Chapter 11

 Mines

The next morning Torger told half the dwarves of Calico to go to the mines and start extracting silver. He went with them to see the process. There were twenty-one that went. Three went into the first cleared mine, three into the second, and three into the third. Antic stood outside to watch and make sure none took silver out without reporting it. The remaining twelve split into two groups to clear the rubble of the collapsed mines, and Stone Fist was there to strengthen and support the tunnels as the dwarves worked.

They used shovels and wheelbarrows to remove the loose dirt, and Torger saw how well they worked as a team. By noon Stone Fist was telling them how to place wood beams across the top for extra support. Brun, Graul and Jex had spent the day working with a few dwarves making the wood beams, and Arden and Rome had probably respawned at Silverwood and would be back the next day. Torger looked back at Calico and saw smoke coming out of both smithies. He would soon be making some cash.

Torger thought to the night before when Graul casually told him Arden and Rome had died. Were they becoming cold and calloused towards each other’s pain and deaths? Torger had to admit they all were. Before that when Brun had lost a hand from a simmet, no one paid him much attention, and looking back over the past several months he saw the trend of them becoming desensitized to seeing their friends in pain. When they had first met Baybil, he didn’t care about their being naked and thirsty, and Lagwil didn’t care if the humans and dwarves lived in misery in the desert so long as they were off the mountain, which had plenty of room for all of them. Maybe the Regulators were being to see each other as tyter prey and injuries and casualties were becoming acceptable. Torger pushed the thought out of his mind and got back to work.

As night began to fall the miners came out and gave their silver ore to Antic, who placed it in a magic back pack. The others were about to come out from clearing rubble, but Torger said to go just a little farther, they were almost through. They went back in and he heard shovels scraping in both collapsed mines. Then on the tunnel to his left he heard screaming and the dwarves ran out.

The dwarves in the other tunnel heard the screaming and they ran out too. Torger asked what was wrong.

“We heard it. It was so close.”

“The moan, it was just on the other side of the dirt.”

“Razorlings are one thing, but I will not fight one of those.”

Torger asked “What was it? What’s in there?”

“A specter. We heard the moaning of a specter.”

Torger realized what they were talking about. His experience tab showed the ghost they had killed in the center mine was called a Lesser Lich. If there was another one in the tunnel, it would be up to the Regulators to kill it.

They all went back to the village, keeping the spirit behind the dirt wall in the mine. Word spread quickly around the village that there was a specter in the mine. Dwarves seemed especially afraid of them. They would take on a bear ten times their own size, but would not battle a magical abomination. He assured them his friends would kill it in the morning. Then he divided the silver mined that day evenly to the twenty-one dwarves who mined, minus the village ten percent. Ninety percent of that he divided among the rest of the villagers, with Antic keeping careful notes weighing each nugget specifically. Some got larger nuggets weighing over an ounce, others got dust weighing several grams, and they all wanted equal sized quantities. Torger knew they had to do this once a week, not every day; it would be too much work. The two ounces left over he gave to Strong Arm to purify and make it into arrowheads. Another dwarf cast a spell that gave each of the two arrowheads a plus one point fire damage, which was far inferior to Graul’s sword that inflicted seven fire damage with each swing.

They waited a full day for Arden and Rome to return, wearing furs that were too small because they were the change of clothes from the three dwarves working the sluice at the lake. Torger sent a couple of dwarves to stockpile Silverwood with lots of leather armor; one full suit for each Regulator. The village tanner and village leather worker loved the seventy-two silver coins Torger paid them. Strong Arm and Hastaff were both rushing to see who could get their smithy done first as the mining dwarves were complaining about chipped and bent picks and shovels.

Early the next morning the sun had just come up and all seven humans stood at the mouth of the cave. They had a few torches and walked in, jamming them into the dirt walls. Then Graul and Torger started shoveling dirt while Antic and Arden pushed out the wheelbarrows. After a couple trips, they heard moaning but kept working, with Brun, Rome, and Jex ready to attack.

Several more wheelbarrow loads of dirt were removed and as Torger shoved his shovel into the dirt pile, it broke through and he couldn’t see anything but blackness further in. The moan was very loud and Torger was suddenly struck with a grey stream of magic. He curled into a ball on the floor, afraid for his life.

Brun and Rome wanted to cast spells through the opening, but couldn’t see. Arden had his head on and threw a torch through the opening. They saw the Lesser Lich disappear, and heard moaning from deep within the mine.

Graul and Antic hurried up and used their hands to make the hole in the dirt pile as big as possible. When it was about a three foot diameter the spirit reappeared. Brun, Rome, and Jex were ready. Brun cast Fire 2, Rome cast Fire 1, and Jex cast Ice 1. All three spells hit it, and the power of the silver staffs made it shrink to about half its original six foot size. It howled and disappeared again.

Torger climbed up off the floor, still afraid but not petrified. Graul and Antic went back to tearing into the dirt wall but didn’t get far when another full sized Lesser Lich appeared. It raised its bony hand and tried to cast its fear spell at Graul, but he ducked in time. The spell hit Jex instead. She gasped, fell on the floor, and cried.

Brun and Rome each cast Fire 1 at it which hit the ghost and it shrunk a little then disappeared. Arden ran to comfort Jex, Brun drank their only mana potion, restoring nine mana points, and Torger and Graul kept making the opening bigger. Antic threw another torch in as far as he could. The light showed the second spirit hovering away from them, a yellow glow around it and slowly getting bigger.

Torger and Graul grabbed shovels and threw dirt in through the opening, until it was big enough they could crawl through. Jex recovered slowly, and all seven walked over the dirt mound with Antic carrying the last torch. They walked until they were about twenty feet away. Jex shot a silver arrow with a little fire magic in it. It went through the spirit, but the yellow glow surrounding it shattered and it stopped getting bigger. It disappeared.

They walked deeper into the mine and now Arden, Torger, and Antic each had a torch, and the tunnel was starting to fill with smoke. Even though he had no protection against magic and no magic weapon, Torger took the lead. Graul was right behind him ready to charge, with Brun and Rome behind Graul, staffs held at the ready. They made it almost to the end when they saw both spirits at the back, covered in yellow light and slowly getting bigger. Torger nodded to Jex.

She released the other silver arrow. The one she hit earlier was ready and disappeared, but the other was surprised when its’ yellow regeneration light shattered. Brun and Rome cast Fire 1 a second later and both hit it. It shrunk again, and Graul rushed forward. Before he got there it disappeared. Jex screamed and again was hit in the back with a grey stream of crippling fear. This time she went completely catatonic.

Everyone turned around facing towards the entrance and Brun cast Fire 1 at the spirit. It shrank and disappeared. Torger ran and picked up her bow and quiver of ice arrows.

Brun said “I’m out of mana.”

Rome said “Me too.”

Graul said, “I guess it’s up to me to send these spirits back to hell.” He held his flame sword looking one way, with Torger on the other side of the group looking the other way.

Arden couldn’t get Jex to come out of her stupor. Antic got ready to cast Ice 1. A few seconds later Torger shot an arrow. He wasn’t as good a shot as Jex and the arrow grazed the spirit, but it still did damage. His level of bows was at three, and Jex’s was at ten, and the difference showed. Each level added 1% to aim and speed, just like with swords. Torger was level eight with two handed swords and Graul was level ten with one handed swords, and none of the others could swing as fast or as accurately as they could. Their individual strengths given to them by the tyter chamber in Yuma were beginning to show.

Torger told them to go all the way back to the end of the mine so they wouldn’t have to look both ways. Arden and Brun carried Jex.

Once everyone was situated, Torger told Antic to be ready with Ice 1. Graul led the way, with Torger just behind him as they walked toward the cave mouth, leaving their friends in the far back of the tunnel. They saw the two spirits with a glowing yellow light again. Torger took careful aim and released a silver arrow he had recovered. It shattered the yellow light again of one spirit, but didn’t seem to damage it. The other raised its’ bony hand to point at him. Graul ran forward and swung before it could cast its spell. The sword went through it but glowed red, and the spirit moaned. Graul twisted his wrist and swung backhand at it, going until it was half way through. The sword glowed red again. He regripped the sword and swung up then down with it in the spirit. It flashed white and disappeared, the sword glowing hot.

Graul looked back to see Torger, but saw a flash of blue far behind Torger. “Antic just cast ice!” Torger turned around and ran towards them.

Graul now knew how to kill these things. He ran too and before he got there, there was another flash of blue. Antic cast Ice 1, and Arden cast Fire 1 once and was getting ready to cast again. Graul held the super heated sword and ignored the blisters developing on his hand, then stabbed the spirit in the back and left his sword there as it shrunk. Arden in his panic cast his Fire 1 anyway. It hit the spirit, but also burned some of Graul’s hair. Arden apologized but Graul kept focused and twisted his sword back and forth until the spirit died. Then he dropped the sword because it was too hot to hold. The blade slightly warped from the intense heat of the Fire 1 spell being continually cast combined the magic in the pearl constantly casting the spell.

Antic and Rome ran back to the village calling for help. They found Baybil and told him Jex was hit with fear twice and wasn’t recovering. Baybil ran to his tent and came back with a silver vial. “This is a very rare and powerful potion. It’s a strength potion, usually for regaining physical strength, but could work for regaining mental confidence or bravery.”

As he was handing the potion to Rome he said “Keep in mind, this is expensive.”

Just before Rome grabbed it an old lady, one of the cooks, walked up. “Oh calm down Baybil. It’s not all that rare.” Turning to Rome she said “All your friend needs is sleep. I’ll cook you up a night time drink and she’ll sleep it off. And unlike Baybil, I’ll only charge you thirty coppers.”

Rome asked out of annoyance “Baybil, will you sell me that potion for thirty coppers?”

He opened his mouth but was unable to speak. He grunted and walked away. The cook took them to the almost complete kitchen and poured some ingredients into a small pot and heated it up. She was done in ten minutes. “There, pour this into your water skin and give it to your friend.”

Rome thanked her and started heading back, but saw Arden carrying Jex. Rome and Antic followed them into their tent. Rome poured the brew into her mouth and she coughed but swallowed some. He eventually got her to drink most of it. Arden stayed with her and she fell asleep quickly, but slept fitfully all night, full of nightmares. She woke up fine and whole in the morning.

At breakfast the whole village was afraid of the mines. The dwarves didn’t like specters before, but had never seen the results of an attack from one. Seeing Jex in a catatonic state being carried back amplified their fear of the liches. Torger had to convince them they would clear out the last mine and all would be safe.

After breakfast Strong Arm handed Torger ten silver arrows, with one damage point from fire. He made them from the broken silver staff Torger gave him the day before when he returned with Jex. That broken staff was the one Brun had used to smack and kill a lich the first time they came across one. They all knew they needed more magic weapons, and these weak arrowheads were all the village could produce. On the bright side, Brun, Graul, Jex and Antic had each gained another ability point, but didn’t use them.

They returned to the last mine and began digging in the dirt. Brun was especially excited because once he cast Fire 2 one more time, he would learn Fire 3. That made Rome feel bad that he still didn’t know Cure 1. He wanted to use it and learn Cure 2 and 3. Cure 1 cost three ability points to buy, and he always died when he had one or two ability points.

After hours of digging dirt, they heard a low moan. They kept digging, staying ready for the expected attack. Once the dirt wall fell and a space opened up, they all ducked down. A grey stream of magic flew over their heads. Just like the day before, Arden threw a torch through the opening. The light allowed Brun to see enough to cast Fire 2. The Lesser Lich moaned and before it could disappear, Jex shot it with an ice arrow. Then they all cast Fire 1 or Ice 1 at it. It flashed white and died.

Another appeared in its place a couple seconds later. Everyone was able to cast another Ice 1 or Fire 1 spell at it. It shrank to about two foot tall, nearly dead, and disappeared. They knew they had time to dig while it was regenerating, and with only one to face, it shouldn’t be so bad, except they were all completely out of mana and had no potions. Only Graul’s sword and Jex’s arrows would damage it, but if they waited five minutes they would each have five mana again, and be better equipped for the battle. They began digging again, hoping it would take the ghost more than five minutes to regenerate.

Brun wasn’t much help with the digging. He was smiling ear to ear as he looked at his new spell. He had reached dealing five thousand damage points with Fire 2, and had learned Fire 3. As he looked, his jaw dropped. “Forty-five mana, that’s insane!”

“What is it Brun?”

“Fire three costs me forty-five mana per cast. That’s a lot of ability points to get that much mana. I’m at twenty now, so five more ability points to get to forty-five. And it doesn’t tell me what it does.”

Torger thought about it for a few seconds. “OK. If you want to spend your ability points on mana, that’s fine by me. I see your fire two is more powerful than your fire one. Let’s find out how much more powerful fire three is. Until then cast ice one and lightning one to get them to the second level.”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Everyone agreed that was a good idea. Brun used the ability point he gained the day before to get five more mana points.

Five minutes later they walked down the mine. The Lesser Lich appeared behind them and cast an ice spell at Antic’s back. Everyone else cast their one spell back at it, then Graul ran forward and slashed it several times. It flashed white and died. Antic, with his health at 300, suffered little effect from the spell. They walked on and saw that the mine was clear. There were no treasures to find, just the ore in the walls.

When they made it back to Calico, Torger addressed the dwarves and told them it was safe to reenter the mines, but they were still too afraid to trust him about that. He had to argue with them for almost an hour, appealing to their greed and his place as the leader, before three dwarves reluctantly agreed to go with him to see for themselves that the mines were clear once again.

The next day, the same twenty-one dwarves returned and began their work again. With the five mines open, they were each allowed to keep ninety percent of whatever they mined, instead of compiling it then dividing it. That day they extracted about six pounds of ore in all. Each dwarf began making his or her own side tunnel, responsible for clearing out their own rubble. It was an inefficient system, but Torger couldn’t convince a few of them to be full time mules to get a percentage of the daily extraction. The mining went smoothly day after day for a while.

A week later all the buildings in the village were fully functional. The regulators took one house, about twenty dwarves could fit in the other house, leaving nearly fifty still sleeping in tents. The kitchen had four full time cooks with all the pots and pans and serving utensils they needed, and three full time dish washers, and the dining room could hold ten dwarves at a long table comfortably, so they ate in shifts.

The sheep and goats had a pen that was covered overhead so rocs couldn’t see them from the sky. Three full time clothes washers had a stone basin several feet away from the reservoir. A barkeep and two bar maids worked in the tavern, and two dwarves produced ale as fast as they could in the new brewery. Each blacksmith had an apprentice and was fully functional, spending most of their time purifying the villagers silver ore. Two competing weavers were making clothes as fast as they could. Three farmers were twenty miles away in the foothills planting crops and building a hut near the aqueduct, since the desert had given them poor yields that year. The rest were building more stone housing for the other dwarves.

Torger collected a one copper tax from every mug of ale sold, and Rome got two percent of all the silver that Strong Arm kept for smelting fees. With the village running smoothly, it was time for the Regulators to fulfill an outstanding quest.

Chapter 12

Bears and Rocs and Cottols. Oh My!

The Regulators were in good spirits as they walked back to Lake Silverwood. It was around the first week of December, and the air was cold. But they all had heavy coats made from furs found in Treluge’s bags. Still, their leather boots were wet and cold as they walked in the rain. They came to the border of the elven territory and asked to speak to Lagwil. She came to them an hour later.

Torger said “Good to see you Lagwil. We have come to complete the quest you gave me. Is there anything we need to do to get started?”

“No, just hunt and kill the bears and rocs. But be quick about it. The council has decided to move to Yosemite. We will leave in four days. The bears are bedding down for the winter, and you should find them in caves. The rocs don’t fly when it’s cloudy, so today you would find them in their nests. And be careful, a cottol or two have been spotted in the area.”

“What’s a cottol?”

“A large cat with magic. It sends a psychic pulse to a victim. The pulse confuses the target, and he or she turns away from the cottol, then it attacks from behind.”

“Sounds scary. Thanks for the warning. What if we don’t finish before you leave?”

“If we are no longer a village here, the quest will be cancelled and you won’t get a reward.”

“Oh. We’ll hurry, don’t worry. You have always treated us fairly Lagwil. Except the brewery, but I let that pass.”

“You had no choice in that Torger. I didn’t give you a choice.” She turned and walked away. Her message was clear: they were on the mountain because she let them be on the mountain. Torger didn’t have any visions of grand victory against the elves. He couldn’t even see them, but knew they were near.

“Where do we start looking guys? There is a lot of land to cover in a short amount of time,” Torger asked to the whole group.

“This may be an obviously dumb idea, but maybe we can find bears near Big Bear Lake.”

Everyone turned to look at Antic. He shrugged and said “Just thinking out loud.”

“Sounds like as good a place as any.”

They started walking that way, looking for signs of bears or rocs. After a couple miles Arden pointed up a slope. On the side of a steep slope was a huge nest, about twenty feet wide, with two adult and two baby rocs in it. They couldn’t climb up it, but Jex could shoot that far. They asked each other if they were ready to take on two rocs at once. Time was ticking so they had to take the chance.

Jex pulled back on her bow string as hard as she could and aimed a little over the head of one of them. She released and the arrow flew in an arc, and pierced its wing. It screeched and both adults looked down at them then took flight.

Antic, Arden, and Rome all had a short bow found from Treluge’s belongings, but they had just simple iron arrowheads. Torger instructed them to shoot only when the birds got very close. Brun prepared to cast Lightning 1, and Torger and Graul held their swords, ready to defend their friends.

A roc swooped down and flew at Jex. She fell to the ground to avoid being scratched, but Antic and Rome also fell down out of fear. Arden released an arrow and missed, but Brun hit it with lightning. It was stunned for less than a second and dropped several feet, then flew away again. Graul looked at Antic and Rome getting up off the ground and shook his head in disgust. Everyone knew they missed the opportunity to get three arrows in the giant bird.

It circled high in the air, then both adults dove at the same time. This time the group was ready. Jex sank an ice arrow into the chest of one, and it flew away not finishing the attack. The other three archers hit its wings, but didn’t sink in very far. Brun cast Lighting 1and it was stunned before flying away. Both birds flew back to the nest. Brun told everyone “Remember Lighting 1 costs me seven mana, not five, so I can cast three times, then wait three minutes and cast it again.”

Jex took careful aim again and released, sinking another ice arrow into the wing.

When they saw her taking aim again, they took flight. They circled high overhead, not willing to attack. Jex aimed at one of the babies. It was a much smaller target, with a four foot wing span. But her aim was true and the arrow sank into a wing. It shuddered and tried to fly, but tumbled out of the nest and down the slope. By the time it stopped rolling, both wings were broken. The parents screamed in rage and dove again. All four arrows shot hit targets, and Brun hit one with Lightning 1. Both were already injured to begin with and fell from the sky. Torger and Graul rushed forward and avoided claws and beaks while driving in their swords. Graul’s shield took a beating, but unlike the razorlings, the roc claws were not sharp enough to penetrate the iron. He blocked a beak strike one more time with his shield and stepped forward to drive his sword deep into the chest, all the way to the hilt. At the same time Torger was able to get to the side of his target and slice off the head of the bird.

They looked back at the group and saw Jex release an arrow at the flailing baby roc on the ground. It sank to the fletching and the bird died. Next she shot the other baby in the nest, and it too tumbled down the hill. Another arrow finished it off. They spent the next hour retrieving arrows and collecting feathers, then went hunting again.

A few miles away they found another nest, and did the same thing, with Jex shooting arrows to draw them out. Those died and they went hunting again. A while later Arden saw a bear. They followed it for an hour and saw it go into a cave. They had no idea how many bears were in there or how active they were, but they had to try.

From two hundred yards away, and up in a tree, Jex shot an arrow blindly into the cave. They heard a roar, then a few more snorts from different bears, but none came out. Torger signaled to her to do it again. This time the roar was louder. “Everyone ready?” Torger looked around. They were all in trees away from the cave but near each other. They nodded and Torger shot an arrow into the cave.

A huge sleepy bear came out and looked around. Torger and Jex shot it again, and Brun hit it with lighting. It focused on Jex and began charging. Before it got there another bear came out of the cave, and another. Rome and Arden shot the two new bears, the arrows barely penetrating the thick hide, and Arden knew it was his moment.

Once the smithy for Strong Arm had been completed, Torger assigned him a special secret task. Torger’s shotgun was damaged from the fire when Small Foot’s goons destroyed Home, but Strong Arm assured him he could repair it. It cost Torger forty-seven silver, but it might have been worth it. Rome and Torger had worked together with Strong Arm late several nights trying to recreate a crude black powder and casings, with the appropriate wad. Together after many trial and error attempts, they came up with nine new shells. Arden fired, pumped, fired, pumped, fired. The shots were noticeably weaker than modern machine made shells filled with primer, but still penetrated the bear’s thick hide.

One of the three bears that had come out of the cave lay on the ground bleeding heavily, the other charged Arden. He put in two shots into that one, then reloaded with the last four shells. By the time he was done, the bear was shaking the tree Arden was in. But his level with guns was at 33, and even while laying on a branch that was swaying, he got another shot into the face of the bear. It collapsed to the ground, breathing but not moving. Graul and Torger got out of their trees and attacked the one that was trying shake down Jex. It had five arrows in it and had been hit with Lighting 1 twice, so their stabs finished it off.

As they were withdrawing their swords they heard another gunshot. They looked behind and saw more bears coming out of the cave. Arden shot twice more and they had no more shells. As good as the black powder shots were, it was not a one shot one kill ratio they were hoping for. Torger and Graul ran to Arden’s tree and killed the wounded bear that was there. Brun Cast Lighting 1 at a new bear, and he was completely out of mana.

Jex recovered from her scare and with shaky hands released an arrow. Fortunately she had a big target to aim at. Torger and Graul ran under Antic’s tree as planned. A bear followed them and they fought it on the ground while Antic easily thrust his spear into its back over and over. Graul took most of the blows on his shield and kept the beast facing him. Torger drove in his sword through its side, piercing a lung. It fell but more were coming.

Jex, Arden, Brun, and Rome were releasing arrows as fast as they could from the semi safe tree branches. Graul and Torger stood their ground under Antic, waiting for the bears to come to them. They saw a total of nine bears had come out of the cave, two of them were adolescents, and four of the nine were already dead. Two bears went to attack Jex, and the other three came to Torger and Graul.

The archers protected Jex as best they could, and Torger and Graul had to keep circling around the tree, blocking claws and teeth as much as they could. Antic had a field day thrusting his spear down as hard and fast as he could. He inflicted a lot of damage on the three below him, and after several minutes of intense combat, the bears were dead. Torger ran to the other bears, riddled with arrows and bleeding heavily. He came up behind one and sliced deeply into its back leg. It fell down and he shoved his sword into its skull, then he went and did the same to the other one.

Graul was bleeding from both arms. He was blocking the bears as best he could while Toreger and Antic were inflicting damage. But at one point claws ripped his right arm, and a while later claws had ripped his left arm. Torger went to the duffle bag and found a health potion. Graul drank it and the bleeding slowed, but didn’t stop.

“I’ll get you another one.”

“No Torger, I’ll be fine. We only have four left. We’ll use them in emergencies.”

“Alright, let’s go see what’s in that cave.”

They cautiously approached the cave. Outside, Jex shot an iron arrow in, and they heard it hit the back wall. They lit some wood on fire and threw it in, but saw nothing. They walked all the way to the back and found three vials of a black potion. There was nothing else in there.

“What do you think it is?”

“How should I know? None of us has seen that before.”

Torger put them into the duffle bag and they skinned the bears, then put the skins into the bag also. They agreed to walk back to where the dwarves were operating the aqueduct. It was almost dark when they got there and they set up tents and cooked bear meat, giving roc meat to the dwarves who were grateful. After dinner Torger pulled out one of the vials of black liquid.

“Do any of you know what this is?”

“Yes, I do. It’s a strength potion. If you drink it, it will restore your strength if you’re weak.”

Antic said “That could come in useful one day.” Torger put them into his back pack and told everyone he would take the first watch. They went to sleep, the dwarves thankful they didn’t have to take a shift on watch duty that night.

It was well past midnight and everything was still. Jex was cold and bored. She stood up and walked around the camp trying to stay awake, but after a few minutes she sat down again. A few minutes later her head was bobbing up and down with her eyes half closed.

A cottol watched from behind bushes in the dark. It sent a psychic blast at her and she picked up her head and looked the other direction. It approached with the stealth cats are known for, and raked its claws down her back. She screamed and came out of her trance, but was in crippling pain. It jumped on her back and bit her in the neck. She tried to roll away and fight back, but couldn’t shake it off. In the corner of her vision, her Stats turned yellow, then red. She lay on her stomach with the cat on her back and through blurry vision saw legs running towards her. She heard people yelling and the sound of metal cutting into meat, then she passed out.

When she woke up the sun was high in the sky. Her husband looked at her and said “I’m sorry we didn’t get to you sooner. That was too close.”

She stood up and felt fully restored. “What happened? Why didn’t I die?”

“We gave you all four cure potions. Sleeping restored you.”

“All four! You should have let me die and respawn.”

“Graul said that, but Torger said we need to finish the hunt and we need your archery skills. I couldn’t let you die either, not if there were potions nearby. We’ve all changed our respawn point from Calico to Silverwood, and you need to do the same.”

She looked around. “Where are the others?”

“They went to see if they could find another cave or nest. They should be back soon.”

Sure enough, they returned to camp a half hour later.

“We couldn’t follow the cottol tracks. But we did find another cave and a nest. Are you ready to go?”

“Sure Torger, let me eat something first.”

She ate dried fruit as they walked. No one said anything, but she knew she failed miserably at her guard duty. She vowed to herself that would never happen again.

They first came to the cave. Everyone climbed into trees and Jex shot an arrow in. Just like the day before there was a roar. A bear came out and she shot it in the leg. It roared again and more bears came out. Arrows flew through the air, and Brun cast Lighting 1three times. Antic was able to spear a bear that was below him, but today they all had spears. Torger and Graul had carved straight oak poles during their shifts, and tied billik legs to them. The bears couldn’t shake them out of trees, and Jex shot arrows freely. Whenever a bear tried to climb a tree, a spear to the eye made it go back down. All seven bears died without anyone getting hurt.

The rocs went much the same as the day before; Jex shot an arrow at the nest and lured them close to the group. Brun stunned them with lightning and Torger and Graul battled them on the ground. The young ones in the nest succumbed to Jex’s arrows.

After the battle Rome announced “I almost have three ability points. Should I buy Cure one, or wait for one more to buy Analyze one?”

They could see the glee on his face. He was a white mage that knew no white magic spells. They discussed the pros and cons, and decided to wait for analyze. With luck, he would be able to buy it at the end of the day.

They searched more, but it was nearly dark before they found another nest. As before, they killed the two adults and two babies without incident. They went back to camp and sat around the fire.

Torger spoke up. “Tomorrow is the last day. We’ve killed sixteen bears, and twelve rocs in two days. That is very impressive guys, but we need to get to thirty each, then get to the elves to collect our reward. Our battles will have to go faster tomorrow. Who has ideas?”

Brun said “I now have thirty-five mana. I just need two more ability points to get to fire three. I think tomorrow will get me there.”

“Good. That’s just what we need Brun. Who else?”

Antic said, “I’ve been putting my ability points into stamina. I could run and scout the area while you are looking around in the morning.”

“OK do it, but be careful.”

Arden said “The rest of us have two or three unused ability points. We could all buy lighting one.”

“No, our ice one is fine. We can cast ice one twice, but lighting one only once. But I like the idea. Jex and Graul, would you buy slow one? You each have three ability points, and slower moving bears is what we need.”

“Ok we’ll do that, but what about you and Arden?”

“I’m not sure yet. I want to spend mine protecting Calico, and Arden might want to wait and buy shield one.”

Graul said “We both spent four ability points upgrading and protecting Home, but it’s a heap of ashes now. We wasted them. Don’t make the same mistake with Calico. Besides, Calico is temporary until the silver runs out.”

“I know, but I hate the idea of dwarves sleeping outside the shield. I’ll sleep on it.”

That left Arden and Torger with two unused ability points each, and Rome had three.