Treasure hunt

The next morning he got up after an incredible night's sleep in his new bed, the fires embers were still glowing and the leftover pig made for a surprising good breakfast, enjoying one of his silk pears and getting used to the unique texture and almost syrup like juice he used the converter to dispose of the remaining pig and went to the Inventory panel.

He'd thought about this last night but simply didn't want to interrupt his night of indulgence; the Poor quality gems were about the size of an acorn and clearer than their pathetic counterparts. Each one glowed very faintly but still seemed to be useless on their own. He checked out the crafting section after replacing the gems and found what he'd expected.

"I can't afford them yet anyway but it's good to know you can get more than just staffs"

The Corpse dagger he saw in there made him consider the other possibilities and made him even more thankful for Grim touch.

"I still think flames are cooler though"

Stretching and spending the last of his copper on a single poor quality torch he looked to the hills he had been watching yesterday.

"The maps somewhere between them, I better not have to dig"

He brought his wood axe with him again as he considered the fog he would be passing near and how historically useless the spears had been against the zombies.

Setting off he jogged in a straight line simply avoiding any slime he saw, with the quest rewards he was seeing his technique for levelling up was going to be entirely different.

It was easy for the first two thirds of the journey, nothing but slime fields, but as he drew closer it became apparent he would be spending time in the fog today after all, he'd even headed further south to try to skirt around it but getting closer to the hilly area it was clear the fog encroached between them and was getting thicker the closer to his goal.

"Well I figured, that's why I took the zombie clearing quest after all"

Deciding on the direct approach he stepped into the fog bank.

He could no longer move so carelessly and even with his new clothes felt the chill keenly. He didn't pursue the faint sounds of scuffling he heard from time to time instead focusing on making progress towards the map.

The closer he got the harder this approach became and he found himself reliant on his new axe more than he expected.

"I can't waste my mana when I don't know what's ahead, I can take these boys one on one now easily enough but I'll need the fire if a horde comes again"

Thinking about how different things would have turned out with the horde before had he been in the fog and not protected by the slimes he shuddered, it was easy to have second thoughts with the fog permeating your clothes and the constant shuffling of zombies all around.

Pressing forward he found himself heading up another hill in the thick fog, the sounds of the zombies were becoming less and less frequent now but remembering their previous attempt at an ambush this wasn't all that reassuring.

As he pushed on he kept an eye on the map through his interface and knew now he was within 50 metres of his target, whatever was waiting for him at the map's location was over this rise.

As the tension built he was finally able to clearly see the area before him; nestled in the flat between 3 hills a stone paved circle sat overgrown with weeds, its flag stones uneven and weather beaten.

In the centre of the space a solid block of stone with intricate carvings lay as a table with various items strewn about it, a quill, parchment, bottles, coins. There were crumbled columns scattered around the periphery, the weeds growing up them as though entangling and destroying them.

"Even I'm not so blind to conventions as to think this place is really unguarded"

Moving forward slowly and keeping as far away from the vines as possible he crept towards what he couldn't help but realise was an altar, he froze suddenly as a stone skittered away from his foot, the bone it hit bringing his exposure to an end.

When nothing changed he slowly moved forward again, hand outstretched ready to spew fire at a moment's notice as his axe was gripped in bone white fingers. Arriving unscathed at the altar he immediately touched the map and absorbed it into his storage space. Fully expecting the vines to react he froze again and once again was reassured by their inactivity.

[Quest objective complete: Retrieve the Map]

Before leaving he could not resist the other items here, the jars alone would be a huge help but he even saw a couple of books in amongst the items, he hoovered them up with no regard for worth resolving to sort them when he got back to base, but as soon as the first book disappeared.

"Intruderrrrrrrrr"

The bones which seemed to be everywhere now were moving together and forming themselves, a huge mass of them rolling together on the opposite side of the altar. Only sparing a second more to hoover up the last of the loot he bolted in the opposite direction.

Not daring to even consider what the huge mass was going to be when it finished he was shaken enough by the sound the skeletons which formed around him were producing. This world so far removed from humanity was made all the more alien by its imitation of their language. The two skeletons that formed between him and the hill he came down from both had rusted iron spears and moved to block him with surprisingly smooth steps, there were faint sparking trails connecting the bones of these warriors which was presumably how they stayed together. Regretting his weapon of choice he was forced to move between the two in an attempt to get his axe past their reach.

The best he could do was hook one of their spears and swing it downwards to prevent being impaled on that side as he allowed unrestrained flame to burst from his hand into the body of the other spear wielding skeleton.

The dry roar resounding out behind him gave him some idea of the size of the amalgamation that had formed and chilled him to the core.

[48 exp]

As the first spear skeleton fell he closed his fist and punched the second in the skull to stagger it. As his hand retracted he felt searing pain and almost fell from the impact of an arrow in his shoulder. Pulling his axe into his storage space to free himself of entanglement he turned his head as he ran and saw the skeletons behind him.

Another arrow whistled past as more of the spear skeletons moved around the altar to get to him and other bows were levelled towards him. This overwhelming sight however was not the biggest threat.

The bone amalgamation had finished forming and used its colossal arms to half throw half roll the altar block towards him; its intention not to hit him but to clear its path towards him. Continually roaring it moved forwards with heavy foot falls and began picking up speed.