Crimson Sands

by J. Arthur Klein

  *** Prevent damage to Lord Bakuit’s rare book collection. [0/1]

  Not even giving me a chance to ask any questions, she was off, leaving me with the butler who gave me a sympathetic look as he handed me the keys to the basement.

  Lady Bakuit’s attitude was almost enough for me to want to leave and let whatever was down here have their way with the woman’s stuff, but the maid might still be alive and completing the quest would get me closer to my goals, so I decided to proceed.

  I pressed my ear against the door and listened closely for the sounds Lady Bakuit had described but all I heard was silence.

  I unlocked the door, slipped the keys into my pouch for later, and stepped through.

  A narrow hallway stretched before me, turning right after about twenty feet or so. The light from the stairway extended about halfway down the hallway, illuminating the stone floor and walls.

  I closed the door behind me, plunging the basement into darkness and allowing my blessed sight to come to the fore. No longer limited by the light, I moved forward.

  There were several doors along the hallway: two along the left wall and one on the right.

  In a traditional dungeon crawler, I’d make sure to clear out every room, looting everything I could lay my hands on, but I was pretty certain that showing up topside with my pockets full of House Bakuit’s basement decor would likely result in prison... or worse.

  I chuckled at the thought, picturing myself piled high with silver candelabras and books poking out of my clothes while trying to explain things to the ice queen who owned the house.

  Ridding myself of the image, I approached the first door and pressed my ear against it, deciding that even if I wasn’t going to be looting the place, leaving unexplored rooms behind me was a recipe for disaster.

  I cracked open the first door and took a step back with my shield and spear at the ready.

  When nothing came jumping out of the darkness I moved inside and looked around. Brooms, mops, buckets and other cleaning supplied filled the racks against the wall, as well as some work robes and various serving trays.

  The next room on the left was much more interesting. The door was locked, but after trying a few of the keys on the ring the butler had given me I was able to open it.

  I glanced inside and let out a low whistle. Covering the walls were shelves filled with vials and other glassware, and against the far wall was a giant workbench covered in what looked like a high school chemistry teacher’s wet dream.

  A small packet of info popped into my mind, identifying the setup as an alchemist’s crafting station. This guy must really be rolling in the money to have his own private alchemy lab in the basement.

  Next to the workbench was another shelf full of potions of various types and strengths. It was a fortune in potions.

  A second shelf had other types of alchemy neatly organized: explosives, acids, oils, and other unlabeled concoctions that were a complete mystery to me.

  My inner gamer died a little bit at having to leave it all behind, so to spare myself additional pain and suffering I hurried out of the room and closed the door behind me.

  As the door latching mechanism clicked shut, I heard another sound from further down the hall and froze.

  I crept down the hallway and peeked around the corner, trying to get a glimpse of the source of the sound, but nothing was visible.

  I heard the sound again, louder this time. It was a strange chittering, followed by the sound of groaning wood.

  The door directly across from me shuddered and warped as something on the other side gnawed its way through.

  With a final groan, the door split in two and fell from its hinges, revealing the hideous face of a giant black beetle.

  The beetle clicked its pincers in my direction and let out a low hiss followed by a chittering cry which was echoed by several additional critters behind it.

  I locked eyes on the insect as it crawled over the broken door, pincers clacking together threateningly.

  *** Dire Beetle Seeker, Level 5 ***

  *** HP: 100%, SP: 100% ***

  The beetle was quite a terrifying sight. Its large pincers were at least two feet long and could probably do quite a bit of damage, even through my armor if what they had done to the wood of the door was any indication.

  Its body was the size of a large dog, and covered in a thick black carapace, and if I knew video games, it probably had something else up its proverbial sleeves too.

  Seeing another two beetles behind the first, I moved up to use the doorway as a choke point.

  I rushed in and bashed my shield into the lead beetle's face, knocking it back through the doorway and giving me a small position advantage.

  It hopped forward and snapped out with its pincers, the sharp chiton screeching against my shield as I turned its attack aside.

  Another beetle crawled forward and I thrust my spear, the tip cracking its exoskeleton and dropping its health by ten percent.

  All three beetles were level five, and I knew my chances of survival would drop dramatically should I lose the advantage the doorway was giving me.

  I targeted the lead beetle and readied Precision Strike to attempt to locate a weak point in its armor.

  After the requisite time, a small seam in the chitin between the beast’s pincer and the rest of its body began to glow. I thrust my spear forward and plunged the tip into the glowing gap.

  The beetle screeched, and by the drop in the bug’s health, I had scored a critical hit.

  Seeing its health down at twenty percent, I attacked with fervor, trying to take advantage of the weak point my skill had revealed.

  I aimed for the crack but couldn’t seem to find the narrow target without the assistance of the skill. It took three more blows to put the beetle down, and I didn’t escape unscathed.

  A second bug had caught me mid attack and ripped a nasty gash on my wrist, and my target had landed a bite on my calf.

  My health was still over sixty percent, so I wasn’t worried, and taking down the beetle by myself felt good.

  The two remaining beetles skittered forward through the doorway, ignoring their fallen brother as they gnashed their pincers trying to turn me into their next meal.

  I renewed by attack; Thrust, block, thrust, block… I fell into a rhythm, dropping the second beetle to fifty percent before paying for my predictability.

  As I moved forward to attack the beetle was ready. In a strange show of intelligence, its pincers grasped my shield and pulled me forward and off balance. The second beetle used the opening to strike.

  I screamed as its pincers pierced through my armor and into my abdomen and instinctively pulled myself backwards, which was a poor choice.

  I freed up my shield but also managed to widen the wound in my side as I ripped free from the pincers.

  *** You are Bleeding! ***

  My health was in the red and dropping fast and I was lucky my guts weren’t spilling out all over the basement floor.

  I backed up and channeled Soothing Touch on myself to get the bleeding under control and sighed as I felt my wounds begin to close.

  I used both my spear and shield to keep the bugs off of me as I healed, very thankful once again that I had taken the Combat Casting skill.

  The remaining bugs took turns dashing forward, their pincers catching only air as I continued to back away, deflecting their attacks with my shield and parrying with the haft of my spear, buying myself some time to recover.

  I was going to have to finish the injured bug off quick if I was going to survive.

  Targeting the injured bug, I readied my Precision Strike skill again and waited for its attack.

  As it moved in, I thrust my spear forward and met it in midair. My spear broke through its carapace and pierced through the beetle itself, making a bug kabob.

  Unfortunately, when the beetle collapsed it pulled my spear with it, opening me up to a follow up from its friend.

  I let go of my spear and yanked my
arm back, narrowly avoiding losing the limb as the beetle’s pincers snapped shut.

  I stepped back and cursed, using my shield to fend off the last bugs attacks.

  Finding an opening, I switched to the offensive and smashed my shield into its head, causing some small cracks in its carapace but not budging its health bar by much. I tried to reach down and grab my spear but took a nasty cut to my wrist instead.

  *** Congratulations! You have become more proficient with your Shield! Shield increased to 4! ***

  *** Congratulations! You have become more proficient with Endurance! Endurance increased to 2! ***

  I pulled my arm back and glared at the beetle, “That’s it bug,” I said, “things are about to get a bit hot in here for you.”

  I formed the glyphs for Sunstrike in my mind and then blasted the beetle in its face with holy fire.

  The bug let out a high pitched screech as the beam burned a hole through its carapace and dropped its health by almost half.

  My second beam missed when the beetle jumped backwards and started hissing. The two plates on its back opening up and a pair of wings flared out whipping dust, and the smell of burning insect into my face.

  It moved forward to attack and I blasted it again, the spell sheering through the hole I’d made before and searing off two of its legs on its left side.

  The bug stumbled to the side, trying to find its balance in its current condition.

  *** Congratulations! You have become more proficient with Combat Casting! Combat Casting increased to 4! ***

  I advanced and scooped up my spear, yanking it free of its insectoid sheath and sinking it into the burned form of the remaining bug, putting it out of its misery.

  I dropped to one knee and took stock of my situation.

  Kheph Sa’tep:

  HP: 25% MP: 20% SP: 45%

  Three bugs one level below my own had almost taken me out. I had to be a lot more cautious, and a lot smarter going forward.

  Oh newbness, let me count the ways, I thought to myself.

  I had a perfectly good damage buff, and did I use it before coming down here? Nope. I had food that could help me in combat, did I eat any? Nope. It was past time to remedy that.

  I fell back to the alchemy lab, locking myself in and sorting through my inventory as my health and mana regenerated.

  I ate the travel cakes, gaining the constitution and regeneration bonus, and resolved to find a recipe that would help with mana as well. My Presence and Wisdom scores helped my mana regen a lot faster, but every minute was precious.

  Even with the constitution buff my mana was full before my hit points so I used my Soothing Touch spell to balance things out until I was almost ready to go.

  Making sure not to make the same mistakes a second time, I cast Jackal’s Tooth on my spear and shield, and then waited until my mana was full once again before moving on.

  Locking the door behind me again, I crept down the hallway towards the corpses of the large beetles. A dozen or so normal sized beetles were crawling over the corpses when I got there but scurried away when they sensed my presence.

  I initiated the looting process on the closest beetle, but the corpse was so damaged there was nothing usable.

  The other two beetle carcasses had some intact pieces, and my Discerning Eye skill drew my attention to the beetle’s pincers which were intact on both bugs.

  I focused on them and they were added to the loot interface. I wasn’t quite sure what they were used for, or what the other bits would be good for, but I added them to my bag anyhow:

  Dire Beetle Pincer x2

  Dire Beetle Wing Plate x3

  Uncooked Beetle Flesh x6

  Dire Beetle Gland (Unknown) x2

  Peeking around the corner I saw a similar hallway to the one I was in.

  There were several doors leading from the hallway to either side. The first door was where the first group of beetles had come through and led into what looked like a storage room of some sort.

  In keeping with my desire to not leave any enemies at my back, I stepped over the broken doorway and into the room.

  The walls were lined with large wooden shelves, filled with terracotta urns of various sizes. Those at ground level were broken open and the contents strewn about the floor.

  The urns on the higher shelves were untouched, but judging by the efficiency and size of that first group of beetles I’d faced, they wouldn’t last long.

  Sacks of beans and grains were stacked along the wall to my left, their contents spilled out onto the ground and crawling with much smaller versions the invading insects. The right hand wall was riddled with holes of various sizes, some big enough for the beetles I had faced to fit through.

  I circled the room, moving around the outer wall while staying clear of the shelves in the center.

  I was still on edge from my last run in with the giant insects, so every little sound had me turning and expecting attack. Logically any beetles in here would have attacked by now, but the unexpected tactics displayed by the last pair still had me on edge.

  As I made my way past another broken urn I tripped and cursed under my breath. A muffled gasp came from the shadows nearby.

  “Is someone there?” I whispered. “Hepti?”

  “Shhhh.” I heard a muffled voice whisper. “They can hear you.”

  “The giant ones are dead,” I said. “The pathway to the exit is clear. Quick, let’s get you out of here!”

  I heard a shuffling and one of the sacks near the top slid forward, revealing a small hollow containing a small Saa woman, dressed in servants’ robes. “I cannot see a thing stranger. Have you no light?”

  “One second,” I said, using my previously discovered trick of using the glow from my Soothing Touch spell as a light source. It wasn’t much, but after the pitch blackness of the basement it was more than enough to help Hepti climb out of her hiding place.

  I led her past the broken urns and piles of ruined food on the floor, eventually reaching the main corridor. That’s where things got a little dicey. As we moved past the remains of the giant beetle in the doorway the hem of Hepti’s robe caught on something and she fell, yelping in pain.

  Immediately a hissing filled the air and I could see movement as a group of beetles began to gather further into the basement.

  I handed Hepti the keys and said, “Follow the right wall to the end.”

  I released my makeshift light spell and began casting Flamestrike as I rested my spear against the wall. The flaming javelin coalesced in my hand, the flickering light from the spell more than enough to illuminate the entire hallway with its flickering reddish gold light.

  New insight imparted to me by my Spellcrafting skill eliminated my previous concern about the spell blowing up in my hand, so I was quite content to hold it for as long as it took for Hepti to reach and unlock the exit door. The detonation timer wouldn’t start until the spell left my hand.

  Hepti ran for the entrance as a small swarm of beetles began to roll towards us from the other end of the unexplored hallway.

  The servant rushed through the door and shut it behind her.

  With her safely out of the way, I was free to get on with the killing. I grinned and tossed the flaming javelin into the center of the oncoming swarm.

  The tiny beetles were so tightly packed together that the light from the spell was absorbed by the writhing mass.

  Seconds later bugs were flying in every direction as a wave of flame came rolling down the hallway.

  The force of the explosion slammed into me and threw me backwards into the stone wall as the spell was channelled by the narrow stone hallway.

  My breath was knocked out of me and I was stunned for several seconds. When my mind cleared, I saw I’d lost about a third of my hit points and my skin felt badly burned.

  It took me a minute to realize what had happened and only the lingering pain along every inch of my exposed skin stopped me from Gibbs-smacking myself.

  I’d cast the
area of effect spell in a small confined space. That was one of the first things you learned not to do in old school RPGs. Never, ever cast fireball in a small room. I was lucky to be alive.

  At least the swarm was gone as well.

  The walls were caked with shards of chiton and carbonized bug meat.

  There was more chittering in the distance, but my current location was clear.

  I cringed as I saw that the doors in the hallway had also become casualties of my fat-man in a little coat casting experience, ruining at least one line of defense against the infestation, but there was nothing I could do about it at that point, so I grimaced and moved on. I had a quest to complete and not a lot of time to do so.

  The first door on the left opened into another storeroom full of bundles of herbs hanging from the ceiling and drying racks mounted against the walls.

  Some of the drying racks were empty; their contents already claimed buy the beetles and I could see where the holes in the walls of this room lined up with the room where Hepti was hiding.

  On the opposite end of the room there were even larger holes chewed in the wall, and on the other side of the walls were more of the smaller beetles scurrying around.

  I backed out of the room and moved backwards down the hallway until I could see through the door on the opposite wall.

  The room was packed with large, fabric covered shapes that appeared to be some type of furniture, and inside the room I could hear loud scraping sounds at the far end.

  Climbing over the ruined doorway I moved past the covered furniture, doing my best to investigate without giving away my position. I spotted a large set of double doors in the center of the far wall, each one inscribed to look like the pages of a book, screaming “Library”.

  Hearing the scraping sound again, I peeked around the large piece of furniture between me and the noise and saw another pair of the large beetles, digging through the wall that would likely lead into the library.

  Trying to apply the lessons learned in my previous encounter with the giant insects I decided to do some damage from range before getting close to their wicked pincers.