Chapter Eight — A Look into the Past
I stayed up late to read. The herbology book was still at the bottom of my backpack, forgotten as I read through ancient reports illuminated by the flickering light of a candle.Report, Seventh of HarvestApprehended drunk bard at Well Inn Good, began a brawl with local musicians over ‘the quality of the music.’ Minor property damage evaluated at two sil, three cop. Confined in cell overnight until sober.-Overseer HardyA bard. Was it Bonesy a long time ago?Report, Eight of HarvestMana fluctuations detected by local mages including alchemist. No sighting of the adventuring party sent out to the Dunwich dungeon.-Overseer HardyA dungeon? Those were a thing here?Report two, Eight of HarvestLarge mana shifts. Felt them myself. Worried someone might have damaged the dungeon core. Guard rotation C spotted someone in the forests in green. Imperials? This far out? It could explain the shifts in local mana. Doubled the guards just in case. Sent a scout to the Dunwich Dungeon.-Overseer HardyThings were getting interesting, very interesting. A dungeon sounded like a neat place to visit, and there was a lot of talk here about mana as if it was a thing that was just... in the air. I wondered if the mana here was thick or thin and if I would be able to tell the difference.Report, Ninth of HarvestDunwich dungeon was destroyed. The shifts in mana are the ley lines snapping apart. Spoke to the mayor. She doesn’t want to evacuate but we have no choice, not with Imperials so close and the mana turning like this. No news of the adventuring team sent out. Still have their bard in a cell. Will release him later.More imperial sightings. Hopefully they’ll let a group of civilians pass unharmed.-Overseer HardyAnd that was it. No more reports, just a few blank pages. So there were ley lines for magic. And Bonesy the Bard had been part of an adventuring group. That was kind of neat! Good on him. Not so good was how he had caused trouble at the Inn. He was just as poorly behaved in life as he was in death.Ding! For repeating a Special Action a sufficient number of times you have unlocked the skill: Archaeology!I smiled and blew out the candle, then shifted until sleep took me at long last.
* * *
I woke up feeling refreshed. Not at my best, and my tummy still rumbled for food that wasn’t honey, but the pall of depression was lifted and I felt my face twisting back into my usual smile. Then I unleashed a blast of cleaning magic at myself and shivered as mana coursed over my body and clothes. It was like taking a shower but better.Standing up, I stretched, ran through an abridged version of my morning routine (I’d give all of my silver for a toothbrush and paste) then stepped outside after making sure the coast was clear of ghosts.Today was the day I would take on the wraith. But first, I had a church to explore and a sickly sweet breakfast to lick.I strolled across the ghost town, spoon in mouth and attention swivelling around to take in everything. Things had changed in the two short days I had been here. There had been grass when I first came out, but it was brown and feeble and kind of sad. Now bushes were sprouting up everywhere and the grass was thick and lush and vibrant. The entire world seemed more alive, somehow.Was it because there were fewer ghosts?I couldn’t believe that level one monsters were that strong. But then again, the ghosts couldn’t be hurt through normal means. Maybe the animals and such were careful and cautious around them-proving once more than the average animal was smarter than little old me.The church was a stately building, even with fresh vines climbing up its sides and huge holes poked through its stained glass windows. It looked like the kind of place that local weddings would be held in, and where a nice old priest would try to help people with their problems and all the old ladies would gather to trade the juiciest gossip.There was a sense of lost serenity around the building, a sensation that took me a long time to name and would take longer to get used to. It would have felt wrong to scream and shout or fight.I pushed open the front door and slid into the main hall. It was a single large room with rows of wooden benches all facing a trio of stone altars. Dust swirled in the air and the light, most of it pouring through the mosaic windows, coloured the entire room in a spectrum of soft blues and greens and reds.“Hello?” I asked as I moved in. Only silence greeted me. I moved through the room, careful to be as quiet and respectful as I could until I was at the altars. They were all different. Did they practice one faith with many gods here, or were there many religions housed in one church?The first altar had a small stone chalice built into it, with stone grapes and fruit around its base. The second had a carving of an arm holding an axe engraved atop it and the third had a statue of an archway reaching from one side to the other.Strange, disparate symbols with meanings I could only guess at. Most buried under a layer of dust. Three quick flashes of magic cleared the altars, leaving them as the only untouched things in the entire room. A strange dichotomy, maybe.I bowed to the three altars and moved on. There was nothing for me here.According to my map I still had five houses to explore, but I doubted I would find anything incredible there. No, my goal at that moment was to face the wraith and inspect the hole. I could return to exploring at any time after that.The monster was hovering over the opened pit, twisting and turning and writhing in the air as if it was wracked with pain. Pain that it almost seemed to enjoy. Now that I was closer I could hear its delighted howls, the almost ecstatic moans that it made as jolts of... something coursed through it.Whatever the wraith was feeding on came from the hole. Evil mana, maybe? I could only guess.My backpack was left on the doorstep of a nearby home. I took a moment to go over my plan, as simple as it was. I was going to go out and attack the wraith, first with the showerhead-flail I had, then by throwing my magic wand through it. Then, if it was sufficiently distracted, I would use my cleaning spell on it.If things went well that would be enough to clear it out.The very first step though, of course, was to talk to it.Maybe it was a nice evil wraith? “Insight.”An evil wraith, level 2.Maybe not. But I wouldn’t hit someone in the back without at least trying to talk first. Anything else would just be wrong.I sat back and ate another spoonful of honey as I looked over my many skills.
Name
Broccoli Bunch
Race
Human
First Class
Cinnamon Bun
First Class Level
1
Age
16
Health
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105
Stamina
115
Mana
105
Resilience
15
Flexibility
20
Magic
10
Skills
Rank
Cinnamon Bun Skills
Cleaning
C — 14%
General Skills
Insight
E — 97%
Makeshift Weapon Proficiency
F — 42%
Archeology
F — 15%
I was quite the warrior it seemed. “Soon,” I whispered in the deepest darkest voice I could manage. It came out squeaky, but it was the thought that counted! “Everyone across all the realms will learn to respect the might of Broccoli the great Cinnamon Bun!”I might have been able to get Insight up another level, but that didn’t feel necessary, or even helpful in a fight. Makeshift weapons would have been a good skill to level, but I wasn’t sure how to do that except to fight some more, and there wasn’t anything left to fight that I had seen so far.Well, ghosts didn’t generally move very fast. I would try against this one and see how things worked out. Worse case, I was an excellent runner.I stepped out into the morning sunlight, makeshift flail hanging by my side, mana topped off at max and a determined frown on my face. I walked over to the evil well of evilness until I was only a few dozen paces away. “Hello!” I called out.The wraith paused in its weird wriggling and turned.My blood ran cold.The wraith screamed.You have heard the screech of a fearsome creature! Your soul is shaken.My breathing hitched and I had a sudden urge to run to the nearest bathroom as the monster tore through the sky towards me. Its hands stretched and shifted, turning into long, scythe-like claws.I snapped out of it just in time to hop backwards and narrowly avoid the first swing. The wraith screamed again, but this time I was a little more ready for it and managed not to pee my skirts. Instead I flung my showerhead flail at the monster and almost fainted when it bounced off its face.The wraith flinched back, face leaking the same plumes of dust the ghosts had, though in far smaller quantities.It spun around and charged at me again.I rolled out of its path, then tossed the magic wand that merely booped its chest and left only the tiniest of wounds.Not enough, not nearly enough.I started spinning the flail around and around until it hummed through the air. The wraith came at me again, its one track mind not terribly suited to thinking, it seemed. My flail crashed into its hand, a spark of magic burst from the impact, the wraith screeched, though now in pain rather than anger.“I’m sorry,” I said as I lunged closer to it and pressed a hand against its chest. “Clean!”My mana dropped, then dropped faster as I poured more and more into the attempt to cleanse the monster. A patch formed around my hand, slowly growing and spreading across its body. First a few centimeters, then a few more in an expanding circle.My mana hit zero.The world shifted, the corners of my vision going blurry as I stumbled back and fell onto my bum.The wraith was twisting and screeching, its one remaining clawed arm trying to push back all of its dusty stuff into the massive tear in its chest. It gave up after a moment and started to move towards the hole. Slower now, much slower than its earlier charge.This was my chance, my opportunity to run back and regroup, to figure out a new strategy and maybe let my mana return to full.I stumbled to my feet and ran after the wraith, for a certain definition of ‘ran.’ My stumbling gait didn’t stop me from spinning my flail again, and when the ghostly monster started to suck at the evil mana it left itself wide open.The flail rammed into and through its body, cutting off its lower half to let it float down and turn to so much dust.It spun around, the back of its claws raking across my face and chest and sending me flying a few feet. “Ouch,” I said as I landed on my back. I wanted to stay there for a moment, but huge claws spearing down at me were enough encouragement that I rolled to the side. Just in time, too, as the talons dug into the ground where I had been.Another smack of the flail, weaker this time and from an awkward angle, was enough to push its hands away. My mana was back to one. One mana.I slapped my hand on its screeching face and fired off my cleaning spell. It was little more than a short lived burst, but that was enough to make it race backwards and give me some room. I scrambled back, then got to my feet.“You are a big, fat meaniehead!” I taunted the monster.It kind of just stared at me angrily. I was going to need to learn the taunt skill one of these days, if that was even a thing.Another spin of my flail ended with the shower head smacking the now weakened wraith again, and again, and again.The fight didn’t end in a glorious moment of triumph, but in a constant beatdown, where I delivered blow after blow to an enemy that was less and less capable of fighting back until, finally...Ding! Congratulations, you have laid ‘The Wraith of Threewells by Darkwood’ Level 2! To rest! Bonus Exp was granted for savaging a monster above your level!
Chapter Nine — Dungeon Dive
Bing Bong! Congratulations, your Cinnamon Bun class has reached level 2! Health + 5Resilience +5 You have gained: One Class PointYou have unlocked: One Class Skill Slot “A skill slot?” I wondered aloud even as a rush of giddiness washed through me. It was like a faint tingling, first in my skin, then my muscles and the insides of my chest, as if someone had placed me in a microwave on high for a few seconds, but without the exploding.I grinned. I was level two!Normally, that would have been a time of celebration and dancing and such, but I was right next to a giant evil hole in the ground and it kind of felt unwise to make lots of noise while so close to the scary pit.Instead, I looked around, took in the bright sunlight streaming down on the sight of the battlefield where I had fought the wraith and soaked in the sun.The hole didn’t drop straight down, not for more than a meter and a half or so. The passage went on into the dark as some sort of tunnel that I couldn’t see the end of. I was going to need a ladder or else getting out of there would be complicated.Fortunately, I had seen one next to the gardening shed of one of the houses I’d explored. Unfortunately it was all the way across town.There weren’t any other options, so I took a leisurely stroll across town, found the ladder where it had been left, tested the rungs a few times to make sure they could hold my weight, then dragged it all the way back.The moment my foot touched the ground within the hole a prompt appeared before me.You are Entering the Wonderland DungeonDungeon Level 2-4Your entire party has entered the DungeonSeal Dungeon until exit?“That sounds like an awful idea,” I said.Dungeon left UnsealedAny Person can Enter Dungeon InstanceAny Person can Exit Dungeon InstanceQuest Updated!The Hole Down UnderAn evil root has plunged into the world.You have entered the Wonderland Dungeon. Explore it. Find the root. Destroy it.I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding and counted myself lucky. It felt as if I had dodged a bullet there. Still, level two to four monsters would probably be really tricky to fight. But maybe I didn’t need to fight them?Dropping my backpack, I searched within until I found the silvery candlestick I had looted and a fresh candle. Then I lost a minute or two with the firestarter until the candle lit up with a spark. I replaced the firestarter and stood back up, the candle holder held before me so that the mirror shield it had illuminated the path ahead.The passage was like a borehole, the walls smooth dirt except where the occasional root poked through and the ground tilted down at a slight angle. I tread carefully, always watching where I set my feet in case of traps or pitfalls or anything of the sort. I had read enough about dungeons to know that being careful was the best way to survive them.The path curved a little, then opened up to a large-ish room with a wooden door at one end and a monster in the middle. A torch high up on the wall near the door lit everything up with a warm, orange glow.I froze, taking in the form of a dog-sized rabbit standing on its haunches, milky-white eyes staring at a pocket watch that it, he, held out before him in a big fluffy paw. The rabbit wasn’t normal, not just on account of its size and the fact that it was wearing a tattered waistcoat. Its fur was missing in places and its teeth were showing where the flesh around its mouth was rotted off.I fired off a quick insight as I stood still and wondered what to do.A zombie time rabbit, level 2.I realized that I might be in something of a pickle. Still, I was Broccoli Bunch and Broccoli Bunch was nothing if not polite. “Ah, hello,” I said.The rabbit’s head looked up. Its white eyes locked onto me. The timepiece clicked.Then the rabbit reappeared in the air right before me, both legs already kicking out into my chest.I stumbled back, breath whooshing out of me in gasp as I fell onto my backpack and laid down to stare at the dirt ceiling for a moment. “Ouch,” I said as soon as I had air in my lungs.The timepiece clicked. The rabbit appeared above me.I swept an arm out, hitting the zombie rabbit just hard enough to shove it off to the side and avoid another thumping. Then there was a mad scramble as I slid my arms out of the loops of my backpack and rolled off to the side. I didn’t have any weapons except my cleaning magic, and the rabbit could teleport.It wasn’t looking too good. “Mister rabbit, please stop!” I said.The rabbit turned its white eyes towards me, then pressed on the button next to the timepiece again.This time I rolled out of the way before it even appeared to kick me again. “Okay, okay, Broc, it’s a time travelling zombie bunny rabbit,” I said as I shuffled around the room, constantly moving as I kept an eye on the rabbit. “It’s an evil time travelling zombie bunny rabbit. K-killing it is okay.”The rabbit’s head snapped around to face me, turning way more than its neck should have allowed.The pocket watch clicked. My hand shot out and wrapped around its furry chest a moment after it appeared before me.It was heavy, heavy enough that I ended up backing up and bumping into the wall, but I managed to hang on to it long enough to use my one spell.A wave of cleaning magic tore through the rabbit, its white eyes went glossy and a faint ghostly form shifted out of the body.“Oh, thank goodness,” I said as I let it drop and moved away. That had taken more than a third of my mana, more than a ghost did. But still, it was over. I waited for the ‘ding’ and the experience points to come in.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.The timepiece clicked.Spinning around, I found the rabbit back in the middle of the room, its head turned towards me with its white eyes set in a glare. “Oh no.”The rabbit bounced across the floor in a straight path for me. I tried to move away, but the room was far too small, so I did the only thing I could think of. I jumped over the rabbit.Ding! For doing a Special Action in line with your Class, you have unlocked the skill: Jumping!“Not now!” I told the infobox.The rabbit was slow to turn around, which was just what I needed. My hand locked around the timepiece and tore it out of its grip to send it flying against the nearest wall where it burst apart. Then came another wave of cleaning magic.Ding! Congratulations, you have stuffed a ‘Undead White Rabbit Time Mage’ Level 2!I shuffled away from the body of the rabbit as it started to dissolve into motes of whitish light that left nothing behind, even the bits of its timepiece fading away. “I’m sorry,” I said before using a bit of mana to clean off my hands. A clink sounded and a key appeared on the ground where the rabbit had been.Mana 19/105That wasn’t very good. I hoped that Dungeon monsters didn’t respawn, then I felt bad for calling the rabbit a monster. Sure, it was a time travelling zombie rabbit, but I was the one invading its house. I bet that it used to be a very nice rabbit before it went all zombie and mean.Maybe that’s what the quest was about: Destroy the root of evil in this dungeon and allow it to become a less evil place? It made a sort of sense.I stared down at my hands, my perfectly clean hands, made that way thanks to some magic and not any effort of my own. Hands that I felt should have been at least a little dirty.I wasn’t some crusader, or the person who got to decide what was right and wrong. I had been asked, by something, to come rid the world of something evil, and that’s what I was trying to do, but I didn’t want to compromise my morality to do it.My hands clenched into fists. “So I won’t,” I decided. I had made friends with all sorts of people already. And maybe I could make even more in this dungeon. Maybe it was an evil place and I couldn’t. I didn’t know yet, but I would learn and I would ask the people I met to be friends first before I ever raised a fist against them.I nodded. “Right!” My choice was... not made, because that had been my path already, but reaffirmed.JumpingRank F — 00%The ability to jump. As this skill rises in level your ability to jump will improve!A glance at my new skill didn’t reveal all that much. It wasn’t... well, it wasn’t Fireball. Jumping could be useful... maybe? For getting to high places?“My skills are really lame,” I whined.Still, it was a skill, and at rank F it wasn’t that handy. I skipped over to the door, then looked at the experience change. It had gone up a full percent. Maybe I could grind it here before moving on, then. I had another skill that was nearly at the next level too.The door to the next area had a large lock on it. It didn’t take a genius to see that it was the key that had dropped from the rabbit. Next to the door was a little table with a potion bottle and a cake on it. The cake had ‘EAT ME’ written on it in big letters, the bottle had a small tag with ‘DRINK THIS’ scribbled on it. I fired off two quick Insights.“Is that... is that an Alice in Wonderland reference?” I asked aloud. “Insight.”A poisoned cakeA poisoned shrinking potionI eyed the cake and the potion, then carefully took the potion and brought it back to my backpack to tuck it away. There was a chance it would come in handy later. Then I checked my notifications.Congratulations! Through repeated actions your Insight skill has improved and is now eligible for rank up!Rank D is a free rank!That was an easy choice to make.InsightRank D — 00%The Ability to know something. The knowledge you gain is further increased.I stretched, jumped on the spot a few times, then looked to the door as I slid my backpack back on. I didn’t know how ready I was to face off the rest of the dungeon, but I wouldn’t learn that until I tried. I got my makeshift flail ready, just in case I ran into more zombies or ghosts, then unlocked the door to step out into the rest of the dungeon.My breath caught.The passageway continued for a few feet, then opened up onto a railless balcony overlooking a large hole. It was maybe ten or twenty meters wide, with an opened top that revealed the bright green sky above. There were other platforms at different levels, with huge, bulbous mushrooms growing in a spiraling ring all around the sides of the shaft. It seemed as if the level I was on was the highest one around.It was pretty, with glowing moss along the walls, little trees sticking out here and there with huge caterpillars on them and pretty pink clouds floating above. Pretty, surreal, and nothing like the world I had left when I entered the dungeon.“Whoa,” I said as I moved to the edge of the ledge and looked down. Every quarter turn of the shaft had a hole drilled into the wall, some with elaborate arches, others quite plain. All the way down to the bottom where a field of grass was waiting and a large vine-covered archway. It would have looked idyllic if the pervasive sense of wrong wasn’t so strong whenever I looked at the tunnel behind that arch.That had to be my objective then.And the only way to reach it was to jump from mushroom to mushroom. Maybe Jumping wasn’t a waste of skill after all.
