Chapter 23
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Just wanted to wish everyone a happy holiday season. This arc is winding down, and I am trying to involve as many people in the raid party as possible. As some of these relationship's formed in this raid will have long lasting implication's. Please enjoy
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Raid on Atlus part 3: The Gardens of the Emerald Palace
The moment was finally upon us, in the next few hours we would fight to take the emerald palace of the lost city that was taken over by Kormon and his forces. I have assumed a position as the party leader, to take advantage of my Gift of the War God. We leave camp that we had set up in the abandoned theater. We are leaving several of our member's to keep the Dragon princess safe. Both Siena and Skyler were not to pleased that I wanted them to stay back. Though my motivation's were selfish, the logic behind them were sound.
“Everyone please we want to go unnoticed as long as possible try to make as little noise as possible as we approach the wall.” I lead everyone out into the streets as we travel two by two across the lost city.
The wall totally encompasses the palace and would be very difficult to scale. Upon scouting it earlier I came to the conclusion that we could easily tunnel underneath it. Our route would take us to the left side of wall . I picked this route for two reasons. First there is a natural ravine on this side where the stone ground ended and met up with the side of cave that held this huge city. The second reason is because this route would take us closer to the balconies were are going to enter the outer palace with.
After traveling up this ravine for several minutes I found a nice spot to tunnel in. I had April do it because her earth magic was slightly stronger then mine. It took her several casts but she finally was able to create a big enough tunnel for us to fit through. Such a massive gate bypassed with a simple level 3 earth spell, magic is surely amazing. I suspect there probably was a magic barrier when this wall was in use centuries ago. We quickly passed through on to the other side.
The scene that appeared before us when we entered the was sort of astonishing. From afar I could only tell there was a vast garden with trees and shrubs mixed in too but up close it was more like a forest. It was simply beautiful and one could easily get distracted by it, I knew better though.
“Everyone straighten up there are several monsters mixed in with these plants dont let this place's beauty lull you from paying attention.” I tell everyone in a serious tone as a I bisected a plant monster I had detected hiding among the other plants.
“They might not be a high level but they can poison, paralyze and sleep you and we want to conserve our antidotes and Reid's mana as much as possible” I reiterate the message to stay on your toes here.
For several minutes we fight these plant monster's as we head close to the path that loops around these gardens. We avoid members getting effected by status impairments as I can spot the monster's very easily and they all get 1-shot by our attacks. As we empty into the path I notice a shade of orange in the grass close to Reid. I don't hesitate and quickly slash it. It was a snake with black and orange stripes likely poisonous and it was going to bite Reid, my quick response avoided a potential crisis. It was targeting our healer in particular coincidence or is it something else? I pick up the snake's body and inspect it, it is a Death Serpent. It is similar to a coral snake from my old world, but the poison causes cardiac arrest almost immediately.
“I now owe my lady another life debt!” Reid seemed happy about this for some reason. Doesn't he realize that he almost just died?
“Reid don't worry about it. Its my job to make sure everyone stay's safe. Now Landon correct me if I am wrong but this is indeed a Death Serpent? What would it be doing all the way down here.”
“Aye you have a keen eye. There is something odd about it though the body has a weird marking on it, perhaps it is a familiar.?” Landon suggested but I quickly refuted the notion.
“When a familiar dies it returns to the astral realm for a time to recover then it can be summoned again. “ I quote one of the books I had read about familiars. I was researching them because at Mahouren first years all get a chance to enter the astral realm and pact with a familiar.
“You are quite knowledgeable about the arcane miss Lara. It is true this snake is indeed just a Death serpent, however this marking is a sigil of some kind. Perhaps Oliver would take a look at it.” Calidina looked at Oliver who was halfway up a tree and still climbing after the snake tried attacking.
“Did I mention I hate snakes! Do I really have to?” Oliver pleaded to us.
“It is dead and I was wondering why it was able to target Reid in particular it is almost like it was being
controlled.” I pick up the body and show Oliver the sigil on it.
“You sure its dead?! Well I guess it is decapitated so it cant bite at least. Let me look at this marking. “ Upon looking at it Oliver looked extremely disgusted and it wasn't his fear of snake causing it. This was something else.
“That is a command sigil, it is forbidden art of enchantment. It allows a caster to have control over a living being against there will.” He explained that the snake was indeed being controlled.
We continue down the path at very slow pace. I entered through this way to be sneaky but the enemy was already aware of our presence and had made an attempt to attack us. This is not going as I planned it but we still can accomplish our goals here. After several minutes of no action we come to a point where the path opens up wide creating a large clearing and in the center is very large tree . I don't like this place what so ever.
“Hold” I say just audible enough for everyone to hear.
“You don't like this either huh. Perfect place for an ambush.” Lux says to me while I look everywhere for enemies.
“Proceed carefully I don't see anything but that doesn't mean there not somewhere hiding.” I order the group forward.
It was dead silent as we went forward down the path. As we neared the tree I noticed a familiar marking carved into it. It was the command sigil that the snake also had on it but why would a giant tree need that its not living.....wait a second. I use analyze on the tree.
Status WindowName:Oakheart of the ForestTitle:The Forest Guardian Race:TreantGender:N/AClass:TreantSubclass:Age:3825Level:112TitlesResourcesHealth:85,000/85,000Mana:10,000/10,000Stamina:32,000/32,000StatsStrength:810 Intelligence:755Agility:30 Charisma: 515Wisdom:650Precision/aim:65Vitality:4,500Luck:82
“Fall back! Now!” I order the group. As we turn around I could hear the sound of tree branches swooshing around.
“I am sorry young creatures, I am not in control of myself. I have been tricked into being enslaved by this foul magic. Please run away before you get hurt!” Oakheart said as he stuck one of his arm branches into the ground. I could feel the ground begin to shake. As our party went to leave, the exit was completely blocked off by a wall of vines. I slash at the vines with my katana and the vines I severed were almost instantly replaced by new ones. I cast a level 3 fire attack flame pillar and while the damage to the vines was more substantial, the destroyed vines are once again almost instantly replaced. It looks like we are going to have fight the treant after all.
“Battle formations! I want Basu on point, your defense relies on dodging and this guys main attacks are vine snares Leon play a support role for now everybody else keep moving at all times if this guys snares you, you will be incapacitated. Oliver tell me everything you know about this sigil something tells me you didn't tell me everything earlier when I showed you the snake.” I give out some more orders and asked Oliver for more information. Killing a a Treant of this power is surely within our potential but perhaps we can find a way to free him from this magic saving us from expending too much of our strength and potentially gaining an asset.
“Was it that obvious that I knew more? You are very good at reading people Lara. I am actually very familiar with this sigil, it is after all my design.” Oliver said looking at the treant in a very sad expression.
“Your design?” I ask in a very surprised voice I had a feeling he knew more but this was most unexpected.
“Yes, though when I designed it I never actually thought it would be used. It was an assignment from my former mentor Mazasius. He wanted to adapt the sigil for golems to be usable on living beings on a conceptual level. He promised me that it would never actually be put in use. I was a talented and naive apprentice and he used me to help him create this taboo enchantment.” Oliver continued to explain.
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“I had recently graduated at Mahouren Academy and Mazasius was my instructor in my enchantment course. He took me on as an apprentice in the research department. Back then he was everything I aspired to be. I truly looked up to him back then. All was well until one day we got our hands on an artifact that changed everything. It was a Karthian Golem that was uncovered by our archaeology expert at Mahouren, someone you are very familiar with, Diana Jones. It changed the whole way we thought about the art of control enchants. This very artifact caused Mazasius to go mad.”
“After my conceptual sigil was found to work on a mouse. Mazasius quickly went ahead and used it on one of my colleagues in secret after using a sleep potion on them. She was very dear to me and that bastard used forbidden magic on her that he had me design. He used another enchant to keep her from telling everyone what was happening. By a fluke the sigil was spotted by Elise the headmaster at Mahouren. After tracing the magic back to Mazasius they sent a team of templars and palidins to apprehend him for performing a forbidden art, however they underestimated his power and they were defeated and Mazasius disappeared from Mahouren without a trace. In shame that I had helped him accomplish such a horrible feat I resigned from Mahouren and began adventuring to escape my past.” Oliver concluded his explanation.
“So if we destroy that sigil would we free them from this magic?” I ask Oliver.
“Yes if you destroy the sigil it will free them from the spell, however just as with a golem destroying this enchant will also kill them.” Oliver began to cry. I can put 2 and 2 together obviously his friend that Mazasius had put the sigil on had her sigil destroyed.
“So is there no way to free those affected by this spell without killing them?” I ask curiously.
“There is two way they can be free from the spell. First if the caster releases them from it. Also if the caster is killed that too would have the same effect.” Oliver states. Is that really it? I haven't read a lot about enchanting but I do remember one thing that in this case could potentially be very useful and in fact I had Oliver make use of this aspect of enchanting earlier.
Most runes and enchants add an effect on something or perform a spell that was inscribed to it. However some runes were crafted to nullify other magics, such as with the runes I made Oliver make to counter Kormon's illusion magic. Or the runes that Oliver sets up to create a magic barrier. These are called counter runes.
“Perhaps we can create a counter rune specific to the command seal on the treant? I dont see any reason it wouldn't work in theory” I ask Oliver.
“I can't believe I overlooked such a possibility! You are absolutely right Miss Lara, perhaps you have the potential to excel in enchantment. It will take me several minutes to draw an adequate design.” Oliver seemed excited and began drawing out a design on a parchment heavy with ink.
The fight had just started, our objective was two fold first we needed to protect Oliver as he came up with a counter rune design, second we needed to keep the treant slowed down but also avoid destroying the sigil. Rictor however must have missed the whole avoid the sigil part because he was targeting the sigil in particular. The sigil was however protected by thick vines that deflected his attacks.
“Rictor I told you to simply slow down the Treant and avoid the sigil.” I yelled at Rictor.
“It is not in my nature to avoid my enemies weaknesses. Why are we bothering saving this piece of lumber? I didn't peg you as one to care about things like this. You would risk our lives to save him?” Rictor had a point. Maybe I had gotten too soft, I usually am much more cold and calculating.
However there is also a part of me that dates back to my day's as Taiko though, and that is the gambler part of me. I think I get it from my grandpa as he use to set up illegal Hanafuda games from time to time at the dojo and I would sometimes weasel my way into them. His favorite slogan when playing was 'With great risk, comes great reward.'
“The sigil is the most protected part of him, unless we all focus our attacks on it we will have little success targeting that. Once Oliver gets this sigil drawn all we have to do press its on his body and that's it. Please trust us we have better understanding of this sigil then you do.” I was able to reign in Rictor.
As we continued fighting everything seemed to be going fine. People who got snared were quickly freed and Basu was doing great as vanguard he had dodged everything thrown at him so far. All of a sudden though Oakheart stopped attacking. He instead began chanting something in a weird language I recognized as sylvan. I was able to decipher the meaning of the chanting because of my gift. 'All living things must return to the earth so it can be reabsorbed and reused to begin new life. Decomposing winds I beckon you, come and speed this process!”. As soon as I heard Decomposing Winds I recognized it as a level 6 hybrid spell of wind, death, and nature magic. This is big trouble!
“Everyone stack up on Oliver now! April and Joel grab my hands we are going to pour all our power into one Earthen Wall, there is a very powerful spell incoming.” Everyone quickly stacked up and we wasted no time chanting an Earthen Wall spell.
“Earth that nourishes me, I ask for your assistance, shelter me from harm, become my shield. Earthen Wall protect me!” We all said in a unison as we poured our power into one spell. A very impressive earthen wall shot up from the ground. No sooner did we put up the wall a monstrous gust of wind crashed into the wall like a tidal wave against a large boat. An extremely disgusting smell filled the whole area, the smell of rotting life. A few member ended up throwing up from the smell. I wont point fingers but it was Oliver, April and Leon. Fortunately Oliver managed to throw up away from the parchment he was working on.
The winds only lasted like 10 seconds but it seemed like hours. The wall we had put up which was at least 6 feet wide and 10 foot tall had been eroded to a under one foot wide and and only 6 foot tall wall. Insane anything caught out in that would have been completely eroded.
As we left the wall the scene in front of us was extremely disturbing all the plant life in this clearing had been completely decomposed to dirt except for the grass that we had stacked up on. We quickly learned that the spell had a second effect as everywhere little sprouts began to pop up. Oakheart began to chant another spell in Sylvan this one was a hybrid both water and holy magic.
“Water is the nectar of life, all that lives relies on it. Blessed mother grant this rain with your spirit to speed growth and recovery. Revitalizing rain pour down on us.” Oakheart chanted. Revitalizing rain was a level 5 hybrid spell.
“Leon use your shield to cover Oliver's work.” I ordered Leon. The rain that came was light and began to heal our whole party of both health and stamina. Why would he cast a spell that benefited us? Wait! The sprouts are beginning to grow rapidly!
“We got adds coming in! Slice down as many as possible before they sprout” I said and everyone looked at me weird.
“Whats an add?” Asked Landon and I could tell he wasn't the only one confused. I guess I am the only here familiar with rpg termonology.
“Fine we have ADDitional monsters sprouting up.” I said as I began slicing sprouts at a rapid pace. Our whole party began to focus on destroy the sproutlings. We were able to only eliminate half of them before they sprouted all the way. The sproutling were all level 50 but there number was vast there was at least 50 of them.
“Leon you stay and guard Oliver, Basu you stay vanguard against the treant. The rest of us need to destroy these sproutlings. Oliver how soon before you are done these sproutlings are going to be an issue.” I say.
“Just a little bit more, I am almost done.” Oliver said.
The fight that seemed controlled earlier was now chaotic. The vines from earlier that were kept at bay by our damage group were now running rampant as we dealt with the sproutings. I had already had to free several people from the vines and the damage they took from the saplings while being restrained was decent enough where they had to fall back to Reid for recovery. At this pace we were falling behind and would soon be overrun by sproutling we needed this rune to be done.
“Ok its done. Here come and take it Lara!” Oliver got up and began to run it to me he was oblivious of the vine that was between us and it quickly wrapped around his legs causing him to trip and the page flew out of his hand floating up in the wind. I could see the rune perfectly and I went to grab it from the air but as I did another several vine flew out and shredded the page completely. Who ever was controlling the treant was obvious aware that the page was very important.
“So can we just kill this guy now? Plan A failed its now time for plan B” Rictor said.
“I am so sorry because of my carelessness another has to die. It is all my fault.” Oliver began to weep again. I had gotten a very good look at the rune and I somehow I remembered exactly what it looked like. I could see it clearly in my head like a photograph.
Champion of Grena
First Limiter lifted
Ability unlocked: Grena's perception
-photographic memory
-ability “Clairevoyant reflexes'' unlocked
-Clairevoyant reflexes: Gain keen awareness and perception of things before they happen. Spends psionic power per second used.
“No! I am going to opt for plan C! I am going in to free this guy no matter what!” I use my new ability given though Grena as well as shadowdance which is a shadowblade class skill and Blood of the Dragon which I just unlocked by becoming a dragoon. All three in combination boost my stats tremendously but drain my stamina, mana, and psiosonic power rapidly. Perfect with these buffs I have capped my precision stat at 100. That will let me accomplish what I am about to attempt.
I launch at Oakheart. Everything seemed to be in slow motion I can see everything perfectly as vines come in rapidly but I easily dodge and slice my way through with ease. To me it almost felt like I was walking but in real time I must have looked like a blur of light. The adds now are all focusing on me but it doesn't matter I can see everything right now. I slide through them as well as I continue my dance forward. As I get up to close to Oakheart he swings his large branch at me to smash me and I dodge it easily and stab Tanken into the branch and the branch pulls me up on the upswing of the attack. I use the momentum to acrobatically pull out Tanken and land my feet on the branch and continue my push forward.
Now up on the tree I run up the branch towards the main tree. I jump up and use gust of wind a level 1 wind spell to propel me forward to the backside of the tree. There are two big branches defending the back and countless vines. As I land on one branch of said branches guarding the back I easily slash it away with my trusty Taichi. I shadowstep towards the second branch and jump up cutting that branch away as well going for style points with a spinning slash attack. I shadowstep again this time to the trunk and run up the side of it with a sudden burst of agility like a ninja. About 6 feet up the trunk I stab into the trunk with Tachi and begin to run around cutting in a perfect replica of rune I saw drawn by Oliver and also at the same time I slash away and cast several spells at the countless vines and sproutlings all trying to stop me from drawing the rune. In a matter of seconds I finish the task however to me it seemed much longer. I finish the design by pouring a large amount of mana into it powering it up. The command rune in the front that was lit up with magic not a few seconds ago faded out. The sproutlings stopped moving and planted themselves in the ground, they had just become regular saplings now.
“I have regained control! You have managed to lift this magic off me that was placed by wicked man who carried a lunar staff made of goldwood.” Oakheart said as he retracted all the wines that were seconds ago attacking us.
“That is without a doubt Mazasius's staff, never thought I would run into him down here but this is great I have a score to settle with him.” Oliver said with a big smile on his face. I am happy that it turned out this way, had my plan not worked we would be having a lot less happy conversation right now.
“Young girl I must thank you for sparing my life when it perhaps would have been easier to just kill me. Your display of martial power was astounding one could almost mistake for the a summoned hero. I get the feeling you are not even close to the limit of your potential. Your strength will be needed to fight the blight that has been festering down here. There is a powerful mage in control and his right hand is an enchanter that is almost as strong as him, the one who enslaved me.” Oakheart looked at me with a giant smile.
“Guardian of the forest, I Lara am in charge of this group of adventurer's I must apologize the reason for my aid was selfishly motivated. I would like to add you as a friend in this fight I know you cant enter the palace but if you can help keep all the plants from attacking us and give us an escort to our destination I would be most overjoyed.” I said in my most charming voice.
“Both extremely charming and equally as deadly. You would make a great Warlord, I will give you escort to your destination. The plants speak to me and I can tell where traps have been laid.” Oakheart began to trudge forward. The rest of our journey through the gardens consisted of Oakheart telling the story of how he was tricked by Mazasius and how the forest had become a lot more corrupt lately and the arise monsters in the forest as well as several necromancers taking up domains there. Before we knew it we had arrived at the balconies in the back of the palace.
“I shall renew your strength for you had to expend it in our battle.” Oakheart then cast revitialing rain once again. He then picked each of us up one by one and set us on one of the balconies. I was the last one. He picked me up and brought me close to him. He talked to me in a whisper.
“As a guardian of the forest I can tell you are no elf, however I can tell that you posses great affinity to magic of all elements none the less. Your skill with a blade are tremendous but against the two foes before you will require more then just your martial talents, you will need all of your strength including your powerful albeit novice power of the arcane. A great friend of mine long ago an arch-mage bestowed upon me his staff. A seer had told him that I would encounter one whom would need its power, this was dozens of centuries ago. He said I would know the one who would need it when they crossed my path and I have finally found that person. It is you young Lara.” Oakheart smiled at me as he thought about the promise he had made a very long time ago with his friend.
“It is very fortunate that its presence slipped by my enslaver. I will chalk this all up to fate. Please let this staff aid you on your quest. I give you the staff of my former friend Jayce Banth, the Sidhe Staff.” Jayce Banth the founder of Mahouren Academy?! Also I reckonized that name Sidhe Staff. It is a legendary staff last used by the founder. It is familiar to me because just as with Excalibur the Sidhe Staff had ties to King Arthur's lore in my old world as Taiko, it is in fact Merlin's staff.
Oakheart's trunk began to have its bark peel back and then some of his wood started to peel back as well. Inside was a gorgeous staff made with willow wood and a huge blue stone emanating extreme magical power. I hesitatingly grabbed it and the staff light up as it linked with my mana flow in my hand. Just as with my ring in the assassin's guild the light became so bright that it became blinding to everyone who was watching. After reaching its apex of brightness the stone dimmed back down to much more manageable glow.
“Excellent the staff accepts you as it's owner, I am glad the alternative didn't happen.” Oakheart says as I look marveling the staff's beauty
“Why what would have been the alternative?” I ask sort not wanting to know the answer but Oakheart gave it to me anyways.
“Well the worst outcome would have been you dying but I knew from the start you were the one for this staff so there was never any risk. Anyways you must go your companion's are looking impatient over there” Oakheart tried to reassure me.
“Ok, if you want to help us from you could go and help guard my companion's they are staying in the largest building over the wall directly in that direction. They are Diana, Skyler, Grimblee, and Siena. I promise none of them bite except for Skyler” I would feel a lot more comfortable with a treant helping defend the other party members.
“It would be my honor. Please succeed in your mission a lot rides on you and your companion's” With this Oakheart dropped me off with my companion's. Step one was complete and we even gained a valuable friend, and new weapon. I was ready to take down any obstacle in my path Mazasius and Kormon wont stop me.
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Mazasius POV
This is bad the little girl and her companion's were able to survive the gardens, I now have to give the bad news to my Master Kormon.
“That girl and her companions succeeded in defeating the Treant I had set up to crush them. We lost track of them in garden's somehow all our wards we placed were destroyed but they will be forced to travel through the servant's corridors and then through the Emerald stairway onto there way to the inner palace. I also have all sorts of pawns hidden in the servant's quarter's.” I report to Kormon ashamed that the first piece fell not in our favor.
“I want you to personally defend the Emerald Stairway. Make sure that you don't kill the girl, I don't care about her friends though.” Kormon said to me he didn't seem all that surprised like I was that they succeeded in freeing the treant I of course left the 'freed him' part out in my report. Who would have thought that my former apprentice would be in the raid party and that girl was so talented that she was able to engrave a counter rune she had only seen once with a sword while dodging hundreds of vines and sapplings. Hopefully Kormon will let me engrave a command sigil on her she would make a powerful asset.
“It would be my honor, the emerald stairway has never been breached even when this palace was in normal use. I don't plan on letting that change.” That girl is strong! I haven't had a worthy opponent in some time. This will be very enjoyable. Lets see what you are truly made of Champion of Grena!