Victor had blinked and suddenly the rest of them were standing and looking around. Serena turned to him. “You dozed off.” She reached out her hand to help him up. “It happens sometimes after exhaustion, you’ve only been out a few minutes.”
“What’s going on?” Victor looked around at the other two searching the room.
“We are looking for the stairs. They should be in this room.” Jenora noted.
Victor stood up and began to search the far wall. He tapped the hilt of his rapier against the ground block by block. Each of the others searched but it was Victor who heard a hallow echo. He tapped the floor again not hearing it. He tapped the wall and heard the echo. “It’s the back wall, it opens up.”
“Good catch, I expected it to be in the floor like the last one.” Emilie added.
Serena nodded. “Me too, although it worries me that it’s hidden since you could just use a rope to go down the middle. It means this is the safer route but why is climbing down dangerous?”
“How do we open this?” Victor asked.
“To be honest I’m tired of waiting if you are all ready for combat I’m ready to go.” Jenora nodded.
“I’m good.” Victor added.
“We may as well. If anything could move or hear us it heard that fight.” Serena noted.
Emilie put her hand on her. “Strength boost.”
With a single devastating swing the wall collapsed. The black rocks fell and clattered to the ground. Victor kicked a few of the bricks out of the way. “Why are the bricks all black?”
“It’s corpse stone. When large amounts of people die in an area typically they are buried. If they are thrown into a mass grave the magic congeals and causes them to become corpses over the course of a very long time. Hoxal had, and has had a lot of massacres and disposing of the bodies isn’t something it has ever cared to do. It’s cheap to mine, strong, and even slightly magically resilient so they don’t even see it as a bad thing. Every one of these bricks is built on the death of someone else.” Serena explained. “At one point briefly I was a miner. One of my fellow slaves told me this before he died in a cave in.”
Victor suddenly felt really bad kicking the bricks away, as though he had defiled someone’s grave. Emilie shook her head. “They are long gone. Don’t feel sad for them. Feel hatred for those who did this, for those who used their remains to construct this place, and for the undead still here.”
The four of them moved into the narrow staircase leading down. Jenora could barely fit in the slim crevice having to turn sideways to inch forward step by step. The scrape of her armor on the rock sparking at points wasn’t even shedding light ahead of them anymore. She finally reached a flat step and pressed forward. A door scraped open to a completely empty room with similar metal doors. The floor covered in black and white checkered stone. Without moving Jenora turned her head back. “This room has to be trapped, back up.”
The four backed up and Jenora asked Serena. “Can you check?”
“Vitality boost. Regeneration. I altered it to be sustained. It should be a lot safer like this.” Emilie nodded. “I can sustain both for about a minute so get going. I will let regeneration lapse before vitality boost.”
Serena rushed down the steps and began tapping at the edge of the first tile. It was clearly solid. She reached into the room and pressed on the second tile. From the wall six small blades from each wall sliced out from one end to the other. Serena took significant damage as one of them slashed straight up her arm. The blades then snapped back slashing on the return even more fiercely. She returned to the top. “I’m not sure what to do here, way too many blades. After I’m healed I’ll need to find the trap mechanism and probably destroy the blades. There’s no way I’ll be able to disable every plate in there without being sliced up.”
“Can we just smash the wall?” Victor turned to Jenora.
“If I had space to move around yes, I can’t swing at all in there.” Jenora noted.
“Put regenerate on me, I’ll trigger the trap and destroy one. Rinse, repeat until the trap is destroyed, is there any danger in the other rooms?” Victor asked.
“I can’t see, there are metal doors in that room too. The dull grey light from the center of the ceiling wasn’t enough to see much though.” Serena noted.
“Emilie can you get behind me? There is a good chance that I am about to take massive damage.” Victor asked.
“I’m not keen to be drenched in your blood, but fine.” Emilie narrowed her eyes and frowned angry at the thought.
Victor went and broke off the chains from the minotaur’s broken leg. He drug the chains after him clanking down the steps. Cawthorn asked going down the steps. “MY MAGE WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”
Victor opened Swordie and wrapped a chain around the center. “Sir what are you doing.”
“Destroying traps.” Victor smiled swinging Swordie into the room. The book clattered onto the ground triggering the trap. The blades suddenly burst out once more slicing the entire room catching on Swordie. The blades retracted with incredible speed and force with the lowest blade shattering as it tried to retract into the wall against the unstoppable force of Swordie’s spine.
“Sir, I know I said nothing in this area can damage me.” Victor threw out Swordie once again catching on a blade. The sudden snap out latching the book to the blade as they flew back into the wall once again forced the blade against an object which may as well have been indestructible. “This was not my intended use.”
“I thought you helping me was the intended use, besides it’s not like this can damage you.” Victor once again threw him out to the room catching a third blade. The shattered steel exploded through the room scratching Victor’s shoulder.
-4 health
“Sir I am your mentor not a sword stop.” Swordie protested as he landed in the middle of the room once more. The blades lashed out once more catching him and the fourth of six blades broke into a million pieces.
Emilie laughed echoing all the way to the top of the steps. “WHAT A BOOK! IT’S NOTHING MORE THAN A SWORD STOP! SWORDIE THE SWORD STOP!”
Her laughing was quickly joined by Cawthorn. “CAW CAW HAH OUR BOOK IS INDESTRUCTABLE!”
“Sir, there are ways around this trap without subjecting my spine to such force.” Swordie pointed out as another blade shattered trying to cut him in half.
“Yes but those ways would be an incredible waste of time.” Victor threw Swordie forth once more making sure the chain was high enough to catch the blade. A final shattering left tiny blades swiping back and forth as the book clattered back to Victor.
“I would request you not exploit my near invulnerability. It is possible one day I may take damage from such exploits.” Swordie noted.
“BEST BOOK WILL LIVE FOREVER! CAW CAW HAH!” Cawthorn laughed.
Emilie literally fell over laughing. “IT DOES HAVE A USE!”
“See you’re fine, and we didn’t waste much time on this.” Victor stepped into the room as the blades swiped each extremely short and ineffective.
“Sir your memory improves proportion to your desire to outwit me. That is noted.” Swordie added.
“Well when my desire to outwit you grows my memory improves.” Victor nodded.
Trap 11: Experience Increase 10.5%
Current Exp to Level 11 58.8%
Jenora took a look at the broken metal. “This stuff is sharp but it is so old. How did it not rust?”
“The blades seem to be thinner. Some kind of self sharpening metal?” Serena asked.
“Doesn’t matter. Let’s keep moving everything in the entire dungeon has heard us by now.” Emilie walked toward the door.
“We need to be very careful with the center of this place. There’s no telling what is there. Try to keep close to the walls.” Serena cautioned.
Jenora slowly opened the double door peering through cracks. All 3 of the rooms had the same double door made of metal. She slowly crept open the door. Each squeak and creak echoed through the hall. Jenora inched right toward the door. “Serena can you check this?” Serena began tapping and running her fingers around the edge of the door. She shook her head as if to say ‘nothing’.
“HELLO?” A voice echoed from beyond the door. “IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE?!” The voice once again called out.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“There’s no way.” Jenora turned to them. “Stand ready.”
“Nothing down here could be alive.” Emilie tapped Jenora. “Vitality boost.”
In front of them a room filled with chains and skeletons all chained up to the wall. The room filled with dust except a single solitary skeleton with glowing green eyes. The lack of dust leading directly to him and him alone seemed suspect. The sound of chains scraping as a skeleton looked at them with a cold empty gaze. “Oh good! You’re alive. Could you free me please?”
“Uh… Serena.” Victor scratched his head sword still drawn.
The skeleton completely disheveled pulled weakly against the chains. “I know my appearance may be frightening but-”.
“Give me your mace.” Emilie reached for Jenora’s mace.
The skeleton began. “Miss, I know my form is undead but I am a humble researcher. My name is Loche. I was here researching how to turn the great deserts green. They-”
Emilie grabbed the mace from Jenora. “Strength boost.” She began walking toward the skeleton one step at a time with murderous intent.
“You aren’t even going to hear him out?” Victor asked.
“Undead, every single one of them have to die. They are all self serving monsters. Every. Last. One.” She reached him raising her mace.
“Miss I mean you no harm! I am merely trying to revitalize the great desert!” The skeleton pleaded.
The mace whooshed overhead falling with extreme force, on the edge of a blade. The resounding clang heightened the senses of all in the room. Victor had intercepted the blow blocking it. “You can’t just kill someone who is imprisoned for being undead.” Victor’s legs buckled to kneeling under the weight.
Jenora spoke up. “STOP! It’s an undead she’s right.”
“THIS IS MY LAB! PLEASE!” Loche pleaded.
Urgent Quest
Time to accept: 0:10
Quest Giver: Luzuzal
Save Loche – Save the skeleton without harming your party.
Reward: Rank up a Luzuzal skill of your choice.
Accept Reject
Serena. “Stop this Victor. She’s right.”
The skeleton shrank away. “PLEASE! I MEAN YOU NO HARM!”
Victor could feel his grip sliding on his weapon. Emilie growled. “Let me kill him. Intelligent or not he’s still undead.”
Time to accept: 0:06
Accept Reject
Victor rejected the quest. He didn’t know what the penalty for failure would be but he knew he’d try anyway. “I’m begging you for 2 minutes. Give us two minutes to talk to him.” Victor pleaded as she pressed down with all her might slowly forcing him lower.
Jenora walked up placing her hand on Emilie’s shoulder. “Two minutes Emilie, he might have important information.”
Her rage subsided. “Fine but in 2 minute’s I will be the one to crack his head into a million pieces.”
“PRIEST IS SCARY!” Cawthorn proclaimed.
Emilie pointed to Cawthorn. “And don’t you forget it.”
Victor knelt down placing his hand on the skeleton’s shoulder. “You have two minutes to talk Loche. Tell me whatever you want, ideally what would make you worth saving to her. I’d prefer to spare you and free you but it’s likely a stretch to convince her. Tell me anything, anything at all.”
“My name is Loche. I’m a researcher I’ve been here for nearly 200 years, possibly more. I have long since lost track of time. I knew I wouldn’t live to the end of my research neither would my assistant so I turned us to undead near the end of our lives. His mind didn’t survive the process, mine did. I’m trying to reforest the desert naturally to save the millions who live there from death by starvation, monsters, and thirst.” The skeleton looked Victor dead in the eyes with his dull green glowing eyes.
“I have your research.” He pulled out the book. “Is this all of it?”
“My journal.” He seem to drift off for a moment. “It’s most of it. You’ll need a bit more knowhow to resolve the problem of maintaining the temperature of the ooze for it to generate the fog that let’s plants grow effectively in sand.”
“How do I do that?” Victor asked.
“Explaining that will take far more than 2 minutes. Please I am just a researcher. I am not some mindless monstrosity.” Loche pleaded.
“Why are there monsters on the floors above?” Victor asked.
“I am guessing some ooze escaped their tank. I’ve been chained down here for weeks, or months I am not sure. The other creatures were subjects.” He explained.
“Tick tock.” Emilie tapped the head of the mace in her hand.
“He’s actively explaining what’s going on. You want to live right? At least let him explain.” Victor held up a hand.
He desperately struggled against the chain leaning to Victor. “What is your name sir?”
“I am Victor Vogal. I’d prefer you survive this but you need to give me more. Why are there traps?” Victor asked.
“The trap on the second floor is meant to be used in conjunction with a hidden portcullis. It’s to reanimate undead with the ooze for testing purposes to see if the ooze can consume enough of the skeleton to produce the vapors for reforestation. The one on this floor is designed to cut down fleeing experiments and prevent them from escaping just like the runes on the door outside.” He explained. “I wanted this lab to be far away from other people and safe.”
“What about why you are here chained up?” Victor asked.
“First the last trap. On the bottom floor is a flame trap intended to incinerate the central room and prevent experiments from escaping. They would be dangerous if they got out. The other rooms on this floor should have a fungal titan and a giant skeletal ooze. On the bottom floor an ooze inside a golem suit, an earth elemental and a dryad in different rooms.” The creature rambled continually. “The creature that imprisoned me should also be below in the river room. He is a skeleton with a green glowing sphere for an eye. He claimed this would be the perfect place to build an army.”
‘Perhaps if I make her forget about her or delay crushing his skull he might escape.’ Victor thought. “That’s a lot of information. Could we leave him here until we are done? It’s not like he would be able to escape in the mean time.”
“No. If you’re done, he’s done.” She wound up another swing from the mace far too large for her size. “Now move.”
“Can’t you reconsider? He’s imprisoned and this just feels wrong.” Victor put a hand on her shoulder.
Serena pulled Victor away. “I know you want to save him but he’s an undead. He’s long past saving.”
“Don’t let my work be lost.” Loche leaned forward his eyes locked with Victor as the mace crushed his head. The clatter of bone on the ground, the rattle of the chains as the skeleton went limp, and the crash of the mace against the wall as it swung straight through him felt so crushing. Victor watched the creature disappear in front of him and despite it being an undead visceral sadness washed over him.
He dropped to his knees with Serena’s hand still on his shoulder. “I know you wanted to save him but we need to clear out everything here. If it turns out he’s lying we might all die.”
Emilie handed back the mace before bending half over to the kneeling Victor. “GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER! That was an undead that purposefully became an undead and retained his mind. No sane person does that! The Goddess would be furious at you for sparing one, hells she might be furious at me for letting that go on so long. Is Victor stupid, soft, or what?”
Serena turned to her. “Yes. He’s not used to things like this.”
“It’s not about being used to it. He was a sentient creature. He was actively trying to help us and only wanted to help others. His last words weren’t even to beg for his life but for his research.” Victor shook his head stood up and turned around. “I know I can’t change your mind. Let’s just go.” He could only think. ‘Luzuzal what could I have possibly done here?’
“Change my mind?! He’s an undead!” Emilie refused to drop the conversation angrily demanding. “Tell me why you wanted to save him or I will not heal you anymore. Right this instant.”
“Everyone deserves the freedom to make their own choices as long as they don’t hurt others.” Victor looked over his shoulder angrily.
“He’s an undead. He’s definitely hurt others!” Emilie insisted.
“Who?” Victor asked.
“You don’t have to watch someone kill to know they killed another.” Emilie glared at him.
Victor turned and walked toward her slowly. He stopped close to her looking down at her. “I appreciate that you hate undead with such zeal, but he didn’t deserve it. Don’t heal me if you insist, but I will not back down. No one deserves what just happened to him.” He maintained eye contact with her not blinking for nearly a minute. The deafening silence exacerbated every second it continued.
Emilie turned to Jenora. “I’m not wrong. I can’t chose not to heal you because the Golden Goddess will be angry at me but this is the only time we will group together. I was foolish to think I found a group worth my time.”
Jenora looked for a long time at the skull before turning away. “Let’s get going.”