Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

The beast that had fallen into a frenzy readily followed its target. Once above the open sea, Hubert turned their ship south to circumvent the island of Bazilark. After passing the island’s tip, they could get back on course and aim for the detached continent of Tyrybh’z.

200 meters below, the ocean was frothing from the winding, endless seeming snake body that was relentlessly following them. Without the island’s support, the Koor Worm was unable to reach them this far above the water.

The quest was counted as fulfilled after they and the worm left Bazilark far behind them. Seth had gained two levels since they entered Keväti Kuinen. He had gained 10 Universal Attribute points and 15 normal ones.

Universal meant, that they could also be invested into the attributes that could usually not be increased with points such as Personality and Luck. Obviously, Seth pumped all 10 into luck bringing its base values to 86.

He used the other 15 APs to even out his other attributes, bringing Strength to 180, Agility to 150, and Willpower to 175. Seth joined the others after he finished distributing his points.

Having averted the crisis, the party sat down in the community area to talk about their further actions.

“You don’t think this thing will be able to do this after we entered the mainland, right?” Rich asked nervously.

“No, I was able to collect a lot of information. The island was hollowed out with caves, like cheese or a sponge. I don’t think the beast can do the same on solid rock.”

“Right, I almost forgot that you went to get info. Was there anything useful?” the hero asked her.

The girl recounted what she found out about the ancient kingdom, its connection with a dragon, its fall, and the ruins at the northern shore of the detached Tyrybh’z.

“How long would this journey take us?” Seth asked Hubert. After all, they were burning his magic crystals to continuously fly.

“I-I don’t know. Maybe five or six days to reach the continent and another two to cross the land?”

“Which means we would have another four days to the next blood sun when we arrive. It would be great if we found the dragon bones at that time. “

“I don’t think finding the location will be hard. Actually, finding the dragon bones will probably be the greater challenge.” Cade asserted.

“Right! If it was a fairy tale, we will probably have to overcome a whole dungeon filled with deadly traps, to finally reach the Dragon’s Hort where the beast’s undead skeleton waits to take our lives. Or something like that.” Ellie ended her narrative when she noticed everyone’s gaze.

Rich’s flag had taught everyone, except Ellie, the lesson not to voice out these kinds of thoughts. Even if this worst-case scenario happened anyway, it was better not to mention it beforehand.

“Let’s just hope that won’t be the case,” Harker said with a sigh.

…

A group of adventurers was standing in a plaza among a vast field of ruins. The remnants of an ancient city.

“We reached our destination.”

“Goddamnit! I knew we shouldn’t have trusted your stupid voodoo magic.” a wide man with a pair of axes at his belt complained.

“It’s fortune-telling, you dumb oaf! What else would we have done? There is nothing but ruins in this place! We barely found a place to shield us during that judgment day.” a man clad in intricate robes scolded.

“Oaf? Me?! Your dysfunctional skill made us walk two weeks through the wilderness, only to end up in a giant ruin.”

“The giant ruin saved our lives. You should thank me.”

“So what? Now we are stuck here, hundreds of miles from any kind of coast or shore. This is definitely not where the quest was supposed to lead us.”

“Will you two shut up for a moment? I have to concentrate.” a woman in sand-colored trousers and a shirt interrupted them. She was wearing a unique pair of glasses with several different lenses. Two small horns peeked out from her hair, as she bowed down to examine the floor.

“I can feel a small arcane current in this place. Help me get rid of the moss and earth here.”

The rest of the group set into motion, to help her clean up the place. One of her classes was archeologist, a higher branch of adventurer. They had specialized skills to research ruins and gain special knowledge from ancient artifacts or old texts.

This even went as far as to infer the meaning of dead languages and unknown hieroglyphs. Standing in the remnants of an ancient city, meant this was her home turf. The others understood that following her call was the best chance in this place.

With the place cleared, a platform of several rings with engraved runes was revealed. The archeologist was immediately fascinated and started transcribing the runes and inscriptions in the place while the others set up camp.

“As I thought, the fortune teller did not lead us wrong.” she finally stated after a few hours.

“What did you find?” the leader of the group asked. He was a dashing young man, wearing silver armor and a large lance on his back.

“This square is a transportation hub. The central platform was used for teleportation to similar formations in cities on other continents. The texts speak of a great empire that had united the whole world at that time.”

“Do you think this could bring us closer to our destination?”

“Hmm, I don’t think the fortune-teller brought us here on accident. Even if it doesn’t, if it gets us to a place where we can find more information it will already be a big help.”

“See, you oaf? I was right.” the robed figure commented smugly.

“Hmph.”

“First, we have to get it to work. Although withered, I believe the formations are still in working order, but we need to somehow power this place.” the Archeologist said.

“I might not fully understand the language but let me take a closer look. I might have an idea.” the group’s enchanter proposed.

While the rest of the party cooked and lazed around, these two worked on reactivating the teleportation formation.

“Okay, fess up. Does anyone have any monster cores still left in your inventory?”

“Errm…”

“Uhm…”

Everyone avoided eye contact.

“Come on guys, we need to power this thing somehow.”

Only slowly, did they bring out monster cores one by one, forming a small pile on the ground. The enchanter could only sigh.

“Fine, this should suffice for one go. Hey Fortuneteller, can you try to make out which destination we should choose?”

The archeologist instructed the robed figure about the runes on the floor that were needed to lock in on a destination.

“Will this really work?” the Fortuneteller was unsure.

“Of course.” the enchanter assured him.

“Let’s rest here for a few more hours and travel there when night falls.” the leader proposed.

“That might not be a good idea.” the archeologist argued.

“These transport formations were used for travel and trade over vast distances. It might be daytime on the other sight when night falls here.” she asserted.

“What should we do in your opinion?” the leader asked. It seemed that he was the type who listened to his teammates.

“Since we can’t know where we will end up, let’s rest up until we fully replenished our energy and go then. This way we are prepared, no matter where and when we arrive.”

Her proposal was met with much agreement from the rest of the group, who had already gotten comfortable in their campsite. They had been traveling for days without a chance for some good rest.