Chapter 16

First order of business: Inventory!

Buying and selling at the guild post was a miserable affair. The sentiment was shared by every other beginner adventurer. The lack of money, paired with such a small mana pool was agonizing.

My leather boots were level 1 with an armor rating of 5. I wore my tufted leather vest without identifying it. I just couldn’t justify losing a permanent mana to do so. The guild post tanner charged a whole silver to identify an item per level, so that was an easy NO for me.

I sold 5 empty glass bottles for a copper per piece, and purchased two more mana potions for a silver per piece. The guild post alchemist had a good deal on bulk healing potion, so I filled my lvl 2 potion bottle for 1 silver. The red liquid had poured into the bottle from a large vat, endlessly filling the increased capacity bottle. I marveled at my new artifact. Better not lob it at an ally in the next dungeon...

In any case, I had 5 new healing scrolls to work with: Healing Blink, Conjure Pyrrhons Potion, Flood of Bithumb’s light, and Strike of Axthose. All level 1’s. With a level 1 dungeon ahead of us I might not need to use more than that. Especially with just a duo. Might not use them at all. Who knows?

Arris had been preoccupied so I paired up with another ancienne. She’d introduced herself as, “Filo! I love bees! Pleased to meet you,” and we’d prepared to head into the valley.

“The earlier the better,” Filo said, adjusting her level 2 staff to the holster on her back. “See, no one’s here, we can take our time. No rush.”

“Yea. It’s spooky here.”

The sun lit the valley, but hesitated to lay even a ray upon the tomb yard that lay at the bottom of a hill. Sunlight lay upon the yard reluctantly, as though lagging, and mist rose from wet headstones. Were those ghost claws that tried to climb the drifting fog?

“Here it is!” Foli said, having found the mouth of the dungeon. It would have been hard to miss. A mausoleum made of shadow and black stone hid beneath an autumn coat of climbing vines and moss. The wind and sun touched everything but the mausoleum.

Before its entrance was a plaque.

“The Hunchback,” I read, “level 01. Skeletons misplaced.”

“Spooky indeed,” Filo said.

We entered the mausoleum and what we thought was a hole in the floor turned out to be a steep narrow stair of worn stone. Centuries of wear had smoothed the stairs into a bumpy sort of slide.

Before we descended, Filo flew open her Ancienne’s Nature bar. It appeared as a seed in mid-air, spontaneously sprouting. In the blink of an eye, it launched a twirling vine that popped with leaves and stretched in circle after circle, forming a glowing green wreath. It cast the dungeon entrance in a dim jungle glow.

“Enough light for us to make a good headway,” she said. “I’ll go first.”

We entered. There was no door to the mausoleum, but a dark cloud obscured the sun. The world behind us disappeared and a thrill filled my blood. By the look Filo cast back at me, she felt the same excitement.

We didn’t have far to descend until we reached a level tunnel. It was by far the smallest tunnel I’d been in.

“Tosin, look,” Filo said, gesturing to the walls around us.

These were catacomb tunnels. Skulls were infinitely lined like brickwork. The top of the tunnel was an arch and skulls looked down on us from there too. In the light of Filo’s Ancienne’s Nature bar, they glowed a sickly green.

“Must be thousands of skulls down here,” I said.

The spine tingling chills would not abate, no matter how much we tried to acclimate to the lifeless skulls. They were void, but they watched us with infinite patience as we moved on.

“This. Is. So. Scary,” Filo said.

It was the theme, the mood, the dankness of the dungeon that made us slow our pace. There was enough room for us to walk abreast and my flagstaff had enough clearance that It didn’t scrape against the skulls unless I walked right beside the walls.

“So what’s up with the Ancienne’s Nature bar,” I said. “I saw Arris absorb a bunch of beetles with it. Is it like mana or something?”

I wanted conversation to bring some life to the dungeon. Some humanity. Perhaps it was a mistake, because now I noticed the mouths of the skulls. They were ajar as though breathless on the edge of their seats, waiting to hear more. Their eye sockets were wide enough to listen in place of ears. The green glow from Filo’s Anciennce’s Nature seemed to produce the illusion that the skulls turned toward us as we approached, and lost interest as we passed.

“It’s definitely not mana. It’s more like money? I guess? Anciennes absorb nature whenever they can. We need to build as big a bank as possible each month. Every full moon we have the chance to visit the Daeder Oak.”

“What?”

She gave a snorting laugh before continuing. “The tree is always different but they come from the Daeder. It’s a home of ancient forest, far, far from here. Anyways, as an ancienne, we can open the Daeder Oak once every full moon. Traveling Daeder are there to trade ancient magics or items in exchange for nature that we absorb. That’s how Arris got his spell to conjure his Garden Spider. That’s how I got mine to conjure my Sphinx Wasp.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Awesome,” I said, living the ancienne class vicariously through her words. “I’d like to see how that works one day. Does a tree just pop up or something?”

“Shh,” Filo said and bent in a crouch.

I heard it too then. A discord of grinding bones reflected off the walls from ahead. Following the sounds came two short skeleton figures. They were freshly relieved of flesh with identical expressions. They brandished short swords made of brass with wrought iron hilts.

Rawhg! Kee! Kee! Kee! Kee! Kee!

Rehhh! Keh! Keh! Keh! Keh!

“Fist of Wind,” I said and slammed the flagstaff down. It cracked against the stone, and the gold veins of Life-steal glowed with a sunset sheen. A tumble of fist-formed wind whooshed toward the skeleton on the right. He was promptly shattered to pieces. Brittle bones clattered to the dungeon floor and scattered about. The brass sword sailed into the depths of the tunnel. The Life-steal rune appeared above our heads without effect.

Filo struck out with the end of her staff, knocking the skull of the remaining skeleton clear off his shoulders. It ambled forward regardless, and she swiped at its midsection. Her staff broke through ribs and spine, and the rest smashed to the floor.

“Nice,” I said.

“Yea, not bad yourself! At least these were easy. Nice to hit the lower level dungeons again.” She shuffled through the skeletal remains with the toe of her boot. “You mind if I absorb these for a minute?”

“Go for it, I’ll guard just ahead till you're done.”

Filo flung her Ancienne’s Nature bar in a widening circle. It was spinning with rustling leaves in an endless circle of vine and bark and leaf. The ring was glowing with an ethereal jungle green, and goblin green, and slime green. A sucking whirl was forming at its center with ancient nether. Pieces of bone and skeletal debris were floating to the nether, and in it: brittle bone matter was dissipating in tendrils of rich green and bark colored filaments. The bar of Ancienne’s Nature was absorbing it all, until no skeletal remains were left.

“Whew,” Fil said, “Thanks for waiting. Onward?”

Onwards we delved, leaving the brass swords against the wall. My bag was already full of items, and a blade against glass bottles was just dumb.

A crypt intercepted the tunnel. We came upon it suddenly and Filo’s green bar cast a wide berth, illuminating the space. Ornate columns held domes of skulls above at bay. In the walls of the crypt were dugouts, large enough for a body to rest in. In the dugouts were intact skeletons. Their arms were crossed upon a sword that lay upon their chests.

“We’re going to have to fight these,” Filo whispered.

“Yup,” I whispered. “How many?”

We tiptoed in for a better count of all the skeletons. There were 12 total, with the crypt only extending a short distance.

“I don’t want to fight these on the way back,” Filo whispered. “I’d rather kill them now.”

We decided to surprise-attack these skeletons. As we crept through the crypt, the bones began to rattle, and teeth began to clatter.

Khk! Kurhk! Kerhk! Keurhk!

“Oak Beard!” Filo said.

She became ensconced within the translucent green gel that formed an ancient tree warrior with a bearded face. It howled and shouted without volume.

I sprinted to the nearest skeleton that was halfway out from his perch of rest. I struck my flagstaff straight out in spear fashion, breaking through its jaw and skull. I repeated the motion at its chest and it crumbled to the crypt floor.

Flashes of green cast dancing shadows of columns and rising skelton bodies. Filo raged at the skeletons, bringing down fist after fist into their corporeal structure. A skeleton burst into bits, another shattered to pieces, and a third fell away to shatter on the floor.

The crypt was now filled with the chalk-ish sound of bone moving over bone. Glints of green light reflected off brandished brass blades.

I threw open my mana ring and said, “Fist of Wind!”

I slammed the flagstaff down and 5 points of mana whipped like a serpent from my mana bar to the rune at the bottom of the flagstaff. Blue light was pinched between the staff and the dungeon floor. The gold Life-steal veins shimmered, and the spell’s rune glowed white and grey before a mass of folded wind formed the shape of a fist.

I aimed at an incoming trio of skeletons. My Fist of Wind whooshed at them and the skeletons burst apart on impact. Femurs, ribs, spines, skulls, and hands holding swords, fell in a jumble.

Filo cried out in pain. The 5 remaining skeletons had surrounded her and a blade dripped with fresh blood. I charged in with my flagstaff held like a spear. I struck one right in the spine and it broke in two. The top half flipped backwards and clattered to pieces on the floor.

Filo’s health bar had taken a dip. Unperturbed, she bashed away at two skeletons simultaneously. Her green ensconced fists were the size of their chests and she crushed them to bone meal and dust. In another brutal bashing of green fists, another one crumpled to death.

I parried an attack from the last skeleton, then broke its legs with a swipe of my flagstaff. It smashed to the ground in a dozen fractures.

The battle was over. We caught our breaths and I tended to Foli’s wound, letting her consume a health potion.

She was eager to increase her Ancienne’s Nature bank, so I kept guard while she absorbed the skeletal remains over the next 20 minutes.

During that time I discovered a dent in the wood of my flagstaff. I panicked internally and felt my very soul pale at the damage. Must have occurred when I parried the brass sword.

With 21 points of mana remaining I decided to perform a blind level-up on the flagstaff for durability.

I flowed my mana into as big a ring as I could and dropped my flagstaff in the center of it. It bobbed and the Five of Gryf ribbon floated as though in an ebbing sea. Above the ribbon appeared a single gold bracket. Above the Fist of Wind rune appeared two gold rectangular brackets, curved in the beginnings of a circle. Above the Life-steal vein appeared a single gold bracket, and above the flagstaff itself appeared a singular gold bracket.

With a dilatory wave of my hand, I flowed a single point of mana alongside the gold bracket above the flagstaff itself. A second gold bracket was formed beside it.

With the additional level up in durability, the flagstaff was now a level 6 weapon. There were still empty circlets awaiting add-ons, and I couldn’t fathom how else to improve my flagstaff. I would have to trade at the guild post soon.

Alas, the dent was still there. If the sword had been smithed of steel, I wonder if my flagstaff would be broken.

“I appreciate you waiting for me,” Filo said, having finished up her absorption. “Sometimes people don’t want to wait for us. For anciennes I mean.”

“No worries,” I said. “Shall we?”

With a gesture, I presented the end of the crypt where the dungeon continued in darkness. With Foli’s Ancienne’s Nature bar our guiding light, we made our way deeper into the dungeon.