The Shadow Labyrinth: A LitRPG Adventure Read online

  Della grabbed her daughter's hand. "I should get things set up. Zara told me all about the what's happened since you arrived in these lands. Helping the settlement grow is important." She started to turn away, then smiled back over her shoulder, adding a wink for good measure. "I'll see you later."

  A triumphant Zara had her arms crossed, lips bunched, a glint of amusement to her gaze.

  "You're very proud of yourself, aren't you?" he asked.

  "Quite, actually," she said, giving a girlish curtsey. "You need a little happiness, and she seems quite devoted to you."

  Newt had said nothing but his head was tilted.

  "A question, Newt?" asked Terran.

  The bookish mage glanced away, the corners of his lips tugging downward. "I have yet to find myself in the arms of another, and you have acquired two."

  Terran shared a look with Zara. She put her hand on his shoulder. "You might want to start with not ever using the word acquired. But I know what you mean to say. First we'll have to get you out of the Conservatory, meet some nice Rock Leaf Elf girl, or guy, whatever your preference."

  "I find many people in the settlement quite pleasing to the eye. Sanisar makes lovely mushroom soups and the arborist knows much about many interesting things," said Newt with his hands behind his back as they strolled amid the lush, colorful forest. His ebony skin shone against his light purple robes, which were cinched around the middle with a black belt encrusted with turquoise. "But the one who tends the trees I find most interesting of all."

  "Elia," said Terran. "She's quite a bit older than you."

  Newt stopped and stared back, unblinking. "Is similar age a requirement for good companionship?"

  Zara stifled a grin while Terran explained. "No, not at all. I guess similar interests and companionship are all that matter, but I'm not an expert."

  "That's an understatement," said Zara, stretching her shoulder.

  "How should I go about inquiring about the compatibility of our interests?" asked Newt.

  Terran pictured their initial meeting with Newt confusing Elia with his overly formal diction.

  "Would you like me to inquire on your behalf?" he asked.

  Newt brightened, lifting his head, while the corners of his lips fought to curl upward. "That would be acceptable. Thank you, Terran."

  Zara grabbed his arm, staring at him intently. "Now that that's out of the way, what happened on your trip? You were all cryptic about what was going to go down, and now you return, and you're glowing like Heavenly Death."

  "You can't see the tag?" asked Terran.

  Both his friends shook their heads. "What tag?"

  "Demigod," said Terran sheepishly. "When I went to the hidden valley in the mountains, the Offworlder in the Mother Tree, Andelain, she sacrificed herself to give me the remainder of her power."

  Zara took a step back. "Shadows below, that's crazy."

  "It was. But I'm afraid even this won't be enough against Howling Wind. We need to build up the settlement, and fast. I don't know how long we have. Probably the only thing keeping them from overrunning us already is the ocean," said Terran.

  "We're here for you, for all of us, really," said Zara, puffing her up chest and making a fist, which she squeezed. "The last time we saw the Wind, we had to escape into the desert. The next time, I'll be taking some bird heads."

  "I concur," said Newt, dispassionately. "We are considerably more powerful. They might find our refusal to acquiescence to their demands disappointing upon a second encounter."

  "Agreed, but the four of us aren't going to stop an army," said Terran. "Which is why we need to build up the settlement. I really need to call the council. There's so much to do."

  Zara gestured past him. "Good timing."

  Heading towards them, taking long strides and giving them a perfunctory wave, was Petram, the Rock Leaf Elf shaman. Before he arrived, Terran muttered to his friends, "Say nothing of my demigod status to anyone."

  "Better yet, we'll leave you two to discuss things until the council meeting," said Zara, taking Newt with her.

  "May I have a word, Terran?" said Petram when he arrived, his forehead wrinkling with decision.

  "Finally, someone not calling me Lord Terran." He searched the shaman's expression. "You can feel it too, can't you?"

  Petram closed his eyes momentarily. "As the Glen's shaman, I am connected to its people. When she passed, I felt it."

  "I'm sorry," said Terran. "I didn't know what was going to happen."

  Petram's lips were squeezed tight. "I know what happened that day, including that you tried to sacrifice yourself so that she might endure."

  Relief flooded into his limbs. He hadn't realized how tightly he was holding himself, but knowing that Petram understood what had actually happened took a weight off his shoulders.

  "As painful as that memory is, I'm glad that you shared it, if only for the selfish reason that I worried our people might think I took what's left of her by force," said Terran.

  "No matter the circumstances, it is still a tragedy, but if her power had to go to someone, it should be you, Terran the Tenacious. After all, it was you that freed the seed in the first place," said a dour Petram.

  "I'm sorry for your loss, my friend," said Terran.

  Petram touched his chest. "It is not the loss that concerns me." He shifted his mouth to the side. "How we might grow the settlement again, for one, but there is a more immediate problem."

  "Please, I'm here to help."

  Petram cleared his throat. "Do you know about our new blacksmith?"

  "No," said Terran. "But a new craftsperson is good news. We'll need all the help we can get."

  Petram screwed up his face. "The new blacksmith is a Crag Troll."

  "Ohhh...Granite Mountaineater. Zara invited him to the settlement, didn't she?"

  Petram nodded. "This is quite distressing to the clan. Crag Trolls are our mortal enemies. They've been responsible for more death and destruction than just about any other group in these lands."

  "Where is Granite at?"

  Petram gestured towards the hills. "He's set up camp at the old caves where the Crag Trolls once lived and kept the seed hostage."

  "Does it help to know that he doesn't care about the animosities between our peoples, and just wants to make good weapons and armor?"

  Petram sighed. "You know that I trust your word. If you say he will be a good member of our settlement, then I will give him the chance, but the other Rock Leaf Elves are not happy."

  You have been offered a quest: Deal with the Crag Troll situation.

  Reward: Repair the morale penalty and open up armor and weapon options.

  You might want to deal with this quickly before they decide to lynch him.

  After checking the settlement sheet, he found an 8% penalty to all outputs due to Granite's presence in their settlement.

  "I guess that means I need to have the council meeting sooner rather than later. We have a lot to talk about, and we can't afford to have this negative on our output," said Terran.

  Petram nodded. "I'll gather the others. We'll meet you in the chamber."

  Chapter Three

  Back inside the Mother Tree, Terran paced while the leadership of the settlement took their places. He looked across the room to see Petram talking quietly with Kumotake. Terran wondered if he should tell the head loamer about his daughter, but he didn't want to cause him distress. There was also Lhoris, the captain of the guard, chatting with Ara. The two kept touching each other on the knees, smiling at each other with their whole bodies. It seemed Lhoris' courtship was successful.

  On the far side of the space, Zoras was speaking loudly to his assistant, Jondar, and anyone else who would listen about how he'd been the one to train their very first Crystal Bard in decades and the benefits that it'd brought to the Glen. There were a few others in attendance, and his friends, Zara and Newt, but he didn't see Flynn or his girlfriend, Darkness Sighs, the Shade bone-witch.

  "Have
you seen our favorite Jinx?" Terran asked Zara.

  The redheaded berserker crossed her stout arms. "They're on patrol near Wunderlust Keep. The centaurs are more comfortable with the bone construct, so they've been helping out around there. I think Luna's with them too, but not sure. I haven't seen her in days."

  Once everyone had arrived, Terran stood on a bench. He didn't have to speak loud since the space carried sound well.

  "As some of you may know, the journey to Dagrath to find the place of power was both a success and a failure."

  The assembled had been intently following him, but his announcement brought hunched foreheads and pinched lips. He hadn't been planning on telling them about Andelain, but given their other challenges, he knew he couldn't keep it a secret.

  "The spirit of the Mother Tree, the one known as Andelain, is no more." He paused to let the elves that sucked in breaths of surprise process the information. "The damage from Grimchar was too great, and to preserve the Mother Tree and Gneiss Glen, she passed what remaining strength she had left to me."

  He'd been worried about how that news might be taken, but there wasn't a single disappointed expression. They nodded and made small noises of sadness, but there was little other negativity, and maybe he shouldn't have been surprised, since they hadn't known Andelain like he had.

  "While our journey to Dagrath had many ups and downs, we learned some important facts about the challenges ahead. The first is that the Howling Wind has designs on this continent. I don't know how long until they arrive, but eventually, we're going to have to deal with them.

  "This means that the settlement has to be beefed up. We've grown much in the last year, but there's so much more to do. In the past, increasing our power was almost as simple as just finding new essences, but now we have to expand our resources."

  He hadn't quite formulated his thoughts ahead of time, but after studying the settlement page, he knew what had to be done.

  "Our biggest bottleneck is loam production. We have two places that we're gathering the valuable tree food, but we need to expand that substantially. Kumotake, what do you need?"

  The elder elf straightened as all eyes fell upon him. "There are other sites in the area, but they require more loamers, guards, and tools."

  "How many more sites?"

  Kumotake tapped on his chin. "At least six that I am aware of. Five are within range and aren't too dangerous, while the last one is near the Lost Valley and would require heavy guards to defend against the burrowbeasts in the area. But even if we only attempt the easier ones, that spreads us thin."

  "We'll have to deal with the consequences. At least with the safer sites. How many do you need to have assigned if we do all but the Lost Valley?"

  "Twenty-eight, maybe twenty-nine, plus guards, but that's Lhoris' area," said Kumotake, nodding across the room.

  Lhoris stood up and placed his hand across his heart. "It would be my honor to protect the loamers. I'll need fifty more warriors."

  Terran quickly checked the unassigned members of the settlement. There weren't near enough, especially when this wouldn't be the only priority.

  "I can give you eighteen loamers and twenty new recruits...for now," he added when their expressions dipped. "As we expand, so will those operations. Is there anything else that can increase our loam supply?"

  Ash Cockwillow, the flamboyant arborist, placed his hand against his throat. "If I were given full access to the settlement reagents, I could make that loam go further." The arborist batted his eyes at a reluctant Petram.

  "Those are my private stores," said the shaman.

  "How much can you get us?" asked Terran.

  "At least a ten percent reduction across all requirements," said Ash, fluttering his eyes at the shaman.

  The quick calculation proved the adjustment would be enormous since loam was required in just about every upgrade. "Petram?"

  "I will open my stores," said Petram. "But we can also improve our yields if we increase the shaman hut."

  "Done," said Terran. "What else do we need?"

  "Our new proprietor of the Trading Post might be able to acquire loam from distance sources," said Zara.

  Della hadn't been invited to the council meeting. "A good point. Can you do that?"

  "I'll talk to her."

  Terran placed his hands behind his back. "What about our population? We need more people."

  Grumbling from Zoras brought gazes his direction. "Crag Trolls?"

  The nods from the other Rock Leaf Elves, especially the older ones, clarified how widespread the concern was.

  "Okay, we should talk about our new blacksmith. What's the problem?" asked Terran.

  Kumotake stood up. "He's a Crag Troll. His kind nearly wiped us out, and it has been confirmed that he worked at the fortress, making weapons to kill us. He cannot stay."

  Zoras nodded. "Terran, while you have been an exemplary leader, you cannot ask us to accept our mortal enemy inside the walls. What's next, a Barghest?"

  The two outbursts were followed by mumbled agreement and other noises of discontent. Terran held up his hand when he felt they'd had a chance to voice their disagreement.

  "Look, I understand the concern, but we need all the allies we can get. Would you rather be taken as slaves by the Howling Wind? Or converted into ethereal mist by the Lady of Shadows? Granite Mountaineater is a master blacksmith. He made the shadow axe that helped Zara defeat many foes. We need all the help we can get."

  When no one would meet his gaze, he sensed that he wasn't going to be able to convince them right now. He'd have to find another way.

  "Granite is staying in the settlement," said Terran. "But I promise if he does anything wrong, hurts anyone, then we'll send him back to Dagrath." When they finally met his gaze, he continued. "What about population? We need to expand, and quickly."

  Ara smirked. "I'm sure you are aware that birthing takes time, though the efforts are quite pleasurable." She smiled at Lhoris, who blushed and glanced away.

  "Of course, Ara, but are there other elves scattered about the continent? Or other peoples that could join us? I assume that anyone can be a guard, or a loamer?" asked Terran.

  Kumotake frowned. "That is correct. Rock Leaf Elves are the best loamers, but others could learn."

  "What if we extended an offer to other villages and settlements?"

  "I bet there are others in Dagrath who'd like to get out of the city," said Zara, lifting a single shoulder.

  "I know you just left, but you know the place best. Would you return and spread the word?" he asked.

  "Only if I can hitch a ride on the Terran Express. I'd rather not make that boring journey again," she said.

  Terran tapped on his chin. "I'll send Vievel with you too. Talk to the farmers in the area, anyone who can produce food or loam."

  "What will we offer?"

  "Our best mushroom stocks, whisperweave if they need it. Catalog our supplies with Della before you go." He looked to the rest of the council. "That is all for now. Except you, Lhoris. Could I have a word?"

  Without Ara at his side, the weaponmaster returned to his stiff appearance. "Did I do something wrong?"

  "No," said Terran. "Not at all. But I wanted to ask you about your half-brother, Aminata. The marshal at Salt Luck."

  Lhoris glanced away, his lips bunched. "We have not spoken in a long time."

  "May I ask what happened? We could use another skilled warrior like yourself. If there's any way I could lure him to the Glen, I'd like to know," said Terran.

  The weaponmaster wouldn't meet his gaze. "I'm afraid our rift is beyond repair." He cleared his throat. "May I go now?"

  Sensing that Lhoris was distressed by the thought of his half-brother, Terran nodded. He'd have to find another way to solve that problem.

  Without the weaponmaster, he was left in the chamber alone. He planned to take a trip to see Granite later, but wanted to make upgrades in the settlement while he was thinking about them.

  Terr
an leveled up the Shaman Hut to level 2. The first level gave 5% healing, which was a nice bonus, but not necessary in the moment. The second level increased herb gathering by 5%. This wasn't a direct improvement on loam, but would provide the reagents that Ash and Elia needed.

  Next he increased the Trading Post to level 1, which would give them a discount on buying and selling, which would help Zara's mission in Dagrath. Then he increased the orchard to level 2 to improve the output of the fruit trees, which they needed to sustain the higher population. He planned on using two of the four seeds to plant new orchards, but hadn't fully decided on the final two seeds.

  The arborist laboratory would provide the biggest boost to loam efficiency, so he leveled it up to 3. Between Ash's experience and the high-level building, it would reduce loam requirements by 22%.

  Terran next spent resources on leveling all buildings to at least level 1. There were benefits for the settlement across all areas, and he didn't want anyone to be jealous. This also satisfied the level requirements for Settlement Level 4. The only thing left to do with the resources was increase another buildings to level 3, but he hadn't decided which one was the best, and he lacked the resources anyway.

  After finding Elia, he planted the remaining seeds. Two went to the orchards, and the other two for general housing. They were right up against their limits, which had a minor morale negative. As he checked his morale screen, he found other problems.

  Gneiss Glen Morale

  -8% Racial Unrest

  -2% Housing

  +5% Leadership

  +0% Satisfied

  -1% Luxury Goods

  The first two negatives he understood, but the Satisfied had to do with food and water requirements. If he could increase it to Well Fed, the could see a morale boost. The last item, Luxury Goods, had to do with the mushrooms and whisperweave they were trading to other places. Maybe once they got the Trading Post active, they could see an increase.

  By the time he finished improving the Glen, Terran could barely keep his eyes open. He'd planned to visit their resident Crag Troll, but he needed sleep first.