Changing Faces (New Game Minus Book 1)

by Sarah Lin

  Bold words for someone whose first instinct had been to escape and leave them all behind, but Bloodwraith knew better than to challenge Rhil'lahan for leadership. Everyone seemed to have calmed down now, so they were no longer endangering his survival. Danniah squared her shoulders resolutely and blinked away her tears.

  They discussed potential plans for some time without coming up with any solution. Khassfhit thought there wasn't likely to be a key in the lower crypt and that they should just find a place to break out. Bloodwraith still favored the idea of finding another accidental entrance. While they spoke, he noticed that Gyassan was examining the door more carefully.

  Eventually the greencloak rose and spoke quietly. "You're not going to like it, but I think I know what we need to do." When he had their attention, he gestured to the curling lines on the barrier. "These aren't random patterns, they're words. It says something about the key to release being in the heart of the crypt."

  "That's a script?" Khassfhit asked skeptically.

  "You're a scholar?" Herena said, face twisting in disbelief.

  Rhil'lahan waved a hand to quiet their responses. "You're right: I don't like it. But if our job is to clear the crypt anyway, we'd need to do this eventually. Let's head in - this time, we don't get into any fights that aren't strictly necessary."

  While they made plans, Bloodwraith examined the door more carefully. The curling lines looked like simple patterns to him, and he had studied more than a few ancient scripts. There were a limited number of symbols, so it would have to be a code, not an actual language. Perhaps an ancient Thieves Guild code? It was possible that Daek the Knife didn't just want the crypt cleared, he wanted something from within it. But if so, why allow adventurers to loot the entire thing first?

  He didn't come up with any answers before they set off into the crypt again. Tension was much higher than before, now that an accident could so easily lead to death. Instead of looting everything, they kept to themselves unless something particularly valuable appeared.

  The traps grew more difficult and Gyassan missed one of them, leading to minor injuries throughout the group. But for the most part, this level of the crypt was less densely populated than the others. They noticed and ignored nests of the monstrous frogs, then avoided a spider-webbed hallway. There were a few other encounters along the way, but they only led to minor injuries Herena could easily heal.

  That is, until they entered a large chamber. It was a surprisingly vast space to have been built underground, the walls lined with more curving symbols. More importantly, there was a massive statue of an armored warrior along one side and a stone door at the opposite end.

  They entered cautiously, but found no traps or monsters. Rhil'lahan moved to the opposite side and frowned at the door. "Another indentation, but it doesn't match my stone plate either. Whoever built this crypt liked to waste time."

  "Maybe not." Gyassan pointed back to the statue. "It looks like the stone plate is there."

  Bloodwraith hadn't noticed, but there was indeed another stone key set in the statue's breastplate. Khassfhit started to move to look at it, but Rhil'lahan shouldered him aside and removed the plate. "It'd be better if I kept these. I should-"

  Then the statue wrenched to life and punched him.

  Though the elf instinctively tried to block with both of his blades, the stone pushed through and sent him flying across the room. The statue began moving, its stone grinding loudly as it began to stomp toward them. Khassfhit retreated quickly, throwing tongues of flame that dissipated against the statue's chest. Fool. No one built such a polished golem and didn't include some mana resistance.

  "Strike it together!" Bloodwraith called, then lunged forward to attack the statue's leg. His sword bit into the joint, but failed to cut through.

  And unfortunately, he was the only one who attacked. The statue turned on him, fists smashing down. He tugged out his sword and tried to dodge, but one of the blows still caught him, knocking him to the ground.

  If they had attacked together, they could have taken advantage of the construct's stupidity and worn it down easily. Unfortunately, the others were all retreating. As Bloodwraith shook off the pain and rose to his feet, he saw that the situation was becoming worse as no one was willing to take on the statue, Rhil'lahan just standing and watching while Gyassan actually retreated to a corner.

  That left it only a matter of time before the inevitable happened: the statue cornered someone. Herena gasped as her back hit the wall, but the statue had a long reach and she couldn't run in either direction. But before it could reach her, Danniah ran in to defend her.

  The stone fist struck her shield with a resounding gong, but she managed to hold. Of course, the statue merely swung again. Though Danniah could hold it at bay, it would soon batter down her defenses. She tried to strike at the arm with her mace, but focused on her shield, she couldn't put enough strength into her blows to do more than chip the stone.

  Fortunately, she entirely occupied the construct's attention. Bloodwraith raised his sword and focused on the mana within. Best not to focus on the technique so much, just on his target. He quickly ran into position behind the golem, braced his greatsword, and swung.

  His blow hit explosively, blowing away the statue's head and cracking deep into the body. But not deep enough. Bloodwraith had to throw himself back awkwardly as the statue swung on him, fists flailing.

  Danniah rammed her shield into its leg from behind and it staggered, but kept coming. There was no time for another technique - Bloodwraith just thrust forward, widening one of the cracks. Still not enough to stop the construct's functioning, it was reaching toward him...

  Fortunately, now that the construct was partially disabled, the others found their courage. Rhil'lahan struck out at the damaged body parts with both swords while Khassfhit sent shards of ice into the cracks. The golem fought back and landed a few blows, but with all of them attacking it from all sides, it soon collapsed into rubble.

  That left the chamber in silence again, except for all of them panting for breath.

  [Victory! You received 1273 EXP, Iron Golem Ore x6, and one Might Core.]

  Though his chest felt like one solid bruise, Bloodwraith smiled. The EXP was a solid reward, and he was very curious about what a "Might Core" might be. Since it used the same terminology as the statistics box, it was plausible that it might be directly connected and thus a new path to power.

  But while he was catching his breath, Khassfhit moved forward and examined the rubble. He picked up a silver sphere and nodded admiringly. "Fascinating that this still works after so long. I'll have to run experiments on this..."

  Meanwhile, before Bloodwraith could do anything, Rhil'lahan stepped in and scooped up the ore. Bloodwraith opened his mouth to object, then found himself grinding his teeth instead.

  He was sick of working with these miserable adventurers - they were all worthless except Danniah. He wanted... well, he wasn't sure what he wanted. Obviously he needed them for now. But he wouldn't allow them to take more of what should have been rightfully his. Giving up items of uncertain value was one thing, but if there was something of real value...

  While Herena healed them, the group milled around the chamber. Rhil'lahan tested the statue's key on the door and it ground open, revealing another staircase down. Danniah mournfully tried to hammer dents out of her shield, which had taken a serious beating. Khassfhit stood in the center of the chamber, pushing pieces of the statue aside and frowning at the floor.

  It was the mage's action that drew Bloodwraith's attention. Rhil'lahan noticed as well and moved closer to ask, so Bloodwraith stayed in range and listened to their conversation.

  "Something the matter?" Rhil'lahan asked. The drakekin mage just shook his head slowly.

  "These symbols... I'm not sure, but I think they might be used for a blood ritual."

  "What would that mean?"

  "I'm not sure. The people who built this place practiced blood magic, perhaps."


  Looking at the symbols again, Bloodwraith realized that Khassfhit was right. How had he missed that earlier? Was this body slowly eroding his mage's instincts? Yet now that he noticed, he could understand some of the ritual, even without being able to sense the mana in any detail.

  It was more than a blood ritual. Blood spilled in this chamber would fuel the ritual, yes, but it was designed to draw in death from a larger area. This wasn't the core of the ritual, either: there would be a larger circle even lower. That one might also give a hint as to the purpose of gathering all this power.

  Blood rituals didn't bother him, and the crypt was the same regardless of if a death cult had created it, but the whole thing left Bloodwraith more uncomfortable. He was missing something in all of this, perhaps some faulty assumption at the base of his logic...

  Once they had recovered, they headed down the staircase. This one curved around, leading them back toward the heart of the crypt, if Bloodwraith's sense of direction was correct. They found themselves in a corridor lined with sarcophagi.

  There was no question that grave wights lurked within them, and he should have given a warning, but Bloodwraith didn't care enough to do so. Danniah wasn't stupid enough to touch them, but surprisingly Gyassan was, trying to pry off a piece of tarnished silver.

  Immediately undead began to groan and break their way out of the sarcophagi. Bloodwraith sighed and lifted his sword.

  Though these wights were stronger than those on the higher levels, they didn't activate fast enough to overwhelm the adventurers and so their group took them out carefully. Poor design, really. If he had been in charge, Bloodwraith would have set them all to a single mana trigger midway down the corridor. Maybe they wanted it to be punishment for desecrating the sarcophagi... but you didn't create a bunch of undead guardians like this without some desecrating.

  As things stood, they managed to take out the wights and avoid triggering any more. Rhil'lahan snapped orders not to touch any more of the sarcophagi, since several of them hadn't triggered. Again, Bloodwraith would have preferred to clear them all, but arguing with the elf would be frustrating and he wanted to be done with this crypt anyway.

  At the end of the corridor lay another chamber, circular but with the same markings on the floor as the chamber with the statue. Yes, this was nearly the heart of the ritual. Bloodwraith controlled the urge to move ahead of the others and examine the ritual more carefully. He could see that it was channeling power into the chamber beyond, but not further than the large sarcophagus in the center of the chamber.

  Which slammed open, revealing a Ghoul Lord.

  "To me!" Rhil'lahan called. "We stand no chance in the corridor, we have to use our numbers against it!"

  For once, they managed to work together. Bloodwraith joined Rhil'lahan and Danniah in trying to engage the Ghoul Lord in melee combat. Though it lashed out with bone claws and snapped at them, they fought cautiously and managed to keep it at bay. That allowed Khassfhit to cast tongues of flame at it from afar, and even Gyassan threw a knife into its arm joint.

  Then, without warning, things started going wrong. The undead monster reversed a swipe and slammed its elbow into Rhil'lahan, sending him falling backward. It slammed its fist down on Danniah, who braced herself beneath her shield and endured the blow... but then the Ghoul Lord opened its fist and wrapped its claw around her shield.

  It lifted Danniah into the air and she dangled under her shield desperately. Though its other hand was rising to slash at her less defended body, Bloodwraith knew the creature was prepared for someone else to intercept. Attacking would be foolish.

  And yet he was already running.

  The bone claw slashed out at him, tearing through the leather armor of one arm and drawing lines of blood. Yet he managed to endure it. Bloodwraith hefted his sword in a huge overhead swing and slammed it down into the Ghoul Lord's arm.

  It broke with a loud crack and a rush of magic. Danniah clattered to the ground weakly and the Ghoul Lord reared back. Before Bloodwraith could retreat, it lashed out at him.

  Staying in its range would be fatal. Instead of trying to dodge, Bloodwraith shifted into its charge. The creature's jaws slammed shut just beside his face, then its entire bulk slammed into him. He let the blow carry him back across the chamber, hitting the wall hard and dropping to the ground.

  His body was numb and refused to obey him, yet his mind still operated. This was more like the Ghoul Lords he remembered, both powerful and crafty in combat. There was absolutely no way that he should have been able to defeat the one in the Forest of Beginnings - had it been weakened for him? He didn't understand what purpose that would serve.

  An explosion of flame brought him back to the present. Khassfhit had used the opportunity to strike the Ghoul Lord with a substantial burst of flame... but not enough to stop it. The creature began rushing forward, looming over the mage as he desperately tried to fend it off with more flame.

  Herena released a healing spell against the undead creature and it shrieked in pain, but that wasn't enough. She should have targeted the magic binding the legs... but there was no more time for criticizing their strategy. His body had returned to its feet and he needed to act.

  The next time Khassfhit struck the Ghoul Lord with a burst of flame, Bloodwraith sent a Fist of Rage along with it. Combined, the two spells managed to knock the creature off its feet. Though Khassfhit looked startled, he didn't slow, raining down flame on the Ghoul Lord while it was still on the ground.

  Not enough. Rhil'lahan foolishly lunged in, aiming for a dramatic kill, blades flashing at the Ghoul Lord's neck. They got caught in the reinforced bone and he was sent flying when the Ghoul Lord lunged back to its feet, remaining claw flashing.

  Still, it had been down long enough for Bloodwraith to get near Danniah and help her back to her feet. Though she looked stunned, when she managed to focus on his face she grinned at him cheerfully. She started to say something, then heard the Ghoul Lord roar and remembered they were in the middle of a battle.

  Bloodwraith felt a healing spell strike him and his first instinct was anger before he realized that it was intended to help, not destroy. Herena was finally bothering to heal him - and now that he was no longer undead, healing spells no longer harmed him. She and Gyassan stayed back while the melee fighters and Khassfhit circled the Ghoul Lord, hitting it from all sides.

  Though it was even more ferocious as it came apart, for once the adventurers didn't throw themselves into danger. They fought defensively, whittling down the Ghoul Lord with alternating attacks until at last it collapsed. Weary again, Bloodwraith stayed back and let Rhil'lahan strike the final blow.

  [Victory! You received 1590 EXP and...]

  Bloodwraith dismissed the box, since he knew the others would probably just take the rewards again. He would have to be content with the large amounts of EXP he had obtained in this crypt. Either it was the box gods or crypts were a far better source of power than simple quests.

  Despite the healing from Herena, his body was still beaten and he was exhausted. Part of him wanted to just lean against a wall and rest... but his mind wouldn't let it go. He didn't want to argue with them over the spoils from the Ghoul Lord, but perhaps...

  Instead of focusing on it or the items in the circular chamber, Bloodwraith looked onward. The corridor opposite the one they entered from led directly to another chamber, in which he saw the glint of gold. He began to move toward it circumspectly, examining further. Better than gold, he felt mana. It seemed as though a pile of things had been placed in the chamber beyond, as if in a sacrifice. That would be the true reward for the crypt.

  As an idea began to form in his mind, Bloodwraith considered whether or not it was feasible. He could see passages beyond the central chamber that likely included exits. There was another heavy stone door between the two chambers, currently raised - but a blow to the control ward would send it crashing down. Beyond their current chamber, he sensed no sign of life or the undead. Just the ritual and the
treasure, both of which he'd like some time with.

  Then the only obstacle was Raigar's foolish instincts. Though he did feel a moment's twinge about betraying Danniah, even Raigar didn't object when it came to the others. It was simple enough to overpower those instincts, leaving him feeling much more like himself.

  Deciding he'd had enough of being cooperative, Bloodwraith stepped into the corridor and swung his sword against the ward.

  It shattered in two blows, sending the stone door grinding downward. They saw him from the other side, but most were too shocked to do anything. Rhil'lahan tried to move, but had been crouched beside the loot. Surprisingly, Gyassan was the only one to move quickly, sprinting forward and rolling underneath the stone door before it closed.

  When Gyassan rose to his feet, he fixed Bloodwraith with a sly grin. "Decided to take the treasure for yourself, huh?"

  Bloodwraith grunted. "They haven't given me my fair share."

  "I admire that. Listen, I'll give you first pick, but you'd better not cheat me. Go ahead and take what you want first. I'll see if there isn't another way around this door."

  Fair enough. Bloodwraith stepped forward, looking over the pile of gold and artifacts. Despite being at the bottom of an ancient crypt, they glimmered almost like new. Summoning boxes for everything would utterly overwhelm his vision, so Bloodwraith focused on the pile and tried to figure out exactly how much value it held in total.

  [False Treasure

  A mix of pyrite and real artifacts.]

  For a long moment, Bloodwraith simply stared at the box, his mind utterly still.

  Then he lunged forward, drew his sword as he executed a half-turn, and swung it behind him. The blow caught Gyassan in the side, cleaving through the arm he had been raising to stab him in the back.