Calum and Cedrik were the first to get to the cart. They each grabbed a backpack and their canteens plus one canteen apiece. Asling, Robert, and Pythias were next. They each grabbed two extra canteens, which left three for Pandora to grab. She made it over to the cart, put the five canteens in her Wristband of Holding, and put the backpack on.
“What are those Orbs floating around you?” Robert asked
“What orbs?” Callum asked.
“There are a lot of orbs floating around Pandora,” Robert said.
“They’re the item I was able to choose,” she said.
“Really, there were no magic items that I could see,” Robert said.
“You’re right, we can talk on the way, we should head out. Who’s leading?” Pandora asked.
“What are you two talking about?” Callum asked.
“I will. My perception is pretty high,” Cedrik said as he answered Pandora.
“Okay fine, whatever. As for our marching order, Cedrik can lead, I’ll come next, then Robert, Pythias, and Pandora, you three are in the middle, however, you like. Asling you have the back, I’ll be up in the front behind Cedrik,” Callum said.
“Sounds good,” Asling said as everyone fell in behind Cedrik and Callum.
“How about I help Asling take up the rear, “ she said as she let Robert and Pythias take up the middle. They all walked in silence for the first ten minutes until they went over a hill and couldn’t see the equipment building anymore.
“Okay Pandora, where did you find those magical orbs?” Robert asked.
“They were in the building?”
“No, they weren’t,” Robert said.
“No, they weren’t in the room where you all picked up the weapons but they were in the building?”
“How’d you know to look for them?” Pythias asked.
“Lucky guess,” she said.
When they realized no more information was forthcoming they stopped asking and they all started paying more attention to their surroundings. About half an hour later they came over a hill and saw a lush oasis laid out before them. It wasn’t very big, maybe a hundred feet in diameter but there was a pond, trees, and even some grass. Near one edge of the lake, there was even a tree with some orange fruit hanging down from it.
“Hold,” Callum said
“How did that get here,” Asling asked.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“The City sits on the outskirts of where a giant rock from the sky hit. Outside The City for a least a hundred miles, four days journey, there is nothing but sand and some cactus plants and monsters that spawn. There are no rivers, lakes, or oasis inside that hundred miles from the edge of the city,” Asling said matter-of-factly.
“Where does the city get its water from?” Pandora asked.
“Magic mostly though there is supposedly a well that goes very deep into an underground lake of some kind,” Callum said.
“Let me try something,” Pythias said as he pulled an amulet he had hanging out on a chain around his neck and whispered, “Let that which is real be made seen!”
The rest of them watched as the oasis disappeared to be replaced by a giant hole that was at the bottom of the dune. From their vantage, they could see teeth and a fluid of some sort covering the entire opening.
“Sandworm, a Matriarch, watch out for the fledglings!” Asling called as the ground around them exploded and worms four feet and length with a diameter of about half a foot jumped at them from all directions.
WARNING, You have been attacked by Fledgling Sandworm for 3 points of damage. Fledgling Sandworm has attached to your right thigh and is draining your blood, 1 point of damage per second.
WARNING, You have been attacked by Fledgling Sandworm for 3 points of damage. Fledgling Sandworm has attached to the inside of your left leg and is draining your blood, 3 points of damage per second.
WARNING, You have been attacked by Fledgling Sandworm for 2 points of damage. Fledgling Sandworm has attached to your back and is draining your blood, 1 point of damage per second.
As the worms attacked and bore her to the ground, she looked to the others and saw that she had been attacked by the most worms. The others were dealing with only a single worm each. Callum had blocked the one attacking him and had taken his sword and skewered it. Asling had drawn a dagger and was fending off the worm attacking her. Robert hadn’t been so lucky and had been knocked to the ground with a worm attached to the center of his chest. Cedrik had dodged his worm and was making short work of it with two daggers, one in each hand. Pythias was sheathed in white light as he struck with his hammer, though the worms seemed to be less affected by his blunt attacks.
Pandora grabbed two of the worms and ripped them free throwing them at the hole below.
You have taken 5 points of damage when Sandworm was ripped free of you. You are now bleeding for 6 points of damage per second from your left leg’s femoral artery.
You have taken 4 points of damage when Sandworm was ripped free of you, you are now bleeding for 4 points of damage per second from damage to your right leg.
The two worms she threw missed their target and ended up on the other side of Sandworm Matriarch. The worm on her back, she couldn’t do anything about. She wished there was a way that she could get the worm off her back and off Robert. No sooner had she thought that twenty of the orbs zipping around her became visible and slammed into the worm on her back and on Robert.
Your Orbs of Chaos have inflicted 40 damage on Fledgling Sandworm. Fledgling Sandworm has died. You have earned 20 XP. ? Base 40 XP
Your Orbs of Chaos have inflicted 40 damage on Fledgling Sandworm. Fledgling Sandworm has died. You have earned 20 XP. ? Base 40 XP
The Orbs returned to her and started orbiting again. Clear my sight line, she thought and the orbs shifted to orbit lower around her. she looked around again and noted that everyone else had also killed their worms. she rushed over to Robert and carefully removed the worm from his chest as Pythias came up and placed a hand on his head whispering, “Let that which is unwhole be made whole!” A golden light surrounded his hand and washed into Robert. Just then she realized that she was starting to feel lightheaded and dropped to her knees.
“Pandora, your bleeding!” Pythias said as he looked over at her.
“All she had time to think was, Yep, as she pitched forward into the sand and everything went dark.
In what only felt like a few moments later, she opened her eyes to see everyone around her looking down. Pythias, looked at her worriedly and then asked, “Pandora, are you okay?”
Pandora groaned as she tried to move, “Not exactly, how long was she out?”
“You’ve been out for about 5 minutes and the wounds you had have now stopped bleeding but honestly they should have killed you.”
“What do you mean?” she asked. “Wait, did we get all the worms, what about the big one?”
“The big one isn’t going anywhere,” Callum said. “When they get to that stage they just sit there, also they are really hard to kill. The two little ones are lying on the other side of the big one dead. I think your orbs got them.”
“Speaking of hard to kill, why aren’t you dead?” Pythias asked.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Pandora looked at him questioningly before he continued, “I was able to save Robert but when you took those two worms and threw them you ripped them out of yourself doing even more damage and increasing your blood loss. After you passed out, lines of white energy appeared on each of your wounds that were bleeding and they sealed and stopped.”
Pandora opened her interface and checked. she was down to 50 hit points. Next, she pulled up her combat log.
You have been hit for 3 points of damage, 1 point of bleeding
You have been hit for 3 points of damage, 4 points total bleeding per second
You have been hit for 4 points of damage, 8 points total bleeding per second
You have ripped a Fledgling Sandworm off inflicting 2 points of damage and doubling your blood loss. Blood loss increased to 11 points per second.
You have ripped a Fledgling Sandworm off inflicting 1 point of damage and doubling your blood loss. Blood loss increased to 13 per second.
That would have been 7 points of damage that first second, and 5 points a second later. That same second she would have done an additional 3 points of damage for a total of 8, so 15 points of damage on the 2nd second Then 13 more points the next for a total of 28 points of damage. It had taken her only 3 seconds to Robert for another 39 points of damage. After 5 seconds she’d lost 67 of her 151 Hit Points. Then she found the reason she’d passed out.
WARNING Caspa has used pure Chaos to sear your wounds. You have taken 26 points of searing damage.
Willpower Saving Throw failed, you have passed out.
45 of 151 hit points remaining
Pandora checked her hit points. In the last five minutes, she regenerated one hit point every minute. That wasn’t fast, but it was faster than most people. No matter how much damage she took, she’d be back to healthy in no more than 3 hours. she also noticed that her orbs were nowhere to be seen. she reached out and tried to feel them with her mind and realized they were circling the party. she opened her interface and tapped on the Orbs of Chaos tab.
Orbs of Chaos
Set to Defend Owner and assigned Party
Orbiting at a maximum of Intelligence in feet.
One Stationary Threat Detected.
Pandora tapped on “Defend Owner and Assigned Party and requested a definition.
Defend Owner and assigned Party – 50% of Orbs will defend the owner when unconscious or incapacitated. This is the default setting whenever the bonded owner becomes unconscious or incapacitated. Of the 50%, half will block attacks and half will attack any targets that have attacked the bonded owner. The other 50% of the orbs will defend any party members that are within five feet of the bonded owner.
At higher skill levels the distribution of defending orbs can be modified. Those without any skill are limited to the default setting.
NOTE: The Anti-Orb does not defend unless specifically directed. If the bonded owner becomes unconscious or incapacitated the Anti Orb will attack any hostile targets within range.
Pandora recalled the Anti-Orb and found that it had been attacking the Sandworm Matriarch for the last 5 minutes for 4 hps per second. Over five minutes that was at least 1,400 points of damage and it still wasn’t dead. What the hell was that thing?
Pandora looked back into the faces of her party and rose to her elbows, “I’m fine, that hurt quite a bit, but I’m fine,” she said.
“You didn’t look fine,” Pythias said.
Pandora stood up and brushed herself off as she set the orbs to invisible, “The better question is how do we kill that thing down there?”
“We can’t,” Callum said. That thing has,” Callum started to say then paused for a moment. “Have any of you been attacking the monster? Asling have you been shooting it?”
“You’ve been standing right here with me Callum? Have I been shooting it?”
“No,” Callum said.
“It was one of my orbs,” Pandora said and then explained when they all looked at her questioningly, “When I went unconscious my orbs went defensive, except for one of them. I guess it really doesn’t like when its bonded owner goes down. The description said it attacks all hostiles in range,” she said.
“Well, that explains why the two small ones died. It also explains why the Sandworm Matriarch has 696 of 2,100 hit points left,” Callum said.
“How do you know that?” Cedrik asked.
“One of my abilities is Analyze. I can tell what something, is, its level, and how many hit points it has.”
“What level is it?” Asling asked.
“It’s only level 10. she bet it has a lot of hit points because it’s really big.”
“Level 10, that means it’s worth at least 5,500 XP,” Robert said.
“How do you know how much XP it’s worth?” she asked.
“That’s easy. You take the sum of the levels and multiply times 100. A level 1 critter would be worth 100 XP, a level 2 critter is worth 300 XP. The XP will be divided amongst everyone that helped with the attack though,” Asling said.
“You said a minimum?” she asked
“Yeah, if you are higher level the XP is reduced. If you’re more than double the level of the monster you defeat, the XP is reduced by half. You only get full XP if your lower level. Because we are all less than half of its level, if we can kill it, we’ll all get a double XP award. That means we should each get 1,833 XP. That would be enough to get to level 2.”
Everyone, except for Pandora looked back excitedly until they all looked at Callum who then looked at her and asked, “Pandora, can you use your orbs to attack that thing until it’s dead?”
“Sure,” she said hesitantly.
“Okay everyone but Pandora, you need to do an attack that damages the Matriarch for at least a point of damage,” Callum said.
“I have my bow, everyone could try to shoot an arrow into it. It shouldn’t be too hard,” Asling said.
For the next half hour, Asling helped everyone learn how to shoot and put an arrow into the maw of the Sandworm Matriarch. After each shot, Callum would check to see if the damage was done. It took a half hour because both Robert and Pythias had the hardest time using the bow. Callum and Asling did their damage with the bow and Cedrick threw a jar of burning oil. He’d pulled a jar out of his backpack, lit it, and tossed it into the hole..
After they all looked at him for a minute he looked a bit sheepish as he said, “I brought a couple of jars of flammable oil along, you never know when you might need burning oil.”
After the oil stopped burning Callum let them know that it was slowly regenerating then looked at her, “You ready for this Pandora?”
“Sure,” she said as mentally told her Orbs of Chaos, Attack the Sandworm Matriarch until it is dead. 21 orbs zipped out of orbit around them and down into the belly of the Matriarch. Three seconds later she received a notification.
Level 10 Sandworm Matriarch has died. You are awarded 916XP ((((5,500 x 2) / 6) / 2).
“Yeah!” Callum called triumphantly as all five of her teammates briefly glowed a light blue. “Wait, Pandora, you didn’t level?”
“No Callum, she only received 916 XP. It’s normal for me. Don’t worry about it. I’m still really close to level two though,” she said.
“Besides, coming out here isn’t about the experience, it’s about the Loot!” Cedrik called as he walked lightly over to the very lip of Sandworm Matriarch and touched it with a finger.
Cedrick would like to share loot from the Sandworm Matriarch with you.
Your Share of the Loot is as follows:
Coins: 1 Gold, 5 Silver, 15 Copper.
Items Looted
Sword Long +1 to hit and damage
Long Bow +1 to hit and damage
2 quivers of Normal Arrows.
Two Venom Daggers
A Wand of Magic Missiles with 20 charges, Recharges 1 charge per hour
Amulet of Sanatio, Increases all healing done by clerics of Sanatio by 100% and increased regeneration by 1 MP per second.
There were more messages but they just contained messages about normal adventuring gear; backpacks, canteens, and the like.
“What are these messages?” Callum asked
“It’s one of the rare Rogue Class abilities that I received when I picked rogue as my class. I was told that doesn’t often happen. Anyway, I can loot any monster or corpse I have helped defeat and whatever is on them or in their inventory appears at my feet, unless I have something that can hold the items like a backpack or such,” Cedrick said.
“Okay, then why the message to us from the Dungeon?” Pythias asked.
“Well, there are two modes of treasure gathering for my Loot ability. The first mode gives me all of the loot and sends messages out to only me, whether I’m in a party or not. I can only loot creatures I have killed or performed the majority of damage to. The second mode allows me to share the loot with my designated party. I can loot all corpses killed by any of you and any treasure is split evenly among the party. I’ve been told that as I get higher in level I’ll be able to manipulate the system a little more. Right now though, it’ll only show you your share of the treasure and any items that I looted so everyone can have a say in who any looted items go to.”
“Seems pretty straightforward,” Robert said
“Yeah,” Callum said taking over,” It looks like everyone here gets an item, except for Pandora.
“I’m fine with it,” Pandora said. “You said the messages are from the Dungeon?” she asked turning to Pythias.
“That’s the current theory. We all live in a dungeon. It should go without saying that the messages should come from the dungeon,” Pythias said.
“I think you might want to pray on that idea Pythias. I know I’m new to this world but I do know for a fact that the first message prompts she ever received happened before she entered this Dungeon world,” she said.
“Maybe you were in a dungeon where you came from?” Asling asked.
“Maybe,” she conceded. “Well Cedrick, if these messages are correct it looks like you have treasure to pass out.”
“I do,” Cedrik said, “I’ve made more coin in this last hour than I have in the last couple of years,” he said as he went around passing out items and money to everyone.”
“Cedrick, where did all the items go when you looted them?” Asling asked.
“I have a Belt with a dimensional holding space. It was a gift from my parents,” Cedrik said as he moved around handing out the coins and items. The sword went to Callum. The Bow and quivers to Asling. The Amulet went to Pythias and the wand went to Robert. “The daggers are mine, of course,” Cedrik said with a grin.
“Sorry you didn’t get anything Pandora, “Callum said as the others all said the same thing.
“No worries, I’m sure I’ll get something eventually,” Pandora said with a smile.
“I did go around and try to loot the worms but the only thing I received was worm meat and items like that the Message system doesn’t usually tell other party members about. Do any of you want some of it”
“Gods no!,” said Asling as Callum as Robert turned green.
“Is it good?” she asked
“It can be if you know how to cook it,” Pythias said.
“How do you know that,” Cedrick asked
“I know a guy that knows how to cook it!” Pythias said.
An uncomfortable silence came across the party until Callum said, “Okay then, if everyone is good to go, we need to keep moving. We’re burning daylight and we need to make it to the halfway point today. Cedrik if you would lead the way, around the big hole in the ground if you would,”
It was only 10 in the morning, and they had a lot of hiking to do before they made it to the first tower.
