The passageway sloped downwards along dusty steps, and it led to darkness. Nameless considered using his armor to grant him night vision, but its magic was getting low, and he didn’t know what dangers they faced.
“Any of you able to create light?” He asked.
Zel closed their eyes and chanted quietly under their breath as they raised their pale hands. A small wall of flame rose from the ground and traveled in a line down the stairs illuminating the passageway. The others could see, for a moment, that the steps climbed down for about twenty-five meters before entering a chamber that was out of their line of sight. Zel exhaled, and the flames disappeared.
“That is too taxing,” the necromancer stated while panting.
Karl rummaged among the rotting wood timbers and found some sticks roughly the size of torches. Using his chalk, he carefully drew runes on the sides. This took time, and the others knew not to bother him. Without his tools, he needed to be extra precise and careful. When finished, he drew a circle around the rune-covered sticks. He placed his hands on the edge and closed his eyes. One of the polka dots on his arm glowed before vanishing with a gentle pop. The sticks turned into magical torches.
“Very good,” Nameless stated.
“That was a quick and dirty enchantment. Maybe give us a few hours of light,” Karl said as he rose and rubbed his hands together.
They each grabbed a torch and entered, with Nameless taking the lead. Inside the walls were a complete contrast to the dirty stone seen at the entrance in the slums. They were made of chiseled brownstone, and the stairs were dark bricks. The passageway led them to a circular chamber with a low ceiling barely high enough for the tall knight to stand. Despite the layer of dust, the place appeared to be well preserved. Nameless paused at the entrance with the others crowding behind him.
“Why are we stopping?” Asked Zel.
“We must proceed with caution,” Nameless answered.
“I read about Dungeon Crawls back when the world was filled with the Favored. We must pay attention to every detail,” Elora added.
Karl knelt on the floor and asked, “Do you think there is a reason why the floor is dusty dark dirt, almost like soil, yet the walls are light brown?”
“Or why are the walls made out of rectangular blocks? What hidden message can be gleaned from them? I wonder,” Zel observed as they rubbed a pale hand along the stones.
Elora examined the floors with Karl and rose. “I do not detect any traps,” she said and was about to enter when Nameless held out a metal arm to stop her.
“You must learn to pause and study the whole room. Listen to the details,” the knight said and pointed his enchanted glowing stick to the two empty chairs in the middle of the circular chamber.
“Listen?” Zel whispered to Karl.
The polka-dotted Ooraki shrugged. But the knight was right about studying the whole room. Karl did not notice the two high-back wooden chairs in the center facing them. It was odd, he thought.
“Do we sit in them?” Elora wondered.
“Why would we do that?” Zel demanded.
The elf shrugged, “maybe it might open a secret door.”
The necromancer looked back into the room and noticed for the first time that there were no other doors. The three academy students took Nameless’s advice and paused to take in the whole room and not just focus on the irrelevant details.
Karl squinted and said, “I see runes etched into the chair. I want to take a closer look.”
“Something else is in this room with us. Something dark and angry,” Zel said with an ominous tone to their voice.
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The others felt an unnatural chill and shivered. It was not a cold they had experienced before, except for Zel. It was a cold they were quite familiar with, and a grin appeared upon their pale face.
The necromancer rubbed their hands together and said, “this should be interesting.”
Nameless threw his enchanted glowing stick into the middle of the chamber and unhooked his two-handed Dane axe.
“Do I examine the chairs?” Karl asked.
The knight nodded.
Zel cackled with anticipation.
Elora squinted into the room and asked, “are those hearts?” She was pointing at the center of the wooden chairs.
Karl went closer, and Nameless followed close by.
“Yes, and they are beating!” Cried the Ooraki. He pulled out the hand ax with his free hand.
Elora drew her sword while Zel held one hand to the side and summoned a magical flame.
“Ahh!” Karl screamed as a ghostly figure materialized before him in the center of the chamber.
The thing glowed with a pale light, and its head was a skull covered in a wispy hooded robe. It lunged at the enchanter with skeletal claws but was batted to the side by Nameless’s enchanted ax, and it faded from view.
“What was that?!?” Karl cried.
“A ghost?” Suggested Elora.
Zel snorted and replied, “ghosts are mere echoes of memories and residual soul energy. They are harmless. These are malevolent and angry. If I were to guess, they are wraiths.”
ARMOR MAGIC REMAINING: 30%
WRAITHS
YOUR NECROMANCER FRIEND WAS CORRECT. THESE ARE, IN FACT, WRAITHS. WRAITHS ARE WILD AND EVIL SPIRITS CREATED FROM THE SOULS OF GREEDY AND CORRUPT PEOPLE THAT HAVE DIED VIOLENTLY. THEY HUNGER TO FEAST ON THE SOULS OF THE LIVING WHOM THEY HATE WITH SUCH FURY. THEIR TIME IN THE MORTAL REALM IS OFTEN LIMITED AS THEY MAINLY EXIST IN THE NINE HELLS. IN THEIR SHORT TIME, THEY WREAK AS MUCH HAVOC AND MISERY AS POSSIBLE. HOWEVER, THROUGH DARK AND TWISTED NECROMANTIC RITUALS, THEY CAN BE SUMMONED TO REMAIN ON THE MORTAL PLANE, WHERE THEY ARE OFTEN USED AS VICIOUS GUARDIANS.
WRAITHS, LIKE ALL INCORPOREAL UNDEAD, CAN NOT BE HARMED BY NORMAL MEANS. ONLY MAGIC, ENCHANTED OR BLESSED WEAPONS CAN HARM THEM. THEIR TOUCH BRINGS THE CHILL OF THE GRAVE AS THEY SAP ONE’S SOUL ENERGY THAT CAN CAUSE ONE TO SHRIVEL AND DIE IN TORMENTING AGONY. THEY CAN FREELY TRAVERSE THE SHADOW REALM AND MATERIAL REALMS. WHEN MOVING THROUGH THE SHADOW REALM, THEY ARE INVISIBLE AND CAN NOT BE HARMED ON THIS PLANE. THIS ABILITY MAKES THEM SNEAKY AS THEY CAN APPEAR AT WILL TO DELIVER THEIR DREADFUL ATTACKS. CAN THEY HARM YOU? YES, AS YOU ARE MADE OF SOUL ENERGY, AND YOUR ARMOR IS USELESS AS PROTECTION. THE GOOD NEWS? YOUR ARMOR IS ENCHANTED, SO THAT MEANS YOU CAN PUNCH THEM!
“Your weapons are still enchanted?” Nameless asked.
“Of course they are!” Karl snapped.
Despite facing off against deadly incorporeal creatures that can suck one’s soul, the enchanter was more concerned about the questioning of his work.
“Look out!” Elora exclaimed as she sliced at a lunging wraith. It hissed before disappearing.
“There are two?” Zel asked.
“Magic and our enchanted weapons can harm them,” Nameless said as he scanned the room.
The four stood back to back and were on high alert as they scanned the room. The two wraiths would appear and reappear just out of their reach. Taunting them.
“Two wraiths and two chairs. Do you think they are connected?” Elora asked.
“Watch my back,” Karl said as he knelt beside the chair to study the intricate runes.
“What if we break the chairs?” Offered nameless.
The Ooraki enchanter shook his head and replied, “these runes are a logic pattern. Very sophisticated. Something needs to happen to these chairs that will trigger another enchantment. I think breaking them would be a bad idea until we find out what their purpose is.”
“Do we try sitting on them?” Elora suggested.
“I wouldn’t advise that,” Zel said.
“Why?” Elora growled. The elf was getting annoyed with the necromancer’s arrogance.
“I sense negative energy on the chairs that are quite dangerous for mortals,” answered Zel as they timed a fire spell perfectly, and it engulfed one of the wraiths.
The spectral creature opened its skull-like mouth to howl silently as the magic fire burned at its glowing pale robes. The wraith floated down to the ground as its skull blackened and it faded away.
“Look at that!” Karl exclaimed.
The burnt-looking wraith appeared on the left chair with a click, and an outline of a doorway materialized on the opposite wall.
“We need to get the other wraith into the chair!” Elora cried.
“Duh,” Zel snorted.
The elf glowered at the necromancer.
“The other has become harder to hit,” Nameless grunted as he swung and missed with his ax.
“Hmm, now that I know what the chairs do, I might be able to override this enchantment,” Karl said as he replaced his handaxe with his chalk.
Nameless, Zel, and Elora were focused on killing the final wraith. Karl was staring intently at the runes surrounding the chair, and none of them noticed that the burnt wraith was slowly healing itself in the chair.