Aliandra

  Ali and Malika entered Lydia’s boutique clothing store to the sound of the soft musical chimes, but to her surprise, it was not Lydia Ali found behind the ter. Instead, she found herself staring at a tall, dark-haired young man dressed in a bck suit that was clearly Lydia’s work.

  Human

  An uncssed human? A little surprised, she found herself not quite sure what to do.

  “Good m. Wele to Lydia’s Allure,” he greeted them in a voice that seemed cultured and just as elegant as his suit, but a little hesitant, like he was unsure of himself.

  “Hi, is Lydia in?” Ali asked, gng back at Malika for a moment, before returning to study the new person.

  “She’s in the back w on an order and asked me to take care of anyone who came in. Is there anything I help you with?”

  “Could you get her for us?” she asked, and the young maed with obvious disfort and uainty.

  “I’m not supposed to…” he began, but Lydia emerged from the ba and interrupted him.

  “It’s ok, Elton,” she said, patting him on the shoulder. “Aliandra and Malika are our most important ers.”

  “Oh, ok,” he said, seeming relieved that he hadn’t blown it somehow.

  “Wele back,” Lydia said, turning to her and Malika. “This is Elton Moss, he’s my nerentice – he just started yesterday, so he’s getting to meet all the regurs. With all the work you guys have been giving me, and the popurity the store has been gaining tely, I simply couldn’t work in peaymore. He wants to be a tailor when he unlocks his css, so I offered to take him on as an apprentice.”

  “Good to meet you,” Ali said and then turo Lydia. “How are the studies going?”

  Tailor – Human – level 62

  Lydia had not leveled up sihe st time she had been iore, 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 learhe ent! That book is incredible, there are over two huailor entments, many of which I’ve never seen before.” Lydia beamed happily. “I found a souronstrous silk, which might work for your new piece, and I’m just looking for the remaining pos. I think I heard a rumor that someone had found an essence of fire, but I’m not sure if that’s true or if I get one.”

  Tired, but excited, Ali noted. It was a marked difference from the cloud of despondend defeat she had been struggling with the st time they had talked. That’s the power of the right book.

  “About that, I think we help with the essences,” Ali said as, at the same time, Malika produced two from her ste.

  “Oh!” Lydia excimed. “Elton, grab that ste box uhe ter quickly. The purple one.” When he produced the correct box, she pulsed a little mana through it and the two essences vanished into its ste entment before they could burn anything. “That’s going to be very helpful, thank you! What I pay –”

  “There’s this too,” Malika cut in with a smile, pulling out a tangled clump of Fme Web. “I’m not sure if this will be useful but Appraise tells me this should be a fairly valuable crafting material, so we thought we’d check with you. It es 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 fme, and Malika’s healing magic pulsed every now and then while the tailor shop filled with the unmistakable smell of burnt skin.

  “Wow, that’s really something!” 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 mess without the fme b her in the slightest.

  “Would you hahe spool please, Elton?” Lydia said. “No, not that one, I he one for dangerous threads. The be oop 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 fasating use of magic that she had never seen before, and Ali studied the formations carefully. Clearly, it was some intrinsi-affinity tail skill that drew from her mana to untangle and mahe tricky webbing. It looked like aremely useful skill for a tailor.

  “ you please ru door a Hilda for me, 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 some cloth.”

  “So the web is good?” Ali asked. She had learhe imprint for it, hopeful that it would turn out to be something nice, but the way Lydia was reag, 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 some 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 payment for the sets of clothing I need?” Ali asked.

  “That’s perfect,” Lydia answered. “I know you ’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 something 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 something to help her fire resistances.

  “A lot of people are being affected by us needing fire resistances, aren’t they?” It was something that Ali just suddenly ected in her mind. Lydia progressed because they needed an entment and she had transted a book. Then Lydia involved a new person with weaving skills and got a nereo hahe 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 ering the market, many of the crafters are going to make a lot ress, particurly 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. Something rather different than using the shrine and deg her css to the world, ohat seemed far less under her trol. Every single request seemed to have a broad web of impa the crafters and artisans of the town, many of the iions probably beyond her ability to observe, but she had to believe that growing higher-level and more capable crafters must be a positive influen everyone’s lives. ossible downside could there be if an unknown dwarven weaver dy gained a few levels because of her request to have something made from the fme webbing?

  “That’s a good thing, right?”

  “Oh yes, if we somehow tribute to crag the Hawkhurst stranglehold on Myrin’s Keep, it could bee a much more prosperous aer pce for everyone. We do o be careful, though.”

  Ali nodded. Jax’s rea would be all too predictable.

  ***

  Ali found herself with a bit of spare time on her hands before they were scheduled to hit the Emberfe Mines again, so she made her way down into the sewers, searg out the best spot for her newly acquired Tunnel Weavers.

  Seth’s idea had been rather pelling, and she thought of people like Sabri and Brena trying to afford equipment and potions without much opportunity told. 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 brang tunnel se that had several chambers and es and was currently only sparsely poputed. She unsummoned some of the monsters iunnels, leaving just the toxic slimes, 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 trag and scouting skills, or even treasure senses, and this might give them something to hunt.

  It didn’t take long, her Grimoire’s summoning being substantially from the spell haste provided by her slowly growing Are Recall, and soon enough, her chosen area was crawling with Tunnel Weavers, ranging from level twh 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 ies for the spiders to hide in, and creating some boulders on the ground for cover.

  While she worked, she reflected oh and his request. She could sense him somehow through the magic of the tithe entment that bound them together. It was nothing like an actual perception skill, but she could tell he was ected. She wondered how she appeared to someone like him – a reviled css, uo be accepted in most parts of the civilized world. How would someone like him find a good mentor, other than walking the path of evil and choosing a neancer? It just so happehat his traits overpped substantially with a duhat he happeo trust – what were the ces of that?

  I just hope I find one for myself, she thought, but the problem seemed insurmountable. Her css was arguably even more terrifying than his, and there were no ve people around to grant her a mentorship. I’m just going to have to do it the hard way, she thought, trying to sole herself. The problem was that mentorship 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 ossible somehow. 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 tal poison theme for this corridor, she pnted several dozen Forest Amanita mushrooms in various ers and cracks and marked them for respawn too. The mushrooms, she had learned, could produce a rather potent poison for their level, ohat her rogues liked a lot, and she was certain would be highly sought after by some of the novice guild members.

  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 were done shopping.

  Malika

  For all her bluster and argumentativeness, Giddy Clicksprocket was a fantastic jeweler. Weldin had vouched for her, and Malika decided she o give him a big thank-you. In her hand, she held tins – oh a topaz and oh a ruby, just as the Gnomish jeweler had suggested. Both were crafted from ptinum, making the mundane pos substantially more expensive. But the Gnome had insisted that something with fire resistan it should not melt 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 choiaterials desigo be robust to extreme heat, the pact design makiain they would be effective in bat, 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 FireRequirements: Wisdom 140Quality: MagicValue: 14 goldCreated by Giddy Clicksprocket.Head – Jewelry

  Somehow Giddy had mao squeeze a resistantment onto a hairpin. While most people would probably find the whopping twenty pert increase to be the definiure of the piece, she had zero resistance, and the modest hundred and sixty-eight ft resistance would make all the differen the world to her. It would only wainst fire, unlike a normal piece of armor, but down in the Emberfe Mines, fire was all she needed.

  She pinned her hair up with the clip, happy to find the quality of the craftsmanship exteo how well it served its primary fun too. With the hairpin, she had just under fifteen pert damage redu against any mo her current level. It didn’t sound like much, but the dungeon put out so much tinual fire damage that even this small redu 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 ooo,” Malika said, holding out the sed hairpin and enjoying the instant delight on her friend’s face.

  “I love it! Thank you!” Ali excimed, followed immediately by, “Oh, heook the pin and examihe entments. “This is incredible. ould you look at that regeion stat?”

  “It’s something, right?”

  Topaz Hairpin – level 40+20% to resistance against Fire+63% Mana RegeionRequirements: Wisdom 140Quality: MagicValue: 14 goldCreated by Giddy Clicksprocket.Head – Jewelry

  “And it’s so pretty, a girl really ’t battle elementals lookihan her best! Who is Giddy Clicksprocket?”

  “A jeweler that Weldin reended. She has a bit of a temper, but her work is amazing.”

  “Heya,” Mato said as he and finally arrived from their excursion in town.

  “How did it go?” Malika asked. They had dohe run-arouween Eliyen and Morwyrying taions for their excursion.

  “Perfect, look at these!”

  Elixir of Fire Resistance – level 41e: +20% to resistance against fire damage. Duration: 1 hourValue: 2 goldCreated by Morwynne Fizzlebang – “A little less burn.”Potion

  “That’s really good,” Malika said. And it really was – for someone 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 siion. But for her, awenty pert wouldn’t be a very rge number. “It’s probably too expeo waste ohough.”

  “I got something 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 40e: Absorb up to 576 Fire damage. Duration: 3 minutesValue: 1 gold, 20 silverCreated by Eliyen Mistwood.Potion

  “Yep, Eliyen is a wizard,” said. “When I expined your situation, she immediately whipped these up.”

  The potions were outstanding. “Just like a health potion,” Malika said, examining it closer.

  “Better,” observed. “You drink it before you go into the fight, and it blunts the first k 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 Fme?” Malika asked.

  “Yes,” said, wing visibly.

  “One gold, twenty silver per shot though,” Malika grimaced. “I feel like I’m going to be drinking all our hard-earned essences.”

  “Wele to the club,” said.

  “Seems worth it,” Mato said. “Besides, we paid with the bucket of mana-purified water hauled up with us, and I just gave her double the number of fire flowers she needed, so she make other stuff. We didn’t pay any gold for this.”

  “Still feels a little wrong,” Malika said, but she k would make a big difference down there. It helped that Mato firmed her potions took fire flowers instead of essences – something Ali could grow.

  Jax is going to peck out his own liver at this rate…

  stalked back to the group, his skin beginning to burn as the restoration spells wore off.

  “The double pull is ,” he said. He had studied it for quite some time, but there did not seem to be any way to split them, and the tunnel was rather narrow.

  The Emberfe Mines had respawned most of the monsters sihey had cleared it the first time, but they were progressing substantially faster this time. Knowing where everything was helped, but the extra fire resistance from the elixirs was the biggest difference. Less downtime meant they were fighting more aing less, and they were already ing up ounnels full of fire spiders.

  “I think we should all stand ierse,” said. It was a bit risky, but he had an idea of how to do it. “Mato, you charge the first oake it into the side tunnel, and Malika I’ll pull the sed one dowo you and you tank it here.”

  “Pull it far enough so there’s no overpped aura ierse, right?” Malika asked.

  “Yup, that’s my thought,” he answered. Malika and Mato would be down separate passages, uo see each other, but they didn’t o, from the interse, Ali should be able to have her Kobolds heal everyohe only problem would be the beginning of the fight where the Shards of Fme were being dragged over everyone.

  “Ok, sounds good,” Mato said, transf into his Bear Form.

  “Ali, maybe block off a er for yourself and the healers, there’s going to be a storm of firebolts as they e through.”

  “Right,” Ali said, and a golden wall appeared immediately.

  “I got the o the back. Go,” he said, and Mato charged down the dark rocky tunnel, smag into the Shard of Fme.

  released his arrow and struck the far Shard of Fme squarely in the ter of its core, making it hiss angrily as it tore past Mato toward the group. Ali and most of her minions sprinted off dowuoward the interse while hiding behind the barrier she took with her. Many of them immediately ignited in the fire aura of the oning Shard of Fme before the burning was extinguished by healing magic.

  Looks good, thought, seeing Mato disappear down the side passage and Malika’s punches nding on the elemental that was burning him just by its presence. But Malika did her job well, and the elemental never even got a ce to take a shot at him before it turo her in rage.

  He left her to it, sprinting dowuo get out of the aura of fme. From the interse, he found he could clearly see both elementals, one down each tunnel, and with a little work, he positioned his bow horizontally, splitting his arrows to fire almost y degrees apart, one down each tuo strike each elemental. While Multishot split the base damage between each of the arrows fired, his light-damage entment 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 ents.

  Multishot had been his reward for training with Nendir at Ciradyl the first time, and he had tried for another advahe st time he had gone, but no matter what they did, he could not unloything. Both Nendir and Lyeneru had reended fog on some other form of area damage, particurly given how he wao develop his css, and so they had been fog on his arrow ents this time.

  It felt so close, he thought, remembering his st training session before he returned. He had eveended his stay just a little, certain he was about to unloething, but it hadn’t been enough.

  The ay he had over what had to be the most dangerous pull in the dungeon so far slowly faded as the fight progressed. No ued adds sprang out of the va to join in, and the monsters were separated enough that nobody except the melee was getting the extra burn damage from the auras. He grinned as Malika’s elemental colpsed and he heard the chime sounding in the background.

  Malika and all the melee minions had to run the long way around, but that wasn’t much of a problem, given how stable Mato seemed to be now. Knowing what was ing up , 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 siarget, but he was still happy that his Multishot geed its own arrows – it was so much less work and moo avoid ammunition.

  A few mier, the sed Shard perished with a muffled implosion.

  Yroup has defeated Shard of Fme – Elemental – level 40 x2.

  And then his chime sounded a sed time. Oh?

  Arrows of Brilliance has reached level 31.

  Requirements met for skill adva.

  Mentor: Lyeneru Silverleaf.Arrows of Brilliance has surpassed level 30.Received master-level archery instru and practice.Dexterity has surpassed 250.Intelligence has surpassed 190.

  Arrows of Brilliance has gained a new enha. Blinding FshMana: Cause aremely bright fsh when your arrow hits, blinding nearby targets. Range: 20 feet.Light, Area, Ranged, Intelligence

  Explosive ShotMana: Your arrows explode on impact, dealing light damage to all targets in the immediate viity. Range: 10 feet.Light, Area, Ranged, Intelligence

  Armor PiergStamina: Your arrows will pierce armn a pertage of the target’s armor valuePhysical, Ranged, Dexterity

  Mote of LightMana: Attach a Mote of Light to your arrow, fixing it at the destinationLight, Ranged, IntelligenceChoose one enha.

  Odd that it triggered now, but it only required level thirty, he thought, eyeing the requirements. The only expnation he could think of was that he had needed some time to internalize his training. Quickly, he sed through the offered options.

  There it is! Without hesitation, he selected Explosive Shot. Acc to Nendir, it would work just like his light-damage entment – 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 pig Armor Pierg, he thought wryly. He had wao get it the st three times his skill advanced, and each time there was something more important.

  His skill adva erfectly timed, too. He tested it immediately on the pull. He ented an Eimuuran Steel arrow with both Enhanced Range and Explosive Shot, and when hit struck, it detonated with a loud bang and a blinding fsh.

  “Oh, a new adva?” Ali excimed.

  “Yes, Explosive Shot,” said. “I’m excited to try it on the spiders.”

  “Looks like the Sparkling Ooze light bombs,” Ali noted as they whittled the elemental down.

  led the group through the tunnels drawing the elementals from the side passages and the Lava Lurkers from the glowing pools and rivers o a time before finally reag the spider tunnel.

  “Spiders,” he said, eyeing the fming web draped from the ceiling and walls.

  “Give me a few minutes, I want to summon some Sparkling Oozes,” Ali answered.

  “Good idea.” The swarm of spiders had been a real challehe first time 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 time 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 something was watg him, able to somehow see through his stealth.

  Not willing to risk it, backed out slowly and silently and rejoihe group.

  “I think there’s something big lurking back there, but I ’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 dungeo seem to bother with low-level monsters? I mean, the Fme Skitterers are the only thing below thirty-five, and they’re a swarm mob.”

  “Seems abht for most dungeons,” answered. Everything he had read seemed to follow simir 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 ’t seem to afford even the low-level monsters I have,” Ali grumbled, her voice leaking frustration.

  Malika gnced up and said, “Perhaps their css offers them some substantial dist that you haven’t fou?”

  sidered the question for a moment, but then it came 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 some ridiana 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 apply the boss transformation to me, but I get the impression that it’s perma, and there’s no way I’m doing that. Domain Withdrawal is enough of a limit for me, I don’t want to be fio a cave.”

  “That’s probably smart,” Malika said. “You ’t unsummon yourself if you make a mistake.”

  “Ok, well, I’m ready,” Ali said, still frowning with evident frustration. “What’s the pn? Charge in and blow everything up?”

  “That’s abht, maybe send your oozes in first and flush them out, and I’ll shoot from here, and try not to hit your monsters,” said. Ali’s face was lit up brilliantly by the presence of the six Sparkling Oozes that surrounded her, taking the pce of several other minions that she had unsummoo make enough mana to support them.

  “Oh, don’t worry about the Sparkling Oozes, they’re immuo light magic,” Ali chuckled. “Go crazy.”

  “Oh perfect.” resummoned his motes ahem floating out into the tuo make sure nothing was hiding ih. The oozes slithered and crawled after them, more or less flowing up the craggy walls, ign the web as they went. In seds, the tunnel filled with a hissing sound, and blobs of fire began to shift and scurry around. Hundreds of eyes gleamed 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 giveensity of the csh, his enhanced vision still picked out the de groups of spiders clearly. Ali cmped her hands over her eyes, and as she did, triggered his Righteous Fury, filling the air with triple-shot volleys of magical arrows enhanced with additional light magic damage and his 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 thi movihe oozes plopping down from the ceiling to e the occasional twitg spider, and Mato tanking the few almost dead higher-level Fme Spihat had survived the gau.

  Well, that was fast, he thought, switg up his arrow entments to help finish off the remaining spiders. But he still felt the sense of something watg him with far too many eyes.

  Motes of Light has reached level 15.

  ----------

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