Still wary of traps, Cal signaled for us to wait and descended first. Moments later, however, she called up to us: “Clear!”

The two of us joined her below, climbing down a stone staircase into the dimly lit room. As soon as my feet touched the ground, I was greeted with a new notification.

You have discovered an abandoned building in your settlement: Basement of the Greater Church.

As the building is incomplete, it cannot be added to your settlement. However, should you choose to repair it, building costs will be reduced, and you may be able to salvage some of the bonuses the original building had.

You have received a quest: A Home for the Gods

Build a place of worship for your settlement.

Rewards:

+2500xp

+10 Prestige

+1000 Settlement Energy

Access to Faith interface

Optional Reward:

You have discovered part of a Tier III Greater Church. Repairing the church or incorporating it into your design may yield unknown bonuses.

A church basement, huh? The notification made me realize that perhaps I’d been too lax in exploring the city: If this had survived, who knew what else might still be out there?

Then again, how had it survived? Everything else in the city was a pile of rubble at this point. I took in the room’s contents, searching for any clues.

As it turned out, I didn’t have long to look. The answer lay within the first object to catch my eye, a luminescent rock which was perched on a thin metal pillar at the room’s center. It looked eerily similar to the cheap Himalayan salt lamps I used to see in college dorms, and I failed to stifle a laugh at the incongruity.

Light of Preservation

A staple when dealing with perishable goods or long-term storage, this stone has been enchanted with a preserving light which slows the decay of nearby objects.

Increases the durability of all nearby objects, and decreases decay rates by 80%.

Well, that explained that, although that 80% bonus evidently hadn’t been enough for everything. Taking in the rest of the basement, I could see what had once been bookshelves lining the stone walls. The wood had rotted through, collapsing to the floor, and save for some of the sturdier book covers, the books themselves had all turned to dust.

In fact, not counting the light itself, there were only two areas of note within the entire basement. The first was the right wall: Much like the others, it too had the remnants of wooden shelves lying at its foot. Where the other shelves had held books, however, these shelves had housed a different quarry as evidenced by a few glints of metal that could be seen through the encompassing dust and dirt.

The second area of note was one of the far corners. In it lay a moderate sized metal chest. While the chest didn’t quite meet the bar to be considered fancy, it was clearly well made, and it glowed with the same light as the stone, leading me to hope that whatever it contained might still be in one piece.

Doubting that the others had received the notification, I informed them of my discovery. “It’s a church. Or at least the basement of one. Let’s clear away the debris and see if there’s anything that’s still usable in here?”

Hartha nodded and crouched down, starting to sift through the many layers of dust, while Cal simply pointed at the chest with a hungry look in her eyes. “Chest,” she supplied helpfully.

“If it’s unlocked, feel free. Otherwise, help us search. There might be a key buried somewhere around here.”

Halfway through my words, she bolted to the metal chest and pulled on its lid, sighing as it refused to come open. Ignoring my request, she pulled out a lockpick and began to tackle the lock as Hartha and I searched.

I bent down to where I’d seen a glint of metal and brushed a thick pile of dust out of the way, just barely managing not to sneeze. What lay beneath was a section of a metal rod, and a few seconds of excavation later, I uncovered it fully, gazing admiringly at my find.

Silver Scepter of Blinding Light

+4 Wisdom

+1 Intellect

Reduces the cast time of all Light magic by 10%.

Contains the spell: Blind

Produce a brief flash of blinding light with a chance to blind enemies for 4 seconds.

Charges: 0/5 (100 mana to charge)

Requirements:

Level 15

Level 10 in Light magic

Intricate geometric texturing ran along its surface, with a yellow gemstone sitting at its top surrounded by a spherical silver cage. Clearly, a lot of effort had been spent on the weapon, and its creator had to have been rather skilled.

“Cal! Treasure! You want?” Of the three of us, she was the only one who could find a use for something like this.

Even focused on the lock as she was, she swiveled her head to the side, staring at the glistening scepter. “Oooooh. Mine. That Blind spell is pretty nice. Especially if the opponent doesn’t know I’m actually a rogue, it’ll give me a nice big window to knife ‘em.”

I somehow doubted that was the normal usage of the staff, but hey — to each their own. I set the scepter down by Cal’s side and made to return to the debris when Hartha let out a happy shout.

“Found a key!” She proudly displayed a dull metal key which looked to be about the right size for the chest.

At the same time, however, a loud click sounded through the room, and Cal beamed back at us. “Don’t need it!” She lifted the lid of the now-unlocked chest, revealing its contents. Before any of us could get a good look, however, the room was filled with an overwhelming surge of light.

Cal triggers Light Construct Trap. Light Construct summoned.

You are blinded! 10 seconds remaining.

Holy hell that hurt! My vision wasn’t even blurry — it was flat out gone. “Cal! What the hell!”

“Shit,” Cal declared. I unfortunately found myself in full agreement. “Got too excited and missed a trap. Everyone oka-” Her voice cut off, replaced with a pained grunt. “I can’t see, and whatever I just summoned hurts. I’ll shield myself, but I could use some healing!”

I wanted to help, or at least to do something, but my healing spell was activated by line of sight, and I couldn’t see shit. Why is this debuff taking so long!

Belatedly, I remembered that I had something just for a situation like this, and I mentally kicked myself as I activated it.

Cleansing Shower Gem Pendant activated

You feel clean and refreshed.

No debuffs removed. (Note, blind is not a movement-impairing debuff)

Gah! Bad! Admittedly, I felt amazingly clean, but that wasn’t really what I’d been going for!

The smell of ozone filled the room as an intense static sound built up, and a second later an almost comical lightsaber-like sound followed it. While I was unable to see what had taken place, I could hear another grunt as Cal was hit once more.

Unable to heal her, I stood there frozen, completely at a loss for what to do.

Luckily, I wasn’t the only one in the fight.

A ripple of mana passed through me, alongside a battle notification.

You have been healed by Hartha’s Heal Wave for 0 damage.

Woo, go team! Really need to pick a spell like that up. Being able to target multiple people, and without focusing on them, felt like a good skill to have.

With Cal presumably healed, I belatedly realized that I too was in danger, quickly summoning my leather armor and enhancing it with mana. As I did so, the construct fired one last bolt of light, this time slamming into Hartha. From the sound of it, she’d been hit hard, but then the tides shifted. All three of our debuffs fell away at once.

Both Cal and I rapidly fired a healing spell at Hartha, getting her back to full health. I also noticed a shimmering barrier hovering around Cal, presumably some sort of shield. No longer in quite as dire straits, the three of us took in our opponent.

Light Construct: Level 17, 300/300hp

Unlike the other elementals I’d encountered thus far, the light construct made no effort at appearing vaguely humanoid and was instead just a giant floating ball of light. The very sight of it made me feel like I was getting pins and needles in my eyes.

“Euch. I don’t really have anything that can damage this thing. It’s resistant to all physical damage, and most of my magical damage is Light magic,” Cal called out.

“Not a great match up for me either, especially while I’m indoors, cut off from the soil,” Hartha followed. “I can still heal though.”

Well, damn, I guess that left me. “Okie doke, I got it. Just keep me healed up, you two.” Of course, now that we could see, we could have bolted up the stairs and ran away, but why bother? With our vision restored and all three of us having healing spells, I wasn’t feeling particularly worried.

While we’d been talking, the construct had charged up another light beam, still focusing on Hartha. This time able to see the attack, however, she dodged it in time. For all that it was light magic, it moved no faster than other bolts I’d seen. Luckily, covered in dust and debris, the floor wasn’t very reflective, and the beam dissipated as it landed beneath her.

“All right. Enough with the light beams, please.” I summoned my soulbound spear and empowered it before charging at the ball of light, poking it with abandon.

You stab Light Construct for 20 damage (20 magic damage + 0 physical damage [20 resisted]).

The ball of light pulsed as I struck it, but otherwise showed no signs of pain. It continued to charge another light beam even as I jabbed and slashed at it as fast as I could, my eyes watering from the close proximity.

Perhaps not entirely thrilled with being stabbed a bunch of times, the elemental retaliated by casting another beam of light.

Unable to dodge at such close range, I was struck head on, the spell punching into my stomach and sending me hurtling back. Even before I’d hit the floor, however, twin healing spells from Cal and Hartha brought me back to full.

Much as I’d thought, with the level of healing power that we had, the fight was already decided. I charged back in and continued my onslaught, trading blows with the elemental until it hit 20% of its health.

Instead of charging up another light beam, it began to grow brighter at a rapid pace. This time having some forewarning, however, the trick didn’t work. I shouted at Hartha and Cal to shut their eyes, but I needn’t have bothered. The two of them easily figured out what was about to happen.

Even with my eyes closed, I could see the intense flash of light, red tinted through my eyelids, but thankfully I avoided the debuff altogether. I opened my eyes and launched into attack mode one last time, and at last the construct fell to 0 health. It dimmed before fizzling out of existence.

Your party has defeated a Light Construct. Based on your contribution, you have earned 107xp.

Relieved, all of us took a moment to settle down. Then, however, we remembered why we’d had to fight the monster in the first place. Hartha and I turned to Cal, who had the decency to look abashed.

“Eh. My bad. Guess there are still a few traps that can get by me. Who knew? Sorry.” She let loose a sheepish chuckle before attempting to shift our focus elsewhere. “But hey! Loot! If it’s worth sicking a construct on someone, it’s gotta be good, yeah?”

Well, that much was true. She really should have been more careful, but I silently forgave the rogue, truthfully glad for the extra experience in any case. Hartha shook her head, but that was the extent of her judgment. We closed in on the chest, and all three of us peered within.

Sitting inside the chest, all in pristine condition, were a number of spellbooks. I salivated.

Cal held one up, smiling. “Still angry that I woke you two up?”

Hartha and I stared at one another for a moment before responding.

“Yes.”

“Absolutely.”

“This definitely could have waited until morning.” I nodded at the shadow, glad we were in agreement.

Cal’s eyes grew wide, unused to being teamed up on, and I could see the cogs turning in her brain, searching for a worthy quip in response.

At her expression, Hartha and I began to laugh, only causing her to grow more flustered until, giving up, she too found herself laughing.

There, in the basement of an ancient church, buried beneath a magically-grown forest, the three of us stood together and laughed.

Stat & Level Updates:

Medium Armor 4 → 5

Character Sheet:

Name: Tess Age: 26 Race: Human Class: Arcane Arsenal Level: 7 Experience: 5218/7250 Prestige: 764 Health: 190/190 Mana: 200/200 Stamina: 200/200 Stats: Constitution: 19 Strength: 21 Endurance: 20 Dexterity: 19 Intelligence: 25 Wisdom: 20 Perception: 26 Charisma: 17 Luck: 23

Skills:

Weapon & Armor Spears: 8 Archery: 8 Small Blades: 4 Unarmed Combat: 4 Swords: 3 Hammers: 2 Staffs: 2 Axes: 1 Medium Armor: 5 Heavy Armor: 1 Movement Dodge: 3 Magic Life Magic: 5 Water Magic: 5 Fire Magic: 4 Spells: Minor Healing: 6 Conjure Water: 6 Flameploof: 4 Resistances Trauma Suppression: 9 Poison Resistance: 6 Heat Resistance: 2 Detection God's Eye: 6 Detect Trap: 5 Detect Secret: 4 Tracking: 2 Social Drinking: 4 (+5) Conversation: 4 Trade: 3 Flirt: 2 Deception: 1 Gambling: 1 Craft Woodworking: 6 Jewelry Making: 5 Herbalism: 2 Alchemy: 2 Construction: 6 General Reading: 1