Kaden was deep in his studies when Sevin interrupted. The Necromancer looked exhausted, his tan skin was three shades paler and the black stones embedded in a mesh on his bald skull were almost white. “You look terrible.”

  “I need the leg. You took the leg. I need it.” Sevin stepped aside.

  A skeletal nightmare stood on uneven legs. The crab exoskeleton had been hollowed out and black smoke drifted from it. The chest was classic skeleton with armor plates formed from the chitin, and the head now had six-inch fangs and no bottom jaw. The four arms had been meshed together to to form wide, grasping arms.

  “It’s meant to bite?” Kaden asked.

  “It’s meant to hold,” Sevin answered as he pressed the leg back into place, melting flesh until it joined. “We have so much damage potential, but the First Follower nearly killed us all. Have you made progress on that front?”

  Kaden shook his head. “We both need a few hours sleep. We’ve got guards. I packed bedrolls.”

  “No need.” Sevin looked to his new monster, who picked him up by the robes, stretching out the necromancer so he lay in a hammock.

  Kaden withdrew a bedroll and lay back. But he kept going back to [Party Tactics]. His best really hadn’t been good enough. Minutes crawled as he read about class synergies and skill side effects.

  Your skill with Party Tactics has increased!

  Kaden was delighted. The next level would be even better.

  Only when you sleep am I free to plan our course through this temple, Nurav said. Surrender to sleep and I will work.

  His dreams were tinted by flashes of an orange dawn, screams of agony, and the rending of a sky.

  ###

  Rise. You have rested enough. Nurav’s voice boomed out. Now you will leave the area I control. While you rested, I could relax what I have enforced and examine what is. There is a path through the temple that will let us reach Eve. Also, the others. I have re-interpreted the temple for you to emphasize this path.

  Kaden stretched and gently shook Sevin until the mage woke. “Hungry?”

  Sevin shook his head. “Eating is for the living. I feed upon the fears of my ene—damnit, I’m doing it again, aren’t I?”

  “You caught it this time.” Kaden had fresh ideas from [Party Tactics] and a new take on how he’d approach battles. “We’re going to handle the rest of this temple differently. You have two guardians - Skully and whatever that is.”

  “Don, my donkey,” Sevin said.

  “The point is, two effective guardians. Trinity and I should be on the offense. We’re far more damage focused.” He summoned Trinity, whose wounds had largely healed. The soul-bond between him and Garm said reforming was close.

  The dragon wasn’t gone, wasn’t present, and generally speaking, defied Kaden’s attempts to quantify it, which wasn’t even remotely surprising. He recapped the plan with Sevin. “I’m expecting more battles like today.”

  The easiest is behind you. Ghastos placed his most powerful warrior at the front of his temple, with his best support.

  Nurav made no sense. “Why would he do that?”

  Because he is intelligent. Why allow Adventurers to start slowly? Crush them with overwhelming force in the very first chamber. Otherwise they might level, grow stronger, and become more dangerous. But as I said, the most dangerous battle was also the easiest.

  Kaden couldn’t help thinking Nurav was baiting him to show her intelligence. “The most dangerous battle was the easiest?”

  “Ghastos was a god of violence and carnage,” Sevin said, climbing up the knees of his guardian. “He fitted his first Follower with a belt meant to rend his flesh in death. And ours. Say there is no other like the first. Just packs of three or five or ten. If all of them activate their belt and swarm us, we will die.”

  That was sub-optimal. “They die, but they don’t care if they die. Their goal is to kill us and ‘set the feast.’”

  I like the necromancer. Pass my vicar to him.

  Kaden drew the figurine, which was much less nicely formed than his. “She wants to talk.”

  “I have nothing to say. Mortis’s loyalty to me is unwavering, and my loyalty in return is the same.” Sevin bowed his head slightly. “I will continue to offer her the blood of my victims, and she will continue to accept it. We are not enemies.”

  The cathedral had shifted in the night. Large sections of the floor were now pitch black beneath the crystal, but other rooms remained visible. “We can scout ahead without entering.”

  I can tell you what awaits. What you see is my interpretation on your behalf. We must pass through the outer layer, and I have chosen a path that will draw the least attention, though it will be more difficult.

  Kaden approached the stairs that led down. Where previously had been a labyrinth, now it twisted, heading along the outside wall of the cathedral. The narrow path was uneven and covered in glittering fragments of crystal. “Why this way?”

  It is not what any god would expect. If they strike, it is to the heart. This route represents…how would you put it? A back door? Ghastos is not present to guide his devotees. His general lies slain and reanimated. There will be no guidance, though not all of his devotees are mindless.

  “Then let’s get moving.” Kaden stored his bedroll and summonned Vip, who stretched and sprinted the perimeter of the cathedral, throwing off sparks.

  Do not let harm come to the dog, Nurav added. Eve loves the dog.

  Of course she did. He pulled Trinity into his soul, because narrow, twisting spaces didn’t work with TriTerrors. “Stay right behind me,” Kaden said.

  He descended. The change was immediate. The feeling of pressure on him grew, of eyes watching his every move. “Ghastos is not amused.”

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  The onyx staircase ended in what could be charitably called mud. Worms writhed in the damp, but when Kaden attempted to pick one up, it gave a pitiful shriek until he dropped it. “Well, there’s that.”

  “When a god promises you a place in his temple for the afterlife, think on what is truly offered,” Sevin said. “They have a place.”

  The ‘path’ led around what Kaden saw as the foundation of the temple. But as he made the first turn, Kaden stopped, holding up a hand. In the dust and darkness, beams of light flooded out, like gaps in the foundation. But foundations weren’t meant to have regular gaps. “I think those are traps.”

  He approached, holding out a hand and focusing on [Split Second].

  The moment his skin broke the light, a wide spear blade thrust through, stabbing into the stone on the opposite side. “Definitely traps.”

  Good, I was hoping that was how you would interpret them. What they actually are would damage your mind, and you need it.

  “Let me take the lead. The undead fear nothing like this.” Sevin squeezed past him. “Hand me bones from my donkey.”

  Piece by piece, the necromancer rebuilt his four-legged friend into something resembling a cleptomaniac snake who thrust bony limbs into gaps.

  Spears triggered—and caught, wedged between limbs. Which left a different problem. “How is Skully going to wind his way between the traps? He’s only moderately thinner than Trinity, and I can’t carry both in my soul.” Kaden was greatly worried about what would happen when Garm reformed. Every hour, the weight on him grew. His soul capacity wasn’t large enough for all his beasts and statistically that would only get worse.

  “Skully, travel mode.” Sevin said.

  Skully reached up and ripped his head off.

  The myriad small bones that formed a ‘beard” rearranged to become the spider legs Kaden had built him with. The body then disassembled itself, handing bones to the head, until Skully’s head was left to ‘devour’ the remaining pieces. It then scurried past the spear traps, stopping to tap an outcropping.

  A buzzing voice like a bumblebee spoke. “Trap.”

  “That’s my bony boy!” Sevin called. “Pass this section, then let the donkonstrictor scout the next one.”

  Kaden twisted between the spear holes, climbing over the undead with ease until at last he stood with Sevin. “Now?”

  “Now we repeat,” Sevin answered.

  Some sections had dozens of traps, one had a large sword that swung through a long vertical gap. As they grew more comfortable, Sevin began to discuss tactics they could try. “Long before any initiate can use death mana, they can defend themselves with [Bone Shard]. These are physical pieces of bone summoned from the aether and flung at the enemy. Could we empower them with [Bleed]?”

  I am this close to being a forgotten goddess, but the answer is yes. The System requires you to discover how.

  “When we encounter more of Ghasto’s devotees, we need a plan for what to do with those belts. The followers, I can probably kill if they’re like the First Follower. How do we avoid getting blasted? And what do we do about the belt in Inventory?” Kaden asked.

  “I can help with that. In fact, I may be able to help with more than that, if you’re ok with sacrificing experience.” Sevin spoke carefully. “Sara says there is always more experience if you survive.”

  “Experience is the last goal. It’s not even a goal. You sacrificed a level to get in here.” Kaden ducked as [Split Second] activated. “We missed a trap, don’t put your hand—or anything—here.”

  For hours, they traversed the outside of the cathedral. Only the occasional right angle turn told Kaden they were making progress, but when the tunnel ended with bare rock, Kaden had to consult. “Nurav, where are we supposed to be going?”

  What you perceive as a wall is in truth, where #$!!!___ERROR__ has grown weak. What would you do if there was a weak wall between you and your goal? But beware, you re-enter the portion of his Domain Ghastos thought to guard.

  “Move back.” Kaden didn’t have a lot of room to swing Remembrance, but a wild downward hack at the wall yielded a chip of dirty crystal. And another, and another, until something cracked like shattered glass, and the wall to his right caved in.

  Warning: You have damaged Ghastos’s Temple.

  You have gathered more of Ghastos’s attention.

  That probably wasn’t good but nothing about this was. Kaden stepped out into a dusty storeroom. His boots clinked as they sank. “Are these gold coins?”

  Worthless offerings he could not deny without losing followers but did not value. Gold is the least valuable thing in this place.

  Scully frolicked in the coins, flicking them high into the air and letting them rattle off his bony head. The coins weren’t Trella, Ashi, Sara or Eve, so they may as well have been lead to Kaden. Though he wouldn’t mind looting the place later.

  Kaden engaged [Stealth Aura]. The arched doorway to the storage room led to a hall of store rooms. Beating hearts were the least offensive thing in these rooms. “Did people truly sacrifice children to Ghastos?” he whispered.

  You know the answer. Know also that the souls of children are protected. Their bodies come, but nothing else. You should hate the followers who did so, but focus that hatred against the god who accepted it.

  The offering storage lead to a round room with a fountain shaped like a man vomiting. It was probably shaped like that because what spewed from the bronze shape smelled and looked like vomit. Less disgusting was the follower of Ghastos. He kneeled before the fountain, head bowed. Unlike the First Follower, his form was mostly human, his skin tinted slightly orange. The gold band of a mana-bomb belt showed, and Kaden didn’t like the closed in space with an enemy that could explode. He slunk back to Sevin. “We’ve got a single guard and a fountain of vomit.”

  “I’m told they were popular with the gods. I’ve never understood the appeal,” Sevin said. “Ask Nurav.”

  I can’t tell you witout violating the Celestial Accords. What happens in the vomit fountain stays in the vomit fountain, Nurav added.

  Kaden activated [Stealth Aura], this time protecting Sevin as well, and led him back to the fountain room. He flinched as the clack of bones betrayed the approach of Sevin’s guardian, but the pleasant sounds of trickling vomit covered the mistake.

  Sevin pointed to Kaden, then motioned back.

  Move back as far as he could. He did, though Stealth Aura had a ridiculously short range for a skill he’d forcibly broken by sheer will. Looked at that way, it had excellent range. His meditation on skill range was cut short by the keening agony of a Portal to Mortis opening.

  It covered half the fountain, draining vomit—and alerting the Follower, sho leaped to his feet, ready to fight. Sevin’s Guardian rushed forward, wrapping its conjoined arms around the follower and then stumbling drunkenly into the portal.

  A moment later, it emerged.

  “Quickly, the belt,” Sevin said.

  Kaden flung it from Inventory through the portal, which winked out of existence, and without half the basin, the fountain began spewing vomit onto the floor.

  “Mortis accepts all,” Sevin said with grim pleasure. “Let us offer him any Follower in our way.”

  You have gathered even more of Ghastos’s attention.

  GHASTOS HAS INVOKED [RAGE OF GHASTOS] AT GREAT COST.

  GHASTOS WILL RETURN IN (11) DAYS.

  You have obtained the status condition Rage of Ghastos.

  [Rage of Ghastos]

  Followers of Ghastos will inflict bonus damage on targets with Rage of Ghastos.

  “You get hit with a status?” Kaden asked Sevin.

  Sevin nodded. “I’m a mage. Any damage is extreme to me. He just moved his return backwards to do that to us.”

  Something still felt off about the entire situation, like a piece of the puzzle he didn’t grasp. “Nurav? You can sense my thoughts, right? What is this?”

  I cannot say, but I have my suspicions. Ghastos was literally at war with a god of war. That’s not a good idea, in case you were considering it. And he was losing. His temples, destroyed, his priests hunted. He knew what was coming.

  I believe he planned on this happening and prepared for it. It is possible for a god to store up power behind conditions. In fact, it is how most blessings, skills, and acts of divinity work. If a [Priest] invokes Varun, her power flows out to heal, but because it requires the priest, the resulting power is multiplied.

  Kaden understood this much. “So Ghastos was faced with the loss of his priests and temples. He prepares power and locks it behind some specific condition. Like, an Adventurer finding his lost temple.”

  It is what I would do. The Conditions allow sacrifice to speed it up, that much is clear. Spending power to curse you has cost it. But at some point the condition will be satisfied and the power released.

  “We won’t be here. I hope. I don’t plan to be here when that happens.” Kaden had never been good at complex plans but he knew simple ones quite well. Rescue his party. Leave the temple. Evacuate Faust.

  Two exits led from the fountain room. “Which one should we take?”

  There are not two paths—oh. I didn’t think afflicting a mortal would cost that much. Not even you. Ghastos has altered his temple. The features remain the same but my path has been rewired to cross through ‘rooms’ of his choice. I can’t tell you which is ‘safe.’