Both Hawke and Tava nodded. They had seen it happen firsthand, with blood relatives. He only hoped it wouldn’t come to pass among his new friends.
Fourteen
The shallow hill rose amidst the surrounding forest like a bald spot, bare of vegetation for no apparent reason. As the Party approached, a shimmering gate formed at the top.
“And there it is,” Hawke said. “Last time, I was a third level noob. Now, we’re going to clear it up, get some XP and loot, and come home.”
“I like it,” Desmond replied, making sure his helmet was seated firmly over his head. “Five-man dungeons were always my favorite.”
“I died once in the last Lair I went through,” Hawke warned him. “And I learned firsthand what having second and third degree burns over eighty percent of your body feels like. So don’t get too cocky in there.”
“I won’t.”
“Okay, going to set up the Party. I want to devote ten percent of the XP we get to developing a Leadership ability. That should eventually give me access to more abilities to help the party. Any problems with that?”
Desmond raised his hand. “I don’t mind, but maybe down the line Guild members can take turns being Party Leader so more of us advance in Leadership. I’m sure that when we rescue all those gamers, most of them are going to want to join us. We’ll need every leader we can get.”
“Sounds like a plan. Next time, you will be Party leader. How’s that?”
“Good enough for me.”
Hawke formed the Party, and walked towards the glowing gate. When he was a few feet away, the notifications started pouring in:
You Have Found: Vault of the Sidhe
Level Twelve Lair
4 Quests Available!
Level Twelve. Crap! Setting aside the sinking feeling in his stomach, Hawke examined the Quests:
QUEST: Cleanse the Lair
When a Sidhe Noble, grievously wounded by assassins, fled the Realm of Alfheim, he found refuge in the remnants of a Faerie Ring in the Common Realm. As he went into a centuries-long slumber, his loyal minions stayed behind, guarding the Mana Node that kept him alive. Those guardians have been kept in magical stasis by Fae Magic, but they will awaken and attempt to destroy any who dare enter the Lair. You must overcome them to venture further into the Vault.
Objective: Destroy 20 Minions of the Fae Noble.
Rewards: 600 XP, 8 gold, one random level 8-12 item (Enchanted Quality).
Penalties for Failure: None.
Accept? Y/N
Quest: Open the Vault of the Sidhe
One of the many treasures the Sidhe Prince took with him when he escaped Alfheim was the fabled Vault of the Sidhe. Once in a lifetime, a sapient being may enter the Vault and claim a prize. However, once you have entered, the only way to leave with your reward is to overcome its Keeper, a being created by your own flaws, fears and desires, whose only purpose is to ensure you get nothing but a terrible death for daring to enter. The greater the reward you ask for, the more powerful the Keeper will become.
Objective: Enter the Vault, defeat the Keeper, and claim your prize.
Rewards: 1,200 XP, 20 gold, a Reward of your choice.
Penalties for Failure: Death and Reincarnation with a loss of 4 Identity.
Accept? Y/N
Quest: Awaken the Sidhe Prince/Slay the Sidhe Prince
A high-ranked noble of the Unseelie Court was struck by a deadly poison during an assassination attempt. He narrowly managed to escape his attackers and used a Fae-attuned Mana Node to hide while he recovered from his deadly wound. He continues to lay in the Vault he made, sleeping until he recovers and is ready to take revenge. If you reach his sleeping chamber, you will have the choice to lend him the power he needs to recover, or slay him and bring proof of his death to the Unseelie faction that sought his destruction. You do not need to choose until reaching the Prince’s resting place.
Time to Awakening: Ninety-six years, three months, two weeks, and one day.
Objective: Awaken or Slay the Sidhe Prince.
Rewards: 750 XP, 25 gold. Your choice will lead to additional Quests.
Penalties for Failure: None.
Accept? Y/N
Quest: Awaken Your Sidhe Heritage
As a Half-Elf, there is Fae blood in you. Elves were created by fusing the souls of High Sidhe – condemned criminals; their debasement was a punishment – into the bodies of mortal humans, suitably modified by magic. Half-Elves are the rare result of a union between Human and an Elf. Inside you lies a fragment of a High Sidhe. These highly magical beings can gain and manipulate Mana far more easily than other species. The Mana Node at the center of this Lair is attuned to Sidhe energy. Accessing it can trigger an Awakening of your true potential.
Objective: Access the Mana Node at this Lair and use its energies to Awaken your Inner Sidhe.
Optional Objective: Control, Destroy or Absorb the Mana Node after completing the first quest.
Rewards: 100 XP, Access to High Sidhe Perks, automatically gain one High Sidhe Perk for every 4 levels.
Optional Objective Rewards: Varies depending on your choice.
Penalties for Failure: The Awakening can be attempted once. Failing or Abandoning this Quest means it will never be available again.
Accept? Y/N
“Well, I’m glad I didn’t go in when I was a noob,” Hawke muttered as he accepted all the Quests. The opportunities they represented were just too good to pass up.
Picking Half-Elf as his species during character creation had been an afterthought. Most of the Paladins he had played in other games had been human. He mostly wanted the Dark Vision Perk. But now that his Fae heritage was real, he felt it inside him, something alien that was also a part of who he was. He was fine with that, as long as the alien part didn’t explode out of his chest at an inopportune moment. Hawke wanted to explore his Sidhe heritage.
Good thing I’m a Paladin Ninja, tricky as hell and tough as nails.
Saturnyx sighed.
* * *
Hawke looked around and saw the other team members were still checking on their Quests. He didn’t know if they were ready to tackle a twelfth-level Lair. He was the highest-level party member, at eleven, with twelfth and thirteenth level held in reserve. Next was Tava, who had hit eight level during the cleansing of Orom, followed by Desmond and Gosto at seven. Alba and Nadia were the worst off at level five. It would be tough, but he thought they could handle it, and level up very rapidly along the way. Worth the risk.
Nadia was the first to blink and glance at Hawke. “Did you get four Quests?”
He nodded. “Took them all. You?”
“Yes, although the Vault quest scares the crap out of me. My Identity is down to seventeen. Losing four points will put me at my lowest since I got here.”
“I figure the key to that is to ask for something modest. That way the Keeper won’t be that hard to beat.”
“I guess. I’ve always been fascinated with faeries,” she went on. “But I’m not blind to their flaws, even in legends. Elves weren’t necessarily nice people, and Fae legends include creatures like Redcaps that murder people for fun, and plenty other hideous monsters. Saturnyx is right; we have to be careful.”
Desmond came out of his trance next. He looked at Hawke and Nadia, then shrugged and addressed Hawke. “Got three Quests. My only question is, do we kill the Sidhe Prince, or do we let him go?”
“We should probably wait until we know a little more about him. From my Lore, the U
nseelie Court aren’t the nicest people, though.”
“I vote we kill him.” Desmond turned to Nadia. “What do you think?”
She shrugged. “Wait and see, I guess. Although killing him seems to be the safer bet.”
“Nothing is safe with the Sidhe,” Tava said, joining the conversation. “Some of this Prince’s peers will rejoice at his death, and others will seek vengeance. Any course we take will create more enemies for ourselves.”
“Enemies means more Experience,” Desmond said, and Hawke suddenly understood just how much of a dumbass he sounded like when he said stuff like that.
“Okay, before we go, I need to do some prep stuff.”
Hawke took four minutes to cast Gift of the Martyr on Tava, Alba, Nadia and Gosto. “Now if you get hurt, I’ll take the damage.”
“You are mad,” Tava said.
“I have over three hundred hit points, a whole bunch of HOTs – heal over time, for you non-gamers – and I have saved up my twelfth and thirteenth level stats so, worse comes to worst, I can insta-heal. It makes more sense for me to take the pain. Also, if you get hit it’s because I wasn’t doing my tank job properly, so I should pay the price.”
“I notice you didn’t give me no gift of no martyr,” Desmond jokingly grumbled.
“You can respawn, bro. If you get hurt, rub some dirt on it and call for heals.”
“Funny guy.”
Hawke also activated Transference, another Life spell that allowed him to immediately turn Mana into Health or Endurance. All those spells had an ongoing Mana cost, meaning that the thirty-six energy points he had put into them wouldn’t be restored for as long as they were active. Since he still had well over six hundred Mana to use, that wasn’t a big deal. And studying the way the spell created an energy ‘pipeline’ between him and each beneficiary of the Martyr spell gave him a better understanding of Mana Channeling. He had a few more ideas on how to improve that ability, next time he had a few hours to kill.
“Okay, people. Last call for a bathroom break. We’re going in.”
Fifteen
Warning! Entering this Lair will reset your Reincarnation point to the entrance. You will lose 3 Identity points every time you die while inside the Lair.
Enter? Y/N
Hawke entered the Lair’s shining gate.
There was a brief period of disorientation before he found himself in an octagonal room, about thirty feet wide, with a polished marble floor, seven mirrors covering all but one of the eight sides, and a darkened corridor on the eighth section. Within seconds, all six Adventurers were in the chamber, making it feel a little crowded. Make that a lot crowded, when Tava’s Dire Bear made its appearance and pushed everyone against the mirrors.
“Is there anything you can do about this monster?” Gosto said. “He is crushing me, and he smells!”
“Sorry. Wait,” Tava replied, concentrating for a moment. Rabbit’s massive figure shimmered and shrunk, becoming the size of a large dog. “I forgot I could do that. He will be less powerful until I let him grow back to his full size, however.”
She was right; the bear’s Health was down to 240 from its regular 360. On the other hand, people could move again.
“Hopefully, the rest of the Lair will be roomier,” Hawke said while taking a look at himself in one of the mirrors. It was hard to appreciate how badass his armor looked when you spent most of your adventuring life inside it. He adjusted his helmet a little bit, then started to turn away.
The image in the mirror didn’t.
“What the..?”
The Hawke in the mirror stared back at him, his head cocked to one side in a mocking angle.
“Ohmygod!” Nadia cried out. Hawke turned and saw she was looking into another mirror, and her image was grinning evilly at her. And she was also running her hands all over herself like something out of PornHub.
“WTF?” Desmond yelled, raising his sword to strike at the mirror he was facing with its pommel.
Alba touched his elbow. “Don’t. I think that’s what they want.”
All seven mirrors now held a copy of one of them, even of Rabbit, each silently mocking the originals and making obscene gestures, daring them to attack. Creepy, Hawke thought while making sure nobody attacked the mirrors. He’d seen enough horror movies to guess nobody would like what would happen if they did.
“This is pissing me off,” Desmond said.
“Nothing would please me more than to send a shaft through that,” Tava said. Her image was now twerking like a truck stop stripper. “But this is Fae trickery.”
“Yeah,” Hawke agreed. “We stick to the plan. I’ll turn invisible and scout the next room. The rest of you keep cool and ignore the mirrors. If I’m attacked, you know the drill.”
He cast Shroud of Twilight around himself and became transparent, with only a vague shimmer of his outline indicating where he was, and that only when he moved. If he stood still, it looked as if he wasn’t there. He glanced at his mirror image: it was still visible, had taken off its helmet and grinned at him, its mouth twisted in an impossibly wide smile. The evil twin gave Hawke the finger as he cast Enlightenment and walked through the doorway.
It was going to be one of those days.
* * *
The hallway was solid black. Even Hawke’s Dark Vision only let him see the entryway on the other end, but not beyond it. His feet clicked faintly on a smooth surface – smooth enough to be as slippery as a wet floor – but he couldn’t see it, or the walls or ceiling. It was as if he was walking in outer space, only darker. Whoever had decorated the Lair had more than a screw loose.
Almost as if Saturnyx’s words had been a trigger, Hawke’s Enlightenment painted a section of the floor in red, indicating a trap. He marked it down on the Party’s map and carefully stepped around it. Several other trapped spots began to appear with every new step he took. Nasty bastards. He counted seven traps total; one for every member of the Party, pet included. Just like there had been seven mirrors waiting for them at the antechamber.
I think this place changes to fit the number of intruders.
“Awesome,” he muttered as he reached the threshold at the end of the corridor. There was no door, but all he could see was total darkness on the other side. “Going in. Keep Tava informed, okay?”
Knowing he had probably earned that diss from the sword, Hawke leaned across the doorway. The moment his eyes were on the other side of the doorway, the room lit up, revealing a multi-sided room much like the antechamber they’d arrived at, but several times larger, with over a dozen sides instead of eight.
Two of them were entryways. The other sides were blank walls. Hawke looked around, trying to detect any traps, but nothing lit up yellow or red, which would have indicated something hidden or something dangerous, respectively. He stepped into the large room, swords at the ready, and started quick-casting all his buffs.
“All right, you guys can come in,” he said. “Watch out for the traps I marked for you.”
No sooner had those words left his mouth than several creatures came running into the room from the corridor on the other end. They had thick bulbous bodies, tiny insect wings on their backs, and ridiculously thin arms and legs terminating in cartoonishly big hands and feet. They had
no heads; their faces were on the upper half of their potato-shaped bodies: a pair of oversized eyes over a flat nose and a mouth as wide as a bear trap, with a pair of long fangs protruding from their lips. Their yellowish skin had a bark-like texture, reminding Hawke of the Woodlings he had fought not too long ago. They held naginata-like weapons: a long slashing blade mounted at the end of a staff.
Spriggan (Sidhe Fae)
Level 10 Elite
Health 500 Mana 200 Endurance 500
“Form up by the entrance!” Hawke ordered while he moved back to the doorway and fired off his energy hammers, Light and Twilight versions.
His target’s Health went down by a hundred and eighty points from the double impact; they had some resistance against Light and Darkness magic, but not much. He stood a few feet away from the darkened entrance; his friends couldn’t stay in the corridor, since people couldn’t see into the room until they were in it. As Desmond ran out to stand by his side, Hawke cast Consecrated Ground to have an ongoing heal-over-time, followed by a Burning Light that scorched half a dozen of the critters as they came charging in.
Tava ordered Rabbit to stand next to Desmond and resized him back to his full Dire Bear grandeur before grabbing her bow and laying down some ranged pain and suffering. Gosto snared one of the Spriggans and then concentrated on keeping the front-line fighters healed as the first clash of naginatas versus swords and bear claws began. Nadia sent several Ice Daggers flying at the first monster Hawke had hit, tearing off chunks of its Health until it finally went down. And Alba was nowhere to be seen, until one wounded Fae monster after another suddenly clutched at savage wounds that had seemingly appeared out of thin air and staggered or fell.
The Party was heavily outnumbered, but the enemy was only able to come at them six or seven at a time, with the rest able only to use their long weapons to stab the front line from a distance. Desmond fought like a demon, severing limbs or cleaving torsos nearly in half with every swing of his Masterwork sword. The Fae made him their primary target. Points glanced off armor or made small puncture wounds while heavy slashing blows landed on his head, shoulders, and upper arms. Gosto’s healing and Hawke’s HOTs kept him going even after he took hundreds of points of damage. And Rabbit roared as his massive paws tore into the Fae. At one point, his jaws clamped onto the shoulder of one Spriggan; he lifted the body in his mouth and shook it like a terrier killing a rat, sending bits of flesh and bone flying everywhere. Hawke resolved to get a pet ASAP. He could have summoned his new Darkness Guardian, but that was a once-per-day ability that he was saving for an emergency. His other summon, Animate Shadow, wouldn’t have helped much in the current situation.
Lord of the Dead: A LitRPG Saga (The Eternal Journey Book 2) Page 9
