Lord Sorcerer: Singularity Online: Book 3

by Kyle Johnson

  That was something of a shame, though, since as Geltheriel had suggested, the High Roads were in frequent use, and only Silma was swift and stealthy enough to scout ahead for them since he couldn’t fly. What Geltheriel hadn’t known was that most of the travelers on the Road were intelligent Shadowborn, rather than mindless creatures of Darkness – at least, the ones they encountered were. These creatures were aware enough to realize the value of the Roads and presented a far different type of threat to the party. Even the less intelligent among them knew enough to use tactics and to recognize tactics being used against them, and the party had been harder-pressed than he’d anticipated.

  For the past hour, they’d encountered mostly what Geltheriel told him were uruks – gray-skinned humanoids with coarse, sparse black fur and heavy features that he associated with orcs in other games – whose parties had been mostly mixtures of different warrior types. The creatures had usually numbered 5 or 6 and were intelligent enough to have tanks in their front lines, spear wielders as a second line, and slingers in the back.

  It was an effective grouping, or it would have been had Aranos not been able to use his Void Paralysis and Debilitation Spells to break up the front ranks. Saphielle and Silma moved to tank those who he hadn’t incapacitated, while Geltheriel slipped behind them through the shadows and took out the vulnerable ranged attackers. Without shield-bearers to protect them, the spear-wielders simply didn’t have the numbers to keep the melee fighters from closing with them, and in close, their spears were more of a hindrance than a help.

  A couple of times, they ran into a group with some sort of shaman or witch doctor, and that added a new level of complexity to the battle. The tanks worked to protect the caster from Aranos’ attacks, and while his Composite Bullets did a number on their shields and armor, the caster could heal them well enough to keep them in the fight. If Aranos ignored the healer and tried to incapacitate the tanks, the witch doctor would punish Saphielle and Silma with debuffs and damaging Spells of its own. Aranos had been forced to keep his focus on the caster, using void mana to eat through their magical shielding while the others concentrated on the more mundane fighters. Once he took the healer down, his previous strategies worked once more, and they were able to mop up the creatures with relative ease.

  Unfortunately, despite the difficulty of dealing with the organized parties of uruks, the group wasn’t really gaining a lot of XP. The uruks just weren’t very high-level; without their group tactics, any one of the party would have been able to wipe the creatures out easily. At least, though, Silma gained a level on the journey:

  Your Companion has gained a level!

  Current Level: 11

  Per +3, Agil +3, Other Stats +2, +5 Stat points to assign

  Congratulations!

  Your Animal Companion has exceeded 50 in multiple Stats!

  Agility: 51

  Benefit: Gain 10% bonus to Defense. Agility-based Skills gain a 10% boost to their effects.

  Perception: 52

  Benefit: Keen Senses are 50% more effective. Perception-based Skills gain a 10% boost to their effects.

  After a moment’s consideration, he dropped one of Silma’s points into Endurance and two each into Agility and Perception. She had grown to a bit over ten feet long and more than five and a half tall at the shoulder; she could now look him in the eye with no issues.

  Their trip had been fine, right up until they neared the waystation they were hoping to use for the night. Silma’s nose and ears had alerted the party to the presence of a large number of the uruks within the tower, the only part of the structure still standing and not in ruin. Aranos’ Tracking Skill was a bit more specific: as far as he could tell, there were 32 uruks within, at least three of whom didn’t seem to be wearing any armor, from the depth of their tracks. Probably spellcasters of some kind, he thought grimly.

  “It would be foolish to attempt to enter through the main door,” Saphielle spoke quietly, eyeing the portal in question. “I can see four uruks guarding it, but certainly there are more ready to rush outside should any of those give the alarm.”

  Aranos realized the same thing. “Yeah, we can’t go fight them in there,” he agreed. “I’d say we need to lure them out here, but then we’d just get swarmed. Do we need to take this place?”

  Geltheriel nodded. “That, or travel through the night,” she said solemnly. “Which none of the rest of us can do without penalty, despite the advantages of the roads. The uruks are patrolling from this location, and any camp we set might be overrun by them at any time.”

  “As well, it would seem an inauspicious start to our reclamation of Antas if we could not overcome a single uruk-held waystation,” Rhys pointed out with a smile. “You have rarely been at a loss for creative strategies before, Liberator. Surely, this is not beyond your abilities.”

  Aranos snorted. “Well, it’s more complicated than that. If we just drive them out, they’ll go find more of their kind and keep hitting us all night long. If we do this, we can’t let any of them escape. We’ll still have to watch through the night, but at least we’ll be dealing with roving parties of them instead of a warband, and we’ll be doing it from a fortified location. That means that we need to hold the entrance so they can’t escape, but at the same time we have to get inside to deal with them. Otherwise, they can just hole up inside; I assume they have a way to signal for reinforcments.”

  He sat back, thinking furiously. I could set up an ooze trap like I did with the amaroks, he considered, but these things are smart enough to figure out how to get across it. I could build walls of magma or ice to hold them, but they’ve got spellcasters; for all I know, they might be able to disjoin Spells the way I can. We can’t kite them all the way back down the High Road for the next hour, and they’ve got bows and probably magic, so I can’t just hit them from the air in safety…

  His brain was racing in circles, so he forced it to slow and relaxed his mind, allowing his thoughts to drift. It’s just a problem to be solved, he reminded himself. This isn’t anything big. It’s like trying to remove a nest of wasps without getting stung, really…

  His eyes widened at that thought, and he turned to Saphielle. “If we took out those four guarding the door,” he asked slowly, “how long do you think you, Geltheriel, and Silma could hold that door and keep the rest from escaping?”

  The Warrior looked at the tower, her eyes calculating. “Against uruks, almost indefinitely,” she replied after a long moment. “My spear would be very effective in holding the portal, and the fenrin and Shadedancer could guard my flanks effectively. If the Druid would not run out of SP or we out of Stamina, we could defend that position for hours.”

  “Way longer than we need, then,” he chuckled. “I think if you can hold it for a full minute, I can clear the entire tower with my Deadly Vapors Spell. It’ll be just like poisoning a wasp’s nest.”

  Saphielle’s eyes narrowed. “As I have seen it, your Spell always descends to the lowest point, Redeemer,” she countered. “It seems that were you to try that, the Spell would envelop us rather than our foes.”

  “Which is why I’m not going to do it that way. I’m going up to the top and send it down.”

  Geltheriel shook her head vehemently. “The uruks will certainly have watchers on all the windows,” she told him firmly. “You would be seen, and should there be a spellcaster there capable of countering your Flight Spell…”

  “That’s why I’ll be invisible,” he smiled, taking out the Diadem of Concealment that he’d claimed from Gorrid days ago and placing it on his head. He concentrated on the item and felt a tiny surge of SP flow into it. Nothing changed as far as he could tell – he was still able to see himself perfectly fine – but the party gasped and Silma let out an inquisitive whine.

  “What is that item?” Geltheriel demanded. “And how did you not pass it to me? If I could truly be invisible, Oathbinder, our battles would have gone far more simply!”

  He relaxed his concentration, and Gel
theriel’s eyes focused on him once more. “You need to use SP to power it,” he said apologetically. “I haven’t seen any use for it, yet, but…” He broke off as Rhys chuckled ruefully, and he caught a hint of a mocking smile in the Druid’s eyes.

  “I do have the use of my SP, Oathbinder,” the Shadedancer replied crisply. “I may not have the endless pool of it that you seem to, but I do use shadow mana to power my Class Abilities. Did you not realize that being able to turn into shadow or to conjure blades of darkness were acts of magic, not simply of Stamina?”

  Aranos blinked, startled. He honestly hadn’t even thought about that, but now that he did, it was obvious. Both Geltheriel and Saphielle had what were usually called hybrid Classes, ones that used both might and magic to fulfill their roles. Of course, for that to work, they both had to gain SP each level. “I honestly hadn’t considered it,” he admitted. “After I use it for this, though, it’s yours; you’re right, you can definitely get better use from it than I can.”

  He quickly went over his plan with the party, buffing the three fighters with both Endurance and Strength buffs, since heightened Agility wasn’t going to be as useful in the close confines in which they’d be working. They all dropped into Stealth and moved as close to the guards outside the tower as they dared.

  Aranos started the combat by hitting the uruk closest to the door with a Void Paralysis. Saphielle immediately used her Shield Charge Ability to slam into the next uruk, catching it by surprise and hurling it into the side of the tower. Geltheriel and Silma both vanished, one into the shadows, the other teleporting next to an uruk and bearing it to the ground, tearing out its throat effortlessly. The last turned to flee, but Geltheriel slipped from the shadows beside it, her blade taking it cleanly in the throat. It gurgled and choked for a moment before slumping to the ground. Saphielle finished her foe off with her spear, while Aranos released the bound uruk just long enough for it to catch a Composite Bullet in its skull.

  As soon as the creatures fell, the three Warriors gathered before the doorway. Saphielle stood at the center, with Geltheriel to her left and Silma on the right. Rhys took position behind them, ready to heal their wounds. Once the party was set, Aranos cast his Flight Spell and activated the Diadem, floating slowly up toward the nearest open window.

  He glanced inside and saw that the window led into a small, closed room; not quite what he was looking for. He floated around until he found a window that opened into a larger room, one with several uruks inside, including a pair wearing tattered robes instead of armor. He drifted to the side of the window and cast his Forge Mana Spell, pulling up air mana and shaping it to fill the window, leaving only a small hole to one side that he immediately covered with his transparent hand.

  He called forth his Deadly Vapors Spell, pushing the gray mist through the hole he’d left and into the room. Immediately, the space erupted in coughing and a series of grunting, guttural barks. It took Aranos a moment to realize that the uruks were speaking to one another; he only figured out what the sounds were when one of the robed figures started gesturing as it grunted and barked at the others, and the rest began fleeing the room. One rushed to the window, striking his Air Shield heavily and rebounding, dropping into the cloud of vapors. The fallen uruk thrashed momentarily, clutched its throat, and was still.

  Aranos continued to channel the Spell, pouring more of the Vapors into the room as the inhabitants threw open the door and rushed out to escape the gray tendrils of deadly fog. He heard other doors slamming in the distance, and the growling of uruk voices suddenly changed into a clash of steel and the sound of Silma snapping and snarling. He pushed down his urge to zip over and help the party hold the door – he had to trust that they would keep the uruks busy long enough for him to saturate the tower with his Spell. From how much damage it seemed to take to bring one of these creatures down, he figured they’d last about three to five seconds in his Vapors if they were fully immersed; even so, he kept one eye securely on his party members’ LP bars. If they started dropping too quickly, he’d have to rush back and help them, even if it meant reworking his plan.

  He watched the tendrils disappearing through the open door and hoped the uruks, in their flight, had left most of the doors ajar. His Spell would seep under doorframes, but that would slow it down significantly. He channeled the spell for thirty seconds – each second doing so cost him LP, so he couldn’t afford to let it go too long – and dropped his Air Shield, slipping into the mist-filled room.

  Aranos willed the mists to leave the room and followed them as they slid out the door and into a larger, central area. A handful of uruk bodies were scattered here, and all the doors to the area had been flung open. A staircase descended in the middle of the room, and Aranos followed his Spell down the stairs to the next level. He glanced once more at his party’s LP bars; they were holding steady, with only minor damage to any of them.

  Each floor of the tower looked essentially the same: a large central area with surrounding rooms, separated by doors. A half-dozen more bodies lay, unmoving and scattered across the main area, the doors leading out hanging open and silent. The next floor was the same, and Aranos pushed his Spell down the stairs until he heard Silma’s howl, signaling that she had spotted the effects of his Spell. Instantly, he willed the Vapors to halt and to part, giving him a safe but narrow passage forward.

  Uruk bodies filled this staircase, but from the continuing sounds of combat, Aranos knew that at least some of the creatures had survived his Spell. He moved forward cautiously until he spotted a dozen of the creatures still standing, sheltered from his Spell by a glowing wall of force being maintained by three robed figures. Maybe the last one wasn’t high-ranking enough to hang out in the tower? he wondered absently. Or maybe he was part of the group set to guard the door?

  He quickly called up a Void Bullet, losing even more of his precious LP, and fired it at the glowing wall. The construct shuddered under the impact of his Spell, but apparently the combined power of the three spellcasters was enough to hold it against him. One of the figures pointed at him and barked something, and he quickly activated his Ring of Force Shield and hurled a Composite Bullet at the uruks’ barrier, cloning it into three with his Multishot Ability. All three bullets slammed into the wall within an inch of one another, and he could feel the cracks spreading through it.

  Two of the uruks began casting a Spell, and Aranos narrowed his eyes as he suddenly saw Silma’s LP bar drop 10%. What am I doing? he berated himself. Don’t punch through it with raw force; there’s a better way. He extended a mana tendril to the barrier; thanks to the two casters focusing on their Spell, it was only being held by the third one. Aranos analyzed the Spell and found the point where the spell-form recycled its energy. He nudged the Spell out of alignment, channeling 15 Soul Points as he did and feeling only token resistance from the single caster as the extra power roared through him. Instead of allowing the energy to disperse, he guided the barrier’s power back down the link connecting it to the uruk, driving the energy into the creature.

  The gray-skinned caster cried out as the Spell’s energy slammed into it, and blood burst from its mouth and nose. The other two casters froze for a moment, and Aranos called up a Radiant Blast, bathing the shocked uruks in brilliant, white flames. The creatures roared and fell back as Aranos moved forward, willing his Deadly Vapors ahead of him. The remaining uruks spun to face him, and Aranos saw a flash of steel as either Geltheriel or Saphielle took advantage of their inattention.

  He dismissed his Vapors and released his Radiant Blast as he stepped back, firing Composite Bullets into the remaining creatures. He could see Silma, now, her silver armor splattered with red from a weeping cut along her side. Even as he watched, the cut sealed itself beneath the power of Rhys’ magic, and the fenrin moved forward ferociously, ripping at the uruks’ legs and pulling them down, allowing the others to finish them with a sword or spear thrust.

  The two remaining casters began gathering the energy for a Spell
again, but Aranos hit one in the face with a Composite Bullet, dropping it lifelessly to the ground. The last caster tried to flee but ran directly into Saphielle’s spear, which took it in the eye and erupted from the back of its skull. As the last uruk fell, Geltheriel sat down heavily, panting.

  “That was a near thing, Oathbinder,” she told him. “They came faster than we anticipated and were maddened by fear. Had the Druid not been here, we would not have been able to hold.”

  “Then I’m glad he was here,” Aranos smiled at the Druid who inclined his head. “It looks like he kept you all reasonably healthy. Although I’m not sure how they managed to penetrate Silma’s armor.”

  One of the casters Enchanted their weapons, the wolf explained tiredly. They weren’t powerful enough to get through Saphielle’s armor, but they managed to wound Geltheriel and I several times.

  “One observes that you were somewhat delayed, Liberator,” Rhys observed mildly. “Was there an unforeseen difficulty?”

  “The uruk spellcasters – I don’t know if they’re Wizards or Priests – put a barrier up. It took me a bit to get through it.”

  Saphielle nodded. “An acceptable reason. And while the battle was closer than we would have preferred, it was also a victory; at least, it will be once we ensure the tower is clear.”

  “Oh, that reminds me,” he said, closing his eyes and reaching out with his Lifesense, encompassing as much of the tower as he could, which was only about two floors. He could feel the souls of the nearby uruks still hovering about, and he reached out to them, easing the pain and terror of their deaths and receiving Soul Points in return. The uruks who died earlier, however, didn’t register to his Lifesense; their souls had moved on already.