by Edward Brody
Adeelee began running towards them to engage in close combat.
“Careful, Adeelee!” I yelled to her. I knew she would be fine, but the feeling of standing back and fighting at range, rather than fighting directly beside her made me feel more worried for her.
She ignored me and seemed to run even faster at the sound of my voice.
I sent Fireblasts at the gnolls while Liam continued to cast more ice spells, and Adeelee jumped from gnoll to gnoll, slicing them violently with her sword. Only one of the attackers managed to maintain its footing enough to fight back, but Adeelee blocked its axe attacks with her sword. When the same gnoll took a Fireblast to the side of its abdomen, it wailed, grabbed its wound, and made no sort of defensive maneuvers as Adeelee lifted her sword and sliced it across the neck.
After another few blasts of magic, Liam and I rushed in with Adeelee to help finish off the gnolls, whacking the dying creatures with our staves while Adeelee twirled and stabbed them with her sword.
You have gained 3000 XP!
You have reached level 2 in Staves!
I scanned the area around us to make sure there were no more attackers, then leaned over to catch my breath. “Good work,” I mouthed between huffs.
Liam put away his staff and cracked his knuckles. “Not bad. Not bad. Especially you, my Princess.” He lifted his chin further up the path. “I’m sure there’s tougher creatures ahead. They always tend to put their weakest on the outskirts.”
I nodded, though I didn’t like his reference to Adeelee.
“A few rubies here,” Adeelee said as she stood up near one of the dead gnolls. She didn’t seem winded at all and had gone straight to looting.
I moved toward the first gnoll we had killed and started searching it, finding nothing but 115 gold. “A little gold. Nothing else.”
I noticed Liam loot one of the gnolls and drop a jewel and several coins in his bag, but he said nothing about what he had found. The fact annoyed me a bit, but I didn’t call him out on it. We hadn’t discussed any loot divvying rules, and he had called out dibs on whatever he found. I felt there was no reason to create any drama so soon into our adventure.
“Forward?” Liam asked.
“Let’s group in case things get harder,” I suggested. I willed invitations to both my companions.
Adeelee Vost has joined your party!
Liam Greatsky has joined your party!
I took a moment to inspect Liam’s stats before we continued further up the hill.
There were six other gnolls that we encountered on our way up, each in pairs, all the same level, and carrying axes like the first gnolls we encountered. We dispatched them quickly and sustained no damage during the fights.
Near the top of the hill, the ground flattened out, and there was a large cave with a wooden frame built around its mouth. Large paw prints were left in the dirt leading in and out of the cave, so we could only assume that was where the gnolls were originating from.
“The magic cache we’re looking for is likely somewhere in here,” Liam stated. He began rummaging in his bag and pulled out a basic torch.
I lifted my hand and cast Divine Sight on all three of us.
Liam smirked, grinned, and eyed me up and down. “I guess you do have your uses…”
I smirked back but didn’t reply.
Adeelee gripped her sword with both hands and held it out in front of her. “I’ll take the helm.” She raised a hand high in the air and cast Barkskin I on each of us, before starting for the cave opening.
Liam and I followed Adeelee into the cave, and it was no more than a few seconds in when we encountered another set of gnolls. They were posted on each side of the wall as if guarding the depths of the cave and immediately attacked as soon as they saw us. Like the gnolls outside, we made quick work of them.
Adeelee looted the bodies, finding only some gold, and we continued further into the cave.
The interior of the space was unremarkable, and I found myself wondering if we were actually in some sort of mine rather than a cave. There were saw no signs of mining equipment, but the walls were a soft brown dirt that looked like it had been worked, and there were no cave formations that I would expect to see in a natural structure. There were, however, pillars of wood pitched vertically in some spots to give the ceiling additional support, which suggested something man-made.
A few hundred meters past the first two gnolls was an open room with nothing but piles of dirt stacked randomly throughout. On the far wall were three separate openings leading further into the cave.
“Split up to check each path?” Liam suggested.
I shook my head. “The gnolls haven’t been difficult with the three of us, but it’s dangerous for any of us to go alone.”
“I can handle myself,” Liam said, confidently shaking his shoulders.
I gritted my teeth and swallowed, not sure if he was just being cocky or if he had more magic tricks up his sleeve that I didn’t know about. He seemed strong, but not strong enough to handle a group of the gnolls in a solo situation.
“I agree with Gunnar,” Adeelee said. “Let’s play it safe and stick together.”
Liam seemed to stare at Adeelee for several marked seconds before letting out an audible exhale. “Fine. We’ll do it the slow way then.” He turned back towards our forward options. “Shall we take path number one, two, or three?”
I pointed towards the first opening. “Let’s start with the one on the far left and work our way to the one on the right. Keep it simple.”
They both agreed, and we headed for the for the leftmost path—Adeelee at the lead with her sword readied in her hands.
Seeing her hold her sword gave me the itch to grab mine as well, but I was trying my best to stick to the magic-only goals that Eanos and Darion had given me and not engage in close range.
The path was narrow, winding, and empty. We continued down it for a couple minutes until we reached another room which appeared to be a both a dead end and a potential trap. It was circular, and jutting out of every end of the wall were sharp wooden spikes. The ground was the same flattened dirt as the rest of the cave, and immediately in the center of the room was a wooden treasure chest and tall lever rising out of the ground.
“This doesn’t look good,” I said.
“The treasure chest or the lever?” Liam asked.
“The room,” I answered.
“This could be what we’re looking for,” Liam said.
I glance to the ground. It looked solid and immobile—unlike what we had encountered in the strange room where we had found Vorporite—and there was no indication of any hidden traps or danger. The ceiling also showed no signs of being altered. The only off-putting thing about the room were all the spikes on the wall and the fact that there was an unguarded treasure chest in its center. It screamed “bait chest”.
“If one of us had telekinesis, perhaps we could activate the lever while standing out of the way,” Adeelee said.
Liam shook his head. “I use water magic only.”
I was pretty sure Adeelee already knew I couldn’t use telekinesis, so I didn’t remind her. “What about your vines?” I asked.
“I only have rooting vines,” Adeelee explained. “I can’t control them in such a way that they’d pull the lever.”
“Forget the lever,” Liam said. “I’m interested in what is inside that chest.” He began walking to the center of the room.
“Wait,” Adeelee said. “We need to make sure—“
“Prepare,” Liam said confidently. “Don’t worry about little old me.”
Adeelee and I looked at each other before taking a step back. Liam was strong and confident, but he was also reckless. He may have done a lot of dungeon dives, but in my short time in Eden’s Gate and experience playing games back on Earth, I knew how dangerous it could be to pull unknown levers and open random chests.
Liam kneeled in front of the chest and tried to open the lid. It didn’t budge. He rummaged in
his bag and fetched a lockpick, then attempted to pick the lock. His first pick broke in short order, and when his second attempt ended in another broken pick, he cursed and stood up. “I don’t suppose either of you have any lockpicks?”
I actually had a couple of lockpicks in my bag and a skeleton key, but I shook my head in denial. As much as I also wanted to know what was in the treasure chest, I had a bad feeling about the room and didn’t want to see any of us getting killed so soon into our journey. We could always come back to the room later if we had time.
Liam sighed when Adeelee said she had no picks. He looked down at the chest and rubbed his chin. “We’ll get to this eventually, that’s for sure.” He looked up and placed his hand on the lever.
“Wait—” I began to protest, but Liam had already given it a pull.
There was the sound of rusty gears turning and heavy metal clanking from somewhere in the distance. I heard a chattering noise, several gnoll cries, and then the sound of fast pawsteps pattering on the ground.
“Shit,” I cursed. I threw Liam the stink eye when he turned around.
“Get ready,” Adeelee said as the pawsteps group closer. “Sounds like they’re coming our way.”
Liam swallowed and smirked. “Wasn’t a trap.”
“Not a trap?” I questioned. “Alerting them that we’re here is a trap, I’d say.”
“We would’ve likely fought them anyway,” Liam said cockily.
“Stop bickering and get in position!” Adeelee tilted her head to the side as if allowing her ears to pick up more of the incoming sound.
Thunk.
A long spear flew into the room and landed right in front of Adeelee’s feet. As soon as I looked to it, I saw four more spears flying towards us.
We all instinctively ducked, and the additional spears stuck into the ground where they landed nearby.
Five gnolls hollered out their strange laughter-like noises as they rushed into the room, showing not the slightest bit of fear.
We all took several paces back, and Liam and I each started shooting magic at the gnolls. The newcomers, however, were wearing a thin, hard, metal armor across their chests, preventing our magic from doing little more than making them flinch when hit.
The gnolls grabbed their spears, yanked them off the ground, and lunged forward as soon as they were in range. Adeelee parried the blows of two of the spearmen with her sword, then launched a counterattack against them both.
The attackers managed to block.
Liam dodged an attack of a gnoll, then kneeled and swung his staff in a wide, sweeping motion, tipping over a gnoll that was attacking him on impact.
The other two gnolls were attacking me, and I used both the magic on-cast effect of my staff as well as several Arcane Missiles and Fireblasts to hold them back as far as possible. When they nearly closed in, I raised a Fire Curtain, which seemed especially damaging to them. They yelped on impact, and the uncovered portion of their dog-like limbs were singed black.
You have reached level 14 in Fire Magic!
As the gnolls struggled to deal with their burns, I took steps back and continued releasing Arcane Missiles and on-cast magic from my staff. It felt strange in a way, standing back and trying to keep my distance, as I was so used to diving in with my sword and using a combination of both physical and magic attacks. But I felt safer and more in control at range.
Vines rose from the ground, latching on to the ankles of the scorched gnolls, and in a flash, Adeelee was diving in behind them, slashing her sword across their backs. The gnolls screamed, but it took only one more swing and a stab from her before they both fell to the ground.
I looked to my side to see the two gnolls she was fighting earlier had been cut down, and the one that Liam had been fighting was lying on the ground with a pool of blood and water underneath it.
Even with five gnolls, we managed to dispatch them somewhat easily and suffered little to no damage.
“Good job, guys,” I said as I kneeled on both knees to both rest and meditate.
“You as well, mages,” Adeelee said as she started searching the dead gnolls.
“And you as well, my Princess.” Liam kneeled in front of the Princess, grabbed her by the fingers and pecked the top of her hand. “You’re a wonderful fighter.”
“Thank you,” Adeelee said again, blushing. She gently pulled her hand away and went back to looting.
It made me a bit jealous, especially the way that Adeelee was responding to him. She had never seemed so shy around me, so why was she acting like she was so into Liam? Were long-haired skinny guys just her type?
When my mana was full and I stood back up, Adeelee called out, “For you,” and flicked a golden ring in my direction. “From one of the gnolls.”
I caught the ring with both hands and admired the gold band with a tiny red gem embedded into the top of it.
You’ve received: Ring of Smoldering. Durability: 7/10. Quality: Average. Rarity: Rare. Weight: 0.1 kg. +20% Fire Magic damage.
“Nice!” I said with a wide smile. She may have been into Liam, but at least she considered me when sharing loot. “Anything else good?”
“There was another ring—dark magic,” Adeelee said, “and a few hundred gold.”
“Liam?” I asked.
Liam stood to his feet as if he had just finished meditating as well. “Nothing important.”
I wrinkled my nose and swallowed. “Perhaps we should establish some loot rules? Usually, we all share what we find with each other, but since you may not be interested in doing that automatically, rules might be in our best interest.”
“We usually?” Liam asked.
“Well, not you. But my friends and me. Even if we want to keep certain loot, we usually tell each other what we find in case someone else might be better suited.”
“Keep what you find, Gunnar,” Liam groaned. “I’ll keep what I find.”
I took a deep breath and couldn’t help but wonder why Liam was being so unfriendly. He was a strong mage, but a horrible companion to adventure with. I looked to Adeelee. “What do you think?”
Adeelee shrugged. “Whatever you two wish is fine with me.”
I gritted my teeth and made a snapping noise with my lips before saying, “Fine then.” I gave Liam my best death stare, but I’m sure it was ineffective, since he had bested me so easily in the duel earlier in the day. “I’m sure there’ll be plenty more loot to go around.”
I made a mental note to loot quickly after fights from then on.
Chapter Thirteen
2/10/0001
We backtracked away from the room with the spiked walls, then started down the second unvisited path.
Unlike the first route, this one had a long, winding hall that continued for some time. We walked uneventfully for ten minutes before the path began sloping downward gradually. After another two minutes of traveling lower, the path flattened out and branched both left and right.
Sticking to our plan of checking the leftmost paths first, we headed left but ran into a dead end that had nothing but a naked gnoll skeleton on the ground, its boney wrist still chained to a metal peg on the wall.
When we retraced our steps and went down the right side of the path, the hall suddenly became framed completely with wood. The ceiling and the walls were all covered in thick beams, and the ground appeared to have been purposely smoothed. From somewhere within, there was the rapid sound of the gnolls’ guttural laughter, almost like they were talking to each other. And when an inner breeze hit us, it carried the smell of something rotten and fishy.
The path came to a sharp left turn, and there was a light shining from a source somewhere around the corner. There were more gnoll noises, this time much louder. It sounded like five, or maybe six gnolls, all gossiping, perhaps, with their laughter sounds.
We all looked to each other, and Adeelee put her finger to her lips to make sure none of us made a sound. When we acknowledged her gesture, she crouched down into sneak mode and shuffle
d ahead of us until she could peek around the corner. After she had a good look, she crept back and whispered to us what she saw.
“I can’t see everything, but there’s at least six gnolls. There’s weapons on the wall, and they look a bit different than the others.”
“Level?” Liam asked.
“The one I inspected was level 25,” Adeelee answered.
Liam took a deep breath. “This might be quite a bit more troublesome. They’re significantly higher level than the other gnolls we’ve faced.”
“Snipe Shot?” Adeelee asked. She eyed me curiously then scanned me up and down. “I didn’t think to ask you ‘til now. Where’s your bow?”
“Gone,” I said. “My magic teachers want me to avoid using non-magic combat while I’m training.”
Adeelee raised an eyebrow. “Curious. But I suppose it makes sense that the Mages Guild would coach you in the quickest way to level your magic.”
Liam pooched his lips, and his eyebrows creased. “A mage needs to learn to fight without weapons, as a weapon may not always be available. But as far as using a Snipe Shot, I think—“
“No Snipe Shot,” I interrupted. “I’ll lob a Firebomb at them. If it doesn’t kill them, it should at least be enough to soften them up for more fighting.”
Adeelee raised her chin. “A Snipe Shot could take at least one down.”
“How about after?” I asked. “As soon as my magic hits, Snipe Shot anything that survives. That’ll be at least one more out of the mix if we succeed.”
“Not a bad idea,” Liam said. “Gunnar Firebombs, the elf Snipe Shots, and the lovely—“
“Adeelee,” I interrupted.
“What?” Liam asked.
“Her name is Adeelee.”
Liam paused, and I heard him exhale heavily through his nose. “You Firebomb, Adeelee Snipe Shots, and I’ll follow it up with my magic.”
