Into The Mountain

John sighed. “Fuck, how did today turn into us babysitting? This is worse than the Pokémon that followed me around in the barrier last night.” John looked over at Ellie, who had raised an eyebrow. “Not an actual Pokémon, it was some weird plant thing that could only say one thing, so basically a Pokémon.”

“Uh-huh, like that should really surprise me. I mean, could Pokémon actually be real?” she asked.

John’s brow furrowed. “Not sure, but I think we should go after them, we need to take them both back to Springfield where they belong.”

“Yeah, let’s get running after them, and who knows, it might be more fun than we expect?” Ellie offered. She took hold of John’s hand, and the two began jogging in the direction the girls had flown off in.

The beach gave way to woodland, not as dense as the forest surrounding the Silverwood and the trees were adorned with green leaves rather than autumn colours. Travelling through John and Ellie got to enjoy the soothing sounds of the area… that is until the sounds of the woods petered out as they noticed the trees becoming drier and devoid of leaves.

The air was hotter and drier as they approached and John got a pit in his stomach as they neared the base of the mountain. An entrance was clearly marked, and skulls of several animals and humanoids surrounded it to serve as some kind of warning.

“I don’t know if we should go in there,” John worried. “We don’t even know if they are in there.”

Just as he said that, coming from the entrance he heard a familiar voice “Qwest!” which was followed by the sound of two girls echoing it.

“Fuck… And how the hell did he get here?!” John complained. “I guess we have **** but to go in, right?”

“Looks like it, but hey, it might be a fun ‘Qwest’!” she laughed.

The tunnels were narrow and short, forcing the two to not only advance in single file but also to hunch over slightly. The light from outside disappeared soon after the entrance as they continued through the winding path. John turned slightly to Ellie. “Do you still have that, uh, what was it called... Ah, Driftglobe?”

“No, I left it on my desk, why?” Ellie asked.

“Shit, I don’t know how you are going to be able to see. Maybe you should turn back. I can change my eyes to see in the dark, and I don’t think we should waste our phone batteries on using the flashlight,” John reasoned.

“Oh, don’t worry about that. Actually, now that you mention it, shine your flashlight at me a moment while I do something,” Ellie requested.

John’s brow furrowed but he did as she asked. As he did, she pulled out a small glass pen with a shimmering ink inside as well as a mirror which she proceeded to use while she applied her eyeliner.

“Uh, is that really necessary? I don’t think anyone is going to see you in here so does it matter that you have makeup on?” John questioned.

Ellie laughed a little. “John, you gave me an alchemy lab and a book full of research. I found more than a couple things that were useful in both. For instance,” she said, finishing her eyeliner and looking towards John.

She blinked rapidly a few times before her eyes turned pitch black. “This is called Nightliner, it’s an alchemical cosmetic. Basically, you take mana infused oil, beeswax, crushed charcoal and dried powdered lampshade mushroom, which is a type of magical flora.

“You mix all that up and then you can apply it to your eyes in order to be able to see in the dark. The lampshade mushrooms have a much stronger effect if you drink them as tea but apparently there are some drawbacks, like headaches and disorientation when exposed to light.”

John looked at the pen for a moment before casting Observe:

Nightliner

Alchemical Cosmetic.
When applied to the eyes, it enables the user to see in complete darkness as if there was a dim light close by. The range of this effect is roughly a twenty-foot radius. While applied, the user becomes achromatopsic (totally color blind)
Effect lasts 2 hours
Aplications: 19/20

“That’s… useful… I did actually pick up some lampshade mushrooms in that dumb barrier last night,” John smiled.

“What is this barrier you were in last night?” Ellie asked.

“I’ll tell you about it as we keep moving, I’d like to find those two before they get hurt, and also think we have another pain in the ass to look for too,” John said.

As he turned around, he focused on his eyes and the tunnels became visible to him again. He began retelling his experience of the barrier with Hemet and once he finished they decided it was probably best to stay quiet as they continued on. The two were silent as they moved forward, straining to listen for any signs of the young girls.

The tunnels were obviously not natural, though they did have natural qualities, that is until the wall sconces began, and they got more and more common as the two moved further into the mountain. They came to a hollowed-out cavity, no more than ten feet wide and just tall enough for John to stand and take a break from hunching over. Four other tunnels led from the cavity but the area seemed good for a short rest.

“Damn, I almost started to crawl for a little while there, my back is killing me,” he laughed quietly.

Ellie smiled and nodded. The two then heard movement coming from more than one of the tunnels, and looked at each other before listening down each of the tunnels. The middle two seemed quiet.

“We should split up,” Ellie suggested, keeping her voice low.

“That is a bad idea, what if we run into whatever made these tunnels and put those skulls outside?” John reasoned.

“Okay, yeah, we could run into that, but what if the girls split up looking for that Sprout thing you were talking about? If we follow just one of the sounds and find Mimi, then Yatina and the Sprout could go deeper into the tunnels and what if any of them run into trouble? And we stayed together only finding one while the others got hurt?” Ellie argued.

John let out a sigh. “You aren’t going to let this go are you?”

“Nope.” Ellie smiled before kissing him on the cheek.

“Fine, but you are taking the amulet with you just in case,” John stated before pulling the necklace out of his equipment slot and looping it around Ellie’s neck. John wrapped his arms around Ellie before lightly kissing her. “If you run into anything, you either hide or run as fast as your legs can take you. Don’t wait for me, don’t try to fight, just get out of here and either go find Lani or wait at the Cullis Gate. I’m not losing you again.”

“Okay, deal,” she said as she walked towards the left tunnel. “And John… Love you.”

“I love you too, stay safe,” he replied as he walked down the right tunnel.

As he moved he saw a light coming from further ahead. Slowing down in order to make less noise, he crept forwards until he found the source: a sconce in a recess of the wall. His eyes began aching from the brightness; he thought about switching his eyes back but decided to tough it out thinking that maybe it was similar to when you’re in the dark and come into sunlight.

The sconce, though flickering like fire, seemed to be a red and orange crystal that gave off a fire like pattern. Even if his eyes strained trying to look at it, he decided to cast Observe:

Luminite

[Red Elemental Crystal] [Alchemical Ingredient] [Natural Enchantment]

These crystals are most commonly used as light sources, especially in regions where they are bountiful.
Skilled jewellers often cut these gems to use in a variety of jewellery and are favoured accessories of fire mages.
Crystalline Inferno: Fire spell potency is increased by 1.5% when using Luminite as a focus.

John reached over and took hold of the crystal before storing it in his inventory. He continued down the tunnel to find more sconces with more crystals. He collected ten before hearing movement ahead of him again. He slowed down and began watching his step as he got closer and closer to the source, when he began to hear voices. To begin with, it was hard to hear but he drew closer and could make out what was being said.

“Bad ones here. Others chase, not yet find. Think more here. Boss not happy,” one mousey voice spoke.

“Keeping look. Not want becoming ****. Make eyes looking,” another voice responded.

The voices obviously weren’t either of the young girls they were looking for or the pokemon-like plant. John was ready to bring out his claws but stopped as a popup obscured his vision:

Quest: Secret Weapon

Why waste a good surprise on weak enemies when you could wait until you are about to fight a much stronger one? Keep your draconic mutations hidden until you enter a fight with an enemy your level or higher. (Including your eyes)

Reward: Key to the Heart of Fire

John huffed internally before turning his eyes back to normal. The tunnels darkened but due to the crystals, he could still see... mostly. ’Seriously? I want to try my new claw powers out, and I can’t even do that, or at least I assume I can’t since what would be the point in giving me a quest if all the enemies in this place are as strong as me? I guess at least I know that it’s likely that anything Ellie runs into will probably be under my level and that I’m likely to only be using my claws for some kind of boss fight.’ He looked at the quest page again. ’What even is that reward?’ He scratched his neck. ’Well, obviously I have to get whatever that key is. It’s gotta be important for something or it wouldn’t be a quest reward.’

John slowly moved closer and peaked around the corner to see the source of the voices. Two figures stood facing away from John; they were no taller than two maybe two and a half foot each.

The thing that stood out about them the most was their red scaled skin and their snouts that reminded John of caimans he’d seen in the past, though they also had small nubs for horns and rabbit-like ears half the length of their snout that pointed back and down. The two would be identical in John’s eyes if it wasn’t for the clothing they wore.

The one on the right had most of its body in view barring a soft-looking loincloth. The fabric was brown but it was held in place by a rich green cummerbund-like belt. Around its wrists and arms were wrappings of the same green and it had a copper coloured necklace, though John couldn’t see much of it.

The other wore a dark brown tunic with a leather belt, a black fur mantle and a lighter brown hood. On its right arm, was a fur armband wrapped with light cloth which mirrored the one on its left ankle. Its ear was pierced with some kind of glass earring and a piece of string was tied around the end of its tail.

The two also held spears that looked to be made of some kind of wood and the luminite crystals; the one on the right had wrapped cloth all the way up while the other had several pieces of string with feathers and rocks attached to it.

It seemed to John that the two looked so alike that they dressed distinctively. John decided to use Observe on the creatures, though he had a good idea what they were.

Kobold Scout

Level 2
Kobolds were born from the blood of ancient draconic gods. They are deeply religious and see any act to the betterment of their clan to be part of religious worship.
Extremely good miners even rivalling and often surpassing dwarves, though unlike dwarves they lack skills in refining the things they mine.
Has orders to either kill or capture any intruders.

John ducked back into the tunnel again. ’Okay, so they are both currently facing away from me. I could go back and try to find Ellie but I don’t like that kill or capture thing, what if Sprout and the girls have already been caught, not only that but if they were to come down this tunnel while I’m going back they would see me anyway…’ John paused his train of thought taking a deep breath. ’The best option right now is to deal with these two and continue forwards, going back would probably waste time and if the girls and Sprout have been captured I need to find them and free them. I should try to avoid being seen, but there isn’t a way forward without going through them.’

He waited a moment while thinking of a plan. ’This is going to be bad if it doesn’t work,’ he thought.

He crept around to where the kobolds were, getting closer and closer before casting Theft twice, taking the weapons from the scouts.

Both yelped in surprise, and before they could do anything else, John equipped both spears and stabbed down into each of the creatures’ backs.

47 DMG (8 fire damage) (Critical Hit)

43 DMG (6 fire damage) (Critical Hit)

Both creatures let out a cry that cut off as they crumpled to the ground. A small pop up informed him he’d earned 70xp for both kills and an extra 30xp for killing both without either even knowing he was there.

He looked over the bodies and couldn’t really see anything he’d take as loot; most things on them were cosmetic, especially looking at the only thing they had in common between their two outfits which was a necklace with several teeth hanging from it. John stored one of the spears in his inventory and cast Observe on the other:

Luminite spear

A spear tipped with a sharpened luminite gem. A weapon favoured for its fiery properties by kobolds who live in luminite rich environments.
It has also been nicely decorated with small trinkets (these do nothing but make it more unique).
Infernal Edge: +1.5% fire damage

John followed the tunnel with the light of the spear and noticed as it grew in temperature. As he moved further and further down the tunnels, he began to hear drums which grew in volume until he saw one of the walls of the tunnel missing ahead of him. The tunnel became brighter and brighter as he approached and he stored the spear as he got near.

The opening was a window down into a large cavernous area. Several large platforms connected by stone bridges sat above lava rivers which were all fed from lava falls coming out of the walls high above.

Each of the platforms were filled with Kobolds who all faced towards a large stone throne upon which sat a kobold twice the size of any other in the chamber with wings furled into its back and flanked by two other kobolds that seemed to be a little taller than the majority.

Behind them on a platform raised slightly was something that drew John’s eyes though; a stone and lava woman, giant in comparison to the kobolds but maybe roughly John’s size, knelt above the kobolds who all seemed to be bowing and worshipping her. John decided she was probably the leader and cast Observe on her while keeping himself hidden from those below.

Agni

Heart of Fire
Level: 23
Race: Lava Slime/Golem (Sentient)

Info:
She is worshipped as a goddess which the kobolds have named ‘The Heart of Fire’ though this position is against her own will.
She is under the influence of a plant called the Fire Bloom.
Because of this flower, she is essentially a prisoner in her own body, locked in an endless wave of pleasure that makes her unable to coherently think.
Emotions: Euphoria, Confusion, Fear

Opinion:
She is unaware of your existence.

Sex Score: D
Relationship Score: N/A

John’s brow furrowed at the Observe sheet he had in front of him, then brought the quest log up beside it. ’I guess I found out what the ‘Heart of Fire’ is, but why do I need a key?’

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