Adaptive Learning has increased from Novice 14 to Novice 15. Total Fatigue has increased by 1. Progression to Level 9 at 16%.
Enchanting has increased from Novice 2 to Novice 8. Total Magic has increased by 6. Progression to Level 9 at 40%.
Divination has increased from Novice 3 to Novice 8. Total Magic increased by 5. Progression to Level 9 at 60%.
Quest: The Temple complete. Reward has been added to your inventory.
Nate sat next to Fuzzball and withdrew the Growth Orb, which looked like a palantir from the Lord of the Rings movies if someone dumped rainbow colors into the mechanism that made the swirl effect. He cast Lore Dump on it.
Growth Orb (Novice). Type: Consumable. Weight: 1 lb. Value: 25,000 gold pieces. Effect: Add 10 points to a skill of your choice. Not usable for skills above Novice Rank.
Lore Dump Bonus Information: If used to cross the 25, 50, 75, or 100 skill levels, the user may choose their ability rather than being granted one based on the skill’s use at the time of crossing the threshold.
“No wonder this is worth so much!” Nate said. “This would be huge at later training stages.”
“You're thinking of using it now?”
“Of course.”
“Perhaps you should wait,” Fuzzball said, “weigh your options.”
Nate pouted, “Yeah, yeah. I should do the sensible thing. Might save weeks of training down the road.” It disappeared as he stashed it. “Unfortunate. You want to go mining?”
“No, thank you.”
“Hear me out. There's no telling what trouble I'll get in down there. And, and I can’t stress this enough, you’re better at most things than I am.”
Fuzzball ignored the compliment. “We should test the range of your party chat thing underground.”
The entrance into the mine was a largely nondescript brick shack with a sturdy door, no windows, and a caution sign on the inside wall next to the descending wooden steps.
Nate descended several flights of stairs, which after the third shifted to carved stone. Eventually the stairwell opened into an oddly dimensioned room with a minecart track that led deeper into the mines.
Nate still felt the connection to the party chat, “I think we’re still good on the chat for now.”
“It would seem so.”
“There's a track but no cart. Also, part of these rails look like they're made from that stuff that fell with me in the stained glass image.”
Indeed, the rails looked to be mostly iron or steel, with just the top of the rail coated in a thin layer of faintly glowing material.
“Maybe the cart is further in?” Fuzzball said over chat.
“Unless someone took it with them. I think this is a redstone situation.”
“What's redstone?”
“It's a kind of magic rock crafted in our own fake mines to power tracks and various other things.”
“Why would you have fake mines?”
“It's one of those video game things people do for fun back home. The children yearned for the mines.” Nate knelt to touch the rail and cast Lore Dump.
Storm Ore Railways are commonly used in mining ventures to help propel laden carts quickly over distances.
“Totally a redstone thing! But they call it Storm Ore here.”
“We read about Storm Ore before in several of those magic books,” Fuzzball said.
“Hopefully we can get some down here. Speaking of, be ready to run down here and save my ass if I get in a pickle.” Nate found that the track ran southeast, a direction away from the temple, and looked along the walls of the room. He withdrew his most recently constructed steelbeak ax and tapped on the walls every so often. On the northern wall, he heard a shift in the tapping sound.
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“By Legend of Zelda game logic, we have a secret tunnel. Secret tunnel!” Nate looked around the immediate area, but nothing looked like a lever or button.
Nate opened his character sheet and looked through his powers, spells, and skills. He locked onto one in particular.
Multitool.
Rank: Novice Conjuration.
Cost: 50 MP.
Effect: Conjures a multitool that can be changed at will to any noncombat tool. Multitool lasts for 10 minutes or until dismissed. Multitool incapable of dealing direct damage.
He chose the spell, closed the window, and cast. The same default multitool as before appeared in his hand. He placed it next to the echoing spot on the wall, focusing on what tool he thought would work. It attached itself to the wall and expanded out into a large lever.
When Nate pulled it, the wall slid open.
Conjuration has increased from Novice 12 to Novice 13. Total Magic has increased by 1. Progression to Level 9 at 64%.
Resourceful has increased from Novice 7 to Novice 8. Total Fatigue has increased by 1. Progression to Level 9 at 68%.
Nate made keyboard typing sounds over the chat, “I'm in.”
“In what?”
“Found a secret tunnel. Opened it with magic. This is awesome!”
Fuzzball didn't respond, so Nate carried on. A long stretch of carved hall went north and then opened both west and east. Nate's minimap function proved to be immeasurably helpful, filling in what he could visibly see.
Two doors were set along both walls of the hall 20 feet apart. They were made of the wood found through the Deadwood and the buildings of Gronwood. Each had a lock similar to the one on Fuzzball's ice chest.
With the experience of picking the chest some months before, and channeling a bit of his Luck power, he made relatively short work of the locks.
Lockpicking has increased from Novice 2 to Novice 7. Total Fatigue has increased by 5. Progression to Level 9 at 88%.
The first room was lined with shelves filled with dust covered mining tools. Picks, hammers, prybars, and some tools he didn't recognize were tucked away into his inventory.
The second room was cleaner than the first, but had no shelves. Instead, piles of stone lined with rusty red veins filled in the corners.
The third was where they kept the smelted ore ingots, and the larger room was full of pallets of ingots stacked up to Nate's waist. He couldn't hope to fit all the ingots in his inventory, so he just took a few and closed the door behind him.
“Fuzzball,” Nate whispered as he opened the last door, “come down here, please.”
----------------------------------------
Fuzzball and Nate stood in the open doorway, silently observing the room. It glowed with enchanted runes along the floor, walls, and ceiling.
A short column in the middle of the room was topped with a display case made entirely of glass. It appeared to have no door or handle, and within it was a crystalline orange cuboid, twice as tall as it was wide. A mix of other colors swirled deep inside the object, and they could feel the hungry energy coming from it.
“What do you think that is?”
Fuzzball shrugged, “Couldn't say, other than they took a lot of effort to keep us out of this room.”
“Or to keep that thing in,” Nate said. He gently extended a hand toward the opening, a faint shimmer pulsed like a drop into a calm pond and his hand pressed against the solid barrier.
“Why is the door just a regular door, and not another layer of defense?” Fuzzball said as he, too, touched the barrier.
“So they can pop open the door at any time to make notes, observe this- whatever it is.”
“Which would also explain why it's held so close to the surface. Accessibility.”
“You sure you aren't curious about what lies deeper within? I stand by needing your help,” Nate said with perhaps a bit more earnestness than he intended.
Fuzzball crossed his arms as he stared into the cuboid. “Now that we know this is here, I am indeed curious,” he stepped deeper into the tunnel system, “Let's go.”
Nate jumped excitedly, cutting his head on the jagged tunnel ceiling. He healed it and reached up to excitedly pat Fuzzball on the shoulder, “Thank you!”
During their time together, Nate had only just begun to fully realize the disparity between his Novice and Fuzzball's Apprentice rank abilities. Nate would be exhausted after several hours of repairing Gronwood while Fuzzball tirelessly worked the field. They had no, and needed no, beasts for tilling the ground. This disparity was made clear again as they expanded Nate's map of the mining system.
Nate puffed with his hands on his knees, his limbs all burning as they cleared their seventh cave in. Fuzzball stoically worked on, pushing enormous stones so Nate could repair the support structures.
After two more days of clearing they reached the mine's area under the temple, pausing to clear out the rat-mole swarms when they rose up.
“Do you feel that?” Nate asked.
“The magical energies are thick here.”
“Must be what's spawning in the rat-moles, but it feels like the energy coming from that caged crystal prism.”
The very air in the mine shaft grew thick and heavy as they stepped up to the opening into a wide, cylindrical room. Theirs was the only way in or out. The top half of the cylinder room's walls were riddled with tunnels made by the myriad rat-moles.
A writhing mass of the creatures made their own column, covering a metallic and dark device that rested in the center. Nate summoned his shortbow and nocked an arrow.
“It's going to be a busy evening.”