Occasionally they’d pass a sconce, a circular piece of metal mounted to the wall, but they were all empty. When it seemed to be close to noon, Dale ordered a break for lunch and resting.
Dale looked at the Princess.
“What do you do when you’re not a Princess?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re an NPC?”
“What’s that?”
“I mean…” Dale was confused again. “An NPC is a non-player character, you know, like the dragon, like the beasts, like the hunter, Sam.”
“I don’t understand you.” The Princess looked confused.
Erin?
I can’t help you here, Dale. Sorry.
Shit.
“What would happen if you died?”
The Princess looked at him funny. “It’s hard to kill a Princess.”
“Okay, but not impossible?”
“No,” Jara said. “I can’t recall. I think, well…” She stood up, agitated, and she paced.
“I didn’t mean to offend you.” Dale was sorry he’d brought up the subject, he needed the group to work together, at least until they found Princess Talargo, if they even did at all. That seemed like a less likely possibility as each day went by.
“No.” Princess Jara sat back down. “I’m not offended. I think I was killed before I was trapped in that dungeon, the one Yingtai saved me from. I don’t remember now. It’s weird. I don’t like thinking about these things. Wake me five minutes before you want to move again.”
With that, she curled into a ball, placed her head in Yingtai’s lap, and fell asleep.
“Girls,” Rikuto said.
“You want to put your head in my lap, Rikuto?” Smith asked. He laughed and slapped his hairy ape thighs with this massive hand. “Come here big boy, I have something for you.”
“I’ll pass, dick.”
...........................
After resting, the group moved out in silence. Everyone was physically rested, but Dale felt emotionally exhausted, and he assumed he wasn’t alone. The darkness of the mines affected the brain. They could be a mile underground for all he knew. The were vulnerable to ambush, and if they had to retreat, there was only one way to go, and it was a long hike back to the meadow.
The walls of the mine changed. Stoneworks appeared. Carved reliefs, animals, symbols, lettering and strange beasts adorned both sides of the mine shaft. The floor and the ceiling remained the same; large wood timbers still supported the ceiling, and the path was sandy and smooth. Dale held his torch up and ran his hand along the wall, testing for loose stones, clues of any kind, and also because the texture of the carved reliefs gave a break to the monotony of the walk.
Eventually, his hand hit a loose stone. He worked the stone with his knife, and it dropped.
You have found a scroll.
+250XP
Congratulations: You have opened a quest: Find the 14 Scrolls of Dwarf Lore
Dale opened the scroll.
...........................
Wisdom of Mopsus
King Mopsus, 4th King of the Arodian Dynasty, Dragon Slayer, Lord of the Diamond
Travelers, seekers of wisdom, priests, monks, and kings, lend your ear to the wisdom of the Great King:
Do not forget to use iron against dragons and forest witches, and any creature with fairy blood.
Fire burns, water heals, but the earth holds all secrets of serenity, seek the Chasm of Peace.
Never show weakness by saying no twice.
Love and hate with the same intensity.
Adders hate Lotan enchantments, but they are often used as fodder for the more powerful.
Gods change, but fine wine served with roasted razordillo, under the moonlight, will always be favored.
Treachery is not always treachery, the person you most betray is yourself.
...........................
When they came upon a vast ornate chamber, Dale motioned for everyone to stop.
“We need to think before we enter,” he said.
“It appears empty,” Yingtai said.
“It does.” Dale walked the opening, the room looked like a royal or priestly chamber, it had a stone throne in the center and the walls were decorated. He looked at the walls and tried to imagine what kind of beasts or creatures might occupy such a place. The most prominent relief was that of snakes.
“I’m guessing snakes…” Smith put his hand on Dale’s shoulder. “Nothing we can’t handle, boss.”
“Yeah, overconfidence isn’t attractive.”
“You hurt me deeply.” Smith laughed. “Does this mean you’re not taking me to the prom?”
“What is this prom?” Princess Jara asked.
“Nothing. Let’s get geared up for snakes and see what happens.” Dale decided that the best way to enter the chamber would be with two swords or with a sword and an axe. A shield wouldn’t help much, if at all, against a massive attack of snakes, or spiders, he thought. A felt a chill run down his back.
They walked into the chamber, and nothing happened.
“What the hell?” Rikuto said after five minutes.
There was no apparent way out of the room, except to go back the way they’d come.
“Is it a dead end?” Smith said. He walked to the stone throne and sat on it.
The throne sank, the entrance slammed shut; they were trapped.
A wind blew all their torches out.
In the darkness, a female’s voice cried out in a shrill shriek of pain.
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
Never own more than you can carry in both hands at a dead run.
~ Robert A. Heinlein
Folding space backpacks prove that atheists are stupid.
~ Anonymous graffiti written in a base camp toilet stall
...........................
Princess Jara created a bright yellow glowing orb. Yingtai had been bitten by an adder which she then chopped into pieces. Everyone chopped and hacked snakes; adders dropped from holes in the walls.
Dale used two swords; he didn’t think he’d have much use for a shield, as no weapons were being used against him, only snakes which tried to bite him.
+25XP
+50XP
“We could be here forever getting nowhere,” Dale shouted. “These aren’t high enough to mean much unless we stay for a week just to level up.”
“We don’t have a week,” Yingtai said. “We need a plan to stop them from getting in here.”
Dale chopped. Two snakes dead. He chopped again. Three snakes dead.
“Try fire, maybe?” Smith said.
“Okay, I need protection.” Dale moved to the center of the room.
“I got your back,” Rikuto said.
Dale put his swords away and powered up a Fire Magic spell.
He shot a torch spell at the holes in the walls, snakes burnt up and fell to the ground. They created piles of ash. When his spell ended, he took a deep breath.
“It worked.”
“Not so fast.” Smith pointed behind Dale. More snakes poured into the room.
The fire had worked, but only to stop them from pouring out during the time the flames were active. It didn’t plug the holes, and there seemed to be an endless supply of adders. Black, blue, green, purple, and red adders slid out of the walls onto the floor and continued their assault.
“What about Ice Magic?” Dale looked to Jara.
She tried stopping the adders with a spell. It worked about as effectively as the fire, stopping them while it was active, killing those snakes that were frozen, but not stopping the flow of snakes after the spell ended.
The group was able to keep the snakes from biting them, but eventually, they’d tire out, they couldn’t chop snakes indefinitely.
Dale decided to try something different. He removed his shield and threw it at the attacking adders. The shield uncoiled and the battle pet began killing snakes and eating them.
“Well, that’s something!”
Dale had found a way to at least help the cause. “I wonder about Gingo?”
“Can’t hurt to try,” Smith said.
Dale summoned his pet. Gingo went crazy; she would bite a snake and shake her head like a pit bull, snapping the adders bones. Between the golden retriever and the shield adder, the number of snakes the platoon had to kill was significantly reduced.
But the snakes kept pouring out of the walls.
“We need an iron javelin,” Yingtai said. “I have an idea.”
“I have one,” Rikuto said. “But it’s not so good for killing things that need to be chopped up or crushed.”
“It’s not to kill them,” she said.
“Then what?”
“The iron, its got powers against certain types of magic.”
“And?”
“I have an iron cleaving sword; I’ll follow you as you stick your javelin into the each hole and then I’ll cut the iron, creating a plug.”
“That sounds crazy,” Rikuto said. “But, I guess I’m willing to try anything at this point.” He was able to jump high enough to ram the iron javelin into the first hole.
Yingtai ran to the wall, took a couple of steps up like an acrobat, and brought her sword down. The iron yielded to her blade, leaving an iron plug in the hole, while the rest of the javelin dropped.
Rikuto caught the spear and moved to the next hole.
It worked.
“Well, that was fun,” he said.
“Creative solution.” Dale retrieved his pet and shield. “Now what?”
As he asked the question, the stone throne rose.
...........................
The stone throne moved upwards until it revealed a cobra boss. It began spitting venom.
Dale took a glancing hit to the leg, most of the toxin hit his armor, but some of it worked its way through the joints. The venom burned and continued to cause damage.
Dale yelled. He had little healing ability and he depended upon healers in a fight. They were busy.
The boss slithered in circles, both spitting, and striking with its fangs.
Dale brought out a long bow and tried firing arrows, but they seemed to do little, if any damage. He tried creating a Fire Magic spell, but the cobra wouldn’t give him time to warm it up, and the healers were too busy healing Smith and Rikuto, who were meleeing.
Dale threw his shield, the adder uncoiled, but once it saw the cobra, it slithered back to Dale’s feet and coiled back into a shield. “So much for that plan,” Dale said, mostly to himself. He picked up the shield just in time to block a ball of flying cobra spit. At least the shield worked for that. He moved into position to help Smith and Rikuto tank. The three of them chopped, hacked, smashed, and sliced the boss. Its health dropped, as did the three tanks. The two healers kept their health up around 50%; the spitting cobra was strong and relentless and didn’t give them a chance to fully recover.
Rikuto fought with a samurai sword, he switched to a spear, then back to a different sword. Nothing made a major difference.
Smith was effective with his war hammer, but he required constant attention from the healers, his close attack made him vulnerable, and the boss spent the majority of its offensive spitting directed at him.
“Can you try an Ice Magic Spell?” Dale asked Princess Jara.
“I can.” She began working up a spell.
Her glowing orb dimmed and the room became like twilight. Then a bright blue streak flew across the chamber. The boss froze momentarily.
It was the break they needed.
Dale and Smith moved in and began to hack and crush the snake.
Yingtai fired imbued arrows, and the snake fell dead.
+1200XP
Killed: Boss Cobra
+10% Reptile attacking skill
Dropped: 2 red garnets, high quality
Dropped: Fire Magic Book
Dropped: Ice Magic Book
Dropped: Purple Adder Battle Pet
Dale retrieved his loot and sat on the ground. “I need a feast and a healing potion.”
“Rikuto?” Smith asked into the darkness.
There was no answer.
As Jara’s glowing orb regained its brightness, they realized that Rikuto had been defeated. He was gone and their party was down to four.
...........................
“I asked Jara to switch from healing to casting a spell,” Dale said. He felt responsible. Rikuto was a good soldier. A new sense of hopelessness hit Dale. They were trapped in a room, down to four, and they still had a long way to go before they found the Princess Talargo. The way things were going, even if they found her, they’d be such a small force they’d be little help.
“We’d still be fighting the boss if I hadn’t used that spell,” Jara said.
“She’s right.” Smith tapped Dale on the shoulder. “You made a good call. We’d have all ended up dead.”
Dale remained silent. Nothing felt right.
“Everyone should check their equipment, refresh their health, and then we need to find a way out of here,” Yingtai said.
“She’s right, Dale.” Smith stood up. “We’ve got to keep moving.”
Dale drank a health potion. He didn’t feel good about their situation, but he couldn’t argue with the logic, they needed to move. The mission would have to go on as long as they were still standing. He read his Fire Magic Book and gained experience, but no new spells.
“Look.” Smith was standing by the wall staring at something written there.
Dale joined him. It was a puzzle, a grid of one hundred numbers, ten across and ten down.
“Well, who is good at math?” Dale asked.
...........................
The code to get out of the boss chamber wasn’t pi, the Fibonacci sequence, or anything else that Dale or Smith could imagine. They had previous puzzles stored in their memory banks, but this one wasn’t the same.
Anything else you can suggest?
Sorry, Dale.
It’s okay.
Don’t get down; this is all part of how a war goes.
I don’t like it much.
I can see that. Chin up, big guy, things will work out.
“Erin has nothing for me…”
Smith gave Dale a look. “I have nothing. Yingtai? Princess?”
“I’m on to something, shhhhh. Let me think,” Yingtai said.
“Puzzles were never my strong suit,” the Princess said.
When Yingtai made a mistake, the grid would go through a one minute cool down period before she could start attempting codes again. Dale watched her work. She was always the one in a hurry, so he left her to her work, assuming that she’d do her best if he left her alone.
He sat and watched for awhile, when he got bored, he walked the room and looked for clues or anything else of interest. He was walking the perimeter when he felt a loose stone in the wall, he used a knife to pry the stone out, and a Lore Book appeared.
...........................
The Ancient Weapons of the Cobra King Quest
Congratulations! This Lore Book opens a quest for the worthy.
Emperor Sukrata’s museum of antiquities was plundered in the third war of the Nakshatra Era.
A collection of weapons were looted and the Cobra King paid a bounty for ten of these.
They’ve been hidden throughout the mines of the Arodian Mountains.
Collecting these ten weapons and bringing them to the Kartikeya Guild will result in rewards, skill boosts, level advancement, and glory.
The list of these weapons and their lore:
The Stained Halberd of Khutulun, Hun Princess. Legends state that the Princess once felled twelve enemies with this weapon in a moonlit attempt to kidnap her.
The Emeici of Warrior Queen Fu Hao. This weapon, a poisoned ring dagger, was used by the great queen deep inside Shang territory during a battle in which betrayal and treachery nearly brought down her kingdom. Instead, her glorious victory brought her honor
and power.
The Xhosa Knobkierie of Chief Maqoma, used during the Xhosa wars to subdue forty foreign devils in one skirmish that nearly brought peace. Unfortunately, the invaders were victorious, and an evil spell was placed upon this weapon.
The Yawara of the Minamoto Clan, used to achieve victory during the Heian Period. Once stolen by Chinese warriors, it was stolen back, smuggled into Japan, and remained hidden for sixty years. Believed to have the souls of seven warriors infused in the blade.
The Soliferrum of Helena of Troy. An iron javelin used in games and contests, this weapon was once driven through the heart of a fairy giant, and it is said his last heart beat stained the iron with his blood, providing near invincibility to the user of this weapon against fairy warriors.
Huitzilopochtli’s Macuahuitl, a wooden club covered with obsidian shards, this weapon was once used to sacrifice 1000 victims in one day, causing a river of blood and appeasing the warrior god.
The Kunoichi Kakute of the Fish Clan, a horned finger ring, the spike of which is covered in blowfish poison, causing painful, but quick death. This famous ring was used to assassinate two separate chieftains which brought peace to the Valley of Trees.
The Stolen Urumi of Queen Nzinga, a long flexible sword that is used like a whip, this particular weapon was taken off an invading Portuguese slave trader and was once referred to as the Urumi of Freedom. Considered one of the greatest weapons in history for close quarters man on man fighting or assassination.
The Maan Komba Madu, the deer horn weapon used by the Fakirs in the Krishna Uprising during the Seventy Year War. The monks retained this weapon as an article of worship, but its deadly powers turned the tides of history.
The Great Nephrite Mere Club. Used by the Kanawa fairies to repeal an attack in the early seventeenth century, this club steals the mana from any creature or man that it is used to kill. It is rumored that the warrior that wields this club in battle will have nearly unlimited mana supply.
...........................
Dale read the Lore Book twice. Maybe they should forget about leaving the mines until they spend a day searching for ancient weapons?
Nagant Wars: A LitRPG Novel (Nagant Wars Series Book 1) Page 34