We took a few minutes while waiting for Irwin to finish waking up from his mana overuse to look around. The end of the escape tunnel was the finest-looking tunnel I had ever seen. It felt like it was just an internal hall of a mansion. The only thing missing was the wall hangings.

What was nice and slightly unsurprising was another door just a few paces down from the exit door. It was set into the wall and made from the same wood as the walls. So in the rush of us first coming into the tunnel, we didn’t see it. As soon as we saw it, Renfry moved ahead of me to take a look in.

Renfry stepped into the side room and then called back. “My lord, it appears to be a small armory. Perhaps to help in time of need.”

I stepped up and took a look inside, and smiled. He was right. It was an armory and a bit more than that. There were a few cloaks and bags. It looked like it had everything needed to take a few people who were dressed richly and turn them into average-looking people. It also had some nicer clothing, likely meant to dress someone returning from an outing on the town.

I gave a smile. “Okay, check the bags for food. Clearly, there is magic at work as there isn’t any dust, so we might luck out on the food. I am going to see if I can find a decent sword. I lost mine out there.”

Renfry took a close look at me for the first time. “Should I go get it?”

I shook my head. “Nope, it went over the edge. So unless you think we will do a better job against the rats a second time….”

He sighed. “It was a magical blade, not much to look at, but I could tell it had some strong magic.”

I nodded. “It had a core in it but not worth us going after.”

Renfry’s eyes got big. “It was cored, but you aren’t going after it? What level was it?”

I nodded and walked to the few weapons on the wall. “It’s a level 5, but that doesn’t matter right now. We might go for it after the lich is done, but we have more important things.”

Renfry gasped slightly. “My lord, that sword is priceless. Cored weapons, while not unheard of, are rarely above level 3. The cost of figuring out what they want to level is absurdly high.”

I shrugged and pulled a sword off the wall rack. It was the shortest that I saw. As I tested it, I felt clumsy and shook my head. It wasn’t a short sword, so without the skill in swords, I was trying to use a default from two, perhaps three, other skills to make do. But the blade was either too long or the wrong shape. If they were paired, my Escrama skill could have helped with slightly shorter blades. If there had been a curved sword, Iaido would have picked up things.

I placed the sword back and sighed. “I got to find time to learn how to use an arming sword.”

I had my seax, which was only about 12 inches, and decent dagger skill. My dual wielding was at 15, so I looked for a second dagger. All of the blades were finely made, which made me smile. Having a good quality blade would be useful, but it also was funny if these were the weapons they were meant to take when fleeing. After all, who could afford something like this?

My hand went to the most serviceable looking of the knives. It was in a flat black leather sheath and had its own belt to go with it. The handle was made of grooved leather like I had seen on old Kabars. The guard arched forward in a graceful black curve.

I picked it up and slid the blade out. It was about ten inches long and very wide at the bottom. It had an edge on both sides and appeared to be mostly an isosceles triangle. A series of fullers ran from the hilt to about two-thirds of the way up. In those fullers was thin writing. As I inspected the knife, I got a pop-up.

Cinquedea of bleeding

Plus +5 bleeding

6/15 charges

My dagger skill kicked in, and I knew I should use this more for slashing attacks. Most other knives wouldn’t fair very well against a sword, but since this was so wide, it could take a hit. It would change my fighting some with my daggers, but fighting with one for stabbing and one for slashing would let me adjust quicker.

As I put on the knife belt, I realized the blade would lay flat against my back and draw to a side. It was another quirk to the blade that made me start to second guess my choice. The only reason I stuck with it was that the other blades were covered in decoration and looked more like they were for show than fighting.

I left the small room and found Irwin still on the ground. He was moving better but still wasn’t what I would call up. His hands were on his head like he had the most massive headache in the world. Which I kind of understood, but I also didn’t since mana overdraw didn’t hit me the same way it messed with him.

When I got next to Irwin, I crouched down and asked. “You going to be okay?”

Irwin moaned and tried to nod, then he said. “Yes, but I am not sure how soon. My overdraw shows that I cannot generate mana for the next four hours.”

I nodded and slowly let out a breath. “Can you at least store mana?”

“Yes, I think that’s why I am awake. I would still be out cold if it weren’t for the potion.”

“Okay, well, we need to catch up to Blink as soon as possible, but we need you as well. So I am going to check with her, and then we will figure out what to do.”

I sat on the floor next to Irwin and reached out to Blink. “Sweetie, how are you holding up?”

Blink opened her emotions to me. They had changed the last time I talked with her. She was equal parts bored and angry. Not any longer. If I had any doubts that she was still an animal at heart, they were removed. Now she was all hunger. She let the thoughts of eating the dead bodies that the lich was working on hit me fully. Then her idea of using a skeleton as a chew toy. She also let flow through the bond THIRST great thirst.

Blink’s voice boomed in my mind. “Daddy, I want to eat. Get me out!”

I gave a slight smile at how she was acting, but I understood. She was a hunter that tended to eat all the time. Now she was stuck in a cage for at least two days. I needed to get moving faster, but I also needed to be able to win in a fight.

I thought back. “Is he still in there?”

Blink sent a huff through the bond and then thought. “Yes, he has been slowly raising one orc after another. He also peeled the flesh off one and turned it into a skeleton. That one took the longest. He painted something on the bones.”

I thought back to her. “Did anything else change that I need to know about?”

After a few moments, she replied. “The only other thing was that some men came in and got the lich. It was a long time before he came back. I fell asleep waiting.”

I sighed. If what she said was right, then we might have more problems. “When you say some men do you mean zombies?”

Blink forced her memories at me again.

Blink was watching the lich through the bars of her cage. The lich was sitting on a table with a pile of bones and painting on the skull when a pair of men came in. There was no sign of differential treatment as one walked up and grabbed him by his arm. The boy lich turned to strike and then set everything down.

He hopped off the table and followed the two men out of the room.

I could tell that the two were still alive. They moved with the right motions of the living, and they just looked living. Their skin was still pinkish, and they breathed. More than that, however, they had little movements lacking in the undead, subtle weight shifting and moving of their hands.

I sent the feeling of love back to her and the idea that we were going as fast as possible. “Well, that might change things some. I think we have found a way in now, so it will just be a little longer. Just hang in there and let me know if any living show up again.”

Blink sent me her lizard feeling of being a patient huntress. Then she quickly followed that up with her hunger and thirst. Then she showed me her thoughts of ripping the lich’s head off again.

I looked over at Kasidy. She was slumped down on the wall and didn’t look too great. We hadn’t eaten all day but had been fighting and running. She had tussled muddy hair, and I could see where the tears had been running down her face. Her dress looked perfect, but that was to be expected since it was one that I cored. I wasn’t sure what she was crying over, but I could tell she needed a rest.

Renfry was standing with his back towards us. He was looking down the hall, keeping watch. He was the only one thinking about stuff like that; however, it was something that had been drilled into him. The rest of us, not so much.

I pushed myself up and stumbled back into the armory. As I headed in, I fished out one of the last dungeon cores. I would need to go find one that I could seed soon. When I entered the room, I placed the seed down and pulled it up to activate it.

Then I got an interface message that I never expected to see.

Unable to seed dungeon

Level of Building (Castle Westiral, 27) exceeds Dungeon seed (1) differential (+/- 10).

I stared at the dungeon seed in my hand. “Well, that sucks. Now I might end up getting my sword back anyways.”

* * *