Jandar finished making his torches, an even dozen all told. With an optimal burn rate, they should provide him with at least ten hours of light. As long as the cave cut a halfway direct route to Crag Cross, and he did not get lost, that should be plenty of time to reach the other side. Just to be safe, he deposited several more sticks into his inventory so he could make more torches or build a fire later.
The confining rock walls felt constricting and oppressive. Jandar had lived his entire life outside and did not appreciate having so much impenetrable stone all around him. He steeled his courage and plowed ahead. The cleft continued for several minutes before opening up into a slightly larger, more uniform tunnel. In less than an hour, he came upon his first fork and had to make a choice.
Jandar replaced the nearly spent torch with a fresh one from his player inventory. As he examined the diverging paths and pondered his two choices, he spied some marks on the cave walls. Bringing his torch closer for a better look, he found they were a mix of mostly chalk with a few charcoal drawings.
It took him only a moment to see them for what they were. Markers. The markings were a series of short lines with numbers or letters at each end. He assumed each tunnel section was assigned a number, but without a map to reference, they did not do him much good. The markings in the main passage clearly showed the tunnel he was now in, the one branching off to his left, and the one he had come down that led to the outside.
The ends of each drawing forked. Jandar surmised that the tunnels split again and that there would be more drawings showing how each fork continued once he reached them. The line showing where he had started had a T written at its end while both paths farther on showed CC. Truale and Crag Cross!
It did not matter which fork he took, both would eventually lead him to Crag Cross. His mouth turned up into a smile. This was going to be easier than he had feared. Since neither of the map segments told him which one was the more direct route, Jandar decided to stick with the larger of the two tunnels.
He reached the next tunnel fork in a little over an hour. Just as he had thought, there was another set of directional markers scrawled on the wall of each branch along with a number. Once again, both map segments had CC written on them, but one had a circle with a segmented triangle in the middle of it. Wavy lines topped the triangle like a king’s crown. A campfire? Since both lines took him toward Crag Cross, he chose the one with the extra icons drawn on it.
In under an hour, by his best reckoning, Jandar reached a cavern perhaps fifty feet across, its ceiling a few feet higher than the tunnel leading into it. He gratefully stood up straight, glad to be able to stretch his back and arms after walking slightly hunched over for so long to avoid cracking his head against the stone.
There was indeed the remains of a campfire in the center of the chamber. He also found a few broken crates, tattered bits of cloth, and what he was certain was dried human waste scattered about the area. At least he hoped it was human. None of it was fresh, so he guessed it did not matter much.
Jandar took a fifteen-minute rest before setting out once more. Four hours and two more rest areas later, he came upon another branching tunnel. The guides written on the walls here both had symbols he had not seen before. One had a large X bisecting one passageway and the other bore a crude face with fangs that looked to have been drawn by a child.
He had a feeling he knew what both new symbols meant. He was now faced with three choices. The one with the X probably meant the tunnel was blocked. Either that or there was treasure buried there, which he doubted. That left him with the option of continuing down the other one, and possibly running into some kind of monster or other danger, or going back the way he had come. Going back would mean adding several hours to his travel time.
Jandar decided to check out the area marked with an X. With any luck, someone had cleared the blockage, if that was what the symbol showed. If not, maybe he could clear it out faster than it would take him to go back and find another way through. His decision made, Jandar took up a hurried pace down the tunnel.
Half an hour later, he stood before a jumble of rocks completely barring his way. One particularly large boulder stood like a granite sentinel declaring that none shall pass. Jandar had no way of determining how deeply the blockage went even if he could remove the wardrobe-sized rock. With no other option than turning back, he held his arm before his eyes, imbued his hammer with earth touch, and struck the boulder with a Power Attack.
Shards of stone sprayed out, the sharper pieces drawing blood where they found vulnerable flesh. He lowered his arm and inspected the damage. The boulder now sported a soup bowl-sized crater in its face with several fissures running outward from the cavity. Impressed with his handiwork, he waited for the ability’s cooldown to expire and struck it again.
The boulder broke into dozens of pieces ranging from the size of his fist to a few larger than his head. He cleared away the recent destruction as well as some of the older debris and found a pair of boulders a little smaller than the one he had destroyed barring the way. The two strikes he had delivered had cost him over half his mana, and it would take several minutes to get it back.
Clearing the rubble could take a significant amount of time. It also presented a danger of causing another collapse. He was a smith not a miner. He was down to two choices, and he made up his mind by the time he returned to the tunnel fork. If whatever monsters had lurked in the passageway ahead were still there, he hoped his newfound power was enough to see him past the danger. If not, he would have to retreat, or he and his quest would come to a swift and violent end.
Jandar reached another large chamber some time later. Debris littered it as well, but this clutter was bones, not boxes and trash. There was no sign of a campfire either. Two tunnels branched off the cavern, not counting the one from which he had come. He thought he had found more directional markers, but they turned out to be what looked like claw marks.
His first thought was perhaps a cave bear, but he discarded the idea almost immediately. Bears would not dwell this far from the surface, nor could their claws gouge stone. Jandar did not know what kind of creature could scratch solid rock deep enough to leave shallow grooves, and he had no desire to find out.
He chose the passageway with the fewest claw marks but made it only a short ways in when something snarled and moved just beyond his torch’s light. Jandar readied his hammer and prepared to imbue it with his magic when the creature slowly stepped into the light. What he saw sent an icy chill up his spine and made him back away.
The monster was large and nearly had to double itself over to navigate the six-foot-high ceiling. Its skin was grey mottled with black. Claws tipped the oversized hands attached to obscenely long arms. Sharp teeth filled the creature’s mouth, and bat-like ears stuck out from the sides of its head. Jandar instinctually opened the prompt and read the message without taking his eyes off the monstrosity before him.
Cave troll.
Threat: Deadly.
Disposition: Hangry.
Health: Unknown.
Strengths: Unknown.
Weaknesses: Unknown.
Jandar did not know what hangry meant, but he guessed its meaning given the way the troll was looking at him as both an intruder and a meal. He recalled what the magic book had said about the perception notations. Threat was a measure of an opponent’s power in relation to him or his party, which meant deadly was quite bad.
The troll had taken a step back when Jandar leaned forward to get a better look at it. It must not like his torch. He doubted the monster was too concerned about him or the hammer in his hand. He and the weapon felt wholly inadequate for the job before him, and he started backing away. There was no going this direction.
Jandar had just made it back into the large chamber when another hiss sounded behind him. He spun halfway around, not wanting to put his back to the troll, and found another of the creatures standing partway between him, the second tunnel, and the way back. Jandar knew in an insta
nt he was in a great deal of trouble. Not only were there now two monsters, the size of the chamber allowed them to stretch to their full height with plenty of room to move about.
The first troll emerged from the tunnel as Jandar continued backing away. The second troll darted at him when he turned his eyes toward the first one, but it leapt back when he swiped his torch at it. That gave the other troll an opening, and it leapt at him. He swung the torch at the troll and drove it back a few steps.
Jandar knew he would not be able to hold two of the creatures off for long. All it would take was for one to distract him enough to allow the other to get within its long reach and slash him with those claws. The bones on the floor also presented a tripping hazard. One bad step and it would be over for him. There was only one thing he could think to do.
His hammer’s head erupted into flame and he charged the first troll. The monster scuttled away, surprised at the food’s sudden aggression. When Jandar got close to the tunnel he had just retreated from, he hurled his torch and struck the troll square in the chest. The beast howled with pain and slapped at the flaming brand, its yellow eyes wide with terror.
Jandar retrieved another torch from his player inventory and lit it with his hammer before cutting off the flow of mana. He could hear the trolls chasing after him, scuttling on their long arms with surprising speed. Jandar slipped his hammer into the loop on his belt, pulled a second torch from his player inventory, and lit it with the one he was holding.
He dropped one of the torches behind him, hoping it would stop the trolls’ pursuit. It did, but only for a moment. The lead troll now carried a large femur bone and bashed the torch with it until it went out. Within a minute, the creatures had regained the distance between them lost by the distraction.
Shit! I need a bigger fire, Jandar thought as he ran.
The trolls would catch up to him in short order unless he found a way to hold them back longer or convince them to let him go. The latter was very unlikely, so he pulled four more torches from his player inventory, which took almost ten full seconds, and stopped running. He set the torches on the ground with the stick end of each one resting on the torch end. The trolls erupted into view just as he lit them with the remaining torch.
Both monsters scrambled to a halt, the lead troll hissing and spitting at the fire as well as its prey. Jandar leapt back and looked over his shoulder as he began to run away once more. To his shock and horror, a putrid liquid sprayed out from under a troll and onto the flames. It was pissing out the fire!
Jandar did not stop to watch the freakish scene. He faced forward and focused on getting away from the creatures. He acknowledged the flickering light in the corner of his eye and summoned the information. He hoped the book would give him some idea of what to do.
It did not. The warning was to inform him that his stamina had just dropped below fifty percent. He was going to have to figure out how to get out of this on his own.
The sound of claws scrambling and scratching against stone resumed. Jandar knew then he would not be able to outrun the creatures. They were too fast. They were also too strong for him to kill. He shook his head and gritted his teeth. No! If metal was too hard to work, you just had to get it hotter and hit it with a bigger hammer.
Jandar only had the one hammer, not counting the one for smithing, but he did have fire. He just needed to make it bigger and hotter, but how? He brought up his player inventory to refresh his memory of what he had to work with. It was not much.
His eyes settled onto the tent and some rope. There were three possible outcomes to his plan. It would work and he lived, it would fail and he died, or it would work and he still died. If he could not achieve the first, then he prayed for the last. At least they would not eat him and add his bones to the piles back in their lair.
Luck was with him for once. Just as he pulled the bundled up tent and rope from his inventory, the tunnel opened into another smallish chamber. The ceiling was just high enough for him to extend his arms over his head without touching it. That meant the trolls would still stand slightly hunched over, but he would have near-total freedom of movement.
Jandar tossed his torch to the left side of the chamber while he darted off to the right. He fashioned a quick lasso with a knot that would lock it into place once drawn taut. He barely had time to tie the complex knot and heft the oiled tent canvas in his arms when the trolls burst into the chamber, snarling and slavering for his blood.
The creatures turned to face the torch laying on the ground across from him, one of them leaping toward it and slashing with both of its clawed hands without even looking to see if its prey was there. Jandar bolted forward, tossed the canvas over the nearest troll’s head, the one holding the bone club, and cinched the lasso around the monster’s skinny neck.
He had hoped to trap the beast’s arms to its side, but it had stood up straighter and spun toward him too fast. In hindsight, Jandar figured this was probably the better outcome anyway as the troll’s claws tore through the sturdy canvas as if it were parchment. He pulled his war hammer from the loop on his belt, conjured arcane fire, and struck the flailing beast atop its head with all his might.
You hit troll with flaming crude war hammer for 39 damage: 33 physical (14 base x2 critical hit + 50% power attack minus target defense) and 10.4 fire damage (5.2 x2 target vulnerability to fire)
Troll is on fire. Troll takes 15 fire damage.
Troll takes 13 fire damage.
Troll takes 14 fire damage.
Jandar leapt away from the flailing creature as it lashed out in terror at the flaming canvas covering its body. The second troll rushed at the human, but its mate blindly slashed it with a flaming hand.
Troll hits troll for 58 damage: 49 physical, 9 fire.
You hit troll with flaming crude war hammer for 24 damage: 11 physical (14 base minus target defense) and 10.4 fire (5.2 x2 target vulnerability to fire)
Troll is burned and will take 5.2 points of damage (x2 vulnerable to fire) per second for 5 seconds.
Your Advanced Perception, Tier 1 ability has revealed more information about your foes due to continued observation:
Cave Troll:
Threat: Deadly.
Disposition: Furious.
Health: 187/280.
Resistance: -20% Physical damage.
Vulnerabilities: Takes double damage from fire.
Jandar’s heart sank despite his current success. The creatures had more than three times his health and were a lot stronger. Had he not effectively neutralized one of them, he would surely be dead already. The thought had barely formed in his head when the troll caught him a glancing blow across the chest.
Troll claws you for 32 physical damage. Base 33, - 1 physical defense.
Over a third of his health was gone from a single hit, and it wasn’t even a solid blow! Jandar leapt back and retreated. The troll flicked its huge, jaundiced eyes at the flaming war hammer and hesitated to pursue him, giving him the chance to retrieve his smithing hammer from his inventory.
Shifting the tool to his dominant hand, Jandar reversed direction and charged. Surprised by the unexpected attack, the troll took an instinctive step backward, giving the smith the opening he needed. He hurled the smithing hammer with all his might and struck the monster between the eyes.
You hit troll with smithing hammer for 6 points of physical damage. Troll is stunned for 1 second.
Shifting the war hammer to his other hand, he lashed out at the beast as he sprinted past, aiming for its spindly leg.
You hit troll with flaming crude war hammer with numbing strike for 22 damage (11 physical + 11 fire.) Troll’s leg is numbed. Reduced movement speed and dodge by 10.5% for 3 seconds (time reduced by troll ability)
Jandar threw himself to the ground and rolled beneath the troll’s counter attack. He leapt up and took a hasty swing of opportunity at the still flaming, flailing troll’s back as he sprinted past.
You hit troll with flaming crude War hammer for 28 dama
ge. (17 physical + 50% vulnerable target + 11 fire)
The arcane smith snatched up the burning torch with his free hand and extinguished the magical flames wreathing his hammer to conserve his dwindling supply of mana. He spun around to face the troll that presented the greatest threat and barely managed to avoid its slashing talons. Jandar lashed out with the torch, using it like a club, and followed up the attack with a swing from his hammer.
You hit troll with torch for 13 damage. (3 physical + 10 fire)
You hit troll with flaming crude War hammer for 20 damage. (9 physical + 11 fire)
Jandar grimaced at the relatively weak hit due to trying to time reigniting his hammer with the strike. It was definitely something he needed to practice in order to conserve his mana while maximizing his damage. Without fire, he had no chance of surviving, and without mana, there was no fire other than his torch. A pitiful weapon to be sure.
His off-balance strike left him vulnerable, and the troll’s backhand struck him in the shoulder. The blow sent Jandar sprawling one direction and his torch in another. The hit left his arm hanging by his side and knocked off a large amount of his remaining health.
The troll charged him, its clawed hands pawing at the air as it rushed forward. Jandar cried out from the pain in his stricken arm as he raced away from the beast. His flight took him close to the second troll and he saw that most of the canvas had burned away. He summoned the magical fire once more and swung his hammer into the monster’s chest. The troll dropped to the ground and lay mewling in pain.
Jandar let the fire wink out as he evaded the troll that still posed a significant threat. He had no doubt that one more hit, even a glancing blow, would end his life. The beasts were just too powerful for him to withstand their attacks, so his only defense was to not get hit and strike back when an opportunity presented itself.
Chaos Unchained- The Mad Smith Page 14
