The Land: Forging (Chaos Seeds Book 2)

CHAPTER 17

Richter was about to lay down when a stray thought that had made his heart pound in fear. He called out to Futen, and asked what would happen if neither of them was in the village to pay the upkeep for Confusing Mist. Richter was already recriminating himself for putting his village at risk again. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t foreseen being gone so long. He should have! He was ready to risk running across the trapped floor when Futen soothed his panic. The remnant told him that the upkeep was automatically paid as long as there was enough mana. Since neither of them were accessing the village’s mana pool, the spell would continue with no issues. Also, the remnant reminded his Lord that they were still within the boundaries of his domain even though they weren’t in the village proper which meant Richter could still access the village’s mana.

Richter had breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn’t been thinking clearly. His mental fatigue had combined with physical exhaustion, letting panic take over. Once he let go of that worry, though, he laid down on his bedroll and passed out almost immediately. He didn’t sleep long, though, thanks to a boot nudging his ribs. Yoshi was waking him to stand watch. Richter made the argument that they didn’t need to keep watch as Futen could hover in one part of the tunnel and the other part was protected by the trap floor. Yoshi wasn’t hearing any of it, though, and they all spent one shift awake.

When everyone had slept, Richter and Yoshi got back to work. Walking back to the center of chamber, they had a decision to make. The room wasn’t perfectly round, and the angle of one wall meant that the bone door closest to them. Richter wanted to keep going straight to reach the metal door. Yoshi, on the other hand, argued that if their picks broke before they got to a door, then they would have to try to run the gauntlet of the floor. Better to reach any door than to get stuck, the adept reasoned.

Richter didn’t have any better counter argument than, ‘Good god! Not the bone door. It’s creepy!’ or ‘Why is it a shit idea to go towards the bone door, you ask? Because it is so OBVIOUSLY a shit idea!’ Needless to say, they ended up disarming traps towards the bone door.

It took another day and a half to disarm the increasingly difficult traps, but Richter took his time and didn’t lose any more durability on his lock picks. While they were working, Richter asked something that had been on his mind for a while, “How did you become a Warrior? How did you get your Profession?”

Of course, the adept didn’t answer at first. That would have been too easy, Richter thought. He did end up answering, though. “If you have reached level twenty and have a journeyman skill level in a combat skill, you are given the opportunity to prove yourself. If you so choose to take that opportunity, you will be taken… elsewhere. There you must defeat the challenges set before you. If you succeed, then you will be assigned a Profession.”

“What if you don’t defeat the challenges?” Richter asked.

“Well, then you come back,” Yoshi replied irritably.

“There aren’t any consequences?”

Yoshi gave a long-suffering sigh and looked at the ceiling as if begging for strength. When he spoke, he enunciated each word like Richter had a mental deficit. “If you do not pass the challenges, then you lose a personal level and one skill level in every skill you have.”

Trying not to let Yoshi’s attitude get to him, he just reflected on the information he had just learned. Soon, Richter would reach personal level 20. Except for Herb Lore, though, he was far from a journeyman in any of his skills. He would have to start skill grinding sometime soon. He knew he was pushing it, but decided to ask another question, “All Professions require you to be a journeyman and reach level 20?” He was remembering that Gloran had the Profession of Crafter despite being only level 14.

“Yes,” Yoshi snapped. He went back to disarming his traps but then picked his head back up. “Except for non-combat Professions. Those you can reach at Level 10, but you still need to be at least a journeyman in a related skill. And in answer to your next questions, Yes, you are a gyoti, and no, I won’t kiss you for a copper.” Yoshi gave a bright garish smile, which swiftly fled his face leaving behind only a cold glare. Richter took the hint this time and got back to work himself.

By the time they reached the bone door, he had reached level ten in his trap skills and level eleven in Pierce the Veil. He got the normal bonus experience from reaching level ten (plus the 25% bonus), but unfortunately only received half the experience for leveling his subskill. Total, it was 6,250. He deserved every point, he thought, massaging his aching back.

While Yoshi went back to lead Sion and Daniella through the disarmed traps, Richter looked at his status page.

Name: Richter

Age: 24

Level: 14, 60%

Health: 390 Mana: 300 Stamina: 200

Strength: 29

Agility: 18

Dexterity: 34

Constitution: 25

Endurance: 20

Intelligence: 23

Wisdom: 21

Charisma: 24

Luck: 15

Abilities:

Limitless

Gift of Tongues

Fast Learner

Psi Bond

Skills:

Herb Lore Lvl 38; 43% to next level

Alchemy Lvl 1; 0% to next level

Analyze Lvl 5; 31% to next level

Pierce the Veil Lvl 11; 71% to next level

Stealth Lvl 4; 76% to next level

Traps Lvl 10; 5% to next level

Trap Disarm Lvl 10; 7% to next level

Archery Lvl 9; 18% to next level

Imbue Arrow Lvl 4; 62% to next level

Focus Lvl 3; 11% to next level

Double Shot Lvl 3; 31% to next level,

Drill Shot Lvl 2; 40% to next level

Swordsmanship Lvl 2; 15% to next level

Small Blades Lvl 1; 11% to next level

Unarmed Combat Lvl 1; 10% to next level

Pressure Points Lvl 1; 15% to next level

Light Armor Lvl 7; 38% to next level

Grace in Combat Lvl 4; 88% to next level

Air Magic Lvl 3; 82% to next level

Life Magic Lvl 3; 71% to next level

Earth Magic Lvl 3; 32% to next level

Water Magic Lvl 1; 19% to next level

Dark Magic Lvl 3; 64% to next level

Light Magic Lvl 1; 34% to next level

Map Making Lvl MAX

Trade Lvl 14; 86% to next level

War Leader Lvl 2, 43% to next level

Enchantment Lvl 1; 7% to next level

Marks:

Master of Mist Village

Blood Oath of Vengeance

Resistances:

Air 50%

Earth 20%

Mental 15%

Spiritual 15%

Race: Human (Chaos Seed)

Reputation: Lvl 3 “You seem like someone worthy of my attention.”

Alignment: Neutral

Language: All

He still had his six characteristic points in reserve. After seeing the devilish trap floor, he decided holding off was the right choice. Who knew what the next challenge would be?

He had also received three noteworthy prompts during the past few days.

Congratulations! You have advanced from Novice to Initiate in: Pierce the Veil. In addition to hidden traps, you can now find hidden compartments.

Congratulations! You have advanced from Novice to Initiate in: Traps. You can set traps with proximity triggers in addition to simple pressure triggers.

Congratulations! You have advanced from Novice to Initiate in: Trap Disarm. You can now retrieve some of the traps you disarm for your own future use.

Hidden compartments? Had he been missing hidden treasure?! Richter looked around but didn’t see anything new.

The three sprites walked up. Sion was protesting, “Of all the doorways here, are we sure that we want to go into the bone doorway?” Richter was just about to chime in, ‘That’s what I said!’, when Yoshi made an abrupt swipe of his hand.

“This was the most efficient option,” Yoshi said. “We have limited resources and without further information, each choice was the same as the others.” Looking at Richter, he asked, “Do you sense anything?”

Richter shook his head. Even though the bone door was weird, there was no red glow coming off of it. Similarly, the wand didn’t show anything. “Futen, any magical wards or traps that you can detect?”

“No, my Lord.”

The door had a small hole in it where a door knob would be. Looking inside the hole, he saw a metal circle with the impression of a square set in its center. The circle was set about a foot past the door. It could be easily reached if you decided to stick your hand in the hole.

“Okay,” Richter said, “So one of us is supposed to stick our hand in that hole to reach that circle, but then it’s going to be all like, ‘Oh no! Something grabbed my hand. And where did that monster come from? Oh, curse this completely unexpected twist of fate! Oh, the humanity!”

Richter was really getting into the role and was doing his best Sterling Archer by the end of it. The sprites just looked at him with unamused expressions. Tough crowd, he thought. He tried another tact. “The point is; this is an obvious trap. And I don’t think any of us wants to lose a hand to prove it.”

“Well, what do you suggest?” Yoshi asked annoyed.

“We go to the metal door, which incidentally, unlike this bone door, doesn’t have the obvious promise of sure death attached to it,” Richter said.

“We do not have time to go to another door!”

“Then be my guest,” Richter said. He swept his arm towards the hole in the bone door.

Yoshi stared at it for a minute and then said, “I need some time to think this through. Until I figure out a solution, though, we should keep working on the other traps. We might as well go in that direction,” he gestured loosely towards the metal iron door. He turned around and walked towards the middle of the room again.

Richter’s eyes opened wide, “Really dude? Really?”

Yoshi just kept walking.

Shaking his head, Richter led Sion and Daniella back through the traps so they could wait safely in the tunnel. He was walking back to join Yoshi when Alma shrieked unhappily. He handed her some dried meat out of his Bag, which she sniffed at in disdain, but ultimately took. She had made her displeasure at the lack of fresh meat clear the first time he had offered it. All he got in return was a stream of air into his face.

The two men got back to work. Something interesting happened as they were making it to the metal door. After he disarmed a trap that at first seemed no different from the others, it had started glow a reassuring green. None of the other traps had ever done that before.

He kept staring at it hoping a prompt would appear, but he had no such luck. A little voice whispered in the corner of his mind, but he shushed it. It was talking crazy. He kept staring at the green glow, and the voice whispered again, louder this time.

‘Try to grab it,’ an adventurous little part of him said.

‘Why don’t you try to grab it?’ the cautious part of him thought back. Then all of him thought, please god don’t let anyone find out that I’m talking to myself! Alma stared at him suspiciously.

‘The green light probably means everything is fine,” the adventurous part of Richter said. ‘Just put your hand in the hole. Something great might happen!’

‘Well something great might happen at a glory hole, but I’m not sticking my hand, or any other part of me in one of those either! Or have you forgotten what happened in Tijuana?’

Silence reigned in Richter’s head. The cautious part of him cheered in victory.

That was when the chicken noises started.

‘Bwakkk, bwakkk, bok, bok, bgwaakkkk!’

After two minutes of that he gave in.

‘Fine! I’ll do it,’ Richter thought. The adventurous part of him reintegrated into his psyche with a smug grin.

Richter stuck his fingers under the circle and into the green glow. His jaw was clenched shut expecting to lose his hand at any moment. Finally, a prompt came up.

Do you wish to retrieve Level 6 Acid Trap? Yes or No?

Noooww I get a prompt, he silently asked, staring up at the ceiling in exasperation. He selected ‘Yes’ and the circle of the trap came completely free. A metal contraption with a glass sphere rose to the level of the floor. The sphere was clear and was mostly filled with a syrupy red liquid.

You have found: Adhesive Fire Acid Trap. Durability 5/5. Item class: Uncommon. Quality: Average. Weight .2 kg. Once triggered, will release a spray of acid in a circle five feet in diameter. This acid will adhere to anything it touches making it extremely difficult to remove. Does 7-10 damage (85% Acid, 15% Fire magic) per second for 20 seconds.

Despite having had to guess about the green light, Richter was more than pleased with this new weapon. This acid sounded like some serious stuff. He was also feeling like he didn’t want any part of a trap like this going off near him! He CAUTIOUSLY got back to work.

A day later, they had finally made their way to the metal door. His trap skills increased another two levels. Unfortunately, it was always the way that the higher skills rose, the harder it was to level them.

Up close, the bands of metal that created the door had a previously unseen feature. The entire surface was covered with impossibly thin and short spikes. Richter hadn’t seen them earlier because they were completely clear. Not one of the spikes was longer than an inch, but they were so tightly packed and so numerous that touching the door ensured being pricked. Richter tried to cut one free with his glass dagger, but the spike seemed to be impervious to damage. What did happen, however, was a drop of clear viscous liquid welled from the end of the spike. Sion collected it in an empty vial he took from his pack. He wafted some of the odor towards his face, then took out a second vial of orange powder. He placed a small amount of water in the first vial and added some of the powder. When he swirled the mixture around it turned into a milky purple solution. With a disbelieving look on his face, he added a small brown leaf and it began to produce green bubbles.

“Shrieke venom,” Sion said in surprise.

“What effects does it cause?” Richter asked.

“Death,” Sion said definitively. “It is one of the deadliest naturally occurring venoms in The Land. We cannot touch this door. Even one drop would kill us. You,” he said pointing at Richter, “might be able to survive being stuck once by a spike because of your larger size, but not twice. The venom has Earth and Death based magic as well as just being a natural poison, so your resistance should help, but again, I wouldn’t risk it.”

“What is going on!?” Richter cried out. “Who would come up with a massive metal door covered in near invisible spikes that leaked deadly poison? The architect/author for this dungeon must have been insane… or just insanely clever and attractive!”

No one spoke for a second, “I am not sure why you would draw that last conclusion,” his Companion said, “but I AM sure that we cannot touch any of these spikes.”

“There has to be a way out of here,” Daniella said. “We are just not looking in the right place. Maybe one of the other doors will be helpful.”

Richter knew that they would ultimately have to check out the other doors, but felt sure that each one would present a problem as well. As a matter of course, he pulled his wand and scanned for magic. The door itself glowed white uniformly. No real surprise there. In frustration, Richter dropped his hand. He was going to scream in frustration again, but felt someone nudge him.

“Look down,” Sion said.

Richter looked, and in the beam of blue light emanating from the wand, were words in a flourishing script. It contained umlaut’s, tilde’s, and other unknown accents.

Daniella drew in her breath sharply.

“What?” Sion asked turning around sharply to scan the room. They were all a bit on edge from just sitting in here.

“This is ancient high elvish.”

“Bah,” Yoshi said. “That hasn’t been spoken for almost one hundred thousand years. How could you recognize it?”

“Hisako has books written in high elvish in her library. If you enjoyed doing more than just stroking your sword, you might have learned something as well,” she answered waspishly. Sion took a step back from the potential confrontation. He was always smart like that.

Richter had been tracing the line writing with his wand, and saw that it completely encircled the door. The words touched the ceiling, the walls, and the floor. “I can read it,” he said. “Listen,”

“Red of iron, essence of flesh, both must be tempered, to unlock the way forward.

Grist of bone is the stage of life, rage against the fading of life.

To prepare the way forward, remove the distractions of the past. Heed this warning or suffer the error of youth.

Death comes on swift wings, causing a terrible storm.

The passage of birth is the loss of the womb.

The safety of illusion fractures under the blows of pain’s truth.

Any being would be crushed, to carry the world on his shoulders.

Know thy limitations or never transcend them.

The last path is the first that is taken each day.

Listen well to both devils and angels, for both are you.

Life can be found in the truthful lies of one and the lying truths of the other.

Cross not the wrong threshold, or suffer the reaper.

Only these truths can pierce the veil of lies which bar your way.”

Yoshi stared at him, “Is that it?”

“Yes,” Richter replied.

“Are you sure?” Sion asked.

“Maybe you’re reading it wrong,” Yoshi said. He turned to Daniella, “What do you think it says?”

“I can’t read it,” Daniella said.

“You said you had learned from the Hearth Mother!”

“I said I could recognize it! The same way I can recognize a gyoti when I’m looking at one!” She glared at the sword adept. Yoshi inhaled deeply, probably preparing for a scathing reply.

“Enough!” Richter said forcefully. “Trust me Yoshi, I can read it. It’s my Gift of Tongues ability. Now all of you, stop wasting energy. We have to get out of here. We have enough rations for a good while, but our water will not last forever. Also, have you forgotten that the eaters are a clear threat to the entire Forest of Nadria? Now start being helpful!”

Yoshi stared angrily at Daniella a while longer, then shook his head and looked down. When he looked back up, the irritation was gone from his face. “You are of course right, Lord Richter. I apologize. I also apologize to you, sister sprite. I am frustrated by the need to remove this menace before it harms our people.” He bowed at the waist.

Daniella bowed back, “I apologize as well sword adept.”

Richter looked back and forth between the sprites, “Yeah yeah, kumbaya. We still need to get out of here.”

Sion asked him to repeat the inscription. When Richter was done reciting, he said, “Well flesh and iron can be red, and we have a red door…”

No one else had a better idea, and for a good Georgia boy who had been raised on red clay hills, the reasoning was sound enough. Yoshi and he got back to work. While they did, Sion had brought out another empty vial and was meticulously striking each spike to catch the drops of venom it produced. Though it took hours, he got all of the spikes within easy reach of his short frame.

The traps were all level five or six in this section of the room, but luckily, the increase in Richter’s trap skills made the process go a bit faster. They both had to rest before they were done. On the plus side, Richter was awarded two more traps. One paralyze and another that triggered a needle coated with fear poison. It took the greater part of a day, but they made their way to the red door.

Richter had been hoping that once they got right up to it, a means of opening it would be revealed, but a careful inspection showed nothing. Until he used the wand that is, the blue light revealed more spidery script appeared.

“Brighter than Light, blacker than Dark, stronger than Earth, faster than Air, deeper than Water, hotter than Fire, more cherished than Life, more inevitable than Death.”

Something about the inscription tickled his memory. It was like hearing a familiar song but in another language. He repeated the inscription to himself silently and thought about how the riddle made no sense. Nothing was brighter than light! Nothing was hotter than fire. Nothing was more inevitable than… Richter’s eyebrows rose, and he said, “Nothing.”

As soon as he finished speaking that one word, the door began breaking apart. A piece fell off but did not strike the ground. It bent down the middle, and the two halves began opening and closing. Before he knew it, a red butterfly was flapping its wings. A cascade of red fell away from the door and the four comrades were surrounded by a maelstrom of red flapping wings. It was like being surrounded by every scarlet leaf of autumn or being gently cocooned in the softest red silk. As quickly as it began, the wonderful storm of butterflies ended when they all fell to the ground at once. The red door was gone, leaving the way clear.

“I think these are red monarchs,” Sion said in awe. “I recognize them from a picture in mother’s library.”

“Have they been absent from The Land for centuries too?” Richter asked.

“No, but they are from a different plane. They are only supposed to exist in abyssal realms. Help me collect them.”

The four reached down and collected all of the fallen butterflies, handing them to Richter for storage. Then they assumed the same formation as before, Futen leading with Richter several yards behind and Yoshi bringing up the rear. The tunnel beyond the red door looked like it had been hewn from solid red rock. The walls were irregular and walking required some balance. A couple hundred yards into the tunnel, Richter started to smell water. Soon he could hear a distant roar. The tunnel opened into a large rectangular cavern. The roar was made by what Richter assumed was a waterfall at the far end. Unfortunately, the intensity of Futen’s light was not enough to illuminate the entire room. The party stood on a ledge that looked out over an underground lake. They stood only a few feet above the waterline. In the distance Richter could just make out a small rocky island. An ornate chest was sitting in the middle of it. What caught his eye were the rock walls. Large clear crystals were periodically embedded into the stone.

“Okay, so what’s the catch?” Richter asked. No one had anything helpful to say. Futen intensified his light at Richter’s request, but they could still barely see past the island. Richter cast Far Light towards the end of the room. The ball of light didn’t make it far. The luminous white sphere traveled less than twenty feet when one of the crystals on the wall flashed. A bolt of red lightning streaked from the crystal towards the ball of light and impacted it with a loud zzzt and resulting boom!

“Hehehe,” Richter said nervously. He looked around at his comrades, and saw that all of them were staring at the crystal with their mouths slightly open. Daniella had taken an involuntary step backwards. Richter looked around, ill at ease, but no other bolts of red death seemed to be forthcoming. Shaking his head and exhaling solidly, he started to work the problem. If there was one thing he remembered from his semester as an engineering major, it was that where most people saw problems, engineers looked for solutions. Richter had always thought it was good advice in any walk of life.

He took out his wand again, but didn’t find any script on the ground or walls. When he shone it over the water though, a pale sheet of white could be seen completely crossing the room perpendicular to the direction Richter was facing. It extended from the water to the ceiling. The sheet was in line with the first crystal on the wall, and perpendicular to the length of the room. When Richter turned off the wand off again, all he saw was empty space.

“Sion, fire an arrow.” The sprite nocked and fired towards the island. The arrow flew straight, and as soon as it passed the white sheet, another red light flared in the jewel. Immediately, a bolt of red lightning shot from the crystal and struck the arrow dead on. All that was left was ash that fell down to sprinkle on top of the water.

Richter shook his head. There had to be a way across the water. “Sion, try to hit one of the crystals.”

The sprite took careful aim and shot at the closest crystal. The lightning flashed and the arrow was destroyed just before impact.

Richter looked at the remnant, “Futen, could you withstand those lightning strikes?”

“It might not destroy me, my Lord, but there is a good chance that it would disable me. You would have to retrieve me, and I would not revive until I was brought back to the Great Seal.”

“Even if you were invisible?”

“I cannot say, my Lord. I will try, if you order it.”

The risk was way too big, Richter thought. Futen was vital to the running of the village. He couldn’t risk the remnant on the off chance that it might work out. Richter racked his brain, and then said, “Sion, can you shoot an arrow so it goes under the water right before it would cross the first crystal?”

Sion just gave a self-assured smile, then drew and fired. The arrow struck the water and continued on for a few more feet. Even though it crossed the plane of the crystal, there was no discharge. Not initially anyway. When the arrow bobbed back to the surface, it crossed the plane of another crystal, and red lightning shot down destroying it. Okay, Richter thought, I guess this means that they would be safe as long as they were under the water.

He decided to bring more light to bear on the situation. He shot multiple balls of light with his Far Light spell. Richter was careful not to cross the magical white plane of the crystals. Soon, there was a shining archway made from little balls of light. Now the entire room could be seen clearly. The rocky island in the middle of the cavern was several meters long. There didn’t seem to be any crystals in line with the isle. As long as he swam just a bit past the tip of the rock, he should be able to climb up safely. This was, of course, all contingent on his belief that the crystals only fired when something passed directly in front of them. If they started to cover an arc of space, he was totally dead.

“So all we need to do is swim under the water until we reach the island. It’s just… about a hundred, a hundred fifty yards… yeah…” Richter said. He checked Sion’s status.

Name: Sion

Age: 44

Level: 11, 82% to next level

Health: 230 Mana: 210 Stamina: 140

Strength: 18

Agility: 18

Dexterity: 52

Constitution: 18

Endurance: 14

Intelligence: 21

Wisdom: 13

Charisma: 10

Luck: 12

Abilities:

Wood Craft

Concealment

Skills:

Herb lore Lvl 11, 51% to next level, 96% affinity

Alchemy Lvl 6, 17% to next level, 94% affinity

Archery Lvl 12; 39% to next level, 97% affinity

Imbue Arrow Lvl 7, 42% to next level, 88% affinity

Double Shot Lvl 3; 32% to next level, 98% affinity

Drill Shot Lvl 2; 45% to next level, 98% affinity

Stun Shot Lvl 2; 83% to next level, 99% affinity

Tracking Lvl 5; 62% to next level, 98% affinity

Swordsmanship Lvl 9, 21% to next level, 91% affinity

Air Magic Lvl 7; 15% to next level, 95% affinity

Marks:

None

Resistances:

Life 10%

Earth 10%

Light 10%

Race: Wood Sprite

Reputation: Lvl 1 “Who are you again?”

Alignment: +2

Language: Sprite, Common Tongue

Sion had moved up three levels! It was probably because of the 20,000 experience bonus from planting the Quickening. If Richter’s memory was right, though, it looked like Sion had invested a couple points into Constitution and Intelligence and… one point into Charisma? Maybe that’s why he wasn’t such a pain in the neck anymore, he thought. Sion had obviously been practicing his Air magic. What had happened with his affinities though? They were way higher than before!

“Sion,” Richter said in shock, “When did your affinities get so much higher?”

The sprite smiled, “Don’t you remember the Quickening? You know, giant silver tree, white leaves, normally only seen on higher planes of existence.” Seeing Richter’s glare, he chuckled. “Well ever since then, my affinities have been higher!”

Richter nodded, he remembered reading a prompt that everyone present at the planting would have higher affinities. He had just forgotten after all of the other momentous things that had happened. Either way, he was happy for his Companion! The main reason that Richter had checked Sion’s status page, was to see the sprite’s Agility and Endurance. Those seemed to be the main traits that swimming underwater for a prolonged period would entail. Sion’s stats were lower than Richter’s however, though. Richter checked with Daniella and Yoshi for their stats. Daniella numbers were well lower than his, and while Yoshi’s endurance was higher, the adept’s Agility was lower proportionally.

“Well, that leaves me,” he said. He explained what he had figured out about swimming underwater, and they had all made the same natural conclusion. Yoshi argued that he would make the swim, but even if their stats had been equal, Richter would have gone instead. He was immortal, after all.

He took off almost all of his armor and clothes, not wanting the drag. Outside of the practical concerns of swimming encumbered, his light armor imposed a 3% penalty on his movement speed per piece. The only thing he kept on were his greaves. They provided a 10% boost to movement speed, so by his reasoning he should still get 7% bump. That might be the difference between life and death.

Upon Yoshi’s suggestion, he attached the sheath of his glass dagger to his thigh with a two thin lengths of cloth. He tied his wand to the other leg. He then tried to leave his Bag of Holding, but just couldn’t for some reason. He had never actually been too far from it since he bought it from Hafiz, so this had never been an issue before. He tried to hand it to Daniella, but again he couldn’t bring himself to do it. A prompt showed up.

It seems you are trying to leave behind a Soul Bound item: Bag of Holding. Do you wish to relinquish ownership? Yes or No?

“NO!” Richter said, horrified. He hadn’t even meant to speak aloud; it was just a visceral reaction. The Bag was one of his most precious possessions. He selected ‘No’ on the prompt. Another appeared.

You have a Companion nearby. If you choose to leave your item with your Companion, they will be able to access your inventory. Would you like to leave your Bag of Holding with your Companion? Yes or No?

That sounds better, he thought. He selected ‘Yes’ and handed the Bag to Sion.

*Stay here*, he thought to Alma. He projected an image of the crystal, *Danger!*

The dragonling couldn’t speak in two-word sentences, but by the tone of her ‘Yes’, she was basically saying, *No duh.*

He walked to the water with only his legs covered, cast Haste, and then said, “Don’t act like you’re not impressed,” and then dove in. The water was freezing! He was glad Daniella had seen him before he had jumped in. He swam above the water until just shy of the first crystal, then took three breaths. The first was shallow, the second and third normal. With that last breath, he began his swim. His arms moved in a modified breast stroke and his legs beat a strong, steady dolphin kick. He didn’t rush. That was one of the most important things to know about swimming. Panic increased heart rate, which increased other autonomic processes, which increased oxygen consumption. If he ran out of air before he reached the island, then that would equal deep fried Richter. The other mistake people made when free swimming was to exhale underwater. It wasn’t just carbon dioxide that leaked out, it was oxygen as well. Knowing these tips was why he had come in first, three years running in the swim competition at Camp Crystal Lake. Well, that, and all the mysterious machete related deaths.

He just kept up the stroke watching the rock island get slowly closer. He tried not to think about what would happen if he broke the surface. Even if he ducked right back down that lightning would hit the water and… you guessed it, deep fried Richter. When he was thirty yards away from his goal, his stamina bar began to decrease. It was slow at first, but then it began to drop faster and faster. He could see the rock in front of him, but he was starting to get lightheaded and his limbs were getting sluggish. He wasn’t going to make it!

He flailed forward under the water in a panic. He was kicking forward in frantic bursts, struggling to reach the safety of the small spit of rock. Kick, stroke, kick, stroke, the green bar of his stamina was running on empty!

His hand hit a rock. He was getting ready to kick again when his mind registered what had happened. The island! He grabbed it and threw himself forward. His lungs drew in an ever so sweet breath of air. It was better than the coldest brew on the hottest day! He heard something from behind him, but couldn’t make it out over the now louder sound of the waterfall. Besides, that was when the lightning hit him.

Blackness. More indistinct sounds, and then he became aware of a red flashing light. Cops? He had to flush his stash! Why hadn’t he moved to Colorado? Wait, what?

As his head cleared, the sounds became clearer and resolved into Sion shouting, “I have to get to him!” and Yoshi shouting back, “You can’t help him!”

Richter opened his eyes, the pain racking his body was horrendous. It felt like his nerves were on fire. He would have screamed if he had any control over his body, but in addition to his pain, his stamina was almost depleted. The green bar slowly refilled, but his red health bar continued flash. The reason was clear enough, since only the thinnest sliver of red could still be seen. When his stamina bar had recovered to a certain point, a wretched scream poured from his throat. He could feel his vocal cords tearing from the stress of it, and then he tasted copper.

Richter heard Sion shout, “He is still alive! I’m going after him!”

“You won’t make it,” Daniella screamed back.

Richter couldn’t let Sion chance the swim. Daniella was right, he would never make it. He rallied his mental faculties, and cast Slow Heal. He tried to anyway. The pain made him clumsy and he fumbled the simple hand movement. He used his Ring of Healing, which provided a minor abatement in the pain. He accessed the Ring a second time, the last time he would be able to use it for 24 hours, and again the pain subsided minimally. With a now greater ability to focus, he cast Slow Heal a second time success!

Over the next sixty seconds, he regained another thirty health points. With the two uses of his Ring of healing, the flashing sliver of red stabilized. The debilitating pain abated to a level that could be called merely horrendous. He sat up and looked towards the ledge. He saw a naked Sion struggling against Daniella and Yoshi. He held up his hand, towards them and said, “Ssstop.” He repeated himself a bit stronger, “Stop!”

The sprites took notice of him, and stopped struggling. He flapped his hand twice, indicating Sion should stay put, and then lowered himself back down to the ground. He cast Slow Heal again. He didn’t waste any more thought about his argumentative comrades and just followed a simple pattern. Cast, breathe, wait for the pain to slowly abate as the cool down for Slow Heal elapsed, then cast again. Once his health had recovered past 50%, the worst of the pain was gone. He finally could think straight, and ponder deep thoughts like, how was he still alive?! And why didn’t Vicodin exist here!?!

He pulled up his combat log:

Richter hit by Red Lightning for 692 damage. Damage Type(s): Air Magic (90%)/Earth Magic (10%). Air Magic damage 622.8 reduced by Air Resistance (50%) to 311.4. Earth Magic damage 69.2. Total Damage: 380.6.

Knights of Columbus! 692 damage?!? If it wasn’t for his Air magic resistance, he would be done! If he had been wearing armor on his back, which is where the lightning bolt had struck, maybe the damage would have been decreased. The Earth magic resistance from wearing the entire set of his enhanced sprite armor would have been helpful too! Then again, depending on how conductive his armor was, wearing a big sheet of metal on his back might have made things worse. After such a powerful strike, it was no surprise that his body felt like it had been dipped in broken glass and lemon juice. He continued his pattern of healing. After several more rounds of this, he was back to full health. He intellectually understood that once his body was completely healed, then the physical pain must be gone. It seemed his subconscious mind, however, still remembered the trauma he had just gone through. He would swear he could still feel his nerve fibers being overloaded by the bolt of electricity, and every part of him felt tender. Despite the pain, he centered himself and then stood up.

As soon as he got to his feet, there was a cheer from the ledge. He looked over and saw Sion and Daniella waving their hands in the air, shouting in joy. Even Yoshi stood there with a smile on his face.

Sion cupped a hand to his mouth and shouted, “Did you see the size of that lightning that hit you? It was huge! You took it like a man!”

Richter laughed weakly. Sion’s exuberance let Richter shake off his phantom pain. His Companion’s communication skills had definitely undergone an evolution. “Put some clothes on,” he shouted back, “nobody wants to see that!”

He took stock. There didn’t seem to be anything else on the island except for the chest. No red patches appeared so he felt reasonably sure there weren’t any traps. Loosening the ties on the wand, he cast its blue light all across the rock and the chest, but nothing flared white. He took a deep breath, hoping he wasn’t about to spring a high-level trap that his Pierce the Veil skill was too low to detect, and opened the chest. Nothing jumped out to kill him. He exhaled in relief. Looking in the large chest though, he was somewhat disappointed that there were only two items inside.

You have found: Bone handle. Weight 0.9 kg. Durability 50/50. Item class: Common. Quality: Average.

You have found: Red Key

Richter was a bit disappointed by the meager haul. He had just been barbecued trying to get here after all! The bone handle was shaped like capital “L.” The longer portion had an iron cap at the end in the form of a square. Near the bend, the longer portion had a circular groove worn into it perpendicular to the bone. It was pretty clear what this was meant for. The key was about the size of Richter's hand and was made of a blood red metal. The bow of the key was a hollow square.

He lifted his hands to close the lid, but then the faintest of blue glows caught his attention. Opening the lid back up, he stared at the underside and the blue glow strengthened. The bottom of the lid was lined in black cloth. Hoping that his skill Pierce the Veil skill color coordinated traps as red and secret compartments as blue, he ran his hands around the lid and found a loose corner. He pulled at the cloth, tearing it back stitch by stitch. Getting impatient, he used his crystal dagger to cut the edges. Once the fabric was cut free, all that he found was a piece of yellowed hide. He turned it over though, and saw the markings of a map.

You have found: Map. Would you like to add this map to your Traveler’s Map? Yes or No?

Richter selected ‘Yes’ and then accessed the map icon at the corner of his vision. The initial view was of the forest. The Mist Village was marked prominently and the dungeon they were in was marked as well. He focused on the dungeon icon, and the forest view disappeared. In its place was a multi-level view of the inside of the dungeon. Richter could see the antechamber, the long hall, the trap room, and the room they were all currently in now. The map showed even more though. As yet undiscovered tunnels, rooms and lower floors were now visible.

Every time he used the Traveler’s Map he was blown away. The areas he had traveled through were portrayed in accurate colors; the long hallway was grey, made more so by what Richter thought of as the ‘fog of war’ effect. The map would only show in real time what he was currently looking at. The room he was now in was red contrasting with the blue water of the lake. Unexplored areas were only black and white. He zoomed in on the room he was in now. He saw the ledge his other party members were standing on, the lake with the rock island in the middle and the waterfall at the end of the room. The figures of Yoshi, Sion and Daniella were frozen on the map, but when he turned his head to look at them, the map adjusted their movements real time. This was awesome, he thought! Even more fascinating, was that behind the waterfall was a hidden room portrayed in black and white. At the back of that room, was a second large chest.

Ohhhh, FML, he thought. Sion was already waving for him to come back. Richter looked the other way towards the waterfall. Just after the end of the island, the crystals resumed on the walls. They stopped at the waterfall, but the distance was at least 20 or 30% farther than the distance back to the ledge. Also, the room was black and white, who knew how old that information was? The hide map was old and the ink was faded, there might not even be anything back there… then again, that chest was big! And the fact that it was hidden behind the waterfall probably meant that whatever was still inside was important. This dungeon had already almost taken his life several times. His party would need all the help they could if they were going to get to get out of here alive. Well, he thought to himself, am I an AmeriCAN or an AmeriCAN’T? Richter made up his mind.

He shouted to the sprites what he intended. Sion responded with several questions ranging from the quantity of fecal matter between his ears to whether Richter’s parentage involved one or more farm animals. Richter just gave him a thumbs up and got back to work.

He secured his wand and blade again. He put the map, bone handle and key back in the chest. If he survived, he would grab them on the way back. Hoping that whatever was behind the falls was worth it, he dumped all six unused characteristic points into Agility. He needed to be faster.

He wished he could make a running dive into the water, but the crystals started right after the rocky island he was standing on. He slid into the water and went through his breathing ritual again. After his third breath, he dropped fully into the water, braced his feet against the side of the rock and propelled himself forward at an angle.

He kept up the same stroke as before. Many people would outsmart themselves trying to take shortcuts. They would try something new on the fly, hoping for a better result. Disciplined people knew outcomes were always up in the air to a certain extent. They relied on tried and true practices to see them through. Or put another way, you don’t run a new play at the end of the big game. Stroke, kick, stroke, kick. That was all he thought about.

His increase in Agility did make a noticeable difference. He moved a bit easier through the water, and each kick took him slightly farther. It compensated for the extra length he was swimming. It just didn’t compensate enough. He was at least forty yards away from the frothing water of the falls when his stamina bar began dropping. He kept swimming, though. Kick, stroke, kick stroke. The effects of his decreasing stamina made him clumsy again. His rhythm was disrupted and his forward movement stalled. With his stamina was almost completely gone, it felt like he was moving through quicksand, and he was still at least ten yards away! He couldn’t go back to the surface, though. For all he knew the injuries he had received from the red lightning might have been on the lower end of its damage range. He had to keep going!

Then his stamina fully depleted. The waterfall was right in front of him! With the lack of stamina though, he could barely move and his efforts seemed to do nothing at all. His health bar began dropping. It wasn’t like the steady decline of his stamina bar, though. It was better described as a red plummet towards death. At the rate it was decreasing, his entire 430 health points would be gone in less than ten seconds. And of course, the predictable pain came as well. The vice like grip on his lungs made him feel like he was being crushed in the fist of a vengeful god! The pressure in his lungs built and built. Rational thought left him, and despite his depleted stamina, an animal instinct deep inside of him awoke. He thrashed and kicked not even knowing if he was going in the right direction. He only knew he needed to live! A final kick moved him forward a meager foot, and then he was pushed down and forward by the force of the waterfall. He grabbed a rock on the cliff face in front of him and pulled himself upward, past the surface of the water and into clear air!

Richter passed out.

When he came to, he was laying in a shallow pool behind waterfall. He screamed for the second time in an hour. His health bar was not as low as it was from the lightning strike, but still, the pain was horrible. He cast Slow Heal and resigned himself to the agony of the next ten minutes.

When he finally got up he was standing in near complete darkness. The waterfall blocked almost all light from the outer chamber. He cast Night Vision and everything took on shades of green or black. The chamber he in was about five by fifteen yards. Looming above the level of the pool he was standing in was a ten-foot tall wall. It was only two yards in front of him and it ran the length of the room. In the middle of the wall was a set of large stairs leading up to the chest. The top of the wall formed a ledge the same elevation as the chest.

Richter saw all of this in an instant, but was distracted by a skeleton that lay at the bottom of the stairs. It wore moldy clothing and various types of armor.

Three thoughts went through Richter’s mind:

1) Oh goodie, the treasure is still here.

2) Oh shit, whatever killed that guy is probably going to kill me!

3) Is this thing going to come alive and kill me?

Poking it with his dagger pretty much ruled out the third point, but that didn’t completely set his mind at ease. If there is one thing that everyone who has played a dungeon crawler knew, it was that if you start seeing random skeletons, something deadly was in the neighborhood. He examined the room more closely. The skeleton was lying right in front of him. The stairway leading up to the chest had five steps total. As he looked at the steps, a red glow developed in front of the first step. Soon two more spots glowed red on the top of the second and the fourth step. There was no red glow on top of the first step, so it looked safe, but when Richter examined the position of the skeleton, he saw that it had one foot on top of the first step. Richter was missing something.

He raised his wand and shone it in front of him. Just above the first step, a white glow appeared. It was strange seeing a white light when everything else was green from his Night Vision spell, but as long the wand warned him of danger, Richter wasn’t going to complain about the color scheme. A thin white line extended across the step like a laser. Leaning in, but staying well clear of the traps, Richter could see a small divot in the stone. Inset into that divot was a smaller version of the lightning crystals that lined the wall of the outer chamber. If it wasn’t glowing in the light of Richter’s wand, he never would have seen it.

Tricky, tricky, Richter thought. Anyone seeing the first trap would jump over it and try to either disable the second trap or jump over it as well to the third step. Richter kept scanning the steps with the wand. If the booby-trappers were extremely crafty and devilish, they would put another lightning crystal riiiight… there it was! Embedded in the wall to the left of the third step was another lightning crystal. It sent a white line across that length of the step too. Richter was sure the fifth step was trapped as well.

Okay, he thought. I found the traps they wanted me to find, and the traps they didn’t want me to find. Now where are the traps that kill me, because now I’m a cocky bastard? Not moving, he shone his light around and saw pale white lines crisscrossing the room. Some extended vertically, other horizontally and still more at random angles. Whoever had devised this cockamamie dungeon needed a good kick in the teeth! Richter was just glad that he had cast Night Vision and not Far Light. Who knew what he would have triggered if the ball of light had crossed one of the white beams. Maybe these crystals released an AoE spell and not just a straight bolt of lightning. The only good thing was that there didn’t seem to be any white lines on the ledge the chest was sitting on.

Richter slowly made his way to the right side of the chamber. He chose that direction because the density of white lines was less on that side. Once he got to the corner, he did a kick step that would have made Jackie Chan proud. Facing the corner, he jumped towards the wall on his left, kicked off with his left foot towards the other wall, landed his right foot on that wall, kicked off again and then used the last of his upward momentum to grab the lip of the ledge, pulling himself up.

He hunched down shining his wand from his new vantage, but thankfully still didn’t see any other illumination on the rocky shelf he was laying on. The ceiling was only four feet above his head so he crab walked forward with the wand held in front of him. When he got closer to the chest, he saw a white glow above the chest, set into the wall. It was a crystal that looked different from the others he had seen, and there was no white line or sheet extending from it though. Examining it triggered a prompt.

Activation crystal.

Steeling himself, Richter placed his hand on the crystal.

Would you like to deactivate defenses? Yes or No?

“Yes!” Richter shouted as he mentally indicated his decision on the prompt. The activation crystal flared once, but nothing else happened. When Richter swung his wand over the room though, all of the white lines had disappeared. He took a deep breath and released it. Until that moment, he hadn’t realized how tense he had been for the last hour until that moment. The red glows on the steps were still there, but they were easily avoided.

Now that the danger from the crystals was past, he cast Far Light several times. Then he got back to business. Richter stared at the chest for a solid five minutes and checked it with his wand at least three times. When no white lines or red glow appeared, though, he gingerly grabbed the front of the lid and pried it back. He smiled when it was fully open. It was time for his reward!

You have found: Bag of coins.

You have found: Magic bracelet.

You have found: Magic Book.

You have found: Magic Potion.

You have found: Iron dagger. Damage 4-6. Durability 8/10. Item class: Common. Quality: Poor. Weight 1.0 kg.

You have found: Studded leather gloves. Defense +4. Durability 14/14. Item class: Common. Quality: Average. Weight 1.2 kg.

You have found: Black Pearl

You have found: Topaz

Not at all bad, Richter thought with a smile. The simple gear was crap, but the contents of the chest should prove a good cash infusion for the village. Also, who knew how good the magic items would be? He emptied the chest and stared inside to make sure he couldn’t see any hidden compartments. He even ran his hands along the inside of it, but didn’t detect anything. He closed the chest once he had emptied it. Then he eased himself down off of the ledge, avoiding the steps all together. Richter had considered trying to pry the activation crystal out of the wall, but decided to leave well enough alone. He couldn’t take the chance that it would turn all of the lightning crystals back on.

The last thing he had to do before swimming back was to examine the skeleton. Most of the clothing had rotted away, but several items remained.

You have found: Ruby earring.

You have found: Magic High Steel Dagger. Damage 9-11 (Max damage 11-13). Durability 19/25. Item Class: Uncommon. Quality: Above Average. Weight: 0.5 kg.

You have found: Magic Steel Dagger. Damage 7-9 (Max damage 8-11). Durability 16/20. Item Class: Uncommon. Quality: Above Average. Weight: 0.6 kg.

You have found: Runic Studded Leather Chest Plate. Defense +9. Type: Light Armor. Durability 30/30. Item class: Rare. Quality: Superb. Weight: 4.2 kg

You have found: Signet Ring. Durability 100/100. Item class: Rare. Quality: Masterwork. Weight: 0.3 kg

You have found: Pouch.

You have found: Bag of Coins.

You have found: Magic Ring. Durability 15/15. Item class: Uncommon. Quality: Average. Weight: 0.1 kg

You have found: Magic Ring. Durability 18/18. Item class: Uncommon. Quality: Above Average. Weight: 0.1 kg

You have found: Magic Ring. Durability 25/27. Item class: Common. Quality: Above Average. Weight: 0.1 kg

You have found: Magic Belt. Durability 35/35. Item class: Uncommon. Quality: Superb. Weight: 0.8 kg.

You have found: Diary. Durability 4/10. Item class: Common. Quality: Poor. Weight: 0.1 kg.

You have found: Small picture. Durability 6/7. Item class: Common. Quality: Above average. Weight: 0.1 kg.

It was a lot more than Richter was expecting. Who had this guy been? He obviously wasn’t just some average adventurer. The signet ring had a stylized K on top. It was made of multiple precious metals and was heavier than it looked. The magic items he put to the side, Futen would identify them soon enough.

The diary was small like one of those pocket bibles they sold at every gas station in the Midwest. It was bound with faded red leather and a white K was on the front cover matching the signet ring except for a small “S” that was in the corner of the large letter. No time to dive into that now, he thought.

The picture was only a finger length long. The frame was black metal and composed of three parts, a larger middle piece which the picture was set in and two smaller pieces that hinged like double doors, blocking the picture from view when closed. The picture was of a smiling young woman. It was clearly a treasured keepsake of the fallen adventurer. He placed it to the side. The bag of coins was full to bursting and not a small amount was gold. There were also three gold bars like the ones that Hafiz had given him. Each bar was worth one hundred gold coins!

As happy as Richter was to find the money, though, the other pouch was equally wonderful.

You have found: Lock picks. Durability 25/25. Item class: Common. Quality: Superb. Weight: 0.01 kg. x 30

You have found: Dart trap. Damage 3-5. Durability 10/10. Item class: Common. Quality: Average. Weight: 0.1 kg. x 2

The leather armor had a white circle attached to the front. The disc was about four inches across and had a glyph carved into it. The glyph shone white in the wand’s light, and the quality of the armor was quite good, but otherwise it was unremarkable.

Richter gave the chamber a final once over, and then walked towards the waterfall. The cave extended farther to the side than the waterfall reached on the left. He was able to look out over the lake. He hailed the sprites who shouted and cheered once again. Shining his wand across the water, he didn’t see any sheets of white anymore. Just to be sure he cast Ice Dagger. The one-foot long ice projectile flew forward, past the first crystal and then second. No red lightning shot out to atomize it. Richter smiled and dove into the water.

He enjoyed the easy swim this time, and just made nice leisurely strokes. There was no way he could bring all of the loot with him during the swim, and anyway, it would have risked damaging the diary. Instead, he just piled the loot from the chest with what he found on the skeleton. He left it all on a dry spot well back from the waterfall. He would have to swim back with his Bag of Holding and load up. When he got back to the ledge, and Yoshi helped pull him out of the water.

“Was it worth it?” the sword adept asked.

“I think so,” Richter said. He explained what had happened from disarming the lightning crystals to finding the loot. He left out his second brush with death. No reason to get people upset, he thought. They all made camp on the ledge for the night. It made sense with the access to fresh water.

Richter pulled the sleep rolls from his Bag and then jumped back into the water. The swim back and forth didn’t take too long, and he stopped at the island to grab the bone handle, map and key.

When he was in the final stretch back, he noticed that on the far wall, one of the lightning crystals was set low near the water line. He knew it was a bone head idea, but he couldn’t help himself. He swam over and examined it. The crystal looked like a clear pyramid. It was set into a black circular bracket, which was in turn set into the wall. Being so close to the destructive device made him uneasy, but the potential reward was well worth it. Before he could second guess himself, he grabbed a rocky protrusion on the wall to anchor himself, and with his other hand drew his glass dagger.

“What are you doing!?” Sion shouted.

“It’ll be fine,” Richter shouted back. Then he focused on the task at hand.

First, he tried wedging the blade into the space between the pyramid and the bracket. The tip of the knife couldn’t find purchase. It seemed that the bracket was set snuggly over the crystal like a hilt over a blade, and the pyramid continued on past what was visible from the outside. Next, he tried to fit the blade between the bracket and the wall. The entire rim was set flush with the wall, though, and he didn’t make any headway. That left only one choice. Hoping that the durability of the glass dagger was equal to the task, he started stabbing it into the junction between the wall and the bracket. After several strikes, the first chips of rock fell free. Taking that as a good sign, he kept at it. After ten minutes he had made a small hole in the wall that revealed an empty space. He wedged the knife into the hole widening it until a portion of the blade could fit behind the bracket. Then, making sure he was braced well on the wall, he applied as much pressure as his 29 points of Strength allowed. His muscles strained and veins started to bulge in his neck. With a loud crunch, the pyramid came free of the wall.

The circular bracket fell away. It turned out to be nothing more than a rim of metal. The crystal was actually a double pyramid, the half that had been hidden in the wall, a mirror image of the portion that had been sticking out. Richter looked at the item in dismay. The crunch he had heard had apparently been made not just by the wall giving way, but also by his glass dagger piercing the pyramid. An irregular hole marred the surface of the crystal, destroying it symmetry. Gritting his teeth in irritation, Richter swam the rest of the way back to the ledge with the device held out of the water.

When he was back on the ledge he examined it closely.

You have found: Lightning Prism (broken). Durability 47/80. Item class: Epic. Quality: Exquisite. Weight: 3.7 kg. The Prism is a marvel of magic and technology. It will focus raw magic into a bolt of extreme damage and power. This prism has been damaged, and cannot be used.

He looked into the small hole and saw thin clear filaments creating a delicate web inside of the double pyramid. Sighing at the loss of such an artifact, he put it into his Bag anyway. Maybe something could come of it later. The sprites were gnawing on jerky, watching him moon over his broken toy. Alma was eating too, but it was clear from the glares she was shooting his way that she still wasn’t happy about the dried meat.

“Congratulations,” Yoshi said. “You found junk.”

Richter just glared at him before quickly drying off. Then he donned his underclothes and armor. He would have preferred to sleep without it, but this dungeon was no joke. He wouldn’t be caught wearing just his skibbies if the eaters came back. He laid down on his sleeping roll to just relax a moment, but was soon fast asleep.