I Can't Get the Vampire Rogue to Romance Me

Chapter 16 - Tangling Thorns

"There the display case," Evangeline said, pointing it out. It was made of broken glass, and what wasn't broken was covered in dust, and wedged between a bookshelf and a scrollshelf. Picking her way through the detritus of broken desks and the contents they once contained, as well as whatever things the local wildlife had brought in to nest with, Evangeline reached it first.

"Do you need a light?" Hagor asked, following but moving much slower.

"Yeah, it's pitch black over here," she replied as she peered through, trying to make out the rod she could barely make out inside.

Warm yellow washed over her as Hagor approached, holding his hand out to show a bright orb in it that she couldn't stare directly at.

"Perfect. Hold it up for me," Evangeline said and bent down to pick up a broken piece of marble from the floor. Using that, she broke the rest of the glass.

"Careful," Hagor warned, but she barely heeded him as she threaded her fingers through the new opening to grasp the wooden rod within.

"Got it!" she cried triumphantly and withdrew it from the case. She presented it to the druid, avoiding the thorns sticking out from the main body. "That should allow you to cast Tangling Thorns.

Hagor nodded as he held the rod up, looking at the small runes carefully carved along what counted as the handle on it. "It's astounding that something like this would have been lost or forgotten here."

"Yeah, we're ... really lucky," Evangeline said, "The gods must really like us." Though what she meant was "programmers."

That made Hagor pause, tilting his head thoughtfully. "Ah, are these... Do you think these are gifts from your god Meta?"

"I ... wouldn't bet on it," Evangeline said carefully. "But let's just make sure we use it well." Opening the door that led back into the main hall, she jumped as a rusted sword missed her by inches. Standing in the doorway was a skeleton creature. Its armor was tattered and rusted. A bit even fell off as it stood there, staring at Evangeline and Hagor with its bright red lights in the pits of its eye sockets. In its bony hands, it held a pristine long sword, the point currently biting into the ground.

"We're under attack!" Artmond shouted as he retreated from another skeleton in a tattered robe.

Caught by surprise, Evangeline moved to pull her +1 dagger from her belt while her body instinctively reacted to back up. But Hagor was immediately behind her, taking too long to have the same reaction. The skeleton shifted, lifting its sword back up to take another attack and Evangeline could see there would be nothing she could do to stop it from hitting. She was flat-footed and surprised after.

Before it could the skeleton was swallowed by darkness. A single flash glinted out of the darkness as a figure cloaked in the stuff leapt up. The single flash became a knife drive straight into the skeleton's head as it disappeared into the perfect dark. Valerian's head appeared out of his Cloak of Darkness. He grinned at her wickedly, confirming to her that he had just saved her life.

Then he held up two fingers on one hand and one finger on his knife hand.

"2-1."

"You dick!" Evangeline snarled, which only made him smirk more before disappearing back into his darkness.

"What is going on? I can't see anything!" Artmond howled as the darkness that was centered on Valerian shifted with him.

"Cancel it, you idiot! None of us can see anything to land our own attacks!" Sigismund screeched.

"It's not a problem for me!" Valerian hollered, followed by a few more triumphant "has" as he attacked.

"Agh! I've been hit!" Artmond wailed from somewhere in the darkness.

Evangeline hated to, but she burned her second to last Meta point. "Valerian's darkness is only a ten-foot radius around him! Take two or three steps in any direction away from where you think he is, you should be out of it and able to see."

"What the hells!" Valerian cried. "How the hells do you know that?"

"It lasts for three minutes, so just work around it," Evangeline continued, ignoring his protests. He had already moved away from her, and she could see again. The skeleton that had been attacking her was a crumpled pile of bones at her feet with the pristine sword resting in the middle of it. It was a good sword, though having no more Meta points to burn, she'd have to wait to figure out why later.

She picked it up.

She was not at all proficient with long swords, and it showed in the way she tried to hold the weapon in one hand, her dagger in the other. It was clear, this weapon wouldn't do her any good. Sticking it behind her, she let it disappear into her inventory, then pulled the inventory up. The sword sat in a little box like she expected it to. Holding up her fingers, she hoped this would work like it did when she played the game. A menu dropped connected to the item. Along with a list of things she could do with the sword, such as drop it, equip it, or send it to camp, and there was also a list of everyone in her "party."

She made her selection. "Artmond, check your inventory!" she shouted. Then turned as another skeleton, this one wielding two rusty daggers, closed in toward her. It attacked and missed with both of its attacks. She couldn't attempt a thieves-trick without having an advantage to do so, leaving her with a paltry stab toward its face, which scored a hit but did almost nothing.

"Not an auspicious start," she said.

She could imagine the skeleton grinning at her.

"Hagor! I could really use some help right here!"

To be continued...

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