Travail Online: Soulkeeper: LitRPG Series (Book 1)

by Brian Simons

  “That’s what I’m here for!” Sal said. He had pushed his way through the crowd outside the tent. He held a steaming iron pot of what she assumed was frog leg stew. “Dinner?” he asked.

  32

  Daniel had waited until Coral and Sal were safely out of sight before he asked Sybil if she was ready to leave their hollow hill.

  “Let’s get this over with,” she said. She seemed sullen. Daniel knew she had avoided this particular quest for the entire time she was in Travail. It may even be the reason she left The Ersatz. They headed north through the Hollow Hills, taking the long way when necessary to avoid additional run-ins with hill giants.

  “Sybil,” Daniel asked, “you said that you started out with a quest to kill the elf queen. Have you ever tried to accomplish that?”

  “Of course not. I wouldn’t get within two feet of Diardenna forest without the elves spotting me and killing me. The treetops are full of archers, the forest floor is full of trackers, and the whole place is heavily enchanted.”

  “But if you could get in there. Would you do it? Commit regicide?”

  “It’s not something I think about. But if the opportunity presented itself, yes. My people, the dark elves, have a natural affinity for the forest. We’re elves, after all. It’s our home. But the queen threw us out because we spoke out against her. I don’t care if she’s a queen. She’s the reason we can’t go home.”

  “It’s more than just her,” Daniel said, “there must be a contingent of other elves that want to keep everyone separate.”

  “The others were all just afraid of her. They did her bidding to protect themselves and their families. It makes them cowards. But they want all the elves under one canopy again just like we do. Elves aren’t a power hungry race. The queen was an aberration.”

  Sybil turned toward Daniel, “Why the sudden interest in killing the queen?”

  “I’m not interested in that,” he replied. “I was just thinking about the types of quests a person can end up with here in Travail. Regicide is about as heavy as it gets.”

  “Nah, I’m sure it gets far worse. And besides, it’s not like I’d be killing a benevolent ruler. She’s a ruthless monster.”

  “Right,” said Daniel. “Not at all like the Regent of Havenstock, who has been decent so far.”

  “He does seem to believe in the greater good,” Sybil said. “I just hope he’s willing to make the sacrifices necessary to put an end to Otto.”

  Daniel thought back on Devon Shirk’s offer to help him improve his abilities rapidly if he would just poison the Regent. That, supposedly, was also for the greater good. “I hope so too,” he said. “Even if he doesn’t have a choice in the matter.”

  “What does that mean?” Sybil asked.

  “Nothing.” They walked in silence for miles after that. Sybil was no doubt focused on what her initiation rite would require of her. Daniel thought instead about his own trial. Would he need to poison the Regent to stop Otto? Is that what the old lady wanted from him all along, bringing him back as a Scout, just so Devon could turn him into a Rogue? She had spoken of sacrifice. Maybe this was a test, to see if he would give up his unique Scout path to get the skills he would need to save all of Travail from Otto. But was there any honor in saving the world if you did it by killing one of the good guys?

  Daniel was glad he didn’t have to make any kind of decision, at least not yet. He hoped that Sybil would walk away from her own challenge with a powerful new song that would turn the tide of any fight with Otto.

  “Dokkal Pass is ahead,” Sybil said. “There will be lookouts, so you should hide now. If they see a human approaching they’ll shoot, no questions asked.”

  Daniel activated Sneak. He had used it on and off since leaving the base of their hollow hill and was able to level it up to 5.

  The hills behind them had been green and grassy. As they approached Dokkal Pass the grass thinned out, growing in sparser patches separated by expanses of dry, dusty dirt. The green turned to brown before the dirt took on a purplish tone. Gravel and pebbles turned gradually to boulders. The distant purple mountains of The Ersatz loomed larger as Daniel and Sybil got nearer.

  The mountains erected a sheer wall of rock that would have been impenetrable if not for a small valley that cut a path through the sloping mountainsides and down into the plains. Whatever river had cut this path had abandoned The Ersatz long ago.

  Sybil walked through Dokkal Pass with her back stiff and her head high. Daniel was not technically invisible when using Sneak, but if he stuck to the shadows and kept to himself he could avoid detection. It only reduced the likelihood of being spotted by 18% at this level, but the drow archers overhead wouldn’t be looking his way. They would have their eyes trained on Sybil, and hopefully that would be enough to help Daniel escape notice. At Level 17, he had 90 seconds of Sneaking before he ran out of stamina.

  The first thing Daniel noticed about the mountains was their lack of life. The solid rock terrain seemed not to support plants or animals. Daniel wondered how an entire race could survive in a place like this, with no apparent food source. He couldn’t ask Sybil though, because speaking to her would deactivate his Sneak.

  The second thing Daniel noticed were small movements near the mountain tops. They were so small he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him at first. Then he saw a flap of fabric in the distance and he knew. The dark elves were watching them. They guarded this pass against intruders. Sybil had white hair and lavender skin like them, which is the only reason she had gotten this far without an arrow through her chest.

  They walked through the mountains for a long time, with Sybil sitting to rest occasionally. This must have confused the archer guards above them, because Sybil wasn’t running or burning up her stamina points. But Daniel was, and she knew to stop so he could recover at regular intervals. Daniel would find a crack in the rocks and hide there until he could activate Sneak again and catch up with Sybil.

  At long last, they reached the end of the mountain peaks and saw a flat expanse of nothingness ahead of them. It was a basin of some kind, long devoid of water. They climbed down fifteen feet into the depression and landed on a solid sheet of purple rock. The basin stretched for miles.

  Sybil walked to the middle of the basin and pulled up on a metal ring attached to a two foot square slab of rock. The slab was six inches thick and hinged upward in her hand. She held this door open for a moment and Daniel took his cue. He climbed inside and found footholds hewn into a rock wall acting as a ladder into the underground.

  Even assuming someone could get through Dokkal Pass in one piece, it would be impossible to get to this entrance without a drow accomplice acting as a decoy. Daniel would have run out of stamina on his Sneak ability long before he made it to the hinged door by himself. The second he became visible, dark elf archers would have shot him dead. This part of Travail was entirely off limits to everyone but dark elves and, for the moment, him.

  Daniel’s eyes adjusted quickly to the dark with his passive Nightvision ability activating automatically. There were also patches of moss growing on the rocks here which gave a faint light. He assumed the dark elves saw well enough in the dark that this moss was the only light they needed.

  Sybil climbed down the rock ladder and proceeded through a tunnel ahead. It ended in a cavernous room with solid rock walls and a handful of dark elves standing around in conversation. She didn’t stop to talk to any of them. She stared dead ahead and navigated the tunnels as if she had lived there her entire life. After walking a while, she stopped and leaned against a stone wall.

  Daniel was grateful for the rest. As his stamina points recharged, Sybil spoke softly to no one at all.

  “The Ersatz,” she said, “a place no one shall call ‘home.’ Centuries under the ground and still the dark elves think this is temporary. That one day we’ll return to the forest and reunite with our brothers and sisters. Look at this place. It’s intentionally inhospitable.”

  They cont
inued down winding corridors until they came to an archway that led to a small room. Sybil stepped inside and Daniel followed.

  “Sybil_in_Shrouds,” an old man said, his purple skin dark with age. “Have you returned to begin your initiation rite?”

  “Yes,” she replied.

  “Very well,” he said, turning to a bookshelf behind him and pulling out a large tome. He placed it on a lectern and spent some time thumbing through the pages. Daniel looked around and saw that this small office was full of books, but also other items. Small gems set in delicate holders. Scrolls sealed with wax. A glass vase filled with wands. Vials of liquid lined up on a shelf. He moved closer to the vials. He couldn’t read the writing on them, but he wondered if any would help Sybil get through the task ahead. She wouldn’t be able to pinch one for herself, but Daniel could while the sage was busy with his book. He reached out and took the nearest vial. If this guy was going to ask Sybil to do something terrible, he could stand to part with a single potion.

  Without looking up, Sage Tawn read from his book. “Our people have walked a difficult road for centuries. Every dark elf that has come before you has done their part to secure a place for us here until the day we leave this wretched hole behind. Will you take your place among the brave and do what all dark elves must?”

  “Yes, Sage Tawn,” she replied.

  “Will you take life so that life may be maintained?”

  “Yes, Sage Tawn.”

  “Will you blame the queen for this pain and not yourself?”

  “Yes, Sage Tawn.”

  “Embrace the darkness,” he said.

  “And it shall never let you go,” she finished.

  Daniel understood now. This was a warning. The dark elves didn’t want to embrace the darkness for fear that they would never escape it. They didn’t want to live here in the cold, dark rock. They wanted to return to the light, to their ancestral forest homeland.

  Sage Tawn handed Sybil a metal key and a dagger with a handle made of bone. The dagger had a design on it but Daniel couldn’t see it from where he stood. Sybil took it quickly and turned to leave the sage’s office. Daniel followed close behind. Like clockwork, she ducked into a small alcove and provided Daniel a chance to recharge his stamina.

  Sybil held the dagger up, closer to a patch of glowing moss where the rock wall met the rock ceiling. Now Daniel saw. It bore an etching of a man with pointy ears and long hair, holding a bull’s head by one horn. The engraving showed the elf holding a blade much like this one below the bull’s neck. It was a diagram for slaughter.

  After Daniel had rested, he and Sybil walked to a door at the other end of the long corridor. Sybil unlocked the door and put the key back in her pocket. Then she reached out and grabbed a metal ring in the stone slab door and pulled. It swung open, revealing a set of stairs that led to complete darkness.

  She pulled the door closed behind her. There was no moss illuminating the ceilings here. Daniel could make out the shape of the stone stairwell, but not much else. They walked slowly down the stairs until they reached the bottom.

  They were in a small stone room. Daniel ran a hand against the wall. It was rough and crumbled away in some places. Unlike the area they had come from, the dark elves had not smoothed these walls out. It was as if they had no plan to spend time down here. As Daniel crept along the wall, he felt something crunch under his foot. Sybil froze. She must have heard the terrible sound. Daniel lifted his foot back up and bent down to get a closer look. Bones. It looked like not every drow made it back to the surface.

  Sybil pressed on, with Daniel close behind. They walked through several of these rough stone rooms before they heard a lowing sound from deep inside the cavernous maze. They made their way left, then right, then right again. If an elf didn’t die in battle down here, they might just as well die from getting lost and starving to death.

  Then Sybil stopped again. She was face to face with a creature exactly her height. Daniel could not see it well, but it had the rough shape of a person, with broad shoulders and a large head. The head had two short horns protruding from the top.

  They both just stood there, motionless. Daniel kept his Sneak skill activated and watched, but nothing happened. The creature didn’t seem hostile.

  “He’s just a calf,” Sybil said, distress in her voice. Daniel knew she hadn’t wanted to take on this task, but now it was worse. She wouldn’t just murder a minotaur in his underground home. She would slay one of their young.

  >> Congratulations! You have improved your Nightvision ability to 3. +4% total to visibility in low or no light.

  He saw a little more clearly now. Sybil held the dagger at her side, not even at the ready. She leaned on her spear for support. She made no motion toward the minotaur.

  Daniel’s stamina continued to dwindle. He wondered if he should tiptoe to another room and recharge, but he didn’t want to leave Sybil alone. Not like this.

  Then she took a step back. She kneeled down on one knee, making herself vulnerable. Maybe she wanted the minotaur to attack her, so she had to act in self-defense?

  “I will not attack you, minotaur,” she said. “What my people have done to yours is intolerable. I cannot apologize for my race, but I can refuse to commit against you the same atrocities that have been carried out against us in the past.”

  She stood back up and started to turn back the way she came.

  Then the minotaur stepped forward with a swift movement and reached out its cloven hand. It grabbed Sybil’s hand and pulled her toward him.

  Daniel reached for his short sword, but saw that the minotaur walked slowly, leading Sybil away into the darkness. Daniel followed, his stamina bar running low.

  The minotaur led Sybil through room after room. They were entering the heart of this labyrinth, making a quick escape more and more impossible. Each room looked identical to the last. Then, they entered a room that was somehow even darker. Daniel could see only Sybil and the minotaur, but no walls ahead.

  The minotaur stopped. He reached a hooved hand toward Sybil’s neck and then to his own. He sang.

  Or, maybe “sang” isn’t the right word. He mooed and lowed and made awkward barnyard sounds. Sybil tried to follow his tune. Then the minotaur stopped, took a deep breath, and held a low note in vibrato. Now he was warmed up. He held that note for a moment, then escalated the pitch and held again, then again, and again, each note higher than the last and held for a shorter time. Then, he hit a very high note. Sybil sang along, hitting the same notes a half second after him. Daniel lifted his hands to his ears. It was deafening.

  Then the room filled with the sound of shattered glass. Daniel threw his hands over his head instinctively and ducked, but there was no glass. It was the shadows that had broken. They were gone. The room had no light source that he could find, but it was as though it were fully illuminated. Not a corner of the room held a shadow. Sybil didn’t cast one either. And now Daniel saw why he thought the room was darker than the last. It was bigger. The walls were all further away. And in front of him were over a hundred minotaur men and women of all ages and sizes.

  The men were large framed and well-muscled. They wore simple cloth coverings over bodies that seemed to be covered in a dense mat of hair. Their heads looked like that of a bull, with large horns that pointed forward. The women looked much like the men, but their horns were smaller. The clothes draped across their bodies seemed to cover two rows of breasts.

  The minotaur calf that had led Sybil to this room ran up to a large minotaur man. While most of these men and women had patches of white and black or brown hair, he was entirely brown.

  Then Daniel gasped. When he looked down he saw that he was completely visible. His stamina bar was low but recharging rather than diminishing. Somehow, that song took away his Sneak ability.

  “What is your name, drow?” the minotaur asked, paying Daniel no attention.

  “Sybil_in_Shrouds.”

  “I am King Rumin of the Aster Mountains, which yo
ur people have renamed The Ersatz. Your people have a tradition. We have one too. When that stone door opens and your kind enter our tunnels, a brave volunteer sets out to defend against the attack. Today, my son volunteered. Yet, you did not fight him. Is it because you do not deem one so young to be a worthy opponent?”

  “King Rumin,” Sybil said, “I refuse to participate in senseless bloodshed. I will not attack unprovoked.”

  “Your people worry that if you do not cull our numbers we will reclaim the upper levels. This was our home before your kind chased us into the shadows. Is that threat not provocation enough?”

  “No. We had no right to this land. If you take it back, so be it. We were forced out of our homeland too. I hope one day we return there and leave this place to its rightful owners,” Sybil said.

  “You are not like the other elves, Sybil_in_Shrouds. You have honor. My son sensed this or he would not have taught you one of our sacred songs. That song does more than banish the darkness. It reveals the truth.” King Rumin looked over at Daniel when he said this last bit.