by Galen Wolf
Eventually, I turn Spirit's head and we travel back to The Forgotten Chapel. The dungeon is closed to adventurers. Before, I get back I saw a group of three adventurers trying the door, but it's locked and disappointed, they leave. They are servants of evil and I think about hunting them down, but I know they'll be low level so I let them go.
I go to the escarpment the next game morning and look again for the errant alchemist. I've sent him various doves but he hasn't replied, not even to say he's okay. Maybe he's quit the game? Who knows? I hope that's not true.
The third day, I go again, not expecting to see anything or anyone — I'm beginning to think he truly has left the game and I'm disappointed and sad he didn't send me a message to say he was leaving.
Then I see two figures down the sloping path through the blasted heather, now sick and blackened from the influence of evil. They're about half a mile away. One's on foot and the other's on horseback. I put my hand to shield my eyes from the glimmering sun. The figure on horseback looks familiar. He's dressed in black armor and even from here I can see the insignia of his evil guild. It's Reza the Cruel.
There can be no doubt who the second figure is either — it's Bernard!
I see his brown clad form and suddenly there's an arcing flask of fire that hits Reza. I hear the faint pop even from here. I gently kick in both my heels and urge Spirit to a trot. I take a sip of Bernard's Damage 100 potion while below me Reza is moving to ride Bernard down, black sword in hand.
We start to gallop, heading down the steep slop at a thunderous pace. I take my lance and couch it. I'm still a long way off, I see the flash of Bernard's alchemical sword and see him pull out a health potion and sip it. He jabs Reza, but the knight has the advantage from horseback and he strikes Bernard who falls to the ground. Reza rears his horse to pound Bernard with its hooves.
I yell, 'Hey!' But my voice is snatched by the wind and Reza doesn't hear me. Bernard rolls and saves himself from the lashing hooves of Reza's black stallion. Spirit snorts as he accelerates, as if this is personal for him too.
We're close now. My lance is level. If I hit him in the back, I'll auto-crit.
Reza hears the hammering of Spirit's hooves and turns, allowing Bernard to sip another health potion. Reza pivots round far enough, and swings round his shield to block me. My crystal lance hits his shield square on.
Damn his Shieldwork. In an instant, I stow away the lance and drag out my sword. It burns with mixed flames — blue, yellow and white, to represent its cold, fire and holy damage bonuses.
Reza hacks down crosswise. I put up my shield but my block doesn't trigger.
I sip Health 120 and lunge at him. Once again, my sword can't get through his armor but my elemental bonuses trigger and I damage him for 600.
I think he must be about Level 16, and if so, standing with 800 health, but his armor and sword aren't as good as mine. He sips health. I don't know how powerful his healing potions are, but they may well be better than 120, which will give him an advantage.
But I've now got Doublestrike 5% and if they both hit, he's dead.
He hits me back and we trade blows, sipping health, lunging and hacking, swords clanging off shields. Spirit rears and kicks at the black stallion. While I fight Reza, Spirit bites at his horse. The other horse fights back and soon blood streams down Spirit's muzzle.
He slashes down and hits me while my potion's on cool down.
With the fury of the righteous I smash into his shield and at last my Doublestrike procs.
The second blow didn't get through unfortunately. His healing is good, as is his Shieldwork. I sip health quickly.
'Here!' Bernard tosses me a blue potion. I can't sip it until my heal potion counter counts down. In the meantime, Reza smashes down on my shield but I block it. I give a riposte under his shield and damage him for 600. He must be pretty low now too and he falls back, hesitating — giving me time to sip the Health 200.
I jab him again and hit, and then he whirls his sword round horizontally on my off side — not what I was expecting — and he beats my guard.
Damn his eyes.
My ghost shimmers as my body rolls off Spirit and hits the ground hard. My only consolation is to see Reza panting on his horse, while Bernard jabs him straight in the back with his alchemical sword, acid and fire swirling as it enters the Black Knight's body.
I weakened Reza, but Bernard killed him.
Reza falls in a heap to the ground. Bernard stands by my ghost but there's nothing he can do. Ghosts can't talk either. I shrug and hit
I appear again in that hamlet that was once the peaceful settlement of Croglin. Now it's a vile heap of badly built hovels. A big Hobgoblin emerges, wearing only a loincloth. 'Hey!' He snarls, reaching into his hut for a cudgel. I have no time for this.
He runs at me, yelling for help. Other hobgoblins come out of their huts, bringing spears and meat cleavers. I count eight of them.
'Get out of my way,' I say.
The first one gives a low chuckle. 'A Knight of King Arthur, if I'm not mistaken. What are you doing so far from home? This is our land now.'
'There is no glory in killing scum like you. Keep out of my way and I'll let you live.'
'You're going nowhere. We're going to cut you into pieces and feed you to our dogs.'
I see around their legs are mangy curs with yellow teeth.
I draw my sword. I see their yellowy eyes watching the shifting flames on my blade. By now they are realizing, I'm no peasant or even a squire they can bully and kill at their whim. They shuffle uneasily. I think they're going to part their ranks to allow me through, when the first one — he must be some kind of boss says, 'Right lads. Let's show this do-gooder who's boss in this village.'
He rushes me and three of the others come with him.
They're not even armored. I cut down and slash across and two are dead. They net me 20xp each.
'Just let me pass.'
'Sure, sure. It was just a little test.' I look down at the bleeding hobgoblins lying in the black mud. They won't resurrect. Their little NPC lives are over.
The boss man gives me a smile with his blubbery lips. 'You can pass now, Sir Knight. You be on your way.'
I nod. Their ranks part and I pass through, then the boss jerks at me with his spear.
I hear him grunt as he realizes his mistake. I turn and slice him in twain, from the nave to the chaps, just like they do in the old Arthurian stories. All in all I got 160xp.
I kill the rest of them. I would have let them live, but they would have thought of that as weakness. I don't kill the Hobgoblin women or children. They can spread stories of the vengeful Green Knight so that all of Satanus's minions learn to fear me.
I Whistle for Spirit, who comes tossing his mane. His wounds have healed.
Before I mount him, I go to the Village Milestone. It's engraved with the name: Louseville.
I look around at the foul dwellings. The name is fitting. I take the pommel of my sword and rain blows upon the milestone until it cracks and falls apart. The black and red haze fades and the area reverts to no-overall control. Not theirs, not ours. They will reclaim it soon, but for a while, it'll be free. That makes me feel better.
I mount Spirit and ride up the mountain back to Silver Drift.
Bernard and Tye meet me at the entrance to the dungeon.
'Sorry, Gorrow. I wish I could have got him before he killed you. I couldn't get through his armo
r so I had to rely on a crit from the back. My main weapon damage didn't get through but a critical with the elemental bonuses was enough to kill him.'
I shake my head. 'Where've you been, Bernard? I sent you messages.'
He winces. 'I didn't like to be a bother. I didn't want to have to call you in like you were my big brother or anything.' He smiles faintly. 'Though in the end, if you hadn't turned up he'd have killed me again.'
'So what was going on?'
'Every time I got near, he was waiting. He must have spent his life patrolling the path from the west, just waiting until I walked back from Alauna. It took over a game day each time. I'm heartily sick of that journey now.'
'How did he know you were bound there? You could have been anywhere.'
Bernard shrugs. 'I think Reza is so obsessive, he patrolled all the paths at first — north, east, west and south. Then when he found me the first time coming from the west, he just camped there.'
'What a freak.'
'He's a psycho, that's what he is.'
'And all because you helped me in that fight?'
Bernard nods. 'I guess so.'
I sigh. 'And now he'll think he's the big guy 'cause he beat me.'
Tye smiles. 'There'll be a re-match. So far it's 1-1, best out of three.'
Bernard slaps me on the arm. 'You'll get him next time, Gorrow.'
Me, I'm not so sure. It was very close. I'm going to have to improve, but I can do that. In fact, I will do that, I promise you. I just need more skill points.
Then Tye wants to show me around the dungeon. I hear the miners toiling out of sight as they dig out more rooms. Tye takes me round what's been done already and I see they've been busy. There are lots more rooms. Tye shows me the Room of Statues with its double row of saintly images. The fire traps aren't set up yet. We go to the so-called Gas Room, that will explode when the trap is triggered and adventurers bring naked flame into it. Tye is full of it. He's had Oliver in there designing the place and it really looks like a creepy old dungeon.
'No loot yet,' he says, eyeing Bernard.
Bernard says, 'I hear you promised I can make a tome that will give +100 to any skill. That's pretty high level to craft.'
'Can you do it?'
He scratches his head. 'Give me a few days.'
19
Firewall
Boom! The explosion almost knocks me off my feet. Three new adventurers have stepped into the dungeon and the first blundered into the trip wire that set off the welcoming fireball trap. We've come to see how they do and how easily we kill them. I have observation mode on, so they can't see me. I can't see either Bernard or Tye who are similarly disguised.
Tye: Yes! Did you see the fireball cremate that little dweeb?
Me: Yes. Just wondering if it's a little OP?
Tye: No way. Just right.
The two remaining adventurers consider the cremated body of their friend and the shimmering ghost that wafts helplessly around before disappearing to his bind point far away.
'Want to go on?' The first says, a warrior.
The second, a necromancer from his bone decorated outfit shakes his head. 'Nah — one down and three feet in. We're only Level 3.'
'It's supposed to be a Level 3 dungeon. How powerful was that trap?'
'Dunno. Serious though.'
'Let's bail.'
'Sure.'
And with that the warrior and the necromancer turn tail and disappear out of the front door.
Tye: We got a little xp though. The dungeon's at 900 now.
I slip out of Observation Mode. So do Tye and Bernard. 'Level 3 is 1000, right?'
Bernard nods. He thumbs his chin. 'Maybe the trap was a little overpowered, Tye. We do want adventurers to actually visit.'
'Yeah, so we can kill them. Why not kill them before they get a hundred paces? It's more efficient.'
'Because they need to want to play and tell all their friends. Anyway, how powerful is that trap?'
I hover my recticle over it.
Name: Fireball Trap
Type: Trap
Level: Three
Disarm Difficulty: 25
Damage: 150
Crit Chance: 10% x 4
XP Value: 150
'Base damage 150? Crit 600? At Level 4? At Level 4 the average player has 200 health.'
Tye waves down my concern. 'So, it won't one shot them unless it crits. What's wrong with that?'
'He was Level 3,' Bernard says.
'His bad luck.' Tye gives us both a big grin and pushes his orange hair from his forehead. 'That Peter is a genius at traps, you know.'
'He's a bit strange,' Bernard says.
'Strange can be okay. Especially if you're talented at making death machines.'
I think the trap is fine actually. 'The first guy was a rogue too,' Bernard says.
'A bad one.'
I then ask Bernard how he's getting on with the loot.
'I've stashed some Fire Resist 35% potions around, some Health 100s, even a Levitate Potion to get them over the pit trap on that corridor.'
'What about the +100 skill tome?'
'Still working on it.'
'Hey,' Tye says. 'Let me show you this other trap. It's really cool.'
He leads us through to a little alcove off the Creepy Corridor that leads down to the Gas Room. We step over the Pit Trap and I hover on it to get its stats.
Name: Fire Pit Trap
Type: Trap
Level: Three
Disarm Difficulty: 20
Damage: 75
Crit Chance: 10% x 4
XP Value: 100
It's been upgraded. We get to the alcove. There's a lectern with a small silver key. 'Where does this lead?'
Bernard says, 'There's a door leading off from the Room of Statues that's locked. This is the key.'
I walk over and hover my hand over it. 'May I?' Tye is Level boss, it seems only polite to ask him.
'Sure, go ahead.'
I reach down and try to pick up the key but I see it's tied to the lectern with wire. I try to break it, but I can't.
'Platinum wire. Very strong.'
'How do they get it?'
'Look round the back of the lectern.'
I peer round and see that there's a mechanism in the back of the lectern. It looks like one of those number locks. 'What's the combination?'
Tye grins. There's a hymn book in the Ruined Chapel, the first room they come to...'
'I know where it is.'
'The first hymn is numbered 1792.'
'Which is odd,' Bernard says, because it should be number 1, being the first hymn and all.'
'That's the combination?'
Tye nods. I twirl the dials with my thumb and there's a click. I can now remove the key. I pick it up and show them.
'Yeah, but you're dead.'
'I'm not.'
Tye winks. 'You would be. Soon as you step into that alcove there's a crush trap activated.'
'Not fire?'
'Not this time'
'Very restrained of you, Tye.'
'Thank you.'
I study the floor carefully. There's the faint outline of a pressure pad. I hover over it.
Name: Crush Trap
Level: Three
Disarm Difficulty: 15
Damage: 100 per second
Time to Close: 4 Seconds.
Crit Chance: 10% x 4
XP Value: 100
'So, they step on the pressure plate and the walls come in and crush them in four seconds?'
Tye smiles. 'From behind, so quiet they won't notice them because they'll be concentrating on getting the key. Four seconds and they're blood paste on the walls. I tell you Peter is a genius.'
'I'm beginning to think that.'
I replace the key and Bernard fussily puts it back retained by the wire. As we're going down the corridor, I ask, 'Mobs?'
Tye points up to the ceiling. Five glowing bat shaped creatures hang down, but are still because they're
untriggered. 'Mephits?'
'Yeah, fire mephits, and I think you missed the fire slimes coming in. We put them in the recesses in the rock.'
Bernard re-joins us. 'There's a salamander in the Tapestry Room where the cave bear was and a Lesser Fire Elemental in the Ruined Chapel area.'
We're walking down the corridor when I almost stumble over a heap of gear. Tye sees me looking. 'Cloned loot. It gets on my nerves, it's all over the place.'
I bend down. 'But it should be sort of self cleaning. Adventurers come in and pick up the stuff their predecessors have dropped.'
Bernard smiles. 'Except mostly they die before they get out. At least that's been the way with the past few since we reopened.'
I'm stooping to rummage through the loot just to see what it is. Bernard's frowning, as if he thinks this is beneath me. I expect it to be trash, but there's a weird necklace that glows blue, hidden under some low grade armor. I pick it up. I've never seen anything like that before. I dangle it in front of Bernard. He's the artificer type. 'What's this?'
'May I?' He takes it and turns it over in his hand, using class skills I don't have.
'It's an Amulet of Health. Pretty rare actually. Don't know how it got with all that junk.'
'What's it do?'
'We're auto-cloning by the way, hope you don't mind.'
Why would I mind? He's just set the dungeon to try to clone any gear from killed adventurers automatically. I'm holding the amulet by its chain.
'Why don't you try it?' Bernard says.
I shrug and put it on.
'Check your stats.'
I do and see I'm now at 800 health. I take off the amulet and it drops to 700. So that's what it does. This must be the dead guy's prized possession, especially if he's Level 3 or 4. I'm just lucky the dungeon auto-cloned this one rather than any other trash he was carrying.
I place the amulet back on and my health rises again. 'Nice.'
'Don't you want to sell it to Simon? You'll get a good price,' Bernard says.
