by Mason Roth
It felt good to get all of that off of her chest and made her feel closer to her party members. It was almost like Janelle had dropped her guard all together, even with Jeremy. And Jeremy seemed twice as determined to save everyone. She thought his white knight complex was really incredible, if not laughable. She looked at Ethan as he stood up and dusted himself off. Such a sweet boy, and if they didn't get out of here he's going to die. They had to help him. They just had to. But first they had to get out of this castle and back on to the Gilded Animus. They couldn't take on the Alpha without EXP or resources.
"Let's go." Janelle said, pulling on her leather gloves.
After the fight against the specter, the party moved through the castle smoothly. They defeated goblins and minotaurs, and sidestepped traps. They felt like they could take on anything.
It was with that confidence that they climbed the steps to the final chamber in the castle.
"The boss will be behind this door." Jeremy announced when they reached the top of the stairs. "This is it."
Janelle paused by the door. "Is everyone ready?"
"Let's take on this motherfucker!" Ethan exclaimed.
"Ethan!" Janelle hissed. "We may be in a fantasy world but I am still the boss of you, young man."
Ethan laughed sheepishly. "Sorry, sis."
"Okay," She said, hiding her own laughter. "Let's do this." She pushed open the door. They entered, following her lead. The room had to be located on one of the upper most spires of the castle. They had certainly climbed the stairs long enough for that to be true. The room had open portions that looked into the valley, and wooden beams and supports. It was almost as if it was unfinished and it contrasted sharply with the rest of the castle.
They walked through what seemed to be the rafters for several minutes, expecting something to come and jump out at them. Where was the drow? Where was his treasure? Had Cornelius lied? It wouldn't be the first time if that were the case. Piper looked up into the high ceiling covered with beams in frustration. Just as she was about to take a deep breath and continue on her way, she saw it. It was huge, and it was no drow. She almost missed it because the white color blended with the valley of Druin they could see from the open-air spaces. But she had caught it and now stood frozen in terror. A great white spider hung on a thin strip of spider silk high above them. It seemed to be asleep, or at least Piper hoped it was. She silently went to grab the others. When Janelle looked up, she let out an audible gasp.
"What the hell?" She whispered at Jeremy. "What happened to the drow?"
"I don't know..." Jeremy responded. "Maybe this is part of the RNG. Maybe the drow gets a randomly spawned sidekick."
Piper doubted it. As she gazed up at the spider, she realized she had seen it somewhere before. The castle itself. It was shaped like a giant white spider with its flying buttresses sticking out of the cliff face. They had been warned, yet she never saw it coming.
"What should we do?" She hissed at Janelle.
She shrugged. "As far as I'm concerned, we only have two real options. You shoot it, or Ethan shoots it with a spell." Piper mentally counted her bullets. She had fired four since her last reload. She should be good for a while until she had to cool down again. Ethan, however, still only had 3 spell slots---four now, if you counted the staff. But would a web spell be effective against a giant spider?
She supposed there was only one way to find out. But they didn't have any time. Sensing their collective presence, the spider blinked its eight beady eyes directly at them before descending on the party.
Piper fired instinctively as Ethan launched a fireball. The combined attack took it off of its line of spider silk and sent it cascading to the floor. Much like the copycat, it landed legs up and began to flail wildly. Jeremy took this opportunity to walk towards it, axe drawn. Piper called up her UI as he prepared his attack.
Great White Spider
VP: 100
100!? That was about twice as strong as anything they had fought thus far. Piper was thrown back by the spider's VP. If the spider was this strong, then what did that mean for the drow itself? She didn't even want to think about it.
Jeremy reared his axe over his head and brought it down on one of the spider's legs.
It came off cleanly but the spider let out a deafening hissing shriek as it kicked wildly. The spider righted itself and charged blindly towards Piper as the offender, not seeing Jeremy and his axe right behind it. Jeremy and Janelle both saw the spider charging. Janelle threw a dagger that hit it squarely in the eye. The spider hissed again, spittle flying from its pincers. If she were in a less dire situation, Piper would have laughed. Janelle's special move seemed to be taking out eyes. She hoped she was never on the receiving end of her ire.
Piper had a choice: Shoot again and deal some pretty considerable head-on damage, or run behind one of the beams to safety. She opted for option one and steadied her arm. She fired just as the spider leapt at her, causing her to miss. It was too late to move out of the way and Piper braced herself for impact.
Just as she thought she was going to get hit, Jeremy dove in front of her. Its pincers collided with his neck, and once again, Piper watched the person she was closest to in Rookstorm get ripped to shreds by a beast. Light encircled him as his body began to fade and once again, Jeremy was gone. Although she knew full well he'd be back, Piper couldn't fight the tears welling up in her eyes. It was a horrific thing to watch and he did die in real life, at least temporarily. She vowed to avenge her friend.
"Over here, you big bastard." Piper spat. The spider whirled on her and she shot both of her pistols, catching it squarely in the torso. It flew back, wailing in pain. Piper checked her UI.
VP: 54
Almost half damage. She supposed they were doing a good job despite the loss of Jeremy.
She felt a hand on her shoulder. "Did you miss me?" She couldn't help herself; she turned and hugged him. He laughed. "Oh, come on, you knew I'd be back."
"That doesn't change the fact that you died."
"I'm fine now." The way he said it was almost tender and his hand lingered around her waist as they broke the hug.
Piper looked up to see Janelle sprinting on top of one of the beams. She was heading to a vantage point high over the spider, poised to attack from above. Taking a leaf out of Jeremy's book, Piper sought to distract the spider. She outstretched both of her arms and step-lured the spider into position in a serpentine motion. Once it was in place, Janelle leapt from the high beam and sunk two pistols into the spider's back. It flailed, attempting to swing her off, but she held on to the daggers buried in its exoskeleton.
As if she was an ice climber, she took out and replaced one dagger at a time to scale the spider's back. It was a badass move and Piper wondered if she had any climbing experience from the real world. She pulled up her UI once more to see the spider's VP steadily decreasing. Just as Janelle was about to sink a dagger into its back once more, the spider shrank. It shrank to about half its size and kept shrinking until it was about the size of a man. And then it shook and twisted, this time throwing Janelle off. She collided with one of the wooden beams and sunk down, unconscious. Ethan rushed to her side. He muttered a spell and green light swirled around her. Her eyes fluttered open but she was still disoriented.
The spider writhed in front of Piper and Jeremy and started to change shape.
Its body shrunk down and its limbs retracted to resemble a gangly adult man. Its skin began to darken and black hair sprouted from its head. Piper recognized the drow from the drawing instantly. His white exoskeleton changed into brilliant white robes. He stood before them missing a few fingers on his left hand, and panting hard.
Ethan didn't miss a beat. He held the spider staff in his hands and webs shot from the purple gem on top, entrapping the drow. Piper grabbed the drow by his neck in a headlock and pressed the barrel of one of the pistols to his temple. Jeremy stood over them, swinging his axe threateningly.
"Where is it?" He grunted at the drow.
"The treasure. The Smekton treasure!" Jeremy said, losing his patience.
"Smekton?" The drow asked lazily. "You don't mean that damn gnome?" He had a terrible high-pitched laugh. "The Smekton treasure? That's why you're here? I'm afraid the gnome has wasted your time."
Piper ground the barrel of her pistol against his temple even harder. "Explain." She hissed.
"The treasure you seek is here. In this room. Do you see it?" He asked with a sneer.
Jeremy swung his axed and it landed with a thud right under the drow's foot.
"You better start making some sense or you're going to lose more appendages." He growled.
"It's enchanted. The treasure is enchanted to look like something else."
"Well then unenchant it." Piper demanded.
"I'm afraid I can't do that, ma'am." He turned his head so her gun was pointed directly between his eyes. "What are you going to do now? Kill me? How very heroic of you."
"Look around." Piper told Jeremy. I'll watch him.
The drow spat at her. "You'll never find it." He sneered.
"If anyone is going to find it, he will." Piper looked around the room to Janelle and Ethan. It seemed they were still safe. He sat by her side as she breathed deeply, trying to regain composure.
She watched Jeremy inspect the room, peeking in and out of beams to try to find the hidden chest. But then it dawned on Piper: It wasn't just hidden, it was disguised.
"Jeremy!" She called. "Use your axe on the beams." He looked at her quizzically. "Just trust me. You'll find it."
Jeremy did as he was told and started chopping at the beams. He let his axe sink into one and then another, leaving a deep gash on each as he made his way across the room. She noticed the drow had shut up and started to sweat.
"I think you're getting warmer!" She encouraged.
Just as she said that, she heard a sound that differed from the dull noise of axe connecting with wood. In fact, it sounded metallic.
"Bingo." Piper said sweetly to the drow. "He found it."
Ethan rushed over to Piper. "Hey, I have an idea." He announced. He whispered his plan in her ear."
"I like it, kid." She said back. And she and Ethan proceeded to drag the drow over to the nearest beam. Ethan drew his Spider Staff and fired a web securing the drow to the beam. Now, not only was he bound to himself, he was rendered completely immobile, meaning Piper no longer had to babysit.
"I just didn't want to kill him." Ethan admitted shyly. "I know he's not real, but it still feels cruel."
"I totally understand." She replied. "I didn't want to kill him either."
The two joined Jeremy at the newly discovered chest. They were quickly joined by Janelle who seemed to have regained her footing. They all knelt in front of the chest to behold its contents. Jeremy did the honors and threw the lid open. It was just as Cornelius described. The chest had a staggering amount of gold and also phials upon phials of potions with various swirling colors. Resting toward the top of the chest was a small crown made of gold and that resembled an olive branch. It was much too small for a human and Piper assumed that this was Cornelius's rightful crown. They closed the chest contentedly. It was very heavy and it took both Piper and Jeremy to lift it. Janelle had a higher strength score than she did, but was still too concussed to carry it. With one final look at the bound drow, they left the castle without another word, with the chest in tow.
Chapter 11
Cornelius was so delighted to see the chest that he immediately forgave Piper and Jeremy for binding him and taking his legs, which they promptly returned. He was so grateful that he shook everyone's hand and offered them a piece of his treasure, even Janelle and Ethan, who he hadn't struck a deal with. He giggled with glee as he placed the crown on his head.
The rest of the gold and potions were divided up between the four of them. She had Cornelius explain them to her, since he was first and foremost a potions dealer before he was the heir to the family fortune.
"Red is for health, purple for stealth, and gold for wealth." That should cover most of them. Cornelius explained. "Ah, this one here is different." He mused, picking up an electric blue phial. "This one will double your strength for ten minutes!" He said with glee.
Probably best for Jeremy to hold on to that one, she thought. In her own inventory, she replaced the health potion that she had used on Jeremy and added another stealth potion. She also took one of the wealth potions for good measure.
"Where are we off to next, adventurers?" Cornelius asked.
"We need to go back to a town to pick up a quest." Jeremy replied thoughtfully. "But obviously, Smekt is out of the question.”
"What about that city we passed on the way here?" Piper asked. "The giant golden one on the waterfall?"
"Oh, Jordana?" Cornelius asked? "I am technically wanted in that city for fraud, but isn't everybody?" He laughed at his own joke that no one else understood.
"It's the most corrupt city in Rookstorm.” He said with a pointed toothy grin. "Slip the cops some gold, and we might even be able to land in their fancy aerodrome.
"Is everyone in agreement?" Piper asked the group. With everyone nodding simultaneously, Cornelius and the party were off to Jordana in the Gilded Animus.
The flight was rather uneventful until they got to the city. All four of them had their faced mashed into a porthole so they could get a better look.
It looked more like a pipe organ rising from a waterfall than a city, Piper realized upon seeing it up close. Jordana had perfectly uniform cylindrical skyscrapers that tapered on either side of the city. Between these triangular walls of bronze, there was a bustling city filled with people from all walks of life. If the city was corrupt like Cornelius said, they didn't let it show. The monorail steam trains almost looked happy as they bustled throughout the city, carrying urchins and robber barons alike. At least on the surface, Jordana looked like a paradise.
Cornelius was proved right upon landing. Like he said, he steered the ship right into the aerodrome in the center of town. Just after they landed, a stocky police dwarf boarded the ship and went to talk to Cornelius.
"Smekton," She grunted through her beard. "You have some nerve showing up here. Last I heard, you and the rest of your clan were flat broke.”
"Or flat dead." Cornelius said, stone-faced.
"Funny." She replied back without a smile. "So do you have something for me?" She asked him sweetly.
"How could I forget about you, Darlene?" He said, pulling out a heavy coin purse from his pocket. "Here's your fee."
"You sure do know the way to a woman's heart.” She said with a wink before exiting the craft with her bag of gold.
"Smoooooth!" Jeremy teased Cornelius. "I think she's sweet on you."
"Maybe so," Cornelius replied, stone faced. "The important thing is that she always lets me park if I pay her off."
“I'll be awaiting your return." Cornelius waived as they got off the airship.
Jordana was different than Smekt in almost every conceivable way. It was sleeker and more businesslike, bustling with people from every race known to Rookstorm. Piper's pockets felt heavy with gold and she intended on spending her money on new weapons. As much as she loved her pistols, they did the least damage in the party, and she longed for something stronger. The others were itching to shop as well, but first they had to find a quest.
They sure weren't hard to find; almost every NPC they passed had an exclamation point hovering overhead to indicate they had something to offer. The party spent their day stopping and talking to each one, trying to find something lucrative in EXP. The main goal was to be leveled enough to take on the Alpha. Yet, most of the quests the people of Jordana had to offer were side quests.
Finding a lost pet or item around the city wasn't going to yield them the EXP they needed. They needed something big. The par
ty turned down a side alley where they passed a half-elf in a heavy black cloak with an exclamation point over his head. He piqued Piper's interest and she stopped to hear what he had to say.
He removed his heavy black hood and spun his tale of woe. His daughter had been taken by a band of ruffians that had a hideout in the Great Rookstorm Rainforest. He assured them it would be a dangerous journey, but would reward them well for the safe return of his daughter.
"Errol." He introduced himself, shaking each of their hands vigorously. "Please." He begged. "Help me find my daughter." Piper was moved enough to accept right away, but Janelle asked for a moment to confer with the party.
"This could be very good for us," Janelle began. "But also extremely risky. It'll be like taking on two quests at once."
"How do you figure?" Piper asked.
