Chapter 16
Blood Calling
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The sky had remained overcast even after the storm had ended the morning following when it had begun. The following day was spent riding through the sparse forest which gradually diminished, the road winding through a gray landscape that very much resembled the sky above. That night as they sat around a crackling fire, eating crackers and cheese conjured by James, Aaron began telling a story.
“There was once a boy who lived on a farm outside of a small town. There was this girl who lived in the town and who would sometimes buy apples from the boy’s produce stand. After a time the boy began setting aside the best apples, keeping them in a separate basket to have ready for the girl’s arrival. One day when the girl was selecting an apple from the basket, the sky turned gray all of a sudden, and a great wind swept toward them. The wind carried both the boy and girl into the sky and to a faraway land, but as the boy found himself awakening in a ditch, the girl was nowhere to be seen. What the boy did find was the broken remains of a metallic structure, entering the structure, he found an old dead mage.
On the mage’s corpse was a necklace with a shiny gem hanging down from it which the boy took, but the moment his hand touched the gem he lost all consciousness. When he awoke he found notifications flashing before his vision, you see the world he was from didn’t have implants and-”
“That’s enough Aaron,” interjected James. “You should know not to bore our newly met travel companions with such tales.”
Aaron’s smile wavered for the first time since Kail had known him, the older man inclined his head slightly toward James, a look seeming to pass between them.
“I didn’t think it was boring,” said Kail.
Aaron’s smile returned and he turned to Kail. “Ah well, we should be getting to bed anyway. Long day tomorrow. The gist of the story was that realizing he was about to die, the old mage had cast a spell, summoning the most beautiful girl to him. Only he’d been too weak to cast it effectively, and so the boy had been brought along while the girl had been sent somewhere else.”
James stood abruptly, yanking Aaron up with him. “Right, goodnight all. We’ll reach The Haunted Forest tomorrow and need clear heads and quick wits if we are to survive it.”
James led Aaron off to their tents as Kail and Lunis exchanged a confused look. Adam chuckled. “Aaron’s tales tend to, on occasion, contain elements relating to true events, James doesn’t like that, but that’s all for the meantime irrelevant. Have you given any more thought to my offer?”
Kail had, and had come to a definitive conclusion. His focus needed to be on gaining enough experience from whatever they’d face in this haunted forest so that he might return home with haste and free Corvis from his family’s machinations. “I have. There are family matters I need to deal with before straying too far from home, but once I’ve put things right within my Father’s empire. I would be happy to reconsider delivering you my memories.”
Adam nodded slightly, extending a hand and conjuring a smooth yellow crystal roughly the size of a cell phone which he tossed to Kail who caught it. “That’s a communication crystal, they’re rare and expensive, keep it close and you’ll be able to contact me by allowing your mana to flow into it when you're ready.”
“Thank you,” said Kail, pocketing the crystal.
“Sleep well,” said Adam as they rose and turned toward their respective tents.
***
The sky remained overcast the following evening as they reached the outskirts of a dark forest which certainly fit the name given to it. The road had ended some ways back, seeming to simply give up as it faded away.
“We’ll have to continue on foot from here,” said James as he dismounted.
“What about the horses?” asked Lunis.
“Ours have been trained to gallop back to Linton,” said James. “Yours should be fine, he’s strong and in good health.”
After dismounting, Kail patted his horse on the neck. It had carried him and Lunis faithfully and hadn’t abandoned them in the cornfield nor protested them riding upon him at any time. “Run free Spirit,” he said before following the others into The Haunted Forest.
James led the way, with Adam to his right, Aaron to his left, and Kail and Lunis following closely behind. The forest grew darker and darker the deeper they delved, the trees were massive, their scarred and chipped trunks seeming ancient and perhaps even majestic. James possessed several tracking skills and abilities and was using them to guide the group toward the center of the forest, from which he could sense lay the source of the monsters that had been emerging to ravage the Highlends.
“I sense hostiles ahead,” whispered James, the words had barely left his mouth before the dark forest ahead was suddenly alight with dozens of smiling faces.
“Jack O'Lanterns,” breathed Kail.
They perched atop branches, sat on the ground, and even seemed to hover in the air. There were so many, each with a different expression from which flowed orange light. An orange glow flew through the air, in an instant James conjured a long bow and sent an arrow piercing into the flying jack o'lantern which exploded mid-air a safe distance from the group.
Aaron conjured two slightly curved swords into his hands. “Should you pick them off from a distance?” he asked James.
“The pumpkins aren’t the threat, they’re a facade,” said James. “The controller is hiding among them and we need to draw him out.”
Kail conjured his blood scythe, allowing it to grow as they pushed forward,
jack o'lanterns smiling down at them from all sides. A sudden explosion from his left sent him flying sideways and to the ground, landing hard on his side.
HP 109/140
He felt his back resting against something, and then that something exploded, the force propelling him into a tree which he crashed against, an awful pain searing into his back.
HP 78/140
The world seemed hazy as he lay there. Adam stood within his sight, his arms were glowing golden as he fought a giant nearly double his height and composed entirely of dozens and dozens of glowing jack-o'lanterns. Adam ducked under a swinging arm, slamming a golden fist into the monster and bursting a pumpkin before ducking to the left and caving in another three with quick jabs.
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Kail got to his feet, his gaze searching for Lunis. Aaron was moving to assist Adam, while James was firing off arrows at some unseen target. There she was! She was laying slumped against a tree, but stirred and began to rise as he hurried toward her. Her eyes grew wide and she pointed past him, he turned, watching as green vines slithered forth from the forest, they congregated together, connecting and rising up to form a humanoid silhouette with a brightly glowing jack o'lantern for a head. Two arrows protruded from the figure and a third buried itself within it as it glided toward James.
Kail switched directions, moving to intercept the monster. Two vine arms protruded from it and one of them flicked in his direction, jack o'lanterns soaring down toward him from all directions. He ran, diving forward, his momentum boosted by the explosions happening as the pumpkins impacted the ground behind him. His scythe arced through the air, severing the extended arm just before he hit the ground behind the monster.
DAMAGE DEALT TO Jack O'lantern Command Reaver = 91
Kail scrambled to his feet as the reaver twisted around to face him. Vines climbed up about his feet, snaring him and holding him in place. He’d never cut the flow of mana to his scythe and it was now longer than it had ever been, he held it easily in his right hand, sweeping it up and decapitating the reaver whose glowing head hit the ground followed by its viney body. The vines ensnaring him went limp, falling away as he stepped forward, burying the blade of his scythe in the fallen jack-o-lantern which crumbled apart.
James nodded at him. “Good work, I’m impressed.”
Pumpkin gore flew through the air between him and James and they both turned to find the pumpkin giant’s remains crashing to the ground as Adam and Aaron stood over it.
EXPERIENCE GAINED = 400/COMBAT CONTRIBUTIONS. LEVEL UP! YOUR HP and MP HAVE BEEN RESTORED! +1 CONSTITUTION, +1 WISDOM. YOU HAVE 1 FREE STAT POINT TO ALLOCATE!
He allocated his free stat point into strength since it was his lowest, bringing it up from nine to ten.
“Wonder how many more of those are out there,” mused Aaron as the five of them reformed and continued onward.
The previously alight jack-o’lanterns which had surrounded them had gone dark upon the controller’s death, but James seemed to have some kind of dark vision as he led them through the dark forest quickly and without pause.
“Awoooooooh!” a distant howl rang through the forest, instantly reminding Kail of Lupin’s transformation in The Prisoner of Azkaban.
Tension grew within him as they continued forward without encountering any additional enemies. Something about the air within this forest felt strange and alien, it prickled at his senses and sent the occasional shiver running through him.
Distant chanting became audible as they continued forward, it grew louder as the trees ahead of them parted before a clearing. A stone plinth lay in the clearing and atop it stood a humanoid man in a long gray cloak, his head was that of a black goat’s and his arms were raised high with a torch held in each hand. The plinth rested atop an earthen slope upon which knelt a cloaked and hooded figure, a wooden wand held in hand as he waved it like a music conductor. Below these two figures danced a ring of twisted and inhuman creatures. Some were covered in black feathers with the heads and prominent beaks of crows. Others appeared as beautiful women from above the waist but from below had the body and eight legs of a spider.
Strange colored smoke flowed between the figures, obscuring the features of several and adding to the satanic ambiance. To Kail’s self conscious shock, he found the chanting oddly invigorating.
TEMPORARY EFFECT SUSTAINED: Iquisham’s Blessing. +4 Intelligence.
“I’ve been debilitated,” muttered Aaron.
“As have I,” said Adam.
“Negative two intelligence,” growled James, “you all sweep forward and engage them, I'll stealth behind and eliminate the directors.”
Lunis glanced at Kail and they shared the same look. They’d both received a blessing while the others had received a curse. James stalked off, vanishing into shadow while Adam and Aaron led the way forward and toward the chanting circle.
“Vast tala kav vera stashem samia semu sa manan lutsia! Lu! me! Che! Ka! Nan! Lu! Me! Che! Ka! Nan!”
The goat headed man’s head twitched toward them, though the cloaked figure continued waving his wand while the chanting circle kept dancing, seemingly oblivious of their approach. A haze of multicolored light began forming before the goat headed man and Aaron and Adam increased their pace, sprinting toward the circle.
“Vast tala kav vera stashem samia semu sa manan lutsia! Lu! me! Che! Ka! Nan! Lu! Me! Che! Ka! Nan!”
Lunis came to an abrupt halt and Kail paused, turning to her questioningly. “I can hear his dreams,” said Lunis, wide eyed. “Iquisham, he wants to come through and they’re opening a door for him.”
“What is he?”
“I don’t know,” she said, her tone distant and dreamy.
A slamming sound caused Kail to glance toward the circle, a semi transparent barrier had formed between Aaron, Adam, and the chanting creatures. Adam’s skin had turned fully golden as he smashed glowing fists against the barrier which wavered under each impact.
Suddenly the barrier disappeared as the goat headed man fell forward, off the stone plinth, and onto the ground below, an arrow protruding from his back. Adam and Aaron rushed forward, fists and swords cutting through the chanting circle.
“I’m going to help them,” said Kail.
Lunis nodded slowly. “He’s sad, he wanted to come through but now he can’t.”
Kail considered shaking her in an attempt to clear her mind but wasn’t sure how effective that would be, and so decided the most effective course would be to help the others end this unholy ritual. He started forward as green fog began drifting forth from the cloaked conductor.
The remaining bird men and spider women began fleeing off into the woods, James’s arrows cutting some of them down. The cloaked conductor had fully disappeared within a spreading haze of green fog which Aaron and Adam entered. Adam’s faintly glowing golden form was slightly viable from within the haze and Kail considered heading for it but hesitated, not wanting to leave Lunis unprotected.
He was glad he did so as in his vision’s periphery he spotted the cloaked figure emerge from the far rightmost side of the fog, he was running toward the tree line and Aaron and Adam were still within the fog. Kail began running to intercept him, his nine foot tall scythe held out to the side. Noticing him, the man executed a split second maneuver, sliding beneath Kail’s swinging scythe before springing to his feet and dashing into the forest.
Not wanting to pursue an unknown adversary into the haunted forest alone, he turned back to find Adam and Aaron emerging from the fog. Aaron was coughing, green tendrils seeming to cling to him while Adam appeared to be fine. James rounded the fog and approached and Lunis headed toward them as they all congregated together.
TEMPORARY EFFECT Iquisham’s Blessing has ended.
EXPERIENCE GAINED = 100/COMBAT CONTRIBUTIONS.
A horrid sense of loss and despair threatened to overwhelm Kail as his intelligence was reduced.
“We need to find and kill that conductor,” said James. “Without him and the satyr the rest will pose little threat and our armies will be able to move in and secure the forest with ease.”
“An army’s coming here?” asked Kail.
James nodded. “Once broken, evil cannot be allowed to reform.”
Aaron conjured a yellow potion and drank it, the remaining green tendrils clinging to him dispersing.
“Let’s go kill him then,” said Adam. “Can you track him?”
“Not unless he uses that fog spell again,” said James. “We’ll have to comb through the forest until we find him.”
“Should we split up to search more effectively?” asked Adam.
James glanced at Kail, then nodded. “Kail and Lunis with me, we’ll circle northwest while Adam and Aaron circle southeast. If any of us engage an enemy, contact the other group immediately.”
Aaron saluted, smile lines wrinkling his face. “Eye eye captain.”
“Come on,” said Adam, grabbing Aaron by the arm and pulling him toward the forest.
“Follow closely,” said James as he turned toward the tree line, Kail and Lunis following after him.
“Are you alright?” Kail asked Lunis.
She glanced up at him. “Yes, that was just strange. I gained a level though, I’m level four now.”
“Good,” he said as they entered the forest.