CHAPTER 17
TRUE ADVENTURE
Eager, June followed the dwarf as he wandered further into the storage level. “You just not going to tell me what I want to know?” Asked June, trying to press her concern about not knowing how to actually navigate the Tombs. He paused before another nondescript door, this time a stone one, and turned to face June, “Tell ya what, you learn how to cultivate both Water and Earth Mana over the next week, and I’ll see what I can do about getting you free access.”
Content with his response, June simply nodded. Inwardly, she thought, “ha, I’ve already explored the swamps, so with no enemies to worry about, this quest is going to be cake!”
Bullin held open the hefty stone door, motioning her inside. Compared to the previous room, this place was a mess. Instead of shelves and boxes, Piles of wooden crates that put Bullin’s shop hoard to shame sat scattered all over. The visual of dozens upon dozens of similar crates reminded June of the iconic Hangar 51 from Raiders of the Lost Ark. They stretched on for a vast distance, far too long for June to see the other side of the chamber.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Bullin remarked, standing beside her, eyes glowing blue.
“What the hell is all this?” She asked, mouth agape.
Bullin opened his arms in a grand gesture. “This is the first of the Vaults. We stored some of the best loot we have in these rooms. And no, you can’t come in here freely,” he quipped, sensing her excitement.
“You’re no fun,” snipped Kotor from her shoulder, cutting off her own retort.
Both of them turned their attention to the fire imp for a moment. Bullin was the first to react, emitting a huff. “You just don’t know good fun when you see it, ya little bugger.”
The crates all appeared to be unmarked, but that didn’t deter their progress. Bullin carted the pair of skeleton and imp along, pulling things from crates as he went. June tried to keep up, even using her Mana Sense to find any kinds of markings, and find them she did. Each crate had runes inscribed on it in some kind of system. But try as she might, June couldn’t make sense of it. Some crates had runes for certain elements on them, only for Bullin to yank a caddy of finished potions out of them. Another that bore runes for metals like gold and silver contained pieces of armor.
As he went, Bullin continued to fill the knapsack with more gear.
Items Obtained
3x Potion of Holy Resistance
5x Mana Distillation
Primal Leather Gloves of Inner Focus
With his trek through the stacks completed, Bullin led the troupe to the entrance, thrusting the backpack into June’s arms. When she hefted it onto her back, it felt much lighter than it should. “This thing must be enchanted,” she thought. The sheer volume of potions and items inside didn’t even make noise when she moved.
“Now that you’re done giving me a bunch of stuff, can you explain why I need all of this?” June questioned.
“You’re too important to just let wander around without some protection. Sure, those weapons of yours will do well to keep you upright, but these will do in a pinch.” He instructed her to spend some time checking over the gear once she was ready to see how to put it to use. With that, they exited the room of infinite crates. The trio was then left standing back in the main hallway, as a quest window flashed into June’s vision.
Quest Begins!
Survive! Learn to use more Mana types found out in the wilds.
Reward: ???
“Now get going,” Bullin shouted. Excitedly, June took off at a near run, Kotor struggling to keep up.
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June pulled her Teleportation Key out and followed the pattern she had done many times before. June pictured the dais and glittering runes of the upper crypt, bathed in blue light from flaming braziers. “Crypt!” June called out. In a flash, she was back at the first level of this insane place.
With fearless determination, she ventured out back into the dusty stone chambers, lined with coffins and cobwebs. Flaring her Mana Sense, she scanned the area around the teleportation dais. The first thing that jumped out at her as she crept through the decrepit underground crypt, was a much larger necrotic presence. More than the handful of lower-level undead she had first encountered here, many more beings lay lingering in wait. There were a few of the Level 5 skeletons in the shadows around the blazing blue flames, waiting for a target. But that wasn’t all. A handful of Level 10 Skeleton Knights in tattered armor—leaning on rusty halberds—slumped over against one wall. Deeper in, her Mana Sense flared like a spotlight against some unseen foe. Focusing on it, a status window told June it was a Level 15 Zombified Servant.
Had someone added these here? No, that couldn’t be it. From the way she had heard Bullin discuss the defenses of this place, it would be a colossal waste of time to manually spawn new guardians. This was an MMO-like world after all, and level scaling was a very common mechanical trick in RPGs; maybe this world had something like that? June logged the idea within her ever-growing list of questions to seek an answer to and moved on.
The skeleton crept her way up the stairs, with Kotor in tow, she returned to a still night sky. Every time she had ventured up here previously, it had been during the day. Now, the swamps were alive with signs of life. Chirps and squeals of many bugs and reptiles filled her ears. The low light of the moon bounced reflections off of the mud and cast stretched shadows. Stars twinkled in the sky overhead, tiny pinpricks of light in a sea of darkness and scattered clouds.
“Best if you go into the Gem, Kotor, makes it easier to move around and stay hidden.” June whispered, and the imp complied, disappearing in a puff of orange smoke.
As she wandered deeper into the muddy environment, unfamiliar smells and sounds wafted in on a gentle breeze. The rustle of grasses was replaced with the skitter of countless tiny legs. The odor of decaying flesh swallowed the scent of fetid muck. A cloyingly sweet scent mixed with the rot, sounding an olfactory dinner bell for scavengers. June was thankful for no longer having a stomach. Every once in a while, June paused, listening. Most of the noises from bugs and small animals were far off, but more than once, a large splash came far too close. Slowing her pace to a crawl, June fed more mana into her eyes, trying to peer deeper into the surrounding darkness. The dizzying mix of colored gas-like mana crowded her vision, overwhelming her senses.
“Relax, animals are more scared of you than you are of them,” she told herself, echoing advice from her past life. After a few minutes, she had made her way back to the spot where she’d felled that player a few weeks back. Carefully approaching the entrance to the underground crypt, she scanned the area. The surroundings were just as she had last seen them.
Crawling in, she once again paused at the entrance through the ramshackle mess of stones and roots. Not hearing anything other than drips, she continued. Within was a roughly carved staircase, leading to the tunnel beyond. This underground burial site was much smaller than the one that led into the Tombs proper; little more than a few piles of broken stones and ceramics, covered in dirt and cobwebs. As June explored around, she uncovered a smaller tunnel heading off from the main chamber. Kotor and June crept deeper into the tunnel, an eerie silence settling over the passage as their feet clacked off the packed dirt. Carved stones gave way to rough-hewn dirt walls, held up by stacks of small boulders. This tunnel looked a lot more like a mining site than a place of burial. The tunnel was deafeningly silent at first, but another sound filled June’s ears after a few minutes. Tink...Tink...Tink. The sound of something striking a hard surface rang off the tunnel's walls.
June moved closer to the noise, slowing her progress even more to preserve the element of surprise. A tiny reptilian-looking humanoid was hunched in the dark tunnel, a small lantern attached to their hip. On the ground behind them was a small basket attached to a rope. Sitting in the basket were a few small rough rocks. Some of them seemed to catch the light, glittering with a dull green hue. It clutched a crude metal tool between three-fingered hands.
Her Mana Sense told June the rock being worked by this creature was a Below-Average Emerald vein. As she focused her sight on the squat creature, a status window told her more about this new monster.
Enemy: Kobold Spawnling Level 8 Stats Unknown
But, despite her attempts to remain unseen, this new foe must have had some stellar hearing. Without warning, the Kobold took off, dropping its implement and moving further down the tunnel, as fast as its legs could carry it.
Before June could move to pursue, a call stopped her. “Let it go boney, it’s not a threat.” Kotor’s voice echoed inside her head. “But let’s get out of here before it comes back with friends.”
Silently agreeing, June turned on a heel to leave, before pausing and glancing at the spot where the monster had just been digging.
“I bet Bullin would appreciate this stuff. So how do I get it out? Screw it, it worked for everything else here,” June thought as she channeled mana into the rock surrounding the gemstone. Visualizing the mana burrowing through the stone like a drill, June watched in amazement as the trick worked. After a few minutes of digging via magic, she received a pile of uncut gems and a notification window.
Item Gained
Name
4x Below Average Uncut Emeralds
A mineral found in many underground places, especially where Earth Mana is highly concentrated. These particular gemstones are fairly low-quality, and useful more for decoration than high-powered magical crafting.
Rarity
Non-Magical
Grade
Material
Affinity
Earth
Effect
—
The most bizarre thing about the newly acquired stones was the constant flow of mana being absorbed by them. June watched as a steady flow of green mana flowed into the gemstones. She couldn’t see any natural glow or any outward sign of a reaction. As she inspected the gems, a thought occurred. Does this mean magic interacts with everything? She supposed it made sense, given how often she had read about magic being described as a living force. As she glanced around, June had a devious idea. Letting the mana flow from her body, she pushed it down her arm and into the gem she was holding. The rock gobbled up the magic with no visual response. Shrugging, she placed the gems into a pouch on her hip, and departed.
As her Mana Sense guided her way, she tried to draw in mana as she moved. Previously, she had only cultivated while sitting completely still and focused, but she recognized how big of a weakness that represented. If she ran out of mana in a fight, she’d be in trouble. Watching as the tiny flows of magic bent slightly toward her passing frame, but didn’t fully integrate with her bones, June grew frustrated. Anger soon followed behind, overtaking her thoughts as she returned to the surface. Even as the flow of energy increased, she couldn’t get it to bend entirely to her will without stopping everything she was doing. Why did this have to be so much harder? Why does she have to go through all of this? Dejected, she trudged on, continuing to cultivate.
One other curious element was the composition of the flow. The Death Mana was entirely absent from this mass of magic, replaced by what she assumed was a mix of Water and Earth Mana. The hues of green and blue mingled to form dizzying spirals, before collapsing into nothingness, dissipating into the air and earth alike.
Deciding to try one more ruin before quitting for the night, June stomped through the mud towards another stone outcropping in the distance. Its entrance was even harder to reach than the one she just left. Half-buried in the muck, this was going to be a bit of work. As she clawed her way through the mud, she’d kill for a shovel. June pushed mud and rocks out of her way, digging to clear a path. Determined, she forced herself to focus on the task at hand. Thankful that she no longer had lungs, the panic of being encased in a tight space lessened. This helped her push the anxiety gnawing at her mind away. After a few minutes, a passage deeper into a collapsed stone ruin opened up before her. June clambered her way through the muddy passage, coming out on the other side, into a cavern-like opening in the earth.
The walls of this tunnel were much higher than June expected. Jagged rocks and loose tree roots hung down over the immense space. Drips echoed through the space, running down from plant roots and the walls themselves. Those same walls were lined with many crooked outcroppings and tiny alcoves, closing the water-logged floor in an earthen cocoon. Every few feet, tiny holes in the roof caused by intruding plants let tiny shafts of moonlight in. Moss hung from the stones in large clumps, piercing those light beams and casting shadows at odd angles.
“Only one way in or out, and anyone sloshing through the water should be easy enough to hear coming,” she whispered as she inspected the area. This was as good a place as any to settle down for a break. Looking around the cramped tunnel, June spotted a larger alcove high above her.
“Right...” June clambered up the stones toward the alcove after taking a moment to psych herself up. The clatter of loose rocks and dirt made this a less than stealthy affair. After a few minutes of struggle, she hauled her bones up into the alcove, rolling onto her back inside the cramped gap in the stonework.
“You can come out,” she communicated internally to Kotor, still tucked away inside the Class Gem. June tossed off her pack against the stones and dirt, slumping down against it. Kotor appeared in a small puff of smoke, “thanks, boney, it was gettin’ kind of cramped in there,” came Kotor’s labored voice. The sound of small stones dropping into the water told June that he was busily climbing down the wall, possibly giving himself more room. There wasn’t a lot of space with June tucked in this hole.
Turning her focus inward, June dove into working this alternative source of mana. This latest attempt to work mana was failing miserably. The cord of compressed mana even recoiled from her core, almost like it was being rejected. “So what am I going to do?” June looked out at the surrounding walls, staring at nothing in particular. As June sat, more mana filtered into her bones, and deeper into her core. Instead of the usual relaxation, anger and contempt bubbled into her mind. Her core was alive with the same negative emotion, almost growling for its next meal. The force of the hunger within her grew and grew, completely unsatisfied with the bare scraps of mana being fed to it. Like a howling wolf, its pained cry echoed across the void of her inner being.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
In a flash of inspiration, June wondered if she could deal with the problem, drawing on her experience with Fire and Death Mana. Problem was, she couldn’t seem to project herself into her usual core. Thinking quickly, she tried a different approach.
June recalled the example of her first experiments with channeling and cultivating, she funneled mana to parts of her skull, just wanting to see what would happen. The threads of black spun out from her core and snaked through her body, wrapping around her skull like a cap. A new clarity settled over her senses, and the sounds of the world around her became even more clear. Guess all those years of blasting way-too-loud music hadn’t carried over into this world. Small blessings, she supposed. But the flow of mana didn’t stop at the crown of her skull. As the energy wrapped around her head like bandages, it spread and thickened. Like a syrupy flow of light, the energy overwhelmed her senses until nothing but searing light filled her inner sight. That soon faded to blackness as it swallowed her senses in a torrent of illusion. A sizzling sound filled the blackness of June’s consciousness, and she jolted back to the moment.
Checking her character sheet, she saw something surprising. Two new perks listed there showed a pretty major change. Her Mana Sense had changed to Mana Vision, and a new perk called Tongues was also listed there. “Well, that’s cool and all, but how do I actually use it?” Wondered the skeleton. With a new idea, she asked a simple question of Kotor, who was lounging in his own alcove beneath her.
“Do you have any idea how to convert mana, Kotor?” After a moment, a whimper of a voice echoed up to June, “Not really, I just focus, and it happens. It just...works.”
“Yeah, but do you feel any different, like happier?”
“Well, I feel good,” the imp responded. “But I feel a lot better when I’m burning things.“ A soft cackle escaped his lips.
Given how easy it had been for her to work her other perks, June tried the first thing that came to mind. Thinking about the Tongues perk, she forced a cord of mana into it. A status window inundated her with options. It listed each one as a type of communication. Having no way to test it out on NPCs or players at the moment, she cut the flow of magic.
Sensing she would not get much further tonight, June simply settled back into cultivating for a few hours. After what felt like a shorter time than it was, daylight filtered in through cracks in the earth and stones above the resting pair.
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Extracting herself from her previously muddy environs, June crawled back out into the swamp. Any passerby would have seen a muddy undead angrily claw their way out of the muck, and run for their lives. Covered in detritus, June set off, refreshed from her breakthrough the night before. The Mana Vision gave her an entirely new and vibrant perspective on the world around her. Everything seemed to pop, colors and mana flow seemed more defined. Instead of gaseous clouds that fluttered away in an instant, the magical energy of the landscape formed defined bundles swirling into and out of everything around it. June cut the flow of mana, and her typical undead greyscale vision returned.
Gone were the ruins and grave markers, replaced by tall ashes and maples, or at least what she thought were those varieties. Tall grasses and creeping vines swallowed most of the ground, leaving precious little space for bare earth. The smell of rot lessened as she walked, overtaken by pollen and sap. June was inwardly thankful that the undead didn’t suffer allergies. And most pleasing of all, the sounds of peaceful nature replaced the sucking sounds of tramping through the mossy and sodden ground. Bird calls flittered through the air. Every so often, the light buzz of a passing insect would fill her hearing. Carefully, June continued south, hoping to find anything of note.
That latest quest was still fresh in her mind, as was the perplexing question of how to accomplish the task. Sure, she could grind against the undead, and any other NPCs she came across, but Bullin’s words blocked her. Like a stone wall, the idea of slaughtering the denizens of the tomb seemed pointless and dangerous. She just couldn’t bring herself to do it. Thinking through the problem, there were just too many unknown elements when it came to magic in this world. Bullin had always been friendly, most of the time. Though June knew too little about him, something about how he reacted to Kotor’s chaos in the forge stuck in her mind at that moment. Her past experiences hung over her like a dreadfully heavy ring around her neck. “Why does everyone have to be so cryptic?” She wondered. June reached over her shoulder and tried to touch the brand she knew was there, to no effect. All she felt was the cold bone scratching against her fingers.
After several hours of walking through the woods, the trees thinned. The muck still sucked at her feet as she trundled along, but soon moss and uneven sodden terrain gave way to grasses, ferns, and more even ground. Thanks to her Mana Vision, she noted that the character of the magic had shifted. Even the tiniest elements of Death Mana had disappeared, replaced by an ever-present flow of green and blue bands worming their way through the air and earth. The trees, grasses, and other plants roiled with it. The twisting colors of arcane power took on other forms as well.
Nearby to some graves, the mana flow twisted into a rope-like formation, before snaking its way into the earth nearby to the stone markers. As she approached, June’s senses flared. Something beneath the soil was consuming all that mana.
The soggy soil around the grave markers swelled and flex at that moment. A rotting hand burst from the earth, followed by another. The mottled grey and brown flesh were soaked, swollen with excess moisture. A moss-covered skull and gnashing teeth burst out next. Its eye sockets were empty, absent of even the tiniest glimmer. As the first zombie clawed its way out, June checked their stats. As she was preparing, another undead began pushing its way to the surface. Her Mana Vision seemed to be working.
Enemy Name: Muck Zombie (Wild Spawn) Level: Total: 12 Stats: Strength - 24
Endurance - 28
Agility - 8
Willpower - 8
Intelligence - 10
“What the hell is a wild spawn?” she said internally, as she mentally commanded Kotor to come out. “Guess I’ll figure it out the hard way.”
Remembering the difficulty her dagger had in stealing Mana from those skeletons, she erred against using it this time. As the Fire Imp charged around her toward the pair of lumbering, mossy zombies, June drew and twirled her short sword. Trying again to draw mana from the surroundings, she wanted to channel it directly into the blade, but only a tiny amount of mana came. It felt strange, like she was tasting brackish water, as the mana flowed into her body.
With surprising speed, the two foes ripped their way out of the marshland, almost leaping at June. It wasn’t until Kotor unleashed a fan of flame that they even acknowledged his presence. In an instant, the undead that had its back cooked lunged towards the imp. June was thankful for the zombies being as slow as they were, with their trundling feet consistently getting bogged down in the sludge of freshly turned soil.
Charging a Fire Bolt, she let the flame fly into the back of her weakened foe. June retreated, putting distance between herself and her two quarries. The second monstrosity continued its dogged pursuit, now joined by the first. The smell of cooked flesh and rot mixed in the air as the sound of undead groans joined in. The arcing of electric magic soon joined the cacophony, when June sidestepped a lunge from one of the undead and let her blade sink into its arm. But without the full power of its enchantment to cut through, June found a lot more resistance than she was used to. With a grunt of exertion, she extracted the blade and backpedaled from the zombie’s reach.
Over the next several minutes, June and Kotor felled one of the two zombies by baiting them around with ranged attacks. “That works pretty well, huh, boney!” The fire imp called as they unleashed another attack on their final foe.
“Indeed, but I’m kind of running low here,” June responded, as she backpedaled away from another grasp of the undead, slashing at its chest with her blade. Try as she might, she still couldn’t crack the nut of cultivating mana during combat. And as each chunk of her stored core was consumed, her movements became more sluggish.
With a flourish, June sheathed her short sword and drew her dagger, hoping to leech some energy. With a step and a thrust, she sunk the blade into the sternum of the zombie, allowing it into biting range. As it tried to sink it teeth into her bones, June funneled what mana she could spare into the blade. When its gnarled teeth ripped and tore at the leather on her shoulder, June pushed a bit more to pull even more energy in. The zombie froze for a moment before slumping against her frame. Falling back, she let the slain undead drop into the mud.
Dragging herself through the muck, June rested her back against a nearby stump. Kotor climbed onto the stump, their eyes wild and darting around. “Fuck...” she breathed out, in a low tone.
“Yeah, let’s not do that again,” Kotor whispered.
A glimmer of ichorous mana clung to the singed frames of the slain undead. Following the trail with her Mana Vision, June traced it back to their stomachs. A fresh hell of rotten intestines filled the air with a wet slop as she hacked away at them. Digging her hands into the blackened mass, June fished out two Tier 1 Mana Crystals, adding them to her collection.
After a quick break to accrue more mana, the pair moved on.
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June walked through the woods, with Kotor in tow. After a short trek, shouts and the sounds of combat shattered the relative tranquility of the forest’s background noise. A howl and the crackle of electricity sounded to June’s south. June darted through the trees, keeping her ears piqued for more noise, trying to locate the source of this latest disturbance.
After a couple of minutes, the sounds of combat grew even louder, and June spotted a figure through the brush. Ducking down behind a tree, the skeleton and the imp tried to hide from the view of these unknown combatants. June surveilled the scene, as three humanoids were busy blasting spells and arrows into a large wolf creature. Its dark fur was stained red, and its blazing golden eyes fixed on an armored foe in front if it.
Less than a minute later, the wolf-like creature had been slain. One victor walked over and with a single swipe of a blade, extracted a small crystal from the gut of the beast. With nary a word, the group quickly moved on, heading off into the woods.
As June watched, the trio moved in a haphazard formation. They were all moving in the same direction in a staggered line at a very steady pace. Almost like robots, they routinely cast buffs on themselves as they went. To June, they looked like a party that was expecting an ambush.
In the lead was a bulky man wearing leather armor and carrying a shield. The wall of meat must have been 7 feet tall and made almost entirely of muscle. “That’ll be the tank,” she reasoned. Following a few steps behind that one was a slender woman with a dark complexion matching her flowing obsidian robes. Clutched in one hand was a gnarled staff made of dark wood and topped with several large gems. June immediately recognized the weapon as a newbie staff belonging to various caster classes in Duneria Online. Bringing up the rear was a sneaky, tall woman with long, flowing white hair. A quiver loaded with various arrows complemented her leather armor. Slung around their shoulder was an enormous bow.
“Must be dungeon crawling,” she thought, recalling Duneria Online’s use of open-world and instanced dungeons throughout its design. Did that mean that the Tombs were part of an in-game quest? There had been basic PvE and related quests in the game’s version she knew, but it was still pretty early days, and the content had been pretty barebones. A million questions about what that meant for this world span through her mind. But without a clear frame of reference, June couldn’t infer more than basic details. One thing became abundantly clear as she focused her Mana Vision on them. They were a much more significant threat than she imagined.
All three were several levels ahead of her, with the highest being level 20. Their stats and mix of abilities made them a serious threat, no question about it. Even the weakest among them was a level 14 Mage, likely possessing more potent magic than she herself could muster. There was no way she could take these three on. Even if she played into their expectation of her just being a dumb NPC, she didn’t stand a chance. The level difference could be overcome, maybe, if there was just one of them—not three. June elected to follow them from a distance. “It’s just a stealth mission, just be invisible.” Now was as good a time as any to figure out how stealth worked with players.
“So where is this dungeon supposed to be,” the human tank at the front called back.
“It’s supposed to be a ruined tower in a clearing, at least that’s what the guide said.” The caster responded.
“They have to be using voice chat,” June assumed. “No other reason I’d be able to hear them.” June thought, still trailing behind the three adventurers.
The group moved slowly enough for June to keep up with them, darting between trees, rocks and other cover. After a few minutes of traipsing through the woods, they ground to a halt. “We’ve got company,” shouted the archer from the rear, she turned and scanned the surrounding woods, her cold eyes passing right over the tree June was crouched behind. The other two began hurriedly casting spells and assuming a defensive posture. “Buffs up,” the caster called as a wave of blue mana flooded off of her staff and bathed the other two in their group.
June made a snap decision, hoping that this would work out. With a mental command, Kotor disappeared into the Gem. To hide her undead form, she quickly channeled mana into her new Tongues perk, triggering a status window, and choosing NPC Companion. Then, a shred of mana fed into the Glamour illusion on her armor changed the visible parts of her body back to her redhead form. June hoped they didn’t notice the bone still visible in gaps in her clothing.
“Here goes nothing,” June whispered as she stepped out from behind the tree. “Oh thank goodness,” whispered June, face beset with worry. “You have to help me, my companion went into a nearby dungeon and hasn’t come out.”
Three pairs of icy, lifeless eyes stared back at her. Tempered by her will to survive the encounter, June resisted the urge to run, and stepped closer.
“Is that in the guide?” Asked the roguish player in the rear.
“No, nothing about a random NPC. Maybe it’s one of those Wild Quests the patch notes mentioned.”
“What the hell is a Wild Quest?” June thought, striving to not let her confusion ruin her trick. “Please, you have to help me,” she pleaded with the lead adventurer. “Come on...”
“Can’t hurt, might as well go with it,” came a nonchalant prompting from the Archer.
And with that, the group followed June back the way she had come. After a long walk that June could swear was much shorter than she remembered, the group arrived at the edge of the swampy ruins that marked the entrance to the tombs.
“Well, this is certainly new,” said the black-robed caster. The other two players didn’t respond, merely following the lead of the caster as they wandered toward the trap June was leading them into. The ruse had worked. These idiots were about to attack the prepared defenses of the tombs head-on. This would even give her a chance to see what kind of things these weirdos cooked up for would-be invaders.
Slowly and carefully, the trio descended the stairs to the first level. As soon as they crossed the threshold into the lower chamber, June could see the stirring of multiple mana sources in the darkness. Lights thrummed in the darkness, and then silently advanced on the invading trio; a stealthy approach, it is then. But the hunter at the rear was ready, much to June’s chagrin. A flash of white light bathed the room, illuminating many of the advancing undead. The Archer’s anti-stealth item, which June recognized as a Combat Flare, revealed a cadre of several undead knights. June’s Mana Vision told her that these were all levels ranging from 15 to 20. Nearly a dozen pairs of ruby-red eyes blazed against the fading light.
Hoping to sell the illusion, June threw herself into her hapless maiden role. With a shriek, she added, “Oh save me, adventurers!” Maybe she was laying the shtick on a bit too thick, as being the living embodiment of a trope would have made her skin crawl. But here, she just had to swallow her pride and roll with it. The players sprung into action, slinging spells, loosing arrows, and hacking at undead flesh. A pang of regret at not getting to get some free Mana for slaughtering the undead around them bit at June, but she clamped down on it, continuing to cower in the corner.
June filled with malicious intent as she saw a couple more undead lurking at the edges of the chamber, moving slowly towards the players. And before they could respond, multiple dark bolts shot from the darkness, slamming into the tank and caster in unison. The trio recovered quickly, consuming potions and casting buffs. With that, the battle began. June watched, and these adventurers looked to be holding their own. But she could change that, she had to change that. June saw red as she watched another of the undead denizens of the tombs baked by lightning. Her fist clenched around the hilt of her dagger. Like a prodding whisper, ravenous revenge drove her forward. June crept up behind the caster, silently drawing her dagger. “Ready Kotor?” June thought, a feeling of excitement washed over her, echoing his mutual anticipation.
Her sinister happiness grew, stretching across her face like a serpent. June lunged forward, burying her charged dagger into the back of the caster just as they were preparing another spell.
“Shit, it’s a—” her words fell silent as the icy eyes of the caster held her betrayer. June let the disguise of her glamour drop. The sinister grin fell from her face like ash, replaced by bleached bone and fiery violet eyes. With a charge of mana, June ripped the last bits of HP from her quarry, and a wooden staff clattered to the stones. The rush of mana that flooded her senses in that moment nearly made June buckle at the knees. Lucky for her, the other two players were too distracted by the other undead closing in on them.
Recovered from the stunning rush of power, June stepped over the corpse, and attempted to close on the archer. Kotor popped out in a flash of light, letting loose a fan of flames toward their shared target. The archer wheeled around in time to catch a Hex to the face, screaming out for their tank to save them.
The armored player glowed red, using up one of his Taunts. June knew that the cooldown for that would prevent it from being used for a precious few seconds, giving her an opening. But before she could strike the Archer again, her mind shifted against her will. A mortal scream bellowed through the chamber. A man in mortal agony wailed amid the carnage. The rage of the tank pulled all attention to him. Burning hatred welled up in June’s heart, and she canceled the Hex, firing another at the tank instead. The hatred was soon replaced with a physical burning as an arrow lodged itself in her ribcage. The searing heat of a Smite Arrow nearly sent her to the floor.
Kotor too fell to the urge to attack the tank, as the few remaining undead rained blows down on him. Through hazy vision, June could see him firing off more cooldown abilities to resist the barrage.
“I need to…“ she saw the glint of a bright orange light, thinking it was Kotor. But before she could call out to the imp, tell it to attack the archer, a holy light smashed into her chest. Her dagger dropped, and she tried to reach for her short sword, but her fingers were too stiff, unresponsive. She didn’t feel the final arrow impact, only an embrace like icy fingers wrapping around her form.