by R. A. Mejia
Damage dealt: 3
Damage dealt: 4
My fists sting from the strikes, and I can feel the disturbing sensation of breaking rib bones underneath the rotting leather armor of the monster. The skeleton doesn’t seem to feel pain as it takes my attacks unflinchingly. It pulls back its arm to thrust its shortsword into me. I’m able to turn my body just in time to avoid being skewered but still feel a stinging pain along my abdomen.
Damage received: 2 (Glancing blow)
I dance back out of range of the skeleton and it’s sword to collect my thoughts. Since I have the opportunity to fight one of these skeleton’s one on one, I decide to use the opportunity to test out which magic hurts them. I yell out to the group, “I want to test which of my magic works to hurt the skeleton. You guys ok with the other one?”
Instead of responding I get a series of damage notifications.
Vrax deals damage: 3
Vrax deals damage: 3
Mary deals damage: 6
Mary deals damage: 5
Mary deals damage: 3
Your group has killed a Skeleton Warrior, lvl 6. You gain, 7 XP.
I hear a clatter of bones and armor hit the ground and peek around my opponent to see that the other skeleton has been defeated. Ok. I’ll take that as a yes.
Focusing on my own opponent, I gather my mana and prepare to spellwrite. I wait for the clumsy skeleton to try and slash at me with his sword before I dodge and rush closer. I quickly spellwrite the symbol for [Life] on the skeleton. Unfortunately, it actually does heal the monster. As a matter of fact I see its health bar restored for all the damage I dealt it. I know, I know. Kitsune already told me that life magic wouldn’t hurt the undead but a real scientist has to verify information for himself. It really is too bad since our super healer would have kicked those undead skeleton’s bony butts if healing magic hurt them. I’m morally obligated to tell the group about the failed experiment and yell out, “Tried healing against it, didn’t work.”
Kitsune yells back, “I told you so!”
I shake my head, knowing that’s what she was going to say. I still have lots of other spell options to try out as I repeat the process of dodging attacks and spellwriting on the skeleton.
After what seems like forever, I conclude my experiments. None of the elemental symbols I know does extra damage against the undead skeleton, and the only other test of note was the creation of a shield like effect using the combination of the ‘force’ symbols and directional symbols. Every time the skeleton ran into the symbol written in the air, it was forced back a step. It’s something I’ll have to look into when my group isn’t giving me the stink eye for taking such a long time with my experiments.
Having tested all the elemental symbols I know, I let Vrax finish off the skeletal warrior. He uses his tail like a whip and trips the skeleton. Once on the creature is on the ground, the kobold brings the heel of his scaled foot down onto the skeleton’s skull with an axe kick and the creature crumbles into a pile of bones and rotten leather armor.
I dismiss the notification telling me I gained another seven XP and sit down to recover my mana. The experiments with spellwriting were educational but proved that the skeletons aren’t particularly vulnerable or resistant to any type of elemental damage I can cast. With my current mana pool, I could cast ‘fire’ six or seven times for a moderate amount of damage. Of course, I could also send a significant amount of mana through the ‘fire’ symbol for more damage, but that would lessen the number of times I could cast the spell. Let’s be honest, hitting the skeletons with my hands and feet using the [Unarmed Combat] skill would do just as much damage and it wouldn’t cost me any mana. It’s just a shame that it hurts to punch the bony skeletons through their armor so much.
Then an interesting thought occurs to me. Why do I have to hit the skeletons with my bare hands? I can totally Thing this thing up. I remember reading in Lilliandra’s Journal that spellwriters can shape their spells through their imagination and not just the symbols they use. So, after spellwriting the arcane symbol for ‘earth’ onto my left hand, I picture the mana flowing through the symbol and gathering not the loose soft earth around us but the hard stone and rock. I imagine particles of rock flowing through the symbol and gathering at the directional spell symbols, becoming one mass. A pressure builds up from the mental strain of working with the less malleable material, but it’s not so bad that I have to stop my work.
I find that this method takes more time and mental concentration that letting the spell gather material on its own but the results are worth the effort. When I feel my mana pool getting low, I open my eyes to see the results of my experiment, I find my entire left hand encased in stone. I think it’s kind of cool looking until I try to move my fingers and realize that I can’t. When I describe my hand as encased in stone, I’m not kidding. I literally can’t move any of the joints in my hand. I panic a little at the feeling but calm down when I realize that I can simply slam my hand against the wall until the rocks start to break off. Ok, rock glove experiment number one is a bust.
After recovering my mana, I begin experiment number two. I spellwrite the [Earth] and directional symbols to gather stone and rock to the area around my palm and knuckles. I’m definitely making stone knuckles this time, and I put twice as many directional symbols on the knuckle area so that section is twice as thick as the section wrapping around my palm. Once I’m satisfied with creating the stone knuckles, I start work on protecting the parts of my fingers that’ll be contacting an opponent when I hit them with my fist. It’s a delicate process that takes a long time to get right. I have to cover the segment of my finger closest to my palm with stone. But I can’t make it too thick, or I can’t make a fist. I can’t make it too thin either, or it all breaks apart after a few punches. I end up making the section palm side half as thin as the side protecting the top. When I’m done, it reminds me of pictures I’d seen of plate mail gauntlets. Segmented pieces of material that allow for movement but still offer protection along the non-jointed parts of my hand. It doesn’t look like it’s carved out of stone but rather like a grey version of the skin of the Thing from the Fantastic Four. I laugh out loud as I picture myself covered head to toe in armor made from this technique and yelling out ‘It’s clobbering time!’
It's a shame I can’t make stone chainmail to protect those joints. Still, it's not bad work. It actually reminds me of those gloves Ryu and Ken wear from Street Fighter. Hey, I wonder if this makes me a disciple of the stone fist branch of some martial arts style.
I test out the…wait, what do I call these things? They’re not gloves. They’re not gauntlets. You know, I’m really terrible at naming things. I’ll just stick to stone knuckles for now. Yes, I know they cover parts of my fingers too but calling them modified stone half gauntlets just seems a bit too much. Anyways, I test out the stone knuckles by punching the wall. I can feel the impact of each punch, but it’s muted. My punch feels a bit slower, but it also carries a bit more weight. The stone knuckles last for about thirty blows before I start to see cracks form. They last another fifteen before they break apart completely. Ok, that just means I’ll have to repair them about the thirty punch mark.
As I sit and contemplate the success of my latest creation, the bored voice of the dungeon master echoes in the dead end tunnel, “Do you plan to sit there all day? So far your group has been less than entertaining.”
I pop up from my seat on the stone floor and answer, “Sorry, I got caught up experimenting. We’re all ready to go.” I have to wake up Vrax from the nap he’s taken while I experimented and the rest of the group give me slightly dirty looks as they too get up and stretch. Guess I did take a little while researching. Still, I can’t wait to see the effect of my new stone knuckles in the next fight.
Chapter 4.9
The second level of the dungeon is harder than the first, but after my experiments, the skeleton warriors don’t pose much of a problem. The more annoying part of the level is that
it’s a maze. We get lost no less than three times before Kitsune suggests we start marking which turns we make by scratching the stone walls with arrows. After that, it was just a matter of exploring all the possible pathways in the dungeon. We run into more skeletal warriors, but with Vrax’s new tail whip move and my new stone knuckles we can knock one of them down and have it beaten to a bony pulp in just a few moves. Mary summons Mr. Snuggle Butt to guard her and Kitsune while Vrax and I work. She also helps manage the larger groups of skeletons we occasionally run into with [Nature’s Grasp], immobilizing any new enemies until Vrax and I can pummel them.
I have to say, I think our communication skills are really improving. When we come upon a group of skeletons, I call out which skeleton warrior Vrax and I are going to attack first by pointing at it and yelling ‘Target.' Then Mary calls out ‘Holding the rest’ and casts [Nature’s Grasp] on the remaining skeletons. Sometimes one of the skeletons will free itself from the vines and get loose. When that happens Kitsune yells out, ‘loose ball,' and Vrax goes to attack it. When either Vrax or I take too much damage, Kitsune calls for the Turtle defense formation. Vrax and I immediately pull back from whatever we’re doing and return to Mary and Kitsune to get healed.
In addition to the skeletal warriors, we encounter skeletal archers. These skeletons don’t even have the basic rotting leather armor that the warriors do and only have fifteen health points. While they are much easier to kill when Vrax or I get close, they’re actually a bigger danger to Mary and Kitsune. The archers seem to automatically target our mage and healer and start to fire upon them as soon as the fighting starts. Since [Nature’s Grasp] doesn’t stop the archers from using their bows and arrows, they become the priority targets for Vrax and I to kill.
All told we kill twenty-two skeletal warriors and eight skeletal archers before we find the door that leads to the boss room. It nets us two hundred and ten XP each. Which helps everyone towards their next level but actually levels up Kitsune to level five. Knowing how hard it can be to get XP, every level gained is a special occasion. So, we all congratulate her on gaining the level. Even the dungeon master drops a quick ‘congrats’ before falling silent. I examine my own [Status Screen] and see that I’m only two hundred and nineteen XP away from level five myself.
Additionally, we gather sixteen rusty swords, six rusty axes, eight rotten short bows, thirty-six arrows, and a bunch of trash loot like skeleton bones and skulls. I guess I shouldn’t complain about the loot drops since the dungeon master is guaranteeing food and water at the end of each level. Plus, he did promise that skill book if we beat the boss on this level. Still, it gets annoying the twentieth time when the loot bag drops and there is just a femur in it. Sure, Mr. Snuggle Butt loves all this loot, but it doesn’t help the rest of us much.
When we finally find the double doors that lead to the boss, it’s at the end of a large open room. Only the doors are bathed in light. The rest of the chamber is suspiciously dark, and it’s hard to gauge exactly how large the room is, but it's definitely bigger than any of the tunnels we’ve seen up until now. Our group enters the room through an opening a little bit taller and wider than me. The little light from Mary’s globe of illumination doesn’t touch the sides of the chamber or the ceiling, which means they’re more than ten feet away. Even with my [Darkvision], I can’t see the ends of the room as we enter. We can only see clearly the doors leading to the boss room, which are a good hundred feet away. We move into the room in a tight defensive position, Vrax and I in front ready to fight. Kitsune a few feet behind us. Mary flying above Kitsune with the light and Mr. Snuggle Butt following behind in case something tries to attack us from the rear.
We’re slowly making our way across the room, taking our time in case there are any traps. When we’re about halfway to the double doors that lead to the boss’s room, lights flare up all around the chamber. Torches that line the far walls light up with blue flame. I’m temporarily blinded by the sudden bright light since I still have [Darkvision] active and instinctively cover my eyes while I deactivate the ability. I hear whistling sounds all around me and feel the painful sensation of something piercing my arms and legs.
Damage received: 4
Damage received: 3
Damage received: 2
Damage received: 5
I hear Mary cry out from above me, “Archers! Retreat back to the hallway!”
While I try to blink away the spots still dancing in front of my eyes, I feel a hand on my shirt pulling me backwards. I turn around and grab the scaly hand guiding me and run. I feel another sharp pain in my backside as an arrow hits.
Damage received: 4
I bite back a cry of pain as the last of the spots in front of my eyes disappear. I can see that we’ve made it back past the entryway to the room and into the tunnel that runs perpendicular to it. The group is leaning against the tunnel wall to the right of the entryway breathing hard from the sprint out of the room. A few arrows hit the wall that’s opposite the entryway, but we’re out of danger from the archers for now.
Examining each member of my team, I can see that I’m not the only one that got hit by arrows. Each member of the group has injuries, even our most agile team member, Mary. I glance to the upper left corner of my vision, where the health, stamina, and mana bars for each member of the party are. I can see that I took the most damage, but everyone is down some health. Kitsune pulls an arrow from her thigh, and she barks out, “Everyone, pull the arrows out so I can heal the wounds. If you can’t reach an arrow, have someone help pull it out for you.”
Mary dismisses poor Mr. Snuggle Butt, who has so many arrows in him he looks like he’s turning into a porcupine. After the wolf disappears in a cloud of smoke, Mary flies over to my arm and tries to pull out the arrow sticking out of my shoulder, but the shaft is too big for her. I thank her for the assistance and pull the arrow out myself. I can’t help but grimace at the sharp pain when the arrowhead leaves my flesh. I pull out the four arrows that I can reach on my own, but I have to ask for help to get the one that stabbed me in the butt. Though he’s grinning widely, Vrax is kind enough to not laugh out loud as he tugs on the arrow embedded in my behind. Apparently, the arrowhead is caught on something because he can’t pull it out with just his hands. I have to lie down on the stone floor while Vrax braces his clawed foot on one butt cheek and pulls on the arrow lodged in my other one. I hear open laughter from Mary as I lie there, the arrow tugging at the sensitive flesh of my posterior. I glance up and even see Kitsune covering her mouth, trying not to laugh.
The dungeon master isn’t as polite though. After asking why everyone is laughing Mary tells him what’s happening in detail and I hear an echoing, “YoHoHoHoHo!” as he laughs at my misfortune. Finally, the arrow comes free with a loud plop, and I feel like my ass has been stung by a thousand bees. I try to sit up, but the effort only causes more pain when my injured butt cheek touches the ground. I decide standing up is the better option.
By the time I’m back on my feet, most of the laughter has subsided. I say most because Mary continues to giggle every time I rub my sore butt. Kitsune is more sensitive to my pain and tends to my injuries with her healing magic. Though, she too snickers a little when she touches my butt to heal it of its wound. I’m the last one to get healed, and Kitsune is out of mana. She says it’ll only take her about twenty minutes of meditation to recover all her mana, but she’ll be vulnerable while she’s meditating and will need us to protect her. As the fox woman sits cross legged and closes her eyes, the rest of the team talks about how to handle the archers in the other room.
“I was blinded when the lights went on. What happened?” I ask.
“Brood brother, you are very lucky you had me to help you escape the room. There were many archers on the walls. Lots of arrows fall down on us.” Vrax answers.
I turn to Mary who’s hovering near Kitsune, I raise an eyebrow silently requesting more information. She says, “Vrax is right. Once the lights went on, there were a
dozen skeletal archers along the walls on wooden platforms. Thankfully, they were trapped up there, or they would have chased us after we left the room.”
I decide to see for myself what the two of them are describing and peek my head around the corner of the entryway into the chamber. I’m only able to stick my head out for a second before I have to pull it back and three arrows fly through the space my face recently occupied. Even though it was a brief glance, I can tell that getting to the boss’s room won’t be easy. We’ll have to figure out some way to kill those archers without becoming pincushions. There are four wooden platforms attached to the walls of the room. One on either side of the double doors that lead to the boss room. And one on each of the walls to the left and right of the entrance. It’s a perfect setup to ambush anyone coming into the chamber. The moment we step foot in there, we’ll be attacked on three sides. I don’t think we’d have a problem killing all the archers if we could reach them up on the platforms. Unfortunately, from what I could see there really isn’t a way up there.
I sit and ponder our predicament before suggesting, “Hmmm, I guess we could use the bows we took from those skeleton archers, but I don’t like our chances of hitting anything with them since none of us has that weapons skill.”