《Alternate Worlds》Chapter One: Misery loves Companies
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Brani works at disabling yet another trap as the rest of her party see's to dressing wounds and checking gear. The levels above this one were filled with all sorts of monsters. Orcs, goblins, a Cube of wandering death and more. But this one, this one is just hidden passages, illusionary walls and trap after trap. All cause some mage is paying them a good fee to find a magical Cube that will have a clue to lead them to an even greater treasure. They have spent far too long on this venture in Brani's opinion. They are low on healing potions and spells to. Getting out looks like it will be harder than getting in.
Da'Rune is looking over her map, brought back by previous groups who had made it this far, but failed to find the cube. If the map is right there is a large empty safe room ahead, "If we can make it to this room then we will be able to rest without worry of traps or wandering monsters." she points out.
Hel, tightening a bandage around her arm, "If" she huffs, "I hate that word."
Aysun nods, lately it seems to be Da'Rune's favorite word.
Brani, leaps back, "Clear!" she yells as several spike and dart traps go off, then silently start to reload, "Ok move it people we need to be at the next cross-passage before it fully resets." She is moving even as she speaks. Hel only pauses to grab up some of the darts. Never have to many throwable weapons in her book.
Melisanda and Aysun bring up the rear. The next trap misfires, shooting nothing but air and at last they come to the room. A room that stinks to high heaven and has some strange glowing monster squatting against a far wall.
Da'Rune has everyone keep back as she tosses in a small fireball, It's a good thing they were back, cause the explosion is far out of proportion to the size of the beast. The shrapnel is an added reason to show caution. Hel grabs the mage and pins her to a wall, "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING ?"
Da'Rune, pale from the explosion, "to kill the monster in the room ?"
Aysun looking at the wheel now rolling out of the room, on fire to, "When do monsters have wheels ?" she ask, "You probably just blew up some fellow adventurers, nice going mage." she sighs. The woman who keeps trying to be the leader tends to jump to conclusions and act without thinking things through. She hopes no one died in that but would not be surprised if someone did. One other thing she is sure of, anything on this level, and maybe the one above, sure knows they are here now.
A few hundred yards away the explosion is felt and heard and the owner of the once vehicle who suddenly starts running back toward the way she came, leaping over traps and then just sort of flying along, not really conscious of that fact as she is trying to get back to her car. She comes around a corner and spots these strange women, one of whom seems to be trying to strangle another one. She sees a tire, still burning, doing its slow falling death spin even as she closes in, She screams, "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO MY CAR!"
Brani looks up at the floating cloaked figure holding some kind of staff and about shits herself. Pissed mages are not healthy by any definition. She promptly leaps away from the group and points to Da'Rune, "She did it, blew it up with fire." Her thought is maybe she can sacrifice Da'Rune to save herself. She does not really even like the arrogant mage anyway. Always gets them in to trouble, never thinks before she acts. The number of fights they get in to, ones they could easily have avoided, because she attacks first without even provocation. Yeah no problem in handing her over to the floating, angry mage.
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The mage floats in to the room where the 'car' was, it's burning carcass all that remains. She drops to the floor and wails, "MY CARRRRR!!!!" openly crying now.
Da'Rune looks at it and just states, "I thought it was some kind of monster, so I just blew it up."
The mage turns on her, "YOU THOUGHT ? You Mean you are Capable of that sort of thing ? Why the Hell would you think it was a Monster. IT HAD WHEELS FOR GODZ SAKE! HOW MANY MONSTERS HAVE WHEELS ?" Da'Rune is clawing at her neck as some unseen force lifts her off the floor. None of the others are doing anything to help her. They just back off and let things work themselves out. Da'Rune gurgles out, "It was glowing from the inside and stank what was I to think ?"
Da'Rune gets slammed in to the far wall, "Moron. Who gives a moron like that, explosives."
The mage turns back to her car and then as she exhales the fires just Goes Out. snuffed. The mage stands there for a long bit. Points at stuff here and there. Ice forms around those things. A few less damaged parts float up and around her, it takes a minute to realize she is crying. Aysun, not knowing what else to do moves over and offers her a handkerchief. The mage takes it, "Thank you." She wipes her eyes staring at the remains, "I paid over 6000 for that car. Took me years to save up the money to get it. Was damaged here, but repairable. Now, one moron later whoosh gone. I can't get another one, I don't have that kind of money." Aysun looks over at the hurt but conscience moron mage and nods, "We have a running bet on how long she was going to live before she did something so stupid it got her killed, or worse." The sad mage looks at the Asian woman, "I say today is likely on the Or Worse part. Kind of want to take her to this heavy trapped area, unlock them all and see how long she can keep going as I set them all off remotely." The blond mage gets even paler hearing that.
Hel comes around, "How did you even get that down here ?"
The sad one sighs, "Gate misfired, one moment I am driving to a friend's house the next an old, supposedly defunct portal suddenly activates and Poof, car meets wall. Good thing I was not going that fast at the time or I might have still been in there when little miss 'I don't recognize it, so I will Blow It Up', came along." turns and glares at the blond mage, the air getting noticeably colder and the wall around her gains ice crystals.
Melisanda looks at that and mutters to Brani, "I have heard of cold stares but this is the first time I have seen a literal one." Brani nods and mutters back, "Let's try and not piss her off any more. I don't want to be an ice statue." Melisanda nods in agreement.
Hel whistles, "So the gate was supposed to be inactive. That's not good."
The woman nods, "Want even weirder ?"
Hel shrugs, "Sure why not."
Woman, "I was a man before passing through the gate. It's why I don't have any pants on, they were too big for this form and fell off."
The ladies all agree, that is Weirder alright.
Sighing and then sitting down suddenly, "I thought I was dreaming at first. Hit my head or the like. But to many things don't add up to a dream. Still wonder about the voices I heard on the way through the portal. No language I know of, lots of arguing from the tone of it. Then bright colored lights, then Hello Wall, meet Car.
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When I came to, I was lying next to the car, the door was open. Well it was pitch black to, so I well I thought I was blind at first. Imagining all sorts of bad things." pauses and sighs and stares at the remains of her car longer but does not speak.
Tears are streaming down her cheeks, as she stares at the last piece of her old life. Gone forever. If she lets herself go she knows she will really hurt the idiot that did this. Not sure how, but the freezing / burning inside of her is giving her options. Crush, freeze, burn, nice options.
But she is no killer. Not in her nature to kill because she is upset or angry. Hurt, sure, torture maybe, kill no.
"Decided I was dreaming after I got a light to work and saw my legs and reflection in a mirror. Had to be a dream, cause there was no way this was real. Near miss with a buzz saw trap that cost me a few lengths of hair and cut my coat snapped me mostly in to reality. Decided I needed to find my way out. Don't know how long I wandered though. Kept coming back here till I figured out one of this places tricks. Lots of optical illusions, not magic, just the way the walls are designed. To look at it there are 2 ways out of this room. But I found there are actually 4, have to find them via touch as sight does not work well for that. Sight is good to get around the booby traps however. So is levitation and flight. I found a pit trap full of bodies with their gear at the bottom, after a little experimenting I worked out how to get the stuff out without triggering more traps. Several of which were designed to drop you in to that spike pit. Including a nasty one of spikes coming out of the ceiling, those retract and the pit opens, so the ones speared from above are scraped off the ceiling and dropped in to the pit. Anyway got a few coins, this dagger and backpack, some useful bits, this cloak, which while it does not look like much is pretty warm. Also protects my legs from several of the dart traps cause it's thick."
Hel nods at that. Nothing like good padding for warmth and protection from needle traps.
"I was pretty much wandering around down here seeing how many traps I could activate remotely. Then when I figured out how the trigger works I would jam up the mechanism with the junk I salvaged from previous persons. I left their bones alone though, just in case any trap had necromantic qualities. I really hate it when the skeletons get up and come for you." Most of them nod at that. Da'Rune though is trying to stealthily move away, she wants to hide from this scary crazy woman. Who wanders around purposely setting off traps after all. Well other than Brani, but that is her job as trap bait. Suddenly an unseen force grabs her and pulls her back. She yelps in surprise.
The crazy one is looking at her, "You really are stupid aren't you. Had you put your hand just another few inches forward you would have lost it."
Da'Rune glares at her," I would not." she declares venomously. The girl forms an ice ball in her hand and tosses it to where Da'Runes hand would have been had she not been pulled back. The silent blade that slices up from the floor then down again proves the girl right. Da'Rune stares at the space, seeing no trigger. "How did you know ?" She ask with a gulp. Brani answers, "Well the trigger is pretty obvious if you were paying any attention. It is that slight raised bump in the floor."
The girl nods, "Bumps or dips around here as well as lines in the walls, floors, and ceilings, show traps and their triggers. Some sections of this place have complex locking stones that are nothing more than multiple triggers for traps. This whole place is a death trap. I did find a treasure room, but it was picked clean. Except for this shield. And it was stuffed in a corner, probably forgotten by whom ever cleared the place out."
Hel slumps, "Damn. We were sent here to recover an Item in this places treasure room. A crystal cube. It's supposed to have a clue to another treasure that eventually leads to an artifact a wizard needs to remove a rare curse from our guild leader."
Looking thoughtful, "What sort of curse ?" Melisanda sighs, "It's draining his spirit, making him age rapidly we have maybe a few months before he will die of premature old age."
Frowning, "So he was cursed by a chronomancer ?" she ask. Hel looks thoughtful, "What is a chronomancer ?" The girl, standing with her hands behind her back, "A Chronomancer is a mage that specializes in time magics. Tricky stuff to be sure. They tend to either try to learn the secrets of the past or future either by traveling to those times or using magical scryings to see in to those times for various reasons. Though some just make lots of specialty magic items to sell for high profit as well. Boxes and bags with preservation spells, potions to make people younger, that sort of thing."
Hel and some of the others nod. Da'Rune, acting like a spoiled attention seeking brat (not far off there), "Well aren't you a smart one. Think you know everything I bet."
The girl shakes her head, "Hardly. I know allot cause I have read allot, studied most of my life. Talked to people, 'monsters', a prism dragon for a time. Learn allot by actually Talking to others instead of trying to bash in their heads." Hel nods and grins, "Sometimes heads need bashing, but your right about that. Too bad this one over here tends to blast first then try talking or usually running, nearly gotten us killed half a dozen times when stealth would have worked So much better."
Standing now Da'Rune confronts Hel, "I AM the One in Charge!"
Melisanda, "Only in your own little mind. None of us Follow you, we follow Hel, she knows what she is doing. You, you’re a spoiled little bitch with this foolish idea that you know how to lead. You don't. We just keep you around cause of your magical skills. That your good at, nothing else." The others all nod or verbally agree with Melisanda.
The stranger listens and just from what she has seen so far, it fits. The mage wants the attention and glory of leading, but does not have the emotional maturity to do so. All the signs of a spoiled child who always got her way from over indulgent parents. She may be competent in her field but does not understand how the real world works and refuses to learn. Sad that.
Da'Rune snarls back, "My Daddy said I am in charge of this group."
Aysun shakes her head, "Your Daddy did not have that kind of authority, he is not paying, he is just a minor merchant with too much money and little sense of his own. He just gives you whatever you want but the rest of the world does not care what you want. It does not care what we want, the world is a very uncaring place."
Looking at the floor, the girl states, "If you're going to stomp your feet and throw a tantrum, take a step to the left first. I really don't need to see your blood splattering the walls."
For once the girl looks down, "Why ?"
"Half an inch right is a pressure plate that releases a, hm, well a large section of the ceiling comes down and that area of the floor goes up at high speed, crushing anything standing on it. I dropped a copper there and now it’s a thin plate." she digs around and pulls out a copper disk some 3 inches across but super thin and shows it to them. Then pulls out one of her worlds copper coins for comparison, "The coin is what this plate looked like Before it got caught between the pillars in that trap."
Hel comes over, looks them over then turns, "Ok I have seen enough, time to go. No treasure is worth this level of risk."
Hel stops and looks at the new girl, "Say what is your name ?"
The girl actually Stops, and freezes a slow look of panic coming to her face, complete with tears .. a look of sudden loss, "I .. I don't remember .. I … I " tears streaming, "I can remember all kinds of facts, all sorts of magics and formula and such, but my personal history is just blank. I remember driving my car, and buying it, and .. I can't recall what anyone looked like or names, it's all just blank." she just sits down, the fear very evident on her face as she tries to force herself to remember who she is, or was or … gods.
Brani comes over to her and sits, pulling the other girls head to her shoulder and letting her cry there. Giving her what comfort she can offer. She understands fear and loss. Maybe not to this scale, but she knows enough to know when someone needs to be held.
Brani whispers to her, "You know what, that's not all that bad. Just means you get to start fresh. New you, new life, new name. If you want I can name you. Give you my favorite girls name."
Sniffing and staring at the other girls chest, "What is it ?"
"Cin'aed. It's the name of my favorite historical figure. A woman who started out in a bad situation but in the end rose to become a Queen. Well technically it was her middle name, but it's a good name."
Laughing slightly, "Actually that is the name of one of my favorite singers to. Cin'aed O'Connor in that instance."
Brani nods, "See good name. So, you willing to try Cin'aed for a bit. You can try something different later, or get one of those flashy mage names like Ice Hand or Freezing Stare if you like to."
Tears still in her eyes, but a small smile on her lips, "That is because I froze the brainless wonder isn't it ?"
Brani nods, "Yes, fire is scary, ice more so in my book."
Sniffing, "I can do fire to actually. I was trying to calm the fire when everything froze to tell the truth. The ice is a new one. Took the fire to far the other way I think."
Brani grins, "Well it worked. So it's all good. Strange spell though."
Cin'aed makes a face, "Oh that was not a spell. I just willed it. Sort of like Psionics but not. I think it would be called an Innate Ability. To be technical. I tend to think in technical terms allot. Not sure why as my training was in a different field entirely. And why is your hand in my pocket ? There is nothing in my pockets except my gloves. It was winter back home."
Brani shrugs, "Just holding you and it slipped in there."
Hel grins, "Right, and if you had any coins in there they would have just slipped up her bracer. It's one reason we don't let her wear long sleeves. She is a bit of a thief."
Cin'aed shrugs, "Not very good one then. Oh." leans back and holds out her hand, "Here is your purse, the dagger from your belt and this nice pendant I found in that little hidden pocket."
Melisanda takes the amulet, "HEY That’s Mine!"
Hel is snickering, "Training, I see."
Brani looks surprised, takes back her 'empty' purse and dagger. Then looks in the purse, "Ok but where are my coins ?"
Cin'aed shakes her arm and the coins fall in to the purse, "Well since you were checking me over for stuff I decided to do the same to you."
Brani makes a face then sighs, "Ok you got me. Damn your good. … About the name stuff ?"
Cin'aed, "All real, I try not to lie about stuff like that. I was trained as a security officer, by a professional ex thief, master jewel thief and 2cd story man actually. Oddly I can recall his nick name but not his given name. Shadow Fox. Never could figure out why 'Fox' it's not like one can climb walls or has any interest in shiny things. Raven maybe, Monkey even. But not Fox." she giggles suddenly, "Just remembered a story I heard once about a group of monkey's in Asia, they worked out how to buy treats from watching the humans. They would at first find lost coins and such to buy treats, but eventually they starting picking pockets. They were so good at it that people had to learn new ways to carry money or the monkeys would take it and try to buy treats from the vendors."
The others shake their head, save Aysun who is nodding, "Pan Quoin village in China I believe. I heard that story too. Natural little thieves. They also play tricks and do stunts to encourage people to feed them. They are very popular really I understand."
Cin'aed nods, "That sounds right."
The others look between Aysun who almost Never talks of her past and the new comer. Then they all jump when there is a loud metal on stone sound. Looking around they see Da'Rune standing at an odd angle, as a spear slid out of the wall, just barely missing her but went right through her robe. She is standing Perfectly still.
Cin'aed gets up, grabs her bags from where she left them then carefully moves over and around the mage. She takes something from the bag, looks like a broken piece of metal, and then carefully jams it in a hole. Holds her hand out to it and 'pushes'. The metal bit gets nailed in by unseen force. Then she goes up to the 'spear' and looks in the hole, pulling out this small blue cylinder, she presses the back of it and a clear light comes out the other end. She uses this to look inside the hole the spear came out of. Then using her unseen power again she does Something inside the wall before grasping the spear and pulling another 3ft of it free. The last 2ft of the shaft have 4 holes in it where it was held in place by the mechanism. The shaft itself is some dark wood with silver paint on it.
Cin'aed looks it over and smiles, "Cool, new stick. Useful these, great for checking for floor triggers as they are so long." looks around at the others as she turns off the light, "So you guys know where the exit is then ? Cause all I have found have been maintenance tunnels and they all lead back to that room." nodding to were the frozen remains of her carriage still sits.
Melisanda looking confused, "What is a maintenance tunnel ?"
"Passage used to repair or maintain these traps. Whoever uses them though is pretty small. Most of the tunnels are only 2 or 2 and a half feet tall. I did find one other door but it's too small for me to fit through and goes down."
Almost as one the party says "Gnomes" they look at each other, then around the room. Hel sighs "Makes since, gnomes would have the mechanical mastery to make stuff like this and keep it working."
Brani gets up and heads back the way they came, "Whelp I am gone. I prefer to run from the minotaur than face all these traps for something that is no longer here." Just as she is about to step in to the passage leading back to the exit she is pulled back suddenly. There is no one around so she looks back at Cin'aed, "Why you stopping me ?"
Cin'aed opens her mouth, then closes it then walks up next to her, the others follow out of curiosity. Cin'aed takes out the flattened coin, holds it up so they can see it then tosses it so it fly's in a curving but mostly straight flight, less than 2ft in traps start going off, darts, fire, crisscrossing spears, spikes, smashing floor and ceilings, beams of energy, lightning, till it comes to rest right under the hidden door leading up. It takes about 3 minutes before holes open in the floor to lets things drop in to the shutes below and other automated things happen to clean the area.
"I spent better part of last night tossing things down there. It is the single most trapped and deadly part of the whole place. I tried to find the work around tunnel but as close as I can tell this one needs a special key to shut it off so they can work on it."
While it was resetting Cin'aed pulled her disc back to herself. A couple other traps went off on its return flight. Hel stares then weeps, "OH great. This is a total death trap. There is no way out!" pulling at her hair.
Melisanda ask, "So how do they get rid of bodies ?"
Cin'aed, "They don't really all the bodies are pushed in to pit traps and left to rot. I picked over all the pit traps I could find for things to jam up the traps. I ran out of junk before I ran out of traps."
Da'Rune cry's, "There has to be a way out!"
Hel nods, "There is, you just have to be under two feet tall and a Gnome."
Melisanda looks to Cin'aed, "Did you make a map of this place."
Cin'aed nods, "Sure did, then sparky over there blew it up. All my maps were in the car."
Da'Rune stares at the group who all turn and glare at her, her unthinking over reacting may have gotten them all killed.
Cin'aed turns around and starts walking back, one hand on the wall. Suddenly she vanishes and Brani calls out, "CIN'AED ?" Cin'aed's head reappears, "What ?" They catch up and see she is in a hall that they had all walked past before without seeing it. In fact if she was not standing in it they still would not be able to tell. She looks around, "I told you, the place is full of optical illusions, the only way to navigate is to keep a hand on a wall and hope you don't hit a trigger. I have gotten pretty good at spotting them and so far been able to dodge any I miss. Though I don't recall this passage.. I think I had my hand on the other wall. No telling how big this place really is because of this style of architecture."
As she talks she takes out a square of yellow paper and puts it on the corner, strange writing on it. "I have marked all corners I have found at my eye level this way. Have to watch for these papers. I just hope none have fallen down."
After an hour of exploring the party has come to the conclusion that Cin'aed's ability to find traps borders on the supernatural. She called a halt when she found a small round door and with Brani's help got it open. The two of them found a tube shaped opening just over 2 1/2ft across. Laying on her back Cin'aed climbed in and using her light started tinkering at what she finds. 4 hours later she figures out how to open a series of these tubes that interconnect sections of the place. The women, stripped out of armor and such, pulling their bags behind them, shimmy down these tiny tunnels, hoping one leads out.
In a good sized junction room they take a break. Cin'aed puts one of her sticky notes over the opening they came in so as to not lose their way.
They deal out rations and Cin'aed pulls out a bag with 3 long sandwiches in it and sighs. They are a little squished. She pulls out one of the paper wrapped bundles, breaks the sandwich in half and starts to eat it. Stopping when she notices everyone staring at her, "What ?"
Hel "You have strange but real food. We have been living on rations for a month. We are going to watch you eat that."
Cin'aed sighs, looks at the bag then sighs again. "Ok I only got 6 total sandwiches. Almost the only food I got, most of the rest I got is snack stuff. I got chicken, tuna, and meatball, the meatballs are beef. The toppings on the sandwiches are all pretty much the same, but I am willing to share." she digs them out and lays them where they can choose. Everyone eyes the tuna with distrust. Cin'aed sighs again, "The tuna is a fish, it's been ground up and thoroughly cooked. Lightly seasoned. It's only a day old at most and should be safe to eat if that is your worry."
Everyone takes a small piece off one to try, only Brani and Aysun like it enough to eat those sandwiches. Cin'aed also gets out some Sprite, explaining about soda's and some plain potato chips. Which all go around pretty well. The girls laugh as they try the new foods and comment on the bubbles. When all is eaten Cin'aed takes back the papers and trash and puts it in her bag. Keeping everything tidy. A short exploration of the connecting tunnels and then they pick one and head off again through the maze of small passages. Cin'aed leaving behind marks to show where they have been and notes on why not to return up certain passages. Eventually they come to a large tube going both up and down. Cin'aed goes out first and uses her flying ability to first check down, then comes shooting back up, looking scared, "Giant spiders below here. Will go up and see what I can find that way."
Brani looks down, "Can't you just flame them ?"
Cin'aed looks at Da'Rune, "You got any light spells you can put on a disposable item ?'
Da'Rune nods and cast one of a scrap of food wrapper paper. Cin'aed drops the paper. About 30ft below they see spiders alright, thousands of them from tiny little things to monsters barely small enough to fit in to the tunnel before the light passes down out of sight.
Brani looks up at Cin'aed, "I got some elven rope, we can tie it to you so if something happens we can pull you back in." Cin'aed nods and soon they have her tied off.
While they did that they noticed a tiny gnome sized latter going up the wall beside the exit. About 10ft below that there is a shiny area that the spiders do not even Try to cross. Above disappears in to darkness. With her little light she slowly fly's upward, making note of any openings or cross passages. At one point she actually finds a gnome, he was on the ladder and almost fell in fright as she floated by. She caught him, smiled wide and then returned at 'falling speed' to her friends. The gnome screaming in terror the whole way down.
She slows to a stop across from the party, "Hey guys look what I found." she holds out the foul smelling little man (he wet himself on the way down). Brani let's Hel come to the front, "Well well, a gnome, good maybe he will be kind enough to lead us out."
Voice steady, "The only way out for anyone your size is down."
Cin'aed, "We know about the spiders, how about I feed you to them instead."
Hel, "Or you could freeze him. Get him cold enough and start breaking off fingers."
Cin'aed nods and forms an ice ball in her hand, "I can do that, little frostbite for this mean little man." The gnome eyes the ice forming from the woman's hand, feeling the intense cold coming off of it and even starts to see his breath in the air. That is no illusion, and she is no spell caster. Or at least none like he has ever seen.
He snarls, "Fine" and tells them a set of directions. Cin'aed using her ice to draw a map in the air, shakes her head, "That just leads back to that trap zone. We have been there, that’s where we found the entrance to these tunnels. Took a bit of doing to get the doors open but I jammed them up real good. Welded them open in fact.
The look of murderous rage on the little man's face is almost comical if it was not full of so much hate and rage. "That's all you big' guns ever do, break stuff, ruin other people's lives and things. "
Cin'aed shakes him hard and snarls, "All you do is murder people, so don't start that crap with me or so help me I will break you in to so many tiny pieces even your soul will look like pebbles."
He snatches something off his belt and tries to spray her with it, but it just coats the inside of the TK bubble she caught him in. She looks at it then how it's eating away at his boots, "Acid. Oh well guess we don't need you after all." She starts spinning him around and then telekinetically strips him down to the skin, before letting him drop to just above the spider zone. Hel yelled out, "WAIT!"
Cin'aed nodded, "Ok, you wanted something ?"
"Gnomes like that one often train giant spiders. Those things are likely his pets and he will have some come after us I am sure if you drop him down there."
The gnome looks snidely at them, daring her to drop him, "So freeze him solid then drop him ?" Hel nods, "Yeah that will work." The others nod to. Shrugging and looking at the very evil little man, she turns him in to a icicle, he is deep blue and has ice forming on him by the time she let go of him. She did not watch him fall. She hands over the items she took from him. Among them is a very detailed map of the place, including a master control room for the entire complex. Monster levels and all.
Using it and a combination of skills and powers they are able to find it and Cin'aed and Aysun get in and carefully figure out how to not only leave but shut the whole carnival of death down to. They open all the exits, letting all kinds of monsters out in to the world. But it's better to have them out than trapped in that living hell they had been before.
36 hours after Cin'aed arrived the party exits via service entrance. One large enough to bring in all the equipment needed to run that house of never ending horror. There they find a group of very questionable men unloading a wagon. The men look at them and one sneers, "Lookie here boys, play things." Cin'aed just freezes him solid, pushes him over and calmly watches him shatter, "Hm not as many pieces as the gnome, being bigger I thought he would break more."
Hel, "Well you did toss the gnome down a well first." The other men draw weapons and charge. it was a very short fight as the warrior women cut these low level scum in to pieces.
With that taken care of they look through the cargo. Most of it is stuff to reload or restock the traps or make new ones. They pick through the crates for things of use and the bodies for booty as Brani put it.
Cin'aed crawled in to the wagon, dumping out cargo and then looking it over before pulling out her blankets and making a crude bed to lie down on.
Da'Rune glares at her, "We got more work to do before Anyone gets to sleep."
Cin'aed yawns, "I been down there a long while. I have not slept since I got there and now I am just exhausted, also you can't order me around. I don't work for you."
Hel looks in the wagon to then at the horses tied to it and nods, "Lay off Da'Rune. She did the most work to get us out of there. If not for her we would still be in that thrice cursed place, probably as more bodies rotting in those holes."
Da'Rune, "But we got to go through these crates, they are hard to open and with her power she can do it easily."
Cin'aed, "As it stands I am at my limit. Freezing that last guy over extended my power. Right now I would have trouble moving a paper let alone opening a box."
Melisanda nods, "You over did on your magic before Da'Rune, you know how it goes. She needs rest, we all do really. I have no more prayers left and not enough focus as it is. But as you got so much energy how about you take first watch with Aysun."
Aysun had already found a way to the roof of the entrance area and had her back to a tree and was watching the area.
Hel turns to Cin'aed, "Aysun always takes first watch as it takes her a while to wind down." She moves closer to the wagon, nothing from Cin'aed. Hel leans in and then hears very soft snoring. Cin'aed was already fast asleep wrapped in a blanket and her found cloak. Her bags set up as pillows, her arms through their handles.
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CHRONICLES of a PC Gamer Stuck Inside an RPG Book One: Duelist
[2/28/19 update: The CHRONICLES series has been removed from Kindle Unlimited. This means the beta version of this series is now available on RR. Enjoy!] Meet Lawrence Eugene Mulligan, a fantasy writer by day and avid PC gamer by night. One day, he woke up and found himself in another world, inside an RPG (role playing game). This litRPG genre web serial chronicles Larry's trials in trying to survive and find a way home. Book One: Duelist covers the first seven days of Larry's adventures inside Britannia. It is a slice-of-life magical realism story with LitRPG elements. This serial is written by Antony W.F. Chow, and the work has been officially published on Amazon: https://www.royalroad.com/amazon/B075SRPWZT The cover was created by Sid Ceaser using Dreamstime.com stock photo ID #30738296, Old Medieval Street; and the original image was copyrighted by Unholyvault. The image was used based on Dreamstime.com's Royalty Free license. All rights reserved.
8 120It That Laments
The time waits for no man, so is the case for Selv, who had lost everything. In the stagnant world where everything is standing still, a change occurred. Everything begins when she haunted him. She, who has that face, came to him together with the memories he locked away. The train to the past blew its horn while everything is moving toward the inevitable end. What will he, who was at the center of everything, do when it pushed him from the back line to the center again?
8 155Innocence: Exiled Prince
Victor Lawson; a son of a King. Quite a scandalous King, but over the years, he had proved his own worth to the people that he ruled not with force but with words. Yet, this story isn’t about The King. It’s about his son; a Prince in a frozen land, a noble-born with a pedigree as clear as the driven snow. The boy had everything; wealth, title, inheritance to the whole kingdom. Everything that could make his life of lavish luxury and comfort. Or at least it was promised to him, a promise he believed because he is the only heir to his father’s crown. Such abundance came with its own problems and restrictions. To him at least, it made daily life drowned out by the mundane and the inane obedience of others. Yet a few people make to his life, temporarily filling that void. Hope was something he had; If only he could break this mundane loop he called life. A harmless wish of youth, he believed at first. Or so he wanted to believe until he met a...
8 191Shadows and Bones
Bordering on the 300th year after the Battle of the Risen, weird things start happening around the Academy and the rest of Briwor. It started with a new girl, ended with an undead dragon seeking destruction. Follow a group of students as they navigate a world they thought they knew turn back into ash. Unknowingly befriending and helping the enemy, they watch the kingdom of Briwor decay and die. Title change from 'Of Shadows and Bones' because I don't like the "of" !!NAMES, PLACES, CHARACTERS AND EVENTS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE I WHILE WRITE THE FIRST DRAFT. IT'S PUBLISHED HERE DURING THE FIRST DRAFT PHASE FOR THE SOLE REASON OF GAINING FEEDBACK AND ALLOWING YOU TO FOLLOW ME ON THE JOURNEY FROM THE VERY BEGINNING TO THE VERY END!!
8 232The Rebel (Thorin x OC)
Bellethiel is a she-elf who has lived a long life. Along with this life has come many trials and suffering. She has a dark and mysterious past that is some how linked to the greatest Kingdom of Middle-earth: Erebor. But what would happen when a certain grey wizard stops her in her travels and invites her on a journey she will never forget. How will the she-elf and dwarf king react to one another once they meet? Will they hate each other because of racial differences or will there be hope in a dark place for the she-elf and dwarf king?HIGHEST RANKING:#3 in Hobbit (February 10, 2021)#1 in Hobbit 😱 (February 17, 2021)#1 in oakenshield (April 5, 2021)#1 in thorinoakenshield (June 21, 2021)
8 207Neos Online (Hiatus)
Every person has a tale. A story with which a person defines the world around them. Yet the question remains, is it the person who defines the world, or the tale itself? In the case of Elijiah Pierce, it is a question that many don’t really understand the answer to. His story was thought to have ended with the ending of the Third World War. A retired super-soldier who wished to live in peace is brought back into the worlds tale as his memories threaten to overwhelm him. With psionic individuals on the rise throughout humanity, the United Worlds Council asked for a company, any company, to help deal with them. With the turning of 2234, Corellec Inc introduces a new sort of entertainment for the billions within the Sol system. A game built upon DDVR, or Deep Dive Virtual Reality. A realm built within the net allowing the players to have their playground. This would, in essence, help solve the problem. With his friends and family wishing him to try something to deal with his problems, he finds himself venturing into the virtual realm of Neos Online. The very game that had been in the process of gathering players for its Beta. It would come to pass that not only would this game change him, but it would also be changed by him. For both machine and man harbor secrets that could change the course of human history, and not every secret should be brought to light. --------------------------- I'm shite at writing synopses, so just give it a try and see if you like it. I do not claim ownership of the cover art, it is just a stand in until I can commission a piece.
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