The Land: Catacombs (Chaos Seeds Book 4) Read online

  You have been offered a Quest: Hunt the Hunters I! The lands around your village are becoming more dangerous. Your captain wants to proactively deal with these threats. Will you seek out and vanquish five solitary monsters or groups of dangerous creatures? Yes or No? Reward: Increased safety of your people. Village-wide Loyalty will increase by +10.

  “I like it,” Richter said with a smile. He selected “Yes.” He had been doing a lot of running away lately. First from the rock giant and later from a small army of kobolds. It would be good to do some hunting of his own. “I still want everyone to stay within the mists, though,” he said warningly.

  “Absolutely, my lord. I have spoken sternly to the group that you saved. Also, Barden’s death has hit a lot of the militia hard. He was well liked. No one plans on leaving the mists anytime soon. Besides, there is more than enough danger to be found within the bounds of the enchantment.”

  “Good,” Richter said, mollified. “Who did you plan to bring?”

  Terrod began ticking off fingers. “Myself, Sergeant Caulder, and your lordship. I was thinking of bringing two of the casters to finish the group of five. I hadn’t chosen which ones yet.”

  “Hold off on one of the casters. I have a better idea. Send one of your guards to fetch Beyan the Alchemist. Bring him forcefully if you have to, but not too forcefully. Find him some light armor and a crossbow. He will be our fifth.”

  “As you say, my lord,” Terrod said hesitantly. “May I ask why, however?”

  Richter nodded. “We need to level him up. If he can become a Professed Alchemist, that will be good for the village. Also, I just want to see what the man is made of. Something doesn’t exactly add up about him.” His tone became speculative as he considered the enigma of the abrasive gnome and his strangely large mana pool.

  Terrod nodded and said that it would be done. He told Richter that he would be waiting at the city gates in two hours’ time. Caulder had already left them to deal with the woman who’d been beating her husband. The poor fellow was already unconscious, but she was still kicking him. Caulder dragged her away. Richter ordered Futen to tell him when an hour and a half had passed, then he went on to his next stop. Alma remained sleeping on his shoulders. Richter wanted to know more about the monsters that had been seen near the village. He figured that talking to his hunters would be the best place to start.

  He walked through the center of the town, pleased by the savory smells. The feast should be amazing. Richter couldn’t wait to try the special snack he had asked for. He grinned. Even Alma woke up at the appetizing smells, but she apparently decided that sleep was more important. The dragonling just tightened her tail around his arm and snuggled down a bit more into the soft folds of his cloak.

  Richter crossed the village, aiming for the section of the wall where the hunters cleaned their kills. It was far off to the east side because of the inevitable smells. Before he got there, though, he saw a knot of his villagers. He also heard cursing.

  “The damn things keep getting inside.”

  Richter heard another round of diffuse muttering before he made it to the group of people. “What’s going on here?” he asked.

  The villagers parted seeing that their lord was present. Once he was at the center of the group, a dwarf spoke up. “Yer lordship! We have a problem.”

  The dwarf was clearly agitated, and Richter started to get concerned. “What is it?”

  “Rats!” the dwarf said. He shoved his hand towards Richter’s face, holding a very large and very dead rodent in his fingers. Its teeth were huge, and its front paws were overly pronounced.

  “Gah!” Richter said. “Get that out of my face. What is it?”

  “It be a damn burrower rat. Sorry, milord, but this thing should na be here. Ye usually only see them deep underground, but for some reason they are up here on the surface.”

  “Okay, so we have a pest problem. Let’s just build a granary or some place with rock walls. It will take a bit, but I’ll talk to Roswan.”

  “These are burrower rats, Lord Richter. They can eat through solid stone, and the damn things can smell food through ten feet of solid rock. We need a specialized Repel Vermin charm that we can place near the food.”

  Abrams and Whedon! If it wasn’t one thing, it was another. “Well, how do we get one of those?” Richter asked, somewhat exasperated.

  The dwarf looked irritated as well. “That be the problem, yer lordship. Back in Yves, I know where ye could buy this type of item. If I was back home in the mountains, I could go to one of the crafters there. I asked around to most of the crafters in the village, though, and no one here knows how to do it. A few know how to make a basic Repel Vermin charm, but no one has any experience with these damn things,” he said, shaking the rat again. “I don’t think it’s all that complicated, but you still need to know the knack.”

  “So I have to send a trade delegation back to Yves and just hope that we can find one? How much food are these things eating?” Richter asked.

  “They have already spoiled two crates of food, which is about 5% of our stores. We are killing them when we see them, but more keep coming. At this rate, we are going to lose another crate every two to three days, and I expect it to get worse. Burrower rats always attract more of their own kind. They are na a danger to us directly, outside of maybe getting bitten if you grab one.”

  Okay, this could be a real problem, Richter realized. If he ignored this, in a few months’ time his people could be starving. He could send a delegation back to Yves, but best case scenario was they could find what they needed in Leaf’s Crossing. That still meant a little over a week before they could get back. If they had to go all the way to the capital, it would take several weeks, which meant even more of their food would be gone. That wasn’t even counting the expense of sending a ship just to get the item. He doubted there would be time to conduct any proper trading if the crew was rushing back to deliver this one item.

  “Are you sure there is no one in the village that can figure it out?” Richter asked.

  The dwarf looked thoughtful. “Well, those arcane gnomes are pretty good at coming up with stuff. If you bring them a burrower rat, maybe they could figure something out.”

  You have been offered a Quest: Splat the Rat! A type of rare vermin is eating your food stores. They are not susceptible to standard Repel Vermin charms. Speak to one of the arcane gnomes to see if they can help with this problem. Yes or No? Reward: Solving the problem of the rats and increased Loyalty. Penalty for failure: Ongoing loss of your people’s food.

  Another quest from one of his villagers? What was going on here? There had never really been any rhyme or reason to when he had gotten quests in the past, but this seemed a bit strange. Richter accepted the quest anyway. There didn’t really seem to be another option. He had to address this issue.

  “I’ll take care of it,” he said. He told Futen to mention the problem to Randolphus. Then he realized that the chamberlain might be able to help with all of the quests, so he told the remnant to pass along any others he might get. “Where can I find them?”

  “Them flighty bastards roam all over the damn place. They are always examining this or that. They almost never miss a meal, though, so ye can probably find them at the feast tonight.”

  Richter thanked him and took the body of the dead burrower rat and put it in his Bag of Holding. The anti-entropic effects of the Bag should keep it from degrading for at least a day or two. He was turning away when the dwarf added one last thing.

  “Even if you can find an item that repels the burrower rats, we still don’t have enough space to store everything efficiently. Many of the storage sheds are packed full, and it’s causing some of the food to spoil early. We need a storage shed.”

  You have been offered a Quest: Waste Not Want Not. Your people need a central location with more space allocated for storage. Your goods are decaying. If you wish to reduce this, you must build a storage shed. Will you? Yes or No? Reward: Societal Bonus of St
orage Shed. Reward: 5% Increased productivity from having goods in a central location.

  Something weird was definitely afoot. Richter told the dwarf that he would get on it and accepted the quest. Before he could continue on his way, yet another notification appeared.

  Know This! You have unlocked a new field of study: Enchantments.

  Richter had no idea exactly how this whole scientific research thing was going to work, but he knew that he would have to figure it out. According to his village interface, he needed to build a scholar’s hut before any research could take place. Just item #394 on his to-do list. He dismissed the prompt and resumed walking. Thankfully, he was able to make it over to his hunters without any more demanding villagers giving him quests. The hunters greeted him as he walked up. The smell of blood was in the air as two of the hunters were skinning a large boar. One of them laughed and cut free a bloody piece of haunch.

  “So you brought back our little hunter, my lord? She already ate her weight in deer not three hours ago.” The hunter tossed the piece of raw meat onto a nearby rock. Alma had picked her head up in response to the smells in the air. With a raucous cry, she launched herself at the rock. She took the hunter’s offering with an air of extreme satisfaction.

  *So you think you’re a little princess, huh?*

  *No, Master.* She paused for a moment. *I am a queen!*

  Richter laughed and then raised his voice to address all of the hunters present. “I have heard that the lands around the village are getting more dangerous. What can you tell me about it?”

  “You have the right of it, my lord,” one hunter said grimly. “There have indeed been more dangerous animal sightings. I myself have seen some cave bears standing eight feet at the shoulder, and that forest boar they are skinning over there was the smallest one in the sounder. Some of the other hunters have seen giant scorpions, screech wurms, pucker bats, dire spiders, and other man-eaters. We have also seen some monsters; green ooze was seen south of the village, one of the hunters said he saw a river skath to the east, and one of the other hunters reported hearing a harpy screech echoing out of the mountains to the north. He didn’t actually see one of the foul creatures, though, thank the Banished.”

  Richter nodded. He had known that his lands were getting more dangerous, but he had no idea that it was this bad. Even if Terrod hadn’t asked him to go hunting later, he most likely would have organized a party of his own anyway. His job was to protect his people, and despite the fact that he was new to The Land, he was probably one of the strongest fighters in the village… now that Yoshi wasn’t here.

  “Is there anything else you can tell me?” he asked the hunter.

  The man looked uncomfortable. He mulled over something internally for several long moments, but ultimately came to a decision. “I can tell you that we are starting to feel unsafe, my lord. Hunters always accept that there is a risk of running into something dangerous out in the wild, but lately these monsters are more than we are equipped to handle. Is there anything that you can do to help?”

  You have been offered a Quest: Hunters or Hunted I? Your hunters consistently go beyond the safety of the village walls. Because of your actions in unlocking the second Power of the Mist Village, they are facing more powerful enemies. They are asking for your help. The form of that help will be left entirely up to you. Will you help? Yes or No? Reward: variable. Penalty: Ignoring or failing this quest will cause a drop in the Morale and Loyalty of your hunters.

  Richter accepted the quest and told the hunters he would help. They all looked relieved. The hunter who had spoken bobbed his head repeatedly while thanking Richter over and over. That, as much as anything else, convinced Richter that his lands had become unsafe. After a moment’s consideration, he had all of the hunters stop what they were doing. He told them that until further notice, they were not to go beyond the walls of the village. A few immediately protested, but he assured them that this new policy would be short lived. He also let them know that the break in their routine would be so that they could be better equipped. That quieted any complainers.

  He thanked his hunters for their hard work, and then started walking to the Forge. It was time to see what Krom had been up to in the Forge of Heavens. As he walked, Richter turned to the floating grey orb by his side. “Futen. I need you to find Sion. When you do, bring him to meet me.”

  “As you command, my lord,” was Futen’s monotone reply. The remnant sped off in front of Richter, searching for the sprite.

  Richter kept walking, somewhat lost in thought. Why was he getting all of these quests? It was possible that something had happened that he didn’t know about and the village was responding somehow. He also supposed that the influx of new villagers had triggered something. Richter had a sinking feeling that he knew why all of these quests were coming one after another, though. It was because he had been an absentee landlord.

  After the bugbear attack, he had immediately left to unlock his Life Power. He had been gone for weeks. After that, he had been back for less than a day before that bitch Assassin had killed him. His resurrection had taken at least a day and then he had rushed off again. Admittedly, he had needed to save Terrod, but if he was being honest, vengeance had spurred him forward as much as justice. Even though he had succeeded in rescuing his Companion, he had been gone for more than a week again. Put simply, he hadn’t spent any meaningful time in his own village for over a month. Maybe it wasn’t that he was suddenly earning a bunch of quests. Maybe it was just that he was finally around and the quests had been waiting on him.

  Richter was brought from his internal thoughts by the sound of metal clanging on metal. He had arrived before the Forge of Heavens. The black roof showed the celestial bodies above despite the sun still being rather high in the sky. The many crystal columns gleamed dully in the sunlight. Though the marbled quartz that comprised them was mostly opaque, each column glowed, adding some faint illumination to the inside of the forge. Not that this was needed of course, with the bright glowing fires within.

  Some dwarves worked the bellows, while others crushed raw ore to feed the smelter. One was working on a half-finished piece of chainmail armor, using a small set of pliers to interlink the rings. Richter got a mild surprise when he saw humans in the Forge. Near the back, sitting on simple wooden stools, were a human man and woman, close enough in appearance that they had to be brother and sister. Both were brunette and heavily muscled, and they talked quietly while sewing together pieces of leather. What really drew Richter’s gaze, however, were the dwarves working on the anvils.

  Two dwarves swung hammers on the smaller forges. Both seemed to be working on axes. On the central forge, however, was the village’s Smith. Krom worked on his project with single-minded focus. Clang-cling-cling, Clang-cling-cling. Each heavy blow that the dwarf rained down on the hot metal he was forging was followed by two light taps, one on the hot metal and another on the Forge. Then the cycle would start again.

  Richter just stood back and watched. Five minutes passed by and then ten, but still Krom kept up the same rhythm. Richter marveled at the dwarf’s strength and endurance. Finally, the metal lost its heat, and the metal darkened to a dusky grey color. Krom placed it back in the hearth to heat it again.

  Richter walked up to his Smith. “Krom.”

  The dwarf looked over with a smile on his bearded face. “Greetings, yer lordship. Did ye have a nice little nap?”

  Richter laughed at the audacious dwarf. “What’s that you’re making there? Somehow that dark grey metal makes me think that it’s not my elementum short sword.”

  “Alas, no, milord. This be a sword for the new captain. I be using one of the cobalt ingots ye brought back. It looks to be coming out well so far.”

  “Oh,” Richter said. He tried to keep any disappointment out of his voice, but some bled through. “If you can get to my sword soon, it would be appreciated. I agree that Terrod should have a good weapon, though.”

  Krom scratched his beard and loo
ked up speculatively. “Welllll, I could start on a sword for ye or ye could just use the one I have already made.”

  Richter tried to keep a smile off his face, but failed miserably again.

  Krom laughed and waved for his lord to follow him. He called out to one of the other dwarves to tend the half-finished blade he was heating. Richter followed his Smith over to a rack of finished weapons. Spears, swords, maces, and daggers hung on the long rack made of quartz.

  “Is it just me, or are there more stands here than before?” Richter asked.

  “Yer not crazy, yer lordship. The Forge just seems to know what we need. When we ran out of space, the racks just appeared.”

  Richter looked around at the Forge again. The stars shined against the black roof, and the sun could be seen near the western edge, only a few hours from setting. This thing truly was a Legendary Object. He turned his attention back to the weapons, examining each in turn. Richter was pleased, but not surprised, that each item he examined was above average quality or better. He even noticed a few superb and exquisite quality weapons. He stopped looking over them when Krom took down a short sword and handed it to him.

  The sheath was made of soft-looking grey leather. The cross guard was a thick bar that curved up towards the blade slightly at either end. The hilt was wrapped in the same leather, and the pommel was a weighted ball of clear green metal. Richter’s smile widened even further.

  “Now I don’t want ye trying to give me a kiss when ye see the blade, yer lordship!”

  Richter laughed and said he would try to restrain himself. He unsheathed the weapon and examined it.

  You have been given: Elementum Short Sword of Freezing. Damage: 33-37. Durability 158/158. Item class: Scarce. Quality: Exquisite. Weight 2.3 kg. Traits: +6-7 points of water damage per attack. 4% chance to cause Freeze. +10% damage vs. spell barriers. Charges: 220/220. Bonus Trait: +10% damage against Earth and Dark creatures.