Wanted to try something with Steady Stance, but it wasn't coming well. This need alcohol and the expertise sword to function. Could probably be improved.
Reclaim essence or Ritual Lord can be interesting. Serpent's Quickness can be interesting.
I should never have accepted that quest. This may be the end right now. I am going to die in here, and be part of this carnival of soulless bodies and mad spirits.
"An easy quest" they said, "no Charr, just mere skeletons"... except the damn bastards had incredibly high armor against piercing damage. My arrows had pierced through their rugged clothes without so much as to tickle them, maybe breaking a few bones on lucky shots.
The other guy hadn't been much helpful, managing to get snared and trapped between two skeletons and their blades. Now his body was lying motionless in the poisonous water, waiting for resurrection. Luckily he had invoked a fire storm that had dealt a huge blow to the undead, but if it gave me enough time to escape it certainly had not been enough to kill them. Now the skeletons were coming, like hunters after game. Several warriors, and at least one mesmer.
How can brainless skeletons even have mesmeric abilities was beyond my capabilities to understand. And it was not like I wanted to stay longer and bet my survivor title to figure out the answer. I made my way through the piles of bones onto the stone stairs toward the exit.
But a sound like a whistle suddenly came from my left. I tried to roll to evade toward the right side, but I think it was the wrong game. The blade of a rusty sword cut through the flesh of my left leg with a disgusting sound, and the pain flared to my head. I felt my legs give in and I fell to the ground. The wound was covered in blood.
A skeleton warrior had emerged from the dark and was walking towards me, looking at me from its empty sockets hiding its strong, silent and relentless determination to kill all living things. He was fast; there was no flesh to hinder his movements.
His lower jaw deformed in an expression of fury as he rose up his sword above me. I think I saw my short, virtual life pass before my eyes. However, as the skeleton was about to deal the final blow, Louve suddenly came back and leapt at the skeleton with the force of a level 14 wolf. I still don't quite understand how it didn't knocked it down with that much strength. She started to methodically dismember the skeleton with her claws and fangs.
Louve usually loved to deal with piles of bones. But now a deep wound was running along her flank and she was bleeding abundantly. She would not hold much longer against that many foes. I managed to get back to my feet despite the pain in my leg as three new shadows suddenly appeared at the other side of the hall. Another skeleton warrior, the Mesmer and - as if that wasn't enough - an undead necromancer. This was even worse than I thought.
As if to answer my fears, the necromancer raised an eerie-looking staff and several devourers' corpses scattered across the room suddenly rose up to join the fight.
My leg was too painful to run away and the undead were coming closer and closer, ignoring Louve's threatening growls.
That's when the light appeared, and the pain was suddenly gone. I looked down on my leg. No wound anymore. Not even a scratch, though the clothes were done for.
Louve roared. A new surge of the same light had also healed her.
I looked around and saw behind me a young girl standing behind him. The academy monk of the resurrection shrine of the Catacombs of Ashford.
I usually ignored monks - I trusted my bow and Louve more than gods. Also, all the defenders of the resurrection shrines were not particularly pretty and they had ridiculous haircut. But at the moment she felt as fierce as Louve. She had deep brown eyes and dark skin, probably because she was outside all the time. And she also had a ridiculous haircut.
* * *
-"Thanks for last time with those skeletons, I really thought I was done for. We did a pretty good team you and I, didn't we? »
No answer. I looked at her. Not a change on her face, she was looking with duty-bound eyes at the catacombs - and whatever may have been lurking near the entrance. I sat on the ground next to her.
-"There is a question I have been wanting to ask you for a while, but why are you just standing there all day long? I mean, the shrine is indestructible anyway so you should be free to go wherever you want, don't you? »
Still no answer.
-"Why do you always keep those weird haircut? Shaved on one side? »
She kept silent. Now this was getting me angry.
-"Isn't that too much to ask for you to talk? Why are you ignoring me? »
For a moment I thought she would never answer. I got up, bitter. Then she talked:
-"I stay here because this is the only mission I was given. We monks are usually not wanted. People dismiss us as soon as they realized that we are fragile as any other spell caster but cannot deal as much damage as elementalists or mesmers. Even necromancers are chosen over us when it comes down to healing. My sisters and I decided to cut half of our hair as a sign of support toward each other. But what would a Ranger know of this matter?"
The words struck me like a gale, and I suddenly felt empty inside. A sweet voice, perhaps the sweetest voice I had ever heard, but the words were hard as stone. Because she was rejected by everyone and I knew I was no better than the others.
I had changed my mind about her haircut. It wasn't weird or funny anymore.
* * *
-"I know you do not need to eat, but you should have at least have a bite of a pumpkin pie, it is very energizing. Also you can have all my alcohol, I have already finished the title."
-"No thank you, she said politely. I do not know about this "title" thing you speak of, but I never drink when working."
* * *
[Searing chaos]
[Tragic death]
Dieu De La Ruine
