Necromancer

A Royal Road Fan Fiction

By: Halosty

Chapter 74

Angelo surveyed the field. The Children of Light were again fighting an offensive battle to take over a keep. This one was much more secure than the one that the Crimson Ravens had. It had a moat, proper portcullises, and magical defenses of various sorts. Some of these were just reinforcements for the walls, since after level 200 casters could easily damage regular stone walls. There were also enchantments that prevented, or at least slowed, flight. Such things again became more important at higher levels.

The moat was inhabited by tamed monsters, who would attack invading players. Lighter armored players would be killed quickly, while heavily armored players could not swim very well, if at all. In summary, the defenses were strong. They were not, however, invincible. The Children of Light had brought some magical siege equipment with them. Some of it was just enchanted to be harder to destroy, such as ladders and ropes, while the power of catapults and other offensive equipment was increased.

Currently, not much progress was made. The enemy guild, Gods of War, had a strong defensive position. Thus, their casters could attack from relative safety. Though they couldn’t bring more players to the field easily, they could resurrect the few who were defeated. Meanwhile, more of the players of Children of Light died, but they could be resurrected by clerics or respawn and then return to the battlefield. Neither side could gain much of an advantage, so they were still being cautious, and not risking a large battle just yet.

The Children of Light were gearing up for another assault, when black clouds came out of the castle. The clouds obscured the entire castle, and the movements of the defenders could not be seen. Angelo had everyone draw back until they could figure out what effect the clouds had. Were the Gods of War gathering for an assault? Scouts were sent, and though they could see somewhat into the area with their abilities, they couldn’t tell whether there were troop movements. In addition, the clouds did some damage to them when they entered the area. Not too much, but scout type characters weren’t very durable in general, so it was best not to enter.

So, they waited. Over the course of an hour, the clouds shrunk briefly, then expanded again. It was determined to be happening at a regular interval. Then, as quickly as the clouds had arrived, they dissipated. Nobody could be seen on the walls, but there were many places for players to get cover. Likely, they were just hiding. Since they had been preparing for something, Angelo was cautious, unsure what to do. However, a message from outside the capsule arrived. “Now would be a good time to attack the fort.”

Angelo wanted to ask Quietus (or Mortimer) how he knew that, but if it was a good time to attack, they couldn’t really stand to wait. Plus, he wouldn’t have said that if he wasn’t confident.

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--Slightly more than one hour prior--

Quietus looked over the battlefield. He figured he should probably go say hello to his friends, but he didn’t feel like it. So, he didn’t. Most of the Children of Light were arranged on the side with the gate, but there were some on all sides. The defenders on the walls were similarly placed, from what Quietus could see. It was a bit far to know for sure, though. Unfortunately, it was daytime and it would be very easy to see anyone approaching. Thus, Quietus sent a single ghoul as a scout. It would be easier to miss, and though it wasn’t as fast or nimble as a skeleton, it was the best choice.

After all, ghouls were better at burrowing. There was no way anything wouldn’t be spotted above ground. Even Quietus himself would be found quickly, and then burned to a crisp. Or, frozen and shocked and hit by rocks and arrows. Dead for sure, though. The ghoul burrowed under the ground, deep enough to avoid the moat. Then, Quietus had it dig up, where he thought the keep should be. The result was as expected. Sadly, they hadn’t made any basements with dirt floors. Instead, they used the same stone as for the walls, and it was apparently also affected by the reinforcement spells. Expected, but disappointing.

The ghoul dug out into the moat, where it was promptly attacked by monsters. It wasn’t a very stealthy ghoul, after all. None of them were. Sadly, the ghoul scout died. Well, that was his job anyway. Quietus considered trying to drain the moat by sending many burrowers, but dismissed the idea quickly. They didn’t remove the dirt, just displaced it, so the water wouldn’t really be able to flow out. At best, it would cause a slight drop in water level before it was noticed.

However, he could be much more stealthy than his ghoul minions. Therefore, he and several minions traveled along nearly the same path. Quietus then had the ghouls wait where they were, and he continued on to the other side. Obviously, he was transformed into a ghoul. He couldn’t burrow quickly otherwise, and there was also the problem of being unable to breathe dirt. When he got to the other side, he had the sacrificial pawns on the other side burrow out into the moat again, and cause a ruckus. The were quickly attacked, but hopefully none of the players would really take note.

Soon after, Quietus came out into the water on the other side, much more stealthily. He was still glad to be a ghoul, because he also couldn’t breathe water. His plan seemed to have worked, since there was nothing in the water too close to where he was, they seemed to have been distracted. He quickly got to the surface, and the wall. Quietus was good at climbing. He’d put a lot of practice into it, because it was convenient. Being a ghoul, he was stronger and had claws, which helped climb up things that definitely weren’t meant for it, like the side of a keep.

Even a keep couldn’t be completely unclimbable though. It was still made of stone, and it wasn’t solid. There would always be seams, and cracks, unless a very large amount of money, or magic, which also cost money. They could, however, make it undesirable to climb the wall. Such as by placing spells that damaged anything attempting to climb. Quietus noticed this. It was, after all, a trap. It seemed it would deal continuous damage to whoever tried to climb. Fire or electricity, likely, but he couldn’t tell. Especially not after he disabled it. It was only temporary, though. It was designed as a permanent defense, Quietus could only stop it from affecting part of the wall for a short time.

That was all he needed though. His claws grasped handholds, and his boots found footholds. He pulled himself up past the arrow slits that served as the only windows. This wasn’t a luxury fort, but practical. However, it could still be entered from the top of the walls. Otherwise, how could anybody get onto them to defend the fort? As he peered over the edge, he saw several people. He couldn’t sneak past them without raising the alarm. However, he didn’t plan to. The wards on the castle would stop many spells cast from outside, but it wouldn’t stop spells cast from the inside. Quietus was pretty sure that counted on top of the walls.

He had to cast dark fog twice, at the cost of a very significant portion of his mana, to cover the entire fort. However, it definitely worked. Now, nobody would be able to see well, and everyone would be taking damage. Not a lot… and everyone would be on alert. However, they wouldn’t be sure what to be on alert to.

If they’d had to guess, they would have presumed an expert in dark magic, maybe even a necromancer. They wouldn’t have even been wrong. However, they wouldn’t have likely guessed that this same person was an assassin. Not by class, but by trade. Those who were most vulnerable were spellcasters, who wore light or cloth armor. However, their magic resistance was higher, so the dark fog couldn’t damage them much. At best, it was an annoyance that caused them to use cheap potions. Thus, the spellcasters were not too worried. Even many of the non spellcasters had reasonable defense against magic, and high health. They would be fine as well, as long as the cause was found and dealt with.

However, no matter how much magical defense one has, it does little to protect against a dagger in the back. Especially not one that does greatly increased damage, and critical damage. Such as Quietus’ dagger, which improved his damage after using spells. The dagger also caused bleeding damage, but this was irrelevant if one was dead instantly. Such as one of the wizards on the wall who had not panicked and run inside. He had no need to be afraid of the dark fog. However, he should have been afraid of what hid in it.

End Chapter 74