The Land: Forging (Chaos Seeds Book 2)

by Aleron Kong

  Sion handed out the potions he had been able to make. Everyone got two healing potions. He gave Richter three restore mana potions, keeping two for himself. Everyone also got a restore stamina potion. The potions were all classified as minor, restoring a base 43.6 points over 6 seconds. Sion explained that the potion had a base healing of 40, but the bonus in his Alchemy skill made his potion 1.5% more effective per level.

  That made Richter wonder about the bonus from his Herb Lore skill. Herbs were supposed to be 3% more effective per level, so he should get a 114% bump now. He pulled a sprig of forest sage, one of the common healing herbs that grew in this region of the forest, out of his Bag.

  Forest sage: Ingesting this will restore 21.4 health points over 30 seconds. You also get the feeling that this is a component of cure poison potions and will make a savory dish to boost stamina.

  Still not as good as potions, Richter thought, but a definite improvement. The restoration potions were all useful, but not what Sion was excited about. He handed over two more to Richter.

  You have received: Potion of Bottled Fire. When smashed, this potion will create a 5x5 foot circle of intense flame. Anyone inside the AoE will suffer thirty health damage per second. Duration: 20 seconds.

  You have received: Bottle of Pure Light. Shake potion vigorously to activate. Will emit an intense light that drives back creatures of negative alignment. Activation will render potion inert. Duration: 10 minutes.

  Richter congratulated Sion profusely. The sprite looked embarrassed for the first time Richter had ever seen, but was clearly pleased as well. He warned Richter that he wouldn’t be able to make other high-level potions unless they found more crystal. Richter just looked at him in confusion, and Sion explained that powered crystal was an important resource in making magical equipment and arms. Richter shook his head. It meant just one more thing that he would have to take care of when they got back. He would have to ask Randolphus about it. How was he supposed to remember all of these things? Just then, Futen caught his eye, though.

  “Futen, remind me to ask Randy about finding more crystal when we get back to the village.”

  “Yes, my Lord.”

  Ha! I may not be Master Chief, but I do have my own Cortana, he thought.

  Alma glided above them, often flying off to hunt squirrels or other small animals. The dragonling never seemed to get enough to eat. She would then come back to circle above their heads or fly down to perch on Ricther’s shoulders. At least the familiar was fastidiously clean, Richter thought, happy that he wasn’t getting bloody bits all over him. He was walking along letting his mind drift when he noticed a change in an icon at the corner of his vision. The black dragon indicating Alma had a small gold cross affixed to it. He focused on it and her status window popped up.

  Name: Alma

  Level: 3, 78%

  Health: 130 Mana: 130 Stamina: 130

  (Unused level points: 2)

  Abilities:

  Psi Bond – Lvl 1, points until next level: 1

  Psi Blast – Lvl 1, points until next level: 1

  Brain Drain – Lvl 1, points until next level: 1

  Can use:

  Air Magic

  Resistances:

  Mental: 100%

  Air: 50%

  Race: Psi Dragonling

  The screen was different from his own status page. For one thing, it was lacking all of the characteristic points that were on his or Sion’s pages. It also looked like he could invest in his familiar’s abilities. The question was, which ability to invest the points into? He thought about each choice.

  The Psi Bond was already useful in that it let him speak with Alma. Who knew what further benefits there could be to deepening the bond? The value of the Psi Blast was obvious as well. During the attack by the bugbears, Alma had been able to break up their lines of defense. The battle could have gone very differently if not for her.

  Richter had always been one to play the long game, though. When he was gaming in head to head matches, while other players skirmished and scavenged for as much territory as possible as quickly as possible, he had always built up a solid and defensible base. From there he would strategically increase his holdings while keeping his defenses intact. The ability that gave him the best chance of a long-term yield would be Brain Drain. Even though he didn’t know exactly what would happen when the ability increased, the extra experience would make leveling a lot easier.

  He allocated one point to Brain Drain.

  You have chosen to increase your familiar’s ability: Brain Drain to level 2. Successful kills will now give 2% of total experience to both you and your familiar. Drain occurs faster. Stun can occur on enemies level 6 and below.

  Richter had been right, this was going to come in handy, he thought with a smile. The next level up for Brain Drain would require two points. So he left one point unused. He also chose to be notified by prompt of any increase in his familiar’s level in the future.

  They traveled until about midday and then Futen stopped. Yoshi and the other sprites stopped walking before Richter who had been lost in his own thoughts. He bumped into a tree before he noticed that no one else was moving. When he looked around though, he didn’t see anything except more trees and some ivy-covered rocks.

  “So where are we going now,” Richter asked.

  “We are here, my Lord, the entrance is hidden behind the rock in front of you.”

  Richter and Sion walked up to the vine-covered rock they had stopped by. He started pulling at the thick vines. The strength of his new body was enough to pull them off easily. Yoshi and Daniella joined them. Richter used his dagger to cut through thicker vines and roots. Nothing was seen except for bare grey stone until Daniella called him over. A small circle of clear glass had been set into the rock. Smiling Richter raised his left wrist willing his Mark to show. Then he thought about how he wanted the entrance to open, just as Yoshi shouted, “Wait!”

  That was the last thing Richter heard before the ground dropped out from under their feet and they plummeted down into darkness.

  CHAPTER 16

  Richter came to with a knot on the back of his head and a throbbing headache. The only light was from the hole thirty feet above them and from Futen’s soft white glow. It was just enough to illuminate Yoshi’s angry face.

  “Stupid gyoti!”

  Richter looked over at him, “You kiss your Hearth Mother with that mouth?” Yoshi just started pacing and muttering under his breath. ‘Gyoti’ was sprite speak for irritating fool. Sion had called him that a time or two. “Is everyone okay?”

  Daniella spoke up saying she was fine. Sion groaned and then questioned Richter’s parentage. He took that to mean that his Companion was fine. Yoshi’s pacing back and forth was coupled with a quiet monologue that had a fair amount of cursing. At the very least, it reassured Richter that the sword adept had avoided serious damage as well. Richter had lost eighteen points of health, but it could have been a lot worse. Where was Alma?

  A gust of air right in his face answered that question. *Dumb*, she thought at him. He couldn’t really disagree with her statement.

  Yoshi turned and verbalized his ire directly to Richter again, “You don’t just push buttons and activate magical locks. They can do anything! Do you realize there could have been spikes at the bottom of this pit?”

  Richter nodded to show he had heard and then apologized. Yoshi just repeated, “Gyoti,” and then started muttering and pacing again. Richter looked around. A new prompt stated:

  You have found: Timeworn Dungeon

  “Futen, give us some more light.”

  The grey orb increased its inner light until it was easy to see the details of their new surroundings. The prompt had said ‘timeworn.’ That meant the dungeon they were facing was anywhere between 1,000 and 10,000 years old. This was not going to be easy.

  They hadn’t just fallen into a sinkhole; they had dropped into an antechamber of some sort. Th
e floor was made of square blocks of brown stone. The walls were made of the same material, but the blocks were more rectangular. The surface of each was rough like sandpaper, and the stone had a porous appearance. Crumbling mortar filled the cracks between the blocks, leaving all surfaces pockmarked with holes. Along one wall was a doorway.

  The double doors and the doorframe were made of black iron, and were almost completely corroded through in spots. Despite that, the door was solid and rang loudly when Richter rapped it with his fist. This of course earned him another glare from Yoshi, which he ignored. When he started examining the clear circle set in the center of the left door though, Yoshi half drew one of his swords. Richter decided there were other things to examine in the room.

  Sion was looking at the wall opposite the door. Loose rocks were strewn around on the ground and a series of protruding bricks could be seen in a rising line along the wall. They almost looked like… stairs. Richter realized with a drop in his stomach that long ago a staircase had extended out of the wall. All that was left now though was the rubble on the ground. From the resigned look on Sion’s face, he had come to the same conclusion.

  “We won’t be leaving this way,” Sion said.

  They all just looked at each other. Richter pointed at the door, “We need to go forward then.”

  “No,” Yoshi said sharply. “We are in this hole because you acted rashly. After the attack on your village, I would have thought you had learned your lesson.” Richter opened up his mouth to angrily retort, but the truth of Yoshi’s words and the guilt from his latest mistake combined to keep him silent. Yoshi continued, “There are cracks in the walls. With the climbing boost in our armor, we can reach the top.”

  Richter looked at the walls doubtfully. He had seen Sion scamper up a tree like a squirrel, but he had yet to test the climbing properties of his own enhanced armor. He was also lugging a lot more weight around than the three and a half foot tall sprites, and even more then Yoshi with his half-human frame.

  “We are here to beat this dungeon,” Richter said. “We can’t turn back at the first little bump in the road.”

  “I am not saying we give up,” Yoshi said. I am saying that we get to a safe place, ideally outside and thirty feet above our current position. Then we can approach this quest from a position of strength. At the very least, we can tie off a rope and climb back down. Then we would have a ready escape if we needed it.”

  Richter was about to concede the point when Daniella shouted and pointed behind Yoshi. Faster than Richter could follow, the sprite had one of his swords out and slashed downward. The creature that had jumped at him from one of the holes in the wall fell in two pieces. Yoshi leaned over to look at it and called out, “More light.”

  Futen was in another corner in the room and did not move. Sighing Richter said, “For the duration of this mission, do as they say, Futen.” Richter didn’t wait for the remnant, though, and cast Simple Light. A white ball of light appeared about his head.

  The insect, because it was clearly somewhere along that particular branch of the genetic tree, was about one-foot long. The black carapace reminded Richter of a cockroach, but it was split into three distinct segments. The mouth was framed by serrated pincers and sharp teeth could be seen lining its jaws. It had six thin legs, and its blood was green. The fluid steamed slightly where it dripped out along with white viscera. Yoshi swore as soon as he saw it.

  “Open the door!” The sword adept had drawn both blades. Once Sion and Daniella saw the bisected insect, they cursed as well and nocked arrows.

  “Why,” Richter asked. “What’s going on?”

  “Open the door!”

  “What’s the problem,” Richter asked confused. This bug thing had been easy to kill.

  “They are coming! Listen!”

  All Richter heard was a low buzz. It was getting louder, though, and pretty quickly… and it didn’t sound like a buzz anymore. It sounded like… scratching… like maybe the scratching of countless sharp legs on stone…

  Richter ran over to the door and held his Mark to the glass circle willing the portal open. The doors started opening inward, but then they ground to a halt. A squealing of gears created a head splitting racket. The horrible noise had to compete with the skittering and scratching sounds that were now horrifyingly loud. Then the holes in the wall exploded with the bodies of hundreds of the foot-long bugs. The squeezed through the small spaces like roaches through a small crack in the floor. They looked exactly the same as the last one, and they were swarming towards Richter and his comrades!

  Richter threw his shoulders against the doors trying to get them open another few inches. It barely budged. Sion and Daniella were firing imbued arrows at the high speed of one per second, but it was like trying to stop a flood by throwing rocks at it. Yoshi stood in front of them ready to strike any that got too close. Alma helped by sending psychic pulses into the swarm, but the damned things jumped! She was having to weave in the air to avoid being brought down and torn apart. Richter threw his shoulder against the door again. It moved a bit but not enough! The gears were rusted shut. If only he could oil them, or g-!

  Quickly, Richter cast Grease, not on floor but on the wall that held the door. He wasn’t even sure he could cast the spell vertically, but thankfully the familiar brown gravy colored slickness coated the wall and the hinges. Richter slammed his shoulder into the door again and felt it give a little. Another shove and it flew open, making him sprawl on the floor of the tunnel beyond. The loud boom of the door against the inside of wall, coupled with the impacts of the sprites imbued arrows in a confined space, robbed Richter of all of his hearing.

  The sprites had rushed in after him, still firing back into the antechamber. Richter looked up confused, his bell rung from hitting his head on the ground. Yoshi shouted at him, but it sounded like a far-off sound heard while under water. The sword adept spoke again moving his mouth in an exaggerated fashion so Richter could read his lips. He still couldn’t get what Yoshi was saying. All of a sudden the sound came back like someone had unplugged his ears.

  “DOOR,” Yoshi shouted for a third time.

  Richter stumbled to his feet and put his back to the door trying to shove it closed. He was wondering why they hadn’t all been eaten by now, and saw that there were three factors contributing to their continued survival. One, Sion was holding a vial that had bright white light was coming out of. It was forcing the insects back. The ones in back kept surging forward over their hesitant fellows to in turn be driven back by the light themselves. Two, Daniella’s was still firing imbued arrows into the swarm of bugs. Each strike momentarily cleared a section of the antechamber floor, but it would immediately be filled again with more of the giant insects. Three, the attention of the bugs was divided between trying to kill the party of adventures… and eating their own wounded. As Richter tried to yank the door closed, he had one thought on his mind. He really hoped he had been down on the ground less than thirty seconds. That was the duration of Grease, and if the spell ran out… well… then they were all about to become termite shit.

  Both Yoshi and Richter strained against the door to no avail for several seconds, but once again, when it started moving, it slammed shut quickly. Several bugs were crushed between the doors and others were left on the same side as Richter and the others. They were saved from the majority of the ravaging horde of insects now locked outside in the antechamber, at least momentarily. The sprites immediately started dispatching any of the giant roaches locked on this side of the door. Before all the bugs killed, Richter Analyzed one.

  Esurient Beetle. Lvl 2. Health 40. Mana 0. Stamina 50. Disposition: N/A. Esurient Beetles are a plague upon The Land. Also known as hell bugs, eaters, or ‘the scourge’, these voracious creatures perform only two actions, eating and reproducing. Highly territorial and aggressive, every sentient species no matter the alignment hates these creatures, and will kill them on sight. Entire regions have been lost to these swarms
of esurient beetles. Fortunately, their queen has a short lifespan of one year, after which that particular nest will not resurge for a century. Unfortunately, that one year is enough to turn forests into wastelands.

  God! If those things had been able to bear any of them to the ground, or Alma… Alma!

  *Alma, where are you?*

  *Here*, she thought to him soothingly. He looked up, and saw her clinging to an empty torch bracket set into the side of the tunnel. He exhaled in relief.

  There were only a few eaters left on their side of the door, Yoshi having dispatched the rest. A thought occurred to Richter. “Wait,” he called out. The sprites pulled back from the five insects remaining insects.

  “What,” Yoshi said irritated. The bugs were clustered in a corner gnashing their serrated teeth in anger, but not willing to rush the dangerous sprites.

  *Stun them*, Richter thought.

  Alma swooped to the corner where the bugs were and let loose a psi blast. The bugs fell over in a stupor. It appeared her attack worked well on the simple creatures. Thank Abrams and Whedon for small favors.

  “Disable them, but don’t kill them if you can help it,” he said to the sprites. It was a relatively simple matter for them to cut the eaters’ legs off while they were disabled. By the time the bugs could respond, their mobility was gone. Richter consumed a Potion of Clarity, and then looked up at Alma. Curious what would happen he offered her a Potion of Clarity as well. She took the end of the vial in her mouth, and then put her head back letting the potion slide down her throat. Richter gave a vicious smile and then said, “Drain them.”

  The dragonling let loose an excited cry and pounced on the first eater. Richter cast Soul Trap on each in turn. She took less than a minute before moving on to the next. As she finished each, a ribbon of multicolored light flew into his Bag of Holding. While he watched her kill the beetles, Richter re-enabled his prompts showing experience from kills. He had disabled it soon after coming to The Land because it was too distracting. With each kill, though, his experience went up by 75-90 depending on the beetle’s level not including the 25% boost that the Potion of Clarity gave. He also received a second prompt because of his familiar’s Brain Drain ability. Depending on the level of eaters that Alma consumed he would get between 30 or 80 experience as well. The awesome news was that experience from Brain Drain was increased by his Potion as well! True, these monsters were low level, and didn’t give much experience, but it boded well for the future! He disabled the experience prompts again before he forgot. Those things were seriously distracting and cluttered his notification log.