The team met again inside Mira’s Mythic Realms lobby. This time Mira and her pet pseudo-dragon Tiamat were waiting for them. Mira was again wearing her traditional Mythic Realms avatar of a female elven sorceress in full magical regalia.
“Alright! Thanks for showing up on time. That’s the biggest hassle of partying up.” Mira said and spun a card toward each of them. Max looked at his. It was a character sheet and bio.
His character was a Level 0 Gnome Mage named Pilli Stitchdock. If his stats were anything like the augmentation system, then they were very weak. The only high points were perception and intelligence. He was starting with only two cantrips, glow and clean. Although he also got a racial bonus skill of mage sight, whatever that was.
Max looked up to see Mira’s expectant look. With a sigh, he shrugged, a job was a job. The character didn’t look promising to him, but he trusted Mira knew what she was doing. Both Leah and Charlie, however, were both complaining almost instantly.
“A male dwarven Sentinel? How is this a good fit for me?” Leah whined.
“And a Half-Elf Druid Healer for me? And female, too? How am I supposed to play this? Can we switch at least?” Charlie said with a red face. Mira was working hard to keep a smile off her face as she answered.
“There is a method to my assignments, trust me. And it's totally not just because I think it’s kinda funny.” Leah said with a smirk.
“Charlie, your martial arts experience in melee fighting would inhibit your character’s growth in that area if I gave you a melee fighter. I need you to lean hard on the skills being given to the characters and let the system help you. If your instincts trump the system’s aid too much, those system-granted skills won’t grow.”
“Look I even gave myself a male elf Scout and Tiamat has a male Human Thief character. These are the characters that my client wants, and our mission is to level them up to at least level 10 before the request deadline in 4 days. We don’t need to like them or have some connection to them; we just need to level them up. Any extra levels or magic equipment gets me a bonus as well.” Mira said, putting away her amusement at the team’s discomfort and getting down to business.
“Ok, are you guys ready for an 8-hour Dreamtime session?” Mira asked. Everyone gave a quick nod.
“Nice. The game runs at a ten-to-one ratio to real-time. After about 20 hours of subjective gameplay, the system will tag us with a fatigue debuff that will force us to rest for a minimum of 4 hours. So, we should get a solid 3 plus days of grinding.” Mira clapped her hands in a staccato pattern and a blurred and distorted plane of energy shifted from one end of the lobby to the other. As the plane enveloped the group and their table, they were surprised.
The Mira’s lobby Tavern was replaced with…., another, almost identical, tavern. The customers were different and the map, display cases, and the modern door were gone. The bartender was now a burly dwarf instead of a Treant and a Pair of Orc bouncers were guarding the front door. The room was a lot more chaotic than Mira’s lobby. The characters at the bar and populating the room were loud and obnoxious, clearly real people animating the avatars and no longer NPCs.
Max looked around the table. Mira was now a handsome elf with his/her brown locks of hair tied back into a top knot. He/she was wearing a starter kit of leather armor and a cloak, with a bow and quiver tied across her back.
Leah’s spot was now occupied by a thickset Dwarf with flaming red hair, her/his beard was braided and plated with steel shims and rings. Her starter kit was limited to a hand ax, a wooden shield, and a chainmail vest.
Charlie was a foot shorter, with golden tresses and a shapely robe that he filled out in all the right places, with a red face, he crossed his arms over his now ample chest. His starter kit was limited to a large satchel and a wooden staff.
Tiamat was a bright-eyed human with dark hair, his hair and beard tightly cropped. She/he wore only regular cloth armor with a cloak, leather bracers, and a knife sheathed at his waist. Tiamat’s character was not very big, nor muscular, nor handsome. He was average in every sense and was not very memorable. Without a word, he stood, nodded to Mira, and swiftly exited the bar.
Max could tell from how high the table was and how he had to look upwards at everyone, that his stature was greatly diminished. His face had a full bushy beard that included oversized bushy eyebrows and a pair of spectacles. He assessed his clothes and equipment. He wore a fine cloth robe with a canvas vest which was loaded with tiny pockets. A book bag tightly strapped to his side, with at least one large book in it by the feel of it, and a light wand strapped to the inside of his left arm. It was made of a very light pale material, maybe bone, and had finely carved runes along its length. It glowed brightly against his arm.
Max looked up and could see a faint glow, almost a mist, that filled the air and seemed to swirl and concentrate slightly around some of the patrons of the bar, including himself and Charlie. Her staff and Max’s wand seemed to glow even more than themselves. Max could see several of the characters scattered about the bar had weapons, clothes, or items that shone with a light of their own.
This must be my racial skill of Mage Sight, Max thought. This will be very useful.
As the group slowly took it all in, they finally settled on Mira’s new face. Mira shrugged.
“What can I say? I’ve spent so much time here lately that this feels comfortable.” Mira said. She stood up and checked her weapons and coin purse.
“Alright, let’s get you bunch to your first engagement,” Mira said and marched to the door.
The group had traveled through the twisty streets of Rivertown. The NPCs and players were all acting out their gaming interactions of barter, quest lines, and goofing off. The game world was just past noon, and a storm was brewing in the south.
They followed Mira into darker and narrower alleys until they came to a bridge that crossed over the namesake for the town, the Old Wend River. Navigating a series of enclosed stairs, the group arrived at a large, barred grate under the bridge. Tiamat was already there, working the grate's lock with a pair of lockpicks. He stood with a wide stance over a steady flow of foul water that drained down the central sluiceway under the grate.
“Excellent. This should get you all some good experience and give you noobs practice using your character's skills for the big mission I’m planning in the ruins for later. I’m going to trigger a system grouping with an even distribution of experience, so we all advance at the same pace. Accept the request when you get the notification, ok?” Mira said.
[Invitation to group "Mira’s Marauders" by Elven Scout - Tarthiel Glyndove.]
[Accept y/n?]
[Gnome Mage - Pilli Stitchdock - Accepted]
[Dwarf Sentinel - Harmond Bigaxe - Accepted]
[Half Elven Druid Healer - Olhana Ward - Accepted]
[Human Thief - Murray Holus - Accepted]
[Active Party Quest - Extermination - Accepted by Murray Holus for Mira’s Marauders: Clear the Rivertown Sewers of the Rodents of Unusual Size for the Rivertown Sanitation department supervisor Arden Wright.]
The lock popped open, and the grate door swung wide. Tiamat tucked her picks away with a satisfied smile.
“Alright. No fantasy game is complete without the standard rat hunter quest. So here you are. But first, gimme all your starter cash. While you all are working out your skills, I need to go shopping and get a few things for later tonight.”
“You’re not coming?” Leah asked, it might have been a whine but coming from the gruff dwarf, it sounded like a growl.
“Nope. Don’t worry though, me and Tiamat will be prepping the dominos, getting some supplies, and getting things set up for tonight. If you all put in a few hours of work, you should clear this quest by yourselves quick enough,” Mira said, turning to go.
Charlie had taken a few steps into the gloom and shouted back.
“Did anyone think to bring torches?”
“Ah, how embarrassing. I guess I forgot how completely new you all are to this virtual world. I made sure that you had a party member who is the living embodiment of light. Max, tell the group about your spells.” Mira said with a sigh.
“Um, I have glow and clean, and a wand that can cast a missile,” Max said.
“Excellent, so for the game you have to say your spell with some force, or authority. Gestures help. The game is always watching and will trigger your spell when it thinks you are trying to cast. We won’t have time with these characters to customize the interaction, but if you want to play on your own time then here is a pro tip. If you give each spell a distinctive gesture, you can eventually cast silently with just the gesture. It takes some time to train the game AI to trigger a spell that way. But it's a cool cheat that I’ve used to dual-cast. Gesture one spell and say another and BOOM you’re a dual-casting machine.” Mira said with a smile.
“Ok, now you guys go play. Max, keep the area well-lit for the group. Leah, as the strongest physical fighter, you should take point and take any aggro from the dungeon beasties. Charlie, you need to back Leah up and heal any damage. Your spell set should have animal charming. At beginner levels, your influence will only stop a couple from actively attacking, but that might make the difference if they swarm. Right. I’m talking too much. Fight! Fight! Fight! That’s how you learn and get XP! I’m off. Have fun storming the sewers!”
Max and his friends quickly settled into a rhythm as the rats came in waves. Leah took point, hacking and stomping the large rats as they swarmed. Max kept the central room that they had chosen as their battleground well-lit, occasionally shooting a rat with a missile. Charlie kept Leah’s health topped off and stalled the rats if too many came at once.
At one point in the never-ending battle, Leah had slipped and fell. She was covered in rats immediately. Charlie brandished his staff and yelled.
“GUST!”
A wall of air blasted across the room, tossing the smaller rats to the far wall and killing many of them.
“Nicely done, Charlie” Max cheered. “Was that a spell or from your staff?”
“Staff,” Charlie said gruffly.
“My wand is almost depleted. I need to stop using it unless it's an emergency.”
“Hmm. Why would these weapons be disposable? I wish Mira was here. We regenerate our Mana. Why don’t the weapons?” Charlie complained.
Max was wondering the same. He watched the mana swirling as he cast a new round of glow spells. He could almost feel his body pulling the mana in as his mana stores refilled. When his personal mana storage was full he had a globe of mana that surrounded him. Leah was stomping around the battleground, but there was still another minute or so until the next wave. Max tried to push the mana away.
He was surprised to see it worked. The mana had moved away and formed a hollow globe around him. With some concentration, Max tried to pull and push the mana at the same time, trying to localize it on his wand and force the stuff into it. The glyph at the base of the wand pulsed slowly and his wand got a little brighter. He touched the glyph and tried to push his own stored mana into it. With the physical contact at the glyph, the power flowed quickly into the wand, channeled through his finger. He checked his stats quickly.
“I did it!” he yelled. “Charlie, if you can find a swirl glyph on your staff, that's like a power input. You can push your mana into it to recharge it.”
“Look sharp, ya mana-tossers. We got rats a coming!” Leah said with a growl as she cut loose with a battle cry and waded into the largest chittering mass of giant rats they had encountered so far.
----------------------------------------
Mira and Tiamat took off in different directions when they had left the trio in the sewers. Tiamat was going to hit three different Thief’s Guild drop sites. If she was spotted doing it, that character would be hunted by the guild. Mira trusted she would be careful; the dragon was sneaky by nature and the thief character fit her well. Mira’s “shopping” target was right across the street.
Mira and Tiamat knew Rivertown well. The NPCs, the various shops, the side quests, and more. Small side quests and NPC interactions reset daily. Larger quests like her planned exploit in the Ruins only reset monthly. The group's timing would be good, the only other character farmer active was a man named Rodrigo that she knew from her adventures. He took the Ruins exploit last cycle, so he wouldn’t contest her for it this cycle.
Whoops, she thought, here comes my mark. Time to work.
Mira stepped away from the alleyway and positioned herself about four paces in front of the mean-looking street-tough that she had been waiting to appear. She timed it well as she tripped into another passerby. She “dropped” the low-level enchanted dagger she had borrowed from a drunken adventurer earlier. She staggered away in a hurry and didn’t turn to look back until she was at the corner of the upscale pawn shop.
Bingo! Mira thought. The street thug and the pawnshop owner had both seen her drop the dagger and had advanced at the same time to claim it. Just like the last 20 times that she had performed her part in this scripted interaction, the pair fought over the dagger.
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Unexpectedly, the street tough stabbed the pawn shop owner. The large man went down, gurgling with the dagger in his chest, and the nearby city watch yelled out. In a panic, the ruffian ran, and the watchman chased him.
Interesting, I’ll add a note to the exploit list. An enchanted dagger made this play out in a potentially much more lucrative fashion. Mira thought as she rushed over to “help” the dying shopkeeper as the nearby crowd scattered. Shortly, she slipped into the pawnshop and locked the door behind her. She tucked the enchanted blade in her belt and rifled through the shopkeeper’s purse.
Hahaha, keys to the strongbox and the whole shop to myself for a good ten minutes. Oh yes! This gimmick is definitely going on the permanent list. Mira thought as she went to the back of the store. All the good stuff was behind the counter, with a bag to carry it. This time, she would finally find out what was in the locked strong box.
Mira and Tiamat had run amok in the streets of Rivertown and swept up all the hidden treasure and items. The locked strongbox has supplied an assortment of gems. Normally she would keep them to serve as single shot stored spells, but instead she sold them off to fund equipping the party for her mission. She had collected all the gear they would need for the night's venture into the ruins and arrived at the sewers with a large canvas bag. As the group’s notification pinged for the third time in the hours, they rejoined her group in the sewer’s central junction.
[Elven Scout - Tarthiel Glyndove - leveled up to 3]
[Gnome Mage - Pilli Stitchdock - leveled up to 3]
[Dwarf Sentinel - Harmond Bigaxe - leveled up to 3]
[Half Elven Druid Healer - Olhana Ward - leveled up to 3]
[Human Thief - Murray Holus - leveled up to 3]
Mira and Tiamat rounded the tunnel to find the group engaged in battle. Leah’s dwarf was covered in grime and gore as she hacked at a swarm of rats. Charlie had charmed a pair who stood frozen at one of the central hub's tunnels. Max sent a trio of magic missiles, glowing darts of energy into one of the largest rats ripping its torso open.
“Save some for me!” Mira shouted, dropping her bag, and yanking her bow off her back. She managed to kill two of the swarm before Leah finished crushing the last of them using a shield bash and ax finishing move.
“Perfect timing. Max, be a gentleman and use your Clean spell on Leah. She’s filthy. Tiamat, go ahead and do your thing with the Rat Boss and hurry back. You guys, gather around. I’ve got some fresh equipment for you!”
“There’s a Rat Boss? Shouldn’t we all go?” Charlie said after casting a heal spell onto Leah’s dwarf.
“Nope. Tiamat’s handled that thing on her own, many times. One of our “purchases” from town is some potent poison. Tiamat will handle it, while we gear you all up and go over these goodies.”
Everyone had advanced from the shared experience gained grinding out swarm after swarm of rats. Everyone had gained both new skills and improved their stats. Mira’s stockpile of equipment got Max an amulet that tripled his mana and book of spells with some new abilities: dispel magic, trap glyph, and firebolt. Leah's dwarf got a larger battle ax, and more durable plate armor, and her skills advancement opened a stunning blow and blocking skill.
Charlie was a bit frustrated. The equipment and advances to his druid still relegated him to a support role, with only incidental ability for offensive power. He got new spells for fog cloud, major healing, water walking, curing poison, and controlling fire. He also got a vest enchanted for better protection.
Mira shared her improvements, a sure aim and critical hit skill, detection of hidden traps and paths, and a snare-building ability. Her armor was upgraded to reinforced leather and she now had an enchanted dagger.
Mira also explained Tiamat was expanding her standard thief skillset with lock picking, hiding in shadows, backstabbing, and pickpocketing skills. Her weapons had gained some throwing knives and some very potent poison.
----------------------------------------
Mira led the group out of the sewers and out of the city. The storm had arrived. They trudged out into the woods as gusts of rain pelted them as Mira guided them to the Ruins. Max had spent the trip building up his mana reserves in his wand and amulet while maintaining some glowing light for his friends as they stumbled through the dark woods. At times, the rain came at them sideways.
After almost an hour of struggling through the weather, they arrived at the Ruins. Riverfront had some guards posted at a shack near the entrance of the dungeon. Purportedly, they were garrisoned there to ensure that no monsters escaped and terrorized the city. But in truth, the guards were charging adventurers for access to the dungeon and would also bully anyone coming out for a cut of any recovered loot.
“Greetings Adventurers. You picked a fine night for dungeon delving. Did you perhaps think that perhaps us guards would be home in bed on this lovely evening? That will be 5 silver each to enter.” the hard-looking sergeant announced coming out of the shack into the driving rain. Mira answered for the group.
“Not going down tonight, good constable. We have a quest from the tavern keeper at the Blue Flame. Supposed to be a Faen Stag in the woods nearby, beyond these ruins.” Mira’s elf answered.
“Huh. Well, good hunting then. Let us know if you catch one. Venison from a Faen stag is supposed to provide some powerful benefits. The Blue Flame’s barkeep owes me a favor. If’n you do catch one, I expect I’ll be collecting soon.” the constable said, breaking into a throaty laugh as he retreated back to the guard shack, escaping from the rain. Mira waved as the group around the shack, making a show of avoiding the entrance to the dungeon.
Soon they were past the ruins and going downhill when Mira’s elf character left the path to cut her way to the right and deeper into the woods. She skirted towards the steeper embankment where cliffs broke up the terrain. The dense trees and undergrowth made her path-breaking difficult.
“Son of a hobgoblin! I need to find an easy exploit spell to get rid of this foliage. It really would make this easier. Although, without my character’s pathfinder skill we could blast the landscape to splinters and still not find the secret exit.” Mira grumbled.
“You mean “secret entrance” right?” Leah asked loudly, with her gruff dwarf's face emoting just how miserable she was in the wet downpour.
“Nope. This is the exit from the dungeon. Some dungeons sport a quick exit after the boss monster and loot, to not bore adventuring parties. Sometimes it's impossible to use as an exploit, but I’ve done this dungeon many times. I know exactly where to look and have the skill to force our entry with this character’s skills. Ah, here we are!” Mira said as she hacked aside some vines to reveal the barest outlines of a door in the cliffside.
“You’re on deck now, Tiamat!” she said, backing away.
Tiamat pulled her dagger and a large lockpick and used them to clear away the edges of the door and a small hole in the face of the "door". Max lit up the surface with a Glow spell, so Tiamat could see better in the gloom. Mira pulled Charlie aside and whispered to him. Max’s gnome apparently had excellent hearing, as he was able to pick up the words despite the lashing wind and rain.
“Be ready with that Cure Poison spell, Charlie. Tiamat’s good with traps in general, but she doesn’t have the game skill yet. That door has a nasty poison trap and she’s been batting about a 60% success rate. Fingers crossed.” Mira said in a stage whisper.
Tiamat growled but didn’t look back as she forced both her blade and fingers into the small hole looking for the door release. Lighting and thunder crashed nearby causing everyone to jump. Tiamat fell away from the stone door as it shifted in its frame. She inspected her dagger, seeing a score mark where it had deflected a poison needle from drilling into her hand. With a slight smile, Tiamat sheathed the dagger.
Mira had Max cast Glow on one of her arrows and she led the way into the dark tunnel. The group followed the twisty and cramped path deeper into the hillside. They soon came to another door. Max saw in glowing in his special sight. A faint glowing trio of glyphs circled the door latching mechanism. As Mira reached for the handle, Max shouted for her to stop. Mira raised the glowing arrow up to her face and quirked an eyebrow and laughed.
“Took you long enough to warn me. I was wondering if you were going to let me get fried by the spell trap. Good job.” Mira clapped Max’s little character’s shoulders.
“Alright then. I know you have the Dispel Magic spell, but this is a learning opportunity. Glyphs, sigils, runes, and mandala all represent spell forms imbued on objects. This door’s trap varies a bit sometimes. Max, use your wand and draw the details of the trap sigil in the dirt so that I know what we’re dealing with here.” Mira commanded. Max took his time and sketched the pattern out for all to see.
“Nicely done, Magic Max. Ok, that swirly shape is called an Aether spiral, it’s very common. If you looked, both your wand and Charlie’s staff both have that engraved upon them. That rune is a physical manifestation of mana power being stored. The next array is an elemental transducer. This variant converts the mana to elemental fire. The final mark is called a zephyr seal. That’s the trigger.” Mira explained.
“Now your Dispel Magic would unlink all the sigils and disburse the mana, but we can manually play around and have many more options. You could force some mana into the zephyr seal and trigger the trap from a distance. You could drain the mana out of the Aether spiral. You could delink one or all of the sigils by pulling the mana from the connector mana lines between the sigils. In this situation, what do you think we should do Max?” Mira asked.
“Hmm. Well, my amulet, wand, and personal mana store are all topped off right now so draining the mana isn’t a need. I guess, I would delink the trigger. If we need to run from monsters, I could re-trap the door and protect our retreat.” Max voiced his thoughts.
“Excellently reasoned, Max. So, step up and do that. As a mage, you have a natural affinity to move mana and your gnomish racial ability to see it makes this that much easier for you. Stay at least three feet back, just in case. No sense eating a fireball if you mess it up.” Mira said with nonchalance.
Max focused hard on the mana link that glowed in lines drawing and connecting the sigils. He imagined pinching the connecting link with imaginary fingers and was rewarded with the line thinning. He pushed harder, inverting the feeling he had of pulling mana in. The line of mana dissolved, leaving the sigils in place with the trigger, was now separated from the pattern.
“It should be all set. Shall I open it?” Max asked.
“I trust you, Max. I knew you could do it.” Mira said as she lifted the latch and opened the door. She let out a subtle breath that she had been holding. Her right hand, with its tiny ruby enchanted with a fire resistance spell, went back into her pocket.
The small cave-like room was a small waterfall feeding a shallow pool with glowing lichen above. Three large wooden chests were in the room and only one other way out, a huge wooden door.
“Ok. We’re going backward here.” Mira said. “This is the final treasure room. If we were just after money, magic, and gear then we could haul this all away and call it a day. But there is a boss monster beyond, an Ogre Chieftain as well as some lesser Ogres. This dungeon has mixed mobs who will fight each other, so expect some Goblins. So, here’s the plan.” Mira took a breath to make sure everyone was paying attention. Tiamat was cleaning her nails with her long dagger.
“I’m going to bang on that door and the Ogres will come to investigate. Tiamat and I will bolt out and to the right when they open the door. You guys stay hidden and count to 5. Slowly. Then you charge out. The Ogres should be chasing me and Tiamat. You guys will break to the left and find a large open passage there. Get in there and wait for us. Got it?”
As the group nodded, Mira smiled and shooed them to hide behind the chests. When they were ready. Mira and Tiamat with weapons drawn, started banging on the door. Soon enough a bellowing roar answered and noises beyond the door grew louder. Something heavy was being moved beyond the door and quickly after the door flew open.
Mira bolted between the legs of the massive Ogre Chief, waving her brightly glowing arrow about, momentarily dazzling the creature. As the beast turned to follow the light, Tiamat followed close behind and slashed the large creature's calf as he passed.
Max was terrified. The Ogre was massive and loud, easily twice the size of the biggest human, and in this character, he was easily twice as small. He gripped his wand tight and counted to five, trying to ignore the bright glowing leaking from inside the large chests and the pool of “water”.
Leah must have counted fast as she was the first to break. Max and Charlie quickly followed as her dwarf lumbered out the door.
The room beyond was cavernous with stalactites and stalagmites breaking the space up. Several crude wood and stone huts stood in the center of the chamber. Max saw Mira and Tiamat racing along the right wall towards an enormous, barred door.
Leah charged out and to the left followed by the boys. There were at least five other slightly smaller, but still huge, Ogres gathering weapons from the center area and charging after Mira and her glowing arrow as she ran laughing and screaming obscenities.
Max and his friends quickly found the large passage on the left, with some convenient rocks partially blocking the way to hide behind. They all turned back to see Mira had assumed a firing stance in front of the door and had fired her glowing arrow into the Chief’s chest. The shot penetrated deep but only seemed to enrage the giant. Tiamat had been busy lifting the bar on the great double doors and pulling one of them open.
Mira arced volley after volley of arrows, spreading her fire into the other Ogre coming from the central huts. Tiamat had pulled the second door open and lobbed a couple of knives into the room to a chorus of answering shrieks. Tiamat bolted from the door as a wave of Goblin’s poured out. With the glowing arrow embedded in the Chieftain’s chest, the area’s visibility had been reduced to flickering torches that were near the Ogre huts and framing the wall around the double doors. The Ogre bellows and Goblin screeches rang out and sounds of combat echoed.
After a minute of clashing echoes and screaming, Max was getting ready to break and run out to find Mira. As he stood up, a hand from behind grabbed his shoulder and pushed him back down.
“No worries, Max,” Mira said from his left side with a chuckle. “Enjoying the show? Usually, the Ogres win, but not always. I got a couple good shots into several of them.”
“Damn it, Mira! You scared the shit out of me. Don’t sneak up. I was worried about you.” Max whispered.
“Come on now. I’ve done this dungeon over fifty times now. We have about two more minutes, then we will fire off every ranged attack that we have at the survivors and retreat down the passage. Ok?” Max nodded and could see his friend nod as well in the gloom.
“Give me another light up when I say so, alright? And when we run, I’ll tell you to break off and hug the walls of the next chamber. Max and Tiamat go left, and Leah and Charlie will go right. And I mean hug those walls. Like your lives depend on it……cause, well, you’ll die if you don’t. Sound good?” Mira said, her smile bright even in the flickering torchlight. Max groaned when she interrupted.
“Heads up. Time to party. When I start, give them everything you have. Max, you start left and I’ll go right.” Mira hissed. The combat sounds weren’t slowing down that Max could hear but soon enough Mira stood and started sending arrow after arrow into the room beyond.
Max jumped up beside her and started sending his magic missiles down range. Thankfully the magic part of the missile spell guided them into the Goblins and Ogres as Max could only see shadows dancing in the flickering lights. He cast again and again until his wand ran out of mana.
Leah grumbled until she found some rocks to lob. Her throws were impressive, crossing the cavern and striking Goblin after Goblin with impressive accuracy. Charlie pouted, without a ranged attack, until an Ogre charged into the torch light. With a yell, Charlie cast his Control Fire spell causing the nearby torch to engulf the monster in fire. It ran screaming into a pack of Goblins. The field combatants quickly diminished.
"Ok. Looks like only the Chief and two of his brood mates will be chasing. Time to hustle. Max light me up.” Mira said, holding out her dagger. Max cast the Glow spell. Mira's dagger flared brightly in the dim light. The answering roars made it obvious that they were now very much the center of attention for the survivors.
“Follow me! Go, Go, Go!” Mira yelled as she tore down the passage holding her brightly glowing dagger high.
The group ran. The bellows of anger getting closer and closer. Max ran as fast as he could, but his little legs required two steps for every step the others took. He imagined the Ogres behind, as large as they were, covering the ground with enormous strides. Finally, Mira gave the signal.
“Break”, she said as the group entered a new cavern.
Max hugged the left wall with Tiamat crowding close behind him. The center area of the cavern's floor glowed slightly with several brighter stone patches peppering the area across the wide room. Mira was the only party member that charged forward. She stepped across the expanse in leaps, landing only on the stones that glowed brightly in Max’s vision.
The Ogres charged into the room, eyes on the fleeing figure with the glowing dagger. Max saw that as they stepped on the lightly glowing floor, the whole floor disappeared. The Ogres’ charge was too fast to recover, the whole gang of surviving Ogres followed their chief, as they fell forward. As the floor vanished an unwelcome view of deadly stalagmites appeared far below. Max couldn't see the fate of the Ogres in the gloom, but it soon became apparent as the howling ceased abruptly with crashing finality.
[Elven Scout - Tarthiel Glyndove - leveled up to 5]
[Gnome Mage - Pilli Stitchdock - leveled up to 5]
[Dwarf Sentinel - Harmond Bigaxe - leveled up to 5]
[Half Elven Druid Healer - Olhana Ward - leveled up to 5]
[Human Thief - Murray Holus - leveled up to 5]
Mira hopped back, using the floating glowing stones again to rejoin the group.
“That was truly awesome, Mira. You have a skill to see the special stones?” Max asked.
“Nah. I just have a hell of a lot of practice.” Mira said with a wry smile. Max gasped. She had blindly stepped into what she knew was a deadly chasm and remembered exactly where to step. Max could only shake his head.
“Nice job gang. I’d say we are halfway there, but the first levels are always the easiest. Now, let’s go get all that sweet loot!” Mira’s smile was as bright as her glowing dagger.
----------------------------------------