I held my head in my hands as I scowled at my status intently, as if my scowl would change what I saw in front of me.
Name: Luca Piel
Class: Soul Reaper level 10
Xp to next level: 500/1500
Health: 2500/2500
Mana: 3500/3500
Stamina: 3750/3750
Characteristics
Strength: 30
Dexterity: 45
Constitution: 25
Intelligence: 35
Wisdom: 35
Charisma: 25
Abilities
Right Clothes for the Job
Cooldown: None
Effect 1: The caster can conjure a full set a black Reaper robes. Effect 2: The caster can become ethereal for a few seconds and negate all incoming damage.
Man on the Job
Cooldown: None
Effect 1: The caster becomes harder to detect physically and magically. Recording/scrying/viewing devices/spells may show distortion where the caster is. Effect 2: The caster emits a shroud of uncertainty which may cause fear, vomiting, rage, tunnel vision, paralysis and self doubt. Effect 3: The shroud ability is able to be turned on or off. Effect 4: If caster attacks all effects are voided and a large taunt is triggered.
Touch of the Reaper Disabled
Cooldown: None
Effect 1: The Reaper can see the exact amount of damage the target has caused to sentient creatures. Effect 2: All damage from attacks is 2n slashing where n is the exact amount of damage from effect 1. Effect 3: Any attack is able to piece through any barrier and bypass all armour.
Final Voyage
Cooldown: None
Effect 1: When a creature with a soul is slain the ability holder must escort their soul to its final resting place. Effect 2: For each soul, their last rites will be made known as the journey begins.
Ethereal Step
Cooldown: None
Effect 1: The caster turns ethereal and moves up to 15 ft from the original starting place. Effect 2: When teleporting an after image is left in the point of origin that slowly fades after 2 seconds or takes any damage.
Soul Lantern
Cooldown: None
Effect 1: The Soul Lantern shelters and holds lost souls safely until a time when they can be put to rest. Effect 2: The Soul Lantern can be attached to the user’s weapon. Effect 3: Souls can be drawn to the Soul Lantern from 500 feet away.
Restrictions
Reaper's Purpose: A Reaper is a non-combatant to any creature that possesses a soul. Should a Reaper attack all abilities are negated, the Reaper's Abilities become unusable and a powerful taunt is emitted. The only exceptions are towards creatures with stolen souls or have taken souls from their eternal rest.
Skills
Danger Sense (greater) level 9
Long blades (Master) level 10 (max)
Polearms level 8
Staff Combat (Master) level 10 (max)
Combat Grace (greater) level 5
Unarmed combat level 2
Climbing level 5
Swimming level 6
Barter level 4
Hiking level 2
Animal Handling level 9
Mana Sense (greater) level 10 (max)
Mana Manipulation level 10 (max)
Mana Control level 5
Modify Spell (greater) level 7
Dual Casting level 9
Stealth Casting level 2
Silent Casting level 4
Danger Sense level 6
Reaping - Wheat level 2
Stealth (greater) level 10 (max)
Crafting level 10 (max)
Wood Carving (Master) level 10 (max)
Bone Carving level 2
Tracking level 2
Acrobatics level 5
Spells
Identification (greater) level 9
Message (greater) level 10 (max)
Mage Armour (greater) level 10 (max)
Mage Hand (greater) level 10 (max)
Death Bolt (greater) level 10 (max)
Invisibility level 10 (max)
Charm Humanoid (greater) level 10 (max)
Detect Life (greater) level 10 (max)
Haste level 8
Mage Shield (minor) level 3
Lesser Regeneration (minor) level 9
Detect Evil (greater) level 9
Light (greater) level 5
Empower Attack level 7
I stared at the oddity, Touch of the Reaper was disabled, I wasn't sure what that meant. I had heard of people losing abilities but never one being deactivated. I had a suspicion that it was because I failed to kill the necromancer on the hill, the fucker had run away when the adventurers attacked the goblin king and the death knights had intercepted me when I’d charged him. Touch of the Reaper was meant to be for the more unsavoury monsters out there that stole souls from the recently deceased. The ability meant I would be able to kill the creatures that most people wouldn’t be able to face. With it disabled would I finally be able to gain xp from combat or get involved in fighting? I’d been struggling to find a reliable way to gain xp since combat only ever awarded between 1-20xp. This could be the solution to my levelling problems.
I lost track of time while staring at my status, so much so that I didn't notice the rest of my party join me at the table.
"But why? I mean he did as much as the rest of us yet he gets to skip out on the awards ceremony? It's not fair, you know I hate those things." Clair grumbled sounding like a petulant child.
"It’s because your class doesn't force you into an alternative plane of existence." Harold said, passing a mug of something over to me. “If there had been a way to get Luca to go, I would have forced him to come with us.”
"It wasn't that bad." Raven weighed in, "You got to see Lord Charles make an absolute fool of himself."
Clair grumbled again but it was more in sullen acceptance than anything else.
"How did it go?" I asked.
"Same as every other congratulations ceremony," Taylor replied, "everyone cheered, ladies swooned, gentlemen proposed, babies were kissed, speeches were given."
"The rewards weren't that bad." Raven added, she held up a pair of vicious looking daggers, "We all got gifts from the royal treasury."
"Here is yours." Harold said, handing over a plain brown bag.
I took the bag from him and cast my Identification spell, my eyes tingled for a second then I received a notification that made my jaw drop.
Item: Masterful Bag of Holding
Rarity: Legendary
Weight: 1.5lb
Description: Created by a Master Space Mage, this bag has a huge storage area and gains no weight from items put inside. Any non living items put inside will enter a state of stasis. This bag will not accept living creatures into its dimensional storage area.
Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
Requirements: Soulbound.
"Damn, this is really well made." I said appreciatively, I'd seen some good bags of holding but this was on a new level.
A new notification popped up asking me if I wanted to soulbind the bag, I agreed to it and I felt my mana connect to the bag and knowledge flooded into me letting me know that my new bag was empty.
"They pulled it out of the King's vault apparently." Harold said, smiling. "Raven was tempted to change her request to a second bag like that."
"Well yeah, just imagine all the loot I could stash in there." Raven said, her voice filled with awe.
I smiled as I put the single strap over my shoulder, I picked up my adventurer's pack and brought it to the opening of the bag. I was not sure what I was expecting to happen but I watched in awe as the bag of holding’s brim widened so that the pack could fit in it. I heard my friends gasp as I released the pack and it vanished.
"I've never seen someone use a bag of holding before." Clair said softly. “I’d heard about them but…”
"It's quite something, there was this noble I partied up with who had one," I reminisced, "he said they were the best thing money could buy if you could convince a Space Mage to make one."
"You partied with a noble?" Harold asked.
"A long time ago, may he rest in peace." I said, my thoughts turning morose as I remembered him.
The conversation died down for a little bit as food arrived and we all began eating, it was traditional tavern food, bread and stew. The stew turned out to be catfish stew and the bread was fresh which was a treat. I tuned out everything while I ate the tender bits of spiced fish and vegetables. It was only once I had finished, I started to take notice of what was going on around me. Clair was showing off a new bow that apparently she had requested from the vault, it was distinctly elven and it was made from dark red wood. She pushed some mana into the bow and the enchantments lit up the side. I wasn’t an expert in enchanting or reading magical runes but Clair said that the runes were for magic amplification. Taylor was next to show off their reward, they produced a black and blue leather bound grimoire that made the air around it cold.
“It’s the Tome of the Frozen Wanderer.” They said while beaming, “There was a legend of a wanderer who would roam the mountains to the north, they were the guardian of the tribes and protected them from the mountain giants.”
“That sounds like something out of a story book.” Raven said dubiously.
“That may be,” Taylor nodded, “but this grimoire has lots of utility ice spells so it should help me get better spells and possibly a class advancement quest." I nodded in agreement, that would be a very useful item.
"What did you get Harold?" I asked not seeing what he'd received.
"I got some new boots, they are enchanted to allow me to use an ability called War Stomp. It has a chance to knock opponents down in a small area around me."
"That'll be handy." I said, I understood his choice. Crowd control had been tricky for him in the fight on the hill to the goblin king.
"They're blue." Clair said trying to act casual but I could see she was trying not to laugh.
"No way." I said, my eyes going wide "That's what? 3 or 4 pieces of equipment now?"
"4." Harold groaned.
"It's okay," Raven said grinning, "there's no need to look so blue!" She burst out laughing and Clair joined her. Taylor gave a small snort of amusement.
I shook my head, the poor gnome was going to end up looking like a frozen mountain gnome with his blue armour, blue leggings, blue under shirt and now blue boots. We had all ribbed him about it at some point but this was getting ridiculous, he’d even asked for his equipment to be dyed a different colour but apparently it would affect the enchantments. I didn’t know if that was true or if Taylor had made it up but it was kind of funny.
"In other news," Harold said, trying to change the subject amidst the giggles. "We have a new quest, or more like a follow up quest."
Harold made some hand gestures that I recognised as those needed to share a quest. A few seconds later a quest notification popped up.
You have received a new quest.
Quest: Kill the Necromancer.
Type: Legendary.
Description: The kingdom rejoices after the battle at The Folly, however the Necromancer managed to escape and has fled. The kingdom has asked for your help in eradicating the threat once and for all. Hunt down and kill the Necromancer.
Reward: Peace in the Kingdom, 2 items from the king's vault. Reputation increased with the kingdom, a noble title in the Royal Court and lands to fit the title.
Penalties for failure or refusal: Reputation loss with the kingdom. Restriction placed on all Soul Reaper class abilities. Potential loss of Soul Reaper Class.
Accept: yes/no
I didn't want the lands or the title that came from completing the quest but 2 items from the vault did sound interesting, especially since my new bag of holding had been in there. The restrictions on my class abilities however meant that the choice was a no brainer, doubly so since I already had a quest that wanted me to kill the necromancer. I accepted and realised that everyone else was looking at the same notification.
"Do we know which way he went?" I asked.
"I've spoken to the Magic Society and they have been trying to scry them. They think that the necromancer might have gone through some of the cave tunnels to get off the plateau, then north west towards Wilds Watch." Harold said, reading it off a piece of parchment.
"Wilds Watch? That doesn't make sense," Taylor said, with a deep frown on their face, "they'd have to fight their way through the reinforcements that were stuck in Bridalford to get to Wilds Watch."
"They might not have known that the capital’s reinforcements were stuck there." Clair pointed out. “Or maybe the reinforcements might have suffered heavy casualties, they were defending the town from a greater wind wyrm.”
"Either way, we need to move fast," Harold decided, "we can ride to Mountain Guard and try to get through the city. It’s the fastest way to get off the plateau and I don’t fancy jumping off the cliffs."
"Our horses are in the city stables. We can't press them too hard though, their wounds may have healed but they are still going to be exhausted from the Mountain Guard incursion." Clair warned.
We headed to the stables and Clair asked if I could store her pack in my bag of holding, when I agreed everyone else made the same request. It was practical as it meant that the horses were carrying less weight and they weren’t going to tire as fast so we could ride for longer. I did warn everyone that I would be able to see everything in their packs, I didn't want to be accused of peeping when it was impossible not to. Raven, Taylor and Harold removed a few items from their packs and put them into their saddlebags. I looked at Clair who raised an eyebrow suggestively at me as she’d passed me her pack. She’d given me that look a few times in the past and I realised that there probably was something suggestive in there, maybe it was a certain purple negligee she’d shown me before. I felt my cheeks burn a little at the memory but I resisted looking at her pack.
Suddenly I felt something shift in my connection with the bag of holding, I frowned and felt my connection to the bag. It was still there and still active but when I thought about the items in my bag of holding, I had the feeling that my friend's packs were sealed and I couldn’t see inside of them. I pushed harder to peer inside Clair’s pack but a notification popped up, I tried to ignore it but it wouldn’t go away.
Item: Clair Fairwood’s personal backpack
Rarity: Unique
Weight: 30lb
Description: This is the backpack of Clair Fairwood and contains her personal items. this item can only be withdrawn
Restriction: This item requires the permission of the owner to view its contents and access them.
I stared at the notification with disbelief and confusion, had my bag understood my wishes not to invade my friend’s privacy? I had heard of items that could grow with their owner and could change slightly with their wishes but I'd never owned anything that could do that. I shrugged, I guess my bag of holding had some quirks that I needed to figure out.
We left the city shortly afterwards, no one could find a reason to stay for longer and Taylor had already restocked our potions after the battle. And just like that the hunt for the necromancer had begun. Honestly it wasn't all that exciting, we left the city and began riding across what was left of the grasslands. A few weeks ago it would have been a wonderful ride with picturesque scenes of nature, small clearings in forests with old fire pits, windswept grass making the whole area look like a painting. Now however, in the aftermath of the invasion it was just churned earth, discarded weapons and armour and piles of ash from the cremation piles. Everything stank of dried blood, rotting meat and burned flesh.
I watched my friends as the reality of the past few months set in. The goblins and undead had swept across the kingdom with almost no resistance. The nobles and army leaders had refused to believe that there was a goblin horde until it was too late. Ursingdom had been burned to the ground and the 3 noble families that had lived there were slaughtered. Taif had been overrun and the small army that had been stationed there couldn’t hold the horde back. Halden Holme had apparently been destroyed, or at least there weren’t any survivors that had reached Mountain Guard before the goblin horde. Mountain Guard had held back the horde for 2 months before the city fell, the goblins had tunneled into the city and opened the gates. The final battle had lasted days and at any point things could have turned for the worst, it was only thanks to a lucky break that we even got a chance to confront the goblin king.
The first person to realise the true devastation was Clair. I watched her activate her ability Call of the Wilds which was meant to summon some of the local wildlife to help. I think she was going to ask them if they’d seen the necromancer but nothing answered her call, not even a bird. She sagged in her saddle and her face became a mask of sorrow. Taylor was next, they pulled out a measuring rod from one of their saddle bags. I’d seen them use it to measure the ambient mana before and it had proved useful when we’d been stuck in a Dungeon maze. I activated my skill Mana Sense which just came back saying that the ambient mana was predominantly death attuned mana. Taylor started at the rod and, I assumed, the results before putting it away. Raven didn’t seem too bothered by anything, however I knew that she was good at masking her emotions. Harold was the most affected, I watched him as we rode past the swaths of dead humans and goblins. Tears ran down his face freely.
"So where are we headed?" I asked when we stopped to rest our horses after a few hours.
"Mountain Guard is going to be our first hurdle, the city's in ruins and there are still goblin packs and undead that roam around, according to the king’s scryers. We will need to be careful passing through but there’s most of a royal marine unit there that we can get some help from." Harold replied. "Soyalls is going to be the second stop, the town somehow managed to hold back the horde and we need to check in on them. Apparently part of the town was burnt down during the defence and the king has asked us to deliver the some aid."
"A report?" Raven asked. “Who made that?”
"I didn’t get to see the report but apparently it was received just before we fought the goblin king at The Folly. They haven’t heard anything from them since then and the king wanted to make sure they survived the retreating horde.” Harold said with a grim look on his face.
“How far is Soyalls?” I asked.
“It’s a 4 day ride from Sunak so we should be there by the end of the week depending on the situation at Mountain Guard.
"A week?!" I groaned.
I hated horse riding. I hated saddle sores, the pain that you get in your hips, knees and ankles from being bounced around for hours on end. I hated the smell of horses and their farts that smelled like something crawled into your nostrils and died. I hated the flies they attracted and how the insect bites felt like they were ripping off chunks of your flesh. And horses, fuck horses, horses are the absolute worst. They are fussy, stubborn and temperamental. They also bite and kick for no reason at all. I much preferred walking on my own feet, I would not throw myself into rivers, hedges, trees, onto the road, bite myself while trying to eat lunch or shit on my pack on purpose. I may have a few unresolved issues with them but I stand by my statement. Horse riding is the worst.
"Couldn't we find a portal specialist?" I asked, I looked over at Taylor as they were part of The Magic Society.
"They are busy with making sure the rest of the kingdom is still functioning, the platinum it would cost to hire one right now is not something we could afford." They replied. I winced, normally a portal specialist would only cost 50 silver coins or a gold coin at most.
"Well shit."
"What's wrong? Is the big bad Soul Reaper afraid of a little horsey?" Raven teased.
"I’m not scared of horses, I just hate riding them. They are always so temperamental, they’re worse than a cat." I said as I remounted my horse to continue on our journey.
I sighed and resigned myself to the days of horse riding and the pains that were going to come with it. As if it sensed my disappointment of being stuck with it, the bastard horse bucked and almost sent me flying. I gripped the saddle horn even tighter. Both Clair and Raven burst out laughing and I heard a few other laughs, but I didn’t dare take my eyes off the monster as it turned its long face to look at me. Its lips peeled back revealing its yellow teeth before neighing, giving me the impression that it was laughing at me. I swore softly that I would turn this creature into a curry when I was done with it.
The rest of that day was uneventful as we rode onwards. The churned ground and piles of burned bodies turned to burnt fields and destroyed homesteads, the dead lay where they fell but there were work parties slowly gathering them up. Each work party was escorted by a few royal marines in their shiny armour, the dents from the fighting was obvious on some of them. Even then, we left them behind and we continued forward through the destruction. I could continue describing the scenery but it was all the same and honestly, it was depressing.
We couldn’t speak while we rode as the wind stole all the sound that came out of our mouths. Instead we used hand gestures, we’d originally created them to use in Dungeons while we were trying to plan attacks silently. We talked about how we were planning to implement our rewards into our current party tactics and what changes would need to be made. In the end nothing much had changed, Clair's bow just meant she dealt more damage and had a greater range. Raven's daggers dealt a stronger poison damage and Taylor hadn't managed to learn any spells from the grimoire just yet. Harold's boots were a talking point but nothing was decided as we were unsure if the ability differentiated between friend or foe. We’d have to test them at some point but that was not going to happen just yet.
It was nearly dusk when we reached the royal marine camp at Mountain Guard. The sun had swooped down low and bathed the city walls in a deep red making it look like they were weeping blood. The city's ruins cast long shadows that seemed to move if you didn't watch them and a gentle breeze brought the smell of death wafting through the area. It felt entirely too ominous seeing as this side of the city's wall was almost completely intact. Two large holes were blown out either side of the main gatehouse, the large metal portcullis had been twisted like something big had pushed its through.
"Halt!" A marine commanded and we slowed our horses. "Identify yourselves or head back to Sunak, this area is unsafe."
"Greetings, we are The Wanderers and my name is Harold." Harold replied, "I have a letter from the King for your commander."
"Ah, you're the adventurers right? Good to see you all, come with me. The captain is expecting you." The guard said waving us over.
We followed the guard into the camp, he led us to what looked like a stable and some stable hands rushed out to take the horses from us. I frowned at my soul lantern as it pulsed green, I was about to ask the guard a question when my mother fucking horse decided to bite me.
Fuck horses.