- 101 -
The cave was pitch black.
The mercenaries sounded off confirming they were all present.
“Alright everyone.” John said striking a torch.
The torch showed a 20 meter sphere of cave floor. The ceiling of the cave was just visible in the gloom.
“Pass me a few of those Brother.” Another John said and lit the torches as he caught them. He passed one each to William and Krag and then brought the third to Isabella.
“Will the stone keep out the swarm?” Marcus asked as he tied their Garnts together near the entrance. “We saved all our beasts, but if the swarm breaks through then we would not have anywhere to run.”
“We will secure the perimeter.” The captain said. “Make sure there’s no other ways for the monsters to get in.”
The mercenaries spread out to place torches of their own and expand the bubble of light.
I can’t believe we all made it. I could barely see twenty feet in front of my beak in the thickest part of that swarm. 2100 exp in a few minutes of fighting for my life and there’s still no end to that swarm.
Drew selected the next upgrade for his gathering ring.
Soul Bound Object Upgrade: [Gathering Ring] 8000 Yes/No?
He received a new slot this time, which brought his ring’s capacity up to seven stacks of seven items.
“Anyone need healing?” Drew asked as he flew to check on Damien. He touched the enchanter’s calf and nothing happened.
No notifications. So my healing ability doesn’t work on a mana backlash headache.
“Vaylari and Hemut have a few scratches.” Pegg said.
“I’ll be right there.” Drew replied.
“Wait! The enchanter is out cold.” Pegg said. “How is his familiar talking?”
Hemut shrugged and Vaylari sat down on a flat-ish outcropping of stone.
“I’m not his familiar.” Drew said landing near Vaylari and grasping her hand with his claw to activate his healing abilities.
“Then what?” Pegg huffed. “Are you some kind of Demon? Because I don’t fool around with Demons.”
Thrain and Krag finished taking stock of their wagon and started setting up their bed rolls.
“John! Take a look at this.” A John shouted from deeper in the cave. “That fresh water spring is an old fountain.”
John, Marcus, and Isabella were checking that things didn’t come untied from their storage wagon.
“In a minute brother, quite a few things have fallen out.” He replied.
“Who tied these knots?” Isabella asked incredulously. “They are terrible.”
Minor Wounds: 5/5 Removed. 65 exp.
“Who cares Pegg.” Vaylari said flexing her healed arm. “His healing spells work great. And anyways, don’t you think Demons can’t use healing magic?”
Unconvinced, Peg stomped around in a frustrated circle.
Hemut offered his hand to Drew and the Skurr clasped it to activate his healing spells.
“Well if he can think and talk like a demon then he’s been spying on us!” Pegg accused. “Evesdropping!”
“I was not spying on you. I’ve got better things to do with my time you know.”
“Wut wyrd is Hemut think’n?” Hemut asked Drew.
Minor Wounds: 9/9 Removed. 95 exp.
“I can talk, not read minds.” Drew said.
Hemut grunted his appreciation.
“So do you want to be healed or not?” Drew asked down his beak at Pegg.
“I’ll sleep on it, thank you very much.” Pegg said.
“Drew! Is Damien alright?” A John asked.
“Yeah he just needs to rest a bit longer.” Drew said
Drew left the ranchers to talk amongst themselves and flew past the enchanter.
If I could move him onto a blanket I would but I can’t lift anything that heavy with Mage Hand.
He flew over to join the three brothers at the fountain.
“It happens all the time to spell-casters.” Isabella said.
Drew alighted on the old crumbling fountain and got a notification.
Hero’s Quest: Save Exylandria: Goblins have cornered her in her home and have over run the great cavern. Hero! You are the only one who can help me! Accept Y/N?
“Whoa whoa! Guys!” Drew said. “There are goblins attacking someone. We have to help.”
“Where?” John asked drawing his Bow. “Captain! Defend the wagons. We have goblins!”
The Captain hollered to his men and the Mercenaries scrambled back from the corners of the cave to post up a shield wall.
“What’s happening?” William asked, and he dragged his suit case over to the fountain.
“Where are the goblins?” Marcus cried, and he scrambled behind the mercenaries shield wall.
“I recieved a quest to save someone named Exylandria. She is in danger.” Drew said.
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“Spread out men. See if you can find tracks or evidence of goblins passing through.” The captain said. “Drew can you share the quest screen with me?”
Drew tried to send it mentally but the quest screen blinked stubbornly instead.
Accept Y/N?
“It wont let me share the quest.” Drew said. “Might be because I haven’t accepted it yet.”
“Thats strange, I must not be eligible.” The captain said. “Don’t accept it just yet until we know more.”
“She must be somewhere deep in the caves is all.” John said. “Skurr likely have a longer range since they are scavengers.”
It’s actually my Hero Trait, but I cannot tell them that.
“What’s going on?” Pegg asked. The three ranchers circled around to see the commotion on their side of the fountain. “Are we going to be attacked by goblins or not?”
“Is yet dinner time?” Hemut asked.
“Forget about food right now.” Vaylari said. “I’ll get you a meal once we survive this mess.”
The captain and John turned to acknowledge a mercenary that was returning from deeper in the cave.
“No sign of goblins deeper in the cave.” The captain said when he returned to the group by the fountain. “Let’s build a perimeter and prep a quick meal.”
-
Drew flew off to forage around the cave and give the three ranchers space to talk.
They already accused me of spying on them, I better to not actually do it. They need to figure out what to do next, and they may have lost everyone they know.
Drew checked over his gathering ring and there were two empty slots available. The rest were full of health or mana potions. The last slot was nearly full of stones he had picked up here and there to throw from the air during fights. The tactic had proven to be effective for him and now that he had the space, he had started collecting them again.
He scratched at a stone with his claw and it was easily damaged so he dropped it and moved on.
Too soft, not going to be any precious gems or metals in there.
But it did not distract his mind from wandering back to the strange quest.
What’s up with this quest? It’s a hero’s quest. So is it only for a hero? Or was it created by a hero from before?
A sharp edge of stone peaked his interest and he hopped over to where the shape was buried in the ground. It was a stone rod little more than an inch in diameter.
Huh, seems like it’s not a natural rock formation.
Drew used his claws to uncover the object. It was cracked in the middle but it would have been about a half meter long all together.
This has got to be something right?
A quest prompt did not pop up so Drew shrugged and dug at it for another minute and exposed it some more.
“Find something Drew?” William asked.
“Yeah maybe.” Drew said. “Can you bring a torch and some water?”
Let’s clean this up and get a better look at what ever it is.
The blacksmith brought over a cup of water and one of the torches. He hunkered down beside the bird.
“Oh it looks like a stone scroll.” William said. “Elvish? Here, wash it off, there should be words carved into it.”
He poured the water from the cup slowly over the rod and the dirt and dust washed away, revealing strange carved letters packed with decades of grit.
“Awesome!” Drew said. “You were right let’s see what it says.”
“Well it’s broken, it will not work unless we can get it repaired.” William said and poured out the last of the water from his cup over the rod.
“We can try mending it. How are they made? Obviously there is lots of carving stone involved, and I have some skill there. But what else? It’s possible I can fix it with my mending and carving kits.”
Dang if Damien was awake he would know. Maybe Thrain has seen one of these before?
“That’s about what it would take. If I recall, I saw an Elvish priest use one once to prepare for a speech. Someone had stored a speech in the stone rod and he was able to quickly watch them perform. I’ve been told it’s like dreaming at a rapid speed. I’m certain there is some enchantment involved too.”
“That would be a cool trick.” Drew said.
An enchantment that would create a dream? This might be some master level work. Will I get a nev level in mending? Or maybe enchanting?.
The water had done its work and Drew was able to wiggle free the two halves of the rod from the ground.
Drew picked the two halves up and turned them over in his claws.
Such strange writing, but it looks familiar. If I could Mend it I could check the enchantment. What materials would I need? What tools? An adhesive perhaps?
“Lets get this back to Maggie and see what tools she has. I think I can Mend this.”
-
Drew tinkered away with a wire brush and a thin nail. He was working to get the grit out of the stone rod and prepare it for some paste that Maggie lent him. She kept it on hand to mount sharp stones to stakes or palisades. His Hero Quest hovered in the back of his mind.
Accept Y/N?
It’s got to be a quest for me, I’m the only hero around. But it feels off, like that Area Quest from back at the base of the mountains. More trouble than it is worth.
He cleaned out a few more of the words on the stone scroll.
The quest details have not changed this whole time, if this is a message from a smart beast then it’s a safe bet that the situation is stable, or wouldn’t the quest text shift?
Accept Y/N?
If I accept the quest I may be able to find out more about it. Then I could share the details with the captain. What if our group is in danger?
“William, Have you ever heard of anyone named Exylandria?” Drew asked.
“Sounds Elvish.” William said.
The three ranchers were still hanging around the old fountain, and Pegg was getting restless. He passed close to William’s suit crate and gave it a long look.
“Hey! What’s in this crate?” He called out.
William rushed over to deter him from opening it.
What an obnoxious guy.
With the last of the carvings on the stone rod cleared, he started applying the paste to the broken ends. Initial test fitting had revealed that a few fragments were missing but there were enough facets on each half of the break that matched up for him to be able tell how the rod lined up correctly.
Hero’s Quest: Save Exylandria: Goblins have cornered her in her home and have over run the great cavern. Hero! You are the only one who can help me!
Drew put down the tools to let the paste set and read the quest again.
Why not?
He selected yes.
Hero’s Quest: Save Exylandria: Reveal the entrance to the dungeon. 0/1.
“Damien! Guys? How bad is it if there is a dungeon nearby?” Drew asked.
-
“There’s not a dungeon on the map anywhere.” John said as he and his brother stared at a map of Ressalia.
“Alright Drew. Let me get this strait.” The captain said. “You got a quest to find a dungeon in this cave and save an elf named Exylandria from goblins?”
“Yes that’s everything.” Drew said.
“Alright. And the Johns are saying there is not a dungeon anywhere near here.” He replied.
“And I have never heard of an elvish dungeoneer named Exylandria.” Isabella said.
Damien and Thrain were sitting at a camping table surrounded by torches. The Dwarf was sipping an ale and the Enchanter was having a snack and a glass of water. When
Drew asked him about his mana headache Damien had grunted and waved him off, asking to be left alone.
“Don’t you see!” Pegg cried. “This is a new dungeon. If we can find the entrance then we can register it with the guild and we’d get first rights to loot.”
“We could build a new dungeon town.” Vaylari said thoughtfully. “No more roving.”
Hemut smiled.
“I don’t know.” Drew said. If this elf is trapped in there then wouldn’t she get the claim?”
“Oh ho! You can talk but you don’t know how the world works.” Pegg said confidently. “You have to register it with the guild to get the claim.”
“We should rescue her and then she would split it with us.” William said,
Drew set the two pieces of the stone rod together with the paste and held them together while he listened to the group debate how to proceed.
“We should explore deeper in the cave. There must be a way that this system connects to the dungeon.” John said.
“There could be goblins we should move in large groups.” His brother replied.
The quest says ‘reveal’. Does that mean the entrance is hidden? I bet a gold piece that it’s near the fountain. That’s where i got the quest in the first place.
The Johns and Isabella geared up to explore he cave. The three brothers strung their bows, strapped some stout knives to their belts, and donned some leather jerkins.
Three of the mercenaries set out a perimeter around the wagons and the group’s garnts. The other three and the captain geared up to explore deeper into the cave.
New Item: Enchanted Stone Rod (Damaged) 575 exp.
The paste has set. I’ll work on repairing the enchantment later. Nice that I got exp for partially fixing it. Will I get bonus exp when I fix the enchantment?
“Just put the armor on and come with us.” Pegg groaned at William.
“It’s not for me. It’s for my blacksmith exam. I can’t ruin it.” William said.
“Then you are going to sit on your butt at camp then?” Pegg said.
“What about saving the elven maiden and sharing the claim on the dungeon?” Vaylari said.
“I, I can’t.” William said and slumped down on the fountain beside his crate of armor.
Poor kid.
Drew flew over to the fountain and spoke up.
“Leave him be.” Drew said. “This armor is for a king.”
“Ha! What king would wear an apprentice’s armor?” Pegg scoffed.
“We will enchant it into something a King can use!” Drew said confidently stepping forwards and glaring up Pegg. Drew scuffed some of the scale and dust from the fountain for emphasis.
New Quest: Puzzling: Strange Symbols II. (1%)
What? Another enchantment somewhere?
“Bold words for a bird!” Pegg said squaring up for a fight.
“Quit arguing with a bird. You look like a madman.” Vaylari said.
“No I don’t think you get it. Look what he’s done. He got us alone without any witnesses.” Pegg said pointing to the empty cave. The Johns and Half the Mercenaries were nowhere in sight.
“Dorf N Ork.” Hemut said, pointing at Krag and Thrain.
Drew stepped back and looked down at the fountain he was crouching on. He scratched to expose more of the strange script.
New Quest: Puzzling: Strange Symbols II. (21%)
There are enchantments carved on here in elvish!
“His friends I’m sure.” Pegg said and turned to point at William. “This guy doesn’t count too.”
“Sir,” William said and stood to put himself between the rancher and Drew. “You need to calm down.”
“No you see he’s not a familiar, and he’s manipulating this whole group.” Pegg drew his short sword and pointed it at Drew. “He’s a demon isn’t he.”