by Edwin McRae
Your party has slaughtered five Level 1 Reiver Soldiers, three Level 2 Reiver Soldiers and one Level 4 Shieldmaiden.
Your XP reward per party member = 75 XP
Congratulations!
You have achieved Level 7 as an Executioner!
Progress to next level = 1752/3000
You have been awarded 2 Attribute Points.
You may choose one skill to upgrade instantly by one tier.
He dropped both AP into Spirit. He needed to be able to take these reivers down as fast as possible, especially the higher level ones. That meant utilising his special skills. He would need all the EP he could get his hands on. To that end, he spent his upgrade on Clean Slate, raising it to Tier 3.
An arrow stung him just below the armpit, punching through his leather armor but stopping before it punctured a lung. Another bounced off his cuiss and a third shattered against one of his gauntlets. The fourth stabbed into his shoulder.
You have taken 27 damage from two arrows!
HP: 109/136
He spotted the culprits atop the ruin of another warehouse. Four reiver archers. As he yanked the arrows out of his smarting flesh, three more archers joined the first four. He rolled to avoid the next wave of projectiles and sprinted towards Mark. The warlock was fighting the remaining members of the massacred bucket team. Mark felled two more soldiers before Arix reached him, but reinforcements were now spilling out of the streets and the next wave of arrows took out the warlock’s Second Skin aura.
Your party has killed two Level 2 Reiver Scouts.
Your XP reward per party members = 20 XP
“Time to go!” shouted Arix.
“Second Skin!” yelled Mark, replenishing his protective aura before giving Arix a sharp nod.
They both ran for a row of small storehouses. Citadel had pointed them out as their best escape route. Arrows thudded into the ground and glanced off their armor as they zigzagged their way to safety. Once under the cover of the buildings, they rock-hopped across the rubble, aiming for a partially collapsed wall at the back. Arix’s Acrobatics ability meant he could traverse this kind of terrain with ease. He took the lead, picking the most stable pathway so Mark could get to the exit without breaking a leg. They were carrying some of Vari’s healing potions but it would take a Sculpt Bone to fix a snapped tibia. Arix didn’t fancy hauling Mark’s heavy ass all the way back to the waypoint. Then again, he could just kill him, collect his gear, and meet him back at the resurrection point. What were teammates for, after all.
He still had the image of a beheaded Mark in mind when they finally hunkered down at the back of the buildings. They listened to the ruckus as the reivers searched for them. Mark took the amulet from around his neck and pressed it to the ground. While the warlock conferred with his pocket pal, Arix kept a lookout.
And there it was again, the shaggy shadow. Wolven eyes glistened in the reiver torchlight. Its half-human, half-canine body was hunched over as it clung to the top of a wall. Their eyes met and then it was gone again. Arix had never heard of any Reign of Blood expansion that included werewolves, but this creature was definitely pissing in the corners of that ballpark. Then again, this Easter Egg had more new material than he’d ever seen in Reign of Blood before, so werewolves weren’t exactly out of spec. Besides, this one seemed content to watch the fun. Perhaps it was waiting for a better time to attack, but surely it wouldn’t risk getting caught by the reivers. Whatever the monster’s motivations, there wasn’t much Arix could do about it right now anyway. It would probably just pick off a reiver to eat while they were all trundling through the ruins in search of him and Mark. One less reiver for them to worry about. Still, he should mention it to Mark just in case the monster decided to be annoying.
“Hey, Mark.”
“Yup?”
“We’ve got a monster trailing us. Hairy humanoid. Looks a bit like a werewolf?”
“Werewolf? Since when does Reign of Blood have werewolves? Or any kind of changling for that matter.”
“Just what I was wondering. I haven’t kept up with their dev diary, but I’m pretty sure the Creative Director was dead set about nothing sneaking in from the classic monster set. No vampires or werewolves. No giant spiders either.”
“Yeah, I read that too. He was pretty bloody vehement about giant spiders. Most overused monster in RPG history apparently.”
“He’s not wrong,” admitted Arix.
“This werewolf. Did it look like it was hunting us? Kinda don’t need that right now.”
“Strangely enough, no. It weren’t giving off that vibe. Seemed happy just watching.”
Mark shrugged. “If it leaves us alone, we might as well return the favor.”
“Sounds good to me.” Out of the corner of his eye, Arix saw the amulet sparkle.
“Sid. Are you awake in there?”
“I am now, although I prefer meditating while you’re dashing about the place. Makes me a little motion sick otherwise.”
“Sorry, can’t really be helped at the moment.”
“Not to worry. Now, there’s an archway in front of you,” explained Citadel. “Follow that for roughly fifty meters and take a sharp left. Stop as soon as you see the fountain of Khorlvah. Ascend the steps to your right. Go all the way up and follow the roofline until you overlook a wide avenue. Make yourselves visible but don’t move from that spot until your pursuers arrive.”
“What about archers?” asked Arix.
“There is enough cover at the chosen vantage point to keep you safe. I cannot stress how important it is that the reivers travel down that street. There is a rather nasty surprise waiting for them.”
“What sort of surprise?” asked Mark.
“A type of creature that remains dormant within the ground until it feels the vibrations of approaching prey.”
“Will they come after us once they’re done with the reivers?” wondered Mark.
“Most likely. It would be a good idea to move on rather speedily once these creatures engage the soldiers.”
“Sounds like a plan then,” said Arix, clapping his gauntlets together. “Let’s go feed the locals.”
Citadel continued to guide them as they went, reminding them of the directions until they reached the vantage point. He’d chosen the spot wisely. An attic had partially collapsed, leaving a clear view of the street but plenty of sturdy wall to cover them should archers shoot upwards from the street.
The warlock pointed at an intact turret across the street. “Can your crossbow shoot that far?”
Arix wondered for a moment what he was on about, but a quick look at the turret told the story. “Worried about them reiver archers getting the drop on us?”
“Exactly.”
“I’ll aim a little high, allow for the drop off,” answered Arix, quietly impressed with how swiftly Mark could take in the surrounding area and spot potential hazards. “The archers tend to be lightly armored so my bolts should still punch through easily enough. I’m going to have to start rationing my ammo though.” He rattled his quiver to make his point. It was only half full. “Haven’t seen any crossbows among them reivers so there won’t be no restocking either.”
“I asked a couple of the rangers to make you some more. It turns out most rangers have a fletching skill. Vari probably has a bunch at the waypoint already.”
“You’ve thought of everything, haven’t ya?”
“I wish.” He pointed down at the dusty street. It was flat and featureless, devoid of anything that would indicate a lurking horror underneath. “Going forward from here, we’ll lead them into natural hazards or hit them with melee. If we ensure there are two escape routes from each ambush site, we should be fine.”
Arix nodded his approval. “You know your shit, Mark. That offer of mine still stands.”
Mark scowled and shook his head. “We should just focus on getting through the night, eh?”
“If you’re only staying because of Vari, you’ve got to-”
“L
ater, alright?” Mark hissed.
“Hey, just making the most of our spare time before the anti-cavalry arrives.”
Mark ignored him and pressed the amulet to the closest wall. “How long until they get here, Sid?”
“Any moment now. Time to take in the show from the box seats, gentlemen.”
They perched on the edge of the attic to await their pursuers. As Citadel had promised, the reivers didn’t take long to get there. Soldiers poured into the street below, a few scouts leading the way. As per Citadel’s instructions, Mark had been careful to cover their tracks up to the roof. Arix and Mark held their positions until one of the scouts shouted and pointed up at them. A few archers among the group notched arrows, ready to fire until an older woman with a longbow barked something and beckoned for them to follow her into the nearby turret. The other archers obeyed, heading for the darkened doorway that would lead them upwards.
The first scream came from the front of the pack as a scout was dragged into the dirt by some unseen assailant. A second followed, also at the front, and the third was the older woman, her two hands on the doorframe, bracing against whatever had burst from the ground and seized her legs. She only held out for a second or two before her grip gave way and she was dragged, shrieking and flailing, into the dirt. The remaining reivers tried to run for it. Most only made it a few steps before being pulled down. One particularly athletic scout leaped up and caught hold of a windowsill. As she struggled to haul herself to safety, one of the creatures burst from the ground beneath her. It latched onto the stone wall with hairy insectoid feet, like a fly settling on a wall, and scuttled upwards with frightening ease.
This was the only clear view Arix got of the creatures. This thing’s carapace shone like burnished copper, and though its basic shape was that of an ant, it had more legs and mouth parts than it had any right to possess. Two of those legs grabbed the struggling scout around the waist and drew her down into a gnashing array of mandibles. The woman was still bleating and thrashing as the monster peeled off the wall and performed a graceful backwards dive into its hole. An eerie silence fell over the street.
“Oh my god,” whispered Mark. “Those poor bastards.”
Arix shrugged. “If it was real, it’d be truly horrifying, yeah. Personally, I give it eight out of ten for monster design. Nine out of ten for execution. Overall score for the viewing experience, eight point five out of ten. If we weren’t so busy, I’d be tempted to pop down there and take some of those things on. They look like they’d make a satisfying crunch under my axe.”
Mark looked at him with disbelief. “I don’t think I’ve met anyone quite so determined to ignore the truth that’s right in front of their eyes.” He pointed down into the street. “Could you not see their fear? Could you not hear the genuine pain in their screams?”
Arix took a deep breath and put on his understanding face. It was the one he used when his esports interviewees marched out that tired old trope about finding and following your passion. He’d met many a passionate failure in his day.
“A bit of a spell in reality will do you a world of good, geeza.” Arix was saved from Mark’s sour retort by a welcome notification.
By using the environment to your advantage, you have slain a force of reivers.
One Level 4 Archer, two Level 3 Soldiers, four Level 2 Soldiers and six Level 1 Soldiers.
Your XP reward per party member = 100 XP
“Twenty-nine reivers in total so far,” said Arix. “Not a bad start, but there won’t be any more coming this way, what with them ruptures in the ground. Let’s double back and see who else is backing around in the darkness, begging for a horrible death.” He laughed. “Just like a b-grade horror movie. The victims split up so they can cover more ground, making it a piece of cake for the monsters to pick them off one by one.”
“That’s right. We’re the monsters,” answered Mark darkly.
Arix clapped his shoulder in what he hoped was a good-natured way. “Rather be remembered than liked.” Then he tapped the amulet with his gauntleted finger. “Hey Sid. You in there, chap?”
“Ouch.”
“Sorry, but do you think you could sort us a way back to the perimeter?”
They carried on this way for several hours, drawing reivers into the ruins, leading them into traps, ambushing them in person when there were no natural or unnatural hazards at hand. Both he and Mark took several bad beatings and they died a few times too. Twice for him and three times for Mark.
The warlock’s third death was Arix’s personal favorite. A soldier broke the handle off his axe while cleaving through Mark’s leg, amputating the limb just above the cuiss. Having no other weapon handy, the resourceful reiver pulled Mark’s helmet off, picked up the warlock’s severed leg and bashed his skull in with it. Arix could’ve intervened but Mark would’ve been a goner from blood loss anyway. The reiver was really performing a mercy killing. As payment for the entertainment, Arix gave the soldier a swift decapitation. Clean and painless.
Treating death as pretty much a given, Arix and Mark had committed to resetting their resurrection points regularly, and in each case the survivor managed to finish off the last of the opposition and retrieve the fallen one’s gear before reinforcements arrived. During that time they returned to the waypoint twice to pick up crossbow bolts and fresh EP and HP potions from Vari. Although the figurist had recruited four rangers to help her guard the place, they took a new and painfully circuitous route each time to throw off any unseen pursuers.
When they stumbled one last time into the former Horripede’s lair, Vari took one look at them and ushered them to the waypoint.
“You two look like cadavers. Three days old, without the benefit of cold storage.”
“Okay, maybe you can head out in my place next time,” offered Arix. He was barely able to keep his eyes open and wasn’t in the mood to take any scripted crap from a bot.
Vari ignored him and hugged Mark, ignoring the blood and gore splattered across the man’s armor. “Bath and bed for you, mister.”
“And me?” wondered Arix. Not that he fancied having a threesome with the two of them. Neither were his type. And none of the rangers present were up to snuff either. Two were blokes and the girls had a weathered outdoorsy look that didn’t really do it for him. He liked his glam girls, and Krissy was the glammest girl he’d ever fancied. Still, when in Rome... “Scratch that. You two aren’t invited. I’ll have a chat to those two village girls I met the other day. The blond sisters with the big-”
“What were their names?” asked Mark, his tone flat as a sword blade.
“Fucked if I know or care, frankly.”
“I care,” snapped Mark as he stood on the waypoint. “They live within my walls which means they’re under my protection.”
Arix gave him a mischievous grin. “I shall promise to treat them like the lovely people you believe them to be, as often and for as long as they want. I shall ask very nicely and will gracefully accept a ‘no’ should that be their misguided desire.”
“Aaaaaanyway,” exclaimed Mark, “we can only afford a couple of hours sleep. If we wait too long, Karina will decamp.”
“She’s not going to leave her precious altars behind,” countered Arix.
“No, but she still has the personpower to shift them.”
“Ninety-one soldiers,” Citadel informed them. “Not including herself and Dayna’s murderess.”
“If I were her,” mused Vari, “I’d stay put and try to complete the Breaking Dawn ritual.”
“But we have the instructions,” said Mark.
Vari shrugged. “She’s an inquisitor, Mark. Her whole life is devoted to finding things out, no matter the cost. She’ll work it out.”
Arix rolled his eyes. He desperately wanted to clean up, fuck away the dregs of his adrenaline, and then get a good night’s sleep surrounded by soft, warm virtual bodies. Krissy would understand. She knew she was the only real girl for him. He pushed the tempting daydream as
ide and embraced the ugly truth instead. Mark and Vari were right.
“Yeah, don’t matter what way we slice it. We don’t have a lot of time.” He sighed. “Guess the sisters will have to wait.”
“Poor them,” muttered Vari.
Arix ignored her. “Okay, dibs on going through the bath first. Then a nap. Two hours, tops.”
Mark nodded his agreement. “I’ve left Ishka’s tome in the library. I’ll have another quick look at it while you’re cleaning up. Got to make sure we can actually pull this off when the time comes.”
Arix offered him a wicked grin. “Just sorry I won’t be there when it’s time to slit her throat. I owe that bitch a nice, slow death for all the shit she’s put me through.”
Mark shot him an expected look of disgust, but Vari surprised him by nodding her approval.
“See? Vari knows what I’m talking about.”
Vari shrugged at Mark’s shocked expression. “Sorry, Mark, but you’ve not seen an inquisitor’s work firsthand.”
“Let’s just get back to Citadel and rest up. We’ve still got a lot of work ahead of us.”
Yes, Arix thought to himself, more than you’ve bargained for, Mark.
23
[Mark]
Mark sank into the steaming bath and let out of groan of bliss. He washed the blood and dust from his body, starting with his face and working his way down. The heat dulled the aches and pains in his tired muscles and the water eased the weight of the world from his shoulders.
He worried that he wouldn’t be able to sleep. There was just too much adrenaline in his blood, too much purpose on his mind. He was this close to saving Garland from the corruption and creatures that terrorized the people who lived along these mountains. And from the brief chat he’d had with Calder while Arix was using the bathroom, the corruption was spreading deeper into Garland. One traveler even talked of Mist Wraith sightings near the capital. Yes, things were getting worse and Mark felt that he was the only one who could put it right. Well, not alone, of course. He couldn’t do it without Vari and Citadel. And then there was Arix.