Mary helped around the workshop, stirring pots, bringing firewood from storage, just doing whatever she could. But the entire time, she was in agony. At the root of her suffering was a letter handed to her by a Daemon hunter early that morning.
“Withdraw your aid. Betray them, if need be. If we accomplish our goal, I will pay the ransom of any humans who support my cause.”
The letter bore Theodoran’s signature and seal. The alluring offer tugged at her, not for her own freedom, but rather for the sake of the many ransomed humans. As a knight, sworn to protect mankind, she should have obeyed the commands in the letter. But Mary couldn’t bring herself to do it. It tortured her in a way she hadn’t experienced in months.
“Maryyyy, can you go get us some firewood? We’re going to be out soon!”
“Absolutely, I’ll go and fetch it immediately!”
She refused to think of it and threw herself into the work. She’d worry about the letter when the time came.
✦ ✦ ✦
“I don’t hear any screams. They must still be far away.”
I put my hand to the handle of the cursed sword at my waist and strained my ears, listening for the sound of our intruders from the guardian’s room.
“No footsteps either.”
Mary murmured beside me. Just how far away could she hear footsteps?!
We’d spent every minute remodeling for the two days we had, and we’d finished this morning—just in time. Aside from a few personnel taking shifts in the workshop just in case, all the exhausted villagers had returned home. No doubt they were fast asleep, getting ready to go to work again come tonight. I’d gotten a report from reception that a group of hunters had registered to challenge the labyrinth today. All told, there were sixty-three humans and twenty-one Daemons, and in the middle of the list was Theodoran.
When summer had started, so long ago, I’d bought a brand new suit, but after the repeated washings it was looking a bit worse for wear. I had no armor to speak of, but my vest and leather pouch were packed full of potions. A number of people had recommended that I wear some leather armor beneath my suit, but I’d given up on the idea fairly quickly. Sacrificing mobility could be fatal.
I’d calmed down a lot when Fez informed me that Theodoran’s hunters were more the mercenary caravan guard type, rather than the type that hunted monsters for a living. In game terms, rather than a sudden difficulty spike, this looked more like a bug, or a major balance issue. A bunch of caravan guards sounded like easy mode. On my left hand, I wore a black glove I’d recently acquired off Tundra—the lone purchase I’d allowed myself for this encounter. I hadn’t exactly been able to afford to splurge on it.
Magic Hands (three-meter radius) == 4.2 million DL
Seller: Manager, Labyrinth #89
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Reviewer: Manager, Labyrinth #315
- A retro magic glove, the real deal, for all you folks nostalgic for the days of yore.
Nowadays, you can find 2x or even 3x boosting gloves out there, but back in the day, this was the only one on the market. They were a mainstay of labyrinth warehouses. Back when this fellow started selling them, people thought they were pretty cool ’cause you could wash your hands without ruining them (you just needed two of them). You could argue that’s what justifies the prices.
(Edit: Changed my review to reflect how it compares to the newer competing products.)
Rating: ★★★★☆
Reviewer: Employee, Labyrinth #172
- Others have a wider range of effect, but this one’s my favorite.
I inherited these way back when. I’m kinda jealous of the way other ones let people lift more and stuff, but you know, I just don’t feel right when I go out fishing or gathering seaweed if I’m not wearing these.
It was a magic glove that let you grab distant objects. Ann and I used them to lift blocks after digging them, but you could also hold people in place with them. This would’ve been far more useful against single hunters than against this mob, obviously. I hadn’t thought of it myself; the idea had come up when I’d called Suzu last night to try and relax. Suzu didn’t seem to spend much time worrying about combat. Her labyrinth didn’t really require strength of arms to operate, so she was mostly concerned with items that were useful day-to-day, and with identifying new commodities.
“It’s been two hours since we heard the first scream. If they were going to make it this far, they’d be here by now.”
We’d set the tripwires and piled anchor traps so they wouldn’t be triggered by a small number of intruders. After all, a giant pitfall in the middle of a passageway could very well kill people. I’d realized that we didn’t want to take that kind of risk with our normal customers. The pit trap was three meters deep, as wide as the passage itself, and three meters long to boot. The walls were as near to vertical as we could make them, so you’d need special equipment to climb out. Without stakes or a rope you couldn’t get people out of it, and that was not to mention the fact that anybody who fell in would likely be incapacitated by their injuries. The trap was bound to take out a few adventurers. I’d seen my share of nasty pitfalls in games, and I was grateful to a certain tabletop GM who’d taught me how lethal they could be, despite their cartoonish reputation. The way Barry had grimaced when I’d told him I wanted one, it was clear he too was aware of the injury they could cause.
“Wonder if Theodoran’s having fun, now that the kid gloves are off. He has no idea who he’s up against.”
And so the first day ended without a single hunter reaching the guardian’s room. The invaders had exhausted their first attempt at the labyrinth, and many had to be rescued at nightfall. You should’ve seen the way they argued and fought over who got to use those stakes and ropes to get out first.