Chapter 7
At the sight of Errrkkkk’s beam, Riakon and Roden broke into a sprint, both men activating their personal buffs. The plan was simple, Errrkkkk was to sneak up and see what that light at the end of the cavern was about and come back.
In the event of instant combat, the others would just have to close the distance as quickly as possible. Roden’s memories of this encounter were of very little help here. He knew that a fight was most likely coming and tried to prepare as best as he could, but so much was different already.
When Roden finally got eyes on the situation, he saw Kazan the necromancer reeling from Errrkkkk’s blast, an older bearded man was chained to the wall on the far side of the cavern opposite of Kazan’s workbench, and a hulking humanish figure was face down on the large eight sided stone table.
There was a flurry of motion as everyone began acting at once. Errrkkkk fired off three more energy blasts towards Kazan, one struck him in the shoulder as he set to activating his Zolem. In those brief moments, the table began to glow, using both hands in a push up motion the undead creation launched itself into a standing position. Its speed was terrifying and unnatural. Something that large was not supposed to move that fluidly or fast.
As Kazan directed the Zolem. Roden brought his hand up unleashing his Burning Finger spell. The spell bathed the natural alcove in bright flames made all the more intense by his Blaze ability. The spell did not have much range, and despite the flames the Zolem charged through straight towards their source spurred on by its master.
Roden’s Moment of Ignition took effect as the Zolem swung its massive fist right into Roden’s body. The blow left a crater in Roden’s chest, he imagined his hit points were instantly brought to zero in a single blow. Pain coursed through Roden as the Zolem’s attack instantly killed him. However, in this world, death was an inconvenience if you had the right abilities.
Roden’s first level Adventure domain ability, Never the Time and the Place, was just such an ability. The ability allowed him to confer the benefits of a period of recovery in an instant. Fortunately for him the ability automatically activated on himself if it was available and he was knocked unconscious or killed by taking damage.
Just as he lost consciousness, a surge of divine magic coursed through his body. He felt his bones reknit and shift back into place. His crushed body began reverting back to its previous condition. It was an interesting sensation as Roden could feel the ability work its course.
He realized he had a modicum of control over the magic. He instinctively knew the more he healed now the more fatigued he would be later and potentially even tomorrow. He also knew it probably did not matter how much he healed, he could not take another hit from that monster.
Once the magic had fixed him as much as it could, Roden took in the scene. He saw Errrkkkk and Riakon doing their best to pick apart the Zolem and avoid the ranged spells coming from the necromancer hiding behind the stone table. His friends were doing well, they had fallen into a rhythm of Riakon absorbing the hits and Errrkkkk dishing out as much damage as possible from his high vantage point.
Roden knew he needed to do something to turn the tide. As good as things were going he had a feeling Riakon couldn’t hold out forever. Roden got to his feet and rushed toward Kazan.
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As he neared the stone table, the mage turned on him and fired a bolt of crackling purple black necromantic energy. The spell first connected with his aura, which absorbed some of the impact before it caught Roden in the shoulder. The spell felt like a million icy needles dug into his arm. As much as it pained him, it was the best he could hope for given how little damage he actually took from it.
His first plan was to get in close and cast Wounding Touch as many times as he could until either the necromancer or he couldn’t go on. When he had closed the distance enough, Roden focused on his holy symbol and activated his Pilgrim’s Rebuke.
A shockwave exploded out in front of him slamming into Kazan the necromancer hard. The blast caught Kazan off guard and sent him cartwheeling through the air, landing in a heap on the side of the alcove by the bearded man. Roden had a strong suspicion that wouldn’t be enough damage to finish the mid-level necromancer so he didn’t waste time.
Roden rushed up to the old adventurer and cast a Wounding Touch on the chains; the lack of an incantation made this spell a perfect choice for the job. The dark gray energy acted like a plasma torch off the ends of his fingers and cut right through the chains.
“Behind you!”
At the man’s words, Roden spun around just in time to see the necromancer getting to his feet. Before he could act the bearded man swarmed the bookish mage. He delivered a series of strikes to the man’s head that left Roden in awe at the fluidity of his movements.
Before the onslaught could continue an earsplitting boom shook the cavern. Kazan had cast a thunder spell knocking his attacker back a number of feet. In the moments after, as everyone’s ears rang, Roden noticed Kazan signal for his minion to change tactics and go after his former prisoner.
Roden seized the opportunity, raised his hands and shouted his last spell for the day. “Ignite!” flames whirled into existence before his outstretched palms forming a thin circle of fire.
The circle crashed in on itself launching its bead of concentrated fire magic. The flames engulfed the necromancer, just as the Zolem reached its target. A sweeping backhand sent the beared man sprawling. The downward hammer fists that followed shattered his leg below the knee. The screams of the two men mingled into a cacophony of misery.
One man scrabbled madly, pulling the stopper of a potion with his teeth, taking a swig, then dumping the rest directly on his stump. The other man managed two full steps toward Roden before falling to the ground in a charred heap of smoldering flesh and robes. The Zolem raised up to its full height above its de-limbed target. The silhouette of the Zolem was distinct in Roden's view as he looked on in horror. He had nothing left. He could barely pull enough magic from the Magisphere to cast a Common level spell. A steady glow came from behind the Zolem, casting a long shadow.
“Caaaaaaaaa, Caaaaaaawwwwwww!!!!!!”
Errrkkkk's cry followed a continuous beam of bright golden energy that crashed into the Zolem's back. The full might of the blast staggered the Zolem drawing its attention. Ignoring the rents in its skin, the Zolem focused on the source of the beam, its eyes landed on its feathered attacker.
A torrent of holy water washed over the creature, overloading the necromantic matrix holding its sparks together. Unbound the sparks shot out in different directions bouncing around the cave before burning themselves out.
Without its sparks the body was completely harmless. Unless it fell on someone as it almost did its last victim. Luckily, the bearded man was able to shimmy himself far enough away to avoid the falling Zolem. As the dust settled, the fight over, the four men looked around at each other. Roden's excitement got the better of him and he shouted out,
“Wooooo!!!! Let's fucking go!!!!”
The other three men stared at him with relatively blank expressions.
“Hello, good Sir, what is your name and who are you?” Riakon said to the bearded man.
“The names R… just call me Bo.”
“Okay Bo, what exactly is going on here, cacaw?”
“Well, I had a report of people going missing in this area. Now I don't live too far from here. so I took it upon myself to come check it out. I was a pretty capable adventurer in my day figured I could handle a simple missing person. What I didn't expect was to run into a goddamn Necromancer psychopath who tapped into the goddamn meridians. As stupid as it was for you guys to get involved, I have to thank you. Without you guys, I'd probably be dead or at the very least part of that thing.”
“It also looks like you're going to need another favor, old man.” Roden said, gesturing towards his leg.
“I suppose you're right.” he said begrudgingly “my place ain't too far, but I doubt I can get there on my own.”