Chapter 206: How a Dungeon Grows

Aliandra

Ali flew across the forest cavern, heading back toward the library, enjoying the soft glow of her mushrooms below, and the wisps and glitter dragons that had found their way up here. It had been a long day, and she was emotionally drained.

She had spent the better part of two hours with Vivian, which didn’t alleviate her feelings of guilt, but at least it gave her a much better understanding of why Theon had died during the fight.

While she was at the guild, Rezan had shown up with three Ahn Khen youths seeking classes, and so she had conducted a quick ceremony at the shrine for them and the recruits Vivian deemed ready. Initially, she had simply done it out of duty, mostly because she had given her word. But surprisingly, it was the obvious excitement and joy the new novices experienced upon receiving their brand-new classes after their challenging trials that had finally turned her mood toward a more positive track. It was remembering that this was a large part of why she was doing this – helping people get a better start on their adult lives. Theon’s death was tragic, and this did not take anything away from that, but furnishing all these new novices with powerful classes helped her feel she was making a positive impact.

Ali entered the library to a surprisingly raucous scene. Ryn sat on a table with a ball in her hand and flung it over the railing and into the atrium. With a tiny roar and a flash of gold, her familiar shot off, diving down after the ball. Then she was treated to the bizarre sight of her book speeding off after the dragon, the two of them swirling down in a spiral together, snapping at each other as they tried to get to the ball.

Seated at the edge of the railing were several adventurers, their open books forgotten upon the tables behind them, instead cheering for the Bookwyrm and Clarence loudly by name.

“Um, what’s going on?” she asked.

Ryn’s head snapped around with a guilty look on her face. “Um, I was teaching Bookwyrm to fetch… and then Clarence wanted to play too. I didn’t think it would be a problem.”

Over the railing sailed the book, carrying the ball locked between its pages with the tiny golden dragonet harrying it all the way, shooting motes of light at it, and snapping with its tiny jaws. Clarence came to a stop beside her and dropped the ball at her feet and backed off a little.

She glanced down at the ball, and then her book. Bookwyrm swooped in, landed beside Clarence, and glanced up at her crooning.

And then Clarence shuffled forward and bumped the ball so that it rolled up against her feet and backed away again.

I can’t believe I’m doing this. In the Grand Library, no less, with a book that seems more strangely alive by the day. She stooped down and picked up the ball, and looked at it, and as she did, both the book and the dragonet sprang into a frenzy of excited swoops and twirls. She sighed, and then lobbed the ball over the railing, bouncing it off one of the branches of the elder tree before it plummeted to the ground. In a flash, the book and the dragonet were off in pursuit, to a round of excited cheering as people made bets on which of them would win this round.

Ryn gave her a huge smile as Ali sat down beside her, deciding that it couldn’t hurt to watch the antics for just a bit. It was a pleasant way to pass the time, watching people enjoying themselves with a simple game. Eventually, Bookwyrm returned to his perch on Ryn’s shoulder, wrapping his long tail around her arm, and Clarence flew over and dropped himself into her lap – tired after so much flying. But still, she sat there, watching the busy comings and goings as the guild members chatted, hunted for books, or simply curled up on a couch to read.

It's a library. It had always been one, but Ryn had been right – without people to read the books, a library wasn’t fulfilling its purpose. And now, finally, the Grand Library Arcana – though much diminished – was once again open for business.

“Hi, Aliandra.”

She looked up from her musing to find Seth standing in front of her. “You can call me Ali, Seth,” she told him.

“Um, ok, Ali,” he said as if trying it out and discovering it worked. “I found something you might like – it’s probably not that useful, but…” He pulled out a pile of small dark furry shapes and placed them on the table nearby.

Icicle Bat – Bat – level 1-3 (Ice) x12.

“I found them in a cave when I was doing a night quest, and I remember you have bats. I couldn’t find anything higher than level three, though.”

“Oh wow, an ice affinity,” she said, examining the curious, tiny dead bats on her table. Seth had a habit of working with his team during the day and taking odd jobs to make extra money at night; he had told her he rarely needed sleep these days because of the life drain of his wraiths. And at night, he could more easily hide the fact he was a necromancer. “Thanks, Seth!”

The tiny bat corpses dissipated quickly to her magic.

Variant: Icicle Bat added to Imprint: Bat.

She immediately summoned one, but instead of a single bat, she got a flight of five.

“Oh, it’s a swarm monster,” she said, verifying quickly by checking its status. It had only a small number of skills, but five of them cost the same as a single monster. “And it has echolocation!”

“Yes,” Seth agreed. “I turned some into zombies for scouting the caves. I don’t get all their skills, but that perception, I can use.”

“Thank you, Seth,” she said. “Let me get you the quest bounty.”

“No, it’s fine Ali, I don’t need the money.”

“You sure? I don’t mind.”

“Yes, you already did so much for me.”

“Well, thank you again, they’re delightful,” she told him, watching through their eyes and hearing through their remarkable ears as they flew around the library, already exploring. I’ll really have to think about how I integrate these into my domain – I’m going to start needing new areas for different affinities, right? Or will it grow and develop organically?

***

“Aliandra, do you have a moment?” Rezan asked, walking up to her perch on the arm of the couch with Clarence still nestled comfortably in her lap.

“Elder,” she said, nodding respectfully to him and the three newly classed novices standing behind him.

“Laila, Raed, and Naji wanted to stop by and thank you for helping them earn their classes.” Each of them stepped forward with a respectful bow and thanked her with a stiff formality that was frankly, quite adorable.

“It was my pleasure,” she told them. “I’m glad you found classes you liked.”

“I want to thank you too,” Rezan said. “You have breathed a new life into our villages. Their parents didn’t dare to express their hope out loud for fear that it might not be true, and in a few days, I will return them to their families with powerful classes. They will be overjoyed.”

“You’re welcome, Rezan,” she said, smiling at him. And then his words reminded her of something. “If you don’t mind waiting a few minutes, I can help you with the trip home. I remember the locus in Vertias.”

“You can teleport us? You are growing, young lady.”

“I… sort of wrote it down…” Ali found herself coloring as Rezan’s youngsters voiced a chorus of impressed ‘Ooohs!’

It took only a few minutes to fly them all down to the ground floor and inscribe a new circle in her ever-growing teleportation ring around the base of the giant elder tree. When she was done, the electrum-inscribed runes glowed prettily, infused with the magic of her domain.

With a smile and a wave, the wizened elder vanished, taking his three charges with him.

***

“Hi, Ali,” Calen said, pulling up a chair and joining her at her favorite study table in the library.

“Welcome back,” Ali said, managing a smile to greet him. “How did the scouting go?”

“Worrying,” he said, and when Ali met his gaze, he added, “I found a large undead dungeon consuming the southern end of the blighted forest, towns and all. Vivian is trying to figure out what to do, but it looks like they will need help – it’s in the mid-eighties.”

“Goodness, that’s awful,” Ali said. “Where would they find a group high-enough level to deal with that? Southport?”

“Maybe Ciradyl,” Calen said. “I suggested the Pathfinders. Anyway, let’s not worry about it for now – Vivian said she’d look into it. How’re you holding up, Ali?”

“Ok, I guess,” Ali said, glancing up from her notes. “Lira said I should do something productive today, but I think she just wants me to keep myself busy. You know…”

“It’ll be ok,” Calen said, reaching over and squeezing her hand gently.

“I know, it’s just a little rough.”

“What are you working on, then?” he asked, craning his neck to peek at her notes.

She tilted the pages to give him a better angle. “I’m hunting for monsters I can learn to make myself stronger down in those mines. That drake is… ridiculous.”

“Any good leads?”

“Nothing,” Ali said, frowning. It was a real problem – Ryn’s research had turned up some interesting options, but all of them would require travel to distant dungeons dotted around the continent. Not something she could likely achieve – at least, not without substantial, expensive preparation.

“Hmm,” Calen said, scratching his head, and then he sat up straighter all of a sudden. “Hey… why don’t you try a different approach?”

“Like what?”

“Well, you wanted to work on improving your dungeon. Why don’t you learn potions?” he said.

“I… well, even assuming that works, how exactly does that improve my dungeon?”

“Potions are very versatile,” Calen said. “You could give all sorts of options to your Kobold defenders if you could make them.”

“Are you sure it’s not just because you want a supplier?” she asked, arching an eyebrow at him. Still, joking aside, it seemed like a great idea. Even just creating her Acolytes with mana potions would be a big improvement on their delves into the mines.

Calen coughed, breaking eye contact. “Um… no? Well, yes, but also your dungeon would benefit greatly! And we wouldn’t run out of elixirs so quickly next time we try the drake…” He trailed off, then added defensively, “I didn’t think of myself first. Close second.”

“I’m teasing,” Ali said, grinning at him. “It’s a good idea. I have space, why don’t we see if it works?”

“Oh,” he muttered. “Um… alright!” Suddenly excited, he pulled out a few trays of the minor mana potions he typically used to sustain himself during the easier fights. “Fifteen, thereabouts?”

“Yup,” Ali said, manifesting her Grimoire in the air above the table and reaching for the gleaming crystal vials.

Imprint: Minor Mana Potion completed.

“It worked?” Calen exclaimed the instant her Grimoire reacted.

“Seems that way!” Ali immediately retrieved a dozen other assorted health and mana potions and fed them to her book by way of Deconstruction.

Imprint: Minor Mana Potion updated to Imprint: Potion.
Variant: Minor Health Potion added to Imprint: Potion.
Variant: Large Mana Potion added to Imprint: Potion.
Variant: Moderate Health Potion added to Imprint: Potion.

“Here, try these!” Calen said, his voice filled with animated excitement.

Variant: Minor Elixir of Fire Resistance added to Imprint: Potion.
Variant: Elixir of Fire Resistance added to Imprint: Potion.
Variant: Potion of Fire Absorption added to Imprint: Potion.

“Sorry, Morwynne and Eliyen,” Ali muttered as she expanded her imprint to include some of the most lucrative business the Alchemist and Herbalist had yet seen.

“I have an idea for that,” Calen said, catching the thread of her guilt instantly. “Why don’t you make a fire-themed boss for the guild to work on? That way the demand for essences and consumables won’t vanish overnight.”

“That’s a good idea,” Ali said. “But, first…” She pulled out all her recall potions and inspected them carefully before deconstructing them.

Variant: Recall Potion (Novaspark Academy of Magic) added to Imprint: Potion.

Oh, that works, too? Interestingly, the binding to the locus seemed to be an intrinsic part of the potion itself. She would need to consult Morwynne if she ever needed a different destination.

“What else are you up to today?” Ali asked, glancing up at Calen. “Want to help me make that fire boss?” She had a little time on her hands, and she was finally feeling better about herself and her dungeon after spending time with her friends and Lira – and the prospect of doing something productive had put her in a different frame of mind.

“Sure, I’d love to help,” Calen said, getting up.

“I just need to be careful with the levels and difficulty,” Ali said, hopping onto her barrier and leading him out of the library and into the ruins. Her biggest concern was giving the novices and bronze-ranked adventurers a decent difficulty ramp – and Theon’s death served to remind her that she could be doing better for them. Even if she believed everyone insisting it wasn’t exactly her fault. “I could really do with your help thinking through the different levels and challenges, maybe tweak a few things? Burgle that notebook of yours?”

“Absolutely not!” he snorted, meaning quite the opposite. “So, where to?”

“The entry hall leading into the ruins,” Ali said. There were nine newly-minted bronze-ranked adventurers now, and the next bosses available to them were her Timber Wolves and the twin ooze-goblin setup she had guarding the lake. Both were raid threats and likely impossible with only a single healer. Vivian had mentioned she was going to send them into the dungeon one group at a time, sharing the priest Belmar until they found a replacement – but healers were rare, so it might take some time.

The flight across the breadth of the residential ruins of Dal’mohra’s upper level along the giant boulevard passed in companionable silence. When she finally flew through the great archway and into the entry hall, Ali paused, hovering there in the center.

“You ok?”

“Yes, just memories,” Ali said, shaking them off. This room had strong associations with two emotionally traumatic encounters – one with her mother when she first laid terrified eyes on a Death Knight, and the second time with Mato when they had defeated the swordmaster Kobold to win their way free from the ruins. Beyond the shattered remains of the city doors was the tunnel that led up to the forest cavern and her Grove – and also dozens of unexplored openings to the extensive cave system that riddled the mountains like a termite-infested tree. Her traps in this area had been working overtime.

“Do you think level seventeen is low enough?” Ali asked as she descended to the ground, now covered in moss and mushrooms by her roaming planting crew.

“Somewhere between the kobolds and the wolves, that doesn’t sound too bad,” Calen said, joining her. “Not a raid monster though, I think.”

“Yes, just a regular boss this time,” Ali said. “They’ll be in single groups for the foreseeable future.” This spot would provide a decent proving ground and an introduction to the underground ruins for any adventurer groups that wished to explore. But she couldn’t make the boss a pushover – this area was rife with bat, Kobold, and zombie incursions through all the exposed cave and tunnel entrances. She needed a good boss here to close up the chokepoint and secure her domain.

“Sounds good,” Calen said. “Fire theme?”

“Yes,” Ali said. She had not forgotten his suggestion. Helping out Morwynne and Eliyen who’d given them so much aid was high on her priority list. Pulling out her Grimoire, she summoned a Kobold that she hadn’t been able to use in far too long.

Fire Mage – Kobold – level 17 (Fire).

“You will be the boss guarding this room,” she told him.

“As you wish, ancient Mistress,” the Kobold replied, his gravelly voice and faint sulfurous odor giving her a surprising sense of nostalgia.

She studied him closely, examining the equipment her Grimoire had chosen for him. There were the standard mage robes, of course, but her eyes were caught by the two glittering glass vials at his belt.

“It made potions…”

“You didn’t do that on purpose?” Calen asked. One of the vials was a minor healing potion, and the other a mana potion.

“No, I just let the Grimoire pick,” Ali said. It was a feature she could control if she wished, but often she simply left it up to chance after she had realized that the Grimoire would make progressively better choices the higher she leveled her skill.

“Well, that’s certainly interesting,” Calen said. “Does that mean your Kobold or Goblin bosses will start respawning with assorted potions now?”

“I don’t see why not,” Ali said, considering it. She had explicitly specified some of their gear, but the rest had been left to chance, and now that she had the potion imprint, it would seem that was included in the options.

“That means you can strengthen your existing bosses by growing your potion imprint,” Calen noted.

“That’s… now you’re just showing off,” Ali said. Levitating herself a little higher, she placed a hand on her Kobold’s shoulder, she invoked her domain magic.

Domain Respawn applied to Fire Mage.
Boss Domain Enhancement applied to Fire Mage.

She didn’t forget to keep the enhancement to a group-level threat, acknowledging that the new bronze-ranked adventurers could no longer field a complete raid group. But it shouldn’t be an issue for her purposes.

“What abilities are you going to use?” Calen said.

“You suggested helping out Morwynne and Eliyen, and most of the fire plants require fire mana to grow. What do you think about a fire aura and some minions? Keep it simple?”

“Sounds good. What about those Drake Hatchlings? They should be a good challenge.”

“Oh, I like that idea,” Ali said and made her selections.

Affinity Aura (Fire) applied.

Select or create minions: 51 levels remaining.

She didn’t feel like she needed to be too precise with the minions, but she did want them to at least be a decent challenge to a group capable of taking on a level seventeen boss monster.

Drake Hatchling – Dragon – level 11-15 (Fire) x4

Minions assigned.
Domain Enhancement complete.

Your reserved mana has increased by +78.

Her domain surged through the Kobold and his drake minions, and the aura of fire rippled outward from him, filling most of the ruined entry hall with scalding flame. But the fire from a level seventeen monster felt like a tickle compared to what she had grown used to down in the mines. It was a while before her attending Acolyte even deigned to cast a Restoration spell on her.

“What do you think is good for loot? Magicite?” Ali asked.

“Probably not necessary – they can wait till they’re strong enough to take on the wolves. You already have the drakes so they can get leather and scales. Those fire plants you were thinking of should provide a great source of unique alchemical ingredients,” Calen offered.

“I guess there’s also the equipment he’s using,” Ali observed.

“Why don’t you give him a fire elixir or absorption potion too?”

“Why? It’s not like he needs it?”

“Think of it like advertising,” Calen grinned. “A teaser if you will. Once they see the potion, they’ll need more, and then they’ll be knocking on Morwynne’s door.”

“Oh, good idea,” Ali said and did just that. “Now, I just need to fix everything else,” she added, gesturing expansively to the burning room.

Calen chuckled.

Most of her moss and mushrooms were already on fire, and even the ones near the edge of the chamber were smoking from the heat. First, Ali punched a few holes through the floor and planted several substantially higher-level trees to form the backbone of her domain. She touched each one and granted them Domain Respawn also. Along the perimeter of the chamber, she planted clumps and rings of Glowcaps, giving them permanent barriers for protection.

With her domain taken care of, she inscribed several Arcane Blast runic circles dotted about the chamber with various triggers she had been practicing. Traps for the unwary. And then she replaced all the burning moss with Fire Grass, turning the room into a dancing field of red flames.

“Hey, that’s quite pretty,” Calen said, hovering about a meter above the ground on his radiant wings.

“Thanks!” Ali said, happy to see the grass thriving under the influence of the Kobold’s fire aura. “What do you think of Flame Lashers?”

“Not unless you can lower their level a bit,” Calen said.

“Mmm, I can do that.” The flowers were gorgeous, and they would provide more incentive to clear this chamber, so she grew a couple along the outer walls.

“Looks good, Ali,” Calen said. “That should provide a nice bridge between the raid bosses, and Morwynne and Eliyen are going to be overjoyed when they come back with a haul of flowers and grasses.”

“Anything else it needs?” she asked.

“Some trash mobs in the passageway?”

“Trash mobs?” Ali asked, not recalling that particular term.

“Loose monsters to serve as guards and a… warmup?”

“Ha, warmup, you’re a real comedian today,” Ali laughed.

“What can I say? I’m on fire!”

Ali just chuckled again and seeded the passageway with a few Drake Hatchlings and several packs of Flame Skitterers for flavor.

“You got mana for another?” Calen asked.

“Yes,” Ali said. “I was thinking of something to guard the ventilation shaft.” It was the next critical chokepoint on her list.

“How about something for Teagan and Aiden’s groups to work towards?”

“Ok,” Ali said. Tossing ideas back and forth, they flew back into the Forest Cavern and made their way across it to the small cave and the ventilation shaft through which she and Mato had made their first unceremonious entrance into the Ruins of Dal’mohra. “Something to help boost them to silver-rank?”

“That works,” Calen said. “Given that this is a small and dark cave, perhaps one of your spiders?”

“Good idea,” Ali said, her mind filling with dozens of ideas. “Your mom is very excited for new web options – do you think we should do a Flame Spinner here?”

“You just made a fire boss, perhaps a different theme?”

“Well, then there’s only really one good option,” Ali said. The theme was blood. She opened her Grimoire and began to work.

Abyssal Stalker – Demonic Spider – level 33 (Blood).

At a regressed level of thirty-three, the demonic spider had only nine of its full complement of skills. The one that it lost was Onslaught, but Ali didn’t think that would matter much – making the encounter a little easier by removing a substantial portion of the monster’s already unreasonable critical strike chance. She would give a little of it back anyway, with a dexterity enhancement. For her plan to help Lydia gain access to demonic web, and indirectly benefit the cloth-wearers in the guild, it was crucial for the monster to still have Web Spray, and it had worked out perfectly.

Domain Respawn applied to Abyssal Stalker.
Boss Domain Enhancement applied to Abyssal Stalker.

The first thing Ali chose was Affinity Aura, but to her dismay, it didn’t work. “Oh, I don’t have blood affinity for the aura skill.”

“Well, that would have been terrifying,” Calen shuddered. “Why don’t you make it summon some of those hornets instead?”

“Oh, that’s not a bad idea,” Ali said, considering it. It would give the mages something to do, for sure. Wiping out the hornets fast would be a priority, otherwise their swarm bonuses would rapidly get out of hand.

Summoning (Vampire Hornet) applied.
Attribute Enhancement (Dexterity) applied.

Domain Enhancement complete.

Your reserved mana has increased by +245.

A substantially more expensive monster, but she was happy with it. As her magic completed, her Stalker vanished from her mundane vision, forcing her to rely on her minions to see it.

“That’s going to be a rough encounter for the tanks,” Calen said. “The spider hits very hard.”

“Yes, but if they have good perception skills, they can avoid the Ambush,” Ali countered. “And with proper armor, shields, and endurance they should be able to mostly avoid the stuns.”

“I predict that stock in Thuli’s Steelworks will rise,” Calen laughed.

“I’ll let Vivian know, as usual,” Ali said. Earlier today, Vivian had mentioned Mieriel’s idea of the guild sponsoring a few exciting quests to improve morale – and what could be better than a first kill bounty? Then she covered the walls with creepers and ivy and embedded a few small slivers of Abyssal Bloodstone in strategic locations, granting them Domain Respawn too.

“That’s some very good stealth,” Calen said. “I can’t even see it.”

“Mato said he can hear them,” Ali said.

“Yes, but they don’t have him in their group.”

“Willow’s wolf should be able to sniff it out,” Ali said, thinking through the options. “And I’m sure Seth will do something scary with his wraiths to find it.”

“Good point,” Calen said. “Maybe I’m not giving them enough credit.”

“Does it look good?” Ali asked.

“Yes, very demonic! And the crafters are going to love the supply of bloodstone and webbing.”

Gara

Gara drew a ragged breath, running low on stamina, now, as she warily circled her inexhaustible foes, putting the walls of the Temple of Bone against her back. With a deft flick of her blade, she opened the veins on her forearms again, increasing the flow of blood that her regeneration kept interrupting. Catching the trickle with Blood Manipulation, she made it flow down her arms and along the underside of the second of her two forefingers, rather than her thumb, before feeding it to her hungry weapon and shield as she had been taught. It would do her no good to enhance her power with her blood magic only to make her weapon and shield slick and slip from her grasp.

The two zombies – once members of one of the lesser races – groaned, lunging toward her. She staggered backward as their sluggish but unreasonably powerful attacks crashed into the shield that she raised to guard her head and throat. Sharp pain lanced through her, making her stumble as a bolt of ice from the troll skeletal mage pierced her thigh again.

How did they get into Aman Rak? And where is Kir’mogan? Kir’vella? The champions should have been out there protecting them from the undead that seemed to spawn endlessly from the ominous dark cloud over the forest. Gara had too many questions and no answers. Val’korr the Seeker had always told her that, in Aman Rak, blood was the power, bone was the spine, and soul was the heart and the connection to the ancestral spirits. A bone warrior would have made short work of these undead, but she was alone. She struck again, but her Lacerate could only do physical damage; none of her magic would affect a bloodless monster. She healed herself with Blood Siphon, feeling the lance of ice pushed from her wound and drop to the ground, her magic the only thing that was keeping her alive in this fight.

Gara danced around her pulsing armor totem and darted forward. Keeping her shield raised, she stabbed at the zombie whose head she had taken earlier. The sword blade pierced the tough undead flesh, burying the blade up to the hilt in its chest, spraying putrescent goo across her face and shield – and finally, her chime sounded as it sagged groaning to the grass and expired.

She backed up, recovered her stance, and reopened her self-bleeds, powering her defensive shield magic. Delicately, she tested her leg, finding that the wound had almost completely healed. She ducked as the troll skeleton’s Ice Lance shattered against her braced and blooded shield.

Out of the corner of her eye, Gara spied a small pool of blood on the grass – her own blood, spilled by the earlier lance – and linked her blood to it with Blood Walker, suddenly appearing behind the last zombie. Taking advantage of the surprise and her position behind it, she made an all-out attack, ignoring the deadly lances thwipping past her ears. She sliced off an arm at the shoulder, and then stabbed through the lower spine, severing rotting bone and sinew with a wet crunching sound. The zombie dropped to the ground beside its companion and Gara turned to face the skeleton.

Gara’s heart filled with an icy chill as she caught sight of the familiar ceremonial leather tusk braids – the braids she had helped him tie when they had earned their classes together.

Jotan.

She sliced open her bleeds again, the familiar pain helping to subdue her feelings. The fact that he was even here and not back with his tribe in Telim Gor was shocking enough. She choked down her gorge. The Tol will finally be happy, she thought, forcing anger to overwhelm the horror of seeing her forbidden childhood friendship desecrated by this animated undead mockery of Jotan trying to kill her. If she died here, she knew it would continue to rampage through Aman Rak, destroying whatever it found. She shattered another blade-like lance of ice on her shield and gritted her teeth.

Blood and bone, Jotan. I will see you find rest.

She used Blood Walker again, this time traveling to the blood moss behind the skeleton, and yelled to bolster her rattled resolve, slicing downward with her sword, and cracking the skeleton’s collarbone. Jotan – no, it – turned quickly and fired point blank into her ribs, causing her to cough up a little trickle of blood, but she bore the pain stoically. She was a Troll. She was Aman Rak. She channeled the fresh blood from her wound into her shield and healed herself again, cracking ribs with her next strike. As the skeleton raised its arm to fire, she caught the bones on the inside of her shield and shattered the arm with a powerful downward Lacerate strike.

As it flailed from the power of her blow, she swept its leg out from under it and followed it to the ground, smashing repeatedly with her shield and sword, ignoring the biting ice that lanced into her belly. A soft chime pierced her haze of pain and screams of fury and the skeleton beneath her ceased moving, becoming nothing more than a pile of shattered and broken bones. A pile that had once been a proud mage of Telim Gor. Technically she had killed a member of Aman Rak’s rivals and would be accorded honors and status for her achievement. She choked down the bile that rose in her throat.

You have defeated Warrior – Zombie – level 14.
You have defeated Warrior – Zombie – level 11.
You have defeated Mage – Skeleton – level 16.

Blood Shaman has reached level 12 (+2)
+20 attribute points.

Lacerate has reached level 10.
Blood Shield has reached level 9.
Blood Siphon has reached level 11.
Summon Totem has reached level 7.
Blood Walker has reached level 3 (+2).

Slowly, Gara clambered to her feet, ripping the remaining ice lances out of her body and letting her regeneration take care of her remaining wounds. She had reached level twelve in defense of Aman Rak – an occasion that should have been filled with joy and celebration. Instead, she reached down and picked up the remains of the tusked troll skull, cradling it against her breast.

Val’korr will know what to do. She turned and, carrying her heavy burden, sprinted through the blood moss and trees, heading for the sacred shrine where she knew she would find the venerable Seeker.

***

By the time she emerged from the dappled light of the forest into the clearing, her wounds were almost entirely healed. Right in the center of the clearing stood the tall black stone shrine with its glowing runes, and beside it sat Val’korr, Aman Rak’s Seeker for as long as anyone could remember. He was hunched over his gnarled staff, white wiry hair standing out in messy spikes from the top of his head, and his gentle kind eyes looked up from his students to regard her as she approached.

“Congratulations, you have reached level twelve, Gara,” he said. “You are growing quickly; do you seek counsel for your skills?”

“No, Seeker, that must wait.” She tossed the skull into the circle in front of the aged troll. “This is… was Jotan. His skeleton attacked me at the blood temple. What is going on? How are the undead inside Aman Rak? Where are the champions?” Her voice cracked near the end, but she didn’t care.

Val’korr glanced down at the skull, but when he looked up, it was not at her, but past her – in the direction from which she had come.

“It would seem Tol’brekk has made his decision,” he said cryptically, his eyes suddenly brimming with enormous sadness, his aged back seeming to bow even further under a heavy load.

“Tol’brekk demands your answer, Val’korr.”

The familiar rough and arrogant voice of Kir’mogan caught her by surprise, and Gara spun to find the muscular Bone Warrior champion emerging from the forest flanked by his entourage. Kir’vella stood beside him with her ever-present bats circling above.

“He may be the Tol, but I will not betray Aman Rak for that whelp,” Val’korr said, a surprising strength in his voice.

“There is this curious thing about power – it has a remarkable way of focusing the mind,” Kir’mogan said. Suddenly, a giant bone greataxe appeared in his hands and his powerful body blurred, appearing right before Val’korr. His axe was almost invisibly fast, unleashing an immense thunderclap as its wide blade took the ancient seeker and the shrine in a single cleaving strike. Black stone fragments and blood exploded into the air in the wake of his blade as he severed the Seeker’s arm at the shoulder and drove his blade through his chest, halting against the sternum and spine.

Blood spilled from the venerable Seeker’s mouth, dripping down his tusks. His students screamed and ran before the pieces of the shrine had even fallen, but Gara stood and stared, unable to comprehend what had just happened.

“Stake him,” Kir’vella commanded.

“Yes, yes, I know how durable he is,” Kir’mogan said, placing his boot on the stricken Seeker’s chest and ripping his axe free, sending another spray of blood across the grass. A large spike of bone sprouted from the inside of his wrist, and, with a brutal punch, he rammed it down, impaling Val’korr through the chest, puncturing the sternum and the still-beating heart below, pinning him to the grass. He snapped it off and stepped backward.

“Seeker!” Gara gasped. The Kir – the champions of Aman Rak – had just impaled the oldest and wisest of their tribe with a brutal attack designed to still his heart so that not even troll regeneration would allow him to regain consciousness. It was the most dishonorable torture Gara could imagine. Worse even than fire.

“I will take him to Tol’brekk,” Kir’vella said. “You can have all the little ones to play with.”

“Excellent,” Kir’mogan said, a predatory glint in his eye. “I’ll start with you.” And before Gara could even raise her shield, he was suddenly looming over her. She gasped, but the flat of his axe smacked into the side of her head, making something crack inside.

The last thing she saw before she struck the ground was a group of troll zombies joining the champions in the clearing, kicking pieces of the sacred shrine with their rotting feet, and carrying the struggling pupils of the Seeker. The ground rose to meet her face, but her awareness vanished right before it hit.

Mato

Mato knocked on the door of the tiny chapel in the courtyard beside the Adventurers Guild. It was called a chapel, but it was little more than a rickety wooden shack with a surprisingly well-crafted picture of a dragon’s face mounted above the doorway.

The door creaked as it opened and he found himself invited in by Devan, one of the adventurers on Aiden’s team. He stepped in, finding five people standing in a circle around a bucket.

Havok reached down and picked up the bucket and passed it around, and each person placed a coin in it. When Havok reached him, he said, “Holy bucket. Donation for poor. Not must.”

It took Mato several seconds to parse Havok’s atrocious accent and grammar, but he realized the Goblin was asking for a donation for the poor, but he was also saying it was optional. Mato retrieved a silver piece from his ring and dropped it into the bucket, getting a big toothy grin from the Goblin.

“Thanks!” Havok said, placing the bucket on a small table behind him where, surprisingly, Mieriel sat. “Devan, say words.”

“Ok,” Devan said, clearing her throat. “Sermon time.”

Mato braced himself, given that he was not partial to sermons, or even any particularly long speeches for that matter.

The rogue took a deep breath and then intoned, “Oh, great and mighty Azryet, we are in awe of your power. Thanks for the damage!”

The onlookers each echoed, “Thanks for the damage.” Then, to Mato’s intense surprise, everyone started their own conversations, clearly done with the ceremony.

Puzzled, he glanced over at Mieriel who sat beside him.

“Today’s donations are going to help provide food for one of the orphanages in the poor quarter,” she said. “Havok asked me to help find good causes so he can increase the reputation of Azryet in the town.”

“And you joined the church?” he asked.

“Yes, I like organizing ways to help people,” the Sun Elf Mind Mage said, pausing as if considering adding something more before she continued, “It helps Havok out, too. He needed a few members to register the church with the Town Council and buy this small plot of land for the chapel. He already consecrated it.”

“Mato? You join?” Havok asked, walking over to him with an expectant grin.

“Actually yes, I wanted to ask you if you could help me ask Azryet for his patronage?”

“Not problem,” Havok said, immediately kneeling and bowing his head, making his prayer out loud. “Oh, Azryet! One more! You help?”

Wow, is that all… oh! The hairs along Mato’s back and neck suddenly leapt to attention, as if reacting to the gaze of an unseen predator. A sudden infusion of power jolted through him, mana that seemed to be channeled into him by the little Goblin paladin but was not of him. It rushed through his body, but only for a moment, and then his notification chime sounded.

The Dragon God, Azryet, offers his patronage.

Godly Patronage – Azryet
Traits: Void, Holy, Domain, Deity, Minion, Draconic, Strength, Vitality, Endurance, Intelligence, Wisdom, Chaos, Combat, Healing, Knowledge.
Reputation gained enhances the reputation of Azryet. As your patron’s reputation grows, boons and enhancements may increase.
A small chance on hit to do additional Holy or Void damage.
Enchantment – Tithe

Accept this patronage?

That was… easy, Mato thought, more than a little surprised. “Uh… thanks for the damage?” he said. Somewhere in the distance, he caught the distinct impression of a vast and rumbling chuckle.

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