by Dakota Krout
Its head was almost torn off from the combination of the blow and pressurized blood at the impact point. Tom stepped forward, landing a blow with a small hammer. Hans had been training him, and decided that the Essence he cultivated in a day didn’t justify the use of his powerful Warhammer. Since it took Essence constantly when in use, Tom had no argument to defend himself. Now that he was using a square ingot of iron on a stick, calling it a ‘hammer’ was really a bit misleading.
Tom was much slower with these ingot hammers, but they helped to train his muscles and aim. So what if he grunted every time he swung? They finished off the near helpless — at this to this group — Bashers, and were putting the bodies in their bags when they heard a roar from ahead. Tom shook his head and limbered up his arms. “It appears someone has spawned a Glade in the garden room. Shall we assist them?” A scream filtered down the tunnel to them.
“Let’s hurry, it sounds like they aren’t doing well.” Dale started moving faster, rushing toward the sounds of scuffles ahead. They burst into the garden room to see an armored man standing protectively over another man, who cowering on the floor. The group rushed in toward the Glade, and Dale started beating the overgrown mushroom in an almost rhythmic pattern.
Since they had found that this type of enemy took little direct damage from non-sharpened weapons, Dale was not hitting it squarely, but rather near the edges so he could tear off chunks of the Mob. An arrow from Rose punched all the way through the Mob as it turned on them, leaving a rapidly closing hole in its wake. Hans began lopping off pieces of the monster, and soon it was too damaged to remain upright. It collapsed to the ground, dead, and Dale turned toward the two people that they had rescued.
“Just two of you? Can either of you even fight? I’ve made sure that everyone that enters here knows the dangers of the known levels, why the abyss would you be here?!” Dale roared at the two-person group.
~Nineteen~
The armored figure raised his visor, revealing Evan. “Well, you know me Dale. I see a person in trouble, or someone doing something incredibly stupid,” Here he glared at the man he was protecting, “and I just need to try to save their dumb ass.”
“Oh, hey, Evan. Good to see you. Wait, we heard a woman scream, did you see what happened to her?” Dale was trying to look through the thick growth in the room.
Evan snorted, trying to cover a laugh, “Yup, that's him.” He jerked a finger at the man who was now standing up.
“I am not a woman. Of course I have read the warnings, but I expected them to be greatly exaggerated. The price of parts from Glade has doubled in the past few weeks!” The fussy man was worriedly looking at a new hole in his pants.
“Ah! You are the alchemist!” Adam noted in an accusatory tone. Adam was the one that brought herbs and other items to the alchemist and apothecary. “Why in the world would you come down here?”
The alchemist took up a self-righteous pose. “Well, if you thought people were swindling you with product, wouldn’t you want to see the production yourself?!”
Evan made a sound deep in his throat. “I walked in to see him kicking plants and throwing rocks at trees. He musta been at it a while, cause it wasn’t very effective.” His comment made the fussy man blush.
“I take it you are satisfied?” Dale dryly drawled. “Or would you like to wake up another flesh-eating monster?”
“Well. I suppose I’ll have to be satisfied, won’t I?” The man turned and walked out of the room, somehow making even that motion into a study of pompousness.
“Ugh.” Hans grunted. “Adam, how do you deal with that man? His face is just so punchable!”
Adam shrugged. “He gives us a lot of money.”
Hans thought silently for a moment. “That would do it.” He turned to Evan, “Now as for you, do you need an escort out or something?”
Evan shuffled his feet, “I was actually hoping to follow you this morning. I don’t know if Dale mentioned my offer..?”
Dale nodded at him, “I did, but we haven’t seen anything different below. Why do you think there would be changes that you need to be present for?”
“Well, it’s more like this… are any of you miners?” Head shakes all around. “So you don’t know what to look for. Here’s the deal, last night I hit a critical point. The ore and material on this floor is not rare enough — or high enough quality — for me to be able to make my payment on time unless I work at least twenty hours a day. I have a hunch that I’ll find what I need deeper inside. Also, I like sleep.”
There was a brief conversation, but most of the team was fine with him coming along if he accepted that the risks were on his shoulders. Plus, Evan certainly had a likeable quality about him that resonated well with the group. He was a no-nonsense, hardworking, driven individual. Before continuing, they debated fighting the remaining Glade Mobs, but everyone was more interested in continuing downward and cultivating than wasting time on the upper levels. They skirted the majority of the Garden room, and after a few minutes of walking made it to the tunnel connecting to the next room.
So far they were making good time, having only been in the dungeon for about fifteen minutes and already making it through the second room. They wandered through the tunnel, laughing at Evan as he cussed at traps that startled him, such as a rock fall. To be fair, he had more reason to fear collapsing tunnels than they did. They started competing with each other to show off their knowledge of the dungeon, though Rose won when she leaned onto Evan… then reached out and punched the wall. A section crumbled away, revealing a shiny gold-plated chest. Evans eyes boggled at the small shower of coins they pulled out of the chest, and thanked them when they loaded him up on healing potions.
Hans laughed, making Evan give him a questioning look. Hans ruined the mood a bit by informing him that the reason the healing potions to him… was that he was the most likely to get torn up and be in need of healing. After that point, they stopped showing off and returned to their usual formation, with Evan standing near Adam. Now they were grim and serious again, which only served to make the Half-Dwarf more cautious.
Stepping into the third room was a new experience for Evan, the furthest he had ever traveled in. He looked around at the high ceiling, doing his best to see in the gloom and darkness. Without Essence enhanced vision, he would normally not be able to see at all, but his Dwarven ancestry allowed him limited vision. He yelped when the first attack came. There was a sudden rustling of armor and scratches of metal on leather as weapons were drawn and swung. High-pitched squeals came from dying Bashers, and a flash of hellfire blazed along a horn before the monster was slain.
“What the abyss is happening?!” Evan was crouched, pick held horizontally in front of him as he looked around wildly at the flashes of light, groans of pain, and shrieks of dying Mobs.
“Just,” Rose fired off an arrow with a *thwap*, “another day in paradise.” The fighting quickly died off, and Evan was assaulted by the odor of animals being skinned. He had to fight not to vomit as the darkness and smells threatened to overwhelm his overwrought senses.
“You‘re all insane…” He muttered, making the others laugh. This didn’t help with his assessment of their mental soundness. A few minutes passed as they dressed the carcasses, storing them in their bags. A glimmer in the distance caught Evans eye. “What’s over there?”
Adam glanced in the indicated direction, “Hey, good eye! Guys, there is a glowing chest over there!”
“Score.” Hans started moving in that direction before Dale called him back.
Dale was looking at the chest, and something didn’t feel right. It took him a moment to realize what the issue was. “Where are the Mobs? There’s nothing guarding it.”
This caught the group’s collective attention, and prompted Hans to move closer to inspect the chest. He stopped a few feet away, “Trapped! I’m not really sure what this will do, so back up a bit!” He pulled out a heavy knife, throwing it at what he assumed was the activation for the trap.
He flipped backward just as the knife impacted, and a blast of superheated vapor blasted from well-hidden holes in a ring around the chest. Anyone nearby would have been boiled in their armor like a lobster if they had been caught in the spray.
“That’s a new one!” Hans chuckled, stepping forward to inspect the chest again. As he was setting his foot down, a spike shot upward, intent on skewering him. The spike shattered as it came into contact with his boot, and Hans chuckled. “Double trapped. This place is getting dangerous!”
Evan was a bit perplexed, “I’m glad you aren’t hurt, but I am wondering… how did you do that?”
“Inscribed boot. I calculated how much force was coming up at me and passed Essence into the boot to enhance my downward force by that exact amount. The stone shattered, and luckily my boot did not.” Hans commented offhandedly as he threw open the chest. “Weapons!”
The others let out a soft cheer. They didn’t want to be too loud. Sound attracted attention. “Looks like… oh yes. I think we have a set of demon busters here!” The cheer got a bit louder and Adam danced a bit.
“Demon busters?” Evan quietly wondered, feeling like he was missing eighty percent of the conversation.
Tom replied this time, “Tis what we have dubbed weapons that are specifically designed to destroy demons. The church pays very well for them, as the Inscriptions are very detailed and finicky. For a reproduction of this weapon style, near a year of work would be required. We also will need to assume that these weapons are single use, as they are intended to be stabbed into their target, who will forthwith be returned to the abyss. A lot of work for this artifact, therefore a lot of money for us.”
“Let’s say three thousand, divided by the five of us… six hundred gold each?” Hans was calling out calculations.
“The six of us, Hans. We had already passed that point, only Evan noticing it brought us back to claim it.” Dale admonished his friend.
“Nooo, come on! I have a Mage to pay off!” Hans whined.
Dale gave him a look. “And how many weapons are there?”
“…Three.” Hans muttered sullenly.
Dale did a bit of math in his head. “Let’s round that up to ten thousand gold. That means fifteen percent goes to the city, so we are at eighty-five hundred. Then a flat twenty-five percent to the Guild… so down another twelve hundred seventy-five. That leaves us seven thousand two hundred and twenty five gold if we play our cards right. Divided by the six of us, twelve platinum, four gold, sixteen silver, and six copper. If we haggle it correctly of course. And adjusting for the current rumors, we could boost the price a solid amount.”
The others stared at him in shock. “What?”
Rose answered his question. “When did you start doing mathematics in your head like that? That was really impressive.”
“Oh.” Dale looked a bit embarrassed. “You all know that I am working to be a good little city Lord, I have been spending most of my money on memory stones that contain different concepts. I recently purchased the Dwarven mathematical system, and I guess it is kind of… I don’t know, I just need to do math when it comes up like this.”
“What’s the cubed root of three hundred times thirty-two squared?” Hans looked at Dale excitedly.
“I… I’m not a jester, Hans. I don’t perform tricks!” This made the others laugh, while Hans muttered ‘I’m never gonna figure that out.’
Rose looked at Dale with a half-smile on her face, “I had wondered why you insisted on coming in here unarmored. You are welcome for the greaves, by the way. You’re broke, aren’t you?”
“Oh yes.”
“Well, so are all of us! Just for different reasons. Don’t feel bad. Back to work?” Rose prodded them.
They moved to the final room on this floor, killing off the Boss Squad and moving to the second floor.
~Cal~
“Dale’s group is coming through the second floor right now. They’re bringing along a miner.” Dani informed me cheerfully.
“Want me to let you know when they’re getting near the third floor?” Dani offered. I gladly accepted. I really wanted to figure out the gate issue.
I returned my attention to the problem that the dimensional bag was becoming. I was using the principles it had allowed me to understand in an attempt to make portals that lead to each floor. I felt that the system I had in place to contain the energies and direct them should be working. Maybe there was simply an ephemeral quality to Mana that I simply couldn’t replicate with Essence? Gah, no! I couldn’t think like that! If I could just figure out why punching into a pocket dimension like this was making it so hard for me to… wait a second.
That explains my issue! I was trying to extrapolate the same pattern for an extradimensional bag and use it to allow intradimensional travel! I wasn’t trying to break out of this dimension, I needed to connect two points so I could allow things to move between those points, in the same dimension! I wrapped my mind around this concept, and formulated a plan.
If I understood the issue correctly, what I needed to do was to set up a gate that matched another perfectly, then I could connect those two by setting up a resonance pattern, and forcing the Essence at the two termini to move at the same time, with the same criteria. Essentially, I was planning on inscribing the air by moving Essence in a continuous cycle. Then something entering through one gate would find themselves exiting the other!
I had just started getting excited and was about to begin working on a model, when I was interrupted by my lovely Wisp. “Cal, they’re fighting Raile right… they beat Raile.”
“They haven’t. I think it is only a matter of time now. They are looking at the chest, the miner is looking and scratching at the walls… and Dale is doing his customary double check of the Silverwood tree. Wave at Dale!” Dani laughed as Dale’s face peeked into view high above. Dale put on a strange expression, so I focused on his side of the conversation.
“I think there is another floor again.” Dale saying this brought many more faces into view through my sunroof.
“Looks like! You think this floor will be as insanely difficult as that little maze?” Hans chipperly input.
“What is this made of?” Evan was trying unsuccessfully to scratch at the material they were looking through. “It’s tough!” He looked at it closely, the natural light spilling in from above allowing him to look at it without impediment. “It seems like a pane of nearly perfectly clear emerald, but it’s huge! I’ve never seen anything resist my pick either.”
“It is likely a derivative of cursed earth. I’m betting that it is emerald, but with a large amount of earthen corruption in it.” Rose postulated, gaining the attention of those around her.
“Why would it matter if it were emerald or not?” Dale asked her. They dissolved into discussion about mineral affinity as they made their way cautiously down the stairs.
~Dale~
“Fortifications?!” Hans thundered. “What the crap kind of Mob hides behind fortifications?!”
Adam spoke up, concern in his voice. “Smart ones?”
His statement made everyone go quiet for a moment. “Shit.”
“What do we do? Go up and knock? Hop over the walls? They aren’t that high.” Evan grumped a bit, pic
kaxe itching to be swinging.
“We do knock, but not with our hands. Nah, we use the door-knocker. Tom, pull out your hammer, you’re up!” Hans directed with a sly grin. He glanced at Evan, “You’re gonna like this part.”
Tom placed his ingot hammers into his bag, and pulled out his oversized Warhammer. “I’ve missed you.” he whispered to it, caressing it lightly. He walked directly up to the large door, swinging his hammer with a roar. He had only ever used the full force of his weapon on a stationary object once before, and a member of his old team had died because of it. The weapon impacted the doors with the force of a localized earthquake, blasting the doors to splinters. Those shards flew into the warriors huddled behind the fortification, killing several of them instantly. The remaining warriors roared and charged from their breached fort, swinging deadly weapons with great speed and accuracy.
Dale’s team joined the fight! Dale ran at an exceptionally large specimen that was wielding a Warhammer and releasing saliva with every roar. Dodging its initial assault, Dale stepped forward swinging a one-two punch. The first swing hurt Dale far more than the Mob, but the second blow shattered his victim’s collarbone and interrupted the flow of blood traveling through its arteries for a moment. This caused the creature to collapse for an instant, almost unconscious. Dale pressed his attack, his next punch cracking the skull and scrambling brain tissue.
Dale had been too focused on his prone challenger, and an arrow sliced into his thigh. He dropped to a knee with a yell, hand clapping to the wound to try and slow the blood flow. Rose counter-sniped the archer, pinning it to a wall across the compound. Adam tripped a Mob that was running at Rose with his staff, then used the sharpened end to stab it through the heart.
