The Call of the Coven: A LitRPG novel (Shadow Kingdoms Book 2)

by J. F. Danskin

  “I am not a local,” I say after a pause, “but my mother was. She told me many stories about this area, and drew maps that I used to play with as a child. I know roughly where the mining road connects to, though I’m not sure I know how to get to it from here. Perhaps together with Garner’s skill as a guide…”

  “We can do it,” Garner finishes for me with a deep nod, clapping his hand across my shoulder.

  “Which way, then?” Coruff asks.

  I look around. From what I remember of maps of Shadow Kingdoms, Katresburg nestles into the foothills of the mountains, while the main centre of the Ironrock dwarves is more or less halfway between there and the coast.

  “I think it must be that way,” I say, pointing. “If we skirt the edge of the mountain lake and then make our way downhill, we can continue along the valley between there and the next peak. There may well be a river leading down from the lake, but we’ll just have to do our best to cross. Do you think, Garner?”

  “Makes sense,” he says, shading his eyes. “We’ll be well away from the main mountain pass, but still able to make progress in roughly the same direction, just a bit further south.”

  “And I think,” I add, “that if we go that way, we will eventually come to the dwarven road. In fact, we surely can’t miss it.”

  Increase in skill level: Investigation level 15 (Spirit +2)

  “Let’s hope there is somewhere we can stop on the way,” says Coruff, starting to move.

  As we follow our intended route towards the Dwarven road, the valley flattens out, though the mountains to both sides are still huge. There is indeed a river far below us. We walk in companionable silence for a while. I pass around the seed cakes that I bought in Nimroth; Lugg still has one too, and we divide them between us. The cakes are chewy and a little dry but they are good all the same; the fruit, however, is flavorless.

  As we go, I am reminded of the time that the four of us spent walking in the Badlands on our previous quest. The surroundings were different, but the circumstances less so; we were likewise trying to evade mercenaries and help the coven. In spite of what we have just been through and what may lie ahead, it is times like this that made me wanted to come back into the game, when everyone I know in the real world was telling me not to. Working together with these people makes me happy and fulfilled.

  It doesn’t feel like a simulation.

  The sun is beginning to dip towards the horizon by the time we strike the dwarven road. There are no signs of any other travelers on the route. Ahead, I can make out what looks like a small village off to one side. I vaguely remember hearing of some mountain communities inhabited by human farmers that the dwarves often trade with.

  “Look there,” I say to the others, pointing ahead. “Perhaps there is somewhere that we can stay overnight?”

  I’m feeling genuinely tired. Clearly, I will soon need to rest in the real world, as well as in game. Even though I haven’t seen any penalties appear yet to my stats, I must be, as Connor Champion put it, in a form of hibernation.

  “We can at least ask,” says Coruff. “But no mention of magic, please.”

  “Yes,” agrees Garner. “Perhaps they have a barn, or something like that, away from the houses. I don’t want to attract too much attention.”

  I nod, and we keep moving.

  As we approach, I see that there is indeed a small community rather than an individual farm; we pass a row of cottages – weavers or crafters, perhaps? There is no time to stop to find out which. A couple of small tracks lead off to the left, winding uphill, and I can see pastures. Further on, I can make out some sheer cliffs and what look like caves.

  Immediately ahead is a larger group of buildings surrounded by a sturdy picket fence. And as we make our way a little closer, I can see that it is some kind of vegetable farm, with several small plots. The fence runs all the way around; there is a farm house in the distance, but nobody in sight.

  It is clear to see that the place is quite well maintained. We are closest to what appears to be a large barn, wooden and as high as a townhouse. Beyond it are two other buildings; the farmhouse, long and low, and one other building that I think may have somebody working on it. But no; there is a ladder and a bucket, but no farmer workers that I can see.

  I look again at the nearby barn, a large rectangular building, half wondering whether we could bed down there without even needing to ask for permission.

  And that is when I hear a scream.

  We all stop for a second to look at each other.

  “Lugg heard a scream,” says my companion, echoing my own thoughts.

  “Yes, Lugg. I heard it too, my friend,” I say, looking around for signs of movement. “Somebody is in trouble, and we need to find out what’s happening. Can someone alert the farmers?”

  “I’ll go to the farmhouse,” says Garner starting to hurry forward again. “Is anyone coming with me?” He looks at Coruff as he speaks.

  “I think the scream came from the barn,” she says, her catlike ears twitching.

  “Ok, you go to the house,” I say, responding to Garner, “whoever lives there may need to be protected. We’ll go to the barn and see what’s happening. Perhaps our skills will be of some use.”

  We all vault the fence, and three of us – myself, Coruff and Lugg – hurry towards the barn while Garner makes his way towards the farm house alone, readying an arrow as he goes.

  When I get there, I immediately see that the entrance of the wooden building is on the opposite side. Of course, it makes sense for its entrance to be facing towards the farmhouse. The three of us start to move around its exterior, skirting the fence once again. And then, on the far side of the barn, I see something is surely not meant to be there: an enormous and ragged gap in the wood. The structure has been smashed open on one side.

  I approach the damaged area with Lugg at my shoulder and Coruff hanging back, and as I do so I hear another scream. I am urgently trying to figure out whether something has smashed the wall in – a mountain creature of some kind – or whether something has got out that wasn’t meant to.

  If it’s the latter, I can only begin to imagine what they farm here.

  I turn and take a step into the building through the gap, and I am immediately met by a wave of heat. Straw bales are burning, and the source of the fire is obvious – a monstrous griffon is straight ahead. It has its back to us fortunately, but I can see its lion-like body together with the oversized eagle head, talons and wings.

  Of course. In Shadow Kingdoms, griffons breathe fire.

  * * *

  The creature is stalking towards a farm girl of perhaps twelve or thirteen years of age, standing at the far end of the barn. She is at the foot of a ladder, no doubt aiming to climb away to the dubious safety of the loft area. But as we look on, the griffon crouches and unleashes a belch of fire towards her. The girl ducks down and rolls away, but the ladder is engulfed in flame. Nobody is going to be climbing that any time soon.

  The griffon then flaps its wings once and steps forward again; I can see that one disadvantage it has is that it cannot fully use its power of flight within the building.

  I need to distract it, for it will be upon the girl in just a moment or two. Raising my bow, I fire an arrow; it hits home between the creature’s wings, and then a follow-up shot takes it in the leg.

  “Distract it!” I yell, pulling a third arrow from my quiver.

  Coruff has flung a glowing ball of light that lands on the creature’s feathered wing and starts to smoulder with an ominous dark green light. Lugg, meanwhile, has run right towards the beast’s flank. Is he crazy? He reaches it just as it turns and begins to focus on us; I am expecting him to unsheathe his daggers and sink them in, but instead he loosens his cloak and wraps it around the creature’s head. The beast shrieks and starts clawing at its own face to get the obstruction clear. As it does so, Lugg continues his run, arriving just where the farm girl has again risen to her feet. He reaches out towards her, and she scream
s again.

  “He’s here to rescue you!” I call out, moving into the middle of the barn.

  God, it’s hot!

  The bales of hay are giving off a fast, fierce yellow flame, and the wood above us has started to catch. I wonder if perhaps Coruff has any magic that might help, but control of water is not, to my knowledge, the province of witches.

  The beast is still thrashing around, and Coruff lands another glowing ball on its body, which similarly burns into the creature with a dark glow. Lugg has now taken the farm girl by the upper arm, but she is resisting, trying to pull away from him. I could take a blow on the creature while it’s blinded by the cloak, but on the other hand, perhaps I am needed more to calm the girl? It’s one or the other, and there’s only a moment to decide.

  I pull out my morning star. Yelling again at the girl to ‘go with the orc,’ I unleash a powerful blow that hits the beast across its head – and I know I struck it exceptionally well, not least because I have seen a very welcome attribute increase, and one that will help with my hand-to-hand combat skills, too, particularly with the extra +1 that I get from the magical belt:

  Increase in attribute level: Strength level 17 (+1) [temporary level: 18]

  But now the beast has pulled Lugg’s cloak aside; the garment falls to one side where it is engulfed in one of the several raging fires. The griffon is clearly wounded, I can see purple blood running down the back of its head and neck. But as it focuses on me with its bright fierce eyes, I know that it is very much alive, and that I am its primary target.

  I turn and run. Still gripping my morning star in both hands, I make for the main door of the barn rather than the broken wall where we came in, ducking low as I go. And it is following me, I’m sure. I sense a blow go just past my head – its slashing beak, I think – and I spin, now backing away from the monster. It is looming right above me, but I know exactly where the door is, and the beast must be too large to go out that way. Surely.

  But as I step backwards again, holding my weapon up for some modicum of defense against it, I feel an explosion of pain in one side as one of its lion paws thumps into me, its claws piercing my leather jerkin and sending me stumbling to one side.

  - 13 hit points (11 remain)

  I roll away from it, using the momentum of its mighty blow to take me out of the path of a follow-up stabbing motion by its beak. Behind it, Lugg has somehow persuaded the farm girl to move towards the broken wall, and they are exiting that way. Coruff still stands there too, firing off more missiles at the beast, about a third of which are hitting home, mainly landing on its back or hindquarters.

  The only advantage I have now is my smaller size, and agility has never been my best stat. Nevertheless, it occurs to me that most foes probably make the mistake of moving away from it, making themselves easy targets for a slashing blow.

  I am going to run towards it.

  Getting to my feet, I round a blazing bale of hay and make straight for its side, below one of its wings. It tries to turn, but I am already rounding its hindquarters. My dagger is in my hand now, and I stab it full-force into the griffon’s flank. I hear a screech, and keep moving.

  Increase in weapon skill level: Knife level 19 (Dexterity +2)

  It is turning, and as it does so it is moving away from the main barn door. And now having circled right around the beast, that is where I am aiming for once again. I fling myself forward through the half-open door and am once again rolling on the ground, scrambling to my feet and ready to face the foe once again. As I do so, an arrow whistles past my shoulder – Garner is here, with three other figures, presumably farm workers, just behind him. His arrow hits home, and there is another shriek from the griffon.

  Inside, it takes a step back, and pushes itself towards the farm door, and is then hit by another arrow and pulls back. I ready my morning star for another swing, and then see that the monstrous creature has turned – no! it is going for the broken area of wall where Coruff is standing, and where Lugg took the girl.

  But now I see that this area of wall is now blocked by a familiar pattern of energy – the lattice framework that Coruff has used to good effect before when blocking attackers. The griffon slashes at the energy field with its sword-like beak, but to no effect. Then it lets loose another blast of flame, and I hear Coruff yell in pain.

  Garner and I look at each other. “Coruff! We are coming,” I shout, and sprint around the corner of the now-blazing building and towards my friends.

  The griffon has indeed gotten free from the building now. Whether its fire-breath broke Coruff’s spell or whether it somehow hurt her and broke her concentration, I can’t tell.

  Either way, both the witch and the farm girl are huddled on the ground some distance beyond the barn, and Lugg is facing the beast alone, crouching down holding his two curved daggers and looking very small as it advances on him.

  * * *

  “No!” I yell, gritting my teeth as I charge at the griffon. There is no way I am allowing it to attack Lugg without a struggle. Its fire breath could easily be enough to kill him.

  My yell has been enough to distract the beast, and it half turns, caught in two minds, perhaps. I keep running, my morning star now whirling around my head as I do so. I am building up some momentum – but could also be charging to my doom. I feel weak and slightly dizzy, like the blood has drained from my head, and my vision narrows as I close in.

  Just then, I see Coruff move. The felaxian witch still has a bit of power left, it seems, for she fires another of her energy blasts. But it goes awry, passing the griffon’s head and coming… straight towards me.

  There’s nothing else for it but to keep going, the last few yards towards the creature. And with a heave, I bring the morning star down upon its back with a crunch. And that is when I realize… Coruff didn’t miss. She cast the energy charm on the spiked ball of my morning star.

  The griffon felt my blow, that’s for sure. It rears up on its hind legs and then takes off into the sky, and for a moment I think I have done enough. Garner has loosed two more arrows into its side, and as Lugg comes closer, I whirl the morning star around my head one more time, as if to threaten it.

  And then it dives, straight for me.

  My morning star is ready, and I manage to smash it directly into the beast’s head, using its own momentum against it as once I did with the lieutenant of the Knights of Dawn. Could it have been the killing blow? One thing is for sure – it comes crashing to the ground.

  Right on top of me.

  Everything goes black for a moment, and then I am just aware of a huge suffocating pain in every part of my body. I can’t scream or even groan. And I see a notification as follows:

  - 7 hit points (4 remain)

  The creature must be close to death, but its leg is still flailing, scratching at the ground, inches from me. A minor wound pierces my leg, and I see a further damage report:

  - 3 hit points (1 remains)

  I do believe we have defeated it, but if that flailing claw hits me one more time, I’m done for – I have only a single hit point left.

  I hear another arrow strike home, and realize that my friends are doing what they can to help. Lugg shouts his own name at the top of his voice, and then he is there, right above my head and shoulders, ready to put his own body in the way of the flailing claw.

  It scratches out one more time, raking at Lugg’s back, and he thrusts his dagger into the sinew of its shoulder, stopping the reflexive attacks.

  And just like that it’s over, and the griffon moves no more.

  Chapter 30: Interlude

  I must have been a sorry sight by the time my companions, with the help of the farmers and their family, pulled the dead griffon away from on top of me.

  Together Lugg and the farmer help me to the farmhouse, but it is the young girl – Shamila, her name is – who tends to me, for the others are all doing their best to douse the flames inside the barn. Using the supplies from my own med kit she dresses my wounds ver
y competently; over the course of the next hour, I see my health rise twice, in part due to natural rest and healing, I guess, and also due to the medical aid.

  + 2 hit points (3 remain) + 2 hit points (5 remain)

  I decide to leave the med kit with her, as it doesn’t look like they have any such supplies here. Hopefully, I can replace it in the city. I also change into my clean set of clothes.

  Despite my bruised state, mentally I feel fine, no more in need of rest than usual. Unlike in the real world, the need to heal doesn’t lead to fatigue. So I feel able to chat with the family and get some information as I rest up.

  The barn, I soon learn, is badly damaged but has been saved from complete destruction, thanks in no small part to an enchantment from Coruff which diverted water from a nearby stream to the foot of the building itself, allowing the local family and their workers to easily throw buckets of water on the building to defeat the flames before the structure could be consumed entirely by the inferno.

  And so, with the barn saved, my companions arrive in the farm house around an hour later, looking sooty but otherwise well.

  There is to be no bed in the barn this night, of course. The chicken house would have made for an unpleasant-smelling alternative, and I am contemplating bedding down at the back of the farm house in my bedroll. But with the firefighting complete, the returning family is far too grateful for our intervention with the griffon.

  “I am Giles Ginbog,” says the man who I take to be one of the farm owners. “And we owe you a great debt – not just for the building, but the survival of our dear daughter.”