Blazh and Vasili charged at Redmane from across the church, smashing aside pews and sending prayer books and votive candle holders hurtling through the air on their way.
Redmane broke out into a sprint, happy to meet them in the middle.
Blazh’s stature gave him a monstrous stride length. He outpaced his stout comrade immediately, met Redmane with a downward blow of his fist. For a beast his size, he was fast. Deceptively so. Redmane saw his hand come down, thought he had time to duck aside.
He didn’t.
The blow launched him. He flew, and there was a crack of broken bones as his body impacted against one of the stone pillars framing the rows of pews on the outside.
Corpus: 2423
For a moment he saw nothing but stars and a blurry suggestion of a room, and the hazy shapes of two large beastmen barreling toward him.
It occurred to him that perhaps their level difference wasn’t so significant. Either that, or they were both strong for their level.
Redmane fell to a crouch, spat out a mouthful of blood. He looked up, his eyes went wide and he dove aside just before Vasili’s charge blasted straight through the pillar.
The building shook. A section of the pillar broke loose and fell flat, cracking the pews beneath it and the tiles on the floor.
Redmane was back on his feet, in time to see another hammerfist coming down from Blazh. Redmane stepped aside in time, only to dive for cover again to evade another charge from Vasili.
Blazh always had Redmane within his reach. And he had ferocious speed to match that reach, power enough to crack stone, smash furniture into splinters, send Redmane tumbling or sailing through the air. Swift as he was, Redmane had to devote his full attention to the fists swinging at him from above, without forgetting to keep one eye on the living cannonball that was Vasili.
For a pair of giants, they were vexingly elusive targets.
Blazh’s long arms were the first obstacle. If he could negate that advantage, he could accomplish everything else.
It was time to bring equalizers into play.
Carnivorous Metamorph
Gnosis: 639
Out came the scorpion-tail of the Manticore.
Blessing of Might
Gnosis: 629
Gnosis poured into his muscles, filling them up with energy.
With his movement speed enhanced, Redmane found himself able to slip Blazh’s long punches and close the distance. But the giant was a canny boxer, who knew how to take full advantage of his stature. Redmane rushed in and Blazh angled out, his lead fist darting at Redmane’s head like a spear, a stabbing weapon with reach, a tool of area denial.
Once he had Redmane held out at that range again, down came the rear hand. Like a giant’s hammer it fell, destroying whatever it touched.
Redmane prudently chose not to be in its path wherever it landed.
While his comrade had Redmane preoccupied, Vasili leapt up into the air and came crashing down like a boulder. Redmane dove away again, before the impact shattered the furniture, cratered the floor and kicked up a blast wave of dust, splinters and flecks of masonry.
Blazh was already on his way back in to shield Vasili with punches.
This time, Redmane was faster.
He dipped beneath a left hook from Blazh, shredded Vasili’s fat midsection with two claws and a sting from his tail on his way by.
Bleeding (8)
Venom (5)
If he couldn’t overpower them, he could whittle them away. He had the edge in speed, now he set out to widen that edge until it became an insurmountable advantage.
It would take some time. And patience. And focus.
Bloodthirst made this easier and more difficult at the same time.
With Bloodthirst and Blessing of Might operating simultaneously, it was even worse.
His body, of its own volition, wanted to lunge in at every perceived opening. He had to check himself, repeatedly. And when he scored more hits with his claws, on Blazh’s leg and Vasili’s side, the Bloodthirst intensified, literally. It made him wonder if ‘The Beast Within’ was simply a metaphor for one’s violent urges or an actual presence which had inhabited him when he took the Class Evolution.
Questions for a later time. For now, his strategy was working.
Redmane moved faster and faster, thanks to Bloodthirst. And the giants moved slower and slower, thanks to Venom.
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When he couldn’t reach with his tail, Venom Breath covered the gap.
Flame Breath worked splendidly on sensitive places, like eyes.
Burning, bleeding and envenomed, Blazh and Vasili fought with increasing frustration and fury, and declining physical faculties. They didn’t appear to have any special Skills. If they were, they were not using them. Evidently these two prevailed on their teamwork and sheer physicality. They threw fists and feet, elbows and stomps. Vasili charged and leapt, always on the move, while Blazh pursued him with a doggedness untouched by the conditions Redmane was stacking on them both.
Redmane had to admit that all of this would have worked on a normal Imbued.
But he was far from normal.
Blazh let out a roar of frustration, swung a wild left hand.
It was slow enough to counter directly now. So Redmane chopped it off at the forearm.
The giant bellowed in pain and looked at his stump. Blood spurted up from its artery. While he was doing that, Redmane swooped in low and and slashed his leg off with the same claw.
Vasili’s eyes grew wide with shock, and fury.
He too let out a bolstering cry and charged at Redmane. But without his partner to protect him before and after the explosive moment of impact, it was a simple thing to hamstring the stocky beastman as he passed.
Redmane sidestepped the charge. Blood sprayed across the wall as his claw slashed open Vasili’s leg.
Vasili hobbled, growling, turned to face Redmane.
Who was already leaping in for the kill.
Lion’s Lunge
Gnosis: 624
Powered by more than one Skill, Redmane’s claw impacted on Vasili’s face with the same level of force the hefty beastman could deliver when he leapt and then fell like a boulder. The primary difference being the size of the object delivering said force. Vasili was huge. Redmane’s claw, not as much. Making the force all the more concentrated.
Vasili’s head exploded.
Bits of bloody skull flew in every direction like shrapnel from a bomb. Brains painted the walls and the floor and Redmane’s already bloodied face. Vasili’s freshly decapitated body dropped to its knees, then fell forward and made the floor shake one last time.
Redmane noticed an eyeball had landed on his shoulder. He popped it in his mouth like a grape, and chewed on it as he turned to attend to Blazh.
The lanky giant stared at the remains of his comrade in terror.
Those eyes shifted to Redmane as he approached, and the beastman growled.
“Senseless beast…” Blazh rasped. “Monster…”
“We’re all monsters now, aren’t we?” Redmane asked. “The only difference is, I was a monster before. And before that I was a cursed king. And before that I was a god.”
“But the world is transformed, and once again, so am I,” he added.
Redmane crouched down so that he could be eye to eye with Blazh. He put his hand on the lanky giant’s shoulder, and grinned.
“Now the outside reflects the inside, for all of us.”
Then he bit Blazh’s throat out, and feasted.
Almoner Blazh Slain
Abbot Vasili Slain
Tasks Completed: 3/3
Level Up
Level 63 —> Level 64
Level 64 —> Level 65
Level 65 —> Level 66
Level 66 —> Level 67
Zone Tasks Completed
Zone: Deepwell Monastery has been cleared
Level 67 —> Level 68
Level 68 —> Level 69
Quality Points awaiting allocation: 6
This Zone (Priory of the Well/Deepwell Monastery) will be integrated into the domain of House Redmane
—
Skill Ranks Up
Hunter's Mark
Common Class Skill
Rank 2 - Evolution Possible
Sustained - (No Gnosis Cost)
(Rank 1) The Imbued selects a single creature or type of creatures in an area to be marked as Prey, which confers an advantage to the Imbued when attacking and defending themselves from creatures thusly marked.
One creature or creature type may be marked as Prey at a time, and changing this designation requires a second use of the Skill.
(Rank 2) The Imbued may select a second single creature or type of creatures to be marked as Prey, thereby conferring the benefits of Hunter's Mark to a greater number of creatures at the same time. If a creature targeted should possess both types, the Imbued gains double the relevant attack and defense bonuses.
Tracking
Common Class Skill
Rank 2 - Evolution Possible
Passive
(Rank 1) The Imbued is capable of following subjects through the wilderness, using the subtle physical signs of their passage and his higher senses as a Hunter. Any corporeal being may be tracked, but a creature or creature type marked as Prey by the Hunter's Mark ability is especially easy to follow.
(Rank 2) Extends the range with which the Imbued is capable of perceiving beings marked as Prey. Furthermore, if a single specimen is selected, rather than a type, the Imbued is capable of tracking this creature whether or not it leaves any physical sign of its passing.
Flame Breath
Bloodline Skill [Monstrous (Rock Warg)]
Rank 2 - Evolution Possible
Active
25 Gnosis
The Monster belches forth a cone of fire. This attack has the following Weapon Profile:
Damage +30
Armor Penetration 5
Evasion Negation 10 (Spread 5)
Corpus Damage over Time (Burning 5)
Greater Ranks increase the dimensions of the cone, and the damage and qualities of the fire.
—
Corpus: 8565
Redmane dined on the remains of Blazh and Vasili, and when it was done he consulted his System notifications and let out a low whistle of surprise.
Hunter’s Mark and Tracking had finally evolved, at Level 65.
It made him stop and wonder about the pace with which the System usually doled out Skills and Skill Ranks to normal Imbued.
No wonder Valtr and Vengarl and their Coterie looked at him with raised eyebrows sometimes.
He took the points and placed them in Fortitude, so as to keep it close to the other two. It wouldn’t do to have a Quality fall behind anymore, they were all too important.
Fortitude 40 —> 46
And now he possessed a Zone in the middle of another, hostile Zone.
Right outside the door lay the town of Rollo’s Pass.
Redmane checked to see if he could call up the map here, now that this area belonged to House Redmane.
Sure enough, he could. The Priory of the Well was a single blue structure surrounded by red.
He could use this place as a base of operations while he cleared the town.
And perhaps later, when some of the fancier functions of the Sanctuary were unlocked, he could return to the Abyssal Well from Häerz Castle quickly if he wanted to ask the Envoy something.
But as Redmane watched the map, he noticed something was happening.
The numbers and designations were… Flickering.
----------------------------------------
Both Jarel Craith and Lar Tathvaal leaned over the map of Volos as it stuttered. All of the Zone tags that weren’t yet blue, which was to say most of them, were in a state of flux. The ‘Monster Type’ designation and level ranges were all changing rapidly, over and over.
“What’s it doing?” asked Lar.
“I…” Jarel blinked his eyes, leaned in closer. “I’m not sure. It would appear that the System is attempting to reconcile a sudden change in data, all over the continent.”
Lar looked at him expectantly. Jarel frowned.
“Well you have eyes, don’t you? Look!”
Lar smirked and placed his attention on the map.
The ‘Beastman’ designation was fracturing. Becoming a category.
In its place, new markers were appearing. The most common were ‘Mongrel’ and ‘Chimera.’
And the Level of nearly every zone was ticking up rapidly.
Jarel’s lips pressed together, tension at the corners of his eyes.
“I believe the Blight is evolving…”