B01DCAV4W2 (S)

by Aleron Kong

Congratulations! You have reached skill level 39 in Herb Lore. Herbs are 3% more effective. Increased chance of finding higher level herbs.

  Dismissing the prompt, Richter got up and looked around. Nothing caught his eye so he activated Stealth and started moving down the tunnel. The path twisted like a snake and in several spots, Richter had to squeeze his body through tight junctions. At one point he was stuck for a heart thudding series of moments, but he was able to wriggle free and continue onward.

  For the first couple hours, nothing happened. That was not to say that Richter’s travel was stress-free. Just by the fact that he was completely enclosed by tons of rock made him apprehensive. The air had a stale quality, lacking the movement of wind that he barely noticed when above ground. He had to force down his mild claustrophobia several times. Occasionally, he heard a scratching or scrabbling, but when he looked there was nothing there. He kept searching for traps, and when he finally found one, it was only luck that kept him from triggering it.

  The tunnel had branched several times while he was walking, but he never deviated. The course he was following terminated in a blank stone wall. The tunnel itself continued, but it required jumping or climbing to a ledge eight feet above where Richter was standing. Undaunted, he jumped and was easily able to grab the lip of the ledge above, but when he pulled his head high enough to see over the edge, a red trip wire glowed not two inches away from his fingers. If he had thrown his arm over the ledge to pull himself further up, the trap would have been triggered.

  Richter froze. His eyes darted back and forth searching for more threats, but nothing else started to glow red. He started to experience the slightest of tremors in his fingers from supporting his whole weight while his arms were flexed. It was clear that the trip wire was only meant to cover part of the tunnel. The entrance to this new segment of tunnel was five feet across and the trip wire was only four. Richter moved himself to the right until he reached the section where he wouldn’t risk triggering the trap and then carefully pulled himself up.

  Once he was standing again, he examined the trap. Unfortunately, the wire ran into the wall of the tunnel through a small hole. Richter stared at it. There must be a hollow space behind the wall. He remembered that the kobold Tri’yerin had said his people were masters of traps, but the time and dedication it would take to drill through solid rock to set this trap up was both impressive and disturbing. Even the trip wire itself appeared to be the same color as the dirt floor it rested above. If not for the red glow from his Trap Detect skill, Richter doubted he ever would have seen it.

  Richter swallowed, fighting against the sandpaper feeling that now characterized his throat. If this was only the first trap he had come across, how much more diabolical would they become? Richter looked around for what would have been triggered if he had touched the trip wire, a fall of rocks, a series of spears, or maybe a giant buzz saw that only the penitent man could pass, but he didn’t see anything. Part of him wanted to bash at the wall to see what was behind it, but it was a foolish risk. What if he triggered the very trap he was trying to avoid? In the end, Richter just kept walking and left the tripwire behind.

  The trail of the kobolds was easy to follow thanks to his new Tracking skill. Over the next couple of hours, his path continued in a serpentine manner and he encountered no less than ten traps and dozens of tunnel offshoots. Some of the traps were pressure plates and others were trip wires. Twice, he came across small caverns with cleverly disguised deadfalls. None of them offered him a retrievable mechanism unfortunately, and most seemed to trigger simple darts, rock falls or trap doors. Richter didn’t have too hard of a time to detecting and avoiding most of the snares. That was until he discovered one after he had triggered it.

  Richter was in a room where three patches lit up red. He was stepping around one of them when he realized that he was sinking. Looking around frantically he saw that instead of solid ground, he was actually standing on a heavy tarp that matched the rest of the floor exactly. The ends had been weighted down, so his own weight would only overcome the anchors when he was near the center of the trap. Richter made a lunge, which only caused the tarp to drop faster, but he was able to get a hold of Futen. The remnant’s levitating power was not enough to fully support his weight, but it was enough for him to high step back to solid ground.

  Richter dropped to his butt when he was safe and looked at the deep cavity that had almost claimed him. A few wooden bars circled the periphery, giving more support for the tarp that had hid the trap. He sidled up to the edge of pit and saw that it went down at least 50 feet. The bottom was covered in sharp rocks. The walls sloped inward like a cone so that the base was twice as wide as the opening. A broken limb would have been likely and climbing back up, with that angle… well it would have been a bitch and a half to say the least!

  None of that seemed as important as the fact that it hadn’t lit red though! Richter didn’t know if it didn’t qualify as a trap somehow or if it was just so masterfully concealed that his Pierce The Veil skill just wasn’t up to snuff. Whatever the reason, he felt like his chances of getting out of the tunnels alive had just been cut in half.

  He allowed himself a few moments to regain his cool after the near miss. He couldn’t just keep sitting on his butt though and, before long, he was forcing himself back onto his feet. He slowly shuffled around the pit and tested each patch of ground before fully committing his weight to it. Once he was on the other side of the cavern he followed the tunnel that had the greatest density of foot traffic and continued further into the earth.

  Richter maintained Stealth constantly while he was underground, with Futen several dozen yards ahead. Alma remained comfortably nestled atop his shoulders. Side tunnels had been appearing with greater frequency while he walked, some even leading straight up into the ceiling or down into the floor. He remembered how Tri’yerin had told him kobolds often dug out side tunnels for the express purpose of trapping intruders, though. He decided to keep following the kobold tracks, reasoning that at the very least he wouldn’t be led into a blind alley or some kind of death trap.

  More and more tributaries sprouted off of the main tunnel and not all were small little rat holes. The tunnel forked again and again and soon the amount of tracks was equal in both directions. When that happened, Richter chose the path that took him in the direction of the Long Fang’s territory. His journey took him deeper and further into the earth. Richter was painfully aware that every step was a step further into enemy territory. One truth dominated Richter’s life now, though. The only way out, was through.

  CHAPTER 17

  For the next day, Richter walked down through the tunnels in relative solitude. At one point, he heard a loud roar followed by a shrill scream of pain. The tunnels played tricks with the echoes, and he couldn’t reliably say if the noises were closer than twenty feet or further than a mile. He sheltered in recessed section of the tunnel wall with his cloak over him for long moments, hoping whatever it was didn’t come any closer. When silence reigned for a long period, he resumed his journey.

  Now that he was deeper in the earth, Richter’s progress was greatly slowed by all of the traps and blind ends. He had to backtrack over and over. The only good news was that his Pierce the Veil skill went up two levels, and his Traps and Trap Disarm skills both went up one level. Though he occasionally heard more skittering sounds, he didn’t see another soul for the entire first day. Richter knew that his luck couldn’t last forever though, and he was right. He was disabling a particularly difficult series of traps, all level fifteen and above, when he heard the barking language of the kobolds.

  He immediately had Futen turn invisible. He couldn’t be sure that kobolds couldn’t see the light the remnant had been emitting, even though it was so faint. Of course, without the remnant’s ambient light, he was blind despite his Night Vision spell. At a quick order, Futen moved ahead to find the encroaching party and then report back. Richter found the wall of the tunnel and edged back into a small crevi
ce. He maintained Stealth and his icon indicating his effectiveness remained a green, closed eye.

  Richter waited. He wished that he could cast his buffs, but it would just draw too much attention in the pitch black tunnel. Alma shifted on his shoulders.

  *We may have some trouble soon, love. If I light up the space, attack!* he told her.

  *I am ready, master,* she thought back. There was a distinctly predatory tone to her thoughts.

  Less than a minute later, Richter heard Futen’s voice directly in his left ear.

  “There is a party of eight kobolds approaching, my Lord. I could not Analyze them without giving away my position. Four have spears or small swords, two have crossbows, and one is slightly larger and is wearing armor. The last is carrying a staff and I can sense magic emanating from her,” Futen’s whisper was almost inaudible.

  Richter nodded, it sounded like a caster and a series of warriors. One of the warriors might have some extra training, but that might actually work in his favor. “Are they coming this way?”

  “I believe so, my Lord. There is a small tunnel branching off between their position and here, but they are walking in this direction.”

  “Do they know I am here?”

  “I cannot understand their language, my Lord,” Futen replied, “but they do not seem to be expecting trouble.”

  Hopefully it’s just a random patrol, he thought. “The larger warrior and the one with the staff, are they at the front of the group or in the back?”

  “They are both in the back,” Futen answered.

  “Good,” Richter said, “I want you to hover high above me and several yards away. Let the patrol pass me. When the mage and larger fighter pass my position, flare as brightly as you can. Keep the light in their eyes. Alma, you attack the smaller ones and be careful to avoid the ones with crossbows.”

  *I am ready, master!* she thought gleefully.

  Richter took his bow out of his Bag of Holding and placed it under his cloak. Next, he adjusted the position of his quiver so that he could swiftly draw and nock an arrow when needed. Between his Stealth skill and his Cloak of Concealment, he looked like nothing more than a shadow in the darkness. He banished Night Vision and then settled in to wait.

  The voices grew louder, the kobolds’ barking echoing in the tunnels. Again, the tunnels made it hard for Richter to gauge how far away they were, but he didn’t have to wait long. After only a few minutes, the voice stopped echoing and he could tell that they were crossing his position. Their footsteps were characterized by a slight scratching as their talons scraped the floor. There was also a faint shush sound. It confused Richter for a moment, but then he remembered that the kobolds had long tails that dragged behind them.

  Richter kept his eye screwed shut and his head pointed down. He didn’t dare move a muscle until Futen lit up the tunnel. His first encounter with kobolds kept playing through his mind while he waited. He had remained undetected while he stayed still, but they had seen him as soon as he shifted in the slightest bit. He could only guess that their vision was movement based. Richter kept his breaths shallow.

  Suddenly there were screams of pain and howls of agony. The darkness Richter had lived in for the past several hours was banished by a bright white light. Richter opened his eyes, and the light nearly blinded him as well, despite not looking directly at it. The kobold patrol was almost completely incapacitated. The subterranean creatures could barely even tolerate bright light, but having a light the equivalent of the sun shine directly in their eyes after being in a completely dark tunnel had overwhelmed their senses! Three were down on the ground rolling around in agony and two others had fallen to their knees as they hissed in pain.

  Richter wasted no time. He spat the word of power that triggered his spell Charm and overcame the will of the kobold mage. With no hesitation, he pointed his Ring of Spell Holding at the armored kobold and suddenly had another fighter on his side. He followed this up with a third enchantment. With a harsh word of power, his fingers contorted into a peculiar arrangement and he cast Troubled Sleep. Unlike Charm, Troubled Sleep took a whole three seconds to cast. It was why Richter seldom used it in battle. Only the pain and disorientation that Futen’s brilliance had caused the light sensitive kobolds let him take the time to cast the spell. Three seconds didn’t seem like a lot in normal times, but in battle it could be a lifetime.

  The Dark magic writhed down Richter’s arm and then shot forward. It flew towards the kobolds and started to circle around some of them. It moved faster and faster, varying its height with each elevation. It was clear that it was running around the circumference of an unseen cylinder and those caught within it had to either resist the spell or fall into a nightmare plagued sleep. Of the five caught within, only one managed to maintain his feet.

  Since Futen had flared, bringing light to the darkness, less than ten seconds had passed. Richter’s two charmed kobolds stood ready to accept orders, four were prone, trapped in a nightmare sleep. Of the two remaining, one was still staring at him in fear and disbelief over the sudden change in her fortune. The last was high tailing it towards a nearby side tunnel.

  *Alma, drain him!* he shouted mentally.

  The kobold was quite quick on his feet, but was no match for the dragonling once she had cast Haste. Before the runner had covered half the distance to his escape route, Alma silently caught him. Her wings flared to slow her momentarily as her four legs extended. With a deadly grace, she latched onto the kobold’s head. His arms started to come up to push off his attacker, but then he fell as seizures overtook his body. She remained attached as the body collapsed to the ground.

  The kobold standing near Richter had make a quick assessment. She didn’t know exactly what had befallen her commander and the mage, but their slack expressions and vacant gaze told her that something was amiss. It clearly had something to do with this cloaked intruder that had arrived in their midst, though. She had seen him cast spells of multiple types, something only the chromatic kobolds could normally do. Though running was the default of the kobold race when faced with a new threat, she knew there was little chance of her escaping, and besides, the human was holding a bow. So she took the only option that was left to her. She attacked.

  Her spear was extended in a lunge even before Alma had caught the kobold she was chasing. Richter jumped back and to the side in order to avoid the attack, but he needn’t have bothered. His charmed kobolds reacted to the threat to their new master. The armored kobold swung his own spear forward and caught the female kobold in its side. The spearhead punctured her scaled hide and blood, more black than red, sprayed from where he struck her. The charmed kobold’s attack was strong enough to knock his target to the ground.

  The kobold mage had started casting a spell at the same time that the armored kobold attacked. The spell had a several second cast time and green energy began to surround both the mage and her staff. When she finished casting, she drove the butt of her staff into the ground. A crack appeared in the tunnel floor and zigzagged several feet away. When it finished, a small stone hand rose from the ground. Over the next second, a one-and-a-half-foot high figure rose from the ground. The ground it had arisen from looked unblemished. The small golem immediately wandered over to the injured kobold and drove a rocky hand into her ankle. The kobold screamed, but that didn’t stop the golem from ripping a bloody chunk from her leg.

  The armored kobold was getting ready to deliver a coup de grace, but Richter said, “Stop!”

  Immediately, both the mage and the fighter took a step back. With a wave of her hand, the mage had her summoned earth monster step back as well.

  The injured kobold female looked up at Richter with pure hate in her eyes, “Just kill me human! I will die knowing that my people will soon feast on your flesh!”

  Richter looked back at her dispassionately and said, “You got it.”

  He walked over to where Alma was feeding and drew a dagger. He quickly stabbed the kobold in the heart, ending his life.
The dragonling looked at him like the cat that got the cream, extremely satisfied with her meal.

  *Want some more, love?* he asked her.

  *Oh yes, master. Thank you!*

  He sent her a mental image of the injured kobold and she launched into the air with an excited trill. The kobold saw death coming and screamed, but the sound was c off abruptly as Alma began to feed again.

  Richter had Futen use his identification ability on all of the kobolds’ equipment, and then he ordered him to turn invisible and sent him to scout the nearby tunnels. It was clear that the glare had been causing his charmed kobolds pain, and he didn’t want to risk an adverse stimuli breaking his hold on them. He cast Far Light, and attached a small ball of light to the tunnel wall several yards away. The kobolds did not seem happy, but they no longer looked like they were in pain. The visibility issue taken care of, he walked over to his new allies.

  Speaking in the barking language of the kobolds, he asked, “Are there any other kobolds nearby? Anyone that would have heard our fight, or is going to come look for you soon?”

  “No, master,” the armored kobold said.

  “Are we safe here?” he asked next.

  “Nowhere is safe in the Depths master, but we most likely will not be attacked anytime soon.”

  “Good enough for me,” Richter said. He pointed to the kobolds that had succumbed to his Troubled Sleep spell, “I need information. Do any of them have knowledge of the tunnels that the two of you don’t?”

  Even while charmed, the derision could be clearly heard in the armored kobold’s voice, “They are simple soldiers, master. They could not possibly know anything that I do not.”

  Elitism, alive and well, miles underground, Richter thought shaking his head. “Do you agree?” he asked the mage.

  “Yes, master.”

  The cosign was all Richter needed. He mentally told Alma to drain them as well. It was true that the sleeping kobolds could have had information the charmed two did not, but he had to be practical. There was no way he could control so many of them at once. And time was of the essence. Richter could not forget that he was deep behind enemy lines. He analyzed each and found that they all had the prefix ‘Kol’ in their names. The armored kobold explained that the Kol caste were born with the ability to use their tails as another prehensile appendage. Richter remembered that the fighter that had lunged at him had had a tail that switched back and forth like a cat’s. The Kol caste kobolds had tails that were longer than Richter’s charmed kobolds. Some of them had a forged spike that was attached to the tip. Richter saw how it could be used like a scorpion’s stinger.