Heading the Way

Garrett stared down at the half of a face that was looking around and talking like everything was perfectly normal. "Come on, Garrett. I can't do anything down here by myself." The half of a head struggled the move slightly on the ground before Min-Tul picked it up. "Thanks Min-Tul."

"So, you wanna tell us what you are now?" Min-Tul asked.

"Can we get out of this room before we're trapped again?" Garrett asked, wanting to know more about Xul'Gomoth, but also not wanting to spend more time in this room than necessary. Min-Tul nodded and left the room; Garrett followed behind, picking up his shield and Xul's staff and cloak. As they left, the stone door behind them closed.

"Man, there were some good parts in that last batch I had," Xul said with a sigh. "I hope I can find some good replacements."

"Okay, start talking," Min-Tul said, holding up what remained of Xul.

"Ow ow ow, okay fine!" Xul said. It was only now that Garrett noticed that Xul's voice no longer seemed to be multiple ones. "Just stop hold me like that. I'm fragile." Min-Tul held Xul's head more carefully. They took a deep breath and sighed before continuing. "So, I used to be a cleric under the guidance of the God Faria. I was exceedingly devout, and some people in my church would say that I am a tad excessive."

"Wait, you're part of the Legion of Light?" Min-Tul asked.

"Yeah, and I was a damn good member," Xul said. "But, everything changed when the Pushian Massacre happened."

"You were part of that?" Min-Tul asked. "I thought there weren't any survivors."

"That's what everybody thought," Xul continued. "You see, I have always had a strong talent for healing the injured, and just kind of sort of the ability to raise the dead."

"You're a necromancer?" Garrett said in surprise.

"No!" Xul vehemently denied. "I'm not a necromancer. I'm just a really good healer. So good that sometimes the dead comes back to life."

"That sounds a lot like necromancy," Min-Tul said.

"Anyways!" Xul said, quickly trying to take control of the conversation. "After the attack happened, I met with my God. She said that as her finest and bravest champion that it would be my duty to revive the Legion of Light. Once I did that, I would be welcomed into the Gates of Skalyr. Then, I returned back to the land of the living, only I wasn't quite so much."

"What do you mean?" Garrett asked, surprised at Xul's story, but considering he himself had met with Otris multiple times after dying, it wasn't too much of a stretch.

"See, when a person dies, their body begins to enter a dying state. Healing can help it, but it's never quite the same. Now, imagine putting a soul into an already dying body. It doesn't exactly go the best. So, I woke up in a pile of corpses with my body barely functioning. Mine was already completely beyond the point of repair except for part of my face. So, I did the only rational thing I could."

"Let me guess, you healed up the body parts of the corpses and replaced your own with them?" Min-Tul said.

"Yeah, that's right," Xul said with a sigh. "But, they still decay, so I have to keep finding new parts. Thankfully, my face seems to be the only part that doesn't decay. So, yeah, can you help me out?"

"Is there any limit to what you can bond with?" Garrett asked, drawing his sword.

"It can't be elemental or powered by magic, like constructs," Xul asked. "Why?"

"Because we're about to get company," Garrett responded, charging forward toward an oncoming brigade of enemies.

The monsters were a gang composed of goblins, lizards, bats, spiders, and even a few large rats. All of them filled the hallway with their murderous intent. Garrett brandished his sword and began to cut down the monsters, a few of them dropping Helioxene.

"Okay, you'll be safe in here," Min-Tul said, putting Xul's head in his bag.

"Just remember, don't mutilate the bodies too bad. I need some things to work with," Xul said as they went into the bag. With Xul secure, Min-Tul leaped into the fray, knocking monsters left and right into the walls.

Garrett made quick work of the goblins, having gotten more efficient at killing them and exploiting their weak bodies. However, the rest of the monsters began to give him an issue. The lizards were the most formidable foes; unlike the other monsters, these needed a couple of swings of the sword to take them down. Having charged into the fray, Garrett quickly found himself surrounded. As he blocked with his shield, one lizard knocked away Garrett's sword. He quickly turned and was forced to use an arrow as a makeshift dagger. He went to go for his sword, but a few cave spiders blocked his path. As he turned back to regroup with Min-Tul, some dire rats surrounded his backside. Limited on his options, Garrett looked down at his bracelet.

"Now's as good a time as any!" Garrett shouted at the bracelet, focusing on it. He could feel the ambient energy coursing through it, but it remained in there. "Come on!" Garrett ducked to the side as a spider leaped at him. "Min-Tul! What do you know about using magic weapons?"

"I don't know. I've never used any!" Min-Tul shouted, he himself beginning to get overwhelmed with bats and lizards. His punches were strong enough to kill the bats, but they were too fast for him to hit consistently; meanwhile, the lizards could take multiple hits before going down.

"Oh, I know!" Xul'Gomoth said, muffled from inside Min-Tul's bag. "You have to focus the energy through your weapon and out. Picture how you want it to go and channel that energy!"

"Okay!" Garrett shouted as he aimed his hand towards the crowd of monsters. He closed his eyes and focused on the energy, imagining it coming out of his hand as a burst of flames. Yet, his hand remained unflamed and the enemies remained uncharred. The monsters lept towards Garrett, managing to cut and scratch him through his armor and clothing. "AGH!" Garrett shouted as he quickly threw them off and bashed a spider with his shield.

Dropping from it was a small red God Chest. "Come on, give me something good!" As he opened it up, it thankfully wasn't trapped. He took out the little orb inside and held it up as it transformed. His hand dropped as a large heavy metal ball with an iron chain attached to it appeared in his hand. "Now this looks like it could do some damage," Garrett said as he stared down the monsters.