Chapter 25: Treasure Trove
Riley drew his sword and summoned his Rock Armor skill. The now familiar weight of the armor encasing his body. The rest of his party drew their weapons as well, ready for battle. The vampire only continued smiling at them.
“Careful, their voices are hypnotic,” Riley warned, remembering the vampire from the enhanced tutorial where he got his Leech spell from. “They also likely have a self-heal ability.”
Vampirate (Elite) - Level 35
The vampirate gasped at Riley’s accusation, “I would never use my Voice on any paying customers. That’s reserved only for prey, pirate’s honor.” The vampirate flashed them what would have been a disarming smile on anyone else , but only further accentuated their menacing fangs. Riley was far from put at ease.
“I must say, I am so excited to see you. You may call me Red Tongue, the pirate. Though my mates just call me Red. Us scallywags weren’t expecting you landlubbers here so soon, and with so few of you too. Will the rest of your crew be joining us?”
Riley didn’t know what to make of the monster. He couldn’t feel any magic working on him, but he hadn’t during his previous encounter either. None of his friends spoke up either and after the silence extended into an awkward pause Red spoke again. “Oh, no matter, I was just curious is all. I didn’t mean to be rude. Would you like a go at the Treasure Trove?”
“What is the Treasure Trove?” Heather asked, being the first to find her voice.
“I am so glad you asked,” Red said, perking up. “The Treasure Trove is one of the Trafalgar Vampirates premier attractions. You must fight your way across the Docks of Doom,” Red gestured towards the twisting wooden walkway that covered the open cavern, “claiming any treasure you find along the way. Your goal is to reach the other end of this cavern in one piece. You get one try a day, and should you fail all enemies and treasures will reset the next day, along with a new layout for the Docks of Doom. Argh.” It sounded like Red added the ‘Argh’ on the end of the statement as an afterthought, as if he didn’t really understand how to use it.
Riley looked out over the so called ‘Docks of Doom’ and didn’t see a single enemy in sight. He caught the questioning eyes of Heather through her mask, he shrugged in response to her unasked question.
Heather turned back to Red, “Well Red Tongue, it’s nice to meet you, I’m Captain Heather. We would love to try the Treasure Trove, arrgh.” Heather only half committed to her ‘argh’ but she still gave it a little spice.
“Excellent, matey. One adult male deer please,” Red said, with a completely straight face.
“A what?” Casey asked, the words just slipping out of her mouth.
“The price is one adult male deer per group.” Red was looking at them expectantly, as if they were supposed to just have a buck on them at all times.
“We don’t have one of those with us right now. Do you accept anything else?” Captain Heather asked.
“Yes, of course. We are also offering the standard pirate exchange rate,” Red said.
Once it was clear Red wasn’t going to expound on that answer any more Heather asked for clarification, “what’s the standard pirate exchange rate?”
“That would be one buck per ear.”
The group was silent as they processed what Red was saying. Riley was still a little wary of the vampire’s hypnotic voice but he seemed genuine in sticking to his role as a merchant and nothing that was said so far was particularly dangerous.
Scott was the first to figure out what was going on. “Oh, like a buck an ear.”
“Exactly,” Red said with a big smile on his face.
“What?” Casey asked, “I still don’t get it.”
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“Bob my Ross, that’s so stupid.” Riley said, the answer finally clicking. “It’s a buck an ear, like a buccaneer.
Nermit, Heather, and Casey just stared at Riley dumbfounded while Scott was laughing uproariously.
Casey volunteered to fetch the group their ear from one of the zombies they had left in their wake. She returned shortly and Red accepted the ear as payment for them to try the Treasure Trove.
As soon as the payment was accepted Red yelled out “Fire in the Hole!” His voiced echoed across the cavern and zombies started pulling themselves out of the water all along the docks. They were dressed like pirates and held cutlasses in their hands. A few held crossbows and blunderbusses as well.
Zombie Pirate - Level 35
Riley scanned a few more of the monsters and saw their levels go down as low as 28. A few of the pirates in captains hats identified as a Zombie Pirate Captain and their levels went all the way up to 39.
The docks had no walls so all enemies were clearly visible from their starting point. The zombies were content to shamble around where they had spawned, large groups of them huddled around the treasure chests with patrols elsewhere along the docks. It was easy to get a general sense of the layout of nearby docks there was too much noise to get a sense of exactly where the docks branched off.
Scott strung his bow for the second time since they entered the mines. “So, how do we want to do this?” He was fidgeting with a nocked arrows on the string, his eyes roving over the wandering mobs.
“Ranged attacks seem like too obvious a weakness,” Casey said, eyeing her brother’s bow.
“I know, geez,” Scott said, defensively. He stopped playing with his arrow though, the wind arrow disappeared as he let go.
“Let’s scout things out on this run,” Heather suggested. “We’ll probably want to complete this tomorrow so we’re ready for the rest of the mines.” Seeing nods all around the group moved cautiously forward with Riley in the lead and Casey as the rear guard.
Riley wanted to talk more about the vampirate tag but it felt rude to gossip in front of Red who could likely still hear them.
Riley’s stone boots made a loud clank against the wooden planks with each an every step. Their approach was far from silent. The water on either side of them was pitch black despite the glow of the mushrooms above. It was so dark that Casey used the Light ability of the Miner’s Helmet for the first time. A ball of white light appeared over her head floating in the air. Despite the bright light that it cast it didn’t pierce the water. It was an eerie sight and Riley wondered if he should unsummon his armor for these docks. If he fell in he would sink like a stone.
Riley liked to think he didn’t have a lot of fears. Plenty of worries for sure, but actual fears? Not many. It turns out that falling into pitch black zombie filled water deep underground was definitely one of them. Go figure.
Still nothing seemed to notice them. The section of the docks they were on were only 20 yards from another dock with a group of enemies on it but the enemies didn’t react to their presence.
The group continued forward, but Casey kept a sharp eye on their rear for any sign of reaction from the enemies. It was good that she did as she was the one to call out a warning.
Emerging from the water on either side behind them were two skeletons. Another pair were in front of them as well. Riley bashed the right one with his shield, intending to knock it off of the docks. As soon as his shield connected his muscles seized as an electrical current burned through his shield and through his rock armor.
Riley pulled back his shield and retreated a step. The skeleton he had tried to bash was glowing a neon blue, arcs of electricity were jumping off of its frame. The light sputtered out almost as quickly as it came. Riley’s right arm was numb. Cool golden light washed over Riley restoring feeling in his hand. He parried an attack from the left skeleton with his sword. The skeleton on the right reached for his shield while he was distracted and Riley twirled through the skeletons, phasing through them and catching them off guard.
As soon as he rematerialized behind them he cut his sword through one of the skeleton’s spines, cracking the bone but not fully bisecting the creature. The second skeleton ignored Riley, attempting to go after his now vulnerable party. That was a mistake, Riley’s sword thrust out taking that skeleton in the back of the skull before it could take two steps. The skeleton died.
Rileys sword was still embedded in its skull when its friend attacked. His shield was out of position and Riley grit his teeth ready to take the electrical blow. A golden shield appeared in front of Riley instead, absorbing the damage from the blow. Riley pulled his sword back ready to finish the fight when a blue bolt of mana hit the spot Riley’s earlier attack had, cracking the spine in half. The skeleton toppled over and Riley stomped on its head.
“Everyone alright?” Riley asked. He looked over his party. Everyone seemed good. “My skeletons could use electricity, was it the same with yours?” Riley asked. He got nods in return.
“Alright, we’ll have to be careful with that. Thanks for the save Nermit.”
Nermit gave Riley a thumbs up and a smile in response.
“There’s a group just ahead,” Riley called out. There were 5 of the pirate zombies standing in one of the dock crossroads. Two of them carried crossbows, the other tree held cutlasses. “Do we want to let Scott loose?”
“Please say yes,” Scott said, an arrow nocked on his bow.
Heather considered the question for a moment. She checked the clear path behind them, then said “yes.” Scott cheered. “It’ll be a good test,” Heather continued. “Though keep an eye out, and if anyone calls for it we bail, no questions asked.”
Scott drew his bow, aimed, and let loose.