Pit was feeling better, so Felix asked him to keep watch on the path back, which the tenku did with a huff of annoyance. Remember, Pit. If you see someone, send me a message this way, then run to me as fast as you can. Got it? Felix received a warm assent that felt like a beak nudging against his leg, for all that Pit was over forty feet away by then. Companion Pact is such a cool Skill. It was getting closer to Apprentice Tier and Felix hoped they gained another benefit as they had at level 10.
He took the time and contemplated the Skill within his core, trying to reach some sort of new understanding. Magda roused before he was able to do much, however. Felix got to his feet, calling Pit over with a brief pulse of intent through their pact and the tenku obediently trotted their way.
"He's different," Magda said from behind Felix. He turned and raised an eyebrow at her.
"He's grown an inch or so," Felix agreed. Magda waved her hand.
"No, he looks different. I didn't notice when you had him in your arms. He's not as...blurry. He had four eyes before and now I only see two. And his wings..." Magda scratched her head and blinked a couple times, as if she wasn't believing what she was seeing.
Holy shit, Felix had a hunch. "What does he look like now?"
Magda frowned. "Like a bird and a fox had a weird baby. His wings look like normal bird wings now."
"Up on the surface, I'm pretty sure he was being affected by whatever illusion made the fog. It made him seem scarier, from what I could tell, which made others attack him," Felix explained. "This is what he normally looks like. What he's always looked like to me."
Magda tapped her chin. "Then the spell that makes the Foglands the Foglands isn't in effect here. Why?" Her eyes lit up, suddenly transforming her entire tired face. "The artifact. We were right. It's down here, negating the power of the illusion."
Felix's eyes widened. He'd just about forgotten about the artifact. It wasn't important anyway, not to him. He could see just fine in the Foglands.
"Tch, damn. Still no Analyze though." Magda grunted, and Felix's eyes widened. He hadn't thought of that.
That's lucky for me. No illusion but still interference. Why?
Magda seemed charged with a new energy, moving quickly to the nearest passage off the circular room. "Since we can't go back, and we can't climb out, our only option is to move forward. Deeper."
Felix nodded. They had learned that early when Magda attempted to scale one of the impossibly high walls. She had done just fine up until the fog completely obscured her, then she described the wall as becoming slick and impossible to hold onto. They assumed it was a spell of some sort, though Felix's Manasight wasn't able to pick up anything from them.
"And what will we find when we go deeper?" Felix asked, worried he already knew the answer. "I don't imagine it'll be puppies and rainbows. Not if the giants were after it."
Magda frowned. "All I know is that Callie said it was something bad. Something that spooked even her, and she's one of the toughest people I know. She figured it had to do with the artifact, though. Could be if we find the artifact and destroy it, then this entire place stops functioning. Then we can escape."
"That reminds me, how is this spell still working? Haven't the Foglands been like this forever?"
"Not forever, but for the past two Ages, yes, as far as we can tell. Haarwatch has only existed for a few hundred years, barely a blip compared to some places on the Continent." Magda ran full out through the empty corridors, Felix pushing himself to keep pace despite his Agility almost reaching 100. Her Running Skill must be sky high!
"Right, so this spell might have been around since the...Second Age?" Felix asked, innocently as he could.
"What?" Magda panted and gave him a brief look. "No, the Third Age."
So that means it's the Fifth Age now. "But that means this spell has been running for...?"
"Two thousand years, give or take a few centuries," Magda shrugged, her damaged armor squealing slightly. "That's why I think this artifact must be powering it. It's probably a Mana Battery of some kind. Some Nymean ruins had things like that, small fist sized objects that drew in ambient Mana to power simple workings."
"But this spell is the size of the entire Foglands. How big is that? How much Mana would that require for two thousand years?" Felix's mind boggled at the numbers he was hearing, even as he grew excited at the knowledge.
"Big. No one's been able to map the Foglands before. So this artifact is gonna be huge, maybe the size of a building or a ship." Magda shook her head and grit her teeth. "At least it won't be hard to find," she grunted.
Felix hoped not.
Another thirty minutes passed this way, with Magda taking the left tunnel at each intersection.
As obviously dangerous as this place was, Felix was continually surprised at the amount of death and destruction he encountered. The walls were scorched, pierced, and liquefied in spots where deadly traps had triggered, and they found bit and pieces of humanoid bodies scattered all around. It was clear that the imprisoned Guilders had died over and over to push this far into the Labyrinth. The only upside, as far as Felix was concerned, was that they hadn't encountered a single armed trap themselves.
Pit was feeling better, at least able enough to run on his own. They made better time that way, and unburdened Felix was able to truly feel his new Body in motion. The ease of movement was exhilarating, each step smoother than before, an explosive power in his muscles that had not been there previously. With Magda in the lead and Pit taking up the rear, Felix let himself revel in the sensation.
That, of course, was when he stepped into the trap.
They had entered a "T" shaped room, two twenty foot wide corridors set perpendicular to each other, the walls carved with the same flowing, intersecting lines as always. The floor was dressed fieldstone, big rough blocks of blue-grey stone placed into the ground in whatever combination fit, and half of it was coated in a thick moss. As Felix stepped on an innocuous stone, he heard a terrifying clicking noise, likely the last thing many prisoners had heard in this life.
Then the wall beside him exploded in green fire. He was hurled sideways.
"AAAH-!" Felix howled, cut short by a sudden impact into the far wall. He felt the wall give slightly as a deep crack formed in the stone, and Felix fell heavily to the ground.
Fire Resistance is level 19!
"Felix! Get up!" Magda shouted from what seemed a very far distance away, but Felix's vision was blurry and his ears were ringing. A sense of alarm and fury radiated into his chest. Then the clash of steel and low pitched snarls pushed passed the buzzing in his ears. With a snap, his vision and hearing refocused, and Felix came to his feet.
Nearby, Magda was fighting two huge serpents, each the size of a school bus and made of a solidified green fire. She blocked and smashed at them with her shields, but they were strong, and between the two of them were wearing down her shields quickly. Pit was launching Frost Spears at them from a distance, but the ice was melting before it hit their fiery hides, doing only minimal damage. Since she was tanking both of them, Magda kept getting in Felix's light of sight, so he gathered himself and rushed into battle.
Relentless Charge!
Mantle of the Long Night!
Felix blasted forward, ripping up the moss between him and the monsters in a wave of concussive force. He moved faster than ever, appearing before one of the two serpents almost as if he had teleported. Without hesitation, Felix let loose his aura skill, hoping his ice might have more benefit than Pit's. A wave of freezing wind radiated outward from Felix, spinning in a ten foot radius and instantly coating the moss beneath his feet with a layer of frost. He heard Magda curse slightly but didn't have time to apologize for catching her in the radius. The serpent struck.
Corrosive Strike!
Meeting it's darting head with his own fist, Felix watched almost in slow motion as the emerald flames dimmed within his aura, leaving it vulnerable as his acid-coated fists clobbered the serpent right in the snoot. It's face crumpled, burning blood squirting in all directions as he broke the skin and cartilage that made up this nightmare beast. He threw Analyze at it.
Name: Greenfyre Serpent
Type: Elemental
Level: 30
HP: 735/981
SP: 555/562
MP: 156/234
Lore: Composed of poisonous flame, the Greenfyre Serpent is dangerous to engage in melee. Attack from a distance.
Strength: AGL, DEX
Weakness: INT, WIL
Already committed to his actions, Felix shrugged off the warning and waded in with another three strikes.
Corrosive Strike!
Corrosive Strike!
Corrosive Strike!
The serpent's head snapped back each time, more and more of its burning blood launching up into the air and sizzling against it's own flames. His Mantle was hurting it more than his unarmed attacks, so Felix took a chance and dropped his fists. The serpent immediately struck, flinging its wide open mouth in the Nymean's direction. Moments before its maw snapped closed, Felix put a hand on the upper and lower jaw, stopping the beast in its tracks. With a burst of Willpower, he flared his Mantle, shaping it's effect directly into the serpent's open mouth. Not all of the aura moved how he wanted it, but his 182 Willpower was not to be denied and most of it shaped into a wide blast of icy wind. A flare of purple-white light went off above Felix's left shoulder, and the Serpent's green flames flickered and died in seconds.
Mantle of the Long Night is level 11!
Mantle of the Long Night is level 12!
It's body fell limply to the ground, now a dark, burnished looking brown. Felix panted lightly, surprised at how easily it died. He turned and saw Magda still using her shield to bash her opponent senseless, its body-fire guttering. As he watched, the Greenfyre Serpent reared back and struck, lightning quick, clamping onto Magda's left arm with his huge fangs.
Before Felix could react, a barrage of yard-long icicles speared the creature's head. He grinned at a panting Pit, whose mouth still glowed from the icy discharge. The serpent fell with a resounding thud, it's mouth opening and releasing Magda. Unwilling to take a chance, Felix ran forward and blasted it with Acid Stream. Devoid of lifeforce, it's body began melting almost immediately, so he cut it off.
"You ok?" Felix asked, putting a hand on the shield warrior's large shoulder. She had fallen to a knee, cradling her left arm close. A few seconds later, Magda leaned back and looked up at him.
"Yeah," she breathed, her eyes red and jaw clenching. "I'll be fine."
Her arm was pierced straight through, a large yellowed fang still embedded in the flesh. It glowed an awful, sickly green.
She was poisoned.