Dungeons of the Crooked Mountains
Page 24
Unexpectedly, I was overcome with a desire to quickly get down there and slam the half-dead tangle of creatures with a Ram. I glanced into the harn’s eyes. These thoughts were clearly not mine... I wanted to tell him to buzz off... But suddenly stopped myself... It finally hit me...
“Hey, that’s right!” I exclaimed with a quavering voice, covering my mouth immediately.
The harn, paying no attention to my outburst, was hurrying over to the now motionless creatures. As he went, he was advising me on where best to cast spells and from what distance.
When I reached the scene of the fight, the monsters were still alive. The fish’s whiskers and the hog’s stomach were still moving, but very faintly. And there was so much blood! Not a sight for the faint of heart... There was something red and gray seeping out of the hog’s head. Its right eye had popped out, and a piece of bone was sticking out through its left eye socket. The eel’s slippery wet body, impaled on a tusk, had gone limp, lifeless. Guts were spilling out of its slit-open stomach. Somewhere in the intestines, I could vaguely make out the body of the coldune it killed a few hours earlier. I still could not understand — what made the eel attack? After all, it had just eaten... It had to be the predatory instinct the Great System granted it. That had a set of conditions, and they’d been met.
After a bit of thought, I activated Ram, sending the monsters flying a few steps back. I hit just the way the harn told me, almost point blank and right into the creatures’ heads. That got me a crit. The damage hit the eel the way it was supposed to. But the tusker’s defenses, though seriously harried, only let through four points of damage. That was enough though... Gorgie took care of the rest.
And just in time. I could hear shuffling from the darkness of the tunnel where the tusker came from, followed by scratching and impatient squealing. A pack of giant rats was coming, attracted by the smell of fresh blood.
Time to go...
I was already underway when I saw the trophy messages and swiped them into my archive without reading. A pack of scavengers that had caught the scent of a dead body was nothing to mess around with. Plus, I figured they wouldn’t be following us with such a mountain of meat right under their noses. They’d be more likely to take us for competitors.
The farther we got from the lake, the quieter everything became. As expected, the pack didn’t follow us. They must have stayed by the shore to feast.
Five hours later, the arrow led us into a gigantic cave with a huge number of cave worm burrows in the walls. This place reminded me of the gulper lair where Skorx’s valiant scouts left me to the hands of fate.
The harn picked out a burrow on the second level, and we climbed in and got set up for a night’s sleep. After a quick bite to eat, a meaty fangbloom stem, burning in impatience, I finally opened my now stale messages.
- You have killed Glitterspark Eel (17).
- Congratulations! You receive:
- Experience essence (3400).
- Gold tablet of Intellect.
- Silver tablet (5).
- You have killed Stonehide Tusker (25).
- Congratulations! You receive:
- Experience essence (5000).
- Silver tablet (10).
- Attention! The Higher Powers noticed you! You have replicated the legendary feat of Espen the Magister! You defeated a creature more than 15 levels higher than you with only minimal spell damage!
- Congratulations! You receive:
- Experience essence (3000).
- Iridescent tablet “Glitterspark Eel” (1).
After reading the last message, I closed my eyes and slowly fell back onto the sleeping Gorgie’s warm side.
Yes! There we go! Another one!
Feeling jubilant, my hands shaking, I take the pearlescent slab from my knapsack. The back has a holographic image of a glitterspark eel on the attack.
- Iridescent Tablet “Glitterspark Eel.”
- Effect:
- Unlocks 1 characteristic of your choice from Glitterspark Eel.
- Unlocks 1 skill or ability of your choice from Glitterspark Eel.
- Unlocks 1 spell of your choice from Glitterspark Eel.
- +10 to any characteristic/skill/profession/spell.
- Weight: None. Takes no space.
Swiping past the characteristics and skills, my heart aflutter, I open the spell section.
- Glitterspark Eel’s chain lightning.
- Level: 0 (0/20).
- Type: Spell.
- Rarity: Epic.
- Description:
- Using magic, glitterspark eels can shoot a bolt of electricity, which immobilizes their target, ignoring all physical and magical defense, then jumps to another target. This spell does no damage.
- Effect:
- Immobilizes an enemy and nearby ally for 15 seconds.
- Requirements:
- Intellect — 7.
- Expends 80 mana.
- Note:
- Cooldown time: 2 minutes.
- Range: 15 ft.
- Nearby ally range: 3 ft.
Chapter 19
AFTER LOOKING through the eel’s skills and abilities, I closed the last description in disappointment. They were all anatomically incompatible. Too bad...
Of the magical characteristics, apart from Intellect, I could also unlock Wisdom, which governed mana regeneration speed. But I wasn’t feeling decisive enough to invest ten whole points in it. In the end, I settled on Health. It was time to bring up my life supply.
- Attention! You have unlocked the Health characteristic!
- Attention! Your life supply has increased to 110 points.
And that was pretty much it. Now to deal with Gorgie. For killing the eel and tusker, he earned six thousand experience and just one point of Strength and Endurance.
Once again, I’m convinced of my own uniqueness. My level zero definitely gives a colossal advantage over other creatures in terms of loot. Beyond that, with all this digging through the harn’s characteristics, I somehow started to forget about my own. In the end, what was there to even look at? I didn’t have enough data — before you can even count to two, you’ve read through everything... I increased my life supply and took another look — it was just the same little numbers from my artifacts... Plus ten in Intellect and Health... But then, out of the corner of my eye, I caught a discrepancy. And when I realized what I was seeing, I couldn’t believe my eyes. How had I not seen this before?! My Intellect and Health both had no ceiling! More tricks of the Malevolent Bug? Or had the Great System taken pity on its unfortunate freak and decided to grant me some mercy? But regardless of whether a curse or blessing — in my position — it gave me an ideal way to survive... Honestly, there was one big fat minus — you can’t just find iridescents lying around on the ground...
Shockingly the harn, who had been sleeping fast until then, sensed that I was about to start giving him silver tablets. He woke up and started singing the same old song about increasing his damage.
This time we found something of a middle ground. The fifteen tablets were enough to hit the ceiling in both Bite and Paw Swipe. The remaining four I set into Endurance.
Gorgie licked my cheek in gratitude and closed his eyes again. Time for me to get to bed, too. Before I lay my head down to sleep, I looked carefully at my pet, trying to find scratches or other wounds. Not finding anything, I breathed a sigh of relief. And by the way, he’d grown a bit... He was broader at the shoulder. His claws and fangs were slightly larger and had changed color as well. So, tablets change my harn, make him stronger and more dangerous. Curling up next to his warm armored side, I closed my eyes, smiling. The fun is just getting started!
* * *
Over the next day, we found a further three of the mysterious markers. That proved only one thing — we were getting close.
In that time, we managed to catch just one fangbloom. So the harn had to shift to a plant-based diet. It seemed I could sense his anger with all of my being.
It was such a surprise I didn’t even have time to get scared... And when I realized what was going on, I took a sigh of disappointment and sat down on the ground.
“Is this it?!” I shouted in a burst of anger, addressing the unseen forces. “All these days underway right out the window?!”
“Hrn,” Gorgie called right back.
“Sorry, buddy...” not opening an eye, I apologized. “It’s not you...”
“Hrn,” the cat repeated, this time with some distress.
“As I said...”
“Hrn!” Gorgie interrupted with a demanding growl.
I raised my head and froze... My pet was standing at the far wall of the cave and behind his back was the frame of a huge stone door.
All my anger blew away in an instant. I was next to the door faster than I could think. Hm... Up close they were more like gates... How didn’t I notice such a huge object right away?! I’d bet my right hand there was no door when we came into the cave! Sure as fate, there was wizardry involved...
Under a small, expertly carved stone ring, instead of any lock, I saw a small impression with familiar lines inside — two fishing hooks.
I extend my hand as usual. The sign didn’t mislead. It accepted it’s “blood tribute” and a moment later gave a positive verdict.
As soon as that happened, the door begrudgingly lit up a dim shade of blue, making me take a step back in surprise.
My initial fear passed and I again came nearer the shimmering archway. The stone gates had seemingly disappeared... They turned transparent... I carefully extended my right arm and tried to touch the clear surface. But my fingers couldn’t feel anything and passed through the ephemeral gates as if they were made of smoke...
I glanced at the harn. Much to my surprise, the cat was completely calm, even slightly impatient.
“What do you say?” I asked. “Keep going?”
“Hrn,” Gorgie answered affirmatively.
“Then let’s go!” I said firmly and took my first step.
As soon as we got past the door, the dim blue glow disappeared and the door turned back to stone. With a shudder of surprise, I took a step back toward the door. But when I saw a carving of the symbol, I exhaled with relief. That means we’ll always have a way out.
Leaving the door behind, I turned. Beyond the magical barrier, there was a fairly wide and high corridor. Clearly not of natural origin. Approximately every ten feet, there were stone hooks in the walls for torches or lamps. Though truth be told, there were neither torches nor lamps. Even the hooks themselves were mere contours. Everything was overgrown with the omnipresent glowing moss.
Hmm... Based on the layer of dust on the floor and lack of any tracks, no one had visited this place in a very long time. By the way, the harn immediately confirmed my guess. His animal instinct gave me the all clear... Taking careful steps, we walked forward...
It felt like the forking corridor was gradually leading us downward. I counted three hundred fifty paces before it came to an end. And the thing I saw at the end of the tunnel made my heart beat even faster.
We were standing on a wide ledge on the top of a gigantic cliff and below us was... Hm... The first association that sprang to mind was of a glass snow globe, a popular children’s toy in Orchus. A glass sphere filled with water, they generally had little animals, houses or ship figurines on the bottom and shaking the ball would cause a blizzard of glittery little snowflakes...
I got the impression that we were now inside a toy just like that. But in our case, the sphere was a gargantuan cave with a small village or more like little city on the bottom. Based on the lack of lights in the homes or smoke coming from the chimneys, this little “toy” wasn’t exactly as festive as normal...
“Hmm...” I whispered, struck. “Skorx and Crum’s friend were both wrong... This is clearly more than a temple of the Ancients.”
Tearing myself from the grand spectacle with difficulty, I glanced at Gorgie.
“Well, brother, what now? Wanna go down?”
“Hrn,” the cat answered positively and we headed toward the right wall. There on a gentle slope, I could see the next ledge, and beyond it another but lower, then another and another... Something like gigantic natural stairs...
It felt like it took no more than an hour to go down... And thankfully midway, the ledges were replaced with regular stone stairs carved right into the cliffside. I’m afraid to even imagine how much effort the ancient craftsmen needed to make them all...
Then there was a cobblestone path that led right from the stairs to the city. Like a huge stone snake, it wound between the sharp outcroppings of rock that dotted the ground at the bottom. After two hundred paces, I realized they weren’t mere outcroppings but gigantic stalactites that had fallen from the cave ceiling. And it just so happened that one was lying right in the middle of the road.
I got the feeling that someone or something was watching us after we walked through the wide-open city gates. For the record, the gates themselves and all the buildings had long since overgrown with the omnipresent green moss. The natives, whoever they were, must have abandoned this place a long time ago. If not for the persistent feeling I was being watched, I would be confident in declaring this city long dead.
Based on the harn’s senses, our unseen observer was not aggressive, and was behaving timidly and cautiously. But despite that, Gorgie was prepared to deflect an attack at any moment.
So accompanied by the mysterious local, probably some little animal, we went further into the little town. Walking the dead, deserted streets between the very old homes and their ghosts made my skin crawl. If not for the harn, I’d have never stuck my nose in here.
The local architecture was noticeably different from that in Orchus. I got the impression that all the buildings were once huge boulders and the doors, windows and livings spaces had been carved into them by the very same craftsmen that made the stairs in the cliffside.
I wasn’t feeling brave enough to go into any of the homes. I just glanced into the windows cautiously from time to time. And I didn’t much like what I saw inside. Dust and desertion all around. No furniture, no dishes, no things... Empty... Although if I went looking, I’m sure I’d find something... Maybe something useful.
Eventually, the wide street brought us to the central square. Unfortunately, all the buildings nearby had been destroyed by stalactites. Curious that the locals weren’t afraid to build their city in such a dangerous location. Did they perhaps have an ace up their sleeve like defensive magic?
After some time strolling the empty streets and not finding a thing other than decay, dust and fragments of stone, we came to the conclusion that it was time to find somewhere to spend the night. Just get some rest and make a more careful survey tomorrow. Maybe we’d be able to find something of value... There must have been a reason we spent so long getting here, risking our lives every step of the way.
We decided to spend the night in the interior courtyard of a small two-story building which was not far from the central square. The building itself and the thick stone walls around the yard were in some way reminiscent of a small fortress. Just about like all the buildings near the center. By the looks of things, this was where the more well-to-do townsfolk lived. The deciding factor in our choice of resting place was a small well in the middle of one of the yards, which by some miracle hadn’t run dry like the neighboring ones.
We opted to stay out of the building itself. It looks sturdy still but who knows... Better not take the risk...
Activating lair, we ate some fangbloom stems, drank our fill from the well and went to sleep with our minds at ease...
But alas, we were not able to sleep a full night... A howl rolled through the village. Bone chilling, penetrating all the way to the marrow in fact...
Oddly enough... If I heard that howl in my first few days
in the caverns, I’m sure I’d have shit myself. But now, I had a more or less calm appraisal of the new threat... Well not exactly... I was feeling something like anticipation... Or perhaps the thrill of the hunt... But I think the main reason is my armored pet. Our spiritual connection had become too strong. Sometimes I can’t even quite tell our thoughts and feelings apart.
“What do you think?” I whispered into the harn’s ear when we’d made it to a small hole in the fence. The home we were staying by was on a slight elevation so we had a good view of the central square and all nearby streets.
“Alone. Strange,” came the harn’s answer.