Jace had a good sense of direction and could feel the descending tunnel turning ever to the left, so it didn’t surprise him when he found they had made a complete 180 and were once again faced with a vast chasm open before them. Based on his intuition, the floating platform should be up and to the left, but Jace saw only darkness in that direction.
Before them stood another bridge, this one made of stone, which appeared to span the entire distance. It was much broader than the last one, about ten feet, with a waist-high wall on either side. In the center of the span, a stone platform at least fifty feet in diameter rested on the arch. Jace’s earlier assessment of these catacombs that nothing would live here was proven wrong as a dense cluster of trees and vines filled the space, seemingly growing directly out of the cobblestone bridge.
“What is this?” Jace asked.
{The easiest puzzle in the game,} Gracie replied. {It’s not even really a puzzle. You just have to burn down the forest. If you try to hack and slash your way through, you can make some progress, but once you get inside, the trees grow back behind you, and the vines grapple and strangle you. Since this module is designed for mages, it shows how a well-placed fire attack can be more effective than the strongest sword.}
“I assume the life stone is hidden in there somewhere?”
{It is suspended at the top, intertwined in a collection of vines. Once you set fire to the grove, the main tree supporting it topples sideways into the abyss, and the stone goes with it. Athletic players have tried to climb the tree to get at the stone, but they are too heavy for the thin branches at the top and have to fight off persistent vines that threaten to strangle them or grab them and throw them off the bridge. Lighter players like gnomes, halflings, or even some elves don’t get anywhere near the top because they aren’t strong enough to fight off the vines.}
“What about a flying familiar? Could a hawk or falcon make it to the top and grab the stone?”
{Snowy can fly?} Gracie asked sarcastically. {People have tried that, but the gem is secured in the vines and has to be cut free. Birds of prey have strong talons and beaks, but they probably need a minute to work on them, and the vines don’t give them time.}
“You need someone to fly?”
Jace turned to Esther with concern. It looked like she was almost eager to try out her wings. “No, I won’t ask you to do it again. I can find another way.”
“I didn’t hear you ask,” Esther said. “I am offering.” Before he could convince her not to, Esther retrieved the stone from her gem bag and became an undead thing again. The transformation was quicker this time, and she let the black leathery wings form on her back. Soon she hovered over the ledge effortlessly. “You need me to get another stone?”
She hadn’t heard anything Gracie had said, so Jace relayed all the information. Esther understood she would have to cut something free and grabbed one of her rapiers in her empty hand. After a moment, she put the stone inside the top of her vest, secured in her cleavage by her tight undershirt, and pulled her second blade. Jace watched her soar into the air, illuminated by the soft green glow of the dense forest before them.
{I’m guessing she won’t be able to hold the life stone with that undead energy flowing through her,} Gracie advised. {You might want to move into position for a catch.}
“Snowy,” Jace said, “come with me.” The two ran across the first half of the bridge, stopping a dozen feet before the dense foliage. He could see the vines swirling about inside, ready to lash out at him like the tentacles of a hungry squid. He pulled Etcher from its sheath.
Above, Esther was busy fighting off her own vines that snapped and grabbed at her. One finally slipped through her twirling blades, but once it wrapped around her leg, it withered and died instantly. Esther wasn’t just an undead vampire. With the stone’s energy flowing through her, she was an undead goddess, and no living thing could survive in her presence for long. When she realized this, she dove through the air toward the top of the trees.
The life stone’s location was obvious, secured tightly in a star-shaped collection of vines. She sliced away two of the tendrils, letting the broken ends grasp at her arms. The branches withered away when they tried to grapple her undead flesh, and the life stone loosened in their grasp. Esther sheathed a weapon and made a lunge for it. The sentient forest tried to yank it away, but it was weakened by the damage she had done, and she proved more agile. Her hand closed on the loosely held stone, and she cried out in pain.
The life energy rushed through her, lighting a fire in her dead limbs as the two stones battled their age-old struggle inside her. She could only hold it briefly and ripped it out of the dead vines, hurling it into the air. Her senses cleared the moment it left her presence, and Esther desperately searched for the stone. It flew up and to the right, out into the darkness with nothing below. It was an emerald shooting star, and the vampire flexed her wings like a falcon, diving after it before it fell too far. She saw her friends on the bridge below, and she batted it in their direction with one rapier still in her hand.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
On the bridge, Jace and Snowy watched in awe at their friend’s newfound power, and their eyes traced the path of the stone. Esther’s redirection wasn’t perfect, but Snowy knew what she needed to do. The wolf leaped to the top of the narrow wall on the edge of the bridge, took three running steps toward the flight of the stone, and jumped. Jace was right behind her, and as she threw her body out over the blackness, catching the stone in her mouth, Jace reached out and grabbed one of her trailing legs.
The weight of the winter wolf was almost too much for the orc, threatening to carry him off the bridge, but he dropped to the ground, so his body slammed into the wall instead. His arm was nearly ripped from its socket as Snowy’s body swung down and smashed into the side of the stone, but Jace held on. He feared he might tear the leg from the heavy canine, but the limb held. Jace hauled her over the wall and dropped the wolf onto the bridge. He figured she must be badly wounded, but Snowy was as chipper as ever and proudly displayed the green emerald on her tongue. Unlike the obsidian stone, this one brought strength and vitality to the animal, and even if Jace had dislocated the leg, it had healed instantly.
He took the stone and stored it in his inventory. His back was to the forest, but he could feel the deathly presence of Esther landing behind him. The fearful look in Snowy’s eyes showed him the canine’s trepidation toward their changed companion.
“Did you catch it?”
The voice sounded hollow and raspy, and Jace desperately wanted to believe it hadn’t come from the woman he had grown to care for. But he turned around and found the vampire there. She was hardly recognizable. Veins stood out on her face and neck, the luster and beauty of her skin gone. Her leathery wings folded into her back and disappeared, but Jace still saw the demon standing before him. It was the image of the creature that had tried to attack him at the Gilded Swan over a week ago. She had missed and triggered Jace’s Convict ability, which had allowed him to transform her from a fake, undead thing into a living, breathing woman. Now, in the span of a few minutes, he felt it had all been undone.
“Give me the stone,” Jace said calmly.
Esther grinned at him and pushed her chest out. “Come and take it.”
“This isn’t a game Esther.”
She laughed, a cruel, evil laugh. “Oh, but it is,” she cackled. “And this level isn’t over yet.” Before Jace could say more, she spun away and marched toward the dense foliage. The trees seemed to rear back at her presence, the vines no longer reaching out for her but recoiling in fear. However, the plants were rooted in place and could not escape her attack. With both blades in her hands again, she cut and hacked at the woods, carving a path an orc could walk through. Without the life stone to sustain them, the trees and vines did not grow back.
As devastating as her attack was, it was too slow, and Esther sheathed her rapiers, reached down into her magic, and released a fireball. Her scream was an unholy terror as the flame shot from her hands, burning her as much as the trees. She took several stumbling steps backward, and Jace raced forward to catch her. Before she tripped into his arms, he spent 50 mana on his necklace to resume his human form. He didn’t trust the accuracy of his orcish fingers, and while she was still reeling in pain, his right hand snaked down her top and retrieved the stone from between her breasts.
The change was instantaneous, and she was back to the woman he knew. Snowy was by their side in a flash and used her natural ability to heal most of the damage her unwise fire spell had caused, but Esther’s charred fingers and arms remained. The transformation knocked her unconscious momentarily, and her eyes fluttered open as if waking from a dream. “What happened?”
“You let the undead stone consume you,” Jace replied. “You had reverted to the creature I met back in Portsmith.”
“No,” Esther said, coming to full realization, shaking her head in denial. “No, I was in control. I knew what I was doing.” She leaned away from him and turned to look into his human face. “Give it back to me. I know how to use it.”
Jace shook his head. “We will need it to confront the lich. I will keep it.”
Esther hesitated and put a hand on his knee, her face slightly strained before it shifted to a smile. “Okay. I understand.” She rose from her crouched position and spun around. The trees were burning as if soaked with oil. With the life stone gone, they would have died on their own in these forsaken catacombs, but they didn’t have a chance with the fire raging.
Jace stayed down on one knee from where he had caught her. On a hunch, he checked his inventory. The black stone was gone. Esther had picked it off him. “What have I done?”
{She’s addicted to it,} Gracie advised. {She enjoyed being a vampire while she was one. She got a thrill from the power and the fear it produced in others. With the stone, she is something more than before, yet she feels she is still the human you created in her. She can’t walk this line and survive.}
“I also can’t worry about it right now,” Jace said, rising from the ground. Snowy nuzzled beside him, and he scratched the wolf behind the ears. She whined. “I’m worried about her too, girl. But there is nothing I can do about it right now. We have to finish this mission and hope she makes good decisions.”
Esther was almost on the other side of the chasm. Most of the burnt forest had fallen over the side of the central platform, but an arched framework still stood, illuminating the cavern in flickering firelight. Esther moved through this opening, the chaotic energy of the flames just out of reach. Jace knew Gracie was right, and the powerful woman could not walk this fine line for long. Eventually, the undead energy would consume her. If Jace tried to keep it from her, she would eventually turn on him. He didn’t think he would survive that.
{Hey Gracie,} his operator said, doing a horrible impression of Jace’s voice. {I got this great idea to hack the Olympus trials. Are you free tonight? It will be easy. We’ll do the Intelligence quest. There won’t be any combat. What could go wrong? Surely my new girlfriend won’t turn into an undead killing machine. I mean, not more than she already is.}
Jace tried to ignore Gracie’s irreverent sense of humor and hurried after Esther.