The Land: Forging (Chaos Seeds Book 2)

CHAPTER 7

The good times kept rolling. Even Yoshi loosened up. Some of the dwarves brought a cask of ale up from the village stores, and they all enjoyed each other’s company for hours. The rain eased at about midnight, and people meandered down to the longhouse as they got tired. Many others just decided to rest under the limbs of the Quickening. Shiovana had cast a spell to drive the water in the ground away from the surface, leaving a perfect campground.

It was a wonderful chance for the sprites and the villagers to mix. Even Richter’s familiar also got in on the fun. She swooped around blowing gusts of air into people’s hair. There was also a spirited game of “catch the dragonling,” played by all of the village children. Their shrieks of delight allayed the parent’s fears, and soon the dragonling was apparently accepted by everyone present. After hours of play, all of the children were put to bed, and Richter and his familiar sat against the base of the tree. Some people still laughed and sang, but most had settled down to rest. Sion sat next to him.

“You have made a wonderful home here,” Sion said, still laughing over some of the antics he had seen through the night.

“Yes,” Richter said, smiling back.

“You know you’ve said almost nothing about your old home. Do you have family or friends that you miss?”

“Yes,” Richter said, a bit of the joy fading from his face. “I do.”

“Then why don’t you ever talk about them,” Sion asked.

“I was raised to focus on what’s in front of me, and to accept the reality of a situation. The reality is that I’m in The Land now, and I probably will be forever. Thinking of the people I left behind doesn’t help, so it doesn’t matter. I choose to focus my energy on what does matter,” Richter said, still looking at the die-hard partiers, who were drinking and sharing stories.

“Come on,” Sion wheedled, “just tell me something.”

“I don’t really want to talk about it! It doesn’t matter who I was! All that matters is that I’m Richter!” He was shouting at the end. He didn’t look at Sion. He just kept gazing at his people.

Sion looked at him with a shocked face. Anger also made its way across the sprite’s features briefly, but it fled when he realized his questions much have scratched at a buried hurt. So he just sat back against the trunk of the Quickening, and shared his troubled friend’s company in silence.

They both watched the laughing villagers. Richter let his anger extinguish in the soothing tones of his people’s joy. Then he started talking softly. “My mother is a strong woman. My father is kind. My brother has the biggest heart of anyone I know. My sisters devote themselves to helping those in need. I have nieces and nephews, who are the most brilliant and beautiful creatures in any world. I was training as a healer. What my people called a doctor.” He stopped talking. They sat in silence again.

“How can you be okay leaving all of that behind,” Sion asked when Richter didn’t start talking again.

“I would have them here with me if I could,” Richter said, “but they would all encourage me to listen to my heart. And as much as I have always loved looking up at a Georgia sky, I have wanted an existence of magic and wonder even more. I had an amazing life there, and yes, there are people I left behind that I miss dearly. The Land is my home now, though,” he said firmly. “My mother always said, ‘Indecision causes confusion, confusion causes accidents, and accidents cause death.’ I won’t be indecisive.”

Sion nodded in appreciation. He too had a strong mother who had both wisdom and an inability to not share it.

“Of course,” Richter continued, “she also said that every time I masturbated, god killed a kitten… So her advice was all over the map.” Richter’s voice lowered conspiratorially, “Just so you know, that was the day I started actively making a world without cats.” Sion chuckled and Richter smiled. “Like you said, I am making something wonderful here. I feel truly blessed to have you as a part of it, my friend.”

The sprite looked at him, and they shared a quiet moment of friendship. That was short-lived, however. It ended when Daniella shouted, “Sion. Quit loafing around and come over here!”

Seeing the sprite wince, Richter chuckled, “You better get over there before her voice hits a higher octave.”

He waved his friend away, and then looked at the psi dragonling that was lying across his lap. Richter was convinced she just viewed him as a walking pillow. His hand rested on her warms scales, slowly stroking her. She purred at the attention. “What do I call you,” he said. She gave no response except to continue enjoying the attention. He had learned that if he stopped stroking her, he would earn a hiss in response.

“Well if you don’t care, then I will name you myself.” He ran through dozens of names until he found a special resonance with one. “Alma. What do you think of that?” She raised her head, and then sniffed before settling back down. He chuckled, “I’ll take that as tacit agreement.”

Richter spent more time just looking out over his people and the sprites. This was a perfect moment. He was smiling as he drifted off to sleep.

*Danger!*

*Wake!*

*DANGER!*

That was the first thing he heard even though it was only in his own mind. The next thing he heard were distant screams.

When he opened his eyes, the only light was a faint radiance from the silver trunk of the Quickening. Not enough to make out details when he was facing away, but it gave him an orientation. He ran away from the trunk. The shouts and bellows getting louder as he sprinted toward the edge of the meadow. When he was able to see over the escarpment, his heart sank. The longhouse was on fire! He cast Night Vision on himself. What had been a black canvas with one spot of light was now a world of green and black. He almost wished he couldn’t see it.

His village was being attacked! Large humanoids had made their way across the trench. He couldn’t tell what they were, but he could tell they were big! There were bodies on the ground! The invaders seemed to be trying to break into the longhouse. What had happened to the guards? He could see that there were dozens inside the village, but Richter could see an even larger second wave of attackers approaching! How had they gotten in? One attacker was hanging by the gate… Yes, there! The bastards had made a crude bridge with several trees lashed together. An advance team must have hacked down the gate. The rest were going to get in!

Hisako and the other sprites came close. The villagers that had passed the night under the Quickening were right behind them. Cries of panic arose from the group. He felt the panic himself. They were being attacked! He froze in disbelief at what was happening. Then he heard Sion.

“Richter, look at me.” He turned his head to look at his Companion. The sprite just said, “We’re here with you. We will save them.”

The solidity of his friend broke him out of his immobility. “Right! You, you, you and you,” he said pointing at four sprites. “Hold this line. You are to protect the children and non-fighters. Don’t let anyone past you!”

“Yoshi!” Richter cast Night Vision on the sword adept. “Can you see the second wave of attackers? We can’t let them get into the village. Go to the bridge that they made. I need you and the other sprites to destroy it!” He nodded once and then started giving orders to the sprite warriors.

Richter looked out at the villagers, “We are being attacked. Those of you who do not know how to fight need to stay here. But anyone that can wield a sword or swing an axe, I need you to come with me. I need you to do it now! Our people have barricaded themselves in the long house, but these attackers have set it on fire. They don’t have long until they will be forced to open the doors. We need to kill whoever this is before that happens! Now who will fight?!”

He had been afraid that his speech would not rouse anyone, but he was wrong. Thirty men and woman stepped forward. One dwarf woman held onto her man begging him not to go, but he gently disengaged and stepped forward. Richter was ashamed that he didn’t remember his name. “We are with you, my Lord. But we have no weapons. What can we do?”

Hisako stepped forward with a fierce expression on her face, “We take them from their dead hands! You four, guard this hill, like Lord Richter ordered.” She pointed at Daniella and Sion, “You two come with me. The rest go with Yoshi and hold the line of the village to make sure no more get in. Mages, you have one minute to cast whatever buffs you can. It’s time for battle!”

“I have some extra weapons,” Richter said handing out the short sword and two daggers he had in his inventory. Then Richter gave a bloodthirsty grin, “These stupid bastards have made the mistake of invading our home! They will NOT live to regret it! We are life takers and heart breakers! Let’s go!”

You have made a Call to Action: Kill the majority of your attackers to be awarded the skill: War Leader. Failure to so give you the trait, Fool in War: -50 Fighting Spirit to those near you.

Richter just nodded to himself. It’s not like failure was an option anyway. It did remind him about the boost in Morale providing a boost in Fighting Spirit as well. He quickly checked his village status page, and saw that the entire village should get a 10% increase to their ability to deal damage. He prayed it would be enough.

He cast Barkskin on himself, unfortunately, the range was only ‘self’ so he couldn’t buff anyone else. He then cast Haste on himself and the sprites that would be in his group. The spell was prohibitively expensive at twenty-five mana per cast. Each cast only affected one target, so he could not extend the buff to all of the villagers and sprites. Sion cast Haste on Yoshi and several of the other sprites.

As they had been preparing, Alma had been circling above them.

*Fight,* she thought to him.

*Stay here,* he thought back. He didn’t not want his little familiar to be harmed. He had no idea if she could be reborn like he could.

*Fight,* she thought again with determination. Then he felt something surprising. Alma cast Haste. The dragonling zipped through the air. She was so fast that he couldn’t follow her grey body in against the night sky despite having cast Night Vision.

The last thing Richter did was to hand out Potions of Clarity from his Bag of Holding. Those attackers were going to die tonight. There was no point in wasting the experience. He himself drank two precious mana potions from his limited stores. If his village survived this fight, potion making needed to be a priority!

They all streamed down the hill, with the armed fighters in front. At the bottom, Yoshi’s group broke off and moved quickly toward the bridge. Richter, Hisako, Sion and Daniella ran towards the long house. It wasn’t long before they could see enemies in front of them. Just before they were upon them, Hisako warned them to look away, then gave a shout and thrust her hand up. A ball of golden light ten times as large as what she summoned earlier that night flew from her hand, and up into the sky. Even though he was looking in another direction it seemed like he was staring into the sun! He quickly dismissed Night Vision and opened his eyes, everything was bleached white, and he noticed a blinking icon of an eye that was clouded over. A number beside it counted down from three, and when it reached zero the icon disappeared and his vision was again normal. He was immediately thankful for Hisako’s warning. With his increased light perception, he might have been blinded for the whole fight!

Luckily, his momentary disorientation hadn’t cost him. The light caught the attackers, on the other hand, completely by surprise. They cried out in pain, vainly trying to cover their eyes. The ball of golden light didn’t just make it easier to see, it also immediately made Richter feel stronger!

You are in the aura of Blessed Light. All creatures of neutral or positive alignment gain +10% to physical attack and defense. All creatures of negative alignment suffer -10% to physical attack and defense.

Hisako followed her first spell with another shouted incantation. One of her hands contorted through a series of gestures in quick succession, while words in a tongue that not even Richter could decipher poured from her lips. She formed her other hand into a claw with her palm face up, and swiftly lifted it. Five different rock spikes, each six inches wide, shot up from the earth and impaled one of the attackers! Two spikes pierced one arm and one leg. The other three spikes tore through the invader’s torso, and left the dead body suspended in the air. That opening salvo brought the attention of three nearby enemy fighters. Richter was given his first up-close look at the creatures that had ruined the peace of his home. He used Analyze.

Name: Krin’ak. Bugbear Level 8. Health 220. Mana 100. Stamina 190. Disposition: Enmity. Bugbears are the result of sorcerous experimentation blending cave bears with goblins. The race is naturally strong and hardy. They are adept at hiding. Warlike to a fault, it takes a strong leader to control them. Well known to incorporate other races in their war parties. Bugbears get one point to distribute per level, and each level gives +1 to strength, +1 to Constitution, +1 to Dexterity, +1 to Endurance.

The bugbears! They had found the village! But how, the mist was only down for… the Quickening! The beam of light that had shot into the sky would have acted like a beacon! Then once the defenses had fallen, it had led the bugbears straight to them. Then it would have been a simple matter of making a bridge to cross the trench. This was his fault!

The time for recriminations was not now, though. That point was made clear when the bugbears roared, and then rushed forward to attack. The first ran forward to attack the Hearth Mother. At six feet tall, the burly goblinoid must have thought that Hisako’s diminutive four feet would make her easy prey. He was wrong.

Without breaking her stride, she threw her hands out to the side, more magical words pouring from her throat. Two vertical panels of gold light appeared. Each was 5x10 feet, and hung a few feet off of the ground. The shields separated the three attackers in front of them, creating a hallway that flared out towards Hisako. It both left her only one enemy to directly confront, while simultaneously impeding the forward progress of the others. The bugbears on either side of the shields struck with axe and mace, but their strikes couldn’t penetrate the shield.

The middle attacker moved forward undaunted with a buckler raised and his sword poised to stab. Before he could make his lunge, though, she shouted and slapped both wrists together, fingers outstretched and separate. A bar of white light shot from between her fingers and struck the buckler. In an instant, the beam was gone, and only the afterimage of the light remained in Richter’s vision. Looking at the bugbear, though, Richter realized that a square hole six inches in diameter was missing from the buckler… and from the chest of the bugbear that had been holding it. It dropped to the ground in a clatter of armor. Holy shit! Was that a Kamehameha?!?

The other two struck the gold panels again, and a web of cracks appeared on the left panel. The two sprites ducked low and each shot an imbued arrow into one of the bugbears’ legs. Neither were wearing medium or heavy armor over their legs, and the strikes savaged their limbs. Both fell face first into the gold panels screaming, their furred hands scrabbling for purchase. You wouldn’t have expected such high-pitched noises from such big guys, Richter thought. Hisako swept her right arm down quickly, and both shields vanished. The bugbears collapsed to the ground. Before they could even try to roll over, a pair of swords stabbed into each neck and they lay still. Hisako and the sprites had killed four attackers in the space of ten seconds! He was glad they were allies!

The villagers behind him were in shock as well! Most were simple craftsmen or workers. Even the casters probably hadn’t been in combat before. The wood sprites, however, fought constantly to protect the forest from invaders and monsters. When faced with the fighting prowess of the sprites, the villagers were dumfounded. A feeling Richter could well understand. Despite having fought beside Sion, he had never seen the sprites working as a group before. His village had a long way to go if this was an indication of the level of battle that they would need to operate at.

He clapped his hands to break his people out of their reverie. If enemies hadn’t heard the short, but fierce battle then his clap wouldn’t alert them. And if they had heard the fight, then the element of surprise was gone anyway. “Grab their weapons!” He pointed to one of the villagers that he remembered was an Air caster. “Take the shield. Support our fighters! Those of you without weapons yet, stay in the center of the group!”

The better armed group continued to move toward the burning longhouse. The screams were getting louder and smoke was thick in the air. More than half of the roof was covered in flames. The goal of Richter’s group was to get to the doors of the longhouse. Ten bugbears were still hammering at the doors. If his people were going to survive, they would have to be dealt with.

A series of loud booms came from far ahead of them, heralding Yoshi’s arrival at the bridge. A fold in the land coupled with the distance and darkness kept Richter from seeing exactly what was happening, but the night was lit with blue flares of color. They provided brief moments of illumination, like a storm on the horizon. No time at all passed between the sprite’s initial attack and the responding roars of defiance from the bugbears. In the resulting clash, at least one scream ripped itself from a sprite throat.

Hisako looked at him upon hearing the pain of her people. Richter thought she would immediately run to their aid, but the only expression on her face was one of steely resolve. “We will finish our task and save your people. My warriors will last until we can join them.”

Richter just nodded back, “Onward!”

They hadn’t made it another one hundred yards when the next attack came. The bugbears had indeed heard their attack on their comrades, and they had prepared. The group of defenders was making their way to the longhouse when Richter heard Alma’s voice in his head, *Danger!*

Suddenly the air in front of them… rippled and they heard a loud shriek of pain. Whereas before there had been nothing but open space in front of them, they could now see bugbears arranged in a broad horseshoe pattern no more than ten yards ahead. Directly in front of Richter’s group, at the tip of the arch formation, was a tall figure wearing black robes. The hood was thrown back showing a mostly bald head with a top knot tied in a bun on top. The face was green and the lower jaw protruded, two large fangs extended upward in place of incisors. At that moment, the robed figure’s face was screwed up into a rictus of pain, and both hands were slapped to the sides of his head. The wail of pain was tearing itself from his throat.

Richter looked in shock at the force arrayed against them. The bugbears had gotten so close! If the defenders had walked forward for only a few more seconds, they would have been hemmed in on three sides, and most likely slaughtered to the last man! Suddenly, he knew what had happened. At least he knew part of it.

Alma had been flying above Richter and the others. Then she had felt the thought patterns of the hostile group in front of them. She could not read thoughts, but she had been unable to miss the clustered minds in front of Richter and his group. She had flown ahead, and as soon as she passed the veil of Dark magic, she saw the ambushers. She then dove and used a psi blast to distract the caster. The attack made him lose concentration and the ongoing enchantment was interrupted. The spell backlash coupled with the psi attack, had caused the shriek of pain that alerted them!

Richter had no time to wonder about how he instantly had this information. The dark veil had apparently protected the bugbears from the effects of Hisako’s spell. The removal of the concealment spell, however, made them shy from the light the same as the first three. That was probably the only reason that Richter’s group had not been immediately overwhelmed once the caster was distracted. Despite not being in the perfect position for them to spring their ambush, the fifteen or so skirmishers in front of them were still more than enough to cause serious damage.

“Shoot,” Richter shouted! His own target was the caster in front of him. The mage was the first enemy magic user Richter had seen so far, and he well knew that this battle could hinge on removing the caster from play. He imbued his arrow and shot, not taking much time to channel his mana. The pure gold aura around arrow made an after image in his sight as it sped towards the helpless mage. At the last moment, though, a large bugbear with a kite shield jumped in the path of arrow. The projectile struck the shield with a loud bang! The contact did knock the off balance bugbear backwards, but the mage was spared.

At the same time that Richter shot, Sion and Daniella both unloaded arrows into the closest bugbears. Both were critical hits, one to the face and another to the knee, shearing off the lower part of the creature’s leg. Even if they weren’t immediate kill shots, the attackers wouldn’t be back in the fight anytime soon.

Hisako looked around at the enemies arrayed against them, and then fell to one knee. Both of her hands reached out at shoulder height, and then circled opposite each other until they were vertically in line with her sternum. Her fingertips touched in three complex hand configurations. Then her hands shot back out to shoulder height a second time, and she once again started circling them back. She looked off in the distance, completely focused on her casting, her lips forming words in an unbroken chant. Richter had no idea what spell she was casting, but it clearly required more than a one second casting time. It was also clear that she was vulnerable while she cast it. She had to be protected. He turned to the villagers with weapons, “Protect her at all costs! Whoever is unarmed, stay back!”

The other bugbears had started moving forward. The sprites’ fiendishly high Dexterity let them loose one more imbued arrow each, but only Daniella’s shot knocked an enemy down. Sion’s shot was blocked by a hasty side swipe of his target’s buckler. The arrow skewed past and detonated harmlessly on the ground twenty yards away. Richter knew that if the attackers made it to them, they would be torn apart. He did the first thing he could think of. He cast Grease.

The spell summoned a slippery substance coating the ground in a 10x10 area. The two enemies in front of him fell. Unfortunately, his aim was off, and he was inside of AoE (area of effect) as well. He fell as the two attackers continued to slide towards him. One had fallen forward and she raised her half- moon axe to chop down into Richter as soon as she got close.

Two of the villagers stood with Sion, fighting hand to hand against the goblinoids. Daniella had backed up several feet and continued to fire arrows past the defenders into the mass of enemies. In such close quarters however, imbuing her arrows would harm both friend and foe, so she relied on skill alone to make her kills. The remaining armed villagers and the Air mage holding the shield stood in front of Hisako who was still chanting her spell. The rest of the villagers remained in the background, throwing small rocks they found on the ground. It served as little more than a nuisance, however. The battle was joined!

The bugbear’s slide in the grease had ended only a few feet from Richter’s prone body. If she had slid the entire way, then he was sure that her axe would either be either battering at his armor or buried in his body. Even so, she was up on both legs and one arm. The other arm still held her axe aloft and was about to slam it down onto him. Praying that the spell was strong enough, he cast Charm.

The axe was already descending towards him when he finished the one-second cast. They made eye contact as the blade passed the halfway point. A brutal smile broke out over her face, and then she twisted her body like a corkscrew. She rolled over completely, and struck the bugbear to her right in the shoulder. The blade bit, but the thick leather armor her former comrade was wearing stopped any serious damage. He snarled and grappled with his traitorous ally. Though wounded, he was putting up a large fight, and her axe was useless in such close quarters. Richter rolled out of the AoE of his Grease spell. Carefully standing on his feet, he didn’t see how he could help his charmed fighter without risking damage to her as well. They were rolling around too fast for him to risk an arrow. He turned his attention to the rest of the fight.

Sion, Daniella and two armed villagers were facing off against five bugbears. Sion was holding his own, but the villagers were hard pressed. If it wasn’t for Daniella taking shots of opportunity the two would be dead already. The large bugbears were not appreciably slowed, however. Their leather armor was tough and hard to penetrate. Even the arrows that did strike flesh hit nothing critical. None of them could sink too deeply through the natural armor of their hide. The stalemate didn’t last long, however. With a terrified scream that became a wet burble, one of the villagers fell!

The bugbear that killed him had brought its warhammer down in a mighty overhand swing. The poor fool tried to parry with his sword. The blade was just swept down by the hammer and cut into the villager’s own flesh. It wouldn’t have made a difference if the sword were involved or not, once the hammer fell into the man’s chest. All that was left was a ruined bloody mess. The attacker pulled his weapon out with a horrible sucking sound.

Richter bellowed in outrage. These people were under his protection! He activated Double Shot. Two arrows flew from his bow in the space of a second. The only flaw to using this subskill of Archery was that both arrows had a greatly decreased accuracy than normal. The second arrow suffered twice as much penalty as the first. True to form, Richter’s first shot struck true, hitting the bugbear in the abdomen, but the second went wide. That didn’t matter though, because he immediately used Drill Shot. Aiming for the impact site of the first arrow, he concentrated for a moment and then released. The arrow spun in the air true to its name and hit a bare centimeter to the side of the first strike. The already weakened armor gave way, and the arrow embedded several inches into the bugbear’s stomach, continuing to spin. The invader gave a small groan and collapsed onto the wet ground. The attacker wasn’t dead, but at least Sion’s group won a few seconds of respite.

One look at the fallen villager made it clear that he would never be getting up again. His friend didn’t seem to know that though, and fought furiously to drive the attackers back. It was clear that he had no formal training with a blade, but the man still made two of the invaders fall back a step. It was the opening Daniella had been waiting for. She shot an Imbued arrow into the face of the bugbear on the left, and he collapsed. Richter fired an imbued arrow at the other but missed. A grunt drew his attention to the right. The brawl between Richter’s charmed bugbear and the one she had been fighting ended with her dagger sticking from the center of his chest. She stood tall, one ear having been torn off. She grinned with blood on her sharp teeth.

The group of villagers protecting Hisako were challenged by several bugbears. The awkward swings of the men and women were only completely ineffectual. The only thing they did accomplish was to make the bugbears they were fighting cautious. It was only their stronger numbers that made this particular part of the fight a stalemate.

Hoping that the villagers would remain safe, Richter began to take aim on the fallen mage again, but then he heard a scream. He looked around and saw that four of the ambush group had circled wide around the sprites who were fighting their fellows, and were now running with weapons raised towards the unarmed villagers. He pointed quickly and shouted, “Attack!” His charmed enemy began running towards them, but it was clear they would reach the villagers first. He drew and took aim, knowing full well that he would not be able to stop them all before they started laying waste to his people.

A screech rent the air and a dark shape buzzed by the bugbears heads, too fast for them to react. Suddenly they stopped their run and began holding the sides of their head. Their weapons fell to the ground forgotten. In the heat of the battle, Richter had forgotten about Alma! Her psychic attack had dazed them all. He released his well-imbued arrow and shot one in the groin. Only a mist of blood and a ruin of flesh was left of the bugbear’s former pride and joy. A howl of despair and injustice filled the battle site.

Richter pointed at the bugbears and addressed the unarmed villagers, “Attack while they are vulnerable!” The mass of villagers fell on the bugbears who were already shaking off the psychic attack. Though they were no longer stunned, the attackers had lost all momentum and soon fell to the combined counterattack of the twenty plus villagers. A furious and bloody scuffle broke out, which left seven villagers injured, but all of the bugbears dead. Now six more villagers were armed and rushed forward to help.

A shout drew his attention back to Sion and the invaders he had been fighting. The other villager was still on his feet, though one arm hung limp and bloody. Next to him was the dwarf that had chosen to fight against the wishes of his woman. He had initially been guarding the Hearth Mother, but must have stepped forward when the other villager died. The dwarf was now trading blows with an attacker.

The shout had come when Sion had driven his needle-like sword into the knee of another bugbear. A vicious swipe of a studded mace made him let go of the handle as he rolled out of the way. He unshouldered his bow, but before he could nock an arrow, the mace wielder was on him again. It was all the sprite could do to keep out of the way of the swings.

Richter was knocking an arrow to help his Companion when his body was locked into immobility. Everything he could see had developed a purple tint, giving the world a surreal look. Just as importantly though, his health started falling at five points per second! From his vantage, he could see the air caster and one of the villagers guarding Hisako were also surrounded by an aura. Since everything was purple to him he couldn’t be sure theirs were as well, but it was a safe bet. That damn mage must have recovered from the spell backlash! At this rate he would be dead in less than two minutes. The villagers in even less time. Richter really hoped that they had invested the points from their leveling into Constitution. Without investing the points, they could be dead in twenty seconds!

Richter tried and strained, but he couldn’t break free. What was the duration on this damn spell? Twenty, forty, eighty health gone! And the pain! It felt like his muscles were being torn apart from the inside! He would scream if only he could. Worst of all though, was that he could see his people in the same spell. They couldn’t last much longer! And then, something amazing happened. Hisako finished casting her spell.

He had been wondering what spell would take such a long cast time. Richter wasn’t disappointed. Above her head a ribbon of gold light appeared stretching ten feet vertically into the air. It rotated clockwise began to form a window into a day lit realm. The area around the portal grew perceptibly warmer. It continued to spin until it was a perfect circle, the entire process taking no more than a few seconds. Through the hole in the air, Richter could glimpse endless fields of gold grass. They looked like the grasses surrounding the Hearth Tree, but whereas that was a small circular patch this was a plain that extended on into the distance. A figure emerged from the portal. Seven feet tall, the creature’s physique was astounding. Sculpted muscles were highlighted by tattoos that covered every area of exposed flesh. He was wearing a white sleeveless vest with a hood that was drawn up, hiding his face from view. Pants of the same color extended down to his ankles, and his feet were bare. On his back were two white wings that slowly flapped. They were longer than the man was tall when extended. In his hand, was a crystal sword that created rainbows when it refracted the light of the portal. Once he was out the summoning portal, he landed in front of the Hearth Mother. The light from the portal filled Richter with a sense of wellbeing.

You have been exposed to the light from the Plains of Sana. All healing spells are 100% more effective for positive alignment and neutral creatures while the portal remains open.

Unable to help himself, Richter cast analyzed the angel.

Name: Zacharia. Cherubiae. Level ???. Health ???. Mana ???. Stamina ???. Disposition: Neutral. Among the lowest levels of the celestial army, cherubiae are often used as scouts and messengers. Cherubiae gain seven points to distribute per level, and have 1.3x modifier to all stats from their base value. Denizens of the Plains of Sana are well versed in healing and have some regenerative properties.

The angel spoke, his voice a rich tenor, “Hark, Daughter of Light, you have my service until the portal fades. How may I serve?”

Hisako was clearly drained from such a powerful summoning, “Break the spell that binds these three. Kill the mage, and then all other bugbears and orcs that you can reach!”

“As you wish, Daughter.” The angel simply raised a hand and three gold beams shot out to Richter and the two villagers. He collapsed to the ground, almost in ecstasy at the lack of pain. He looked up a moment later to check on the two villagers that had been caught in the spell. Neither were moving. “Nooo,” he croaked. He cast Slow Heal on the Air mage, but no glow surrounded the man. It was too late. He couldn’t cast it again on the other man because of the one-minute cool down for the spell, but he knew in his heart that it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. Two more of his villagers were dead.

By the time Richter had recovered from the pain and failed to heal the villager, the angel had reached the remaining bugbears. Four warriors had been left to oppose the seraphim, all standing in front of the mage. It didn’t matter. The crystal sword struck down at one. It raised a shield to block. The sword cut straight through the buckler however, a single blow overcoming the shield’s durability. The blade continued forward and bisected the body at an angle. Before either half had fallen, the angel spun and thrust his sword through the throat of another, and yanked to the side. The head was left attached by only a few tendons. The spin had presented the wings to the two other bugbears. With a forceful extension, each wing connected with a fighter knocking them off their feet. With no other impediments, the angel turned to the Dark mage.

The mage was no fool however, and had started casting as soon as the angel moved in his direction. A pool of darkness welled up and surrounded the man like a cocoon. When the crystal sword flashed into it, the pillar of black dispersed like wisps of cloth on the wind. The angel finished the two bugbears it had struck prone, and then flew back to Hisako.

Sion and Daniella had managed to kill their opponents now that they weren’t facing so many. The angel alighted in front of Hisako, as the villagers came up behind Richter. It was only then that he remembered his charmed bugbear. Apparently it had come to stand with him after the villagers had killed the four bugbears Alma had stunned. It had also been caught in the Dark mage’s spell and had succumbed to the life drain.

“The mage fled, Daughter,” the angel said in its strong sure voice. “Would you have me pursue? The teleport he used is only short range.”

“No,” she said. “Please heal all of us, and then go help my people who are still fighting.” Blue flashes could still be seen to the south.

“As you wish.” The hooded head bent, and he puts his hands together with the sword held pointing up. A gold light began in his hands and then infused into the sword bathing a forty-foot area in light. Richter immediately felt his pain diminish and he saw his health bar improving. He recovered all of his lost health in only three seconds. He absolutely had to get a healing spell like that! A quick look around showed all of the injured villagers had been healed as well. The dead, sadly, remained down.

“I go now Daughter, but advise you to join the fight. My time here grows short.” He gestured to the gold portal which had lost half of its bright intensity. The angel then jumped into the air, and with a flap of his powerful wings, flew towards the fighting at incredible speed.

The villagers looked around in shock at the dead bodies of their friends and loved ones. Richter raised his voice, “We will mourn soon, but right now we must finish this fight. Our people are still in the longhouse and are running out of time. Our brave allies are fighting for us right now to keep still more of the invaders from getting to your families! Anyone that can fight now is the time!”

With that short speech, Richter started running towards the burning building. Hisako and the sprites were right beside him, and he could hear the villagers close behind. Running up one final rise in the land, the longhouse came into view. The entire roof was ablaze and smoke came out of the high air vents cut into the walls. The invaders were no longer trying to break in, but instead simply waited several yards back from the barred doors. They knew the fire would succeed where they had failed, and that soon the villagers inside would soon come running out. At least ten were standing in front of the building.

Seeing them waiting to slaughter his people, Richter flew into a rage.

*Alma!*

*Attack?*

*No,* he thought. *Kill!*

*Yesss!* came her happy and brutal reply.

When they were only a seven yards away, the bugbears finally caught sight of them. They noticed too late because Richter was able to get close enough to cast Grease again. He caught more than half in the AoE. As they turned to meet the attack, they fell prone. He had targeted his spell to the center of the attackers and so only one still stood standing on the left and two on the right. Alma dove from the left and targeted her psi attack at the one still upright. Rather than continue her dive past, though, she latched onto the bugbear’s head with four legs. Clinging like a tick, her tail wrapped around her prey’s neck securing her hold. The skirmisher reached up to pluck her off, but Sion shot him with an imbued arrow. The damage from the attack, coupled with whatever Alma was doing, was apparently enough to overwhelm the bugbear’s psychic defenses. The last sight Richter caught of the invader’s face was of the eyes widened in absolute terror, as blood ran freely out of his nose.

Sion and Daniella began targeting the fallen warriors with imbued shots. Three were dead before they regained their feet. Not to be outdone, Hisako fired off beams of light at two bugbears once again leaving cauterized holes in the bodies. They were dead before they struck the ground. The villagers fell upon the remaining two standing bugbears and literally tore them into pieces. The panic in his people knew no bounds. They all feared their loved ones might be dead in the building before them, and would let nothing stand in the way of opening that door. Several of his people were so blinded by rage that they had rushed forward and were caught in the Grease spell as well. Rushing forward, it was almost impossible to see the slightly darkened surface that warned of the spell.

Once all of the attackers were dead. Richter ran up to the door and shouted, “It’s Lord Richter. Come out! We have killed the attackers!”

There was no response at first, but then there was a scrabbling at the door. Richter heard a scrape, followed by a loud thump, as something heavy hit the ground. Richter pulled on one door while a dwarf villager pulled on another. The heavy wood moved easily when confronted with his strength. A cloud of black smoke came out blinding them all momentarily.

Richter was hit by a weak tackle. He was ready to attack when he heard, “Thank you, my Lord! We would all have died in a few more minutes!”

Richter blinked his eyes clear and saw he was holding a high elf woman. She looked up with bloodshot eyes set in a soot-stained face. She began to sob, clinging to him like he was the last light in a suddenly dark world. He held her awkwardly for a few seconds until another villager led her away to make room for more people escaping the still-burning building.

Someone shouted, “There are still some inside! They were too weak to move! Help them!”

Richter ran inside hacking against the smoke. He couldn’t see anything, but then Hisako cast a spell that shot a dozen shining globes into the rafters of the longhouse. Five bodies were on the ground. Richter ran to the closest. He didn’t waste any time checking for life, but just picked him up in a fireman’s carry and ran out of the door. He kept running until he was ten yards away, and then put the body down. He was going to go back, but he saw others had taken the other bodies out. Besides as he watched, a portion of the roof collapsed with a crackle. The structure of the building had finally succumbed to the flames.

He looked back to the body he had drug out of the flames. The smooth face of a young dwarf male looked back at him. The eyes were half open and stared sightlessly up. The dwarf hadn’t even been old enough to even start growing a beard yet. Guilt and anger surged up from deep within Richter. “Noooo!”

He cast Slow Heal, but again the spell couldn’t find purchase on the body. Richter wasn’t done though. He slammed a fist into the dwarf’s chest. He then started compressing the dwarf’s chest. “One, two, three, four,” he said under his breath in time with his exertions. After a count of thirty, he moved to breathe into the dwarf’s mouth. After tilting the dwarf’s head back, he placed his lips on the young dwarf’s and blew forcefully into his mouth. Richter blew a second breath into his lungs before he began to compress the chest again.

A small hand touched his shoulder. “He is gone Richter,” Hisako said.

He ignored her. There was a lot he couldn’t control. There were mistakes that he would make. Hell, this whole attack was his fault! He would have to live with the consequences of this night for the rest of his life. The needless deaths of his people occurred because of his carelessness, and he couldn’t change that. He would not let THIS life go, though. One, two, three, four, … He breathed into the dwarf’s mouth again.

He was starting his third round of compressions when Hisako touched him again, “We need to keep fighting. Yoshi needs out help! I am sorry for your loss, but…” Her words trailed off.

The dwarf youth coughed. Richter couldn’t believe it! It was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard! Placing a hand to the dwarf’s neck, Richter could feel a faint pulse! It was weak and thread, but it was there. As he was checking it faltered. It might go out at any moment.

“Hisako! Please heal him.”

She was staring at the dwarf in shock, “But how… this is impossible…”

“Hisako! Please,” Richter pleaded. She shook her head to clear it and extended one hand. A golden glow surrounded her hand and extended to the body of the dwarf. The pulse grew strong under Richter’s hand and the breathing eased. The dwarf lapsed into an easy sleep.

Once breathing normalized, she looked at Richter, “We have much to discuss, Lord Richter.”

“Later,” he replied. “We need to help Yoshi.”

Turning to the villagers, he raised his voice, “All of you who can stand support those who cannot. Those who can fight, your job is to protect the other villagers and make your way back up to the meadow. No arguments,” he said sharply. Several of the villagers had opened their mouths to protest at being sidelined, but they closed them quickly at his tone.

Terrod had walked up while he was speaking. His blackened face made it clear he had been trapped in the building. “You heard Lord Richter. Let’s get moving!” The man’s voice was scratchy from smoke inhalation, but it still radiated authority. How much of that was due to the Comradery ability, and how much was due to his learned gravitas, Richter didn’t know, and he didn’t care. He nodded his appreciation to Terrod, who simply nodded back. His Companion turned away, and picking up an unconscious villager, began walking towards the meadow north of the village. Not wasting any more time, he just turned to Sion and said, “Ready?”

The sprite nodded and they ran to the flashes of blue light, Hisako and Daniella not far behind.