35

The charm itself was something horrendous; the carved bone had somehow taken on the appearance and texture of low-dweller flesh. It was rough, tan, and blotchy, and unpleasantly warm to the touch. More than just the sum of its initial parts, what Hunter was now holding was a Wasting Ancient Bone Charm of Warped Flesh, whatever that meant. He could feel a slight aura emanating from it in waves, making the hair on his arms stand on end when he touched its oddly smooth surface.

The fact that the crafting process was only a partial success probably meant that it had gained some negative effects along with the positive ones. Hunter was itching to try it and see what it did, even though every instinct he had, both gaming- and survival-wise, told him it was a bad idea. He briefly considered casting Mystic’s Eye to discern more about it, but again, that was probably a bad idea too.

He should probably put it away and test it later in a safe and controlled environment, or even have Fawkes take a look at it, or…

“Oh, who am I kidding?” Hunter thought and pushed a smidgen of his mana into the carved bone, activating it. The effect was immediate; the eerie aura of the charm meshed with his own, and he felt his skin boil and stir and twist in grotesque ways it shouldn’t be able to. For a moment there, he was overtaken by the powerful, abject dread of body horror. He braced himself for the waves of unspeakable agony that were sure to follow, and then…

Nothing.

The moment passed, and Hunter was back to normal. Well, almost normal. His skin had turned the blotchy and yellow-purple of an old bruise, and was now as hard as leather hide. His flesh and muscles had stiffened, too, and felt like big, dry pieces of meat jerky. Curious, he checked the notifications that had appeared on his HUD.

You are now infused with Warped Flesh.

You are now afflicted with Wasting.

Neither of those effects sounded particularly positive, thought the wording suggested that Warped Flesh was a buff, and Wasting an affliction. The Warped Flesh one wasn’t too difficult to figure out. All he had to do was throw a punch at the dark stone wall. It was as he suspected; with his flesh and skin so stiff and tough, he barely felt the blow at all. The specifics eluded him, of course, but it was safe enough to assume Warped Flesh was a damage reduction buff of some sort.

One effect more-or-less figured out, one to go.

Based on the wording, he would probably expect the Wasting affliction to gradually cause him bodily harm. It might slowly weaken him, or it might rob him of his stamina, or it might sap his physical strength. It could even be a damage-over-time effect–a DoT, as players used to call those back in his raiding days. There was one way to find out; wait and see what happens. He only hoped it wasn’t anything permanent. Wasting or not, he’d hate to be stuck looking like a third degree burn victim.

As it turned out, he didn’t have to wait too long. It was about a half minute later that the first burning, itching twinge spread through his flesh, followed by a sharp convulsion and a notification.

You take 4 necrotic damage.

“Son of a…!” Hunter cursed through gritted teeth and braced himself for a second wave of pain, which, thankfully, never arrived. It would probably hit him again in another half a minute or so, but he wasn’t too eager to do any more experimenting. He’d had enough of Wasting to confirm it was a DoT alright. Good thing he was already basted in Trollblood Salve, though he didn’t know if the stuff’s healing effect was still potent. Salve or no salve, now he had to figure out whether he could somehow actively cancel the charm’s effects, or they had some internal duration he had to wait out and let them fade out on their own.

Hoping it was the former, he tried to simply will the effects away. Nope, nada, but it was worth a try anyway. Maybe the charm acted as a switch of sorts, allowing him to turn the effect on and off. He held it in his hands and let another smidgen of mana run through it, only to get hit by another nauseating wave of its flesh warping effect that left him even more deformed than before.

You are now infused with Warped Flesh (x2).

You are now afflicted with Wasting (x2).

That was the exact opposite from what he was trying to do. It was good to know that he could stack the effects multiple times, but it probably meant that the Wasting DoT would probably grow in intensity too. That wasn’t good; necrotic damage hurt like a bitch. He’d have to try something different, preferably before the next wave of Wasting hit him.

Willing the effects away didn’t work, he thought, and activating the charm again simply added to its effects. What else could he try…?

Acting more on impulse than anything else, he tried to do both of those things again–at the same time. He pushed some of his mana into the charm, tugging at its own enchanted aura, and willed it to take its effects back and hoping it wouldn’t just add another stack of Warped Flesh and Wasting on top of what he was already affecting him.

To his relief, his impulse paid out. He felt his skin boil and stir again, but this time backwards. It was like every single muscle in his body had been painfully cramped and twisted, and was now slowly relaxing and unwinding itself back to normal.

You are no longer infused with Warped Flesh.

You are no longer afflicted with Wasting.

That was… interesting, he thought as he sat down, breathed a sigh of relief, and put the charm away for the moment. Having a source of damage reduction was good; the fact that it came with a built-in DoT effect, however, made things infinitely more complicated. Hunter could think of a number of practical applications for the charm, but it was kind of a double-edged sword. Maybe he could try to properly recreate it when his Craft Spirit Charm Ability was higher, so that it wouldn’t have the Wasting negative side effect. In retrospect, it might have been a good idea to start with something smaller and less complicated.

The other recipe he had learned along with the Craft Spirit Charm Ability was the Corpse Hair Knot, which, morbidity aside, sounded much simpler:

By tying a dead person’s hair into an elaborate knot and infusing it with some of your own mana, you can create a mystical charm that can provide resistance to spells and help ward off curses. The power of the protection depends on the person to whom the hair belonged. Once its power is expended, the charm turns into fine dust.

Of course, that required hair from a dead person. Last time he checked, Hunter wasn’t carrying any of those around. Unless…

Just a few feet away, the Kannewik mummies were dancing around the podium at the center of the room, just as they had done for hundreds of years. Dancing or not dancing, they were dead as doornails, Hunter realized, and their hair was more or less intact–probably thanks to the almost sterile atmosphere of the Halls.

Should he…?

No–Sister Peregrine had stated in no uncertain terms that the Kannewik were not to be disturbed.

Still, would simply plucking a hair or two really count as disturbing them?

It was one of those “My dumb ass knew better, but my dumb ass did it anyway” situations Hunter somehow always managed to get involved in. He knew better that to try and pluck a hair from the head of an enchanted mummy that was guarding a probably dangerous artifact. He knew it was a dumb idea – just as he knew it was now just a matter of time before his dumb ass went on and did it anyway.

Well, he might just as well get it over with.

He got up on his feet, inched toward the dancing Kannewik, and-

There was a noise at the wall that served as the room’s entryway, the noise of nails scratching frantically at the smooth dark stone. That, and the muffled crying sound of a very big, very scared dog.

“Fyodor?” Hunter called, and his worried voice echoed in the room. “Is that you, boy?”