“I thought of something. Retly we found a newly formed silver mine. Initially I thought it was the gods’ gift for me but then it turned out to be ied with monsters, only causing even more work.
If you could clear this mi would be a great boost to our budget, and I could prepare some for Folor.”
“Fonor.”
“Right.”
The party members silently pitied Fonor while leaving the temple with an updated quest. Returning from the mountain they regrouped with the others, who had scked off enough, and crossed the city towards the horse-drawn cart.
Radiant Shield let out a sigh, knowing that a bumpy ride id before them.
They traveled through siature by cart until they stopped in the viity of a cluster of houses at the foot of a mountain range.
Letting his eyes wander over this vilge withiy Final Fend elbowed Braag:
“Hey, looks like you would feel right at home here!”
“Hmm, not bad…”
“So many dwarves in a city of nephilim…”, said Radiant Shield.
“Well, this pce is referred to as dwarven mines by some locals for a reason. But its official name is Duabalis Mines.”
“Are those dwarves living here?”
“Yeah. Just like they do in most mountain rahroughout aboul.”
Clearing his friends’ doubts Liam led them through the dirty streets. He didn’t waste much time and directly tinued along a broad mountain path.
But suddenly Liam frowned slightly. He signaled his party to stop, fog on the surroundings. His as immediately caused his party to be on high alert, subtly repositioning themselves.
Silence fell on the se.
Watchful Eye suddenly felt a strange sensation. But before he could speak up, another voice sounded out.
“Edelweiss, behind you!”
Liam’s sudden shout startled the group, who hadn’t noticed anything. The bard jumped to the side, reag instinctively. A fine, wooden lute appeared in her hand, which graciously glided over the strings.
“Salolh.”
A voice like an angel’s sounded from Edelweiss’ mouth, resonating with the world. A bck-robed figure was suddenly revealed, frozen in pce. Instantly Liam and Bloody Edge appeared o the daring thief, ending his life with a few swings of their ons.
“Hey, not bad Edelweiss! What was that skill just now?”
Edelweiss held her hand on her chest, taking deep breaths before answering:
“This… was [Song of Binding]…”
“Well, if that isn’t aptly named.”
“Edelweiss did well, but what could have gotten into this thief?”, asked Bloody Edge with a shake of his head.
“Testing his steal skill probably.”
Just as Liam answered Bloody Edge, he suddenly swirled around, sshing his swords at the seemingly empty air.
“Ah!”
A low shout could be heard. Shocked by the enormous damage the sed thief tried to retreat but Watchful Eye appeared in his way, striking him down.
“What’s happening? Did we poke a ?”, questioned Silver Bde in disbelief.
Liam pondered for a moment before remembering something.
“The pce we are going to indeed has something which attracts thieves tinuously. Respawning treasure chests.”
“Oh. Let’s be careful then. Keep your eyes open, guys.”
“I think that’s good training for you, Bloody Edge. You should be able to discover stealthed thieves without being discovered yourself.”
“Alright.”After the short interruption the party tinued. Bloody Edge directly used his [Stealth], not stig close to the group. Meanwhile Liam fed him with advi what to keep note of when ih.
On the way they met a few more thieves. Bloody Edge mao intercept two of them, but a few others reached the party and were ed up by Liam.
Still, Bloody Edge felt his proficy rising by the mihe thief would have loved to go on for hours, but the party soon reached a rge minirance.
A few soldiers had set up defenses around a rge, dark hole in the mountain. Thief pyers arrived from time to time, plunging into the mio try their luck.
As soon as the party ehe rocky tuhey could feel the temperature drop. Sounds of footsteps echoed through the surroundings. The rocky, uneven, floor caused the thieves some difficulty.
From time-to-time voices could be heard when two pyers entered each other.
Braag tried to discover something in the light of fluttering torches, notig an opened chest not far away, causing his eyes to light up.
“Mirage, should we also hunt for treasure?”
“What do you guys think?”, asked Liam with a look at his friends.
“I think we should pass. You imagine Cye’s rea if she learns that we wasted time…”
The reed with Silver Bde’s opinion, but Liam noticed some reluce. sidering it for a moment he came up with an idea:
“Let’s do it like this. I will give Bloody Edge a map so he farm a few chests and pare himself to other thieves. Meanwhile we will go ahead and clear some monsters. In an hour we meet up… here.”
While talking Liam had pulled out a piece of paper, drawing a plicated web of tunnels and marking several spots.
He ha over to Bloody Edge who received the map with a thankful nod.
“Sounds like we got the best of both worlds.”, said Silver Bde.
“Yes.”, answered Liam before addressing Bloody Edge. “But don’t waste too much time or the mobs will respawn.”
“Got it.”
Bloody Edge aowledged the advice while his body turned invisible. The fai of footsteps could be heard, slowly distang themselves.
Meanwhile the rest of the group followed Liam until they reached a breach surrounded by a bunch of rubble and blocked by a few soldiers. Sounds of fighting could be heard from behind it.
When the party approached the soldiers eyed them suspiciously but didn’t intercept them.
Some thieves sitting ih close by were surprised, as those soldiers made their lives difficult, refusing to let anyone pass. Only those with a certain level of skill mao sneak by the soldiers.
The party naturally didn’t know about their thoughts. They were focused on the updated quest, which automatically appeared in their vision.
[
[Step oalk to iar]
[Step two: Reach the silver mine]
[Step three: Clear the mines of spiked earth-eating rats]
[Hint: Hurry up! The faster you are the less silver the Broken cil loses.]
Reading the hint Silver Bde immediately turowards their expert with surprise.
“Is this a timed quest?”
“Not quite. But the slower we are, the longer Fonor will take to join us.”
“Is this bad?”, asked Edelweiss puzzledly.
“Well, the first guild war is in a week. I estimate we need an evaluation above B if we want Fonor to arrive before that.”
Hearing this, Radiant Shield frowned:
“How about calling back Bloody Edge?”
“Don’t worry, it’s ok. A thief isn’t of too much use. You will see.”
“Alright…”
The others trusted Liam’s judgement, advang deeper into the cave. The surrounding wall became noticeably rougher, and the torches were repced by e lumi mushrooms.
Soon, a small bck creature could be seen uhe light of one of the mushrooms. It looked like a crossbreed between a hedgehog and a rat but with the size of a cat. Its snout twitched excitedly as its white eyes suddenly focused on the party.
Liam Silver Bde, indig for her to take the lead, which prompted the tank to immediately look for the oppo’s information.
[Spiked earth-eating ratRank: on
Level: 22
HP: 6500/6500]
“A minor enemy…”
Radiant Shield’s wot stu his throat as the rat let out an ear-pierg scream. Instantly more enemies appeared, some scurrying along the tunnel, some breaking out of holes on the walls.
In no time at all the party found themselves fag eight rats.
“Braag!”, shouted Silver Bde immediately.
“On it.”
The dwarf moved before the rats could disperse. His uncher glowed, spewing out four small bombs.
Heavy explosions rumbled along the tunnels as the bombs exploded amidst the group of rats.
[-338!]
[-111!]x6
[-507!]x7
[-304!]x7
[-236!]x7
“Beautiful!”
Final Fend excimed loudly watg the devastating damage. He wasn’t intimidated by the rats squeaking angrily, fog their eerie eyes on the party.
The group of monsters surged forward, eager to get rid of the i dwarf but were immediately met with Silver Bde’s [Luring Barrier] and Radiant Shield’s [A padin’s challenge].
Silver Bde felt the heavy impacts against her barrier as four rats luowards her.
[-116!]x4
However, seeing the damage dealt by the rats Silver Bde remained incredibly calm, knowing that her shield could block them fes.
Radiant Shield oher hand found himself in a demanding situation having to defend against four rats on his own. He held his shield close to his body, but o mao sneak around him and attack from behind.
[Stance -1]
[-1!]
The tank suddenly froze with a fused expression:
“What’s going on? Is this a bug?”
“Well, what did you expect? Lower-level on enemies against a tank with pieces of rare equipment? I would be shocked if you would receive any damage.”
“Oh… well, the difficulty just decreased enormously.”
“Don’t be pt yet. Those mobs have a trick up their sleeves.”