Nash Alta

Adventurer Level: 8

Orc - Nulevan

The over-twenties took note of my defensive posture as they approached. Thunra raised an eyebrow as if he was confused by my reaction, but the rest avoided eye-contact. Instead, their eyes rested in tactical positions, where they could see if I made a sudden move. A very unfortunate indication of where their thoughts were.

"How's he doing?" Yhisith asked gingerly.

"I've cast healing, but that fight had to have taken a lot out of him," Yulk answered as he turned to look at them. "I cannot begin to imagine what you must be thinking about this turn of events, nor do I care. I want to make one thing absolutely clear. If you attempt to harm this boy, we will be required to defend him."

"But why?" Joni asked, shocked.

"He is our brother," I said. "Adopted, no less. To take one into our family and not defend them to the death? You'd have never heard of our clan if we were capable of such an act."

"He's right. The Alta clan's serious about that kinda thing," Thunra added.

"Your words are wiser than you know," Yulk said with a malicious grin. "If you attack us, you'll likely win, but then you'll have to walk out of here without us. Once you do that, our entire clan will become your sworn enemies. Those who can't fight you will find ways to ruin your life until those who can fight you are able to end it."

I struggled to keep my face stoic and not show the relief washing over me. I had completely forgotten about that! Clan Alta handles family matters internally and does not abide outside interference. It's a right granted to us by the many sovereigns in our debt, including the High Chief. There's exceptions, like preventing a clanmate from actively committing murder, but generally speaking only members of Clan Alta are allowed to kill other clanmates. I continued to stare at the over-twenties with a stony expression.

Matri sighed and then laughed, "Even if we win, we lose. Well, thankfully, I like the boy enough to leave him to your judgement."

"He could be very dangerous," Joni added hesitantly.

"So can we," Thunra countered. "Plus, and I don't wanna admit it, he probably saved our asses."

"That was the machine in his head," Yhisith said. "I fought alongside him for a bit there. His expression never changed, and he was fighting like a pro. Even the dumb moves were efficient. There's no way a level 5 can fight like that. Even if he were innately talented to that degree, he would've picked up enough skills by now to be at least level 10."

"What does it matter?" I asked. "The facts are laid before you, plain as day. You are powerful adventurers capable of great good, but this decision is not yours to make. If the boy does become dangerous, our clan will handle it. But if you fight us here, you will die regardless of the outcome."

"He's right, Yhisith. You won't have my support in this," Matri said.

"And I'll kick your ass if you try anything," Thunra joined in. "Might as well, since I'll die if I let you kill them."

Yhisith looked at her companions. Matri and Thunra stared into her, but Joni's eyes were glued firmly to the floor. She turned to me and met my gaze.

"That's gotta be the most eloquent way that I've ever been told to know my place," she said sourly. "But fine, no harm will come to Nick by my hands."

"Nor mine," Joni added, still staring at the ground.

"Well, glad that's settled then," Yulk said as Nick began to stir.

The boy opened his eyes and looked at us with confusion apparent on his face. He held his head with one hand and used the other to try to stand up. Seeing he was a little shaky, Yulk helped him stand.

"What happened?" Nick asked.

"Your mechanical whatsit won the day," Thunra answered with a grin. "We might've pulled through without you, but it would've been a damned close thing."

"I... I don't remember any of it. I remember a terrible scream, and then waking up just now. I was fighting?"

"Yes, you were," Yulk answered. "I believe that was thanks to your artificial intelligent guide."

Nick looked even more confused before everything seemed to click into place. He stared into the middle distance, his frown deepening every few moments. It took me a moment to realize he was probably talking to Ten.

"Okay, I get it now. Ten said that its analysis of the creature determined that if I fought it I would have died. As a self-defense measure, he knocked me out and took control of my motor functions," Nick explained. "Apparently, he told me that he'd have to knock me out to move me around earlier, but I must have missed it in all the excitement."

"I wonder if it can learn new skills for you while you're unconscious," Joni muttered to himself.

Everyone turned to look at the sorcerer, who immediately looked back to the floor. Joni's a clever one, I'd never have thought of that. I turned to look at Nick, who was now also staring at the floor.

"Ten says no," Nick said. "I'm not entirely sure, but I think it's saying that skills are linked to your subconscious and its ability to interact with that part of my brain is limited. It can activate skills that I've learned, though."

"Well this is all very interesting, but we've beaten the boss," Matri said. "We should start heading back, right?"

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"Well, these three came with us for a reason. Might as well explore a bit more," Yhisith replied. "Much as I hate to say it, we should also make sure there aren't more of this... thing running around."

"It's a human," Nick said softly. "Or, it was. Something changed it. Twisted it into that monster."

We all stared at the corpse in a somber silence. How would I have felt if it had been an orc? I don't know for sure, but I doubt I'd have felt good about it. After a moment, Nick looked up at us and sighed. Then he turned his attention to his surroundings, and found the basket guard of his sword. Then he sighed again.

"Damnit," he said, hefting the basket-guard turned knuckle-duster.

"We'll find a job that'll get you a new one," Yulk chuckled.

"Maybe it can be repaired," I added. "That's usually cheaper. Lemme grab the blade."

I jogged over to where the blade of the sword had fallen. There were three blades on the ground, but the one that was Nick's was obvious. His was the single edged blade, the other two were double edged with an exaggerated point. I paused and stared at them for a moment. Even broken, I was able to recognize the short-swords I'd been bugging Kirisaka about.

"Fuck," I whispered to myself as a wave of grief swept over me.

I already knew he was dead. He would have been teleported to the dungeon entrance otherwise. It was foolish, childish even, to think that he could have survived. Nevertheless a small part of me had been holding out hope that he was still alive. Seeing the swords that he obsessed over in this condition left no doubt of what happened to him, and crushed my hopes of seeing him again for good.

I took out my rag and gathered all three blades, and looked around for the Kirisaka's grips. Once I found them I gathered them too, and rejoined the group. Yulk's face fell in sympathy as he saw what I was holding.

"I'm sorry, Nash," he said.

"It's alright. At least I didn't actually have to pry them from his cold, dead hands," I joked softly.

The rest of the group was silent as I stuffed the broken weapons into my pack. Who knows, maybe I'll find someone who can fix them. I'm not one to use the weapons of the dead, but I could mount them as a keepsake to remember Kirisaka by or something. Once I finished packing I turned back to the others.

"Let's get going," I said.

We started by exploring the chamber we were in, which may have been a mistake. There had been a certain stench of death permeating throughout the chamber, but once we began exploring the walls it nearly became overpowering. There were random bones and pieces of meat strewn about the deeper corners. Most of the bones were obviously orcish, but some of them were different. Monsters, rodents, and...

"These are human bones," Nick finished my thought.

The teeth were the giveaway. Flat teeth mixed with sharpened teeth were a dental pattern I'd only ever seen in Nick's mouth until today. I gingerly picked up one of the skulls. It was very old. The pieces of flesh that clung to it were as hard as stone, like jerky left out in the sun for a year. Since there was no sun down here, it must have been in this condition for a very, very long time.

"They've got gnaw-marks on them," Yulk said. "These were meals for the monster. I wonder if it killed them, or if they died naturally and it ate them after."

"It's hard to tell. The bones are scattered around, and the rest of the human bones look too much like Orc bones. Or maybe the only bones left are the skulls," Joni added. "These bones weren't put here in reverence, though. This is essentially a trash pile, so I doubt the monster cared about them."

"Maybe he lost his sanity because he had to resort to cannibalism," Nick suggested. "He was trapped in here for who knows how long. If he really was altered, he couldn't have always been a monster."

"Well, we'll probably never know," Yulk said. "Let's move on."

We left the gory sight behind and found an exit to the chamber we were in. The darkness seemed to get deeper the further we went, and I suddenly noticed that we were all moving silently. I guess the others are having the same thought I am. What if there's another one further in here?

We encountered several turns until we finally found a light at the end of the passage. We quickened our pace until we entered the room the light was coming from. It took me a moment to realize we were in a library, filled with shelves holding many leatherbound tomes.

"Excellent!" Yulk said. "A repository of knowledge! Perhaps we'll have our answers at last."

I picked up one of the books and jumped back as dust poured from its cover. Yulk and I shared a confused look, and he picked up another book with similar results.

"Oh, come on," Nick muttered.

"I guess these tomes weren't cared for very well," Joni said. "It would seem the years have not been kind to them."

"Let's see if there's anything useful," Yulk added.

We began to search the books for anything that was still legible. Most of the pages that weren't dust were too faded to read, and the ones that weren't faded were unhelpful diagrams of plant-life that none of us had ever seen before. There were piles of dust and leatherbound covers scattered across the floor by the time we were done.

"There isn't even another exit from this room," Thunra said. "I think we've found what we're gonna find, folks."

"I agree, let's start heading back," Yhisith replied.

As she said that, a familiar glow surrounded us. Nick was the only one of us who looked alarmed as the glow turned into a blinding light. Once the light faded, I opened my eyes to the sight of the dungeon entrance. There were other groups of adventurers scattered around us. Some of these adventurers looked a bit ragged, a telltale sign of having delved rather deep. Others looked annoyed at the shift, probably because they hadn't found any loot yet.

"Well, that's convenient," Matri said.

"Oh good, my feet were beginning to hurt," Joni added with a small laugh.

"Let's go see the Chief," I said.

As a group, we exited the dungeon and headed for the Chief's. The library had been a bust, but we'd found three very important clues. The writing on the altar things, Ten is the voice in Nick's head, and the monster had been a human at some point but something had twisted it into a thing of madness. I suppose the other human remains could also be considered a clue.

I rubbed my forehead as we walked to try to make sense of it all. The writing was likely Drakon according to the two sorcerers. Ten couldn't understand the writing, which means he probably doesn't speak Drakon? But he does speak Gon, which is a much older language. It, I mean. Is Ten male or female or neither?

Doesn't really matter. Anyways, the human remains indicated that the monster had eaten them. Did those remains belong to people that the monster knew? Were they the ones who modified the thing? Also, and I can't believe this didn't occur to me before, why wasn't the entire hidden part of the dungeon dark? Why didn't the monster try to leave the dungeon before?

What if the monster and the other humans had been trapped in the dungeon together? What had the monster eaten after it ran out of humans? Maybe it wasn't able to die from starvation, but could still feel hungry. That would definitely drive ME insane. Nevertheless, the information we managed to obtain resulted in more questions without giving us many answers in return.

"Hey Gluhern, ya old so an' so!" Thunra shouted as we entered the Chief's chambers.

"Thunra! I see you all survived! Welcome back. How'd it go?" Gluhern asked with a grin.

I looked at the two incredulously. I hadn't been aware that they were acquainted. I guess it kind of makes sense, they're both brawlers and I think they're from roughly the same part of the chiefdom. It's a small world.

"Well, it was a close thing," Yhisith said. "Turns out the monster was much stronger than we thought it was."

"Yep, at least one of us would've died if it hadn't been for Nick," Matri added. "Maybe all of us."

Chief Gluhern slowly turned to glare at Yulk and I.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't I say not to take part in the fight?" he asked with a dangerous tone.

"No, you said you'd prefer if Nick didn't..." Yulk started to say before he had to dodge a goblet.

"THAT WAS RHETORICAL, SORCERER!"

"We've got nothing to apologize for, chief," I said. "We made our decision based on the information that was available to us at the time, and it turned out to be the right decision."

Gluhern looked at me with fire in his eyes, but when he saw that I wasn't trying to egg him on like Yulk had been the fire died out. He gave a big sigh.

"Fine," he said. "Tell me what happened."