Dungeon of Knowledge

Chapter 162: Surprise Assassination

Garret The scent in the sewer was surprisingly fresh, and the damp crumbling brick was covered with a lush carpet of moss and mushrooms. As they traced the path indicated on their map, the monsters became progressively higher and higher in level, but they were all easily dispatched, usually with a single strike of Dak’resh’s Spear Rush.

Garret loped alongside in his Feral Puma form, not even bothering with stealth in such a low-level dungeon. As dungeons went, this one was a big yawn.

“Trap on the left,” Caspian called out, and Garret sidestepped to avoid it. He had to respect the dungeon for its effective placement of the traps, but against Caspian’s Trap Sense, it was mostly worthless.

“Excellent,” Dak’resh crowed, deliberately walking right through the trap, laughing as he ripped the roots from the ground with brute force when they tried to entangle him. “Barely tickles!”

But Garret bit his tongue – provoking a fight in the middle of a job would likely get Caspian pissed off, and the last time he had done it, he had had his share docked. Instead, he passed the time inventing new and progressively more sophisticated insults for the Kel’darran, while watching him systematically stomp through every single trap Caspian pointed out, leaping on some of them several times to get them to trigger.

“Final chamber,” Caspian announced.

Garret rounded the corner to the final sewer chamber listed on their map and stopped. Guarding the stairwell down into what the map called the ‘Forest Cavern’ and their goal, were four larger Kobolds, kitted in armor and holding weapons that seemed to be a cut above the rest.

“Raid boss,” Caspian announced. “Level ten, shouldn’t be much of a problem.”

“Bah, bloody waste of time,” Dak’resh declared, stomping his foot on the ground.

“Ooh!” Ixora cooed, her voice dripping with sensuality and playfulness. “I want the mage! Can I have him? Please, Caspy?”

Garret shivered, having personally experienced her ‘playfulness’.

“Ok. Ixora on the mage, everyone else, kill the healer first and then just destroy the rest.” Caspian vanished into the shadows, and Garret did the same, sneaking silently into the chamber.

Dak’resh did not hesitate. Hissing loudly, he blurred into motion, stabbing forward with his giant spear. There was a great crash and a cacophony of chirping alarm calls from the surprised Kobolds, and Dak’resh’s spear burst out from the healer’s back, spraying blood across its companions.

Garret grudgingly admitted.

Black streamers of shadow magic sprung from Ixora’s garishly rhinestoned fingernails, and the Kobold mage was hers. Garret ignored her; she would play with the creature, toying with it before she mind-flayed it to death. He could already hear her cackling in the background.

He dropped out of stealth with an Ambush attack, drawing a spray of blood from the Kobold healer’s back. Even against such weak opponents, Garret never tired of the rush of combat, relishing the feel of his claws tearing the creature’s flesh and its screeches of pain. Firebolts began raining around the room striking the other Kobolds randomly as Ixora abused her plaything. He dodged backward as Dak’resh wound up for his whirling strike, barely avoiding the whistling spear tip as it tore gashes in every Kobold around him.  It was a good thing Garret had seen the bloody lizard fight many times and had recognized the skill before he got clipped.

Raid boss or not, the fight was over quickly. Kobolds were pathetically weak enemies, barely worth the stamina to put them down. Fortunately, they were too small and low-level for a loot dispute, and Caspian just handed each of them something to sell later while Ixora poked at her new Fire Mage with a dagger. Garret looked away, preferring not to watch her drawing blood from the helpless monster.

The passage downward was a jagged hole in the ground, lit by a remarkable glowing staircase, but his natural paranoia proved unfounded when Caspian declared that it was safe and there were no traps. His initial assessment proved to be quite accurate. He shifted back – two legs were better on stairs – and glanced out into the cavern sprawled below them.

he thought in surprise. Many blackened dead trunks rose from the floor, immense pillars that seemed to be holding up the rock overhead. However, even though it was underground, there were living trees dotted amongst them, growing everywhere he looked. Everything was lit by countless green or golden lights, some of which darted about in erratic movement. In the distance, his sharp vision picked out a group of people gathered around a glowing stone.

“I see the shrine,” Garret said – and nestled between them and their mark was a large lake glowing with soft blue magic.

In spite of himself, he stopped and stared, until Dak’resh poked him with his spear.

“Piss off,” he snapped, annoyed that he had been caught distracted, and finished the descent.

“Let’s get this over with,” Caspian said. “Don’t give them a chance to prepare.”

“Kill everything,” Ixora cooed.

Dak’resh just grunted and broke into a sprint.

Garret dropped into stealth and stretched his body into a fast-loping run, using a small trickle of his stamina to keep up with the others. He ignored Dak’resh and the whirling spear that took care of the Timber Wolves as they ran, or the firebolts and mind flays from Ixora to take out the bats diving from above, and instead, he identified the curious lake as they passed.

Garret boggled at the sight, barely able to contain his surprise. He was suddenly eager to be done with this job and fill up everything he had at the lake on the way out. There was more than enough to set him up for life – vastly more than this job would pay.

“Hey boys,” Ixora’s sultry voice interrupted his visions of retirement and a wealthy life. “We’re here.”

Dak’resh charged the group surrounding the shrine, and Garret pursued in stealth, his first target already picked out.

Nathaniel Sunstrider

Nathaniel appeared in a crumbling brick tunnel, his feet hovering several inches above the water in a slow-flowing channel. Thick green moss covered the damp ground, only allowing the ancient brick to peek through in occasional scuff marks and scars that appeared to be the slowly fading signs of battle.

A green-scaled Kobold chirped loudly, drawing a bone sword – and a pair of friends from around the corner.

None of them were strong enough to even touch him, but he still summoned his book of prepared spells and paged through it, selecting Greater Shroud. With an infusion of his arcane-affinity mana, he activated the inscribed runes, and the page disintegrated into tiny purple sparks. He grimaced at the cost and the time it would take to remake that spell, but it was the best concealment spell that he had ever encountered in all his centuries of study. His body shimmered, becoming translucent even to his own eyes and he knew that nothing would be able to detect him.

Three Kobolds abruptly stopped, yipping in confusion and

Perhaps such thoughts were more to reassure himself than for her.

“Elder Rezan,” she began hesitantly, waiting for him to acknowledge her before she continued. “Would you please give this to my mother?” Nestled in the palm of her outstretched hand he saw a couple of dull copper pieces and a small gleaming silver crown, and he knew in an instant that she had sold everything she had earned from their combat trial to send money home.

“Sabri, you have a great heart looking out for your mother. But I cannot do this for you.” Her smile at his compliment faded as he finished.

“I… why?”

“How can I tell your mother that you gave everything to her when you will be fighting monsters without any equipment to protect you? Your mother loves you and she will want you to be safe. You shared your class with me – spend that money on the best armor and shield you can afford, and I will tell your mother that you are being careful.”

“But she will starve without me to help on the fields.” She was clearly feeling the anguish of this decision.

“She will strangle me if I don’t teach you how to be safe,” Rezan said, hiding his amusement. “How about this; I will take care of your mother for now, but you must promise me you will only send money back home if you don’t need it to protect yourself from the monsters. Ok?”

Sabri looked at him with a frown on her brow, but eventually nodded and closed her fingers around the pitifully small offering of coins. The girl and her mother were cut from the same cloth – both would starve themselves just to see the other with something to eat.

“Sabri, I want you to visit Kezda when you earn a bloodline skill. Don’t be like Malika here and let it go so late that it breaks.” Malika, sitting nearby, had the decency to look embarrassed. “And please let Malika or the Guildmaster know if you need help.”

Sabri looked at Malika and they both nodded.

“Sabri, before I go, I would like to offer you my mentorship.” He had the capacity for only one more protégé, and such things usually took a lot of thought and consideration – a process of months or even years. But life sometimes had a way of hurrying you along – first with Malika and now with Sabri. He had watched her grow up from a serious little toddler to the adult that stood before him wearing a shocked expression. He knew the dedication and determination she had for learning and the passion with which she approached the martial arts. But it was in that moment when she had readied her buckler and stepped in front of her new friends to defend them, facing down the level fifty-six Kel’darran spearman without a hope of winning that all Rezan’s doubt had vanished.

He expected her to immediately accept, given that he was the Elder, but to his surprise, and no small amount of pride, she appeared to give his words serious consideration.

“I know I’m not the perfect fit for your new class, I am not a tank. But we share a soul magic affinity and I think my mana can help you grow," he explained.

“I would be honored, Elder,” she said finally, giving him a bow.

He reached out and placed his palm above her heart and released his mana – certainly a lot gentler this time than with Malika.

Protégé – Sabri

Class: Soul Defender

Traits: Soul, Defense, Bloodline, Melee, Strength, Wisdom, Endurance, Mastery.

Your experience, mana, and traits will influence the experience gain of your protégé. Experience tithed back to you via the mentorship tithe may influence your own traits and growth.

Enchantment – Tithe

Rezan felt relief and pride mingling within him. At least with this, he was certain she had the best opportunities he could create for her, and the rest would be up to her.

“Ok, I will come back every now and then to check on you, and I’ll watch your growth with my sight.”

“Thank you, Elder,” Sabri replied in Ahn Khen, using the traditional farewell blessing and a simple bow.

“Be strong,” Rezan answered, using the same language and clasping his palms together in front of his chest as he returned the bow.

Vivian Ross

Vivian rubbed her temples and sat down beside Mieriel.

Of all things, she had not expected to be hosting the highly acclaimed Archmage and Guildmaster of the legendary Elven Pathfinders at her fledgling guild. Nathaniel Sunstrider had a presence that defied explanation – not even the stories did him justice.

She had just finished inducting all the newly classed members as novices in the guild, giving them their rings and explaining their new roles and the facilities and training available to them. She would not admit just how worried she had been about how it would all go, assuming the results from the first time must have been atypical. However, Aliandra’s shrine had once again unlocked an abundance of magical affinities and powerful class choices for every single applicant – even the artisans and crafters would grow into powerhouses in their chosen fields. It was unreal. The typical proportion of magical affinities and related classes was vastly lower, and this was the second time Aliandra’s shrine had shattered her expectations.

It was a sobering thought.

Furthermore, of the fifteen combat applicants, ten had chosen to join the guild immediately – including all the candidates she had enrolled in preparatory combat training under Malika. The most surprising being the girl Rezan had brought, Sabri. And, of course, Brena Novaspark. Vivian had no idea how the girl was going to break that news to her mother, but that was not her problem. Even the class distribution was close to ideal; she had been able to break the novices into two teams of five, both groups having a tank and a healer.

There was suddenly a lot to do! She had to clean out the dorm room below – at least three of the novices had nowhere to stay.

She had seen how Sabri looked to Malika and Mato for advice, and it had immediately given her the idea of using the more advanced guild members to help the new novices grow. She was sure Aiden and Havok would help too, and perhaps Teagan for the healers, especially now that they were closing in on level twenty.

Then her expression soured.

She allowed herself a brief snort of amusement before knuckling down to her work.

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