To start, he wanted to upgrade his weapons. The staff he carried gave a small bonus of +10 to Intel. And the sword on his hip gave +4 to wisdom. He needed to do better.
He was surprised to see that either Lola or Silverbeard had organized the vault. Where previously things were roughly organized by type - armor, weapon - and by level, now there were clearly marked sections divided by class. Then further subdivided into weapon, armor, and accessory, and further by level.
Alexander moved to the caster weapons section, and inspected the various staves set in a rack. After glancing through the options, he selected one that looked to be made of a light-colored wood, bleached nearly white. The base had a metal cap that added some weight to it, and the top was rounded out with a gem of some type embedded in it. He examined the piece.
Staff of Knowing
Item Level: Epic
Stats: Intelligence +20, Wisdom +10, Luck +5
This staff, found on the body of a dead wizard, was enchanted to assist said wizard in seeking hidden places and treasures. Class bonus: Mages have +20% chance of penetrating illusions.
Alexander equipped the Staff of Knowing, and deposited his previous staff on the rack. Next he moved on to swords. There were no swords in the caster sections, as most mages did not carry them. So he moved over to the paladin section. After a brief inspection of those weapons, he lifted a long, slender one-handed sword with a fullered blade and a grip that looked to be wrapped in scaled hide.
Kobold’s Bane
Item Level: Rare
Stats: Strength +5, Stamina +5, Wisdom +5
That’ll do nicely. I like the grip. I’m guessing it’s kobold hide. Alexander switched out this sword for his old one.
Since none of his other gear gave him any stat bonuses, he decided to look for some leather gear. Chain was a bit cumbersome, especially with his low strength level.
Moving to the ranger section, he found lots of items with agility and dexterity, a few with stamina. Not really what he wanted. Looking around, he found a small section labeled for monks. On the shelf sat a pair of black leather vambraces that looked interesting.
Spirit Warrior’s Vambrace
Item Level: Rare
Stats: Agility +5, Wisdom +10
With just these three new pieces, I pick up 25 points in wisdom. That’s a solid boost to my mana pool. The additional strength, stamina, and agility wouldn’t hurt either, if I have to fight close up and ‘all stabby-stabby’ as Sasha likes to put it. He smiled to himself.
The others arrived, and Alexander helped them choose suitable gear. Max and Lainey both had full leather sets they’d taken from Henry, the PWP leader. And both had epic or legendary weapons. Jules got the third set they’d taken from the high-level rogue, and had her epic psychic daggers they’d just looted from the demon queen. Brick had been forging replacement armor for himself to go along with his epic shield and hammer. Sasha had her epic staff, and had found some armor with decent intel and wisdom boosts.
The others, Dayle’s group and Helga’s, had not been so fortunate with their gear. They’d found no first kill dungeons, and didn’t have the extensive guild vault that Greystone had amassed. Upon first walking into the vault, they’d all been amazed at the amount and quality of items stored inside. There was a more than sufficient supply in the vault to substantially improve all of their stats.
To help further, Alexander took Lugs’ hammer, Dayle and Warren’s swords, and enchanted each of them to do bonus light damage. Just in case what they faced on the other side of the mirror was demons or the undead. Helga’s new demon-killer weapon had plenty of juice already, and Alexander didn’t want to risk damaging it with his still limited enchanting experience.
Emerging from the vault, they found Fitz, Kai, and Fibble awaiting them. Lainey knelt next to the heroic little goblin, and produced a leather helm from her bag. “This is for our hero, Fibble. To protect our protector!” She smiled as she placed it on his head. It was dyed green, and had holes in the proper location for his large goblin ears.
Fibble’s eyes rolled up inside his skull as he tried to look at the new addition to his armor. He reached up and patted the helm. When he didn’t feel any sensation, he thumped his head a bit harder. A wide, toothy grin spread across his face. He bonked himself on the head with his stick, still feeling nothing.
“This good armor! Fibble not feel head at all!” he cried. Then a worried look crossed his face, and he quickly used his free hand to feel his nose and mouth. “It okay, head still there!” he said with relief. Lainey hugged the little warrior as Fitz rolled his eyes and the others had a good chuckle.
With everyone sufficiently geared, Alexander sent out raid party invites. All told there were seventeen of them in the raid. With the wizard and the dragon, they should be able to hand a level 100 enemy or two. If they ran into any larger groups, there might be a problem.
Sasha reminded everyone to eat something, and to take a drink of the keep’s blessed water for buffs. Additionally, she, Lainey, Fitz, and Kai all added buffs to the group. The entire group now had buffs for strength, stamina, intelligence, wisdom, and added health, mana, and stamina regen.
With everyone prepared as well as could be, Fitz teleported them all up to the control room. Fitz immediately moved to pick the mirror up from the floor, where it still sat face down under the table. He cast the spell that allowed them all to see through the mirror to the space on the other side.
There wasn’t much to see. The area around the other mirror was pitch black. Alexander got the impression of an empty space. Maybe a room.
“Jeeves, we are going through to investigate what’s beyond the mirror. If anything other than one of us comes back through, I want you to alert everyone in the keep using the loudspeaker. Tell them to get to their combat positions, and to seal off the tower,” Alexander said.
“It will be done, master. I have just sealed the door at the top of the tower. This will give our citizens time to organize. Good luck,” Jeeves responded. The improved interface was really developing.
Brick moved forward as if to step through the mirror. He was within a foot of the surface when Jules shouted, “Stop!”
Brick froze, turning to look back at the elfess. “What?”
“I can’t see anything but darkness. What if the mirror on that side is blocked, like this one was? You could step through and be destroyed. You’d respawn, but we’d have no way to get your gear back,” Jules explained.
“Well, shit.” Brick rubbed his beard. “Thank ye, Jules. Hate to lose me shield ‘n’ hammer.”
Fitz called forth a light globe and sent it forward toward the mirror. As it touched the reflective surface, is disappeared. Half a second later it reappeared on the other side, lighting up a small stone room.
The group all waited for several seconds. When nothing hostile appeared within sight, or attacked the globe, Fitz said, “It looks safe enough.”
Raising his shield, Brick stepped up and touched the mirror. He was followed a moment later by Lugs. The two appeared in the other room, each turning slowly and putting their backs to each other. Their heads could be seen swiveling around, taking in the entire room. After ten seconds or so, Brick waved for the others to join them. He and Lugs stepped out of view.
One by one, the other fifteen raid party members touched the mirror and teleported through. Kai was the last to join them in the small room.
They were in a chamber with a single wooden door that was closed. The room had stone walls, floor and ceiling, clearly manmade rather than carved out of stone. The mirror they’d just exited was mounted on one of the walls to the left of the doorway.
“Must be above ground,” Alexander mused aloud. “You don’t need stone and mortar underground.” He sent out his earth sense, and found packed soil and rocks around them on all sides except behind the door, with nothing but stone below. “Correction, close to the surface. We’re in a cellar of some kind. Barely below ground.”
Look
ing up, Alexander noted an iron ring fastened to the ceiling. Pointing at it, he asked, “Trap door?”
The others all followed his direction, looking at the ring. No hinges were visible, nor was any obvious outline of a door.
Sasha took control of the situation “Okay. Regular door first. Jules, you hang back and watch that ceiling. If anybody opens it, you call out in raid chat and haul ass. Brick, Lugs, you ready?”
The two tanks moved toward the door. Max grabbed hold of the handle, yanking it open as soon as the tanks had their shields up.
The corridor behind was dark beyond the ten feet or so that were lit by the globe inside the room. Brick moved through the door, followed closely by Lugs. The two of them filled the width of the passageway.
“There be stairs leading down,” Brick called out. “They be too long fer me to see the end.”
“Alright. Brick, stay there. Keep an eye out. Max, Lainey, Misty, back him up. Lugs, please step back in here. I want to push on the ceiling around that ring. See if it opens a trap door,” Sasha instructed. The named group members moved to comply. Lugs stood directly under the iron ring, which due to his height, was only a foot or so above his head. Stowing his hammer and shield, he placed both hands on the ceiling to either side of the ring, and pushed.
Dust began to trickle down between the stones as an irregularly shaped section of the ceiling began to shift upward. Seeing that one side was shifting more easily, Lugs moved both hands to that side, and a gave a more forceful shove. With a grinding noise, and the screech of rusted metal, the stone continued to rise on one side, until a trap door outline could easily be made out. A faint light from above began to penetrate around the edges. There was a ratcheting sound of metal on metal as the door continued to rise.
With a final push, Lugs raised the door to about a 45-degree angle. “That’s as far as I can reach,” he said. He continued to stand, arms over his head supporting the door.
On a hunch, Alexander said, “Lugs, let it back down just a bit. I think that sound we heard was a chain on a gear.”
Nodding his head, the half-ogre relaxed his arms a bit. The door dropped back down about an inch before stopping dead. Lugs slowly lowered his arms the rest of the way. The door didn’t move.
“Now use one of your spears, and push it further.” Alexander instructed. Lugs complied. Taking out one of his long spears he placed the butt end near the high side of the trap door and pushed. The door raised to nearly vertical. When he removed the spear, it stayed upright.
“I think it’s on some kind of weighted or geared pulley system. The chain we heard should hold it up.” Alexander explained. He motioned for Lugs to give him a hand up to the hole.
Lugs lowered both hands in a basket for Alexander to step onto, then quickly lifted him up, practically throwing him through the opening.
Looking around, Alexander found himself in a dimly lit storage room filled with crates of varying sizes. The room was maybe thirty feet by twenty, and there was not a lot of open space on the floor. There was a single heavy looking ironwood door at the opposite end of the room. A thick layer of dust covered the floor and all of the crates. Alexander saw no footprints or signs of activity. The walls were lined with shelves from floor to ceiling, the highest shelves being about twelve feet off the ground. Against one wall was a ladder that allowed someone to reach the upper shelves.
“There’s a ladder here. Give me a minute,” he called down in a whisper.
Alexander moved over to the wall, grabbing the ladder. It was heavier than he expected. Bending his legs, he managed to lift the awkward thing and waddle back over to the hole in the floor. Lugs reached up and took most of the weight of the ladder as Alexander lowered it down. When the half-ogre set the bottom of the ladder on the floor, it was not quite tall enough to reach the lip of the trap door above.
“No worries,” Lugs said. “I can hold it steady while you guys climb.” He demonstrated by holding either side of the ladder in his massive hands, keeping it steady and nodding at Dayle, who began to move up the ladder. Standing on the top rung, using Alexander’s arm to steady himself, he was able to step up onto the floor above with ease. He quickly equipped his shield and weapon and moved to cover the door.
“Brick, come back inside the room. We’ll secure that door while we explore what’s above,” Sasha called out quietly. The dwarf backed into the room, closing the door as he came. There was no lock, so Fitz simply raised a wall of stone in front of the door, effectively blocking it.
One by one the others climbed the ladder as Lugs held it steady. When he was the only one left in the room, he handed the ladder up to Brick. Once the hole was clear, Lugs grabbed the edges of the hole, made a little jump for momentum, and pulled himself up and through.
The limited light in the room was streaming in through gaps around the edges of the exit door. There was no sound outside, or any change in the light to indicate movement close by. Max, Lainey, and Jules had been opening crates as quietly as possible while the others climbed up. Inside most were common quality swords and armor pieces. A few had held perishables that had long since turned to dust.
“We can search those later,” Alexander said. “Let’s find out what’s outside this door.”
Brick switched out with Dayle, standing in front of the door while Max pulled on it. The door didn’t budge.
Jules said, “Please, let me try.” Moving to the door, she dropped down on one knee and examined the lock. After a moment, she took a probing tool out of her bag, and inserted it into the lock. Moving it around for more than a minute, she said, “As far as I can tell, the lock is not engaged.” She removed her probe and stood up.
Fitz stepped forward and put a hand on the door. He closed his eyes and murmured a short spell. A moment later he chuckled and said, “Rizzo. I’d recognize his signature anywhere.”
“Rizzo?” Kai asked. “I remember him. He was a human wizard. Died more than a thousand years ago, didn’t he? There was some kind of duel?”
Fitz held up a finger for silence, then touched the door again. There was a brief flash of blue light, and the door swung open a few inches. Fitz pulled it open the rest of way, revealing a large round room with several tables and benches.
After looking about to ensure they were alone, the wizard stepped out and took a seat on the nearest bench. The others joined him.
“Aye, lad. Rizzo was a master wizard and a combat mage. He was born around the same time you were, I think. Hard to keep track of the years that far back. He was one of the early members of the Mages Guild. His hobby was portal and teleportation magic. There were none better, including me. He experimented with long range teleportation devices. Which probably explains the large number of mirrors we’ve encountered. He even claimed to have figured out how to create portals to other planets.” Fitz paused and looked thoughtfully at the room around them, and then toward a stone stair that curved upward against the nearest wall.
“This must have been one of his outposts. He commanded a battalion of combat mages during one of the demon wars. He and his earth mages would raise towers like this one near the front lines before a battle. It gave them a good vantage from which to command the battle and cast magic at the enemy. It also provided a stronghold that allowed for reinforcements to join the battle, or defeated troops to escape via portal. My guess is that if we follow those stairs below, they’ll take us to an old portal chamber.”
“And something higher than level 100 must have come through that portal, then tried to get through the mirror to our command center,” Jules added.
“Or simply touched the mirror by accident, not knowing what it was,” Misty volunteered.
“Either way, we need to investigate. But first we should have a look around this tower. Make sure it’s empty, and that we can secure it before we head downstairs.” Alexander said. “Anybody object?”
Nobody objected. Fitz rose and moved toward the imposing main door of the tower. It stood nearly twenty feet high, an
d ten wide. It was constructed of jet-black ironwood, banded with an equally black metal. The thing must have weighed several tons.
Putting a hand on this door, Fitz quickly nodded his head. “Sealed, just like the other door. Rizzo’s signature. No one has breached this tower in at least a millennium.”
“So, he was killed in a duel, and nobody ever came to check on this place?” Helga asked.
“Not exactly. It wasn’t a duel. He was executed,” Fitz said. “As for checking on this place, there were dozens of towers like this erected back then, and in previous wars. They were largely abandoned when the wars ended. Usually they were stripped of useful items, and the portals disabled first.”
“Executed? You can’t just say a master wizard was executed and move on!” Beatrix’s small voice reprimanded the wizard. “Who executed him? And Why?”
Fitz sat down on the stairway near the door. “We did. The Mages Guild, I mean. I mentioned that he was experimenting with portals and long-range teleports? Well, he had a power problem. Specifically, items like those mirrors had a limit to how much power they could hold, and by extension a limit to their range. They could be tied to a deep power source, like I did with the portal at your compound. But the whole purpose of the mirrors was to make them portable. Rizzo was determined to find a portable source of power. He disappeared for nearly a century, saying he was going to do research.”
The Greystone Chronicles Book Two: The Dire Lands Page 50