Maid with Necromancy

With the end of mid-quarter exams and papers done, the great queue started, as ten entrances to Oorty’s Tomb reserved for The Academy opened up, six for students in their first two years and four for those who made it beyond.  Slots were reserved, swapped, sold, and strategized. New students and their groups of five were expected, in their first quarter, to return with proof that they had defeated three guards after a run for their team to pass. By the end of their first year, they were to have the giant crab Clanker conquered.  

A shared apprehension mixed with youthful excitement ran through the line. Almost everyone had shiny, new gear they showed off. This was where they broke out the equipment not made for the practice rooms that shone with power, newly forged or layered with ancient blood. Harmony kept her gear as a simple white cloak over light armor designed not to restrict her movements. Three healing potions waited on her belt for quick usage. Her sickle sat in her room, asking to be called because it knew a good portion of her contingency plans involved violence. Being part of her, she could summon it even through the dungeon’s domain if needed. At least on the first floor.  

Her team's battle gear was custom and full of flair compared to the guild-tested and dungeon-rated gear she’d chosen.

Tun-Knee stood proud in a suit, one similar but bulkier than the one he wore to his social club because of the metal plates sewn into it. Far too much effort was put into presentation than practicality, brass knuckles with bladed claws to mimic his natural ones graced the support’s knuckles as a better option against these opponents. If you suggested he was going to a business meeting rather than a dungeon, that might be more believable.

Alex’s armor was loose and, as a makeshift mess of plates and straps to handle his transformations, a work in progress designed to break off if he got too big, and his choice of weapon was a dense metal bat with an extra textured grip for the changes.  He looked least comfortable in his gear, needing to adapt after the changes Harmony had forced on his soul and transformations.

Tasha floated rather than walked, a halo of metal balls spun slowly around her hair that she had up, not unlike she’d worn at the hunter’s ball, and maintained it with the appearance of zero effort. The feat was more impressive when you’d been in the room when she cursed at the idea, and while implementing it for the first time.

She wasn’t limited to that showy source of ammunition as she still kept full pouches on her belt, but armor was non-existent, just a light shirt and pants designed for maximum movement. Brave, considering she had been the slowest of their group before her transformation, and now she was, well, they hadn’t measured her yet, and that was a tactical problem. Speed, awareness, and durability, all untested, and Harmony knew she’d have to be ready to step in if one was lacking due to any flaws in the unseen monster she’d introduced into the girls' system, because there had to be one there.

Xera’s armor smelled of wealth, age, and magic. Lacquered metal plate decorated in intricate, red, green, and black designs that shifted.  Not the kind of thing you’d expect to take into a dungeon for a beating unless it was very sturdy or had some kind of self-repair magic, also magic that made it fit her, because even though Xera put on an inch since she met Harmony, be it a growth spurt or the link she’d formed with the girl, she was still the shortest one here. At least she moved with ease and had the ability to project armor with her defensive skills to cover whoever the guards attacked, which made her the cornerstone of their team’s defense.

The team still felt light, as you almost needed an army, or a toad the size of one, the deeper you got into Orty’s tomb. Most other groups had at least one pet or a specially bonded aspect, giving them a boost. Her necromantic senses picked up on a spiritually based one several groups back in the line. Adric would have been invaluable, but Harmony’s pet prince was busy doing non-combatant tasks, as he was registered that way for the school. Polishing those skills was important, too.

“Gweep?” Hyacinth asked from her pocket.

“You count for a lot at any size. But ideally, your help won’t be needed today.”

The dungeon’s eyes didn’t do anything extra at the presence of the golden key in her system as she crossed into the domain. It seemed to calm them a little, even as her heart remained still when the attention was on her.

Graduate students, rather than guild staff members, manned the entrance booth, as the school completely took over the role, which was one of the perks of attending the school.  That meant no guild item scanning her and telling them to say “Welcome, Eternal.”

“Team name?”  the bored student asked.

“Guaranteed Real Cheese, slot twenty-seven, but can you change our team name to Hyacinth’s Elite? “  Alex asked.

“Gwrap?!” Her familiar processed this choice.

The student let out a long groan and scribbled out the name, filling in the newest replacement. “Entrance three, access two..” They said as they handed back a slip.

Offense, pride, or ownership? [Familiar Bond] shared his feelings on this team thing with Harmony. Lone vigilante now recognized for his greatness, having adopted wards to train in his toady ways. Flickers of daydreams passed through the bond.

“You’ve just made a big mistake, Alex. Hyacinth’s ego is already bigger than a house,and  he’s not going to let you change the team name now. Unless you want some very unpleasant surprises left on your pillow, in your shoes, or to happen to your new bear, that name will probably have to stick.” Harmony informed him.

“I think it’s a great name,” Xera announced.

“One couldn’t ask for a more imposing leader,” Tun-Knee said with the seriousness of someone who knew exactly what Hyacinth could do if he wanted to. If he had good intel, he knew that being one of the “good cats,” after how he’d stressed Harmony out about the vassalship, was absolutely necessary for his future safety. Hyacinth was a sucker for words of praise.

Choosing a different first-floor access was the first opportunity to throw off any potential ambushers. Bantz’s suggestion was weighed and discarded by the team; they were too nervous about the penalties for messing up another group's run. Tasha floated the idea that being the real trap.  Delaying the dive had been a consideration, and watching to see if any groups scheduled to go into the same entrance as us followed had been considered as well, but so many swaps happened last-minute that there was no point.

Whatever problems occurred, they would be dealt with.

Adric’s drills had everyone get into their five-person marching formation the moment they stepped down the long hallway. From experience, Harmony knew it would be roughly a hundred paces before the first tomb guard was unleashed, but that was no excuse for sloppiness.  Xera took the front and Alex the back, already in his early bear-ish form, to guard the three middle fighters as they shuffled onward.

Harmony stood pinched between Tun-Knee and  Tasha, which made her both the most protected and gave her the easiest access to the others if she needed to heal them. The initial question for the dungeon run into Oorty’s Tomb was, who would the guards target?  Tasha, having quickened and outleveled the group, almost certainly eliminated her, as according to the documentation, levels were weighted heavily into whatever targeting equations the monsters used.

Harmony’s senses hunted for the familiar shift in the air that happened when the guards were released, but her teammates' heavy breathing added a layer of complication that [Keen Investigative Awareness] tried to work through.

One of Tasha’s orbiting spheres shot off, drawing Harmony’s eyes as chronostasis kicked in, following it as it raced towards a charging guard. In that action, she felt the shift she was used to amid the chaos, making her training still useful, but the redhead had beaten her to it, accentuating an unknown sensory upgrade. One worry alleviated.

Even with Tasha’s accurate aim and the ability to scoot her shots, the metal monster twisted away,  and the enlarged shot gouged a line along its face with a screeching shower of sparks rather than taking off the head.

The bear was up first, his paws swung the metal club, more blindly toward the sound, way too slow and with way too much commitment, allowing the metal man to collapse and slide under it, not wasting a skill, as it moved by Tasha.

“[Silence]” it ordered with its command skill as her halo of ammunition and feet fell to the floor.

The guard’s second skill, [Energy Restraint] flashed out, wrapping Harmony’s arms to her side as she switched to [High Kick], nudging it off target.

Tun-Knee’s [slow] skill hit it in that moment when it was out of sync, reducing it to normal walking speed, his metal claws lashing out, only to hit nothing.

The guard’s final skill of [Break Restraint] shattered the negative effect on it as it went after its main target

The metal fist shattered Xera’s projected armor and sent her spinning as it pushed through onto her armor with a crash, but not with enough damage to dent it.

Interesting choice of target, not the healer, support, ranged, or even hybrid man-bear Alex was, but the most armored member of their group.  That initial strike and push was always going to be its most powerful and dangerous attempt, as the guard had momentum and all the skills at its disposal.  Xera traded two blows, as Tun-knee got to it next, gouging it with his claws, until Alex, now human again, took the club to it with a little more finesse than animal strength and speed.

The guard’s single-minded approach to attacking Xera made it easy for the others to beat off chunks until it fell to pieces. The processes of removing the head and shattering the command crystal took so long that it got a second and third use of its set of three skills off as harmony stood by watching, not wanting to crowd the fight.

“Ha!” cried Alex, lifting out the broken core. “Slippery tin can. Without that shot, Tash, we might have been in trouble.”

“That fight took too long,” Harmony muttered, annoyed.

“Greep. Grap. Grup.”  Hyacinth added from his pocket, making it clear that if they were to use his name they’d have to step it up some.

“Saving some skills for when I have to face more than one.” Xera clarified.

“So, are we doing this?” Tasha asked as she reloaded her halo of ammunition.

They all knew the bloody numbers. When you first faced two guards,  the chance of losing a teammate was at its greatest. Those statistics were why it was an end-of-quarter requirement, and many groups turned back after testing themselves against one guard for more training before they advanced further into the dungeon.  It would be six skills, as two charged in on one target.  Having their defender be the focus was almost a blessing.

Harmony felt their eyes fall on her. They knew she’d been in the dungeon in some form or way. Tasha, by how she’d been equipped for the Hunter’s Ball, the others had seen odds and ends in her room before she got her research room. Two guards would be a mess, with blood and maybe a broken bone. Pain, but pain could be a learning experience. And if they didn’t learn that lesson, Alex would be pushing to go back in as soon as possible.

Hyacinth?

Nothing yet. He messaged back through their bond. Ahead and behind her, no sign of an ambush could be detected.

Moving forward would increase the odds of an attack from students if one were planned, they’d be waiting for a moment of weakness. Leave now, and she’d lose that chance to find out who and why. Her friends wanted this; they knew the risks, and what good necromancer wasn’t willing to play around with lives to get what they want?

“I’d be honored to keep you alive as we fight through one more clash,” Harmony told them calmly.

“Hyacinth’s Elite, onward!” Xera cried.

“Meep!”  Hyacinth cried.

As calmly as Harmony moved forward with confidence, outside of the dungeons' domain, on the small desk in Harmony’s dorm room, that extension of her that came from her choice of violence sparked with a bit of red light as it rattled in anticipation.

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