by Deck Davis
Nathan nodded. The cleric made sense. After their talk that morning, he was beginning to get the sense he could trust him. Hell, he wanted to trust him. Not that Sherlock wasn’t good company, but he needed someone human to talk to. He went into the chat system and accepted the cleric’s request.
With the bed and traps bought, that left 5 orbs. He decided that he’d save 4 of them, and then spend them when it became necessary. It was all well and good setting defenses, but he needed to be able to react to different situations. Ones that he couldn’t foresee. At least if he had orbs spare, he could buy things when he needed to.
Finally, he had 1 orb that he wanted to spend. He didn’t consult Dereck on this, since he knew exactly what he needed. He opened the craft catalogue, accessed Power Upgrades, and spent his orb on his Soul Claw.
Soul Claw Level 2!
-Att Increased to 69
- Speed improved
Going from an Att of 39 to 69 was a great jump. An even more welcome bonus though, was the speed. Back in his first fight with the guild, his slow movements had almost gotten him killed.
That wasn’t all, though. No sooner had he dismissed the text in front of him, then another box popped up.
Choose an upgrade:
You have increased your claw strength with the powerful mountain orbs.
You may now choose a magical ability to add to them.
1) Poison claw – Add poison damage to attacks (25% chance)
2) Flurry – Strike your enemies 2x faster (Drains 10% more energy)
3) Chaos Breed – Infect your enemies with your insanity.
Give them a confusion status and make them attack their own party.
(Chance of success = current insanity meter rate)
This was a lot to take in. All 3 options appealed to him in different ways. Poison damage always helped in games, because it was bonus damage. You could hurt an enemy just once, but deal way more than just melee damage.
Flurry would be an obvious answer to his shortcomings in speed, but the energy drain seemed harsh. Until his energy bar was higher, there seemed little point in selecting flurry. He’d just drain himself by using it.
That left Chaos Breed. At first, he didn’t like the idea. It was tied to his insanity bar, and boy, was he starting to hate that particular bar.
Then he thought about it more. Since he’d been on the mountain, both Ancient #1 and Dereck the Cleric had told him that he needed to embrace his monster instincts. He sensed that they both had different intentions for giving him the advice, but maybe they were right. If he could infect an enemy and turn him into an unwilling ally, it’d help when fighting groups. It also meant that if his insanity meter was high, at least he could get some benefit from it.
He selected Chaos Breed, and saw that it was added to his character sheet.
Suddenly, a different text box appeared on his screen.
Warning – Pressure Rune #1 activated.
“That’s the rune near the mountain entrance,” he said.
Dereck looked alarmed. “They got here quicker than I expected. They must have cast a travel portal when they left.”
“Yeah, it’s not good.”
“What now?” asked Dereck.
“We better go see who’s at the door.”
Chapter Ten
Dereck walked over to the passageway on the right that led away from the main chamber. He leant his head into the darkness and listened. After a few seconds, he looked at Nathan.
“I can’t hear anything.”
“Pressure rune 1 is near the mountain entrance, so it’ll be through this passage,” he said, walking to the left one. Sherlock stayed by his side, while Watson looked from Dereck to Nathan, wondering what to do.
Nathan listened. He couldn’t hear anything. It was always quiet in the main chamber, except for the occasional drip of water or crumbling of dirt as it fell to the ground. It was only when you started to go toward the mountain exit that you would hear anything else. The tunnels near the exit were filled with the faint swirl of the breeze from outside, which made an eerie whining sound.
“It’ll be the guild,” said Dereck.
“I thought it’d take them longer to come back?” said Nathan. “It could be a random party. Or even some poor guy who wandered in on his own.”
Dereck shook his head. “They’re listed on my map. Eight of them. Since I’m technically still part of the guild, I can see them. Gevil is there. A few newbies I haven’t met. And…oh shi.” The cleric stopped himself just short of saying a curse word.
“What is it?” said Nathan.
“Layre Mock is here.”
Nathan moved away from the tunnel. He didn’t want to speak so close to the passageway in case the tunnel echo carried his words to unfriendly ears. He walked over to the rot room and then beckoned Dereck over.
The cleric shook his head. “No way. I’m not standing next to that place.”
They stood in the centre of the main chamber. Nathan folded his arms, trying to stand with as much human dignity as possible in his current form. Dereck had one arm across his chest, and the other on his chin, as if he was deep in thought.
“What’s the deal with Layre Mock?” asked Nathan.
“He’s a nasty piece of work. An amazing wizard, but a complete scum bag.”
“How so?”
“The Seekers guild used to be good,” said Dereck. “We used to actually help people. That was why it was set up, you know. Sure, we had a few skirmishes with other groups, but who doesn’t? At the end of it all, the guild was formed with the best of intentions, and that’s how we tried to do things.”
“What changed?”
A shadow fell over Dereck’s face. “I can tell you the exact second it went to shit. I remember as if it just happened. I was in the guild hall. There was a storm outside. You know, the kind where fire lightning shoots down, and the rain turns acidic?”
“Never seen one of those,” said Nathan. And despite how destructive it sounded, he would have loved to witness one. He wanted to see more of Adonis.
This was part of the magic of the game world; that it could create a sense of wonder. He guessed the devs could have easily created a 2nd life that mirrored the real one, but what would be the point in that? It would be plain. Boring. They’d made the right choice in their fantasy setting.
“Well,” said Dereck. “Suffice to say, you don’t go out in a storm like that. People who do, usually get sent to respawn. So, I was surprised when the guild hall door flew open. Rain flooded in. And then this giant, shadowy figure filled the doorframe.”
“Layre Mock?”
Dereck nodded. “Yeah. The tallest anyone can get without being a giant. Long, shaggy hair. The kind that makes you think it’d coat you in grease if you touch it. As he stood in the doorway, a lightning fork struck him. I thought he was a dead. Instead, it just sparked off him. He walked into the guild like nothing had happened.”
This didn’t sound good. The way Dereck described Layre Mock made him seem dangerous. If he was here, then driving out the guild would be a hell of a lot harder than he thought.
“That was when everything changed,” continued Dereck. “The guild was never the same after he arrived. For the next year, he plotted and backstabbed his way through the guild ranks. Thing is, he had a habit of making everything he did seem natural. Like he had good intentions.
“Before anyone realized what kind of guy he really was, he’d schemed his way to the top. After he became Guild leader, there was nothing any of us could do. And that was when he stopped hiding what a son of a bitch he was. He stopped accepting new members unless he’d personally vetted them. He stopped giving out weapons and armor to existing members unless they were ones he approved of. And he put a complete block on the guild treasury so that only he and his cronies could access it.”
Nathan paced around. “Sounds like the shit has hit the fan and it's spraying around the room. Layre, Gevil and the others will be higher levels t
han me. I’ll have no chance.”
“No. You might have a glimmer of hope. Layre and Gevil are higher than you, there’s no doubting that. But after Layre took power, he purged the guild. He got rid of 75% of the membership, for reasons nobody could explain. Then, he replaced them with hand-picked newbies. It weakened the guild. But it meant that it was filled with people that Layre had complete influence over. Layre and Gevil are tough, but right now the new recruits are as green as they come.”
“What does this guy want?” asked Nathan.
Dereck shrugged. “Who knows what goes on in his mind? Maybe he wants gold. Or perhaps he gets off on power. Maybe he wants to take over every guild in Adonis and spread his poison as far as he can.”
“I don’t get this, Dereck. Why didn’t he get rid of you? Or more to the point, why didn’t you just leave?”
Derek stared at him. “I don’t need to explain to you that everyone starts Adonis alone. But at least some people see how they die. They get closure. I started here alone, and not knowing what the hell happened to me. The guild was the first place I found where I got a sense of belonging. And even after that asshat wizard showed up, I still believed in it. I still thought we could do good things.”
Nathan didn’t like it, but he was starting to get a creeping suspicion about Dereck. From what the cleric had told him, it didn’t seem like Dereck was the sort of person Layre would want to have in his guild. So why hadn’t he gotten rid of him, like the rest of the old members?
“Did you ever talk to Layre?” he said.
“A couple of times.”
“And did he ever offer you anything?”
Dereck crossed his arms. “I was probably gonna be gone in the next purge. Layre isn’t stupid – he knew he couldn’t just get rid of everyone at once. He used to do it in waves.”
He needed to do something. Dereck’s story hadn’t reassured him about the presence of Gevil, Layre and the others in the mountain. If they made their way to the main chamber, there was little he could do to avoid a fight. With their advantage in numbers, it was one he wouldn’t be able to win. He needed a strategy.
“I’m going to go scope them out,” he said. “See what weapons they have and that kind of thing.”
“They’ll kill you,” said Dereck.
He shook his head. “I know the tunnels better than them, and I’ll be quiet. I’m not going there to fight – I just need information.”
Derek nodded. “I’ll stay here, but I’ll mine some orbs while you’re gone. I may as well do something useful.”
Nathan pointed across the room, where a pile of rubble was on the ground. “Just avoid that wall,” he said. “We’ve dug enough of it already.”
After ordering Sherlock and Watson to stay with Dereck, he left the main chamber. He kept his steps light, practicing walking without making a sound. He brought up his map from time to time. His friendship with Dereck allowed him access to the cleric’s map. That meant that he could see where Layre, Gevil and the others were.
After a few minutes of walking into darkness, he knew they weren’t far away. He passed through some of the shortcuts that he’d made.
Destroying some of the lighter-colored walls was one of the best decisions he’d made. When he and Dereck had gotten access to each other’s maps, the cleric had remarked on how different Nathan’s was.
‘It’s only because I’ve explored more,’ Nathan had told him.
Dereck shook his head. ‘It’s not that. There are loads of gaps in the tunnel walls. Openings that weren’t shown on my map.’
Hearing that had been the best news Nathan had since getting Soul Claw. It meant that when he made shortcuts in the labyrinth they displayed on his map, but not on the maps of others. That gave him a significant stealth advantage.
Boy, was he grateful for that now. The Seekers guild were ahead of him, around 15 meters away. Although the tunnels were dark, Nathan could see them all. He hung back, staying in one of his hidden alcoves so that he could scope them out without being seen.
As Dereck’s map showed, there were eight of them. Unlike his last encounter with the guild, there didn’t seem to be any warriors here this time. Five of the players wore dark robes that covered their heads, and they carried spell wands. One of the players was a healer of some sort. This was evident from his lighter colored tunic and the array of vials set into a belt around his waist.
Of the other 2 players, he recognized one. It was the rogue, Gevil. Although his clothing was still dark, Nathan could tell that he had changed his outfit. He got the sense that it wasn’t a fashion choice. Maybe his new attire was designed to help him in the dark tunnels in some way.
That left the other player. There was no doubt that this was Layre Mock, the wizard. He was a foot taller than the rest. So tall that his head almost touched the roof of the tunnel. His body was thin, and he didn’t cover himself with a robe. Instead, he wore a grey cotton shirt. It was open at the front, to reveal the shriveled skin of his bare chest. His chest was covered in long, red lines that looked like scars. It was as if he’d taken a dozen lashings from a whip. His eyes were dark, his hair stringy and grey. He cut a fearsome figure.
There were some creatures with the players. Four of them. They had slinky bodies, like tigers but with less muscle. Their faces were made of bone. It looked like their flesh had been stripped away to reveal their skulls. On their sleek bodies were skull-shaped patterns. Like leopard stripes, but not as beautiful.
Nathan didn’t plan on attacking yet. After all, it would be suicide to take them on by himself. But even if he had planned that, the presence of the creatures would have made him re-think. It worried him that the guild had brought animals with them. There must have been a reason for it.
Layre looked at one of the hooded players. He beckoned him over with a curled finger.
“I grow tired,” he said. “Replenish me.”
The hooded figure, without a second hesitation, pulled a vial from his pocket. The liquid inside was black. Layre knelt onto one knee, tipped his head back, and opened his mouth.
The hooded player unscrewed the vial. Then, with a look of utmost concentration, he began to pour the liquid into Layre’s mouth. Nathan watched, and he couldn’t help but feel unnerved. There was something perverse about the way Layre lapped his tongue around the liquid. It was almost like a ritual of some kind.
As the player poured the vial, some of the black goop splashed onto Layre’s chin. The wizard got to his feet. His face twisted into anger. He raised his hand, then slapped the player with such force that he stumbled back into the tunnel wall.
Layre closed his eyes. His face was a picture of fury. He took 3 long, deep breaths, and then opened his eyes. The anger melted.
“I apologize,” he said. “I shouldn’t have done that. Come, let us go deeper into the labyrinth.”
It looked like they were about to move away. Then, Layre held up his hand. His fingers were unnaturally long and twisted, like twigs.
“Hold a second. There’s something here.”
The four creatures sniffed the air. Nathan felt a shock of panic in his chest, wondering if they could smell him. Maybe the stench of the rot room had clung to him, and Layre’s pets would pick up on it. He held his breath, and stayed alert and ready to move away.
The creatures didn’t look in his direction. Neither did Layre. Instead, the wizard raised his hands. He muttered words under his breath. Red light began to glow on his fingertips, so that it looked like his nails were on fire.
He raised his hands, clapped them, and the red light shot out. It hit the tunnel walls on either side of him, coating them like paint. When the light receded, the tunnels looked normal except for parts which retained splotches of red.
Layre pointed at one of the spots.
“Dig here,” he said.
Two of the hooded players reached into their inventory bags and pulled out hand-sized spades. They started to dig at the red marks on the walls. Before long, a pile of
dirt was at their feet.
Layre smiled. His grin had a malicious quality to it.
“Excellent work,” he said, patting one of the players on the head as if he were a child.
The wizard walked over to the wall on his right, and reached into the newly-dug hole. He pulled out a glowing orb, and held it up for the others to see.
“I said, did I not, that this mountain held more treasures than we were told?”
Nathan felt a sense of dread creep up on him. The wizard knew about the orbs! This was bad. Nathan had thought that orb crafting was a perk of the Tuphos class, and that it gave him an advantage. If Layre could also use orbs, it meant he’d be somewhat familiar with what they could buy. And that could mean he was familiar with rune traps.
