Next to me, Cuddles was putting the finishing touches on his outfit, the metal helmet with a smiling face painted on the front. I didn’t know how he could see out of the thing, but he said it was an artifact he’d picked up on another assignment. Besides his ridiculous name, the black and red clown makeup on his helmet was threatening enough to make anyone question his call sign.
Behind us, I heard Show checking on his collection of wands and tools. I made sure my guitar was properly enchanted this time. When he started throwing lightning and necrotic magics it was a problem for my usual flute or lute. I’d gotten something with metal strings and a body made from the shell of a mirror beast just because the last instrument had nearly killed me while I worked with him.
Then there was the new girl, Blade. Like the rest of our callsigns, it kept us in some form anonymity but it wasn’t hard to figure out who she’d been. The rapier was used primarily by duelists and there were a handful in the area skilled enough to join a Carnival Troupe.
“Singer, you ready?” Cuddles asked, fully decked out in his armor covered in spikes and colorful paint. “Buffs up!” He shouted to the rest of the group.
The colorful lights of spells and abilities started going off, the magics sinking in:
The buffs kept coming, and I could feel the power of the Grand Ring Master filling me. The thought made me snort as I tossed the Mental Acuity cigarette to the side. It’s effects had already run through me, and all that was left was the performance.
Slowly, a pick formed of mana in my hand and I strummed once.
I stepped forward and hopped from the wall. Behind me, the others did the same, to cheers from the wall that served as a barrier between the Grave Woods and the rest of the countryside. Spectral musicians began to manifest above me, and I began to play.
A low tone echo’d through the distance in front of me. The dead seemed to freeze and then drop as though puppets with strings cut. It wasn’t time to sing yet, so I didn’t mind as Blade walked beside me to ‘keep me protected’. Really it was because she was nervous.
“How long does this usually take?” She asked no one in particular.
“Why, got a hot date?” Cuddles laughed, slamming his gauntlets together.
“No, because I’m worried I didn’t bring enough supplies.” She was, actually, the only one who’d brought any.
“Not that long.” Show said, a smile in his voice to match the one painted on his face. “With Dirge here, we’ll be fine till at least the fifth floor, and we only need to go to the seventh at most. We’ll be back here before the day is over.” He said, nodding back towards the wall.
“Oh. Seems like a waste to send all of us, then.” She said, alert for any changes.
Cuddles stomped on the head of some unfortunate undead as I continued with the low melody. “It’s because some of the undead are deaf to my songs.” I explained as we walked. “Not that hearing is what makes it all work.”
There was a silence as we entered the woods, the atmosphere growing dark as we passed beyond the boundary of the dungeon. It wasn’t like the standard dungeons in some regions. The floors didn’t go down, instead it spread out like a labyrinth. The maze of trees made it only possible to navigate with the assistance of the flowers blooming amongst the branches.
The issue was, they didn’t reveal themselves until the hordes were dealt with.
The large clearing was almost completely packed with bodies, and as my music reached them they simply stopped moving. Blade, Cuddles, and Show all started executing the creatures one at a time. My music didn’t kill, only put them back to sleep for a time.
At least, that’s what this channeled ability did.
Dirge Singer’s Melody
The mournful lullaby of a funeral march is infused within your music. To everyone living, it simply sounds like music. To the undead, it sounds like a command to return to slumber. Any undead lower level than yourself is immediately put into a catatonic state until disturbed. Once disturbed, the Melody will not work on the same target again.
Only the Carnival appreciated my abilities, but it hadn’t been what I’d set out to do with my life. As I played, I thought back to what I originally wanted with my life. It wasn’t wearing makeup and putting the dead to rest. I’d originally just wanted to play music for their performances.
Sort of like what’d I’d wound up doing, but with less killing.
I watched the massacre, watching as crystals appeared amongst Cuddle’s enthusiastic stomping. I glared at the man and nodded over at Blade, “Can you store those for the idiot? You’re the only one with a bag.”
Blade stared at me, annoyed but eventually nodding. “I’m keeping a quarter of them.”
“I don’t care.” I responded as Show began his own horrific form of violence. A creeping cloud of darkness spread from his shadow. The creatures it touched began to wither rapidly until only dust remained. I resisted the urge to shudder and avoided watching.
“Ugh, can you let me deal with the next room? I’m bored.” Cuddles complained as he stood next to the flowering arch.
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I took my hand from the strings and waved him forward, continuing the same dozen chords to make sure the ability stayed active.
Soon, we heard raucous laughter and visceral crunching sounds. A torso with it’s head attach flew through the arch which I took as my queue to follow the other two forward. Blade was still collecting crystals, and I suspected she’d be sick of them by the end of the mission.
I know I was.
The clearing was painted in gore by the time I arrived, with Show leaned against the archway as he watched Cuddles beat one particularly large brute of a creature to a second death with a fallen tree.
“So, I heard you’re thinking of retiring.” Show said, conversationally.
“You don’t need me here.” I said, my music beginning to take effect amongst the other undead. “You could handle the whole dungeon easily with just Cuddles. You did before I came.”
Show nodded, “I’m aware, but it has been easier with your aid. Faster too. We’re able to get a lot more done.”
I stared at the man whose appearance didn’t match his serious words. Out there, he looked like a happy clown, and would frequently do little shows and tricks for the soldiers to increase morale. His striped jumpsuit with the frilly edges and ridiculous collar didn’t fit him. I’d seen him outside of it more than once and he looked more like an accountant, usually.
Sighing, I almost paused my playing, tired of it all. “I’ve been doing this for six years and it’s just more of the same. We never make any real progress and I’m just… tired.”
Show nodded as Blade came up from behind. “Well, it’s not like you won’t be welcomed back if you ever get bored. The Circus isn’t for everyone all the time.”
Blade furrowed her brow at Show, “I thought it was the Carnival?”
Show laughed as I watched Cuddles rip the arm off the largest undead and start smashing the disabled ones. “No, the Carnival is the public face. It’s the services and parties for the deceased. You throw a party to celebrate life with the Carnival. The Circus are the ones who do the actual work. The squads sent to places like this.” He nodded in Cuddles direction.
Cuddles held up a head that started trying to bite him. “Look! This one has one of those gem eyes!” He crushed the skull and took the bloody gem in hand before tossing it over to Blade. She fumbled it briefly before putting it in her bag, not even bothering to clean it off.
“All the stuff you packed is already ruined, isn’t it.” I asked, conversationally.
“I can’t believe how gross those crystals can be. Or how irresponsible he is.” She nodded at Cuddles. “I’ve picked up a couple thousand in crystals in just the first room.”
I turned my head to her, “Should only be orange and one or two greens the first floor. Maybe the entire floor, but not…”
I had a bad feeling, and Show looked concerned. “Cuddles! Form up.” He shouted at the armored clown.
Groaning, he did as ordered and we finished off the remnants. Blade picked the rest up and there were far too many greens for my comfort level. “Something is wrong.” I stated to Show.
He nodded, “We’ll assess at the end of the floor. If there’s too much, we’ll send for another squad before I wipe the one after.”
Blade stared at Show, “What do you mean by that?”
I smiled, “You’ll see. Part of why we work together so well.”
The next couple of ‘rooms’ went like a precision piece. Beautiful and in harmony with the plan.
The boss was… not as planned.
It was a massive creature, almost taller than the trees. Multiple heads in places there shouldn’t have been. It had dozens of arms, four of which replaced it’s legs, and the head in the center of it’s chest started to glow with power.
I changed the chords I played. A burst of noise intercepted the gaseous cloud that had erupted from it’s face. Show did something and a black mass spread through the cloud before it vanished. Cuddles charged forward with Blade at his side.
I picked up speed, fingers flashing along the fret as I started to provide protection for them. Shields of music would appear in front of blows aimed at the two, shattering on impact but stopping blows dead in their tracks. I made sure to focus on keeping Blade from getting tagged by one of the arms, since she was wearing less armor.
And when a fist finally connected solidly with Cuddles, he just grabbed the arm and ripped it off before using it as a club, laughing maniacally as he did. Show was doing something with electricity to enhance Blade, but I had to stop looking to start focusing on new enemies that were appearing.
It was ghouls. Of course it was fucking ghouls.
My melody changed as I sent a storm of blades made from sound at the forest surrounding us, blasting apart several trees. That was a mistake, since damage to the trees triggered a defense mechanism for the dungeon. I looked behind me at the flower arch whose flowers now dripped a nectar that looked a lot like blood.
“Show! We’ve got problems!” I shouted over my own playing, shields coming less frequently as the boss was slowly chipped away at, now only having three arms left and the central head that Show was keeping from spewing more of that cloud out.
He looked back for an instant and swore. “Cuddles! Blade! Grab the loot and retreat.”
Even as he said that, the giant abomination fell, and a small chest appeared from it’s dissolving body. Blade fell on it and pulled out a belt and a handful of rings before dashing back towards us. Cuddles was fighting the ghouls, but slowly retreating as he did.
We started back down the path, but now we were harassed along the entire way. Undead were coming from the woods around us and the only things stopping them was the melody I Melody I’d started with that was still going. It’d last as long as I continued to play.
We went back three rooms, to the one we’d first entered into and found something unusual waiting for us. A ghostly figure, shrouded in mist. The music did not effect it, and instead of the usually emptiness in it’s eyes, a furious gaze stared right at me. A blade appeared in it’s hand.
And then the music stopped.
I looked at my arm and saw that it and the neck of the guitar near me were just… gone. I didn’t even feel it, the wound growing numb.
It screamed at us and rushed at Cuddles, but before it could do anything, Blade stepped in. Her sword glowed with a vile black, electricity sparking along it. She swung it through the spirit and it cried out in pain before dropping a golden crystal.
The pain suddenly hit, and I cried out as Show forced a potion into my remaining hand. He shouted at me, and it took a couple of times before I heard him. “WE NEED TO GO! DRINK IT AND RUN!”
I chugged the potion and sprinted towards the entrance, pouring what I didn’t drink directly onto the slowly thawing wound. I dropped the remnants of my guitar and stumbled forward, Cuddles eventually just picking me up in a princess carry before sprinting out of the dungeon.
The next several minutes were a blur as we got back to the wall. Show had stopped to do something, likely a necrotic barrier or something to stem the tide.
Finally, we reached the tent that had been given to us for use and I was put down on a cot. Cuddles took his helmet and threw it with more force than was necessary into the dirt of the tent. “What the hell happened?!”
“More monsters started to jump in.” I breathed out, suddenly very tired.
“Shit.” He swore, collapsing into a folding chair.
Blade came inside and looked me over, going pale, “Are you okay?”
“I could use a hand.” I said, bitterly.
Despite herself, she barked out a soft laugh. “Show’s out doing damage control. No horde because of his barrier, but he can’t keep it up forever.”
I groaned and looked at Cuddles, “You’ll have to send for another squad.”
He nodded, “A message has already been sent. I did it as soon as we were out.”
I dropped my head onto the cot, annoyed by the lack of a pillow. “Why the hell did ghouls pop up? They’re supposed to be third floor at minimum.”
Blade shrugged and then dumped her bag on the floor, glaring at Cuddles, “By the way, go level up. There’s no reason this much should have dropped.”
Cuddles grinned at the pile, “How else will I know my score in real time?!” He laughed, going through the loot.
Until he got to the gold crystal at the bottom. He paused. “That’s not good.”
I looked at the gold crystal and couldn’t help but agree. After all, anything that could drop a crystal worth one hundred thousand AFTER I killed it…
I didn’t even want to think about how screwed we should have been.
“I quit.” I said, with finality.