Stan straightened a little. “Hold on, boss. You don’t got a lot of your Vitaes. Ya sure about this?”
Harry lowered his hands and glanced at his meters.
H: 65 | V: 115 | TM: 43%
He flicked open his inventory. Four venomstalker glands left.
He looked up toward the white marble building waiting up the path. He wasn’t seeing anything with Blood Sense. Either the place was empty. Or it was more of the golems. Or something worse.
“I think we should,” Harry said. “Twenty Vitae is nothing if you two can’t move.”
Stan scratched hard at his chin. “Still…”
“He’s right, Stan,” Jo said quietly. “For you at least.”
Silence settled between them.
Stan let out a breath and gave a short nod.
“Alright,” Harry said. “But first.”
He pulled one of the last four fangs from his inventory. Without ceremony he jabbed it into the side of his neck and squeezed the sac.
Poison flooded in.
H: 66 .. 67 .. | V: 115 | TM: 43%
Heat flared through him. Sharp at first. Spreading. He let out a slow breath.
“Ahh… that’s the stuff.”
Jo shook her head. “I think you’re getting addicted to those.”
Harry frowned. “I hope not.”
He waited while the heat settled, injuries all over his body knitting back together.
System, it said I need a verbal command or a gesture. Is there something specific?
:: System: Negative. Like most of your abilities, it is based on intent. Think about the spell you want to use and create your own process.
Is all magic like that?
:: System: Most, but not all. Rituals and the creation of magical items require very specific methods.
“Alright. Thanks.”
Harry rubbed his hands together and leaned in, placing both palms gently against Stan’s swollen knee.
“Claude vulnera.”
:: Spell [Crimson Mend]: Successful (Healed: 5 health, Cost: 10 vitae)
Stan sucked in a breath and flinched. A second later his shoulders loosened. Under Harry’s hands the tight swelling eased, the heat in the joint fading. It stopped short of whole. Still thick. Still tender. But better.
Harry pressed his fingers gently into the side of Stan’s knee. “How does that feel?”
Did I just heal Stan with magic?
:: System: Affirmative.
But… damn. I could have done so much with this back home.
He sat back on his heels and stared down at his hands for a moment.
Stan flexed his leg, testing it. He bent the knee and drew it up toward his chest. “It’ll do, boss. I ken fight.”
Harry glanced over at Jo. She was watching with wide eyes. He waved a hand, motioning her closer.
“Are you sure?” she asked. “It won’t fix the bones… and if it did, how much help will I be?”
Stan grunted and looked up from rubbing his knee. “Nonsense, girl. Ya saved our butts more’n once.”
Harry moved to kneel beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “We all feel Cedric’s loss. But Stan’s right. We need you.”
Jo ran a hand across her face, nodded once, and lifted her right arm to expose her injured side.
Harry laid both palms gently over the bandages. “Claude vulnera.”
:: Spell [Crimson Mend]: Successful (Healed: 5 health, Cost: 10 vitae)
He leaned back.
Jo drew in a long, slow breath. Her left hand went to her ribs, pressing lightly. She worked her fingers along the bandaged edge.
“I can feel it,” she said quietly. “I’ve never been healed before.”
Stan grunted. “Tickles don’t it.”
Jo gave him a faint smile. “Tingles.” She lifted her right arm, rotated it, and winced. “Still broken… but better.”
Harry glanced at his meters again.
H: 85 | V: 95 | TM: 53%
I wish we just had time to rest for a day or two.
:: System: From the information given to you, this dungeon has at most three days before collapse.
And worst case?
:: System: Soon.
Damn.
He lifted his head and looked toward the white marble building waiting up the path. Beyond it the sky was already deepening. Less than an hour until full dark.
“Well,” Harry said. “If we’re not staying here, we better move.”
They pushed themselves to their feet. Stan tested his leg with a few slow squats, grabbed his spear, and made a couple careful lunges. Jo equipped a spear and shield. She only gave Harry a small grin.
Together, they started up the path toward the marble building.
Harry in front, Cedric’s hammer gripped in both hands.
They reached the entrance.
An open arch cut into the marble. Inside, a short corridor stretched ahead. It opened into something larger not far in. Soft white light filled the interior. No torches. No shadow.
They stepped through.
The corridor led to a wide rotunda of white marble. The floor was inlaid with a complex geometric pattern of black obsidian, sharp angles and interlocking lines radiating from the center.
Five portals stood spaced along the curve of the chamber. Two to the left. Two to the right. One directly ahead.
All gray. Inactive.
They stopped.
Harry scanned the room. “This is not what I was expecting.”
“Harry!” Jo was facing the way they had come in. “Behind us.”
Harry spun, raising the hammer.
The corridor they had entered through was still there. But where the exit should have been, a solid marble wall now sealed the far end.
He strode back down and pressed a hand against it.
Cold. Unyielding stone.
“Well, damn.”
He walked back to the others.
Stan was frowning at the left most portal.
Harry moved to join him, “Did you find something?”
Stan shook his head. "Tried Inspect. All I got's 'entrance to Chamber One.'"
Harry turned in a slow circle, eyes moving from portal to portal. “Anyone know what we’re supposed to do?”
System?
Before anyone could answer, several messages rose into his vision.
:: Welcome to the final level of the Chambers of Attrition.
:: To proceed you must select one party member to enter the first chamber. If they fail, you must choose another. Or, you may now exit the dungeon.
:: Quest Available: Escape.
:: Rather than face the deadly chambers, you may abandon the dungeon and leave it unfinished.
:: All party members must accept this quest to open the exit portal.
:: Accept Escape? (Y/N)
:: Quest Available: 1st Chamber: Select one party member to enter 1st Chamber.
:: Reward: Bonus XP for all party members, Gain access to the 2nd Chamber.
:: Accept 1st Chamber? (Y/N)
The messages hung in his vision.
No one spoke.
Harry let the silence stretch a moment longer, reading through the lines again.
He finally broke it. “Did everyone get the same quests? One to escape and one for the first chamber?”
Stan nodded. “Aye.”
“Same,” Jo said.
“Do we need to talk about it?”
Jo looked at him steadily. “It’s your choice, Harry. You’re the one who’ll go in.”
“I can’t decide for everyone,” he said. “If we leave now, you get out of here safe. You’ve got your interfaces.”
Stan shook his head. “I say finish it.”
“Me too,” Jo said. “We’ve paid too much to quit now.”
Harry’s jaw tightened. “If I don’t make it out, this might be the only way to escape.”
Jo rolled one hand at him. “Get on with it, Harry.”
He looked at each of them in turn.
Stan met his gaze and gave a short nod.
Jo did the same.
“Alright,” Harry said. “I’m taking the chamber quest.”
System. No to escape. Yes. Accept the First Chamber.
:: System: It has been done.
Harry watched as both Stan and Jo went still, eyes unfocused for a heartbeat as they confirmed the quest on their own interfaces.
The portal nearest Stan shifted. The dull gray surface rippled and deepened into a shimmering purple.
“Any suggestions?” Harry asked.
“Use party chat,” Jo said. “Let us know what’s happening.”
“Right.”
- Harry: Testing. One. Two. Three?
- Stan: What?
- Harry: Nothing. Sorry. Here I go.
He stepped up to the portal. Looked down at the hammer in his hands. Tightened his grip.
He glanced back one last time and stepped through.
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The world shifted and his stomach tried to take the place of one lung.
He stood a moment to get his bearings and looked around. A stone landing that looked painfully familiar. Same shape. Same gray portal shimmering behind him. Ahead, a stairway dropped into darkness. It looked just like the entrance when they had first come into the dungeon.
Only smaller.
And one big difference.
There were no torches along the walls. No flickering fire. The room was filled with the same soft white light as the rotunda.
- Harry: I’m inside. It looks like a copy of where we entered the dungeon.
- Jo: Why am I not surprised. Sure, make you do the whole thing again. Why not?
- Stan: Are there torches.
- Harry: No.
- Stan: You have the old ones?
- Harry: Oh. Hold on.
He opened his inventory. He had cleared out a lot to make space, but one slot was still full of ordinary torches. Another held the Sanctified Flame torch.
He pulled it free.
It flared to life in his hand.
- Harry: I do. And it’s working.
- Stan: No trouble then. Easy as muggin’ a drunk.
- Harry: Right.
He slid the torch back into inventory and stepped toward the stairs, letting Blood Sense stretch ahead of him as he started down.
The staircase did not break into landings.
It was one long, straight descent.
Deeper than the original.
When he reached the bottom the stairs emptied directly into a vault chamber. Smaller than the original. No side passages. Four stone sarcophagi, two along each wall. At the far end, another set of stairs dropped even deeper.
He moved toward the first stone coffin on the left.
Before he was close enough to see inside, Blood Sense brushed a faint green thread.
He stepped up and looked down.
An Ancient Desiccant lay within. Shriveled skin pulled tight over bone. The same twisted posture. The same hollowed face.
The longer he stared at it, the more certain he became.
It was the first one he had wrestled with on the floor.
He stepped back and crossed to the right.
The first on that side clutched a rusty sword. One leg detached below the knee.
The next on the left was the armored dwarf. Empty hands where the hammer should have been.
The last sarcophagus held the angel cloaked in its dirty white robes.
- Harry: It’s the desiccants again. But only four of them.
- Stan: Burn ’em.
- Harry: Maybe. I want to try something.
System, how much damage will I do with this hammer?
:: System: If you increase your Physical Attributes without using Vitae and with the bonus given by Underwyck’s Maul you will be just under strength twelve. Assuming these Ancient Desiccants are the same level as those previously encountered, your current Melee Weapons skill and recent combat experience, there is insufficient data to give an exact answer.
What? That’s the most you’ve ever said at one time and your answer is you don’t know?
:: System: Affirmative.
Harry let out a long breath and shook his head.
Fine. I’m not asking for an exact answer. What is your best guess?
:: System: A conservative estimate would be in the range of 30 to 45 damage.
And how much health do these have?
:: System: Approximately 45 to 65 depending on level.
Nice. Just one more thing before we start.
Harry tightened his grip on the shaft of the hammer. “Rubrum Cruento.”
:: Spell [Vampiric Blade]: Successful (Active: 10 minutes remaining, Cost: 10 vitae)
H: 85 | V: 85 | TM: 58%
A faint current ran from his palms into the weapon. The hammer answered with a low, pulsing red glow.
Harry gave a short grin. “You’re a magician, Harry.”
:: System: What are the commands you are using?
It’s an old language from my old world. That one basically means ‘make it bloody red’.
:: System: Appropriate.
I’m going to start with the last one. Just in case. She was the hardest.
He moved around the room until he stood at the head of the fourth sarcophagus. The desiccant lay wrapped in her robes, hands folded over her chest.
He pushed speed and strength to thirty percent. No Vitae.
The hammer rose over his shoulder.
He stepped forward slowly, eyes fixed on the faint green thread in his Blood Sense.
It trembled.
Quicker.
He stepped forward and drove the hammer down.
Even moving at what had to be Olympic speed the desiccant reacted. Wings started to unfold. Its eyes snapped open, two glowing orbs of piercing red.
The hammer landed. Dead center of the ribs.
Bone collapsed inward with a sharp crack. The sternum shattered. The entire chest cavity caved. A cloud of dust and shattered bone flew up.
The red lights vanished.
:: Spell [Vampiric Blade]: (+3 Vitae)
Nice. I wasn’t sure I’d get the Vitae, but the spell says it works if I can see them with Blood Sense.
:: System: Affirmative. Based on that return you did approximately 60 damage with that hit.
Beautiful.
:: System: You have 9 minutes and 14 seconds remaining on the spell.
Harry stepped to the armored dwarf and repeated the process. Slow approach. Watching the green thread. Waiting for it to twitch.
He stepped in and brought the hammer down.
A booming clang rang through the vault as steel met plate. The chest armor caved inward but didn’t shatter. The desiccant’s eyes flared red. It heaved its arms outward, armor scraping against stone, and gripped the edge of the sarcophagus to pull itself up.
Harry was already swinging again.
The second strike landed harder. Another sharp clang, followed by the dull crunch of metal giving way.
The red in its eyes guttered and went dark.
:: Spell [Vampiric Blade]: (+2 Vitae)
:: Spell [Vampiric Blade]: (+1 Vitae)
He moved without pause to the remaining two.
The next fell in a single blow.
:: Spell [Vampiric Blade]: (+3 Vitae)
The last, the one missing a leg, responded quicker. It tried to rise. It didn’t get far.
:: Spell [Vampiric Blade]: (+4 Vitae)
H: 85 | V: 97 | TM: 52%
- Harry: The four desiccants are down. More stairs.
- Jo: Be careful.
- Stan: Any loot?
- Harry: Umm… one second.
He searched each of the sarcophagi.
The first held nothing.
The one-legged desiccant had the rusted sword.
The dwarf’s plate armor remained, now marked by two deep dents.
He reached the fourth.
And stopped.
- Harry: Jo, you’ll never guess what I found?
- Jo: Rats you can feed on?
- Harry: What? No… although…
He glanced around the chamber. No movement. No scratching in the walls. No threads.
- Harry: No. But better. I think it’s your bow, Zephyr.
- Jo: Really!
Harry turned the bow over in his hands. He wasn’t spending Vitae to identify it. Stan could do that later.
- Harry: I think so.
- Jo: You better make it out of there so you can give it to me.
- Harry: I’m working on it.
He slid the bow into his inventory, crossed the chamber, and started down the next flight of stairs.
As near as Harry could tell, this staircase matched the last. Long. Straight. Ending in a small platform.
He slowed near the bottom and peered into the chamber beyond.
A round cavern of worked stone opened before him. Shelves lined the walls, stacked with human bones. On the far side, another staircase going down.
Six longer shelves were spaced around the room, each holding a fully intact skeleton.
Each had the same sickly green thread he’d seen before.
Bone Shamblers.
Last time, these guys all got up at once, right?
:: System: Affirmative.
Alright. No problem.
He renewed the Vampiric Blade enchantment and pushed speed and strength higher. The nearest shelf stood a little above his waist.
He approached slowly, getting almost right next to it before the thread started to waver.
The hammer came around in a long, clean arc aimed at the skull.
The strike landed true. The shambler didn’t even twitch before its head shattered, bone collapsing into powder.
The others began to stir.
Instead of standing his ground, Harry backed toward the stairs. He climbed a few steps and waited.
They came at him in a loose cluster.
He stepped back one stair at a time, bringing the hammer down on whichever reached him first.
Crack.
Another.
And another.
It took only a few minutes.
He checked his combat logs. All together the kills returned 13 Vitae.
H: 85 | V: 100 | TM: 50%
Nice. A few more levels like this and I’ll be full.
Harry crossed the chamber and descended the next staircase.
At the bottom he stepped into a larger room.
Across from him stood a heavy wooden door bound in iron. A thick lever jutted from the wall beside it.
In the center of the chamber lay a heap of rotting bodies. Half dressed. Tangled together.
Blood Sense brushed something faint beneath the pile.
One thin thread.
Dammit. This is the rot something, right?
:: System: Affirmative. The Rot Bloomer. Once disturbed it will emit a spore cloud that will animate the bodies. Each body will become an undead and attempt to spread the Rot Puppet disease.
It’s a disease though, right? I’d be immune?
:: System: Affirmative.
You’re sure?
:: System: Increased risk correlates strongly with accelerated advancement.
You have a one-track mind.
Harry slowly approached the pile.
How many bodies would you say that is?
:: System: Best estimate is ten to twelve.
Alright. Let’s do this.
Harry continued forward and stopped at the edge of the heap.
The smell hit him hard. Thick and wet.
Fortunately there were no maggots or anything else crawling through the bodies. Unfortunately there were no rats.
Harry did not put much force into the strike as he brought the hammer down on the center of the pile.
Something burst at the bottom. A wet pop that sounded like a balloon.
He stepped back toward the stairs but did not climb them. He held his ground and watched.
The pile shifted.
Limbs twitched.
Bodies began to push themselves upright.
He slid Cedric’s hammer into inventory and drew a spear. A shield locked onto his arm.
I really hope this works.
:: System: Duly noted.
The first corpse staggered fully to its feet. Its head swiveled, empty black eyes locking on. Its arms stretched out as it shuffled toward him.
Harry let it close the distance.
When it was only a couple feet away he drove the spear forward.
The body burst apart in a spray of blood and body parts, showering Harry in gore. A cloud of fine green spores followed, clinging to his skin and armor.
Ah, dammit dammit dammit.
:: Warning: You have been inflicted with disease. (Rot Puppet).
:: System: Immune to disease (Rot Puppet does not take effect).
Harry checked his meters.
H: 86 .. 87 .. | V: 100 | TM: 50%
The next undead was already on him.
When it was over, Harry stood trying not to look down at himself.
He was filthy. Worse than filthy. Coated in blood and rot.
He wanted a barrel of water. To stand in it. To scrub until his skin burned.
He had one full barrel left. That was it. No telling when he’d find clean water again.
Instead he used wardrobe to strip, took a wool blanket from inventory and scraped as much of the viscera from his skin as he could. It wasn’t enough.
He equipped his second set of armor and left the filthy one in Outfit 1 to clean.
That was so gross.
:: System: Affirmative.
I think we’re finished at least.
- Harry: I think I’m done with this one. On my way out.
- Jo: Good job, Harry.
- Stan: I never doubted.
Harry crossed the chamber and grabbed the lever. He had to boost his strength and lean into it. Metal shrieked as it moved.
With a heavy clank the lever dropped. The iron-bound doors swung open.
He expected another portal. Or a long stair climbing back up.
Instead, the doorway opened directly into the white marble rotunda.
Stan and Jo sat back to back in the center of the room.
What? How?
:: System: It’s magic, Harry.
Harry stepped through. He glanced back.
The portal behind him had gone dull gray once more.
Stan and Jo got to their feet and started toward him.
Just as they reached him they stopped and took a step back.
Jo’s face went pale.
Stan squinted at him. “A bit ripe in there, was it?”
“You have no idea.”
Before either of them could say more, another set of messages appeared in his vision.
:: Congratulations on clearing the first and easiest of the Chambers of Attrition.
:: To proceed you must select one party member to enter the second chamber. If they fail, you must choose another. Or, you may now exit the dungeon.
:: Quest Available: Escape the Chambers of Attrition.
:: Rather than face the 2nd Chamber, you may abandon the dungeon and leave it unfinished.
:: All party members must accept this quest to open the exit portal.
:: Reward: +1 to Endurance. Each party member receives 100 gold
:: Accept Escape? (Y/N)
:: Quest Available: 2nd Chamber: Select one party member to enter 2nd Chamber.
:: Reward: Bonus XP for all party members, Gain access to the 3rd Chamber.
:: Accept 2nd Chamber? (Y/N)
***
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