Escape From Litchfield

by Isra Bhuthimethee

  Sol nodded graciously, then began crafting air walls to stop sound and heat from traveling from one side to the other, he even made one along the ceiling. He and Arnaud prepared camp while Tamara worked.

  Taking out an orb, a length of chain, and some gold wire, she prepared to make her first artifact. She was going to attempt to create an amulet that would heal the wearer. There are many items that can cast heal on users, via spell scroll, item, or potion. But all these items required conscious use and time, which could distract during battle. Potions were also limited in that you can only drink a limited amount before being full. The low end potions that she had could only be used twice per battle. And if the user could get a stomach ache from the mundane problem of too much activity after drinking too much liquid. A true warrior could easily overcome that issue, however, it is one in a long list of items that can split someone's focus.

  She began by creating a runescript that would check the wearer's health. If the health dips below a certain level, then the heal spell will automatically cast. In general, it was an instant cast heal spell on use, but if the amulet is charged, and the bearer low on hp, it would automatically cast a heal. She made one for Sol and one for herself. The amulet was mostly a last ditch effort to avoid death not counting on any other abilities or skills.

  Her next artifact was to help cut down on the number of cores they were using. Sol needed to use several cores for a hard battle. The issue was that each core converted into a spell core could be used once before crumbling to dust. And when he prepared the spell core, it needed to be used within an hour, or it crumbled to dust.

  Sol already had a set of +1 intelligence rings, but at the rate he used mana on buffs, he would be better off mana wise with a spellring for his buffs. She forged a ring with a slot for a core. She permanently etched a fireball rune into the ring and connected it to the core slot. Runes were far more versatile than enchanting. She could carve the runes directly on the core to create a spell core, but alternately, she could carve the rune into the object and connecting it to the gem slot. An object can only have one working rune or runescript carved directly, however, they can have gem slots to add additional enhancements or powers as long as they don't conflict with other enchantments or active runes. In this case, her fireball rune was connected to the core slot to draw power for the spell, in addition to using the ambient mana. This meant the Fireball Rings would recharge faster and cast its enchantment by will, instead of random casts.

  Item:Amulet of Healing

  This amulet was created by Tamara Owlkins

  On Use: Instant cast healing. Refreshes once every 5 minutes.

  On low or negative health, the amulet will expend any available charge.

  Item:Fireball Ring

  This ring was created by Tamara Owlkins.

  On Use:Casts Fireball

  refreshes every minute

  Item:Icedart Ring

  This ring was created by Tamara Owlkins

  On Use:Casts Icedart and refreshes every minute

  Item:Coreless Fireball Ring

  This ring was created by Tamara Owlkins

  On Use: Casts Fireball

  recharges every 5 minutes

  She ended up making six Fireball Rings for Sol. Technically, fireballs and firedarts have roughly the same amount of damage output, while the fireball has a higher mana cost. But Sol had the precision magic skill, so he could control who was hit by the area effect damage from a fireball. In most situations, he would be better off wearing a Fireball Ring over a Firedart Ring. The same couldn't be said for herself, yet.

  She had been sensing that her crafted items tended to leak far less mana than purchased rings. When she tried fitting over 4 rings on a hand, the mana output merged and began pulsating and building into a catastrophic event. Perhaps using four rings could be done in a very limited engagement. The main issue was keeping the rings, amulets, core slots, and every other source of mana separate.

  Next, she created gems for Sol's robe. It had two core slots available, and they currently held two intelligence cores. Sol was a battlemage, which meant he was going to go head to head against monsters. Additionally, he was currently their main tank, so she needed to strengthen his shield. She made a shield rune core for one of the robe slots. The runes were set to gather mana and continuously run. The second slot would hold a mana-engine, feeding mana to the shield spellcore.

  This meant the robe was generating spells mostly independently from the ambient mana. In a dungeon, the rune could run every 5 minutes, so he could have several shields stacked. Each shield, at base level, will absorb 150 damage.

  As for Arnaud, he would get lower tier rings. She forged six rings without gem slots and etched the fireball runes into the metal. The Coreless Fireball Rings used the ambient mana, so they had a recharge rate of around five minutes in a dungeon. They would still recharge much slower outside of a dungeon, anywhere between ten and twenty minutes. Most encounters last around one minute before the victor is decided. However, the rings would shine in long boss battles and large scale battles.In contrast, the Fireball Rings with cores recharge every minute, which translates to one or two uses per encounter.

  For herself, she no longer had access to spells, most of her skills were useless, and she was a poor warrior. So she took off her current rings and forged 3 Fireball Rings and 3 Icedart Rings.

  Once her rings were complete, she put on her rings. She didn't feel any different, but she was much more powerful with access to spells again. She then turned her attention to her group. Arnaud and Sol had gone to bed. She pushed through the air wall keeping her blacksmithing quiet. These walls were basically an area devoid of air and an area with compressed air, which nearly completely stopped the sound from traveling past the wall. Some of the sounds propagated through the floor, but she had taken steps to minimize even that. Once through the wall, she walked over to Sol to wake him. A light touch and he was alert, ready for anything.

  Sol sat up and quietly said, "Do you have a task for me, Oathmaster?" He peered intently at her face, trying to figure out what was important enough to wake him.

  In a solemn voice, she said, "Kneel. My mage." He moved to a kneeling position and bowed his head for a second before settling his gaze on her face, sensing her desire for formalities.

  Despite her best efforts, she cracked a smile and said, "Powerful items have been forged for you. Please wear these enchanted items and bring glory to our name." She placed the healing amulet around his neck. "This enchanted amulet will heal you when necessary, guard it well."

  He gratefully and reverently took the gifted items. He was puzzled for a moment as he realized she handed him six rings instead of four, but with a shrug, he placed them on his pinky, index finger, and thumb. He had three fireball rings equipped on each hand. He tucked his new amulet inside his robe. Looking at Tamara, she smiled and gave a thumbs up. The enchantments on the items were too powerful for him to identify, so he waited for an explanation. The power humming from the items was incredibly potent, especially from the robe gems. As he finished admiring his new rings, he turned back his attention to Tamara, who was smiling faintly, proud of her work. He raised an eyebrow questioning.

  Chuckling, she said, "I suppose I should tell you what they do. The amulet, as mentioned, should heal you when your HP runs low or negative. Please note that this is a low level heal, so don't expect to grow a new limb or head. All six of the rings are fireball rings. And the robe is potentially the most powerful of the items. I gave you a mana-engine for one slot, and the second slot has a powerful shield spellcore. It should be able to continuously cast a shield spell every 5 minutes. If you had the mana regeneration, you could stack up to 12 shields!"

  Sol's jaw dropped. Even in his homeland, items casting spells were uncommon. He had only heard of rumors of such items, hoarded by the elites. Wands and scrolls were far more common. "Thank you, My Lady. I will bring glory and fame to your hearth. Command me as you will!" In the last couple of
months, he went from a wealthy elf, to a pauper, to a fabulously wealthy elf. Who was this half-elf that could create artifacts worth a fortune? Unfortunately for Sol, he didn't have the mana regeneration to stack 12 shields. Each shield required 150 mana to cast and cost 1% of the mana to maintain per second. The upgraded manashield spell, Az's Shield Sphere costed 2% of the mana used per second. Stacking 12 Shield Spheres would cost 1800 mana to cast and 3.6 mana per second to maintain.

  Sheepishly, she said, "Sol, I was only kidding! No need to bring glory or anything!"

  Smiling he said, "I know. Yet. Glory will come. Is there some manner to control how many shields it stacks? 12 shields is too much mana for me."

  Awkwardly, she replied. "Come if it must, so long as it cleans on its way out!" She leaned closer and whispered, "I forged some coreless fireball rings for Arnaud. Please don't let him know that your rings are much better. And yes, you can control the stacking. Keep in mind that current core mana generation falls at around .5 mana per second and my mana-engine will add around 4 mana per second."

  Sol whispered back, "I understand. But even coreless fireball rings are a rare treasure." Pausing to consider her wisdom on the mana generation, he had 4.5 mana per seconds to use for shield maintenance. If he kept his Shield Sphere up, he could stack two shields constantly, giving him about 1000 damage mitigation against random encounters and emergencies. Even at only two stacks, he was going to cut his mana regeneration from around 3 mana per second to around 1.5 mana per second. It was worth it though, since he was going to be spending far less mana on shielding and fireballs. Suddenly, the elf realized that in the last ten minutes he had become a powerhouse. "Shield stacking works mostly as you expect. But there's channeling involved which requires 1 or 2% of the initial mana cost per second. What this means is that I can keep one or two Shield Sphere's up constantly or 4 manashields. For a battle, you can stack more because you're not worrying about regenerating mana as much as staying alive!"

  "So you will still stack shields before a fight though?"

  Sol nodded with a smile. "For regular dungeon groups, I should be able to get away with using your item alone. But for boss encounters, I'll have to stack my shields up."

  "Good to know!"

  Tamara gained 1 level in Leadership and now it is 28

  Next, she turned her attention to Myst. He still had plenty of points, but she couldn't decide where to put the points. She had upgraded his communication skill last time, so she did a second upgrade.

  Myst could now decide his own path forward.

  Name Tamara Owlkins Points 185

  Status Awakened, Rested, Great Herbal Chicken, Tulip Beer

  Titles Director, Landholder, First Master of Gravity

  Credits 12675 Health 100%

  Level 43 Class Bard

  Experience 141330 Subclass Drummer

  Int 56 Dex 22

  Str 50 Agil 24(34)

  Con 36(52) Sync 63

  Mana 560.0(1120.0) M Regen 1.38

  HP 520 H Regen 2.07

  Armor Plate 45%, Chain 20%

  Skills Cooking 61, Sonic Stun 7, Inspect 16, Perception 12, Sneak 31, Sword 62, Alchemy 36, Fire Magic 53, Blacksmith 64, Rune Magic 69, Berserker's Rage, Necrotic Nanobridge, Staff 1, Runemaster 21, Leadership 28, Trade 8, Meditation 38, Sense Magic 44, Air Magic 4, Mental Rune 22, Gravity Magic 16, Gravity Theft 8, Bard 24, Beat Dance Battle 35, Augur 19, Dagger 2

  Items Gravity Sword of Fiery Ice, Space Plate, Fireball Ring, Fireball Ring, Fireball Ring, Fireball Ring, Amulet of healing

  Name Solinar Brown Points 35

  Status Awakened, Rested, Great Herbal Chicken, Tulip Beer

  Titles

  Credits 1062 Health 100%

  Level 42 Class Mage

  Experience 128165 Subclass Battlemage

  Int 180(185) Dex 12

  Str 17 Agil 12(22)

  Con 13(26) Sync 27

  Mana 1850 M Regen 2.75

  HP 630 H Regen 4.12

  Armor Spacesteel Robe 30%

  Skills Inspect 45, Perception 40, Staff 175, Fire Magic 175, Earth Magic 175, Air Magic 175, Water Magic 175, Wand 175, Meditation 175, Overstrike, Precision Magic, Common Magic 175

  Items Robe of Sol, Fireball Ring, Fireball Ring, Fireball Ring, Fireball Ring, Amulet of healing

  ***

  With all the preparations complete, the party gathered in front of the boss's door. Everything should go extremely well. With 12 fireball rings wielded by mages and 3 wielded by a bard, they could unleash massive damage as their opening moves. Tamara's fireballs were limited by her Fire Magic skill and not being a mage, so she would hit for around 45 damage, while the mages with their fire bonus and maxed fire skill should hit for around 140 damage.

  Combined with instant cast fireball rings, they should get 12 mage fireballs and 3 bard fireballs launching into the room. This should do equivalent damage of 1400 to all the mobs caught in the blast radius. Assuming the mobs have the same hp ratio as an average level of 55, they should have around 1300 hp. The issues then become: how can they catch everyone into the blast radius, and do the mobs have any fire resistance? Tamara had a plan, but it was risky!

  The core level used when creating the ring set the upper bounds of how much the skill level of the caster applies. For instance, at level 35, the maximum fire magic skill is 175 with a 175% increase in damage. At level 55, the max Fire Magic skill is 275 with a 275% damage bonus. This meant that Sol launches fireballs at 185% skill bonus, and the ring will max out at 275% damage bonus.

  All their buffs and rings in place, the entire group took a deep breath before opening the door. As the door swung wide, every monster turned their eyes to the group. There was a second of disbelief. No other adventurer group had had the desire or skill to come down to the 25th level. But quickly the mobs hefted their weapons and readied their spells to battle the intrepid adventurers.

  Myst jumped into the room, stealthed before he hit the ground.

  Tamara took great advantage of the surprise by running and blinking into the room. By the time they recovered, Tamara had already made it to 20 feet of the nearest monster. She braced her feet and lowered her body to slow down her speed by sliding across the floor, her chains sparking against the stone. And she let loose with her ability, Sonic Stun. With a 30 foot radius of effect, she knocked all of the mobs down, except for the Gangrene, who let loose a roar of outrage.

  "Who dares disturb the lair of Gangren?" Roared the boss.

  Already close to the ground, she lowered herself further, as her comrades let loose the barrage of fireball rings. Her own rings were going off non-stop. The entire room lit up for the seconds while massive fireballs flew across from Tamara's party to the boss. The explosions pushed Tamara back towards her group, but she was braced against the ground, so she merely slid backward. Twelve Fireballs flew into the group of enemies for the first round. The Fireballs blasted the group and the sheer power pushed Tamara back, hitting her with superheated air. She wasn't paying attention as the Fireball numbers came in - they were doing a little less than half the expected damage, so the enemies had around 50% fire resistance up. Still, they had scored almost 1000 fire damage in the first round. And the minions were stunned long enough for a few more Fireballs.

  [Tamara: Keep firing fireballs and unleash your cores, Sol.]

  Sol's five Fireball cores went up in smoke, even as he and Arnaud cast their own conventional Fireballs, adding another 2 Fireballs into the fray. The total number of fireballs was half as many as the first set, but the explosions and pushback still felt just as potent.

  As the smoke cleared, she saw piles of dead undead, the most prominent being the boss. "That boss was easy!"

  But then out of the blue, she heard the boss cackling.

  "Ha! Ha! Ha! Mortals, you have done well to destroy my body, but behold the power of undeath." The lich's body began to glow a deep black and purple, necromancy was as work. In seconds the bones began to reassemble themselves.

&nbs
p; Arnaud launched some fireballs, but they were deflected by a barrier surrounding the bones.

  The bones didn't stay the same shape, they grew thicker and longer. The formidable lich was even more powerful than before! The glow of power intensified. The lich had been imposing before, but now he glowed like a bonfire of power lighting the dark during a festival. The party was literally speechless. None of them had anticipated the lich being able to remake his own body. None of the previous bosses were able to do it. The worst boss had clerics that would fully heal them when they were close to death, but this party had taken out the clerics in the initial barrage.

  ***

  Snapping back to reality, Tamara called out, "Sol. Stop gawking and tank that lich! Arnaud, hit him with your most powerful spell! When that lich can be damaged again, let loose! Sol will keep his attention!" The lich was nearly formed, so it needed to buff itself and cast spells to damage them. If Sol could keep it from buffing, or interrupt the spells, then they had a chance. If the boss had maximum hit points of around 1300, they could do it if he didn't have any more tricks up his sleeve. As for Tamara, she was back to being useless again. She still had her daggers in her dagger pouch, so she was going to practice her dagger throwing skills.

  The boss emerged from its cocoon. Tamara's Defender Orbs buzzed around the boss to distract and interrupt spells. The litch dodged and swat the orbs out of the sky, but he rarely missed a beat or word. The orbs were proving to be nearly useless against a boss. He was treating them more like gnats than powerful balls of destruction. She's going to need to figure out some upgrades.

  Myst launched his double backstabs, lashing into the Lich's shoulder but only got regular critical hits. The lich swept his staff to smash the cat into the ground, forming a crater from the impact. The lich kicked the cat and he bounced off the back wall before coming to a rest on the floor. The lich strode forward, unconcerned about the stunned cat, focusing on the mages. A manashield flickered into place around the lich.