image [https://i.imgur.com/JQ85dPx.jpg]
I studied the panopticon from my hiding spot in the tunnel. Creeping toward the opening of the panopticon, I saw kobolds filling the side of the chamber through the infravision necklace. Ratfolk filled most cubbies, although some stragglers still climbed the walls around the bunks.
The guilt for leaving Fabulosa weighed on me. She made clear her resistance to the idea of a dungeon crawl, and my disappearance probably hadn’t improved her disposition. The sooner I could garner her attention, the sooner she could relax.
Signaling my partner without alerting the rat pack would be tricky, but luckily, I possessed a handy new antenna, an appropriate device for a communication conduit.
Item
Battleground Standard
Rarity
Quality (white)
Description
Level 10 Item
Item use—Plant standard into disputed territory to enable battleground chat.
Lodging the standard into the ground produced a disheartening message in my event log.
/You are not in a state of combat.
The battleground standard needed disputed territory to be active.
“Oh, come on.”
Even though the kobolds showed no aggro, the rustling in the panopticon made me nervous. Fabulosa would not like this. One thing worse than kicking a hornet’s nest included being inside when it happened.
My inventory and character sheet revealed no game mechanics for flagging down my partner without inciting a riot in gen pop.
Name
Apache, Governor of Hawkhurst and elder of Forren
Level
24 (3,687/3,735 experience to next level)
Armor
68
Stamina
23 (230 health)
Intelligence
27 (270 mana)
Strength
11 (+11 damage to physical attacks)
Agility
19 (+19% to hit/dodge physical attacks and movement)
Willpower
24 (+24% to spell effects/resistances, health/mana recovery, and influence)
Skills and ranks
Alchemy 15, Arcane Magic 23, Blacksmithing 6, Bludgeoning Weapons 24, Carpentry 12, Command 1, Dark Magic 2, Defense 22, Dodge 24, Equestrian 6, Governing 7, Leatherworking 12, Light Magic 20, Manuscript Creation 14, Nature Magic 22, Piercing Weapons 25, Primal Magic 21, Ranged Weapons 18, Research 31, Sailing 2, Slashing Weapons 24, Stealth 7, Survival 21, Tailoring 13
Powers
Cantrips Animal Empathy, Detect Magic, Heavenly Favor, Minor Hex, Shocking Reach
Tier 1 Aggression, Animal Communion, Anticipate, Applied Knowledge, Charge, Compression Sphere, Detect Stealth, Hot Air, Imbue Weapon, Mana Shield, Mineral Empathy, Protector, Read Magic, Rest and Mend, Scorch
Tier 2 Amphibious, Counterspell, Familiar, Inscribe Rune, Mineral Communion, Refresh Mana, Rejuvenate, Slipstream
Tier 3 Dig, Magnetize, Restore
Tier 4 Move Object
Note—Stats include buff and gear bonuses
My lower stats came from Exhaustion and forgetting to cast Heavenly Favor since waking up. It made for a careless error, and unless I wanted to run back into the communications conduit, I wouldn’t be able to buff myself without creating unwanted attention.
I looked for other ways to get Fabulosa’s attention without revealing our hiding spots. Scorch produced no spell effect trails like Fireball or Shocking Reach that would give away my location, but she lay well outside its range.
After deciding to use Scorch traditionally, I edged to the lip of the tunnel and targeted a kobold with the most health, one asleep in his cubby. Normally, my Scorches inflict 40 damage, but with Aggression in the middle of this underground city, I wasn’t sure if I would wink in and out of combat too quickly to plant the battleground standard. The rude awakening wouldn’t erase all of its 95 health—it would survive the attack.
It squeaked as the spell burned, writhing around the cubby, putting the flames out with its bedding. Unfortunately, the creature rolled out of bed and plummeted to the floor below.
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/You Scorch Brackwater Digger for 70 points of damage (10 resisted).
/Brackwater Digger takes 32 points of falling damage.
/Brackwater Digger dies.
Or maybe it wouldn’t survive.
I grunted under my breath. “Sorry, Mr. Kobold, but The Book of Dungeons isn’t a game for sissies.”
Tumult erupted at the panopticon’s floor. None of the kobolds pointed in my direction, so I ignored the commotion. Either way, my combat state allowed me to activate the battleground standard.
Apache opens battleground channel.
Apache joins channel.
Fabulosa joins channel.
Apache Hey, kiddo! How are you? Sorry for disappearing. I just got a little lost in random tunnels.
Fabulosa I wondered what happened. The kobolds came in without a fuss, not that it matters now. A few sniffed around the tower, so I figured you were safe. Where are you?
Apache I’m in the air vent—the tall tunnel halfway up the silo.
Fabulosa Oh, yeah. I see you now.
Apache I swear, my head isn’t attached to my shoulders right now. I haven’t buffed yet.
I waited for a few moments, but Fabulosa didn’t respond. I changed the interface to chat to real-time, but even then, she made no jokes about my goof.
If she wouldn’t take the conversational bait about my rudimentary mistakes, perhaps the best course of action involved an apology and news that I felt ready to leave.
Apache Anyway, I’m sorry I didn’t come back sooner. We’ll get out of here, I guess.
Fabulosa Uh-oh. A few of them are climbing toward your pos.
Apache Pos?
Fabulosa Position.
Apache Oh. Hah! Right. It looks like I’ll need a little cover fire after all. Are you ready to dance?
Fabulosa Ready.
Again, I expected Fabulosa to say something like, “Yeah, just gimme a beat,” or, “Ready to rock,” or something fun. She wasn’t kidding about not being in the mood to hit a dungeon.
The window stood too far away for one Slipstream. To get within thirty feet, I had to climb halfway around the silo and a few stories up.
A Fireball streaking across the room Interrupted my thoughts, exploding below me, just outside the tunnel. The room erupted in hundreds of squeaks and whistles. An arrow hit something above the opening of my oval tunnel.
My partner’s voice blended with the tumult. “To me!”
When the projectile flew back toward the window, distinct squeaks of panic rose as a corpse landed atop other climbers, bringing more thuds to follow. Fabulosa caught it in her outstretched hand, nocked it, and fired at another target. The exact sequence of sounds followed as she one-shotted rats off the wall with the Returning Arrow.
It became my time to move. In gripping the lattice by the vent, I narrowly avoided being bitten by a nearby kobold crawling at me from a cubby near my hiding place. After Shocking Reach dislodged its grip, it crashed headfirst into other climbers beneath it like a bowling ball knocking down pins.
I grabbed the nearest buttressing and pulled myself into the panopticon, ignoring enemies climbing beside, below, and above me. Winterbyte’s claw weapons might enhance my strength, but I’d need to drop Creeper to use them—and that wasn’t happening. Casting Heavenly Favor boosted my stats +4—I couldn’t believe I nearly forgot to cast it again. Sleeping less than eight hours wasn’t good for business.
While climbing the roots supporting the chamber walls, I assayed the situation. Kobolds filled the cubbies, running up to the ceiling. They climbed quickly and closed in on my position at all angles. I decided the higher I climbed, the safer I’d be. Unfortunately, this route meant fighting critters above me.
A kobold landed on my shoulders and dug its teeth into my neck. I rolled into the cubbyhole, grabbed it, and kicked it out before it could get a better grip. The varmint plummeted to the floor below. Being mindful of what climbed above me, I swung myself back onto the walls. After kicking another hard enough to lose its grasp, I cast Compression Sphere on the cubbyhole above me and knocked off two more.
Spells and abilities suiting my predicament were scant. Move Object wasn’t strong enough to loosen grips and couldn’t target creatures. Lightning Bolts reached my side of the room, but they only picked off one at a time—an inefficient use of mana.
Fabulosa’s cadence of Fireballs wasn’t frequent enough, and the Returning Arrow killed and dislodged only one target at a time. I still had to hand it to her accuracy. Every shot proved to be dead on. Whenever her arrow struck something above me, I hugged the wall to avoid a falling body.
Apache These guys are faster than I thought.
Fabulosa There are tons beneath you, and they’re fanning out to avoid fireballs. They see where you’re headed and are trying to cut you off. I’m going to land the next blast beside you. As soon as it hits, scramble over there. You’ll get a mite toasty, but you’ll survive.
Using the chat made me remember I’d forgotten about the battleground standard. I’d left it sticking out of the dirt in the communications conduit. Where had my brain gone? It counted as my third dumb mistake since entering the chasm.
I couldn’t leave something as valuable as the battleground standard behind. It wouldn’t help me communicate with monsters or NPCs, but it might help me avoid confrontations with other players. It could be a potential game-changer in the contest. Abandoning over a horde of filthy kobolds would not happen. Still, they had a home-field advantage and climbed faster than me.
I switched the battlefield chat to be instantaneous instead of real-time.
Apache You won’t believe this, but I forgot the battleground standard.
Fabulosa I don’t know what to say to that. You might have to kiss it goodbye. There are only so many kobolds I can clear, and there’s more circling above you.
Apache I can’t believe how fast they zeroed in on me.
Fabulosa It’s your call. I’m not in a position to help. I can’t rightly tell if there’s more coming in. That stupid tower is blocking my view of the ground.
Apache I found a warren of tunnels down here. I have a better chance of losing myself in them than in this room. They’re going to reach me before I’m in slipstream range.
Fabulosa I’ll switch my next fireball to the tunnel. There’s a bunch already there.
Apache I’m going to cut you loose after that. Pack up the Dark Room before you go. That’s another thing I forgot. You can head home after that. I’ll make it out of here on my own.
Fabulosa You sure about that? You never want to split up a party, especially in a dungeon.
Apache I don’t see how we have any choice. Maybe I’ll learn why the kobolds were going berserk on the surface. Get back to Hawkhurst to warn Yula. Send patrols in westward routes. Don’t do anything crazy like making a rescue party. It’s a maze down here, and you’ll only leave Hawkhurst less defended.
Fabulosa I’m not abandoning you to save a bunch of NPCs. We’re in this until the final two, remember?
Apache I’ll be fine. Besides, I’m in the mood for a dungeon crawl. I soloed a dungeon in Belden against nasty undead, so this shouldn’t be too bad.
Fabulosa All right. Be careful. I’m not fixing to be the governor yet. There’s too much of the world to explore.
Apache I’m closing the chat when I get back to the battle standard. Good luck.
Fabulosa You too.
When I unfroze my interface, the roar from the chamber overwhelmed my eardrums, reminding me how much noise agitated kobolds could make.
Arrows picked off kobolds above me as I backtracked. With the bulk of them cutting off my escape to the window, Fabulosa had fewer targets.
I returned to the tall, oval tunnel covered in scratches, bites, and wounds, but nothing Rejuvenate couldn’t handle.
Kobolds still occupied the tunnel when I arrived. Fabulosa’s Returning Arrow and Creeper cleared them away, allowing her to save Fireball for a large group clambering below the passage’s opening.
It felt good to be on my feet again, and after clearing the remaining kobolds, I hurried. I grabbed the battleground standard and lit up Presence to blind my attackers.
The crescendo of protests testified to its effectiveness. Unfortunately, my eyes adjusted to the dark, and I had to squint. When an arrow buried into my arm, I realized I wasn’t the only human blinded by the brilliance.
Fabulosa hit me for 70 damage—doubled because of Aggression—giving me a new appreciation of her character’s strength. I winced as the missile ripped from my bicep and flew toward her sniper window. I popped a Restore on myself and hoped she wouldn’t blame herself.
I doused Presence and Slipstreamed down the tall, oval corridor. The extinguished spell plunged the silo into darkness, blinding the multitudes a second time. Using my infravision necklace to see, I sprinted down into the deep, dark unknown of the communications conduit.