Brando couldn’t believe his luck. He wasn’t finding any gems until the dwarf returned, picked up some pebbles he had unearthed, and congratulated him on his findings. He had mined three gems without knowing it. He tried offering the smallest gem to the dwarf, but he refused and went back to what he was doing.

He was chipping away for more gems when Fin came into view, said, “I did it!” and then tossed his breakfast all over the road. The color was a rare mixture of white, red, and black.

Fin wiped his mouth and then viewed the new notification as fast as it was there.

* Affinity Quest Complete (1 of 6): Purge caustic toxins from your body. +1 Breath Ability added.

* Caustic Breath – Locked until Earth Affinity is realized. Forfeit all other affinities.

Fin smiled at his new accomplishment. "It's a good thing I got that out of my system. It looks like it could have burned a hole right through me."

Brando looked appalled. "Here he comes, trudging around the corner of the slave camp, proceeds to toss his pudding, and then smiles like he just won the award for the most colorful vomit? The first time I saw you, you were sleeping like a baby. Not in a hundred years did I think you could have been the cheery apparition of the dark underlord."

"I don't even know where to start," Fin tried to spit the bad flavor out of his mouth. "I completed some quests and have clues of what I need to do next. Most importantly, I have a new ability point."

"I was going to tell you about all the gems I found, but considering we're going to spend them on soup tonight, it doesn't seem half as important as new, rock-crushing abilities." Brando held out his hands to show the three gems. "Does this mean you're going to upgrade your fingernails?"

Fin took the gems and inspected them in the light. They didn't look like anything special. "Probably fingernails. There's nothing else to spend them on, especially since I don't have a tail. I don't think I'm going to do it until tomorrow. I'm still pretty spent from squeezing rocks. And even though I've spent the morning devouring my enemies, I'm starving."

"Do you want the rest of my sog-square?" Brando pointed to his half-eaten breakfast sitting on a rock.

"I think I would rather starve." Fin handed the gems back.

Brando grew serious. "I think we might starve," he said, lowering the tone in his voice. "Do you know what I was doing when they took me? I was living in the woods. I had as much to eat as I wanted but had to continuously work for it. This bowl of stew that awaits us at the end of the day wouldn't give me the energy for an hour of hunting, and yet they expect us to chip away at this stone all day long on it? I'm telling you, it's impossible with a single bowl of stew each day. Because I can't take more than a couple of bites of that white sog. I'm worried. More than I've ever been."

Fin looked his friend in the eye. After all, they were friends, right? They had only been thrown together a couple of days ago. But, in the few days they've known each other, they've already been through more than most people. Fin didn't really have much to base that on, but he felt that Brando was his friend and knew that his friend needed him to come through.

"What were you doing in the woods?" Fin asked sincerely.

"What does anyone do in the woods?" Brando thought about the worst-case scenario and then continued, "I'm a leather worker in a big village. A few months ago, I decided to go hunting. I wasn't ready to go back to civilization, so I just stayed there. I kept going deeper and deeper into the woods. It was nice, you know?"

"I guess it sounds like it would be fun for a while. I don't know." Fin contemplated. "I think I would get lonely and want to see my family."

"The only family I really have is the village vicar," Brando creased his forehead at a memory he was having. "We both lost our families, and neither of us is very religious. Anyway, I'm ready to get out of here. You got a plan?"

Fin began drawing from his heightened wisdom and intelligence, "There are fewer guards on the wall during the day, and they won't expect us to make a break for it in broad daylight. I say we find a spot to use my magic grip to climb up, but we don't do anything until new slaves are dropped off. Then we climb the wall at whatever spot we decide, kill the assholes who abducted us, take their wagon, and ride off before anyone catches on. We might die, but I still have a stat point to allocate, so that counts in our favor. How many days was I sleeping?"

"Three," Brando answered simply.

"Three days," Fin considered. "Three days in and three days out. Give or take a couple of days. After today, we will have been here for two days. That means we have to be ready to go in less than a week. That means one week to find a way up and find a way out."

"We might need a rope," Brando offered. "Just in case."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Let's walk around and see if there's anyone who has a rope." Fin started down the road and then had a small epiphany. "What did you mean, neither of you are religious? I thought vicars were supposed to, you know, be religious?"

"Most of them are low-born nobles who are placed in a parish out of necessity. Only having to run a service once a week, they'll usually spend their time doing more academic or recreational things."

The two talked and planned as they raced the sinking sun to clear a spot to sleep. After triple checking, there were absolutely no ant hills around. They walked to the entrance and inspected the gate that locked them out of the rest of the world.

"Do you think you can bend these bars?" Brando raised his hand to see if it could span two bars. They were too far apart.

Fin searched for a part of the gate that would have a favorable outcome if crushed. "I might be able to squeeze the lock, but it will only keep it from opening. Even with a key."

"With all the guards bunched up outside the gate," Brando considered. "It could cause some useful chaos. Hard to tell if it would be in our favor or not."

"With all the guards bunched up outside the gate, and some well-placed fire ants, there could be a great amount of chaos in our favor." Fin smiled mischievously.

"We'll need a bag or something to put them in," Brando put his hands through the bars and acted like he was dropping a sack on the other side. "A rope and a bag."

That night they lay under the stars and planned their great escape. The fact that they were two gems lighter was overshadowed by an almost satisfied feeling of having eaten. Finally, the stars winked out, and sleep swept them away from the mine, if not only temporarily.

The next day, they walked around the loop, periodically stopping to ask a fellow miner how their day was going. The plan was to eventually ask about a rope or a bag, but most conversations didn't get that far. It wasn't until they found Heidle that they were met with a friendly face.

"How goes the dig?" Brando made a point of examining one of his scattered rocks.

"The dig is great," Heidle punctuated his sentence with the chop of a pickaxe. "How were the ants?"

Fin realized that Heidle was talking to him. "You heard about the ants, huh? Not good. I must have eaten a hundred of them. Luckily, I lost my lunch before they could do too much damage. Apparently, those things produce caustic toxins. I don't think the sog-bread helped much either."

"Sog bread!" Heidle bellowed out and laughed. "I heard it called many things, but not sog bread. Oh, that's a good one. I hope you don't mind if I use it?"

"Brando, I think you're the one who came up with it," After seeing Brando's blank face, he said, "Yeah, that's fine. Hey, where can we get a rope or a bag?"

"A rope and a bag, you say?" Heidle stroked his beard. "The only reason why someone would be looking for a rope is to…" he made a thumb gesture over his shoulder paired with a clicking sound.

"That's the idea," Fin winked and made the same clicking sound.

"The old gems in a bag technique, huh?" Heidle stroked his beard. "I had the same idea once. It's not the worst I've had."

"We were thinking about putting fire ants in it," Fin admitted. "What were you thinking?"

"Oh, you put a bunch of rocks in a bag and have a conversation about all the gems you found. You just make sure one of the guards overhears you talk about it. Put it in your secret hiding spot and act like you're walking away." He winked when he said the word 'secret.' "Then, when the green bastard comes down to claim it, you club him in the head."

"How do they get down here?" Fin asked, looking at the surrounding valley made taller with the walls.

"You were looking for a rope," Heidle guided their eyes with his finger. "All the ropes are up there."

Brando glanced up at the roving parameter guards. "There's ropes up there?"

"That there are. I'll help, but you have to make an oath," Heidle grew serious. "If you get out, It would be a great service to me if you tell my people where I am and that there are enough gems here to sober the third king of Sonderfeltd."

Fin looked back down, "the what?"

"Tell them that Heidle the Hammer is here, and there's a great deal of gems. A great deal."

"I might be able to do that," Fin said honestly, "but don't you want to get out of here and tell them yourself?"

"I think about it every day," The dwarf threw a dejected rock at the side of the wall. "It's these little legs of mine. I wouldn't be able to run fast enough to escape. I'm too old to be swinging around a pickaxe in a fight. I need a walking stick, not a weapon."

"Assuming our plan works," Fin stared down at the dirt. "I don't know if I can get enough gems to support the journey, even if I survive."

Heidle waved a dismissive hand, "Bah! You have more of a chance than me trying to tunnel out of here without support beams. I can give you enough gems for a modest journey. What do you say?"

"You want to visit some dwarves when we get out of here?" Fin consulted Brando. "You know, get out of the forest for a while?"

"Better than hanging around here." Brando smiled. "I'm in."