Calvin and Alec arrived soon after, and the seven of us began our travel from the eastern gate of the town of Strongbridge, and into the wide hilly grassland that dominated much of the eastern areas of the region.
“So where is the Tidewarren, exactly? Like I get it’s the name of the region, but why?” I asked as we went; I figured one of the six of them would know and no one else had bothered to let me know without me asking.
“This is the Tidewarren, itself!” Alec said, with a grin. He was the expert out here after all. “It’s called that because the Jackanacks dig holes in the hillsides over around here and use them for warrens to stay in when the ocean swells each day. That and because the Tokkinoris also prefer to have warrens in the hills so they can protect their seedlings; their seedlings are the veggies that are out there you may have seen before.”
That made me envision the little pink rabbit I had seen before, and I described it.
“Yep, those are Sabigiri! They aren’t super common, though. Like one in twenty Tokkinori ever even grow into the monster Sabigiri evolved from. ”
I grinned because it was nice to know its name and I did not. Despite seeing Marlie again she didn’t have any of her monsters other than Cadecoatl with her and as such I had not had a chance to analyze them. I’d not know about them at all without Alec’s explanation.
We stopped talking and focused on walking and watching out for Jackanack herds after that as we headed towards the dungeon I had been told about.
****
We traveled through the tidal grasslands to the east of Strongbridge, and after traveling for over three hours to the north and east we found ourselves at our destination — the Tidewarren Dungeon.
It stood like a great mountain over the region at least when compared to the low-lying grasslands that we had trudged through. In reality, it was a great hill with dull grey stone ruins across its top. The hill itself was a mixture of loamy soil and roughly shattered sections of limestone and obsidian. A great hole the size of a castle tower dominated the hill’s face in the direction we stood, a dark grey portcullis controlled any entrance or exit into the region. In front of us on the path was held large standing stone in its center. The standing stone was filled with words in the Hekatondronan script.
It read: “Beware! The Tidewarren Dungeon is a dangerous area of the region and home to many dangerous monsters. By royal decree; only those with the clearance of the King, Duke, or the Lord of Tidewarren, may enter the Tidewarren Dungeon. Poachers will not be rescued from the threats within.”
That was sobering, but without risk, I wouldn’t have a reward. For a moment, I thought of my children, seeing Osbert, Gwen, Alec, and Bridget’s faces in my mind’s eye and seeing the looks they had given me when they wanted my help. The expression that made me feel like I could do anything. I could also see Melody’s wide smile, and feel the fire it stirred in me when she said, “Be more confident! I believe in you, so you should believe in you too.”
I took a deep breath and when I looked at the group that made up my impromptu adventuring party, I found them all looking at me as if they were not sure about me. Only Eris showed understanding and sympathy.
“Okay, so before we enter, I should distribute my gained stats.”
“You should, yeah. Not that you have many after investing so much in it. You would’ve gotten a better spread if you had picked one of the other three classes you have unlocked.” Eris piped in.
If she was right or not? It didn’t matter, what was done was done. I focused and pulled up the system prompts to begin distributing my gained points. Overall, I had twenty-two points to distribute to my strength, dexterity, and constitution in total. I had fourteen points to distribute to my intelligence, wisdom, and charisma; and I had twenty additional points to distribute anywhere I wished.
I utilized the physical points to increase my dexterity by six points, and my strength and constitution by eight each. I split up the mental stats so that my charisma, wisdom, and intelligence all to 18. The twenty points I could spend anywhere I split up by adding six points each to dexterity, strength, and constitution. Then I increased my intelligence and wisdom by one each. When I was done distributing, I double-checked my sheet.
[[ Name: Wade Calhoun
Age: Eight Years (8)
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
Class: Stranger
Level: 001
Other Classes: (Orphan Level 8)
Experience: 0010
Traits:
Inquisitive (Rank 1) - You have a keen curiosity and the braveness to feed that curiosity with knowledge. You receive a permanent boost of ten percent to XP and one point to your Charisma, Wisdom, and Intelligence stats. Additionally, you gain one point of intelligence and wisdom for every ten experience points you gain from activities classified by the system as primarily mentally or academically focused. You gain one point of luck and constitution for every twenty experience points you gain from activities classified by the system as primarily mentally or academically focused. This trait is upgradable.
Elemental Alignment (Earth) – Locked. You may unlock this gained trait after having two earth elemental primary aligned monsters as partners, or by successfully defeating ten opponent monsters with your monsters’ earth elemental-based attacks, or by reaching skill rating 10 in three earth element governed skills, or by successfully completing a secret feat.
Elemental Alignment (Nature) – Locked. You may unlock this gained trait after having two nature elemental primary aligned monsters as partners, or by successfully defeating ten opponent monsters with your monsters’ nature elemental-based attacks, or by reaching skill rating 10 in three nature element governed skills, or by successfully completing a secret feat.
Outworlder – You receive a permanent boost of three points to your charisma, wisdom, intelligence, and luck stats. You receive a bonus of two points for strength, dexterity, and constitution. After you have reached 16 points of wisdom you may meditate on your previous life to potentially (re)gain skills and reunlock traits. This trait is not upgradable.
Beginner’s Luck – Four times per day, you may activate this trait to provide a bonus to yourself and all allies. This bonus is your total effective orphan (or Orphan plus Orphan prestige class) level. Any luck increases you gain from effects also apply to friendly humans and monsters in your vicinity.
Beginner’s Eyes – A portion (20%) of your analysis skill rating is added to your weapon skill ratings for purposes of attack. In addition, you may now up to two times per day increase (to 50%) the percent of your analysis skill added to weapon skill ratings.
Porter & Pelikvern’s Pal – While in the Tidewarren and Highwater regions, you may utilize a special whistle to summon Gerald the Pelikvern to provide messenger and delivery services from yourself to others.
Tipsy Tauracean Tavern Cheer – You are now a favored customer of Tipsy Tauracean Tavern and receive a discount and other services and aid from the Tipsy Tauracean Tavern and its subsidiaries.
Stats:
Default Stranger Class Eight-Year-Old Stats
Strength – 008
Dexterity – 008
Constitution – 008
Charisma – 008
Wisdom – 008
Intelligence – 008
Luck — 008
Actual Current Stats
Strength – 022
Dexterity – 022
Constitution – 025
Charisma – 018
Wisdom — 019
Intelligence – 019
Luck – 031
Skills:
Analysis – 7 points | Elemental Association Artifice, Primal, and [Unknown] elemental associated |
Carpentry – 5 points | Nature, Earth, and [Unknown] elemental associated skill |
Throwing – 5 points | Wind, Earth, and [Unknown] elemental associated Skill |
Short Blades – 5 Points | Nature, Wind, and [Unknown] elemental associated skill |
Cooking – 3 Points | Artifice, Fire, and [Unknown] elemental associated skill |
Gardening – 1 Point | Nature, Earth, and [Unknown] elemental associated skill | ]]
When the points were distributed and I saw what stats I had gained, I spoke. “I’m ready when you all are. How do we do this?”
“That’s up to you. As outworlders, you and Eris should be able to get it to open.” Alec piped in.
So I looked at the portcullis and thought really hard. Open? Open sesame? Neither did a thing. What else might work? I looked to the standing stone again for instruction, thinking of the word open as I read for any reference to it that I might have missed.
Immediately, a window popped in my vision.
[[ You are about to begin the challenge known as the Tidewarren Dungeon! Confirm? Yes/No? ]]
- - > [[ Confirmed. ]]
Suddenly the portcullis opened and we were swallowed in by a vacuum wave of air, spiraling around through a sideways tornado. Kenneth and Kieran grabbed each other’s arms, along with Alecs. Calvin and Moriah tried to but missed one another. Eris and I didn’t come close to each other or the others.
Soon we were swallowed into darkness.
[[ Tidewarren Dungeon, begin. ]]