Chapter 12

My world turned upside down as I tumbled through a whirling void. I was pushed and pulled in all directions I felt as though my whole body was being torn apart. Then without warning I fell to my knees my head spinning; it took me a couple seconds to gather my bearings. I stood unsteadily to my feet and froze as I looked around. I was not sure where the portal would lead me, but I had not expected this. I was in a house lite only by the flickering portal behind me. Coming around the corner were two men dressed in dark cloaks. My sluggish brain kicked into gear as I saw one of the men pull a dagger and chuck it at me. I barely managed to dodge the dagger’s edge cutting across my cheek.

I threw an Ice Bolt at the cloaked figure charging me, but he sidestepped it throwing another dagger. It clattered to the ground behind me as it bounced off the wall. The second shorter cloaked figure pulled a small hand crossbow and aimed for my chest. I activated Protect and the bolt slammed into it shattering the shield. The crossbowman was already reloading, I snarled and launched an Arcane Dart at him. The two spinning purple darts slammed into him, and he groaned in pain. The dagger wielder slashed at me as he closed the distance. I blocked his dagger with my sword and squeezed my eyes shut as I put my palm to his face casting dazzling lights. He staggered slightly, and I lashed out with my sword scoring a few quick slashes across his arms.

He darted back trying to get out of my reach as another crossbow bolt whizzed past my head. This fight was going poorly I needed to turn the tide. I pulled my Blazing Scepter from my inventory and fired at the crossbowman he reacted too slowly, and the ray of fire slammed into his shoulder knocking him to the ground. Dagger man charged me again, but I tossed aside the Scepter raising my hand. I slammed my eyes shut as light erupted from my palm, he screamed in pain and I rammed my sword into his gut twisting the blade as I pulled it back out. With a flourish I brought the sword around carving open his neck. He grabbed feebly at his neck as blood sprayed out. A crossbolt slammed hard into my shoulder and I staggered back. I locked eyes with the crossbowman, now my only opponent and I saw fear in his eyes.

As he raced to reload, I charged him throwing up my Protect spell, he fired again but I easily sidestepped it. I closed the distance swinging my sword in a wide arc. The crossbow shattered as my blade struck it and I heard a welp of pain. I let my momentum carry me into him driving him to the ground. I landed on top of him and drove my sword into his chest. He squealed in pain, as I stabbed over and over until his health flashed a warning than disappeared. I slumped off him and breathed hard for a minute, before climbing to my feet. Looking around I noticed a figure laying on the ground. I approached it and could see it was an elven woman dressed in a nightgown. She was unconscious but alive much the same way the rotund man had been. I had to assume this was her house and these men had come in through the portal.

I glanced back at the portal and noticed it was no longer flickering but seemed to have stabilized. I realized in that moment that none of the others had come with me. I wondered briefly what had happened before I saw the portal flicker like it was about to die. I took a quick breath and dove at the portal narrowly making it as it slammed shut behind me. The portal spit me out a second later and I crashed to the ground as it disappeared. A faint light filled the space I was now in, and I glanced around hearing the sounds of combat. Serk and the others were currently fighting three cultists, two lay dead on the ground already. I staggered to my feet and charged the nearest cultist, who was swinging his sword at Zavra’s head. My blade crashed into his and he jumped in surprise. I launched an Ice Bolt into his face, and he yelped in pain. I drove my sword into his neck, and he gurgled as blood spilled out, with a violent twist I sent his head spinning to the ground. Zavra gave me a small smile as I turned to the others. In the few seconds I had taken to dispatch my foe Serk had finished off his and was charging the final cultist attacking Alvor. A moment later the fight was over.

We all stood breathing heavily in a blood-stained hallway. The hallway was made of dark roughly carved stone. Torches sat in wall sconces casting light over the hallway. It looked to be roughly 30 feet long and 10 feet wide ending in a closed door on the far side and a solid wall behind me.

“What happened to you?” Serk said eyeing the crossbow bolt still sticking out of my shoulder.

“I think another portal was open, rather than coming out here I ended up in a house with a pair of cultists. I killed them and had seconds to dart through the portal before it closed. What about you guys?” I said between taking deep breathes.

“We ended up here, surprised the crap out of this lot. I don’t think they were expecting enemies to come pouring through the portal,” Serk said with a small grin. I noticed notifications blinking in the corner of my vision and selected them.

You have gained 170 XP for defeating Cult assassins (x2). You have gained 85 XP for defeating Cult Wizard.

Your skills have improved, Evocation Magic level 5, Illusion Magic level 5.

The notification to select my class was still blinking in the corner of my vison. I couldn’t be sure how safe we all were or how long picking a class would take. I glanced around, everyone was in the process of looting the bodies or catching their breath. I shrugged they could handle a fight without me while I was distracted, right? I thought. I eagerly pulled up my class options and scanned through them.

You have three class options available: Wizard, Mage Knight, Spell Sword.

Those all sounded cool, I selected wizard and a window opened.

Wizard (class)

Description: A true master of the arcane, able to wield devastating magic to destroy your enemies or aid your friends.

Class Features:

Spell Mastery

Affect: Starting at skill level 6 you gain two daily spells per skill level.

Class Feature:

Arcane Might

Affect: Your spell skill levels improve faster. Basic Rank receives a plus 20% bonus, Novice Rank 15%, Advanced 10%, Expert 5%

Note: Wizards may only equip cloth armor.

Select Wizard to be your Class Yes/No. Warning this choice cannot be undone.

Wizard certainly seemed awesome, no wonder Zavra had so many spells, but I just couldn’t see myself as a straight up caster. Not after all the hard work I had put into learning my sword skill. I mentally closed out of the window and opened the next one.

Mage Knight (Class)

Description: A stalwart bastion of might and magic. Strike at your foes with magic imbued weapons and defend your allies with your might.

Class Features:

Arcane weapons

Affect: Channel your daily spells into your weapon dealing extra damage based on the level of the spell used.

Class Features:

Arcane Armor

Affect: Increases your armor rating by 20% per spell casting skill level.

Special: Twice per day negate all damage from a melee or ranged attack targeted at an ally, you suffer half the attacks damage.

Select Mage Knight to be your Class Yes/No. Warning this choice cannot be undone.

Mage Knight sounded awesome as well, but it seemed like it would be a better fit for a tank type character and I wasn’t sure that really fit my build. I closed out of it and selected the last option.

Spell Sword (Class)

Description: A master of both the sword and magic. Able to strike fast deadly blows with a sword or rain down devastation with spells.

Class Feature: Bind Weapon

Affect: Choose one weapon to bind to you. While not in your hand the weapon is stored in a dimensional plane. You may summon or dismiss the weapon instantly with a thought.

Class Feature: Unique Spells

Affect: Grants two unique leveled spells based on your two highest magic skills. These spells can be used as source spells and will not cost daily spells to use them.

Select Spell Sword to be your Class Yes/No. Warning this choice cannot be undone.

Now that sounded much more up my alley. I wasn’t sure what the benefit of having a bound weapon would be, but I loved the idea of having two new unique spells. The best part was the spells would count as source spells so I could cast them whenever I wanted. I happily selected yes, and I felt a rush of power wash over me.

For selecting a class that best fits your skills your stats have been increased. Health, Mana, and Stamina increased. Agility and Intelligence increased by 1 point. You have been awarded two additional daily spells. Current daily spells 5 of 7.

You have learned new spells.

My grin grew even wider as I pulled up my new character sheet to inspect the changes.

Character overview

Name: Derek Erlan

Race: Human (Realm Walker)

Class: Spell Sword

Level 5 Assimilation Rate 98%

Health 260 Stamina 260

Mana 280

Stats

Strength 13 Endurance 12

Agility 12 Intelligence 15

Charm 10

Exp: 1,699 Skills: Draco Jitsu, Spell Casting, Evocation Magic, Illusion Magic, Protection Magic, Summoning Magic, Analysis, Stealth.

Class Features: Bind Weapon, Unique Spells.

My health, mana, and stamina had all shot up by 100 points each, I had not been expecting that. I now had nearly 300 mana to play around with. Excitement flooded through me as I reread my character sheet again. I had come a long way since the level 1 noob alone in the forest. I opened my spell book eagerly reading over my new spells.

Ignite Weapon (Evocation)

Source Spell (Special)

Cast time: Instant

Cooldown: 30 seconds

Range: Self

Affect: Ignites your weapon with magical fire. The next melee attack made with your weapon deals an additional 11-17 Fire damage.

Illusionary Blade (Illusion)

Source Spell (Special)

Cast time: instant

Cooldown: 30 seconds

Range: Self

Affect: Your next three melee weapon attacks cause your arm to become briefly invisible creating an illusionary copy of your arm moving in a different direction to confuse your target.

Now those were some sweet spells, they both seemed stronger than my normal source spells and were the first spells I had seen with a cooldown. I had to guess the cooldown was to prevent me from “spamming” the spells. That illusionary blade could be a bit broken if I could use it with every attack. I closed out of my notifications, but one final window appeared before me.

Bound Weapon

You may choose which weapon you would like bound to you. This choice can be altered at any time but requires you to cast a minute long binding ritual. Would you like to Bind a weapon to you? Choose which weapon Vicious Long Sword or simple dagger.

Without hesitation I selected my long sword. I felt a tingle of magical energy surge down my arm and with a blink my sword vanished. I stared at my hand for a moment unsure what to do. Then some part of my mind told me I just needed to focus and summon the sword. I reached out my hand willing the sword to appear. With a flash of green light it appeared in my hand, I tried dropping the sword but the second it left my hand it simply vanished in a green flash. A second of concentration and the sword reappeared in my hand. Now this was seriously cool. I would never be without a weapon again. If something happened and I was captured my enemies wouldn’t be able to keep my weapon from me. I could get use to this. I practiced summoning the sword a few more times before realizing everyone was staring at me.

“You done playing with yer sword now,” Serk said with a mocking grin.

“uh..” I said clearing my throat awkwardly, “y-yeah sorry,”

I felt a little bad wasting so much time, but before I could say anything Serk slapped me on the back with a huge grin, “Congratulations, Spell Sword. Once again, I am very happy, we found you in the forest, you make quite the nice addition to the party.” Zavra was beaming and leapt at me in excitement wrapping her arms around me and nearly knocking me to the floor.

“I am so happy for you!” she said squeezing me, “What new spells did you get? How does your bind weapon work?” She said rapidly. Rather than answer her, I silenced her with a kiss on the lips. She melted into my arms as our lips locked. We broke apart a moment later and smiled happily at each other. A loud throat clear from Serk made us both jump apart like teenagers getting caught by a parent. “I think we have lingered here long enough; we need to move on.” He said sternly.

“Of course, sorry,” I said sheepishly. We moved towards the door at the end of the hall. We all raised our weapons ready to charge in as soon as Serk opened the door. Serk waited a couple of seconds than wrenched the door open and charged through, we all followed fanning out behind him. The room was completely empty it was roughly rectangular maybe 30-40 feet long and half as wide. To our left and right were doors leading out of the room. More torches lined the walls bathing the room in warm light. “What is this place?” I wondered aloud.

“No idea. That map of yours show anything?” Serk asked softly creeping forward. My map pulled up and I scanned it. I could see the hallway we had entered through and this room, but everything else was black. After a moment of thought I tried zooming out, the small arrow that represented me on the map shrank as blackness filed the map. I zoomed out again and again until I saw I network of tunnels in the corner of my map faintly overlayed over our current position. I stared at it for a moment trying to figure out what the tunnels were until it hit me, the sewers. I zoomed out more and the streets of Ravensbrook covered the map. “We are somewhere deep underground; I can see the sewers somewhere above us and Ravensbrook beyond that.” I said softly to the group.

“Well, at least that means we can get out of here if we need to,” Serk said, “left, or right?”

“Right” Zavra and I said in unison. Serk nodded and we moved slowly to the door on the right. A heavy metal bolt and padlock fastened the door shut. Serk gave it a few experimental pulls, but the door stubbornly refused to open. Serk motioned for us all to stand back and he slammed the lock hard with his axe. The lock bent but didn’t break, he swung again and this time the padlock clattered to the floor. We readied our weapons for whatever was on the other side and Serk pulled the door open. The smell of moldy wet hay and bodily fluids hit us in the face. We heard a few small whimpers from somewhere with the room. The room was pitch black the only light spilling in through the door. I channeled mana into Dazzling lights letting the spell grow slowly before sending it forward several feet.

It was a small room, maybe 25 feet wide and nearly as long. It was crammed full of different size cages. Most of the cages were empty except for moldy hay, but one cage towards the back had three frightened women cowering in its corner. Zavra and Stephan stepped forward, “It’s ok we are not here to hurt you,” Zavra said softly. The oldest of the three women, a middle-aged elf with long matted blonde hair crept forward.

“Who are you?” she said in a hoarse voice.

“We are adventurers, we are going to try and get you out of here. Can you tell us what has been happening down here?” Zavra continued in a calm voice.

“I woke up here, I am not even sure how long ago, probably days. Every so often cloaked figures open the door and take someone from the cages. We never see them again. Our kidnappers give us bread and water once in a while, just enough to keep us from starving.” She said her voice cracking as she spoke, “please can you get us out of here?” she added pleadingly.

“Don’t you worry ma’am we will do our best.” Serk said as he stepped forward. The woman cowered back slightly and Serk tried to give her a reassuring smile. He took out his axe and begin slamming it into the lock, it took a couple hits but the lock fell away with a metallic clatter. The cage screeched as the rust door opened. Slowly the women climbed out clinging to each other, fear clearly visible on their dirty faces.

“Zavra you think you can get these poor ladies through the portal to safety?” Serk said slowly.

“I can try,” Zavra responded. We carefully made our way back into the hallway we had originally come through. Zavra moved to the end of the hall and I noticed an intricate pattern of runes carved into the wall. I recognized one of them from the obelisk I had seen in the town square. As Zavra began to try and open the portal Serk turned to the women handing them a small pouch of coin and a hastily written note. “Once you are through the portal, head for the Adventurers guild. Give that note to Ardwin, he will take care of you. Get you back on your feet. 30 of that gold is yours the rest give to Ardwin to cover your rooms and meals. Go straight to the guild, don’t stop for guards, not sure who we can trust among them at the moment.”

The elven woman timidly took the pouch and note as the portal flared to life. “Go quickly,” Zavra said her voice strained. The women eyed the portal with apprehension but stepped through a moment later. We made our way back into the larger room deciding to head for the left door. Serk reached for the door but froze, faint muffled voices were coming from the other side growing louder. Serk gestured for us all to get against the wall hoping to surprise attack whoever was about to come through.

“W-W-Why we c-check on them?” said a low slow voice, like boulders scraping against each other.

“Because they haven’t come back yet, you dolt,” said a small high squeaky voice. The door opened and a small figure in multicolored robes stepped through, he was followed quickly by a hulking figure with greyish skin who barely fit through the door. They didn’t seem to see us their eyes falling on the open door to the cages on the far side of the room. I quickly used Analysis on them both.

Ordalin

Race: Gnome

Class: Dark Wizard

Level 6

Skills: Spell Casting, Dark Magic, Evocation Magic, Protection Magic

Experience: 120

Glob

Race: Ogre

Class: Brute

Level 6

Skills: Freakish Strength, Two-Handed Combat, Minor Regeneration

Experience: 125

I had never seen someone with Dark Magic before, I had a bad feeling this fight was going to be a tough one. Before they spotted us we pounced. Zavra unleashed four fiery arrows at Ordalin while Serk and Stephan charged the Brute. Arrows flew from Avlor’s bow slamming into the Brute and the wizard. The Brute barely seemed to notice the arrows now lodged in his arms like porcupine quills. Ordalin gave a grunt of pain as two arrows slammed into his shoulders. I charged Ordalin activating the first of my new spells. Nothing seemed to happen at first, but when I swung for Ordalin’s waist he cast a shimmering shield to block a blow aimed at his shoulder. He cried out in fear and surprise as my sword bit into his gut, his health dropped by several points, and he staggered back. I swung again aiming to cut his throat open and he tried to dodge a blow he thought was aimed at his kidneys. My sword scratched his throat his maneuver barely saving his life. An arrow slammed into his side, and he winced in pain snapping the shaft.

Before I could strike again, he lifted a palm and fired four arcane darts directly into my chest. I groaned in pain and glared at the little man. I moved to charge him, but he raised his palm again and a beam of black energy hit me full in the face.

You have been hit by concentrated darkness 35 health lost. You have been blinded by concentrated darkness for 6 seconds.

May face felt hot from the blast and all I could see was black. I tried to rub at my eyes, but it didn’t help. Pain shot through me, and my health dropped several more points as something slammed into my chest. I heard a faint cry of pain a second later “Get off me you flying rat” Ordalin’s high-pitched squeaky voice was shouting. I heard something whiz past my head and another grunt of pain. A moment later I heard a different cry of pain, and something hit the ground near my feet. My eyesight began to return, and I looked down to see Shadowfire crumpled on the ground at my feet. One of his wings was mangled and he had a long burn mark across his chest.

I snarled in rage at the little man who had dared hurt my little buddy. He had taken a couple more arrows from Alvor and his health was down to nearly 20%. I still had once use left of my illusionary blade spell and intended to use it. Gripping my sword, I charge the little man; he raised his palm to fire off another spell at me. My sword swung and he thought I was aiming for his neck. He screamed in pain when his hand hit the ground a second later. His scream faded to a wet gurgle as an arrow pierced clean through his neck. He grabbed uselessly at his neck and collapsed to the ground. I turned giving Alvor an appreciative thumbs up. I turned towards the fight against the Brute.

The Brute had taken some serious damage his health was down to nearly 25% but I could see it tick up slowly as his minor regeneration tried to keep him alive. Serk charged in as Zavra fired two Arcane Darts into the Brute’s face. Serk slashed his axe across the Brute’s leg nearly severing it at the knee. The Brute howled in pain falling to his knees, he punched out at Serk with his fist, which somehow moved much faster than it should have. The blow caught Serk in the shoulder sending him staggering back several feet. I darted closer and fired off a couple of Ice Bolts. Arrows whizzed past my head from Alvor slamming into the Brutes thick neck. He tried to grab at them but a bolt of searing white light slammed into this face carving off the last of his health. He fell hard to the floor dead.

You have gained 50 XP for defeating Cult Wizard and Cult Brute. 245 XP divided equally among five party members.

I rushed over to Shadowfire gently picking up his small body. His health was flashing a warning, rather than let him be in pain I simply unsummoned him. Sending him back to wherever it was he came from. I quickly drank down a couple healing and mana potions, replenishing most of the health and mana I had lost during the fight. I then spent the next minute resummoning him. As soon as the ritual was over, he stood before me good as new. He hopped up onto my shoulder and nuzzled my neck, “thanks for your help, buddy,” I said scratching his head. I moved to the body of the cultist I had slain and lightly touched him. An inventory screen appeared, and I pocketed a few more gold and something I thought might fit Zavra.

You have found:

Dark Robes of the Magus

Armor Rating 35

Durability 45 of 50

Affect: All spells cast while wearing this robe are 5% for effective.

I showed them to Zavra, and she smiled. “They are very nice, I don’t much care for the color though,” she said. The robes were five different colors, red, black, blue, white, and green. I looked back at the wizard whose body was nearly naked now that his robes were gone. Sure, enough on the left side of his chest was a 5 clawed tattoo each of the colors in the tattoo were the same as the robe. “Yeah, probably want to change that before wearing it, don’t want someone to mistake you for a cultist,” I said turning back to her.

She put the robes in her inventory, and we headed for the door. During the fight someone had wisely shut the door preventing anyone else from hearing us, or so we hoped. We readied ourselves and Serk slowly reopened the door and I saw a long hallway with multiple doors stretching for several dozen yards ahead of us. A second hallway curved off to the left just beyond our door and heavy looking drag marks could be seen coming down the hallway towards us, before moving around the corner. Glancing around the door I saw the left hallway ended in a large door after about 30 or so feet. Alvor and Serk inspected the heavy drag marks that lead to the large door at the end.

“What do you think it means?” Serk asked Alvor.

“Something heavy was pulled here, no idea what though,” Alvor said with a shrug. Serk moved over to the large door and inspected it. I could see a heavy looking wooden beam was holding the door firmly shut.

“Think we ought to take a look and see what they are hiding in here?” Serk asked the group. We nodded all curious to see what was beyond the door. Serk reached out with both hands and lifted the heavy beam out of its slot, placing it as gently as he could on the floor. We readied ourselves as he pulled the door open. The room was completely dark, and I quickly cast dazzling lights sending the small ball of light to hover a few feet just inside the door. The floor of the room was covered in broken pieces of stone, the remains of maybe 30 or more coffins lay broken and scattered around the room. The bodies of the dead were piled under parts of the rubble or simply lying about randomly. I looked to Serk my nerves on edge. “Perhaps we just close the door,” Serk said as one of the bodies on the ground twitched.

Soft groans and filled the air as each of the bodies of the long dead began to move. Within seconds nearly 30 corpses were climbing to their feet. Serk and I pushed on the door slamming it shut, I held the door shut while Serk grabbed the heavy beam. A few heavy thuds echoed against the door, and I pushed my weight against it, as the door opened a crack. Serk shoved the beam back into place and together we managed to get the door firmly shut. The undead behind the door continued to pound on the door, but their hits seemed to be having little effect.

We all looked at each other in disgust, “Is the cult making undead?” I asked in confusion.

“I do not think so,” Stephan said, “more likely they disrupted those poor souls rest and they have risen to seek their revenge.”

“That explains all the drag marks,” Serk said eyeing them, “this place must be some sort of catacomb. The cultist must have wanted to clear out some space.”

“Guess we should find out what they needed all the space for,” I said turning back to the hallway with all the doors. We crept forward listening intently to the sounds around us. We could still hear the faint pounding of the undead behind us, but for the moment it was the only sound in the hallway. Serk pushed open the first door we reached, and we peered inside. It was a small room just big enough to hold about 4 simple cots. By the faint odor wafting out this had once held a few of the broken coffins. We checked each room, seven in total. Each one had been converted into a living space for three to four people. Most had clothes scattered about them, it certainly seemed the cult had quite a few members. Where any of them were however seemed to elude us.

At the end of the hallway was yet another door, opening this one it led to another hallway that curved off to the right, with broken pieces of rubble piled against parts of the wall. Looking up we could see that part of the ceiling had collapsed leaving only uneven stone above us. We crept forward and a faint noise drifted towards us, it was the sound of voices, but it didn’t seem to be conversation. It was rhythmic and seemed to swell and fade.

We made our way around the corner and could see a faint light coming through an open archway ahead, the rhythmic voices were getting louder. With a gesture from Serk, Alvor dropped into stealth to move silently ahead of us, to scout, I waved at him and pointed to Shadowfire who was perched on my shoulder. Serk nodded and I looked to Shadowfire, he took off trying his best to keep to the shadows. A moment later I heard him say, ’it’s some kind of massive chamber there is a balcony and stairs that lead down into the chamber. I can see about 20 some people in here, all cultists. No wait some are prisoners about 4 tied to what looks like an altar. I think this is some kind of ritual.’ I relayed his words to everyone else and saw that my mini map had updated to show me the large room beyond. It looked rectangular stretching out length wise away from us.

Shadowfire landed back onto my shoulder as we all looked to Serk to try and come up with a plan. The rhythmic voices were getting louder now. After a few seconds he looked at me and gave me a smile that sent a shiver down my spine. “What?” I asked dubiously.

“I got an idea, but I don’t think you're going to like it very much,” he said still grinning at me.