"Another search mission conducted in a hostile environment," said Ron gloomily. "Why can't we ever just walk straight through these places?"
"At least we shouldn't have to deal with any human hostiles," said Alice. "We've had to fight cultists and criminals in the last two."
The group had descended first into a hallway of sorts. The hallway branched into rooms in a few places. In a couple of rooms the team found items in containers on the floor: a wing of wyvern and some gold. The group proceeded to find a descending staircase in the next room. As usual, they decided not to descend until they checkout out the entire floor.
As they neared the next room, they were greeted by two large red dogs. The dogs looked as though they had been killed and then brought back. They sported numerous gruesome injuries such as missing eyes or having their ribs showing.
"Undead!" Thomas shouted.
The team had their weapons at the ready while one of the dogs instantly charged them. The other dog stayed back and started growling and moving in an odd fashion. Just as the charging dog reached the group, all four humans were engulfed in a strange purple light. The charging dog went at Suzanne and tore a nice gash across her torso.
Suzanne tried a counterattack but missed as the dog jumped backward. Ron ran forward and slashed the dog across the face, almost cleaving its head in two. Surprisingly, the dog barely flinched at the pain. Thomas sent a healing spell at Suzanne while Alice cast a spell that engulfed the team in a bright yellow light.
The other dog joined in the melee this time. The dog used its great agility to slip past Suzanne and Ron and right for Alice. Alice took a bite to the leg as Thomas and Suzanne went over the return the dog's favor. The two managed to dispatch the dog with two deep cuts to the torso. Ron took a bite to the leg from the remaining dog, but returned with a thrust through its body. The dog fell to the ground motionless.
"Magic using zombie dogs?" Ron wondered. "What was that purple light? I felt terrible when that hit me."
"That spell makes a person more vulnerable to physical harm," Thomas explained.
"Luckily I know the spell that counteracts it!" Alice beamed.
"Can't that spell be used to reduce damage from physical harm as well?" Suzanne asked.
Both Thomas and Alice nodded. "We should have used that against Kandar and his men," Suzanne said. "It would've been nice to take less damage from them."
"Sorry Susie, I didn't think of that," Alice apologized.
"Don't worry about it, let's just remember that for next time," Suzanne said.
As the group entered the final room on the floor, they found two more staircases going down. They decided to take the staircase on the left. They came into a small room with a large puddle of water in the corner to their left. There was another zombie dog and two large, purple toadstools huddled over something in the middle of the room. The monsters quickly took notice of the group.
The dog quickly used its spell and the team was once again subject to the draining purple light. As Suzanne and Ron charged forward and Alice started chanting the counterspell, one of the large toadstools let out a great purple mist on the group. The mist smelled very sweet and put Alice and Ron to sleep.
"This isn't good!" shouted Suzanne. "We have to take care of the dog first or it'll chew those two to pieces!"
Suzanne and Thomas went up to the dog and struck it with their weapons. Unfortunately, the dog was still moving and bit Thomas in the arm. One of the toadstools marched up to Ron and rammed him with its head. Ron, woke up by the pain, started to get up only to get rammed by the other one and fall back down.
Thomas finished off the dog while Suzanne went over the help Ron. Suzanne sent a slash across one of the creature's middle. Both the toadstools turned to attack Suzanne now. She blocked the ram of one with her shield, only to be caught by the other. Suzanne fell to the ground.
Thomas rushed over and finished off the toadstool Suzanne had wounded. The other one caught him in the arm and Thomas fell to the ground. The toadstool started beating on Thomas while he was on the ground only to be hit by a large stream of fire. Alice had woken up. The creature was burned to death by her spell. Alice began waking up her companions.
"Damnit!" cursed Ron. "I woke up only to get hit by that thing in the stomach. Then I couldn't keep my eyes open at all!"
After healing the team of their injuries, Thomas examined their fallen foes. "They're covered in sleeping powder," he explained. "When they attack, a bunch of it falls off on what it attacks. They also have that sweet breath too."
"This seems to be a dangerous place," observed Suzanne. "I can't help but think those two had a death wish, coming here."
"Or maybe they just came here to hide! Or better yet, didn't actually come here at all!" said Alice hopefully.
"I hope you're right," said Suzanne.
"Hey guys!" called Ron. "These monsters were huddling around these acorns here!"
Ron showed the acorns to the rest of the group. Thomas examined them and said, "Acorns of life, they're called. They say whoever eats them will live longer."
"Really?" Alice asked. "Let me see!"
Ron handed the acorns to Alice and ate them. She started wincing and almost spat them back out. The rest of the group laughed at her.
"Apparently they don't taste very well," said Suzanne.
"It's not that, these things actually hurt to eat! I feel like my mouth is bleeding!" Alice complained.
"That is supposed to be one of the side effects," said Thomas. "Ironic really."
The team pressed onwards up the other staircase in the room. They came to another hallway with another staircase going up.
"I think this is the first staircase we found," Suzanne observed.
"Should be," said Alice, who was drawing a map of the dungeon as they went along.
"Hopefully that means they're right down that one we haven't tried yet," said Ron.
"Somehow, I doubt it'd be that easy," said Thomas.
The team went back to the room with the two staircases and went down the one on the right this time. They were greeted by a small creek of colorful water that wound around and surrounded a few large stones.
"How beautiful!" Alice exclaimed.
"Hmm, I wonder…" Thomas thought aloud. He went over and examined the rainbow water. Then he took a drink from it.
"How remarkable!" he exclaimed. "This is a spring of healing! Drinking from it not only restores health and erases wounds, but it refills your magic too! I never thought I'd see one in my life!"
"Really? Let me take a drink!" Alice said.
The whole team took a drink from the spring of healing. The magic waters made them feel refreshed, as though they had just woken up from a good night's sleep and had not been fighting at all.
"Maybe this is why they came here!" Alice theorized. "With this spring, they could keep themselves safe and hidden for a little while. All they'd need is some food and they'd be set!"
"But there's no sign of them here," Suzanne said. "This is probably the only safe place in here. Why would they leave?"
The group continued to explore the floor. After the room with the spring, they came to a large hallway with two other ways out. In one way they found some zombie dogs, which they managed to mop up without incident, and two items: a knife and a seed of sorts. Thomas explained that the seed was similar to the acorns, but it increased strength. Ron decided to take this one and reported no ill effects of this seed. Alice took the knife, saying that it was a magic knife, one that would do more damage. None of the other three preferred to fight with a knife, so they let her have it.
The group proceeded back to the split and went through another hallway to find a staircase leading down. They came to a large corridor with another descending staircase in the middle of it. As they explored the rest of the floor, they found some gold around the place. This floor was very large, with several rooms and hallways. They found another descending staircase with a bottle of fairy water in it. F
airy water was often used as a monster repellent. However, monsters had grown increasingly resistant to it recently so its use had dwindled.
As the group came to the last room, they were greeted by two men-bats, similar to the ones they encountered in the Tower of Shanpane. These were very dark in complexion and dress, however.
One of the bats charged the group and tried to fly over Suzanne and Ron to try and get at Alice, but Suzanne made a jumping slash at it tore one of its wings off. It fell to the ground hard. Ron tried to rush the other one only to get blasted by a bolt of ice. Alice finished casting a spell and a large stream of fire burned through the air and scorched the creature. It fell to the ground. Thomas finished off the creature Suzanne had wounded.
"That one went pretty well. Good job guys," congratulated Suzanne.
Thomas healed Ron of the wound the creature gave him. "I am sick and tired of magic users!" Ron exclaimed. Both Thomas and Alice gave him a look and said, "Oh come on, you know I don't mean you guys!"
"The stream of fire spell seemed stronger than usual, Alice," Suzanne said.
Alice giggled and explained, "That's because it is stronger. It takes some more power to cast but you can't argue with the results!" Indeed, the monster she hit was pretty thoroughly scorched.
Suzanne laughed, "I just learned your first fire stream spell not too long ago too. And here I thought I was catching up with you!"
The team found that the creatures had been guarding some more gold. Having explored the entire floor, they went down the closest staircase, the one in the adjacent room. They came into another hallway. However, the hallway opened up into a massive room filled with water. There was a bridge leading to a small island in the middle of the mass. On this island were some large stones and a chest.
"Wow!" said Alice. "Where did all this water come from?"
"Could it be from the ocean? We're not that far away from it," suggested Ron.
The group went over the bridge and up to the chest. Inside the chest they found a beautiful, large red ruby and a small piece of paper.
"That's a pretty impressive jewel there," said Suzanne.
"What does the paper say?" asked Alice.
Suzanne began to read the paper out loud, "Forgive me, Mother, for departing this world ahead of you. If my love for him, that of elf for human, is forbidden in this world, at least I can be with him in the one beyond. Anne."
The group was speechless at first. Suzanne was the first to speak, "Well, they must have come down here to throw themselves in the water. I'm guessing this is the Dream Ruby."
"It would seem we don't have to search that last staircase," Ron said grimly.
"We should anyway. Maybe they didn't go through with it, and that's where they are!" Alice said, though the group could tell she did not believe what she said.
Indeed, the group backtracked to the other staircase only to find themselves in the same area, just on another small body of land. There was no trace of the two.
"Well, so begins the long backtrack out," said Ron.
"No, I can teleport us out," said Alice.
"I thought you could only do that in the open?" asked Ron.
"There's a special spell for indoors. It's great for caves like this!" said Alice.
Alice cast the spell and teleported the team out of the cave.
Chapter 7: Rewards
Suzanne had definitely had enough of elven hospitality. After finding the Dream Ruby and the note left by Anne, the group had wasted no time in getting back to the elf queen. The team had assumed that the queen would let up on her punishment on Noaniels after being presented with evidence of the truth. The group was mistaken in their assumption.
After seeing the note and Ruby, the queen went into an incredible rage, even more terrible than the one she exhibited on the group the last time they visited. The queen went on and on about a human conspiracy and ordered the four put to sleep until she could think of an adequate punishment for both the team and the people of Noaniels.
When the team was brought out of their magical slumber, they found that Zelt had also been put to sleep. The team was informed that although the elves were sure of their guilt, they still were fair enough to examine the note and Ruby. In doing so, they found no evidence that the note was faked or enchanted in any way. Since an enchanted writer leaves magical trace of the enchantment on what he or she writes, this would also mean that the writer of the note was not enchanted.
After being assured that their names had been cleared, the group was asked to talk with the queen once more. The group braced themselves for another shouting match with royalty.
"Why!" the group heard the queen's anguished voice as they neared her room. "Why was I so hard on them!"
As the group entered, they found the queen crying on her throne. When they entered, the queen quickly composed herself and assumed her human-hating glare, though all four of them could see there was a little less venom in that glare.
"It would seem I was wrong about you and that other human," said the queen, her voice stern and formal. "We've run every test we can find and they all say that Anne truly wrote that note. The fact that you found and returned the Dream Ruby helps validate that Anne was not simply tricked through non-magical means. I will lift the curse on the human village of Noaniels." The queen's voice lost its edge now, "It's what Anne would have wanted."
The queen motioned for one of her elven attendants and the elf went over and handed a bag to the group. "This is Wake Up Powder," explained the queen. "All you need to do is turn the bag inside out and the powder will go forth on its own and cover a circular area of a five-mile radius. This should easily cover the village so long as you do not open the bag prematurely."
"Thank you, your Majesty," said Suzanne. She paused for a moment and then said, "We're sorry for your loss."
The queen's face flashed with anger, an expression the group was quite familiar with by now. "This does not mean I like or trust humans now!" she snapped at them. "Be gone from my sight! Take the older one with you too!"
The four left the queen's room and found Zelt at the same place they had first met him. The man was not the same stubborn man they had met before. The man appeared to be in the same condition as the queen: a great deal of grief.
"Oh, my poor son!" sobbed Zelt. "Why did it have to come to this? How did everything get so screwed up?"
Alice went up to the man and put an arm on his shoulder. "At least he found his true love," she said. "He couldn't have been too unhappy so long as he was with her."
Zelt's tears abated, though the man was still choked up. "Did the queen agree to take her curse off the village?"
"Yeah, she gave us what we need to reverse it," replied Alice. "We're going to escort you back to the village."
The man nodded his head. Without warning, he started to chuckle. "You know," he began, "Vince actually introduced me to Anne. Had her wearing this tight hat to cover up her ears. I was so relieved that boy was finally going to settle down. I didn't get angry 'till I found out she was an elf. To think, if not for some minor features none of this would have ever happened."
The group made the trip back to the village of Noaniels with little incident. As they were instructed, they took the bag of Wake Up Powder the elf queen gave them and turned it inside out. The powder left the bag as if taken up by a great wind and flew over a great distance, farther than any of the four could see. They watched as the villagers opened their eyes, looked around confused for a moment, and then went about their business again.
The group decided to have some chats with the people of the village, now that they were awake. All the villagers remembered going to sleep but did not remember the elves attacking. With both Zelt and Sam around to tell the village what happened, the villagers were quick to thank their saviors for their deeds. Suzanne was at the village eatery when she heard an interesting comment.
"You know miss, you remind me of this other traveler that was around here years ago," said a man at
the eatery. "I swear, your eyes are just like his. He and his friends were going to talk with the elves about the Archfiend everyone's been whispering about.
Suzanne's eyes widened at the story. "What was his name?" she asked.
"Ortega," answered the man.
"That was my father! He was here?" Suzanne exclaimed.
"Well, isn't that a coincidence?" mused the man. "Yeah, he was here. He and his bunch were kind of like yours. Foreigners, but nice, helpful people."
"Why did he go to talk to the elves?" asked Suzanne.
"Said he wanted to patch relations between them and the empire. Said that we couldn't be parted against a common foe," explained the man.
Suzanne sighed, "I see he wasn't successful."
Suzanne steered the conversation away from the elves at this point. When the group had talked with the queen, their first objective was the village. If things went well, then they would have petitioned the elves to join those who stood against the Archfiend. But the elves were clearly not going to listen to the words of any human. The group had decided not to even try.
"Do you know where my father went after he left the village?" Suzanne asked the man.
"After being rejected by the elves I believe he went to the southeast side of the emperor. Apparently, he heard a rumor about a magic key in the trading town of Assaram. He didn't let things get him down, he didn't," the man replied.
Suzanne talked with the man some more and then departed for Zelt's house. When the group had escorted Zelt to his home, he invited the four to dinner and they decided to take him up on his offer after they talked with the villagers a bit.
"I wish I had an adequate reward for you," Zelt said as they sat at his table. "But I don't have much besides some coins. I'm sure the town would pitch in to get you guys a reward though, considering all you've done for us.
Dragon Quest Novel Page 8