Chapter 75: Backroom Meeting

Ryan didn't immediately speak, he looked over to Laura, his eyes asking her what to do. She could only shake her head and shrug her shoulders; she was just as surprised as he was. They hadn't dealt with the church at all since they arrived, there was no reason for such an impromptu visit of which they could think of.

In Amine, the Church held little sway within the inner workings of the government, Ryan knew that in Morgania though, it was a different story. To avoid any unneeded trouble, he didn't dare keep an envoy of the Church waiting for too long. "I'm sorry to say Priest Unilith, he is not here at the moment."

"Very well." He said, "When can we expect this Kalcifer to return?"

Ryan smiled awkwardly, he felt extremely uncomfortable for some reason as he spoke to the emissaries of the Church. "I'm afraid I don't know. He didn't say when he would be back, he didn't even tell us where he was going."

"Mmhm." The priest said as he scribbled something within his notebook. "Well, we will require room and board as we await his return. I'm sure you won't mind if we have a look around as well, correct?"

A drop of cold sweat rolled down the back of Ryan's neck as he listened to the demands given by the church. They were completely full; he had been turning away even the wealthiest of merchants all day long. Not only that, but him secretly being a necromancer in training wasn't exactly an ideal profession to be in with the church sniffing around. He could feel his chest tightening, he couldn't breathe and had suddenly grown extremely lightheaded, all he wanted to do was run away, be anyplace other than where he was at the moment.

Thankfully, an angelic voice rescued him from his distress as he felt a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "The inn is at maximum capacity at the moment, I'm very truly sorry to say."

Laura had taken up the task of turning down the church, taking the attention away from Ryan. Priest Unilith turned to look at the flour covered young lady; all the while Paladin Hargrove remained as still as a mountain behind him. "You have your own quarters, correct? Those will do fine; Paladin Hargrove and I can room together to save you some trouble."

"Uh, Umm, Tha…...that is fine, I suppose." Laura Stammered out. "If you would give me a few moments to collect my things."

"Yes, of course. Take as much time as needed, we won't be going anywhere."

…..

"Thanks for that." Ryan said to Laura. "I don't know what happened, I just... froze. I couldn't even think straight."

"I could see something was wrong. Are you ok? Do you need to go lie down?"

"No, I'm fine now. Plus, I couldn't bring myself to rest while everyone else is working so hard." He let out a sigh as he noticed that the restaurant had suddenly gone quiet with the appearance of the two Holy Envoys. "What are we going to do about them?"

Laura gave him a defeated smile. "What can we do? We don't have a choice but to go along with whatever they want. I'm only curious about why they're here."

"Yeah... me too." Ryan replied a little forcefully, causing Laura to put the back of her hand to his forehead.

"You feel clammy, maybe you really should go lay down."

"No, really I'm fine. C'mon, I'll help you with your room. I'm sure Professor Treffle won't mind if you stay with her for a while."

Laura didn't fight him any further, nodding her head in reply before saying in a teasing tone. "I'm surprised you didn't offer for me to stay with you."

The comment caught Ryan completely off guard, it wasn't that he hadn't thought of asking, but knew better than to broach the subject. "Well, I…... um, you know, I."

Laura couldn't hold her laughter in as she trotted away toward her room. "Let's hurry up, we can't stand around all day."

…..

Professor Kal stood in front of a set of massive double doors that reached fifty feet into the air. His arms were crossed in front of his chest, and he was tapping his foot on the hard, dusty ground. A 'hiss' of air sounded from the seams in the door accompanied by puffs of dust that fell like snow. The massive stone doors opened outwards without a sound, allowing Professor Kal to continue further into the dungeon.

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"Slowest... doors... ever! C'mon Trist, let's go." Professor Kal said as he passed through the mammoth threshold.

Disappearing behind the closing doors was a small glacier, its tip nearly touching the high ceiling. Trapped within the aquamarine transparent ice was an ugly, six-legged monster. It stood twenty feet high and had smooth, waxy skin. It resembled a fat grub that had sprouted six, equally plump claw-tipped legs. On what must have been its face, a circular mouth was frozen wide open, displaying several rows of saw-like teeth. Two walnut sized eyes were buried underneath several inches of protective transparent skin, almost serving no purpose.

It might have been strange to see a living creature being part of an 'undead dungeon', but the frozen specimen in question was the larval form of the corpse fly, so it corresponded with the overall theme. Obviously, on the surface, a corpse fly maggot was many times smaller than what was inside the dungeon, usually no bigger than your fingertip. He wasn't sure what mystical force had grown the repulsive insect to such enormous proportions, but he had to prioritize his objectives, so left finding out to another day.

In front of the Professor was more of the same dark and dreary tunnels characteristic of the dungeon so far, condensation was constantly dripping from the low ceiling, or trickling down the walls in small, finger width streams. A cool draft moved within the cramped tunnel, the direction of the slow breeze gently pushing him down deeper into the darkness.

Not wanting to waste a moment of time, Professor Kal summoned forth a group of jellyfish like monsters simply called 'Tufts'. They earned their innocuous namesake solely based on their appearance. They floated soundlessly in the air not due to any magic, but because of bladders filled with lighter than air gasses that they produced naturally. Hundreds of hairlike tentacles swayed underneath their bulbous bodies that were as big around as large beachballs.

A faint bioluminescent glow radiated from their fragile looking appendages, used mainly to attract their unsuspecting prey. A simple brush with their stinging tentacles was all it would take to completely immobilize their prey. The tufts carried a toxin within themselves that didn't affect the body in any way but had the ability to disrupt the mana pathways of any creature they touched. They were the natural predators of the undead.

With a mental command, Professor Kal sent the tufts ahead of him, using the natural air currents to aid in their movements. Walking along at a brisk pace, with Trist following closely behind him, Professor Kal made his way deeper underground.

…..

"What're we gonna do?"

Within a dimly lit room in the back of the inn, sat a round table with five occupied chairs evenly spaced around it. The people sitting in the chairs all had dark circles under their reddened eyes, barely able to keep them open. For the first time all day, the inn was silent, only the noises of the old wood settling could be heard.

"We need to hire some help, there's no way we can keep this up." Ben offered up to the worried Richard that looked the most haggard out of them all.

Ryan nodded his head that was propped up by his arm resting on the table. "I'll go in the morning to put a request in... I'm thinking maybe ten people should do it."

"Yeah, with cleaning the rooms, cooking food, serving it... there's just so much to do." Professor Treffle added, her voice informing them how exhausted she truly was.

Professor Treffle was maybe the one that had to put up with the most over the last few days. She had taken up the task of serving the customers eating throughout the day, not because she had wanted to, but in order to protect the students, especially Laura. At the end of the day, they were still children and couldn't defend themselves effectively against any unruly guests. They could have always resorted to magic, but that would have brought too much unwanted attention.

Professor Treffle's statement brought unanimous nods from everyone present, with that agreed on, Ryan brought forward another issue. "Now, has anyone heard anything about what we're here to find out?"

"Does it really even matter anymore, I mean, they've already went to war." Ben said.

"Yeah, we should be focused on trying to get home... I want to go home." Richard whimpered, his voice cracking.

No one at the table ridiculed him for his feelings, they all felt the same. They were worried about their families and their friends back home. They had no way to talk to them, it was eating at all of them in different ways.

"If we figure out who it really was, maybe it'll end the war before it can really get started." Ryan said hopefully. "They won't be able to do much during the winter, right Professor? We still have time."

Professor Treffle nodded her head. "Yeah, you're right." She paused. "But that's under the assumption that's the reason for the sudden invasion. Who's to say there isn't another reason entirely."

That simple observation shrouded the room within a glum atmosphere. If that was true, even if, against all odds, they do uncover who had truly cursed the young prince, it wouldn't matter in the end. That would also imply that their entire reason for traveling so far in the first place was a moot point.

Seeing the depressed looks on all of their faces, Professor Treffle let out a tired sigh. "I'll head out tomorrow, see what I can find. Honestly, what was that jackass thinking when he bought this place.. I think he done it just to mess with us."

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