"What would I do without you?" said Terran as he leaned against the table.
Zara winked. "You're not so bad yourself, Chief Terran the Tenacious."
After ransacking the tower, they had a big haul of treasure. Newt seemed especially covetous of the books and tomes, which had disappeared into his infinite bags, while Flynn had found a crimson cloak—courtesy of a long-dead adventurer—that shifted around him as if a breeze were blowing past. Zara acquired bracers that gave her additional magical protections. There were a few items that they tried to offer Terran, but he declined, citing his unique class and Champion Path as bonus enough.
There were smaller magical items, which Terran planned to gift to various members of Gneiss Glen. Anything left over would be used to facilitate trade. They ended up spending the night in the abandoned tower, which felt like sleeping in a grave, and they still had to make the journey back to the settlement.
During the night, Terran—along with his friends he assumed—leveled up. For the first time, he didn't put points into Endurance. He'd been pushing his luck with mana, and the battles in the towers had pressed him, and now that he had the mana-hungry Champion's Path of Georealm, he was going to need to expand his mana pool if he wanted to make it an effective ability.
Character: Terran
Level: 16
Class: Earthen Mage
Crystal Bard
Subrace: Rock Leaf Elf
Champion of the Mother Tree
HP: 496
Mana: 410
Sta: 750
Strength: 5
Intelligence: 12
Endurance: 19
Cunning: 4
Agility: 4
Charisma: 13
Spells:
Stone Touch (unique)
Rock Shards
Rock Wall
Earth Geyser
Hide in Plain sight (1 daily)
Sonic Disruption
Vocal Slam
Silky Suggestion
Auditory Assault
Clear Thinking (1 daily)
Champion's Path: Georealm
Worldwalker [1 pt available]
More points available as champion path goals met
More abilities open at higher levels
Pathway Traveler: Use the hidden paths for traversing the world [1/3]
Traveler's Gift: Additional protections in lands not your own [0/5]
Helpful Party: Bring your friends on these journeys [0/5]
Skills:
Improvisation (INT): 7
Commune with Nature (CHA): 3
Nature's Lore (INT): 6
Stealth (AGI): 9
Earth Sense (END): 6
Battle Song (CHA): 17
Tracking (INT): 2
Bardic Endurance (CHA): 8
Crystal Harvesting (CHA): 2
Subterfuge (CHA): 1
Leadership (CHA): 3
To their surprise, when they exited the tower, they found the debilitating debuff had disappeared, a product of Grimchar's magic, they assumed. This allowed them to take their time, enjoying the comradery of travel, regaling each other with stories of their battles and passing around the trinkets they'd recovered from the tower. Zara had found a case of blackberry wine, which served well for their victory toasts around the crackling fire.
With the danger of Grimchar eliminated from the region, Terran allowed himself to relax for once since he'd come to this world, lean back against an old stump, and breathe. It wasn't like anything was going to attack them in the Silent Plain now. And while the idea that the gods of this world were former Offworlders who'd found a path to immortality was quite frightening, that danger seemed far away, not a concern for the moment as he pressed a bronze cup to his lips, tasting the bright, fruity flavors of the wine. At the edges of his thoughts, he could sense the intrigues and calamities ahead—he had a kingdom to build, a Champion's Path to explore, and most of all his heart still ached for Chanterelle—but these were concerns for another time. Now was the time to revel in victory, share food and good fortune with friends. Terran couldn't help but grin at the five of them sitting around the fire, flush with treasure and an increasingly interesting amount of power, eyes twinkling with the effects of a successful adventure.
This was what he'd come to Kingmakers to enjoy—his friends.
###
Purchase the fourth book, The Champion's Prophecy, in Kingmaker Saga Series on Amazon in April.
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Or try the first book in the other completed Hundred Hall series, which is also in Kindle Unlimited, The Reluctant Assassin.
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Special Thanks
As always, it takes a good raid party to successfully slay all the gremlins hiding in every manuscript. So to all those people that helped make this possible: thank you! People like my editor the Tamara Blaine the fighter who deftly slayed the errors in the manuscript with her mighty pen, the beta readers (Tina Rak, Carole Carpenter, Lana Turner, Melanie Coupland, and Andie Alessandra Cáomhanach) who provided the DPS for the raid, and to the Vanguard (…) who played crowd control on all the adds. Your time and effort have helped bring to life this moment of joy in readers' lives. Thank you!
The Hundred Halls Universe
THE HUNDRED HALLS
Trials of Magic
Web of Lies
Alchemy of Souls
Gathering of Shadows
City of Sorcery
THE RELUCTANT ASSASSIN
The Reluctant Assassin
The Sorcerous Spy
The Veiled Diplomat
Agent Unraveled
The Webs That Bind
GAMEMAKERS ONLINE
The Warped Forest
Gladiators of Warsong
Citadel of Broken Dreams
Enter the Daemon Pits
Plane of Twilight
ANIMALIANS HALL
Wild Magic
Bane of the Hunter
Mark of the Phoenix
Arcane Mutations
Untamed Destiny
Also by Thomas K. Carpenter
GAMERS TRILOGY
GAMERS
FRAGS
CODERS
ALEXANDRIAN SAGA
Fires of Alexandria
Heirs of Alexandria
Legacy of Alexandria
Warmachines of Alexandria
Empire of Alexandria
Voyage of Alexandria
Goddess of Alexandria
THE DASHKOVA MEMOIRS
Revolutionary Magic
A Cauldron of Secrets
Birds of Prophecy
The Franklin Deception
Nightfell Games
The Queen of Dreams
Dragons of Siberia
Shadows of an Empire
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Thomas and Rachel reside near St. Louis where they have hosted their bi-monthly D&D group for nearly twenty years. Before that, they were members of top raiding guilds in both Everquest and Worlds of Warcraft. When they aren't writing or playing D&D, they can be found out hiking.
Tom keeps a regular blog at www.thomaskcarpenter.com and you can follow him on twitter @thomaskcarpente. If you want to learn when his next novel will be hitting the shelves and get free stories and occasional other goodies, please sign up for his mailing
list by going to: http://tinyurl.com/thomaskcarpenter. Your email address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.
The Ghost Tower: A LitRPG Adventure Page 22
