The party rose with a sad melancholy mood. The spirit of the forest, the dryad had not been evil in its original nature. But it had been corrupted, she had no idea how to fight back against the vampires. Alice was affected the most, about having to kill the dryad. It was something born of the magic of the druids. In some way it was part of her heritage as a mage, as it was part of the druid’s traditions. She considered in her heart of hearts, she wondered if they could have been another way, if they could have created an ally rather than a pile of kindling.

“I feel a lot of guilt over that dryad’s death”. Martin nodded, “it’s sad but what can you do, she was bound to the forest. Bound to her tree she had no way to escape the area. Due to her inherent magical nature she was susceptible to the taint magic. Well her tree was so by extension so was she, dragons over level 50 can resist, and dryads over level 400 have not been known to break free”. David had to agree, “I took no pleasure in killing those spriggans, by cutting down there trees I ended them. But they were long gone, from whatever nature spirits they were before”. Vivian nodded adding to the discussion, “there was really no other way, they didn't seem to like what the vampires had made them into. They couldn't do anything about it, the thrall taint was into every fibre of their wooden being”.

A servant from the mages chapter house came to the crusaders order. He made a brief introduction and passed a note sealed with the chapter masters seal to the squire on the door. The servant turned and left, confident that the message would be delivered and the party would follow shortly. After more circular arguing around the breakfast table the note reached them. They made their preparations and headed over to the mages chapter house.

Lady Imoline was as prim and proper as their first meeting, “Alice I am glad you could make it. You may have heard rumours about a lich in the area. We have recently been able to find the creature. A couple of prospectors have identified necromancer’s soul lanterns. They were in the entrance of an old vampire lair to the north of town. My scrying confirms that this is the location, this lich is presumed to be a servant of the king of bones. In life he was a level 25 necromancer, he went from one vampire lord to another trading his skills for their patronage”.

“He has been in this area for some time, gathering power. I read him as a level 25 lich on top of his necromancer job. Usually one would need to become an exulted master necromancer or they would need a lich’s help in becoming one. This necromancer has been loaned a powerful grimoire, which enabled him to make this transformation. We need to destroy the lich and the book, the book is as much of a danger as the lich”.

“I presume that you have never fought a lich before, am I correct”? There was a murmur of agreement. “I may offer the following guidance, a lich can create quite powerful necromantic constructs. They can create fortification beacons that make their creations much harder to damage. There constructs as they are passively rebuilt, it is a stronger version of the magic used in the soul lantern spell”. She paused thinking, “they can create strong shield spells, and rely on them. But octium is perfect to shatter them. Once you destroy the physical body, you need to destroy the phylactery as well or they can come back again and again”.

David nudged Alice, “what is the reward”? The mage thought “I can give you 40 silver it’s not much but it is not a high level lich compared to you. I can promise some equipment as a bonus afterwards though.” Vivian looked over to Alice, “it would be equipment for Alice wouldn't it, something to help her”. Lady Imoline nodded, “I don't think that you will mind if you get stronger support, I am sure I can throw in a few potions of minor poison resistance as well to sweeten the deal”. Vivian looked over the others “we can use that we have a deal”.

They headed to the nearest gate and then they were out of the city. They journeyed to the place following a small map. If you didn't know what you were looking for you would miss it. The entrance to the old vampire lair was hidden behind trees and rocks. Martin just began to feel something was off, that something was wrong. Just the sensation that the presence of a lot of necromancy would cause.

Half a dozen ghosts seeped out of the walls and floor. Some sort of basic deterrent or alarm system. The ghosts would send most militia and guards running. Not David though he had a new sword to try out. A single sweep of his sword dispatched three of the ghosts before they could even react. They faded away their spirits dislodged from the mortal realm. Alice got one with a fire bite spell, Vivian hit one with a silver arrow and Martin was able to get the last with his holy symbol, before David could kill it.

Martin looked about, “Alice can you see any spell binding the ghosts to this plane, any way they could come back”? “Dig hear I can sense something”, Martin dug down into the floor. “It’s a stone used as a focus”, Alice looked at it, “it’s dead no ghost remains bound, just the fragments of the spell”.

Deeper in a purple barrier blocked them, Martin held his holy symbol up to the barrier spell. There was a force pushing back as he pushed forwards. Alice put a hand on his shoulder, “look Martin you would be able to dispel it that way eventually. But there are four runes holding it in place, disrupt those and it will fall faster, the first is to your right”. The barrier shimmered “then down to your left”, the barrier flickered again. “Good now another two steps to your left”, the barrier blinked but remained. “Finally to your right by that bit of moss”. The barrier shattered with a sound like breaking glass, Alice pointed to an alter tucked to one side. “Purify that Martin to stop it reforming later”, “purify”. The alter was constructed of stone and wood with a few bones on the top. It cracked in half as the spells within it were shattered with a groan.

Twenty bone spiders and 20 skeleton hounds were sat ready next to a fortification beacon. Alice looked at them, “The fortification beacon is the primary target, crack it to bits it will not resit direct physical force”. Vivian tried one of her octium arrows, it sailed through the air and struck the purple glowing lantern breaking a hole in it. The flame flickered and went out, the purple glow surrounding the constructs faded. Martin closed in using his circle of consecration blessing, half of them disintegrated. Alice destroyed another ten catching them in a fire ball. Vivian's speed shooting went into its own. David charged in to get ten enemies simply crushing them under his shield like a battering ram. These were low level undead created with animal bones, practice likely no more that the lich trying out his abilities.

There were a few side rooms, but a quick check indicated there was nothing in them but leftover furniture and dust. The party gathered the bones into one pile in a side room with a fire place and burnt them up, with a little oil and a few sparks. They tackled the next barrier spell, Martin waited as Alice analysed it she pointed to five locations. “It’s a bit stronger and a bit more complex but it will go down as quickly as the first one will. The barrier spell fluctuated and shattered rapidly as Martin destroyed each spell which underpinned the barrier spell. There was another slightly fancier alter, one “purify” and it shattered into rubble.

Martin used his monocle to examine the threat in the next room. It contained a greater bone golem leading two ordinary bone golems next to a fortification beacon. They would take a lot more damage to destroy than the first creatures. Vivian looked at the beacon then at Alice and nodded. She sent an octium arrow into the necromantic construct, shattering the beacon and dispelling its contents.

Destroying the bone golem’s ability to regenerate, without the lack of a fortification beacon made the fight much easier. It also alerted the bone golems, they lumbered forwards. The first in line the greater bone golem was hit in the legs by a large thermite grenade. Its legs began to fall pieces as molten metal burned through the bone and the spell and holding it together. David charged round it and started to strike it in the side. Vivian let lose a series of arrows into the golem shattering its bony limbs. Its stride completely halted when Alice hit it with a duel cast fire ball. Martin let lose a blessing sphere of concentration. The greater golem fell to pieces as the spells holding it together failed.

There were still two more bone golems left. But they were not going to cut it against the power of the party. David was a bit two over confident, one of the golems managed to land a heavy blow on him sending him flying. Alice was able to hit him with a healing spell and he was back up charging into conflict with the golem a little more aware of his location. Martin used his blessing “thy will be done” to spot the spell focus in the mostly undamaged bone golem. A single focus shot from his pistol with a mithral bullet and the focus was destroyed the golem collapsed. Vivian sent several bodkin arrows into the last bone golem, it shook with the force of the impacts and kept coming.

The last of the three golems was blocked by David. He had a mithral alloy blade now, simple bone even with magical reinforcement was not going to stand against him for long. Alice hit it in the chest with several acid strike spells. Vivian put two iron broad heads into it, the force of the strikes shattering bone. Martin drew and fired his triple barrelled pistol, a final strike from David and it collapsed. Dragging the bones back to a side room and piling them on top of the remains of the last construct that they had destroyed was the far more time consuming job. They had no desire to be attacked by three reanimated and reconstituted bone golems in the rear. When they attacked the lich deeper in his home territory. The group was getting very proficient at a scorched earth policy, towards any opponent that they faced.

The next barrier spell was slightly different Alice looked at it. “I can feel two layers of barrier spells, he has put one on top of the other to make them harder to dissipate. This will take a lot longer to destroy, it was created using a lot of time and effort”. Martin tapped his jacket where his dynamite had been stored, but he had used it. Alice looked at him, “that would work but it would also bring the sealing down on us”. Alice pointed at a spot and Martin held his holy symbol to it. The spells holding the barrier together were not static. They moved but piece by piece the barrier was dismantled. Using a combination of Alice's ability to sense magic and Martins innate ability to disrupt it with his directed faith. The barrier shattered like an entire crate of glass breaking.

The lich had a workshop at the deepest part of the lair, there was a bed. He had probably used this chamber since he was just a necromancer. His precious grimoire was held far away at the furthest end of the room, he and it was definitely a him floated over the ground. A grey and purple aura surrounded his bones, a spectral projection of flesh and skin hugged the bones. Showing what he would have been like in life. He had a large tattered purple robe that spilled out behind him.

Beside him were two skeleton mages, they had robes conjured from purple necromantic energy and staves that were imbued the same way. One was armed with fire the second Ice, a dozen skeleton champions in fortified conjured armour stood in two lines in front of the lich. There weapons were imbued with necromantic energy, allowing them to hit that bit harder. The lich firmly gripped a big fancy black weapon that seemed to be a combination of a spear and a staff.

He regarded the party, he had already cast a very thick magical shield over himself. “I believed myself to be hidden in this place. Yet you were able to find me, I will have to be more careful in the future after I have disposed of you”.

He looked at Alice and cackled, “Mage do you know why they teach every magic user they can fine the mages job”? He waited for a second expecting some form of answer, “I will give you a hint it is control, if you learn the mage job then you cannot learn another magic job, until that job and its constituent jobs are fully levelled. So a mage would have to raise their job to level 100, then the druid and pain-caster job. It is impossible to reach such heights you are forever bound to the tower”.

Martin started to advance on the lich, his holy symbol extended. The lich started to throw necro spheres, necro bolt spells alternately at Martin, each one evaporated against his holy symbol. The lich cursed. The two skeleton mages started to cast. “Pillar of salt, pillar of salt” they were gone collapsing into a fine powder. The lich was stunned as his shield spell was struck by Alice's duel cast fire ball. He started to realise the calibre or his opponents to late, as David charged into and demolished his skeleton champions in a hail of blows. The arrows from Vivian's bow struck the skeleton champions on by one demolishing them.

The lich had no illusions how this was going to end, he had a hope that they would simply destroy him and steal his book. He could reform move then recover the artefact later. But he was facing what appeared to be four masters, judging from their equipment and strength. The last of his skeleton champions were demolished. His shield faltered as it was struck by one octium arrow after another, disrupting his magic.

His resolve wavered, “what can I do, what knowledge do you desire, let us trade, let me be”. He felt his shield shatter under a duel cast acid strike, then the vampire hunter was on him. He had never seen the chain smite blessing in action. But he could feel how potent it was as his body was ripped to shreds with bolt after bolt of lightning. The lich screamed and collapsed his body becoming a grey purple vapour that was sucked back into his phylactery.

The phylactery was inside a steel strong box, a strike from David and the lock broke. Martin opened it to a face full of poisonous gas. It didn't affect him in the slightest he strode across the room and grabbed the lich's grimoire, he had the lich by the phylactery he had time now.

Martin propped the phylactery in front of the fire place. He could see the wrathful look on the lich's face. He threw some logs and bones into the fire place and lit it with kindling.

He brought over the grimoire he opened it to a page then tore the page out. The lich screamed inside his phylactery. Martin held his holy symbol to the page the ink boiled away, then Martin cast the page into the fire. The lich's captive soul screamed as page by page the grimoire entrusted to him was destroyed before him. The lich sobbed as piece by piece the culmination of his life's work was crushed burnt and purified. Martin went around his laboratory as thoroughly as possible. David and Vivian disposed of the skeleton mages and champions remains.

The lich inside the phylactery found Martin looking at him. He would need two days to absorb enough mana to re-conjurer his body. He was sure that he didn't have that amount of time. Martin looked around, “OK Alice how the hell do we destroy this thing”? She looked at it moving her hands about in odd patterns. She pulled the spells and enchantments around it one way and another. It tried to suck mana from her but she was as powerful as the lich. There was a scream as the phylactery became dark “Nooooooooooooooo...” Martin hit it with his purify blessing just to be certain, then the group levelled up.

Alice gained the improved version of the electrical strike spell, her wisdom kept increasing making it easier to use her magic. It was tantalizing just how close she was to being a master, to commanding a bit of respect amongst her pears. Vivian also hit level 49 she could appreciate why masters went to the effort of hunting down better equipment, or saving up to commission it. It could really be devastating, like David's sword or her bow. She had now pushed her pierce armour up to level 8. She anticipated next level when she would gain a class level and her abilities would grow.

Her layered armour perk would improve, her adrenalin strike attacks would both cost less adrenalin and hit very much harder. David was a little further behind at level 48, he was still building up his hail of blows skill up to level 3. Martin had reached level 56 he boosted up his pistol specialisation to level 10, effectively giving him and additional 15 points of bonus armour penetration with the weapons.

It was a good morning’s work, they were back at the combined chapter house just before mid-day. Even a few days ago the fight with the lich would have been a very heavy drawn out slugging match. There levels skills and equipment had reached a point where they were a highly effective force even against high level enemies. For their mid-day meal they pulled apart a huge pile of food, a body capable of operating at such a high level needed a lot of calories. From swinging a sword with the force of a trip hammer to pulling mana from the air around them it all consumed calories.

Reginald met them, he looked both full of resolve and anger playing across his face. “Can you help the Crusaders, our furthest camp was just raided by the rat men. They are getting quite embolden, please make a start on clearing out the nest of giant rats from around the holy site. Cleanse the shrine of their filth, they are getting worse. Soon we could be losing part of the harvest to them. We can’t let them grow to become an even larger danger, they breed very fast”.

“How much can you offer” David asked? “The rats have a bounty on their heads, bring me the heads and we will work something out. Standard guild rates, if I have their numbers right it would be close to fifty silver”. Martin wondered, “What is the significance of the shrine”? “It was the sight of a lay miracle, a lay preacher was rescued there by miraculous intervention”. A shrine was built there, any priest or monk that travels could gain two levels for making the pilgrimage. Vivian nodded, “we can cleanse the shrine, I don't know the rat’s forces but we can scout it out. Give us some oil and a few sturdy sacks”.

“You remember when we ran from giant rats”, Martin reminisced, “we would have been what about a tenth of our levels, you were level 3 back then” Alice pointed out. “It will be nice to face an opponent with nothing but physical force. No existential crises no stupid fucking magical barriers, just a few blunt tactical manoeuvres and lots of dead rat men”, David grinned.

Reginald warned them, “They have stolen a little iron, so expect some basic solid weapons. They have large numbers so they will probably take a few days before you make an impact on them. Remember we are looking at a nest large enough to have wear rats.” Alice nodded, “I think I said I never wanted to see one of those things”. Vivian nodded, “now you’re a few levels higher not so impressive is it”? We shall see”, Martin commented.

Reginald gave them a map to the shrine. It showed where the rats nest was supposed to be, where the crusaders camp had been. As they left they noticed a few people missing from the crusaders ranks, they would be at the cathedral, either in the medical area or receiving last rites. A short while later they walked along the trail. They would certainly give the rats something to think about. The giant rats were not particularly stealthy. They were moving about in significant numbers enough to scare off a few low level crusaders. But they were not facing the normal volunteer forces now. The trail that they headed down had a few warning posts set in the ground, they proceeded on almost eager to fight.

They soon located there target giant rats would have been as tall as a human, if they didn't hunch over. The faces were a little stubbier, the necks a little longer. The hands and arms very human, to give them the ability to manipulate tools. Their legs were bent and bowed their backs crooked. It made them appear very short. They had clothes that were a mix of stitched hide, salvaged human clothes and anything else that they could find, such as sheets and sack cloth. The group was made up of 50 Dread giant rats. Martin could feel the thrall taint on them, with about fifteen terror rat men armed with shield and spear. On top of that one alpha champion rat man was leading them. He was very bulky with a human short sword in one hand and a sickle in the other. The worse problem was the Shaman rat man in support.

They hit the group of rat men and giant rats like a battering ram and kept going. Martin let lose a precise pistol shot that blasted the top of the Sharman's head clean off. He dropped his staff he felt up with his paws, running clawed fingers through the red blood seeping from the wound. He fell forwards onto his knees, then he finished the collapse onto the ground face down, emitting something between a squeak and a sigh. Alice released two duel cast fire balls into the group obliterating 20 or more of the dread giant rats. Vivian started to hit the terror rat men with arrows, before they could group up. David charged in cutting through more rats, forcing them to the point of fleeing.

The rat man champion tried to rally his forces. The dozen remaining rat men formed up around him. While the giant rats were sent charging past David at Alice to tie up her magic. Martin unloaded his second pistol and his triple pistol into the rat men. They didn't have shields thick enough to stop the pistol shots. David charged into the group cutting down three of the rat men. His sword turning their shield blocks into nothing, there pathetic attempts failed to slow his blade. They may as well have been using a folded piece of paper against his mithral blade. Vivian started to fire at the dread rats determined to thin their numbers. Alice cast a fire ball close to her, killing off ten or more rats with Vivian getting the rest.

The rat men tried to surround David, to lock him down so the alpha could get a good angle of attack. David was smart enough to avoid the snare and keep moving around. Alice hit the champion with a couple of acid strikes softening him up. Martin threw a couple of his throwing knives into the bits unprotected by the rat’s shields, hitting necks shoulders or even knees and ankles. Vivian finished up the rest of the rat men who were backing up or turning to flee. David closed blocked a few attacks from the alpha champion and cut him down.

There was little celebration it was work, David sliced heads off Martin and Vivian recovered there ammunition and Alice searched for any magical items. The Sharman's staff was junk only offering seven points to magical reserves onto the pile it went. They piled up the corpses and set them on fire it was a classic clean up.

A supporting group of twenty rat men with primitive short bows, were inquisitive enough to investigate the fire. They found the head of the alpha champion stuck on the end of a spear. It was enough to make the rat-men's resolve shake, they started to look around. There was Martin behind them, he held the short sword recovered from the rat-man Alpha. He grinned “bastion of faith” the defensive blessing activated. “Martyr’s sacrifice” he charged into the group of archers. The arrows bounced off his blessings. He was really a distraction.

David heaved two flasks of oil into the centre of the group. They smashed at the rat’s feet sending oil and pottery out in every direction, a fire ball from Alice lit the group on fire there fur covered in oil they had no escape. Vivian began to fire arrows into them, cheap iron broad heads worked well against the un-armoured archers. Martin was suddenly swinging away so was David. Most of the rat men were worried about the fire, a few didn't get up from the fire ball. Some dropped their weapons and tried to run shrieking in terror and fear. They got one or two steps before an arrow claimed them. Martin found no further enemies to fight and his blessings dissipated. The rat men archers were decapitated and their bodies thrown on the pyre. There weak bows snapped from even the smallest tug from Vivian.

Vivian looked about, “we were lucky these two groups were joining up, we caught them unaware”. “That was probably the vanguard of their forces, a larger stronger group is probably ahead, should we be cautious? Martin held up a large thermite grenade. “We have options how bad can it be”?

There was the clank and rattle of armour the foot fall of heavy creatures. The rat men's main force started to come into view, just at the limit of Vivian's enhanced perception. It was led by a terror rat warlord, a commander specialist he was bulky and strong. But for a rat he also had high intelligence and charisma. He wore cobbled together armour scale plate any metal that could be found and shaped. He carried a reasonably long spear, he lead a main force of thirty terror rat men.

They had helmets and chest plates that were not matching, but still mostly covering there vital areas. They had uniform shields obviously made or them, that they could slot together to form an effective barrier. They carried short sturdy clubs and axes, a mix of stolen items and their own manufacture. Behind this front rank was 20 terror rat men archers, they had slightly better bows than the first group of rat men archers. They also seemed to be mainly equipped with human made iron hunting arrows. Which would have been collected over the course of several battles. They had rough clothes and basic pot helmets, by the shape a few of them were probably pots to begin with.

The group was followed by a number of heavier hitters. They had eight wererats behind them, these creatures were each between eight and nine feet tall. Far more bestial in nature having large serrated claws, rather than hands suitable for tool manipulation. They were the same sort of billed as a werewolf, if hunched over slightly more. They were the ultimate combat form of the rat-men, a level 45 creature fast but without the healing factor of its lycanthropic namesake.

They protected the magical ranks of the rat men, there were two rat men Shaman specialised in healing and defence. They had a few spell scrolls that they had looted from previous adventure party’s equipment, which they had faced and had survived. They had ten ranks each of the Shaman job, which was about as high as they could raise the skill.

Behind them were two rat men necromancers, this job had probably been taught to them by a vampire. They wore dark black robes and carried short wands suitable for channelling dark energy's. They had a collection of 20 zombies and skeleton rat-men behind them. This mob was armed with farming implements crude shields and roughly hewn spears. There was one rat man sorcerer, the robe he wore was crudely dyed red. Behind him acting as a body guard was a bound demon soldier. He was the potentially deadliest thing walking the battlefield this day. It would have taken the weak rat-man magic user a week to charge up the spell that summoned him. Still at the limit of his abilities he had managed to summon a demon foot soldier.

The demon didn't look to enthusiastic, but then he was serving a giant rat who could barely scrape together the mana to summon him. It was still preferable to floating in a void of darkness pain and heat. As a result of the limited skill and magic of his summoner, his manifested body was weak by comparison around level 30. He was still the first demon the party had ever seen. The demon was equipped with a steel shield and sword. They would be stronger than whatever magic armament he could manifest with his weak magic. A stronger sorcerer would have been able to fortify his body summon armour stronger weapons, but with this individual it was not the case. It was a minor miracle that the rat man had been able to pick up the sorcerer job from the vampire mage that trained him.

The demon was seven foot tall. He had a short thin pair of horns sticking out of his temples. The stronger the body that was summoned the thicker the horns would be, until they formed a bony helmet of sorts. He was proportioned as a human would be, but with dark red skin. His limbs were mostly human if a little off. Six fingers on the right hand four toes on the left foot, dark black eyes a twisted, grin with a few too many teeth. If he could help his master capture a strong adventurer, he would be able to help his 'master' perform the ritual to possess the individually. He would gain a great deal of power, it was a gamble accepting such a contract. That still meant that they had to defeat an opponent who was quite strong first.

The group of rat men found the remains of their van guard, the leaders got together. The warlord smelled the air, he could tell that there had been several humans hear. He could feel there approximate level from a skill, well he could tell they were higher level than him. “Risk it risk it do we, they smell strong”. The senior of his two necromancers looked at the field of battle and the still burning pyre, “smart they are no bodies to raise up, no heads to question, they are not to be underestimated”.

The sorcerer held out his paw over the disturbed ground, where Alice had cast a fire ball. “Fire magic I sense it, they have a magic user”. The demon licked his lips, “tasty I am resistant to fire magic, but I can sense more. One of the god whispers is about, I can feel his holy powers. I have far less resistance to that. There is probably one master leading a group of adventures, someone who has combat experience. He has someone with a religious job a cleric or crusader maybe and a mage to give his party balance”. The demon looked around the battlefield, considering the marks on the ground, “probably a sharp shooter as well”.

The warlord looked at the tracks. “Went that way, skeletons front disposable now.” the necromancers nodded and threw there rat skeletons and zombies at the enemy ordering them to march forwards. He looked at the wear rats, “you for flank left, you four flank right” there was a nod of understanding “squeak oohh”. He turned to his troops, “Box shield formation, archer’s middle and casters at the rear, sorcerer keep demon in reserve”. The demon held his blade ready, hopefully he could loot something better from one of the adventures. Perhaps some armour that would fit him too.

The adventures were standing there, three of them a mage on the left an archer on the right with a hunter in the centre. The demon looked at the hunter he could feel the weight of the man's unfaltering conviction a sadism that rivalled his own. The twenty low level undead approached, they would at least bog the adventures down until the were-rats arrived and ripped them to shreds. For their bulk the wererats moved surprisingly fast. They were quite confident that they could get to the adventures. Hitting them in the side and flanks, before the disposable skeletons had expended themselves.

The hunter drew his holy symbol and looked at the group of skeletons. “Field of wrath” the undead’s bones smoked glowed then collapsed, crumpling to the ground like puppets with their strings cut. The spells that animated them were undone by a single blessing. The mage targeted the group four wererats to the left, a fire ball detonated amongst them singeing fur. Vivian had mithral tipped arrows flying into the group to the right. With power shots two of them fell long before they got within range. The remaining six hastened there approach. David was in position it was time to go bowling he heaved against the bolder in line with the rat men. He wanted to time it so that it hit the main body of the group.

The rat men cheered as the were-rats got closer to the group of adventurers, they anticipated a quick resolution. Martin fired off both his standard pistols two mithral bullets, two head-shots two less were-rats. Alice started to throw acid strike spells first one then a second of the charging wererats dropped dead, their faces and necks burnt away. Vivian used four of her heavy bodkin arrows aiming for the head and centre of mass. Two power shots and the remaining two were-rats were dead.

The warlord gritted his teeth and ordered his troops in, shields up they marched forwards. The archers began to pelt the party with arrows. Martin activated his defensive blessings shield of faith and armour of faith and started to move forwards. The rats felt a twinge of fear, the archers fired they were expending there good arrows at a range too far to hit him. The warlord considered the target after two voiles he commanded “hold fire”.

David took the moment to heave the boulder. Sending it careening down towards the group of terror rats and there tightly packed formation. The warlord turned his head “demon now”. The demon jumped over the ranks of terror rats and charged at the bolder. With a grunt of effort and a shoulder slam, he sent the tons of stone hurtling off course rumbling off to the side. The demon looked at the adventure in front of him. The mass of forged Damascus steel the sword. He grinned his chances against this warrior were far better than facing the dozens of blessings that the hunter still had at his disposal, that was a magic sword it would be a good prize.

The demon charged in against David. David felt a bit of trepidation as the demon barrelled towards him. A demon typically had a lot more skill than a normal human and far higher stats. This time the demon was only summoned by a rat-man sorcerer. So its stats would not be that impressive, still he had to be cautious. David would be glad of his dualist ability this time round. The demon leapt high bringing his sword down, only to find David already blocking it. The demon danced backwards avoiding the power strike that came in retaliation. David didn't leave much of an opening but the demon saw one and stabbed forwards. Only to find the layer of chainmail and padding between the armour plates. For his hubris he received a slash to the knee. “Mortal thank you for the entertainment and for the fine armour and sword you will gift to me”. He got a tower shield to the face, David remained silent.

The demon shrugged, “so you will save your breath to fight a wise decision”. “I do not get tired, I do not stop”. David dropped down low using his shield to protect him and sending a short slash to the demons leg, it was just able to pull back. The demon grinned, “I am no little rat I will not fall to such a simple trick”. David was aiming to strike the same leg again, to give it a wound that would slow the demon down, long enough to deliver a few power strikes. This would be a battle of attrition not raw power by the look of it.

David delivered a series of strikes using his hail of blow skill. The demon backed up David delivered a power strike. The demon was able to block the mithral blade with his steel shield, there was a clang and the demon grinned. “You will have to do far better than that or you will never win”. The demon realised his shield now had a large chunk missing. David's equipment was far better, his strength was far better. If the demon lost his shield he would most likely lose the match. The demon realised this and went on the offensive. He aimed for David's eyes for the gap in his visor. David was just fast enough with his tower shield to block the blow, crating a small chink in the blade.

The shield blocked David's view for a second. The demon struck at David's sword disarming him. Only to see the sword attached to his wrist by a leather loop. David brought his shield up in a power block that caught the demon in the face. He twisted his wrist gripped the blade and delivered a power strike at the demon, who rolled away at the last minute. David's sword buried several inches into the ground where the demon had been. The demon had lost the tip of one horn, his jaws dripped black blood. He grinned “that will grow back”, the demon advanced at the last minute. David flicked his sword up throwing dirt into the demons face. He stabbed forwards sinking his blade a few inches into the demons chest. The demon was already retreating the wound was minor.

A moment later the demon leapt forwards, trying to get an angle to stab through David's visor. It didn't go far. David responded with a power attack, it was blocked but took another chunk from the demons steel shield. The demon looked around seeking any advantage. The demon moved round, David seemed to leave a gap. The demon was fast, then David twisted the edge of his tower shield round and down onto the blade tip shattering it. David delivered an over hand blow the demon felt his shield shatter and a cut in his left hand.

He was able to block the next three blows with his sword, before mithral won over steel and it shattered. The demon tried to tackle David to wrestle him, he was thrown off. He suffered a dozen more blows then fell to the ground. His body was two wounded to continue. The demon grinned, “a good workout, when next I am summoned to this world I will have power to back my skill and we shall see who loses next time”. David put his blade through the demons neck. It turned transparent and faded away, leaving a shadowy black stain on the ground.

Meanwhile Martin had a large thermite grenade primed and ready. Alice threw a fire ball at the centre of the rat-men. The two Shaman activated defensive shield spells, the rank and file rat-men held firm behind there shields. It was a cover for Martin to get closer and throw the thermite over the shield wall. He aimed between the archers and magic users, he used a high arch so it sailed over the shield spells, the grenade detonated with white hot metal burning fur and flesh. One of the necromancers and five of the archers were gone, in a flash of burning thermite there and then. Five times that number were wounded and their defensive formation was broken open.

The rat men started to waver, the Shaman started to focus on healing spells, including on themselves. Vivian used the opportunity to let her iron arrows lose, they cut through the exposed terror rat men killing two of the front rank. Alice threw a fire ball into the middle of the formation of shields, through the gap four more died, Martin had his triple pistol out, at this range he could not miss. Three shots three kills the shields could not stop an overload shot at this range.

The rat overload spurned his soldiers forward, they had to close the gap for any hope of winning the day. Arrows bounced off Alice's shield spell, Vivian dodged a necro bolt spell thrown by the remaining necromancer. Martin neutralised a spell thrown at him by the sorcerer, it evaporated against his holy symbol. Vivian let lose four arrows, over the shield wall into the archers three of them fell. Alice threw acid strikes at the front ranks, there shields started to fall apart as the conjured corrosive burned them away. Martin was far from out of blessings, “fortress of faith” more temporary armour surrounded him. Martin exhausted his smite blessing using it four times to blast apart a hole in the front ranks.

The warlord could feel his troop’s moments away from a rout. He still had spell casters he still had the demon, he could still win. Vivian let lose two of her octium arrows two of the mages fell there defensive spells popped. The sorcerer and one of the Shaman were gone. The demon fell killed by the man in all the armour. Alice had weakened the shields with acid strikes, a double cast fire ball was more than they could take, and it killed eight of the front rank. The terror rat-men broke ranks, Martin had six throwing knives and enough focus to use them. The archers were cut down by half, the rest didn’t have long.

The rats fled and panicked, David waded in chopping what was left of the archers to pieces. Vivian picked off the melee fighters with arrows, one by one as they scattered. Alice used her electrical strike spell to cook the terror rat overlord in his metal armour. He was barely standing, then a second strike and he was down. Martin finished off the two remaining magical casters with his mallet, one or two rat man might have managed to run away but there was no chance that they could recover from this. The group expected the level up to hit but it didn't. Vivian shrugged “we are probably too close to the nest, lets finish them off”. They recovered there ammunition, including the mithral bullets, cut off the heads then piled up the rat men's corpses and torched the pyre.

David grinned “I killed a demon”, Martin shook his head “no you inconvenienced a demon. Now he will have a vendetta against you.” David shrugged, “next time you can just hit them with a holy blessing”. They found the rats nest very close by, the side of a hill had been excavated the area around was used as a dumping ground. There were a handful of forces guarding the nest, an alpha warden was a terror rat man specialised in defensive fighting small choke points like a nests entrance. Martin shot him down with an aimed pistol shot. Ten more guards were at the entrance they fared little better.

The inside of the nest smelt terrible, it was lit by fires and torches and was full of clinging smoke. There were several tunnels, much of it was set up as nesting space. About 30 rat-men used a central area as a crafting workshop, someone had helped them lay it out. Showed them the best tools to steal and make, probably a few vampires. They had the beginnings of quite a good set up. The rat-men crafters fought and died, a short and brutal battle wiped them out as they fought with whatever tools were to hand.

Deeper into the nest they found a metamorphosis chamber, five rat men were evolving from dread rats. They were unconscious while there body's shifted between the forms. A process that could take days as the humanoid blood template took over from the animal template. The party dispatched them, they would never complete their metamorphosis. Deeper in they found a nest chamber 25 giant rats left to eat and fight each other until a few came out on top and began the metamorphosis. One sphere of consecration killed the lot of them.

Deeper still they found a massive monster, the terror brood mother. She was not a sentient creature unlike a Lamia queen. She was just a machine to pump out litters of pups, to allow one more group of rats to be born. She hissed and her colossal bulk stared down the enemy. Alice used her last reserves of magic to freeze the creature in place. The Icy tomb spell would hold it for 13 seconds, they only needed ten to finish it off. The queen hissed in pain, her limbs frozen in place life slipped form her and the spell was abruptly ended, having no legitimate target left.

The level up hit, Alice became a master as she reached level 50, her mind expanded with the extra will power. Most significantly her reserves of magic went up by an additional bonus of fifty points. With the class level her mana reserves were now quite impressive at 380 points of mana. Vivian became a master as well. Reaching level 50 she gained a class level increasing the efficiency of her adrenalin abilities, needing only 3 points to activate rather than four. Her adrenalin power attacks became rank 3 power attacks, doing significantly more damage. Her layered armour perk reached rank 3 giving her a greater protective bonus.

Martin reached level 57, his hit-points were now a monstrous 1296. He put another skill point into his pistol ability, raising it to level 11 effectively giving him another 15 points of armour perpetration with his pistol shots. David was tantalizingly close to levelling and becoming a master, catching up to Vivian. He put one more level into his hail of blows skill, it would be of some use in the future. If that demon was going to pop up for a rematch, he would find a more powerful opponent waiting to pick up the gauntlet.

They collected a few tools and weapons to return to the human world, stolen from farms and from unfortunate pilgrims. They found more bedding some food stores, they collected the heads and set everything else on fire. Martin used his purge soul blessing on David in case the demon was more thorough and had some magical in addition to martial abilities. Then he used his purge blessing to remove any disease or thrall taint from every member of the group. They had been fighting the rat men and had invaded their nest, which burnt quite well on the way out.

Martin made a brief trip to the shrine and a silent prayer for those who were departed. He felt a measure of peace and closure, while the rest of the group waited for him. Hesitantly one by one they followed him saying a short prayer.

They trudged back to the town. They were not allowed to bring their haul in until a priest had purified the lot. They went past some checks and then onto the hunters and crusaders barracks. Martin Vivian and David were carrying huge bundles of sacks and the head of the terror rat brood mother was dragged behind them. It took Reginald some time to calculate their reward for killing all the rat men terror rats and others, finally he rounded it up to 50 silver as thanks for freeing the shrine of their presence, pilgrimages would be far safer now. There was a little bonfire as they burnt the remains. Making sure that there was not even one bit left to pass on the thrall taint or disease.

Reginald handed Vivian the 50 silver reward and took Martin to one side in private. He had two wrapped bundles in his office. He picked one up, “Martin this is a four barrelled pistol, an upgrade from your tipple barrel, it has a much more efficient mechanism”. Martin examined it, the construction was sleeker more compact. With his triple barrelled pistol most of the device was replicated three times, where the four barrelled pistol had no redundant mechanisms. One hammer one cocking mechanism, it was actually far less bulky and weigh less than the triple pistol. He could already see the custom sheath he would make for it. Martin would disassemble it clean and check every single piece to make use of his well-maintained perk.

He tested the mechanism as he turned the cluster barrels one full rotation. Each time the trigger was pulled the barrel rotated as a group putting a new shot into place. There was a side catch that could be activated allowing the gun to fire all four barrels in one go, delivering a much heavier punch similar to a small volley gun. This gun was also designed to fire stakes as well as shot. He held it up “it’s a durable construction and a very versatile weapon, certainly something to hunt vampires with, I am surprised you don't have something similar yourself”.

Reginald pointed to the wall and an elegant compact crossbow with a box magazine. “I use this repeating crossbow myself, also I have this relic from a former hunter that obtained the rank of grand master, the lion hearts hammer. This pistol deals a bonus of 250 points of holy damage, with each shot and an improved accuracy blessing”. Martin picked up the pistol it was similar in design to his original pair of long pistols, but with s shorter barrel. There was a bright brass finish with engraving the handle had grips. They were ivory the tooth from some great beast probably a wyvern.

Martin unstrapped one of his weapons from inside his jacket. He placed it on the table, “pass this triple barrelled pistol onto another so they may use it”. The crusader nodded, “I have such a deputy in mind, she will appreciate the weapon, where did you get it from”? “The vampire Islington killed a member of the sisters of unrelenting mercy. It was her weapon passed to me”. The crusader nodded his thanks.

The crusader pulled a sealed envelope from the paperwork on his desk. “Martin between grey forge and the capital is a town called Copperfield. It is being menaced by a particularity vicious vampire working for the, queen of rats. The elite blood thralls called the grave rats and the local rat men nests are proving a real problem. The local bishop is calling for volunteers, they need masters and veterans to act as officers and captains. To lead a crusade against the elder vampire running this attack, they have plenty of men but few leaders. Someone who has killed rat-men and elite vampires like you have would be a valued asset”.

Martin considered it for a moment it was an important job, but so was his current job. While on some level he was protecting the people of Good Ford, he was not having to worry about a platoon of men under his command. Or a dozen, or whatever force he would be commanding. He was relatively content to just have to worry about the three others in his group. On some level to him killing one vampire or vampire’s servant was much the same. Having three people he trusted looking after his back was his preferred tactic for the moment, his answer was honest and short. “While I would love to, I have duties hear first and foremost. The group I am with is far from done in this area”.

They had dealt with the lich, but they had not picked up there reward yet, the mages also dealt with magical items. All the magical equipment that they had seen the elites of the rat-men tribe using had been either based on sorcery or necromancy, supplied by the vampires, so they had just destroyed them. They would Ilkley not react well to someone that was not a sorcerer or necromancer, or completely dominated by the thrall taint. Otherwise they would have sold the poorly crafted items to the tower mages guild.

Lady Imoline eagerly handed them the 40 silver reward and three heavily sealed green bottles. They were labelled up as potion of minor poison resistance. Effectively a 20 point resistance to low level poisons effective for an hour. Perfect to move through a poisonous area such as certain alchemical plants that produced spores and other abilities common to some noxious trees and plants.

She looked at Alice, “I feel that I owe you something for dealing with this issue”. She recovered something from a box, “this staff was one I used in my younger days. In all honesty I should have passed it onto an active mage a decade or two ago, so that it had some use. Its white oak that has been alchemically hardened, very light very strong the tip of the staff is a hunk of natural jade mounted in a copper grip. It favours a druid, but I am sure it will suit you well. It gives a 50 point mana reserve bonus, as well as a five point armour bonus and 5 points of perception. That can really help aim your spells. The grips are snake skin, it looks fancy but adds nothing to the staff”.

Alice took it nodding her thanks. Lady Imoline looked at the others, “I have a servant outside with a bottle of wine, and I have tower business to speak to Alice about give us a little while”. The group left the two mages and busied themselves with a few glasses of wine. She looked over at Alice, “you are aware of the large attack at Bay City are you not, the destruction of the slum and part of the outer city”? Alice nodded “Martin was a survivor of that attack, Vivian and David were trained in the next settlement over the village of glass bay”. She nodded “where they have the greatest concentration of coloured sand, used in glassmaking”. The senior mage stood up, she pulled a potion vial with decorative blue and green glass threaded pattern in it from a shelf looking it over.

“Though we were victorious that day, the majority of the senior members of the Bay City chapter house fell. They did their duty slinging spells down onto the attacking hordes”. Alice looked at her knowing what was to come, “you need people to build back up the ranks don't you”. Lady Imoline spoke surprising Alice, “I need a survivor to lead the show, you are a master you’re powerful enough for the job. I can have you trained in a few levels of the scribe job. A few months of tutoring from myself and you would be the best candidate I could recommend”.

Alice looked at her, she would have coughed up her drink if she had one. “Me take up the post of a chapter master in bay city. How could I do something like that”?

The lady shrugged “it’s not as uncommon as you think, a chapter master is often the most powerful mage available for the job. They are one of the linchpins defending a settlement, technically part of the garrison forces”. Alice chose her words carefully “I really do appreciate the offer, it would give me some autonomy and authority. But I believe I can do more, Martin broke through a few days ago now he is level 57, I could go the distance and become a grand master a level 75 mage”. She smiled “that is a pity, but I have high hopes for you, as a grand master you could sit on the towers rulemaking council. If you can get there, I wish you well”.

As they left the mages chapter house one of the town guards along with a deacon met them. “The bishop asked me to deliver this note to you”. They thanked him the note simply asked them to report to the bishop at the cathedral. He received them in a small room around a table. “I have been keeping an eye on your progress, dragon’s lich’s rat-men you carve your way through all of them. I am glad to see some progress, the vampires visible minions may seem the greater threat. But one person in our walls can do a lot more damage, if they sit in a seat of authority. Rather than a thousand monsters standing outside our gate”.

Vivian nodded, “you think that there is one such spy or traitor in this city”? The bishop nodded, “we are building up to fight. A major war with the vampires, not just to hold them off at our gates but to become tall and wide enough to defeat them. But to do this we need to build up industry gather materials. An army marches on its stomach, tin is needed in vast quantities to use in preserving rations so that our forces can be more mobile”. He looked at the group, “we need coin to finance a war, we need to build up trade. We need ships to trade we need wood to build merchant ships. Primarily now we trade with the human lead institutions of the central plains and with a few former colonies that confederated on the western continent”.

He looked about the room, “The northern church the triune has established a way to safely reach the old elven colonies far to the south of the confederated lands. They seem to be doing well, they are united under the western church. Trade with our brothers in the west would be far more lucrative than the trade with the central plains city states. One spy in the wrong place could hamstring these efforts”. The bishop thought about it musing, “If we could take back some of the old dwarves outposts from the countess of winter, we would have ports on the east coast. We could begin to trade with the dwarves on the eastern island chains again”.

Vivian shrugged “you have something in mind”. The bishop nodded “someone is trying to trick those that I sent you to as mentors into assisting them. Probably as some sort of confidence trick to have them believing that they serve the triune. I suspect assassins are being brought into the city, I need you to find and eliminate them. I should have more for you tomorrow, I believe a couple of minor nobles tricked by a vampire will try to deliver this city to them in the shadows”. He paused thinking weighing the implications, “If it gets into a fight you can reveal that you are agents of mine. I have told the other representatives of the local triune that I have agents, but I have not revealed their names. Rest tonight tomorrow you will be busy”.