The Land: Founding (Chaos Seeds Book 1)

CHAPTER 15

When Richter was finally able to stand, he searched the warrior. The skeletal warrior had been clad in rags. The only thing of value was its axe.

You have found: Steel battle axe. Damage 8-10 (Max damage 17-22). Durability 17/40. Item class: Common. Quality: Average. Weight 13.7 kg. Requirement: Strength 19.

Richter really missed mobs dropping random loot. Having to search the dead was a pain in the butt compared to simply opening an inventory window. To be fair though it wasn’t really realistic to find a bottle of fire resistance inside of a bear, or a healing herb from killing an air elemental.

They walked back to the cave entrance both gnawing on healing herbs. The herbs did not have the instant healing of Richter’s Minor Ring of Healing. They also didn’t heal as much or as fast as the potions they had found.

Forest Sage: Eating this will restore 10 points of health over 30 seconds.

A benefit of all that hide and seek in the mist was a bump in his stealth skill.

Congratulations! You have reached skill level 4 in Stealth. 2% increase to Concealment.

They gathered the other weapons and shields from the destroyed skeletons, and left them in a pile at the entrance. Like the warrior, these skeletons had nothing of value besides their weapons. A quick scan by Futen found no other enemies in the immediate vicinity. Moving into the cave, they swept up the remaining weapons placing them with the others.

They entered the tunnel connecting the two chambers, Richter took the lead, sword in hand. If Futen had missed some creature, then there would only be a split second to defend himself, not nearly enough time to aim and shoot his bow. Sion followed two paces behind, arrow nocked and ready. He moved carefully into the second cavern. As soon as he placed his foot down inside the chamber, the floor at his feet began to glow blue white.

“Move,” Sion shouted! The sprite grabbed the back of Richter’s belt and pulled. Unfortunately Sion lacked the strength to actually move him back, but it did stop him from moving any farther forward. The light flared and with a zzzsst, bolts of electricity shot into the air bouncing off the sides of the hallway.

Both he and Sion fell to the ground

You are stunned for the next 3.0 seconds!

Richter’s body was locked in spasm, pain coursing through him. He saw that whatever had just happened, had also removed 35 health. The next three seconds felt like an hour. Even after the paralysis wore off, they lay on the ground for a bit.

“Thaatttt suckkked!”

“I think I will move in front from here on out, Richter!” Sion’s voice was tight with pain and annoyance.

“Fine! Futen, what WAS that?”

“You seem to have stepped upon a lightning ward my Lord.”

“Why didn’t you warn us?”

“I was only scanning for enemies. Though in retrospect, it would have been prudent to also look for traps.”

“You think?!” Richter was almost shouting.

“Yes, my Lord,” the remnant paused for a second, “I do.”

“Pink would be too good for you, you damn night light! I’m going to find a way to make you burnt ochre! Now scan for traps!”

“Yes, my Lord.”

The orb flowed around the room occasionally hovering in one place. A circle would slowly appear on the floor to the side of its position. Richter noticed that not even the remnant passed directly over the wards. Each ward was two feet in diameter and had small runes lining the inner edge of its circumference. In the meantime, both he and Sion ate more healing herbs. Herb Lore certainly did come in handy as a skill. If not for finding these herbs in the forest, the only options for accelerated healing would have been his ring or the two healing potions they had found. Thankfully the herbs were sprinkled throughout the forest, and they had been able to pick some each night.

Richter had the bright idea of eating two at once, hoping for an increase in the healing-time ratio. He had found that the herbs would simply restore 20 points over 60 seconds. Well, beggars can’t be choosers, he thought. Eating the herbs had the added benefit of slowly improving his Herb Lore skill. Sion assured him he would get better results from each healing herb as his Herb Lore improved, and he would also have an easier time finding more potent herbs.

In the time that it took for the herbs to do their work, Futen had completed his search of the room and was hovering in front of him again. Richter certainly felt better, even if he was a bit a hungry. Sion told him that was a common side effect of the green medicinals.

Three circles, each two feet in diameter, were glowing softly scattered throughout the room. These were easily avoided but the last was three feet in diameter and had a second line of runes inside of the first. It also completely covered the entrance to a set of stairs leading down.

“Okay, so how do we get past it,” Richter asked, “Should we jump over? Could you make that jump?” the last was directed at Sion.

Sion looked back at him, “It’s a magical seal of power. It’s meant as a barrier and a trap.”

“Yeah, I have picked up on that,” Richter replied.

“Yes, well,” Sion said slowly. “It wouldn’t be very good as either a barrier OR a trap if it could be defeated by,” pausing slightly, “skipping.”

Feeling like a moron, Richter just gave a short nod. He really didn’t know what he had done to deserve a Companion who was basically a dickish Kebler elf.

“Futen, what can you do about those wards?”

“These are lightning wards my Lord. Lightning is the province of Air magic. I should be able to unravel the ward and allow the energy to dissipate. Also you might be able to set off the ward from a distance with a sufficiently strong magical strike.”

“Are you saying that I can learn lightning magic?”

“Yes my Lord. As you know, you can learn and master Life, Dark, Air and Water magic thanks to the Place of Power. Each Power has certain requirements that must be met, but it is possible.”

Richter had noticed a Magic tab on his interface, but as they were all greyed out he had not paid it much attention. He could see now that there were a list of lightning spells below the air spells. The weakest lightning spell required skill level 10 in Air Magic.

“Why didn’t the skeletons set off the ward when they crossed it,” Sion asked.

“The wards are cast to attack only the enemies of those determined by the caster,” Futen replied.

“Can you change the way we are ‘determined’ by the ward? Can you make us be seen as friendlies, and everything else be seen as an enemy?”

“No, my Lord.”

“Well that’s a shame,” Richter said. “Judging by how strong these enemies were on the first floor. I can only imagine what the next level is going to be like. Okay Futen, disarm it.”

Both he and Sion took a step back, being a bit wary of the remnant’s judgement after their, well, electrocution. The ward began to glow. The outer circle of runes began to turn, followed by the second. Both changed directions multiple times reminding Richter of the tumblers on a safe. A few more turns and both circles stopped rotating. There was a final flare of light and the ward floated up into the air until it dissipated like smoke and disappeared.

Richter began to move down the stairs, until Sion cleared his throat. The sprite cocked his head as if to say ‘Really?’ What the sprite actually said was, “We have been over this. Futen, scout ahead.”

It phased out of visible sight, and Sion and Richter were left waiting. The orb reappeared before long and said, “There is one large chamber. At the end are a set of black doors. In front of it are two of the larger skeletons. ”

“What type of weapons do they have,” Richter asked.

“One is carrying a large axe and the other a larger sword. They seem alert, my Lord.”

“Well that’s not surprising. A deaf bat could have heard all the racket we were making,” Richter commented. “If there are only two though we can take them. How far from the steps are they?”

“About eighty yards, my Lord.”

“Is there light?”

“Very little.”

“Then the plan is the same as before. Go in front of us, and draw their attention with sound and light. Sion, we both hit the one on the left with powered strikes, and once it is down or they cross more than half the distance to the steps, we retreat back up the stairs. If they follow, we will stagger our shots. You strike and knock it back, retreat, and I will do the same. If they get too close we retreat to the mist.”

Sion took the lead moving noiselessly down the steps. They waited a few steps up from the bottom, so as not to be seen. When they saw the flash, Richter and Sion both moved. Richter used Focus to draw his target close into view and powered his arrow for three seconds and released. Sion’s arrow struck a moment before him. The damn thing was still standing! At least the strikes had kept it from making any forward progress, however. Analyze showed:

Skeleton Warrior: Lvl 11. Health 230/350. Mana 0. Stamina 240/240.

Well that would be why! Meanwhile, Sion kept launching powered strike after powered strike into the already injured skeleton. The other skeleton warrior was halfway down the cavern. Richter switched his aim to it and powered his arrow for one second before releasing. The arrow struck the skeleton in the arm, flinging it off balance with its great sword scraping the ground.

Richter had underestimated the speed and strength of the warriors. The tactic of withering fire would not work. The skeletons would run them down and strike from behind. Richter fired one more imbued arrow at the closest skeleton further knocking it off balance and then drew his short sword. Stepping forward, he swung down as hard as he could and struck the great sword, knocking the weapon out of the skeleton’s bony grasp. The warrior raked its outstretched hand across Richter’s chest creating an ear splitting screech as it scoured his chest plate. Spinning low, Richter swung his sword in an arc striking the warrior in its knee. A chip fell off, but the leg remained attached. The warrior fell upon him, and its not inconsiderable weight drove him onto his back. The bones clearly had greater density than they should. He grabbed one bony wrist, but its other dug into Richter’s shoulder. The tips of its fingers pierced his flesh. It dug deeper into the meat of his muscle as it curled its fingers into a partial fist, on the inside of his body!

A scream tore from Richter’s throat as he struggled against the skeleton. His left hand scrambled for purchase against it, but was weakened to the point of uselessness with the skeleton’s fingers inside his deltoid. His other hand tried to keep the skeleton’s free hand from ripping his throat out and taking his life. Richter looked up into the insane grin of the skeleton with its mouth partially open. His stamina was running out fast and he felt himself weakening. Panic was taking over which might have been the only thing keeping the pain from rendering him unconscious.

He struggled with the creature for long moments panting, caught in a stalemate that he knew could not last much longer. Just when he felt he might succumb, he saw Sion’s sword dig point first into the side of the warrior’s neck vertebrae. The sprite had jumped onto the skeleton’s back. With his sword wedged into its spine, Sion wrenched up with all of his strength using his blade like a lever. With a heave and an audible snap, the bones of the neck separated. The head went flying, and the rest of the body collapsed into its separate parts on top of him. The hand remained intact and inside of him though. Sion placed his knee on Richter’s chest, pulling swiftly, and wrenched the skeletal fingers out of his friend’s shoulder. A large amount of blood and a few pieces of flesh came out as well. Richter could barely see straight as he reached into his pouch and drank one of the red potions he had taken from the goblin chief in the fight that already seemed so long ago. He triggered the healing ring as well. The pain began to lessen but his health did not seem to recover as quickly as it should. He saw a symbol in the shape of a red tear drop at the corner of his vision. Focusing on he it saw:

You are bleeding. You will lose three health per second for the next fourteen seconds.

Well that explains that. Sion handed him a few healing herbs and he stuffed all three into his mouth chewing, trying to ignore the bitter flavor. He swallowed them all as quickly as possible. It seemed the potion and herbs would work in conjunction allowing for increased health regeneration over a period of time. For the next few minutes Richter sat in pain waiting for his wounds to heal. Sion stood nearby staring at the tall black doors at the end of the hall, but no further enemies appeared.

“Futen.”

“Yes, my Lord.”

“Are we going to run out of time? Will the skeletons that we have killed come back if we don’t move fast enough?”

“No, my Lord. Some dungeons are indeed bound with a power that brings back any vanquished enemies quickly, but this dungeon is fixed. Unless you leave the dungeon for a prolonged period, slain enemies will not reappear. I cannot give any assurance of new enemies wandering in, however.”

“Do you mean more skeletons could be coming from outside,” Richter asked with alarm in his voice.

“Yes, my Lord. I have been scanning for enemies as instructed however, and have detected no hostile creatures other than the skeletons you have encountered.”

Not fully reassured, he tried for a bit of levity. “You seem to make a habit of jumping onto enemy’s backs, buddy,” Richter said.

“Only because you seem to be making a habit of lying on your back with big things on top of you. You should stop that. It’s no way to find love,” Sion replied, a cocky grin spreading across his face.

“Shut up! I’m still healing,” Richter groaned.

Despite suffering not only wounds, but also Sion’s twisted humor, there was a bright side to the fight. Upon the death of the warriors Richter was awarded with:

TRING!

You have reached level 7! Through hard work you have moved forward along your path. As a Chaos Seed you gain 6 points to distribute to characteristics instead of the usual 4. You also get 25% advancement to the skill of your choice! Crush your enemies, honor your allies, LIVE!

Congratulations! You have reached skill level 3 in Imbue Arrow. +5% damage. +5% speed of mana flow.

Richter wasted no time and allocated the necessary points needed to use the charm spell. Two points went into Intelligence, two into Charisma and the last two he placed into Dexterity. The increased attack speed of the sprite could not be underestimated. His 25% proficiency increase he held off on as none of his skills was far enough along to level.

Richter pulled out the spell book. The blurry lines that were on the page the last time he had looked at it resolved into clear text. He began to read and quickly finished the first page. The next page turned of its own volition. After he read it the process repeated. This happened faster and faster until the turning pages were a breeze on his face. With the last page done, the book slammed shut and crumpled to dust.

Congratulations! You have learned the spell: Charm! You can convince a target that they hold you in the highest regard. If cast on an enemy during battle they will fight for you. Casting this upon a creature lowers their regard for you after the spell wears off. This is a spell of Life. Cost 60 mana. Duration: 1 hour. Range: 20 feet. Cast Time: 1 second. Cooldown: 10 minutes.

Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Life Magic.

His wound closed while he learned the spell. Richter stood and looked at the black doors. It was time to finish this.

“Can you scout what’s inside Futen?”

“No, my Lord, not until the door is opened.”

“Well then, no point waiting around. Let’s do what we came for! Futen, as soon as we open the door, illuminate the room, and find any traps as quickly as possible. Sion, kill stuff,” Richter said, getting a vicious smile in return from his Companion.

Striding to the end of the chamber, Richter flung open the doors and moved inside. Futen lit the room, hovering above their heads. A black altar was in the middle of the room. A skeleton stood behind it wearing black robes and holding a long staff. The staff appeared to be one large bone. It was at least five feet long, and was blue in color. The top of it had spider web cracks that were black in color. Small spheres of black light shone in the center of the skeletons eye sockets leaving no doubt that it was staring directly at them. It was flanked by two skeletal warriors both holding great swords. Next to the priest though, was the show stopper. A grayish humanoid creature sat on haunches wearing tattered rags as a loincloth. It had weeping skin and festering sores. The stench coming off of it was horrible and overwhelming. It looked up at them with animal-like intelligence, arching its back as it prepared to leap.

“A ghoul,” Sion shouted.

The robed skeleton waved its hand, and the doors slammed shut with an ominous boom, locking them in.

Then Richter heard something even more disturbing from his Companion.

“Fuck my life!”