Museum of Grimoire - 3.3 - Early Access (Patreon)

The scattered bones of the defeated quivered, then pulled themselves back with astonishing speed as the creature exerted its power. Suddenly, Noire and Florence found themselves facing down not just one, but almost a dozen of revenants. Even more dire was how they maneuvered to block the way out.

Thinking quickly, Florence spun her weapon about and slammed its base against the floor. She channeled her patron’s willing aid to exude a presence of severance, a barrier that would repel the unliving. It knocked the skeletons back and away, those lesser monsters even falling apart when they tried to push through.

Yet their master glanced simply at the barrier- and walked into it, passing through without a scratch.

The warlock’s teeth clenched from both the effort and the realization. “That’s bad.”

“You think so?” Noire muttered, though there was an underlying current to her which betrayed a curiosity. Especially when she peered closer at the approaching monster with visible interest. “How interesting. For a king, not very ornamentation are they?”

“Didn’t we just establish that there were a bunch of tomb robbers?!” hissed the apprentice, slightly unbelieving that she has to be the voice of reason here. “They clearly took the riches and thus pissed them off!”

“Ah. That would make sense- though the fact they would have left the death mask be is also an oddity. It should still hold value, so why did they not take it?”

Florence was about to snap at the archaeologist's ramblings, only to freeze when a chilling chittering sound filled the air. The wight king stopped their advance and stared, neck bones moving slightly. Were they gnashing their teeth beneath that mask to talk, perhaps? But well, they had no vocal chord to talk through.

Yet for the one contracted to the spirit of death, the clicking still somehow translated into words in her head. An unexpected bonus from her bond, perhaps? “They who have robbed us shall face justice in due time. That is what has been promised to me, and I shall deliver!”

Noire grimaced and shook her head. “I lost my aptitude for casting tongues, so I can’t make sense of whatever they’re saying. Or if it’s just anything at all-”

“I can understand it!” Florence quickly revealed, eyes wide. She quickly delivered the translation and watched as the monster held in place, perhaps… understanding? It wasn’t impossible, as there was always a debate over beast intelligence and sentience. Especially for borderline cases such as those born from mortals originally. “We’re not the robbers who took from you!” she frantically added at the end. “They’re… well, probably long dead. The Sixth Age was a while ago.”

“Denied my due? Frustrating. But what they took must still be returned, even if I must walk the wicked lands of the living to do so!”

“That’s going to be something that I’m afraid many would take issue with,” Noire commented. “Especially because I don’t think you’ll stop at just reclaiming your lost treasures.”

“I shall put all who stand in my way to blade, especially those descended from those thieves!”

“Yep. Totally something that won’t be allowed.”

“Maybe don’t upset the wight king until we get out of here?” Beads of sweat trickled down the warlock’s forehead as she maintained the barrier to keep the lesser skeletons from simply swarming. Engaging in dialogue was probably the only thing that stopped their master from simply attacking to break her concentration spell, so the historian prodding and probing wasn’t helping. “Just calm down. Maybe… maybe we can go and find the lost grave goods and return them!”

“Were you not listening? They said that they wouldn’t settle for anything but total revenge and ruin.” Ignoring the sputtering from the irate companion, Noire turned back to the threat before them and hummed aloud. “If I may be so bold as to ask, why have you waited this long to rise up? Why have you not begun your march already?”

“I was promised a stalwart ally to my cause and like a true king, I keep my word. So I await their arrival to herald my return!”

“Allies, hmm.” The archaeologist asked Florence to confirm the translation, then posited a theory. “That wouldn’t happen to be Demon Lord Utsh, would it?’

“None other than the noble king of kings!”

Now Florence was actually interested too, exhaustion briefly forgotten at this interesting glimpse. “Yet they’re defeated now, aren’t they? So whatever control they had over you should have been cut by now.”

“Control? Bah, none can control me. I was famed for my temperance among in the living, a trait that I knew would carry me well over in death! Behold my austerity, a humble domain compared to the ostentatious works of my peers! Aside from the necessary treasures to demonstrate my rank, of course.”

“Naturally, you still did have a societal expectation to live up to,” Noire agreed casually with. “Any less would be demeaning. I suppose that is perhaps why you have opted for a simpler death mask than most.

“Yet wherein does this fixation with your lost riches come from then? Perhaps it is a bit presumptuous, but it doesn’t sound like one who understand that wealth is but a means to an end. Not the end to whatever means.”

Incredibly, before Florence’s own eyes, the wight king wavered, their ghostly crown flickering for a moment. “I… I was told- no. What?” A shaky skeletal arm raised up to press against the side of their mask. “Am I not wearing a grand construct- no, I was humble, wasn’t I, my knights? No, the demon lord addressed me like a great peer- was I not a petty king though, even in my time?”

Noire’s eyes sparkled with visible intrigue. “How telling. The demon fruit seems to indeed gift the demon lord with a degree of mental manipulation over monsters, but is the effect perhaps lessen due to the hybrid nature of unliving?” she wondered aloud. “Or perhaps monsters with sufficiently strong will could resist the influence, thus necessitating additional coaxing?”

“I think that’s a theory that’s probably best left to another day!” Florence gasped, at the end of her rope. “Miss Noire, it’s time to go!”

“Ah. Very well then, I must beg your leave now.” The wight king hissed, perhaps about to demand otherwise, when the archaeologist acted. With a flick of the wrist, mirroring exactly the gesture used by somebody after her life that night, a whip made of anima energy rolled out from her hand and slapped into advancing monster. The impact was enough to force it back, putting some distance between the advancing unliving and the two explorers.

Said investigators now unceremoniously turned tailed and ran for the exit with what little advantage they obtained. It was one which was quickly shortened as the skeletons rushed forwards, eager to sink their bony fingers into the two and drag them to the deep. Just as they reached the stairs leading up, a shadow suddenly descended over the open way and eyeless skulls looked up at the heavy stone that now blocked their way.

On the other side, Florence visibly panted from the effort of using her staff to leverage one of the open stone tomb covers over the way down. Noire wasn’t in any better shape, swiftly dismissing her assisting construct and shaking her hand. “That spell consumes a ridiculous amount of magic,” she complained aloud. “Anima general does, I suppose, but lending a physical body to magic adds a lot more to it. Or so this thing is at least constructed.”

The apprentice finally caught her breath, only to glance at the other open stone tombs and grimace. “You might want to get ready to use it a few more times. It’s probably for the best if we reinforce that way in and out of the lowest level.”

Noire made a face as she readied herself. “A good point, given the lack of a sealing magic or a working crystal gadget. Perhaps you should look into learning a barrier spell to function as such in the future.”

“I’ll keep it in mind. For now, let’s just make sure that they won’t be getting free anytime soon.”

It was definitely a fairly crude solution to trap the restless revenants beneath multiple stone coffins. There were already the sound of faint chipping as they likely figured that it was better to get started sooner than later at breaking away through the stone, but there were also plenty of former lids to add more layers to it. Working by skeletal hand was also likely going to take a while, but if they kept at it with all the stubbornness of a dwarf, they would break through eventually.

By then hopefully, the two were gone- and their place, a team of plucky adventurers ready to receive this threat. This definitely felt like the sort of request the princess hero would enjoy tackling herself.

The archaeologist mentioned as such as they piled on the final barrier and examined their work. “We’ll have to stop by the guild hall and let them know about this danger to the locals. While they mentioned being so obsessed to continue staying and awaiting the arrival of the demon lord, it’s better to make sure no unfortunate or unprepared soul stumbles across this. Especially if the skeletons are given proper time to mature into wrights all.”

“At the very least, knocking them a bit should have stunted their growth on that,” Florence mentioned with a little bit of cheer returning to her voice. She glanced up and voiced an additional idea. “We could also collapse the ruins above to try and buy additional time.”

Noire made a face and shook her head. “I am loathed to do so. We surely have bought enough time already by disturbing more of the tomb. The insides are admittedly already quite desecrated by those who came before, but the outsides are mostly unspoiled aside from the passage of time. I would like to preserve that as best we can at least.”

“That would probably depend entirely on who takes on the matter. If it’s the princess who handles it, she could perhaps do it in a single strike.” Florence paused, then pressed her lips together. “If it’s the archmage, um. They might not hold back.”

“It definitely depends, I’ll be sure to include those details in my request.” Noire glanced one last time at the sealed way down and sighed. “For now, I believe that all but marks the end of our expedition for this location. There’s not much else I believe we can explore safely.”

The apprentice bit her lip. “Sorry. If I was stronger, maybe cultivated my contract further, maybe I could have handled it all. Or if I was just a bit less prideful, then we could have approached with a full team…”

She considered it for a moment, then shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. The only thing I think I really would miss is that death mask curiosity, it would be an incredible addition to demonstrate varying personalities of those petty kings. Do remind me to add that into the guild request as proof of completion for the quest.”