Jared’s muscles were tense as they entered the Scholar Ward and he had to force himself to relax. This area of the city was different from the rest. Instead of the many one or two story buildings made from the common red stone, the Scholar Ward was composed of a smaller number of much larger buildings. None were smaller than three stories, and each covered several city blocks. There was even a huge tower near the wall, spearing up towards the sky. While they were made of the same base material as the rest of the city, many of the buildings had massive windows, giving them a similar feel to Earth’s glass and steel skyscrapers.
The buildings that had fewer or smaller windows had other decorations that set them apart. One was painted in a vibrant spectrum of color. Another had engravings covering its surface, both abstract and purposeful. A third was covered in sculptures of all shapes and sizes, from human farmers tilling the land to kyrien warriors wielding spell, sword, and spear against an array of monsters.
“If I was a psychopath unleashing a horde of monsters on the city, where would I hole up?” Jared looked around, trying to spot anything out of the ordinary.
“Well, the ‘horde of monsters’ as you put it is in the sewers, so we might start there.” Bonlanu looked over his shoulder at Jared as he spoke.
Eleisa failed to repress a shudder at the mention of the sewers, a fact that Jared didn’t miss.
“Maybe, but I’d rather avoid the sewers if at all possible.” He thought it over for a moment. “Bonlanu, you’ve been here longer and might know the city better. Is there a location that has decent access to the sewers? Somewhere not many people go?”
The tree man considered. “I had not been in the city for many days before meeting you. But I did hear that there is a magical school that has need to dispose of the waste their experiments produce. I do not know if they use the sewers for that purpose, but I do not know another place for them to dispose of such things.”
“That sounds like it would have a lot of people around, which doesn’t really meet the second criteria. If whoever is responsible was unleashing monsters on the city somewhere with a lot of traffic, he would have already been discovered by now.”
Bonlanu nodded. “That would usually be the case, but two or three tendays ago there was a magical accident of some kind, and much of the school was damaged. As a result, the school was closed until it could be repaired. Once the infestation was discovered, most of the city’s resources turned to protecting the populace, so the repairs have not yet been completed.”
“Sounds like a good place to start. Do you happen to know where this ‘magical school’ is?”
In response, Bonlanu pointed to the tower.
Jared snorted. “Of course. Why wouldn’t the magical school be in the wizard’s tower?”
As they made their way deeper into the Scholar Ward, the small trickle of people that had been present as they had entered the Scholar Ward dwindled. A couple more minutes and that trickle ceased altogether, leaving the streets feeling empty and abandoned.
Soon the base of the tower came into view, and they could see what Bonlanu had been talking about. A massive chunk was missing from the first several stories of the tower, and what stone remained was blackened and charred. As they drew closer, the true scale of the tower became apparent, and Jared couldn’t help but be amazed. It had to be at least a mile in circumference, and had several hundred floors.
Repairs had obviously begun, large wooden beams spanning the gap to help prevent collapse, with open space between them. Large stones had fallen haphazardly in the streets and on nearby buildings, and several tools had been laid on one that was nearby.
“Alright everybody, be on your guard. Bonlanu, lead the way.”
They entered the building in their usual formation, Bonlanu in front, then Eleisa, with Jared taking up the rear. Bonlanu shifted his axe into the smaller, more maneuverable set of shield and handaxe, holding both at the ready.
The room they had entered was a large reception area, various seating options strewn throughout and a large wooden desk along the far right wall. The only exits aside from the massive gaping hole in the wall were the main entrance, a set of massive iron banded double doors, and a smaller singular door next to the desk. A large chandelier hung from the tall ceiling, made of a thousand strings of clear glass beads. It was currently unlit, and Jared wasn’t sure how it was even supposed to be lit, as there weren’t any candles or lanterns, but he figured it was probably just magic.
They moved across the room quietly, heading to the smaller door. Finding it unlocked, Bonlanu eased it open, his shield before him protectively. His caution was prudent, but unwarranted as there was nothing beyond the door but a grand spiral staircase leading both up and down, and another door in the opposite wall.
They entered, and Bonlanu raised the question of which direction they should go.
Jared gestured at the door. “Let’s check out this floor, then we can move down.”
The others agreed and they crossed the room, Bonlanu opening the door with the same caution as he had the previous one. This time, there was a thunk as something hit his shield, then a high-pitched shriek sounded as he retaliated with his handaxe. Two and a half spider legs were sheared off of the mastiff sized arachnid, then Eleisa stepped forward and finished it off with a thrust with her new spear. It let out another shrill cry as it died, and the entire room on the other side of the door started boiling. What Jared had assumed was dark stone erupted into movement, as tens, if not hundreds of giant spiders started towards the invaders.
Bonlanu moved to shut the door, but just before he did, Jared chucked a glass bottle with a glowing orange coal past him, directly into the mass of spiders. The door slammed an instant before an explosion shook the tower.
[Giant Tower Spider] x47 Slain!
EXP Gained.
Your Party gains EXP.
After waiting a few seconds, Bonlanu opened the door a crack and peeked through. Apparently finding the situation acceptable, he opened the door the rest of the way and ducked through, Eleisa and Jared following.
Bodies of spiders, both alive and dead were scattered throughout the large room, which seemed to be a dining hall. Long tables took up much of the floor, leaving only a small walkway between them. Not that the floor was even visible through the thick carpet of webbing that covered every surface. That webbing was now on fire in many places, illuminating the otherwise dark room. As Jared was about to start killing the spiders that had survived, he felt Mimi give a tug, pointing herself upwards.
Catching what she was getting at, he looked through Mimi’s scope at the ceiling, the millennium eye in place. He froze, blood going cold in his veins. At the center of a web spanning the entire ceiling of the chamber sat a massive black spider, its glittering eyes staring out at the wreckage of its children.
[Giant Tower Spider Matriarch](lvl 27)
It seemed to be waiting for them to enter the room further before ambushing them. He had been unable to see it with the naked eye through the darkness, but with the darkvision of Mimi’s new magic item, he could see it clearly. He glanced around, finding the smaller spiders either incapacitated or dazed, and decided to capitalize.
“Mama’s on the ceiling, I’m gonna try to bring her down. Mimi, let’s do one of the Fangsguard bullets.”
He sighted in on the enormous spider’s cluster of eyes, and Mimi swelled to larger than her usual size, chambering one of the .50 cal sized bullets. He let out his breath and held it, activating Sniper’s Focus. He also activated Afflicting Shot, giving the bullet the Shadewalker effect. He had never used the Skill, and wanted to see its effects.
He felt his magic spool out from his core, and his shot was ready. When he felt he was perfectly still, he squeezed the trigger, the recoil slamming Naomi into his shoulder.
The spider screeched as its eyes exploded, blood and vitreous jelly splattering across the room. Its cover broken, it abandoned its perch on the ceiling, descending on the party with a vengeance.
Jared grinned at the combined effects of his new Skills, Naomi’s Skill, and his armor reducing the impact of the shot’s recoil. As Bonlanu and Eleisa engaged the matriarch, he took aim again, this time targeting its massive swollen abdomen. Bonlanu slammed his shield into its face, sending it backwards a couple of steps, then stomped. Roots erupted from the stone floor, enwrapping the spider’s legs. They only held for a moment, but that was all Jared and Eleisa needed. Eleisa went low, slicing through the spider’s legs at the point where they met the body, while Jared’s second bullet punched clean through the abdomen, exploding out the far side. Capitalizing on its distress from the barrage of attacks, Bonlanu brought his axe down in a chop, separating the spider’s head from its cephalothorax. It collapsed into a heap, dead.
With the matriarch dead and most of the other spiders injured and dazed, it didn’t take the party long to finish off the rest.
“I warrant we have found where all the spiders have been coming from.”
Bonlanu’s offhand comment sparked a thought that Jared really didn’t like. “If that’s true, then there’s probably going to be a nest like this for each of the seven different monsters. While most of them will probably be easy to kill, like these spiders, I don’t relish the thought of facing a room full of those lurking shadeweaver things. Just two of them were difficult enough to deal with.”
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Eleisa nodded emphatically, but Bonlanu didn’t seem to agree.
“I do not think it will be quite so troublesome as you envision. In the sewers, they caught us by surprise and incapacitated Eleisa. We now know their tactics, and can prepare accordingly.”
“I guess.” Jared wasn’t completely convinced, but Bonlanu did have a point. In order to avoid further conversation on the subject, Jared opened his notifications.
[Giant Tower Spider Matriarch](lvl 27) Slain!
[Giant Tower Spider] x19 Slain!
EXP Gained
Level Up!
Your Party gains EXP
Your Party members level up!
Skill Sniper’s Marksmanship upgraded from (Masterful I) to (Masterful II)
Skill Sniper’s Focus upgraded from (Proficient III) to (Proficient IV)
Skill Sniper’s Fieldcraft upgraded from (Skilled IV) to (Skilled V)
Skill Afflicting Shot upgraded from (Unskilled III) to (Unskilled IV)
Skill High Caliber Resistance upgraded from (Unskilled I) to (Unskilled II)
Consulting his Profile, Jared placed his ALA points in Physical to bring it even with Mental, and put his PHY point into Magical. Looking over everything, he smiled at his progress.
Name: Jared Moore
Primary Class: Big Game Sniper Lv. 21
Auxiliary Class: High Caliber Ammunition Mage Lv. 12
Ascension: Improved
Stats:
Free points:
Physique: 21
* Physical: 12
* Magical: 9
Alacrity: 40
* Physical: 20
* Mental: 20
Projection: 22
* Evocation: 7
* Manipulation: 15
Skills:
Primary Class (6/10)
* Sniper’s Marksmanship (Masterful II)
* Sniper’s Focus (Proficient IV)
* Crude Imbuement (Unskilled III)
* Sniper’s Fieldcraft (Skilled IV)
* Afflicting Shot (Unskilled IV):
* Moderate Disease (521/1000)
* Shadewalker(1/100)
* Big Game Wrestling (Unskilled II)
Auxiliary Class (2/5)
* Create Ammunition (Exceptional III)
* High Caliber Resistance (Unskilled II)
General (2/5)
* Polyglot (Skilled III)
* Basic Spearmanship (Proficient V)
Titles:
* Spelljammer
* Offensive Powerhouse(++) [Active]
* Eye Hunter
* Naomi’s Savior
* Self-Supplied [Active]
* Titanblood
* Aspect of the Traveler
He was getting close to maxing out Sniper’s Marksmanship, and was steadily improving all his other Skills. His upgraded Afflicting Shot meant he could now store up to four different effects, and it just so happened that they were in a room full of potential materials.
He activated the effect storage part of the Skill, getting a familiar notification.
Effect Gained: Minor Venom (1/100)
Nearby materials with the same effect detected. Would you like to destroy them as well?
He accepted, and watched as the fangs of every spider exploded into motes of light, congregating and merging with him.
Effect Upgraded: Moderate Venom (132/1000)
That was a lot higher than he expected. Consulting the number of spiders they had killed, he expected to have only gotten 132, two fangs per spider. That would have dropped to 32 after upgrading to moderate. He had gotten an extra hundred from somewhere. His eyes landed on the Matriarch, now devoid of fangs, and it clicked.
She must have had a more potent version of the venom, so her fangs counted for 50 points each instead of 1. Nifty.
Finished with his immediate tasks, he looked around, finding his teammates had similarly just finished with their level ups. Together, they harvested everything of value from the corpses, which ended up mostly being the sharp, blade-like legs and the spinnerets, as well as the matriarch’s surviving eyes.
Jared also took the opportunity to harvest some spider meat from both the smaller spiders and the matriarch, hoping it would at least help him level his fieldcraft Skill, if not provide some food while traveling that actually tasted good. A useful buff would be even better.
As they were getting ready to move on, Jared retrieved the millennium eye from Mimi, wondering how to give it the spider’s eyes. It turned out to be surprisingly easy. He just touched the eye to the glass disk. Then both items flashed, and he was left holding just the magical item. Unfortunately, he wasn’t lucky this time, as no new effects appeared.
Oh well. There’s always next time.
He gave the disk back to Mimi, and they prepared to move into the next room.
There was one more nest on the first floor, this one full of giant cockroaches led by a [Hissing Broodmother](lvl 26). They were smaller and weaker than the spiders, but much more numerous, and much harder to kill. It took the party much longer to clear the room than the spider room, as the cockroaches took an insane amount of damage before dying, in addition to their speed.
The only thing that made it possible to even consider taking on the entire nest was that the only attack they seemed to possess was a weak acid. It was watery and ineffective, not doing much more than pouring off of their armor when they got hit. If it managed to touch skin, it was nothing more than a mild irritation.
They didn’t even give much loot either. The most valuable thing that they provided was another effect for Jared’s Afflicting Shot, which upgraded a couple of times during the fight. He had been applying Shadewalker to almost all his attacks to try to get through the insects’ thick chitin. He added the new effect, as well as the other effect offered by the lurking shadeweavers, but left his remaining effect slot free in case he found something else worth taking.
Afflicting Shot (Unskilled VI)
* Moderate Disease (521/1000)
* Shadewalker (1/100)
* Moderate Venom (132/1000)
* Moderate Acid (257/1000)
* Minor Shadowcurse (1/100)
When they were satisfied that the floor had been thoroughly explored and cleared of any beasties, they decided to return home for the night, as the sun was sinking towards the horizon, and they were tired from fighting the annoying, hard to kill bugs.
They returned to The Raven’s Rest, and Jared invited Bonlanu to have a few drinks with him to get to know each other. He would have included Eleisa too, but she immediately went up to bed, as with her nightmare training, she needed more sleep to get the same amount of rest.
Bonlanu surprised Jared by taking up his offer. He didn’t know why, but he had expected the Groveborn to refuse for one reason or another. They took seats at a corner table, each with a large mug of their drink of choice. Bonlanu had ordered a fruity mead, while Jared got the house ale. Mimi joined them in her doll form, and Jared ordered her a mug of milk, as he wasn’t sure if she was of drinking age yet. Even if she was, he didn’t want to have to deal with a drunk mimic.
“So Bonny, tell me about yourself.”
The tree man gave him a wry smile and shook his head. “If you are going to shorten my name, I would prefer Lanu. It is what some of my peers called me when we were saplings.”
Jared nodded, accepting the correction. “Alright, Lanu then. Where are you from, and what brings you to this corner of the world? Eleisa mentioned that your people aren’t exactly common.”
“That is a bit of an understatement. There are only three groves remaining: The Ironthorn, which is my grove; the Shaderoot, and the Titanbough. My Grove is the largest, with around fifty members. The Shaderoot are second, with around twenty, and the Titanbough are the smallest of the Groves, with only five remaining. Those five, however, are the strongest of our race, the only ones to be blessed with the blood of the Titans. You know of this boon?”
Jared nodded. “Yeah. On the way here from Fangsguard we stopped at a Titanblood tree and were lucky enough to get some fruit. Have you been there?”
Bonlanu shook his head. “It would avail me nothing to make the trip, so I have focused my time and efforts elsewhere.”
Jared furrowed his brow. “What do you mean? Will the tree not give you any fruit? I thought it gives one to everybody that visits it.”
“It would certainly offer a fruit, but in that form, the Titan’s blood is too diluted to have any effect on an Arborial such as I. Only the ones who received blood directly from the Titans gained the boon. The rest of us must content ourselves to be as we are, since the Titans went extinct long ago.”
“That sucks.” They lapsed into silence for a time, sipping on their drinks, before another topic of conversation came to Jared’s mind.
“If you don’t mind sharing, what’s your class about? The system identifies you as a Bastion, but I’m not sure what that means, other than having something to do with protecting.”
“Indeed. I do not mind sharing some specifics with you, but I do ask that you keep them within the Party.”
Jared readily agreed, and Bonlanu continued.
“My class is Sylvan Bastion. I wield the forces of the forest in defense of my allies. Let me show you.”
He made a gesture, and a prompt appeared before Jared.
[Arborial Bastion {Groveborn}](lvl 20) has invited you to view his Profile.
Accept/Refuse
Jared accepted, and the arborial’s sheet filled his vision.
Name: Bonlanu Ironthorn
Race: Arborial
Class: Sylvan Bastion Lv. 20
Ascension: Improved
Stats:
Free Points: 0
Physique: 42
* Physical: 21
* Magical: 21
Alacrity: 15
* Physical:7
* Mental:8
Projection: 21
* Evocation: 11
* Manipulation: 10
Skills:
Racial(3/5)
* Arborial sight
* Ironthorn Constitution(Skilled V)
* Reassign Vitality(Excellent II)
Class(6/10)
* Sylvan Armory (Excellent I)
* Natural Lure (Skilled VI)
* Bastion’s Stance (Skilled IV)
* Limited Martial Expertise (Unskilled III)
* Living Fortress (Skilled I)
* Sylvan Snare (Proficient II)
Titles:
* Groveborn[Permanently Active]
As Jared read, Bonlanu explained some of his abilities,
“Arborial sight you have experienced somewhat. It allows me to look beyond the surface, seeing what many do not. Ironthorn Constitution makes me more durable, and is unique to my Grove. Reassign Vitality allows me to take vitality from creatures or plants around me, and give it to myself or my allies. In a desperate situation, I can even transfer my own vitality to others, but only as a last resort.”
He continued to explain his Skills, not giving any specific details, but providing an overview of everything he was capable of. Sylvan Armory let him create and change his weapons and armor. Natural Lure was a taunt that forced enemies to focus on him. Bastion’s Stance made him take a portion of the damage received by party members. Limited Martial Expertise helped him use a variety of weapons with skill. Living Fortress was similar to Ironthorn Constitution, making him harder to hurt, and Sylvan Snare was the root trap he had used against the spider matriarch.
The only thing that he didn’t share any details on was the Groveborn title, which made Jared all the more curious. Despite that, he didn’t push, respecting the boundary his ally had set.
He was appreciative of Bonlanu’s trust and offered to reciprocate, but the tree man said he knew enough through his Arborial Sight, and that Jared didn’t need to share. They finished their drinks and Jared decided to turn in. They planned on getting started early the next day, to hopefully find the source of the infestation and take them out, and Jared wanted his wits about him.
They had no idea what waited for them under the tower.