Escape From Litchfield Read online

  Sol launched an Overstriked dart spell, singing the ant for over 200 damage. He followed it up with a normal dart.

  Tamara also got two dart spells in, but her skill level and lack of a dedicated mage class hit for less than half of Sol's dart spells.

  By the time the ant made its way to Sol, it was down to 15% health, and Sol immediately slammed his shield into the ant, knocking the ant butt-first at Tamara, who smoothly sidestepped the ant. Amazingly, the Mage tank dazed the ant, allowing Tamara to back up as Sol savaged the ant's carapace. Sol's spear pierced the ant for 15 hp, while Tamara's sword slashed for 42 damage. Sol's Ice Dart killed the ant when it crushed through the ant's thorax. Another monster in the grave.

  [Bob89: Good job! I've modified my algorithms to anticipate the speed of later ants.]

  [Tamara: Thanks! Your highlights helped. I bet it will be even more helpful in a larger fight.]

  [Bob89: I feel like you need more mobility to take advantage of my highlights. Perhaps invest in speed or mayhap, you could learn a faster blink spell.]

  [Tamara: OK. Next downtime, we'll go through our logs and adjust.]

  Tamara gained 1 level in Sneak and now it is 17

  Tamara gained 2 levels in Sword and now it is 22

  We found a single credit and an air resource good for 8 hours. There was also a spoiled heal potion, which healed 30 points of health but drained 30 points of mana. Mostly useless for her, since she made good use of both mana and health.

  Sol gained 8 levels in Air and now it is 8

  Tamara has defeated a level 30 being and has earned 44 raw experience! After bonuses applied, 72 experience was earned!

  Sol has defeated a level 30 being and has earned 29 raw experience! After bonuses applied, 44 experience was earned!

  Tamara glanced at her stats screen. She liked the new experience, title, and item sections that she had configured earlier. It was easier to have it displayed at once rather than spread across multiple menus.

  Name Tamara Owlkins Points 165

  Status Awakened, Great Herbal Chicken, Well-Rested

  Titles Director, Landholder

  Credits 16150 Health 100%

  Level 33 Class Bard

  Experience 77771 Subclass 0

  Int 26 Dex 22

  Str 50 Agil 24(38)

  Con 36(49) Sync 63

  Mana 260.0(520.0) M Regen 1.18

  HP 490 H Regen 1.50/s

  Armor Plate 45%, Chain 20%

  Skills Cooking 50, Sonic Stun 7, Inspect 16, Perception 12, Sneak 17, Sword 22, Alchemy 21, Fire Magic 18, Blacksmith 55, Rune Magic 20, Berserker's Rage, Necrotic Nanobridge, Staff 1, Runemaster 1, Leadership 10, Trade 1, Meditation 18, Sense Magic 30

  Items +1 Ring of Agility, +1 Ring of Agility, +1 Ring of Agility, +1 Ring of Agility, Gravity Sword of Fiery Ice, Space Plate

  "Sol, you can have the loot for this mob, I'll take the next one."

  Sol nodded as the virtual currency was added to his interface. "You must have a lot of air to spare to give me this?" He asked questioningly.

  Tamara nodded. "When I got dropped off at the entrance a giant mob of people came at me. I stunned them all and looted a bunch of gear."

  Sol's eyes widened in surprise as he shook his head. "Everyone's going to be looking for you. Not only are you marked by the chains, but you are known to have a large reserve of air. No one but the foolish brag about having a lot of air. We're going to need to move away from the populated areas. I can go to town and stock up on food and supplies from the marketplace. I'll get price gauged, but they'll let me pass. You, on the other hand, will be attacked on sight."

  "Is there nothing to hunt for food down here?"

  "Some well-known mobs are edible, but most are either unknown or poisonous. We will want to avoid the mobs the further down we go. We are still close to the entrance, so the mobs are relatively easy and dumb. But as we go deeper, the mobs will become harder and smarter. We did well on this mob, but I don't know if we can survive deep enough to get away from the other adventurers. They say the items become progressively odder as well."

  "What do you mean odder?"

  "That is a long story." Sol sat down and motioned for Tamara to sit, waiting for her to get comfortable before he continued. "Have you ever heard of dungeon masters?"

  Shaking her head, Tamara replied, "No. It sounds pretty ominous."

  Nodding, Sol said, "I'm not surprised. Not many have heard of them, nor is it that commonly known. Dungeon masters wouldn't bring attention to their status, and since there are a limited number of dungeons, that means there are a lot of people that would kill for the chance to become a dungeon master.

  Most dungeons near cities have been conquered. If a member of the group is worthy of the dungeon's attention, they can bargain with the dungeon. If they come to an agreement, the adventurer becomes a dungeon master. In exchange for bringing adventurers, the dungeon will give a portion of each adventurer's loot to the master. The rumor is that you must kill the old dungeon master and their heir to even have a chance to bargain with a dungeon. Then you have to conquer the dungeon. It's a multi step process even if you know the dungeon master. And unless you have a large organization, there will be a gap in time from the death of the Dungeon Master and conquering the dungeon.

  This dungeon has a goblin dungeon master. Since they have a captive audience, they don't need to be fair or generous to the adventurers. Therefore, the loot tables, taxes, and experience are maximized for the goblin's benefit. This means that items that drop will be the lowest quality available for that mob, and it will either be cursed or damaged in some way. Also, the money drops will be the lowest amount possible, with the maximum amount they can tax. And since the tax is automatically applied, there is no chance to steal from them."

  "So. Do all dungeons have a dungeon master?"

  "No. Newly discovered dungeons will be open to finding a master. This is the real reason why the adventurer's guild will rush to examine dungeons. On the surface, they want to test the dungeon to see its difficulty, but their prime motivation is to try and install a dungeon master of their choosing."

  "How does that benefit them?" Asked Tamara.

  "They get to set the dungeon difficulty, collect extra income from the tax, and farm resources in the dungeon."

  "Do you know what's at the final level of this dungeon?"

  "No one knows. Most people agree that the last level should include a portal room to exit the dungeon. Most, if not all, dungeons come with that feature. However, powerful parties have gone down and are never heard of again. Either they perished, or they got out."

  Tamara said, "We're going to go all the way down then. Yeah. We need to work on how to work together, but we can do it."

  "You fight well in the dark, unless you're using some sort of infravision spell."

  "What do you mean? The walls are all glowing bright enough to make out fine details."

  Sol said, "The walls aren't glowing for me. My racial trait, infravision allows me to see in the dark, but I don't see the signs you're using infravision."

  The runemaster paused to consider the elf's words. "It's possible the walls have absorbed enough magic to make them glow for me. My Sense Magic skill leveled past 25, so it might be a side effect. Speaking of spells, can you teach me some of your magic?"

  Sol nodded slowly, "I can, but our magic has been honed for centuries. Any mage that teach the techniques to outsiders will be hunted down. I can teach you the common magics. I'll teach you some of the secrets of the dark elves as well if you don't mind being hunted down." Pausing as he digested her comments, he said, "Going back to what you said. You can see magic?"

  Tamara promptly said, "Yes. I have a skill to sense magic using my senses. And yes. Teach me. We don't need to tell any dark elves that you taught me the magic. Where do you live? Would it be safer to learn there?"

  "There are places where other adventurers live, but outcasts like us find nooks with low spawn rate mobs. It's far more d
angerous to sleep near the marketplace without friends to guard your back. Did you need a more secure area?"

  "I'd like to repair my gear, but it generates a lot of noise."

  "This place will have to do. It's no worse than anywhere else nearby. And it's a fair way to the marketplace from here. I should head over to the marketplace to secure some basic supplies like food, water, extra clothes, and potions. Do you have anything else you need?"

  "We need information, rune spells, regular spells, scrolls, and recipes for crafting. I have credits and gear to sell."

  "Okay. They do accept credits here at an extortionist rate. But good gear sells pretty well. I'll sort through your pile for common weapons. They don't know I'm with you yet, so let's try and keep it that way."

  "Since this is a dungeon, does that mean there is a portal room somewhere," asked Tamara.

  "Yes. The portal room is close to the marketplace. We won't be able to use it since your face will be well known."

  Pulling the stolen gear out of storage one by one, Tamara handed the items to Sol to look over. She also transferred 1000 credits to him for backup.

  After picking through the items, Sol handed the unwanted items back. "I should head over to the marketplace before it closes. I'll leave my spellbook for you to browse. Not everything in there is standard, so many of them will need explanation. I should be gone for anywhere from one to three days. Bartering and information gathering takes time."

  Pausing to watch his expression, Tamara said, "I'm coming with you."

  Sol winced, concern written all over his face. "You will be discovered and they will attack you on site. No one will protect you."

  Patting Sol on the back, and ignoring his discomfort from the touch, Tamara said, "Trust me. I've got an idea to keep me from being discovered."

  ***

  Bob89 had been true to his word. He could change her appearance. She now looked like a dark elf woman. Bob89 had given her skin a light ebony skin tone, and he had lightened up her hair from her normal blond to nearly white. Her eyes changed from royal blue to a reddish-pink color. Her face had become gaunter and narrowed. No one should be able to visually place her as the half-elf that put the smack-down on dozens of prisoners. To complete her look, she made a patched cloak and robe out of leftover looted gear to cover up her chains. With Bob89's help, she even managed to make a cover for her chains to make them harder to see and to muffle any clinking when she accidentally let the chains knock against itself or the floor. Bob89 could be annoying, but he had his talents.

  As the entrance to the town became visible, Tamara and Sol slowed down to let the sentries know that they were peaceful. According to Tamara's chronometer, it was evening on the outside world. No papers or permits were necessary to enter the town, but the sentries included a mage that was using magic to scan the adventurers. She took a deep breath, taking care to not stand out as the mage waved a staff in their direction. The staff glowed with magic, and a diffuse beam of light wafted over the line. She unconsciously shivered and wrapped her cloak tighter to her body. The mage showed no reaction, and neither did any of the guards stop them as they passed through the entrance.

  Tamara vaguely recalled passing through this area on her flight away from the marketplace, but all she could recall was her heart beating rapidly as she passed through the gazes of the guards. Fortunately, the mage and sentries hadn't pierced her stealth, although perhaps the mage was searching for magical stealth over physically skilled stealth.

  Sol lead them directly to a tavern with a second floor. Apparently, they had rooms for rent as well as food and drink. Walking into the establishment, Tamara let Sol do the talking as they had agreed on before entering town. Sol, for better or worse, was known in the town, so he would attract less suspicion. Tamara, on the other hand, was more suspicious.

  Having rented a room with twin beds on the second floor, Tamara unpacked. Sol made an excuse to run some errands and restock on supplies. Tamara told him they would go shopping for gear together and he agreed. Meanwhile, Tamara decided to get caught up on her notifications. Getting to level thirty-three was a fair accomplishment all by itself, but doing it in one giant leap was a feat worthy of song. Most adventurers did not seek to level up beyond getting their profession or subclass. Although, even then they could gain levels and experience through professional and subclass quests. The quests were pretty much bonus rewards for things that were needed to be done to achieve mastery over their craft. She needed to decide on the profession and subclassing soon, but she had time to choose carefully. It has been a rough day, so she decided it would be better to put off choosing until tomorrow.

  Several blinking icons caught her attention. The first was a new status/control screen for her city, Hopetown. Checking it out, she could see that it seemed to be updating her in real-time on the status of her city. The population counter showed over a thousand people. Within the menus, she found that she could control various sliders that would alter how resources were doled out. The main resources were computing, power, and materials. Power was used to turn on and off various buildings and equipment. Materials were self-explanatory. Computing, however, was the most complicated. This was basically the AI used to run the entire city. The robots, lights, buildings, and equipment were all tied into computing. It had the power to dramatically reduce the consumption of the other two resources. For instance, it could be used to turn off various buildings, robots, and equipment not being used at its full potential, which would then save on materials and power. Some functionality, like the map feature, was grayed out, she assumed, due to her distance from the city.

  Tamara found that the computing menu allowed her to set how the robots built things for the city. Would the system build defenses, residential, or research upgrades?

  The second icon was more interesting to her predicament. The icon pulled up a menu controlling new skills for Myst. Currently, she could pick upgrades for communication or attributes.

  Tamara considered the possibilities, right now Myst was a multi-talented shapeshifter that could take on the abilities of the animal he mimicked. At the moment, Myst could understand her but could not respond back. Communication would be a huge boon if Myst could talk back or even send messages back.

  Attributes were excellent choices as well. Anyhow, she didn't need to decide right away. Myst was not present, so all of the options were grayed out.

  ***

  Tamara began assessing her inventory. She had a number of low-level stat rings that she had never gotten around to give to Auth and Jare, forgotten in the rush of events that brought her here. Her forge and alchemist sets were available, as well as an abundant supply of raw materials. She only lacked privacy and cores.

  For the first time, she confirmed with her own eyes that her Sense Magic skill was working at a higher level. The stat rings now glowed with power. Before her skill increased, they had been ordinary looking rings. Strangely, her homemade enchanted gear was far more subtle in their glow of power. She needed to investigate that later, but for now, it was far more important to repair her gear.

  She turned her mind to creating a quiet space to work on repairing her gear. Physics said that sound traveled by vibration, so while she didn't have a spell to stop vibration, she thought she could modify an air bolt spell to form a wall of air to muffle the sounds from her forge. The rune for air bolt was basically the rune for air and the targeting and mana accent. The glyph could roughly be translated to, "Air to target." So what she needed to do was to change the targeting to a wall-like area.

  She measured out a space large enough for her to work comfortably. Then she inputted the spacial requirements into the spell. Basically, the runes specified a condensed air wall that will appear five feet in front of her. She could make four walls by casting it four times. Then she'd make an air wall to encompass the ceiling and floor.

  Now, she had to test the runescript. The script comprised of the air rune, the specifications, and several flourishes, so it too
k a bit longer to draw the glyph, but the result seemed to be what she needed. As she started the glyph, she noticed that mana gathered in her hands, startling her and causing her to backfire the spell. The Sense Magic skill allowed her to see the magic flow!

  On her next attempt, the air wall that appeared was not immediately visible to the naked eye, although, to Tamara, she could see the telltale white glow coming from the air magic. To anyone else, it was simply a slightly shimmery spot of air. Tamara placed a piece of metal into the center of the workspace, then finished the walls, ceiling, and floor. She was careful to stay outside of the space, so she could test the barrier. Once completed, she levitated the metal and dropped it. The sound still came through the air walls, although it was slightly muffled. She needed to try something different.

  She worked on the spell until midnight with slightly better results. Exhausted, she prepared for sleep. The tavern's bed was a bit lumpy, but it was warm and much softer than the dungeon floor. She fell asleep the moment her head touched the pillow.

  Tamara gained 2 levels in Rune Magic and now it is 22

  Tamara gained 2 levels in Runemaster and now it is 3

  Tamara gained 1 level in Sense Magic and now it is 31

  Tamara gained 1 level in Air Magic and now it is 1

  Tamara gained 1 level in Meditation and now it is 19

  ***

  I was dreaming again. I knew. I was back at Hopetown battling Jenny. I saw the power, ranging in color from red to purple, flowing through the creatures around me. Instinctively, I sensed that the intensity of the color represented the power level of the magic. For instance, the dull red represented the low-end fire magic, while the intense bright red represented the high-end fire magic. Energy in the air, the rocks, the soils, the birds, the insects, and even in the goblins pulsed with power, both magical and mundane, I sensed them both, with the strongest emanation coming from the living beings and the smallest from the air. Tiny robots shout out their little messages. And magic flowed. My excitement flared, inner Geekess unleashed! There was no doubt that I had stumbled into something IMPORTANT, I mentally shook myself and shouted, “I AM DREAMING,” and somehow that mental cry allowed me to fight my paralysis.