Demons and Botched Rituals Part 18 (Patreon)

"I'm going to kill that bitch!" Merlin shouted as he stalked out of the hallway connected to his room, gesturing wildly and glaring at everything.

The dragon turned elf rubbed the bridge of her nose as she turned to look at the irate magic user as all of the wild animals that had been singing and dancing dashed away and vanished. "Inside voice."

Harry glanced at the angry old mage, glad that he'd talked River into letting him store the archmage's staff in his inventory so he couldn't find it.

"The bitch kicked me in the nuts!" Merlin shouted as he stalked over to the group.

The dragon considered her options for a couple of seconds then conjured a pillow and hit the court mage in the face when it looked like he was going to start ranting again. "My cave, my rules. I'm going back to sleep and everyone is going to be quiet or I'm going to get angry."

Merlin scowled at the elf. "Don't!" he blinked when he got hit in the face with another pillow, followed by a stuffed bear that was almost as tall as he was. "Hey!"

"Transform the crazy bitch into a newt or turn her to stone and stick her in a garden, just do it quietly," the dragon complained as she walked over and flopped down on her hoard and closed her eyes.

"I don't suppose you can open the door so we can leave the dungeon?" River asked hopefully.

Merlin turned to look at River. "Not until the grail is recovered."

"Any idea where to find it?" Harry asked softly, getting a sinking feeling that he was going to say the swamp.

Merlin turned and scowled at the elf girl that was sprawled on a mound of gold coins. "You should probably check Artura's hoard."

"The worthless cup isn't in my hoard," Artura stated without opening her eyes.

"That just leaves the swamp," Merlin grumbled, knowing he'd have to retrieve it once the adventurers died.

"Will magic work on the ghosts?" Harry asked, figuring it didn't hurt to ask.

"They're immune to magic that relies on them being flesh and blood for obvious reasons and they're decently high level." Merlin smiled when he realized that the sooner the adventurers died, the sooner he could hunt down the bitch that kicked him in the nuts. "Your best bet is grabbing the cloak and sneaking through the swamp."

"Watch out for the ghouls lurking in the water," Artura warned them.

"Thanks," Harry replied as he headed for the tunnel that probably connected to the swamp, not particularly interested in using the cloak until he had a better idea how dangerous the ghosts were.

River glanced at Artura then followed Harry, hoping he had a plan that didn't involve them dying horribly. 'Just use the cloak my ass.'

"Best of luck," the princess offered.

"Thanks," Harry replied absently as they walked into the tunnel. "How much experience do you think the ghosts are worth?"

River considered the question as they walked down the tunnel. "If they're half as nasty as I'm expecting, a fair chunk considering 'basic' ghosts are worth a decent amount of experience and they can't drain your life. What are you thinking?"

"I'm curious if the ghosts respawn or if we can kill them one at a time," Harry paused as they walked around the bend in the tunnel and could see the blue film that covered the exit to the swamp. "Huh, we should probably check the exit."

"Give me a minute," River replied as she walked over to the field blocking the exit so she could cast her identify spell.

"Sure," Harry replied as he pulled his flying carpet out of his bag, wishing he had his firebolt. He gestured at the carpet and hit it with a repair spell, causing some of the holes and tears to vanish. "Scourgify."

River checked the popup for her identification spell. "The barrier keeps the undead from noticing the exit unless someone makes it obvious and keeps the stench from filtering in."

"So much for using the barrier as a shield," Harry mused as he grabbed the end of the carpet on both sides and tried to get it to line up straight.

"You've never actually used the carpet have you?" River asked with a grin.

"Never had the chance," Harry complained. "My school used enchanted brooms."

River glanced at Harry's crotch. "That sounds uncomfortable."

Harry laughed as he handed the carpet to River. "Not as bad as you'd think, they used comfort charms."

River grabbed the ends and made a quick up and down motion with her hands, causing the carpet to straighten out and hover in the air. "What are you going to do if you can't outrun them?"

"I'll just teleport back and dash through the barrier," Harry assured her as he knelt down on the carpet. "How do you fly the carpet?"

"Put your hand on the carpet and concentrate. It’s hard to cast spells while controlling one," River warned him.

"That doesn't change the plan," Harry said as he placed his left hand on the carpet and focused on moving backwards slowly, causing the carpet to drift backwards a couple of feet, "it just means we'll have to swap off."

"Were you trying to make it go backwards?" River asked, curious how much control he had over the carpet.

"Yeah," Harry replied as he moved the carpet forward then backwards, up and left, finding it surprisingly easy to control. "I think I've got the hang of it."

River jumped onto the carpet then knelt down. "Any suggestions on what to hit the ghosts with?"

"I suggest fire," Harry replied as he flew through the barrier.

River shivered as they went from a decently warm tunnel to a cold and wet night. She glanced behind her and sighed in relief when she could still see the barrier.

Harry felt a moment of panic as the nearest ghosts instantly turned and flew towards him, moving about twice as fast as he could sprint which was a hell of a lot faster than he'd been expecting. He yanked his hand up and chanted, "Expecto Patronum!"

River stared in disbelief as the glowing ethereal silver stag that Harry conjured ripped into the ghost with its horns, causing the ghost to scream in pain. "Firebolt!" she said as she tossed a firebolt at the nearest ghost, causing the ghost to lose a small sliver of health. "Shit!"

Harry scowled as he got a notice about one of the Ghost's tagging him with a Doom effect, 'Sixty seconds, to escape combat or kill the ghosts, not a problem.' He shared the death magic resistance skill with River as he pushed the speed up on the carpet, wishing he could go faster than twenty seven miles an hour. 'This would be so much easier on my broom.'

River grabbed the edge of the carpet, doing her best to keep from falling off as the carpet flew through the air like a drunk vulture, twisting, turning and lutching to avoid the ghosts flying towards him. "They're too fast!" she shouted as she hit accept on the notice about picking up a new skill, not wanting the notice blocking her vision.

Harry concentrated on dodging the ghosts, willing to admit that he'd made a mistake and the ghosts were faster than he'd been expecting. 'Just a bit more and we'll be clear.'

She cast a firebolt at one of the ghosts reaching for Harry, causing it to flinch and lose its chance to grab him as they flew past. "Do you have any aces up your sleeves?"

"Take over flying!" Harry told her as they reached a clear patch. He quickly cast his Cloak of Stars spell, conjuring a swirling vortex of firebolts around him. He gestured behind him at the ghosts, sending a wave of firebolts at the ghosts as River tried to keep out of reach of the ghosts coming from in front of them.

"Shit!" River screamed as a ghost came up through the carpet between her and Harry.

Harry grabbed River's hand and teleported back to the tunnel with River and the magic carpet. "That went better than I was expecting."

River took a breath then let it out slowly, trying to calm down after their near death experience and not scream at Harry when she noticed his smile. "What were you expecting?"

"I was half expecting the carpet to fall out of the air," Harry admitted as he opened his enchanting menu and looked through the list for his flying carpet enchantment. "We'll do better next time."

"We're going to need a better plan," River pointed out as she got off the carpet. "I can't fly well enough to avoid them and you can't kill them while flying."

"Don't worry, I have an idea," Harry replied as he bounced to his feet and jumped off the carpet, leaving it hanging in the air.

"Considering your last idea," River muttered.

"Relax, we're alive," Harry replied as he opened his skill menu and checked his Death Resistance skill. "We also picked up eight points of Death Resistance."

River opened her sheet and looked at her Death Resistance. "Huh, I picked up nine points, that's actually a decently safe way to train the skill."

"It's certainly easier than trying to figure out a way to keep surviving death curses," Harry agreed as he checked his firebolt spell. "It looks like I picked up experience for my Firebolt spell and my Cloak of Stars spell."

"Where did you pick that up?" River asked, wondering if she could pick the spell up as it seemed useful.

"In the dungeon with Franklin," Harry replied as he pointed at the carpet. "Gemino," he chanted, creating a duplicate of the carpet.

River stared at the extra carpet stacked on the original. "Did you just copy a magic item?"

"No, just the carpet," Harry replied as he picked up the carpet and tossed it into his enchanting window. "I still need to enchant it."

"That's going to come in useful when we pick up crafting," River mused.

"It's worth a shot," Harry agreed as he pushed the slider as high as he could then hit accept, enchanting the duplicated carpet and dropping his mana by a thousand points. "Take a look."

River cast her identify spell on the carpet and stared at the results on her popup window. "One hundred and forty three miles per hour, how the hell?!"

"Magic?" Harry offered as he put the old carpet in his inventory. "Joking aside, the enchantment I found sets the speed at half of your magic stat in miles per hour."

"If you can round them up, I should be able to keep flying in circles now that we can move a lot faster. Do we have a plan that doesn't involve winging it?" River asked, wanting more of a plan than 'charge in there and hope for the best.'

"I have a couple of ideas we can probably turn into actual plans," Harry replied with a grin. "I had a plan, we flew in and tested things then we teleported out."

"You skipped the part where you explained the details," River complained.

"I got a bit distracted by the idea of flying on a flying carpet," Harry admitted. "Let's assume for a minute that the ghosts don't respawn. We should be able to fly around the edges of the swamp and burn them down with firebolts, it's going to take time but we should be relatively safe."

River shook her head. "My firebolt barely took a sliver of their health bar, even assuming they don't regenerate, that's going to take forever."

"That just means you need to increase your magic," Harry replied as he pulled the red hat out of his inventory and tossed it to her. "That should teach you Fire Guardian and the Cloak of Stars spell, they'll come in useful."

"Dungeon loot?" River asked as she put the hat on.

"Franklin and I got lucky," Harry admitted. "If you're sitting on the back of the carpet tossing Firebolts at the ghosts and using Mana Tap when you're out, you should level fairly quickly, especially if you're tossing Fire Guardians on islands to increase the amount of fire in the air."

"What happens if the ghosts respawn?" River asked, not particularly happy about the idea of the ghosts appearing on them or in front of them.

"Then we basically grind until they're not worth killing for experience and we've maxed out our combat spells," Harry replied cheerfully. "Once we have the ghosts dealt with, we can try to level up the cloak's Death Stealth skill so we can avoid undead in the future, a bit of sneaking around should let us find the grail. If that doesn't work, we can just set up magical turrets on the islands and use the cloak to pull the ghouls."

River glanced at the swamp. "Assuming the ghouls don't keep respawning."

"Like I said, I have a couple of ideas," Harry replied as he pulled his new carpet out of his enchanting menu and copied River's earlier flick of the wrists to spread it out. "If you lay down and look over the back edge of the carpet you should be able to cast without worrying about falling off."

River glanced at the carpet, not entirely comfortable with the idea of leaning over the edge of a flying carpet, especially considering how fast they were planning on flying. "I'd feel better if I had someone to hold my legs."

"I might have a solution," Harry replied with a grin then summoned Jessica.

River blinked as a girl with bunny ears appeared wearing a fancy coat and a loincloth. "How many tricks do you have up your sleeve?"

"I'm a wizard," Harry replied with a grin as Jessica hugged him. "Are you up for blasting ghosts and making sure River doesn't fall off the carpet?"

"Of course," Jessica replied cheerfully. "I've always wanted to ride a flying carpet."

Harry stepped onto the carpet and sat down in the front. "You should take the spot behind me then River can sort of sprawl with her legs on each side of you, I'll grab her left leg, you can grab her right."

'At least scrying doesn't work on the dungeon,' River thought as she knelt down and tried to get herself situated so she wouldn't fall off the carpet while Harry was flying around like a lunatic, ‘so no one is going to see me like this.’

0o0o0

"Get your teleporting frogs before they're gone! Only ten gold!" a voice called out, trying to be heard over the crowd of people and noisy monsters.

Hermione pulled her attention away from a spider that was phasing in and out in a glass carrying case on one of the tables and focused on the shifty looking kid selling frogs, finding it hard to place his age other than older than eight and younger than thirteen. "Teleporting frogs?"

"They can teleport and attack people…" the kid trailed off as one of his frogs teleported from one side of its cage to the other and managed to lose a leg. "That’ll grow back. Discounted teleporting frogs, only five gold!"

Hermione glanced back at Loki who was looking at a four armed naga with a collar around her neck. "How much do teleporting frogs normally go for?"

Loki pulled his attention away from the naga that cost more than his entire allowance for a year and looked at the cage filled with familiar looking frogs. "If they're from the entrance hall in the marsh dungeon, not much. They're basically useless as they're only good for a single hit before they self-destruct and their damage is practically nonexistent."

"Do you mind? Some of us need to make a living," the kid complained. "It's a pain in the ass collecting the frogs and transporting them back here."

"Sorry," Loki offered as they continued walking, fairly sure the kid hadn't set foot in the dungeon.

"Liar," Selena teased once they were out of earshot.

Loki glanced at the black wolf someone was selling. "One sleep spell and you'll get a parcel of them."

"If we had everything set up, it might be worth it…" Selena trailed off as a girl with a large brimmed hat ran up to Hermione, staring at her giant rat.

"Cool, where did you get the fire breathing rat?" the girl asked excitedly.

Hermione turned to look at the girl in her early teens dressed like she was on a safari, wondering how she knew it could breathe fire. "In the sewer."

"Ah. Mom won't let me go deep enough to find anything interesting, are you willing to sell it or trade?" the girl asked hopefully.

"What do you have?" Loki asked, wondering if she had something worth their time.

"Twenty five gold or a teleporting kitten?" the girl offered.

Hermione glanced between Selena and Loki. "What do you think?"

Loki scratched his chin as he considered the deal. "Last I checked, teleporting cats are going for about five gold."

"Most of them don't have the ability to teleport more than thirty feet," the girl countered with a grin. “Shelia has teleported at least three times that far.”

"That makes her a little better than average,” Loki conceded.

"My cats have the recall ability, they can teleport to you," the girl added, hoping that would tip the balance.

Selena shrugged. "That's closer to fair and it would let us avoid Mom freaking out about the rat."

Hermione briefly considered asking for gold to balance things out before deciding that she didn't care. 'A teleporting scout would be more useful than a fire breathing rat in the swamp and she's a kid.' She smiled at the girl. "Deal."

"Sweet!" the girl replied cheerfully as she opened a pet trade window and tossed up the icons for the kittens she was willing to trade that had the recall ability. "Tell me which one you want and toss your rat's icon up there."

Hermione looked at the trade window and her collection of pets then tossed the fire breathing rat up into the trade window. 'This would have been nice to have when dealing with Pettigrew.' She frowned when she noticed the adorable looking orange kitten with large paws that could barely keep her head up. "Negative strength?"

"That's fairly common in small pets, it just means they can't carry five pounds," the girl explained.

Hermione checked the rest of the kitten's stats. 'Two points of vitality, thirty nine points of agility and two points of magic. Mana warped, teleporting, recall, pickpocket?' She tapped the icon for the mana warped trait. 'Bloodline has been warped by excessive exposure to wild magic, granting the creature unnatural intelligence and crippling its strength and vitality while doubling the limit they can reach with stat items.'

'Why do I have a feeling you're going to get into more trouble than Crookshanks?' Hermione mused as she looked at the kitten's pickpocket ability. She quickly glanced over the rest of the kittens before she selected the kitten's icon and hit accept.

The girl hit the accept button, trading her kitten for the fire breathing rat and causing the kitten in question to appear at Hermione's feet. "Normally I wouldn't trade Tangles considering the pickpocket ability and her intelligence but I can't afford the stat potions to fix her vitality or regular visits to the healer."

Loki looked at the adorably looking small orange kitten. "Low vitality?"

"Yeah, you can get away with four or five, at two you have to worry about every cut," the girl admitted as Hermione reached down and picked her new kitten up off the ground and held her.

"I'll take care of her," Hermione promised as she carefully scratched the kitten between her ears, fairly sure she could find something to help, even if she just had to stick a bubble head charm on her to deal with airborne viruses and give her a chance to exercise.

"You better," the girl replied as she used the follow command on her new pet and headed back towards her mother's stall to show her what she'd bought.

"How bad did you get cheated?" Selena asked once the girl left.

"We have a bunch of monster eggs that might have fire breathing and she has a lot of potential," Hermione replied, fairly sure she got the better deal. "Now that we don't have to worry about hiding a rat, do you want to head back?"

Loki glanced up at the sky. "We probably should, Dad has probably rounded up enough people for the dungeon to make the trip worth it."

"We'll grab some milk on the way and everfresh bottles," Selena said as she started walking towards the edge of the pet market. "I'm looking forward to getting everything set up so we can start grinding alchemy."

"It should be interesting," Hermione agreed, looking forward to seeing what she could make with all of the swamp plants her suspect alchemy skills.