Land of the Undying

by Dave Willmarth

  They descended the ramp and split up. The archer went left, and the sword bearer went to the right with Shari. They circled around behind the buildings, calling out softly. “It’s okay, you can come out. It’s safe now.”

  When there was no answer, Shari cast the light spell on an arrow and handed it to the other elf. “Wave this around. Try to get her attention. Let’s not make more noise than we have to.” He nodded his head and stepped to the side about twenty feet. The two of them continued their circuit of the settlement, waving their weapons.

  In the darkness to their left, there was a surprised shout followed by a cry of pain. Both Shari and the elf dashed toward the sound. Rounding the buildings, they saw the elven girl crouched against one of the cages. A giant spider, at least ten feet long, hovered over her. It raised a foreleg and was about to impale the girl when an arrow struck its eye. The thing screamed in pain and took a step backward.

  Having been frozen in fear, Shari quickly raised her bow and fired an arrow into the spider as well. Just as hers hit, a second arrow struck from the other direction. The elf with the sword ran toward the spider, hacking off one of its legs as he passed it. He bent and scooped up the girl, then dashed toward the wagon. Shari cast fire on another arrow and sent it into the spider’s thorax. The arrow continued to burn after it struck, scorching the spider’s flesh. Another arrow from the other archer struck it’s remaining eye, blinding the thing completely. It thrashed about, bumping into the cages and reeling away into the darkness.

  The other archer came trotting over. “Nicely done” he smiled at her. She shook her head “I froze when I saw it about to kill the girl. Your arrow saved her life.” The archer merely bowed his head. The two of them joined the others by the smoldering wagon. The girl was holding one arm close to her body. A long gash extended down her forearm.

  Shari handed her a healing potion. “I’m afraid it’s not very strong. But it’s all I have.” She apologized. The young elf smiled at her, saying “Thank you. I was sure I was going to die in this awful, dark hole.”

  “Not today!” the sword bearer grinned at her. “Now let’s get out of here before that thing brings its cousins out of the dark.”

  The four of them ascended the ramp and made their way back to the crypt cavern. Shari led the way through the opening, crawling on her belly again. The others followed behind, and she led them up and out of the tomb to the forest, where the others waited.

  They began to walk back toward the city together. One of the archers volunteered to run ahead and alert the guards. Among the prisoners were three humans, a dwarf, and an orc, as well as several elves. The light elves were friendly enough toward the non-monster races. But access to the city for non-elves was strictly regulated.

  They were maybe halfway to the city when an elven patrol on horseback rode up to them. They led a wagon driven by the archer. Shari and the others climbed aboard the wagon, and were driven back to the city.

  When they passed through the gate, there was a crowd waiting for them. Several hundred citizens applauded as they passed. A couple of the prisoners spotted family members and leapt from the wagon to greet them. The guards allowed them a short reunion before herding them back to the wagon. The elders were going to want to interview them all. Seeing the condition of the prisoners, elves approached with flasks of water and pieces of fruit or cheese. The prisoners thanked them profusely, then dug in. The old lady cautioned her young charge not to eat or drink too quickly, lest she get sick. As they approached the council hall, the prisoners were helped from the wagon and escorted gently into the hall. A long table and chairs had been set up, and there was food and drink on the table. Blankets were provided for those who wanted them. Some of the prisoners’ clothes were reduced to rags.

  Arlon appeared next to Shari. “I take it you are responsible for rescuing these poor people?” He asked.

  Shari grinned at him. “It was Sir Snuffles McBacon” she reached down and lifted the now even larger piglet. Scratching his ears, she added “I just helped a little.”

  Arlon snorted. “Ha! That is quite a name for our young piglet here. But I think it suits him.” Arlon reached out and tickled the pig’s tummy, causing him to snort and squirm in Shari’s arms. She set him back on the floor.

  “The Council will want to hear your story first. Then interview the prisoners.” Arlon told her before stepping away to sit with the elders. When he was seated, he called her forward. “Shari. Please share with the Council how you came to bring these unfortunate people here.”

  Shari began with her quests, telling them she’d gone into the forest to kill wolves, gather spell components, and investigate the ghost sightings. She explained to the elders that the ‘ghosts’ were goblins covered in bat guano. As she related that bit, she motioned to herself and the others, who were all still slightly chalky after crawling through the crypt. She told them about finding the tomb, then the larger tomb, and the settlement. She glazed over the battle, just saying she managed to kill the goblins and free the prisoners, bringing them back here.

  The elf who’d given her the history lesson cleared his throat. One of the elders nodded to him. “Grandson? You wish to comment?”

  “Yes, grandmother. Shari is being modest in her telling. She not only slew two goblins in the tunnels, and six more in the settlement, as well as a petramander, single-handedly. She also refused to leave behind the youngling here.” He indicated the elf girl. “She made sure the rest of us were safe, and was about to go back alone for the youngling, who had run off during the battle. She is truly a hero, selfless and brave.” He bowed to her as he finished speaking. Shari blushed furiously.

  Her story told, she took a seat while the elders interviewed the others. Each of them told how they were captured, caged, and transported to the settlement. The old woman shared the news of the elf who’d perished in his cage, though she did not know his name.

  When it was done, Shari received several notifications.

  Quest Complete: The Ghosts in the Wood

  You have discovered the reason behind the reports of ghosts, and eliminated a threat to the people of the forest. In addition, you have rescued prisoners from the goblin slavers and returned them to safety.

  Quest reward: 1,000 experience, 25 gold

  Bonus reward: 100 experience and 5 gold per prisoner. Total: 1,200 bonus experience; 60 gold.

  Your reputation with the Light Elf race has increased by fifty. You are now Respected.

  Your reputation with the Human race has increased by twenty. You are now Friendly.

  Your reputation with the Dwarven race has increased by twenty. You are Neutral.

  Your reputation with the Orc race has increased by ten. You are Neutral.

  Level Up! You have reached level 19!

  You have earned 1 free attribute point.

  The council offered shelter and food for the prisoners that did not have family or homes in the city to return to. Arrangements were made for them to return to their homes in a few days. As they were escorted from the hall, each of them stopped to thank Shari with a hug or a handshake.

  Afterward Arlon approached and motioned for her to walk with him. As they left the hall, he said “Quite the busy day you’ve had. Go get some rest. Come and see me in the morning, and I may have more magic to share with you.” Waving goodbye, he turned toward his tree.

  Shari and Snuffles returned to the inn. Not even bothering to eat, she went straight to her room. Dismissing Snuffles, she sat on the floor, not wanting to get bat poop on the bed, and logged out.

  Chapter 12

  The Fly in the Ointment

  The next morning Mace and Shari again shared breakfast. They hadn’t arranged it that way, they just both showed up in the kitchen at 7:00am. When Shari arrived, Mace was already mixing water and pancake powder into a batter. There were a couple of apples sitting on the counter next to the precious maple syrup. Shari smiled at that. “I think if you could get away with it, you’d put maple syrup o
n everything.”

  Mace nodded, not even turning around as he mixed the batter. “Yup. Ever tried spaghettios with syrup? I have.”

  “Ha! Why does that not surprise me?” She laughed. “I gotta say, it’s kind of nice having my own private gourmet chef making me meals all the time.”

  “Nothing but high class all the way,” this time he turned and winked at her. “If we had any hot dogs left, I’d make you the best spaghetti you ever had!”

  She picked up an apple and tossed it back and forth between her hands. “We need to work on your speed, though. I’ve been here like thirty seconds and don’t have a single pancake in front of me.”

  Mace poured a bit of batter onto each of two skillets. “Well, make yourself useful and slice up one of those apples for me. I like syrup on apples, too. Oh! And find the cinnamon. We’re going all out this morning!”

  Shari rose and walked to the pantry. There was an extensive spice rack just inside the door. She grabbed the cinnamon, and picked up a knife on her way back to the counter. “Question, sir chef. Should I peel your apple before I slice it up?”

  Mace didn’t hesitate. “Nah. Not apples. When we have grapes, though. I’m gonna need you to peel those before you feed them to me.” He flipped the first two pancakes.

  Shari snorted. “When pigs fly. Plus, we didn’t plant grapes yet. So dream on.” She picked up one of the apples and cut into it. As Mace poured another couple of pancakes, she sliced up one of the apples. Deciding she was curious how apple pancakes would taste, she proceeded to slice up the other one, too.

  In just a few minutes, Mace brought over two plates with three pancakes each stacked on them. Shari watched as he grabbed several apple slices and arranged them atop the stack. Then he poured syrup in a spiral pattern that wound from the outside of the stack in toward the center. Lastly he sprinkled on a goodly dose of cinnamon. Shari copied each step.

  Mace politely waited for her to finish her prep work, then cut a forkful out of the stack and shoved it into his mouth. “Mmmmm!” He rolled his eyes in exaggerated bliss. Shari watched for a moment, then said “Well, it didn’t kill you. Good guinea pig.” before taking a bite of her own. She chewed thoughtfully for a moment, then nodded. “Okay, you’re right. This is really good.”

  The two of them chatted over breakfast. Mace told her about the battle, and promised to show her the video after breakfast. She laughed heartily when he told her about running down the hill and being turned into a porcupine by the kobolds.

  Shari, in turn, told him about her adventure with the goblins. When he congratulated her on going back to save the girl, she looked at him oddly. “What?” he asked.

  “Well, you play a drow. I think maybe I figured you would think I was foolish for going back.” she ventured.

  “I chose the drow race because there wouldn’t be a lot of other players, and I could level quickly. It’s not like I’m a drow in real life!” he bared his teeth at her, growling and making scary monster-claw hand motions at her.

  Shari chuckled. “I know that, dork. I just meant, you know, a lot of times folks who play the ‘evil’ races have that tendency in them already. They get off on murdering and stealing.” She looked at him out of the corner of her eyes, waiting to see how he’d react.

  “Ha!” Mace grinned at her. “As a drow I have done a bunch of assassinating, stealing, and outright killing. You have to, in order to survive down there. But I don’t run around killing random NPCs or murdering every vendor that doesn’t give me a discount. I’ve always been following a quest, killing targeted NPCs who’d committed some kind of offense. Or killing in self-defense.” He watched her as he spoke. She smiled slightly, looking relieved. He didn’t blame her. He wouldn’t want to be stuck underground with a psycho either. Still… he couldn’t resist.

  “And, I mean, the fact that I like to eat the brains of my victims and lick the blood off my blades, doesn’t make me a bad guy…”

  He watched as her eyes grew wide. Her mouth opened to say something, but she caught the look on his face and smacked him instead. “You! You know you have a horrible poker face, right?”

  “No, really. Fry up the brains with a little salt, pour a little maple syrup on them-”

  She hit him again, harder this time, interrupting him. “Ow!” he pretended to pout, rubbing his arm. “Brute.”

  She grinned at him. “Just remember that if you ever feel tempted to sneak into my room and eat my brains!” There was an awkward pause as she realized what she’d said. She shook her head. “Damn. Yeah. Zombiepocalypse. That was… I’m sorry. Talk about a mood killer.”

  Mace tried to save the mood. “Trust me, if I’m sneakin into your room, it won’t be to nibble on your frontal lobes” he winked.

  Shari chuckled, but didn’t respond. They were silent for a minute or so. Then she got up to wash the plates and clean up. He decided to try one more time to lighten the mood. “So uhhh… now that I bought you breakfast, wanna come back to my place? I got this video I wanna show you…” he gave her an exaggerated wink and a little hip-thrust motion.

  Shari laughed despite herself. “Cornball. And, yes. I want to see this epic battle where you got stomped into the dirt.”

  They finished cleaning up, and walked back to Mace’s quarters. Shari casually plopped down on the bed as Mace punched some buttons on the pod interface to bring up the recording. There was a TV on the wall above the desk. Mace had never even turned it on, as by the time he’d moved into this room, nobody was broadcasting anymore.

  He found the remote in a desk drawer and turned on the TV. He set it to receive a wireless signal, then hit play on the pod console. He sat on the bed next to Shari.

  The replay began from his perspective at the respawn point. The first thing Shari said was “Holy shit, that’s a big lizard!”

  As they watched the battle, he explained a few things that weren’t obvious, like the sensation from his dagger when he finished off the lizard. When it was over, he shut off the TV.

  “Damn, Mace. I’m jealous. If there was anybody else alive, you’d be an internet sensation with that. Twelve levels in one fight. Also, that Cthulhu spawn thing was nightmare material!” Shari said.

  Mace, very aware of Shari’s proximity to him, and the fact that they were sitting on his bed, mumbled “I ended up with ten levels. Lost one when the lizard smushed me. And another when the kobolds killed me.”

  Shari clapped her hands together. “Oh, PLEASE tell me you have THAT on video. I neeeed to see that!”

  Mace thought it about it. He didn’t remember ever turning his recording off. He turned the TV back on and sure enough, they were watching the kobolds loot the junk in the nest. So Mace got up and used the pod console to fast forward to the point where they found the hidden tunnel that led to the village. He sat back down next to Shari, and they watched as Truffle and Shook ran down the hill ahead of him.

  Mace decided to add some commentary. “There’s the village. Hello kobolds! Yes, blow the horn, the nice drow has brought two of your hunters back to you. Wave! Hi!” He bantered as his drow trotted down the hill.

  When the first arrow struck him, he didn’t need to say more, because he’d said it all in the recording. When his body fell to the ground and the video went dark, he looked to see that Shari had fallen back on the bed and was holding her stomach. “Ahahahahaaaa! You just… they blew the… and you didn’t…” She gasped for breath.

  “Har, har. Very funny. It’s obvious now, but at the time it looked like a welcoming party.”

  When she’d calmed herself and managed to get a full breath, she said “I was wrong. THIS is the video that would have made you famous!” Then she began to laugh again, just as hard.

  Mace wanted to lean over her and start a ticklefight with every fiber of his being. But he worried if he made a wrong move here, she’d feel trapped in a bunker with a perv. Mace had never been what he’d consider ‘good with the ladies’. Through high school and college, he’d had sex with
several girls. But mostly they’d either liked him for his quiet, geeky manner, or had been drunken hookups at some house party or other event. A few of them, he’d never even learned their names.

  So, he just let her laugh. Sticking his tongue out at her, he said “See if I show YOU any more videos!”

  “Aww…” She put a hand on his back and rubbed it a little. “I didn’t mean to hurt poor Mace’s feelings. I still think you’re a big strong manly drow!” she winked.

  He reached back and took her hand, holding it for a moment, before using it to pull her back up to a sitting position. “Out! Begone from my kingdom, oh insulter of my manliness. Drowiness? Dark Elfyness? Gah!” He joked.

  She sat there looking at him for a moment, mischief in her eyes. “So… what do you wanna do now?” She asked.

  Mace was 90% sure that was an offer. Still, he wasn’t going to act until he was 100% sure. He reached up and brushed aside some hair that had fallen across her face. Looking into her eyes with all the passion he could muster, he said “Gardening.” and winked at her.

  She stared at him for a moment, then rolled her eyes. “Dork. Okay, gardening. You want to plant the trees?”

  No, I absolutely do not want to plant the trees. I want to stay right here and… He nodded his head, thinking it best not to finish that thought, as he was going to need to stand up in a minute.

  “Right!” Shari said, hopping up from the bed. “Meet you at the elevator in five.” He let out a deep sigh as she left his room. Mechanically, he put on his outdoor clothes and armor. They weren’t going out except for the parking garage, but he wasn’t taking any chances. Something could crash through the glass of the lobby at any time.

  With his gear all set, he walked to the elevator. Shari joined him less than a minute later. She had also dressed as if they were going outside. It paid to be prepared in this new world.