The fight was brutal but short. The dwarves once again proved to be a formidable team in combat, however the surprise was Harrison. He was able to cast several [Web] spells and catch a large portion of the gnolls in its sticky embrace completely immobilizing them. He followed that up with a chilling spell called [Arachnic Tide] which unleashed a veritable wave of thousands of spiders that swarmed the bound gnolls and smothered them in poisonous bites. He followed that up by moving freely among the trapped gnolls, ignoring the webs completely and smashing the tougher ones a few times with his staff.
Once the last of the hyena men were dispatched, Rory strolled up to Harrison and clapped the boy on the back, “Mighty fine work my lad! You’re a fine addition to the party and no lie, you can certainly control a battlefield. Although you may want to work on controlling your wee little buggers a bit better. When you went to smashing with your staff, some of them took to pinching on old Rory.”
Proud but a bit chagrined, Harrison beamed at the praise while apologizing. That is until he looked at his status screen. “Holy shit!”
The entire group spun, looking for trouble until the Arachnomancer clarified, “Sorry, but I’ve never gotten experience like this before. I just went up a level and a half!” His eyes were wide staring into space, “Is that gold reward, right? That can’t be right, can it?” He was practically vibrating with excitement.
“Tis a’right laddie. You’re feeling the same thing I felt the first time I was in a party with Joe. We donnae know why, but Joe’s a golden cow when it comes to being in a party with ‘em.” Rory cast a cleansing spell on himself, and the blood and gore from the gnolls faded away as he spoke.
Kier noticed and said, “You finally took my advice and got yourself a cleaning spell?”
“Just tired of your nagging is all.” Rory winked at Harrison causing the teen to smile.
Joe walked up to Harrison, “At some point we’ll have to sit down, and I’ll explain what I can. For now, though, we have a mission.”
The group took some time convincing the survivors to trust them, but oddly, it was seeing Bixby that made them decide to come out. Bixby laid on the happy go lucky dog routine and the couple of young children in the group were happy to see a dog, even if he was kind of scary looking at first. Overall, it took the entire group an hour before the small group of twelve were ready to be escorted back to New Santa Cruz proper. Unfortunately, none of them were on any of the rescue request lists.
By the time Joe and the group went back out for their second run, it was twilight. The dwarves warned that even though they were technically moving within the city limits, monsters that had spawned prior to the city formation could still be around as well as any that came in from the surrounding areas. Joe knew that they were in a level twenty zone but was reminded of the high-level troll that had wandered into the halfkin camp. By midnight, they had managed to find a total of fifty-seven people. Joe was a bit disheartened as he was hoping for a much higher count.
After they returned from their final run of the night, Joe checked his quest status.
Open Quest! In Search of… [Step 1 of 4 Complete!] Your heartfelt offer of aid and succor has been heard. You have found fifty survivors and brought them safely to [New Santa Cruz]. Step 1 Reward; 10,000 EXP and 2,500 Gold. This Quest is sharable.
Open Quest! In Search of… [Step 2 of 4] Your heartfelt offer of aid and succor has been heard. Find one hundred survivors and bring them safely to [New Santa Cruz]. Step 1 Reward; 20,000 EXP and 5,000 Gold. This Quest is no longer sharable.
The rest of the party was thrilled with the results and Harrison had to be sworn to secrecy about Joe’s party rewards. He, in turn, had no problem with remining quiet as the entire night netted him nearly four levels. Mirabella managed to hit level thirty and the group all congratulated her just before she disappeared to wherever she had decided to sleep. The dwarves retreated back to the embassy leaving Joe and Bixby alone in the courtyard with Harrison.
“You should head home, and we’ll pick this up again in about six hours. Everyone needs time to rest, level up and clean up.” Joe said as he clapped Harrison on the shoulder. “You did great out there tonight.”
The teen’s face lit up at the praise, “Thank you Joe! I can’t tell you how awesome it’s been. You and the rest of the group are really cool. Okay. Um, well, I guess I’ll see you later.” There was an awkward moment as Joe and Bixby stood there waiting for the kid to leave, but finally he walked away, down a side street.
Joe let out his breath and placed a hand on Bixby’s head. “Are you tired? Should we find a place to crash?” Bixby let out a few barks. “Yeah, me neither.” He looked around at the quiet courtyard. There were still noises as some people were up, guards or those that just could not sleep, but the area seemed still and peaceful. “Dude. I kind of want to see what we can do now. I mean, I think we’re the highest-level natives on the planet.” He scratched behind Bixby’s ear, “No offense to the others, but I kind of want to cut loose without anyone else around.” He paused as he pondered and took in the sounds of the city, then he turned back to Bixby, “Want to go hunting?” he asked with a grin. Bixby wagged his tail and let out an affirmative woof. “Awesome.” A wicked smile crossed Joe’s face and the two made their way to another exit closer to the river in the direction of the ocean.
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As they exited the main walls, Joe was able to call up a map of the city. As the Governor of New Santa Cruz, he had access to the city map from his own Status sheet. He saw that the city limits ended just past the edge of the waterline of the Pacific Ocean due south of the main city center. They headed down Riverside Avenue as that was a straight shot to the beach area where the Santa Cruz Boardwalk was located. They passed by several blocks of homes that previous groups had already investigated for survivors, however, none of them had crossed the river yet.
The companions kept a wary eye out for trouble, but it seemed that the search parties had done a good job of eliminating any creatures that had still been around this close to the city center. It was Bixby that called a halt when they reached the river. The Riverside bridge had been bisected and the far half was completely missing. The reason being that the land across the river was not the same as before the integration. The Boardwalk and its neighborhood had been replaced with an old fishing village. The architecture looked like the medieval town that Joe and company had encountered in Ben Lomond.
There was a bit more than a hundred feet of open space between the edge of the cut off bridge and the levy on the opposite side. Bixby took off like a shot and leaped, the apex of his jump took him well over sixty feet then he blinked to the opposite side. Joe watched him reappear, touchdown on the ground and turn with his tail wagging. Joe took a few steps back, cast Haste and sprinted for the end of the bridge. He launched himself over the water. He knew he may fall short, but he calculated that his own blink step would put him on the edge of the levy. Except that was when the tentacle snatched him out of the air.
Joe was pulled into the rushing waters of the river as he felt several more tentacles wrap themselves around his arms and legs. “Fuu…glbblblblb.” Was all that Joe managed to shout as he was yanked under the rushing current. The creature was strong and flexible and took most of Joe’s physical leverage away in seconds. His surprise was short lived however as his instincts took over and he immediately shot out umbral spikes from his armor, followed up with activating his Shadow Merge ability. The force of the river pushed him away from the grasping tentacles long enough for him to surface and get a solid breath. He blinked to the shore, where he saw Bixby barking and scanning the water. Another tentacle lifted from the water, probing the air.
Tentacled Blood Horror (30)
HP: 9000
Status: Hungry
Vulnerable to Fire, reduced damage from bladed and crushing weapons and Cold attacks
Joe shook his arms to shed some water as Bixby ran to his side, “I’m fine, Bix. Wet, but not injured.” Bixby barked and Joe answered, “No, buddy. I’ve got this.” Joe’s eyes narrowed and he cast a spell. From the river, eight pillars of darkness erupted, forming as they grew to nearly thirty feet in height. Each one formed a crossbar from the top and black chains dropped from the ends of each crossbar. As the chains dropped, a shallow pan formed at the ends of the right handset of chains. The left-hand set from each pillar shot into the water. In seconds, the eight umbral pillars formed into eight sets of scales. The left-hand chains that dropped into the water retracted, pulling up a monstrous creature that was a cross between a leech and a squid. Its rubbery body pierced through by the back chains which held it in place above the river surface.
Above the river, a gigantic hammer appeared, the size of a car. It was pitch black and a dark shroud of smokey energy drifted from it. Joe raised his own hand, palm open and the enormous umbral gavel lifted into the air and grew to the size of several city buses. He clenched his hand into a fist and the umbral version came to a stop. He brought his fist down in a hammering motion and the death attuned hammer slammed into the horror.
Justiciar’s Judgement
A justiciar’s final word made manifest. A Justiciar must often act as executioner and their judgement is final. [Justiciar’s Judgement] can manifest as a wide range of physical effects based upon the Justiciar’s personality, elemental affinity, and background. The [Scales of Justice] first arise to hold the judged in place while the [Hammer of Judgement] carries the sum of the spell’s damage. The [Scales of Justice] has a Strength score of 100 per 50 Mana imbued into the spell, to determine the holding strength when locking an opponent in place. The [Hammer of Judgement] does 1000 points of damage for every 100 points of Mana imbued into the spell. Additionally, [Justiciar’s Judgement] costs 500 Stamina to cast.
Joe had poured two hundred Mana into the Scales of Justice and another thousand points into Hammer of Judgement. That still left him with just under twenty-five hundred mana left. The hammer met the horror with spectacular results. Gore and blood splashed in every direction, only to be stopped from passing the confines of the pillars. The chains shredded what was left as they exited the monster’s flesh with barbed hooks. That’s some Hellraiser shit right there, Joe thought. The pillars all began to tilt inward as a miasma of darkness poured from the hammer and it lost its size and form. Within seconds the area of the spell was flooded with umbral energy, and it quickly imploded upon itself, leaving nothing in its wake, no blood, no flesh. The spell removed all trace of the horror’s existence. The river churned on uncaring.
Bixby sat on the edge of the levy looking at Joe who stood staring into the water. After a moment, Joe said, “Maybe that was overkill.” Bixby snorted then followed that with a few woofs. Chagrined, Joe patted Bixby’s head, “Good to remember. That spell doesn’t leave anything to loot.”