“Does this have to do with why you ran off the other night?”
“I don’t even know if she’s the one it’s talking about. It’s just… she showed up out of nowhere with a Legendary quest and it just made so much sense.”
“Preston, what in hells are you talking about?”
He finally lowered his hand as the words spilled out. “Eve isn’t the only one who got a super vague and confusing quest.”
“What?”
Preston sighed. “I was fifteen when I got my turn with the Questing Stones. My class isn’t the only joke they played on me. It’s an Epic quest, and it’s got three hells of a failure condition.”
Wes raised an eyebrow. “And that would be…?”
The healer sighed, his eyes glowing blue as he stepped in close to the towering fire mage. “See for yourself.”
Wes nodded as he stared down into the shorter man’s eyes to read the text reflected therein.
Quest: Don’t Let Her Die.
Description: Don’t let her die.
Difficulty: Epic
“Gods below.”
Preston blinked away the screen and stepped back. “That’s what I said.”
“And you think Eve is ‘her’?”
“I don’t know, Wes.” Preston shook his head. “I don’t know. She’s the most likely of everyone I’ve met so far.”
“And if you haven’t failed your quest, that means she’s still alive.”
“Exactly.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Wes turned away from the wall of rubble to start down the unexplored path. “If they’re stuck too, we need to find a way out.”
Preston scurried to catch up to him. “Is that a good idea? I can’t deal damage, and the last monster we fought wasn’t exactly flammable.”
“Don’t care.” Wes kept walking. “Even if I don’t have a quest for it, there’s no way in hells I’m letting her die.”
* * *
Eve awoke to an aching everything and an obnoxious azure light filling her vision.
You have defeated Level 35 Burendian Sentry Golem: +660 exp!
Seriously? I didn’t even get a level from that? That thing was insane! Eve grumbled internally as another message popped up.
You have survived extreme damage against all odds: +1 Constitution!
Now it’s just taunting me, she mused. Eve couldn’t say what exactly ‘it’ was, but hells was she annoyed with it. One measly Constitution for that? Her groan came out audibly this time.
“Eve!” Alex materialized by her side. “Are you alright?”
“Good question,” she managed, pushing herself to sit against the tunnel wall. An Eve-shaped imprint remained on the floor in the dust and pebbles that had fallen over her while she’d slept. She winced. “I’ve got… twenty-nine health.”
“Excellent. It’s working.”
Eve raised one eyebrow. “What’s working?”
Alex reached behind her to pick a glass vial off the enchanted floor. It was empty. “The health tincture. It’s slow and shitty but you should be on your feet in an hour or so.”
“You gave me a—” Eve stopped herself before bringing up how expensive such a cure could be. Alex already knew that. Instead, she asked a different question. “I used to be worse, didn’t I?”
The Soldier nodded. “And you weren’t getting any better.”
Eve gulped. “Thanks.” She flexed her left hand, glad at least one of them still worked. Hopefully Alex’s tincture would repair the havoc the explosion had wreaked on her right. “How long was I out?”
“Twenty minutes? Can’t really tell down here.”
“And the others?”
Alex shook her head. “I don’t know.” She gestured at the heap of fallen earth and marble that walled off the way they’d come. “Can only pray they aren’t trapped too.”
Eve swore. “What if they are?”
“Then once you’re recovered, we hope these tunnels meet up again farther in. Or that at least one of them leads to another way out.”
“Shit.”
“Shit is right,” Alex snapped. “I told you dungeons are dangerous.”
“How was I supposed to know—”
Alex cut her off. “That hitting a block of marble with a rusty sword wasn’t going to go like you planned? Some gods-damned forethought.”
Eve glared. “Last I checked, we’re only alive because I broke that sword.”
“We’re only here because you couldn’t afford your speeding ticket.”
“And everyone signed off!” Eve’s voice echoed across the barren hall. “Wes and Preston both needed the exp, and last I checked you were desperate to unlock a Rare class.”
“Well I fucking didn’t.”
Eve froze. The tunnel fell silent as the words sank in. “Alex, I’m so sorry. Did you get an Uncommon, at least?”
“Two of ‘em. I can be a Defender or a bloody Spear Maiden.”
“Those—um—those sound useful.” Eve knew the words rang hollow the moment she said them, but she had to say something. “Have you picked which, yet?”
“I haven’t. And truth be told I don’t want to. They’re the same gods-damned thing.” Alex sighed. “I just—I figured after everything that’s happened, I deserved to be more than a generic ‘woman with a spear.’”
“Of course you do,” Eve continued her attempts at comfort. “And there’s always another promotion. I know level fifty is a while away, but…” She paused as the thought struck her. “Wait. What ‘everything’ has happened? When we first stepped foot in this place you freaked out for a minute.”
Alex neither replied nor met Eve’s gaze.
The Striker pressed. “You’ve been in a dungeon before, haven’t you?”
The warrior kept silent, her eyes glued to the floor before her.
Eve forced her voice to soften. “You might as well tell me. You’ve saved my life twice now. It’s not like I’m gonna go share your secrets with people.” She exhaled. “I’m only up to thirty-five health; we’re going to be here for a while. You don’t have to talk if you’re not comfortable, but we still have half a dungeon to clear, and I don’t want whatever happened to you to get in the way of that.”
Eve tried to run a hand through her hair, but the chestnut strands were so tangled she barely made it past her ear. “I don’t need your life story, but I do need you to trust me.”
Silent seconds passed between the two adventurers as Alex stared through the stone beneath them. The ghostly pulses of white light lit up her face from below, granting the woman an air of quiet melancholy. Or perhaps that was just her expression. Either way, her gaze stayed empty as she whispered her reply. “They died.”
Eve swallowed as she gave a gentle nod. “Who were they?”
“Jason and Priya and Liam. My old team.”
“You didn’t get to level eighteen on your own, then.”
“Nobody does.” Alex kept her voice low, barely muttering the words loud enough to reach Eve’s ears. Reach they did. “They were all just like Wes. Born into starting at Uncommon like they were slated for great things from day one. Took them a while to get used to working with a Common-er like me, but by the time we all hit the second tier we were close as could be.”
The Soldier sat petrified, her only motion that of her lips as she told her tale. “The dungeon was my idea. I wanted to prove myself. It wasn’t hard to get them onboard—they wanted me to succeed just as much as they did. That’s just the kind of people they were.” She paused.
Eve kept her own mouth shut, allowing Alex whatever time she needed to gather herself.
She continued, “We took the job for three hundred silver. For three hundred gods-damned silver. The cheap bastards wouldn’t even pay up when I was the only one who made it back. ‘We didn’t pay you to fail,’ they said, as if it wasn’t their own bloody fault for rating the job so low.” Alex shook, her hands clenched in quaking fists. “I made it three weeks before I ran out of money.�
��
“So you joined us.”
Alex nodded. “So I joined you.”
“Ayla’s tits, Alex. That’s terrible. And now I’ve dragged you into the same situation all over again. I’m so sorry.”
“Like you said, I signed up for this.”
Eve let out a breath. “Is this why you refuse to spend time with us?”
She didn’t reply.
“Alex?”
The teardrop glimmered in the ethereal lighting as it struck the floor. “I can’t go through that again.”
“Alex, I… I can’t begin to imagine what you’re feeling right now, but you can’t just shut us out. We’re a team.”
“Going out drinking together isn’t a guild requirement.”
“It isn’t,” the Striker said. “But not behaving like you expect us to die at any minute is an Eve requirement. We aren’t your old team. Alex, I won’t pretend we’re all expert adventurers, but we’re not clueless either. I need you to have faith in us.”
Alex sniffled. “I thought faith was supposed to be Preston’s thing.”
“No, Preston’s thing is disdain for his patron goddess.”
The Soldier let out a half-hearted laugh as a smile peeked through her teary face. “If we get out of this, I’ll buy the drinks myself.”
Eve gave a gentle grin. “That’s all I can ask.”
“Can—uh—can you do me the favor of not sharing this with the others? I don’t want—”
“Of course not. You trusted me with your story—I’d never break that trust.”
For the first time, Alex looked up to meet Eve’s gaze. “Thanks, Eve. I—um—I’m glad we talked.”
“Me too. That’s what teammates are fo—”
“Holy shit.” Alex cut her off with the uttered expletive. The woman’s eyes flashed blue before Eve could even ask what was wrong. “I unlocked a new class.”
“Now?”
“I just got the notification. Ayla’s tits, it’s a Rare.”
“Alex, that’s fantastic! What is it?”
“Unbowed Survivor. The—um—the requirements list is a bit strange.”
“Can I see?”
A moment passed before the woman silently nodded. Pushing herself to her feet, Alex crossed the narrow tunnel to allow the Striker a good look at the reflection in her wet eyes.
The description was long. Eve mentally flicked through prerequisite after prerequisite, ignoring all sorts of bits about facing certain death or overcoming high-level foes. They’d all done that, and they’d all done that before the cave-in. The more she read the more she wondered why this class change had only appeared now, until she reached the final item.
Make the first step towards recovery.
“Congratulations, Alex. You deserve it.”
“I wouldn’t have got it without you.” She took a step back, wiping her face on her sleeve. “Thank you, Eve. For listening.”
She grinned. “Listening’s the easy part. You did the real work.” Eve paused to check her slowly refilling health bar. It was back above a hundred. “Now go ahead and accept it. I can keep watch while you sleep. We’ve still got a dungeon to clear.”
* * *
Alexandra Reeve
Human
Level 25 Unbowed Survivor
Exp: 36/835
Health: 481/590
Stamina: 59/250
Mana: 0/0
Constitution: 59
Endurance: 25
Intelligence: 9
Dexterity: 17
Strength: 61
Spirit: 0
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The Alchemy Lab
EVE CLUTCHED THE hilt of Alex’s belt knife with white knuckles as they began their exploration. The short blade was a tool, not a weapon, but it was better than nothing. She silently mourned the loss of her sword, no doubt trapped beneath the fallen rubble and shattered into a hundred pieces. Hopefully after her fine she’d have enough money left over to buy a new one.
Alex led the way forward, her spear poised to ward off any surprise attackers. However prepared they might’ve been, a single thought loomed between the two adventurers. Neither dared speak it aloud.
They wouldn’t survive another sentry golem.
It was a miracle they’d all lived through the first one—assuming Wes and Preston even had. When she wasn’t desperately hoping she wouldn’t come across another beast as threatening as the prior one, Eve quietly wondered how the men fared. They were even less capable of surviving another Burendian construct.
The thoughts fled from Eve’s mind the moment she saw the first door. It had been a sturdy thing once, built of thick oaken planks and bound in iron. No more.
Alex simply had to prod at the rotting wood with the butt of her spear to set the entire thing free of its hinges. It slammed flat into the room beyond with a resounding thud.
Eve cringed at the noise, jerking her head to peer farther down the hall. If there were more monsters to be fought, they either didn’t hear or didn’t care about the door’s collapse. Satisfied nothing was coming to kill them, Eve followed Alex out of the tunnel and into the side room.
It was a bedchamber. Or at least, it had been a bedchamber in some forgotten age. The wooden bed frame sagged with rot, any shred of linen or straw long eaten by some combination of pests and the ravages of time.
A decrepit chest of drawers was the only other piece of furniture. Eve thought to search it for loot, but the idea of touching the decaying wood sent her stomach churning. The top of the thing had collapsed into the first drawer, and Eve got the distinct impression she’d have to break it apart to access any of the lower ones anyway.
Sharing a shrug with the tall warrior over the striking amount of nothing they’d found, Eve returned to the long hallway.
The adventurers came across a number of identical sets of quarters as they explored, taking care to fully investigate each and every one. Alex came up with a way to get the doors open quietly by kicking them at the base so they fell outward into her waiting grasp. Eve didn’t envy the dirt and shards of rotted wood she had to wipe off her hands each time, but Alex never complained.
As they cleared room after room, a lingering idea began to grow at the back of Eve’s mind. It took eight sets of bedchambers in total before she voiced it. “Why aren’t there any bugs?”
“Why should I know? Chalk it up to ancient pest-removal enchantments.”
Eve shook her head. “That’s not my point. Something’s eaten all the bedding and a good chunk of this wood, but I haven’t seen a single insect.”
“They ran out of linens to eat and died a hundred years ago?”
“Then there would be dead bugs.”
Alex froze. “You think something’s eaten the bugs.”
Eve nodded.
“Shit. Alright. So there’s possibly some other monster out there. Maybe a managorged something or other.”
“That’s good, though,” Eve said. “I’d rather a giant managorged snake or whatever than another construct. At least I can stab a snake.”
“Well, there’s not much else we can do but keep an eye out.”
“Which we’re already doing.”
“Which we’re already doing,” Alex repeated. “So, shall we?”
Following the Survivor’s lead, Eve continued on down the long hallway. The pair investigated two more empty quarters before they came across an oaken door unlike any other. Though the same thick planks and iron bands held it together, these stood untouched by decay’s inexorable approach. It was pristine.
“If this thing isn’t enchanted, I don’t know what is.”
Alex ignored the comment, reaching out to tap the door with the butt of her spear. It held fast. With a gesture, she ushered Eve to step back as she swung her weapon’s base at the rustless iron handle.
The door swung open without so much as a squeak.
Eve didn’t question the wisdom of exploring a room that almost certainly didn’t hold the way
out. They were hired to clear the place, and by the gods she was going to do it. Even if the obviously enchanted side room proved dangerous, it could also prove full of loot. The adventurer’s dilemma urged her on, and Eve was determined not to leave empty handed.
Fortunately enough, the room did not hold any immediate threats. There were no golems or giant hares or lethal enchantments, just a stone countertop lining the walls. Whatever magic pulsed across the floor outside stretched up to encapsulate the walls and ceiling of the space, shining plenty of light upon the counters. Their contents immediately claimed Eve’s attention.
Hundreds of pieces of immaculately crafted glassware cluttered the space. Flasks and vials and all sorts of strange alchemical contraptions Eve couldn’t even begin to identify sat as if undisturbed for millennia. Perhaps they had been.
A layer of dust coated each item, leaving an ashen mark on Eve’s finger as she reached out to touch a tall beaker. She tried to wipe it on her trousers, but it somehow came back even dirtier. She really needed new clothes. “Do you think this stuff is worth anything?”
Alex turned up her palms. “To an Alchemist probably, but I don’t have a way to safely transport a bunch of glass.”
Eve nodded, continuing to scan the countertop for anything worthwhile. Nearly all the glassware sat empty, though a number of pieces had dark stains along their sides, their contents long spilled or evaporated. A few even held the crumbled remains of a cork that had long failed at preventing exactly that.
“It’s curious,” the warrior said. “I didn’t know the Burendians did much alchemy. Thought they were all focused on Mana and leylines and enchantments.”
Eve shrugged, not looking away from her task. “That’s already more than I ever knew about them. Maybe whoever owned this lab was an exception.”
“Maybe… if only he’d left his notes behind…”
Eve chuckled, “If only.”
The two continued their rummaging for a few silent minutes before Alex’s voice echoed through the ruined laboratory, “Found something!”
This Quest is Broken! (This Trilogy is Broken (A Comedy Litrpg Adventure) Book 1) Page 15