The skeleton wretch stirs in its place, its small frame but a pebble against the great wall behind it.
{Good Luck!}
A blurred blue screen slowly fades from the front of the skeleton.
Its jaw clacks lightly, the bones grinding to dusty slowly with every movement.
Where am I?
The first thought of the skeleton rings true, even without internal organs it can still muster thoughts, a miracle praise be the light.
Ah it's dark
The skeleton's head turns, its spinal column creaking like granite tile against wood.
Strange, I can hardly feel anything yet it seems so cold here, I wonder where I am.
The skeleton scans the nearby area, darkness and the wet dripping of blood are all it can perceive.
Interesting.
With a rumble the skeleton staggers to its feet, dust coming off of it like a discarded cloak.
The skeleton itself is short in stature with a human-like skull, but with notably sharper teeth. A wretch, a type of undead that feast as scavengers, preying on old battlefields, this wretch is even more undead, its flesh all but gone, only a skeleton remaining. A crumbling skeleton wretch, a sad entity that a child could destroy with ease.
I need to arm myself, from standing I can tell I'm quite small
The skeleton is able to evaluate its own height, not quite 4 feet tall, child like in stature, large for a wretch of this area, perhaps in life, it was an alpha wretch but it cannot be certain. It bends over and grasps a rock, grasping it firmly and snugging it into the bones of its hand.
This should do for now.
The rock is jagged from erosion and should be a fine hand axe, or mace if turned to the smoother side.
Let's see what's around here.
Only the sounds of trudging forward can break the silence of the cavern, bone against bone.
Hmm, it is quiet down here. For a cave, it's strange there are no cave animals.
{Strength +1}
{Feat: Walking}
The skeleton raises the rock in fear, its head darting around
Who is there! Who was that?
What was that? I must be hearing things, it is an echoey cave after all.
It can only move forward, as any paths are obscured by darkness, the strange voice has not appeared again for a while so the skeleton has figured that it was its own mind playing tricks.
"Gra gra, klu kluk!"
What was that?
The skeleton once again raises its precious rock, and the growling of some type of animal comes from the abyss in front of it.
If I could speak I would sound frightened at this moment.
A small creature stirs forth from the dark, its hind legs jutting backward, and like an extra set of legs its arms are extended forward upon the ground, it has a hideous face of green scales and razor teeth. A dreg, a lesser dreg. A common cave cretin killed for sport and to train hunting dogs, the greater dregs are more dangerous but are less common, but their hide is beautiful and worth some coin.
Well, this is unexpected, this thing is tiny. And it is challenging me I presume.
In comparison to the skeleton the lesser dreg is small, the size of a small dog. But still quite viciously territorial. The dreg trots forward and rares its teeth.
The skeleton rears its hand back and throws the rock, it pitifully flies through the air and impacts the dreg, the small lizard whelps and scurries back, and a bloody lump appears on its face, as soon as it can recuperate the skeleton picks up another rock and chucks it forward impacting the small critter once more, this one veers off track and impacts its forearm. Still making a painful bruise welter up on its green skin, the pained cries continue as a barrage of catacomb rocks impact the creature. But the dreg's luck is running out as the skeleton grasps an old bone on the ground.
A true weapon for a lord.
A large femur bone from an unknown animal to the skeleton it is quite the mighty mace, graspable by 2 hands with length left for harm.
Come here little one. It will be quick.
The skeleton clambers forward towards the limping dreg, a large crunch resounds like in the arenas of old, the dreg lets out its death rattle as its eyes pop out from its skull.
{Strength +1}
{Feat: First Blood}
That voice again, I'm not hearing things.
First blood? What does this mean? Is there a sorcerer in my mind or is this some kind of devilry or witchcraft? Now that I am focused, my bones do feel tougher. Is it helping me? Why? I should shed these thoughts, I must be hallucinating I'm just getting used to this body that's all there is to it.
The skeleton gets to work harvesting the body with a trusty stone hand axe, the flesh cuts nicely even without a metal tip, the creature is quite frail but its hide could be used in a barter with another creature if the need arises. Or used to fortify its own body as a type of armor if a more dangerous foe appears. But for now, it is draped over one of the skeleton's ribs.
Hmm if these are the only creatures down here then I should be fine continuing and finding an exit. An exit? What will I do on the outside? How do the humans here treat the undead? Where did I even come from? Hmm, too much thinking for now I think I will continue.
And so the skeleton continued on uncontested for hours, the dregs no longer challenged him after seeing their pack leader desecrated in such a brutal way. Its flesh flayed asunder from its corpse and attached to the monster that had suddenly appeared in their territory.
For a while nothing occurs, the occasional screech of some animal which had become usual to the skeleton. But what is unusual is light, a small crevice in the ceiling 12 feet above the skeleton, light creeps through it and casts a large streak of dust across the cavern. The skeleton stops and basks in the light, taking a moment to look at the bones of its hand, they are cracked and worn, turned brown and rotten, as rotten as bone can be, crumbling almost.
I am in quite a sorry state, the fact that I am standing is a miracle. These brittle things holding me up are akin to children's toys.
This light is nice. I must be getting close to the surface.
Just as the skeleton's aspirations reach a new height the shadows of a large animal creep along the thin line of light. The skeleton raises its club in defense and scans its forward perimeter.
"Gruh!"
A beast lurches forward, its thick body covered in tan ragged skin blotting out the sun, a wretch, and it is not a skeleton. It resembles a human- or a dwarf with peeling skin and 2 protruding canines, its body is slumped forward and its spine is curved unnaturally.
Well, this could be troublesome.
The skeleton begins the engagement with a rock throw, the wretch holds up its hands and blocks it, but not without being stuck by one of the pointy corners of the rock causing it to be disgruntled by the pain.
With a retaliatory swipe, the skeleton is knocked back, some shards flying off its body, some even cutting into the wrathful wretch.
Well, this is a less-than-ideal situation.
The skeleton stands and grasps its club and rushes forward as fast as a shambling skeleton can. The wretch comes forward readying itself for another swipe. The skeleton smashes the club over the wretches guard and thumps it violently on the head. It tumbles a few paces back and shakes its head vehemently. The skeleton has a chance to strike once more as the wretch recovers, once again a mighty thump resounds throughout the cave, this time the crunch of the impact is sickening, but not quite as distasteful as the squealing cries from the wretch, its face is smashed in an angle that is even worse than before. An onslaught of abuse ensues until the whelping of the wretch ceases.
Get out of my light you filthy cretin.
{Congragulations}
{Please choose which stat to upgrade by 2 numerical points}
{Strength}
{Dexterity}
{Constitution}
What?
Another sorcery?
The skeleton swipes the air in front of its face, attempting to get rid of the light blue screen hovering silently in the air.
Now I understand.
There is a mind flayer inside me, and it is making these things appear before me.
The skeleton continues its futile attempts at whisking away the orbital screen.
Well this seems to be another issue, fine I will play along.
A thin bony finger presses deeply onto the tab labeled
{Constitution}
In an instant the brittle bones of the skeleton begin sewing themselves back together, cracks become seams, and cuts become simple shadowed marks.
What incredible sorcery!
Hmm. Hmm. This is all becoming quite strange.
Has a warlock put a petty enchantment upon me? Am I contracted to a higher one? Or perhaps this is something else entirely, for now, I will cherish its boons until it becomes apparent what it truly is. The immortals may know of its origins, but it has been long since they came.
I should make haste towards the surface now, this dreadful cave is becoming quite boring.
Leaving the corpse of the beast behind, the skeleton continues its long march into the labyrinthian.
LOWBORNE PROLOGUE
FIN ~