Loremaster a progressi.., p.22
Loremaster - A Progression Fantasy Adventure, page 22
Wincing at the piercing reverberations, Rowan drew his sword, ready to fight if the situation called for it. He hoped it would not, but he would not lose his life due to misplaced hopes.
As the Thimps approached, Dillo met the first with his shield, the tiny creature bouncing off to the side with a meaty thud. Before it could reorient itself, Jaro buried his axe into its neck, the Thimp’s head rolling away as its body collapsed.
As it died, Rowan felt a small rush of mana infuse his body. Not as much as he had received when killing wolves and Girscaw back in Miriarda Forest, but more than he got from daily training. It seemed that in a dungeon, even if he did not kill something personally, he still received mana. That was handy.
Up front, Dillo skewered another Thimp with his sword, his shield pinning a third to the wall. Seeing its opportunity, the fourth Thimp leapt forward, but a bolt of magical energy slammed into its chest, the Thimp crying out in pain as it flew backwards, leaving behind a scent of sizzling flesh.
Pointing towards the creature once more, Fiin loosed another spell at it, the indigo bolt streaking through the air and piercing straight through its skull. With that, the fight was over.
Keeping his sword drawn, Dillo looked at Rowan and pointed towards the bodies. “Process those and we’ll keep going. Should be plenty more where they came from.”
Jaro and Patri grinned at this, hefting their axes in anticipation as Rowan stared at the Thimp corpses in confusion. “Process them?” he asked.
“Oh right.” Dillo facepalmed. “Sorry, forgot this was your first time. Porters are responsible for processing kills as well. Basically, you check them for anything valuable, then cut off a part of them that we can give in to the academy later for rewards. For Thimps, that part is their horn. Just saw that off and toss it in your sack.”
“Right,” Rowan replied, moving forward to begin the grisly work. He had performed similar tasks before back in Taureen, though usually the targets had only been passed out from too much alcohol or sudden onset club syndrome. Usually.
The Thimps’ bodies contained nothing of value, and their horns turned out to be surprisingly easy to separate from their skulls, with a small saw that Fiin provided that was. Rowan had been ready to use his sword, but the older girl had quickly stopped him, handing him the saw before he wrecked the blade of his weapon.
Horns going in the sack, Rowan rose and the party set off, heading into the first chamber as they left the dead Thimps behind. Circular in shape, with rough-hewn stone walls that curved into a vaulted ceiling overhead, the room was sparsely furnished, the remnants of a fire smoldering in a corner where the Thimps had been sitting until a moment ago.
Fanning out, the party checked the room, searching for… something. Lacking the knowledge to properly figure out what it was they were looking for, Rowan simply tailed Dillo, figuring that the vanguard was probably the safest one to stick to.
Excitement thrummed in Rowan’s chest. This was real adventurer work. Dungeons were the bread and butter of questing. Sure, he’d heard of adventurers being hired to clear a forest or slay a dragon, perhaps even claim a bounty, but diving into dungeons was where most adventurers made their living. And now, Rowan was doing the same. He might have only been a porter, but it was a start. Simply witnessing a dive up close was worth the risk. Probably.
“Chest!” Stenne’s triumphant cry rang out, causing the rest of the group to scurry over in a hurry.
Brows knitting together, Rowan failed to see what Stenne had found that warranted his cry. The wall in front of them looked exactly the same as the rest of the room: craggy stone extending in both directions with a single crystal sconce above it, but the rest of the group seemed excited.
“Fiin, you’re up,” Dillo instructed, Fiin happily complying as Stenne moved aside for her.
Raising her hand, Fiin ran it over the wall, her fingers trailing down the stone. Withdrawing her hand, she pulled a small hammer from a pouch at her waist, the same pouch she had taken the saw Rowan had borrowed from.
A dull pinging sound rang out as Fiin tapped the hammer against the wall. Frowning, she repositioned it, tapping the stone once more. This time the sound was sharper, more of a ting that elicited a smile from Fiin. The hammer disappeared inside the pouch, and Fiin placed her hand over the small mark on the wall left by her strike.
“Stand back,” Fiin warned.
As the others took a few steps backwards, Rowan following suit as he got behind Dillo, the ring on Fiin’s middle finger began to glow. Mouth agog, Rowan watched as the stone in front of her seemed to liquidate, allowing her hand to pass straight through. A moment later, she withdrew it, a small cloth-wrapped bundle clutched in her grip.
“Success!”
Cheers met this declaration, the rest of the party swarming Fiin with gleeful expressions. Upon closer inspection, Rowan could see that the cloth was made from the same material as the clothes worn by the Thimps, which seemed to imply that it was them who had hidden it within the stone wall of the dungeon somehow. Not wasting any time, Fiin undid the cloth wrappings to reveal the contents of the bundle: a handful of silver coins, an old brass brooch, and a plain gold ring.
“Not bad,” Dillo said approvingly as he checked out the items. “Great work, Fiin. And good find, Stenne.”
“Thanks!”
“Don’t mention it.”
“Let’s move on,” Dillo continued, addressing the entire party this time. “This is only the first room, so that’s probably all we’re going to find here. The real stuff should be further in.”
As the party got back into formation, Fiin handed the bundle over to Rowan, motioning for him to toss it inside his sack alongside the Thimp horns. Doing so, Rowan marveled at what he had just witnessed. Although Fiin had helped out with the Thimps earlier, her true value had definitely been demonstrated here.
Had it been Rowan casing the joint, or dungeon in this case, he would have been stumped by the presence of the treasure in the wall. Without specialized tools, there would have been no way for him to extricate the treasure, and that was without even getting into how Stenne had managed to sniff out the presence of the box in the first place.
His thoughts awhirl, Rowan followed the party as they departed the first chamber, delving deeper within the dungeon in search of further loot.
Several more groups of Thimps fell beneath the Frost Blades’ blades as they advanced, the groups growing larger the further inside they went. Twice, Stenne was forced to take action, healing Patri when a Thimp’s claws found the gap in his armor, and tending to Fiin when a pair of Thimps attacked the party from behind.
Rowan acquitted himself well in the second encounter, using his sword to fend off the second Thimp long enough for Jaro to turn and brutally savage the two Thimps attacking his backline. Rowan slightly regretted not having killed the Thimp he had engaged himself. Not just because he received less mana from their slaughter, but because afterwards, he was forced to go through the bits and pieces of scattered Thimp meat for anything valuable. Jaro, it seemed, had not appreciated monsters attacking Fiin, hacking them to tiny pieces in retribution.
The next few chambers they entered did not contain any valuables, at least none that the party found. It took them less than an hour to locate the stairs leading to the second floor, a circular hole with steps cut into the stone that spiraled downwards into the darkness.
“We’ll take a short break,” Dillo told them, producing a small cloth packet from his gear which he opened to reveal strips of jerky. Handing two pieces to each member of the party, he shoved the last two strips into his mouth as he put the now empty cloth back inside his pouch.
Tearing a strip off, Rowan chewed on the tough jerky, happy to have received free food. Around him, the Frost Blades were in high spirits. Jaro was busy talking with Fiin, doing his best to impress the blonde loremaster, as Patri looked on in amusement. Stenne, meanwhile, was fiddling with his ring, no doubt thinking about some aspect of healing magic that he might need below.
As the rest of the party ate, Dillo wolfed down his own jerky, clearing his throat to get the others’ attention.
“Excellent job so far, everyone,” he began, eliciting smiles from the other Frost Blades. “The last time we were here, it took us nearly an hour and a half to get to the second floor, and I’m pleased to announce that we’ve beat that time by nearly half an hour this time, thanks largely to Jaro and Patri’s speed in clearing out the monsters.”
“Don’t say it like it was just us.”
“Yeah, you helped a lot, boss!”
Despite their complaints, both Jaro and Patri wore large grins, which Dillo mirrored as he motioned for them to hush. “Stenne’s healing has also improved a lot. We haven’t had to stop to let him heal us too much, which has saved quite a bit of time.”
Stenne accepted this compliment with a nod.
“And let us not forget Fiin getting us our only bit of treasure so far,” Dillo concluded, a cheer going up among the party as they looked at Fiin who blushed slightly at the praise.
“Now then, everyone ready to head down to the real dungeon?”
Wolfing down the rest of their jerky, the party jumped to their feet, all in high spirits after Dillo’s motivational speech. As Rowan made to follow, Dillo glanced at him.
“You’re doing well so far. Thanks for keeping Fiin safe back there.”
“Of course,” Rowan replied, happy to have his efforts noticed.
“Keep it up down below and there might be a small bonus in it for you,” Dillo promised. Leaving Rowan, he donned his shield, placing it in front of him as he led the way down the spiral staircase.
Excited at the prospect of a reward, Rowan took up the rear, following Fiin as she descended. Halfway down the stairs, the walls disappeared, revealing a large room that glimmered brightly below them. Crystal torches provided light which reflected from deposits of shiny ores in the wall, all watched by a large group of Thimps wielding pickaxes.
“Kriiiar, thann!” A large Thimp at the back of the room noticed the party, pointing towards the stairs as he called for the other Thimps to assist. The cry was quickly taken up by the rest, pickaxes clattering as they were thrown against the floor in favor of blades and claws.
“Get to the ground and get in formation!” Dillo urged them, his armor moving noisily as he charged down the stairs. The rest of the party followed him at a frantic but slightly more subdued pace, none of them eager to fall the still considerable distance to the hard rock below.
The Thimps were only ten paces away when Dillo arrived at the bottom, and had it not been for his enormous shield, it was likely that he would have been overwhelmed before the rest of the Frost Blades arrived to assist.
Fortunately, Dillo was able to repel the first four Thimps, giving time for Jaro and Patri to leap the last ten feet and bring their axes down into the skull and shoulder of two unlucky Thimps, splitting the creatures nearly in twain as they assisted their party leader.
Backs to the stairs, the three stood in a triangular formation, Dillo repelling the lead Thimps as Jaro and Patri slew any who attempted to flank. Behind, Stenne stood ready to assist, hovering a few feet away to avoid being targeted by the Thimps.
On the stairs, Rowan was forced to awkwardly slide past Fiin, her face grim as she launched spells into the horde of Thimps below from her vantage point on the staircase. Doing his best to get by, Rowan’s well-honed sense of balance was the only thing that prevented him falling twenty feet to the stones beneath, the weight of the sack doing its best to pull him into gravity’s embrace.
With sword in hand, Rowan reached the bottom, stumbling slightly from the weight of the sack that landed on top of him. Just as he regained his feet, he saw a Thimp, which had been slowly sneaking up from behind, launch itself at Stenne. While the others may have missed it, Rowan’s street-trained eyes did not. Being aware of your surroundings, watching for a guard or other threat, was like breathing for a denizen of the slums. Leaping forward, Rowan stabbed his sword into the Thimp’s side, producing a cry of agony from the gray-skinned being.
Damn it. Rowan had been aiming for the Thimp’s heart, but his blade had not been steady, and the strike had only wounded the Thimp, not slain it. Ignoring the sword in its side, the Thimp swung at Rowan, its sharp claws passing within an inch of his face as he hastily bent backwards to avoid the strike.
Twisting the blade, Rowan elicited another scream from the Thimp, blood bubbling at its mouth as its internal organs were sliced apart. Eyes glazing over, it attempted one last strike, but Tethis’ training had prepared Rowan for this.
Your foe is always most dangerous in its final moments. Beware the death throes. Her words echoed in his head and he avoided the blow, the Thimp slumping over dead as the last of its lifeforce was expended. A sudden rush of mana filled him, more than he had gotten from ten kills taken by the others, but now was not the time to pay attention to that.
Breathing hard, Rowan withdrew his sword, moving back to take up a defensive posture beside Stenne. While his performance in Combat class had not been the best, those had been sparring matches against rich kids who had been training their entire lives. In a life or death situation, against creatures that fought without any discernable skill or technique, he could still hold his own.
A spark of confidence flared within Rowan, but just as quickly, he tamped it down. Overconfidence would get him killed. In front of him, Dillo, Jaro, and Patri were showing what true martial mastery could do, hewing down Thimps one after another with practiced ease as Fiin rained spells on their enemies from above.
“Thanks,” Stenne muttered to Rowan, the boy’s eyes were bloodshot, watching intently for any sign of injury among his comrades. Even the slightest hint that a Thimp’s attack was going to pierce their defenses had him ready to move, rocking on his heels as he prepared to rush to his friends’ aid. “I didn’t see him coming at all.”
“Don’t mention it,” Rowan responded, his own eyes scanning for any further sneak attacks. That was where his skills lay, and that was where he should focus for now. Leave the fighting to the combat specialists, and leave the counter ambushing to the stealth specialist. That was how it should be, and that was how they could keep everyone alive.
Two more Thimps attempted to take out the Frost Blades’ healer, and two more Thimps fell beneath Rowan’s blade, though not without reprisal. A large gash was torn in the side of his tunic, blood dripping from a deep cut beneath where the Thimp’s claws had gotten him.
He would have been left limping from the blow, but a moment later, Stenne healed the stab to his thigh with a bright pulse of magic. Thus recovered, Rowan swung his sword with a precision that would have made Tethis proud and beheaded the would-be ambusher.
Injured or not, Rowan performed his job to the best of his ability, and it was not long before the fight began to wind down, the Thimps’ numbers not enough to overwhelm the experienced Frost Blades.
With a thump, the head of the Thimp foreman who had first noticed them fell to the floor, rolling bloodily over the stone for a short distance before coming to a stop. With that, the fight was over, the Frost Blades standing victorious amidst the carnage.
Wiping the blood off of his sword, Rowan set to work processing the bodies as Stenne healed the minor injuries that the three frontliners had accumulated. The first thing that caught Rowan’s eye was that the Thimps on the second floor seemed much better equipped than those on the first. Weapons, makeshift armor, and better clothes all clearly set them apart from their dead relatives up above, and the coins and trinkets hidden on their bodies were also of higher quality and quantity than those carried by the Thimps Rowan had searched previously.
There were also far more bodies, and it was with difficulty that Rowan completed the processing of Thimp corpses, his sack now significantly heavier and bloodier as a result. Rejoining the others, he allowed Stenne to heal the other minor wounds he had received, nodding gratefully to the taller boy who simply brushed it off.
“How’s your mana doing, Stenne?” Dillo asked as Rowan sat down at the edge of the group.
“Low,” Stenne said with a grimace. “We’ll have to wait here for a while unless you’re fine with me only healing the more severe injuries you guys get.”
“Not chancing that on the second floor,” Dillo responded immediately. “Luckily for us, there’s plenty of magical crystals around for us to mine while Stenne waits for his mana to recover, and plenty of pickaxes too.”
This announcement got a groan from the other members, while Rowan looked on in bemusement. Kanna had sent him into the dungeon for magical crystals, but she had neglected to show him an example of the crystals he was hunting, no doubt assuming that everyone knew what magical crystals looked like.
An incorrect assumption, but not one Rowan had decided to challenge. He was already on somewhat thin ice with Kanna due to his grades, or at least he assumed that to be the case. He did not want to make her start second guessing their arrangement due to his lack of what was apparently common knowledge.
Regardless of his reasons, Rowan surveyed the walls of the chamber with interest. Shiny, blue crystalline ores glittered in the torchlight, presumably the magic crystals they sought. Several were scattered beside the walls where the Thimps had left them in order to attack the interlopers. Now those crystals belonged to them, and it seemed that Dillo wanted them to extract the ones in the walls too.
“Won’t the noise of the pickaxes alert Thimps further in to our presence?” Rowan asked carefully.
Dillo shook his head. “If the sounds of battle didn’t bring any more running over, then mining won’t either. The sounds of mining are what they’re supposed to be hearing anyways. So long as they don’t think to check whether it’s their comrades or the group of adventurers who’ve slaughtered them and taken their place, we’ll be fine.”
Jaro got a chuckle out of this, while Fiin and Stenne merely rolled their eyes.
“The mana within dungeons does strange things to the perception of events within,” Fiin said, turning towards Rowan. “The effect varies from dungeon to dungeon, but the events of one chamber generally can’t be sensed from the next. Mining should be safe, and we’ll have Stenne standing watch just in case.”
