Maria hoists a chest up from the small crawlway in the trapdoor, slamming it onto the dusty stone floor. Barns peeks at it curiously, but his mind drifts elsewhere.
He contemplates the dead vampire laying on the ground, Eldrie. His wounds weren't too severe. It was possible to resurrect him.
"Don't even think about it," Maria says, pointing at Eldrie's corpse. "Vampires are people who chose to become monsters. You'd just be resurrecting a killer."
Barns furrows his brow. "Clancy can cleanse evil. We could at least try? It worked on Quinn."
Maria's eye twitches. "Quinn is different," she says darkly. "Those who became Demons were given a choice between that and death. The people who vamped up sought it out and drank a master vampire's blood."
"I'll cut his head off the second he acts up," Barns smiles. "Let's give it a shot. If nothing else, maybe we can get intel out of him."
Barns carries Eldrie, and Maria carries the chest. He's surprised at how light the vampire feels on his back. His strength has definitely increased.
As they exit the tower, the others are already gathered. It's still light out, and the vampire on Barns' back begins to smoulder in the daylight.
"Ow, ow, ow," Barns yells, throwing the vampire to the ground. In seconds, Eldrie is completely consumed in flames.
Clancy scuttles over and blasts the burning corpse with a jet of foam like he works for the fire department. It extinguishes the fire and the evil, leaving a much more human (though still slightly charred and ashy) body on the ground.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Haima questions, reading Barns' intent.
Barns nods resolutely. "I got this. Resurrection!"
Eldrie's eyes flash open. No longer red, they shine bright blue. His once matted and black hair lightens to a dark brown, and a rosy tone returns to his pale cheeks.
[Progress: 3994/1000000]
"Wh-where am I?" Eldrie asks. He holds his hands up. "What am I doing here? Why am I wearing this?"
Maria glowers. Not twenty minutes ago, this guy was trying to kill her. He seemed perfectly aware of what he was doing.
"You're the newest recruit to the new Kingdom of Dimartino. Is your name Eldrie?"
The former vampire scrunches his face. "Yes. Do I know you?"
Barns turns toward Maria, and beckons her closer. He whispers in her ear: "I don't sense malevolence at all," he says quietly.
Maria hisses back. "Wasn't I able to hide it from you?"
Barns ignores the comment - Maria was an excellent roleplayer.
"What's the last thing you remember, Eldrie?" he says, helping the man up off the ground. Eldrie takes his hand and rises to his feet.
"I was going somewhere with my…we were…oh, no," Eldrie says, holding his head in his hand. When he looks back to Barns, he's in tears. "Am I…a vampire now?"
Barns pats Eldrie on the shoulder. "No, not at all. Perfectly human, just like me."
As Barns says that, he remembers what Maria read off earlier. Barns' species was listed as 'Human (Irregular)'. What was irregular about him, though?
"Oh, thank goodness," Eldrie exclaims, exhaling a huge sigh of relief. "I thought I did something unforgivable. I was so desperate…oh, but where is…"
Barns grips Eldrie's shoulder harder. "Listen. You were asleep for a long time, Eldrie. The world ended. But me, this crab here, and everyone else - we're bringing it back."
Barns turns to Godrick and Haima. "Can you two help Eldrie get up to speed?" he asks with a big smile. "The rest of us need to take a look at these chests."
"BIG CHEST. LOVE LOOKING."
"Alright, Clancy," Barns says. "Seems like there were one of these in each tower? Must be the treasure we came for, yeah?"
Osmond points at the chest he brought. "Check that out, Maria!" he says excitedly. "Do your System magic on it! It looks fun!"
Maria's sufficiently intrigued - the group heads for that chest first. She pops it open and as she does, her eyes widen in wonder.
Resting in the chest is a thick glove of incredible craftsmanship - it's stitched with a magicked cord that hums and glitters with energy.
She taps a few times around the item, and a message appears.
[Name: Silver Rake
Rank: S
Effect: When the wearer clenches their fist, consecrated silver blades will rise from the glove, dealing additional holy damage.]
Barns looks like a little kid who just saw the latest toy on display. "That's so cool!"
"A tool for killing vampires, my love," Osmond says to Maria. "Do these other chests contain weapons as well?"
"MINE'S ROCK!" Clancy roars, scuttling over to the chest and opening the meek little latch with his massive claw.
Maria, Osmond, and Barns all peer in.
"That's no rock, good King," Osmond confirms, the only of the group who seems to know what it is. "This is a memory stone. But…such a thing shouldn't be here."
"Well, what the heck is it?" Barns asks. Maria reaches closer to inspect it, but Osmond slaps her hand away.
She looks at him in disbelief, and he slams the chest shut. "Nobody is allowed near this thing except for me!" Osmond demands. "Not until I've properly investigated it."
"Fine," Maria says. She knows better than to question when Osmond's like this - if he's keeping it from her, it's because he thinks it's dangerous to her in some way.
Maria grabs the third chest, the one they retrieved from Eldrie's lair. "Haven't actually looked inside yet," she says as she opens the latch for all to see.
Inside is an inconspicuous handmade urn. Barns lifts the lid atop to look inside.
"It's ashes," he says. "Looks like someone was cremated."
"As if some dead person's ashes are a treasure. What, are these master vampires the sentimental type? A rock of memories and some ashes? What's the point of all this, besides the glove?"
"If a Master Vampire locked these up, they must belong to someone or something important," Osmond says. "Perhaps the Memory Stone will reveal more. Until then, I beg your discretion."
Barns turns to his allies. "Do what you gotta do to get answers, Osmond. I trust you. Now, Maria, Oz, load those chests up on Clancy. Let's get back to Dimartino."
He beckons over Haima, Godrick, and Eldrie, and the group sets back off in the direction of their kingdom, eager to see what new developments these clues may bring.
And for Barns' part, he wanted desperately to learn more about this 'leveling' process - and he knew that would involve a chat with Clancy and Maria, pronto.