Aliandra

  Ali’s mana flowed, shaping the elegant glowing runes in the ter of the new, smaller square had chosen for them today. It wasn’t as defensible as their st spot, but after fighting for most of yesterday, they had been able to make up a lot of ground. In the distance, between the buildings, Ali could make out the sleone bridge that arched out across the void to the sed, slightly lower ring, silhouetted against the soft dim glow that filtered up from below.

  With a familiar snap, her Runic Circle closed, and she surveyed her wood. She had decided to make one Cure Poison circle and one Inspiration circle. Some of the fights had been drawn-out affairs – battles of attrition – where a little extra mana might have e in very handy.

  “Ok, ready,” she announced, and ’s lithe body shimmered, blending with the shadows as he began to run, seen only by the soft floating wisps of mana that shrouded his form from view.

  Ali surveyed the disposition of her minions, but everything seemed ready. had been amazing, giving up an hour of his sleep st night just to help train her archery via her Martial Insight. He had also taught her how to approach ‘strategic deployment’ – as he called it – from the perspective of an archer. Eae of her minions had been carefully assigned a spot inside a building shooting out of a door or window, or with a nearby wall or er to hide behind – all spread out widely enough that a single spray of poison could not hit more than one of her minions at a time, a close enough to be easily accessible to Malika and her Acolyte healers.

  While she waited, Ali summoned her Grimoire and begaing arrows. With a couple of Kobold archers in her forces and all shooting arrows up into the sky, and often losing them over the edge of the ring, they ran out faster than she had anticipated, and so she took any dowo make sure everyoayed fully stocked.

  Grimoire of Summoning has reached level 21.

  Oh nice! Her Grimoire rippled as it added a neter to the end.

  Above the distant bridge, an arrow soared rapidly into the sky, a brilliant fre against the darkness, signaling that had found a mark. Quickly Ali put her Grimoire away and summoned a precautionary barrier, happy that her practice copying the Glimmer Shards allowed her enough trol to shape the barrier taller than it was wide to better cover her entire body.

  Skeletal Wyvern – Undead Dragon – level 31 (Poison)Giant Bat – Zombie Bat – level 24-28 (Sound) x2.

  Undead! Does it have to be? Ali shook her head, trying to dislodge the gut-wreng sense of dread that threateo send her into a panic. The monsters s above ’s agile form darting bad forth as he sprinted along the ground were all undead – and even though had warhem, and she had expected it from the death mana affinity of the dungeon – she still struggled to fadead without fear.

  While not quite as rge, the Skeletal Wyvern looked identical to the terrifying mohey had faced in the depths of the library atrium. Skeletal wings soared through the air as if they could hold its bulk aloft, even though there was no wing surface between the slender long bones. She could see clear through its ribcage past the bes and ptes of armor. Filling the gaps between the bones and trailing behind the monster was a dark pulsating miasma of green mana that traced its distinctive, threatening outline.

  The two bats that zipped bad forth looked identical to the bats they had been fag previously, with the exception that their flesh showed great rents of unhealed wounds that seeped a putrid goo, and parts of their wings had holes and tears. As they dove and darted through the air, their shimmering sonic attacks buffeted the ground, barely missing and raising clouds of dust wherever they struck.

  “Fire,” Ali anded, focused on the Skeletal Wyvern first, and her minions respoo her will with an instant barrage that filled the air with magid arrows. But she immediately saw the problem – while her mages and shamans were ued, most of the arrows were passing through the wyvern.

  “Bats first,” said, breathing heavily as he skidded to a dramatic stop beside her. Swirls and glyphs of radiant light crawled across his skin and seared out from his eyes, ignited by his incredible Righteous Fury. His arrows burned a rapid-fire tracer stream into the sky, smming into the zombie bat.

  “Archers, shoot that bat!” Ali redirected her minions to follow ’s lead, and they rapidly turhe deg bat into an undead zombie pincushion. With most of their battles, ’s powerful skill was suffit to take out a si all on his own, with time left over to move to a sed target. But the zombie bat proved substantially more robust, taking the full duration of his skill, all the arrows of her Kobolds, and her tinuous stream of Are Bolts, before they finally grou, still screeg and thrashing about.

  At least Mato is excited, she thought, watg him charge the downed monster with a bloodthirsty roar.

  “arget,” said, shifting his shining arrows to the sed bat, clearly happy to leave the filing grounded moo Mato to finish off. Mato’s happiness showed in the way his finishing Swipe lifted the creature right off the ground and flung it aside in a lifeless heap.

  That’s my friend! she thought happily, surprised at herself. No, she no longer feared him.

  With a thought, Ali summoned a barrier above her Acolyte, defleg the poison spray from the swooping Skeletal Wyvern, and theargeted her minions onto the sed bat while trying not to choke ooxic stench of the green fluid sizzling on the ground. Mentally fixing it as her target was being an automatic skill, and her Are Bolts soared into the sky, barely taking any of her focus from direg her minions and blog with her barrier. The agile zombie bat highlighted the value of her Are Bolt skill in Ali’s mind. With her archers and mages, she had to anticipate the trajectory of the bat – a tricky uaking given its rapid and uable darting dire ges – and fire ahead of where it might be when the spell or arrow arrived. Fully half, if not more, of her minions’ shots missed. But her Are Bolts always hit – if not on the first pass, they would gracefully arc around and chase the bat indefinitely as long as she kept her focus. Well, not indefinitely, she reminded herself. Her bolts only sted so long, but it was easily more than enough for what she needed here.

  She ighe chime of the first bat dying, fog on trag the Skeletal Wyvern as it swooped, spshing poison against the entire front of a building, and catg her Kobold Bone Mage before it could duck behind cover. Quickly, she moved her poisoned Kobold to the cure circle while shifting her barrier around to catch the stream of poison aimed at one of her Acolytes.

  In the background, she heard a chime and a crash as her Are Bolt skill target vanished from her mind. Quickly, she shifted to the Skeletal Wyvern, struggling to find any way for her archers to hit it. It took several long moments of frustration before she simply gave up.

  “Fireball it,” she instructed, watg the indiary balls of fire shooting up into the dark sky directly into the path of the swooping undead monster. Easier to be accurate with a giant explosion of fire, she decided, watg the fme blossoming in the air and raining down crag gobs of fire to the deafenied thumps of the explosions.

  stood quietly on the apex of the arched stone bridge, suspended midway between the inner-city ring behind him, and the enormous spread of the partial ring of stone and buildings that y suspended in the air below, ected by the tiny sliver of stoood upon.

  Even ruined as it was, the sight of untable tons of ste and granite suspended in the air by the iy of the a Dwarven crafters left him in awe. Sprawling out along the st was the entire industrial district of a major city, rge multi-story buildings in various states of disrepair and ruin, many of which were now covered by bone and crawling with undead monsters.

  had always found spatial perception came easy to him, and now enhanced by his powerful Explorer skill, he found it easy to see the ehree-dimensional yout of the city captured in his mind. The magic of the suspended rings was anchored to the enormously tall pilrs that extended up through each ring and the roof above, g exactly with the ventition shaft and simir strus rising from the residential level above. Presumably, they extended even further downward into whatever y below. Even the grand library acted as an enormous city-scaled structural pilr that rose through the ter of it all. Whoever had ceived of this pce had certainly had araordinary vision.

  His acute vision picked up more bats and wyverns cirg in the distance. After the better part of two days fighting them, they had finally cleared the bridge and reached the sed ring. Initially, most of the monsters he had brought back for his team to fight were not even dungeoures – somehow the bats and the wyverns came from outside the dungeon and were fighting endlessly with the dungeon itself. However, as he progressed, more and more of the monsters were undead – zombies or skeletons – and on this his Explorer was clear, those were most certainly the minions of this Ruins of Dal’mohra dungeon.

  He waited, studying the rooftops of the buildings below. The stillness in the air made it impossible for him tet they were in an underground cavern, regardless of how big it was. Could this be the dungeon’s core? Must be. So much of the surface below was covered with bone spikes and ridges that some buildings appeared to be little more than gray lumps. While the way forward was clear, he still waited, patiening easily to him as he stood and observed within the shroud of his Eclipse stealth. It would not do to advance prematurely and run afoul of a wandering patrol of bats or wyverns, especially if, as he suspected, the creatures in this new se of the city would be even more powerful than before.

  He trained his eyes on a problematic group of four bats that seemed to venture close enough that they might cause problems. For several minutes he studied their path and habits before pulling out his bow and nog an arrow.

  If I’m right, they should e around and be just in range… He waited, while the bats turned anreat circle in the sky, and then he drew his arrow, sighting along the shaft while he judged the distance. For a few moments, he simply stood still, not evehing, while the bats flew on silent wings. At the perfeent, he triggered his increased range and loosed his arrow to the sky, aimed to intersect the lead undead bat’s path as it flew toward him. He held his position until the st possible moment befniting his arrow with the brilliant fre of light magic. The ed screech of the zombified bat chilled him to the bone, even though it was by now quite a familiar sound. He turned and darted aushing his speed to the utmost, making the most of his enhanced dexterity and the speed entment on his boots to stay ahead of his pursuers, dodging to the side whehey tried to hit him with their sonic scream attacks.

  He sprinted around a er, turning, and firing back at the bats before dug behind the cover of the building. There had been several times when he had lost the i of his quarry before he had reached their prepared ambush site, and he had had to go bad start over. He wasn’t about to let that happen again.

  He sprihe st stretch ft out, pulling up near Ali in the square.

  “Four zombie bats,” he announced, gng at Mato tossing his head in frustration. “Throw a house at them,” he suggested.

  The bear made an unamused growl deep in his throat.

  From the windows and doorways arrows, firebolts, lightning, and even spears of bone flew up to meet the bats as they swooped into the square to fight.

  activated his Righteous Fury immediately. Against the agility of these bats, his potent magiha skill was his best ce of downing one of their foes as soon as possible, and substantially redug the danger. His mana burned within his veins as his magic surged. The etlefield slowed, crystallizing into preternatural crity as his Blessing of the Dawn supercharged both his dexterity and perception, and his Eyes of the Ar was enhanced. He unleashed a veritable storm of arrows powered by his light magiot b to dey it. While his Righteous Fury , he didn’t hold back, burning through his mana at a phenomenal rate. His arrows tore a tinuous tracer line smming into the bat as it began dodging and diving to try and avoid his assault. With his enhanced rea speed, he saw the bat moving almost in slow motion allowing him to hit with almost two-thirds of his shots.

  With a few good hits with Lightning Bolts and the full fury of his burning mana, the bat faltered, spiraling down to hit the ground with a loud thump, and the crag of bone. Injuries that he knew wouldn’t stop the monster from attag anything nearby. He ig, hearing Mato’s roar and thundering charge, instead retrieving a mana potion and downing it in a smooth practiced move before turning to the bat and resuming his attacks i on eking out every st sed of his powerful buff before it expired.

  He managed a respectable number of hits before the light in his eyes dimmed, and the world around him seemed to speed up back to normal.

  This skill is going to make me go broke, he thought, stepping over his discarded empty mana potion vial and into Ali’s Inspiration circle. Well, I’m already broke, he thought ruefully. He had had to rely on Ali to afford his st batana potions, and she was even supplying him with all his arrows, so he didn’t have to buy those too. The only sotion was that with his retively small mana pool, he didn’t have to buy the more expensive mana potions. Now, if only I learn to jure arrows from fresh air… burning my mana faster. Right.

  While he waited for his mana to refill, he cast an eye across the battlefield, paying careful attention to Ali’s new Kobold archers. They’re doing a lot better, he thought, satisfied. When Ali had asked him for help, their teique had bee described as mediocre. But she had studied his advid teique with impressive diligence, and could see the dramatic improvement.

  Close enough, he thought, cheg his mana level. Pig the bat targeted by Ali’s Are Bolts, he began firing. Maybe if the battle goes long enough, I use Righteous Fury again.

  As the final bat spiraled down to the ground, taking several more of his arrows on the way down, heard several chimes sounding. Oh, something new? He hadn’t bothered with the notifications all m, but several chimes together like that usually meant something worth looking at.

  Oh, I leveled.

  Yroup has defeated Giant Bat – Zombie Bat – level 24-28 x4.

  Archer of Light has reached level 27.+10 attribute points.

  Radiant Archery has reached level 18 (+2).Arrows of Brilliance has reached level 21 (+3).Motes of Light has reached level 11.Explorer has reached level 17.Eclipse has reached level 14 (+2).Eyes of the Ar has reached level 14.Righteous Fury has reached level 7 (+4).

  Cartography has reached level 7.

  Quickly, spent two points ea vitality, dexterity, perception, intelligence, and wisdom, shotgunning all the attributes he used evenly – but that wasn’t the st notification. Hurriedly, he read on, having to stifle a chortle of satisfa. Yes!

  Arrows of Brilliance has gained a new enha.

  Blinding FshMana: Cause aremely bright fsh when your arrow hits, blinding nearby targets. Range: 20 feet.Light, Area, Ranged, Intelligence

  Armor PiergStamina: Your arrows will pierce armn a pertage of the target’s armor value.Physical, Ranged, Dexterity

  Mote of LightMana: Attach a Mote of Light to your arrow, fixing it at the destinationLight, Ranged, Intelligence

  Grappling ShotMana: Bind your target with light magic, pinning it to the ground and impeding its movement.Light, Ranged, Intelligence

  Choose one enha.

  smiled seeing his new advance, and he almost picked his anticipated Armor Pierg, before he suddenly noticed the ry in his list of choices.

  Grappling Shot? The skill sounded almost deceptively simple, but it would ge everything for him. In her book, Lyeneru always stressed the importance of strong kiting skills. If you wanted a moo chase you, you either had to be faster than it, or you had to make it slower than you. Acc to her, trol skills that prevented your enemy from reag you were vastly more useful from the perspective of usable, practical tacti bat. And here was a skill that he could use with his bow, presumably stopping or at least slowing creatures.

  He took a longing look at the Armor Pierg advance he had been waiting for. It was still araordinarily strong choice.

  Which wins? trol? Or power?

  But Mato just got his Living Rend, he thought, sidering how much that skill had enhanced his damage. It spoke for the value of armor pierg, but it also suggested he might be able to wait a little longer, relying on his friend instead. He examined Grappling Shot once more.

  It doesn’t say anything about the monster needing to be on the ground, he suddenly realized. Many trap skills pced something on the ground that o be stepped on for them to activate. But this would be delivered by his arrow.

  I shoot monsters out of the sky? Worth trying it out.

  ***

  didn’t have to wait too long this time, a group of two skeletal wyverns and three zombie bats swooped over his vantage point on the bridge. Following the same pattern, he ented increased range and fired, adding his light damage right before his arrow hit the lead wyverurned and sprinted, using a weaving path to avoid the poison spray. Bats by themselves were easier to outrun, and once he had learo anticipate it, their narrow-focused ultrasonic stun was not particurly difficult to avoid. It was the wyverns with their poison spray he had to be careful of – a broad arc that spshed everywhere – and even the spsh caused poison damage. He ducked and evaded his way dowreet taking the shortest path back to their waiting ambush.

  “Two wyverns and three bats,” he announced, as he sprihrough their position. Mato’s typical response was a furry frown.

  I want to see his face if this works!

  turned amid the storm of magid arrows unleashed by Ali and her minions, stopping beside the solid bulk of Mato’s bear. He nocked one of the Arrows of Accuracy to his b and drew, sighting down the dark gleaming arrow shaft at the unnatural flying skeleton of a wyvern. He ented his arrow with Grappling Shot and loosed it into the sky, to the pull of a substantial k of mana vanishing into his magic.

  Oof, that’s expensive. He would o be careful and strategic with this new skill – and probably he would need more mana potions. Again.

  His arrow soared into the sky, trailing a thin that seemed to be made entirely from pure light energy. The arrow flew true, apparently unimpeded by the trailing that seemed to attach itself to the ground by his feet. As soon as his arrow struck, the surged out, ing itself rapidly around the skeletal wyvern before snapping taut. The wyver out a furious roar as the dragged it bodily to the ground, despite its thrashing and struggling.

  “Ooh!” Ali excimed from behind him, as Mato roared with what imagined was urained joy.

  Oops! dove to the side as the wyvern crashed into the ground right beside his feet.

  You have been afflicted with Poison.+3 Poison damage per sed.Poison – Duration: 10 minutes. t: 1

  Stupid! He had been poisoned just by proximity to the undead monster. Quickly, he scrambled out of the way of the thrashing bony wings, tail, and the furious spray of poison that shot out in all dires. ran for the cure poison circle, hearing the ch of bear cws tearing through bone, and the rapid fsh and craalika’s strikes.

  downed a mana potion and examined his handiwork. For about twenty seds, the Wyvern remained bound to the ground by the s of his magic. But, all too soon, the of light shimmered and evaporated into tiny sparkles of light freeing the monster. Immediately, it swept its wings downward a into the sky, but although Mato’s frustrated roar throbbed nearby at his prey esg, it was clear that even just the short amount of focused time he and Malika had spent on it had left it battered and broken.

  A sarcastic grin curved his lips. Do e visit again. I hope you enjoyed your stay.

  Leaving the slower, damaged wyvern to Ali and her minions, sprinted over to Mato and shot the sed skeletal wyvern. Once again, his mana drained into the skill as if he had pulled out a plug, f the thin, but strong binding , and dragged the undead creature to the ground.

  Having learned his lesson the first time, was well clear by the time it crashed to the ground and straight into Mato’s waiting Swipe, which cuffed its head so hard the monster was left looking backward for a sed.

  smiled, thhly enjoying the enthusiasm with which Mato was tearing into the skeletal wyvern, clearly venting two days of frustration against a foe that was finally in range of his paws.

  ***

  Name: AveryRace: Half-ElfActive Buffs: Blessing of the Dawn

  Css: Archer of Light – level 27- Radiant Archery – level 18- Arrows of Brilliance – level 21- Motes of Light – level 11- Explorer – level 17- Blessing of the Dawn – level 14- Eclipse – level 14- Eyes of the Ar – level 14- Righteous Fury – level 7- [Locked] - [Locked]

  General Skills- Bowcraft – level 7- Wood Carving – level 3- Cartography – level 7

  Aptitudes- Languages: ana (Affinity): Light- Perceptive (Racial): +11 to Perception- Quick (Racial): +5 to Dexterity- Timing (Css): You have an innate sense of timingAttributes- Vitality: 34- Strength: 9- Endurance: 21- Dexterity: 180 (+76) - Perception: 122 (+46) - Intelligence: 116 (+44) - Wisdom: 40

  Equipment- on: Hunter's Bow – level 10- Body: Leather Armor – level 20- Hands: Bracers of Accuracy – level 10- Feet: Simple Boots of Swiftness – level 15- Ring: Bronze Guild Ring – level 10

  Evasion: 240Dodge: 24.09%+5% to Accuracy rating+5% to Movement speed

  Health: 340/340Stamina: 210/210Mana: 320/400 (80 Reserved)

  timewalk