Vash stepped back, unable to believe his eyes even as he kept them fixed on the corridor in front of him. Undead…but those aren’t real, right? Just stories for superstitious peasants, keeping them fearful of ‘demons’ and warlocks.
Glowing pinprick eyes fixed on him, unsteady movements finding a rhythm. They made no sound except for the clatter of bone scraping against bone and the rustle of ancient boots shuffling through dust. Hard to deny what I’m looking at, though.
The skeletons stumbled slowly into the light, clad in tattered rags and rusted armor. Some had once been wearing leather cuirasses, but they had long ago become brittle as old paper. They carried a mixed assortment of weapons: clubs, spears, a sword or two. Vash scanned them quickly, his Eth Mitaan training kicking in, seeing and summarizing what was in front of him.
Human, some old equipment, nothing of value.
He glanced back at the others. Corwin and Jabez waited expectantly, faces taut. Behind them, Zakarias peered over his servants' shoulders, hungry eyes darting from Vash to the shambling undead and back.
What’s he so interested in?
Vash turned back to the bones. Traps he could handle. Tricks he could spot. But magic?
If we survive this, we need to hire a mage. Vash thought.
The empty sockets of the approaching skeletons flared with crimson light. They moved faster, shuffling turned into walking, which turned a jog.
“We’ve got running skeletons!” Vash called out.
"They're speeding up on this side too," Corwin said from the other side of the room.
Vash drew his blades, short sword in his right, and a long dagger in his left. The undead approached at speed. Rusted clubs, swords, and axes hanging limply in their grip. Behind him, he heard the rattle of Jabez drawing his war hammer from the ring on his belt.
"Stay close!" Jabez barked. "Shield the scholar!"
Vash moved to intercept the first skeleton. It swung wildly; he ducked the blow and sliced it through the torso, just below the ribcage, delivering a forceful blow across its spine. Vertebrae flew, and the other bones collapsed, inert once more.
Just bones, Vash thought. I can handle this.
He darted toward the next one. One arm fell apart when he slashed its shoulder. Spinning, he sliced through its knee joint and sent it crumbling to the floor. Vash stepped back, letting the bones fall around him. He caught movement on the floor. The one he'd cut in half was dragging itself back together.
What the hell?
"They keep reforming!" Corwin yelled. Vash turned to see the big warrior land a solid sword blow, smashing a skeleton while another was rebuilding itself at his feet.
"Watch out!" Jabez called, dashing to Vash's side, war-hammer shattering a skeleton to pieces. "Keep your eyes on your targets, elf!"
Vash turned back to face several more skeletons lumbering towards him. On instinct, Vash stabbed one through its ribcage, but it was just bones - no vital organs to strike.
Jabez swung his hammer, sweeping the legs out from under the skeleton impaled on Vash's dagger. It collapsed to the floor. Immediately, the bones began clattering as they searched for their mates.
One skeleton lunged at Vash, dessicated skin flaking off the bones when it opened its jaws wide in a silent scream. Vash side-stepped its swing and lopped its arm off at the joint. It stumbled back, reaching for the lost limb. Jabez stepped forward and crushed its ribcage with his hammer.
The shattered bones skittered about on the floor tiles, seeking their other pieces. Faster than Vash thought possible, the splintered ribcage had knitted itself back together, no worse for wear than when it had stumbled in for its attack.
They’re relentless. Vash thought, sweat soaking his brow as he blocked and attacked over and over again. No matter the damage inflicted, the bones would simply reassemble into a full skeleton, pick up a weapon, and go back on the attack. They’ll just wear us down. It’s a losing battle.
Vash risked a glance back at Zakarias. The scholar watched avidly, making no move to assist them.
"Any bright ideas?" he called.
Zakarias raised one thin eyebrow. "I’m just an academic, not an adventurer. You seem to have it handled."
Vash bit back a retort as another skeleton attacked. He blocked its blow, then kicked it in the chest, sending it sprawling. The skeleton rotated its head and torso, then its hips and legs. Within a heartbeat, the skeleton was back on its feet and turning to return to the fight.
There has to be a way to stop them permanently. Some weakness to exploit. Vash's mind raced even as his body reacted on instinct - ducking, slashing, always moving.
What do I know about animated dead? Vash thought. C’mon, think, you listened to all those adventurer’s tales about facing creatures from the Silent King’s army, the army of undead.
He needed to destroy or disrupt something that fueled their movement.
A skeleton slapped Vash's arm aside and darted in. It bit into Vash's shoulder, teeth sinking into the leather, jaws clamping shut. Vash cried out in pain, stumbling back and falling beneath the skeleton. He felt a warm trickle of blood flowing down his chest, the skeleton's jaws moving inexorably closed.
Jabez's hammer shattered a skeleton's ribs. He kicked the pieces apart, scattering them, moving to help Vash. Two more skeletons moved up, grabbing at Jabez's arms and face.
Vash pushed against the skeleton, trying to force it up and off of him, but it held on tight, jaws working as it bit down harder, eyes glowing a dispassionate orange.
Glowing eyes. Vash thought. Just like the glowing mouths of the golems back at the Wayfarer’s Lodge in Sathsholm.
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Vash brought the hilt of his dagger down in an awkward strike against the side of the skeleton's skull. It did little damage, but there was a slight flickering in the skeleton's eye glow. With an effort, Vash smashed the dagger into the skull, a spiderweb of cracks forming at the temple and several pieces falling away. The strength of the skeleton's bite immediately lessened and its grip was weaker. Vash struck again, obliterating the skull and releasing a puff of orange light and vapor. For a moment, the light hung in the air like motes of dust in a sunbeam. Then it coalesced into a tiny bead of light and roiling vapor before surging towards the shattered bones.
A tug on Vash’s core pulled his attention upwards. Not all the light and energy from the skeleton had returned to the bones. Some were drifting upwards towards a carving just above the archway. It had the same spiky lettering as the rest of the carvings. Vash couldn’t read it, but he could see that residual orange energy gathering around the runes. His Core thrummed at the sight, and Vash knew what he had to do.
"Smash the skulls. It slows them down!" Vash called, bringing his short sword down on the reforming skull of the skeleton at his feet.
Jabez roared a dwarfish war cry and tackled the two skeletons clinging to him, smashing them to the ground. The bones started trying to put themselves back together. Jabez grabbed the skulls and slammed them together, bones shattering like eggshells. Glowing, orange vapor escaped between Jabez's fingers and the bones clattered to the ground.
Wisps of orange light escaped from the tiny knot of energy and drifted up to the carving above the archway.
“Hold them off. I’ve got an idea.” Vash said, getting to his feet.
“What are you going to do?” Jabez asked, kicking the piles of bones down the hallway, making it harder for the skeletons to reform.
“Disarming the trap.” Vash said, sheathing his weapons and leaping at the nearest pillar. The rough stonework gave good traction, but still Vash pulled up Enhance Ability to lend strength and agility to his climb. He added the recursion loop that he’d seen in the Gideon’s Guide margin notes and felt a much smaller pull on his Core. Warmth flooded his limbs, and he began scaling the pillar with the telltale fluid grace of someone using a Talent.
A warning pulse from Vash’s Core made him look up. A skeleton down towards the end of the corridor was lifting a crossbow. The weapon, though old, pointed directly at him and seemed to be in working condition.
He was about to shout for help, but Jabez rushed to the archway, lifting his hammer in a high, overhand arc. Vash felt a great pull of mana centered on Jabez and his raised hammer. Blue light traced the runes and designs that Vash hadn’t seen before on the dull gray head of the hammer. Jabez himself seemed to glow slightly from the amount of mana he was pulling.
The skeletons in the corridor hesitated, as though confused by the sudden surge of mana ahead of them.
“Baldniruuk!” Jabez shouted, voice taking on the strange echoing tone of spellwork. He brought the hammer down in a quick, overhand strike, hitting the floor and shattering the flagstone at his feet.
A wave of force rolled out from the dwarf’s strike and barreled down the corridor.
The wave of magical force engulfed the skeletons. As it hit each one, they flew apart like a battering ram had struck them. Bones shattered into chips or strewn about haphazardly.
There was silence for a moment except for Jabez breathing heavily. The dwarf looked up at Vash. He was pale and ashen. Whatever he’d done with that hammer had taken a lot out of him. Jabez scowled, “Get moving! That won’t hold them for long, but it buys you some time.”
Jabez moved across the room to join Corwin at the opposite archway. Corwin’s face was slick with sweat and Vash could tell that his sword was getting heavy. A clattering noise from the exit corridor told Vash that the shattered skeletons were already trying to reform.
Get moving! Vash berated himself, ignoring the pain in his shoulder as he climbed.
A vibration came from Vash’s Wayfarer medallion. Cool energy swept through him and he felt suddenly reinvigorated. The sharp pain in his shoulder faded to a dull ache, and he could concentrate on what he was doing.
Vash clambered up the pillar with surprising speed. At the top, near where the pillar met the ceiling, Vash braced himself between the pillar and the curved wall of the chamber. He wobbled for a moment, feeling the stones shift slightly in the pillar. He hoped it would hold long enough to do what he needed to.
Sharpening his vision, Vash studied the carvings and runes. He concentrated and his vision narrowed to a sharp point, roving over the various symbols. I don’t want to screw this up and make it worse.
The orange motes of mana floated around the symbols on the carving, seemingly at random. To Vash’s surprise, they moved in a definite pattern.
Wait, is that a recursion loop?
The technique he had learned from the margin notes in his Gideon’s Guide was a method for directing mana back through a central point when initiating a Talent. This meant the energy stayed in the loop and could be collected back into the Core, rather than dissipating back into ambient mana. It was a more efficient way of working with mana and, apparently, a fundamental part of beginning spellwork for mages.
It was also tricky to disrupt. Doing it wrong could create a feedback that would release the energy in a sudden rush of explosive power. Like throwing lamp oil on a fire, it could blow up in your face. Vash licked his lips and studied the pattern intently, trying to ignore the scraping of bone in the corridor below him.
A surge of power flowed through the mana pattern in the carving.
Vash blinked, It’s speeding up.
He looked down towards the entry corridor. Corwin and Jabez were mowing down skeletons with speed and precision. More motes of mana floated into the air and flew towards the carving.
Striking down the skeletons is speeding up the process. Vash thought, turning back to the carving. Need to find the fulcrum, I can disrupt the mana flow from there.
“Whatever you’re going to do, Vash, do it quick!” Corwin shouted.
Don’t think about them. Vash thought. Focus on the pattern, find the fulcrum and the pattern collapses.
He followed the nodes, but the speed of the roiling motes of power and how quickly they were being absorbed into the larger construct made it harder to find the pattern.
A scraping sound came from the pillar beneath his foot.
Vash looked down to see a partially formed skeleton reaching up for his boot. It was crawling up the pillar, digging its finger bones into the crumbling stone. Legs were forming behind it. In a moment, it could stand and grab for his leg.
Now or never. Vash thought.
Drawing his dagger, Vash slashed through a rune that he felt confident formed the fulcrum of the construct. The dagger cut through the rune, marring its shape, and there was a sudden rush of energy. A bright yellow light blossomed from the cut.
“Dammit.” Vash cursed and did the only thing he could think of. He dropped.
Vash fell straight down onto the still-forming skeletal warrior, just before the carving cracked and exploded outwards in a flash of light and a cloud of stone fragments.
He hit the ground hard, shattering the bones of the skeleton beneath him and knocking the wind out of himself. The world spun and his ears rang.
Shaking his head, Vash groggily rose to his knees, fumbling for his sword before the skeleton reformed.
The bones didn’t move.
Vash looked up. In the corridor beyond, the skeletons collapsed into heaps of mis-matched bone. The lights had gone out in their eyes and the bones fell apart into chips and splinters.
Vash sagged back against the pillar, chest heaving and head swimming. Corwin whooped from the other side of the chamber. Jabez and Corwin were standing in a pile of bone chips. Dust coated their faces and clothes. Corwin had a long trickle of blood that ran down one side of his face where he’d taken a scratch from a weapon or a skeletal finger. Jabez looked ashen, exhausted. Though none of the skeletons had breached his armor.
They'd won, though it had been closer than Vash liked. A small smile crept across Vash’s face, and he let himself savor the victory for a moment.
Zakarias and his servants appeared behind Jabez, lining up as though waiting in line at a food cart.
"Well fought," the scholar said mildly. "Shall we continue?"
Feeling the burning rage welling up inside him, Vash opened his mouth to snarl about useless scholars, but Jabez cut in before he could get a word out. “Yes, I believe the quicker we get this done, the better.”
Vash swallowed his anger, and he staggered to his feet. This quest was getting worse by the moment. But if he wanted to keep his head on his shoulders, Vash needed to complete it.
Deal with this pompous prick later. Vash thought, wiping the sweat from his brow. I just hope that’s the last surprise this place has to offer.