by A Uscila
Either way – things did not seem to be going their way. Minion number one was already stirring – with a broken piece of metal as a sword already in hand. Bob didn't fall behind – his chillingly beautiful weapon readied, lips twisted into an overly-confident smirk.
“Hey. Give me back my bow and dagger. I’ll help” – The ranger suddenly said after turning to Wail - the glare now all gone. Only a serious look of determination present. Guess that was her war-face.
Wail raised an eyebrow to that.
"Ha! You wish! By the looks of it, you don’t really have a choice in the matter either way! Plus it will take more than favorable circumstances to get free stuff out of me..." - He replied pompously, only to notice a dagger pass right under his nose - barely missing its' mark.
After that he quickly rummaged through his satchel and took out a lovely wooden longbow – beautifully engraved and elegantly bent.
“Here. We’ll talk about the dagger once this is done and over with” – He said grumpily - handing over the bow with visible hesitation and torment.
“Fine” - A barely visible smirk - as she gladly grabbed the offered item - “I’m Willow by the way”- She added, after equipping the bow and readying an arrow. Seems like she was quite satisfied with this victory of hers. Though Wail still had his doubts. Trust was overrated.
“Original” - a sarcastic remark was quickly shot back, as Wail raised his eyebrow - “Wail. That macho guy over there is Bob”- He added while pointing towards the bandit companion.
Moments later, a frown returned to the magician’s features. By now Wail seemed to regret his hasty actions - due to a momentary laps’ of weakness. If it wasn’t for that out-of-nowhere dagger - he’d have gotten a better deal. Still - not enough time to feel sorry - as the overwhelming pressure from the current predicament forcefully held his attention.
An unexpected relief and a solution suddenly presented itself though - in the form of a waitress. She came back with a few bottles of alcohol. Seemingly - she was either not too bright or just too straight-laced.
“Ah, great timing!” – Bob commented with an unusually cheerful manner. Yet before he could reach out, Wail intervened – “Give me that” – Which made his companion lift an eyebrow. People were lifting eyebrows all over the place today.
“You said you don’t drink”- Bob commented with surprise - and with visible dissatisfaction, as he stared at Wail, who as usual to his greedy nature - took all of the bottles. At least he could have left one for good ‘ol Bob.
“I don’t. But they do” – Wail replied without batting an eye. Not only did he act in an insensitive manner towards his colleague - he did something much worse. Like rubbing salt on an open wound - Wail suddenly threw every single bottle at a nearby table – surrounded by a pack of angry looking hooded figures. Seems like they were glaring at Wail for a while now. Mumbling something incomprehensible under their noses. Speaking in tongues, no doubt. How surprised were they when numerous bottles flew at their table – shattering on contact. Alcohol spilled everywhere – which in itself wasn’t anything unusual. This establishment has seen its’ share of broken glass.
It has only seen two fires in its’ lifetime though. It was about to see the third, as Wail threw a fireball at the same place in a blink of an eye.
Fire erupted – consuming not only the table, but the hooded figures as well. Those poor robed fellas quickly stood up and started panicking all over the place. Flailing their arms about, spreading high-pitches, yet quite musical tones everywhere. All hell broke loose soon after.
Bob flipped over their table - just in time as numerous arrows and throwable weapons lodged themselves into it.
Willow was already busy counter-snipping their rangers – while Bob and minion number one charged at the closest incoming melee fighters.
It was pure chaos. Fire quickly spread over the alcohol soaked wood – which was what the tavern was made off. Normally - Wail would be worried about an imminent fire problem - but it was raining outside. So the settlement should be alright. Though he only cared because he didn’t want the whole settlement to be after his head.
Luckily - some of the less aggressive and lethally armed participants were already running outside, while some were trying to put out the fires. Most though - were charging at the ones responsible for it. Within quick succession – Wail threw another fireball at a nearby table and engaged Soul Link with Bob.
Without any hesitation - like a finely tuned machine – he started casting Soul Syphon. Plenty of customers were lined up right in front after all - and Wail was not about to keep them waiting.
You have received 142 shared physical damage.
You have received 54 shared physical damage.
You have received 133 shared physical damage.
Bob was already deep in action – fighting against five enemies at the same time. While minion number one gnawed at another. Singlehandedly freaking him the hell out with disheartening looks and unconditional, beast-like fighting style.
As Bob struggled against unfavorable odds - he suddenly pulled back his sword as far as his body could possibly twist. Of course - during that time he received a few hits - which almost called for another signature movement from Wail. Yet, soon enough - black flames engulfed the weapon’s edge - as Bob swung it at the tenacious foes. Two of them fell instantly, the next duet received fatal wounds and the final one got an unexpected present stuck at his side.
Those black flames slowly engulfed those that were struck - consuming them at a stunning speed. Quite a sight. Bob seemed to be just as surprised as Wail.
You have received 225 physical damage.
While he was distracted by the sudden spectacle - a projectile managed to reach Wail – lodging itself into his side. Not a pleasant surprise to be sure. Yet not much could be done about it - and Wail was not planning on stopping midway.
A fraction of a second later - black dust materialized and settled on the bodies of every single person in front – excluding Bob and minion number one. Wail still couldn’t figure out if the spell spared friendlies or was he just that good at aiming. Either way – a nice flow of health started to resupply Wail and Bob – which would prove as a much-needed helping hand.
You have gained a level.
-200 Reputation with the Church of Pedro. (Doubled due to the effect of - Heretic)
-40 shared Reputation.
Great. Seems like Wail managed to involve some priests into the conflict. Not his fault of course - what were they doing in an establishment like this to begin with? Good thing they gave him a nice big chunk of experience. Nothing to complain about. Moving on.
During that short exchange of activities - Willow’s accurate archery skills were already proving quite useful – as most enemy rangers were either disabled or at least distracted. Some simply had their clothes or limbs pinned to the nearest wall.
Meanwhile - Bob managed to slice up another victim quite nicely – though five more joined the attack against him. One of which just caught on fire – as Wail decided to support his friend.
“Stop! You’ll ruin me!” – A loud croaking voice of the tavern owner echoed throughout the hall - a request to deaf ears that was.
“Don’t worry dear, we have insurance”- A female voice replied back from the same direction soon enough. Seems like his wife intervened – dragging him away into the adjacent room.
Either way – things were looking bad, but under control in a sense. Their party of four were holding their ground quite well - even without the help of a bunch of summoned minions. That is - until another force busted into the tavern. A large group of angry looking locals – pitchforks, torches and various every day tools in hand. A genuine angry mob.
“There he is! Get the troublemaker before he brings doom upon our homes!”- The leading local shouted – pointing his bony, overworked finger at none other than Wail.
“What the fuck…”- He could only say in reply, completely flabbergasted by the turn
of events.
“Don’t you have a little too many enemies?”- Willow could only add sarcastically – taking out a bunch of arrows from a paunch that hung from her waist. A comical sight, considering the arrows were bigger than the paunch. She placed them in her quiver and quickly enough - resumed her barrage of projectiles. Surprisingly - Willow managed to throw a few glares at Wail even in that kind of a situation. Talk about multitasking.
After that short introduction – the angry locals charged in, stomping over the wounded and knocking down those that got in the way. With a sudden attack from the rear – numerous tavern-folk and such turned to face this new menace - engaging the poorly armed plebs. Which seemed to be quite effective for a time. Yet with a clear numeric advantage – the locals simply overwhelmed them one by one. Ganging up on a single woodcutter with ten gaunt farmers. Domestic violence.
Seeing the approaching mob, Wail quickly assumed the appropriate position and started casting his reanimation spell. Eventually – though not soon enough – blood dripped from his hand and swirling shadows materialized from his position, only to engulf the nearest dead. Ten bodies soon rose up all around – engaging any who stood close enough. After which quite the pleasant message caught Wail’s attention.
A spell has reached Intermediate level!
Vengeful Reanimation - Intermediate level 1 (0.17%)
Calls upon the souls of the tormented - possessing the nearby deceased, to bring about vengeance upon the world.
Maximum number of minions - 20
Minion strength - 65%
Minion health - 145%
Cost - 300 health.
Soul Cost - 1 soul per minion.
Mana cost per minion - 2 mana/sec.
Casting speed - 1.6 seconds.
*Summoned creatures are extremely aggressive and will attack foes on sight. Hard to control.
*Reanimation will last until mana supply is disturbed or the minions are destroyed.
*Minion strength depends on the bodies used.
*Minion strength increased by 15% due to wisdom.
*Cost reduced by 18.5% duo to Intellect.
*Casting time reduced by 18.5% due to intellect.
Finally – it seems his continuous use of the Vengeful Reanimation raised its’ level. Now he’ll be able to summon twice as many minions at a lower cost. Their strength rose quite a bit as well. Nothing but good news, to be sure.
Once that was done and their forces replenished – Wail threw in another cloud of black dust on the newly arrived.
You received 3 physical damage.
Though he received a boot to the head during the process. Seems like there were some rangers amongst the angry mob.
You have gained a level.
-50 shared Reputation.
Surprisingly – all this killing gave quite a bit of experience. As well as negative reputation. Even though neither Wail nor his colleagues managed to kill a lot. Making a habit of this wasn’t too far-fetched.
“I’m running out of arrows here” - Willow grumbled as she charged up a shot - which managed to not only shoot the loudmouth peasant through the eye - but also the one standing behind. Another occasion for Wail to stare with his mouth slightly open.
Still - he managed to regain his composure in time.
Wail began his reply with a glare - which he made sure to give for at least a solid second. Payback was sweet to be sure - “Nice try. But a dagger-wielding ranger won’t help much if things continue this way” - He then turned to Bob - who was struggling with his sword a bit. Seems like the blade got stuck between the ribs of a dying fellow - the one with an overly-large axe. For a moment - Bob seemed to be in trouble as another foe charged at him with a spear. Only seemed to be - since Wail stuffed his face full of fire. Just in case. He didn’t want any unforeseen circumstances clogging up his plans.
“Hey Bob! Knock down that wall, will ya?” - He then added - while pointing a thumb over his shoulder. An obvious plan to create a not-so-secret back-exit. Luckily - his colleague got the gist of it and after finally pulling the sword free - rushed off to work on it. What a dedicated fella.
Willow - slightly disappointed due to the failure of her scheme - decided to conserve ammo. Fighting angry locals bare-handed did not seem like a very effective approach. Especially when some of them looked quite dangerous - mouths dripping white foam, only their eye-whites visible. For some reason they seemed to be in a psychotic trance of pure rage. An interesting sigh to be sure. Especially for peasants armed with pitchforks and torches. Most likely those that survive this day will end up as fanatical forward troops in some religious military order.
By now – the ringing of bells could be heard outside – while the tide of battle shifted towards the peasantry. Their seemingly endless numbers kept on flooding inside like a sea. Most likely - the whole population decided to join in on the fun – since being a peasant was usually - quite boring. Good for them. Not so good for Wail – who seemed angry enough to set the settlement on fire willingly.
Fires raged inside the tavern in full bloom at this point - room becoming sparser and sparser with each passing moment. Not to mention all the smoke that covered the whole ceiling thickly - steadily encroaching from above as time went on. Breathing kept on becoming more difficult - surely any sane person would run out - not in. Which the peasantry did not do. Time to get out of this death trap.
He turned to look at how Bob was doing - only to notice his tremendous progress - a moderate hole already present. Enough to fit a large loot bag. Or a person. Depended on one’s priorities.
“Good enough Bob! Let’s get out of here, grab the loot!” - Wail then shouted, grabbing the nearest bag. Surprisingly - minion number one was slightly ahead with that - already in the process of creep-handling a bag.
While the three wrestled their own bags - Willow agilely slipped through the hole outside. Which didn’t upset Wail too much. He didn’t expect to get his bow back either way. Notice how he considered the bow his property already. He probably licked it as a ritual of possession as well.
As the faltering lines of the reanimated held off the peasantry - one by one the group got out - into the open sky, fresh air and…it stopped raining.
Wail took a moment to sigh at the very thought of what was going to happen next. A fire. In a tightly clustered settlement of wooden buildings. Another sigh - and then his lips twisted into a crooked smile. Eyes gave off a satisfied, yet angry glitter.
“Serve’s them right” - Wail mumbled to himself.
Chapter 21
Wail and co slowly traversed the bustling streets - their shadows playfully dancing upon the pavement as fires burned all around. Barely anyone took notice of them - and even if they did, it was mainly because they found Willow too fine not to glance at. Light from the fires engulfed her in an aura of orange that seemed to add an eye-catching luster to her skin, to her raven black hair that danced around as she moved in a light jog. Wail could only roll his eyes. Like Willow bloody needed to enhance her looks any more considering how she looked outside Alternative Reality.
Other than that - every single inhabitant was busy running around in a panic-stricken frenzy. Be it to get out of the town, find some relative or friend, put out the fires or simply run around in circles shouting incomprehensible words just for the fun of it. Some of them seemed to be on fire. Did nobody teach them of the “stop, drop and roll” rule?
Either way, no one seemed to realize these four were the ones responsible for all this chaos and disorder. Or so it seemed.
As Wail led the group - shooting out suspicious glances to every side - his sight caught on a peculiar individual. A child to be precise. At an approximate age of twelve, the kid seemed to be looking at the four. Looking and drawing onto a piece of paper.
This caught the attention of the paranoid magician - as he slowly approached the oblivious kid like a depressing version of Santa - a heavy bag slung over the shoulder.
"What are you doing there, littl
e fella?" - Wail asked the child from above, an obviously deceitful tone slipping into his voice.
"Drawing the four of you" - The child replied soon enough, after finishing up on a few lines and glancing at the sudden interruption with a slightly pouty look. What an honest lad.
Usually one would smile, chuckle or react in any other positive manner towards the heartwarming sight. Yet again - Wail managed to establish how unusual he was. All the politeness quickly disappeared, a smile turned into a frown - which suited him much better one might add. Wail now glared with clear suspicion at the little fella - „And why are you doing that?"
"Because the authorities will be looking for you sooner or later. They'll want a picture - so I'm making one. I'm sure they'll buy it. I'll finally be able to get me some new shoes" - The kid replied innocently - while wiggling his toes. One could tell since they were clearly visible through the holes in his worn-out boots.
Wail could not help but admire the child’s head for business. He had half a mind to adopt the fella and teach him all about the ins and outs of proper money making. Because the broke magician would totally know a thing or two about that. Maybe what not to do if you don’t want to be broke, at best. Yet circumstances forced him to react quite differently - as he slowly lifted-up his right hand and conjured a fireball. Things did not seem to be going towards a pleasant end - until Willow decided to intervene. She quickly grabbed Wail by the hand in a stopping motion. Threatening to make Wail lose balance and drop that bag full of valuables he so adored. Truly, irresponsible.