The Greystone Chronicles
Book Three
Darkness Fallen
Dave Willmarth
Copyright © 2018 by Dave Willmarth
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.
Foreword
Alexander and the Greystone Guild members continue their adventures on Io. Their struggle against the Dark One and his minions has been intensifying. New members, including Dayle and his group, fellow immersion players working for Jupiter Technologies, have joined the guild. New citizens from several races, including a clan of duergar, are swelling the ranks at the keep. Rocky the cute little moat monster is growing rapidly, and Lia and Kai are nesting in preparation for their hatchlings.
The group has just investigated the last of the mysterious mirrors in the control center. It led to the discovery of a new land up on the plateau, six hundred feet above Dire Keep. A fortified outpost tower left over from a great war that happened thousands of years in the past.
While investigating the tower, they encountered some new friends. Braxis the gryphon alpha, and his friends. They also ran afoul of some nasty giant ladybugs who farted poison gas that killed Jules. And a giant abomination that guarded a portal in the lowest of the underground levels.
After a horrendous battle, Alexander has managed, using some new magic and a little quick thinking, to defeat the abomination. The dead have barely been resurrected, the loot gathered, and the group is about to destroy another portal used by the Dark One’s forces, when it activates right in front of them!
Chapter 1
Look Who’s Coming to Dinner
Alexander stood as the portal in front of them activated with a swirl of colors. The stunned raid party of Greystone Guild members and friends didn’t even have time to take cover before the gateway opened, revealing a dimly lit area filled with shuffling undead demons on the other side. There were walking corpses of all sizes, from two-foot-tall imps to seven-foot warriors with horns and wings. Directly in front of the portal stood a figure all in black. Humanoid in shape, its neck and limbs seemed elongated. One black-gloved hand was still extended toward the portal, presumably having just cast the spell of activation. Alexander used his identify skill.
Demon Lich
Level 130
Health 53,000/53,000
The undead demon seemed as surprised to see Alexander and his group as they were to see him. Just as it opened its mouth to either cast a spell or order its minions forward, Alexander yelled “Fitz! Kai! We need a wall, NOW!” Alexander’s mana had refilled when he leveled, but his head hurt too much to channel his earth magic.
As Alexander was shouting, Fitz and Kai were already casting earth magic to raise a stone wall right in front of the portal’s event horizon. The stone seemed to take forever as it crept up from the floor, slowly blocking the view through the portal.
The lich had ordered his minions forward, and those closest to the gateway were already moving to step through. The lich, meanwhile, had cast a black bolt of magic at Brick, who was standing directly in front of the portal, having been about to disable it when it activated. The dwarf tank had his shield raised, but the bolt hit it with sufficient force to make him take two steps back. Alexander returned fire, using what little mana he dared to fire a blast of Ray of Light at the lich. It screamed in pain, or perhaps it was outrage, and raised its hand again.
The stone wall finally reached a height that blocked Alexander’s view, but still, it kept rising. The group could hear the impact of the lich’s spell against the stone. Then several smaller impacts, likely from mindless undead stepping through and impacting stone. For the moment, they were safe enough.
“Everyone behind the walls! Fitz, Kai, please thicken the portal wall. Brick, Lugs, destroy those portal stones!”
The dwarf and half-ogre tanks rushed forward, one on either side of the portal. The portal stones that powered the gateway were ten-foot-high columns that were embedded into the wall of the cavern. Both tanks immediately set to work with their hammers, blasting away at the stone and sending chips flying.
“STOP!” Fitz shouted at them. “If you break one of those stones while the portal is active, you will unleash its power and likely kill yourselves!”
Both tanks took a step back, looking between Alexander and the wizard.
“How do we shut off the portal then, Fitz?” Alexander asked.
“From a distance, my boy!” The wizard grinned at him. “Just like when you killed that abomination. Only we’ll be a bit smarter about it this time.”
Brick and Lugs moved back behind the walls the party had used when fighting the abomination just minutes earlier. The others were already gathered there, standing and watching.
Several larger, louder impacts sounded on the other side of the wall as Kai worked to reinforce it further. Alexander gulped down a mana potion and grabbed a full soul crystal from his bag. He was still in pain and feeling weak from his mana usage in the last fight, but he’d deal with that later.
“Let’s strengthen these walls, and try and raise them up a bit more. Add a roof, while we’re at it,” Fitz said. Taking one wall each, he, Kai, and Alexander all went to work. Alexander raised his wall up to six feet and thickened it, making it five feet deep. He extended the wall back in an overhang that reached five feet back from the wall, and then he added a couple of columns at the corners for support. He saw Fitz and Kai were making similar alterations. When they were done, they had three effective-looking blast shelters.
Alexander sat down, exhausted again. Jules sat next to him, looking worried.
Fitz called out, “I’m going to overload the portal stones! It will cause feedback that will warp the event horizon and make it explode! We’ll need to drop the wall on our side, so it doesn’t act as shrapnel and injure our own. Kai, when I say so, you drop the wall. The rest of you, you will have about ten seconds before the explosion. You will need to keep the enemy back for half of that time. Fire everything you have at anything coming through!”
Each of the party members stood behind and to the sides of their respective shelters. They’d need to fire and then jump behind the shelters before the blast hit them. Five seconds seemed a very short window. Alexander took out his Ray of Light wand. He had maybe one wizard fire in him. “Sasha, drop your aoe thorn trap right in front of the portal on their side, if you can. I’ll light it up!” he called.
Fitz had been pouring magic into the portal stones. Worried that the wizard would use too much of his mana, Alexander called out “Fitz! Catch!” and tossed a soul crystal to the wizard. Fitz caught the crystal and winked at him before resuming his casting.
After less than a minute, Fitz called out, “Get ready… Kai! Drop the wall now!”
The stone wall that had been blocking the portal instantly liquefied, splashing to the floor and revealing a small horde of demons gathered on the other side of the gateway. Sasha cast her trap, and Alexander hit the nearest demon with wizard fire. Then he sent off three more blasts with his wand before the five seconds were up. Beatrix pulled a huge ball of water from the stream behind them and tossed it onto a group of demons, and then Misty froze it solid, slowing them considerably. Max and Lainey had each managed three arrows, while Kai had cast dragon fire on the lich, who was still standing near the portal. Lugs hurled his spear at the lich, sending it screaming through the portal to embed itself in the lich’s chest. Benny and Brick both cast holy smite on demons
nearest the portal, and even Fibble got off several shots with his stick.
At the five second mark, Sasha yelled, “TAKE COVER!” while ducking into her shelter. The others quickly complied, until only Fitz stood with his head exposed. With one last visible effort, he sent a burst of mana from the soul crystal into the portal stones. As he ducked his head behind the shelter, the drained crystal turned to dust in his hands, and he shouted, “Cover your ears and close your eyes!”
There was little time to comply before a massive explosion of magic lit the room. The air screamed around them as if in the throes of pain. It shimmered with light and heat as the ground beneath them trembled before it rippled in a wave rushing out from the portal. Their stone shelters cracked and then whistled as light and heat leaked through the cracks. Alexander could see the stream behind them evaporate into a cloud of steam.
Within seconds, the light faded. The heat lingered a bit longer. Large chunks of the ceiling fell across the chamber, some of them in the form of molten rock.
Level up! You are now level 51!
Your wisdom has increased by +1. Your intelligence has increased by +1
You have 19 free attribute points available
Level up!...
Level up! You are now level 56!
Your wisdom has increased by +1. Your intelligence has increased by +1
You have 24 free attribute points available
“WoooHOO!” Helga shouted. She was breathing hard from the sensation of gaining so many levels at once. “Two boss fights and eighteen levels in one day. I am SO glad you invited me to this guild, Alexander! If I didn’t think Jules there would cut my throat, I’d jump you right here and now as a thank you!” She winked at him. Jules moved closer and took Alexander’s hand, shooting a meaningful look at Helga, who just laughed.
A squeak from behind him caused Alexander to turn around. Fibble was on the ground, holding his tummy and rocking side to side, eyes wide. The little goblin looked half terrified, half confused. Sasha giggled and moved to kneel next to her tiny protector. “Your tummy is feeling strange again, isn’t it?” she asked.
“Big strange! Think big boom killing Fibble!” the goblin cried.
“No, Fibble. Tingles in your tummy just mean you’re getting stronger. We killed lots of demons and two boss demons. You helped. So now you’ve leveled up. Grown stronger!” Sasha explained.
She helped the goblin to his feet. He patted his tummy gently, then poked at it with one clawed finger, as if expecting it to explode. Alexander noted that the goblin actually seemed taller standing next to Sasha than he had before.
Max stared morosely at the melted stone wall where the portal had been. “I can’t believe we don’t get to loot all those mobs,” he grumped. Lainey punched his shoulder lightly.
Brick chimed in, “Aye. Me combat log says we killed tha’ lich ‘n sixty-five of his beasties. All them demon horns wasted.” He shook his head, causing a laugh to erupt from the original guildies, who knew the history of his sorrow.
“I doubt we really killed the lich unless his phylactery was near the portal,” Alexander said. “Let’s hope it takes him a while to find another body.”
“I say we get the hell out of here before another of us gets killed. We’re out of pally rez abilities for the day,” Sasha chimed in.
“Agreed!” Lainey added as several others nodded their heads.
“I want to grab as many of those weapons and things from the supply room as we can,” Max reminded them. “They’re not really worth selling, but we can give them to citizens for defense, or break them down for materials.”
“And we should check the rest of the tower more carefully for useful items,” Beatrix added.
Alexander nodded his head. He was thinking on a larger scale. “Fitz, this tower is pretty close to Dire Keep. It sits atop the ridge, north of Dire Falls, and not far from the river. Do you know if this land is claimed by anyone?”
Fitz and Kai both shook their heads. “Not since the last war was fought here. This tower would have been at the front line, and the demons wiped out anyone north of here. As far as I know, no one even remembers this is here,” Fitz replied.
“Then I’d like to claim this tower and the surrounding lands for Dire Keep. Do you know how I would go about doing that?” Alexander asked.
“BWAHAHAHA!” Brick’s laughter echoed off the chamber walls. “Ye never think small, do ye? Why loot the goodies from the tower when ye can just take the whole tower?”
“This would make an excellent fallback position for us. There’s room for several hundred to hide in here if needed. We can retreat through the mirror to this stronghold if the keep gets overrun. There have got to be more resources here. Timber, maybe ores, definitely wildlife to hunt. And we can rebuild the portal if necessary, so that we have access to Stormforge and Broken Mountain.” Alexander was thinking out loud. “Our hunters and farmers could work in safety up here, and nobody would know. We could feed ourselves even with an army camped outside our walls.”
“Aye, boy. Not a bad idea. You have only to declare ownership of this place. As owner of Dire Keep, you have that right as long as the land is not claimed by any other,” Fitz told him. “But let us do this upstairs.” The wizard waved a hand, and the entire group teleported back to the main room of the tower.
Alexander hopped up on the table for effect and took a deep breath. “I, Alexander, claim this outpost and the surrounding lands in the name of Dire Keep!”
There was a loud
“Hello, Master. You have been quite busy, it seems.” Jeeves’ voice rang out from nowhere in particular.
“Jeeves! So, it really worked? This tower is now another… what did you call them? Ancillary structure?”
“Yes, Master. This tower, and the two smaller towers that are tied to it. One to the east, and one to the west. My area of influence has been extended to include those areas of the plateau. Roughly four times the size of my previous area. The Dire Lands are now sufficient to be considered a Kingdom if you so choose.”
“Well, okay then! That makes up for not looting those mobs!” Max grinned at Alexander. “Should we start calling you ‘Your Highness’ or ‘Majesty’, or maybe ‘Lord Greystone’?”
Sasha dropped to one knee and gushed sarcastically, “Oh, Majesty! What an honor to be in your presence!” earning laughter from most of the party.
Alexander blushed. “There will be none of that! IF we declare this a Kingdom, we won’t be doing it now. I made that mistake once. Remember the worldwide announcement when we took the keep? Why let our enemies know about this place before we need to?”
“You’re learning, lad.” Fitz patted his shoulder.
“And furthermore, if this does become an independent kingdom, I’d want to secure formal alliances with King Charles and King Thalgrin before we declare it. And there will be a ruling council, with the same structure as the guild. That would mean all of YOU would have to take on more responsibility. We’d need ministers for all the various positions a kingdom needs in order to run. Finance, Defense, Trade, Industry, Agriculture, Infrastructure, Transportation, Foreign Relations, and so forth. We’d also have to have ambassadors, generals, and who knows what else. Are you all that anxious to cut back on your questing and dungeon diving to do paperwork?” Alexander looked at Brick, who hated paperwork more than anyone.
“Bah! There be no rush to be makin’ this place all fancy!” the dwarf growled.
Smiling, Alexander continued. “That’s what I thought! Okay, so we’ll leave the mirror here and move its twin down into the keep somewhere. Fitz, can you tie this main door and the rooftop door to the dragon pins, so that only our people can lock or unlock them?”
Fitz nodded and walked over to the door. “I’ll need to remove Rizzo’s seal first, but that won’t take a moment.”<
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“Great. So, we can use the mirror to get back and forth. The gryphons already know this land, so they can give us information, and scout for us. We can send parties with hunters and citizens into the woods to explore and map out the area. If the beasts in the forests aren’t too high, they can hunt here in groups to level up. I’d like to build a wall around the tower, maybe fifty yards out. That way we can protect this place better if we need to, and keep a backup herd of livestock here, protected from whatever’s in the forest. We’ll need to locate and investigate the other two towers, as well. Fitz, we may need you there for that, if they have the same magic seal.”
“Unlikely,” Fitz said. “Rizzo would not have bothered with smaller outposts. Though, now that you mention it, some lesser mages could have been assigned to each. I’ll accompany you when the time comes.”
“Then that’s the plan, for now.” Alexander looked at the group members. “All of us, except maybe Kai and Fitz, gained at least ten levels today. Am I correct?”
Benny who had been the lowest level among them, other than Fibble, shouted, “Nineteen!” with a fist-pump. “I just hit level 50. I’m catching up to you guys!”
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