The Guild Core: The Complete Saga Boxset: A LitRPG Dungeon Adventure

by TJ Reynolds

  Shaking the man’s hand, Rhona stood and walked him to the door. When he was gone, she returned to Miss Colmer and thanked her for all of her kindness. She caught a glimpse of the boy peeking out from the kitchens and fished out a silver. “Please, give this to the lad. I gave him a scare he didn’t deserve.”

  Miss Colmer took the coin agreeably, and asked, “But won’t you be having another bath, dear? You smell more like a horse than a maiden.”

  Rhona flashed her teeth and clapped the woman on the arm. “No ma’am. Where I’m headed, horse stench will make a fine perfume.”

  Rhona retrieved her gear from her small room and left the key on the counter, bidding the innkeeper and the inn farewell. She found Honor already finished with his own breakfast and noted he appeared well recovered for having had only a single day’s rest.

  She saddled him, spent a few minutes adjusting his load, then led the beast out into the main road. Rather than mount up, she thought she’d walk for a bit. Her head still throbbed subtly and riding would only make matters worse.

  A few of the townsfolk cast her outlandish glares, though a few more chuckled when they saw her and waved. Rhona had apparently done fine work to have won over half the town and ostracized the rest in a single night. Before she made it all the way out of town though, she saw the tall young man from the night before.

  He wore a coat of rusted mail, with an iron helm wedged tightly on his head. At first, Rhona hadn’t recognized him, but the young man’s size and the loathing pouring from his eyes jogged her memory. Roarke was big. Well over six feet tall and perhaps still growing. He held a long sword in his hand, and even as Rhona watched, he turned and hacked savagely at a wooden dummy. Little skill was displayed, but savagery, she knew, was often enough where violence was concerned.

  A part of Rhona wanted to cross over to him and explain, to apologize and mollify his rage. Yet watching his continued bludgeoning of the practice target told her that such a desire, though well intentioned, was pure folly. No, best I could do now is move on and pray to Briga that his passion cools in the breeze.

  Turning onto the main road that exited town, Rhona felt her body relax. At least she wouldn’t come to blows with Roarke. With the day ahead of her, she planned on taking her travel at an easy pace. Sure, she strove to save a kingdom, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy the scenery.

  As the buildings grew further apart and she neared the edge of town, she spied the figure of an old man standing beneath an altar to Briga, Yugos, and Andag. She smiled politely to him, but when she went to move on, she noticed his eyes followed after her.

  “Hello, grandfather! It’s a nice day, isn’t it?” she called out, hoping to ease the sudden tension.

  His ancient face pulled up into a broad smile. He lifted one hand up and hailed her formally. “Greetings, daughter of Drystan, Destroyer of the nine eggs of Yorren.”

  Rhona’s arms and legs were suddenly covered in goose flesh. “How’s it you know my father’s name, and what’s this about nine eggs?”

  “Yorren was one of the greatest of the dragons, and had a clutch of nine eggs. She was destroyed, along with her offspring, at the end of the war. Your father holds the weight of their deaths in his heart, just as he holds the weight of another buried in the palm of his hand.”

  When she neared, she saw the white whorls of cataracts in his eyes. Another blind man! First the dream, then the farmer on the road, and now this! She shook the growing questions from her mind and simply asked, “Who are you?”

  The old man’s smile didn’t falter for a moment. He answered, “I am Jakodi, a wizard and humble servant of the gods. It’s a pleasure to meet you, servant of Sheerda.” When he finished, the old man bowed deeply.

  Rhona’s mouth worked, unable, like her brain, to wrap around any of the questions that plagued her. She settled on one, almost at random. “What do you know of Sheerda?”

  “She is your master. Sheerda is the 8th, goddess of time itself.”

  The hairs on the back of her neck rose, and a fire of anger ignited in her belly. “The 8th? I don’t know you, Jakodi, nor do I think I wish to.” Rhona clenched her fists a few moments, confusion and anger crowding her mind.

  Rather than respond, the wizard only observed her serenely. It was disturbing and infuriating all at once.

  I don’t shivving need this, she resolved and threw her leg over Honor’s back.

  Ignoring the old man and the shrine he stood upon, she spurred her horse into a gallop, eager to be away from this town, away from people, and away from the man’s knowing smile.

  Honor’s whinny, indignant perhaps of their sudden change of pace, played at the edges of her rampant thoughts. She didn’t slow their progress, though. For she needed the roaring wind in her ears, needed it to push against the blowing storm within.

  30

  Lessons in Limitations

  Kai

  Kai woke shivering from a damp cold, and he knew at once that he’d fallen ill. Little wonder, after being doused both in swamp water and the liquid offal of a Miremog before sleeping exposed to the elements.

  The sun was still a ways off and he wanted nothing more than to build a fire and warm himself. Though he had a tinder box in his kit, what fuel there was that might catch a spark in the depths of the swamp was beyond his reckoning.

  Looking around, he saw Ban jabbing a long stick into the depths of a nearby pool. “You okay, then?” Kai asked, and the gargat spun, eyes wild with joy.

  “You’re up! Ah, finally, you were sleeping like the dead, my friend.” Ban stopped and squinted his bulbous eyes a moment, taking in Kai’s face. “And you’re sick. That isn’t good. Gads, if I’d only thought to summon a bit of fever tea before we left. Would have been wise, but to be frank, I’d forgotten it existed until now. Seeing a need really jogs one’s mind.”

  “Yes, I can see how that might work. Well,” Kai sniffled, “I can at least cast my healing spell. It will heal my wounds, if not cure the fever.”

  Kai stood and cleared his mind, then tugged at the reservoir of ether within. Sixty seconds ticked by as his body filled with Briga’s blessing, and then the spell released to flood his limbs with relief. Yet something was different this time. His fever, likely due to being drenched in the Miremog’s poison, fought against the healing power.

  A bit of the pain he felt and some of his bruises subsided, but Restoring Tide had mostly failed.

  Cursing his bad luck and the waste of ether, Kai shrugged to his companion. Waiting around wouldn’t improve anything.

  “Onward then? We could turn back and wait until you recover your strength, though,” Ban offered, but Kai shook his head.

  “No, we’ve come too far. And by the look of the map, the dungeon shouldn’t be far from here. By my estimates, maybe ten miles.”

  Ban considered, scratching his chin in a way that made Kai smile. He normally couldn’t enjoy watching Ban think. Seeing his dungeon tucked away in his champion’s body was quite another thing. “I think you might be right, but it is old and maps are never perfect. Might be closer or a good deal further in.” He peered up at Kai, worry creasing his gray wrinkly face. “Are you sure you can continue?”

  Kai nodded resolutely and stood up. He spent several minutes slapping blood into his arms and legs, and soon, his shivering ceased. Visions of his warm hearth haunted him, but the young man’s resolve firmed. If they could reach another dungeon and repair it, they could recover and rely on the conveniences found there.

  Shouldering his pack, Kai sighed, ignoring the aches in his body, the bruises and broken skin from the previous day’s battles. “No time like the present, Ban. Let’s grease the pig!”

  Ban’s head twisted to one side, a look of confusion on his face. “Grease a pig?”

  “You know, grease the pig. It means,” Kai frowned, “let’s start the thing we’re on about.”

  “Barbarism! Such an odd expression. Surely you don’t mean humans scamper after swine for fun. Or i
s this some rite of passage?”

  Kai laughed, a bit of his weariness fading. “Yes, we do think it’s fun, at least some of us do. Not a rite of passage, but it’s a riot to see it happen.”

  “A more civilized expression you might use would be ‘it’s time to trim the manticore’,” his dungeon’s champion sniffed. “Feel free to use it. Might avoid some embarrassment should we happen upon more civilized company.”

  “Trim the manticore?” Kai exclaimed, his mood lifting along with the sun. “Nobody says that,” he scoffed.

  Ban stopped walking and frowned at Kai. His massive cat eyes sulked, and it made Kai laugh again. He apologized, and they fell into a steady pace.

  Throughout the day, Kai had to stop to rest many times. A light fever pulsed through his body, and when they discussed it, Ban felt it was most likely due to the Miremog’s fluids that had covered him head to toe. Just so, when Kai removed his shirt to take a look at the cuts he’d received, he found them red and puffy.

  Ban apologized many times, blaming himself for not thinking to pack any medicine. But Kai dismissed the Earth Core’s qualms, noting that they were peers in this adventure, and they would both need to think their preparations through more thoroughly in the future.

  Occasional bouts with Bullies and Midgelings slowed them further, while a new creature presented itself as another threat. Walking next to a fairly deep pool, Kai was attacked by a strange fish. It sprang from the water, its jaws stretched wide. Thankfully, it wasn’t particularly fast, and Kai managed to bat it out of the air with his glaive and killed it soon after.

  Ban recalled the beasts were named Skip Koi, and that some grew much larger, big enough to eat a man. Those were further south, he claimed, in the brackish waters near the ocean.

  Kai took the Progression offered with each battle and was pleased to see that his progress to Amber 3 was well underway.

  When he’d been grinding in the dungeon, each fight had become less difficult the more powerful he grew. Simultaneously, the creatures offered less Progression from being killed. Out here, the beasts’ strengths differed, and there always seemed to be new challenges.

  By the time they stopped for lunch, Kai was halfway to his next level.

  To make things more gratifying, Ban was absorbing Progression as well, and notified the young man that his Earth Core was at last able to level up along with him.

  “Ban, I was wondering about how you gain Progression slowly over time, but much faster by killing things. Is there no other way?” Kai asked, curious to know how his friend might progress more quickly.

  “Only one other way. I can convert ether and Advanced Material into Progression, though it takes an incredible amount of resources to do so. It isn’t very efficient, but much better than just waiting around when there is no other course of action.”

  Kai’s mind spun at the proximity of their next ascension. It was but an arm’s length away. “I can’t wait till we’re both Golden ascended. Then we will gain our elemental affinity. That has to be a good thing.”

  “From all accounts, it is, Kai. I’m excited too.” His friend grinned.

  Belly stuffed and warmed at last by the sun, Kai napped. When he woke, however, his condition had worsened. His nose ran and sweat beaded his forehead. Again, he tried his Restoring Tide spell, but it only alleviated the least of his discomforts.

  “You don’t look well, Kai. I’m worried about you. I’d really like to turn back if it’s alright with you. I shudder to think of what may lie ahead. What if we happen upon another Miremog or something worse?” Ban questioned, anxiety furrowing his brow.

  “What if we happen upon one on the way back?” Kai countered. “No. Let’s just find the dungeon, heal it, and ask it for a nice fire to sleep beside. Who knows what remedies it might remember? It was a bigger and older dungeon than you, right?”

  Ban nodded, the thought calming him noticeably. “Yes, by quite a margin. I think it was over a hundred years old, though I don’t know how powerful it grew. Yorick told me its dragon died well before the war began. Skirmishes between the kingdoms have been common after all.”

  “Surely an Earth Core so old must have immense stores of knowledge, even if its memory is as fragmented as your own,” Kai encouraged. “Let’s go on, Ban. We’re close, I feel it.”

  And Kai meant it.

  The further they traveled into the swamps, the more it felt as if the air itself was thick with ether. Like he had felt when Kai had first approached Ban’s dungeon not so long ago, the ether had a warped, electric feel to it.

  The light grew weaker as the sun fell, and in the mists of the swamp, the sunset came early. A terrible crimson display filled the western sky, a setting so dramatic it felt like a premonition. Despite Ban reminding him it was a normal occurrence this deep in the swamps, Kai grew fearful as night approached.

  They continued to squish their way along meandering paths of mud and moss, and were debating if and when they should stop. Kai somehow knew that if he slept again in the wet of the swamp, he would not have the strength to continue the following morning. Ban pointed out that he was nearly at that point already. Kai wanted to argue, but his limbs quaked subtly, his clothes sodden with his sweat.

  Another problem bothered them. Their supply of water was almost gone. Thankfully, Ban could drink from the swamp itself and not fear disease. His gargat body was strong and resilient. He even said he enjoyed the taste, it reminded him of loam. Kai was a bit confused by this revelation and Ban launched into a monologue on the various tastes of sediments, rock and gemstones.

  Then a shrill call, distant and faint, yet undeniable, caught the travelers’ attention.

  “Did you…” Kai whispered, but he fell silent. They listened intently. For several minutes they heard nothing until the dragonling wondered if fatigue hadn’t fabricated the noise in his mind.

  Kai looked to his companion and made to speak when they heard it again, this time extended and broken up, as if some beast was holding back a fit of laughter.

  The possibilities of bandits, goblins, and spirits all sprang to mind, but Kai suppressed his anxiety. It could be aid, after all.

  We need to see who they are, Kai called to Ban in his head.

  The gargat landed beside Kai, his wings folding up on his back. The beast’s features remained anxious. Still speaking in the seclusion of their shared mind space, Ban said, We can take a look, but something feels wrong. We are very close to the dungeon’s entrance, and normally, the unstable ether given off by a shivvered dungeon drives creatures away. There shouldn’t be anything here. Whatever those things are, I don’t think they will be happy to see us.

  Understood. Let me set down my pack, and then we can try to get close enough to see what we’re facing. Kai shrugged off his pack, sighing at the sudden relief.

  A shiver passed through him again, bringing his awareness to the fact that his body would soon fail him. He told himself that after they scouted out this new threat, he would endeavor to find some place, any place, to rest for the night in the hopes of recovering his strength, even marginally.

  Ban walked behind him, a subtle shadow who made far less noise than he did. Kai tried to emulate the gargat and wondered how much increasing his Dexterity might allow him to move more quietly. There must be skills for this, or a class, he surmised, thinking of the rogues and rangers he’d heard tell of in stories. He’d have to hope for a Spell Scale that could help. His shadow spell could help, in a way, but its cost seemed too high at the moment.

  The King’s army had little use for such types in its ranks, but supposedly, special and even elite units were made of other classes. Kai simply hadn’t met any.

  As he moved through the muck of the swamp, Kai lifted his feet carefully, trying not to let them squelch so loudly with each footfall. His body ached with the efforts of the day, and a fever raged within him, alternately hot and cold.

  Ahead, he saw a thickening veil of fog. Within it, the frail architecture of twiste
d trees emerged. To Kai’s surprise, some of these still bore actual leaves. Somehow, this grove survived amid the fetid poisons of the Mirin Swamps. More of the tall shoots of reeds shot up, some coming as high as Kai’s chest. Beyond, he saw a pale-blue glow emanating from the ground. It was subtle, but with the light of day failing more with each passing minute, the blue aura became pervasive.

  Flitting forms wove through the mists ahead. Kai couldn’t make them out in the slightest, just saw that they were swift and sleek. He thought of tales he’d heard, of nymphs and fae folk dancing in the mountain glades, stories his aunt had told him when he was a child. These shadows didn’t seem so fair.

  They were black, lithe, and teeming with energy.

  Kai stopped at a tree on the edge of the grove and leaned heavily against it. He squinted to get a better look at the creatures ahead, hearing the odd growl and hiss from further in the patch of trees. I can’t see much, Ban. What do you think they are?

  I don’t know, Kai, but I think it best we not tempt our luck much further. Shall we not retreat a ways and find some semblance of shelter?

  Staring into Ban’s subtly glowing eyes, Kai agreed. How many of these creatures they faced, whether they were friendly or spiteful, and how powerful they might be were questions that required answers, but not right at the moment. Considering his rapidly deteriorating physical state, Kai preferred to learn these truths and face the quandaries they might bring in the morning.

  Yes, you’re right, of course. The wiry trunk of the tree that supported his weight shook as a tremor ran through his frame. Let’s head back the way we came a mile or so and find some bush to lie upon.

  Kai turned to go, making every movement as silent as he could. It wouldn’t do to be found out now. Hearing the queer noises of the beasts behind him made his stomach twist, but there was nothing to do about it but hurry quietly along.

  He passed around a broad lump of reeds, a single tree protruding from its center, and allowed himself to at last stand to his full height. His back and aching legs were grateful for the small relief. But as soon as he sighed at the momentary respite, thinking himself a safe enough distance from the grove to relax, he heard a deep-throated thrum—almost like a great cat purring out a question.