Emerilia Box Set, page 67
part #1 of Emerilia Series
Dave looked at his body, seeing the runes that covered his body. Usually they were hidden under his long-sleeved shirts and pants. “Er...”
“Well, looks like you’re up! See you at breakfast.” Suzy looked completely unapologetic.
Dave conjured a pillow above her head and dropped it on her grinning face.
“And, shut the door!” Deia yelled.
“So cute.” Suzy smiled, looking at them both, and closed the door.
Deia glared at the door and then Dave.
“What did I do?”
“She’s your friend.”
“Saying you and Suzy aren’t friends?”
“No, but you knew her first and I wanted to sleep in!” Deia pouted.
Dave laughed and pulled her to him; her face melted into a smile as he kissed her. “Morning, babe.”
“Your breath smells horrible!”
“Jackass.”
“But you looove me.” Deia grinned.
“How old are you?”
“Old enough,” Deia said with a saucy wink, getting out of bed as Dave admired her body. She grabbed her underwear slowly, making a show of it. “Unless you don’t want any of this?” Her innocent voice was at odds with her lustful body and seductive look in her eyes.
Dave got out of bed and moved toward her.
“Hey, get dressed! We have breakfast!” Deia said as Dave moved behind her and wrapped his hands around her, one traveling north and the other south.
Her voice caught as his hands found their targets. She melted back toward him, arching her body and pressing her backside against his groin.
“Too true. I could do with some food.” Dave released and grinned.
“Damned tease.” Deia’s face flushed and her eyes went wide in anticipation.
“Learned from the best.” Dave looked to her.
Her eyes and mouth thinned but the corners of it turned up in clear amusement.
After a few minutes and some more grab-ass, they made it down and into the actual inn. There were Stone Raiders, POEs, and other Players in the place. The Players just talked to one another or the Stone Raiders, thinking the POEs beneath them. The Stone Raiders, however, talked to everyone as if they were a Player. There were several people with POEs who looked as if they had spent the night at the inn with them.
Healers were going around, curing hangovers. A few went and grabbed a beer right after getting their hangover cured.
Dave and Deia found the rest of their party hanging out at a table with two more spots at it. The food had already arrived, with Suzy ordering for Dave and Deia.
“Oh Suz, I don’t know what I did without you.” Dave grinned. She had not forgotten his preferences: bacon, eggs, grits, fried tomatoes, and proper hash browns.
Deia smirked and shook her head. She’d come to understand and accept Suzy and Dave’s relationship. The two were more brother and sister than coworkers.
They both dug into the food, talking about the antics of last night and small stuff for a while as they ate.
***
“All right, well, until later then. Make sure you send Kim her reports and let us know when you want to go on a bit of a raid.” Josh smiled at them.
“Look after yourselves,” Deia said.
“And try to not get into too much trouble,” Malsour said.
“Fat chance of that.” Induca looked away.
“See you later.” Dave waved to them.
The Stone Raiders turned and headed toward the teleport pad. It had cost a lot of gold for them to keep the teleport open as the guild wandered through with their wagons and gear.
There were smiles and a bit of joking but their eyes looked around as they entered, ready for any threat they might find on the other side. The teleport pads made for fast travel across Emerilia. They cost some gold, more than a POE might have, but to the Players, it was easy to get.
They were being transported to the Endon kingdom on the Gudalo continent. If Opheir was a level-one continent, Gudalo was a level three due to the high number of ex-POE adventurers who had left Heval or Ashal, or people who were trading goods with the Per’ush islands that floated between Gudalo and Ashal.
Opheir only had the one teleportation pad; however, other continents that were richer or more powerful had multiple teleport pads.
The Lokma Empire on Ashal supposedly had a teleportation pad for every one of their cities. Every single island within Per’ush also had a teleportation pad. Depending on how people were allied, people could transport between kingdoms. Opheir and the Endon kingdom didn’t really care for one another and the teleport was usually locked between the two.
Though, with the Stone Raiders messages, they could secure transport over to the different location with a key that they had been given. A key was linked to a Player’s interface, so as long as they were on good standing with the kingdom they wanted to go to, then they could.
If that standing went down, however, then their key wouldn’t work anymore.
Josh and Lucy moved to join the other Stone Raiders. Dwayne and Lucy had gone ahead to make sure that the other side was clear.
As people stepped onto the teleport pad, they simply disappeared while the runes of the teleport pad hummed with power. After a few minutes, the last of the Stone Raiders walked through and the runes stopped glowing. The rings around the teleport pad started to move as a new group of traders moved up, ready to go through the teleport.
“Well, let’s get going.” Deia led them away from the teleport pad.
“Yeah.” Dave looked to Suzy and Anna’s shoulders. Both of them now wore the guild crest of the Stone Raiders, given to them in the middle of the booze fest that was last night.
The two of them talked summoning and different things as Induca started bothering her brother about different sights she saw. Malsour sighed and tried to rein his little sister in.
Dave grabbed Deia’s hand as they made their way through the bustling city, heading toward the Benvari Mountains in the distance.
Chapter 19: Benvari Mountains
Dave watched as they exited the forest, finally able to see the mountains in all their glory.
“Those mountains are massive!” Suzy said.
From afar, it was hard to think that anyone lived in the mountains. They still retained their natural beauty. Hundreds of wagons traveled to and from the mountain range. The approach was covered by vast fortifications and concealed artillery.
The actual mountain had a gentle road leading up and into it. A curtain wall covered a town that had formed outside of the mountain’s trading entrance. Only a few people were allowed past the inner defensive gates and defenses that extended before the mountain’s different entrances.
Dave and the party passed through the small town. Once they got to what Dave was thinking of as the inner sanctum, he showed his necklace to a Dwarven shield bearer. A mage checked it and then bowed and waved for them to continue.
They passed through the Dwarves’ first true defensive line into a stone covered area. There were barracks, training areas, trading squares of all types and roving bands of Dwarven warbands. It was the closest people got to the mountain without being a Dwarf, emissary, or well-trusted ally.
Another massive door—one that led into the mountain—greeted them.
One of the three warbands that was spread in front of the gate stopped him. There needed to be three of them just so that they could cover the entire length of the massive door.
“State your business,” the warband leader demanded.
“I am David Grahslagg. I am here to meet with Jesal. Kol sent me.” Dave pulled out his necklace.
“Get Durn,” the warband leader said to the shield bearers under his command.
One ran off. A few moments later, he came back with a Dwarven mage. He muttered, annoyed about being taken away from his chess game and grabbed Dave’s necklace.
“Well, seems you’ve come to test your skill,” Durn said. “Come with me.”
Dave made to move forward.
The warband leader held up his hand to everyone else. “I am sorry, I cannot let you in.”
Dave and Deia shared a look.
“We’ll wait here. Just let us know what’s going on once you talk to your new teacher,” Deia said.
“Thanks, babe.” Dave gave her a kiss and turned to follow Durn.
“Half-Dwarves and Elves, ehh? I’m just an old rock biter—don’t mind me.” Durn grinned.
The massive door opened enough to admit the two of them. The corridor was smooth as they walked through. The glow of the lights made the place seem warm instead of dark and gloomy, even as the door shut behind them, not letting any light in.
Dave looked over the walls. Not only were they shaped to a polished sheen twenty feet above his head, but they also had intricate carvings on them and several defensive runes designed to bolster friendly forces in the tunnel and weaken enemy forces, or add magical barriers or shoot down fire and spikes.
Dave nodded at it all before they reached another door. It opened for them and they passed through. They continued through two more doors.
Dave saw lights up ahead, as if instead of being greeted by another door, he was greeted with Benvari Mountain. Dave looked around and stopped in place.
Buildings seemed to almost grow from the walls. Houses were stacked on one another; roadways hung between them and hung over others. He could see dozens of levels, all open to the light of the hollowed-out mountain.
Mirrors directed light into a massive crystal in the roof directly over their heads and others that were spread throughout the massive space. They acted to illuminate the whole place. It didn’t feel as though they were in a mountain, but rather in a city that had been folded together.
Light came in to feed the crops that were growing in malachite-formed greenhouses.
Nadorf had been large, but Dave couldn’t even begin to understand the scale of what he was seeing.
The homes didn’t look like slums of shacks, even if they might have been on top of one another. They were carefully crafted, made from metals that blended together, turning the city into a beautiful landscape. The light of the different mini-suns seemed to make the houses glow.
“Wow.” Dave had never seen something that was so beautiful or technically challenging. His mind as an engineer and a romantic could only sit there, drinking in the sights.
“Welcome to Benvari Mountain, young one.” Durn smiled and gave him some time to take it all in. “Now, Jesal is not the kind of person you want to keep waiting. Let’s go find her.”
Dave followed Durn in a daze. His Touch of the Land extended all out around him, studying the way that the homes had been formed, the architecture of the entire mountain. It was an engineering and artistic marvel the more he studied it, from the floating bridges to the wire suspension that held up some entire floors. Runes made the materials light and durable.
It was a maze to Dave, though, as Durn took elevators and a rail cart to get to their destination deep in the heart of the mountain. It went from warm to hot as the city fell away and it was clear that they were in the industrial area of the mountain. Metal in all different states was being gathered, refined, and moved through massive machinery.
“How the hell haven’t you mined everything in these mountains?” Dave asked.
“Well, they’re massive and the materials keep on coming back—not in the same place but we have to keep constant surveys going as an old mine might have new materials in it well after it has dried up,” Durn said.
Those must have been from those material-making things that Bob was talking about.
It got hotter as they passed through areas where massive items were being built to where ingots were being formed and past different smithies, where hundreds of Dwarves were working on different projects.
Dave’s Touch spread out; he could sense multiple magical forges all around him. The sheer production power was astounding.
They moved past magical forges, which were increasingly stronger as more magical power had been unleashed upon them.
It was still getting hotter until Durn came to a room where there were seven people working on different projects. None looked up as they entered.
Dave looked at the forge. The heat coming from it was immense.
Holy shit, that isn’t a damned forge—it’s a magma flow being routed through this room and a dozen other forges!
Coal lay overtop what was a massive metal sheet as the lava flow below heated it. Air was forced into the lava chamber at points, coming out the other side, creating a blowtorch that could heat metals up in seconds.
Durn moved next to an anvil where a female Dwarf was working on an intricate staff. Her hands moved quickly and precisely.
It’s like watching a CNC machine work. Dave was astounded at the quality of her work and the speed at which she worked.
She wove runes and art into the piece, making it appear as if it were a singular rose weaving its way all the way to the bloom at the top. There was a socket space there, waiting for an attuning gem that an enchanter might place within it.
She ignored Durn and Dave completely, at one with her work as she finished the last flourish. The runes looked to be complete as she pulled out a red gem that had been carved into rose petals. She placed it within the socket at the top of the staff. Using a small hammer and some other fine tools, she secured the central gem into the staff.
She pulled out a soul gem, muttering a few words as it seemed to leak light. The runes of the staff flared to light as the gem at its peak started to glow. More power filled the staff until the runes projected light and the gem was like a flashlight.
Then the soul gem was gone, turning to dust.
It was a work of art as beautiful as it was powerful. Dave could understand the majority of the runes that would enhance a mage’s power. It was a destruction/restoration staff, helping to heal others while it gave a great boost to destruction spells and could pack a nice punch. Even if it wasn’t charged, it would focus a person’s attacks if they channeled their Mana through it.
Under the white outer material—which could only be Mithril—there was a core of ebony, the two materials working together with the silver-filled runes and detailing would mean that the item would only grow more powerful with continued use.
It truly was a masterpiece.
Jesal looked around, as if seeing Durn and Dave for the first time. “When the hell did you get in here, you ornery old bastard?” She looked at Durn, as she took the staff and chucked it on a table covered with weapons, armor, and all manner of items. Each of them gave off a sense of power.
“Got you a new student, you damned anvil hermit!” Durn said.
Jesal’s irate glare turned into a snort as a grin spread across her face. Durn smiled likewise.
“So, who are you?” Jesal looked to Dave.
“I’m Dave. Kol sent me.”
“Well then, I guess we better get started. Let’s see your metals,” Jesal said.
Dave pulled off his necklace and gave it to her.
She held each between her fingers, closing her eyes for a few moments before moving to the next. “What level is your skill in smithing?” Jesal handed him back the necklace.
“Master Level 1.” Dave didn’t need to look around the room as his Touch was already showing him all of the work that was going on around him.
Their work, the different techniques, the way that the metal changed: in his search to create more powerful conjurations, his study of smithing and the creation of different objects had gone well beyond what nearly all others saw.
Jesal’s eyes thinned as she looked over Dave. “How long have you studied smithing?”
“Here? I guess, maybe nine months?” Dave replied, trying to pin it down.
“Show me your associated skills with smithing as well as your Affinities and your character sheet,” Jesal asked.
Dave complied, checking out his stats and Affinities. It had been awhile since he had.
Character Sheet
Name:
David Grahslagg
Gender:
Male
Level:
3
Class:
-
Race:
Human/Dwarf
Alignment:
Chaotic Neutral
Unspent points-285
Health:
2,600
Regen:
2.10/s
Mana:
1,350
Regen:
5.65/s
Stamina:
680
Regen:
3.40/s
Vitality:
26
Endurance:
105
Intelligence:
135
Willpower:
113
Strength:
68
Agility:
68
His Intelligence was a pain to get up but it was still increasing as he and Malsour had talked and he’d spent many hours to look into the various secrets that were hidden in the forums.
When I get to actually make something from all those ideas, my Intelligence will probably go up a few points.
Knowing something was good and all, but actually demonstrating it showed the difference between theoretical and possible. Unless he made it in Emerilia; then his level wouldn’t increase. But like a good math question, he might get points for attempting something that could be possible. A scientist who had their theory proven wrong had still learned a lot going through the process of trying to confirm it.
His straight Strength and Agility training was slowing to a crawl. He’d upped the amount of weight that he’d been carrying, decreasing the weight toll on his armor.
Seems that my Agility grew by three points while Strength only went up once. I was doing a lot of tree tag, so maybe it’s not just simple repetition but doing something new and working my way through it. Kind of like breaking through plateaus or constantly showing progress, like I do with inventions.
