Dungeon Titles

[Lost Star]

"Flush on your success?" The voice made Samael open his eyes and look around.

He was on a field of grass. The horizon stretched endlessly to the sides. The sky was clear and blue, and the sun shown down beautifully and softly. White and fluffy clouds hung in ones and twos as he looked. A field he hadn't gone to sleep in.

"This is a dream?" Samael asked.

Something slapped against a hand. The young man turned to the side to look and blinked. There was the golden man throwing an ink bottle up and down. It slapped against his hand again, and he spoke.

"Flush on your success? You have progressed very far." The voice was smooth and deep. It reverberated.

"I still have much to progress." Samael admitted and sat up.

"Good. You understand your position." The ink bottle slapped against his again, and he gripped it. "Stand warrior."

Samael got to his feet, and then thinking better on it, he shifted into his combat stance. The golden man nodded approvingly. Even now he had no features. The magic flowed around him visibly though, and that gave Samael more information on him than anything else ever could have.

The ink pot shattered as the golden man gripped it. Ink dripped down his hand and ran up the man's arm in a flux of magic. It painted prayers up and down his back, and then stretched down to surround his shins and forearms. It connected it to the Final Prayer in an intricate and elaborate pattern of faith and art.

"We stand under heaven." The man intoned and got into the stance in question. "We advance forward!" He blurred forward and Samael panicked for a moment before trying to block.

The strike impacted his arms and sent him tumbling end over end. The force was just that much beyond him. "Shit!" He couldn't help the curse.

"We learn Grace." The Golden Man stated sternly as Samael got to his feet.

Taking the hint, the Monk clapped his hands together just in time for the man's hand to strike at him. For one golden moment he was invulnerable.

"We grasp Purity!" The next strike was an open palm and Samael's Grace was washed away in a tidal wave of magic.

He coughed as he felt it reverberate inside his body, but instinctively blocked the next few strikes. Fist met flesh as he stopped thinking and began fighting. The golden man didn't let up, and didn't falter. Each mistake was harshly punished, and soon Samael was bruised and in pain.

"Horrible dream." He laughed out and spat out blood. Of course his opponent was still fine. He hadn't even landed a hit.

"We become holy in our devotion." The golden man's ink glowed pure white and flowed up and down his body. "Our fists and feet become our prayers." He raised a fist and gathered magic around it.

Samael felt more magic gathering, and looked down at himself. Each time he had been hit, a little bit of magic had been left behind. He didn't know how, but he knew there was some, and he didn't like what that meant with the next bit.

"With naught but flesh and bone we fight. With naught but flesh and bone, we prove our devotion!" The man shouted out and opened his hand to sweep a palm forward towards Samael.

Each place he had stepped ignited in holy light. Samael felt a strange feeling where the magic on him was. It caused the skin to crack and flake painfully. He knew painfully that his Iron Skin was breaking. Another hit would likely be like striking soft flesh.

"In return for all that. We are granted Salvation." The golden man breathed in and out and placed his hands together and went still.

For a long moment, Samael didn't know what to do. Then he followed along, placing his hands together and breathing.

"We watch warrior. This is your gift. Grasp virtue if you can. Teach if you desire." The golden man spoke. "Grasp Salvation."

Samael grit his teeth as his magic was forced to move correctly. He could feel it going up and down like it would when he circulated, but more somehow. Grabbing at his faith and devotion, and what he had promised to himself. Focusing it all together in a ball and pushing it up and down his body.

Then it clicked. What this was, and what it would do. His body shuddered as he healed completely. Salvation was a healing technique. More, it wasn't a weak one. He was fairly sure he could force a limb to regrow. There were very few things that could do that.

As quickly as it clicked though, he lost the technique. The young man grit his teeth and tried to regain it, but it slipped through his fingers.

"Salvation is the mark of the master." The golden man stated softly. "Stand under heaven, grasp Grace, understand Purity, become Holy. Take up no weapons. Take up no armor. This is the way of the Heavenly Fist."

Samael nodded in thanks. "You've given me a gift."

"Practice. Learn. The next lesson will be when you enter the holy gates." The man replied back with a serious expression. "I expect you to be able to fight."

With that, Samael woke up covered in sweat and tangled in his cheap sheets. For a long moment he lay there panting. His next lesson would be when he died then?

The teen rolled up and sat at the edge of his bed to look at his hands for a long moment. Then he clenched them and got to his feet. If that was the case, then he still had lessons to learn. First he needed ink and to practice that strange technique to write prayers on his skin. Then he needed to introduce Seonag to a light spirit.

Then, it was time to practice, and practice. He had been given a gift, and he now knew its name, and what he was going to do. Become a master of it, and prove that it had not been given improperly.

 

[Lost Star]

"I still honestly have no idea what I'm doing." Samael stated with a casual shrug, rubbing at the ink stains on his hands.

Seonag turned her masked face to follow the motion for a moment before shaking her head. "It is simple on your end. Escort me to your church, and state to the air, 'This is my ally. She would like to make a pact.' I will do the rest."

"If you say so." Samael stated doubtfully. He honestly still didn't quite get it. He'd never even seen a hint of light spirits in the church.

Just because he couldn't quite believe didn't mean he wasn't going to do it though. Seonag had already proven herself a good teammate. He could take her word for it.

The church itself was a large one, for once not nearby a Church of Fire. Well kept and stately, it looked every inch the respectable church. It also frequently had a crowd, and at least one priest in there at all times. That made this more than a little strange to the Monk.

He strode into the place and dropped a coin into the donation box on the way. To his surprise, Seonag did too and nodded to the front of the place as if greeting something he couldn't see.

"All right." Samael inhaled deeply and began with confidence he didn't quite feel. "This is my ally Seonag. She would like to make a pact with the spirits in the church." He stated to the air.

The Shaman immediately moved forward and began to speak in her own language. She paused a moment and then nodded as she moved to the side of the room. Samael blinked with bemusement. He had heard nothing, but something obviously had happened.

"Ah Samael?" One of the priests of the church moved up. "Could I ask what your friend is doing?"

"She's a Shaman, and apparently there are spirits of light here?" The Monk half stated, half asked.

"Ahhh." The priest grimaced and looked to where the woman was speaking. "We have heard about that. Shamans are not common though, and most try it once and get frustrated. Please be sure she doesn't deface anything."

Samael started. "They do that?"

"Some. I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the context of what their religion is about, but I know people, and frustration can bring out the worse in people." The priest bowed his head as he spoke. "Our church is open to all though, so I wish her luck." He grinned a bit. "Some part of me wishes that I could say that to the light spirits in person. It is a bit fulfilling to think that our little church has members in other realms as well."

Samael laughed. "Well that's one way of saying it." He continued with amusement as he indicated the church. "I wouldn't call this little though."

"Compared to the largest churches? Oh yes it is." The priest spread his hands. "This is about the size of this church. The largest one is about this size." He doubled the space in his hands.

Samael raised his eyebrows. "We do preach being humble last I checked."

"There were arguments of that nature. There's a faction pushing for more displays of 'might' so to speak though. And ultimately they did need a lot of space in that area." The priest grimanced. "The Church of Fire preaches indulgence in moderation and the importance of appearance. It's unfortunately been more successful than we'd like." He sighed.

"I can't say I haven't noticed." Samael paused as Seonag knelt down on the ground. "If you'll excuse me."

"Be well, and please return whenever you feel the need." The priest nodded as the other man moved to the Shaman.

"Everything ok?" The Monk asked curiously.

Seonag didn't speak for a moment and instead pulled out a small stone bowl."The spirit requested a simple tribute before we continue."

"Is that normal?" Samael responded back and crouched down behind the woman. He didn't want to get in her way here.

"It is. Most spirits would demand one immediately. That it allowed me to present my pact terms was rather unusual." Seonag replied calmly as she pulled out a small bottle of something.

She dripped a few drops of it into the bowl and then put it away. Next she pulled out a flint stone and carefully caused a few sparks to drop into the bowl. A fire flared brightly for a moment inside the bowl, and then went out.

Seonag went still as if she was listening to something. Then rocked back on her heels. With a grimace she pulled off her mask and brushed back her hair. Then stood up straight.

"I am Seonag. I was born from a union between two farmers. First daughter, I had the duty to make something of myself." The statement seemed almost uncomfortably forced but she continued without a pause or a change in expression. "I forewent the path of the druid and instead chose the path of the shaman. I formed a party of sisters, and we become strong together."

Samael winced just a bit and wondered if he was going to have to move aside. The woman didn't make an indication either way, and his presence was keeping others away. He elected to stay.

"We made a decision to leave and come here. Once here, foolish with success we moved into the dungeon." Seonag's breath hitched for a moment and she continued. "The dungeon took its due from us. They blamed me." She paused for a moment and closed her eyes. The continued after opening them. "I blamed myself. I continued alone for a time. Then joined up with the man behind me. We are now allies, bound in spilled blood."

Samael hid his smile. That was oddly heartwarming actually.

"I have given you my truth, in the language of your people." Seonag stated flatly. "You will pact?" There was an answer the Monk couldn't hear. "I will stand by him until our paths part."

Something glimmered in the bowl that Seonag had set in front of her. Light, for a very brief instant. Then there was a crystal totem in the bowl. Not as big as the wooden ones Seonag had, but it glimmered with white colors.

Seonag looked surprised and reverent. She delicately picked it up and immediately pulled out what looked to be an expensive looking cloth from her bag to wrap it up. She cradled it to herself and looked quite gleeful.

"Umm, that's good?" Samael hated to interrupt, but he was curious.

Seeming to realize what had happened, Seonag pulled on her mask again and stood up after putting away the bowl. Only then did the woman reply.

"Yes, most spirits require a totem made by hand. This one gifted me one. That implies a moderate amount of power, and a sign of favor." The woman nodded seriously.

"So that means you're stuck with me for awhile." Samael joked.

"Until our paths would part." The woman shrugged. "It is not an onerous requirement. We would have stayed together a long while anyway."

"Good point." The Monk nodded.

"Now if you will forgive me, I must prepare the totem for battle, and practice with the new gift." The Shaman nodded seriously and moved off.

 

[Lost Star]

It was a bit embarrassing to admit, but Samael had never actually been to a training area. They existed most certainly, but a brawler trained by getting into fights really. It was a good way to train, sort of, but it did run into issues. Chief among those issues was the inability to really practice new moves when you were in the middle of battle.

Thornvine's training area was located at the base of the city on the ground, and actually rather large. Admittedly it was fairly simple too, but that was fine for Samael's purposes. There were a few dummies, a sandpit, and places for targets. Most of it was in fairly good shape. An attendant manned the place with boredom. You apparently had to buy more elaborate training dummies, and pay if you demolished one.

Samael didn't really need to worry about that. He was there mostly to practice the strange shattering technique the golden man had shown him. It looked obvious on the surface, but that had been the same for all the techniques he had been shown. Looking obvious and being obvious were two separate things. There was a reason Samael didn't plan to be able to use Salvation anytime soon.

He'd already found one of the things required. The ink patterns painted on his skin were there to help channel magic. They were likely a factor. The other factor was why he was in the training area, hitting the dummy with casual strikes.

His fist met the wooden planks of the dummy again and again. There was just a hint of magic there if he focused a bit. He was missing something, and he knew it.

"What are you doing, male?" A voice made the man blink and turn.

The one who had spoken looked familiar. It took Samael a moment to figure when he had seen the muscular looking woman in furs. She was the local recruiter that Seonag had said to avoid. He assumed she was with the Ballbreakers, though she hadn't really introduced herself.

"Practicing." Samael stated neutrally after a moment.

"You strike at it with your fists and no weapon." The woman shook her head. "I have seen some bizzare things, but your actions are up there."

"I'm sorry, do we have business?" Samael asked finally.

She nodded in reply. "You have one of the sisters of Amazonia as your companion. This is displeasing to us. We cannot allow it." The woman's voice was quiet as she spoke. "Leave her and move on. I will arrange another group for her."

"No." Samael stated flatly and turned back to the dummy.

Danger sense flared and he ducked down as a whip of all things lashed out at him. It coiled through the air in a crack and then returned back in a flowing, almost living motion to wrap around the woman's hand. She gave him a level glare as she calmly pulled out what looked to be seeds.

"I am Oifa the Druid. Of the Ballbreaker clan. This is your last chance. I will even give you a reward for fulfilling my request. Otherwise I shall leave you broken and bloody instead."

Samael glanced around a moment. A few people had seen, but most seemed entertained rather than anything else. So long as Oifa didn't attempt to kill him, everyone would mostly ignore the spectacle. Inhaling deeply, the man took a fighting stance.

"No weapon? You would fight me without one?" The woman's whip uncoiled and one of the seeds in her other hand began to grow over her skin.

It wrapped and coiled around her arm and up her body until it formed a green armor in less than a second. Spikes rippled and formed up and down it until she looked like a bit like a prickly plant rather than a human. It gave her a vaguely menacing and inhuman air. Especially when the whip lashed out.

Samael breathed out and clapped. The whip bounced off without doing any harm and he charged forward in it's wake. The spikes dug into his fists and drew some blood, but it was ignorable. The wood creaked under his strikes, but flexed rather than shattered.

"A mage who strikes out with fists?" Oifa dropped a seed as she questioned. The thing dropped to the sandy ground and grew into some bizarre plant that lashed out at the man.

Samael didn't speak. He clapped again and the plant's gripping tendrils were blown back. He charged forward again to close the space she had opened and slammed his bloody knuckles into the armor once more. Then ducked under the lashing whip.

"No speaking?" Oifa asked casually. "No talking? No pleading? I would applaud your devotion, if you were not losing. Regenerate." The spell was cast and Samael realized what was really happening.

"You're mostly a healer." He breathed out.

"Druids are noted for that are they not?" Oifa cracked the whip and Samael dodged. "I admit to the lack of serious offense. That spell of yours renders most of my tricks useless. I will still break you. It will just take time." Another whip crack. This one drew blood from the Monk and he could feel a bit of poison burn through his veins.

Samael hissed out and debated using Purity. It wouldn't really stop her regeneration though. He had to break through her armor quickly. Well, this was a good a time as any. Concentrate on his magical flow and see if his living dummy gave him more ideas than his unliving one had.

Oifa was actually fairly powerful, just not set towards dealing damage. It was obvious once you stepped back and looked. Even magically enhanced the whip wasn't a particularly deadly weapon. The poison added to it certainly, but that was never really reliable in dungeons. The armor, the traps, all of it was centered around delaying and wearing the opponent down.

The Monk had to admit it was a good strategy though. If you couldn't break through the armor in one strike, there was nothing one could do. He struck out again and again into the armor, leaving bloody fist prints. Even head shots did litlte more than make her stagger.

In return she managed one hit after another. His blood dripped onto the ground from slash after slash. All of them little more than skin deep, but the poison burned. Final Prayer only worked once to clear it before it burned off too. Samael was holding it back for now.

"Stubborn." Oifa cracked the whip again as she spoke and Samael didn't spare the effort to dodge.

"Yes. I am." The Monk stated grimly as he finally figured out something. In his bloody hand prints his magic still retained itself.

There was a reason the golden man hadn't given a name to this technique. You had to become 'holy'. You had to make your flesh holy. Iron Skin became Holy Skin. That was the trick to this. The ink patterns were a blessing on his body. With that, each strike left just a bit of magic on the target. The blood had given him the hint. Now he just needed the trigger. Which he already knew.

"I grasp purity." Samael breathed to himself and activated Final Prayer. The ink burned off his skin, and he could hear people murmuring from the sidelines. An audience had formed, but it was Irrelevant. He needed the poison gone.

"One last trick then?" Oifa pulled out another seed from her pouch.

Magic flowed into his palm, and the Monk thrust forward. The magic rippled and the parts that still lingered on Oifa's armor flared and started to spread in golden patterns.

The Druid backed away in surprise and immediately grabbed at her pouch. Samael didn't give her a chance. He sped forward and punched at the gold. The armor shattered under his strike and he impacted flesh.

Oifa gave out a grunt of pain and attempted to get away. Samael didn't let her. He hit again and again. Breaking the armor and cracking the bone underneath the flesh. He couldn't allow her to back away. He couldn't allow her to heal.

She fell to the ground limply after the fourth hit. Gasping, she attempted to crawl away then. Samael heaved deeply and controlled himself.

"I am Samael the Monk, of the Starseekers." He stated quietly. "I do not take orders from you. I do not abandon teammates on your 'suggestions.'" Clenching his hands, the man stalked off, ignoring how people started to ask questions. "You try this again, I won't be so nice." He called back.

 

[Lost Star]

Breathe, inhale, exhale, punch. Samael practiced carefully and with deliberate precision. The goal was to control movements and be certain each strike was carefully done. The events at the training ground hadn't stopped him from needing training. He'd just had to relocate to a relatively isolated room the day after instead. It cost him some, but at least it was private.

"Hah, nice choice!" Robin's voice made Samael blink as the Bard walked in.

Gulping the young man stopped his training and nodded to the other man. "I'm guessing you heard about the trouble."

"Ohhh yeah. It's all the rage." Robin snorted. "You're not in trouble by the way. It's not the first time clans clashed, and it wouldn't be the last." The man waved a hand casually. "Seonag isn't important enough to make it worth it for them to escalate. Expect some petty sniping and maybe some harsh words. Anything more and they'd likely get in trouble with some central branches back at their home."

"Ah. I was worried there." Samael sagged a bit in relief.

"This doesn't mean you completely in the clear. I do need to be sure you don't go after them." The Bard waggled a finger.

That got the Monk to snort. "I don't give a copper about them."

"Good. Let it stay that way." Robin nodded and dropped the finger. Then the man grinned. "Now, that out of the way, it's time to talk about the real issues!"

"Real… Issues?" Samael asked slowly.

"Oh yes." Robin wrapped an arm around the Monk and dragged him out of the room. "You see, you're famous now. And going to be moreso soon. You've got an emerging title, and it's one that's going to shake things up quite a bit." The grin widened as they left the room and moved onto the street.

"What do you mean?" Samael ignored the pointing that was starting to happen. Ok, he was apparently the talk of the town. That usually went away after a bit of time.

"See, Bonnie's focused on history. I'm focused on the now. Brawlers are an interesting thing as a title aren't they? A dead end profession wise. Sure you can get into greater and greater things, but they're narrowly focused on one particular area." The Bard led them through the streets to an area that Samael wasn't really familiar with.

"Tell me something I don't know." The younger man muttered.

"Well, what would happen if you told them that you didn't need to do that? They'd all likely jump on the possibility." Robin chuckled. "And what would happen to those areas that rely on Brawlers to function?"

Thinking back to the Bonepit, Samael tried to envision what would happen if the brawlers left. "They'd have to sub in more people?" He tried to reason out.

"It would be terribly inconvenient. Overflow dungeons are unique in that they specifically try to expand aggressively. You can't just ignore them, and if you don't clear out the chaff, it's spectacularly hard to get in. People don't like change at all." Robin laughed as they moved into a shop with a sign that looked like a piece of armor.

"Well, shit." Samael muttered.

"You're really lucky in that it's just getting out now while you're with the Starseekers. Or more likely, you have good instincts. Once Bonnie gets back in a few days, the first thing she'll do is propagate the knowledge of your title and what you can do with it. Assassinating you loses it's appeal then." The Bard stated seriously as he rang the bell on the counter.

"That's so reassuring." Samael muttered.

The man shrugged and rang the bell again. "It's not meant to be."

"I'm coming, I'm coming." A voice from the back of the shop muttered sourly, and a burly man in an apron came into the room. He glared at the Bard the second he saw him. "You."

"Yes me!" The man replied back cheerily.

"If you think I'm going to let you talk me into another one of those strange contraptions again, then you got another thing coming." The shopkeeper bit out.

"No sir!" Robin saluted sloppily and then gestured to Samael. "I've got a challenge for you."

"Hmm?" The shopkeeper glanced over Samael and gave a snort. "I can do brawler gauntlets in my sleep boy."

"Um, gauntlets would sort of hinder my style." Samael pointed out gently. "So would heavy boots too, or armor of any sort." He continued.

Robin paused and turned to Samael. "Really now? Interesting indeed."

The shopkeeper paused and looked over the Monk again. "Boy, what's your title?"

"I'm a monk, er sir?" Samael fumbled at the title.

"Call me Gill." The man waved a hand and peered at the young man. "Something magic based? No, you wouldn't have muscles like that if you were that."

"Hand to hand." The Monk muttered and turned to Robin. "Why are we here?"

"Well it was to get something solid that would work with your style, but if it will hurt your ability." Robin rubbed at his chin and glanced over Samael. "Do you have to use ink for those paintings? Could you tattoo them in?"

Samael grimaced and rubbed at the markings. "They burn off over time. Final Prayer." The man traced the one over his heart. "Goes away with one use. The rest does over time if I use them a lot. They modify Iron Skin into Holy Skin."

Robin's eyebrows raised. "Now that is clever. I know some people tried magical tattoos, but they haven't been able to crack it before."

"What sort of ink do you need to use?" Gill cut in with a gleam of interest in his eyes.

"Ah, I have information on a few mixes, but I typically stick with the cheap one." Samael admitted and recited off the ones he had knowledge of. Admittedly the names meant nothing to him really.

Robin paused. "Most of those have components from dungeons actually. I know the one you use is made of charcoal from one of the fire dungeons. It's good for cheap enchantments."

"That it is. I'll be right back." The shopkeeper moved back into the shop and then there were crashing sounds. Then a sound of something lighting on fire.

"What is he doing?" Samael asked curiously.

"Gill's one of the best blacksmiths in the area. He was actually a Man-At-Arms that decided to retire early to work on the best works. It's not uncommon for veterans." Robin explained casually.

"It's not uncommon?" Samael parroted back.

"Elites are elite for a reason. Most people stick at veteran and settle down somehow. Not everyone's cut out for the dangerous life." The Bard shrugged and leaned against the counter. "I'm technically one of them. I do a lot of traveling and talking. Dungeon running, not so much." He flashed a grin.

"Here we go!" Gill came back in with a bottle of what looked to be ink. It was so black it seemed like it sucked in the light. "The inks you listed were absorbing types, and I'm guessing not made for writing on the body. This should be that. Free of charge to test. One gold for a refill."

Samael choked on air at the price. Robin whistled. "Not bad."

"Not bad?!" The Monk grit out.

"For a smith of his caliber, no it isn't. I'm surprised you knew enough about ink for this though." Robin mused.

"You pick up a lot in this business. Ink that works on various substances is the least I've done." Gill passed the bottle to Samael. "Tell me if it works later."

Pushing down the amazement at the cost, Samael stuck his finger in the ink and focused on his magic. The ink flowed up his arm and then around his back and over his body in a liquid river. He then focused his magic and forced the ink to dry and absorb into his skin. The sensation drained him far more than was normal, and he staggered against the table.

"Shit, what happened?" Robin asked with near panic.

"I'm fine. Just, whew, you know what happens when you try to attune armor too powerful for you? I think that almost happened." Samael waved off the alarm and got to his feet. He focused on the markings and felt the flow of the magic.

"I like the trick boy. Next time skip the near faint though." Gill muttered.

"This works really well." Samael stated with a grin, throwing a few punches. He could feel the difference handily. He activated Final Prayer, and it hissed as it cleansed his body.

"You were literal about burning." The Bard muttered as he watched with wide eyes.

"It just faded instead of disappearing though." Samael felt a little giddy as he looked at the prayer. This have him a lot of options.

He glanced at the bottle and noted it half full. A lot of options at the expense of a lot of gold. The thought made him wince.

 

[Lost Star]

Bonnie returned several days after the incident, and Robin left with a cheery wave. Samael visited her, but the meeting was brief. The woman apparently had a backlog of half a dozen different tasks and wasn't able to do much more than do a copy of the recording his necklace was doing.

It wasn't that big a deal to the man ultimately. He wanted to get his newer techniques down before he really went out. The skill Salvation still seemed far out of reach, but he had figured out how to do some healing with the initial steps. It made him ravenous afterwards, so he was very far off. The full skill could potentially restore limbs with nothing more than faith and magic.

The training came to an end when he received word that their new teammate was coming in. The party regrouped in the morning, just a few minutes after dawn to meet her.

Camila was a relatively short woman with short black hair and pale skin. She was wearing a pair of glimmering star-like earrings, and a black dress that had stars moving inside it. The dress had an almost scandalously high slit in it to allow movement. The effect was more like she was ready for a party rather than a fight. Well, if you didn't know adventurers.

"That's custom made isn't it?" Knuckles was the first to comment, indicating the dress.

"Oh, do you like it?" Camila smiled softly and pulled out the skirt to show off the stars moving better. "My brother had it made custom for me once I had the ability to handle it. It is quite lovely."

"I am Seonag the Shaman." The shaman stated, stopping any follow up questions.

"And I am Camilia the Astrologer." The woman gave a curtsy as she introduced herself. "I foresee many good things from this group."

The two men introduced themselves, and then began to move towards the dungeon entrance. This was going to be a slow run on the first floor. Mostly to see how people's powers aligned and to iron out any issues. If things went well, they'd see how far they could get without danger.

On the way Camila pulled out a wand and began to cast. The wand tip glowed and a silver missile began to revolve around her head. She did that again, and again until there were five of them.

Samael slided up and looked at them curiously. "That looks a bit like Magic Missile."

"Oh it's based on the spell. You just cast and set the trajectories to a fixed point slightly above one's center mass. Once you have that you can alter them with the appropriate acceleration to achieve escape velocity." The woman replied cheerily as she waved her wand in a circle.

"I think I got one word in five out of that." Samael replied back once his eyes uncrossed.

Camila looked at him with wide eyes. "But it's really very simple! It's based on orbital patterns observed in the celestial heavens!"

"Sounds fancy. And nothing I'd be able to learn." Knuckles muttered as they entered the building where people waited.

Fortunately for Samael they didn't have to wait long. Camila had seemed eager to explain exactly what it was her spell did, and poor Samael was too polite to tell her to stop. It had gotten into something called gravity wells and azimuth position before they were going to get in.

Once in, conversation stopped. Seonag started off by invoking her spirits. This time Samael was intrigued to note that it was just a bit of glow around his body instead of anything else.

"I have switched fire to protection from elements. The cold is coming, and we should be careful. Light will heal up small wounds, and remove poison once or twice before it grows weak." The Shaman stated as she invoked her wind totem. "Now, let us see where the best fight is."

"I can help there!" Camila raised her wand and waved it in a circle. A white line followed the tip and then a series of circles big and small appeared around it. They revolved around the woman's wand and she cheerfully began to tilt it and maneuver it with her free hand.

Seonag watched closely. Her mask concealed her expression, but she did seem interested. "Those are models of the sky."

"You recognize them?" The Astrologer asked curiously.

"I have watched the stars and the models from time to time." Seonag tilted her head as the wind came blowing gently back in. "I see a group of pigs?"

"Signs point to your third path being the most profitable." Camila stated absentmindedly and dismissed her diagram with a flick of her wand.

"That would be the tunnel there. It goes to a group of big cats." Seonag stated and pointed to one of the tunnels.

"Well, let's give it a go." Samael finally decided. They had added her to the team for a reason after all. It wouldn't hurt to see what happened.

They went down the tunnel in question and then paused after a few minutes of walking. Knuckles was the first to speak.

"They're not stalking us right?" He asked quietly.

"No. They are… Hiding?" Seonag questioned the air and her head tilted.

"Dungeon monsters usually go after people immediately." Knuckles muttered and then paused. "Wait, group of big cats. Could some of them be smaller than the others?"

"Yes." Seonag answered immediately.

"Well I'll be damned. A breeding pair. Those are hard to find. The kittens are worth a whole lot alive." The Terror Knight chuckled.

"Oh I love kittens." Camila clapped her hands together.

"They are in there." Seonag pointed out a small waist high tunnel filled with spikes.

People tended to avoid areas like that, mostly because they typically led to trapped areas. However, it also was a great place for animals to hide in too.

"Give me a moment and I'll get them out." The Astrologer hummed to herself cheerfully as she created the diagram in front of her again. Her wand flicked up and then down. Then with a twisting motion one of the stars above her head flew up and through the hole.

Yowling came back and a swarm of cats boiled out of the hole. Knuckles immediately hit them with his fear ability, and they all cringed and slowed as the effect hit them.

"I'll get the kittens!" Samael called out, gently stepping towards the tinier creatures.

They were small things, but their claws were still sharp. Fortunately not sharp enough to go through his skin. He grabbed at them and pulled them to the side casually. A litter of five.

One of the parents moved to attack him, but Knuckles intercepted it easily and slammed his mace down on its head. The other went for Camila.

The Astrologer didn't move as it came on. Instead she calmly manipulated the diagram in front of her with her free hand. Just before it hit, she pointed her wand at it.

"Observation: Gravity." She intoned. Mid pounce, the cat went up and over the woman's head, to its obvious distress.

The woman then flicked her wand again and one of her stars lanced through its eye, killing it in an instant. She glanced around once and then dismissed her diagram as the last parent was killed by Knuckles.

Samael was a bit impressed. That had been far smoother than he expected.

"Let me see the babies!" The Astrologer ruined the effect by skipping to the kittens that Samael was holding. They tried to bite her too. "Aww, they're adorable."

Samael glanced at Seonag. The Shaman seemed to be holding back a laugh at the other girl's antics.

"They're money." Knuckles grunted out. "Let's bring them to the city and come back. These things are worth the time." He grabbed a few from Samael. They tried to claw and bite at him too, until he glared down at them with his helmet and they went limp.

 

[Lost Star]

After selling the kittens for a surprising amount of money, the party moved back to the dungeon and rapidly managed to get through the first two floors. A brief amount of debate, and they moved up to the third floor.

It had changed. Outside, it was just starting to get cold. Inside the wind was blowing and the ground was iced over. It seemed to have happened nearly instantly too, as the plants had not had time to even wilt and were instead encased in a thin layer of ice.

Samael was intensely glad that Seonag had the foresight to change her fire totem then. Instead of being frozen solid by the weather, everyone was comfortably warm. This nullified a lot of more troublesome elements in the floor and left only areas where the ice had formed into razor sharp spikes as the real environmental threat.

It still left the bosses as a problem of course. The scouting techniques took care of that, though there were apparently flaws in it.

"We still on the right way?" Samael asked as they moved through what amounted to a valley made of ice.

"Yes, we are nearby." Seonag replied back quietly.

"Prediction says soon." Camila stated cheerily as she manipulated her strange magical array.

Soon was an understatement. No sooner had the woman said something than something long and pink lashed out at her. It stuck to something that glowed briefly and then pulled the woman bodily through the air and to the side of the valley.

"Fisher!" Knuckles growled out and pivoted. "You aren't moving." Some very real rage was in his statement as he charged at the creature.

The Fisher was a large lizard like creature with spiky scales. It typically slowly moved across the ground, nearly invisible. It was so named because its tongue could pick off an Adventurer from a fairly large distance away. It would then run and have to be chased down if you didn't want the person dead.

Camila barely had enough time to shriek out as it pulled her close and tried to swallow and run. Knuckles' fear technique had it pause momentarily, and that let her flare her magic and cause her mage armor to expand slightly. The white light forced the creature's jaws open so that it couldn't gulp. This then let Samael and Knuckles surround it.

Despite this, the Astrologer had still been halfway swallowed by the time the men were in the position to attack. Her normally placid stars had already slammed down ineffectually around the boss, and her legs wiggled as she tried to keep it from gulping her completely down.

Knuckles dropped his mace and grabbed at the creature's jaws as it attempted to circle around to make a break for it. His monstrous strength caused the bone to creak. Behind it, Samael had focused on breaking its hind leg, avoiding the whip like tail that seemed intent on being a lethal weapon.

Seonag darted in at this point, grabbing a leg and pulling hard. Camila came out of the creature's throat with a sickening slurp and she shrieked loudly as she rolled away. Standing up the girl shuddered, but immediately flared up her wand and had another star orbiting her head immediately.

"Try it bastard." Knuckles muttered as the boss flicked its tongue out again. This time at the Terror Knight still holding its mouth opened. The tongue stuck, but did nothing more than cause the man's body to lurch forward slightly.

The boss thrashed bodily in an attempt to break Knuckles' stance, but Samael's continued attacks had fractured its leg. Then Seonag's mist poured down its open mouth and the creature's movements changed from measured attempts to fight to frantic attempts to not dissolve from the inside out.

Shuddering, Camila stayed back and brought up her magical array again. After a moment she dismissed it. The boss's struggles had ceased at that point, and it dissolved as it died in a flash of light.

"You ok?" Samael questioned with concern.

"I was almost food." Camila muttered softly and rooted around her pouch. After a moment she got a cleansing rune. "Well, my horoscope for today did say I'd be experiencing new and exciting things." The girl ran it over her body and sighed in relief.

"Allow me to help." Seonag pulled out her own rune and the Astrologer nodded in thanks as she waved it over the spots Camila had missed.

"Well, that was closer than I would have liked." Knuckles muttered grimly and poked at the item that the boss had left behind. "Fisher eye drop. Worth money at least." He reached down and picked up the eyeball disdainfully.

"I could use it for a tribute." Seonag called out as she finished helping Camila.

The man tossed the strange looking eyeball like item her way. The Shaman caught it and put it into her pouch.

"So, are you ok?" Samael asked Camila.

The girl blinked. "Oh of course. Being eaten is a bit unusual, but hardly enough to cause me trouble." She flicked her wand up to add to the stars above her head. "I wouldn't suggest someone follow my example of course."

"Of course." The Monk muttered and glanced at his companions. They were both wearing things obscuring his face, but he could swear they were laughing at him. "Despite the trouble, I think we can keep going. What do you all say?"

"Might as well try fourth floor." Knuckles muttered, and Seonag nodded.

"That sounds fun." Camila nodded in agreement.

"So, fourth floor is… Safe zones, and what else again?" Samael grumbled as he tried to remember.

"The neutral fairies, and the plantfolk start." Knuckles muttered. "I think it's the lancer ones."

"They ride the pigs and carry spears." Seonag contributed. "They are apparently weak, but their mounts are deadly."

"Ah, yes I remember now." Samael winced at the thought that next occurred to him. "I'm on pig duty aren't I?"

"It's better than being eaten." Camila tried to console the Monk with a sympathetic expression and a pat.

Someone chuckled at that, but no one admitted who.

 

[Lost Star]

Plantfolk were essentially plants creatures vaguely in the shape of people. They stood a bit taller than a human male, were slim enough that they looked malnourished, and came in a multitude of different colors. Their features were fairly smooth as well. No visible mouth or ears. Just a pair of glimmering green eyes. When they died, the eyes typically remained, a pair of glimmering seeds used in a wide variety of materials.

The party's first encounter was with three of the creatures riding massive boars and carrying spears. The monsters charged at them the second they ascended the stairs to the fourth floor. Fortunately Knuckles' fear gaze made the mounts stumble slightly and lose their momentum just a tad.

Camila immediately brought up her array, and Samael charged forward to meet one of the riders. He dodged the lancing spear by a hairsbreadth and then had to crane his foot up as far as it would go to strike back with a sweeping kick. It unfortunately didn't knock the plantfolk creature off its mount, but it did cause the thing to swerve a moment.

The mount squealed angrily and twisted far faster than something that large had a reason to. Instead of a frothing charge now it was intent on crushing him between its jaws in short and sharp lunges. Combined with the constant poking from the lance, and Samael was forced to back away rapidly due to lack of openings.

A lancing star decapitated the rider after a moment of frantic dodging. The mount didn't stop attempting to eat him, but the lack of the rider pinning him down allowed Samael to jump over one bite and practically sit in its saddle himself. He slammed his fist down at the spine and the beast squealed and bucked.

Unable to keep the seating, Samael rolled off and slammed a few shots into the beast's ribs. It turned and he slammed another strike into its nose, which caused it to cry out in a mix of rage and pain. Figuring that was enough, the Monk used the opening to open his hand and gather the magic properly. A breath and a thrust caused the places he had stricken to light up on the pig's body.

The monstrous animal bucked again from the pain, likely thinking that something else had landed atop its back. Samael used the opening to strike the animal's glowing nose. His fist cracked through the bone and the beast went mad with pain. It reared back and moved to run, presenting the strikes he had made to the ribs. Samael took the opening gladly and slammed his fist into it, then ripped it out in a shower of gore.

The beast staggered still alive though. Cursing in irritation Samael vaulted on it's back as it still tried to run and slammed his fist into the spine. That blow finally killed the thing.

Breathing heavily, the man glanced down at his hand and blinked. It should have been stained with blood. Instead it was relatively clean considering what he had just done. He dismissed the effect for the moment. Instead he looked over the battlefield and found the last animal falling down as it coughed out its lungs.

"Those things can take a beating." Knuckles muttered as he rolled the arm he used with his mace.

"Dungeon Boars are considered one of the most durable creatures known." Camila stated with something like amusement. "Killing one with direct physical damage is considered one of the more difficult tasks. On par with a mid level boss."

"My mist makes them die quickly though." Seonag pointed out.

"Oh, that's perfectly normal. Their magical defenses are considered horrible." The Astrologer waved her wand in demonstration. "A mid level witch for instance can basically destroy one instantly. " She shrugged and put away her wand.

Well that dimmed a bit of Samael's pride in smashing the thing apart. The conversation ceased after that as they grabbed a bit of choice lootable items. Then moved on.

A few minutes later they stumbled on a place with blue fairies floating serenely. A minute of searching later found a 'safe zone.' In this case a room made of thorns and vines. It had a clear and unfrozen pool, and was devoid of the ice that made up the rest of the place. Instead it had a small soft layer of snow over dead grass.

"As good a place as any to break." Knuckles declared and they moved in.

Everyone had packed sleeping mats for something like this, so they settled down in a small circle. Seonag spoke quietly to one of her totems and then placed it in the center. The totem burst into warm flames that she fed with a few logs she had been carrying. The fire was far warmer and more comfortable than the size would suggest.

"Whew. Not bad for a first run with a new person." Samael stated with good cheer. "Think we can do the next boss?"

"No." Knuckles stated very bluntly.

The answer startled the Monk. "What, really?"

Camila summoned her strange star array and started to manipulate it. They watched her a moment, and when she didn't contribute, Knuckles continued.

"Don't get me wrong. I think we can do floor five." Knuckles rumbled. "I want at least five or six clears of that floor before we even think about the boss." He pulled off his helmet and shifted back on his mat to recline.

"Huh, you sure?" Samael asked quietly, and got a nod from the other man. "If you say so." He shrugged.

"Better safe than sorry. We're in no rush." The Fear Knight rumbled. "The dungeon will take its due, but I'd rather not it take it from us." He added on quietly.

"I would approve caution." Seonag stated.

Camila finished doing whatever she was doing with her array and chimed in. "Our forecast is inconclusive if we go now. It could be good, or it could be bad."

"Let's not then." Samael decided and sighed.

"Better too safe than too risky in dungeons." Knuckles muttered and started pulling off his boots. "Let's spend the night here. We're a bit late thanks to the cats."

"I will have the wind spirit keep watch." Seonag offered.

"I'll make a few more predictions here too!" Camila cheered with a grin.

Samael snorted. Yeah, he couldn't do much there himself. He ended up grabbing some water and trying to assist in cooking.

 

[Lost Star]

Later that night, Samael found Camila staring at the walls of the safe room a bit blankly. Not having much else to do rather than attempt to sleep more, he sat down next to her and nudged her with his elbow. The others were asleep already so it was just the two of them talking.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked casually.

"Hm, you ever get into dungeon theory?" She asked a bit vacantly, as if she was more talking aloud instead of talking to someone else.

"I read the barebones basics on it." Samael stated with a shrug. "Never was able to get into it more."

"There are maybe five different theories on why they do what they do. That's major evidence backed ones. There are more possibilities." The Astrologer summoned one of her arrays. "We don't even know why they exist or how they formed. One theory is that they came from falling stars." One of the lights in the array impacted another one. "Hence the Astronomer title and our clan's foundation."

"Are they?" Samael asked curiously.

"We don't know really." The girl grinned brightly. "We've chased down stars before, but about half of them got to impassible areas, a quarter were rocks, and the last ones were inconclusive."

"Were they just not able to find where the stars landed?" The man could imagine more than a few falling in the sea or around mountains and such.

Camila hummed to herself and dismissed her array. "Some. Others landed nearby existing dungeons. One rule that seems to be constant is that dungeons have a 'territories' so to speak. Mathematically you can estimate a range that one could be in based on other's locations. It's not particularly accurate in places where the density is low, but it's one of the few concrete things we know."

"I didn't know that one." Samael admitted.

"It's not particularly useful." Camila chuckled to herself at the statement. "You run into that a lot with studies on dungeons. Actual extensive testing isn't possible. We'd need to control an entire dungeon, and do some destructive testing. That would not go over well."

That was an understatement in Samael's opinion. Even he knew that with his spotty information. "That's how bad things happen right?"

"They call it disrupting the natural order and silly things like that." Camila sniffed delicately. "The few times people have attempted to destroy dungeons just have them adjust and typically kill the workers. Typically it's the people that get annoyed." The Astrologer sighed and let her head hang a bit. "Not that I can blame them. People live off dungeons."

"No calamities? I could have sworn I remember something about something like that happening." Samael muttered as he rubbed at his forehead in an attempt to remember old tales he had been told. "Something about a king stating that the dungeons were his alone?"

Camila giggled and pulled up her knees to rest her head on them. "That's actually a fun bit of history. Did you ever wonder why Sparks can be bought by anyone, and at a specific price?"

Samael frowned. Now that he thought of it, that was a good question. Sparks made you better. He expected that a lot of people would want to give them specifically to their friends.

"It's called the Adventurer's Dictate. 'Anyone can be one of us if they but pay the price.' Basically, every now and again a someone in power decides they want to restrict the sparks. Typically along the reasoning that they're 'better trained' or 'have better blood.'" The woman giggled again. "They sometimes restrict the dungeons too. Hence the legend of the king that proclaimed the dungeons were his." She pulled up her head and looked at the sky as she spoke. "There wasn't just one person that tried that."

"And that's where the calamity came about." Samael stated with triumph.

"Usually the adventurers get very annoyed and remove any blocks actually." Camila corrected gently without looking away from the ceiling. "When you've fought and bled with people, you tend not to care about where they come from. Adventurers might not be good at ruling, but they are certainly good at fighting."

"Couldn't the kings just sort of convince a few adventurers to follow him and do it that way?" The Monk pointed out.

"That's where the calamity comes about. No one knows where world bosses come around, but there is correlation between their arrival, and dungeons being 'mistreated.'" The Astrologer wiggled her fingers at that last point.

"Mistreated how?" Samael asked curiously.

"Here's where it gets vague. Dungeons get something from people going in and fighting. That's about all we know." Camila took her wand and started to draw something in the air with white lines.

It was a spiral. A simple one that she then yanked on to make it look like a funnel too. Like a drain going down. Samael watched the diagram with raised eyebrows.

"If you use a specialized mage sight, you can see something like this in a dungeon." The Astrologer explained. "Or, something like this for the one we're in." She inverted the diagram so it was a cone. The spiral started to spin a bit.

"That means…?" Samael trailed off leadingly.

Camila laughed. "We don't know! If you have people fight, inside a dungeon, you get something like this though." She added a few points of light on it. They trailed little trails that went up to the tip of the cone.

"What do the trails mean?" Samael pointed at the parts in question.

"Magic." Camila shrugged with a grin. "Now, what happens at the tip here we can't say." She pointed at the area. "That's where the last boss is. If you kill him, the magic does something like this." The tip went lighter, and then the light went down the cone to the base and it spun up more.

"So they sort of use people to get stronger?" That was a bit sickening in a strange way honestly.

"Leading theory is that. It fits what we observe. It doesn't take into account Elite Dungeons though." Camila shrugged.

"Those aren't just harder veteran dungeons?" Samael paused as he thought. No, that wouldn't fit. Elite dungeons were also called killer dungeons. You didn't get that from being just a bit harder.

"Elite dungeons are called two other things. Killer dungeons, and Wild dungeons." The Astronomer stated. "They're called wild ones because they're dungeons in places far away and can't be cleared regularly. There are not any Elite dungeons inside the kingdom."

"So what does that mean?" Samael asked with fascination.

"There are a few theories. But I have no idea! That's why it's so much fun to get into it!" Camila stated happily.

The Monk's head dropped down. "Of course."

"The Starseekers formed to answer those questions. If we could ever find the origin of a World Boss, we confirm or disprove so much. Unfortunately that's really hard. They're quiet until they start killing." Camila shrugged with a wide smile.

Samael wondered a bit at her expression there, but couldn't find itself in him to complain. To be honest his head hurt just a little bit trying to figure out what it all meant.

 

[Lost Star]

The next morning, the party moved up to floor five and started to fight there. This point introduced a series of plantfolk who did various magical effects. Some of them would have been spectacularly annoying for other groups. Frankly with Samael's capability to nullify most of their more monstrous spells they weren't particularly dangerous.

Their tactics did have to switch into something Camila called the 'Lance formation,' but that was already being done a bit on instinct. Basically, the Monk would sweep in front of Knuckles after the man engaged to break their backline. Camila would then move between Knuckles and Seonag to cover the Shaman. It worked out fairly well since Samael could handle being targeted and Knuckles could lock down those that wanted to get past him.

Fifth floor ended up being almost easier than the previous floors. The blasted massive boars took forever to bring down, so them being less common was a relief. The party ended up heading back midday with full packs.

Leaving was a bit of a chore, but the party got lucky at the third floor thanks to another group clearing out the boss. Backtracking after that was very simple.

They left the dungeon in high spirits, and with plans to meet again the next week. Knuckles would be handling the selling since he was very good at it, and the rest of them had scattered to do their own things. Samael's trouble started then.

"Samael!" Bonnie's voice made the man stop and turn. He had been enjoying his walk, but that voice outside the library turned his thoughts to dread.

"Bonnie?" The man paused at the girl's appearance. She was in her blue robe and had on her bunny ears, but the ears were off kilter and her robe looked messed.

"I need you, like right now!" The girl grabbed at his arm and pulled at him. Considering he outmassed her by a fairly hefty amount, it didn't do much.

The man let himself be led anyway. There was a commotion up ahead and nearby the girl's library, which was enough to make him hurry on his own.

"That's… A lot of men." Samael muttered. There were at least a dozen men, and maybe two women. All of them were shouting and waving their hands.

For a moment the man was confused. Then he realized a few things. One, almost all of them had something around their fists. Some had cloth wraps. Some had gauntlets. One or two had what amounted to spiked iron knuckles. They were all brawlers. It looked like two had started up an argument near the entrance of the library and the crowd was starting to become bad.

"Oh shit." The man muttered.

"It's worse. We got a few Elite brawlers here." Bonnie hid behind the Monk and he could feel her shudder. "If they let loose I'm going to lose my library."

"Can't you just like stick their feet to the ground?" Samael muttered softly.

"Yeah, if you want them to break the floor." The Historian shot back quickly. "And then get really mad when it wears off. I'm good, but not THAT good."

"What am I supposed to do?" The Monk muttered.

"Well, they are here to talk with you." Bonnie shoved Samael hard and the man staggered forward.

A few of the people on the edge spotted the Monk, then they tapped other people watching the argument near the center of the group. The shouting died down, and two people pushed their way through the edge. Samael's eyebrows raised at one of the men.

"Harry?" The Monk asked.

"Samael! Thought it was you!" The man laughed boisterously.

"This is the one then?" The other man stated flatly.

This man was a scarred and monstrous looking example of masculinity. His dark skin looked like it had been bitten, clawed, stabbed, and torn in hundreds of places. His muscles bulged, and he was one of the few men without anything on his hands. Not that he needed something on them. They were as brutal looking as the rest of them.

"I am Sampson the Brawler." The man stated flatly. "You are the one who has found another path to fight with the fists?"

"Hey hey, you don't need to do this now." Harry muttered to the other brawler urgently.

"Ohhhh shiiiittt." Bonnie whimpered and skipped away from Samael. "Hey, I'll get the medical supplies!" The girl ran around the crowd and into her library.

More than a few people had stopped to gawk, and Samael could see the crowd starting to form. The man was sure he was missing something, but as he looked up at Sampson he found he couldn't care.

"I am Samael the Monk." The young man stated flatly as he looked up at the heavily muscled man.

"Good. Show me." The man blurred forward, and Samael dodged the claw like strike on reflex.

He cursed and dropped to the ground as the leg blurred next. The man's strikes were wild and wide, but they made the air whistle and filled Samael with the terrifying certainty that if even one hit he wasn't going to enjoy it. That certainty doubled when the man stomped and just barely missed his head. The floor cracked from the strike.

"Is dodging all you can do?" The brawler asked casually as his limbs sped through the air and he snagged Samael's arm with a bone creaking grab.

"You're an Elite dumbass!" Harry called from the sidelines. "You're just too fast and strong!"

Sampson paused a moment and slammed Samael into the ground. The Monk gasped as he felt everything rattle. He felt like Sampson was looking at a bug he was debating on squishing. The man stepped back after a moment and spread his arms.

"Hit me then. Show me something." The brawler stated flatly. "I want to see this new way of fighting."

Samael was fairly sure that only the golden man had managed to so casually demolish him, and not by very much. He still got to his feet and felt himself grin a bit. He had missed this. He took his stance and slammed a fist into the man's left side. It impacted into the steel like flesh with a thud, but did nothing.

"Is that it?" Sampson asked with disappointment.

Resting his fist against the man's flesh Samael laughed and slammed his palm into the body. Magic rippled and golden cracks moved up and down the brawler's side. Sampson looked down at it with curious wonder.

Samael's next strike broke the skin and then cracked against the brawler's rib. The bone creaked and Sampson staggered back and looked down at his now bleeding side. The monstrous man laughed loudly.

"That, that is it!" He attacked back with a wide smile.

Samael clapped his hands together. Sampson's wild and deadly strikes were thrown off, and off balanced the man couldn't stop Samael from raining quick strikes up and down his body. Samael flowed around the next lunging strike and slammed out his palm again.

More golden cracks raced up and down Sampson's body, and the man grinned with wild joy at the effect. Samael made to strike again, and found himself grabbed once more. This time he went flying through the air and almost getting impaled by a thorny vine. He hit the ground again and felt his body creak.

"Yes. You will teach me this." Sampson stated with wide tooth filled smile.

"Yeah, let's stop this before someone dies! You know, like the one you want to teach you?!" Harry called out.

"That might be a good idea." Samael said after a moment. He did rather want to get up and keep going, but that was a bit difficult when you couldn't tell which way was up.

 

[Lost Star]

A medical kit for an adventurer didn't look anything like a kit would for a normal person. For one thing, they didn't have condensed food and a specialty drink. Called Defeated Wine, it was a mix of alcohol, several extracts, and drinking it was like drinking a mixture of fire and concentrated fruit. There was nothing better for an Adventurer though, as it allowed them to recover far faster than normal food would do.

Samael was mostly glad it was just enough to give him a very small buzz. He needed to be clearheaded for this. Harry and Sampson had moved into the library to continue to talk. Bonnie was there with them. The rest had scattered to somewhere to stay and wait.

"Armor piercing, an invulnerability, and something like a magical disrupter." Sampson ticked off the skills used on his large fingers.

"Yep. That's about right." Harry nodded. "His movements are different too. More straight lines instead of circles you typically see." The man whirled a finger in the air.

"Aggressive. More geared to fighting less people." Sampson stated with certainty. "Probably better against larger prey." The man peered at the resting Monk. "You notice less capability to handle large groups?"

Samael frowned and tried to remember. "Not in the Bonepit, and I don't recall getting that many enemies after that really." At least none that had attacked.

"The Bonepit enemies are weak." Sampson waved it off and Harry chuckled.

Samael couldn't dispute that. He just leaned back in his chair and focused a bit on breathing.

"Fascinating analysis." Bonnie chimed in the silence. "It's like hearing about different weapon types."

"The body is the weapon." Sampson stated with a bone deep certainty. "The tools you wield are just extensions of it. They are aids. A true fighter does not need them." He flicked a glance at Harry.

"I like keeping my fingers pretty." The man flexed the gauntlets he was wearing with a grin.

"Only the fact that you mentor younger ones gives you my respect. I consider you a slob otherwise." Sampson replied back flatly.

Harry laughed. "Fair enough. Now, onto teaching younger ones. That's mostly why I'm here. I'm too old to pick up new tricks, but I should be able to teach some."

"Ah. There's a bit of an issue there." Samael muttered with a wince and indicated the paintings showing through his clothing. "These are part of the armor piercing technique. They require faith in heaven."

"Chiming in here, I've got a magical diagnostic on his skills. They agree there." Bonnie waved her hand and her ears twitched.

"I follow the Natural path." Sampson stated. "Were it anything else, I would give it, but my devotion is towards there." He frowned at the markings. "Can we repurpose them?"

"I have no idea." Samael stated with a small laugh. "I was given this gift by heaven. The mechanics of them are not something I know. For all I know there's no way they will work otherwise."

"Well, the Church of Fire might be able to get something." Harry mused.

Samael winced. He had forgotten that the man was a follower of them. He did say he planned on teaching them too.

The other man noticed and gave another laugh. "Oh, don't worry. You know how the church is."

"I don't actually." Samael muttered.

"Oh, let me!" Bonnie's ears wiggled as she waved her hand. "The Church of Fire is the official name for the faith of Demons. It first came about when an enterprising summoner summoned a demon and demanded a list of 'sins' that would prevent one from entering heaven. This evolved into summoning demons for advisors and the discovery of the 'punishment' demonic faction. The punishment faction is dedicated to redeeming souls who have fallen and finding souls with extreme sins and dragging them down to hell."

Taking a deep breath and ignoring Harry's amused look, the woman continued. "The Church of Fire espouses the punishment of sinners, the expansion of its power, and personal indulgence. So long as one does not cross the lines indicating a 'sin' anything is acceptable. Should one cross the line, the church offers 'tormented redemption' as a 'feature.'" The girl snorted at the last part.

"Yeah, they like to take a lot of money for that last one." Harry noted with a chuckle.

Samael sighed. That information was fairly new to him honestly. It didn't change his opinion, but it did make things a bit more understandable. "So they'd assist us in this?"

"With a bit of talking we could probably wrangle a demon advisor." Harry shrugged. "It'd take awhile.

"I've got one lined up on call already." Bonnie stated casually, and the man stared at her. "Oh, didn't you know? Samael's a Starseeker." This Historian waved her hand dismissing it.

"They are an interesting clan. Weak on the surface. The favors they have make them dangerous." Sampson rumbled and crossed his arms. "This does not give me a solution for my faith though."

"We could technically start training the people already, but false conversion likely wouldn't work that well." Harry stated with a frown. "And that's assuming we get something with the Church of Fire. Not everyone follows Angels or Demons, and I do not want to have the new ones getting forced into that." He made a face of disgust.

"Well, one step at a time. If we can get more information on the ink markings and how they work, we can go from there." Bonnie stated cheerfully.

"You ok with that Samael? I mean I just realized we're assuming you'd want to do this." Harry asked with concern.

"I do want to teach it actually." Samael stated with a smile as he got to his feet. "I do have one request." He stated solemnly.

"Oh?" Harry asked curiously as he got to his feet as well.

"When we teach, we expressedly state that the heavens gifted us this path." The Monk stated solemnly.

Harry guffawed and slapped the man on the back. "Yeah, my Church would hate that, but I'll be sure they do it."

"The glory and prestige of that would be a great boon to your church." Sampson got to his feet and gave Samael a nod. "I approve. Should we adapt it to my faith as well, I will fight those who would deny the gift your heaven gave us."

Samael nodded with gratitude. "Thank you."

"Of course it's fighting. Not debating, or contesting. Fighting." Bonnie muttered as her ears twitched. "Let's get this done before we get more of them." She stated and opened up her library door.