Where Amenhotep’s eyes shone with a pure golden glow, these mummies’ eyes shown a deep crimson. At least it’s not the sickly green of necromancy, I thought, readying my Sunspear.
I used Analyze on the closest of the mobs to see what we were dealing with.
*** Tomb Guard, Level 10 ***
*** HP: 100%, SP: N/A ***
*** Conditions: Eternal. ***
*** Active Spells/Abilities: None. ***
*** Weakness: Fire. ***
*** Highest Statistics: Strength, Agility. ***
The guards pulled themselves free from their tombs and advanced, threatening us on three sides. A quick glance revealed ten guards total, three each from the left and right, and four from the center.
Kjara took the lead. “Left, left, left!” she cried, and dashed in that direction, her swords a blur as she brought the fight to the mummy in the center of that flank.
Amenhotep followed, angling himself to cover the moon elf’s right flank and defend against the guards approaching from the far wall. I followed after, aiming a Sunstrike at the leftmost guard and burning a hole through its desiccated body that dropped its health by a third.
The glowing energy of Kjara’s blades seemed to be doing a number on the animated warriors and her initial target was already below half health when we collided.
I deflected my opponent’s spear to the side with the haft of my own and raised my shield to block its sickle. I took a step back, opening some space between us for my spear to work and thrust forward.
My spear tip skipped along the surface of the guard’s protective usekh and sank into its right shoulder, piercing through the joint itself, dropping its health down to forty percent and disabling its right arm.
I withdrew my spear with a twist and the enemy’s arm ripped free with a spray of dust and sand. Its sickle fell to the ground with a clang.
Seemingly unphased by the loss, the Tomb Guard slashed its spear tip along the outside of my right arm, finding a gap in my armor and cutting deep into my flesh.
My arm started to throb as my health dropped by ten percent and the bleeding status appeared next to my health gauge.
*** You are bleeding! ***
I batted its spear to the side and answered its attack with my own, this time finding a gap under its arm and thrusting my spear home.
The guard’s body crumpled to dust as its health bar reached zero and a glowing orb, now the same pure gold color of Amenhotep’s eyes flew back to the warrior’s sarcophagus and floated idly above it.
A crash from my right drew my attention to where Amenhotep was now engaged in a family reunion with his smaller cousins. The residual light from his Shockwave skill still hung in the air, and six Tomb Guard were showing him just how much he was missed.
Kjara had already dispatched her initial target and was in the process of cutting into the flanks of the enemies fixated on Amenhotep.
All three sarcophagi on the left side of the room had glowing golden wisps hanging over them, leaving seven guards standing.
I cast Soothing Touch on myself to stop the bleeding and scanned the room for the missing warrior, turning just in time to avoid taking a spear in the back.
Instead of becoming a priest-kabob, I felt the sharp bronze blade skip off of the bronze rings bolted to my armor. My health dropped by another five percent as the force of the blow went right into my kidney and stunned me for just long enough to miss its follow up attack with its sickle.
The blade cut a large gash into my shoulder and sent me stumbling back with my health dropping even further. I raised my shield, blocking my view of the Tomb Guard as I awaited its follow up attack. But none came. Instead, I heard a familiar voice.
“Hey Kheph,” it said, and I dropped my shield to reveal Mika standing where my opponent had been, a newly created pile of dust still settling at his feet. “You should probably start healing the tank,” he said and gestured over to where Amenhotep and Kjara were taking on the rest of the enemy force.
Confused for a second, I glanced at the party window and cursed. Amenhotep’s health was flashing red with less than ten percent. I ran back into position and started casting.
As my first Cure Wounds flowed into the Temple Guardian, I heard Kjara call out, “About time, James.”
“Sorry,” I yelled back, and continued healing for all I was worth.
I got Amenhotep’s health back up to ninety percent or so and then did the same for Kjara, draining my mana in the process.
Once they were in good condition, I shifted my attention to my own wounds and then moved forward to assist in dispatching the remaining enemies.
A Sunstrike here, a stab with my elongated Sunspear there, and healing all around until the rest of the Tomb Guards were destroyed.
As the final warrior fell and released its glowing wisp, those hovering above the open sarcophagi abandoned their perches and gathered once again within the pillar of sunlight at the center of the room.
The glowing figure from earlier took shape once again, but instead of a static image, it shifted continuously in face and form.
The original man was replaced by a female warrior who was then replaced by another man, and another. As the faces and bodies changed, they began to glow brighter until it was too much for even my blessed eyes to bear.
I raised my shield to shade my eyes and there was a bright, painful flash of light that left me seeing spots that partially obscured the end of combat notifications as they scrolled by.
*** Your party has destroyed 10 Tomb Guards! Your party gains 2500xp. ***
*** Mika has reached level 9! ***
*** Kjara has reached level 11! ***
*** Congratulations you have reached Level 12! ***
*** You have gained 2 Combat Skill Points. ***
*** You have gained 2 Divine Skill Points. ***
*** You have gained 2 General Skill Points. ***
*** You have gained 16 maximum Hit Points. ***
*** You have gained 20 maximum Mana. ***
*** You have gained 8 maximum Stamina. ***
Blinking to clear away the spots, I looked around the room and saw that the remains of the Tomb Guards were no longer present, and all of the sarcophagi were closed once again.
“Ding! Oh hey, look,” Mika said with a laugh. “The door’s open. Let me check it out.”
He moved through the room and into the now open hallway, taking two steps before a loud click echoed through the room and Mika came flying back towards us, a ballista bolt stuck through his chest like a gigantic skewer, his health at zero.
*** Mika has been killed! ***
Kjara and I just looked down at his corpse in stunned silence.
“Well… that’s certainly one way to disarm a trap.” I said, shaking my head. “Let’s see if dýrafólk can benefit from my new spells.”
“At least it's not too far from the entrance if it doesn’t work,” Kjara said and leaned her head on my shoulder.
I gave her a warm hug and then got down to work.
Using the level five boon from my Child of the Underworld skill, I performed a blessing over his corpse, removing the ballista bolt and scraping as many of his bits as possible back into the gaping hole in his chest.
“Anpu, Lord of the Underworld, please grant your blessing upon this foreign man who has thrown in his lot with your servants. Help him find his way quickly back to us,” I whispered and drew an ankh on his forehead in his own blood.
A soft glow settled over Mika’s corpse and then sank into the body.
*** Funeral rites… successful! ***
That complete, I sat next to the body and got comfortable before bringing the glyphs for the Call the Dead spell to mind. I studied the symbols briefly, filing away some bits of information brought to the fore by my Spellcrafting skill for later and then supplied the necessary mana.
A glowing golden spear appeared in the air over Mika’s corpse and thrust down into his chest, almost mirroring the ballista bo
lts path. The haft of the spear then split and expanded into a glowing golden portal.
The spell took a miniscule amount of mana to maintain, but did require my concentration, so I settled down and used the time to study the active glyphs while we waited for Mika to make his ghost walk of shame back to us.
Looking at the way the different glyphs combined was creating a tingling sensation, like a word on the tip of the tongue that you just can’t bring forth. It was frustrating. I could tell I was on the verge of something awesome but knew that if I tried to dig in deeper while the spell was active, I would likely end up both killing myself and possibly creating some complications with Mika’s return journey.
Resolving to look into it later, I banished my inner Elmer Fudd back to the recesses of my brain and let the rabbit go for the time being.
…
14
A bit later Mika rejoined the party, popping out of the shimmering portal at the same moment that his now defunct meat puppet disintegrated into the ether. He looked around a bit sheepishly and then shrugged at us both.
“Did I mention I may have a tendency to get tunnel vision?” he asked. “Didn’t expect there to be a trap two feet in.”
Kjara smiled. “Ya don’t say.”
I just shook my head and sighed. “Let’s take it slow, okay? We’ve already proven that whoever designed this place was a bit trap happy. And congratulations on the level up. Now you guys can use your skill books.”
“Already done,” Kjara said, and when I looked back at her she smiled. “What do you think I was doing the whole time you were sitting there holding open the portal?”
Mika gave me a thumbs up as he pulled out the book and opened it up. “I spent my points while waiting for the gate to port me back here, but saved one for this,” he said, the book turning into a cloud of shadowy looking mist and sinking into his body.
I chuckled. “Awesome. Hope you upped whatever you need to spot traps a bit better.”
He smiled sheepishly. “Oh yeah. And slow going from now on. I forgot how much death hurts.”
I reapplied the buffs to Mika’s daggers and then said, “Alright, I leveled after the last fight too, so give me a minute to get myself sorted.”
I popped open my stats and looked at my current progress.
CHARACTER STATISTICS
Name:Kheph Sa’tep
Race:Human, Saa (Awakened)
Class:Priest of Anpu
Level:12Awakened Rank: 2
Experience: 40184/47250
Hit Points: 535/535
Mana: 510/510
Endurance: 383/383
Divine Favor: 33
Attributes (Modifier):
--Strength (+1):14 (+3)
--Agility (+1):11 (+1)
--Constitution (+3):16 (+4)
--Intelligence:12 (+2)
--Wisdom:13 (+2)
--Presence (+1):20 (+6)
--Fortune:12 (+2)
Racial Skills:
--Child of the Sun
--Martial Training
--Son of the Sun
--Aspect of War
--Aspect of Light
Class Skills:
--Blessing of the Gods
--Divine Blessing
--Temple Training
--Child of the Underworld
Boons and Blessings:
--Unknown Origins - Blood of the Gods (Awakened)
Combat Skills: (Available: 2)
--Spear: 11 [60%]
--Shield: 10 [72%]
--Medium Armor: 10 [45%]
--Endurance: 5 [89%]
--Precision Strike: 6 [34%]
General Skills: (Available: 3)
--Armorer: 8 [28%]
--Cooking: 4 [98%]
--Discerning Eye: 10 [0%]
--First Aid: 10 [0%]
--Literacy (Saa):1 [84%]
--Lore (Saa Religion): 11 [0%]
--Survival (Desert): 1 [76%]
--Weaponsmith: 1 [13%]
--Lore (Necromancy): 3 [15%]
--Riding: 1 [92%]
Divine (Available: 3)
Skills
--Combat Caster: 10 [80%]
--Spectral Legion: 2 [N/A]
--Exorcism: 1 [0%]
--Spellcrafting: 1 [15%]
--Aura of the Underworld: 1 [51%]
Spells
--Soothing Touch: 4 [72%]
--Sunstrike: 4 [90%]
--Jackal’s Tooth: 3 [95%]
--Beacon of Life: 2 [42%]
--Purifying Touch: 3 [25%]
--Flamestrike: 5 [11%]
--Sever Bonds: 1 [25%]
--Summon Legionnaire: 1 [0%]
--Cure Wounds: 11 [20%]
--Sehkmet's Cleansing: 3 [20%]
--Purification: 1 [0%]
--Call the Dead: 1 [0%]
I dropped a point into Cure Wounds since its progress was still low enough that I didn’t feel bad about the loss, bringing it up to twelve. Precision Strike got a point as well. Landing more crits meant more free spells, not to mention dead enemies.
*** You spend 1 skill point and raise your Cure Wounds spell to 12! ***
*** You spend 1 skill point and raise your Precision Strike skill to 7! ***
The rest I held in reserve for the next time my core skills ranked up through use.
Adjustments made, I gestured to Mika and said, “Ready when you are,” and watched as he proceeded down the tunnel at a much more cautious pace.
Between the guard room and the next there were four more traps. Four. Luckily for us, whatever skills Mika had increased on his jaunt through the afterlife did the trick and he was able to disarm, or at least help us avoid them all.
As we descended, the walls began to take on a greenish tint and the air became cool and heavy with moisture, noticeably dropping the temperature.
The tunnel opened onto a small stone platform that extended out over a swift moving underground river. A small boat floated in the water, tied to the platform by a pair of thick ropes.
Carved along an arch spanning the entire width of the cavern was an inscription.
Float upon the river,
Let knowledge guide your path,
Answer incorrectly,
And experience my wrath.
Two forks ahead, regrets behind,
Your fate is in your hands,
But answer wrong too many times…
Your blood will soak the sands.
“Huh,” I said and read the inscription out loud. “Anyone know how to steer a boat?”
Mika sighed and raised his hand. “I did start in Njor after all, knowing how to work a boat was pretty much required. But looking at that boat, I don’t think we’d really need a skill.”
From the edge of the stone platform, I could see the workings of the small boat and he was probably right. There were no oars, ropes or pullies or anything like that, just a simple rudder to direct the course of the boat as the current drew it onwards.
The boat was wide enough for two to stand abreast and about ten feet long. A waist-high railing provided some protection from taking an unwanted bath, coming to a point at the front where a single person, or two Mikas, could comfortably stand. The back of the boat had a lower rail with the tiller poking through.
A thorough search of the cave confirmed that the only way forward was to take the boat unless one fancied a swim in a mysteriously flowing underground river in the middle of a magical dungeon. Kaluitep’s gift of the Swimming skill book finally made sense.
I briefly considered using the book, but with my armor no amount of swimming skill was going to keep me from a watery grave if I fell overboard, and Mika and Kjara were again bereft of the necessary skill points to use it.
Kjara peered off into the tunnel ahead. “How do you want to do this? The riddle seems to imply there’s some sort of puzzle coming up, but it’s a dungeon so we can’t be sure there aren’t some type of critters around.”
“Who’s going to drive?” I asked, glancing b
etween my three companions.
Kjara shrugged. “I’d rather have my bow free in case enemies show up, so that counts me out.” She turned to Mika and asked, “Do you have any ranged attacks?”
The dýrafólk nodded and pulled out a light crossbow and small quiver of barbed bolts from his pack. “It’s pretty slow to reload, but it packs a serious punch. I can throw daggers too, but I’d rather not lose my blades in some underground river. Bolts are a lot cheaper, and I rarely use them anyhow.”
I looked to Amenhotep with his heavy armor, tower shield and khopesh. “How would you feel about steering the boat?”
He gave me a look that made it quite clear how he felt, but in case the look wasn’t enough, he mentally projected, “Do I look like a ferryman? My task is to defend and aid you in your quest. If we are attacked, I must be free to act.”
I sighed. “Guess I’ll be playing the part of Charon on this venture. Let’s just hope we don’t end up in the underworld or I’m telling Anpu it was all your fault,” I said in Amenhotep’s direction.
The guardian turned his glowing gaze towards me and gave an almost unnoticeable shrug.
Kjara laughed. “I’ll take the prow. Mika you can move pretty easily between port and starboard and Amenhotep can stay astern near Kheph at the tiller unless he’s needed.”
Heart of the Void: Sosaku Online - Book 2 Page 9
