"We should be getting near the safe room now. Another seventy meters or so, around that corner." Sky pointed to the 'safety' mark on the map, a cross in a circle. "But just after the door there's a slightly larger room, with two passageways that come out into it, so we should advance carefully."
"Drys and I'll take point," Falchan said, shouldering his way to the front. "Sometimes the labyrinth's monsters set up ambushes near safe points."
"That is, if it's alright with you, oh master," Drysia said snidely, accompanying her words with an elaborate hand gesture and a mocking bow.
Elmerin waved his hand with his own graceful bow of the head. "Go ahead. Just let Falchan go first. Alert us if you see anything."
With a glare, Drysia tried to put her helmet back on. When it didn't fit, she examined it and swore. "Falchan, I think my helmet got damaged when we were fighting the orcs."
"It's okay, I'll protect you." Falchan glared at Elmerin. "Unless the great leader holds you back." Elmerin shrugged with an "I don't know" gesture. Falchan glared at him again, then adjusted his own helmet. "Don't worry, Drys. I won't let anything hurt one golden strand on your head. Let's go."
As they headed around the corner, Sky looked at Elmerin curiously. "Why didn't you argue with them?"
"Not in the mood. Besides, they shouldn't run into any dangerous monsters before we rejoin them. Nera, question."
She blinked. "Yes?"
"Why did you cast Group Heal instead of Focused Heal? As far as you knew, I was the only one injured."
"I'm glad she did," Sky put in. "That was a heck of a blow I took to my shoulder."
"I-I don't know why." Nera fiddled with the end of her dark blond braid. "I was going to cast Focused, but I suddenly got this urgent…feeling that I should cast Group instead."
Elmerin bit his lip, his arms crossed and his eyes closed. "Odd. That hasn't-" his eyes snapped open. "I haven't heard of that happening outside of precognition. You don't have that Skill, right?" He glanced around. "Walk. Let's catch up."
"Maybe she has the Regressor birth-talent," Sky grinned.
Nera thwacked at him. "That's just a fairytale. Anyone with that as a talent or skill would go mad. And no, I don't have that skill, my birth-talent is Dance."
Sky's eyebrows raised. "Dance?"
"You've seen her fight, Sky." Elmerin's green eyes gleamed with mischief. "I'd say Dance is an excellent talent."
"Maybe," Sky conceded as they reached the corner. He couldn't leave off needling Nera, though. "Maybe you're a reincarnator and remember reading about this world in a past life."
"Now that's just Summoned stories. Even they said that was made up." Nera shook her head. "You're believing four hundred year old stories that originally came from another world?"
Before Sky could reply, a loud crashing sound echoed through the tunnel. Up ahead, a cloud of dust plumed toward the small group.
"Falchan! Drysia !" Nera gasped.
Kres squinted. "It's alright, they're fine." At Nera's look, "I have enhanced sight as my birth talent. Useful, huh?" he snarked. It aggravated Kres he was stuck with a talent that was useless in a fight.
"No other danger?" Sky asked. Kres shook his head. "C'mon, let's see what happened." Sky and Nera hurried ahead.
"Dammit," Elmerin said under his breath. Only Kres heard him. Catching up, they found Nera checking the couple over for injuries.
"Elmerin, you-!" Falchan, his once shiny though bloody armor dented and dusty, stormed up to the taller man, glaring. "Did you see that and not tell us?"
"No."
Liar, Kres thought.
"You swear?"
Elmerin crossed his arms. "I'll take a truth orb oath that I did not see this trap with any precognition."
Falchan glared.
"An advanced truth orb."
Kres' jaw dropped.
Advanced truth orbs could not be fooled by exact words or half-truths. While the oath taker could not be forced to speak what they knew, the orb would detect when they were trying to have their words interpreted in a way other than the truth and would color accordingly. The only way it could be fooled was the oath taker not knowing they were speaking a lie.
They were also incredibly expensive, with a limited number of uses.
Falchan's glare eased, but he still looked wary. "There weren't supposed to be any active traps here!"
"He's right," Sky was examining the map. "This map has the guild-approved stamp, and all the traps in this area are listed as dismantled or decommissioned."
"Does that mean someone re-rigged it?" Nera asked as she finished examining Drysia .
"Possible," Sky said, rolling the map back up. "But who?"
Elmerin's eyes were closed. "Probably the goblins.
"Goblins? What goblins?" Drysia snapped.
"The ones about to hit my earth wall in about thirty seconds." Elmerin's eyes opened. "Nera, Kres, move."
Kres grabbed the sleeve of Nera's travel robe and pulled her into the hallway of the safe room. Once past the first turn, he reached up and hit the two spots on the wall that would close the doors. One descending from the ceiling, one rising from the floor, they quickly slammed into place.
"Oh no," Nera moaned. "How are they going to get in?"
"We'll let them in when they're done." Kres pointed to a crystal pane set into the wall. "That connects with a viewing orb set into the ceiling in the tunnel outside the door. It'll show us how the fight goes." He reached up, then fumed to find himself still too short to reach the buttons. "It's the green crystal -push it to turn it on, and the red one turns it off. The blue crystal moves up and down to change how loud it is."
"I've heard of these. The church records said they're based on an idea from one of the Summoned." Nervously, she tapped the on button. "Oh!"
*******
Out in the tunnel, Elmerin put his spear in an item bag and checked his long knives. One had a shorter, wide blade, carried in his right hand and used mostly for defense. The other, his primary, was long and slender, meant for quick slicing and stabbing. Goblins were half an average human's height, small, fast, and agile; combined with the narrowness of the tunnels and low ceiling of the room creating very close combat quarters, a spear was an impractical weapon.
Next to him, Sky examined their short sword, badly notched from the various monsters they'd encountered in the labyrinth. They shook their head, sheathing it and pulling out their battle daggers. The blades curved like a snake, sure to give nasty wounds to make up for their lack of reach.
As the screeching, howling, and worse, scraping and chipping, increased behind the temporary barrier, Falchan and Drysia adjusted their armor, replacing a couple of the more damaged pieces with spares from their item bags and checking their swords and shields. Falchan's shield was large and sturdy, fitting his role as tank, while his sword had a long, narrow blade to reach beyond the shield.
Drysia was a medium-weight fighter, relying a bit more on agility and movement but able to withstand some solid blows, with a smaller shield and shorter, thicker blade. The kind of blade that could beat someone in leather or chain mail to death even if it couldn't pierce it.
Elmerin glanced at Sky, then frowned. "You have a rip in your gambeson. Right here." He tapped a spot just above Sky's hip. "It starts a couple centimeters below your belt and runs under it. It doesn't look like it goes all the way through."
"I'll sew it up later." Sky settled their hood around their head, adjusting the clasps fastening it to the gambeson so they'd slip free if the hood was caught.
"Have a professional repair it when you get back to town. Or get a new one. Camp patch jobs only go so far."
"Why are you always so pick- hey!" Sky yelled at Elmerin's back as he went over to see how Falchan and Drysia were doing.
Shitty as they were as people, the two knew how to fight. Falchan already had his largest shield grounded, the bottom point dug into the floor just the right amount to steady him against the upcoming horde without pinning him in place and just a meter in front of the earth wall, while Drysia covered the open space to his left, ready to attack the goblins as their charge was disrupted by Falchan's shield.
"Sky, stand opposite to Drysia, beside Falchan and to the right. I'll stand behind and launch elemental attacks as they charge to confuse and disorient them, including aiming some down the hall. After that it'll be melee. They'll be pissed off after breaking through the wall and hopefully not thinking clearly."
"Monsters are just stupid anyway," Sky grumbled.
"Stupidity can be its own form of cunning," Elmerin snapped.
Sky listened to the continuing chipping and scratching; it sounded like the goblins were almost through. "Do you really not have any armor? I know your personal item bag is small, but it should be able to hold that, even with your spear."
An impossible flicker of madness seemed to briefly appear in bright green eyes. Elmerin chuckled, a cold, disturbing sound. "My death means victory."
"That's why we call you crazy when you keep wanting to team with him," Drysia remarked. "The only reason he gives any shit about not dying is if the little bastard will die instead."
"Will those greenies hurry up?" Falchan growled. "It's getting boring waiting for them."
Elmerin tilted his head, listening. "About… now!
*******
In the interest of not boring readers with incessant repetition, information will be displayed in full when there is new or updated information.
Characters in this chapter, information as displayed on guild card:
Elmerin: Water: Level 5. Earth: Level 4.
Kres
Drysia
Nera Faunford: Skills: Distance Healing, Level 5.
Sky
Falchan Cothmore
Spells seen in chapter:
Earth Dart: a thin long dart of hardened earth or stone. Number and shape of darts depends on the caster's mental image or preset measurements. Range depends on the caster's mana level. Hardness depends on material and caster's mana level. Accuracy depends on practice.
Earth Wall: A wall of hardened earth or stone. Shape and thickness depends on the caster's mental image or preset measurements. Strength, size, and durability depend on the caster's mana level.
Focused Heal: Distance healing that targets one person. Effectiveness depends on skill rank, while range depends on mana.
Fog: A fine mist of water or ice droplets. Range and density depend on the caster's mana. Requires at least Water Level 4 to be usable in battle.
Ice Needle: A thin long dart of ice. Number and shape of darts depends on the caster's mental image or preset measurements. Range and hardness depends on the caster's mana level. Accuracy depends on practice.
Wind Slice: One or more crescent blades of air propelled by wind. Number of blades depends on the caster's mental image or predetermined number. Range depends on the caster's mana level. Accuracy depends on practice.
Magic items first mentioned in this chapter:
Item Bag: A bag enchanted to hold more than its apparent capacity. Ones that can hold up to 2 meters cubed are common and fairly cheap. Beyond that size, the larger the bag, the more expensive it is, with an often exponential increase in price. It's common for adventurers to own multiple of the smaller cheap bags rather than shelling out for the larger ones. Time does not stop within them unless they are specifically enchanted to do so, which also increases the price.
Truth Orb:
-Basic: Can be used as long as the wielder has mana. Cannot compel a statement. Only judges whether a statement is a truth or a lie. It doesn't differentiate between telling part of the truth and hiding part as different from a whole truth, or presenting true statements in a specific order to make the interpretation a lie as different from telling a properly truthful statement. Best used for yes and no questions with clear and distinct answers.
-Advanced: Limited number of uses, number depending on skill and mana of the crafter. Cannot compel a statement. Knows damn well the difference between half-truths, presented statements, and actual truth. Useful for more nuanced interrogations, but cannot obtain information that isn't offered.
-Divine: Very limited number of uses, usually twelve or less. Can compel a statement. Ancient artifacts of which the method of making has been lost, only four remain in existence. One is held by the kingdom of Khrysta, the second by the temple of Idalin and Vikesh in the kingdom of Corundum, one is held by the headquarters of the Adventurers' Guild in the kingdom of Corundum, and one was lost when Grimtol Castle was sealed. The last priest who could craft them, Meinz of Acorath, vanished a few years after being cursed by the king of Grimtol.
Monster Rankings:
Black Opal: Goodbye to the country for the weaker ones, the world for the stronger ones.
Diamond: Can take out a small to large city on their own.
Sapphire: Your average town is in trouble.
Emerald: A small knight or adventurer party can take them out, but your average villager hunting party is screwed.
Ruby: A skilled fighter can take on one to three alone.
Topaz: Highest level where most nonadventurer and knight fighters can routinely take them out. Still need to be a practiced fighter.
Zircon: Anyone who can kill a regular fox or wildcat can kill it.