Charomera
The 24th of Elaphebolion
The Year 4631 in the Era of Mortals
“Did you get what we needed?” Lyssa asked.
“Yeah, we need to—”
“No, I’m sorry, what was that?” Abraxios cut in.
Lyssa and Arche both turned to the tengu, whose head swiveled back and forth between them. Odelia looked uncomfortable but didn’t say anything. Tess stared at the floor, trembling. She wasn’t looking at anyone but it felt like she was especially not looking at Arche.
“I thought we were past the point of keeping secrets,” the tengu continued. “And I thought we had made it clear. If we’re going to do this together, we need to be honest with each other. I am willing to overlook certain…eccentricities, but that was abhorrent.”
Odelia gave a small nod and Arche raised his hands placatingly.
“You’re right. You’re right and I’m sorry, that wasn’t fair of me.”
“Arche…” Lyssa warned.
Arche spread his arms wide to gesture at the passage around them.
“We trust them or we don’t. If we want to finish what we started here, it will take all of us.” He turned toward them. “I’m psychic. I found out when Tess and I woke up. I told Lyssa and she asked me to help get information from the beastmar. Now I’m telling all of you.”
It did not escape Arche’s notice that every person in the room stiffened at the word ‘psychic.’ Abraxios actually took a threatening step toward him, eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“Do you intend to harm anyone present?” the tengu asked.
Arche’s blinked. He was so taken aback by the ridiculousness of the question that he forgot to answer until Abraxios made a trilling noise that must have been the bird-person equivalent of clearing one’s throat.
“No,” Arche said emphatically. “I don’t want to hurt any of you. Look, I know I haven’t made the best decisions while I’ve been down here, but really I just want to finish up these quests and head back to the village where maybe I can figure out some of the weird shit that’s been happening to me.”
Abraxios turned and nodded toward Odelia, then turned back to Arche and caught his eyes. Arche found the large, avian, yellow irises to be very arresting when the full weight of the tengu’s glare was affixed to him.
“For now, I will trust you because you did not attempt to alter my thoughts. If you ever probe my mind without my consent, I will kill you. It will be swift and violent.”
Arche shrugged.
“Yeah, no, that’s fair. Loud and clear. You’ve got my word, I won’t probe any of your minds without your consent. Now, can we all settle down so I can work on how we’re going to pull this quest off?”
Odelia and Abraxios nodded, so Arche continued.
“All right. Does anyone have paper and something to write with? I’ve got a pretty good idea of the tunnel system, but I want to write it down while it’s still fresh in my head.”
“What about the beastmar?” Lyssa asked.
“Let me finish writing out the map,” Arche said. “When I’m done, we can put him of his misery.”
Lyssa nodded as Odelia produced a sheet of papyrus from her inventory and handed it over along with a short charcoal stick. Arche began outlining passages, noting the accompanying notification but dismissing it almost instantly to focus on what he was doing.
You have learned a Skill.
Drawing — Level 1
Whether it be sketching, doodling, or designing, this skill covers it all. Not to be confused with ‘Painting.’ That’s totally different.
Each level in this skill improves your ability to draw.
Every 5 levels in this skill improves your Dexterity by 1.
+2% Speed of drawing (+2%)
+2% Quality of drawing (+2%)
By the time he finished the map, several minutes later, he’d gone up to level three and received yet another skill.
You have learned a Skill.
Cartography — Level 1
Mapmaking is a noble profession into which you have dipped your toes. The creation of maps is a highly sought-after but often very dangerous skill as the best maps are made from firsthand experience.
Each level in this map improves the quality of maps you can produce.
Every 5 levels in this skill improves your Dexterity and Wisdom by 1.
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+2% Speed of mapping (+2%)
+2% Quality of mapping (+2%)
You have created a Crude Map of the Vivitorium of Hekáte.
“Here,” he held the map up, calling the others over.
He spread it out in front of them and pointed toward a passage near the middle of the elaborate system of passages.
“This is us, here.”
He dragged a finger down to a network of larger tunnels and caverns.
“And this is where the majority of the beastmar live. I’d estimate recent numbers to crest a hundred-fifty.”
Lyssa bit her lip. “Too many,” she muttered.
“Yes, but there’s good news,” Arche said. “That count is from about a week ago.”
“Before the attacks on the village.”
“And before the thirty-eight we’ve killed here.”
“Thirty-nine.”
Every head turned toward Tess. It was the first time she’d spoken since she woke up. Arche furrowed his brow, checking his two related quest logs to verify that the count stood at thirty-eight. Tess drew a knife and fell on the unconscious beastmar. The knife went up, down, up, down, stabbing throat and face, turning everything into a bloody mess.
Arche noted the fifty-two points of experience from the party kill and blinked away the notification, wishing his surprise was as easily dismissed. Everyone else was in as much shock as he was, eyes wide and mouths open as Tess dragged herself to her feet. Only Lyssa looked on with a grim smile.
Arche swallowed hard.
“All right. Thirty-nine. Erm, back to the plan…if we follow this route, we should get into the vicinity of these bigger rooms here within a couple hours. The beastmar roam around haphazardly, but often in smaller groups of five to seven. Given the recent number of killed beastmar, I’d estimate their numbers to be about five dozen. Still a lot, I know, but there’s good odds they won’t all be grouped together and that gives us a chance. For the most part, they don’t use magic, so we have the advantage on that front.
“Unfortunately, this one didn’t know what the chief was planning, so I couldn’t scratch that off the list, but the chief will be in one of these larger rooms here. The chief isn’t a magic user, but his right-hand beastmar is, so we’ll need to be extra careful and try to weed out as many of the others as we can before picking that fight. Or we take him out in a heavy blow and then try to lose the inevitable pursuers who, let me remind you, know this area much better than we do.”
The others nodded along, but Lyssa was the first to offer up her wisdom.
“What about other larger monsters like that chímaira we fought. Do you have any idea how many of those there are?”
“Those, apparently, are like a kindred beast to the beastmar but not allied with them. The beastmar we fought earlier were terrified of the chímaira we fought. Similar hybrid creatures do have some claimed territory, but the map only lists what was in the beastmar’s head and he, as far as I’m aware, never ventured into monster territory. Where we were attacked technically isn’t monster territory, but if I had to guess I’d say that the chímaira heard the explosion and came to investigate.”
“So, what’s the plan?” Tess asked. “We get there, then do what?”
“We’ll have to get some eyes on them to know what we’re up against. I’m certain there will be a way to draw things out. This big room here,” Arche pointed to the largest cavern on the lower levels of the map, “is connected to that huge air shaft that leads all the way back up to the beginning of this place. The one you flew down, Abraxios.”
“I recall seeing some beastmar at the bottom, but I didn’t fly too closely. The whole area made my feathers stick up and I didn’t want to risk getting spotted.”
“Dropping rocks on them from above is probably out, but if shit really hits the fan you can get yourself and Odelia out of there.”
Everyone stopped and looked at him, with the exception of Lyssa, who continued examining the map. Arche shrugged, suddenly uncertain.
“What? We’re heavy and you two have history.”
“No, that makes sense,” Tess said. “That other thing didn’t.”
“Oh. You know, when a potentially bad situation gets as bad as possible. Like shit hitting a fan and getting everywhere.”
The rest just stared at him.
“You get used to it.” Lyssa smirked.
Arche folded up the map and sent it to his inventory.
“All right. We’ve got a few hours of walking, let’s go.”
He summoned the Tridory into his hand from where it rested against the wall and used it as a walking staff, the sauroter at the bottom digging into the stone ground with every other step. The others followed along behind him.
Fifteen minutes later, Arche became aware of someone walking next to him. He glanced over to see it was Tess. The others had backed off a little to give them some privacy. The look of terror she’d given him was still heavy in his mind. Arche glanced away.
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly.
“For saving my life?” she asked dryly.
“No, I…I’m sorry I got you into that situation. And I’m sorry about everything that happened in here.” Arche tapped his head. “I want you to know that I didn’t know what I was doing. I was flying on instinct, no idea what would happen. I didn’t mean to look into your past, I didn’t even know that would happen, but mostly I’m sorry that I didn’t give you the choice to share what you wanted to, when you wanted to. You didn’t get a chance to choose and if I could have done it differently, I would have.”
Tess didn’t respond for a long time. The seconds dragged into minutes.
“You worry a lot about how other people feel,” she said finally.
“Shouldn’t I?”
“Why would you? Most don’t. They’re too busy trying to preserve themselves to consider others. It’s one of your more endearing qualities.”
“Thanks,” Arche said slowly. “I’m confused.”
“That makes two of us, then. I don’t have answers for you. Whatever you did stirred up a lot of memories. Memories I thought I had buried. I need some time to process them. Time I don’t exactly have while we’re stuck down here.”
“Yeah, of course. Take whatever time you need.”
“I also got a good look at your life, you know. I know what profession you chose and everything else that’s happened to you.”
“I suspected as much. Only seems fair, or as close to fair as I could get considering my life is considerably shorter than yours.”
“I want you to know that I will keep your secret, if you ask me to, but I can’t promise I will stick around when this is all done. I’m in the business for life security and personal safety. You’re the walking opposite of that. That being said, I like you. I also hate you for what happened to me. Like I said, a lot to process. I just didn’t want you to get your hopes up about me.”
Arche snorted.
“Wow, you Tartarus girls really don’t hold back, do you? You should make whatever decision is right for you. You deserve to put your own needs first, but if you decide to stay, know that you’re welcome. And as for my profession, I would like the opportunity to share it in my own time, if you’re all right with that.”
“I’m all right with it, but the others may not be.”
“They’ll have to get over themselves, then. My profession is locked right now, so it’s not like telling everyone helps right now anyway.”
“True. Listen, no matter what they say, you don’t actually owe anyone information about yourself. Your profession is your business, your traits are your business, and there are plenty who would kill you for either.”
“Thanks. I get it, some knowledge is dangerous here, but keeping secrets from those I’m leading just doesn’t sit right with me. Especially when those people are trusting me to help keep them alive.”
Tess cracked a smile. “You have a good heart, even if you’re naïve.”
Arche gave her a lopsided grin and they fell into silence, making their way through the long dark. Heading ever deeper underground.