Professor Kal - Chapter 67

The third floor of the Dungeon of the undead was much smaller than the first two. Even with that said, it was still of considerable size. It consisted of an entire village, complete with run down and partially collapsed houses and a deep stone well filled with contaminated water. It was dark inside the village, only magical torches provided any usable light, placed there by adventurers past. Blue flames danced in their sconces, not affected by the gloomy breeze that carried the stench of death between the partially destroyed buildings.

Run of the mill skeletons could still be found on this level, interspersed within their ranks was the occasional armed skeleton. One could also find zombies shambling within the ruined village, their rotted flesh dripping with diseased black fluids. Zombies were just as slow and cumbersome as the skeletons were, the only difference was that zombies were much harder to kill, and if you happened to be bitten by one there was a good chance you could turn into one as well. That unfortunate fate could easily be avoided as long as one managed to be treated with holy magic before turning.

Professor Kal had kept his true form and he was grateful for the dulled senses as he made his way into the village. Even as a Lich, he could still somewhat smell and taste, and the fragrance given off by the rotten zombies was atrocious. As he took some samples from the flesh of a zombie that sloughed off like over boiled chicken, he couldn’t help but think that the smell could knock a buzzard off a shit wagon.

Cackling at his own joke, he moved on to the well that was situated in the center of the village. The well sat in the center of what would have been a large unpaved plaza, sickly green weeds were growing in patches amongst the hard packed ground. The inner diameter of the well was five feet, plenty big enough for a full-grown man to dive into. The well house that once protected it had fallen over long ago, leaving it exposed to the elements. Neon blue moss clung to the weathered stone making up the exterior of the well, its soft fuzzy texture felt pleasant to his bony fingers, up until they went numb. He made sure to scrape some off before placing it inside a test tube.

Peering over the lip of the well, he could see the iridescent water reflecting the nauseating blue light given off by the magical torches. The surface of the water had a thin film of an oily substance floating on the surface which gave it its peculiar color scheme. Even with his enhanced vision, Professor Kal was unable to see to the bottom of the well. Rubbing his chin in thought, he pulled back from the well, deciding on which course of action to take.

Barging into his thoughts, a loud growl followed by barking was carried to his ears by the breeze. His curiosity piqued; Professor Kal made his way over to where the ruckus was coming from. Just before he arrived at where he thought the noises were coming, they stopped altogether, replaced by the wet sounds of something eating. Rounding the corner of a two-story house with its roof collapsed in on itself, he saw a large zombified dog feasting upon a decapitated zombie.

The zombie’s head was resting off to the side, its bloodshot eyes still swiveling inside their sockets and its mouth continued to open and close. It was almost as if it was cursing at the dog that was currently filling its belly with the zombie’s decaying flesh. The zombie dog itself was large, its shoulders coming up to the Professor’s waist. The flesh on its muzzle hung in tattered ribbons of bloody flesh, one eye was clouded over while the other was a glossy black. Stark white ribs stood in sharp contrast to the matted shaggy brown fur covering its body.

He walked up behind the animal, intently watching the dog as it wolfed down mouthfuls of the zombie’s meat. Preoccupied on its meal, the dog didn’t notice the Lich sneaking up behind it. When it finally sensed that it wasn’t alone, it jumped in surprise. Turning to face the new threat, it issued a low growl from deep in its throat while baring its bloody fangs and backing away.

This was a new development, every single undead that he had come across had ended up attacking him. Even in his undead form he was assaulted, with no exceptions. Perhaps it had something to do with the intelligence of the creature. Skeletons and zombies were all dumber than a bag of hammers, acting solely on the premise of ‘kill anything alive’. If you summoned one though, you could give them commands to carry out, although, they had to be the simplest of orders.

Zombie dogs were different, they retained much of their intelligence from when they were alive. They behaved almost exactly like a living dog, the only differences being that their appetite was ferocious and the fact they were undead. He was giddy to have run into a somewhat intelligent test subject. He held out his hand, slowly inching closer to the wary animal. The dog itself looked immensely puzzled, it stopped its growling as well as backing away, keeping its eye on the Lich standing before him.

Stopping just short of the beast, Professor Kal allowed the zombie dog to sniff at his hand, its bony snout blowing cold air onto his fingers as it tried to determine if the Lich was a threat or not. Seeming to have made up its mind, it issued a playful bark before forcing its muzzle into the palm of his hand. A crooked smile spread itself across his face as he patted the top of the dog’s head.

“What do you have there?”

Professor Kal noticed something out of place as he pet the stray zombie dog. A thick, nearly disintegrated, leather collar adorned the dog’s solid neck. The brass tag still hung from the collar, caked in blood, grime, and matted hair. He undid the collar, the rotted dog wagging its tail in delight as he did so. After wiping away the gunk he was able to read what had been etched underneath the patina.

“So, your name is Trist? That must mean your not originally from this dungeon. Some idiot must have brought you down here, huh?” He said to the dog, not expecting an answer in return.

He hadn’t learned a whole deal about adventurers, he had no interest in such an occupation. What he did know, was that a few of them used dogs or other trained animals to help them in some of their missions. Usually, you’d find them on escort missions, a dog’s sense of smell was many times better than a human’s, so they were used to warn them of any bandits that might try to attack them in the night.

Using dogs in such a way was a cheap but effective way to increase their chances of survival, so it only made sense for them to be used. But to bring a dog down into a dungeon was not only useless but idiotic as well. Monsters roamed every square inch of a dungeon; a dog would simply be overwhelmed by the number of different scents to be of any use. Dogs would also serve as more of a liability than anything in a battle; they could latch on to a monster but then would be severely injured in the process.

Maybe that’s what whoever brought Trist down here did? Used her to distract the undead in order for them to dispatch the monsters more easily. When she did eventually get injured and die, was simply discarded, left to rot. Usually, any living thing killed by a zombie would be completely consumed, only leaving blood stains on the ground. Trist must have hidden away inside one of the ruined buildings once she was injured, eventually dying before turning into a zombie herself.

Professor Kal let out a frustrated sigh, looking at the zombie dog sitting in front of him with her tongue lulled out the side of her mouth. Her tail was furiously going from side to side, cleaning a small patch of ground that was directly behind her.

“I doubt we’ll ever run into your previous owner, but if we do, I’ll let you maul him.” His words only made Trist more excited, any faster and her tail was in danger of breaking in half.

The revelation that Trist was not spawned by the dungeon was actually a boon to his theory. Lower undead never attacked each other, the only exception is when they were ordered to by their summoner or a higher level undead. It seemed apparent that the dungeon affected the will of its in habitants, making them lash out at anything that didn’t belong. Now he just needed to interact with intelligent undead to see if the compulsion was undeniable, or if they would be able to resist it.. And for that, he would have to venture deeper into the dungeon.