Cinnamon Bun - Chapter Five Hundred and Sixty-Eight

Chapter Five Hundred and Sixty-Eight

“So, what’s the plan, Cap?” Calamity asked.

We’d relocated to behind a small bump along the edge of the crater, a spot where a few tough bushes had sprouted up and where the knights wouldn’t be able to see us. “I don’t know,” I said. I had both hands holding onto the tips of my ears so that they wouldn’t go and poke out of the top of the bush and give us away. “My Insight skill isn’t that great, does anyone have anything better than a rank C?”

“I’ve got something,” Calamity said. “Want me to fire it at the knights?”

“I have a combat-focused inspection skill as well,” Bastion said. “Rank A.”

I noticed Calamity’s whiskers twitch a little at that. “Yeah, but mine’s a hunting skill. Won’t alert them at all.”

“They might be alerted?” I asked.

Bastion hesitated before nodding. “Those who are sufficiently powerful in the magical arts, or who simply have the right skills, can sometimes notice when they are being Inspected. It isn’t a common concern.”

“But it can be one,” Calamity whispered back. “Especially when you’re on the hunt. Some animals are wily and clever, and they’ll notice that something’s up. That’s why you need a specialized skill before trying to check their levels or the like.”

That made sense to me. “Okay. Well, Inspect away.”

Calamity nodded, then slowly rose up to poke his head over the edge. He squinted his eyes, focusing on one knight, then the next. “Alright, I’ve got them. Looks like... level seventeen Black Knights, and that one off to the side is a Black Squire. Level fifteen.”

“So... we can take them?” I asked.

Bastion worked his jaw. “That’s stronger than the average city guard by half.”

“Oh,” I said. I turned and glanced at Amaryllis and she sighed. I had to hold back a smile. She’d understood what I was about to ask without me having to say it! Best Friend Telepathy!

“Levels cap out at ten, Broccoli, as you ought to well know by now. So, a level seventeen anything means that they’re past the threshold for something with a primary class. They likely have one class at ten, and a second above that.”

“I’ve never heard the like from a dungeon-borne creation,” Desiree said. “Is such a thing common in these parts?”

“It’s not unheard of,” Amaryllis said. “I think we’ve fought the like ourselves a few times. But never when they were sitting outside of the dungeon. This could mean that the overall level of this dungeon is higher than what we’re used to.”

I chewed on my lip. “Should we call it off, then?” I asked.

I was all for jumping into an adventure, I was less into jumping into an adventure that was dangerous enough to put my friends at risk. I was wearing (figuratively) the captain’s hat, which meant that I had to be the no-fun serious ones, at least sometimes. 

“I’m gonna make friends with them,” I said. I let go of my ears, letting them spring back up straight even as I stood up to my full height.

“Broccoli,” Amaryllis hissed.

“Is that wise?” Caprica asked. “Those aren’t normal, thinking people, they’re dungeon creations.”

“That doesn’t mean that they can’t be reasoned with,” I said. “I’ve met some that were friendly before. And it’s worth the attempt, no?”

“Maybe,” Amaryllis said. “It’s common knowledge--for that matter, it’s a documented fact--that dungeons that are left alone for too long tend to start acting a little bizarrely. Some attribute it to the World, but I was never one to believe in that sort of quasi-religious non-sense.”

I looked over to the nearest of the knights. I couldn’t see any exposed skin or anything. They were covered helm to sabaton in blackened metal, and where there would be joints, there was just a thickly padded gambeson. 

“Stay here for a minute, I’m going to go see if they’re reasonable. Um... maybe be ready in case they’re not?”

Calamity nocked an arrow and Amaryllis and Desiree both prepared some spells, even the Scallywags got ready. Bastion and Caprica slid their swords out of their sheathes, wings fluttering faintly as they prepared to move in as well.

I tightened my grip on Weedbane, then hopped over the lip of the crater.

Almost as soon as I was over, one of the knights turned my way. He... I guessed it was a he the armour had a definite lack of feminine features to it. Anyway, he looked me up and down, helmet tilting slightly. I couldn’t see any eyes within, but I still felt like I was being observed. 

“Hello,” I said with a little wave of my free hand. I licked my lips, then bowed slightly. I was kind of leaning on my Chivalry skill at the moment, only it wasn’t exactly my strongest skill. Still, I came to a stop a few paces away from the knight. “My name is Captain Broccoli Bunch, of the Exploration ship the Beaver Cleaver,” I said loudly and clearly.

The knight hesitated for a moment. That was a good sign! 

“I have come on behalf of the people of Blackwater. My companions and I are on a quest, seeking the Black Avatars.”

The knight’s hand moved to the side, then slowly gripped onto the hilt of the longsword he carried.

“Uh, we’re friendly? We could be friends as well?”

Abandoned Black Knight of the Avatars

Desired Quality: Any who would swear to aid in their quest to find 

Dream: To find Solace and return. 

Insecurities: Worries that they will never find Solace.

“What’s Solace?” I asked. The word was capitalized, which suggested that it was more of a name than just a thing. At least, that’s the suspicion I was operating under.

“You know of Solace?” the knight asked. His sword came out of its sheath, and the other two knights prepared themselves for a fight as well.

“Whoa! No? I mean, I have a skill that--”

“Surrender Solace onto us, knave!”

“Knave?” I asked. I’d been accused of being many things, but never a knave before. I wasn’t even sure what that meant except that it wasn’t a very nice thing to call someone. 

I was about to ask for a definition when the knight stomped forwards and raised his sword. I eeped and dove aside, only before the knight could do anything, an arrow was sprouting from the slit in his helm. 

A bolt of lightning cracked across the air and smashed into one of the other knights, then a half-dozen balls of fire, some larger than others, raced out from the top of the crater’s lip and smashed into the second.

I jumped to my feet, figuring that being on the ground wasn’t very smart at that moment, and by the time I was up, Caprica and Bastion were down the side of the slight hill, shields raised and ready to meet trouble.

There really wasn’t much, though, the first knight fell backwards with a clatter of metal on stone, and the knight that Amaryllis had zapped went down, convulsing. The one that the Scallywags and Desiree had hit stumbled forwards, but a second arrow thumped between two joints, sending a spray of chainmail bits flying before the knight crashed to the ground from repeated fireballs.

“Whoa!” I said. “That was... kind of sudden?”

“That’s how things tend to be when violence occurs. Slow, polite violence doesn’t quite work,” Bastion said.

“I’ll take your word for it,” I said. “And thanks.”

The others came down a moment later, weapons still ready, but it didn’t look like there was going to be much fighting now that the knights were down. Still, we all eyed the sort of cave entrance on the inside of the crater, in case something ran out of there.

“Went down easy, huh,” Calamity said. He tapped one of the knights with the end of a shoe. “Huh... it’s all hollow.”

“And it’s not fading,” Amaryllis said. “Can someone watch over me for a moment, I want to investigate a little closer.”

Caprica came closer, sword ready, while Amaryllis knelt down and then carefully tugged a helmet loose from the armour it was on. It... was empty?

“Strange,” Amaryllis said. “Puppeted armour?”

“No,” Bastion said. “The armour moved with weight to it. Puppets tend to have tells. And I didn’t sense the kind of magic you’d associate with that.”

“Nor did I,” Amaryllis said. She flipped the helmet over and looked into it. “No magical runes, or lingering spellwork. No, I think there was something in this, only it faded.”

“Dungeon monsters disappear, right?” I asked. “Maybe they just leave the armour behind?”

“If they were prone to disappearing, then the entire thing, armour and all, would fade,” Amaryllis said. “No, this is... something stranger.”

“They mentioned Solace,” Caprica said. “Does that tickle out any memories?”

“Not for me,” I said. It didn’t look like anyone else knew either. “I think... the only way we’ll find out is by going in there and looking.”

***