by Kyle Johnson
Cost: 100% of vital mana, 100% of soul mana, 90% Str Stat, 90% End Stat, 90% of current LP.
I will light up your lives…
+500 XP
Party Perks Gained!
Shock and Awe (4)
You have laid a successful ambush for a foe more than ten times your number.
Benefit: Do 5% more damage for 45 seconds after springing a successful surprise attack on a foe (cumulative with lower levels of this Perk).
Shock and Awe (5)
You have laid a successful ambush for a foe more than twenty times your number.
Benefit: Do 5% more damage for one minute after springing a successful surprise attack on a foe (cumulative with lower levels of this Perk; all durations of this Perk are set to one minute).
Shock and Awe (6)
You have laid a successful ambush for a foe more than fifty times your number.
Benefit: Do 5% more damage for one minute after springing a successful surprise attack on a foe (cumulative with lower levels of this Perk). Your surprise attacks force opponents to pass an Opposed Check or immediately rout: your [Charisma + Leadership Skill level + rank of this Perk] versus the opposing commander’s [Charisma + Leadership Skill]. If the opposing force has no commander, their check is their [Average Class level + Average Wis / 2].
Shock and Awe (7)
You have laid a successful ambush for a foe more than one hundred times your number.
Benefit: Do 10% more damage for 90 seconds after springing a successful surprise attack on a foe (cumulative with lower levels of this Perk; all durations of this Perk are set to 90 seconds).
Fight Another Day (1)
More than half your party successfully retreated from a foe 50% more powerful than you.
Benefit: +5% movement speed during an organized retreat (does not apply to a rout).
Fight Another Day (2)
More than half your party successfully retreated from a foe twice as powerful as you.
Benefit: +5% movement speed during an organized retreat (cumulative with the first rank of this Perk, does not apply to a rout).
You have died!
XP Lost: 14,579 (Currently 129,747)
Str, Dex, Agil halved. Duration, 1 hour upon respawn
Better luck next time!
Aranos swore silently. His Spell had killed enough undead to net him over 20,000 XP – enough that he could have leveled both of his Classes – but the death penalty had dropped him back below the requirement for either Class to level up. The others looked equally grim, and Aranos reminded himself that they’d been hoarding XP for when they finally unlocked their Advanced Classes; their losses, while probably numerically smaller than his, also probably hurt a lot more than his did. At least, he’d ended up with a net positive from the trip into the city.
“Well, that didn’t quite go the way we wanted,” he finally said, sighing.
“It sucked monkey nuts, is what it did,” McBane corrected. The others looked at him curiously, and he shrugged. “Anyone disagree?”
“I think we’re all happy to acknowledge your expertise in monkey nuts, mate,” Longfellow said grandly. “Never tried them, myself. Bit of an allergy, sadly.”
“You don’t know what you’re missing, honey,” Meridian smiled. “Maybe if we get you really, really drunk…”
“Please don’t go there,” Phil groaned. “Seriously, I am never getting Longfellow drunk again, okay? God, the puns wouldn’t stop!”
“I’ll drink with you, Longfellow,” Hector declared. “Hell, I’ll drink with anybody, so long as they’re buying. You start getting funny ideas about my nuts, though, and we’re gonna have words.”
Aranos grinned at the banter; already, the party was shaking off the staggering defeat. “Okay, if we’re all done with Hector’s nuts, I’ve got an idea of what we should do next.”
“Don’t you want to wait for the others to return?” Phil said curiously. “I mean, do you want to have to go through this twice?”
“No, we’re going to meet them on the way,” Aranos shook his head. “We’re heading back in.” The others groaned, but Aranos held up a hand. “Not hard and fast like we just did, though. We’re going to turn that first room in the escape tunnel into a forward base and use it to rest and resupply. Then, we’re going to hit the Vault and get you guys your Advanced Classes. Once we’ve done that, we can move out into the city in groups, picking off undead and working our way closer to the center, where the Tree-heart is. If we can get to that, we can take the city without having to beat Zoridos – and it’ll making beating him a heck of a lot easier, too.”
Martina was shaking her head. “That room is part of the necrotic zone, Aranos,” she pointed out. “We rest there, we might not wake up in the morning.”
“Not to mention, if we overstay our welcome, Old Bony will probably pop in again and squash us all,” Longfellow added. “How are we going to keep him out?”
“Same way we’re keeping him out of here,” Aranos shrugged. “Once that room’s Redeemed, I’ll bet the necrotic zone won’t touch it. If it does, there’s a way for me to make my Death’s Ward permanent. I can also tack a permanent Radiance of Life to the room. Any undead that steps inside will be at half power and taking Stat damage every few seconds. I doubt even Zoridos would risk that, especially when we can respawn and be back there before it can heal.”
Aranos looked around and saw the others looking thoughtful. “It’s better than trekking hours back and forth from here every day,” Phil grinned. “At least this way, we won’t be spending half of every day in transit, right?” The Spellsword’s words seemed to seal the deal, and Aranos sighed in relief as he saw heads beginning to nod.
“Grab whatever you want to take from here,” he told them. “Tents, packs, supplies; whatever we need. While you’re doing that, I’ve got one more thing I want to do here.” The others went upstairs, except for Martina and Hector, who obviously already had everything they could carry. “You guys can help the others, come with me – or, I guess, do whatever you want.”
“I want to see what you’re up to,” Hector grinned. “You strike me as an interesting young man.”
“I’m game,” Martina shrugged.
Aranos led the pair out into the early morning sunlight and walked to the center of the clearing, where he knelt down and retrieved a long branch from his pack. The coppery, brown bark with swirling runes marked it as his oilarie branch, and while he hadn’t developed his Carving Skill enough to work with the rare wood, yet, he didn’t think he needed it for what he was doing.
Concentrating, he forged a simple knife from metal mana, shifting the pattern until it was truesilver and making sure it was exceptionally sharp. Even with the strong, sharp blade, he struggled to cut a slice of wood from the end and ended up having to grow saw teeth on the blade, then laboriously saw at the branch.
“You know, I could chop that thing into kindling if you want,” Hector offered, touching his axe.
Aranos shook his head. “You’d break your axe, I’m afraid. That’s not even high steel, and I’m using truesilver – something that’s probably about seven times stronger than your axe. You can see how I’m faring.”
“At least, let me do the sawing for you,” Hector persisted. “I’m pretty sure my Strength Stat is higher than yours…”
Aranos nearly slapped his forehead, stopping as he recalled the extremely sharp knife in his hand. “Okay, I’m an idiot,” he sighed. “I totally forgot about my Greater Empowerment Spell.” Quickly he cast the Spell, focusing it on his Str and Dex, boosting both to over 100. The sawing went much more swiftly after that, and less than a minute later, a slim disc of wood fell away from the end of the branch. Aranos returned the larger limb to his pack and poked a hole in the ground, placing the disc of wood inside it.
“What are you doing?” Martina asked, peering over his shoulder and down into the hole. “Are you planting that piece of wood? I don’t think it works that way.”
“Normally, no, but if I’m right, this should at least get this thing started. I can ask Rhys to boost it a bit later.” Aranos took a breath and placed a finger on the disc of wood, closing his eyes. He wasn’t trying to cast a Spell; instead, he reached into his spirals and pulled up a trickle of vital mana, using his Mana Vampire Perk to slowly seep it into the thin wafer. SP rolled slowly but steadily out of him, and as it did, he envisioned it filling the piece of wood, restoring it to life.
Roots would probably be the first things to sprout from the wood, creeping inexorably down into the soil, seeking the few nutrients and traces of water that could be found. Once the roots had found enough moisture, a twig would erupt from the disc, rising slowly upward as his mana filled it, pouring life into the young sapling. It would reach for the sky before branching out, the slim, young branches pushing out brass-colored needles that would glow once the tree had absorbed enough energy. The sapling would rise, higher, and… Suddenly, the trickle of mana petered out, and Aranos opened his eyes with a sigh. Just channeling vital mana hadn’t worked; the disc of wood still sat…
Aranos blinked at the sturdy, young tree that shone before him, its coppery wood gleaming in the early sunlight. Two branches jutted out to the side about six feet above the ground, and brass-colored needles gleamed brightly atop the tree and at the ends of each branch, their shine a promise of the sunlight glow they would let off at night. The tree wasn’t the only thing that had grown, though; his vital mana had apparently spread throughout the soil, and the grass within three feet in every direction had shot up above his knees.
“Well, I guess that worked,” Hector chuckled. “Doesn’t look like you expected it to, though.”
“I didn’t know if it would, to be honest,” Aranos admitted. “I’d never tried it before. I probably used way too much mana – I’ll bet Rhys could have done the same thing for a fraction of what I spent – but now that I know it’s possible, I’ll refine it until I’ve got it down.”
“It’s pretty enough,” Martina said with a sniff, rubbing her nose, “but I think I’m allergic to it. It’s making my nose itch and my eyes water.”
“That’s probably your undead half – you’re half undead, half human, right?” Aranos guessed. “Oilarie trees emit a pollen that’s toxic to creatures of Darkness. Since you’re not one of those, it doesn’t hurt you, but it sounds like might want to stay away from it if you don’t want to start sneezing.”
“Too – too late,” Martina said as she sneezed loudly, then stepped away from the tree. “I’m going to head back inside, if that’s okay.” She sneezed again, then turned and walked away without waiting for an answer.
Hector grinned at the woman for a second before turning to Aranos. “Hey, I just wanted to say thank you. You had every reason not to let us join you, but I’m glad you did.”
“I’d say you’re welcome, but I honestly don’t know if that’s true, yet,” Aranos replied truthfully. “I think it was a good call, but I guess time will tell.” Aranos shrugged. “In the meantime, we’ll get to know one another and pretty soon, it’ll work itself out, one way or another.”
“True enough,” the Warrior replied, smacking Aranos solidly on the back. Aranos replied in kind, forgetting that his Empowerment Spell was active, and the Warrior yelped. “Holy hell, son! What kind of Strength Stat are you packing?”
“Sorry, that was the Spell,” Aranos said hurriedly, dismissing the Empowerment and allowing his Str to fade back to normal. “It boosted my Str Stat over a hundred temporarily. I didn’t mean to hit you so hard.”
“No harm done,” Hector laughed. “So long as you promise to use that Spell on me sometime. I really want to see what 100 Strength is like.”
“Then you’re going to love the training crystals,” Aranos grinned, leading the man back into the tower. “Especially on level 3…”
The trip back to the city was fairly uneventful. As before, Aranos kept his Aura of Movement active and boosted their speed to double the normal rate. With the sun out, though, they saw even fewer creatures, and those they saw were easier to outrun, for the most part.
They met the elves and Silma about 30 minutes into their journey. The NPCs had stopped and were waiting for them; Aranos was sure that Silma had sensed him moving closer and had instructed the others to stop through Rhys. “Welcome back, Oathbinder,” Geltheriel grinned as the players slowed to a stop. “Although it is welcome, I assure you, we need no escort back to the tower.”
“You sure about that, hon?” Meridian laughed. “You were in that zone quite a while without protection. You’re probably all weak, right? Shortfellow, why don’t you carry her back? Or maybe Saphielle, here? I’m sure she’d appreciate it.”
“While it would be interesting to watch the Archer attempt to accost the Lieutenant,” Rhys chuckled, “it would be unnecessary. The necrotic effect faded with your deaths, and we were able to escape without damage.”
Aranos frowned at that. Had the game removed the effect because there were no players left for it to affect? Or had Zoridos dropped it once it wasn’t needed to hinder the party? Neither option really made sense; it was something he’d have to think about.
“It’s a good thing you don’t need help going back,” he finally smiled back at Geltheriel. “You mind escorting us back to the city, though? That’s where we’re headed, after all.”
“Surely, you do not intend to confront that undead once more, Aranos,” Saphielle protested. “We barely escaped with our lives last time. Facing it again would be utter foolishness!”
“I totally agree, Saphielle,” Aranos nodded. “We’re going to turn that first room in the escape tunnel into a base, the way we did the tower, then try to get into the Vault. I’m hoping to avoid Zoridos for as long as possible.”
The Avenger stood for a moment, silently chewing on his words. “That seems acceptable,” she agreed. “I am relieved you are being sensible about this and are not seeking revenge.”
“Not even a little bit. We’ve got a Quest to complete, and from there, we can work on clearing the city slowly.”
The restored party moved swiftly through the blighted forest and located the exit to the escape tunnel without difficulty; however, it no longer stood open and unguarded. A ring of undead guarded the tree, a mixture of draegs, nurhuins, ravants, and vangolors that would present a serious challenge for any potential intruders but wouldn’t stop them from entering. Aranos understood that; Zoridos didn’t really need to guard the city too closely. The party could defeat these guards, but doing so would doubtlessly alert Zoridos to their presence, and they could probably expect a mass attack from the undead to descend on them soon after.
Their only saving grace, as far as Aranos could see, was that Zoridos would probably be recovering from the damage the Sorcerer’s Spell had inflicted on it, and the number of undead close enough to respond to their intrusion likely wouldn’t be significant after the Supernova Spell Aranos had unleashed. While he was certain that, in time, Zoridos would spread out his minions to repopulate this part of the city, he doubted that the creature would have had a chance to do so in the few hours that had passed since the party’s defeat.
Aranos began their attack with a fiery Ravaging Burst, catching the waiting undead off-guard and felling some of the weaker draegs outright. Saphielle, Phil, and Hector struck next, his Gust of Speed aiding them as they charged into the front ranks of the creatures with a crash of steel, while Longfellow and Martina shot magically enhanced bolts and arrows at the vangolors, striking them before the creatures had a chance to erect magical barriers. Martina’s bow didn’t have the Enchantments Longfellow’s crossbows did, but Aranos’ Elemental Weapon Spell gave it the power to do light mana damage, making her arrows deadly against the elf-like undead. With the effect of the party’s Shock and Awe Perk upgrading their damage by 40% for the first minute and a half, the attacks started reaping the undead like a scythe through wheat.
Unfortunately, the Perk’s Ability to rout cr
eatures wasn’t effective against the fearless undead, and the party’s foes responded instantly to the attack without even a second of hesitation. The ravants rushed to meet the tanks’ charge, swiping with their bony claws or smashing hardened fists into hastily upraised shields. The vangolors immediately raised a barrier to stop the ranged barrage on them, forcing Longfellow and Martina to switch their targets to the shadowy nurhuins that were already sliding along the ground toward the tanks. The draegs swarmed around the party’s flanks, seeking to sweep upon the tanks from behind. Their advance halted as Geltheriel appeared to one side, her shadowy blade biting deeply into the creatures, while Silma and McBane held the opposite flank.
Aranos’ main target was the vangolors, and this time, he didn’t bother holding back on his SP. A Light Barrage slammed into the shield they’d raised, chewing through it in seconds and bathing the casters in brilliant radiance. While the barrier was down, he sent a Fire and Ice Spell hurtling at them; when their barrier snapped back into place a few seconds later, it was too late. The creatures were trapped beneath their own shield, being simultaneously frozen, charred, and battered to pieces. The Spell inflicted around 150 LP damage per second, with Aranos’ bonuses, and the vangolors within lasted only a handful of seconds before succumbing to his assault.
With the casters neutralized, Aranos joined Martina and Longfellow in ranged assaults. He fired light-infused Hollow Point Bullets at the nurhuins, tearing into their shadowy forms and often felling the undead with a single shot. This allowed Longfellow and Martina to focus their fire on the draegs at the flanks, assisting their damage-dealers and quickly whittling the beasts down. Longfellow’s flaming bolts were more effective at this; not only did his crossbows have better penetration, but their fire damage was particularly effective against the cold-wielding draegs. Martina’s bow was faster, though, and she could loose two or three arrows in the time it took Longfellow to re-cock and fire his heavy crossbow.
