Barrow King: The Realms Book One (A LitRPG Adventure)

by C. M. Carney

  “None of this makes any sense.”

  Gryph walked up to the small chest. Made of simple planks of wood bound by tarnished bands of iron. A rusty latch bore a keyhole, but the latch itself was bent, suggesting that the lock had long ago failed its purpose.

  Gryph's hand hesitated above the lid. A faint red glow pulsed around the keyhole. His hand stopped, and he focussed his attention on the glow. It intensified, and he knew he was looking at a trap.

  Trap Detected. Use the Disarm skill to avoid pain and death.

  “Well, that’s helpful,” Gryph grumbled.

  He grabbed his locksmith kit. Opening the small box he saw various tools designed for intricate detail work. His mind flashed back to Ranger School where he’d learned how to disarm a claymore mine and gave thanks to the US Army. He suspected that it would not be the last time he’d be thankful that the Realms imported real world skills.

  Gryph inhaled, calming his hand and his mind and slipped the thin pick into the lock. After careful probing he felt a click and the red glow disappeared. He replaced the tools and eased the chest open. Inside was a small bag of coins, a small shield, a dagger in a sheath, a bandolier bearing six throwing knives and a small silver ring with a row of sapphires.

  You have found 23 gold coins.

  You have found a Banded Wooden Buckler (Block)

  Item Class: Non magical

  Base AC: 6

  This small shield attaches to the forearm and is a great compliment to staves and spears.

  You have found a Fine Steel Dagger (Short Blade)

  Item Class: Non magical

  Base Damage: 6

  This finely honed dagger is sharper than a normal steel dagger.

  You have found Throwing Knives of Minor Bleeding (Thrown Weapon)

  Item Class: Non magical

  Base Damage: 4 (25% chance to cause bleeding damage. 5pts/sec for 5 seconds.)

  These throwing knives have serrated edges that may cause additional bleeding damage.

  You have found Ring of Minor Air Shield

  Item Class: Base - Item Category: Active

  Active Powers

  Power(1): Creates a sphere of solidified air that will protect the user from damage. The air shield can absorb 5 points of damage for each point of mana spent. It will last for 5 seconds per point of mana spent. The air shield will collapse once damage limit is reached or time expires.

  Power(2): Each level of air magic mastery reduces Cool Down by 5 seconds.

  Power(3): Each tier of air magic mastery ups total daily usage by 1.

  Mana Limit: 10% - Cool Down: 5 minutes (Max Uses: 3x Day).

  “Not a bad haul,” Gryph said as he pulled the bandolier on and slipped the ring onto his finger. Part of him wondered why he’d received such a bounty for slaying so simple a foe. Maybe due to the paralysis? He realized his excitement was rather foolish. What good would any of this stuff do him if he died of thirst in this cavern?

  The stirrings of panic and despair built up in him when another dim glow appeared inside the chest. A small blue square glowed at the top left corner where the walls of the chest joined.

  He eased his hand in and pressed down on the blue glow. He heard a small click and then the rumble of rock scraping on rock. Behind him the cave wall rose into the ceiling, revealing a dark passageway.

  14

  D eep in the darkest parts of the Barrow, on an ancient altar sat a skull as old as the world. Its eye sockets were pits of primal darkness. Along the wall braziers glowed with emerald fire.

  It was enough light for the barrow rat to see by as it sniffed for bugs and grubs among the ancient refuse that littered the floor. A low hum lower than human hearing rose, and the rat twitched. The braziers along the walls erupted into gouts of green flame and the rat squealed in terror as the hum became the grinding of bones.

  Pinpricks of murky green light came alive in the empty eye sockets of the skull and the Barrow King wakened from his slumber. His energy reserves remained low. It was too early. His mind reached out seeking the source of his revival.

  Something is different. If anyone else had been there to hear his telepathic voice, a fear unlike any known since the primal days of the world would have gripped them. Few could hear the voice, but all life in the Barrow could sense a change had come.

  The skull floated off the altar and darkness spread from it forming an ethereal body made of solid smoke. The Barrow King had returned to the world of the living.

  A tendril of energy erupted from the gaping maw of the skull and enveloped the Barrow rat. The rat spasmed and opened its mouth to shriek in horror, but no sound came out. Instead pulses of light flowed up the tendril from the rat’s body and into the mouth of the Barrow King.

  The barrow rat’s drained and desiccated corpse collapsed.

  Foul tasting beast, the Barrow King said as he sat on a throne behind the altar. Why have I awakened? The glowing eyes of the Barrow King winked out as the ancient fiend concentrated and looked inward.

  The Barrow King extended his perception outward through the passageways and rooms of the Barrow. The swirling form of darkness was not his true body, nor was the Barrow itself, but he influenced both. His true body, murdered by his apprentice, had long ago turned to dust. Now he was a soul trapped in this half life of hate and the need for vengeance.

  The Barrow was a massive underground complex. Millennia ago it had been a gleaming tower on the surface. There he'd conducted a search for truth others deemed evil, as they feared the unbridled power of soul magic. The Barrow King thrived on the fear of others.

  He saw the Barrow. The passageways and rooms, the traps and the false paths. As his awareness wormed through this surrogate body, his mind noticed bright pools of energy.

  Life, he said with greed. Tendrils of his mind flowed over the motes of light with desire.

  Life birthed souls, and he fed on souls. There was a time when he did not slumber. A time when his Barrow was full of life. A time when adventurers came to the Barrow in search of wealth and power. Then he never had never been hungry. But, these last centuries were a famine. Something had changed in the world above the Barrow. A once mighty city destroyed. The life in the Barrow reduced. His stock of souls pared down. He was hungry now.

  To preserve his existence he spent most of his existence in slumber. Each time he woke his reserves were further depleted. Yet, this time something was different. He expanded his awareness, knowing that even this small exertion of his powers cost him greatly.

  There were pockets of life of various shades and intensities. Foul creatures were common, filled with rancid, bitter souls. His minions, once dead creatures given false life to act as extensions of his will, still slumbered.

  There was far too little life. He had gorged before his last slumber, preparing for a long sleep. He'd consumed many a sentient soul that day. Over time the Barrow would capture more souls and he would feed again. But, his Barrow had not had enough time to restock. The number of souls in his Barrow was insufficient. Panic surged in the Barrow King’s mind.

  There is not enough.

  Then he felt it, towards the edge of his being in a part of himself long abandoned. A light stronger than any since the ancient days. There was something familiar about this light. It was beyond sentience. His mind touched the edges of it, a nexus of potentiality unlike anything he’d felt since…

  In a flash his betrayal came back to him. The hidden power brought to bear against him that day was like nothing experienced before or since and he knew what had become trapped by his web.

  A Godhead, the Barrow King thought in both fear and reverence, snapping his tendrils back from the light as if burned. Has the Betrayer returned? Fear ripped taloned claws through his mind and he felt a desperate need to return to his slumber.

  But the Barrow King was no coward and his hunger was great. He reached out again and sampled the edges of the light. It was potent and pure and primal.

  “And different,” the Bar
row King said aloud. Renewed confidence and desire flowed through his ethereal body. He poured more of his stored energy into the tendrils and reached out to touch the light. The tendrils melted in the glory of the light, but the Barrow King was now certain that this was not the Betrayer returned.

  He needed to know more. He gazed upon the corpse of the dead rat, and an idea formed in the revenant’s mind. He stretched his will into the Barrow and found another barrow rat close to the Godhead. He pushed a small amount of power into the rat and possessed its small mind.

  The rat found the light of the Godhead locked in a cave with no entrance and no exit. How did it get there? the Barrow King wondered. He spent too much energy opening a small crevasse in the side of this mystery room and his scout entered.

  It was an El'Edryn. “A high elf,” the Barrow King said bewildered. That race had left Korynn millennia ago. His scout gazed upon the elf. He was face down and damaged. The Barrow King extended his analyze skill through his surrogate and read the newcomer.

  The elf suffered from several broken bones and a paralysis debuff as if he'd fallen a great height. That made no sense. The cave's ceiling was only a dozen feet above the man’s prone form.

  The elf was also a paltry Level 1 and had zero experience. How had it come to be there? Why was it here? The Barrow King ordered his scout forward. He needed a closer examination. The man was aware of his scout, but was unable to move, despite the twitching of his finger near the dagger at his belt. There was time.

  The Barrow King poured more of his dwindling power into the rat and there it was, the Godhead. The blaze of energy it put off flowed through the rat’s eyes. The Godhead was undetectable to those ignorant to its presence, or its purpose. Yet the Barrow King had felt one’s touch before.

  The Barrow King imagined himself filled with the divine power of the Godhead. He would never be hungry again. The vast potential contained in this mote of creation surged through his poisoned mind.

  A vast army of the dead rose and marched in front of him, the foul energies leaking from them drawing clouds across the sky. Astride a skeletal dragon, the Barrow King moved across the land.

  An army of the dead rose in the ruined city to the South. Ancient corpses that lay where they’d fallen in battle centuries before stumbled to their feet, weapons held aloft in worship of their new god. They marched through the villages that still dotted the hills and valleys around the dead city, pillaging and adding more to their numbers.

  Then he turned his forces towards the mountain kingdom of the dwarves and plundered it for weapons, wealth and warriors. With each conquest his army would grow, for the dead served only him.

  His army laid waste to all the lands of Korynn. Then he would turn the dead gazes of his million strong army against the Shining City itself and lay the Betrayer low.

  The Barrow King pulled himself from his foretelling and looked at the man. He was weak. The Godhead would be easy to take. A plan formed in the Barrow King's mind. He would draw this adventurer further into the Barrow, kill him and absorb him body and soul. The Godhead would be his.

  He would be reborn and remade and have his vengeance.

  The elf stabbed up with his dagger, killing the rat. The Barrow King's scout died and the view of the man blinked out. No matter. The greed of mortals was their great weakness.

  The Barrow King let flow a twinge of mana and gifts appeared. A small chest containing tools to survive his Barrow. It was an irresistible invitation that would inexorably lead the elf deep into the Barrow.

  Exhausted, the Barrow King withdrew most his tendrils. He let one slither through the passages of the Barrow, seeking. He needed power to challenge the man with the Godhead.

  It was time to feed.

  15

  T he door seemed too convenient. As did the long passageway beyond it. Gryph attached the small buckler to his left arm, hefted his spear and entered the passage. Fearful of what lay beyond, he slipped into Stealth.

  The passageway was long and gave Gryph time to think on the absurd situation he was in and the long list of things that had gone wrong.

  What had Aluran done to him? What was the Barrow?

  Aluran had been acting normal as far as Gryph could tell. He was just the same start up game avatar that greeted every new player. Nothing odd there. Sure it showed how egocentric Aluran was, but arrogance was never a real threat.

  Then his entire demeanor had changed. It had to be the Godhead, whatever the hell that thing was. It had freaked Lex out and it must be powerful. Aluran had only “noticed” Gryph when he’d equipped the odd artifact. Fear had taken ahold of the god.

  The Godhead. He pulled open his Inventory. The icon for the mysterious artifact was hazy this time. When he’d equipped it, the icon had been bright and shiny. Gryph attempted to unequip it, but discovered that he could not.

  He tried a few of the other icons. His tattered boots, worn shirt and ragged trousers glowed and fell away from his avatar. With a start he discovered he also stood naked. He re-equipped his avatar.

  He looked back at the icon for the Godhead and focused. Other than the Gift of Tongues power, the description was not at all helpful. Yet, the name Divine Artifact and the fact it was the only magical item he possessed with a tier suggested that its power could increase.

  That is what drew Aluran's ire. I’m a threat to him.

  Somehow it had bonded with him. Whatever it was, his possession of it had pissed off a god. That meant it would be a powerful tool in his quest to save Brynn. He had to make unlocking its abilities a priority.

  Without Lex to guide him he would have to figure out everything on his own. He was surprised how much he missed his irritating banner turned foul mouthed priest. He was sure that sooner or later he would have punched Lex in the mouth, but now, alone in the bowels of this wretched dungeon, he missed the company.

  According to Mo, or should he be calling her Eris, he was meant to spawn in a pleasant town with ample places to grind. The lingo was still new to him, but he understood enough to know despite his impressive list of imported skills he was still inexperienced and weak.

  Gryph hefted his spear, stretched his muscles and moved down the passage. He kept his pace steady, thankful that the El'Edryn had night vision up to 120 feet. A dull glow appeared up in the distance out of the gloom. It took Gryph a moment to realize it was much further away than any human eyes would be able to register. He forged ahead, and the corridor eventually ended in a large cavern.

  The cavern was the size of a high school gymnasium. The area was filled with huge mushrooms that glowed with a dull silver light. Though they stood taller than he, Gryph was able to see beyond them and spot another entrance on the opposite side of the cavern. The continuing passageway appeared to head down.

  The stench in this chamber was a notch beyond awful. It was the smell of carrion and decay. Bones of every shape and size littered the floor of the cavern. It was a feeding ground, and one for a creature none too concerned with cleanliness or hygiene.

  Gryph scanned the cave for a few moments before assuring himself that he was alone, then he moved forward. He was careful not to step on any of the innumerable bits of bones or shards of rusted metal that lay scattered between the mushroom’s stalks. After a few minutes he had made a circuit of the room confirming that he was alone. He’d even stabbed into the base of one mushroom to assure himself that the things wouldn’t jump to life and take a bite out of him. The mushroom leaked a silver sap, but otherwise showed no ill effects.

  Gryph made his way to the other exit and confirmed that the tunnel went down further into the Barrow, but it turned a sharp corner a few dozen feet, so he couldn’t see much else. Gryph remembered Lex’s conversation telling him to leave no stone unturned.

  He returned his attention to the room and checked the remains for treasure.

  The work itself was both disgusting and sacrilegious. Gryph wasn’t a fan of looting the dead, but he was also practical. Whatever had turned these
into dust and bone must be a deadly foe.

  Gryph began his search, finding a variety of useful items.

  You have found Gold Coin (X24).

  You have found Non Magical Jewelry (X3).

  You have found a Basic Alchemist’s Kit

  Item Class: Non magical - Item Category: NA.

  With this kit you can collect alchemical and crafting ingredients and make Base Tier potions.

  You have found a Animate Rope Spell Stone (Air Magic)

  This enchanted stone will allow you to learn a spell.

  You have found Padded Leather Jerkin (Light Armor)

  Item Class: Non magical - Item Category: NA.

  AC Bonus: +8.

  A standard padded leather jerkin provides decent protection from attack.

  You have found Padded Leather Pants (Light Armor)

  Item Class: Non magical - Item Category: NA.

  AC Bonus: +4.

  A standard pair of padded leather pants provides decent protection from attack.

  You have found Scaled Leather Boots (Light Armor)

  Item Class: Non magical - Item Category: NA.

  AC Bonus: +5.

  A fine pair of scaled leather boots provides above average protection from attack.

  You have found Banded Leather Bracers

  (Light Armor)

  Item Class: Non magical - Item Category: NA.

  AC Bonus: +5.

  A standard pair of leather bracers enhanced with small iron plates provides above average protection from attack.