Tara’s ‘friend’ turned out to be a rather skeevy-looking ratman manning a corner store at the most shadowed edge of the Sanctum.
The store stunk of mushrooms and incense and… probably other fluids. Everywhere Ethan looked, there was some species of toxic-looking plant or fungi – some of them suspended in cages, snapping away at flies that lined the floor of their prisons.
Ethan decided on a quick Appraisal check:
Verminous Fungi (LVL 5)
HP: 20/20
Hm, he couldn’t help but think. I wonder… can I possess plants?
Amidst Fauna and Klax’s general discomfort, Tara shook the fly-ridden paw of the bug-eyed ratman behind the shop counter with glee.
“Fraxx!” she shouted. “My main man! How the hell are ya?”
The ratman twitched as he responded. Ethan was immediately put in mind of a drug-addled hobo. But… all things considered, this wasn’t the ugliest thing he’d seen in this world.
“Fraxx distill new venom last night, yes-yes. Fraxx receive vision of newblood arrival. Not knowing it would be Archon himself.”
The ratman nodded his twitching nose at Ethan.
“Welcome-welcome, My Lord.”
“Eh, thanks, dude.”
“You know why we’re here, big guy,” Tara winked. “We require your special services. See, we’re gonna tackle the Festering Den Delve, and I’m thinking some of your concoctions could prove to help us stay in the business of living, dig?”
She’s talking like some kinda pulp gangster doing a dodgy deal, Ethan thought. And with a cursory glance at Klax, the wolfman simply shrugged.
“Tara is more than acquainted with the more… unsavory elements of our fine home.”
“So?” the Minxit broke in, picking her ear absent-mindedly as the ratman busied himself under his desk. “Ya gotta use what ya can to get the upper hand. Don’tcha think, Ethan?”
“She has a point,” Ethan admitted. “But I’d rather not mess up my head in the process.”
“No need to worry,” Tara replied. “Fraxx’s stuff is legit. Well… as legit as you can get down here. See, the shrooms that grow down here are leftover from the last Archon, Lady Gyko.”
“The Lady was most kind-kind to all who wander in filth,” Fraxx muttered as he bundled vials together for the party. “Her toxins and diseases she spread through the land were just as beautiful as she was….”
I’m getting some real Simp vibes from this one, Ethan thought. Then again, he seems happy enough. If a little crazy.
Fraxx jumped up and threw a selection of vials on the shop counter then – a kaleidoscope of viscous blues, purples, oranges, and reds. Ethan’s Arcane Lore did the job that Tara was about to.
Items Identified:
1. [Vial of Malphus]
{Grade E}
Effect: HP Restoration + 10 pts (Instant)
X5
2. [Philter of Moratavious]
{Grade E}
Effect: MANA Restoration + 10 pts (Instant)
X5
3. {All-purpose Antidote}
{Grade E}
Effect: Cures status effects {POIS}, {PAR}
X3
“Please to be take-taking them, good Tara and friends,” Fraxx hissed. “Fraxx will do what he can to grow more to help the Archon. But should he come across better herbs and materials for Fraxx, he should come back and deliver them so that Fraxx might brew more powerful balms.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“Got it,” Ethan said with a nod. Tara distributed the potions among them, making sure Fauna got the sapphire-colored Mana potions – even though she looked on them with distaste.
Ethan found himself surprised. If anything, he’d expected the catgirl to be the one who had particular disdain for the rat…
“See ya, Fraxxy!” she whistled jovially as she hurried out with her spoils.
“Good luck, Tara and friends,” the ratman replied. “May the everdark conceal you, and keep you.”
Stocked up, properly equipped, and rearing to go, Ethan then followed the rest of the party to the ‘Portal Chambers’ of Sanctum – where three sparkling gates of energy buzzed in a small oval room that looked as though it had stood for millennia.
“Let me guess,” Ethan said aloud. “These were used by the last Archons?”
“Yup,” Tara replied. “Each one of these puppies trained the big bosses before you, and made them into what they were.
Ethan stared into the portals, recalling the great, imposing beasts that had gone before him.
Sys, he asked. Are… were you their System, too?
I suppose such information is no longer [Classified]. This System has served each Archon until the time of their expiry. This current designation is to be its concluding duty.
Five hundred years, then, Ethan whistled. That… yeah, that makes sense.
Beg pardon?
If I’d had to put up with being grafted onto a Demon’s brain for that long, I’d probably be a snarky son-of-a-bitch, too.
How lovely. Empathy from you. Means nothing in the long term, of course.
Ethan narrowed his eyes as he heard this, looking through the portal gate that Klax was ushering him towards.
“The way to your first Delve, Ethan.”
The first step on the road to power…
He looked behind him then at the veritable fan club that had been following him at a safe distance since first he’d arrived in this place and assumed the title of Archon by sitting his feathered ass snugly on the throne.
“Hey, can’t a few of these groupies come with us? More of us together would mean more meat shie—I mean—more hands to tackle the dungeon with.”
“Another rule of the Delves is bound by ancient magic,” Fauna whispered, as though her old Gods themselves were listening in. “Only a party of four can enter at once.”
“That must cause issues for adventurers looking to group up. What, do you guys end up queuing outside?”
“Most adventurers don’t last long in a real dungeon,” Tara grimaced. “That’s what happens when one group exists literally to clear the world of monsters – the people end up getting lazy, thinking the Greycloaks will clean up the world for them. Well, no more. Not after today.”
The fire in those kitty-eyes was only slightly disconcerting. If Ethan was being honest, he could probably guess at why all that hatred existed in her. He might not have seen much of the human world, but those he had seen had done nothing but try to slay him. There was a literal bounty on his head.
But he saw that Klax was more morose. More somber. He walked, head bowed, towards the portal as if he was just following a duty that he had to do. And Fauna – well – she was an enigma. Her shyness was just as strange as the unwieldy powers she held in her hands…
“If you would rather select a different team, of course,” Klax said with a genuine smile. “Then now is your chance. We won’t force you to take us as your guardians.”
“H-hey!” Tara spurted. “Speak for yourself, wolfy!”
“I – I would like to delve with Ethan,” Fauna stuttered. “But… only if he wants to.”
The single eye of the demon hat cast itself over them.
They’re an odd bunch, sure. But so what? I was an odd guy in life. And I ain’t getting any less weird in this world.
“I bet you all know what my answer to that question is, don’tcha?” he chuckled. “So why don’t we quit the chatter and get to the fighting!”
The hybrids grinned with him. And then as one, they entered the first portal, their forms dissolving into shards of pure energy as they traveled through a network so ancient that it had existed in the bowels of Argwyll since far before any of them had ever drawn breath in this land. Ethan watched the world of the Sanctum disappear, and slowly a new reality burst into life before his eyes. He stood on the surface world again, his claws sodden and sticky with the swamp water that surrounded him and his new companions.
Looking around, he smelled putrid air and saw only viscous, bubbling tar and mud. No trees overhead – nothing but noxious clouds and thick air caked with decay and grime.
“This is the Delve?” he asked.
He was answered by a resounding Ding! from Sys, and an alert that was as obnoxious as it was chilling:
DELVE {LVL 1} BEGUN!
THE FESTERING DEN
Enemies incoming!
“Welcoming committee’s here already,” Tara grinned, readying her short blades and wiggling her tail. “Ready, Mr. Hat?”
“As I’ll ever be,” Ethan smiled back, watching as several bubbles appeared in the pools of swamp water around them.
“Here they come!”
The shout was Fauna’s, who was already muttering an enchantment that made her fluffy paws glow lambent red – a wizard ready to send a fireball flying into her enemy’s face, no matter how timid she looked.
“It’ll be Grums,” Klax told them as he cracked his neck and got into a fighting stance. “Watch each other’s backs and remember: protect Ethan at all costs. Just because the dungeon’s Grade F doesn’t mean it’ll be a cakewalk.”
“Right!”
As an army of ugly, foul-smelling beasts then reared their emaciated heads from the water, Ethan couldn’t help but feel more pride than fear.
A raid with a bunch of crazies, he thought as the little beasts surged forward as one. Just like old times…
Let's kick some ass.