by Eden Redd
Edric Temple
Summoner
Hit Points- 140/140
Mana- 230/230
Armor- 5
Strength-20(+3)
Intelligence- 32(+7)
Wisdom- 28(+5)
Dexterity- 25(+4)
Stamina- 33(+7)
Charisma- 45(+10)
Spell Abilities
Charm- 50
Snare- 45
Channel- (+STR/HP/DEX)
Lock Stones (1)
Leeta (Ogre)- HP-300/300
Nykor (Drell-Kai)- HP- 6,000/6,000
Spells
Summoning Spell- 10 Mana
Summon Demon Spell- 2o Mana
Summon Angel Spell- 40 Mana
Summon Elemental- 25 Mana
Light Spell- 5 Mana
Mana Shield- 1 Mana for 2 points of Protection
Primary Skills
Spell Casting- 65
Spell Craft- 36
Gem Craft- 36
Rune Craft- 27
Enchantment- 20
Melee- 40
Wilderness Lore- 23
Equipment
Lightning Whip- 10 to 15 damage
Whip Gem Slot-Lightning damage 10% Stun
Whip Gem Slot- Power Surge, Extra 20 to 50 Damage
Dark Green Robe- 5 Armor
Healing Potions (8)- Heal 100 HP
Mana Potions (8)- Restore 100 Mana
Elixirs (3)- Heals all damage and restores Mana
The summoner was glad Lunatina managed to scrounge for enough supplies to make elixirs for everyone. The group didn’t know exactly what they would be running into and, as many have said, luck favors the prepared.
Claudia walked along, lancer armor on and spear in hand. Faye stepped with purpose, fingers flexing. Rayna wore her black leather outfit, lute strapped to her back. Leeta had returned to her lock stone for easier transport. Sekka sauntered behind the rulers, her body clothed in supple leather but not covering her completely. Creamy thighs and her toned stomach were bare as her breasts and cleavage were pushed up for all to see.
Behind the rulers, Jinn and Juna walked tall. Sonja and Lance walked on either side of them and Thorrin brought up the rear with a dozen paladins. The wyverns moved closer as the group marched to the portal.
Rayna stepped closer to Edric’s side. “Are we okay to do this,” the bard asked in a low tone.
“I believe so. It’s just a quick flight, see Oksuna Reed and bring her back if we can,” Edric said simply.
Rayna nodded but her mouth wrinkled before she spoke again. “Are you okay?”
Edric turned his gaze to the bard, seeing a concerned expression he had never seen on her before. “Should I not be?”
“I mean, after everything that has happened…” Rayna trailed off.
Edric’s brow hardened for a moment before it smoothed away. “I’m fine,” the summoner said and picked up his pace, walking away from her.
Faye and Claudia shot the bard a glance. Rayna’s eyes took a dark edge before all three followed the summoner. When they all stood before the portal, the rulers of Elora turned and faced the party. Dark elves pulled out necklaces with red crystals and began handing one to each party member.
“The crystals will open the portal. Be sure to picture the Cursed Coast and speak its name. The portal will do the rest,” Faye projected to the group.
“Are we all good with the plans,” Edric asked, a certain excitement filling the air.
All heads nodded in approval.
Jinn stepped forward and faced the group, “We don’t know what to expect on the other side. Hopefully, there will be nothing there to greet us. But no matter what happens, stay on your wyverns and keep flying. Castle Thorne will be our first stop and then the coast.”
Wyverns slinked closer. The group began to mount the scaled beasts. Edric brought his leg over the saddle and his wyvern pushed up, a pleasant growl vibrating along its long neck. When the group was mounted and ready, a dark elf moved to the portal and pressed a red crystal to the empty space in the middle.
The portal flared to life, red and white energy swirling together. When the inside of the circle was awash in pulsating light, Edric made a clicking sound, his wyvern crawling closer. The inside of the dome glowed from the activated portal. Edric took one last glance toward his fellow rulers, Faye and Claudia nodding that they were ready. Rayna’s wyvern growled and she held on, her eyes a little wide.
Edric made no shout or battle cry. The summoner dug his heels into the wyvern’s sides and the beast lurched toward the glowing portal. Taking a deep breath, the summoner urged the wyvern toward the rippling glow. The beast obeyed, charging the small space and jumping into the portal
Light streamed past as Edric held on to the reins. Rayna’s gaze haunted him as time and space shifted, allowing the player to cross Lukken in mere moments. The player fought dark pulses in his heart as the tunnel of light grew brighter. Stay to the quest, Edric chanted in his mind. The player made a silent promise to speak with Rayna when they returned. Thoughts of Juna filled the summoner’s mind and heart, wanting to reunite her with her mother. It glimmered like a star in his mind, hoping it could bring some sense of peace to his troubled spirit, knowing he helped them reunite.
An oval portal of light appeared before the summoner. The wyvern roared as they approached the other end in seconds. Edric held his breath as they reached the exit portal. White light engulfed them as Edric’s heart pounded in his chest, wondering what was to come.
Eighteen
Light flashed and dark shapes filled the fading void. Edric focused as his wyvern flapped its wings. Grunts and shouts rang out as the digital reality fell into place. The summoner’s eyes widened as blue skinned trolls looked to him with surprised stares. Bedlam erupted as trolls rushed to their weapons. The summoner looked around, his heart freezing up in his chest.
A camp of hundreds of trolls surrounded the portal. The look of shock and awe painted their faces, spurring some to action and others gazing in a stunned torpor, unsure what to do. Edric’s wyvern craned her neck and snapped at trolls. The trolls threw themselves down as the wyvern flapped her wings, ascending into the sky. Edric looked back to see the rest of his party flashing through the portal one by one, eyes wide as they too took in the large camp surrounding the portal.
Bow strings pulled back and troll arrows flew. Faye’s wyvern roared as several arrows bounced off thick scaly hide but one lodged under the arm. Faye held on as her wyvern fought to stay airborne. The monk pressed her hand to the beast’s neck as arrows shot past, channeling her chi and healing her mount.
Wyverns flashed through the portal in rapid succession. Edric waved his hand up, trying to signal to his party not to engage. When the summoner spotted several trolls grabbing runic spears, he knew their chances dropped on getting away. Jinn flashed out of the portal, his hand moving to his belt and metal needles flying from his hands. Paladins drew their weapons and smashed across troll heads as they flew overhead. Edric shouted for them to ascend but chaos bloomed. Four trolls grabbed runic spears, magic flaring along the shafts.
“Nykor, I need you,” Edric dipped his hand into his satchel and pulled out the lock stone.
Whispering the arcane words, a stream of energy snaked out and flashed against the ground. A giant mystical circle appeared and the Drell-Kai rose up instantly. The giant dragon monster roared as it looked to the trolls gathering their spears. Maw opening, a thick stream of acid blasted out.
The trolls lifted their spears and aimed just as acid blasted their bodies to shattered light. Nykor roared as her tail lashed out, flattening a dozen trolls in the blink of an eye. The portal flashed as the paladins finished coming through. Edric watched as the drell-kai threw her weight around, knocking over trolls and stomping on them with talon feet. The group of wyverns rose higher into the sky as the giant dragon monster thrashed.
Edric looked down, holding the lock stone tight. When the party was high enough
, he whispered the incantation to bring Nykor back. The drell-kai thrashed again before her body shifted into energy and snaked back up to her master’s lock stone.
Leathery wings flapped in the air as the group looked to each other. Edric let out a relieved sigh seeing they had not lost any party members coming through. Turning his gaze to the ground, trolls tried to regroup. They numbered in the hundreds and a sick feeling touched the group, knowing full well that they were too late.
Jinn’s wyvern flew to Edric’s side. “We have to make a direct course to the coast! The dread lords are already here,” Jinn shouted over the wind.
Edric nodded. The wyverns flew in formation as the morning sun filled the clear blue sky. Sonja and Lance looked down, taking in the destruction as they streaked across the sky. The forest that once filled the area was nothing more than burnt ashes. The devastation spread out in all directions. Jinn looked down, his heart beating with anger as the town of Dark Hearth lay in ruins.
Juna gazed down, a sickness filling her belly. Memories of her long journey back filled her mind. She had witnessed the people of Dark Hearth rebuilding their homes. The forest was alive as she made her way back to the Middle Kingdoms. Now, smoldering ruins and a land of ash was all that remained. Thoughts shifted to Oksuna and the half-troll couldn’t fight the worried edge in her eyes.
Miles slipped by as the group carried on. Edric’s mind worked, wondering if they could even survive what was to come. Looking back to his friends, a new concern latched onto his heart. A cold sweat covered the summoner as he felt the jaws of a trap close in around him but they couldn’t turn away, not when they were so close.
Jinn’s brow was a sharp V as his wyvern continued due west. A castle appeared along the road in the distance. Black spires stood, cracked and broken. Plumes of smoke snaked into the air, filling the blue sky with whispers of ash. The assassin gazed down as they flew closer, seeing Castle Thorne barely standing.
The party turned their gaze to the smoldering castle. The area around it had blast marks, and weapons lay scattered, the sun reflecting off their blood-stained metal. Sonja’s eyes took in the scarred battlefield, her heart quickening. When a smoky reflection of light gleamed off a destroyed wall, the knight pulled on the reins. Sonja’s Wyvern dived toward the ruined castle.
Jinn and Lance followed the blue knight. Concern touching the rest of the party, they all turned and dived down toward the ruins. Edric wasn’t sure it was a good idea but clearly Sonja saw something. Wyverns landed, wings folding back. Sonja was already off her wyvern and running with her sword in hand. The rest of the group followed, running from the road and trying to catch up to the knight.
Sonja’s heart cracked as she slowed her run to a walk. Sword at her side, she stepped closer to a ruined wall, two figures impaled against the hard stone. Strands of smoke rose into the air, a thin body impaled against a broken wall with spears. A head tilted forward with matted blonde hair and singed ends, pale skin covered in black veiny bruises. Small drops of red blood dripped from the spear wounds.
Sonja stepped closer, eyes trembling as the body continued to smoke. When she was a few feet from the figure, they lifted their head and stared at the blue knight with one blue eye and a half-blackened face.
“Lady Sonja…good to see you…” Lord Thorne managed a small smile.
“Drakkus,” Sonja stepped closer, hand reaching out and caressing his hair.
The rest of the group stepped closer, looking on the mangled and burnt vampire lord. A somber silence took hold as they looked on. Jinn and Lance stepped behind Sonja, eyes on the vampire burning in the sun.
“Had I known you were visiting…I would have cleaned up,” Drakkus chuckled as the steam rose from his burning skin.
Sonja reached for a spear, “We can save you.”
“No,” Drakkus coughed, “It is much too late for that. It…is taking everything I have just to outlast the wretch to my left...”
Eyes turned to the other figure impaled on the wall ten feet away. Thorrin’s eyes narrowed as he started to walk over. White hair was tousled, several spears impaling the thin, feminine body to the hard stone. Pale skin glowed in the sunlight. When the paladin stood before the figure, they lifted their head and stared with a weak grin.
“I see you came to…keep your promise…” Riktess Grimm leered, black blood streaking down the corners of his mouth.
Drakkus weakly tut-tutted, “His master was not pleased to know I had captured him…”
“No…he was not,” the dread lord wheezed out a chuckle.
“What happened to your blood knights...and Jayson,” Sonja asked the vampire lord with wide eyes.
“All slain…but one,” Drakkus coughed. “The battle was dire. As….we lost knights one by one, Jayson broke…from formation. He charged for the coast…To defend his lady love…”
Drakkus wheezed as the sun continued to burn his skin. The vampire looked to Sonja, a peace filling his remaining eye.
“I wish…there was more time…” Drakkus whispered.
Thorrin opened his hand, a white war hammer forming in it. Fingers closed around the pommel and he stepped closer to the dread lord. Riktess lifted his head again, smiling at the paladin.
“I said I was coming back for you,” Thorrin said with a hard edge.
Riktess grinned, “I said…I would be waiting.”
The paladin raised the white hammer, eyes on the dread lord’s chest between spear shafts.
Riktess closed his eyes, “End it…so I may…return to the abyss…forever…”
Thorrin’s spirit hardened as he brought the hammer down. The dread lord did not cry out as his chest caved in. Thorrin continued his grisly work, hammering the dread lord repeatedly until his chest caved in and a black heart pulsed along mashed flesh and broken bone. Thorrin lifted his hammer high and brought it down, slamming into the vile organ. The dread lord’s body cracked with lines of abyssal light. Thorrin took a step back as the lines crisscrossed the dread lord and then shattered into floating shards.
Sonja touched Drakkus’s burnt cheek. The vampire lord smiled, the light in his blue eye beginning to fade. The group gazed on the vampire and knight, sorrow touching everyone. Edric watched as the pain curled into Sonja like a rope squeezing her heart. Drakkus’s body flared with white smoke but Edric refused to let anyone else die.
“I can save him,” Edric said with new conviction.
Sonja, Drakkus and the group looked to the summoner as he stepped closer. The player gave the vampire lord a kind gaze as he stood next to Sonja.
“I can save you,” Edric repeated. “You don’t have to die here.”
“How…stranger,” Drakkus asked with a small fire burning in his spirit.
“I can try snaring you to a lock stone,” Edric said as his hand reached into his satchel and pulled out an empty lock stone.
“Can you do that,” Sonja asked with hope in her eyes.
“I think so. I can’t snare undead creatures but I think vampires might be the gray area.”
Drakkus gave a weak smile, “Truth be told…I never died…merely changed…”
Edric looked on the vampire, “You will be part of my family, if you accept.”
Drakkus eyed the summoner, “If I may complete my work of slaying dread lords, I would willingly accept such a proposal.”
The summoner nodded and lifted his hands, one empty and the other holding a lock stone. Sonja stepped back as the summoner began to recite the incantations. The empty hand moved at odd angles and when the word of power was whispered, mystical energy flared.
(Snare)45+(Sta)7=52/(Encounter Roll)1! Snare successful!
A golden band of energy appeared around Drakkus’s neck. The vampire lord grunted as it took hold, connecting him to the summoner.
“Submit to me and I will always take care of you. Swear loyalty and you will have it in return,” Edric stated firmly.
Drakkus smirked, “Such are the terms in these times. I gladly…accept.”<
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Energy glowed around the vampire. The party watched as energy snaked around the vampire lord, engulfing him. The pain vanished as Drakkus’ eyes closed and he kept his smirk. The glowing form of the vampire slipped through the air and sank into the lock stone. Edric held it up as Drakkus faded into energy. When the last bit of energy entered the lock stone, a small symbol of a bat appeared, etched into the stone surface.
Edric held the stone before him, a small smile forming. He checked his stat sheet.
Edric Temple
Summoner
Hit Points- 140/140
Mana- 230/230
Armor- 5
Strength-20(+3)
Intelligence- 32(+7)
Wisdom- 28(+5)
Dexterity- 25(+4)
Stamina- 33(+7)
Charisma- 45(+10)
Spell Abilities
Charm- 50
Snare- 45
Channel- (+STR/HP/DEX)
Lock Stones (1)
Leeta (Ogre)- HP-300/300
Nykor (Drell-Kai)- HP- 6,000/6,000
Drakkus Thorne (Vampire Lord) HP- 1,666/1,666
Spells
Summoning Spell- 10 Mana
Summon Demon Spell- 2o Mana
Summon Angel Spell- 40 Mana
Summon Elemental- 25 Mana
Light Spell- 5 Mana
Mana Shield- 1 Mana for 2 points of Protection
Primary Skills
Spell Casting- 65
Spell Craft- 36
Gem Craft- 36
Rune Craft- 27
Enchantment- 20
Melee- 40
Wilderness Lore- 23
Equipment
Lightning Whip- 10 to 15 damage
Whip Gem Slot- Lightning damage 10% Stun
Whip Gem Slot- Power Surge, Extra 20 to 50 Damage
Dark Green Robe- 5 Armor
Healing Potions (8)- Heal 100 HP
Mana Potions (8)- Restore 100 Mana
Elixirs (3)- Heals all damage and restores Mana
Edric held the stone and recited the summoning spell. Energy flared and snaked out, hitting the ground and forming an arcane circle. A blonde figure rose up, clad in leather. Drakkus rose until he reached his full height. The vampire was healed and looked just as Sonja had remembered him.