“I don’t know what Bubblegum is Smart Ass!,” Pandora said to Pythias

  It doesn’t matter,” Callum said. “We need to make our way to the next tunnel entrance. Pandora, why don’t you check the ledge above us and make sure it’s clear before we move.”

  “On it,” Pandora said as she lifted her head and looked down the ledge. Callum had been smart to ask her too, there was another, what looked like a, fence wall holding back rocks that looked like they were about to fall. “There are more rocks up here about 20 feet toward the tunnel. Asling do you see anyone near another lever?”

  ` Asling peered over the edge and looked down and around,” I don’t see anything…wait, behind that tent a little farther down the wall there’s a shadow. There’s a gnoll up against the wall there, hiding next to something.”

  “On it,” Pandora looked over the edge, and sent 9 of the orbs down to attack and kill whatever was making that shadow. If they discovered a lever there they were to kill whatever was touching the level and keep everything else away from it. The orbs sped off and moments later she was rewarded with a prompt.

  Congratulations You have killed a Level 12 Gnoll Fighter

  You have received 2,600 XP from assisting your party in this kill. Half XP Shared with Caspa. Total XP Award: 1,300

  Pandora quickly checked her messages and noticed that she’d received 917 XP for the Gnoll Asling had shot with her arrow, then said, “There was a Gnoll there, but it’s dead, I have some orbs guarding the lever, I suggest you get down the tunnel, when you’re all in the tunnel I’ll jump down and draw some attention.”

  “You sure you want to do that, it looks like there are between 30 and 50 down there,” Robert said.

  “Go, my breath weapon is on cooldown, but I should be able to use it soon. Looks like it has two cooldowns. Right now, I can use it three times, once every ten seconds then I have to wait a full minute for it to recharge one use.”

  “So, you have two more uses in another couple of seconds,” Cedrik said. “Good, don’t use it on the Fortress unless they are stupid enough to put themselves on the bridge, then knock them into the shadow realm.”

  “Sounds good, now go!” Pandora said.

  The five other members of the party ran across the ledge and entered the tunnel with no problem. Just then the portcullis at the end of the bridge started to rise. It looked like they were going to be stupid after all.

  As soon as the portcullis was four feet above the bridge a horde of goblins came racing out. Here goes nothing! Pandora thought as she slid off the ledge, caught the air, and raced toward the bridge. A few arrows were shot at her but her natural armor and the two orbs she had protecting herself blocked the attacks. When she was near the bridge she let loose her breath weapon. Her breath weapon looked to have a range of about 60 feet and spread out as a cone 30 feet wide at the end. She caught fifteen goblins in her breath weapon as fifteen notifications popped up.

  You have shifted Level 10 Goblin into Shadow Realm

  You have shifted Level 9 Goblin into Shadow Realm

  …

  Pandora banked and rose back to the ledge where she landed and looked down. 15 Goblins hadn’t made much of a dent. As she landed she noticed a Dark Elf. The Dark Elf seemed to be casting a spell and targeting Pandora. This should be a little surprising, Pandora thought as she grinned. The Dark Elf grinned right back at her and cast her spell.

  A black orb flowed from the elf’s hands toward Pandora. Pandora had regenerated 27 hit points so far and was sitting at 1,840 of her 2,215 hit points. She was pulled out of her thoughts when the dark elf called up to her.

  “Come little dragon, be my pet, we have Adventurers to slay!”

  Little Pet?

  “Little pet, did you hear someone call Pandora a little pet, hold on,” Pandora heard Cedrick’s voice say from the tunnel.

  Pandora’s mind was drawn back to the black orb which she lazily absorbed.

  You have absorbed a Level 42 Charm Monster Spell. Heal Self/Temporary Hit Point Bonus has converted 42 spell levels into 126 hit points. You now have 1,966 of 2,215 hit points.

  “What a shame, now I have to kill you,” the dark elf said.

  Just then a memory of an attack her mother had used against a pretentious knight popped into her mind. He’ll yeah, that might actually serve that bitch elf right. As Pandora leaned forward and fell off the cliff she caught sight of Cedrik out of the corner of her eye, then the others as they made it to the lip of the tunnel and looked down, “10 gold on Pandora killing the Dark Elf in one blow,” Cedrick said.

  “While I have no doubt that Pandora is powerful I don’t think she will be able to take out the elf in one shot, I’ll take that bet,” Asling said.

  Just then Robert looked around the corner and saw the Dark Elf planting her staff, “Sorry Cedrik, I’ll take that bet. You’re about to lose some money, she planted her staff, it probably has a barrier defense of some kind.”

  “That’s fine,” Callum said. “My money is on Pandora.”

  “While I would normally never stoop so low as to actually make a bet against someone in my party if I were to wager money I would wager it on Pandora,” Pythias declared righteously.

  The Dark Elf planted her staff, and a barrier of energy surrounded her as all of the other creatures around her backed away then in a normal tone that all members of the party could hear she said, “Cedrik is it? I’ll take that bet and all of your gold after I kill Pandora and all of you.”

  “Good luck with that bitch!” Cedrick yelled back. There’s one thing you don’t know.”

  “And what is that worm?” The Dark Elf asked.

  “Pandora is all out of Bubblegum!”

  The dark elf looked confused for a moment just as Pandora folded her wings and rotated backward bringing her tail up, over, behind, and then into the Dark Elf. The last thing anyone saw of the dark elf was a smug smile until Pandora’s tail caught her flat against her whole front side. Pandora’s tail went through the barrier like it wasn’t even there then slapped the dark elf so hard that bones could be heard cracking by the party up on the ledge. The tail slap was so well executed that it lifted the elf off over her feet and flung her across the cavern to slam into the wall of the fortress off to the left side of the bridge with a loud

  “SPLAT!”

  As the mage practically exploded.

  Pandora spread her wings and came to a stop, hovered for a second as she looked around, and then flew toward the wall where what was left of the mage was starting to fall away from the wall with a loud sucking noise. Pandora altered her trajectory, caught the mage’s body with one clawed hand and the staff with the other as she banked and headed back up to the ledge.

  Below the army of Goblins Orcs and Gnolls looked at her with awe, shock, and fear. A moment later the trance broke and all of them started running for the drawbridge into the fortress. Pandora paid them no mind and flew back to the ledge where she landed and put what was left of the dark elf's body down in front of Cedrik and the staff in front of Robert. Then she shifted back to Human form and looked at Asling and Robert, “You bet against me? Seriously?” Pandora asked.

  “Well, it was a mage and she looked really powerful,” Asling hedged.

  “And she put up that barrier, by the way, how did you take down that barrier?” Robert asked.

  “First, Asling she tried to make me her pet slave, What would you have done if she’d tried to make you her pet slave?” She asked before she turned to Robert, “And you, did you already forget I can absorb spells, including barriers if I know about them?”

  Asling muttered, “I’d have killed the bitch.”

  Robert pulled out ten gold coins and handed them to Cedrik, “Sorry Pandora, I forgot about the barriers counting toward that ability.”

  “Ah hem,” Pandora said holding out a hand to Asling and Cedrik.

  “Awe, common, that’s…fine,” Robert said as he handed 10 gold coins to her, followed quickly by Asling giving Cedrik and her 10 gold coins each as well.

  Pandora held the twenty gold coins for a moment, then pocketed one from Asling and Robert and handed the rest back,” The one coin is for betting against me. 10% if I’m not mistaken. I would not expect to get any of your money back from Cedrik though, she said with a laugh. This brought out a laugh from everyone as Asling, Robert, and Cedrik put their coins away.

  “Look at them run, you scared them good,” Callum said.

  “Yeah, but they’re going to get back into the fortress, we’ll have a hard time getting in.

  “Not to worry,” Cedrik said. “Places like that always have multiple ways in and out we just need to find it, he said as he moved forward and touched the mage, looting the corpse.

  Robert leaned forward and picked up the staff as Pandora opened her notifications.

  "Congratulations You have killed a Level 65 Doppelganger Mage.

  You have received 71,500 XP (71,500 halved to share with Caspa and doubled due to the dark elf being twice your level.) XP divided amongst the party due to the party leader’s setting

  Congratulations! You have reached Levels 20,21,22 and 23! You now have 32 attribute points to allocate.

  “Holy…sorry Pythias,” Cedrik said.

  “It’s quite all right. I am assuming you were commenting on our advancement to level 30?” Pythias asked.

  “Yeah,” Cedrik said.

  “Yeah, level 30 people, we seem safe enough for the moment, everyone off the ledge just in case then we’ll spend our points,” Callum said as he led everyone into the tunnel to the cavern floor below.

  “One kill and we received 5 levels, how much XP would you have received had you taken all of the XP?” Asling asked Pandora.

  “Hey, it’s not about me. You all forget that my companion, Caspa, is way higher than all of us. Even with what we just received, for her to increase by one level we need to earn 577,567 XP. I should hit level 34 by the time she increases that one level.

  “Not to jinx us but has anyone else noticed for a brand-new dungeon there are some extremely high-level creatures and beings in here?” Pythias asked.

  “The gnolls that Asling and Pandora killed were level 10 and 12 respectively,” Callum said. “Pandora, what level was that mage?”

  “It was level 65,” she answered.

  Also, how exactly did you kill a level 65 mage?” I mean I know you were a dragon but I’d like to know. I didn’t think it would be possible at your low level, with maximum damage rules in play,” Robert asked.

  “Maximum Damage rules?” Pandora asked.

  “Yeah, no matter how much damage you think you should do, all attacks have a maximum amount of damage they can do. For instance, Callum is using that Long Sword. A long sword can do up to 8 points of damage and with a little luck or a critical strike, it could be doubled up to 16. No matter what else he does he can never do more than 16 points of damage with that Long sword. Though its magical nature makes it so that he gets to add one allowing his sword to do 2-9 points of damage and double to a maximum of 18 points of damage,” Robert said.

  “That’s easily understood, so what’s the problem with my attack?” Pandora asked.

  “Simple enough, unarmed attacks usually do less. I’m just wondering how much damage your unarmed attacks can do,” Robert said.

  “Let me check,” Pandora said as she opened her combat log.

  Combat Log

  …

  Pandora absorbs Level 50 Glove of invulnerability, 150 hit points added. Current Hit Points 2,116 of 2215.

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  Pandora strikes level 65 Dark Elf Mage with Special Attack: Spinning Tail Strike.

  Target is Flat-Footed, Critical Hit Achieved. Damage doubled.

  Base Damage 12x2 for Special Attack. 24 Damage

  24 Damage doubled for Critical Hit. 24x2 = (24) Maximum Damage.

  Damage output exceeds maximum damage output by 100% maximum damage.

  Target flung.

  Level 65 Elf strikes fortified wall for leftover damage from Spinning Tail Strike.

  Level 65 Dark Elf mage takes 24 Damage.

  Target had 12 hit points. No armor. The initial strike knocked the level 65 Dark Elf Mage Unconscious. 24 Damage upon striking the fortified wall Killed Dark Elf Mage. Pandora kills level 65 Dark Elf Mage.

  Pandora read the combat log again then laughed, “She splatted against the wall and took damage I couldn’t do to her because I’d already achieved maximum damage,” Pandora said.

  “So, what’s your normal damage?” Robert asked.

  “It looks like my normal damage is somewhere between 1 and 12. The flip I did with my tail doubled the damage and I achieved a critical strike because she was considered flat-footed. The damage would have doubled again but she’d already taken maximum damage so instead, she was flung. When she hit the wall she took the rest of the damage I was supposed to do to her as impact damage. So, all in all, I hit her for 48 points of damage,” Pandora said.

  “So, what you’re saying is that you didn’t kill her in one blow Robert,” started to say

  “The very last line of the final notification states very clearly ‘Pandora kills level 65 Dark Elf Mage’ As I struck her once, it counts!” Pandora declared daring Robert to stay something.

  “As I have no money in the game as it were, I have to side with Pandora on this one Robert. She only struck the mage once and then she died,” Pythias said.

  “Fine, I was just giving her a hard time,” Robert said.

  “Not as hard a time as the wall gave a certain dead mage,” Pandora said then muttered, “Become your pet, my ass. Who’s worm food now?”

  “All right everyone, get your levels and spend your attributes. We have more to do,” Callum said.

  Pandora opened her interface and put some points into her agility and dexterity as well as her wisdom, willpower, and perception then picked up the “Heal Other /Temporary Hit Point Bonus” aspect of her Absorb ability.

  Heal Other/Temporary Hit Point Bonus: The spell levels absorbed may replenish 2 hit points per spell level absorbed. Absorbed levels converted to hit points that go above the target’s maximum hit points provide bonus hit points that fade away at the end of the next combat round. All damage during that time is taken by the bonus hit points first. (May not be used on self). Spell levels absorbed to heal others do utilize the same absorbed spell levels pool as all other abilities described here.

  This ability would allow her to store up to her willpower in absorbed spell levels Whether it was only up to her willpower of 30 or her combined willpower of 517 was yet to be seen but the ability to heal an ally would be a game changer for the party. With everything she’d been hit with so far, being limited to only 30th-level spells or lower would not be good.

  She looked over to see what the others were up to and noticed that everyone was smiling. Callum looked up and said, “I picked up Resolve, it lets me get 50% of any damage I’ve taken back for five seconds and halves all incoming damage. On the downside, after five seconds the hit points are lost. I’m not sure if that means I just lose any that I haven’t used or if I get 5 hit points back, I’ll lose five right away.”

  “I picked up Haste, it has a 10% per Combat Round mana cost but doubles my attacks and speed. Since I don’t use mana all that much, it’ll be a nice addition,” Asling said.

  “I picked up Shadow Walk,” Robert said. “It sounds a lot like Cedrick’s ability. I figured since we’re staying together, I should pick something that supported our Shadow Dragon.”

  “I picked up Shadow Teleport,” Cedrick said with a smile. Unlike Shadow Walk it allows me to teleport anywhere I can see. If I’d had it back during the rockslide I wouldn’t have been hit, I’d have already been under Pandora.”

  “That does sound cool,” Callum said.

  “I picked up True Sight,” it lets me see through illusions and can even be used to detect hidden and secret doors.”

  “That’ll be really useful,” Callum said. “Everyone has spent your attributes, correct?”

  Everyone replied in the affirmative.

  “All right, Cedrik, if you’d lead the way,” Callum said.

  Cedrik took the front with Pandora close behind, followed by Callum, Robert, Pythias, and Asling. The tunnel they followed was unimpressive and led down in a slow circular path. When they reached the bottom they came out of an entrance that couldn’t be seen from the ledge above. In front of the party was the fortress wall with the mote of green slime about 50 feet away. Off to their left was the draw bridge which was still down. The portcullis unfortunately was closed. As They looked around the corner one of Pandora’s orbs deflected a crossbow bolt that had been flying toward Cedrick.

  “Cedrik, how’d you like to clear that window up there?” Callum asked.

  “On it,” he said as he teleported away.

  Pandora quickly sent 6 orbs to the window to protect Cedrik which left only one defending each of them. The other 9 were still guarding the second lever to the ledge trap around the wall to their left. She couldn’t recover them until she could see them.

  They all heard guttural screeches and a couple of screams then the portcullis started to rise.

  “Well, what are you waiting for an invitation,” Cedrick called down.

  Pandora sprinted toward the bridge, recalling her nine orbs guarding the lever as she ran by the wall and put two on defense for the other four of her companions and the last for herself. That left three orbs for defense on everyone except Cedrik who had six. These orbs were definitely worth the effort of learning how to use them. She looked at her skill level and was pleasantly surprised to see that both her HTH combat and Mage Orb Skills had gone up to level 12. Considering she’d pretty much blown herself up and used the orbs defensively for the most part, she wasn’t surprised the skills hadn’t leveled for a little bit.

  The five of them ran across the drawbridge and were surprised to find the inner courtyard of the drawbridge empty There were some dwarves in cages off to their right but it looked like most were in the process of dying.

  Callum saw the prisoners and called softly, “On me, Pythias, save whom you can.”

  As the party started to follow Callum the Portcullis slammed shut and a loud laugh could be heard.

  “Ha! Ha! Ha! Adventurers come into the dungeon to try to take the treasure, cept Bog smash skulls, and take the treasure from you!” a 12-foot giant, no, an ogre said as it walked out of the tunnel in the back wall of the courtyard.

  “Pandora, any chance you can swap to your Dragon form and put the hurt on that giant of a beast? I only ask because my Analyze ability is coming back with question marks which means it’s at least twice my level,” Callum said.

  “Yes, and I’d just like to say, keep those heals coming,” Pandora said as she moved in front of the party and spent 500 mana to turn into her Shadow Dragon form.

  The ogre seeing a Dragon in front of it charged. It must have been an ability because in a moment the ogre was right beside Pandora swinging its club at her head. Her dexterity was high enough that she was able to move her head out of the way, but she still took a solid hit to her body.

  You have been struck for 20 Damage (Base 10 (+10 Strength Bonus)) with Giant Club

  Combat was now engaged. Pandora saw Pythias and Callum appear on the ogre’s right and left respectively while Cedrik appeared out of thin air to drive both of his Venom daggers into the Ogre’s Back. The next few seconds went crazy as everyone attacked.

  Callum has struck Ogre for 9 points of damage with Long Sword +1

  Pythias has a truck ogre with Divine Strike for with hammer for 12 points of damage.

  Cedrick has successfully performed a dual backstab. Damage 16, Poison damage 2 hp per combat round for 10 Combat Rounds

  Asling has used Bullseye to perform a called shot into the Ogre’s Left Eye, 12 points of damage.

  Robert quickly cast magic missile for 15 points of magic damage done from five magic missiles.

  Pandora reaches forward with her Right front claw and rakes the front of the ogre for 24 points of damage, 12 plus bonus strength damage, maximum 24

  Pandora quickly looked at her combat log after the first combat round because she was wondering how this ogre was still standing after everyone had hit it. The Ogre must have some serious hit points.

  Cedrick disappeared from the Ogre’s back, and another arrow appeared in the Ogre’s other eye, effectively blinding it, as Pandora reached out with her left-clawed arm and grabbed the club. She was betting the ogre was strong, just not as strong as her. Pythias swung his hammer and connected and Callum hit it with his sword again. Still, it didn’t go down.

  The ogre tried to pull the club back for a swing, but Pandora was correct and the club didn’t budge. The ogre recovered quickly and kicked out blindly. Pythias was able to block the attack with his shield, but he was still kicked back from the melee and tumbled to a stop up against a wall in the courtyard.

  Pandora had been watching her orbs try to block the attacks, but it looked like the Ogre’s strength was just overcoming them and they were having no effect. That was fine Pandora would do something about that now. She gave the command for all 21 orbs to attack as she called out, “Hold back for a second.

  Callum stepped back and defended himself while Pandora continued to hold the club then the ogre became a pincushion as 21 orbs hit it almost simultaneously. Pandora checked her combat log.

  Ogre struck by 21 Mage Orbs.

  Damage done 84

  Pandora had expected the Ogre to drop, but no it was still standing after that. Just then an Arrow hit the Ogre in the throat as Cedrik appeared behind the ogre and used his dagger to slash at its left heel. Callum stepped forward and attacked with his sword. Pythias picked himself up off the ground and cast a heal spell on himself while Robert shot five more magic missiles.

  “Why you hurt bog,” the Ogre said as it rushed forward to try to grab Pandora by the neck, which it somehow succeeded in doing. Instantly Pandora took 21 points as it started to choke her.

  Pandora was having none of that and shape-shifted back into her human form as she stepped backward out of the cloud of shadows and fell back as she did so, breaking the grasp of the Ogre. Cedrick jumped forward and slashed the ogre’s right heel as Asling put another arrow into its throat. That was four bullseye shots, she should be running out of stamina soon, Pandora thought.

  Callum moved forward and struck the ogre with his sword as Pythias rejoined the attack and hit the creature with Divine Strike.

  The ogre swung blindly at Callum and missed while two magic missiles from the wand struck the ogre.

  Cedrick rushed forward and jumped. Whether it was on purpose, or he slipped, both of Cedrick’s daggers went into the ogre, one each into the crease of its torso and leg. It looked like he’d attacked the creature’s groin.

  The ogre reached for its privates, smiled for some reason, and then fell forward dead.

  “Cedrik!” Pythias called admonishingly.

  “What? I went for the arteries in its legs. I didn’t take a dick shot. I mean seriously, everyone saw the smile on its face right? It died knowing it still had its dick.” Cedrik said.

  “Callum shrugged, whatever gets the job done, but yeah that would have been over the line, nice thought though.

  “It’s called the Femoral Artery,” Robert said.

  “The what again?” Asling asked.

  “The femoral artery,” Pythias said. “It’s a major artery that carries blood into and out of your legs. If it’s severed and not healed or cauterized quickly you’ll bleed out pretty fast. We don’t normally see wounds there as healers. The dead don’t need healing.”

  “Good to know,” Pandora said, “We need to make sure the area is clear.

  “She’s right, Cedrik loot the corpse to storage, share later. Everyone looked around and watched for another ambush.

  The party methodically searched the whole fortress only to find obvious signs of passage toward a wall that looked to be fully intact. Pythias cast True Sight and let them know that the wall was a wall.

  “My guess,” Robert stated while they were all standing in front of the wall, the army we saw broke into the dungeon through an entry point here.”

  “So why did the hole seal up,” Pandora asked.

  “Just a guess, but I think that mage was holding it open somehow. When she died they must have all fled. I’ll bet the only reason we had to fight the ogre was because it couldn’t fit through the opening as it was closing,“ Robert said.

  “Sounds plausible,” Callum said.

  “So, what now?” Asling asked.

  “Now we look to see if there is another deeper dungeon level. Normally dungeons have a minimum of three levels. This is technically the 2nd level so there should be another level.

  “Well, let’s look around. Also, we all leveled again, make sure to spend your attribute points. A suggestion, more endurance, and constitution. That fight was pretty close.”

  “What level are you all now?” Pandora asked.

  “36,” Cedrik Replied

  Pandora checked her level, “27,” she called out before anyone could ask.

  “Nobody should have unlocked another ability but we’re getting closer,” Robert said.

  An hour later they’d finished exploring the Fortress and could find nothing. There were no hidden walls, secret doors, or other ways out of the fortress. Cedrick found the second release for the Portcullis and they made their way out onto the drawbridge when Pythias exclaimed, “Found it!”

  “Where?” Callum asked.

  “The slime over there to the right, it’s an illusion. There’s a ramp down, I can see it. Follow me,” Pythias said as he led them across the drawbridge, around a few of the tents that were still up, and then flush with the rock wall in front of the mote.

  “Looks like slime in a moat to me,” Cedrick said.

  “The slime on the right side of the Drawbridge is real. This whole left side is not. However, if you step off anywhere but here, it’s a good drop to the floor below and it doesn’t look like there’s any way to get back up here if you survive the fall. The ledge goes down at a steep angle into a hole under the fortress and keeps going down. There is no rail on the right side so you could fall into the hole. Just keep your hand on the rock wall on your left and follow me like this,” Pythias said as he put his hand against the rock wall on his left and stepped into the slime slowly sinking as he walked forward.

  “That’s just weird,” Cedrik said.

  “I’ll go next,” Pandora said. I’ve got the most hit points here so it should be me.” Pandora stuck out her hand and walked out onto the slime. As soon as her head was a foot below the illusion she could see Pythias in front of her. “Once your head is a foot under you can see just fine, the illusion is invisible from below,” She called back to the others.

  Cedrick came next and then teleported down to be next to Pythias to look for traps as Robert, Asling, and Callum brought up the rear. Once everyone was under the illusion they shifted around so that Pandora was third, then Callum, Robert, and Asling brought up the rear.

  “That’s an interesting setup for a dungeon, if someone in the party sees the illusion right away the party can bypass the second room’s boss fight, whatever it was. I think we missed out because of the mage and the ogre. They probably killed it before we ever entered the dungeon,” Callum said.

  “Yeah, the dungeon can’t reset as long as there is one non-dungeon creature inside it.”

  “So, everything that was on that level was real?” Asling asked.

  “Seems so,” Callum said.

  “Cool, I shot a real ogre in both of its eyes,” she said excitedly.

  “Come on, let’s stay focused, good job, but we’re not safe yet,” Callum said.

  Cedrik led the way with Pythias beside him. Pythias kept True Sight up and also his glow which would alert any enemies but it allowed everyone to see since they were all staying pretty close together.

  The tunnel went down until they were a least 100 feet passed the front wall of the fortress then leveled off. It went directly under the fortress until Pandora was sure they were behind it. The tunnel turned to the right in a bend and they could see something sparkling in the distance. Pythias put out his light and Cedrik moved forward silently. When he was about fifty feet from the tunnel exit he stopped and then motioned for the rest of them to move forward.

  Once they were close Pandora could see a giant crystal of some sort floating in a room. This far back they couldn’t see how big the room was but they could tell that there was a wall not too far beyond the Crystal

  “Robert, what is that?” Callum whispered

  “How am I supposed to know, you have the Analyze ability?” Robert whispered back.

  “You have the Identify skill, it’s obviously magical,” Callum said.

  “Yeah, and I have to touch the item to use it. Your ability has some range right?” Robert responded.

  “Yeah,” Callum said resignedly. Callum moved forward about forty feet before he nodded and hurried back to the party.

  “So what is it Cedrick said,”

  “Analyze gave me the ‘This object cannot be Analyzed,’ error. Looks like it’s up to Robert to Identify it, “Callum said with a grin.

  “Fuck!” Robert exclaimed.

  “I didn’t see anything else, so we’ll all move up to the entrance together. The crystal is about 40 feet beyond the end of the tunnel. We just need to make sure the room is empty, except for the crystal before we step in,” Callum said.

  The group moved forward together and looked into the room. It looked to be about eighty feet across, eighty feet wide, and forty feet high. The only other entrance was on the opposite side of the room. Pandora noticed a slight blue sparkle beginning to form at the tip of the crystal and issued a command to her Orb of Air. Just as Cedrick was about to step out, when his foot left the tunnel to be exact, there was a crack and Cedrick was pushed back into the tunnel.

  Pythias rushed over to Cedrick who looked none the worse for wear. “It was the pressure wave that knocked me back. The lightning struck something in front of me,” Cedrick said.

  “That would be my Orb of Air,” Pandora said as she summoned it back over to float around her. She received a couple of notifications as the lightning bolt struck it.

  Orb of Air absorbs Level 10 Lightning Strike. This spell may be cast from the orb at any target. The Orb may only hold spells from its element and only one spell at a time.

  Congratulations Mage Orb Skill has increased to Level 13

  “What happened Pandora, “ Robert asked.

  “The orbs can absorb spells like I do, except they can only absorb one spell and they hold it until I recast it at something. The spell essentially becomes mine,”

  “That’s all fine and dandy, and I am actually really excited about the prospect, but we can talk about that later. We have to get to the tunnel on the other side of the room. Does anyone have any ideas about how we’re going to accomplish that without getting zapped by the big crystal of death” Cedrick asked.