Chapter 15
War
The idea that someone would want to join the cult of undeath baffled me. Why someone would corrupt a corpse for power disgusted me no more than disgusted it filled me with revulsion and hatred. My thoughts must have shown on my face because Garron said, " don't let anger get you all riled up save your energy. You will need it. What we are fighting is a hoard an army. We will be riding into hell. You will see things that will keep you up at night for the rest of your life. Now all of you prepare yourselves. I smell the rot."
Seeing an undead army was the worst thing that I had ever seen up to that point. I pointed my crossbow and pulled the trigger. The magical bolt hit the first gloomstocker zombie then pasted into the on behind it. I saw them crumble. The gloomstocker zombies were civilians that the twisted servants for the necromancer. But thinking too long on a battlefield is a good way to die so I keep pulling the trigger killing no releasing the souls of the zombies.
Nil fired arrows into the middle of the zombies causing a minor pile up of the back line. "Pull back." Fizzwick yelled. He was back on his horse after setting 2 fire bomb traps.
The explosion and rush of hot air on my back made me sweat. "Good work Fizzwick what is about a quarter of them" Nil said firing 2 arrows back into the horde.
I also blasted magic from my crossbow 5 times hitting the same one as nil once.
A bolt of purple energy hit Garron's and Nil's horses. "Damn it." I pulled my horse to a stop. I got off and said, "Nil git on the horse."
"What about you? I will not leave you." Nil said.
"It is more important for you to stay mobile. Now go. I will be fine." Nil got on to the horse. I blasted the last of the energy from my crossbow. As Nil fired her bow.
Garron was killing the ones that were ahead of the rest of the hoard. I loaded a new whispering core into my crossbow. Then ran to Garron and told him about Nil's horse. Fizzwick threw 2 alchemical fire bombs into the mass in the middle. I saw more purple energy go past missing Nil and Fizzwick.
In retaliation Nil fired an arrow with a c-rank fire bomb strapped to it. The arrow did not fly well but it did not have to because of the blast. It killed probably 45 of the zombies. The stone road was glowing red with the heat of the blast. I blasted my crossbow 3 times clearing a path to see the gods damned necromancer. I shot 3 more blasts at him. He danced out of the way 2 of them but one hit the meat of his thigh.
I put the crossbow into my storage space as the zombies were getting close. Pulling my sword I cut down 3.
…
I tried to fight back to get back to Nil as she was dragged down by the horde. The horse ran.
The fizzwick's bombs created gaps around us as the necromancer sent 50 zombies to come behind us. Garron was next to me. "Garron we need to fight back to Nil and Fizzwick."
Garron nodded. We killed many zombies. The zombie's numbers were starting to get thin. "We need to kill that damn necromancer. Before he gets away." Nil said once we got close.
"Fizzwick do you have any more of those fire bombs?" I asked.
"Yes one more it is a C-rank but that's it."
"Through it as high and as far back as you can. I want to burn the necromancer." I said. Whispering the last part.
"How do you even know that the god's damned bastard deathgrubber is even still there?" Fizzwick asked.
"Because I hit him in the leg with my crossbow earlier he is functionally crippled. We just need to get to him."
Fizzwick threw his last fire bomb high and far like I asked him to do. Garron and myself pushed hard. With the last fire bomb there were maybe 2 dozen zombies left. Nils arrows were falling all around us while Fizzwick used his hand crossbow non magical.
The necromancer was on the ground trying to put a bandage on the wound that I caused. With an empty potion vile next to him on the ground. Garron jumped, putting his foot on his chest pinning him to the ground.
Veldric pulled weakly at the dagger on his belt. Taking Garron's lead I put my foot on his hand. "What do you plan to do with that?" I said.
Something about it made me take the dagger sheath in all. "Tern what is that?" Nil asked walking, up to me.
"I recognize this style but I don't remember where."
I pulled the blade part way out. "Gods damn this I a ceremonial dagger of the duke guards. I saw it during a fair when I was 25" I turned to Veldric "Where did you get this?"
"Why would I tell you anything? You will kill me anyway." Sneered Verdric.
"Well yes you will die here today. Would you rather a slow drawn out affair or a quick death."
"Well you make a good point. My mentor gave it to me. He had an experiment go wrong destroying the town that he was in. He stole it from some escaping guard."
"Did you enter the vault? Do you have a key?" I asked.
"I have not been in the vault. Though I will not share secrets that will hurt the interests of lord Neroth."
I looked at Garron and he nodded. I put the dagger through the bottom of the mouth out the top of his head. Killing him instantly. "I'm sorry." I whispered, closing the eyes of Veldric.
"Why apologize to a deathgrubber." Garron asked.
"This man had no options; he was born into the Graveshadow family. I don't regret killing him. I would do it 100 times over. What I regret is that he was not able to choose his own path. He was indoctrinated. But at the end of the day he killed a lot of people and he needed to be stopped." I said solemnly.
"That is true But Tern, why did you not ask him who his mentor was? Maybe you could have tracked them down and avenged your city." Nil asked.
"I could have but what is the point? The trail is 130 years old and elves and part elven people have trouble using undeath magic."
"Elves can't use Untheath magic?" Fizzwick asked.
"No they can but it is very difficult to do the spiritual magic all elves have. It is like trying to light a candle underwater. Sure you could find a way to do it but it would be so much work that it is not worth the attempt." Nil said.
"Well dwarves live for well over 200 years so a dwarf could have done it." Garron said.
"True but it does not matter what's done is done."
"That is true. Let's get to the vault. Fizzwick you will have to walk, we will need your horse to carry the body." Garron said.
Chapter 16
The vault
We already knew where the vault was. As we have fought the zombies on a block to the north of the battlefield. We were all quiet in the still air after the battle. The vault door was made of black steel. I could feel the energy if undeath. It made my whole being angry. But that was just the small amount of spirit magic for my elven heritage reacting. I looked over to Nil and she was pale.
"Hey Garron, Nil and I are going to stay out here." I said.
"Ok. I'll holler if I need you."
"Tern, why did you say that? I am fine to go in"
"Nil, I have a question for you."
"Uh sure, go ahead."
"The day we first went into the infinite city together you said that your clan sent soldiers to aid stonehollow." I said.
"Well sure we did but that is not a question."
"Do you know anyone who was there?"
"Sure my cousin was there, that is how he made a name for himself. He is in town working with the continental council looking for more of the cult of undeath. But why ask?"
"Can you get me a meeting with him?"
"Yes as long as he is still in town when we get back. Sure, are you going to ask about what the necromancer said?"
Veldric slumped off the horse. Falling to the ground. "That can't be good." Nil said.
I pulled my sword. Carefully edging forward I saw a small seed shaped stone shoot out into Veldric's corps. It stood up. "This is not quite right, this body is wrong." Veldirc said in a hollow voice.
"Oh shit, Garron, get out here."
"Tern you killed me once. I will have my revenge but this body," He gestured at himself "Is weak right now. So not today but soon. Hell is very warm this time of year."
Garron threw a dagger but Veldric caught it. Then bolted deeper into the city fast as Elyra's flames.
"Scorch it all. Damn it!" Garron raged.
"Calm down. It'll be fine. The guild will send B-rankers to hunt him down," Nil said.
"Fine. It'll be fine. Maybe for you and your half-blooded mongrel. Shut up, you Treebred Bastard!" Garron snarled, spit flying from his mouth.
I hit Garron as hard as I could in the mouth. I felt something crack. I wasn't sure if it was my knuckles or his jawbone—or both.
Garron hit the ground.
I put my new dagger up against his throat. "If I ever hear you say something like that again, I'll kill you, consequences be damned."
"Woah now. Everybody calm down. The undeath energy is probably screwing with our heads. Let's leave and get the guild involved. They'll be able to clear this safely. Without anyone killing each other," Fizzwick said.
"Fine. Let's go," I said.
"The hell we are leaving. This is my chance to make it in the guild. Not all of us are lucky enough to partner up with a damned Moondrift," Garron said.
"No, we should leave," Nil said.
"We are not leaving," Garron insisted.
"I don't care what the hell you do, Garron. The rest of us are leaving."
"You will not. I am ordering you to stay," Garron said.
"Garron, you're not in charge of this quest. I am the leader of the party that took the original quest. Notice I'm the leader," Nil said.
"That may be true in normal circumstances, but these are not normal circumstances because of these artifacts."
"Fine, I understand why you wouldn't want to leave them unguarded," I said, then shot a distress flare into the air.
"I did not tell you to do that, Tern! Fire the all-clear now!" Garron shouted.
"No, we need specialists to contain the artifacts in that vault. You don't plan on keeping any, do you?" I said, trying to keep the anger out of my voice.
"Those are worth a lot of money. I'll split them with you."
"Excuse me, Garron, what in the hells are you talking about? Just saying that could get you kicked out of the guild."
"Garron, you need a healer. Look at your arms—your veins are turning black," Fizzwick said.
Garron pulled out a short sword I hadn't seen him use before. "You're going to die, Tern." He lunged at me.
"Shit." I pulled one of my daggers with an ice enchantment since my hand was already on the handle.
I jumped out of the way of Garron's sword, narrowly avoiding losing an arm. Nil drew an arrow, but Garron's sword flashed, cutting through the wood of her bow.
Garron was back on me. I parried his sword, which wasn't ideal because my dagger wasn't designed for that. But chunks of ice were forming on the blade, slowing it down.
Garron was faster, stronger, and better trained than I was. The thing that let me win was the road we were on. One of the cobbles under his foot broke and slid out from under him. I stabbed him in the chest, right on his heart.
Chapter 17
Jailhouse and courtroom
The adventures that came in response to my distress flare. Arrested me because I did not lie when I gave a report of what happened. Being arrested was purely a formality. As it was pure self defense.
Even though it was a formality, being in the courthouse jail room sucked. Doubling has a drunk tank so the cell that I was in smelled quite bad. I also had to wear an intrinsic magic suppression device to stop me from just going into my storage space and take out a set of lock picks and just break out. The suppression device was worn around the neck and a chain to my left ankle. This made any position I sat in or lie down in was pristinely uncomfortable.
I sleeped one night in the cell before Nil was allowed to visit me. "Tern, I was able to schedule you a court hearing before the branch director. I think you will just get a slap on the wrist. Because I was self defence after all. Also you were lucky that Fizzwick was there since he is from the alchemist guild and a high ranking member to bute and he is not part of the adventures guild. So his testimony makes more of a difference than mine."
"Thanks Nil, your support means a lot."
"Of course. But there is one more thing that is helping you. It has been confirmed that Garron was curoped by the dark magic energy. Also he is ¼ Umbren on his mother's side."
"Umbren what is that and how does that help?" I asked.
"Oh, it is a race of people that look like humans but the magical matrices within their bodies. Was damaged by a curse placed upon the whole race causing them to be more susceptible to dark magic corruption. But most of their people don't ever get hurt by dark magic. Because most can fight off its effects but some just can't."
"Well I just feel bad for Garron being corrupted by dark magic can't be pleasant. He also taught me a lot about leadership. Not directly but I did see him work during the goblin expedition." I said.
"True I liked him too. But right now we need to focus on getting you out of this cell and keeping your guild membership." Nil said.
After Nil was led away by the courthouse guards all I could think about is Veldric Graveshadow's last words to ma and his declaration that he was going to kill me. But Nil was right. I needed to keep my mind on the way out of chains. But Veldric kept coming back to my mind no matter how many times that I banished him.
The morning after talking to Nil I was led up the stairs to the courtroom. Sitting at the high bench was not the branch director of this guild. But the guild master of the whole guild Marek Ironford. I was not prepared for that.
"Tern road builder." Marek said.
"AH yes sir that is me."
"You are the man that killed Garron Vell, is that correct?"
"Yes sir that is correct but it was self defense." I said.
"Yes I have heard the testimony of Nil Moondrift, your teammate and Fizzwick Copperpot the man you took with you to help fight the necromancer. But even in self defence the killing of a higher rank member of the guild is tricky business you could have provoked him into attacking him." Marek said.
I started to say something but Marek put up his hand to forestall me. "I don't believe that you did that especially with the testimony of Nil and Fizzwick and the team that arrested you said you were honest and cooperative with their orders. So I am going to fine you 50% pay on your next 3 jobs. A guild will assign these quests. They'll be quests that have been for over a month. A guild enforcement officer will get in contact with you the next day they will also accompany you on these quests. Are you fine with these terms?" Marek said the last part not as a question but as a statement.
"Yes sir, I accept these terms."
"Good, now are will stay at the guild barracks or an inn?"
"I am staying at the Okay Stay." I said.
"Fine you are to stay there until the guild enforcement officer makes contact with you. Like I said before this will be in the next 24 hours." Marek said.
The chains around my neck and ankle were removed and I was escorted to the okay stay inn by 2 tough looking human men. I then paid for a few more 3 nights 4 steel coins and a hot bath for 15 copper because I wanted to wash the scent of jail off me. I slept well after washing and being on a comfortable bed, well comfortable at least compared to the bed in the jail cell.
Chapter 18
Punishment detail
In the morning I awoke to knocking on my door. I quickly pulled on a fresh shirt from my storage space. Opening the door Nil was there with a man that I did not know but I assumed that he was the guild enforcement officer. "Morning Nil. and I do not know you sir."
"My name is Jace Latch. You have been assigned 3 monster hunting quests as a punishment detail. If there is nothing that you need to get ready? Do that now."
"I have a storage space so I already have everything so I am ready when you are."
"Okay then let's go then." Jace said.
On the way out of town we ran into fizzwick who joined us. "So Fizzwick I heard that you just bought a house with a connected lab near Elarith. Is that true?" Nil said.
"Yes, an acer cost me 44,000 copper in total. But now I have space to create herb gardens so I don't have to keep buying basic herbs and alchemical supplies So I'll save money in the long run. I'm also about to hire some people to help me increase my soap sales."
"You sell soap?" Jace asked.
"Yes I do it to help sport my alchemical research. Why do you want to buy a bar?"
"Yes, actually my husband loves soap and our anniversary is coming up. It is expensive but I make good money so how much do I owe you?"
Well that depends if you want a c-rank bar that uses parts from C rank monsters and removes odor from a person permanently for a year. Make you smell bad to monsters for 1200 cp. Or do you want a more basic bar like an E-rank bar for 700 cp. That is all I have on me though."
"Hell, I'll buy both. If you would be willing to hire my daughter at your soap shop. I want her to learn hard work and a trade."
"Well sure I will hire her, we will get in contact after the quest."
Jace handed Fizzwick 1900 cp in steel and silver coins in the form of 36 silver coins.
"Hells I nearly died fighting monsters and you make 2 grand in 15 minutes." I grumbled and smiling at Fizzwick.
"Yes, that is why alchemists are better than adventurers."
"Those are fighting words my friend." Nil said.
We laughed.
"Hey fizzwick why did you join us in the first place?" Nil asked.
"Oh I need mithril for a high end metal skin potion that I commissioned by lord Ashenvane. This could put me up to B-rank in the alchemist guild and make up to 55,000 copper. That would allow me to expand my land holdings and create an alchemical supplies business."
"Good for you Fizzwick Copperpot." Nil said.
We entered the town called Graymarch. The main export is raw mithril. But part of the mines have been overrun with monsters so we went to clear them out. It was important to clean them out quickly because 250 miners were not working meaning they were not getting paid.
"Alright, all three quests we posted are down in that mine," the foreman said. "First, there are about thirty Stonehide Lizards. Don't worry about killing them all—you won't. Take down fifteen to complete the quest. Any group of three or four miners can handle one, but they rarely come alone. Usually, they show up in packs of three to twelve.
"Second quest: we've spotted one or two Metalhide Lizards. They eat mithril, so when one shows up, it's got to be dealt with fast.
"Third and final quest is a Stone-Chewer Drake. That one's deep in the lower tunnels."
"Alrighty then let's go on in then." I said.
We picked up some oil lamps. I also put a few extra in my storage space. I had one glow stone but it was not bright enough and would give us away through walls to anything with magical scenes.
Fizzwick made us stop every few minutes to pick mushrooms or some other alchemical ingredients. But the serenity of the silent mine shaft started to wane as sound came charging from below. "Prepare yourselves." Nil said pulling her war pick off her belt.
I pulled my crossbow out of my storage space. Firing into the first of 3 stonehide lizards, the bolt staggered it but no real damage. "By the first flame." I sighed.
Pulling out a hammer, a regular everyday hammer, I sighed again. Fizzwick laughed so hard I thought that he just might crack a rib. "Tern you are going to sprain your shoulder using that damned hammer." Fizzwick squeezed out through peals of laughter.
I slammed the hammer into one of the lizards. A loud crack sounded through the shaft. The damnable handle to the hammer broke. Though it did smash the head of the lizard killing it.
"Oh you have got to be shitting me." I exclaimed.
Fizzwick seemed to get control of himself but he started to crack up all over again. "Just loot the bodies, Tern, don't let Fizzwick bother you." Nil said, tapping her war hammer on my head.
"Fizzwick, Nil I hate you both." I said before cracking up myself.
Looting the lizards I got 2 pelts that went to Jace because they were worth 300 cp a piece. But from the third body a pickaxe formed made of dark iron and red gems glowing dimly where the handle met the head of the pickaxe.
When I used my appraisal skill on it it said this.
Divine skill manifested tool Pickaxe
Name: Stone-Biter
Effects: 75% faster mining, pulls user to high value ores, and will pull user towards an exit. Also can mine through any material that does not block magic. Very effective against enemies with strong armor or natural defences
Value: 85,000 cp
Owner: Tern Road Builder
This item can only be used by the creator of the item.
I read the description to the group. Jace said to keep the item sense it was made by ability gifted to him by the goddess of luck. I thought that he did not want to offend the goddess of luck who was a terrible enemy to have.
We continued on the Stone chewer pickaxe killing 5 of the lizards. But the last group of the stonehide lizards had the metalhide lizard with them in total 8 stonehide lizards and 1 metalhide lizard.
The first of the stone lizards came right at Nil but her stonebreaker warpick was made exactly for this.
I killed one of the stone lizards. Stone Biter destroyed the head of the creature. It also caused my loot ability to activate, leaving a pile of loot but I did not have time to look at it. The next few were destroyed quickly. The battle was over quickly. "Did anyone notice that all of those monsters seemed to not really be interested in us?" Nil asked.
"Yeah I did notice that maybe there is a stronger monster down there that they are running from." Fizzwick said.
"The drake maybe?" I asked.
"Probaly." Nil said.
Without more discussion we all continued deeper into the tunnels. The air became thick with heat and magic, "The magic density is getting a bit absurd, it is getting hard to breathe." Fizzwick said.
We found the body of the stone chewer drake dead and it was decapitated. "Tesspasers tell me why I should not kill you right now."
Looking to the source of the voice we saw what looked to be a dragon with deep crimson scales. "Oh Fuck." Nil said.
"Red dragon." Fizzwick mumbled.
"Ha I am nothing so punny as a red dragon. I am a magma dragon, the most noble of creatures. Now killing you, lot will bring more peskie adventures into my lair so go get someone who can make an accord.
Lore tidbit
Soap is a rare and expensive commodity especially when it's made by someone skilled like Fizzwick.
Chapter 19
Dragons are good for business
The dragon made Nil and I say behind to make a preliminary agreement that went like this 10% of the profits of the mined mithril will go to the dragon and a tithe of 500 gold pieces will go to the dragon every year. 100 of his cobalt minions will make patrols and keep naturally spawning monsters from destroying mithril deposits.
After an hour a high ranking executive of the mining company and the mayor made their way back to us and Nil told them the the preliminary deal and they talked back and forth but the only difference is that ones a month the dragons would send an extra 50 of its minions to help clear the monsters in the tunnels. Also any of the dragon's minions could mine for the company if they met qualifications for employment.
I thought that the dragon would just take the wages of its minions so its hoard would grow but I did not make my thought known. Nil added the clause that an adventure guild would have the representative come make sure the deal was being followed both sides.
Back at the surface Jace marked my punishment detail complete and Nil and I refused are payment and had it spread out though the miners to help their lost wages.
Once back in the city of Elarith, Nil's cousin was no longer in the city. He went on a quest that would take at least 3 years. Nil told me that it would bring in about 45,000 gold for the clan not to mention how much he would keep and loot.
"Is he S-rank?" I asked.
"No A-rank but this is a quest straight from guild master Ironford. My father thinks that he will soon be S-rank and that would be great for the clan having another S-rank member."
"How many S-rankers are in the clan?"
"Well only the head of the clan knows that for sure but I know of 25 but there is probably double or triple that."
"That many… wow."
"Yea there is some guild politics that have stopped some of the members of the clan from getting to s-rank as some faction in the guild think that we have too much influence over the s-rank consol who elects one of its members to become the guild master. Actually Ironford the current guild master was backed by my clan."
"Moving away from politics I think that I am going to get a room at the mediocre stay. Now that my punishment detail is over we should take as many quests as we can get."
"That's what I was thinking. I got a letter from my father saying that because of the political capital the clan spent to help keep your membership within the adventurous guild we would have to start paying 5% of earnings to the clan which normally happens at B-rank."
"Ok that makes sense. The clan needs funds to train the next generation of adventurers" I said.
To Be Continued
Lore break 2
Remember the part of the song that the drunk orc was singing in chapter 5 "the world was grand in elder days…" was the line he sang before he saw Nil and Tern. here is the full song.
The world was grand in elder days
It was better way back when
When sword and shield defended man
The world was grand in elder days
When man and monster battled
All that mattered was sweat and blood
When all was for gold and silver
The world was grand in elder days
This is a song that both sides of the last battle of the age of monsters. It was lamenting the time when things were in balance. The age of ballice was the time that came before. But do to the short lives of men only living 100 or so years when the ages of the world are counted in the millions and a thousand ages have passed.
As you might have guessed, the world of aldearea is very old; no living being knows the full history with the exception of Elyra the fist flame, the goddess of creation. But she is not a mortal like the elves but do to monster attacks the oldest current living elf is 1,500,083 years old but she is an out lier because she happens to be a high priestess of Elyra and has been meditating for the last 100,000 years surviving of pure magic.
But the world is filled with constant battling due to monsters. Like I mentioned before, the soul of a monster is fundamentally different and they have a desire to kill. But the smarter ones isolate themselves like the hushed star of the aeon moths who is slightly different to a monster because it has been alive long enough to develop a true soul. But getting in to the true nature of a soul in this world is not something that I ever plan to do because I really does not matter to the story.
Authors note
If you have read this far I would like to personally thank you. The fact that someone has read my writings fills me with joy. The creation of this fantasy world has been very fulfilling. It was a long process that had me up to 4am many a night.
My name is Solomon M Stubbs I took this name for My great great grandfather though
the middle initial M I took for my grandmother's name she was very close to.
Once again thanks for reading.