by Aleron Kong
‘Try to grab it,’ an adventurous little part of him said.
‘Why don’t you try to grab it,’ the cautious part of him thought back. Then all of him thought, please god don’t let anyone find out that I’m talking to myself! Alma stared at him suspiciously.
‘The green light probably means everything is fine,” the adventurous part of Richter said. ‘Just put your hand in the hole. Something great might happen!’
‘Well something great might happen at a glory hole, but I’m not sticking my hand, or any other part of me in one of those either! Or have you forgotten what happened in Tijuana?’
Silence reigned in Richter’s head. The cautious part of him cheered in victory.
That was when the chicken noises started.
‘Bwakkk, bwakkk, bok, bok, bgwaakkkk!’
After two minutes of that he gave in.
‘Fine! I’ll do it,’ Richter thought. The adventurous part of him reintegrated into his psyche with a smug grin.
Richter stuck his fingers under the circle and into the green glow. His jaw was clenched shut expecting to lose his hand at any moment. Finally, a prompt came up.
Do you wish to retrieve Level Acid Trap? Yes or No?
Nowww I get a prompt, he silently asked, staring up at the ceiling in exasperation. He selected ‘Yes’ and the circle of the trap came completely free. A metal contraption with a glass sphere rose to the level of the floor. The sphere was clear and was mostly filled with a syrupy red liquid.
You have found: Adhesive Fire Acid Trap. Durability 5/5. Item class: Uncommon. Quality: Average. Weight .2 kg. Once triggered, will release a spray of acid in a circle five feet in diameter. This acid will adhere to anything it touches making it extremely difficult to remove. Does 7-10 damage (85% Acid, 15% Fire magic) per second for 20 seconds.
Despite having had to guess about the green light, Richter was please at this new weapon. This acid sounded like some serious stuff. He was also feeling like he didn’t want any part of a trap like this going off near him! He CAUTIOUSLY got back to work.
A day later, they had finally made their way to the metal door. His trap skills increased another two levels. Unfortunately, it was always the way that the higher skills rose, the harder it was to level them.
Up close, the bands of metal that created the door had a previously unseen feature. The entire surface was covered with impossibly thin and short spikes. Richter hadn’t seen them earlier because they were completely clear. Not one was longer than an inch, but they were so tightly packed and so numerous that touching the door ensured being pricked. Richter tried to cut one free with his glass dagger, but the spike seemed to be impervious to damage. What did happen, however, was a drop of clear viscous liquid welled from the end of the spike. Sion collected it in an empty vial he took from his pack. He wafted some of the odor towards his face, then took out a second vial of orange power. He placed a small amount of water in the first vial and added some of the powder. When he swirled the mixture around it turned into a milky purple solution. With a disbelieving look on his face, he added a small brown leaf and it began to produce green bubbles.
“Shrieke venom,” Sion said in surprise.
“What effects does it cause,” Richter asked.
“Death,” Sion said definitively. “It is one of the deadliest naturally occurring venoms in The Land. We cannot touch this door. Even one drop would kill us. You,” he said pointing at Richter, “might be able to survive being stuck once by a spike because of your larger size, but not twice. The venom has Earth and Death based magic as well as just being a natural poison, so your resistance should help, but again, I wouldn’t risk it.”
“What is going on,” Richter cried out. “Who would come up with a massive metal door covered in near invisible spikes that leak deadly poison? The architect/author for this dungeon must have been insane… or just insanely clever and attractive!”
No one spoke for a second, “I am not sure why you would draw that last conclusion,” his Companion said, “but I am sure that we cannot touch any of these spikes.”
“There has to be a way out of here,” Daniella said. “We are just not looking in the right place. Maybe one of the other doors will be helpful.”
Richter knew that they would ultimately have to check out the other doors, but felt sure that each one would present a problem as well. As a matter of course, he pulled his wand and scanned for magic. The door itself glowed white uniformly. No real surprise there. In frustration, Richter dropped his hand. He was going to scream in frustration again, but felt someone nudge him.
“Look down,” Sion said.
Richter looked, and in the beam of blue light emanating from the wand, were words in a flourishing script. It contained umlaut’s, tilde’s, and other unknown accents.
Daniella drew in her breath sharply.
“What,” Sion asked turning around sharply to scan the room. They were all a bit on edge from just sitting in here.
“This is ancient high elvish.”
“Bah,” Yoshi said. “That hasn’t been spoken for almost one hundred thousand years. How could you recognize it?”
“Hisako has books written in high elvish in her library. If you enjoyed doing more than just stroking your sword, you might have learned something as well,” she answered waspishly. Sion took a step back from the potential confrontation. He was always smart like that.
Richter had been tracing the line writing with his wand, and saw that it completely encircled the door. The words touched the ceiling, the walls, and the floor. “I can read it,” he said. “Listen,”
“Red of iron, essence of flesh, both must be tempered, to unlock the way forward.
Grist of bone is the stage of life, rage against the fading of life.
To prepare the way forward, remove the distractions of the past. Heed this warning or suffer the error of youth.
Death comes on swift wings, causing a terrible storm.
The passage of birth is the loss of the womb.
The safety of illusion fractures under the blows of pain’s truth.
Any being would be crushed, to carry the world on his shoulders.
Know thy limitations or never transcend them.
The last path is the first that is taken each day.
Listen well to both devils and angels, for both are you.
Life can be found in the truthful lies of one and the lying truths of the other.
Cross not the wrong threshold, or suffer the reaper.
Only these truths can pierce the veil of lies which bar your way.”
Yoshi stared at him, “Is that it?”
“Yes,” Richter replied.
“Are you sure,” Sion asked.
“Maybe you’re reading it wrong,” Yoshi said. He turned to Daniella, “What do you think it says?”
“I can’t read it,” Daniella said.
“You said you had learned from the Hearth Mother!”
“I said I could recognize it! The same way I can recognize a gyoti when I’m looking at one!” She glared at the sword adept. Yoshi inhaled deeply, probably preparing for a scathing reply.
“Enough,” Richter said forcefully. “Trust me Yoshi, I can read it. It’s my Gift of Tongues ability. Now all of you stop wasting energy. We have to get out of here. We have enough rations for a good while, but our water will not last forever. Also, have you forgotten that the eaters are a clear threat to the entire Forest of Nadria? Now start being helpful!”
Yoshi stared angrily at Daniella a while longer, then shook his head and looked down. When he looked back up, the irritation was gone from his face. “You are of course right, Lord Richter. I apologize. I also apologize to you, sister sprite. I am frustrated by the need to remove this menace before it harms our people.” He bowed at the waist.
Daniella bowed back, “I apologize as well sword adept.”
Richter looked back and forth between the sprites, “Yeah yeah, kumbaya.
We still need to get out of here.”
Sion asked him to repeat the inscription. When Richter was done reciting, he said, “Well flesh and iron can be red, and we have a red door…”
No one else had a better idea, and for a good Georgia boy who had been raised on red clay hills, the reasoning was sound enough. Yoshi and he got back to work. While they did, Sion had brought out another empty vial and was meticulously striking each spike to catch the drops of venom it produced. Though it took hours, he got all of the spikes within easy reach of his short frame.
The traps were all level five or six in this section of the room, but luckily, the increases in Richter’s trap skills made the process go a bit faster. They both had to rest before they were done. On the plus side, Richter was awarded two more traps. On paralyze, and another that triggered a needle coated with fear poison. It took the greater part of a day, but they made their way to the red door.
Richter had been hoping that once they got right up to it, a means of opening it would be revealed, but a careful inspection showed nothing. Until he used the want that is, the blue light revealed more spidery script appeared.
“Brighter than Light, blacker than Dark, stronger than Earth, faster than Air, deeper than Water, hotter than Fire, more cherished than Life, more inevitable than Death.”
Something about it the inscription tickled his memory. It was like hearing a familiar song but in another language. He repeated the inscription to himself silently and thought about how the riddle made no sense. Nothing was brighter than light! Nothing was hotter than fire. Nothing was more inevitable than… Richter’s eyebrows rose, and he said, “Nothing.”
As soon as he finished speaking that one word, the door began breaking apart. A piece fell off but did not strike the ground. It bent down the middle, and the two halves began opening and closing. Before he knew it, a red butterfly was flapping its wings. A cascade of red fell away from the door and the four comrades were surrounded by a maelstrom of red flapping wings. It was like being surrounded by every scarlet leaf of autumn or being gently cocooned in the softest red silk. As quickly as it began, the wonderful storm of butterflies ended when they all fell to the ground at once. The red door was gone, leaving the way clear.
“I think these are red monarchs,” Sion said in awe. “I recognize them from a picture in mother’s library.”
“Have they been absent from The Land for centuries too,” Richter asked.
“No, but they are from a different plane. They are only supposed to exist in abyssal realms. Help me collect them.”
The four reached down and collected all of the fallen butterflies, handing them to Richter for storage. Then they assumed the same formation as before, Futen leading with Richter several yards behind and Yoshi bringing up the rear. The tunnel beyond the red door looked like it had been hewn from solid red rock. The walls were irregular and walking required some balance. A couple hundred yards into the tunnel, Richter started to smell water. Soon he could hear a distant roar. The tunnel opened into a large rectangular cavern. The roar was made by what Richter assumed was a waterfall at the far end. Unfortunately, the intensity of Futen’s light was not enough to illuminate the entire room. The party stood on a ledge that looked out over an underground lake. They stood only a few feet above the waterline. In the distance Richter could just make out a small rocky island. An ornate chest was sitting in the middle of it. What caught his eye were the rocks walls. Large clear crystals were periodically embedded into the stone.
“Okay, so what’s the catch,” Richter asked. No one had anything helpful to say. Futen intensified his light at Richter’s request, but they could still barely see past the island. Richter cast Far Light towards the end of the room. The ball of light didn’t make it far. The luminous white sphere traveled less than twenty feet when one of the crystals on the wall flashed. A bolt of red lightning streaked from the crystal towards the ball of light and impacted it with a loud zzzt and resulting boom!
“Hehehe,” Richter said nervously. He looked around at his comrades, and saw that all of them were staring at the crystal with their mouths slightly open. Daniella had taken an involuntary step backwards. Richter looked around, ill at ease, but no other bolts of red death seemed to be forth coming. Shaking his head and exhaling solidly, he started to work the problem. If there was one thing he remembered from his semester as an engineering major, it was that where most people saw problems, engineers looked for solutions. Richter had always thought it was good advice in any walk of life.
He took out his wand again, but didn’t find any script on the ground or walls. When he shined it over the water though, a pale sheet of white could be seen completely crossing the room perpendicular to the direction Richter was facing. It extended from the water to the ceiling. The sheet was in line with the first crystal on the wall, and perpendicular to the length of the room. When Richter turned off the wand off again, all he saw was empty space.
“Sion, fire an arrow.” The sprite nocked and fired towards the island. The arrow flew straight, and as soon as it passed the white sheet, another red light flared in the jewel. Immediately, a bolt of red lightning shot from the crystal and struck the arrow dead on. All that was left was ash that fell down to sprinkle on top of the water.
Richter shook his head. There had to be a way across the water. “Sion, try to hit one of the crystals.”
The sprite took careful aim and shot at the closest crystal. The lightning flashed and the arrow was destroyed just before impact.
Richter looked at the remnant, “Futen, could you withstand those lightning strikes?”
“It might not destroy me, my Lord, but there is a good chance that it would disable me. You would have to retrieve me, and I would not revive until I was brought back to the Great Seal.”
“Even if you were invisible?”
“I cannot say, my Lord. I will try if you order it.”
The risk was way too big, Richter thought. Futen was vital to the running of the village. He couldn’t risk the remnant on the off chance that it might work out. Richter racked his brain, and then said, “Sion, can you shoot an arrow so it goes under the water right before it would cross the first crystal?”
Sion just gave a self-assured smile, then drew and fired. The arrow struck the water and continued on for a few more feet. Even though it crossed the plane of the crystal, there was no discharge. Not initially anyway. When the arrow bobbed back to the surface, it crossed the plane of another crystal, and red lightning shot down destroying it. Okay, Richter thought, I guess this means that they would be safe as long as they were under the water.
He decided to bring more light to bear on the situation. He shot multiple balls of light with his Far Light spell. Richter was careful not to cross the magical white plane of the crystals. Soon, there was a shining archway made from little balls of light. Now the entire room could be seen clearly. The rocky island in the middle of the cavern was several meters long. There didn’t seem to be any crystals in line with the isle. As long as he swam just a bit past the tip of the rock, he should be able to climb up safely. This was, of course, all contingent on his belief that the crystals only fired when something passed directly in front of them. If they started to cover an arc of space, he was totally dead.
“So all we need to do is swim under the water until we reach the island. It’s just… about a hundred, a hundred fifty yards… yeah…,” Richter said. He checked Sion’s status.
Name: Sion
Age: 44
Level: 11, 82% to next level
Health: 230 Mana: 210 Stamina: 140
Strength: 18
Agility: 18
Dexterity: 52
Constitution: 18
Endurance: 14
Intelligence: 21
Wisdom: 13
Charisma: 10
Luck: 12
Abilities:
Wood Craft
Concealment
Skills:
&nbs
p; Herb lore Lvl 11, 51% to next level, 96% affinity
Alchemy Lvl 6, 17% to next level, 9%4 affinity
Archery Lvl 12; 39% to next level, 97% affinity
Imbue Arrow Lvl 7, 42% to next level, 88% affinity
Double Shot Lvl 3; 32% to next level, 98% affinity
Drill Shot Lvl 2; 45% to next level, 98% affinity
Stun Shot Lvl 2; 83% to next level, 99% affinity
Tracking Lvl 5; 62% to next level, 98% affinity
Swordsmanship Lvl 9, 21% to next level, 91% affinity
Air Magic Lvl 7; 15% to next level, 95% affinity
Marks:
None
Resistances:
Life 10%
Earth 10%
Light 10%
Race: Wood Sprite
Reputation: Lvl 1 “Who are you again?”
Alignment: +2
Language: Sprite, Common Tongue
Sion had moved up three levels! It was probably because of the 20,000 experience bonus from planting the Quickening. If Richter’s memory was right, though, it looked like Sion had invested a couple points into Constitution and Intelligence and… one point into Charisma? Maybe that’s why he wasn’t such a pain in the neck anymore, he thought. Sion had obviously been practicing his Air magic. What had happened with his affinities though? They were way higher than before!
“Sion,” Richter said in shock, “When did your affinities get so much higher?”
The sprite smiled, “Don’t you remember the Quickening? You know, giant silver tree, white leaves, normally only seen on higher planes of existence.” Seeing Richter’s glare, he chuckled. “Well ever since then, my affinities have been higher!”
Richter nodded, he remembered reading a prompt that everyone present at the planting would have higher affinities. He had just forgotten after all of the other momentous things that had happened. Either way, he was happy for his Companion! The main reason that Richter had checked Sion’s status page, was to see the sprite’s Agility and Endurance. Those seemed to be the main traits that swimming underwater for a prolonged period would entail. Sion’s stats were lower than Richter’s however, though. Richter checked with Daniella and Yoshi for their stats. Daniella numbers were well lower than his, and while Yoshi’s endurance was higher, the adept’s Agility was lower proportionally.