At first, Marrow had just moved his jaw to talk, but he realized quickly that he had no success with just that. Clearly, there was something else to it. He had noticed that the ribcage of those creatures, covered in flesh and skin as it was, tended to rise and fall rhythmically, so perhaps that was part of the trick? Marrow tried it but to no avail.

And then he realized that the voice he sometimes heard, the deep voice, talking about leveling, skills, and absorbing stuff, did not even have a body! So there was a way to do it with… with what?

Marrow was a bit fuzzy about the details. After all, he had never heard of magic, spells, ghosts, or any number of other things that could create bodyless voices. And certainly he had never heard of a small pocket dimension housing a brain, his brain, pitiful at it was at this point. But he believed that there was a way.

And just sometimes ignorance is a blessing – a sane, knowledgeable person would have given up before even trying, and a normal skeleton, safe to say, would not even have thought about voices in the first place.

But Marrow was different. He was… Marrow!

So he tried.

He imagined himself saying words, names.

It is said that beliefs can move mountains. Countries go to war for beliefs, cities get burned to the ground, history gets changed. And how much more can happen if there is not just belief, but… certainty!?

Turns out, not much.

Not even a squeak came out of Marrow’s jaw.

But Marrow had practice in stubbornness - he even had a related skill. So he kept on trying. And while belief and even certainty won’t always get you where you want to be… practice often does. Or perhaps, in this case, it rather was trial and error.

Marrow just copied everything he saw those creatures doing and then suddenly it happened. Marrow had pushed something into his mouth, something that was… inside of him. He was not sure where it was, or what it was, but he had always been vaguely aware of it, a distant nagging feeling that he had successfully ignored for the last few hundred years.

And suddenly he created a voice. At first, it was a squeaky, raspy, and shaky voice, like a mix of baby voice, mouse, and skeleton – a voice that was utterly unbefitting the gravitas. Not that Marrow was concerned with the occasion, or the impression he was making.

But he wanted the voice to sound more like what he had heard so many times. The VOICE. So Marrow pushed more, made it… deeper, more profound, just like the voice he had heard in his head. It was not a perfect match, there was still some grinding noise in there, some proper boniness. But Marrow did not mind that.

-----------------------------------------------

“So, what do we do now?” Borgar whispered.

“No need to whisper, Borgar,” Gamul said in a normal tone. “The skeleton is right next to us. Uhm, I guess, Marrow is right next to us. I still cannot believe that it has a name and knows it too!”

“Guys, did you notice the voice?” Catlyn asked, with a slight tremor in her voice.

“You mean the voice that all of us heard?” Gamul asked deadpan.

“Yes,” Catlyn responded.

“Yes,” Gamul answered.

“What?” Catlyn looked confused.

“I said yes,” Gamul repeated.

“Well, I heard that, and so what do you think?”

“Think about what?”

“The voice!” Catlyn shouted.

“Catlyn, that is what we were just discussing about…”

“But guys, the voice!”

Gamul, Borgar, and Ikarius looked at each other, trying to figure out what was going on. Their somewhat puzzled expression clearly showed that they had no idea.

“Sooo…, what about the voice, Catlyn?”

“It is the system voice, you did not notice?”

“By Gammulatra’s To-. Ouch! What did you hit me for, Ikarius?”

“I told you, no more Gammulatra anything!”

“The system voice…,” Borgar whispered, oblivious to the argument of his two friends. “What does that mean? Is this skeleton an avatar of the system? Is it here to test us?” Sweat was forming on his forehead.

“Calm down, Borgar,” Gamul said. “Catlyn is right, Marrow does sound like the system, but certainly not at first. Initially, it sounded rather strange, don’t you think? So if it was some official system representative, one might safely assume that it would be able to use the system voice immediately, right?”

“Let’s ignore the system voice for now… let’s think about what we are facing here: an intelligent skeleton! This is unheard of!” Ikarius threw in.

“How do you know it is intelligent?” Catlyn asked.

“Well, because… hmm,… in fact, you are right. I am not quite sure it is,” Ikarius had to admit after a brief pause.

For the next few minutes, they tried to figure out if Marrow really understood the meaning of names and what else he could say. And it turned out that Marrow was, in fact, intelligent. Not the brightest tool in the shed and with a minimal vocabulary, but nonetheless intelligent.

“So what do we do with Marrow?” Catlyn asked the others. “We can’t just leave him down here, can we?”

“Why not?” Borgar immediately responded.

“Because he might be lonely down here, all by himself.”

“Lonely? What are you talking about, Catlyn? It is a skeleton!” Ikarius said in an incredulous voice.

Catlyn looked pleadingly at the others. “I know… but still! Maybe it could be useful?”

“Useful, how?” Gamul responded.

-----------------------------------------------

Marrow looked at each creature in turn as they were speaking. Mostly because that is what they usually did when talking, so he figured that there had to be a reason for that. It was a good thing that his head was so flexible... he could just swivel it around and look at each one of them without having to move his body. Not that moving his body would have been an issue, but it made it faster and simpler, which appealed to Marrow.

The creatures had been talking for a while, and they had even talked to him. Most of it, he did not understand, but he had already learned a few things, such as the names of the other two creatures, and the names of various objects in the hallway. They also asked him to do things, like stand up, sit down, move in a circle, and so on. Mostly he just had looked at them, though, because that seemed more interesting.

And now Marrow could see their facial expression change. One of them, the one with those odd protuberances on her upper body, had a bit of fluid leaking out of her eye, which Marrow found fascinating.

Was it an injury? Or another way of communication? He tried imitating it but had no idea how to even start.

The other one, the big one, also had some fluid leaking. Weirdly enough, it formed on its head and just stayed there, in little drops. And that was not the only thing, Marrow observed. Various muscles were clenched and released, without any discernable pattern or reason, and skin color changed from pale to reddish, and back quite frequently. Especially for the big one. And the effect was magnified when Marrow stared at him.

It was utterly captivating.

But then Marrow heard something - a low menacing growl, soft steps, approaching. Noises that immediately instilled panic in him. Not that he knew what it was… but the fear was instinctual, almost primal. It was still far away, but it was approaching down the hallway. The noise should not have been audible from that distance, but Marrow had a skill.

Marrow immediately rushed forward, tripping over the creatures in front of him in his haste and getting his arm bone all tangled up with the gear of Catlyn.

But Marrow paid no heed. He ran as fast as he could, dragging the backpack, and by extension the wailing Catlyn down the hallway.

After a moment of stunned silence, Borgar, Gamul, and Ikarius jumped up, shouting in alarm, and, weapons drawn, rushed after the disappearing Catlyn. Their sudden panic was not only because Marrow was dragging their friend away from them… no, said friend also was still the only one with a source of light.

At the first intersection, Marrow turned left, then right, and then left again. Down a staircase, through a grand hall, and down a flight of spiral stairs, Marrow unerringly proceeded, not heeding the protests of Catlyn, who was half dragged, half ran after him, never getting the opportunity to disentangle herself.

Initially, Catlyn had tried to resist, but then she had heard the growl in the distance - an ominous sound that sent shivers down her spine. And immediately, all thoughts of resisting left her and she just tried her best to not slow Marrow down. Similarly, upon hearing the noise, Gamul, Ikarius, and Borgar gave up on liberating Catlyn and just focused on running. If they had any idea of where to go, they might perhaps, even pulled ahead.

Luckily, Marrow seemed to know exactly where he was heading.

Only… he did not.

Marrow was choosing randomly whenever there was a choice to be made. He only knew that he needed to get away, ideally to find a nice hiding hole. And since he was not stupid, at least not very stupid, he now understood now that it needed to be a little bit bigger than the hole that he was trying to fit through last time. So he kept on running.

He was not very fast with Catlyn being dragged behind. However, this was the first time in his very long life that Marrow was actually running. So fast or slow, it was all relative. And relative to everything he had done before, this was the fastest he had ever been. So he was not bothered by his slow speed.

Apart from the noise coming closer.

After getting down the last staircase, there was a solid metal door that stood half-open. The somewhat disheveled group of five squeezed through the door, and Gamul and Borgar slammed it close behind them. Just in time as it turned out.

“Did you see that,” Borgar asked in a trembling voice. “That was a Shadow-Prowler!”

Gamul was white in his face and leaned his body against the door.

“By Gamm…,” he quickly glanced at Ikarius, who was trembling slightly and not really paying attention. “By Gammulatra’s Heaving Chest, what is that doing in this dungeon? This is supposed to be a beginner’s dungeon!”

“Levels 1 to 5 they said,” Borgar confirmed with a strained voice. “Nothing but minor slimes, some rats, and spiders, perhaps a couple kobolds or goblins… that is what they claimed.”

And then a massive boom reverberated through the hallway, and the door vibrated.

“It is trying to break through,” Gamul shouted. “Help me, Borgar!”

Borgar jumped forward and pushed his significant weight against the door, supporting Gamul’s efforts. Ikarius quickly took out a dagger and jammed it under the door, effectively arresting it where it was.

A few massive hits later, the Shadow-Prowler apparently realized that there was no way through the door and stopped crashing against it.

“Is it gone?” Catlyn whispered.

Ikarius looked through the little peephole and shook his head. “No, it is sitting in front of the door, waiting.”

“Damnation.” Gamul cursed. “That means we are stuck here for as long as it stays there. And even if it leaves, there is no guarantee that it won’t be stalking us the moment we get out through that door. Speaking of being stuck… where are we?”

The hallway continued for another few yards, before it opened up into a small room, with a table and some chairs that all looked as if they might fall apart at the slightest touch. Two corridors left the room on opposite sides.

Cautiously, Ikarius moved forward, seemingly flowing from shadow to shadow to investigate those corridors, only to be stopped by Catlyn. “Wait, look at Marrow!”

Only now, they noticed that Marrow was standing quietly, not moving an inch, as if listening intently.

“What is he hearing?”Catlyn whispered.

“Ah, why do you give him so much credit?” Borgar muttered. “It is just a stupid skeleton!”

“Excuse me!? That “stupid” skeleton saved all of us from the Shadow-Prowler! Did you see how it grabbed me to get me out of harm’s way? And it knew exactly where to go. I bet this was the only place in this whole dungeon that allowed us to escape!” Catlyn shouted, visibly outraged.

Suddenly, Marrow started moving. Not running full speed, like last time, but more… cautiously, almost stealthily. He moved toward the corridor going off to the right side, staying next to the wall whenever possible.

Curious, the four intrepid adventurers followed Marrow at a bit of a distance, waiting to find out what he had discovered. And then, suddenly, he stopped moving. For more than a minute, he stood stock still, like a statue. Long enough to make Catlyn start to twitch impatiently. But then Marrow launched himself forward at surprising speed, and a loud squealing noise disturbed the silence.

Marrow was not sure what was in front of him, but it was furry and had a tail, and somehow he knew that he was meant to attack it and then eat it. Or bring it somewhere.

The creature was about the size of a dog and had vicious looking front teeth and claws big enough to do some serious damage. Not that it scared Marrow in any way. He knew instinctively that this was supposed to be a prey, and so he behaved accordingly. Fearlessly, he pounced on the creature and started laying into it with [Forceful Strikes]. Soon, blood was spraying everywhere, as his bony hands actually dug into the filthy fur of the creature.

Borgar, Gamul, Ikarius, and Catlyn approached from behind and looked at the bloody spectacle with jaws dropped.

“It is a freaking Dungeon Rat, and he is taking it on with his bloody fists,” Gamul murmured, impressed by the audacity of Marrow, even though he wondered briefly if, perhaps, it was stupidity rather than boldness.

And then the group realized that there was a lot more noise around them than what could be attributed to the fight in front of them. They looked around and noticed that just at the edge of the circle of light, there were numerous red glowing pairs of eyes staring at them.

“Bloody hell!” Borgar cursed, grabbing his claymore. “Rats everywhere!”

Catyln immediately started moving her hands around, chanting some arcane words, while Ikarius threw three throwing daggers in as many seconds into the horde of rats surrounding them.

Gamul, meanwhile, raised one of his hands and started singing in a surprisingly harmonic voice a prayer to his goddess. Within moments, the weapons of his fellow adventurers began glowing in a faint silver light.

And then the rats rushed forward.

-----------------------------------------------

Marrow felt oddly satisfied punching the creature, apparently a rat, if he had understood Borgar right. [Forceful punch] allowed him to break the ribs and legs of the rat with relative ease. Not that he got out of it unscathed - unlike the spiders, the teeth of the rats were actually able to chip his bones, causing his durability to slowly decrease.

And then there were more of them. Marrow’s head swiveled around in delight as he saw all of those tempting targets, wondering how he would be able to get to all of them. But he did not have to worry, because they were coming to him instead.

Which struck him as wrong, somehow.

Soon, he was covered by four or perhaps five of the rats and things started to get a bit hairy. Marrow realized that he did not like hair, at least not all over him. It felt… unclean. To his shame, he had some of his own, but only on that little patch on his ribcage. No need to have those creatures’ hair all over him in addition.

So he felt… a little bit annoyed. And even though he did not like the idea of hair in his teeth, he decided that perhaps he should bite the rats. After all, the biting had worked nicely on the spiders too. And it had the added benefit of possibly causing the voice to speak up again.

So he spread his jaws impossible wide and started chomping down on the heads of the rats around him. [Crushing Bite] allowed him to actually inflict damage when a normal bite would have caused only a minor injury.

In the meantime, Borgar whirled his Claymore around in both hands and started laying into the rats. It was somewhat hard to hit the relatively agile and small creatures, and for each one he hit, with usually devastating results, two or three would come through and inflict painful bites on his legs. Ikarius picked them off with his dagger and short sword as fast as he could, but with Borgar swinging his monstrous weapon around with wild abandon it was no easy feat.

Instead of exposing himself to the danger of the huge swings of the claymore, Gamul grabbed his hammer and slammed it down on any rat that dared to approach Catlyn or himself. Meanwhile, Catlyn finished her incantations and three bright red orbs, each the size of a cherry, shot out of her hands into three of the surrounding rats.

Upon impact, the fur of the rats started to sizzle and smoke, eliciting an approving shout from Gamul. “That is my girl! More of that!”

But then, instead of dropping dead, the rats went absolutely furious and started attacking Gamul and Catlyn in a frenzy.

“This is it? Some singed fur?” Gamul hollered. “What the heck were you doing there, Catlyn?”

“I am a first level mage, what do you expect? A fireball? Or a meteor shower?” Catlyn yelled back, while using her staff to smack, to little effect, the rats around her on the head or back.

“Well, a bit more than some bad smell and infuriated rats would have been nice,” Ikarius shouted while stabbing another rat in the spine.

“And who is slinking around shadows and… and…” Catlyn screeched.

“And stabbing rats dead? Rats with singed fur? Yes, that is me,” Ikarius responded with a smug expression on his face.

Despite the back and forth between them, all but Catlyn quickly killed four or even five of the huge rats - in the end, they were just oversized rodents and no significant danger to well-prepared adventurers, even those at the first level, unless they came in overwhelming numbers.

Despite that, Borgar had several deep bites and scratches on his legs, and so had the rest of them. Gamul quickly used [Minor Healing] on all of them, which closed their wounds completely but left him without any more healing spells for the time being.

“Where is Marrow,” Borgar suspiciously asked while waiting for the rest to get healed.

A pile of dead rats littered the floor where Marrow had fought. Some of them had heads that were half bitten off, others had been bludgeoned to death, and some, perhaps the worst, had parts of their ribcage or the spine ripped out of their bodies.

And then Marrow came out of the darkness, moving almost nonchalantly into the light toward the group of adventurers.

“Why does he have a rat between his jaws?” Borgar whispered, getting a tad pale again when Marrow moved toward him.

Once Marrow was about a yard in front of Borgar, he opened his jaws and dropped the rat on the floor, all the while looking expectantly at Borgar and the others.