The aisle was only about fifty feet long and ended in a T intersection that allowed them to go left or right. Both directions led into darkness. Brom looked over his shoulder at the others.
Shane pointed, “Always go left.”
Brom shrugged and led the way. Malcolm noted that the wooden crates were all wedged tightly in place and had numbers and letters stenciled on them, but he could not discern any meaning from them as they seemed to be random. The path they walked had patches of weak light every thirty or so feet, as there were yellow crystals overhead, but the darkness in-between was unnervingly dark. Brynn voiced her dislike more than a few times, especially when water dripped from the ceiling onto her head and shoulders. After walking for a few minutes, they came to the end of the long aisle as it took a sharp right. Brom held up his fist and tapped his ear. The group could hear more of the weird clacking noise that they had heard at the start. He peeked around the corner and quickly backpedaled right into Shane.
“Get back!” Brom shouted. “Give me room!”
The rest of the group backed away from the large man as he readied his weapon. He had his sword raised just as something flew from the darkness and caromed off the opposite wall directly at him. He blocked with his sword and the creature bounced back and up only to stop, clinging to the side of one of the shelved crates at about head height.
It was bone white and hairless. It was also skinny with a slightly wet sheen to its tight leathery skin. It had abnormally long, slightly crooked looking arms and legs, both of which ended in deadly claws that it used to cling effortlessly to the side of the crate. The face was the stuff of nightmares however, as the head was completely bald with two small black eyes that looked more like marbles than anything else and a supernaturally wide mouth and no nose. The permanent rictus grin was full of flat teeth that chattered as if it was cold.
Chatterwight – Level 5
HP: 60
Resists: Charm, Poison
“Chatterwight! Level 5! 60 HP!” Shane yelled.
It hissed and sprang again at Brom, only this time it twisted in the air as Brom’s sword swung past it and it slammed into Shane. Both Shane and the creature tumbled to the floor. Shane could feel the claws rake across his chest. He could feel a buckle on his leather armor split and the burn as the claws just barely penetrated his skin. A bolt of energy slammed into the Chatterwight’s back and it turned to hiss at Malcolm who was prepping another Eldritch Bolt.
Shane was unable to bring his sword to bear, so he placed his hand on the monster’s chest and cast Inflict Wound. The beast shrieked and scrambled backwards to pull away from the pain just as Brom grabbed it from behind by the back of its neck and pushed his sword through its chest. It hung there, struggling and screeching until a strike from Kenzie’s spear into its head caused it to droop and dangle lifelessly from Brom’s sword.
Malcolm came closer to the creature and examined it. “It has the weird slime for blood.” He said softly. “Cool. Gross, but cool.” He then smiled as he looked at his status screen, “Rad! Two more of those and I’ll hit level four!”
It only took a moment for the group to loot the corpse for two silver coins each. Back at the market, Brynn had found that Harvey could loot the corpses of the wolfen for her and she did not have to touch them. She did the same now and as soon as he was done, she snatched the teddy bear back up into her arms.
Brom rolled his shoulders, “That wasn’t so bad. It was faster than I thought it would be. Sorry you took a hit, man.” He directed at Shane. “I’ll know better for the next one.”
“No worries. It was a shallow scratch, only a couple of points. Not even worth spending any Mana to heal. I’ll heal that naturally in about half an hour.” He looked at the mangled strap and buckle on his armor. “One of us needs to get a repair spell at some point. Either that or we pick up some duct tape somewhere.”
“Guys can we focus? I hear more of those things coming.” Kenzie warned.
The group reset themselves and made their way around the corner. It looked to be another long straight corridor of racks and crates, although this one also included a mass of white chattering bodies scurrying towards the group. The Chatterwights were scampering on all fours, some churning the fog on the floor, and some were clinging to the crates and shelves as they came.
“Get behind me!” Kenzie yelled as she maneuvered herself to the front. As the monsters approached swiftly, she slashed her spear in a sideways motion and a crescent lance of silver energy flew from her spear. The crescent impacted several creatures at once and caused nearly half of them to stop and writhe in pain. She followed that up with a thrust of her spear and instantly a wall of glowing spears shot down the aisle, piercing nearly every grotesque beast. “Brom, you’re turn!” Kenzie took a few steps back as Brom slid into place in front of her.
His sword out in front, he charged the group of Chatterwights and as he reached them, a suit of ghostly golden knight’s armor appeared on his body. He slammed into the group with a fury, swinging his sword and reaping body parts. Shane watched as Brom took some damage from the mass of monsters even through his magical and regular leather armor. But the damage was nothing compared to the absolute carnage the man wrought. However, even as much as Brom was a tireless engine of destruction, several monsters managed to break through and continue down the aisle towards the rest of the party.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Malcolm managed to drop two previously damaged creatures with his eldritch bolts before a third was skewered by Kenzie’s spear. Next to Shane, Brynn screamed, and he spun around to see three more creatures coming at them from behind. Harvey wasted no time and leapt from Brynn’s arms directly at the lead Chatterwight. A dagger appeared in the bear’s hand, and he deftly stabbed the monster in the side of its knee causing it to trip and sprawl on the floor directly in front of Shane. He wasted no time and stabbed his sword into the back of the monster’s neck while kneeling and placing a hand on its head. He cast Inflict Wound and the beast shrieked in pain. Shane rocked his sword side to side and the creature died as its neck was mostly severed from its body.
Meanwhile, Harvey had not slowed down and was riding the back of another monster, stabbing it over and over until it too collapsed onto the floor with a squish, and a plume of fog billowed up from the ground. The third monster, however, made its way past Harvey and was almost upon Shane and Brynn when Brynn shouted, “STOP!” and the beast simply stopped moving and stood stock still. Even the chattering teeth were silent.
Simultaneously both Harvey and Shane attacked the stunned monster. Shane was shocked to see the ferocity with which the little stuffed bear mauled the monster. Looking into the darkness beyond, Shane saw another trio of creatures flitting through the dim light towards them.
Malcolm came up next to Shane and said, “Here.” He touched Shane’s sword, and it began to emit flickers of lightning along its length. “Charged blade. Go kick some ass!”
Shane nodded and stepped forward as Harvey spun, still astride the dead monster, brackish slime dripping from his dagger. The first monster came within reach of Shane’s sword and as it tried to block Shane’s strike, the impact caused an electrical charge to wreath its body and it dropped to the ground twitching. Harvey then darted in and finished it off. Shane, emboldened by the enchanted weapon and the outcome of the single strike, followed through with the next creature. This one too dropped as did the third when it encountered his sword. All three had dropped quickly and were unceremoniously dispatched by the seemingly bloodthirsty, tiny stuffed toy.
Shane mumbled, “Well, that’s unnerving.” As he watched Harvey flick the slime off his dagger.
Harvey overheard and looked up at him as he toddled back to Brynn, and in his cartoon voice, cheerily said his catchphrase from the show, “It’s a bear thing.”
After a few minutes the friends regrouped. They spent a few tense moments listening for any more monsters, but all they heard was the occasional drip of water. Then, as a group they moved from body to body of the Chatterwights and looted them. Malcolm and Brynn earned enough Aether to bring them to level four, so the team stayed where they were to allow the pair to level up.
Once she was done, Brynn asked for one of the spare swords that Brom had in his inventory. This caused him to raise an eyebrow, but he wordlessly handed one over. Brynn wrapped the sword belt around her waist and settled the sword on her hip.
“Um, Brynn? It looks like you’ve obviously changed your mind about carrying a weapon. Did you get a skill for it?” Brom watched as his little sister kept a serious look on her face the entire time that she was equipping the sword.
“Ew. No way. But I had an idea.” She picked up Harvey, “Watching poor Harvey here have to fight those nasty things, and you were busy fighting the others, I realized that I didn’t have any more protection. And while I love you both for wanting to make sure I stay safe; I also need to take some control over my own protection.” She then placed her hand on the sword which briefly glowed with a sparkling golden hue, then it slid out of the scabbard on its own and floated next to her.
Malcolm stood up from where he had been crouched looking at his screens, “Whoa! That is awesome.” He reached out to touch the sword, “Is it telekinesis?” The sword waggled back and forth in a way that everyone was sure meant “No.”
Brynn pursed her lips, “No, not telekinesis. Minor Animation. It’s the very first spell I got. I can animate inanimate objects and basically have them do stuff for me.” She smiled at the sword. “So, now I have a weapon that will fight for me.” She gestured and the sword slid silently back into its sheath on her hip.
“Princess, you continue to astound me.” Brom promptly enveloped her in a huge hug and kissed the top of her head.
“Okay! Okay! Get off me, you smell.” She only half-heartedly slapped at his sides with her hands, a smile still on her face. As Brom released her she added, “Just don’t think that this means I like what’s happening here, but if I’m going to survive any of this, then I need to participate too.”
Brom grinned broadly, “When did you become so pragmatic?”
Brynn shrugged, “Probably since my Intellect and Wisdom both jumped to eighteen? It’s taken me a while to sort it out.”
“Speaking of which…” Malcolm interjected. “Has anyone else noticed that higher stats don’t seem to affect us the same?”
Shane narrowed his eyes, “What do you mean?”
“Well, for instance, all my stats have basically either doubled or in some cases close to tripled from the start of this whole thing. My strength is now seventeen!” He emphasized the number, “But except for maybe some definition and loss of a little body fat, I haven’t really changed.” He motioned to Brom, “But Brom has only gotten bigger and even more muscular. It’s like he’s Hulking out and I’m more like Spider-Man.” He then pointed at his sister, “And Kenzie, she’s got what, a twenty strength? And she still looks lean and not all musclebound.” He shook his head and looked at Brynn, he took a breath, “And you. I don’t think you have any idea of how all of this has affected you.”
Brynn looked confused and then slightly aghast, “What? Oh my God! Is something wrong?” She looked at Brom, horrified and scared.
Kenzie placed a hand on her shoulder, “No. Not at all, honey.” She shot Malcolm a glare, “What my tongue-tied brother is trying to say is that you’ve become, well, insanely beautiful.” She held up her hand, “I mean, it’s not that you haven’t always been pretty, but something has definitely given you a glow-up.”
Malcolm stammered a bit, “Exactly. I have a theory that the Personality stat might control your physical looks. Mine is sitting at eighteen, but I started with a ten.” A bit hesitantly, he asked Brynn, “What’s yours at?”
Brynn consulted her screen and said, rather nonchalantly, “Thirty-eight.”
Everyone stood agog at her announcement. Shane finally broke the silence with a quiet, “Wow.”