“This isn’t good. This is not good,” Finn was tapping his nose, deep in thought. “We can’t check it either… Maybe there is an issue with the quest. That’s got to be it.”
“What are you going on about Finn?” I asked as I shifted my weight from one knee to the other.
“You don’t have your journal yet I’m guessing,” Finn said.
“I don’t think so. I don’t have one in my traveler's bag,” I said.
“I’m pretty sure after this quest you will get your journal. It marks down the knowledge you obtain in Phyrelia. If you had one, we could take a better look at this quest.” Finn sat on his haunches and strung his bow over his knees. His teeth were deep in his lip as he watched the nightflyers chatter, eat and drink.
“What do you see?” Finn asked turning to me.
I looked back at the campsite expecting there to be some secret or enemy I wasn’t aware of. Something about those bones really freaked out Finn. He had called the big ugly one a Gravekeeper. What did the system say about it again? All that information had gone by so fast that I didn’t have a chance to really understand anything.
Finn stuck his furry hand out again pointing it at the supposed leader. “Focus on the ugly one. Really focus on it. You’re going to need to level up insight to understand. Go on, focus on him.”
I squinted my eyes, gritted my teeth and did everything I could to capture every detail of the gravekeeper. He had finished the last blackened piece of meat and was wiping the head of his weapon in a patch of green grass. There was a detail I didn’t notice before. He had on a strange pendant that hung low from his thick neck. I couldn’t make out what it was from this distance, but something was off about it. Then something else flickered to life above the nightflyers head.
[Veng Rath: Level ??]
The green text floated about his head as if hung by an invisible string. It bobbed up and down with each sway of the big nightflyers body. As I watched him a system notification popped up.
[Insight increased from Level 0 -> 1]
“See anything yet?” Finn asked.
“Yeah. I can see his name, but his level isn’t showing,” I said crouching back down into the shadows.
“Good, at least you leveled up your insight. The higher your level in insight the more information you can obtain about the world. Take your time trying to understand as much as you can. Got it?”
“Got it.”
“Here’s the details you can’t see. That ugly one is level 17. His goons are level 12 each. Now I could probably take all three of them on at once but…” Finn trailed off. His eyes glistened in the moonlight.
“But what?” I prodded.
“The ugly one is a Gravekeeper Cleric. They’re nasty to fight against. They’ll try to outnumber you with—” A sense shocked through my body and without thinking I shoved Finn down into the mud. A high-pitched whistle sound cut through the air and ended with a loud thud behind us. An arrow was stuck in the twisted and rotting wood.
“Think ya can sneak up on, eh?” A raspy voice called from the campsite. “Get your hides out here now ya cowards and fight us with your faces in the light.”
“Nice reflex, Miles,” Finn whispered as he fell in behind an old willow tree that bore no leaves. “How did you know?”
“I don’t know. I felt… I felt like a surge of panic come over me. I knew something was coming. That’s as best as I can explain.” I said, keeping my head down behind a twisting bush of thorns.
“Whatever keeps an arrow out of my skull,” Finn nocked an arrow and prepared to fight. “As soon as I fire this arrow the battle is on. Keep away from the nightflyers. I’ll handle them. What I need you to do is—” Finn turned suddenly and loosed the arrow which zipped past my ear and clattered hard against a skeleton that had stumbled behind me. “Keep the skeletons off me. You should be able to handle them. Let’s go!”
Finn hopped out from his hiding spot and started releasing arrow after arrow at the nightflyers. The shortest of the three had run back and was unlocking the salamanders from their chain. The one closest to Finn had a short bow in his hands and was focused entirely on him. The ugly brute was still seated on the log but had his pike planted firmly on the ground and had his head low. His lips were moving as if in prayer.
I stayed back and tried to keep my attention on Finn. I carefully moved from tree to tree trying to stay out of sight of the one with the bow. Coming around a cracked boulder I was met with a creeping skeleton. Its body was covered in torn armor and ragged clothes. It had moss and weeds drenched over its shoulder and ribcage. The hollows of its eyes were ignited by blue flames. Behind the skeleton it dragged a crude sword. It rushed me with a clatter of its teeth while swinging the sword awkwardly above its head.
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I fell back and stumbled on my heel. I came to a hard landing on my elbow. Pain shooting up my arm. Musty water splashed everywhere drenching my robes. A flash of rusted iron came swinging down at me. I braced myself for the inevitable, but it never came. When I opened my eyes, my staff was thrust outward pointed directly at the skeleton. The creature's entire body was engulfed in writhing vines.
I had cast the Nature’s Grasp spell without realizing it. Somehow my body reacted on its own to protect me. It was the same feeling I had when I pushed Finn out of the way of that arrow. It was incredible!
I stood quickly to admire my spell. The roots and vines had dug their way up from the mud as well as draped down from the shifting tree. The grasp was growing tighter around the skeleton with every struggle. A thought came to my mind as I watched the undead creature try to break free. I willed that thought out to the writhing roots and as I thought it did. The roots constricted quickly breaking the skeleton into shattered bones and rusty armor. It no longer moved. I managed to defeat my first enemy.
A felt a surging sensation of power flow over my skin as I looked down at the dusty pile of the skeleton. A similar feeling I had when I first used Nature’s Grasp on Grebbledel’s cart. However, I didn’t receive a notification. No level up message. I pulled up my system interface and opened up my skills. My arcana skill had gained experience.
Arcana Level 1 [##########--] 85%
It wasn’t enough to go up another level, but it was still exciting to see the system start to work. I let the spell fade away and ran from behind the boulder. Finn had managed to pierce the bowman nightflyer in the stomach and he was keeled over, blood pooling over his hairy knuckles. The salamander trainer was now snapping his whip in the air commanding the salamanders to charge Finn. With a graceful leap, Finn jumped back and let two arrows fly at once. One hit its mark summoning a cry from one of the salamanders. The other arrow landing in the mud a foot shy of the other. The attack was enough to get them to stop their slithering.
It was incredible watching Finn fight these creatures and bandits. He was a very skilled fighter and made me think he really didn’t need my help. That was until I saw three skeletons come tumbling out of the swamp not ten feet behind him. “Finn, look out!”
It was too late. Finn had landed hard from his jump and was now in attacking range of the first skeleton. I reached inside myself to summon the roots once more. I felt power rise inside my stomach, crawl through my arm and out of the top of my Twisted Staff as I commanded the earth once again. A burst of mud and shattered twigs flew all across the open field as strings of clawing vines caught the skeletons arm mid-swing.
Finn was able to catch his footing an inch from the edge of the creature's sword. His eyes were wide with surprise then he let out an exuberant laugh. He turned on his long feet and cut through the skeleton with his longbow. The skeleton collapsed on itself. “Good work! Keep at it.” Leaving the skeletons to me, Finn returned his attention to the whip master and his red salamanders.
I started forward but then had to catch myself from fainting. A pulse of exhaustion caught me in my step and almost let me fall. I hadn’t realized how tired I was or at least how tired I suddenly felt. I was sure I had plenty of energy left even after traveling most of the day. I couldn’t let the tiredness get to me. I had to keep fighting. There were still two skeletons left to fight.
A notification popped up telling me that my Arcana skill had now reached level 2.
[Arcana increased from Level 1 -> 2]
Then another messaged popped into view underneath the first.
[Mana Points increased by 1]
[Current Mana Points: 13/34]
For a brief moment the exhaustion had subsided but as quickly as my energy surged it fell away. I was running low on my Mana Points. That must be why I was feeling so tired. What would happen if I ran out of Mana Points? Could I no longer cast spells or would I simply fate from the exertion.
I had no time to think as the two remaining undead had turned their fiery gaze at me. They were clattering their teeth while their bodies rattled with every step. One of them had a rusty axe in his hand with a half-broken wooden shield in the other. The other skeleton wore a dented helm and carried a tall spear that had reeds strung around its tip.
I focused on the first one and summoned energy from inside me again. I called forth my Nature’s Grasp spell to bind the skeleton. Wriggling from the patches of dry grass and stamped reeds came more roots. Quickly they rose to cover the creature in their binding power. The spell had managed to wrap itself around the skeletons entire body leaving the head exposed. Its head continued to snap at me as if trying to bite a chunk from my flesh. It reminded me of that old black and white zombie film that was being showcased for its tenth anniversary. My college friends had dragged me to go see it though I was more interested in returning to my dorm to study.
Despite the weight of my body growing and my eyelids beginning to droop, I had a burst of confidence come over me. I looked at the last skeleton and couldn’t help but let out a quiet laugh. Again, I focused my mind on my druid’s staff and called forth the earth to capture the creature and bind it. Nothing happened.
I tried again but no roots came rising from the ground to stop the creatures stumbling walk. Panic set in as the thing came within range of its weapon. It jabbed the end of the spear toward my stomach. I was lucky enough to dodge the attack with the tip only cutting a slit in the side of my robes. Before I had time to react the skeleton attacked again. This time it caught me on my right arm. The spears rusted blade cut a gash in my forearm and almost caused me to drop my staff.
With two quick steps, I managed to escape another attack. However, my movements were slow, and I stumbled over my long feet. I was able to catch myself from falling by digging the staff into the earth. I looked up in time to parry the skeletons spear with the edge of my staff letting it streak through the air. Blocking the attack caused the undead creature to fall forward, failing to catch itself on its rickety shin bones. I took this moment to lift my staff high and bring it crashing down on top of the creature's spine.
The skeleton crumbled under the impact of my attack. It dropped its spear, the things helm fell with a metallic thud, and its back broke in two. It stopped moving as soon as it hit the ground.
[Melee Combat increased from Level 0 -> 1]