WILD LIFE: CHAPTER 16 ~EXPOSURE~
"In me you face a full master of the arcane arts!" Sparky shouted while firing off a constant stream of lightning towards the approaching horde of ghouls.
"I'll lead from now on Sparky..." Hope commented absently as the trio began to retreat.
*schhwaff* *schhwaff* *schhwaff*
"Why would you pull the big green lever!?" Amanda yelled at the naked turtle as his jiggly bits flapped in the wind.
"... it wasn't red."
Amanda looked at the streaking beast "How does that make it ok!?"
*schhwaff* *schhwaff* *schhwaff* "Quit yelling and run!" Hope interrupted
"Right!"
As Hope and her group fled from the ghouls she realized that they were about to have a very big problem with the bridge out... "We're heading for a dead end..."
Amanda quickly realized the problem. "Oh crud.... Sparky can you fly?"
The turtle looked shocked. "I am the lord of the lake! Master of elemental forces! I... cannot fly."
"Sooo Amanda think you can barrel through a horde of ghouls?" Hope asked
Amanda gave her a flat look. "I might be able to throw an elf and distract them long enough to get through."
Hope ignored her and picked up Sparky then tucked him into her bag. "We'll have to jump to the lower ledge across the way..."
"Are you insane that's a few meters!"
"Got a better idea?" Hope asked
".. no"
"Then we jump."
After a few more minutes of running and several bashed ghouls, Hope and her companions were nearing the fallen bridge’s ledge. She cast wolf aspect on Amanda then activated movement boost. Amanda followed Hope's lead and watched as the elf easily leapt across the massive gorge. Mustering every ounce of strength she had Amanda jumped as Hope landed, rolled and turned to watch the knight. Amanda wasn't going to make it and they both knew it... Hope made a split second decision, she had noticed another ledge across the way below the entrance much farther down and decided that it was their best bet. Summoning her courage Hope activated sprint and dashed back towards the gorge leaping through the sky towards Amanda...
*THUNK*
Hope had not realized exactly how heavy the knight was with all of her armor on. Now the trio was free falling straight down the open area of the catacombs.
"... this is gonna hurt." Hope claimed absently...
"Nice try" Amanda said flatly
*GROPE*
"Really!?" Amanda shouted as Hope gave her an impish grin.
*SPLASH!!!*
- Damage received -1483 hp
Sparky let himself out of her bag and led the way as Hope immediately sensed that they were not alone in the water. Amanda and Hope quickly swam after the turtle as he fired off numbing electrical bolts that barely grazed them. When they made it to the shore Amanda quickly took up her battle stance while turning to face the water's edge. Hope dished out some signature "Divine touch" while preparing her machete.
Sparky dove back into the water’s surface and lit it up with electricity.
*HISSSSSSS* *HISSS*
Two massive white reptilian creatures painfully shrieked and lunged their barbed tails at the turtle who artfully dodged the strikes. Amanda charged in and cut off one of their tails putting herself between Sparky and the reptiles. Sparky fled towards Hope who was now releasing multiple five-fold flurries at the water beasts.
*schhwaff* *schhwaff* *schhwaff*
-Pale Nagari has been slain!
Level up!
The reptile without a tail was slain within seconds leaving Amanda with just one opponent to focus on. The creature turned and fled into the depths of the underground lake.
"I can't believe we're alive Hope."
"We wouldn't be without Sparky, drag that thing out of the water I want to scavenge it." she said candidly
*ding*
Familiarity with Sparky has been increased.
"I am the lord of the lakes! No water beast can best my might!" the turtle proudly claimed
"Yea, yeah calm it down before he comes back with friends." Amanda said admonishingly to the turtle.
"Good point, let's get out of here while we can." Hope said as she finished carving and moved away from the water's edge.
Sparky lit up and began to take the lead. "Oh no you don't." Hope said as she slung him over her shoulder and continued to walk towards the cavernous surroundings. "Your glowing tail is riding shotgun."
"Good idea" Amanda chimed in "I'd rather not have to outrun a horde of undead twice in one day..."
The turtle sighed dejectedly "...it wasn't red."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks to her roguelike perception it only took Hope a few minutes to find a hidden cavern leading back to the catacombs. As Amanda took the lead Hope grabbed her by the shoulder. "Wait a second we passed something odd."
"What?" Amanda asked
"It looks like another passage, give me a minute, Sparky light up the caves we just came out of... brighter." she commanded as the turtle began to dim... "Oh mighty lord of the lake, master of the elements, please light this chamber with your magnificent powers." Hope said dryly
*BZZZZZZT!*
*ding*
Familiarity with Sparky has been increased.
"It is done!" the turtle claimed as Amanda put a hand to her forehead.
While Hope was searching for the hidden passage Amanda asked. "Do you intentionally make the weirdest animals you can find familiars?" Obviously remembering the flying moose and hairless wolf.
Hope gave the naked turtle a sidelong glance. "He is a little odd isn't he?" she claimed while eyeballing the little lord.
*ding*
Familiarity with Sparky has been decreased.
"..."
As they entered the hidden passage it turned out to be a sealed off chamber full of miscellaneous items.
"Looks like this place was used to store supplies during the construction of the catacombs." Hope said absently
"Wonder if we can find anything useful..." Amanda remarked
"If anything this is as safe a place as any, I'll get started on our weapons... let's just eat some bread for now, I'd rather not waste any time."
"Agreed"
As they were pulling out rations and water Hope looked at Sparky. "Here, eat up." she said handing him a chunk of the pale nagari flesh. It didn't take the turtle long to tear into the fresh juicy meat.
*ding*
-You have fed a familiar special food.
Familiarity with Sparky has been greatly increased. An unbreakable bond has been forged.
Nature affinity has been permanently increased by 40
A change is occurring within Sparky, will you allow it to happen?YesNo
Hope looked at Sparky as the turtle grinned with delight. "Do you wish to become stronger Sparky? Like I promised." she claimed
"Even though I'm already more than powerful enough..." he began
"Oh then you don't want to?"
"I do!"
"Yes, I'll allow it." she said
What? Sparky is evolving!
Sparky calmly waited as his body started to glow. Hope looked on curiously as the turtle grew to be nearly two and a half times his original size then began to stand on two legs...
-As a result of the special food you have given this familiar his evolutionary path has been altered.
'Sorry Sparks... I was curious.' she thought
The turtle's limbs elongated to fit his new frame and the tiny claws became more pronounced. Sparky made a few uncomfortable grunts when his longer tail began to sprout barbs. Hope stifled a laugh when he sprouted a long grey beard and bushy grey eyebrows. Once again, the most distinguishing change was that he now had the same eyes as Hope, aquamarine eyes with an amber crown discoloration. Standing before Hope was a small humanoid monster. "You look like a shriveled up old man Sparky."
Congratulations Sparky has evolved!
*ding*
Beast Aspect has been augmented!
Beast AspectThe ability to grant a portion of the power a familiar holds unto the targeted character or characters. This skill will generate new aspects as the warden's bond with new species of familiars grows.
-Costs 50 mp per target
-Duration time = 30 minutes.
-Moose aspect ~ Strength + 12% ~ Stagger rate + 40%
-Wolf aspect ~ Agility + 12% ~ Movement speed + 10%
-Turtle aspect ~ Wisdom + 6% ~ intelligence + 6% ~ Casting speed + 20%
-A familiar has generated a unique skill.
A new Passive Skill has been generated: Lord of Lightning
Lord of LightningThis skill increases your familiar's parameters when using lightning based attacks. This skill makes your familiar immune to lightning based damage.
-Lightning Damage + 40%
-Paralysis chance + 15%
-A familiar’s title, Lord of the Lake has become Lord of Shamelessness.
Lord of ShamelessnessDue to prolonged exposure your familiar is utterly shameless.
-Charm +50
-Leadership +50
'...Freya?'
All hope could hear was laughter off in the distance.
'...'
"Sparky I'll fix up your clothing now so you can cover the more sensitive regions, alright?"
"Take your time." he said proudly
"Please don't" Amanda chimed in as Sparky turned to give her the full view of his new magnificent... shriveled form.
After a while Hope had managed to craft them some silver equipment to make the undead less difficult to kill.
-You have crafted Silver Machete of Freya
Silver Machete of FreyaTypeSwordQualityFineDurability60 / 60Artistic Value110CreatorHopeAttack28-35This unusual sword was crafted by Hope using high quality silver. Engraved with Freya's symbol.
The way the blade is shaped will increase chopping speed and damage significantly.RestrictionLevel: 75 Strength: 125Effect(s):
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Strength +40
Holy properties negate all evil/undead damage resistances.
Effective against undead and supernatural creatures.
-You have crafted Silver Broadsword of Freya
Silver Broadsword of FreyaTypeSwordQualityFineDurability75 / 75Artistic Value130CreatorHopeAttack32-37This broadsword was crafted by Hope using high quality silver. Engraved with Freya's symbol.RestrictionLevel: 75 Strength: 125Effect(s):
Strength +50
Holy properties negate all evil/undead damage resistances.
Effective against undead and supernatural creatures.
-You have crafted Steel Rod of Lightning
Steel Rod of LightningTypeUniqueQualityFineDurability250 / 250Artistic Value30CreatorHopeAttack28-35This unusual weapon was crafted by Hope using high quality steel and tastefully engraved with lightning bolts down its length.RestrictionLevel: 65 Strength: 60Effect(s):
Intelligence +20
Increased effect of lightning based attacks by 20%
-You have received Battle-scarred Shell Shield
Battle-scarred Shell ShieldTypeShieldQualityN/ADurability75 / 75Artistic ValueN/ACreatorN/ADefense10This unusual shield was restored by Hope using high quality adhesive mixtures.RestrictionLevel: 65 Strength: 60Effect(s):
Defense +20
Vitality +20
Reflects 10% of blocked damage as lighting.
Hope finished up her crafting by gilding a quiver full of arrows with silver.
Amanda was more than a little shocked when she looked at her new broadsword. "Thanks Hope... this is better than what I've been using."
"Not too shabby for something I just threw together on the spot huh?"
"I'll say" the knight commented absently while swinging her new blade.
"Oooooooh my shell!!!" Sparky took hold of the shell shield and fondly rubbed it against his cheek.
"Here Sparky, this is for you." Hope said
"I don't need a stick, I am a master of the arcane arts."
"This stick was made with your abilities in mind..."
Sparky looked up at Hope curiously. "... what do you mean?"
"Jab the first ghoul we see with it then channel your lighting through it, I think you'll be pretty pleased." she said confidently
Sparky took the rod and began to carefully examined it making sure the weapon is worthy of a turtle of his stature.
"How far away from the tomb do you suppose we are Hope?"
"This guy was their founder... he probably got some grand structure built deep inside the catacombs... since this is a dungeon and not real life I'd say we're close and the tomb will be at the deepest part of the catacombs... we did fall an impressive distance."
"Let's not do that again."
"I did enjoy the fall though." Hope claimed while flexing her hand suggestively as Amanda threw Sparky at her full force. As soon as Hope peeled Sparky off she obediently followed Amanda out of the chamber back into the catacombs.
"Hold on a bit, still getting used to this walking on two legs business..." Sparky called out after them as Amanda stopped dead in her tracks.
"Hope..."
"Yeah?"
"For a while now I could understand what that turtle is saying..."
"Oh you're right... one second let me figure out why."
After looking over her beast mastery skills the reason was obvious. "Show Amanda skill window Animal Communication."
Skill NameSkill RankSkill LevelSkill ExperienceAnimal CommunicationExpert17%This skill allows one to speak with and understand animals.
Your ability to converse with animals is now shared with party members.
"Handy as ever aren't you?" Amanda said sarcastically
Hope curtsied "I try my best."
Just then Sparky catches up "I am the Lord of Lightning! The Lord of..."
"Enough! I get it, I'm sorry."
*cough* *cough* "As long as you understand"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hope was wrong... they were not close to the end at all. After about three hours of exploration it was apparent that these catacombs were a maze. On the brightside Sparky seemed to have no problem acting as a constant source of light and he had become very effective at disabling undead adversaries. With lightning being channeled into the metal rod enemies usually fell limp within the first few blows.
"We're getting nowhere like this." Amanda said
"Maybe we're looking at this the wrong way... how would a knight honor their leader?" Hope asked
"They'd bury him somewhere honorable?"
Hope gave her a flat look "Really?"
"What, you asked."
Hope turned the word over a few times in her mind before speaking again. "Honorable... let's back up and just head straight in from the beginning."
"Oh, that might work. In a silly sort of way it kind of makes sense that a knight would do that." Amanda claimed
Having been around the bend a few times already the trio didn't take very long to backtrack and begin their straightforward trek through the catacombs. Even as the catacombs branched off into many different directions along the path, Amanda continued to march without altering course. Ghouls were easy prey now that Amanda had become a more effective fighter with Hope's help and Sparky's assistance. Just when the path began to open up into a larger chamber Amanda was stopped by Hope. "Wait... there's something there."
"Can you tell what it is?" Sparky asked
"Big and nasty..."
"Great..." Amanda sighed dejectedly "couldn't be that easy could it?"
Hope focused her vision and peered into the chamber ahead. The large area was a long room with massive pillars lining both sides of the path. Standing in the center of the room was a huge creature with six limbs; four arms and two legs.
"Some sort of rotting flesh and bone monster, multiple arms, no head..."
"No head?" Amanda asked
"Not that I can see."
"That sounds like a bone horror to me." Sparky explained
Hope looked at him "You mean the ones that summon lesser undead and self-destruct in a nasty kamikaze attack?"
"Yes those ones... if you'll excuse me I just remembered something that I must do." Sparky said as he turned and began to walk away.
"The lord of the lake, lord of lightning, lord of the arcane arts is afraid of a little bone horror. Amanda you know a few bards in Restia right? People have got to hear of this."
*KA-THAKA-POW* *bzzzt bzzzt*
In hindsight provoking Sparky into attacking the undead creature may have been a poorly thought out idea, the monstrosity was now charging towards the trio. "You are no match for the might of Amanda, a servant of the lord of the lake!" he shouted while taking up position behind the obviously annoyed knight.
"I'm gonna kill your turtle before this is over."
"Not if I kill him first." Hope claimed while letting loose a barrage of five-fold flurries.
*schhwaff* *schhwaff*
Even with silver tips, Hope's arrows didn't slow the hulking monster down as it plowed into Amanda's tower shield. "Sparky disable any summoned undead until we finish off the big guy, got it?"
"Understood Missy, leave them to me."
Amanda was having a difficult time trying to block four arms at once, she was rapidly losing ground so in an effort to even the odds Hope moved in to flank the bone horror. Unsheathing her machete and activating helm splitter she targeted the creature's arms. Through the sound of tearing flesh and breaking bones Hope pressed the attack. Just when she felt that her task was almost complete the bone horror backed away rapidly and began to summon ghouls.
"Sparky!" Hope shouted as lighting began to arc across the room. One particularly well aimed bolt caused the head of a ghoul to explode. When the bone horror took a moment to look at the turtle like creature Amanda rammed into it, knocking the monster off balance. Hope took full advantage, activated strength boost and finished severing both of the arms she'd been attacking. As soon as strength boost wore off Hope decided that her time would be better spent replenishing Amanda's falling health.
*KA-THAKA-POW* *bzzzt bzzzt* *KA-THAKA-POW* *bzzzt bzzzt* Sparky was giving it everything he had to keep a dozen ghouls at bay. Amanda was now easily handling the bone horror so Hope turned to aid Sparky by casting divine rejuvenation on the ghouls.
"It's looking a little strange Hope!" Amanda shouted
"Sparky! Get behind a pillar!" The smart turtle understood why and dove for cover as Hope pulled Amanda behind another pillar.
*Ka-Boom!*
-Lucas the Fallen has been slain!
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
Flesh and bile erupted in every direction as the bone horror self destructed. Everything began to melt as the ghouls fled from the chamber towards the catacombs. "Go go go!" Hope shouted while the ground was rumbling.
While the floor and pillars began to collapse Hope led Amanda and Sparky through the falling debris towards the far end of the room. The door began to close and in a moment of clarity Hope snatched Sparky's shell then lobbed it full force.
*Bang* *chachachacha* *chachahchacha*
"..."
"Be glad you're not in it this time Sparky." she said nonchalantly as they dashed through the door and Sparky silently retrieved his damaged shield from the gears.
The turtle sighed "... no respect."
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