《Marrow》


 Chapter 1 – To Raise a Skeleton

    ¡°Hey, Bones, will you join us for a game of Kong? I promised Gidin that we would play a few games today. He is still smarting from losing four in a row last time.¡±


    With a distracted expression, Bones looked up from the tome he was reading. ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Did you even hear what I just said?¡± Broluf said with a resigned voice.


    ¡°Uhm, I did. You talked about meeting with Gidin because he is frustrated¡­¡±


    ¡°So, will you join us then?¡±


    ¡°¡­..¡±


    ¡°Bones!¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Are you coming or not?¡±


    ¡°Coming where?¡± Bones asked.


    Broluf threw his hands in the air, and walked away, without bothering to respond, leaving Bones behind with a befuddled look on his face.


    ¡°What was that all about?¡± Bones muttered to himself.


    Briefly, he wondered if he should be getting up and find out what was going on but then noticed a symbol in the tome in front of him, a symbol he had never seen before.


    Not that this was particularly noteworthy, as Bones was not the best mage out there. And even the best mages regularly encountered things previously unknown, unless they had lived already for millennia, which very few mages managed to achieve ¨C usually, those that were practically immortals, like Dragons, Demons, Spirits, and some of the undead.


    But it was noteworthy enough for Bones to turn his face back to the huge leather-bound book that he had been studying for the last few weeks.


    It was white leather, with some dark marbling, and it felt cold to the touch. At first, Bones had been reluctant to touch the book, because it had an odd similarity to the feeling of a corpse. But that was only fitting for a book on the darkest of arts ¨C necromancy.


    Of course, people debated whether necromancy was indeed the darkest art. Some proclaimed that death magic was the true pinnacle of dark power. Others argued that the summoning of demons surely was the worst out there.


    Bones did not care about it one way or another. He just liked dealing with the dead - they talked less and did not mind his experiments.


    Bones¡¯ real name was not Bones. Rather it was Bolomer Combutkon¡­ which was such a weird name, that everyone at the academy had quickly started calling him just Bones because, well, he liked dealing with bones. It also fit him fairly well, he had to admit. He was lanky, all bones as his mother used to say, and had a somewhat pale complexion that made his rather skeletal body even more apparent.


    Bones did not mind. In fact, he liked that Bones was short and concise, which made it less likely that he had to explain to people how to pronounce his name or repeat countless times that his parents were from Gistan and not some faraway province that might have such strange names.


    Not that any of that crossed his mind right then and there. He was studying a book on necromancy, after all, a subject that he had started investigating a couple of years earlier. Initially, it had been more of a morbid fantasy. It was oddly fascinating to see a skeleton or dead person twitch around, and then sit up and walk around. Most people were scared by the undead, but in Bones¡¯ opinion, they just failed to realize the beauty of it all.


    A body, formerly prone and unmoving suddenly animated and fulfilling one¡¯s commands without any question or doubt ¨C the perfect helper!


    Of course, Bones had found out quickly that the undead were, unfortunately, not as good of a helper as he had thought, because they were just too dumb - give them a task that involved more than three or four words and they would inevitably mess it up. ¡°Guard this room¡± or ¡°attack that person¡± worked perfectly fine, but ¡°clean this room without destroying any of the furniture¡± was already beyond the capacity of the normal skeleton or zombie.


    Granted, there were smarter undead out there ¨C ghouls, liches, undead dragons, skeleton lords, and vampires just to name a few. But those undead almost exclusively came from formerly living beings.


    Not that skeletons did not come from something living. But skeletons and zombies had been dead first and then reanimated, whereas most smarter creatures were changed into undead creatures through unholy magic or, in the case of ghouls and vampires, a type of magical virus.


    ¡°Fascinating!¡± Bones muttered into his scraggly beard if one could call it that - it was more a few strands of hair that grew out of a few irregular patches on his chin. ¡°Truly ingenious! I wonder if¡­ hmm, no, this would not work¡­¡±


    Bones flipped a few pages back and looked at a set of symbols depicted in the middle of the page.


    ¡°I need to try this. If it works, it will be a huge breakthrough. A revolution!¡±


    Hurriedly, Bones copied down a whole page of symbols on a piece of parchment and then rushed out of the library to his room. On the way, he encountered several fellow arcanists, some of them mere students, but also a few adepts, and even a couple magisters.


    He barely acknowledged anyone, though, too focused on his discovery.


    ¡°Yes, yes, this should do it. Finally! This will make me famous. No rich! Rich and Famous!¡±


    He laughed loudly to himself, which drew a few concerned looks from the other arcanists. But they were used to his occasional outbursts and paid no further heed.


    A few minutes later, Bones burst into his sparse chambers and eagerly opened the big closet at the side of the room, revealing a fully intact human skeleton.


    ¡°Marrow! Come on out, this is it!¡± Bones shouted excitedly.


    The so addressed skeleton did not move a single bone, not that Bones had expected any differently. After all, he had dispelled the last reanimation on Marrow himself, after he had failed again to provide it with any kind of intelligence, beyond simple motoric functions. One of many such attempts.


    Creating an intelligent skeleton was one of the holy grails of necromancy, at least for some necromancers. Others tried to make their skeletons more and more powerful, which sounded terribly boring to Bones but had admittedly met with a lot more success than his own fruitless attempts.


    Not that many people were engaging in necromancy. It was not a well-liked discipline and only attracted the occasional odd social outsider, and some of the more sinister and power-hungry individuals one might encounter.


    But this was it! His breakthrough!


    He was sure.


    Of course, he had been sure before. Many times, in fact. But this time was different, he could feel it. Only a few days ago he had discovered the huge tome in one of the more remote parts of the library. It had been covered by dust and spiderwebs, indicating that no one had touched the book in decades, perhaps even longer. Trash for some, but a real treasure for him!


    The book was written in Azkera¡¯tish, the language of the now perished empire of Azkera¡¯t - a glorious time for those interested in the arts of necromancy. The king of Azkera¡¯t had been one of the most famous necromancers of all time, commanding huge armies of the undead, which had helped him subjugate almost half of the continent. Unfortunately, the art of how to raise skeletons with more than rudimentary intelligence had been lost with the fall of the empire. A tragedy that Bones fully intended to reverse as soon as possible.


    Eagerly, he sat down next to the skeleton, with a little carving knife in his hand, and the parchment with the various runes spread out in front of him.


    ¡°So, this rune connects the brain to the rest of the body, just like for raising a basic skeleton. But then this¡­ I guess, this serves as some type of battery of the arcane¡­ maybe akin to brain matter? And this series of runes will somehow connect the two. Otherwise, we might have an intelligent skeleton, that cannot use the intelligence because it cannot control its body.¡±Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    While Bones was talking to himself, a habit that he had picked up since coming to the Gistan Academy, he carefully copied the runes from the parchment onto the skull of Marrow. A slow process that most necromancers would avoid, even at the risk of reduced efficacy of their spell. But Bones was nothing but meticulous. Carving the runes into the body of the skeleton increased the permanency of the reanimation, to the point that the skeleton could draw mana from its surrounding to support itself, rather than having to rely on its creator for its energy.


    Some might say that carving those runes before testing their effect was a waste of time and effort because the vast majority of new spells failed to work as intended, but Bones was extremely confident that his latest creation would work just as imagined. He always was.


    After many hours, Bones had carved all the runes into Marrow ¨C for most of them he knew exactly what they did, but some he could only guess.


    A whole lattice of runes covered Marrow¡¯s skull, and more of them snaked along his bones to the rest of his body. A masterpiece of carving, a testament to Bones¡¯ skill in woodcarving, something that others frequently belittled as useless and a waste of time, but he saw as essential for quality work. And he was no fan of reusing old runes either - whenever one of his many experiments on Marrow had failed, he completely erased the runes on its bones with a bone-regeneration spell.


    He liked to have a blank slate to create his true masterpiece from scratch.


    The new runes had added another layer of complexity to the process that made the whole thing utterly unpractical for the typical, mass-produced skeleton used to swarm an enemy. It was way too labor intensive for that.


    But this was not a concern for Bones. It was all about proving that it was possible to increase the intelligence of the typically mindless thrall-type skeleton to something that at least had as much brainpower as a dog. In the grand scheme of things perhaps not world-shaking, but a revolution when it came to magic, or at least necromancy, or at least the part of necromancy that was concerned with raising basic skeletons.


    Or perhaps just for Bones.


    Bones was excited. This was it! A new and superior skeleton.


    Carefully, Bones cleaned the area around Marrow from bone chips and other dirt and then stepped back from the skeleton.


    He raised his arms in a grand gesture, ready to summon the mana needed to activate the ritual.


    But then he hesitated because he realized that he had not even drawn the curtain over his entrance. Not that he was afraid of any robbers or thieves. He really did not have much in terms of worldly possessions. No, it was the principle of it. Necromancy was accepted at the academy, but it was not generally well-liked.


    Bones had learned a long time ago that even though everyone knew that he liked to work with skeletons and zombies, there was a difference between people knowing about it and actually seeing it. It made people just a tad irritated or even angry when they encountered the fruits of his labor.


    So he was usually cautious about doing what he did behind closed doors or curtains. Which was also why everyone thought that he was somewhere around a level 15 Necromancer, even though he had already gotten well past that stage a long time ago.


    Bones glanced up and down the hallway to see if anyone was lurking around, anyone that could have potentially seen what he was up to. Not that they would understand the significance of his work ¨C the ignorant fools.


    He thought he saw a movement from the corner of his eyes, something along the wall next to his room, but when he looked there was nothing there. Until he suddenly noticed the black cat that was standing in the shadow of one of the statues that adorned the corridors. The cat was staring at the entrance to his room.


    ¡°Psssst! Shush!¡± Bones hissed to the cat.


    The cat looked at him and then focused back on his doorway, completely disregarding Bones¡¯ attempt to get her to move away.


    ¡°Hey, you, cat, move away!¡± Bones tried again.


    But the cat completely ignored him, as only cats can do.


    ¡°I hate cats,¡± Bones sighed despondently, turned around and closed the curtain behind him, immediately turning his focus back on Marrow.


    Unbeknown to him, the cat stealthily moved around the curtain into his room, eyes fixed on the skeleton.


    Back and fully ready to go, Bones raised his arms again in what he assumed was a striking pose, worthy of the monumental moment, and channeled his mana into the necromantic incantation that rolled off his lips.


    Black energy started cackling in concentric circles around his arms and then shot in an undulating coil of pure black essence from Bones¡¯ hands into the skeleton in front of him.


    In the last moments before the energy hit the head of the skeleton, a small white head with long whiskers poked out of one of Marrow¡¯s eye sockets causing the sinuous shape of the black cat to streak right at it.


    Precisely at the wrong time.


    How the cat could completely ignore the black energy twisting and churning in the air, was a mystery, but cats can be single-minded at times ¨C this one perhaps more than others.


    In the meantime, Bones was lost in a blistering inferno of dark magic pouring out of his body. A maelstrom of power, far more than any other time he had tried to raise an undead. He lost vision, smell, and even feel while buffeted by forces all around him. And then it was all gone.


    He felt drained of energy and sank slowly to the floor, trying to understand what had just happened. This amount of power should have been enough to raise four, no five or six skeletons at once, and was close to the limit of what Bones at his current level could support.


    At least the process had finished before he had been completely drained because running out of mana in the middle of a ritual led to a nasty backlash that Bones was not keen on experiencing.


    And there was his masterpiece.


    White, bleached bones, with softly glowing runes covering most of the surfaces.


    But what was that? A patch of black hair on the skeleton? And the smell of burned flesh? But nothing seemed amiss with Marrow, beyond the unsightly piece of fur that partially graced his ribcage.


    As Bones inspected the skeleton, the runes slowly seemed to recede, as if being sucked up by the bones themselves. And then the glow was gone.


    Bones looked at Marrow expectantly.


    But Marrow was not moving. No twitching bones, no rattling ¨C nothing.


    Bones narrowed his eyes. Usually, a newly raised skeleton would at least raise itself, awaiting the command of its master. But perhaps this skeleton was just going to be different.


    ¡°Hmm, I wonder¡­¡± Bones mumbled. And then, in a stronger, more commanding voice: ¡°Marrow, stand up!¡±


    Marrow turned its head toward Bones but did not stand up.


    ¡°Get up!¡±


    ¡°Move!¡±


    ¡°Rise!¡±


    Marrow simply stared at Bones, with his hollow eye-sockets, not lifting a single bone.


    By now extremely frustrated, Bones started shouting commands at Marrow, without any luck.


    ¡°Well, just do something, please!¡± Bones eventually pleaded, which was a first for him. One does not beg skeletons to do something, because it would just confuse them. But by then Bones was at his wit''s end, and desperate for some type of reaction out of Marrow. And truth be told, the unmoving gaze of Marrow was a bit disconcerting.


    But even begging did not get him any further.


    Bones sighed: ¡°Ah well, I guess it is not working as I had envisioned.¡±


    And then he grabbed the pile of bones that he had labored on for the last few hours and unceremoniously dumped them back into the closet. He could always remove the runes later, there was no rush. He would have to do a lot more research before trying his next attempt.


    ----------------------------------------------------------


    Marrow was in the dark. In a closet. Not that he, and he somehow was sure that he was a he, consciously knew what either one was, or that it bothered him in any way. He did not even know what ¡°bothered¡± meant. Neither did it know what ¡°pleased¡± or ¡°content¡± meant or how to achieve that state of mind. No, Marrow just was. Which was a novel experience in and by itself. It was the first time that Marrow felt that way. Which was no surprise, because he effectively had been born a few minutes earlier.


    At first, Marrow had just been. He had felt heaviness around him, and the boniness of his bones, and all kinds of other feelings that he had no words to describe.


    And then a deep voice spoke to him.


    ¡°Special Skill: Skill absorber.¡±


    ¡°Skill acquired: Ultrasonic Hearing.¡±


    ¡°Skill acquired: Obstinance of a cat.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡­.¡± was all that Marrow responded, for, in truth, he had no idea what any of that meant. He understood a basic set of vocabulary, anything that a normal skeleton would need to know, such as attack, guard, defend, move and so forth. Anything beyond that¡­ was simply ignored. He also had for some reason random images in his mind of crawling through tiny spaces, hunting for scraps of tasty things, while being hunted by a scary creature. Which was disturbing somehow. Yet other images had him as a hunter of tiny furry creatures¡­ it was all very confusing.


    And then another voice spoke to him. A voice that somehow connected to him at a deep, almost primal level. It was almost as if the voice entered directly into his spine, urging him to move. And It nearly worked.


    He didn¡¯t mind moving, but he just did not see a point in doing so. When the voice told him to get up, a command he instinctively understood, he instead turned his head to find its origin.


    And Marrow opened his eyes for the first time. Not that his eyes had been closed, as he technically could not close them. But for the first time, he bothered to actually see. A skeleton could activate its vision by extending its magical core, usually situated in a tiny pocket dimension in the brain or spine, to the eyes.


    He was immediately assaulted with all kinds of impressions ¨C colors, shapes, dimensions. It took him a while to sort through it all. He could not really name any of the things he saw, but one thing that attracted his attention quickly was the moving¡­ thing¡­ that talked to him. He subconsciously, which was pretty much all he had at this point, knew that this was his creator and master. Someone that he needed to listen to and obey. Maybe. If he felt like it at least. After all, there were many fascinating things around him.


    The voice kept on talking to him, commanding him to do stuff. Each time, he felt a jolt go through his body, trying to make him obey. But somehow, he was good at ignoring the voice. He heard it, but he could blend it out easily by just staring at the ¡°master¡±. Somehow, staring was part of it, he intuitively felt.


    And then the ¡°master¡± said, ¡°do something!¡±


    And for once Marrow did not feel any jolt. Which made sense, since after all, he was already doing something. In fact, he was doing a lot. More than he had ever done in his life. So he was content to just keep doing that ¨C namely, look around and analyze all the sensory inputs. Perhaps analyze was too strong of a word. It was more categorizing or perhaps just looking.


    But it seemed as if maybe that was not what his master had in mind when telling him to do something because the next thing Marrow knew, he was grabbed by his bones and stuffed into a closet. Not that this bothered Marrow all that much. After all, it was a new experience as well. And he kept on doing something, because, well, the voice had commanded it to do just that.

 Chapter 2 – Life in the Closet

    Bones slowly and despondently trudged back toward the library. Another failure.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t it work? It should have worked. Was it the second layer on the spine? Or perhaps the morbium synapse rune? No, it was impeccable, I am sure of it. Was it the energy transfer? Maybe I should ch-.¡±


    ¡°Bones!¡±


    ¡°What? I don¡¯t have time to play with you or Gidin.¡±


    ¡°Bones, listen, the Wyndriders have attacked the school, we have to evacuate. Hurry!¡±


    ¡°Wait, what? Wyndriders here? But¡­, but the treaty! Wh-.¡±


    ¡°Run!¡±


    Bones brain still tried to catch up to what he was hearing. Only now he noticed the sound of explosions, shouting, and the clang of weapons in the distance. And it was coming closer. Rapidly.


    ¡°Oh, no! My books!¡±


    Bones shook off the hands of his friends, well, perhaps not really friends, but acquaintances, and rushed in the opposite direction of everyone else. At first, a steady stream of wizards of all ilk and level was rushing past him, each person clutching a couple of precious things, like wands, books, orbs or power, or familiars, but eventually the stream dried up almost entirely as Bones got closer to the sound of fighting.


    At last, Bones managed to reach the library, which, from the sound of it, was right next to where combat was currently taking place. If Broluf was to be believed, Wyndriders on one side, and golems and academy guards on the other. Perhaps some of the more combat oriented wizards as well, not that many of them were currently residing in the academy.


    Bones rushed toward the tome of necromancy and grabbed it with both hands. He quickly loaded another couple of essential books on top and then turned around to run back to where he had come from.


    ¡°Back to my quarters? No, too late. I have to hide somewhere¡­ perhaps the old part of the castle¡­ no, that will be blocked. I need to get Marrow as well¡­,¡± Bones muttered to himself while scurrying along the hallway.


    Suddenly, the runes along the hallway started shimmering and giving off an ominous humming sound.


    ¡°Oh, oh, no good, no good at all,¡± Bones looked flustered for the first time. ¡°What fool activated the runes while there are still people inside?¡±


    A human dressed in leather armor and wearing a dagger and sword appeared at the other end of the hallway.


    ¡°There is another one!¡± He shouted loudly over his shoulder.


    ¡°Drat,¡± Bones cursed, hugging his books protectively. ¡°What now?¡±


    He turned around, ready to run back into the library, but another group of Wyndriders just entered from there as well.


    ¡°Killiar and Jodic, you take care of that mage there. The rest start fanning out. We have another few minutes to flush out more of those weaklings. You know what to do!¡±


    ¡°Listen, I have valuable information. Do you need treasure? I know where some of the valuable artifacts are hidden! Do you need information on the old dungeon? I have discovered the entrance, and I can show you¡­ I will do anything, just spare me!¡± Bones started begging the two fighters that were approaching him from both sides. Unfortunately, they did not seem very impressed.


    ¡°Please?¡± Bones¡¯ voice broke as he already imagined being stabbed by those wicked looking swords¡­ this could not be happening to him. Magic, he was a necromancer¡­ he should be able to do something! Sadly, Bones had never been interested in the offensive parts of necromancy and had focused solely on reanimation magic.


    Out of options, Bones threw the heavy book on necromancy at the face of the Wyndrider just ahead of him - a move that came as a surprise to everyone involved, including Bones himself. Not that throwing a book would usually do much good against a fighter. Alas, it was a special book, and Bones had, purely by chance, thrown it so that its protective magic activated, and a ray of dark energy shot out and devoured the fighter completely. All that was left was a skeleton in pristine condition.


    For a few seconds, Bones and the second fighter stared in shock at the skeleton on the ground.


    ¡°Uh¡­. Hah, I mean, take that, you invader!¡± Bones tried making the best out of the situation, pretending that this was all planned. Of course, his declaration felt slightly awkward in hindsight, but it was all he could come up with on the spot.


    The other fighter was suddenly a lot more worried than just a few seconds earlier. And it showed in his cautious approach.


    ¡°Ok, so listen, you saw what happened with your fellow Wyndrider, right? Don¡¯t come too close; otherwise, I will do the same to you!¡± Bones declared pompously while backing away slowly. The effect was somewhat diminished because his voice ended up squeaking, but he at least tried.


    All things considered, he was, in fact, starting to get more nervous about the humming runes than about the remaining fighter.


    ¡°Uh, so stay back, you!¡±


    And then Bones realized that in fact he now had a dead body to work with, or, more precisely, a beautiful, clean skeleton. Bones cast his [Raise Skeleton] spell and the bones on the ground immediately started to wiggle and then move. The skeleton got up and obediently stood in front of Bones.


    ¡°Sacrilege!¡± the fighter shouted, but his voice was quivering slightly. Not everyone was used to facing the undead, even more so, when that undead had been your partner just a minute earlier.


    ¡°Attack that person,¡± Bones commanded the skeleton, making sure to stay within the four-word limit for basic skeletons.


    At least, skeletons naturally grabbed weapons that were next to them when raised. Bones had never figured out why that was the case, but something inherently connected to necromancy and basic skeletons.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    The skeleton raised its weapons and stalked toward its victim.


    Bones did not wait to see the result of the fight and took off running as fast as he could.


    But not fast enough¡­ the noise of the runes had gone from a loud humming to a deafening shriek until all sound suddenly stopped.


    The next thing Bones noticed was that he was flying down the hallway straight toward the next intersection. All along the corridor, he saw runes shimmering brightly in white and silver, and thought it was kind of pretty. And that was the last thing he ever saw.


    -------------------------------------------------------


    Marrow did not notice any of what was going on. He heard the humming, but since there were many things he had never heard before, it was as new as everything else. And the loud crash that followed was neither shocking nor scary ¨C just another noise. As a skeleton he did not have eardrums that could burst, so loud noise, or quiet noise, it was all the same to him.


    He did feel though when whatever bond he had to his master suddenly disappeared. It was odd. Odd in the sense that the connection was one of the first things he had felt, and it had been with him for all of his short life¡­ and suddenly it was gone. Did that worry him? Not really. And neither did it upset him. It just was.


    Marrow stared straight ahead. Not because there was anything to see. But just the act of seeing was something he had not done much of, so he just did it.


    And being in the dark closet was somehow strangely comforting. There was something about a nice smallish space in which one could hide easily. Even though Marrow was not entirely sure what he would hide from or why.


    After staring for a long time at the same spot, a really long time, a time long enough that spiderwebs started appearing around the skeleton, life as it was, suddenly changed.


    A deep voice suddenly spoke right inside of Marrow¡¯s brain, little as there was of an actual brain.


    ¡°Skill acquired: Penetrating Stare.¡±


    If Marrow had any eyelids, he would have blinked. Since he did not, all he did was just keep on staring. But whereas before he could see the wood in the closet and some fabric, perhaps a coat, he now noticed more details ¨C the texture in the wood, the tiny hole where the craftsperson had slipped with their tool, the stains of various color in the fabric, and much more.


    This piqued Marrow¡¯s curiosity, as much as anything could pique a skeleton¡¯s interest. Did that make him move around, perhaps explore other avenues of investigation, such as touch or taste or hearing?


    No¡­ Marrow was quite content to keep on looking.


    He might have just kept on looking for a very long time indeed, decades, centuries, millennia even, if it were not for a tiny spider that decided to climb into Marrow¡¯s mouth. Not that there was much of a mouth, perhaps jaw would be the more apt term. And it was just so, that marrow felt the tiny crawling legs along its jawbones, and this triggered something, a memory. A memory of hunting for tasty morsels - mostly cheese, moldy or fresh, or food scraps.


    And it was not that spider legs per se felt like cheese, but Marrow had no comparison point anyway ¨C he just remembered that one would chew, and it would be tasty. So he did.


    The little spider had no chance.


    And now something new happened, something different after years of staring penetratingly¡­ a voice, the same one as before, but with different words.


    ¡°Do you want to try to absorb [spider] brain? Chance of success: 10 percent.¡±


    Marrow waited for something else to happen, but nothing did. So he just stared straight ahead and mechanically chewed on the tiny spider. The bits and pieces had long fallen apart, but there was still something on its teeth. So he kept on chewing. Not because it was tasty, or pleasant, or unpleasant for that matter¡­ he just did it because it was novel.


    After a while, perhaps minutes, perhaps hours, the voice spoke up again.


    ¡°Do you want to try to absorb [spider] brain? Chance of success: 10 percent.¡±


    Marrow paused for a moment, but since nothing else happened, he just kept on chewing. After what must have been another hour or more, the voice again spoke up.


    ¡°Default option is chosen; brain absorption denied. Experience gained: .00001.¡±


    Suddenly, the little chewy thing between his teeth was gone. Marrow stopped the grinding motion of his jaws and waited. He waited for a long time, but eventually, another spider made the foolish decision to step between Marrow¡¯s teeth.


    And Marrow clamped down his jaws and squished the little bug. The voice again spoke up.


    ¡°Do you want to try to absorb [spider] brain? Chance of success: 10 percent.¡±


    Marrow studiously ignored the voice, but he started realizing a pattern: Chewing on spiders brought a message. And messages were¡­ different. Different from just staring, or even from just chewing.


    And even though he was a skeleton and could not really get bored, there was something inside of him that wanted to have change. Wanted to, perhaps play, or maybe hunt for tiny moving morsels. The thought of which made him, inexplicably, both thrilled and mortally afraid at the same time.


    But because he did not really know what playing was, or how one would do that, he decided that perhaps hunting for spiders was something that he should be doing. Because it was part of his nature to hunt, he felt. And because chewing on spiders brought voices.


    So, for the first time in many, many years, Marrow moved his arm.


    It was covered in thick spiderwebs, and he could feel tiny legs scurrying along his humerus, radius, and ulna bones. Exactly what he was looking for. He brought the arm up to his jaw and started biting where he felt the spiders. Alas, without luck. He was just too slow. After snapping his jaws together in vain for what must have been more than a hundred times, Marrow felt annoyed for the first time in his life.


    So be brought up his hands and tried snatching the spiders off his arm. At first, he used his fingertips, well, bone tips, to try and grab the spiders delicately, but that did not work either. He was just a bit too clumsy for that. Eventually, after an inordinate amount of time, he decided to just slap his hand on the spiders and smash them.


    One after another, he then picked up the remains and put them into his jaw. Or at least whatever part of the squished remains he could feasibly grab with his finger bones. Which, in many cases, was not all that much.


    Expectantly, he chewed on the remains, waiting for the voice to speak. And he was not disappointed. Many times, he heard the voice say the same thing over and over ¨C and Marrow just listened and chewed. And Marrow felt happy. He was living a fulfilled life.


    But then he ran out of spiders.


    So he waited.


    And it was a long wait, but eventually, after many days, perhaps weeks or months, a new spider came into the closet. Marrow spotted the movement right away. He had been looking for it.


    But it was just one, and Marrow started feeling¡­ restless.


    And then Marrow focused on the noise around him. It had always been with him. At first no noises at all, after the huge crashing sound¡­ but then slowly, over time, new noises had started to appear - at first, some tapping of tiny feet and a dripping sound, very regular; And then some hammering and yelling and the noise of things falling on things and doing thingamajigs. Marrow had no idea what all that ruckus had been about, but there had been plenty of noise. And then it had gotten quiet again. Eerily so, if Marrow had an inkling of what eerily meant.


    And then, he had started hearing growling and howling, and ripping, tearing, smashing and bashing¡­ all kinds of noises that sounded violent in one way or another. Something that part of him wanted to hide from and the other part wanted to investigate. For the last few decades or perhaps centuries, he had simply ignored it all. He had been busy watching, after all.


    But now that the spiders would not come to his closet, Marrow, for the first time wondered if perhaps he should be looking for them outside of the cabinet. Or maybe not only for spiders but also for something else - images of small furry animals with long tails immediately crossed his mind.


    It was not like a skeleton to wonder about its purpose in life or lament its fate, so Marrow did not overly question why he was in a closet. But his master had said ¡°do something,¡± and that was not very specific. The coercion behind the command had disappeared a very long time ago, but, nonetheless, Marrow had dutifully always done something. Because that voice was the only voice that he had ever heard, and that meant that just perhaps it had been important. The only voice, that is, apart from that deep voice that talked about incomprehensible things like skills or absorbing something.


    And now there was only the deep voice. And so just perhaps Marrow needed to listen to it and follow its commands. Whatever those were.

 Chapter 3 - Coming out

    Marrow had been thinking about what to do for a very long time. And then something changed. He could hear noise from beyond the wood that was around him. A scrabbling noise. Something light, with fast feet. And Marrow got curious. This noise¡­ it somehow touched his subconscious.


    Marrow slowly raised himself up, which caused all kinds of noise in the tiny closet he was in. First, he bumped his head on a shelve that was too low for a standing skeleton, and then he hit the sides of the closet with his bony knees. But at least none of that hurt, because Marrow did not have nerves ¨C at least not physical ones.


    Marrow banged his fists against the wood on the side where he had heard the noise. It caused a satisfying bang, but beyond that not much happened.


    So Marrow banged the wood again. And again. And again.


    Not that that changed anything. The wood was solid and his fists not particularly strong. After a few more attempts, Marrow decided that it was time to put more force into his strikes. Experimenting with body positions, he figured out that twisting his torso increased the power of his blows. And so he did. Time and again, he hit the wood, and slowly he left some dents.


    And then he heard the voice again.


    [Skill obtained: Forceful Punch]


    Marrow was happy. He did not even have to eat a spider to hear the voice - just punching wood did the trick. So he hit some more, now with dual purpose¡­ to hear the voice again and to find the furry thing. Alas, no more voice for Marrow, despite all the punching.


    Many hours later, the wood finally gave way - the whole side of the closet fell apart, and the doors and everything else followed suit. The closet had stood for centuries, but could not withstand this kind of singleminded abuse.


    Marrow stepped out of the wreckage and surveyed his surrounding.


    There was a lot to observe. Some of it he had seen before ¨C the little cot, the shelve with various bones, skulls, and artifacts, and the chest in the far right corner. But there were definite changes as well. For one, the room was full of spiderwebs, which made Marrow quite happy.


    And the floor was rather filthy, with little black-brown things littering the ground that somehow looked rather intriguing to Marrow¡¯s senses. Not as food, but as a sign of those furry things with tails.


    But the spiders were right there, and Marrow wanted to hear that voice again. So he started hunting for more of the eight-legged creatures. He approached the first bunch of spider webs and reached into it with his hand. Unlike the web in his closet, this was a lot thicker. And rather than being able to pull out a bunch of spiderweb with his hand, and sift through the mess of little spiderlings, Marrow¡¯s hand actually got stuck in the web.


    And it did not take long for the owner of said web to take notice. A gigantic spider, the size of a cat or perhaps a dog scuttled over to the portion of the net that Marrow had foolishly touched. The spider did not hesitate long and immediately attacked by biting into Marrow¡¯s arm. Which did nothing at all.


    Marrow tilted his head slightly to the side and looked curiously at the spider. It was the first time that he had seen a spider that big. With a bit of delay, he realized that the spider was trying to harm him, which was totally unacceptable. In fact, even the most stupid skeletons have a degree of self-preservation built into their system ¨C anyone, but their master, attacking them will lead to instinctive defensive countermeasures.


    In this case, Marrow had to think for a moment what the appropriate countermeasure might be. After all, the bite had not really hurt the skeleton. That was not particularly surprising since it could not feel pain, but it also had not even scratched Marrow¡¯s bones. The possible responses that came to Marrow¡¯s mind where to either stare at it or bite it back. Since he had put his hand in there to eat a spider in the first place, Marrow figured that he might as well bite it.


    So he leaned forward, spread his jaw unnaturally wide, and chomped down on the abdomen of the spider. At first, the chitin developed hairline cracks, and the spider wiggled with all of its eight legs to try and escape. But there was no escaping Marrow¡¯s jaws. He kept on squeezing and ground his jaw back and forth in a sawing motion. The additional strain on the chitin caused it to first crack more visibly and then burst apart, splashing spider innards all over the place, chiefly down Marrow¡¯s bony chin.


    Marrow stopped his chewing to wait expectantly¡­ and he was not disappointed.


    ¡°Do you want to try to absorb [giant spider] brain? Chance of success: 10 percent.¡±


    Marrow felt a bit warm inside of his bones, which he might have identified as a feeling of satisfaction and perhaps even happiness if he had known of those concepts¡­ and continued to chew.


    ---------------------------------------------------


    ¡°Gamul, slow down. Not all of us are as suited to trudging through hallways covered with debris!¡± Ikarias shouted.


    ¡°Shhhhh, shut up you fool,¡± Borgar hissed. ¡°There are things down here, we don¡¯t want to alert them!¡±


    ¡°And what things would that be,¡± Catlyn asked in a rather querulous voice. ¡°All we have seen so far is giant rats, a couple of tiny acid slimes, and a few goblins¡­ not exactly the sign of a high-level dungeon.¡±


    ¡°Will you guys shut up over there?¡± Gamul shouted back. ¡°I can¡¯t hear anything if you keep on talking that loudly.¡±


    ¡°And why would you need to hear anything, you little drunkard?¡± Ikarias hollered back.


    ¡°Well, excuse me that I like my beer. Do I complain that you only drink hollerberry juice? Do I? And if you keep on shouting, you can take point. You know what? In fact, why don¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Will you shut your traps? Are you all bloody beginners?¡± Borgar was visibly getting annoyed. ¡°We all agreed that this dungeon has potential. It used to be a bloody magic academy a few centuries ago. There will be something here! And where there are magical treasures, there are monsters. That is Moolgar¡¯s law of invariate thruths!¡±


    ¡°Oh, common, you just made that up. There is no such law. That does not even make sense!¡± Catlyn chuckled.


    ¡°Of course, it makes sense. And I have heard about this law somewhere,¡± Borgar insisted.


    Suddenly, Gamul stopped and raised his hand. Immediately, the rest of the party stopped as well and readied their weapons. As much as they liked bantering around, they were professionals. Well, kind of professionals. Even though they had known each other for quite a long time, they were a newly formed adventuring team, as of a few hours earlier. The shiny little white pin in each of their pockets indicated that they were, indeed, part of the professional ranks of monster hunters and treasure seekers.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    Gamul raising his hand could mean different things. They had not really worked out a good system of hand signals yet. But a raised hand would mean that either he wanted to say something, or that there was danger ahead. Given that Gamut was never shy about saying whatever he wanted to say, they all expected it to be the latter. So, they waited for Gamut to move or say something. All he did though, was to listen. And now, that everyone else had finally shut up, they were also able to hear something. A crunching noise. And then quiet. After a short moment, they heard some clicking and clacking, as if wood was hitting the ground. Then there was quiet again, and then a loud crunch.


    The four mighty adventurers looked nervously at each other and grabbed their weapons tighter. Gamul raised his hammer, a weapon befitting his Dwarven heritage, and cautiously stepped deeper into the hallway. Ikarias had his dagger and a short sword in hand, and quickly fastened his dark cape, ready to hide in the darkness, if the situation demanded, while Borgar quietly stepped to Gamul¡¯s side, at least as quietly as a six foot five guy in heavy ringmail and a somewhat impractical claymore could move. And Catlyn¡­ Catlyn did not do much of anything. She was a mix of catfolk and human, one of the unfortunate demi-humans, neither here nor there. She had a nice staff, with a glittering fake ruby on top, but at the moment all she could think of was to make herself small and stay immobile.


    The crunching continued in regular intervals, one of the creepier noises the group had ever heard.


    Finally, Gamul and Borgar decided that they could not possibly run away from the first disturbing sound in the dungeon¡­ at the very least they had to figure out what made that noise. They looked at each other, nodded encouragement and, with weapons ready, jumped around the corner. And then they realized two things. The first one was that they had forgotten that Catlyn was the person with the light. The second was that the crunching noise had stopped, which meant that whatever was doing it had noticed them.


    ¡°Catlyn!¡± Gamul urgently whispered.


    Nothing.


    ¡°Catlyn!¡± he whispered again, louder.


    ¡°By Gamullatra¡¯s tits, Catlyn, get your cat-ass over here, we need light,¡± Gamul finally bellowed, having lost all patience. It was not as if they had not made plenty of noise before, so Gamul figured it really made no difference.


    Gamul and Borgar stared into the darkness, desperately trying to make out any movement, trying to see any sign of danger coming their way. But it was pitch black.


    And then the crunching started again.


    Gamul noticed how Borgar¡¯s hands started to tremble slightly.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid,¡± he whispered to Borgar ¨C whispering felt more appropriate, even if it made no difference.


    ¡°I am not afraid, this claymore is heavy,¡± Borgar responded through clenched teeth.


    And then finally Catlyn had found the nerves to walk around the corner as well. Light immediately started flooding the hallway, revealing a mess of partially torn spider webs, and dozens of giant spider carapaces littering the ground.


    ¡°Giant spiders,¡± Gamul hissed. ¡°I hate spiders!¡±


    The crunching had stopped the moment Catlyn had lit up the hallway. A heavy silence descended on the adventurers¡­ but then the noise started again. And finally, they could make out the source of the ominous sound.


    A humanoid skeleton, with an odd little piece of fur attached to its ribcage, stared at them. And it was munching on a huge spider body. The spider still wiggled around, but it was clear that there was no way for it to escape. And then, its body burst and a flood of innards dropped down the skeleton''s jaw, onto its ribcage and down on the floor. The skeleton did not seem done though, because it kept on chewing.


    ¡°Skeleton! Attack!¡± Gamul shouted.


    ¡°The undead, defend yourself!¡± Borgar screamed.


    ¡°Eww,¡± was all Catlyn said, while holding her light crystal in trembling hands, staring at the gory mess dribbling down the empty ribcage of the skeleton.


    And Ikarias¡­ well, no one knew where he was at. Some shadow or another, perhaps, or back on his way to the exit.


    When Borgar started backing away, claymore at the ready, Catlyn felt her flight instinct kick in, and she began to race down the hallway. Which left Gamul and Borgar in the dark. Gamul immediately backed off, swearing as only a dwarf can swear. He felt a shiver of fear run down his spine ¨C alone, well, almost alone, and in the dark¡­ he did not like his chances.


    Crunch


    There it was again. The noise. And it was closer!


    Gamul vividly imagined the abdomen of the spider popping open and wondered what would happen to himself if the skeleton got its hands, or rather bones, on him. And then he heard footsteps ¡­ and they came from behind. Immediately, Gamul swung his hammer around, putting his back against the wall. Surrounded by the undead, alone, in the dark - adrenalin rushed into him, and he started hyperventilating.


    ¡°Psst, Gamul, I am back!¡± A soft voice whispered next to his year.


    Gamul yelped a little in surprise and almost dropped his hammer before he realized that it had been Catlyn¡¯s voice.


    ¡°By Gamullatra¡¯s ass, you scared the hell out of me,¡° Gamul hissed. ¡°But I am sure glad that you are back. Where is Ikarias and what happened to the light?¡±


    ¡°He is a bit further down the hallway, waiting for us. I used [darkvision] to come back and get you and Borgar. Sorry for running helter-skelter like that.¡±


    ¡°Hmpf, you do know that skeletons can see in the dark, right?¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡± Sheepishly, Catlyn pulled out the light crystal and infused a tiny bit of mana into it. Immediately, the crystal started lighting up and illuminated the hallways about ten yards each direction.


    ¡°What are you doing? Cover that light!¡± Ikarias whispered urgently with a slightly panicked voice from further down the hallway.


    ¡°Relax guys, I¡¯ve got it,¡± Gamul said in a confident voice. ¡°Remember that spell I learned a few days ago?¡±


    ¡°Uhm, a spell? You mean like a new one?¡± Catlyn asked in a confused voice.


    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Ikarias asked incredulously. ¡°Do you mean the [sober] spell? How the heck is that going to be useful?¡±


    ¡°Psst, guys, why are you all so noisy?¡± Borgar whispered.


    Gamul shook his head in disgust. ¡°[Turn undead]! I just learned that two days ago, you morons!¡±


    ¡°Hell yeah, I totally forgot!¡± Ikarias shouted, and immediately came up next to Gamul and Catlyn. Reluctantly, Borgar followed shortly after.


    ¡°Besides, it is just one skeleton¡­ right?¡± Ikarias said.


    ¡°You should have seen it though,¡± Borgar responded. ¡°It has killed dozens of giant spiders¡­ we would be hard-pressed to do the same.¡±


    Gamul ignored the rest of the chatter, and only beckoned Catlyn forward to provide the light he needed. Not that the spell would not work in the dark, but it was better for his nerves to be able to see. He then stepped forward toward the crunching noise, until the light reached the skeleton standing in the hallway, a few steps closer than the previous time they had seen it.


    ¡°What is it doing?¡± Catlyn asked Gamul in a hushed voice.


    ¡°I am not sure¡­ it looks like it is investigating the spider web.¡±


    And then they could see the skeleton reach with its bony arm into the web, only to withdraw its hand a moment later, with a big fat spider grabbed by its carapace. The spider struggled to escape, but the skeleton held tight. And then the mouth of the skeleton opened impossibly wide, and it bit, with an audible crunch, into the carapace. And then the grinding noise started.


    The four adventurers watched the process with open mouth, mesmerized by the sight, and temporarily forgetting that the skeleton was right in front of them. And then, with a loud pop, the spider burst, and splashed blood and gore all over the skeleton again. Gamul jumped out of his temporary trance and raised his hands to pray for the divine blessing of Gamullatra. The moment he felt the rush of cleansing energy that indicated that the divine potency had entered his body, he cast [Turn undead]. An invisible field of holy energy expanded rapidly into all directions. Expectantly, Gamul waited for the field to hit the skeleton and severe the connection to its creator.


    Alas¡­ nothing happened.


    And in the meantime, the skeleton turned its head and looked at them.


    ¡°It is chewing,¡± Ikarias whispered. ¡°Why is it chewing?¡±


    ¡°Gamul, how long until your spell takes effect?¡± Catlyn quietly asked, without letting the skeleton out of her sight.


    Gamul stared at the skeleton and, at first, did not respond. Only when Catlyn slightly punched his shoulder, he suddenly jerked and said with a strained voice: ¡°It should have worked instantaneously¡­¡±


    Suddenly, the skeleton whipped its head around, causing the adventurers to jump and take a step backward. But the skeleton did not look at them. Instead, it seemed to have spotted some movement in the spiderweb and was utterly focused on that.


    ¡°It seems to, I don¡¯t know, just ignore us?¡± Catlyn said in a disbelieving tone. Suddenly brave, she walked toward the skeleton in languid and sinuous movements, betraying her feline ancestry. As she got closer, the skeleton shifted its gaze at her and then it changed. It was a subtle change, hard to describe. But whereas the skeleton initially had a predatory posture, a lethal readiness, it suddenly almost seemed timid. And then, after studying Catlyn for a few more moments and making odd facial movements, which should have been entirely impossible for a skeleton, the skeleton suddenly spun around and raced toward a tiny hole in the wall, slamming headfirst into the stone. It scrabbled with hands and feet for purchase on the floor, trying, in an apparent panic to push its way into a hole that was only a fraction of its size.


    Catlyn could not help but burst out laughing, while Gamul, Borgar, and Ikarias just stared in utter and complete bewilderment.

 Chapter 4 - Introductions

    Marrow did not know what had come over him out of the sudden. One moment he was crunching on a big spider, an action he had done already dozens of times, and the very next moment he felt¡­ different. Cold, trembling, nervous, and utterly terrified ¨C all of which were utterly unfamiliar and novel emotions and sensations for him.


    And then he had run against the wall. A part of him knew that he did not fit through that hole, but another part insisted that this was where he had to go, that safety was beyond. And because he did not know which part of himself to believe, he just tried it a few times, partially, because he did not really know what else to do anyway.


    Until he heard a strange noise. It was like clear and loud notes, ringing oddly through the hallways, and they left Marrow somewhat bewildered. And they came from the creature that had approached him and put him in this inexplicable emotional state.


    Strangely enough, the emotions that had made him tremble and try to hide somewhere suddenly disappeared and were replaced by one of curiosity and a bit of¡­ something. Marrow felt that just maybe he should be mad, that this was his territory and that creature should not be there¡­ those other creatures were fine, but this one, the one that had approached him¡­ there was something about it, her, him, that he instinctively felt was intruding into his area. And Marrow could feel the hair rise on the little patch of fur on his chest.


    Slowly he got up and stared at the creature close to him. He used his penetrating stare, which allowed him to see all kinds of details that were completely and utterly meaningless to him, but still delighted him, because they were different colors and shapes ¨C many, many things, that he had never seen in his life.


    But then the creature stepped away from him, toward the spider web. And suddenly, Marrow understood what the creature was doing ¨C it was going to eat his spiders! That¡­ that could not be allowed. Those were his spiders and his territory! And there was already one spider that was approaching, probably alerted by all the vibration, or the noise, or whatever might alert spiders.


    ----------------------------------------------------


    Catlyn suddenly felt a lot less comfortable being that close to the skeleton. One moment, it had been behaving in a wholly erratic and, frankly, hilarious way and the very next second it suddenly almost looked menacing.


    ¡°Uhm,¡± was all she managed to croak because her mouth was abruptly parched and her throat oddly constricted. On top of that, she felt her bladder was going to burst any second out of the sudden.


    ¡°Catlyn, what are you doing? Come back here! It is¡­ it is staring at you,¡± Borgar whispered urgently, clenching the claymore in his sweaty hands.


    ¡°Borgar, we need to do something,¡± Gamul shouted. ¡°It is moving toward her. Catlyn! By Gamullatra¡¯s legs, move!¡±


    But before Catlyn could make her suddenly leaden legs move, the skeleton lunged toward her, eliciting a shriek of panic from the catwoman. She stumbled to the side with hands raised to cover her face protectively, and eyes squeezed tight. And then she felt something touch her shoulder and she stiffened in abject terror, finally losing control over her bladder.


    Crunch!


    After a couple of seconds of not feeling any particular pain or really any noteworthy physical feeling apart from the wetness dripping down her legs, Catlyn slowly opened her eyes.


    And what she saw made her scream again, because right in front of her, the skeleton was standing, chewing slowly on a giant spider, while staring in an oddly penetrating way right at her face. It was almost as if¡­ as if the skeleton was making a statement!


    Gamul, Borgar, and Ikarias rushed over to her side and fuzzed over her while keeping a wary eye at the skeleton.


    ¡°It saved you! I saw it,¡± Ikarias stammered. ¡°The spider was so close to you and about to bite, and the skeleton just grabbed it by its carapace and stuck it into its jaw! Just like that!¡±


    ¡°By Gamullatra¡¯s magnificent bosom, does that mean this skeleton is sentient and friendly?¡± Gamul incredulously asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t trust it,¡± Borgar immediately replied. ¡°Look at its stare! You, skeleton, stay there, don¡¯t move!¡±


    ----------------------------------------------------


    Marrow heard all the chatter between those creatures but could make neither head nor tail out of almost anything. But it did understand the last thing the big creature had said¡­. Don¡¯t move. That was something that Marrow knew intuitively - a three-word command, well within the limits of complexity and number of words of a standard skeleton.


    Not that he cared to follow the command. But he also did not care to not follow the command. So he did what he had been doing, namely, stand where he was, chew on the spider, and stare at the creatures.


    He briefly considered punching one of the creatures in front of him, or perhaps chewing them, just for the off chance that the deep voice would say something different, but since those creatures were talking all the time, there was really no need. They provided plenty of voices. In some way, they almost made too much noise. After centuries of silence, it was just a tad overwhelming to have so many new impressions around him all of a sudden.


    And, as if it was not enough, as he was chewing his latest spider, he was rewarded not only one, but two new notifications.


    [Skill obtained: Crushing Bite]


    [Level up: Level 2; Two new characteristic points available. Would you like to spend them now?]


    Marrow stopped his chewing and waited for something else to happen.


    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    ----------------------------------------------------


    ¡°It is obeying,¡± Borgar said incredulously. ¡°How is that possible? It is not moving at all now, not even chewing.¡±


    Gamul had been fussing over Catlyn but turned around to stare at the skeleton as well.


    ¡°This is incredible!¡± he agreed. ¡°Have you ever heard of such a thing?¡±


    Catlyn finally recovered from her shock and embarrassment over wetting herself and hesitantly looked up at the skeleton. ¡°I¡­ well,¡­,¡± she started, and then, with renewed vigor continued, ¡°Thank you! Uhm, skeleton, ah¡­¡±


    ¡°Uhm, what is your name?¡± She finally stammered, feeling incredibly awkward.


    The skeleton did not respond or react in any way at all. It merely kept staring at her face in this strange, and quite unsettling way. Which certainly did not make things less awkward.


    ¡°Do you have a master?¡±


    The skeleton did not even blink. Not that skeletons could blink. It was just unsettling for Catlyn to interact with someone that just stared at her without the slightest twitch or at least some wavering of attention.


    ¡°Sooo, that is a no? Uhm, well, why are you here?¡±


    No answer.


    Catlyn turned to the others. ¡°Do you think it understands me?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be ridiculous,¡± Ikarias scoffed. ¡°Skeletons cannot think. They are the most basic and stupid undead out there, apart from zombies, perhaps.¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah? And how do you explain that it just saved me from a spider?¡± Catlyn responded almost defensively.


    Ikarias shrugged his shoulders dismissively. ¡°Well, I am not sure why it would do that, or why it would chew on spiders, but perhaps its master had given that as a command.¡±


    ¡°But who would that master be? We must be the first people down here in centuries!¡± Gamul asked. ¡°And my spell did not do anything, which means¡­ well, I don¡¯t really know what that means.¡±


    ¡°So, let¡¯s just destroy the skeleton and move on,¡± Borgar proposed, now much calmer and more confident than just minutes ago.


    ¡°What? No way! It saved my life!¡± Catlyn shouted immediately, waving her staff with the light crystal around animatedly.


    And the skeleton started swiveling around its head rapidly.


    At first, the sudden movement of the skeleton made the adventurers jump back and grab their weapons tighter before they realized that it was not a hostile movement.


    It was Ikarius who understood the reason for the skeleton¡¯s movement first.


    ¡°Catlyn, move your staff to the right?¡± He hissed.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Just do it.¡±


    And, lo and behold, the head of the skeleton turned left, following the staff.


    Giggling, Catlyn moved her staff to the left and then in circles, causing the skeleton¡¯s head to first turn right and then do an odd swiveling movement, while the rest of the group looked on in disbelief.


    ¡°This is one weird skeleton,¡± Ikarius finally stated, saying out loud what all four of them had been thinking.


    ¡°Can we¡­ can we perhaps keep it?¡± Catlyn hesitantly asked.


    ¡°Keep it? What a ridiculous idea!¡± Borgar protested immediately. ¡°It is a skeleton, an undead. An unholy creature of the night and evil!¡±


    ¡°But, Borgar, look at it!¡± Catlyn argued pleadingly. ¡°It seems quite harmless if a bit odd.¡±


    ¡°Well, I have to agree with Borgar on this one,¡± Ikarius said. ¡°Not that I think that skeletons are necessarily evil. They are just a tool. But we don¡¯t control this tool so it might be dangerous. And, perhaps more importantly, there is no way we could take it up to Gyssal. People would panic!¡±


    ¡°But¡­,¡± Catlyn pleadingly turned to Gamul.


    ¡°By Gamullatra¡¯s bony hips, I really don¡¯t know, Catlyn. I am intrigued, but it is such a weird skeleton. And how would it be useful for us? I mean, yes, it saved your life, but it has shown no other skills or awareness at all. Apart from standing still after Borgar commanded so. But frankly, that is no proof of anything, since it might just be standing still for other reasons, or no particular reason at all.¡±


    All four adventurers took a step back and thoughtfully stared at the skeleton. Eventually, Catlyn shrugged her shoulders in acquiescence. ¡°Fine. I see your point. But we will not kill it! Otherwise, I will turn around right now and leave you three down here by yourself!¡±


    ¡°Catlyn, w-¡± Borgar started to argue.


    ¡°No, I won¡¯t hear an argument about this,¡± Catlyn immediately interrupted. ¡°Let¡¯s just move on then. Perhaps we will finally find some treasure to make this all worth our time.¡±


    ----------------------------------------------------


    Marrow had waited for the voice to say more. Alas, he had waited in vain.


    In the meantime, it had listened to the creatures surrounding it, not that he understood much of what they were saying. But he did recognize a few words here and there, which struck him as curious. Why could he understand some things, but not others? And, strangely enough, it kind of bothered him.


    It was not as if he felt excluded, no, it was more that he finally realized that there were many words out there and that these words had meaning. Up until that moment, he had liked hearing voices because they were different. Now¡­ this was not enough any longer. These words described things beyond what he could see or hear. And they were longer than three or four words¡­ longer than he should be able to comprehend, but he felt that he, just perhaps, could.


    So he listened and tried to understand what the voices were saying.


    It was not hard to figure out that some words referred to the creatures. Borgar and Catlyn were the names of two of them, he was reasonably sure. Instinctively, he knew what names were. He even knew his own name, Marrow. It was a good name, he thought. Fitting, for some reason.


    Could he perhaps emulate the voices?


    Marrow had never considered that before. But the creatures talked to each other, using names, so perhaps he could also say a name. Just to see what happened.


    The only problem was that Marrow did not know how to speak at all. So he tried to copy what the creatures were doing. He opened and closed his mouth rapidly, smacked his non-existent lips together and swiveled his head from side to side.


    ¡°¡­¡±


    All he managed to do was create a bony rasp, probably because of him grinding jawbones on each other.


    It did cause all four creatures to look at him though, which Marrow thought was a success. After all, when they had been talking, they also looked at each other. So this was part of communication. He had succeeded. Happily, he kept on doing what he was doing.


    ----------------------------------------------------


    ¡°By Gamullatra¡¯s luscious lips, what is it doing now?¡± Gamul asked disbelievingly.


    ¡°I have no idea, but it is creeping me out,¡± Borgar responded with a slightly quivering voice.


    ¡°Oh, shush, you big sissy,¡± Catlyn admonished him. ¡°It looks as if it is talking, don¡¯t you think?¡±


    ¡°Hmm, you might be right, even though it is looking quite ridiculous¡­ who opens his mouth like that when talking?¡± Ikarius said.


    ¡°Uhm¡­,¡± Catlyn giggled, looking pointedly at Borgar.


    ¡°Hah, you might be right there, lass,¡± Gamul chuckled.


    ¡°Wait, what?¡± Borgar protested, opening his mouth wide in disbelief.


    Ikarius snickered.


    In the meantime, Marrow turned his head from side to side, trying to imitate what they were doing. And it was somewhat disturbing to see a skeleton try and giggle ¨C Marrow¡¯s head bobbed up and down rapidly in tiny movement, and its whole skeleton shook and trembled.


    ¡°By Gamullatra¡¯s glorious-.¡°


    ¡°Shut up, Gamul! Seriously, if I hear one more Gamullatra¡¯s something or another from you, I am going to throw up right here!¡± Ikarius shouted.


    ¡°Young friend, I-.¡°


    ¡°Young? Gamul, you are barely two years older than me!¡±


    ¡°So? That makes you younger than me!¡±


    ¡°Well, maybe, but not-.¡±


    ¡°Guys, focus!¡± Catlyn interrupted before the argument could escalate. ¡°Did the skeleton just laugh?¡±


    ¡°It sure looked like something you do, Catlyn, when you giggle.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Catlyn shouted in outrage.


    ¡°Caaallnn!¡±


    The four adventurers stood stock-still, staring at the skeleton.


    Marrow stretched out an arm, pointing at Catlyn. ¡°Caallnn.¡±


    Catlyn backed away, tripping over her own feet, while Gamul, Ikarius, and Borgar gawked at Marrow.


    ¡°Is this for real?¡± Ikarius asked, pinching himself in the arm.


    Marrow turned his arm to point at Borgar. ¡°Boooggaar!¡±


    ¡°Booger, it called you booger,¡± Ikarius could not contain his mirth.


    ¡°Shut up, Ikarius,¡± Catlyn, Gamul, and Borgar said almost at the same time.


    And then Marrow moved his arm again. The four adventurers held their breath, waiting who he would identify next¡­ and were stupefied when Marrow pointed at himself. ¡°Marrow.¡±

 Chapter 5 - Rats

    At first, Marrow had just moved his jaw to talk, but he realized quickly that he had no success with just that. Clearly, there was something else to it. He had noticed that the ribcage of those creatures, covered in flesh and skin as it was, tended to rise and fall rhythmically, so perhaps that was part of the trick? Marrow tried it but to no avail.


    And then he realized that the voice he sometimes heard, the deep voice, talking about leveling, skills, and absorbing stuff, did not even have a body! So there was a way to do it with¡­ with what?


    Marrow was a bit fuzzy about the details. After all, he had never heard of magic, spells, ghosts, or any number of other things that could create bodyless voices. And certainly he had never heard of a small pocket dimension housing a brain, his brain, pitiful at it was at this point. But he believed that there was a way.


    And just sometimes ignorance is a blessing ¨C a sane, knowledgeable person would have given up before even trying, and a normal skeleton, safe to say, would not even have thought about voices in the first place.


    But Marrow was different. He was¡­ Marrow!


    So he tried.


    He imagined himself saying words, names.


    It is said that beliefs can move mountains. Countries go to war for beliefs, cities get burned to the ground, history gets changed. And how much more can happen if there is not just belief, but¡­ certainty!?


    Turns out, not much.


    Not even a squeak came out of Marrow¡¯s jaw.


    But Marrow had practice in stubbornness - he even had a related skill. So he kept on trying. And while belief and even certainty won¡¯t always get you where you want to be¡­ practice often does. Or perhaps, in this case, it rather was trial and error.


    Marrow just copied everything he saw those creatures doing and then suddenly it happened. Marrow had pushed something into his mouth, something that was¡­ inside of him. He was not sure where it was, or what it was, but he had always been vaguely aware of it, a distant nagging feeling that he had successfully ignored for the last few hundred years.


    And suddenly he created a voice. At first, it was a squeaky, raspy, and shaky voice, like a mix of baby voice, mouse, and skeleton ¨C a voice that was utterly unbefitting the gravitas. Not that Marrow was concerned with the occasion, or the impression he was making.


    But he wanted the voice to sound more like what he had heard so many times. The VOICE. So Marrow pushed more, made it¡­ deeper, more profound, just like the voice he had heard in his head. It was not a perfect match, there was still some grinding noise in there, some proper boniness. But Marrow did not mind that.


    -----------------------------------------------


    ¡°So, what do we do now?¡± Borgar whispered.


    ¡°No need to whisper, Borgar,¡± Gamul said in a normal tone. ¡°The skeleton is right next to us. Uhm, I guess, Marrow is right next to us. I still cannot believe that it has a name and knows it too!¡±


    ¡°Guys, did you notice the voice?¡± Catlyn asked, with a slight tremor in her voice.


    ¡°You mean the voice that all of us heard?¡± Gamul asked deadpan.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Catlyn responded.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Gamul answered.


    ¡°What?¡± Catlyn looked confused.


    ¡°I said yes,¡± Gamul repeated.


    ¡°Well, I heard that, and so what do you think?¡±


    ¡°Think about what?¡±


    ¡°The voice!¡± Catlyn shouted.


    ¡°Catlyn, that is what we were just discussing about¡­¡±


    ¡°But guys, the voice!¡±


    Gamul, Borgar, and Ikarius looked at each other, trying to figure out what was going on. Their somewhat puzzled expression clearly showed that they had no idea.


    ¡°Sooo¡­, what about the voice, Catlyn?¡±


    ¡°It is the system voice, you did not notice?¡±


    ¡°By Gammulatra¡¯s To-. Ouch! What did you hit me for, Ikarius?¡±


    ¡°I told you, no more Gammulatra anything!¡±


    ¡°The system voice¡­,¡± Borgar whispered, oblivious to the argument of his two friends. ¡°What does that mean? Is this skeleton an avatar of the system? Is it here to test us?¡± Sweat was forming on his forehead.


    ¡°Calm down, Borgar,¡± Gamul said. ¡°Catlyn is right, Marrow does sound like the system, but certainly not at first. Initially, it sounded rather strange, don¡¯t you think? So if it was some official system representative, one might safely assume that it would be able to use the system voice immediately, right?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s ignore the system voice for now¡­ let¡¯s think about what we are facing here: an intelligent skeleton! This is unheard of!¡± Ikarius threw in.


    ¡°How do you know it is intelligent?¡± Catlyn asked.


    ¡°Well, because¡­ hmm,¡­ in fact, you are right. I am not quite sure it is,¡± Ikarius had to admit after a brief pause.


    For the next few minutes, they tried to figure out if Marrow really understood the meaning of names and what else he could say. And it turned out that Marrow was, in fact, intelligent. Not the brightest tool in the shed and with a minimal vocabulary, but nonetheless intelligent.


    ¡°So what do we do with Marrow?¡± Catlyn asked the others. ¡°We can¡¯t just leave him down here, can we?¡±


    ¡°Why not?¡± Borgar immediately responded.


    ¡°Because he might be lonely down here, all by himself.¡±


    ¡°Lonely? What are you talking about, Catlyn? It is a skeleton!¡± Ikarius said in an incredulous voice.


    Catlyn looked pleadingly at the others. ¡°I know¡­ but still! Maybe it could be useful?¡±


    ¡°Useful, how?¡± Gamul responded.


    -----------------------------------------------


    Marrow looked at each creature in turn as they were speaking. Mostly because that is what they usually did when talking, so he figured that there had to be a reason for that. It was a good thing that his head was so flexible... he could just swivel it around and look at each one of them without having to move his body. Not that moving his body would have been an issue, but it made it faster and simpler, which appealed to Marrow.


    The creatures had been talking for a while, and they had even talked to him. Most of it, he did not understand, but he had already learned a few things, such as the names of the other two creatures, and the names of various objects in the hallway. They also asked him to do things, like stand up, sit down, move in a circle, and so on. Mostly he just had looked at them, though, because that seemed more interesting.


    And now Marrow could see their facial expression change. One of them, the one with those odd protuberances on her upper body, had a bit of fluid leaking out of her eye, which Marrow found fascinating.


    Was it an injury? Or another way of communication? He tried imitating it but had no idea how to even start.


    The other one, the big one, also had some fluid leaking. Weirdly enough, it formed on its head and just stayed there, in little drops. And that was not the only thing, Marrow observed. Various muscles were clenched and released, without any discernable pattern or reason, and skin color changed from pale to reddish, and back quite frequently. Especially for the big one. And the effect was magnified when Marrow stared at him.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    It was utterly captivating.


    But then Marrow heard something - a low menacing growl, soft steps, approaching. Noises that immediately instilled panic in him. Not that he knew what it was¡­ but the fear was instinctual, almost primal. It was still far away, but it was approaching down the hallway. The noise should not have been audible from that distance, but Marrow had a skill.


    Marrow immediately rushed forward, tripping over the creatures in front of him in his haste and getting his arm bone all tangled up with the gear of Catlyn.


    But Marrow paid no heed. He ran as fast as he could, dragging the backpack, and by extension the wailing Catlyn down the hallway.


    After a moment of stunned silence, Borgar, Gamul, and Ikarius jumped up, shouting in alarm, and, weapons drawn, rushed after the disappearing Catlyn. Their sudden panic was not only because Marrow was dragging their friend away from them¡­ no, said friend also was still the only one with a source of light.


    At the first intersection, Marrow turned left, then right, and then left again. Down a staircase, through a grand hall, and down a flight of spiral stairs, Marrow unerringly proceeded, not heeding the protests of Catlyn, who was half dragged, half ran after him, never getting the opportunity to disentangle herself.


    Initially, Catlyn had tried to resist, but then she had heard the growl in the distance - an ominous sound that sent shivers down her spine. And immediately, all thoughts of resisting left her and she just tried her best to not slow Marrow down. Similarly, upon hearing the noise, Gamul, Ikarius, and Borgar gave up on liberating Catlyn and just focused on running. If they had any idea of where to go, they might perhaps, even pulled ahead.


    Luckily, Marrow seemed to know exactly where he was heading.


    Only¡­ he did not.


    Marrow was choosing randomly whenever there was a choice to be made. He only knew that he needed to get away, ideally to find a nice hiding hole. And since he was not stupid, at least not very stupid, he now understood now that it needed to be a little bit bigger than the hole that he was trying to fit through last time. So he kept on running.


    He was not very fast with Catlyn being dragged behind. However, this was the first time in his very long life that Marrow was actually running. So fast or slow, it was all relative. And relative to everything he had done before, this was the fastest he had ever been. So he was not bothered by his slow speed.


    Apart from the noise coming closer.


    After getting down the last staircase, there was a solid metal door that stood half-open. The somewhat disheveled group of five squeezed through the door, and Gamul and Borgar slammed it close behind them. Just in time as it turned out.


    ¡°Did you see that,¡± Borgar asked in a trembling voice. ¡°That was a Shadow-Prowler!¡±


    Gamul was white in his face and leaned his body against the door.


    ¡°By Gamm¡­,¡± he quickly glanced at Ikarius, who was trembling slightly and not really paying attention. ¡°By Gammulatra¡¯s Heaving Chest, what is that doing in this dungeon? This is supposed to be a beginner¡¯s dungeon!¡±


    ¡°Levels 1 to 5 they said,¡± Borgar confirmed with a strained voice. ¡°Nothing but minor slimes, some rats, and spiders, perhaps a couple kobolds or goblins¡­ that is what they claimed.¡±


    And then a massive boom reverberated through the hallway, and the door vibrated.


    ¡°It is trying to break through,¡± Gamul shouted. ¡°Help me, Borgar!¡±


    Borgar jumped forward and pushed his significant weight against the door, supporting Gamul¡¯s efforts. Ikarius quickly took out a dagger and jammed it under the door, effectively arresting it where it was.


    A few massive hits later, the Shadow-Prowler apparently realized that there was no way through the door and stopped crashing against it.


    ¡°Is it gone?¡± Catlyn whispered.


    Ikarius looked through the little peephole and shook his head. ¡°No, it is sitting in front of the door, waiting.¡±


    ¡°Damnation.¡± Gamul cursed. ¡°That means we are stuck here for as long as it stays there. And even if it leaves, there is no guarantee that it won¡¯t be stalking us the moment we get out through that door. Speaking of being stuck¡­ where are we?¡±


    The hallway continued for another few yards, before it opened up into a small room, with a table and some chairs that all looked as if they might fall apart at the slightest touch. Two corridors left the room on opposite sides.


    Cautiously, Ikarius moved forward, seemingly flowing from shadow to shadow to investigate those corridors, only to be stopped by Catlyn. ¡°Wait, look at Marrow!¡±


    Only now, they noticed that Marrow was standing quietly, not moving an inch, as if listening intently.


    ¡°What is he hearing?¡±Catlyn whispered.


    ¡°Ah, why do you give him so much credit?¡± Borgar muttered. ¡°It is just a stupid skeleton!¡±


    ¡°Excuse me!? That ¡°stupid¡± skeleton saved all of us from the Shadow-Prowler! Did you see how it grabbed me to get me out of harm¡¯s way? And it knew exactly where to go. I bet this was the only place in this whole dungeon that allowed us to escape!¡± Catlyn shouted, visibly outraged.


    Suddenly, Marrow started moving. Not running full speed, like last time, but more¡­ cautiously, almost stealthily. He moved toward the corridor going off to the right side, staying next to the wall whenever possible.


    Curious, the four intrepid adventurers followed Marrow at a bit of a distance, waiting to find out what he had discovered. And then, suddenly, he stopped moving. For more than a minute, he stood stock still, like a statue. Long enough to make Catlyn start to twitch impatiently. But then Marrow launched himself forward at surprising speed, and a loud squealing noise disturbed the silence.


    Marrow was not sure what was in front of him, but it was furry and had a tail, and somehow he knew that he was meant to attack it and then eat it. Or bring it somewhere.


    The creature was about the size of a dog and had vicious looking front teeth and claws big enough to do some serious damage. Not that it scared Marrow in any way. He knew instinctively that this was supposed to be a prey, and so he behaved accordingly. Fearlessly, he pounced on the creature and started laying into it with [Forceful Strikes]. Soon, blood was spraying everywhere, as his bony hands actually dug into the filthy fur of the creature.


    Borgar, Gamul, Ikarius, and Catlyn approached from behind and looked at the bloody spectacle with jaws dropped.


    ¡°It is a freaking Dungeon Rat, and he is taking it on with his bloody fists,¡± Gamul murmured, impressed by the audacity of Marrow, even though he wondered briefly if, perhaps, it was stupidity rather than boldness.


    And then the group realized that there was a lot more noise around them than what could be attributed to the fight in front of them. They looked around and noticed that just at the edge of the circle of light, there were numerous red glowing pairs of eyes staring at them.


    ¡°Bloody hell!¡± Borgar cursed, grabbing his claymore. ¡°Rats everywhere!¡±


    Catyln immediately started moving her hands around, chanting some arcane words, while Ikarius threw three throwing daggers in as many seconds into the horde of rats surrounding them.


    Gamul, meanwhile, raised one of his hands and started singing in a surprisingly harmonic voice a prayer to his goddess. Within moments, the weapons of his fellow adventurers began glowing in a faint silver light.


    And then the rats rushed forward.


    -----------------------------------------------


    Marrow felt oddly satisfied punching the creature, apparently a rat, if he had understood Borgar right. [Forceful punch] allowed him to break the ribs and legs of the rat with relative ease. Not that he got out of it unscathed - unlike the spiders, the teeth of the rats were actually able to chip his bones, causing his durability to slowly decrease.


    And then there were more of them. Marrow¡¯s head swiveled around in delight as he saw all of those tempting targets, wondering how he would be able to get to all of them. But he did not have to worry, because they were coming to him instead.


    Which struck him as wrong, somehow.


    Soon, he was covered by four or perhaps five of the rats and things started to get a bit hairy. Marrow realized that he did not like hair, at least not all over him. It felt¡­ unclean. To his shame, he had some of his own, but only on that little patch on his ribcage. No need to have those creatures¡¯ hair all over him in addition.


    So he felt¡­ a little bit annoyed. And even though he did not like the idea of hair in his teeth, he decided that perhaps he should bite the rats. After all, the biting had worked nicely on the spiders too. And it had the added benefit of possibly causing the voice to speak up again.


    So he spread his jaws impossible wide and started chomping down on the heads of the rats around him. [Crushing Bite] allowed him to actually inflict damage when a normal bite would have caused only a minor injury.


    In the meantime, Borgar whirled his Claymore around in both hands and started laying into the rats. It was somewhat hard to hit the relatively agile and small creatures, and for each one he hit, with usually devastating results, two or three would come through and inflict painful bites on his legs. Ikarius picked them off with his dagger and short sword as fast as he could, but with Borgar swinging his monstrous weapon around with wild abandon it was no easy feat.


    Instead of exposing himself to the danger of the huge swings of the claymore, Gamul grabbed his hammer and slammed it down on any rat that dared to approach Catlyn or himself. Meanwhile, Catlyn finished her incantations and three bright red orbs, each the size of a cherry, shot out of her hands into three of the surrounding rats.


    Upon impact, the fur of the rats started to sizzle and smoke, eliciting an approving shout from Gamul. ¡°That is my girl! More of that!¡±


    But then, instead of dropping dead, the rats went absolutely furious and started attacking Gamul and Catlyn in a frenzy.


    ¡°This is it? Some singed fur?¡± Gamul hollered. ¡°What the heck were you doing there, Catlyn?¡±


    ¡°I am a first level mage, what do you expect? A fireball? Or a meteor shower?¡± Catlyn yelled back, while using her staff to smack, to little effect, the rats around her on the head or back.


    ¡°Well, a bit more than some bad smell and infuriated rats would have been nice,¡± Ikarius shouted while stabbing another rat in the spine.


    ¡°And who is slinking around shadows and¡­ and¡­¡± Catlyn screeched.


    ¡°And stabbing rats dead? Rats with singed fur? Yes, that is me,¡± Ikarius responded with a smug expression on his face.


    Despite the back and forth between them, all but Catlyn quickly killed four or even five of the huge rats - in the end, they were just oversized rodents and no significant danger to well-prepared adventurers, even those at the first level, unless they came in overwhelming numbers.


    Despite that, Borgar had several deep bites and scratches on his legs, and so had the rest of them. Gamul quickly used [Minor Healing] on all of them, which closed their wounds completely but left him without any more healing spells for the time being.


    ¡°Where is Marrow,¡± Borgar suspiciously asked while waiting for the rest to get healed.


    A pile of dead rats littered the floor where Marrow had fought. Some of them had heads that were half bitten off, others had been bludgeoned to death, and some, perhaps the worst, had parts of their ribcage or the spine ripped out of their bodies.


    And then Marrow came out of the darkness, moving almost nonchalantly into the light toward the group of adventurers.


    ¡°Why does he have a rat between his jaws?¡± Borgar whispered, getting a tad pale again when Marrow moved toward him.


    Once Marrow was about a yard in front of Borgar, he opened his jaws and dropped the rat on the floor, all the while looking expectantly at Borgar and the others.

 Chapter 6 – A rat pet

    Marrow was not sure why he had dropped the dead rat in front of Borgar. It just had felt right at the time. But he did wonder if he should have chewed on it, just in case. But then again, there were plenty of rats laying around so he might as well chew on those first.


    He walked over to the pile of rats, grabbed one with a cracked skull, and pushed it in his jaw, grinding his teeth, back and forth. It did not take long for the voice to speak up.


    ¡°Do you want to try to absorb [Dungeon Rat] brain? Chance of success: 10 percent.¡±


    Since Marrow still had no idea what the message was saying he just kept on chewing, waiting for the message to show up again. He had noticed in the past that the message would show up three times before the voice would say something about a default and then stopped talking. Stopped talking until he would chew on something else, that is.


    It was oddly comforting for Marrow, that there were these constants in his life ¨C you chewed on something, and you got a message. If you kept on chewing, you got it twice more. And then it would stop. Marrow had also tried chewing other stuff, like dirt, pieces of wood, his fingers bones¡­ none of it had triggered any voice. So Marrow had figured that it had to be something moving, or perhaps something that would squish and squirt when you bit it.


    When he had fought the rats, he had used his hand to squish and squirt in the bodies of what he now knew to be rats. But nothing had happened. Which meant that the message was connected to chewing, not the act of making liquids squirt out of bodies.


    Next, Marrow grabbed a leg of one of the rats, that somehow had been ripped off a body during the fight. Marrow started chewing on it and could feel a tiny bit of liquid drip down his bony chin, but no message came up. None. Marrow kept grinding his teeth because he was stubborn. But in this case, stubbornness did not change anything. By the time, Marrow finally gave up, there was not much left of the leg apart from chipped and cracked bone and some sinew.


    Which meant¡­ Marrow was not really sure what that meant. But there was something.


    Perhaps he just had to keep on chewing the heads of things.


    He grabbed the next rat and noticed a few oddly colored pieces of¡­ something on the body of the rat. Somewhat irritated, he tossed the pieces behind him, before stuffing the head of the rat into his jaws.


    And then, something unexpected happened. Not in terms of the rat, or the voice, or even Marrow himself. No, suddenly he heard a gasp and then screams behind him.


    Someone else might have gotten scared, or at least worried, but Marrow just got curious. Rat in the jaw, he swiveled his head around by 180 degrees and took a look at what was going on. He saw Gamul on his knees, next to Borgar, both secreting that liquid from their eyes, and shouting: ¡°Yes, Yes, Yes!¡±


    Catlyn and Ikarius, meanwhile, were jumping around in oddly jerking movements. And then they grabbed each other. For a moment, Marrow thought that there were going to fight, but it turned out that they were just holding each other for no discernable reason.


    Not that Marrow was confused. To be confused one had to have expectations or some prior notion of certain things¡­ which Marrow was utterly lacking. But Marrow realized that he liked discovering patterns. And Marrow had no idea what the pattern was.


    Because trial and error had given him some insights in the past, Marrow decided to follow that strategy. He started dancing around and shouted ¡°yes, yes, yes,¡± just like he had heard Borgar and Gamul do. He had no idea how to secrete the fluid, but he grabbed some of what had squished out of the rats and put it around his eyes.


    Of course, he never stopped chewing, because why would he?


    Shortly after, the voice said its usual message:


    ¡°Do you want to try to absorb [Dungeon Rat] brain? Chance of success: 10 percent.¡±


    And this time, in contrast to all the previous times, Marrow just happened to say ¡°yes¡±. Not because he meant it, or because he knew that this was going to do. It¡­ just happened. Call it luck, or call it fate, or perhaps just the superiority of the age-old strategy of trial and error.


    ¡°Instead of growing in experience, you choose to increase your potential for future growth by absorbing a skill from a [Dungeon Rat]. Attempt: Failed!¡±


    Marrow stood still for a moment, absorbing the fact that he had heard a new message. Not that he knew what the new message had said either. But it felt as if he had achieved something. Which made Marrow feel oddly content.


    And then he started chewing again, and moving around, spreading his arms and legs in semi-random directions, just as he had seen Catlyn and Ikarius do, and he kept on saying ¡°yes¡±.


    But there was a problem.


    Even though he had heard only one message for the rat he was currently chewing on, there were no additional messages. And this greatly disturbed Marrow. He was basically trading one new message for two old messages. And even though he valued that new message more than the old messages¡­ he wondered if he perhaps could have both.


    Marrow took a new rat head and started chewing. And reassuringly, the usual message came up. Marrow made sure to not move at all, so not to trigger the second message. He just kept on chewing. Once the second message had come up, he started his new routine, and it led, just as before to the new message.


    But, unlike before, it said:


    ¡°Instead of growing in experience, you choose to increase your potential for future growth by absorbing a skill from a [Dungeon Rat]. Attempt: Success!¡±


    ¡°You have gained the new skill [A Rat¡¯s Bite] from absorbing the brain of a [Dungeon Rat]¡±


    ¡°Similar skill detected: [Crushing Bite]. Would you like to merge skills?¡±


    Marrow kept on chewing, waiting to see if there was anything else. And then, for the off chance that there was some connection, he started his new routine again.


    And, lo and behold, he got another message.


    ¡°[Crushing Bite] and [A Rat¡¯s Bite] merged and got upgraded to [Devastating Bite]¡±


    -------------------------------------------


    ¡°What is he doing?¡± Catlyn asked the others, but they looked as flabbergasted as she. ¡°Why is he moving like that? Some type of spasms? I did not think skeletons could have them¡­¡±


    ¡°I think it is a ritual. See how he is painting blood on his face? Together with the strange movements and him repeatedly saying ¡°yes¡±, I think that is a pretty strong indication,¡± Gamul slowly said.


    ¡°I don¡¯t care. Guys we totally lucked out! I still cannot believe it. Gemstones! We are rich!¡± Borgar shouted. ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°I am just as happy as you are, Borgar, but I think if it is a ritual that is important because that means that Marrow can use magic!¡± Gamul said.


    ¡°Is that why we cannot see his class?¡± Borgar asked. ¡°I knew that there was something off about that skeleton.¡±


    ¡°I am not sure,¡± Gamul responded. ¡°From what I know, hiding one¡¯s class is a fairly standard ability once one reaches higher levels¡­ so perhaps Marrow is a high-leveled skeleton? The way he defeated all those rats just with his fists and bite, certainly was impressive.¡±


    ¡°That might be it,¡± Borgar agreed. ¡°From the moment I saw him the first time, I got this dangerous vibe from him. That is why I have been nervous around him all this time.¡±


    ¡°Hah, nice try,¡± Ikarius snorted. ¡°You get nervous the moment bones are involved.¡±


    ¡°That is true,¡± Catlyn giggled. ¡°I remember when you were bragging to that tavern wench about your bulge, and she mentioned that she liked a good boner¡­ you immediately-.¡±


    ¡°Catlyn! Shut up! It was not like that at all!¡± Borgar was clearly flustered. ¡°I was talking about my sword, not my bulge!¡±


    ¡°Oh yes, now I recall. Sorry. You were bragging about how big your sword was, that is right. And she mentioned that she had a sheath and that she also liked bones, err boners, in there.¡±


    ¡°Catlyn!¡±


    ¡°Guys! Let¡¯s be serious now. We are still trapped in a dungeon. We can joke another time,¡± Gamul interjected. ¡°Otherwise we might be boned.¡±


    Ikarus bent over, laughing at the deadpan comment, and Catlyn first started giggling and then began to snort, which she was wont to do if she found something hilarious.


    Even Borgar had to chuckle at Catlyn¡¯s desperate attempt at reigning in her grunting. ¡°Alright, guys, you got me there¡­ yeah, I get nervous around bones. Especially those that move around.¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    He shot a glare at Marrow, who had been totally oblivious to everything that had been going on.


    ¡°It is just unnatural, you know?¡±


    ¡°We are just messing with you, Borgar. You are fine,¡± Ikarius appeased him. ¡°But seriously now, let¡¯s at least explore where we are. If there are giant rats, then there should be a food source somewhere, right? And since the levels of the dungeon we have seen so far have been almost empty of creatures, maybe there is some connection to some deeper levels!¡±


    ¡°That is an excellent thought,¡± Gamul said. ¡°I bet there is a tunnel or some type of hole that the rats have been using. I cannot imagine that they would run up those circular stairs to eat some slimes.¡±


    ¡°And how about treasure? The gemstones were just loot-drops. Granted, fortunate ones, especially for [Dungeon Rats], but there might be an actual treasure down here. What do you think?¡± Catlyn excitedly added.


    ¡°Well, there might be. But us finding gemstones as loot drops is not actually that far-fetched, I think. Remember, loot-drops are a function of the difficulty of an opponent, and the time it has been since that type of creature has been slain in the dungeon. And we are one of the first teams in hundreds of years to come down here, I bet,¡± Ikarius said.


    ¡°What is a function?¡± Catlyn asked, slightly confused.


    ¡°Seriously? What the heck do they teach you in mage school?¡± Ikarius asked incredulously.


    -------------------------------------------


    Marrow stood stock-still, contemplating the messages. But since he did not understand most of it, he simply went back to what he had been doing ¨C chewing rats. But, in contrast to before, every bite he was taking felt¡­ stronger, more powerful. It was not really that Marrow cared one way or another, but he noticed. Marrow was good at noticing things.


    And because he liked discovering patterns, he decided to experiment a bit more on how to get messages. He chewed on a new rat and, one after another, moved around, spread rat-fluids around his eyes, and said ¡®yes¡¯. And after the tenth rat, he had discovered that the trigger was to say ¡®yes¡¯. And he did not have to do it all the time, but just when the voice said something.


    That was useful information.


    Marrow then noticed that the others had gone away. For a moment, he was glad, because at times they had been talking almost too much. But on the other hand¡­ since he had met them, he had learned many new things, incomparably more than during his centuries in a closet. So, Marrow felt a bit distraught at the thought of not seeing or experiencing as many new things, which made him realize that he wanted to move around with the group.


    After all, Marrow was sometimes timid, mostly oblivious, but almost always curious.


    Now that Marrow focused for a moment, he could easily hear them further down the left hallway. They were not exactly quiet, ever. And because he had excellent hearing, he could also recognize a tapping noise, just like those dungeon rats had made, only bigger. Much bigger. And it was to the left as well.


    Which just proved Marrow¡¯s point - being with the group brought new experiences.


    Marrow moved quickly, almost eagerly, forward. He passed various rooms on both sides of the corridor, some with solid wood or metal doors, other with bars that allowed him to see what was beyond ¨C mostly empty rooms, apart from some pieces of wood, that once had been attached to the wall, and some rusty iron chain hanging from metal rings set into the stonewall.


    And there, after a bend in the corridor, he could make out the light of Catlyn. Approaching that light from the same direction as Marrow, was a huge furry shape, about the height of Marrow¡¯s chest, but substantially longer. And, quite distracting for Marrow, a really long, pink tail.


    And Marrow suddenly felt the almost irresistible urge to step on that tail. He hastened forward, and right before the creature was ready to pounce on the oblivious heroes, he came close enough. And so he jumped with both feet onto the tail, curious about what would happen.


    Immediately, a frightening squeal thundered through the narrow space, petrifying the adventurers and delighting Marrow.


    ¡°A rat queen!¡± Ikarius shouted in alarm.


    ¡°We are so screwed,¡± Borgar whined while grabbing his claymore to prepare for a fight for his life.


    ¡°Oh no, oh no, it is huge!¡± Catlyn almost whimpered, while backing away from the terrifying creature.


    Gamul, meanwhile, grimly grasped his hammer and stepped closer to the gigantic rat. ¡°My friends,¡± he said solemnly. ¡°It has been an honor.¡±


    But then, something unexpected happened. The rat queen whipped its head around to attack something behind it, and that something turned out to be Marrow. But if the rat queen thought that this was going to be an easy fight, it was going to be quickly disabused of that idea.


    Marrow had seen the head of the rat turn toward him and did the only thing he could think of. He attacked. When the gigantic teeth threatened to grab and crush his ribcage, he did a [Forceful Punch] right at its nose. This made the rat recoil for a moment, enough time for Marrow to reach its body and climb on it. And then the rat went bonkers. It threw itself from side to side and tried to shake its assailant. And it might have succeeded if it had not been for two reasons. Marrow was stubborn and held on to the rat¡¯s fur no matter the shaking and Gamul, Borgar, and Ikarius used the momentary distraction to get in hits of their own.


    Eventually, the rat queen focused her beady eyes on the adventurers in front of its body and rushed forward, faster than their eyes could follow. It grabbed the arm of Borgar before he had time to react, and it surely would have ended quite badly for him if Marrow had not chosen the moment to utilize his new [Devastating Bite].


    Thick as the hide of the rat queen was, it proved no obstacle for Marrow. Granted, his teeth were not the sharpest and not ideally suited for biting through fur and thick skin, but Marrow made up for that with unbridled enthusiasm. And some disgust - too much hair after all.


    The rat queen screeched in pain as Marrow dug his teeth in and tore out a fair-sized chunk of flesh. And then it released a cloud of noxious green gas, that billowed up around her.


    ¡°Watch out guys, it is the first stage boss attack!¡± Ikarius shouted. ¡°Move back!¡±


    Gamul tried to retreat, but the rat queen jumped forward and barreled into his body. Involuntarily, he gasped for air and breathed in the poison gas, which immediately caused a coughing fit.


    ¡°Gamul!¡± Catlyn screamed. She had been standing a few feet further back, petrified of the gigantic rodent, that seemed to overwhelm her party so easily.


    Borgar held his breath and slashed his claymore at full force into the side of the rat queen, causing her to shriek again and turn toward him. Which did the trick of sparing Gamul for now, but at the cost of the rat queen focusing her full attention on Borgar. And as big as Borgar was, he was no match for the humongous rat.


    The rat queen jumped forward and chomped down on his arm again, ignoring his futile one-armed slashes with the claymore, which hardly even caused bleeding wounds in her side. Soon he was out of air and desperately needed to take a breath. With the rat holding on to his arm, there was no way to escape, though, and the toxic mix entered his lungs.


    Using the distraction, Ikarius darted forward and grabbed the foot of Gamul, pulling him out of the poisonous area. With trembling hands, he took a bottle filled with a reddish liquid from his belt and poured it down the throat of the pale and unresponsive dwarf. Within seconds, Gamul started coughing, and a healthier color returned to his clammy skin.


    His panicked eyes, darted around, before focusing on the comforting sight of Ikarius standing next to him, and Catlyn attempting to cast one of her spells.


    ¡°Where is Borgar?¡± he asked in a raspy voice.


    Ikarius hesitated for a moment and then said. ¡°In there!¡± pointing at the billowing clouds of green gas that covered the hallway from top to bottom. The gas had gotten even denser right after Ikarius had pulled out Gamul, presumably because the rat queen had used its second area of affect boss-attack.


    Which meant¡­ that the rat had still felt threatened. But why? Because of Marrow?


    -------------------------------------------


    Marrow was happily chomping into the body of the rat. It was slow going, but he was making progress digging a substantial hole, which filled continuously with copious amounts of blood. Of course, the rat was not holding still, but Marrow had found that biting off a bit of skin on various places allowed his [Forceful Punches] to dig into the flesh of the monster. And, if he just slightly curved his fingerbones right after impact, it allowed him to grab hold of the rat¡¯s skin from the inside and outside ¨C given his unlimited stamina, that constituted a pretty good handhold unless the rat shook him violently enough to tear off its own skin.


    The rat had responded by releasing vast amounts of poisonous gas, twice, and even completely healed itself once. But the fact of the matter was that poisonous gas did not really bother Marrow ¨C after all, he did not breathe. And curing your body if the hands of the attacker are inside of said body¡­ does not really accomplish much, apart from making the handhold even better. It just made the process slower, as Marrow had to re-dig the hole, which he happily did.


    Borgar and Gamul had chosen to lay down in front of the rat, which Marrow found curious. But perhaps that was something else that Marrow simply did not understand. He had started to notice that there were many things he did not know about.


    After the rat realized that its gas did not do anything, it tried to slam its body into the wall or even jump up to the ceiling. And while that jolted Marrow around quite a bit, and even started to cause hairline fractures in some of his bones, Marrow did not feel pain, and hence saw no reason not to continue doing what he did ¨C hold on and chomp.


    Eventually, the rat started slowing down, its movements becoming sluggish and its head drooping. And then, perhaps five minutes or maybe ten minutes after the start of the fight, the rat queen collapsed.


    As the last spark of life left the beady eyes of the rat, the voice spoke up in Marrow¡¯s head.


    [Level up: Level 3; Two new characteristic points available. Would you like to spend them now?]


    [Level up: Level 4; Two new characteristic points available. Would you like to spend them now?]


    [Level up: Level 5; Two new characteristic points available. Would you like to spend them now?]


    At first, Marrow did not quite know what to do. Was it telling him something? Did he have to do something? He had heard a similar message before, but only once. So he responded with the tried and true ¡°Yes¡±.


    ¡°You have eight free characteristic points available. Would you like to spend them on Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Wisdom, or Intelligence?¡±


    ¡°-¡±.


    ¡°You have eight free characteristic points available. Would you like to spend them on Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Wisdom, or Intelligence?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°-¡°.


    ¡°-¡°.


    Since nothing else happened, Marrow started climbing off the back of the giant rat.


    Just when he reached the ground, the voice spoke up again.


    ¡°You have defeated a level 1 boss. For defeating a monster that is more than 20 levels higher than you are, while not possessing a class, you gain a special reward. You may choose between the following: a smaller version of the boss as a loyal [Magical Pet]; an evolution to a [Greater Skeleton]; the class of [Skeleton Knight]; five extra levels.¡±


    Since he did not know any other way, Marrow again responded as always.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°-¡°.


    Marrow was a bit confused, twice now, answering ¡°yes¡± had not led to any further message.


    And then the voice repeated.


    ¡°You have defeated a level 1 boss. For defeating a monster that is more than 20 levels higher than you are, you gain a special reward. You may choose between the following: a smaller version of the boss as a loyal [Magical Pet]; an evolution to a [Greater Skeleton]; the class of [Skeleton Knight]; five extra levels.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°-¡°


    And, for the first time, the system changed its message. Perhaps it needed a decision. Or perhaps it felt pity. Whatever the reason was, the voice repeated the message and added: ¡°Do you want the loyal [Magical Pet]?¡±


    And this time, when Marrow said ¡°yes¡± a chiming sound reverberated through the hallway and a small rat appeared close to Marrow. Small compared to the rat queen that is. At about the size of a large dog, it was humongous for a rat.


    Marrow could barely make out the rat in the green fog. He was a bit puzzled on where the rat suddenly had come from, or what that chiming noise had meant, but he did not question either one. The fact that he felt some type of connection to the rat made him happy, though, because, somehow, he knew exactly where the rat was despite the billowing green gas.


    And even better, he knew that he could partially control the rat. So he commanded the rat to stand still. He moved toward it, opened his jaws impossibly wide, and chomped down on its skull. [Devastating Bite] crushed the head of the unresisting rat and Marrow contently chewed its brain.

 Chapter 7 – Yes

    Catlyn stared with a forlorn expression into the roiling toxic mist. The furious screeching of the rat queen echoed through the corridor, interspersed with the dull thuds of something hitting flesh repeatedly.


    There was no sign of Borgar, and Catlyn tried to come to terms with the idea that she might never see him again. He was not the greatest hero out there or the most valiant fighter, but he was her friend. One of the few she had. And now he was gone. Slain by a gigantic rat in this cursed dungeon.


    She would have given up the treasure they had found in the previous fight against the rats in a heartbeat if it would bring back her friend. Alas, it was too late.


    Catlyn had considered throwing herself into the poisonous gas to try to save Borgar, but there was nothing she could do against that huge rat, even less so given the poor visibility and the lethal nature of the gas.


    Tears started streaming down her face and, even though she intellectually knew that she should help her remaining friends get up and retreat while they still had the chance, she just could not get herself to turn around and leave.


    Borgar was there, somewhere in the fog, at the mercy of a rodent from hell.


    Suddenly, the screeches of the rat queen turned from furious to¡­ to fear? Catlyn could not believe her ears. Of course, she did not really know what a scared rat sounded like compared to a furious one, but her cat heritage, minor as it was, gave her an intuitive understanding of such sounds ¨C and it very much sounded as if the rat queen was starting to panic.


    And then, a short while later, there was silence. The only movement visible was the fog drifting slowly around the area of effect of the rat queen¡¯s ability.


    Gamul and Ikarius quietly moved up to Catlyn, the only noise coming from Gamul¡¯s rasping breathing - the remnant of the poison that had burned his lungs. Ikarius grabbed Catlyn¡¯s shoulder with an iron grip, staring into the green cloud with burning eyes.


    Abruptly, Catlyn jerked.


    ¡°Did you guys just level up as well?¡± she whispered with wide-open eyes.


    ¡°By Gallamutra¡¯s ti¡­,¡± Gamul glanced at Catlyn, cleared his voice and continued. ¡°Erm, heaving bosom, I just got to the third level!¡±


    ¡°Does that mean¡­ ?¡± Catlyn cautiously asked.


    ¡°I think so. The rat queen just died!¡± Ikarius agreed, surprise clearly written on his face.


    ¡°Borgar,¡± Catlyn screamed immediately, hoping against reason, that he might still be alive.


    Ikarius did not wait for a response, but rushed into the fog, waving his arms wildly, trying to disperse the noxious fumes.


    ------------------------------------------------


    Marrow chewed on the brain of the big rat that had appeared out of nowhere but felt strangely unsettled. Something was different. The brain was somehow¡­ mushy. Or perhaps not mushy. Maybe without substance was the better word. And then, to Marrow¡¯s surprise, the brain disappeared altogether from between his jaws. This had never happened before. Was it something special about this rat? Or did something else change?


    Before Marrow could further dwell on this mystery, the voice spoke to him again.


    ¡°You have killed your own familiar. As a result, you have earned the title [Bane of Familiars]. As long as you have this title, no familiar will bond with you. +20% to damage against familiars]¡±


    ¡°-¡°.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°-¡°.


    Since nothing further happened, Marrow considered what else to do. He was perfectly content just standing there too, but he noticed the gigantic rat queen in front of him and its huge head. After a brief moment of contemplation, a feat in and by itself, Marrow decided that he had never tried to eat a gigantic rat brain. Maybe it was different from the smallish ones. And even if not¡­ a brain was a brain, and it brought messages.


    As he stepped through the remaining green fog toward the head of the rat queen, he stumbled over the prone form of Borgar, still laying on the floor. At first, Marrow ignored him and continued toward the furry mass of the giant rodent in front of him. But then he stopped and looked once more at Borgar, in particular, his head.


    What if¡­ what if Borgar¡¯s head would produce a message?


    Marrow had considered that possibility once before, but at the time, the four strange creatures had provided so much other interesting stuff that it seemed better to simply watch them and see what happened. But now Borgar was laying on the floor and not really doing anything. So maybe now was the time to see what happened if he munched on his brain.


    Rat queen or Borgar? For a moment, Marrow was indecisive.


    And then he bent down and spread his jaws impossibly wide to encompass Borgar¡¯s head and bit with all his force.


    But contrary to the spider and even the rats, Borgar¡¯s head seemed unnaturally hard. Which already was an interesting finding by itself.


    Marrow ground his jaw back and forth but still could not crack the skull. Something was moving, though, and, reluctantly, he relaxed his bite. With a clang, some type of outer shell on top of Borgar¡¯s head fell down and rolled to the side - something he had noticed on Borgar¡¯s head but had thought of as skin or bone.


    With that out of the way, Marrow bent down and lifted Borgar¡¯s shoulders off the ground. Not because he was worried about Borgar¡¯s comfort or anything, but he thought it might make it easier to bite into his skull. Just when he spread his jaws wide and put them partially around Borgar¡¯s head, he heard Catlyn shouting Borgar¡¯s name and noticed something running through the fog toward him.


    Curious, Marrow looked up to see whether it might be another rat or something different. And then Ikarius emerged from the fog, followed by Catlyn. They noticed Marrow standing behind Borgar having his shoulders lifted off the ground and immediately rushed toward his legs, each one struggling to raise one of them.


    Marrow wondered what was going on.


    Did they want to bite into the foot?


    Based on his previous experiment, a foot or leg would not provide any voices, though.


    But maybe there was something that he did not know about.


    And then they started pulling Borgar away from him, which Marrow had not expected. He stumbled after them for a few steps, holding on to Borgar, but, out of balance as he was, not able to pull in the opposite direction.


    He was not quite enraged about their behavior, as being enraged was a foreign concept, one that required more emotions than Marrow really possessed. But he was¡­ annoyed.


    Before he could think of an appropriate response, they came out of the green fog, and Catlyn and Ikarius dropped Borgar to the ground, coughing violently. Immediately, Gamul rushed forward and put his hands on Borgar¡¯s body, shouting some unintelligible things. And, to Marrow¡¯s surprise, Gamul¡¯s hands started glowing in a soft, silvery light that seemed to sink into Borgar¡¯s flesh.


    Marrow did not know what was happening, but it was interesting enough to just stand back and observe for the time being. The first change Marrow noticed was that the beautiful pale sheen of Borgar¡¯s skin reverted back to the more brownish coppery tone he usually had. A marked reduction in looks, as far as Marrow was concerned ¨C not that it mattered all that much to him.


    A few seconds later, Borgar started coughing and wheezing, and before Marrow could react, Catlyn jumped at him and hugged him tightly.


    ¡°Thank you for saving him. Thank you so much,¡± she sobbed into his collarbone.


    As usual, Marrow was not quite sure how to respond. At first, he had thought that it was some sort of attack, and was ready to defend himself, but then he realized that it had to be something else. After all, why would someone put arms around him and get really close yet fail to restrain his jaws or arms?


    So perhaps it was what Catlyn had done with Ikarius before when they had found those little colorful stones. And since Ikarius had put his arms around Catlyn in response, Marrow did so too. Maybe it was another pattern to discover.


    Before he could analyze if there was any significance to all of this, Catlyn already had disentangled herself from his arms and looked up at him with her tear-filled blue eyes.


    ¡°You are the best, Marrow.¡±


    ¡°.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    Marrow said the only thing that he could think of because he had no idea what she was talking about.


    ¡°Did you defeat the rat queen all by yourself.¡±The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°How did you do that?¡± Ikarius asked, joining the conversation while Gamul kept on casting healing spells on Borgar.


    Marrow¡¯s head swiveled around to look at Ikarius.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    Somewhat confused, Ikarius looked at Catlyn, but she only shrugged her shoulders.


    ¡°Well, it does not matter. We are really glad that we found you here in the dungeon. You have already saved us three times now,¡± Ikarius continued.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    Marrow realized that the opportunity for him to try Borgar¡¯s brain had passed. For some reason, the others were not keen on chewing on his brain and instead were fussing all over him. At first, he had thought that perhaps it was a territorial thing¡­ like Borgar was their property to do with whatever they wanted, and that is why they had pulled it away from him¡­ but the longer he watched, the more he suspected that they were doing something else.


    He contemplated cracking his skull anyway but instinctively knew that doing so would bring him in conflict with the others. Not that he was afraid, but he realized that he actually liked being with them and that would change if they were all dead.


    So he turned around and walked back to the giant rat that now was fully visible as the green fog had finally begun to dissipate.


    Once there, he started gnawing through the massive skull of the creature. Initially, it was slow going, but once he realized that some gnawing interspersed with powerful punches allowed him to crack the head and then bite through the softened bone barrier. And eventually, he reached the squishy, soft, white-pink interior.


    The next problem was that the brain of the rat was so big that Marrow could not possibly chew on all of it at once. So Marrow punched his fist inside of the gooey mass and shoveled it into his mouth by the handful. Most of it dropped to the floor and the rest cascaded down his bony jaw and ribcage in a moderately disturbing waterfall of brain matter.


    ¡°Do you want to try to absorb [Rat Queen] brain? Chance of success: 10 percent.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°No experience penalty due to the boss class of [Rat Queen]. You choose to increase your potential for future growth by absorbing a skill from a [Rat Queen]. Attempt: Failed!¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°.¡±


    Nothing happened, and Marrow slowly started to see a pattern. Sometimes ¡°yes¡± produced follow-up messages, and sometimes it did not. And he began to recognize the respective types of messages. But it also suddenly made him realize that understanding more of the words would be very good because maybe, just maybe, there was meaning there and understanding that meaning would allow him to make better responses, which just may lead to follow-up messages.


    And Catlyn, Gamul, Ikarius, and even Borgar seemed to know a lot of words. Which¡­ made them useful?


    Up until then, Marrow had classified things and creatures as either providing some sort of novel experience, voices being especially valuable for some reason, or not. And he had behaved accordingly ¨C disinterested in some things, and in pursuit of those new experiences for the others.


    Now he started to realize that maybe he could use various approaches to increase his knowledge, and hence the supply for novel experiences. He had done some before, with his experiments and effort to recognize patterns. But all of that had been based on his own efforts to gain insights. He realized that perhaps the group could¡­ teach him something.


    He was not sure why they would do that, but they had already talked to him for no discernable reason, and then even jumped onto him and grabbed him around his ribcage, which Marrow was still a bit puzzled about. So maybe they would teach him as well if he just stayed close to them.


    Mind made up, he turned around to walk back to the group, but immediately stopped when he saw Ikarius and Catlyn stand there with open mouth, staring at him.


    ------------------------------------------------


    The green fog had cleared quite quickly, and, once it was entirely dissipated, Catlyn and Ikarius stepped closer to the rat carcass to inspect the monster that had almost been their end.


    And then they noticed what Marrow was doing ¨C he was thrusting his bony arms into the smashed head of the rat and stuffed his jaw full of brain goop.


    ¡°Ewww, is¡­ is that normal behavior for a skeleton?¡± Catlyn asked Ikarius with a slight tremor in her voice.


    ¡°I am not sure,¡± Ikarius responded uncertainly. ¡°I fail to see any reason for him doing that. I mean, he cannot swallow anything. Heck, anything he stuffs into his jaws will just drop down onto his ribcage.¡±


    Catlyn had to fight hard to keep her food down. It wasn¡¯t that she was a delicate flower like some ladies of the nobility, and she had seen already a few battles with bloody carcasses and wounded people. But this was way more disgusting than any of that.


    And then Marrow suddenly turned his head and stared right at them.


    Even though Catlyn knew that he was a friendly and helpful skeleton, weird as that was, he was still an alien entity in some sense. And sometimes it showed.


    ¡°Hey Catlyn, did you notice Borgar¡¯s helmet?¡± Ikarius interrupted her contemplation.


    ¡°His stinky leather cap? What about it?¡±


    ¡°Well, look at it. That ¡®stinky cap¡¯ might have just saved his life. Do you see those indents all around the steel frame? And how it is all scraped up? That rat queen must have chewed on it trying to crack Borgar¡¯s skull,¡± Ikarius speculated wistfully.


    ¡°Oh no, he is never going to let me live that one down, after all the time I have complained about it,¡± Catlyn whined.


    ¡°True enough. But you know Borgar, we¡¯ll find something else to tease him with soon enough.¡±


    While talking, Ikarius busily moved around searching the area around the rat queen.


    ¡°Look at that, Catlyn,¡± Ikarius shouted in triumph. ¡°This is some type of high grade, or perhaps even magical dagger. And there is more!¡±


    Catlyn immediately forgot everything else and rushed forward to join Ikarius in his search.


    ¡°I found a wand,¡± Catlyn shrieked almost immediately. ¡°And look there some potions. Are those¡­?¡±


    ¡°Yup, two high-quality healing potions and three mana potions!¡±


    Catlyn started giggling almost uncontrollably, until she felt Marrow¡¯s eyes on her, which made her rather self-conscious. Not that it helped. It only changed the giggling to her usual snorting a lot faster, which, arguably, was even worse. But then she noticed that Marrow was looking at all the treasures they had been finding, and that sobered her up rapidly.


    ¡°Uhm, Ikarius, so¡­ is it finders keepers or whoever kills the monster gets the treasure?¡±


    ¡°Whoever kills the monster, of course, or contributes significantly to the fight somehow,¡± Ikarius immediately responded, almost sounding offended at the idea of the distribution of treasures based on finding monster drops fastest. ¡°Otherwise, it would create all kinds of chaos in dungeon explorations and battles. Why?¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± Catlyn swallowed nervously. ¡°Marrow is watching us¡­ and¡­ I mean, I don¡¯t think we contributed much to the fight¡­¡±


    ¡°Darn, you are right,¡± Ikarius moaned. ¡°I got carried away. Well, might as well continue and collect it all. I am curious about what else there is.¡±


    It turned out that the only other thing that they found was a sword that was, oddly enough, quite rusty. Ikarius debated to just leave it where it was, but in the end, pulled it out from underneath the rat¡¯s carcass and added it to the small pile of monster drops.


    Marrow, meanwhile, stood uncomfortably close to them, watching them intently. More than once, Catlyn glanced at him in some discomfort, until she finally could not contain herself any longer.


    ¡°Marrow, do you have to stand that close to us?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°But why, do you not trust us? Do you think that we might take away some of your treasure?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Hey, that is not nice!¡± Caltyn shouted indignantly. ¡°We are nice and honest people!¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°What? So if you think we are nice and honest, why then this distrust? I don¡¯t get it,¡± Catlyn complained.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    Ikarius looked on with a flabbergasted expression on his face. Something was weird. It was as if¡­


    ¡°Catlyn, let me try something.¡±


    ¡°Marrow, can we have some of the treasure.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Catlyn shouted partly outraged, partly delighted. ¡°You just told me you don¡¯t trust us.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Catlyn, I think I know what is going on. Let me demonstrate.¡±


    ¡°Marrow, do you know my name?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Marrow, did you forget my name?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Do you get it now, Catlyn?¡± Ikarius asked with a smug expression.


    ¡°No!?¡± Caltyn shrugged with a bewildered expression on her face. ¡°That does not make any sense.¡±


    ¡°Exactly! I don¡¯t think Marrow has any idea what we are talking about. Did you realize that the only thing he ever says is ¡°yes¡±?¡±


    ¡°That¡­ oh my, I think you are right. But he is not stupid, is he? He just does not understand the words, I think.¡±


    ------------------------------------------------


    A short while later, Catlyn and Ikarius had apprised Gamul and the recovering Brogar of what they had learned. They stared pensively at the small pile of treasure while eyeing Marrow contemplatively.


    ¡°So, what should we do?¡± Gamul asked. ¡°Just take the treasure? Or leave it and see if Marrow picks it up?¡±


    Instead of answering, Ikarius bent down and picked up one of the health potions. He then offered the potion to Marrow and waited for him to move. Marrow, however, just stared at him without moving even a single finger bone. So Ikarius moved as if giving the potion to Gamul and watched Marrow¡¯s face carefully.


    ¡°He does not seem interested in the health potions,¡± Ikarius said with more confidence than he felt. ¡°Let¡¯s just divvy them up between Borgar and Gamul.¡±


    Ikarius proceeded then with the mana potions, which got handed to Gamul and Catlyn, the wand, which Catlyn grabbed almost possessively, and the dagger which Ikarius kept to himself.


    As the adventurers had guessed, Marrow had no interest in any of the items. But when it came to the rusty sword¡­ somehow it was calling to Marrow. He did not know why, but there was something about it that just felt right. So while the heroes admired their fancy new gear, he bent down and picked up the sword, which no one had even bothered to take a closer look at. And he felt oddly complete. A void that he had not even been aware of was filled.


    ¡°So what is the plan now?¡± Gamul asked after a short while.


    ¡°What, you feel antsy to move around?¡± Borgar asked with a wheezing voice that still showed the damage the poison had done to his lungs and throat.


    ¡°Well, not all of us like to sit on their ass the whole day,¡± Gamul quipped slightly annoyed.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you take another few deep breaths of poison gas and then we can talk some more, little man,¡± Borgar shot back.


    ¡°Little man? At least, all the rest of me is big, unlike for some other people here!¡±


    ¡°Oh, is that so? I have heard different!¡±


    Gamul started turning slightly red. ¡°What? From who?¡±


    ¡°Well, you know, that la-¡°


    ¡°Guys! Stop it,¡± Catlyn shouted exasperated. ¡°That kind of argument is not helping right now.¡±


    ¡°Oh, I see how it is,¡± Gamul grumbled. ¡°Are you then that ¡°la-¡° he is talking about? Huh? Something going on behind my back?¡±


    ¡°Argh! Stop it!¡± Catlyn screamed. ¡°Don¡¯t drag me into this. If you want to have a pissing contest or compare your pitiful man-bits, be my guest, but only once we are out of this dungeon, you bloody morons!¡±


    ¡°Pitiful man-bits?¡± Borgar and Gamul shouted almost simultaneously, outraged.


    Marrow meanwhile watched the spectacle with obvious interest. As usual, he had no idea what was going on, but it was lively, so he did not mind.


    Eventually, Ikarius decided to step in.


    ¡°We don¡¯t have much food or water, so we need to figure out a way to get out of here. In the worst case, we can eat dungeon creatures for food, but unless we find a source for water we will perish soon,¡± he stated in an almost disinterested tone, which immediately silenced the rest of the group.


    ¡°Shit, you are right, Ikarius,¡± Gamul grumbled. ¡°And now that you mention food, I am getting hungry. Does anyone have any food left?¡±


    Glumly, each of the other shook their head. They did have some emergency rations, but that was about it.


    ¡°Don¡¯t most dungeons have like safe zones where there is at least water?¡± Catlyn asked.


    ¡°Some do,¡± Ikarius responded. ¡°But certainly not all of them, so we cannot rely on that.¡±


    ¡°So what are we waiting for then?¡± Gamul asked. ¡°Let¡¯s get searching for that rat-tunnel as we had planned earlier.¡±


    It did not take the group very long to figure out how the rats had entered the prison area ¨C there was a hole in the corner of one of the rooms that opened up into a tunnel leading down.


    The group stopped at the entrance to the tunnel, and Gamul signaled the others to be quiet. Some faint noise that sounded suspiciously like fighting was clearly audible in the silence.


    ¡°What should we do,¡± Borgar asked with a slight quaver in his voice.


    ¡°It can¡¯t be helped,¡± Gamul grumbled. ¡°We need to move on and find another way out¡­ unless you prefer fighting that Shadow-Prowler!?¡±


    ¡°But what if there is even worse down there?¡± Catlyn whimpered.


    ¡°Well, as I see it,¡± Ikarius argued with his infuriatingly reasonable voice. ¡°There is certain doom fighting against the Shadow-Prowler, and there is an only possible disaster waiting down below.¡±


    After a moment of hesitation, the group, including Marrow, who just followed the others, descended into the dungeon.

 Chapter 8 – Slime

    The four adventurers and Marrow half crawled, half shimmied down the narrow tunnel for what seemed like an eternity, but effectively was perhaps twenty yards. By the time they came out, Borgar was hyperventilating and drenched in sweat.


    ¡°Calm down, Borgar,¡± Ikarius said dryly. ¡°We are out of the tunnel.¡±


    ¡°Thank Ishadra, I thought that the tunnel was going to collapse any moment.¡±


    Gamul thought about responding but instead just grinned.


    ¡°Guys, this¡­ is this somehow different?¡± Catlyn whispered.


    ¡°I think you are right,¡± Ikarius slowly said, while scanning the surrounding. ¡°For one, there is light here, torches of all things. Are they magical? Or did someone just light these?¡±


    ¡°And look, the walls are made out of a different kind of stone. Not sure what it is, but it is a lot darker, and somehow feels more massive,¡± Catlyn added.


    ¡°It feels¡­ dangerous here, don¡¯t you think?¡± Borgar asked hesitantly.


    ¡°That is a given,¡± Gamul muttered.


    Borgar glared at Gamul.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Just acknowledging your feelings,¡± Gamul smirked.


    ¡°This is not the moment to bicker,¡± Ikarius admonished. ¡°It seems like we are now in a different part of the dungeon, and it feels a lot older, which would mean that it probably even predates the Sundering.¡±


    ¡°No one ever mentioned something that old being down here,¡± Catlyn said with some skepticism in her voice.


    ¡°That is true,¡± Ikarius admitted. ¡°But the mage-school dungeon was not particularly well known either. We only learned about it when we overheard those yellow ranked adventurers in the guild talk about it, and then we had to dig through all those archives to find the location¡­ so there is no reason to believe that anyone would know about another dungeon even deeper down. After a-.¡±


    ¡°So what? That is good news, no?¡± Gamul interrupted before Ikarius could start one of his lectures, as he was prone to do.


    ¡°Well, maybe. Certainly, the likelihood of finding valuable treasure down here is significantly higher. But a higher reward comes with a higher risk, as you are all aware. There might be some monsters down here that will be able to obliterate us without any effort.¡±


    ¡°So maybe then we should go back up?¡± Borgar proposed immediately. ¡°After all, there is no point of having treasure, if we are dead.¡±


    He shot a glance at Marrow.


    ¡°Uhm, like really dead, not skeleton dead.¡±


    ¡°Borgar, there is a Shadow-Prowler waiting for us. He might not be in front of the door, but he will be somewhere, ready for us to come out. Shadow-Prowlers are tenacious and will never give up on prey,¡± Ikarius sighed. ¡°I am afraid that our best chance is indeed to go through this dungeon and try to find a different exit. After all, a rat hole is unlikely to be the official entrance to the dungeon, at least one that is intentionally constructed, as this one seems to be, rather than just a cave system.¡±


    Marrow, meanwhile, looked around curiously. It seemed very different from what he had seen before. In particular, the light fascinated him, how it flickered and jumped around and changed color from red to orange and even some blue. Curious, he moved closer, staring intently at the flames. He was even blending out all the talking by the rest of the party, something that had never happened before.


    Was the flickering light solid? No, that could not be. He could see through it after all, and it changed shape too quickly¡­ unless it was a shapechanger. Not that Marrow had ever heard of such an ability or creature, but it was something that he, at least, could imagine, conceptually.


    And then, tentatively, he reached out with his hands to touch the flames. As his hands got closer, he could feel something, but he was not sure what it was. At first, he felt rather indifferent toward that feeling, but then it started becoming slightly... irritating. When his finger bones were in the flames, he watched with fascination how they began to smoke, and he could feel a bit of a buzzing inside of his head that expressed danger.


    So he pulled out his hand and noticed with some fascination that there was now a flame dancing on one of his fingers. Marrow stared at it, with a mix of curiosity and outrage. Was he attacked? Was that some sort of fire-being that tried to eat him?


    He shook his hand rapidly, and the flame quickly extinguished, leaving behind a trail of smoke rising out of his blackened bone. And that did make Marrow somewhat furious. His beautiful, white-pale bones marred by black soot. He made a fist and punched the flame. And when that did not do much, he lowered his head and used [Devastating Bite].


    To his dismay, neither attack did anything, and the flames kept on dancing merrily. On top of that, there was a trickle of smoke coming from his jaws, slowly drifting past his eyes. And Marrow could only imagine how it might look.


    ¡°Uhm, guys. Watch Marrow!¡± Catlyn whispered to the others. ¡°He is¡­ is he fighting the torch?¡±


    ¡°The more I watch Marrow, the dumber I think he is,¡± Gamul muttered into his beard. ¡°Which, in its own way, is quite comforting.¡±


    ¡°I think it is adorable,¡± Catlyn said defensively. ¡°I think he just does not know anything. He is like a newborn!¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me that you want to adopt and raise him,¡± Borgar groaned. ¡°You remember what happened with the Spike Boar piglets?¡±


    Catlyn¡¯s face took on a slightly reddish tinge, visible even through her fur.


    ¡°It is not at all like that!¡±


    ¡°Oh, pray tell! At least, with the Spike Boar, we got a good nice roast out of it,¡± Borgar continued.


    ¡°Fine, I admit the Spike Boar piglets did not work out the way I had imagined. But who knew that they had such painful skin?¡±


    ¡°Well, duh, does the word ¡®spike¡¯ mean anything to you?¡± Borgar mumbled under his breath.


    Oblivious to Borgar¡¯s mumbling, Catlyn continued excitedly.


    ¡°I think that Marrow can be a great asset to us. I mean, he clearly is friendly enough, we just have to teach him some stuff. And, no offense, he has been our best fighter so far.¡±


    Without waiting for a response, Catlyn moved over to Marrow, who was standing stock still, staring at the smoke curling up from his jaw and one of his finger bones.


    Without waiting for Marrow to move or acknowledge her presence, she grabbed his hand and used a tiny bit of water from her flask to stop the finger from smoking. Marrow stared at the finger, turned it left and right, and then looked at Catlyn.


    Catlyn did not wait but used a few drops of water to carefully stop the smoke coming from his jaw as well and then turned toward the flame.


    Slowly, like talking to an imbecile, or perhaps more apt, to a baby, she explained to Marrow what a flame was and what it did. She demonstrated how it would start burning stuff that was put into a fire, how one could light up dark corners, and how air movements would make the flames flicker faster.


    Marrow did not understand half of it or even a third, but he did understand some. More than a baby would, for sure. And he learned a few new words, just listening to Catlyn, while she was demonstrating things about flames.


    Marrow felt his horizon expand. Just a tiny bit. But when there is so little understanding of the world, a tiny bit can feel monumental. And Marrow wanted more.


    So instead of just saying ¡®yes¡¯ as he used to do, he tried to repeat some of the words that Catlyn was using, which caused Catlyn to shoot a triumphant look at the other three adventurers and smile delightedly.


    Despite being busy learning new words and concepts ¨C Catlyn had moved on to body parts, weapons, and a variety of other things ¨C Marrow noticed that something was approaching. It made a wet, slurping noise that sounded different from anything Marrow had ever heard.


    But since none of the others seemed to react in any way to the sound, Marrow decided to just wait and see what would happen.


    And shortly later, the creature that had created that noise appeared in the flickering light - it was an amorphous, light-blue gelatinous blob, with a diameter of about Borgar¡¯s size. And, although, it made enough noise to have come to Marrow¡¯s attention from at least twenty yards away, the adventurers failed to notice it even now as it was approaching their group from behind.


    Until Catlyn noticed Marrow staring elsewhere and followed his eyes.


    ¡°Borgar,¡± she screamed in panic. ¡°Watch out! Behind you!¡±


    Borgar whirled around, raising his arms to protect himself from whatever had alarmed Catlyn. Alas, arms are of little use against a slimy gelatinous blob.


    While Borgar spun around, a part of the mass of the slime expanded from its body and shot forward, hitting Borgar in the chest. Borgar tried to slam down his arms on the massive pillar of slime, but that was precisely the wrong move. Perhaps a sword might have cut through the slime, but his arms just got stuck. Borgar pressed his legs into the ground, trying to get away from the slime, but to no avail.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    Gamul, in the meantime, used his Warhammer to slam down into the slime, only to see in horror that his trusted weapon sank into the gelatinous mass and got stuck. He heaved with both arms straining against the suction, but it was a lost cause - the hammer was gone.


    While Catlyn started wildly gesticulating in the air, Ikarius jumped back and forth, stabbing at the slime with his dagger and short sword with little to no impact.


    And Marrow¡­ Marrow just watched curiously. Was this slime something that needed to be fought? Apparently so, as the others were all running around the slime, trying to hit or stab it. He was not entirely clear on why Borgar had waited until the slime had touched him. Was that supposed to be a trap? Use himself as a lure? And even less clear to Marrow¡­ what was he supposed to do?


    Eventually, Marrow decided that he wanted to try his rusty sword. Instinctively, he knew that it was a weapon and that one would swing it to cut things into pieces. So he stepped around Catlyn, who, in the meantime, had managed to shoot a few ineffective, slightly glowing objects into the blob and approached the slime, sword raised over his head.


    And then, without any notable technique or even force, he cut down with his sword. The result of that cut was¡­ underwhelming. It easily cut a huge gash into the slime, but the moment the blade had passed, the gelatinous mass moved around and sealed the cut within a second.


    But Marrow was not one to be discouraged. He kept on slashing more and more rapidly until he was a whirlwind of cutting blades.


    Catlyn and Ikarius stared at the grisly spectacle. Bit and pieces of slime were flying around, and Marrow was already drenched in the gooey mess. Perhaps the slime realized that Marrow was a bigger threat than Borgar, or maybe the reduction in mass on one side made it naturally roll its sticky amorphous mass around ¨C either way the sudden swap in direction caught Marrow by surprise and he was quickly fully enveloped by the gooey mass.


    ¡°Oh no, it got Marrow inside,¡± Catlyn moaned. ¡°What do we do?¡±


    ¡°I am not sure,¡± Ikarius answered, breathing heavily. ¡°None of our weapons are effective.¡±


    ¡°I hate slimes,¡± Borgar whimpered, trying to brush off the remainder of the slimy substance from his chest and arms.


    Catlyn turned to Gamul. ¡°Do you have any magic that might help?¡±


    ¡°Sorry, lass, I only have healing spells, blessing, and turn undead. If I get the chance to rest a bit, I might be able to learn a 2<sup>nd</sup> level spell now that we leveled up, but that will be obviously too late for Marrow.¡±


    All four of them looked at the unmoving Marrow, trapped in the middle of the slime, some with trepidation and sorrow, others, namely Borgar, with quiet relief. But, contrary to what they believed, Marrow was not immobilized. He had just stopped moving when he got encased in the oddly gelatinous creature because it was a new experience. It felt quite different from anything he had experienced before ¨Calmost like floating, not that he had any experience with that either.


    But then Catlyn noticed Marrow moving his head. ¡°Ikarius, how do slimes kill again?¡±


    ¡°Ehm, I believe they dissolve their victims with acid,¡± Ikarius responded somewhat hesitantly.


    ¡°That is not necessarily true,¡± Borgar corrected Ikarius.


    ¡°And what would you know about slimes,¡± Gamul snorted. ¡°Bonehead!¡±


    ¡°Hey, I have forgotten more things than you have ever known,¡± Borgar shot back. ¡°I just happen to know a thing or two about slimes. How they kill depends on the color of the slime. What Ikarius was talking about is a green slime. This one here is a blue slime, which fills the lungs of the victim with their blue goop and causes them to suffocate. There are also black slimes that kill through life drain, yellow slimes use elec-¡±


    ¡°So¡­ if it fills the victim¡¯s lungs with slime¡­ does that do anything to Marrow?¡± Catlyn interrupted. ¡°Because, look, he is moving!¡±


    And indeed, Marrow started moving not only his head but also his arms and legs. Not that it did all that much good, because he was basically floating in a bubble. When he realized that his flailing, even with the rusty sword, did not change anything, apart from making the slime wobble around, he tried other things, such as [Devastating Bite], [Forceful Punch], being obstinate, and even saying all the words that he had learned. Alas, none of those things had any impact.


    Meanwhile, the valiant heroes were standing at a safe distance around the now motionless slime and debated what to do.


    ¡°I think we should move on,¡± Borgar said. ¡°We cannot save Marrow without great risk to ourselves!¡±


    ¡°Guess who got saved by Marrow attacking the slime?¡± Catlyn hissed at him.


    ¡°Now, now,¡± Gamul calmly said. ¡°No one is talking about abandoning Marrow, right Borgar? You probably meant to find something that would allow us to get my hammer and Marrow out of that slime.¡±


    ¡°Ah, so that is what it is about for you,¡± Borgar grumbled. ¡°Your idiotic hammer.¡±


    ¡°Back to the question,¡± Ikarius intervened. ¡°What actually kills a blue slime? Any insights, oh wise Borgar?¡±


    ¡°Well, I am a bit hazy on that one¡­ but I think you can burn them if you have a large enough fire.¡±


    ¡°Well, that is mighty useful,¡± Gamul groused. ¡°How about we grab the slime with our hands, just as Borgar demonstrated earlier, and toss it in the bonfire we conveniently have burning nice and hot right next to us?¡±


    ¡°Hey, is it my fault that you lost your hammer in a slime?¡± Borgar protested. ¡°Who hits a slime with a hammer?¡±


    ¡°People that are not stupid enough to hit the slime with their hands, apparently,¡± Gamul retorted. ¡°At lea-.¡±


    Gamul was interrupted by a swarm of shrieking creatures that rushed down the corridor toward the four adventurers.


    ¡°By Gallamutra¡¯s eyes, what are those?¡±


    ¡°Kobolds,¡± Borgar screamed. ¡°Follow me!¡±


    With a roar, Borgar started running toward the horde of short, red-brown creatures, each of which had short snouts and tiny little horns on their head, that made them look somewhat demonic or draconic. The kobolds had a random assortment of rusty, chipped weapon and leather armor that certainly had seen better days.


    For a moment, everyone was surprised, the kobolds because instead of running away from their ferocious screaming, the giant human was running at them, and the remaining adventurers, because¡­ well, it was Borgar that was running at the enemy.


    ¡°Figures,¡± Gamul muttered, while desperately trying to figure out what to use as a weapon. ¡°For once, he rushes into danger, and no one else is ready for it.¡±


    With a flourish, Ikarius drew his dagger and short sword and, hugging the wall, made his way to where Borgar was cutting a swath through the smallish creatures with his massive claymore.


    Catlyn, meanwhile, was torn between trying to figure out how to save Marrow and dealing with the new threat. Indecisively, she looked back and forth until she finally turned to the kobolds and started her usual incantation for magic missiles, the only useful spell she had, as it seemed at times.


    Despite the carnage caused by Borgar¡¯s attacks, he did not get out of the struggle unscathed. More than one rusty sword, dagger, or spear tip cut into his flesh and left him bleeding from a multitude of shallow wounds. And slowly, but surely, those wounds took their toll. Even though Borgar had already killed six kobolds, there still were at least three times the number cursing, hissing, and climbing over each other for a chance to stick something sharp into the offending human. And Borgar visibly started to slow down.


    If not for Ikarius, Borgar might have gotten overrun right then and there. But whenever one of the kobolds threatened to attack Borgar from the side or behind, Ikarius darted forward and delivered a surgical stab with one or even both of his weapons. And while he lacked the brute strength of Borgar, he more than made up for that with his pinpoint accuracy.


    But even Ikarius could not be everywhere, and slowly, Borgar started to fall back. In between, Catlyn¡¯s missiles provided a brief moment of reprieve for the others.


    Gamul finally realized that without weapons, he was not going to be nearly as useful as Borgar and Ikarius in fighting so he would better serve the group by providing whatever healing he could. Singing incantations to Gallamutra in his deep bass voice, he stepped closer to Borgar. Once he was within a couple of yards, a warm glowing light spread out from his hands, and where it touched Borgar his wounds started closing.


    Seconds stretched into minutes, and the adventurers developed a steady rhythm of hacking, stabbing, and retreating, only interrupted by the intermittent flashes of magic.


    Once they were next to the slime, the situation somewhat improved, because the kobolds were quite leery of stepping close to the giant blob of gelatinous mass. Rightfully so, as demonstrated by Borgar, who managed to shove one of the creatures right into the slime; despite struggling with all its might, the kobold was swiftly surrounded by a solid layer of slime and soon stopped moving.


    The presence of the slime thus offered a strategic chokepoint that made it significantly easier for the group to hold its position and whittle down the horde of monsters.


    And despite not being the smartest creatures out there, the kobolds eventually realized that after losing half their number they were still not getting anywhere. So when another kobold was decapitated by a swing of Borgar¡¯s claymore, the kobolds turned around as one and ran away as fast as their legs could carry them.


    --------------------------------------------


    ¡°Uff da! For a bit I thought it was going to be tight,¡± Gamul sighed in relief while wiping the sweat off his forehead with the sleeve of his, by now, ragged tunic.


    ¡°So what about Marrow?¡± Caltyn asked after a moment. ¡°Any idea on how to get him out? The slime is just sitting there with him and not doing anything.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, look at that kobold that the slime took. You see how parts of it are becoming kind of blurry? I think the kobold is being assimilated into the mass of the slime,¡± Ikarius stated matter of fact. ¡°But that is not happening with Marrow. I guess because he is not entirely dead¡­¡±


    ¡°Could we perhaps distract the slime to release Marrow?¡± Catlyn wondered.


    ¡°And how would you do that?¡± Ikarius asked, and then smirked. ¡°Sing a song? Or do some parlor tricks?¡±


    ¡°No, I was thinking more about¡­¡± Catlyn¡¯s eyes wandered over the pile of dead kobolds. ¡°All these corpses.¡±


    ¡°Lass, that might be either the stupidest idea or the best thought you have had during the last few days,¡± Gamul declared. ¡°It might just cause the slime to spit out my damn hammer.¡±


    Immediately, Gamul grabbed the next corpse and heaved it into the slime. And then another one, and another one. Soon, Catlyn and Ikarius helped toss dead bodies into the wobbly mass, and it quickly grew to a truly humungous size. At the same time, the layer of slime covering the bodies become substantially thinner, because there was only so much gelatinous mass going around.


    Marrow watched all of this curiously. The fighting he had understood intuitively, as this was a natural thing for skeletons. But the subsequent decision to throw the dead bodies into the slime left him a bit befuddled. Perhaps, the most striking thing was that none of them even attempted to crack the skull of one of the kobolds. Wasn¡¯t this a colossal waste?


    By then, Marrow really had enough of the slime prison he had found himself in and started wiggling around all of his extremities to somehow find some traction. And that traction came in the form of a dead body that ended up touching his legs. When he kicked with his right leg, the kobold gave him a platform to push off from, which allowed him to temporarily stretch the goop around him thin and create little empty pockets. And that, in turn, allowed him to start moving around the sword with some kind of momentum and cut through the mass around him.


    None of those things by themselves would have been enough to save Marrow from the clutches of the slime, but all of the factors taken together, created enough tension and disruption that Marrow broke free with his head and arm. He furiously started slashing down with his rusty sword, and the slime seemed to instinctively realize that there was nothing to be gained from trying to keep Marrow where he was, especially because there was plenty of food to be assimilated. With a ¡®plop¡¯ Marrow was released and fell, with a clatter of bones, from about head height to the stone floor.


    ¡°Marrow!¡± Caltyn shouted and rushed toward him, ready to throw her arms around his bony body. But in the last second, she realized that he was all covered by the sticky body fluid of the slime and stopped awkwardly in front of him.


    ¡°Ehm, I am so glad you got out of there!¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Marrow responded in his typical bony, monotonous voice, and showed no emotion whatsoever. Not that he ever had shown feelings previously.


    ¡°So,¡­, great then!¡± Catlyn continued lamely. She turned around to the others. ¡°Isn¡¯t it great, guys? It worked! Not the way I thought it would, but hey, whatever it takes, right?¡±


    Gamul stared at the slime with a forlorn expression, while Borgar frowned at Marrow with his usual mix of apprehension and suspicion. And Ikarius¡­ he busied himself picking up loot drops from the defeated kobolds ¨C nothing fancy, but at least a few coins, a dagger, and even a health potion.


    ¡°Right?¡± Catlyn said again.


    ¡°What about my hammer?¡± Gamul whined. ¡°The slime was supposed to spit it out!¡±

 Chapter 9 – Status

    Marrow stared at the slime in front of him. All those brains lost in the sticky goop ¨C it made Marrow kind of¡­ sad? He did not quite know how to describe or even understand the feeling, but it was definitely there.


    He had also learned that he did not care for being entrapped in a slime. In fact, he realized that he did not like slimes.


    It was still strange for Marrow to have any emotions at all. After all, he had been in a closet for hundreds of years without feeling pretty much anything. And then suddenly he had been almost overwhelmed with sentiments, passions, and desires.


    Not that it was comparable to an average human by any means ¨C he experienced an emotion once every few hours¡­ but for a skeleton that was still the equivalent of raging hormones like in puberty. The suddenness of the onset of those feelings sometimes surprised Marrow, as much as their impact. If it had been something physical, he might consider it some sort of attack, but this¡­ it actually seemed to come from inside of him.


    Rather than ponder about the mysteries of the world, Marrow decided to do what he knew how to do. He started slashing into the slime to get at the brains. And if the slime was cut into pieces in the process, all the better.


    And now Marrow knew to avoid touching the sticky amorphous cube with his bones, lest he got caught again. Rather than slashing into the slime to no effect, Marrow began to carve chunks of the goop off the gelatinous blob. At first, this did not do much, but rather soon, Marrow had shaved off a substantial pile of wobbling bits and pieces that visibly reduced the volume of the slimy creature.


    Initially, the slime did not even seem to notice what was going on, busy as it was with digesting more than a dozen kobolds at the same time. But eventually, it realized that it was losing mass quicker than it was gaining. And the skeleton was, quite obviously, the culprit.


    So the slime shot out tendrils of its body, trying to ensnare the pesky, and inedible bone-creature, but Marrow either sidestepped them with surprising agility or simply cut them off with his sword.


    Marrow did not really have to think overly much about what he was doing. After figuring out that cutting things off the blob was better than stabbing or just slashing at the main body, the rest was reasonably elementary for him ¨C hack, slash, sidestep, and slash again.


    And he was not aimlessly cutting off slime-parts either¡­ he was aiming to retrieve the heads of the kobolds from the gooey clutches of the monster. And there was the first one. Marrow felt satisfaction when he managed to cut out the first semi-digested kobold, and it fell to the floor.


    By then, the slime was wobbling around in obvious alarm, slowly moving away, while lashing out with thick tendrils, trying to ward off Marrow¡¯s persistent attacks.


    But Marrow did not relent. Faster and faster, he cut out the remaining kobolds, in no small part aided by the lack of energy the slime possessed after trying to digest that many bodies all at once.


    Eventually, the slime was whittled down to a fraction of its original size and started looking more like a harmless pudding than a threatening slime-monster. Not that it mattered to Marrow ¨C cute or not, non-threatening or not, he did not like slimes and kept on chopping.


    He noticed that Borgar, Gamul, and Catlyn stood a bit further away and watched with somewhat strange expressions on their faces what he was doing, but that was of no concern to him either. He wanted two things ¨C brains, and a dead slime if a slime could actually die. And if not, then at least a small slime.


    And die it did.


    As the slime got smaller and smaller, it began to wobble around more and more vigorously, in the futile attempt to either escape or ensnare Marrow. And then, the slime was by then the size of a cat, it stopped moving. For good measure, Marrow cut it a few more times and even stomped on it, but no more changes happened.


    And then, the voice spoke up.


    ¡°[Level up: Level 6; Two new characteristic points available. Would you like to spend them now?]¡±


    Marrow had realized that it was better to know what was being said, rather than randomly saying things just because they fit past patterns. There were words out there, and meaning, beyond the wildest patterns he had learned so far, of that Marrow was convinced.


    But perhaps¡­ Marrow swiveled his head around to look at Catlyn.


    Maybe it was possible to learn about the meaning.


    ¡°[Level up: Level 6; Two new characteristic points available. Would you like to spend them now?]¡± he said with a bony imitation of the voice toward the adventurers.


    ¡°W..what?¡±Borgar stammered.


    ¡°Seriously, this skeleton sometimes gives me the creeps,¡± Gamul complained, while cautiously picking his way through the slime-covered floor to retrieve his hammer. ¡°But I have to give him that¡­ he is helpful! Got me back my baby!¡±


    ¡°I think it is asking for help¡­ Is that right, Marrow?¡± Catlyn asked.


    Marrow could make neither head nor tail of what they were talking about, so he just repeated the message. ¡°[Level up: Level 6; Two new characteristic points available. Would you like to spend them now?]¡±


    ¡°Marrow, say yes,¡± Catlyn said, talking slowly and highly articulated like to an imbecile.


    ¡°Marrow, say yes,¡± Marrow said.


    ¡°Ungh, Marrow, not like that. Just say ¡®yes,¡¯ not everything else I am saying,¡± Catlyn chided Marrow impatiently.


    ¡°Ungh, Marrow, not like that. Just say ¡®yes,¡¯ not everything else I am saying,¡± Marrow repeated dutifully.


    ¡°It is so weird to hear your words in the system voice, Catlyn,¡± Ikarius chuckled. ¡°It actually gives it some gravitas.¡±


    Catlyn frowned. ¡°What do you mean, by that?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean, by that?¡± Marrow asked as well.


    ¡°Oh, you know, like deep, not like squeaking, high pitched, and frivolous.¡±The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    ¡°He means silly,¡± Gamul threw in helpfully.


    ¡°Squeaking? High pitched? Frivolous? Silly?¡± Catlyn repeated at first bewildered and then with growing outrage.


    ¡°Squeaking? High pitched? Frivolous? Silly?¡± Marrow helpfully repeated.


    Catlyn turned angrily toward the skeleton. ¡°Shut up, Marrow!¡±


    ¡°Shut up, Marrow!¡±


    Ignoring Marrow for the moment, Catlyn glared at Gamul and Ikarius. ¡°So you don¡¯t like my voice, huh? If that is t-.¡±


    ¡°I was just teasing, Catlyn,¡± Ikarius interrupted. ¡°You voice is quite lovely.¡±


    Somewhat mollified, Catlyn mumbled, ¡°Lovely, huh?¡±


    Ikarius could not help, but quip: ¡°Even if your voice IS a bit high pitched.¡±


    ¡°You!¡± Catlyn grumbled, but could not help to grin a bit at the good-natured ribbing. As most catfolk, her voice did have a somewhat higher pitch, so it was not something that she took that personal.


    ¡°Guys, this is too good. Let me try something.¡±


    With a twinkle in her eyes, she turned back to Marrow, who, in the meantime, had kept on repeating whatever Catlyn had been saying. To no avail. Nothing had happened at all. So he was starting to doubt his plan of asking for help. Maybe they did not, after all, know what the message meant? If so, there was no point in repeating things, so he decided to stop doing that.


    ¡°Catlyn is the best!¡± Catlyn said triumphantly, giving Ikarius and Gamul a smirk.


    ¡°.¡±


    ¡°Marrow!¡± Catlyn repeated a little bit annoyed. ¡°Catlyn is the best!¡±


    ¡°.¡±


    ¡°Marrow, what the heck? Repeat what I say!¡±


    ¡°.¡±


    Ikarius, Gamul, and Borgar could not suppress their snickers any longer, and Catlyn flushed a deep shade of red.


    ------------------------------------------------


    Marrow wasn¡¯t sure why all the others made those strange noises. He had once tried to copy them, but it turned out to be much harder than imitating language. Even to his own ears, or earholes as they were, it sounded different, somehow darker. So he did not try to imitate it.


    And then the voice talked again.


    ¡°[You have 10 free characteristic points available; Do you want to spend them now?]¡±


    Reluctantly, Marrow tried once more to get help from Catlyn, and this time she acted strangely. First, she slapped a hand in front of her mouth, and then she scrunched her forehead before responding.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    And when Marrow repeated the word, the voice spoke up again.


    ¡°What do you want to spend your points on, Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Wisdom, or Intelligence?¡±


    This time, when Marrow repeated what the voice had said, Catlyn did not immediately respond. Instead, she looked imploringly at Ikarius, Gamul, and Borgar and raised her shoulders briefly.


    Borgar immediately said, ¡°Strength,¡± while Gamul shouted ¡°Wisdom,¡± and Ikarius proposed ¡°Dexterity.¡±


    Catlyn considered briefly, but then, turning to Marrow said: ¡°Status!¡±


    Repeating this, made the voice say a lot, which delighted Marrow quite a bit.


    Name: Marrow Class: No Class Type: Basic Azkera¡¯t Skeleton


    Level: 6 Experience: 4350


    Strength: 8 Stamina: ¡Þ


    Dexterity: 5 Health: 48


    Constitution: 8 Mana: 36


    Wisdom: 3 Divine Favor: 18


    Intelligence: 6


    Free Points: 10


    Skills:


    [Skill absorber; R4]


    [Forceful Punch; C4]


    [Devastating Bite; U5]


    [Penetrating Stare; C3]


    [Ultrasonic Hearing; U1]


    [Obstinance of a Cat; U1]


    Spells: NA


    Marrow started repeating what he had heard, but Catlyn interrupted him after only a few of the words.


    ¡°What is a Basic Azkera¡¯t Skeleton? And what do you mean by ¡®no class¡¯?¡± Catlyn turned to the others. ¡°Guys, did you hear that?¡±


    Marrow dutifully repeated what Catlyn had said, but the voice did not say anything. Was Catlyn just trying random words, just as he had done all this time?


    Since Marrow did not, or could not, volunteer any information, Catlyn sighed and said again: ¡°Status.¡±


    That, Marrow was happy to repeat as it had given him plenty of words by the voice, and he liked that.


    This time, Catlyn let Marrow repeat more of his status, until they arrived at the ¡®free points¡¯, after which she immediately said: ¡°Increase Intelligence by 10 points.¡±


    Repeating those words, suddenly brought an onslaught of new concepts and ideas into Marrow¡¯s brain. So many new patterns that now seemed obvious!


    Curious, he said ¡°status¡± again, and, lo and behold, the voice said that he had intelligence of 16 now. It was obvious then that his previous words had been a command that increased that number, and since his understanding and insights had gone up, the numbers had to somehow correspond to that. Which, in turn, implied that all the other number reflected different things. What those were he was not sure yet, but at least he now knew what to find out.


    ¡°Strength?¡± he asked.


    And Catlyn made some weird movements, lifting a kobold up, apparently trying to illustrate the concept of strength. Was strength taking away brains from him? Marrow grew a bit concerned.


    But since Catlyn, and after a little while, Ikarius, used various examples to explain the characteristics, Marrow¡¯s increased intelligence allowed him to deduce reasonably quickly what the first few words represented.


    And it did not take him long to understand some other simple words and what they actually meant, such as yes, no, don¡¯t, what, how, and so forth. Added to the vocabulary of simple words he had known instinctively, he soon was able to piece together a whole lot more of what the others were talking about. He still had huge gaps, of course, but it was night and day compared to what it had been previously. It certainly helped that Marrow had to hear a new word only once, and he would remember it perfectly ¨C something about his brain being a pocket dimension, perhaps.


    Eventually, Borgar was bored out of his mind and interrupted the teaching session with a rather profound statement. ¡°I am hungry.¡±


    Which stopped Ikarius and Catlyn cold.


    ¡°What is hunger?¡± Marrow asked curiously.


    Catlyn tried to explain the concept to him, but he did not quite fully understand it. The chewing motion she did was easy enough¡­ but why not do it? There were plenty of kobolds laying around, so they could grab one and chew on it any time.


    Speaking of, Marrow realized that he had forgotten entirely about the kobold brains.


    One after another he crunched their skulls, which were kind of mushy after being partially digested by the slime. To Marrow¡¯s dismay, no messages came forth. At first, he chalked it down to chance. Maybe there was something different about the first few he had chewed on. But then he started to panic. What if this was a permanent change? What if putting characteristic points into intelligence or calling on the status made the voice disappear?


    Just to test if the voice was still there, he said: ¡°Status.¡± To his relief, the voice still talked to him in response. So something else was going on¡­ but there were simply too many variables that had changed for him to determine conclusively what had happened. The most likely explanation was that he had not been involved in fighting the kobolds or that too much time had passed since their death. But perhaps it was instead that the kobolds had been already partially digested¡­


    Since he had upgraded his intelligence, he felt much more capable in understanding patterns, and so it was even more frustrating not to be able to figure out what was going on. It was almost depressing. Could it be something about the kobolds instead? Or being in this new part of the dungeon, or that he w-.


    ¡°Marrow, what are you doing?¡± Catlyn asked with a somewhat concerned voice. ¡°Why are you cracking all the skulls? And why have you been standing there for the last five minutes without moving?¡±


    Marow did not appreciate having his train of thoughts be disrupted like that. It was not as if he had been on the verge of finding things out. But still. His superior intellect should be eno-.


    ¡°Marrow! Hey, can you hear me?¡± Catlyn asked again. ¡°Knock, knock!¡±


    Marrow wondered why this silly creature kept on interrupting him. But before he could formulate a reasonable hypothesis, he heard something from down the corridor.


    He snapped his head around and got his sword ready.


    Immediately, Catlyn and the others drew their weapons and arranged themselves in their typical fighting position, with Borgar up front, Gamul next to him, Ikarius hiding in what few shadows he could find, and Catlyn taking the rear.


    Marrow stood next to them, and felt slightly¡­ left out. Apparently, getting into some type of formation was what one did. Yet, he was not part of it. And he, by himself, could not get into any formation either. So perhaps he could join the formation of the others? But where would he put himself?


    Before he could decide on what to do, a large group of kobolds came into view, at least forty strong. Most of them were the basic type from the first encounter, but behind them were three kobolds wielding staves with slightly glowing gemstones inserted into the top.

 Chapter 10 – Dark Magic

    ¡°By Gallamutra¡¯s holy mace, there is a whole army of them!¡± Gamul groaned.


    ¡°Forget about the little guys, they have shamans along,¡± Ikarius said in a worried tone. ¡°If they are any good, this is going to go very different from the last fight.¡±


    ¡°So what do we do?¡± Borgar whined. ¡°There are too many of them. They are going to overrun us, tear us to pieces, ea-.¡±


    ¡°Borgar! Stay calm,¡± Ikarius shouted in a commanding tone. ¡°You go up front with Gamul and scatter those kobold grunts. Catlyn, you provide magic support with your missiles. Stay back, so we don¡¯t have to worry about protecting you. I will do my thing, and hopefully, their spells are either as useless as Catlyn¡¯s, or we can get to them before they blast us apart.¡±


    ¡°Hey! I am right here! I can hear you; you know?¡± Catlyn protested. ¡°And what about Marrow?¡±


    ¡°Right. Our pet skeleton. Marrow, you go and take the right flank against the Kobolds. Focus on covering the others and don¡¯t get out of position!¡±


    ¡°Everyone go!¡±


    Marrow had no idea what Ikarius had just shouted. Well, almost no idea. He understood ¡®go,¡¯ and the word kobolds seemed to refer to those creatures that were rushing toward them.


    And Ikarius had given him a role! A task just for him!


    It made him feel a bit fuzzy, right around the ribcage, which was a strange feeling, but a good one. Now, if only he knew what exactly he was supposed to do¡­ but at least the word ¡®go¡¯ seemed pretty clear. So Marrow moved forward toward the kobolds.


    He suspected that he should be doing something with the kobolds. Should he fight them? Put his arms around them?


    If the past interaction between the group and kobolds was any indication, he was supposed to stick his sword into them. So that was his plan.


    But then he got distracted by those glowing gemstones in the staves the kobolds at the rear wear bearing. Why did they glow? Was it like those torches and the flames that he had just learned about? But the light was much steadier, so surely it was something different. He¡­ he really wanted to investigate them.


    And then one of the gemstones lit up with a bright light and, faster than his eyes, such as he had, could follow, a jagged ray of¡­ something bright shot out toward him and the group of adventurers. Marrow could feel his bones suddenly jerk a little bit and something tingle down his spine, into his legs and then his feet ¨C a decidedly unpleasant experience, that left him somehow feel weaker.


    Worst of all, smoke started rising from his ribcage.


    Which made him mad.


    Peripherally, Marrow heard Catlyn scream ¡°Guys! They are at least level 15!¡± in a voice that was even more high-pitched than usual. And Borgar adding immediately: ¡°Ikarius, you need to get them, I¡¯ll guard our retreat!¡± with a voice that had those weird little tremors in them, a variation of his normal voice that he used when there were other creatures around or when Marrow looked at Borgar - one of those odd little patters Marrow had noticed.


    Marrow did not really know what they were screaming, and he did not care that much either. No, his sight was set on those three kobolds that had marred him. Well, only one of them actually had, but since he did not know for sure which one it had been, he held all of them accountable. Culpability by association, not that Marrow thought in those terms. For him, it was a simple matter - one of them was guilty, so if he cracked the skull of all of them, the guilty one would be punished.


    Rusty sword in hand, he walked straight toward the three kobolds with staves that were hiding behind the host of kobold grunts.


    -----------------------------------------------------


    ¡°What is he doing?¡± Ikarius whispered. ¡°Why is he just walking right up to the kobolds by himself. Is he suicidal?¡±


    His confusion was shared with the kobolds. The ones at the front hesitated when they saw the lone skeleton approach them.


    What kind of creature was that? Why would it attack them by itself? Was it that powerful? Perhaps that rusty sword was a mighty artifact¡­ or was it a feint? Why did the others just shout stuff but not move?


    Carefully, they took a step back, and then another.


    The kobolds glanced at each other as if encouraging the respective next kobold to attack. The problem was that the bony thing moved with¡­ with a purpose, and seemingly unconcerned about the presence of all the kobolds in front of it. And it did not even glance at them, making it look as if¡­ they were beneath its notice.


    Eventually, the kobolds started drawing enough courage from the proximity of their fellow kobolds and braced themselves for the inevitable onslaught, ready to swarm all over that skeleton the moment it attacked ¨C following standard kobold battle doctrine.


    But that attack never came. The skeleton just ignored them. Which made the kobolds even more confused. It was right in the middle of them and only pushed the kobolds in front of it out of the way.


    Two of the kobolds with wands started yelling and gesticulating wildly, while a swirling red miasma formed around the third. Before it could let loose whatever fiery spell, it was casting, a tiny magic missile hit him on the chest, causing the spell to fizzle spectacularly.


    And that fiery implosion of the spell, coupled with the enraged screeching of their shamans, finally made the kobold grunts realize that they needed to do something about the bone-human. Slightly trembling, the kobolds grabbed their weapons tightly and readied for an all-out assault on the creature in their midst, when suddenly they were hit from behind by a wildly screaming, giant human, swinging a huge sword in wide arcs that ripped through two or three kobolds at a time.


    The kobolds whirled around to face the new threat and recoiled in shock when they noticed the bulging muscles, coupled with the crazed look on the red, sweating face of the warrior.


    And behind the warrior there was a squat humanoid, two heads shorter than the big one but equally wide, laying into the kobolds with a slightly glowing warhammer, all the while muttering curses into his impressive beard.


    The moment the kobolds thought they had adjusted to the new threat, mostly by each pushing another kobold into the path of those crazy creatures, they were picked off from the side or behind by a human that was somehow hard to keep track of.


    And if that was not enough, suddenly a bright light started shining right on top of them, blinding them momentarily.


    The balance in the battle had shifted clearly in favor of the adventurers ¨C Marrow¡¯s actions had thrown the kobolds into disarray, breaking their momentum, and then the others had capitalized on the distraction. Within the first minute, about a quarter of the kobolds was killed or heavily injured.


    Something the kobold shamans were all too aware of. Rather than sit back and hope that the kobold grunts would manage to rally and overcome their opponents, they started calling forth their significant powers.


    And here is where they made their second grave mistake of the fight ¨C they mistook Marrow for a powerful skeleton with, likely, hundreds of years of experience. There indeed were those around the dungeons, albeit rarely seen in these parts ¨C liches, dread knights, reaver skeletons, skeleton lords and kings, and others, most of which had memories ranging back hundreds if not thousands of years and were clinging desperately to their undead existence.


    They were right in that Marrow was hundreds of years old¡­ but when it came to experience, he was the equivalent of a fearless three day old.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    Perfectly synchronized, the three shamans raised their hands. Dark energy raced up their arms, and erupted from their raised middle fingers, only to dissipate about a foot above their heads. For a couple of seconds, during which another three kobolds found an untimely end, nothing happened. But then dark clouds started billowing up from the ground in the middle of the combat, coalescing into an amorphous dark spirit creature that hovered above the floor, with black pulsing tentacles that touched everything around it indiscriminately.


    ¡°An abyssal mind-leech!¡± Ikarius screamed in shock. ¡°Run!¡±


    ¡°Why the panic? It is just some smoke,¡± Gamul grumbled, waving his hammer through the smoky tentacles, while slowly backing away. ¡°Ikarius, does this ev¡­ Isigolde? How¡­ what,¡­, you are whole! How is this possible? I¡­ I missed you so much!¡±


    Gamul dropped to his knees and reverently spread his hands about a couple of inches above the floor, stroking something unseen to everyone but him.


    Not that anyone saw him do that, apart from Catlyn that is.


    She saw it all.


    She saw Borgar spread his arms wide, fiercely hugging the empty air in front of him, with tears streaming down his cheeks. And then, despite the gravity of the situation, Catlyn had to giggle, because, for some mysterious reason, Ikarius slowly began to undress, revealing a rather pale, well-muscled body, without any hair. When Ikarius took off his pants - a sight Catlyn had not previously been privy to -  Catlyn¡¯s eyes were glued on him, despite the rest of her brain insisting that just perhaps she should focus on other things.


    ¡°.¡±


    Giggling quickly turned to her usual snorting when she saw all that was to be seen.


    Caught in the mix of hilarity and sheer mind-numbing panic at the overwhelming forces they were facing, she feverishly thought about what to do, how to save the others. But she drew a complete blank, which sufficed to sober her up quite quickly.


    In an act of desperation, she shot a magic missile at the spirit creature, but it went right through, not even causing any discomfort from the looks of it. The only good thing in the whole situation was that the kobold grunts did not fare any better and were mostly curled up on the floor in fetal positions.


    And then Catlyn realized that she had not checked on Marrow, who was the furthest away from her, close to those three powerful kobold shamans.


    -----------------------------------------------------


    Marrow had been at least as surprised as everyone else by the sudden emergence of that spirit creature. Or perhaps less so. Sometimes it was hard to tell. On the one hand, until thirty hours ago, he had never even seen a spell, and all the monsters he had encountered had been spiders. So all of it was absolutely new to him. On the other hand, he had absolutely no expectation about what was normal or not.


    Can one expect the unexpected?


    While watching with fascination the dark cloud billow up from the ground and coalesce into the head-like cloud with tentacles, Marrow thought hard about this question, at least in conceptual terms - just another instance in which random questions flitted through his mind since he had upgraded his intelligence. He briefly remembered that he had wanted to inspect those glowing gemstones and punish the kobolds for marring his ribcage, but for the moment he was distracted by this completely new and captivating spectacle.


    Intrigued, he watched one of the tentacles slithering toward him. As it got closer, Marrow suddenly was overcome by the urge to drop to all four and claw at the tentacle with his hand ¨C a strange desire, indeed, especially because he held a perfectly serviceable, albeit rusty sword in his hand. But Marrow could not resist his nature.


    The moment his hand touched the writhing dark mass, he could feel something dig through his memories, pulling forth all his darkest moments, his biggest fears, and most terrifying experiences.


    Alas, not much was coming forth though.


    Hundreds of years of staring at the same spot in a closet had formed a rather sparse set of recollections.


    There was the moment that he had been in utter panic after seeing Catlyn for the first time¡­ but seeing Catlyn again now hardly caused any response from Marrow. And then there was the Shadow-prowler, and that had been scary¡­ but hardly something that the abyssal mind-leech could use because Marrow did not even know what a Shadow-prowler was ¨C it just had been an instinctual fear.


    With some annoyance, the mind-leech moved on to conjure memories of Marrow¡¯s pristine bones being blackened, and not being able to hear the voice.


    And that was a big mistake. Not so much for the abyssal mind-leech, who, ultimately, did not care about consuming the memories of one additional creature, especially one that had so little to provide in terms of sustenance as Marrow did. No, the problem was for the kobold shamans.


    While Marrow was not prone to panic, being reminded of his blackened bones reminded him of his fury. And the voice¡­ well, what better thing to do than crack some skulls!


    So, Marrow strode purposefully out of the black billowing smoke right up to the three kobolds. All three of them had wisps of darkness dance along their arms, middle fingers stretched toward the ceiling. And all three looked at him with utter incomprehension - they had unleashed an abyssal mind-leech, a being that was powerful enough to quickly decimate an adventuring group or even an army, yet this skeleton walked out of its area of effect as if nothing had happened!


    Dumbfounded, they just stared at Marrow until his fist hit one of them with a [Forceful Punch] on the head, causing it to drop to the floor unconscious. Finally, the other two shamans snapped out of their surprise and stopped supplying dark energy to the abyssal spirit. While the first grabbed a curved, richly ornamented dagger, coils of electricity started appearing around the arms of the other kobold. And this time Marrow knew what was coming. Rather than wait for the lightning to hit him, he jumped forward and threw his arms around the bewildered kobold. And then he opened his mouth impossibly wide and chomped.


    With a gurgling screech of pain, the kobold tried to escape Marrow¡¯s grasp, but Marrow knew how to hug tight ¨C there was no escape.


    The other kobold watched with a horrified expression at the blood dripping down Marrow¡¯s ribcage, and the grinding motion of his jaws. With a desperate shout, it jumped forward and pierced the skeleton with the wickedly sharp dagger, which did a whole lot of nothing. Apart from the blade getting jammed between Marrow¡¯s ribs.


    Marrow¡¯s head swiveled around 180 degrees and looked at the last kobold, with bits and pieces of kobold snout hanging between his teeth. And the kobold shaman froze. It was not as if it had not seen grisly things in its life or observed evil deeds¡­ but to see one¡¯s littermate reduced to gobbet in a skeleton¡¯s mouth was more than it was prepared to see.


    Marrow tried to decide ¨C finish the one he had his arms around, or deal with the one that stood stock-still in front of him?


    Ultimately, it was an easy choice ¨C he already had started cracking the skull of one of them, so he might as well finish that one. The other one could wait. So, Marrow contently kept on chomping and quickly the kobold ceased to struggle, followed by the usual voice.


    ¡°Do you want to try to absorb [Kobold Shaman] brain? Chance of success: 10 percent.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Marrow responded per his usual approach.


    ¡°Instead of growing in experience, you choose to increase your potential for future growth by absorbing a skill from a [Kobold Shaman]. Attempt: Failure!¡±


    The familiar routine helped to calm Marrow down, especially because he had just eaten the brain of the likely culprit of his blackened ribcage. And, even better, there were lots of additional kobolds around.


    Marrow did a quick 360-degree turn with his head to check the situation and was delighted to see the number of kobold skulls available. It was a bit strange that all the kobolds were laying on the floor in a curled-up position, clearly alive, yet unmoving, but that would make things easier for him. Even more strange was the behavior of Borgar, Gamul, and, most of all Ikarius.


    Ikarius was suddenly quite pale, almost white, rather than his usual dark grey colors. And¡­ was that a bone sticking out from him? Marrow was intrigued. He had never noticed anything stick out from there before, so it looked like just another piece of magic for him. He would have to ask about that, mainly because Marrow did not even have a bone there, that could stick out.


    Meanwhile, the last kobold shaman tried to slink away.


    But Marrow had none of that.


    He dropped the body of the dead kobold shaman to the ground and jumped in his somewhat jerky style at the fleeing kobold shaman. If the shaman had been better trained in physical combat, or perhaps just younger and quicker, he might have made his escape. But as was, Marrow managed to tackle his legs and pummel him with [Forceful Punches]. The barrage of punches prevented the kobold from using any magic, and it was not long before it gasped a final time.


    Marrow happily crunched his skull, receiving the same message as the previous time. But when he repeated the procedure with the third, and last kobold shaman, he finally received a different message.


    ¡°Instead of growing in experience, you choose to increase your potential for future growth by absorbing a skill from a [Kobold Shaman]. Attempt: Success!¡±


    ¡°You have gained the new skill [Dark Magic] from absorbing the brain of a [Kobold Shaman]¡±


    Hungry for more, Marrow went to one kobold after another, cracking brains like a cook might break eggs. A grisly spectacle for sure, but only Catlyn was witnessing it, and she was too busy trying to snap Bogar, Gamul, and Ikarius out of whatever had them in its mental grip to object.


    And eventually, Marrow was successful again.


    ¡°Instead of growing in experience, you choose to increase your potential for future growth by absorbing a skill from a [Kobold]. Attempt: Success!¡±


    ¡°You have gained the new skill [A Kobold¡¯s Sense of Smell] from absorbing the brain of a [Kobold]¡±


    Immediately all kinds of new sensations started bombarding Marrow¡¯s brain, causing an overload of new impressions. Luckily, Marrow knew what to do ¨C crack more skulls. It always had a calming effect on him, and so it did again this time.


    After another ten more kobolds, the voice spoke up yet again. And this time it was a new message.


    ¡°You have met the requirements for new classes. Choose one:


    Class: Killer (killed at least 30 defenseless opponents)


    Class: Hero (killed at least 5 opponents that are 20 levels higher than you; successfully withstood the influence of dark magic; saved at least five other people from certain death))


    Class: Fighter (used physical combat to defeat 30 or more opponents)


    Class: Dark Mage (skill dark magic)


    Class: Lich (undead; skill dark magic; at least 200 years old; intelligence of at least 15; intelligence is the highest stat; killed at least 30 sapient beings during the last hour)


    Which class would you like to take?¡±

 Chapter 11 - Choosing a class

    Marrow was tempted to just say ¡®yes,¡¯ and see what happened. But he had started to realize that some of these questions actually required some forethought because there were patterns. And choosing better patterns just might lead to more messages later on or other things that he might like - a short while ago he had not even known that it was enjoyable to be part of a group, to have a position, a role, to belong.


    So this time, he thought about his choices because he was pretty sure that this was what it was about. After all, he had recognized a few of the words, such as class, kill, levels, fight, magic, intelligence, and a few more. Not quite enough to make sense of it, but perhaps enough to discover some patterns. And he had recognized that little raising of the voice at the very end of what had been said, which indicated that he indeed had to respond something.


    Marrow briefly glanced at Catlyn, but she was running around from Borgar to Ikarius and then Gamul and back again, clearly agitated. It was unclear to him why, but, then again, most things were rather unclear to him.


    But maybe this was too important of a choice?


    Marrow decided that he needed to find out a few more words at least to make sense of things.


    ¡°Catlyn, what is a [Killer]?¡±


    ¡°Marrow, is this important?¡±


    ¡°Yes?¡± Marrow responded somewhat hesitantly because he was not quite sure what ¡®important¡¯ meant.


    ¡°Ikarius is a killer!¡± Catlyn responded after a quick moment of contemplation. And then she mimicked stabbing someone with a dagger from behind. At least that was what Marrow thought she was trying to say.


    So¡­ he could become Ikarius! While that was intriguing, and the pale skin Ikarius had revealed made him somewhat more attractive than before, at least from Marrow¡¯s perspective, he was not sure if he wanted that.


    ¡°What is a [Hero]?¡±


    ¡°You are a hero, Marrow, the way that you broke the charge of those kobolds¡­,¡± Catlyn responded distractedly.


    Marrow considered the response or at least the part he had understood. So by choosing that option¡­ he could be himself? While that was not bad, and he was perfectly fine being himself, it was also not very novel.


    ¡°What is a [Fighter]?¡±


    ¡°Marrow, please, I know you want to learn stuff, but I am quite busy! Can you ask me those things later? Perhaps you can just help me as well!¡±


    There were too many words in that sentence to make any sense out of it. And it just did not have an interesting feel to it¡­ so Marrow discarded the option immediately.


    ¡°What is a [Dark Mage]?¡±


    ¡°Marrow!¡±


    Oh, so he already was a dark mage? That kind of made sense, because the voice had told him earlier that he had learned dark magic. Marrow was not sure why this was an option then, but he trusted Catlyn. It made just as much sense as the hero option, after all.


    ¡°What is a [Lich]?¡±


    ¡°A leech? Oh, you mean the mind-leech? A leech leeches things out of people, like blood, or, in this case, memories and emotions. How to explain¡­ all those kobolds around us,¡± Catlyn nodded at the pile of kobolds with crushed heads, followed by making a sucking motion while pointing at the head of one of them, ¡°their memories were leeched, leaving them like drooling idiots, curled in on themselves, because they did not know what to do any longer.¡±


    Marrow paid close attention to what Catlyn was saying. She pronounced [Lich] a bit differently, but he had noticed that Ikarius had done so too. And, for that matter, all four of them frequently differed slightly in how they pronounced various words, even each other¡¯s names. So it was just another thing to investigate at a later point. The important thing was that apparently being a [Lich] allowed him to suck something out of brains. Now that was something he could get behind because cracking skulls was not always the easiest or fastest option.


    ¡°[Lich]!¡± he shouted into the room, to Catlyn¡¯s obvious annoyance.


    ¡°Choice confirmed. Before transforming into a [Lich] you receive a special skill for obtaining this skill at a level that much below level 50:


    Black Ray of Death R3


    Aura of the Grey Consul L1


    Blood Domain R4


    Soul Manipulation L2


    Which skill do you want?¡±


    ¡°.¡±


    ¡°Catlyn, what do black, ray, and death mean?¡±


    ¡°Marrow, please, I need to snap these guys out of it. Can you ask me those questions later?¡±


    Marrow just stared at her, unsure whether that was the explanation or more was forthcoming. It did not quite feel like an explanation, but perhaps that was because he had hardly understood a word of it.


    After staring at her for a few seconds, Catlyn relented with an exasperated sigh. ¡°Ok, fine. Black is a color, like¡­ uhm, like this belt that I have, or the handle of my little knife. Ray is a¡­ hmm, not sure how to explain that really. Like ¡­ whoosh!¡± Catyn made a quick movement with her arms from left to right, wiggling her hands in the process and making a noise to underline what was going on.


    ¡°And death, well, you are dead. Kind of. Or those kobolds are, got it?¡±


    Marrow did not get it, in fact. The only thing he really understood was the color black. That part was easy. And it already made him decide against the skill. Black was no good. He really liked white, like his bones, and light was interesting¡­ it fascinated him on a more primal, almost instinctual level he had found.


    ¡°What is Aura, Grey, Consul?¡±


    ¡°How do you come up with all these weird words?¡± Catlyn asked, flabbergasted. ¡°Aura is like an aura around you, got it? Grey, look, this color here, that is kind of grey. And consul, hmm, is like someone that represents a country, I think. A type of leader, I guess. Gee, I am kinda bad explaining this stuff, huh?¡±


    ¡°Yes!?¡± Marrow said hesitantly. He knew he had been asked a question, but it was unclear to him what the exact question was or how to respond properly. And he had not understood much of the explanation either, apart from the word grey. And that was almost like black. Better than black, but not great.


    ¡°Blood, Domain?¡±


    ¡°Blood is this stuff here,¡± Catlyn pointed at the pools of blood that had accumulated around the piles of kobolds in the hallway. ¡°Domain,¡­ I have no idea, to be honest, sorry.¡±


    Why would he need that squirty, squishy stuff? No, thank you. He was fine with his bony self. Which only left one option.


    ¡°Soul?¡±


    ¡°A soul? Well, that is a tough one. It is, like,¡­ hmm, like something inside of people,¡± Catlyn pointed at her ribcage, ¡°their spiritual self, the place that makes them what and who they are. Some archwizard has even speculated that it houses the skills and classes and even mana¡­, but that has never been confirmed conclusively, to my knowledge.¡±


    At first, Marrow had thought that Catlyn was talking about the protrusions on her chest ¨C something Marrow did not feel that he needed. But then she kept on saying stuff like spirits, skills, and classes, so it sounded important. Certainly, more important than the other skills.


    ¡°Soul Manipulation!¡±


    ¡°.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure?¡± The voice asked after a brief moment.


    Marrow was a bit confused. Why did the voice ask him if he was Sure? He was Marrow!


    ¡°No!¡±


    ¡°Before transforming into a [Lich] you receive a special skill for obtaining this skill at a level that much below level 50:


    Black Ray of Death R1


    Aura of the Grey Consul L1


    Blood Domain R4


    Soul Manipulation L2


    Which skill do you want?¡±


    For some reason, the voice stressed the first three options and barely whispered the last one. But Marrow had [Ultrasonic Hearing], so it did not bother him.


    ¡°Soul Manipulation!¡± Marrow repeated.


    ¡°.¡±


    With a resigned tone, the voice said: ¡°Choice confirmed. You obtain the skill [Soul Manipulation].¡±


    Meanwhile, after Marrow had said ¡®soul manipulation¡¯ yet again, Catlyn looked up from her efforts.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    ¡°Marrow, I just explained that to you,¡± Catlyn said, somewhat annoyed. ¡°Why are you asking me all those questions anyway? Is something going on? Wait¡­ are you¡­ evolving? Or getting a class? That is great, Marrow!¡±


    Catlyn started beaming at Marrow, which threw him somewhat off. Why was she contorting her face like that? Was she angry at him? Not that he really cared one way or another, but it was essential to understand those things. If he could better interpret what those facial contortions meant, he would be better able to understand creatures, he had realized. There was like a whole unspoken language there that he needed to figure out.


    And then, in the middle of those crucial thoughts, something suddenly happened to Marrow. He felt his bones slightly stretch and contort, and biting-cold darkness started seeping into his body. His thoughts became blurry, and there was a pressure in the pocket-dimension that represented his brain. After some time, the weight suddenly lifted, and then there was clarity - profound, and crystal clear.


    Marrow looked around, but everything still seemed the same. The kobolds were still piled on top of each other, seeping that liquid, and Catlyn was running around, trying to get Gamul to stand up, Borgar to stop crying and hugging the air, and Ikarius dressed ¨C although none of her attempts seemed to be met with any success.


    All of which meant that not that much time had passed since the changes to his body had taken effect. Speaking of, Marrow felt insights flooding his brain - a profound understanding of himself, of what he was, and what allowed him to operate. Although he could not read the runes that were carved into his bones, at least he was aware of them now. He could even surmise their primary functions ¨C the part that allowed him to draw energy from his surrounding and recover from basic injuries over time, the runes that enabled him to think much more complex thoughts than standard skeletons, and the part that gave him the ability to level and take classes, even evolve.


    And then he noticed his hand ¨C the bones were dark. Not exactly black, but a lot darker than before, with a swirling blackness that seemed to be inside of them. It was mesmerizing in some way¡­. but it was DARK!


    With rising panic, Marrow checked the rest of his body, and to his horror, all of it looked similar - his beautiful bleached bones had turned a sinister dark.


    And then Marrow got angry. Angrier than ever before in his life, in fact. Which did not mean all that much, overall, because he had been angry only a couple of times before in his life, but this time it was serious. A wave of red-hot rage swept through Marrow, causing his bones to tremble slightly and his jaw to slightly grind back and forth, which, for Marrow, was an extraordinary display of emotion.


    And he felt that he needed to¡­ destroy something. His head swiveled around, considering potential targets for his sudden urge to hit something. Alas, it was just a dull, wide corridor with piles of dead kobolds, the group of adventurers, and walls.


    Almost instinctively, Marrow raised his hand at the kobolds, and a ray of dark power poured out of his body and shot into the pile of corpses. All at once, six of the bodies started twitching, first slowly, and then more vigorously, until eventually, they managed to stand up.


    One after another, they turned around and looked at Marrow, as much as they could, anyway, because Marrow¡¯s approach to cracking skulls was not the gentlest procedure and many were missing one or more eyes.


    When the corpses started standing up, Marrow had raised his sword, ready to rush forward and cut them to pieces to vent his anger. But then he paused, staring at the bones in his arm - they were back to a beautifully bleached white!


    Marrow stood stock-still, trying to figure out what had happened. He had been angry¡­ but that had happened before and had neither made dead creatures stand up nor had it changed the color of his bones. That rush of black energy, however, that had been new. So¡­ was the blackness of his bones perhaps the black energy? If so, then releasing it to animate a dead creature, which evidently was what he had done, had drawn the energy out of his bones and therefore returned them to their former beautiful color.


    Happy with his deductive reasoning and his regained bleached looks, Marrow relaxed, his anger completely evaporated.


    Only to wince slightly, when his sensitive ears were exposed to an ear-shattering scream from Catlyn.


    ¡°Zombies!¡±


    And then, in her painfully high-pitched and this time slightly trembling voice she shouted:


    ¡°Marrow, help me! We need to protect Borgar, Gamul, and Ikarius!¡±


    Marrow understood the word protect ¨C it was part of the standard vocabulary for skeletons after all. He just did not understand what he was supposed to protect them from. Clearly, those zombies were not attacking. In fact, they were just standing around, staring at Marrow.


    And after another few seconds of hysterical screaming, Catlyn seemed to realize that as well.


    ¡°Marrow, why are they looking at you like that? And why are they just standing there? Did¡­ did you have a hand in creating them?¡±


    Suddenly, Catlyn¡¯s eyes looked somewhat bigger than usual, and they were darting back and forth between the zombies and Marrow.


    Marrow was sure that meant something¡­ but, as usual, he was a tad lost on what exactly. And how was he supposed to respond? Put his arms around her? Stick his sword into her? Or stretch his lips and show his teeth, like the others sometimes did?


    Marrow decided to go for the last one, but strangely enough, it seemed to have the opposite effect on Catlyn. Showing his teeth came naturally to Marrow, but perhaps the issue was that he did not have any lips and instead had wiggled his jaw back and forth as a proxy?


    ¡°Marrow, what class did you take?¡± Catlyn suddenly asked with eyes still stretched unusually wide.


    ¡°[Lich]¡± Marrow responded. He was happy that he had understood exactly what Catlyn had wanted to know. This was definitive progress.


    ¡°Leech? What kind of class is that? Or did you actually mean, ¡­, oh no¡­,¡± Catlyn stumbled backward, a small whimper escaping from her lips.


    Since Catlyn seemed to behave somewhat erratically, Marrow decided to ignore her for now. After all, he wanted to see if there were changes in his status that he could connect to his abilities.


    ¡°Status.¡±


    Promptly the voice responded and listed all the numbers and names that apparently constituted his status.


    Name: Marrow Class: Lich Type: Basic Azkera¡¯t Skeleton


    Lich special bonuses and skills: +1 Int per level; +2 mana per level; raise and control #level basic skeletons or zombies; increased dark magic affinity; increased resistance to dark magic; decreased resistance to holy magic; once a day [Shadow Spike]; once a day [Aura of Fear]; once a day [Become One with Shadows] for three seconds; successful strikes in unarmed combat cause [Weak Life-drain];


    Titles: Bane of Familiars


    Level: 6 Experience: 4350


    Strength: 8 Stamina: ¡Þ


    Dexterity: 5 Health: 48


    Constitution: 8 Mana: 144


    Wisdom: 3 Divine Favor: 18


    Intelligence: 22


    Free Points: 0


    Skills:


    [Skill absorber; R4]


    [Forceful Punch; C4]


    [Devastating Bite; U5]


    [Penetrating Stare; C3]


    [Ultrasonic Hearing; U1]


    [Obstinance of a Cat; U1]


    [Kobold¡¯s Sense of Smell; C3]


    [Dark Magic; U1]


    [Soul Manipulation; L2] ¨C inoperable because you don¡¯t have a soul.


    Spells:


    The voice had talked for a lot longer than the last time Marrow had requested his status. Which made him happy. Obviously, that was connected to the class and the skills he picked up, which further reinforced his desire to gain more of those. Was it possible to gain additional classes? He had to ask Catlyn about that.


    But now he wondered if he had made the right pick for class. Maybe one of the other classes would have given him even more voice¡­


    ¡°Class Fighter!¡± Marrow said experimentally.


    No response.


    ¡°Fighter!¡±


    Yet again, no response.


    Marrow concluded that it either was not possible or too complicated to figure out using trial and error. So instead of worrying about his class, he decided to further investigate his status. Many of the words he did not fully understand, but it was reasonably clear that they referred to various skills and abilities he now possessed. What those exactly did he was unsure of. For instance, while [Shadow Spike] was somewhat obvious, [Aura of Fear] was not, and neither was [Become One with Shadows], or [Weak Life-drain].


    And then there was that phrase after [Soul Manipulation]¡­ what did that mean? And what did the skill do? He did not precisely know what ¡®inoperable¡¯ meant, but overall the message seemed to be that he, apparently, did not have a soul, hence a skill that had the name ¡®Soul¡¯ in it would not work.


    He had to find out more about souls¡­ time to ask Catlyn.


    Marrow swiveled his head around, trying to find her, and noticed that she was pulling Borgar away from him with all her might. Not that she had gotten far, because obviously, Borgar was a lot heavier than her.


    Resolved to learn more about his skills, Marrow walked toward Catlyn, who, inexplicably, started pulling on Borgar ever more frantically.


    Marrow looked around to see if there was some type of threat behind him, but there was nothing he could see, apart from those six zombies that were standing motionless to the side.


    ¡°Catlyn, what doe-¡±


    ¡°Stay back, Marrow! Don¡¯t come closer!¡± Catlyn shrieked.


    Somewhat confused, Marrow stopped and once more started looking around. Was there something that he had missed? Or perhaps Catlyn was busy with other things¡­ she had mentioned that a few times.


    In that case, he had to learn about his abilities by himself. Marrow activated [Aura of Fear] with a mental command, and he could feel some¡­ energy radiating out from him.


    Suddenly, the sobbing and muttering from Gamul, Borgar, Ikarius, and Catlyn changed to shrieking and then they started to run. Marrow immediately rushed after them, swiveling his head around to check his surrounding once more for hidden enemies that might have scared his companions. But there were only the zombies, and they just stood there quietly and still unmoving.


    At first, the four intrepid heroes were pulling away from Marrow, but eventually, his tireless steps enabled him to catch up. And his presence seemed to further invigorate his companions. The closer he was, the faster they were able to run. Marrow drew some satisfaction from that fact. So perhaps the [Aura of Fear] was some type of benefit bestowed on his group, just like Gamul¡¯s blessing that had made their weapons glow during the fight against the rats.


    He still was unsure what they were running from, but the others probably knew something that he did not, so he was content to just follow after them.


    The rushed along the meandering corridor for a few hundred feet, until it opened into a huge room, easily a thousand steps across, that was filled with ramshackle little huts and bustling with kobolds. They were first noticed by the guards on the makeshift walls that had been erected next to the entrance. But by the time the flabbergasted sentries could wrap their minds around the approaching group of shrieking, weaponless humanoids, one of which was naked of all things, they were already past them, descending into the village proper.


    The lone skeleton that was following them almost slipped their notice until they suddenly felt more afraid than ever before in their life. The sentries dropped their weapons and, shrieking loudly, rushed after the humanoids as fast as their short legs could carry them.


    The kobolds in the village looked up from their daily tasks to observe a spectacle they had never dreamed they would ever see. And then it hit them as well. Falling over in a panic, mothers dropped their babies, and rushed away, side by side with elderly kobolds using their walking sticks more vigorously than they ever had before. The heartrending wailing of the dropped babies and the screaming of the terrified kobolds and humans alerted the sentries on the other side of the village, who, weapons drawn ran into the village to find the reason for the commotion, only to be swept up in the unimaginable terror.


    Soon, Marrow overtook the kobolds in their mad dash, which made them promptly turn around and run in the other direction. Once they got away far enough, their panic rapidly subsided and, scratching their heads, they wondered what had hit them ¨C a new legend was born.


    And our stalwart heroes?


    They kept on running until Catlyn spotted a stone-archway with slightly glowing runes chiseled from top to bottom.


    ¡°The exit portal! Guys, turn here!¡± She screamed exultantly.


    By then, the panic had lessened substantially, and they even started wondering why they had been afraid in the first place. Even more, Gamul, Borgar, and Ikarius began to ponder what had happened to the kobolds they had been fighting and that mind-leech ¨C their memories were spotty at best, and it was hard to explain how they had suddenly ended up rushing helter-skelter down the corridors in abject panic, without weapons and, arguably worse, Ikarius without any clothes on.


    The whole ordeal had lasted only a few minutes at most, but all four of them were winded and desperate to feel safe. As one, they turned sharply into the portal room, followed closely by Marrow. Before even considering the possible implications, Catlyn shouted exit and all five of them suddenly appeared next to a fountain ¨C a fountain in the middle of a busy marketplace.


    Catlyn almost cried in relief and started hugging the others, who were similarly rejoicing ¨C until, that is, they started hearing the sniggers.

 Chapter 12 – Rumors

    ¡°Borgar, give me your helmet!¡± Ikarius hissed urgently.


    ¡°My helmet? What for?¡± Borgar asked, confused, and handed over his skull-cap. ¡°Are you going to start wea-¡­ oh no, you won¡¯t!¡±


    Borgar¡¯s face turned red in outrage when he noticed that Ikarius used the helmet to cover himself where it was needed the most.


    ¡°What the heck happened?¡± Gamul asked, mostly ignoring the embarrassing interplay. He looked around the marketplace and took in the crowd that stood there gawking at them.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t we just fight some kobolds? I remember bashi-¡­ by Gallamutra¡¯s tits, where is my hammer?¡±


    ¡°Who cares about your hammer, Gamul, I am freaking naked!¡± Ikarius whispered in a heated voice. His usually pale skin was uncharacteristically red.


    ¡°Well, what you do is your decision,¡± Gamul whispered back harshly, ¡°but my Minnie and I have a history!¡±


    ¡°Really? What kind of history?¡± Borgar asked, smirking. ¡°Do tell us more about that. So that is why you rejected that comely Dwarven girl in the Tavern two nights ago¡­ you already had a date with Minnie!¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Gamul hollered. ¡°That comely girl you are talking about was twice my age!¡±


    ¡°So you like them young?¡± Borgar asked innocently.


    ¡°You¡­ I¡­ why...?¡± Gamul stuttered, outraged.


    ¡°Guys, shouldn¡¯t we, you know, like¡­ go somewhere?¡± Catlyn said urgently.


    ¡°That is a great idea, actually,¡± Ikarius agreed. ¡°I am all for it. Like right now! Uhm, does anyone even know where we are?¡±


    ¡°I have been here before,¡± Borgar responded after looking around for a moment. ¡°This is one of the marketplaces in Gyssal. How did we g-¡±


    Catlyn cut him off. ¡°Not now, Borgar, I will explain once we are alone. Let¡¯s get going.¡±


    ¡°Not so fast, young lady!¡± A voice commanded. A strapping young man in the uniform of the city guard approached them in clipped and precise steps. ¡°First, you need to answer a few questions!¡±


    Catlyn blinked at him a few times and smiled prettily. ¡°Aww, officer, is that really necessary?¡±


    The guard looked at Catlyn with a stony expression. ¡°Indeed!¡±


    Gamul stepped forward and pushed Catlyn slightly to the side. ¡°We will be happy to answer any questions you may have, but we would appreciate if we could get to it quickly. We had an exhausting couple of days.¡±


    The guard looked dubiously at the lack of weapons and the state of undress of Ikarius. ¡°Hmpf, I see.¡±


    After a moment, he continued. ¡°Well, so, how did you enter the city? I was told that you appeared out of nowhere¡­¡±


    By then, Ikarius had regained his composure and took it on him to respond. ¡°That is correct. We teleported.¡±


    ¡°Teleported? To a marketplace in Gyssal?¡± The guard asked incredulously. ¡°Why would you go here? Isn¡¯t the mage guild the place to teleport to? And why are you naked?¡±


    ¡°Well, so,¡± Ikarius drew a face when he realized that he had to offer a few more details. ¡°You know that there is the old Gistan Academy underneath the city, right?¡±


    ¡°The what?¡±


    ¡°The Gistan Academy.¡±


    ¡°I heard you, I just never heard of it,¡± the young man said in an annoyed tone.


    ¡°Well, anyway, it is not that relevant,¡± Ikarius said calmly. ¡°The important part is that it is classified as a dungeon, beginner level, even though few know about it. And w-¡±


    ¡°Beginner level! Hah, that is such a sick joke, right guys?¡± Borgar guffawed. ¡°We faced at least six monsters of level twenty or higher, an-¡°


    ¡°Shhhh, Borgar, shut up!¡± Ikarius hissed.


    But it was too late. At first, the skeleton had kept the people in the marketplace further away, equal parts fear and disgust of the vile creature, but curiosity had gotten the better of them ¨C the skeleton was just standing there, after all, unmoving, apart from the head that was swiveling around at every tiny noise. A few, more adventurous souls had gotten close enough during the brief interrogation to be able to hear the responses of the weird group that had appeared out of thin air at one of the busier marketplaces in town.


    With great excitement, they relayed what Borgar had said, causing a murmur to go through the crowd. Immediately, a few people started running away, while others began to snatch the price tags, if they had any, from their wares.


    ¡°That, uh, is¡­ I have to,¡­ I need to report this,¡± the young guardsman stated, clearly flustered. ¡°You¡­, stay here, and¡­ wait for me, yes, wait here!¡±


    ¡°You seriously expect us to sit around here and wait until you return? We did not do anything wrong,¡± Ikarius protested. ¡°Or did we break any law?¡±


    ¡°So, technically, I mean,¡­ fine, I¡­ just go ahead and,¡­ don¡¯t stir up any trouble, yes. That. And unsummon that skeleton there. We don¡¯t allow the undead in town. That is a violation of the city code.¡±


    The guard shouted the last words over his shoulder while rushing away in a much less dignified way than he had come.


    Catlyn snapped her head around, visibly panicked, searching for Marrow.


    ¡°Where is Marrow? I totally forgot about him. Guys, I have t-¡±


    She never got further, because that is when she noticed Marrow standing right next to her, only a couple of inches away. She shrieked in panic and made I giant leap away from him.


    Rather than getting the others scared, they started laughing loudly, their tension finally releasing.


    ¡°Catlyn, that was hilarious,¡± Borgar sniffed a little bit and wiped away a tear. ¡°I needed that. You should have seen your face. You looked absolutely scared of Marrow. I mean, Marrow of all people, uhm, skeletons! Right?¡±


    ¡°Stop talking, we need to go,¡± Catlyn whispered urgently to the others. ¡°You don¡¯t know what I know about Marrow.¡±


    ¡°Oh? And what is that? Has he confided in you about his past?¡± Ikarius teasingly said. ¡°Any dark secrets, dead bodies, and¡­ bones?¡±


    Borgar laughed out loud. ¡°Good one, Ikarius.¡±


    Catlyn was not laughing. Or even smiling. And the others picked up on that as well. She beckoned them closer and whispered: ¡°Marrow is a [Lich].¡±


    The others looked skeptically at her.


    ¡°Marrow? A [Lich]?¡± Gamul asked disbelievingly.


    ¡°I am telling you. He confirmed it himself!¡±


    ¡°Marrow, is that true? Are you a [Lich]? Ikarius asked Marrow, who had also joined the huddle, right next to Catlyn.


    Catlyn jumped back with a yelp when she noticed his face right next to hers. ¡°Marrow! Can you give us some privacy?¡±


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    Marrow was standing there, looking at Catlyn with a stoic expression. His only expression, really.


    ¡°Like right now?¡±


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°Marrow, can you perhaps just¡­ step back¡­ and, I don¡¯t know, do something!¡±


    That was a command that Marrow had heard before. A long time ago. Like the first command ever. And it still resonated with him. Not that he felt magically compelled to follow the order. But doing something was good. And there were so many things here to find out and learn about.


    The first few moments when Marrow had suddenly appeared in this wide-open space, with the oddly blue colored ceiling and so many of these people around, he had felt overwhelmed. On top of it all, there was so much noise around, orders of magnitude more than he was used to. And the smells! He had only started smelling things a few hours ago, for the first time in his long life. And suddenly, there were a plethora of smells assaulting his senses from everywhere.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    And he was sure there was something there¡­ an almost irresistible aroma. Right there¡­ Marrow slowly walked across the marketplace toward the fountain. It was¡­ it was unlike anything he had ever sensed. But it struck a chord within him. He¡­ he had to have it.


    And there it was. A small piece of a slightly purple something. It seemed a bit squished, but Marrow did not mind. It smelled delicious.


    Marrow bent down, picked up the slightly rotten and squished fruit and, following his instinct, started chewing. Contrary to his expectations, there was no further satisfaction from that process, even though, instinctively he had been sure that there should have been. Thoughtfully, Marrow kept on chewing, trying to analyze what had attracted him to the squishy squirty thing in the first place and why chewing did not do anything in addition to him.


    Meanwhile, Catlyn told the others how she had found out that Marrow was a [Lich] and the evidence she had seen. Ikarius, Borgar, and Gamul listened to her, without interrupting, occasionally glancing at the skeleton.


    ¡°Alright, Catlyn, so Marrow is a [Lich]. So what?¡± Ikarius finally asked.


    ¡°What do you mean, ¡®so what¡¯?¡± Catlyn almost shrieked before remembering that they were not alone - lots of people stood uncomfortably close to them, trying to overhear more details about the dungeon, all the while feigning disinterest.


    ¡°Well, look at him,¡± Ikarius motioned at Marrow. ¡°Even if he is a [Lich] he is still like a two-year-old in an adult body. Perhaps slightly more dangerous than before¡­ but a class does not make a person.¡±


    ¡°But¡­ he is a [Lich]!¡± Catlyn stuttered, unable to comprehend why the others did not get scared by Marrow.


    ¡°Catlyn, I am an [Assassin], right? Am I scary to you?¡± Ikarius calmly asked her.


    ¡°Well, no, but I have known you like forever!¡± Catlyn protested.


    ¡°I agree that we have not known Marrow for all that long, but he did not even have a class when we met him¡­ so it is not as if he changed all of a sudden, just because he has a class, right?¡±


    ¡°I¡­ I suppose. Maybe I was a bit hasty in my fear.¡±


    Catlyn shot a look at Marrow chewing on that disgusting fruit, juices dripping slowly from his jaws down to his ribcage.


    ¡°I guess he does not look all that scary, right?¡±


    ¡°He does not, lass,¡± Gamul agreed.


    ¡°Time to move it, everyone. I really want to get to our tavern and get some of my spare clothes,¡± Ikarius stated forcefully.


    Borgar could not help it, he had to know. ¡°So, Catlyn, how come Ikarius is all naked?¡±


    ¡°That is something I would like to know as well,¡± Catlyn responded with a giggle. ¡°It happened when the mind-leech attacked all of you.¡±


    ¡°I REALLY want to go now,¡± Ikarius said even more forcefully.


    ¡°You know, it is kind of nice here,¡± Borgar said with a straight face. ¡°Maybe we should stick around and eat some food first? Two hands in the air, if you want to leave!¡±


    ¡°You!¡± Ikarius snorted but had to chuckle about his misfortune as well.


    --------------------------------------------


    As the five hastened through the streets, people gawked openly at them, laughed loudly, or ran away, screaming, depending on their respective mental disposition.


    ¡°This does not work,¡± Borgar grumbled. ¡°We are attracting too much attention.¡±


    ¡°You always wanted to get famous, now you are!¡± Gamul quipped.


    ¡°Right, famous for all the wrong reasons¡­,¡± Borgar muttered, looking at Ikarius¡¯ bare butt and Marrow¡¯s bony self.


    ¡°Ok, stop here,¡± Catlyn suddenly commanded. ¡°There is a cloth-merchant, let¡¯s get some stuff for Marrow and Ikarius. I know that Ikarius has clothes in the tavern, but I think it is well worth the few silver coins to buy a coat right now.¡±


    ¡°Why are you so worried about it?¡± Gamul asked with a frown. ¡°The tavern is only a few more blocks away from here.¡±


    ¡°Think for once, Gamul! We don¡¯t want people to know where we live. And right now we stick out like a sore thumb. Also, you heard the guard about Marrow¡­ let¡¯s not give anyone an excuse to fine us or put us in jail.¡± Ikarius impatiently explained.


    A few minutes later, they had purchased two coats, long enough to completely cover Ikarius, and, in Marrow¡¯s case, with a big enough hood to mostly disguise his true nature to the casual observer. Gloves, boots and a mask completed Marrow¡¯s outfit, making him unrecognizable, apart from the oddly jerking gait typical to a skeleton - but given the strangeness of the rest of his outfit that would not attract undue scrutiny.


    At least that was the hope of the four ¨C Marrow had no opinion one way or another. They explained to him why this was necessary, and he had figured out that it had something to do with people getting scared of him. Why they would be scared, he was not sure, but apparently being in clothes helped against that.


    The only annoying thing about the hood was that he could not any longer swivel his head by more than 90 degrees¡­ and given all the sights and impressions he was trying to take in, that was a real impediment.


    Finally, the adventurers arrived at their rundown tavern in one of the more suspect parts of town. Like most of Gyssal, the inn was built out of wooden planks, some of which showed visible signs of rot. As they approached, the solid oak door flung open with a bang, and a couple of rough-looking warriors tumbled out into the street.


    ¡°Get lost, you miserable fliptweebs!¡± A massive bear of a man shouted at them. ¡°If I see your faces again, I will crack your skulls, you hear me?¡±


    ¡°What is a fliptweeb?¡±Catlyn whispered to Ikarius, while trying to avoid attracting the attention of the fuming innkeeper.


    ¡°I have no idea,¡± Ikarius hissed back. ¡°But you know Gunther, he always comes up with new words.¡±


    In a more normal voice, he continued. ¡°A good morning to you, Gunther. Having some trouble with unruly patrons?¡±


    ¡°Hmph, no trouble. At least nothing I could not handle. Those two twertips just would not keep their mouth shut about the new dungeon¡­¡±


    Gunther focused his piercing eyes on the group in front of him. ¡°Are you going to make trouble about that dungeon as well? And who is that fellow there with you? If you want to have another person stay in your room, it is an extra silver each night!¡±


    Catlyn raised her hands and said in a calming voice: ¡°No worries, Gunther. For now, we are going straight to our rooms, and we will get you that silver in a little while.¡±


    Somewhat mollified, Gunther stepped back into the tavern and allowed the group to enter after him.


    The barroom was jam-packed despite the morning hour, and the crowd was clearly agitated. And it was quite obvious what had everyone so riled up ¨C the dungeon. Pushing their way through the throng, Catlyn at the others heard people shouting about the high-level creatures in the dungeon, up to level 30, no 40 or even 50, and the treasures that were to be found everywhere. Some talked about the strapping heroes that had discovered the dungeon, whereas others had heard about a group of losers and fools that had made it out of there by the skin of their teeth.


    Borgar was ready to explode when he heard some of the more disparaging rumors, but Gamul had an iron grip on his arm. At least, people were busy talking, sharing all the facts that they knew about with everyone around them, so no one paid much attention to the group of adventurers coming through to the wobbly staircase at the back of the room. Only Marrow attracted some attention because it was summer, and the temperatures did not lend themselves to wearing that much clothing and a mask. But there were all kinds of people out there with weird preferences and various afflictions and ailments, so no one even thought about probing deeper.


    Finally, they reached the staircase and started going up the creaky steps.


    ¡°Where is Marrow?¡± Catlyn suddenly hissed.


    ¡°Right behind me, lass,¡± Gamul responded in a calming voice. ¡°He h-¡­ where is he?¡±


    Frantically, they looked around, trying to spot their bony companion. And there he was, in the middle of the crowd, talking to an animated skinny fellow.


    In fact, Marrow was not really talking. The person he was facing was doing most of that. Marrow had been following the others through the press of bodies looking around curiously at all the strange sights. There were tall people, small people, thin people, and fat people, some with weapons, some without, all of them wearing clothes of different colors. And most of them were holding a tiny barrel-type thing in their hand and seemed very protective about it. Even more curious, they frequently lifted that barrel to their lips and poured a liquid into their body. Of course, Marrow had observed Catlyn, and the others do the same thing, but only occasionally and not from these mini-barrels.


    While looking around in bewilderment, he had run into some tall fellow who had not taken too kindly to someone bumping into his back right the moment when he had lifted his tankard of ale to drink. So he had shoved Marrow away from him with an annoyed grunt, slightly surprised how light the person was - and what was supposed to be a slight push, almost catapulted Marrow several yards away.


    And there, it happened that he was coming face to face with a skinny man with intense eyes that immediately started talking to Marrow.


    ¡°Have you heard about the dungeon, my friend? It is big. Not the dungeon, we don¡¯t now that yet, but the news is big! This is the greatest thing that has ever happened to Gyssal! We are not going to be a provincial backwater any longer. Money will flow into this town. Rivers of money! An ocean of money! And you know the best thing about this, my friend?¡±


    He looked expectantly at Marrow.


    ¡°Yes!?¡±


    ¡°Well, the best thing is that we, that means you and I, and Fredon over there, and even Elise, the barmaid, she is cute, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes!?¡±


    ¡°Right, so, where was I? Yes, so we will all be able to benefit from this. For example, you, what do you do?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°What do you do, my friend? Don¡¯t be shy. I am a cobbler by trade but have been trying to become a merchant as of late. You know, these little bags that everyone needs. And I mean it, everyone. Do you have one of these bags? No? Well, here, you see, this bag is one that can be closed with a string on top and then attached to the belt, very convenient, right? The problem is that any thief can just cut the string. So here, this is a patented new, revolutionary idea ¨C a chain!¡±


    Triumphantly, the skinny man held up a little bag with a chain dangling from it in front of Marrow¡¯s face.


    Was he supposed to take the bag? Or bite it? Or something different? Marrow felt utterly out of his depth.


    Luckily, an almost obese man, dressed in a formerly luxurious robe approached the skinny man at that very moment. ¡°Gobbel, your bags are shit! Look, a thief got the bag and guess what I am left with? Hmm? Can you see it?¡±


    Furiously, the man was shoving a piece of chain into Gobbel¡¯s face.


    But Marrow was not paying attention any longer. He had noticed a little creature that was sitting on the shoulder of the man in the robes. He had never seen such a creature before. It was dark green, about the size of a small head, and with large yellow eyes on top. And it stared at Marrow with unblinking eyes. Suddenly, it opened its mouth really white and¡­ croaked. A strange noise indeed, and one that Marrow certainly had never heard before.


    Marrow decided to inspect that creature more closely and put his head right next to it, causing the beast to squirm in discomfort. And then it happened. A long tongue shot out of the mouth of the creature and slapped against Marrow¡¯s mask.


    An attack.


    Marrow immediately responded by punching the creature with a [Forceful Punch] that catapulted it off the robed man¡¯s shoulder and splattered it against the wall.


    Instantly, the blood drained out of the fat man¡¯s face, and he stumbled forward, right into the skinny man, who tried but failed to keep them from falling down. The big man landed on Gobbel and immediately rolled to the side, trying to get up with tears running down his face.


    Once back on his feet, his face suddenly changed into a mask of hatred and fury.


    ¡°Who killed my familiar?¡± He shrieked while searching with his eyes the people around him. His gaze locked in on a reedy looking fellow right next to him. ¡°You, what did you see? Who was it? Was it you?¡±


    ¡°Who? What? What are you talking about, mister?¡±


    ¡°Bah, useless.¡± The fat man, punched the reedy man in the face, causing him to drop like a sack of potatoes.


    ¡°Hey, you cannot do that, you fat bastard!¡± A young, solidly built guy shouted.


    ¡°Says who?¡± the robed man screamed right back. And this time, rather than physically punch the guy, a swirl of grew brown energy shot down the portly man¡¯s arms and a stone fist the size of a cat slammed down on his newest adversary.


    ¡°Who else wants to get some?¡± The stout man shouted. ¡°Now. Who. Has. Killed. My. Familiar?¡±


    Marrow saw his opening.


    ¡°What is a familiar?¡±

 Chapter 13 – The brawl and the toad.

    ¡°What?¡±


    The rotund man got even redder in his face, grabbed Marrow by his coat, and screamed: ¡°Are you a moron? An imbecile?¡±


    Marrow curiously looked on at the actions of the fat man. Was this some type of hug, like Catlyn and Ikarius had done before? And why was the man spitting all those drops of liquid against his mask? Was that also part of the ritual?


    He did not really care about the liquid one way or another, but he did wish that the man would not scream quite as loudly, as his hearing was rather sensitive. For that matter, the smell of the man was not particularly pleasant either, as he just had realized. It stank of¡­ well, not something he had ever consciously smelled, so he had no comparison¡­ but it was not good.


    So what to do?


    Hugging back might prolong the interaction, so that was out of the question. Hitting the man was a possibility, but since the man had just done that to two other people he had talked to previously, it seemed as if that was also part of the ritual and therefore something that perhaps should be avoided as well.


    Out of ideas, Marrow decided to just answer the question. ¡°I am a [Lich].¡±


    The face of the man flushed even more if that was possible.


    ¡°This is not the time for bad jokes, you clown!¡± He screamed lividly. ¡°Are you making fun of me? Listen, you little jokester, I recognize your voice! I am sure I know you¡­ And I will get back to you once I have found out who has killed my familiar.¡±


    As then he raised the volume of his shouting even further while shaking Marrow from left to right.


    ¡°Who. Is. The. Killer?¡±


    And Marrow actually knew the answer to that. Perhaps if he told him the man would finally stop shouting?


    Marrow stretched out his bony arm and pointed toward the staircase. ¡°That is a [Killer]!¡±


    Suddenly the whole room quieted down, everyone waiting curiously to hear the words that would decide who was to face the wrath of the big man next. For most people, the conflict was just another type of entertainment, and a free one at that, but they had been mildly uncomfortable at the willingness of the enraged man to engage in violence just against anyone, including, potentially, them¡­ so the relief of everyone not at the staircase was palpable.


    Of course, those that were in any way close to the staircase slowly moved away so as not to be implicated by association, or Koronan forbid, be accused themselves.


    And Catlyn, positioned right on the staircase, suddenly had a sinking feeling that she knew where this was going. Frantically, she waived at Marrow trying to prevent him from saying what she was sure was going to come next.


    With beady eyes, that promised a violent death to anyone responsible for the demise of his familiar, the overweight man glared at the staircase.


    ¡°Who? Tell me!¡± He commanded while shaking Marrow violently again, without even looking at him.


    ¡°Ikarius,¡± Marrow offered helpfully.


    ¡°Who is Ikarius?¡± The man hollered, dropping Marrow to the ground.


    Immediately, all but four of the people at the staircase looked obviously relieved. And of those four, three involuntarily looked at the last person, Ikarius, dressed as he was, inconspicuously, in his long coat.


    Like a freight train, the fat man plowed his way through the crowd, trampling everyone not getting out of his way.


    ¡°I am going to KILL YOU, you cretin!¡±


    Naturally, Ikarius was not waiting for his untimely demise, but turned around and rushed up the stairs.


    Meanwhile, Borgar, massive as he was, stepped in front of the staircase, effectively blocking it. Raising his hands placatingly, he said: ¡°Now, calm down, my fr-¡°


    At which point he was hit in the legs by the belly of the massively overweight man and crumbled to the floor. But even someone as heavy as the fat man could not bulldoze his way through Borgar without some ill-effect. And Gamul capitalized on that.


    When the corpulent man stumbled, Gamul stepped up and fired a massive uppercut into his jaw, dislocating a couple of teeth and causing him to fall over backward.


    Right into Elise, who, with a shriek, fell down, dropping the full tankards she was carrying and spilling the precious liquid contained within all over the patrons around her and the floor.


    And people took umbrage ¨C not so much for being spilled on, a common enough occurrence in a tavern such as this one, but for the prized alcohol being wasted.


    Some jumped at Gamul, whereas others piled onto the fat man. And yet others used the opportunity to settle old grievances. And in no time a massive brawl was underway.


    Marrow looked at what was going on with intense curiosity. It was all very strange to him. Should he participate?


    Before he could make up his mind, a raspy voice whispered into his ear, or at least the side of his head, because Marrow only had holes instead of ears. ¡°I don¡¯t like snitches, my friend. See you on the other side.¡±


    And then Marrow felt something slide across the front of his robe, cutting it open.


    Marrow stood still, waiting for something else to happen. But nothing did. Was he supposed to move now? Or say something?


    ¡°Yes!?¡±


    ¡°Shit, I hate magic users. Always some sneaky amulet or ring of protection,¡± the voice grumbled angrily behind him. ¡°But a good blade of steel will deal with ya just the same!¡±


    With a grunt, the man slammed something into Marrow¡¯s back, and he felt a blade slide along one of his ribs. ¡°Take that, you filthy little maggot.¡±


    Marrow considered what had happened for a moment, weighing Catlyn¡¯s warning to not cause trouble, kill anyone, or create mayhem in any way, against the need to defend himself against an attack. And then he slammed his elbow behind him, hitting the man in the side before turning around. With a clatter, a dagger fell to the floor, and a rail-thin man displaying a rather beautiful pallor on his face stared up at Marrow with wide-open eyes.


    ¡°What¡­ who¡­ how are you alive?¡±


    Marrow tilted his head slightly to consider the question. For once, he had understood all the words, and it was apparent to him that the man had operated under the wrong premise. Not that it changed anything, at least not for Marrow.


    He leaned in closer and whispered: ¡°I am not alive. Or perhaps I am. What is an undead? A dead that is alive? Or perhaps a dead that is still dead but animated? Does animation make it alive? What even is life?¡±Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    ¡°W..what?¡±


    Marrow was disappointed. He had thought hard for a very long time to find all the words to express what he wanted to say and put them in the correct sequence. And all he had received was another question.


    ¡°Tell me, are you alive?¡±


    ¡°Y.. y.. yes.¡±


    The man seemed to have trouble saying words.


    ¡°How do you know?¡±


    ¡°I¡­ I can.. I mean, I don¡¯t know. I¡­¡±


    ¡°Warm body?¡±


    ¡°Warm, what? What do you mean?¡±


    Marrow considered for a moment. He thought he had said the right words, but perhaps he needed more fill-words¡­


    ¡°Are you alive because your body is warm?¡±


    ¡°I¡­ what?¡±


    Marrow was getting a bit frustrated by the lack of response from the man.


    ¡°Or perhaps because you are breathing?


    ¡°Breathing?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°.¡±


    Instead of responding the man just stared at him, his eyes glued to the new gap in the robe right underneath his head.


    ¡°Why¡­ b.. bones!¡±


    Marrow considered the response but could not make head or tail of it. Now quite annoyed, Marrow gave up on having a philosophical conversation and simply slammed his fist into the side of the head of the skinny man with a sickening crunch. Immediately, the reedy fellow collapsed to the floor like a stone and stopped moving.


    Looking around, Marrow considered his further options. Somehow, no one had seemed to pay any attention to his altercation with the thin human, which¡­


    Marrow looked down at the human.


    Surreptitiously, he glanced around once more, and then quickly bent down. He raised his mask and opened his mouth impossibly wide ¨C ever since he had tried to crack Borgar¡¯s skull, he had been curious if eating a human¡¯s brain was any different from other brains.


    It turned out, that ¡®no, it was no different.¡¯


    ¡°Do you want to try to absorb [Rogue] brain? Chance of success: 10 percent.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Instead of growing in experience, you choose to increase your potential for future growth by absorbing a skill from a [Rogue]. Attempt: Success!¡±


    ¡°You have gained the new skill [Sneak Attack] from absorbing the brain of a [Rogue]¡±


    Quite delighted about having heard the voice again, Marrow put the mask back in place and stood up. He had no idea what a sneak attack was or how he could use it, but that was secondary.


    What now? All around him, people were fighting furiously, clobbering each other as if their life depended on it. Which, possibly, it did. More than one person was laying on the floor, unmoving, or screaming in pain, and Marrow could make out multiple weapons that had been drawn.


    And there was Catlyn, screaming furiously at a huge man that was bashing Gamul on the top of his head with a tankard. For a moment, Marrow considered helping Catlyn and Gamul ¨C not because he felt obligated or any particular bonds of friendship¡­ but the fact was that he somewhat knew them and they knew about him, and despite their various failings they had been useful ¨C which perhaps was a good enough reason to assist them.


    But then he noticed the little green creature laying flaccidly next to the wall. Marrow had already deduced that this was the familiar the fat man had been talking about, he just still was not sure what exactly a familiar was.


    Apparently, it was a good thing to have such a familiar, judging by how upset the man had become when the creature had died. Which made Marrow wonder if it had been a good decision to eat the rat back in the dungeon. But perhaps¡­


    Marrow looked at the prone body of the creature on the floor and hesitantly stretched out his arm. A thin tendril of inky energy shot out of his hand and through the glove into the smushed green creature. Immediately, Marrow felt a pressure developing in his skull that was somehow related to the dead kobolds he was controlling in the dungeon, and he instinctively understood that he needed to release one of the zombies if he wanted to animate the little familiar.


    Without a second thought, Marrow proceeded, and the dark energy suffused the small green body. Slowly, the creature¡¯s legs started to twitch, until, eventually, the beast turned upright and hopped toward Marrow. To a neutral observer, it was a grisly sight ¨C the creature¡¯s entrails were hanging out of its burst abdomen, drawing a wet line across the floor, and the eye that had popped out of its socket, was barely hanging on, precariously supported by a thin string of muscle and nerve tissue.


    Marrow scooped up the creature and put it on his shoulder, just like he had seen the corpulent man do before. And then he waited for something to happen.


    --------------------------------------------------


    ¡°Oh no, you won¡¯t,¡± Catlyn screamed at the mountain of a man right in front of her. ¡°Get off my friend!¡±


    ¡°You are going to be next, catgirl!¡± The man hollered while pounding on the head of Gamul. ¡°You are kind of cute though, so maybe I will let you go.¡±


    Which was the wrong thing to say.


    The hair on Catlyn¡¯s body stood up straight, and with a snarl, she tossed herself on the back of the massive man. Forgetting about her magic, her staff, and all the other more effective options she had available, she began to claw at the man¡¯s face, while howling like a banshee.


    ¡°Get off me, you little minx.¡±


    ¡°Minx?¡± Catlyn screamed even more enraged if that was possible. ¡°I am going to show you what this minx will do to you!¡±


    ¡°Please do,¡± the man smiled saucily, despite the blood running down his face. ¡°Just give me a moment.¡±


    ¡°This is not how you talk to a beautiful lady,¡± Borgar¡¯s deep voice suddenly said from behind the giant of a man.


    Immediately, Catlyn¡¯s hair smoothed out a bit as she smiled, pleased at the offhanded compliment she had received. At least, until Borgar continued. ¡°And neither do you talk to my hairy friend like that.¡±


    Borgar smirked at Catlyn while delivering a savage uppercut to the kidney of the massive man.


    ¡°What?¡± Catlyn shrieked in indignation. ¡°Borgar, you are such an ass!¡±


    As the huge man staggered from Borgar¡¯s powerful hit, Gamul finally managed to find his bearing for long enough to get back into the fight.


    ¡°By Gallamutra¡¯s fists, I am going to bust your head for pounding on me like that!¡± He yelled at the stunned man before bull-rushing his legs.


    And while the man was about twice the size of Gamul, this actually worked to the advantage of Gamul now as he managed to further unbalance the giant and cause him to crash down to the floor.


    ¡°Gotcha!¡± he shouted, before pummeling the downed man with both of his fists. With Borgar¡¯s and Catlyn¡¯s help, the three of them quickly subdued the massive man and moved their back to the staircase to catch their breath.


    ¡°What the heck happened? Why did Marrow say that Ikarius killed the familiar?¡± Gamul asked while huffing and puffing for air.


    ¡°I knew we could not trust him,¡± Borgar whined.


    ¡°I think I know what happened,¡± Catlyn said. ¡°And it is partially my own fault.¡±


    Quickly she recounted to the others what had happened back in the dungeon, which finally explained how they had ended up without weapons in the middle of Gyssal.


    ¡°So that fear must have come from Marrow,¡± a voice suddenly said from right behind them.


    Borgar yelped and jumped away from the stairs, while Catlyn and Gamul whipped around with fists up, ready to defend themselves.


    And there, melting with the shadows, was Ikarius, finally dressed in regular clothes.


    ¡°Don¡¯t sneak up on us like that,¡± Catlyn hissed. ¡°You almost gave Borgar a heart attack!¡±


    ¡°Hey,¡± Borgar shouted indignantly from a couple of yards away. ¡°I was not afraid, I simply moved to¡­ to get some space.¡±


    Gamul, Ikarius, and Catlyn looked at Borgar.


    ¡°What?¡± He asked with a frown.


    ¡°Right,¡± Ikarius finally said. ¡°So, Marrow is gaining skills and becoming dangerous¡­ what should we do about it?¡±


    ¡°I think we should just move to a different tavern and leave him behind. Things will sort themselves out, and maybe we won¡¯t be implicated like that,¡± Borgar proposed.


    ¡°No way,¡± Catlyn immediately protested. ¡°It is Marrow we are talking about!¡±


    ¡°.¡±


    Now it was the others¡¯ turn to look at Catlyn.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you feel connected at all?¡± Catlyn asked pleadingly after a short moment.


    ¡°Catlyn, who was freaked out about Marrow being a [Lich] just a short while ago?¡± Gamul asked. ¡°Do I have to remind you about the Spike Boar piglets again?¡±


    ¡°I get that,¡± Catlyn acquiesced. ¡°And I have to admit that I was scared of the whole [Lich] business. But by now, I have realized that I had been stupid. It is still Marrow, after all. And he has saved us many times by now. That has to count for something, right?¡±


    ¡°Lass, it does, but you have to admit that his behavior does bring trouble as well. Look, this massive brawl around us,¡± Gamul paused for a moment to shove a stout woman back into the fray. ¡°Without Marrow, this might not have happened.¡±


    ¡°Do you know who killed that familiar?¡± Ikarius asked Catlyn. ¡°It was Marrow. I saw it.¡±


    ¡°No way,¡± Catlyn protested. ¡°Why would he do that?¡±


    ¡°Why does Marrow do anything he does?¡± Ikarius mused philosophically. ¡°Look at him right now, he is standing right at the edge of the fighting, staring at the wall¡­ there must be something that has caught his interest.¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡± Catlyn asked curiously. ¡°Borgar, you are tall, can you see something?¡±


    ¡°Glad to hear that I am useful for something,¡± Borgar grumbled but craned his neck to try and spot what Marrow was looking at. ¡°There is something there, a shape. Oh no¡­ he is not¡­¡±


    ¡°What is it? Catlyn asked with unbridled curiosity.


    ¡°You won¡¯t believe it,¡± Borgar said hesitantly.


    Ikarius and Gamul looked at Borgar expectantly.


    ¡°Come on, spill it! What is he doing now?¡±


    ¡°I, well, how should I say it¡­¡±


    ¡°Borgar, please!¡±


    ¡°It is¡­ sorry guys, I actually cannot see a thing. Too many people moving around in front.¡±


    Gamul, Ikarius, and Catlyn stared at Borgar with an incredulous look.


    Borgar burst out laughing. ¡°You should see your faces!¡±


    ¡°You are such an idiot, Borgar,¡± Catlyn complained. ¡°What if he is doing something terrible? You know that we might get involved simply by association, right?¡±


    ¡°Well, how bad can it be if he is just staring at the wall?¡± Borgar said dismissively.

 Chapter 14 - Gunther and the Toughs

    Marrow was waiting for something to happen, while the toad was sitting on his shoulders, slowly oozing various liquids onto his coat, but otherwise quiet and unmoving.


    He was a bit disappointed. Not that he had any particular expectations, but he had hoped for¡­ at least something to happen.


    But maybe he had to be more patient.


    Had it perhaps something to do with the creature not breathing any longer? Or perhaps it was connected to the soul thing? After all, his skill [Soul Manipulation] did not work because he had no soul¡­ was that needed to have a familiar? Or perhaps the familiar had to have a soul¡­ did being dead remove the soul?


    As Marrow contemplated all of these essential questions, a voice suddenly thundered through the barroom. ¡°Stop!¡±


    As the single word reverberated through the tavern, seemingly echoing from the walls, and multiplying in the process, an overwhelming pressure descended on everyone in the room, and people stopped moving, whether they wanted to or not.


    And then Gunther, face flushed red in anger, stomped into the middle of the room.


    ¡°You pathetic runtlips! What are you doing to my tavern? I am going to show all of you what it means to mess with Gunther! Miserable cowloops, all of you.¡±


    In a rising panic, people struggled to get out of the overwhelming force that tied them down in place. But in front of the domineering presence of Gunther, who almost seemed ablaze in righteous fury, their resistance wilted to nothing.


    For all but one being.


    Marrow had finally had enough of waiting for something to happen and decided to go and seek out Catyln for some advice. She was a smart one, he thought¡­ or perhaps not smart, but knowledgeable? If he thought back on the behavior of his fellow group members, he was not always sure of the intellectual merit of their actions. But then again, without proper language skills it was not easy to deduct what they went on about.


    Toad on the shoulder, Marrow sauntered through the stunned crowd of people, idly wondering why everyone had stopped moving. Of course he had heard the big human command everyone to stop, and even had felt the pressure on his bones¡­ but he did not want to stand in place, so he did not.


    And ambling around felt just right, somehow.


    Gunther¡¯s piercing glare fell on Marrow immediately.


    ¡°You! Why are you moving?¡±


    ¡°.¡±


    Marrow did not immediately answer. In fact, he was puzzled. What kind of question was that? Why would he not move?


    Instead of responding, Marrow just ignored the big man and sauntered right past him, obstinance in perfection.


    Until a heavy hand fell on his shoulder, restraining him in place.


    ¡°Hey, I am talking to you.¡±


    Marrow swiveled his head 270 degrees and stared at Gunther.


    ¡°.¡±


    His weird ability to turn his head to such a degree, without any sign of discomfort, and then the utterly calm and dispassionate stare, clearly unsettled Gunther.


    For that matter, he was not used to anyone being able to resist his [Lord] class skill. At least not anyone in such a low-level area as where his tavern was situated. In the capital it might be a different story, but for good reasons he was not there¡­


    Nonetheless, Gunther wanted to have some answers. ¡°So?¡±


    ¡°So what?¡± Marrow finally responded.


    ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±


    ¡°Yes!?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    Now Gunther was even more confused. And so was Marrow.


    They stared at each other for a long moment¡­ something that felt quite natural to Marrow, but less so for Gunther.


    And Gunther blinked first, which, of course, was not surprising.


    ¡°How are you able to resist my skill?¡±


    ¡°.¡±


    Marrow just stared.


    ¡°This should not be possible¡­,¡± Gunther muttered to himself. ¡°Unless¡­¡±


    He moved his head closer to Marrow¡¯s ears and whispered, ¡°Are you from Ikandria?¡±


    ¡°.¡±


    ¡°You are, aren¡¯t you?¡±


    Marrow just stared. Truth be told, he had to idea what the big man, Catlyn had called him Gunther, was talking about. And Marrow was starting to figure out that staring at people made them talk more. It was almost like magic. It first started that they would close those flaps of skin over their eyes, sometimes rapidly, and then, often, they would contort their face a bit, almost like a squirming. And then they would say more stuff that occasionally made it more clear what they wanted. Not always though.


    And sometimes ¡®yes¡¯ or ¡®no¡¯ or ¡®what¡¯ were also helpful words. So Marrow somewhat randomly mixed those answers when he had no idea what was going on.


    So since simply staring did not yield much more information, Marrow decided to try another word. ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be coy. I know you are. What is your play?¡± Gunther hissed while pulling his hand back as if burned.


    But in the meantime Marrow had noticed something else interesting¡­ a flying being, small, black, with tiny little wings, that was circling Gunther¡¯s head. Marrow swiveled his head slightly to keep track of the quick, erratic movements and then, when it was above his head, he suddenly jumped up, and, with impeccable timing caught the ¡­ thing¡­, through the small opening in his mask and between his teeth.


    Immediately, he started grinding his teeth, delighted to feel and hear the crunching of the carapace of the little flying creature, all the while waiting for something to happen.


    Alas, no voice spoke up nor did anything else change, and Marrow started wondering why he had been so convinced that catching that thing was such a good idea. It still felt right though.


    And Gunther¡­ he had gotten quite pale somehow, a color that was quite becoming in Marrow¡¯s unbiased opinion.


    ¡°So that is why you are here? You are planning to squash me like a fly?¡± Gunther asked with a slightly trembling voice. ¡±How dare you come in here and issue threats like that!¡±


    ¡°Yield!¡± Gunther bellowed in a voice that seemed to fill the sizeable barroom from end to end with more than just noise, but a palpable pressure, that was pushing everyone down to their knees and caused them to drop anything they were holding in their hands to the floor, be that weapons or mugs or something altogether different.


    Everyone but Marrow, that was.


    Marrow had felt the pressure, and it was a curious thing. But he had no intention to yield. Frankly, he did not even know what yield meant, so it was hard to know what he was supposed to do.


    So he just stared, slowly grinding his jaw on the remains of the tiny carapace.


    ¡°Yield!¡± Gunther bellowed again, even louder and more insistent. Sweat started to appear on his forehead, and veins began to throb on his temples.


    And this time, such was the pressure, that people began to vomit all over the place, ¡®yielding¡¯ their food, altogether desperate to somehow please that voice and the pressure behind it.


    But powerful as the command was¡­ it was stymied by our stalwart, or perhaps just ignorant skeleton.


    Or maybe it was just his obstinance.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± Gunther whispered despondently.


    ¡°Marrow.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    Marrow titled his head, slightly annoyed of the inability of people to understand him.


    ¡°My name is Marrow.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Gunther said, clearly confused. ¡°But who sent you? The king?¡± The last word, Gunther whispered, while looking around for anyone listening in too intently.


    Marrow was not sure what or who that king was, so he picked ¡®no¡¯ out of the list of likely responses.


    Immediately, the face of Gunther became less pale, so Marrow wondered if he had said the wrong thing.


    Gunther finally realized that having this conversation with at least thirty other people in proximity was not the best idea. He whirled around and bellowed: ¡°Everyone out! And you better pay for what you broke, or I will find you later¡­ and you will not enjoy that!¡±


    Meekly, the former combatant got up from the bile and booze covered floor, collected their weapons, hats, and other belongings, dropped some coins, and traipsed out of the tavern, leaving only those behind that were unconscious or dead.


    Once the last person had left, Gunther turned back to Marrow and said in a conspirational voice, ¡°Alright, my friend, let¡¯s speak frankly. If the king did not send you, was it the madam?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Hmm, but, then who?¡± Gunthers face slightly scrunched up as he was thinking about all the political maneuverings in the capital and who might be behind this odd fellow with the strange zombie toad on its shoulder.


    And Marrow was simply staring at him, in his unnerving, and unblinking way.


    ¡°Tell you what, let¡¯s have a drink and talk about what brings you here.¡±


    Gunther turned around and walked to the counter, beckoning Marrow to come along. At first, Marrow did not really want to go, because he preferred talking to Catlyn about familiars, but she had left¡­ so why not. And he did want to find out what a drink was.


    At the counter, Gunther pulled out a burgundy glass bottle from a shelve and filled two small glasses halfway with a deep red liquid. Marrow eyed the procedure with curiosity, unsure if this was some ritual or something more mundane. It did remind him of what the people in this establishment had been doing until the onset of the fight ¨C fill the smallish barrels with liquid and chuck it down. The only difference was the type of liquid and the material of the container.


    Before Marrow could further speculate on the implications of that, Gunther raised his glass and looked expectantly at the disguised skeleton. ¡°Blessed Soul, my friend!¡±


    Marrow¡¯s whipped his head around and stared straight at Gunther.


    ¡°Soul?¡±


    Gunther looked at Marrow with a puzzled expression on his face. ¡°Uhm, yes!? Blessed Soul!¡±


    ¡°What is a Blessed Soul?¡± Marrow asked in his usual monotonic voice.


    ¡°Uh, I¡­, it is just something we say when we drink,¡± Gunther responded somewhat confused. ¡°Is that offensive to you? We can, I don¡¯t know, just say something different¡­¡±


    Marrow considered the response. Based on the scraps of information he had collected, it seemed as if either raising a container with liquid or swallowing said content, was referred to ¡®drinking. And, more importantly, Gunther apparently did not know what a soul was either.


    Which really was a shame.


    It had become more and more obvious that having a soul was something important, and Marrow was dead set, pun intended, not that Marrow knew what a pun was, on finding out what exactly a soul was. This had been his first good lead, and he needed to investigate further. Surely, someone would know more about this, given that all of the people here did this ¡®drinking¡¯.


    Or perhaps he would get a soul by engaging in this drinking¡­!?


    Eagerly, Marrow grabbed the glass and raised it, mirroring Gunther¡¯s movement.


    ¡°Blessed Soul!¡± He said, trying to imitate the voice inflection of Gunther, just in case that turned out to be relevant.


    Holding his breath, figuratively, Marrow waited for the voice or at least some type of change in his body. Alas, nothing unusual happened. The only thing he noticed was that Gunther was staring at him, at first expectantly and then increasingly fidgety. As if¡­ as if he was waiting for something to happen.


    ¡°What?¡± Marrow said.


    ¡°Well, you are the guest¡­ so you are supposed to drink first, you know?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°What? Uhm, alright, I guess you don¡¯t trust me yet. Fair enough, I will drink first.¡± With those words, Gunther raised the glass to his lips and poured the content down his throat in one smooth motion. Immediately, he started coughing violently, and sweat appeared all over his face.


    After a few failed attempts, he finally managed to draw a deep breath and suppress further coughs.


    ¡°Geeze, this drogomen brew is wicked. I had forgotten how strong it really is. Something for real men, huh?¡± he chuckled while glancing with a somewhat uncertain expression at Marrow. ¡°If you would prefer a different spirit, I have other things. But this sure warms the soul and the heart too.¡±


    Ah. So it was connected to the soul. And it was a spirit? Immediately, Marrow mimicked the motion of Gunther and poured the glass of liquid through the small slit in the mask into his skull. The strong alcohol splattered down his jaw, dribbled over his ribcage and eventually ran down his leg-bones into his boots, where it collected into a little puddle, slowly soaking into the cheap leather.


    And Marrow waited, motionless, for something to happen.


    Meanwhile, Gunther stared at Marrow with a flabbergasted and slightly apprehensive expression.


    ¡°Uh, I see. I guess it was not that strong after all. Do you want another one?¡±


    Marrow considered for a moment, whether it was worthwhile¡­ but not every attempt at absorbing a brain had led to success either, so perhaps it was a matter of chance? Since it was neither more nor less unpleasant than cracking spider skulls, Marrow decided just to try.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    With a relieved expression, Gunther filled the two glasses again, this time making sure to only fill a tiny portion into his own.


    With another ¡®Blessed Soul!¡¯ they both chucked down their drinks, with, predictably, similar results as before. But Marrow was not disheartened and kept on quaffing drink after drink. Eventually, the bottle was empty, and, Gunther walked unsteadily around the bar, trying to find another strong spirit to offer his guest. A guest, that, despite his best attempts, had neither taken off his mask to drink nor had revealed any additional information about what had brought him to this butt-of-the-world area in the deep hinterlands.


    ¡°Thish is the undeniababbily besht liq, liq, liqeuooor I have. Youuuu¡¯ll love itt,¡± Gunther mumbled, almost incoherently.


    Marrow had had a hard time understanding Gunther before, but it was getting worse. Was it the ¡®drinking¡¯ that was causing that? But why did that not do anything to him? Was it, perhaps, again that soul thing?


    Not that having trouble enunciating words correctly was high on Marrow¡¯s wishlist¡­ but the fact remained that it likely again was connected to him not having a soul. Before he could dwell further on that thought, Gunther leaned over conspiratorily and whispered in an oddly loud voice but with surprisingly little slurring: ¡°Sooo, my friend¡­ why are you really here?¡±


    ¡°.¡±


    Marrow had no idea how to answer the question, so he figured the best response was again to be silent.


    ¡°So it is like that, huh? I will give it to him,¡­ I never figured that the old scarecrow would send someone like you after me. I thought, you know, a knife in the dark, perhaps poison, or even a fiery accident¡­ but an amiable fellow like you? Yes, amiable¡­ or perhaps reserved is better. Not ostentatious. Just quiet. A tough drinker. You could even drink a dwarf under the table, and that is saying something. And there I thought I could loosen your tongue with a few drinks, figure out how they found me, perhaps silence you, if need be. And now, look at me¡­¡± Gunther was laying his head on the table, at first sobbing slightly, but then suddenly giggling. ¡°How pathetic. The Duke of Harrenthon, reduced to a drunk innkeeper in a shithole in the boonies. If only Marinei could have seen me like that¡­ she would have laughed her¡­¡±


    Just as suddenly as the sobbing had turned into giggling, it turned right back to sobbing. ¡°Oh, Marinei, I miss you so much. Why? Why did they take you from me?¡±


    The last words had gotten more and more quiet and then turned to a wheezing and hissing noise, as Gunther¡¯s head rested on the counter, unmoving, apart from his gently rising and falling chest, and the softly vibrating libs whenever the bear of a man was exhaling.


    Marrow just stared at Gunther, waiting for something else to happen, but nothing did.


    All in all, it had been an oddly eventful, yet uneventful few hours. He had learned about familiars, even had gained one himself, and had learned some additional details about souls and drinking. He even, apparently, was friends with Gunther now, or at least, so he had said. At the same time, the drinking had not yielded any results, and the familiar was yet to reveal any special effects on him as well.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    Marrow looked around the bar area and noted that it was still empty, apart from the remaining unconscious and dead people, scattered around the floor. To the left was the prone body of a slim, blue-skinned person, with somewhat elongated ears, and a set of impressive canines. A few yards to the right were a couple of humans with those protuberances on their chest and one person that seemed related to¡­ something. It was a bit unclear, what exactly, but it had long ears, hanging down next to its head, and the body was covered in soft, luxurious fur. And then, of course, there was the guy with the massive belly and impressive magical abilities that had started all the fighting.


    Marrow speculatively eyed the large variety of unmoving specimen, trying to figure out what to do next. Perhaps¡­ perhaps it was the perfect opportunity to test a few of his theories with, presumably, unresisting subjects.


    ------------------------------------


    ¡°By Gallamutra¡¯s magnificent beard, what just happened?¡± Gamul asked, blinking his eyes as if he had just woken from a long, deep sleep.


    ¡°I am not sure,¡± Catlyn groaned. ¡°But it certainly gave me a headache.¡±


    ¡°I think, it was Gunther,¡± Ikarius haltingly said. ¡°It must have been some skill¡­ almost like a domain skill.¡±


    ¡°A domain skill?¡± Borgar asked in disbelief. ¡°That would mean he is at least level 30!¡±


    ¡°Actually it is level 50 when you can get those types of skills,¡± Ikarius corrected. ¡°And only certain classes can gain them¡­¡±


    As he trailed off, Ikarius glanced thoughtfully at the people around them that slowly recovered from their stupor. ¡°Perhaps this is something that we should discuss in more detail a little later.¡±


    ¡°What? Wait? What do you mean by certain classes?¡± Borgar immediately said in his booming voice. ¡°Do you mean like royalty?¡±


    ¡°Borgar, be quiet!¡± Ikarius hissed at his fellow adventurer, trying to silence him.


    ¡°What? Oh, is this a secret?¡± Borgar said with evident surprise and still too loud of a voice.


    Catlyn glared at him. ¡°Borgar, sometimes¡­¡±


    ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°Never mind, forget it.¡±


    ¡°No, no, I want to know. She who befriends a skeleton and then runs away from it once it turns out that he had become a [Lich] and she who walked into a village of dogmen trying to ask for a quest, despite being a catwoman¡­ what morsels of wisdom can she share with good ol¡¯ Borgar?¡±


    ¡°Hey, that is unfair. We did not know it was a village full of those stinking dogpeople. And you are the one that is always afraid of skeletons.


    ¡°Well, perhaps there is a good reason for that,¡± Borgar responded, glaring at her. ¡°Speaking of¡­ where is our skeletal friend?¡±


    Suddenly reminded of the possibility of a further calamity befalling them through the actions of their bony companion, all four looked around frantically, hoping against all reason that Marrow was just standing passively among the slowly dissipating crowd of people. But clearly, he was not there.


    ¡°Do you think that he is still in there?¡± Catlyn asked with a slight tremor in her voice, betraying how nervous she suddenly was.


    ¡°Well, either that, or he went exploring the city¡­ not sure which is worse, to be honest,¡± Gamul grunted.


    Borgar resolutely stepped toward the wooden door leading into the tavern. ¡°I am going to take a look.¡±


    As he got closer, he visibly began to struggle, and sweat started appearing on his forehead. ¡°There is still a lingering effect that keeps me away from the door¡­ what kind of skill does that?¡±


    After a moment, he added: ¡°It seems to be getting weaker though.¡±


    Finally, he reached the door and, with a grunt, yanked the door open. Borgar grabbed the frame of the door with his right hand, and, left hand on the hilt of his dagger, heaved himself inside the tavern. Immediately, he stopped moving, and Catlyn and the others could hear him curse softly.


    ¡°What is it Borgar?¡± Catlyn asked. ¡°What do you see?¡±


    ¡°By Gallamutra¡¯s testicles¡­ what is he doing?¡± Borgar muttered to himself, but loud enough so the others could hear it.


    Gamul turned to the other, alarm written on his face. ¡°He swore by Gallamutra! It must be truly bad. Get ready for a fight!¡±


    Immediately, Catlyn began to conjure her trusted, and only effective combat spell, and Ikarius unsheathed two daggers and put his back flat against the side of the building, right next to the door. After futilely searching for his trusted hammer, Gamul cracked his knuckles and stepped up toward Borgar¡¯s frozen form.


    By then a crowd had started forming at a safe distance, looking curiously at the behavior of the four stalwart heroes. It was not uncommon for people to draw weapons in Gyssal, even during the day, but it was highly unusual for anyone assaulting a house, and even more so Gunther¡¯s Tavern. While the tavern was not known for fancy food or great entertainment, it had the reputation of a place of relative safety, enforced by the uncompromising and formidable Gunther the Wordsmith.


    The mass of onlookers barely registered with Catlyn and her group though, too worried as they were with what Borgar had discovered.


    And then they saw it.


    It was a scene out of a madhouse.


    Catlyn¡¯s mouth dropped open, and she made a sound that was a mix between a curse and a moan. Gamul, usually never shy for words, just stood there and stared.


    Right in front of the door, the bodies of a lanky male and a stocky female were positioned side by side, arms draped over each other, as if in an intimate hug. Right next to them, the body of a blue-skinned merdog was arranged neatly, if one disregarded the cracked skull and the missing arms that were wiggling animatedly next to him on the floor.


    A few yards away, a man was laying on his back with a bottle, upside down, stuffed into his mouth, alcohol slowly spilling onto the floor.


    And the list went on, with most of the people having their skulls cracked.


    While Borgar, Gamul, Catyln, and Ikarius tried to comprehend what they were seeing, Marrow ambled over to the sleeping Gunther, his boots making an oddly squishing noise. He flipped his mask over, turned his jaw impossibly wide and was just about ready to chomp down on Gunther¡¯s head when the shrill voice of Catlyn stopped him. ¡°Marrow, what are you doing?¡±


    Marrow looked up at Catlyn, whose face was strangely flushed, then down at Gunther¡¯s head, and up at Catlyn again. He really was not sure how to answer that question ¡ª biting Gunther¡¯s head? It was kind of obvious...


    ¡°Yes!?¡±


    ¡°Marrow, why are you biting Gunther¡¯s head?¡± Catlyn tried again.


    ¡°He is a friend!¡±


    ¡°He is¡­ what? Why is he your friend? And why would you bite his head because of that?¡± Catlyn almost shrieked.


    Marrow considered his answer for a bit, including how to formulate it correctly. The increased exposure to conversations and language, in general, had been tremendously helpful in increasing his vocabulary.


    ¡°Gunther said I was his friend¡­ and I wanted to see if friendship matters.¡±


    ¡°Of course, friendship matters.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± Marrow responded.


    ¡°But why would you bite his head for that?¡±


    ¡°How else would I find out if it mattered?¡± Marrow was genuinely confused now. Was there a different way to absorb brains? Perhaps another one of his special [Lich] skills? After all, Catlyn had mentioned something about that.


    ¡°Well, friendship matters in all kinds of ways,¡± Catlyn said, clearly flustered.


    ¡°Like what?¡±


    ¡°Uhm, like friends help each other!¡±


    ¡°Ah.¡± Marrow considered the response. How was helping connected to absorbing brains? Could a friend improve the effect? Was there something else he was missing?


    ¡°Are you my friend?¡± Marrow asked after another second of consideration.


    ¡°Uh, yes, maybe? Do you want to be my friend?¡±


    Marrow was not sure what to say. ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°Oh, good then,¡± Catlyn looked relieved. ¡°So no killing of friends, you hear me?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Marrow responded. Of course, he could hear her. She talked loud enough in her unusually high pitched voice.


    He promptly turned around, spread his jaw again to encompass all of Gunther¡¯s head and was ready to bite down, when Catlyn screamed: ¡°Marrow, stop that! You just agreed not to do that.¡±


    ¡°I did?¡±


    Marrow thought back on the conversation during the last few moments and could not find an instance in which he had agreed not to bite Gunther¡¯s head. Did he still misunderstand some of the words? Was there a nuance somewhere, or a word having different meanings? He had previously noticed that the meaning of words often depended on context, so it was quite possible.


    ¡°Yes, you did,¡± Catlyn said with a flushed face, visibly struggling to calm herself down.


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    Marrow stood motionless for a moment, considering what to do next. Of course, biting Gunther¡¯s head still remained a possibility, as he thought Catlyn¡¯s command was quite unreasonable. If friends were there to help, then Gunther surely would not object.


    ¡°Why not bite?¡± Marrow asked eventually, curious if there was some logical reason he was missing.


    Catlyn looked flustered by the question. ¡°Well, he would die!¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Marrow responded, still confused.


    ¡°Exactly!¡±


    ¡°.¡±


    Marrow just stared at Catlyn, waiting for some further reason that made more sense. When he realized that Catlyn had made her point and thought it sufficed as an explanation, he decided to prod for further clarification.


    ¡°So what?¡±


    ¡°Well, I mean,¡± Catlyn sputtered, trying to come up with a good explanation. ¡°No one wants to be dead!¡±


    Marrow took off one of his gloves, looked at his beautifully bleached bone for a bit, and then stared at Catlyn.


    ¡°Why not?¡±


    ¡°Because¡­ because if you are dead, you don¡¯t feel anything and can¡¯t think.¡±


    Marrow considered this for a little bit, but could not figure out how that made any sense. ¡°I can.¡±


    ¡°Well, yes,¡­. but¡­, so, it is like this, I am sure Gunther does not want to be dead,¡± Catlyn said with as much conviction as she could.


    ¡°Ok. But you said that friends help each other! Does he not want to help me?¡±


    ¡°Argh¡­ how is that connected? How does he help you by dying?¡± Catlyn was slowly but surely getting frustrated by the circular conversation.


    ¡°Maybe I can absorb the brain of friends better than of others,¡± Marrow explained in his stoic and monotonous voice. Then he pointed at the dead bodies with crushed skulls laying around. ¡°Having protuberances, or different skin color, or magical skills made no difference.¡±


    ¡°By Lissandra¡­ that is why you always crack the skulls of your enemies¡­¡± Catlyn groaned. ¡° A freaking skill. And I thought it was just a quirk¡­ Marrow, listen to me! You cannot do that to humanoids, at least not to those that don¡¯t attack you first. And certainly not in a city.¡±


    Marrow looked at the dead bodies scattered around the tavern floor, then back at Catlyn, clearly not comprehending.


    With a sigh, Catlyn corrected herself. ¡°Well, obviously, you can, but you should not do that. If you do, it will cause all kinds of trouble for you and the rest of us.¡±


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    Finally, Catlyn had said something that made sense. Not that Marrow understood the type of trouble this might cause. But then again, even though he was intelligent, he did not have much in terms of knowledge, and he was well aware of that.


    Before Catlyn could ask further about the skill or how Marrow had suddenly become friends with Gunther, or even why Marrow had a dead toad sitting on his shoulders, Ikarius suddenly made a loud shushing noise. Forehead pressed against the door, Ikarius was peeking through a tiny gap between the heavy wooden planks at the street outside. The tension in his body was betraying his worry.


    ¡°The city watch is coming! We need to move!¡± He hissed.


    ¡°But we did not do anything wrong,¡± Gamul protested.


    "Think,¡± Ikarius said with an urgent voice. ¡°Lots of people saw us come to Gyssal with Marrow. If they find him here and see the blood splattered all over his robes, they will surely kill us all, or, at the very least, throw us into prison.¡±


    ¡°By Gallamutra¡¯s badonkadonk behind,¡± Gamul groaned. ¡°I just wanted a quiet pint of mead and a nice bed¡­ is that too much to ask?¡±


    Grumbling, Gamul stomped to the other side of the room as quickly as his stubby legs would carry him. On the way, he picked up an ax from one of the corpses and a tankard with a few sips of ale remaining at the bottom.


    In the meantime, Catlyn ushered the bewildered Marrow to the other side as well, while Borgar and Ikarius formed a vanguard, impatiently waiting for the rest of the group to make their escape.


    ¡°What are we going to do?¡± Catlyn almost whined, while urging Marrow to move faster.


    ¡°We¡¯ll just have to lay low for a bit until this blows over,¡± Ikarius stated quietly, with more confidence than he felt. ¡°After all, people die all the time in these quarters of the city. I am actually surprised the city watch is even coming out here. Maybe because it is Gunther¡¯s place¡­.¡±


    ¡°What about our stuff?¡± Borgar asked in his booming voice.


    ¡°Pssst,¡± Catlyn hissed immediately, hair standing up instinctively.¡°Just forget about our stuff for now. Better alive and free than dead with our things.¡±


    ¡°Why is that?¡± Marrow asked curiously, but the others ignored him completely.


    --------------------------------------


    A short while later, the group had made their way out of the backdoor into the warren of twisting alleys and rundown houses. The further north they went, the worse the surrounding got ¨C two-story houses changed to shantytowns made out of twisted wooden boards, some fabric and lots of hope. The cobblestone streets turned into muddy, washed-out paths, meandering their way through the haphazard huts and tiny stands from which people with hopeless expressions on their face tried to hawk their wares to equally despairing passersby.


    Beggars lined the street, hoping against reason that by some miracle someone might find mercy and give them a coin or two.


    And then there were those that did not rely on the mercy of others. The men and women that life had taught to take matters into their own hands. Hard people, that had given up hope, if they ever had any in the first place, for things to change to the better, for life throwing them a bone. These people did not suffer from nightmares from what they did day in and day out. If anything, they had become addicted to the rush of adrenalin and the brief high of taking what they wanted, and metering out their own form of justice, however far from true justice it might be.


    And those people were eyeing the group of five odd individuals that made their way through the slums. It was obvious, after even a glance, that these people did not belong there. They were too soft-looking, to concerned about the well-being of others, even if only by avoiding to step on the random beggar in the street. And the quality of their clothes. Oh, what a difference that was. Fabric without holes, soft-looking robes, sturdy vests and pants. And the weapons ¨C high-quality steel rather than shoddy iron, or copper weapons that were common thereabouts.


    The ghetto toughs were licking their lips in anticipation of the loot that soon was to be theirs. They already began to eye each other speculatively, contemplating how to secure the most to themselves, even if it, perhaps, involved getting rid of some of their compatriots.


    The only thing that was holding them back, for the time being, was the weird creature sitting on the shoulder of the masked person ¨C with every step one of its eyeballs bounced up and down, making it look as if it was playing a game of coljo with its own eye. It did not look threatening¡­ it was too small, after all, to pose a significant danger, but sometimes the unknown is a more effective deterrent, especially against people that are desperate and don¡¯t value life particularly highly.


    So for the time being, they followed, sticking to the darkness, sure of their prowess of staying away from the eyes of the strangers walking their territory.


    Within a couple of minutes, Ikarius tilted his head slightly, glancing from left to right, and then casually turned toward the others.


    ¡°Don¡¯t look, but we are being followed,¡± Ikarius said in an almost conversational tone.


    Immediately, Borgar, Catlyn, and Gamul stopped moving their heads and kept it fixed forward, allowing only their eyes to scan the surrounding.


    ¡°Stop behaving so obvious,¡± Ikarius hissed at them from between clenched teeth.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Borgar hissed back. ¡°I am not even looking around.¡±


    ¡°Exactly, you moron,¡± Ikarius cursed. ¡°You are all behaving like complete idiots! All but Marrow, for some reason.¡±


    ¡°Wait, how is Marrow behaving any better than us?¡± Borgar grumbled. ¡°He is turning his head like a swivel toy from left to right and back.¡±


    ¡°Yes, he is. But he has been doing that the whole time, so it is just more of the same¡­ as if he has no clue that someone is following us. You, however¡­,¡± Ikarius just shook his head in exasperation, stopped talking, and instead readied his two daggers surreptitiously.


    The odd behavior had indeed not escaped the attention of the local toughs, and with a swagger, they started piling out of the cover of the shadows, stands, and shanty huts.


    ¡°Well, well, what do we have here?¡± a skinny man drawled as he approached the adventurers. He had a crooked nose and only a few yellow-stained teeth left in his mouth, which made his smile rather horrific instead of the intended genial expression.


    ¡°We don¡¯t want any trouble,¡± Ikarius said in a confident, yet respectful tone. ¡°Why don¡¯t you let us pass, and we will be on our way.¡±


    ¡°My friends, this is not how we do things here. Does anyone know what we will do instead? Hmmm?¡± The reedy man smirked at the group of five travelers, caressing the wicked-looking dagger in his right hand.


    When Borgar, Gamul, Catlyn, and Ikarius remained silent, Marrow decided to offer an opinion. After all, he had just learned the answer to that question. ¡°We drink! And we help each other!¡±


    The toughs stared at Marrow for a moment, utterly surprised by the out-of-place statement.


    ¡°You,¡± the lanky fellow stated after a moment, ¡°are one funny jokester.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Marrow responded confidently. It was a bit confusing why everyone thought that he was a jokester or clown when, in fact, he was a [Lich].


    Tired of waiting, a haggard, hard-looking woman stepped up to the thin man, spat a glob of phlegm on the ground and hissed: ¡°You are dead. All o-.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± Marrow said, interrupting her midsentence.


    ¡°What?¡±


    Marrow started to get annoyed again. Why was it that people did not understand him. Yes, no, what¡­ those were the easiest words! Yet, whenever he used them, inevitably people would look at him quizzically or respond with their own ¡®what.¡¯


    ¡°I said ¡®yes¡¯,¡± Marrow repeated with a suffering sigh, a noise that he had gleaned from Catlyn when she was interacting with Borgar and now attempted to imitate for the first time. Perhaps it was the somewhat raspy touch to it that made the woman momentarily shrink back a step, or it was the unexpectedness of a prospective victim looking utterly unconcerned about his impending death and even agreeing to it.


    ¡°Enough of this useless jabbering,¡± a wide-shouldered brute of a man, with a face covered in pockmarks, grunted while stepping forward with a cudgel raised high, ready to strike at Ikarius.


    Immediately, Ikarius whipped out the two daggers he had kept hidden and almost seemed to glide forward into the step of the big man, daggers stabbing into his unprotected belly and chest. With a wet sounding gurgle, the brute stumbled back, falling into the side of a ramshackle hut, which collapsed under his weight and buried him in wooden planks and fabric.


    For a moment, the toughs were shocked at the sudden turn of event, but then they raised whatever weapons they had and, screaming wildly, threw themselves at the adventurers.


    Borgar had taken the brief moment of respite to grab a massive beam and started swinging it around in an attempt to keep the attackers from their backs. Catlyn quickly summoned her magic and shot first one, then two and three magic missiles right into the face of the lanky leader, causing him to stumble back, grunting in pain. Gamul, meanwhile, grabbed his new ax and, muttering under his breath, began to swing it in tight, controlled arcs, meant to hold back the overwhelming number of attackers rather than score killing strokes.


    Marrow was just standing there, a bit unsure what to do. On the one hand, Ikarius had just killed one of those people, and Catlyn had attacked another one. On the other hand, they were still in the city, and these were people¡­ and Catlyn had said that he should not kill anyone. Thinking back, he realized that she had said nothing about killing people¡­ she had stated something about cracking skulls.


    By the time he had determined that he could participate in the scuffle the group of attackers was already on him.


    The first one had a long shiv in his hand and jammed it right into Marrow¡¯s chest¡­ to little avail. The biggest effect was that the human had expected more resistance and his momentum carried him right into Marrow, effectively bowling him over. Marrow responded by lifting his mask and, opening his jaw impossibly wide, bit into the side of the neck of his would-be killer.


    With a crack, the spine broke, and his assailant dropped to the floor limply. Marrow heaved the body off his bony self and, after quickly placing the zombie toad back on his shoulders, rapidly got up on his feet, ready to attack his enemies. Darkness billowed around his body, as shadows seemed to gather around him. Almost subconsciously, Marrow weaved the dark fog into a lance of pure blackness and shot it into the crowd of horrified humans staring at his exposed skull.


    The shadow spike impaled three of the thugs, causing them to drop to the floor, whimpering. Their wounds were smoking ruins, promising a long and painful death. Marrow turned his head and faced the remaining thugs with his customary skeletal grin, really the only expression Marrow ever had.


    Borgar used the opportunity and jumped forward, swinging the heavy beam with all his devastating strength, clipping three of their adversaries, before slamming into the side of one unlucky man, that had been too transfixed by the sight of Marrow¡¯s grinning skull to notice the danger in a timely fashion.


    Meanwhile, Gamul changed from defensive to offensive tactics, cutting a bloody path with his ax, while Ikarius performed his dual-dagger dance of death. Even Catlyn grabbed her staff and started bashing people left and right, trying to get their would-be robbers to break and flee.


    But the ghetto made real men and women ¨C despite the surprise revelation of an animated skeleton in their midst, one that, to boot, could cast devastating magic, they still were confident in their chances¡­ after all, they were the strongest gang in their quarter, veterans of countless streetfights. It was not such an easy thing to break their morale.


    So they started fighting back in earnest.


    And while their weapons were not even close in quality to what our group of would-be heroes possessed, numbers do not lie. Bricks tossed from the surrounding houses, as well as a constant barrage of clubs, rusty swords, daggers, and the like, quickly led to the adventurers suffering from a myriad of wounds.


    Even Marrow felt threatened, which was a rare emotion for him. Whenever a stone hit his ribcage or skull, he could feel his bones creak and even crack. And he knew, instinctively, that if his bones fully broke and, perhaps, someone was to smash his skull, he would be dead-dead, or deader, or¡­ or whatever that state might be called.


    And while he had no clear idea of what it would be like to be in that state, and honestly, was somewhat curious, he also had the instinctive self-preservation that was part of every skeleton, a component of their internal structure, unless overruled by their progenitor.


    So Marrow fought with all he had. Throwing [Forceful Punches] left and right, he cracked bones, caved in ribcages, and tossed his attackers to the ground. But as much as he tried, it was not enough. The press of bodies was too strong, and soon, he felt being pushed further and further back toward the rest of the group.


    Marrow quickly recognized that a sword was much better for fighting than just his fists. While his fists were fearsome weapons, their reach was limited, and the wounds not always severe enough to take his opponents out of the fight quickly. But¡­ where was his sword? Suddenly Marrow realized that he had not seen his sword in quite a while¡­


    Momentarily distracted, Marrow did not see one of the clubs swinging at him and was hit full on in the side of his ribcage. A couple of rips broke, and Marrow stumbled to the side.


    Marrow looked down at his broken ribcage, observing the bones sticking out of his robe, which, by now was in tatters. And Marrow got angry.


    Once more, dark energy billowed around his bony frame, and five corpses began to twitch and then jerkily stand up, right in the midst of the attackers. And while it was one thing to see a skeleton fight against you, even one with a disgusting, dead-looking toad on its shoulders, it was an altogether different situation when your friends, or perhaps not friends, but fellow gang members came back from the dead and started attacking you.


    What had been, just moments earlier, a fight of twelve against five, now was a fight of twelve against ten. Given the number of injuries Gamul, Catlyn, Ikarius, Borgar, and even Marrow had suffered, it was far from a forgone conclusion, but certainly, the zombies had evened the odds significantly.


    The fight raged on for a few more minutes, and the situation became tenuous when Catlyn and Borgar got hit on the head and fell to the ground, unconscious or dead. Ikarius and Gamul fought like berserkers to keep the gang from their prone bodies, but it looked like things were going badly.


    While fighting, Marrow had been mulling over his broken ribcage, deeply upset about the ungainly wound before he realized that the bones were slowly knitting back together¡­ was this his regeneration? But no, it was too fast for that. He had noticed before that his bones slowly healed over time, but that was a matter of hours, not minutes.


    And then he remembered his skills¡­ his unarmed strike had one important thing going for them that made them in some situations superior to his rusty sword ¨C each successful hit returned some energy to him, slowly knitting his bones together. With renewed enthusiasm, Marrow almost threw himself at the remaining thugs, who, faced with the flurry of fists and bites, decided to retreat and try for another, easier group to rob.