by A F Kay
Experience:11,981/15,000
Ruwen had almost advanced to level six! He really wanted to level if he could, and clearing one more floor would probably do it.
“What is the next dungeon level like?” Ruwen asked Sift.
“If things stay the same, level six will be Talker,” Sift said.
“Talker?” Hamma asked.
“Yeah, he is really irritating,” Sift said.
“You have got to work on your names,” Ruwen said.
“Do you think we could handle him?” Hamma asked.
Hamma’s cheeks were flushed, and Ruwen thought she sounded as excited as he felt.
“For sure,” Sift said.
Ruwen walked to the exit to get his mark updated. “Then let’s go.”
Chapter 37
They exited level five and descended a spiral staircase.
“Anything special we should know about level six?” Hamma asked.
“It is just one guy. He’s always trying to get me to work for him,” Sift said.
“Work for him?” Ruwen asked.
“He fancies himself a king and wants soldiers to help him rule these upper levels,” Sift said.
“That doesn’t sound too bad,” Hamma said.
“He lives in his fortress, but it is just a rock wall three feet high he made himself,” Sift said.
“Sounds kind of sad, actually,” Ruwen said.
The stairs ended, and a tunnel fifty feet long ended in what looked like a grassy meadow. Ruwen’s clock read 5:33 AM.
Ting!
You have received the quest…
Dying Hats Red
Collect three hats from the guards surrounding the castle of the Upper King without providing enough dye to create your own, and then defeat the Upper King.
Reward: 3,000 experience
Reward: 25 Black Pyramid Tokens
Accept or Decline
Ruwen accepted the quest and turned to Sift.
“The quest references guards and an Upper King,” Ruwen said.
Sift shrugged. “Maybe the three of us promoted him into actual kinghood with real guards.”
Ruwen unhooked his baton and folded out the shovel. The baton still had Bleed from their fight with the Hoppers, so he cast Backstab. Hamma refreshed their food buffs, and Judgement joined his food buffs at the top of his vision.
“This is a strange quest,” Hamma said.
“Blapy likes to twist and play with words,” Ruwen said. “I actually thought a quest I got on level three was to help someone. It turned out, ‘lending them a hand’ wasn’t what I thought.”
“So, she meant to put dying in the title?” Hamma asked.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Ruwen said.
“Everyone ready?” Sift asked.
Hamma gripped her staff, which had a faint white aura from her Consecrate spell, and nodded.
Sift strode to the edge of the tunnel and looked each way around the corner.
“Wait a second,” Ruwen said.
He walked to the tunnel edge and looked out into level six. The sun, high in the cloudless blue sky, chased all the shadows away. Knee-high grass stretched to the horizon in every direction. Three hundred feet in front of them, a waist-high rock wall surrounded dirt mounds that each had a door, and behind that stood a two-story castle with a single turret. Blapy’s ability to mimic the outside shocked him. Assuming all this space was an illusion and not actually another place.
Ruwen channeled two Energy per second to Find Trap, slowly scanning the knee-high grass between them and the wall. After a minute, six red blotches appeared. He pointed at the closest one, and then an idea occurred to him.
Ruwen opened his map. Level six appeared with everything he’d seen: the wall, the hills, the castle, and most importantly, the traps appeared as red dots. He willed the information to Hamma and Sift.
“Open your maps and tell me if you see any red dots,” Ruwen said.
Hamma and Sift both nodded.
Ruwen smiled. “Those are traps.”
“That is useful,” Sift said.
“Good job,” Hamma said.
Sift walked out of the tunnel, followed by Hamma, and Ruwen brought up the rear. They walked through the knee-high grass toward the low rock wall. Figures emerged from the small hills. The creatures barely could see over the waist-high wall. They held spears and swords, and most of them wore white hats. Sprinkled among the white hats were red and black ones.
“Redhats,” Sift said. “They shouldn’t be here.”
“You’ve fought them before?” Hamma asked.
“They are common past level eight,” Sift said. “There are usually a lot more, though. They hunt in groups. At least there are no wolves. I hate it when they ride wolves.”
Ruwen pointed at the twenty soldiers lining the wall now. “I’ve seen them in books. They’re Goblins and are common any place you find ruins.”
The fighters along the wall had skin ranging from red to yellow with eyes that usually matched. Flat faces with long noses were framed by large ears. Sharp teeth poked out between thin lips.
“They look…unpleasant,” Hamma said.
“The hat colors are new to me. Do you know what they mean?” Ruwen asked Sift.
Sift cracked his knuckles. “Whitehats are soldiers, Blackhats cast spells, and the Redhats are the leaders. Redhats were Whitehats until they collect enough enemy blood to dye their hats.”
“That is disgusting and disturbing,” Hamma said.
“That might explain the quest. If they get too much of our blood, I think we fail the quest,” Ruwen said.
They stopped fifty feet from the wall, between two traps. Ruwen’s Perception skill began displaying information. He glanced down the row and focused on a Whitehat who carried a spear.
Name: Hill Goblin, Stabber (Level 4)
Health: 55
Mana: 0
Energy: 140
Spirit: 0
Then a Blackhat who gripped a staff.
Name: Hill Goblin, Hexer (Level 4)
Health: 30
Mana: 135
Energy: 70
Spirit: 0
And finally, a Redhat holding a sword.
Name: Hill Goblin, Slasher (Level 5)
Health: 65
Mana: 0
Energy: 150
Spirit: 0
“There are a lot of them,” Ruwen said. “But they all appear to be around level four. You could probably do this by yourself, Sift.”
“This is like level three,” Sift said.
“What does that mean?” Hamma asked.
“If Blapy doesn’t think we’ve each contributed enough to the fight, we won’t get any experience. She doesn’t allow power leveling,” Ruwen said.
“That seems fair,” Hamma said.
A Redhat jumped on the wall and pointed his sword at them. “You bow king. You live.”
“They sound like they look,” Hamma said.
Sift looked at Ruwen. “Well?”
“You guys didn’t understand that?” Ruwen asked.
Hamma shook her head.
“They want us to bow to their king, and they’ll let us live,” Ruwen said.
“Translation is a handy ability,” Hamma said.
Ruwen nodded in agreement. His Hey You ability was probably his favorite capability.
“Does anyone have a plan?” Sift asked.
Ruwen removed two Lemon Lozenges of Lightning from his Inventory and gave one to Hamma. “Put that in your mouth right before we start. It will add four to eight lightning damage and give us a thirty-three percent chance to stun when we attack. It will last as long as the candy does.”
“Where’s mine?” Sift asked.
“You don’t need one. Plus, your level is so much higher I don’t think the candy would work against the Goblins,” Ruwen said.
“Lemon face! Kneel or die!” Redhat screamed.
Ruwen gritted his teeth at the comment and tried to stop frowning.
“Now what?” Hamma asked.
“I don’t think we have much time left,” Ruwen said.
Sift studied the Goblins. “There are a lot of them, so you need to be careful about being surrounded. Attack, but fall back to the tunnel if they try and flank you.”
Hamma and Ruwen nodded.
“Hamma and I will stay together,” Ruwen said.
“Good idea. I will jump behind them. Hopefully, that distracts over half of them,” Sift said.
Ruwen stuck the Lemon Lozenge of Lightning in his mouth. He puckered his lips and wiped tears from his squinting eyes. His mouth filled with saliva. The lozenge wouldn’t last long like that, and he quickly swallowed.
“This is awful. It hurts my cheeks,” Hamma said.
Ruwen nodded to Sift, who immediately sprinted directly at the Goblins. They screamed as Sift jumped over them, landing ten feet behind the wall. All the Goblins turned to face Sift.
Ruwen ran toward the wall but didn’t use Leap since he wanted to stay near Hamma. By the way the Goblins were grouped, it appeared that each of the three Redhats controlled five Whitehats. The two Blackhats seemed to be independent.
As they neared the wall, one of the Blackhats saw them and hit a Redhat on the head with his staff. The Redhat turned around, snarling, but then saw Ruwen and Hamma. He barked an order, and five Whitehats turned as well.
All seven of the Goblins ran toward Ruwen and Hamma, only stopping when they reached the wall. Sift hadn’t killed any of the Goblins surrounding him yet, but Ruwen knew that was on purpose. Sift would keep them all occupied until Ruwen and Hamma killed an appropriate number first.
Ruwen and Hamma stopped as the Goblins lined up on the wall. The Whitehats all had their spears angled upward, and the Redhat paced back and forth behind them, waving his sword. Ruwen looked at the Blackhat just as the Hexer finished his spell.
A black fog appeared around them, and Ruwen immediately removed his Scarf of Freshness from his Inventory and wrapped it around his mouth and nose. Hamma did the same. Whatever the spell was, the scarfs protected them.
Ruwen didn’t have any bright ideas. He did know that if those Goblins all threw their spears at him, he’d be in trouble.
“Will your shield block those spears?” Ruwen asked.
“I think so. The Goblins’ smaller size makes them weaker. I doubt they can break through it.”
Ruwen considered walking behind Hamma and her shield. Even though it would be safer, and he could dart out and attack, it made him feel cowardly thinking about hiding behind a priestess. At least Hamma should be reasonably safe.
They were about twenty feet from the Goblins. Ruwen didn’t want to rush them because he worried the Whitehats would throw their spears. He knew he couldn’t dodge five. What he needed to do was distract them.
Ruwen pointed behind the Goblins and focused on communicating with them using his Hey You ability.
“The King’s leaving,” Ruwen shouted.
Every single Goblin, not just the ones in front of Ruwen, turned and looked up at the castle. Some had already dropped to their knees. Ruwen sprinted forward and then used Leap to reach the wall. He wanted to stay on this side of it in case he needed to use it as cover.
Ruwen swung his shovel at the back of the closest Whitehat, and both Bleed and Backstab triggered. Even though his baton only did one to four damage, the Bleed doubled it, and the Backstab tripled that. Hamma’s Judgement added five more damage, and the Lemon Lozenge of Lightning added another four to eight. The Whitehat’s fifty-five health dropped by twenty-nine.
The Whitehat staggered sideways into the wall. The candy triggered a stun, and the Goblin froze. Ruwen attached his baton to his belt while unsheathing the Fastidious Dagger from his left hip. The dagger still had Bleed and Backstab from the last time he’d left Blapy when he’d thought Sift had walked into a trap. He stabbed the blade into the back of the Goblin, and the information floating above its head turned grey.
The Fastidious Dagger violently shook as blood covered it, and Ruwen jerked it out of the Goblin and slammed it into the chest of the next Goblin, which had turned to face him.
The sound of chimes filled the air as Hamma entered the fight down the wall from Ruwen. The Whitehat Ruwen had stabbed dropped its spear. Ruwen grabbed it, more to keep the weapon away from the Goblin then to use it. He threw the spear at the Redhat running at him, but the spear missed by several feet. It slowed the Redhat, though, and Ruwen picked up the spear of the Goblin he’d killed and threw that as well.
The Redhat stopped to watch the spear fly four feet to his left.
“You terrible,” the Redhat shouted.
Great, more mocking. The Goblin Ruwen stabbed pulled the blade from its chest but couldn’t hold the vibrating dagger and dropped it to the ground. Ruwen unsnapped his baton and swung it at the bleeding Goblin.
The injured Goblin staggered back, and Ruwen missed, throwing off his balance. A spear flew by his face, grazing his cheek. Blood dripped down his face, and the Whitehats went crazy. Ruwen realized all of them wanted his blood to dye their own hats.
A new Whitehat appeared and stabbed at him with a spear. Ruwen stepped away from the wall to avoid it and then wavered as his Energy dropped by seventy-five, and two debuffs appeared.
Hex of Feebleness: -75 Energy, -6 Strength
Weak: Attack Damage and Max Encumbrance reduced by 25%
Hamma’s food buff has added two to his Strength, but it wasn’t enough. The hex brought his Strength from fifteen to nine, which triggered the Weak debuff. He needed to kill that caster as soon as possible. Ruwen ran over to Hamma, who had killed one Goblin and kept the other one at bay with her staff.
The Whitehat that had just tried to stab him and the one Ruwen had injured fought over the Fastidious Dagger. The one Ruwen had already stabbed, weakened from blood loss, lost the dagger. The winning Goblin held up the blade in victory and then brought it close to his face to study.
Ruwen held out his empty left hand, and his Mana dropped by fifty as he cast Retrieve. The dagger plunged through the Goblin’s head on its way to Ruwen, killing the Whitehat instantly. He tried to catch the dagger, hoping his fifteen Dexterity would help him avoid a repeat of level three and him stabbing his own hand.
He grabbed the dagger this time, but the weapon vibrated violently, and the blade sliced his palm as he dropped it. His Health decreased by ten, and he clenched his hand to stop the bleeding. The grass near him fell as the blade vibrated in a circle mowing it down.
Ruwen had killed two Whitehats and injured another. Hamma had finished one as well and fought the remaining healthy Whitehat. So it came as a surprise to Ruwen when a spear struck him in the side, throwing him into the grass.
His Health dropped by twenty, and he cast Massage on himself, costing him thirty Mana and leaving him with only one hundred left. Pulling the spear from his side, he used it and the shovel in his right hand to push himself up.
The Redhat had cleared the wall and ran toward Ruwen. Only the Redhat’s head and shoulders made it above the grass. Ruwen held the spear out with his left hand and raised the shovel in his right. He thought about casting Distract, but none of his group had wax in their ears, and the spell would damage them as well.
The Redhat stopped and glanced at the area where the grass continued to be mowed down by the dirty Fastidious Dagger. Behind the Redhat, the Blackhat had come to the wall and crawled on top of it. He began to cast another spell, black lines of energy surrounding his hands.
Ruwen used a bit of Energy to open his Void Band and tilt it toward the Hexer. He didn’t trust himself to hit the Goblin, but he figured he could hit the wall. He shot his last remaining Baby Boomer, the egg flying past the Redhat’s head. It made him sad to use the last of those eggs. He had battled hard for them.
The Redhat laughed. “You miss again.”
Chapter 38
Ruwen closed his Void Band as the egg struck the wall under the Hexer and exploded. The
Blackhat flew backward and disappeared into the long grass past the wall.
The Redhat had turned at the noise, and Ruwen attacked, throwing the spear. Between the Hex of Feebleness and the Weak debuff, the spear had no power. It struck the Redhat for five damage, but more importantly, the candy triggered the lightning stun, and the Redhat stiffened.
Ruwen took the required second to channel four Energy into Leap and then flew at the Redhat. He used his shovel to strike the Goblin in the head, but his attack only did twenty damage because of his debuffs.
The Redhat spun, swinging his sword. Ruwen quickly stepped back and folded his shovel away, replacing it with a long crowbar. With the Goblin attacking, Ruwen didn’t have time to switch to the staff Hamma had given him. His baton with the extended crowbar would mimic a staff well enough for him to use.
Ruwen used his staff skills to defend himself against the Redhat. But he could tell the Goblin fought better with a sword than Ruwen did with the staff. He glanced over at Hamma. She looked okay, but the Whitehat she fought took her entire focus. There would be no help from her.
The Whitehat Ruwen had stabbed earlier pulled himself through the hole the Baby Boomer had left. He had found a spear, and staggered toward Ruwen to help the Redhat. The Hexer might reappear at any moment and join these two, or worse, attack Hamma and overwhelm her. They wouldn’t last much longer.
The Redhat attacked him again, and this time slashed Ruwen’s left arm, causing ten damage. His Massage spell, still active, healed him. Past the wall, the Blackhat stood up and shook his head. He looked around and then strode toward Ruwen.
Ruwen had run out of time. He needed to end this right now. But how? He didn’t see anything in his Inventory that would help, and while he might be able to beat a single Redhat, a Blackhat and Whitehat were headed his way.