by Pirateaba
Ryoka stared up at Erin, and the innkeeper smiled encouragingly.
“Come on. We’ve got to keep going.”
“Of course.”
Ryoka was on her feet so fast Erin blinked.
“We can’t stop. We’ve got to get there in time. Let’s go.”
She started walking. Erin exchanged glances with the others and hurried after her.
Ryoka slowed to let Erin catch up, and even more so Ksmvr and Toren could move ahead again. After all, she’d proven she couldn’t do much if she got attacked.
Erin sidled up to Ryoka and kept pace as they walked further into the ruins. Ryoka could feel Erin glancing at her.
“You’re uh, that’s a pretty quick recovery, there. You feeling alright?”
“No.”
Ryoka was being honest.
“We could stop if you need more time—”
“We’ve got to get to the Horns of Hammerad. I’ll live. I’m just—I’ll be fine.”
Ryoka smiled bitterly.
“After all, it’s not like you need a coward to fight anyways.”
“Hey.”
Erin grabbed Ryoka by the shoulder.
“You’re not a coward.”
“I couldn’t fight back. I nearly got myself killed.”
“You were fighting with your bare hands—”
“I took martial arts lessons since I was eight. I’m a certified martial artist and I’ve been in fights countless times before this. I’ve seen monsters. But I couldn’t kill that zombie. Why? What’s the difference?”
Ryoka stalked on ahead. Erin thought as she hurried to catch up. After a few minutes, she offered the only answer she could think of.
“I guess it’s because you’re not a killer.”
She saw Ryoka stop in her tracks. The Asian girl stared at Erin, face shadowed in the light of the floating orb hovering next to her face.
“What?”
“It’s just a thought.”
Erin shrugged awkwardly. She couldn’t really explain it that well.
“It’s just—fighting, martial arts? All that stuff’s self-defense, right? And it’s like a sport.”
“So? It’s meant for combat.”
“But not for killing. Right?”
Ryoka hesitated.
“It’s not the first option, but if it comes to that…”
“But it’s never come to that, right? I mean, have you ever killed someone? Ever stabbed someone or broken their neck with a karate chop or anything?”
Ryoka thought back to the Goblin she’d kicked, long ago. She remembered the horrible way his neck had crunched and shuddered.
“Maybe. Once.”
“Well. I uh, I’ve killed a lot of things.”
Ryoka looked at Erin. The shorter girl looked away from her, into the darkness.
“The first thing I killed was a Goblin. A Chieftain, actually. He was huge and evil and he wanted to kill me—I burned his face off with boiling oil.”
It was as if Ryoka had taken a step that was no longer there. She stared at Erin as the other girl continued.
“I killed some other Goblins too, I think. Well, they were stabbing me so I hit them—and I killed some Shield Spiders, and then some undead. It’s not as if I’m an adventurer and go around killing things, y’know. But I had to. And the thing is, everything screams when it does.”
She looked at Ryoka. There was a hollowness in Erin’s gaze. A cold void.
“Everything. I don’t enjoy it. I hope I never will. But I can kill things. Other monsters, or even people. Not just dead people either. If it came down to it, I could kill someone trying to kill me.”
“I…I see. But I’ve fought people too.”
“But you’ve never killed them.”
“No. No, I haven’t.”
The pieces fell into place. Ryoka got what Erin was trying to tell her.
“I guess that’s why I became a Runner. I don’t have the—”
“Stop.”
Erin pushed at Ryoka, and the other girl stumbled. Ryoka looked back at Erin, and saw the other girl was shaking her head.
“It’s a good thing. It’s a good thing you can’t kill people. Even dead people.”
“But I nearly died. If it comes to it again, I might have to fight. Or kill.”
“And if you have to, you probably will. But I think not killing things is good, don’t you?”
“…Yes.”
After seeing the look in Erin’s eyes, Ryoka had to agree.
—-
“So, you don’t have a class? That’s so weird.”
Ryoka was getting used to Erin’s wide-eyed looks of surprise. There was something inescapably innocent about Erin’s curiosity. It just drew answers out of Ryoka that she had no intention of giving. That was the problem; it was easy to talk to Erin.
And worse, Ryoka enjoyed it. After the fight with the zombies, the undead presence had vanished for a time. Ksmvr and Toren had run across individuals and small groups which they dispatched without bothering to inform the others of, which left time for talking.
And suddenly, talking was something Ryoka wanted to do more and more with Erin. She had depths. Not like an onion or a cake or parfait or something stupid like that. She had depths like a puddle you stepped into which turned out to be as deep as an ocean.
But she was still refreshingly shallow in areas like this.
“It’s a uh, it’s a choice I made. I know it seems stupid given this world—”
“Oh, what? No. No, I don’t think so. I’m not judging. You do you, and all that. I was just wondering how you did things without skills.”
Ryoka was beginning to wonder that herself. But she had a theory, and she’d come too far to abandon it just yet. Maybe…but she changed the subject to keep the conversation light.
“You’re um, good at fighting.”
“You think so?”
Ryoka knew so. She’d seen Erin fighting with her frying pan, and despite the other girl’s lack of any kind of martial training, she was wickedly dangerous. And strong. Ryoka knew that was probably because of a Skill, but it amazed her even so.
“Why are you using frying pans, though? And what’s with all the rocks?”
“It’s all part of my master plan.”
Erin grinned at Ryoka as she brandished her new frying pan. She’d abandoned the old one a while back, claiming it stank too much.
“See, I’ve got this [Bar Fighting] skill, right? It only works when I use objects I could find in a bar, or in this case, a kitchen. If I pick up a sword I don’t move nearly as well and it’s harder to hit things. So I thought a frying pan would be perfect!”
“And the rocks?”
“I’ve got [Unerring Aim] and [Lesser Strength]. I can toss those things hard enough to kill some zombies.”
“That’s…actually impressive.”
Ryoka had to admit it.
“Yeah, well, I thought if you have the skills, why not use them, y’know?”
“It’s creative. I think that’s more the point.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, let’s assume this is a gaming world.”
Ryoka paused, and looked behind her. Pisces stared at her, and Rags yawned and looked around, clearly bored. She knew she shouldn’t be saying anything, but Pisces had heard most of their conversation. And Erin trusted him, and he’d fixed her leg. And there were others in this world anyways, so it wasn’t a big a secret as before. Maybe…
He’d probably already guessed something was up if he had half a brain, anyways. Ryoka turned back to Erin.
“Well, I’m no expert. I never played board games when I was younger.”
“Me neither. I mean, I tried D&D once or twice, but I like chess more.”
Another surprise. Where did they come from? Ryoka liked chess. Maybe she could play Erin a few games. Hopefully Erin wasn’t a sore loser.
“What I’m trying to say is that creativity always seems to be a hallmark
of those kind of games. You can’t do the same thing in video games, but instead of fighting your way through a dungeon, why not collapse the foundations? Or—or if you’re fighting an angry Minotaur, why not teleport him into molten lava or something?”
“Because that’d be really mean? I get it, though. You’re saying it’s possible to mess with the system, right?”
“Or at least take advantage of certain features. Assuming you want to follow the system, that is.”
Ryoka frowned to herself but stopped when she saw Erin looking.
“So like what did you have in mind?”
“Nothing in particular. But you know a lot of things from our world. It’s possible you could incorporate that into your inn, somehow.”
“Like how?”
“I don’t know.”
Ryoka had never put her mind to it. And now, trawling through dusty corridors below the earth wasn’t a good time to think of new ideas. She suddenly looked at Pisces, struck by a thought.
“Well, how about him?”
Pisces looked startled.
“Me?”
Erin frowned.
“What about him?”
“Pisces is a [Necromancer], right? He made that skeleton.”
“Toren.”
“Exactly. But have you ever made an undead that isn’t human? Or humanoid?”
Pisces frowned at Ryoka.
“I fail to see what you’re asking. I have raised many forms of zombies, ghouls, skeletons…”
“But never anything else?”
“Such as what?”
“A zombie bear, perhaps.”
“A zombie bear?”
Erin stared at Ryoka in horror. Ryoka shrugged.
“It would be far more powerful than a human zombie, I’m certain. Or if not a bear, what about a spider? Have you ever tried reanimating things without bones? How about undead mice? Could you turn them into spies? Or—undead birds? Can they fly?”
Pisces sniffed and drew his robes around himself defensively.
“You ask these things as if it were a simple matter. Nothing is further from the case, I assure you.”
“Oh yeah?”
Erin raised one eyebrow skeptically at Pisces.
“What’s so hard about reanimating a bear? Its got bones.”
“Ah, but the alignment is completely different. The skeletal structure of a bear throws off every spell, making specialization in such a creature far too complex to be worth the effort.”
Erin looked blank, but Ryoka thought she understood what Pisces was saying. The mage adopted a lecturing tone and his customary sneer as he explained.
“Necromancer spells aren’t simply a matter of reanimating dead matter with a bit of magical power. If it were that simple anyone could become a [Necromancer]. No, it require an intricate knowledge of the way each body works to get spells animating dead flesh to move right, let alone restore what was lost.”
“Yeah, but can’t you just read a book on how to do it? Someone must have made legions of undead bears at some point, right?”
Pisces shrugged.
“Even if they had, where would I read such a tome? Necromancy might not be outlawed in every nation, but it is frowned upon almost universally. Even Wistram had few books on the subject, and what spells I did uncover were standardized incantations for humanoids only.”
“Oh, so no one likes being a necromancer? That’s sad.”
Pisces sniffed.
“Yes, well, it is a rare form of magic. There were no teachers at Wistram I could study under. I had hoped to find one accomplished practitioner, but he had long departed and his findings were equally non-existent. And the only other authorities on the subjects tend to be crazed madmen or cults who practice inferior quality mass-summoning…”
He realized he was losing his audience. Pisces sighed.
“Suffice it to say, proper reanimation requires several factors. Necromancers use dead bodies because bones are ideal vessels for storing magical energy and spell bindings, whereas mere chitin decays too rapidly to sustain a long-form spell.”
Erin and Rags looked blank.
“What?”
Ryoka translated.
“He’s saying that he needs bones to properly animate a corpse. Spiders and other creatures without bones wouldn’t last very long since there’s nowhere to anchor the spell.”
“Oh.”
Pisces lost a bit of his swagger as he stared at Ryoka.
“That was…quite well said. I see you have some knowledge of the transmundane yourself Miss Griffin.”
“I’m no mage. But I understand bullshit quite well.”
Erin laughed as Pisces turned red.
—-
“So…you’re a Runner, huh?”
Ryoka nodded. She and Erin were alone again. Pisces had retreated with Rags to the rear, and they were still talking. It felt good to talk, and besides, the undead had been amazingly scarce. Suspiciously so.
“What did you do back home? I mean, did you have a job or anything?”
“I, uh, didn’t need to. My parents were pretty rich. I was going to be a Freshman in college when I disappeared.”
“Oh, really? I thought you would have already been a student. I mean, I’m twenty, but I took a gap year because I wanted to play chess and earn money for tuition. What about you?”
Ryoka cleared her throat awkwardly.
“I uh, took a gap year as well.”
Several, in point of fact.
“I suppose I just needed a break from High School.”
“That’s cool. I totally get that.”
“And you’re…an [Innkeeper]. How did that happen?”
Erin shrugged.
“I don’t know. I just wanted to find a place to be safe, you know? And I found the inn and it was really dusty.”
“Dusty?”
“Yeah, really dusty. So I tidied it up a bit and by the time I woke up I was an [Innkeeper].”
“Huh.”
“What about you? Why’d you decide not to get a class? I imagine you would have gotten one, what with running around all the time and all.”
“Yeah. I had the opportunity, but I refused. I didn’t think it was a good idea.”
Erin looked at Ryoka curiously.
“Why not?”
The other girl shrugged.
“This system – leveling, and gaining Skills seems too much like a game.”
“Yeah, it does. But why not play the game? I mean, without my class I would have died several times over. So what’s wrong with playing?”
“If we’re in a game, then there are rules. And someone who made the game. The question is: who? And what’s the way to win?”
“Not die, I guess.”
“Maybe.”
They found a long passage that seemed to slope downwards forever. Ryoka stared into the darkness and looked at Ksmvr.
“Is this the way down to the second floor?”
“It appears so.”
“That’s where all the adventurers never came back from, right?”
Erin shuddered as she stared down into the pitch blackness.
“And where that thing came from.”
Ryoka had never seen the thing Erin and the others spoke of, but she got the vibe from the way the others shifted. But still.
She looked at Pisces.
“You’re sure the message said to go down there?”
He nodded.
“I was told they were hiding on the second floor. More than that I can’t say. I’ve cast the same spell to ask for more details, but Ceria must be out of mana. Or…”
He didn’t say the rest. Ryoka nodded.
“We’ve got to go down there.”
Erin nodded, but she still peered into the darkness uncertainly.
“What if there’s a second one?”
“We run.”
“Oh. Good plan.”
It was probably the only plan that would work, too. Erin had no desire to fig
ht that skin worm a second time, and without an army of Antinium to back her up, she wasn’t going to try.
Although now that Erin thought about it, Ryoka was definitely the fastest out of all of them. It was probably a good plan for her, but Erin really hoped it wouldn’t come to that. She’d never liked gym class.
They descended into the darkness, one by one. And found….
Nothing.
—-
Nothing. Not a zombie, not a skeleton, and not even a severed Ghoul hand. The group of six walked through the empty second floor of the Ruins, alert for any movement and finding none.
They came to an empty chamber and saw where the Horns of Hammerad and other adventurers had stopped for a rest. Erin looked around at the few dead bodies that hadn’t gotten back up and sighed sadly when she found Hunt lying still in a corner.
“Poor guy. He was just lying here with the others. I guess he must have been wounded or something.”
Ryoka stared at Hunt. She thought she recognized him, but his face was badly decayed. She shook her head.
“Whatever got these adventurers must have gone through quick if they couldn’t move their wounded.”
“No.”
As Ryoka looked at her, Erin explained.
“It was the monster. The skin monster. He—projected fear. So much that you couldn’t even move when he looked at you. Even if the adventurers were ready, I don’t think they could have countered that.”
Ryoka’s stomach twisted as she looked at the dead adventurers, butchered where they lay.
“But this is only a few of them. Where are the rest?”
They found out soon enough.
—-
“Oh god.”
Erin stared down the corridor where Skinner had first appeared and wondered if she was going to throw up this time. It was a horrible sight. Ryoka had thrown up again, and even Rags and Pisces weren’t looking too happy.
The place where the Horns of Hammerad had fought their last and the open doors where Skinner had first emerged was still a scene of blood and death. Dried blood and rotted flesh, but carnage it remained. Erin walked down the corridor, trying to skirt the worst of the bloodbath.
The bodies stank of rot. Erin felt her stomach heaving even from this far away, and she was only glad that they were too far down for insects to have begun eating the bodies. Or rather, what remained of the bodies.