The last few days in the game were a blur. Mira had led the group at a frantic pace across the country of Eldamire. They each had a horse, although Max’s gnome only got a pony, and they made good time. Mira only stopped twice to enable the group to plunder easy known exploits.
Max’s skills in disabling magic traps were in high demand and Tiamat did most of the critical work in gaining access to Alchemy labs, an Enchanter’s workshop, and various storehouses used by the Thieves Guild. Much to Max’s chagrin, one of his uses was frequently being tossed up and over walls or unlocking skylights, his small frame gaining into the places the others could not.
Leaving the Eldamire kingdom, they had arrived at the Sea of Grass. It was the home of the Volshur Tribes. The Volshur warriors and Shaman were feared throughout the kingdoms and crossing their lands without permission and payment of a toll was a death sentence if they caught you. The few safe roads were well guarded by the Volshur.
Attempting to cross the plains without using those roads was almost impossible. The grass that the Sea of Grass was named for stood 10 feet tall. The grass was as strong as bamboo, but unlike bamboo, each stalk was also as as hard and as sharp as a blade.
If traveling the plains wasn’t difficult enough, the lands were also home to the terrifying Great Vipers. Juvenile Great Vipers were the size of Earth boa constrictors, and the adults could grow to a hundred feet long with heads the size of horses. The Earth theory that the smaller the creature the more powerful the poison failed within the gameworld of Mythic Realms. The Great Vipers poison was the deadliest in all the lands and only the Volshur shaman knew the alchemy involved for brewing an antidote.
Much to the fear of her wards, Mira had a risky plan. Local smugglers had acquired an enchanted levitating barge from the Northern Wastelands of Ilbarse. Mira had contacted the leader of the smugglers in the last town of Eldamire, Pendegrast. The smugglers had been contracted to help them move their "cargo" across the Sea of Grass for a flat fee and a portion of the profits.
The group had acquired a small wagon and a large collection of supplies. The meeting point was a small bluff overseeing a desolate area that overlooked the wide and untamed Sea of Grass. Mira had them set up camp and the group had been waiting for hours for the smugglers to arrive. The sun had dipped below the horizon and the horses were getting nervous.
“When are they supposed to be here?” Leah’s dwarf avatar grumbled, slapping a finger-sized mosquito away.
“Karst’s smugglers haven’t stayed alive and out of jail this long without being careful. The barge travels at night for the most part unless they are well out of sight from the known trails and roads.” Mira reminded them all.
“So how high does this barge levitate? And how big are those Vipers you warned us about?” Charlie's female half-elf avatar said nervously, he wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but snakes were one of his few real irrational fears. Something about the way they moved terrified him on a primal level.
“The barge is just high enough to not touch the tops of the grass fields. It’s not actually high enough to avoid a Viper attack, but they generally are drawn to the scent of blood and the vibrations of creatures or people disturbing the grass. As long as you don’t fall overboard, you should be perfectly safe.” Mira said patiently.
"Should be? Should be!" Charlie asked repeatedly.
“And why exactly did we need to buy and bring these piglets, again?” Max interupted. This was not the first time someone in the group asked about the quintet of pigs trussed up in the back of the wagon. Mira had refused to detail her plan previously.
“I said it’s a surprise. No spoilers. I have a special side deal with Captain Karst. It’s what’s funding our passage.” Mira said with a pursed smile. She jerked her head ever so slightly to the left and whispered.
“Speaking of the devil, I think we have company. Mind your manners with Karst. He’s an Ilbarse Duelist. Conflicts with such men quickly resolve themselves with one or both involved becoming dead. Karst has been plying his trade for sixteen years, so don’t test him.” Mira hissed. She stood up, looking into the woods, and spoke.
“Captain Karst! Fancy a drink while we all wait for the barge?” She called out softly but loud enough to be heard from the wood line. A shadow emerged from the trees and strolled up to the fire.
It was an older man, with a salt and pepper mop of hair and an unkempt beard. He wore rumbled and torn clothes with only a leather vest and cloak for “armor”. His course shirt had no sleeves which showed off his muscular arms and the intricate tattoos that completely covered them. Max’s special vision was drawn to a large knife strapped to his left thigh.
It glowed brightly in Max’s special vision, with several shades of Akasic and Qi magics, even perhaps a touch of Faen mana. (Max had not seen Faen magic yet but he assumed this unknown type was the last remaining type of magic). The man’s tattoos shared many of the same glyphs as the knife, plainly visible in Max’s vision. His avatar’s whiskers twitched with the desire to get a closer look at the glyphs involved, Max could tell the Qi variants were different in form and function than his growing collection of Akasic sigils.
“Good eyes, elf. You can’t be too careful in my line of work. I’ve trailed your group for awhile now, looking for any Eldamire knights, but it looks like your contract is an honest one. At least, as honest as one gets when smuggling contraband and people across forbidden lands without allowances from the Volshur.” Karst chuckled at his joke.
“So, this is your crew, then? They don’t look like much.” Karst stated bluntly.
“They’ll get the job done. No need to worry.” Mira said with confidence.
“Oh, I’m not worried. Your deposit is already secured and if you pull it off, we’ll all be the richer. And if you don’t…well, at least I’ll have a good seat for the show.” Karst grinned, his hand hovering near his knife. Mira returned his grin. He cocked an eyebrow and asked.
“What’s up with the piglets?”
Mira suppressed a retort and calmly replied.
“All part of the grand plan. I would hate to ruin the surprise; you will have to trust me.” Mira’s elf scout avatar said.
“Very well. Whether your group lives or dies, me and my crew will see something of interest. Of that, I’m certain. Look yonder, the barge is on the horizon now. Let’s make haste.” Karst said.
The tension of the team’s time on the barge faded quickly with hours of uneventful travel through the night transitioned into the morning. Grass stretched from horizon to horizon, without the slightest variation to provide a measure of their progress. The crew of smugglers was a seedy lot, but none of them seemed very alert to the danger of the snakes. Max marveled at the phantasmal Akasic wheels that “levitated” the barge. None of the other had the benefit of Max's gnomish magic sight.
He kept his observations to himself. Mira had said that some of the mysteries of magic should stay that way for those untrained in the art. Max shrugged. He thought they looked cool. Kinda like a Monster Truck from pre-nano Earth.
Max looked over to his crew. The loot from the Ogre’s treasure and Mira’s traveling crime spree had equipped the group with top-notch enchanted items. Mira’s elf now had an enchanted bow that tripled her range, doubled the arrow’s impact, and aided her precision. She could snipe at a level almost equivalent to a real Earth sniper. Her new cloak was enchanted to provide a magical camouflage effect and her long sword had glyphs enabling it to cut through wood like butter.
Leah’s dwarf was a walking tank. Magical armor, gauntlets, boots, helm, and shield protected her from blades, fires, and impacts by lessening their effects. Her battle ax was as big as she was, but light as a feather to her hands.
Charlie’s half-elf Druid now had extra protection with a ring that had a shield spell embedded into it. She also now had a mana amulet like Max. When she had advanced to level eight, she received a class skill to summon a familiar. She now had a large falcon on her shoulder. Its steely eyes tracked everything. And everything it saw, Charlie saw. It followed Charlie's direction without the need for commands as they shared a mental link as a bonded pair with the familiar spell.
Max had been given a bag of holding, which could store 20 times its apparent size. He was holding the team's funds for now. He had grown in power as well, with a new class ability to create runes and sigils. Given enough time and proper materials he could make enchanted items, spell traps, and more. Not very useful for a speed run, but his growing book of glyph knowledge made him very versatile.
He also now had a Spirit Ring with the ability to channel mana once a day. It could enable him to completely drain a device or his personal mana stores into a single overpowered spell. A dangerous ability as he had a chance to hurt himself or break the device channeled.
Tiamat was very secretive about her advancements and equipment. She was always lurking nearby and generally surprised everyone with sudden appearances. Max surmised she was fully kitted with stealth magic and equipment. The whole team had a surplus of health and mana potions for prolonged fights. Max’s reflections were interrupted as the barge slowed and stopped.
“Here we are, the den of the greatest of the Great Vipers on the plains! Time to show us what you’re all about, Elf!” Karst said laughing.
“We’re ready,” Mira said with a smile. All the piglets had been given a jacket of full wineskins tied about their torsos.
“Plan ahead and plan smart. Time for this little piggy to go for a walk. Off you go.” Mira said as she lightly dropped the first pig to the ground. From the squeal and the line of disturbed grass rocketing away from the barge, the pig must have been cut by a blade of grass on the drop.
“Now we wait for a bit,” Mira said with a wink, her eyes scanning the path of the pig. With surprising quickness, another path of motion was seen in the grass. This one was bigger and racing after the pig. The paths intercepted and stopped.
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“What now?” Charlie whispered, but Mira just raised a finger.
The last position they had seen of the grass being moved suddenly erupted, grass flailing wildly. Max thought he saw a snake’s coil briefly rise above the grass, but as quickly as it started the flailing stopped.
“That’ll do pig. That will do.” Mira said softly.
“Ah ha, you put poison in those wineskins that you tied to the pigs. Clever, Elf.” Karst asked without expecting a response.
“I know it’s just software in a game, but doing this to the poor piggies kinda makes me feel bad,” Mira said.
Karst had a blank look. As an NPC, whenever he heard a phrase that referenced the game, his programming made him ignore it.
“Alright, next up. This little piggy in a blanket is ready for his mission. Off you go, sir!” Mira said, launching the next one in the direction the viper had come.
After three pigs and three events, each taking a little longer for an attack, Mira stopped and said,
“Time for phase two. Charlie, we need your familiar on overwatch for any more of those big boys. Max, use your sight and give us a bearing. Anything unusual.” Mira said.
“Up you get, Orville,” Charlie said, helping the falcon with an upward toss.
Max focused. Earlier he had found that he could see the mana better with his eyes closed. He stood up on the prow, closed his eyes, and scanned the area. The plains had mana circulating in eddies and streams. Mana was concentrated and swirling in one area about 100 yards ahead. It streamed from a font in the ground and flowed South across the plains.
Mira had described the Ley lines before in their trek across Eldamire. She said that sometimes mana emerged from deep in the earth. It often flowed along lines of aligned materials and was repelled by materials that resisted its effects. This resulted in flowing streams of mana or ley lines. Wizards and greater beasts were attuned to magic forces and were attracted to the magic-dense regions. Mana fonts or ley line junctions that didn’t have a great beast or wizard were rare finds.
Max pointed confidently in the direction of the font. If the Viper was indeed an old monster, then its den would be there.
“One hundred yards. There!” Max said. Mira put hoods on the last two piglets’ heads and gave them to Tiamat.
“Excellent! Tiamat, take these last two piglets and lead the way. Slow and silent. I hope the hoods will keep them from panicking. We’ll be half a minute behind. Good luck friend.” Mira said. Tiamat nodded once and grabbed the pair of pigs by their harnesses and slid down the side of the barge without disturbing the grass. After a short count, Mira threw ropes over the side of the barge.
“Move slow, try not to cut yourself. Disturbing the grass attracts them, and they are attracted to the smell of blood as well. The earlier piglets took out a few of the big boys but there might be juvenile vipers about still. Watch your step.” Mira advised and slid down a rope.
Both Leah and Charlie dropped quickly over the side, Max took a second and followed. His character suddenly felt very small as his world became a maze of grass.
A careful but far too brief rush between the stalks of grass and the group found themselves at the edge of a precipice. The area was littered with large, scattered quarry stones, hidden by the high grass, and the opening revealed a burnt-out ruin of an old tower or stronghold descending downward.
“This land is ancient. A mana well like this would have attracted many beasts or magic users in decades past. Finding a ruin like this is not too surprising. This is too little to be on any maps, maybe an outpost or a recluse wizard had it built in ancient times. Look, over there. A convenient set of stairs going down. Almost as if this were a game, inviting us to explore, eh?” Mira smiled.
“Charlie, your Druid class gives you an edge here. Leah will take point and you next. Let us know if you sense any animals, especially the Giant Viper that Karst warned us about. Max, same for you. If you “see” anything with your mage sight, let us know. I have an idea of what to expect, but every iteration of major quests reformats the dungeons so this layout will be new to me as well. I’ll cover our retreat.”
The group managed the careful descent quickly. Halfway down, Charlie had detected a tangle of juvenile Vipers, but his animal charm worked to immobilize them as they rose to strike. Leah barely slowed her march down the stairs, decapitating the entire group with one long horizontal sweep of her enchanted battle ax.
At the bottom of the huge stone spiral stairs, there appeared to be only one path forward, a gaping maw of darkness leading deeper into the wall across from the expanse of the ruin's bottom floor. Mira pursed her lips, judging the layout. Typical features that would play well in an old-time video game. Large and strong blocks that might serve as a cover or jump assist during a fight with a large beast. The accessible stairway for a fighting retreat. Broken crenulations lined the staircase, perhaps some might be loose enough to drop on the large snake. Mira had other plans.
“Max, open up your bag of holding. Break out the Mithril wire rope, torches, Viper Poison antidote, the oil barrel, the alchemical fire jugs, and those dwarven spirits. Quick, we won’t have much time.” Mira said. She set the group to work.
Leah’s dwarf used her ax and punctured the oil barrel and spread it across the ground in front of the dark passage. Leah prepped the alchemical jugs and dwarven spirits, rigged like Molotov cocktails, lined up in a row behind some stone blocks with a lit torch staked into cobbles close by.
Mira unstrung her wire and played it out while running up the spiral staircase. She occasionally looping the cord around parapets or dropping a loop to the ground below. Max tucked the vials of antidote strategically about the covering stones. Before the group could do anything more, a thunderous crash came from the murky tunnel, and Tiamat soon raced out with a smile and a thumbs-up sign.
“Good work. Everyone get yourselves set! Those pigs are barely an appetizer and won’t stall it long. The poison is unlikely to kill such a beast, but I hope it helps to distract it.” Mira yelled. The crashing sounds increased and were accompanied by a shrill whistling like a tea kettle in full boil.
“Charlie, light it up. Leah, tank position! Max ready!” Mira shouted just before the monstrous Viper’s head emerged from the dark. Charlie’s throw was perfect. The alchemical fire jug crashed and broke across the Great Viper’s snout. The mixture burst into a cloud of fire, lit by the flaming rags that had been in the bottle's open top.
The enormous snake reared back, its head on fire. Dripping rivulets of liquid fire sprayed the area. The pools of oil ignited creating a wall of fire with only one gap. Leah’s dwarf charged through the opening with a laughing roar. Her [Charge] and [Battle-Lust] skills engaged. She buried her ax deep in the massive reptile's raised chest.
Max fired glowing magical missiles from his wand while Mira’s long bow sent deadly arrows into the snake. Although Mira was hoping to take out one or both eyes, the Viper was thrashing too rapidly to land a clean hit. The flames rose as Charlie lobbed the remainder of the dwarven spirits against the side of the snake. The oil slick engulfed the front of the beast and Leah as well, burning with ever higher flames and smoke filling the base of the broken tower making it difficult to see.
Leah laughed as she swung again and again, the flames unable to harm her thanks to her enchanted armor’s magic and her own dwarven resistances. Charlie summoned a wind gust, which drove the flames down the tunnel and made them even hotter. Mira climbed the steps so she could get above the flames and continue shooting at the snake.
Despite the Viper being hampered by poison and flames, it did flash forward multiple times to strike the only target it could get, the manic dwarf. Each time, Leah successfully employed her [Block] skill and bashed the snake’s head for good measure. It may have been that Leah miss-timed a block or the slick oil had impeded her footwork, but the Viper’s following strike caught her leg and penetrated deep. She struck the snake’s head hard enough to break off the fang still embedded in her thigh. She staggered backward and collapsed.
Max gasped; he could see with his mage sight that her Qi energy began to fade starting at her wounded leg. Charlie cast his characted’s top-tiered spell [Wall of Spikes], which caused stalagmites to shoot up and block the snake, one even impaling the beast. Max struggled with indecision. When he looked up to Mira for direction, he couldn’t believe his eyes as she shot an arrow directly into Leah’s wounded leg. She saw his look of outrage and yelled.
“It’s coated with antidote! But it won’t be enough, get her a potion quickly!” Mira yelled.
Max sprinted to the side to grab the nearest vial. Unfortunately for Max, the Great Viper burst through the wall of spikes and zeroed in on his little running figure. It reared up and dove forward; Max didn’t see the danger as he raced for the antidote.
Max's world tumbled upside down as he was struck in the side. Tiamat had tackled him into a rolling mass, as the enormous snake speared through the space he had occupied. Max shook his addled head and heard a rumbling crash.
Dust bloomed as a plinth impacted the tower’s subterranean floor, falling from the ledge where Mira had pushed it over. The wire ropes weren’t as haphazard as Max had thought. Mira’s [Trap] skill had provided a good, improvised defense. The plinth’s drop had pulled a snare up, winching the beast in a noose and yanking its upper body halfway up the far wall.
Max scrambled and grabbed the vial of anti-venom and rushed to Leah’s flailing form. Taking a deep breath, he focused and drove the needle into what he hoped was a vein. Mira clapped a hand on his shoulder.
“Good work. That snare won’t hold for long. We only have one chance now. Take this!” Mira urged, pushing a ruby the size of a golf ball into his hands.
“It’s a multi-use enchanted gem with Flame Trap, Max. I need you to trigger it and toss it down the snake's mouth. It’s just like when we played catch this summer, but this time you’re throwing and the snake is catching. When it triggers, use your Spirit Ring to [Channel] everything it has for one shot! Charlie, use your [Control Fire] spell to amplify it when it explodes.”
Max “looked” into the gem with his sight. The trap sigils were all arranged, and it had massive amounts of layered spells, overlapping Aether Spirals each containing a huge charge of mana. All he had to do was prime the Zephyr Seal, and once he released it, the gem would become a dangerous bomb. He triggered the trap and looked up to see the wildly contorting Viper snap the wire holding it up.
Max’s jaw dropped as the beast reared up in front of him. He cocked his arm and threw with all the might his little gnome body could muster and watched in horror as the glowing ruby sailed just over the Viper’s head.
Before he could voice his scream of frustration, a shadow dropped behind the snake. Tiamat had snatched the gem out of the air and stabbed into the side of the Viper with a dirk in her other hand. Her momentum swung her around and she lobbed the gem underhanded right into the monster's gaping maw.
As Tiamat tumbled to the ground, Max and Charlie both triggered their spells. The explosion knocked the entire group across the floor. When Max finally struggled to his feet, he found the Great Viper’s head looming over him. With a moment’s panic, he realized that it was no longer attached to the snake’s body, which was still writhing weakly on the other side of the battleground.
[Elven Scout - Tarthiel Glyndove - leveled up to 10]
[Gnome Mage - Pilli Stitchdock - leveled up to 10]
[Dwarf Sentinel - Harmond Bigaxe - leveled up to 10]
[Half Elven Druid Healer - Olhana Ward - leveled up to 10]
[Human Thief - Murray Holus - leveled up to 10]
Leah moaned and sat up, still looking sick from the poison.
“Ow! Ow! Ow! How the hell did you convince us to keep the pain setting at realistic levels? Did we win?”
Tiamat helped the dwarf to her feet and clapped her shoulders.
“That’ll do, Dwarf. That will do.” She said in a deeply melodic voice.
Max, Leah, and Charlie were stunned as both Mira and Tiamat started laughing and guffawing.
“Wait one darn second! First of all: you can talk?!? And second, how did you not blow yourself up catching that trap gem?” Max exclaimed.
“My apologies to you all, of course I can talk. It started out with me just being shy. And then, well, the longer it went on the more awkward it became. I’m sorry.” Tiamat said with her smooth voice.
“As far as the trap, I have a thieves’ skill to avoid triggering traps, even magical ones. I’m a natural born thief, as you well know with all the desserts that I’ve stolen from you. All in a day’s work for an adventurer.” Tiamat said.
“Well, now that we’re all at level 10, I think I’ll be retiring. It was all fun and games until I took that arrow to the knee. I think my adventuring days are over. Where’s that damn healing potion?” Leah grumbled, yanking Mira’s arrow out with a yelp.
The group took their time collecting themselves and recovering. The speed run was complete. Except for looting and getting these characters back to a city, their mission was done.
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