James, Patrick and Amelia all reappeared in the game at the same time, back in the temple. Sonya was leaning against a wall nearby.

  “Took you all long enough,” She said “Shall we get moving? Dig sites not going to raid itself.”

  “Not until Grey shows up,” James replied. “Did you see where they went?”

  She shook her head. “Nope. I was…busy. I don’t think they’re close, though. Probably went deep into the temple.”

  Right on cue, Grey walked out of a nearby tunnel, smiling. They were pulling and tugging on their cloak, as if they weren’t used to walking in it anymore.

  “Hey guys,” They said. “Feels like it’s been a lifetime.”

  “Where have you been today?” Patrick asked. “I haven’t been able to text you or anything. Not like you to skip school.”

  “I was really ill,” Grey replied “Could barely get out of bed. I dunno what came over me.”

  “You couldn’t even text?” James asked.

  Grey shrugged, “Lost my HoloBracer.”

  “How?”

  “If you are done bickering,” Sonya interrupted. “We have a dig site to visit.”

  “I concur,” Grey said bluntly “We’re pretty close by, so we’d better get moving.”

  “By the way, I’ve swapped out a spell,” Patrick said. “Thought I’d try that ice spell I got all the way back in Kries.”

  Amelia looked at him incredulously, “Ice magic?”

  “Yup.”

  “In the desert?”

  “If there were elemental weaknesses in this game, this’d be where you reveal them. If not, I doubt the desert heat will have any real effect on it.”

  “What is with everyone today?” Amelia asked as she climbed up the stairs.

  The sandstorm had cleared up. The sky was bright and clear, although in many ways, that made the desert worse. Now the sandstorm was gone, they could finally appreciate the massive stone columns that dotted the desert near the arch. The sandstorm had hidden most of the ruined structure from view.

  “This place must have been massive,” James commented as they walked past the massive pillars. “There’s a lot down there already, and it used to have something like this on top of it.”

  “You see why we had no idea what this was?” Sonya replied. “For all we know, it could have been a city. Well, no time for archeology. We’ve got a lance to find.”

  Despite the unbearable heat, the party trudged on through the desert with no issues. Sonya seemed to have an infinite amount of waterskins to help relieve the heat slightly, and the few encounters they ran into were weak and simple. Soon, after hiking up a massive dune, they came to overlook the dig site.

  To one side, there was a massive array of tents, surrounded by stacks of boxes. To the right of the base was the dig itself. A massive chunk of the desert had been excavated, revealing a brick built hole that went downwards, almost like a massive well. The party couldn’t see what was at the bottom, even from this high up angle.

  “If they wanted to keep the Holy Lance hidden, they sure did a good job of it,” James said, as he began sliding down the dune. The rest of the party just walked behind him, refusing to get sand in their cloaks.

  “Almost like they didn’t want anyone to unearth it,” Grey commented. “Stay on your guard.”

  As they climbed down, they saw two other players walking up the dune in the opposite direction: a Saber and a Necromancer.

  “That fight was actually pretty cool,” the Saber said “Shame it was glitching out the entire time.”

  “What is it with this game recently?” The Necromancer replied “Whole thing feels like it's breaking down. Starting to creep me out. I don’t think there was even a patch or anything to cause it.”

  “Must be server side issues. Hope it’s nothing.”

  James slid down the dune towards them. “Hey, could you tell us about those glitches? We’re about to do that fight too, would be handy to know the details.”

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  The two players looked at each other.

  “A lot of visual glitches,” The Necromancer explained. “Those tents over there kept vanishing and getting replaced with this weird graveyard. The AI kept glitching out, mumbling completely random crap.”

  “They didn’t seem scared, did they?”

  The two of them looked confused, and the Necromancer continued, “No, no, they just seemed kinda bored. Let us get some free hits in.”

  “There was something else, though,” The Saber said. “We kept seeing this guy in a cloak. He never did anything, just saw him moving through the tents. I almost thought I imagined it, but she saw it too.”

  The Necromancer nodded, “Don’t know if it was an enemy glitching out or what.”

  “Was the cloak tattered?” James asked. The two nodded, and James immediately realised who they’d seen. “Alright, thanks guys.”

  “No problem, it’s a good fight.”

  The duo waved to James as he returned to the others. The party looked between each other, really hoping it wasn’t them that did this, and then continued downwards.

  Once they reached the bottom, they were greeted by a familiar pop up.

  Fast Travel Unlocked

  Dig Site

  ----

  Entering Dungeon

  Highwind Dig Site

  Recommended Level: 12

  “Oh, shit, we’re underleveled,” Patrick said “Do you think they wanted us to do the other objective first?”

  “More likely they expected us to do more meandering in the open world,” Grey replied “Maybe we should turn back a-“

  “We’ve got no time to do that anymore,” James retorted.

  “But if we end up underleveled…”

  “No problem,” Amelia smiled. “I bet people could do level 1 runs of this game. There’s enough freedom of movement and different play styles that I don’t think being underleveled will hurt.”

  “Alright, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  Walking past the pop up, they could see tents filled with a variety of equipment. Some of it was mundane archeological equipment, like shovels, trowels and brushes, while others were magical artefacts the party had never seen. Crystal orbs sat on tables with chisels and old maps. Several magic staffs were stuck in the ground around the well. Patrick walked up to one and examined it, before realising he had no idea how magic worked in this world.

  “Roll for arcana,” Amelia said, jokingly.

  “Wish we had Delarius here,” James said. “He’d know about this stuff.”

  “He didn’t strike me as a magic guy,” Patrick replied.

  “I reckon he knew more than Kable allowed him to.”

  Sonya walked up and examined it herself. “I think this is meant to be an Anti Magic Circle. It must be trying to lock down the magic of the Holy Lance.”

  “There’s anti magic in this world?” Patrick asked “Feel like we should have seen them back in Kries.”

  “Magic nulling effects are taboo back in Corinth, but the Al’Vash are more open about using it.”

  “Why?” James asked.

  “Is it to do with elitism?” Patrick asked. The others all looked at him in confusion, but Sonya nodded.

  “Magic in Corinth is usually associated with high society. People who practise it are either born rich, or immediately start working at places like Kries. To use anti-magic is a threat to the ruling class. Elves have always taken to magic much more naturally than Corinthians have, so that association doesn’t exist.”

  “See?” Patrick said, smiling.

  “You have got to be kidding…” James muttered.

  “Also it’s just really hard magic and takes ages,” Sonya added. She shrugged. “Don’t ask me why.”

  “Guys,” Grey piped up, “Where are all the people?”

  The group looked around in surprise, having no idea how they missed something like that.

  “If this is another ambush I’ll just throw myself into the well at this point,” Amelia said.

  “Alas, it is not, my dear.”

  The group looked around to hear the source of the deep, booming voice, but it could be coming from anywhere, hidden in the tents that surrounded them.

  “Valzekt gave me an army to fight you all,” The voice continued “But that was simply unnecessary. They are good for keeping the archaeologists hostage, but little more. ”

  “You think you can face us alone?” Amelia drew the sword from her back “News flash: so did Kiula Web. And she’s dead now.”

  “I know not of this Kiula person, but I doubt she’s anything close to me. I made sure the dig site was clear so we do not harm any innocents in our grand duel. And whoever lives will be the one who deserves the holy spear. Now-prepare yourself.”

  In a flash of lightning, the mysterious figure sliced through a huge chunk of the tents, flying straight at James. He raised his shield to block the massive sword swing that flew out of the blinding light. James looked up to see a lion’s face glaring down at him, attached to a man who was almost twice his height and dressed head to toe in gleaming white armour. The attacker growled like an animal as he leapt back, away from the party, who formed up around James.

  “You seem pretty decent,” James shouted at him. “I’m James, allegedly the Hero of Sable. What’s your name?”

  The lion man stood up and raised his sword again.

  “My name is General Sher,“ He said “It is an honour to finally fight a Hero of Sable. I will kill you where you stand.”

  Sher

  Level 12

  3000/3000 HP