by Skyler Grant
Spawn Campers
The Crucible Shard: Book Two
Skyler Grant
Copyright © 2017 Skyler Grant
All rights reserved.
This novel is a work of fiction. All characters, places, and incidents described in this publication are used fictitiously, or are entirely fictional.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, except by an authorized retailer, or with written permission of the publisher. Inquiries may be addressed via email to [email protected]
Cover designed by Grace Zhu (gracezhuart.com)
Formatting by Polgarus Studio (www.polgarusstudio.com)
Electronic edition, 2017
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Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
CHAPTER ONE
I took the goblin’s swing on my shield and delivered a quick stab with Intemperance. Flames wreathed the blade and I felt a pulsing hint of madness from it as the goblin screeched before falling back dead.
I took a moment to look around for the others. What had been a quiet walk through the woods had suddenly turned into madness. Goblins were around three feet high, greenish, liked to ambush—and they were unpleasantly good at that last bit. Well, to be fair they were good at the ‘being short and green thing’ too. Individually weak, they became dangerous as a swarm.
Ashley had four on her, two looked to be in heavy hides with one wielding a two-handed sword and the other a sword and shield. The other two were less armored and carried bows. I quickly checked their stats.
Goblin Brute
Level 5: Type: Goblinoid HP: 100/100
Goblin Brutes are the strong and brutish with a tendency to charge right at their foes.
Goblin Ranger
Level 5: Type: Goblinoid HP: 50/50
Goblin Rangers are stealthy and usually prefer to attack foes from afar with bows.
There were two of each and I swiveled around to see what Walt was up against. Three brutes for him and another carrying a feathered staff.
Goblin Shaman
Level 6: Type: Goblinoid HP: 65/65
Goblin Shaman are both healers and offensive spell casters with a wide array of nature oriented magic at their disposal.
Well, that settled that. Ashley would have to hold her own, taking out the healer was always a priority in a large engagement like this. I channeled a smite spell and felt a euphoric rush as the power coursed through me and a pillar of flame surrounded the shaman.
To my unhappy surprise he seemed quite unfazed as the flames faded, although I noticed a shimmer in the air surrounding him. Magic. Right. Magic was a jerk.
Curse of Lethargy
My movements felt a good bit slower and I saw the shaman looking at me in satisfaction. Oh, this was so not done. I began to charge at him, a decidedly slow-motion charge to be sure, but I figured that I would get there eventually.
In Plain Sight
Backstab
Ashley, engaged in her more one-sided fight, blinked into stealth and then emerged with her daggers having decapitated one of the rangers from behind.
Planar Disruption
That was Walt who gestured and caused a sphere of warped-looking space to appear in his hand, flinging it towards the shaman. One of the brutes raised his shield and blocked the spell, or at least he tried. Twisted space¿ which made me nauseous to simply look at, surrounded the brute and with a wet squelching sound he was torn apart.
Still in slow motion I approached the shaman, who raised his staff defensively. I slammed Intemperance down on it and there was only a brief moment of resistance before the staff shattered into splinters. A blast of magical force knocked me backwards and I sprawled into a pile of leaves—which Intemperance instantly set alight.
The Shaman was knocked backwards as well and we stared across at each other. Smart for a goblin, he moved to make his escape and I worked myself back upright. The burning leaves were already creating a fearsome cloud of smoke and I didn’t even see the goblin charging me until his sword bit into my side. I brought Intemperance down on the brute’s shield as it landed another strike in my side.
I was only down by about 40 HP, which at my current level was barely anything, still I was getting beaten in swordplay by a lower-level goblin. With renewed focused I lashed out with Intemperance and felt my Double Attack kick in. With blinding speed my sword delivered two blows that slipped past the shield. With a scent of burning meat another goblin was down.
Ashley was surrounded by three corpses, Walt had killed another and we looked to be alone. The rest of the goblins had fled.
A notification came up. I’d hit a level. Really? Killing a king hadn’t pushed me over, but this little goblin encounter did. Levels were strange.
Congratulations!
You have reached level 8
You have one stat point to assign. As a Paladin of Yvera you have gained a further 15% skill to Persuasion. As the Chosen of Yvera you have further gained 1 point of Charisma. Due to your attunement you have an increased presence in the physical world and have gained 1 point in both Power and Endurance. You have further gained the abilities…
Zealous Blow: You can now land a melee attack fueled by divine fury. As a Paladin of Yvera this attack will be especially devastating in fights you feel very passionately about.
Fueling the Flame: In addition to previously granted benefits fueling the flame will now help you to more quickly recovery from disease and curses.
Holy Object: You can bless an object to contain any spell that you can cast to be released later. At this level you can only manage one object and one spell at a time.
There wasn’t anything too earth-shaking this level, but I was pleased to see the Zealous Blow. Currently the only offensive spell I had was ranged and while I appreciated the options that gave me, it was nice to have one when I was up close and personal.
I added a point this level to awareness. I wasn’t using bows or dodging blows, so dexterity seemed something of a reliable dump stat for me. And while I didn’t need to be high in Awareness a little more alertness in combat might do me good.
Name: Liam Ottani
Class: Paladin of Yvera
Deity: Yvera
Titles: Chosen of Yvera, King of Genea
Level: 8
HP: 160/340
Stamina: 140/140
Mana: 70/70
XP: 275 of 1000 to next level
Alignment: -1000
Stats
Power: 14 (+6) Endurance: 14 Dexterity: 2
Intelligence: 7 Awareness: 4
Charisma: 1
2 Luck: 6
Skills
Long Blades: 80
Blunt Weapons: 16
Hand to Hand: 11
Mounted Combat: 15
Light Armor: 15
Medium Armor: 22
Heavy Armor: 17
Persuasion: 30
Seduction: 33
Meditation: 4
Barter: 15
Shield Use: 9
Arson: 5
Double Attack: 2
Blademaster: 1
Spells
Smite
Sense Virtue
Lay on Hands (2 uses per 4 hours)
Bless Water
Bless
Divine Steed
Divine Power
Zealous Blow
Holy Object
Innates
Blessed Nature
Fire Resistance: 50%
Sense Alignment
Fire Within
Fueling the Flame
Aura of Destruction
It had been a week since I took the throne and this wasn’t our first encounter. The local countryside was swarming with monsters. They were a bit below our level, so we weren’t rolling in experience, but at least they helped to trickle points into our skills and even those small amounts of XP added up.
I snapped out of my menus and found Walt and Ashley madly pelting me with dirt. The leaf fire had become a large blaze and I was standing in the middle of it. Even with my fire resistance it was peeling off my HP. I hastily stepped clear and helped them put out the flames. It really was past time that I invested that point in Awareness, this was just silly.
“You with us now?” Ashley asked.
“Yeah. I just…”
“We know what you were doing. You were checking your sheet while standing in the middle of a fire,” Walt said. “That was foolish even for you.”
“Could have burned the loot,” Ashley said unhappily as she went off to raid the corpses.
I doubted that she would find much, maybe just trash gear good for a few coins. We’d done quite a few patrols, cutting down the monster presence near the castle, and it hadn’t taken us long to find a nearby village—where we were headed today. When Ashley finished picking the bodies clean we continued on our way.
Sarville was mostly farmers, although there was an unusually large inn and crafting hall. The village was a place of thatched roofs and simple architecture that in other times might have seemed almost idyllic.
These were not idyllic times. When I’d taken Elsora as consort, the curse stopped trying to take over the castle—in a way it had succeeded anyway—and now the mists that once filled those halls had risen into the sky. We’d been living in almost perpetual darkness. Already the villager’s crops were dying and while we were working to make the people safer, the darkness was another problem we faced.
“Majesty,” Bol said, as we made our way into the village commons and Ashley began to unload scavenged equipment from her bags into a pile. We were hoping with the reopening of the castle a merchant would arrive, but none had yet. We weren’t giving the village everything we took, but figured we owed them plenty for pretty much destroying their lives. Taxation should go the other way, but we hadn’t got there yet.
“We took out some more goblins,” I said.
“Did you find a way to bring the sun back?” Wil asked.
All of the villagers had three letter names. I’d yet to figure out if it was local culture or something the game did for mysterious reasons of its own. It was a pain to keep track of anyone. The only villager I could really remember so far was Kat, but that was because I flirted with her regularly at the inn.
“Not yet, Ben,” I said, and delivered my best reassuring smile.
“Wil,” Wil said with a glower.
“Well, of course I will,” I said, and caught Ashley rolling her eyes at me.
“My name is Wil,” he said, with the long-suffering patience of someone who had been through this conversation several times.
“Right, Wil.”
My Charisma must have kicked in, because he looked mollified.
“Crops are almost gone,” Bol said. “We don’t get the sun back, we won’t eat.”
“We’re working on solutions,” I said, glancing hopefully towards Walt.
“Artificial sunlight is proving impractical with our mana reserves,” Walt said. “But fungus farming is looking quite promising.”
The villagers looked about as thrilled at the thought of farming fungus as I was at the thought of having to eat any more of it.
A few handshakes and more assurances that things would get better, and I started us back towards the castle. After I took the throne we’d decided that, before heading off elsewhere else, we needed to thin the monsters nearby first and try to stabilize the local situation. So far, it was only the killing of monsters that was going well.
It wasn’t a long trek until the castle came into view.
Castle Sardonis was more a ruin than any castle these days, undead soldiers manning the walls and servants equally as life-deprived scurrying about the halls. The perpetual darkness was less of an issue here. Illumination wasn’t really a problem when the state religion worshipped a Goddess of Fire and braziers, torches and anything else that could be set alight filled the air with a constant, ruddy glow.
I know it sounds like every evil lair ever, but what is a guy to do when his alignment has hit bottom? At least the undead army wore cheerful masks (a habit that despite my best efforts they refused to abandon). To date, my impression of being King was that it at least beat being thrown naked into the dungeon. Nobody would ever accuse me of not being a social climber.
CHAPTER TWO
Being a King did have its advantages and a nice bed was one of them. I had to figure out what the thing was padded with, but whatever it was, I think I slept better here than I ever did back in the physical world.
There was a stirring beside me and I caught a glimpse of blonde hair and a bare thigh exposed by the falling sheets. That would be Elsora. I hadn’t quite figured out if the curse that created her truly required her to become the consort of the King, or if she was feigning that particular detail in the quest for power. I probably should resolve such questions before winding up in bed with girls.
“Morning,” Elsora said, sounding incredibly cheerful. She always did in the mornings, it was a terrible trait.
It might have been. It was impossible to tell. The slanted windows facing the courtyard showed only the deep darkness of eternal night.
“You sure about that?”
“I’m quite punctual,” Elsora said with yet more brightness. Just how did a powerful evil curse get such a sunny disposition?
“Is part of that coming from being created to be the perfect, corrupting Queen?”
Elsora leaned over to brush her lips to mine, a lingering sort of contact as she moved to curl up against me. She was a petite woman, pretty and looked to be about a decade older than me. Age was a bit of lie, a manifestation of the curse that struck the castle. She’d been here for centuries.
“People will allow you to get away with the most dreadful things so long as you are timely and cheerful,” Elsora said.
“I wonder if taking away the sun hurts or helps my reign then, if everyone is as confused about the time as I am?” I said with a chuckle, returning the kiss.
Elsora played her lips against mine for several long moments before she pulled away. Her tone stayed sunny. “It hurts you and it helps you. People aren’t happy about it, but you can’t say it doesn’t make an impression.”
“Isn’t that rather bad planning? How does a perfect Queen destroy the kingdom she is there to protect?”
Elsora sat up in bed, the sheets dropping around her waist. I found myself quite distracted.
“It’s not the whole kingdom, although that is worth considering. It wasn’t expected, I was crafted to tempt and corrupt Leosi, and you are a very different man,” Elsora said.
I
felt my muscles tense and not in the good sort of way. It was a comparison that got made a lot. Leosi the great conqueror, Leosi the hero, Leosi the King who didn’t blot out the sun. Elsora had loved him, and he’d loved her. For all that, he’d never given in to that love, because that would have opened himself to the evil she represented. She didn’t love me in that way, but we had an intimacy they never shared.
Elsora kissed me hungrily. I know what it was—she’d gone a bit too far and was correcting course by distracting me. I’m not a complete idiot, I can usually tell when I’m being played. It doesn’t mean I put a stop to it, although life would probably be less complicated if I did.
A pleasant half hour passed without another mention of Leosi, then she was standing before the mirror and I was helping her into a dress. It had become something of a ritual, helping each other get dressed, and although I found it funny her finery was even more of a struggle than my armor.