Ray spent the next hour explaining how he could imbue items with his abilities. He kept the particulars of those abilities to himself, still not willing to full trust the dungeon and its representative, alliance or no alliance. At the end, Nadia was left silent and deep in contemplation. He took the moment the slide to the floor of the dungeon and rest his head against the wall of cool stone. Hearing a small clicking noise, he looked down to see a glass of water and what looked to be a ham sandwich on the floor.
He drained the water and ate the sandwich, voicing his compliments to the dungeon. As he ate he saw that the others in his group, Nyx included, had received their own food and drink. Even the Goblin got a small trough and what looked to be a tankard of some kind of thick liquor to devour. Once he was done Nadia was ready to resume their conversation.
“Normally,” she began, “dungeons absorb the fallen and their equipment. This provides them a new race, items, and materials for loot and to populate their floors. The same is true with any beast or monster that comes wandering in. The only things that a dungeon can’t copy are items above the dungeon's rank or unique items. I believe that any weapons you create with this Power modification fall into that category.”
Ray nodded in agreement. “I can see how that would be logical. Do you want to try?”
“No. At least, not at our level,” the Dungeon Fairy replied. “Doing so could actually hurt Greg. It could even kill him. Dungeons are heavily regulated by the System. Heavily. Maybe someday, but that day is not today. Instead, I would like to propose something else.”
“Go ahead, I’m listening,” he prompted when the Fairy hesitated. “As long as it isn’t too hard of a request I don’t see why I can’t help.”
Nodding Nadia explained her request. “I want you to make some unique items that we can use within the dungeon. Not ones that we can duplicate, otherwise they wouldn’t be unique. Items that we can use as rewards for unusual fights, hard puzzles, or on lower floors. This will let Greg grow much, much quicker than he would normally be capable of.”
“Yeah I could do that,” Ray replied, catching her off-guard with his quick and positive response. “I don’t know how many, or when exactly. But I can get at least a couple to you in, say, a month or so? I have so much I need to do in order to stabilize our territory and ensure our survival first.”
Nadia spun around him excitedly, he wings flashing every color of the rainbow. “Thank you! That will be a huge help! And please, no rush. Even if you don’t get them to us for a year it would still catapult us decades into the future growth-wise!”
“For sure Nadia. Don’t worry about it. It doesn’t take a lot out of me to make one, I just need to watch my reserves for now,” he reassured them again. “I can get you one or two well within that year mark.”
The group dissolved into chatter for a bit before he stood, catching everyone’s attention. “We need to leave now though. We have been here for a while, and I don’t know when that God guy will be back. Getting home is key, and it's already past our check-in time. Derrick is probably freaking the fuck out.”
“I can get you out the back way. Greg and I keep a rear tunnel for getting the hell out should the core room be breached again. He has been working on it ever since Anubis showed up,” Nadia said even as a hunk of the wall detached and slid into the ground. “We can get you to the docks this way, I’m pretty sure there’s even a boat or two left there.”
Following the Dungeon Fairy, the group formed up and headed down the tunnel with Ray and Nyx in the lead. They walked for almost half an hour before encountering a staircase that, once again, spiraled up to the surface. Another thirty minutes of ascending the tight staircase brought them to a heavily engraved door. Getting closer, Ray could feel the Power wafting off the exit.
Nadia grinned at him, “Dungeons have extremely potent Power when it comes to building things Ray. Not even Anubis could break in, and he is supposedly some kind of Death God. He had to forcibly overcome our anti-teleportation wards to get into the core room. Trying to break through the wall of a dungeon is a futile endeavor, it's protected by the System itself. As I said earlier, we are heavily regulated. For better and worse.”
“Well, at least you don’t have to worry about break-ins,” he teased with a light chuckle.
“None that we don’t want at any rate,” she fired back with mischief in her eyes. With a gesture from the Fairy, the door swung open on silent hinges, spilling daylight into the dark stairwell. “Off you go now. We will see you soon. Please don’t die, are agreement with you is rather important for our future growth and survival.”
Nodding, Ray didn’t really have a response to that statement. He walked into the sunlight, stepping onto the cobblestone of a wharf that sat on the river. The escape tunnel had disgorged them not into an area outside the harbor, but directly into the center of it. The Fairy and Dungeon duo were, if anything, practical with their efforts.
Once the last {RANGER} came out of the tunnel Ray turned to thank Nadia but was met with a smooth concrete wall. The stairwell, Fairy, and exit from the dungeon had all vanished. The only thing that remained was the towering remnants of the Statue of Liberty, which he could see the rear of from where he was standing.
“That was one of the weirdest fucking things yet,” he said to himself aloud.
“You aren’t kidding. That was incredibly odd. It's even more strange that you manage to make a deal with a dungeon and it's Fairy,” Nyx said. “If I hadn’t been here I wouldn’t have believed it.”
Ray snorted, “Come on Nyx, you were an undead Nemesis prior to this. What do you know about the System or dungeon shenanigans?” he asked, calling her out.
“I have an instinctual understanding of how things should work, even if that understanding isn’t a set of technical details,” she shot back. “And what just happened has my instincts screaming that it was entirely unnatural.”
“I am afraid that Lady Nyx is correct, My Lord,” Verrick said as Ray turned to look at the {RANGER} in disbelief. “That was something out of legends. Fairy tales even. It is common knowledge that Dungeon Fairies and dungeons themselves are sentient. But I have never, in my long life, heard of anyone negotiating an agreement with one. Not even with death being on the line for the dungeon.”
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
Ray couldn’t do anything but shake his head. If they were both telling him the same thing then what just happened must really be on the outside of unusual.
“Regardless, here we are,” he said, giving up and getting nods and a chuffing laugh from Nyx. “Let's find a boat and float down the river. From there it's one hex home.”
As the {RANGER}'s split up into pairs and began searching the Marina, Ray pulled up his stats. He hadn’t checked them in a while, and it seemed like a good idea to do so regularly. The System hadn’t told him that he had leveled up at all, making him wonder if the first level was an important milestone of some kind. It hadn’t told him of his other three level-ups, making him confused about the criteria to begin with.
RAYMOND ‘RAY’ FINNEGAN
{RACE}
HUMAN
{CLASS}
SYSTEM LORD
{CLASS GRADE}
UNIQUE
{STAGE}
1
{LEVEL}
6
{STRENGTH}
5
HUMAN BASE: 5
{AGILITY}
5
HUMAN BASE: 5
{POWER}
100
HUMAN BASE: 0
{WISDOM}
10
HUMAN BASE: 8
{LUCK}
10
HUMAN BASE: 2
{ABILITIES}
CLAIM II
CLAIM HEX
OATH OF FEALTY
SOUL COMPANION
MODIFY
“Yeah, two more levels. I’m still at the same Stage though. I wonder if you have to hit a certain number of levels or something before your Stage goes up?” he muttered. Then he saw that his {CLAIM} ability had a Roman style two next to it. “Did my ability… level?”
He pulled up the description and whistled at the new text there.
CLAIM II
CLAIM A SINGLE OBJECT REGARDLESS OF SIZE
ANY CLAIMED ITEMS WILL DRAW ALL CONTESTING OWNERS TO THE ABILITIES USER
“Well that’s going to make searching buildings really easy and incredibly fucking dangerous,” he said with a whistle. Nyx cocked her head at him quizzically, prompting him to explain the change in his ability.
“Interesting. I am sure, above anything, that your ability leveled up due to how much and in what way you have been using it,” she theorized. “I wonder if you continue summoning me if {SOUL COMPANION} will level up giving me great capabilities?”
Ray blinked. “I can unsummon you? Since when?”
“You really need to take some time and learn more about your abilities. They are far more versatile than you are giving them credit for,” Nyx chided with a chuff.
He could disagree with her.
His abilities were esoteric at best, and he often just applied them to the situation at hand rather than actually delving deeper into their full capabilities. Granted, up to this point he hadn’t had much of an opportunity to experiment. After they got back home, however, He was going to focus on building up their power base. His abilities would be a large part of that process.
An Aelvin came up to him, breaking off that line of thought. “My Lord, Master Verrick has located a vessel that suits our needs. He awaits you on board,” the woman reported.
Ray gestured for her to proceed. The remaining members of the group got up and followed her to a small fishing boat that Verrick was standing on. More of a trawler, really, it was forty feet long and entirely sail-based. He didn’t see any kind of motor on the thing, although Derrick was sure to fix that when they returned.
“Nice boat, mind if we catch a ride?” Ray teased Verrick as he hopped on board. The {RANGER} only quirked a single eyebrow at the question, not bothering to respond. “Oh come on, you’re no fun.”
“I beg to differ, My Lord,” Verrick refuted, “I am plenty of fun. Just not in ways that you are capable of appreciating.” Nyx chuffed a laugh at that as the {RANGER} began the process of casting the small vessel off the dock. Ray stared at the Aelvin as they began to drift out into the slow-flowing river.
“Did he… just sass me?” he asked his canine companion after several minutes. “I didn’t think he was capable of that. Wow, so Verrick does have a sense of humor.”
“Of course he does. Do you think he would be able to put up with you for very long if he didn’t?” Nyx shot back.
Ray just grumbled. Everyone was a smartass. He stood on the railing as the Aelvin deployed the sails on the small boat and it began to move down the river. As soon as they crossed into the neighboring territory they would run the boat up onto the shore and head inland. If he wasn’t wrong then they would only be a single border away from home. It wasn’t like he had a map to work with, going off entirely from discussing with eh {RANGER}s and his own memories.
A shudder ran through the entire vessel, nearly knocking Ray off his feet. “What the hell was that?” he asked, looking around. A sharp squealing noise akin to nails on a chalkboard was the only answer that he received.
“My Lord! Something is in the water!” called out a {RANGER}. The Aelvin was about to say more when an elongated arm exploded from the water, grabbed the surprised {RANGER} by the armor, and yanked him into the river.
“Get back from the sides! Back! Now!” ordered Verrick. A hideous shriek had Ray covering his ears as he saw dozens of lanky, four-limbed pale undead begin crawling over the sides of the boat. Their limbs with elongated like spider legs while their skin was pasty white. The undead faces had no eyes, or hair, with only two sunken holes for a nose and a maw of teeth.
They swarmed over the side as everyone began fighting for their lives. Ray didn’t have any time to draw his weapon as he was immediately set upon by two of the pale-skinned watery terrors. Swiping at him with sharp talons, Ray caught one attack on his arm resulting in deep gashes that began to bleed freely. Hissing in pain, he kicked the second creature in the chest and was surprised when its chest caved in and it was flung backward, clearing the rail and landing back in the water.
“These things are made of glass! Smash 'em!” he yelled out, not able to turn and see how the others were doing yet. The creature he had just disposed of was quickly replaced by another. Raw blocked another attack with his arm, managing to avoid the claws this time. He caught the wrist of the creature and with a violent twist broke it. The thing writhed and flailed backward with a hiss of pain. The reprieve wasn’t to last, however, as another of the river abominations quickly took up the open spot, clawing and biting at Ray in an attempt to turn him into lunch.
Ray’s world narrowed down into a hand-to-hand brawl with so many of the creatures that he lost count. Ducking, countering, kicking, and taking painful cuts, slashes, and bits filled his world for what seemed like hours but was in reality more likely minutes. Dozens of the creatures fell to his punches and kicks, their thin weak skin, light bodies, and clumsy movements hiding their ability to rend and tear flesh with ease.
At some point, Ray ran out of targets. Taking a deep breath he observed the scene around him and realized he had been wrong. There weren’t dozens of these things, there had been hundreds. The deck of the trawler was littered with corpses, with more floating down the river behind them. Several of the {RANGER}s were down with significant wounds, while the sole remaining Goblin of their expedition had died, its body ripped to shreds by the claws of those creatures. Nyx seemed to be ok, sporting a few bloody bits and cuts that matted her fur with blood, but Verrick was one of the badly wounded.
Heading over to him, Ray knelt as another Aelvin bandaged his wounds.
“I was caught by several of the creatures, My Lord,” he explained. “There were too many angles to defend,” he admitted.
Ray nodded, “I’m just glad you’re alive. Overall I would say we came out of this pretty well. Let's keep our eyes open and get to shore as quickly as possible. I thought that the attacks would be limited to deep water vessels, but if this is the response to a short trip down the river… we are going to need to find a different way to move around.”
Verrick only nodded in confirmation as Ray stood and let the Alevin get back to cleaning and bandaging his wounds. If they weren’t able to use the water to travel the would they would need to figure out something else.
And quickly.