by Taj McCoy El
1 Class Specific Plan:
Arrow Tower (engineer)
1 Class Specific ornament:
Tork of the Fleet (Ranger)
1 Class Specific Raiment:
(Cowl of Silence)
Greaves of darkness
Skaduweesp titan’s War cleaver
Vial of Umbrosia x3
3 Gold
Ding!!!
You have unlocked the entrance to the Lürkinmürk
As she read the final line of text, she heard the sound of stone upon stone and the fountain rose. They all went to investigate and found a stairway that circled down into the depths.
“Wanna go investigate before we port out?” Mayah asked.
“And get roped into another part of a dungeon?” Grax was almost screaming. "I say Nay! Nay and nay, again!”
Mayah held up her hands to placate Grax. “Okay, cat, just asking.”
“Plus, it’s time for lunch. I don’t have amazing pods like you guys.”
“Amazing, he says.” Margaret rolled her eyes.
"I wish I could go get lunch,” Mayah said softly.
“Ah, geez. I’m sorry Fluff I didn’t mean it like that.” Grax stood there, scratching his head with an awkward grimace on his face.
“Gotcha!!!” Mayah punched him in the arm and laughed.
“Fluff!!!” Margaret railed bringing Mayah up short. “That’s not funny. What if you were really upset about being here and were having some type of breakdown? I can barely stand to watch you being trapped in here as it is.”
Now, it was Mayah’s turn to stand there with an awkward grimace.
“Sorry, Mags. I was just messing around. But I see your point. I’ll refrain from using my captivity as a form of humor—for clarity's sake.”
“Thank you, dear.”
Grax stretched his arms above his head. “Well, let’s get back to the safe zone and we’ll check this Lürkinmürk tomorrow.”
“I’m gonna go back the long way.”
“Why in heaven’s name would you do that, dear?”
“Well, two reasons.” Her teammates looked at her, waiting patiently. "I have to feed Vergie, and once she goes back to the clearing, she’ll disappear because her timer is up. Two, I need to level up my rötten.”
“Well, how would you do that?” Margaret stared at her.
“There's a shed not too far from the gate where I found them. I was gonna let them grind in there for a bit. They really haven’t been that helpful, and I’m gonna need them to be. If I get them strong enough, I can take them into Vuurmin fields and level them there for a bit before we leave the dungeon.”
Margaret put her hands on Mayah’s shoulders. “You can’t keep doing this? You need to get some rest.”
Grax shrugged.
“What? You think this is okay?” she asked the cat.
“As long as she lays down by two o’clock, she’ll be rested in game. And since we know she’s not going to die if she gets killed, I say it’s her life. One question though, what are these mobs like?”
“Level 2 or 3”
“Yeah she’ll be fine.” He walked towards the port stone. “See you tomorrow.”
“You can’t be serious about leaving her here to do this?”
Grax just waved, put his hand on the port stone and disappeared.
“That cat!” Margaret stomped a foot.
“Calm down, Mags. It’s not that serious. If you want to tag along, you can. But don’t forget, I have Vergie and the rötten to help me out.”
“Like I’d be able to sleep knowing you were in this horrible place.”
“But looking on the bright side…” Mayah raised a finger, “now that we can see in the dark, I wonder what’s in this temple?”
Margaret looked around and saw nothing but darkness.
“How does this boon work?”
“Let’s try it out.”
They crossed over one of the bridges and walked past the columns and received a notification.
Boon active: Shadow Eye
Now you will be able to see in any darkness not of a magical variety. You will be immune to any shadow magic that tries to block your vision.
Margaret looked around in awe. The ground was painted with black ink in a mosaic of patterns. They saw the wall in the distance and made for a niche near the corner. The patterns on the floor seemed to gather pressure and tried to subtly move them away from the niche. Mayah looked at the ground for a moment and Margaret grabbed her by the hand. She looked up and was heading back towards the courtyard.
“Strange magics are work in this place,” she muttered.
She turned back towards the niche making sure to keep her eyes on the prize and a hand on Margaret’s hand. When they finally stood in front of the niche a dark crystal floated there.
Margaret’s hand reached out to touch the crystal, and Mayah pulled her back.
"I don’t know about this crystal.”
“What do you mean?”
This is a temple and this crystal has been hidden in the darkness. Normally I would jump all over this. But the god of this temple just gave us a boon. I don’t want to piss it off.”
Mayah reached a finger towards the crystal and sure enough the hairs on her hand stood up. The sensation went all the way to the back of her neck and tickled her lizard brain. She snatched her finger back.
“It’s too easy.”
She studied the niche and found a circle with inward pointing arrows ringing it. The arrows started out side of the circle and ended with their points inside the circle. She blew the dust from the bottom of the niche making herself cough.
When the fit subsided, there was a marking in the circle.
Ding!!!
You have learned the rune
Gather (S)
When she realized that it was a runeagram, she pulled out her runebook and looked it up
Gather (S)
Gather the shadow energy that is free floating around you and turn it into shadow mana. Shadow is one of eight facets of wild mana. Shadow mana can be used to power anything that uses shadow mana. Anything that this rune is applied to will take on characteristics of shadow.
At Level 1 Gather (S) will collect 3 Mana points of Shadow mana per minute from wild mana and will accept shadow mana diverted to it freely. Gather (S) will gather shadow faster in dark and shadowy places. Will gather up to 1 xMana cost shadow mana
Gather (S)
Level:
1
Duration:
N/A
Mana cost:
300
Cooldown:
2 minutes
Gather shadows for use? Use in what?
She looked at the crystal that was also covered by dust. She blew on it and the crystal spun in the breeze. As it did, Mayah noticed another rune on it. She waited for it to slow down enough to see it clearly, and then copied it into her runebook. It had no name or definition or even mana cost.
“Okay, Mags, if I can figure out what that rune is, we may come back for this crystal but as it stands don’t touch it.” Mayah stepped back from the niche.
“After you pulled your hand back, I had no intentions of touching it.”
“Good. We’ll give this place a thorough looking over tomorrow when Grax is here. He’d be pissed if we went on a secret adventure without him.”
“So! Stupid cat,” Margaret railed.
“Can’t say I disagree with your feelings, but there are rules to being teammates, and we are teammates.”
“Hmphh!”
“Well, c’mon. It’s almost midnight, and I want to get these guys leveled a bit.” They walked towards the temple gate. And made it out into the main avenue. The city remained in a state of unnatural stillness. Even though the ladies knew what lay in the darkness and that they could conquer it, it still tickled their nerves and paranoia.
“Paranoia on?” Mayah asked Margaret.
“Always,” Margaret replied succinctly.
�
��Good girl.” Mayah patted Margaret on the arm and walked towards the shed.
11.9 Three Piece and a Biscuit
Ugo Butler, the eldest patriarch remembered by Jomo Butler, stared into his grandson’s eyes. Mo stared back. The scene behind Ugo was unfamiliar to Mo. It was like stars swimming in a pool of water.
Ugo Butler reached towards his grandson with aged hands. Hands with so many wrinkles. So many, that Mo had lost count. Those hands were so strong they anchored the time and space around them. Anchoring a tiny hand that would remember this moment through time and spirit. But that was a hand from the past.
This hand was the same hand, but it was now. It reached out to him and stroked his cheek.
Ugo smiled. That playful smile that always held mischief and approval. Sometimes filled with plans of cookie stealing subterfuge and obfuscation.
Mo smiled, Ugo’s smile deepening into a look of pride that filled his heart with love. He opened his mouth to ask his grandfather something. That was when the hand pushed his face and his view of the world spun.
He woke, arms flailing, but he failed to stop himself before hitting the floor.
He instantly looked around for Bonkers and realized he was in the hay barn and had fallen off the bale he was sleeping on. He spit some loose bits of straw out of his face and stood up. The moonlight came in through a high window of the barn and motes of dust floated through the moonbeams.
I’m not getting back to sleep after that dream. Might as well go for a walk.
He looked out of the door into the farmyard. Construction on the new roosts was proceeding well. The chickens would have more room to move, and they would be less prone to escape. This proved that the knockers would be a beneficial asset once they got their reputation sorted.
Mo looked up at the night sky and saw the stars twinkling in the sky. He stepped out into the moonlight the bright full moon came into view. Mo took a deep breath of the almost chill night air. The temperature was extremely comfortable, and Mo wished he had a hoodie. Not because he was cold but because he loved hoodies and how they would smoosh his face.
Walking along he saw knockers laying where they fell asleep. Loud snores and a few snorts and mumbles reached his ears from time to time, but it was mostly quiet with insects chirping in the distance.
Deciding he wanted a little solitude he hopped over the fence leading to the forest and found himself in the field full of holes and laid down in the grass. As he stared at the stars in the night sky, he contemplated the wizened visage of his grandfather and wondered what the dream meant. Whenever he dreamt of the old man something strange would happen.
There was the time he dreamed of his grandfather making him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and the next day he got into a fight. If he had been more aware, he could’ve avoided it and the black eye. But as it stood, he got suspended and the worst part was the punishment his parents gave him.
Then there was the time he dreamt of Grandpa Ugo teaching him how to count on his tiny fingers. Next day he almost got hit by a car. He had to dive out of the way to avoid it.
Mo was more than a little suspicious that something was about to happen. As he recalled each dream the following memories were of a dangerous sort. Like his grandfather was warning him about something.
Every time, old man. Every time. He pulled at the grass and split the blades apart trying to settle his thoughts.
Even though the events following those dreams were on the dangerous side it reminded Mo how much he missed him.
It was good to see your face again for a little bit, Old Man, Mo smiled thinking about the smile. That reassuring smile that said, “You got this.”
Mo looked around and peered deep into the shadows and found nothing amiss. The night was quiet and peaceful. The grass tickled his ear, and he shook his head and slapped at his ear to scratch it. That’s when he heard it.
A tree branch cracked inside the edge of the forest. He rolled over and lay flat on his stomach and took a deep breath and watched and waited. There were lots of reasons a branch might crack. A nocturnal animal may be jumping through the branches. Or a night bird may have landed on a dead branch. Just when he thought his mind was playing tricks on him, more cracks came from the forest. These were the cracks of big branches. The sound rolled out across the field like a gun going off and the sound was getting closer.
He opened the party chat.
Booms: Anybody there?
Davemarth: What?
Booms: I got motion in the forest. Start waking people up quietly
Davemarth: they’re not gonna be too keen about it.
Booms: I bet they’d be less keen over being dead.
There were no more messages as Mo studied the area the sounds had come from intently. A hand pressed itself across Mo’s mouth and it stifled the scream that wanted to come out.
“This bett’ah be good.”
Mo breathed a sigh of relief as he realized it was only Bonkers. He pulled the man’s hand off his face.
"I keep hearing tree branches break in the forest. Whatever it is its big enough to make a lot of noise.” He pointed the general direction.
Bonkers squinted up his eyes, and then they opened wide and small gasp came from him. Three enemy tags popped up on Mo’s map.
Bonkers: Wake everyone up and get them ready. QUIETLY!!!
Davemarth: Sure.
Besides the lack of decorum Mo knew that Davemarth would follow Bonkers’ orders to the letter.
I think he scares most of the knockers as well.
“So, what’s the plan.”
“Don’t have one as yet.”
Mo looked out over the field.
“If we had a map of the field telling us where the holes were, do you think we might be able to slow them down out here in the open?”
“How would we do that?”
“With Ziggs’ scans and Crassels cartography we could update the party’s maps and everyone should be able to see the holes, right?”
“Gor’blimey! That’s an excellent idea.”
Mo started typing.
Booms Ziggs find Crassel and show him all the scans of the holes in the field. Let him make a map, and then update the party map with the info. Everyone else wait until your map updates, and then move out towards us. Be careful the chickens are in the woods.
The chickens were slowly and not so quietly working their way through the trees, cracking branches every now and again. A wind whipped at the edge of the forest when a whole tree fell over about ten yards inside the tree line.
“Big chonking chickens!” Mo exclaimed in a whisper.
“That they are boy-o. Oi guess if oi call in moy A-team, we can end this quest tonight.”
You haven’t been using your A team?”
“Ta’fight chickens? Nah. Oi told them to sit back and let the others get a taste of combat. Foighting a man is one thing but when youse start Foighting foire chickens you get a bit more experience—as well as experience.”
“So, who’s your A team?”
“You’ll see.” Bonkers then began typing into his interface.
Bonkers: Davemarth, set Riller in charge and get the rest of the team up here.
Davemarth didn’t reply but he could imagine the man’s grunt in his mind. Shortly afterwards he saw Treegan running across the field. And he was moving more agilely across the terrain than Mo would have thought possible. Whenever his foot fell into a hole it was like there was another layer of earth right below it allowing the large man to practically fly over the terrain. At times he would leap and soar over two or three holes that were visible in the ground. Running in his wake were three other knockers.
“How does he move so fast?”
“He’s been loike that since e’were a wee lad. People think he got blessed by a god because there’s nothing to account for it on ‘is stat sheet.”
Treegan and the four others rapidly descended on their position and laid down in the grass. Treegan laid down right next to Mo
and gave him that big goofy grin. Mo clapped a hand on his shoulder.
Davemarth laid down next to Bonkers and just grunted. The other three Mo recognized as Chonchaise, Portquise, and Grimsaw.
“So, boys, we’ve got ourselves a roight pickle, we ’ave. The three last chickens and accordin’ta Driskel’s boy, seven elemental crystals. Best case scenario we get a three-crystal chicken. worst case, a foiver.
“Our job is gon’ta be pushing them away from the coops. If they release the other chickens this’ll be a roight stonking raspberry. Treegan, one of these birds is going to need your hands-on touch. See if you can find the biggest one and put it down first. Davemarth, you and Grimsaw take one on a holding action. Chonchaise you and Portquise hit the other chicken as it runs free. We need them separated so they don’t overlap attacks.
We’ll let the others form groups and push from outsoide of the fence. Here, here and here.” He made points on the map about twenty yards from the fence. Booms, you just stay quiet and hit targets of opportunity. Don’t stay in combat, you’ll just mess up out teamwork. Get those paladin friends o’yours out here too. If needs be, we can sacrifice youse for the greater good.”
“For the greater good.” All of the other knockers repeated the phrase.
Mo was taken aback and stared at all the knockers until Bonkers clapped him on the shoulder and said, “Ziggs told us that would spook you.”