Kairos 82: Dungeon Trade

Reaching the outpost turned out to be harder than expected.

The adventurers had fortified their small island by digging row after row of coiling ditches and pitfall traps around their settlement. After making landfall, Kairos’ group had spent minutes following Thales’ lead as the automaton navigated them through the defenses, who he had apparently helped to design. The pits were full of ancient, brittle bones.

“You know, we could fly over them,” Rook said, as he leaped after Kairos. “Walking is so annoying.”

“They risk mistaking you for a wandering monster, and splitting up in a dungeon is a terrible idea,” his friend replied. “Besides, didn’t you complain about growing a little fatter this month?”

“Of course I have, it’s winter! Think Kairos, think, what if we run out of food? Better to gorge yourself on yuckies while you still can!”

“But if we all starve, we’ll eat the fattest ones first,” Agron pointed out. “Or at least, I will.”

The griffin looked at the minotaur with a shocked look. “W-why would you want to devour me? I know that I would be delicious, but you’re a cow, you eat grass!”

“The first minotaur ate humans,” Agron replied with a shrug. “We have changed our diet to fit in socially, but I don’t mind taking a bite or two from time to time.”

Kairos looked at his ally with suspicion.

“He is joking,” Sertorius stated with a slight smirk. By now, Kairos had realized that his humor was as black as his soul. “He has committed countless crimes, but eating human flesh isn’t among them.”

“You can see a person’s crimes when you look at them?” Cassandra asked.

“Crimes against Lycean law, and only if the person is [Hero] Rank or lower,” Sertorius explained. “It is a [Judge] Skill.”

“Oh my, my list must be sixteen pages long or something,” Nessus mused at the party’s front, as he uncovered a buried bear trap.

“It is longer than most, I will agree,” Sertorius replied cryptically. Kairos suddenly wondered if he could see the crimes of Nessus’ past lives. In which case, he would put the two and two together given time.

“While we are on the subject of Skills,” Agron said, “Kairos, would it be possible to join your [Pantheon] at last? I wouldn’t mind grabbing that [Telchine] subclass.”

“You will,” Kairos replied. Though he wondered if minotaurs counted as monstrous enough for the [Pantheon]’s purpose, if Andromache could stay in it even after shedding her Scylla curse, Agron should be able to join. “But we need to summon Gaïa to fully introduce someone into the [Térastheon], and I am not sure how to do so.”

“I know the rituals to contact her,” Sertorius stated. “I am a high [Priest] of Lyce, and I often prayed to the Mother of All. I suspect it will be even easier to summon her attention here, in the bowels of the earth.”

Kairos crossed his arms and considered the proposal. “Would it also attract Thanatos’ attention?”

“Of course. But then again, we already earned it.”

Point taken. “Perhaps you would like to join the [Térastheon] too?” Kairos teased his brother-in-law. “The more, the merrier.”

“I’m afraid I cannot,” Sertorius replied. “Though it’s not technically a [Pantheon], I am bound to the Senex by my stature as the Flavii family’s Pater Familia. I am prohibited from doing anything that could run against the assembly’s interests, and that includes joining a foreign [Pantheon]. I suppose Julia can fill in for me when she inevitably ascends to [Hero].”

His confidence bordered on arrogance, but Kairos couldn’t help but find it somewhat inspiring. In Sertorius’ mind, his family’s rise to power wasn’t a remote possibility, but an inexorable certainty.

The group finally came into sight of the fortified camp’s gates, and the people guarding it. Archers pointed their bows atop wooden watchtowers, while spearsmen with torches stood watch behind a tall palisade. “Halt!” one of the archers, a woman, shouted before immediately recognizing the group. “Your Majesty!”

“Quite the defensive perimeter that you have set,” Kairos mused out loud. “I wish you had set an easier path.”

“I should have designed a secret passage to let visitors in more easily,” Thales said in embarrassment.

The gates immediately opened for them, and the party moved inside. The yard was crammed with barrels, amphoras, boxes, and improvised hammocks of manticore pelts. Kairos counted roughly two dozen tents organized in rows next to a dirty, smelly animal pen. Hides strung from wooden posts were used as support to hang dry pieces of manticore meat, while a trio of Travian adventurers nearby roasted a pig over a camping fire.

The camp’s locals had gathered a pile of loot at the camp’s center for inventory. Most were treasures Kairos expected to find in a dungeon: ancient statuettes, jewels, tusks, and hides from legendary beasts, chests full of pre-Anthropomachia coins, dusty weapons, and armors from age pasts… but the [Rogue]’s Skills noticed a few magical items among them.

However, the sight of some of the locals made Kairos pause in surprise. Agron even grabbed his axe, while Cassandra’s fingers clenched around her weapon.

While three-quarters of the forty or so adventurers occupying the camp were living, breathing people… some had no flesh to speak off. Three animated skeletons played a game of dice without a care in the world. A shadowy female specter appeared at the edge of a campfire’s light, gazing at the flame with a grim vigil. And one of the armored warriors keeping watch over the loot pile had twin, otherworldly flames for eyes.

Even the usually unflappable Sertorius raised an eyebrow at the sight. “I thought this outpost defended itself against the undead?”

“This… this is a new development, sir,” Thales admitted with anxiety. He was just as surprised as everyone else.

The camp’s leader quickly arrived to meet with the party, and made quite the entrance. The man himself was no older than Kairos, a pale youth with long, unkempt black hair and kind blue eyes. His spear looked too big for him, and his armor had clearly been scavenged from what he found in the dungeon.

His mount, however, made quite the impression.

The Travian King had already seen bears in Travia, even hunted a few… but this one was nearly three meters in length, with fur as black as night. Its putrescent ribcage was fully exposed, alongside half of its skull. The beast’s left eye, the only one that remained, had taken a pallid white color.

It was an undead horror, no doubt about it. And yet it carried its rider with such a debonair nonchalance that Kairos couldn’t help but find it oddly entertaining.

“Welcome!” the bear-rider said with a heavy Lycean accent before climbing down from his beast. He let out a deep breath, before anxiously offering his hand to Kairos. “I, uh… it’s a great honor to meet you in person, Your Majesty.”

“The pleasure is all mine,” Kairos replied while shaking the man’s hand. The poor boy’s fingers sweated with nervousness.

Chrysaor Galabri, Born-Lucky

Legend: Brave Farmer (Elite)

Race: Human (Wolfblood)

Class: Crafter (Farmer, Bear Rider)

Level: 28

Bear Rider, Kairos thought with amazement. He had no idea that this subclass even existed. I guess there is a Rider variant for each member of the animal kingdom. And he’s a [Wolfblood] too…

“Aye, Your Honor,” Chrysaor adopted a Lycean military salute to Sertorius. The judge didn’t shake the youth’s hand, but instead offered him a respectful nod. “I didn’t expect your presence.”

“It was something of a last-minute decision,” Sertorius declared before examining their host head to toe. “Congratulations for your [Legend].”

The young man blushed a bit. “It was a lucky shot, Your Honor,” he said with embarrassment. “We were seven when we fought the Lamia. I was just the only one fortunate enough to land the killing blow.”

“You undersell yourself,” Kairos replied. Lamias were dangerous foes, monsters that combined devious cunning, inhuman strength, and magical abilities. “Many would have run away rather than fight in your case. And if the Fate System awarded you with a [Legend], it means you were the decisive factor.”

“Out of curiosity, my friend, did you kill the Lamia from atop that bear?” Nessus asked while approaching his hand from the beast’s hide. The bear didn’t react as the satyr scratched his black, carrion-infected fur. “The Lamia must have died of fright.”

“My friend loves me because I’m pretty,” the undead bear said with a deadpan tone, a maggot falling from below his eye.

“I met Grimtooth long afterward,” Chrysaor replied with an embarrassed smile. “He was haunting a cave to the west, near the [Sleep] barrier.”

“Haunting?” Cassandra raised an eyebrow. “Do all animals have ghosts?”

“They do,” Andromache confirmed. She would know, as a [Necromancer].

“Where do you think bears go when they die?” Grimtooth replied dryly. Since he understood human speech, Kairos guessed he had a variant of the [Beast Tongue] Skill. Or maybe it was a benefit of the [Bear Rider] subclass “You thought only twolegs went to the Underworld? We have our own Elysium.”

“Oh, is there a bird heaven?” Rook asked while wagging his tail.

The undead bear let out a bellowing sound that could pass for a shrug. “Maybe. I haven’t been allowed in. Not since Thanatos started sleeping on the job.”

This immediately caught Kairos’ attention. “You have met Thanatos, brave beast?”

“No, that’s the problem,” Grimtooth replied. “Souls come in, but they aren’t allowed to fully die. I’ve been stranded here for over a month, bored to undeath until Chrysaor got the [Beast Tongue] Skill and convinced me to go out of my den.”

“I, uh…” Chrysaor appeared very embarrassed all of a sudden. “It’s a long story.”

“It must be quite the interesting one,” Andromache said, as she examined the undead in the camp with curiosity. With the notable exception of Orgonos, the crew’s experience with the living dead had been limited to fighting or exercising them.

“There has been a huge increase in undead activity in the past weeks,” Chrysaor explained. “First it was only shades attacking us at night, but now animated corpses and Vrykolakas show up by the dozens. The few priests among us could keep out the lesser undead, but the stronger ones… that was another story.”

The situation reminded Kairos of his crew’s first disastrous encounter with the Argo. They had managed to fend off the lesser undead boarding the Foresight, but their resistance collapsed after Jason of Iolcus mortally slew their priest Rhadamanthe. His death still weighed on Kairos’ mind.

But in the end, they eventually managed to get through to Jason and convinced him to pass on. Chrysaor had clearly achieved something similar.

“So instead of fighting them, you tried to recruit them?” Nessus asked mirthfully. “Interesting approach.”

“It’s… it’s Your Majesty who gave me the idea actually.” Chrysaor grinned sheepishly while averting Kairos’ amused gaze. “I… I mean, you befriend a lot of monsters, so I wondered… Maybe we could do the same with some of the undead haunting us. They couldn’t all be out for our blood. And… and I was right.”

Kairos examined the undead in the camp, and quickly identified a pattern. “They’re all [Elites],” he noticed.

Chrysaor nodded. “Yeah. [Common] shades are driven mad by the presence of the living. They’re jealous, to the point of hatred. [Elites], they keep their wits. Enough that you can reason with them. I, uh… I wasn’t sure if we’re allowed to bring them out of here.”

“Every creature is welcome in Histria, no matter their origin,” Kairos declared, to Chrysaor’s relief. “If they can follow the laws of the land, it doesn’t matter if our people are alive or dead.”

“Between us, I’m waiting for the path to open again so I can pass on,” the undead bear replied. “But I wouldn’t mind seeing the sun again.”

“Frankly, we were seriously considering cutting our losses and abandoning the outpost before you showed up,” Chrysaor admitted while scratching his hair. He clearly hadn’t taken a bath in a few days. “We have explored the level as much as we can and gathered more loot than we can carry. The [Sleep] barrier, we haven’t managed to cross yet.”

“We have found a way to do so,” Thales replied. “As for the defenses, I can reinforce them.”

“Under other circumstances, I would suggest staying to defend this outpost,” Sertorius replied with a frown. “But we shouldn’t wait. If undead activities increase, the more we delay moving to the third level, the greater the danger.”

Kairos nodded before glancing at Nessus. “A month ago,” he whispered. “Undead attacks grew more violent right when we came back to Histria. It’s not a coincidence.”

“No, it isn’t,” the satyr replied, too low for the others to hear. “Thanatos is a personification, an embodiment of the Fate System. He can’t harm us directly, not unless our time has come… but he can scheme. Your brother-in-law is right, the more we delay, the more restless souls will accumulate in this temple and make our descent harder. Honestly, if he has been doing that for a month, I’m surprised the place isn’t crawling with the living dead already. Thousands perish each day.”

“Another deity must have noticed his actions. Probably Persephone.”

Nessus nodded slowly. “I guess that explains why my half-sister has been silent lately. She often answered when I prayed before her [Idols], but no word from her so far. She must be overburdened, guiding souls to the Underworld.”

And even so, the number of undead in the Necromanteion kept increasing. While Chrysaor managed to reason with the [Elites] among them, eventually, a tide of vengeful shades might escape the dungeon; planetary alignment or not.

Thanatos was distracting Persephone, forcing her to deal with the rampant undead plague rather than interfere with his attempt to open the gates of Tartarus.

“Can he do worse?” Kairos asked, trying to estimate their foe’s capabilities. “Raise foes we have already slain from the dead? Affect us with ailments? Bring down the ceiling on our heads?”

“I don’t know, oh my captain. Heracles and Sisyphus both defeated the old bag of bones through strength and wits, so he’s beatable... but I don’t know the full extent of his abilities. My encounters with him usually stopped at rubbing my victories in his face.”

Kairos wished he had a method of contacting Heracles and questioning him, but they would have to do without him. “We’ll stay on the move and try to reach level three as soon as possible,” he informed his party. “However, Andromache, Sertorius, please bless the area with protective wards before we leave. It’s not much, but it could make all the difference.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.” Chrysaor offered a deep bow, before smiling awkwardly. “If you want, you can pick some of the loot we gathered. Maybe something will strike your fancy?”

“You sweat and bled to gather these treasures,” Kairos replied. “It would be improper to take them from you.”

“They might prove helpful though,” Sertorius pointed out. “And if we fail, there might not be an island left to defend.”

Chrysaor froze. “What do you mean? Are… are the undead going to multiply and break out if nothing is done?”

“Sort of,” Kairos replied without elaborating. He didn’t want to spread word of Helios’ potential return to avoid a panic; though Julia had orders to evacuate the island if they failed to return to Histria before the planetary alignment. “We need to reach the dungeon’s depths as soon as we can.”

“Then allow me to accompany you,” Chrysaor stated while making a Lycean salute. “I… I may not be as strong as your allies, but I can’t stand around and do nothing.”

“We cannot afford an extra body with our current resources,” Sertorius replied while shooting the idea down. They only had a limited amount of [Horns of Hypnos] to bypass the [Sleep] barrier with, let alone space on the [Telchine Skiff]. “You will be more useful in guiding the people here to safety and secure our exit.”

Chrysaor bit his lips, but didn’t question the [Judge]’s decision. He was a Lycean to the bone. “Then take our magical items,” he argued. “You’ll need them more than us.”

“We can requisition and give them back once we are done,” Cassandra offered as a compromise.

Kairos hesitated. Though he had the right to requisition items as King and might need them, he strongly believed everyone was entitled to their share of the loot; whether it was from a raid or a dungeon expedition. “You’re sure you won’t need them?”

“Not more than you will.” Chrysaor blushed a bit. “Truth be told… you inspired all of us here. When I heard that the son of a Lycean exile, a [Wolfblood] no less, managed to create his own country… I had to try my luck. I would still be toiling in my family’s farm if it were not for your example.”

Kairos couldn’t help but smile. He suddenly wondered if the young man’s choice of a mount and spear was an attempt to emulate his idol.

“My greatest hope was to inspire people like you,” Kairos admitted. “I wanted to create a place where no one would starve, where the races of the world could coexist. But I never imagined that the living and the dead would fight side-by-side one day. I’m proud you were willing to take the first step.”

“I don’t think I will feel ever comfortable with the undead,” Cassandra said. “But as a chosen of Persephone, I will do my best to help them pass on peacefully.”

Afterward, Chrysaor let them examine the loot pile for any magical item they might need. Only a few of them were useful in their current situation, but there were genuine treasures among them. Cassandra found a new, skull-shaped shield granting her [Terror] immunity, and Sertorius grabbed a pair of boots doubling his walking speed.

Nessus’ choice, however, was the most unusual. He put on an amulet around his neck, one that seemed made of fossilized green amber.

Amulet of Slime Conversion

Rank: Necklace 2.

Value: 2000 gold coins.

This amulet can be used to convert an inanimate corpse into a [Cairn Jelly] when applied to its bones and flesh. The slime obeys its creator’s orders to the best of its abilities for ten minutes, before vanishing without a trace.

“You know, sometimes I wonder what kind of mage would make something like this,” Kairos noted as they left the camp.

“Maybe it was a failed necromancer with a slime theme?” Nessus mused. “Maybe I should have asked for dice, in case I join the skeleton party.”

Kairos frowned, and took the satyr aside for a private chat. “Maybe you will,” he agreed. “But it doesn’t have to be tomorrow. You’ve got a full life ahead of you.”

“Is it so obvious?” Nessus let out a shrug. “I had more than one full life, Kairos. I’m tired.”

“Too tired to add one more? I’m not the only one who would miss you, if you were to perish.”

“Aww, I knew you cared.” Nessus gave him a genuine smile. “Our adventures were fun, I will admit.”

“We haven’t even gotten to the good part,” Kairos argued, trying to cheer his friend up. “Nessus, you don’t have to do it.”

“I have to. It may be the only way to get rid of Thanatos for good.” Nessus glanced at the group, to make sure they weren’t listening. “We’re two sides of the same coin, he and I. One and the same.”

Kairos put the two and two together. “You are two avatars of a single entity.”

Nessus nodded slowly. “That’s what Orgonos theorized. Personifications and Protogenoi don’t die, Kairos. They’re avatars of a greater concept. But they can split, merge, and change. At the beginning of time, there was no difference between life and death; until the Fate System created this division. The old bag of bones and my pretty face were one once. And what was separated can be made whole again.”

“Is that what happened to Hypnos?” Kairos guessed. “He and the other dream deities fused into a single entity after the Anthropomachia?”

“Possibly.” Nessus shrugged. “I won’t die, not really. I just… will become something else? I don’t want to share a body with Thanatos, but as long as he remains alone and bitter, he will keep scheming to bring death to the world.”

“And the thing you will become might continue to do so.” Kairos shook his head. “There has to be another solution. You said it yourself, other heroes managed to best Thanatos before. Sisyphus even chained him for a while, if I remember.”

“And it caused the living unbearable suffering, as death’s mercy was denied to them. Yes, dying sucks, but you don’t want to become a ravenous specter either. Those we saw in the camp were a lucky minority.” Nessus shrugged. “I appreciate your concern, my friend, but my decision is already made.”

Kairos clenched his teeth. “And how do you intend to merge with Thanatos? If he even lets you.”

“You will try to stop me if I tell you.”

“Of course I will.” Kairos shook his head, trying to reason with his friend. “Nessus, you are my crewmate and my friend. You are entitled to your choice… but you have a good life, and people who will mourn you. Don’t throw it all away.”

“I care, Kairos,” Nessus replied with morosity. “But I have only a handful of people on this side of the world, while… while I have thousands on the other. My family, my followers… my number of living friends is dwarfed by the dead.”

“But they are gone, Nessus,” Kairos argued. “Unless they have been condemned to Tartarus, the dead do not suffer. They live either in gloom or blissful contentment. Their time is done, but not yours. Not yet at least.”

“It is, Kairos. And it’s better this way.” Nessus let out a long, heavy sigh. “My time as a god was a disaster, my friend. Meeting Orgonos, seeing what a deity should be, only reminded me of it. I have hurt countless mortals, brought naught but suffering; Thanatos is just as terrible. He hates life, and he will never stop tormenting mortals. If we stop him now and he gets away, he will come back to threaten your descendants in a thousand years.”

“Or they will beat him the same way we are about to,” Kairos pointed out. “Nessus, you can’t guarantee that this merged new god will be better than either component. For all you know, the result could be something monstrous. You’re gambling everything on the chance it might turn out well, but you can’t guarantee it.”

“Isn’t that what we’ve been doing so far? Doing what we can and hoping for the best?”

“You’re not doing everything you can, Nessus. You’re trying to commit suicide with a few more extra steps, when a better option might present itself. You’re taking the coward’s way out.”

“Perhaps, but that’s my decision.” Nessus looked away. “I hope when the time comes, that you will understand it.”

“What is there to understand?” This time, Kairos completely lost patience. “You want to become a better god, and make up for what you did? Then climb the ladder and change the world yourself! Don’t throw the responsibility to a hypothetical successor that may not even care for mortal life! You want to see your family and followers again? We are literally journeying to the Underworld as we speak, through a place meant to consult the shades of the dead! You can simply visit them!”

While Nessus remained silent as a tomb, the other members of the party looked in their direction, having heard part of the argument. Kairos regained his composure. “Don’t do it,” he begged Nessus. “As long as you live, there are other ways.”

The satyr sighed, shook his head, and walked away without a word.

His mind was set.

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A/N: chapter made possible by you.

It wouldn't be a dungeon with a last minute merchant ;)