Journey to the Unknown

by Jaclyn Cadell

  Finally, the skeleton shattered! Both Emett and Alison were breathless from exertion by the time this happened, and they both had to rest for a few minutes. Emett examined the remains of the skeleton while Alison looked through the contents of the sarcophagus. The sarcophagus was full of items, so Hat was busy identifying them as fast as it could. Some of the items were too big to fit under the hat while it was being worn, so they had to try a different technique. Alison or Emett could wear a hat and hold the item in both hands. This technique took much longer than the original, but it worked when given enough time.

  Several very important items were found, including a pair of gauntlets that the skeleton had been wearing while fighting Emett. Hat identified the gauntlets as the "Gauntlets of Locklear." These gauntlets imparted a nearly perfect resistance to the elemental forces of fire, lightning, and ice. That explained why Alison's fire balls, etc. had no effect on the skeleton. She could wear them and be as protected as Emett was by his armband.

  They found a leather jerkin which was a shield against physical blows. It was not perfect, but did reduce the force of the blow by 20%. Emett swapped his mail shirt for this, and it magically adjusted its size to fit him. There was a skullcap in the coffin which Hat said would impart some additional protection. It was good for a 12% reduction in the force of physical blows, so Emett donned that, also. There were some flasks of manna and some gold in the sarcophagus, so it was a real treasure trove.

  They didn't find anything in either of the other two sarcophagi, but still felt that they had been well rewarded for their efforts, so far.

  The strange room had only one door, and they were almost afraid to open it. The terrible stench seemed to peak at this door, and they were sure that they really didn't want to know what was behind it. However, curiosity, if nothing else, compelled them to open the door, so, after taking a deep breath in anticipation of how much worse it would smell inside, Emett flung the door open. The moment he did, a demonic, maniacal voice rang out with, "FRESH MEAT!" followed by a blood-freezing laugh.

  CLOSE THE DOOR AND RUN!

  Emett slammed the door and followed instructions. He ran around behind the room and Alison followed close on his heels.

  That was the diabolical monster known as The Butcher. He will follow you wherever you go, you cannot escape. He is absolutely invulnerable to anything but physical damage, so, Lady Amabel, your spells are useless against him. He is so strong that Lord Darius will have a very difficult time fighting him, much less defeating him, but defeat The Butcher he must, or neither of you will ever have a moment of peace.

  Lady Amabel, you must concentrate on using your healing spells to keep Lord Darius at full strength as he fights The Butcher. Keep watch on him and use a healing spell every time The Butcher's weapon makes contact. His cleaver is magical, so it does much more damage than it appears to. Never wait for Lord Darius to ask for help, for, by then, it may well be too late! Lady Amabel, you can run faster than The Butcher, so you can keep ahead of him; never let him catch you, or you are sure to suffer the most horrible kind of death.

  Lord Darius, you must never give up. Keep pounding on The Butcher; every blow that lands will do some damage, no matter how small. You must keep pounding in hope that you can kill him before he kills you! Remember, if you give up, you are condemning both you and Lady Amabel to the worst kind of death. The pain will go on seemingly interminably before you finally die.

  "Well, you sure as hell don't make this sound easy. I'll fight as long as I can, but it sounds to me as if Alison will have to work just as hard as I do. SHIT! There he is!" Emett was grateful for the net 32% reduction in blow effectiveness he was due to get from his new jerkin and skullcap; undoubtedly, he was going to need all of the help that he could get. Emett did have one advantage: he could reach farther than The Butcher. His arm was longer, and the handle of his weapon was longer; the combination gave him a reach advantage of about 2 feet. He hoped that he had enough skill to make use of this advantage.

  His disadvantage was that The Butcher had a magical weapon with increased effectiveness; whereas, his mace was of ordinary power and could only deliver what he could put into a blow all by himself. As he ran toward The Butcher, he heard Alison shout, "EMETT, DON'T FORGET TO SHOUT!"

  He had forgotten his one other advantage, one that he had forgotten to use in his recent battles. He paused long enough to utter a wordless battle cry which did seem to shake The Butcher when he heard it. "God help me!" Emett prayed. "I hope that did some good."

  The Butcher didn't have a shield. Perhaps that was simply because he had never before faced a hero as powerful as Emett and was over confident. Emett decided to concentrate on the monster's fighting arm, rather than its body. He could reach the arm without getting so close to the creature, while an attack on the monster's body would put Emett within reach of the monster's weapon. The problem was that the arm was a smaller target and might prove to be too elusive. Oh, well, Emett would have to experiment.

  Emett thought that he was probably faster than the creature, so that he might be able to get in a few free licks if he could dance around behind The Butcher when the monster was staggering as he tried to recover from a weapon swing.

  Finally, the battle was joined! Emett was faster and did get in the first blow, but it was like striking a concrete wall! The spikes on the head of the mace penetrated the skin of the monster's forearm, but no blood flowed. Didn't the Butcher bleed? If not, this could be even a longer battle than Emett had at first expected.

  The Butcher seemed unfazed by Emett's opening blow. He laughed in a very insulting tone, so Emett shouted his battle cry, again. This caused The Butcher to wince; aha, maybe the creature had an Achilles heel, after all.

  Wincing or not, the monster returned Emett's blow with one which Emett deflected with his shield. At that, the shield showed some damage, and the force of the blow staggered Emett a little. "My God! That was a glancing blow which was reduced in force by one third! Even then, it would have taken my arm off were it not for the shield!" Suddenly, Emett felt a burst of energy and good feeling; Alison must be keeping up her end of the fight by recharging him whenever he needed it. Emett stepped back one step and raised his fighting hand in acknowledgment of her help.

  The Butcher took the opportunity of this distraction to charge at Emett, hoping to catch him in a moment of lowered fighting efficiency. The creature was faster than Emett had expected, but not well coordinated; he charged past Emett when Emett refused to stand in one place and absorb the shock of the charge. Emett took advantage of The Butcher's uncontrolled charge by slamming a blow to the back of his head hard enough to drive the points of the mace through the scalp and against the bone of the skull. This staggered the monster, but Emett still had to defend himself as The Butcher returned immediately to the attack.

  They traded blows with Emett able to deflect them all with his shield, but that item of armor was beginning to show signs of the terrible beating it was taking. Meanwhile, Emett had been concentrating on the the monster's weapon arm in an effort to take something out of the blows he was receiving. Emett couldn't tell if the creature was tiring or if the blows to his arm were finally doing some good, but whatever it was, the force of the attacks on Emett had fallen off a little. Emett hoped that all he had to do was keep on the way he was fighting, and he would eventually win.

  The Butcher seemed to be slowing down, but Alison's healing spells directed at Emett kept him, pretty much, up to speed. Emett had not been able to turn every blow—some of them had gotten through his defense, but Alison's spells had saved his bacon. A couple of times, Emett had been hit with what would have been killing blows, but for Alison's healing spells. He was going to have to end this contest pretty soon, because Alison's spells never quite brought him back to 100% health. Emett was slowly wearing down, though her spells were enough to give him the healing he needed to keep going for a while longer. Eventually, though, Emett was simply going to have to stop and rest. Hopefully, Emett
could kill The Butcher before he ran down too far.

  Emett's shield was about to split completely in two. Alison frantically searched her memory for some way to help. Hat was not much help, though it was trying to come up with something useful. Alison was afraid of making the same kind of mistake that she had earlier made with the road dust; she didn't want to cook up a spell that did more harm than good. However, the situation was getting desperate, so she finally resorted to, "SHIELD, RETURN TO THE STATE YOU WERE IN 1 HOUR AGO!" This produced a shimmering blue ball that flashed over to the shield and covered it completely. Emett was momentarily distracted, and The Butcher wound up to deliver a mighty blow. The shield suddenly melded back together and looked brand new.

  The Butcher's mighty blow hit the shield while the blue aura was still in place. Somehow, this affected the monster's weapon in a weird way as it struck the shield. The Butcher's cleaver seemed to shatter as if it were made of glass and was striking a steel barrier. Shards of the weapon flew everywhere, and The Butcher just stood in place, completely dumbfounded. Emett reacted with renewed energy at this surprising event, and began striking The Butcher on and about the head with renewed vigor. All of a sudden, The Butcher's head seemed to split open and a gray, noxious gas came boiling and gushing out.

  The Butcher, while he was alive, had looked much like a giant swine that stood on its hind legs and had human-like hands. Its skin was pink and looked as if all of the hair had just been shaved off only a few minutes earlier. Now, the monster began to deflate like a leaking balloon that was losing all of its internal air. It shrank from nearly 7 feet tall to only 2 feet tall and turned a ghastly brown color. What was now its small body lay on the floor for a full 15 seconds, not moving. Then there was a gentle "puff" sound and the last of the body disappeared in a rapidly dissipating cloud of brown smoke.

  Both Emett and Alison stared at where The Butcher's body had been for a full 30 seconds before they relaxed. Alison ran to Emett and embraced him, then, both of them sank to the floor, completely exhausted. They must have stayed that way for 30-45 minutes, but Emett revived enough to say, "I have to rest, I can't go on much longer in my present state. Let's go back up one floor where it should be safe and sack out for the night."

  Alison agreed and they stumbled back to the stairs and struggled up the steps. They found a small room with a door that they could close and block with the cover from a sarcophagus. It wasn't comfortable sleeping on that stone floor, but they were both so tired that they really had no problem finding a way to do so.

  The next morning, they woke up, not really refreshed, but in a condition which allowed them to continue their trip through the nether regions below the church. They ate some food from their pack, drank some water from a trough which Hat said was safe, and made their way back down the stairs. They were now committed to solving the mystery presented by this strange conglomeration of cellars and monsters.

  Chapter Five

  Once back on The Butcher's level of the cellars, they started looking for more monsters. They cleared out the various rooms of monsters and treasure items before returning to the The Butcher's own residence. Alison had an inspiration before they went in. She discussed the idea with Hat and received approval, so she contrived a spell that gave them breathing masks to filter out the horrible stench of decaying bodies before they opened the door to that hateful chamber.

  They were met with a nauseating sight. The floor was covered with dried blood and human skins were hanging like sacks from hooks on the walls. Various body parts and internal organs were scattered about. All-in-all, it was a very disgusting sight, but, at least, they didn't have to smell it.

  Several chests were positioned seemingly at random around the room, and they took the time to examine each one. Most were filled with gold, but a few appeared to contain magic items which Hat identified for them. One of the items was a magic money belt which had an amazing set of properties. There was no limit to the amount of gold, platinum, or copper that could be put into it, the metal was stored in some magical "other dimension." As long as there was enough gold, etc. within the belt, the wearer was always able to withdraw the exact amount needed on that occasion. Thus, they had no further need to look up a money changer. They agreed that Alison should wear the belt, since there was always the possibility that Emett could lose it during combat. Alison and Emett dumped all of their gold and copper into the belt, but its weight never seemed to increase!

  Another item they found was a sorcerer's robe which Alison immediately donned. This robe provided some protection against attack by magic charges, something that they had not known even existed. The robe also boosted some of Alison's spell casting ability. For example, her fire balls now had an explosive component so that they would affect a volume of space, and not just the target actually struck. This was the equivalent of gaining weeks of experience with using her fire ball spell, and the ability was there as long as she wore the robe.

  The final item they found that they decided to keep was a ring which Alison donned. This ring provided some protection against poison attack and broadcast a protective field about 5 yards in diameter. As long as Emett was within that circle, he also had the equivalent protection from poison. The protection wasn't perfect, but it was proof against minor poison attacks. Emett was happy, because it gave him an excuse to stay close to Alison, as if he needed an excuse.

  Once they had looked over everything that was to be found in the various chests, they gratefully left that hell-hole and went down to the next cellar level. This level was similar to the previous two levels, and the odor of rotting flesh was gone. Alison canceled the breathing filters so that they would have the advantage of smell in detecting danger, but nothing was apparent, so far. They did meet and kill some more skeletons and zombies, but there was nothing remarkable about this level.

  They took a break for lunch and Alison noted that the supplies in the pack were running low. They would need to return to the inn to recharge their food supply pretty soon, but they were not looking forward to climbing the steps to return to the surface. They hoped that something would turn up.

  Emett noticed a purple glow in the air coming from a room they had not yet visited. They advanced down the corridor toward the glow. They reached the room and looked in. There was a pentagram painted on the floor with some strange symbols painted on each of the 5 points. The purple glow was covering the area of a circle surrounding the pentagram. They approached cautiously and Alison asked, "Hat, what is that?"

  It is some sort of transportation portal, but I have no idea where it leads. The only way to find out what is at the other end of the link is to step into the portal and see where it takes you.

  Emett said, "It may well be worth our while to investigate this. Let's give it a try. Give me your hand and we will step into its field together. But be ready to cast a defensive spell in case the link leads us to trouble."

  "OK, but I hope you know what we are doing!"

  The clasped hands and stepped into the field. There was a moment of total darkness, followed by the dim light of the church vestry. Alison said, "This wasn't here before. There was no purple glow in the room, then. Let's step back into the glow and see what happens."

  They again experienced the moment of total darkness and found themselves standing on the cellar level they had been on, before. Emett said, "It appears to be a transportation short cut from the cellars to the vestry, but it's triggered from this end. Let's go back and travel to the inn where we can recharge our supplies."

  They repeated their jump to the vestry and walked to the inn. The owner saw them walk in the door and exclaimed, "I thought that your were gone forever! What happened?" Emett gave him a summary of their adventures, so far, especially the fight with The Butcher. "People have been disappearing from around here ever since the priest vanished 10 years ago. That's also when the undead started walking our streets after dark. What will you do, now?"

  "We need to replenish our food supplies, and I want
to visit the local blacksmith to purchase some additional weapons. The shield and mace you loaned me worked out well, so I want to return them and get some of my own. Where do I find the smith?"

  Alison and Emett picked up the food they needed and followed the innkeeper's directions to the smith. Emett had left the mace and shield and took his two bardiches along to trade for something else. They talked with the blacksmith, Alex Wilmer, about new weapons. Wilmer said that, over the years, he had acquired some weapons with magical properties. They weren't needed by anyone in the village, so they had lain in his storeroom for years. Perhaps Emett could find something that he liked.

  The three of them went into the storeroom and Wilmer rummaged around. "Here are the best examples of what I have that you might find useful. I also have a magic pack that you can wear on your belt. The magic pack is only 6 inches square by 2 inches thick, but it has unlimited carrying capacity. I don't know how it works, but you can store the world in there and it won't weigh you down. Try it on and you'll see what I mean."

  They now had an almost unlimited supply of money, so Emett when hog-wild and bought 1 of almost every magically embellished weapon and shield that Wilmer had in stock. He was particularly taken with a kite-shield that had protection against poison and magic strikes. The shield was sturdy and looked like it would stand up to almost any weapon. To go with the shield, he selected a battle ax which was embellished with a spell to increase its striking power 4-fold. He also selected several swords and maces, as well as a supply of javelins. All of these went into his new magic pack and could be retrieved in only a few moments. The deal was finally finished when Emett traded in the two bardiches he had taken from the goat-men.