by Pirateaba
Skinner had passed down this corridor, and he had not left much in the way of identifiable features or even features for that matter.
Ksmvr beckoned Erin at the end of the corridor. He and Toren were unmoved by the death and he pointed to a set of huge, double doors at the far end of the corridor. The blood and guts were particularly bad over there.
“This must be where it came from. Look at those doors.”
Erin looked. They were massive stone doors that had been opened wide to let someone, or something out. She could tell that was where the skin creature had come from. Not just because of all the carnage, but because of the doors themselves. They had carved rune-things decorating the fronts, and more than that, they looked like the door to the final boss’s room.
Ryoka stopped heaving long enough to move closer to the doors. She stared down at a bent and broken piece of metal. Sharp teeth stared up at her around bits of white skin.
“Looks like the remains of some kind of trap. Didn’t work if that’s what it was.”
Erin stared at the ground. It was just…bones and muscle and organs. No skin, no way of knowing who had been here. She remembered all the adventurers who’d been in her inn that night. Some of them could be here. She could be staring at them, and she’d never know.
Her heart hurt. But then Erin saw something glinting in the light from the mage’s sphere. She bent to pick it up.
“Oh wow. A crossbow!”
Rags looked around as Erin dragged the heavy, black thing out from where it lay. It was one of the few objects not drenched in gore. She lifted it, marveling at the weight and sleekness of it, and then her face fell.
“Broken.”
Ryoka walked over to look at the crossbow. It had been a magnificent weapon, once. But something had shattered the wooden base and it was so much string and metal, now.
“Too bad. That thing might have been useful. I could have used it.”
“Yeah, but it’s no good now.”
The Goblin’s eyes followed the mangled weapon as Erin tossed it back down on the ground. She darted over as Erin and Ryoka inspected the vault from where Skinner had come from.
“Now this is a treasure room. Isn’t it?”
“It looks like it.”
It was hard for either girl to be certain. On one hand, the room Skinner had come from looked like it fit the bill. It was large, cavernous, and filled with stone racks holding objects and crates. But the problem was that none of the things in the room looked particularly important.
“What’s this?”
Erin pointed to an urn. It was nice to look at, carved deeply and enameled with some pretty green stone that sparkled in the light. Ryoka peered at it and shrugged.
“Some kind of vase. Possibly ceremonial.”
“And this?”
“An amulet.”
“It’s made of stone!”
“Well, it’s probably valuable culturally.”
“But not, you know, magically?”
“…Probably not.”
Pisces looked up distractedly as he pawed through rows of goods on the stone shelves. He glared at Ryoka and Erin as if this were somehow their fault.
“None of this stuff is magical! It’s all—mundane! This isn’t a treasury. It’s a storeroom of antiquities and keepsakes!”
“Really? But this looks like a valuable spot. Where’d all the important stuff go?”
The mage sucked in his cheeks angrily.
“I don’t know. But numerous magical artifacts were here, I can tell you that! I can sense their auras, but they’re gone.”
“Darn.”
Erin sighed. But this wasn’t why they’d come here, was it?
“Well, the Horns of Hammerad aren’t here. Or if they are…”
Ryoka shook her head.
“They’re not here. I’m sure of it. Pisces, that spell you got. Did it say…?”
He made a face.
“No. It was very faint. It just said ‘Ruins. Second floor. Inside. I don’t think Ceria had enough mana for any more than that.”
“Damn.”
Erin turned to the others. Toren had found himself a new sword, and Rags was busy lugging the broken black crossbow around. It was nearly as large as she was and Erin was sure she’d never get it back to the surface. Pisces stomped out of the treasure vault and Ksmvr waited patiently as he watched back the way they’d come. Erin looked at Ryoka.
“Where to? The other direction?”
Ryoka nodded.
“It’s the only place they could be. Let’s hurry.”
—-
The giant room full of tombs was the last place they came to. Ryoka’s feet were hurting from the cold tiles, and she had layers of…death coating the bottom of them. She didn’t want to think about that.
Her feet were hurting anyways from all the searching. They’d been to every room, checked everywhere for signs of life. But they’d found nothing. And this, the last room in the Ruins was no more promising than the rest.
After a quick run through the cavernous room, Ryoka could see there was no one hiding in the room. The stone coffins were the only things in the room, and most of them had been opened to let their occupants out.
She jogged back to where Erin and the others were waiting and shook her head.
“Nothing.”
Erin’s face fell.
“You’re sure?”
“They’d have to be the size of that Goblin to hide in here, and they would have heard me moving around. They’re…not here.”
It hurt Ryoka to say. But they’d checked everywhere and this was it. She shook her head. She didn’t feel sad. She just felt empty. Hollow. They’d come all the way down here, for what?
Surprisingly, it was Pisces who resisted Ryoka’s statement the most. He shook his head vehemently and snapped at her.
“I don’t believe it. Ceria is down here, somewhere on this level. We simply must have missed her. We have to go back and check!”
Ryoka glared at him. She was tired and exhausted and knew he must be too. But she tried to be the voice of reason.
“We’ve checked everywhere. If they were hiding, why didn’t they come out when they saw us? And if we linger down here, more undead might come.”
“I don’t sense any. I barely sense anything in this area.”
“You said there were hundreds of undead in the Ruins.”
“Well, they’re not here. And I refuse to leave without finding Ceria!”
“But where could they be?”
This was the loudest conversation the group had had so far, and their voice echoed through the vast room, quickly swallowed up by the vastness. Erin pushed between Pisces and Ryoka as the two glared at each other.
“Okay, okay, let’s think. We can’t give up just yet, but Ryoka is right, Pisces. If we don’t find them soon…”
He turned away from her.
“Ceria is alive. She wouldn’t have cast the spell, otherwise.”
“But you can’t contact her again, can you?”
“No. But there are a hundred reasons why she might not be able to reply. Imminent danger perhaps, or simply…starvation. Without food or rest, her body would not be able to recharge her mana.”
“Right, I get that. But then where would she be? How could she hide from all the undead and that skin thing? Does she know [Invisibility] like you do?”
Pisces shook his head.
“No. She never learned…she is alive Erin, I swear it. We must find her.”
“I know, I know. But if we don’t find her soon…”
Ryoka turned away as Erin talked with Pisces. She felt like kicking something, or screaming, but she was afraid to make noise and attract attention. Even if Pisces said the Ruins were empty, it was disconcertingly quiet.
She looked around. Besides the three humans, the other three members of their group seemed less interested in the fate of the Horns of Hammerad and more in getting out sooner rather than later. Rags was squattin
g in a corner of the room, staring intently at the splinted crossbow she was still dragging around. Ryoka was surprised she’d still hung onto it, but the Goblin was tenacious.
Ksmvr glanced hopefully at Erin every now and then. He was guarding the entrance to the tomb room, alert for any undead. He was probably just hoping they’d call it quits so he could stop protecting Erin.
And Toren? Toren was peering at one of the stone coffins. Inspecting it as a possible resting place, perhaps. Ryoka shook her head. This was pointless. She’d had such hopes, but the Horns of Hammerad…maybe it had just been a fluke.
Or maybe they were too late. Pisces had gotten the message nearly a day ago, now. Maybe it had been too late even when he’d gotten it. Perhaps the magic had taken too long to get to him. Maybe Ceria had died waiting for them while they were still arguing with Zevara.
It hurt Ryoka, but she had to face facts. Her friends had been good adventurers, but not miracle workers. It had been likely that they all died, and it was only her foolish hope that had convinced her they had survived where everyone else had not. After all, not even the Horns of Hammerad could cheat death—
Ryoka’s eye fell on Toren again. The skeleton was peering inside of one of the coffins. And then it clicked.
“Wait a second.”
Erin and Pisces broke off as Ryoka turned to them.
“What is it?”
“I think I know where the Horns of Hammerad might be. They’re still hiding down here.”
“Where?”
Pisces was suspicious. He glared at Ryoka.
“We searched everywhere. If you’re suggesting they made it out somehow—”
“No, they’re still here.”
Ryoka began looking around the room as she spoke. She was looking. Most of the coffins were open, but a few had been closed. A few.
“What if…they were hiding somewhere no undead could get at them? Somewhere they’d never go back to?”
Erin and Pisces stared in the direction Ryoka was looking, and then at Toren. Erin’s eyes widened.
“Inside the coffins?”
“It’s possible. If they left some room for air—”
“Let’s check. Rags! Ksmvr! Toren!”
Erin called out as Ryoka and Pisces ran towards the coffins. There weren’t many in the room that were still closed. But there were hundreds of stone resting places. Ryoka ran from stone lid to stone lid. She heaved at each one, shifting it just a bit so she could see inside. Dead bodies, rotted remains, bits of cloth…
Nothing.
She heard the others doing the same. Ryoka tried another coffin and stopped. This was stupid. If the Horns of Hammerad were there, why wouldn’t they hear her and the others? Why hadn’t they come out yet?
“Ceria? Calruz! Gerial! Sostrom! If you’re here, answer me!”
Ryoka shouted it into the empty room. Her voice echoed loudly as the others continued moving lids. Ryoka closed her eyes and listened. Nothing. Of course. It had just been a foolish idea. No one could ever—
“…?”
She froze. It was the faintest of sounds, at the edge of hearing. She looked around.
“Ceria?”
“…r…a…?”
There. There it was again. She hadn’t imagined it. Ryoka ran in the direction of the sound. She crashed into a stone coffin and froze, ignoring the pain in her shin.
“Ryoka…?”
That one. Ryoka charged towards the coffin, vaulting an empty one. She ducked her head down. It was faint but…yes! There was a tiny sliver of darkness, enough for sound to come out of . And a voice. It was one Ryoka recognized.
“Ryoka?”
“Ceria!”
Ryoka shouted the word, and Erin and Pisces whipped round. Ryoka heaved at the stone lid, pushing it as hard as she could. It was heavy, but then Erin joined her ,and then Pisces. They shoved the lid to the ground where it cracked against the stone. And there, inside the coffin was someone they recognized.
Ceria Springwalked smiled weakly up at Ryoka, blinking hard in the light from Pisces and Ryoka’s orbs of light. Her face was pale and she looked gaunt, skeletal from starvation. But she was there. Alive.
“Ceria!”
Pisces reached for her, but Ryoka got there first. With Erin’s help they pulled Ceria out of the stone coffin. She was impossibly light, even more so than Ryoka remembered. She slumped to the ground, and Erin had to lift her to keep her upright.
“Ceria. We found you.”
“You did. You did.”
Ceria’s voice was a murmur and a whisper. She coughed, and suddenly everyone was fumbling for a water flask. She accepted a gulp of water from Pisces’ flask and coughed most of it up. Ryoka tried to steady her.
“You…got my message. I’m glad. I was afraid I’d be trapped in there forever. I couldn’t move the lid…”
“Is there anyone else with you? Any of the other Horns of Hammerad?”
Ryoka looked around. There were other coffins nearby, also closed. But Ceria just sighed. She looked at Ryoka, and shook her head.
Part of the world went still. A little less remained in it for Ryoka. Ceria shook her head, eyes shining with unshed tears.
“No, no. They’re all—all gone, Ryoka.”
She sighed, a ghostly puppet held up only by Erin’s hands. Even now, starved and half-dead, Ceria still looked like a creature caught between immortality and life. Especially now.
“It’s just me. What’s left of me.”
Then Ceria raised her hand, and Ryoka saw with a jolt that her right hand was gone. All the skin down past her wrist had died, and what was left was just white bone and sloughed off flesh. The parts that did connect to the half-elf’s healthy arm were blackened, almost like frostbite.
Ryoka stared at Ceria’s ruined hand. Words failed her.
“I—I don’t—Ceria.”
“It’s the price I paid to live. They’re all dead, Ryoka. All but me.”
Ceria whispered the words. Her head was lolling and Ryoka realized she was on the brink of unconsciousness. The half-elf muttered the words.
“It’s just me.”
“And me!”
Stone shifted. Ryoka and Erin whirled around and saw Toren and Rags pushing another lid away. A very thin, very dusty Drake sat up and smiled at them. He had light blue scales, and he staggered as he half-slid, half-fell out of the coffin.
Erin stared at the Drake, mouth working. She finally found her mouth.
“Olesm? You’re here too?”
“That’s right!”
He grinned weakly at her as Rags and Toren propped him up. Erin stared at Ryoka and then slapped her head as Pisces and Ceria looked at her.
“Oh. Right! I totally forgot!”
2.05
Ryoka closed her eyes and knew she was happy. It was such a rare feeling she savored it.
Happy.
Ceria was alive. One of them was alive. That the others were not—
She could focus on that later. But one person remained. They weren’t all dead.
She was saved.
It was just a moment. And then Ryoka blinked away her watery eyes and got to work.
The catacombs were still dark, and they were still in danger. Ceria slumped as Erin held her, and Olesm was leaning all of his weight against a coffin. The air was foul and smelled like crap in a literal sense. It was also dusty, and Ryoka felt an overpowering sense of claustrophobia after being down here so long.
“We need to get you out of here.”
“We need to feed them first.”
Ryoka frowned at Erin.
“With what? I didn’t bring much. I’ve got some dry rations in my pack, but we’re in the middle of the ruins.”
“So?”
“Is now really the time to eat?”
“There’s always time for a meal. Besides—”
Erin nodded at Ceria. Ryoka looked at her shrunken frame.
“Ah.”
But Ceria was shaking her head.
She tried to stand upright, her eyes determined.
“If there’s danger I can make it to the surface. The other undead—”
“Haven’t seen them. Here, sit.”
Erin guided Ceria to another closed coffin and gently helped the half-elf onto the stone bench. Ryoka hesitated, but Erin was already unslinging her pack.
“We should set a watch.”
“I will be vigilant.”
Ksmvr nodded to the others and he moved towards the door. Toren stood with his sword drawn, looking around the room.
Erin was busy pulling out flat, squished objects from her pack. They’d been lying underneath her supply of rocks and other equipment. Ryoka stared as Erin began to unwrap them.
“You made sandwiches?”
“I thought we’d be down here for a long time. I’ve got soup, too!”
“Soup?”
“It’s food. Why? Do you not like soup?”
Ryoka opened her mouth and closed it. She waved away the proffered water flask filled with soup. And nodded at Olesm and Ceria. The two were sitting down, swaying slightly and blinking around. They seemed dazed, which made sense.
“Four days. Or maybe three. And they were in the coffins the entire time?”
Erin shuddered as she assembled her meal. There was a terrible stink in the air, but both she and Ryoka were hungry enough not to care. She looked over at the Drake and half-elf and shook her head.
“I go crazy if I have to sit on a plane for more than an hour. How’d they do it?”
Ryoka paused.
“You can go through a lot in order to survive. Here, give me the soup.”
“Oh, you changed your mind?”
Erin smiled and handed Ryoka the soup flask again.
“It’s good stuff! Beef broth and chopped up veggies so you can drink it.”
It was the soup Ryoka gave to Olesm and Ceria, with instructions to only have a small amount at first. When Erin and Pisces protested, Ryoka overrode them.
“Remember the people rescued from concentration camps? A lot of them died from overeating when soldiers gave them candy bars and too much food.”
Pisces looked blankly at Ryoka, but Erin understood.
“You can die from overeating?”
“Something like that. Your system goes into shock. It can’t process the food so suddenly.”
