It was the scroll drops that won us through the next round of spirits. The Tormented Brother of Wik created several shadow clones of itself and after several minutes and several barely blocked attacks, I thought to use the Scroll of Shadow Binding and successfully locked down the clones. Octave’s arrows and Congruency Darts did the rest.
The Tormented Brother of Tek then launched its own Congruency Darts at me! Fortunately, having grown used to the way the spell worked I remained calm and cast Lesser Barrier of Light at the right moment to absorb each of the strikes. From there, my combination of Lesser Shadow Leech, Minor Sanctified Ward and Minor Cube of Confusion rounded out with Minor Mana Tap took down both Tek’s and Pyr’s Tormented Brother. The Tormented Brother of Pyr had been attempting the entire fight to cast some large ritual that I didn’t doubt would have been very bad for us, but Octave’s Sunburst and my Cube interrupted his efforts until he finally turned to ash with one final, frustrated howl.
You have looted [1] Scroll of Ice Ray
You have looted [1] Scroll of Mana Drain
You have looted [1] Scroll of Banish Beast
The next three Brothers were of Eui, Gor and Sul. Gor’s Priest summoned a Dire Wolf companion even as the spirit grew its own claws and fangs, but I had the Scroll of Banish Beast in my hand the moment I saw the summoning circle and the wolf was gone a moment after it appeared. Gor’s Priest then reverted to its original, less wolf-like form. If Gor’s Priests could assume aspects of their summoned beast, no wonder my father had banned them from Ordheim. They were terrifying!
Ice Ray had clearly been meant for Pyr’s Priest, which disappointed me as it was therefore useless. It leant credence to my hypothesis that the scroll drops were predetermined, but the order of Tormented Brothers was random. Regardless, Octave and I were successful again and then again when the Tormented Brothers of Aqa, Una and Hul appeared next. The only downside of the victories were the Faction losses from Mir I continued to accumulate.
You have gained +20 Faction with Qas.
You have gained +20 Faction with Cel.
You have lost -20 Faction with Mir.
You have gained +20 Faction with Wik.
You have gained +10 Faction with Pyr.
You have gained +20 Faction with Tek.
You have lost -10 Faction with Mir.
You have gained +10 Faction with Eui.
You have gained +20 Faction with Gor.
You have gained +20 Faction with Sul.
You have lost -10 Faction with Mir.
You have gained +10 Faction with Una.
You have gained +20 Faction with Hul.
You have gained +10 Faction with Aqa.
You have lost -10 Faction with Mir.
In total, I had lost 55 Faction with Mir in this dungeon so far, which brought me down to 220 Faction. I was still in Tier II, but should I fall beneath the 150 Faction threshold with the Goddess, I would lose access to all of my Tier II healing spells! Without Greater Heal, I would be seriously hampered moving forward in keeping myself alive. This was unacceptable.
“What am I doing wrong? Why does Mir punish me for defending myself?” I wasn’t necessarily addressing Octave, but he spoke up as if I had.
“Mir is the Goddess of Mercy, mortal. She would clearly prefer that you not outright destroy the spirits of these poor monks, but rather lay them to rest.” I gaped at him for a moment.
“How do I do that?” I tried not to sound exasperated, but Octave gave me a pitying look.
“Are you young by mortal standards? I ask, because I’m not familiar with how ‘life experience’ is gained with mortals. Is it through existing past certain thresholds of time or is it through learning by doing? At what point can I stop pointing out the obvious to you?”
I had to bite down on my lip for a few moments. I was far older than I looked! Yet, I tried to answer the question that would garner the least amount of questions or a Cherub’s ridicule.
“I think I’m almost 16 years old. They don’t really celebrate birthdays in my family. So perhaps you should continue to ‘point out the obvious’ to me, since I lack the experience of an Angel.”
“I see. Well, in that case next time use Harvest Moon.” Octave either missed or chose to ignore my sarcasm. I was more surprised by his matter of fact answer.
“That spell only provides resistance to Mental attacks. How will it be of any use against these spirits?”
“How do you know it won’t be?”
“By the spell’s description! I’ve read it several times and it says…wait a moment.” I tried to recall what I could of the spell’s description from memory.
It creates small, faux moon above the caster. All bathed in its light experience the serenity of Mir.
I looked at Octave who was staring back at me smugly. “Are you saying that if the spirits of these monks are bathed in Mir’s light they will experience…serenity? I don’t understand!”
“You don’t understand, because you only focus on what little the Purgos System provides through the System. To interpret the Divine takes incredible Wisdom. Mortal minds, as they are wont do, tend to take things literally. Experiment more! Make your own discoveries on what your magic can do. Embrace the wisdom of Ord’s favored!” Octave held forth a hand and pretended to bless me.
Ord, grant me patience.
“So what you are saying, is that the Purgos System only tells me so much?”
“I am saying, it only provides as much as your Wisdom is able to interpret. How high is your Wisdom attribute anyway? Have you checked the description for Harvest Moon since you equipped the finger bone?” I blinked.
“I…have not.” I admitted and I quickly pulled up the description for the spell and to my astonishment there was additional information to review. Octave was right, the extra 25 points in Wisdom provided by the relic had apparently boosted me over a threshold into a deeper understanding of my spells.
Harvest Moon
Mana Cost: 100
Description: Creates a small, faux moon directly above the caster encompassing an area 50 yards in diameter. All bathed in the light of *Holy Fate mana experience the serenity of Mir. 50% Resistance to Mental attacks: fear, charm and domination.
Cool Down: 1 hour.
*Holy Fate Mana may have varying effects upon Infernal, Eldritch and Summoned creatures.
Well, that’s fascinating! I wonder what the descriptions for my other spells say? I’ll have to check the next time I have a free moment. I wonder if Lore Sight will provide more as well?
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Lore: A spell often used primarily by the clergy of Mir to drive away creatures of ill-intent such as Brownies, Possessed Scarecrows and Dire Crows commonly found on farmland.
Advanced Lore: Will sometimes successfully drive out weaker spirits from the possessed.
I looked over at Octave with a grin. The Angel smiled serenely.
“I have my work cut out for me with you, don’t I mortal?”
“Ord bless your patience with me,” I replied through a forced grin and grit teeth.
The spell’s updated description gave me an idea and I couldn’t wait to try it out. I didn’t have to wait long, as after we searched the rest of the statue room for anything of interest and looting what few coins the monks dropped we entered another room, this one a storage room for paints, ink and vellum. Several more Mournful Brothers were also waiting and attacked us immediately.
I opened with Harvest Moon and directly above my head a bright light grew first from the size of a bean to the size of an apple and then to the size of a melon. I received the expected notification.
You are within the serenity of Mir! Metal Resistance increased by 50%.
At first, the Mournful Brothers didn’t react, even those within Mir’s light.
“Wait for it!” shouted Octave. The Cherub drew back his bow, a golden arrow pointed at the closest Mournful Brother, but he held his shot. We didn’t have to wait long.
I saw one of the monk’s within the light stagger, its form wavering and distorting. Then, the spirit’s face twisted from a grimace of anger into a look of shock. I watched in amazement as several spirits within Harvest Moon’s radius began to split down the middle. Not in half like a loaf of bread, but rather separate into two separate entities!
Ord, have we just doubled our enemies!?
“Octave!”I shouted. The Cherub responded by firing an arrow into the newest half of one of the split monks.
“Target the part that looks like it wants to eat your face!” the Angel shouted even as he fit another arrow into his bow.
“Eat my what?” I gasped. I knew what he meant after looking closer at what had happened to the Mournful Brothers. After each monk affected by Harvest Moon split in two, half of the spirit appeared as a frightened, if ghostly monk. The other half, however, was a black doppelg?nger of snarling, toothy horror.
Spawn of Xat
Level: 14
Description: A dark spirit works to consume the soul of an innocent monk. {You have interrupted the process.}
Lore: An abomination of void infestations fueled by Infernal magic. These creatures are being siphoned from the Void through Hadaeon shard growths attached to Dungeon Cores. Hadaeon shards are then connected through Limbus shards which have been seeded upon the Prime Material Plane, creating Void Portals.
Advanced Lore: A Limbus fel shard was imbedded into the fresh corpse of this monk. The monks cannot pass on until the fel shards are purged from their corpses.
Lore Sight advances to Tier VII! Upgrade Available!
New Quest!
Part 1: Exorcise the tormented spirits of the monks within the Abbey .
Monk Spirits Exorcised: 1/40
Spawn of Xat Eliminated: 0/40
Part 2: Locate and use Purgation to destroy the Limbus fel shards growing within the Monk corpses!
Monk Corpses Purged: 0/54
Reward: Lost Ara Skill
My mind just barely registered the new information along with the upgrade, new quest and its reward. The Spawn of Xat held the form of a monk, but its face was all yawning maw of needlelike teeth. Oily black skin, no eyes or face, yet it knew exactly where I was and with claws outstretched in rushed towards me.
I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I screamed like my sister Gwyneth did when years ago she saw a mouse in a corner of her room. I am not brave, Mir have mercy, but new instincts had been born in me ever since I had been cast in my new roles as Priest and Prophet. Almost without thinking, I raised my staff and the Spawn crashed into the golden bell I raised, taking damage as it was forced away.
Octave launched an arrow, but the spawn merely hissed in annoyance as the arrow thudded into its shoulder. Other spawn, five in all, began converging on us then having split from the weeping forms of the now freed spirits of Abbey monks.
“Sunburst!” I yelled. Octave complied and the light caused each of the spawn to screech and cover their faces, despite lacking any visible eyes. Lesser Mana Tap on the two furthest away. My mana started ticking up. A Congruency Darts and through my will (or perhaps my increased Wisdom?) I was able to direct a single dart into an individual spawn. I knew this minimized the damage, but as Harvest Moon had additional effects I had only just learned about, I was hoping my darts did too.
I didn’t notice any differences, save that the spawn did seem more hesitant to attack me after taking a dart. I backpedaled, even as I willed open the description for the spell.
Congruency Darts (2 Active)
Mana Cost: 18 Mana
Description: Creates a bracelet of mana charged darts that orbit the caster’s wrist. When launched, darts will travel parallel or perpendicular to one another in a dizzying array of misdirection before launching at target. Specific dart patterns that land upon an X-axis cause a 2 second stun, while dart patterns landing upon a Y-axis increase Critical Damage.
Damage: 2-20
Cool down: none
“I regret checking this,” I growled. “Blasted Tek Priests and their Arithmetic! I don’t get it!”
“Keep fighting, mortal!” Octave shouted as he shot another Spawn directly into its gaping gullet.
With mana flowing into me, I was liberal with my usage of Minor Cube of Confusion and even swallowed my fear and disgust to get in two casts of Vow of Contagion after drawing close enough to tap two separate spawn while they were crowd controlled.
“I would suggest you watch your step,” Octave said as he flew by me to take a better position. He was talking about the spreading pool of…something that was all that remained of one dead spawn. I felt confident my Boots of Blight Warding were enough to protect me, but I took my companion’s advice regardless.
Not even bones left behind by these things.
As the final spawn screeched its last and melted into a puddle we were left with a group of ghostly monks who gazed at me with sad, yet grateful eyes. Then, they began to fade away one by one, but left behind small piles of coins and a potion bottle, which I picked up and examined.
Garfle’s Potion of Healing
Effect: Instantly heal 50 HP
“I really want to meet this Garfle fellow. His potions seem incredible!” Octave put his bow away and folded his arms in front of himself after blowing a lock of curly blond hair out of his face. The Cherub looked tired after our last fight.
“Why don’t we take a break?” I suggested. “I need to look over some notifications.” The Cherub nodded gratefully and settled himself down on top of a barrel of grain, tucking his wings behind him. He pulled a small harp out of seemingly nowhere and began to pluck the strings, humming to himself and ignoring me. Sighing, I turned to my notifications.
Achievement Unlocked! I Cast Thee Out!
You have successfully exorcised an entity!
Reward: 9 Green Nodes, 1 Blue Node and 1 Red Node
This speaks volumes for considering the Exorcism Foci. I would imagine it would make clearing this dungeon go even faster. Still, what awaits us in the next dungeon and the one after that?
I didn’t want to think about the fact that there were two more dungeons waiting to be cleared after this one, but hopefully the upgrade to Lore Sight I had just received would make a noticeable difference as I proceeded.
Upgrade Available!
Lore Combatant: When used upon a Hostile target, Lore will now display {1} Weakness and {1} Active skill or Passive. Cannot be resisted.
Lore Seeker: Your Status Map will now indicate where *hidden pieces of Lore may be found once you enter within a 5 mile radius of its location.
*Note: Not all indicated Lore will be guaranteed to be useful or safe!
Lore Adept: Lore Deep Sight now has a 10% chance of predicting the eventual Fate of the Target. Will not work upon items, places or Mana created Monsters. [Prediction chance will increase to 50% if *Prophecy Foci is enabled].
*May result in Faction loss/gain.
My initial reaction was to choose the obvious upgrade to Lore Deep Sight, but then I considered my current situation where it felt like I was walking a thin line with several of the Gods’ favor. Did I want to currently tempt their ire further by choosing a skill that would allow me to interfere with the fates of others?
“Octave, why do the Gods grant mortals the power of Prophecy if they don’t like it when that power is used?”
“You ask this question hoping for a specific answer, but the answer is much broader. One God may want you to perform a prophecy, thereby strengthening their position with mortals even as it weakens the position of another God.” The Cherub sang a few lines of a stanza and I winced.
He is a bit off key, isn’t he? Another myth busted. ‘The voice of an Angel’ indeed…
“As I have already mentioned, the Gods all have their own agendas and they do not always overlap with one another. It would make your short, mortal life much easier if you would just choose a master and let that guide you. Ord is generous to his chosen.”
“If I ‘choose a master’ as you say, I could lose much of what has allowed me to survive this far,” I murmured. Octave either didn’t hear me or choose not to respond, merely continuing to pluck his harp and sing…well, attempted to sing one of Ord’s hymns.
I need to hurry and make this choice so we can move on. Gods, he really isn’t very good!
I was between Lore Combatant and Lore Adept. While within the Dungeons, I couldn’t think of a better tool to have than something that would let me know an enemy weakness and what skills they had. By that reasoning, Combatant was the choice. Likewise, Adept would push me firmly onto the path of Prophecy that I could then strengthen further by choosing the Prophecy Foci. Yet, I wasn’t yet ready to commit to that Foci. I soon hoped to unlock my third Ara skill and felt in my gut that once I did, I would finally know enough to make my final decision on which Foci to choose. I chose Lore Combatant.
I closed my notifications and nodded at Octave who mercifully put his harp away and retrieved his bow.
“Did you check your Faction gain after that last fight?” Octave asked. “Where do you stand with Mir now?”
I did as he bid and looked over the gains from the last fight.
You have gained +25 Faction with Mir.
I beamed at Octave. “I regained some of the Faction I lost. You were right.”
“Of course I was, mortal.” Octave smirked, matter-of-factly.
“Of course,” I replied dryly. “I also gained a quest to free the possessed monks and to eliminate more of those spawn.” I added.
“Well, then let’s get to it! As Ord once said to the Archmage of Caras Purgoth, ‘’Mana wants to be used, but it doesn’t wait around for you to use it.’ Third Gospel of Ord, Verse 85, Paragraph…hmm.”
“20,” I whispered.
“What was that?” Octave flew to hover above me, eyes narrowed.
“Nothing. Shall we continue?”
