Chess watched as Ashley inhaled the few hard biscuits and a handful of nuts that Lynn had offered her. Ashley's excitement to try out her new ability was contagious and her enthusiasm drew a smile to Chess’ lips.
Chess nibbled on her share, carefully making a new arrow shaft between bites. She was in no particular rush and had no issue with waiting for Ashley to finish her meal.
“So, what are you going to try first?” Chess asked, adding the final arrow to the small pile next to her. The wood from her inventory boxes hadn't gone far.
“A spear!” Ashley said, her leg bouncing with excitement.
A small frown found its way onto Chess’ face. “I thought we agreed I was going to make your weapons and you were going to focus on your armor,” Chess reasoned.
“Yeah, but you haven’t made me one yet,” Ashley said with a pout. “And besides, I want a spear!" she countered.
“Fair enough. Well, go on then, give it a try,” Chess prompted and Ashley started to draw in the ambient mana to a noticeable degree, forming a dense matrix before her. The darkness allowed Chess to see the colored manifestation of Ashley’s magic better and she was mesmerized by the swirling yellows, reds, and golds of her daughter's casting as it formed a complex circle of flowing characters. Even her own spells were never this clear and she frowned, I wonder if this is how you develop better mana sense? Chess mused. She also thought the humidity may have increased around Ashley. It could be the pool and me looking for a physical source, she tempered the thought.
Ashley made it a few minutes into the spell before she lost her focus breaking the spell the casting had over Chess. The matrix quickly collapsed and Ashley swore in frustration, "damn it." Chess almost corrected her language but held herself back, she didn't want to be “that” person after all, besides she was one to talk.
“You’re trying too hard, you have to just let it happen; let the magic do the work, you can’t force it. Give it another go and take your time. It took me a few tries before I could summon my guitar,” Chess encouraged and busied herself sorting through her arrow shafts; eyeballing them for straightness. She didn’t want Ashley to feel anxious by watching her. Even without looking though, Chess felt the mana building again as Ashley started another attempt.
Let’s see...32, not bad, Chess thought after a quick count of the arrow shafts that she had made. Next, she gathered a small pile of loose ironwood scraps and picked one up to study. How do I attach you to the shaft and have a tight fit? She asked it, envisioning the arrowhead. Threading would be best; can I make an effective tap-and-die set? Nothing for it but to try. She shrugged at her thought.
First, Chess set about making a half-inch thick ironwood disk from a large chunk of scrap. With that done, she then removed a cloverleaf shape from its center, using an arrow to help her make sure that the inner spokes were small enough to cut into the shaft properly and ensure a smooth transition from arrowhead to shaft. Finally, she carefully measured out the cutting serrations with a bent thin sliver of wood. Die done, Chess frowned at the shafts for a moment in thought, how do I make the tap from ironwood? She smacked her forehead, I’m overthinking this.
Taking another small piece of wood, Chess next made a handle set for the small die and finished off the tool. With the die complete Chess grabbed an arrow shaft and got to work. She fitted the die tool to one end of the shaft and began turning it. The hard ironwood made quick work of its softer cousin, quickly producing neat threads.
After turning another ironwood scrap into a flat 2-inch triangle with a razor-sharp point and edges and a short cylindrical base Chess picked up her threaded shaft and formed the base of the arrowhead over the treads, creating a smooth transition between head and shaft.
Chess twisted the head off with a bit of oomph and smiled at the tight fit. Sweet! This means I can switch heads, she thought, inspecting the threaded shaft for a few moments before shifting her focus to finishing the remaining shafts. Partway through making arrowheads, Chess decided to make half into four-winged broadheads and the rest normal flat triangles. Those would be better used against unarmored enemies, but you never know what a dungeon will throw at you.
Now I need fletching and a nock, Chess thought, tapping her chin. Ironwood has worked for everything else so far. I wonder how strong it is when it's really thin? After a quick test Chess discovered she could make it so thin that it was nearly translucent and yet could still be wrapped around her little finger without breaking it. In fact, she could fold it like a sheet of paper and it was like trying to tear a piece of laminated paper afterward. Fuck, this shit is awesome, I’ll have to find a way to get what I can back from Lynn later. She thought, eyeing the spear and armor she had made for the Sister.
Chess created three t-shaped groves, each measuring 3 inches, at equal spacing down the shaft in front of the nock. She then created her ironwood fletching, using a similar t-shaped base, before sliding them in and moving the nock material forward to lock them in place. I'll have to do better if I make these for anyone else. It won’t be hard to make the nock and fletching replaceable. That's if this place doesn’t kill us. Giving her head a shake, she fell into finishing the rest of her arrows.
When finished, Chess put her first arrowhead and shaft with the die into her inventory in her gold box so she’d have the original template for the future.
A shadow blocked her light and Chess looked up at Lynn with a slight frown, her brow quirked. The skunk-kin made a can-I-see gesture and Chess handed over one of her finished arrows.
“You could make a fortune as a bowyer. Where did you learn such techniques?” Lynn observed as she turned the arrow in her hands, removing the head with deft turns; clearly impressed with the work.
“I’m an elf? It was common enough back home,” Chess said with a shrug, trying to play it off as nothing and hoping it was enough of a deflection. She hoped the collar suppressed the Kin’s truth ability but it was better safe than sorry.
“I did it!” Ashley announced with a cheer. Happy with her success and eager to show it off, the young girl bounced to her feet and swiftly thrust the haft of her finished spear between Chess and Lynn. Oh, thank fuck. Chess thought of the timely interruption, Lynn's attention now on the absurdly beautiful weapon Ashley had created. It looked like amber-colored glass and seemed to burn with an inner light. Lynn must’ve had the same idea because she covered her small light stone and proved the spear did give off a distinct glow. It was bright enough to banish Chess' low-light vision within the small cavern. The spears’ shape mimicked the weapon Chess had made for Lynn with clean lines and a leaf-shaped blade.
“It’s beautiful,” Chess said while holding out her hand before frowning. “Can other people use it?”
Ashley’s head cocked to the side slightly, a look of surprise on her face. “I don’t know, maybe? It doesn’t say in the description,” Ashley said as her eyes unfocused for a moment while she checked. With evident hesitance, Ashley slowly laid the weapon in Chess’ hands. Long seconds passed as nothing seemed to happen, but then about half a minute later it started to turn into a sticky soft toffee-like substance, making Ashley pout.
“It’s better that we know now,” Chess reasoned while getting up to wash the sticky remains from her hands in the landing pool. In the process, she checked the strands of bark but figured they needed more time. “Well go on, you might as well summon it again; you’ll want the practice,” she encouraged.
“We will have to try the basic camp items you mentioned later, I suspect the limitation may only apply to weapons and armor. Other abilities have worked similarly,” Lynn added before turning and squatting with her gaze back on the exits.
Chess got herself situated to craft again, and this time she dragged the skeleton's shield into her lap and studied it. It looked as though the outer rim of the shield had originally been thicker but had largely rotted away over time. She furrowed her brows in thought. “Why wasn’t the outer rim reinforced? And how hasn’t this thing rotted away more than this?”
“I know this!” Ashley interrupted Lynn; she already held a new spear in her hands. “The rim of a shield is supposed to be softer so that your opponent's weapons bite in and get trapped if they strike the edge. At least that’s what pa always said,” she explained before growing quiet.
“Part of an undead’s aura works to keep its weapons useful and shields count,” Lynn finished the explanation for Ashley. Huh, something else the movies got wrong but it makes sense; you’d want to trap weapons like that.
“Thanks,” Chess nodded and got back to work. First off, she set about getting rid of all the dry rot. There wasn’t anything she could do with that, so it had to go. With that done, the next step was to increase the overall density of the shield. Some of its size had to be sacrificed to do this but Chess thought that it would be worth it in the end. She dovetailed each board individually and locked them all together, pushing some material into each joint so that the ancient hardwood couldn’t shift out of place during combat. She made sure to create an easily chopped edge to trap weapons, but still took measures to ensure that the boards wouldn’t split by swirling the grains a few inches in. Overall, the thing lost about a third of its size and less than a quarter of its mass. Finally, to finish off the project she used ironwood pegs to replace the rusty nails that held the center boss in place, swelling them and flattening the tails like a rivet.
As Chess inserted the last few pegs around the boss a headache started to form behind her eyes and she rubbed at them tiredly. I'm pushing myself too hard, she thought, sitting back to take a small break. She looked over to find that Ashley had already created a considerable amount of Roman-style armor. An open-face helmet that even allowed for her ears, pauldrons made of 5 overlapping plates for each arm, and she was in the process of forming a breastplate. Sap flowed out from the center of her chest and back like molasses as it inched its way around her body. The effect was mesmerizing to watch. The thicker areas of the armor were a darker golden color, while the thinner sections were more of a proper golden amber. Fuck that’s cool, it's like glass armor. Though it looks like an older style than what Caldur’s soldiers wore.
“Can you make a full-face helm?” Lynn asked Ashley when she finished the breastplate.
“No, I tried that first but all I could manage was this. I based it off what dad used to wear in the guard,” Ashley explained proudly.
“No doubt that’s what it meant by common items.” Lynn nodded. “I suspect that will change at a later rank,” she added.
“I hope so. At least the shoulder armor only counted as one item. It’s so light!” Ashley smiled, bouncing on her toes as she proudly showed off her new gear.
“Ok, I know the men taught you the basic stances. Please take the first stance with your spear and hold it,” Lynn said, taking the stern no-nonsense tone of an instructor. Ashley hurried to obey, quickly taking a position like she was taught. “I want to see if that spear is too heavy for you,” Lynn said while she approached Chess and indicated the finished shield with a questioning look. Chess nodded and the kin woman hefted it, nodding in satisfaction.
“It’s a little heavy but I’ll adjust; it's been a while since I trained with one,” she said before turning back to Ashley. “Did you spend your stat point from your awakening yet, dear?” She asked the struggling girl. Holding the stance was quickly becoming a visible effort for her.
Ashley shakily shook her head while trying not to break her stance, “No, but I have two, one from the class and I got another for having four inheritances,” she explained.
“Right, I should have remembered. Is your constitution an even or odd number, and is it close to ten?” Lynn asked. “You can switch to the second stance,” she commanded.
“It’s ten,” Ashley replied with a sigh as she switched stances. She was now standing with the spear out at an upward angle with her hands on the base and halfway up. Lynn cocked her head before indicating Ashley should bend her knees.
“That’s impressive for your age,” Lynn said, approval clear in her voice. “If it was lower, I was going to suggest you put your points there to help improve your armor, but ten is plenty for now. Getting points naturally is easier until you reach 16 or 17 winters.” Lynn said, shaking her head. “I’d keep them unspent and only use them if you need them,” she added. “Ok, hold that stance for a minute then take a break. Next time you create your spear, make it a little lighter and shorter. Once we find what is right for you, we can get Chess to create one from ironwood and you can try creating greaves instead.”
After the minute had passed, a sweating Ashley came over and tiredly flopped down beside Chess. Chess looked up to find her daughter watching her as she turned her sledgehammer over in her hands and gave Ashley a small smile. This is the first day I haven’t played music of my own choice since I arrived. Chess thought, rubbing her temples. A small headache was starting to form behind her eyes.
“How’s your leg?” Chess asked Ashley.
“It’s still a little stiff but the pain is gone,” she said rubbing the spot.
While the two of them talked, Lynn took up watch again, leaning the repaired shield against the nearby wall and crouching down on her haunches.
I need something just as heavy that doesn’t get caught like the sledgehammer did. A baseball bat? No, I need to think more medieval than that, heavier. They made weapons for a purpose, and so do the people of this world. Oh, I know, a mace! One of those vicious-looking ones with the flanges; spikes might get caught if we meet more skeletons. Something I can swing with one hand but use with two if I want. Chess got to work turning the none-too-pretty head of her sledgehammer into a large sphere. She was about to shrink the ball and create the flanges when her magic cut out and she cursed.
“Fucking cooldown,” she angrily muttered. I need to increase the Gem’s rank, it’s ruining my fun, she griped to herself before letting out a massive yawn.
I’ll need to get some real sleep soon or I'll be of no use to anyone, Chess thought as a huge wave of weariness overcame her. The last bits of the adrenaline that had been keeping her going was finally leaving her system. She slapped her cheeks and shook her head trying to focus. Just a bit longer Chess, you got this. I need to make a string. I think I can do it without my magic.
“You both should get some sleep; we’ll want to be well-rested before we continue. We may want to wait until Ashley’s heal is available again. I don’t think the others are going to pursue us if they haven’t already and I don’t hear or feel anything coming right now. I’d rather be safe than sorry but our food situation is worrying me. We may have to loot the delver's inventory to see if they had any stored but I’d rather not if we can avoid it. I’ll wake you once it's time for your watch or if something happens,” Lynn suggested, looking back at Chess.
“No, you're right. I listened to them bicker for a bit before I jumped. They're going to set up guards for now and let the delvers find our bodies later,” Chess agreed with a sarcastic smile and another yawn. Sleep sounds good. She summoned her inventory and removed the two uncured lion furs, laying them out before removing her damp clothes and crawling into one. Wrapped in the musky lion scent all her aches and pains made themselves known again, the pain making her groan. Her need to sleep easily overtook the pain though and sleep took her in moments.
Chess had barely closed her eyes before a serious-looking Lynn shook her awake. “There's another skeleton, get up,” Lynn urgently whispered. The furnace-like heat of Ashley was curled up beside her in the fur and Chess slowly extracted herself, careful not to wake her.
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Lynn gasped, her eyes wide with surprise and maybe a little envy. “Your underthings! What, where did you get...? No, later,” she said, shaking her head, flabbergasted.
The foreboding was already heavy in the damp air as Chess blinked at the skunk-kin woman's outburst. I forgot no one has seen my underwear, at least no one that's mentioned them, Chess mused.
The approaching aura and the sudden chill, now that she was away from the warm furs, set her teeth to chattering and she quickly pulled on her now-dry clothes.
“I’ll get its attention and try to turn its back towards you,” Lynn whispered as she took her position. Chess gave her a blurry nod and rubbed at her eyes before picking up her mace, pissed that she didn’t have the time to finish it before she slept.
The new weapon proved to be invaluable in the fight, regardless of its unfinished state. After Lynn expertly positioned the menacing skeleton for her, with hard efficient blows and a shield slam, Chess easily shattered the back of its unarmored neck with a two-handed blow. This skeleton was bare but intact, which made it significantly less intimidating regardless of its aura.
Chess had been sure not to use Thump on this one so she could compare it to the last, but she didn’t notice a difference between the two. One heavy bone-crushing blow and they added another skull to Lynn’s collection and two more small stones to her pocket.
Skill: Maces and Clubs reassessed to 5
“What are those?” Chess asked, curious at the sight of the stones.
“Soul-stones,” Lynn said, taking one from her pocket and holding it up. “They are useful to some rare classes, used in rituals, and to smiths when creating bane weapons. Don’t worry, we will do standard loot sharing once we escape this place.” Lynn reassured her, holding the stone out for Chess to take.
“Soul-stones? Are they made from souls or something?” Chess asked, taking it gingerly, a little uneasy with the idea. Remember to ask Ashley about looting rules later, she noted to herself.
“I don’t know where the name comes from but they are the source of the dead's animation,” Lynn said with a sigh. “Some people think if you don’t receive proper rites your soul is trapped with your body and it forms into the stones and your body rises, but that doesn’t explain why older undead have larger stones or why sometimes they are turned into cores. Or why some types can be crushed to become Death Pyth and not Soul Pyth. Keleo's teachings insist souls aren’t involved, that’s good enough for me,” Lynn explained.
“Get a couple more hours of sleep and then you can take the watch. After that, we can go back to you telling me about your underthings,” Lynn offered.
Chess didn’t argue. The terror aura of this one seemed to have less of an effect on her, but still taxing to her exhausted body. She didn’t know if this was because it was weaker or because she knew to expect it this time. Either way, the aura still left her exhausted afterward and she gladly climbed back into the bedroll with her sleeping daughter. The fight, however short, seemed to negate the rest she had gotten and she was out like a light again shortly.
----------------------------------------
Chess blinked her eyes open and stared around the cave, momentarily baffled. What the hell? Why didn’t Lynn wake me for a watch like she said she would? Her gaze landed on the Kin woman sitting with her back against the cavern wall. She was building a coil of the thin cord before her as her fingers deftly wove fibrous threads torn from a dripping chunk of ironbark in her lap.
“Morning,” Lynn said, looking up from her work. “I figured you could use the extra sleep before you use your magic to finish our gear. If you strengthen the connections in this string it should be more than adequate for your bow and to finish the skirt for my armor. I’ll finish this and then I will take my rest,” she said, indicating her work. “I haven’t heard or felt anything from the exits for hours,” she added.
“Thanks,” Chess replied while rubbing the sleep from her eyes and reluctantly climbing out of the warm furs.
“I thought about what I saw last night and I won't ask how you received them. You should be more careful who sees your undergarments in the future, however. I know lords that would go to war to acquire their like. That said, I fear it's likely I’ll owe you my life before we are through with this place. You could abandon me at any moment and I would be doomed. So, to make this party work and create a base for trust...” She paused to get her words together before saying, “By Luminous’ light, I swear to forever keep your and your daughter's secrets and to never divulge anything I learn while we face the dangers of this dungeon and until we reach the safety of civilization, even to my order, now or in the future, without your express permission. I give this oath freely and may I die by his hand if I break it,” Lynn said solemnly before holding a hand out to Chess.
Chess drew in a deep breath and nodded before grasping the Kin’s forearm like she’d seen Caldur’s men do on occasion. “Thanks, I appreciate that,” Kan said that the oath's strength depends on how much you value your faith, and Lynn certainly seems sincere enough, but I'll definitely have to remember that she didn’t say anything about divulging our secrets learned after we return.
Moving on from that train of thought, Chess grabbed a hard biscuit and a handful of dried meat that Lynn had left out and started eating. “I hope we aren’t stuck in these caves for long. With some soil, I could at least grow us some berries with my cloak,” she said between bites.
“Let me sleep for a few hours and then we will move on from here,” Lynn said, getting up and laying her finished cordage in front of Chess. She then carefully placed her spear nearby within easy reach before crawling into the furs beside the slumbering Ashley. It was only moments later that Chess heard the Kin women's soft snores join her daughters.
Brushing crumbs from her hands, Chess got down to work. First, she strung Sprig with a length of Lynn’s cord, taking the time to fuse the strands as the Kin had recommended. Once that was complete, she moved on to using the rest of the cord to finish the kin woman’s skirt, which she then attached to the breastplate. Even as she worked Chess made sure she kept a wary eye on the exits still, pausing often to both check her feelings for rising tension and listen.
Once she was done with Lynn’s gear Chess first finished her mace creating six pronounced flanges that flowed up the sides starting a few inches before the ball and ending in a short spike at the top. She moved on to creating a spear for Ashley and a spare mace, both of which she placed in her inventory with her existing spear.
With that done, she next spent a few minutes making the bracers she had promised Ashley. She took extra care while placing some delicate knotwork and flower inlays into them. The delicate work on the bracers however inspired her to push her creativity a bit further. It may have been a bit of a waste of time, but Chess decided to spend a few more minutes trying to add a little something extra to the bracers. On one of them, she went with a stylized shield to represent Ashley's father, and on the other, she added a curled-up sleeping cat to represent her mother. She knew it was cheesy, but it still put her in a bit of a melancholy mood.
With that, she only had one large branch of ironwood left. After some thought, she chose to make herself a breastplate like what she made for Lynn, and an open-faced helm like Ashley's sap creation the day before. That left her with a few odds and ends which she turned into extra arrowheads; a dozen of each kind. I should’ve ditched a fur and grabbed more ironwood when I could, she sighed at the missed opportunity.
She spent some time making more cord and eventually Ashley woke, grabbed some food, and joined her in the task with a muttered, “morning,” around a mouthful of food. They sat quietly across from each other and worked, both enjoying the simplicity of the task.
When they’d run out of bark Chess created lanyards for both maces, threading the new loops through a hole made at the end of the mace handles. Next, she made hooks from a pair of arrowheads so that she could hang the maces from a belt.
Ashley then instructed her in making crude sheaths for their daggers from strips cut out of the lion's fur and some finer cords. Slipping her dagger away, she took a look around to see if there was anything else she should do. She spent a minute refilling all their waterskins from the pool before turning to Ashley.
“You should resummon your armor. Oh, and here,” Chess told her daughter, passing her the ironwood spear she’d made for her earlier.
“Thanks,” Ashley took it with a smile appreciating the whirls in the grain of the weapon before standing to try some experimental thrusts with it.
"And I made you these, like you asked," Chess said, producing the new bracers.
Ashley took them and was instantly mesmerized by the intricate designs and stylized images Chess had created.
Ashley was spellbound for a moment and maybe a little choked up before she launched herself into Chess's lap and gave her a big hug. "They're beautiful! Do them like yours! I don't want them to come off. Pu...lease!" Ashley begged enthusiastically.
"Oh," Chess said reflexively and froze stiff.
“Do you want the other mace?” Chess asked lamely, hugging her back but uncomfortable with the idea. She shook her head. You're a woman now Chester, no one will think twice about you hugging a little girl. Plus, she’s your daughter now, four, five, six. She held up the spare mace she'd made, leaning back a bit to put it between them so Ash could see it.
"Yes please,” Ashley said nodding. "Now do the bracers!" She begged, leaning back to present her arms, dumping the bracers into Chess's lap between them.
"Okay, okay, you have to back up so I have room," Chess said indulgently before doing as her new daughter asked.
"Here, I’ll make you a hook so you don’t have to carry the mace,” Chess said, handing the weapon over.
Finished with the tasks she had started, Chess stood and put Ashley on her feet before taking one more glance about. “I believe that’s all I can do with what we have. What do you think?” She asked her daughter.
“I can’t think of anything,” Ashley offered. “Should we wake Lynn?”
“No, let her sleep,” Chess said, sitting back down and leaning back against the cavern wall to get comfortable. She stared at the two skulls that now sat together by the wall, a small shiver running down her spine. She noted that Lynn had tied the small silver coins on thin silver chains through the eye socket of each skull. Must be important to keep them together.
Ashley spent her time summoning and resummoning her armor, this time adding greaves to the collection. She took the time to better learn to hold her long cast together.
"You should give that a rest soon, you don't want to overdo it and end up sick like I did, especially not in here." Chess studied her adopted daughter decked out in her bright new gear and smiled. The light the bigger items gave off was considerable, enough to cancel Chess's low light vision entirely in the small cavern.
“You look more, I don't know, vibrant? Then you did a day ago. The black strands in your hair are more pronounced now, not so muted by the rest and the tawny color is a more distinctive red now, though that could be from the light your amber armor gives off,” Chess observed.
“Really?” Ashley asked looking up at Chess and then pulling her tail into her lap to see. "Huh, well, I did get a blessing from Freya that gave me two extra charisma, maybe that’s why?” Ashley said with a shrug and sat beside her.
“Probably,” Chess agreed, playing with her dagger; spinning it on its point in front of her. “We have to find you a bigger cloak or tabard to cover the glow from your armor when we need to hide, I'm not sure my plant ones will be enough,” Chess added, leaning her head against the wall and closing her eyes.
It was long companionable minutes later that she noticed a building tension in the air. “Shit, we have another undead incoming,” she said, reluctantly getting to her feet.
“Should I wake Lynn?” Ashley asked, getting up and unhooking her mace.
“No, leave her unless there’s more than one. We can do this without her, just be sure to protect your body and head as best you can," Chess steeled herself grabbing her mace.
Despite the rising tension, Chess felt confident as the new skeleton emerged from the dark tunnel. This one, like the last, was largely intact, with bare bleached white bones and two glowing sinister embers for eyes. The only difference being it was armed with a vicious-looking spear that sparkled a silver-gold in the light cast by Ashley's armor.
Ashley bent and hefted Lynn's new shield from against the wall, resting the edge on the ground between the skeleton and her as it trudged into their camp before arming herself with her new mace.
"Shield," Ashley said and a golden glow encompassed her and Chess in a bubble, as the skeleton wound up to strike. The young girl's shield's edge caught the spear deflecting it to slide past her as she ducked further behind her shield and she let out a surprised squeak when the weapon screeched over her head. The large round shield was almost comically large in front of the waif of a girl and easily covered most of her body.
Ashley took a step forward into the skeleton's guard dragging the bottom lip of the shield on the ground with a screech of wood on stone and, snarling in defiance, struck the skeleton's side a glancing blow with her mace before stepping further into its open side, giving Chess room to flank their enemy as it turned to keep Ashley in front of it.
Chess felt a small push against her breastplate, the result of Ashley's Shield Pyth when the skeleton's blow landed on Ashley’s shield but she shrugged off the insignificant weight.
The skeleton aimed the next blow at Ashley's head and she screamed, stepping back and ducking, using both hands to slam the shield up, deflecting the spear overhead to strike sparks from the low cavern ceiling with a snarl.
Chess stepped up her mace in a low two-handed grip. Four, she thought as she drew back like she was swinging a golf club. She brought it up hard between the skeleton's legs. The blow lifted it from the ground and cracked its pelvis before veering off, taking its left leg off completely and foiling its next strike against Ashley.
The unbalanced skeleton clattered to the ground and Ashley got both her feet on its spear before it could recover.
Chess brought her mace down hard on the base of its skull, pulverizing its spine against the stone floor.
“See? Easy,” Chess proclaimed looking up at her daughter.
“Behind you!” Ashley screamed, but too late. The blow hit Chess in the upper back, knocking the wind out of her and pitching her face-first into the ground; her helmet was the only thing saving her from a broken nose. Thankfully it didn't penetrate her breastplate fully coming to a stop against the wide band of her bra and indenting her skin a few millimeters. It still took her some time to get her breath and her bearings though.
I should know better than to tempt fate. Thank fuck I made myself armor. She groaned rolling onto her back, to look up as Ashley fought off the new skeleton near her feet. She ducked and weaved, her shield catching most of the blows, and those she missed lacked the power to do more than scrape her amber armor.
Get up! Chess screamed at herself, fighting to draw breath and matching it with action. The girl’s a natural at this, Chess thought as her daughter deftly turned the skeleton's back to face Chess’s now kneeling form. Ashley used the shield like a ramp, leveraging the skeleton to the side when it stepped on the surface to get at her behind her barrier.
That, or she learned more from her father than she's letting on. Chess thought, swinging her mace in a quick blow against the new skeleton's femur and knocking it off balance. Ashley bravely exploited the opening by landing a disabling blow to the creature's spear arm, crushing the joint. Chess took out the undead's other leg before it could fall and Ashley destroyed its neck with two quick blows once it hit the ground.
Ashley dropped her mace and shield where she stood and made it two steps before slumping back into her spot against the wall, clearly exhausted from the short but chaotic fight. "That sucked," was all she said.
Chess grabbed the skulls from the two new dead, removing the soul stones and digging two more medallions from their bones; threading them through the eye sockets as Lynn had with the others before joining Ashley.
She waved the looting options away as soon as they popped up, not wanting the temptation. Lynn had a point that it would be better to get someone more qualified to harvest them if they could. Freya’s tits these terror auras are exhausting, I feel like my heart is going to explode at any moment. Chess thought.
“What’s going on?” A sleep-addled Lynn demanded of the pair. Chess looked up at her and blinked. How did I miss her waking up? She thought before realizing she’d spaced out completely.
“We thought we’d let you sleep,” Chess coughed, looking at Ashley for solidarity. "Ready to head out soon? I finished your armor and we even have two extra spears,” she added, gesturing at the newly looted items.
Lynn frowned and turned around without saying anything and got into her new armor before inspecting the spears with a nod. Choosing the damaged but vicious-looking spear from the first skeleton, she held it out towards Chess who blinked at it when a window popped open for her. Huh, I should’ve looked at it closer. She thought, rubbing her eyes. Chess looked at the other one but it didn’t have a window so she refocused on the one in Lynn’s hands.
Name: Keen oak and Moonsteel spear
Style: Piercing
Color: Brown and Grey
Rarity: Uncommon
Properties: A well-made oak and Moonsteel spear.
Durability: 12/100
Enchantments:
Keen: damage to cutting edge and the point will repair over time as long as overall durability remains over 25%.
“Do you think you could replace the haft on this with the one from my ironwood spear without disturbing the enchantment on the head?” Lynn asked.
Chess shrugged. “I won’t know until I try, but if it's only on the head it might work. I can’t know for sure though," she said, taking the spear from Lynn, who then passed over her ironwood one as well. It took a simple flexing of her magic to shrink the old haft where it entered the head and pull it free. She checked the released head which gave her a smaller window and let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.
Keen Moonsteel Spearhead
Removing the head from the ironwood spear and replacing it with the Moonsteel was just as easy and Chess appreciated the finished work.
Name: Keen Ironwood and Moonsteel spear
Style: Piercing
Color: Grey
Rarity: Rare
Properties: A well-made Ironwood and Moonsteel spear.
Durability. 121/150
Enchantments:
Keen: damage to cutting edge and the point will repair over time as long as overall durability remains over 25%.
“Cool, the max durability increased,” Chess said, passing the finished thing to Lynn.
“Thank you,” Lynn said with a genuine smile, hefting her new weapon and taking her shield back from Ashley.
“We should head out. But carefully; we don’t know what killed at least four Delvers in these caverns,” Lynn cautioned.
Chess respectfully added each skull to her inventory before tossing the furs in and nodding at the skunkkin’s words. “You lead, you have the training,” she encouraged.
“Left, or right?” Lynn asked looking between the two exits.
“Left, always left,” Chess said, taking up her place in the rear with the solid weight of her mace resting against her shoulder. She had Sprig slung over across her back and kept a few arrows in her off-hand. I can drop them if all we face is skellies. The three fights had done wonders for her confidence and she felt better about their chances going forward.
“Let's do this!” Ashley encouraged the pair, bouncing with her sudden impatience.