Feeling her hand tremble as she tightened the strap of her gambeson, Jenny closed her eyes and took a deep calming breath. Her heart began to still as the comforting scent of leather and steel washed over her, only for her eyes to fly open as the crisp smell of ozone reached her. The sounds of hammering kept ringing throughout the camp but the back and forth of conversation lulled as more and more people spotted Magus Jacintha entering the palisade.
The elderly woman still strode with a firm and determined step, showing none of the frailty you'd expect of one her age, with Ranger Vidan keeping pace behind her, a resigned look on the prodigy’s face. Meanwhile the venerable Father Kieran seemed content to trail behind the other two. The crackling sparks that arced across her grey hair had most of the veterans nervous. Watching a caster’s hair was a well ingrained habit to avoid the nastier spells, those same instincts were screaming that someone was about to get fried. The sharp look on her face wasn’t doing much to dispel that notion.
“Warrior’s weapon! She looks fierce!” Farad, the foulmouthed [Spear Guard] beside her commented at what he probably thought was a subtle volume and Jenny could only sigh as she recognised his tone.
“Damn it Farad, don’t make a scene. There's about to be danger aplenty without you trying to show off your spear skills to the most dangerous woman in Timberhollow,” Jenny quietly reprimanded.
“Ahh let him dream Jenny, he’s a pro, he ain’t gonna muck up the mission,” Balrem stated reasonably. Jenny envied his ability to stay relaxed in these situations. “Besides we always said he’d get himself killed one day, just a toss-up if it’ll be because o’ his mouth or his weapon.”
With that the tension was well and truly broken as they traded laughs, mock indignation and light-hearted jibes until they were called for the delve.
----------------------------------------
It felt like no time at all until Jenny was cautiously making her way onto the slick metal floor of the room that had birthed this rescue mission. Blurred reflections from Vidan’s [Light orb] and the blessing Father Kieran had placed on Sarge’s axe and shield helped to illuminate the seemingly innocuous room. Only the ominous brass altar to Exousia that they’d all tossed offerings into before entering hinted at the blood that might be shed here.
The unsteady clanging of Jeremy’s footsteps reminded her how much the young recruit likely wasn’t ready for the fight or trap to come, but they’d needed a bow user and he could be spared. The rangers were too necessary hunting for food and had already invested much in this mission by sending both Trafin and Vidan, some of their most senior members. She calmed herself as Balrem gestured the boy closer, he would be guarding both him and Magus Jacintha. Farad would be covering the [healer]. Hopefully there wouldn’t be much for either of her friends to do, after all her and Sarge’s job was to hold the attention of whatever was down there.
With everyone crammed together between the doorway and the altar, Trafin had the unenviable job of stalking forward trying to find the trap. Step by cautious step he inched his way forward, Vidan’s [light orb] moving in concert with him, Jenny’s nerves fraying as each moment passed. No one spoke. They barely breathed. He reached the far end of the room.
“Some spots on the ground have a thin layer of wax but I don’t see a mechanism.”
“Might be weight based,” Vidan offered with a brief glance towards Sarge, “Unless anyone has a better idea, I’ll start slowly moving towards you and hop back if anything starts to move?”
He moved across. Then Jeremy was sent, his foot slipping on a waxed patch briefly but also making it safely.
“We should send someone with a shield in case we get split,” Jenny stated ignoring her churning gut, it was never the fight that got her, always the anticipation. “Stay with the casters,” she pre-empted Balrem, “And sorry Sarge but you’re in plate and that shield ain’t exactly light.”
What was she saying? She never talked to Sarge like that. Damn nerves.
He looked her in the eyes, a little taken aback and nodded.
She slowly edged her way forward, trying to emulate the rangers' movements. Then the ground lurched beneath her. She instinctively stepped back and was bombarded with the coppery scent of blood. The ground was still tipping though, she could just make out a metal-on-metal scraping sound between her companions shouts of alarm that ended with a heavy thud. A colossal splash sounded as the far end crashed into the pool of blood sending Jeremy tumbling into it. The rangers managed to keep their feet and Vidan seemed to blow a series of tiny lights, like fireflies, out into the darkness from his cupped hands. Jenny slipped down onto a knee but managed to steady herself from there and a quick glance back showed that those behind her had either grabbed the altar or been held by Sarge, who must be using some sort of skill to lock his body in place and stop them sliding.
The approaching sounds of splashes jerked her attention back to the front as Vidan’s motes began to outline a large rotting mass charging towards them. She burst forward as a muddy and blood-soaked Jeremy pulled his head above the pool gasping. The rangers could dodge, he couldn’t. As bounding steps took her forward, she saw the beast’s progress falter as a thrown knife caused a small explosion of rotten flesh in its lead leg making it stumble, she should just make it.
“Dire bower boar zombie. Likely has the [charge] skill, beware vines,” Trafin called out as it put on a burst of acceleration.
Jenny dug deep to move faster but there was no time. Suddenly steam poured off the bower boar and the acceleration stopped but that did nothing for its current speed. With a flash of inspiration or desperation she had a thought Jeremy wasn't going to like, but just might keep him alive.
She reached the bottom of the ramp and tried to throw all her momentum into the last swing of her foot. She caught Jeremy’s skinny form on his hands and knees perfectly and punted him, wincing as she heard a rib crack, sending him rolling clear with a series of splashes. Not a moment to appreciate that before she tried to set her stance as a scent that almost made her gag slammed into her nose and throat. She barely had a moment to think [Block] before Sarge appeared beside her and an incredible force slammed into her shield.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
Cracking wood, more cracking, all-encompassing pain shooting through her right arm and the sensation of wind passing by her. No that wasn’t right, she was flying through…. SPLASH. Her left arm shouted in protest, a faint echo of the pain in the right as it tore through something soft and sticky to grate against the hard stone underneath. All she could taste was copper, all she could smell was blood, she had to get up! There was a feeling of suction then blessed relief as she gasped in a breath of air, tainted as it was.
She heard shouting, smelt rot and ignoring her body’s protests rolled. A wave washed over her as something large passed, lights strobed and she finally recognised the rumbles of thunder. Something caught her foot and yanked, and she was down once more, pulled in the beast’s wake.
As she felt the vine worming its way upward, she threw her desire to live into forcing her abs to get her up, out of this foul blood. Chunks of rotting flesh splashed into the mire around her as attacks slammed into the creature’s back while it turned for another charge. It was a spectacular display of power as her eyes blinked away spots from the latest blast of lightning, she saw the vines trailing in the blood from the spasming muscles.
“Once I start healing her I won’t be able to stop.” The [healer]’s call from the edge of the room had Jenny’s head snapping towards him, unfortunately hers wasn’t the only one.
“Farad you’re about to have incoming!” Jenny shouted. She saw its fetid flesh bubble, regrowing to fill its wounds, “Also it’s healing!”
Enumerating many aspects of The Three that wouldn’t be found in any sermon, Farad set his spear to receive a charge as the [healer] picked up the incapacitated water mage they’d come to rescue, an odd grey glow surrounding her. Jenny felt a jolt as the boar had a burst of rapid acceleration which seemed to be immediately stymied by steam pouring from it, a glance at the ramp showed this was likely some spell of the magus as her hair paled and billowed but cleared of her usual lightning. Not idle while this was happening Jenny managed to free her axe with her good arm and started hacking at the length of vine dragging her along, the increased speed not helping matters.
Her arm jolted from a missed strike, Sarge was running towards Farad but didn’t look like he would make it in time, fresh dents in his armour showing that even he had felt the impact of the boar’s charge.
“Use your [block] skill, I’ll back you up with [shield wall],” Sarge ordered as he ran.
Farad blanched, “I swapped it out for [Training] yesterday.”
Jenny instantly realised he was about to die, without the momentum cancelling from her [block] skill and Sarge’s advanced version she wouldn’t have got up from the first blow. As Sarge shouted orders to hit the legs to slow it and for Farad to dodge; a horrible idea came to her mind.
Trying not to think about how much this was going to suck she gritted her teeth and moved. Her broken arm screamed as she rolled over it, vision going faintly black as she swung the axe with all her might and her new [slash] skill, not forwards towards the vine but behind her through the mud and into the stone. It didn’t penetrate deep but it did penetrate. She had no time to celebrate this face down in the mud and blood before she felt a jerk through her whole body. Her whole focus became keeping hold of the axe. She didn’t need to stop it, just slow and redirect it she reassured herself as she felt popping through her body. She splatted down into the shallow blood and mud as the axe jerked free with a grinding sound. Just as she started to be dragged through the mud on her face the vines around her legs suddenly went slack.
Painfully starting to lift herself out of the quagmire, revelling the chance to breathe, she realised the plan had at least somewhat worked as Farad, now sans spear, was ushering the [healer] towards her while carrying Lydia. The boar seemed to be healing less quickly now and had lost much of its momentum, a large chunk of the side near Sarge was melted, the blessing Father Kieran had applied to the shield seemingly harming the creature greatly as it staggered through the now muddy ground trying to put some distance between it and the purity coated armaments.
As it neared the ramp Balrem shouted to try to draw its attention, an arrow shot out towards its face, swiftly followed by a beam of light from Vidan. The beast shook its head and roared, hopefully blinded. Balrem managed to strike a heavy blow with his mace on one of its legs but got sliced in turn as a whip like vine swung out. The faint luminescence from Vidan’s motes of light was overwhelmed by a fierce orange glow as Magus Jacintha sent out a torrent of flames from her hands towards the creature, producing plumes of thick rancid smoke on contact. The [healer]'s eyes flicked that direction briefly, more concern present on his face than Jenny liked on someone patching her up.
When the smoke cleared a large mana stone glistened amid a pile of charred and rotting flesh and the group collectively seemed to slump with relief, only to immediately jump as a set of double doors swung open with a bang. A torch inside lit a beat later revealing a small room with stone benches and a chest inside.
----------------------------------------
The group had a well-earned scepticism for seemingly safe rooms within the dungeon, though to be fair the last had a skull on the door, but when Trafin entered and got a system message like leaving the dungeon or speaking to a [priest] which claimed it was a safe room, everyone was gobsmacked. Thanks to the [healer]’s ministrations, Jenny’s whole body ached but was largely functional, though she had been advised against strenuous activity like getting dragged by giant boars for the next few days. The prospect of sitting down awhile, even on a hard stone bench, would be a blessed relief, so she was almost as thankful to Trafin for scouting it as she was for him severing the vine which had held her with one of his knives.
Some of the others had strong reactions when they entered, though insisted that everyone should see it for themselves, so with impatience she limped in, drenched in blood and leaning on Balrem.
You have entered a Safe Room
Congratulations you have gained a level! [Shield Guard](Dark) is now level 13
+1 Resilience
+1 Strength
+2 Free points
Congratulations you were a member of the first party to defeat Twrch! For clearing this challenge for the first time you gain the following bonus:
+2 Vitality
[Block] skill has upgraded to [Greater Block]
Additional skills available but incompatible with (Dark) affinity…
Jenny felt like if her eyes went any wider, they’d pop out of her head. She’d never even heard of a clear bonus before and it was basically an extra half level! It was a pity about the skills but she could hardly complain, besides it might open up a new affinity when it came time to class up.
Would you like to change [Shield Guard](Dark){13} to [Shield Guard](Undeath){13}?
Note this decision cannot be reversed.
“WHAT!”