She patted the elf’s cheeks to get her attention. “Do you have any poison cures in your bag?”
Shari nodded, and several vials appeared in her hand. Layne grabbed them just as the hand fell limply back to the floor. She poured the first vial into Shari’s mouth and pushed it closed so that she’d swallow. Still there seemed to be no improvement. Shari’s health bar was below 20% and falling.
Lila jumped up and ran to the old man’s corpse. She began rifling through his pockets and bag. Mace, feeling helpless about Shari’s condition and irritated that he couldn’t fix it, barked at the halfling.
“Lila! This is not the time! Stop-”
He halted mid-sentence as she jumped in the air and whooped. Turning toward them, she ran back with a small bottle of clear liquid in her hand.
“Try this!”
Concoction of Saint’s Tears
Quality: Extremely Rare
Use: Restores health. Cures poison. Boosts health and mana regeneration.
Can be used as ingredient in a wide variety of potions.
Layne’s eyes widened. “Give me that!”
She snatched the bottle from Lila’s hand even as the rogue reached out with it. Opening the bottle, she tipped it so that a couple of drops fell into Shari’s mouth.
The effect was nearly instantaneous. The web of black veins began to recede and Shari’s breathing became easier. Her health bar, which had dropped to a sliver, began to fill up again.
Lila sniffed at Mace.
“I figured if he was walking around with a poisoned blade in his hand, he was probably carrying an antidote.
Mace hugged the little halfling to him, nearly crushing her. “Thank you, Lila. And you can loot anyone anytime you want!”
He smiled down at her, then immediately realized what he’d said and both their eyes widened.
“I mean, within reason. Don’t… I mean…” He threw up his hands in exasperation as she giggled at him.
They waited as Shari recovered. Lila went back over, after winking at Mace, to loot the old man. Then she went and stood right on the threshold of the treasure room, dancing up and down and waving impatiently for the rest of them to get a move on.
Shari laughed when she noticed the halfling. “Okay, Lootmonster, we’re coming.”
She leaned on Mace as they all walked over to join Lila. “Damn, that sucked. I’d rather die quickly than go through that again. I’m all healed up, but the memory of the pain makes me feel… weak.”
Mace nodded his head sympathetically. Then with a slight grin, he said, “Just wait ‘til you’re 100% synced.”
He laughed as Shari’s eyes widened. He could see her reconsidering the whole ‘permanent upload’ idea for a moment. Then she slapped him on the shoulder and turned her attention to the loot.
Mace took a moment to look at the notifications that had popped up when the old man died.
First Kill!
Congratulations! You are the first to clear the Darkstone Hoosegow!
Reward: 25,000 experience. One epic level or better item per party member.
Level Up! You are now Level 42…
Level Up! You are now Level 43
You have received one attribute point
He called out to Shari. “Hey hon, how many levels did you pick up today?”
Shari turned to look at him. “Hon? Are we an old married couple now? At least call me ‘baby,’ or ‘sweetheart,’ or ‘goddess of my heart and fire of my loins.’”
Mace blushed as Brahm and the others chuckled at him. He took a deep breath.
“Oh goddess of my soul, keeper of my heart and syrupy object of my dreams… could you tell me what level you are now, please?”
Now it was Shari’s turn to blush as all ears pricked up after the ‘syrupy’ bit. She quickly looked at the items on the shelf in front of her and said, “Better. And I’m level thirty-four now.”
Lila, busily stuffing items into her storage ring without really looking at them, piped up “I’m thirty-three! This dungeon is amazing!”
Mace used his Mage Sight to quickly search the room for any enchanted items (of which there were several) or hidden compartments.
He found a trapped walled panel behind one of the shelves. This one was unsurprisingly also a poison-based trap. He disarmed it, put the trap mechanism in his bag, and handed the poison over to Shari.
Leaving the group to finish emptying the room, he likewise searched the throne room. Only the pedestal glowed with any magic. He examined it carefully, but couldn’t spot a source. There were no obvious wards or traps.
Turning off his Mage Sight, he looked it over using his physical skills. When his eyes didn’t find anything, he carefully ran his fingers over the entire thing. It was all one solid piece of stone, rising up from and connected to the stone floor. It was as if the room had been carved out around it, leaving only the pedestal intact.
His fingers told him what his eyes could not. There was the faintest hint of a seam in the stone that, even though he now knew where it was, his eyes couldn’t make out. He ran his finger along the seam, and it eventually intersected another. Mace continued to trace the miniscule imperfection in the stone until his fingers had made a complete box. It was located on the front side of the column, just above where the old man had been resting his head.
He pushed carefully on the panel outlined by the seams. There was a moment of resistance, then the panel slid inward. There was a roaring sound like wind rushing, and Mace’s eyes widened in surprise.
Chapter 7
Places to Go, People to See
The others ran out of the room upon hearing the loud noise, weapons at the ready. They each stopped quickly, eyes as wide as Mace’s and mouths dropping open.
Mace, still standing by the pedestal, turned in a full circle. He was surrounded. There were twelve of them, evenly spaced around the room facing inward toward the pedestal. They glowed with a purple incandescence that reminded Mace of the dungeon gateway they’d passed through earlier.
Portals. A dozen portals, each leading to a different place. He whistled in appreciation.
“Old Travis wasn’t joking. Being able to move from place to place like this? That is power all by itself. I mean, I know the surface cities have gates, but…”
His voice trailed off as he considered the implications. Elysia allowed players to gate between several of the large cities for a fee, as no one wanted to waste play time on long treks or rides over the sometimes-hundreds of miles between them. But there were only six cities he knew of that had gates. And not all of these portals in front of him looked like they connected to cities.
Through one, he appeared to be looking from inside a cave out toward a sunlit waterfall that fell across the entrance. Another showed what looked like a farmer’s barn. A third portal sat on a narrow ledge overlooking a large city below. There were six that opened into man-made structures. One was a dark room that appeared to be in a prison or dungeon of some sort. Another was in a large, well-maintained crypt. Two appeared to open into bedchambers and another an office with a large, ornately carved and polished desk. The last simply showed a long stone corridor. The necromancer must have used these to travel the kingdoms he controlled.
As Mace gaped at the gateways all around him, Lila tugged on his sleeve. she grinned up at him, breaking his brainlock and making him chuckle.
“Hey, um Mace? Remember how when we first captured this place, I said we had no use for it?” This place is cool!”
“Yes, it is.” He looked significantly at Brahm. “And we’re going to have to work harder to secure this place. Can’t have the Black Flame getting access to this.”
The minotaur clan chief nodded, his face grave.
“Indeed. I pledge my own people as guardians of this place. We will leave Lakeside and relocate here…”
His eyes lowered to focus on the floor as he drifted into planning.
Shari disagreed. “There’s no reason to isolate yourselves her
e, or permanently leave Lakeside. We will keep this secret amongst ourselves, and maybe a trusted few. As far as everyone else is concerned, we are protecting a valuable location filled with iron and other resources. I think our secret will remain safe. After all, how long did the Black Flame occupy the rooms above without discovering any of its secrets?”
Lila piped up, “That’s mostly because Justin was a moron.”
“Yes, well. That too. But I think we should work on building a proper settlement here, too. Maybe not right away. We can start with a proper wall and gate to protect the place. Regular scouts to patrol the area. I’m sure the centaurs would help. Maybe the elves, too, if you’re willing to share this with them?” Shari looked at Mace.
Mace shook his head. “I know you trust them. And I trust your judgement. But let’s not make any hasty decisions. At least not until we know a little more. Like where all of these portals lead, and whether they work both ways.”
He paused to consider a moment longer. “I think you’re right about growing a settlement here. Hell, even a city. With access to the rest of the continent like this? We could become a trade center. Transfer goods ‘magically’ for a fee.”
He pointed through one of the portals, which looked out on a cove. Waves were slapping against the stone nearby, and in the distance they could see a port with a stone wharf and long stone piers jutting out into a protected bay. “We could connect land-bound cities to ports and transfer goods back and forth.”
Brahm chuckled. “We’ll need to widen that opening or find another way to access this place. No large quantities of goods could travel the pathway we’ve taken to get here.”
Mace nodded. He opened the map on his UI and examined it. The areas on the surface where he had traveled so far were filled in, but most of the continent was a blank. He knew from studying the wiki map roughly where the major cities and features like lakes and mountains were. But his in-game map would only fill in if he traveled to a location, or was able to study a map of said location.
“How about we do a little experiment? I don’t know how safe these are, or if they’re warded in any way. There’s so much concentrated magic here I wouldn’t be able to spot a trap. So, I’m going to go through one of these. When I get to the other side, my map should tell me where I am. Then I’ll try to come back. If it’s one way, I’ll figure out a way to get killed and meet you all back at Lakeside.”
Shari stepped forward. “Want me to go with you?”
He really did. But after considering for a second, he shook his head. “The others might run into trouble and need a healer on the way back to the boat.”
She nodded hesitantly.
He turned a complete circle again, looking at the all the portals. He was tempted to choose one that showed a manmade structure. That should put him in a city he could easily reference.
But one of the portals in particular drew his attention. It wasn’t one he’d focused on before. The other side of the gate was dark. But his darkvision showed him a wide-open cavern. His drow nature drew him to it.
Before stepping through, he removed his storage rings and handed them to Shari. If he died going through, he didn’t want to risk losing inventory items he didn’t have to. With a quick wave to the others, he stepped into the portal.
Cold penetrated his body, as if he’d just plunged into an arctic lake. His sense of direction was immediately disrupted, as it felt like he was facing everywhere and nowhere at once. The effect only lasted a moment before he stumbled into the cavern.
He fell to one knee, putting both hands on the floor to brace himself. For several seconds, he was dizzy and disoriented. When it passed, he turned first to look behind him. The portal was not visible to his darkvision, but when he activated Mage Sight, he could see the oval-shaped outline on the cavern wall.
He quickly scanned the rest of the space around him. It was a large cavern, roughly the size of the one in which he’d fought the giant petramander and Cthulhu spawn. He didn’t see or hear any immediate threats, but was pretty sure he was back in the Underground zone.
Pulling up his UI, the map confirmed his suspicion. Rather than a map of the surface world, he was looking at a map that included Immernacht and Svarthold. He was closer to Svarthold.
Not wanting to risk a fight with a roaming predator or waste time, he turned and reached a hand toward the portal. As soon as his fingers touched the plane, he was back in the icy nothingness of the transport spell.
A second later, he stumbled back into the portal room where his friends awaited him. He managed to keep his feet this time, and the disorientation faded more quickly.
Shari looked at him expectantly, but Lila was less patient. “Well? Speak up already!”
Mace grinned at her. “I didn’t find any loot, unless you like giant mushrooms three times your height.”
She snorted at him and he continued. “It worked, though. That one led to a cavern near the grey dwarf city of Svarthold. And there didn’t seem to be any trouble getting back. Though the portal on the other side was not visible to the naked eye.”
Shari gave a little hop and shouted, “Me next!” before heading toward the portal that showed the waterfall. Before Mace could find the words to object, she stepped into the oval and disappeared. A moment later she reappeared in the cave between the portal and the waterfall. They watched as she stumbled and had to put a hand on the wall to save herself from falling.
When she straightened up and stepped toward the waterfall, Lila chuckled.
“She didn’t fall. You’re not very graceful for a rogue.” She eyed Mace.
“I’m an assassin. And it was my first portal.” Mace couldn’t help but sound defensive, which only made Lila chuckle again. They watched as Shari stepped to the far-right side of the cave entrance and reached her hand into the waterfall. After spraying herself liberally in cold water, she sidestepped once and disappeared.
They waited a few minutes as Mace watched his party interface to see if her health dropped. Just as he was deciding to step through after her, she reappeared. Smiling, she walked back toward the portal.
She paused for a moment, looking left and right, then turned to look back toward the waterfall. Getting her bearings, she reached forward and was transported back to them.
As soon as she recovered from the dizziness, she said, “There’s a beautiful forest on either side of a river fed by the waterfall. I saw an orc hunting party at a campsite downriver a short way. They were skinning a deer and two of them were fishing.”
Mace nodded. “And that brings us to the end of our exploration for the day. We’ll figure out the other portals another time. Let’s get back to Lakeside.”
The others looked disappointed. But when Mace reminded Lila that they hadn’t cleared all the loot in the treasure room yet, she perked up and dashed back to the room. The mood of the party lightened as they watched, then assisted her.
The room emptied, they made their way back upstairs. Mace cleared the ice blocking the corridor and they exited the dungeon. Picking up the guards back at ground level, the whole group made their way back past the site of the slaver battle and down the trail to the boat.
It was late evening by the time they arrived and Captain Jorin wasn’t about to sail the lake after dark. So they all settled in to get some sleep and the two players logged out.
*****
Griff sat in front of a computer monitor in his bunker’s communication room. He was looking at the faces of Mace and Shari for the first time, and couldn’t stop grinning. Voices on the radio were great, and emails from Shari had given him hope. But speaking with other live humans face-to-face, so to speak, felt like Christmas morning and winning the lottery at the same time.
“So ye found other survivors. That’s good news. Did any reply to your message yet?” he asked.
“Not yet. But with different time zones and not knowing how often everyone is online, that’s no big surprise. If we don’t hear from anyone in a few days, we’ll
try again,” Shari replied. “How are you doing? Are you enjoying the game?”
“Oh, aye!” Griff nodded enthusiastically. “The dwarves have been very kind and have given me about a million quests. I’m already level twelve!”
He thumbed his chest with pride. Shari laughed and applauded while Mace nodded his approval. They were sitting together in front of the same webcam in what looked like a medium-sized office.
Mace spoke next. “We have some other news for you. Do you know a place called Newport?”
“Sure! It’s not far from here. Why? Is there a survivor there?” Griff’s eyes lit up. Mace was sorry to have to disappoint him.
“No. I mean, not that we know of. There might be. But what is there is one of the company’s VR pod manufacturing sites. Peabody says it’s a facility similar to this one. So, probably some underground floors. And maybe a cafeteria like this place has, so lots of food? Though if you think you want to try and get there, I’d stop for supplies on the way if I were you.” Mace offered.
Griff’s bunker wasn’t exactly the lap of luxury. It was designed for a team of ten or so soldiers to operate and maintain the communications array. There were cramped living quarters with bunk beds and a tiny kitchen with an empty larder behind it. Being that it was peacetime when the world ended, the place wasn’t well stocked to begin with. He was running low on food and getting a bit stir crazy in the small space. So he leapt at the chance for better accommodation.
“You bet yer arse I’ll make it there. I got a Jeep outside. Or, I did when I last came down here. Been a while. I’ll grab me weapons and some food and water and head over. Where is it?”
Shari gave him the address and rough directions, then she and Mace spent an hour warning him about covering all of his skin and wearing a helmet. Not touching anything. Being quiet. All the things they’d learned the hard way in their time outside.
“Jesus,” Griff muttered. “Now I ain’t feelin’ so keen to stick me nose out there. Is it really all that bad?”
Shari nodded, tears in her eyes. “Worse. I can’t stress enough how careful you need to be. And not just about contamination. Some of the other survivors are as dangerous as the creatures.”
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