#Leyvna’s Perspective
The Elementalist finished cooking the meal and dished it out to the other three women. For the moment she ignored the pup, well not really ignore him, but she was making sure he knew that she was the leader, and while he was cute he was not going to wrap her around his tail like so many other cute four-legged animals had done in the past.
The stew could use some work, it had the overboiled taste of many preserved foods, one thing she was going to have to invest in, if she could find it, was a selection of spices. At least some salt.
When she was finished, she had a look at the pot and made sure that it was cool enough to the touch. She looked down at her pup. And pulled up his status.
Name:
Ritter (Terror of the Forest)
Species:
Horned Shadow Wolf
Level:
Racial: 15
Class:
Owner:
Levyna Hawthorne
Size:
Small (puppy)
Attributes:
Strength
20 (+0 Racial (Puppy))
Carry Limit:
100
Agility
20 (+0 Racial (Puppy))
Grace Level:
1 (+0.4 Stanima/s)
Endurance
17 (+0 Racial (Puppy))
Stamina Points:
34 / 34 (+0.5/s)
Durability
14 (+0 Racial (Puppy))
Hit Points:
14 / 28
Intelligence
9 (+0 Racial (Puppy))
Max Spell Level:
1 (special) (+0.1 Mana/s)
Wisdom
9 (+0 Racial (Puppy))
Mana Points:
18/18 (+0.1/s)
Charisma
13
Persuasion
+1
Appearance
13
+1 situation bonus to persuasion
Class Skill:
Level:
Class Skill:
Level:
Shadow Affinity
1 / First Tier
Howl (whine)
1 / First Tier
General Skill
Level:
General Skill
Level:
Language: Shadow Wolf
4 / First Tier
Persuasion
1 / First Tier (base)
2 / First Tier (Charisma)
3 / First Tier (Situational)
As she looked through his status she set the pot down, and grinned at Ritter, “Here you go, Ritter. You get to help mama clean up after dinner, make sure this pot is nice and clean?”
She found the head tilt of the pup adorable, but she had to make sure that he didn’t use his cuteness against her. “Just lick it out.” She says with a bright smile. The other three women were looking at her strangely. She just smiled back, “Oh don’t give me that look, he’ll definitely help out.” She says after a moment, “Especially after he grows up a bit, and can hunt on his own.”
“Do you have any idea how big he’ll get?” The elven princess asked her.
“No idea, but if he’s a puppy and about this sized, I assume he’ll get to be about waist height or a bit taller.”
The princess rolled her eyes again at the human magic-user, “No, adult horned shadow wolves are much bigger, he’ll be bigger than a draft horse.”
Levyna turned her head and looked over at her pup, “Well if he’s raised right he’ll definitely be an asset. Maybe I should have called him Clifford instead.” She mused to himself. Ritter looked up from cleaning out the pot and then wagged his tail, causing a bit of disturbance behind him. “But you’re not red, are you?” She asked him in the same tone of voice one used to talk to babies and toddlers with who they’re enamored.
-The World Stone VII (Arctic) has been claimed.
--- Faction of Darkness has been founded
--- Leader of Darkness has been selected
--- 1 Stone(s) is (are) in play. Summit has not been called
-Summit status available to be viewed
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
The system message surprised her, she was not expecting it. She turned quickly and looked over at the elven princess, who looked paler than normal, the blood had drained from her face.
“What? Is that something bad?” Levyna asked the elf.
“Yes, it’s bad. Not only is there a demon rising going on, but someone has claimed one of the lost stones.”
“What happens at the summit?” Irina jumped in on the conversation almost instinctually. “Does it have something to do with being the hero?”
“I don’t know. Father never told me, he just told me that if a summit is called the entire world could end. I don’t think it has anything to do with being a hero of the demon rising.”
“Hey, Lauq. You said it was one of the lost stones, does that mean there are found stones?” The Elementalist asked.
Their conversation was interrupted by a burb from the wolf puppy, who sat up and looked completely innocent as only puppies can. His tail was beating a rhythm against the pot he had finished cleaning up.
Levyna couldn’t help it but she gave the wolf a rub behind the ears, and then gathered him up into her arms, again glad that she put some attributes into strength. She sat down on the log again and started to comb through Ritter’s fur with her fingers, using that as a distraction as she looked at the summit data.
World Stone Summit
World Stones Claimed
Owner
Faction
Arctic (VII)
Darkness
Active Factions
Leader
Champion
Darkness
Inactive Factions (From Previous Summits)
- Light
- Order
- Chaos
- Good
- Evil
#Dimitri’s Perspective
The dungeon had gone dark when the final boss had been defeated. Dimitri held the world stone in his hand and then put it away in his pocket space.
“
“I don’t know, I wasn’t keeping track, but it’s been a couple of days at least I think. How’s the food supply like?”
Dimitri opened up his pocket space and looked at the food that he had stored there, “We’re still good, maybe about a day and a half of food left. And we did pick eat at the Storm Folks’ camp.”
“So maybe two days we’ve been here, then. We should find out way back to the outpost, see if they can make it out.”
They moved towards the boss room and found the remains of the Beithir on the ground. Blood was dripping from the severed head. The body was farther away, still wrapped around the central column.
“Umm, Warnik?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m glad we didn’t fight her.”
They left the room and went to the hallway the lead towards the entrance. The trip seemed to take longer than the trip down, the darkness was also mentally taxing. Walking down previously lit corridors by only a small glow from Dimitri’s staff was disconcerting to the warlock, and probably to his companion too.
The only sounds they heard were their footsteps and the dripping water from the melted ice. Each step started to echo off the walls as they moved on without speaking.
“Are you sure we’re walking along the right hallway, Warnik?”
“No, I can’t tell.” They continued to walk, and then breathed out a sigh of relief as they found the stairs up.
“I don’t know why we were so quiet Dimitri. I guess the darkness and the quietness of the dungeon was a bit much for us.”
They got to the top of the stairs and looked over the air boss room. “Hey! Are there any Storm Folk around?” The warlock called out.
For what seemed like minutes passed before they heard a voice call out, “[Is she gone?]” It sounded like Velda, but the fear in her voice was out of character for the Storm Folk warrior.
“Is who gone?”
“[That winged vampire!]”
“No, she’s right behind you! If there was a vampire here, you think we’d be talking like this?”
“[Gah! Don’t do that. I guess you’re right. She came up from the lower level and almost killed us.]” Velda did come in from hiding in the boss room. Another of the storm folk was with her, the others that had escorted them to the room had already left.
“Why didn’t she?”
“[She knocked us against the wall, and said we weren’t human so she’d let us go with a warning.]”
“Oh.” Dimitri replied, “Do you think you can find your way back to the outpost with all the mage lights turned off?”
“[Yeah we should be able to find our way back without a problem. We’ve been here for years.]”
Dimitri and Warnik let the Storm Folk lead them towards the camp, the trip seemed to be quicker and not as nerve-wracking as the journey on the last level. He made some small talk with the Storm Folk.
“You guys ready to leave this place? I don’t know how long the dungeon will be inactive.”
“[I know I’m ready to leave, and if we have to leave a lot of our stuff behind I don’t think it will matter. The price of freedom.]” Velda responded.
“Do you plan on going back to your town, or clan… Hey, where do you guys live anyway if you’re not in the dungeon?”
“[There’s a town in the mountains. It’s about two weeks of walking away. If you like I can ask the elder if you can journey with us? We don’t usually have visitors there, but Mountain Men are usually welcome if it’s not their time of the century that is.]” Velda’s companion added with a smirk on his lips, “[Hey what was that for?]” He added holding the back of his head.
“[That was rude Veild. Just because Warnik can’t understand us, doesn’t mean you can insult him behind his back. Or in front of him. He and Dimitri probably just freed us. Now apologize or else I’ll beat it out of you.]”
“[Oh give… Alright.]” He turned and gave a bow to the barbarian, “[I do apologize.]”
Warnik just shook his head as Dimitri explained what had gone on. The barbarian gave a typical response for him, “Don’t worry about it. I didn’t take it as an insult. Remember I was summoned as well, and have no idea about the Mountain Men of this world.”
The rest of the trip was done in silence and they arrived back at the outpost. The fires they used to roast their meat acted as the light for the cavern. The cavern was a hive of activity. They were excited but they also had a long walk ahead of them to make it back to their home.
“So, Warnik,” Dimitri addressed his companion, “Think we should ask to go with them?”
“It’s not like we have anywhere else to go. Apart from getting Hermosa’s essence and seeing if we can free her from the dungeon.”
“You never forget a promise with a naked lady, do you?”
“Uh… No.” Warnik replied with a blush, “But I don’t like that she’s been kept prisoner here for millennia.”
“You really don’t like slavery do you?”
“No. When you’ve seen how much it fucked up people, and nations for generations and then trace back a lot of the problems. No, I don’t like slavery.”
The two companions took the opportunity to relax. There were a few Storm Folk tending the fires, as they were cooking up the last of the meat, and Warnik went over to them. The barbarian did his best to communicate with them by patting one of them on the shoulder, pointed at the meat on the spit, and then at himself. He then made and turning motion with his hand, and pointed towards the rest of the Storm Folk.
Dimitri was amazed that he could get his point across, and the two giants left the warrior to tend the fire. Warnik seemed to know what he was doing as he examined the meat, as it cooked over the fire, and poked it in a few different places with a spike the previous cooks left behind. He found himself a place to sit and watch the cavern.
#Warnik’s Perspective
The barbarian distracted himself with the cooking of the meat for the last meal the Storm Folk were to have in this cavern. That is if their plan worked right, all the indications were that it would work. He liked to cook before getting summoned, and here he was learning a few things with tending to the meat.
He gave them the spits the occasionally turn to keep one side from getting too hot. He also occasionally added some wood to the fire to keep it a consistent flame. It wasn’t too long before the cooks came back and gave him a little bow and he rejoined Dimitri.
“I think they’ll be leaving soon.” He said to Dimitri, “They’re getting the last meal together, and I don’t think they plan on making a feast out of it. Eat up the meat they haven’t preserved and then leave.”
“You’re right there, I think the dungeon will be disabled for a day or so, that should give them time to get out of here.”
Neither one of them was in the mood to talk, not after conquering the dungeon, the feeling was almost like a letdown after stressing over something for so long and now the task was done. They didn’t even feel the post success elation, just the kind of low-grade emotion of having finished something.
The meal was quick and was started when the Storm Folk had packed up everything they planned to take with them. There bundles of the lightning javelins and other lightning-based weapons they had come to the dungeon to forge.
The Mountain Man and Half-Demon went with the large group of Storm Kin as they left their outpost behind. They even closed the gate to the cavern before they left. It was a final touch that Warnik could appreciate. This cavern had been their home for so long that leaving it had to be tough even though they were eager to go.
When they arrived at the stairs to the next level he could see how nervous they were. It wasn’t until Elder Elle stepped onto the first stair that there was a collective sigh of relief, followed by a cheer.
Traveling through the rest of the dungeon, was almost like a walk in the park. What monsters remained were no match for the combined might of the Storm Folk. They reached the top level and Warnik turned to Dimitri.
“Please tell them that we have to try to free one more slave, and we’ll meet them outside.” He asked his companion.
The boss room that Hermosa was in was still cold, and he waited for the Storm Folk to clear out. When the last one had left the room, he walked over to the fountain, and make sure to touch it’s frozen surface with his hand, just in case there was some lingering dungeon magic around.
“Hermosa, you here?” He asked, letting Dimitri translate for him from the doorway.
He was surprised when she appeared, wrapping her arms around his neck, and then locked her lips to his. He almost panicked as he took it to be an attack to start with. He stopped as he felt the kiss, and then her body dissolve.
The feeling of ice sliding down his throat gave him a bit of a start, and he didn’t know what to make of it before he looked over to Dimitri.
“That was some kiss, eh? Warnik?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“We should get her essence and see if we can get her out of here.”
“I think she just gave it to me, Dimitri.”
“She did?”
“Yes. We should go, and see if we can get out of here and find an icy spot.”
Upon crossing the final threshold of the dungeon Warnik finally felt satisfied. The job was done, they had conquered the dungeon. They had freed some decent people, and perhaps they had found a place to go, maybe a new home. He couldn’t help it, but he did feel the tears starting to form in his eyes.
The sun was just starting to climb over the horizon, and he remembered one line of a song from a game he used to play that was most apt for now. “Hope is just a sunrise away.” He said quietly to himself. He turned to Dimitri, and sighed softly to himself, “One more job.” He said almost sadly, and then looked up towards the peaks of the mountain chain.
“Time to learn what it means to be a mountain man. I don’t think you’ll be able to come with me, unless you’ve learned a fly spell, Dimitri. I’ll catch up with you.”
It wasn’t that he thought Dimitri would slow him down. He just needed time alone, and this was a good enough time as any for him to do so. It was selfish, he knew but still, he needed time alone with his thoughts.
“The Storm Folk should be here for a few days, I think they’re getting used to the freedom,” Dimitri seemed to understand his feelings. “And then they’ll head down to the valley and then north to a pass, if you don’t catch up to us, I’ll do my best to leave a mark.”
Warnik nodded his head, “I’ll see you there. There looks to be a bit of a path, there, to the west, away from the sun that should lead me upwards to the peaks. Then I’ll do what I can to plan Hermosa’s essence. I just hope this works.”
⸘⸘⸘ You have freed a millennial trapped soul, and gave it freedom from its endless duty. You have earned the title: My hero ⸘⸘⸘
⸘⸘⸘ You have freed a troop of Storm Folk before they could be fully enslaved by the dungeon. You have earned the title: Freedom Fighter ⸘⸘⸘
⸘⸘⸘ For conquering a dungeon with a short party, and high over your level you have earned 15 levels of
⸘⸘⸘ Exceptions mitigated. Tasks canceled, awards queued. Error Memory Leak Detected. ⸘⸘⸘