Joe walked in the middle of the pack along a path of burnt stalks. The forest around them was verging on being a jungle. The palm-style leaves rising from the ground were strangely lapis-colored. The canopy of leaves overhead was also more blue than green, giving the forest a more dim and sinister air.
Clusters of the wide-leaf plants had to be cleared in order for the teams to move through the dense flora. Thankfully, the party had a living flame-thrower in their midst. The combined squads were walking down a cleared swath that had been burned through the underbrush by the ignin axeman in the lead.
Right behind him was Earcellwen and Hah’roo.
The front team was selected for its strong skills with perception and reflexes. Kendell had explained to Joe that Reven’s uncommon brawler class gave the fiery man an abnormally large number of attributes but fewer skills in compensation. The warrior had higher attributes than almost anyone in the group but very little versatility. Besides his taunt ability, Reven could hit, take a hit and burn stuff and not much else. He made a great tip of the spear, leaving subtlety and utility to his teammates.
The Hellion commander had devised this formation to counter the lightning-fast wights. As Reven cut his way through the thick foliage, twisted forms launched themselves at him repeatedly. Joe had thought Hah’roo was about as fast as a person could get, but he was wrong. Even the agile wind-dancer could not match the furious speed of the flame-wreathed warrior.
If the fight at the front ever grew too dangerous, Naragash, walking just behind the leading trio, intervened. Her massive bone axe tore through the clawed undead with almost indifferent ease. She also had the added benefit of being able to extinguish the flames Reven left behind with her [Arctic Aura].
Joe’s group came next. Tezeno walked on his right, with Mortalius just in front of them both. They were placed in the center of the formation, allowing the healers to be well-protected and able to reach either end of the line quickly if needed.
Behind Joe came the more versatile cluster of Broon, Lexaroth, and Yuk. Surrounding the three was a ring of clattering skeletons and then an even wider ring of flying and crawling vermin. Lex had forged a mental bond between all the members of his group and Joe’s. Yuk’s swarm skittered through the forest on either side of the path, looking for enemies. If anything came at the line from the sides, it ran first into the warning wall of insects and then the growing collection of walking bones.
Bringing up the rear were Greymuck, Zeabos, and Kendell. The hunter and his pet were well suited to watching their back, and Kendell, an all-rounder, was easily paired with anyone.
Though small groups of wights had been constantly hitting the front of the line, they encountered their first serious challenge when they crossed a small creek running through the valley. Before Naragash could follow the vanguard across the stream, an innumerable pack of hairy, gray-skinned ghouls charged out of the smoking underbrush.
Those who tried to grapple Reven burned. Hah’roo’s evasive skills allowed her to launch herself upwards, avoiding those seeking to overwhelm her, while RC’s extraordinary perception gave her an extra few seconds of warning. She dove backwards towards Naragash. The taloned hands reaching for her failed to grab hold, but a set of razor-like claws managed to rake down her leg. The archer screeched in pain as her aura flared red in Joe’s woundsight.
Thankfully, his instinct to jump to her aid was precisely what he was supposed to do. The Hellion’s tactically-focused leader had already worked out this possibility back at the base camp and designated a response. This was Joe’s responsibility.
He locked his eyes onto the ground by Earcellwen and teleported to her, dropping a [Heart Fire] the instant he appeared. The spell’s initial damage was not enough to do much harm to the wights, but the undead instinctively recoiled from the sacred flames, earning him a second to work in. The effect stabilized RC as well as bolstering Reven and Hah’roo. Joe clapped his hand to the bleeding gashes and healed.
Your skill [Healing Touch] has increased to rank 54.
A second later, the towering, reeking half-fiend stood over them, cleaving through the horde of wights leaping out of the brush on either side of Reven’s smoldering path.
Joe healed those around him, adding [Warding Heal] for additional short-term damage reductions. As he was doing so, the rest of the team rushed forward and circled up. Mortalius took the ice-fiend’s place, allowing the tall warrior to move to the edge of the fight. Tezeno, Kendall, and Zaebos expanded the perimeter. The rest worked from inside the ring of allies.
Broon’s skeletons did not last long against the more powerful wights, but the necromancer was more than happy to sacrifice the bony constructs to shield the team and inflict damage. When one of the controlled cadavers was on its last leg, Broon gestured towards it like a symphony conductor, and the skeleton exploded. Shards of jagged bones tore through the ghouls, obliterating any standing immediately beside the detonating skeleton. Almost as quickly as the fleshless soldiers were falling, the necromancer added more from the fallen wights.
Joe focused on targeted heals since his ranged multi-person skill, [Healing Wave], was not nearly as effective as Mortallius’ [Valorus Vitality] spell. Joe’s single target heal was actually slightly better than the cleric’s, but his group heal was miles behind the fomori’s.
He found himself using [Mana Surge] more on his giant teammate than he did on himself. Joe’s [Purge] was unable to affect the corruption the wights were inflicting. His [Dispell Rot] was more effective, but there was something about the corruption that was not purely necromantic in nature. After driving out the undead taint, there was a lingering foulness that he could not expel. This required Mortalius to split between cleansing the malignancy and his other spells. Joe’s [Healing Touch] and his dual [Heart Fires] allowed the cleric to keep pace, but the ferocity of the ghoulish attackers was putting a strain on both of their resource pools.
The most surprising moment for Joe came from Lexaroth. For most of the fight, the goatee-sporting mage had been debuffing enemies and firing purple damage rays. As the number of wights started to overwhelm the team, the warlock stopped and began a more lengthy spell. It took about as long as Joe’s notoriously slow [Grit Razor], manifesting into a dark, rippling curse. A twisting black blot appeared between Lexaroth’s hands. The churning shadows writhed and slashed at the air. A second later the warlock tossed the jagged orb at a wight, causing the magic mass to instantly latch onto the ghoul’s face. It split apart, leaving a bunch of oily shadows that burrowed into the undead head. The two new portions, trailing ebon streamers back to the original blot, launched themselves onto the foreheads of two new wights. These split to become seven. Then fifteen. Then, all of the mob were bound by the squiggling black web.
“Nice work, Kid,” Naragash shouted. “Hit ‘em hard everyone!”
Joe’s woundsight did not work well on the undead, but even with his normal eyes, it was clear what was happening. As Naragash hacked off the arm of an opponent, the same limb flew off all the other ghouls as well. Reven’s burns appeared on the whole host. Arrow holes appeared on each ghoul, matching the arrows lodged into a specific undead.
In seconds, the wights, who had been a severe threat moments ago, were reeling on the verge of defeat.
Joe dropped a [Mana Surge] on Lex as he noted the warlock’s mana pool plummeting towards empty. This allowed the caster to keep his [Chain of Black Wrath] running for the few more seconds needed to wipe out this pack of attackers.
Joe took over healing while Mortalius removed the corruption. The two most deeply tainted were Earcellwen and Zaebos. Joe got a chuckle as he watched the elven archer and the massive hyena sitting together to be cleansed, chatting away in beastspeech. Even though no one but Greymuck actually understood the duo, it was clear the pair were having a friendly bitching contest over who was in worse shape.
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
Just as Joe thought they were ready to move out again, the cleric placed a restraining hand on Joe’s shoulder and tossed a series of hand signs to Naragash.
“Ok, Mort. But be quick,” the leader ordered as she resettled one of her pauldrons. “Ears and Yuk, stay alert for more. Muck, assess the corpses before Broon converts them all. Lex, mana potion. We move out in five.”
Joe looked to the fomori standing beside him expectantly. Mortalius touched his chest and extended his hand to Joe. Even though he did not understand the sign language the cleric was using, it was clear that the large man wanted to give Joe something.
“Uh, sure,” he mused uncertainly until a window opened before his eyes. Mortalius’ scroll displayed light gray lettering on a pitch-black background. One of the spells in the Spirit group was pulsing brightly, drawing Joe’s attention.
[Exorcise] (Spirit) (R) Drive out possessing entities or unnatural conditions. Upgrades the effects of [Purge] to include curses, petrification, possession, demonic infestation, undead infection, and other such pattern-threatening conditions. Cost: Moderate Mana.
Thankfully, Joe had been holding quite a few unspent attribute points just in case this sort of situation arose. As he reviewed his sheet, Joe’s excitement grew. This would be his first rare skill.
Just as he was about to accept, a feeling of doubt swept over him. ‘This would be his first rare.’ That would surely trigger an achievement. He had been pretty haphazard with his advancement. He did not want to make any more mistakes than he might already have done.
Thankfully, just a few feet away was the ultimate guide to all things skill-related, standing fetchingly in her steel breastplate and heavy leather battle kilt. Surely, he had a second to ask her if there was a better way to do this.
“Thanks, Morty. I should have asked you for that already since we both knew [Purge] wasn’t strong enough. Do you mind if I ask Kendell a quick question first?”
The fomori gave Joe’s shoulder a friendly squeeze and nodded his head. He dipped his head towards his displayed sheet before twitching up one eyebrow as if to say, ‘Go ahead. I’ll share anything you need?’
A second later, he also made a fast walking gesture with his fingers before nodding to the scowling cambion. Joe translated that into, ‘But be quick, or Naragash will be on us.’
Joe only had to look in her direction, and Kenda was beside them a second later.
“Nice build, Morty,” the trainer stated after running her eyes over the ebon scroll for merely a second. “Yeah, you need [Exorcise] for sure. You can skip [Healing Halo] and [Valorus Vitality] since you have [Heart Fire] and [Healing Wave]. Morty’s versions are slightly different, but not enough to worry about right now. [Divine Rhapsody] would be great for emergencies. Not so useful for the day-to-day stuff. Ooh. [Armor of the Righteous]! That you should really consider.”
That last spell would add another layer of defense over his gambeson in the form of force armor. Even though Joe knew he needed more armor, he still hated the thought of being weighed down and strapped into a suit of heavy mail. That skill of Morty’s would give him a serious defensive boost for the cost of some stamina, which Joe rarely had to worry about.
“Wait. That’s cool. Look there,” the woman exclaimed, pointing to a different section of the fomori’s scroll.
Kendell was indicating a skill pulsing brightly on Mortalius's Spirit skills list. The weird part was an entry in Joe’s Perception list beating in time with the cleric’s spirit-based spell. Mortalius had a spell called [Angelic Arms], which would conjure a floating spirit-based weapon that the cleric could command mentally. That spell synergized with Joe’s already much-evolved [Fetching Fist].
Kendall was grinning widely. “Taking [Angelic Arms] would also give your first rare skill,” she began before taking a big breath. “Considering the evolutions [Fetching Fist] has already gone through and the fact you use your hand-spell far more than you use [Purge], the achievement you’d get from taking [Angelic Arms] first would surely be a more focused and probably more significant boon than you'd get if you initially took [Exorcise]. I’d go [Angelic Arms], then [Exorcise], and then, if you don’t mind spending your last open point, take [Armor of the Righteous].”
Mortalitus nodded but also cycled his hand in the air to indicate the need for a hasty decision. Joe looked over and saw that the tall, blue-skinned warrior was obviously becoming impatient.
“Damn, we should have done this back at base,” Joe sighed, which also received a nod from the sizable cleric, this one a bit apologetic.
‘Ok, let’s do this.’ Joe upped his Spirit and accepted [Angelic Arms].
Skill Evolution/Upgrade: You have acquired a skill that synergizes with one of your existing skills. Do you wish to evolve and upgrade your uncommon [Fetching Fist] skill to the rare [Glorious Gauntlet] skill? Doing so will move an attribute point from Spirit to Perception.
He gave the screen his assent.
You have learned the rare skill: [Glorious Gauntlet]. This skill will allow you to manifest an armored hand, which you can use to retrieve or manipulate items and deliver touch-based skills in long range. The gauntlet can attack within medium range, inflicting moderate bludgeoning and moderate sacred damage based on the rank of the skill. The hand can lift up to 50 pounds of material plus an additional 2.0 pounds for each skill rank you have with this skill. The hand is agile enough to make simple manipulations of objects or creatures. Cost: Moderate Mana.
“Nice,” Joe crooned. “And here comes the bonus.”
Achievement: You trained your first rare skill. This action has awarded you the following choice of Traits:
[Reclamation]: Finding new uses for old stuff. Your newest skill will allow you to use your [Healing Touch] at range, making a significant portion of [Healing Wave] redundant. You can unlearn [Healing Wave] (adding the skill points (7) to [Healing Touch]) and move an attribute point from Spirit to your unassigned points
[Force Adept]: Build better. +15% to force-based skills
Joe’s [Healing Wave] still only healed a little over a third of his [Healing Touch], but he could blanket a whole group if they were in range. He had not done so yet, primarily due to the mana costs, but his mana pool was massive compared to where it had been. He could afford to cast mass heals now. He would need to spend some severe effort leveling the skill to make it practical for combat.
On the other hand, with the gauntlet, he could now deliver his full [Healing Touch] at range. This would mean he was even less likely to advance [Healing Wave]. He could also use that point to take the [Armor of the Righteous] and still have an emergency point in reserve.
Joe groaned. He wanted both, but he was pretty sure he‘d end up regretting [Reclamation]. He made the windows visible to Kenda.
“I wouldn’t give up [Healing Wave], Joe. Even a weak mass heal is something we could easily need in the dungeon ahead. If you are worried about spending all your points now, then hold on to the armor. [Force Adept] is too good to pass up. It upgrades your new gauntlet now and will boost [Armor of the Righteous] when you get it later.”
Trusting her talent with skills completely, Joe grabbed [Force Adept] and spent a point into his Spirit.
You have learned [Exorcise]
Thanking mute Mortalius, he indicated he was all set but that he might hit him up for [Armor of the Righteous] before too much longer. He wished he could share his skill list with Morty in case the big guy wanted anything. Unfortunately, thanks to [No one], his scroll was blank to everyone but himself, even the savant Kendell.
The group reformed into their stations and stared forward through the thick forest once more.
While they walked, Joe considered the armor he had passed up. Considering how hard the Dirge Wights hit, his gambeson and leather leggings were probably not going to be enough protection.
As they walked, Joe experimented with his [Hide of the Hunter]. He first spread it along his other arm, then across his shoulders and down his back. Not long after, he moved the skull up over his head, turning a portion of the pelt into a headdress that would shield the top of his head and the sides of his face.
Before the ziggurat came into sight, Joe had devised a comfortable way to cover most of the areas likely to be hit by attacks. It wasn’t a fully sealed suit since that would broil him in the hot, heavy air of the nearby jungle. Still, it was a significant improvement from just the single arm covering.