B01DCAV4W2 (S) (31 page)

Richter had loaded half the contents of the wagon into his Bag.  Luckily the crystal wasn’t too heavy.  He looked at the rest of the unclaimed resource, but decided to stop while he was ahead. The Focus Crystal was the real prize.  If the battle with the guardian went well, then he would gather the rest afterward.

Richter followed the mage further into the cave.  He stopped by the pile of gear that the workers had.  Richter ignored most of the random items, but placed all of the pouches into his Bag.  He would go through them later.  The one other thing he picked up was a pickaxe.  He reasoned he would need it to dig out the Focus Crystal.  

The cave extended back further than Richter had initially thought.  The group walked for several minutes and Richter took the opportunity to load his Ring of Spell Storage once again.  His mana dropped by 60 points but it had almost completely replenished anyway so it wasn’t a large hit.  Richter drew one of his Heavy Cobalt Arrows and placed it on his bow string.  He had a feeling he might need some extra stopping power soon. 

The outcroppings of crystal became more regular the further in they went.  It was no longer just random pockets.  Now Richter could see entire sheets of crystal growing from the walls.  The individual crystals also seemed bigger. 

“How long did it take to grow all of this?” Richter asked.

“This garden has existed for decades, master.  Its loss will be a large blow to our people,” En’fota responded.  The charmed creature didn’t seem particularly bothered that she was helping to rob her own people of a clan treasure.  The information made Richter acutely aware of passing time though.  That was when he saw it.

Nestled into the wall was a glowing crystal.  Richter couldn’t really make out colors in his Darkvision the same way he could if there was light, but he clearly saw it was slowly pulsing.  Looking around, he didn’t see the guardian the kobolds had warned of.  Placing his arrow back into his quiver, he shouldered his bow.  Richter ordered the kobolds to keep watch and then he picked up the pickaxe. 

Swinging with all of his might, he hammered at the wall of crystal.  A few chips fell to the ground.  He swung again and more chips fell to the tunnel floor.  Richter secured his grip and started mining in earnest.  
WHAM!  WHAM!  WHAM!  WHAM! 
His blows were a steady beat that echoed through the still cave.  He hoped that he wasn’t drawing the attention of another patrol, but he wouldn’t be denied his prize now that he was so close!

Cracks appeared in the wall and Richter reversed the pickaxe so that the point was towards the wall.  He swung again and again into the cracks, and each blow drove the heavy point into the crevices that now zigzagged all over the wall.  He brought the blunt end back to bear and swung again!  With a sound like the fracturing of a glacier, the wall fell as a whole and the Focus Crystal was exposed!

Richter threw the pickaxe down and away from him.  Sweat flowed freely down his body and his hands tingled from the reverberations of his heavy blows.  He reached towards the pulsing crystal and a prompt filled his vision.

You have unlocked the Quest: Crystal Garden I.  To make your own Crystal Garden you must harvest the Focus Crystal.  The Crystal is a powerful item and a living thing and so to harvest one is both a boon and a responsibility.  You have found a Focus Crystal.  Do you wish to retrieve it?  Reward: A Focus Crystal.  Yes or No?

He ignored the prompt for a second and drank another Darkvision potion and gave Alma one as well.  He had En’fota prepare any spells or buffs that she had.  Then he cast
Haste
on himself and two of the kobolds.  He had Alma buff herself and hasten the other three.  Richter called out for Futen to scout the area outside of the crystal garden to watch out for other kobolds.  The remnant wouldn’t be of much use against a stone monster.  Richter heard a disembodied, “Yes, my Lord.”  A minor earth elemental rose from the ground as the kobold mage finished casting a spell.  Richter figured they were as ready as they were going to be.  He focused on the prompt and selected ‘Yes.’  Richter had a feeling that things were about to get FUBAR’d. 

Everything got fucked up beyond all recognition. 

As soon as the prompt disappeared the earth began to tremble violently.  Richter realized he needn’t have been concerned about anyone hearing the blows of the pickaxe.  It sounded like the entire mountain was being ripped in half!  The upheaval knocked all of them to the ground.  That turned out to be lucky because crystals from all about the cavern began to fly about.  Razor sharp shards shot through the air faster than an arrow.  First two shards slammed together, then a third.  More and more crystals began to aggregate and the Focus Crystal rose into the air.  Its slow pulse had been accelerated to a nearly constant flicker and it was added to the mass of crystals floating in the air. 

Richter and the kobolds crab walked away from the maelstrom of shards raging above them.  Alma crawled on the ground looking up at the deadly shooting alley above her.  Standing would have been to willingly place their bodies in the middle of a cross fire, so they edged away, being careful to remain hugged to the floor. 

The crystals continued to smash together faster and it became clear they were forming some type of crystal golem.  Less than a minute after Richter had chosen ‘Yes’ on the prompt, a humanoid figure composed entirely of semi-clear iridescent shards stood ten feet tall in the middle of the crystal garden.  Richter analyzed it.

Crystal Guardian.
 
Level 41.  Health 980.  Mana 470.  Stamina 760.  Disposition: Enmity.
 
You have sought to harvest a Focus Crystal.  The Crystal is a form of life, and like any life form, it will protect itself.  The guardian is a defensive mechanism formed from the crystals that grow in the garden.

The crystal monster raised its arms above its head as if in triumph or glory.  The Focus Crystal pulsed with a slower beat again and was in the center of its chest.  Richter watched the guardian stand there, seemingly oblivious to his presence.  Then it turned its neck, and despite its featureless face, Richter was sure that it was staring right at him.  Its gaze invoked a primal response in Richter.

Oh shit.

“Kill it!” he decided to shout instead, nocking an arrow and loosing.

The kobolds sprung into attack.  The three Kol caste kobolds jumped forward, two wielding spears and the third a stone cudgel.  Their tails whipped blades at the guardian as well.  The Dur caste kobold ran forward and swung his heavy mace at the guardian’s knee.  The kobold mage began her casting, and her summoned pet lumbered forward to do battle with its large cousin. 

The initial results were less than impressive.

The guardian barely noticed the attacking spears, both of which slid harmlessly across its hard surface.  The tail daggers had even less of an effect.  Dur’ghen’s mace blow buckled its knee ever so slightly and left a few fine cracks, but did no serious damage.  Richter’s arrow struck it in the head, but glanced off.  The guardian’s counterstrike was not so easy to brush off. 

It swung one arm studded with sharp crystals at Dur’ghen.  The kobold dropped under the blow, but the guardian continued its swing.  The arm connected with the unarmored bodies of two of the Kol warriors.  One slumped to the ground, his body a ruined mess.  The other kobold flew across the tunnel and struck the wall.  It landed in a heap and a smear of black blood was left on the wall. 

Richter nocked another heavy arrow and began to imbue it. 

En’fota finished her casting and a stone spear, one inch in diameter, shot from her hand and hurtled towards the crystal man.  The spear struck it in the shoulder and knocked it back a step.  It immediately started attacking again.  Dur’ghen swung his mace in both hands.  The crystal guardian blocked the blow on one of its arms.  All the kobold’s strike did was chip one of the shards at the end of its fist. 

The guardian kicked forward, trying to punt Dur’ghen across the room.  The kobold’s natural dexterity coupled with Richter’s
Haste
spell let him avoid the attack.  The remaining Kol warrior struck with its spear again, but the second attack was as ineffectual as the first.  With a barking shout, En’fota finished another spell. 

Green light writhed around her right leg.  She raised it up and then stomped down.  The light flowed into the ground and disappeared for a split second, but then roots shot up from under the crystal guardian.  The tendrils wrapped around its leg in an attempt to keep it in one place.  Unfortunately, the roots were only pencil sized, and the guardian simply wrenched one foot free, then the other. 

The mage’s
Binding Roots
spell at least served to give Richter a clear shot.  His arrow had developed the gold aura and black streaks that occurred when he imbued his attack. He released.  The shot arced across the small space and connected with the creature’s chest in a large concussive boom!  Richter’s earlier concern about not drawing attention were moot after the loud noises of the guardian’s creation.  The kobolds all dropped low, startled and pained by the unexpected noise.  Thankfully, the pain passed quickly and wasn’t enough to break the enchantment. 

The crystal guardian fell back into the wall of the cave.  It connected with an impressive thud and fell down to a seated position.  More crystals fell from the ceiling because of the impact.  One large crystal stalactite almost crushed En’fota but she was able to dive out of the way.  The monster wasn’t done though. 

It grabbed a spike of crystal from the wall.  Rather than using it as a handhold, the guardian tore the crystal free to the sound of crunching glass.  Still seated, it threw the spike at Dur’ghen.  The crystal shard was two feet long and at least six inches thick.  The projectile hit the kobold in a glancing blow.  He hissed in pain.  The blow spun the kobold around and made him fall to the ground.

Richter ran forward a few steps and cast
Grease. 
The guardian had been in the process of regaining its feet, but fell back down when its legs slipped from beneath it. 

Richter smiled and said, “Is it hot in here?”  Might be a little cheesy, he realized, but what was the use of being a badass monster fighter, if you couldn’t say badass one liners?  He extended his arm and cast
Flame.

Power flowed from him and his entire arm tingled and glowed red for the split second before a gout of flame shot from his fingertips.  It touched the edge of the grease circle the crystal guardian was still trying to escape and suddenly the guardian was sitting in a round hell of its very own.  Whereas before it had moved awkwardly trying to regain its balance, now it flailed frantically to escape the ongoing damage it was taking. 

“Alma!  Blast it to keep it in the fire!”

The dragonling flew above the guardian and unleashed a
Psi Blast
.  The monster’s limbs stilled and it just lay there, half of its body still in the fire.  It would have been a great idea for Alma to keep blasting it silly, but the cool down on her ability precluded it.  She asked Richter if she should attack it with
Brain Drain
, but he couldn’t risk it. The damn thing had too much health and its level was too high for her to stun.   Besides, the flames might hurt her.  She flew back and hovered above his head. 

While it was incapacitated he tried his stored
Charm
spell.  He didn’t really think it would work on a creature like this, but he had to give it a shot.  The spell found no purchase.  Richter was disappointed but not surprised. He moved back by the kobolds.  Dur’ghen and the Kol caste kobold stood ready to attack it again.  En’fota was in the process of ordering her earth elemental to attack the guardian while it was down, when Richter snapped a command. 

“Cast
Stinking Mud
!” he ordered her.

“We would need to back up first master.  We are within the radius of the spell.”

They all backed away while the elemental scurried forward to do its mistress’s bidding.  Once they were at a safe distance, En’fota began the spell’s four second cast time.  While she did that, Richter began imbuing another heavy arrow.  He looked at his target and saw that the guardian had gotten up and had grabbed the earth elemental in one hand.  The mage’s pet struggled to still fight, but the size disparity just could not be overcome.  With a mallet like fist, the guardian was bringing sledge hammer blows against the hapless creature.  Dirt and pebbles fell from the elemental with each blow and it quickly lost cohesion.

The elemental served its purpose though.  The gold aura over Richter’s arrow had developed black streaks that flowed across it.  He waited until after En’fota finished her spell.   With a guttural noise, that sounded painful to make, she finished her casting. 

A ripple passed over the ground in front of the party and its wake the ground began to slowly bubble.  The entire stone floor converted to a plain of thick mud.  The spell effect extended back 10 yards!  As amazing as the effect, was what was really spectacular was the smell!  Each bubble that rose from the mud released a smell like rotten eggs. 

The sudden olfactory assault almost made Richter lose his focus, but he maintained his concentration and released successfully.  The arrow shot towards the guardian and struck it in the chest again.  His aim was perfect.  The short distance coupled with use of his
Focus
skill meant that accuracy was not a problem.  The shot staggered the guardian, but this time it didn’t fall.  That was only because its legs had sunk two feet into the ground however, thanks to the kobold’s Earth magic!

Richter tasted victory.  He analyzed the monster and saw that it had lost hundreds of health points already!  Cracks spider webbed across the iridescent body, worst in the chest.  He thought he should be able to wear it down to nothing before it could cross the thirty feet through the sucking mud.  Smiling, he nocked another arrow and was about to activate
Drill Shot
when the Focus Crystal in its chest flared.