Chapter 6 - Contact.
Rufian charged out of the bush at the two Silvanmen in their area. They had been creeping closer to the minions and the essentia beads on the floor. As he watched them turn and run he stopped and walked back into the bushes he had been hiding in.
“That’s it! Good feint.” Minucia crowed as she waved her staff at the retreating silvanmen.
She had been coaching Rufian on how to dominate the lane. “I want you to go and grab the essentia. But you need to stay away from the gap into that right forest side, so sort of walk out of the brush just close enough and wait for the essentia beads to drift towards you. We’ll take some early levels to keep them under the thumb.”
Rufian was starting to admit to himself that Minucia might know what she was doing. With her talking him through it and more than a little bit of shit talking about the two Silvanmen in their lane he was feeling confident.
“Palinus or Bruchts. How many Silvanmen do you see?” Marcus’s voice sounded in their ears.
“What are they doing? This is going to be damn hard without information from the other lane…” Minucia was getting frustrated at his friends.
“Haha, I don’t think those idiots know how to do the talking in the ear thing.” Rufian joked to ease the tension, he didn’t want to admit he hadn’t known either till he watched her do it.
“Oh, bloody rags. That is really dumb and I should have thought of it.” Minucia glared at Rufian as she slapped her forehead.
“To party talk you just need to touch your ear, and think of the party as you speak. We need to know how many Silvanmen you can see!” She sent to the group.
“Like this? Can you hear me? Oh that’s weird, I can hear myself in my ear.” Palinus’s voice came through, there was a noticeably shake in his voice.
“You bloody idiots.” Marcus said.
“You really should have taught them before you left them.” Minucia retorted, “How many Silvanmen have you got?”
“There’s three here, they are huge!”
“I’m coming in with the wave after next from the brush on the left side to give them a scare. Be ready.” Marcus said.
“That blockhead, he probably just pointed them down the lane and ran off into the forest… ” Minucia grumbled, “They would be shitting themselves with three Silvanmen, but it is actually a good thing as long as they don’t overcommit.”
She was quiet for a moment before turning with a wink,”Well Rufi, how about I show you a good time?”
Her laughter rang like bells through the lane at his reaction.
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“He’s coming to help!” Palinus was relieved, and took a moment to figure out what Marcus meant. The second wave of minions were already battling and dying with the Erulean minions losing numbers slightly faster and a little bit too quickly for comfort.
To the left of the lane there was a large gap in the forest, from the lane the boys could only catch glimpses of what lay in that direction as the tree line stuck out on both sides with obstructing tall grass and a cluster of trees in the middle making a visual barrier for what was going on in that direction. It was from here that Marcus was going to approach.
The Silvanmen had remained in the lane with their weapons out and ready standing behind their ranged minions. Reeve, the biggest and meanest looking, was staring down Bruchts. When the big Erulean teenager made feints towards the minions he was tensing up, as if getting ready to charge back.
“That guy looks like he wants to eat you,” Palinus said.
Bruchts kept his focus on the Silvanmen.
“They just look scared to me.”
As Palinus watched the current wave of minions engage each other he realised he needed to do something. The Silvanian minions were winning too quickly and with the nine ranged minions firing they were demolishing the Erulean minions.
Palinus steeled himself to shoot the wand for the first time in the rift.
The wand felt heavy as he lifted it to fire. He felt the hostile eyes of the Silvanmen watching and his heart fluttered as he raised his arm with a hand that shook. He needed this to work, and he needed to look confident.
Pretending he knew exactly what he was doing he willed the essentia from his body and the wand instantly felt warm as it responded. The shot felt significantly different from their experimentation in the backways. The essentia felt more responsive, as if it was a raging torrent of energy rather than a trickling stream. As the bolt streaked towards the target it hissed and spun with a bolt nearly twice as large.
In a flash the bolt struck true; it took a melon sized chunk from the wooden Silvanian ranged minion he targeted and exploded damaging the two minions beside it.
Ranged Minion 180/260
Ranged Minion 230/260
Ranged Minion 230/260
“Boom!” Palinus yelled exuberantly. “Haha!… Hahahah.”
The feeling of power overwhelmed him and so he started blasting. In a few moments he had demolished the target ranged minion, then two beside it.
As he destroyed each of the Silvanian minions there was a stream of essentia trickling towards Palinus. He could feel a warmth in his belly as if he was drinking a gentle fire. The feeling spurred him on and he had taken out two melee minions and was working on the next set before a rough tug on his wand arm jerked his next bolt short and it exploded noisily on the paved laneway.
“STOP! I said.” Bruchts was in his face and had been trying to get his attention for a while. Palinus realised that he had gotten carried away.
As he looked at the smirks on the Silvanmen’s faces and considered his actions he quickly noticed his mistake.
“Oh, sorry!”
The tide of the battle between the minions had changed and rather than pushing towards them the milieu of the minions engaging each other was now scattered and shifting the other way. As the 5th wave engaged the Erulean minions were scattered but gradually pushing towards the enemy side of no-man's land.
“I’m coming in.” Marcus said in their ears and Palinus felt like an idiot.
The Erulean man was true to his word and in a few moments emerged from the brush to the left of the lane. They didn’t see or hear him approach at all and if they hadn't had his warning would have been just as surprised as the Silvanmen.
Marcus moved from the left brush quickly moving to charge at Raoulet, the Silvanian avatar on the left. Raoulet yelled out a warning in their strangely melodic language and the others burst into action. He used a burst of essentia from a calculii on his shoulder to use an ars that launched his big woodcutting axe at Marcus. It struck him in the leg with a thump doing minor damage but leaving a gaping wound in his thigh. With the ugly wound Marcus started moving much slower as he continued to run to engage the enemy avatars. The thrown axe reappeared in its owner's hand as the Silvanman readied himself to engage Marcus.
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Quick on the uptake Bruchts had started charging forwards, in a moment he was past the minions and nearly in striking range with his iron poker. But before he could get close to the Silvanmen Reeve used an ars from his left hand and a baton flew point first directly into the blond teenager's temple. It struck with an ugly crack and Bruchts stopped where he stood, swaying unnaturally back and forth with his eyes rolled into the back of his head.
As his allies jumped into the fray Palinus had rushed forward and out to the left to get into a better position to fire around the minions. He slid to a halt and started unloading bolts, alternating between the Silvanmen as he tried to settle on a target. His shots were doing damage but not enough to concern the Silvanmen as all three of them moved to surround Marcus.
Palinus realised they were in trouble when an allied minion popped and all of the silvanian ranged minions turned to start firing on Marcus as well.
Marcus Gavros 541/762 | Level 1
Bloody Maceman
“Marcus! Run!” Palinus yelled as he shot as quickly as he could at the Silvanmen.
With a yell of frustration Marcus used an ars that flashed from a calculii on his chest which helped him swing the club in both hands around in a wide sweeping circle of green light. It struck each of the Silvanmen and they were all dazed with the same unnatural standing but unconscious effect that Bruchts remained in. This effect only lasted for a moment as Marcus took the opportunity to run away back past Bruchts towards their tower. He was still running slowly as if he was moving through a thick bog.
Bruchts snapped out of his daze with a start to see all four men rushing towards him. To his credit he instantly moved to a ready position to start fighting.
“Run you idiot!” Marcus yelled.
As the teenager turned to run Marcus used Aerial Smash to jump to a friendly ranged minion. Briefly stunning it as he continued to flee now well in the clear.
With Marcus out of range Bruchts became the target as Raoulet again threw his axe and slowed him as he tried to run. The ranged minions struck him with a volley of bolts to add to his injuries.
As quickly as he could Palinus was firing and moving backwards as he tried to deter the silvanmen from attacking. He checked on his teammates as he tried to figure out what to do to save them.
Marcus Gavros 253/762 | Level 1
Bloody Maceman
Bruchts 346/610 | Level 0
Unformed
If Reeve was able to use another stun with his baton he would catch and kill either Bruchts or Marcus. Palinus focused fire on the scary Silvanman as he tried to frighten him off. The enemy were yelling to each other as Reeve kept up the pursuit. Bruchts was past the line of minions and was slowly making his way back down the lane still affected by the slowing axe wound. The allied ranged minions had shifted targets and were joining Palinus’s wand blasts in shooting their bone bolts at Reeve and the big man was starting to accumulate damage.
The huge Silvanman was snarling like an animal as he sprinted after Bruchts. His mossy beard was speckled with foaming spittle and deep brown blood. Palinus’s damage was starting to accumulate but the man seemed to be in a frenzy. He raised his dagger in an overhand grip and brought it down on Bruchts back. The teenager stumbled with the blow and he was left with a savage stab wound that pierced his back and punctured through to his lung. The strike took half the remaining health of his avatar.
Bruchts 176/610 | Level 0
Unformed
Reeve Umfridus 437/704 | Level 0
Savage Thug - Thug
Palinus wasn’t doing enough damage. It would take him at least another half dozen shots to do the over 400 damage required to stop Reeve yet finishing Bruchts off might only take one more blow. The Erulean ranged minions were helping but they wouldn’t be able to stop the killing blow and the Silvanman would likely escape if he was quick to turn and run.
Another wand bolt struck the silvanman in the shoulder, it was doing more damage as he focused on repeatedly hitting the same target but it didn’t slow the massive man as he started to raise his weapons to strike.
Everyone was yelling incomprehensibly as the moment slowed and the dagger came down on the still slowed and heavily injured Bruchts. It pierced his tunic and into his flesh. With a spray of blue tinged blood the dagger pierced the boys back and was ripped out savagely leaving symmetrical wounds.
Bruchts 2/610 | Level 0
Unformed
Miraculously Bruchts had survived the second blow and kept his feet. He kept running as fast as he could and it was just a moment later that he suddenly surged back to full speed as the slowing effect of the axe wound stopped.
The slavering Silvanman mindlessly charged after Bruchts. Now they were moving at the same speed he wasn’t able to stab again to finish off his target. If he was able to use his ars that struck out with the baton he would be able to take the boy out but as they ran it seemed that he couldn’t yet use it.
They had run past Marcus who had slowed and was getting ready to swing his club at the berserking Silvanman. He managed to strike at the big man but his strike barely registered with the beastly Silvanman.
They had run nearly to the tower when a low hum began to sound menacingly from the gemstone the size of a cart wheel mounted at the top. The sound rapidly built in pitch and volume and the crystalline structure began to light up internally.
The crescendo of the hum from the tower seemed to awaken the humanity in Reeve as his eyes changed from viciously focused to suddenly awash with fear. He finally noticed his predicament.
There was a sizzling thump as with a flash of light the tower shot a bolt twice the size of Palinus's wand. The sizzling bolt left a smear of red tinged light across their vision like a thick bolt of lighting.
Reeve Umfridus 152/704 | Level 0
Savage Thug - Thug
The bolt had done over 200 damage and the hit staggered the big man as it singed his hair and left his furs smouldering.
Looking for his allies Reeve was searching for help as he turned and fled. They hadn’t followed him deep into the Erulean territory but had made a beeline for the essentia on the ground.
Reinvar Umfridus 630/630 | Level 1
Defender
Unlike the savage Reeve, Reinvar and Raoulet seemed to have the brains of the family as they had been taking the essentia while the Eruleans were occupied. They had also managed to kill off the Erulean ranged minions while yelling for Reeve to retreat, giving him the chance to do so without their damage. Their eyes were wide and their incomprehensible yelling had taken on a panicked tone as they watched their family member dive deep into danger and the panic rose as they realised the dire danger of his situation.
Reinvar, the youngest looking Silvanman had been moving towards the action he started to channel an ars. It wasn’t the pointed light of an ars channelled through a proper calculii but his body illuminated with a yell and a flash of turquoise light that rushed from his throat and a barrier formed like a wall behind Reeve as he ran. Palinus could feel a resistance that prevented him from taking a step in that direction. It seems he had just acquired the ars with a class: Defender using the essentia he collected.
The wall was too late to stop Marcus’s club as it struck Reeve in the back doing a solid 90 points of damage and leaving the already massively injured man in an even worse state. His fierce scowl remained on his face as he spat blood and continued to run. Marcus was cursing as he pushed against the resistance of the enemy ars and with arms stretching out as far as he could he swung to try to kill the silvanman. The club whistled through the air and missed the big Silvanman by a handspan.
Palinus was faced with a decision. As he moved to fire his wand again he froze.
The wand bolts he was shooting had been doing escalating damage and as he had tracked his shots against Reeve’s health points the bolts were now doing more than 50 damage. If he shot another bolt he would kill the man with only 47 health points remaining.
His mind raced as he considered taking a life.
Reeve was the enemy. A silvanman. The traditional enemy of the Erulean people. But they were just a family looking for essentia and loot, just like he was. Palinus had not entered the rift with any intention of hurting anyone.
As he saw Reeve’s face, the wild snarling mask of only moments ago had slipped. There was a tinge of fear in his snarl. But he had shown that if their roles were flipped the Silvanman would not hesitate, even risking his own life, to kill.
“Do it!” Marcus yelled at Palinus to strike.
Looking back to the tower he saw Brucht’s. His body looked a mess with savage wounds still bleeding as he stood straight and watched calmly. When his gaze met Palinus’s there was a seriousness as they shared a moment of understanding with a flashing grimace of sympathy he nodded his head.
His hand shaking, Palinus lifted his wand.
Hesitating for a moment with a wave of nausea, he pushed his essentia to shoot.
The feeling of connection and power washed through him as his essentia leapt from his body through the wand. As the bolt launched from his outstretched hand he recoiled at what he had done and turned his head to look away.
The bolt flew,
and struck with a wet thump.