I opened my eyes to see the space I created had indeed shrunk while I was getting back my magical energy. What was still 'Alive' now looked withered and a light mist had begun to swirl through the air. Even so, I noticed some of the 'Grass' was some low level herbs I could use to make a couple of different potions. I plucked them and tossed them into my storage ring. I did it in such a way that it looked like I was putting them in my belt pockets. Two hours had passed since I started to meditate but it was worth it to get my mana back to full.
The dungeon messages I got during the time I had been recuperating were just about the other groups entering different areas. Group one was still ok and advancing in, what seemed like a straight line, judging from the sector numbers. On the other hand, the remaining members of group two were all over the place. The mage had entered the cabin fairly early into my meditation and before I finished, the mage was dead. The only oddity was the assassin. The dungeon was having a hard time tracking him. He would appear and disappear from its senses randomly only to reappear in a random sector.
I talked about what I knew as we ate a quick meal. We were going to set off right after and while I had wanted to learn more about my new party members skills, I decided to wait until we were protected behind my spell. This dungeon was alive, tactical and listening. I had no doubt it could use anything we said against us. Something I was not sure every dungeon could do but something I should keep in mind going forward.
They wanted to continue even after I let them know that the Stitched Horror was coming. After the last fight, they seemed more confident than I thought they should be. I mean out of twelve rats they killed one. It was not my definition of success. Since Stitched Horrors came in a variety of shapes and sizes I had no valid reason to panic. They were just a type of golem that was made up of bits and pieces from whatever the necromancer had lying about and because of that they also had the nickname, 'scrap golems'. Generally, they were weak servant types. I got the feeling that wasn't the case with the one coming for us though. I was nervous. I'll admit it. I don't even know why. It was like I knew that the shit was about to hit the fan. But still, I was part of a group, so retreating while they wanted to move forward would probably not look good.
I would get dungeon messages as we walked. They were mostly about a monster's movement, the location of other groups, or ours. As raring for a fight as my group was, it didn't matter. All the monsters not in 'special' locations would be ordered to retreat as we got near. Was it waiting for the stitched horror, for us to enter a named location, both, or something else? It was hard to tell. We were trying to avoid the named locations so much so that we had backtracked twice. So far we have run into the graveyard, a lake that had a rickety dock with a boat the clattered against it, and the one we were at now, the cabin. In each area the mist thinned out allowing us to see more of the area. Not that it was any less creepy.
We needed to decide on which one to pick. Each one would allow us to get closer to the way down to floor three and that was our goal. Twist was completely against going to the lake. His main objection was he would sink like a rock with all his gear but his eyes were showing more white than normal. I was kind of glad I was not the only one nervous. In the end, we settled on the graveyard. The main reason was that it was more open so Janet and I could use our bows.
After a short break, we trekked back to the first place we discovered. Each of the three areas were a bit over half an hour to get to from one to another so walking back and forth while also exploring dead ends had used up most of the 'day'. I stress day because in dungeons it was hard to tell how much time has passed. There was no standard night and day cycle here. It was whatever the dungeon designed. I would have long lost track of time if not for my display.
As we approached the graveyard the mist thinned and hung just above the ground. It looked as if we were walking on a cloud. The ill kept tombstones that jutted out of it looked more like broken bones than the stone they were made out of. Statues of people and angels were around them in the dim light and mist. The mausoleum, near the center, overshadowed everything else. Even the scattered tombs were tiny in comparison to it. The huge stain-glass windows it had looked oddly pretty in this eerie place.
'Where are they?' I thought. I knew that there were wights here just from the messages. Yet, they were nowhere in sight. Should I waste the mana to cast 'Detect Evil'? I did not want to but a hidden enemy is far more dangerous than ones you can see. Sighing, I began to silently cast as we moved toward the entrance of the graveyard. My aura rippled and ebbed outward, flattening out as it moved until the golden light disappeared beneath the mist. I felt presences. Then as if the clouds were parting golden beams of light shown through the mist wherever I felt a presence. They were mostly clustered by the far exit and I was having a hard time gauging their numbers since they were not spread out. But at most, there shouldn't be more than a dozen.
I filled the group in and we set ourselves in the shape of a half moon. Twist was in front with Tom and Jack on the right and left of him, with Janet and me a few steps behind. I again cast 'Guardian Angel' on Twist. I split my aura, deactivating the 'Detect evil'.
It was a hard call since doing so allowed me to save some magical energy and cast on multiple people faster but I would not be able to keep track of the enemy. Still there were only a dozen so I chose efficiency over detection. My mana pool was pretty sizable but still it had its limits and I didn't know how long this fight was going to last. I began casting after my tendrils were attached to each of us. I cast three spells in succession; Aid, Blessings of the Goddess, and Golden armor. I could have done a few more but it was better to be a little conservative. As it was, I could only maintain this for roughly sixteen minutes if I did not cast anything else during the fight.
I was the last one done. So when I finished casting and lifted my bow, we set off. The ground was spongy adding to the illusion of us walking on a cloud. Waking slowly, our heads continuously moving trying to spot any sort of movement. I already let them know that my detection spell had limitations and some things would not be detected.
Instead of calming everybody, the lack of noise and movement seemed to be doing the opposite. About a quarter of the way through Tom started glaring at the statutes. "They moved," he whispered. Did they? I hadn't noticed. I focused on the nearest one. An arrow notched waiting for it to move. "See! It moved!" And with a roar he charged at the nearest one. The one I had been watching. It was a lady that was looking down at a baby cradled in her arms. It was weather worn and because of that it looked as if tear tracks had etched into the stone. She hadn't moved!
"Tom wait! It didn't move," I yelled but I was far too late to stop him. He lead with a right hook. His gauntlet knives embedding themselves into the statutes skull. His momentum causing a crack to appear around the thin neck.
Two things happened all at once. A skeletal hand broke through the ground and tried to pull him under. While the baby started crying. It's wails seemed even louder in the silent graveyard.
I noticed everybody's display start flashing red as we all began to take damage and because I was focused on Tom, I could see blood trickling out of his ears. On His display the right leg was darkening. It was the leg that the hand was holding onto. He was screaming as he tried to break free. His leg began shrinking as if all the muscles within were slowly disappearing.
'Idiot! Where the hell did the prince find these guys? The brothel?' I silently cursed as I sent my tendrils to wrap around the skeleton and the baby. Once each had three wrapped around them, I cast smite.
Messages of 'Screaming Horror killed 65XP' and 'Flesh Devourer killed 45XP' flashed as the skeletal hand and baby crumbled to dust. I moved to attach all six tendrils to Tom's leg. After reading through the damage on my display I cast 'Moderate Regeneration'. This was going to take time. His muscles were completely rotted to the point that I wondered if amputation would be a better option. There was some type of necrotic energy residing inside it keeping natural healing from occurring. Perhaps it would be better to start with a clean slate. For now I had his brother help him to walk. It would take me and hour, at least, to fix that type of damage with my spells strength.
I noticed that the healthy glow that 'Aid' gave people was gone from the group but decided against recasting it on everybody. Getting Tom mobile was more important.
A message of 'Activate Wights Lair (Yes/No)' popped up and after the 'yes' was highlighted I could feel the ground vibrate a little. We continued forward trying to avoid getting too close to any statues. The mausoleum just a few strides away, I could now see that its stained glass was depicting a bunch of undead feasting on screaming humans. 'So much for them looking good,' I thought.
Soon we all heard the scraping of stone on stone. It did not take long for pale, humanoid creatures to begin to crawl their way up and out of the tombs and graves that were placed at the far points of the cemetery. They were wights, a type of undead that were mostly warriors. Humans that held immense anger at the time of their deaths tended to become this type of undead. They were skinny with grey; white skin that hung a little loose. Green fire had replaced their eyes as if to show the world that their anger still raged within them. The most annoying thing about them were their attacks. They used claws as their main weapon. But even if they did no damage to you as long as their hands touched any bare skin they would absorb some of your life; healing them and damaging you.
There must be tunnels that led to where they were coming out from because soon we were surrounded. I saw some of the wights begin to rush forward. Others crawled beneath the mist, their pale faces bobbing up to look at us before disappearing back beneath the mist.
The second blood red message I have seen since I entered this dungeon appeared as the wights got closer to us. One I wish I had not read, 'TARGET HOLY MAGE (CONFIRM)'. Well f' my life!
I pulled my bow taut and let lose an arrow using 'Prediction' to place it in the area that one of the wights would be. The arrow left the bow before shattering into ten tinier arrows, over half of which pierced into its face. A plus ten XP flashed as the Wight dropped and I notched another arrow. I was feeling ecstatic that I downed one of them but that faded as more and more popped out of the ground. It went from a dozen to two dozen, then forty, then fifty and I had to give up counting as I let loose arrow after arrow.
Over the sounds of combat I could still hear Bill muttering in disappointment, "Does this count as her killing something? I thought I would see something impressive." I could hear disappointment in his voice as if this was just a television show and not my life. If I lived through this, I was going to beat him.
I had downed a few but they were agile and I was just as likely to wound them instead of landing a killing blow. Still, I was nowhere near Janet's kill count. Her arrows would land within a group with every pull of her bow. Followed by an explosion that sent bits and piece of anything within a few feet of wherever it landed flying in all directions. Her hands were glowing turquoise that lit up runes on her bow every time the string went taut.
Janet was thinning them out but as one fell, two more would come out of their earthen lairs. It was not maintainable, the dungeon was summoning more and more as we fought. The 'Summon group of Wights within the Fallen Lair for 500DP (Yes/No)' kept popping up. After a while another message would follow saying 'DP running low!' until the dungeon just stopped summoning. By then, there was a wall of undead all looking at me. "There are too many. We need to retreat or find shelter in the mausoleum before we are overrun!" Jack had to scream to be heard above the explosions and growls.
A few of the wights had made it to our group and, unlike being the easy kills they were from a distance, they became resilient. Like cockroaches, just when you thought you killed them they would simply claw one of us to steal enough energy to keep on fighting. I had to sling my bow and use my footwork technic 'Steps of an Angel' to make myself harder to hit while continuously healing everybody. It was taking too long and by the time Jack and Tom finished off the last of those close to us, more were coming like a wave of tooth and claws. We were going to get overrun. Well, I was anyway. The wights attacks made it obvious who they wanted dead.
We were encircled so to retreat out of the graveyard would mean we would have to break through them. Tom gave the order to enter the mausoleum. So far there was nothing between us and it. Twist led the way and with a push, the big doors swung inward and Twist dashed in with the group right on his heels. I did not even see the trap he stepped onto before a bone spear came shooting at him. His momentum moved him forward even if he did not want to and when I thought Twist was going to become a shish kabob, a tiny soap bubble rammed into him, knocking him to the side and with a pop, vanished.
The rest of us had enough time to get out of its path as it shot out the door.
I watched them run inside. Their panic evident. They knew they were going to die even if they made it inside there was no coming out. NO! I could save them. This dungeon was after me for some reason. I could use that to lead them away.
"I will lead them away. Escape once they are gone," I called out to them before pulling the doors shut and manifesting my wings. (This one)
'+1 to luck'
'+1 to luck'
'+1 to luck'
'+1 to luck'
appeared as I shut the doors. Laughing to myself as I read the messages. 'I was going to need all the luck I could get,' I thought. I retracted my tendrils and stopped maintaining their spells. I was going to need all I had to survive my stupidity. Me versus a few hundred wights? What could go wrong?
Right now I had to deal with hundreds of undead. I saw a couple in the back giving orders so they definitely weren't mindless. The ones snarling out orders stood a little taller and had more muscle definition to them. Sadly, I did not understand anything they were saying but I saw a few smaller ones run into the tombs. I had to come up with a plan. I did not fly often in my training so of all my muscles, my back muscles were a little lacking. So for now, I needed to conserve my strength.
I was kicking myself for pulling out the 'Heavenly Rain' spell. Now the dungeon would be on guard and by the time I finished casting, those wights would probably be able to take cover. Who knew that it would be that affective? In the last fight I just wanted the rats to run away.
I un-slung my bow as I landed on the top of the mausoleum. I began to fire as quickly as I could. There was not much point aiming since the ground was covered with targets. For every arrow, ten took its place as soon as it left the string. Sure they didn't hit as hard but as I rapid fired ten arrows in a row I did see some fall, as a hundred or more rushed the building. I fired a few more before having to take off again.
I hovered; wrapping my tendrils around any that got close. Smite was very affective against them and soon there was a circle of dead wights. Still, I only got about a dozen before they moved far enough away that I could not easily grab them without moving. It wasn't a lot compared to what they had but since the dungeon was running low on DP maybe I could whittle them down. I was trying to decide on where to fly to when the floor shook. Literally shook! It was like a small earthquake just hit.
'Stitched Horror has arrived on Floor 2'
'Move Stitched Horror to Graveyard (Yes/No)'
'Move Specters to Graveyard (Yes/No)'
'Move Ghast to Graveyard (Yes/No)'
'Move Banshee to Graveyard (Yes/No)'
Five messages popped up followed by the earth rumbling. I needed help and the only people close was Bill's group. "Bill, if you're watching I could use some help." I shouted. I could only hope that he was near.
"Yup, you sure could. Oh, look they have slings now. Sorry, I would help you but I am under orders. I would suggest running; really, really fast. Yup, I cannot MOVE to help you. Such a shame." He stressed the word move as if giving me a hint on how to get out of this. It took a second for it to click and I flew off in the direction of his voice. It was near the graveyard exit leading toward the way down to floor three. I did not think this was the best option, but as the saying goes 'any port in a storm'. I flew in that direction of the oncoming golem, hoping beyond hope that it would somehow pay off.
I did notice some of the smaller wights distributing slings and ammo to the bigger ones, as I turned to fly in that direction. Apparently, the crypts had doubled as an armory. I was probably too high for them to hit at the moment but if I wanted to join Bill and Jake I would have to fly lower to enter the pathway that the trees formed.
Smiling, I began to take vial after vial out of my belt pockets. Once my hands were full of the multi-colored vials I flew at my full speed. I was picking up speed as I swooped downward. As I got closer to the ground a bigger wight gave a loud cry in its foreign language. Volleys of stones flew at me; some I dodged, most I didn't. The stones pelted into me since I never practiced my evasion skills while flying. It was definitely an oversight I will have to fix. Luckily, my physical defenses were universal. I used 'The lesser evil' skill to take most of the blows to my body and legs where I was the most armored. 'Resilient' and 'Tough Enough' reduced the damage even more so I was only take a point or two per hit. Once I started taking damage, 'Divine body' started to kick in and I saw my wounds healing back up slowly. Even with all of that, I could not take too many more volleys like that.
Still grinning like a cat that ate the canary, I let go of the vials as I flew over them. Unlike the explosions Janet's arrows caused, mine were gas clouds and as they mixed together it looked like a psychedelic kaleidoscope. The blue clouds froze any within, reds caught them on fire, yellows were electrical storms that did nothing to undead, grays were just smoke but with any luck it would hinder their shots, the hazy clouds were acid and those within had their flesh begin to blacken and pit, and the pale white clouds slowed anybody in them down as their skin took on a stony gray color. Because they did not feel pain and electricity didn't affect their nerves they weren't as effective as they could have been but even so I watched as messages of XP gains popped up as those on fire or had acid on them died. My bombing raid netted me another 1,080 in XP when it was all said and done as around two dozen were killed. I almost didn't mind the hundred gold I spent making those potions. I just thought they would last me longer.
The chaos I currently created allowed me to zoom pass the exit of the graveyard and closer to where Bill should be. A few stones had still flown up at me as I passed by but the amount was negligible by comparison to the first volley. As I passed an iron archway that marked the end of the graveyard, the trees and mist thickened. The bare tree branches moved and grasped at where my wings would have been and I was forced to land. I didn't see Bill but, between the mist and whatever was concealing him and Jake, I wasn't surprised.
I heard the wights coming. Their snarls and grunts that represented their language and the movement of a couple hundred undead was kind of hard to miss. Did I misunderstand? Where was Bill? I wrapped all six tendrils around myself. This mistake may cost me my life but I don't regret it. At least, for a time, I could walk in the sun and meet some interesting people. I cast, 'Coat of Arms' and pulled my mace. The emblem for the spell appeared in the air like normal. Perhaps because I multiplied the spell by six or maybe it was because my level had increased since I last cast it, whatever it was I noticed that the rock golem looked more human and I could see that it kind of resembled my father. The wind that normally swirled around it made a pattern of a smiling woman looking down at me. Being wind it was subtle but I thought of my new mom when I saw it. The giant emblem shrank, attached itself to my cape and I saw my white skin turn to a light mocha.
So that was what 'strengthens the target with what they hold dear to their heart' meant. I borrowed power from my parents because they were who I cared about in this world the most. It was also why this spell failed on some others. They simply had nobody in their hearts.
"You going to hog all that magic?" I heard Bills voice ask and when I looked I saw Bill fade into sight.
"Where is James?" I could not keep the relief from my voice as I saw Bills smiling face. I wasn't alone!
I wasn't alone! Bill just pointed up and I saw an outline of a person standing on a branch. Because of the mist, I had to guess that the man on the branches was James. I shot my tendrils to wrap around each of them. I would keep them alive while they fought to do the same for me. Bill had already turned into his armored form and was simply waiting leisurely for what was to come. I tried attaching James and Bill to my displays and after giving them a call to accept it worked. Bill's came up first. James's attached to my display slowly and it was a bit fuzzy. Reading any text that popped up about him would be problematic but with the new display it should not a big issue. I crossed my fingers that it would be true. Some issues and conditions were easier to read than interpreting from a picture. I made a mental note to fix my display once I was out of danger. I must have messed it up when I re-vamped the display.
I saw shadows moving within the mist. I could hear their clawed feet, the scratching as they dug into the hardened earth giving away their presence. Then the bushes to the right and left of me rustled as they moved in the foliage. Bark could be heard being ripped from the trees as they climbed onto the branches. Still, most of them were coming head on down the path. I waited and all the noise stopped. The only things I could hear, other than the creaking of the branches, was my ragged breathing and beating heart. This was by far the stupidest thing I have ever done. I never fought wights before and while the smaller ones seemed to die fairly easy, I had no idea about the others.
'Were they waiting for their reinforcements?' I thought but before I could even voice my concern there was a rough howl and the wights started to swarm out of the mist. They tried rushing by Bill as if he was not standing in their path. With every swipe of his big hammer he sent half a dozen wights flying back to crash into the woods, never to return. But, for every six that flew away another three or four ran by him to get to me. As they closed in on me, Bill started shouting at the wights, "Pfft, picking on a girl? No wonder you were failures in life; real men, fight men." His voice had an irritating tone to it that implied he knew it all along. As he spoke, a few of the wights that were about to get to me growled and charged to attack Bill's back. He smiled and with an overhead smash, planted the skull of the first one into the ground and swiped outward to make the rest keep their distance.
I went purely defensive. Between my armor, skills and spells I was as slippery as an eel. Even as they surrounded me, very few could land a blow. When they did, something weird happened. Their claws scratched along my skin but could not break it. More importantly, their touches didn't steal any life energy from me.
I was left unharmed even after a dozen hits. Smiling, I began to shift from defense to offense and hit a few with my mace. I did not down any but kept them at bay. I was doing pretty well until one of them leapt from the branches overhead. I did not see him as much as I felt the impact to my upper body. I crumbled beneath his weight and momentum. As I fell, I could see James leaping from branch to branch in a dazzling acrobatic display that would be worthy of gold metals. He only had one blade drawn and was using his other hand to grasp branches as if they were bars for him to spin on, only to appear behind a wight and end its existence with a single quick thrust.
It was amazing. Too bad I had little time to appreciate it. The snarling wight, a head taller than the smaller ones, rode me to the ground. I felt his claws searching for a weak spot in my armor and he found one. Under my armpits there was a small spot off thinner leather to allow ease of movement and I felt him trying to dig his claws into my flesh. His nails scratched against it and began to slowly push in. My flesh flaked away as if it was made of stone and I soon felt his fingertips wiggling inside of me. I bucked and tried to throw him off me but felt smaller hands holding me down.
His fingernails rubbed against my bones and I let out a wheezing gasp. It hurt. I could hear Bill swinging his war hammer along with some notifications but it all seemed so far away. I didn't want to distract him so I bit my lip to keep from screaming. I knew he had three times the adversaries compared to me and any distraction may be deadly. I needed to kill this thing and get to my feet. I kept repeating that in my head as I tried to focus enough to wrap my tendrils around him but the feeling of it wiggling its fingers, looking for the gap between my bones, kept distracting me. Once he found one, a quick jab would end my life. I knew what he was doing. Time seemed to slow as my adrenalin kicked in. It was as if I had all the time in the world to think, to feel, as it tried to pierce my heart with its nails.
My tendrils appeared to be moving at a snail's pace but I knew that was an illusion created by my predicament. Would I be able to kill it before it killed me? I didn't know but I prayed. I needed to succeed and live. My tendrils slowly wrapped around its arms. I was going to make it. I felt something pop within me and its fingers finally moved deeper inside me. I could hear my ribs cracking. Ya, all the time in the world…time to feel the pain. Time to feel the odd sensation of its fingers pushing into me. Ravaging me, but not enough time to live!
I was going to die. Just one more second and it would all be over. His hand stopped moving. I did not stop to think of why. I was just glad to feel his fingertips sliding out. I kept moving my tendrils. Ignoring the pain. Was he playing with me? His snarling face looked like he was hell bent on killing me as fast as possible so why? I saw a shadowy figure appear behind him before he was ripped off of me violently. His fingers ripped out of me and my vision swam from the pain. He was flung away, along with a little orange ball clinging to his arm. As it flew through the air, it was slowly turning into dust particles. It never made it to the ground whole again.
I thought Bill had reached me but instead saw the emo teen from the market place standing before me. He looked exasperated. It was as if he was called out to pick up a drunk friend at three in the morning. I knew that look because I wore it myself doing just that. I smiled up at him. Hell, I was smiling just to be alive! I wrapped my tendrils around myself and began to heal my wound. The smaller wights that had taken the opportunity to hold me down simply stopped moving. Their eyes dimming as the flames within vanished as they slumped to the ground.
"Thank you. Thank you for saving me." I was still smiling even as the battle raged on around us. I could hear Bill taunting them with things like "With those skills it is no wonder you died angry", "My mom hits harder than that" and "Why don't I just rip off your skull and use your eyes to cook my food? At least then you'd accomplish something", while James cleared the wights from the trees. None of them came near me even as I saw the dungeon messages popping up, repeating 'TARGET THE HOLY (CONFIRM)' over and over. Even so, nothing moved to attack us. He looked around and with a voice that lacked any real emotion said "No problem, what … friends for." The sounds of combat broke over him talking and I saw his mouth moving but missed what he said after his first sentence. I saw him frowning as he looked around and as he looked at me continued, "I have… go. Here, you'll need … help." With a swipe of his hand he cut the air. A black void appeared where he cut. His arm vanished within the inky darkness and soon reappeared holding a four foot tall robed figure. All I could see was her face. Her form was emaciated and looked frail but with those high cheek bones I was pretty sure it was a girl. A girl on the brink of starving to death perhaps but a girl none-the-less. He bent over her, whispered into her ear and then stepped into the portal he created. As soon as he stepped all the way in, the portal vanished leaving the girl behind. Her eyes were wide as she looked at me in awe.
Shit, I forgot to get his name. The battle still raged on, the wights lay mostly in broken heaps. Killed by either Bill's hammer or James' sword. Those that lived were of the bigger variety and ignoring Bill's taunts came at me. As they got close I shot out my tendril and wrapped it around six of them and began to spam 'Smite' as quickly as I could. These wights did not fall easily, nor were there only six. The others rushed in and I heard an airy voice saying, "Oh, I would not do that. His greatness told me that she was not to be touched." I glanced at the girl and she had her head hung as if she was praying. In her hands was a tiny wagon wheel made of bone was held together with what looked like skin. She did not say anything else but as she raised her head she opened her mouth wide as if to shout. Instead, the trails of the green flames inside the wights eyes began to fly into it. The fire first bent toward her as if there was a wind and then as if she were a giant vacuum. They flew out of their eyes and into her mouth. Her mouth shut as the last of the wights eyes turned dark and they fell to the earth dead. Crunching noises soon followed as wights dropped out of the trees.
The girl giggled, as they fell, like a child that successfully played a prank. I noticed that her eyes now had a green shimmer to them as she looked at me. "Mistress, I took care of them for you. Do you wish to rest? Or perhaps, you would like to reclaim your little fuzzy ball of death?" She pointed in the direction of where the wight, that was trying to dig my heart out, was tossed. Pumpkin sat near a tree. Its orange fur now matted with dirt. The last thing I remembered was her attached to that damn undead's arm. Was she the reason its hand stopped moving? I went to pick her up. She looked so pitiful. A little ball of death? Only if you can die from cuteness overload. James took this moment to jump out of the tree, landing beside me. He cleaned his sword before putting it away. I saw both their displays showing red from where they took wounds. After re-attaching my tendrils, I cast 'Minor Healing'. The red in my display went away. James must have been more damaged than he looked because it took me a few tries to get him back to full. By the time I was done my mana was running low. I let them both know that there were still four more groups coming our way. The girl was just nodding as if she knew. I looked at her, "Thank you for your help but who are you?" I asked and after I thought about it added, "And why do you call me mistress?"
"My name is Frigus and what else should I call a friend of his Greatness." Her eyes dilated and she had a fan-girl look about her. "The fact that he acknowledges you shows how distinguished you are, so of course I cannot disrespect you. If I do a good job, he may even give me the ultimate reward."
I could not help but ask, "So what is the ultimate reward?"
She looked at Bill and James who was watching her like she was an alien creature and she suddenly got shy, "You know. Don't make me say it in front of them." She shrank into her cloak until her four foot frame looked even smaller and only her face could be seen. Her cheeks red.
I felt like I was bullying a child. "No need. No need. Of course you don't have to say it." Was Emo teen going to sleep with her? I knew women in this country wanted children almost fanatically. Especially if the men were rich and his clothing, while dark, looked expensive. They both saved me so I tried not to judge their actions. It was just that she looked so young and fail.
"If you two are done with your girlie talk, you said there were four more groups coming? Care to fill us in on what is actually coming? And you girl, is that holy symbol the real deal?" Bill pointed at Frigus' necklace charm. He had a weird look as he asked as if he was warry. Was he afraid of her?
It took me a second to answer as I contemplated why he had such a look. "Oh sorry, there are ghouls, ghasts, banshees and a stitch horror. I'm not sure how far away they are but hopefully they aren't close because I am running low on magic. I can use a sanctuary spell to hide us but…" I looked back in the direction we had come from, "if I do that they may go after that party you set me in with." My voice held reluctance. I would rather face danger than use others to secure my safety.
As I finished, Frigus' soft voice began, "Of course. Do you think that my god would allow fakes to exist?" She held up her wagon wheel of Flesh and bone. There were five tiny bones connecting the middle ring to the outer ring. I've seen weirder things than a bone necklace since I got to this world so I did not give it much thought. After all, I needed to figure out how to survive the upcoming fights.
Bill took out a couple of light indigo potions and tossed me one. "Drink it," was all he said before downing his. I looked at it and noticed its clarity. This was a high quality potion. I drank it and felt the pores of my skin open. The wisps of blue energy in the air, that the veins that ran throughout the dungeon gave off, began to flow and mix within the mist, and swirl about Bill and me. It seeped into me and seemed to flow through me with every breathe I took. My energy rose rapidly. It became full but the energy continued to flow into me. It had nowhere to go and I felt bloated from the excess.
'+1 to magic energy regeneration' flashed before me and I felt more comfortable.
"Thank you." I owed him another one.
Kommentar absatzweise anzeigen
Die Absatzkommentarfunktion ist jetzt im Web! Bewegen Sie den Mauszeiger über einen beliebigen Absatz und klicken Sie auf das Symbol, um Ihren Kommentar hinzuzufügen.
Außerdem können Sie es jederzeit in den Einstellungen aus- und einschalten.
ICH HAB ES