Walking down the stairs to the shop Marco rehearsed his question in his head, ‘SteelBreaker, do you know anything about words?’ Shaking his head Marco adjusted, ‘Powerful words… Abnormally powerful words… Words that cause changes in the world around you…? How am I supposed to phrase this?’ Marco asked as he reached the bottom of the stairs.

“Mornin’ kid.” SteelBreaker said without looking away from the golden gem in his hands. “SteelBreaker do you know anything about words?” SteelBreaker shot Marco a look before returning his attention to the gem in his hands, turning it in appreciation or appraisal with a disinterested, “Know lots o’ words…”

Marco pushed down the rising embarrassment by explaining, “I mean words that do things… Words that can have an effect on the world just by being spoken.” SteelBreaker’s eyes broke away from the gem in his hands, settling their analytical look onto Marco. Slowly SteelBreaker said, “Sounds like what your talking about are words of power.”

“Words of power?” Marco repeated before asking, “What are they?” SteelBreaker knitted his eyebrows, “They’re dangerous is what they are. Why do ye ask? Yer description might not have been the brightest but it was correct…” trailing off SteelBreaker grabbed Marco’s collar in a blur that Marco’s eyes couldn’t even process.

“Have ye heard a word invoked?” the dwarf hissed as his hold tightened “Have ye?!” Marco stammered, “I- I- I don’t know. I don’t know if it was a word of power!” A dangerous look crossed the dwarf’s eyes as quickly pressed a dagger against Marco’s throat, “Who?” he asked with a frosty voice.

“I- I don’t understand-” Marco stuttered before SteelBreaker interrupted, “Who did you hear use one of those words?!” Marco gaped, stunned at the situation while SteelBreaker pressed, “Tell me who the fuck invoked a word of power!” Trembling Marco yelled, “Death! It was death! He ordered me to be calm! Please let me go- I haven’t done anything! Please!”

SteelBreaker dropped Marco while visibly trying to control himself, veins bulging on his face as he cursed, “Damned Titan! Ruining a rookie before giving them a chance!” With the most intense stare Marco had ever seen the dwarf told him, “Listen to me kid. Never use that word. Never tell anyone you know that word. Never even fucking think of that word. Do you understand?!” he questioned, grabbing Marco again, “Do you bloody understand?!”

Shocked Marco responded, “I understand! I understand!” before scurrying away as SteelBreaker released him. Marco started, “What’s-” before SteelBreaker stopped him with a glare, “No questions about this. I mean it kid. None. Just forget this ever happened- and forget that cursed word!”

Shaken by SteelBreaker’s actions Marco flew down the stairs, SteelBreaker returning to the counter before picking up the gem, now cracked from being dropped on the ground. “Fuck.” SteelBreaker cursed to himself as tears welled in his eyes, “Fuck!”

…

At the bottom of the stairs Marco took a moment to compose himself, ‘What the hell was that about?’ he asked himself before being struck by an idea, “What is a word of power?” he asked the system curiously.

Error! Information Nonexistant

‘Nonexistent?’ Marco thought in apprehension, ‘Last time I asked it something I didn’t know it replied ‘information unavailable’...? Does that mean that the system doesn’t have any record whatsoever of words of power?’ Marco’s pupils shrank as he considered, ‘Something the system doesn’t know about… or something the system isn’t allowed to know about…’

Marco shivered with the thought, ‘Maybe… something deleted from the system... but by what?’ Lost Marco decided to drop it, ‘If this is as dangerous as SteelBreaker implied then I should leave it alone.’ No doubt he would miss the helpful power of the word, but if the mirror incident was anything to go by then it would be for the best to stop using a tool he didn’t understand.

‘Right,’ Marco told himself, ‘time to find out what that pile is.’ Walking into the courtyard Marco braced himself for skeletons, relieved when he saw none. Cautiously Marco walked towards the pile in the corner, ‘Stone?’ he mused as he neared. The pile seemed to be made of some kind of rubble that reached his waist.

“Wait, what?” Marco said as he closed in on the ‘pile’. ‘That’s not a pile,’ Marco thought in shock, ‘that’s a hole!’ The pile of rubble served as the edges of a hole that dropped underground. It was steep, ‘But not too steep…’ Marco thought with a grin.

‘Wait.’ Marco told himself before he could launch himself underground unaware. ‘I should go back and stock up on potions…’ his thoughts trailed off as he remembered the earlier interaction with the dwarf, ‘or I could just be really careful.’ he decided as he climbed over the lip of the tunnel before descending.

You have entered the SubDungeon: Mines of Badondena

“Sub Dungeon?!” Marco exclaimed curiously. ‘System, what’s a Sub Dungeon?’

Definition:

Sub Dungeon- A dungeon located within a larger dungeon

‘That’s… interesting.’ Marco mused before examining his surroundings.

‘Doesn’t seem to be made for humans.’ Marco observed about the tunnel ahead of him. Standing in the hole Marco could see that the tunnel ahead of him was only half his size, ‘Meaning if I’m feeling suicidal I can crawl through it.’ Marco joked.

Turning to climb out Marco stopped as he heard… something, ‘What’s that noise?’ he asked, twisting around to face the tunnel. Raising his staff Marco prepared to combat whatever was coming through the tunnel.

Click Click Click

The noise drew closer, getting louder until Marco realized what it was, ‘A skeleton.’ he predicted, immediately proved correct as a kobold skeleton grew distinct in the darkness of the tunnel. Before it could react to his presence Marco acted, “Shadow shuriken! Shadow shuriken! Shadow shuriken!”

-4 -4 -4

In response the skeleton charged forward, arms flailing in an attempt to hit Marco. Confident that the skeleton wouldn’t be able to jump from the tiny tunnel Marco swung his staff as its clawed feet, knocking it off balance before pummeling the figure with his staff.

-3

Dismissing the reward notification Marco pondered what to do next. ‘It’s apparent that the skeletons in the courtyard came from down here… So, down through the dark tunnel or into the creepy fortress?’