The Land: Forging (Chaos Seeds Book 2)

CHAPTER 20

Richter woke to a hand shaking him. He looked up into Yoshi’s face, and the sword adept was actually smiling. The scar on his face made the expression more than a little creepy. Not exactly the visage Richter would have chosen to wake up to.

“What’s up,” he asked.

“I need your help,” Yoshi said, extending a hand to help Richter up.

Richter stood and walked across the room to the chest. Only one area of the chest was still glowed red when he looked at it. A one foot by three-inch rectangle.

“The release points are at each corner of this last trap. Do you see them?” After a moment, Richter nodded. “All of the points need to be pressed simultaneously. I could do it myself, but it’s easier with help.”

Richter placed his picks, and Yoshi did the same. At Yoshi’s direction, he sunk both lock picks into the tiny holes of the mechanism. There was an audible click and the red rectangle of the trap faded away. Richter shared an excited grin with the half-human swordsman and gestured magnanimously to the chest. Yoshi surely deserved the reward of opening it after having spent all night disarming the traps.

Sion and Daniella had awoken at hearing their conversation and now stood behind the kneeling members of their party. Yoshi put his hand on the chest lid, and they all held their breath with the anticipation of children on Christmas morning. They were not disappointed.

You have found: Enhanced Health Potion x 4. Will restore 120 health points over 6 seconds. Item class: Uncommon. Quality: Above Average. Weight 0.1 kg.

You have found: Basic Life Oil. Apply to weapons for increased damage against Death creatures. Item class: Uncommon. Quality: Superb. Weight 0.2 kg.

You have found: Bag of Coins.

You have found: Book of Flame. Shoot a weak gout of flame from your hand.

You have found: Bone Key.

You have found: Hatch Wheel.

You have found: Iron chain. Damage 7-9. Durability 20/20. Item class: Common. Quality: Average. Weight 2.4 kg.

You have found: Wooden Shield. Defense +6. Durability 40/40. Item class: Common. Quality: Average. Weight: 3.4 kg. Type: Light armor.

You have found: Recipe: Potion of Stagnation. Halts health regeneration.

You have found: Recipe: Basic Health Potion. Restores 80 health points over 6 seconds.

You have found: Gold figurine

Richter was happy that Futen had followed his direction to start identifying unknown objects without prompting. It was kinda irritating always having to ask. The haul from the chest was amazing! Of course, after two solid days of work! The amount of effort that had been required to navigate the traps was maddening. Richter could very well see why this dungeon had been locked to him until he reached a level 10. Even at his current level, he couldn’t have soloed it. The enemies, puzzles and traps would have stopped him before he even got to this point.

He handed the recipes to Sion, who immediately started pouring over the stagnation recipe. Richter didn’t really have a use for them yet. His Alchemy skill was still at level one. The sprite already knew the recipe for weak health potions, but the basic potion would be a step up. Richter handed the health potions out equally. The weapon and shield didn’t seem like anything special, but he had never seen a chain weapon before. It had a baseball sized weight at the end. Actually, it looked like the weapon Gogo used to fight Black Mamba, but a lot less graceful, Richter thought. It should have a good reach, he reflected.

The Book of Flame he put reverently to the side. He had been dying for a flame spell, but first there was a mystery to figure out. The hatch wheel could be expected to open the round door in the central chamber, that was obvious. They had also just found the key for this branch of the dungeon. Now unless there were two keys to find in this section of the dungeon, (which was usually not the way these things worked, at least when The Land had just been a game) it seemed like there was absolutely no reason go into the room with the draugh. He thought about it for a few seconds then shrugged and just loaded the rest of the loot into his Bag. He reached up to close the lid, but when he touched it again, the bottom of the chest blazed with light.

Oh crap, he thought. He shut his eyes against both the glare and the expected pain from whatever trap he had just triggered. Nothing happened, though. Richter opened his eyes and saw words inscribed in flickering purple flame on the floor of the chest. As he read, a prompt appeared.

You have been offered a Quest: When Good Men Do Nothing. All souls deserve rest. In the far chamber, noble warriors are trapped by the desires of an evil creature. Will you free them from their servitude? Yes or No? Reward: Unknown.

‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.’ That was the quote Richter remembered from English class. The quest was a paraphrase of the old quote, basically acknowledging that he had everything he needed to keep moving forward in the dungeon. He didn’t need to fight those draugh in the other room. He could forget about those ‘noble warriors.’

Richter stared at the bottom of the chest, and then looked at his Companions. They had seen the same words that he had, but they just looked at him, waiting to follow wherever he led. There wasn’t a clear decision. They had already been in this dungeon so long. It was extremely tempting to just keep it moving. Who would he be if he did that, though? Was he just living this new life for himself, or would he actually stand for something? Richter selected ‘Yes.’

The words at the bottom of the chest winked out. He took both keys and the hatch wheel out of his Bag and extended them to Yoshi. “I know you don’t want to wait to keep moving forward. I accepted the quest, not you. What I’m trying to say is this is on me. You don’t need to help. You can keep working on getting out of here. I’ll catch up if… when I can.” Richter lifted both hands farther towards Yoshi in an attempt to hand the items over.

Sion immediately stepped forward and started arguing, but Yoshi held up his hand sharply quieting the sprite. He looked Richter in the eye. They held each other’s gaze for a full minute. Then Yoshi raised his hands, but he didn’t take the key or the wheel. He pushed Richter’s arms back down to his sides. “It is true that the eaters need to be dealt with. It is also true that sometimes hard choices need to be made, and certain sacrifices must be allowed. That should be the exception, however, not the rule. I am proud to fight alongside a man who would help those who cannot help themselves.”

Your relationship with Sword adept Yoshi had improved from Neutral to Friendly.

They did not go to the black archway immediately. Yoshi had not slept for a long while, and everyone understood they would need to be at their best for the upcoming fight. The men laid back down while Daniella stood guard over them. Richter closed his eyes, his last sight was of her smiling down at Sion.