We left the next morning as the sun rose. There wasn't a parade or celebration, not even the leaders of Soyalls came to see us off. Instead, when the town gate opened to let the work crews out, we left with them.
We headed north on the road, Harold had worked out that it would take almost a week before we would reach the fork in the road at Halden Holme near the Wyrm territory, from there it was 3 days west and north to Spring Falls, 5 days west to Bridalford or 8 days east to Taif. I was hoping we would find the necromancer's trail before we reached the fork but only time would tell.
One day turned into two, then to four while we rode. The devilish monster that I was forced to call my mount, grew more and more disapproving and surly of me the further we moved away from civilization. The roaming hills gave way to more desolated plains that used to be fields as well as a few forests that had been burned or torn up. As we travelled I came to the realisation that it might be generations before the Kingdom would be able to reclaim this land. With the deaths of so many the land wouldn't be of use to anyone for a long time, hopefully it would turn back into vibrant forests and grasslands again. We didn't come across anything living during that time. We rode past burnt homesteads and destroyed army camps, when we did see bodies it looked like they had already been gnawed on by at least a dozen different creatures.
I fell into a routine on the journey. I used the morning to practice with my weapon, both staff form and scythe form, then we would carry on our journey for the morning. During the ride I did nothing but focus on staying on my demon, a few times it tried to buck me off when it thought I wasn't paying attention.
Around lunch time, Harold would stop the journey to let the horses rest and I would work on my mana control. I would cast my Light spell and try to mould the light orbs into different shapes while, at the same time, having them spin in a pattern. It wasn't an easy task and more than a few times one of the light orbs would stutter out of existence as my control over it became over extended. After lunch we rode again until sunset at which point we would build an improvised shelter from all the bits and pieces we picked up. My fear that the party had turned into hoarders was realised on the 3rd night after departing Soyalls, when Harold constructed 4 solid walls around a 10 metre square, it even had a small watch tower that rose over the walls.
The nights were split into guard rotation where each of us took a few hours to chill out in the watchtower. While we didn’t expect an attack at night, it was always better to have a night watch rather than never wake up again. My guard shifts consisted of me channelling Detect Life and Detect Evil continuously so that I had a magical detection field alerting me to anything that came near us. Spoiler alert, nothing came near us. Instead I spent my nighttime carving more figurines. While I had wanted to carve a figurine of Raven, I couldn’t decide on how I wanted her to pose, instead I decided to try out a few different poses as practice. It was only after the fifth and final figurine was carved, I realised that the practice pieces turned out looking like The Lonely Hearts adventuring party. We had fought alongside them against the Goblin King but I hadn’t seen them since that final battle, I wondered where they were and hoped that they were doing well. I looked at the finished carving of their captain Gorgeous Gerald, even as a wooden figurine he still had his trademark cheeky smile that could make any woman blush.
On day 7 after leaving Soyalls we passed near the ruins of Halden Holme where Lieutenant Jolts and his unit were attacked by the goblins and lost. Halden Holme looked like an army fort of some sort, I say some sort because it was mostly rubble. It looked like there had been 2 towers at one point but both had collapsed and crushed most of the fort in the process, what remained was a very sorry sight. It only took a few minutes but we determined that nothing had taken up residence inside the ruins so we carried on towards the crossroads.
I must admit that I was worried about how we would track the necromancer from the crossroads. Sure the Soyalls leadership said they saw the necromancer heading north west but now we were a week away from the town, how reliable was that information. Lucky for us, there were still a few months before the Autumn rains set in and that left most of the ground dry and untouched except for the occasional windy day. This meant that when Clair and Raven set about inspecting the tracks on the ground, they easily found that a large group of bipedal creatures turned west; however the tracks were a few days older than expected.
Taylor had me pull out a few of her tools from the bag of holding and she began to measure something magical, she started to explain it but her school and training in magic was so different from mine that I didn’t understand a word she said. Instead, I used my Mana Sense skill to try and pick up any magical residue, like those an animated skeleton or zombie would leave behind. However, while using Mana Sense my attention was drawn to my Soul Lantern that had a faint green light that grew brighter when I moved towards the western road. I wasn’t completely sure what it meant but with my past experiences I was fairly confident that there were wayward or trapped souls to the west.
After a while we all came back together and reported what we found, collectively all indications pointed towards us needing to go west. And so, we began another long stretch of riding. If you are getting tired of me saying it, you can only imagine how tired I was of actually doing it. 6 days after we had turned west, the rest of my part had also reached the same point of travelling fatigue as I had. We started to become complacent, having not seen any evidence of life for the last 3 days, that was when we came across the necromancer’s trail.
I had been struggling to keep my demonic steed on the road, it kept veering off to the left and wanting to stop. I was tired and ready to find out what horse stew tasted like when I turned a wispy ethereal green. I heard the arrow slam into a tree on my left, it had just passed straight through my neck.
"AMBUSH RIGHT!" I shouted.
With a practised ease leapt off the back of my horse while sliding my scythe out of the saddle holder. With almost assassin-like precision and timing, the monster that disguised itself as my horse, kicked me in the chest as it ran off. My super awesome leap turned into what could only be described as an aerodynamic brick attempting to fly as gracefully as a swallow. I crashed awkwardly to the ground on my scythe knocking all the breath out of me.
"They are on the left as well." Clair warned everyone as the sound of metal on metal rang out.
“Walls are up.” Taylor shouted.
I activated Man on the Job while still laying on the ground, I felt my robes form around me while I lay there gasping like a fish out of water. I focused on my Stealth skill trying to get it to activate as well, I was too vulnerable laying here on the ground.
Your stealth skill has failed. You are unable to stealth while Winded.
I fucking hate horses, I thought while continuing to gasp for air. Instead of continuing to curse the fucking stupid horse, I cast Lesser Regeneration and I slowly managed to get my breath back. I focused on the future, where I would have to tie the horse up somewhere and left to fend for itself.
The thought put a smile on my face before I heard Harold shout in pain, I got to my feet while grabbing my scythe and looked around. Taylor had built 2 ice walls and was casting a healing spell on Harold while he held off 3 skeletons wielding swords. Clair stood next to Taylor firing up to the small ledge on the right of the road, I watched a skeleton with a bow take an arrow to its face and collapse to the ground, the magic reanimating it gone. Raven was nowhere to be seen, but as a rogue that meant she was sneaking behind them and picking off any mages or leader types.
I could see more skeletons shambling their way around the ice walls, they had been hiding on the left side of the road and Taylor’s walls had delayed them for a little but if I did nothing they would overwhelm Harold or push past him to reach Taylor and Clair. My hand tightened on my scythe and the blade slowly formed, that was not going to happen. I fired off my identification to see what I was facing.
Name: Skeleton Warrior
Level 6
Type: Uncommon
Description: A reanimated skeleton created by a powerful necromancer. This simple skeleton warrior is capable of basic commands and can wield simple melee weapons.
Health: 200/200
Mana: 50/50
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Effects: Vulnerable to holy damage, Vulnerable to fire damage.
*Note, as this creature is recognised by your Soul Reaper class as an adversary, all combat restrictions are removed from all class abilities (excluding disabled abilities or skills) and you will be able to gain xp from defeating this monster.
Smiling, I used Etheric Step to appear right in front of the skeleton, my scythe was already mid swing when I appeared. The first swing brought the blade all the way up the centre of the first skeleton, its bones clattered to the ground neatly cut in two as I stepped through them. The momentum of my swing meant that the second skeleton suffered the same fate, as the blade came back around. The next two skeletons rushed me at the same time and I shifted my wrists and elbows to counter them. The momentum of my scythe, meant the cut from right to left passed through the neck of the first skeleton with ease but met some resistance as it passed though the second one. I slowed and had to stop my deadly swings to block an overhead chop from the next skeleton.
I felt the vibrations of the impact travel down my arm and realised that it had used a skill of some sort. That could be very dangerous as I hadn’t cast Mage Armour so if I was stabbed, there was a good chance it would go right through my robes. I attacked the second I felt the pressure ease off the scythe, I slid the blade through the gaps between the lower ribs and pulled towards me. I watched as the skeleton fell to the ground, its legs fell into a jumble but the top half remained somewhat intact. I turned a wispy ethereal green again just before the skeleton’s sword lashed out, opening a long cut down my right leg. I stamped down hard on its skull as I saw the cut begin to bleed. I stamped down again and heard a satisfying crunch and the clatter of the sword falling to the ground.
I smiled and looked around to see if there were any other skeletons, when I felt an intense burning pain in my gut, I cried out in pain and looked down to see an arrow sticking out of me. I looked up to see 2 more skeletons holding bows, one of them had an arrow knocked and was aiming at me. I jumped to the left as it fired the arrow, it flew past me and shattered again the ice wall. Just to make sure I used my Identification spell again before I charged them.
Name: Skeleton Archer
Level 8
Type: Uncommon
Description: A skeleton created by the necromancer. This simple monster is capable of basic commands and is the most basic of all monsters.
Health: 200/200
Mana: 50/50
Effects: Vulnerable to holy damage, Vulnerable to fire damage.
*Note, as this creature is recognised by your Soul Reaper class as an adversary, all combat restrictions are removed from all class abilities (excluding disabled abilities or skills) and you will be able to gain xp from defeating this monster.
I used Etheric step to flash over to them just as they both fired arrows at me again, I lashed out with my scythe decapitating both of them and watched as they collapsed into heaps of bones. I looked around to see if there were any other skeletons but there weren't any left on this side of the road. I took a second to look at the arrow still protruding out of me before I accidentally touched the arrow and felt a spike of pain shoot through my body, my vision began to fade for a second before snapping back. I needed to get to Taylor, they could heal me. The sound of metal clashing against metal rang out as I moved back around the ice wall.
"Left side is clear." I said.
"Wild Mothers, Luca." Clair said, as she looked at me.
All the skeletons on this side of the road were all piles on the floor except for a single skeleton that Harold seemed to be keeping alive. Clair had been standing next to Raven and Taylor but Taylor was now rushing over to me, they all looked fine so I allowed myself to smile as I let Man on the Job deactivate.
"Forgotten Gods, I need to take the arrow out before I can heal you, lay down here." Taylor commanded and pointed to the dirt road. "I thought your etheric ability on robes negated attacks."
"It has a cooldown." I groaned, "there were two archers, the second one got me after the first arrow made me phase.”
Taylor rifled through the bag she always carried that was filled with non-standard healing supplies. She pulled out a few cutting tools and a thick strip of leather which she gave to me. I could see the indentations in the leather from previous patients and previous surgeries, with a wince I put the leather between my lips and bit down on it. I will do you a favour and not describe how it tasted, instead I will tell you that I spent the entire time trying to convince my tastebuds to take a holiday.
"This is going to suck." Taylor said, as she used some of the tools she had pulled out to cut off the feathered tip of the arrow. I screamed as the pain washed through me, every cut, bump, twist or push sent another wave rolling through me. “Luca, I need to push the arrow through. That bastard gave the archers barbed arrows.”
“FUFH.” I said through the leather.
“Get ready.” They winced.
I began to draw a few quick breaths getting myself ready for…I screamed as Taylor didn't give me the time to prepare, they pushed the arrow through my stomach and out my back. A few raindrops must have hit my eyes as water ran down my cheeks. I looked at my health.
Health: 1247/1500
Health: 1230/1500
Health: 1207/1500
Health: 1300/1500
I sighed in relief as Taylor's health spell activated and I felt the familiar icy touch spread through my body, my stomach turned frigid as the wound kitted itself back together. When the spell was finished it felt as if my stomach had been left out of the covers on a cold winter night. I groaned again in half pain from the cold and half from the stiffness that Taylor's healing spell left.
"There you go, good as new." They said as they took the leather out of my mouth and put it back in their satchel.
"Barbed arrows suck." I moaned as I got back to my feet, I wobbled and used my scythe as a crutch and we joined Clair and Raven watching Harold. Harold was fighting the skeleton one on one, however he wasn't attacking anymore. Instead it looked like he was trying to perfect a move but I wasn’t sure what it was.
"2 coppers says he gets the skill evolution from this." Raven said to us as we joined them.
“What skill?” I asked.
“Looks like a counter attack of some sort.” Raven replied.
I took a minute to study Harold and his movements and suddenly it made sense. Skeletons are easy monsters to fight but they also are the easiest enemy to use as training dummies to evolve or perfect a skill against. The reason for this is simple, they have a simple attack pattern and only if you are unlucky or get swarmed it’s unlikely they will kill you. They were only truly deadly in numbers when they could overwhelm your defence.
Harold had figured out the skeleton’s simple attack pattern, overhead slash into horizontal left to right cut, followed by a thrust. I watched intently for a minute before I realised Harold's problem. It looked like he was trying to dodge the overhead chop, parry the horizontal cut and then counter the thrust, but his footing was causing him to move too far away to get the perfect parry to set up the counter attack.
"I'll take that action." I said to Raven.
"I think he'll do it." Clair said, as a group we looked at Taylor expectantly.
"You lot are so childish." She teased but held her hand out, we gave her the coins to look after and mediate the gambling.
We watched Harold step to the side, use his shield to deflect the slash and then side step. He slowly perfected the first two manoeuvres, I could see him holding back the obvious attack after sidestepping the skeleton's first blow. When the skeleton thrust forwards, Harold would attempt to step past the blow into the skeleton’s guard, to put him in a prime position for an instant kill. Unfortunately he would always side step a little too far and end up out of position or bump into the skeleton causing it to stumble backwards.
It was quite amazing to see and I was impressed with Harold’s determination to evolve his skill. I took a second to look around to see if anyone realised the slight insanity we were witnessing. A gnome in plate armour with a shield and sword gracefully dancing through a practiced routine, while a reanimated skeleton wearing shredded blue clothes attempted to murder him with a rusty shortsword. I kinda wished I had popcorn. Eventually, as all things must, it came to an end. It had been almost 20 minutes since I was healed before he finished it off. Heat radiated from him as he stood victorious over the pile of bones on the floor, the sweat pouring down his face and matting his hair tainted the impressive sight. However, it didn't look like he managed to get the critical hit or the skill he wanted but we all waited for Taylor’s ruling.
"Damn." Harold muttered softly, but we all still heard it.
"BOOOO!" Raven shouted and threw part of an apple she had been eating eating.
Harold's shield whipped up and deflected the apple harmlessly, he looked at us intently for a second assessing if we were hostile before realising that it was just us, he smiled and I saw him visibly relax.
"Did you get the evolution?" Taylor asked.
"No," he said shaking his head, "I could almost feel it but I just can't get my positioning right."
"What variant are you trying to unlock?" I asked while collecting my 8 copper coins from Taylor.
"Did you just bet I wasn't going to unlock my evolution?" Harold asked scowling.
I put the coins in a simple leather pouch and tossed it to Harold, he caught in and his scowl deepened. While I had bet against him I still felt bad for my friend that I had won the bet. I did want him to get the skill evolution.
“You know how it is," I smiled, "didn't you bet that Raven wouldn't evolve her class when she hit level 25?"
Harold's frown disappeared as he flushed. He had bet me 1 gold piece that when Raven hit level 25 she wouldn’t be offered a different class from Rogue, despite her wishing to get a more theft/stealth oriented class. I had taken those odds believing that Raven had done enough to get the variation but in the end she hadn’t.
"HE WHAT?!" Raven exploded. "I demand those winnings, that is outrageous!"
Taylor, Clair and I burst out laughing as Raven shouted at Harold, she ignored her own hypocrisy claiming that a class evolution was far too important to bet on.