by Phoenix Grey
With its hand grasping Janine’s ankle, Azure had a pretty good idea of where the kobold was. At least, the one that had Janine. He had no idea if there were more.
Unshouldering his bow and pulling an arrow from his quiver, Azure nocked and loosed into the seeming emptiness of the tunnel. A grunt was his first reward, followed by breaking the kobold’s invisibility spell. It let go of Janine’s ankle to pull the arrow out of its arm, and she quickly scrambled away, finding her feet and then jogging several steps toward Azure before turning around and grabbing her ax.
The kobold tossed the bloody arrow aside and roared at them before pushing its paws together to weave a few symbols. Janine was in the way, so Azure wasn’t able to get another shot in.
“Move,” he called to her, but it was too late.
The dwarf was already charging at the kobold with ax raised, and the beast had already disappeared. She cleaved down with all of her might, hitting air. Predicting her move, the kobold countered, a paw appearing for half a second to swipe across her back—a similar attack as what had happened when the kobold had caught Azure off-guard.
Janine screamed through the pain, falling against the wall and clutching onto it for support.
“Behind me,” Azure said again, noticing the large chunk of health that the kobold had shaved off of Janine with each strike. “I have a lot more Health than you.”
“I’ve got this,” she insisted, though she still retreated.
He placed his body between her and whatever might be approaching. The kobold may have been invisible, but it was still making noise. No longer worried about stealthing itself for a surprise attack, the creature moved freely about the tunnel. Looking down, Azure noticed footprints. He tried to find their origin but was hit by an unexpected uppercut that flung him back into Janine.
Level 11 Kobold Adept delivers 55 damage.
For a moment, he worried that his jaw was broken. Azure spit out a piece of his own tongue mingled with a mouthful of blood.
“Thtay back,” he mumbled almost inaudibly to Janine.
Fuck this kobold. If he couldn’t hit it with his weapon, he’d fight magic with magic.
Azure cast Grease, dousing the area in front of them. The invisible form of the kobold was completely drenched in the dark liquid, creating a solid outline. Gripping his club firmly, Azure trudged forward. Slowed and panicked, the kobold tried to move out of Azure's reach, but it was no use. Even with the thick sludge sticking to his feet, Azure was faster. Realizing that he wouldn't be able to escape, the kobold swung its paws in a desperate attempt to fend off its attacker. Azure slammed his club down on the kobold's left arm first, and it howled in pain. The second blow was more merciful. Using all of his strength, Azure struck the kobold's head so hard that blood sprayed out of its right ear. Its head fell over to the side at an awkward angle, and its body followed.
Critical hit! Defeated Level 11 Kobold Adept. 99XP rewarded.
“Are there more?” Janine asked, her eyes volleying around as she kept on the defense.
“I don no. I don thin so,” Azure struggled to speak with his swollen, throbbing tongue. He took a moment to dig into his Bag of Holding and extract two Poor Quality Potions of Minor Healing. If there were more kobold adepts around, now would be the perfect time for them to attack.
Thankfully, the potions regenerated the part of his tongue he had lost and dropped the swelling until he was able to speak again with only mild discomfort from his aching jaw. As an added bonus, they didn't get attacked again while Azure was drinking the potions.
“I think we’re safe,” he said with a relieved sigh.
Azure wrinkled his nose, not wanting to touch the kobold’s body since it was covered in grease. As it was, he was nervous standing in the puddle with Janine so close to it with a torch in her hand.
“Whatever you do, don’t drop that,” he told her as if she needed the warning. Her grip firmed on the torch.
With an inward sigh, Azure decided to use his Loot Automizer Pendant again. He’d get more from the corpse if he looted it outright, but it just wasn’t worth the time or getting his hands dirty.
You have received the following item:
Kobold Adept Ear
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 1.0 kg
Uses: Crafting.
“What a waste,” he scoffed, resisting the urge to toss the ear back in the grease out of frustration. Even worse, he only got one, not both of them.
“I guess there’s nothing else here.” Janine looked back toward the cul-de-sac.
“I guess not.” Azure sighed, staring into the darkness before them. “Let’s head back.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
THE REALM – Day 86
Janine and Azure reached the fork in the tunnel a little after noon. Uden and Lonnell were nowhere to be seen, so they waited. Sitting down to rest, Azure offered Janine some Blue Mushrooms to munch on, but she had brought snacks of her own. After the rejection, he decided to take down his last piece of cooked boar instead. When he was questing, Azure typically didn’t eat lunch, but with nothing better to do, why not.
Several hours passed before torchlight could be seen streaming from the other path.
“That took you guys a while,” Azure pointed out as he pulled himself from the floor.
“How long have you been waiting?” Lonnell asked.
“Hours,” Janine told them. “We were starting to worry.”
“Your tunnel must have been shorter than ours then,” Uden surmised.
“What did you find?” Lonnell asked.
“A dead end with a nasty disappearing kobold adept,” Azure informed them.
“Same.” Uden frowned. “That bastard was crafty. Got me good before we even knew he was there.” He rubbed a visible wound on his arm that was just beginning to scab.
“Well, two down, two to go.” Azure looked at the other two tunnels.
“I’m not sure I’ve got it in me for another one today. My Stamina is already running low. But at least I leveled up.” The half-imp grinned.
“That’s good to hear. Now you’ll be less useless.” He forced a mocking smile, causing Uden to scowl.
“We could camp for the night again,” Lonnell suggested, “but it’s still pretty early,”
“Yeah.” Janine’s gaze shifted to the roof of the tunnel. “I don’t think the sun is even starting to set yet.”
“Want to check out the other tunnel while they wait here?” Azure glanced over at her.
“Or they can wait here, and we can go,” Lonnell said quickly. “I’m pretty close to leveling up. I hate lagging behind you guys.”
“That works for me. I’m fine either way.”
“Or we could all go together,” Janine offered, clearly not wanting to be left out of gathering more experience.
“I thought this was supposed to be my quest,” Uden piped in. “Is it really necessary to move on today?”
“No, but I’m going to get bored sitting around here,” Azure confessed. “And if I get bored, I’m going to want to cook to level up the skill. And if I do that, I’m going to drain all of my Stamina.”
“I could work on my alchemy.” Lonnell was clearly leaning toward siding with his brother.
“That’s not the point.” He shook his head. “I don’t think any of us have Stamina potions, so sleeping on a bedroll is the only way to fully restore it. If I waste all of my Stamina tonight and you waste all of your Stamina, we’re going to go into tomorrow at a disadvantage.”
“I have a few Stamina potions,” Lonnell said, adding, “not that I plan on using them in here. I don’t think it’s a big deal if we each use half of our Stamina. At this point, we all have a pretty good idea of what we can expect to encounter on this level.”
“Fine,” Azure relented with a sigh. “Then we waste the rest of the day here.”
He rolled out his
bedroll and practically ordered Uden to go to sleep, his logic being that it was early enough that they could all make use of the two bedrolls before morning came and face the next day completely replenished. Janine spread out on her own bedroll, quickly falling asleep. Meanwhile, Azure built a fire, and Lonnell sat against the tunnel wall to mix potions.
Knowing that he’d get a full turn on his bedroll later, Azure didn’t worry about wasting Stamina. After cooking five pieces of meat, he leveled up the skill again.
Congratulations! The skill: Cooking has reached Level 2. You have to eat to survive. You now have a 48% chance of not burning your food when only cooking one item. Your mother would be so proud.
For all of his effort, Azure was only able to produce 20 pieces of cooked boar. When the others awoke, he handed out rations, ate his supper, and then went to bed.
Due to Uden running out of Stamina so quickly, none of them were in a big hurry to get going the next morning. They took their time having breakfast, then snuffed out the fire, settling on the same course of action as the day before. Azure and Janine would take the first unexplored tunnel, and Uden and Lonnell would go down the last. They'd meet back at the stairs when they were done.
Things went much as they had the previous day. Azure bared the torch while Janine rushed forward to slay any kobolds in their path. The tunnel was teeming with kobold novices, eight in all before they finally reached the end.
Another cul-de-sac awaited them, and they approached it with caution. There was a small rickety chest sitting in the middle. Azure fully expecting it to be a trap.
He and Janine stood side by side, making a wall with their bucklers so that any kobold that emerged from the shadows wouldn’t be able to slip past them and stab them in the back.
“Come on, you bastard,” Janine whispered under her breath, her eyes darting about.
They reached the place where the tunnel opened into the cul-de-sac and stood there for several moments. Either the kobolds were waiting for them to be dumb enough to come inside and break their line of defense or there weren’t any kobolds at all.
After a short forever, Azure dropped his buckler. “I think I’m willing to risk it.” He stared at the small chest greedily.
“I don’t want it. It’s all yours.” Janine continued to keep her guard up, ready to counter against whatever invisible enemies might be around.
Azure knelt next to the chest. It was no bigger than a shoebox, and he had no idea what he should expect to find inside. More minimal than any chest he had seen before, the wood holding it together was cracked and warped. The lock on the front was broken and tilted to the side as if someone else had gotten to it first.
Worrying it might be a baby mimic, Azure drew his Black Dagger, using the tip to flip open the lid. After that last encounter, he’d never look at chests the same way again.
Inside the box sat a piece of torn parchment. Azure gave it a queer look before finally reaching in to collect the item.
You have received the following item:
Torn Spell Scroll
Uses: Junk
"Oh, come on!" He tossed the scroll back into the box. Seriously? Who in the hell put a junk item in a chest? It just didn't make sense.
"What is it?" Janine looked over his shoulder.
"It's a torn spell scroll." Azure shook his head as he stood. "Junk."
"Then this is probably a trap." She put her back to the chest, facing the tunnel and raising her weapon. The way she shifted her weight continuously from one foot to the other reminded Azure of a boxer.
"You'd figure you could just tape it or some shit." Ignoring Janine's concern, he kept staring down at the scroll. The disappointment that Azure felt was insurmountable.
"Maybe the magic leaks out of them when they're torn," Janine guessed, never taking her eyes off of the tunnel.
"Who knows. Whatever the case, it's not fixable. From what I understand, anything that comes up as junk is just that. Let's go." He brushed past her, ready to waylay into anything that stood in his way. Azure didn't care if Janine was the one who needed experience, he was pissed and needed to blow off steam.
Nothing jumped out at them from the shadows. No ambush ever came. The whole experience of getting to the end of the tunnel was completely lackluster, and the walk back to the stairs was equally as dull.
This time, Uden and Lonnell were waiting for them, both looking pretty well beaten up. Uden's Health was down by more than half, and he was covered in cuts and bruises. Lonnell seemed to have fared better. Or rather, healed up whatever damage had been done to him. There were blood splatters on his armor, and the places where it had been torn aware revealed scabbed flesh.
"Are you guys all right?" Janine quickened her pace as they approached.
"Yeah, we're fine." Uden waved her concern away.
"We found the stairs. They were being guarded by two kobold adepts. Of course, we didn't realize that until it was too late." Lonnell frowned.
Azure pulled one of his Poor Quality Potions of Minor Healing from his bag and tossed it to Uden. "Here." While he still wasn't happy with the half-imp, he wasn't about to let him die when they'd gone to such lengths to bring him back to life. "I'm sure you can spare one, too," he said to Lonnell.
"I already spared one." Lonnell gave his brother a stern look that Azure didn't quite understand. "This is what he gets for coming unprepared."
"Dude! I saw you make like...fifty potions last night. Don't be so stingy." Azure cocked his head to the side.
"Yeah, brother. Don't be so stingy!" Uden chastized Lonnell, but there was humor in his expression.
"No more handouts for you. I've been giving you handouts your entire life." Lonnell flattened his palm and made a swiping motion.
"We're in a dungeon," Azure reminded him.
"And he has all of us." Lonnell gestured to encompass the rest of the party. "Healing potions don't grow on trees."
Well, technically then do, if you think about it. Plants, really. Azure didn't dare give voice to his criticism though.
"If he dies again, it's on you." Azure threw his hand out.
"I won't let him die," Lonnell insisted. "He has too much to pay me back for."
"Wait. He's died before?" Janine pointed at Uden.
"How does it feel to know that you're a necrophiliac?" The half-imp waggled his eyebrows at her.
"He died in the first dungeon we went in together," Azure confessed. "We found a magic item to bring him back. We...weren't supposed to use it for that, so please pretend like you heard nothing."
The dwarf was already lost in her own world. "Maybe I could find something like that...in case my son isn't okay."
"It was a one of a kind item," Lonnell informed her. "I'm afraid there's nothing else like it in all of The Realm."
"You don't know that," Azure argued. "There could be other resurrection items. I don't see why there wouldn't be."
"Well, finding them isn't our focus right now. Finishing this dungeon is. We've already wasted a lot of time. I think we should move on to the next level." He crossed his arms over his chest.
"We can at least descend," Azure agreed. "Then we'll figure out how to tackle things from there. Sound good?" he asked the other two.
They both nodded.
Uden stood, and they headed back down the last tunnel, stepping over the few kobold bodies that lay in their path.
It only took them an hour to reach the next set of stairs. As they descended, the tunnel seemed to widen, accommodating all four of them walking side by side. They hadn't even reached the bottom before two kobolds came into view. This tunnel was incredibly short compared to all the ones before it, ending at a crude wooden door about twenty yards down. The kobolds stood sentinel, not moving from the door until the Adventurers reached the bottom of the stairs. Then they attacked.
Azure activated Analyze to get a measure of the threat, not fearing much. More than likely, Uden and Jan
ine could handle it on their own.
Level 13 Kobold Guard.
Level 11 Kobold Guard.
Nevermind.
He rushed down the stairs to join in, brandishing his club. The space was tight, so fanning out wasn't much of an option. Uden somehow slipped between the two kobolds, managing to get behind them and backstab one. Thankfully, all they had for weapons were their paws, so the Adventurers didn't have to worry about any flailing blades except for their own.
Azure gave Janine a wide berth. She never seemed very careful with her ax when others were around.
Lonnell smacked the higher-level kobold in the nose with the butt of his staff when it rushed forward to attack. Its eyes rolled, dazed from the cheap shot. Azure took the opportunity to uppercut it with his club, sending the kobold flying back.
A few feet away, Janine was hacking at the other kobold's appendages while Uden kept darting in to stab it in the back.
For as intense as the battle had been when it first began, it was over quickly. Lonnell jabbed the higher level kobold in the throat with the butt of his staff, and Azure finished it off by caving in its skull.
Defeated Level 13 Kobold Guard. 30XP rewarded.
“Well, that was a bit unexpected.” Azure exhaled deeply, even though he was barely winded from the fight.
“Not anywhere near as difficult as it should have been,” Lonnell said. “If they really wanted to guard that door, they should have put the ones that can cast Invisible in front of it. Whatever the case, I’m willing to bet that the boss is inside.”
“You’re probably right.” Azure nodded, staring at the door for a moment before turning back to the party. Let’s loot these and move on.”