Base price: 4,500
Scroll: Teleport of Fate
Description: An old, crumbling piece of parchment with arcane writings.
Effect: Using this scroll will teleport the user and all his party’s members to a seemingly random location, as determined by the winds of fate.
Construction Blueprints: Pens
Description: Pens are used to grow a variety of domesticated animals and produce meat and other livestock products.
Rank: Novice
Requirements: 30 stone, 30 wood. 250 BP
I wanted everything. Alas, I had party members to consider.
“These boots seem nice,” Hoshisu said with a casual air.
“Roll you for it?” I asked halfheartedly.
She gave me a sly smile. “So you don’t want the two scrolls?”
“Fine,” I muttered and collected the two parchments.
Hoshisu removed the boots she was wearing and put on her latest acquisition. They fit her perfectly. She made a few runs across the room. She was visibly faster than before.
“Congratulations, sis. They suit you,” Malkyr complimented her.
“You still owe me a better weapon,” she reminded him. She eyed her new boots and her face softened. “But yes, yes they do.”
Women!
We exited the room and continued walking down the hallway. We found only one more door, and it was partially blocked. Kuzai bashed it with his maul, ripping it off the hinges. There was one Ogre zombie inside, accompanied by two Pyroliths.
Kuzai engaged the Ogre, easily dodging its clumsy attacks. Malkyr intercepted the fireballs, then, aided by his sister, dispatched the two demons and the remaining Ogre without difficulty.
We looted the bodies. Kuzai claimed a Potion of Ogre Might and I added another Pyrolith scale and two void crystals to my growing collection. As a side bonus, this fight netted me an extra 27 FP.
“I think we’ve cleared this side of the basement,” Hoshisu said once we finished looting the corpses. “Let’s check out the other side.”
The trap was sprung with barely a warning. We’d passed the pit, and after only a few meters there was a single ‘click.’ A large section of the floor sank by a centimeter. A pressure plate.
“Duck!” Hoshisu shouted an instant before circular saw blades came out of the walls around us.
Only Hoshisu and Tempest managed to duck in time. Malkyr and Kuzai both got sliced by the jagged blades, each receiving nearly 150 points of damage. Luckily for them, they were both robust enough to withstand the injuries.
Bek, who wasn’t nearly as tough, couldn’t hope to survive such a hit, but fortunately, that wasn’t an issue. Whoever built the trap was obviously targeting playable races, and the saw blades whirled over the small goblin’s head. Tempest’s quick reaction spared me damage as well, though with 331 HP, I was even sturdier than Malkyr.
Bek immediately got to work, casting Heals over Malkyr and specifically ignoring the bleeding dwarf. Muttering to himself, Kuzai used his own magic to close his wounds.
Bek’s healing ability had improved significantly. He’d been practicing that spell a lot lately and the amount of health restored with each cast was impressive. For a goblin.
It had been a while since I inspected the little adept’s stats, so I used this delay to check his character sheet.
Bek, Goblin Adept
Level: 16 (25%)
HP: 105; MP: 160
Attributes: P: 2, M: 15, S: -1
Skills: Heal 22, Lucky Bastard 15, Drilling Arrow 15, Mana Drain 12, Inscribe 10
Trait: Deformed; max HP +10
Resist: Mental 20%
Wait, what? His Drilling Arrow spell is already at the Apprentice rank? I frowned. When did that happen?
That was encouraging. It also looked like turning the goblin into a mobile infirmary had contributed significantly to his Heal spell progression. I mentally clicked the skill to view its description.
Heal (M)
Heal wounded creature. Cannot regrow lost limbs. Speed 5. Cost 10
Level 22: Apprentice: can heal allies up to 11 meters away.
Effect: 32 HP healed.
That was pretty good. It explained how he managed to keep us all alive during the tougher fights. I should find some way to reward him, I reflected. Maybe I’ll buy him some new abilities using Faith Points once we get back to the clan.
“Sorry, guys.” Hoshisu grimaced as she looked at her brother’s gruesome wounds. “That trap was an Expert level one; I detected it only a second before it went off.”
“Nay yer fault, lass.” Kuzai was quick to forgive her. “Traps were meant to go unfound. Ye’ did well enough back with ‘em door traps.”
There was another door to our right, just beyond the trap area. This one was made of sturdy granite and reinforced with straps of metal bindings.
“This looks promising,” Malkyr said. “Sis?”
Hoshisu went to the door and bent down, checking the lock. She took longer than usual, probably trying to avoid another blunder. After several long minutes, she finally got up, brushing off her legs. “I can’t detect any trap, but it’s locked. I don’t think we’ll be able to bash this door like the previous ones. I’m going to have to try to pick the lock. You might want to stand back in case there’s a trap I missed.
We heeded her advice and moved away, giving her plenty of space. Hoshisu breathed steadily and started poking the lock with her tools. A few more minutes passed before we heard an audible snap.
“Damn it!” Hoshisu seethed. “I broke my only lockpick. The lock on this door is too advanced. Sorry, guys.”
“It’s okay, sis.” Malkyr patted her back. “We’ll get you a new one.”
“I can see a little of the room through the keyhole. There’s a structure inside, but I can’t tell what it is. Damn!” she cursed again, looking at her broken lockpick.
Well, if she can catch a glimpse through the keyhole …
“Let me have a look.” I moved next to the disheveled woman. Not needing to bend down, I peeked inside the keyhole. It was dark inside, but I had no trouble seeing through it. There was a large block of stone just beyond the door. It looked to be made from granite as well. I couldn’t get more details from this limited viewpoint. Since I had a line of sight anyway, I simply used Shadow Teleport.
I appeared inside the locked room and heard the exclamation of surprise from my party members beyond the door. This was a smithy! The large block in the middle was a granite-made forge. A dusty, yet sturdy-looking anvil was standing next to it along with a stack of metal ingots. A neat row of smith’s tools was hanging on a nearby wall. There was also a rack with several finished weapons and pieces of armor. Everything here was too big for a goblin to use. This place was obviously meant for players to find. Damn.
Among the row of tools, I spotted a fine-looking file. The metal was dusty but unblemished. It was obviously of high quality to survive the passage of years without sprouting any rust. I grabbed the file and teleported out.
“Here, try using this.” I handed Hoshisu the file. “I think it will hold better than your lockpick.”
She looked at me for a moment, then took it from my hand.
“It’s made of mithril!” she exclaimed. “It’s not as efficient as a lockpick, but it definitely won’t break as easily.”
We retreated back into the hallway and watched the woman as she tried to pick the lock.
It took her nearly 20 minutes but she eventually made it. The lock clicked and the door swung open.
“Thanks” Hoshisu handed the file back to me.
I shook my head. “You keep it. It’s useless to me anyway.”
“Holy hell.” Malkyr stood at the entrance to the room, staring at its contents.
“These are all masterwork tools,” Kuzai said, taking a look inside
. “Almost as good as the ones used by our own smiths. Some of them are even made of mithril.”
“I want it all,” Malkyr said dreamily.
“Be my guest.” I beckoned him forward. “My clan smiths won’t be able to use this stuff. Maybe you can do some good with it.”
“And that anvil, I mean look at it – no rust or even a dent, just a bit of dust.”
“Hmm, let me see that.” Kuzai approached the anvil. “Aye, this be a real beauty. Dwarven made, high quality, with a bit of magic snuck in fer good measure.”
“A magical anvil?” Malkyr’s eyes were as big as saucers.
“Aye, lad, nothing too spectacular. It allows molding of hard metal more easily; less heat required. That be the reason how it be possible to operate a forge in such a small space. Heck, you can even carry it with ya; the enchantment makes it portable.”
Malkyr gave me a pleading look.
“Go ahead.” I waved him off. “As long as you plan on using it at Goblin’s Gorge, I have no problem with you having it and the tools.”
The big man gave me a wide grin, then placed his hands on the anvil. It shrank before our eyes and Malkyr promptly dropped it into his inventory. He grabbed the tools, inspecting each one in turn. “Hmm, some of these are just high-quality steel. You want to keep this?” He held a pair of pliers out at me.
The tool was dark, without a speck of dust. “Yes, I think my smiths would benefit from having them.” I put the steel tool in my inventory.
“Those look weird.” Hoshisu pointed at the stack of metal ingots.
I hadn’t inspected them too closely before, but now I saw that the outer pieces were all Viridium while the ones in the center had a normal, metallic hue.
“High-quality steel,” Kuzai explained. “Them demons’ energy been seeping into ‘em slowly, turning into Viridium.”
“How about you take the steel and I take the Viridium?” I suggested. “Just do me a favor … can you carry everything? I can’t carry much, what with being the magic guy and all.”
“You got yourself a deal, man.” Malkyr started picking up the metal pieces. With his size and strength, he had quite the carrying capacity.
“That leaves the best for last.” Hoshisu pointed at the rack of weapons and armor.
She took a fancy-looking poniard and tested its point on her fingers. She nodded, then replaced it with one of the daggers on her belt. She also put on light chain greaves. It fit snugly over her leather armor.
“It slows me down a bit,” she said, “but the extra speed from the boots compensate for that and the added armor value is worth it.”
Unceremoniously, Kuzai took a full chainmail armor and sturdy metal bracers for himself. He then replaced the small wooden shield Malkyr had given him with a heavy steel battle shield. He hefted it easily with one hand, though it probably weighed as much as I did.
“Now I be ready fer some serious battles,” he declared, testing his range of movement with his new armor. He did look impressive. A level 28 dwarven war-priest was no laughing matter. This one could prove to be troublesome to dispatch if we ever found ourselves on different sides of a conflict.
Most of the remaining pieces of armor were too small for Malkyr, but he was satisfied to acquire a new metal cap with a protruding nose guard.
Only a few small pieces of armor and several swords remained. “If no one is going to claim those, I’d like to take them for the clan’s warriors. Mind helping me here, man?” I winked at the big man.
“Sure thing.” Malkyr easily put all the weapons in his pack. “Wow, it starts to get heavy. But I’m good for now.”
“Hey, Kuzai,” I called to the dwarf. “You don’t happen to detect any hidden compartments, do you?”
The dwarf gave me a cold stare and didn’t bother to answer. He was obviously more tolerant of the twins’ mixed heritage then my own ‘pure blood’ status.
We searched again to make sure we hadn’t missed anything, then continued walking down the hallway. We didn’t have to go much farther. The hallway ended with circular stairs winding downward. My Dangersense tingled as I looked at the dark opening below us. Something nasty was waiting for us below.
I clenched my fists. All my senses told me the real fight was ahead of us. I looked at my party. Everyone was armed and equipped for battle. We were as ready as we were going to be.
We started descending the stairs, Malkyr taking point, as always.
The stairs went on and on. It was several minutes later when Malkyr came to a stop. “Err, guys, we have a problem here.”
I moved next to him and stared at the stairs. They ended abruptly, transforming into a sheer drop. We were left standing on top of a vast, open chamber. Long stalactites were hanging next to us.
I looked straight down. I could see the ground below us, nearly a hundred meters down. It was a deadly fall. I couldn’t teleport down; it was well beyond the range of my spell.
From our vantage point, we couldn’t see the entirety of the chamber. The ceiling next to us sloped down unevenly, interfering with our line of sight.
“Now what?” Malkyr sighed. “We have ropes, but I don’t think they’ll reach the bottom and there’s nothing to tie them to.”
“Ruddy goblin spawns,” Kuzai mumbled loudly enough for us to hear. “How’d you survive this long with yer limited knowledge is beyond me. Give me yer ropes.”
We took our ropes out and silently handed them to the dwarf. He tied all three lengths together in a secure knot. He picked up a small piece of rock and tied one end of the rope tightly around it. Then he placed the stone in a fissure between the last stair and the wall, stomping on it a few times to wedge it in before throwing the rest of the rope down. I had to hand it to him, it was pretty innovative.
“When yer live working stone as much as we dwarves do, you get a feel for it,” he grunted in explanation.
“But it’s still not long enough,” I pointed out. “The rope ends about 20 meters above the ground.”
“We’ll either climb the wall or jump down if we have to,” the dwarf said. “Yer all seem sturdy enough. A small bump won’t kill ya.”
“Vic can go first,” I volunteered.
“Vic?” The dwarf frowned. “Who that be?”
Disengaging from my shoulders, my cloaked companion transformed himself into his purple goblin form. “Tada!” He raised his hands and gave a mocking bow.
“Durang’s beard! What tha’ hell is that?” Kuzai sputtered.
“Ruddy dwarven spawns,” I said pleasantly, “how you survived this long with your limited knowledge is beyond me.”
“Ha!” He was speechless for a few seconds then began to chuckle, “Alright greenskin, one fer you.”
I guess he wasn’t so bad. For a dwarf.
“Let me show you how it’s done, meat suits.” Vic pushed through us, reaching for the rope. His hands morphed to wrap around the rope and he easily walked off the last step, sliding down toward the ground far below.
“Your companion got a strange attitude, man,” Malkyr said.
“Yes, but he is useful” I pointed out.
Vic reached the end of the rope. Keeping hold of it with one hand, his entire body stretched downward, becoming almost as thin as the rope itself. Once he reached the ground he regrew a pair of thin legs and walked around a little, surveying his surroundings while still holding on to the rope.
Come back up, I thought to him. Can’t let the others know about our method of mind-link.
Vic drew his body upward, transforming back into a purple goblin, then climbed up the rope as easily as a monkey.
“It’s big and empty. I didn’t see any movement, but there's some sort of green flickering light coming from the other end of the cave,” he reported. “In any case, the immediate area below seems safe enough.”
“Thanks,
Vic,” I said. “Let’s head down.”
I moved to the rope, Vic once again in his cloak shape around my shoulders, and started to climb down.
I heard the shuffling of padded feet above me and raised my head in time to see Tempest launching himself to the wall next to the stairs. His sharp nails dug deeply into the hard rock, leaving deep gauges as he slid down next to me.
I reached the end of the rope and teleported the remaining distance. I appeared at the edge of the spell’s range two meters above the ground, but I was expecting it and landed on my feet.
Malkyr came next, carefully making his way down the rope. Once he reached the end, he seemed reluctant to make the jump. I couldn’t really blame him.
“Wait a second,” I called softly, not wanting to alert our presence to whatever lived down here. I started gathering shadows around me, piling them up together and giving them some substance with my mana. Once I finished, a pile of soft shadows, five meters high, was ready to cushion my friend’s fall. “Okay, jump now.”
Muttering something unintelligible, the big man let go, landing in the center of the pile. His weight almost squashed it flat, but it was enough to break his momentum. When he rolled away to stand on the ground, he was completely unharmed.
He grinned at me. “Okay, I gotta hand it to you. That’s a pretty handy trick. Hoshisu’s next.”
His sister climbed down almost as nimbly as Vic did, dropping from the end of the rope without hesitation, landing on the pile of shadows with her feet first. Bek followed, his light weight barely disturbing the shadowy cushion.
Kuzai came last, climbing awkwardly under the weight of his armor. When he jumped, I allowed my mana to dissipate and the dark cushion deflated as the dwarf hit the ground, ass first.
He got up, rubbing his backside and glaring at me.
“Oops, sorry.” I smirked at him.
He mumbled something, and a soft golden light washed over him, healing his injury.
Now that we were down, we could all see the green light Vic spoke of. The chamber was huge, with the other end easily a couple of hundred meters away. Stalagmites rose around us like giant columns. Farther ahead, the chamber’s ceiling sloped down, several meters off the ground, creating a narrow passage. It gave the place an uneven vibe.
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