Jevrick’s Main Quest: Become Mayor of Maplebrook

  Side Quests:

  

  
• Defend Maplebrook from. . . trees with swords?


  
• Kick these dirty paladins out of town.


  
• Return scythe to Marvin the Merchant.


  
• Deal with the Greenfolk and kobolds.


  
• Find and kill Green Thumb.


  
• Discover the secret of the strange green powder.


  

  Undead Servants: 0

  Maplebrook’s Population: 1003?

  ===

  Inventory:

  

  
1. Gold: 0


  
2. Items: Robe, Flint and Tinder, Vials, Glass Mirror, Sack of Diamond Fragments.


  
3. Magic Items: Scythe, Soul Gem, Protection Charm, Spellbook, Gold Triangle Binding Cap


  
4. Base materials: Vials of Blood, Pouches of Bonemeal, *Various Aether-Infused Plants, Sack of Soil.


  
5. Special Items: Vial of green dust and blood


  
6. Main Components:


  


  
1. Assorted Kobold Components


  
2. Cat Eyes


  
3. Flattened Tin Top


  
4. Jar of Fireflies


  
5. Miscellaneous Faces


  
6. Miscellaneous Hearts


  
7. Moonlit Chains


  
8. Obsidian Glass


  
9. Polished Iron Ingot


  
10. Spider Silk


  
11. Sprite Dust


  
12. Various Slivers of Metal


  
13. *King’s Blood


  
14. *Toadstool


  
15. *Morning Glories


  
16. Large Diamond


  


  

  ===

  Spells:

  Cantrips:

  

  
1. Create Fire (Arcane)


  
2. Decaying Tendrils (Blood)


  
3. Siphon Soul (Blood)


  
4. Spectral Hand (Blood + Arcane)


  
5. True Sight (Blood + Arcane)


  

  Prepared:

  

  
1. Aether Harvest (Arcane)


  
2. Anima Vifica (Blood)


  
3. Chains of Erabos (Arcane + Blood)


  
4. Dark Flame (Arcane + Blood)


  
5. Force Darts (Arcane)


  
6. Levitate Object (Arcane)


  
7. Mirror Image (Arcane)


  
8. Portal (Arcane)


  
9. Raise Thrall (Blood)


  
10. Sleep (Blood)


  

  ===

  I was quite thankful that Atan had turned out to be a master of stalling, as it gave me just enough time to prepare the spells I needed. Anima Vifica, Dark Flame, and Mirror Image.

  I had to take into account my remaining components. Enough for one use of Mirror Image, two uses of Chains of Erabos, two more Portals, five uses of Raise Thrall, and a handful of Dark Flame. There were also my cantrips, as well as Anima Vifica. I also couldn’t forget the scythe, whatever it did.

  That’s when the bells rang again. Kipsic leapt back and entered his camouflage instantly. I stood up and saw what the ringing was all for. It seemed Green Thumb was attacking the town, having turned himself into a walking tree. Druids were the strangest of people.

  Well, it looked also that the paladins had turned from their debate and had rushed to the town’s defense. My town.

  What was I doing standing just standing around?

  “Kipsic,” I said, knowing he was still by me even though he was hidden, “watch as I uphold my side of the bargain, tell your king what happens here.”

  Just his head appeared. “Yes-yes.”

  I nodded my thanks, and summoned a portal that took me to the battlefield. I stepped through to the edge of the battlements and assessed the situation.

  Green Thumb crossed over Maplebrook’s river. He was in the form of a large tree with trunk-like legs and arms. His vanguard was ten or so smaller tree creatures, which I knew to be sprigs—hybrid mutant humans with barkflesh and vine limbs. Behind this line were a hundred or so bandits with an array of weapons from spear, to buckler, to bow—some even wielded torches.

  On our side of the river were the six paladins, the three townsguard, a makeshift wall and stakes, and a couple archers situated at the top of town hall. Notably, there were other defenses like wheelbarrows, but those were situated on the West and East entrances.

  The largest threat was Green Thumb and his sprigs, though the rest of the bandits might look for an opportunity to sneak past our few defenders to attack the town. I needed Atan to aid me in directing the paladins, knowing they would not respect my say in the matter. The guardsmen would also be better served as reserves to make sure none of the bandits snuck around the line.

  “Atan!” I called out.

  The knight doubled back toward me, clad in his helmet. “You stayed.”

  Arrows loosed between our tower and the bandits.

  I wasted no time in explaining why I hadn’t fled. “I need you to relay orders to your brethren and the townguard. I doubt they will listen to me. Look, if you six can hold the sprigs and other bandits, while the townguard protects the West and East flanks, I may be able to deal with Green Thumb.”

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  Atan nodded. That was all there was to the interaction. He ran off and directed the guard and paladins as I’d hoped. Fantastic. That left me to confront the druid, the lumbering screaming oak. He was quite clearly an elementalist, and though I loathed fighting elementalists, I had to be the one to dispatch him. If only I had been a warlock or daemon spawn, then he’d be a trivial deal.

  The bandit army ascended a shallow slope. The paladins clashed into the line of sprigs, their weapons igniting with. . . black smoke? That’s right, not holy fire or radiant beams. Instead, they struck their enemies with bursts of shadowy magic that was far more akin to magic of Erabos than Zyon. Who in the afterlives were these paladins?

  I shook off the surprise, and locked into my target.

  Green Thumb charged toward the paladins. He lashed out with a vined fist, tendrils striking at the paladin line.

  I thrust out my palm—summoning Dark Flame in a torrent of black and purple bursts. The magical flames wrapped around Green Thumb’s vines, decaying them terribly. The druid reeled back and faced me, foaming at the mouth, eyes entirely bloodshot. I could only assume he was enhanced by that green powder, which suggested so was his army. That meant we’d be fighting to the death, until everyone on one side or the other was in the dirt.

  Green Thumb ran toward me, his root-like feet mashing the grass and mud in big prints.

  I brought my hands together and cast Mirror Image. My glass mirror rose from my satchel, along with three faces. The flabby flesh dissolved into the mirror, and three copies of myself were projected out around me—one in front, one behind, one to the right. The mirror remained floating around me as the spell persisted.

  Green Thumb’s fist of burnt vines struck out at me.

  I dove to the right. All of my images copied the maneuver, leaping like a team of synchronized dancers. The front one burst into a cloud of silver aether as the attack struck it.

  The druid lumbered forward, eyes sweeping between me and my images.

  I willed my doubles to spread out—running in their fantastic pants and coat, their tophats clinging to their handsome heads. One ran to the left, one directly away from Green Thumb, while I diverted my path down the slope to the right.

  Green Thumb roared and pitched his unburnt arm. A cluster of bio-luminescent twigs formulated in his hand lobbed through the air. My farthest mirror image exploded in bursts of green and aether smoke. That seemed to anger the druid more, as he continued to scream and froth at the mouth.

  I had made it half down the slope, a few paces behind the paladins who were striking at the sprig with their hearty weaponry and bizarre shadow magic. Plant limbs flew off, but new ones sprouted back in their place before the hacked pieces could even touch ground.

  These were annoying creatures to kill. The only way to kill one was to either burn it, hack at it a dozen times until it ran out of material to regrow, or pierce its two hearts: the human and the seedheart.

  “It has two hearts!” I shouted to the paladins. “One on either side of the chest. They will only die to that or fire!”

  The leader of the knights looked back and nodded to me, thrusting his sword straight through a sprig in two consecutive attacks. Sure enough, the mutant fell to the ground in a writhing mess.

  This meant of course that the blunt weapon that Atan gravitated toward was of little use here, and so I beckoned for him to tank Green Thumb for me while I whittled him down with my spells. It was good timing as well, the dark druid having already dispatched my last image and was running down the slope toward me; my glass mirror then fell into my hand, and I stowed it away.

  Atan crashed his hammer into the earth, sending a wave of radiance into Green Thumb that toppled him back with a thud and explosion of dirt and grass.

  I reached out with my hands and summoned spectral chains from the ground that wrapped around Green Thumb’s arms and legs. He thrashed against them, but the chains tightened the more he struggled, restraining him to the ground.

  Atan stepped up and swung his great hammer down toward Green Thumb’s face.

  Hundreds of vines erupted from the druid’s chest—tossing Atan back through the air and rolling down the slope.

  I used True Sight.

  ===

  Name: Giacomo “Green Thumb” Borris

  Anima Level: 65

  Age: 50

  Lineage: Human

  Class: Druid of the Branch (Wit)

  Status: Barely Injured

  Conditions: Nightfire Potion - Unknown Effect, Shapeshifted - Bark Form

  Stats:

  Might: 48

  Agility: 22

  Intellect: 21

  Wit: 54

  ===

  This druid was fascinatingly strong, but not unmanageable. Quite unfortunately, however, as an elementalist his traits would be doubly strong and doubly resistant to me—except for my arcane spells. Atan’s divine magic would be competent, but his anima was below that of Green Thumb’s. I had not anticipated such a proficient druid to be the leader of a band of thieves and outlaws, and that may have been a dire error on my part. Well. . . my strongest prepared spell was Dark Flame, but it was only half as effective here as it would be against a divine magic user. I also hesitated to use my last cast of Dark Flame, should the paladins turn on me after this fight.

  But screaming from the town disrupted that fear.

  I summoned the powerful spell. Flames washed over Green Thumb’s restrained body, sizzling and crackling his bark skin.

  The monster roared again—this time breaking free of my chains, though only rising to his knees. Zyon! Twice-cursed elementalists! The entire front of his body was scorched, though I could tell he had plenty of endurance left in him.

  Atan summoned a radiant cage around Green Thumb, golden bars trapping him in place.

  I snapped my fingers and the grass underneath his feet ignited in flame. He snarled, and stamped about—snuffing out the flame. I followed up by whipping out my hand, dark tendrils snapping around his chest. But as I predicted, the blood spell was simply shrugged off. I needed to recoup materials for Force Darts if I was to do any damage here.

  Atan yelled, “Can you not just summon a portal under him and make him fall from the sky?”

  If only I could scowl at the paladin so he understood the stupidity of the suggestion. “Have you never fought a druid? I severely doubt that tree is the only form this oaf can take.” I flapped my arms in case the dumb paladin didn’t understand. I then searched my surroundings for anything made of glass.

  The battlefield was littered with the remains of sprigs and bandits. I was surprised to see that the paladin line had held in the face of such a horde. Another fortune was that the bandits had ceased firing arrows at my town. However, this was because they were charging up the slope toward it. Infernos! I ran from the fight with Green Thumb to protect the town. I would be more effective versus the chaff anyway.

  “Where are you going?” Atan shouted.

  I did not answer, there was no time. The bandits were already at the barricades.

  “Retreat to the walls!” I heard the paladin sergeant command.

  I rounded the east entrance and grabbed the shoulders of two bandits, siphoning their souls in an instant touch. Their shriveled bodies collapsed to the ground. I leapt over the spikes and lashed out with my Decaying Tendrils, felling another enemy.

  There were dozens of bandits within the defenses, fighting up the sloped road. I ignited a patch of fire along what little grass was there, and it split the force in half. A handful of bandits turned to me and charged. I cast Levitate Object on a sword on the ground and compelled it to spin through the air. The blade slashed the throats of the attackers, dropping them to a gushing heap of blood. No more uses of that spell. . .

  I could not see how the townsfolk were holding out, but through screams and blades clashing, I feared it was not well at all.

  I dropped to the bandit corpses at my feet and used the last of my hearts to raise five of them as undead thralls. Their bodies twitched and contorted, before rising to my command. Their glowing eyes witnessed me once they had risen.

  I thrust a finger at the backs of the enemy force and commanded, “Feed.”

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