by Edward Brody
“What?” Aaron questioned. “Why?”
“I told you before that I want to see Adeelee.”
“Ohhhh.” Aaron grinned and held out a fist for a fist bump. “You’re gonna try getting it in?”
I laughed and entertained the bump. “I wouldn’t say that. But… I did put a few points in charisma.”
“I don’t understand. What will be you be ‘getting in’ exactly?” the elf asked.
“Umm…” I darted my eyes and shook my head slowly. “Nothing really. I just want to visit the Vale. We’ll return the horses ourselves if that’s okay.”
“Hmmm…” the elf mumbled. “Not possible, I’m afraid. The horses have been out here for a while now. They need maintenance and care from a stable master.”
My shoulders slumped. I sure didn’t have any gold to spare to feed the horses or whatever it was they required. “Alright then. Let us get our things, and I guess you’re free to go.”
I helped Aaron unload the bundles of tools from his horse, and as I was carrying one of the heavy bags over to his home, a wide, hardcover book fell out.
You’ve received: Beginner’s Woodworking Guide. Durability: 10/10. Quality: Average. Rarity: Common. Weight: 0.3 kg
I placed the bundle inside his house and flipped up the book. Inside were a few schematics for building simple furnishings and even a few basic wooden weapons.
“Just 5 gold for a beginner’s guide,” Aaron said. “Should be enough to get me started in crafting right away. I’ll have to find or buy more advanced schematics if I don’t have a mentor or can’t figure them out on my own.”
I nodded, and handed him the book as he sat down his other bag of tools.
Once everything was unloaded, the elf turned and gave a wave to the other two elves who had been working on our homes. “Back to the Vale! We’re done here!” he yelled.
The three elves gathered up the horses and wasted no more time exiting Edgewood. Soon, Aaron and I were alone.
Aaron walked around his house and started surveying the nearby trees. “One of these trees should be enough to make several items.”
“Well, let’s hope the dark elves don’t bitch about you cutting down the forest.”
“Tough shit if they do. This is our home now too, and we’ve got building rights.” Aaron kicked a tree that was near the side of his house. “I’ll start with this one to make room for the forge and anvil.”
I took a few steps back and surveyed the clearing. We couldn’t have chosen a more perfect area. There was plenty of room for either of us to expand our houses, and I could see the various spots where we could build additional homes once we had our guild together. Access to the main road wasn’t terribly far, but the forest was quiet enough that we could hear leaves and twigs crackling if anyone was approaching from the Freelands.
“We should to make our way to the runestone and bind up,” I said as Aaron stepped out of his house with a wood axe.
“Fuck,” Aaron spat. “I totally forgot about that.”
“We can’t risk waiting anymore. If one of us dies and spawns in Gramora, it would be hell. Let’s find Donovan, bind ourselves here, and check out the mine.”
Aaron slouched and twirled his head around like a spoiled kid. “Alright, let’s go.” He went back in his home to trade his wood axe for his weapons, and I went in my house to drop off my unnecessary equipment.
You’ve dropped: Chisel. Durability: 10/10. Quality: Average. Rarity: Common Weight: 0.1 kg. Used for Inscription.
You’ve dropped: Basic Torch. 0-1 Attack Damage. Durability: 10/10. Quality: Average. Rarity: Common. Weight: 0.3 kg. This item provides a basic light source when lit.
You’ve dropped: Tattered Spellbook. Durability: 4/10. Quality: Average. Rarity: Rare. Weight: 0.3 kg
You’ve dropped: Tattered Spellbook. Durability: 4/10. Quality: Average. Rarity: Rare. Weight: 0.3 kg
You’ve dropped: Green Inscription Powder. Durability: 5/5. Quality: Average. Rarity: Uncommon. Weight: 0.1 kg. Used for Inscription.
You’ve dropped: Schematic: Runestone of Arcane Resistance. Adds arcane magic resistance. Requires 15 Intelligence. Requires Inscription Lvl 2. Requires: Blue Inscription Powder. Durability: 8/10. Quality: Average. Rarity: Rare. Weight: 0.1 kg
Leaving the items I wouldn’t be using immediately in my room would free up space in my bag, and there was no risk of any of it getting lost or stolen—unless I died and lost my key or someone figured out a way to break into my house. I was hoping that neither of those things would happen.
After dropping the items on the floor, I was left with 3 minor health potions, 3 bandages, 2 food rations, my house key, the skeleton key, and the lockpicks in my bag. I kept the lockpicks and key just in case we ran into something interesting.
“You ready?” I called across the clearing as I was locking up my home.
Aaron was securing his bow and spear to his back. “Yeah, let’s go.”
We headed out on foot towards the area where the dark elves were concentrated, and it wasn’t long ‘til I spotted the sorry excuse for houses that they had arranged in a circle. After seeing our homes—which had been built to high standards—the shacks of the dark elves looked even more shabby. I imagined that many of the buildings would be at risk of falling over if there was a storm or strong winds.
A few dark elves saw Aaron and I as we approached, and they squinted their eyes and frowned. Thankfully, Donovan was sitting on a log near the fire pit, so we didn’t have to endure any questioning from people who obviously didn’t want us around.
“Donovan!” I voiced as we approached.
The dark elf turned and stood as he chewed on what appeared to be an almost finished apple. He threw the core of the fruit into the ash of the fire pit and started walking towards us. “Is everything finished with your homes?” he asked.
I nodded. “All done. We were hoping you could escort us over to the runestone and the mine now.” I shrugged a shoulder. “If you’re not busy.”
“I suppose now is as good of a time as any,” Donovan said. “Time moves rather slow for us dark elves.”
I scanned the area and could see most of the elves sitting around looking bored and miserable. It was obvious why time moved slow for them. They weren’t doing anything…
And one elf in particularly—Garrik—was leaning against one of the shacks with his arms crossed, his dark eyes glued to us. If anyone made it apparent that they didn’t want us there, it was him. And the fact that he was the biggest elf—even bigger than Donovan—wasn’t reassuring.
Chapter Eight
01/09/0001
It took us about fifteen minutes of walking through Edgewood to reach the site of the ancient ruins. The ruins looked something like a small stadium that had been broken in half, and all that remained were three or four marble pillars, some crumbled marble stone, and a lot of overgrown foliage. Resting on the far edge of the ruin was a large runestone, much like the runestones we had used in Mist Vale and Gramora.
Six creatures, half the height of any of us, were guarding the area, and they all sported nothing but loincloths, a pouch, and hefty slingshots in their hands. They stood on two feet like humans, but, their burnt orange skin was leathery like a lizard and their heads were something like a cross between a crocodile and a dog. Their hands and feet had sharp, pointy claws, and the only hair that they had was a small puff of fuzz that hung down from their chin.
Name: Rockslinger Lookout
Race: kobold
Level: 11
Health/Mana/Stamina: 130/0/160
Status: aggressive
Roughly thirty or forty meters from the ruins was an opening built into a small hill, and around the entrance, someone had added thick logs for support; it was obviously the mine.
“We should group up here,” Donovan suggested.
You have been invited to join Donovan’s Party.
Do you accept? Yes/No
I accepted Donovan’s invitation and took a m
oment to look at his stats after the party’s health bars appeared at the top of my screen.
“This should be easy for you,” I said.
Donovan chuckled. “The lookouts won’t be too much trouble, so long as we don’t allow them to alert the others, but I’m sure there will be much more difficult enemies in the cave.”
“What’s the plan?” Aaron asked.
“Hmmm…” Donovan murmured. “Let’s use our ranged attacks to take out two and then move in to melee the remaining four down.” He turned to Aaron. “Since you’re the lowest level, you should run over towards the entrance of the mine. Engage any of them that try to escape into the mine to warn the others. Use your bow if you want to, but your main priority is to keep any of them from going into the mine.”
Aaron and I nodded.
We were all crouched down in sneak mode when I nocked an arrow and pulled it back to fire a snipe shot.
“Now!” Donovan said sharply. He held one of his fists out towards a kobold and a tiny arrow fled from his gauntlet and pierced it squarely in the neck, causing it to grasp at the wound and fall to the ground in death a second later.
I released a snipe shot at the same time, which soared through the air and cracked into one of the kobolds’ skull. I had been aiming for the kobold’s neck and missed, but given that the arrow pierced and killed the monster, I wasn’t going to complain about the miscalculation.
You have gained 200 XP!
The four remaining kobolds became alarmed immediately and pulled back their slingshots, loading them with the rocks tucked in their pouch while searching for the source of the intrusion.
Donovan charged towards the kobolds, drawing two short, curved swords he had draped at his sides. The kobolds fired towards him, but he ducked and rolled, avoiding the stones without problem.
I followed Donovan, drawing my sword and rushing towards the closest kobold. A rock from one of the kobolds flew towards me, and I tried to dodge, but it still managed to hit the side of my head, knocking 25% of my health off and causing me to stop and drop to my knees as I tried to clear the stars from my vision.
Another rock hit me, this one in the side of my ribs, causing only 10% damage, but it stung me enough to snap me out of my dazed state, and I resumed my charge towards the kobolds.
Donovan had already slit the throats of two kobolds before I had closed in on the first. It was still trying to pull back stones in its slingshot as I attacked, which was its most obvious mistake. I swung my sword at its hands, knocking the slingshot out of the way, and then the kobold was defenseless.
I reared my sword back and swiped forward, cutting the throat of the kobold. It grabbed onto its neck and fell to the ground, wailing a strange gurgled sound as blood poured from its neck.
I turned to look for the last kobold, but it had already made its way to the entrance of the mine. Aaron was ducking and dodging as the kobold flung rocks in his direction at near point-blank range, and he was doing his best to stick the creature with his spear. The kobold stepped forward, dropping its slingshot, and started swinging at Aaron with its claws, landing a few quick blows against Aaron’s leather armor. It seemed that Aaron hadn’t damaged the kobold at all.
I reached my hand out and shot a Fireblast at the kobold Aaron was fighting, which caused it to wail and grab at its back as Aaron lunged forward and rammed his spear into its gut. Aaron yanked his spear back and jammed it in again, this time a little higher, and finally the kobold died.
You have gained 300 XP!
Aaron was trying to catch his breath as Donovan and I approached him. “Tough cookies,” he said.
“You did alright,” I assured him. I could see the claw marks down his Armor, but he still had 60% of his health bar left. “They’re quite a bit higher level than you.”
I kneeled down and started looking in the kobold’s bag, but there were only stones inside. The other corpses were also empty of anything valuable other than the slingshots, and those weren’t useful to any of us.
“The runestone,” Donovan said indicating his head towards the edge of the ruins. “You wanted to pray?”
“Yeah,” I said.
Aaron and I followed Donovan over to the runestone, and Donovan dropped to his knees and closed his eyes. Aaron and I touched the stone and focused on binding.
You have bound to this location. Using a Recall Home spell or death will return you to this position.
We waited a couple minutes until Donovan finished his prayers, and he stood up and looked at us. “You pray quickly.”
I smiled and glanced at Aaron out of the corner of my eye. “Yeah, I guess so.”
I considered telling Donovan that we were Reborns. There was the potential that he would respect us more or it might make us look more powerful in the eyes of the other dark elves. But at the same time, I figured there was some benefit in keeping it a secret. I wouldn’t protest if Aaron decided to spill the beans, but I decided to stay tight lipped on our ability to respawn until the time was right.
There were six more rockslinger lookouts scattered about nearby the ruins, which we made quick work of, and when the area seemed clear of any threats, we headed towards the front of the mine.
Donovan pulled a torch from his bag and was about to light it.
“No need,” I said and raised a hand to cast Divine Sight on him.
“You’re a divine user too?” he asked, his face indicating that he was impressed.
“I guess you could say that, but I’ve only got one spell so far.”
“A very useful one too,” he said.
I cast the spell on myself and then turned to cast the spell on Aaron.
Aaron waved his hand around. “No, don’t bother. I should head back to our home and start crafting.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What? why?”
“The level 11s were tough enough for me, and I told you that I want to be a crafter. I should be working on my crafting skills rather than delving monster-ridden mines.”
“But you’re going to be mining in here, right?” I asked.
“Yeah, when it’s cleared out. You guys clear out the mine, and I’ll come back when I don’t have to worry so much about fighting. At my level, I’d just be in the way.”
I frowned and looked to Donovan for his input.
“He might be right,” Donovan said. “At only level 10, the kobolds in the mine will likely be a challenge for you, but Aaron has a much more serious risk at his level.”
“And we can do it alone?” I asked.
Donovan shrugged. “We’d have a better chance with three, but we can give it a shot and back out if things get rough.”
“I can give you a hand,” a voice said from overhead.
I looked up to see the young dark elf female, who had spoken up for us during our meeting with the other dark elves, standing above the mine. She was wearing the same garb that she had before, but strapped to her back was a large, thick staff that had been carved in such a way that it looked like wooden ropes were wrapped around it. The black staff topped out in a semicircle and lodged between that semicircle was a shiny, white stone.
She jumped down and landed in front of us in a dramatic fashion, her face tilted down and an open palm flat on the ground. She rose slowly and smiled.
“Keysia,” Donovan muttered. “What are you doing here?”
“I overheard that you were going to the mine with the humans, and I couldn’t pass the opportunity to see our new neighbors in battle.” She glanced at Aaron and turned to me with a flat facial expression, her dark eyes piercing me. She was much more attractive up close—gorgeous really, but not in the same way that Adeelee was. Maybe it was her pallid skin or her jet-black hair, but Keysia had a posh, dangerous-looking beauty.
“Is anyone else with you?” Donovan asked.
Keysia shrugged and smirked. “I’m alone as far as I’m aware.”
“Why do you want to help us?” I asked
Keysia sighed and turned toward Donovan as
if she was answering his question rather than mine. “Edgewood feels like a prison to me sometimes. We dark elves spend more sitting around and protecting the borders than doing anything productive. Perhaps clearing the mine would encourage more people to take up crafting or at least visit the runestone to pray.”
“It would take more encouragement than that, I think,” Donovan countered.
“And this is our ambassador, right?” she asked, waving a hand towards me. “Having a liaison between Edgewood and Mist Vale is the most interesting thing that’s happened here in a long time. I’d rather see him succeed.”
“You can call me Gunnar,” I said. I held my hand out towards the girl.
The elf girl looked down at my hand for a moment before reaching out to accept my shake. Her hand was soft, warm, and her grip was gentle. From just the touch of her palm, I could feel a sense of magic emanating from her.
“And I’m Aaron!” Aaron jolted out his hand and smiled at the girl a little too enthusiastically. He swallowed hard and couldn’t seem to look away. It was clear that he was attracted to her.
The girl shook his hand and gave a humble smile. “You were going to return home to craft?” she asked.
Aaron’s smile slowly melted away, and he sighed as he twisted his lips. “Yeah… I guess that’s what I said, wasn’t it?”
“Just a minute,” I said, holding a quick finger up to the elves. I marched toward Aaron and tugged on his arm, pulling him a few paces away.
“You’re just going to leave me to go down in the mine alone with these elves?” I whispered.
Aaron glanced at the elves and then back to me. “Why not? Donovan seems cool.”
“I’m less worried about Donovan than the girl.”
“She spoke up for us at our little meeting.”