by Lee Duckett
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The party headed down, Rurik leading, metal clad feet clicking on the stone, and they came to a room with several doors: one was large, metal, and locked; one closed with desiccated wood; and one stone, but ajar. Fayne motioned towards the last, moving over to it and pushing it open slowly with her foot, bow strung and drawn.
She froze for a moment, a quick ~What is it?~ from Aria prodding her back into motion. She opened the door farther and relaxed her pull on the bow, gesturing with it for the rest of the group to enter.
Inside was the remains of an armory, most items long since missing, if the layer of dust, grime, and rust on the racks was any indication. They moved in, Fayne looking for traps as Badger’s eyes glowed with prismatic light, looking for any lingering magic. He quietly motioned towards a rack of daggers, several orange with rust, but three remained untouched by the ravages of time.
Fayne moved towards them, reaching out to grab them, but pulling her hand back and giving the wizard an inquiring glance. ~They’re not cursed,~ he reassured her. ~I think, and I may be wrong, but I think they have a merciful enchantment. They’ll bruise and tire you out instead of cutting, though too much can still hurt a person. If this is for guards, it makes sense.~
Fayne nodded, grabbing the blades and dropping them into Shino’s Bag of Holding, now attached to her belt to use more easily. On the far wall, Rurik was examining a set of stone lockers, only one still closed. ~There be somethin’ off about this one lass,~ he told her as she walked up to him silently. ~But I can’t tell what it is.~
She nodded to him as he moved on, looking over the rusted blades and shields for something interesting. A few moments of careful inspection revealed the shock-trap connected to the locker’s handle. Some careful knife work broke the runes without setting them off, and she spun the lock, ears to the door to hear the turning of the tiny tumblers.
When the lock bowed to her superior skill, opening, Badger perked up, pointing to a small metal lunchbox, and a metal ring on a hook, sized for dwarven fingers.
~Okay, the magic ring I understand,~ Aria chimed in, looking over Fayne’s shoulder. ~But a magical lunchbox? Really?~
At Badger’s nod Fayne took the box, making sure it wasn’t trapped physically, then handed it to him. He looked at it, sniffed it, then shook it next to his ear, causing Aria to roll her eyes. ~Seems empty~ he sent, opening it.
The smell of freshly baked meat pie wafted out, the small cup of what looked like ale rattling slightly in its cubby as Badger nearly dropped the box.
~I thought you said it was empty,~ Aria teased. ~How is it still fresh anyways?~ she asked, seeing her husband looking over the box more intently. ~What’s wrong?~
~This thing can’t exist,~ he said flatly, putting the box down on a table and backing away from it. ~Everything that I, Badger, learned at the Arcane Academy said that this can’t exist. You can create matter temporarily, and powerful magics can do so permanently, but Felnash’s Statues of Conjuration specifically state that magical items can’t create food or drink. There’s a cleric spell that does it, but items can’t.~
~What about bottles of endless water?” Rurik asked. ~Me daimyo ‘ad one in ‘is estate that was da backup for when ‘is well ran dry, or was poisoned.~
~They don’t actually make water,~ the wizard explained. ~They pull it from the plane of water, filtered to not bring in anything else. This. This shouldn’t be.~
Rurik walked over to the box. ~Is it cursed?~
Badger shook his head. ~I don’t think so, but curses subvert an item, if it was made to be dangerous, or made with negative effects on purpose I couldn’t tell.~
Rurik shrugged, reached into the box and pulled out the small cup of ale, sniffing it. ~Smells odd, but foreign, not off.~ And with that he threw it back, drinking it down in a gulp. ~Interesting spices, but not bad,~ he mused, smiling at the Aria and Fayne’s look of shock. His smirk faltered when he saw Badger’s expression of utter fury.
~It’s magic the wee man hasn’t just not ‘eard of, but been told be impossible. What’ll ya reckon would be the response of some other finger waggler if we showed ‘im it? If it be poisoned, then it be best that I try it. ‘sides, it be a magical lunchbox, that’s no weirder than a ring that slows yer fall or a dagger that evaporates water,~ he told the gnome, trying to head off an argument.
Fayne put her head in her hands. ~I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you’re right,~ she moaned, getting Badger’s attention. ~This place has been abandoned for what, four hundred years?~
~At least,~ agreed the dwarf. ~Easily eight, and from the wear on the stone I’d be sayin’ it be closer to a millennia, longer if this place once had preservation magics. It be a bit dry, but,~ he waved towards the heavily corroded weapons, more rust than steel, ~for the little water that be in the air to do that, we’re talkin’ a long time.~ At their stares he got defensive. ~What? I know weapons. Ya can ‘ardly call yourself a samurai and not be knowin’ about swords. I’m not some thug who just be all like, ‘Swords are just smart metal I stab people with.’~
~Right,~ Fayne sent, trying to get the conversation back on topic. ~If this place has been gone that long, it’s possible they’ve figured out how to do something like this, and it was forgotten a while ago. Besides, other than the mild shock trap on the handle, I can’t think of why something like that would be a trap itself,~ she finished, motioning towards Rurik who was eyeing the meat pie.
~We’ll hold onto it,~ Badger decided. ~But Rurik is carrying it. While it would have been better if had told us his plan before he did something potentially dangerous, this time he at least had a plan,~ he glared at the dwarf who had the presence of mind to look sheepish.
~What about the ring?~ Fayne asked, pointing at it hanging in the locker. Badger peered at it, eyes glowing for a moment.
~Ring of Acrobatics,~ he shrugged. ~Pretty standard.~
~Does anyone mind if I take it?~ Fayne asked. When no one objected she took it from its place and slipped it on, the metal shrinking around her fingers. She bounced on the balls of her feet, jumping a good foot with every repetition. ~I feel, bouncy!~ she decided, taking two steps and somersaulting over Badger, landing noiselessly. ~Oh yeah, this is definitely good!~
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Behind the wood door was a break room, everything of value long since destroyed by time, but the barred metal door was more interesting.
~Why would someone bar it from the outside?~ Aria asked as their scout checked it for traps.
~Ya bar a door on the inside to keep something from comin’ in lassie, they be kinda one-way,~ Rurik told her, hands on the hilts of his swords. ~Barrin’ it from the outside means ya don’t want somethin’ to come out.~
~Oh. Are you sure we need to check inside?~ the aasimar said, shifting away from the door, and towards the samurai.
~We haven’t found the key yet,~ Fayne commented, disabling the runic trap on the door. ~If I was writing an adventure, I’d have the thing we need right next to something we need to fight first. To make us confront it.~
~Oh. Okay,~ the cleric responded taking several steps to put herself directly behind Rurik. ~You go first then.~
Fayne undid the lock, unbarred the door, and unslung her bow. She inclined her head and Rurik nodded, unsheathing his swords and stepping in first.
Instead of some great beast, mechanical monstrosity, or magical horror, they were confronted with what looked to be a maintenance room. There were corroded tools on racks, and several devices of varying shapes and sizes, most rusted beyond recognition or in pieces, which were also rusted. At the far end was a large, rust spotted, boxlike device, inscribed with runes, with large pipes running into walls, and near it was a small safe.
They cautiously entered the space, looking for any hidden foe or trap. Slowly, everyone made it to the other end of the room, where Fayne crouched down and spent several tense minutes cracking the safe, getting it on her fourth attempt. With it opened, she leaned back, the smell of ro
t issuing forth. She reached into the safe and carefully used her dagger to dislodge a key from the slime that covered the inside of the safe, closing it when she was done. Badger cleaned it, and they looked around, waiting for something to happen. After a bit, Aria relaxed, breathing a sigh of relief. “Guess we were worried for nothing,” she commented. “What?” she asked at the looks of sheer horror on the faces of her companions. “Like that’s going to-”
She was cut off by the sudden howling of wind and a sharp clang as the box next to them shuddered, the runes on it springing to life before sputtering out in a shower of multi-colored sparks.
Chapter Eleven
Analysis Paralysis
“Oh, you have got to be-“ Aria called out, either to the failing runes or the world itself.
The sound of howling wind increased, and another thud was heard, this time denting the metal container out in a long line, as if someone had slammed the edge of a large blade into it, deforming, but not quite cutting, the metal.
“Get back!” Rurik called, shoving Aria and Badger behind him as he took up position at an angle to the box, Fayne mirroring him on the other side of the container.
“What’s in that thing?” Fayne called, arrow at the ready.
“How should I know?” The dwarf called back. “For all I know it could be a-“ he cut himself off, peering closely at the writing he had assumed was just more magical runes. “Ah, that ain’t be good.”
“What isn’t good?” Aria called where she and her husband had retreated, mace and shield out as she stared fearfully at the now shaking box from across the room.
“It be sayin’ ‘ventilation’, that means it probably-” he was cut off as the sound of wind increased again, and the stretched metal pushed out further, cutting a small line in the steel from which a torrent of wind escaped, grey wisps blown through the crack with hurricane force, blasting into the closer pair. Rurik held fast against the gale, but Fayne was sent flying dozens of feet.
The elf twisted midair and landed on her feet on the far wall, perpendicular to the ground, loosing an arrow which missed the visible whirlwind that formed in front of Rurik. She pushed off the wall, leaping ten feet back the way she came with magically enhanced acrobatics, rolling to her feet in the middle of the room.
The shrieking of wind abated for a second, before picking up again, sounding not like the varying howls of a windstorm it had before, but almost like a woodwind in patterns which sounded like a language.
~Fayne, what is it saying?~ Aria called, looking at the nine-foot-tall humanoid whirlwind which glared at them with hateful blue glowing eyes.
~How should I know? I don’t speak Wind!~
Whatever it said, it didn’t wait long before slamming down an arm at Rurik who parried. He somehow caught the blow on the blade, but was obviously having difficulty holding onto his longsword which twisted one way, then another in his grasp. Rurik swung his shortsword back in response, the weapon passing straight through the creature of air, leaving no damage at all.
Fayne shot at its head, trying to distract the creature, and failing. The arrow passed harmlessly through it, but the lightning the missile was imbued with was leached into the wind monster, propagating into a miniature thunderstorm inside it. The whirlwind’s next blow caught Rurik in the chest, the sound of clashing metal matched by the miniature thunderclap as lighting struck through the arm, putting Rurik’s teeth on edge.
~Not helpin’ lass!~ he sent, muscles twitching.
~I’m sorry!~ she replied, suppressing the magic on her bow as she fired again, arrow passing harmlessly through the creature once more. A third arrow flew, brought to an abrupt halt as the being caught it, the arrow shredding into fragments as it was held in the thing’s grasp.
~What is it?~ Aria demanded, eyes riveted to the arrow fragments now being blown around the inside of the creature.
~It be an air elemental~ Rurik informed them, swinging his sword through the mass. His blade jerked in his hands, but he held on with a firm grip, edge barely catching one of the grey wisps, shaving off a tendril which dissipated into nothingness. The creature jerked and howled, once again slamming an arm into the dwarf’s chest, the screeching of metal being cut rang out as shallow furrows were gouged in the chest plates of the splint mail.
Rurik’s teeth clenched as he took the shock, continuing his thought with difficulty. ~Dwarven mages like ta harness the elements, and the ones that be skilled or daft enough do that by bindin’ elementals. Fire to stoke the forge, Water to push down the pipes, and earth to find deposits, though I consider that one to be cheatin’~
~What about this one?~ Aria motioned with her mace, looking at the angry aggregation of air.
~Ventilation,~ the dwarf supplied, swinging his swords at the creature again, but failing to hit the dancing grey wisps inside it, his blades sparking. ~Ya can recycle air with lichens, but that takes time to grow, so some air tubing can keep a tunnel from fillin’ with damp and keep ya breathin’.~
Fayne was aiming her bow carefully at the elementals head, and let loose an arrow that struck it right in its glowing eye. It didn’t notice. ~That’s nice and all,~ she bit out over the connection. ~But how do I kill it if I can’t shoot it?~
~I don’t bloody know!~ Rurik responded, taking another swipe and getting a jolt for his efforts. ~I only fought things I could stab! Maybe throwing magic at it would work?~
Aria turned and looked at Badger expectantly, who shook his head as he backed up, knuckles white as he gripped his staff. ~I don’t know!~ he protested. ~You don’t just ‘throw magic’ at things! You saw what happened when it got hit by electricity!~ he said, waving at the thundercloud pounding at the samurai, each blow leaving gouges as it cut into his armor. ~I studied water elementals, so I knew fire was safe to use, but not air! What if I hit it with fire, and it catches on fire? Or it gets bigger and more powerful because the heat expanded the gas it’s made of?~
~Then use ice!~ Aria responded condescendingly.
The wizard growled in frustration, “No!” he shouted, anger carrying over the sound of the gale. “You don’t get it! What if that turns it into an ice storm, or makes it denser, tougher, and more powerful! Acid might hurt it, or it might just make it a storm of acid that burns anything that touches it. You can’t just guess with these things and hope for the best!”
~That’s what I’m doing,~ Fayne told him, pulling out her magical rapier and struggling against the wind pouring off the elemental. When she got close to the elemental and she stabbed into it, shocked by the electricity from within but not hitting anything. She dodged a blow from the creature, but it’s follow up brushed by her arm, the winds it was formed from slicing her armor to ribbons where it touched.
Rurik stabbed it in the back, hitting another of the wisps, causing it to shriek and lash out at him, striking him dead center of his armor. Three deep, parallel gashes cut through the plates and into his chest like the claws of a great beast, blood pouring out of the wounds and pulled into the elemental, turning it an ever-darkening red. The crimson tinted menace turned and grabbed Fayne’s uninjured arm, rapier uselessly penetrating the creature, her efforts to pull away in vain as slash after slash opened up first her armor, then her flesh. The creature of air seeming to laugh as it drank in her blood.
The cleric gasped, before schooling her features, leaning down, and putting her hands on her husband’s shoulders. “Cast. Something,” she told him. “I don’t care what, just do it!”
The wizard looked back and forth between his wife and the elemental, before starting to cast with a, “If this goes wrong, it’s not my fault. I told you I didn’t know what I’m doing”. A blue-white Ray of Frost sprang from his hand, impacting the creature dead in the chest, cutting off its laughter abruptly. It shrank slightly as the sound of winds lessened, dropping Fayne as it glared at Badger.
Badger responded with another ray, the creature trying to dodge but failing as Rurik stabbed it, causing it to flinch into the path of the m
agic. The creature shrank again, becoming less translucent and wincing in pain. It started to fly towards the caster, forgetting the dwarf who reached up and grabbed its more solid form, bringing the creature down to his height.
Cuts appeared on the dwarf’s gauntlets as he held it steady. “Keep it up wee man!” he called, grinning as he headbutted the creature, disorienting it as it sliced a gash across his face. “I got ‘im right where I want ‘im!”
Badger sent ray after ray at it, shrinking it less each time, but causing it obvious pain in the process. Fayne took up her rapier in her off hand and started stabbing the six-foot-tall monster, her weapon starting to find purchase as Aria ran around the group and started healing Rurik from behind. Golden sparks closed wounds, but were unable to keep pace with the rate at which new ones were opened.
Rurik’s hands were a gory mess, bleeding freely into the creature, enough that had it not been for the constant healing, he would have dropped from blood loss alone. Still he held the creature, which pounded at him, shocking him as it shredded his armor, and then him directly, as it was frozen and stabbed, over and over. Rurik’s eyes drooped, and right before he lost consciousness the four-foot-tall creature gave a shrill shriek and Fayne’s rapier was pulled from its chest, a shuddering grey orb of smoke impaled upon her blade. It broke apart into nothingness, the dwarf passing out as he fell through the bloody mist.
Aria gave a cry and cast another spell, a burst of sparks falling onto her son’s prone form, healing more of his wounds before she was turning him over, hand to his neck, near sobbing in relief as she sat back on the ground, trying to catch her breath. “He’s alive!” she said, tears in her eyes. Her voice was near hysterical as she continued, “With how he is, it would take months to recover back home.” She gave a hollow laugh as she cried, waving at his hands, cleanly cut bone clearly visible in the hamburger that once was strong digits. “He would never be able to regain full use, but with this stupid, amazing, ridiculous power of Solus,” she sent a slow trickle of sparks, on at a time into him, the flesh slowly regrowing as she did so, “He’ll be fine in a few minutes. This is insane. This is all insane.”