“Why are we out here in the rain again?” asked Kalick Tuskaxe.
“Because the contract says there is a criminal stalking around Crok’s Landing. He’s worth one hundred gold pieces. Not going to let a little rain stop us. That’s a shit load of gold. We’ll be set for life,” replied Avish Hascavir.
Avish was young Deep Dweller wearing blue robes and carrying a staff. His beard was braided in a three color fashion denoting the elements he commanded in tier one Arcanum. The colors were blue, red, and brown. The tip of his staff had a pulsing blue crystal on it that gently dripped water vapor. Kalick wore a heavy fur brown vest with images of ferocious beasts stitched into it. He had two small hand axes on his hips and a beard that flared out to the left and right over his chin. They were both slogging through the plains toward Crok’s Landing. The water falling from the sky ran in rivulets around a transparent shield Avish was maintaining. It was large enough for the two of them, but their robed compatriots were left out in the elements. Four others accompanied them on this contract. Originally it was six but two quit after the first hour of torrential downpours. As hired goons went, this group left a lot to be desired.
“Avish, how are we even supposed to find one lone criminal in this weather?” asked Kalick.
“The contract says he’s a human with white hair and tan skin. I’d say it would be hard not to find him in Deep Dweller country. It doesn’t matter much. Once we see him, I’ll freeze him, and you can cut his ligaments. Then all we have to do is drag him back to town and we are rich. Think of all that money Kalick. We could spend a year at the Flipped Petticoat and never have to take another contract again,” replied Avish as they pushed open the wooden gate of Crok’s Landing.
“If it’s going to be that easy, why the additional muscle? Also why so much gold? Something smells off. You know my instincts have served us well time and again. We are missing something,” added Kalick skeptically.
“You worry too much. There is a Gnome that runs the tavern in town, and he owes me a favor. We’ll just ask him if anyone matching that description has come through lately,” Avish replied dismissively.
“What are the chances this tavern owner has actually seen him?” asked Kalick.
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Deacon sat against the wall leaning his head back. It’s been awhile since he had time to just relax. The rain was still coming down outside and wondered if it would ever stop. At this point they’d been camped out in here for half a day. He was getting restless and so were some of the others. Hani started juggling some objects he found on the ground before Deacon ended up using Polterheist to snatch them out of the air causing Hani’s rhythm to falter. Then there was a tug of war as Hani used some telekinesis ability to grab one of the objects from Deacon. That resulted in the empty bottle shattering and getting glass shards to tinkle between the gaps in the steel grated floor. Both Hani and Deacon laughed.
Typhus on the other hand was furiously mumbling to himself about strategies. Once in a while Amanda would confer with him placing a dagger on the ground and pushing stones around it to indicate guard movements. All of this just made Deacon bored. He eventually decided to check on Alfred. The dungeon cylinder floated up out of Deacon’s bag to hover in front of him. There was one side of the green and black cylinder that looked like it was repairing itself. Exposed green light glowed from it as patches of black metal appeared to cover certain spaces.
“Are you alright Alfred?” Deacon asked with a look of concern on his face.
“I’m operating at about eighty percent dimensional stability. I was unaware such damage could be done from the outside. We’ll need to recover the conduits from Philo’s workshop to truly understand why. For now I recommend not setting me up in less than ideal environments,” replied Alfred speaking softly and distracted.
“We needed time to plan, so thank you for that. I’ll do my best to be more considerate in the future,” said Deacon apologetically.
“No worries. I’m glad I could help. Where are we?” Alfred asked as his cube floated in a slow circle taking in the stone walls of the ancient emergency exit.
“That’s a complex story,” giggled Hani, amused at his own wordplay.
“Just above the construction facility. We’re trying to wait out the storm, but I think everyone getting a little restless. If you were feeling fine, I was going to suggest setting up in here. Given your current condition, I’m going to go with option number two,” announced Deacon.
“Which is?” asked Hani.
“We use Tantus’s device to get to the sink hole and I spark up my new ability. Samhain mentioned it’ll construct the gate from the materials present. I’m hoping it’ll close the hole, which I assume is filled with mud at this point and provide us with a way to Iron Mountain Plateau. I don’t know about all of you, but I want to get out of this rain and I’m tired of sitting here,” Deacon explained as he stood up and turned toward the door.
“What have we told you about using newly learned abilities?” Amanda asked scowling.
“I will go out there alone and try. You guys can come join me if nothing bad happens,” responded Deacon with hand on the door.
“Don’t you want to wait for the Ambulator?” Tantus asked mid assembly.
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“I won’t be needing it,” Deacon replied as he went transparent and ghosted through the door.
This was an oddly new sensation for Deacon. He could feel each individual rain drop as it passed through his body. It was different from water splashing onto skin. It was more like being Jello himself as the space he occupied was displaced by small drops of liquid. Ever since coming here he noticed all these strange sensations. Back home every day was mostly the same except for the special occasions. It was wake up, go to work, go home and sleep. Wash, rinse, repeat.
He found himself standing before hole they all fell down hours ago. It probably had six yard diameter. There were no sounds coming from below but there was in fact water reaching three quarters of the way back up the hole. That was fine. It was a complete disaster down there anyway. Deacon hoped he’d never have to go back in there. He wondered if he could use his Haunted Crafters title to create a stone cap over this thing. Unfortunately, the only materials around were other people’s gravestones. Deacon moved around to the other side of the whole that was facing the woods. He looked down and noticed he was standing in a deep puddle. No that wasn’t right, he was standing on a deep puddle. That’s when he remembered the special property of the sandals he was wearing. They were sandals of water walking. He grinned to himself as he hopped back and forth from one foot to the other. Recovering his focus he straightened up and held out his hands triggering Grave Walker.
At first nothing happened. Then he noticed a blinking icon from his slate. He focused in on it and a list popped up in his vision. It was a list of three locations. Iron Mountain Plateau, The Crystal Cascade, and The Wicked’s Tomb. He did not recognize that last location. Then he remembered his arrival in this world. He popped out of a sarcophagus. That must have been this Wicked’s tomb. He filed that information for later exploration. Deacon mentally chose Iron Mountain Plateau.
In front of him the water began to swirl as the mud and stone that made up the outer layer of the sinkhole began to circle like a gyroscope. All three substances spun on their own axis in a circle with an empty space in the middle. They all stopped in an upright position layered on top of each other. Then the interior of the three circles began to glow green. Ghostly hands attached to transparent and wispy arms reached out from the center. The began to pull at the edges of reality revealing a familiar site through the roughly twenty foot wide circle. It was the above ground cemetery on the south side of Iron Mountain Plateau. Specifically the same area he fought his first Vasilly Lord.
Deacon whooped in delight at the site of dry patches of earth and gravestones covered in dust. He leaned his head around the circular gateway to yell for the others and frowned as a throwing axe sprouted from the top of his right shoulder. It had a dull glow that must have been an enchantment otherwise there would have been no reason for the pain Deacon was currently feeling. He ducked to avoid anymore thrown weapons and looked around. He could hear a splash behind him letting him know he avoided a second weapon. There were two incredibly dry people in the direction of town. One of them was returning to a normal stance after a right handed throw. Then someone in a cloak entered Deacons aura from his right side diving in for a tackle. He slipped right through Deacon launching himself into the portal on Deacon’s left side.
Taking a second to see his health bar had dropped by thirty percent, Deacon carefully angled his hand toward the throwing axe hoping to give it the slightest touch. The weapon shot out of his shoulder with a spray of green blood. That made Deacon wince in pain as his health dropped another ten percent. Then two more robbed people attacked. They smashed their weapons into each other as Deacon side stepped to avoid another enchanted wound. He needn’t have bothered as both assailants smashed their weapons into other as they attempted to pincer him. Deacon fell into a fighting stance using Monkey style kung fu. He snapped his right fist out hitting one fighter in the head sending him cartwheeling end over end into the sinkhole. Deacon followed that up with a sweep kick that took the other off his feet, but before the body hit the ground, he brought his left knee up in a jump burying it deep in his opponents solar plexus. Ther was a strained gasp before the body went limp. Then he heard feet splashing though puddles, only they were headed away from him back toward the town. Deacon had a notification from his slate, but he ignored it. There were still two more very dry people he needed to deal with.
“Did he just take out three warriors with a handful of blows?” asked Kalick.
“They were supposed to be fodder anyway. My spell is ready, prepare yourself,” Avish replied.
As soon as Avish finished talking the air around his target condensed into shafts of blue sparkles that collapsed around it. Kalick took out another axe and stepped out of the protection of Avish’s barrier toward their target effectively walking into a curtain of rain. When he was within five feet of the ice and the glowing portal, he heard a voice speaking to him.
“Who in the ten hells are you?” asked the voice.
“Who said that?” questioned Kalick as his target stepped around the ice block completely unharmed with the exception of the wound on his shoulder.
“I’m asking the questions, dumb ass. Now what—” Deacon began before a mudball five feet around broke against him. The magic attack just sloughed off his body. The guy holding the axe was dumbfounded.
This was all followed by a blue and white bolt of lighting that crashed down atop the mages shield. There was popping sound and the mage went down to one knee. The axe wielders eyes went wide as a knife appeared at his neck and Jester came skipping through the mud around the other side of the portal.
“Drop the weapon you poor excuse for a Tuskaxe,” Typhus said tapping another knife at the axe wielders kidneys.
Amanda had disarmed the mage’s staff and was binding his hands. Tantus was standing over the unconscious robed enemy and Hani saved another from drowning in the water pit before tying him up.
“Answer the man’s question,” Typhus said after he dropped his axe.
“We’re bounty hunters. This is just a job. No reason to get all stabby,” answered Kalick.
Typhus gathered the prisoners together and took their weapons. Leaving them tied up in the rain to a wrought iron fence. The others were camped out under Tantus’s ambulator to stay out of the rain a few feet in front of Deacon’s portal.
“Well according to Typhus’s intel they weren’t supposed to send out bounty hunters for another day or so. Go figure,” Hani said bouncing on his heels.
“None of this matters. We should resupply at the Plateau and come back ready and able. I can not sit around any longer,” added Amanada teeth chattering from the cold.
“Agreed. Typhus, let’s go,” Deacon called out.
“I’m staying. I need to do some things here and I don’t think I can maintain my link to my shadow self that far away. I’ll get everything ready for the next steps here. Meet down by the beach in two days. Got it?” Typhus asked.
“Got it,” responded Deacon as he turned to everyone else and headed toward his gateway. As Tantus stepped through to the other side the rain finally began to slow down. The others went through, and Deacon was the last. Before stepping through he turned back to Typhus giving him a curt head nod that was given in turn.