+14 damage with melee weapons, +140% carrying capacity
38/100
Wisdom
35 (30)
Governs mana regeneration and memory
+250% mana recovery, 1.7ppm, 250% more likely to remember things, -50% mana regeneration until mana manipulation reaches level 10.
17/100
I dismissed all the prompts and scanned the cavern. The Kobolds were still huddled fearfully in the corner, and the surviving animals remained in their pens. The surviving Tiger had apparently found a friend in Barrett, who was slowly and gently feeding it.
I forced myself to my feet and spoke, drawing every eye and ear immediately.
“Thank you all. That was a hard fight, and the side effects of the manual for the horse, well, that kinda sucked… but I’m all right now."
"I know the Drow haven’t moved to come down this way; with some luck, they don’t know about us, but we have to be clear. We’ve made a fuckton of noise. The only reason they won’t know we’re here is if they’re as self-absorbed and assholish as we really think they are. So, let’s fucking hope for that.” That got a grin from the others, and I noticed the pile of gear set to one side, and more importantly, my chest piece. While I was out cold or fighting for my life in a weird fucking magical dreamworld, someone had beaten as much of the dent out of my armor as was possible. I pulled it back on and Cam gave me a slow nod.
“Did you do this?” I asked him, and he gave another nod.
“Thank you, Cam.” I said with a smile. “I’ll be more careful in future.” I pulled the armor on and looked through the pile of loot: a few nice spears, some daggers, a couple of non-magical rings, and a handful of gold and silver. All would useful at some point, no doubt, but for now, the best items were the last bits: three health and a single mana potion, which I handed out to those that were the lowest in the party, wishing I still had the majority of my ingredients with me.
The only potion I could probably make right now was one that’d stiffen the old trouser snake, thanks to the Drow’s ingredients, and I really didn’t think that’d help in the next battle.
Admittedly, I could use it as an extra weapon and beat them to death with it, but I’d just end up in therapy later.
We checked everyone over, healed up any injuries, and pocketed anything we thought would be useful later, and then I went to speak with the Kobolds.
“Do any of you understand me?” I asked. Several of them perked up at my words, but I didn’t know if that was because they understood, or they were trying to look attentive in the hope of avoiding a beating. “If you understand me, put your hands on your head,” I said, and after a few seconds, they started looking at each other, a barrage of words I couldn’t make out followed, and then the entire group put their hands on each other’s shoulders, looking confused.
“Well, fuck,” I muttered, shaking my head, they clearly understood slightly, but fuck it. “Okay, we already freed a bunch of your friends and let them escape further down the tunnels. You can go find them and do whatever you want, just stay here until we’ve gone, okay? Then, just go do whatever, and try not to get eaten, I guess.” I shrugged and turned back to the rest of the group and gestured to them.
“Come on, guys, let’s go get this over with,” I said, stretching awkwardly and trying to get rid of a knot in my shoulder as I looked at them. “Horkesh, tell us if anything changes with your drones. Bane, lead us out of here.” With that, my team started moving, and I took up my usual position as second in line, the group behind me gripping shoulders or asses, as per their taste, and we set off back to the main tunnel.
Once we reached the split in the path that we’d entered from, I made sure we were all ready, and Bane started us off along the higher tunnel again.
Chapter Twenty-Four
We hid in a side tunnel, waiting as the spiders explored and came back, Horkesh and her drones communicating, and then Horkesh relaying the twists and turns ahead of us, until finally, half an hour later, one of the spiders didn’t come back, and we knew we’d found the Drow settlement.
The spiders bunched up around Horkesh, and she hesitated, hanging from the wall close to me at head height. It was a mark of how used to her I’d grown that I didn’t try to bat her away, but deep inside, I still instinctually wanted to Firebolt her in the face.
“We can’t go on. If you die, and the Drow find us, they will attack the Queen, we… I… would help, but…” I nodded to her in understanding.
“It’s okay, Horkesh. Thank you for your help so far; I know it’s not been easy, especially after you were injured. Return to Queen Ashrag. She will know when we kill the Drow and the quest is completed, so you don’t need to risk yourself any further.” She looked at me for a handful of seconds, before spinning in place and darting away, her drones going with her.
We all paused momentarily, then shrugged at each other. 'Spiders were just weird’ seemed to be the general consensus.
It didn’t take long to find the remains of the spider that had gone missing, or at least to find some bits of it. The area looked like it was supposed to be a guard post, but it’d been abandoned, the arrogant Drow wandering off with the spider’s corpse. As we snuck along a tunnel a few minutes later, we could see a light up ahead, and here and there on the floor were sections of chitin that I thought I recognized as the Spider drone’s carapace.
I could hear voices up ahead, and Bane
