Beastborne- Mark of the Founder

by James T Callum

  They moved down the corridor as one, the dusty stone underfoot muffled their scraping footsteps. Hal kept an eye out for more traps. They’d been ambushed most often before entering a room.

  To his right, something flashed pale blue in the outline of a doorway.

  Your Perception has risen to Level 11.

  +2% Perception highlight chance (+22%).

  +5% Awareness of magical items (+55%).

  <“Hold up, there’s something here.”> Hal said, pulling up short.

  Mira bumped into Hal and scowled at him, putting her hands on her slender hips. Out of the three people behind Hal, only Mira – who had taken up position behind Ashera – had managed to collide into him.

  Hal turned to the wall and he searched it until he found the catch. There was a clever mechanism hidden within the stone and set flush with the wall.

  Without his Perception picking it up, he would never have noticed it.

  The stone door slid away into a recess, frictionless and without sound. Beyond was a small room, just large enough for one or two people Hal’s size. He found several strange symbols etched onto raised blocks on the wall.

  Hal studied them for a while but couldn’t make heads or tails of either of them. But he could infer enough by the faded coloration and the general shape of the symbol.

  They looked like elements. Fire, lightning, water, and fourth he didn’t recognize. <“Hey guys, I found a few blocks that look like buttons. Elora, clear out of the room. I want to try something.”>

  <“I’m clear,”> Elora called back shortly after. <“I don’t know what you expect-”>

  As soon as she was out of harm’s way, Hal pressed the fiery block. The stone depressed smoothly. He heard a faint click followed by a distant rush of air.

  I wonder what that did.

  Poking his head out of the side room, Hal watched as the Ranger sprinted with all speed toward them. The bend in the tunnel glowed as bright as a blacksmith’s forge. He could feel the insane heat from where he stood, sheltered by the hidden room.

  The air became thin from the flash of fire Hal had triggered, the glow died down and they all perked up at the series of notifications.

  You defeat 4 [Shadow Crawlers].

  You gain 800 Experience Points.

  You earn 80 Sparks.

  You absorb 30 Shadow Essence.

  Your Investigation has risen to Level 7.

  +1% Investigation speed (+7%).

  +2% Investigation success (+14%).

  Guess Elora’s count was off by one.

  “Isn’t it strange how well defended these tunnels are?” Hal asked, stepping out of the room and looking up and down the stone tunnel.

  “You could have killed me,” Elora said, staring daggers into Hal.

  “You did say you were clear,” Hal reminded her, taking up a position just behind Elora, prompting her to take point again.

  With a huff, Elora picked up the pace into the blackened hall. Their footfalls fell onto oily, sooty flooring that revealed unblemished stone underneath with each step. The room ahead glowed orange.

  Several low fires burned while piles of glowing embers smoldered in the corners. Large rents split the stone apart, the wooden supports half-burned or turned to a just another pile of glowing embers on the floor.

  Mira whistled. “Would you look at that.” She stepped into the room, giving Hal a celebratory punch on the shoulder. Hal watched as his HP dropped a single point and reminded himself to keep on Mira’s good side. “Anything that was waiting for us in here is toast. Good job, dude!”

  Your Leadership has risen to Level 10.

  +1% Party damage (10%).

  +2% Leadership efficacy (20%).

  You have 1 Leadership Perk awaiting assignment.

  Rally 0/1

  Grants the Rally ability.

  Rally: Once per day you can bolster your allies in or out of battle, restoring HP, SP, and MP by 20%.

  Party Tactics: 0/1

  When fighting with a party, each member of your party gains an additional 2% bonus to damage, defense, and healing per member within your party communication range.

  Chain of Command 0/1

  All Persuasion and Intimidation effects are twice as likely to succeed if you are the leader of a party.

  Every 10 Levels I get a perk then? That’s pretty nice.

  One by one, the rest of the party entered the room. They looked around while Hal lingered in the tunnel and decided on his latest perk.

  While the minor heal of Rally would be nice, it didn’t seem that great to waste a perk on. He didn’t expect to keep getting Levels as fast as he was.

  So far, Hal was rarely the party leader which put Chain of Command on the back burner. That left Party Tactics as the frontrunner. And while Leadership gave party damage on its own, Party Tactics gave a little of everything.

  And if he was reading it right, with all five party members nearby everybody would receive a 10% bonus.

  Hal selected Party Tactics and stepped into the room, grinning from ear to ear. He had several skills that were nearly Level 10 already. And he was more than a little eager to see what perks he might get from Beast Magic.

  The room was ruined. Oily smoke drifted up from the large cracks that were as wide as five feet across in some areas, filling the domed room with a foul-smelling miasma.

  The others were spread out, investigating the room and for once without a fight on their hands. There was something off about the room though. It filled Hal with a sense of dread that went beyond anything he ever experienced before. Confusion and worry warred with each other. Looking around at his companions, he found similar emotions playing across their faces, with the exception of Mira.

  The Dragoon seemed utterly unfazed.

  Mira reached down into a pile of ash and pulled out a glittering ring. “Look what I found!” She lifted the ring high. The ruby set within fractured the light from their Guild badges and threw it back in a crazed red sparkle.

  Entranced by her find, Mira didn’t notice the dripping ooze that slipped from above in a long stringy strand. It was soon followed by half a dozen more globs of stretching oily substance.

  “Mira!” Elora shouted, noticing the danger first. A bulging red-rimmed eye opened out of the black morass that had dripped to the ground behind Mira. It reached out an arm just as the elf turned to regard Elora. In an instant the Dragoon was sailing through the room, crashing into the wall with a bone-rattling percussion.

  In the time it took the group to assemble into a ragged formation, Mira limping with the aid of Ashera, a large bulbous creature with half a dozen eyes loomed before them.

  It shot out a gobbet of black slime, the group split down the middle dodging. Elora and Hal went left while Giel, Mira, and Ashera dove to the right.

  In the end, it didn’t matter. They hadn’t been the targets.

  The entrance was blocked by an oozing, pulsating mass of oily flesh.

  With a sickening tearing sound, the creature reached behind itself with two trunk-thick arms of rippling tar and blocked the only other exits.

  More bloodshot eyes popped open along its length until there were several eyes trained on each member of Hal’s party.

  “That’s not so bad,” Hal said, looking at the oozing mess. Its body was bulbous and half-melted like a puddle of old candle wax.

  Hundreds of thin insectile feelers sprouted all over its body. Razor-lined maws split open at random, nonsensical intervals, across tentacles, feelers, and the main mass of the perpetually melting creature. Each of the mouths let loose a litany of disturbing rattling cackles that sent waves of nausea through Hal.

  Hal’s mind bent itself into knots trying to follow all the deadly chattering maws. Dozens of rippling, swaying tentacles filled the chamber. “Never mind.”

  36

  Is that a Shoggoth? Please tell me that’s not a thing here.

  As soon as he thought the words, a shining orange light appeared on the ground at his
feet.

  Hal dove to the side just as the ground where he stood shuddered with the impact of a massive oily tentacle the size of a tree trunk. Mouths split open along its length gibbering at Hal. He felt an influence press upon his mind, urging him to flee. To cut down anybody who got in his way.

  The psychic suggestion couldn’t find a purchase on his thoughts and it slipped uselessly aside.

  The [Shoggoth Spore | Elite] uses Fear.

  You resist the effect.

  Oh good! Florking wonderful, it is a shoggoth!

  <“I’m going to try and restrain a limb so you can hack it apart, Giel!”> Hal called out, getting to his feet again.

  <“Which one?”> Giel’s voice was edged with panic.

  Somehow, that made Hal feel more at ease. Knowing that something like this abomination wasn’t going to be a common occurrence made him feel a little better.

  <“The one that keeps trying to crush me!”> Another orange bar of light flashed across the ground where he was standing and Hal barely managed to get out of the way before the tentacle came crashing down. The force of the impact knocked him off his feet and sent him tumbling.

  Luckily, Hal didn’t need to be on his feet to cast Enchainment.

  All he needed was a shared surface with the thing. He felt the arcane energies well up within him and burst out of his palm.

  Spectral chains burst up through the ground. They snaked around the thick oozing tentacle. The way the chains bit into the fleshy black ooze oddly reminded him of using butcher’s twine on a piece of meat.

  Giel was in position half a second later, the burly Warrior leaped through the air with his large greatsword in his hands screaming – Hal guessed – against the psychic intrusions of the creature.

  Even before Giel was halfway to the thickest part of the tentacle, the Shoggoth had apparently gleaned his intent and was rapidly siphoning mass from the restrained body part.

  Fortunately, Hal’s Enchainment responded when it changed size, keeping hold of the thing even as it shrunk.

  Your Enchainment has risen to Tier II.

  +25% Range.

  -15% MP cost.

  Enchainment II

  MP: 20

  Range: 12.5ft Radius

  Binds target(s) with spectral chains, rooting them to the spot. Any damage inflicted upon them once bound breaks the chains. Must be touching the same surface as the creature stands upon.

  The chains broke a fraction of a second before Giel slammed his blade deep into the flesh of the creature. Black blood sprayed in high streaming arcs. Giel raised his blade for another strike.

  Confusion crossed Hal’s features as he tried to understand why the chains had failed. He had his answer when he looked around the chamber and found Mira on the bulk of the creature, her spear jabbed into a gory puddle where one of the Shoggoth’s eyes had been.

  That settles that. Enchainment isn’t too useful against a large creature with multiple body parts if it’s still considered one creature. That means any damage it takes will break the spell.

  A whip-thin tendril came at him, snaking in from his blind spot. He raised the [Goblinbane] and parried the blow, only after realizing that he had felt the danger from that side.

  Even as he parried, Hala swept the blade up and around for a counter-attack. The blade bit deep into the tendril, leaving the last two feet dangling by a stretchy cord.

  He was still getting used to having a decent sword and higher STR. He was used to the middling damage of the [Deserter’s Falchion] still. It struggled at times to crest over 20 points of damage.

  On the other hand, even a strike without proper follow-through from the [Goblinbane] easily did 30 or more.

  An arrow streaked by Hal and snipped the cord. The oily tendril dropped to the ground. It shuddered and bubbled. Like expanding foam, it doubled, tripled, and then quadrupled in size until it was a bulbous, cancerous form half as large as Hal.

  “Oh no, you don’t!” Hal bellowed, slashing down with the [Goblinbane]. The creature was too fast though and it slithered away.

  Hal whipped out with his [Iron Manacles]. To his horror, the chain sunk right into its oozing flesh. Hal got his wish a moment later when the creature pulled at the chain, nearly yanking Hal off his feet.

  The stupid thing had pulled him close enough to make use of [Goblinbane]. He creased the creature’s bulbous hide and it released his chain. Hal was about to chase after its oozing retreat when he realized that half of the iron chains were melted away.

  Thinking quickly, Hal dropped the ruined weapon and reached into his inventory. He pulled out the [Length of Void Chain], equipping it to his off-hand. He was more than pleased when it worked and the impossibly black chain appeared in his hand.

  Hal chased after the creature, wrapping the chain around his forearm and gripping the links tight in his palm. They were cold and hard no matter how long he gripped them.

  Rather than painful, he found them oddly welcoming.

  He whipped out with the [Void Chain], trying to snare the creature again. As soon as the metal links made contact with the fat oozing flesh a violent reaction ensued. The creature’s many pustules burst into black smoke. Wherever the chain made contact, its doughy flesh shriveled like some long-dead thing.

  Weakness Discovered!

  The [Shoggoth Sporeling] takes 45 points of damage.

  Additional Effect: Atrophy.

  A grim smile spread across Hal’s lips and he lashed out with the sword next. He alternated his strikes. Every hit with the chain slowed the creature further and the sword cleaved the shriveled flesh apart like it was nothing more than burnt paper.

  You defeat the [Shoggoth Sporeling].

  You gain 45 Experience Points.

  You earn 4 Sparks.

  You absorb 10 Aberration Essence.

  The [Shoggoth Spore | Elite] readies Noxious Discharge.

  “Get behind me!” Giel bellowed. He reversed the grip on his greatsword, and stabbed it into the stone flooring, sending spidery cracks in every direction.

  Giel uses Tenacity.

  Giel gains 30 points of Resolve.

  Giel uses Defiant Shout.

  Once more, Giel’s meter was full of red drifting motes. An aura of the same shimmering magic appeared around him as he bellowed a roar so deep the ground hummed with the strength of it.

  Hal wasn’t the only one who was making a beeline for the shouting Warrior. Hal made it behind the bulky man, pressing a hand to his back as if he could somehow lend his support. Ashera and Elora were quickly behind him, but Mira was too far.

  The entire room lit up with Premonition’s orange glow of warning. Hal knew that Mira would never make it to safety. The azure scales she used for her jumping abilities were gone. She had no way to get to them.

  Cursing up a storm, he broke away from the relative safety behind the Warrior and ran to meet Mira. Her eyes were already round with fright, but when she saw Hal break away from the growing bubble of protective magic forming from Giel’s magical bellowing, they nearly fell out of their sockets.

  Ashera and Elora yelled out at him but their voices were drowned out by Giel and the pumping of blood in his ears.

  Before Hal could regret his actions, he whipped out with the length of [Void Chain], rolling his wrist to lengthen the chain as far as it would go. Mira swapped her spear to one hand and reached out to the shadowy metal.

  The chain went taut and Hal twisted, hauling on it with all of his might, sending the Dragoon whipping around toward the group. And to the safety of the forming shield.

  The [Shoggoth Spore | Elite] uses Noxious Discharge.

  Hal knew at that moment he was going to die.

  The orange glow on the ground shimmered and winked out as a deep gurgling filled the chamber. Hal was already running back to the group but he knew it was too late. Mira only just then landed hard on one knee behind Giel.

  A chorus of razor-filled maws spewed forth a toxic miasma that rolled out of the dozens of m
ouths and rushed down upon Hal like a sickly green pyroclastic cloud.

  The chain in Hal’s hand went taut once more, and Hal was jerked off his feet as three pairs of hands reeled him in to the protective barrier behind Giel. But they were just a moment too late.

  One second was all it took within that rolling, acidic cloud.

  The [Shoggoth Spore | Elite] hits you with Noxious Discharge.

  You take 120 points of damage.

  You are afflicted with Death’s Embrace.

  Agonizing pain wracked Hal’s mind and he nearly blacked out as he hit the ground at Mira’s feet. The world dimmed but Hal could see the way the rolling miasma parted around the shimmering motes of protective energy spawned from Giel’s ability.

  If he hadn’t been about to pass out, Hal would have found it funny that Giel was literally deflecting a deadly blast that would have killed them all with the power of his angry shouting.

  Every nerve was on fire but more alarming was the difficulty in breathing and thinking. His heart stuttered against the poison coating his body.

  “Get him up,” Elora barked. “Can you heal him?”

  Ashera’s hands were on him then. The rush of her Cure was immediately washed out by more pain.

  Hal didn’t even realize he was screaming until Giel’s voice faded, then came back at normal volume. “The shield’s about to break,” he warned them.

  “We can’t move!” Elora shouted back. “Look at him!”

  “I-I don’t understand,” Ashera’s voice was shaky. Hal could feel everything slipping away. The pain was beginning to ebb. As much as he welcomed the relief, he knew that was a bad sign.