The Land_Alliances

by Aleron Kong

  After analyzing the third kobold, he was awarded with a prompt.

  Congratulations! You have reached skill level 6 in Analyze.

  Another prompt had been auto minimized since he was in combat conditions.

  Congratulations! You have reached skill level 7 in Stealth.

  He dismissed both notifications and left Alma to her feast. Richter turned his attention to the charmed kobolds. He analyzed the mage first.

  Name: En’fota. Kobold Level 13. Health 190. Mana 330. Stamina 140. Disposition: Charmed (Enmity). Kobolds are small reptilian humanoids. Most adventurers can best a kobold in one on one combat, but you will seldom find such a fight. They highly favor traps and ambushes. Kobolds shy from bright light and make their homes underground. It should be a wary adventurer that enters a kobold warren. Kobolds get two points to distribute per level, and each level gives +1 to Intelligence, Dexterity, and Agility.

  Next he analyzed the armored kobold.

  Name: Dur’ghen. Kobold Level 12. Health 200. Mana 220. Stamina 170. Disposition: Charmed (Enmity)…

  Richter started interrogating them. First he asked about the prefixes in their names. The mage told him that ‘En’ meant that she was in a caste of kobolds known for their long claws. She demonstrated that the claws on the tips of her fingers could extend another two inches. Each looked wickedly sharp. She demonstrated by dragging them down the wall. Shallow furrows could be seen in the stone afterwards. The ‘En’ caste were normally used as attackers. Apparently they were also gifted with increased health.

  Dur’ghen supplied the information about his own caste. ‘Dur’ denoted a caste devoted to defending mages. These kobolds were born with heavier scales that significantly increased their natural armor. They were also larger, had more health than lower castes and had greater strength.

  Next, they told him about their clan, the Sabre Claws. Their territory did indeed abut the Long Fangs Clan’s territory. Dur’ghen made it clear that there was no love lost between the two clans. The tunnels that joined the territories were all no man’s lands and were sites of continual skirmishes.

  “I need to get to the Long Fang’s lands and then travel through them.”

  The mage spoke up, “I do not know how that will be possible, master. Even for us, it is almost impossible to avoid their traps and patrols. We will of course help in any way that we can master. I just wanted you to know the risks.”

  Richter nodded. The information was not anything he hadn’t been expecting. After all, he was trapped underground with possibly tens of thousands of monsters. He wasn’t going to give up though! He had them remove all of their gear. While he was at it, he had them help strip the other kobold’s as well. When everything was in a pile, Richter ordered them to get to work drawing maps of the tunnels in the surrounding area and specifically how to get to the Long Fang’s territory. As an aside, he asked them to jot down any other points of interest. He started going through their possessions.

  The soldiers merely had an assortment of poorly made weaponry and no armor to speak of. Each had small pouches with a hodgepodge of copper coins, small ingots of copper and a smattering of low quality stones. Richter had better luck with Dur’ghen’s equipment.

  You have found: Hide cuirass. Defense +3 (Max +5). Type: Light armor. Durability 11/16. Item class: Common. Quality: Poor. Weight: 1.3 kg.

  You have found: Earth snake pants. Defense +5. Type: Light armor. Durability 15/17. Item class: Common. Quality: Average. Weight: 0.7 kg. Traits: +3% Earth Resistance.

  You have found: Iron spear. Damage 8-11 (Max 10-12). Durability 13/18. Item class: Common. Quality: Poor. Weight 1.6 kg.

  You have found: Health Potion. Potion Level: Brew. Strength: Weak. Weight 0.1 kg. Heals 25 health over 7 seconds.

  You have found: Pouch.

  You have found: Box Trap. Triggering this trap will release the contents. Item Class: Common. Quality: Poor. Weight: 0.1 kg.

  Richter asked the fighter what was in the box and was told that it was an orange mold. The mold released spores that got into the victim’s lungs and made their lungs spasm. It caused poison damage and there was also a chance that the spores could cause the victim’s diaphragm to completely lock up for a short time. They would be incapacitated until the effect passed. A small wire was attached to the release mechanism. The box was no more than 3x3x3 inches. The trap would most likely be best used to booby trap the inside of a chest.

  When Richter heard about the deadly fungus in the box, he checked the quality again. Seeing ‘poor,’ he decided to handle it gently. He placed it in his Bag of Holding where it shouldn’t be able to harm him.

  Next he went through the mage’s items. The most interesting thing was the staff. It was topped with the skull of what looked like a monkey of all things. It had a sloping brow, protruding nose and two long fangs in place of incisors. The skull was attached to a wooden staff of polished wood.

  You have found: Summoning Staff of Earth. Attack 3-5 (Max 7-9). Durability 12/37. Item class: Uncommon. Quality: Superb. Weight 1.3 kg. Traits: Summoned Earth creatures are 14% stronger.

  The quality of the staff seemed much better than anything else the kobolds had possessed. When he asked about it, En’fota calmly explained that she had taken it from a gnome family that was caught in a trap. The entire family had fallen into a deep pit. Rather than risk direct confrontation with a potentially dangerous enemy, the kobolds had simply left the family in the trap for weeks. She explained that a kobold sentry was left to watch them from hiding. They slowly died of dehydration. The father had been holding the staff when her squad had come to search the remains. She remarked that he had also been holding the body of his small child.

  As Richter heard her speak, he was shocked and horrified at the nonchalant way that she relayed her story. She didn’t even stop drawing the maps. She had seemed to take a small amount of joy in that the trap had worked well, but there was absolutely no inflection as she described the slow and painful death of a family of sentient beings, at least some of them children. Richter didn’t know if he could call the kobold mage evil, since the events didn’t seem to affect her one way or another. She seemed to exhibit a complete lack of morality one way or another. Either way, he no longer felt any reservation about what he had planned for these two. He kept going through her gear.

  You have found: Bracelet of Mana. Durability 11/13. Item class: Common. Quality: Average. Weight: 0.1 kg. Traits: Increase maximum mana by +3.

  Well that’s utter crap, Richter thought. She also was wearing some basic clothes with no real statistics. In her pouch she did have one ruby, albeit of small size, and several small lumps of copper and silver. The only other thing that was of note was a weak mana potion. He placed everything in his Bag.

  He watched the two charmed kobolds until they had almost run out of paper. Richter retrieved the parchment that the Long Fang kobold had written on and had them start using the clean backs. While he waited for them to continue, Richter reloaded his Ring of Spell Storage with another Charm spell. Futen checked back in periodically and assured Richter that no one was approaching their position. After a time, Richter took what they had and arranged it on the ground. It took several minutes to arrange, but then a large map could clearly be seen. A prompt appeared, offering to add this new information to his Traveler’s Map. After accepting ‘Yes’ the subterranean information Richter could access expanded massively.

  As the kobolds continued to work, he explored the map. As instructed, the charmed creatures had focused first on showing him the way to the Long Fang’s territory. There were four large tunnels depicted on his Map that led between the two territories, and countless smaller passageways. Several underground rivers crisscrossed the map. Sometimes the waterways appeared for only small stretches before disappearing into bare rock again. Richter had considered using the rivers to get out of the Depths, but from what he could see, he would drown long before they made it outside.

  Instead he focused on the tunne
ls. The problem was, every single one of them had either traps, contingents of guards, or usually, both. And it wasn’t just the Sabre Claw’s defenses that were shown. En’fota had at least some information about the Long Fang’s defenses. Apparently as a member of a higher caste, she had access to intelligence on nearby enemies.

  Looking at the gauntlet he would have to make it through, Richter silently agreed that it would be near impossible to make it back to the ruined temple. He kept searching the maps for anything that might help though. As the kobolds finished new sections of the map he continued examining and adding them to his Traveler’s Map. Something started to catch his attention. A section of tunnel was climbing in elevation. He excitedly took the next parchment from En’fota and saw that it too showed tunnels leading upward.

  “Do any of these lead to the surface?” he asked quickly.

  “Yes, master,” the fighter replied. “there are many routes to the surface. This section of tunnel will lead you into the forest.”

  Richter face palmed. Of COURSE there would be other routes to the surface! He had been so fixated on getting back to the village by the one route he knew was available that he hadn’t even considered other options! This was the kind of mistake that could literally get him killed. Richter shook his head and recriminated himself again. He had to do better!

  Richter ordered her to detail the quickest route to the surface while Dur’ghen continued drawing any points of interest. As he waited for her to finish, Richter examined the various locations the fighter was jotting down. A small gold mine was far below their present position. It was guarded by what looked like a large contingent of kobolds. Another interesting location was a storage area. Dur’ghen said it was a space where his people stored the items they captured from enemies. At any time, it could be full of trash or treasure. It had a small number of guards according to Dur’ghen. More and more important sites filled the pages of the maps. One was relatively close by and the kobold depicted it with a series of spikes.

  “What’s this?” Richter said pointing.

  “That is a crystal garden, master.”

  “What is that?”

  “Crystals can be ground down and used to make higher level potions and items,” the kobold replied.

  Richter remembered Sion saying that finding more crystals was a priority.

  “So the crystals just naturally occur? Are there any other locations nearby?”

  En’fota answered, “Crystals are grown, master. They can occur in small quantities randomly, but a crystal garden has a Focus Crystal at its heart. Given time and the right conditions, it will grow an unlimited amount of crystal.”

  Richter’s eyes lit up with greed. He had been considering attacking if there was a stockpile of crystal. Basically just a snatch and grab, but if he could make his own garden… that would be phenomenal! Coupled with the bonus from his Life mastery, it would grow as much crystal as his people needed! Something bothered him though, “Why aren’t you marking down any guards? It doesn’t make sense that it would be left unprotected.”

  The two kobold’s looked at each other before replying, “It is guarded, my Lord.”

  “Then why didn’t you mark a guard post down like you did other places on the map.”

  Dur’ghen answered, “There will be a number of workers that are mining the garden, master. Outside of that, there was only a small force guarding the garden. The contingent is normally larger, but fighters were pulled away for a raid on another clan.”

  “Well how many can we expect?” Richter asked a bit impatiently. He felt like the kobold was being recalcitrant for some reason.

  Dur’ghen face twitched, “There will be only three Kol caste guards left. You killed the rest.” The fighter pointed at the kobold bodies. There wasn’t any anger in the kobold’s voice as he spoke, but Richter wondered about the twitch that had preceded Dur’ghen’s answer. While Charm was amazingly useful, he wondered at the limitations of the spell. Could someone under its effects lie, even if it was only a lie of omission? Was the real Dur’ghen screaming from inside his own skull, trying to get free? Richter really had no way of knowing since he had never personally suffered the effects of the spell.

  He pushed that question to the back of his mind. Focusing on the here and now, he was suddenly elated. There were only three guards left! It meant that a valuable resource was basically unprotected! “If I decide to attack, is there anything else I will need to be careful of?” He wanted that Focus Crystal!

  “If any of the workers survive the initial attack, then they will run to collect reinforcements. Outside of that, the Focus Crystal protects itself. It will summon a guardian that must be defeated before it can be collected.”

  Richter felt his enthusiasm wane slightly, “How much time before the reinforcements arrive?”

  “If the workers have to run to the nearest guard post, perhaps thirty minutes. If they encounter a patrol, then much faster,” Dur’ghen replied.

  “What type of guardian will the Focus Crystal summon,” he asked.

  “A beast formed of crystal itself,” En’fota answered. “I have seen a small one once before. On a patrol, our people found a crystal garden in the wild. The garden was young though. The crystals only grew several paces across, and so the guardian it summoned was not much larger than a skitter.”

  “So the guardian gets stronger the older the garden is?” Richter asked.

  “Yes, master.”

  “Well how old is the garden you were guarding?” Focus Crystals, and the gardens they create, gain power the older they are. This garden is more than fifty years old, master, and it fills several caves,” En’fota answered.

  “Goddammit,” Richter muttered under his breath. He still wasn’t deterred though, and Richter thought about the problem. His attack and capture of these two showed how much of a difference preparation could make in a battle. If he had attacked the kobold patrol head on, it was completely possible that the eight reptiles would have slaughtered him. He had been able to get close though and attack from surprise. That had made all the difference.

  How could he sneak close to the garden though? He couldn’t see without Futen, and the kobolds would be alerted if the remnant put out any light! Richter looked at En’fota, “I need a way to see in the dark. Do you have a spell that can do that?”

  “No master. All kobolds naturally have Darkvision. I do know a simple recipe to create such a potion however.”

  “Great, what is it?”

  The kobold mage started talking. She actually knew two recipes. The first just involved grinding a kobold’s eye into paste and then adding water. This would only make a ‘brew’ level potion. To make a ‘tincture’ level potion, another ingredient was required. Richter said he wanted the stronger potion so she explained the process. It required a specific number of clockwise turns of the pestle should be completed before pausing. Surprisingly, the process to make the tincture required him to add his own breath. She told him that he had to blow on it for several seconds, and then grind it, then blow on it again before continuing to grind. Coincidentally, that was the advice he had given his first girlfriend… and pretty much every other woman he had dated since.

  En’fota cleared her throat seeing that Richter had stopped listening. When he gave her his attention again, she finished describing the recipe. When she was done speaking, two prompts appeared.

  You have learned: Darkvision Brew Recipe. One kobold eye + one jot of water.

  You have learned: Darkvision Tincture Recipe. One kobold eye + one jot of water + one measure of skitter blood.

  “What’s a skitter?” he asked. “You mentioned that before.”

  “A creature that is one of our primary sources of food master. They are common ubiquitous and easy to procure. You must have heard them since coming to the Depths.”

  Richter remembered hearing a scraping and scratching when he first entered the tunnels. “So how do we get one?” he asked, impressed by her use of an SAT word. />
  “We shall take care of it, master,” En’fota said. She barked an order at Dur’ghen and he started moving towards one of the small side tunnels.

  “Wait!” Richter called out. He couldn’t be sure just how much time he had left, but the one-hour duration of Charm must be nearing its completion.

  He drew his longsword and ordered Dur’ghen to kneel before him. At his prompting, Alma latched onto the kobold, but didn’t start to feed. She was just in place as a security measure. Praying that his Life Mastery would overcome the kobold’s increased resistance to the second casting of the enchantment spell, he summoned his magic and cast Charm. Richter analyzed the kobold and smiled. The spell had worked. He repeated the process with the mage, and bought himself another hour of servitude with both. Interestingly, their dispositions towards him further degraded, from ‘Enmity’ to ‘Hatred.’

  Dur’ghen entered the side tunnel to find the skitter. Richter made sure to command him to return within half an hour. He couldn’t risk the kobold getting away. Turning to En’fota, he asked what spells she could cast. The list was small, but potentially helpful. She could cast Summon Minor Earth Elemental, Stone Spear, Stinking Mud and Binding Roots. All of her magical skill focused around Earth magic. A quick question revealed that Stinking Mud created a morass that greatly decreased movement speed. The other spells were easy to figure out based on the names.