H: 135 .. 134 .. | V: 100 | TM: 50%
He had excess health from all the Rot Puppet disease, but it was ticking away fast.
System, should I use the conversion spell and turn the extra health into vitae?
:: System: I would not recommend it. You would gain four or five vitae. Minimal return for an ability that may be used once per day.
Alright.
Harry reached into his inventory and pulled out the bow he had taken from the chamber. He turned and held it out.
“Is this it?”
Jo’s eyes widened. She stepped close enough to take the bow, running a hand along the smooth curve of the wood.
“I think so.”
She held it out toward Stan.
Stan muttered through the motions of a spell, fingers tracing small patterns as he inspected the weapon.
After a moment he nodded.
- Stan: That’s her.
:: Zephyr, Storm’s Breath: Enchanted longbow. Electrifies arrows on release. With mana, conjures lightning bolt arrows. Rare grade
Jo’s face lit up with a bright smile. It faded almost as quickly. Her gaze dropped to the bow resting in her hands.
“Thank you, Harry.”
Harry shrugged one shoulder. “The dungeon recycles, at least. It’s not all bad.”
Stan blinked. “What?”
Harry gave a lopsided grin and a small shrug. “Nothing. Just something from home.”
Stan slapped him on the shoulder. “No worries, boss.”
Jo looked up from the bow she was still examining. “So the chamber was a copy of level one?”
Harry nodded. “Yeah. All of it.”
Stan scratched at his chin. “If’n that holds you’ll have guards and them wardens now.”
Jo scowled. “You might see that demon you fought.”
“Yeah. I’m worried about that one.”
Stan glanced between them. “Are you thinkin’ we take the escape?”
Harry shook his head. “No.” He looked from Jo to Stan. “You guys?”
Jo shrugged one shoulder. “Same as before. You’re the one going in.”
Stan scowled. “Not to mention, Zinkle.”
Jo nodded. “Yeah. Even if we leave empty handed, he’ll hunt us down.”
System, how much experience did we get for that.
:: System: For defeating enemies plus the quest bonus you received 780 XP
:: Class: Vampire Level 3 (4,781/9,000)
Harry looked up. “Did everyone get seven hundred and eighty experience?”
Stan broke into a grin. “Yeap.”
Jo nodded. “We did. We were following your progress by watching it add up.”
System, if we don’t clear this dungeon, it just moves and starts somewhere else?
:: System: That is the usual result after a dungeon timer expires.
So the death starts again. And maybe someone else is dragged from my world.
:: System: Debate continues on who and how you were brought to this plane. But it is possible.
Harry drew in a slow breath. “Alright. I’m taking the quest for the second chamber.”
They spent a moment clearing the escape quest from their interfaces and accepting the chamber quest instead.
The second portal on the left rippled. The dull gray surface deepened into a shimmering purple.
Jo glanced at him. “You don’t need a break?”
Harry shook his head. “No. This is the strongest I’ve been in days.”
Jo nodded. “Alright. Be careful.”
Stan pointed a finger at him. “Don’t forget to check for loot.”
Harry gave a faint smile. “I’ll try.”
He turned, walked to the portal, and stepped through.
After a moment of disorientation, Harry found himself standing in a natural cavern with a gray portal behind him.
The passage stretched straight ahead. Several side tunnels branched off to the left and right. Not nearly as many as the original level. The walls and ceiling were rough stone, damp in places where water seeped through.
Like the last chamber, there were no torches.
The cavern was lit with an even white light. Soft and diffuse. No shadows anywhere.
Harry stood still for a moment, letting his senses stretch.
He didn’t see any movement.
Blood Sense brushed several threads to his left.
Familiar ones.
He closed his eyes and focused on them.
Two thicker threads. A cluster of smaller ones moving around them.
He let out a quiet breath.
Spider Shepherds.
Maybe a dozen of the giant spiders.
Oh well, not as good as rats but still. We need what we can get.
:: System: Affirmative.
Harry reached into his inventory and drew a sword instead of Cedric’s hammer. The spiders moved too fast for the heavy weapon.
He tightened his grip and whispered.
“Rubrum Cruento.”
:: Spell [Vampiric Blade]: Successful (Active: 10 minutes remaining, Cost: 10 vitae)
A faint red glow flowed along the edge of the blade.
Harry started down the side passage.
The fight didn’t last long.
The spiders rushed him first. Quick, skittering shapes clinging to walls. He cut them down as they closed, the blade flashing in tight arcs. A few managed to bite his arms and one landed on his shoulder and sank its fangs into his neck. He ignored it. When the shepherds came in behind them, spitting webs and shrieking commands, he pushed forward and finished them before they could organize the swarm.
By the time the chamber went quiet again, the spell timer still had a little time left.
Harry checked his meters.
H: 121 .. 120 .. | V: 106 | TM: 47%
I should’ve let more of them bite me to get more poison.
:: System: It is unlikely to have resulted in enough health to make Blood Conversion cost effective.
Harry shrugged and wiped the blade clean before putting it back into inventory.
Alright. Let’s see what else we’re up against.
He spent a little time checking the side passages as he moved toward the cavern entrance.
There were fewer than before. The tunnels that did exist didn’t go back very far, most ending in small dead-end chambers.
One discovery made him pause.
A clear pool sat in a shallow basin of stone, fed by slow drops of water falling from the stalactites above.
Harry grinned.
He pulled the two small empty barrels from inventory and filled them from the pool.
After that he stripped down and stepped into the water.
Cold. But clean.
He scrubbed at his skin and hair, washing away as much of the dried blood and rot as he could. When he finished, he tried to rinse the wool blanket he had used earlier.
It didn’t help much.
The blood and gore had soaked deep into the fibers. He gave up.
Harry pulled out the armor he had been wearing in the first chamber.
The wardrobe function had already taken care of it.
Satisfied he was as clean as he was going to get, he dressed and continued on.
He reached the cavern exit without encountering anything else.
Nothing living.
Nothing undead.
He paused near the entrance, scanning the walls carefully.
There was no sign of a secret door anywhere near the opening.
The outside was not what he was expecting.
There was no sun. No sky either, not really.
There was no roof, no dome. Just open space above him that seemed to go on forever. Everything was lit with the same white light as the caverns. Soft. Even. No shadows.
Harry stepped to the edge of the entrance and looked out.
A small slope ran away from the cavern mouth, dropping about fifty yards to a familiar sight.
The guards’ campsite.
It was a near perfect replica of the one from the earlier level. Tents. Fire pit. Crates stacked along the edges.
Several guards moved around the camp.
But the camp was smaller than before. And even then, it only seemed half full.
Just outside the camp to the left stood a Dead Warden.
It looked like the larger one he had fought in the caverns. A hulking knot of fused corpses twisted together into a single mass.
It stood motionless except for the arms and legs that made up its body.
They twitched now and then. Fingers flexing. Feet kicking uselessly.
Beyond the camp, maybe half a mile away, rose Korven’s fortress.
From this distance it looked full size.
The same vine covered crumbling wall. The same squat buildings. The same tower rising above the rest.
Harry crouched near the cavern mouth and spent a few minutes watching the guards.
A few of the faces looked familiar.
Men who had been killed in the earlier fights and some that had stayed behind.
He spotted Page.
And Nick.
Nick is alive! System, do you think he’d remember me?
:: System: Insufficient data to make any conclusions.
Even if he did, I don’t know how we’d get him out of here. Maybe when we get to the lever we can come back and talk to him.
:: System: Assuming their natures are unchanged.
That’s fair. Any thoughts?
:: System: If combat becomes necessary I recommend you choose the battlefield.
I don’t want to fight the guards. But yeah, draw them in here if I have to.
Harry rubbed the back of his neck.
I have an idea.
:: System: A very bad idea I assume.
Always.
He sat down cross-legged just inside the entrance where the slope blocked the camp from seeing him.
Harry focused and cast one of his new spells.
“Sanguisuga Hauri.”
V: 96 | TM: 48%
A small black void opened on the ground in front of him.
It lasted only a moment.
Something crawled out of it.
A leech.
Harry had never seen one in person before, but it looked real enough. Except for the color and the size.
It was deep dark red and about four inches long.
Once it fully emerged it sat motionless.
Harry reached out a cautious hand and touched it. Then he stroked its back.
It wasn’t wet or slimy.
If anything it felt like human skin.
Harry pulled his hand back and shrugged. He leaned over just enough to see out of the entrance and pointed toward the Dead Warden.
“Feed.”
The leech started moving.
It traveled with a strange humping motion. To Harry it looked like a seriously overgrown inchworm. The difference was speed. It moved much faster than he expected.
Harry watched it crawl down the slope.
Blood Sense showed no thread from it at all, but as it moved down the slope Harry found he maintained a constant awareness of its location.
It took about four minutes to reach the Dead Warden and attach itself to one of the bodies that made up a leg.
Another half minute passed and the leech detached and started the trip back.
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The Dead Warden never reacted. Not once. The mass of bodies stood motionless the entire time.
The return took another four minutes.
When the leech reached him it was larger.
Maybe an inch longer. Much fatter.
Its body pulsed slowly.
Like a heartbeat.
Harry reached down and picked it up.
It was solid. Heavy.
And squishy.
Like holding an IV bag.
So gross.
He extended his fangs, bit into it, and drained it.
There was none of the physical sensation he normally felt when using Drain. No rush. No connection.
It was purely mechanical.
Like drinking a warm copper flavored milkshake.
But it worked, returning the ten Vitae he had spent casting the spell.
Well, alright then.
He started conjuring more.
Each one crawled out of the brief black void and sat patiently as Harry counted out the ten seconds between casts, letting them gather on the stone floor.
Once he had five, he pointed down the slope.
“Feed.”
The little cluster of red bodies wriggled into motion and headed for the Dead Warden.
Harry leaned against the cavern wall and watched.
Five minutes later they were on their way back.
One of the corpses that made up the Dead Warden’s leg suddenly sagged and tore free. It dropped to the ground and lay motionless.
The mass of bodies wobbled.
For a few seconds it teetered in place. It leaned hard to that side and toppled over, catching itself with several other bodies. The shape it settled into looked familiar.
The same hunched posture it used when charging someone.
But it didn’t move from where it had been standing.
Instead it turned toward the body that had fallen away. The mass shuffled a few steps, squatted over it, and pressed down.
Harry glanced toward the camp.
The guards were still moving around the tents. Talking. Walking between the crates.
No one seemed to notice anything happening with the undead.
It is trying to reattach that one?
:: System: That seems to be an accurate assessment.
Just as the leeches crawled back into the cavern, the Dead Warden lifted itself up but the body remained where it had fallen, motionless beneath it.
Nice.
Harry drained the five leeches, feeling the vitae return.
He conjured five more and sent them down the slope.
This time the effect came faster.
Before the leeches had even finished draining, two more corpses slid off and dropped away from the mass.
The creature shifted its weight slightly but otherwise did not react.
Neither did the camp.
Harry repeated the process twice more.
Each round stripped away more bodies.
By the end there was only a single animated corpse standing in the center of an unmoving pile.
Harry summoned one last leech and sent it down the slope.
He watched it attach.
A moment later the final corpse sagged and collapsed.
Harry smiled in quiet satisfaction as he waited for his last assassin to return.
I’m going to try and go around. If they spot me I’ll run back here.
:: System: You are foregoing the opportunity of full vitae recovery. Abandoning this encounter also forfeits potential experience gains.
We’ll fight if we have to, but I’m not going to hurt Nick or anyone who stayed to help the village.
:: System: Duly noted.
Harry slipped out of the cavern and hugged the face of the hill it emerged from, heading left away from the camp.
With Blood Sense he knew there was no extra movement from the camp. No other signs of life nearby.
He moved several hundred yards along the slope before heading out across the plain, keeping low to the ground.
When he passed Korven’s tower he circled wide and came back toward it from behind.
Harry stopped and waited.
He scanned the area carefully.
One life sign inside the tower.
One he recognized.
The thread was slow and heavy, with a faint hint of corruption running through it, something he could pick out now that he knew what to look for.
Dammit. It’s Walls.
:: System: I advise caution. And refrain from using Drain.
I remember.
Harry grabbed a handful of the vines climbing the crumbling wall and scrambled up quickly. At the top he dropped over the other side and moved around to the front entrance.
The wood pile and axe were gone but he still had the axe he had taken from here earlier stored in inventory.
It turned out not to matter.
The front door wasn’t locked.
Harry adjusted the shield on his arm, drew a sword, pushed the door open, and stepped inside.
The room looked about the same size but the pews and altar were gone. On the other side of the room there was one stairway leading up. The downward stairs were gone.
Captain Walls stood in the center of the floor, wearing the same black robe and clutching a potion vial.
Harry stepped through the doorway and into the chamber.
Barely a pace in, he stopped.
“Walls,” Harry said. “You don’t have to do this. Korven put you here to die.”
Walls laughed, sharp and manic. He shrugged the robe from his shoulders and let it fall to the floor.
His body was a mass of soft rolls, skin pale and sickly, yellowed in places and mottled with angry red patches.
“We’ll see who dies.”
He lifted the small vial clutched in his hand and swallowed the contents in one gulp.
Harry had seen this before.
Walls went through the same bloody transformation.
For a moment he looked triumphant. The expression vanished almost immediately. His body seized. A wet gurgle tore from his throat as his hands clawed at his neck.
His skin split open from the inside.
A red hand burst through the wound and shoved his head aside with a boneless snap. Another followed, forcing the opening wider as the creature inside tore its way free.
Walls’ flesh collapsed to the floor as the demon crawled out through the ruin of his neck and stood upright.
It looked the same as before. Probably the same demon.
Tall and slim. Skinless muscle stretched tight over glistening organs. Round lidless eyes stared wide and bright. Its mouth pulled into a fixed, rictus grin.
Harry stepped sideways until his back touched the stone wall. He crouched there with the sword held in a low guard.
The demon cocked its head.
It giggled.
“Don’t be scared.”
It crouched in the center of the room, rocking slightly on its feet.
“Come out and play.”
System, the exit is probably up the stairs. I might get past if I hug the wall.
:: System: That is a sound strategy.
Harry began edging to the left, keeping his back against the stone.
The demon spun to face him, rocking from foot to foot.
“Don’t hide… I won’t bite.”
It snapped its jaws with a sharp click and giggled at its own joke.
Harry stopped moving.
Toby.
:: System: You are thinking he may be here?
Yeah. And if Jo finds out I left him again she’ll kill me herself.
:: System: When you complete the dungeon he should be ejected.
Should be. You’ve said yourself there’s nothing normal about this dungeon.
:: System: That is true.
Dammit.
Harry studied the creature.
It had moved and now squatted on the first step of the stairs, watching him with that same rictus grin. Every few seconds it giggled to itself and ran a long tongue over its sharpened teeth.
I don’t think the leeches will work.
:: System: It seems unlikely.
Harry drew in a slow breath and rolled his shoulders.
“Rubrum Cruento.”
V: 90 | TM: 55%
The sword in his hand pulsed with a faint red glow as the enchantment took hold.
He concentrated on his skin and the familiar tightening spread across his body as it hardened.
Wish me luck.
Harry stepped away from the wall and moved cautiously out into the room.
The demon sprang to its feet and came slowly toward him.
About ten feet away it began jumping left and right in sharp, jerking bursts.
Harry advanced to meet it, sliding his front foot forward, trying to keep the blade lined up as it moved.
He pushed speed and strength to thirty percent, not wanting to use Vitae. Not yet.
After one jump to the right the demon launched itself at him, coming in high.
Harry swung down and across, aiming to catch it in the ribs.
The demon folded low under the blade and tumbled past him. One claw snapped out as it went by, striking his leg.
His armor took most of it but he felt a slow trickle of blood running down his calf.
The demon landed lightly behind him.
It giggled.
Harry spun, sliding and shuffling to keep the sword pointed forward.
The creature circled him, bouncing lightly on its feet.
It darted in from the left.
Instead of trying to bring the sword around, Harry stepped forward and slammed his shield into it.
The impact sent the demon flying backward across the stone.
Harry felt a sudden burn along his arm.
He glanced down.
A shallow gash ran from his elbow to his wrist. Somehow one of the claws had slipped around the rim of the shield.
The demon rolled once and sprang back to its feet.
Its jaw hung loose and crooked.
It reached up with one clawed hand, shoved the bone back into place with a wet pop, and dragged its tongue slowly across its teeth.
The giggling started again as it began circling him once more.
The demon started forward but this time Harry didn’t wait.
He took several quick steps toward it, feinted left with the shield, lunged right, and swept the sword across in a low cut.
The demon sprang upward to clear the blade.
Harry had been counting on that.
He turned the swing upward as it jumped.
The edge caught the creature low on the leg just as it went over. It tumbled away across the stone.
:: Spell [Vampiric Blade]: (+1 Vitae)
I forgot. Is that going to corrupt me again?
:: System: Negative. That vitae is from the spell, not from the Flayed Demon.
The demon sprang back to its feet, giggling.
The laughter faltered.
Confusion crossed its face.
The demon looked down.
The wound wasn’t closing.
Bright red blood oozed from the cut, running down its leg and dripping onto the floor.
“No fair.”
It pressed one hand against the wound, trying to force it closed.
The blood kept coming.
The demon lifted its hand and studied the crimson slick across its fingers.
It licked them clean.
“Mmmm… good.”
The giggling started again as it dropped low and began circling him.
As the demon moved, its step faltered when it put weight on the injured leg.
Harry surged in to press the advantage.
Too late.
The falter had been a trap.
The demon sprang wide to the right, slipping around the arc of his sword and darting behind him.
Claws raked across his ribs.
His chainmail and hardened skin took the blow but the armor tore open with a harsh screech of breaking links.
Harry twisted and tried to strike the creature but missed.
The demon landed lightly a few paces away.
It turned and prodded the wound on its leg.
The cut still bled.
A thin whine slipped from its throat.
The giggling started again.
Dammit, the sword is too slow.
Harry backed toward the wall and slid the blade back into his inventory.
Two daggers appeared in his hands.
“Rubrum Cruento.”
The first dagger pulsed with a dull red glow.
While he waited to cast the spell again, he edged left along the wall toward the stairs.
The demon mirrored the movement, watching him closely.
“Rubrum Cruento.”
The second dagger flared to life.
H: 103 | V: 71 | TM: 65%
Harry advanced into the room.
The dagger in his right hand pointed forward. The left was held low in an underhand grip half hidden by his shield. He planted his feet, arms slightly spread, inviting the demon in.
The creature charged straight at him. Claws reaching for his sides. Jaw wide, teeth snapping toward his neck.
Harry spent one vitae on strength and stepped into the attack.
His shield snapped up to catch the lunging head as his right hand drove the dagger deep into the demon’s side.
Claws raked across his ribs and back as the creature tore itself away.
Harry twisted the dagger and ripped it down as it went.
The demon stumbled as it fled to the far side of the room, clutching at its side.
Blood poured from the wound, leaving a dark trail across the stone floor.
It stopped and stared at him.
A high whine slipped from its throat, building into a string of broken shrieks.
The wounds were not closing.
It slapped at them with frantic hands.
The giggling started again, but the sharp edge was gone.
The demon burst forward.
It leapt into the air, arms spread wide as it came straight for him.
Harry dropped the left dagger.
His hand shifted to claws.
As the creature slammed into him, he wrapped his arm around it and drove those claws deep into its back and twisted, using its own momentum to spin and drag it to the floor.
Tangled together they hit the stone hard.
The demon thrashed beneath him, claws tearing at his back. Teeth snapping less than an inch from his face.
Harry drove the remaining dagger up under its chin and thrust. The blade sank smoothly up into the skull.
The mouth opened but there was no giggling. Only a choking gurgling gasp as blood gushed out.
The thrashing slowed. Its arms fell loose on the stone.
He forced the blade deeper. Twisted it left and right. Felt the tip scraping the inside of the back of the skull. Held it there until the creature went completely still.
The burning in his back and sides caught up with him all at once and he checked his meters.
H: 74 | V: 70 | TM: 65%
He pushed himself upright, pulled one of the last three fangs from his inventory, and jabbed it into his neck. He squeezed the sac.
His wounds began to close. The bleeding slowed and stopped.
Harry knelt beside the body and quickly cut the demon’s head free, tossing it across the room.
That done, he pushed himself to his feet.
For a moment he stood there, unsure what to do next.
Loot… Stan said to get loot.
He started toward the stairs but slowed as he passed what was left of Walls’s body.
Harry put away the daggers and pulled a spear from his inventory and used the tip to prod the corpse, rolling it over.
Something metallic hit the stone with a small tink.
Harry grimaced and crouched down. He reached out and turned one of the limp arms. A thin gold bracelet with several small inset gems sat half hidden around the swollen wrist.
He squeezed the slack hand through it and slipped the bracelet free before dropping it into his inventory.
So gross.
He stood and headed for the stairs.
There was no middle landing. Just a tight spiral climbing straight up.
Harry followed it to the top.
The chamber above was empty.
A gray portal was against one wall. A lever jutted from the floor beside it. A small wooden chest sat nearby.
Do you think it’s trapped?
:: System: It is possible.
Harry studied the chest but couldn't find anything wrong. He knelt and lifted the lid.
Inside were coins. The same as before.
Five gold. A hundred silver. Five thousand copper.
No map this time. No key.
He swept the coins into his inventory and stood.
Harry stretched and reached for the lever.
His hand stopped halfway there.
Damn, almost forgot. Need to talk to the guards.
He turned and headed back down the stairs.
Harry ignored the bodies and stepped out into the yard.
The moment he crossed the threshold he noticed that his Blood Sense filled with threads clustered just beyond the wall.
The guards.
How long have they been there?
:: System: They arrived near the end of your struggle with the demon.
He climbed up the broken section of wall near the gate and carefully lifted his head above the edge.
Most of the guards stood about twenty paces back in a loose formation.
Page and Nick stood at the front, only a few steps back from the gate.
Harry pulled himself up onto the top of the wall, ready to jump back inside if things went wrong.
“You don’t have to fight,” he called down. “Walls is dead.”
Page stepped forward a half pace. “Sir Harald, you’re well and whole?”
Harry looked down at himself and glanced at his meters.
“Well enough,” he said. “And you and your men?”
Page nodded. “When we saw what happened to the Dead Warden, I knew it had to be you.”
Harry leaned forward slightly on the wall. “How is Toby?”
“The Red Bard?” Page said. “He’s recovered from his wounds.”
“The Red Bard?”
Page laughed. “Every evening he plays and sings. Every wife and daughter is in love with him. Maddie keeps the young ones in line but the widows ignore her. But Toby’s a good lad. He just turns red and runs from their bolder offers.”
Harry shook his head with a faint smile. “Can you take me to him?”
Page ran a hand over his mouth. “Not today, Sir Harald. We’re on duty. But tomorrow maybe.”
Harry looked around the fields beyond the walls. There were no roads leading anywhere.
“I’d like to check on him. Can you point me toward the village?”
Page glanced around as if looking for something and gestured vaguely off across the plain. “Village is just up the road a piece.”
Harry frowned. “What road?”
Page looked again, shrugged, and spread his hands.
“Will you take a meal with us, or must you depart at once?”
“I need to go. But you remember about the portal? Would you like to come?”
Page shook his head. “No, Sir Harald. When the winter attacks come the village will need us.”
Harry nodded slowly. “Alright then. I need to go.”
Page held up a hand. “Wait. Before you go. Here, maybe you’d like to have this.”
Another soldier Harry didn’t recognize stepped forward. He held out the blue orb that could control a Dead Warden. It looked dull now. The bright glow it once carried was gone.
Harry opened his mouth to refuse.
Stan might like that.
:: System: Affirmative.
“Yes,” Harry said. “Thank you.”
The soldier approached the wall. Harry climbed down to meet him, took the orb, and slipped it into his inventory.
He turned and clasped Page’s hand.
Page nodded. “Thank you for what you’ve done for us.”
Harry stepped to Nick and offered his hand. “You’re well?”
Nick gripped it firmly. “I am. Life is much easier with Master Korven gone away. Page tells me you are responsible.”
Harry shrugged. “It wasn’t just me.”
Nick nodded once. “Even so.”
Harry studied Nick’s face. “You don’t remember me?”
Nick frowned. “No. I’m sorry, Sir Harold. Have we met?”
System, I hate this dungeon so much.
Harry released his hand. “I guess not.” He stepped back and looked over the group. “I have to go.”
He turned and climbed back over the wall.
Harry made his way back to the top of the tower and used the lever.
The gray portal rippled and deepened into a shimmering purple.
At least we know what to expect in the next chambers.
:: System: The dungeon is the same, Harry. You are not.
Harry gave a faint smile.
No man ever steps in the same river twice.
:: System: Just so.
He stepped through.
***
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