But it will make it appear as if we are willing to aid your sisters if they help us,¡± I said, "and I sure as hell don¡¯t intend to be part of any ruling structure, so having Maria¡¯s people involved means we have a ready made defensive force.¡± Telina nodded slowly before saying, "There is considerable potential here, but I will need to approach my sisters carefully as this develops. The Guardian Queen will be the focus of my sister¡¯s efforts, so you should be wary how you present things to her.¡± I grinned at the suggestion and said, "I intend to be honest with her. She¡¯s smart enough to realize that unless they trap me in a pit yo-yo, you¡¯re inevitably going to gain influence. So working with me will gain her a lot more than working against me.¡± ¡°You do not see your present companion¡¯s efforts eventually coming in conflict with our own?¡± That made me pause, and she took a drink as she watched me. I eventually answered, my words slow as I considered things, ¡°I suppose it¡¯s possible. If Skylark¡¯s plans actually work, she¡¯ll end up with a small kingdom, but we¡¯ll have the whole empire between us. I¡¯ve been seeing her as a foil to the light elves if they take an interest in their old lands. I don¡¯t want to deal with both elf races at the same time, so having an ally on the western coast would help.¡± ¡°It would be better to gain the Lani¡¯Alakar as allies.¡± Telina said seriously. ¡°I¡¯d prefer not to interact with them at all until we¡¯ve consolidated our hold on the Blighted Lands,¡± I said. ¡°We need people who will follow you, and we¡¯ll never get the elves onboard with that. If we gain the Empire and Dwarves as allies, we¡¯ll be able to hold Tarinath. After that, we can see if the elves want to be friendly or not.¡± ¡°Ambitious,¡± Telina said with a laugh. Shrugging, she waved a hand and said, ¡°But we have time before the Lani will need to be dealt with.¡± She frowned as she added, ¡°You and your friends are following one of the paths used by our priests before the Sundering. They lead to places where our priests would meet, and where many items of value to me and my sisters were stored. To touch those things that belong to my sisters would mean your, or your friends deaths. Enter only those areas that are mine.¡± Telina was big on getting the last word, so the tavern faded as she stopped speaking, and I found myself back in the cavern, lying on the ground, looking up at the glowing fungus lit ceiling. Skylark and Shadow were having a quiet conversation somewhere behind me, and with the soft lapping of the water on the bank, made the whole thing kind of peaceful. At least until Sam twitched into his whip form and one of the scaled creatures surged out of the water. Of course he didn¡¯t stand a chance, but it served to get us all up and moving, sort of this world¡¯s version of an alarm clock. Chap 37: A choice is made You know what¡¯s boring? Being a boat motor, that¡¯s what. After two more days of sitting in the middle of the boat and acting as the stupid one speed motor I started making putt, putt, putt, noises just for something to do. That got Shadow to laugh and start a rousing round of ¡®Row, row, row, your boat¡¯, that got everyone involved for a while. We were actually looking forward to the random attacks by the Merrow Scavenger 95 Health They were pretty weak, but they offered a pretty real threat since being pulled underwater was almost an assured death sentence. Unless of course, you were willing to dump all your hard earned loot. Yeah, me neither. So when we started to hear the rumble of falling water, we were pretty excited for the change, even though from the sound, it was a fairly substantial waterfall. We were all looking ahead of us when we drifted out of the large tunnel and into another cavern. The river continued straight ahead and into another tunnel about two hundred feet ahead of us, but the tunnel was blocked by vertical, six inch in diameter bars. The thunder of falling water came from that tunnel, and I was guessing the bars were there to ensure no one was stupid enough to keep going. The river touched the cavern on our left, but on the right side, the river bank rose up five feet to form a sharp wall. In the middle of that wall, a set of stairs and small dock were carved out, allowing a boat to moor next to it. Beyond the river¡¯s edge, the cavern floor extended back another hundred feet or so, and I could see another set of stairs carved into the rock at the back. This one started at the cavern floor on the far left and climbed two-thirds of the way up to the ceiling, a hundred and fifty feet above us. Who ever was safety conscious enough to put the bars on the waterfall entrance wasn¡¯t involved in building the stairs, because they looked to be just wide enough for one person, and didn¡¯t have a railing on the open side. There was a door set into the wall at the top, looking sort of weird sitting up there all by itself. ¡°This is our stop,¡± Skylark said from behind me as she steered us toward the stone dock. ¡°I need to cast a couple of spells after we park this thing,¡± I said, ¡°so give me a couple of minutes.¡± ¡°Shadow, do a quick recon.¡± Skylark said as the boat glided up to the small stone dock. ¡°Jake, yell out if your whip makes an appearance, otherwise let us know when you¡¯re ready.¡± Shadow was standing at the prow, but sort of crouching, and when the boat slid in alongside the dock, she jumped gracefully over the side and onto it, cloak flaring behind her, knife in her right hand. She gave the dock a quick scan, said, ¡°The dock¡¯s clear,¡± and faded away as she moved up the stairs. I released the pole that moved the boat as soon as we were even with the dock, then immediately cast my armor spell, a group blessing, and Fist, before doing a Restore. I had a full shield spell still active that I cast after the battle at the fort, so I was ready to kick ass if necessary. I had used the last of my gems to create Chain Lightning grenades for Skylark and Zane, but they always sold theirs gems so didn¡¯t have any in their inventory. I had four stun grenades prepared, but had started thinking I needed to talk to Seth, my blacksmith back in Mudtown, to see about getting him to make some iron grenades I could enchant. ¡°Ready,¡± I said as I pulled Bruce out, then stepped beside Zane onto the dock. Skylark followed us, then slipped between Zane and I to move onto the stairs, nodding for us to follow. ¡°After you sir,¡± I said to Zane, giving him a half bow and gallant gesture forward with my right hand. ¡°Very kind of you,¡± Zane replied with a grin as he tapped the brim of his cowboy hat with his staff and followed Skylark. There were only a dozen steps before we were standing on the cavern floor, and Skylark was studying the area, sword and shield ready, with Shadow not in sight. We were about centered on the open area, the start of the stairs on our left, and four small caves in the wall to our right. There were bones in dozens of small piles in front of the caves, with various weapons and armor clearly visible in the piles. The caves were only a couple of feet high, so whatever came out of them wasn¡¯t very tall. ¡°Some kind of scavenger,¡± Zane said, getting a nod from Skylark, who added, ¡°We make a run for it.¡± ¡°Now!¡± She said intensely, then demonstrated by taking off at a sprint for the base of the stairs on our left. I had taken maybe three steps when Sam formed a short whip in my hand, causing me to look over at the caves. Oh crap¡­scorpions. Dozens of them were streaming out of the caves. They weren¡¯t as large as the one that attacked us in the Forbidden Lands, but there had to be twenty or thirty of them by the time they stopped coming out of the caves. ¡°Oh crap,¡± Skylark muttered, echoing me and making me look over to see that Shadow had appeared at the base of the stairs and was clearly busy disarming a trap. ¡°Zane, cover Shadow!¡± Skylark yelled back over her shoulder. ¡°Jake, you¡¯re with me.¡± The scorpions were like a black flood coming our way, but we were faster, so managed to gather at the base of the stairs a few seconds before they reached us. ¡°I can see at least four traps on the stairs,¡± Shadow said, not looking away from what invisible trap thing she was seeing. ¡°Got it!¡± she yelled over the loud click-clack of scorpion legs coming our way. Shadow dashed up a dozen steps, then knelt down to do her fiddly tricks again. Zane followed her, then turned to face the scorpions and began casting a spell. I moved up a couple of steps, and Skylark stood on the bottom one as the first wave hit us. The scorpions surged forward, with a bunch scuttling sideways to our left to try and reach Zane and Shadow on the stairs. Their claws were waving and snapping, and their spiked tails were arched over their backs, ready to impale us given a chance. Skylark kicked the first one away, causing it to tumble sideways, allowing her to slice downward at the one beside it. The scorpions surrounded the base of the stairs, and I ended up basically protecting Skylark¡¯s left side as the scorpions tried to come up the side of the stairs. Sam cracked into one with a flare of fire and lightning, causing the; Cave Scorpion Level 10 Health 75 to screech in pain, then crumble into a small pile. I began slashing continuously, unable to concentrate the couple of seconds necessary to call Fist, but the damage Sam did being enough to stun or delay the ones he hit. The scorpions were about thigh high on me, I used Bruce to bash aside their pincers, and used Sam to attack with. Skylark was¡­deadly. This was the first time I saw her in a battle like this, and whatever her stats were, it was clear she was buffed in both strength and dexterity. She managed to intercept the stingers with her shield every time one came her way, and she killed just about every one she hit with her sword. It reminded me of a combination of Dalmar and Maria. Two of the scuttling bastards hit me at the same time, one with a claw to my leg, the other with his tail spike. Both hurt, but I almost panicked as I worried about being paralyzed. Thankfully, these smaller ones either were too weak, or to low a level, since I kind of seized for a half-second, then was moving again. Between them they did about 30 points of damage, so I ignored it for now and kept swinging. ¡°Got it!¡± Shadow yelled again, allowing all of us to take a dozen more steps upwards. Sam¡¯s extended reach came into play here, as it allowed me to target some at the base of the stairs, and the greater distance also allowed me to call Fist a few times. When I did, it allowed me to kill whatever I hit, and that gave Skylark a couple of seconds of breathing room if I targeted the one behind the one she was attacking. Zane suddenly shouted, ¡°Temptian Frigala!¡±, from behind me, making me glance back to see him holding his staff up and frowning in concentration at a point over the scorpion horde. I called Fist, turned and slashed at a scorpion pulling itself up the side of the stairs, trying to jab Skylark from the side, when I felt a gust of cold air flow over me. A swirling blue-grey cloud began forming thirty feet away, and twenty feet above the floor, and within seconds, ice began sleeting down to cover the scorpions, and the floor to within a few feet of where we were standing on the stairs. ¡°Moving up!¡± Shadow yelled, getting everyone to step backwards up the stairs. It looked like Skylark was finding that fighting something below her was somewhat awkward as her legs were bleeding from where the scorpions had cut her with their claws, getting me to cast a quick Heal her way. Zane¡¯s magical ice storm had frozen two-thirds of the scorpions, and they appeared to be encased in ice, though a few at the outer edges of the storm could still move slowly. That left about ten still on the stairs, and a couple who were managing to slowly climb up the sheer side. I took a quick look upward to see we were about half way, then turned back and raised Bruce as I called Holy Fire down on a point a couple of steps below Skylark. The ice storm was dissipating as the ring of fire formed and then flashed down to impact on one of the scorpions, turning it to ash, then a pile of gear as the ones around it were hit with thirty points of damage as the fire rolled over them. An ice spike zipped down from Zane¡¯s position to hit and knock one of the scorpions off the wall as Shadow yelled, ¡°Got it! One more to go!¡± I started to step backwards up the stairs when multiple messages appeared. Quest Complete¡­ Level Up¡­ Level Up¡­ You have¡­ I couldn¡¯t take the time to read any of them, and they disappeared when I wished them away, but the distraction was deadly as my foot managed to miss the stair, causing me to slip, then fall sideways and off the damn stairwell. I sort of swung Sam up in a desperate attempt to snag one of my partners, but this time Sam missed, his whip smacking into the wall behind Skylark. I was facing up, so my back hit one of the scorpions on the wall, knocking it off, and causing it to lead the way as we came to a very abrupt stop sixty feet later. I think the scorpion was pulped, but I had taken some damage myself and got to enjoy that amazingly uncomfortable moment when your diaphragm locks up and you try to convince it to let you breathe again. When I could draw in a huge gasp of air, I rolled to my feet and put my back to the wall, realizing as I did so that Bruce was still in my left hand. My back was throbbing, so I did a quick Heal as I assessed my predicament. Zane¡¯s spell had done a number on the scorpions down here, and the majority were icy lumps to my right and front, though there were still a fair number of active ones at the base of the stairs to my right. A glance upwards showed four above me still slowly climbing the side of the wall toward my partners. Right, time to get moving. I pulled a stun gem out, Sam having formed a gauntlet, yelled, ¡°Cowabunga assholes!¡±, and threw it at the group of scorpions at the base of the stairs, a few of whom were beginning to turn my way. The gem erupted into bolts of lightning that snapped and arced throughout the pack of scorpions, including the ones a few feet up the stairs, causing them all to shake and jitter in place, with the ones already damaged by the Holy Fire crumbling to ash. Sprinting toward them, I did a quick glance up the stairs and realized there were six of the scorpions still active between me and my team, so I did the reach into nothingness to grab another gem as I rounded the end of the stairs, used a twitching scorpion carapace to push against with my left foot, slammed Bruce into a scorpion on my left that was just begging for a walloping, and hopped up the first steps as I yelled, ¡°Cowabunga! Make a hole dickheads!¡±, and tossed the gem ahead of me. In my old unit, we had a saying, ¡®Nothing says hello like a grenade, so always lead with it¡¯, and it was definitely true in this situation. I bashed two more scorpions with Bruce as I went by, his electricity adding to the fun since none of the grenade¡¯s lightning touched me as I passed through the area of effect. Skylark was grinning as she said, ¡°Welcome back,¡± and saluted me with her sword before using it to begin slashing into the last few stunned scorpions still on the stairs. I scooted between her and the wall and found both Zane and Shadow watching me, Zane laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes, and Shadow shaking her head, her expression telling me she was wondering about my mental stability. ¡°Holy shit,¡± Zane said, as he wiped the tears off his face, ¡°that looked like fun.¡± I was tempted to push him off the stairs, just to let him have some of the fun you know, but decided not to as I gestured up the stairs to tell Shadow to get a move on. She gave me a bemused look, then grinned and yelled to the group, ¡°We¡¯re clear to the door!¡± She didn¡¯t wait for a response, just turned and dashed up the rest of the stairs as Zane and I followed, with Skylark pausing long enough to thrust downward to kill a scorpion that was coming up the side of the stairwell. motion to my right caused me to look over to see a couple dozen more scorpions scuttling out of the caves. ¡°It¡¯s not trapped or locked¡¯¡± Shadow said as the three of us crowded together beside her. The grenade¡¯s stun looked like it was fading when I glanced back down the stairs, so I turned back and said, ¡°Go ahead,¡± as Skylark said, ¡°Go ahead and open it. Go in if it looks clear.¡±Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. We were all pretty pumped up, so when Shadow pulled the door open, took a quick glance, and yelled, ¡°Clear!¡±, we let out a collective yell and surged into the torch-lit hallway the door opened into. If anything had been there it would have probably died of fright, but it was truly clear of any dangers. Skylark shut the door behind us and we all sort of took a slow breath and lowered our weapons. ¡°We¡¯ll take a break and let Shadow check ahead of us,¡± Skylark said. She looked over to get a nod from Shadow, then said, ¡°You guys get your mana reserves back up since I¡¯m betting it¡¯ll get more interesting at the end of the hallway.¡± That worked for me. I slid down to a sitting position against the wall, then called up the messages that almost got me killed. The first one said: Quest complete! Retrieve a book from Lor Frell for Librarian Weldon. Much was lost to the dragons, but it was not just weapons and treasures the Clans wished returned. The return of the Histories of Clan Frell, Clan Koss, and Clan Daana has been the reason for many expeditions over the centuries. Quest Bonus! Retrieve Harn el Teras-Kana The first piece of the Hammerfist has been found! Who shall lead the clans to greatness? Cool beans, a double! First time I¡¯d heard of bonus quests, but I was all for it, especially since it wasn¡¯t like we would have left that hammer behind. It sounded like the other two cities, Lor Koss on the coast of the Forbidden Lands, and Lor Daana of the border of the Blight, each had their own book that would be worth some experience. It was the last line though that gave me pause, ¡°Who shall lead the clans to greatness?¡± This world was pretty tricky about setting people up for a hurting, and that sure sounded like future trouble to me. Level Up! Level Up! The next two were level up messages, which meant I got a double level up out of the whole thing. They opened together, then left behind; You have gained one attribute point to distribute You have gained two new spells You may Enhance one spell Telina¡¯s Enhancing Touch The priest can call upon Telina to grant a 10% + 1% / level bonus to Strength, Dexterity, and Stamina, to one person, up to a maximum of 100% Priest must touch the person to cast the spell Duration: 5 seconds / level Once a day 200 Mana/use Telina¡¯s Curse When cast upon a living creature, that creature will suffer from ill-luck that will manifest depending on the priest¡¯s level. Level 1-10: 10% reduced stamina, 10% increase in damage taken from attacks, 10% reduction in dexterity. Level 11-20: The above affects increased to 20%, plus 25% increase in damage taken from elemental attacks, 25% chance that attempts to cast spells will be interrupted, and 15% chance that the cursed creature will injure themselves while attacking. Level 21-30: The above affects, plus 10% chance that the creatures weapon will break when hitting something, 10% chance that a random creature will appear and attack, and 5% chance that any hit taken will result in death. Level 31-40: The above affects, plus 25% chance that the creature will be temporarily blinded, 10% chance that the creatures armor will be destroyed, and 100% chance the creature will suffer a permanent five point reduction in their primary attribute. Duration: 1 hour 150 Mana/use Enhancing a Spell Priest chooses one spell to enhance and the primary benefit of enhancing that spell will be shown, at which point the priest will choose whether to enhance the spell. Ok, this was going to take a while.The curse thing sounded like it would be a lot of fun, though right now it mostly sounded like it generally just weakened them. Of course that was just the lead in to enhancing spells. I remembered what my mage friend Sienna said about enhancing spells and how everyone was tricked by the way the system presented the information. She bucked the trend and chose to enhance the Magic Missile spell, contrary to popular opinion, and ended up being seriously over-powered. Well, I might as well start with the obvious one. A list of my spells showed up, very obviously missing the Rune, Portal, and Potion spells, but also missing a bunch of others, as well as the two I just got. Whatever, I focused on the Telina¡¯s Flame spell, and got: Telina¡¯s Flame: Enhancing this spell will increase splash damage to 50% I dismissed that message, seeing very clearly what Sienna had meant about the information being misleading. My message mentioned one simple positive affect of the enhancement, which could mean there was a whole lot of negative affects I didn¡¯t know about. I quickly ran through the rest of my spells, with only a couple showing me anything of interest. Telina¡¯s Fist: Enhancing this spell allows the priest to cast double strength spells at twice the normal mana cost. Telina¡¯s Beneficent Word: Enhancing this spell will reduce cool down by 50%, increase healing by 2% / level, and restore the priest¡¯s mana. Telina¡¯s Minor Shield of Transmutation: Enhancing this spell will allow the priest to release the elemental energy at a time of his choosing. Allows the priest to choose if spell energy is used to heal party members or restore their mana. Increases maximum converted energy to 20 + 15 points/level. Resurrection: Enhancing this spell means the priest can cast the spell after a creature has died and return them to life at the point of their death with no loss of level. Now, no matter which one I chose, I would probably end up with regrets, but sitting on the floor in a hallway after a fight with a bunch of scorpions, my choice was clear. The problem I think most of us have in this reality is that unlike the old one, here, things do happen for a reason. I had been considering how my life here had been going, and my aggravation at not being a warrior type, but the truth was, Tennant did me a favor by making me a priest. One on one, my bag of tricks made me one of the most dangerous Eternals in this reality. Before doing anything though, I pulled up a couple waiting messages to read: You have one attribute point to assign And, Serpent¡¯s Strike: You have reached level 16. You can now absorb spells after they have been cast, but before they strike you. This includes any visible, damage inducing spell of an elemental or gaseous nature, as well as energy based projectiles spells. The spell can then be stored and cast on any following strike of your choosing, though only one spell may be absorbed at a time. Silencing or Disarming an opponent cannot be done on the same strike when casting a stored spell. The attribute point went to Wisdom, as I needed to continue working on my mana pool. As for Sam¡¯s new trick, well, we¡¯d have to see how easily that really worked. I pulled up the Enhancing message again, then plucked Resurrection from the list and accepted it as my choice. Resurrection (Enhanced) Cast on self or others, before or within one day after their death. When cast upon a living creature, that creature may choose a new spawn point or choose to be resurrected at the place of their next death with no loss of level. When cast, within one day, upon the location of a creatures demise, you may choose to resurrect them with no loss of level at that location, or select for them a new spawn point location that you have visited. (Cool down: 3 days) Cue wicked laugh. I actually hadn¡¯t meant to really laugh, but it came out, anyway, drawing looks from Skylark and Zane. _____________ Aaaand the stats: Healer Priest (Dragonsbane) Level 16 STR 10 (13) DEX 10 (22) STA 20 INT 10 (11) WIS 18 (21) Health: 340 Mana: 210 Endurance: 200 Armor: 47 base : (24 spell) : x 1.3 = 71 base (92 spell) Defender of the Faith Priest focuses on aiding those in need and protecting the oppressed. Spells will focus on group and individual protection and aid, while the priest''s personal aura will become a healing channel for your goddess''s will. Blessing spells now apply to all allied creatures within ten feet of priest Healing spells cost half mana +10 points health/level 10% damage reflected back on attacker Armor 30% stronger Priest''s aura does following for allies within 10 feet of player:: +5% hit damage boost to party members (+5% every 10th level) +25% mana restore rate Spells: Telina''s Gaze Applies 65 points (+20%) of healing to the user or any creature selected 10 Mana/use Telina''s Fist Applies 65(-15%) points of damage when activated and a successful hit is made 20 Mana/use (effective hit) Telina''s Restoring Touch Restores mages mana when touched by transferring priests mana. Amount of mana restored chosen by priest Each point restored removes one point of priest''s mana. Cannot transfer more than presently held by the priest Cure Disease Cures disease (Level+10) of any creature touched 40 Mana/use Telina''s Holy Blessing On creature: 25% increase in hit damage and hit chance 70% increase in healing rate Duration: 6 hours On flora: 75% increase in growth rate 80% crop amount 40 Mana/Use (Does not stack) Create Potions (Cool down 12 hours) Healing potion: Vial of water with Telina''s Blessing + Telina''s Gaze Healing= Telina''s Gaze + Telina''s Blessing + 2(Faith) Cure Disease potion: Vial of water with Telina''s Blessing + Cure Disease Cures any disease Level 75 and below Mana Restoration potion: Vial of water with Telina''s Blessing + Telina''s Restoring Touch Mana restoration =Amount of mana chosen (not more than presently available) Telina''s Flame Holy fire strikes to cause 120 points damage to creature chosen Splash damage: 25% damage to enemy creatures within 10 ft Double damage to undead (+5/level to 120 damage) 75 Mana/use Dispel Magic Dispel Level+5 magic on creature or area chosen -Does not dispel enchanted objects or potions -Does not dispel own castings (Cool down 4 hours) 75 Mana/use Create Rune Ability to learn and place runes of power Player determines activation requirements (Cool down 3 days) Rune of Flame: When activated by user will do 100 points +5/level of fire damage 100 Mana when placed Rune of Retention Placed on an item, it will allow the priest to store prepared spells for later use. Requirements: Item that has not already been enchanted through standard means A Mage may imbue the item with the spell by casting it upon the item, but Blessing by a priest after a spell is placed is required to retain it Others may activate item if specifically identified by priest when placing the first blessing Command word spoken when placed, then to release the prepared spell while holding the item If more than one charge of the same spell is placed, the same command word is used, releasing a single instance of the spell each time More than one type of spell may be placed, to a maximum of three spells Spells can not mix Mage and Priest types Item may receive a replacement spell after use of one, but must be the same spell Usable once every seven days, though after placement of rune, item may receive spells at any time Rune of Lightning Lightning: When activated will do 150 points of shock damage to a single creature, and stun for 5 seconds + 1 sec/level of caster Chain Lightning: When activated will do 50 points of shock damage and stun for 10 seconds all creatures within twenty feet that meet activation requirements Mana required to cast: 180 Rune of Safeguarding Creates an impregnable barrier across an opening that prevents access to any who do not meet the entry requirements set by the caster. Access requirements determined by Caster Requires 10 mana/square foot Telina''s Protective Aura Player receives 10+level armor bonus for 2 hours (+30%) (Does not stack) 40 Mana/use Resurrection (Enhanced) Cast on self or others, before or within one day after their death. When cast upon a living creature, that creature may choose a new spawn point or choose to be resurrected at the place of their next death with no loss of level. When cast, within one day, upon the location of a creatures demise, you may choose to resurrect them with no loss of level at that location, or select for them a new spawn point location that you have visited. (Cool down: 3 days) Group Heal Heals completely all allies within 100 feet Once a day 140 mana Create Portal Connect two points via an archway Requirements: One end of a portal must be within the aura of a shrine to Telina The end situated close to the shrine must be defined by a carved, circular archway of 12 feet diameter. The other end must be defined by an entryway. A cave entrance, room doorway, or something similar. To prepare the portal. After placing the circular stone archway, it must first receive Telina''s blessing. Within 21 days, the other end must be chosen, and a blessing placed on the entryway. The blessing must be repeated once a day for four days. Within 21 days, the circular archway must receive another blessing to bind the portal. When completed, the portal may be used by anyone who has received Telina''s blessing. Telina''s Beneficent Word Shouting this holy word will cause all who hear it to do the following Friends: Heal 50% +1%/level of accumulated damage. Restore 50% +1%/level of used mana Dispel all enemy spells presently active. Enemies: Do 8 points/level of damage (Double damage to undead) Stun for 1 second/level (Cannot be silenced) Mana: 200 (One day cool down) Telina''s Minor Shield of Transmutation Elemental Conversion: Priest''s aura blocks damaging elemental attacks and channels it into the priest''s next weapon''s strike Spell Conversion: Priest''s aura blocks an enemy''s non-elemental spell and channels it into restoring mana for any party members *An enemy spell or elemental attack is completely blocked, but a maximum of 20 + 10 points/level of enemy spell mana or elemental energy is converted, after which the spell must be cast again. 180 Mana/use (Cool down: 1 Hour) +20% Healing Spell -15% Spell Damage + 1.3% hand to hand + 96% light armor + 89% Blunt Weapon + 95% Concentration + 95% Cooking + 94% Repair Legendary Weapon: Serpent Strike Bond: 59% The Safe Traveller (Necklace) +3 Wisdom +3 Dexterity +8 Armor Ring of Serizon +1 Strength +1 Dexterity +2 Armor Warrior''s Heart (Ring) +3 Strength +2 Dexterity +4 Armor Serpent''s Strike -1 Strength +3 Dexterity +1 Intelligence Leather Armor of Telina''s Light 25 Armor 15% Magic resistance +4 to dodge Once a day player may send out a blast of holy light that blinds opponents within 50 feet for 10 seconds Eridan''s Boots of Dancing +3 Dexterity Usable by: All Bracers of Diligent Defense +8 Armor +2 Dexterity +4 Dodge Usable by: All Mace of Holy Lightning (Bruce the Mighty) 18-32 damage +10% hit chance 10 points electrical damage 60/60 durability Serpent''s Strike (Sam) As one of the legendary weapons created by Xirat Krisnon, Serpent''s Strike must be won in battle. This weapons capabilities are determined by the wielder''s skill, experience level, attributes, actions, and intent. Wielder be warned, once earned in battle, it cannot be removed, and a legendary weapon takes great patience to truly master. Becoming one with it''s wielder, the Serpent will draw strength through the bond. -1 Strength +3 Dexterity +1 to attribute of choice other than strength, for every 10 experience levels earned Damage: 1 point/level of impact damage 1 point/level of elemental damage (type determined during strike) Level 1-5: Wielder may channel a spell through the weapon with 20% less mana required Level 6-10: Wielder is capable of hitting targets up to 50 feet away. Wielder may cast silence once per day upon successful strike. Level 11-15: Wielder can disarm an opponent with a successful strike against the opponents weapon Level 16-20: Weapon strike can absorb incoming spells, then Wielder can direct the damage on any following strike. Level 21 and above: ?? NOT WORN Ring of Wisdom +1 to player''s Wisdom attribute