Leeka and the Blade Trials, Chapter 4

Leeka and the Blade Trials, Chapter 4
File:Leeka and the Blade Trials, Chapter 4 (lorebook).png Hint: Found through Durstin Tallow
Category:	Misc
Area:	Serbule Hills
Visibility:	Ghosted Until Found

Leeka and the Blade Trials, Chapter 4 is a Lorebook found through a quest given by Durstin Tallow in Serbule Hills.

Content

"You're taking too long," hissed the blade on her back. "Go inside, they're getting away."

Leeka snarled and ignored Heartseeker as she carefully examined the door. Then she pushed it open and looked at the room beyond. She was not an accomplished trap-finder, but she knew the place held traps, so it would be folly to hurry forward. She drew the sword.

"What are you... this is undignified!" stage-whispered the sword as Leeka jabbed it into the ground in front of her.

"You're not good for much, but at least you're nearly unbreakable. So shut up and be my trap-detector." Leeka cautiously stepped into the room. It was another hallway, but this time it was quite narrow, perhaps five feet wide, and the end of the hallway was only thirty feet ahead, ending in another wooden door. She could see no sources of light besides her torch. The walls and ceiling had once been painted, but now had only a few flecks of paint. She touched the floor, then the walls, cautiously. It felt like smooth damp stone, nothing more.

"They already did a floor trap. The next trap will be very different," said Heartseeker.

"How do you know?"

"Romast's priests made this place. And they were... well, formulaic. You test one skill, then another, then the next. Repeating the same test would waste everybody's time."

"Hmm." Leeka was unconvinced, but had to admit that if there were traps on the floor, walls, or ceiling, she couldn't find them. She proceeded down the hallway slowly. As she passed the halfway point, she felt suddenly cold, then felt pain on her shoulder. Snarling, she spun around in time to see a translucent hand disappear into the wall. A ghost!

From inside the walls came eerie laughter. Then a ghost stepped from the wall to block her path forward. Turning in panic, she found another ghost already blocked her escape. Two ghosts.

Because of Heartseeker's awkward weight, she needed both hands to fight well. She threw the torch at the ghost in front of her. The ghost dodged it, and it hit the ground near the door. Curious: it must be at least somewhat tangible or it wouldn't have dodged. She stepped toward the ghost, her mind working hard to shut out the screaming panic she felt. She had never fought a ghost.

The ghost seemed to be made of smoke, but the outline of a person could easily be seen. Its hands were outstretched and its face an inscrutable bank of laughing fog. She stepped forward and swung Heartseeker, slicing through its arm and torso. There was slight give to the blade, as if she was chopping water. The ghost's other hand shoved her and she stepped back, reeling from sudden cold. The ghost seemed unharmed by her attack.

"How do I fight ghosts?!" yelled Leeka as the second ghost clawed at her back. She hacked at it, then pushed into it, trying to flee past it, but the ghost shoved her back. Her skin was covered in ice where it had touched her. She was trapped between the two ghosts.

The ghosts attacked together, one in front and one behind, and Leeka began slicing madly in panic. She managed to disrupt one, causing it to stop attacking for a moment, but at the same time the ghost behind her struck, reaching right through her backpack to grasp the small of her back. She screamed in pain and turned to hack that one too, but the first was already reconstituting.

"The head," said Heartseeker. "The head seems weakest! You can disorient them."

Leeka swung at the nearest ghost's head and it did dissipate, but quickly reformed. "Not working!"

"Keep doing it! It's the only thing that even slows them down!"

Leeka spun to face the other ghost and sent Heartseeker through its head. Then she turned to decapitate the first. Then back to the other. She was keeping them partially unformed so they couldn't attack her, but she was still stuck between them. Her back, shoulders, and arms hurt, and her conscious mind screamed in fear. She tuned it out. If this was how she died, well... at least she would die swinging Heartseeker, just as her mother had.

For what seemed like ages she fought wildly, keeping them both at bay. And then it happened: one of the ghosts reached for its head. It felt pain and it WAS being hurt! With renewed energy Leeka forced her aching arms to move faster, slashing at its head again and again. Even after it dissolved into a formless cloud, she continued to strike where the head had been. The other ghost took the opportunity to strike her leg, her back, her head as she fought the first, but she kept swinging until ... it was gone. One of the ghosts was gone.

A ghostly fist punched her shoulder and she went sprawling forward gracelessly, her backpack pinning her down. The sword said something, but she could hear only a loud ringing in her ears as she cut away one of the straps she was tangled in. The ghost kicked her legs, laughing, and she felt her left foot start to go numb. But she managed to rise, using Heartseeker's long blade to keep the ghost at bay.

"You are not worthy," said the ghost. "Surrender to death!"

Leeka smiled a toothy grin. Without the pack on, she was much more limber, and she knew from experience that she had a few more seconds of adrenaline before the pain came in earnest. She began hacking, slicing into the ghost's head again and again, screaming with exertion. Then, in an instant, it was gone. Leeka leaned against the wall and tried to catch her breath.

"Get your pack and get out of this room," said Heartseeker. "There could be more!"

"They would already have come," said Leeka. She leaned against the hallway and let her weight drag her down to a sitting position. "That hurt."