by Aleron Kong
Richter’s Fame had motivated Mama to talk to more people about his sanctuary for non-humans and had given those people a slight push to join him. He couldn’t say for sure it was because of his Reputation, but hundreds of people had still chosen to abandon their lives and travel hundreds of miles into a dangerous, monster-ridden forest with their children and elderly in tow.
That was an example of the global effect of Reputation. It also could happen on a local scale though, by reducing prices with merchants, creating opportunities with groups that wouldn’t otherwise exist, and opening up new quest lines. Richter had no idea when his Reputation had really come into play on a daily basis, but there was no denying he had a crap ton of quests falling out of his ass. That could, of course, also be due to his status as Master of a Place of Power.
When he’d thought The Land was just a game, that had been the extent of Reputation. It was rarely directly active, but it was immensely powerful in many indirect ways. A conversation with Randolphus though had shown there was a third manifestation of Fame in The Land. Something that Richter had once thought was impossible. He actually had an aura that could tweak events around him in unseen ways. At his current Reputation rank of five, there was a certain phrase associated with it, “You are a man worth following.” Richter was sure that Flitwalker’s phrasing had not been mere coincidence.
Richter closed the quest update prompt, “I’m honored by your words. Now it’s time to get to work.”
CHAPTER 63 – Day 144 – Kuborn 34, 0 AoC
Shinecatcher led them south out of the hamlet. As always, Alma flew overwatch. They had only gone about a quarter of a mile when the kindir showed them a small hole in the side of a hill. It was only three feet by four feet, and could easily have been missed. As Richter looked at it, however, a prompt appeared.
Congratulations! You have found a Notable Location: Mature Lair
Richter grunted when he saw the prompt. The fact that it was mature meant that the monsters inside had been there for anywhere between a hundred and a thousand years. That didn’t bode well.
“The undead have just recently started to bother your people?” Richter asked softly.
Shinecatcher nodded. Richter turned his attention back towards the cave. There was no other movement. He sent a psychic message to Alma, who landed on his shoulder a moment later. The chaos seed took out the three remaining psi crystals from the Dungeon dive the other day. Richter also had the high-level crystal from the alpha dreemar and the small one from the gobrit tree, but he still wanted to keep those in reserve for emergencies. Alma greedily inhaled all three glowing blue-white crystals.
Total Psi Points: 22
Richter accessed her enhancements window and spent the points.
You have purchased: Chameleon I. Alma can now shift her appearance by 5% to match her surroundings.
Scratching her neck ridge and telling her he loved her, Richter gave the dragonling a command. She purred slightly in his arms then shot back up into the air. Alma flew in a short circle and landed atop the hill that held the cave mouth. Then she scurried into the entrance, her sharp claws digging into the roof. She waited several seconds for her camouflage to kick in, then slowly moved forward.
The tunnel widened after only a few feet. Though the entrance was small, the floor dropped sharply until there were fifty feet between it and the ceiling. Richter had Alma turn around and face the mouth of the lair. It looked to him as if she was in a man-made structure, though “man” might have been a presumption. Still, it was clear from the remnants of tiles on ground that this had once been a building. A building that had been forgotten by time and covered by nature. The small hole through which the familiar had entered was all that remained of a once-large entrance filled by a landslide.
Alma continued on. The tunnel turned at a right angle after only a hundred yards. There was no more natural light, but her darkvision enchantment kicked in, letting her see with perfect clarity up to one hundred yards. After turning the corner, she immediately spotted something about fifty to sixty yards away. Three skeletons were standing guard in front of a stone doorway. Using the Lead by Example badge of his War Leader skill, he marked each of the enemies. A red triangle appeared over their heads, along with their level.
Every member of the war party stared down through earth and rock at the enemies’ location. Caulder cursed softly and Richter couldn’t disagree with the sentiment. Even though there were only three skeletons, their levels were high. One was level seventeen, one level sixteen, and the last was level twenty-two. Richter was level thirty-five and Caulder at level nineteen was approaching his Profession threshold. Most of the guards and sprites, however, were between levels eight and thirteen. To put it simply, the war party was outclassed, and those were just the gatekeepers of the dungeon.
The meidon sprites were mostly seasoned fighters, but many of the guards had been manual laborers or bakers until six months ago. Richter and Caulder looked at each other and just nodded. Neither of them liked the fact that such high-level creatures were the mere gatekeepers for the lair they were about to assault. They would have to put their faith in superior numbers and equipment, and the village’s training. It would have to be enough.
A quick check showed Richter that there were about thirty minutes left on the buff he’d gained from the elders. If it faded it wouldn’t be a huge hit considering how high Richter’s stats already were, but that didn’t mean he wanted to waste it. He told Caulder to hunker down at the cave entrance. The Scout War Party position let him know the monsters’ levels, but that was all. It wasn’t enough info. To really know what his warband would be facing he needed to use his Analyze skill. That meant he needed line of sight. It was time to do some recon.
Richter activated Stealth and made his way into the cave mouth. The slope under his feet fell at more than a forty-five-degree angle. He was going to abandon his pride and slide down on his butt, but with a smile he realized he didn’t have to. Instead, he jumped into the air and used Cloud Running. In seconds, he had silently coasted down to the ground. He gave his eyes a moment to acclimate to the darkness. There was still some faint light coming from the opening but not enough; he decided to cast Night Vision.
Everything in his vision became an overlay of greens and blacks. He surveyed the tunnel entrance, searching for any enemies that Alma might have missed. No creatures came rushing out of the dark, but there was another unpleasant surprise. Blotches of red appeared in his night vision, looking like a Christmas nightmare. The hallway was festooned with traps, and his Pierce the Veil skill made them glow red no matter what type of vision he used. Richter heaved a sigh, saying goodbye to his buff. This was going to take a while.
Richter called Alma back from where she was spying on the skeletons. He jotted down a quick note telling Caulder about the traps and that he intended to disable all of them before coming back up. He also ordered the sergeant to stay outside. If he had to make a speedy retreat, it would be best to have the rest of the party still above ground. Alma flew close and took the note from him while Richter continued his laborious process of trap detection. His Ring of Hidden Dangers came out of his bag, to replace the mana ring he’d taken from the goblin witch doctor.
He made his way through the minefield a few steps at a time. While some of the traps lit up easily, the higher-level ones only revealed themselves after long inspection. At skill level twenty-five in Pierce the Veil, his Perception was fairly high, but that didn’t mean he would see everything. All it would take would be him moving too fast over a well-concealed trap and WHAM! No more Richter.
Moving at such a cautious speed, it took him about fifteen minutes to get to the end of the hall. He spotted no less than twenty-two traps along the way. Some were simple pressure plates, others were tripwires and there were a few wafer-thin stones that would most likely plunge whomever stepped upon them into spikes, snakes or a vat of acid. He didn’t disarm any of them yet; his priority was to Analyze the enemies waiting fo
r them.
He finally got to the end, his figure still wrapped in shadows. This far from the entrance there was minimal light but still enough to make his night vision work. His enchanted boots made his already-soft footfalls almost completely inaudible. Peeking around the corner, he finally got within visual range of the undead. Meanwhile, Alma had returned and was holding onto the wall above his head. As soon as the skeletons came into view, he used Analyze.
Name: BodakDisposition: Loathing
Bodaks are skeletons that maintain some memory of their former life. Rather than connecting them to the world of life, the memory of what has been taken from them fills their tattered souls with hate and loathing. Their reinforced bone structure and skills make them enemies not to be underestimated.
Special Attack: Memories of Life – Each bodak retains memories, skills and sometimes even abilities from their former life.
Level: 17
Health: 428Mana: 24Stamina: 291
Strength: 38
Agility: 25
Dexterity: 22
Constitution: 42
Endurance: 29
Intelligence: 2
Wisdom: 4
Charisma: 6
Luck: 9
The three bodaks he was watching moved with more grace than other skeletons he’d fought. Even those had been able to run quickly enough to give him nightmares for a time. They had still shambled though. Grace just wasn’t all that possible without sinews or muscles. At least that was what Richter had thought. These three moved easily and with intent.
They continuously scanned the corridor in front of them. Thankfully, between Richter’s Stealth level and his Cloak of Concealment, he remained undetected. Two were melee fighters, holding a rusty short spear and mace respectively. Both held iron-bound shields and wore chainmail armor in various states of disrepair. The third made Richter curse inside his head. The skeleton was holding a bow made of dark brown wood, marking it as an archer. It also wore red leather armor that looked reasonably well cared for. The problem wasn’t its armament, it was the fact that it was also a Professional Warrior. The way its skeletal face and empty eye sockets scanned the hallway in front of it was just creepy.
Behind them was a small cave entrance. It had to be the way into the undead lair, and these three were set to guard it. If a Professional was just the gate guard though, Richter was starting to think he may have underestimated the danger they were facing.
He set Alma to continue monitoring the skeletons and made his way back to the warband. Taking out his map, Richter showed everyone what they were facing. Caulder cursed anew when he heard that there was a Professional. “Do you have any idea what Talents it might have, my lord?”
“No,” Richter replied regretfully. “My Analyze skill isn’t high enough yet.”
Caulder nodded and squared his shoulders. “How do you want to approach it?”
“We have no idea how many more undead are beyond the doorway. The opening is too small to risk Alma sneaking past them, especially with a Warrior bowman.” Richter accessed his inventory and looked at one of his new potions. “I have an idea about how to lure them to us, but first I need to disarm the traps below and mark the dangerous spots. In the meantime, tie some ropes to the trees up here and throw them down the hole. If we need to exit the lair in a hurry, we’ll be glad to have them.”
Richter pulled four heavy coils of rope out of his Bag of Holding. The sergeant took them and started doing as instructed. The chaos seed went back down the hole. Taking two lockpicks from his bag, he got to work.
There was a wide variation between the traps. Some were less than level five while others were level twenty or higher. There wasn’t a direct correlation between a trap’s level and how long it took to disarm, but it was generally longer for the higher-level devices. Thankfully none of them were false traps, or traps on top of traps. Richter had come to expect those sorts of devious tactics from kobold traps. In comparison, these were straightforward and easy to deal with.
It took an hour, but Richter disarmed them all. He also summoned mist lights and placed them on the floor near the covered pits. It had been a slight risk that the extra light would alert the bodaks, but the glow from the grey orbs didn’t travel far. Just to be safe, he had Alma watching the three skeletons the entire time he was working. As they hadn’t moved from their posts, he felt it’d been a worthwhile gamble.
Several prompts had appeared while he worked.
You have learned the (Item) enchantment: Briar
Enchantment Size: 3
Enchantment School: Earth
Effects: Briar. Each rank:
1) Allows you to cover the surrounding area in thorns
2) Increases the density and number of thorns
3) Increases the duration of enchantment
4) Increases range and size of enchantment. Variable due to item being enchanted.
*This can only be applied as a Macroenchantment
Another Macroenchantment. It was clear he had only begun to scratch the surface of his Essence Specialty. Richter couldn’t wait to convert more spells. He began paying the cost for his next purchased enchantment. One of his skills had also advanced.
Congratulations! You have reached skill level 23 in Trap Disarm. +46% more likely to disarm traps.
The cherry on top was that he had been able to salvage several traps.
You have found:
Acidic Breath Trap
Durability: 14/14
Item Class: Uncommon
Quality: Well Crafted
Weight: 0.5 kg.
Traits: Once triggered, a cloud of corrosive gas is released, causing 13-17 points of acid damage per second until neutralized or 14 seconds pass
You have found:
Dart Trap x 3
Durability: 11/11
Item Class: Common
Quality: Well Crafted
Weight: 0.1 kg
Traits: Once triggered, will fire a dart causing 4-5 damage
You have found:
Orange Prickle Worm Trap
Durability: 17/17
Item Class: Uncommon
Quality: Superb
Weight: 0.7 kg.
Traits: Once triggered, will cover the target in 20-30 orange prickle worms. These inch-long small summoned monsters will last 5 minutes or until destroyed. Each worm will cause 2 points of damage to both Health and Stamina for each second that they are in contact with a creature’s skin
You have found:
Infectious Mania Trap
Durability: 22/22
Item Class: Unusual
Quality: Superb
Weight: 0.6 kg
Traits: Once triggered, this trap will infect the target with a magical illness. Within several minutes, boils will cover the target, causing a small drop in Constitution and a major drop in Charisma. If untreated, psychosis will result within weeks to months. This infection can be spread to others through any fluid contact.
Richter had been happy to get the first two traps. One, because he had almost no traps left and two, because he had wanted to have some traps to study. He was hoping he could discover how they were made and then make his own. The third trap had grossed him out. He wasn’t a squeamish guy, but the idea of worms crawling all over him, getting in his nooks and crannies… ugh! It gave him the willies.
His reaction to the orange worm trap was nothing compared to the horror he felt as he read the final prompt. It wasn’t the fact that he was holding a weaponized illness, though that was clearly not the best. It was that he recognized the description from his med school days. It was syphilis! He was holding magical syphilis!
Looking carefully at the trap, he could see there was a small vial in the mechanism. It held a clear fluid with greenish-black blobs floating inside. As he looked at it, he realized he might be looking at the purest expression of evil that had ever existed. Someone had weaponized an STD… What the fuck was wrong with people?
Richter carefully put
all the traps into his bag, being extra cautious with the last one. Then he ran back to the entrance. He grabbed one of the ropes and started pulling himself upward. It was times like these that he marveled at the capabilities of his body. Though the slope was steep, he was able to climb up the rope at the speed of an easy jog. Bare seconds passed before he was in daylight again.
He looked around at his men. There were nineteen people with him, not including Shinecatcher. Richter had already formed his war party when fighting the abyssal tree and so couldn’t add anyone else. Including himself, he still had nine people though: Caulder, Sedrin, Kentyiro, one other sprite, three other guardsmen and the healer, Heval. The question was whether to take his whole party down into the dungeon or leave some people up top. Considering the benefits he could give his war party, bigger might not necessarily be better. He accessed the promotions and badges prompt of his war screen.
Promotions
1) Vigilant I: +5% to Perception of future hidden enemies. +5% to response time to future surprise attacks
2) Sapper I: +5% to Attack vs an entrenched enemy
3) Subterranean I: +5% to Defense when fighting underground
4) Overwhelming Odds II: +30 to Fighting Spirit
5) Weakness Equals Death V: Champions in your War Party have +25% Attack and Defense vs lower level opponents
6) Slaughter the Innocent II: +10 Fighting Spirit for one hour per noncombatant life claimed
7) Battle Lord I: +1 to all base Primary Characteristics for your Champions
Badges
1) Ranged Attack IV: + 20% more Damage to Ranged attacks
2) Melee Defense III: + 15% Defense vs Melee attacks
3) Ranged Defense II: +10% Defense vs Ranged attacks
4) Magical Strength II (Life): +6% strength of Life Magic
5) Movement Speed III (forest): +30% Movement Speed in forest