Maid with Necromancy

People could burn in a mass grave. [Mend] Barely held together the paper obscurement charm Harmony had slapped onto Night for this disguise. The magic of the charm sputtered, but she was no Len, and wards were not a focus of her study. The current person she wished ill on was a stranger sprawled on the ground after she made it slick with ice. Using too many skills might give away her identity and ruin the work put into this persona.

“I don’t know what game you’re playing, but they won’t let you in masked like that.” The older man yelled. Second evolution, but long settled into a rut by the look of his progression. Local by his accent and a bag full of harvesting gear.

She certainly could, and had set up her guild membership to be as private as possible. Privacy wasn’t only the realm of criminals, forbidden classes, or students wishing to inadvisably risk an early death in the dungeon. Now technically she might be all of those things, but that didn’t mean the man had to be rude.

Adric was fetching a guild guard to make sure this tussle didn’t go any further. It had started with jabs at her height, having chosen to go tall. Then her anonymity and accusations of student errantry or criminality. Not having a full team. It was like the man felt he could bully her into quitting this mission when all she wanted to do was get into Oorty’s Tomb, farm some resources, and get some sleep. No, he had to make this hard. [Final Silence] hadn’t even touched his skills, merely quieted his voice for a moment, and then he got physical.

Ripping the paper charm wouldn’t have any effect on the one she had engraved on her mask, so her class and professional information were safe. No, there were other, more troubling things to worry about. The last bit of magic in it hissed out that even [Renew Spirit] couldn’t fill back up.

“Shackles and bars, a unique!”  The exclamation came from one of the delvers behind her.

Harmony had actually breathed a sigh of relief when she’d entered the dungeons' domain with nothing more than a little bit of extra scrutiny. Those eyes of the dungeon at least felt tired, but no recognition from the reality-breaking explosion she’d made earlier. Not that she’d planned on  going into the gloom tonight unless she absolutely had to. But now she had to deal with this mess.

Adric’s return with a guild guard and representative was a tad too late, as she could hear the whispers spread. In Hazeldown and Naewauld, Night was part of who she was, where nearly every aspect of the maid promoted to lady was special. Here, uniques had a more storied history, which would be discussed in a class seminar in a few weeks. Osmark had said news would spread, a bit of instant notoriety, but the real danger was for those who got close and had the evolutionary advancement and skills to see deep into the details of Night’s traits.  Who? [Keen Investigative Awareness] helped map out the crowd, which at least kept somewhat of a distance from what could have ended up as a fight.

Adric pulled an extra obscurement charm and replaced the damaged one with a slap, adhering it to her. The subtle shift in his posture showed he felt awful about not doing this before he left.

“What happened here, Randy?”  The representative asked, with a look in the older man’s direction that revealed he knew exactly what had happened here.

“I'm getting you to do your job and stop these damn students from throwing their lives away in that pit. No one should be obscuring themselves before entering the Tomb.” Randy hissed.

“This man attacked me, ruining the charm on my gear and putting me more at risk because of it,” Harmony added, the shallow authority gained from the spreading rumor of unique armor. That undertone should be different from her normal one, while working on a haughty tone.

“And you are?” The representative asked.

“Private, but you can check my guild records.”

He had the magical records tool in his hand for accessing guild records.  The one they either noted those paying and entering, or checked names and matched them to their guild file. “I'll still need your name.”

Except for the rare exceptions like in Harmony’s case, she stepped forward and waved her hand over it, directly linked to her presence as a permanent member.

It flashed to life with information.“Oh, welcome back. Eternal.” The rep paused to read the notes; only the gods could guess what Hemlock and Thorne put in there. Harmony knew she had asked for her information not to be shared freely. “During this woman's last dive, she turned in twenty cleaned and mostly intact guards for guild rates, Randy. She's not your daughter, she'll be fine.”

That brought more whispered comments from the gathering crowd.  Any other night, and she'd leave now and let the rumors die down. And why wouldn't she bring them in intact? The pay was better that way. Now the rest of the people could go into the pit with Randy.

The old man still didn't look convinced, but did his best half-bow. “Perhaps I was wrong to judge. I just hate seeing kids die every quarter.  You know me, James. I didn't mean any harm. I'm one of your best porters. I'll even work for her for free to make amends.”

Dangerous job that. Schlepping loot for those farming the dungeon. When they weren’t escorting those who were shy about leveling their classes in the dungeon, the Dig Boys often took those jobs too. If you weren’t called a progress leech, you were best off building trust for steady jobs. Working for a stranger. That was risky; he couldn’t expect her to seriously take him up on the offer.

Hyacinth sent a warning through [Familiar Bond].

She had to fight the urge not to summon the blood sickle strapped to the small of her back to her hand. That bastard tagged her. She might not have noticed, but fooling her vicious stalker-from-the-shadow’s nose was difficult.  

“Eternal, it is up to you to decide Randal Garnet’s punishment. We can suspend his work access from the dungeon for two weeks, fine him two silver hex, or you may take him up on his offer. He is fully licensed and contracted with the guild. I vouch for his quality myself. He’s not a bad man, only passionate.”

What James meant when he said passionate was a pain in the ass, and one he had a personal connection to. [Keen Investigative Awareness], as useful as it was, saw the tunnel collapse that this could be. Here was a man with a personal injury that made it so he wouldn’t give up, access to at least one person who knew her details, and would follow her back to her dorm if she didn’t scrub herself clean of whatever skill he was tracking her with.

“I could use someone experienced at keeping and collecting alchemical ingredients. I want him fully sealed to keep my identity, gear, class, skills, companions, name, and conversations secret.”

“I’d never.” Randy started.

“And I want to make sure no one can force you easily.” Harmony let her anger bleed out at the utter gnomeshit this run was turning into.

James at least seemed amused as he approached Randy with a tiny scroll. “Now open wide.”

The only benefit that came out of this mess was that they were escorted to the entrance, but with the dungeon still busy, she couldn’t take advantage and farm all the floors of their solo and paired-up guards. That wasn’t the plan tonight, anyway. And now they had a guest.

“Are you going to remove those obscurement charms? It will at least give me something to carry?” Randy asked.

Adric gave a shrug.

Harmony grasped [Cold Touch] and let the icy chill numb herself. All was not lost. A giant of a woman in unusual black armor was sure to stir up some notice anyway. It’s not like no one saw her the first few times she’d delved here; there just wasn’t a crowd so close to her. And this fool's mouth was now tied up tighter than Tyler used to lock up his imported chocolates.

Stripping her cloak and mask, she tossed it to the man, resizing in the process to school-sized. Having played around a bit, it might not be the ideal length and strength for the guards, but it was practical practice for when she went in with Alex, Xera, Tun-Knee, and Tasha.  The sickle would ideally make things easier, and it craved to be used for something other than craft and healing projects.

“What?” Randy asked in confusion at the sudden shift.

Adric tossed his cloak, mask, and backpack over, ignoring the man’s surprised outburst. The guild-bought armor and weapon he wore weren’t flashy, but were well-rated for handling the first few floors. Reverently, he took off his belt pouch and set it on the floor. out slithered Bowe. “Sorry to keep you cooped up in there so long, partner.”

The tiny rainbow dragon shrugged. “I slept.”

Hyacinth hopped over.

Harmony’s resizing might have confused the man. Hyacinth and Bowe changing size had him falling over. Neither were their maximum size, focusing  instead on being large and limber enough to handle a guard on their own. Hyacinth would still cheat with shifting when needed, but Bowe didn’t have that benefit without help.  The nine-foot-long dragon was now big enough that Adric could use his rider skills or operate on its own as a solo combatant.

“A rusting dragon, so that’s how you did it.” Randy blurted out.

Now the sickle was in her hand. [High Kick] propelled her to the porter. “Tell me what you saw when you inspected my armor.” Harmony made certain he felt the order. The Contract was only vaguely linked to the idea of her, but she could still pull its strings slightly with her stats.

“Night. Unique Armor. Fuses with useful materials. Illuminates souls. Royal bearing. Growth. Paired.“ Randy blabbed.

Fish guts and rat corpses. There had to be a better way than obscurement charms. Maybe if she sewed a dress out of them and had Night eat them? This is why she burned Osmark’s memories. Apparently, royal bearing did something with authority, boosted it, helped you gather more, maybe granted it to you if you didn’t have any… possibly all three. That he wasn’t an expert on. But growth items, even incomplete paid ones, could get you in real trouble. At least the detailed stuff required you to be close. Who didn’t want something that could get stronger as you did?

“Yeah, but I’m not going to tell anyone. [Identify Value] is one of my stronger skills.”

It would be very easy to guarantee that. But after having a public spat with the man and James escorting him here, that would cause guild trouble. Meeting a third guildmaster in a year was not on the list of things she wanted to accomplish just yet.

“That’s why I had you use the contract scroll. You will not say a word about me to anyone ever.”

Something was going to receive the gift of violence tonight. Too many problems had been spared already. Harmony marched right by Adric, who eagerly hugged and petted his dragon while receiving big licks.

Hyacinth sat there, almost like he was sleeping, as he wasn’t needed yet, while Harmony kept on going farther down the dungeon hallway alone.

Randy scrambled to his feet. “What are you doing! Aren’t you going to go after her? She can’t go down that way alone?” He yelled at the trio.

“Grrrruurrrp.” Hyacinth croaked.

Inaction. Inaction everywhere.

The porter, tired of waiting, took off himself, dashing after the girl who’d yet to give him her name. Randy’s face hit the floor when Hyacinth’s tongue wrapped around his leg and yanked him back. Then, the toad sat on him, because he seemed like the type who might try to interrupt Harmony’s fun again.  The man had a lot to learn.

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