“Jimmy, disrupt the ritual!” Bishop ordered. “Everyone else, move in!”
The attack against the remaining five priests went much smoother than their first few attempts. As the last one fell to the ground, Trajan stepped forward to disrupt the ritual, and the circle glowing in the stone went dark. A tally was checked off for rituals disrupted and necromancers killed. As Giles looted the bodies for them all, coins clinked into Bishop’s bags right alongside his first staff.
“Nicely done everyone, very nice indeed,” Trajan announced, proudly. “Calista, how have you not managed to be scooped up by any other guild yet? I have never seen fighting like that, not here.”
She hooked her ax and mace back at her hips, and her eyes glimmered with mischief and the thrill of the fight. “Guess I was just waiting for you all to come along.”
“You mean, you were waiting for Bishop,” Jimmy said, then covered his words with a cough.
“Maybe I was,” she agreed, and Bishop suddenly needed to clear his throat and turn away before anyone caught him turning five shades of red.
“Okay people, get it together,” Trajan said through his hearty laughter. “How’s the gear?”
Nods of approval met his question. Amazingly, though he should not have been surprised, Bishop’s armor had not taken any damage. Granted he walked away from this fight unscathed, as did the other hunters and healers, he had still experienced some health loss from standing in the ritual circle. That had been something they had not paid attention to last time, the fact that the actual circle dealt damage the longer they stood in its influence.
“Right, fall in. We move for the next mob. Same attack as before. Keep your eyes open in case the ratio of necromancers to priests changes,” Trajan warned. “I would really like not to be killed by a mob of the undead.” He shuddered, and Zoe giggled.
“Aww, big ole dwarf is scared of the undead. How cute.”
“What? I never liked zombies in the real world, and this is pushing my comfort zone, so be happy I’m not curled up in a ball somewhere, balling my eyes out every time one of those hordes attacks,” he grumbled. “Next mob, let’s move out!”
Calista drifted back to Bishop’s side and bumped him with her hip. “So far so good?”
“So far,” he agreed. “Something tells me our luck is not going to hold out as well as we hope.”
“Such a Debbie downer you are, young grasshopper.” She mussed his hair. “Don’t worry. I won’t let those evil priests get to my hunter.” She raced off before he could respond, leaving him with the strangest range of emotions fluttering through his body.
“You two are adorable,” Jimmy crooned.
“Aw shut up,” he muttered, and he wrapped his arm around Jimmy, putting him in a chokehold. “Let’s go suck the life out of some more necromancers.”
***
“Son of a gun! Horde!” Jimmy shouted in panic. “Horde, Bishop!”
“Yeah I see them! Stop screaming and do something about it!” he hollered back.
They had managed to clear out four more mobs and were on the last one before they hit the temple when they came across a grouping they had not anticipated. At first, they thought there were one necromancer and five priests. But the second Trajan pulled, the priests revealed staves hidden beneath their robes, and it turned into a shit show. One necromancer was dead, but now they were playing a dangerous game of rotating interrupts.
The ground trembled, and the air was ripe with the stench of the undead swarming towards them. Bishop turned and directed his attack on them, using his AOE and Fiery Arrow to take out as many as he could before they were on him. He braced for the impact.
“Interrupt!” Jimmy cried out. “Blue cross over his head, hurry!”
“On it!” Shamus called back.
Bishop kept his eyes trained on the enemies before him, backing up slowly. Willy whined, wanting to attack, but Bishop ordered him earlier to stay with the healers, and he was glad he did. The wolf was doing a damn fine job of keeping a safe circle around the healers. With the dead coming, it wouldn’t last long, though.
The dead lumbered forward and Bishop cursed, readying to draw his newly forged dagger. Out of nowhere, Calista let out a mighty roar and leapt over his head. His mouth fell open as she landed in the center of the horde and bodies exploded, flying outwards in a circle of bright white light which blinded everyone around it.
When Bishop could see again, she was wielding her two weapons with a fury, destroying the dead as quickly as they came at her. Gathering his senses, he drew back and unleashed Rain of Thorns, followed by Increased Swift Bow, and managed to knock down the dead who escaped her hold. He chanced a glance at her health bars and saw the amount of rage she had stacked up beneath her name. A few mobs jumped onto her back, ready to take her down, but Willy howled and charged into the fray. Between the three of them attacking, Shamus and Jimmy rushing forward to help, they held the third charging horde at bay until Giles screamed another necromancer was dead.
Bishop whirled around to refocus his attack and took a hit from a staff straight to the face.
“Bishop!” Calista yelled, and Willy’s growl joined her cry.
Shaken from the hit, Bishop struggled to bring his arm up to block the next hit, and the necromancer made quick work of him. He wound up on his behind, using his bow to fend off the hits as his health sank to half. Grunting with the effort, he scooted backwards across the body strewn ground, scrambling for his dagger. If he let his other hand drop his bow, however, he would surely take a blow that would end him. The necromancer reached down and grabbed hold of the wood, snarling in his face.
“I will destroy you! Death has come for Samar!”
“Yeah? It’s come for you too,” Bishop muttered, smirking even as his life bar steadily drained.
The necromancer armed the staff back to put an end to the debate, when an ax thudded into his body. The creature gasped, clutching at his weapon, as Calista lifted him off his feet and threw him into more of the undead. She swiped her mace down, yanked her ax free, and relieved him of his head.
Still on his back, Bishop watched as the undead turned towards her, ready to charge. He would not let them. Turning his bow sideways, he aimed Fiery Arrow as many times as he could, setting them alight as Giles and Jimmy finished them off with Willy chomping at their heels.
Across the way, Trajan and Arthur battled the last necromancer, bringing him to the ground before he could summon another horde. The second his life hit zero, a tally appeared in Bishop’s quest log.
“Ten necromancers down,” he announced, leaning against his bow as he stood. “Ten staves down, too. Twenty priests dead. We’re on a roll guys.”
“And no one’s dead, yet,” Calista added, as she walked over and held out her hand for him.
He took it gratefully. “Thanks for saving my butt.”
“What else are girls for?” she teased, and she patted his cheek as he laughed.
“Alright people, heal up, buff up, and let’s hit the temple,” Trajan ordered. “Bishop, how’s your behind?” he asked, grinning through his beard filled with gunk and blood from the undead hordes.
“Better than your beard. At least I’m not covered in zombie crap.”
Trajan’s eyes widened and his face paled as he glanced down. “Damn it!” He danced around as he combed his fingers through the hair, flinging gore at anyone standing too close.
Bishop cackled with mirth as he ate a hunk of bread to aid his health regen. Killing the necromancers and their hordes of undead had boosted his level almost to 21. He hoped for two levels from this dungeon, but being halfway through it, he doubted he would see 22 today.
“Quit your whining,” Zoe said, and she grabbed Trajan to hold him still. She pulled the rest of the gore from his beard, muttering under her breath about men being babies. “There, it’s gone. Ready to move oh great commander?”
He shuffled his feet and glowered at her. “Thanks. To the temple! Keep your eyes and e
ars open, folks. I’m sure we’re walking into a trap of some sort.”
Bishop hoped not. After the last fight, he felt exhausted, and they still had eight mobs left to face once they took care of the sea god part of the quest. He crossed his fingers that, since they only had to kill thirteen necromancers, with ten down they would only have three left to go. But he was starting to know how Dennis thought too well. That old man always had something up his sleeve when it came down to fights like these. Bishop was learning very quickly not to anticipate anything being the same as any other battle he had already waged in this game.
Calista nudged his arm and winked as she spun her ax and mace around in her hands, anxious for the next fight to get started. Her rage bar was empty, but Bishop knew how quickly it could fill up and he wondered if it had anything to do with her gear or the spec she chose. He hadn’t met anyone else yet who went the path of Enlightened Guardian.
Trajan neared the temple doors and shoved one open a crack, peering inside. “Looks empty. Any volunteers?”
Shamus went stealth as he crept up beside him. “You hear screams, you better come save me.”
He slipped inside, and the rest of the group held their breaths, waiting to hear a sound. When the doors opened wider, Shamus reappeared and said, “Empty. Time to find the tomes.”
“You mean it’s empty for now,” Jimmy grumbled. “You know the second we find those tomes, something’s going to happen.”
“You’re right. Trajan!” Bishop called. “I’d consider setting the tanks up in defensive positions.”
“Good call. Tanks! Cover the front door, center of the main floor, and can I get someone upstairs to that balcony? We have to take the tomes to the top of the tower, right?”
“That’s what the quest says, but I’m not sure what else there is,” Bishop told him.
“Well, first things first. Find the tomes.”
Calista nodded and followed Bishop towards the stairs. “I have higher up,” she yelled to Trajan.
Bishop ordered Willy to stay below as a lookout, and the wolf took up a sentry post beside Maverick’s beast form at the front doors. Bishop climbed the set of stairs running up the side of the temple in the one large room, searching the bookshelves for anything that might look like a tome. All the hardcovers he touched didn’t produce any effect, so he moved to the next shelf, and the next one. He wasn’t even sure how many tomes there were.
“You know, if these are supposed to be sacred texts,” Calista thought out loud, as she followed behind him, “I doubt they’re going to be stored onto a bookshelf.”
“You’re probably right,” Bishop agreed, running his fingers over the last shelf. “The altar down there maybe?”
“Or the altar over there,” she said, pointing across to the other side of the balcony running the perimeter of the temple. “There’s two. Two tomes maybe? One in each?”
“Jimmy!” Bishop said, leaning over the railing. “Check the altar down there.”
“On it.” He hustled to the stone altar as Bishop and Calista made their way to the one up top. “Where do you think it is?”
“Check for a latch, or a door,” Bishop said, as he smoothed his hands across the surface. “A lever—” He cursed when Calista’s mace came down in the center of the altar with a yell, shattering the stone to pieces. “Really?”
“What? It’s faster and lookie there,” she said, motioning towards the midst of the rubble.
Bishop smiled at her impatience and he pushed away the stones to pick up the blue covered tome with glowing ruins over the binding. “Jimmy, on second thought, just smash the thing open!”
Bishop stared at the tome as it thrummed with power in his hands.
“What do you think is in it?” Calista asked.
“I have no idea, but I really don’t want to open it.”
“Good point. Jimmy! Find it yet?”
Grunting and cursing answered, until Trajan told Jimmy to move. One second later, the dwarf’s war hammer smashed into the altar down below. They dug through the ruins to reveal another blue tome. Jimmy held it in his hands as he hurried up to the balcony.
“Here. Who wants to take them to the tower?”
Bishop, with both tomes in hand, volunteered himself and moved towards the second set of stairs leading out of the temple and up to the tower. “Wish me luck. Calista, you might want to stay here. I don’t think anything’s going to attack me up there.”
She nodded and stayed with Jimmy as Bishop climbed the steps, rickety and falling apart from weathering the coast for so long. Bishop’s foot slipped and he sank to one knee.
“Don’t look down,” he snapped to himself, peering through a hole in the wood to the ground far, far below him. “Keep moving and don’t look down.”
Swallowing hard, he carried the tomes up, moving faster, and finally reached the tower. A smaller altar was up there, covered in dust and spider webs. Two unlit candles sat on the corners, and carved into the stone were the two outlines of where he assumed the tomes needed to rest to summon the sea god Marion.
Holding his breath, Bishop set the tomes in their rightful places and waited. At first, nothing happened and he worried they did the quest wrong. But then, one by one, the candles lit and a salty breeze surrounded him in the tower.
The waves he could barely hear before now thundered in his ears. He covered them, trying to muffle the noise, but it broke through his hands as if he wasn’t covering his ears at all. The ships rocked and swayed in the harbor, and he watched as the water swirled in a raging maelstrom. Bishop leaned against the railing, waiting for whatever was coming to appear.
“Bishop! What’s happening up there?” Calista yelled.
“The harbor!” he called back. “Something’s happening in the water! I think he’s here!”
“Uh guys! He’s not the only one!”
Bishop raced around to the other side of the tower. “Oh no.”
The Harbor that had been mostly empty before now swarmed with hordes of the undead. There were too many to take on. Bishop was going to die. They were all going to die.
“You, mortal,” a voice thundered in Bishop’s head, and he sank to his knees. “You have summoned me from the depths of my prison. You have broken their hold for me to escape by destroying their ritual circles. You have my gratitude.”
Bishop looked around, searching for the source of the voice, but sea spray blurred his vision and salt burned his eyes.
“I have come to wipe out these unholy beings!”
“Then get on with it!” Bishop hollered, as his friends yelled below him in the temple. The doors slammed shut right when the dead bashed into them, surrounding the building. Bishop made it to his feet, using the railing to pull himself up. And he watched as a tidal wave grew, towering over the old Weston Harbor. It reached the sky, blocking out the view. “This is going to hurt,” he mumbled, when he realized what was about to happen. “Guys! Hang onto something!”
“But the undead!” Trajan spat back.
“Forget about them! Just hold on!”
With a thundering crash, the tidal wave swept over the harbor, crashing down on the docks, flooding the area. The temple trembled with the force of the hit, and Bishop clung to the railing. He prayed it would not yield and he wouldn’t topple over into the frothing water. His friends yelled in panic; yet, he could hear a comforting sound beyond the pandemonium. That of the undead horde being dragged back into the sea. The water rose high enough to reach him in the tower, drenching him from head to foot. He held his breath, waiting for it to end. Finally, the water began to recede, and he watched as the raging wave stole every last undead away from the land and down to a watery grave.
The candles on the altar went out and the tomes shimmered out of view. A beacon of bright, blue light filled the tower instead, turning around as a lighthouse. Bishop watched it for a few moments, entranced by its beauty, then he raced back inside the temple.
“You guys alright?” he asked, starting t
o count heads.
Grunts answered him, and he grinned to see everyone sufficiently water logged but very much alive.
“Little more warning next time would be great,” Jimmy snapped, wringing out his robe.
“I said hold on.”
“I said hold on,” Jimmy mocked him, as the others laughed and shook out their hair and drenched clothes. “Next time, I get to go to the tower and do the summoning of whatever we have to summon.”
“Deal, but don’t come crying to me if next time you are attacked in said tower,” Bishop warned.
“Whatever. Can we get out of here now?”
Trajan brought up his quest log and nodded. “Looks like we cleansed the harbor. Too bad it didn’t wipe out those other mobs though. Hope you all don’t mind fighting wet! Let’s go kill us some priests!”
***
“Last priest!” Calista roared, as she smashed her mace into the priest’s face, obliterating him.
Bishop leaned on his bow as the quest was checked off and several dings echoed around him, including one for himself.
You have reached level 21.
Nothing new really came with his level, but he would take the extra health and mana before they had to go take on Helenex and her sirens. His gear was holding up awesome as well. Hardly any damage to any of the pieces. He would have to find a way to thank Calista for all she had done for them.
“To the hole in the ground?” Jimmy asked.
“To the hole in the ground,” Bishop agreed. When they reached the edge of the giant pit, he leaned over to hear the sound of waves crashing against rocks. “Everyone’s wards are still intact, right?”
Nods met his question and he checked his own to be sure the buff was still applied.
“How do we get down there? Jump?” Jimmy asked, gulping. “I ain’t jumping.”
Necromancers, Demons & Kings Page 15
