Beastborne- Mark of the Founder

by James T Callum

  Instead of paws, it had large six-fingered hands with too many finger joints. Where its face should have been was a black slab of intricately carved stone fastened to its head with several chains made of wispy shadow.

  “What is that?” Hal cried, watching the creature advance on him again.

  “How should I know?” Elora snapped at him, loosing another arrow into the thing as Hal rushed forward, raising the [Goblinbane] high. The etching along the flat of the blade shone like gold fire.

  Noticing an unnatural shadow pooling at his feet, Hal skipped to the side, twisted on the balls of his feet, and sliced down at the oncoming shadow creature.

  Hal narrowly avoided the grasping, many-fingered hand of another monster crawling out from the stone flooring.

  He was about to tell Elora that they could move through the floor when he noticed she was surrounded by the creatures. They crawled out from shadowy pools on the stone, reaching and grasping with their long limbs and ramming with their stone faces.

  Hal backpedaled quickly, trying to put distance between him and the two creatures that were facing him down. They needed to regroup. If there was any chance of beating the multiplying creatures, it would be together.

  He never would have gone off on his own if the last hour of exploration hadn’t been so quiet.

  With a slash of his sword, Hal fended off the two creatures in front of him. Using his blade about defensively, he edged toward Elora.

  The Ranger had replaced her bow with two long curving knives that gleamed bright and silver. She worked them in a constant weaving motion that kept most of the shadowy things from landing any solid blows.

  But she couldn’t keep it up forever.

  Ignoring the two in front of him, Hal turned and rushed for the lone creature that had slipped behind Elora.

  A heavy kick connected with its ribs. The creature was pushed several feet. It scrabbled uselessly at the flat, smooth rooftop, and toppled over the edge.

  “You’re an idiot,” Elora said, casting a quick look over her shoulder as Hal slipped in, placing his back to hers. “You should have gone to the others.”

  Looking over his shoulder at her profile, he smirked and said, “And let you have all the fun?” The two creatures chasing Hal immediately filled in the gap, leaving the two to face off against half a dozen of the things.

  A grasping hand lunged out toward Elora. She batted it aside with a quick double-slap of her blades. Despite her dour attitude, Elora returned the smile. “I hope you have something up your sleeve for getting us out of this,” she said.

  “Maybe, but I don’t want to catch you in the magic. Do you think you can peel them off so I can gather them up?” Hal asked, foiling a swipe from both creatures by bracing the flat of his blade with one hand and blocking the hits. Even still, his feet slid across the stone. His back pressed harder into Elora’s.

  Hal stepped in and kicked out, nailing one of the slab-faced creatures and sending it reeling back.

  “I’ve got just the thing,” Elora answered, “Hal. Stay still.”

  Hal set his feet and held his ground as Elora twisted about. She hooked one arm into Hal’s and used him like a pole to swing about. Elora sent a heavy kick into six stone faces. The creatures recoiled from the assault, clearing a full two feet around the pair.

  That might just be enough of an opening.

  “Throw me!” she cried. With the extra 4 STR from his gear, Hal was nearly twice as strong as his baseline 5 STR would suggest.

  Hal obliged as he grabbed her arm and continued the spinning motion the Ranger had started. He let her fly, throwing her clear of the reeling group of Shadow Crawlers.

  Elora landed light as a feather beyond their ranks. Her eyes flashed to Hal, her face twisted with concern. Shaking her head, Elora gave a savage grin at the backs of the Shadow Crawlers as she remembered her role.

  Gleaming daggers raised high, she clashed them together in a ringing display. A ripple of mana spread out over the creatures, turning their attention to her.

  Elora uses Taunt.

  Falling within himself, Hal conjured an ethereal copy of a goblin’s bomb. Casting Bomb Toss one after the other, Hal lobbed the explosive spells at the gathered mob of Shadow Crawlers.

  Despite the double cast of the spell dealing over 110 damage, none of them were slain. Elora clashed her daggers together, performing another Taunt. Drawing their ire back to her.

  This time, they were much faster to attack. Rather than allow herself to be surrounded again, Elora ran. Hal took aim and lobbed another Bomb Toss.

  You defeat 6 [Shadow Crawlers].

  You gain 1,200 Experience Points.

  You earn 120 Sparks.

  You absorb 60 Shadow Essence.

  Your Perception has risen to Level 9.

  +2% Perception highlight chance (+18%).

  +5% Awareness of magical items (+45%).

  Your Beast Magic has risen to level 5.

  +3% Beast Magic potency (+15%).

  -2% MP cost (-2%).

  Your Sword Skill has risen to Level 5.

  +1% Sword damage (+5%).

  -0.25% Sword durability loss (-1.25%).

  +5% Armor penetration (+5%).

  You learn Rending Steel.

  Rending Steel

  Assault your enemies with five unrelenting strikes. Weave destruction upon your enemies, finding gaps in their armor and where no gaps exist, creating them.

  Additional Effect: Lowers DEF.

  Damage: 10.

  SP Cost: 25.

  Your Parry Skill has risen to Level 2.

  +1% Parry success (+2%).

  -1% Parry stamina cost (-2%).

  That looks interesting, Hal thought after looking over Rending Steel. He had plenty of untapped Stamina to use. It would help round out his damage potential if he could use his sword and SP to mete out damage to preserve what precious MP he had.

  Every destroyed Shadow Crawler vanished with a puff of smoke. Elora’s eyes widened as she watched Hal inhale their essence. So much of it at once nearly overwhelmed him.

  Hal nearly fell to his knees but Elora was quick to his side. Her hands steadied him and he soon found his balance again. “I’m okay,” he said. “Let’s go.”

  Three casts of Bomb Toss would have been the majority of his MP. It still was. But with the [Spaulder of the Ravenblessed] he received 10 MP per each kill.

  It wasn’t enough to offset the cost of Bomb Toss entirely, but it meant that instead of only having 35 MP after that battle, he was at 95. And Hal had the suspicion that he would need every point of mana when they got to the street below.

  Side by side, Elora and Hal burst into the stairwell. The agile Ranger jumped up on the railing and rode it down, quickly outpacing Hal.

  When they got out onto the street, the darkness closed in on them again, confirming that the murk wasn’t just a trick of the eye. The twilight illumination from the ceiling was gone.

  “There you are!” Giel called out, swinging his massive bronzed greatsword. A shadow creature dodged the first swing but was caught on the deceptively quick backswing, breaking apart into ephemeral black mist. Not the purple Hal expected.

  Giel defeats the [Shadow Crawler].

  You gain 200 Experience Points.

  You earn 20 Sparks.

  “Look out beloooow!” Mira called out from somewhere up above. The Dragoon dropped atop the thing, impaling it and pinning the thing to the stone street below with her spear.

  Hanging onto her spear like it was a pole, Mira winked at Hal and said, “I would have said you’ve been missing all the fun, if we didn’t all just see the prompt about half a dozen Shadow Crawlers biting it.” Mira turned her smirking grin to Elora. “I take it that was you?”

  Elora answered that grin with one of her own and shook her head, stealing the mirth from the Dragoon’s face. Mira blinked and looked to Hal as Elora said, “It was all Hal. I told you he was more than meets the eye.”

  Ashera took
a step forward, tapped Mira’s bleeding arm with the telltale golden glow of Cure. One of the black diamonds next to her panel in the party menu lit up with a red glowing dot.

  Without breaking stride, Ashera stepped up to the Shadow Crawler pinned to the street as a black swirling mist gathered around her other hand.

  Hal watched as the red dot vanished the moment that swirling mist touched the creature, sending it into wild convulsions. Glowing veins of light inched their way across its umbral body, disintegrating it from within.

  Ashera defeats the [Shadow Crawler].

  You gain 200 Experience Points.

  You earn 20 Sparks.

  No essence again, Hal mused.

  “We’re going to have more coming soon,” he warned. He could almost feel the creatures lurking in the dark pools of shadow around them. It was something to do with his recently acquired essence.

  “Good!” Giel bellowed. “Get behind me, I’ll switch to a defensive stance.” He reversed the grip on his sword and drove it down into the stone as easily as if it were loose dirt. Giel’s hands moved alongside the flat of the blade. A shield of glittering red motes spread out from the weapon like two wings.

  Giel uses Tenacity.

  Giel gains 30 Resolve.

  As he did, the gauge of fiery orange and red motes shifted suddenly to the left. Two-thirds of the bar was now filled with the sparkling red motes of magical energy. The same dancing lights appeared around Giel like a faint aura.

  Just in time for half a dozen Shadow Crawlers rushing out from the sides of the building. Elora pulled back her bow and took aim. “I’ll pin the first,” she called and loosed an arrow glowing with green energy.

  Elora uses Pinning Shot.

  The [Shadow Crawler] is bound.

  Mira and Ashera moved up, the latter’s hand gently grazed Hal’s shoulder. Glittering light sparkled at the touch and the familiar rush of Minor Cure healed the minor scrapes he acquired on the roof and revitalized his SP. Ashera gained another red dotted diamond in the process.

  The Shadow Crawlers tripped over their bound companion, tumbling forward into the waiting swipe of Giel’s greatsword. A thin trail of red motes formed a brief barrier around Hal and the big man.

  Giel uses Deflecting Blow.

  Additional Effect: Barrier.

  Three of them crashed into the barrier as it flared to life. Mira stepped in with her spear, the tip swirled with scaly azure energy. As she thrust out, the tip vanished. It was replaced by the head of a roaring dragon. It bit and tore through two of the Shadow Crawlers that had been left dazed by Giel’s barrier.

  The Void calls, a whispering voice said just as Hal was assaulted by a wave of nausea. He tried to summon the mana to cast Bomb Toss but could hardly keep his feet beneath him.

  Mira uses Fang & Roar.

  Mira defeats 2 [Shadow Crawlers].

  You gain 400 Experience Points.

  You earn 40 Sparks.

  You obtain:

  2 [Lumps of Shadowflesh]

  Two blue scales shuddered and fell from Mira’s gauge. A couple of the creatures realized the power of the force arrayed against them and, showing a semblance of intelligence, scuttled off to the side to attack from their vulnerable flank.

  Ashera spun on her heels in an instant, noticing and responding to the threat while Hal struggled to block out the mounting whispers. She raised her hands high above her head. A swirling orb of blackest night pulsed to life in her upturned palms.

  Ribbons of darkness lashed about the party, ripping into the creatures with disturbing efficacy. Each hit made another of Ashera’s diamonds flicker out. As one the party turned to watch the display of power, enraptured by the destruction the kind-hearted Ashera was unleashing.

  Unmake us. Return us. The Void awaits, came the whispering voices that continued to assault Hal. Nobody else seemed to hear them.

  One of the creatures turned its stone-carved slab for a face to Hal in the moment of its death. The Void awaits you, as well, Failure.

  Hal started at the voice, so obviously spoken to him from one of those creatures. Wow. Rude.

  Ashera casts Unmending Sin.

  Ashera defeats 3 [Shadow Crawlers].

  You gain 600 Experience Points.

  You earn 60 Sparks.

  You obtain:

  2 [Lumps of Shadow Flesh]

  [Length of Void Chain]

  A gleam of light brought Hal’s attention around to Elora’s kneeling form. She had her bow drawn back to her cheek. The arrow tip shone with a radiant light. It streaked through the air and plunged into the restrained Shadow Crawler. The initial hit burrowed deep into its body and burst with blinding light that washed over all of them.

  Elora uses Radiant Trickshot.

  Elora defeats the [Shadow Crawler].

  You gain 200 Experience Points.

  You earn 20 Sparks.

  You obtain:

  [Strange Mask]

  “Okay,” Giel said looking around. “That seems to be the last of... whatever those things were.”

  The whispers had died down leaving Hal with a dull, pounding headache. But at least he was able to move. Ashera looked at him with concern, placing a soothing hand on his shoulder.

  Unfortunately, he could hear more of them in the distance. And they were growing louder.

  “Shadow Crawlers,” Mira put in helpfully.

  “I know what they’re called, Mira. I ain’t never seen anything like that before! And so close to where I sleep! They don’t make no gosh dang noise!”

  “Unless you count their creepy – and offensive – whispering,” Hal muttered.

  The pointed ears of the elf perked up and she turned to him. Hal colored, realizing she’d heard him and hoping she would leave it alone. But even as he had the thought, he knew Mira would not. In the brief time he had gotten to know her, she did not strike him as the sort to leave anything alone.

  “What do you mean, ‘whispers’?” she pressed. A quick look up and down the street made her pause. “Inside.” She motioned to the building across the street from the one Hal had gone into.

  The door offered no resistance and they entered into the scattered remains of some old shop. Giel barred the door with a large piece of broken shelving and Elora walked the perimeter of the room’s many small aisles.

  Mira turned on Hal once they were all inside, the interior lit up by their collective badges. “Explain yourself, Hal.”

  “I can hear them… it’s like I hear them whispering,” he said, suddenly feeling very small with so many eyes turned toward him. Hal did his best to stand his ground but it was hard when he could hear the vague discordant whisperings of so many voices. They passed through the back door that was heavily barred with rotted planks of wood and chains. “And I hear them coming.” Hal raised his hand to the back door. “From there.”

  34

  Giel stepped up to the door. For each passing second, his class gauge shifted back toward equilibrium. Half orange fire, half red glowing motes. “I don’t hear anything,” he said, pressing his head close to the door.

  “Put your ear to the door,” Mira called out with a sly grin.

  “Har, har,” Giel replied. The large horns that sprouted from the side of his head made it practically impossible but he made a point to gently knock them against the door anyway.

  The smile was stolen from Mira’s face when something on the other side knocked back.

  Giel froze.

  The voices quieted enough that Hal could make out a few words. Seek us. Free us. The Void welcomes all.

  Hal wasn’t sure why they weren’t coming through the door. They had proven that they could appear out of patches of shadow. And solid stone didn’t seem much of an impediment. Even with all their Guild badges lighting up the space, there was plenty of shadow.

  The knocking continued. Soft but insistent.

  “They can’t come in,” Hal reasoned. He spun about, looking at each of the dark patches of shadow where a row of
shelves or a dusty basket slowly rotted away. There were no grasping hands, no stone-slab faces.

  He wasn’t sure how, but Hal was certain that he was correct.

  “He’s right,” Elora said looking between two boards of the barricaded window. “They’re out there, just… watching.”

  “How many?” Mira asked, coming to take a look. Taller than the Ranger, she lifted herself onto her tip-toes and peeked through the same window.

  “Fifty-seven,” Elora answered with startling speed. “And many more besides that are out of view.”

  Mira let out a low whistle. “This’ll be fun.”

  “So we’re trapped?” Hal asked, not bothering to look out the window. When he started to focus his thoughts on those creatures he could feel them outside. It was similar to how he could feel the general location of each of his party members. Except there were hundreds outside, spread across the entire city.

  He walked a circuit around the room, looking at the walls for some sign. A reason that they weren’t already flooded with the creatures. Each time he neared a wall the whispers became clearer. He could make out distinct voices.

  The Failure returns. To the Void. Return us. Return us.

  “They hadn’t come inside the building either,” Elora remarked. “Once we had gone inside there was nothing, and we were only attacked once we were out in the open atop the roof. Perhaps there’s something that prevents them from gaining access.” She pulled back from the wall to consider her theory.

  Hal walked past one tall shelf of crystal vials caked with dust, a quick inspection showed each of them long-since emptied of their contents. Still, he scooped the two dozen empty vials into his inventory.