The Land: Forging (Chaos Seeds Book 2) (39 page)

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,
bascially
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 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 lay back
down
while Daniella stood guard over them. Richter closed his eyes, his last sight was of her smiling down at Sion.

After Yoshi awoke
, they discussed their plan of attack. Richter also took the time to learn the Fire spell. Once they had agreed on the roles they would play, they wasted no more time walking to the large black doorway. Richter restocked his ally’s quivers from Bag of Holding. They all applied the Basic Life Oil to their weapons, including the arrow heads. Then they cast whatever buffs they could. Even Alma cast
Haste
and zipped through the air above their heads. Last, they all drank a Potion of Clarity. It was time.

Sion, Daniella,
and Richter situated themselves ten yards back from the doorway, the maximum distance the configuration of the rooms allowed for them to still have clear shots. They drew their arrow and began to Imbue. Sion and Daniella’s arrows took on a blue aura that grew brighter and more intense as they poured in more mana. The glow around Richter’s arrow began as a warm golden glow. It didn’t stay that way for long, however. For some
reason that Sion couldn’t explain,
as he invested more mana into the arrow, black streaks began to play over the gold aura. The streaks moved faster, and a barely perceptible hum filled the air. They were still within the boundaries of the village, so he used the village’s mana pool to power the arrow, leaving his personal mana stores relatively intact. The streaks of black were moving so fast that they gave the appearance of having stabilized into
a solid whirls over
the golden surface. Framed on either side by the bright blue glows of the sprites arrows, Richter poured mana into the arrow until it felt like it was vibrating off the string. He released. The sprites’ arrows fired right after his.

Daniella’s arrow struck the warrior on the left closest to the doorway. Richter shot the next one, and Sion’s arrow impacted the one after that. As soon as the arrows crossed the threshold, the
draugh
warriors came awake. The guards moved quickly, but not fast enough for the three warriors that had been targeted. All of the arrows struck their targets in the head, causing critical shots. All three collapsed to the ground. Richter stole half a second to check his combat log.

Richter shot Draugh Elite Guard for {[(Base damage from Recurve bow of the Wood Sprite (16) + damage from Sprite Arrows of Nature (1)) * Archery bonus (1.18) * Dexterity modifier (1.24) * basic life oil damage multiplier against Death creature (3)] + damage from imbued mana (228 * (0.12)} * critical strike multiplier from Recurve bow of the Wood Sprite (2.2) = 224.36 damage.

Not a bad opening salvo, he thought with a little smile. His target wasn’t dead yet, but it was well on its way. Then there was no more time for gloating. The four warriors on the right, and the remaining unscathed warrior on the
left had stepped down from their alcoves
and had already crossed half the distance to the black doorway at a run. This brought the
draugh
on the right closer together, which was exactly what Richter had been hoping would happen.

His arm shot forward as cast
Grease
, and they all collapsed into one another, unable to maintain their footing on the now slick surface. He had aimed his spell so that the tail edge of the 10x10 foot oily surface would appear in front of the guards, causing them to collapse into
the center of the spells AoE. Richter wasn’t done, though. He extended his other
hand and cast
Flame
. For as long as there had been
day there had been night, for as long as there had been internet there had been porn, and as long as there had been grease spells, there had been fire spells to burn sumbitches up!

A jet of flame shot from Richter’s hand and the slippery circle became a round
inferno. It would continue to burn for until the
thirty-second duration of Richter’s
Grease
spell elapsed. The draugh had been silent up unto that point, but if there was one thing all undead agreed upon, it was that they hated fire. Inhuman screams filled the air when the dried flesh of the
draugh
became like so much tinder. Despite the damage they were suffering, they weren’t out of the fight. They weren’t called elite guards for
nothing
.

All four got back to their feet and continued running forward weapons raised. One fell again, but the rest successfully kept their balance. Sion shot another with Stun shot, causing it to collapse back into the circle of flames. The other three kept
coming
though. Meanwhile, Daniella had been staggering her fire among the four on the left, but the one closest to the center had almost made its way out of the room. She wasn’t able to put much mana into each shot because her rate of fire. As soon as it crossed the
threshold, though, Yoshi was there to meet it.

This was no polite dance or formal duel. The
draugh
elite guard and the half-sprite warrior met blade to blade. Only one would survive the encounter. The
draugh
warrior had a hand and a half sword which it jabbed forward towards Yoshi’s chest. Yoshi caught the blade on one of his swords to parry. That looked like it had been the plan anyway, but he hadn’t
taken the draugh’s
immense strength into account. The blade continued forward, and it was only a quick move that allowed Yoshi to avoid being skewered.

When it became clear that he couldn’t parry the blade, in the split second he had left, the adept slapped his second blade against the draugh’s
sword as well. He contorted his
body
and braced against both swords to push himself to the side.
Though he avoided being maimed by the draugh’s
opening salvo, the undead’s sword still sliced into the outside of Yoshi’s right bicep. The adept hissed in pain as blood started to flow down his arm. He ducked quickly to avoid the
draugh’s followup stroke
and took a step back to reset a proper stance. Then his two quicksilver
swords flowed towards the draugh
again.

Sion used Stun Shot a second time, trying to catch another draugh
leaving the circle of fire. Unfortunately, the guard caught the arrow on its buckler. The attack wasn’t without cost. It consumed 35 stamina every time he used it. In a fight, depleting your stamina was as good as a death sentence. Sion switched back to firing imbued shots.

The three draugh that had escaped the
Grease
AoE,
were no longer on fire except in thumb nail sized spots here and there. The three enraged undead ran towards Richter. They were too close! He cast
Troubled Sleep
, but the draugh
guard shook off the effects of the spell. He immediately cast
Charm
on another. Gahhh, no effect! In desperation, Richter used a spell that he had never cast before,
Cloying Darkness
. A cone of thick billowing blackness shot from his hand. The good news was that all three were caught in the spell. Their movement and attack speed were reduced by 20% and they were momentarily blinded by the cone. The bad news was the spell only had a range of ten feet, which meant they were right on top of him!

As Sion and Daniella kept up a withering fire on the four draugh still in the room attempting to finish them off quickly, Yoshi’s battle with the lone draugh
continued. The sword adept had not made the same mistake of trying to match strength with his undead foe. He realized that the
draugh
could easily best him in that kind of contest. Thankfully, Yoshi’s prowess as a Warrior did not rely on brute force. At the start of the second exchange, he proceeded to systematically take the elite guard apart. He moved
into form
The Lady’s Fan Opens, which brought him to the monster’s right. Now on the outside of the
draugh’s
attack radius, he committed to the aggressive form Reaping Wheat, followed by the Crane’s Neck, which brought him up to full extension. The
draugh threw an elbow towards his face, but Yoshi had already moved into Setting Sun,
which flowed naturally into Scorpion’s Kiss. Each form morphed gracefully into the next, and each movement either scored a hit against the
draugh
or perfectly positioned him for another strike. The
draugh
may have beaten the half-human in raw power, but Yoshi more than made up for it in skill, speed, and grace.

The draugh
roared in anger as it took another swing at Yoshi. Yoshi having seen the shift in the undead’s
hips
was in motion before the sword had even moved. By the time the blade was in flight, Yoshi had executed the form The Orc’s Hammer. The
draugh’s
sword arm fell to the ground. Yoshi finished the battle with The Drunken Barber. One blade struck the
draugh’s
neck biting deeply and sliding free. His second sword finished the decapitation, and his foe’s body collapsed.

The second phase of Yoshi’s fight took 18.4 seconds.

Richter’s situation was not nearly as rosy. The th
ree draughs
’ disorientation was short lived. Even though the slowing effects of
Cloying Darkness
lasted ten minutes, the actual physical manifestation of the darkness began to dissipate after only one second and was completely gone after three. Richter had used the time to pull out his Life dagger and move far to the right. When the monsters brought their weapons down to strike, they found his former space empty. Their decreased speed coupled with the fact that Richter was hastened gave him an edge. He attacked the
draugh
closest to him. He struck low and his Life dagger cut deeply into the back of the
draugh’s
heel. Even though the
draugh
was undead, it couldn’t ignore anatomy. With it
Achilles
tendon severed, it was not able to support itself, and toppled to the ground. The other two turned to face him. One swung a buckler at his
face while the other swung its axe
horizontally. Richter hopped back and cast
Ice Dagger
. The spike of ice struck the left draugh in the shoulder. The damage caused was negligible, but the point of casting the spell wasn’t to cause
harm
. The purpose was to keep its attention on him, and not on Yoshi moving quickly up behind it. Alma helped by striking both draugh with a
psi blast
, staggering them.