Escape From Litchfield Read online

  The bartender shook his head and said, "No one I know has made it to the bottom. As you might expect, I meet a lot of people. None of them have escaped through the dungeon. Some have made it through the door with outside help. You should give up on this foolhardy plan."

  Tamara asked, "Has anyone made it through the door without outside help?"

  He shook his head again and said, "I've never seen it. The guards that you can see are formidable enough, but beyond the door are defenses designed to keep people in. Once you pass the door, there's a hallway filled with murder holes and archers. Past that, you have a gate and drawbridge over a chasm that can only be opened from the outside. I've heard of breakout attempts that got as far as the gate, but the moment you get past the first door, the archers will lower the gate, trapping the prisoners inside. The other exit is through the castle. No one has ever escaped that way. Not ever."

  Tamara nodded her head and replied firmly, "We're getting out. The doorway out is too heavily guarded, so we're going to head through the dungeon. I'm almost finished making meals for our journey. Then I need to stock up on potion flasks and ingredients."

  Sol said, "I know the perfect merchant for that. He's a general merchant that sells and buys everything at a fair price."

  After two hours, Tamara finished storing her meals and divided them up with Sol.

  Tamara gained 8 levels in Cooking and now it is 58

  Tamara turned to the bartender and said. "Thank you for your hospitality! I made a ton of food much faster than doing it over a fire pit." Tamara picked up several packed boxes and handed them out.

  The bartender took the meals with a smile. "Thanks for the meals and the coolers. You've more than kept your end of the bargain. You're welcome to use the kitchen any time!" Pausing to consider his words carefully, he said, "By the way, my name's Barkeep Jon, or Barkeep. Everyone in town knows me. If you need some more Tulip Beer or anything, feel free to magic mole me!"

  "Thank you, Barkeep Jon! My name's Tamara and my friend's name is Sol. We'll be coming frequently for some Tulip Beer refills. You guys use magic moles instead of birds here?"

  "Come back anytime! And yes, magic messenger moles are more reliable here than the bird variety. Used exactly the same though."

  "Great! We'll keep in touch."

  Turning back to Sol, she said, "Sol, lead the way to the merchant, we can eat as we go."

  After a few minutes of navigating the crowds, Tamara commented, "We don't seem to be headed towards the bazaar."

  Sol led Tamara back into the town. "There's only a handful of merchants that handle potion supplies. Even here, in the dungeon, alchemists are rare. Many of the vendors can't tell if their potions are real or fake easily. The bazaar is where the low quality or new merchants go to hock their wares." After several minutes, they arrived at a worn-down shop front. It was a tiny shop that was fitted unevenly between two larger shops. The shops to each side were perfectly maintained, while the general shop had cracks and strange graffiti all over the walls. The door itself looked like it had been replaced recently with an oddly decorated glass and metal door, much too fancy compared to the decrepit state of the outside. Above the door, it was labeled, "Mercer's General Goods."

  The interior of the shop was significantly better than the outside. The shelves were disorganized and stuffed to the brim with items, but the counter space and merchant, presumably Mercer, were immaculate.

  "Are you here to buy or sell?" intoned the ghoul. He wasn't a real ghoul, but he sure looked like a dried-up little man.

  Tamara immediately said, "Buy".

  The Mercer waved them forward to the counter. "How can I help you?"

  She said, "I am interested in buying all of your potion flasks. I'm also interested in all types of books."

  Nodding, he said, "I've got seventy flasks ready for sale. I can order more, and I have a number of ingredients. Perhaps you'd be interested in a type of traveler's ration, called a cookie?"

  Impressed that the man knew his wares intimately, Tamara said, "I would love to buy all of your flasks and tell me more about these cookies."

  Mercer motioned her closer and whispered, "If you can make cookies, they can unlock your hidden potential. But only an accomplished chef can make them."

  Perking up, Tamara immediately bought the book.

  Mercer smiled, glad to have made so many sales. "I also have some basic bard songs, spells, scrolls, and equipment."

  "Bard songs? Which ones?" The bard perked up again the moment he mentioned new songs. She was still an amateur bard, but she could still tap in tempo, enough to draw out some of the power of bard songs. She was able to cast a gentle haste and safety song.

  "I've got songs to slow down enemies, increase mana, increase health, and increase stamina. Keep in mind that these are basic songs. The intermediate versions taught at the bard college are stronger and able to combine effects." The merchant led them to the books as he talked. He picked out the books and handed them over. "Basic, but good quality. Reading these books will give you a great primer on the theory, music, and magic. Nothing compared to a true bard education, but you'll have to learn this stuff in the first year bard school anyhow." Nodding to Tamara, he continued, "If you're still applying to a bard college, they will look better on you if you know much of the theory and practical knowledge of music."

  The half-elf nodded thoughtfully. "I'll take all of them. Any chance you have some cloaks for sale?"

  The merchant nodded and led her to their clothing section. There was a small rack of cloaks.

  Tamara picked the largest one, which was a simple black cotton cloak. The half-elf immediately put it on. She imagined herself striking a hero pose with a strong wind billowing the cloak behind her. Yes. This was both excellent for warmth, practicality, and theatrics.

  Mercer complimented her and said, "It compliments your gear quite fetchingly. You will surely steal any man who lays eyes on you. In fact, my heart does pound fiercely by your striking pose!"

  Blushing, Tamara said, "Thank you, kind merchant. I bet you tell all the girls that!" They paid for their items and left for the inn.

  Tamara gained 1 level in Trade and now it is 8

  After getting back to the inn, Tamara went back to crafting while Sol watched.

  Returning to the bar kitchen, she made cookies, then started crafting some health and mana potions. Around half of the potions were health and the others were mana.

  She also converted some ordinary bags into dimensional bags. A base enchanted bag allowed the bag to carry up to five items each. However, she could sew in a gem slot, and she could use a core to carry even more objects. She made several to be attached to a belt. For herself, she had a pouch dedicated to throwing daggers, health potions, mana potions, and ingredients

  Tamara gained 2 levels in Rune Magic and now it is 31

  Tamara gained 15 level in Alchemy and now it is 36

  Tamara gained 3 levels in Cooking and now it is 61

  For her ingredient bag, she stored dimensional bags filled with various ingredients like steel, gold, and craft leftovers. There was a limit to how many items she wanted to store this way. It didn't seem there was a limit to how many dimensional bags she could layer, but the issue was remembering where the items were stored and the fact she had to recall a bag, which then she used to recall another bag, and so on. The more practical method was to have a giant bag with many storage compartments dedicated to a particular craft, perhaps even to a particular use of the craft. So in the end, she had a bag dedicated to blacksmithing, enchanting, alchemistry, and cooking. This wasn't to say that she put all of her eggs in one basket, the bags were mainly for ease of access. She only stored enough materials to make at minimum two of any large project she could take on.

  Night found her sleeping with her arms wrapped around a book. She was accepted in the bard college, but her bard's journey was delayed by circumstances. She wasn't going to let that stop her from learning her chosen class. Needs force
d her to plan for the short term future, but tonight she has taken her first steps to become a true bard. Perhaps someday a legendary bard. Little did she know that bards would spread the tales of her exploits, immortalized as legend. Philosophers considered her dungeon adventure a crucible, where a girl entered and a woman emerged victorious.

  Chapter 7

  They left town prepared with supplies to last months. Sol and Tamara, both being magic users, split the supplies evenly between them, just in case, they got separated. Each had their own storage spell that allowed them to carry all their gear. To avoid being labeled a group, they left separately. Tamara went to scribble down the portal runes, while Sol took care of last-minute business deals. Myst stayed with Sol to guide him to Tamara. They were meeting up outside the town limits.

  The cat was an amazingly useful companion. Since the cat was created from nanocells, it was able to shift into various animal forms and taking on their various attributes. For instance, Myst's cat form allowed him abilities like a rogue, giving him sneak, backstab, and double backstab If only he had hands to pick locks as well. Another side benefit of the nanocell nature was that the cat could patrol while the party slept since machines did not require sleep.

  She was determined to increase her mobility. Casting Remote View and watching herself cast Blink gave her the base rune of the spell through a combination of Sense Magic and Runemaster. After learning the base rune, she gave herself several shields before testing began. First, she wanted the resulting glyph to be as short as possible. The base rune shouldn't be able to do anything since it has no mana, no destination, no input, nor any output marks. First, she had to add a trigger to the rune. Sight and step were the shortest, so she decided to try out both. They both had their pros and cons. For instance, gazing at a spot and porting over would be a dead giveaway for an intelligent enemy that you couldn't take down quickly. On the other hand, if you saw where you were going, then you could anticipate your actions on arrival. With her current intelligence, she could process everything in real-time. With a nudge, she would be able to process everything several steps beforehand. The alternate port would be in those cases where there was no good way forward, or simply to switch up the ports to be less predictable. She setup the rune to be as minimal as she could, allowing faster casting and minimizing the chance for error.

  On testing, she was able to port about six feet in half the time it took to cast a normal blink. It took about half a second to cast her new ports using her rune magic. She could do it even faster using mental magic, but it was down to a quarter of a second. She needed to increase her mental magic speed! Still, a quarter of a second was fast enough to react to most bad situations. It should be near-instantaneous with Berserker's Rage and Necrotic Nanobridge on. Using the same principles, she created a quick version Dart spell. She deliberately learned the elemental version of the pulse spell, but she could easily convert any rune spell to a pulse version easily.

  Glyph Spell: Long Step

  Created by Tamara Owlkins, this short-range teleport will move the caster 6 paces in the direction of her next step.

  Glyph Spell: Peek Step

  Created by Tamara Owlkins, this short-range port will move the caster 6 paces in the direction determined by her gaze.

  Glyph Spell: Pulse Flame

  Created by Tamara Owlkins, this is a stripped-down glyph version of a dart spell. This spell has reduced mana, cast, and damage versus the original.

  Glyph Spell: Pulse Ice

  Created by Tamara Owlkins, this is a stripped-down glyph version of a dart spell. This spell has reduced mana, cast, and damage versus the original.

  Glyph Spell: Pulse Lightning

  Created by Tamara Owlkins, this is a stripped-down glyph version of a dart spell. This spell has reduced mana, cast, and damage versus the original.

  Tamara gained +30 Intelligence and it is now 56

  Tamara gained +-30 Points and it is now 145

  Nodding her head in satisfaction, she decided to allocate some of her free stats to intelligence. Adding 30 intelligence brought her to 56 intelligence. She had 145 free points left. Now she needed to think and meditate on her new magic to solidify it in her memories.

  Tamara gained 6 levels in Rune Magic and now it is 37

  Tamara gained 6 levels in Runemaster and now it is 21

  Tamara gained 3 levels in Sense Magic and now it is 34

  ***

  Floating lotus style, Tamara was meditating in the same green dress he had first met her, her eyes closed, so she had missed the pair's entrance. Dim lights were appearing and moving around in random seeming patterns. However, the small rocks and fire darts that were floating in similar patterns told Sol differently. Tamara had discovered something that centuries of Elven magic said was inconceivable. Magic, according to most practitioners, followed very specific rules. Cast a spell, tell it where to go, and it does something. Magic does not make fireballs that fly around in concentric circles. It especially does not allow for spells to pick random pathways, unless it's following a target. Which was why Sol's jaw dropped as he followed the movements of Tamara's magic. Master mages could affect spells to some degree. For instance, powerful need will cause spells to be more powerful per mana than would be expected under academic conditions.

  Coming to his senses, he said, "You know, what you're doing is impossible." In a matter of fact type of voice.

  Slowly, the lights winked out, and the rocks fell to the ground, leaving the candles on the ground as the only light source. Tamara opened her eyes calmly and replied, "What's impossible?"

  Tamara gained 10 level in Rune Magic and now it is 47

  Tamara gained 10 level in Fire Magic and now it is 28

  Sol gestured his arms all around, and finally he said, "Pretty much everything you were just doing? Magic isn't supposed to be able to be controlled with such precision. Take a fireball for instance. You form the spell and then direct that energy somewhere, either targeting a certain direction or targeting a certain creature. After you've finished the spell, you have no more contact with it. The fireball flies off and does its own thing. I've seen some Masters with limited control over the magic, but even they had a fraction of the control you were displaying just now."

  Tamara nodded. "I have the skill Runemaster, which allows me to modify runes. And recently I discovered that you could also draw runes using your mind. Lastly, I found that my runes create the raw magic, but I have to open my magic to my intent, which basically fine-tunes what I want the magic to do. Combining these skills seems to have created something impossible. I'm not sure how it would work for other rune masters, but for me, I could draw multiple runes with my mind, side by side, in my mindscape. And the spells would form as expected. What I realized was that if I modified an already drawn rune in my mindscape, the spell would shift to the new modified rune. And then from that, I thought I could create useful intent patterns like traverse a circle or rectangle, dim power for 5 seconds, then go to max power. I've thought of many useful intent patterns."

  Thoughtfully, Sol nodded. "That makes a lot of sense. There aren't a lot of rune mages out there. And I've never known or even heard of a runemaster. Believe me, that's a skill that the mage's guild would love to get their hands on. Most mages consider the rune mage to be inferior since there are far fewer rune spells than standard magic." Pausing to look at her face directly, maybe even rudely, he said, "However, I've never heard of opening your magic to your intent. Or these intent patterns you're talking about."

  "I've been here experimenting with my magic ever since you left. All of this is coming together, unfortunately, I end up dreaming of mana pools and gravity magic." She met his eyes challengingly after noticing his extra sharp gaze. "Magic, I believe, is affected by the same system that governs your HUD display. Discovering this, I intuited that magic would then be affected by thought patterns. And given time, the system should interpret your will."

  Breaking eye contact, Sol replied, "Yes. It is good to i
mmerse yourself in the wonders of magic, but be wary of too much experimentation. As you know, magic is still a growing field, and many have lost their lives trying to learn the rules so that the next generation will have better, safer magic." He let his gaze return to her eyes, and continued, "I will meditate on your intent system. If you are correct, then it should work for normal spell casters as well. And this should not be any danger to test. I'll update you on my results."

  "I am not sure if that danger applies to me. Rune magic is safe if you write the runes correctly. In fact, I don't think anything happens if you do it incorrectly unless you accidentally come across a new rune. But it's very difficult to do that. I'm not about to try and randomly gesture, hoping to discover a new rune. My rune mastery skill is basically from me trying to understand how runes work. I'm basically copying from a well-known rune and applying the same principles to a different rune. As for the intent system, I'd appreciate it if you kept me updated on your tests. It could be that the system only works for me since I am pretty unique, but I doubt that would be the case."

  Sol's eyes widened as he realized the implications of Tamara's skill. "You are far more impressive than my first impression. And I've never heard of rune magic going wild, so you may be correct but just be careful. The world would mourn the loss of such a unique and formidable talent."