World Sphere - 172 - Lizard Fort

Chapter 172

It didn’t take long for Gareth to find the reward chest.  The group that had been camping a short distance away just happened to enter at the same time Gareth brought the chest out.  They were also awestruck by the carnage of blood and bodies and even more wary of Adrial and Kiara, who were eyeing them menacingly.

A tall, thin elf with angular features and pixie-cut black hair approached.  His voice was high-pitched, “We came to assist, but it looks like our assistance is unnecessary.”  He briefly eyed the chest in Gareth’s hands before returning to make eye contact.  “We will just be heading down to the third level, and thank you for clearing the fort.”  He held out his hand, “Ryden of Specialty Acquisitions.”  I shook his hand, on guard.  “We are a visiting team in this dungeon and headed to the sixth level for a contracted item.”

He nodded to his companions, and they followed him into the center building where Gareth had claimed the chest.  They gave us a wide berth. Gareth explained after they left, “Access to the third level is a portal in there.  But Storme, we need to harvest the lizard fort captain. We can’t go deeper,” he reminded me.

I had no plans to go down another level.  “We will head to the lizard fort.  How long of a walk is it?”

“Twenty miles, we can make it in a few hours,” Gareth said, relieved, putting the chest down and opening it.  Everyone had circled the chest to look upon the prizes.

The chest had a bed of hundreds of silver coins, making it look impressive, but they were not large coins, and the total was only a few golds.  Each coin had the hobgoblin captain on one side and the thunder witch on the other side.  Gareth dug through the coins, making a satisfying clicking sound, to find a plain-looking turquoise ring and a spellbook.

“That should be a green key ring.  It is a common find in the dungeon, allowing you to key to a specific portal.  You just wear it through the portal you want to key it to. The next time you enter the dungeon, it will be like walking through that exact portal. It is so you do not have to travel all the way from the first level every time you enter.  The only problem is that everyone in your group needs one, and they must be keyed to the same portal.  If you sell it locally, it should be worth a few hundred golds, as it only works in the Cavern of the Thunder Witch,” Maerlyn explained, and a frustrated Gareth slammed his dungeon reference guide closed.  My guess was he was looking up the ring in the loot section.

I picked up the spell book and paged through it.  It was the tier two spell fire bolt.  A common spell, but dungeon spell books made learning spells easier even if they were destroyed after using them, so it had value.  I sent it to my dimensional closet.  “You can have the coins and ring, Gareth.”  He was probably getting more value, but I never planned to return to this dungeon anyway, so I didn’t see any value in the ring.  The maul the hobgoblin Captain had wielded was much more interesting.

I ran my metal senses through it, and the runic pattern was simple and focused on increasing the impact and giving the wielder a modest amount of protection from slashing and piercing weapons, making it more difficult to cut the skin.  Of course, our artificed blades could easily overcome the enchantment.  I took the hammer, and everyone searched the hobgoblin defenders for additional loot.

I didn’t want to haul any low-value items out of the dungeon, so I let Gareth’s team take what they wanted. They were gathering mostly weapons to make a few dozen gold. The quality was not terrible, but I considered it all scrap metal. As Gareth, Tobias, and Zayne looted weapons to carry out, I prepared everyone a meal from my spacial storage. The cats were happy to get fed.

Aeyln was curious, “What is on the third level?”  We had not studied anything in Gareth’s reference guide past the second level.

Maerlyn answered eagerly, looking to be helpful.  “Large rocky islands connected by sandy shoals.  The water has several desirable fish.” She focused on me, “How are you only a copper guild member?”

“I just have not had time to do any postings in the Adventurer’s Hall.  Skyholme only recently recognized adventurer’s cards for advancement as well.  Before, none of the requests even had pip rewards.” We were walking out of the fort, and I thought I would ask, “What monsters are on the third level?”

“Each island has various species of large land reptiles, and there are various sizes of crabs that hide under the sand between the islands,” Maerlyn said as we walked side by side.

She continued talking about the third floor of the dungeon. That was where Maerlyn spent most of her time. Fishing was a big industry on the third level.  Her dimensional space was usually filled with blue mackerel to sell to restaurants in the city. The blue mackerel were aether-infused and had the added effect of improving aether recovery for a time after eating. It was only a ten percent improvement but could be paired with other ingredients to enhance the effect further. The fish sold for a whopping five gold per pound; each fish usually had about twenty pounds of fillets. They were hard to catch without specific magic—or a fishing pole.

“Why are you looking for a new team?” I asked.  I was not really curious, but we had a long walk.

She laughed at the question, “The usual. My lover in my Guild cheated on me. We didn’t delve together, but seeing him in our guild hall daily was too much. So now I am looking for work, and getting away from Myththorne for a while might be good as well,” she explained.

Gareth interrupted, stepping between us, “You are not trying to steal her, Stormy?” His tone was joking, but I had known him long enough to see the nervousness.

“We are just talking Gareth. I am not trying to recruit her,” I assured him. She may be knowledgeable, but I had not even seen her cast a single spell so far—not that I had given her a chance.

“I have not signed onto Dungeon Heart yet, Gareth. This was just a trial run to see if we could work together.” That mollified Gareth some, but then Maerlyn asked me, “Do you have a delve team, too?”

“I do. It is called Shiny Platinum Delving, we have our own dungeon, and my delve leader runs three teams,” I explained.

The panic on Gareth’s face was comical as Maelyrn exclaimed, “You have your own dungeon?”

“Yes, it is on my estate, and the new local Adventurer’s Guild has been trying to get access for the last year. It is not very impressive, just five levels, and we have only pulled three tier-one essences in the last year,” I said, trying to downplay the Progenitor Dungeon.

Aelyn was not helping Gareth’s cause, “If you want, you can join my team. Bleiz is on it, and we have a minotaur, a great healer and powerful mage.”

Gareth was suddenly frantic, “Hyperion is already a restraint specialist! She wouldn’t have anything to do!” Aelyn laughed teasingly at Gareth. He had obviously spent a lot of energy in recruiting the elf mage.

“Aelyn, we have not even seen Maerlyn in action yet,” I noted.

Maerlyn started to sell herself, and it was clear she preferred Shiny Platinum Delving over Dungeon Heart, “I am a utility ranged mage. Besides my dimensional space, I have arcane rope and containment sphere. Those are the spells I use for controlling creatures.” I nodded as arcane rope was kind of a bola for binding a creature and just a tier-one spell. The mage still needed to hit its target. Containment sphere was a tier three air spell. It created a bubble of solid air around the target.

“Why did you choose containment sphere as a tier three spell?” I interrupted her. “Four spell slots seems like a lot to use for that spell.” I wasn’t going to tell her the spell was not a good choice.

“When I joined my Guild, it was a requirement. I have since repaid the cost of the spell. But it was to capture and extract uninjured creatures from the dungeon,” I looked at her in surprise.

“To what purpose?” I questioned.

“Far sale. There were three mages in my group; I contained it, another charmed it, and the third broke its connection to the dungeon.” She explained.

“A beast tamer?” I asked about the third mage.

“Yes, a beast tamer. He actually left the Guild a year ago, and we never found a replacement for him. So we have not been capturing creatures recently,” Maerlyn admitted.

Gareth was listening in, “Isn’t removing creatures against the law?”

“Probably just in Skyhomle,” I said, knowing that was the case in the islands and that had not changed.

Maerlyn confirmed, “It is not illegal in Myththorne. The creatures have a lot of uses outside a dungeon. Breeding, combat practice, and companions. It is a profitable industry.”

“Any other spells?” I asked, but I did not ask her spell levels as that was kind of taboo.

“Blink step, arcane armor, mend flesh, infuse strength, and air walk,” Maerlyn listed off her repertoire that she was willing to share with me.

“Any open spell slots on your matrix?” Aelyn asked. I gave Aelyn a side glance. That was also impolite to ask someone.

Maerlyn answered anyway, “Three, but I am trying to expand it to four, and then I will learn another tier three spell.”

“Which tier three spell?” Aeyln asked.

“I have been saving up to purchase summon shadow. It turns your shadow corporeal and can fight alongside you,” Maerlyn explained.

If that was all Maerlyn had access to, then she was just a regular mage with a lot of experience indicated by her silver badge. Two tier two spells; air walk and blink step. And the one-tier three-spell containment sphere. She did have some utility tier one spells; mend flesh, dimensional storage, and infuse strength. Maybe 20 total spell slots. More if she had spells she was not revealing.

“I look forward to seeing you in action,” I said, with no plans to offer her a position on Shiny Platinum Delving. But judging by Aelyn’s body language, she might have her own plans.

As we walked down the dirt road in the dungeon, we found a group of seven lizardmen in black leather armor walking toward us. They had probably been expecting to encounter a group of hobgoblins. The lizardmen all had spears and shields and did not appear dangerous.

Gareth was already rushing to close the one hundred yards with them, probably eager to earn some glory. Maerlyn was moving forward to get in range of her spells too. I decided to let the encounter evolve without me. “Reoow,” Adrial drew my attention with a pitiful whine.

“Fine, you can go too,” I said, and she bolted away. Her six legs brought her up to a sprint, quickly and easily outpacing Gareth. Adrial leaped from twenty feet, looking like she would be impaled on two spearmen. She used her phantom whips to slap the spears aside and drive one of the lizardmen to the ground. Her jaws closed on its head, and she ripped it off in a spray of blood.

She then pivoted on the other lizardman, clawing his chest and tearing through his armor like it was paper, her new strength on display. Her target stumbled away, bleeding from four deep chest wounds. Adrial let out a triumphant roar. Her aether shield flashed as one of the five remaining lizardmen thrust with his spear.

She was unharmed, and her black tail twitched at the interruption. Gareth reached the fight, and Adrial only managed to kill one more lizardman as Zayne took one and Gareth the other three. Maerlyn never made it in range to use any spells. She could have used blink step to race ahead of the others, but I would have thought her an idiot for rushing into battle. Her assignment was to provide assistance to front-line fighters.

Gareth gave me his grin, “I got three this time, three more than you, Stormy.”

“I think Adrial’s kills count for Storme. They are his companions, after all,” Aelyn stated with a smirk.

Gareth’s grin vanished, and he appeared ready to argue. He didn’t, though, but made a deduction instead, “Well, if the patrol was sent out, then the fort should be intact. We have a chance at the ring.” Nothing was valuable on the lizardman patrol, and we continued on the path.

The fort came into sight, and there were three groups of delvers camped about half a mile away. I ordered, “Bleiz, go make sure this is all the delvers that are here.” Bleiz was already invisible, but small puffs of dust could be seen as he sprinted off to circle the fort for danger.

I lead my group toward the first camp. It was one massive tent, and three elves were cooking steaks on an open fire just outside. One of the elves walked to meet me, “The Mist Guardians are preparing to assault the fort.  We welcome aid and will be willing to divide the spoils based on contribution.” He was talking to me, but his eyes were on the cats and scanning our group. “Maerlyn, is that you?”

“Taranath, good to see you alive and with your misfits!” Maerlyn replied with good humor. “I am auditioning to join a new team.”

“You should have come to see me. The Mist Guardians are always looking for good delvers. Your skills would be welcome among us. Did you get your silver card?” Taranath asked.

“I did, about a year ago. I am also a quarter of the way to gold. Are you grinding for loot or just heading down a level?” Maerlyn asked, and I didn’t mind her taking over the conversation. She knew what to ask and was getting to the point. Interacting with other delve teams inside a dungeon involved special etiquette.

“We are heading to the fourth to hunt the harpies. We have to recover twenty vocal cords for an alchemist,” he winced as he said it.  From my instructors in Skyholme, I knew harpies were not difficult foes as long as you had resistance to their hypnotic voices. They were basically human-sized vulture with the torso of a woman. All it took was a small privacy bubble cast around your head to block out all sound.

“At least you don’t have to fight the harpy queen,” Maerlyn said sympathetically.

Gareth couldn’t hold back from not being part of the conversation and interrupted, “What is so bad about the harpies?”

Taranath winced, “They flock above you and like to shit on you after their hypnotic voices don’t work.”

“That does sound unpleasant. Do you mind if we assault the fort ourselves then?” I asked, wanting to speed things up. “We have a quest for the lizard captain’s ring.”

“The beauty ring?”  He looked over my group and then focused on Maerlyn, who nodded, which I assumed told him I was serious and capable enough. “It is all yours, but if you wait half a day, we should have another seven Guild members here. All three camps here are from the Mist Guardians. Fourteen total currently.”

“I think we will be fine,” I said, nodding to my group. We left the camp and walked toward the fort. I asked Maerlyn, “Do we have anything to worry about from them?”

“The Mist Guardians have a good reputation. If they were trying for a specific drop from this fort, they would have told us,” she said.

“What is dungeon etiquette if we both wanted to raid the fort?” I asked.

“Since they were here first, you normally give them eight hours to assault before going yourself. That is usually long enough to complete the raid,” Maerlyn said. “Although I am surprised they were not looking for something specific in the fort. The lizardman fort is one of the more difficult to assault because of the exploding runes.”

“Those runes are only on the outer and inner gate,” I recalled. “I plan to just go over the walls again.”

“Your information is old,” Maerlyn said, shaking her head and informing me. “About twelve years ago, the runes started appearing everywhere in the fort. They are activated when you touch or step on them.”

Gareth looked a little upset that his book was out of date, but he shouldn’t be. He didn’t purchase his dungeon guide in Myththorne. Dungeons evolved slowly over time—over thousands of years. You could also try to force a dungeon to evolve by leaving behind other dungeon-created artifacts. My create metal ability used the aether creation magic, and I had left platinum and mithril in the Progenitor dungeon, but so far, the dungeon has not reproduced it in reward chests.

I turned to Maerlyn, “Do you know if you can seed a dungeon with creatures from other dungeons?”

“Yes. It is the same as leaving artificed objects or metals. It is rarely done as the alterations can be unpredictable. The fourteenth layer of this dungeon is a constant battle between giant earth and fire elementals. About two thousand years ago, the king seeded the dungeon with only small fire and earth elementals, and now the fourteenth level is virtually impassable by all but the strongest delvers,” Maerlyn informed me.

I remember what happened in Skyholme as well. Someone seeded the Frost Vault with the ice ball spell, and just weeks later, one of the goblin shamans was casting a powerful version of it. Still, the idea of improving the Progenitor Dungeon was on my mind.

We approached the fort, and the lizardmen started preparing for us. Everyone was waiting for me to lead. I was waiting for Bleiz, who appeared on my right, “There are no more camps around the fort. I counted thirteen in the three camps.” I nodded as we had been told fourteen.

I recalled the details for everyone, “The fort’s Captain is a sorceress. The lizardmen only use spears but do throw them. The wards on the gate and elsewhere in the compound will explode in a fiery ball in a ten-foot radius. If you set one off and your aether shield is already expended, keep your eyes tightly closed, or you might burn your retinas out. There should be around ninety enemies inside.” I looked at everyone, making sure.

“The plan is the same as last time. Bleiz and I will enter first and soften the defenders. I plan to locate and kill the Captain as quickly as possible, as she is the only real threat.” I looked at Maerlyn, “Any other changes from our old delve guide?”

“Not that I am aware of,” Maerlyn replied uncertainly.

We both turned invisible, and Zayne decided not to follow us this time. Gareth complained that he didn’t have a way to become invisible to join us. My tier-two and Bleiz’s tier-three invisibility were good enough to keep us hidden. With the lizardmen defenders focused on our group a quarter mile away, I made aether shield steps for Bleiz and me to scale the walls.

The defenders were rushing to reinforce the gate, believing that was where we planned to assault. “Bleiz, sweep the wall. I will locate the Captain.”

I jumped from the wall, ignoring the lizardmen as I raced to the central structure. If I attacked, my invisibility would be disrupted, and I would have to wait before recasting it. I had devoted evolutions to reducing the recast time, but it was still almost eight seconds.

The Sorceress was just outside the command building. Two lizardmen in metal armor flanked her, her two lieutenants from the guide. There was a chance the lieutenants would have runic spears, but it looked like I had bad luck as both were just steel-tipped variations this time.

I raced toward the Captain and swore as I recognized why she had not moved to the gate with the rest of her men. She had encircled herself in explosive runes. I slowed to cast my flight spell to avoid stepping on the runes. The Sorceress Captain was never aware of my blade as it passed straight through her body. Shit, it was a mirror image—a decoy.

It was too late, my invisibility was disrupted, and the real Captain and her two lieutenants burst out of the opposite building. She was already starting to cast her signature spell at me: death vines, as the earth vibrated beneath me. It was a tier three spell like the tier one spell entangling vines, but the vines were poisonous and sapped your strength.

I still had a lot of tricks. I used my exchange ability on one of her lieutenants, immediately thrusting my falchion into the chest of a very surprised Sorceress. I pressed firmly down, cutting her open from sternum to groin.

A loud explosion where the illusion had been taken out of the lieutenant I had exchanged with. I guess they could be affected by the runes as well. The other lieutenant was killed quickly with my enhanced speed.

I rushed to the gate to find Bleiz fighting in a circle of bodies, and the ground was a bloody, muddy mess. I entered into the fray, and together, the regular fort defenders went down quickly. The others rushed the gate, but Adrial set off one of the explosive runes.  Her collar had shielded her, but she was not happy about being thrown 20 feet into the air. She did land on her feet.

Fortunately, that was the only mishap in taking the fort. A few cleanliness spells later and clearing the remaining explosive runes, and we had the prize chest in hand.