Quest for Vengeance

by Benjamin Douglas

  Before moving on we took one of the torches from beside the door. I held it aloft while Fangs scouted ahead in the darkness. He said his Night Vision was leveled pretty high, and residual torchlight was enough to make his way clear. The torch itself was an interesting object:

  New Item: Eternal Torch

  This arcane torch was lit by the elder god Thrannick himself and retains a piece of his pure spirit flame. It can never be extinguished, but take care that you treat it with respect. The magic inside is quite potent.

  Would you like to add this item to your inventory or equip it?

  Whoa. I looked at the torch in awe. Then I activated Mana Sight.

  “Huh??” It was the weirdest thing. Without the skill, the thing burned with a fierce, obviously magical energy, but when I triggered the skill I saw nothing. Just a dead stump. Not a single bit of glowing, pulsing mana. Which was really weird. Even the walls had mana in them.

  “Whatever,” I muttered, equipping the torch and holding it up. No time to worry about that now, not with a dungeon party assembled and ready to move on. And anyway, it looked like I could keep the thing in my inventory when we were done using it.

  Awesome.

  We resumed our original formation and pushed forward. The march across the cavern was largely uneventful, giving us plenty of time to contemplate the enormity and solitude of the space. I felt a bit like Frodo in the halls of Khazad-dûm. But every so often we’d come across a few Subterranean Serpents, Cave Crawlers, and once, a Night Weaver about the size of a human player. That one put up a particularly nasty fight. Its legs prevented us from hacking at its body, and it was ultimately only due to our ranged weapons that we were able to defeat it. I wanted to have Angie make us a stew again so I could pick up the skill and gamble with the random buff/debuff, but we were all still full of Crawler steak and eager to move on to a new area. So we skipped it.

  It felt like hours had passed by the time we reached the far wall. Another tall iron door barred the way. Before testing it we decided to meditate in shifts so we were running on all cylinders. I kept watch the first shift, along with Gemma, Glitch, and Fangs. Angie and I had an unspoken agreement that one or the other of us should always be awake with Nemo to make sure he didn’t try anything stupid. Anyway, Meatloaf seemed to calm him down and bring out his better side.

  I snorted quietly at the thought. What better side? Anyway, Meatloaf brought down his worse side.

  “So it’s invisible?” Glitch asked.

  I nodded. “Yup. Sucked ass the first time I died. Dropped it and didn’t even realize it was still there at the runestone. Didn’t have it for weeks.”

  Everyone was impressed with my shadow bag. Rightly so. It was the best and most interesting loot any of us had lain our hands on.

  “How much can you carry?” he asked.

  I shrugged. “It hasn’t gotten heavy yet. I think it’s part of the enchantment. Felt a bit like Hermione Granger walking around with all the Manual Mandibles tucked away inside.”

  He snorted. “But you’ll drop it again if you die, won’t you?”

  I hadn’t considered that. It had been relatively easy to find last time because I had known where I’d been killed and I was returned there upon dying again. But if I died down here in the dungeon, I might lose the bag forever. My stomach flipped. That would suck so royally.

  “You could bind it,” Gemma said, “if you knew the rune.”

  “Gemma, I could kiss you! That’s it!”

  Her eyes popped open and I looked at the floor, mortified that I’d said that. Good grief. Trust me to get excited and stick my big foot in my mouth and make her uncomfortable.

  “I just mean,” I stammerered, “uh… that’s a great idea. I want to try!”

  “I don’t know runecrafting,” she said shaking her head.

  “No, but I do.”

  “Whoa,” Glitch breathed.

  I triggered Mana Sight and found to my relief that my bag was completely visible from within the skill. It looked like a perfectly ordinary and comfortable men’s satchel, only it pulsed and glowed with mana.

  “Ok,” I muttered. It was fairly obvious to me that I could inscribe the rune of binding on the bag—or in the bag, rather—using mana threads, just as I had inside the M&Ms. What I didn’t understand was how to bind it to me. I tried explaining to problem to Gemma.

  “Sounds beyond my paygrade,” she said. “But did you try… I mean, there’s lots of mana inside of you.”

  “Yeah I know, I’ve seen; I’m just not sure that I can—”

  I paused. What if it was really that simple?

  We had plenty of time. I activated the skill and looked at the mana inside the bag and the mana inside my left leg. They were both composed of the same luminous bands of material I’d grown used to seeing, only those in my leg pulsed more brightly than those in the bag. Because I’m alive, I assumed.

  The trouble was finding spare mana threads for the binding. Before, I’d taken them from a broken spider leg. I briefly contemplated doing the same here, but I wasn’t too keen on sticking random bits of spider magic inside my own lifeforce. Who knew what that might do to me? No. I had to treat this like DNA; like blood itself. I had to stick to something my own type. Ideally I’d have some extra of my own—

  I slapped my forehead. My poor avatar was getting used to the abuse.

  “Got it?” Gemma asked excitedly.

  I nodded. “I think so! Just let me see…” I pulled out my M&M and handed it to her. “Here.” I held out my bare wrist. “Cut me.”

  “Uh…” Glitch frowned. “Dude. You feeling ok?”

  “Just cut me! Now! Make me bleed!”

  Gemma shrugged. “Ok! You asked for this.”

  Friendly Fire! You have been cut by a partymate

  -5HP

  Ouch! I’d been expecting a -1 or -2HP ding, not this whopper of a papercut she’d given me. No matter. To be fair, I had asked for it. And I didn’t get hit with a bleeding debuff, so I figured it was going to heal alright. Not before I got what I needed, though.

  Activating Mana Sight once more, I watched threads of mana collect at the wound until finally they became heavy and dripped out, like water drops gathering on a blade of grass until they ran down to the ground.

  That’ll do.

  I activated the mana in my other hand and reached out to grab the dripping threads. They came to me easily. Then I pushed them gently into my leg, watching as they passed through the barrier and swam beside the other threads already present.

  Wait a minute. I frowned. If I shaped them into a binding rune now, all I’d be binding to myself was… myself. This didn’t make any sense. I glanced at the bag again.

  Eureka!

  Taking the loose mana strands back from my leg, I pushed them into the bag instead, nestling them among the strands there, and formed them into the “M” rune. As before, I willed a strong pulse of power into the rune. I sensed it take hold. Then I grabbed a bundle of strands from within the bag, mentally crossed my fingers, and pulled. Hard.

  They didn’t all come out, but a few loose threads emerged, dangling from my fingers.

  Bingo.

  I placed the threads along my thigh and breathed deeply, pushing them through the barrier as I had before. Then I fastened them around the mana native to my leg with the same “M” rune, and, with my last bit of power, activated it with one final pulse.

  When I snapped back out of Mana Sight I was almost weak from the exertion and my MP was completely drained, but I had done it.

  Passive Skill Leveled Up: Outside the Box

  Congratulations, you have gained a level in the skill Outside the Box! This is a passive skill that can only be leveled with use. It is a sister skill to Strategy and Battle Planning, both of which can be leveled with attribution points.

  Skill: Outside the Box

  Type: Passive

  Sister Skill: Strategy, Battle Planning

  Level: 5 (scalable)

&nb
sp; Effect: 15% increase in likelihood for plans to succeed

  You Activated a Rune!

  +10XP

  Passive Skill Leveled Up: Runecrafting

  Congratulations, you have leveled up the skill: Runecrafting! This complicated, painstaking skill can take a lifetime to master, but when used well, can make you a true force to be reckoned with. Runecrafting is a passive skill that can only be leveled with use.

  Skill: Runecrafting

  Type: Passive

  Level: 2 (scalable)

  Effect: 7% increase to likelihood of properly crafting and activating a rune

  Cost: variable depending on rune; variable from crafting to activating as well

  Special Skill Unlocked: Soulbound

  Have you ever had to remind yourself, “don’t leave home without it?” Never again. You have learned the skill of binding items to a character so that even in death the items are retained. This is a special skill only available to Runecrafters. Bind responsibly!

  Skill: Soulbound

  Type: Special (sub: Runecrafting)

  Level: —

  Effect: ability to bind items to a character, making them part of a permanent inventory

  My jaw dropped.

  “I…”

  I looked up at Gemma and Glitch.

  “I think I did it.” My voice came out hoarse with excitement. Man. This game was…

  I stopped myself just short of telling myself it was awesome. I shook my head. Damn. It was addictive, is what is was. Unlocking and leveling skills was a drug. For a moment I’d almost forgotten all the abuse of the past few weeks.

  “You bound it to yourself?” Gemma asked quietly. I nodded. “That’s… that’s some powerful magic. Gideon.”

  “Thanks,” I mumbled.

  It was interesting that Soulbound didn’t show a level. But if it was a skill that could be leveled, I wasn’t sure what the benefits would be. Maybe it was just a toggle. You either had it, or you didn’t.

  “That is impressive,” Glitch said.

  “You have a bound item, right?” I asked him. “Mind if I have a look? Maybe I can learn more about the skill by examining the binding in it.”

  He nodded and produced the scroll I’d seen before. “You can hang onto it in your bag for now if you want.” He handed it to me, then looked at the ground and lowered his voice. “It’ll just reappear in my inventory when I die, anyway.”

  Cheery. I tried not to let his pessimism dampen my spirits. I fell into a deep, MP restoring meditation when my watch ended, my mind full of mana and its possibilities.

  ___

  With everyone restored and ready, we opened the door and passed through. It led us to a long, wide staircase with more Eternal Torches to either side. I grabbed another for my inventory. So did Gemma and Angie. Glitch picked one up to equip, and we reached the bottom. It opened up into yet another massive room. This one was less rough, however; less like a cave and more like a cathedral. The floor was flat. Mighty pillars with ornate carvings rose from floor to distant ceiling, their shadows long and ominous in the torchlight.

  “Now we’re in a dungeon,” Nemo muttered.

  But for the sound of our shuffling feet, it was pin-drop quiet.

  I hated it.

  “Hold,” Fangs said, pausing ahead.

  “Man, I told you,” Nemo groused, “I don’t want to take orders from some—”

  Fangs held up a hand and turned his nose to the air, sniffing like a hound. Of course. Must be a racial skill.

  “I smell death,” he whispered.

  “Shocking,” Meatloaf said.

  “Shh.” I held up a hand to silence everyone. I heard a faint, distant sound. A clattering like the sound of tiny pebbles rolling over stone. “You hear that?” I looked at Fangs. He nodded.

  We held our torches high and waited.

  The clatter rose, a tremolous crescendo of stone on stone, until the rocks rolling to the center of the chamber began to throw dancing, oblong shadows on the pillars around them. I peered ahead, straining the limits of Night Vision. Big rocks were congregating now. Very big rocks. They were all coming together and forming some kind of blob. I had a very bad feeling.

  “Uh… guys?” Meatloaf said.

  Angie squinted through the darkness. “Shit.”

  The rocks stood up. They’d formed into a roughly humanoid shape, but easily five times the height of any of us, a stone monster. It took a shuddering step and the impact thundered through the cavern.

  Stone Spirit Golem

  Level: 9

  Race: Monster; mini-boss

  HP: 750/750

  Stamina: 100/100

  Strength: 300/300

  Attack: -10HP min, -100HP max

  I tried to swallow but my throat went dry. “Fuck,” I whispered.

  Fangs turned to face me. Waiting for orders, I realized.

  “We’re not ready,” I said. “Retreat. Back to the stairs!”

  A mini-boss?? Fuck that noise. We could go back up and grind XP for a week first, build up our stats and some combat skills. Maybe then we’d have a go at the little guy. As things were, we’d all be smashed to bits in a few seconds.

  My party turned and ran with me, and we crossed the space in an admirably short time. We weren’t fast enough, though. From behind us, the golem made a terrible sound. Imagine something like two giant boulders clacking together while one rock wall rubs slowly against another, and you’ll get the idea. In answer, the door before us slammed shut.

  And locked.

  “Ffffffuuuuuuuck,” Meatloaf groaned.

  “Indeed,” Jane said.

  I turned to face the monster again. It was still striding toward us, each step rocking the chamber. It was far too late to escape. We’d drawn the aggro, and now we were going to pay up.

  “Form up,” I said numbly. “Melee, let’s fan out a bit. Don’t give it a big target. Range, I don’t even fucking know. Do your best.”

  “Our best?” Glitch yelled. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  I turned to face him. Seriously? What, did he think I was a pro player or something? “Yeah, man. Do your best. Figure it out.” I turned back around.

  “Whiny little shit,” Nemo grumbled. For a second I thought he meant me and I was about to respond, but then I realized he meant Glitch. I caught his eye. “I’d ding his XP for taking a tone with me if I were you,” he said. “If you’ve got party controls.”

  I shook my head. Unbelievable. “Nah. He’s probably just a kid.”

  Nemo snorted. “You big softy.”

  Before I had any time to get sentimental about our little noobie-bashing bonding moment, the mini-boss was upon us.

  It attacked first. Naturally. One massive, boulder-laden arm of rock swept toward us. Fangs leapt over it like a rolling log. Nemo screamed and charged, trying to hack with his M&M. The blade clanged against stone and rebounded over his head. I charged my M&M with mana and tried to stab one of the small gaps between adjacent stones, but my weapon, too, was easily deflected. At least we’d all managed to avoid taking a hit ourselves. I scanned his HP to see if we’d dinged him at all, however little, but no luck. 750/750. Impossibly high and apparently impervious to our only weapons.

  “Now!” Gemma yelled, hurling her spear at the thing’s head. Glitch and Jane threw theirs as well. Good on you, Gemma, I thought. At least someone was strategizing. I hoped she’d also unlocked the skill. She’d probably actually put it to decent use.

  Their spears, however, merely hit the featureless stony face and fell away to clatter on the floor.

  “Dammit!” The thing was magic. Why hadn’t I tried mana right away? “Gemma,” I called, “use Mana Sight!”

  “I already did! It’s dead!”

  “What??”

  “There’s no mana at all! It’s like the torches!”

  I plunged into Mana Sight and confirmed. Just as with the arcane torches, the golem’s body was completely devoid of light.

  “But
how is that possible? It’s magic, for fuck’s sake! Why is it so dark?”

  “Dark?” Fangs spared me a glance. “What are you talking about? The thing is on fire!”

  The golem swing his arm again. This time Nemo took a hit, sending him across the room. “Shit,” I growled, watching his HP plummet. He lived. Fangs and I narrowly escaped the enormous limb.

  “Fire?” I yelled. “Are we looking at the same monster?”

  Fangs shrugged. “I see a spirit rock golem, with a body of rock, all ablaze in bright red spirit fire.”

  Spirit fire.

  I almost slapped myself again, but thought better of it.

  Of course! “It isn’t made of mana!” I yelled over my shoulder to Gemma. “It’s spirit!”

  “What?? Spirit is another element? I thought it was—”

  I spread out my arms. “Unless you have a better explanation—”

  “GGGGGggggggggrrrrrrrrrrggggggggg!”

  The monster made that grating sound again, like a giant stone roar, freezing us in place with a familiar pair of debuffs—Heart of Fear and Stun. I stood and blinked, unable to move any other part of my body. The golem hefted one massive leg and brought it down, stomping so hard that bits of its own stony body fell away, only to pull themselves back onto it. The whole cavern quaked beneath our feet. Angie, the tallest of us, fell on her back.

  Stone Spirit Golem Uses Special Skill: Earthshake

  The earth is moving! Get to steadier ground as fast as you can, or risk losing precious HP.

  Goddammit. A lot of good the warning did when none of us could move. Sure enough, my HP began ticking down as the ground continued to quake. As soon as the debuffs wore off, I rushed to try to help Angie to her feet. She was already up.

  “I need time!” I told her. “I have an idea, maybe, but I’m not sure.”

  She nodded grimly. “I’ll do my best.”