Rivers of Rogue: Chapter 7

River stood among the collapsed metal armor and lifeless bones of Reinard, Weapons Master of the Hollow Delve.

She couldn’t move her left arm. Fortunately, the bones weren’t broken, just dislocated. River grit her teeth and wrenched the limp arm back into place. Pins and needles raged across her skin and she clenched her hand into a fist. It hurt terribly, but pain was something that River could deal with, and this was far from the worst pain she’d felt.

She stared down at the unmoving remains, half expecting them to rise back up off the floor and for the battle to resume.

How many times had this skeletal knight killed her? River had lost count. Every time she came close to killing him, he always managed to turn it around on her.

Every battle with Reinard had been like a game of chess. The knight would sacrifice parts of his body, letting pieces of him get blasted off or destroyed if it meant that he could secure a victory. He would lay traps in his own attack patterns, creating fake openings that he could use to score a kill on River.

Even his lack of a helmet was a trap in itself - he invited attacks to the one vulnerable point on his body so that he only needed to focus on defending that one area. He punished over-aggression and until now, he had flawlessly dismantled every one of River’s battle strategies.

Reinard was a masterful opponent, truly deserving of the Weapons Master title, and River had finally beaten him. She still couldn’t believe it.

Slowly, she turned around and walked to the other end of the chamber. Those double doors were calling to her, and the curiosity was too much to bear. River spared one last glance at the remains of the warrior who had taught her to fight and pushed open the double doors that he had so stalwartly defended.

The room on the other side was relatively small compared to the chamber where River had fought the knight. On the other side was another set of double doors, much like the ones she had just stepped through. An ornate treasure chest sat in the center, much more lavish and embellished than the chests she typically found in the side passages of the crypt. On the left were three evenly spaced pedestals, though nothing rested on top of them. A flowing fountain disgorged endless water on the right, which collected into a small basin below.

River immediately walked right past the chest and towards the fountain - the treasure chest could wait. The last time she’d had a drink of water was before she’d been transported to this world, and although each death also reset her food and water needs, fighting was thirsty work.

Setting Keen’s Edge down, she cautiously dipped a finger into the basin of water that the fountain fed into. Then she leaned over and sniffed it. It smelled like… well, it smelled like water. Which is to say, it didn’t really smell like anything. Once she was satisfied that the clear liquid actually was water, she drank several cupped handfuls from the fountain.

Turns out, it most definitely was not water. River came to this realization when the painful swelling in her left shoulder gradually vanished and the pain went away with it. The hunger that gnawed at her stomach, her thirst from hours of exertion and even her exhaustion from the recent harrowing battle evaporated as she drank.

River felt great. Better than great, even. She felt like she was wide awake after a full night’s sleep, well rested and in perfect health. All of that from just a few sips from this fountain. This wasn’t water, it was like the distilled essence of vitality rendered in clear liquid. River wished she had a bottle to take some with her - something like this would be a literal lifesaver when exploring the Hollow Delve.

She was getting ahead of herself - there was still the matter of the ornate treasure chest and the strange pedestals, and with a chest that gaudy there had to be something good in there. No one would set up a fancy looking treasure chest like that and then have the treasure end up being a banana.

The chest creaked open as River turned reverent eyes down to the treasure it held.

It was a sheath for a sword attached to a leather belt. That was it. Just a leather belt and a sword sheath. Feeling slightly disappointed, River reached down and plucked the accompanying white card out from the chest.

Mercurial Scabbard

This shape-shifting artifact is uniquely tuned to the artifact weapons of the Hollow Delve. It is capable of changing shape to accommodate any single artifact weapon, and additionally, it allows for instantaneous retrieval into the hands of its bearer. With its powerful soul-binding, this scabbard ensures that the bearer’s weapon will never leave their side, following them wherever their soul may go.

“...Wherever their soul may go?” River repeated the words as she picked up the piece of leather.

Did that mean that even if she died, she would keep her weapon? If it did, then it meant she could keep Keen’s Edge with her at all times. She wouldn’t need to bash skeletons to death with rocks anymore!

If this scabbard really did work the way she thought it did, allowing River to keep her preferred weapon with her at all times - even after death - then it was by far the most precious treasure she had found in the Hollow Delve.

River latched the belt around her hips and found that it fit perfectly, as though it were made for her. That must have been part of the enchantments, she realized, as even the tattered cloak she wore around her shoulders had been sized perfectly for her build and height.

The sword sheath immediately began reshaping itself as soon as she went to place Keen’s Edge into the scabbard. The end result was a dagger sheath that fit the black knife perfectly. River called the knife to her hand with a thought and it appeared between her fingers. She dropped it and the knife vanished as it fell, reappearing back in the sheath at her belt.

Discovering new enchanted equipment always excited River, and this new acquisition was no exception. By now, she had seen a diverse range of different items and equipment from the second chest of the crypt.

Some of them were fairly disappointing, like the fire resistance ribbon she had found and tied around her wrist. That one had been completely useless, considering none of the enemies in the crypts used fire whatsoever.

She had found, on several occasions, rings that allowed her to cast spells like fireball and magic missile, usually on a short cooldown.

There was a glowing stone that had hovered at her shoulder, lighting up the surroundings in bright white light and could emit a flashbang-like effect.

There was a shield that would fly around her, automatically blocking attacks.

She’d even found a weird red egg one time that was as big as her head. The white note had said to bathe it in blood, but since skeletons didn’t bleed and River wasn’t about to exsanguinate herself to the benefit of some stupid egg, she did the only rational thing she could do. She used shatterpoint to fire the thing at Reinard like a cannonball, tearing a hole straight through his armor with the sturdy egg.

There were many items in the Hollow Delve, and those were just a few. This was the first time, however, that she had carried a total of three pieces of magical equipment. Even if the belt didn’t carry over into the next run, it was worth it just to have her hands free.

Finally, River stepped over to the three stone pedestals on the left side of the room. The square stone pillars were evenly spaced from each other and each featured an indentation for a human hand. Set under the handprints of each pillar was a line of text that had been carved into the stone.

The carved letters weren’t English, but oddly enough, River found she was able to read them regardless of the fact that she had never seen this script before in her life. She wasn’t sure what to make of that, so instead she went from pedestal to pedestal reading the inscriptions.

Hollow Pain

Grasping Strands

Ripper’s Claws

She got an ominous feeling from these pillars. However, the rest of the room had been beneficial to her - both the fountain that had healed her injuries and the new weapons sheath at her waist were a huge help. If there was another boon to be had from this place, River didn’t want to miss out on it.

Tentatively, she held up her right hand over the handprint-shaped groove set into the stone pillar. This was the one for ‘Ripper’s Claws.’ She paused and wondered if she should choose one of the pedestals that sounded a little less violent, but she finally shook her head, drew a deep breath, and pressed her hand into the stone.

Nothing happened.

Well, that was anticlimactic, River thought. Still, she held her hand against the stone indentation, waiting to see if the pillars just took a minute to warm up or something. Why would someone put these here if they didn’t do anything?

There was a tickle at the palm of her right hand. She lifted her hand and scratched at it. It didn’t go away.

The sensation slowly spread until the entire palm of her right hand itched, and then the same itching spread to her left hand. It spread more quickly and River felt a pang of panic race through her.

The itching became intense and started crawling up her forearms, stopping at her elbow. The skin of her hands and forearms leaked away their color, turning a pallid gray as River, terrified, paced around the room that was suddenly full of near-hysterical swearing.

River, in a full blown fit of panic, slammed her right hand into the gray stone pedestal, trying to stop whatever transformation her hands were going through, but the bones of her hands kept cracking and shifting under her skin. The bones of her fingers snapped and popped as they lengthened to almost three times their original length and sharpened into deadly claws.

As the transformation of her hands came to a close, the intense itching slowly faded away.

River stared in horror down at the thin, slender gray fingers of a monster. The skin of her arms was now a lifeless gray up to her forearms, where it transitioned back into her normal skin tone.

She couldn’t do anything but stare at the disturbingly long, spidery fingers of her hands. Eventually, River managed to get her slamming heart under control and calm herself down. She hadn’t known what would happen from setting her hand against the stone pillar, but it certainly hadn’t been this.

Experimentally, River clicked the deadly-sharp claw tips of her fingers together and flexed her hands. The fingers had an extra set of knuckles in them, so although her fingers were much longer, she also had a better ability to bend them. Scowling down at the abhorrent, monstrous digits as she contorted them into a fist, River was suddenly reminded of a spider curling its legs into its body as it died and stifled a gag.

These claws were sharp. Incredibly sharp. Like this, her hands alone could be used as weapons, easily cutting down any opponent that came within arm’s reach.

When her curiosity finally overcame the dread at this unexpected transformation, River tested the claws against the stone wall. She could easily slash out chunks of stone, leaving deep grooves and gashes wherever her fingers went.

And then she realized that she didn’t just have just one path open to her, but two. With these claws, she could scale the walls of the well. A shiver ran over River’s skin as she stared down at the vicious things that took the place of her hands.

Then she looked to the other set of double doors that, presumably, led deeper into the Hollow Delve. River shook her head.

The second floor could wait - she could always come back later to further explore. River had spent too much time staring up at the rolling clouds and sunlight that seemed so far out of reach. Now that she could finally make the climb, she couldn’t resist.

River nervously tugged the sleeves of her cloak to cover her monstrous hands, disgusted and frightened by the very sight of them. The prospect of finally escaping the Hollow Delve was almost enough to take her mind off of her newly mutated body.

It was finally time to see the outside world.