Mythica, book 1, Chapter 29+30.

Chapter 29.

“You come back, but is that useless scout the only one of my people to make it out of the snag-grabber’s lair?” Gnawtooth asked.

“That’s it, but you’ll be happy to know the new leader’s army was also caught up in the slaughter. Some of them will survive, but from the sounds of things, that snag-grabber was having quite the buffet going,” Sabine said.

“Good, and all see-watch that Gnawtooth keeps his word, even to humans. Here, take this, it burns, and I don’t want it anymore,” the verminkin leader said, grabbing a small necklace from his bag and tossing it to Sabine. Gnawtooth winced as he held the object, whatever this was, it hurt him.

The small necklace was a thin silver chain with several small charms attached to it. Sabine could feel the amulet burn against her skin, the dark mana quickly repairing the damage. It then began to change, the burning subsided and Sabine found that she could hold it without any problem. Using her Eyes of Undeath, Sabine could see her golden mana congregate around where the amulet touched her skin, forming a protective barrier.

Looking at the amulet she could see that the mana it contained was more yellow than the golden color of the mana that Sabine possessed. Placing it around her neck, Sabine felt a wave of discomfort as her dark mana fought against the presence of the amulet and her golden mana tried to form a barrier between the two. After a few moments, they reached a kind of equilibrium and the pain subsided. As the pain ended a new prompt appeared.

You have acquired a gift intended for one of my servants. While I sense darkness in you, there is also good. Know that you are not my first choice to bear this gift, but I will not let it languish in the Darkrealm any longer. Its power is yours to use if you promise to take it back to the light of day and place it in my temple once more.

A deal has been offered by a minor deity. The terms are as follows:

1. You will take this amulet back to the surface world and leave it at the temple the deity specifies.

2. You will be able to use the amulet’s power while on your quest, but if you delay returning it for too long, the amulet will try and harm you.

Do you agree to these terms, Y/N?

She could feel the presence of the other deity in the first part of the prompt, but the other half, the one outlining the offered deal, didn’t feel like it came from a deity. Once again, there was another power out there, one strong enough to broker deals between gods and mortals. The god of the amulet hadn’t named itself, and neither had this other presence, which made Sabine a little wary of the whole deal. She also had no idea what the amulet could do. What if it just created a loaf of bread once a year, or did some other minor thing that was useless to Sabine?

Sabine also didn’t feel like lugging this amulet halfway across the world if the temple she was supposed to return this unnamed god’s amulet to was not local. As she thought of her concern, Sabine felt someone sifting through her thoughts. It was the strange and powerful presence that she had felt before.

Sabine was worried at first, but the only feeling she received from the presence was one of complete neutrality. Whatever it was, it wasn’t a god, and Sabine believed that she could trust it to keep its word. While Sabine felt that she could trust this new presence, it wasn’t beyond reason that the presence forced that feeling upon her. She would need to be on guard, but for now, she’d trust it to do what it claimed. After reading Sabine’s intent, the presence offered an updated deal.

A counter-proposal has been offered by Sabine Giroux.

1. She will take this amulet back to the surface world and leave it at the temple the deity specifies.

2. She will be able to use the amulet’s power while on her quest, but if she delays for too long, the amulet may exert force to gain compliance with the terms of the agreement.

3. The location of the temple cannot be more than a ten-day journey from the surface above this location. If the temple is further than the designated distance, new negotiations may be initiated.

4. A small reward will be offered by the deity for the completion of the quest.

5.. Before agreeing to these terms, Sabine Giroux will be given an idea of the item’s power.

Do both parties agree to these terms, Y/N?

Before Sabine could accept or decline, an image appeared in her mind. She could see her other magical items, the Mask of False Life, and Reckoning. Both had a number below their image which was labeled as Item Level. Reckoning was ranked at 250 and the mask was ranked at 500. Both had a small icon near the items telling Sabine they could improve and evolve over time.

A third item then appeared, the amulet. Sabine saw that it was ranked at 175, below both Reckoning and the Mask of False Life. The item held some power, and the icon next to it revealed that it had a fixed rating and couldn’t improve like her other magical gear. It also noted that the item level was calculated with the usefulness to Sabine in mind, so she didn’t have to worry that it provided something that was completely useless to her.

She didn’t feel that a short quest was too bad, even if it might require a ten-day trip. At least Sabine was guaranteed some small reward for her efforts. What was considered a “small” reward wasn’t explained, but she didn’t think the gods were in the habit of being cheapskates when it came to handing out quests. Sabine accepted the quest and waited for the deity to do the same.

An agreement has been reached and knowledge of the temple’s location has been granted to you. Access to the amulet you wear is now available.

Amulet of the Spirit Beast. A consecrated item of an unknown god, this amulet will grant its power to you. Up to 2 times per day, you may summon a spirit beast to aid you in battle. These beasts will serve you for 1 hour or until they are destroyed.

Sabine waited to see if anything else would happen, but both presences had left. She had acquired a powerful item that might prove useful in the coming fight. She was also walking beside a rather distraught-looking Orren. The scribe kept glancing her way with concern, finally whispering to her when he realized that she was focused once more. “Sabine, what happened?”

“I’m okay, just some weirdness with the necklace. What happened while I was out?” Sabine asked.

“Gnawtooth is moving toward what is supposed to be the verminkin’s main lair. They’re set up in a cave complex off the far end of the cavern. I was able to get you to follow along, but Gnawtooth could tell something was wrong. To keep him from pressing further I kind of agreed to a stupid deal,” Orren admitted.

“Spit it out, what did you agree to?” Sabine asked.

“Well, I agreed that we would lead the assault on the new leader. There’s an escape tunnel from the leader’s lair that Gnawtooth knows about. We can use it to reach the new leader’s throne room. He’s supposed to give us a small force to support our attack. I think we’re the distraction to draw forces away before he strikes with the bulk of the army,” Orren said.

“We’ll make it work, I want a crack at this new leader, and if we have to carve through a bunch of verminkin to get there, that’s not a problem as long as Gnawtooth does press the main attack,” Sabine said.

“He seems anxious to get at the enemy, and I don’t think this is all some big ruse to get rid of us. Sure, he’ll inevitably turn on us after the battle, but before then, we’re still useful,” Orren said.

“I agree. Gnawtooth is cunning, and there’s no doubt he plans to use us to weaken the new leader’s forces. That being said, he’s not going to waste our efforts, and I do think he wants me to kill the new leader. Whoever the new leader is, he has Gnawtooth spooked,” Sabine said.

“What’s the plan for us? I don’t want to die as fodder…”

“Yeah boss, what the plan-scheme for us?” Skrix said, interrupting Orren. Somehow the little rat had snuck up beside them without Sabine knowing it. With so many verminkin about, his life force didn’t exactly stand out from the crowd.

“I don’t recall inviting you to join our party,” Sabine said, more than a little annoyed at Skrix.

“Skrix is good scout-finder. I can sneak-steal and stab-kill for you boss,” Skrix said, looking a bit too enthusiastic about joining them.

“I’ll grant you that you seem to be pretty good at sneaking around, but once we’re done here, we’re going to the surface. I’m not sure that verminkin would be welcome up there,” Sabine argued.

“Not care. Sabine and Orren will protect Skrix and Skrix will protect-defend them,” Skrix said.

“Sabine, he’s not the oddest thing I’ve seen accepted in the surface world. There might be trouble out here in the sticks, but any major city and port will have a rather colorful mix of people about. Let’s give him a chance, he might be helpful,” Orren said. Sabine wasn’t exactly keen on teaming up with the verminkin scout long term, but he might prove useful for now.

“Why don’t we do this, Skrix. We’ll take you on as a member of our party on a trial basis. You do well, and we’ll think about taking you with us to the surface,” Sabine offered.

“Skrix prove helpful-useful, you’ll see. I fight-kill good in battle,” Skrix said, brandishing his makeshift weapon to prove his bravery.

“If this goes south, it’s on you Orren,” Sabine said.

“Why is it on me, I just said the little guy might prove useful. You’re the one offering a chance at joining us permanently,” Orren said. Sabine glared at him, but Orren seemed rather pleased with himself and ignored her look.

“Skrix, if you are going to be part of our team, at least temporarily, you’ll need something better than that monstrosity to fight with,” Sabine said, not liking the crappy chunk of wood with a few sharp bits of metal hammered into it that Skrix wielded. It was unbalanced and rather heavy for the diminutive verminkin.

Pulling a dagger from her pack, she handed it to Skrix. The weapon was one she had lifted from the battle with the necromancer and for her, it was a long parrying dagger, but for Skrix, it was more like a short sword. He took it reverently from her hand, just holding and staring at the weapon. Skrix got more than a few jealous looks from the verminkin around them, but he didn’t seem to notice.

“I will fight-defend you with this weapon-gift. Nobody give Skrix such a gift before,” Skrix said, giving the dagger a few practice thrusts and cuts. He wasn’t exactly a trained warrior, but he did seem to have at least some natural talent with a small blade.

“It’s only a loan, not a gift. If you fight well and are helpful to me and Orren, you can keep it. Deal?” Sabine asked.

“Yes, I make deal-pact with Sabine-Orren to keep blade. Does it have a name? Should I name it?” Skrix asked.

“It’s just a common dagger, they typically don’t have a name,” Sabine said.

“Hmm, I think foe-blood-killer-stabber is what this will be called,” Skrix said as he threaded the knife through the piece of rope he used as a belt. He was a rather pitiful specimen. His only clothing consisted of a long shirt that hung to his ankles and the belt around his waist to keep it from flapping around too much in combat.

“Take this, I don’t want you to accidentally cut yourself with whatever you’re calling that knife before you prove useful,” Sabine said, handing Skrix the sheath for the knife. Skrix seemed very pleased with himself and given how he was showing off the blade and taunting some of the other workers, Sabine didn’t think his life would be a long one even if he survived the coming battle. In fact, there was likely to be a whole new battle over who would keep the knife once Skrix was done away with.

Chapter 30.

They traveled across the cavern, and scouts continually ran back and forth, giving Gnawtooth updates. When they neared the caves where the new leader and his minions were based, Gnawtooth called Sabine and Orren forward. Skrix was right on their heels, and Sabine didn’t object. She wanted to get some use out of him, and he was likely to be killed by his greedy fellows if left alone.

“Scouts look-find new leader’s army. Many were killed-consumed by grab-snatcher, and the others are not pursuing. One of the guards is now calling himself the new-new leader and thinks he’s in charge. We’ll kill new leader and then deal with what’s left of the new-new leaders' forces,” Gnawtooth said.

“You go kill new leader now. The rest of the army will attack cave entrance while you kill new leader,” Gnawtooth commanded.

“Who’s going with us? I’m good, but I can’t fight off the new leader, and all his minions on my own,” Sabine argued.

“I give you strong warriors to help you and lead you to escape tunnel. Go now, start killing new leader and we’ll attack,” Gnawtooth said. He pointed toward a group of verminkin that he must have already picked out. Five guards and twenty workers moved toward Sabine’s party.

“I work-serve in throne room, show you here tunnel is,” one of the warriors said, leading them away from Gnawtooth’s army and toward their objective.

Sabine was a bit worried that they were going to run into a work party but soon realized that wasn’t going to be a problem. This whole section of the cavern near the new leader’s lair had been picked clean of anything edible or useful. It was just like the description in Orren’s compendium. The verminkin would eventually strip this cavern bare and move on to find new hunting grounds.

It only took about two minutes for the guard to locate the tunnel. It had been rather conspicuously “hidden” under a bunch of mushroom stalk logs that had been lashed together. Moving the logs aside, they found a narrow escape tunnel. They were going to have to do this single file. When the guard motioned for her to enter, Sabine stood her ground.

“No, you’re the one that knows this path, you go first,” Sabine said, moving her hand to rest on Reckoning to show that she was the one in charge. The guard reluctantly agreed, and Sabine herded the rest of them into line. After the guard, ten of the workers would go through, then Sabine, Orren, and Skrix. Behind Skrix were the rest of the guards, followed by the last ten workers.

The tunnel was a tight fit for Sabine with her armor, and Orren had to stoop over to walk in it. Thankfully, it only took them a few minutes before Sabine could see the exit. It looked like stone blocks had once walled off the tunnel, but they had long ago been broken through. There was a holdup as the workers seemed hesitant to exit. The warrior at the front of the line reached back into the tunnel and started hauling the reluctant workers into the room with them.

One worker started to squawk in protest, but the guard thumped him on the head to remind everyone that they needed to be quiet. Sabine shoved the worker in front of her into the room and emerged to see where they had wound up. It was a long-forgotten storage room, with some empty corroded wicker baskets and piles of refuse. The room was made from fitted stone blocks and the builders had used the natural cavern features to make their jobs easier.

The room was more than large enough to fit their entire force, and on the far wall was the only other exit to the room. Any signs of a door had long rotted away, and Sabine kept her eye on the exit to the room, ready for action, as the last of their force emerged. Skrix posted himself by her side, clutching his knife with both hands and pointing it toward the exit.

“Skrix, what was this place? It doesn’t strike me as something your people would build,” Sabine said. This strange structure built inside a natural cave system was masterfully crafted and had to have been here a long time before the verminkin had ever shown up.

“Not know, old places always found-sought all over the Darkrealm. Make good base while harvesting a cavern,” Skrix said.

The last of the verminkin were now out of the tunnel and into the room. Doing a quick head count, they hadn’t lost anyone on the way. Sure, it was only a single narrow passage, but who knew what kind of traps or creatures could have been lurking in such a place?

“Where do we go from here?” Sabine asked the guard who knew about the escape tunnel.

“Outside room is path that takes us to throne room. This place not used-watched, since new leader doesn’t want others to know of his escape plan,” the guard said.

“How did you know of it?” Sabine asked.

“My squad was assigned to protect-serve new leader. We went with him when he look-checked on passage and had us hid it,” the guard said, pointing to the pile of refuse left behind to hide the entrance to the tunnel. “When we were done, great leader kill-slay all guards so only he knows location of escape tunnel,” the guard said.

“That brings up the question of how you survived,” Orren inquired.

“I survived because other guards hate me and are jealous of my power and favor with the new leader,” the guard said.

“Again, that doesn’t explain how you survived.”

“I was inside the tunnel working on hiding the exit when two other guards try to hit-kill me on the head. My skull is tough and I didn’t die, but the blood must have fooled them. I wake up as new leader kill the others, so I kept hidden until he left, then I go to find Gnawtooth to serve him,” the guard explained.

“Didn’t the new leader notice that one of his guards was missing among the bodies?” Sabine asked.

“No, new leader not leave anything behind we he kill-slay’s his enemies,” the guard said.

“Still, he would have counted the bodies, even if he consumed the remains,” Orren said. It was a good question. Sabine could believe a glutenous leader of a verminkin tribe eating his bodyguards, but he would still notice that one was missing. She was beginning to get worried that this guard was leading them into a trap of some kind.

“He not eat-consume, he kill-slay them, so nothing left to count,” the guard said.

“Was it magic, some kind of weapon? We need to know what we’re dealing with,” Sabine asked.

“Maybe magic, maybe some power the new leader has, I don’t know. He just chants and a stench cloud that kill-rots everyone around him is there,” the guard said.

“Finally, a real answer. Sabine, this looks like a mage of some sort. It’s not magic that I’m familiar with, but I’m not exactly well-versed in verminkin mage classes. What do you suggest we do to handle this guy?” Orren asked.

“We hit him hard and fast, our force will charge in and attack before he can begin casting. If possible, I’d like to get you up high where you can snipe and use your magic on him,” Sabine said.

“I know-find stairs to upper level. We can see-kill new leader from there, if he’s busy fighting someone else to distract him,” the guard suggested.

“That might work, are the stairs close to the throne room?” Sabine asked.

“Yes, stairs right next to throne room, I can lead you to room then help Orren-mage to find high place to kill-slay new leader,” the guard suggested.

“That’s what we’ll do, take Skrix with you, he’s good at scouting in case someone or something is waiting up there for you. Now, everyone, let’s move,” Sabine ordered.

They moved as quietly as they could, which wasn’t very quiet considering how many were in their group. The passageway they followed was narrow, but as bad as the tunnel they had just traversed. It was blocked at the end with another pile of rubble. Sabine was beginning to think that if you were looking for something important that was hidden in a verminkin stronghold, just try to find a pile of refuse, your target was likely hidden behind it.

The guards in front weren’t exactly quiet as they pushed past the trash and rubble used to hide the entrance, but there were no immediate calls of alarm. When Sabine squeezed past the rubble, she could see they were in a much larger, and more well-traveled passage. Twenty yards to the right was a stairwell that the guard had mentioned.

“Throne room at end of passage, these stairs go up to second level,” the guard said.

“Good, Orren, get moving,” she said, waiting for the guard, Skrix, and Orren to move up the stairs. “The rest of us are going to move fast, hit the throne room, and attack the new leader. Workers, you take on any guards in the room, the rest of you will help me with the new leader. Let’s go,” Sabine ordered, leading the way.

The guard’s directions were easy enough to follow and the passage emptied right in the middle of the throne room. Sabine paused only for a moment to orient herself. They were in a huge room, that very well could have been the throne room of a powerful human king. It had gone to rot over the years, but touches of its former elegance remained in the faded carvings on the stone pillars that soared over fifty feet toward the roof of the chamber.

A second level was seen above them, but it looked like only a narrow walkway, probably a means to have extra bodies observe official ceremonies back when this place was in more civilized hands. Broken railings lined the second level, and there would be plenty of places for Orren to do his work. A half dozen guards were responding to their intrusion and were already shouting for reinforcements when Sabine spotted her target.

She observed this new leader even as she charged across the throne room toward him. It was the largest verminkin she’d seen so far, but his body was a fat, bloated thing, not some muscular warrior. It wore no clothing or armor, so Sabine had a full view of the disgusting sores that covered the new leader’s body, each of which dripped with infection.

It was a disgusting creature that she would be glad to rid the world of. Spotting the approaching danger, the new leader struggled to his feet from a makeshift throne that he had been plopped upon. As he stood, Sabine could see mana begin to swirl around him.

It was dark mana, the same as hers. Her focus shifted to the nearest guard moving to intercept her, he was the only one between her and her target. Despite being some kind of royal guard, he didn’t have much skill. Sabine dodged the clumsy strike with the guards’ makeshift weapon, and without missing a step, she ended him with a swing of Reckoning.

“A human joins the other little rats, that’s rather unexpected. No matter, you’re all going to die as my master commands. With your deaths, I shall become stronger and gain her favor,” the new leader boasted. He sounded much more intelligent than any of the other verminkin she had encountered, and there was a power behind his words.

Sabine paused her attack, stumbling a step when she realized what was truly in front of her. Her forces pressed the attack, pushing past Sabine to attack the new leader’s guards, though few seemed willing to take the leader on directly. Gnessos’ will thrummed in Sabine’s mind and a new prompt appeared as the battle raged around her.

You have detected the champion of one of the minor gods of death. Slay this creature and earn your master’s favor.