“First each lord will introduce his champion for everyone here, then I will announce the details of the first stage. I brought these men with to make sure there is no cheating or braking of the rules. First is Lord Maximuss. Would you come forth and introduce your champion?”
They did just that. It turns out that Og the barbarian was a knight and level 123. The introduction did not end there. Og had to show his stats window and they announced his class and level. It seems this was more than an introduction. Lord Maximuss also named the most impressive feat that Og had accomplished. He apparently cleared an entire dungeon on his own. Since the level of the dungeon was not mentioned, Tinker could not help but wonder did the go clear a level 10 dungeon when he was level 100? His plate seemed a good quality and his huge sword was his most memorable feature.
“Tinker, what is your greatest accomplishment to date?” Lord Collins whispered to him
“Um, I don’t know. Most of the good things I have done were in a party. We could mention some of those things.” He replied
“No no no. I think we stick with our theme of casting doubt for the others.”
Again he just nodded. He was not sure what plans and tactics one should use in these situations.
Does one oversell your champion? Do you say the bare minimum so that an air of mystery surrounded him. It does not really matter, since they look at your stats to confirm your status.
“Next Lord Collins.”
They walked to the center. “This is Tinker, Warrior of level 102.” Tinker was not sure of how his level compared to the others. So far he was 21 levels behind Og. Only at the end will he know how his level holds up compared to the rest. “His greatest achievement is being my brothers most promising alchemy student.” The crowd and Tinker did not expect that. A person would think they would talk and boast about military or some similar achievement, but he did not. As they walked from the stage to their seats there were more than a few mumbles from other people.
The introductions went on the other 6 plate wearing players were a mix of warriors, paladins and knights. There was one spear woman that stood out and a shaman named Swaggernaught. Sure he might have been the only shaman here in full plate but the name of the guy was what really stood out. He only had 6 levels on Tinker. The 4 magic users where one mage, 2 wizards and one warlock.
At the end of it all nearly an hour has passed. Tinker was the second lowest level. The highest was Og. Now the general spoke up again. “Now that you all know who the combatants are and who they represent. I hope this will influence your choices. The first round is single elimination. A fight to the death in glorious combat. I want to start stage 2 with only 6 combatants.”
Tinker had a feeling that something like this might happen. He pitied the 4 spells users. Normally they would lose a normal duel with a plated warrior. On a field of battle or other situations like if said magic user is on a wall and the plated warrior is down below with no way up. The plated warrior would lose.
“I know the outlanders come back to life, so a fight to the death for them should be fine, but if there is any outlander that does not want to do it, he or she can forfeit now and be gone from my sight.”
No one took that offer. Tinker had dueled to the death before at Tanaris, which he technically lost. Now he was a better fighter and with his new stats he felt confident he could be on equal footing with any of them
“Good, now instead of drawing the names or picking them at random. You will bid various things. The winner will decide who his opponent will be, they will fight right here and now. When an outlander is dead. We will start a new bid. It starts in about 5 minutes. That gives you some time to plan.”
“Just so that there is no confusion Tinker. I highly doubt I will be bidding for you. I have a nasty feeling that the winners of the bids will target us as their opponents. I do not care either way, as long as you don’t lose against that Og fellow.”
“All right sir. Is this a normal way to conduct affairs?”
“Not at all. But you outlanders are not normal and this is not a normal situation. The king like any person needs money and certain things. What better way than to let the Lords overpay by using their own reputation and greed against them?”
“That is smart if you look at it like that. So they will be using something other than gold to bid?”
“O yes, they will name the currency at the start of each bid. I think that one of the magic users lords will most likely win the first round of betting. That way they can choose their opponent for a duel.”
The time ran out and the general spoke again.
“First round bid. Gold. Do I have 10 000?”
A lord raised her hand.
“Any one for 15 000?”
The process went on and on. Tinker just watched the spectacle unfold before him. True to his word Lord Collins just sat calmly watching his fellow lords. Tinker tried his best to remain calm but he could not help feel that Lord Maximuss and Og were coming for them.
When all was said and done, the final total was a ridiculous 63 000 gold. The Lord and his chosen warlock champion chose one of the wizards as his opponent. As Tinker remember she was the lowest level of the 4 spell casters.
The general and his companions moved from the center stage and announced the fight will take place here and now. They each had about 2 minutes to prepare.
The fight started. As best as Tinker could tell it was a fire mage against a warlock that used some shadow magic. Only later will he discover that all warlocks actually use some sort of shadow magic.
The fight seemed even enough. It did not take long before the warlock seemed to activate a turbo switch and decimate his opponent. The fire wizard died with a dreadful scream of pain.
The losing lord hung his head down in shame and Tinker was rather disgusted at how the other Lords felt nothing for the death of an outlander. True he did not feel much either because all of them were potential enemies, but still. Something about the situation did not feel right.
“Good the next bid is service in days in the kings court.”
The king had his own court. If there were 2 farmers that had dispute over land they would come to the king to get the dispute resulted. The less pressing matters the king did not reside over. For example if the same 2 farmers had a dispute over a goat. The king could not be bothered and the current intern for the king would pass judgment over the matter. Tinker did not know this. In addition he also did not know that the Lords and Ladies looked down on this task and would not want to waste their time and day on this service.
“We start at one week.”
There was a hand. Lord Collins giggled. “This just shows how desperate he is, if Lord Giller is betting his time and service. It seems the magic users know that they are in trouble now.”
The betting went on and when no one could better 23 days of service, it ended. The Lord Giller won and his mage challenged the other Wizard. It was a fire mage against a frost wizard.
The fight was a bit more exiting then the previous match. These two combatants were more evenly matched and the age old feud of fire vs ice continued. The fire mage did something unexpected and used a massive aoe spell on the ground. He injured himself and his enemy. He took far less damage than his opponent and that tilted the fight into his favor. The ice wizard died and his left over’s slowly burned with no smoke.
“Next, the person that raises his or hers hand first wins. We need a new ambassador to the Kallamore kingdom.”
No one moved. Tinker was well aware of the strife between Kallamore and Heaven. It seems no one wanted the job. The general laughed.
“It was worth a try. Instead of yourself going. How about a family member be sent?”
There was silence. After about 5 seconds one lord raised his hand. Later Tinker would learn that the ambassador with Kallamore was career suicide and all the fallout comes back to the person. This particular Lord would gladly offer a family member for the greater good. His champion was that spear woman. She looked average but had a trident for a weapon.
“Very good. Who do you pick as you opponent?”
She pointed that trident at Tinker. On some level he knew that they would target him because of his low level. He stood up and started changing into his battle gear. He had fought goblins before that had weapons very similar to pitch forks. He remembered that the goblins used rather nasty tactics.
They would let you strike them, then they would make sure your weapon is caught in their pitch fork. With sudden and fierce turn, they would disarm you. He could see another reason why she chose him. Disarming a two handed swordsman of his weapons is much harder then disarming a dual swords man. It will be the power of his one hand versus her two hands.
With his gear and items set he made ready. His blades were coated with the normal combination. His Strength morph was still active. He would keep it that way until he needs the speed. The thought of using his new crossbow did not even enter his mind.
As he stood he looked again at the trident. It was as long as a spear but those three blades could be a problem. Something was off about those three blades. He blinked and looked again. Still nothing.
He squinted his eyes and as he was about to look away he saw it. A lightning charge. It was briefly visible, but he saw it. Now that he knew what he was looking for he noticed that this trident was like a huge and dangerous shock stick.
His opponent noticed, that he noticed, that her weapons and skills were not normal.
“You lucky I did not know you would fight in leather.” She told him
“Ah yes, I can see now that no matter where you strike your plated opponent you would do damage, because the metal conducts the lightning all over.”
She nodded. Tinker thanked which ever God was listening for his good fortune. He double checked his weapons. His hilts were in good condition, so if she uses lighting attacks on his swords it should not hurt him.
The general announced that the fight could begin. She opened with consecutive thrusts, which Tinker parried. He made sure not to let his sword get caught in the trident. Soon she noticed she was getting nowhere and gave a step back.
Now that Tinker was on the attack he had to decide how he was going to do this. She had the range and was clearly waiting for a setup of some kind. His instincts told him, that she would want to keep him a good distance away. That would force him to lounge and thrust which would all be a good setup for her, to disarm him. He needed to get close and all up in her face.
Tinker went for it. He did not lead weapon first and masterfully evaded a thrust which skimmed his side. When he was this close it only went downhill for the spear woman. Tinker was relentless. He would chop and slash, give her no room to maneuver or to gain her footing. At one point he knocked her down, she was trying to twirl in an attempt to get away. From Tinkers perspective she was just a slow plated warrior with a sharp stick whose point never really struck Tinker.
He killed her and received a level up for killing an enemy of a higher level. He had lost only 12 % life. The damage he took was from the odd nicks and scratches she managed to land. Not once did she land a clean blow. Normally scratches do not do so much damage, but these were made with a lighting infused weapon. Thus most of the health lost was of the secondary lighting attack.
Tinker went back to his seat.
“Rather impressive. I am not be a military man but I could clearly see you were the better. I was afraid your level would count against you.”
“Level helped, but as you well saw, it is not everything. If I was wearing plate it would have been one hell of a fight. With slower movement and attack speeds, add to that, that any part of me could conduct lighting to a place of flesh touching the metal. She would be a tough opponent.”
“I see. Well done. It seems we can focus on stage 2 now.”
The bidding and battles went forward. Some interesting things arose during this time. There was a bid for who can restore and repair the most public buildings in the city. Another was to do an inspection and audit for a province. The battles were somewhat entertaining. Og won his match in convincing fashion. The shaman with the ridiculous name of Swaggernaught won. Tinker kept an eye on the guy. He seemed to be hiding some skills or something. The same could probably be said about him.
“That was the last of them. Where there was 12, now there are 6. Stage 2 will begin in the morning but we depart tonight. Meet me in 1 hour at the teleporter room. The remaining Lords and Ladies are welcome to attend, but no special arrangement will be made, for we are going into the wild. Just a reminder to those that lost and that had won auctions, the sooner you pay, the better.”
All the people left.
“This was a good day and stage. The king gets what he wants. Some Lords and Ladies feuds are worse than ever. All that remains is stage 2 for you. I will not be going, as I am busy.”
“I understand sir. Do you have any idea where in the wilds we will be going?”
“Not the faintest. Probably some forsaken piece of land. I wish you well. Come contact me once you return. Depending on the manner in which you will return. Will determine what reward I give you.”
Tinker left him. He had about half an hour to kill before he was to assemble at the teleporter
He was of the last to arrive. Everyone was silent and that suited him fine. It also seemed that none of the Lords came with their champions. When the last player arrived they walked to the teleporter and it soft hum indicated it was about to be used.
They arrived at the entrance of a dungeon that was clearly into the side of the mountain.
“Before you is the dungeon of Underbark. There is an entrance here and a entrance on the other side of the mountain. On the other side is a abandoned outpost. You must enter here, traverse the dungeon and they go to the outpost. Once there you must loot the most valuable item possible. My group and I are going to make camp here for the night and venture through the dungeon tomorrow.
We should arrive some time late afternoon.”
The general gave a moment pause before speaking again. “At sunset tomorrow you will bring me the most valuable item you can find. Also do not bring me 20 things and let me chose the most valuable. You can loot whatever and how much you want. At the end of it all you may only show me one item. I will be just outside the outpost waiting for you. Any questions?”
“How will you know the loot comes from the outpost? What is preventing someone from giving an existing item from their inventory?”
“We will know. This is not my first time here.”
“Why are we here at this time of night? Why did we not come in the morning when you said the next stage is starting?”
“Well, stage 2 starts for me in the morning.”
There was silence and the Warlock ran to the entrance of the dungeon. The others stood not sure what was going on. Someone asked. “So does that mean we can go now and increase the time we have to look for loot and getting through the dungeon?”
The general grinned and shook his head. He looked each of them over before he turned around to go stand at the fire, one of his men made while they were talking. As one the remaining 5 sprinted for the entrance.
Tinker was first to enter and that was when it happened. He was no more than 10 meters into the dungeon before he fell into a hole and started sliding downwards. His eyes had not had enough time to adjust to the dark and he grunted on his downwards, involuntary decent into Underbark.
Once he stopped, he took a moment to take in the surroundings. He had no idea how much time had passed. 5 seconds or 30? It was completely dark and there was no sound. That meant no one else was stupid enough to fall in the same hole he did. His experience told him not to panic. Remain calm and do not light a torch yet. Sometimes in dark dungeons like these your light would act like a beacon for all monsters nearby.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
He took the time to open his menu while his eyes were adjusting to the dark. Sometimes in dungeons you can open your location to see what level you are on. He was currently on level 5. It came to him, that he did not receive a notification, telling him that he was the first player on this level. He took some comfort in the fact that someone else had also fallen into the same hole he did.
He sent a message in the guild chat. “Hi, I am currently in a dungeon called the Underbark. How many levels are there and has anyone else been here before?” After about 20 seconds a person replied with the information he was looking for.
“Hey to you. I was there a while back. Big dungeon. Strong single type monsters. Many traps and 3 levels.”
“Thanks, I am currently on level 5 and need to find my way back.”
“Level 5 you say?”
“Yes, as I came in, I fell into a hole.”
“O yes, I remember that hole. My party and I wondered what type of idiot would fall into an obvious trap like that. Guess we have our answer, no offence of course.”
“Of course” Tinker replied
“So if you want to get out, Ill say head upwards. Did you know that there are 2 ways in and out of there?”
“Yes, I need to find the other exit. The one that hopefully does not have a hole near the entrance.”
“Ah I see. It is on level two.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, we cleared the entire level 2 and found it about half way through. When you start fighting large cat like creatures you are close.”
“Thanks. Anything else I need to know?”
“Yep. Dodge the many traps and avoid a lot of light. If you need light, try glowing stick or rock, wrapped in a cloak. What you doing there anyway if I can ask?”
“A quest, I need to get to an outpost on the other side.”
“Ah yes, the outpost. Full of annoying dead ghosts.”
“Really, you were there as well?”
“Yes, when we found that exit, we walked outside and there the outpost was. It looked all ruined like and was small so we decided to investigate. About 30 minutes later we went back to Underbark.”
“Wow, what type of loot did you guys get?”
“Not much. Some gold and mostly ancient stuff, not worth a lot. Turns out that a couple of hundred years ago that outpost belonged to the Kallamorians. Heaven took it from them along with the territory. Some years later the Kallamorians did a raid and killed everyone and then just went back home, without claiming back lost land. You about a day ride from the Kallamore border by the way.”
“Thanks for the information. One last thing. If you were tasked to get one valuable item from this outpost for a general. What will you be looking for?”
“Hmmm, the obvious is a like a super nice sword or piece of armour. On the other hand maybe a tapestry or books will be what he is after. Maybe an old standard or banner maybe... It is hard to tell since we were in the outpost a short while.”
“OK thanks. I think I will see what there is, if I get there. So long.”
With the call ended it was time to move. His health was near full. He only took minimum damage on his way down. The only light source he had was his torch. Until now dungeons were well enough illuminated or Lina would provide light with her magic. It did not take long before he nearly fell into another pit. He navigated around it and stuck with his general direction of heading south west and upwards.
Tinker prided himself on his sense of direction. Whenever they entered a dungeon he knew the general way of getting back out again. The problem was that after his little fall, he was working on instinct. After about 30 minutes he could see poorly in the dark but could at least navigate the tunnels. So far he encountered no enemies and was wondering what type and level he could expect.
When he entered a large cavern he stopped. There were three paths leading away. He decided it was time to light a torch to better look at the paths. He lit the torch and quickly look at all three passage ways. The one on the right seemed to head mildly upwards so he decided to take that path. Before he continued he put out his torch and hid near a wall.
He was curious to see if something would come and he needed the time for his eyes to adjust to the darkness again. He saw nothing. As he was about to move onwards. Two monsters starting attacking each other right next to him. By the sound and smell it was one bloody fight. Tinker decided it best to leave and fight another day. He took his passage as quietly as humanly possible.
The sound of the fight faded into nothing, soon after a load roar echoed through the caves as the victor of the fight declared his triumph.
The creature sounded big. Tinker was not scared of course. It is just, he did not want to fight an enemy he could not see that well nor one that managed to sneak into a cavern where he was expecting it.
Some point later Tinker was walking along a cavern when something bit his neck and would not let go. He had one of his swords in his hand and started stabbing the creature. After some more stabs the creature let go and was dead. Tinker lost 53 % of his health. The creature was about the size of a medium sized dog but looked like something out of a movie. It was black and had large teeth when compared to the rest of its body. It had 4 legs and two wings that looked more like fins from a fish.
He saw that he was currently effected by a debuff. His physical capabilities (Strength and Agility) were down by 25% and it would last 2 hours. He decided to cut up the creature and add it to his book. Everything was unknown to him. Now came the part he hated the most. Ingesting it. It could make his condition worse, better or not change it any at all. He ate some of the meat raw. He carried pepper spice that burned so bad it negates most of the foul taste of any food. Once he swallowed it he looked in his book again.
The meat could be used to see better in the dark and also reduce the effects of its poison. He could see no improvement in his eye sight nor his status. He assumed he would have to eat more. After 20 pain staking minutes he ate the last of the creature. His mouth was burning, he tried to ease the pain with water, which was not really helping. His eyes were watering, his entire body was feeling warm. It was a horrible self inflicting experience for him
When he checked his stats again the debuff effect was down to 15 %. His vision was somewhat better, but it was still on the poor side. He ventured onwards.
Now the obvious traps like pitfalls were easier to dodge but he did still manage to step on a pressure plate. He immediately stopped to see what the effects were. Off to his side, a part of the wall opened to a room full of 5 of those monsters with the big teeth. He slowly removed his other sword while standing still. The moment he took up a defensive stance they came for him.
The monsters seems to go for open flesh. That meant his neck and face. The rest of his body was covered in armour of some kind. After the short big vicious battle he was down to 24% life and the debuff held steady at 15%. He patched himself up the best he could with his first aid and went onwards. It was way more convenient to have Zomger healing him.
Soon after he stepped into a room where a large bear like creature was feasting on an enemy. Tinker moved swiftly to engage the bear and managed 5 clean hits before the bear could defend itself. After that Tinker used his superior agility and swords to make short work of the bear. The bear did manage to land more than a few swipes and scratches. It was hard to dodge and parry the fast moving arms that were as black as the abyss it self. All his bites and attempts to pin Tinker down failed.
This went on for about 5 hours or so. Again Tinker could not really be sure of the time that passed. He killed different monsters and added each to his book. He had the time after each battle to do so. Because he needed that time to restore his health. His loot was mainly meat and alchemy related things. There was no gold or items for human use here. He did manage to increase his eye sight from poor to fair. That meant his speed and progress became much faster.
He walked upwards along another tunnel when he received a message.
Notice:
You are the first adventurer to enter this level of Underbark.
Benefits:
Fame increased by 150.
Double experience, 2x item drop rate.
The first monster killed will drop the best quality item it can drop.
“What?” Tinker thought. That would explain his gaining 2 levels in the past 5 hours. This also meant that the other people that came to level 5 did not manage to get out. He was doing better than them.
His experience told him. That if level 4 has level 150 monsters and higher. Level 5 minimum level should be around 180. He could see that. If more than one of these creatures came for him, he would lose. It seemed the law in the Underbark was that you are a lone predator. Unless you have big teeth and wings like fins, then it is ok to gang up on an enemy. He had encountered more of those nasty creatures.
Level 4 was very similar to level 5. Only the monsters were different. Tinker noticed they were also weaker. They still fought with all they got, but it was to no avail. He received another level up. He was sticking with his plan of heading upwards when ever faced with a choice.
Tinker was walking along a rather narrow cave when he saw light up ahead. He readied for battle.
He looked around the corner and saw luminescent mushrooms. It seemed a bit out of place so he waited and watched. He saw no creatures and after a while he went closer to investigate. When at the mushrooms he could see a sort of slow moving fungus that seemed to be attacking the mushrooms. The mushrooms in response were shinning bright in an attempt to ward it off.
As marvelous as it was to see plants attacking one another in this dungeon, he did not have the time. He took a part of glowing mushroom and added it to his book. It seemed it was a rare mushroom that improved vision at night, or it could be used in a recipe to make a sort of glow in the dark stick. It seemed that his awesome book only knew the use of it, but not the exact details behind the recipe. The book also told him that the mushrooms light up when threatened or when they want to spread.
Tinker took about a handful of the fungus and added it. The book recognized it and classified it as a ooze. The name and the specifics were unknown. It was times like this he was thankful he stole/took a lot of different containers from the alchemy guild. He took one of the largest containers he had and started collecting the ooze. When he got most of the ooze, the mushrooms went dark, so he harvested all of them as well.
Many hours later. He emerged from level 4 to level 3. He got another level and harvested almost everything he could get his hands on along the way. He would have like to spent more time there to maximize the time and farm a person could get for discovering a new place. But alas he had other obligations.
If he had to guess it was early morning and he still had most of the day. After about three hours on level three he ascended another passageway. He thought he might be on level two. When he checked he saw he was back on level 4. Now this did not seem right. It was rather uncommon for a level to have more than one entrance but it seems the Underbark did not conform to the normal type.
Tinker took the time to reflect. Since he was underground it might be possible that a part of level 4 was higher than level 3. Nowhere did it say that all of the dungeons were built like normal buildings with one level exactly atop of another. He decided to double back for a short distance and then chose a new direction.
30 minutes before sunset Tinker emerged from an exit on level 2. The general and his party were there already. Judging by some of the men’s gear they did not take the scenic route.
“Tinker was it?”
“Yes, general.”
“How are you now only arriving lad? You have 30 minutes left to get an item.”
“I fell down to level 5 sir. It took me all this time to get back.”
“Level 5 you say? Rather impressive. Now off with you.”
He thanked the man and left for the outpost. At the entrance stood Swaggernaught. He was smirking. Tinker thought it rather suited him. The man looked rather pleased with himself for some reason.
“You are the third person to arrive. Me and that Og fellow have been over every inch of this dump for the past 8 hours.”
“O really. I still got some time to look for stuff. Are there ghosts here?”
“Nope, I killed some and the rest are currently not choosing to reveal themselves.”
“Ok, what happened to the others?”
“Underbark and I think Og claimed them. Keep an eye out for that one.”
“I will thanks.” Tinker started to walk past him into the outpost.
“Why are you so late?”
“Fell down to level 5.” Tinker answered over his shoulder.
The outpost was pretty much what he expected it to be. A rundown place that was literally falling apart. It was hard to tell which parts were damaged by neglect, battle or years of erosion. Tinker went from room to room. The place seemed to have been cleared out of most things. After about 10 minutes he found himself at the top of the tower. There was a rather big hole in the wall and near it was a book shelf. He went over to the shelf to see if there may be a book he could salvage.
He was deep in thought, while he was gently removing another book to read its title and see what condition it was in. The sound of metal on stone pounded softly in his mind. He turned to see Og with his sword no more that 3 meters behind him. In an instant the sword came for him and Tinker dove to the side. His Morph skill was always active and he currently had agility morphed in the hopes of speeding up his search of the outpost.
As Tinker was crouched and about to stand up, Og leaped sword leading for Tinker. Og was aiming for where Tinker was going to be as soon as he stood up. Tinker gave a crouched step forward. Grabbed the two front arms of Og that were above his head. He then pulled with all his might and while performing a backwards role his feet found their way under Og and he used the momentum of the pull and the power in his legs to kick Og away from him.
Og went through the hole in the wall and plummeted to his death. On the way down he did yell. It was more a yell of anger then fear of dying. Tinker stood at the edge and could see the loot pile that was once Og, laying on the ground. He took a few breaths. It all happened so fast for him. He did not even think, he just acted.
“Rather well done for someone who is garbage.”
Tinker turned and saw Swaggernaught behind him. A bright flash occurred right before his eyes that
completely blinded Tinker. That was followed by a thump on the chest and after that he felt the all too familiar feeling of free falling to his death. This was going to be his third death by falling.
In his blindness and brief fall, he received a message from Swaggernaught titled Garbage.
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So here it is. My 30th chapter....so many words and levels later.
In this chapter I am pretty much setting up Tinker's nemesis. All the great ppl have a nemesis. Superman has lex, Batman, the joker and humanity has justin bieber....
The whole thing was Og was just to keep you focus and attention on him while an Asshole gets you from behind when you least expect it. Rather proud of the name Swaggernaught, he sounds like a character you cant help but hate. There will be more info, detail and stuff on him in later chapters.
Next week chapter is already written. I am just going to add a page or two to it, to conclude todays chapter.
Chapter 31 : A potential diamond in the rough.
Ill post a pic of Swaggernaugh now in my Important Images folder. Until then. Leave comments and questions for me.