by Galen Wolf
Then I hear WarEagle curse, 'A slime, watch out.'
I smell the acrid stink and hear the glooping noise of the slime across the stone floor. The slime moves right through me even though I left my leg up on reflex to let it pass.
The slime attacks and I see it damage Drakhnar.
Bernard: You can't backstab slimes.
Me: They've got no backs.
Bernard: Right.
It hits him. He stabs it but his hand with the dagger buries itself in its translucent jelly body. He gets acid damage from touching it. WarEagle steps forward and slashes it with his sword. It is like trying to cut a jell-o cube. He hacks and hacks and eventually cuts a bit off. That now separated piece squelches to the attack.
WarEagle howls, 'My new iron sword! It's half gone!'
And it's true, the slime's acid has corroded the sword he just looted. Bad luck, WarEagle.
The two bits of slime now leap at Drakhnar and I see him stumble back, a hissing smoke rising from his armor where the slime's acid attack corrodes through.
'I'm down to 15 health!' he screams.
'Sip a potion.'
'I don't have any...'
Bernard: Poor little Drakhnar hasn't got any health potions. *Snigger*
Me: I didn't realize you had such an evil side, Bernard.
Bernard: They're the Fangs of Koth, dude. Don't get all sorry for them.
He has a point. They just torched my King's city. Not these ones, but the ones they look up to and take orders from.
I see WarEagle thrust out a blue health potion to Drakhnar who takes it and gulps it greedily.
'Not all of it, man! You'll waste it, it'll only heal 10 at a time, then it goes on cool-down.'
Drakhnar wipes his chin and jumps back as the slime goes for him again. WarEagle is cutting at it in a futile manner with what remains of his brand new sword. They are dumb.
Then Drakhnar says, 'Burn it! Jab it with the torch.'
WarEagle sticks the torch in the slime and it bubbles like a seared jellyfish. The stink of burning plastic fills my nostrils.
'Woah! Good job!' Drakhnar fist pumps and WarEagle stands looking pleased with himself. I really want them both to die now.
They stalk a bit further down the passage. Drakhnar's in the lead. 'It's a dead end,' he calls.
'Okay.' WarEagle prepares to turn round. 'I remember that now.'
Then Drakhnar calls him to a halt. 'Hey, there's loot.'
'Oh cool.' WarEagle walks to him and they both stoop down to rummage through the rubble before picking up a potion and a sword.
Bernard: Another iron sword and a Health 30.
Drakhnar unstoppers the potion bottle and sips it. He looks like he thinks it's going to taste nasty, but it doesn't. I see a broad smile on his face in the torchlight.
'That healed me for 30! Wow. That's awesome, I'm back up to full.'
Me: You were too generous. They're going to be harder to kill now.
Bernard: Sorry, boss.
Me: No worries. You meant well. Just remember our aim is to slaughter them not make them rich.
'At least I got a new sword,' WarEagle says and tosses the remains of the old one over his shoulder.
They turn and come back our way. I step back and then right into the Tapestry Room. The Cave Bear hasn't triggered, it's too far away, but I see the slime by the door start to move as the two adventurers get close.
They don't notice it at first, then it lurches like a pile of jelly towards them. Drakhnar jumps sideways and almost knocks WarEagle over.
'What you doing, man?' WarEagle splutters, nearly dropping his torch.
Drakhnar points. 'Another slime. Torch it!'
This time they know what to do and without hesitation WarEagle buries his burning brand into the slimy thing. Again comes a waft of burning plastic, but the slime dies. So does the torch. They're plunged into complete darkness, but I can still see due to the light from the observation mode. The Tapestry Room and what I can see of the passage behind is bathed in the green glow of night-vision.
Bernard: What are they going to do now?
I can almost hear the mirth in his voice.
WarEagle says, 'Are you there? I can't see a thing. Let me get my flint and iron from my pack and I'll relight the torch.'
'I'm okay. I can see. I got the infra-vision skill.'
I watch WarEagle fumble with his pack. He clearly can't see anything and he's not able to untie the knots.
'Here, let me,' Drakhnar says. I watch as he opens the pack. 'Where is the flint?' He says.
'Put my hand inside the pack.'
Drakhnar takes WarEagle's hand and places it inside the pack. Within a minute, WarEagle has drawn out a flint and a piece of iron. I hear the rasp of metal on stone and see the shower of sparks as he directs them onto his torch. But it won't catch.
'Damn.'
'What?'
'It's covered in slime goo. It won't light.'
'You got a spare?'
'No.'
'You should have brought a spare torch. That's obvious.'
'Why didn't you bring one?'
'Duh - I got infra-vision!'
WarEagle mutters.
Drakhnar thrusts out his hand. 'Here, hold my hand. I'll lead you around.'
'Are you kidding me?'
Drakhnar shrugs though WarEagle can't see it. 'Suit yourself. Either that or fall down a pit trap.'
'I can't believe I'm doing this.' WarEagle grabs Drakhnar's hand with his left, in his right he has his second new iron sword.
'Should we just leave?' WarEagle says.
'No, I'm enjoying myself. We got some good loot.'
Drakhnar begins to explore the room, dragging the blind WarEagle behind him. They come to the corridor with the pit trap that WarEagle died in.
'Stop!' Drakhnar holds up his hand, but WarEagle has already stopped. Drakhnar says, 'My Trap-sense skill tells me there's a trap here.'
'Yeah, I fell into it last time. I think this is the one.'
'Wait here.' Drakhnar drops WarEagle's hand and goes forward on his knees. He starts tinkering with the trap mechanism. WarEagle stands behind looking completely useless, staring round blindly. I'm tempted to drop out of observation mode and give him a boot in the ass to propel him into the pit trap, but that wouldn't be chivalrous.
'Okay that's it done.' Drakhnar stands clapping the dust off his hands. 'I got xp for that too. I've got good xp while I've been here. Nearly halfway to Level 2 now.'
Me: Is that the trap gone now?
Bernard: No, it'll respawn like the mobs. Cloned loot does too, and the boss loot. Not other loot laid by us though.'
Drakhnar turns to WarEagle. 'Want to go down the corridor?'
'That's the one that leads into the main dungeon I think. Maybe we should come back when we're better prepared?'
'Nah, let's go. Don't worry, I'll look after you.' He looks behind. 'Hand?'
Reluctantly WarEagle takes his hand, but he doesn't move; he's still looking around.
'What?' Drakhnar asks.
'Dunno. There's somebody around here. I just got the feeling. I got attacked by a massive cave bear last time near here. Only just survived.'
'Come on.'
They move into the tunnel stepping over the disarmed pit trap. The tunnel isn't actually very long. After about ten yards, Drakhnar shrieks. 'Another carrion crawler.'
'I can't see it man. Where is it?'
WarEagle waves his sword. Luckily for them, there's no friendly fire allowed in Camelot, so you can't hurt your buddies.
Drakhnar bundles backwards into WarEagle who goes stumbling back. 'Easy.'
The Carrion Crawler is all legs and white blobby body. It's mandibles rake into Drakhnar. I see him jab it then take a sip of his brand new healing potion. As a Level 1, he's got 50 health. Each sip will heal him for 30 and he can sip every minute.
But the Carrion Crawler is lashing at him, biting and clawing with its insect mouth.
B
ernard: Go crawler!
Drakhnar stumbles back and WarEagle flails his sword about uselessly until Drakhnar knocks into him. They fall back under the Carrion Crawler's onslaught and Drakhnar piles into WarEagle, knocking him into the disarmed pit.
Drakhnar finishes the Carrion Crawler and takes another sip. He turns.
'You okay down there?'
'I can't see anything, but I think I've found my old armor and a Health 10 potion. The fall hurt me for 10 health.'
'So sip. Hang on.' Drakhnar uncoils a rope and lowers it down. 'Grab hold?'
'Of what?
'The rope.'
'I don't see any rope.'
Drakhnar sighs and guides it into his guildy's hand. WarEagle grabs tight hold and then Drakhnar pulls him out of the pit.
'It's going well,' Drakhnar says.
'You think?'
At least they didn't find the loot behind the carrion crawler down the Creepy Passage.
'Let's get out.' WarEagle says. He's sounding whiny now.
'Let's explore a bit more. There's gonna be more loot down here, I know it. More xp. It's good. And easy.'
Easy? That upsets me. I'll show them easy.
Me: Do me a favor, go speak to Asterix. Tell him I want a better mob than the ones we've got.
Bernard: Like what?
Me: I want a Level 2 Paladin. I want him to cut these low life evil scum down with his holy sword.
Bernard: Sure.
I can't see him depart, but I trust him to have gone. I turn to see what the two clowns are doing. This is like a comedy act.
They've triggered the cave bear. They hear it roar.
'Bear!' Yells Drakhnar.
'Where?'
'There!'
'Where's there?'
But WarEagle has his back to the bear and he doesn't see it before it claws him. He turns and swings his sword but he misses. The bear can see in the dark it seems because it rakes him again then snaps its muzzle and bites. WarEagle's hurt bad. I see him sip his potion, but now its on cool-down and the bear reaches and hugs him. Not satisfied with the death hug it bites at his head. It must have critted or else its damage per second was sufficient, because WarEagle dies.
WarEagle's ghost doesn't disappear, it just hangs around glowing faintly. I look for Drakhnar and I see him right behind the bear, surrounded by a blue fuzz effect. I guess he's gone into stealth mode. I watch as he lunges forward and stabs the bear with both daggers. It roars and turns on him now his stealth is broken but when I check, I see it's down to 25/100 health.
But it hits Drakhnar and knocks him off his feet. The bear is so fast, it goes onto four legs like a dog and rushes him, biting as he tries to roll out of the way. He sips health potion and jab up with his dagger. The bear bites him again but Drakhnar gives it the finishing blow and the bear lies dead on the floor again.
I'm going to have to beef up this bear. I feel bad for it dying all the time. Drakhnar gets painfully to his knees and looks over to WarEagle. 'I can't do anything for you, buddy. I haven't got a resurrect spell or anything. I can't use a scroll, not high enough level.'
WarEagle struck dumb by death, fizzles out and disappears, leaving Drakhnar on his own. The rogue wanders over to the corner behind the bear where the tiara and gold ring are.
I see a message flashing on my HUD.
I do.
And that's it. I cloned our own sword back again. Still, now it's dropped adventurer loot it will remain here in the middle of the Tapestry Room and respawn. Different from loot placed by us that when it's gone, it's gone.
I see Drakhnar's got the tiara and ring and is now twenty-five marks better off. He's making his way out of the dungeon now. He hasn't explored the dead end corridor that leads to the locked connecting door through to Silver Drift Mine, but he's obviously decided now he's on his own that discretion is the better part of velour.
Bernard: Okay. You got your paladin.
Me: Good.
I call up my schematic. I see the Carrion Crawler and the first Slime in the entrance corridor have re-spawned. I also see a flashing green dot, so far unplaced. As I hover over it the label comes up.
Name: Paladin
Type: Human
Level: Two
Health: 150
Dodge: 5
Armor: 100
To Hit: 40
Damage: 20
Special: Holy Sword (50)
It's not fair, but I'm past being fair. My paladin is going to cut this little rogue down. One hit will do 70 damage and that's more that Drakhnar has.
I place the paladin just by the entrance. I can move him again later, but for now this will do just fine. Drakhnar leaves the Tapestry Room and goes into the entrance corridor. He triggers the slime. I'm right behind him so I hear him yelp and see him run. He's almost at the door when he sees the paladin in shining silver armor, the holy damage on his sword shining like a rippling white flame.
'You weren't there before,' he says. 'Just let me go. I'm all done here.'
The paladin advances rapidly, strikes down with his holy sword. Drakhnar doesn't dodge and in one blow he's dead.
I see Drakhnar's ghost emerge from his corpse and hover briefly before it vanishes back to Carrionburg.
Bye bye Drakhnar. You cost me dear in loot. It's only fair I get xp for your death.
I get the option to clone his gear and succeed with the studded leather armor, defense (5). I leave it by the Dungeon entrance as a warning. I try to remember to ask Bernard or Oliver if we can have some skeletons as dungeon furniture to scare the adventurers.
I check the health of the Forgotten Chapel Dungeon. It's 150, so only another seven Level 1 adventurers and we'll level the place. I can't wait.
12
RUNNING OUT OF BEER
I leave the dungeon for a while when it's waiting for its next adventurers. It's just a young dungeon and doesn't get much traffic, still I'm pretty certain word will get around before too long. Because it's quiet in there and I really need to know the progress on the Long Passage, I walk down there.
I find Thorvald organizing his men and the mules. The tunnel now slopes up steeply and mules are bringing down loads of stone. The place is lit by torches but I notice the miners are looking weary. Some of them have sat down and placed their mattocks on the ground beside them.
Thorvald himself looks worn out.
'Did you break out yet?'
He shakes his head. 'No, Sir Gorrow. We dug up two hundred feet and didn't make the surface. Our plan now is to keep going level north in the hope we come out soon. Trouble is, these guys are beat. I'm not sure how long we can go on.'
'When did they last have nutrition?' I can't bring myself to say "beer", it belittles it.
'Last night.'
'So you're on short rations now. Give them full rations, at the expense of the other NPCs. It's important that these guys can keep digging. It can't be much longer till we break out.'
Thorvald sucks his teeth.
'What?'
'We're not on short rations. We're on no rations.'
'I'll speak to Jason. All the other NPCs will have to do without. It's about priorities.'
'It's not just no beer for us. There's no beer for anyone. The whole settlement has run out.'
I gaze up the sloping tunnel. It might be my imagination, but it seems more of the miners have sat down. Without rations, they will actually die within a few hours. Then there will never be an exit to the daylight.
I frown. 'Okay, Thorvald. Keep digging as much as you can. I'll try and fix this.'
I walk away, my metal boots ringing on the stone floor. The corr
idor is long and I have time to think. However hard I ponder, I don't think of anything by the time I'm back up to the temporary chambers we're using to live in. I pass St Fitheach’s chambers and see him praying with his friars. They look weak too. None of the NPCs have had rations. They're all going to die, unless I can find a solution, and find it quickly.
Bernard pops his head out of his laboratory. 'I can see by the look on your face that you've been talking to Thorvald.'
I nod.
'It's bad, huh?'
I nod again.
'Listen, we can always start again. Move down south to the lands controlled by the King still. You could start a new settlement.'
I give a tight smile. 'I lost one. I'm not going to lose another.'
'I'm just saying it's not the end of the world. We can start again.'
'These guys can't. The NPCs. When they're dead, they're dead.'
'Yeah but...'
I put my hand up. 'Don't say it, Bernard. Don't say they're just NPCs. We talk to them. They live. Their AI is so advanced. They're people. And I'm not going to let them die.'
Bernard smiles back gently. 'And that's why you're the chivalrous Knight of the Round Table and I'm an alchemist.'
I sigh. 'But what can we do? Where can we get beer? There are no vendors who'll sell to us within a hundred miles. We can't brew it.'
'We could steal it.'
And instantly I know he's right. Theft isn't one of the knightly virtues, but if it's liberating resources from an occupying army, then that's different.
'We could go to Carrionburg,' he says. 'Do they have a brewery there?'
'I don't know. I didn't think so.'
'But they must get their beer from somewhere.'
'Let's go look.'
Within twenty minutes, I'm sitting on Spirit and Bernard is riding Henry the Mule who's blinking at the unaccustomed daylight. We've come out the dungeon entrance and are now beside the blackened ruins of the previous Silver Drift settlement. Carrionburg lies to the east. The whole air is buzzing with the black and red haze that indicates we're within an evil zone of control.
I gaze east and see a Cockatrice flapping lazily over the moorland on the look-out for sheep and horses.
'So, we're going on an adventure?' Henry says.
Spirit looks at him in disapproval.
