A Mage Rising: (The Chronicles of Herst 2: A LitRPG Saga)

by Thomas Whipple

  I take a moment to think about it. Azzaria can use a thicker leather and it would need to be something for her strengths. Thia is a caster and it could work well for her, but she has less strength than me and she may often shift to utilize the mobility of her normal form. Gem! She could be my groups healer and a caster that really could use the protection. “There is a lamia that will probably be joining my party as a healer. I would like you to make something for her if you can,. After my set of course. Her name is Gem and I’ll send her to you when I can so that you can get measurements.”

  “Great! I’ve never made armor for a lamia before. This should be an interesting assignment. Something else though, do you have any more of the metal used to make your staff left over? Dolan said that it had specific properties unique to you. It would really make this something special if you do.”

  Of course! The left over Blessed Starlite should really go well with the drake scales. And since I plan to do something special with the armor if it’s good this is the best place to use the last of my blessed starlite. I quickly take out the few bars of it that are left and hand it over to him. “Here you go. I will let Dolan know you have it and will need some help later when I see him. Thanks for taking on this project for me.”

  He waves my words off and says “Now if that is all, I would really like to get started on this.” Without another word he turns and walks into the back where his workshop is.

  I shake my head at the abrupt departure but smile at the obvious enthusiasm Jerick has with the new project. “Come on Timbre lets look around the town now that we are back.” For her part Timbre just rubs up against my side while I scratch behind her ear and leave the shop. I head around the town for a little while as I check over the gates that are all finished and the dock where there are a few people working on another fishing boat to take advantage of the lake and its resources. Looking out over the lake from the dock I decide to take a look at the Land Development Menu.

  While I was gone the town gained two levels. Apparently continued development of the different buildings and resources for the town and population were the cause. There are now a couple points to assign to the town. Looking through the upgrades I notice there are a few new options. One is an upgrade for the wall called reactive defense. The description says it allows the wall to adapt to attacks and coupled with IMA will create a better resistance to damage. I take this for one of the points I have from the level ups.

  For the other one I want to take an option that appears under the offensive tab called spell cannons. It will allow people manning the devices to fire preloaded spells using the towns mana or charged crystals for ammunition. When I try to select it though there is an error. It seems that the option is available because someone in town has invented the necessary equipment and that it needs to be installed before I can select the option to integrate it into the town. My guess is that it’s Bolden who has created the item. With nothing better to do at the moment I decide to head over to his shop.

  When I get there I greet Bolden’s son at the counter. “Hi Beccer. Is your father in?”

  He nods and points to the door leading to the workshop. “He’s in back. You can go see what he has been working on.”

  “Thanks” I say before heading into the back. When I find Bolden he is hovering over a item that is like a thick rod attached to the table and has a circular sight on the top back with a peg sticking up from the front. The whole thing is about two feet long and the rod/barrel is about six inches in diameter in the back but tapers to a point sharply about four inches from the end. There is a depression on the top near the round sight and a small door in the back end that looks like it can be opened to load something. “Hey Bolden. What are you working on?”

  With the sudden sound of my voice Bolden jumps and looks up to me after he steadies himself on the chair. “Damn it Vol. Nearly gave me a heart attack. Don’t sneak up on me.”

  “Sorry Bolden but you were so intent on that spell cannon that you didn’t hear me.”

  His eyes go wide at the mention of what he is working on. “How did you…”

  “I got a hint from my town upgrades menu. It says that I can integrate these devices into the wall or other structures in town. I wanted to see if we could start installing these on the wall so I came to talk to you.”

  He gets a thoughtful look in his eye then answers. “They will cost of course, but the real issue is that they are very inefficient with mana.”

  “I will help you work on that if I can then. When integrated into the town they will be able to use the mana stores to operate too.” I step up to the item and look it over. There are mana lines from integrated crystal all over the device. They all flow down to the pointed tip, making it look like a mana crystal forms the tapered point. “What spells can it use?”

  “Ah, that is the beauty of this. See that depression on the top there?” At my nod he continues. “An enchanter can set an active spell disk that fits in that and then load it into the depression. So it can even be changed out as necessary.”

  “That is brilliant! Then they will be able to cast a variety of spells depending on the situation.” I say.

  Bolden opens his mouth to say something but he is interrupted by a weird warbling siren. A moment later IMA’s voice sounds out. “Vol! We are being attacked. Enemies sensed approaching the eastern gate!”

  Chapter 21

  2 days ago

  Major Brown wakes up to a scream late at night. A professional soldier for years he immediately starts getting dressed in his armor. He doesn’t hear anything else as he gets dressed but he knows it was a scream that awoke him. When he is dressed he steps out of the house he has been staying in. It’s quiet out and from the moons in the sky it’s about midnight. Looking around he doesn’t see anyone and he knows there is something wrong. There should be guards at his door or night patrols.

  Running next door he enters the house to wake a few of the soldiers that should be sleeping there. When he enters he sees the furniture is all over turned and there is blood spattered around in different places. There isn’t much so it doesn’t look like anyone died here. Searching the house finds him nothing except more of the same. When he leaves the house he goes to check more houses that had soldiers staying in them. He doesn’t find anyone in any that he checks. After a few houses he just stands in the road wondering if he is dreaming or if this is real.

  As he stands there he hears another muffled scream nearby that quickly tapers off. Not wasting time Major Brown takes off at a dead sprint in the direction of the sound. Rounding a corner he sees two figures there. One is leaning back at an odd angle and the other is leaning over that person as if holding them up. It’s dark and they are far away so he can’t make out many details, but something seems off about the scene. Stepping closer he gets more details and notices that the one being held up is limp and unmoving.

  His quiet steps finally alert the one holding one of his soldiers. He is wearing a dark cloak that obscures his features while facing away. Slowly the cloaked figure lifts its head. About twenty feet away from the two figures he stops, leery of who they are. When the cloaked figure turns its head to face the major he can’t help but take a step back. Glowing red eyes from under a dark hood meet his. A rictus of a smile spreads beneath the red eyes as the thing in the cloak observes the commander of all the troops in Efftin.

  “What are you?” Major brown is able to say, his voice shaky.

  The cloaked man drops the man he was holding. The soldier falling lifelessly to the ground. Standing up to his full height the red eyed man faces the major fully before letting out an amused chuckle. “Me? Oh, I’m just a guy who likes the night. You can call me Tike. And you must be the one in charge of these troops here. My boss wanted to leave you for last, but since you are here…” without finishing his sentence Tike lunges forward traveling the intervening twenty feet almost faster than the major can track. Tike has his arms extended and claws are visible instead of fingernails.
>
  An experienced soldier, his trained reactions have him moving before he even has to think it. Strafing to the right he draws his saber in time to deflect a swipe of the claws from Tike. Connecting with the arm of the fast moving attacker, the major’s blade cuts into the limb but stops and glances off something extremely hard. The resistance causes him to stumble slightly to the right and opening him up for another strike from the blood eyed man. With the uninjured arm he swings low in an attempt to cut open the soldier’s femoral artery. Unable to block but still able to see the blow coming, the major is able to turn his hip just enough to catch the clawed strike on the outside of the thigh instead of the inside.

  The pain is intense but manageable, Major Brown had experienced worse before. It was the creatures turn to be off balance but, unlike it, his opponent understands how to take full advantage of such a situation. His blade momentarily taking on a bright silvery glow it shoots forward to impale his enemy through the chest. Precisely through the heart, bisecting it. The fight abruptly comes to an end, both parties freezing in place. The red eyed attacker looks up to the major with a look of disbelief and his mouth wide in shock. It’s then that the old soldier sees the fangs and he realizes the terrible truth. “Vampire.” Despite his victory, there is fear in his voice.

  The impaled vampire crumbles to the ground as the glowing eyes in his skull dim and loose their life. A slow clapping draws the winner’s attention to an alley where another pair of glowing red eyes can be seen. Then the major notices the other pairs that become visible from other alleys. There aren’t many, maybe a dozen, but they have him hemmed in. The one clapping finally speaks. “Very impressive to defeat Tike like that. Sure he wasn’t the oldest of us but he wasn’t young either. Still, I can’t let you cause more damage to my coven.”

  Without another word, the cloaked figure that was talking disappears from the only remaining human’s sight, to reappear next to him a moment later. With no way to stop it he only registers what happened after the fact. A sharp pain radiates from his neck as he comes to understand that the vampire lunged forward and buried its teeth in his neck. Already feeling a weakness coming on he still turns his sword toward the chest of the one draining him of his life’s essence. Pushing it forward it stops before penetrating, his attacker griping his forearm. Unable to overpower the arm stopping his sword he switches tactics.

  Drawing a knife with his left hand and brings the blade into the stomach of the vampire. He stabs it over and over but is unable to hit the heart from the angle he is held in. Weakening rapidly he uses his last bit of energy to wrap his arm around the back of the vampire and try to stab it in the heart from behind. As he plunges the blade down the cloaked vampire shifts to the side just enough for the blade to pierce its shoulder instead of the heart. His vision tunneling at this point, Major Brown is unable to remove the dagger from his opponent to muster another strike. Losing the feeling in his arms, they fall to the side and his vision tunnels to a point.

  All he can hear is mocking laughter as the world around him goes black. Then nothing.

  *******

  Present

  “Enemies? No one should even know we are here!” I concentrate quickly and send a message to Thia. Hopefully she can get to any farmers in the southern fields before it’s too late. “IMA, please notify everyone else of the issue and have Azzaria and Timbre meet me at the eastern gate. I want those that can’t fight to stay in doors until you give the all clear. Can you tell what they are or anything else about the enemies you picked up?”

  “I’m sorry Vol, but I don’t have any more information on our attackers except that they have hostile intent.”

  Damn, more information would be nice. Maybe there will be an upgrade for that in the future. I shake off the stray thoughts and focus my mind on the problem at hand. “Sorry Bolden. Looks like duty calls. I expect you will be meeting with the council members near the eastern gate so I’ll see you there.” Not waiting for further goodbyes I bolt outside the shop and start making my way down the main street to the eastern gate. I leave Bolden and other people behind as I use Folded Space to decrease the distance I need to run. Soon I’m approaching the gate and it’s already closed. Thank Gwydia. Up on the wall I see a group of guards gathered with different ones running off in a hurry.

  I didn’t ask IMA before but I do now. “How far out are the attackers that you detected IMA?”

  It’s only a fraction of a second before her silky voice responds in my mind. “They are approximately five minutes out at their current speed.”

  “Thank you IMA” I tell her before using Folded Space again and appearing on the wall next to the group of guards I saw. I go unnoticed for a minute as I see Grondar giving out orders to guards. From what I catch it seems like he is leaving only a few people along the north and south walls, focusing most on the defense of the east wall and gate. Thinking it over, it’s a good plan since IMA can give us a warning if anyone should come from that direction. A couple people to remain as a watch in case there is something that can avoid IMA’s detection and to get everyone inside the walls before closing the gates.

  It’s then that Thia arrives in her thunderbird form, swooping in to land on my left shoulder. Not expecting it, I shift to compensate for the added weight. The new arrival draws the guard captain’s attention to me and he waves us over. “Do you know what we are facing?” the dwarf asks me.

  “I know as much as you. There are enemies with hostile intent approaching and IMA can’t tell what or who they are.” I wave my hand out in the direction of the forest across the bridge to the east. “They should be here in a few more minutes. How are preparations going?”

  “As good as can be expected. I’ve had IMA summoning those automatons along the wall, but I told her to leave some of the towns mana for repairing the wall in case it sustains any damage.”

  “Sounds good Grondar. Where do you want me and my team at?”

  He looks out at something behind me and I see a group of people ascending the stairs to the top of the wall. There are a bunch but I recognize some. Enora and Bolden are there along with Timbre, Azzaria, and even Gem. The rest are a few guards and the adventurers that I have met. There are plenty of other people I haven’t met too. Thia on my shoulder hops down and shifts to her elfin form to greet the other members of my party with a hug, Gem too. Grondar turns to me again and says “We need to form a raid.” I quickly form a party and invite Azzaria, Thia, Timbre, Gem and Grondar. After a second of thought I invite Enora as well. To my surprise it works and she joins the party. I thought you could only have five people in a party at a time. I try to invite Bolden too but nothing happens. Taking a moment to think about it I figure it has to be that Thia and Timbre are both considered to be my companions and don’t count toward the party limit.

  Not having much time before our guests arrive, I convert the party to a raid with an act of will and make Grondar assistant raid leader. This way he has full control to invite others and arrange the parties of defenders. The same grid-like interface I experienced during our raid on the skolocs appeared in the corner of my vision when I created the raid. Grondar speaks to me as I see people being added to the raid and getting shifted around in the boxes within the raid interface. “I want you and your ladies to stay here around the gate.” Turning to Enora and Bolden he sends them in opposite directions. Enora to defend the wall south of the east gate and Bolden the north. The rest of the people he sends to spread out evenly along the wall.

  That’s when IMA speaks into my head again. “Vol, the enemies I’ve been tracking are stopping just inside the tree line and grouping together. I can now tell there are 208 signatures, though there may be more if any of them are using stealth skills. I can show you on your map if you would like. Also, you should check the quests tab in the LDM now.”

  I quickly pull up the map in my status, willing it to be viewable to all so Grondar can see it. “IMA is marking the enemies she can detect here. Looks like they are grouping up f
or an assault.” As he looks over the map he grunts and sends a couple of people to pass along messages to group leaders. He is concentrating most of the defenders closer to the east gate with a few to watch the rest of the wall. As he is arranging our forces better during the extra time the enemy has provided for us I pull up the new quest available in the LDM.

  Quest: Blood Feud: Your town is under attack from an unknown force. As the registered Lord of this land you automatically accept this quest, but you can also share it with the residents of the town. They will all receive some rewards upon completion. Bonus Objectives: Discover information about your attackers. Reward: Variable. Penalty for failure: Destruction of your town and the death, or worse, of its population. Do you wish to share this quest with the residents of Thunderbird’s Roost? Yes/No

  When I share it with the town I can see how everyone around me pauses as they get the update and then go back to what they were doing. Getting into position over the gate I try to take my mind off the nervousness that I feel for the upcoming fight. I have been in plenty of fights since coming to this world but this is by far the largest battle I’ve partaken in yet. I ask Gem what the message she got was when I shared the quest. Turns out it’s a simplified version of the one I have. Defend the town is about all it really says, with the reward of experience for success. “Its good to have you here with us for this Gem.” I don’t have any more time for distraction though, as I catch movement across the river.