Feral Beast Master: A Gamelit Adventure, page 12
Kaden had an ominous feeling the warnings that kept scrolling had to do with that.
Unoccupied Genesis Location Found. Acquire Node and begin tutorial? [Y/N] Warning, this cannot be undone. You will not be able to leave the Node.
How much he should say, he didn’t know.
Trella returned from scouting. “The place is empty. The traps are deactivated. And there’s something else.”
Mara groaned as she sat up. “That was cheating. Cores aren’t allowed to directly attack Adventurers. Oh, ‘Queen of Entropy?’ That sounds like a sweet title. But since you saved us, I don’t give a shit who got the title. Just that the dungeon’s toast. What’s your bad news?”
“The dungeon door is wide open. Based on the amount of snow that came in, it’s been open for hours. And your [SlyFoot,] he stole the loot from my Inventory and left. I didn’t even think to check, and it wasn’t until I reviewed the notices that I realized it. All the rings and bracelets I got are gone.” Trella swore under her breath. “I thought Guild Members weren’t supposed to steal from each other.”
“He was on probation with my team,” Mara said. “And they’re not. I’ve had great thieves in the party, but one thing you can count on about a thief: They’re not ashamed to cut and run. I’m sorry about the loot.”
“It was your loot. I took it from the ghouls who devoured your Healer.” She looked to the dead [Festering Rot]. “What did that drop?”
Mara’s Shield, Ban, rose, staggering away from the group before puking. “If you don’t know, we don’t know. Surprised you didn’t go for it first.”
“That’s not how we do things,” Sara said.
Mara crawled over to the Festering Rot.
And a message broadcast.
Sharing Loot Contents:
1x Tombstone Shield (Class: Shield, Level:25)
1x Black Arrow (Skill: Bows, Level: 25)
1x Wand of Necromancy (Class: Mage, Level:25)
1x Whisperfall Boots (Class: Rogue, Level:25)
“Well, shit.” Mara put her hands on her hips. “The loot was all locked to our classes since we’re the ones who started the dungeon. That’s just…I’m sorry.”
“This one’s not so bad.” Ban looted the [Tomb Champion.]
Sharing Loot Contents:
2x Penance Swords (Level:10)
1x Absolution Armor
1x Eclipse Boots (Class: Shadow Blade, Level: 10)
“Does it always tune loot to the party?” Kaden asked. “I mean, Shadow Blades are not exactly common.”
“Most of the time.” Ban handed Trella the boots, and the armor and swords to Sara. “But you got shafted. Everyone should have gotten one piece, but instead there’s two of you got nothing.”
Kaden shrugged. “I have Remembrance. I have armor. Sara lost a sword. What are the swords and armor?”
“Penance inflicts debuffs I suffer on enemies. Absolution removes status effects if I take damage. The swords seem solid.” Sara swung each, testing.
“Sell all that shit to someone running solo,” Mara said. “Buy quality normal weapons until you get a real loot drop. Everything that does, you have the Queen of Entropy here for. If that [Transfusionist] class doesn’t wind up inflicting status, I’ll eat Gyre’s tail feathers.”
“Eve? What does that title do?” Sara asked.
[Queen of Entropy]
You have stood in the face of decay and laughed. Or at least survived. Your enemies will suffer in your presence. Armor and weapons will break at vastly increased rates. Machinery used against you will malfunction. There is a 5% chance any spell book, staff, or amulet used by your enemy will fail with disastrous results. This affects anyone in your presence.
“Terror Gnomes are going to hate you,” Mara said.
Trella sat on the floor, swapping boots. “I’m keeping these. There wasn’t a good opportunity to use my artifact, but these make the area around me darker. Your mage is going to be a necromancer?”
The mage. Kaden had forgotten about him. “I took his body. I mean, the whole thing. It’s in my Inventory.”
“Gross,” sad Eve. “That’s just disgusting.”
Sara just laughed. “Of course you grabbed the body.”
“Why not? Isn’t it easier to resurrect the better the condition?” Kaden asked.
“Right you are.” Ban held out his arms. “Give him to me, I’ll carry Zeek. He didn’t run, not even when we were hit by three [Tomb Champions] at once. Giving him a ride back to get resurrected is the least I can do when I failed to save him.”
Kaden dropped the body in the [Shield]’s arms.
And the world went dark.
Conserving Mana in Node Until Genesis.
Kaden read the notice. More odd references. But in the absolute dark, the slightest speck of light glowed. While the party gathered around Eve, who lit a mana dart, Kaden wandered further into the darkness.
The glow came from a speck, a fleck of light.
He snatched at it with his hands, and couldn’t touch it. Grabbing it with Inventory…
[Ghost Seed]
This seed will generate a single moderately annoyed spirit. Allow it to grow into an angry spirit for maximum effect. Usage: During Dungeon Reset, activate RESPAWN.
ITEM_CAN_NOT_BE_ACTIVATED
Dungeon Loot. He’d seen it before with the Swarma Egg and Blasta Maggot. The loot that should have killed him on contact, but didn’t. While Kaden was all for sharing, sharing this would probably destroy anyone else.
Node selected for relocation. Deactivating Node.
The world twisted sideways, and Kaden fell a few feet, crashing into the dirt. In the darkness, the other party members called out. Kaden lit a mana dart, forcing it to grow. No matter how much mana he put into it, Mana Dart would only give one mana. But the larger orb glowed brighter.
“We’re back in the Corpse Tunneler’s tunnel,” Sara called.
Kaden turned to look at the collapsed rock and earth behind him. The dungeon had destroyed the path the Priests from the Saint’s Hall had taken. But he’d find them.
“It’s nearly dawn,” Ban said. “That was one rough run, but the good news is, we might still be able to get you some Night Monsters.”
“Not happening,” Mara said. “We’ve got one corpse with us, one who didn’t leave corpse, and we’re going to play it smart. Wait for sun, take a walk. We all get home. There’s always more XP if you live to see another sunrise.”
“Agreed,” Sara said.
In the company of higher level adventurers, the return trip was boring. Ban took Zeek to the temple for resurrection, while Mara went inside to report. An hour later, she emerged, very pleased. “Good news. You’re off the Guildmaster’s shit list. We’re going to sell the loot from our SlyFoot to cover Zeek’s resurrection. He’ll get bumped down to twenty five, but not lower, since that’s a level floor.”
Being off the list meant they could get normal quests, in appropriate tier dungeons. “I’m looking forward to a bath and some sleep,” Kaden said. Or maybe food, bath, and sleep. Bath, food sleep? He could probably eat in the bath.
“You sure you want to run off?” Mara teased him. “Pay for a guard job is shit. Pay for running an erratic is much better. I had them bank your pay, it’s two gold split between the four of you. Doesn’t come close to paying for what you did, but now you can line up for actual runs. Go one tier up. I think you’ll wreck an even match Dungeon and waste a run.”
Five hundred silver each wasn’t bad. “See you around, Mara.”
*Hey. Stick around after your party leaves.* Mara’s thought speech burst into his mind.
Kaden waited as Trella, Sara and Eve headed for a bath, then turned his attention on the [Ranger.]
“I used to say I was going to dual class at 25 to be a Summoner. But I’m not making the climb again. If I make it to Centurion? Maybe. But I won’t need this by then.” Mara handed him a coin. A ruby red coin with a translucent layer.
You have received 1x Rare Summoning Token.
He looked it over. “I…hate to ask this, but what’s the difference between a common and an uncommon or rare shard?”
“It’s the power of the obedience binding,” Mara said. “You could technically draw a mythic beast with a common summoning token, but the moment the obedience binding failed, the circle would abort and return your token. That’s what a summoning circle is for, it makes sure there’s an obedience binding.”
That was useful information. “I love Vip, and my Rock Gobbler makes me tough, but I need something that can fight.”
“Get yourself a Drake, and you’ll be running Tier 4 dungeons by yourself.”
“Thanks,” Kaden said. “Thanks for everything”
“You know what kind of Beast you want?” Mara asked.
He smiled as he thought about it. “I do.”
14
FOURTEEN - FLUSHED OPPORTUNITIES
Two days and Kaden had recovered from his run, payed eighty silver to have his armor repaired and upgraded, and plotted out what he’d do next. In the battle against the [Festering Rot], he’d lacked the ability to do serious damage. Rocky was tough, and had a wallop, but what Kaden needed was options to make him more effective. He planned to be there when the Guild went after Priests from the Saint’s Hall. And he planned to be ready.
The TriTerror would give him an edge no one would expect.
The only problem was, he had no idea where it was. Also, the only problem was that it was really angry last time he saw it. Another only problem was that he didn’t think it would stick around long enough for him to bond it. His only problem had far too many friends.
Kaden, too, had friends.
He stood in the back halls of Beast Control, talking with Bryce, a Centurion [Man at Arms]. “So, are there good ways into the sewers? Better than the hole in Customer Service?”
Bryce thought for a bit. “Most of the sewers aren’t that large, except for the sewage lake. Small room spaces invite Rat Men. They invite Dungeons, and a Dungeon in a sewer might have a break and spew monsters before anyone even knows it’s there.”
“Ok, does anyone have maps?”
“Absolutely. Of course, you’ll have to go to the city to get them. The City won’t want high level Adventurers down in the sewers, too much chance of a collapse. But you’re not high level, so you need a reason to be down there.” Bryce’s grin said he knew the answer. “Have your party leader check the weeds on the bounty boards. There’s always Sewer quests, and everyone fails, so you’ll look like the new Party learning an old lesson.”
Kaden offered him a handshake and got pulled into a hug. “Hey, I want you to know, I picked Hard to Kill as a talent because you had it. I got my first resistance. ‘Resist Status Effect.’”
“How in the three hells did you do that? You know how many different types of debuff you’d need to get to develop general status resistance?” Bryce looked him up and down.
“I strangled a [Festering Rot], which is a terrible idea, in case you were wondering.”
Bryce couldn’t stop laughing. Until Kaden showed him Remembrance. “One side axe, one side hammer, just like you said.”
“I didn’t think you’d do it.” Bryce was still laughing when Kaden left.
“I just took a bath,” was Sara’s response when Kaden approached her about a sewer mission. But with persuasion and a cherry pie from a baker, she finally agreed. A few hours later, she returned with her charter. “I chose a specific mission, because I have a specific goal.”
Eve waved for attention. “Let me be clear, if my robes get sewage on them, Kaden is paying for the cleaning.”
“I’m in. I don’t care what it is, I’m in.” Trella said, giving Eve a guilt-inducing stare.
Eve apparently had [Resist Guilt] at a high level.
For his part, Kaden had already budgeted. “I brought muck boots for everyone. They’re on loan, so I need them back, but sewers are full of sewage, and worse, according to Bryce. So, what’s the plan for getting in?”
And Sara began to explain. The whole scenario with the Hydra in a sewer made little sense, at first. Not that creatures weren’t dropped into the sewers constantly. Everything from goldfish to accountants grew to monstrous size down there, and once a year, the City released alligators by the hundreds to clean them up.
But in between cleanups, the rich houses, the merchants, the nobles, ran wagers on who could catch the biggest Beast. On years when there weren’t enough, sometimes, they’d seed Beasts. The Quest Sara had chosen was to cut the hooks and replace them with weights, killing the illegal and inhumane ‘fun.’
“Best of all, no climbing down ladders into an unknown section,” Sara said. “I have a map spell as well, and the location where the Hydra was originally found marked on it. You’ll be utterly, entirely, and totally shocked to find that it’s directly under the Nobles district.”
And with that, she led them to a sewer door and opened it. “Let’s go find a mutated, vicious hydra with severe rage issues in a tightly enclosed space.”
Noble shit still smelled like shit. Merchant shit, same shit, different pipe. Within minutes, Kaden knew why this Quest had stood unclaimed for so long. Why no one with a better choice would take it. The low ceilings, the stench that practically punched like a fist, even Beast Control wasn’t this bad. The first step was to follow the map to where the Hydra had been found the first time.
Then Kaden asked Sara to share the Map, and followed the lines. “This one. It runs under Beast Control. If this is where the Hydra was comfortable, this is where it’ll head. I say we work our way north and west.”
“This is your adventure,” Eve said. “This has you written all over it. In every way. It even smells like you.”
“Thank you!” Kaden said, taking the lead. Tunnel by tunnel, they moved. Until Trella shouted. “Stop. There’s something down that one.”
She moved down the row, pausing for a moment, then slicing with her daggers. When she returned, it was with a heavy iron hook covered in rotten meat. “I hung the weight on. They won’t know it’s off until they pull it up.”
Then she handed Kaden the hook, which was required for the bounty. “I’m not storing that in my Inventory.”
Kaden took it and went back on the hunt. Five hours and three hooks later, they went up for air. “How many of these hooks are there?
“The city gave me ten weights and said I could come back for more. I’m starting to think it’s not down there,” Sara said. She moved upwind of Kaden to continue eating.
“No. It’s there. It’s a TriTerror, we’d have a dozen reports and probably a dozen dead if it were loose in the city. And I have been stupid.” Kaden shook his head. “I’ll go back in by myself. I did this wrong. All wrong. I’m looking for it the way anyone else would. I’m a Beast Master. I need to look my way.”
“Does this, or does it not mean more shit?” Eve asked.
It did.
This time, he took the lead, calling out with [Beast Speech]. “Hey. Remember me? Your friend?”
Ever time, he listened with [Beast Empathy].
And at one junction, he felt it. *Curious*
“This way. Stay back when we see it.” Kaden pushed forward, calling with every step.
*Fear*.
Kaden held up a hand for the others to stay back. But ahead, he found a terrible sight. A wider junction held a triple hook bated with fresh red meat. And gnawing on the edge of the hook was the TriTerror. Its claws were still shattered from digging through the stone, and the center mouth dripped blood from where the hook had stabbed it.
*Hunger*
No wonder it hadn’t run off even when the hook bit. “Sara? Do I need a summoning circle to use a token?”
“Hold the token, and get as close as you can,” she said. “Without a circle, you’ll have to touch it.”
That would be problematic. The TriTerror was starving, wounded, and so full of fear there wouldn’t be room for anything else.
Kaden edged closer, projecting *Friend* and *Calm*.
It truly was a magnificent beast, with shining ruby scales as sharp as serrated teeth. The three heads engaged in looking at him in different ways, but it growled , clinging with shattered front claws to the hook—and the meat.
“Is there any chance one of you is carrying rotten meat?”
Trella scoffed “Please. If anyone was going to carry rotten meat in their Inventory, it would be you. Is there anything you won’t load into there?”
The hooks! Kaden turned around and pulled them from Inventory one at a time, removing the bait. And this time, he had an offering. “How about something that won’t make your mouth bleed?”
The snake head whipped forward, tossed a piece back, then left out a trill, which the club head answered with a growl, and snatched a piece in its turtle beak. The center, blind head opened jaws wide.
And Kaden tossed a piece in. This was magic. This was perfect. This was—
The hook jangled, and someone shouted from above. “I think I’ve got something!”
In a split second, everything fell apart. The TriTerror grabbed the hook and jerked back.
“I think it’s that little Ruby Hydra we hung on our hook! It’s back!” The man shouted. The hook lifted up.
And with all its weight, the TriTerror yanked. A scream echoed out as a man plummeted down, his leg catching on the treble hook, which was the only thing that kept the fall from killing him. But now, he hung before a trio of very unhappy creatures.
One intelligent enough to understand exactly what had been done to it. The club head reached out to chomp a hand off. And Kaden sprang forward, holding up the token. “You don’t have to do this. I’ve got better food. I’ve got so much food you will want to sleep for a week. And I can get you medicine for your feet. But I won’t force it on you.”
The TriTerror’s center head lowered, sniffing his hand with hot, slimy breath.
