Eight Era, cycle 1721 – cycle of the squatting dog, season of Unkh, day 272
Finally, Amaka left Masinga and returned to the caves; this time, she was determined to escape.
The path was narrower than that of the cave system she’d been in before, and far too narrow to fit Masinga down it. The walls were alive with eerie bugs that exuded a blue-green light, and moss that pulsed occasionally. It was like something Amaka had seen in a nature documentary on the deep ocean back on Earth.
She tried focusing on the insects and moss, but all that was returned was a question mark next to them, and she didn’t feel inclined to investigate.
The path started to rise and twist; Amaka felt the cold of the caves, and she decided that the woolly hat was also something this world was sorely missing. At one point, her path became a narrow bridge over a dark gorge, and the lack of light was a blessing on this occasion as it allowed Amaka to pretend it was only a short drop below.
There was nothing else on the path, not even skeets, so either Masinga’s presence had scared them off or something was keeping them out.
The answer came sometime later when Amaka turned and ran into a dead end. Amaka chewed her lip; it didn’t make sense for it to be a dead end. Masinga had given her a quest to clear the cave out, so there had to be a way back, surely. It wouldn’t make sense otherwise.
One sure way back was to go back into the water, but it was icy cold and there was no guarantee she’d be able to swim against the current.
Amaka used her all-seeing-eye ability and looked for anything hidden that her high insightfulness stat could highlight for her. Careful scrutiny of the wall revealed nothing, and Amaka threw her arms up and turned away. A short distance back, a soft, burned-orange glow caught her attention.
As Amaka walked up to it and faced it directly, she discovered the glow was caused by a series of strange markings on the wall; except, when she looked a little harder, she noticed that the markings weren’t actually on the wall, but floating just off the wall.
New skill: glyphs 1
Glyphs are the magical version of writing; no matter what language a glyph is written in, it will be translated into its common magical language.
It is written in the same language as a rune, but the main difference is in their implementation. Glyphs are used to ward a place, to make them hidden or create traps. The power of your glyphs comes from your lore, cunning and willpower levels.
Additional knowledge: Your lore skill tells you that the glyph is indeed another language; for instance, the dwarfs have a special glyph language. Keep exploring; there could be more.
New quest: dwarven glyphs
You know that the dwarfs have a language of glyphs, so investigate the dwarven glyphs and find out if they hold any unique abilities.
Potential rewards: special glyph language with unique abilities
Okay, so it was a glyph; did that help? Well, a little knowledge did come with the glyph skill, but Amaka had a basic understanding of trap-making and bows from her father on Earth. Glyphs were a completely new thing to her and she had no idea what was expected.
Amaka reached out a hand to touch it, wondering if it was really there or had any physical presence. Before her hand touched, it she felt her arm flare up in a warm, pleasant glow; she looked down at the source of the pain and noticed her tattoo was starting to emanate a soft, burned-orange glow, just like the glyph. She stepped closer to the glyph, the tattoo tingled pleasantly, and the glyph spun clockwise. Amaka turned to face the end of the corridor, the wall shimmered like a reflection, and Amaka passed through it like a figure from Alice in Wonderland.
There were chalk markings everywhere around the passage out of the Masinga’s nest. Someone, probably a mage, had noticed the magicka stored around the hidden entrance, and was trying to either syphon it off or unlock the seal. Amaka scuffed some of the chalk markings – just in case. There was a skeet hanging there, with its legs pulled wide apart and its stomach ripped open, attached to a metal device that sat beside Amaka’s position. It reminded her off the lightning rod from Frankenstein, and Amaka wondered if the mage was trying to bring the skeet to life.
A pile of cages, which stank of death and fear, were piled next to the gutted skeet, and on the other side of the room was an immense stone table with books, vials and tools scattered everywhere. A carok was working at the table, dressed like the one that had taken Sejal’s soul from her body. A glowing, red jar was close to the carok’s right hand, but there was no sign of the blackened soul crystal.
Name: Norved
Race: carok
Genus: artificial
Affiliation: none
Specialisation: mage
Class: C
Caroks were created by the wizard Malward to guard his tunnels. They are simple creatures with few desires or needs. Occasionally, the carok queen lays a clutch of eggs that contain a higher class of carok; due to the rarity of such births, Malward discarded his creations. Increase your lore to learn more.
Harvestable items: eyes, unknown
State: irked
Level: 36
Health unknown, stamina unknown, magicka unknown
Endowments: none
Curses: none
Bestiary increased
Amaka’s all-seeing-eye ability was gaining a lot of information due to her high lore and insightfulness, and what it revealed was an extremely tough-looking opponent.
That’s a lot of carok, Amaka thought. But if caroks are low-level fodder, then this must be my mage; there can’t be many of them knocking about.
Amaka dithered on the spot. She’d never gone out intentionally to kill something that could think and rationalise before, and she’d never killed needlessly out of revenge or anger – or at least that’s how she’d justified it to herself, although now she was thinking seriously of becoming a vegetarian. But as for this mage, she wanted to kill it. She felt her blood pounding, the call of the kill, her sorrow for Sejal and her hatred for this creature and its kind. She wanted to kill it – needed to kill it – and that scared her.
Yet the world seemed to reward killing; the experience gained made it kind of like survival of the fittest with immediate rewards. The world wanted death; maybe the world got a part of the experience points back to create more and different creatures? Perhaps not killing would be deleterious to the balance of power on the world?
She wanted to kill this creature because it was the reason she’d lost her friend and her arm, and had spent even longer in these fucking tunnels than she needed too. She’d kill this prick and then she would have to come to terms with the psychology behind it afterwards.
Noiselessly, Amaka slipped the mace from her belt and snuck around the perimeter of the room, creeping closer to the mage.
Norved froze, and Amaka slipped immediately behind a stone thing, presumably a statue of some kind – ugly as it was.
Norved looked around, with its eyes narrowed and a snarl on its lips. A patrol of caroks passed, talking noisily, and Norved shouted at them.
Taking that as a sign that she was safe, Amaka moved again, but this time she stopped quickly. The room was covered in stone things and odd mechanisms, giving Amaka plenty of things to hide behind. Norved paused in his work a few times; once, he threw something at a scuttling creature and, after that, Norved stalked to a desk and picked up a wand.
‘There is someone there; I know it. Once or twice I believed it to be a coincidence, but no more,’ he declared.
With that, Norved unleashed a jet of fire from the wand, and washed the walls and floor with flames. He turned as he did so to coat the entire room.
Amaka’s hiding place was awash with flame, but she held out, gritting her teeth through the pain – which was reduced thanks to her new form. When the carok turned to bathe the room in fire, she sprang from her hiding place and through the wall of fire, like an avenging angel, with her mace held in her hand; she clenched her teeth as she brought it down with all her wrath. Her arm felt sluggish with the heavy weapon in it, but she hit Norved with a clean strike whilst he faced the other way.
Yet, before the mace struck, a protective ward flared into place, the mace bounced off it with a crack of magical energy, and the ward held.
Norved lurched to the side, grabbing a piece of parchment, and turned, brandishing it like a sword.
The parchment shook like it was trying to pull free, and fire sprayed from it, but this fire was like napalm and stuck to whatever it touched, burning constantly. The spray of fire missed Amaka by chance, and she dodged to the side. Norved’s arm moved a moment later, and the warmth from the fire blistered her skin.
Amaka dodged, rolled, got in close to him, threw out an arm and grabbed Norved’s wrist. They wrestled, with fire spraying out around them as Norved twisted, trying to free his wrist, and Amaka clung on for dear life. His spare hand slapped Amaka’s face, and his potion-stained fingers tried to dig into her eyes and gouge them out. She tried to bat him away, but her injured arm had little effect on him, and his nails started to bite into her left eye.
Her knee came up, and she learned that carok’ were just as vulnerable as all men.
Amaka grabbed a vial from near her, and tossed it at Norved; he caught sight of it in mid-flight and fired off a spear that shattered the vial, letting caustic liquid splatter and hiss on contact with anything organic.
She used the distraction to roll wide, coming at Norved from his blindside. Her arm moved slowly, as if the air was thick due to her low level of blunt weapons and her strength reduction. The mace bounced off the shield around Norved, and Amaka pulled her arm back for another strike, and again and again. Norved watched her arm movement, dropped his shield and cast a spike at Amaka as she started to bring her arm forwards. There wasn’t any distance between them, so the spike wasn’t even fully formed before it struck Amaka’s gut. The spell struggled to take hold and then failed, and Amaka’s life dropped a good fraction, but she avoided any injury.
Amaka staggered backwards; the fire scroll was burned out, and Norved took his time to aim at Amaka. She threw herself to the side. The spear missed her heart but pierced her breast, her life dropped by over half, and the pain was overwhelming. Amaka didn’t remember falling to the floor and didn’t bother to get to her feet; instead, she threw herself sideways again and took cover behind a stone bookshelf as a wave of fire bathed where she’d been lying.
Next, she cast a brief healing spell before her instincts shouted at her to move. She scurried to the side, the muscles in her shoulder screamed as the magical spike ripped open her flesh, and she cast a spell to close the wound. Norved jumped the corner, firing a spear that smacked into the stone and punctured it a foot deep. Instantly, Norved thrust a hand around the bookshelf and blind cast another spear. Amaka hadn’t stopped moving and ran from cover to cover; she spotted Norved thrust his hand out, and she rounded the statue and ducked.
Norved looked around the room and cursed. ‘You cannot hide; I will find you with fire!’
It was his turn to yell out in pain as Amaka had snuck up behind him, as she’d noticed his barrier was dropped when he intended to attack. He stumbled forwards, and Amaka hit him again before she noticed his hand motion, and this time she didn’t have enough health left to survive even a part-formed spear.
The spear left his hand, but Amaka wasn’t there; she’d used her teleport to appear behind Norved and struck him on the skull.
Battle log:
Hit Carok mage with mace for impact damage, caught unawares x2 for sneak damage, carok hit on unguarded flesh x2 for critical hit, carok suffers cracked skull x5 for vital point
Carok mage stunned for 6 seconds by surprise attack
Carok mage staggered for 4 seconds by critical hit
Carok mage stunned and staggered for 11 seconds by attack on vital area
Norved screamed in range (and in Amaka’s face); the fire illuminated his face and glinted off his eyes, giving him a look of insane anger. He fired part-formed spears like a machine gun. Amaka’s teleport hadn’t passed its cool-down as insubstantial spears struck her like fists made of air, taking off 4 health points a hit. Amaka threw herself behind a bench and crept sideways as Norved charged his spears for slightly longer, and stone was chipped off the bench as the spears impacted. It was a shitty game of hide and seek, and Amaka had needed to drop her mace to help her move silently with her depleted stamina.
Amaka caught sight of Norved’s foot; she found a rock and threw it, it clinked some way off, and Norved gave a call of triumph and sent burning flames towards the sound. Amaka rose, grabbed the heaviest thing she could find and struck Norved on the head.
Battle log:
Hit carok mage with candle stick for impact damage, caught unawares x2 for sneak damage, carok mage hit on unguarded flesh x2 for critical hit
Carok mage stunned for 1 second by surprise attack
Carok mage staggered for 2 seconds by critical hit
‘How are you meant to kill things in this world?’ Amaka said through gritted teeth.
Norved turned, firing spears with both hands and not bothering with a ward. Amaka spun around Norved on her heels, like a ballerina, thanking her new fighting style and race for heightened agility, and she spotted something on the ground as she evaded Norved’s attacks.
Amaka dived forwards, reaching out for it, and her leg exploded in agony, with her health dropping into the teens. Her chest started palpitating, and she started to sweat profusely as her life edged ever closer to zero, and she rolled behind a bookshelf.
New item: breath of Ifrit
This wand is made from black mahogany, is 12-inches long and has a tip of crystallised fire-salts.
This wand has been enchanted with some skill, but was made to serviceable quality. It has a durability of 15/15 and weighs 1.2 kg. It casts an 8-foot flame, which deals 5 burn-damage points over 30 seconds, is guaranteed to burn on contact and has 30 seconds of its 5 minutes of charge left.
The spears punched holes in the wood like in a cheap action film, and Amaka kept moving before bursting out from bookshelf in mid-jump, casting flames at Norved. He threw his arms up protectively, and Amaka just stood casting the flames over him until his ward broke and the fire licked at his skin. Norved screamed in pain, and Amaka used the cover from the fire spell to collect her mace and run at him, with flames licking and burning, and the smell of hair and flesh catching in Amaka’s throat. Choking, Amaka stopped the fire and struck Norved’s head heavily, again and again and again, until the inside of his skull decorated the ground. By then, her breath was laboured, and unbidden tears fell from her eyes, blurring her vision.
Quest update: SOS 2
You have killed the carok Norved and avenged your friend; you have also found her trapped soul before any of her spirit could be drained.
Reward: 1,000 experience points
Now you have found the tainted soul crystal, you need to find someone who can free her. Or use the soul for your own needs…
You have gained 792 experience points for killing the carok mage (1,953 experience points to the next level).
Reward for killing mini boss – carok mage: 3 attribute points randomly assigned – ↑ balance, ↑ speed, ↑ agility
Skill increased: sneak level 17
New skill: blunt
Swords are all well and good to cut up your dinner, but when you’re facing someone wearing full armour, you need to hit as hard as you can. Blunt weapons might not have the glitz and glamour of prancing around the battlefield, but they get the impact bonus!
Skill increased: blunt level 7
Milestone unlocked: you have reached level 5 in wielding blunt weapons, 500 experience points (1,453 experience points to the next level)
New skill: melee
Outnumbered? Stuck in a fracas? Sometimes it isn’t about style but staying alive! A master of melee can pick up any item and combine fighting styles to make themselves a deadly whirlwind, or just pick shit up and throw it – but in a tactful way.
New skill: unarmed combat
Caught off guard without a weapon to hand or in a meeting were weapons are banned? An expert of hand-to-hand combat need not carry a separate weapon; their hands are instruments of death!
Skill increased: unarmed combat level 5
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Milestone unlocked: you have reached level 5 in unarmed combat, 500 experience points (953 experience points to the next level)
Amaka’s shoulder ached, and moving it was like pressing red hot irons against the skin, so she healed it. As she did so, she searched for the soul crystal and found it sitting next to what was possibly the carok mage’s journal. Amaka took time to use the respect-for-the-fallen ability, hoping it would lessen her guilt of bludgeoning a creature to death.
Ability: respect for the fallen
Your offering has been accepted; 11,365 experience points.
She was ecstatic, but then she felt guilty about being happy about the mage’s death – and then decided he deserved it.
Level up! Level 10 (11,628 experience points to the next level)
You are starting to see what potential there is in this world; continue to get stronger, and let no one place a limit on your potential.
‘Ha, you ugly son of a bitch, I just tea bagged your corpse!’ Amaka shouted; she was nearly crying again at the emotion that flooded through her, as relief mixed with stress, and joy mixed with anger. Amaka went to leave, only to notice scared looking caroks looking in.
‘It’s more than our heads are worth to disturb that one,’ one carok was saying.
‘Look, I’m going in. Maybe the Wraith has got to him?’ asked another.
‘Maybe he made it!’ one replied angrily.
A carok poked its head around and studied what little it could see. ‘Looks like there’s been a fight,’ it said.
‘It always looks like that; have you seen the skeet he’s got hanging up? A waste of good meat that,’ declared the first carok.
Three of them moved cautiously inwards, shielding their faces from the fire, whilst two others refused, muttering about the mage, the Wraith and how it would be best if they had killed each other.
Amaka waited as the three entered, waiting for one to fall behind; caroks were lazy and one would always fall back, scratching its butt and then sniffing its fingers. When one did, Amaka used her teleport to appear behind it and brained it with her mace. It landed heavily, and the other two jumped and spun around. To be fair, they didn’t panic, but instead they aimed their bows as Amaka dived into the flames.
To Amaka, with her elemental resistance, the room felt like an uncomfortably hot sauna, and the flames burned, taking away a portion of her life points but they didn’t scar her flesh. However, to the caroks, the room was stifling and they struggled to breathe, so this apparition that moved about ignoring the fire was a daemon, in their minds.
Amaka dove through the flames, with her mace glowing with the heat, the fire reflecting in her eyes and her hair streaming out behind her as it resisted the fire. The caroks screamed as she descended on them; her mace hissed as it cracked a skull open, blood boiled against the glowing metal, and they both died with cries of fear on their lips.
Battle log:
Carok dies
Carok dies
129 experience points
Amaka dropped onto her knees, panting. Adrenaline was her friend, but it couldn’t last; she needed to level up her combat skills. So, whilst the lowest level creatures were certainly capable of killing her, they weren’t capable of levelling her up! Still Amaka honoured the dead as her father had taught her.
Ability: respect for the fallen
Your offering has been accepted; 364 experience points
She didn’t notice the two caroks watching the encounter from outside running away screaming.
Skill increased: blunt level 9
Amaka wiped away the sweat from her brow, and she checked through her pilfered goods as the fires died away.
New item: health potion x2
This is a healing potion that returns 100 life points instantly, and its potency is salve. It weighs 0.1 kg. The potencies are diluted, weak, salve, concentrated and elixir.
New item: mana potion x6
This is a mana potion that returns 100 magicka points instantly, and its potency is salve. It weighs 0.1 kg. The potencies are diluted, weak, salve, concentrated and elixir.
New item: stamina potion x1
This is a stamina potion that returns 100 stamina points instantly, and its potency is salve. It weighs 0.1 kg. The potencies are diluted, weak, salve, concentrated and elixir.
New item: robes of a lesser mage
This item is made from the shit bits of material that no one else wants. It offers no protection, it is tailored crudely, has little to no durability (2/4), and really is good for little more than soaking up spilled liquid. It weighs 0.1 kg and decreases magic-casting time by 25%.
You have been afflicted: stamina degradation of 5 points a second
You have discovered a new use for an ingredient: ingredient – dark moss; effect – reduce stamina
New item: dark moss x5, uncommon
This ingredient damages your stamina when eaten, and can be used to create a stamina poison. It also has other effects, one of which has something to do with vision. It weighs 0.1 kg.
You have been buffered: strength increased by 1 point for 2 seconds
New item: manticore tooth x1, rare
This ingredient increases your strength when eaten, and can be used to create a strength potion. It also has other effects, one of which has something to do with melee weapons. It weighs 0.3 kg.
You have been afflicted: reduced vision for 4 seconds
You have discovered a new use for an ingredient: ingredient – nagi scale; effect – blurred vision
New item: nagi scale x2, rare
This ingredient damages your vision when eaten, and can be used to create a blindness poison. It also has other effects, one of which has something to do with strength. It weighs 0.2 kg.
You have been afflicted: health degradation of 5 points a second
You have discovered a new use for an ingredient: ingredient – brown fungus; effect – reduced health
New item: brown fungus x7; common
This ingredient damages your health when eaten, and can be used to create a health poison. It also has other effects, one of which has something to do with magic. It weighs 0.1 kg.
Skill increased: foraging level 12
New item: serpent’s tooth poison
This poison drains the target of 20 health points for 1 minute; its potency is concentrated. It weighs 0.1 kg.
New item: ruby x3
New item: sapphire x4
New item: opal x8
New item: gold coin x628
New item: gold bit x1,328
New item: silver coin x1,024
New item: silver bit x424
New item: copper coin x2,456
New item: copper bit x5,356
New item: bronze coin x22,312
New item: bronze bit x53,243
‘Why do you have so much money here? And what’s a “bit”?’ Amaka asked, though it was something of a rhetorical question.
New item: The Mark of Garğ
This book describes the mark of a creature called a garğ, which allows the marked to summon a Garğ. This tome was created by the Willow of Lelland.
‘Wow, I really could have used more information with that.’ Amaka wondered if she should be concerned by the amount she was talking to herself, but was distracted by the fact it was a book of magic, and not just a ring or necklace or something. She didn’t know what the creature was, but she liked the idea of having something to talk to, so she didn’t feel so crazy.
New item: spell tome of magical resurgence
This book describes a spell designed to change stamina directly into magic, by the mage Alfus. It has a durability of 15/15 and weighs 0.2 kg. It requires at least a novice level of consciousness.
When you read a tome, it will lose durability until it is destroyed. How many durability points it loses depends on your stats, and some skills can affect this.
You do not have the required levels to learn this spell.
‘Er, I’m not that kind of girl; I think I’ll keep my stamina, if it’s all the same,’ Amaka said, tucking that book into her bag. It might be useful one day. Perhaps learning as many spells as possible would have some use, or perhaps there was a limit to the amount someone could learn. Also, spell books were surely worth good money.
Turning over the book on summoning a garğ, Amaka shrugged and opened it. It might be a vague description, but what was the worst that could happen?
Amaka opened the book, but nothing happened. She flicked through the pages; it was an odd script, and it took a moment for Amaka’s ability to decipher what was written, as it wasn’t in the typical spell-book style; that much was obvious. No wonder the carok hadn’t learned the spell if even her ability for language struggled with it. Even understanding what was written wasn’t enough to activate the book, as Amaka read the text and still nothing happened. Reading it didn’t give any clues; it was just some rather esoteric text, and it was gibberish without any reference points. It spoke about moons and stars, about runes and archaic circles of channelling, and the proper way to mix some potions. There were names that offered no clue as to what they referred to: Junips Markishum and Anarthar Yildnar. It was gibberish to Amaka and to the mage carok presumably, so what was the secret to learning the spell? The description said any level could learn it.
There was a section of writing that was mildly interesting, relating to portals; the best alignments of them, depending on the power they drew upon and the celestial alignments; and how to change the flow of power to correspond. More and more information flowed out of the pages; some she understood and most she didn’t.
Skill increased: lore level 13
Amaka scratched her chin; was this spell a dud?
She opened the book from the start again, and studied the first part of the book in more detail. It spoke about speaking the oath and being bound to it; it actually said it in more flowery language, but, thankfully, her ability didn’t just translate but also give Amaka an instinctive knowledge of what the text meant. It took another flick through the first few pages for Amaka to find some more likely looking words.
‘Levo manum meam ad replete vacuo, ex quo nihil est, age!’ she read.
Amaka screamed as fire burned her arm; that bastard with the blow torch was back, and the blood in her arm was boiling and the skin burst. That was the worst that could happen!
New tattoo bestowed: daemon’s mark
‘Fucking magic, these aren’t tattoos but cattle brands,’ Amaka groused.
New spell unlocked: pact with a daemon
This spell is from the void skill tree and it has no rank; your level in void magic when you first use it will determine the effect of this spell.
This spell will summon garğ; this creature will be compliant to your orders, but beware – it is not a servant.
This spell takes 5 seconds to activate and lasts 10 minutes, at a cost of 1 magicka. The spell can be increased by pouring more magicka into the spell. Once used, the spell has a cool-down of 30 minutes, regardless of how much magicka is poured into it.
‘Ohhhhhhhh,’ Amaka said making the word last for several seconds, ‘this sounds like a really bad idea. A pact with a daemon; I can’t really believe I’m even considering this. Although I have made a pact with a god and a dragon, and they turned out rather useful.’
She’d read Faust once, and, from what she remembered, things turned out alright for him – he’d survived his pact and that had been written in blood. So she should avoid blood and signatures in general, and things should be alright; plus, she already had the mark.
‘Come to me, my servant!’ Amaka called in her most impressive voice.
The creature appeared. It was a squat figure with a portly stomach, its skin was too dull to see in the feeble light, it had bones or what looked more like clam shells instead of hair, and it had milky, brown eyes. It was also holding a large sack with the word ‘Swag’ on it in black. Amaka blinked.
Skill increased: void level 2
‘What can I do for you, mistress?’ the beast asked; his voice was course but not unpleasant.
Amaka’s all-seeing-eye ability activated and showed its information.
Name: Stirgar
Race: garğ
Garğs exist on the third plane of the daemonic worlds. They are mercurial, and their word should not be trusted. However, if one finds oneself in the daemonic realms, they may offer help – at a price. Increase your lore to learn more.
Genus: level IQ
Class: A
Level: 10
Health unknown, stamina unknown, magicka unknown
Affiliation: Fascinus
Specialisation: n/a
State: calm
Endowments: fire, poison, disease, lightning, mental attacks
Curses: water, bribery, laziness
‘Wait, those aren’t weaknesses. You’re lazy and greedy!’ Amaka said, amazed.
Attributes:
Various
Endowments: PHD – a pretty huge
‘Oh gross!’ exclaimed Amaka.
Skills: bedroom skill 100
‘Are you manipulating your own stats screen?’ Amaka asked, with realisation dawning.
‘Of course; what’s the point if you don’t have a little fun?’ Stirgar replied with a shrug.
‘You can do that?’
‘Sure.’
Bestiary increased
Congratulations, you have discovered a rare race: garğ
There are many levels of the daemonic realms, and daemons of various races inhabit each one. But lesser daemons are not as cruel as full daemons and might be of help in some circumstances. However, never trust your life to one, and never, ever make a deal with one without reading the fine print.
Daemons are known to exist and your discovery of one of their races will not offer prompts to other scholars as garğs are of the lesser race. This is still a significant discovery, so receive 50,000 experience points and 1,000 accolade points.
Level up! Level 11
Level up! Level 12
Level up! Level 13
(635 experience points to the next level)
Warning: you are not a scholar; you have lost these accolade points
Skill increased: lore level 15
Quest update: the old ways
You have discovered one of the daemonic races; the daemonic races were said to have once inhabited this world freely, and are now locked away in pocket dimensions. This is a potent source of information, but should be used cautiously.
Continue your explorations, both out in the world, and in lost and hidden tombs of lore.
‘Why are you holding a swag bag?’ Amaka enquired.
Stirgar shrugged. ‘It felt like it might come in handy.’
‘What bargain must we make for you to follow my lead?’
‘You lead and I follow. That is the nature of the common contract we have agreed to: you by completing the spell and me by being put onto the list. However, if you want to give me orders or work autonomously, that requires a different bargain.’
‘I want you to go down the tunnel concealed over there; I didn’t bother concealing it after I came out and I don’t know how to. Follow it until you find a large chest with a dragon next to it – well, a dragon-like thing. Empty the chest, then come back up here and grab as much stuff as you can from the tunnels and any dead caroks, and then come find me. What agreement do we need for that?’
‘I used to work as a grave robber, so that’s no problem. What do you expect me to do about the dragon? That ain’t a contract you can afford.’
‘How so?’
‘Just a figure of speech; the magic binds me to certain things such as how long I can manifest, and if you die, I get sent back. But there’s nothing legal between us, so if you ask me to do something, I can choose to ignore you if I wish or stab you in your sleep. But if you go somewhere, I have to follow.’
‘Seriously?’
‘Sure, but I like this world, so it’s in my interests to be of use to you; there are a lot of us, and the chances of any one of us being summoned is a lottery, so I may never be summoned again. But I’m not fighting any dragons.’
‘I’m not going to summon you if you’re going to kill me!’
‘I won’t, unless you give me reason to, of course. Like if you order me to slay a dragon,’ Stirgar reiterated, waving his hand.
‘Oh, that reassures me,’ Amaka stated sarcastically.
‘I’m just like anyone else, and no more likely to stab you than the next person you meet.’
‘The next person I meet is likely to be a carok!’ Amaka said pertinently.
‘The next one after that,’ Stirgar responded after a pregnant pause.
‘I’m never sleeping with you around. The dragon is friendly, but just don’t say anything to piss it off.’
‘Gotcha. May I eat the caroks?’ Stirgar asked.
‘You want to eat the dead caroks?’
‘Sure.’
‘Okay, go nuts; just don’t eat anything that can be used as an ingredient.’
‘Aww, even the hearts?’
‘The hearts?’
‘Sure, they make strengthening agents; they can change the level of a potion if you’re high enough in alchemy.’
‘Then, no; I want the hearts.’
‘They’re the best parts!’
‘Tell you what, you can get 25% of the hearts you find.’
‘Make that 75%!’
‘Fine; as you did tell me about them, I’ll give you 75%, but after the fifth one, I want the odd ones.’
‘Deal,’ Stirgar said, and he strode off.
‘You don’t have any questions?’ Amaka called, surprised.
‘About stealing from the dead? Not at all; I’ve got a crowbar, so I can even take the things they nail down. Nails are five for one copper coin.’
‘That’s disturbing.’