Sky Master’s Armor

Imperial rank (gold)

This armor has been tailored to fit a winged humanoid, and has been enhanced with the primary feather of a Sky Master’s tail. In addition to the bonuses from the materials used, the coloring was specifically chosen to make the wearer more difficult to see in the air.

Effects:

+50% air speed, +15% agility (aerial effects only)

+50% resist lightning

Ride the Lightning (skill): 3x per day you may use a lightning bolt to travel between places. Disruption to the lightning during travel will cause damage to the traveler.

I looked over my new bit of equipment, and couldn’t help but be impressed. I didn’t know how often I would end up using the skill, but an elemental resistance and a percentage increase in the two most important attributes during aerial combat? Hell yeah I was going to be excited about that. I also couldn’t help but admire the aesthetic. It was the pale blue of a sunny day, with faint traces of yellow from what I assumed were the mana veins from the tail feather.

“Oooh, pretty. But not asssss pretty assss youuuuu.” Elendria slurred next to me, somehow having managed to get inebriated during the celebration. “C’mon. Let’s have shom fun.”

Rather than fight her, I cast a cleanse spell on her to help her sober up a bit. She immediately winced in pain, making a beeline for the water pitcher. “Ow! Tha hell Sean? Warn a girl first.” She grumbled before downing half a pitcher.

“Sorry hun, but you were about to get a bit grabby and I didn’t want any delicate bits in your hands when the headache hit. And while I have forgiven you, we do have some important things to discuss before tomorrow hits, and without the demon twins around.” I said, waving a hand as I sent my mana out to make our room soundproof.

“Oh? What about them?” She asked.

I sighed and stared at the ceiling, trying to formulate what I was going to say without coming across as an asshole. “I can’t trust them.” I finally said, deciding to just bite the bullet and get it over with. “Hear me out.” I said, holding up a hand when she went to protest. “They have been helpful, but they weren’t the companion that Carrigan was. Not only that, but they sat by and watched as you drugged me.”

“Sean.” She started, but I interrupted.

“I know you had your reasons, and I can understand that. But they didn’t know that. And what if it was something or someone taking over your body? I could never stand by and watch my teammates drug each other, and I can’t trust someone who can with my life.”

“So what do you want to do? Kill them?”

“Hell no!” I growled out. “I have a plan. Tomorrow, we can renew your contracts with your friends. Once we have both contracts set up, I can bring us back anywhere on Vitae. I think we should just move somewhere out in the jungle and continue our journey. If it’s just us two, we can level up much easier and move much faster than a group of four. I can use a bit of elemental magic to make us a defensible camp every night so that we won’t need guards. What do you say?”

She sat and stared at me for a moment, turning the idea around in her mind. “We’ll see. I don’t like just ditching them, but I can see your point as well. Oh, and by the way.” She said, perking up a bit as she slid into the bed next to me. “I think I might have a way to ensure that we don’t have misunderstandings like we have been having. It’s a special skill that I unlocked once I had an evolution that involved souls.”

“Oh?” I asked, intrigued.

“Yeah. It’s called a soul bond. We exchange a small portion of our souls, forever linking the two. We won’t be able to communicate telepathically, but we will be able to sense emotions among other things.”

“Stop.” I interrupted her. “That could work, but it also seems rather permanent. Besides, mucking about with souls sounds like a very dangerous process. We can talk about it later, but preferably not on a night where one of us has used recovery magic. Until we are both comfortable with it, we will just have to work things out like a regular couple. Ok?”

“Alright. I suppose.” She said, though much more subdued than before. “I suppose caution is a good approach.”

“Thanks for understanding.” I said, kissing the top of her head. “Now, let’s go to bed. We have a long day ahead of us.” She nodded, snuggling in before dropping off to sleep. I followed quickly after, making sure that I dropped the soundproofing of the room first.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

The next morning, we opted not to have breakfast and instead headed down to the craftsman district. Soon enough, a cheery bell greeted us as we entered Lothian’s shop once again. He hurried out, immediately smiling when he saw us. “Welcome back Sean! And I see your evolution succeeded Elendria! Congratulations!”

“Thank you Lothian.” She smiled stepping next to me by the counter. “And I assume it was you who helped Sean? If so, I owe you a debt of gratitude.”

“No need for that. It’s been long since I have gotten to play the role of Elder, and I find myself gravitating to the role once again. Minor crisis averted, what can I do for you today? Perhaps a bracelet to match that necklace?”

“You made this necklace?” She asked, eyes lighting up. “I must let you know, it saved me during my evolution. Without it reminding me of my link to Sean, I would have lost myself to the darkness.”

“That is the greatest compliment that I have ever received. Thank you.” He said, giving her a bow.

Sensing that everyone was getting a bit uncomfortable with the silence, I went ahead and bulled forward, knowing nobody would comment on the blatant topic change. “So, Lothian. We were planning on heading toward the south soon, but were wondering if you had any ideas on good places to level up?”

He stared at me for a second, then a thoughtful look came across his face. In fact, he looked rather conflicted. “There is one place, but it is incredibly dangerous. But it is the best place for you to level up. Just promise me two things. First, that you will stick to distance attacks. Second, that you will take several specific recovery potions along with you.”

Sensing the danger in the moment, I agreed. “Of course. Can you tell us more about these potions, and why we will need them?”

“Of course. This is a hidden story, and for good reason. Long ago, the elven people were not united under one country as we are now. Instead we were a tiered society, with the now non existent Sun Elves as our royalty. The wood elves were the rangers, and high elves formed our academics and craftsmen, while the dark elves formed our enforcers. For thousands of years, the elven empire stood proud. They had advanced magics and technology that makes our best today pale in comparison. Life was good in the Solaris Empire. Until they got greedy.”

His voice darkened, “Nobody knows exactly what they tried, but they crossed a line. A major line. The sun elves gathered to perform a ritual, probably one attempting to give them and their children everlasting life. Whether this is true or not, nobody knows. What we do know, was that divine judgement descended, and the heart of their empire was cursed into undeath. The rest of us were scattered, and those that survived were sworn never to try and recreate such folly again.”

“Among those turned are the traditional undead that you expect to find. Skeletons, zombies and lichs abound. But there is one line of undead that is feared above all, and these are the most numerous. It all starts with the mindless ghoul. A simple undead that feasts on flesh, and works in a pack. Their fangs and fingers contain a minor paralysis poison. One scratch isn’t enough to outright paralyze an evolved person, but it will slow them down. And they aren’t beyond suicide tactics, where one will sacrifice in order to slow you so their brethren may feast.”

“Eventually, a ghoul shall evolve into a ghoul lord, and their danger increases several times. They are able to cause excess bone growth to create a sort of plate armor for increased defense, so they are even harder to kill than their brethren. A minor selection of necrotic magics allow them to heal themselves and curse their enemies, but that’s not the most dangerous part. They are able to link and control up to three packs of unbound ghouls. If you thought a mindless pack of five to ten could be trouble, imagine taking on up to thirty with a thinking mind behind their attack patterns. They don’t even have issues with food, as the ghoul lord drains his targets vitality through his tongue, while the ghouls feast upon the flesh.”

“And then comes the epitome of the ghoul evolution. The dreaded wight. Instead of bone armor, they have used necrotic magics to reinforce their skin. Their bones are denser than normal, making them even tougher than a ghoul lord’s plate. Their paralysis venom is even more advanced, and is one of the most feared substances in this world. It is powerful enough to immobilize an evolved being for several hours, and a full dose is enough to keep you paralyzed for a day. But that’s not the worst part. It has a narcotic quality, that leaves its victim wanting another dose. And here’s where the issue comes in. The wight feeds on experience. It starts out draining several levels from its target, leaving you in experience debt. It will leave you strong enough to endure several battles, and let you almost recover your debt before paralyzing and draining you again.”

“See, if they let you fully recover, you can’t go into experience debt again. But if they drain you again before you fully pay it off, they can keep draining you. Each time you recover, you regain slightly less experience. Once it gets to the point that it can’t farm you for experience anymore, it will drain you dry. Then it will give you to a ghoul lord, for the draining of your vitality and finally your dessicated husk will be fed to ghouls.”

Ancient Lore Quest 3 of 7 has been revealed

BEWARE!

Ancient lore quests are the most dangerous quests available. Hidden within Vitae are seven quests that have gone unfulfilled for centuries. Legendary adventurer teams and armies of empires long passed have challenged these, and all have failed. The rewards for completing one are beyond imagining.

Lothian has informed you of the Empire of the Fallen Sun. A city cursed by the gods into eternal undeath. How far will you dare? Will you plunder the edges, knowing you will survive? Do you have the resolve to test the outer city, in the hopes that you will escape with your lives? Or will you pierce to the very heart of the city in a desperate bid to figure out how to lift the curse and free a city of lost and trapped souls before yours joins them?

“Did you get the notification?” Lothian asked.

“We did.” Elendria said after looking at me for confirmation.

“Then it is out of my hands. It is the best place to earn levels as an evolved species, but it also harbors the greatest dangers in this area. And two things I forgot to mention about the wights. They have access to magic, and lack the traditional weaknesses to flame and holy spells. Be aware of that, and best of luck. You will need Grade 5 anti paralysis potions to deal with a wight’s touch, and grade 3 for the ghouls.” Despite Elendria and I both having questions, he simply shooed us out of his store. He looked a little gray, could it be that simply recalling that tale took it out of him? With nothing else to do, we headed out to spend some coin on obtaining a stock of potions, though it wouldn’t do us any good if both of us got paralyzed. Elendria also insisted on a few purchases as gifts for the otters and wolves, which I had no problem with.

“Sean?” Elendria asked, pulling me close after we had our potions.

“Yeah?”

“Are we really going to try this?”

“I think so, but we will stick to the outer areas. No sense in risking our lives on this, we only need to get stronger. We already have enough on our plate with Apophis, we don’t need to add freeing an ancient city.”

“Oh, good.” She sighed in relief. “By the way, I think we should go ahead and leave the demon twins behind. Let’s check out, so they know we left. If we go on this quest, they will be in the most danger. D’Vaen only has physical melee attacks, the gouls will tear him to shreds.”

“I agree. Let’s go ahead and check out, then we can renew your contracts and start our journey to the undead city.” Dropping the keys off went swiftly, and we headed out to the practice area I had cleared to practice in.