by Dakota Krout
Freezing as the pain and shock overcame him, the Shaman lost control of his portion of the spell. Guess only had a second’s warning but managed to squeeze herself behind his rigid body. The fireball exploded wildly, finishing off the damaged Shaman and critically wounding the other. An arrow was finally able to sink into the downed Shaman, ending his existence. Chad shouted in pure exaltation as he watched his opponent expire from his feathered shaft.
Quest updated: Witch hunt: 3/5.
Quest updated: Blood for the Beast God. Sacrifices: 6/10.
“Drat it!” Tiona shouted furiously, “We’re losing people over there! Let’s cut this magically compensating pup down to size and end this!”
She and a pained Dylan began working together better than ever, her attacks going unanswered as Dylan blocked every slash the Elite could muster. She was able to circle around the huge beast, swinging low as Dylan launched forward. The combination sent the Warrior flying, knocking the wind out of him as he landed. Tiona swung her sword back, but before she could finish him… a spike shot into the gap under his helmet and into his brain.
Joe had the grace to look sheepish as both Dylan and Tiona made a ‘what the heck’ gesture. “Sorry, I’m not trying to steal your kills. He was going to gut you as your swing came down.” He pointed at a long dagger the Elite was gripping in his hand, the final resort of the desperate.
“I’ll let it go. This time,” Dylan said in a mockingly angry tone. “That all of them?”
“Looks like it!” Tiona called darkly. “Let’s carve these Shamans a new spell-hole.”
Quest updated: Blood for the Beast God. Sacrifices: 7/10.
“Son of a-!” Joe stopped himself, taking a deep breath. “He sped up!”
“Joe? Buddy? Make with the healing? Pretty please?” Dylan dropped to one knee panting heavily as he struggled to keep his tunnel vision from turning into full-blown unconsciousness.
“Oh, right! Sorry, my charred friend!” Joe pressed his hand against Dylan, and water started pouring over him. By this point, the armor had lost most of its residual heat, and the healing properly took effect. Since the damage under his armor was the result of superheated metal, not the magical flames–technically–there was no issue restoring him to full health. Joe glanced at his mana, noting that it was now just barely over an eighth full.
The group moved toward the altar, determined to stop the horror taking place. The main Shaman gave them a derisive sneer, motioning the remaining Shaman forward as his chanting increased speed yet again. The party jogged forward, but the Shaman erected a dome of power around the small area. Moments after creating the shield, they began sweating and trembling. Obviously the cost of creating and maintaining the barrier was high, and their mana was likely also being sapped to fuel the dark ritual being performed.
“Break through it!” Tiona ordered, emphasizing her words with action. Her action being chopping specifically at the Shaman’s face. Though he flinched as the blow descended, her blade stopped dead an inch from impact. She was undeterred, and took this chance to work out some anger. Her sword crashed down, over and over as the Shaman paled further. As the rest of the team joined, the main Shaman stabbed another human.
Quest updated: Blood for the Beast God. Sacrifices: 8/10.
The main Shaman hurriedly pulled two bound humans right next to the altar and tossed the unlucky one onto it. He started his chant again, much faster this time. Sparks were flying as the team attacked the barrier as fast as possible. The chant reached a crescendo, and the knife plunged down yet again.
Quest updated: Blood for the Beast God. Sacrifices: 9/10.
“No!” Dylan roared, slamming bodily into the barrier. Tiona screamed as her blade clashed with the magic, which finally gave way. The shield shattered with a thunderous *boom*. The two Shamans sustaining the energy field fell into deep unconsciousness, their eyes rolling back into their head, but for Joe’s team, it was much worse. The energy of the shield exploded outward, tossing the humans back. A portion of the damage they had done to the barrier affected them as true damage, ignoring all protections, while a larger part of their delivered force slammed into them as pure kinetic energy.
Joe was surprised to see the others tossed away, seemingly damaged to an extreme. He felt only a tiny impact, as he had been unable to participate directly in the destruction of the barrier. The chanting was becoming louder, so Joe decided that healing needed to wait. Now was the time for destruction. He narrowed his eyes and ran forward as quickly as his wasted legs would allow. He was still seven feet away when the dagger rose into the air in preparation of being used, so Joe began forcing his remaining mana into a shadow spike. Inky darkness slammed into the stomach of the Wolfman, but he managed to continue his chant, though it was now sounding more like a wheeze. As the dagger began to descend, Joe had only one option remaining to him. Narrowing his eyes and hoping for the best, he jumped at the Wolfman.
As his muscles bunched up, he felt a supreme confidence fill him. His body knew exactly how to jump to create the best effect. Joe launched into the air, spinning as the Shaman grew larger and larger in his vision. He drew back his scepter, planning to slam it into the animalistic chest presented to him, but he had misjudged his trajectory. Instead of jumping past the Wolfman, Joe’s momentum carried him directly into the Shaman. Joe twisted like a cat, trying his best to land on his feet, but instead belly-flopped against his intended target. He tackled the Shaman to the ground, Joe’s momentum too great for the Wolfman to counteract.
Looking at the creature he was pinning to the ground, Joe was surprised that he wasn’t being savagely mauled by the cruel beast. He glanced down, realizing that the titanium taglock on his scepter was jammed directly into the Shaman’s heart. Joe staggered to his feet as he tried to see the results of his actions, but turning his head made him lose his balance and fall to his knees. Both his mana and stamina bar were completely depleted, and the sudden movement caused him to puke all over the fallen Wolfman. Realizing how far he was from his starting point, Joe was shocked at the knowledge that he had just jumped nearly ten feet directly forward from a very slow movement speed. Was his jump skill really that overpowered?
Joe forced himself to stand on his unsteady legs, walking over and tugging at the rope binding the sacrificial human’s hands and feet. The man thanked him brokenly, and for the next few minutes simply sat and cried over the bodies of his comrades. Joe looked over to see his team getting to their feet. Before coming up to the altar, they took a moment to impale the remaining Wolfmen who had fallen into a stupor. His team looked to him and nodded. Joe returned the nod, finally taking the time to acknowledge the notifications awaiting him.
Quest updated: Witch hunt: 5/5. Exp: 2000! Return to the quest giver for monetary rewards, or continue trying for the available bonus if Wolfman magical research is reclaimed or destroyed.
Quest updated: Blood for the Beast God. Sacrifices: 10/10. You have failed the Quest! (_Error_) You have completed the quest! (_Error_)
The notification window vanished with a sound like breaking glass, reappearing after a nerve-wracking moment.
How very… interesting! You have simultaneously completed and failed your quest. To your credit, you fought valiantly against your foes and will not be labeled a Race Traitor. There is only one small issue: You completed the sacrificial ritual by killing the Wolfman Shaman via stabbing him through the heart at the correct moment during this ritual. What is your luck stat? You really might want to look into that. Normally, this situation would result in automatic quest failure and a wave of dark beasts sent to attack your city at night.
You seem to be a special case though, so there is an added option, Mr. Error-generator. As a ritualist and champion of a different deity than the one the ritual was designed for, you have met the requirements needed to wrest control of not only the activating ritual, but the altar as well. You may have a single chance to take control based on your knowledge of rituals. You have five minutes to
attempt to do so. Reward: Control of altar, wave of dark creatures will attack Wolfmen population. Failure: Human city Ardania will have a powerful wave of beasts attack them through the night, and you will make me bored. This is the second time you have elevated an issue to me, so I will be paying a bit more attention to you. Also, boom. You’re cursed.
New title gained: Baldy. Effect: Your head is permanently bald. You cannot change this fact; this title is mandatory. Wigs will burst into flame if placed on your head. Wearing a hat will give you a temporary -1 to charisma. Your head reflects light, -20% ability to hide when in sunlight.
Some settings have been permanently changed.
~ Chapter Twenty-eight ~
“Joe, what’s going on?” Dylan called out as he approached the altar. “Also, what happened to you? Your hair is falling out!”
“No time for that.” Already feeling the mana in the air beginning to thicken, Joe swallowed his frustration and opened his character sheet. “The quest changed. I have one chance to stop this ritual from taking effect, or the city is going to be attacked by extra strong monsters tonight.” With a sad farewell to his accumulated skill points, Joe dumped twelve of the sixteen painstakingly gained points into his ritual skill.
Skill increased: Ritual magic (Apprentice III). Congratulations! Your hard work and dedication to perfecting your craft has allowed you to become more powerful! Based on your usage of the ritual skill to this point, you gain an addition to your abilities! Ritual magic now grants a 10% bonus to your chances of success when you are attempting to optimize, change, or create ritual formulas! Get out there, and change the world for the better! Or reduce an opponent into a puddle. Or magic a rock into solid gold. The only limiting factor is you! And what a limit that is. Intelligence and wisdom +1!
Allowing three minutes of his allotted time to pass before he started his attempt, Joe tried to calm his mind and prepare himself. His mana had fully regenerated at the two minute mark but he was still nervous that he might make things worse. With a deep breath, he approached the altar and placed his hands on the swirling light. In his mind, a large ritual diagram appeared. It took a few seconds for him to grasp all the elements of what he was seeing as the ritual spun slowly. Rituals could move? This was too far out of his experience! He almost panicked, but then he saw a few symbols that he recognized from the study of his book. From there, he was able to puzzle out the context and meaning of most of the remaining symbols. Overall, it truly wasn’t an overly complicated diagram; it was simply well made and massively powerful.
Essentially, it took in the blood, experience points, stamina, and mana of the sacrifices and donated them as power to whatever deity controlled the altar. Looking over the diagram, it was easy to see how worn and faded it was… meaning that this ritual had been here for a very long time. If he was able to change it, the likelihood of another party being able to undo his actions was exceedingly low. Joe smiled at the thought. In the Kingdom, mages had long ago declared ritual magic a useless skill. It was time to prove all of them wrong.
The first symbol that changed was in the ‘target’ field. It currently held the symbol of Ardania. Joe was unsure at first how he was supposed to change this mark, but then his perception highlighted a symbol that all of the Wolfmen had on their clothes or armor. He nodded to himself and recreated the symbol in the ritual. He allowed his own mana to seep into the pattern, reinforcing the thinning lines of the aging ritual. The slow and jerky rotation of the spell circles smoothed, speeding up and spinning at a faster rate. Lastly, Joe looked down at his clothing and overwrote the symbol of what he assumed was the ‘beast god’ with the sigil on his robe. Now this altar would be devoted to the ‘hidden god’. Simple changes, but hopefully all that was needed.
Joe looked over the changes one last time before stepping back and hoping the entire thing wouldn’t… explode. It didn’t detonate, but it did begin shaking. Everyone in the area hastily retreated just before the altar was sucked into the ground. There was an awkward pause as his team gave him the stink-eye, but to his relief the altar quickly reappeared from the ground in a new configuration. Instead of a bed of stone coated in generations of muck, a pristine slab of marble rose from the ground. The main features were similar, but instead of a bed the altar now had the overall appearance of a large stone book.
Quest complete: Blood for the Beast God. After defeating the priests and warriors of an opposed race in pitched combat, you sullied their holy site and dedicated it to another deity! Remaining anonymous should be its own reward, but you greedy travelers probably want more than life-saving anonymity! Exp: 1100! (Base 1000 + 100 for each human saved). One class item box guaranteed to contain an item with a minimum rarity of ‘rare’. -10,000 reputation with the Wolfman race for destroying their altar of holy rituals. Current reputation: Blood feud.
Since there were no surviving Wolfmen in the area, your reputation with the Wolfman population will be reset unless they learn the cause of their people’s loss. Lucky you, brutality seems to be your key to your success! You know what? Luck +1. Why not. Current reputation with the Wolfmen: Neutral.
Fractured title gained: ‘…I choose to be…’ This title grants a 10% boost to any title it is combined with.
Quest alert: ‘Reclamation of the lost’. Congratulations! You have completed not only the original quest, but gained a hidden quest! As a champion of a god, you have the ability to capture altars and holy sites, rededicating them to your deity! While this will make your own power and favor grow with your god, be warned that followers of differing gods will see you as an enemy if they find out you are attempting to take their holy area away. Capture any altar, temple, statue, holy site, place of power, or effigy to gain favor and power from–and for–your deity. Rewards: Variable.
A small box appeared in front of each member of his team; they all eagerly grabbed their reward and stored it away for later usage. Chad was looking around nervously; just because they had cleared a small area of Wolfmen, there was no guarantee that more would not soon stumble upon them.
“Woo!” Dylan hooted excitedly. “I didn’t die! I didn’t even get too seriously injured! I love this class and armor!”
“I knew you were the right choice for a meatshield, er, tank role!” Chad called over, getting a laugh from Tiona and Guess. “Let’s get out of here.”
The group started to walk away, stopping when they noticed that Joe was not walking with them. Tiona’s voice took on a hard edge as she noticed him standing at the altar. “Joe. Get moving, we are going to need to run if we want to make it back before nightfall.”
“I need to write down this ritual!” Joe distractedly called back as he finished pulling paper and quills out of his pocket.
“Why?”
“It is insanely powerful! If I can modify it so that it doesn’t require blood sacrifices, we could use this to-” Joe was cut off by Dylan snorting at him.
“She means ‘why are you taking it down by hand’? Seriously man, read through the manual and guild wiki when we get back. Take a screenshot of that thing and work on it at home!” Dylan’s words made Joe blush heavily. He hadn’t considered that. Actually, he hadn’t even known it was an option.
“Treat it like reality, Joe,” Joe grumbled in a mocking tone as he made a screenshot of the ritual. “Make sure you know all the game functions so you can cheat reality, Joe.”
“Are you really complaining that you can take a picture instead of using an hour to make a drawing in hostile territory?” Tiona incredulously teased him.
Joe muttered some unintelligible words before turning to walk away. He took half a step before stopping, frowning as something tickled at his senses. He cocked his head and looked at the altar. As the others complained, he walked back, reached under it, and found a small indentation. His fingers touched the space and a needle stuck into his hand, drawing blood. He grunted in shock as a notification appeared in his vision.
Skill increased: Hidden Sense (Novice II). You are f
inally letting your instincts guide you! Too bad they are so underdeveloped, you’ve missed a lot of good items. Gain higher levels in this skill to increase how powerfully hidden information and items call out to you!
Congratulations! You are the first traveler to take control of a fast travel point! Out of your whole species, you are the first to look for anything not overtly obvious! What does that say about your people's attention span? Nothing good! These points can be found at most important landmarks across Eternia. Since you are the first person to capture this point, you may choose to take control of it! Take control? Yes / No.
Joe chose yes, and his eyes widened as he read over the new notification.
Congratulations! As the owner of a fast travel point, you can set a toll for its usage. This might be the only thing in your life that you can really control, but let’s not think about that too hard! Don’t let the existential dread set in! You can choose to take ten percent of the user’s mana or stamina and donate it to your deity, or require a monetary transaction which will be deposited to your bank account. What would you like to do?
Joe thought about it for a long moment but forced his inner greedy squirrel to go back to sleep. He chose to make the donation go toward Tatum; now anyone who got to use this would lose whatever was more abundant to their class. Mages would lose mana, others would lose stamina. Joe smiled as a white circle appeared around the area. In his vision, it was a beacon shining into the sky, but the others were looking at him with annoyance, obviously not seeing the light.
“Joe! Let’s go already!” Chad called impatiently.
“Hey, guys, come here.” Joe couldn’t stop a smile from making his face twitch. “I need to, ah, show you something.” He snorted from the effort needed to stop his laughter.
There were a few muttered curses, but the others decided to humor him. When everyone was in the circle, Joe chuckled and used his new rights as a travel point owner to give them access. They flinched as the beacon of light seemed to appear around them and went wide-eyed when they were asked if they wanted to fast-travel back to the only available location: Ardania.
