by Pwyll Duggan
"Kitty please, just be quiet. Let the adventurers be."
"Mummy! I can help our tree too."
"Hush Kitty."
Kitty stomps down on her mother’s paw. Carol yelps in pain and lets the little girl go and she dashes over to me, arms outstretched, wooden doll in her hands.
"This will help Sir Shielder. Tree told Kitty to help." She's thrusting a little twig doll at me. It's just small bundles of twigs lashed together. "You need the light down there she said. Not just for seeing!" Kitty is in tears thrusting the wicker doll at me again. That whole ‘back of the brain itching feeling’ is screaming at me. Fucking quest-sense indeed. I reach out to grab it and the doll takes off, running up my arm before I can react. Its arms extend, wrapping around my neck as it swings down to my chest. Pin pricks dig into my neck and chest as the doll attaches itself to me. I'm scrabbling along the shore, trying to pry the doll free.
"It’s okay Sir Shielder. Princess will keep you safe." The pin pricks stop hurting and two tiny dots appear in the wicker head. My fingers can't find a purchase on the twigs. Carol has hopped over, hand over her mouth horrified.
"Kitty, what did you do?"
"What the tree told me to mummy. Watch this." Kitty points at the doll and a weird tinkle of noises comes from her mouth. I feel warmth on my chest as the doll starts glowing softly. Like I need more weird shit in my life right now. Looking up I see the crowd gasping and looking at me and then Kitty.
"Told you. Now you can see!" And Kitty hops past her mother and back to the crowd. Nyssa is next to me, holding a hand down to help me up.
"You have the strangest effect on women, don't you?" I stare at her in disapproval.
"Really? This world sucks. I could be at home complaining about what to watch on Netflix or choosing what to play from a Steam list that's longer than my arm." Shaking off my arms and cracking my neck. "But no, I got chosen against my will to harvest souls for a black stone that writes on itself as if it's a unix terminal from my old days at Uni. With monsters and monster people. What the fuck am I doing?" I scream at the sky.
Nyssa looks concerned. "You’re saving lives." Reality crashes back down on me. Fuck it.
"Shit happens." I say. Looking up to Nyssa I say. "Well I met you, so I have that going for me." I walk up to her, kiss her quickly on the cheek and walk to the boat.
"Let's get this done. Normally I wouldn't even be out of bed yet. It can't even be 8am yet. Need more coffee."
Nir looks at me as I climb in the boat. "Are You okay there Paul?"
"Sure, it's nothing. Just the weight of the world on my shoulders." I pinch the bridge of my nose. "Sorry. Hard couple of days."
"Oh yes indeed. The joys of a Shielder. Breathe deep, calm the soul and kick some ass. Works for me." What? I look at her.
"I wasn't always old, young man. Garrot is the child of a Shielder." I look over at him as he gets in our boat. She goes on.
"You're here because you have the potential. The rest is up to you." I take her advice calm my thoughts, and start breathing deeply, setting a steady rhythm, trying to get as much oxygen in me as possible.
I hear the splash as the rocks go in, Garrot grunting as the boat rocks when he stops them some way down. I put on my flippers, waterskins on my back and keep breathing as the others swim over to the rope, reeds in hand. I turn inwards and cast Enhancement twice, Strength and Constitution boosted. I flip over the stern and slip into the cold water, slight warmth from my new wooden necklace. It doesn't help that all I can hear is the blood pumping thru my ears. In the pattern of the Jaws theme. Dum da, dum da, dum da.
I kick over to the rope, grab the loop Nyssa added. I see her on the shore. Deep breaths and I wave. Garrot lets go of the rope and I plummet downwards, into the shadow of the cliff and the sinkhole below.
My doll puts out more light as water rushes around me. The blackness of the sinkhole is below me in the clear water, rocks along its edge. The sacks in front of me block some of the view as we sink past the edge. The sides are coarse, rock and lake debris scattered on short ledges or atop of the odd rock. Shiny arrow heads and daggers sweep past in the darkness as I am now deeper than anyone else has been. Looking up the lake surface, its dim and far away. The pressure pops in my ears, starting the pain. My breath is fine, but the strain is building.
I feel the rope go slack as the rocks hit the bottom. The hole I entered is barely more than a pin prick of light. My doll flares a little and I can see the debris on the sinkhole floor. Small rocks, sand, a dagger and the skeletal remains of two small gobbers.
As I watch, the skull of one rolls over to look at me. I tense, but it continues to roll away, very slowly. A thin tendril of blackness is dragging it into the cliff face. Air forces itself out of my lungs as I reach my limit. I swim up into an air pack and gulp a few breathes of air and dive back under.
The tendril leads me to a tiny cave. As my light nears the blackness it pulls back in spurts. I loop the elven daggers new cord around my wrist and draw it. I kick forward and head into the cave. The darkness goes to all the corners of the cave. Corners? It's a passage, hewn out of the rocks, the rubble covering the bottom of the new tunnel.
Two body lengths in I can make out a soft purple light ahead, flickering off water and onto walls. I stand on the bottom of the tunnel and try to slowly break the water surface. As my head rises I don't get stabbed, so it may have worked. I come out into a small stone room full of stale musty air. A small ladder leads up over the edge of the brickwork around me. Climbing up, past the tendrils going over the edge into the water, puts me in the room. I came out of a well, like a moon pool. Dust and debris all around. I look around, taking of the flippers and the waterskins of air.
A pathway thru the debris follow the tendrils out the only exit and onto some stairs leading up. Slowly I head up, past tunnels full of debris, doorways to collapsed rooms and into a corridor. The tendrils turn left and to a rubble pile. Someone, or thing, has moved it aside to make a small passage thru it to the other side. I climb up and over slowly, trying not to make noise.
I can hear the noise of something being dragged in front of me. Creeping forward I spot another tendril, slowly dragging a small bone, dagger sized. It goes down the rubble strewn corridor. Rusted hooks adorn some walls. Rotted debris and dust are everywhere. Pale purple light is coming from a far room, the tendrils lead there. A soft rattling sound and someone whispering comes from that room.
I walk past the dragging bone and put my back to the wall and peer around the corner. The room is held up by pillars. The purple light is dancing back and forth, coming from the chest of a humanoid amorphous mess of bones and black gooey tendrils. The outlines of a human skeleton in the black mass, but it's all wrong. No human bones make up that skeleton. They are all too small, piling up on each other to get the thickness and size.
Three small skulls make up the head, in an upside-down triangle. Must be goblin heads. Proto bone wings are forming slowly on its back. The black goo is holding it all together. In its chest is a small black shard, three purple globes swirl around it, making the light dance. It's whispering to itself.
"Soon sisters. More energy and we can get it. We get it and a new body. Soo hungry. More bones, more goblins. Tastier than snotlings. Rabbits are good. Island has rabbits. Hehe haha get it and then eat the dryad and those yummy rabbits." Feminine voice, dripping cunning and allure. Yup, a BBEG - Big Bad Evil Guy/Girl.
One of the black goo tendrils is shooting towards a body laying down on a bier, a shield protecting it. The body is just the skeletal remains of someone, grasping a sword in its hands. Well at least a hilt from what I can see from here.
If this was a video game, when I enter I'd get a cut scene. In a table top rpg this screams evil monologue time. I think I'll go Battletech for this. When in doubt - Alpha Strike. As I turn the corner to enter the light from my doll goes out, keeping me in darkness and harder to see. Still holding the dagger with my pinky and ring finger, I point two fingers
out on each hand and my thumbs up. Finger guns pointing at the thing I trigger my ring and cast Fireball. Thumbs drop like hammers on a gun. "Bang"
Nothing happens. I try again as the black goo stops assaulting the shield.
"Do you think I would still be here if magic WORKED?" Shit fuck shit. I dive behind the first pillar as the thing steps forward.
"Come on out little, um little, what are you? Eyes aren't quite working yet. You can help me with that, being fresh and all." A rock smashes against my pillar. Two can play at that game. I scoop up a rock and toss it back.
"Really? Rocks. This is so anti-climactic. Just stay there, I won't be long." I hear her start running towards me. Time to be elsewhere. I dash out sideways, heading for the far side of the room as she crashes into the pillar, blackness wrapping around it, lashing out behind. I keep moving, cutting up my feet on the floor.
"Did I hurt you a little? I smell blood, yummy blood."
Stones fly from her body, all vaguely in my general direction. Thicker tendrils are patting the floor around her to pick up items as they find them.
"Just stand still for me, breath hard and I'll make it mostly quick. Mostly." She's blind but not dumb. She can smell and hear, cast magic and sense magic.
I run up the room, heading to the bier and the body.
"My prize sweetling. Not yours." I slide behind the stone bier and pop my head up to look at the body. Once armored and now dusty lies a skeleton, probably human. A pulsing blue shield covers it, coming up from the stone bier. Hand and a half sword in its grip, a bastard sword. A badly designed sword. Wide as my hand with no point. The tip is square, so no thrusting with it. Makes it a chopping weapon. And it's ridiculously thin, finger thickness in the middle and tapers suddenly to a sharp edge. Screams magical. Steel weapon like that would break as soon as you use it.
Big anime swords are for losers. If you have that much strength - use your fists, cos nothing would survive you pummeling, even a sword you are using. Plus, they have no finesse. They are slow to use, harder to parry with and if you needed the reach, use a bloody polearm. There's a reason they don't exist in real history. At least it doesn't have a serrated edge, that would catch on everything you hit. More flying rocks crash around me, splinters drawing blood.
I drop down again, looking at the bier. The parts unprotected by the shield are dustless and smooth. She's gone over it with her tendrils many times, looking for gaps or buttons. No joy there. She's moving again, getting close. I gotta try so I reach up with my hand and get near the shield. A hiss and my skin burns a little as it touches. That's out. She'll be here soon, and she can reach around the shield. The shield. Need a fucking big rock for that to work.
"Just stay there. Don't make me run." Nope, need you here. Looking around there's a good candidate just off to my right. I move slowly and try to lift it. A little too heavy. I strain to lift it and move back, catching a small rock to the side for my efforts. More blood drips to the floor.
"Don't lose too much of your juices. They slide down my throat nicely, when I have a throat.”
I squat down and lift the stone to my chest, arms back so I can throw it forward. Tendrils are sliding forward, coming to the edges of the stone bier. I strain and grunt as I lift it up and over the shield, pushing it like a medicine ball with all my might.
"Got you my sweetling." Her voice reverberates out of her black mass. The stone goes forward and down too quick. It smashes into her legs, crushing bones and goo alike. She falls forward cursing.
"Fuck you, food, you still can't escape me." I go right again, another stone gathered and toss it forward at her. She can barely move and this one crushes an arm. The goo spreads out, losing all consistency. Still not going to get too close. I stay with what works and grab large stones as she screams in pain.
"Don't destroy me. I'm a Lady of the Night. I can make you powerful." I squash the head and go for another rock.
"Slaves, Women, Men. Experience from the Shielders! I can get you Upped. We control the Mine." Her head goes crunch and the voice gets desperate.
"We have Stones like mine there. You can be immortal like us." I struggle with a huge chunk of debris.
"PLEASE! MERCY!"
"This is mercy. For all those you have hurt. Bye Bye now." I drop the chunk on her chest, crushing it. The room goes dark, only the faint glow of the blue shield behind me shedding any light. A large purple globe floats up her from her body and I stretch out my hand, pulling it in. Ice forms a thin film over my arm as it travels up my body, ever so slowly. This is going to hurt.
My scream echoes thru room as it feels as if my heart freezes. I clutch at my chest it gets cold, air misting from my lungs as I breathe. Coughing I roll on the floor. I see the stone fragment that was in the creature’s chest under the last stone. Pain in my chest continues as I reach out to grab it. It's wedged, and I roll the stone off and grasp the stone. Palm sized and roughly hewn octahedron shape, a rough stone d8 dice. If it's like the Stone in the temples it absorbs Spirita.
Getting harder to breathe, limbs going numb. I stagger up and hope it does what I want and stab it straight into the blue shield around the bier.
Huge flash and it shoots out of my hand. Tumbling backwards I crash down, head bouncing on the stone floor in the newly created darkness. Right shoulder now burns as my doll lights up. Grabbing the back of my head and then looking at my shoulder, blood flowing out.
The small stone d8 is impaled in my shoulder.
"FUCKING HURTS." I scream so load the echoes hurt.
Don't stand behind the thing you stab the other magical thing with. Remember that for next time.
Chapter Nineteen
As much as I think I need to stay laying down, I've got things to do, rice balls to eat yadda yadda. The hand on the back of my head is sticky and blood is slowly pooling about the Stone in my shoulder, some of it seemingly being drawn into it. Oh goody, vampire stones now too. I gently pull it out, only screaming twice. Fuck this. Think healing. A warm glow flows from my chest and my shoulder and head starts to itch.
I watch as my skin knit back together on my shoulder, not leaving a scar at all. Wonder if the stretch marks on my stomach are gone now? Or the scars on my knee from when I was a kid. Later brain, later. My headache fades and I sit up with no side effects. Coolness. Let's see that sword.
Standing up and looking down on the skeleton tells me... nothing. The skeleton may have been dressed in something, but not anymore. The hilt of the sword is firmly grasped by the two hands. Play it safe and take time. They probably think I drowned by now. I reach down and grab the pommel to lever it up. If this corpse comes to life I will be so pissed.
The sword is surprisingly light as the hands turn to dust. I hear a faint metallic ting on stone and a rolling sound like a coin. I spot the offending item as it bounces off the bier and lands at my feet, spinning in a small circle until it stops. A small ring, black with a red stripe thru its center, same as the pommel. Pulling the sword up with my right arm, I reach down for the ring with my left.
The sword is really light, easy to handle in one hand. Flicking my wrist around is easy for such a large weapon. Plenty of room on the hilt for my second hand. Easy to sword and board with this. I lean the sword on the bier and look at the ring. It is an exact match for the pommel, in both colors and the odd metal. It's a little cool to the touch but otherwise nothing special. Removing my Bright Bolt ring, I compare them side by side on the stone floor. While I watch the new ring changes to the same size. Maybe I shouldn't have left the other ring behind.
Time to go. I reach down for both rings, hand on the sword to steady myself and the new ring fly’s up and onto my right pinky. As it does the pommel on the sword opens and a green human style eye stares at me. A pull goes up my arm, almost like when collect Spirita Aqua.
Thirsty... thirsty. Father?
"Stop it." The feeling stops suddenly, but a longing remains.
Father?
"Not your father. Maybe Fri
end. Shielder."
Shielder. Like Father then.
"And you?"
Drinker. Refiner. Daughter.
"Can you see with the eye?"
Only you.
"Should I show you where I found you?"
Please.
I lift the sword, pommel high and show the room to the eye?, being?. I face it to the bier, body on top.
Father. Rest well.
"You okay?"
Thirsty.
"See what we can do later today. Maybe Goblins or snotlings."
Gamey.
"Everyone says so."
Rabbits crunchy.
Great, another mouth to feed. I pick up the other ring and put it on. I can feel its power ready to use. Okay. The stone is warm in my hand when I pick that up. Sword in one hand, stone in the other. Could store it in my boxers... nah, not happening. Itching on my chest happens as the dolls legs curl up. Seriously, is there anything not reading my mind? I place the stone there and the twig/vines curl up around it, fastening it to me. The doll is more of an amulet or Arc reactor now, stuck on my chest. Grabbing the sword, I look around. Maybe another day, I’ve got to get back. I start running.
Standing in the well, flippers on and air skins on my back I breathe deep, relaxing. Swim thru the tunnel, cut the line, float up. Easy. Sword reverse grip, blade down. Got lots of kicking to do this time I think. No Jaws music and under we go. Guess it is ‘we’ now, sword, doll and myself.
The tunnel is less daunting now and easier to see thru. I get to the rope with not a tendril in sight. I slide the sword on the silk rope below the hand hold loop, cutting loose and I start ascending. Ears pop on the way up, making the sound of rushing water louder. No boat silhouettes on the surface. I break the surface and all I hear are shouts and screams of battle.
Part of the Grove is on fire. A small bucket brigade is trying to put it out. A line of goblins are firing arrows across the lake from the north, covering hordes of snotlings as they paddle rafts heading to the island. An orc is commanding a ballista harnessed to that dual horned centaur, shooting flaming spears over the lake. More goblins are waiting at the edge of the lake, cheering and carrying on.
