by Sarah Lin
[New Skill Acquired: Swimming!
Starting Level: 1
EXP +10 (deferred)]
Bloodwraith groaned and put his hands up to his face. Fine, if it wanted to be that way, he'd play by the rules. If every activity in the world could receive a name and a little number, then he would do it repeatedly until the number went up. That seemed to be the kind of thing the box gods enjoyed.
For several hours he threw himself into the pool, doing his best to reach the bottom. The percentage increased slowly enough that he tried to ignore it entirely, instead focusing on logical ways to reach the bottom. He got more depth by jumping from the side, but not enough. Using logic to solve a problem instead of repetition might anger the boxes, because it took a long time for the skill to reach level 2.
Just as he was about to jump in again, he saw that Danniah was sitting up, staring at him. "Bloodwraith? Are you alright? I mean, I like swimming too, but you seem really... uh..."
He rushed down to kneel beside her. "Are you feeling better?"
"Yeah, I'm feeling okay. Actually, I'm feeling great." She beamed at him with the same old smile. "My head feels really clear now. Guess those potions had a positive effect!"
When he checked her box, he saw that both Intellect and Wisdom had increased by 4 points. He wasn't sure what practical effect that would have, but at least he knew the potions had been effective. Perhaps it was simply more difficult for her, since her mind needed time to reorganize itself.
"So, what about my question? You're not just swimming for fun, right?"
"No. The piece of armor I need is at the bottom of the pool. I'm not a good enough swimmer to reach it now, but with enough practice, I should be able to make it."
"Oh, okay." Danniah slowly got up, stretched, and looked around her slowly. She walked up to the pool and smiled. "This place really is beautiful. I can see why the elves liked it."
"Yes, that's true." He came to stand beside her, letting himself forget about the armor temporarily. Yet to his surprise, Danniah spoke up a moment later.
"Why do you need to swim to get them out?"
He stared at her, realizing that he'd let his thinking become too narrow.
"If I wear all my armor, I'm pretty sure I'll sink straight to the bottom. And if you're there to pull me out..." She smiled and handed him the end of the rope she'd brought along. Bloodwraith found himself smiling back.
"It's a good thought. Are you sure you can hold your breath that long?"
"Pretty sure. If I'm running out of air, I'll tug on the rope a lot."
Since Danniah seemed to have completely recovered, they headed to execute the plan. Her plan. She pulled her equipment tight, took several deep breaths, then plunged into the pool.
The water didn't seem to resist her as much as it had him, and her armor certainly made getting to the bottom easier. When she landed near the dark armor, Bloodwraith was surprised to see how small she looked. Apparently the armor was larger than it appeared, and Danniah struggled to get the two pieces properly grabbed in her free arm.
As soon as she did, though, Bloodwraith pulled on the rope as hard as he could. He soon towed Danniah up to the shallow part and rushed out to grab her, pulling her from the water. The pieces of armor dropped from her arms, revealing themselves to be leg armor, but he resisted the urge to look at them.
Though Danniah spent a while gasping for breath, she looked quite pleased with herself. "We got them!"
"Yes, we did. Thank you."
"Oh, I'm happy to help! I think you can have these... splitting them apart wouldn't do much good."
Once she was safely on land, Bloodwraith left her to remove her armor and squeeze out her clothing. The wet clothes clung to her body, but for once she seemed entirely unselfconscious. Not wanting to damage that, since it was preferable to him anyway, he focused on the armor instead.
The new piece of armor definitely matched the gauntlets, built from thick plates of black steel. A belt with a cloth attached to it hung from one of the legs and he saw how it was meant to work together. If the cloth had survived this long in the water, it must be enchanted as much as the rest. Now that he'd gotten a good look, Bloodwraith summoned a box as well.
[Greaves of the Tyrant
Armor: 13
Vitality +1, Quickness +1
Durability: 33/50
Rarity: Rare
NOTE: This item is part of a unique set.]
That was the final confirmation he needed. The quest to assemble the armor flickered in his vision as well, reminding him that he was closer. But this piece... he never would have been able to obtain it without both Meara and Danniah. Even the coldest part of him was satisfied by this development.
Meanwhile, Danniah was damp but fully armored again. She hefted her horribly battered shield and smiled at him. "That's everything we need, right? Are we ready to go get the elves?"
"I suppose that we must."
Chapter 23
For once, everything went just as simply as planned. They collected the elves, argued with them about the need to excavate everything, and then retreated to the surface. Though the rocks in the way of the second exit stopped them for a time, between his spells of force and the elven mage, they cleared them in decent time. A few deeplings made one more attempt to attack them, but far from being a final challenge, it just left him eager to get it all over with.
Then they finally stepped out into the sun. Bloodwraith stretched, took a deep breath, and finally saw a box he wanted to appear.
[Victory! You received 7339 EXP.
Marathon Bonus x1.2
Total EXP: 8807
Marathon Stat Bonus: +1 Unassigned Stat Point
Deferred Stat Updates:
Max Health +8
Max Mana +1
Max Stamina +2
Vitality +1
Intellect +1
Luck +1]
Though the benefits were significantly less than the desperate battle in the crypt, he didn't begrudge the box gods that. For what he'd experienced, and given everything he'd gained, he wouldn't complain at all. According to his personal box, he currently had 9570 of the 25,600 EXP he needed to reach Level 10, which no longer seemed so far away.
As soon as they reached a reasonably safe road, they left the elves. Not a moment too soon, as far as he was concerned. Bloodwraith had grown very tired of them in the last part of their journey, and all he really wanted was to talk to the newly improved Danniah. Once they finally headed back on the road to Cresthaven together, his mood could not have been better.
Until Danniah looked over at him without the slightest smile on her face. "Those were potions of intelligence."
Bloodwraith swallowed.
"You said that I would benefit more from them. Is that how you think of me?" Though she was staring at him intensely, tears began to form in her eyes. Yet the way she spoke, this was nothing that he could push past via emotion.
"Danniah... I drank potions of strength myself, but that doesn't mean I think I'm weak."
"That's a good point." She smiled a little, but it wasn't like before, and the smile soon wilted. "Too good of a point. I know you're smarter than me, and that never bothered me. But this... I don't know what to think."
He struggled to think of what to say. This was clearly not the time to mention that he had thought that getting too close to her while she was less intelligent would have felt wrong. It had not occurred to him that she might possibly think of being given increased intelligence as a negative.
"I'm not saying you were wrong." Danniah wiped her eyes off with her sleeve and looked forward. "It was the smart thing to do. You're still my friend. I just... don't know how to feel about this. I thought you really liked me..."
Though he considered apologizing, in the end he said nothing. He wished Meara was here to advise him on the subject, but no such luck. They traveled the rest of the way to Cresthaven in silence that grew less uncomfortable as they went, but there was something cool
between them the entire time.
Once inside the gates, just before they closed for the night, they headed to the Guild first. When they arrived, he was glad to see Meara near the entrance. She swept up and grabbed them both in a quick hug.
"Thank the gods. I was afraid Daek had gotten you."
"Has something changed?" Bloodwraith hadn't noticed any particular differences in the city, and they'd only been gone two days, but Meara looked serious.
"We can talk about it later, but I think he's planning something. For now, I think we have to stick to our plan."
"Meara." Danniah spoke up quietly. "Could I talk to you?"
Meara looked to him and he could only shrug. The two of them moved off together, so he headed to turn in the quest. Hopefully... no, he would just have to trust Meara on this. Better to stop thinking about such dramatic issues and focus on the raw power the quest could bring him.
Yet when the woman at the desk heard his report, she shook her head. "I've got bad news. The historical society behind the historian who put in that request is gone now. Been gone for a while, but no one ever took the request down. They didn't leave enough to pay for the reward, so..."
Bloodwraith sighed. He didn't even care, not compared to everything else, but he couldn't let it end like that. "But I did complete the terms of the request, didn't I?"
"Doesn't matter, the Guild isn't going to fill the rewards for som-"
"I didn't ask for any reward, just confirmation. I filled the terms of the request, right?"
The woman gave him a strange look, but eventually answered. "Sure, you did. Good job. Is that what you wanted?"
[Quest Complete!
Excavate the site of an ancient elven pool.
Local Reputation +15
Guild Points: +0
Reward: None
EXP +250]
"Yes, yes it was." He breathed a sigh of relief, glad to have one thing dealt with, at least. "However, there are going to be three more adventurers coming, those elves the Guild forced on us. Make it clear to them that I didn't steal the money or anything, alright?"
"Sure, if you say so." The woman went back to her work, clearly done with the conversation. Bloodwraith loitered around the table for a while longer before forcing himself to refocus.
It seemed as though Meara and Danniah were talking in the hall section of the Guild and they probably wouldn't want him to intrude. So Bloodwraith headed out to the training grounds, where he could at least make progress. As annoying as the boxes and all their associated numbers could be, at least they provided an easy, straightforward system of rewards.
Eventually they came to find him, Danniah calmer but not her beaming self, while Meara had an inscrutable smile. She stepped forward and spoke in a lower voice. "I have more information about the other pieces of armor, but you're not going to like it. But that's not what we should deal with tonight."
"Right. You knew something about Daek the Knife?"
"No, not that either." Meara met his gaze and intentionally looked away, not giving him anything. She then raised her voice slightly. "Danniah, you two should go to Haral's and get your equipment repaired. We could have a lot of problems in the next few days."
"Okay." Danniah nodded and turned away, not waiting for him.
Though he shot one more glance at Meara, she refused to help. Sighing, Bloodwraith headed off after Danniah as they headed across town. It was getting darker and the streets were less safe, but there weren't many thieves who would attempt to attack adventurers equipped like them.
Many of the shops on the street were closed, but the lights still burned in Haral's shop. That was common, as he seemed to work at any hour of the day or night he felt like. When they entered he started by just grunting, but when he saw the state of their armor, he stopped working and headed to meet them.
"In the market for some replacement armor, I take it?"
Bloodwraith nodded. "We have some things to sell."
"I'm a bit busy with special orders now, so I don't think I can afford to buy the usual adventurer finds. You might have to do that business tomorrow. I can fix you up with some decent armor to replace what you've damaged, though."
"That will have to do."
"Oh, and I finished your order. Do you want it now?"
For a moment Bloodwraith didn't even know what he was talking about, then his brain worked again, pushing through all of the other thoughts that had been crowding his mind lately. "Yes, let's see it."
Though Danniah seemed uninterested in the exchange, when Haral pulled out the refurbished shield, it drew her gaze. And it did look impressive. Not only had the damage been repaired, the surface had been polished to a beautiful sheen. The quality was obvious even before he set his hands on it and felt the enchantment flow into him.
Not wasting any time, Bloodwraith turned and handed it directly to Danniah. She was so startled that she almost dropped it, then she clutched it closer to herself. "This is amazing..." Her eyes met his, growing wider. "And you bought it before we went out on the request, before you knew anything about what we'd find."
"I'm sorry if I gave the wrong impression. But I never meant to suggest I don't respect you, Danniah."
"No, it's my fault." She roughly wiped at her eyes with one sleeve. "You've been so nice to me and I'm the one who ruined it. This is... adventurers just don't do this. Don't just give each other things."
"Maybe they should."
With a choked sound, Danniah dropped the shield and leapt to embrace him. Though it was all a bit emotional for Bloodwraith's taste, he had to admit that he was glad it had been resolved without any further trouble. He wrapped one arm around Danniah's back and she hugged him tighter.
Haral coughed. "Could the two of you not do this in the middle of my shop?"
Once they replaced their equipment, they headed back to the Adventurers Guild. They had been silent for some time, but Danniah kept shooting him glances. Bloodwraith found himself a little uncomfortable, however, watching for boxes. If there had been a grand announcement that his gift had purchased Danniah's affection, he would have been more uncomfortable. Instead, her number had crept up to 100 at some point without him noticing. He tried not to think about it.
"Bloodwraith..." She caught his arm in the hallway, staring up into his eyes. "Do we... need two different rooms tonight?"
So it was finally coming to this. Raigar's instincts screamed an answer at him, but he managed to shove them back down. "Are you sure? You've been through a lot today."
"I'm sure." Danniah turned away from him, toying with the door to her room. "I actually feel a lot more certain now. Before, I had a lot of emotions. Now that my head feels clearer, I know exactly how I feel." She turned back to meet his gaze again. "And I want you for tonight, at least."
If she had acted like the Danniah from before, he would have hesitated, but this Danniah was fully in control of herself. Almost too much, which left him with new questions. But when Bloodwraith took a step toward her door, he saw her old smile beam out at him and his last doubts melted away.
~ ~ ~
When Bloodwraith woke the next morning, for a moment he was disoriented. One of his arms was pinned and his instinct was to lash out. Fortunately, his conscious mind overwhelmed the urge as he realized that it was just Danniah, curled against his side and smiling in her sleep.
It was if he had finally relaxed a muscle he had been holding tense for a long time. Even with Danniah pinning his arm, he felt refreshed in a way he rarely did when he woke up. Last night had been a good reminder of another one of the advantages of keeping a living body.
Less positive thoughts crowded in as his mind began to operate at full speed. Had he succumbed to Raigar's instincts in some way? Had their behavior been manipulated by the box gods? Was he getting soft, becoming someone the undead entity he had once been wouldn't respect?
Screw all the questions. Bloodwraith wrapped his arm around Danniah and held her closer, which made her murmur hap
pily in her sleep. Whatever this was, it was enough for now.
At that moment another box appeared square in the center of his vision.
[Relationship with Danniah advanced to Lover stage!
Charisma +1!]
"Depraved boxes! Not now, of all times!" He hissed the words, but Danniah shifted in response.
"Huh?" She blinked sleepily at him. "What are you talking about?"
For a moment Bloodwraith froze, staring back at her with his entire body tense. Then he let himself relax and pulled her closer again. "I think it's time I introduce you to the bane of my existence..."
Chapter 24
Thankfully, Danniah was not offended by the box and just joked that she should have been worth more than one point. Though that briefly made him concerned that something was interfering, those fears gradually melted away. Danniah was sharper than before, but she was still authentically herself. Now that she'd put so many concerns behind her, she was back to being her usual irrepressible cheerfulness.
They didn't have much time, however. Even if they hadn't been adventurers accustomed to going out every morning, Meara knocked on their door. "I figured I'd let you get your sleep, but it's almost noon. We should talk."
"Okay," Bloodwraith said, "give me a bit of time."
"I'll see you downstairs."
When he started to get up, however, Danniah latched onto his arm and gave a low whine. "I wanted to stay in bed longer... we spent too much time talking about the stupid boxes."
"See? What did I tell you? Great power at a terrible cost."
Despite her whining, Danniah did let go of him so they could get ready for the day. Bloodwraith started to move away, then had a vague sensation that would be a bit callous. Though he wasn't exactly overflowing with romantic feelings, he did like Danniah and wanted her to be happy. So he bent down and kissed her briefly, which drew another happy murmur from her.
