Chapter 19 - The Great Forge

  "Robert, wake up," he heard someone call to him through what felt like a distant fog. "Wake up!"

  Alice, he thought, as his vision slowly shifted from the white mist of the Seer’s realm back to reality. Above him, Alice and Oswin were shaking him awake as a dull ache pulsed at the back of his head. Dazed, he looked past Alice’s and Oswin’s concerned faces, finding the hut’s roof above him. How did I end up on my back, he thought as he began to hear the commotion unfolding around him.

  "Could you at least have had the man sit down before jumping into his memories?" Jane said from somewhere in the room.

  "How was I supposed to know the priest had weak knees? I’ve never seen anyone collapse while using my powers before," he heard a raspy voice say.

  "He’s a healer, not a warrior, Hobb. He has no muscle."

  "I’m okay," Robert called out, gritting his teeth. "Someone hand me my staff."

  "Here you go, Robert," Oswin said, placing the oaken staff across his chest.

  Robert cast a heal on himself, then sat up slowly as the illumination of the spell began to fade. "What happened?" he asked, rubbing the back of his head.

  "You dropped like a rock, priest, as soon as this gray beard wizard cast his spell," Varg said, bursting into a laugh.

  “Well, next time can someone at least try to catch me before I hit stone?” he said groggily.

  "Perhaps, good priest. Perhaps. Did your journey go well? Was the king still there, stuck under that furball?" Varg replied.

  "Hah," Hobb laughed loudly. "That he was!"

  “Well then,” Varg replied, “it seems you’ve been satisfied, Seer. Priest, time for us to leave. We have our own tasks at hand. We need to get back to that bloody ship wreck before that wicked goblin flies off without us.”

  Robert nodded as they lifted him to his feet. While Robert recovered from his daze, the group all said their final goodbyes to Tim the jeweler and Jane the tailor, whom they had just rescued from their nightmare in the marauders’ den. The two had been through a lot, Robert thought, having witnessed the fracturing of their once strong family brought about by the curse of the trials the sight had laid upon them.

  A twinge of sadness struck Robert’s heart as the realization set in that they were leaving them behind, alone save for a wacky wizard in the middle of the Frozen Forest, to face the trials ahead on their own. But as he looked upon them one last time, he noticed the steel in their eyes. This place was their home, and they had been fighting off death all around them their entire lives.

  No, they would not be broken without a fight, he thought hopefully.

  “Let’s go, Priest,” Varg called out behind him from the hut’s door. Alice and Oswin were already outside making their way back to the airship.

  "I’ll be right there, Varg. I’ll catch up," he said, looking back to the warrior who was ducking low beneath the hut’s door frame.

  "Hmph. Hurry it up then, Priest. That creepy old man gives me unease," Varg rumbled in a quiet voice.

  "My hearing isn’t gone, you know," Hobb rasped as he sat on his wooden chair by his small eating table.

  "Mind your business, warlock," Varg barked. He then turned to Jane and Tim. "The rest of you, best of luck."

  With a slight nod of respect, Varg disappeared outside.

  Robert looked back toward Jane and Tim, who were standing by the hearth just in front of him. He unlatched the leather pouch at his belt and pulled out a red, glimmering ruby. The Ruby of the Night Guard, he thought as he inspected its striking beauty in the dim light.

  [Ruby of the Night Guard (Mythic)]

  "Tim," he said, "should you ever find yourself in need of days, I think this could be of use." Robert tossed the ruby toward Tim, who caught it in an open hand. He inspected it with wonder in his eyes as Jane spoke out.

  "Robert, we cannot possibly accept this," she said in disbelief.

  "It’s done, Jane. I wish I could have done more. Good luck to you both. You too, Seer," he added, looking toward the old man, who was now holding the large furry cat on his lap.

  "You as well, healer. Remember our travels," Hobb said as he raised a single hand in a gesture of goodbye.

  Robert simply nodded before turning to leave.

  “It’s true then,” Tim said as Robert paused briefly from his exit. “You were the raiders the sight spoke of when the great raid dungeon fell,” Tim said with a hint of awe in his voice. “The champions of the Raid of Stormskeep?”

  Robert smiled at the preposterousness of the title, but seeing the look of genuine wonder on the boy’s face, he replied simply, “I suppose we were,” extending his grin before making his departure from the small hut and back to the frigate waiting to carry them off on their next adventure.

  "You did what?" Varg barked in disbelief as the orc frigate ascended back into the sky. They all stood at the ships railing, watching as the village grew smaller and smaller beneath them.

  "I couldn’t leave them there with nothing," Robert said defensively. "Besides, I’ve made do with this simple casting stick. I can live without a ruby. We also have those new stone weapons as well."

  "We don’t even know what those can do yet," Varg rumbled, shaking his head. "A mythic gem, unbelievable," he muttered under his breath.

  Robert considered the stone weapons currently sitting in the captain’s cabin, their unnatural weight and current state preventing the use of any spells or skills while wielding them. Off to the Great Forge, he thought as the ship reached just below the icy cloud cover, time to figure out what tricks this game has in store for them next.

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  Opening his map, his vision was consumed by the magical display. The yellow arrow flickered at the top, directing them farther north. To where? Robert had no idea. The frozen forest of the north lay far beyond any place he, or his father before him, had ever traveled.

  “Sleep, humans,” he heard Brukk shout from the helm of the ship. Robert felt his center of gravity lean to the side as Brukk banked the large frigate northward before the orc straightened the wheel and began roaring out commands, “Zurni, full steam.”

  "Full steam!" the green goblin shrieked by the passage leading below deck.

  "Sleep? What is that?" Robert asked.

  "I can’t even remember the last time I slept," Alice said with a weary face.

  “Well, let’s all try to get a nap in while we can. I’m sure the orc will wake us when we near our destination,” Robert said as he began to walk toward the captain’s cabin for a long needed rest.

  [The Hour Unspent: 64 days remain]

  Robert awoke as the dimly lit captain’s cabin suddenly filled with the north’s gray morning light.

  "Get up, humans!" Brukk roared from the cabin’s entrance. "We are nearing the location. Prepare yourselves for battle."

  "I really hope this trial doesn’t require fighting," Oswin said wearily as he stood up from his resting spot on the wooden cabin floor.

  Robert, who had made himself a small resting place in the corner beside a barrel of old maps, stretched out his sore limbs before grabbing his staff and using it to pull himself up. Varg had claimed the massive bed of the previous orc captain in the opposite corner, while Alice rose slowly from a seated position on a chair where she had fallen asleep by the room’s main table opposite the entrance.

  "Oh, come on, orc. I was having a good dream for once," Varg rumbled.

  "No one wants to hear about your twisted dreams, Varg," Alice said as she walked toward the exit.

  Robert followed as Brukk moved aside, revealing the still gloomy, frosty weather awaiting them. At least it isn’t snowing again, Robert thought as he began to see his breath with every exhale as he exited the much warmer cabin.

  Checking his map again, Robert could see the yellow indicator, now a circular marker on the map just north of their position, indicating their quest location somewhere far below them. He walked to the edge of the ship’s railing as he felt the battered wood of the ship begin to creak, a brief sense of weightlessness washing over him as the ship slowly began to descend. Looking back, he could see that Zurni had the helm, steering the ship with the massive wooden wheel nearly twice his size and pulling metal levers a head taller than he was.

  “Bloody goblin,” Brukk called as he walked over next to Robert and peered over the edge of the railing. “Zurni, your repairs are falling off the side of my ship. What are you being paid for?” he roared.

  Robert, concerned by the orc’s statement, peered over the edge as well. A brief sensation of vertigo struck him as the snow covered trees of the Frozen Forest filled his vision. They had been traveling for almost a full day, he thought, and the forest still consumed the horizon. How far does this endless forest go, Robert thought as he noticed a scrap of wood nailed onto one of the holes along the ship’s side snap free like a spring.

  "She’ll hold, cap’n!" Zurni screeched as Robert watched two more haphazardly placed boards break free from the side of the ship. The gears rattling below deck sounded strained as the great vessel increased the speed of its descent through the frigid morning mist.

  Checking his map once more, he could see they were settling directly over where their trial had been leading them to, but to Robert’s dismay there was no town or city below where one might expect to find a great forge. Please don’t be a dungeon, he thought grimly.

  A short time later, to Robert’s dismay, they discovered the next trial was in fact a dungeon. After strapping their mysterious stone weapons to their backs and disembarking from the ship via the ships wooden ladders descending through the Frozen Forest’s thick, snow covered canopy, they approached a low rise cave emerging from the snowy ground. Entering it, just past a shallow descent of frost covered rock, they reached a purple rippling dungeon portal filling the circumference of the cave. The entrance to their next great trial of ascension, Robert thought.

  [Trial Dungeon: The Great Forge (Recommended Levels 30+)]

  Wonderful, Robert thought, remembering how underleveled he still was compared to the rest of the party. At least recent quests had leveled him enough to be of some use in the battles ahead, no longer the complete burden he once had been. Reflecting on his recent past, it felt like a lifetime had passed to Robert since he had first accepted the road of quests and adventure.

  [System: Trial dungeons are locked to those participating in the Trials of Ascension. Those not participating will be unable to enter.]

  "Bloody hell," Varg exclaimed. "I hope this is a killing dungeon."

  "Oh dear," Oswin said. "I hope it’s more puzzle based, personally. What about you, Master Brukk?"

  "I don’t care," Brukk growled before walking forward and leaping into the swirling portal.

  "Well, perhaps we should strategize," Robert started, but Varg leapt into the portal next.

  “Ugh, I guess we can discuss after seeing what’s inside,” Robert said to Alice and Oswin, who remained with him. Alice wore her frightening looking mythic Helm of Fortitude, her eyes unreadable through the slitted full helm, better prepared this time against mind invaders like the Seer and the Blood Baron at least, Robert thought. “Well… let’s dungeon,” he added as all three leapt together into the Great Forge.

  Robert crashed onto a hard floor as he was flung from the portal into a dim square room. His boots landed with a clank atop a strange metallic floor built from large square plates covered in small brass rivets. At the top right corner of each floor panel was a brass handle sprouting upward. A strange script, composed of a language he did not recognize, was inscribed at the center of each.

  "Up you go, priest," Varg said as he pulled Robert effortlessly to his feet with a massive hand.

  “Thank you, Varg,” Robert said, trying not to vomit as he regained his balance and began to look around the large room with the others. It was a perfect square with what appeared to be steel walls and a steel encased ceiling. A single torch crown dangled from the center of the ceiling, providing the only illumination in the room other than the glowing exit portal. He did a quick scan of the walls, searching for an exit, but to his growing concern, none could be seen.

  "Are we trapped in here?" Oswin asked with a hint of terror in his voice.

  Robert was about to respond when a booming voice echoed through the metallic chamber.

  "Halt. Who enters my domain, my tomb? Who seeks damnation alongside me?"

  The guttural voice pierced Robert’s ears as everyone in the room began to shield their ears with their hands, the commanding sound seeming to come from nowhere and everywhere all at once.

  As the voice’s echoes eased, Robert released his hands from his ears and grabbed Varg by the arm, stopping the boisterous warrior from whatever obscenities were about to leave his mouth.

  "Let me speak for us," Robert whispered as his ears still rang.

  Varg looked back at him, rage and pain burning in his eyes. "Fine… priest," he said through gritted teeth.

  All five of them gathered in front of the exit portal in a defensive formation as Robert spoke.

  "I am Robert Ford, and this is my party. We are in search of the Great Forge," he said in a reserved yet commanding tone.

  “You seek death, then... Leave now with your souls intact.”

  Robert grimaced as the voice bore down on him like a massive weight. Pushing back at the pain, he responded. “Unfortunately, should we leave now, the only thing that awaits us is death itself. We are on a Trial of Ascension, and we seek the Weapons of Fate.”

  There was a long pause before the voice finally responded.

  "You speak of worse things than death, cleric. Go now. Die as you lived, without shame, without regret. Or accept the trial and its fate. Decide."

  Robert looked around to his party, his friends, for confirmation. He looked to Brukk, who simply gazed at him with his usual frozen expression of unreadable rage. He looked to Alice, who simply shrugged. Then to Oswin, whose eyes looked as if they were about to tear, and lastly he looked to Varg, who stood defiantly, looking upward, unafraid of what was to come. Robert sighed, then steeled himself.

  "We choose the trial," Robert said firmly.

  Then the exit portal behind them disappeared.