Land of the Undying

by Dave Willmarth

  Mace just rolled his eyes. Kobolds were known to be clever and crafty. But not great strategists. They depended more on numbers, speed, and strength.

  Mace said “Let’s get going. We can decide on a path once we’ve left the city.” He bowed slightly to Krieger, then walked back to the bar, where his rations were waiting. He’d ordered enough for himself for a week, though the trip should only take, at most, two days. He was hoping to push through in one. Looking at the two scrawny Kobolds, he asked for another week’s rations. The bartender brought them from the kitchen, and Mace paid him. He handed the second stack to Shook, who seemed the more conservative of the two. “These have to last you both all the way to the surface. Do not eat them all today.” He warned.

  Shook stowed the rations in his bag, as Truffle eyed Mace’s rations hungrily.

  Mace headed for the door, the two kobolds trailing behind. They were each about four feet tall, with scaled skin covering them from head to toe. They had elongated feet, with corded legs and arms that allowed them to lift three times their body weight, or run faster than a petramander over long distances. Their heads were lizardlike, long and narrow with eyes on either side of their long skulls. Their mouths were filled with sharp teeth that could penetrate Mace’s armor with relative ease. Every digit on hands and feet ended in ebony claws that could hook into and shred an enemy’s hide.

  The trio made their way down the elevators and out into the city. Mace wasted no time, heading straight for the gate at a pace that forced the short-legged kobolds to jog a bit to keep up.

  When they’d passed through the gate and were about halfway across the kill zone, Mace stopped. He said said “Okay. You both mentioned big bad beasties on the quick path. What kind of beasties?”

  “Dragon!” Shook exclaimed. “Big, mean, hungry dragon.”

  “Not dragon!” Truffle argued. “Grandpa petramander. Much old. Big. Too big for tunnels. We sneak past, then run quick to get away. He not follow into tunnels.”

  Mace considered for a moment. Then he asked. “You said more than one. What else?”

  Truffe looked at his feet. “Big lake in cave. Same cave as Grandpa. Get too close to water, slimy arms grab you. Monster with many arms. Big eyes.”

  Shook added helpfully. “Must walk narrow path. Not too close to water, not close enough for dragon to smell.”

  “Not dragon!” Trufle yelled. Shook mumbled “Big damn lizard. Could be dragon.”

  “Anything else?” Mace was already dreading the rest of this trip.

  “Big spiders. Like in tunnels. Also bats. Big ones that make ears bleed.” Shook supplied.

  “And the safe path?” Mace asked.

  “Also spiders and bats. Sometimes goblins.” Truffle said quickly. Shook added “Dwarves clear safe path. Every month. Last clear was one week past.”

  Mace thought it over. Clearly, the safe path was the smarter choice. But he wanted to meet up with Shari as quickly as possible.

  “We’ll take the quick path. Do you two have any weapons?”

  Both kobolds nodded. Shook took out a small bow and a handful of arrows. Their tips glistened with poison. Truffle took out a pike with a wicked hook at the end. Both looked like they knew how to handle their weapons.

  “Good. Truffle, this was your idea. You lead the way.”

  The kobold took off at a jog, chittering to Shook in the kobold tongue. Mace didn’t understand the words, but he guessed it was something like “Ha! He chose my path. Neener neener!”

  The three of them jogged for the better part of an hour before Truffle slid to a halt. He held a finger up to his mouth in the universal sign for “shut the hell up there’s a monster close by”. Kobolds could see in the dark reasonably well, but their hearing was superb, and they had a superior sense of smell. Truffle looked to Shook, who nodded. Shook turned to Mace, hooked his thumbs together and wiggled his three-fingered hands to resemble a spider. Mace nodded.

  Truffle resumed the trek, at a much slower pace. Even with his dark elven hearing, Mace didn’t detect the footsteps of either kobold.

  Huh. Maybe they really are hunters. Could be handy little guys to have around.

  Moving as silently as his companions, Mace followed behind. His was the most dangerous position, as the spiders attacked from behind. He stopped cold when he felt a tickle of Minx’s tail on his face, and a thought came through clearly.

  Danger above!

  Mace dove forward and rolled onto his back even as he held up a hand and shouted “Infier!” A blast of fire shot upward, illuminating a large rock spider emerging from a crevice in the ceiling. The thing screamed, and its mandibles chittered as it fell to the floor.

  Instantly, Truffle was upon it, driving his pike into the thing’s eye as its burning legs curled up beneath its body. The spider spasmed once as the point of Truffle’s spear penetrated its brain, then went still. The body continued to burn until Shook and Truffle threw water on it. Then they each produced a knife and stood next to the body, looking expectantly at Mace.

  Getting to his feet, he reached down and looted the body. He received ten pieces of rock spider meat, two mandibles, several pieces of chitin, and another gem. At a nod from him, the kobolds quickly cut off segments of the well-cooked legs and cracked open the chitin outer shell to get at the meat inside.

  “Warm meal. Very tasty.” Shook offered some to Mace, who was about to decline, when another thought came through from Minx. Hungry.

  So Mace took one of the offered pieces and held it in his hand until the kobolds had both turned back to cut themselves more meat. He held the meat up near his shoulder, and it disappeared instantly. He felt a purring against his neck.

  Mace let the kobolds harvest the meat from the spider for another several minutes, then called out that it was time to go. Both Truffle and Shook looked happy, patting the bags at their side. Shook said “Bring home much meat for family. You kill dragon and give more meat? We bring whole tribe for feast!” his kobold grin stretched from ear to ear.

  Mace laughed in spite of himself. “No, we won’t be killing the dragon. We will be running as fast as we can, and hoping he’s still too fat to follow us.”

  Shook just shrugged, and they resumed their journey. They encountered another spider, which Shook killed with a poison arrow. After Mace looted it, the kobolds turned their backs on it.

  Truffle said “Meat poison now. No good.”

  Mace had other ideas. To a drow assassin, poison in any form could come in handy. And whatever poison Shook had used worked almost instantly. So he harvested all the meat he could from the 8 foot long spider, and stacked it in his bag. Luckily, the system registered the difference between normal meat and poisoned meat, so they each got their own slot.

  A short time later they entered an enormous cavern, maybe half the size of the one Svartholm occupied. The kobolds were moving silently again, looking around in obvious fear. To their left, a jumble of boulders lay strewn amongst stalagmites and mushrooms that grew ten feet tall and higher. To their right, a lake with water so dark and still that it almost just seemed a shadow on the cavern floor. Mace noticed a glowing sigil on a boulder right next to the tunnel exit. A bind point. The game devs often placed these near locations with epic monsters, so that travelers heading to or from the surface who were killed there didn’t have to respawn all the way back at their starting point. In Mace’s case, that would be the inn he stayed at in Svartholm. He stepped over to the boulder and activated the bind point. Just in case.

  Truffle pointed to the right, and whispered “Water monster. Not get too close to lake.” Next he pointed left, saying “Grandpa lizard. Probably asleep. But can smell us if we get to close.”

  His message delivered, they began to move quickly, but still silently, across the cavern floor in a sort of arc around the lake shore. After maybe a minute, he seemed to relax. He turned and favored Shook with a large smile. Then, as if bored, he reached into his bag and pulled out a chunk of burned spider leg. Mace cou
ld smell the cooked meat from twenty feet back.

  Oh, shit. If I can smell it…

  He started to whisper “Truffle! Put the meat-”

  A roar from among the mushrooms drowned out the rest of his sentence. The two kobolds started hissing in fear or anger, hit whatever they used as a ‘turbo’ button, and took off across the cavern. Mace took a moment to admire their speed. He began to follow, when the lake water erupted to his right. The kobolds, in their haste, had stepped too close to the water. Whatever lived under there wasn’t going to catch them. But it might very well catch Mace if he continued on the path they’d taken. So he veered to the left, toward the sounds of the giant lizard thundering toward him.

  He could see the creature now. It stood a solid dozen-feet high at the shoulders, its neck and head extending even higher. From nose to tail it must have been sixty feet long. Its jaws were opened wide as it roared its hunger and followed the scent toward the fleeing kobolds. Who were, by the way, already several hundred yards ahead of Mace, and fast approaching the exit.

  Mace had brought along the poisoned meat thinking he could bait the lizard and poison it, getting big xp for the kill. But this behemoth could swallow the meat, him, the kobolds, and a horse without even noticing. The small bit of poison wouldn’t even phase it.

  He was distracted as the lake creature finally cleared the spray. It was… well for lack of a better description it was Cthulhu’s cousin. Standing twenty feet tall, it had a thick body with two arms, and two legs. Its head was wide and set low on its shoulders. Two eyes blinked at Mace above a mass of tentacles that emerged from its face and extended a good ten feet down its chest. It had long, almost crablike arms with heavy armor at elbow segments. As it took a step toward him, it reached out its hands. Each hand had a thumb and three fingers, all with talons that gleamed even in the total darkness.

  Speaking of darkness, maybe a little light would distract these depth-dwellers. Turning to the closest mushroom, he closed his eyes, then shouted “INFIER!” as he extended his hand. The mushroom, and several of those around it, burst into flames. The lizard and water monster both cried out in pain and confusion as the light temporarily blinded them. The lizard had been almost upon Mace, and the fire ignited right in front of it. It began to blunder forward, right through the burning fungus, singeing its hide and bellowing again.

  The water creature, still unable to see, focused on the sound of the lizard. Mace imagined they were age-old enemies, neither being able to best the other, finally reaching some sort of accommodation where they stuck to their respective corners of the cavern. But now the lizard was encroaching on the Cthulhu-beast’s territory.

  In hopes of delaying it long enough to slip through after the kobolds, Mace called up one of his go-to spells. Holding both hand up, he uttered the trigger word “Frigus!” and cast an ice spell on the shallow water at the feet of the monster.

  Freezing existing water was much easier than creating ice, out of thin air. The section of lake began to freeze quickly, trapping the monster in place. The thing struggled to move its legs, causing the ice to crack and break. The sharp edges cut into the skin of the creature’s calves, and it bellowed in rage.

  Mace took off as fast as he could possibly move. He felt Minx’s tail tighten around his neck, and her tiny claws dig into his shoulder. He didn’t dare look at her, as he was keeping one eye on the thrashing lizard, and the other on the frantically swinging arms of the Cthulhu monster. Ahead in the distance, he caught sight of the two kobolds, jumping up and down and waving their arms as if encouraging him. He cursed them under his breath as his legs pumped.

  Then he felt two things in rapid succession. Well, three. He felt Minx shout DANGER! right before he felt her slight weight disappear from his shoulder. Half a second later, he felt his bones being crushed as the Grandpa lizard’s tail slammed into him from behind.

  You have died.

  You may choose to respawn at your most recent bind point, or remain with your corpse, and resurrect it after a ten-minute wait period. Your resurrected avatar will have 50% health, and a two-hour debuff.

  Respawn at your bind point? Yes/No

  Cursing, Mace chose ‘yes’. A timer ticked down from ten seconds, and he respawned back at the boulder near the cavern entrance. He quickly pulled up his UI and cursed some more. He was back down to level 29. He quickly checked his inventory, but he had not dropped anything. Which was a good thing, because he wasn’t going to be venturing out to the spot where he’d died anytime soon.

  At least I had the sense to bind here. Otherwise I’d be back in Svartholm now.

  A roar from the lizard that had just killed him drew his attention. It had regained its sight only to find the Cthulhu monster reaching toward it with arms and tentacles both. Safely out of the kill zone, Mace took a moment to Identify the monsters. Starting with the lizard.

  Ancient Petramander Behemoth

  Level 60

  Health: 30,000/36,000

  It was down 6,000hp. So either Mace’s fire had done some damage, the Cthulhu monster had already hit it once, or it damaged its tail crushing Mace into the floor. Mace doubted that last one.

  Spawn of Cthulhu

  Level 65

  Health 38,000/42,000

  Mace was definitely taking credit for the damage to the spawn. Its lower legs were streaming blood from the damage done by the ice shards. It took a moment for the ramifications of that to sink in. But when they did…

  “Holy shit!” Mace screamed to nobody in particular. “I’ve damaged them both! And they’re fighting each other!” He did a little happy dance there by the boulder. Having damaged both monsters himself, if one of them died, he would get enough experience to raise him up maybe five or six levels.

  He leaned against the boulder and watched as the two brutes tore into each other while his health and mana recharged. He turned on his recorder so that Shari could watch the fight later. This was definitely a grudge match. The spawn was holding off the lizard’s jaws with both hands wrapped around its neck, while its tentacles tore at the lizard’s face trying to blind it. The lizard, in turn, had already managed to bite through or pull off several tentacles, and was ripping at the spawn’s arms with its own deadly foreclaws.

  It appeared to be a stalemate until the lizard managed to get some leverage and whip its tail around to sweep the legs out from under the spawn. Two things happened at that point. One of the spawn’s ankles broke as the ice tried to hold it in place against the force of the sweeping tail. And it lost its balance, crashing down onto its back on the ice. The lizard was immediately on top of the spawn, jaws clamped on the spawn’s shoulder as its claws ripped chunks out of the spawn. Mace watched its health drop at an incredible pace.

  Spawn of Cthulhu

  Level 65

  Health 11,000/42,000

  But the spawn wasn’t done. Using its elbow for leverage, it powered itself and the lizard into a roll. Locked together, the two of them rolled off the frozen section of the lake and into deeper water. They disappeared beneath the surface. The water roiled and surged, great waves washing across the ice.

  After nearly a minute, the lizard surfaced and hooked its foreclaws into the ice shelf. Pulling its body back up onto the ice, it tried to get to its feet.

  Ancient Petramander Behemoth

  Level 60

  Health 6,000/36,000

  It was bleeding from several deep gashes in its neck where the spawn’s claws had penetrated. One eye was missing, and a wide gash extended down across the eye to the jaw, where most of its upper lip was missing as well. The beast was wheezing, coughing up inky black water, or possibly blood. Mace wasn’t sure. There was no sign of the spawn, but a check of his log didn’t show any massive xp gain. So either it was still alive down there, or the system wasn’t giving him credit for the kill.

  “Six thousand hp left on the lizard” he mused to himself. “It’s barely alive. And moving slow. I could finish it off. But where’s the damn spawn?
”

  Mace took several steps toward the lizard. He planned to blind it again with fire, then attack it. The thing had rolled over onto its side, and was having difficulty breathing. It must have inhaled a lot of water while it was under. Mace began to run toward the thing, trying to get into range. If he could burn it, then stab it with his new dagger, they’d both grow exponentially.

  Mace’s range on his fire spell was about fifty yards. He was just approaching that now. Raising his left hand, he gripped his dark mithril dagger in his right, and continued to run.

  The water burst upward again as the spawn rocketed out and onto the ice next to the lizard. Mace nearly shit himself in surprise. He skidded to a halt, regretting his proximity already.

  The Cthulhu monster was dripping black ichor from its mangled shoulder and dozens of nasty looking rents on its torso and legs. The arm below the damaged shoulder was hanging limp, the claws dragging on the ice.

  Spawn of Cthulhu

  Level 65

  Health 4,000/42,000

  Mace couldn’t resist. He held up his hand and shouted “Abscindere!”

  A razor thin blade of air cut into the already broken ankle of the spawn, severing the limb completely and causing the monster to fall toward the ice next to the lizard. It reached out with its good arm to attempt to break its fall, placing its hand on the lizard’s exposed belly. The claws dug into skin, dropping the lizard’s health down to 2,000hp.

  In a reflexive response, the lizard lunged forward and snapped its jaws around the spawn’s neck as it impacted the ice.

  Mace took a deep breath and raced forward again. With its back to him, the lizard never even saw him. He slid the last few meters across the ice and plunged his enchanted dagger into the back of the behemoth’s head, right at the base of the skull. The giant lizard twitched, and Mace heard a loud snapping sound. He felt a rush of… something from his dagger run up through his arm and to his brain.

  Level Up! You are now Level 30.

  You have received one attribute point.