We rose with the sun and packed away our camp in record time. Harold still looked as depressed as he did during Raven's dressing down about cosmic irony and tempting fate. And while we all agreed with her, I don't think anyone would have been as harsh as she was. When we left Soyalls there wasn't a parade or celebration, not even captain Kafri came to see us off. Instead, when the town gate opened to let the work crews out, we left with them. In my opinion, it was better this way.
We headed north on the road, or at least what was left of the road. Harold had worked out that it would take almost a week before we would reach the fork in the road at Halden Holme. From there it was 3 days west and 2 days north to Spring Falls, 5 days west to Bridalford or 8 days east to Taif. I was hoping we would find the necromancer's trail before we reached the fork but only time would tell. One day turned into two, then to four while we rode. The devilish monster that I was forced to call my horse, grew more disapproving and surly of me the further we moved away from civilization. I had no idea what its problem was, I hadn’t abandoned it or tied it to a tree for the local monsters to have.
The roaming toe hills gave way to more desolated plains that used to be fields as well as a few forests that had been burned or torn up. As we travelled I came to the realisation that it might be decades before the land recovered and generations before the Kingdom would be able to reclaim it. With the deaths of so many people, the kingdom didn’t have enough people for the work that they had ahead of them. I hoped that the land would return to lush and vibrant forests and grasslands again. The kind of place that allowed new adventurers to go on quests together and learn the ropes, maybe discover a challenge dungeon that allowed them to develop their skills.
We never came across anything while we travelled, it had been common to pass groups of adventurers or royal marines on patrol but they were noticeably absent. We rode past burnt homesteads, destroyed army camps and when we did see bodies, it looked like they had already been gnawed on by at least a dozen different creatures. Unlike before we never saw any packs of monsters, they were all oddly absent. This was either a good sign for the regrowth of the land, or a bad sign of the necromancer already beginning to regrow his army.
I fell into a routine on the journey. In the mornings I practised my weapon, both staff form and scythe form, with Harold and Raven. The training mainly consisted of blocking Raven’s attacks and trying to break through or get around Harold’s defence. Then we would continue our journey, during the ride I did nothing but focus on staying on my demon. It had tried to buck me off when it thought I wasn't paying attention. Around lunch time, Harold would stop the journey to let the horses rest and I would work on my Mana Control and Mana Manipulation. I would cast my Light spell and try to mold the light orbs into different shapes, while at the same time having them spin in a pattern. It wasn't an easy task and more than a few times one of the light orbs stuttered out of existence as my control waned.
After lunch we rode again until sunset at which point we would build an improvised shelter from all the bits and pieces we picked up. My fear that the party had turned into hoarders was realised on the 3rd night after departing Soyalls, when Harold constructed 4 solid walls around a 10 meter square, it even had a small watch tower with a roof that rose over the walls. The nights were spilt into guard rotation where each of us took a few hours to chill out in the watch tower. While we didn’t expect an attack at night, it was always better to have a night watch rather than never wake up again.
During my guard shifts I spent my time channeling Detect Life and Detect Evil continuously so that I had a magical detection field alerting me to anything that came near us. Spoiler alert, nothing came near us. While this was going on I carved more figurines. After I’d finished Taylor’s figurine I’d wanted to carve Raven’s next however, I couldn’t decide on how I wanted it posed. I’d tried a few practice carving but none of them felt right. Instead I decided on carving other figurines and coming back to Raven and Clair. Over the course of a few nights I carved figurines that looked like The Lonely Hearts. I’d remember what they’d looked like from the battle with the goblin king and had made each member. I wondered how they were doing and what they’d been tasked with by the king. Maybe we could meet up with them after this was all done with and have a drink together.
On day 7 after leaving Soyalls we passed near the ruins of Halden Holme where Lieutenant Jolts and his unit was attacked by the goblins. Halden Holme had been an army fort of some sort, I say some sort because it was mostly rubble. It looked like there had been 2 towers at one point but both had collapsed and crushed most of the fort in the process. What remained was a very sorry sight. We rode close to it but decided against digging through the ruin after Clair determined that nothing had taken up residence inside of it. We were still behind the necromancer and the fork in the road was not too far away. I had been worried for a few days about how we were going to determine which way the necromancer had gone. Sure the Soyalls leadership said they saw the necromancer heading north west but now we were a week away from the town, how reliable was that information.
We were luck that summer was still in full swing and it hadn’t rained for at least 2 weeks now. That meant that any physical tracks should still be visible and any residual mana signatures wouldn’t have been washed away. What that practically meant for us was that Clair and Raven spent a few hours inspecting the ground, to see if there were any foot prints or scuff marks from skeletons dragging their feet. Taylor took out her magic tools from her pack and spent the same amount of time waving rods and staring at graphs. Harold spent the time standing at the side of the road looking after the horses.
Normally with my Sense Mana skill let me find active sources of mana right away. Detecting ambient mana was not something that the skill normally did, however Taylor had helped me find a new way to use the skill. I sat down at the side of the road and focused on my Sense Mana skill trying to feel out the ambient mana. I sent my focus internally and felt my mana, it permeated my entire body like the blood flowing through my veins. It felt cold and elusive yet at the same time inevitable, which I guessed made sense because of my class. However it also felt like home to me and I didn’t want to contemplate the further implications of that. Instead, I shifted my focus outside of my body and activated Sense Mana at the same time.
The ambient mana became visible to me. It descended like a rolling fog, smothering everything around me till I could only see 5 feet around me. For a few seconds it stayed as a grey fog before exploding into vibrant colour that made me wince. The wispy light blue of air mana rushed around me stirring up the deep brown of earth mana, the faint orange mana that I’d learnt was associated with heat or fire mana bubbled around as the sun beat down on us. I’d always loved seeing mana, it was like taking a look at the building blocks of the world. I could tell I was smiling like an idiot as I looked around at the various colours. I caught a faint turquoise wisp that was incredibly weak and as I watched it withered out and disappeared. I frowned I remembered that turquoise was life mana. I shook my head, I was doing this for a reason, not just my own entertainment. The mana was thick in the air and I needed to move around in order to search for any signs of the necromancer.
I wandered around the road for at least 30 minutes while the others did their own version of investigating. What I found was a whole lot of nothing. Well that’s a lie, I found a lot of things but most of it wasn’t useful. There was lots of background mana, by which I mean mana that is generated by weather or the surrounding area. Wind, earth, heat, a touch of life mana, a few specs of water mana here and there. Then there was a whole lot of death mana which would have been useful, if it had been recent. The mana was washed out and very old, like it had been there for at least a few months. That made sense with the invasion, the necromancer had passed here about 4 months ago. All of this isn’t to say that I didn’t find something useful. While I was walking around I noticed that my soul lantern was absorbing a pale green mana that I recognised as etheric mana. Or more accurately it was soul mana. I noticed that it absorbed more mana as I moved to the west towards Bridalford than when I moved east towards Taif. While it wasn’t any definitive proof that they’d gone west, I trusted my soul lantern and so I would recommend to the others that we head that way. I deactivated Mana Sense and walked over to Harold.
“How’s it going?” I asked.
“It’s going. I think.” He said as we both watched the others. “Did you turn up anything?”
“I think they went west. My soul lantern was absorbing mana from that direction and the only thing it absorbs is souls.” I replied.
“Souls have mana?”
“Yes and no,” I said, scratching my head as I tried to think of a way to explain it. “It’s more like souls that aren’t housed in a body leak a mana equivalent and that’s what my lantern was picking up.”
“What?” Harold asked in confusion. “Souls leak fluid? Like a poorly made wine skin.”
“You remember I said that there were things I can’t explain due to it not being information I’m allowed to say?”
“I remember, you said that it wouldn’t pop up often since it was limited to afterlife stuff.”
“This is one of those times,” I said with an apologetic smile, “the important thing to take away is that I believe they went west towards Bridalford.”
“I think that's the conclusion they’ve come to as well.” Harold nodded towards Raven and Clair who were inches from the ground over by the road that led west.
“I’d be interested to see what Taylor found out, the way they read the mana is so completely different from my own that it’s almost fascinating.”
“Almost fascinating?” Harold asked, raising an eyebrow.
“It is for about 5 minutes then the explanations, reasonings and theories keep going for 3 hours.”
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“Yeah,” Harold nodded in agreement, “That’s why I stopped asking them about it and just accepted their answer.”
We both chuckled and fell into a companionable silence while we waited. 20 minutes later Clair, Raven and Taylor joined us and everyone unanimously agreed that all signs indicated that the necromancer headed west. Raven and Clair had found recent tracks that indicated maybe 20 humanoids came from the south and then turned left heading westwards. Taylor said that their finding were mostly inconclusive aside from a aberrant strain of mana that was headed westwards, they didn’t know what mana type it was but they thought it was the remnants of necromantic mana. I had a feeling that it was actually the etheric mana that they were picking up but this wasn’t something I could share with them.
And so, we began another long stretch of riding. If you are getting tired of me saying it, you can only imagine how tired I was of actually doing it. 6 days after we had began to move in the direction of Bridalford, the rest of my friends reached the same point of travelling fatigue as I had. We started to become quick to anger with each other, lots of places hurt from the long rides and there was no real down time. We were constantly moving as the necromancer wouldn’t stop and if they were smart, they’d have the undead carry them throughout the night so they wouldn’t even have to stop to sleep. I hoped that this wasn’t the case however I’d always planned for the worst and hopped for the best. Worst of all, we’d become complacent. We hadn’t come across any signs of the necromancer, or living creatures or plant life for at least 3 days. While the surrounding area wasn’t too badly desiccated, it was still destroyed like an army had been through here.
On day 20, after we’d left Sunak to complete the king’s quest we finally found a solid lead on the necromancer. I’d been struggling to keep my demonic steed on the road, it kept veering off to the left and wanting to stop. I was tired and ready to find out what horse stew tasted like. I almost missed the moment I turned a wispy ethereal green as the passive effect from Right Clothes for the Job activated. It was only when I heard the arrow slam into the rocks to my left I realised that something had just passed straight through my neck.
"AMBUSH RIGHT!" I shouted.
With a practised ease leapt off the back of my horse while sliding my scythe out of the saddle holder. As I leapt, with almost assassin-like precision and timing, the monster that disguised itself as my horse kicked me in the chest as it ran off. My super awesome leap turned into what could only be described as a brick attempting to fly. I crashed awkwardly to the ground, my scythe landed awkwardly before I crashed onto it and knocked all the breath out of my lungs.
"They are on the left as well." Clair warned everyone as the sound of metal on metal rang out.
“Walls are up.” Taylor shouted just before I heard Harold roar and activate his taunt skill.
I activated Man on the Job while still laying on the ground. I felt the abilities shroud flow out from me while I lay there gasping like a fish out of water. I focused on my Stealth skill trying to get it to activate as well, I might have been harder to spot but I wasn't invisible. I was way too vulnerable laying here on the ground.
Your stealth skill has failed. You are unable to stealth while Winded.
I fucking hate horses, I thought while continuing to gasp for air. I cast Lesser Regeneration and I slowly managed to get my breathing under control. As fresh air began to fill my lungs, I made a promise to myself. I would tie the horse up somewhere near a monster nest and walk away from it. The thought put a dark smile on my face.
Harold shouted in pain which brought me back to reality and I pushed aside the thoughts of what I was going to do to my horse. I slowly got to my feet while grabbing my scythe, I looked around to see what was going on. Taylor had built two ice walls and was casting their Healthy Heart spell on Harold while he held off three skeletons wielding swords. Clair stood next to Taylor firing up to the small ledge on the right of the road. Some of her arrows slammed into the rocky cover, but as I watched, a skeleton took an arrow to its face and its skull exploded into shrapnel. Raven was nowhere to be seen, but as a rogue that meant she was sneaking behind them and picking off any mages or leader types.
I could see more skeletons shambling their way onto the road, they’d been cut off by Taylor’s ice walls. It had only delayed them though, if I didn’t act they would swarm my friends. My hand tightened on my scythe and the blade slowly formed, I fired off my Identification spell. That was not going to happen.
Name: Skeleton Warrior
Level 6
Type: Uncommon
Description: The reanimated skeleton of a royal marine that fell in battle. This skeleton is linked to a powerful necromancer. This simple skeleton warrior is capable of basic commands and can wield simple melee weapons.
Health: 200/200
Mana: 50/50
Effects: Vulnerable to holy damage, Vulnerable to fire damage.
*Note, as this creature is recognised by your Soul Reaper class as an adversary, all combat restrictions are removed from all class abilities (excluding disabled abilities or skills) and you will be able to gain xp from defeating this monster.
I used Etheric Step to appear right in front of the first skeleton as it neared the edge of the ice wall. My scythe was already mid swing when I appeared. The blade all the way up the center of the first skeleton, its bones parted like butter. They clattered to the ground as the magic animating them vanished. I stepped through the bones as they fell, the rotation of my scythe taking the second skeleton seconds after the first. It met the same fate as the blade came back around. The next two skeletons rushed me at the same time and I shifted my wrists and elbows to adjust my scythe's trajectory. A horizontal slash passed through the neck of the first skeleton with ease but it met some resistance as it hit the second one's neck, only for a moment. Two more sets of bones fell to the ground.
My Danger Sense made all the hairs stand up on my neck stand up and I stopped my scythe’s rotation. I raised it up to block a speeding overhead chop came at me. Blade met shaft and the vibrations of the impact travel down my arm. I winced in pain as I struggled to keep hold of my scythe. The skeleton had to have used some sort of skill with that attack and I realised that i’d underestimated my opponent. That could be very dangerous as I hadn’t cast Mage Armour so if I was stabbed, there was a good chance it would go right through my robes and do some real damage.
I felt the pressure lessen as the skeleton began to shift the swords weight. I pushed against the sword trying to force the skeleton off balance. It took a half step backwards and I slid the blade through the gaps between the lower ribs and pulled towards me. It fell to the ground, its legs collapsed into a jumble but the top half remained somewhat intact. It screeched at me as it fell and lashed out with the sword. My Danger Sense made the hairs on my left arm stand up but I was out of position, my scythe was on the opposite side of the danger and I was moving to block the sword. An arrow passed through me and I turned an ethereal green just before a second arrow slammed into my hip. I cried out in pain and then cried out again as the skeleton’s sword opened up a long cut down my right leg. I slammed the blade of my scythe through the skeleton’s head and the rest of the bones fell into a lifeless pile.
I quickly looked around. The skeletons that had climbed onto the road were dead, that just left the archer. I turned to look in its direction just as my Danger Sense went off again. I started to twist out of the way of the arrow when a sharp pain from my hip stunned me for a brief second. I watched as an arrow flew past my face, then an intense burning in my stomach joined the pain in my hip. I looked down to see an arrow sticking out of me.
There were two skeletons, not one. I cast Identification on them.
Name: Skeleton Archer
Level 8
Type: Uncommon
Description: The reanimated skeleton of a royal marine that fell in battle. This skeleton is linked to a powerful necromancer. This simple skeleton warrior is capable of basic commands and can wield simple ranged weapons.
Health: 200/200
Mana: 50/50
Effects: Vulnerable to holy damage, Vulnerable to fire damage.
*Note, as this creature is recognised by your Soul Reaper class as an adversary, all combat restrictions are removed from all class abilities (excluding disabled abilities or skills) and you will be able to gain xp from defeating this monster.
They were both exactly the same. I used Etheric Step to appear behind them just as they both fired another pair of arrows. I lashed out with my scythe decapitating both of them and watched as they collapsed into heaps of bones. One last check of my surroundings showed that it was just me on this side of the ice walls. I let out a sigh of relief and twin spikes of pain ran through me. My vision dimmed as the pain threatened to knock me unconscious. I had a notification blinking a dangerous shade of red, I opened it and cursed.
You have been hit by an arrow. You are bleeding -25 HP per second.
Health: 950/2500
Health: 925/2500
Fuck. Those royal marines must have died while using serrated arrows. I needed to get to Taylor. I cast Lesser Regeneration to increase my HP, while it wouldn't stop the bleeding, it would at least ensure I wouldn't die before reaching Taylor.
Slowly I made my way back onto the road, wincing each time I accidentally jostled the arrows. The sound of metal clashing against metal rang out as I came around the ice wall.
"Left side is clear." I said, pain shot through me and I put my back against the ice wall.
"Wild Mothers, Luca." Clair said, as she looked at me.
"Forgotten Gods.” Taylor added.
I heard footsteps as my legs buckled and I slumped onto the floor. The red notification had only gotten redder since I'd first seen it.
"I thought your Right Clothes for the Job ability negates attacks.” Taylor asked as Clair laid me on the ground making sure not to know the arrows.
"It has a cooldown." I groaned, "and there were two archers, they attacked a split second after each other, the second one got me after the first arrow made me phase.”
I cried out as Taylor grabbed hold of an arrow. I don't think I managed to maintain consciousness as Taylor was saying something when the pain came back down to a level where I could focus on other things.
“What?”
“I said, I need to take the arrow out before I can heal you." Taylor repeated. “This is going to hurt Luca, I have some things that would numb the pain but I don't think they'll work fast enough.”
“Fuck.” I gasped as more pain rocketed through me.
Taylor rifled through the bag she always carried that was filled with non-standard healing supplies. They pulled out a few cutting tools and a thick strip of leather which they gave to Clair. My vision swam as Clair put the leather between my teeth. I will do you a favour and not describe how it tasted.
"The arrows are most of the way through.” Taylor said, I saw they were holding a pair of clippers and a small hammer. “I'm going to need to cut off the end and then push them through.”
“I vas voping vou veren't going to vay vat.” I said through the leather strap.
“It's okay luca, women like scars.” Clair said with a sorry smile.
“I'd vever to vive my vife vithout vetting vcars.”
“Take a few deep breaths, this is going to suck." Taylor said. I took a few breaths before they cut off the fletching. I screamed as the pain washed through me and my vision grew very dark.
“Get ready for the second one.” Taylor said and I just about heard it over the sounds of blood rushing through my ears. I began to draw a few quick breaths getting myself ready for…I screamed as Taylor didn't give me the time to prepare.
“Luca, I need to push the arrows through now.”
I was barely heard Taylor, the pain consumed me and I couldn't devote enough mental focus to reply. I felt arms lift me up off the ground so I was sitting up. I could smell the metallic tang of blood as well as wild flowers and blueberries. That was Clair's smell. Something hit me hard in the side and everything went black.
