The Land: Predators

by Aleron Kong

The specter of this dungeon’s former ruler has appeared to you. Though it did not speak, it communicated clearly. On your travels through this dungeon, you have seen ample evidence that the undead you are fighting were once kindir. The ghast Nien admitted that he had been corrupting the spirits of this place, but that power may not have come from his Profession. The spirit of the kindir king has indicated that it might have been stolen by Nien.

  Success Conditions: Find the ring and learn to use its magic.

  Reward: Unlock the secret of this dungeon’s power.

  Penalty for Failure or Refusal: Possible recurrence of a hostile agency in this place.

  Do you accept? Yes or No?

  Not as though I really have a choice, Richter thought. He selected “Yes.”

  As if feeling the chaos seed’s acceptance, the king’s specter executed a courtly bow. Then it walked back over to the throne and sat. Once again, the tomb was silent as… well, a tomb. The spirit looked straight ahead, paying no further attention to Richter.

  The chaos seed looked at the king for long moments but, just like the bodaks, it seemed to pose no further threat. Seeing as how it hadn’t turned red when he had tested it for hostile intent, the chaos seed turned his attention to the body of the ghast. He started to bend down to examine the remains, but another prompt appeared.

  The Messeji has ended!

  Richter felt the strangest pulling sensation, as if his very core was being split apart. There was no pain, but there was a definite sense of loss. Blue-white light poured out of his eyes and coalesced into a swirling ball of Thought energy. The time of bonding was done. Richter looked at the energy and sent a questioning thought towards it. There was a faint resonance, but no response.

  During the Messeji, the icon on his display that had always indicated Alma had disappeared. It had been replaced by a small dragon-like humanoid, obviously a representation of his altered form. Now, it changed back to Alma’s shape, the symbol blue-white like the figure before him. A countdown started, running down from seventy-seven seconds.

  His body reverted swiftly. Scales were reabsorbed into his skin and the structure of his body transitioned back into its original state. This process was… uncomfortable, but only lasted a moment. It took Alma a bit longer to coalesce. After seven seconds, the sphere of psychic light had resolved into a creature of the same color, now clearly recognizable as his familiar.

  *Hello again, master,* she greeted him. Then, with an expression of utter devilishness, she shot forward, passing through his body as if he wasn’t there. Every goosebump he had stood up all at once, and he got the worst case of the willies he’d ever had.

  “Aaaaah!” he screeched out. His rather ladylike scream was loud enough to wake the dead. Then Richter looked over at the still-kneeling and immobile bodaks. Well, he amended silently, not really. That didn’t change the fact that his familiar had just goosed him!

  *Alma! Don’t do that!*

  The only response he got was psychic laughter as she continued to zip around the room. Her body was growing more solid by the moment.

  *Be careful you don’t get stuck, you horrible beast!* he thought at her. This time, she sent him the mental equivalent of an eye roll.

  Shaking his head, he reflected on the experience of the Messeji. It had vastly increased his power, and he had enjoyed the feeling of unity with Alma. Over the past several months, she had become more than just a familiar; she was almost a part of him. The Messeji had removed that “almost.” When it was ending, he had felt a sense of loss, but now, a bare minute later, Richter was glad to have only one set of thoughts in his mind again. It seemed that even Deep Magic couldn’t overcome his natural independence… thank Abrams and Whedon.

  Seventy-seven seconds later, Alma completed her transition, and was once again a creature the size of a large cat, with beautiful silky black scales. She landed on his upraised arm, and spoke aloud once again, “We did it, master!” Her words had a slight sibilant hiss, but otherwise, she sounded the same.

  Richter smiled back at her and scratched the top of her head affectionately, “I could not have done it without you.” He was still marveling at hearing her ability to speak aloud. After sharing such a long time together in his mindscape, it wasn’t exactly shocking anymore, but it was still amazing.

  “We burned him from the inside out,” she said, laughing. There was definitely an edge of malicious violence in it. Once upon a time it would have bothered him to hear someone embrace violence like that, but now he could only smile at his soul familiar because he felt the same wild joy at having won!

  “That we did, my love,” he replied, with a vicious smile of his own. Looking at his beautiful familiar, he decided to hold her close to him for a few minutes. Claiming the ring and the ghast’s other loot could wait until his prompts had been addressed. From the crooning she was doing as she nestled in his arms, she agreed.

  The first few notifications dealt with the experience he had earned. They were more than welcome!

  You have been awarded 331,151 experience (base 3,784,591 x 0.07 x 1.25) from Brain Drain against Level 48 ghast Soul Eater.

  TRING! TRING! TRING!

  You have reached levels 36, 37 and 38! Through hard work you have moved forward along your path. You are awarded the following points to distribute:

  Per Level

  Total

  Stat Points

  As a Chaos Seed, you gain 6 Stat Points to distribute to characteristics instead of the usual 4

  18

  Talent Points

  As a Chaos Seed, you receive 15 Talent Points instead of the usual 10.

  You receive an additional 15 Talent Points from your Profession and Specialty for having a 100% affinity in Enchanting

  126

  Chaos Points

  You receive 8 Chaos Points due to your Blessing by the Lords of Chaos

  76

  Skill % Points

  +25% to the skill of your choice

  +75%

  Crush your enemies, honor your allies, LIVE!

  Now that you have progressed more than one level, you must allocate your Stat and Skill Percentage Points within the next week or they will randomly be assigned for you.

  His Talent Points and Chaos Points he would address when he was safely back in the village. There was no question where his Skill Percentage Points would go, however.

  Congratulations! You have reached skill level 49 in Enchanting. All enchantments are now +49% more effective and you have an increased chance of enchantments taking hold.

  More skill progression prompts appeared.

  Congratulations! Your familiar has reached levels 41 and 42!

  Congratulations! You have reached subskill levels 10, 11, …, 19 in Inspiring Leadership. +19% to chance of war party members earning Field Advancements. +19% to the power of Field Advancements of any party members under your command or the command of your subordinates.

  Apparently, asking to be locked inside a dungeon with two dozen Professional skeletons and an undead Specialist killer made him seem pretty badass in the eyes of his warband. He’d rarely ever jumped ten skill levels all at once, but then again, he’d also rarely done something as monumentally stupid and deadly as fighting a level forty-eight Soul Eater in one-on-one combat.

  Congratulations! You have advanced from Novice to Initiate in: Inspiring Leadership. Allies fighting near you may now obtain Field Advancements whether they are in your warband or not, albeit with an 80% penalty of this occurring. This penalty decreases by 20% when reaching successive ranks.

  You have received 1,250 (base 1,000 x 1.25) bonus experience for reaching level 10 in the subskill: Inspiring Leadership.

  Unsurprisingly, several members of the warband had achieved new Field Promotions that Richter would have to bestow later. Caulder had also advanced in his old ones.

  For standing against a sea of countless foes and remaining strong, Caulder has advanced a Field Advancement to Stem the Tide IV. +4 Defense to each
piece of Medium Armor worn by Sergeant Caulder.

  For shouting rallying cries that increased the Fighting Spirit of his War Party, Caulder has advanced a Field Advancement to Cried Aloud III. “Rallying Cry” now increases the Attack and Defense of any allies who hear it by +3 for 7 minutes. Cooldown: 18 minutes.

  Richter also earned a staggering number of War Points considering that he’d only killed one creature. It proved once again that fighting other creatures with the War Leader skill was the very best way to advance his own.

  For slaying 1 Focused Specialist Ghast Death Knight, you have been awarded 120 War Points (War Points multiplied by 20 for slaying a Focused Specialist)

  Congratulations! You have destroyed an enemy War Party. The War Leader’s rank was Apprentice. For killing a War Leader of the third rank, all War Points gained are tripled.

  War Points gained: 360

  Total War Points: 1112.

  Another prompt reminded him that there were more benefits to slaying an enemy war leader than simple points.

  Know This! For personally killing a War Leader one rank above you, you are randomly assigned two Promotions the enemy War Leader possessed (if the War Leader possessed two promotions that you do not already have). You will be given the lowest level of the gained promotions.

  Congratulations! For slaying the War Leader Nien the Reaver you have been awarded the Promotion: Death Disciple I. Necromancers in your warband have +1% spell power to Death magic and your entire war party enjoys +1% Resistance to Life magic. Advance this skill by including more Death magi in your future war parties.

  Nien the Reaver only had one Promotion that you did not already possess.

  Richter wasn’t overly disappointed at getting only one new Promotion from the war leader’s death. A promotion he had gotten from another slain foe, Si’nak the Witch Doctor, required that he sacrifice innocents before a battle to bolster his power. It still sickened him to think how that goblin bastard must have slaughtered defenseless people over and over to gain that particular Promotion.

  Besides, one of his old Promotions had advanced and he had been awarded another.

  Congratulations! Your war party killed more than ten times its number in an underground battle. Your Promotion has been advanced to Subterranean II. +10% to defense when fighting underground.

  Congratulations! Your war party has cleared out a nest of undead whose median level was at least +5 above the median level of your warband. For surviving this peril, your party has been awarded the Promotion: Life over Death I. +1 Damage when fighting Death creatures.

  The next prompt was the one he had been waiting on. Richter heard the battle cry again.

  RAAAAR!

  Congratulations! You have won your first Duel. In a battle to the Final Death, Richter of the Mist Village is victorious! Nien of the Shadow Trench has met the final death.

  You have won +50 Fame Points

  Total Fame Points: 31,632

  Know This! Nien was a Vassal of another Master. If ever this Master learns your identity, you will lose at least 50,000 Relationship Points with that individual.

  Richter’s eyes widened anew and he let out a low whistle. It wasn’t surprising that killing someone else’s vassal would piss that person off, but fifty thousand RPs was a serious hit! Even if their relationship was neutral before, that would be enough to drop them all the way down to loathing. Still, it probably didn’t make a difference, seeing as how Nien being sent here was tantamount to a declaration of war. Also, Richter and Hisako were planning on wiping out this other Master anyway so comme ci, comme ça.

  He turned his attention back to the prompts.

  In accordance to the ancient Rule of the Duel, you are now awarded the Stakes. You have gained control of the Heart Crystal of a Place of Power, the Shadow Trench. This Place of Power is a confluence of Water and Death ley lines.

  As he read the prompt, a disturbance began in the ghast’s body. Even the severed head began to glow. Particles of both blue and purple-black light began to rise from the body. They gathered above it and the flow of energy increased. The corpse rose into the air, two ghastly pieces, and for an irrational second, Richter thought, holy shit. Is this a Quickening? Then a sadistic grin crossed his face. There can be only one, mothafucka!

  The light flowed faster, siphoning energy from the dead ghast and collecting it in a small vortex. The hair on Richter’s arms stood on end as a feeling of static electricity filled the air. Then the flow stopped and the light coalesced into a simple clear gem. It hovered in midair before floating over and landing gently in his hands. Like his own Heart Crystal, it was an unassuming circular gem, completely clear and about the size of his palm. It boggled his mind that one of the most powerful items in The Land was such an example of simplicity.

  Know This! A Heart Crystal is the key to Mastery of a Place of Power. You are already a Master, however, so cannot take personal control of another Place of Power. If you meet the requirements, you may assign a Vassal. This person will become a Master, but will still be beholden to you in accordance with mutually agreed upon terms.

  Richter’s thirst for power surged! Places of Power were not common. They were either well-defended fortresses or hidden. His own had lain unclaimed for at least several hundred years. The power it had given him went beyond simply the bonuses to spell power and spell resistance. His settlement spell, Confusing Mists, had kept him and his people safe for months. The only reason the Quickening had grown, rather than some other lesser tree, was that it had been able to draw upon the energy of his Place of Power while it grew. And even given all of that, he knew that he had only scratched the surface of his potential as a Master.

  To give credence to that belief, there was one more message about the gem.

  More options may be discovered if the Heart Crystal is examined in the appropriate setting.

  Completely cryptic, but the corner of Richter’s mouth still edged up as he looked at the innocuous gem. He wasn’t sure how, but this little thing was going to help make his dreams come true.

  CHAPTER 72 – Day 144 – Kuborn 34, 0 AoC

  The Heart Crystal went into Richter’s Bag of Holding. He intended to keep the knowledge of it limited to as few people as possible. That might be a vain hope as his warband had heard Nien’s challenge, but then again, they might not have understood exactly what a Duel entailed. He hoped that was the case. The crystal was just too great a temptation. Even good people might turn ugly if they felt a Place of Power was within their grasp.

  Hoping for the best, he went on to his next prompts.

  Congratulations! You have captured a memory from a Ghast Soul Eater. This memory can only be accessed for the next twenty-three hours and fifty-one minutes before dissolution into the ether. Experiencing this memory will be instantaneous in regard to your timeline.

  That part was almost expected. Richter hadn’t been sure that using Brain Drain on the ghast would obtain a memory, but it wasn’t exactly a surprise. The level seven facet of Alma’s ability seemed more likely to be triggered with the killing of high level creatures. The next prompt was a surprise though.

  Know This! The ghast Nien that died via Brain Drain was suffused with the Eldritch energy of his Master at the time of his death. Due to the peculiar interaction between Mental and Eldritch magic, you may experience snippets of the Master’s memories as well.

  Richter’s heart started beating faster. The beginning of the problems with the undead had been because he had delved into a memory that the eldritch mage had been present in. The lich had looked into Jorgen the Death Knight’s eyes as Richter had been looking out of them. Richter wasn’t sure if the old adage of eyes being the windows to the soul was true, but what he did know was that it could create a psychic link. That very fact was why he was still standing and the Death Knight was hurtling towards whatever hell undead went to after the Final Death. It had only been swift action on Richter’s part that had let him escape before the lich’s mind could touch his o
wn.

  If he now had direct access to the lich’s own memories, the danger of viewing this memory could be even more grave. True, it was only a memory, but that had been the case last time as well.

  Richter looked at the blinking prompt. It was different from most other notifications in that the border pulsed with light. After several long moments, he shook his head. Months ago, he would have thrown caution to the wind and dived into the memory. Since that time though, he had shed blood and lost friends. Through those experiences, he’d gained at least a modicum of wisdom. Before he made a decision that might affect not only his life but the lives of his people and his allies, he would gain the counsel of those he trusted.

  Richter minimized the memory prompt. It would only last one day, but that was more than enough time for him to get back to the village and talk to Hisako and a few other people. The next prompt let him know he’d fulfilled the terms of the next link in a quest chain he’d started.

  Congratulations! You have unlocked a Settlement Quest: Know Your Backyard II

  You have discovered both wonders and dangers in your domain. Never forget the importance of exploration.

  Success Conditions: Examine three sites that are at least Notable Locations within your domain and determine their importance

  Reward: Unknown.

  Penalty for Failure or Refusal: Increased frequency of future attacks.

  Do you accept? Yes or No?

  Congratulations! You have completed the Settlement Quest: Know Your Backyard II

  The quest was automatically accepted as you have fulfilled the completion objectives. You have explored your domain and discovered three locations that are Notable or above.

  Reward: 2,500 (base 2,000 x 1.25) experience points

  Reward: Village-wide Loyalty +10

  Reward: Decreased frequency of undead attacks within your domain by -70%

  Base Loyalty: +1575 x +25% Undefeated x +12% Administrator x +10% Health