Eight Era, cycle 1720 – cycle of the lost sheep, season of Unkh, day 287
Rui tapped his staff on the ground and considered the temple that lay before him. The trap he’d been stuck in the day before was cunning; he hadn’t even noticed it until he’d been stuck inside it. If there was another trap similar to that one, he didn’t fancy his chances of exploring this lost city and escaping.
Rui used his doppelganger spell. It was one of his favourite spells, used in combination with stealth and far sight, but he’d found himself growing more and more reliant on it, to the point where some of his stats were starting to decrease, and so he’d been trying to wean himself off it.
Reassured by his favourite combination of spells, Rui strode forwards and into the blatantly trapped temple.
The temple’s inside made up for the bland-looking city; every inch of it had carvings or mosaics, or was gilded with rare metals. The temple would have been garish if the rest of the city wasn’t so plain. For Rui, this was incredibly exciting, as most gnomes were isolationists or naturists, it meant that their architecture such as this was rare.
Rui examined it; there was more of the strange writing interlaced with pictures of gnomes in various states of prestigious, noble or dramatic moments. Rui tried to use his high language stats to read the language.
Attempt to read gnomish script failed
Rui scratched his lip, made a few notes of the letters he recognised or thought he half-understood, and looked for patterns in the common, cursive parts of the writing (gnomish being more similar to Arabic than the Latin script common in Europe) in an attempt to decipher the language. He also looked at what the pictures were depicting and tried to match up words on different pictures in an attempt to guess their meaning. Rui flipped back through his journal and compared the writing over the arch to that describing the pictures.
If the convention rang true, then the more prominent script was a proper noun, so that gave the name of the character depicted; there were repeated words, so presumably those would be things such as “and”, “the”, “to”, etc. Rui’s language skill allowed him to treat it as a kind of mini game, and a list of possible words were imposed next to the gnomish script.
When Rui was happy, he made an educated guess at the words missing from the sentence. It read: “Mogal and his familiar, Yun.”
The guess was based on a fairy tale that wyild gnomes had of a gnome keeping a phoenix as a familiar.
New language acquired: dzedka written
Congratulations, you have discovered an extinct race: dzedka
The dzedka race appears to be the progenitor of all gnomes. Continue to explore to discover what became of this ancient race.
You have chosen not to be made aware of experience points.
Rui punched the air in excitement at the knowledge that might be hidden here. He swallowed, as the potential for discovering such an ancient secret was making him salivate.
There was a shattered boulder, which must have been 7 feet in diameter, next to a large entrance corridor. Rui inspected the boulder; it looked like it had been a perfect circle before something had struck it and shattered it. But Rui had already known something massive had passed through before him, and now he knew they’d both ventured into the temple.
The pathway was lit by simple wooden torches; Rui studied the torches and noticed the traces of mana. So, they were magic lights with a torch placed tactfully to make it seem like the torches were burning. Now he knew what to look for the flames didn’t perfectly match the torches.
Rui passed a carved archway and stopped to read the writing around it: ‘None may pass whilst Mizaru watches.’
Rui frowned; it sounded like a warning.
The path opened, and a large room with an archway at the back lay before Rui. He looked around at the statues; some of them he recognised, but many he didn’t, and Rui was curious to study them. He stepped forwards and read the names of the statues, fascinated by the array of characters on display. Then a thought occurred to him, and he looked around for a statue of Mizaru and found it sitting on the halfway point of the room, looking across from one side to the other and splitting the room in half. Yet the statue of Mizaru, which usually depicted Mizaru covering its eyes, was shown looking out across the room with large holes instead of eyes.
‘“None may pass whilst Mizaru watches”?’ Rui muttered, looking at the statue and thinking.
He snuck up to the statue and stood close to it before stretching out his arm and waving it in front of Mizaru’s eyes. There was a solid clunk, and the floor dropped away. Rui had anticipated this, and was holding onto a statue and smiled to himself. He looked around and down, and spotted large spikes covering the floor and a large creature skewered in the trap. The large creature that broke the lights, Rui assumed. The creature must have been 7.5 if not 8 foot tall. Its four arms and two legs were like tubes; they didn’t look muscled, but moulded from clay.
Suddenly, Rui nearly let go of the statue; the creature had made a sound! It had seven thick spikes jutting out of various places on its body, five through its chest, and it was alive! He watched it blearily open its eyes and struggle vainly to move. Rui felt a pang of sympathy, and wondered if he should put it out of its misery.
It made a noise and started to close its eyes before spotting Rui. It made another noise as it focused on Rui, and locked its eyes on him. Rui frowned; the creature made another noise, and Rui felt his body run cold from foot to head. The way it was acting and the noises it made had Rui thinking that the creature was communicating with him.
‘Are you… are you sentient?’ Rui called out in the common tongue; he couldn’t kill a sentient creature to put it out of its misery.
The creature watched Rui and made another noise; Rui switched languages to something more bestial: a language that used hand movements as well as words, although Rui could only use the words at present. Rui switched again; the creatures lower jaw was made of a smooth, curved bone or something, and it had no lips, so Rui was trying languages that were more grunts than words.
‘You are a pazuzu?’ the creature questioned.
Rui once more nearly let go of the statue. ‘No, no, I am not, but I have spent some time in their clan and learned a little of their speech,’ Rui said, or hoped he said; it had been a while since speaking the language, and it was hard to speak it without a beak.
‘You trap, come to kill?’ the creature asked.
‘This isn’t my trap; I was… well, just passing. If I could help you out, would you survive?’
The creature gave out a deafening cry, some of the metal spikes groaned, and – with a horrible sucking noise that Rui didn’t think he would ever forget – the creature pulled an arm free from being impaled.
‘Stupid question,’ Rui said to himself.
Blood poured out of the wound, down the creature’s arm and pooled on the floor, quickly growing and spreading. As Rui contemplated how to free the creature, the blood slowed and stopped.
‘You’re, er, rather resilient,’ Rui declared in his own language.
‘My name is Rui; Rui. I shall help. What is your name?’ Rui enquired, trying to pronounce the difficult language of the pazuzu.
The creature made a sound like ‘Tayo’.
Rui used his share-inertia spell on the statue of Mizaru, and threw a rope to Tayo. It grabbed the rope with a thick hand and pulled itself free from the thick spikes puncturing its body. The statue groaned, and Rui eyed it uneasily. He decided to swap statues as it continued to make noises. The statue was ripped free from the floor suddenly and flung through the air, smacking Tayo in the face and nearly taking Rui with it. Tayo grunted as the statue shattered against his face, and grabbed onto one of the iron spikes to stop from falling back onto a spike.
‘Sorry!’ Rui called to Tayo.
Rui clambered from statue to statue, looping each one with inertia until he was able to scramble through the archway leading to the next chamber. He braced a foot against each leg of the arch, and called to Tayo. Tayo pulled until he was free from the spikes, and then looked up at Rui.
‘Yes?’ Rui called, curious.
With one bound, Tayo jumped the 12-foot drop, ignoring the rope.
Rui was impressed and used his passive-identification spell on Rui.
Name: Tayo Brickhouse
Race: bestia
Genus: ogreoid/tollock hybrid
The bestia are considered to be little more than abominations and are considered to be a class II threat; most cultures have a kill on sight policy. The bestia were created by the elves in retaliation to the common races creating the orcs. Despite the power of the elves, the bestia were the elves front-line unit.
The bestia use their mana to subsidise their immense appetite; because of their augmentation, bestia are immensely strong and can regenerate health at an alarming rate, yet have little more appetite than most other species. Most effects causing damage over time, such as poisons and bleed, have little to no effect on bestia, and – due to their recovery ability – effects such as burn, intoxicants and frozen have little impact. The best method to kill one is to skewer it through each eye with a claymore driven in to the hilt.
Draw the bestia for good measure – and decapitate it.
Mount its head on a spike, and remove the organs from the body.
Burn it all; if you chose to bury it, it is recommended that you bury it deep and place a large rock on top. Perhaps a mountain.
Despite the fact that most races consider the bestia to be abominations, it didn’t stop them from using the bestia in the battle against the Plague King. Due to the prolonged warfare and the inhospitable conditions that the bestia were forced to fight in, most of the bestia were eradicated. It was believed fewer than five bestia survived the war, and none of them were allowed to leave the quarantine zone.
Little is known about bestia villages; before the elves were driven back, the bestia were kept like pets, and they were largely kept in cages afterwards. Stories have spread about bestia villages, but there has been little to no interest and the information was lost quickly.
Class: B
Level: 46
State: curious
Health 260/17,260, stamina 280/25,090, mana unknown
The first 3 gates are opened, and the first 4 shen points activated.
Bestiary increased
Congratulations, you have discovered a rare race: bestia
Bestia, the word from which we get the word ‘beasts’, as the race was so feared that even their name made it into common parlance. Perhaps you haven’t done the world a favour in rediscovering this lost race?
‘You are stranger,’ Tayo said.
‘No, I know myself quite well, in fact,’ responded Rui.
Tayo blinked and looked at Rui.
‘We have not seen your race for a long time, Tayo; have you travelled far?’ Rui asked.
‘Yes, much travel; much seeking,’ replied Tayo.
‘Seeking; what do you seek?’
‘Trophies; become chieftain I must have trophies. Trophies from powerful creatures,’ Tayo said.
‘So what made you enter this place?’
‘Smell; powerful creature lurks here. You?’
‘Curiosity.’
‘I have questions,’ Tayo stated as they walked down a winding staircase.
‘Good for you; an active mind is the first step towards enlightenment, or at least en-bafflement.’
They continued in silence; Tayo was confused by Rui mannerisms. Not that Rui thought Tayo was stupid; Rui suspected it was more of a language barrier. After all, neither of them were speaking their native tongue, and – although Tayo had a bone lower jaw, which was similar to a flat beak – it was still the wrong shape for the pazuzu language, so not only were they both communicating in a second language, but neither of them could properly articulate their words.
‘Dead thing,’ Tayo said, sniffing loudly.
‘How far?’ Rui asked, unconcerned.
‘Bottom; smelled for a while. Bones.’
As they reached the bottom of the spiral staircase, they could see that a little alcove under the stairs housed a ragged blanket, lantern, scraps of rotten food and, as Tayo had said, a skeleton.
‘It looks in good shape,’ Rui disclosed, bending down to look. ‘Almost like someone’s cleaned the bones and laid them out. What do you think, Tayo?’
‘Male, human, adult, no deposed; smell scarabs,’ offered Tayo.
‘Deposed? He didn’t decompose; maybe the scarabs ate his flesh? I see; that would explain the cleanness. Any idea how long ago?’
Tayo sniffed and then shrugged. ‘Long time; some years.’
Rui bent down, moved the skeleton’s hand and picked up a twine-bound journal. He took a look, and this is what it said:
Dearest Elsie,
Sorry I haven’t written sooner, but you always were better than me at keeping in touch.
I have found it. How long have we waited for this day? I am so close that I can almost taste the closure; it tastes of dry dust and stale blood. But that could just be the taste of the food!
He’s in an old catacombs; the graveyard has long since gone. The locals dug up all the graves, burned the remains, broke the tombstones up and used them to seal up the entrance. Then the city fell in some sort of catastrophe, but I was able to determine the location of the lost city from old text. He’s in there; I’ve traced him this far and I’m confident.
I’m heading in tomorrow. Wish me luck, Elsie, and, yes, I’ll be careful.
Day 2
I found a strange lake at the precise location of the gnomish city Scznia. I haven’t been able to post the last message, so I’m writing on the back of it. I found the entrance, right where I said it was, and I was able to sneak in. Mam must have used her cloak of levitation; at least we know Pa didn’t steal it. Fortunately for me, I was able to summon Quickclaw to fly me down.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
There were some strange creatures in the first room, but they seemed half-starved. The traps here are elaborate but simplistic; they had a dropping floor trap! Even Pa would have been able to get past that.
I don’t stand much hope of finding Mam any more; I’m sure she came this way and, for a find this significant, well, we would have heard something.
Perhaps she’s with you?
If I find anything, I’ll write a book about the forgotten gnomish origins. I’ll name it after you, okay?
Day 3
There’s some sort of guardian up ahead; a golem of some sort, if I had to guess. I wish I’d studied that beast-i-ar-y… beast-ur-ie… What are golems’ weaknesses? Water or ice?
I might be able to use the environment to help – it’s big and the room isn’t – plus, I think I can just cast spells at it from a different room. It looks too large to fit through the archways between rooms. I can make a few puddles to cast lightning into, and use black ice, remember that? You always got me with that spell! I would be strutting around, thinking I’m king of the world, and BLAM! I fall flat on my arse.
I miss you, sis.
Day 4
Today’s the day; I’ve got the traps all sorted. Deep breaths.
Wish me luck?
Okay.
Speak to you on the other side.
He got me, sis; I can feel my life spilling out of me.
It was going so well; I had him at half-life. He stepped on the ice and slipped, and I got his keystone good, but then these little bastards came out.
I got it good through the gut.
I’m sorry I failed you and failed mother.
At least I’ll get to see you both soon; real soon.
Luv,
‘What’s it say?’ Tayo asked.
‘There’s a golem up ahead and some lesser grunts. Looks like a mini-boss room,’ replied Rui.
‘Little boss? Like watchman?’
‘Very much so; yes.’
Tayo grunted. ‘Father is watchman for river,’ he said.
‘Really, do you have many watchmen?’ Rui asked.
‘One for each entrance.’
‘Do you get many people trying to enter your homelands?’
‘No. Most are monsters. I have question.’
‘Feel free, my fine friend,’ Rui declared.
‘I have quest. Why? Where come from? What purpose?’
‘Ah, let me guess. You must find someone to give the note to, so they can know what happened to their family?’ Rui said.
‘More or less,’ Tayo grunted.
‘Yes, the gods particularly like that type of quest.’
‘Did you get quest?’
‘No, I am part of a mystic order and I can only get a quest from the abbot. What were your other questions? Ah, yes, “Where do they come from?” Well, it is believed they come from the gods; however, as people who have no affiliation with any one god can get quests, this theory isn’t fully accepted. Personally, I think there is a quest god, a natural god, who is neutral to any faction or group. As for “What purpose?” Well, again this is debatable; mostly, they seem to understand your own goals and align to them somehow. Again, it is uncertain why this happens. Perhaps the quest god feeds off the strong somehow? Or, more worryingly, perhaps there is a need for a powerful warrior to complete some hidden quest or final endpoint. Personally, I hope I am not alive to see that day.’
They entered the mini-boss room; it was an empty room with a stone wall blocking the exit arch and a large stone statue sitting in an alcove built into the centre of the room. The statue was of a humanoid male, with its face stuck mid-snarl and its body in peak physical condition.
‘Be careful, Tayo; this will be the golem that killed… I don’t think he left a name.’
The creature’s eyes filled with a burning light, and it grabbed the sides of the alcove and pulled itself to its feet. It took a step forwards before focusing on the two intruders.
Race: stone guardian
Genus: golemoid
Class: D
Level: 35
State: active
Health 8,000/8,000, stamina 7,000/7,000, mana 1,000/1,000
Guardians are simple constructions; keep away from what they are protecting, and they will keep away from you. Most guardians will even disengage from fighting if you move far enough away from what they are tasked to protect. As such, a hit-and-run tactic is often your best approach.
Most golems have weak points, which are the keystones that channel and store their power. Places where golems have joints – such as elbows, knees, shoulders on humanoid golems – are where the keystones are placed typically, because they must be placed before the construct has cooled, but after it has been baked.
If attacked, the golem will activate; however, if you have attacked them from a significant distance, they will be unable to spot you, and if you have an extreme-range specialist in your group, you can rack up some incredibly easy experience points.
Lastly, beware pools of mana. Golems can heal from absorbing some types of mana.
The guardian charged at Rui, Tayo took one step forwards and swung a fist at the guardian, which hit it like a cannon ball and punched a hole through it. His fist hit with so much force that it created a hole through the guardian that was several inches larger than Tayo’s fist.
‘Well,’ Rui said brushing rock dust off his clothes, ‘that was anticlimactic.’
As if the gods heard, a spear appeared, protruding through Rui’s head like a third eye. Rui’s eyes crossed as they tried to focus on it, then they softened, and the light that lit them faded as he collapsed to the floor.
Tayo grunted and sniffed; he kicked the body of Rui and waited.
‘That’s not a nice way to treat my corpse,’ Rui declared, appearing at the entrance of the room as the dead doppelganger dissolved.
‘No smell, no heartbeat, no alive,’ confirmed Tayo.
‘You can hear heartbeats?’ Rui asked.
‘Yes, this you is real.’
‘Yes, I like to use a doppelganger, just in case something untoward should happen,’ Rui said, walking over to the golem and searching it for loot.
‘This was not the creature; it smells different,’ Tayo confirmed.
‘Creature? Oh, you mean the monster that bought you down here? Yes, well, this was a mini boss; you’re probably after the main boss. There are usually a few of these smaller bosses around. I tend to sneak past them, but your method worked as well,’ Rui explained, pulling a disk from the golem’s chest and turning it over. ‘Did you know the gnomish word for “unseal” is “seal” written upside down?’
Tayo didn’t respond and instead watched in silence as Rui walked over to the sealed exit arch and placed the disk against the wall. The symbol on the disk flared, the rune activated on the sealed arch, and the stone melted away. Tayo walked up to the golem, and the glowing crystal was revealed inside it. With a grunt Tayo, ripped out the crystal and examined it before lifting it to his mouth and eating it. He had no teeth, just a flat bar like a rind of a watermelon, and the crystal shattered in his mouth as he ate.
Uses mana to subsidise its appetite, Rui thought. That was a grand soul crystal if I’m any judge, and worth a small fortune. That’s an expensive appetite.
‘How many crystals do you eat?’ Rui asked.
‘Not many; they are rare,’ replied Tayo.
‘How long will that sate your appetite?’
‘For some months, I will be full much quicker.’
The next room housed a myriad of arches and elaborate text; Rui felt his mouth salivate at the potential knowledge.
‘Well?’ Tayo asked.
‘Riddles; ten arches and ten riddles. Also, a fascinating story about some ancient ruler. I must come back here. But I digress; the first riddle is “It floats on the blue ocean without water, and sails with no mast. White, grey and black.” Is it me or is that last part a bit strange?’ queried Rui.
Tayo said nothing, just stood waiting.
‘Anyway, it floats on an ocean without water? A cloud; that’s easy,’ Rui answered, and he wrote the rune for cloud.
The archway flared and, when the light faded, a mural replaced it.
‘Looks like a hillside; that’s curious,’ Rui said. ‘Next there’s “Eyes, ears, nose, hands.” Eyes, ears, nose, hands – feet? Eyes, ears, nose, hands, elbows? Eyes, ears, nose, hands, mouth? What have we got: eyes to see, ears to listen, nose to smell and hands to take? See, listen, smell, take… no, touch! That leaves mouth to taste, so mouth.’
He wrote the rune for mouth, the arch flared and revealed more of the mural.
‘Looks like more rolling hillside; two down, eight to go. It’s like that game, caterpillars and toads. Right, “Dedicated to the gods, these men are pious. Up on high, playing in the trees; how to pass a locked door?” Playing in trees could be monkeys; pious men and gods… could be monks. Monks, monkeys, locked doors need keys – it’s monkeys. Monks, monkeys, keys or monkey? Stick with monkeys.’
Again, he wrote the correct rune, the arch flared, and Rui nodded.
‘Monkeys; good. That was rather confusing. We’ve got a wall and some houses. I wonder if this is a mural of the city? We’ll get to see it in all its lush vegetation! Now we’ve got “It’s you, the dark you, the negative you, the part of you that fears the light but is never seen in the dark; the space you leave, and the place you aren’t.” That’s an odd one. What’s “the dark you”, Tayo?’
‘The bad thoughts?’ Tayo offered.
‘Maybe. What part of you is never seen in the dark?’
‘Any of me.’
‘Good point, good point. Fears the light, but not seen in the dark, yet the dark me. Dark, dark, light, light leads to dark; what dark does the light make?’
‘None.’
‘True, but what dark is only there because of the light? The shade? The shade me? Do I make shade?’ Rui asked and looked down, turning around to see his shade, and then he saw it and he laughed. ‘Not shade, shadow! Of course; how foolish.’
Tayo walked up to the blocked archway and studied it intently.
‘Well, a carrot has no nose but a mushroom has no feet, so that would mean… Oh, wait, the duck-billed platypus! Oh, yes, I’m on a roll!’ cried Rui.
Tayo walked away from the arch.
‘What’s astamagootis got to do with a scamandering, and I don’t even know what snerdling is,’ pondered Rui.
A red haze surrounded Tayo, and, suddenly, he was at full sprint and still accelerating before he turned his shoulder and launched himself at the wall, which exploded in a cloud of dust and rock shards.
‘Or we can do that,’ Rui said. ‘But I want to see what the full mural is. Look at the gnomes, they’re at war against these flying creatures.’
‘They’re quackenings,’ explained Tayo.
‘They are what?’
‘Horse-sized ducks; terrifying.’ Tayo said.
‘You’ve heard of these creatures?’
‘They were used by the lords during the third phase of the war. This was the Revolt of Bugs, as the lords called it.’
‘The lords; do you mean the elves? And you know of this historical moment?’
‘It is in our archives.’
‘I must visit your homeland sometime! So this mural, does it depict the fall of gnomish kind?’
‘The war was the breaking of gnomes from elves. This place lived on many centuries after.’
‘Ah, so not the splitting of gnomes into the three races we know of today. Very well.’
Tayo walked through the arch, and, after a few minutes, he walked back into the room of riddles.
‘Are we not progressing?’ he asked.
‘Oh, um, yes,’ Rui said, looking guiltily at the riddle he was working on solving. ‘I guess I can come back to this.’
The chambers gave way to a series of catacombs; the traps laid out to protect the dead from grave robbers had done little more than subdue the ridgeback bateaters (a close relative of the anteater) and mountain moles, for both of which there were piles of dead, alerting Rui and Tayo to the presence of the traps. Not that it mattered, as the traps were iron grates, laid horizontally, with 5-inch spikes covering them, that would slam down once triggered, and such a trap had little to no practical chance of injuring Tayo.
‘We rest here?’ Tayo asked as they walked around the mazy catacombs.
‘I’d prefer to not stay in crypts, as there’s a risk of draugr and things.’ Rui said.
‘What?’
Rui pointed to the sarcophagi and cloth-wrapped gnome corpses. ‘In case they rise.’
Tayo nodded. ‘Baron Samedi’s men.’
‘Who?’ Rui asked, interested.
‘Wise woman speak too in their festivals and practices. The master of Solomon Grundy, Dracula, Frankenstein, those who work with dead – the Saturday men.’
‘The Saturday men? I’ve not heard that before.’
‘Saturday men, day of seven, Luna night, Tyr day, Wodin day, I forget Thursday, time of feats.’
‘Those are interesting meanings you’ve ascribed to the days of the week. Although I have heard of Wodin’s day for Wednesday.’
Finally, they settled down in an empty chamber; that is, empty except for a large, oval structure built in three distinct parts. The structure was placed close to the far wall, and had intricate decorations and statues placed around it, almost in homage.
‘What is it?’ Tayo had asked.
‘It’s a portal stabiliser that makes travelling by portals cheaper on magicka and allows the portal caster to have a fixed point to portal to. You don’t see them being made any more, as they’re so prohibitive in terms of magicka items.’
‘Use Anasy from my people. Lots of magic.’
‘You have Anasy? I have never spent much time around the travellers, but I know many of their stories. I guess they get everywhere, especially where their presence is outlawed.’
They settled down for the night, with Rui creating a warning circle in case something attempted to creep up on them, and Tayo was snoring as soon as his head hit the tiles. Rui made a few notes in his journal before blowing out his candle and following Tayo’s example. The room was soon full of soft rumbling as the two slumbered.
*
‘Do you feel that?’ Rui asked, sitting up and placing a hand against the floor.
‘Yes,’ Tayo replied, ‘bad things.’
‘Well, considering we are close to a portal, I’d say someone is passing through.’
‘Passing through? You mean not stay?’
‘Precisely; these portals are anchors to allow cheaper and easier access to this location. However, they also act as a road, and each portal stabiliser or “waystone” is like a tavern in the sense that, as a cart passes, we can hear it even if they aren’t stopping. Someone is currently passing by.’
‘You said they no use any more.’
‘Did I? Well, they aren’t commonly used, but if I were to guess, then some of the mage towers will still use them and perhaps some of the more powerful kingdoms.’
‘It wakes,’ Tayo said.
‘I’m sorry?’ Rui asked, confused, before noticing the script around the arches starting to light up.
‘Runes; it does indeed seem to be activating. That’s curious timing, who was it that said they didn’t believe in coincidences?’
They stood and waited; Tayo with the impassive nature of someone who knew their own strength and was rightly confident that he had little to fear from any encounter, and Rui with the curiosity of an old man.
The arch lit up before the air in the circle changed to take on a blue hue and started to shimmer until it looked like someone had dropped a pebble in a puddle, and the light funnelled down and then bounced back and rippled outwards. After the energies settled had down, four figures stepped out of the archway: three males and a female, who each looked around with the air of irritation that teenagers and young adults used to show that life was failing to live up to expectations.
‘Does anyone think this vanguard is here? Roderick is losing touch,’ a petulant male said.
‘The Spymaster still trusts him,’ stated another male, and there was an uncomfortable shuffling of feet. ‘Even if he’s wrong, I’m not telling the Spymaster. We find this guy or we don’t go back.’ He laughed after he said that last part, but he was one of the few who did.
‘Ant, light,’ the female ordered, folding her arms.
‘Right, sorry,’ Anthony replied, and he cast a spell of illumination. Rather than providing a single light source, a large area around Anthony was lit evenly.
‘Monster!’ someone called, pointing at Tayo, who turned to see what the boy was pointing at, not understanding the language but picking up on the intensity of the shout.
The four moved and took up a formation ready to battle, but Rui stepped in front of Tayo with his hands held out and spoke in the new common language. ‘Please calm down; we have no intention of causing any of you harm.’
‘Old man? Who are you and do you claim responsibility for that one?’ asked Anthony.
‘I am Rui, a monk, and this fine man is Tayo. And you four are?’
‘A monk? We came here for the Vanguard of Cronus; is that you?’
‘No,’ Rui said cleaning his ear with his little finger, ‘but I believe they were wiped out in a flood. My abbot used to go to meet the Master of Cronus occasionally; perhaps he’d know what to do with your message?’
The four discussed this and then seemed to come to an agreement.
‘My thanks, monk,’ said the first man who had spoken.
‘Rui,’ offered Rui.
‘My thanks, Rui. I am Joha, and these are Anthony, Yami and Bethan. We have been tasked to find someone from the Vanguard of Cronus. The Prophet has a word from God. He requires the five heads to be present for a meeting during the next passing of Iargo.’
‘I shall pass the message on? The abbot will be able to help, I’m sure. How did you know where to find me, if I might ask?’
‘Our scryers have been looking for the last few years; it would explain why it has been so difficult to find anyone from Cronus. Apparently, some days ago, you reached the scryers attention.’
Rui scratched his chin, thinking, When I was knocked out, I lost my wards. Yet I would have thought the distance underground would have protected me. The presence of the arch must have allowed the scryers to view in here. That will teach me to drop my guard.
‘So is that it; may we go?’ Bethan asked.
‘Well, since we’re here perhaps we should look around? It could be a good opportunity to train and loot. And does anyone really want to go back so quickly? We’ve only just left!’ declared Joha.
‘Hmm, good point.’ Bethan agreed.
‘What are you fighting down here?’ Yami asked.
‘We don’t know; we were just exploring,’ Rui replied.
‘But there’s bound to be a boss, right?’ Yami continued.
‘Presumably, we have fought a mini boss.’
‘Alright; I vote to stay. There should be some good loot.’ Yami nodded.
There was general agreement, and Rui was happy enough to have the company, as it would make his doppelganger seem more natural if it were talking to someone or in a group of real people. So, after a quick breakfast for Rui and Tayo, and lunch for the others (in coming from somewhere else on the planet they had passed into a different time zone), the group set off, thinking they were all ready for a good fight and better loot.
Spoiler alert; they weren’t.