Sky Realms Online- Grayhold

by Troy Osgood

  “Want it?” Hall asked.

  “No, keep that foul thing away from me,” she said, stepping back from it.

  With a shrug, Hall placed the object in his pouch. He had no idea what it was, or what it could be used for, but he’d gotten a skill gain from it so there was some use for it. Just no time to find out now.

  “What do we do?” Roxhard asked.

  He was looking through the trees at the shadows farther back, the other Shamblers. There were a lot of them.

  Hall stood up, spear in hand, watching the Shamblers movement. There was a pattern to their movements he realized, not just random wanderings. They weren’t on patrol, there were too many gaps that he could see.

  “We can slip by them,” he said with confidence.

  “I thought we were worried about them attacking us when we got to the Custodian,” Sabine asked.

  “We are,” Hall replied and shrugged. He had no other ideas or options. “We go forward and deal with the Shamblers if it comes to that, or we go back.” He turned around and looked at the party.

  “Forward,” Leigh said, holding her cudgel. Angus shook his head and mooed, stomping his hooves to get some loose Shambler vines off.

  “I follow you, boss,” Roxhard said.

  Sabine shrugged. “What the hell, why not?”

  “Good,” Hall said and smiled. “Forward it is. I really want to meet my new neighbor.”

  The Corrupted Moss Shamblers were a shell of their former shelves. They behaved nothing like the ones that Leigh had described. Those had some free will, the ability to think. These were basically automatons. They moved in their pattern unless provoked or something came into their attack radius.

  Hall tested the theory out on the first one they came across once they started moving again. He tossed a rock, a slimy moss-covered thing, at the Shambler. The projectile got within five feet, and the Shambler moved quickly, batting at the rock. Once the threat was eliminated, the Shambler started moving again.

  He didn’t want to push the radius, so he kept ten or more feet between them and a Shambler at any time, making sure they were always moving behind the creatures. He kept them bunched up, dangerous to be sure, but it kept their profile small and easier to move through the rings of Shamblers.

  And that’s how the creatures were organized, a loose ring through the forest. Layer after layer. Someone’s idea of a defensive position. But someone that really didn’t know what they were doing.

  Hall also liked how far apart the rings of Shamblers were placed. Twenty feet or more between them, and the last ring was thirty feet from the inside edge of the trees.

  The forest ended in a small clearing backed up against the cliff. Purple-colored grass with a few rocks covered in moss spread out from the trees to the sheer face of the mountain. A small opening was set into the face of stone, dark inside. The clearing was empty.

  They stopped just inside the last tree cover, Roxhard watching the Shamblers barely visible behind them. Hall studied the cave and the clearing, looking for signs of anything. The Custodian had to be inside the cave, and Hall had no interest in confronting anything in a possibly confined space. He would have loved to have been able to scout out the cave, but it was too dangerous to make the attempt.

  Instead he opted for the direct approach.

  “Charge on my signal,” he told Roxhard, directing the Dwarf and Sabine to stay hidden.

  With a nod to Leigh, the two of them stepped out of the tree cover, Pike and Angus staying behind.

  “Follow my lead,” Hall whispered to Leigh. “Hello,” he called out, loudly, his voice echoing off the cliff.

  They stood waiting for a minute or two. Nothing happening, and Hall was about to call out again when the shadows around the cave opening shifted. They watched as a figure stepped out of the cave.

  The clearing was in the shade, the afternoon sun blocked by the mountain and the Grove itself, which seemed to be in constant twilight, but the figure held a hand up to shade its eyes from the light. It seemed to shamble like the guardians in the forest, moving slowly and a little stiffly. The clearing was only twenty or thirty feet deep so they were able to get a good look as the figure moved away from the rock face.

  Tall, a frame that suggested an Elf and male. Standing well over six feet if he had stood upright, the man was dressed in a thick brown and unmarked robe with the hood pulled up. The hood framed his face, the features lost in shadow, and the edge of the hood was caught up on two antlers growing from the man’s head. Each was bone white, the right one ending in six points, the left was broken off a couple inches from where it grew out of his head. In his gray-skinned hand, he held a gnarled staff, the top end broken off and ending in jagged splinters.

  “Who are you?” he growled, his voice hoarse and rough. “Why did you come here?”

  Leigh gasped, shocked, and Hall glanced down quickly, hoping she was able to keep her composure. The man across from them didn’t look like much, stooped and broken, but Hall could feel the dark power radiating from him.

  Identify gave him no information. His level was too low or the Elf’s level was too high. Or a combination of both.

  Skill Gain!

  Identify Rank 1 +.1

  “We were sent from the Grove in Cumberland,” Hall said. “They had not heard from you and were worried.”

  “The fools,” the man grumbled and chuckled, a dry and raspy sound. “I am fine. Now, begone,” he said and made a shooing motion.

  He turned back toward the cave when Leigh spoke, drawing his attention. Hall cursed.

  “You’re Vertoyi,” she said, tone just shy of accusation. “The Custodian of this Grove.”

  The broken Druid turned back. He focused on Leigh, studying her, realizing what she was.

  “The Elders sent you to report on me,” he said, laughing. He said it arrogantly. “A little whelp like you?” He laughed harder, coughing but still laughing. “The bastards,” Vertoyi barked, angry now. His mood shifted back and forth, and Hall knew the man was insane. “This is how they honor me? Me?! They send a whelpling to spy on me? How dare they? Well, girl,” he growled, his arms waving at the Grove around them. “What do you say? What will you report to your masters? Will you tell them how beautiful my Grove is?”

  “Beautiful?” Leigh screamed, outraged. “You have defiled this sacred place. You have corrupted it and made the Branch diseased.”

  Vertoyi took a step back, shocked at her outburst. He had really expected her to approve of the Grove, Hall realized. The Custodian looked from Hall to Leigh, past them and into the trees. For a second, Hall saw recognition. The Druid was seeing the Grove for what it truly was, but then the fleeting look was gone. The eyes were angry, the Druid growling.

  “How dare you?” he screamed back at Leigh. “I have done nothing but care for this place. I have given it my all and made it beautiful and powerful. Just like I will to all the Groves in all the world. The Elders are fools, and I will make them see. Or they will die,” he finished simply, no longer as angry.

  Hall braced himself. This was it, he knew.

  “But you will die first,” Vertoyi stated and pointed at Leigh.

  “Now,” Hall yelled, pushing Leigh down and out of the way as a storm of splinters shot toward them.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  Hall knew there was only one way they were going to win this, and that was to hit the Custodian hard and fast and often.

  The plan lasted all of a couple seconds.

  Vertoyi’s Splinter Storm was twice as wide as Leighs, the shards twice as long. Hall barely got out of the way as he fell down opposite Leigh. He felt the wind of the splinter’s passing just inches from his skin. He knew the spikes that Vertoyi shot out would penetrate his leather armor with no issue.

  He heard Leigh grunt, hoping it was just from hitting the ground. She didn’t scream or cry out in pain, so he hoped she had not been struck by the splinters.

  There was the sound of booted feet on ground, sto
mping rapidly, and Hall felt the rush of Roxhard as the Dwarf barreled toward the Custodian.

  Hall turned on his side, starting to stand back up, watching the blur that was Roxhard charge toward the seemingly unprepared Custodian. Roxhard ran and ran and slammed full speed into a wall of earth that appeared out of nowhere. Vertoyi stood behind it, arm upraised, sneering. Roxhard hit with a loud crack and bounced backward where he slammed hard into the ground and lay unmoving.

  Hall cursed.

  “Roxhard,” he barked and pointed as Leigh started to get up from the ground.

  She didn’t appear hurt and headed toward the still unmoving Dwarf, crouching and keeping low. Hall saw the movement to his side, Sabine moving that direction. There were two of her, the Shadow Self spell already activated. She raised her hand and pointed, a dark streak of purple lightning shooting out toward the Custodian.

  With a lazy wave of his hand, his hood fallen back to reveal a face streaked with hatred, he moved the Earth Shield into the path of Sabine’s bolt. Her Hexbolt struck the shield, but instead of dissipating against it, the dark lightning wrapped around the mound of mud and grass. It streaked over the top, around both sides, and met on the opposite side before continuing and slamming into Vertoyi’s chest.

  The Custodian staggered back a step, the Earth Shield collapsing, as the streaks of lightning wrapped around his body. He grunted in pain but raised a hand and pointed at Sabine. He tried to speak but a spasm of pain wracked his body.

  “It won’t last long,” Sabine yelled. “His resistance is high.”

  Hall knew they were lucky the spell was affecting Vertoyi at all.

  He drew the javelin from over his shoulder, took aim, and let it fly. Vertoyi saw it coming, tried to raise a shield from the earth but only managed to get it three feet high. The dark purple bolts of lightning around his body flared and faded a bit, a few less bolts. The javelin slammed into the Custodian’s shoulder, pushing the man back.

  The Corrupted Druid’s Health bar barely dropped.

  “Keep the Hexbolt on him,” Hall ordered, moving away from Sabine to make it harder for Vertoyi to target them both.

  He ran through what he knew of ta Druid abilities, what spells the Custodian would have access to, wishing he knew the Elf’s Level. The Earth Shield meant Vertoyi was at least level six but most likely higher. A Custodian of a Grove would be high level.

  This was a Boss fight.

  And they didn’t have the advantage of a Wiki with strategies. He wasn’t even sure if they would respawn if they died. Would Leigh? She was an NPC. Would she follow the normal laws and respawn where she started? Would he have to travel all the way back to Cumberland to find her again?

  Would she even know who he was?

  Hall did not want to find out.

  They were not going to lose this fight. None of them were dying.

  Hall knew he was lying to himself.

  Vertoyi’s eyes were filled with hate and madness. Pure white in the gray face. Not the normal dusky gray of the Elves but a more muted and ashen colored, like all the life had been drained from him. His hair was pure white, not the earth tones Hall was used to. Whatever deal Vertoyi had made with the Feardagh it had changed him. The Custodian was no longer an Elf.

  Reaching over, struggling against the weakening streaks of lightning, Vertoyi pulled the javelin out of his shoulder. He glared at Hall, mouth moving as if talking but no sound coming out. Raising a hand, dozens of wood splinters shot out from the jagged end of his staff.

  Hall activated his Leap ability and jumped into the air over the splinters. He landed closer to Vertoyi and leaped again. Pointing the end of his spear down, his arc brought him down almost on top of the Druid. He stabbed downward, aiming for the shoulder, but a gust of wind slammed into him. Hall was sent spinning, losing his spear, and dropped to the ground hard.

  He struggled to get up, cursing himself for forgetting about the Gust of Wind ability that Druid’s had. That was their one advantage in this fight, he knew, and he kept forgetting to use it. Most boss fights were against creatures created specifically for that encounter. They had their own abilities and skills, but Vertoyi was a Druid. He was a specific class, which meant he had those abilities and skills.

  Hall just had to figure out how to use that knowledge before it was too late.

  He pushed himself up, body groaning in protest, watching as Angus and Pike joined the fight. Vertoyi swung his staff, shrugging off a Shadow Bolt from Sabine, and cast Splinter Storm again at Pike. The dragonhawk barely swerved out of the way, flying higher and looking for an opening. Angus charged and slammed into a hastily erected Earth Shield. The cow stopped abruptly, shaking his head to clear the stars.

  Vertoyi must have had some ring or item that sped up casting times, Hall realized. There was no way he could cast these many spells this quickly without some enchantment.

  The last of Sabine’s Hexbolt faded from the Druid, who laughed, long and wicked. Hall saw Sabine raise her hands to cast it again, the drawback of the ability being that it could not be stacked, but Vertoyi was quicker. Raising his hand, palm out, Vertoyi barked a single word, and a long bolt of lightning shot out. It slammed into Sabine, striking in the middle of the two images.

  She screamed. Her second image flickered and disappeared. Sabine herself fell to one knee, smoke rising from various burns over her body. She was gasping in pain, trying to catch her breath. Her Health was down to 25% from one strike.

  Hall stood just out of reach of Vertoyi, moving around to make targeting harder. He glanced over to see Leigh turning from Roxhard, her beautiful features angry. The Dwarf was up, shaking his head to clear it, and at three quarters Health. The impact into the Earth Shield and rolling along the ground had done some damage. Leigh was staying low still, trying to make her way toward Sabine. At her level, the best thing Leigh could bring to the fight was healing.

  Roxhard’s face was angry, set in stone. The Dwarf was mad. An embarrassed fourteen-year-old boy. Hall had to focus that rage before Roxhard did something stupid.

  He stabbed out with his spear. Vertoyi turned and casually waved his hand, a gust of wind blowing through the clearing. The spear was torn from Hall’s hands, flying and landing hard against the cliff. It had done no damage.

  But the distraction was enough.

  Roxhard slammed into the Custodian from the side. Not as fast or as hard as before but with enough impact to knock Vertoyi down to the ground. Standing above the Custodian, Roxhard swung his axe down. The blade was met with a thin Earth Shield. The Dwarf growled, yelling a war cry, and kept swinging.

  Hall leapt into the air, drawing his sword. He landed next to Vertoyi and swung. He struck a glancing blow along the Custodian’s already wounded shoulder. The Elf cried out in pain and roared in outrage. Roxhard hammered on the Earth Shield, part of it now blocking Hall’s attacks. They both kept swinging, keeping the Custodian occupied and unable to cast another spell. Each blow took off a small amount of Vertoyi’s health. They were wearing him down, a little at a time, but they could not let up. A slip and Vertoyi could blast them away.

  The Custodian tried to rise, his face a mask of anger, pushing against the unrelenting assault from Roxhard and Hall. A purple streak of lightning slammed into him, sending bolts cascading around his body. Vertoyi fell to the ground, his body spasming.

  Hall took his vision off Vertoyi, seeing Sabine standing up but leaning against Leigh. The Druid’s hands still glowed, still healing the Witch. Hall was starting to think they might have a chance. Vertoyi’s health was dropping. Slowly, but it was dropping.

  Something shifted in Vertoyi. He struggled up, pushing against them with his Earth Shield, making Hall and Roxhard step back. His body shook with spasms from the Hexbolt but he somehow managed to move against it. Veins pushed out on his skin, which was pulled tight against his skull. A spot of black grew in Vertoyi’s white eyes.

  “Enough,” he growled, spitting out the word between spasms of pain from t
he Hexbolt.

  He barked a single word and the ground shook.

  Small stones fell from the mountain, followed by larger ones. Hall fell back, trying to keep his balance. Roxhard was thrown back as Vertoyi surged forward with his Earth Shield. The Custodian kept his balance as his magical earthquake shook. Leigh stumbled, Sabine’s weight falling on her, and both went down in a heap. Angus mooed, legs spread wide as the cow fought to stay steady.

  “You fools,” Vertoyi shouted, somehow standing up.

  The ground still shook and Hall finally fell, landing hard and trying to avoid the rocks that were falling from the cliff. A good sized one slammed into his shoulder, his arm going numb. Roxhard rolled on the ground, unable to stand against the movement of the earth. Vertoyi pushed out his arms, the crackling bolts of Sabine’s Hexbolt breaking apart.

  “I am no mere Druid,” he yelled, turning from one to the other, full of contempt. “I am the greatest Druid. When I am done with you, I will prove it to the world.”

  Vertoyi raised his hand high, the broken topped staff in his right hand. He uttered three simple words, quick words, and the sky above them darkened. Hall tried to turn away, but could not. As the ground still shook around him, unable to stand, he watched the storm clouds gather. Dark gray clouds, lightning cracking around them, filled the sky. The bolts got stronger, faster, the cracks following quickly. He watched as a bright streak of light shot down toward them.

  The bolt slammed into the ground, an explosion of dirt and rock, the pieces falling down around them. The ground stopped shaking as bolts of lightning shot out from the impact zone. They streaked about the clearing, each striking one of the party members.

  Hall felt the impact. His body stiffened, jerked, and spasmed as the electricity coursed through every vein and bone. He felt the burning, his nerves shrieking. He tried to scream but no sound came out.