by Skyler Grant
“You don’t. Or at least you didn’t back in the old days. There was Saria along the northern border, I’d assume they are still there, but I’ve not been in some time.”
“Did they migrate south?”
Dara said, “Not that many died here. No more than thirty judging by the energies I’m sending.” She knelt near a bloodstain, hand crackling with green and black energy as she gestured in the air. We’d met Dara Riel during our adventures on the ocean, a sharp-tongued necromancer and quite skilled at what she did. She didn’t like me very much; the feeling was mutual.
“Possibly a scouting party. Come south to get a look at the castle,” Cobalt said.
“Couldn’t they just scry?” I asked.
“Those mists covering your lands would be quite effective at obscuring scrying from good aligned mages,” Lea said.
“If that is so, no wonder the Elves wanted to get a look at what was happening beneath them,” Cobalt said.
“They won’t like having lost their scouting force,” I said.
“They’ll have sent more than one,” Cobalt said.
The ground beneath us rumbled and the air pulsed green.
“Dara?” I asked.
“Power. Far more than there should be—my probing triggered it,” Dara said, as a shimmering field of red energy sprang into being around her.
Unholy Shield
Mind Warp
Quest Granted
Necromantic Surprise
You’ve once again stumbled into a surprise left by one of your enemies. You do make a habit of this. Do be surprising and win this encounter, it’ll be worth it.
A corona of green power appeared in the air and darted towards Cobalt, who sidestepped with a fluid motion.
“Dara?” I said again.
“Stop saying my name as a question, you overly promiscuous sack of meat. Whatever that is, it isn’t necromantic,” Dara said.
Cobalt said, “Leosi has rigged a trap and is taking me out of the fight. I can win out of it, but it will take me some time.” She slipped away from the energy once more.
“Will you be okay?” I asked, as I drew Intemperance and flames burst into life around the sword.
“Just going to vanish into some old memories for a while. Fight smart,” Cobalt said, before she lunged into the corona of energy and vanished in a flare of light.
The dried blood had become fluid again, pools of thick liquid spreading across the ground and beginning to bubble.
“Dara. This is me not saying your name as a question. I really want some clue from my necromancer what is going on.”
“I am not your necromancer.”
Ashley said, “You left your ship to come with us. I mean, not to take sides here, but you kind of are.”
I said, “Why would you not take sides? You are totally on my side.”
“Hello? Chosen of the Goddess of Water now?”
“Who is now loyal to Yvera. Dara?”
Figures were beginning to take shape in the pools of blood. Twisted and humanoid. Dara seemed to be pushing back against an invisible force as red and green sparks filled the air.
“There will be four of them. I’m trying to stop it, but there is just too much force behind the spell.”
Figures stepped out of the gore, lean and made entirely of faintly glistening blood. I quickly checked the stats on one.
Blood Fiend
Level 15: Type: Unholy Construct HP: 250/250
Blood Fiends are a construct created by the fusion of necromancy and dark magic. Blood Fiends combine the most dangerous aspects of each, the regenerative capabilities of the undead and the persistent damage effects of dark magic.
Ashley vanished from sight as she engaged her stealth.
Teleport Foe
Walt gestured and one of the fiends vanished in a swirl of energy. A few seconds later there was a sound like a bucket of water hitting the ground as it came sloshing to earth from above.
Rain of Blood
Droplets of blood started to mist down like a light rain. Where each drop hit my skin, it left a jagged cut and my status bar showed bleed effects quickly beginning to add up. I raised my shield over my head to protect me.
Group Teleport
Walt grabbed Lea and the pair flickered away before too many drops had hit them. Dara looked dry beneath her magical shielding spell.
Double Backstab
Ashley appeared behind one of the fiends and plowed both of her daggers into its mass. It survived the blow although with its health bar quickly reduced.
Blood Boil
Ashley was already covered with fresh and gaping wounds from the rain, and the fiend she had just struck reached out to extend itself to those injuries. The fiend vanished as it merged with Ashley’s blood. Wracked with violent seizures, she collapsed to the ground.
I rushed forward and knelt beside her, raising my shield to cover us both as the murderous rain continued to fall, and I triggered my heal.
Lay on Hands
Ashley’s health bar shot up, but her seizures were unabated and those bleeding wounds remained.
Blood Blast
A burst of energy took me in one side. In other circumstances I might have blocked it with my shield, but for now that needed to stay protecting Ashley.
“Dara?” I said.
“Seriously? You’re still doing it?”
“Yell at me later. I saw you shield a whole ship once. Can you extend yours to protect everyone from the rain?”
“I can, but that sort of thing drains me fast. I won’t be good for much else.”
“Right now, none of us are.”
Lay on Hands
I fired another burst of healing into Ashley. She’d nearly run through her health bar again.
Tears of Blood
Ashley’s eyes began to stream blood, rivulets flowing away and reforming into the fourth fiend, which seemed to have fully healed in the process.
Groaning Ashley sat up and said, “That sucked.”
“No kidding. You ate two heals. How are you doing?”
Unholy Shield
The air above us rippled red and the constant pelting of rain stopped.
“I’m ready for some bloody vengeance—oh, fuck. That’s going to be an ability one of these guys use, won’t it?”
“Probably. They seem to have a theme.”
Smite
I blasted one of the fiends with a burst of holy fire and followed it up with several more until I was out of mana. Given their regenerative powers, I knew it was important to hit these things with as much offensive power as I could all at once. I scored a kill and the blip of a level-up showed in the corner of my vision. I decided to ignore that for now.
Lea and Walt came back into the fray together. A portal opened below one of the fiends as another opened above it and it began to perpetually fall, caught in a loop between them.
Infinite Regression
Sweet. Team-up abilities.
The fiends not caught in the loop moved towards the one that was, and with a squelch they all came together. The combined mass outsized the portal now. Three had become one and the bloody figure now towered over us. I checked the stats.
Blood Giant
Level 40: Type: Unholy Construct HP: 2500/2500
Legendary
A Blood Giant is a construct created by the merger of several Blood Fiends. The sum is far greater than the individual parts.
This had gotten worse in a hurry. Ashley had already mostly drained my heals and the Smites had eaten the rest of my mana.
“So, if they can turn into a super badass, why didn’t they just start out that way?” Ashley asked.
“I’m not sure they even needed to. They were winning,” I said.
Tides of Blood
The giant brought both fists smashing down into the ground and waves of blood burst forth, the impact picking us up and tossing us through the air.
Broadside
There came a roar from ab
ove. The Vainglory swooped overhead having just unloaded a broadside of cannon fire into the massive figure, sending it stumbling back.
“Way to go, Riggs,” Lea said. “We need to get out of here. We aren’t fighting that thing without Cobalt and no clue when she’ll be back.”
“We can’t just leave her here,” I said.
“She’ll be fine. We won’t. We’ll drop you off and come back to find her.”
I didn’t like that. I didn’t like that at all, but I didn’t see a choice.
“Everyone, gather together. Walt, can you do the honors?”
The others closed around me and Walt reached out. Reality flickered.
Group Teleport
We materialized on the deck of the Vainglory.
Quest Failed
Necromantic Surprise
You lost. It’s funny really how bad you are.. You’d have been so surprised at the rewards if you’d been good enough to win that battle. I won’t even give you a tip for the next time because it’s just that funny to watch you flail about.
“Lea, fill Riggs in on the plan. Get us to Alkari, so you can get back here,” I said.
“On it.”
“Dara, care to explain what that was back there?”
“Remember, Leosi has recruited Thayos Ziad as his necromancer. I knew he was good, but it’s been years since we’ve seen each other. I wanted to get a sense of his power levels.”
“It looked like it was more than you expected.”
“Far more. I think Leosi turned him.”
“So he’s a vampire necromancer? Is that a thing?”
Dara always looked pale, but somehow she had taken it to a whole new level after what we saw down below. “It is so much worse than that. Necromancy is a dark art to start with. Those of us who practice it tend to cling to the little bits of humanity we have left, for we are floating in a sea of darkness waiting to consume us.”
“But don’t you all want to become liches?” Ashley asked.
“No—yes… sort of. When we become undead we are incredibly more dangerous, but we always want that control. Lichdom provides us some—enough that a few are willing to make the trade. Vampirism does not. The desire to drink life and control death are even now mingling in Thayos Ziad and making him something terrible. He won’t have done this willingly, Leosi forced it on him.”
Well, that was a cheerful thought. It made it even more important to find a way to deal with Leosi.
As the Vainglory began moving away I decided to check the level I had gained.
Congratulations!
You have reached level 12
You have one stat point to assign. As a Paladin of Yvera you have gained a further 15% skill to Arson. As the Chosen of Yvera you have further gained 1 point of Charisma. Due to your attunement you have an increased presence in the physical world and have gained 1 point in both Power and Endurance. You have further gained enhancements to the following abilities…
Lay on Hands: Channeling. You can now channel this ability with an extended cast and increase its effectiveness by the expenditure of more mana.
You have gained the following innate ability…
Feast of Flames: You can now eat or drink anything and survive off it. You gain a complete immunity to ingested toxins and with effort there is nothing that you cannot consume.
Well. My new passive might not be much use in a fight, but I’d be damned good at parties. I threw my point this level into Charisma. It helped almost all of my spells in addition to social uses.
Name: Liam Ottani
Class: Paladin of Yvera
Deity: Yvera
Titles: Chosen of Yvera, King of Genea, Admiral Flame
Level: 12
HP: 430/430
Stamina: 180/180
Mana: 80/80
XP: 12 of 1000 to next level
Alignment: -1000
Stats
Power: 18 (+7) Endurance: 18 Dexterity: 2
Intelligence: 8 Awareness: 6
Charisma: 14 Luck: 8
Skills
Long Blades: 89
Blunt Weapons: 16
Hand to Hand: 12
Mounted Combat: 15
Light Armor: 15
Medium Armor: 28
Heavy Armor: 17
Persuasion: 38
Seduction: 73
Meditation: 4
Barter: 15
Shield Use: 17
Arson: 11
Double Attack: 2
Blademaster: 1
Spells
Smite
Sense Virtue
Lay on Hands (3 uses per 4 hours)
Bless Water
Bless
Divine Steed
Divine Power
Zealous Blow
Holy Object
Innates
Blessed Nature
Fire Resistance: 50%
Sense Alignment
Fire Within
Fueling the Flame
Aura of Destruction
Aura of Kings
Burning Down the House
Feast of Flames
CHAPTER FIVE
However much I wanted the Vainglory to hurry up and reach our destination, it wasn’t a quick trip to the Alkari desert, and day turned into night.
I didn’t really expect Lea to accept when I propositioned her. Although we’d shared a bed together with Cobalt, we’d never shared one alone. We’d also been tense ever since she’d found out my position as King. But she agreed and we got to work some of those tensions out.
Several sweaty hours later I found myself idly tracing the lines of one of her runes with my fingertip.
“You’re still worried about her, aren’t you?” Lea asked.
“Aren’t you?”
“The boss isn’t like you or me. She’s special.”
“Gee, thanks.”
Lea laughed and sat up in the bed, shifting a pillow to rest beneath her back. “I didn’t mean that to be insulting. It’s just like in stories. You and me are the hot-looking romantic interests that sometimes die for dramatic effect. Cobalt though? She is the main character, she’ll keep going forever.”
Really? This struck me as particularly unfair.
“I kind of thought of myself as the main character.”
Lea grinned and shook her head. “Don’t we all sometimes, but think about it. The real hero or the villain in a story kicks ass. How many people do you know who can kick yours?”
I thought about it. It was more than I’d like to admit.
“Cobalt, of course. Leosi, and Maria. The whole Sardonis family, I guess. Elsora probably, along with Ashley and Mellaise. Yvera and Atlantia, if you want to throw the goddesses in there.”
“Me.”
“I’d take you.”
“Take me out of it then, if that helps your pride at all. That puts you in what, ninth place?”
It did. I didn’t like that. I even got some insanely overpowered buffs each level, because of my connection to reality, which should have moved me well beyond others on a power scale.
“I’m a King. That has to count for something.”
“Sure. So was Leosi. Cobalt was a Queen and Maria is one. And the Goddesses clearly have you beat. Face it, you just aren’t main character material. I’m not even sure you have backstory enough to be a good romantic interest.”
“I have backstory! I come from a small farming community.”
“That is your deep backstory? You come from a farm? Do you know where Cobalt comes from?”
“Do I want to know?”
“The endless city at the nexus of worlds.”
“That’s pretty good.”
“That is why you don’t have to worry. We’ll all be dead and Cobalt will still be going on adventures. She matters.” Lea was looking at me with a serious expression now.
“Then why did you get so upset when you learned who I was? If you have that much faith she can handle whatever comes along, why did yo
u freak out?”
“Liam, there is sometimes an arrogance in you. It is there in all your friends. ButYvera, Cobalt, you need to understand that they aren’t like you or me. They matter. Their problems matter. Cobalt will survive whatever it is you started, but the rest of us might not.”
I let my eyes wander over her, there was tension in her body. She meant this. I guess it made sense. I’d just met Cobalt and already she was the scariest woman I knew. Maybe the Goddesses could take her in a fight, but I wouldn’t want to bet on that. Lea had lived in that shadow for a lot longer.
