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[adwarf]

Marrow
"You would be chatty too if you were trapped in a single room for a few hundred years with nothing, but mindless undead and scavenging masses of sludge for company. As for the two crystals you have, let's see. One of them is chipped while the other is fairly pristine ...

Hmm, I'll let offer you a choice from one of three spells for those two. I can teach you how to temporarily imbue something with negative energy like that used in your bolt attacks, the second spell is a bit more eccentric as its purpose is purely to animate skulls though the skulls can consume souls and act as a mana repository for the mage, and finally the third spell is a defensive magic that covers you in a cloak of negative energy.

Of course if you don't want those I can offer you information instead, like the location of some useful items or I could tell you about some of the creatures that roam around down here. So what do you want?"

The creature says as it looks at Marrow expectantly, clearly excited at the chance to obtain whatever those crystals actually are.

Skullmo
You signal for your undead pikeman to come over to you before slowly withdrawing the sword stabbed through it, after you have the blade in hand you find its weight is a bit on the heavy side, but you can probably wield it passably with one hand. Though the weapon is rusted and chipped in some spots it for the most part seems to be fairly sturdy compared to most of what you've seen lying about in the hallways before here. With your new weapon in hand you start to make your way around the chamber to get a good feel of what is here and where you can actually go as you converse with Reynaut.

You easily notice that the room is strangely entirely devoid of any corpses or discarded items, the only really interesting thing you can find is three more tunnels connecting to this room with antiquated symbols carved above their entrances. A quick glance back at the tunnel you've come from shows that the symbols are in fact the ancient methods of writing the cardinal directions, though most of your memories from before are hazy you're fairly sure these were rarely used in the centuries before the Great Lords turned.

Spoiler: Skeletus (GiglameshDespair) (click to show/hide)

Hit Points: 20/20
Mana: 10/20

Equipment:
Rotting Staff [Damage: 2, Fragile, Arcane Focus]
Tattered Robes [Physical Defense: 0, Magic Defense: 4, Runes]

2 Crystalline Cores [These light red crystals seemed to make up the heart of the oozes you fought. You can feel a faint source of some kind of foreign energy flowing through it strangely enough.]

Spells:
Negative Energy Bolt [Mana Cost: 5, Damage: 10, Erosion]
Devour Soul [Can only be performed on non-bosses, Can only be used when enemy has less than a quarter HP, Restores MP based on remaining HP]
Create Lesser Undead [Mana Cost: 4, Raise Corpse]

Spoiler: Skullmo (Harry Baldman) (click to show/hide)

Hit Points: 20/20
Mana: 18/20

Equipment:
Time-worn Longsword [Damage: 8, Two-Handed]
Rotting Staff [Damage: 2, Fragile, Arcane Focus]
Tattered Robes [Physical Defense: 0, Magic Defense: 4, Runes]

2 Crystalline Cores [These light red crystals seemed to make up the heart of the oozes you fought. You can feel a faint source of some kind of foreign energy flowing through it strangely enough.]

Spells:
Negative Energy Bolt [Mana Cost: 5, Damage: 10, Erosion]
Devour Soul [Can only be performed on non-bosses, Can only be used when enemy has less than a quarter HP, Restores MP based on remaining HP]
Create Lesser Undead [Mana Cost: 4, Raise Corpse]

Spoiler: Skeleton One(?) (click to show/hide)

Hit Points: 5/10

Equipment:
Shredded Robe [Worthless]

Spoiler: Skeletal Pikeman (click to show/hide)

Hit Points: 10/10

Equipment:
Chipped Pike [Damage: 10(6), Cumbersome, Reach, Piercing Attack]
Crude Tower Shield [Block Chance: 40%, Unwieldy]
Decrepit Plate Armor [Physical Defense: 6, Magical Defense: 0]

Spoiler: Marrow (Dermonster) (click to show/hide)

Hit Points: 20/20
Mana: 13/20

Equipment:
Rotting Staff [Damage: 2, Fragile, Arcane Focus]
Tattered Robes [Physical Defense: 0, Magic Defense: 4, Runes]

Crystalline Core [This light red crystal seemed to make up the heart of the oozes you fought. You can feel a faint source of some kind of foreign energy flowing through it strangely enough.]
Chipped Crystalline Core [This light red crystal seemed to make up the heart of the oozes you fought. You can feel a faint source of some kind of foreign energy flowing through it strangely enough. It was moderately damaged by a blow from your recently raised skeleton.]

Spells:
Negative Energy Bolt [Mana Cost: 5, Damage: 10, Erosion]
Devour Soul [Can only be performed on non-bosses, Can only be used when enemy has less than a quarter HP, Restores MP based on remaining HP]
Create Lesser Undead [Mana Cost: 4, Raise Corpse]

Spoiler: Skeletal Soldier (click to show/hide)

Hit Points: 10/10

Equipment:
Broken Arming Sword [Damage: 5, One-handed, Fragile]
Remains of Chainmail [Physical Defense: 3, Magic Defense: 0]

Spoiler: Reynaut (Yottawhat) (click to show/hide)

Hit Points: 25/25
Favor: 14

:

Equipment:
Battle-worn Mace [Damage: 5, One-handed, Blunt]
    - Blessed [3 Turns Remaining]
Rotting Round Shield [Block Chance: 20%, Fragile]
Worn Leather Armor [Physical Defense: 2, Magic Defense: 1]

Blessings:
Bless Weapon [Faith Cost: 3, applies Weak Blessing to chosen weapon.]
Minor Heal [Faith Cost: 2, restores 4 Hit Points to target unless they're Dark aligned in which case it deals 4 damage.]

[Dermonster]

"My good sir you drive a hard bargain! If I may counter, say I give you both of these for the skull animation spell, and you add in the information about the creatues in this dark place? It seems more than fair enough."

[Harry Baldman]

"Hey guys, wanna come explore another tunnel? I wanna see if I can stab something and stab it good."

Put away my staff for now and two-hand the longsword experimentally.

If nobody wants to come along, head back the way I came and look for a large shield or shield-shaped piece of debris (or dual shield-shaped pieces of debris, for that matter) that I can give my injured minion.

If somebody does want to come along, go West. Or North if West is where we came from.

[adwarf]

"My good sir you drive a hard bargain! If I may counter, say I give you both of these for the skull animation spell, and you add in the information about the creatues in this dark place? It seems more than fair enough."

"Hmm, since you're the first to take up the offer then fine, I'll accept that deal."

After the creature agrees you feel the crystals torn from your grasp as they swiftly fly towards the monster before turning into a cloud of fine dust that flows directly into the beast's mouth. Moments after the crystals disappear down it's gullet you see a pale blue orb fly out of its mouth in your direction, stopping to hover in front of you.

"Take that orb and press it to your head, by doing so the method of using the spell will be directly passed onto you or anyone you feel the desire to give it to. As my first customer, and such a willing one at that, I'll go ahead and tell you that you don't necessarily need to be sentient like the four of you for the information in these orbs to be passed on though some will have basic requirements of their host.

Now for the creatures you wanted to know of, I'll tell you about those who prowl around here in the Decayed Smithy as its come to be known. Most common among them are the servants of Falgrim, born from the decaying flesh that has fell from his giant rotted frame and been imbued with the crystals you saw as a heart. Rather accurately, some of those who came from the other areas of these mountains came to call the creatures Falgrim's Grubbers for they live their lives groveling before the bloated mass of the Corpse Smith as they spend their lives digging through the forgotten battlefields that litter these mountains.

Second among Falgrim's creations are the legion of Corpse Soldiers he's sown together, tasked with clearing the Smithy of all those beings who don't yield to him. Well, of course those that aren't me, even if Falgrim could find a method to kill me he's too obsessed with his research to risk it. Anyway, these Corpse Soldiers are the militant arm of the Corpse Smith's forces and wield weapons scavenged by the Grubbers to combat any who trespass on their lord's domain.

Finally there are the loose bands of the raised undead, unintelligent piles of bones raised by the unwilling aura created by those Dark Mages that passed away in these depths. Their desire to cheat death gave life to these undead and thus they've spent hundreds of years fighting a never ending war against Falgrim's minions and those rare beings that find their way to this level from other parts of the mountains. Of course now your lot has been thrown into the midst of this, I can't wait to see what chaos you bring to bear."

With that the creature chuckles before falling silent, seemingly content to let your lot carry about things as they wish.

"Hey guys, wanna come explore another tunnel? I wanna see if I can stab something and stab it good."

Put away my staff for now and two-hand the longsword experimentally.

If nobody wants to come along, head back the way I came and look for a large shield or shield-shaped piece of debris (or dual shield-shaped pieces of debris, for that matter) that I can give my injured minion.

If somebody does want to come along, go West. Or North if West is where we came from.

You tear off a strip of your already ragged cloak and use it to make a strap to carry your staff with before tossing it over your shoulder. With both hands free you can now much more easily carry the longsword as it feels far less awkward to carry though you find your attention brought elsewhere, to the hall you came from where you're fairly sure you can easily find something suitable for your first raised skeleton. Heading back in there it takes you only moments to find a suitable tower shield for it to wield which you drag back to the chamber and hand over to it. Now the damaged and stooped skeleton makes a rather ludicrous sight as it clutches a tower shield larger than itself in one hand while dressed in what might as well be black rags.

[Dermonster]

Marrow takes a bow. "Thank you, impaled one. I will be taking my leave."

Aquire skull spell

Walking back to the group, he nudges his fellow dark mages. "Gentlemen, we have information and a name. The fellow over there is certainly clear enough, so I will not bother to repeat it. Make a deal or not, we have a choice of direction to decide. There are three more exits to this room. If we put the direction we came from to be 'South', I will vote that we go clockwise, to the 'East'. What say you?"

[Yottawhat]

"I agree, we should get out of here before that creature over there tries to uses us to it's own ends."

[Harry Baldman]

"Doesn't really matter, so sure, East it is, bucko."

>e