Catastrophe 1 (2/2)
“Each dungeon has a boss monster, or master, or whatever,” Garon said. “But the garrison put a barrier between the second peak and the third, so no one's ever seen it. That I know of, anyway. Rumor is they're hunting him, to shut down this dungeon for good. So whatever he is, he's either smart enough to set up obstacles to keep the guards off of him, or tough enough they can't kill him.”
“Of course, most of the guards are shit and weak, compared to the troops in the north,” Beryl said. “So maybe he's not that tough.”
They rested there for half an hour, regaining a bit of spent sanity and endurance. Celia touched up Threadbare's hit points by practicing tailoring on him, saving her mending for more dangerous situations. Finally Garon nodded. “Okay, this next part is easy, so long as we keep the torches lit.”
“Torches. Ya brought 'em, right?” Jarrik asked Garon.
“No, I only brought the sewing kit, and supplies,” Garon said. “That was all you guys asked for.”
“I thought you'd know ta get torches too!” Jarrik told him, crossing his arms.
“If you don't ask for things, how do I know to get them!” Garon threw his hands in the air.
“Settle down. Half o' you can see in tha dark, and I can feel nearby monsters so long as they're on stone floors,” Beryl said. “They'll be tougher, but we can handle it. Maybe. Just need to stick close and be cautious.”
“Um, is it just torches?” Celia asked.
“What?”
“I've got an enchanter level.”
“What's that do?”
“Among other things, I can make objects glow.”
“How bright?”
“I don't know, I learned it two days ago. Never tried.”
“Give it a whirl.”
“On what?”
“How about your bear?”
“Okay... Glow Gleam!”
And then Threadbare was shiny, shiny enough that they could tell it even in the bright light of midday.
“Wow. Yeah, that'll do,” Beryl nodded. “You were smart to bring her,” she told Jarrik. “Unlike some!” She glared at Garon, who rolled his eyes.
“Whatever. Let's get going.”
“Hang on, let's have some backup, here. Throw it on our shields too, okay?”
“Sure, it's cheap.” Celia cast it a few more times, smiling as it skilled up. “I think the effect is boosted by my intelligence.”
“So hiring a stupid enchanter is pretty dim, right?” Beryl asked, and Celia laughed way more than the poor joke deserved. But when you're tired from hard work, any laugh is a good one.
The next part was the night hunter's cave. It twisted and turned, with a lot of side passages where glittering eyes watched them go by. Most stayed out of the light, but a few cat-headed scorpions scuttled after them, biting with mandibles and toothy maws, and jabbing with stingers. Fortunately Threadbare and the dragon were immune to poison, though Threadbare's golem body got a workout and two levels out of the business. And Beryl knew something called “Curative” which detoxified the living members of the group.
Midway through the last fight, Threadbare got his dagger knocked out of his paws, and it skittered off into the darkness.
The brightly-glowing bear switched to his claws, and the party had a good view of him shredding the Minicore that had trapped him into shreds.
Your Claw Swipes skill is now level 7!
Your Claw Swipes skill is now level 8!
STR +1
Critical Hit!
LUCK +1
CON +1
Your Golem Body skill is now level 9!
Your Brawling Skill is now level 10!
Before the rest of the group could catch up, he punched his claws through the Minicore's face, and ripped it asunder.
You are now a level 5 Bear!
CON +3
STR +3
WIS +3
Armor +2
Endurance +2
Mental Fortitude +2
You have learned the Growl skill!
Your Growl skill is now level 1!
You have learned the Hibernate skill!
Your Hibernate skill is now level 1!
You have learned the Stubborn skill!
Your Stubborn skill is now level 1!
“Damnit, he stole our kill!” Beryl shouted.
“He earned that one, let him have it.” Garon bent down, searched in the darkness with his glowing shield. “Here it is. And whoa, this one was guarding a chest!” He handed the dagger back to Threadbare, as Celia inspected the little golem and applied a few mends. In the shadows beyond, the Minicore's brood shifted uneasily, but seemed unwilling to press the attack. It would have been a deadly encounter without the light, but with it, the outcome had been inevitable.
They stared at the chest. Celia reached out a hand, and Jarrik caught it. “Nope.”
“Oh. Aren't we going to open it?”
“We? Yes. You? No.” Beryl said. “Ready, Gar?”
“Ready. See, we don't have anyone here with any rogue jobs, so... I've got the most hit points. Should be fine though,” Garon mused. “Worst I've ever taken from one of these popping a trap in this area is sixty.”
“Sixty!” Celia shrieked. She grabbed up Threadbare and her dragon and hurried to the rear of the group, who backed up and left Garon by himself.
“Here goes!” Garon yanked open the lid...
...and nothing happened. “Whew. Hey!” He pulled out handfuls that shown silver in the light. “Come back, we've got loot!”
The loot, as it turned out, was a good-sized pile of silver and copper coins, and a staff that shone with blue light.
“Blue is sages and water elementalists, right?” Celia asked.
“Mostly. I guess Bak'shaz could try to use it, Tamer's a sage job...wait, you've got enchanter, don't you?”
“Yes! Does this mean...”
“You get to use it until we're out,” Beryl said. “But don't get too attached to it. We'll have to give it to the guards.”
“What? Why?”
“It's the King's decree. All magic items looted from dungeons must be turned in to representatives of the crown at the first opportunity.”
Celia picked it up. “Well, it'll be fun anyway... wait, I could disenchant it at the end of this run. Ooh, it shoots little static electricity balls!”
“No good, it's been tried. Disenchanting, I mean,” Beryl said. “The guards take the components and fine you half your coin.”
Celia sighed. “Well, it'll be fun while I've got it I guess.”
“That's the spirit.” Beryl punched her in the arm. In the same place as before. Celia was getting pretty sure it was bruised under her coat, but was too cold to haul it back and check. “Come on. Let's get to the Catwalk.”
The catwalk was an agility challenge. Celia scooped up Threadbare for this part, and left him sticking out of the top of her pack. It involved crossing terrifying rope and plank bridges up the side of the mountain, which actually wasn't as hard as it seemed, so long as you were careful and went slow. But this was broken up by divebombing attacks from winged cats, Flying Tomcats, as Bak'shaz helpfully identified them.
They weren't difficult, but they chose the most inopportune times to attack, and their caterwauls were hard on the group's sanity. But Jarrik reigned supreme here, using his archer skills to harass and drive them back, and finish off the ones that skirmished then tried to flee.
Threadbare, for his part, didn't care. He'd heard worse from Pulsivar.
Though interestingly, it did raise his willpower a few more points and his new Stubborn skill to level 4 by the time they were through it.
Finally they came to the top of the peak, and a long rope bridge that stretched across a slope filled with tall pine trees, that reached almost to the underside of the bridge. It was shadowed there, down between the pines, and Threadbare's eyes just managed to pick out slender shapes moving through the bristles of the evergreens.
PER +1
But it was what was above the bridge that was of more concern. A thing looking much like a squarish, spindly creature made of wood and cloth and fur and fangs floated in the air currents, glaring down at the party with suspicious eyes.
“That's the Kittyhawk,” Garon explained. “And this is where we're done. Fighting that thing on the bridge is suicide. I saw someone get knocked off once. And that was pretty much it for the poor guy.”
“Aye,” Beryl said, but she was squinting up at the Kittyhawk. “Fighting on the bridge would be suicide. But fighting it here, might just be doable.”
“We got some treasure and experience,” Celia offered. “I leveled, too. Are you sure we want to push our luck?”
“You got a ranged attack item, and I'm still pretty good on healing,” Beryl said. “And we've got Bak'shaz on the slingshot and Jarrik with his bow. As long as we dodge when it comes in for attack runs, we should be fine.”
“You just want to see what it drops,” Garon said. But he was considering it, Celia could tell.
Maybe this thing wouldn't be too bad. Celia thought. “Okay, come here,” she picked up Threadbare again, and put him in her pack, with just his head poking out. “It's a long way down and I'm not losing you.”
“How about your dragon?” Bak'shaz asked.
“No, let's leave him out,” Celia decided. “I can replace him if I have to.”
“All right. I'll get 'is attention. We ready?” Jarrik asked.
The kids chorused their readiness, and prepared for battle.
The first arrow embedded itself deep into a cloth wing, and it zoomed in fast, dodging the static orb from Celia's new staff. Bak'shaz cracked it with a slingstone and it turned on the little half-orc, veering in and spreading claws wide-
-only to be knocked off balance as the little dragon threw itself into its side. For all its size, the bizarre creature was very light. It whirled a few times, regained some altitude, and hovered, directing jets of wind down upon the party.
“Grab a boulder or get low!” Beryl called. “It can't keep it up forever!”
Celia, skidding backward, just managed to grab a boulder in time.
The little dragon didn't, and disappeared off the cliff, falling into the pines as it tried to flap non-functional cloth wings.
And Threadbare felt himself start to slip free of the pack. Desperately he grabbed on, using his full strength to hold himself tight to the cords keeping the pack shut-
-the cords that tore, spilling the contents of the pack to the forested slope below, and sending Threadbare sailing down to join them.
“No!” He heard Celia yell, and then he was falling...
THREADBARE'S CHARACTER SHEET
Spoiler: Spoiler
Name: Threadbare
Age: 9 days
Jobs:
Greater Toy Golem Level 7
Bear Level 5
Ruler Level 2
Scout 2
Attributes:
Strength: 54 Constitution: 61 Hit Points: 159 Armor: 25
Intelligence: 37 Wisdom: 61(66) Sanity: 89/98(103) Mental Fortitude: 15
Dexterity: 24 Agility: 33 Stamina: 67 Endurance: 35
Charisma: 35(40) Willpower: 27 Moxie: 62(67) Cool: 20 (30)
Perception: 39 Luck: 40 Fortune: 78 Fate: 7
Generic Skills
Brawling - Level 10
Climb - Level 6
Clubs and Maces - Level 7
Dagger - Level 9
Dodge - Level 2
Fishing - Level 1
Ride - Level 2
Stealth - Level 3
Swim - Level 2
Greater Toy Golem Skills
Adorable – Level 14
Gift of Sapience – Level NA
Golem Body – Level 9
Innocent Embrace - Level 2
Magic Resistance –Level 4
Bear Skills
Animalistic Interface – NA
Claw Swipes – 8
Forage – 7
Growl - 1
Hibernate - 1
Scents and Sensibility – 8
Stubborn - 4
Toughness – 7
Ruler Skills
Emboldening Speech - Level 1
Identify Subject - Level 1
Noblesse Oblige - Level 1
Royal Request - Level 1
Simple Decree - Level 1
Scout Skills
Camouflage - Level 1
Firestarter - Level 1
Keen Eye - Level 1
Sturdy Back - Level 5
Wind's Whisper - Level 1
Equipment
Rod of Baronly Might - (Level 5 Club, CHA +5, WIS +5, +10 Cool )
Quests