Elora’s eyes went wide. “You were the Templar that led armies spreading the word of the Blue Flame? The one that conquered the Plains of Dizerth! The one that cleared the Dungeon in the Wasteland! There are songs written about you. Are you sure you are the Impetitus?”
Karl did not know history like Elora did, but the Plains of Dizerth were where his ancestors were from. This was before his people were subsumed by the Imperium many generations ago. The Ooraki patted Nameless’s shoulder, happy with his friend’s discovery.
“So you are like several hundred years old. You look good for your age,” the enchanter said jokingly.
Zel rolled their eyes, “the only history that interests me is on Necromancy and power. Social history is inconsequential and boring. No offense Nameless, or should we call you Impetitus from now on?”
The knight glanced at the necromancer and shook their helmed head. “I don’t know,” he replied.
Elora rubbed his plated shoulders. “I don’t know Impetitus outside of the ballads. It seems like you don’t have all your memories. How about we call you Nameless until you remember more?” She suggested.
Nameless nodded in agreement. Karl stood beside his armored friend to also offer support.
“This is all good, but need I remind everyone that we have a Dungeon to escape?” Zel interjected while pointing a pale finger up the stairs to the large doors.
Karl scowled at the necromancer but went to work to study the room. “I think we need to turn the knobs and pull the lever simultaneously,” he suggested.
“To the same pattern? But which one?” Elora asked.
Nameless scanned the room. Each shrine and sarcophagus was artistically carved and etched with various depictions representing the life of the individual buried within, from vistas of battles to well-attended courts of kings and queens. When Nameless was Impetitus, he had conquered many dungeons, and his eyes were able to discover a pattern.
“Sun, Moon, and Stars,” the knight rumbled. He pointed a gauntleted finger to show the pattern amongst the shrines.
“Worth a try,” Karl said with a nod.
“Who will go up the stairs?” Asked Zel.
They all glanced at the necromancer.
“What?” Then Zel looked at their ghoul and whined, “But I just got it.”
With some reluctance, the necromancer ordered the ghoul to go up the stairs.
“At once, massster,” the ghoul hissed and obeyed.
“Can you trust it?” Karl asked.
“It? You mean Ghoul One? Absolutely!” Zel replied.
Karl eyed Ghoul One suspiciously as they loped up the stairs.
“So Sargus found the crown of the Devil Lord in this tomb and made a deal?” Elora asked, trying to piece together the history of the evil mage.
“Yes, the Devil Lord needed misery and suffering to feed on to gain strength,” Nameless added.
Zel scoffed, “Sargus gained strength in exchange for creating this elaborate maze to trick poor hedge wizards. Lazy fool!”
“But he had to have known that the Devil Lord would betray him. That was why he created the two-lever mechanism in this chamber. Sargus did it as insurance. It looks like both he and the Devil Lord paid the price for their greed,” Karl observed.
“Why didn’t the Devil Lord raise one of the corpses in the coffins?” Zel wondered.
Elora’s eyes went wide. “Because the Tamealians were a city-state of mages. They knew about Necromancy and didn’t bury their dead. They cremated them. These coffins are giant urns for their ashes.”
They all nodded in understanding at the fate of Sargus and the Devil Lord.
“I’m ready, masssster,” Ghoul One hissed loudly from the top of the stairs.
Nameless held the sword and ax in his hands and glanced at each. Deep down, he preferred the sword and was happy to see that the enchantment Karl etched on his armor allowed the blade to attach to his back. He handed the Dane axe to Karl.
“No, I prefer the weapon I got,” the Ooraki said, holding up one hand.
“Take it. It is more effective, and we may face things more dangerous than ghouls,” Nameless intoned.
Karl opened his mouth to respond and then closed it. He quietly took the ax and held it in his hands that were calloused from years of labor. His people were known for wielding large axes. He grew up different, wanting to be a craftsman. But circumstances have put him on a different path, one he didn’t want to be on. Elora gripped his shoulder.
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“We have learned more in the weeks we have traveled with Nameless than years studying at the Academy,” she said.
Karl looked up at her. “We almost died!” He exclaimed.
“But we didn’t, and each time we came out stronger and with more knowledge. Look how far each of us has gone with our craft. Look at Zel, for instance.”
“That is a scary thought,” Karl replied with a shudder.
“Yea, maybe not the best example. But look at what you discovered about enchantment? Look at what I can accomplish with my Shadow Magic,” said Elora.
“I didn’t want that! I just wanted to get my degree and get a nice career with the city,” Karl said quietly.
Elora gripped his shoulder again. Karl looked up.
“This is not going to end when we give the Wizards the message, right?” He asked.
Elora shook her head. “Not likely. Prince Zaverick’s army will be here if they have not gotten here already.”
The two felt a rumble and saw Nameless and Ghoul One had pulled the levers.
“It’s open, Massster!” The ghoul hissed from the top of the stairs.
“No thanks to you two,” Zel said as they placed their pale, thin arms over their shoulders.
“Let’s go. We don’t know if the traps will reset,” Nameless rumbled as they walked up the steps.
“I would like us three to stay together,” Zel said in an unusual moment of humility.
Elora patted their pale hand, and Karl nodded. The three were outcasts at the Academy and were able to make it as far as they did by leaning on each other when there were hundreds of moments when they wanted to quit and return back to their previous lives.
“So, shall we see this to the end?” Zel asked.
Karl and Elora nodded.
“Good, now let’s go. There is more power and knowledge to be found!” The necromancer exclaimed, returning back to their usual bravado.
They exited through the door into the sewers beneath the University. Nameless was correct, and the large door closed on its own, and they could hear the traps resetting from the other side. The door was disguised as a stone wall, and Sargus’s evil Escape Dungeon was hidden. A beam of light shone above through a barred grate beneath an iron rung ladder welded to the wall.
“Let’s get out of here,” Elora said with a crinkle of her nose.
The elf tried their best to avoid the green water that stank of refuse from the rich students above. But it was hopeless, as all of their boots were covered in filth by the time they made it to the ladder. After Nameless removed the grate, the four, plus Ghoul One, were greeted by stares and gawks as they climbed into a small courtyard.
“That thing should not be here!” One student exclaimed. They were wearing a white pointed hat and had an owl resting on their shoulder.
Zel scoffed, “carry on, you simpleton. Ghoul One, pay them no mind.”
“I’m calling the authorities,” the student with the owl replied.
“Why? You have your owl, and that is acceptable? You are prejudicial against Necromancy!”
“Let’s go before Zel draws more unwanted attention,” Elora said and led the others out of the courtyard to look for Professor Hanoi’s office. She hoped that they still had time to meet with him.
They found Professor Hanoi in a lecture hall teaching a class on basic magical theory. The students sat with various expressions of attention, from sleeping to excessive note-taking. Nameless looked at the blackboard behind Hanoi as it was filled with formulas, runes, and images of hand gestures. It appeared to the knight as a combination of math, astrology, and musical notes.
“In closing, to tap into the magical forces around us, we need to perform a combination of gestures, vocal intonations, and the final piece, which is the most difficult, is to expand our awareness. That is all, class, don’t forget to read pages 30 through 100 in your textbooks,” Hanoi said. The room rumbled with students gathering their books and rising from their seats to shuffle out of the lecture hall.
“Professor Hanoi,” Elora called out, and the teacher’s face hardened when he saw them.
“You missed our appointment. I can not speak with you now. I have to prepare for my next lecture,” Hanoi said as he hurried past them with his arms carrying rolled-up scrolls and tomes.
“Please, Professor, our message is urgent!” Elora called after the rapidly moving Hanoi.
“Then you should have met me at our appointed time,” the professor replied without turning.
“We ran into difficulties with the law,” Zel pointed out and then was hushed by a glare from Elora.
Hanoi paused for a moment, shook their head, and then resumed his rapid pace through a small courtyard and into a tiled floor hallway that led to his office. Elora rushed after with Nameless, Karl, Zel, and Ghoul One close behind her.
“We believe Prince Zaverick is in possession of a Demon Heart,” Elora called out.
This caused the professor to stop before the opened door that led into his cluttered office. It was late afternoon, and they were the only people around in the area of the building reserved for faculty.
“I am very busy, and I do not have time for nonsense,” Hanoi growled.
Nameless wondered why his door would remain open when the other doors in the hallway were closed. The knight unslung his sword. Karl noticed this and also tensed.
“Elora,” the Ooraki cautioned.
“It’s not nonsense. It is the message our mentor tasked us to share before they were murdered,” Elora explained.
This caused the professor to turn around, and for the first time, he noticed Ghoul One and both Nameless and Karl with their weapons drawn.
“What’s the meaning of this?” He demanded.
Nameless’s eyes were the eyes that had lived two lifetimes. One has the Templar Adventurer and the other as the Black Knight. Both had given him years of experience with paying attention. With looking out for ambushes, and sneaky adventurers that would try to invade the Mad Mage’s tower, he was guarding. In Hanoi’s office, through a door that should have been closed, there was an all too familiar distortion of light and shadow. The knight shoved the small professor to the side just as a crossbow bolt thudded into his armored chest.
ARMOR MAGIC REMAINING: 10.25%
CRITICALLY LOW! ENTERING LOW POWER MODE!
For the first time, Nameless felt weaker as his armor began to conserve energy. Professor Hanoi’s jaw was agape from the floor from the failed attempt on his life. Materializing from within his office were the three familiar lean figures of the goblin assassins.
“Oh great,” Zel muttered.