Thunk

Squelch

“Oww,” Chilly stumbled back from the doorway, blinded. He reached up and yanked two long bone slivers out of his helmet's eye sockets. The bone slivers didn’t hurt that much and the wound recovered near instantly. Still, pokey things in eyes was a nono.

Chilly blinked away the feeling of his eyes fusing back together, then because he hadn’t gotten a good look at what was in the Undead Parish, he poked his head through the door once more.

Chilly cursed, tears falling freely as he plucked three more bone flechettes out of his eyes. Unidentifiable clear goo stuck to them as he tossed them to the floor in disgust. The moment they cleared contact with his skin, they began disintegrating. Clearly created from a skill of some sort.

Chilly narrowed his newly repaired eyes at the door and what lay beyond. A pickle. One that he would solve.

With resolve he strode confidently into the breach.

“Ha!” Chilly laughed, as he lowered his pincushioned forearm and peeked into the new area.

Before him lay an expansive chamber. It had a high domed ceiling by which hung several lit chandeliers that illuminated the space in a dim light. Intricate carvings and paltry replicas of stained glass mirrors decorated the crumbling walls. Two enormous pillars sprouted side by side from the center of the room to support the high ceiling.

The floor was composed of the same stone flagons that the Mausoleum was built from. Except, unlike the Mausoleum, the Undead Parish had three large sections where the tough stone flagons were simply nonexistent. These three sections split the room lengthwise into four walkable segments. In between the walkways, a black void loomed.

Four wide but narrow walkways spanned the room crosswise, allowing travel left and right, but not forwards. They each terminated against the sides of the cathedral-like room. Archways or excessively crumbling masonry allowed egress into dark side rooms.

Chilly grunted as another pair of flechettes rammed into his forearm.

The architecture of the room was nice, if a little ruined, but what really drew Chilly’s attention were the enemies. The Undead Parish was practically swarming with them. Directly in front of him, two skeleton warriors-

Skeleton Warrior (x2)

Level: 2

Life: 161, 193

-were currently charging him with swords raised high. Behind them, across the gaps in the floor more skeletons stood ready and waiting around a shrine.

Shrine of Tel’Atur

Grants nearby allies 40% more resistances

Desecrating this shrine destroys it and steals the effect for 60 seconds.

Burning purple fire for eyes stared malevolently at him across the gaps in the floor.

Another flechette slammed into his forearm. Chilly switched arms, cursing that his shield didn’t do diddly to stop the projectiles from piercing his skin. By now the pain was climbing, crossing the threshold of noticeable and passing deep into the distinctly uncomfortable territory.

The skeleton warriors weren’t the ones shooting the flechettes, however. That honor fell to three abominations. Skeleton’s of some hybrid centaur scorpion-

Bone Turret

Level: 3

-which stood amid the skeleton warriors. They were stationary, and legless. Standing on raised platforms while they launched flechettes made of bone out of their raised boney tail.

Chilly winced, the damage stacking to the point where each new injury started to hurt significantly.

The Bone Turrets were arrayed in a triangle with the first standing beyond the first gap while the other two were behind it, side by side, on the third platform. The two Bone Turrets in the back had their backs to the two enormous pillars.

Suddenly, a bone spike the length of Chilly’s forearm shot across the cathedral and ripped right through his mangled arm, and impaled it to Chilly’s stomach.

Chilly staggered backwards as his gaze flickered to the source of the large projectile. A blue information box popped into existence before him.

Bone Mage

Level: 4

A large skeleton wearing a velvetine blue robe and sitting on an ascetic throne disappeared behind the door as Chilly fell to the floor and scrambled out of the way of further projectiles. A hint of fear crept into his gut. He had been looking through the door for barely a couple of seconds and still he had lost most of his available health pool.

Chilly pulled the thick bone spike out of his stomach and arm, the process made significantly easier by his rapidly regenerating flesh, then tossed it aside. It disintegrated along with the rest of the flechettes, just as two skeleton warriors burst through the heavy wooden door, knocking it wide open despite its considerable mass.

They scanned the room with burning purple flames before locking onto Chilly’s prone form, and charging.

Chilly glanced at his life-

-before rolling to his feet and sprinting deeper into the Mausoleum. He pushed off the first corner and ran down the length of the hallway. The cursed table flashed by his right as the staccato rhythm of bone on stone echoed behind him.

As he reached the next turn, he stopped and spun around. The two level two skeletons were hot on his heels. He braced himself against the wall and summoned Incinerate. Fire raged to meet the two undead and washed over their porous frames. Bones smoldered as stress fractures popped into existence across their entire bodies. Almost immediately their bodies began crumbling.

The foremost skeleton reached him just then, and thrust its sword at him viscously.

The blade slid cleanly past his solid iron chest piece and into right where he supposed his heart would be. Somehow it didn’t feel like the injury was grievous. Chilly calmly shoved the blade out of his chest, and continued channeling Incinerate. Against level two enemies, taking the hits and channeling was optimal.

The skeleton recovered its blood soaked blade just as the second already dying skeleton shoved past its partner and slashed Chilly across the shoulder.

Chilly turned his head to the side to prevent the sword from lopping off his ear, but otherwise stayed steadfast. Another slash by the first skeleton-

-before the two undead fell to pieces as the roiling flames reduced them to ash. Their bones shattered, and their eyes winked out, as their swords clattered noisily to the floor. Not one to let his guard down, Chilly immediately raised Incinerate high and scanned the hallway for further dangers.

No further undead revealed themselves.

Chilly waited thusly for the six solid seconds it took for his life pool to recover completely. When he was fully recovered, he stopped channeling Incinerate and jogged hurriedly back down the hallway. As he reached the room with the cursed table, a penguin popped into existence right in front of his feet. With not enough time to dodge, his leg passed right through the small bird, before he managed to slow down and acknowledge it.

kreksyte

???

“Thanks for the chapter,” the new penguin chirped.

“Thanks for the chapter,” Chilly replied politely.

“I once heard a table may be subdued by flipping it upside down.” the penguin gestured to the table before them.

Chilly looked doubtfully at the stone behemoth. It easily weighed several tonnes. Not something he could flip easily or at all.

“I’ll keep it in mind.” He replied curtly. He was still in battle mode and was rushing to head back to the Undead Parish and close the door from further intrusions.

“Fear the surfaces, but don’t let that fear consume you and cloud your judgement.” The penguin replied sagely.

“Thanks for the advice.” Chilly said, calming down somewhat as he considered the penguins words. Perhaps the penguin was implying that he shouldn’t have burned the desk earlier? It was plausible that doing that was dangerous. There were plenty of poisonous fumes released by burning things.

The penguin dropped Realm Walker and converted to smoke. Chilly gave one last thoughtful look at the table, before continuing his quick march back towards the Undead Parish, this time, with slightly less desperate haste. He reached the turn in the hallway and peered around the bend. The door was wide open, revealing a long strip of the Undead Parish and its undead.

Chilly dashed around the bend just as flechettes raced to meet him-

-and grabbed the handle to the wooden door.

With an almighty heave he shoved the heavy door closed with an ominous boom.

Sure that the door was secure, Chilly slid down to the floor with a sigh. He picked the bone shards out of his body with distaste as his life recovered rapidly. Several penguins gathered in the room around him as he sat there. They seemed keen on the wooden doors and what lay beyond.

“Right,” Chilly said, “Looks like there is a shooting gallery down yonder. How’d you think I should tackle it?”

Several penguins raised their swords and waved them around.

“I was thinking something similar. The side rooms would most definitely protect me from the three turrets and the Bone Mage. As long as they can’t shoot through the walls or the skeletons don’t drag them towards me on some abominable palanquin. Didn’t look like they would do either of those things though.”

A penguin hopped up and down in excitement. It jabbed its sword twice then spun around once.

“Exactly! Since the skeletons here seem to be aggressive, hiding in a side room would let me get rid of them all one by one as they stream towards me through the chokepoint.”

Another penguin cocked its head in confusion.

“Sure, I could hold them here, but then I’m in sight of the three turrets and the Bone Mage. I can’t tank them all...yet”

Chilly grinned in amusement.

“Nice, so what do you peeps think? Left or right? The right side seemed more broken down from my quick glance.”

A penguin demurely waddled out from the crowd of penguins.

NickXenix

???

“Oh, hi Mr. Scholar.” Chilly said.

“The System Integration is fake. This one apologizes for misinformation.” The penguin stiffened, going rigid. “Message sent, destroying fake vessel.”

“Kek, Kek, Kek, Kek.” the penguin laughed in monotone. Then it just stood there silently.

“Hmm, the right side might not be as good at providing cover. Less intact walls that can survive a continuous stream of those nasty bone splinters. On the other hand, it could mean that there are less enemies there.” Chilly mused then turned to the twitching penguin. “You’re still here by the way.”

The penguin loosened up as mirth filled its eyes. “In all seriousness, don't question it. I am not allowed to mention anything of true import. It ruins the surprise when you...” his voice faded away as his mouth continued to shift. “...just to find that it is already...”

The penguin jerked as its copy of Realm Walker suddenly twitched and twisted upon itself. Fast as a snake, the living wood slithered around the penguin’s flipper and up until it was wrapped tightly around the penguin’s neck.

“...∆¶§∆μΩ√•Π,” NickXenix choked out before falling back on the ground and laying still.

Chilly waited for a beat, “...Are you dead?” He leaned forwards curiously, then turned towards the assembled penguins. “Is he dead?”

Another penguin stepped forwards.

Quaesitor Mortem

???

“Thanks for the chapter.” Quaesitor Mortem said politely.

Chilly nodded, “Yeah, Thanks. So what do you think?”

“An Ailment is a negative status effect.” It said sagely.

Chilly blinked at the rapid change of subject, “So like, hinder?”

The penguin nodded “Be careful around them. Most of the time they are indiscriminate.”

“‘Kay, I’ll keep it in mind. But, uh. What about NickXenix. I’d give him CPR, but I can’t touch you penguins. Ghost syndrome ya know?”

Quaesitor Mortem doubtfully looked at the comatose penguin. “Ignore the mad ramblings of the Kobold Librarian. He is known to be a huge trickster.”

“Is he now?”

“He tricked me out of my own fish, if you can believe it.”

“SLANDER!” NickXenix screeched shrilly, as it hopped to its feet, its version of Realm Walker snapping back to sword shape. “Quaesitor Mortem, that is slander! I am of Draconic Lineage! Watch your beak before the Eternal comes knocking on your plane for an explanation on the fish conspiracy.”

Quaesitor Mortem turned threateningly towards the Kobold Librarian. Storm clouds seemed to coalesce around his form as he directed his rage.

“Welp!” Chilly slapped his thighs and got to his feet. “I see there’s some...something going on here. While you debate, I’m gonna go back to the Shrine and see if I can’t identify some of these new essences. Try not to...you know what? Good luck.”

The crowd of penguins silently made way for him to pass. As soon as he was out of sight, the sound of a heated argument between two penguins arose behind him.

Shaking his head in mild amusement, and a tad of consternation, Chilly made his way through the dead halls of the Mausoleum. He passed the ashen remains of the two skeleton warriors, and looted a single Essence of Obsidian from the ash. He also returned to the sarcophagus with the nearly full set of magic armor, and lugged that back to the Shrine with him.

It was time to experiment with his new Essences.

He arrived at the Shrine and arrayed his various essences on the crafting bench. Six essences of Iron, five Azurite, three Garnet, two Obsidian, two-

Essence of Emerald

Rerolls modifiers on magic - or lower - quality equipment with a single guaranteed skill modifier.

-Emerald, and one Regret. A fairly large haul, and enough to experiment with what the various essences did.

The Emerald Essence caught his eye. He took his spare pair of gauntlets and used the essence on it.

Iron Gauntlets

Magic

Gloves

iLevel: 2

6 armor

8 armor

21% increased Vitality effect

“Interesting...” Chilly murmured then took off his existing set of gauntlets. A faint sense of loss welled up inside him as his maximum life, and armor dipped slightly.

Then he equipped the new gauntlets. A thrumming feeling of vigor rushed through him as he felt his skill respond to the gloves. Power flowed through his chest, and he felt stronger than ever. With a wide grin, he rapidly checked his character sheet and compared the changes.

The original gloves had resulted in 212 life, 12.86 life regeneration per second and 84 armor. While the new gloves resulted in 204 life, 14.89 life regeneration per second, and 85 armor. He did lose life. 8 points to be specific, but he would take the life regeneration any day of the week.

The Emerald Essence was powerful. Very powerful. If it worked the way he assumed it did, then it could theoretically give increased effect of any of his skills. Incinerate included. That meant he had another way to dramatically increase his damage. Not to mention that 21% increased vitality effect was significantly better than the regular life regeneration mods that he had gotten up until this point. It was perhaps the best essence he had found up until now.

Chilly considered which piece of gear he should use his last Essence of Emerald on before settling on the Iron Pants. His current pants were arguably his worst equipped item.

The green gem was placed on the pants, which immediately liquified the essence and absorbed the power into the metal.

Iron Pants

Magic

Pants

iLevel: 2

6 armor

9 life

17% increased Vitality effect

Chilly felt another thrum of response from his skill as he put on the new pair of pants. He pulled up his character sheet and smiled as he saw his stats improve. The new pants resulted in 208 life, 17.26 life regeneration but only 78 armor. Less armor than the old pair but the boost in life regeneration was significant.

Another upgrade.

Next Chilly placed a spare pair of boots on the bench and used an essence of Obsidian on it. He was curious about ailments and wanted to confirm the penguins' earlier words. The black glass shimmered as it turned liquid and glommed onto the dull iron. Not unlike a certain alien parasite from back home.

Iron Greaves

Magic

Boots

iLevel: 2

8 armor

4 shock resistance

Chilly blinked at the craft.

Shock

Debuff

Shocked enemies take 15% more damage from all sources

So the penguin was right. These types of crafts were invaluable. Or...they would become invaluable later down the road.

This particular one was useless. Worse than useless. Four shock resistance equated to slightly less than four percent reduced effect of shock. So should he run into something that could shock him, he would take fourteen point something more damage instead of fifteen.

10 life was simply better.

It would be nice to know what all the ailments were though. Currently he knew of Hinder which slowed, Shock which dealt more damage, and sap which reduced life regeneration.

Chilly used his last Essence of Obsidian on the Iron Greaves.

Iron Greaves

Magic

Boots

iLevel: 2

8 armor

10 life

13 Hinder resistance

Better, but still not usable. If he had Hinder resistance on every piece of gear he could reduce the slow from 30% to under 15% or even lower. Good, but not amazing. Certainly not a stat that he could afford to invest heavily in. If a shock resistance mod could get as high as 13 then it would make getting that mod at least slightly useful. As it stood, Chilly wasn’t interested in either of the two mods.

Moving on, Chilly pulled out the Essence of Garnet. It was the last of the new essences that he had found in the Mausoleum. The system said that it guaranteed an elemental modifier, and it was time to figure out what exactly that meant.

Iron Greaves

Magic

Boots

iLevel: 2

8 armor

11 life

1 Fire resistance

Chilly put the boots away with a sigh. Obviously he was better off sticking with Iron and Azurite for the time being. Oh and Emerald. Emerald was clearly the best.

He had 6 Essences of Iron and 5 of Azurite. He could try and use them on his gear, but it seemed kind of like a waste. At best he would get a single unit of life or armor. He could potentially get life regeneration but the mods seemed weak compared to Vitality.

Putting the essences away, Chilly began the short trek back towards the Undead Parish. Hopefully the penguins would have some insight into how to progress by now.

As he walked; he idly wondered at what could cause the delay in signalling that the penguins were plagued with. If he was back on earth he would have said it was just an issue of distance. Being light years away would easily introduce signal lag.

There was a more amusing option, however. If this particular world was near a black hole then it was possible that there was serious time dilation occurring.

Chilly laughed, and amused himself with the thought that for every hour he spent the penguins could be waiting literal days.