The Adventurers Bond

by Tao Wong

  The Adventurers Bond

  Book 5 of the Adventures on Brad

  By Tao Wong

  The Adventurers Bond

  License Notes

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Copyright © 2019 Tao Wong. All rights reserved.

  Copyright © 2019 Felipe deBarros Cover Artist

  Copyright © 2019 Sarah Anderson Cover Designer

  ISBN: 9781775380993

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  THE END

  Author’s Note

  Chapter 1

  The party of five Adventurers traversed the first level of Aramis - one of Silverstone’s three dungeons - carefully, heads swivelling in slow order as they checked their surroundings. The six-foot-wide walkway of stone they walked upon joined one magically-levitated platform to another, crossing empty space at a stomach-churning height. Below, wisps of mist hid and revealed additional platforms and walkways beneath them. On occasion, the screech of an imp or the low chittering sounds of their conversation floated upward to the party.

  A stout figure in simple brown and green leather moved at the head of the group, bow held in one hand and a trio of arrows in the other. Occasionally, the figure would stop and crouch low as it stared at the ground before rising and moving forward again with a small wave of their hand. Brown hair, shorn short and rough along the skull, framed a pair of liquid brown eyes, a slightly curved nose and thin lips. A small scar bisected one eyebrow, giving the teenage Ranger a more sinister air.

  “We will not clear this floor at this rate,” rumbled Omrak, the large blond barbarian from the North, as he walked behind the Ranger, his massive two-handed sword held in hand and resting on his shoulder. Sheathed alongside his enchanted, soft leather tunic was a trio of throwing axes, held in place by a simple leather baldric. Along one tree-trunk sized leg a short sword hung, appearing deceptively small, like a large knife, strapped to his thigh.

  The Ranger stiffened slightly before continuing to move at her original slow pace. Daniel rubbed his nose with his shield hand, briefly blocking his view. In his other hand, the rockbow rested lightly, waiting for Daniel to load and fire the specialized weapon as he trudged just behind Omrak. He looked over at the youngster and decided – once again – against requesting the barbarian to speak softer.

  “We’re here to learn to work together, Omrak, not clear the floor,” Daniel consoled the Northerner softly. “I’d rather we learn to do so here than in Artos. At least here we know the dangers.”

  “A good decision,” the Mage who walked directly beside Daniel agreed. He turned sideways, smiling ingratiatingly at Daniel while he waved a ringed hand at their surroundings. Daniel noted once again the surprisingly calloused and scarred pair of hands, a contrast to the refined appearance other Mages often showcased. Dark, glistening hair and a beard adorned the Mage’s head, hair once again slicked back by the waving hand after he finished gesturing. “Though our companion’s speed is low.”

  “Trap-finding,” Asin, the only Catkin member of the five, said. Her tail waved behind her lazily as she watched the back of the group from her position ten steps behind, her keen senses having picked up the conversation between the trio. Unlike the heavily armed and armored pair, the Catkin had on a light leather brigandine that covered her torso, a short cloak and crisscrossing baldrics of throwing knives across her body. More throwing knives sat on her thighs and upper arms, and a pair of larger knives sat on her hips for close-combat.

  “But there is only one type of trap on this floor,” said Omrak. “We should be seeking battle!”

  “If you don’t quieten down, I’m sure we’ll find some,” the Mage replied with a grimace and turned back to his side of the walkway to scan for trouble.

  “I am quiet, Rob,” Omrak hissed insistently, even going so far as to turn around to glare at the Mage. Instead, he met Daniel’s placid brown eyes.

  “Eyes forward, Omrak. You know better,” Daniel said. The Northerner flushed but nodded, swinging back around and hurrying to get back into line, eyeing both the empty skies and the misty clouds below. Eventually, the quintet made their way to a larger, more stable platform where Daniel held a hand up, signalling a stop.

  “Alright. I think that’s enough for now. Thank you, Tula,” Daniel said. The Ranger bobbed her head slightly, accepting Daniel’s words and making him smile slightly. Tula amused him as the young lady was a happy, outspoken woman outside the dungeon. But inside, she became as quiet and taciturn as Asin. “It looks like your trap detecting abilities are slower than Asin’s. Maybe it’s because they’re more suited for the outdoors. Either way, I’d like to adjust our positioning.”

  “Finally,” Omrak grumbled.

  Ignoring the blond, Daniel continued to speak. “Asin, you take the front. Omrak will be behind her, ten feet back. Tula, you and Rob will be in the middle to provide ranged support. I’ll take the back.”

  When he received confirmation from the group about their new formation, Daniel smiled. So far, at least, there had not been any major conflicts of personalities. Luckily, they were all Advanced adventurers and as such, each had some modicum of experience in Dungeons. The idiots, the foolhardy hotheads and those who could not work in teams did not often progress pass Beginner Dungeons.

  “Let’s rest here for ten minutes, and then we’ll try to push for the Floor Champion.”

  Omrak grinned widely at these words while the others just nodded in affirmation. As the group spread out to watch one corner of the platform each, they reached for their trail rations, pulling from their inventory water and a simple mixtures of nuts, fruits and dried meat. Daniel noted how Tula, while not having the actual Adventurer Class, had a Skill of her own which allowed her to conveniently store her belongings in the small satchel by her side.

  “Enchanted holding?” Asin asked, her head cocked curiously to the side when she saw Rob pull his rations from a pendant on his chest.

  “Yes,” Rob said, touching the pendant. “A gift from my Master.” There was a hint of warning in his voice, a sign that avarice towards this item would bring significant consequences from an irate Master Mage.

  “Expensive?” Asin said.

  “Very much so. Enchanted work like this is in extreme demand because it requires a significant understanding of spatial magic,” Rob said. “It is a specialized field and is expensive to develop. More so than other forms of enchanting.”

  Daniel nodded slowly. He absently wondered if spatial magic was a specialization of a Class which would be made available at Level 20 or if it was just an area of focus. Of course, he did not ask, as Classes could be a touchy subject. The Focused, in particular, were touchy about levels. The F
ocused were people like Tula who had received and stuck to a single Class since their age of majority, a choice made when their initial ‘Minor’ Class had been given up. This allowed the Focused to gain significant levels since they were not ‘splitting’ their experience gain across multiple Classes. It did, however, reduce the variety of Skills they had access to and made it simpler to grasp their strength if their Levels were known. As such, discussing Classes and Skills in detail were anathema to the Focused.

  In truth, Daniel considered the Focused the lucky ones – able to choose a profession when they reached their age of majority rather than have one forced upon them like most Farmers, Miners and those of the lower classes. Certainly, there were Focused Miners, but they were more often a case of circumstance than choice. They certainly did not go about flaunting their status. Not that Tula or Rob had. Yet.

  Conversation petered out soon after, the quartet chewing and drinking quickly while allowing their bodies to rest. It was Tula who first noticed the incoming horde - a swarm of three-foot-tall, red-skinned creatures with black claws and web-like wings. Tula let out a low cry of warning as she swiftly stood, her bow in hand and an arrow snatched from the ground where it had been stuck point first.

  “Two dozen,” Tula reported as she squinted. She frowned slightly, spotting a much larger Imp lagging behind the swarm of red-skinned, black-clawed flying monsters. Swiftly, she drew the string to her cheek and fired, grasping a second arrow immediately even as the Ranger activated her first Skill, Arrow Storm.

  This was the first time Daniel had a chance to observe the Ranger’s Skill. Arrow Storm created multiple temporary copies from a single arrow which flew in a wide or tight arrangement around the original as desired by its user. With time and experience, Tula would be able to guide those impermanent arrows to their target better, but for now, they flew unguided in a wide formation towards the Imps. Even so, the swarm of imps was forced to take evasive action, flapping their tiny wings as they dodged the incoming projectiles, leaving only a pair injured, one fatally. Still, the attack gave the other Adventurers the break they required.

  Rockbow braced against his shoulder, Daniel exhaled before pulling the trigger. The rockbow was a modified crossbow that threw explosive rocks into the air, sending tiny shards flying towards the Imps. The weapon was nothing more than an annoyance to larger creatures but to the smaller Imps with their fragile wings, it could be deadly as Daniel showcased. Already turning aside from the initial attack by Tula, a trio of Imps were caught and bunched tightly together when the Adventurer fired. The crack of the stone flying through the air and the shriek of the Imps accompanied each other as the rocks shred the thin membranes of the creatures’ wings. In a second, the trio of monsters were sent spiraling into the abyss below.

  With the two dedicated ranged weapons unleashed, the Imps flapped their wings quicker as they wheeled around, lining up to tear into the party. It was then that they met the next layer of the Adventurers’ defenses. Firstly, Asin’s throwing knives flashed in the pale blue Mana light of the Dungeon, catching the monsters in their chests as they unerringly struck their target. Each knife carried with it a small charge from the Catkin’s lightning-enchanted bracers, shocking the monsters, long enough for Omrak to wield his oversized sword to slice apart the distracted monsters as they were gliding in.

  Once the remaining Imps made it past Omrak, Daniel was ready with his shield to defend himself and Rob. Rather than drop his rockbow, the Adventurer focused on defense at the moment, hoping to get a second effective shot with the weapon when the Imps passed by.

  In addition, star-shaped and pointed enchanted spikes activated around Rob, flying forwards and homing in on the nearest Imps. Even a last-minute jerk from the monsters was too slow, allowing each of the pair of enchanted defenses to tear into and exit the monster’s chests. Together, the pair of darts wove their way through the air around the mage. This last defense deterred all but the bravest of monsters, forcing them off. And those which refused to back off were Shield Bashed aside by Daniel.

  Monsters which fell to the ground were quickly dispatched by the Adventurers, facing death by knife, sword or boot. Working together, the quintet made short work of the larger than normal swarm of Imps. As the Imps dissolved into blue motes, leaving behind tiny Mana stones, Daniel found himself exhaling with relief. At least no one stabbed anyone else in the back. Literally or figuratively.

  “Mine!” Asin growled at Rob who was in the process of storing a few looted Mana stones in a pouch by his side.

  “This is a party pouch,” Rob said, his back straightening at the Catkin’s tone. “I have separated my personal funds from it.”

  “Actually, we generally let Asin store and track the stones,” Daniel said hesitantly.

  “That makes no logical sense. If the Catkin were to fall into a trap or her corpse be otherwise irretrievable, we would lose all our earnings,” Rob protested. “It is illogical to not split our collection.”

  “Well, it’s what we’ve done before,” Daniel muttered. He grimaced slightly, realising he didn’t know how to explain the reason for the rule to Rob. At least without potentially insulting his long-time Catkin friend. After all, he had allowed Asin to collect the stones because she liked doing so. And Omrak had never protested, being the easy-going individual that he was. After that, it just had become habit.

  “Traditions are but shackles of the past,” Rob said. “I am not convinced on the need for our scout – the most vulnerable member of our party – to be entrusted with the full extent of our earnings.”

  “Look, let’s go with our party rules for now and discuss changes once we are out of the dungeon,” Daniel said.

  “Very well. My protest is, however, lodged,” Rob said before he fished the stones out from his pouch and handed them to Asin. She carefully took them from Rob, staring at the pair carefully before she nodded and slipped them into her own pouch. Asin was so focused on the stones that she missed the pursing of Rob’s lips as she stared at the magical objects.

  Tula tapped her foot on the ground, the slight noise and motion causing the experienced Adventurers to look over. The woman nodded to the next walkway, before looking expectantly at the others. At their frowns, she pointed to Asin and then the walkway before staring again.

  “Oh,” Omrak said, loudly proclaiming his sudden enlightenment. “The woman desires us to continue!”

  Tula winced at the loud Northerner, shooting the blond giant a glare who smiled obliviously. Daniel winced, catching the byplay, but waved Asin forwards. The Catkin nodded with a sniff and loped over to the next walkway, bending quickly to scan for danger before proceeding forwards at a markedly faster pace than Tula.

  Grinning, Omrak followed after Asin after giving her sufficient space in front. The pair of newcomers glanced at one another, sharing a brief second of camaraderie before they too followed, leaving Daniel to follow behind and muse about the new party mix.

  Hours later, the quintet finally found the Floor Champion. Or, in their case, the Imp Overseer found them. A floating walkway a few platforms behind them had connected with their route, creating a sudden and entirely unexpected path to the Adventurers. Descending from a platform above the group, through the newly created walkway, the Floor Champion came from behind, his intimidating, muscular but luckily, grounded presence noted by Daniel before the group was surprised. Still, caught out of position, the Adventurers scrambled to adjust their formation.

  Daniel sighted down his rockbow, barely able to send a single shot into the incoming group of Imps which preceded the Floor Champion. Behind him, Tula sent arrow after arrow at the group, reserving her Arrow Storm until the Imps were nearly upon the three at the back and releasing the phantom arrows in a wide barrage. The attack caught many of the Imps by surprise, slaying a few and disrupting others, leaving them prey to Rob’s spikes.

  Rob hid behind Daniel’s larger bulk, crouching low behind the armored Adventurer as he withdrew ad
ditional enchanted items from his pouches. Ignoring the smaller Imps, Rob rolled a small ball ahead of the group towards the oncoming Floor Champion. The ball bounced over an unseen rock, nearly dropping off the edge of the walkway before coming to a stop, the black and iron patterned steel ball gleaming in the fitful blue light of dungeon’s illumination.

  “Erlis’s tears, that was close,” Rob muttered to himself.

  Rob then fished out a second, smaller ball and tossed it forwards after whispering a quick incantation. This ball rolled forwards and deployed after three seconds, exploding in a tiny puff of metal. The shattered iron pieces rapidly began to grow icicles on the ground, spiked and frozen caltrops suddenly appearing on the walkway.

  By this time, the majority of the remaining Imps had flown past the group, leaving behind minor cuts and bruises. The out of position Imps now flapped their wings as they attempted to gain height or ducked beneath the walkway to approach the group again. Rather than offer the Imps a respite and the chance to attack at their leisure, Omrak roared, triggering his Skill - the Challenge of the North. The Imps, enraged and drawn by the powerful taunt, stopped angling for position and winged towards Omrak, intent on ending the Northerner immediately.

  Many of those who approached were batted aside, others were pierced by throwing knives cast by Asin as she loped forwards to aid Omrak. With so many attackers on hand, Asin triggered her own multi-weapon ability, Fan of Knives, creating a spray of throwing weapons that delivered shocking results.

  “These are ours, Friend Daniel!” Omrak roared, swinging his giant two-handed sword around, his arms beginning to bleed from small cuts. As he accumulated additional injuries, Omrak’s rage Skill activated and a slowly increasing red glow surrounded his body.

  “Got it!” Daniel called back, answering Omrak without turning around.