Three members of the party and several local officials woke up with sore heads that morning. They had tried quite a variety and quantity of alcohol and yet Martin still had not had the opportunity to get even a little tipsy. The party gathered round the breakfast table eating with Crusaders, squire’s hunters and deputies.

David looked around the group his head a little fussy but still very excited, “we killed a bloody dragon, I can’t believe we killed a dragon”. Vivian looked at them pride in her voice in herself and her team, “you saw him drop like a stone when I hit him in the eye, right”. Martin grinned, “It was close a few times. I practically got cooked once, but you saw me get him in the other eye, my pistols have a fair bit of range”.

Alice looked seriously at them, “if I didn't have my elemental barrier spell, half of us would be dead right now”. David dismissed her serious concerns, “we were prepared and now we are even better prepared. The next time we run into some big bad monster, it has even less chance of surviving right”. Martin looked about the group, “I have thermite and a lot of health, I think the rest of you need to stock up on equipment, from our combined funds. But remember when I need ten barrels of gunpowder to blow up a kraken or something, then you’re going to help me pay for it OK”.

They headed down towards the docks and the trade guild craft hall. A brief word with an assistant or two and they were let in to meet. Gavin he smiled big and wide ready to do business with them. “My customers, I hand out reward for the good work you do and the money comes back to me. You thought about it, facing off against a dragon makes you consider what’s important. Now you want to come back to the merchant’s guild to upgrade your equipment”. He led them to the special stock room.

He looked at them considering the right sales pitch the right items one of them had already made up their mind. “Now Alice I have the 3 favour belt of elemental resistance. Hear you go its 75 silver and grants a constant 30 point resistance to electrical fire and ice based attacks. Any low level spells won’t bother you and it will stack with your elemental shield spell. I will take your apprentice robe as a part trade in with this master mages robe of radiant, nightmare spider silk”.

It would just about fit her which was perfect, “The enchantment will keep you warm in all but the harshest blizzard. There is a 2 point boost to agility and 8 points of natural armour on top of the silks natural high damage resistance. We have layered 36 layers of woven fabric for protection, it’s as good as chain mail. But only as heavy as wool. That's 220 silver for the robe totalling 295 silver. Thank you very much”.

Alice changed in a small side room, while Vivian checked out her new Damascus armour. She checked it over as the merchant laid it out on a table. The hauberk was enchanted with a +2 endurance giving her ten more hit points for 175 silver. The greaves would make her more agile with their 2 point agility boost they cost 90 silver. The boots were plated in heat treated Damascus adding 2 points to her strength, meaning she hit that little bit harder all for just an extra 65 silver. She looked over the + 5 armour neck guard. Typical of his profession Martin interjected, “that would be a really good idea against a vampire”.

She nodded it was another 40 silver, she had a helmet with a two point willpower boost. Allowing her to think a little more clearly, at the small price of 55 silver. The chainmail and plate gloves came with the 2 point dexterity boost. They would help her fire her bow precisely, they were very well crafted and cost her 75 silver. She looked at the pile planning ahead, “I will have the octium arrow heads as well. Five of them at 5 silver each it should mangle that lich”. Gavin charged her 525 silver for the lot. The party’s purse was suddenly looking a lot lighter. Alice emerged and handed over her apprentice robe, having found a much better replacement. Vivian disappeared off into the same room to change her equipment over.

The merchant eyed up Martin then David he grinned, “David I assume you want the custom made Damascus tower shield”? He patted a little note book, “It will be exactly the same size as your current one, with a bit more reinforcement. I will get the tower enchanter to add +30 impact resistance, decreasing the momentum of blow. As well as that it should take an enchantment adding + 20 to natural armour. Increasing the toughness of the shield, it will cost the small price of 240 silver. give us 4 days from now and you can collect it.” David shook his head, “2 days from now ok”? The merchant sighed, “Let’s meet in the middle and call it 3 days that's possible.”

There was rattling from the side room as Vivian pulled her armour off. The merchant had more of his sales pitch ready for David. “I know how you mercenaries benefit from layered armour. The more and better quality you have the stronger your layered defence perk is. How about a nightmare spider silk gambeson for 50 silver, similar to Alice's robes but un-enchanted. On top of that you combine it with a suit of steel chainmail the perfect size for you. At 180 silver you gain quite a bit of armour what do you think”? Alice and Martin nodded “we can afford it”, “equipotent can save your life a full purse can’t”. David grinned and two items were placed on the table, just when Vivian came out of the side room.

It was quite a momentous task to get David out of his armour. To get all his chainmail and padding off, only to replace it and put everything back. Still he was very comfortable in the thickly padded armour. If he could get a basic silk shirt with some minor armour enchantment under the main gambeson then he would be much better off boosting his armour again, as it would count as another layer. David took a final backwards look at one of the armour stands, the merchant nodded. “Expert made tempered steel plate. Easily four times what you paid for the other, when you have 380 more silver you can come back.” David's mouth opened to ask a question, the merchant was faster “no, I don't offer credit”.

Martin approached Gavin, “I have some Tesla grenades do you have the material to recharge them”? The merchant grinned, “Today might be your lucky day. There is a nest of the blue beetles local, they provide the main chemicals that those Tesla grenades rely on. You bring me back twenty beetle heads, which contain the chemical. I can get a chemist to make you up a batch of recharging fluid. There is also a reward of 30 silver to cull the nest, not to exterminate it but to cull. Leave the eggs and young but nothing else. I had no takers on this job for a while, I guess people didn't think it was important”.

Vivian handed over both her and David's old armour to the merchant. She considered the look of apprehension on his faced. “I assume someone might have taken the blue beetle quest and not reported back, someone who didn’t know quite what they had signed up for”? There was clanging in the background as David changed his armour. The merchant spoke hesitantly, “people underestimated the beetles, and they can bypass normal armour. A sword and shield mercenary and three foresters have gone missing. They accepted the quest a few days ago, to go and cull the beetle's, they might be hiding up a tree or they might be face down in a pool of blood”.

“If you bring the bodies back you get a thank you from the church and a few bronze. If you can get them back alive, I guess I can pay you a five silver bonus for saving them”. Martin looked over him through the window, “can you get a cart driver to come with us, just in case we have a large haul of beetle bits for you”? He nodded, “I will make the arrangements some sacks, a few tarpaulins if the news is not so good”.

Fifteen minutes later the group were heading out of the west gate of Good-Ford. Along a trail past several farmsteads towards a group of trees in the distance. The driver looked back at them, “these things have been eating some of the farmer’s crops, they got too big for the woodland. You would be doing us all a favour by killing them. Hey you’re the ones that killed the dragon with the emerald bows, I suppose this is a bit low on the priority list compared to dragons, but I guess you’re all out of dragons to slay”.

Alice considered there target, they had a job from the merchant’s guild. They were to destroy every adult beetle in woods. It was good that they centred on one large nest of blue beetles, a quirk of the blood alchemists design a centralised nest a common strength and flaw. The guild wanted to still be able to harvest the beetles, but they didn't want to fight tougher variants to do so. Obviously they had gotten lax in culling them at some point, now some people like them had perhaps paid the price.

Martin looked at the group, closing his book on monsters. “These beetles get up to level 25, they have lightning based attacks. Attacks that are quite strong when you consider they bypass armour. The beetles produce a sort of chemical energy. A chemical reaction that generates the electricity, then they direct it through there mandibles. As an aimed jolt or with their mandibles as direct contact. The range is not fantastic note they do not use mana so Alice’s magical resistance won’t help. Also don’t get to heavy handed. We need at least 20 parts for the chemist. The heads need to be intact”. They stopped just outside a large stand of trees that was not part of blood thorn wood.

The group got out of the cart grabbing a few bags, this should be a simple mission. They would still need to be cautious, Alice had her staff ready. Vivian had her bow notched with an iron arrow. She was sure her new bow would be everything she anticipated, when she used it in combat and not just at the practice range. David had his sword drawn, Martin had his pistols ready. It took them a few minutes to find a path. There were lots of beetle tracks, vegetation chewed at low levels and stripped bark. The beetle tracks were very numerous with some quite large. Eventually they found a few cut branches and a trail leading into the woods.

It was soon apparent that there would be no happy ending, at least for the group that had taken the contract on before them. There were three dead beetles, they had dark blue shells one was cut in half one was pierced with an arrow and one was crushed flat. Around them were the bodies of the four missing people. They had been chewed on around the edges by some unseen beetles. The four bodies of the missing people were strewn around the clearing, bows spears and a sword dropped. They had been wearing quite thick armour, but they had been killed quickly. Only able to kill a small number of the blue beetles. Martin looked at the group, “remember blue beetles basic attacks bypass metal armour, and they can move fast”.

There was a hiss and a zap, as something jumped out of the brush and impacted on David's shield. “God dam that fucking hurt”, his sword sliced through the attacking beetle with ease. David almost shit himself with the shock, he was actually quite badly hurt. The electrical energy travelled through his shield and armour burning his flesh. Against this foe he quickly realised his armour was useless. It has no resistance against this form of attack, it has cost him 20 health in an instant from the first blow”.

“Vivian was quite far back, Alice was ok, and she had a belt that protected her from elemental damage. So she used her elemental shield spell on David. Martin had a blessing that protected him from electrical attacks, but it only lasted so long. A protracted battle against such creatures could kill even a veteran, it would kill anyone who underestimated the numbers.

The commotion attracted the group that had killed the adventures. There was a wave of giant beetles attacking the group. They were about five feet long at level 10, they struck with short range electrical attacks. Alice got about a third of them with a single fire ball. Martin emptied his pistols into them. David sliced a few trying to keep the heads intact for the quest. Vivian let lose a series of precision arrow shots, until all 20 of the creatures were kill off. The beetles were in the grand scheme small fry. The group had a few minor wounds, once they properly prepared. The beetles had been created to use electrical attacks, so there actual jaw strength was pitiful. Hence why the bodies in the clearing had not received that much damage. With Alice's enchantment and protection spell and Martins resist lightning blessing they were almost unscathed.

Of course there were a lot more beetles in the woodlands. The rest of the beetles in the woods were attracted to attack the intruders. The blood alchemists that created them had worked in a few survival instincts at least. A seemingly endless Wave of small fry rushed towards them, the creatures that approached them were level 5 beetles. They were low level but there sheer numbers were in the 100s, they might be enough to kill them off. They were each about a foot to a foot and a half long.

Alice thinned their numbers with a few fire balls, Martin used two small thermite charges and the horde was more manageable. Vivian ripped out a sturdy tree branch, she was not going to try to kill this lot with arrows. Alice cast elemental shield on David again and he ploughed into the masses. Martin pulled out his mallet and started to swing left and right. It took them a few minutes to decimate the hoard of beetles. Alice had to cast her healing aura spell, when they were getting too many small wounds. From the dozens of remaining frenzied beetles, then they were back up to full health. Eventually the mass was cleaned up the small fry demolished.

There was hissing and much heavier rumbling through the undergrowth. Ten large dread giant beetles appeared, hovering around level 19 they came into sight. They were each close to eight feet long. Behind them were two large terror giant beetles, with an enraged matriarch all level 25. The terror beetles were over ten foot long and the matriarch was probably fifteen feet long. They were much heavier than the other beetles, the guardians of the main nest. Static electricity shot from their jaws as they advanced. Alice started to focus on the larger creatures at the rear. Melting their legs with acid strikes spells.

She hit the queen with her icy tomb spell, causing its carapace to frost over and dramatically slowing its movements. Vivian focused on the dread giant beetles. Her bow made very short work of them. David cut through these larger targets with adrenalin strikes, after Alice cast another elemental shield on him. Martin unloaded his triple pistol then started to swing away with his mallet, shattering the legs off the beetles. In no time at all the last defenders of the nest were dead.

With no more opponents the level up hit, they found their eyes glowing. David hit level 43 he raised his bonus sword damage skill up to level three. He could really add that extra bit of damage twisting the sword as he pulled it out of an opponent. Alice reached level 44 and got the improved version of the icy tomb spell. It was pretty much a garmented kill on anything with less than a thousand hit points. As long as she could hit it, it was a pity that a lot of the creatures in the cold northern realms had quite a bit of resistance to frost and ice. Vivian got the fourth rank of the pierce armour skill as she reached level 44.

They beheaded the beetles and collected the materials necessary for the alchemists. Martin held up one of the heads explaining, “With the right chemical reactions an alchemist can created a special battery fluid. It’s used for Tesla grenade and many other lightening based devices”. They found a nest it was like a compost heap of dry material. The matriarch had been guarding it, there were level 0 beetle lava about as well. They took some eggs from it they, left the nest with a few young it was still a valuable source off materials, if properly maintained.

The beetle bodies were gathered up and stacked outside the woods, it took them half an hour. A little oil and a bonfire and the remains were disposed of. They laid the human bodies out Martin said a brief prayer. They wrapped them in the tarpaulins, they took the human bodies back to cremate at the cathedral. Back at Good Ford a junior priest purified the bodies, he prepared them for the service and cremation. Then they took the cart loaded with the alchemical beetle bits back to the guild. They were paid 25 silver for their efforts, there was a sad look from the merchant Gavin at the passing of the mercenary and foresters. He had sent those people to their deaths after all, he would send a few silver to their family’s to ease his conscience. They went to get a bit to eat at the hunters house.

The meal at the hunter’s house was basic pottage, but it was filling and disappeared quickly. Martin led the group back to the Trade gild to get the chemicals, to recharge his Tesla grenades. He received a vial of blue liquid distilled electro fluid from the guild. A work bench two minutes and one little shock later and Martin had re-charged the grenades. He still had plenty of chemicals. Even if his hair and eyebrow were now out on end. Gavin met them he looked at David, “you need to get quite a bit more before you can afford the full Damascus plate my friend. Come back in two days’ time to pick up your shield”. David looked over at Martin, then back to Gavin “we delivered close to 100 beetle heads. That has to be worth some sort of discount”? Gavin looked glum, “you have a point, do a few more favours for the guild and I will knock a quarter off the price”.

Alice looked at the rest of the group, “Look I have been putting off going and seeing my assigned mentor for days now. I never much liked the mages guild, I feel nervous can you help me”. Vivian put a hand on her shoulder. “You can rely on us, we have your back. This place is far away from the main tower. So I can’t see your nerves being as bad as they were at the main tower in the capital, it’s a small chapter house”. Alice nodded, “yes I can do it, it’s not like I need to speak publicly before the entire mages council”. Vivian put a hand on Alice's shoulder and gently pushed her off towards the mages guild, “small steps we will have you speaking in public in no time”.

The royal tower mages were using a former minor noble’s house. It was architecturally impressive or it would have been some time ago when decorations were prioritised over form. The building had been fortified somewhat over the years. It was close to the wall, so if the outer walls fell the mages could hold out for quite some time. There was one town guard outside, he took one look at the group and smartly saluted.

The mages would offer their services to any merchant or noble with a bit of coin, the same for any adventure. They were often contracted by the merchant’s guild to add enchantments to one item or another, and to aid there local patron the duke. The building was finely furnished. There were four apprentices milling around, working on one project or another. Some alchemy and enchanting paraphernalia filled up the tables. Mostly it was enchanting focused with boxes of crystallised mana. It was used in the enchanting process, vast quantities were needed to power even the smallest magical trinket.

One project caught Alice's eye, a partially constructed magical ward stone. She pointed it out to the group, “this will eventually be a ward stone. Part of a magical shield big enough to protect the outer wall of a city. If you can get enough mages to charge it. It must be a long term project, to add a magic shield to the outer wall of a city”. A mage in apprentice robes with a leather apron over them arrived by the ward stone. “I see you can appreciate my work, hi I am Dan. We will need 16 of these to encompass the city, to create a good barrier. They are a modified version of the ones used on heavy warships, I have two complete and a third this one being worked on”.

The very skinny mage started striking the stone with a hammer and chisel. Cutting a very fine rune marks into the stone. He was quickly sweating away not liking the physical stone work. He grumbled mostly to himself, “It’s a pity that you need to be an enchanter and a stone mason to make these. Still I might break through past veteran crafter status with this work, at least by the time I am finished. They put these up in the nine big city's including the capital. That was forty years ago, now they want them in the next 20 largest cities, this is going to take decades”. He sighed and went back to his work. A mage working on an enchanting scroll put down there pen and wandered over to the group. She looked a bit nervous, “I am Valerie, how can I help you”?

The head of the local chapter of the royal mages tower, was a thin middle aged woman. Her hair was black with grey streaks running through it. It looked like a chemical accident rather than the onset of age. She had a fancy mithral staff propped against her desk. She conveyed with every inch a formal and noble baring. She had a very tight fitting robe, that must have been custom made and perhaps had a corset underneath it somewhere to maintain such a stiff posture.

Alice gave a brief curtsey and held out the letter of introduction, she tried not to look nervous. The chapter head gave a shallower curtsy back, she tried to put Alice at ease. “I am Lady Imoline, it’s a pleasure to meet you Alice. You seem to have picked up quite a collection of trinkets there and a few followers. I am a master mage, the local head of this chapter but I am sure that you knew as much”. Alice seemed far less nervous now meeting the head mage in person. “Lady Imoline, do you still have lands and a house”? She shook her head. “When I was taken into the tower, I had to give those up to the crown, they let me keep my title at least as an honorific”.

Lady Imoline held out her hand “may I”? Alice nodded meeting the mentor’s eyes. The woman's eyes became quite wide, “good lord you’re not even eighteen and your six levels away from master”. She regained her composure, “You must have really been thrown in at the deep end, to have risen so far so fast. Your official record still lists you as a level four mage. I bet they will have a few surprises the next time you go back to the tower”. Alice grinned, “Technically I outrank most of my teachers now don't I”?

Lady Imoline nodded, “it’s a ranking of your power with magic, not necessarily your knowledge. Many of your teachers would have crafting levels in enchanting, so the gap would not be as wide as you think, at least in overall level. You have focused on a few spells that fit your party composition. You did what you needed to do to survive, when you have reached master level and you have some time I would suggest you broaden your spell library. Take some time to manually learn spells, it’s a lot harder and slower but it adds that extra flexibility to your arcane arsenal”.

A servant brought in a tray of drinks, the party sipped wine while lady Imoline and Alice swapped war stories. “You started fighting giant rats, I started helping the town guards fighting off a plague of giant slugs. Those things had a very acidic bite, I lost two good dresses to them. I had to be quick with shield and healing spells”. She took an elegant sip of her drink, “I can throw a few fire bite spells and the like but I have mostly focused on defensive spells. Like mass shield and mass cure poison”. Alice nodded “I might pick up a few more defensive abilities later. Illusionary allies is good it’s cheap and you can avoid being targeted. Earthen wall would give me something to hide behind and mage armour would give me quite a bit of bonus protection”. “That’s all very good for surviving a fight but the bonus vitality spell can really help you out”.

Lady Imoline was thoughtful she brought her tempered experience to Alice. “If you are determined to become a grand master and focus as a field operative. Rather than taking up a position in a garrison like me you want to increase your repertoire. The blue beetles that live hear remind me of one thing, electrical attacks are hard to block with high level conductive metal equipment. Electrical strike can cook a marauder in there iron plate”.

Alice listened intently as the lady continued, “For massive numbers of monsters like giant rats, the poison gas cloud spell is useful. Desiccate can be a surprisingly useful spell against large monsters, the living variety anyway. Good to use unless an alchemist needs there bodily fluids for something. Every monster has some spell that works well against them. A Queen slime would be obliterated with a single hit of desiccate”.

Alice showed off her armour and armoured robe. The lady smiled and tapped her bodice, there was the dull ring of metal armour hidden under the cloth. “Why carry both armour and the enchanted robe”? She grinned “Because I can carry both”. The senior mage nodded “I suppose you carry as much as you possibly can, when you’re a field adventure”.

After some small talk the lady took a deep breath. Making sure that the room was secure she cast some sort of spell. “We don't appear to be monitored,” she looked around room at Martin and Alice. “The mages tower has intelligence on the location of an elite vampire and a certain book that I want. We presume one of the local vampires didn't like this new trespasser and let correspondence fall into our hands. It is not how we normally do business, but we can use it to our advantage”.

“I want you to seize the copy of book blood oath, from the vampire elite. I don't have a name but they have some training as a necromancer, or they ate one and gained there power. We believe they are working for the king of bones”. She looked at Martin, “but as you know this is in the empress of shadows territory. So I don't think they will have much protection, he or she had to travel light. This is probably done under the noses of their superiors to keep out of the way, but it failed we know they are hear”.

Martin looked at the others, “this could be a trap, how did you get this information”? She was calm, “a tamer specialising as a falconer, had an eagle intercept a messenger bat. It was flying around the edge of the city, the correspondence was from one vampire to another. Someone calling themselves the razor, to their superior initialled B. Complaining about this other vampire entering their territory. It is a deliberate tactic, sometimes using a thrall with a letter. The local vampires have presented us with an opportunity. It also helps them, we have used scrying magic and can’t find a trap”. Vivian nodded “a vampire we faced had a serpent man nest rebel, he made them look bad so we ended up wiping them out for him as a possible threat”.

Martin considered it, “how close is this vampire located?” the lady pulled out a map form her paperwork. “Under a barn in one of the local farmsteads, right under our noses. I don't think they have been there more than three days from the letter”. Vivian nodded, “There presence would probably be noted otherwise”. Lady Imoline looked at Martin, “think on this hunter, a vampire an elite. If you can solo kill them then they are a worthy opponent and you break through. You could do it today, you are a master aim for a grand master all the better to protect Alice”.

“What about pay”? David asked his eyes ever on the prize. “There are the usual bounties on the vampires, split four ways its good coin”. Vivian looked at her, “what about support people to cut off escape routes. We have had the fanged bastards run before”? Lady Imoline nodded, “you might want to get a few crusaders and hunters with you to cover the exits. I will speak to Reginald now, but bring me the book”.

The party headed off to the farmstead, while the lady Imoline headed for the hunters house to get some support. The journey over there was a quick affair, a couple of town guards, slowly moved the local farmers away. Martin and the group approached, there were four thralls outside and a few thrall hounds. Vivian noticed that the crusaders and hunters had arrived. They were there to cover the exits against any escaping monsters, the party moved forwards.

Alice and Vivian eliminated the thrall hounds with a few arrows and fire bite strikes. Martin tackled two of the thralls with his mallet. David just knocked the other two over with his shield. sitting on the two of them, with the weight of his shield and armour they could not get away. Martin used his purify blessing on the thralls removing the taint, restoring them to their right mind. There were suddenly four very sore farm hands. Who were wondering what possessed them to take on a man in full plate armour and the vampire hunter with the mallet. Martin at least checked to make sure that they had no significant injuries. Before the city guards and a few squires led the men away to receive treatment and food.

The animals in the farm building had been slaughtered, there was a freshly constructed bone golem in there. It slowly rose up from the floor. A collection of sheep cow and pig carcases strapped and nailed together into a bipedal form. The fresh and bone golem moved towards them. Vivian hit it with a few iron arrows, shattering its left leg. Alice hit it with a few fire bite spells, burning away its right leg. David used his blade with a few adrenalin strikes to dismantle its left arm. Martin used the blessing “thy will be done” to analyse the golem. The spell focus was in its left shoulder. A shot from his pistol, through the animated carcass hit the spell focus destroying it. The golem crashed to the ground, the spell animating it unwound. There was a hatch leading to a basement storage room, they proceeded on.

There were various beds in the basement, with the other paraphernalia it was obvious. The vampire elite running this operation must have been looking for some sort of way of rapidly gaining control. There were several dozen people on the beds, quite a few were obvious addicts. They seemed to have been subjected to a powerful drug, as they were completely out of it. There were several people who were just food, blood donors. They were drained and barely able to move, just alive.

There were four crude boxes that must have been used as imported coffins. Three full vampires emerged, Martin checked them out with his monocle, they were not the target. Before the vampires could attack the party did. Alice frozen one solid with her icy tomb spell, then used acid strike spells to dissolve the unfortunate vampire, leaving just a pair of fangs. Vivian hit one in the forehead and chest with bodkin arrows, it disintegrated. David charged into the last one, he cut the remaining vampire to pieces. Knocking them down with an adrenalin block, then carving it into pieces with adrenalin power attacks, until what was left crumbled into dust. There was a large stack of narcotics. Some blood brandy and an assortment of addictive drugs like dusks embrace.

The last coffin box opened up and the elite vampire awoke. She has tall with a dark complexion, probably hailing from the southern lands. She clutched an old book bound in red leather, she wore purple robes. The vampire started to make a speech, “I am beyo...” at this point she was hit with two small thermite grenades. The vampire focused on throwing the book clear of the explosion, rather than saving herself. The rest of the party held back.

The thermite did some damage but not quite enough. Martin used his faith based abilities to shred the vampires supernatural protection. “Pillar of salt” its flesh was turned white, he used the same blessing again. “Pillar of salt” the vampire looked ill as the blood in her veins turned to salt. He held out his holy symbol “smite” the lightning bolt hit the vampire in the face. “Smite” another bolt of lightning hit her in the chest. “Smite” the vampire was not too worried about these attacks. “wrath of the almighty,” the vampire felt the extra holy damage.

Martin used one of his trump cards, “Chain smite”. The vampire reacted far more seriously, she jumped around as lightning bolt after lightning bolt struck her. The electrical energy followed her as she ducked and dived. Finally the vampire did a backflip off a wall to throw off Martins aim and end the continuous powerful attack.

Martin had an inhuman twisted look on his face, the vampire regarded him and felt fear. It tried to throw a vampiric spell, but Martin blocked it with his holy symbol. Martin hit it with two Tesla grenades, it was surprised and shocked in the radius of the electrical field, as it tried to dive out of the way. Martin used the opportunity to hit it with two throwing knives coated in silver. Then two coated in burning oil. Then two poisoned knives, even though the poison would be unlikely to do much damage. The vampire screamed in agony as it proceeded to pull the knives out of its flesh.

Martin unloaded his triple barrel pistol with three stakes into the vampire’s chest, it screamed and pulled one out of its heart. The vampire was receiving a lot of damage and there was little chance of her finding a way out. The vampire picked up a scythe and tried to strike Martin, breaking the blade against the defensive blessing, “bastion of faith” that Martin had just activated.

He had another trump card, “hand of judgement” the vampire was struck down, Martin pulled one of his pistols and shot an overload charge in to the vampires kneecap. The vampire went down screaming and trying to hobble away silver bullets wedged deep in the bone and flesh.

Martin got closer, the vampire reached out and grabbed his holy symbol. Martin didn't let go, smoke curled up from the holy symbol and it began to get hot. Eventually the vampire shirked and let it go. Martin grinned, “You can only do that to a wooden holy symbol, maybe bronze, this one is tempered Damascus steel much tougher”. Martin held his holy symbol to the vampires shoulder “purify” “purify”, it slowly burnt into the limb. He brought the chunk of blesses metal down on the vampires head. “Wrath” “wrath” “divine retribution”, the vampire was still there barely clinging to life. A stake appeared in his hand, then the mallet. He drove the tip it into the vampire, and they were crumbling into dust leaving a skull and two fangs. The level up hit everyone's eyes glowed white.

Martin felt a familiar sensation, the flow of time ground to a haul, a message appeared in his mind’s eye. A special action has been performed a feat of marshal strength has been achieved. You have defeated a worthy opponent, your level limit has been increased to level 75. He had gained two levels from killing that elite vampire. He put two levels in his trap specialization skill. Unlocking the ability to use spring jaw stake and shrapnel mines. Admittedly he had used spring jaw traps before, but now he understood the best way to use them and had almost no chance of accidentally setting one off.

Alice also gained a level going up to 45, she got the grand version of the icy tomb spell. It now used a little more mana but it held a target immobile for nine seconds, if they were a weak target. The spell also did quite a bit more cold damage. Vivian reached level 45 she gained another class level. Improving her comprehensive training ability to level 8. She could now train up district guards, district guards were a reserve force. Held in a district and used to reinforce specific parts of a city's defences during a siege. David reached level 44 he gained rank 4 of his bonus sword damage skill. He was reasonably proficient with that ability, so he would probably invest in a different skill when he reached level 46 and he got his next non class level. They collected up the fangs for the reward and about 5 silver in change from the dead vampires.

The party emerged from the barn and called in the crusaders hunters and town guards, the drugged and drained people were checked over and subjected to the purify blessing. A priest would examine them, then an apothecary would be tasked to purge the vial substances form their veins. Lady Imoline thanked them warmly, “the vampires were practising necromancy just outside this town. If we had left it another day then who knows what we would be facing. Addiction more death, I don't like to think about it. That pile of flesh is being burnt now, I don't want to take the chance it has a secondary focus embedded in its chest or something like that. The drugs are being added to the pile, who knows what they added to them, perhaps even the thrall taint”.

Martin handed the book to Alice, who handed it to lady Imoline, “what exactly are you going to do with that book”? She smiled, “hand it over to the church, I had a debt to pay to them for some assistance. They have been hunting the red vampire for years. The only clue to this powerful elder is his books the blood oath series. Partly notes partly spells and rituals. There is a room in the patriarch’s cathedral where dozens of volumes of his writing are kept. They will eventually break the cipher on it find the vampire and kill them”. She paused, “Alice I thank you for this service to the tower. I will certainly send a letter of commendation to the council. I have a few other jobs for you if you come back later and I will be happy to continue your lessons”.

The group headed back to their lodgings, it was late at night they had made a new contact not a bad day. They found Reginald and gained a bounty of fifty silver on the vampire’s fangs. They had put nearly 80 silver together from just one day’s work, not long for David's Damascus plate armour. If they could get on the good side of the local mages chapter master. Then they might be able to access some rare enchanted items. The bishop might have had something in mind for Alice, the same way Vivian got a very good bow after they killed the dragon.