We made a slow, calculated approach to the tower’s entrance. After all, we didn't have any confirmation that this was the last of the gnolls. A black notification appeared just as we began to enter the tower.
Hidden Quest
A Father’s Duty
Accept
Decline
Perhaps this little excursion would pay off after all. With a nod, I accepted the quest and led the others into the tower. The real question was what could be waiting inside?
8
As we entered the crumbling tower, I found its ground level to be rather… unremarkable. The stone floors were cracked and dusty, the walls lined with burnt out torches that now sported cobwebs instead of flames. In fact, the room struck me as quite strange. The stairway leading up was crumbled and unnavigable and the rest of the room remained empty save for four angelic statues that lay scattered about the floor.
“So… do we try to climb our way up?” Hilda said as she inspected the broken staircase. I ran my hands across the wall, looking for any sort of clues laden in the stone. More laughter echoed just outside of the tower. I ran to the doorway and took a quick peak outside. Another pack of gnolls had gathered, but rather than attack, they circled the tower warily, almost afraid to enter. I stood in the doorway and pulled my blade out, waiving it at the largest of the beasts. It let out a few quick yips, but refused to come near.
There must be something about this place that we’re not seeing.
A bit of commotion from back in the tower pulled me from my thoughts.
“Guys! Guys, check this out!” Vic said, clamoring over one of the obscure statues.
“What is it…” I said dismissively.
“no really, look.” Vic pointed to the stone floor. “If you look closely enough, you can see four slightly discolored spots.” He got on his hands and knees and outlined the areas that he spoke of. “Ya see, those spots match the bases of these statues exactly!”
I took a good look at the statues, then at the spots on the floor. He may have been on to something.
“Well I’ll be damned.” Hilda said, giving Vic a firm slap on the back. “How did you notice that?”
“Well, while I was staring at my hand, I noticed the spot on the floor under my feet and…” Vic started to trail off.
“Never mind, Vic. You did well.” Never in a million years did I think those words would be leaving my mouth. “Help me heave these statues back up.”
The statues were deceptively heavy, requiring the combined strength of all three of us to get them upright again. Once they were standing, I was able admire the beautiful craftsmanship that went into them. They were finely crafted angels of stone, complete with wings that wrapped around their delicate bodies, their stone eyes chiseled shut.
We methodically slid the statues back into their spots on the floor… but nothing.
“Damnit.” I said, slamming my fist into the wall in frustration. This was getting us nowhere.
“Uh, guys.” Vic said with a jittery edge to his voice. I turned to see him staring blankly into one of the angelic statues… watching as its lifeless eyes opened. “Guys!” Vic yelled again, scrambling away as the angel’s stone wings spread wide.
“This could be it!” Hilda yelled, drawing her mace and buckler. Then, without warning, the angels opened their stone mouths and let out a blood curdling screech.
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I threw my gloved hands over my ears as the angels continued to shriek. Slowly, my vision began to change, the colors in front of me inverting as if I was looking at the negative of a photograph. Then, with one final screech and a bright flash of light, it all stopped.
I rose from my hands and knees and took a quick look around. It was immediately apparent that I was still in a tower, though I wasn’t quite sure if this was the same one. The layout was identical, statues and all, yet everything else was completely different. The torches on the walls now burned brightly, the cracks in the walls all but gone. The staircase, once a heap of rubble, now appeared to be completely intact. The only thing missing… was the way out.
Before I had the chance to convene with the others, the loud thud of footsteps began to echo from the staircase, descending, growing louder with each passing second. Hilda squared herself in the doorway leading up, ready for whatever appeared on those stairs.
“We got company.” A guttural voice echoed as a large pair of boots came in to view. “I loooooove company.”
Hilda took a step back as the figure descended the last remaining stairs. Standing in our presence was a beast of a man, brimming with layers of muscles that made me look like a mere child. Though his chest was bare and armor-less, atop his head he wore a sinister horned mask that closely resembled the skull of a goat. In his massive hands he wielded a long steel polearm that sported a hammer at its end, the face of the weapon stained with blood. Above his head a red icon hovered.
The Jailer
Race: Human
Boss
Lvl: 10
This fight was way out of our league, and from the low chuckle emanating from behind the mask, our enemy knew it as well.
“More fools come to free the raven… more fools to torture.”
His grizzly tone was unsettling. I had no idea what he was talking about, and I had no intention of finding out. Quickly, I threw up my slayer’s mark and drew my blade. I could see the trepidation in Hilda’s movements, but she steeled herself and engaged our foe.
The Jailer grabbed his warhammer in both hands and took a swing at Hilda. She raised her buckler to block the strike, but the hammer smashed through, shattering the small wooden shield and blasting Hilda’s forearm with tremendous force. She cried out in pain as the strike knocked her to the ground, but quickly gathered her wits and rolled away from the follow-up swing.
With my free hand, I grabbed a throwing knife and whipped into the Jailer’s chest. -15 HP. I took a look at his health bar, which had barely taken a hit. Even worse, the man let the knife sit there in his chest, not the least bothered to remove it.
This was not good.
I readied myself as the beast of a man charged in, warhammer cocked back and ready to swing. My eyes darted left, then right. The room was large, but the reach of that hammer would make it hard to dodge more than a handful of strikes…. That’s it!
I charged in, activating lunging strike as I moved. The Jailer almost seemed taken aback as I met him at the center of the room, stabbing my short sword into his exposed abdomen, pressing my shoulder hard into his sternum. He tried to strike back with his hammer, but it was nearly impossible. The long handle of his weapon made it ineffective while I was this close!
I gritted my teeth and drove forward, twisting my blade and draining a few more hit points from the behemoth. The jailer growled in pain before throwing his hammer to the ground. For the briefest of seconds, I thought I was on the verge of victory. Then the man’s burly hands closed around my neck, hoisting me into the air and driving me into the nearest stone wall.
I could see his eyes through that hideous mask, the rage that those glossy orbs displayed after my little stunt…. Was this it?
I saw Hilda rising back to her feet, utter determination in her eyes. No, this wasn’t over yet. She scooped up her mace and charged at the Jailer’s back, activating her Crushing Blow as she slammed the weapon into the back of the Jailer’s leg.
The brute stumbled to his knees, though he still held me in place with one of his massive hands. The other hand reached around to grab a handful of Hilda’s hair. With a mighty pull, he yanked her forward, slamming her head first into the wall and halving her HP bar. She slumped on the floor, the word Dazed flashing next to her name.
The Jailer chuckled, pleased with his handy work. “Damn you.” I growled between choked gasps. His gaze shifted from Hilda back to my own, just enough time for him to see the small knife in my hand plunge into his eye socket.
The Jailer howled in pain, releasing me long enough to remove the knife lodg
ed in his eye. I reached for my blade that still remained in his stomach, but the Jailer quickly composed himself and blasted me across the face with a vicious punch.
I hit the ground hard, staring up at an HP bar that sat at 50%. My head was a bit foggy from the blow, but I could still make out the scrape of metal as the Jailer dragged his hammer towards me. I sat up just in time to see the warhammer rise into the air. This is it.
I winced, ready to become another bloodstain on the hammer’s face… but it never came. My eyes went wide as I saw the once cowardly warrior charge across the room, shoulders low and arms outstretched. The Jailer paused for a split second, just as Vic slammed into his side! The former linebacker hoisted the jailer off his feet and drove him back towards the center of the room, slamming the brute into one of the angelic statues. “Leave them alone!” he yelled, his voice filled with a rage of his own.
The Jailer cried out as Vic pressed on, forcing my lodged blade deeper into his gut, draining the foe’s HP bar even further. The Jailer responded by bashing the foolish warrior in the skull over and over, but still he couldn’t make him relent.
My eyes scanned the area in a frenzy, searching for something, anything I could use to help.
There! On the ground sat Vic’s sword, flung from his hip during the scramble. I scooped it up as I dashed forward, gripping the blade with both hands.
“Duck!” I yelled as I activated lunging strike once more. Vic dropped to his knees as I soared by, slashing his blade across the Jailer’s exposed neck.
Critical Hit!
I took a few steps forward then paused, allowing the fresh blood to slowly run down my borrowed blade. A few seconds later I heard a loud “thud” as the Jailer’s head bounced off the stone floor.
Vic dropped to his back as the Jailer’s corpse burst into an array of pixels., breathing heavily and covered in blood from the ordeal. On the other side of the room, Hilda rose to her feet, clearly perturbed at the sight of her shattered shield. The air swirled in the room above each of our bodies. I looked up above my own.
400 Exp. Rewarded
You have reached level 4
-You have 2 attribute points to allocate
-You have 1 skill point to allocate
x36 Silver obtained
x1 Giant’s belt obtained
The image of the belt glowed a royal blue… a rare item! I quickly equipped the large belt. +3 Strength
As I flexed I could feel a slight growth in my physical capacity. Alright.
I waived away my level-increase indicator… that could wait until we were finished. It was then I noticed the small notification blinking in the corner of my vision. It had been there since we arrived, but the opportunity to view it had not arisen until now. I focused on it.
New Location Discovered:
Dark Monolith
Area: The Aether Prison
Both Vic and Hilda stepped forward, eyeing the description then turning their focus to me. I wiped the blood away from the sword and silently handed it to Vic. He nodded, lifting the sword in his grasp with a renewed focus. Hilda threw her mace over her shoulder and as three we began to ascend the tower.
9
We treaded carefully up the spiral staircase, unsure of what dangers lied in the floor above. It felt like we had walked for miles, but eventually we reached one of the tower’s plateaus. Judging by our relative short distance from the ground, it was apparent that the tower stretched deep below the earth.
In front of us was a large arching doorway that led out of the tower and into a much larger complex…a clear sign that we’d been transported far from the forest area where we began. “The Aether prison…” I muttered to myself more than the others. My gaze drifted beyond the doorway and into the large network of cells and hallways ahead. It was a truly massive complex, with four large monoliths standing at each corner of the prison (including the one we were in), connected by two levels of halls lined with cells and a large open quarry in the center. The sound of scraping metal echoed throughout as prisoners toiled below with their iron picks, breaking away pieces of earth and stone in search of a fresh vein of Aether.
I’d read about this place in one of the many previews released before the game’s launch. It was a prison hidden away on the dark plane, only accessible by one of four portals scattered throughout Aetheria. Here, prisoners were forced to mine Aether stones, the physical manifestation of magical energy. Guards stood stationed around the quarry, watching for any signs of the glimmering Aether, for the substance was extremely volatile and one misstep could cause some serious damage, to say the least.
Though the preview didn’t mention what the Aether was used for, it did say the prison was divided into four separate areas. The first segment of the prison, the one we were in, provided low and moderate level challenges. The other three prison complexes housed more fearsome creatures … a possible challenge for high level players with access to deeper levels of the dark plane. I let that fact sit in the back of my mind. The creatures we were encountering now were barely manageable and the prison complexes were certainly connected in one way or another… one wrong move and we could find ourselves teleported to an area with foes that could tear us apart in seconds.
“Get back!” Hilda said in a hushed tone as she yanked me away from the doorway. Seconds later, a pair of guards marched by, each dressed in jet black chainmail, their faces covered in similarly blackened helms. There movements were rigid and uniform, and each of them wielded a fine silver mace donned with a ram’s head, likely used to bludgeon unruly prisoners.
Prison Guard
Lvl 8
I sized them up as they turned down the hallway, continuing their patrol. It was certainly a winnable fight, but also one that could bring the whole prison down on us. No, this particular quest would require a bit of stealth.
I watched as a second group of patrolmen strolled past. It looks like they were on a structured rotation, walking the length of the rectangular hallway every few moments. If we were careful with our timing, it was possible to traverse the hallway without being seen.
As soon as the guards made another round, I peeked my head out to get another survey of the area. Three points of interest immediately caught my attention. The first was a heavily fortified cell on the ground level. This cell was sealed by a reinforced door, devoid of windows, and guarded by a pair of stationery guards. The second thing that caught my eye was a wide windowed room on the second level. The windows were reflective, so it was impossible to see inside, but whoever was in there had a birds-eye view over the complex… the control room, likely. Finally, the last and most important observation was the cell just east of the control room. It appeared to be just as normal as the other cells, but a small gold indicator glowing inside told me everything I needed to know… that this was our quest destination.
I turned to the others, my brain working quickly to formulate a plan. “We need to get to that far room to complete our objective.”
Vic grinned. “Couldn’t we just club the guards and take their armor? We’d blend right in.”
I pondered the idea for a second. “The game’s physics don’t work that way. Unless one of us has a disguise skill, then we aren’t getting their armor that way… we need a distraction. Something to buy us a few seconds to get into that room and find us a way out…”
A sly grin spread across Hilda’s face. “We have at least a hundred built in distractions right in front of us… we release the prisoners!”
I couldn’t help but smile back. “It could work… we just need to make it to the control room.”
Hilda turned to Vic. “You wanted to carry your weight, right?”
“Y-yeah.” Vic replied hesitantly.
“You can run pretty fast?”
“Hell yes I can.”
I knew where this was going. With a smirk, Hilda rose to her feet and gave Vic a solid boot, sending him spilling out into the hall.
“Hey you! How’d you get out of your cell?!�
� The voices of the guards echoed as the shuffling of their boots drew close. Vic let out a squeal and went running down the hall, drawing the attention of both patrols.
Hilda and I immediately took off in the opposite direction, taking a quick turn and running straight towards the control room. This plan wasn’t thought out terribly well but given the circumstances it was likely our best shot.
My heart sank as we closed in on our destination… emerging from the room was a trio of heavily armed guards, their maces poised to swing directly at us! I tried to make a quick stop, but my momentum carried me forward as I slid toward the armored foes. The first guard stepped forward and swung his shield, smacking it against my face and sending me careening into the quarry below.
THUD! My vision blurred momentarily as I hit the ground hard. I could hear Hilda’s cries from above, then the clang of metal as she fended off her attackers. Around me, rushed footsteps closed in as more guards approached. Then, quite suddenly, everything stopped.
“WHAT IS GOING ON IN HERE!” A slimy, screeching voice spat from above. All eyes turned to the control room as another pair of figures emerged. Shivers went down my spine as I first caught site of the fiends. They were elongated, filthy looking creatures with grayish skin and huge mandibles that stretched out from their jaws. Several pointed limbs curved out from there long bodies which allowed them to scale the walls with ease. They looked at me with terrifying, black beady eyes. I gave the creatures a quick inspection.
Gristlegrime, prison warden
Race: Dryder
Boss
Lvl: ???
Grimmire, prison trapper
Race: Dryder
The Slayer Page 5
