Aliandra
Ali and Malika entered Lydia’s boutique clothing store to the sound of the soft musical chis, but to her surprise, it was not Lydia Ali found behind the counter. Instead, she found herself staring at a tall, dark-haired young man dressed in an elegant black suit that was clearly Lydia’s work.
Human
An unclassed human? A little surprised, she found herself not quite sure what to do.
“Good morning. Welco to Lydia’s Allure,” he greeted them in a voice that seed cultured and just as elegant as his suit, but a little hesitant, like he was unsure of himself.
“Hi, is Lydia in?” Ali asked, glancing back at Malika for a mont, before returning to study the new person.
“She’s in the back working on an order and asked to take care of anyone who ca in. Is there anything I can help you with?”
“Could you get her for us?” she asked, and the young man reacted with obvious discomfort and uncertainty.
“I’m not supposed to…” he began, but Lydia erged from the back room and interrupted him.
“It’s ok, Elton,” she said, patting him on the shoulder. “Aliandra and Malika are our most important custors.”
“Oh, ok,” he said, seeming relieved that he hadn’t blown it sohow.
“Welco back,” Lydia said, turning to her and Malika. “This is Elton Moss, he’s my new apprentice – he just started yesterday, so he’s getting to et all the regulars. With all the work you guys have been giving , and the popularity the store has been gaining lately, I simply couldn’t work in peace anymore. He wants to be a tailor when he unlocks his class, so I offered to take him on as an apprentice.”
“Good to et you,” Ali said and then turned to Lydia. “How are the studies going?”
Tailor – Human – level 62
Lydia had not leveled up since the last ti she had been in the store, and when she looked closely, she could see dark smudges below her eyes and a surprisingly disheveled – at least for her – appearance, as if she had not slept in a while.
“I learned the enchant! That book is incredible, there are over two hundred tailor enchantnts, many of which I’ve never seen before.” Lydia bead happily. “I found a source of monstrous silk, which might work for your new piece, and I’m just looking for the remaining components. I think I heard a rumor that soone had found an essence of fire, but I’m not sure if that’s true or if I can get one.”
Tired, but excited, Ali noted. It was a marked difference from the cloud of despondency and defeat she had been struggling with the last ti they had talked. That’s the power of the right book.
“About that, I think we can help with the essences,” Ali said as, at the sa ti, Malika produced two from her storage.
“Oh!” Lydia exclaid. “Elton, grab that storage box under the counter quickly. The purple one.” When he produced the correct box, she pulsed a little mana through it and the two essences vanished into its storage enchantnt before they could burn anything. “That’s going to be very helpful, thank you! What can I pay –”
“There’s this too,” Malika cut in with a smile, pulling out a tangled clump of Fla Web. “I’m not sure if this will be useful but Appraise tells this should be a fairly valuable crafting material, so we thought we’d check with you. It cos from a big fire-affinity spider we found deep underground.” The sticky web was bundled up into a clump now, but it was still burning with red fla, and Malika’s healing magic pulsed every now and then while the tailor shop filled with the unmistakable sll of burnt skin.
“Wow, that’s really sothing!” Lydia said, studying the clump of burning web. “May I?”
“Careful, it’s really sticky and it burns,” Ali told her, but her hands were already gloved by a delicate formation of her mana, and she picked at the sticky ss without the fla bothering her in the slightest.
“Would you hand the spool please, Elton?” Lydia said. “No, not that one, I need the one for dangerous threads. The black one on the top shelf.” As soon as her apprentice found the right spool, Lydia picked a thread’s end from the clump of tangled webbing, and with a deft swirl of her protective mana, she pulled, easily untangling the clump into strands and rapidly wound it onto the magical spool.
It was a fascinating use of magic that she had never seen before, and Ali studied the formations carefully. Clearly, it was so intrinsic non-affinity tailoring skill that drew from her mana to untangle and manage the tricky webbing. It looked like an extrely useful skill for a tailor.
“Can you please run next door and get Hilda for , Elton?” Lydia asked her agog apprentice. “She’s the dwarf weaver who owns the fabric store – we’re going to need her skills to make so cloth.”
“So the web is good?” Ali asked. She had learned the imprint for it, hopeful that it would turn out to be sothing nice, but the way Lydia was reacting, it might be better than she had hoped for.
“This stuff is amazing; I haven’t seen such high-level silk before – I was hoping to use so of that monstrous silk for your items, but this is far superior,” Lydia answered. “How much do you want for it? And the essences?”
“Will you take it as paynt for the sets of clothing I need?” Ali asked.
“That’s perfect,” Lydia answered. “I know you can’t sell it directly to her, but if you find more web, tell Weldin that Hilda will buy all of it. Then I will have a supply of high-level fabric to work with. I should have sothing ready for you by tomorrow.”
As she and Malika headed back, Ali reflected happily on Lydia’s breakthrough with the book she had given her, and the anticipation of sothing to help her fire resistances.
“A lot of people are being affected by us needing fire resistances, aren’t they?” It was sothing that Ali just suddenly connected in her mind. Lydia progressed because they needed an enchantnt and she had translated a book. Then Lydia involved a new person with weaving skills and got a new apprentice to handle the expanded work. And it was not just her, Thuli too. Ripples and more ripples.
“Yes,” Malika answered. “And if Weldin is successful at preventing Hawkhurst from cornering the market, many of the crafters are going to make a lot of progress, particularly as we delve deeper into the mines and pull out more and more essences, and web, and whatever else is down there.”
It was a kind of attention Ali hadn’t anticipated. Sothing rather different than using the shrine and declaring her class to the world, one that seed far less under her control. Every single request seed to have a broad web of impact on the crafters and artisans of the town, many of the interactions probably occurring beyond her ability to observe, but she had to believe that growing higher-level and more capable crafters must be a positive influence on everyone’s lives. What possible downside could there be if an unknown dwarven weaver lady gained a few levels because of her request to have sothing made from the fla webbing?
“That’s a good thing, right?”
“Oh yes, if we can sohow contribute to cracking the Hawkhurst stranglehold on Myrin’s Keep, it could beco a much more prosperous and better place for everyone. We do need to be careful, though.”
Ali nodded. Jax’s reaction would be all too predictable.
***
Ali found herself with a bit of spare ti on her hands before they were scheduled to hit the Emberforge Mines again, so she made her way down into the sewers, searching out the best spot for her newly acquired Tunnel Weavers.
Seth’s idea had been rather compelling, and she thought of people like Sabri and Brena trying to afford equipnt and potions without much opportunity to earn gold. Almost all the quests and jobs required a minimum of bronze rank – mainly for safety reasons. Most of the novices would likely be leveling exclusively down here until they ranked up.
This looks like a good spot, she decided, walking up a branching tunnel section that had several chambers and connections and was currently only sparsely populated. She unsummoned so of the monsters in the tunnels, leaving just the toxic slis, and then she began to create spiders. I should tell Seth where to find them. Or maybe not… Probably several of the guild rogues, rangers, or hunters had tracking and scouting skills, or even treasure senses, and this might give them sothing to hunt.
It didn’t take long, her Grimoire’s summoning benefiting substantially from the spell haste provided by her slowly growing Arcane Recall, and soon enough, her chosen area was crawling with Tunnel Weavers, ranging from level two through level eight, giving a reasonable range for the novices to cut their teeth on. As she went, she adjusted the tunnel walls, carving out nooks and crannies for the spiders to hide in, and creating so boulders on the ground for cover.
While she worked, she reflected on Seth and his request. She could sense him sohow through the magic of the tithe enchantnt that bound them together. It was nothing like an actual perception skill, but she could tell he was connected. She wondered how she appeared to soone like him – a reviled class, unable to be accepted in most parts of the civilized world. How would soone like him find a good ntor, other than walking the path of evil and choosing a necromancer? It just so happened that his traits overlapped substantially with a dungeon that he happened to trust – what were the chances of that?
I just hope I can find one for myself, she thought, but the problem seed insurmountable. Her class was arguably even more terrifying than his, and there were no convenient people around to grant her a ntorship. I’m just going to have to do it the hard way, she thought, trying to console herself. The problem was that ntorship could often unlock options that couldn’t be earned without help. And she would likely never know what she had missed out on.
Don’t be so down about it, she told herself. After all, if Seth had managed, perhaps it was possible sohow. She put the downward spiral of her thoughts away, and attached her spiders to her domain, giving them the ability to be respawned automatically.
Going with the coincidental poison the for this corridor, she planted several dozen Forest Amanita mushrooms in various corners and cracks and marked them for respawn too. The mushrooms, she had learned, could produce a rather potent poison for their level, one that her rogues liked a lot, and she was certain would be highly sought after by so of the novice guild mbers.
She stepped back to survey her work, finding that the Tunnel Weavers had already begun to spin, draping web across the walls and the roof of the tunnels, creating pockets of dense webbing in and around the holes she had provided.
Looks like the tailors and weavers are going to have a steady silk supply soon. Happy with her work, she headed down to the library to see if Mato and Calen were done shopping.
Malika
For all her bluster and arguntativeness, Giddy Clicksprocket was a fantastic jeweler. Weldin had vouched for her, and Malika decided she needed to give him a big thank-you. In her hand, she held two hairpins – one with a topaz and one with a ruby, just as the Gnomish jeweler had suggested. Both were crafted from platinum, making the mundane components substantially more expensive. But the Gno had insisted that sothing with fire resistance on it should not lt in battle – and she had covered the extra cost personally.
But it was the craftsmanship that took Malika’s breath away – both pins were simple in design, but that simplicity deceptively belied the superb quality. Everything from the choice of materials designed to be robust to extre heat, the compact design making certain they would be effective in combat, to the color choices and cut of the jewels to match the intended recipients. She loved her ruby pin, and the topaz would be stunning in Ali’s green hair.
Ruby Hairpin – level 40
20% to resistance against Fire
168 to resistance against Fire
Requirents: Wisdom 140
Quality: Magic
Value: 14 gold
Created by Giddy Clicksprocket.
Head – Jewelry
Sohow Giddy had managed to squeeze a resistance enchantnt onto a hairpin. While most people would probably find the whopping twenty percent increase to be the defining feature of the piece, she had zero resistance, and the modest hundred and sixty-eight flat resistance would make all the difference in the world to her. It would only work against fire, unlike a normal piece of armor, but down in the Emberforge Mines, fire was all she needed.
She pinned her hair up with the clip, happy to find the quality of the craftsmanship extended to how well it served its primary function too. With the hairpin, she had just under fifteen percent damage reduction against any monster at her current level. It didn’t sound like much, but the dungeon put out so much continual fire damage that even this small reduction would make a huge difference.
“Ooh, that’s pretty!” Ali said as she flew down into the library from the cavern above.
“I got you one too,” Malika said, holding out the second hairpin and enjoying the instant delight on her friend’s face.
“I love it! Thank you!” Ali exclaid, followed imdiately by, “Oh, wow!” when she took the pin and examined the enchantnts. “This is incredible. Wow, would you look at that regeneration stat?”
“It’s sothing, right?”
Topaz Hairpin – level 40
20% to resistance against Fire
63% Mana Regeneration
Requirents: Wisdom 140
Quality: Magic
Value: 14 gold
Created by Giddy Clicksprocket.
Head – Jewelry
“And it’s so pretty, a girl really can’t battle elentals looking less than her best! Who is Giddy Clicksprocket?”
“A jeweler that Weldin recomnded. She has a bit of a temper, but her work is amazing.”
“Heya,” Mato said as he and Calen finally arrived from their excursion in town.
“How did it go?” Malika asked. They had done the run-around between Eliyen and Morwynne, trying to organize potions for their next excursion.
“Perfect, look at these!”
Elixir of Fire Resistance – level 41
Consu: 20% to resistance against fire damage. Duration: 1 hour
Value: 2 gold
Created by Morwynne Fizzlebang – “A little less burn.”
Potion
“That’s really good,” Malika said. And it really was – for soone like Mato who couldn’t drink potions every few minutes because he was a bear or a tree, this would add a lot to his defenses against fire. She didn’t even mind that it was two gold for a single potion. But for her, another twenty percent wouldn’t be a very large number. “It’s probably too expensive to waste on , though.”
“I got sothing else for you,” Mato said, pulling out a crate of small vials of red liquid.
“Wow, it’s gifts all around,” she teased gratefully.
Potion of Fire Absorption – level 40
Consu: Absorb up to 576 Fire damage. Duration: 3 minutes
Value: 1 gold, 20 silver
Created by Eliyen Mistwood.
Potion
“Yep, Eliyen is a wizard,” Calen said. “When I explained your situation, she imdiately whipped these up.”
The potions were outstanding. “Just like a health potion,” Malika said, examining it closer.
“Better,” Calen observed. “You drink it before you go into the fight, and it blunts the first chunk of damage you take, as long as it’s within three minutes.”
“So, I down this when I see a double-pull of Shards of Fla?” Malika asked.
“Yes,” Calen said, wincing visibly.
“One gold, twenty silver per shot though,” Malika grimaced. “I feel like I’m going to be drinking all our hard-earned essences.”
“Welco to the club,” Calen said.
“Seems worth it,” Mato said. “Besides, we paid with the bucket of mana-purified water Calen hauled up with us, and I just gave her double the number of fire flowers she needed, so she can make other stuff. We didn’t pay any gold for this.”
“Still feels a little wrong,” Malika said, but she knew it would make a big difference down there. It helped that Mato confird her potions took fire flowers instead of essences – sothing Ali could grow.
Jax is going to peck out his own liver at this rate…
Calen
Calen stalked back to the group, his skin beginning to burn as the restoration spells wore off.
“The double pull is next,” he said. He had studied it for quite so ti, but there did not seem to be any way to split them, and the tunnel was rather narrow.
The Emberforge Mines had respawned most of the monsters since they had cleared it the first ti, but they were progressing substantially faster this ti. Knowing where everything was helped, but the extra fire resistance from the elixirs was the biggest difference. Less downti ant they were fighting more and resting less, and they were already coming up on the tunnels full of fire spiders.
“I think we should all stand in the intersection,” Calen said. It was a bit risky, but he had an idea of how to do it. “Mato, you charge the first one, take it into the side tunnel, and Malika I’ll pull the second one down here to you and you can tank it here.”
“Pull it far enough so there’s no overlapped aura in the intersection, right?” Malika asked.
“Yup, that’s my thought,” he answered. Malika and Mato would be down separate passages, unable to see each other, but they didn’t need to, from the intersection, Ali should be able to have her Kobolds heal everyone. The only problem would be the beginning of the fight where the Shards of Fla were being dragged over everyone.
“Ok, sounds good,” Mato said, transforming into his Bear Form.
“Ali, maybe block off a corner for yourself and the healers, there’s going to be a storm of firebolts as they co through.”
“Right,” Ali said, and a golden wall appeared imdiately.
“I got the one at the back. Go,” he said, and Mato charged down the dark rocky tunnel, smacking into the Shard of Fla.
Calen released his arrow and struck the far Shard of Fla squarely in the center of its core, making it hiss angrily as it tore past Mato toward the group. Ali and most of her minions sprinted off down the tunnel toward the intersection while hiding behind the barrier she took with her. Many of them imdiately ignited in the fire aura of the oncoming Shard of Fla before the burning was extinguished by healing magic.
Looks good, Calen thought, seeing Mato disappear down the side passage and Malika’s punches landing on the elental that was burning him just by its presence. But Malika did her job well, and the elental never even got a chance to take a shot at him before it turned to her in rage.
He left her to it, sprinting down the tunnel to get out of the aura of fla. From the intersection, he found he could clearly see both elentals, one down each tunnel, and with a little work, he positioned his bow horizontally, splitting his arrows to fire almost ninety degrees apart, one down each tunnel to strike each elental. While Multishot split the base damage between each of the arrows fired, his light-damage enchantnt applied the full damage to both, and he only paid for it once. For the skills he had, Multishot was almost always a win, unless he was forced to shoot without enchants.
Multishot had been his reward for training with Nendir at Ciradyl the first ti, and he had tried for another advance the last ti he had gone, but no matter what they did, he could not unlock anything. Both Nendir and Lyeneru had recomnded focusing on so other form of area damage, particularly given how he wanted to develop his class, and so they had been focusing on his arrow enchants this ti.
It felt so close, he thought, rembering his last training session before he returned. He had even extended his stay just a little, certain he was about to unlock sothing, but it hadn’t been enough.
The anxiety he had over what had to be the most dangerous pull in the dungeon so far slowly faded as the fight progressed. No unexpected adds sprang out of the lava to join in, and the monsters were separated enough that nobody except the lee was getting the extra burn damage from the auras. He grinned as Malika’s elental collapsed and he heard the chi sounding in the background.
Malika and all the lee minions had to run the long way around, but that wasn’t much of a problem, given how stable Mato seed to be now. Knowing what was coming up next, he withheld his Righteous Fury, choosing to keep it for the tunnel of spiders instead. He nocked a normal arrow because it would do just a little more damage when fired at a single target, but he was still happy that his Multishot generated its own arrows – it was so much less work and money to avoid ammunition.
A few minutes later, the second Shard perished with a muffled implosion.
Your group has defeated Shard of Fla – Elental – level 40 x2.
And then his chi sounded a second ti. Oh?
Arrows of Brilliance has reached level 31.
Requirents t for skill advancent.
ntor: Lyeneru Silverleaf.
Arrows of Brilliance has surpassed level 30.
Received master-level archery instruction and practice.
Dexterity has surpassed 250.
Intelligence has surpassed 190.
Arrows of Brilliance has gained a new enhancent.
Blinding Flash
Mana: Cause an extrely bright flash when your arrow hits, blinding nearby targets. Range: 20 feet.
Light, Area, Ranged, Intelligence
Explosive Shot
Mana: Your arrows explode on impact, dealing light damage to all targets in the imdiate vicinity. Range: 10 feet.
Light, Area, Ranged, Intelligence
Armor Piercing
Stamina: Your arrows will pierce armor, ignoring a percentage of the target’s armor value
Physical, Ranged, Dexterity
Mote of Light
Mana: Attach a Mote of Light to your arrow, fixing it at the destination
Light, Ranged, Intelligence
Choose one enhancent.
Odd that it triggered now, but it only required level thirty, he thought, eyeing the requirents. The only explanation he could think of was that he had needed so ti to internalize his training. Quickly, he scanned through the offered options.
There it is! Without hesitation, he selected Explosive Shot. According to Nendir, it would work just like his light-damage enchantnt – each bolt would gain an explosive payload and he would pay once for the shot itself. Certainly, Nendir should know, he was a master with multishot.
I guess I’m never going to get around to picking Armor Piercing, he thought wryly. He had wanted to get it the last three tis his skill advanced, and each ti there was sothing more important.
His skill advancent was perfectly tid, too. He tested it imdiately on the next pull. He enchanted an Eimuuran Steel arrow with both Enhanced Range and Explosive Shot, and when hit struck, it detonated with a loud bang and a blinding flash.
“Oh, a new advancent?” Ali exclaid.
“Yes, Explosive Shot,” Calen said. “I’m excited to try it on the spiders.”
“Looks like the Sparkling Ooze light bombs,” Ali noted as they whittled the next elental down.
Calen led the group through the tunnels drawing the elentals from the side passages and the Lava Lurkers from the glowing pools and rivers one at a ti before finally reaching the spider tunnel.
“Spiders,” he said, eyeing the flaming web draped from the ceiling and walls.
“Give a few minutes, I want to summon so Sparkling Oozes,” Ali answered.
“Good idea.” The swarm of spiders had been a real challenge the first ti they had run into it, but they had been unprepared. Usually, Ali kept a good set of Fire Mages, and their fireballs took care of groups, but they couldn’t use fire down here, and that had exposed a weakness in their area damage output.
This ti should be different.
While Ali worked her summoning magic, he stalked up ahead to scout the tunnel, marking the locations of the tiny holes the spiders had poured out from, and the few individual spiders that hung up in the webbing, but as he tried to step forward, he sensed a premonition of danger and froze. It felt like sothing was watching him, able to sohow see through his stealth.
Not willing to risk it, Calen backed out slowly and silently and rejoined the group.
“I think there’s sothing big lurking back there, but I can’t quite detect it, so keep your eyes open,” he told them. He wasn’t quite sure if it was his Explorer skill or just random paranoia, but he couldn’t shake the sense of being watched.
In the lull that followed, Ali finally spoke up. “Have you noticed this dungeon doesn’t seem to bother with low-level monsters? I an, the Fla Skitterers are the only thing below thirty-five, and they’re a swarm mob.”
“Seems about right for most dungeons,” Calen answered. Everything he had read seed to follow similar patterns. Usually, dungeons had a level spread of monsters, but they were supposedly clustered close to the level of the dungeon itself.
“How does it have enough mana for that? I can’t seem to afford even the low-level monsters I have,” Ali grumbled, her voice leaking frustration.
Malika glanced up and said, “Perhaps their class offers them so substantial discount that you haven’t found yet?”
Calen considered the question for a mont, but then it ca to him. “The owner of the Ruins of Dal’mohra were the Twin Wights, right?”
“Yes, what of it?”
“They were a raid boss,” he answered. “And your raid boss has so ridiculous mana pool. Didn’t you say your Domain Mastery might let you do that to yourself?”
“Oh, I should have thought of that,” Ali said, her brow furrowed. “Yes, I’m pretty sure my skill can apply the boss transformation to , but I get the impression that it’s permanent, and there’s no way I’m doing that. Domain Withdrawal is enough of a limit for , I don’t want to be confined to a cave.”
“That’s probably smart,” Malika said. “You can’t unsummon yourself if you make a mistake.”
“Ok, well, I’m ready,” Ali said, still frowning with evident frustration. “What’s the plan? Charge in and blow everything up?”
“That’s about right, maybe send your oozes in first and flush them out, and I’ll shoot from here, and try not to hit your monsters,” Calen said. Ali’s face was lit up brilliantly by the presence of the six Sparkling Oozes that surrounded her, taking the place of several other minions that she had unsummoned to make enough mana to support them.
“Oh, don’t worry about the Sparkling Oozes, they’re immune to light magic,” Ali chuckled. “Go crazy.”
“Oh perfect.” Calen resummoned his motes and sent them floating out into the tunnel to make sure nothing was hiding in stealth. The oozes slithered and crawled after them, more or less flowing up the craggy walls, ignoring the web as they went. In seconds, the tunnel filled with a hissing sound, and blobs of fire began to shift and scurry around. Hundreds of eyes glead down from behind the webbing and spiders began to pour out of their hiding spots in the cracks and crevices in the walls.
The tunnel suddenly filled with a strobing light and deafening roar as the oozes let loose, but even given the intensity of the clash, his enhanced vision still picked out the densest groups of spiders clearly. Ali clamped her hands over her eyes, and as she did, Calen triggered his Righteous Fury, filling the air with triple-shot volleys of magical arrows enhanced with additional light magic damage and his newest Explosive Shot. The roar from the tunnel washed over him, but he didn’t let up until the mana in his veins stopped burning and the crawling in the dark tunnel ceased. The only thing left moving were the oozes plopping down from the ceiling to consu the occasional twitching spider, and Mato tanking the few almost dead higher-level Fla Spinners that had survived the gauntlet.
Well, that was fast, he thought, switching up his arrow enchantnts to help finish off the remaining spiders. But he still felt the sense of sothing watching him with far too many eyes.
Motes of Light has reached level 15.
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