by Phoenix Grey
“We should probably at least take a look,” Lonnell agreed. “No doubt, there will be more skeletons, but there might be another chest, too. At least, there will be if the pattern repeats itself.”
The pattern did repeat itself. The next row over had one pile of bones waiting for them. When Janine tried to rush forward to take care of it, Azure held her back. “Let me try out this whip.”
“But I need the experience.” She gave him a serious look.
“Come on.” He cocked his head to the side. “It’s just one, and we’ve let you solo more than your fair share of monsters up until now.”
“Fine,” the dwarven woman relented with a sigh, stepping back.
Azure pulled the whip from his belt, feeling a ball of nervousness form in the pit of his stomach. With no real idea how to use it, all he had to go off of was the BDSM porn and a few action movies he had seen in the past. He doubted any of them would make good tutorials.
This particular skeleton had a rusty spear in his hand, giving him good reach. Azure felt the weapons would be equally matched. He planned to wrap the whip around the spear and rend it free from the skeleton, but he jerked his arm back too quickly, the motion followed by a snap and cry of pain.
Azure glanced back to see Janine hunched over holding her face. Blood dripped through her fingers, making the ball of nervousness that had been in his stomach contort into guilt that gripped and squeezed his heart like a tightened vice. Lonnell was at her side in an instant.
The next cry of pain came from Azure as the skeleton took advantage of the distraction to thrust its spear into his chest.
Critical hit! Level 8 Dreaded Bones delivers 50 damage.
“Gah!” He returned his attention to the fight at hand, gripping the blade to pull it out of his armor. The rusty metal cut into his palm, delivering 10 more points of damage.
The skeleton jerked the spear back, then stabbed forward again. Azure moved to the side just quick enough to avoid another direct hit, though the blade still pierced the side of his chest.
Level 8 Dreaded Bones delivers 40 damage.
“Oh, fuck it!” He dropped the whip to draw his Bergen’s Glaive. At this point, the skeleton was making mincemeat out of him. A few more stabs and Azure would be dead if he wasn’t careful.
Pushing the spear aside and charging his enemy, one good swing of his sword cleaved the skeleton’s head clean off of its shoulders. Azure immediately lowered his weapon to clutch at his wounds, leaning the pommel of his blade against one of the bookcases to reach into his Bag of Holding for three Potions of Minor Healing.
When he was done drinking, he turned to Janine. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah. No thanks to you.” She glared at him.
Apparently, she’d been able to down a few healing potions as well, because now only a small cut remained on the right side of her bottom lip. It looked painful, shimmering red with fresh blood.
“You’re not allowed to use this again while I’m around.” Janine bent to pick the whip up by the handle, shoving it against his chest.
“That was a pretty impressive fail,” Lonnell added.
“I was not expecting to have to use a healing potion because of friendly fire.” She stomped away angrily toward the last row of bookshelves. “Just for that, I get whatever we find in the next chest.”
Neither of the men argued, not wanting to piss her off any more than she already was. Janine’s anger was valid, and Azure decided to honor her wishes, tucking the whip away into his bag. It was clearly better for him to practice wielding it when no one else was around.
“I’m so so sorry, Janine.” He followed her to the next row. “What can I do to make it up to you?”
“Just stay away from me for now.” She threw her hand back, indicating that he was already too close.
Lonnell clasped his shoulder. “Just give her some time. She’s still pretty upset.”
Yeah, I can see that. It was difficult not to want to fix things right away.
Both men stood back as Janine finished looting the last chest. They didn't even get to see what was inside. Her body blocked their view as she took the item and stuffed it in her bag. It didn't matter anyway. It's not like either of them had any claim to it.
Once she was done, they returned to the bookshelf with the nook and pulled all the books they'd collected from their bags. Lonnell quickly got to work arranging them, starting with the S book at the bottom. Nothing happened when he finished putting the books in order, which caused him to swap the places of Little Nightingale and The Lights of Brinegrasp. Thankfully, that was all that needed to be done before the bookshelf began to move, pushing itself aside to reveal the door to the next level.
CHAPTER NINE
THE REALM – Day 74
Taking Ghouls of Patheana was a no-go. As soon as the book was removed from the shelf, the door began to close. Azure was regrettably forced to leave it behind. Oh well. It wasn't as good as a full bestiary book anyway, but at least it would have been free.
“One more level, and then I think we should rest for the night,” Lonnell suggested before they proceeded down the next set of stairs.
With a nod of agreement, his comrades followed.
The stairwell opened up into another hall, this one much wider than the last. Five suits of armor stood against each wall with an eleventh at the back seeming to be guarding the door to the next level. There were two more doors, one on each wall, both blocked by a suit or armor. Other than that, there was nothing else in the hallway, but much like all the other floors in the basement, this one had a different feel to it. The walls were eggshell-colored, the floor made of gray tiles. Wooden columns supported the ceiling every five feet, matching the wooden baseboards and cornices.
“They look like they might come alive and attack,” Janine commented.
“Maybe they will.” Azure eyed each of the suits of armor. They didn’t Analyze as foes to him now, but that didn’t mean anything.
“I suppose we should start with the one at the end. If there’s a puzzle, we’ll find it there.” Lonnell bravely walked down the hall.
Azure and Janine lagged behind, waiting to see if the suits of armor would do anything. None of them moved.
When Lonnell reached the end of the hall, he stopped to examine the suit of armor blocking the door. It was reminiscent of the Knights of Gaia they had encountered in the last dungeon, except these were a bit smaller, and their armor appeared to be made of silver instead of black steel. Each suit of armor wielded a spear.
Cautiously, he stepped in to rap against the helmet of the armor. It rang hollow. Turning back to his party with a slight shrug, Lonnell said, “Azure, help me push it aside.”
The two men grunted as they put their weight into moving the suit of armor away from the door. It wasn’t that the armor was particularly heavy but that it was awkward to push where it rested atop a wooden pedestal.
Bent over pushing from the bottom, both Azure and Lonnell were eye level to see the suit of armor lift a foot.
“Guys!” Janine said in warning, pulling her ax from her belt.
Both men instinctively jumped back as the armor stepped down and turned toward them.
Shit, we're cornered, Azure realized, doing his best to give Lonnell some space. Before he had the chance, the armor swung at him with its spear. Weapon not drawn, all Azure could do was block with his vambraces, which proved to be pretty useless.
Level 10 Ghostly Armor delivers 50 damage.
The blow would have been enough to send Azure careening into Lonnell if he hadn't planted his feet in anticipation.
Janine brandished her ax over her head, hollering as she charged in. Being so close to the armor gave Azure a slight advantage. Grabbing the pole of the armor’s spear, he rendered it unable to draw back and strike again. Azure tried wrenching it from the armor’s hands, but it was too strong. The struggle bought enough time for Janine to cleave the armor�
�s arm off. A few more wild swings had the entire suit clanging to the floor.
“Nice work.” Lonnell nodded at her in admiration.
“Thank you.” She held her head up with pride.
“Well, now we know they’ll move if we touch them.” Azure handed the spear over to Janine. She’d earned the loot fair and square.
“Now we know.” Lonnell had already turned his attention to the door, his voice distant. “Something goes here.” He pointed at an octagonal-shaped indentation in the door. Pulling on the handle confirmed that the door would not budge until the missing piece was in place.
“Of course it does. Because this whole dungeon is a puzzle.” Azure threw his hands up at everything around them.
“Don’t be so dramatic,” Janine chastised him. “It’s not like there are many places to explore.” Her eyes moved from one blocked door to the other.
“That means we’ve got to fight these guys.” Azure stepped up to the suit of armor blocking the door on the right. “I think the easiest way to go about it would be to take their spears first.” Thinking his brilliant idea would work, Azure tried prying the spear from the suit of armor’s hand, but it had an iron-clad grip on the weapon. After a moment, he gave up and drew his Bergen’s Glaive.
“What are you going to do?” Janine stepped back to give him more room.
“Well, at least now we know that they don't move when we touch them. Only when we move them,” Lonnell observed.
“True.” Janine cocked her head in his direction.
“Next best thing.” Azure swung his sword, trying to cut the spear right above the suit of armor’s grip. It was like his blade connected with stone. Instead of slicing through, it bounced off, vibrations rolling down the steel.
“Here. Let me try this.” Janine lifted the amulet from her chest and pointed it at the armor. Azure took a step back, fully expecting the armor to animate from the power of the amulet. But nothing happened.
“Looks like there’s no cheating this,” Lonnell said with a short sigh, “which makes sense.” This last part was mumbled.
“Yeah.” Azure returned to his comrades. “It looks like we’re going to have to move it.”
“Want to do the same thing as last time?” Janine looked from Azure to Lonnell.
“It didn’t work as well as it looked,” Azure informed her, feeling the bruising across his forearms. “I still got hit. And even when they’re animated, that armor has a white-knuckle grip on its spear. Maybe it would be better for us to move it from one side while you hack at the other side as soon as you see it animate. It’s going to have a difficult time attacking a foe that’s already at close-range.”
“That sounds good to me.”
They all took their positions, and the two men worked to push the suit of armor aside. The sound of Janine slamming her ax into the armor when it reanimated had both Azure and Lonnell taking several steps back. For a moment, the armor seemed confused about who it should attack, its visor moving in the direction of the men before turning to Janine. By the time it had made up its mind and began twisting toward her, she had her ax buried several inches into its chest. Its head jutted forward as if it were spitting up invisible blood, and then it collapsed to the ground.
“Piece of cake,” Janine panted as she leaned over to pick up the armor’s spear.
“It seems like such a waste that we can’t take the rest of it.” Azure shook his head at the mess of good pieces on the floor.
Janine pulled her bestiary from her bag and flipped through it, looking for the entry on ghostly armor. “Nope. According to this, the armor isn’t even real.”
“A damn shame,” he said again before turning his attention to the door.
“Yup. Now let’s see what’s behind door number one.” Janine gestured for Lonnell to take the lead.
Inside of the room was another chest, but this one was locked. Beating at it with their weapons seemed to have the same effect as striking the chest on the first level. The metal lock was impregnable.
“Well, looks like we have to find yet another key.” A long sigh escaped Azure’s throat, and they immediately moved on to the next door. “Same as last time?” He looked at Janine.
She nodded, taking her position on the opposite side of the statue.
This one was a bit more wily. As soon as it came to life, it swung its spear quickly to both sides like a sprinkler, bashing Janine in the shoulder before turning to hit Azure’s palms this time.
Level 10 Ghostly Armor delivers 50 damage.
He grabbed the spear, but the armor jerked it forward, pulling him with it. Not letting go, he stumbled a few paces, at which point, the armor did its best to shake him off to no avail.
Quickly recovering, Janine grabbed her ax and went to work hacking away at the armor until it was forced to surrender into a heap on the floor.
“Son of a bitch, that hurt!” She placed her ax back in her belt and rubbed her shoulder before digging in her bag. “Time to heal up.”
“Yeah.” Azure did the same, gulping down three Potions of Minor Healing.
“Door number two!” Janine held two fingers up dramatically before they proceeded.
What they saw when they opened the door was a grim sight. A skeleton lay atop a bed, its arm stretched over the side. Janine took a step back, though it wasn’t clear if it was because she thought the skeleton would attack or that she was disturbed by the scene.
“It’s holding something.” Lonnell approached the skeleton and bent slightly to take the key that had been clutched in its hand. “This must go to the chest in the other room.”
“It doesn’t look like it’s going to attack,” Azure noted.
“No. This one isn’t like the other ones.” Lonnell shook his head as he peered down at the skeleton. It was fully intact. Not the pile of bones they were used to seeing come to life. “Let’s not waste any more time.” He turned to leave the room.
To their disappointment, the key did not open the chest in the other room. Each of them tried it with no luck. Once the Adventurers had all submitted to the fact that it wasn’t going to work, they simply stood there staring at each other.
“So, what now?” Janine asked.
Lonnell blew a breath out through pressed lips as he stared down at the chest. “There must be some other way to open it. The piece that goes in the door has to be inside.”
“If there is some other way to open it, then what does this key go to?” Azure held up the key. Amusingly enough, it was a skeleton key. If he wasn’t upset that it hadn’t worked on the chest, he might have smirked at the irony. Weren’t skeleton keys supposed to be able to open everything?
“It could go to the chest on the first floor,” Janine suggested.
“Do we really want to backtrack to find out?” Azure raised an eyebrow.
“We might have to,” Lonnell said dryly.
“There has to be something we’re missing.” He walked around and began tapping on the floors and walls, looking for weaknesses. No one followed his lead.
“I’ll recheck the other room. Maybe this is a decoy.” Lonnell took long strides to go back to the room they’d found the key in.
“Maybe there’s something inside of the suits of armor,” Janine said before backstepping out of the room.
Fifteen minutes later, they all reconvened in the chest room no closer to accomplishing their goal.
“What are we missing?” Lonnell tore his hand through his hair.
“As I see it, we have to go back.” Janine’s expression was hard.
His shoulders slumped, Azure agreed. “There’s only one other chest in this dungeon we didn’t have a key for. Maybe the key to this chest,” he gestured down, “is in the other one.”
“All right,” Lonnell nodded, sounding exhausted. “So we’ll go back.”
None of them happy about it, they made their way back up the stairs. The pile of bones in the library blocking thei
r path to the exit had respawned. Janine took point with her ax, making short work of it. It was clear that they all just wanted to get back to the first level as quickly as possible.
They reached the next set of stairs unmolested, but when they arrived at the first level, the rats were eager to come out of their hidey holes again. Seeming like almost an entirely different person, Janine fearlessly hacked away at them. They slew five total before the walls stopped their onslaught. Two kills went to Azure, two to Lonnell, and the last to Janine. Injuries were minimal with only Lonnell sustaining a bite to the top of his foot.
Once the slaughter was over, Azure debated using his new pendant, but cutting off rat tails wasn’t hard work, so he decided to wait.
The eerie blue light was streaming beneath the door spirit room once more, but they had no intentions of entering so paid no mind to it.
Key brandished in Azure’s hand, the Adventurers opened the door to the chest room and strode forward. One more rat assaulted them before they were able to reach the chest. Lonnell put an end to it with two stabs of his staff.
Shoving the key in the lock of the chest produced a satisfying click as it gave way.
“Thank the Gods,” Azure said, and a collective sigh of relief filled the room.
Flipping open the chest, Azure fully expected to see the piece that was needed to open the door on the fourth level or perhaps another key. What lay atop a bed of red velvet confused him though. Once the surprise wore off, he lifted the scroll and unrolled it.
You have received the following item:
Airian's Demise Scroll
Mana Cost: 50
Range: 100 feet
Target: Single
Item Class: Extremely Rare
Quality: Average
Weight: 0 kg
Uses: Quest Item. Materializes Airian for 5 minutes.
“I don’t get it.” Azure passed the scroll to Janine.
She scanned it over, then offered it to Lonnell. “I’m guessing that Airian is a ghost.”
