For The Guild (Emerilia Book 2)

by Michael Chatfield

  “I can get them to come to us if you want,” Malsour said.

  “Be the best plan. Funnel them into here and I’ll take care of them.” Dave put his two rods together, once again forming a compound bow with glowing runes on it. An arrow appeared in his hand as he watched the wolf.

  Timber Wolf

  Level 91

  Dave watched the creature, his knowledge and perception marking points where he should aim to hit critical areas. He was closer than ten meters, making it not a ranged shot.

  Dave fired; the arrow pierced the wolf’s lungs. It tried to call out but coughed, suffocating to death as it fell on the ground.

  “Okay, just moving the metal to outside of the caves. Hopefully I can catch them as they come out,” Malsour said.

  His skill is really powerful, but getting the resources he needs to carry it takes planning and precision. Knowing the time it is, where shadows will be, or curses and spells that will work on different animals and having inanimate materials nearby that he can manipulate: he takes this all into account when setting up. I just have to make weapons and hit things.

  “Done.”

  “All right. Well, do whatever voodoo magic you want to get them a running.” Dave looked at the entrance to the cave; it was sixty meters away. The area in front of the caves had been cleared away. The trees had scratch marks on them and bushes along their edges. Dave and Malsour used these bushes for cover.

  Dave moved so that he stood, using a tree to balance himself so he could draw on the full power of the bow.

  “Here they come.” Malsour moved his hands as he started casting spells.

  The first wolf came out, only to get hit with a curse, making it cry out as its Health start to plummet. Spiders, the size of small dogs and venom dripping from their teeth, flowed out of the other caves; a battle started with the spiders and the wolves.

  Dave hadn’t been able to see them all as they’d been in some kind of hibernation state. “Shiiiiiet.” Dave fired his arrows into the little buggers. “Creepy ass spiders.”

  Malsour continued to throw curses as Dave took out spider hatchling after spider hatchling. Spider guardians started to flow out as the thirteen wolves and spiders battled it out. The spider hatchlings were no higher than level 30, but there had to be fifty of them. Their venom stacked damage, making the wolves slow after a few dozen hits. The spider guardians were level 30 to 60.

  “Even though the spiders are less in Strength, their numbers and their venom means that even if they die, their work is done with a bite,” Malsour said.

  “Poor bastards,” Dave said. The wolves were holding their ground well but the spiders’ attacks were indeed having an effect. Dave watched as what he had mistaken for a boulder moved out of the cave.

  Spider Queen

  Level 121

  “Ah shit!” Dave turned to fire at the queen.

  “Don’t shoot her!” Malsour yelled, but it was already too late. Dave had fired and released, hitting her in the eye and taking out twenty-five percent of her Health.

  The spiders seemed to move as one, turning from their battle with the wolves and rushing toward Dave and Malsour.

  “What the hell?”

  “You attack the queen and the rest will destroy you. She’s the only one who can birth more spiders!” Malsour said as spikes rose out of the ground.

  Dave’s increased speed from his Agility and dual wielding came into effect. The spiders were close enough that they were getting splash damage, using the two-handed main skill. His arrows hit with enough damage to one-shot the regular spiders and kill another just because of splash damage.

  The guardians took two hits, or one hit and one splash hit.

  “Dark ground!” Malsour yelled.

  A black smoke seemed to seep out of the shadows, covering the area around the spiders.

  They moved slower and took a few hit points of damage every second. Dave stopped hitting the regular spiders and started hitting just the guardians.

  Dave jumped sideways, firing an arrow as a guardian spat acid twenty meters, melting through the tree he had been standing beside. Dave put an arrow into its maw as the others started to fire their acid.

  Dave ran toward a tree, still firing his arrows as he jumped at the tree. He used it as a springboard to get to another and jump back and forth, messing up the guardians’ aim and leaving melting trees in his wake.

  “It’s just like Tree Tag!” Dave laughed as he took out the last five guardians. He conjured a holy sword, dropping it right on the queen.

  It let out a high-pitched wail as she tried to get the sword out of her back.

  “Well, should have tried out yoga, ya ugly bastard.” Dave moved back to the ground as the Dark ground spell dissipated.

  Malsour’s metal had finished off the remaining spiders and were now finishing off the wolves that had been so heavily poisoned that only three remained.

  The spider queen died with a loud shriek.

  After a few moments, Dave dismissed the sword and looked at the small battlefield.

  “Shall we call the others? This is going to be a pain in the ass to clean up ourselves,” Dave said.

  “Might as well ask them and see if they want to.” Malsour opened his interface.

  Dave checked the area to make sure that there weren’t any more spiders or creatures that wanted to try to eat them. There were a few, but they were all staying away after hearing the queen’s dying scream.

  Dave looked over the queen’s body, his perception highlighting the legs, fangs, poison sacs, and thick-armored skin on her body.

  “That chitin would make some decent light armor; seems that people use the poison for—food? What the hell?” Dave dug deep into the forums to find the different things to use her parts for.

  As he discovered more, more areas were highlighted on the queen to show the different usable parts. Dave simply had to look at them to get prompts.

  Spider Queen Fangs

  Can be used to create large needles and daggers

  Each said what the item was and what it could be used for.

  “Wow, the more you know, the better.” Dave moved to start pulling the spider apart.

  “Seems that Suzy and Induca aren’t finding much. They’ll meet up with us to help clear out this area and then go to the dungeon.” Malsour waved his interface way.

  “Good, cause the spiders will fetch a good price due to their level, armor, and venom. Apparently, venom in meat serves to tenderize it, making it more sought-after, so the wolves should get us a good price if we can dilute the venom in them. Otherwise, it will still be good. We’ll just need to find a cook good at getting the venom out. I do not want to be accused of selling bad meat.”

  “It is just meat,” Malsour said.

  “Yes, but that doesn’t matter to the person stuck on a toilet for two days because of a stomach bug! Uggh, Mexico.” Dave shuddered.

  “What happened in Mexico?”

  “I ate bad meat on the first day on holiday in the country. Was sick for three days. Even though it was a nice-looking country, I flew back home and spent the rest of my vacation playing video games. Could never look at a burrito the same way after that. Never went back either.”

  Chapter 4: Abandoned Dungeon

  “You picking anything up?” Induca asked Dave as they moved toward what was supposed to be a dungeon.

  “Just some small creatures running around deeper inside.” Dave stood at the entrance of the dungeon; Suzy’s golems moved ahead of him. Induca and Suzy were next to each other, with Malsour taking up the rear.

  “There are some runes that are messing up the ability to detect much in this area,” Malsour said.

  “Yeah, I’m picking them up. I think once we’re in the dungeon, I’ll be able to see more as we go on. Every level looks to have different runes,” Dave said.

  “Well, I say that we go and check it out. If it’s this complex, then there should be something useful down there,” Suzy said.<
br />
  “As in expensive so you have some gold coins to spend,” Induca teased.

  “Maybe.” Suzy smiled.

  Induca giggled. Suzy and she had talked to each other a bit here and there, but it had been their first time being paired up and sent on their own. Induca wouldn’t deny that she had fun on the trip.

  Been looking for an opportunity to talk to her one on one. She’s a cool girl, Induca thought, not wanting to admit anything more in case things didn’t pan out.

  “Well, onward and downward.” Dave’s bow transformed to a shield and sword as they moved into the dungeon’s opening.

  Location Found: Abandoned Dungeon

  As being the first party to find this Dungeon, you will earn 2x XP for the next week. Creatures killed in the Dungeon will drop their best loot for the next day.

  “I’ll let Deia and Anna know what’s going on,” Malsour said as they advanced.

  “I’m guessing whatever is down here has night vision,” Dave said.

  “What makes you think that?” Suzy asked.

  “There aren’t any torches on the walls,” Induca said.

  “Bingo.” Dave slowed his steps. “Well, I’ve got around fifteen creatures on this floor. There seem to be several floors, growing bigger and looking better maintained the deeper they are.”

  Induca could sense his excitement as he looked at the layout of the dungeon. A smile spread across her face as she looked at Suzy.

  “Our first dungeon in Heval. I’m pumped,” Dave said.

  The others laughed as they moved deeper, all of them ready for anything that might show up.

  Character Sheet

  Name:

  David Grahslagg

  Gender:

  Male

  Level:

  3

  Class:

  -

  Race:

  Human/Dwarf

  Alignment:

  Chaotic Neutral

  Unspent points-295

  Health:

  2,900

  Regen:

  2.24/s

  Mana:

  1,470

  Regen:

  6.60/s

  Stamina:

  740

  Regen:

  3.65/s

  Vitality:

  29

  Endurance:

  112

  Intelligence:

  147

  Willpower:

  132

  Strength:

  74

  Agility:

  73

  Dave and the rest of his party continued down into the dungeon.

  Suzy, Induca, and Malsour were with him, with Deia and Anna on their way. Suzy had Air creations out up ahead, with metal and Earth golems following. Dave was behind them.

  Now, we’ll know what we’re dealing with, Dave thought as the red outline of an enemy mob appeared around the corner.

  Before it had time to cry out in alarm, it was hit by wind creations. Three of them worked together, cutting the creature apart before a metal creation speared the thing in the chest.

  Dave moved up toward it.

  Kobold

  Level 73

  “Well, it looks like we’re fighting kobolds,” Dave said to the others. He pulled up the forums and looked at what a kobold looked like when it was alive.

  “Damn, they’re ugly and odd.”

  The kobolds looked to be stooped-over creatures that generally wore rags and carried items like picks and shovels. They had decent night vision, but nearly all of them had a candle either on their head or nearby to make out faint details. Their hands ended in claws and they had snouts on their faces, looking similar to moles as they used their noses more than their eyes to move around.

  Their tallest was around four foot, but as they aged, they were stooped over, usually using their digging implements as canes.

  “Kobolds are really good at hearing things—their eyesight isn’t the best,” Dave said.

  “They’ve got a few different classes of creatures: kobold king, and then there’s melee-based fighters—no archers to speak of. Their mages are usually Earth or Air users,” Suzy added.

  “Well, I say we go and see how many of them we can clear out. Dungeons usually have some good loot the farther down we get.” Dave advanced forward, Suzy’s creations moving with him.

  “Just has to be in tight and enclosed spaces.” Malsour sighed.

  “What—don’t like small spaces, big brother?” Induca teased.

  “I could barely fit my foot in here if I was in my other form.”

  Dave let loose another arrow, catching a kobold in the side. It let out a wail as the metal creatures pulled it apart.

  “That’s just nasty,” Dave said. “Can’t you send these guys out as scouts to see what we’re up against?”

  “I can, but last time they were discovered, giving the element of surprise away,” Suzy said. It was clear it wasn’t something she was happy about.

  “That was against Alkao, though. I really hope that there isn’t something his level down here,” Induca said.

  “I’d say it’s good to risk it and it will allow you to gain a better control over your metal constructs. All different elemental-based creatures react differently in different cases,” Malsour supplied.

  “Well, all right then.” Two of the metal creations shrunk down, leaving behind metal puddles that were absorbed by the others. They were a third of their original size and moved fast through the dungeon to find their enemies.

  “Oh, Dave, that reminds me. Is there anything that you could do to a wagon to make it faster?” Suzy asked.

  “Why you asking?”

  “Well, I was talking to someone the guild wants to basically use as our quartermaster. As adventurers, we travel faster than horses so we’re going to need wagons that keep up with us.”

  “Well, I can think of a few ways to make them faster off the top of my head. I would have to mess around with them. Do you want me to just make trucks?”

  “You could do that?” Suzy asked, shocked.

  “Well, I think I could, but it would take some time and, well, I was hoping to leave that a bit of a secret. I have another idea of something that would need to be mobile. Got quite a few ideas that are kind of out of the box and maybe a bit insane, though, if they work, then it would make our guild the most powerful out there,” Dave said.

  “Like what?” Induca asked.

  “Like this.” Dave closed his eyes, thinking of the design in his mind. It was hard and it took time for the shadows to form perfectly; there were multiple runes and the power that it drew from the soul gems in the rods was rather expensive.

  He ended up holding what looked like a long rectangle with a buttstock on the end of it. Underneath, it was shaped into a pistol grip and trigger assembly.

  “Is that what I think it is?” Suzy asked.

  “Well, if you’re thinking gun, kind of. There are actually several guns on this world. Players have been messing around with the mechanics forever. Problem is that the alchemy needed to make gunpowder and all of that is not only hard, but most people blow themselves up. It’s easy for people to lose a dozen levels just trying to get the chemistry of it all down. People have not graduated from using basic musket type weapons to cartridge loading rifles. People were thinking too much Earth and not enough Emerilia. This, on the other hand, only uses magical power. Quite a bit of it, but still just magical power.” Dave held it proudly out for her to check it out. His Touch of the Land and her scouts would make sure that nothing snuck up on them.

  “How does it work?” Suzy asked.

  “Well, I’ve got a few ideas on that, either using straight air compression to spit the round out of the end, or we go with a Fire-based accelerant, or a lightning spell that polarizes a metal coil, turning it into a railgun. I’m thinking the first or the last as options. Fire makes me think that it’ll blow up and it’ll take more time to figure out. Then there is the possibility to have a Mana bolt kind o
f weapon, but again, all of them are probably going to be much weaker than the weapons we have now. Our arrows can hit as hard as a fifty caliber round due to our strength, abilities of the bows and the materials they’re made from.” Dave noticed the amount of energy that it was taking just to keep the weapon active and changed back to his compound bow.

  “Wow, that would certainly change things.” Suzy’s eyes glazed over in thought.

  “It could, but it’s one of the things I want to keep a secret in case we ever need a few surprises up our sleeves.”

  “For say an oncoming tournament with the most powerful creatures in existence coming back from cold storage?” Induca asked.

  “Well, while that does sound like a good idea, I would rather keep these things hidden unless the creatures are openly running around and then we can hunt them down using this weaponry. Keep it secret from other guilds and nations that would like nothing more than to get one of those rifles for their own use. They’re only single shot and you can get about three hundred shots out of it, but that’s still a lot of firepower.”

  “It makes sense to keep it secret. Ashal, as a whole, has been fighting for generations. They would do anything to get that kind of weapon. With it, the face of wars would change,” Malsour said.

  Dave nodded, noticing a group of kobolds getting closer.

  “In the meantime, we’ve got some customers,” Dave said.

  “I’ll try to take them with my creations. I want to see how they stack up against different enemies,” Suzy said.

  “No worries. We’ll provide support,” Dave said.

  Metal creatures seemed to melt into the floor as rock golems moved to the walls and crouched down, looking like their surroundings. Dave and the others hid around a corner as the kobold party moved past the creations.

  The wind creations were invisible until they started sending blades of Air that cut into the kobolds. The metal creations sent out spikes, piercing the kobolds and holding them in place.