Song of Battle in effect! PRM regeneration and purple potion in effect!
Finesse check made! Dwarven blade pulled free of dimensional rift.
Even as the massive horror chittered a scream, Val was lashing out with his boosted blade, flashing a brilliant blue as it hacked into the spider's cephalothorax, cracking the carapace right between the swarm of all too human-looking eyes.
Val gritted as a hideous scream tore through his mind, only partially blocked by his Mentem-boosted shield.
You have suffered 30 health and 1 light wound from Doomspider’s Deathcry!
Song of Battle in effect! Death's Kiss in effect!
Smiling grimly as inhuman vitality and the dark boons of his class and spell filled him to bursting with energy, only heartbeats later.
Instantly assessing the situation, Psi-Sense, Magesight, and the now considerable glow of Elementium crystals only a handful of feet above his head coming together to give him a bird’s eye sense of the battle field.
The half-dozen giant spiders on this massive network of thick steel cable-like strands of webbing, which were hardly sticky at all, Val found, or at least not such that dwarven-forged armored boots and 21 strength couldn’t easily rip free of.
But running, he feared, would be out of the question.
“Jump!” Val screamed. “Yell parachute, guys! It’s not worth it!”
But his three friends’ entrapment only grew as endless strands of silken webbing were looped upon their squirming forms.
Val’s heart was pounding furiously. Fuck! What if their mouths had been covered? How would the spiders even know to do that?
Eyes widening with horror as he saw massive fangs plunge what could only be venom into one struggling form. Knowing their lives could now be measured in minutes.
Val didn’t waste any more time, refusing to allow the horror of it all to freeze him. The state most fatal to any soldier.
Instead he acted in the moment, trusting the madness of his impulse, allowing himself only a single moment of furious exultation as he pulled his dwarven hover-blade out of storage, activating it over one of the five-foot-wide strands and revving it up without wasting a second. Because it didn't matter how sticky the strands were, if his bike levitated above them.
Finesse check successful! Level 5 Adept Blade Riding allows you to ride over even strands shot from the spinners of massive spiders without having to fear instant death!
Val flashed a fierce grin before almost flying off his bike, realizing that a fully Synergized Ward did indeed have to worry about air resistance.
Shivering with sudden insight, struck with a madcap idea.
Slowly increasing his speed, fighting to keep his balance, even as he turned the Synergized Ward he didn’t even need to physically touch with his hands so long as it was in close proximity sideways, so it met no more air resistance than, say, a kite. His excitement growing as he found no problem pivoting it just like he would a shield over his head. And at a tiny angle, as if to provide extra balance and even, should he need it, lift.
Synergized Ward skillcheck made! Congratulations in using yet another ability in ways never intended!
Like a hang glider, in fact, as he raced as fast as he sanely could along the central anchorline, pinpointing exactly where the three spiders carrying his friends were in relation to the others, before stopping long enough to center himself and cast his spells.
“Glacie Pilum Perforo!” Val roared, time and time again, boosting the swarm of icy spears he sent crashing into the rock-hard carapaces of the trio of spiders trailing behind the hostage takers.
Many washed off at that range as no more than glancing, poorly angled shots.
But enough got through, hitting dead on, that he distracted the cluster of spiders to charge him in a chittering fury, even as one abruptly fell off the anchor line with a dying squeal, Val’s pykrete spears bursting through its carapace, two right between the mandibles and eyes, spelling its doom.
Congratulations! You have pierced Doomspider’s carapace! Doomspider suffers 102 damage and a critical wound! Doomspider suffers 100 points of damage and a critical wound! Doomspider is dead! Experience earned!
“Dessico!” Val roared, streams of crimson energy once more flowing from the injured spider feet before him into Val before he revved his engine.
Blade Riding Skillcheck made! Synergized Ward skillcheck made!
Laughing at the madness of his own madcap stunt as he hopped strands, dodging streams of sticky web shot at his fast-moving bike, riding right past both spiders now trapped along the central anchor line he had been using moments before. Val slowed his bike to a crawl when he hit the web center, turning back and showering the pair of spiders with repeated castings of his boosted Reaver’s Kiss.
All but howling with the sheer pleasure of so much energy flooding his body even as terror spurred him onward, gunning the engine and moving to intercept the trio of spiders dragging off his friends, leaving the pair of now stumbling spiders behind as they shriveled and died, falling off the web like massive crumpled raisins a double handful of seconds later.
Val blinked, holding himself some slight distance away as the three all too sentient-seeming spiders pivoted around, secured their cocooned and no longer struggling prey to the webbing before turning to face Val in tandem.
Val felt hot fury blaze through his soul.
Roaring with hate as he charged on, managing to cast Reaver's Kiss upon two before massive tendrils of sticking webbing tore him free of his bike, catapulting him toward them.
Dwarven blade summoned from rift! You have boosted your dwarven blade! Psionic Boosting is now Rank 3!
Val laughed with mad glee, his dwarven blade’s edge crackling with blue fire, so much Psionic energy did he pour into it as he cleaved downwards, slicing right through the strand tugging him forward like a rappel line even as he crashed into the closest spider, his Synergized Ward smashing against it like a shield as he cleaved downward with a roar, his vibrating blade cracking through the carapace in a shower of gore and all too human-looking blood.
The gigantic spider shrieked and bucked, Val’s off-hand holding the lip of shattered carapace even as he plunged his blade again and again into the cephalothorax, where the head would be in an insect, the spider’s eyes bursting before his vicious lunges.
You have critically hit Doomspider with dwarven blade! You have successfully killed Doomspider! Death’s Kiss in effect! Additional 126 Health, Stamina, Mana & Psion recovered!
Finesse roll made! You avoid plummeting to your death!
And then Val felt a furious surge of energy as he delivered the killing blow, the squealing spider shriveling before his eyes, and it was all he could do to leap from the shriveling corpse onto the anchor strand of webbing before falling to the ground far below.
Synergized Ward lost in desperate struggle to stay alive! Dwarven blade lost in desperate struggle to stay alive!
Val gasped, hands trembling with terror and exhilaration as he just barely held to the sticky fibers covering the massive anchor thread he was on, using his incredible strength to claw his way back to his feet.
Before being torn off it once more as one of the two remaining spiders wrenched him off his feet with a perfectly aimed strand of deadly sticky fiber latching to the backplate of his armor, sending him crashing back into the waiting pair of pedipalps pinning him in place as its deadly fangs plunged dripping venom in the vulnerable gap between armor and helm.
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Val screamed in sudden pain, tasting laughing death just a few slowing heartbeats away.
You have been knocked off balance! Temporary stun in effect!
You have been injected with Paralytic Poison! Save versus death made! Your heart manages to beat on, despite a dose of venom plunged right into your neck!
Flooded with sudden dizziness, Val was too nauseous to fight the awful spinning as he was quickly wrapped up with webbing, fighting desperately just to keep one trembling
palm by his face as he was covered completely in silken strands.
Tears in his eyes as he fought desperately to sink into his dimensional matrix, to seize precious prizes within. Clawing at it like he would a door leading to warmth and comfort and the doom awaiting him was the howling storm blowing all about him, his fingers were too numb even to open the precious door of his mind. And now he was slipping away as the howling gale sought to carry him off, dizzying blackness reaching up to envelop him in her chilly caress forever more.
Bitter ashes of failure streaming from his eyes as he fought just to breathe…
On the cusp of accomplishing so much, his desperate gambit had met its end. He had only bitter regret for all he had left undone.
“I’m sorry, Julia,” he whispered in his mind. Fleeting thoughts of holding her in his arms, gazing into his smile, a child of their own grinning impishly at them both, in a future that never was.
“So sorry.”
“Fight, damn you! Fight!”
Val gasped a dying breath, life-giving air suddenly filling his frozen lungs.
Heart lurching with the taste of Julia’s terror.
Realizing only then how fiercely she loved him still, how desperately afraid she was.
How close he had come to accepting the soothing susurrations of death’s caress, injected with enough poison to kill an elephant, only alive now thanks to inhuman vitality and streams of energy roaring into him from Song of Battle and Death’s Kiss alike.
Enhancements only seconds from expiring.
He was running out of time.
Open! Val screamed in his mind. Hands numb with chilly death grasped fierce hold of the doorway promising warmth and succor in the depths of his mind, biting back a cry as numb fingers burned with sudden pain.
And then, at last, he managed to force open the portal, despite the numbing storm of poison freezing even his will, squeezing back tears of relief as he partook of the warmth and succor within the shelter of his mind.
Dimensional Rift accessed! You have plucked two red potions out of storage! Only one remains!
Finesse check made! Numb cheeks are still coordinated enough to bite down on crystal vials! 2 Light Wounds suffered! Instantly healed by the red potions coursing through your blood!
Feel the burn, Val!
And Val did. Screaming as numbed nerves came to life. Understanding all too well the peril he was in, cocooned fibers even now being laced so tight even breathing would soon be impossible, feeling the frantic chittering spider wrapping him as rapidly as it could.
Trapped, bound tight, so few cards remained.
So he played the one card he had feared above all others on these elevated webs. But if he was going to die, he sure as hell was taking these bastards with him.
Spending only a single heartbeat to make sure.
Psi-Sense activated. You sense the dying flickers of your three friends being carried away even now!
“Ignis Talio!” Val whispered, and the world was filled with sudden flame.
You have successfully cast Explosive Retribution! You have taken 100 damage and suffered critical burns! Vitality check made! Consciousness maintained! Fight on!
Val screamed with agony and a fierce exhilaration, hands wildly grasping for what was now a furiously burning central line.
Medium Wound and 30 points of damage taken!
Desperate not to breathe the superheated air as he fought for balance on the level top of the strand, feeling a certain fierce satisfaction at the dying screams of the shriveling spider that had come so close to killing him, forcing himself, one footstep after another, to walk beyond the blaze and in the direction of the final spider, even now scurrying away from him at rapid speed.
Song of Battle in effect! PRM Regeneration and Purple Potion in effect! Death’s Kiss in effect!Additional 126 Health, Stamina, Mana & Psion recovered from desiccated Doomspider! Your critical wound has been healed! Injury to hands remain.
Val flashed a fierce grin as he strode free of the fire, his foe’s final dying wails fueling his own recovery, now able to use its life force to rejuvenate his body as well as fuel his growth.
And he had come so close to losing it all.
Just like the three youths trapped in paralytic slumber even now. Careful doses, whereas he had been injected with poison sufficient to kill a rhino.
Val glared at the remaining Doomspider scurrying away from what was now a furiously burning web.
Before turning his hot wrath to icy resolve.
He had played the blazing comet, consuming all in his path, long enough.
It was time to become a predator of ice and shadow once more.
Slipping into the shadows all around, he and his re-summoned hover-blade were just an extension of the massive cavern all around him, now lit up to dazzling effect in the light of countless Elementium crystals flashing prettily in the flames. Yet but a few feet away from the heart of the blaze, all was darkness and gloom once more.
Shadow stalked the chittering arachnid as it quickly darted to where the roof of the cavern abruptly sloped into the walls, one thick strand anchored just below a tunnel the giant spider could just fit inside.
Bike safely stored once more, Val stalked his prey. He was its own shadow as the tunnel looped and turned before splitting off into side passages time and time again, the spider ever heading downwards before the tunnel finally leveled off and straightened.
Val tried to time an ambush, but the creature was moving with all haste. And the way it gripped its cargo so tightly, if Val miscalculated even slightly, its captives would be crushed like eggs.
Ignoring his growing fear that it would soon be too late, he forced himself to ice-cold focus. As perilous as the situation was, getting crushed would help his companions not at all. Far better to wait until the spider's captives were safely deposited. Only then did he dare taking out the beast, when he knew he could safely rescue his companions. The tunnel seemed to go on forever, and Val was a heartbeat from springing into action regardless of the risks, when the corridor abruptly forked, the arachnid immediately taking the leftmost passage, which opened into a massive chamber of squared-off stone.
More a room than a cavern, the stone walls had been carefully worked by either masons or engineers. Val spotted swirling runes and sigils carefully carved into every inch of walls and ceiling, bathing the entire massive room in soft, silver light. He could feel the powerful enchantments resonating within the chamber.
Arcane Perception check made! This chamber is protected by a Greater Warding! Bound together by disciplines other than the Blood Magic that now comes so naturally to you, Val. Souls linked to corporeal shells (even homunculi like you) can freely cross!
Val sensed no traps inured to night’s caress, easily slipping through.
The chamber was empty, save for the glowing runes the spider and its victims, and an obsidian sarcophagus placed on a dais in the very center of the chamber.
“Place the sacrifices before me,” whispered an ethereal voice permeating the room, the spider carefully depositing all three cocoons just before the sarcophagus as the air turned bitter cold, a sliver of ebony seeming to tear itself free of the sarcophagus that bound it, stretching and warping into the outline of a cloaked man with blazing embers for eyes. And for all that it was just a shadowy specter of a man, Val could still sense the hideous smile stretching its outline of a face wide.
“You have done well, slave. Three more heroes that passed the first test, only to be defeated by those who have come before.”
The creature bent down, seeming to sniff the contents within each cocoon as the shadow of Val crept forward. A single prick, and crimson drops somehow hidden in the cracks of the rough carved stone floor began to flow as the night slowly crept forward, painting a circle of his own blood around his friends as the spectre’s inhuman chuckles washed over them all.
“Yes,” the ancient ghost said, lifting its head moments later. “This one will do. The other two you
will use to spawn more slaves to serve me.”
The Deathspider dipped its legs uniformly, an oddly graceful bow, before suddenly scurrying back, lifting up one of its limbs.
The lich hissed. “What? The sacs are clean! There should be no blood here!” Long dead eyes blazed as the creatures sniffed the air.
Contest of skills! Shadowmind verses Eldritch Perception.
uShadowmind holds!
Val could taste a shiver of exhilaration deep within his icy core as he stalked his prey, his Magesight making it clear that he faced no lowly spiritual remnant, but the specter of one who had once been terrible in his power and might. At least the equal of the former necromancer who had once ruled all of Clan Christos, if not far, far worse.
He played with fire daring even to close with such a creature, one he sensed would be utterly immune even to his dwarven blade, the cords of its soul safely out of reach of all but the most potent spells.
And for all that Val had won the contest of skills, the ancient spirit still sensed it was not alone.
Val had almost completed his loop of blood when the suspicious spirit began whispering words of darkest enchantment.
“Another spirit dares to contest my realm? Excellent! Another slave to join my herd.”
Val flashed a fierce grin as the lich whispered words of death and despair, washing over a still-cloaked Val to no effect as he deliberately widened the shallow cut on his wrist to a sudden spurt. The open circle now encasing his friends was quickly closed by the spray of blood that had splashed over the lich as well.
The lich hissed and turned around, spraying a wave of silvery worm-like threads of power into the air. Arcane strands that somehow honed in on Val, rupturing his Shadowmind.
Val had no time for horrified disbelief, the lich’s hot red eyes burning into his own.
“Tutella Defendo!” a suddenly visible Val roared as he jumped into the blood circle, even as the lich roared his own deadly curse.
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