Libriohexer ~ 5!

Chapter Five

Sam wrapped up his work, bound the final set of pages into his Fire Shuriken Tome, then headed over to the campfire where the rest of the team was milling around in a rather leisurely fashion. Surprisingly, Arrow was up, though he looked more than half-asleep. Purple bags showed under his eyes, hair ruffled and standing up at odd angles. He’d probably stayed up too late drinking, which was how he spent most nights. Kai, by contrast, sat a ways off from the others, crossed-legged, fists pressed together in meditation. No sign of Velkan yet, but that wasn’t a big surprise; the elusive Wolfman liked to spend time with his clan whenever they were back in camp.

Sphinx lounged quietly, meticulously sharpening the edge of a dagger while Finn — the self-proclaimed company chef—whipped up a breakfast of scrambled eggs and lean strips of rabbit left over from the night before. Growing up in a noble house, Finn had always had his meals prepared, but ever since venturing out he’d taken to the culinary arts like a duck to water. Finn had a pot of coffee burbling away along with another pot of hot water, which was perfect for Sam: he wasn’t much of a coffee drinker. A strong cup of what passed for Earl Gray Tea would set him straight in no time at all.

There was a sense of early morning relaxation hanging in the air… for everyone except Dizzy.

Their frazzled-haired Guild Leader was furiously studying a book in front of her, writing down notes in her blocky script, underlining something here, then promptly crossing something else out. She stuck her tongue out as she worked, smudging the charcoal across the page in a way that made Sam flinch. Her penmanship was just… just terrible. The way she was treating those poor pages was a crime against books and paper everywhere. If he tried to inscribe a spell like that, he would blow himself back into the dark ages along with everything in a two-block radius.

“Well, now,” Finn grinned at Sam as he tromped over, “don’t you look bright eyed and bushy tailed? I take that to mean you crossed the threshold?”

“He handled it like a champ,” Bill offered his support, a rarity in fun group settings like this. “With a little guidance from yours truly, of course.”

Sphinx immediately sat up and let out a little squee of excitement. “Oh, gosh, don’t leave us hanging now! Tell us what happened, what’s it like? You’re the first person I’ve ever met who crossed the intelligence threshold. I know when I crossed the dexterity threshold everything changed; like I’d been moving through molasses my whole life and didn’t realize it until suddenly… I wasn’t. Took a while to get used to, now didn’t it? Everyone around me seemed to be moving at quarter speed, out of sync with how fast my brain could process everything. I bet you feel sorta like Einstein now.”

“Eh, I’m not sure I would go that far,” Sam replied with a shrug. “I mean, it’s definitely a big improvement. My mana pool grew, my mana regen went up, and I feel like I could cast all day, so… that’s a plus. I definitely do feel smarter, like my brain is able to more easily retain info. It’s not an eidetic memory, but it’s an awful lot closer to that than it was before.”

“I would’ve given my left arm to have this kind of recall back in college. Still…” He trailed off, rubbing absently at the back of his neck as he smirked and shook his head. “Well, I was hoping crossing over would help clear some things up for me. Didn’t really work out the way I thought it would.”

“Dude,” Kai looked up from his meditation to offer his thoughts, “Intelligence isn’t wisdom. Even the smartest people need life experience, my guy. Give it time and eventually the universe will supply the answers you need.”

“Alright everyone,” Dizzy barked, clapping her charcoal-covered hands sharply. “Let’s huddle up. It’s going to be crazy-busy today and we have a ton to do, especially if we want to avoid turning into wandering murderhobos without a place to sleep by day’s end.”

Velkan appeared as though summoned from thin air, while Kai unfolded himself and joined the others around the dancing fire. Finn quickly handed out breakfast, each served on tin camp plates, then took a seat where he would have an unobstructed view of Dizzy. Finn tried to hide it, but he was carrying a torch for the tank that was big enough to light up the beacon at the olympics; not that she seemed to notice. Everyone else did, even Yurji, who seemed to think it was the funniest thing he had ever seen.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about what Yurji told us, and he’s right,” Dizzy began as soon as everyone was paying attention, “I feel like I’ve been falling down on the job as Pack Leader. We’ve been spending so much time undercutting the Rabid Inquisitors over the past couple of weeks that we haven’t really managed to do much of anything else.”

She paused, lips pressing into a thin, judgmental line. “That’s on me. I got so caught up on a few individual trees that I neglected the forest all around us. Not anymore. We’re done taking out lowly pledges; we need to be hunting bigger game.

“If we want to have any shot at winning this war against humanity, we’re going to have to significantly boost our numbers. Before we can do that, we’re going to have to scale up our own infrastructure and lock down a legitimate base of operations. The Human Guild’s have everything going for them. Inns, taverns, access to merchants and skill trainers. All we have is this shabby tent,” she gestured toward the yurt, “and that isn’t exactly a selling point. We’ll be lucky to even have that by the end of the day. Which brings us to today’s real mission. We need to find a dungeon. Velkan?”

She pinned the Wolfman in place with her icy stare. “You must know more about the Forest of Chlorophyll Chaos than any of us. Think you could point us in the right direction?”

The Wolfman grunted, with ears twitching in agitation and nostrils flared. Sam could tell from the gestures that the Wolfman was deeply uncomfortable with the questions.

“No,” Velkan finally said. “As the name implies, the Forest of Chlorophyll Chaos is… it is chaotic. The forest shifts. Changes. It is like the wind. When you enter the wood, it will randomly send you deep into its embrace. Our Pack Leaders are insightful; once the new outpost is set up, they will create totems that will allow us to easily find the camp. But until the wards and totems markers are set, we will be at the mercy of the forest just like any other creature. There is no sure way to lead you to a dungeon.”

Velkan snarled and dropped his gaze as though the admission was a terrible failure on his part.

“That’s unfortunate,” Dizzy grumbled with a heavy sigh. She lifted her notebook and drew a sharp line across the paper. “Which means we’re going to have to find one the old fashion way. Wandering around aimlessly, grinding every mob that comes at us until we find something that fits. Not going to be a quick or easy process, but there’s nothing to do for it.”

“Or maybe you could ask the amazing levitating book and his bumbling sidekick,” Bill offered easily. “Me and Legs here came up with a solution to our little dungeon problem. Show ’em.”

“Crossing the intelligence threshold may not have given me a solution about my specialization…” Sam dipped a hand into Bill’s Soul Space and pulled free a thick brown tome with a ruby the size of a robin’s egg embedded in the center. The Compendium on Protected and Dangerous Locations. “But it did allow me to read and understand this bad boy.”

Sam let it drop onto one of the makeshift benches with a thud. “I grabbed this on my first trip out of the College. That title screamed ‘quest fodder’ to me, but I wasn’t smart enough at the time to understand the contents of the book. Not until this morning. None of you will be able to decipher what’s inside, but Bill and I can. We took a read through it this morning. It’s no wonder the Mage’s had it secreted away in the Sage’s Section of the Infinity Athenaeum.”

“I’ll bite.” Finn leaned forward, elbows resting on his skinny thighs. “What’s in it?”

“Exactly what it sounds like,” Sam informed him while flipping over the cover and turning toward a section with a detailed mapped etched across the pages. “The whole thing is a list of secret, dangerous, and valuable dungeons scattered across this realm and others. It details a dozen different dungeons. When I say details, I’m talking about history, floor layout, info on minions, traps and other dangers. It’s a bit rough in places and I’m not sure how reliable the info is, but it’s definitely a heck of a lot better than going in blind.”

He couldn’t help but grin in triumph. “Even better, it turns out there’s a dungeon that fits our needs like a glove, and it’s less than ten miles from New Narvik. The Compendium calls it the Irondown Burrows.”

Dizzy narrowed her eyes, forehead furrowing in suspicion. “Sounds too good to be true. What’s the catch?”

“The catch,” Bill interjected so that Sam didn’t get all the credit, “is that the Irondown Burrows are Dwarven ruins and are entirely out of our league. Like way~y~y out of our league. The Dwarves are tough sons of steel and stone. More than that, they are crafty like you wouldn’t believe. So far as I know, the Dwarves have moved on to another realm, but I can guarantee you they’ve left behind a host of nasty surprises for us. Traps. Automatons and the like. Who knows what else? The book documents a few of the things we’re probably gonna be going toe to toe with… and they’re bad. Killing ’em is gonna be ugly.”

“But there might be a way around that too,” Sam broke in before Bill could scare everyone off for good. “With Octavius dead and gone, no one at the Mage’s College knows about his research on the LAW. But we know. We have his notes, even if they are incomplete. We also know exactly how powerful a weapon like that is. He could’ve leveled this whole outpost with a single spell if we hadn’t gotten in the way.”

Former Peak Student and Sam’s college-appointed tormentor Octavius Igenitor had pioneered a new type of weapon, a Long-range Amplification Weapon, or LAW. The system used an arcane principle called ‘Sympathetic Magic and Twining’ to cast and amplify spells even at great distances. It was deadly, game changing, and everyone that knew about it was dead.

Everyone except the Wolf Pack and the O’Baba.

A lot of the principles behind the process were still fuzzy at best to Sam, but he was sure that between Bill, Finn, and his new-found Intelligence that they could get their own version of the Law up and running. Probably wouldn’t be easy, but worthwhile things rarely were.

“We’ll have to assemble the tower,” Sam blurted out in a rush, “and we’ll likely have to manufacture the parts necessary to create the Twining system, but if we can get it up and operational, it might help us take out the dungeon guardian. Even if it doesn’t do that, having a weapon like that in our back pocket could seriously help in the war effort against the Human race. It’s a win-win as far as I’m concerned.”

“Dude,” Kai’s mouth was slightly agape. “You, like, really are smarter.”

“Totally agreed,” Dizzy was giving Sam an appreciative sidelong glance. “We should’ve been doing more to assemble the LAW from the get go. It’s an edge that we can exploit, assuming we can figure out how to get it to work.”

Finn’s hand shot up into the air. “Leave that bit to me, yeah? I worked closely with Octavius on the schematics and blueprints. Considering that he’s gone, I probably know more about the system than anyone else in Ardania. Plus, I still have connections inside the city through my family line. Admittedly, I’m a wanted man.”

He stated the last bit rather smugly, straightening his robes, “But Nobles always have a network of eyes, ears, and hands scattered throughout the city. Especially my family.”

Finn came from House Lausten, one of the oldest and also most infamous noble houses in Ardania. Although few talked about ancient history, King Henry and Queen Marie hadn’t always been the monarchs they were today. Once upon a time there had been a bloody and brutal civil war; would-be-lords and ladies all fighting and killing to be King of the Hill. House Lausten had been very vocal supporters of the losing faction, the Sect of Leader Charibert. Most of the opposing houses were scrubbed from existence, but not Finn’s family. They were nearly driven into bankruptcy, but wiping them out root and branch would’ve devastated Ardania’s economy.

So they’d been begrudgingly given a pardon after ‘seeing the error of their ways’.

“We’ve always been rebels,” Finn continued his thought, “truth be told, we always half-expected the tyrant King and his bloody Queen to come for us sooner or later. Although we weren’t actively fomenting rebellion against the crown, we were prepared to do so if the tides ever changed. Chances are high that my family will shelter me despite the various warrants out for my head. They might even honor me as a hero. Better still, I suspect I can get everything we need from my covert suppliers.”

“I could also help,” Sphinx was excited to be able to contribute. “I just don’t think it’s good to have Finn go it alone, especially since he can’t respawn, don’tcha know. Plus, I feel like I’m getting a little rusty. This’ll give me a chance to work some of my Infiltrator skills and some time in the city would do some good. I need to get back in touch with a few of my contacts inside the Upright Men.”

Dizzy frowned but nodded. “Yeah… better to have someone watch his back.”

“Sounds airtight to me too,” Arrow added, rubbing at his chin thoughtfully. “But we still have one big problem. If the Irondown Burrows really are as tough as Bill seems to think, we’re going to need all the help we can get. With Sphinx and Finn both gone that only leaves six of us.”

“Thank you for including me in the count!” Bill crowed, ruffling his pages like a peacock fanning out its feathers. “Finally, someone who realizes how important I am to this team.”

“Always, sir book,” Arrow replied with a devilish grin and a tip of his hat. Sam couldn’t tell whether Arrow was mocking Bill or not. He was a hard one to read. Easy going, but relatively tightlipped. A compliment was a compliment in Bill’s book. “But even with your assistance we’re going to be badly disadvantaged running a hardcore dungeon. Truth be told, I’ve never even heard rumors of Dwarven dungeons before, so I can’t imagine how difficult they’ll be to take down.”

“Yeah, but dude, that also means we’ll get another world first,” Kai enthused. “Think about it, bro. Another title. Having access to our very own Dwarven dungeon is going to be wicked sick, and it’ll make pulling new recruits so much easier. I mean, a tavern is cool, but not cooler than Dwarven ruins-turned-stronghold.”

Arrow seesawed his head before nodding. “Got a point there, I suppose.”

“Also, there’s no other way around it,” Dizzy sternly informed them. “We aren’t exactly spoiled for choices at the moment. Sure, having Finn and Sphinx along would be helpful, but I think we’ll be more than capable of at least running a quick recon mission. I know you’re a Ranger and not a Rogue, but you have Trap Sense, right?”

Arrow grunted, folded his arms across his chest, then nodded reluctantly.

“Well, there you go then,” Dizzy waved her hand at the situation. “You can run point for us, disarm any traps, or at least make sure we don’t blunder headlong into ’em.”

“Oh joy,” Arrow sighed dramatically. “I get to be cannon fodder. Yay!”

“Don’t be that way, Arrow,” Dizzy’s voice softened a hair. “We’ll be alright. Sam and Bill are practically a force of nature at this point, and I’ll play tank and pull Aggro. Kai can tag-team point with you and keep you safe. We’ll have Velkan shadow Sam and Bill; make sure they don’t take a crit early on. That’s about as well-rounded a party as we could hope going in. It’ll be tough, but we can handle it if we play smart.”

Arrow folded in on himself a little, then threw up his hands. “Gah. Fine. I’m in. But everyone here owes me enough beer to drown a horse.”

“For what it’s worth,” Bill unnecessarily cleared his voice, “I’m with you. Might be we’re running a suicide mission. But I’m not the one with nerve endings, so what do I care, amiright?”

That was more than a little unnerving, but Bill was always a naysayer. Besides, grinding through a ridiculously tough dungeon might just help Sam get his mind off his specialization for a little while. Honestly, he couldn’t wait to get into an ol’ fashioned, mind-numbing brawl.