Changing Faces (New Game Minus Book 1)

by Sarah Lin

  Surprisingly quickly, however, they reached more dangerous territory. Rhil'lahan raised a hand for silence and bent down, listening carefully. Soon, the others could hear it as well: a shuffling and groaning. Herena pulled her staff closer to her chest. "What is that?"

  "There's something alive down here." Rhil'lahan unsheathed both his swords. "It looks like we have to fight already."

  Something undead, actually. Bloodwraith recognized those groans as grave wights. With his necromantic senses gone, he couldn't be sure, but he guessed that they were relatively weak. They could be defeated with fire or properly placed blows... but there was no reason for Raigar the warrior to know that, so he held his tongue.

  When they turned a corner, Danniah froze in surprise. The others blundered after her, so Bloodwraith followed them... and saw the wight in the corridor, undead eyes glowing toward them.

  A moment later it let out a screech. More wights crawled from nearby doors and a hole in the floor, then began to rush them, their screeches merging. It was a wonderfully nostalgic old sound, though less pleasant now that the wights wanted to tear him apart.

  Danniah held her ground and met the first group head on, pushing her shield out with explosive force. Her training paid off, because the over-sized piece of metal worked well as a weapon, sending the first wights flying back into the others following them.

  The other adventurers didn't do so well. Rhil'lahan fought flashily, but shallow cuts weren't actually very effective against the undead. Khassfhit easily lit them afire with tongues of flame, but the bursts nearly singed his allies as well. Herena retreated, staring at the wights in disgust.

  Sighing, Bloodwraith stepped in and began swinging. Despite their poor teamwork, their group was much more dangerous than mere wights. So long as they stayed in a narrow corridor like this one and avoided becoming surrounded, wights would pose less of a threat than friendly fire - literal fire, in this case.

  Soon enough, they put down all the undead that had been summoned by the screeching. A waste, and they'd done so inefficiently, but they'd done so nonetheless. Bloodwraith wondered just how many wights had been in the first part of the crypt, for them to have eliminated previous groups of adventurers. Perhaps the previous groups had been incompetent... or more disturbingly, perhaps something in the crypt was capable of generating more wights.

  [Victory! You received 271 EXP.]

  Quite a reward for an easy fight, though. Perhaps because he was on the quest the boxes had given him, or perhaps because he was fighting a monster he had never fought before - in this life, anyway. Regardless, Bloodwraith found himself smiling in satisfaction.

  Herena seemed less pleased. "They said there were only a few undead. Ugh. Do you think they were wrong, or...?"

  "That probably counts as only a few." Rhil'lahan flicked dust off his blades and returned them to his back. "This crypt has repelled many adventurers, after all. You wanted to clear it - don't expect it to be easy."

  The noblewoman sniffed and looked aside. Once they confirmed that all the wights were truly destroyed, they continued into the rooms and began to loot them. At least they weren't stupid enough to split up in a place like this. Bloodwraith kept his sword handy and stayed on the lookout for anything that might actually be of value to him.

  There didn't seem to be much of value to anyone except perhaps a scholar, just some broken pottery and ancient furniture. It took them time to survey each room, however. Bloodwraith realized that he had been imagining their journey into the crypt as a brutal fight, but it might turn out to be mostly cleaning and organization.

  After every room they returned to the corridor, then headed into the next chamber. Bloodwraith grew so bored that he almost didn't feel the mana snapping when they moved forward.

  "Get down!" His shout came too late, as whistling filled the corridor.

  On instinct he'd thrown himself into one of the doorways and raised his sword in front of him to defend himself. But his new sword was thinner than the old one and he felt pain stinging in his chest. Two needles had pierced his armor, and others had struck his legs while he fled.

  Things were even worse in the corridor. Danniah had dropped down and braced her shield in front of her when he had called, and her armor seemed to have weathered most of it. But Rhil'lahan, Herena, and Khassfhit were all bleeding from a dozen wounds.

  Worse, there was another screech from down the corridor.

  Bloodwraith surged forward to meet the rush. It was only a few wights, summoned by the sounds of the trap. Working together with Danniah, he managed to put them down, but he could feel no satisfaction and just waved aside the box declaring his victory. One trap had taken out most of their party.

  When he turned back, he found that Herena had begun to heal herself and Khassfhit was muttering under his breath. But Rhil'lahan was staring at Bloodwraith. "How did a barbarian like you know the trap was going to hit us?"

  To buy a moment to think, Bloodwraith grunted. "...barbarians have an instinct for danger."

  "I should have seen it." Khassfhit tried to pull himself up by the wall, winced, and slid back down. "I was looking for pure wards, but of course those would deteriorate over time. They were built into the stones, I think. Yes... and they must have been keyed to attack life, which is why the wights didn't trigger them."

  Though Bloodwraith could have told them all that at the beginning, he had to hold his tongue. The bigger concern was how they were going to continue, having taken such injuries. The needles didn't seem to have been poisoned, or the poison had deteriorated, but the ones in his body stung painfully. He might regenerate in time, but his companions wouldn't.

  "Alright, this is the first attempt." Rhil'lahan got to his feet and shook his head. "We head out, rest, and try again tomorrow."

  Danniah looked at him, eyes wide. "Oh... you mean, we don't have to clear the crypt all at once?"

  "Why would we? That's a good way to get yourself killed. Besides, I want to talk to the Thieves Guild again. If there are going to be elaborate traps, they should send one of their own with us."

  It was odd, but Bloodwraith actually found himself agreeing with the elf. Both of those actions were sensible precautions. Herena stopped healing herself and scowled at him. "Someone from the Thieves Guild? You know they'd demand a cut of the profit, and can we really trust them?"

  "If you can find someone at the Adventurers Guild with the skills we need, feel free to invite them. But I don't think this is worth it to them. No, only Daek's men actually have a stake in clearing the crypt. Now let's go."

  And so their first foray into the crypt ended rather mundanely. But as they left the dark hallways, Bloodwraith found himself glancing backward over his shoulder. Something was wrong here, and it wasn't the monsters lurking below.

  ~ ~ ~

  Since Bloodwraith was healed and rested well before the next day, he spent his extra time training. Using his greatsword in the crypt had been more difficult than he expected, so he practiced thrusting in a confined space. Though not as powerful as a swing, if he managed to gain momentum, very little would stop a blow like that.

  After a good night of rest, he joined the others at the crypt the next day. When he arrived, he found Herena arguing with Rhil'lahan, something about their Thieves Guild ally. As soon as he saw, the reason became clearer.

  Though dressed in dark leather armor and a green cloak, the man the Thieves Guild had sent was huge and bulging with muscles. Judging from facial structure and filed teeth, Bloodwraith guessed that he was a quarter orc. According to the boxes, his name was Gyassan and he was Level 8. Despite knowing his name, the boxes wouldn't tell him much else, but his class was "Rogue" - that seemed like a nonsense word in this context, but others from the Thieves Guild had the same label.

  "This half-orc brute is going to be helping us?" Herena's gaze flickered at him several more times, hardly subtle, but Gyassan just rolled his eyes. "How can we trust him not to turn on us?"

  "He's the one t
he Thieves Guild sent," Rhil'lahan shot back. "You want to go renegotiate with Daek the Knife?"

  That quieted Herena, though she was obviously not happy. Meanwhile, the others had arrived, so Gyassan stepped forward and addressed them.

  "I'm not gonna do your work for you. Ask me to check ahead, and I'll do it. When we get attacked, I'll fight with you, so long as I get my share. But it's your job to clear this crypt, not mine."

  "Fine." Rhil'lahan nodded curtly to him, then moved to the crypt door and raised the stone plate. "Just obey orders and it will work out."

  As they retraced their steps, Herena kept her eyes on Gyassan angrily. Not fear, just disgust. Bloodwraith had never had time for such prejudices. All races were equally obnoxious in life and equally useful in death. That didn't mean that he trusted their new ally, not by a long shot.

  When they reached new territory, Bloodwraith tried to get out of his head and focus fully on their situation, but he found his attention wandering. Having Gyassan check for traps made progress slower, and every fight was followed by looting chambers. With an additional party member and better teamwork, the monsters they encountered proved to be no particular difficulty.

  Deeper in the crypt they found a slimy area with mutated frog creatures, but they inspired no interest in him. Just another source of EXP. With so many people, there was no thrill in the fights, he just played his role and watched the numbers increase.

  Was this the box gods' goal? To drain all pleasure from their world?

  No, such idle thoughts were unworthy of him. Bloodwraith forced himself to focus and analyze everything around him. They ran into very few broken traps, so Gyassan's presence was critical. Their rewards continued to be sub-par, but he received a sixth of the money they found and his companions seemed content, so this must be an average crypt.

  The frog-like monsters were joined by some monstrous spiders, but what little mana flowed through their bodies mostly served to keep them from crumpling on themselves, so they were little threat. Bloodwraith still analyzed their behavior and attack patterns carefully, in case he ever needed to fight them alone. It was better than doing nothing, anyway.

  While his companions looted yet another room, he leaned on the wall outside, keeping watch for more threats. Ever since they had gone down a level, the walls had been wetter and there had been more slime on the ground. He noted that it allowed the growth of several herbs that could be combined to form health potions, though only an inferior type. Not terribly useful information.

  "Hey, Raigar! Take a look at this!"

  Bloodwraith turned to find Danniah waving a metal object over her head. Sighing, he walked in to see what she had.

  "This is a pretty good piece of armor, but it's too big for me. You want to try it?"

  "Hmm." He spent a moment analyzing it and a box soon appeared.

  [Heavy Steel Armor

  Armor: 11

  Durability: 6/50

  Rarity: Common]

  The "Armor" value was good, though obviously the armor was quite worn. But since it would likely cost less to repair than to buy good steel new, it was a useful find. Bloodwraith found himself smiling at Danniah in appreciation, hesitated a moment, then decided there was no reason not to smile. "Thank you, Danniah. I'll take this back into town and see if I can't repair it."

  "Sounds good! Gotta be careful with this old armor, some of it is cursed. Not that yours is! But it's good to be careful."

  "Did you find anything for yourself?"

  "Just this." She pulled a mace from her belt, narrower than her usual but with a sapphire embedded in the base. "I'd want to practice with it before I actually tried to use it, though. Feels odd in my hands. But I hope it'll be a good weapon, or at least worth something!"

  With that, she went back to working with the others. Since this room seemed to be some sort of armory, Bloodwraith looked at it more carefully. Most of the equipment there was worthless, however. Usually Rhil'lahan took everything, but in this case he ignored it because he needed to save space in his Extra-dimensional Bag. Perhaps they'd come back and take the rest later.

  There was a nice set of gloves that increased Might... but Khassfhit grabbed them and made them disappear into his robes. They wouldn't even do him any good. As he watched the group, Bloodwraith found himself filled with disgust.

  All of them were just out for themselves, in the end. Any loyalty to one another they displayed in combat vanished as soon as there was loot to be had. As much as Herena despised Gyassan, he was no more mercenary than the rest of them.

  Except for Danniah, of course, who continued to find items suited for the others. She was clearly being taken advantage of in this party. The waste of potential irked Bloodwraith more than he expected. But for now, there was nothing else he could do about it. He needed to see this crypt through to the end, just in case there was valuable information about the nature of the world and the Outsiders manipulating it.

  But that day, there would be no grand answers. They eventually found themselves injured, sacks magical and mundane bursting with their loot. Rhil'lahan called an official halt for the day and they headed back out. Gyassan seemed a bit irritated by their slow progress, but couldn't object too loudly after everything he'd said that morning.

  In the end, all it amounted to was 807 EXP and items worth a total of 52 silvers. That brought him to 3184 out of 3200 EXP, and Bloodwraith considered going out to slaughter a pack of wolves, or murdering a beggar, or something else to push him over the edge.

  What did it matter? There would just be more monsters tomorrow. He went to bed and slept like a rock.

  ~ ~ ~

  On their third day in the crypt, Bloodwraith was determined not to let things pass in such a dull fashion. It might have been possible to recede into pure intellect in his old form, but he had a body of meat now: boredom would dull his edge. Besides, he might as well get his fair share.

  As they retraced their steps, he noted that some of the monsters seemed to have returned. That was unnatural for a crypt of this size, as they had been fairly thorough the day before, but he couldn't pinpoint the reason. They paid less attention to the monsters this time, focusing on getting into new territory. Leaving anything moving behind them rubbed him the wrong way, but Rhil'lahan and Khassfhit were eager to explore new parts of the crypt.

  Near the next basement they fought their way through another group. It was an unremarkable battle, but it granted him enough death energy...

  [Victory! You received 118 EXP.]

  [Congratulations! You gained a level!

  Current Level: 7

  Current EXP: 102/6400

  Unassigned Stat Points: 5]

  The crypt might have been disappointingly easy so far, but the sacrifices of so many monsters had done their work. Bloodwraith smiled and willed his personal box into existence, eager to feel his new power. Since he had no difficulty using his new skills, he might as well continue to focus on physical force.

  [NOTICE: Stat Points cannot be assigned while in combat.]

  Bloodwraith glowered at the box before remembering that the others might see him and find it strange. As they continued walking, he found himself entirely focused on the box, trying to interrogate it for more information. No doubt this had always been the case, but it felt unfair that this counted as being in combat, since no monsters were directly threatening.

  Not that it would matter in the end. Bloodwraith set the issue aside and refocused on the crypt as they headed down another staircase. At least this one hadn't been guarded.

  When they reached the bottom of the staircase, a grinding noise vibrated through his teeth. The grinding seemed to come from all sides at first, but he managed to locate it behind him. When he turned, it was in time to see a thick stone slab closing off the top of the staircase. Rhil'lahan lunged for the vanishing crack, but as fast as he was, he couldn't prevent it from closing with a thunderous boom.

  They were trapped inside the crypt.

  Chapter
11

  "What... what just happened?" Danniah stared at the slab, jaw slack. Beside her, Khassfhit shook his head in frustration.

  "I still don't feel any wards. This trap must have been purely physical."

  Gyassan knelt down to examine the floor and gave a grim nod. "It looks like a pressure plate."

  "Oh no..." Danniah's eyes began to water. "I was the one who stepped on it, wasn't I? This is my fault..."

  Herena slapped her on the side of the helm. "You should have let the others check it first, idiot!"

  While they descended into bickering, Bloodwraith focused instead on the barrier itself. There was mana reinforcing the stone and controlling the movement, but otherwise it had been a purely physical trap. He noticed that the inside of the barrier was inscribed with various patterns. Those meant nothing to him, but there was an indentation very similar to the entrance to the crypt.

  Meanwhile, the others were getting louder. Bloodwraith turned back to them and raised his voice. "Silence!"

  His shout was much louder than he intended, but it did the job. Everyone turned to him except Rhil'lahan, who was still working at the edges of the stone slab. Bloodwraith ignored him and addressed the others.

  "It doesn't matter how it happened, what matters is that we get out alive."

  "And how are we supposed to do that?" Khassfhit asked. "The mana reinforcing the stone is denser than I can break through, and normal weapons won't do any good."

  "That might not be our only option. There could be other exits to the crypt, for one - Cresthaven has built down into the undercity over the years." He had another idea, though, and turned back to Rhil'lahan. "Look at the indentation - does it match the stone plate you were given?"

  Rhil'lahan shot him a scornful glance. "I already tried that, fool. The shape of this one is different. Even if it works by the same mechanism, we lack the proper key." He turned to the others and put his hands on his hips. "We no longer have the luxury of retreating at will. To get out of this alive, we need to work together."