:: Shadow Manipulation (0) (Passive, cost: 0)
:: Passive Concealment. Always active when lighting conditions apply.
:: In dim or low light conditions, shadows naturally deepen, making detection more difficult. Minor sounds such as footsteps, breathing, and fabric movement are muffled.
:: Only active in partial or low light. No effect in bright light or magical illumination.
:: Does not suppress loud noises such as speech or combat sounds.
:: No active control at level zero.
Alright, so I’m more sneaky, but not something I need to worry about using.
:: System: Affirmative.
Harry crept through the cavern and angled toward the third passage on the left. His footsteps muted under the shadow ability. Ahead, a torch flickered to life about fifty yards out. As he neared it, another farther down sparked and settled into a steady burn.
Well that’s not good. Anyone watching will know someone is coming.
:: System: Affirmative.
Any way to turn that off?
:: System: At [Shadow Manipulation: 5] you gain [Cloak of Shadows]. Which grants concealment from magic. Making the user undetectable and untraceable.
That would take a lot of skill points. That’s it?
:: System: The [Vampire] subclass [Blood Stalker] grants access to the skill [Hidden] which has the same benefits.
Yeah, but no healing. Forget that.
He slipped into the third tunnel and the torchlight disappeared behind him. Darkness swallowed everything. His eyes adjusted instantly. The world shifted into a palette of grays and silvers, every edge sharp, every contour clear.
His Blood Sense showed nothing human. Nothing big. Just the small scurrying lives clinging to the stone. Crickets, beetles, millipedes. Spiders crouched in the corners, their webs catching the faintest reflection when his gaze drifted over them.
Harry moved deeper, steps quiet on the cold stone. The tunnel breathed around him, faint currents of air carrying the mineral bite of damp rock and the musk of whatever lived down here.
He moved cautiously through the tunnel. It didn’t run straight, bending and breaking off into side branches, and the uneven turns forced him to slow his pace. Somewhere ahead, a steady drip echoed through the stone, sharp and rhythmic, and he kept aiming toward the sound.
The deeper he went, the more life he sensed. Nothing close enough for threads, but presence flickered at the edge of his awareness, first ahead of him, then off to both sides as well.
He stopped at each side passage, leaning in just far enough to scan for movement or anything waiting in the dark.
Some of the branches narrowed to low crawls, barely wide enough for a single person. Others turned upward into tight vertical slits or ended in sudden drop-offs that vanished into darkness. A few opened into broader pockets that split again into more winding tunnels.
Just how big do these dungeons get?
:: Scanning…
:: System: Very big.
Thank you.
The passage he followed widened without warning and opened into a broader cavern with smooth, rounded walls. The air shifted cooler as he stepped in, still and close around him. The smell of water hung in the space, clean and mineral-bright.
A wide pool filled half the chamber, its edges rough and uneven where the stone dipped and sloped toward the water. Most of the surface lay still, glass-black and deep, broken only by the faint ripples from the steady drip overhead. He walked to the edge and crouched. No fish in the pool. Not even insects.
Life pressed in from the passages, brushing at the edge of his sense. Similar to cows. Maybe the giant rats. But nothing came close enough to worry about.
He turned his attention back to the pool.
Well, you’re immune to poison, right?
He knelt, scooped a handful of water, and brought it to his face. He swished a mouthful, forcing himself to swallow, and wiped his mouth with the back of his wrist.
Yuck. When I find Martha, convincing her I don’t need four quarts a day won’t be easy.
He held still, waiting for any messages.
None came.
System, would bacterial infections cause a warning?
:: System: Affirmative
He let out a slow breath and looked around the chamber. His Blood Sense brushed against movement in the dark, two bodies drifting closer. Large. Heavy. They lingered at the edge of his awareness, then turned and moved away before reaching the pool.
He focused and pushed a bit of vitae into one of his new skills.
:: Skill [Identify]: Successful (Active, cost: 1 vitae) (60 seconds remaining)
V: 103 | TM: 6%
No magic light came off the pool, but the residue at the bottom of the barrel gave a faint glow. He knelt, scooped water into the barrel, swished it around, and dumped it away from the pool. He repeated the cycle as fast as he could until the glow washed out completely.
When the barrel was as clean as he could get it, he filled it and started back to the others.
As he stepped into the room, Jo stood about fifteen feet away with the lightning bow raised, arrow pulled back and aimed straight at him. She lowered it when she saw him. “How does it look out there?”
“Quiet,” Harry said. “I found the pool.”
He scanned the room. Cedric stood beside Toby, holding the bandages in place, his new hammer leaning against the table within easy reach.
Nick sat on the floor, tied hand and foot. Stan sat a few feet from him with a spear resting across his lap.
All their packs had been brought down, along with a surprisingly large pile of broken bones.
He looked around and crossed to a small alcove opposite the center altar table, a narrow space with a stone shelf jutting from the wall, and set the barrel down.
“Cedric, where did you put the magic torch?”
Cedric pointed to a sconce beside Harry. “It’s there. I got tired of holding it.”
“That’s fine,” Harry said. “Here we go, the moment of truth.”
He lifted the torch from the bracket, keeping the flame angled away from his clothes and skin, turned it, and dunked it into the barrel.
The flame kept burning under the water, steady and bright.
“Yes!” Harry grinned. “It works.”
He moved to Toby and checked him over. No change, still lying comfortably, breathing steady.
I could have really used mesmerize in my practice.
“Jojo, get all the bandages and salt from the medical kits. Put them here on the table.”
Nick, watching from the floor, coughed and spoke up. “If ya need it, Korven’s got a good amount in ‘is supply.”
Harry looked up, eyebrows lifting. “Where?”
“Under the altar,” Nick said. “Slide the door.”
Harry dropped to a knee beside the stone block. It took him a minute of feeling along the edges to figure out how the panel shifted, but it finally slid open. He let out a sharp breath.
Jo moved closer to look. “What is it?”
Harry stood and turned toward Nick. “I could kiss you.”
Nick went pale, fear jumping back into his eyes.
“No, no, not like that.” Harry glanced at Stan. “Stan, give Nick a pat on the head. I think he might have just saved Toby’s life.”
Stan reached over and gave Nick an awkward pat. Nick stared up at him, confused but clearly relieved.
Harry turned back to the cabinet and started pulling things out. A large burlap sack of salt. Stacks of dirty bandages. A heavy iron pot. An oil burner with a brass reservoir. Scalpels wrapped in stained cloth. Clamps crusted with old blood. Small leather pouches packed with powders and dried herbs he didn’t have time to sort through.
He stopped short, breath catching. “Tubing!” Coiled lengths of leather tubes lay jammed in the back, pliable but crusted with dried blood and whatever else Korven had used them on.
He found needles next and a bundle of wax-coated thread. The needles were as filthy as everything else, but the thread at least looked clean.
“Stan, do you know how to set up this burner and get it going?”
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“Aye,” Stan said. “Ain’t difficult.”
While Stan started on that, Harry checked the barrel with the torch. The water was already warming. He dumped some into the pot, swished it around to rinse it, dumped it out, then repeated the rinse before pouring the rest in and setting the torch inside.
“Stan, when you get the fire going, put the pot on. I’m going for more water.”
Harry grabbed both small barrels and made several trips. Between the burner’s flame and the submerged torch, he kept the pot and one barrel at a steady boil. He worked fast, cycling tools through, cleaning and sterilizing the scalpels, clamps, leather tubes, anything he thought he might need.
He took extra time with their waterskins, rinsing them with hot water first, then hot salted water, then a splash of their whiskey, and finally a pour of boiling water to finish the job.
To speed everything along, he started dipping his fingers and hands into the near-boiling water. Each time he did it he clamped his jaw tight against the pain, ignoring the blisters and swelling. Anyone watching flinched away every time he did it. When the damage or the pain pushed too far, he used vitae to self-heal and kept going.
He had to make several more trips for water, passing fairly close to the giant rats several times. They never noticed him or reacted, whether because they saw him as just another rodent, like their regular sized cousins or because his lack of smell and the shadows masking him kept him hidden, he couldn’t tell.
Finally he was ready. Everything was clean and as sterile as he could manage. Hopefully the antiseptic poultices he had waiting in four of their cups would do their part.
He had turned their five waterskins into saline solutions and jury-rigged one of the spears and two wooden crates into an IV stand, hanging the skins from a cord so he could raise or lower them to control the flow speed.
“Cedric, do Status Screens tell you how much health you have?”
Cedric nodded. “They do, Sir Harold. But only as a percentage.”
“How much do people have?”
“It varies. An average healthy adult has around thirty. A strong boy like Toby will have more. Maybe forty.”
Boy… Harry shook his head. Toby was older than Cedric.
Harry set a hand on Toby’s chest and bent close. “Toby, can you hear me.”
Toby whispered back, voice drifting in a sleepy fog. “Can I hear you? I think so…”
“We’re going to start soon. What health does your status screen say?”
“Hmmmm?”
“Your status screen. How is your health?”
“It’s pretty… yellow…” Toby drew the word out.
Harry looked to Cedric. “Yellow?”
“Mid-range,” Cedric said. “If he has sixty health that could be as low as twenty-five.”
Harry let out a slow breath and nodded. “Alright.”
Harry hung one of the waterskin IVs from the spear, connected a tube, and paused. “Guys, I’m about to do something you won’t like. But don’t freak out.”
“I don’t know what freak out means,” Jo said, sounding nervous, “but I’m already nervous.”
Cedric nodded once. “We trust you, Harry.”
Stan shifted his grip on his spear. “Sounds interestin’, don’t it?”
“Look,” Harry said, “we need to put this tube into one of Toby’s veins, either his neck or his leg. The neck will be easier.”
Jo looked skeptical. “Why does he need a tube in his neck?”
“We’re going to feed these saline solutions, salt water, into his blood. It will help with the blood he’s going to lose when we take out the arrow… the bolt.”
Cedric frowned. “Replace blood with water?”
“Yes,” Harry said. “Not all of it, but enough that his body still has plenty to keep working. In my old life, I did this hundreds of times.” He looked around the group. “Do you trust me?”
Stan nodded. “Seems ya know what yur doin’ to me.”
Jo looked at Stan, then at Harry, and nodded as well.
Cedric gave a firm nod. “What do you need me to do?”
“First, close your eyes or look away if you’re easily shocked.”
Everyone stepped in closer, eyes locked on him. Even Nick scooted to the side so he could get a better look.
Harry shrugged, alright then. “I could use a scalpel but none are really what I’d call sharp and I have a better tool to make a perfect hole.” He paused and looked around. They were all listening intently. “A built in tool.” Confused looks. “In my mouth.” Jo was the first to understand and gasped. Harry extended his fangs and pulled back his lips so everyone could see.
Jo put an involuntary hand to the dagger at her belt. “You’re going to bite Toby?!”
At least I hope it was involuntary.
“Yes, but just real quick to make the puncture.”
“Harry,” Stan waited for Harry to look and make eye contact. “Swear to me he ain’t gonna sprout fangs, yeah?”
Harry retracted his fangs and smiled. “No, it doesn’t work like that. According to System it takes a special subclass, which I don’t have… and never will.”
Jo stepped back to give him room. “Alright then. Go on. Toby’s waiting.”
Harry hesitated.
System, maybe I should cut an incision. There’s a chance I could lose control as soon as I bite down, right?
:: System: Affirmative. At [Willpower: 11] the chance is low, but not zero. You do have the two available attribute points from the Quest Clear First Level of the Chamber of Attrition.
Right. And more willpower will help when I’m up to my elbows in Toby’s guts.
:: System: Affirmative. It will also improve resistance to any future mind control attempt.
He quickly explained to the others he was spending his quest bonus and sat down in case he felt overwhelmed again.
Alright, System. Go ahead.
:: System: Confirm upgrades: +2 [Willpower]? (Y/N)
Yes, do it.
Harry felt a brief sensation of nausea followed by the popping sensation in his head. He stayed sitting a few minutes making sure it had passed.
When he was ready, he stood and nodded to the others, extended his fangs again, bent over Toby, tried to ignore everyone staring, and got it over quick.
He was very proud of the fact that he only had a very small urge to bite deeper. Drink until he was full. Satisfy the hunger. Nope. Small urge. Tiny. Really, not even worth mentioning.
Didn’t even have to make a willpower save.
:: System: Duly noted.
He stood back up and carefully inserted the end of the saline tube, using his fingertips to feel the flow. Too fast. He lowered the waterskin with the leather cord until he got the slow speed he wanted.
After that he and Cedric carefully lifted Toby’s chainmail, padding, and wool shirt up and over the bolt and worked them off.
Harry set one of the water barrels on the table close by. It had been heated to boiling but was now only warm. He handed Cedric the last empty tin cup. “I’m going to need you to flush out the wound as I work. If it gets too full of blood I can’t see what I’m doing.”
“Aye, Sir Harold. Just give me the nod.”
“Here we go…”
He used what he judged was the least dull scalpel to make an incision on both sides of the bolt shaft, opened the tissue enough to see what he was dealing with, and got to work.
Blood welled up immediately.
He nodded to Cedric, who flushed the area with warm water from the tin cup.
Harry studied the damage. The shaft sat close to the artery and might be deep enough to reach the liver.
Harry gripped the shaft firmly.
“Toby, stay relaxed. Slow easy breaths.”
He pulled it out in one smooth motion.
Toby groaned and jerked under his hand the moment the bolt slid free. Every muscle locking in spasm before relaxing again.
Blood immediately flooded the wound cavity.
“Toby, you’re doing good. Slow breaths alright?”
As he talked to Toby he packed the top of the liver with clean padding and pressed down.
Something pulsed against his fingertips, spilling blood in time with Toby’s heartbeat. A nicked artery in the chest wall.
He nodded to Cedric, who flushed the wound again. Harry searched for the source of the bleeding.
A small arterial spray pulsed between the ribs. He pressed a clean cloth to it.
“Cedric, the hot blade.”
Cedric reached for one of the red hot scalpels resting in the burner’s flames and handed it over.
Harry lifted the cloth. Cedric flushed the area with water. Harry isolated the damaged artery.
He pressed the hot blade against the vessel.
A sharp hiss filled the space and the smell of burning flesh rolled up from the wound.
Toby jerked again despite the Mesmerize.
Harry checked. The bleeding had almost stopped. He nodded to Cedric, who flushed again, and he pressed the hot blade a second time. A groan escaped Toby.
Cedric flushed it again. The bleeding had stopped.
Harry handed the blade back to Cedric, who returned it to the flame.
“Cedric, mix in some of the boiling water in your cup.”
Harry held out his hands and nodded. Cedric raised his eyes in question. Harry nodded again. Cedric dumped the scalding water over Harry’s hands as he scrubbed them together. To avoid alarming Cedric, Harry gritted his teeth and took it without flinching, spending a few points on self-heal.
Back to work. He removed the packing from the liver.
Still oozing, but not pumping.
Fresh cloth, firm pressure.
He counted to thirty.
He lifted the cloth. The oozing had slowed significantly.
He repeated the process. Fresh cloth. Firm pressure. Count.
The oozing had stopped enough to close.
Cedric flushed the wound again.
Harry inspected the intestines carefully.
He moved the loops of bowel gently, searching for punctures.
No tears. No leaking.
“Good. We got lucky. You hear that Toby? We’re doing real good.”
Harry stepped back and stretched while Cedric flushed the wound with their antiseptic solutions.
Harry paused and leaned in again, checking every inch of the cavity. No clots. No debris.
A final check for bleeding.
“We’re done. Let’s close him up.”
In the boiling pot he had a bundle of needles and lengths of thread tied together, with a separate long piece of thread knotted to the bundle and draped over the lip of the pot so he could pull it out.
He reached for the thread to retrieve them but fumbled it. It slipped from his fingers and fell into the boiling water.
“Dammit.”
“Hold on, I’ll get…” Cedric started.
Harry plunged one arm into the boiling pot and grabbed the thread and needle.
Holy shit that hurt.
Jo gasped and stepped in closer but he waved her back with the other hand.
System, heal please.
He stood a moment practicing his breathing as the pain slowly ebbed away.
Finally he took a deep breath, rolled his shoulders and moved back to Toby’s side.
The stitching at the end had always been his favorite part of surgery. If he had done a good job, it meant another life made better. Maybe saved. He flashed a smile to everyone and started. The membrane around the abdomen first. Small delicate stitches. The needle slid through cleanly.
Muscle layer next, pulling it snug.
Skin last, neat and careful.
Cedric cut the thread after each one.
Done with the closing, Harry put a clean cloth over the wound and used more to wrap around Toby’s torso. Not too tight.
With the wound secured, he started his assessment. Neck pulse, good. Wrist, steady, weak but stronger than before. He took Toby’s hand and pressed a fingernail. Fast color return.
He watched Toby’s breathing. Nice and calm. Good color in his face. His forehead was warm, but not feverish. Yet. But they would deal with that later.
Harry used the old bandages from Stan’s arm to dry the table around Toby and pulled a blanket over him. He let out a slow breath and checked his own meters.
H: 99 | V: 80 | TM: 27%
Not bad. Wouldn’t want to do that very often.
:: System: [Self-heal] remains available. Full heal was withheld in accordance with your usual preference for lower thirst levels.
Thank you, System. You did good.
Harry stood back and looked around at the worried faces. He smiled and was met with grins and quiet sighs of relief.
He placed a hand on Toby’s head and ruffled his hair.
“Come on, Toby. The hard part is over. You got this.”
***
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