Dragon Sorcerer 2- Interlude 13 (Patreon)

Interlude 13- Spear Wielder

Cami felt the cloak of shadow magic drop around them. It was much stronger than the version of this spell which she could cast and her eyes immediately darted to Modessa. Her mentor began speaking to her with the complicated language of hand gestures known as Shadow Cant.

“Stay quiet.”

“What’s wrong?” Cami asked back.

Then her question was asked for her as Liam’s arrow dropped a creature from its perch in a tree.

Cami saw Lisella pull out some sparkly rod, felt Nico tense up through their bond, and heard the sound of creatures coming through the trees. She freed her spear, but Modessa shook her head.

“Follow me and be silent.”

The instructions were clear and while Cami wanted to join this fight; she had decided she would be worthy. She would accept the training those with more skill and levels had to give her until she was able to make her own path. So she followed. Modessa led her a short distance away where they dismounted and tied the horses to a tree.

Once again, she signaled to follow.

Cami struggled. She looked back. More gnolls were attacking. She recognized them from a monster manual she’d read at the university. They weren’t exactly the most dangerous of creatures, but they were pack hunters and nearly as intelligent in a cunningly savage sort of way as humans.

Modessa grabbed her arm and pulled her around. But for her training up to this point, Cami likely would have cried out in alarm, as it was she bit her lip.

More Shadow Cant followed. “Eyes on me.”

“But help others.” Cami lamented that while she could understand the Shadow Cant fairly well, speaking with it was still difficult for her.”

Modessa didn’t smile or mock her poor usage. Cami recognized when her mentor got serious, and this was one of those times. “We have our own role to play. Trust me.”

Cami simply nodded and then followed as Modessa took off into the woods. They moved rapidly, but Modessa still took time to give her tips about moving silently. During her few days of frolicking, Cami had played hide and seek in the forest near where she lived. She had some idea of woodcraft even if it was rudimentary, certainly more than a city-dweller.

Modessa nodded in approval, and they were soon moving even faster. Cami marveled at how quickly they could move. The added stats really did make a difference. The boosts she got from Nico certainly helped, too. She almost felt like cheating, but then thought about the power of the adventurers and Nico. No, it wasn’t cheating, and she was determined to seek every advantage she could.

With her thoughts distracted, she almost missed Modessa’s sign for them to stop. She grimaced at the thought of the lecture and extra training that would have led to. She looked around and waited for Modessa to tell her why they had stopped or point out what their objective was, but the rogue was perfectly still.

Ah… she wanted Cami to figure it out for herself. She looked around but didn’t see anything. Then she stopped and remembered what she had learned. Eyes could lie, but even when they didn’t, they were only one of her senses. A good adventurer needed to be able to rely upon all their senses.

Cami closed her eyes to help her focus, and she listened. For a moment, she thought she heard something, but then it hit her. She smelled something. It was a pungent, musky scent. Yeah, it smelled like dirty dogs. She’d smelled some of the dogs back on the ranch after they’d come in from the field. This was worse than that. It had to be gnolls.

Then her eyes got wide. There were more gnolls than just those attacking the others. Modessa must have realized that it clicked with her because her lips stretched with a slight grin. She still didn’t say anything, but now that Cami knew they were there her other senses seemed to come into focus. She could hear the sound of some low growling.

How had she missed that before?

It was a simple thing that Modessa had said. “You don’t know what you don’t know and you can’t find what you don’t know you’re looking for.”

It was a good reminder. She was still such a novice. Nico might help make her stronger than her fellow students, but she had so much to learn. She turned sixteen next week. Back in her village that would have made her an adult, but now she knew she was nothing more than a child.

Modessa took the lead again, and they walked around until they got a better vantage point. In a small clearing there were four gnolls. Cami quickly cast Identify and got a better idea of who her enemy was. Knowing your enemy was second only to knowing yourself in what Modessa was teaching her.

Three of them identified as Tier 1 monsters each with around two hundred hit points. They all had mismatched armor. One carried a short machete like blade, another a club with a large nail driven through it to act as a spike and the third a wicked looking one sided axe.

It was the fourth figure which gave her more pause.

Gnoll Shaman Tier 2

HP: 311 Mana: 150

It wasn’t like a Tier 2 monster was any threat to Modessa, but Cami had a sinking suspicion about what was going to happen here.

Modessa’s hands began to move in a blur. “Training time. Take them out. Use whatever means necessary BUT make sure that one of them is alive, preferably the shaman.”

That was it. No promises of helping if things got too rough. This was like when he da had tried to teach her to swim. He’d picked her up and flung her into the middle of a pond. She learned to swim, but it had been amongst the most terrifying experiences of her young life. Actually, what she had learned could only very crudely be called swimming, but it worked.

It was a good reminder. This didn’t need to be pretty, it just needed to be effective. Cami ran through the options she had. Nico had shared the new spells he’d learned with her on their trip so far. Adding those to the extra couple of spells which Modessa had taught her gave her a good range of spells.

She pulled up the descriptions of the latter two.

Venom of Silence - Tier 2 spell. This spell will coat any weapons you use for the duration in a toxin, which will damage any target who is touched by it. You are immune to the effects of the toxin created by your own spell. The more important aspect of this toxin is that it will disrupt spell casting and if successful make the target incapable of uttering any sounds at all.

The target must resist the toxin each time they attempt to cast a spell. Further they will be silenced for fifteen seconds. After that, they may resist with their Durability. If they succeed in the resistance, the silence effect will disappear. Each new application of the toxin will cause the need for a new resistance but will not cause an initial fifteen seconds of silence. Additional applications will also increase the difficulty of resisting by 5% cumulatively.

Mana: 20.

Cast Time: 1 second.

Cool-Down: 5 minutes.

Range: special

Duration: 15 minutes per caster level. Duration is reset by subsequent applications.

Shadow Clone - Tier 3 spell. This spell will create a shadow duplicate of the caster. The clone will only have 25% of the health and attack power of the caster and will be unable to perform any magical attacks, but serves as an excellent distraction. It has a minor lure component which will draw eyes to it.

Mana: 50.

Cast Time: 1 second.

Cool-Down: 10 minutes.

Range: 300’ + 30’ per caster level

Duration: 30 seconds per caster level.

Yes, a plan was forming in her mind. She quickly cast her buffs.

Call the Lighting

She smiled as she felt the charge starting to build up in her. She cast it first to give it time to build power. Her only hesitation had been wondering if it would alert the enemy, but so far there were no cracking leaves or grass from the charge, so she hoped she had made the right call.

Shadow Clone

A duplicate of her but inky in appearance popped into existence a few feet away. She could give it commands mentally and told it to hold for a moment as she finished her preparations. Rather than recast Shadow Cloak, Cami decided to just rely upon Modessa’s spell, which currently covered her. It was the sort of pragmatic decision her mentor would respect.

She toyed around with the idea of casting Tripping Vines to ensnare the warrior type gnolls, but decided that stealth was better. She would use her shadow clone as a distraction when it was needed.

Silencing Venom

Now she was ready. Cami began sneaking forward. She covered the space quickly. Shadow Cloak kept their eyes off of her. Then she sent her shadow clone running in front of the warriors. As one, they all stood up from where they’d been squatting around a fire on their haunches. One of them howled. Another sniffed the air.

The shaman barked something and two of them raced after the clone as it was ordered to lead them on a little chase around the camp. The third one, picked up his spiked club and started to head after the others, but the shaman growled. The two of them seemed to be arguing, which was perfect for Cami.

The cloak distracted her and with them as worked up as that she got to within a few feet. Because the cloak had been cast by Modessa, it even covered her scent, so she was glad for that. Her hands tensed on the shaft of her spear. She felt perspiration running down her face even though it was a cool night.

She’d killed with a spear before, but that was something which was attacking her. This time she’d be initiating the attack. Except she knew that was silly. These monsters would kill her and eat her flesh, given half a chance. Nico wouldn’t hesitate, so she couldn’t afford to, either.

With all the speed and strength she could muster, she stepped forward and drove her spear forward. The Spear Mastery skill made the weapon feel natural in her hand, but hours of training with Modessa had proven she still needed lots of practice. There was much to learn.

The spear struck true as she drove it into the gnoll shaman’s shoulder. She would have aimed for his throat but her orders were to try to keep him alive As she tried to twist it like Modessa had taught her though she found that he was already turning his body. His arm hung limply at his side, but the creature's desire for self-preservation kept him moving. This resulted in the wound opening wider, but not as completely as she had hoped. She wouldn’t be able to count him out of the battle.

Then, before she could strike again, she had to step back. The instincts which Modessa was working so hard to drip into her saved her from catching a rusty nail in the eye and instead she only felt the club whiz past her head. The gnoll over-extended and she made the most of that.

As she brought her spearhead back, she spun the butt end up between his legs. His armor covered much of his chest, but he only had a loin cloth down there. The snarl on his lips changed to a yelp as Cami lifted him up off his feet with a strength greater than any girl her size should have possessed.

More than that, she watched as blue sparks danced along his body. He’d take damage from Call the Charge even though he hadn’t hit her. That was worth taking note of. She grinned. The damage might not be enough to take him down, but the combination of a blow to his sensitive bits and electricity causing his muscles to spasm was enough.

She glanced at the shaman. He was clutching at his wound. No sounds were coming out of his mouth. Whatever magic he might have hoped to use to save himself was failing him. Everything was happening so fast, but she should have a few more seconds still to finish off the downed ravager.

She spun her spear back and drug the sharp edge of the spearhead across the exposed wrist of the hand which still clung to the club. The creature howled again and released its hold on the weapon, which she promptly kicked away. It tried to reach out for her but before its hand could close around her ankle an arc of electricity snapped out at it burning fur and flesh.

That shock was all that she needed to finish off wounded warrior. Cami drove her spear into his chest. The armor made it tougher, but the masterwork weapon combined with her strength pushed through the layer of leather. Then, for good measure, she pulled back and thrust it once more into his throat.

Cami felt something rising within her. There was a certain satisfaction she had never expected from killing a monster. She was powerful and asserted her strength. That was when she felt her shadow clone as it was destroyed. She only had a few more seconds before the other two warriors would be upon her, but it would be enough.

She spun on the shaman and charged forward. He tried to raise his staff but his one arm wasn’t working and the fifteen seconds of silence hadn’t passed. He couldn’t make a sound, and any attempt to cast a spell seemed to be failing. She threw herself against the staff. He was strong enough to take it, but she had only wanted to get him to shift.

As he did, she spun the spear again, first rapping his wrist and then driving the point down into his bare foot. It looked more like a wolf’s foot than anything human. His head tilted back as though he was howling in pain, but no sound came out.

Cami pulled the spear back and then drove the butt of her weapon into his gut, causing him to double over before then bringing the haft down on the back of his neck. He crumpled over just as the other two gnolls entered the clearing again. They were both racing at Cami, but a spear of shadow launched out and caught one of them square in the chest.

The magical attack pierced right through the monster, even lifting it off the ground and throwing it backward. Cami realized that Modessa must have decided she would need help. These creatures weren’t that far off from her level, after all. She only had time for one spell, so she cast Tripping Vines.

Good to its name, she it spread through the ground until the roots ripped up and trapped the legs of the axe wielding gnoll. Cami of even a few weeks ago would have hesitated. Cami of a couple weeks ago, might have decided to cast another spell to finish it from a distance, but Cami’s blood was pumping so fast now.

She felt draconic rage surging through her and leapt forward. She landed as she drove her spear through the back of the gnoll warrior who had fallen prone. Then she brought her foot up under his face. She felt his teeth cave in. She wrenched the spear back out and then drove it in again twice more till the gnoll wasn’t moving.

After that, she looked around for more foes, but saw that Modessa’s spear had killed its target and the rogue was kneeling next to the incapacitated shaman while she forced a vial of liquid down his throat.

Modessa smiled, “Good job. Just don’t get cocky.”

Cami struggled not to complain that Modessa had stolen her other kill. Tripping Vines should have been able to catch both the charging gnolls, then she could have gained XP from both of them. That said, she still took a second to look at notification that popped up.

You have defeated a Tier 1 Gnoll Ravager x2.

XP gained: 64.

You have defeated a Tier 2 Gnoll Shaman. Incapacitating the monster required more skill than simply killing it. Bonus XP is awarded:

XP gained: 188

Total XP gained: 252