We walked to the elevator and went back down to the floor of the forest; we walked back out the entrance we were led in through and then I looked at my map and plotted a course to get us close to the Rakes so we could either start negotiations or line them up like firewood for our new friends.
I opened a portal to an area close to where there were three in a group. When we came through the portal to the other side, the Rakes spotted us right away and we heard the most bone chilling, shrill, terrifying sound coming from them. The fear lasted .2 seconds then I was fuming mad. Fuck these ugly, gangly looking, creatures from my nightmares. I pulled my Desert Eagle .50 from my ring and put a .50 exploding Aether round in the heads of the closest two and center of the chest in the one furthest away, I wasn’t sure they were dead, so I sprinted over to them with Gravitas in hand. I proceeded to smash the skull in of all three… just to make sure. The last thing I need is an angry half dead Rake chasing us through the forest. I did these things so quickly neither my wife nor daughter had any time to really do anything. Before they knew it, I had Rake brains all over my awesome new hammer.
“Holy shit dad, you are like a machine. You fired off those three rounds and sprinted over to finish them off in the blink of an eye. I’m guessing it was seconds, they must have been 175 yards away from us.” Hillary said in awe.
“Hillary sweetheart, to be honest. The fucking sound those things made created such an anger inside me I had to make it stop. I did what I did mostly instinctually, so I apologize if I scared either of you. And, by the way, your mom is way faster than me so wait till tis her turn. Equally scary except she does it with like dark spooky Magick, and then she gets you from out of the shadows, with speed and precision.” I joked.
We continued to look for rakes according to the updates Tony was supplying us with by the min directly to my map. We snuck up, on a group of four and Julie went to work. Hillary Buffed us up with Natures Gift and Natures Bounty. I received an enormous boost to both my Strength and Constitution and also a boost to my Agility from Hillary’s buffs, Julie got a huge bump in Agility and Constitution and an additional boost in Agility. We were ready to take out these Rakes. Julie disappeared towards these sick looking fuckers, and as quick as I could turn around and back all four Rakes were dead, and Julie was already back in front of me covered in black ichor.
“Babe, these things are Hella stupid and made of thinner skin and super fragile bones. I wasn’t even going full strength because I wasn’t sure what they were capable of, and I punched my fist right through one’s head. The other three went down in one wide arching swipe of my blades.” Julie said, surprised.
After we looted these Rakes, we moved on to another small group of three. Julie wanted an opportunity to use some of her offensive spells and we encouraged her to do so.
Hillary walked around her prey until they were lined up pretty straight, and oblivious to the fact Hillary was stalking them. She unleashed her Nova Blast and holy light Magick, the Rakes in the path of the Blast were instantaneously vaporized. The third was now missing its right arm and screaming that foul noise I did so enjoy earlier. So, I shot it in the head. No more screaming…..but, that’s when I heard.
“Lord Rinn, the remaining Rakes are closing in on your position. There seems to be about four in this group, but they are much bigger and move much quicker, beware.” Tony relayed to us.
Hillary re-established our buffs from earlier and we waited for the smoke…
All at once, all four giant 16-foot Rakes with much more substantial bodies and some sentience behind their eyes. I examined them and we saw why.
Name: Ccanntvarr
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Race: TERRORAKE
Level: 20
HP 1500 MP 1000 SP 500
Terrorakes are the top of the ghoul food chain. They have the ability to use powerful Dark Magicks as well as powerful Necromancer Magicks as well.
Three of the Terrorakes surrounded us then an even larger and more terrifying looking thing came forward.
Name: Xalzaxcss
Race: RAKEMASTER
Level: 46
HP 12,000 AP 25,000 SP 5000
Rakemasters are known to control the ghoul population in their given area. That area usually depends on their level and length of time in their given area. Some Rakemasters are in control of entire star systems.
“Lord Rinn.” The Rake master and all three Terrorakes knelt down on one knee looking quite awkward and also with an honest look of fear on their faces.
“Rakemaster, Xalzaxcss. Rise and be acknowledged.” I said without thinking.
“Lord Rinn, we have been sent by our esteemed Master Grand Sage Milinaxta, on behalf of his Lord the Highest of High, The Unnamable Force, and Most Venerable Grand Sage, Emperor Tessulon, of the Mighty Draco Empire……
“Wow, that was like, a lot. The highest? I’ll bet you a thousand large Aether crystals I smoke way more, and better Cannabis than any Emperor, anywhere. Which would make me the Highest of the High. Unless he just has a shit tolerance for good weed then I could totally understand, I’ve seen that a number of times.” I joked, inappropriately.
“Lord Rinn, I assure you Grand Sage Tessulon has access to the best of the best of everything he desires, including Cannabis. Of which he is quite the connoisseur, that is a well-known fact through out the universe.” Xalza replied smugly.
“I’m sure like most he found a way to get some of my Cannabis. True connoisseur and all.” I replied.
“This is not why we have come to seek an audience with you Lord Rinn. Our master would like to offer you a deal in which you and your family get to keep your lives, although I’m not entirely sure this is going to be such a good deal for you, in particular Lord Rinn. Grand Sage Tessulon proposes you forfeit your claim to Talos and every other facility you have been given access to, you swear an oath to never try to regain any lost lands or title resulting in said agreement, you will subject yourself to genetic regression to restore you to your previous form, you will divulge the location of Talos and give us the codes to shut down the wards in place. Then the three of you will be transported directly to the Drow Underdark Stronghold here on Terra. Where you will spend the rest of your lives as the “Guests” of Matron Mother Kilurden. She is very anxious to get her hands on the three of you! Especially you Lord Rinn, the nasty things she has in store for you are truly mind-bendingly atrocious. In return you are all allowed to live, and the human race on Terra, without a bright shining beacon of hope you will most certainly become, will bend back down to the rule of the Mighty Draco Empire, without there being nearly as much bloodshed as there otherwise would have inevitably been.” Xalza Offered with a sinister grin.
As I was listening to this blah, blah, I’m so bad ass, blah, we are so tuff, blah. I was setting up gravitational bombs to go off inside the heads of the three TERRORAKES. When he was finished droning on about whatever….. I snapped my fingers and set off the bombs. All three Terrorakes were sucked into their own heads, then exploded in grand fashion all over the RAKEMASTER in front of me.
“Lord Rinn, if you have one of those Gravity Bombs implanted in my head I would think otherwise. Since we have been here chatting like old friends, I have also prepared a rather nasty spell that could potentially blow Hillary into millions on small particles scattered over the entire west coast of this continent. This spell will discontinue once I am safely away from here. Lord Rinn, honestly, I am quite excited you have decided to rescind our very, very generous offer. I am looking forward to returning with a full compliment of warriors and taking all three of you into custody, then watching you all “enjoy the hospitality of the Drow”.
As he said the last words, he fell backwards through a green smoky portal to who knows where. Since we were teleporting away from here, I teleported us to the safety of our Weed Property only a few miles away. We went into the shop closed the doors then we had Hillary sit down and meditate.
“Hillary honey, I need you to look into yourself and try to see if there is anything that isn’t familiar. After that I want you to cast both Aetheric Cleanse on all three of us as well as Physical Cleanse. Let me know if you need an Aether crystal to fill up your Aether pool.” I instructed my daughter.
Hillary cast both spells and when she cast Aetheric Cleanse all three of us coughed up large wads of what looked like melted tar and smelled like melted tar as well.
“We definitely need to ask David or Evelyn about this, and then I think we go back out and get rid of the Kanix Major habituating in our Forest.” I mentioned.