Curselock

Chapter 9: New Start

The town of Liontrunk was somewhat unusual. With its main export of alchemical mana potions and transmutations plus having a population of over half adventurers raised plenty of eyebrows. Similar producing towns were far from the front lines, oftentimes renowned for great crafters and immaculate libraries.

Liontrunk’s proximity to a dungeon made the difference. Even though the Guild stopped any potential delvers from diving headlong to break the dungeon’s core, that didn’t stop adventurers from reaping the external rewards. As long as the core remained intact, Mana Lions spilled out like a leaky faucet.

Thus creating the booming industry of monster hunting and alchemical exports.

Leland shook hands with the caravan leader, pocketing his team’s pay and waving to the others they met during the long trip. Three gold was their claim, putting each boy one gold richer – although after supply prices, each only had around half-a-silver to spare.

The Legacy of Curses pushed ahead, through the crowded streets and past the many, many, butcher shops. He ended at a small restaurant where he easily found Jude’s large form already chomping down on bread and meat.

“Couldn’t wait for me to arrive?” Leland asked, receiving two wary shrugs in response.

He only shook his head, sliding the coin over subtly. Leland didn’t think they would be the targets of Lords of Pickpocket, or worse, Lords of Thievery, but it couldn’t hurt to be cautious. Jude didn’t seem to have any reservation, simply shoving the coinage into his pocket. Glenny rolled his eyes, using a coin pouch he kept in his boot.

“Guild after this? Maybe kill some Mana Lions in the morning?” Glenny asked.

Leland nodded. “Sure, that will give us plenty of time to see the tree.”

“The Lion Tree.”

“Huh?”

Leland couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not. “The tree that this town is named after? It’s at the center of the town? Big tree with a lion carved into it signaling the nearby dungeon?”

“Oh! Right! The Summoning Stone!”

Jude’s candid tone caused the others to blink at him.

“Anyway,” Glenny said, turning to Leland. “It's not a stone, it’s a tree, right? How does that work?”

Leland just shrugged. “I think I remember hearing about a Summoning Stone that’s made of a glacier in the far south. They don’t all have to be made of rock.”

Jude rolled his eyes. “Who cares about all of that? I just want to fight. Those gnolls were soooo weak. Hopefully the Mana Tigers are stronger.”

“Lions.”

“Same difference.”

Leland rolled his eyes. “Let's finish up here then.”

They ate, something that was oddly pleasant. Jude only received a few angry glares, much less than what they were accustomed to. As it turned out, a town used to catering to adventurers was much more tolerant when it came to eating like a starving gorilla.

The town’s Guild branch was packed. It took Glenny, the thinnest and slipperiest of the three, six tries to reach the quest postings board. He returned with an open kill listing for adult Mana Lions, specifically their internal organs. The poster was some Legacy of Alchemy, one of the lesser renowned ones.

Frankly the boys didn’t care who they accepted quests from, as long as the poster wasn’t infamous. There were a few lessons their parents beat into them about accepting adventuring quests.

“People need help all over, but those who wish to exploit help deserve it the least,” Leland’s father had said.

“Those who accept mangled monster corpses are usually fishy,” Jude’s mom had said.

“Look at the handwriting on the posting. Any business man looking to trick the common adventurer has a certain flair they like to add to their writing,” Glenny’s mom said before her passing.

In any case, the boys took their flyer and left, heading towards the town’s center. A massive tree, one stretching high into the sky but not yet into the clouds, came into focus. A wide hollow trunk took up the space of three streets, even coming into contact against some of the nearby buildings.

Tourists and adventurers alike circled the tree, wishing to stalk to the proper side. A carved head of a lion took front and center. It was mid roar, its large maw agape and its sharp teeth on full display. Its mane draped down the bark, vines and scoring highlighting the texture difference.

Leland was amazed. His feet stopped moving, the crowd didn’t bother him, and he felt excited for what was to come. This was only the first town! He couldn’t imagine what other natural beauties or wonderments he’d see during his path in life.

A pang of pain shot through his hand. He grimaced at his tattoo, but was mildly surprised not to see any blood. The crow ruffled its feathers a bit, signaling a change in his grimoire.

I’ll check when we are alone. Is that okay, o’ magical tattoo? he thought to himself with a smirk.

The crow accepted the statement, falling back into dormant flying.

The boys pushed through the crowd, eventually touching the Summoning Stone. To each of them, different things happened. For Leland, his vision darkened before appearing as a bird’s eye view. He, flying through the air, left the town and headed into the savannah, eventually reaching a small building out in the middle of nowhere.

Jude was a lion, rushing through the dry grass towards the building. Glenny was a snake, slipping through the underbrush towards the building.

When the town and tree came back into focus, Leland spoke up, “I guess that’s the dungeon entrance.”

Glenny nodded along. “Guild built a security building over it.”

“Eh, who cares. I want to touch the tree again, that was fun!” Jude said, reaching his hand out and touching the Summoning Stone again. His eyes went hollow, glazing over until the vision ended. When it did, he stumbled back a few steps, right into a group of passersby.

“You don’t want to do that too many times,” Leland chided. “Otherwise your brain will bleed.”

Jude slowly nodded, a groan slipping through his lips.

A commotion across the street pulled their attention. A young man around their age stalked through the crowd, easily causing it to part with just his presence alone. Or the scar riddled bodyguard following closely behind.

The boy was nothing special, but his prime layered clothes spoke of inexperience and money. A noble, Leland assumed, one who just had his Dream Ceremony.

They watched the young man touch the tree, his eyes going hollow just as Jude’s had done a moment ago. The bodyguard, however, spoke to Jude.

“Watch Master Onryo for me and I’ll give you a gold.”

Jude only sputtered out a head nod, the bodyguard accepting that as an answer. As the young Master returned from the vision, the guard placed his hand on the tree. A moment later he returned, flipping a gold coin to Jude.

Together the pair walked off, but not before the young Master glanced at Glenny.

After they were out of earshot, Leland spoke up. “Onryo… why does that name sound familiar?”

Glenny was the one who answered. “They are the family that took over for the Icewillows.”

“Icewillows?” Jude asked before noticing his friends dour, droopy expression. “Oh right, them…”

“You okay?” Leland asked Glenny, pulling him under his arm and starting through the crowd.

“Yeah,” he said, his voice shaking. “Yeah…”

“You don’t sound okay,” Jude said, receiving an angry glare from Leland.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s not Onryo’s fault.”

“You still have the right to feel bad, you don’t have to bottle yourself up. We are both here for you,” said Leland.

“Thanks guys,” the Legacy of Chameleons did his best not to tear up. “Why don’t we start on killing some lions tonight? We’ve got plenty of time until dark.”

“Sure thing. Let’s find someone selling a map of the area before we blindly leave town.”

It was then that Jude grunted and facepalmed. With his other hand, he searched his many pockets, each time becoming more frantic than the last.

“Get pickpocketed?” Leland asked.

“No! I just- I just misplaced my gold.”

Glenny laughed at this, his smile wiping away his previous sorrows.

While Glenny took Jude to buy a map, Leland looked over his accomplishments during the caravan trip. Written under the last entry in his grimoire, new words appeared.

You have assisted in killing multiple Savannah Gnolls. An appropriate reward has been added to your Legacy.

Fracture has increased to rank 3.

Fracture has increased to rank 4.

Crow Massacre increased to rank 2.

Leland reviewed the progressed spells.

Fracture:

Type: Curse

Rank: 4 (C)

Call upon the Lord of Bone to shatter those in your way.

70% chance to break a random bone in a single target.

Crow Massacre:

Type: Curse

Rank: 2 (C)

Call upon the ethereal familiar of the Lord of Curses.

Summon 5 ethereal crows to attack a target for 1 minute.

Nice, he thought. Two full ranks in Fracture, increasing the chance by ten percent! And now I summon five crows, not four!

It was then he remembered the crow tattoo pecking him. He smiled, the next page was loose. He turned it, finding a new curse.

Curse of Collapse:

Type: Curse

Rank: 1 (C)

Pull the target towards the end, bringing them one step closer to the Lord of Death.

Exhaust the target for 20 seconds, lowering their speed by 5%.

The spell’s description worried Leland. The Lord of Death was known to be one of the more ominous Lords, often creating horrific events to feed his undying hunger. He would have to test the spell out to learn the true effects. Good thing there they were going to hunt some lions.

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