by Jez Cajiao
Sporeling
This creature is the larval stage of the SporeMother. While it does not have the ability to create possessed slaves at this stage, its claws, poisonous bite, and innate cunning have still been the end of many travelers.
Level: 2
HP: 80
Mana: 0
I dismissed the page and focused on the Sporelings as they raced toward me. My minion stood stoically between us, waiting. I grinned as I summoned a firebolt, firing it at the nearest one. The impact caused several eyes on one side of its head to flash boil in their own juices, blinding the majority of the rest as the flames spread across its face. It collapsed and rolled to a halt practically at my minions’ feet as its system went into shock. The skeleton lashed out with its claws, tearing deep into its former sibling’s throat and sending a wash of ichor across the floor as the creature spasmed in death.
Behind it, the others closed the distance rapidly. I counted nine more converging from all sides of the room, and I immediately started firing again, launching a firebolt at one as it led two others across the floor. I hit it in the right foreleg, causing it to stumble, which tripped the others and took them all to the floor in a pile of limbs and snapping teeth. Turning back to my minion, I saw it lash out, concentrating on the nearest target. As it turned to face the Sporeling, another leapt onto its back, using its back to push off and jump at me. I took a step back, raising my naginata and bracing it with one foot. The Sporeling tried to adjust its aim when it noticed a huge blade waiting, but failed, managing only to spit itself nicely for me. A screen began to appear but dissipated as I shook my head.
I threw the corpse aside, my blade wedged deep inside its chest, and fired another firebolt. The blast hit the creature my minion was battling, and snapped its leg out from under it. As it collapsed with a scream, the skeleton’s teeth ripped its throat out. My minion turned to reclaim its spot in front of the door. Before it could move, another two Sporelings blindsided it, taking it to the ground in a heap of breaking bones, screeches, and flashing claws. I had a second to register teeth flying at me as another Sporeling raced for the doorway, and I jumped back to give myself room.
I whipped out my right sword, casting a firebolt with my left hand and lashing the blade across its face, aiming for the eyes. It ducked, my sword passing harmlessly over its head, then bit down, sinking its teeth into my right leg and diggings its claws in hard. I screamed in pain as I was taken down by the impact, and frantically tried to get the sword around to stab it. My half-formed firebolt dissipated in a wash of mana as I lost control of the spell form. I felt a second wave of agony as the mana backlash ripped into my mind, leaving me further dazed and weakened.
You have been poisoned. You will lose five points of health per second for the next ten seconds.
I screamed again, this time in rage, and the screen disappeared. I drove the sword down into the Sporeling’s back, but the blade glanced off bone. With no other options, I punched it in the side of the head with my left hand, making it rock slightly and dig its teeth in deeper.
I saw my health bar suddenly flash red, then green, then red again. It was down to half its capacity and a red drop of blood hovered above it, which dripped down and disappearing into the ether.
You are bleeding. You will lose five points of health per second until this injury is dealt with.
“Fuck!” I screamed, dismissing the prompt and discarding the sword. It was useless in these close quarters, and my dagger was underneath the damn Sporeling. I was on my back now, with its jaws wrapped around my right leg, claws digging in and teeth tearing deeper into the muscle by the second. Every bite injected me with more poison even as it ate me alive.
“Not fucking today!” I screamed at it, both hands gesturing wildly as I forced my mana down my arms and into my hands. I grabbed onto its skull, channeling the firebolt spell as hard as I could with both hands, forcing more and more mana into it. Instead of the spark of flames I’d conjured before, a burst of light erupted between my hands, growing into existence right in the middle of the Sporeling’s head. Glowing light shone out from around its teeth and deep under its skin.
I felt the heat rising as its jaws released reflexively, its brain consumed by the spellform building as I poured mana into it. I was finally free of the bite, and the claws had released as well, but I suddenly had an unstable firebolt growing to massive proportions inside a skull that was rapidly becoming too hot to handle. Another Sporeling started to enter the storeroom as the pile of creatures above my minion began to unravel and head for me as well.
I threw the skull at them, its neck having given way from the effects of the spell, and as it flew over the creature’s head into the other room, I begged the doorway to seal itself.
The crystal poured from the doorway, its misty form lasting less than a second before it began to form matrices that grew stronger, spreading across the intervening space. It was nearly complete when an explosion of flame and debris tore the crystal apart with a solid ‘Whump’ that I felt in my bones.
The force of the detonation sent me skidding across the floor as flames billowed into the room. Small bits of bone, teeth, and flesh flew around the room and pinged off the walls. As the crystal wavered, light seemed to flow back and forth inside the misty doorway. I heard screaming from the far side, bubbling cries that were cut off as the crystal finally solidified.
I let my head fall back to the stone floor as I let out a long breath before focusing on my health bar. The indicator continued flashing red and green and was down to a quarter of its capacity. I quickly cast ‘Minor Healing’, breathing a sigh of relief as my health bar begin to tick upwards again slowly, but between the bleed effect and the poison, it wouldn’t give me much time.
I pulled out the first aid kit, sitting up and frantically pouring water to clean the wounds, then wrapping bandages around them. After my basic medical aid I’d managed to slow the bleeding to a trickle, and the poison debuff had vanished, but I was down to eleven health out of one hundred thirty. I started casting healing again as soon as I had enough mana, and repeated the spell until I’d finally raised my health back to full. I unwrapped the bandages and examined my leg, hesitant to trust the magic at first, but as the skin repaired itself, I poked and prodded at it, amazed by the healing spell’s capabilities.
I got to my feet, gingerly putting my weight on my leg to make sure it was totally healed before grinning to myself. I could so get used to magic.
I staggered across the floor to the left side of the room, stumbling over broken bones and bits of Sporeling, until I reached the corpse draped over my naginata. I carefully retrieved it, letting out a relieved breath as I saw it was undamaged beyond a few scratches.
I’d seen the notifications tab flashing for ages now, but I’d had more immediate things to do, so I’d ignored it. I checked the doorway and made sure there were no immediate threats in the room, then focused on the notifications.
Congratulations! Your minion has killed a level 2 Sporeling. You have gained 10 Exp for your part in the battle.
Congratulations! You have killed a level 2 Sporeling. You have gained 25 Exp.
Congratulations! Your minion has killed a level 2 Sporeling. You have gained 10 Exp for your part in the battle.
Congratulations! You have killed a level 3 Sporeling. You have gained 40 Exp.
Congratulations! You have learned a new skill, Mana Infusion. Using this skill, you can infuse your targets with additional mana, or even overcharge spells! Be warned, however; too much mana can have explosive consequences!
Congratulations! You have killed a level 3 Sporeling. You have gained 40 Exp.
Congratulations! You have killed a level 3 Sporeling. You have gained 40 Exp.
Congratulations! You have killed a level 2 Sporeling. You have gained 25 Exp.
Congratulations! You have killed a level 2 Sporeling. You have gained 25 Exp.
Congratulations! Your minion has killed a level 4 Sporeling. You h
ave gained 25 Exp for your part in the battle.
Your Minion has been gravely wounded. You must heal or repair it to prevent its death before time runs out….7…6….5…4…3…2…1
Your Minion has died. All Exp it had earned has been lost.
“Wait, my minions earn Exp as well?” I muttered in surprise. While the skeleton was useful, if it could earn Exp, then it didn’t have to remain a weak creature. It could become a real powerhouse if I could level it as well…. The thought of leveling made me check my own progress out of curiosity, and a little hope as well. I had thirteen hundred and fifty-five out of twenty-seven hundred Exp. “Bloody typical,” I grunted, dismissing the screen with a thought. I didn’t think there were many Sporelings left on the far side of the door. From what I could remember, maybe only one remained, and it’d sounded injured. I waited for my mana to refill before summoning another skeleton minion to fight by my side. This time, though, aware that it could end up being with me for a while, I named it.
“Well, Bob,” I said to the skeleton as it clambered to its feet, taking up position by the door at my direction, “It’s time we went and cleared my new tower up. Get out there and kick some ass!” With a thought, the crystal disappeared from the doorway, and Bob scuttled forward, looking for something to dismember for me. I followed cautiously, scanning the devastation before us. Bodies were scattered everywhere, or more accurately, bits of bodies. It looked like my spell had gone off like a grenade, blowing the Sporelings apart and killing most outright. Only one looked to have survived the explosion, and it’d left a trail of blood and ichor behind as it had dragged itself out of the room through a door in the far wall, which now stood ajar.
I took a moment to scan the room I’d first arrived in, able for the first time to actually see it without being chased by creatures. When I’d entered through the portal, I’d seen the windows, or window frames in the walls, but they seemed to be covered in something. I’d missed the door leading out entirely, seeing only the door into the room that I’d taken first. Now I noticed several other details as well; the platform I’d arrived on was centered in the middle of the room, seemingly unsupported by anything other than the spiral staircase leading up to it. On the farthest side of the room was one huge window, plastered with something that kept even the faintest light from passing through. Standing before it was a throne-like chair, with smaller chairs flanking either side of a rounded, crescent-shaped table. Both points of the crescent supported a large metal bowl. I approached cautiously, looking at the bowl in curiosity even as Bob moved to guard the door out of the room.
As I stood over the bowl, I found that it was shallow, maybe two feet across and six or seven inches deep. Whatever had filled it had long since been drunk or evaporated, but it stood here, in pride of place directly opposite the throne. Whatever had been here had clearly been important.
I ran my fingers across the empty interior, feeling…something as I did. It was a tugging sensation, weakly pulling at my fingertips. I held them there for a second, curious about the feeling, until I noticed my mana bar. It was steadily dropping, and the speed was accelerating! I yanked my fingers back with an oath, feeling the connection break. I took several steps back before warily peering back inside the bowl. Where nothing but dust had been before, now a single gleaming droplet sat. It glowed gently, and as I reached out my hand again, I felt the connection and the pull resume. I maintained it until my mana had dropped to ten percent, then I broke off again, finding that the droplet had grown. I wanted to give it more mana, to see what would happen when the bowl was full, but as I realized what I was thinking, I shook myself and stepped back further.
I had no idea what this thing was. It was a bowl that sucked my mana out, in a room in some tower, in another world that had until recently been full of monsters trying to kill me. I’d figure it out when I knew I was safe. I started walking toward the open doorway to explore the rest of the tower when something else caught my eye. One of the eviscerated corpses was emitting a faint glow. I advanced cautiously, discovering that the glow came from a small oval of flesh that had been exposed when it had been killed. The sight suddenly reminded me of my selection for my secondary meridian. I’d gained an ability to see valuable or important things, which were highlighted with a glow!
Chapter Ten
I took a quick survey of the room to make sure nothing was sneaking up on me, reassured by Bob standing guard at the door, and crouched down to take a closer look. Pulling out my dagger, I cut the glowing section free, sawing at the flesh around it and pulling away the bits that didn’t glow. After a minute or so, I had it in my hand, rapidly cooling. It was disgusting, but now it shone to my eyes. I used Identify and grinned as I read the text.
Sporeling Kidney
Further Description Yes/No
Details:
This organ comes from an immature Sporeling and can be used in alchemy.
Uses Discovered:
1) Cure Poison
2) ?
3) ?
4) ?
Rarity
Magical
Durability
Charge:
Uncommon
No
88/100
N/A
I quickly set to with the dagger, ignoring the revolting stench and the fact that I was getting… bits … all over me, and started to strip the nearest full corpse, starting with the head. In the end, I found that there were three items I could ‘harvest’ from a Sporeling: the kidney I’d already found, the Poison Gland, hidden in the roof of the mouth, and the eyes, which were a bit more of a task to remove. Thankfully, while each corpse only had one kidney, and one Poison Gland, they all had multiple eyes, so even between my ham-fisted and unskilled work, I managed to come away with eight Poison Glands, seven intact Kidneys, and thirty-five eyes. I also gained another notification.
Sporeling Poison Gland
Further Description Yes/No
Details:
This organ comes from an immature Sporeling and can be used in alchemy.
Uses Discovered:
1) Poison
2) ?
3) ?
4) ?
Rarity
Magical
Durability
Charge:
Uncommon
No
92/100
N/A
Sporeling Eyes
Further Description Yes/No
Details:
This organ comes from an immature Sporeling and can be used in alchemy.
Uses Discovered:
1) DarkVision
2) ?
3) ?
4) ?
Rarity
Magical
Durability
Charge:
Uncommon
No
68/100
N/A
You have learned the Gathering ‘Herbalism’ sub-skill ‘Butchery’:
Because you have taken the time to examine the bodies of your enemies, you have found items that have alchemical properties. Level this skill to increase your chance to spot further opportunities and ingredients!
You have improved the Gathering ‘Herbalism’ sub-skill ‘Butchery’ to level seven; next level 0/100
“Hell yes!” I crowed, then flinched as I heard my voice echo back to me from the open door where Bob stood guard. “Okay…. I need to be quieter. I can do that,” I muttered, walking over to him and clapping him on one skeletal shoulder. “C’mon, Bob, let’s go slaughter that fucker that’s trying to get away. It’ll be fun, honest!” I checked my weapons, then commanded him through the door.
I followed close behind, down a short hallway that led down a long flight of steps. We spiraled down what I thought must be several revolutions, finding more windows that had been caked in the same black substance that blocked all light. Eventually, I came to another floor, which opened out from the stairs into a single corridor lined with rooms. At the far end of the hallway, another doorway stood open, r
evealing another set of stairs. The blood trail led straight down the hall and into the next stairwell, so I followed it. I quickly tried a few doors as I passed, but found that they were all locked. I resolved to search them when I had time, but first, I was going to make sure that Sporeling died before it could bring any others back.
I set off jogging down the hall and into the stairwell, my bony companion clattering down the stairs ahead of me. There was just no way to make it stealthy, as far as I could see. It was literally a pile of bones smacking off every step. As we reached the next floor, it didn’t matter, as we were both too late and too loud to hide our presence.
When I emerged from the stairwell, I saw a trio of hulking forms running toward us, with the Sporeling descending the stairs on the far side. I used ‘Identify’ and started to swear.
DarkSpore-Possessed Shir
This creature was once a living, breathing inhabitant of this realm, but no longer. It has been infected with a parasitic DarkSpore, turning the peaceful Shir into an undead slave to the SporeMother that puppets it.