“By my great, great, grandfather’s first beard. You saw an overseer?” Her eyes opened wider than I thought possible and her mouth hung slack-jawed.
“I dunno what you call it, but it was all sorts of bad, and we need to go. Get in!” I picked the dwarven girl up in my arms and set her on the back of the cart. Artus jumped in, and Allurie joined them. The elf girl actually looked terrified, but I didn’t have much time to consider the repercussions of what had happened in the forgotten city.
“Tell me where to go,” I said to Gratia as I grabbed the handles of the small wagon.
“Straight for half a mile, then you’ll make a left at the fork. Hurry!”
“You don’t have to tell me again,” I said as I pulled against the weight of the wagon. In a few steps, I was jogging with the cart while my friends bounced on top of the cargo. They didn’t complain about the bumpy ride, though.
They just asked me to run faster through the cold dark tunnels.
Chapter 24
The trip back to Gratia’s stronghold seemed incredibly long, but it was probably just the fear of this overseer catching up with us or the idea of what it would do if it followed us back to her stronghold. She had explained that according to legends, the creatures were incredibly powerful, and specialized in controlling minds. They were also supposed to be able to absorb the memories of the living beings that they consumed, so that the older an overlord became, and the more things it ate, the more powerful it became.
“That might be the being that destroyed the entire city. It could have manipulated one or more of the dwarves to let it inside. Maybe someone might have even hidden it, and then it would have slowly devoured the entire civilization. The city was small, but I would guess that several thousand dwarves might have lived there before the Time of Heliotrope. If that thing had all their memories, it would be extremely powerful. You were lucky to escape.”
“We are all lucky. If we have actually escaped,” Artus growled over the sound of the wagon wheels.
“We are here. The gates are up ahead,” Gratia said.
I saw two massive metal doors a hundred yards up at the end of the tunnel. I also saw half a dozen armored dwarf guards, and I slowed the pace of my jog a bit so that they wouldn’t think I was trying to attack.
“Can this thing follow us? Can it kill these guards and get into your stronghold?” I asked.
“Maybe, but there are all sorts of enemies down in the Underdark. The warriors up ahead are Blood Smiths. They are resistant to some of the Mind magic. One of them could easily slay a beholder. We will be safe here.”
“That's good to hear.”
“Who goes there?” one of the guards shouted at us. The men looked rather calm as we approached, and it made me think that they weren’t worried about us.
“It is Gratia!” My friend shouted. “I have returned!”
“Ahhh!” the group shouted joyfully. The short men approached, and there was a clamor of conversation as my friend explained to them that we had returned with magical armor, and she was going to buy her way out of the marriage.
The next hour was a blur of meeting some fifty dwarves, fist bumping them, getting slapped on the back and getting escorted into an ornate throne room.
The place was decorated in dwarf style. With lots of badass looking sculptures of dwarf warriors, paintings of dwarfs either drinking or killing monsters, and rows of beer kegs. As our group was escorted before the leader of Gratia’s clan, each of us was given a massive pewter mug filled to the brim with frothy beer.
The clan patriarch was a sour looking man, with a long dark gray beard, and spike-covered armor. He was happy with the suits of armor that we gifted him, and he agreed to give us some supplies for our journey to Arnicoal.
“I will also give you an escort out of the mountains. We won’t take you into Cutno’s valley, but their foothills are sometimes swarmed with orcs and the like. Having a unit of our warriors will keep you safe for the most dangerous part of the journey.”
“Thank you, my lord,” I said as I bowed to the man.
“Leo also needs to speak with Loremaster Fiunar. My human friend is looking for the Fifteen Pieces of Heliotrope.”
“You have our clan’s gratitude, human. It isn’t something we offer to other races often. Fiunar knows much about the Pieces, but he would never share his knowledge with an outsider, even a dwarf from another clan.”
“But I will make an exception for this human,” a voice called out from the back of the hall, and we turned to see a wizened dwarf approach.
“Let me look at this one,” Fiunar said as he cut through the gathering of beer drinking guards surrounding our party.
“Pleased to meet you,” I said as I held my fist out to the old dwarf. His eyes were a bright blue, and it made him seem almost childlike with his facial features.
“Yes. Yes,” he said as he bumped our knuckles together. “Ahhh. Your magic is strong. You aren’t trained, though. Very dangerous. Where do you come from?”
“Leo is an Old One!” Allurie volunteered.
“Perhaps,” he said as he looked deeper into my eyes. “Gratia said you faced an overseer and lived to tell of the tale. It is a feat that I would have found difficult to believe one of our Blood Smiths would be capable of. We have much to discuss, but we will do it tomorrow,” the old loremaster said with a nod. “I will tell you what I know tomorrow. It isn’t much, but it will help you.”
“And tonight we will drink, and feast!” the dwarf on the throne shouted. The rest of the dwarves in the room raised their mugs, and each took a healthy chug. Artus did the same, and even Allurie sipped her drink. I shrugged my shoulders and raised the pewter mug to my lips. The brew tasted really damn good. More grainy than hoppy, but I wasn’t much of a beer expert. Calic would have killed me if he saw me drinking carbs.
The VRIU must have had something in the mouthpiece that was feeding me taste sensations. It was a nice touch, and I wondered if that was part of the reason Zarra had such great chefs working with her company. They might have been developing all the secrets of the technology. It was another aspect of the game that players could probably get involved with, and I imagined that there would be a lot of virtual cooking competitions in the game.
Thoughts of Zarra reminded me that I needed to log out and sign her contract.
“Is there a room where I can rest in for a bit? I am quite tired.” I asked the dwarven lord when the cheering had quieted a bit.
“Of course! We will give you one of our royal suites. You and your friends can live here in comfort for as long as you want. Gratia, can you escort our guests to their new home?”
“I would be honored to,” the woman said with a bow. Then she looked at me and gestured for the three of us to follow her out of the throne room.
We traveled down the hallway of the stronghold for several hundred yards, and then she opened a door before gesturing for us to enter.
“This is our royal suite. Well, it is one of them. The stronghold has a dozen. The place has six rooms connecting to the central meeting area. Each room has a separate bathroom and tub with copper plumbing. Boilers on each level heat the water.”
“Impressive dwarven craftsmanship,” Artus commented as he peered into one of the emberbrand-lit rooms.
“I’ll come get you all in a few hours for the evening feast,” Gratia said.
“I’m going to sleep for a bit. I might not be able to make it tonight, but I will be around tomorrow. Is that okay?” I asked her. I knew I needed to log out. I probably needed to eat real food, take a shower, and get real sleep.
“The feast will last for a week. Just find your way there when you wake up,” she said. “Now I’ll leave you all to rest. Be back in a few hours.”
“Thanks,” I said to the dwarf girl as I held my fist out. Gratia grinned a bit and then slammed our knuckles together.
“You’re a good one, Leo. Sure you weren’t a dwarf in an earlier life?”
“Haha. I
don’t think so, but thanks. Oh, do you think it would be okay to get some clothes?” I asked as I looked down at my dirty pair of pants.
“Aye. I’ll take care of it.” Gratia turned to Allurie. “Hey elf, I’ll have tailors come bring you clothes. Will you pick ones for Leo?”
“Yes! That sounds like a wonderful job! I want to do it!” Allurie said with a clap.
“Good. Then he can rest. I’ll get it started. See you all in a few.” Gratia exited out the door into the hallway of the stronghold, and I let out a long breath of relief.
A text suddenly appeared on my UI.
Get Gratia Home- Completed.
Help Gratia Pay Dowry- Completed.
Free Artus- Completed.
You’ve gained Attribute Points!
The icon at the top of my UI was glowing, and I had to resist the urge to gesture over it.
“Something wrong Leo?” Artus asked.
“Do you need to mate?” Allurie asked. “I can go find you a male--”
“No. I’m fine. I’m going to go rest in one of these rooms. I’ll come out after I sleep for a bit. Don’t worry about me for food or anything. I might return to my people.”
“Like you did before?” Artus asked.
“Yes. But I’ll be back. I need to talk to the loremaster, and I need to get you back home.”
“Thank you, Leo. We’ll let you rest now.”
“I’ll miss you when you leave. Hurry back, okay?” Allurie asked.
“Sure thing.”
I picked a room and closed the door behind me. I was surprised that the bed was human sized, but not as surprised as I was by the giant bathtub in the corner. It was practically a swimming pool, and I guessed that twenty dwarves could fit in there. There was also a stone toilet in an alcove along with a sink.
I gestured up to my menu and opened up my Attributes tab. I saw that I had 24 points to spend. I took another look at my current stats and debated where I should spend the points:
Body (Overall) - 33
Body (Magic) - 0
Body (Stats) - 33
Brawn - 17
Quickness - 16
Mind (Overall) - 31
Mind (Magic) - 0
Mind (Stats) - 31
Intelligence - 15
Willpower - 16
Light (Overall) - 25
Light (Magic) - 0
Light (Stats) - 25
Perception - 12
Charisma - 13
Shadow (Overall) - 32(33)
Shadow (Magic) - 0
Shadow (Stats) - 32(33)
Comeliness - 16
Luck - 16 (17)
I guessed that the Luck stat was higher because of the ring I wore. All of the (Magic) and stats fields were highlighted, and I guessed that my 24 points could be spent on any of those areas. I also saw that there was an ‘Undo’ button at the bottom of the menu area.
I clicked on the Body (Magic) tab, and it increased to a rating of 1. I also lost 1 point from the 24 poll of potential skill. The Body (Overall) stat moved from 33 to 36. That was interesting, but I guess that it made kind of a sense. If the attributes fed into the (Overall) stats, and that was what players used for magic, then it would be way better to spend the points just on the base stats like Brawn or Quickness. Getting a multiplier of three on points spent on the (Magic) part of the attribute meant that it was actually worth investing in the stat.
I clicked on the “Undo” button, and the attributes reset. Then I clicked on the Brawn stat. It moved from 17 to 18, and my pool changed from 24 to 6. So it looked like it was a one-for-one model. If I wanted to raise a stat I needed to spend, all the points required getting the next ranking. This was a really good design because it kept players from playing avatars that had all of their points invested in combat type stats. This was normally referred to as “min-maxing,” and I was guilty of doing it all the time in Astafar Unlimited.
I clicked the “Undo” button again, and the points reset. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to increase right now. It already seemed as if I was plenty strong and quick, but I didn’t quite know what the other stats would be useful for. I finally decided to talk to Zarra a bit about it when I logged out. She might be able to steer me in the correct direction.
I yanked off the nasty pants I had been wearing and realized that the injury on my toe had healed already. There was a mirror above the sink by the toilet, and I walked over to check the cut on my head that I’d received when the piece of stone had almost knocked me unconscious. The blood was dried on my skull, but the injury had healed.
“Fuck, I’m really dirty,” I said as I stared at my face in the mirror.
Practically every inch of my skin was covered with either oil, grime, dust, or dried blood. I glanced down at the bathtub and flicked on the hot water. This was probably a waste of time, but I had never taken a bath in a video game, and I already knew that I could feel the different temperatures of the water from my swim in the river.
I was soon swimming in the hot bathwater, scrubbing myself with soap, and relaxing in the tub. The experience felt exactly like a real bath would have, and it even seemed as if my in-game muscles were relaxing.
Ohlavar Quest was absolutely amazing.
But now I needed to log out, sign the contract, grab some food, and hit the sack.
I climbed out of the bath, pulled the drain open, dried myself off with one of the thick towels, and then lay on the human-sized bed in the middle of the room.
Then I closed my eyes and counted to twenty.
Chapter 25
“How long was I playing?” I asked as soon as Ky peeled the helmet off of my head.
“Seven hours,” Zarra answered over the speakers of the room.
“Damn. Sorry, I was logged in for so long, but that was quite a ride.” I reached over the side of the VRIU and clicked on the privacy button. Then I grabbed the safety rail and pulled myself out of the dark liquid.
“You said you would only be logged in for a few hours. We’ve reached out to your lawyer, and my team is standing by for you to sign the contract.” Zarra’s voice sounded slightly annoyed.
“I’m sorry I was playing for so long, but you saw what happened. Artus is safe, so is Gratia, and I’ve got a good lead on the relics you want me to find. There might even be one in the caverns under the stronghold. Although I going to guess, I’m not near powerful enough to take out that overseer. That was a good touch, with having the monster speak my name. Super creepy.”
“I’m glad you are enjoying it so far. I’m eager to hear your thoughts on your last session, but we need to take care of the contract first.”
“Of course,” I said as I stepped out of the alcove with my robe on. “Are you fine with me signing like this? Or can I take a shower to get this sludge off?”
“Let’s sign now, and then we can eat lunch while you tell me about your last session. Then you’ll need to sleep some.”
“Yeah. That was part of the reason I logged out, but I don’t feel tired.” I hit the privacy button so that I could see Zarra in the observation room. The beautiful woman moved to exit the glass room, and Dr. Dimopoulos followed her.
“Let’s go sign the--”
“I need to check him real quick,” the older woman said as she pointed at the stool.
“Of course,” Zarra nodded and then smiled. “Sorry. I’m a little excited about getting Leo on board.”
“I’m excited about working with you,” I said, as I put my ass on the stool.
I stared at the ground and noticed my bare feet. I wiggled my toes on the injured foot, but it wasn’t in any pain. My injury in the game had felt so real, I had kind of expected for it to hurt as soon as I stepped out of VRIU. I almost wanted to go look in the mirror and see if I had a mark on my head from where the block of stone had hit me.
“Heart rate is good. Lungs sound good. Let me take your blood pressure,” Trina said as she wrapped the device around my arm.
“Is it weird that I k
ind of want to log back in?” I said with a laugh. “I haven’t felt this way since my first month of playing Astafar Unlimited. I really think you’ve got a winner here.”
“We have a winner here,” Zarra corrected me with a smile. “You are going to be an important part of the team in a few minutes.”
“Yes. I’m looking forward to it. I know the contract said I would have a week to move my possessions into the complex, but I don’t really need that much time. I can call my housekeeper and have her send me some clothes. I won’t need a car or anything. Wait, did you say you had a gym here? I will need to work out. I just need to be with my parents when we fly them out here. Can you use the jet pod for that? It will make the trip easier on them I think.”
“Leo, take a few deep breaths,” the doctor said, and I realized I had been talking rapidly again.
“That is fine,” Zarra said. “You can call your house after we sign. Yes, we do have a well-equipped gym; we actually gave Mr. Smith a tour of it four hours ago. He was starting to get antsy again. As for your parents, we’ve got a team that is well versed in transporting Alzheimer's patients. It would be much easier if you assisted them, of course, but we can take care of it as long as you release them from the care center.”
“I’ll need to be there. They didn’t remember me last time I spoke with them, but I want to be there for when you move them.”
“I understand. Trina, is he ready?”
“Few more minutes,” the doctor said as she pulled the blood pressure meter off of my arm.
“Ms. Zerne, can I see you for a moment?” Jennifer asked across the room speakers, and I turned to wave at the pretty blonde woman. She was still in the observation room, and I could see the glow of the monitors reflect on her glasses.
“Of course,” Zarra replied as she gave me a wink.
I watched her perfect legs and ass as she walked back to the glass room, and then I closed my eyes to concentrate on my breathing. For a few minutes, there was only the sounds of Ky stirring the VRUI, my heart beating, and my lungs working.
Lion's Quest: Undefeated: A LitRPG Saga Page 36