:: System: Your grip is drifting. Rotate your left wrist inward.
He adjusted without comment.
:: System: Weight too far back. Shift forward. Better.
The corrections came steady and precise. Helpful, and exactly what he wanted. Harry kept going, running the point out, drawing it back, guarding high, dipping low, trying to let the motions settle into something natural.
Steel bumped lightly at each step. Toby’s longsword rode at his left hip. The dagger and mace hung at his right. His shield tight on his left arm and the spear gripped in both hands.
When he started back in the hidden room, he’d felt ridiculous, swinging a spear like some greybeard LARPer who got lost on the way to the convention. But an hour of drilling had changed that. The moment he’d stopped fighting the feeling, his body had started falling into the right lines.
:: System: You are rapidly improving. This is expected. Skill [Melee Weapons] provides the foundational combat patterns. It is now a question of using what your body already knows rather than learning something new.
Yeah, I feel it. It’s like stepping back onto the dance floor after years of sitting home… Martha loved to dance.
He grinned, remembering when she had first taught him ‘how to move,’ as she called it.
I need to teach this world the Cumbia and the Bachata.
With a shrug he continued down the hall. The spear moved where he wanted now. Fewer snags. Fewer awkward angles. The motions came smoother, cleaner. Enough that he didn’t feel like an absolute idiot carrying half a medieval armory on him.
He settled into another set of thrusts as he advanced through the dark.
Harry continued down the tunnel while System called out commands, each one sharp and simple. Block low left. Thrust. High parry. Slice. He shifted his feet, set the spear, stabbed low, brought it back up, blocked again. The rhythm carried him forward.
Most of his attention stayed focused on the drills. A smaller part watched the tunnel through his Blood Sense, counting on System to warn him if anything stirred.
He'd gone maybe thirty minutes when he found himself in a square room with a ladder climbing up to a section of ceiling sealed tight with stone. The place looked nothing like Korven’s crypt. A small bed, a side table with an oil lamp, a wardrobe, cabinets along the wall, all coated under a film of dust.
The wardrobe held five black robes, all identical, all fine quality. Well-made wool, he thought as he ran the fabric between his fingers. On the floor beneath them, three pairs of boots.
He closed the wardrobe and moved to the cabinets.
The first held food. Bread reduced to crumbling fragments. Fruit desiccated into hard, shriveled lumps. Cheese that looked more like leather. All of it years old at minimum.
The second cabinet held a plain wooden box.
Harry lifted it out and set it on the table. Unlocked. Inside were coins. Lots of them.
System, how much is here?
:: System: One hundred seventy-three silver pieces. Three hundred sixty-two copper. This is consistent with eighty to one hundred low level individuals carrying standard traveling funds. Matching the number of failed expeditions Master Zinkle mentioned.
Don’t call him Master. He’s a pig.
Harry stared at the coins. At least twenty groups. All dead. All their money sitting here collecting dust because Korven had nowhere to spend it.
He closed the box and added it to his inventory.
Ploop.
But his inventory did not show what he expected. In one of the last slots, he saw Empty Coin Box. To the right of the grid, two new counters appeared. S: 173 C: 362
Harry blinked. That was new. He removed the box, sure enough it was empty. He set it on the counter.
Harry turned toward the ladder, then paused and glanced back at the robe closet.
System, my inventory also has a wardrobe?
His inventory view appeared with two mannequins next to the grid. One labeled Outfit One. The other Outfit Two.
Outfit One showed exactly what he was wearing now, every strap and weapon belt in place. Outfit Two stood empty.
He picked the cleanest robe from the wardrobe, focused on the blank mannequin, and pushed the robe toward it.
Ploop. The second figure now wore the robe.
Just will myself to switch?
:: System: Affirmative.
Harry tried it.
In an instant, the robe was on him. No transition, no shimmer. One heartbeat he wore his armor and gear, the next he stood in a black robe… and absolutely nothing underneath.
Free and breezy.
Nope.
After switching back and forth a few times, he figured it out. The outfit he had on was locked. Anything he equipped showed up on that mannequin, but he couldn’t adjust it directly. The other one let him add or move things around.
He tried it a few more times and realized he was getting distracted by his inventory again.
Alright, enough playing dress-up.
Harry moved to the base of the ladder. A heavy lever sat beside it, iron handle worn smooth. He pushed it down. Stone groaned overhead, grinding and shifting until the section above the ladder slid aside, revealing dim light.
He climbed up and emerged just inside the wide cavern entrance. To his right, the night sky stretched over a long slope falling toward light woods and rolling grasslands. To his left, the cavern stretched away, and as he rose through the hatch, a line of torches deeper inside blinked to life.
Harry studied the wall beside the opening. One stone stood out from the rest, cut to pivot into place over the opening. When he pushed it, the block swung across and locked with a solid click.
He checked the edges and found a narrow recess cut into the stone. He fit Korven's rod into it and turned. The lock released at once, and the stone swung back.
He closed everything up and stepped out under the night sky.
The star-filled night sky.
System, this is ridiculous. How can all this be in a dungeon?
:: System: Not every dungeon is the same. Some are wide open spaces. Others may be confined to a small underground cavern.
But stars?
:: System: The Dungeon Aspect is capable of deceiving your senses in many ways.
He looked out over the land. His night vision made it easy to take in the details. A dirt road ran from the cavern mouth and wound down through open grasslands toward a dark stretch of forest. Far beyond that, a mountain range cut a jagged line against the sky.
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Alright, well it looks like we have a safe shortcut to get this far. I’m going to stay up here and head back to the crypt. Do some exploring and maybe some rat hunting.
:: System: Be cautious.
Wait, what? I was expecting you to say duly noted.
:: System: This is an unknown cavern in level two of a dungeon. There will certainly be environmental hazards.
You’re right. I bet that’s how you get the good performance reviews.
:: System: Affirmative.
Harry slipped into the nearest side passage, glad to be out of the torchlight. The tunnel settled into the grays and silvers of his night vision, the muted palette oddly calming. He moved deeper, angling his path so he stayed pointed toward the crypt.
His Blood Sense caught a heartbeat ahead. A giant rat, about the size of a boar. He moved in cautiously until he saw it nosing into a patch of loose rock, digging out fat, pale insects that looked like millipedes. It didn’t react to him at all.
Better safe than sorry.
He triggered Mesmerize.
:: Skill [Mesmerize]: Successful (Active, cost: 5 vitae)
H: 99 | V: 71 | TM: 35%
The creature froze. He studied the best place to bite and settled on the neck. The hair there was long, coarse, and greasy. Worth it, though, when the blood hit his tongue. Far more satisfying than their miniature cousins.
Vitae flowed back.
H: 108 | V: 80 | TM: 27%
Only four vitae gained… oh well, should be plenty of them around.
He hunted a few more, using sip each time. But they took longer and longer to find. The tunnels felt emptier than back by the crypt entrance.
He was about to head toward the main cavern, looking for a better spot to hunt from, when he found the body of one of the giant rats.
Or what was left of it. It was almost unrecognizable. Drained of almost every drop of fluid, no blood at all. Half-melted, torn open, nothing left but hide and slick bones. The body was cold, but it didn’t look old. The bones still looked wet.
System, what the hell?
A message popped into view.
:: Accept Optional Quest: Where Have All the Rats Gone? (Y/N)
:: Objective: Investigate the cause of diminished vermin activity.
:: Reward: Bonus X.P.
What’s this?
:: System: As you explore dungeons optional quests will be offered. Often triggered by entering a zone of interest.
Should I take it?
:: System: Completing quests correlates strongly with accelerated advancement. Abandoning uncompleted optional quests has no negative consequences.
Alright then, yes, I accept the quest.
Harry crept farther back into the darkness. At the edge of his Blood Sense, four heartbeats flickered. One matched a giant rat. The other three were different, faint and thready, and he sensed them in a sick, ugly yellow.
A new kind of undead?
:: System: It is possible.
He moved forward in silence. As he closed the distance, the rat’s sounds reached him, a low moan, breath coming fast and shallow. Under it came a faint chittering.
He reached the last bend. He could sense them clustered just around the corner. He leaned out enough to look.
Two spiders, each about the size of fat house cats, clung to a rat pinned on its side by heavy webbing. The rat twitched weakly as the spiders fed.
Spiders? I hate spiders! Pretty unoriginal too. Those books and movies always have spiders.
He watched as the rat went still and quiet. The spiders kept eating.
Couldn’t you talk with the dungeon aspect guy, get them changed to vicious attack rabbits or something? I have it on very good authority they can be super dangerous.
:: System: Conceivably, yes. However it would allow the Dungeon Aspect to require further concessions and I would not recommend that course of action.
What, really? I was just venting.
:: System: Duly noted.
Movement caught his eye.
Oh yeah, there were four.
But what stepped out from behind a rocky outcrop wasn’t a spider.
It was… something else.
Tall, bloated humanoid body maybe five feet high. Thin, spidery arms and legs, each ending in long claws. Its face was worse, a cluster of small black eyes and a mouth packed with fangs and mandibles. The limbs were too long for the swollen torso, giving it a crooked, off-balance sway as it walked. A sick yellow thread of life flickered weakly in Harry’s Blood Sense.
It chirped at the two spiders. They skittered aside instantly.
The creature crouched over the rat’s remains, bent low, and sank its mouthparts in. A wet slurping sound filled the passage as it fed. The two spiders settled around it, grooming themselves in quick, jerky motions.
:: Quest Completed: Where Have All the Rats Gone?
:: Reward: 100 X.P.
Well, that was easy. Let’s get out of here.
Harry turned to slip away when another message appeared.
:: Accept Optional Quest: Exterminate the Exterminators? (Y/N)
:: Objective: Eliminate the predators feeding on the rats. (0/10)
:: Reward: Raise a select skill by one level.
Oh… what do you think?
:: System: Risk level is moderate. Spider Shepherds direct the others and use their web for restraint and paralysis, then feed once prey is immobilized. Chasm Spiders are fast, spit liquefying venom, and lack intellect. Eliminating them is achievable with caution.
Harry considered the quest.
I could instantly raise Frenzy to level three?
:: System: Affirmative.
Alright, I accept the quest. We can always run away.
He planned his approach. As quietly as he could, he unhooked his mace, shifted it into his shield hand, and rotated the spear into an overhand grip, ready to throw. He rose from his crouch and moved toward the feeding Shepherd, each step controlled, careful.
At about ten feet, the creature snapped its head up and stared straight at him. It stood, limbs unfolding, and let out a high-pitched squeal.
Its mandibles flared wide. Thick mucus pooled inside its mouth.
:: System: Web incoming.
Harry was ready. He pushed vitae into his strength, stepped forward, and launched his spear. The throw hit dead center in its chest, lifting it off the ground and hurling it back. A spray of pale fluid burst from the impact as it flew.
One of the spiders reacted instantly, spitting a glob of ugly yellow venom at him.
Harry was already deep in enhanced senses, watching everything move in slow motion as he brought up his shield.
But seeing in slow motion didn’t mean the real world actually slowed.
He only caught part of the spray. The rest arced over the rim and hit the side of his face.
Harry staggered as the venom hit his face. It stung hard, and the gunk in his eye blinded it completely.
:: Warning: You have been poisoned. (Liquefying Venom).
:: System: Immune to poison. Liquefying Venom does not take effect.
He shoved vitae into speed and rushed forward.
The second spider spat at him, but he was on it so fast the spray splattered across his legs.
He kicked the spider full-force, feeling its body burst on his boot. It flew into the dark and hit the rocks with a wet splat.
He spun toward the other one, but it had darted in close. Before he could react, it sank its fangs into his calf.
A sharp burn flared up his leg. He felt something pumping into him, working fast.
:: Warning: You have been poisoned. (Liquefying Venom).
:: System: Immune to poison. Liquefying Venom does not take effect.
He brought his mace down on it, crushing the spider flat against the stone.
He could feel the venom still in his leg, trying and failing to melt him from the inside. The messages kept flowing. You have been poisoned. You are immune.
He pulled up his messages to see what was happening. The venom in his body was constantly trying to melt him from the inside. He was immune so it wasn’t doing any damage, and 10% of the damage it would have done was actually healing him.
But damn, that stuff boiling under his skin hurt.
System, can self-heal get rid of that?
:: System: Affirmative.
:: Skill [Self-Heal]: Activated (Active, cost: 1 vitae)
H: 106 | V: 87 | TM: 21%
He used the back of one hand to wipe the spit out of his eye and looked around. Scrabbling and skittering echoed toward him from deeper in the passage. He ran to where the Shepherd’s body had fallen, yanked his spear free, and moved back the way he came, circling toward the noise.
That wasn’t too bad. Just try not to get bit. So, three down?
:: Objective: Eliminate the predators feeding on the rats. (1/10)
Well, that figures. Only the big uglies count. But he died easy enough.
He edged around another corner. Ahead, the space opened into an almost circular chamber. In the center stood another Shepherd with three spiders clustered around it.
He pulled back to plan his attack, but his Blood Sense caught more of them moving past on both sides. He waited to see what they’d do.
They turned back.
Right toward him.
He was surrounded.
***
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