I opened the Faction Web Terminal and took a look at my options. The first thing I noticed was that I had reached 150 Faction points with Sul, more than any other God at the moment, which surprised me. Sul hadn’t been pleased I had chosen the Prophet Class over one of his offered Priest classes, but had been generous with his Faction rewards so far regardless. All this despite the fact that I had never intended to follow a larcenous path set by the God of Thieves.

  It was a common misconception that the Shadow powers were ‘evil’ or of ill intent. No, rather they were like the other side of the coin. I had always interpreted them as merely having a different perspective when it came to the morality of consequence and choice. Wik was not evil, just violent and without mercy. Cel was ambivalent about mankind and cared only for the proliferation and spread of Mana. Gor was a primal power of destruction, but also celebrated the natural cycles of life and death. Sul? He was a trickster. A masked stranger whose intent could never fully be understood by any save himself. He played games and laid plans that could take an entire mortal lifetime to unravel.

  What game does he play with me now?

  Whatever Sul’s plan was, I now had enough Faction points with him to push myself up into the second web, or Tier II of his Faction path. Or rather, I could if I had but one more Green Node to spend. I was one short of having enough to reach the Blue Node spell that began Sul’s Tier II.

  Sul’s first spell was Vow of Denial, which I had used to great effect in the Spiral of Ara dungeon. It had allowed me to cast a spell of, what I can only describe as a chaotic, but Lucky Holy mana upon two Imps. Those Imps were then fully transformed by chance into angelic Cherubs. A total change from Negative to Positive energy. The Imps had been weak and the spell effects, I knew, were random. I had gotten lucky in that fight. Vow of Denial was a wild card, which is why I hadn’t originally planned on taking it for a while before I gained other spells first.

  I took a look at what Sul’s nodes provided next.

  Decrease Threat generation by 1%.

  Threat generation?

  Lore: Combat against enemies builds ire and retaliation directed against whomever it perceives as the greatest threat. The result will cause said enemy to focus the entirety of its damage upon that threat.

  Advanced Lore: It is typical that those who do the greatest damage will draw the greatest threat, unless spells/abilities which directly influence threat are employed. Holy based abilities will always double generate threat i.e. healing. Healing classes are recommended to travel in groups with front line, threat managing classes.

  I see. This explains much of what happened in the dungeon with Amara and why the Blight Ogre was so intent upon attacking me. I was generating a great deal of threat each time I healed Amara. If she hadn’t had the abilities to draw the monster’s attention like she had, I would be dead!

  I mourned lost Amara, especially in my current situation. I could surely have used her help. Still, despite being on my own I saw the importance of taking the Threat reduction nodes Sul offered. There were three Green Nodes that followed the starter spell which would reduce my Threat by 3% total, which I had no doubt would make things a great deal easier for any front line fighters I might join up with in the future, should I decide to do so. For now? It was the Tier II Blue Node spell that Sul offered that excited me the most.

  Fade

  Cost: 2 Divine Active

  Duration: 30 seconds

  Description: Reduce Threat by 100% and disappear from enemy sight.

  Cool Down: 3 minutes

  I winced at the spell cost, but this was my way into the Temple! I would be able to sneak past the Kobolds on the stairs as well as any rogue, or so I hoped.

  Advanced Lore: Threat reduction doubled for lower leveled creatures. Reduction halved for creatures ten levels or above. May not work on some Dungeon Boss or World Boss mobs.

  So far the only Kobold I’ve seen higher in level than myself is the Fel Shaman, so as long as I avoid him, it should work.

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  The only problem was that I was one Green Node short. However, I was close to Level 6, which would net me another two Greens. Therefore, there was only one thing to do.

  I need to hunt some Kobolds.

  I added Vow of Denial to my Active spell list as my last resort plan and acquired the first two nodes of Threat Reduction. Next, I equipped the Warden’s Staff, but then I reconsidered and put it away again. Finding then charging a lone Kobold and trying to bash its brains in before it could call for help was a recipe for disaster. I needed to continue to move about silently and try to catch a Kobold either while it was resting or preoccupied.

  I probably should have taken out that honey-drinking Harvester when I had the chance. Hmm.

  I had an idea. Risky, but if I could pull it off it should be enough to push me up to Level 6 so I could acquire the Fade spell. First, I needed to locate some Kobolds that were grouped together.

  I crept out of my tent, but saw no Kobolds nearby, but I could smell and hear some to my left towards the center of the cavern.

  This may not work if there are any Kobolds stronger than Harvesters or Scavengers.

  My worries were unfounded as after just a few minutes of sneaking towards the noise I found a group of about ten Kobolds sitting around a fire-pit eating what looked like grilled bat stuck upon skewers. The creatures seemed at ease and were gibbering at each other in their own language and I noticed with a frown that one was wearing a priest’s stole around its shoulders. I peered more closely at it, activating Lore Sight.

  Ara’s Stole of Concentration

  Grade: D

  Level: 9

  Slot: Shoulders

  Quality: Uncommon

  Primaries: +4 Wisdom, +4 Perception

  Secondaries: Chance of spell failure reduced by 5%.

  My frown deepened. Any hesitation I may have felt over what needed to be done vanished when I imagined this blasted creature robbing such a sacred item and…using it as a bloody napkin! The kobold belched and used the stole to wipe its greasy paws before reaching for another bat skewer.

  As quietly as I could, I removed one of the jugs of Firebeetle Honey from my Inventory. I crept forward, holding the jug with both hands. It was a bit heavier than I thought it would be. However, I just needed to place it close enough to the Kobolds that they would notice it and start drinking it. Then, they would get as drunk as the…

  I tripped over a tent stake and fell forward. The lid fell off the jar and honey spilled onto the floor of the cavern and began snaking its way in branching rivulets towards the seated Kobolds who turned as one to see what the commotion was. I had misjudged two things. One, that my less than stellar Strength and Dexterity attributes were enough to navigate the haphazard sea of tent stakes while carrying a heavy jar of honey. Two, I hadn’t observed that the kobolds had set their cook fire into a slight depression with the fire itself set into the deepest part of it. The result? Gravity carried the Firebeetle honey straight to the open flames.

  “Uh oh,” I gasped.

  With the speed of thought I cast Lesser Barrier of Light. Another breath and I would have been caught in the ensuing explosion, but by Ara’s Grace and Sul’s Dice the barrier popped into existence not a moment too soon. I still felt the heat as it washed over my shield and I yelled in fear that I could still feel the incredible heat. Who in their right mind would actually drink exploding honey, I thought as I watched the bodies of Kobolds blasted to bits or lit afire fly in every direction.

  My barrier ran its course, but the fire had landed atop kobolds tents and now the fire was spreading rapidly. Kobolds were running around in confusion. Each of the kobolds I had first observed were dead or dying. Soul window notifications were opening fast and furious, but I pushed them away. There was no time for reading them over now. I was at the epicenter of chaos and like it or not the time for stealth was over.

  I saw the smoking remains of the Kobold who had stolen the Ara’s Stole, which was remarkably intact, if a bit singed. I quickly looted it off the kobold’s body and discovered that I could loot all the dead kobold’s simply by willing it so. As long as they were dead and were considered my kills, I was able to move their belongings into my Inventory without any trouble.

  There were screeches of rage coming from all around me and I looked to the stairs up to the Temple and saw kobolds racing downwards to fight the spreading flames, dropping looted items as they raced to save their home. I had inadvertently given myself the perfect distraction, I realized. The little lizards were so intent upon protecting their camp that it was as if they didn’t even see me. I threw the cowl of my monk’s habit over my head and kept myself hunched over. Perhaps they might think me one of the larger of their kin as long as I kept my face covered and moved swiftly.

  Time to go!

  I ran hunched over towards the stairs, angling myself away from any other Kobold I saw. Several were busy tearing down tents in an effort to move them away from the flames, while others were trying desperately to save their collection of loot from burning to cinders. I kept my eyes locked upon the bottom of the staircase as Kobolds spilled off of it and quickly dispersed, fear written on their faces.

  I heard a loud voice behind me screaming. A risked a glance behind me and saw the Fel Shaman approaching. He was swinging his staff about in circles and wherever the staff passed, the fires would immediately extinguish.

  Damnation, I need to hurry. He’ll have the fire under control at this rate. Unless…

  I reached the bottom of the staircase. It was now largely deserted with the kobolds now all in the cavern and fighting the flames, but it was the Fel Shaman who was having the greatest effect. He now stood beside the cook fire where I had started it all and wore a snarl on his face as he looked at the burnt bodies surrounding him. He tapped his staff upon the ground and conjured globes of some purplish liquid that he sent hurling towards burning tents, dousing them completely.

  I was still being ignored, so I removed two more jugs of Firebeetle honey and set them beside the staircase. Then, after a quick prayer to Ord for strength, I tipped the both of them over and turned about to start running up the stairs as quickly as I could. I’m not sure if my running caught a kobold’s eye or if the Shaman himself was looking for someone to blame for this catastrophe, but I heard a screech of rage when I was just a few flights up and saw the Fel Shaman leveling his staff in my direction and a horde of enraged Kobold’s staring at me.

  “This is for your desecration and blasphemy!” I removed another jug of the honey from my Inventory, but I let this one appear upon the step I had just vacated. Then, with kick I sent it tumbling back down the stairs even as the horde surged toward the stairs.