Vraxious- Kings Road
Vrax and Torvald had made good time the first day trekking west away from Hopes End across the well-worn, pitted road. Neither he nor Torvald had the spare funds to buy or care for a horse, a rather extravagant expense for most people. Hopefully further down the line in their adventurer careers, but for now, by foot it was. By nightfall they had passed a few other small groups traveling on foot that had already settled down at campsites for the evening. Vrax slowed down as he noticed the faint flicker of a dying, well-hidden campfire nearly a hundred strides from the road. Something about it set his hair on end.
Vrax held up a hand. “Hold up, you see that fire over there?”
Torvald noticed his tension and took his massive war-hammer from its sling on his back, letting it thud heavily to the road beside him as he stepped up to Vrax’s side. He looked hard at the flickering light for a moment before turning towards his friend in confusion. “What’s the problem? It’s just a campfire.”
“Who lets their campfire burn out this early in the night? Either they fell asleep without a watch like fools….
Torvald finished the rest in realization “Or no one at the camp can tend the fire anymore…” He hefted the warhammer over his shoulder and assumed a ready stance. Vrax shifted his large traveling pack to the roadside, summoned his armor, and grabbed the not glowing spear. His cloak mostly obscured the faint glow of the armor; he didn’t need the light of the sapling giving him away. Vrax slid into the darkness, the tall grass and climbing vines scattered among the pines embracing him as he prowled past, shifting just enough to make sure he was always in the deepest of shadows, hidden from the moonlight.
Torvald followed behind him with whispered curses: “What how the fuck? How did he do that? How am I supposed to follow your fast ass if you turn invisible?”
Vrax quickly gained on the rustling sounds of Torvalds' attempts at stealth behind him. Approaching from an angle, he climbed a tree above the campsite, only a slight rustle in the tree above. Vrax had to hold back a curse at what he saw. Five scuttling, six-legged, insect-like creatures the size of a wolf were tearing into the still-steaming corpses of a family. They used awful mandibles to rip chunks free and devoured them, clothes and all. One much larger creature was rustling through a torn-apart tent, its six chitinous legs attached to a squat, round body with organically flowing armor jutting out like some nightmare version of a crab. The smaller creatures looked similar, just with exposed flesh across parts of the body and far less imposing clawed hands. Fucking shrikers, that hive guard is going to be a problem. Hopefully Torvald can crack the armor. Vrax fired off a quick identify at the creatures below to make sure he wasn’t walking into more than he expected. [Shriker Scavenger Tier-1] (Lvl 4) Alright, all the little ones are about what you would expect. I can probably deal with them. His gaze turned to the guard [Shriker Hive Guard Tier-1] (Lvl 12).
Torvald was fast approaching below, and the shrikers noticed his lack of stealth, scuttling to face him. The guard whirled in the direction of rustling, half the tent still flapping loosely from a spike on its armor. Vrax made the call and shouted from above, “Shrikers! Five scavengers One low-level guard! I'll kill the little ones. Crack the big fucker open Torvald!” The shrikers looked around with their cold, emotionless eyes, unable to spot the source of noise above them, spear in hand, shrouded by nearby pine needles.
There was a rumble, and Torvald erupted from the underbrush, a skill propelling him forward, warhammer raised high, and a booming battle cry echoed throughout the forest. He clipped a smaller shriker with his knee, sending it careening through the campfire and crunching to a stop against a tree trunk, several legs mangled beyond use. He carried through the pack of beasts and hit the guard head-on. It barely managed to get one of its thickly armored legs in the way of its face. Torvald's blow hit the raised leg with the force of a boulder dropped from a mountain. Chunks of chitin sprayed out like shrapnel around them as the beast engaged him in earnest.
Vrax slipped from the branch, spear held tight to his body directly above the centermost shriker. The smite-empowered blow ripped through the center of its back in a sickening pop as thin chitin and flesh turned to a vile black soup, nearly coring the beast. Vrax stood on its back, riding it the best he could as it angrily grabbed towards him with weak claws, still not realizing it was already dead. The other three nearby rounded on him in a hissing rush of claws and mandibles, closing distance disconcertingly fast. Vrax threw himself from the back of the one refusing to die quickly as its brethren clambered over it to get at him.
With a deft roll He sprang to his feet between two trees, and immediately decay spread around him as [Stigmata Garden] ripped the life from the nearby foliage. Following his will, it placed the lurker mushrooms in a rough triangle around him. The first shriker to make it over the body of its brother caught two deadly tendrils at once. One wrapped around its head, the other around two of its legs. It was suspended inches off the ground, being torn apart as they both tried to reel in their prey in opposite directions. Vrax carefully swiveled so the final mushroom was between him and the last two mobile shrikers; he glanced at how Torvald was doing.
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Torvald was furiously deflecting crushing blow after crushing blow with deceptively swift blows of his warhammer. He stepped in under a wide sweeping claw slash and punched the Guard directly in the beady eye hard enough that it ruptured, sending a lazy geyser of blue-green ichor into the air. The beast screeched and finally got a claw into the meat of his shoulder, tossing him high into the air with a swing. Torvald sailed end over end for a moment before coming to a dead stop in the air as he activated both his skills at once. He moored himself in space and then charged downward from the sky like a comet at the beast, trailing thin ribbons of blood behind him. It caught the beast so off guard he managed a resounding blow to the top of a jointed leg, almost severing it with crushing force. He rolled past it and reengaged both of them, now leaking into the earth below.
He definitely needs some help. Vrax waited for the charging creature. It got within two strides of him, and then a tendril narrowly whizzed past his shoulder. Vrax sidestepped as the beast was unceremoniously ripped past him by the oscillating thorns. One left, then the big fucker. Vrax dashed, catching the final beast just as it leapt from the corpse of its brother. Spear raised high the tip, took it in the belly sliding off chitin harmlessly as he ducked past it. Vrax spun, hitting it hard with the butt of the spear in a leg, splintering it sideways. Another step towards the wounded side, and he slammed the butt against the remaining good legs over and over as it struggled to turn and face him. Once all three legs were broken, Vrax spun the spear again, sliding it into the beast's skull with a smite, turning the head into a grey sludge.
Torvald flew past Vrax and through a small sapling with a grunt, rolling to a stop near a lurker mushroom busy trying to dissect the Shriker in its grasp. The hive guard threw its arms wide in rage. It was battered, hunks of missing chitin exposed the blue flesh beneath, down an eye, and had one broken leg, but it wasn’t nearly dead yet. Vrax looked around quickly. He still had the dandelion in his garden, but that thing was one hell of a hazard to Torvald too and wouldn’t work to kill something this big, probably. Vrax hadn’t tested it on anything yet.
[Mana [60 / 102]
He still had enough for two conservative smites or one really fucking mean one. An idea formed in Vrax's mind. “Torvald! Crack open its armor more. I just need a few spots with exposed flesh.”
“That's what I'm trying to do!” Torvald roared at Vrax, rocketing back into the beast. Vrax stood mostly clear, harassing the beast with stabs where he could. Torvald took a bone-breaking hit on his hammer haft from the beast’s leg, staggering back. Vrax took the opportunity to circle behind it and smash a jar of smelter moss across its flank. The searing light and melting chitin blinded everyone momentarily. The beast still flailed around itself, more unfocused now, though raging at its wounds.
Torvald saw an opening and dashed under it. He spun on the other side, whirling in a full-body upward swing from underneath, hitting the monster’s back legs with such force it lifted a stride off the ground. The weakened, melted armor showered from its body in sheets, leaving a massive strip of exposed flesh on its back half.
“Get clear! It’s about to have a bad day!” Vrax shouted and summoned the dandelion onto the ground in front of him. Torvald's eyes got wide, and he fled from the rapidly spreading flurry of seeds disturbed by the fight around it.
Vrax stood still amongst the haunting seeds as they aimlessly filled the air around him. The beast took the bait, rounding on the still target, and charged into the rapidly spreading haze of diver dandelion. The seeds unfurled their legs and peacefully drifted across its chitin until one brushed an eye. It latched on and slipped inside, breaching the eyeball with its fine-bladed form. Then another and another, all diving into wounds and seeking to enter the bloodstream. The hive guard lost all interest in the fight, screeching and spinning, clawing in a panic at the hundreds of invisible invaders as they cut and tore their way inside.
Vrax readied himself, and when the hive guard started tearing at its eye, Vrax struck a full-powered smite into one of the holes in the chitin near the chest. It sunk deep through flesh. Vrax kept pushing all the way up to his wrists. He held it there until his mana drained, the beast jerked a few more times, clawing towards its eye, and then grew still.
Vrax nearly toppled, his mana drained and his body screaming from exertion. He quickly limped back to the dandelion, re-adding it to his garden to stop the flurry of seeds from spreading further. Torvald went around the edges of the camp, finishing off the still struggling Shrikers and the one he had crippled with his first charge.
Torvald, covered in red and blue blood, looked at Vrax with the biggest smile. “Didn’t even make it a day from town and boom! The universe is just feeding us essence!”
Vrax looked at him incredulously. He was bleeding, bruised, and had been tossed twice, and he was still more ready to go than Vrax was. Vrax gave a weak smile back to his apparently completely unflappable friend and looked at his notifications.
[Shriker Hive Guard Tier-1] (Lvl 12) Slain
[Shriker Scavenger Tier-1] (Lvl 4) Slain
[Shriker Scavenger Tier-1] (Lvl 2) Slain
[Shriker Scavenger Tier-1] (Lvl 3) Slain
[Shriker Scavenger Tier-1] (Lvl 3) Slain
[Shriker Scavenger Tier-1] (Lvl 2) Slain
[Essence gained]
Where the Fairy Field had been a disappointing rush of power, this felt like someone had shoved a spigot of pure magic into his soul and turned it on full blast. Vrax gasped at the sheer burning feeling of raw potential flowing into him. Vrax looked towards Torvold in surprise. “Oh damn, that certainly felt like a level’s worth!” Torvald just nodded knowingly, with his smile somehow growing even more.