“Yeah, the drow elf that sold us our weapons told me we’d have to bond any enchanted equipment before it would have any effect,” Gary explained as he had us stop just outside the outpost’s walls to put on our new equipment. I had been wondering how the enchantment was going to work and I quickly sent some Essence into each piece of gear I bought at the market.
“I still don’t feel any improvement in my stats,” Zack said with a frown. I nodded. I felt something happening when I sent a small amount of Essence into the enchanted gear but it would be easy to tell if I had earned six levels from the enchantments.
“It’s going to take a few hours for the enchantment to take effect and we will lose the stats we gain if we get separated from the piece that gave it,” Gary explained as we got dressed in our new equipment.
“I guess that makes sense, are we heading towards this dungeon, then?” I asked. I still wasn’t sure what our plan was going to be now that we were out of the outpost. I didn’t think sending us out on our own was a test to see if we would leave, although I was sure they would eventually send those gold hunters after us if we didn’t return.
“Until we’re out of sight,” Aaron smirked. “We’ll just have to figure out how to take these bracelets off once we’re away from everyone.” Aaron fiddled with the silver bracelet that had locked into place around each of our wrists when we sent Essence into it.
“I don’t know, Aaron,” I said uncomfortably as I glanced at my team for support. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to run away immediately,” I spoke quietly while we walked through the valley on one of the main paths from the outpost to the nearby mountain. There was a lot of traffic on the road, although most of the teams were heading towards the dungeon since it was still so early.
“What?” Gabrielle looked shocked by what I said. “You want to go back?”
“It’s not that simple,” Gary trailed off as a group of five of those short dull-gray creatures passed near our team. One of them had a black panther following them just off the path and all five of us turned to watch it pass.
“We can’t just run, how long do you think we can hide from those gold hunters the attendant told us about?” Gary continued after a moment.
“We don’t even need to hide,” Aaron laughed, “chief Duskar told us to be back in a week, we can be back to Satar in three days, easily.”
“How do we know that they can’t tell when we leave the path to the dungeon?” I asked wryly. The only way I could see them letting us go was if they just didn’t care to chase us.
“Why would we want to leave now, anyway?” Zack asked. “All we have to do is go train in a dungeon for a week and earn contribution points…” he trailed off and gestured towards our engraved and enchanted equipment. “We’re probably wearing fifty gold worth of gear and it looks like we have a way to get more.”
“Are you insane!” Gabrielle shouted and I glanced around to see another team of the gray humanoids watching us and laughing. I kept an eye on him as she stomped over to Zack. “We’re surrounded by monsters, in the middle of nowhere, and all you can think about is the shiny toys they’re giving us,” the monster walking with his team along the path with us was hunched over in laughter.
“Gabrielle, quiet,” I walked over and got her attention. She looked upset but she nodded and went back to walking alongside Aaron. I didn’t look over, but I saw the other team keeping pace with us on the other side of the wide path. We continued hiking towards the mountain quietly as we all retreated to our thoughts. Gary stopped us to rest and eat lunch once we arrived at the base of the mountain a few hours past midday.
“Let’s take a break and eat before we climb over the mountain, it’s going to be a long hike to the peak,” Gary led us off the path far enough that none of the passing hobgoblins and other races would be able to hear us. I had started to feel a change in my spirit and dexterity while we walked and when I checked my status shortly before we stopped I confirmed that I received the full buff from all three enchantments. With another four spirit, I would have enough Essence to feel much more comfortable in a fight, and the dexterity would be incredible for fighting with my spear.
“Gary.” I got his attention as we sat on our packs and nodded towards the team of five gray humanoids that I had seen walking beside us for most of the day. They had split off the path and sat down to take a break as well, but one of them was heading directly towards us.
“It’s probably nothing,” Gary said quietly, but all five of us focused on the creature as it walked up to us. Although it was slightly shorter than me, the monster was stocky and stout with thick muscles and he walked with a full set of plate armor like he didn’t notice the weight.
“Humans,” the warrior nodded as he approached. “Welcome to the Warband, would you let a curious monster,” he grinned, “join you?” The monster looked at Gabrielle and she looked away after a moment.
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“Thank you, would you mind telling us what you are?” I asked curiously. Aaron turned to glare at me, but it didn’t seem dangerous and I had been wondering all day.
“Duergar, my people are called, and Aidor is my name,” he said slowly while he sat on the ground in front of us. “Odd that you don’t recognize my people, are you not from the territory of the Priestess of Purity?” The Duergar looked at Gabrielle as he asked his question.
“No…” Zack trailed off as the Duergar turned to him. “Why does everyone keep asking if we’re from a territory? What does that mean?” I looked curiously to see if he would answer, although I wasn’t sure if Zack should have admitted our ignorance.
“You're from the wilds, then?” I glanced around and saw everyone in my team was listening intently, although Gabrielle and Aaron looked angry. “Interesting. When someone reaches early Diamond they’re able to begin building a territory, an area where the Essence is Awakened, as I’m sure you’ve noticed it is, here,” he waved his hand around him idly.
“So everyone is Awakened, here?” Gabrielle looked at him and I shook my head in disbelief. I can’t even imagine how much it would change Satar for the better if everyone Awakened.
“Of course,” the Duergar chuckled. “So you are from the wilds, then. I expect you all have much to learn, then. Seek me out in the Hammerfirst battalion, if you find yourselves willing to handle the presence of a monster,” he shook his head and stood.
“Thank you, Aidor,” Zack replied seriously and I nodded my head to the departing Duergar cautiously. I started a fire and helped Gary cook quietly while the rest of the team discussed what we had just learned.
“That must be how they have so many enchanted items,” Zack said excitedly and Aaron I saw Aaron nod thoughtfully.
“We can afford F-rank cores for our parents now, anyways,” Gabrielle responded. “Who knows if that’s even true.”
“I mean, we knew the Essence was different here in the mountains and I can’t see any reason that guy would lie to us,” Zack shrugged and Gabrielle spun to face him.
“That guy? Zack, that was a monster, I don’t understand how you can’t see that” Gabrielle spat out.
“Was he? Everyone we’ve met out here has acted pretty similarly to other humans,” I said quietly. Gary glanced at me with an unreadable expression and I turned to face Aaron and Gabrielle. “Honestly, everyone here is at least as strong as a noble in Satar and everyone has treated us well, other than the team of hobgoblins who captured us. If it wasn’t for the war I probably wouldn’t even want to leave.”
“I don’t know, Eli,” Aaron shook his head as I handed him a bowl of beans and rice. “I guess for now we can go along with it, but I’m worried we’ll get stuck here.”
“For now, we don’t have a way out of here safely, regardless. Let’s focus on what we can and spend a week in this dungeon. After some time to think, maybe we’ll be able to think of something,” Gary said to the group. “Besides, I’m sure we’ll be sent out of the outpost to train again, this won’t be our only chance to escape before we leave.”
“Also, the training we do with our squads might be helpful, we should get everything that we can out of the Warband before we leave,” I added. I couldn’t stop thinking about returning to Satar in a full set of enchanted gear and we hadn’t even looked at the other enchanted items in the contribution hall.
“Just don’t forget that we need to escape, all right?” Gabrielle asked with a sigh.
“I know,” I nodded seriously. “But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t get as much enchanted gear as we can,” I grinned and gestured towards my spear as I shook my head wryly.
“It is incredible, I can’t believe it. I can’t stop checking my status to look at my stats. Do you even understand how strong I am, now?” Zack’s voice got louder and louder as he talked and I couldn’t help but laugh by the end of it. Some of our tension drained and we soon found ourselves chatting for the rest of the meal. After the quick break, we got moving and headed up the steep path leading over the peak of the mountain.
By the time the sun was starting to set we could see the dungeon in the distance and we decided to camp out and head the rest of the way in the morning. There were quite a few buildings placed around the entrance to the large cave, but none of us wanted any company for the night and we saw other teams camping out nearby. We ate a quick dinner while I decided I felt safe enough to start making use of the increased Essence regeneration and started casting Barkskin. We split off to do some quick training before the sun fully set and we all did some light sparring with our new weapons and armor. My new Orichalcum short spear was lighter than my old spear and I still wasn’t sure how sturdy it would be in a fight. I wasn’t as worried about the troll hide armor since it seemed incredibly tough. After a couple of hours of training, I decided to call it a night and I pulled up my status after Aaron said he would take the first watch.
Eli - Lvl 5 Druid
Experience - 3710\10000
Strength-11
Dexterity-14 (12+2)
Perception-10
Vitality-11
Spirit-18 (14+4)
Willpower-14
Barkskin - Level 8\10 Upgradeable
Experience - 6620\12800
Thornbolt - Level 6\20 Upgradeable
Experience - 3060\6400
Rejuvenation - Level 5\10 Upgradeable
Experience - 3140\3200
Snaring Roots - Level 4\10 Upgradeable
Experience - 420\1600
I went to sleep looking forward to entering the dungeon the next day and being able to see how my new stats and gear would hold up in a fight. Hopefully this Demon's Wasteland dungeon would be a good area for my team to train.