Summary:
"What the fuck is that?" Ron said, staring at the - creature - that rose from the tomb.
"Ah... I wasn't expecting a Dragon Priest here, that's for sure," Khara winced.
"Kid, keep your distance," Caesia advised.
Notes:
still the same dungeon, though. So, Dungeon Crawling #2 part 2?
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
After the other party members - well, Khara, mainly, Erdi just kept randomly kicking bandits as her part in the whole thing - looted the dead bodies and, somehow, the pile of gross, vaguely glowing ash - they advanced onward, deeper into the 'Nordic Ruin', as Erendur put it.
"We must be careful in here, my daughter," He said, his torch's dim light passing over a mural engraved into the hall's wall. "Who knows what we'll find lurking in the bowels of a nordic ruin such as this."
"You mean one that just pops up out of thin air one day in the middle of the Whiterun fields?" Khara said, marching along. "Yeah. You're right, it's probably not just bandits down here."
"So we should be on our guard, then?" Lucien asked, as Erdi unsheathed her greatsword and held it out in front of her.
"Please, let me go first," She said.
"Erdi, love, honey, no. I go first." Khara stopped and turned, a serious expression on her face. "I'm the Dragonborn. It won't be the first time I've been to the afterlife if I die here. Erdi, you have a long life ahead of you, with all that adventuring and those strapping young men you were wishing for trapped in the palace as a servant. I won't let you sacrifice your potential when I have a higher health pool than you."
Erdi bowed her head, and sheathed her sword. "I - yes. Of course. This was foolish of me."
"Don't be stupid, girl," Khara smiled, teeth sharp in the flickering light. "Loyalty is something I admire. Now. Everyone!"
"Yes!" There was a chime, and the group gathered in formation. "Beyond that door -" Khara threw her arm out - "There will likely lie a larger danger than what we have faced up until now. But we have fought far worse than this! Who killed the emperor? We did! Who brokered peace within Skyrim, and halted the Civil War? We did! Who became head of the three most powerful guilds in the country, and raised them to the most powerful guilds in the Empire? We did! We did all of that! And on top of it, who stopped the prophecised end times and brought about the demise of Alduin?"
"We did!" The group chorused, cheering.
Ron had no fucking clue what was going on.
These guys were maybe more professional and less laid back than he'd originally thought.
"Now," Khara grinned. "As Thanes of - well, everywhere -" The others chuckled, "It is our duty to protect the citizens of Skyrim. Thanes, form a line! Oh, and, you too, kid."
Ron stood awkwardly next to Erdi, on the far right of the line.
"Now -" Khara chuckled. "Let's show these bastards what we're made of."
Khara charged, ramming down the wood-and-iron door, and the others followed. Ron kept near the back, warily, and watched as the tombs within the central chamber were broken open from the inside.
"Oh, there's a lot of them," Khara said. "Finally, a challenge! Form pairs and fight them in groups! Divide and conquer, everyone!"
Ron was unceremoniously thrown into the battle mode, his consciousness ripped from his body and his awareness suddenly that of the room from up-high.
It was a good thing he couldn't get nauseous in this mode, he thought, ruefully - though his self down below looked awfully green.
"What is that?" Erdi murmured, loud and clear, as the biggest, last, and clearly most important tomb thudded open, the iron lid falling with a great thunk onto the ground beside it.
"Oh boy," Khara said. "That ones mine."
"What the fuck is that?" Ron said, staring at the - creature - that rose from the tomb.
"Ah... I wasn't expecting a Dragon Priest here, that's for sure," Khara winced.
"Kid, keep your distance," Caesia advised. Khara winced again.
"This is why you don't bring kids to a battle," Faendal said.
"Shut the hell up, and start fighting!" Khara roared.
Oh, right.
"Khara," Ron said, "Forward four squares, go on alert." He turned his attention to the others - Erdi, Lucien, and Caesia were on the right; Inigo, Faendal, and Kaiden were on the left; he himself was just stood in the doorway, and there was no available cover in the room.
"Great," Ron muttered. "Okay."
He looked through Caesia's spell list - right.
"Four left, two back, cast 'lightning rune'," Ron commanded, "Two right, take full cover behind the standing coffin!"
"Sarcophagus, actually, kid," Caesia said, as she did so. Ron blinked. They could talk to him? They were already feeling more like real people than anyone else he'd met so far, but since just the last battle minutes prior, they'd already gained the ability to talk during?
Interesting. This - right, it just... boded well, for Ron's future interactions. Certainly, it helps his mental state - though if the enemies start talking, that might make things a lot worse. If people start feeling more real, that 'they're not actual people you're murdering' thing will start to feel cheaper, too, as an excuse.
Hopefully, the dungeons won't contain human enemies, after this.
"Ron," Which was still weird, ordering his own body to do something like a chess piece - "Go into stealth mode."
He crouched, instantly turning translucent - a signifier of visibility that still allowed Ron's battle consciousness to know where his body was (or any other person's body was) on the board.
"Right," Ron muttered.
Lucien had his designation, but he wasn't just his designation. He was more of a 'jack of all trades', a lot like his leader, Khara. Supposedly according to his character sheet, he'd been with her the third longest, after Kaiden and Faendall, which was probably why. As it turned out, Erendur was the newest.
"Lucien; cast 'enchantment - fire' on 'pale blade'," Ron said. Lucien drew his sword with his right arm, as he cast the spell with his left. "Cast 'Weakness - Fire' on... uh, undead?"
Lucien did as asked, thankfully taking that to mean the creature stood closest to him. None of the undead could really be told apart, which didn't help Ron in directing people to do what he wanted, but it could likely be taken for granted that they would just instinctively know, since he didn't put the difficulty too high, and also, well - it's just sensible. Why would Lucien choose to do that to one on the other side of the room, for example? He just wouldn't.
Ron sighed in relief. Okay. Next; "Erdi, forward two spaces. Perform 'wide arc'."
She was stood in front of four undead; one in front, two to the left, and one to the right. The wide arc hit them all, bringing their health down by - a small amount; but the bars were drained, so it wasn't for nothing.
"These guys are tougher than the bandits," Erdi said, flinging her sword up and resting it on her shoulder. "No kidding, girl," Caesia chimed in.
"Ron, cast 'leech seed' on undead," Ron said, and Ron did as Ron commanded. God, that was - still fucking weird. The undead furthest left (on the right side of the room, that is) flinched back as it was hit with the spell, and the creature's health drained somewhat.
Effect incompatible with turn-based mode! Altering!
Leech seed absorbs 10 points of health per turn for 3 turns! Spell's effectiveness now scales with offensive magic skill!
Ron nodded. Alright then.
"Oh, clever," Faendall said. "Very clever. He's in stealth."
"The boy does have brains then," Caesia said.
"No mocking the newbie!" Khara snapped. "Get on with the fighting, guys!"
Ron nodded.
He had Kaiden attack two of the undead on their side of the room, leaving three for Inigo and Faendal to pick off with their arrows. One died, leaving there eight undead in the room, alongside the 'Dragon Priest'.
It was the monsters turns. They let out sounds unlike anything Ron had ever heard, visceral and inhuman, as the creatures took turns to surge forward and slam their weapons half-uselessly against the party's armours - and then the Dragon priest shouted, and Ron hissed as his body, along with Faendal and Kaiden's, was thrown against the wall near the ceiling.
"Fuck! It knows shouts?" Khara raged. "Aargh!"
"Khara, use power 'berserker rage!' Use skill 'sprinting power attack' on 'Dragon Priest!'" Khara dropped her crossbow and lunged forward, holding her sword above her head before bringing it down on the undead being with a mighty crash, the crunching of bone and screaming of protesting metal loud to his ears. "Inigo, use bow on dragon priest! Faendall, use bow on dragon priest! Erdi, use wide arc on undead, Lucien, use quick slash on two undead! Caesia, summon storm atronarch!" Ron commanded Erandur to 'Summon - Wolf (Alpha/Red)', and then had himself drag himself into a corner and drink up a health potion, as falling from such a height had taken quite the toll on his health pool; unluckily, he was no longer in stealth, but luckily it seemed nothing would really focus on him unless he caused it the most damage.
The fight went on, with the party members whittling away at the undead, while Khara repeatedly growled at and shouted at and slashed at the Dungeon Boss with her sword. The creature summoned various beings, which kept the others busy - it was really up to Khara to kill the creature.
Of course, Ron was up to high health again, completely undetectable, and with an ace up his sleeve.
"Ron," He commanded himself, from where his body was crouched unnervingly close to the Dragon Priest, "Move forward one square - perform 'gravity punch' on 'Dragon Priest'."
Ron did so; he flung himself up as high as he could with wingardium leviosa, and the invisibility fell halfway through his rapid descent back down, directly above the Dragon Priest; but it had used all it's moves on Khara, and on summoning, and had not spent a single one on a simple alert.
Ron's fist slammed, painfully, into the creature's thick, old, hardened skull, through tattered rags attached to an old, worn mask - and there was a sickening crunch as it went straight through the brittle, vulnerable shell of it's weakened cranium, as the creature's health was at around a fifth of what it had started with - and then, Ron's full weight, added to with the power of gravity, slammed onto the creature, dropping it's health down to a sliver.
"Inigo," Ron commanded, "use bow on 'Dragon Priest'." And with one more arrow, the Dungeon Boss was dead.
"Aren't you full of surprises," Caesia said, dusting herself off as Erandur waved a glowing golden hand to healed her cuts and bruises. "Thanks, sweetheart."
"As a servant of Mara, it is my duty to heal the injured," He said, simply. "As your friend, my daughter, I am only glad to see you well."
"Then you would not mind healing my wounds, yes?" Erendur chuckled. "Of course, Inigo."
As Erandur went around healing cuts and bruises and Erdi's impressive gash across her forehead, Khara stomped on over to Ron. He gulped.
"Who are you, really?" She demanded. "I don't know anyone that can do that kind of damange with their bare hands, and I know a lot of people."
"Ron," Ron said, feeling very intimidated by this tall green woman. "Ron Weasley."
She furrowed her brows, her jaw working in a strange circle - maybe a similar tick to biting your lip, in a human. "That can't be it," She said. "I'm the only person I've ever met that can do that sort of thing."
"Do what?" Ron asked.
"Break the rules," She said. "But I'm Dragonborn. You aren't. What are you?"
"I'm a wizard," Ron said, "And that's - bloody hell, that's about it, alright? I'm just a wizard," Ron said, feeling awfully like Harry insisting he was just Harry.
Because, in both respects, it was kind of wrong, wasn't it? Ron wasn't any more 'just a wizard' than Harry was a normal fucking bloke. Harry wanted to be the most normal man on the street, sure, and that really wasn't any influence by the Dursleys - the boy just didn't like fame. But - stopping you-know-who in their first year, saving Ginny in their second... just, there were so many things that proved Harry wasn't just your average Joe. And Ron - Ron... clearly, he's not just a wizard, anymore, is he? He's in a game. He's the Player. He's the Player. He's the only living, breathing, really human person left.
He's not just a wizard. He's the last wizard. Because everyone else is just an NPC, right? Even Khara, no matter how real she seems, even Caesia, despite talking during a battle, even -
Even Hermione, even Dumbledore, even -
Even Harry. Even Ginny. Even Fred, Geroge, Percy, Charlie, Bill, mum, and dad...
He'd convinced himself, of recent, that he wasn't alone. That these people were alive, and real, and not made up of lines of code. But that isn't the case, is it? He keeps being told it isn't. If people here were real, the people in here would be real, too, even the Dungeon's creations, but they aren't. The Bandits weren't real; Khara, Red, none of the other people the Game has sent him are, either.
"I'm human," Ron said.
"Human?" Khara tilted her head. "What? Like, mortal? I mean, you're not a beast race, clearly, but -"
Eh?
"Human," Ron said. "You know. Like, a person."
"Am I a human?" Khara tilted her head. "Well, you're a person, yeah," Ron said because she was green and had very big teeth, which Ron was pretty sure no humans on earth could obtain without magically altering themselves.
"Hmm. Maybe... words are different, from your time." She said.
"You think I'm a time traveller?" Ron said. Well, that would explain what she said earlier.
"Yes," She nodded. "I think there should be a portal for you to go through, around here - somewhere."
"Maybe back where I came from?" Ron asked. Khara shrugged. "Let's go look, shall we?" She said, holding out her hand. Ron took it.
Khara walked with him, down the hallway, in silence. They came across the stairs that led down to where he'd arrived, and sure enough - the door was back.
"This is my stop," He said.
"Thanks for tagging along," Khara said. "I mean, we were doing the same thing," Ron pointed out.
"Indeed." She sighed, and looked to the door. "Look after yourself," She requested. Ron unequiped the armour from his inventory screen, leaving him in his robes, and handed it over, notifications pinging in the top left corner about his lost status effects. She nodded in thanks. "If you ever need of my aid," Khara said. "Come through the door again, and ask of me. If my name has changed, everyone should recognise Dragonborn."
Ron nodded.
Companion gained! Khara the Dragonborn, Thane of Whiterun, Leader of the Thieves Guild, Archmage of Winterhold, Listener of the Dark Brotherhood...
Ron blinked at the notification.
Also; CALL ON YOUR COMPANIONS, DIPSHIT.
Ron scowled, waved off the notification scrolls, and nodded again. "Thank you," He said.
"Keep the rings and stuff," Khara said. "Think of it as payment. Where you're going, I doubt they take septims."
"I have no idea what those are," Ron said, which was only sort-of a lie, because they're 'gold', but does that mean they're made of gold, that's the word for gold, or they're currency?
Khara laughed, and patted him heavily on the shoulder. "See? So, keep the jewelery. Never know when you might need it."
She turned to walk away, then halted. "Oh, right! One more thing."
She handed him a book. "Just in case." She said. "I'm a mage, but I'm not really one for this kinda magic. Besides, I've already got a shout for it." She grinned. "Why would I need a Dragon-summoning spell, eh? I can call one whenever I want to."
Ron swallowed. He took the book, an ancient tome, thick, hefty, and well-cared for. The Art of Summoning: Major Monsters - Serpentine Dragons of Fire.
Ron, with great care, read the book.
Spell 'Summon - Dragon (Serpentine/Fire)' added!
Maybe we should nerf these dungeons. You won't be able to use that spell for a while, though, so perhaps it doesn't matter?
Ron waved away the notification - he wasn't going to use the spell for a long time, anyway, summoning was way beyond this 11-year-old version of himself, and, indeed, way beyond the 17-year-old version of himself, because he's pretty sure not even Dumbledore could do that - and thanked Khara, again.
"No sweat," She said. "See you some other time, Ron Weasley."
Ron left the Room, and blinked at the hallway of the castle; empty, quiet. The tapestry of the ballet dancing trolls hung opposite, and he felt strangely out of place.
Ron put the book in his inventory, smiling as the game grumbled at his undetectably extended sleeve pocket added itself another slot.
"Great," He said. "Now what?"
Event triggered!
What.
"There you are," Ron heard. He blinked; he realised, all of a sudden, the lighting was a lot brighter than when he'd - no. No it had been dark when he'd - just a second ago-?
Harry was frowning at him, a little furrow between his brows that signalled anything from annoyance to deep concern. Harry got a little more openly expressive, over the years, but he was always more reserved than most, in that respect.
"What were you doing in there?" Harry asked.
"I heard there was a secret room up here," He scratched his ear, awkwardly, skin burning. It wasn't necessarily embarrassment - more frustration. The game had zero right to do this; he wasn't caught! It didn't warn him!
"And you didn't think I'd want to come?" Harry asked, and, right, he's upset. That's a more human reaction than Ron's gotten used to, which sends a chill down his spine.
"No," Ron denied. "You were fast asleep, I - I didn't want to wake you."
Harry pressed his lips together. Then shrugged. "Okay," He said.
Persuasion roll success!
Oh. Right.
... Of course.
"Just invite me along next time, yeah?" Harry said. "Come on. We've got 'transfiguration,' apparently."
Right. Of course.
"What time is it?" Ron asked.
"Well, if we don't get there in five minutes, we'll be late," Harry said. Ron winced. "Let's get going then," He said, and then they ran off, full pelt, in the direction of McGonagall's classroom.
Ron hoped Harry didn't question how Ron knew exactly where it was. Having older brothers is a great excuse, and all, until Harry finds out they haven't actually done half the things Ron's telling him they have, in terms of telling Ron things about the school.
Ron winced, mentally. Yeah. He needs to find a new excuse.
Notes:
uhhhhhhhhhhhh
belated, massive apologies, oh boy