by Jez Cajiao
“You!” I said, a grin spreading across my face as I rushed over to the corpse as well. “I’d forgotten all about you!” I quickly searched the mage from head to toe, finding a small pouch with a few gold coins, a plain copper ring, which went into the pouch with the coins, and a dagger that was rusted into its sheath. Its robes were the most valuable thing it owned.
Robes of the Ice Mage
Further Description Yes/No
Details:
These robes give a 10% deduction to the mana cost of Water spells and an increase in power of 10% to any spell of that affinity.
Rarity
Magical
Durability
Charge:
Uncommon
Yes
54/100
N/A
They were good robes, still in decent condition. Giving that kind of boost and spell cost reduction would have me over the moon on a pair of greaves or a helmet, but with robes…I bundled them up and put them in my bag of holding.
Staff of IceBolt
Further Description Yes/No
Details:
This staff gives an increase in power of 10% to any spell of Water affinity, and can be used to cast ‘Icebolt’ from its internal mana storage. Each casting requires 10 mana.
Rarity
Magical
Durability
Charge:
Uncommon
Yes
68/100
0/100
I liked the staff, but sod’s law that it was depleted, I’d have to look into charging it or whatever later. I also found a pouch in one pocket, the area around it still damp. Remembering the sound of breaking glass during the fight, I groaned and slowly opened the pouch to find it filled with the remains of maybe a dozen small vials. All but one of them was broken, the last intact one confirming my worst fears as I examined the blue liquid.
Tincture of Mana
Further Description Yes/No
Details:
This mana potion will restore 40 mana immediately, followed by a further 1 mana per second for 60 seconds.
Rarity
Magical
Durability
Charge:
Uncommon
No
14/100
N/A
The remnants of at least eleven other potions, judging from the caps, were scattered in the pouch. I groaned again. Those could have been hugely useful, and one badly placed swing of my naginata had smashed the rest of them. I began to swear under my breath as I thought about the uses I could have had for the mana potions. I could have been a Gatling gun of Firebolts! I could have stood a real chance against the undead, but now, I was practically back to square one. I emptied the glass fragments out in one corner and cleaned the pouch out the best I could before examining it.
Potion Pouch
Further Description Yes/No
Details:
A simple pouch for potions, this will store up to twelve potions securely, depending on size.
Rarity
Magical
Durability
Charge:
Uncommon
No
27/100
N/A
I attached it to my belt and cleared the corpse away from the entrance and readied myself. I checked over my weapons and picked up the naginata from where it had fallen when I had collapsed. I quickly checked its blade over, propping it in the crook of my arm as I reviewed my spell list. I’d planned on using Airblade to start the fight off, but clearly that wasn’t going to happen.
The water and electricity combination that had worked out so well in the arena was pretty useless against the undead, as was Identify, as I had to kill them regardless. I’d use it if I had time, but the benefits during a fight were marginal at best.
Raising a weak skeleton would have been useful, but I was missing a leg and the skull from the only one I had access to, so was currently not useful either. That left me with ‘Cleansing Fire’ and ‘Firebolt’ to depend on, so they’d have to do.
I could see the big undead adventurer waiting on the other side of the door, occasionally swinging his sword at the crystal. Once he was dead, I figured I’d have an easier time killing the rest anyway, so I was happy to have him so closely available.
I took a deep breath, braced myself with the naginata, and commanded the door to open. The crystal dissipated into a gritty mist and retracted into the doorframe. I barely had a second to deflect the first blow of the adventurer’s greatsword as swung at me, sweeping it aside with my naginata to clang uselessly on the floor. I released the shaft with my left hand and cast Firebolt, hitting it square in the face, and it staggered as it swiped at the flames. It was bigger than me, and heavily armored, reminding me of Wilhelm and the fight in the arena. I couldn’t rely on pain to stop it, or stamina depletion, but it really didn’t like fire.
It raised the greatsword again, swinging blindly for me as I leapt backward. As soon as the blade passed me, I stabbed out, aiming for the creature’s throat, when its left hand grabbed the blade and deflected it into the doorframe. I tried to pull it back, but its strength was a match for my own and we staggered. Seeing no other option, I released the weapon, drawing a sword right-handed and parrying its next attack as I started to cast ‘Cleansing Fire’.
It threw my naginata aside and bulled its way forward, not giving me the time to close the door, and behind it, I could see others coming. I jumped forward, burying the blade into its upper sword arm. The blow glanced off bone, desiccated flesh and muscle coming free as I staggered, when an undead left fist smashed into my face, throwing me back. I landed on the floor, feeling something roll under my leg. I grabbed at it, glad to find that it was the mage’s staff, and brought it up to deflect the next blow. My spell had failed under its fist, and I could barely concentrate from the mana backlash. I rolled to the side, dodging the next blow and staggered upright, backing away again.
I felt a sudden wash of healing energy flood my body, driving the confusion back as I heard Oracle shouting to me.
“The door, Jax! Close the door!”
I cursed and ordered the door to shut. Two other skeletons had managed to enter the room behind the adventurer, but the door thankfully stopped the third, leaving me to back away frantically as I tried to come up with a plan. Swearing as I retreated across the room, I turned slightly to ensure I didn’t get trapped against the wall. We traded blows, the adventurer’s greatsword almost driving me to my knees with each impact, while my staff did little beyond slowing him. The other two shambled forward, thankfully just following me as I kited them around the room. If they’d tried to block me off, they’d have caught me without any great effort. Be thankful for small mercies… I told myself.
I cast Firebolt repeatedly until, after only four more bolts, I felt the warning tingle of the mana headache blooming. I was down to the dregs of my mana again, without enough left to cast another spell already! The terror of my impending death rising, I tried to think of a plan since I could no longer cast spells. I grasped the staff in both hands, bracing it across my body, and crouched, resolving that this creature wouldn’t get to kill me without a damn good fight.
Deflecting a swing from the sword, I concentrated on hitting its legs as hard and fast as I could. My only advantages now were speed and the undead’s lack of intelligence. With each strike on its legs, it stumbled, but the armor was negating the majority of the damage. Worse still, my hands were going numb with the reverberations, and I knew if I kept this up, I’d lose before it did.
Taking a deep breath and ducking to avoid a swing that would have decapitated me had it landed, I hooked the staff behind its left knee, pulling its leg out of position, and smashed the other end of the staff into its face as hard as I could. The sudden blow combined with throwing it off balance made it fall onto its back, and I took the opportunity to strike.
Stepping forward quickly, I stood on the wrist of the hand that held the sword and began raining blow after bl
ow down onto its head, the helm bouncing with each impact. I saw another opening and drove the butt of the spear into its throat, screaming as its left hand finally connected with my leg, claw-tipped bones burrowing deep into my thigh, barely slowed by my thin leg armor as it tore deep into the thick muscle.
“Jax! Look out!” I heard Oracle scream as I saw her fly across my vision. She intercepted a skeleton that had gotten closer than I had realized, and distracted it as it swung its mace at her instead of me. The other one was closing steadily as well. I had no time, but this was my only chance to kill this thing!
“Keep them busy!” I shouted at her, ending the command with a scream of pain as the adventurer ripped its bony claw out of my leg, trailing bits of muscle and blood.
I collapsed on top of the undead combatant, screaming in pain. Its left hand gripped my throat, claws digging deep into the skin and causing blood to flow. As it began to choke me, I felt it shift its weight to free its sword and try to bring it to bear. In a last-ditch attempt to save my own life, I shoved harder with the staff, pushing the wooden length out the far side of its throat and scraping on the bones of the spine and the lip of its armor.
Even as I thought I was going to black out from the pressure on my throat, I used the staff like a lever and pulled down across its body as hard as I could. With a last yank, its head ripped free, the skull bouncing across the rugs to lie against the far wall.
Life seemed to leave the creature all at once and I collapsed to my back as I ripped its claw free from my throat. As I heaved in breath after breath, trying to calm my racing heart, I gritted my teeth and tried to think through the pain, shifting my hands to my leg and almost screaming with the pain. I fumbled at my belt for the mana potion and gulped it down as fast as I could. I was surprised at its fresh minty taste, and felt the mana headache disappear as forty points of my mana were replaced instantly, along with the significant jump to my mana regeneration rate.
My mana bar took a jump, refilling until it stood at fifty one, and I immediately began to cast ‘Cleansing Fire.’ It took longer to cast than Firebolt, and if it didn’t work, I was boned, but with two skeletons nearby and the adventurer’s skull already enveloped in a cloud of DarkSpore, I knew I had no time for another plan.
The ten seconds of cast time passed like an eternity. Watching Oracle as she flitted between the two undead to buy me time terrified me. All it would take was one hit, and she’d be killed, and the DarkSpore was inching towards me with every second that passed. As my tongue tripped over the final few words and syllables, the parasitic cloud reached my leg. I felt a thin tendril touching me, sinking through my armor like mist, and a sensation like red hot needles burrowed into my flesh.
I managed the last word as a scream, forced out through my agony, but it was enough. The spell flared to life, my gestures having built the spell as I went, and it flashed out into the protective circle, lines linking one to another as the flames licked out.
I writhed in anguish as the flames met the DarkSpore. It drove forward frantically, some level of sentience making it aware that only in me did it stand a chance of survival. As it burrowed deeper into my flesh, the cleansing flames rooted it out, burning the remnants of my leg armor away as it killed the DarkSpore. I fell back, savoring the feel of the flames as they washed over my body. No longer fighting the parasite and burning me, they comforted me, and I felt impurities leaving my body. I gasped in relief as I tried to catch my breath, searching for the other two skeletons, only to see them collapsing to the ground, covered in flames. Their bodies dropped like puppets with cut strings. The skulls flared with light as the flames scoured the last vestiges of DarkSpore from them before spreading out to fill the circle again.
I’d survived again, I realized. I laid on the floor, bleeding heavily from my leg as I panted and tried to master the pain.
“Jax! Jax, are you alright?” Oracle screamed, landing on my chest and looking into my eyes, her tiny hands gripping my beard as she stared at me.
“Aye, *cough* aye, Oracle, I’m alright…” I gasped out. She released me, flitting to land next to my leg and examining the wound, the torn muscles, the blood covering the ground, and the burnt mess that had been my greaves and pants.
“This is bad, really bad!” she muttered to herself, pushing the flesh aside to look deeper even as I hissed in pain at her touch. “There’s no infection, thanks to the flames, but we need to bind this until you can heal it! Quick, Jax, I need something to tie around it!” she started pulling at my bag of holding, and I fumbled inside it. The only thing I could find was the Robes of the Ice Mage, so they had to do. I held my leg as tightly as I could, keeping pressure on the wound as she dragged my dagger across the robes, frantically sawing and stabbing until she had a small section free that I could wrap around my leg as a tourniquet. I groaned even as the limited healing from ‘Cleansing Fire’ continued to chip away at the damage.
Thankfully, the mana potion I’d chugged was continuing to restore a point of mana every second, and before I could cast it myself, Oracle had begun casting my healing spell. As the golden light spread across my body, I watched it sink into my leg, the torn and bloody flesh regrown before my eyes. I collapsed back again, resting as my mana slowed to its regular rate of regeneration, and the flames surrounding me guttered out. After another minute, I had the energy to raise my right hand to Oracle.
“High five, Oracle; you did amazing,” I whispered. When nothing happened, I cracked an eye to find her staring at me in confusion. “Dammit. Okay, Oracle, when you do something particularly cool or impressive…” I went on to explain the concept for her, culminating with a tiny hand slapping into mine firmly.
“That’s it!” I grinned, sitting up and looking down at her, before following her gaze to find that, thanks to the combination of fire and a crazy goddamn giant skeleton, I was now more than slightly deficient in the pants area.
“Dammit!” I cursed. Oracle laughed as she flitted into the air and spiraled around me while I tried to cover myself, as certain parts of my anatomy tried to make a break for freedom. I shuddered as I saw where the hair had been burned away, leaving me in no doubt just how close the flames had come to ‘Mr. Happy’.
I pulled the remnants of the robe on over my armor. I looked ridiculous, but at least it kept things from waving around through the new exit hole in my pants. I pulled the pants off and looked them over, finding little that could be done. I found some spare boxers and jeans in the bag of holding, but the leg armor that had covered me this far was beyond repair. I looked over at the rotten and burned body of the adventurer and took a deep breath.
On the one side… loot. That was awesome, and he had armor on already, double awesome. On the other side, he’d been rotting in it for years. The thought of putting on pants that someone else had died in, then continued to wear while walking around and falling apart was just…nasty. Beggars couldn’t be choosers, though. I pulled up my notifications as I walked over to the adventurer’s corpse.
Congratulations! You have killed a DarkSpore Adventurer. You have gained 100 Exp.
Congratulations! You have killed a DarkSpore Parasite. You have gained 25 Exp.
Congratulations! You have killed a DarkSpore Wandering Guardian. You have gained 25 Exp.
Congratulations! You have killed a DarkSpore Parasite. You have gained 25 Exp.
Congratulations! You have killed a DarkSpore Wandering Guardian. You have gained 25 Exp.
Congratulations! You have killed a DarkSpore Parasite. You have gained 25 Exp.
I was 275 points from my next level, but I was getting there! I searched the corpse, stripping it and piling the gear up next to me, before searching the other two corpses as well. As I suspected, I found little of any worth on the two guardians, but the adventurer was a different story.
Greatsword of Durability
Further Description Yes/No
Details:
This greatsword has a +2 durability enhancement engraved into the
blade and will last longer without damage than the base metal would suggest. Melee damage 18+2
Rarity
Magical
Durability
Charge:
Uncommon
Yes
86/100
N/A
Hunter’s Cuirass
Further Description Yes/No
Details:
This steel cuirass has been enchanted to lessen sounds made in the forest, allowing a skilled hunter to close on his prey. Stealth +10%, Armor 25
