When Lieze finally returned to the hideout, she was greeted by the newly-excavated entranceway on the hillside. While it was little more than a hole in the rockface, moving thralls in and out of the cave would be far simpler--illustrated immediately by the ease with which Marché and his followers were ferrying their newfound undead servants into the chambers.
"Lieze." As she wandered up to the entrance, the man in question emerged to greet her, "We were able to gather quite a few thralls from Saptra--around fifty altogether."
The chill in the air around them informed Lieze that the Wraith had been returned safe and sound.
"Excellent work." She praised, "Most of them will be used as fodder for blood harvesting or alchemy. We can't afford to waste the potential of even a single thrall if we want to succeed."
"Drayya has informed me that you plan to kill Helmach."
"Is that a problem?"
"Hm." Marché paused before shaking his head, "No. Not at all."
"The two of you have some history, don't you?"
"More than you could ever know." He replied, "But that time is behind us. He's too dangerous of a foe to be left alive."
"We'll be attacking him tonight." Lieze declared, "An ambush using the Wraith, with the hope of extinguishing his life quickly."
"That's a dangerous plan."
"You don't think it's reasonable? The Wraith is near all-powerful, as far as I'm concerned."
"Helmach is a pragmatic man. He likes to have a solution to every problem. Not always possible, mind you, but…" Marché trailed off, "-What about the royalists? The guards will come to arrest you as soon as you start causing a ruckus."
"That won't be a problem." Lieze answered, "We've been granted a degree of immunity by the grace of His Majesty."
"You spoke to Ricta? Nevermind attacking Helmach--that was a poor idea." He crossed his arms, "But his word won't stop the Church, you know? As soon as news of necromancers in the city spreads… we'll have barely a day or two before this hideout is discovered."
"It's either this, or we resort to squatting in the sewers like you were doing before our intervention." She countered, "I won't tell you the odds are in our favour, but if we want to accomplish anything before my father arrives, we need to pick up the pace."
"...Right. Of course."
"Do you have any experience with necromantic alchemy?"
"Somewhat. There's a distinct lack of information regarding it in the city, as I'm sure you can imagine." Marché replied, "Would you like me to create some new thralls?"
"Work with Drayya to drain blood. We could do with a number of Flesh Elementals. Rope in your own followers, if any of them can manage it."
"As you wish."
Lieze felt relieved that she no longer had to rappel down a rope to enter the hideout. The Dwarves who were once picking away at the hillside had moved to the uppermost chamber, where the establishment of a crypt had already begun. Alma and Drayya were present in the same room, having been caught in the middle of a conversation as Lieze approached.
"No, no--you misunderstand." Drayya corrected, "The Deadlands are called so for a reason. One can't simply wander out into a forest and expect to hunt game there."
"I understand that, but… frogs?" Alma scrunched up her face.
"You know, you could stand to be a bit more open-minded about trying new things." Drayya's head turned to the chamber entrance, "Oh. If it isn't Lieze."
"What's this about frogs?" She asked, wandering over.
"M-Miss Drayya is trying to tell me that they made up a large part of the Order's diet…" Alma explained.
"Well, naturally. They were easy to catch, and the marshes were full of them." Lieze replied, "They're quite versatile, actually--roasted, fried, boiled; frog stew, frog soup, stuffed frogs…"
"Hold on a moment." Putting the frog discussion to an end, Drayya pointed towards Lieze's new staff, "What is that?"
"A magical focus."
"Oh, look at you. Can't imagine it was cheap…"
"It wasn't." Lieze affirmed, "But it's powerful. Quite the investment. And we still have well over 4,000 gold to spend."
"Now that the Wraith has returned, we can discuss our plans to attack Helmach." Drayya paused, "...Alma has also presented a few questions. Namely, how we intend to establish a foothold in the city. It isn't as if we can simply march our thralls through the gates."
"Subterfuge will be our main weapon." Lieze answered, "Attacks should be carried out using clandestine thralls over unpredictable intervals. Fleshbags, Nightcrawlers… little by little, we'll wear down Tonberg in its weakened state until an opportunity surfaces to strike the decisive blow."
"The priesthood will find us eventually." Drayya warned.
"We'll be ready for them. From now on, Marché and his followers will be responsible for reinforcing our ranks with thralls from Saptra. And I'd like for you to transform them into suitable combatants for the coming battle, Drayya."
"If the sewer rats can keep their pace, I could fashion a few Briarknights from the blood we'd be collecting…" She mulled the proposition over, "But, there is still the problem of Helmach to attend to."
"He will die tonight." Lieze replied, "The two of us will take the Wraith and a number of Fleshbags to ambush him while he visits the church at night."
"Is that so…" Drayya looked her up and down, "Are you sure you're ready for a confrontation with Helmach?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, wouldn't you prefer to be a little more offensively capable before rushing in?"
Necromancers were no warriors. Indeed, the cowardly nature of their stratagems had been one of their greatest weaknessess since the establishment of the Order. Due to the forbiddance of practising other schools of magic, their impressive reserves of mana were used exclusively for raising thralls.
"Alma." Drayya turned her head, "Go and grab that grimoire Marché lended us.."
"Of course." Bowing, the raven-haired girl quickly disappeared into the lower chambers.
"...Grimoire?" Lieze repeated the word while tilting her head.
"Don't be fooled by the name. It's more than a mere textbook of spells." Drayya smirked, "Just you wait and see."
A few minutes later, Alma returned lugging a great onyx tome in her arms. It was so comically large that one would have to lean over it to begin reading one of the pages--assuming one had a desk to read it at, which Lieze did not.
"The Church of the Golden Dragon has collected many… heretical documents ever since it established itself within Tonberg." Drayya explained, "Of these are the so-called 'black books'--chronicles of forbidden sorcery."
"I'm familiar." Lieze replied, "-As are you, I imagine. We weren't allowed to leave Lüngen's archives before we'd memorised 'The Way of the Dark' front-to-back."
"These grimoires are rarer still. One of Marché's followers liberated it from a monastery years ago. It's a rare copy delving into the intricacies of blood magic."
"You mean, the works of Roa? The Sage of the Wildlands?"
"Precisely. Alas, the most tantalising of his teachings have been censored by the Church. Many of its pages have been vandalised with ink. But the most fundamental techniques remain." Drayya went on, "Don't you think it would be worthwhile learning a thing or two from one of Kazor Nict's personal advisors?"
"Blood magic is…"
"Necromancy." She finished, "You needn't worry about honouring the Order's laws."
New Quest Received!
'Rondo of Blood' - Learn 1 spell in the [Blood Magic] category of the [Necromancy] school.
Reward - 400xp
"Just how useful can it be?" Lieze wondered.
"Who better to illustrate its simplicity than our own flowering apprentice?" Drayya turned her head towards Alma, who was catching her breath after placing the grimoire down, "Alma. Demonstrate to Lieze how easy it really is."
"Hah… of course." Taking a deep breath, the girl reached for a small glass vial at her waist. Something congealed and scarlet sloshed around inside. After pulling the cork out, Alma raised her hand over the liquid and closed her eyes.
Not a second later, the blood rolled out of the vial as a single, undulant mass. Slowly, it took form--sharpening into a needle suspended in the air, and with a flick of her wrist, the living weapon sheared across the chamber, careening past Lieze's head and splattering against the far wall, causing a busy Dwarf to recoil in fright.
Technique Observed (+25%)
Type: [Spell] Name: [Blood Spike]
Total Comprehension: 25%
Technique? Comprehension? The scale erupted with numbers as soon as Alma was finished with her demonstration. Lieze's skull tingled, as if knowledge was being forcibly inserted into her mind. She hadn't understood one practical thing about the spell, but somehow, an incomplete theory had taken hold of her.
"Well?" Drayya crossed her arms, "If Alma can pull it off, surely you can as well? Oh, and before you ask--I've already familiarised myself with most of the grimoire's spells."
"Alma." Lieze ignored her.
"Yes? Is there something wrong?" The girl answered.
"I'd like to see you do that a few more times. Let's move to the barrel."
"Uh- yes… of course."
With a bemused expression, Drayya followed the two towards the chamber in which the blood-soaked Dwarven barrel had been dropped into a hole in the floor. Without much effort at all, Alma replicated the [Blood Spike] spell, continuing for as long as Lieze desired.
Technique Observed (+25%)
Technique Observed (+25%)
Technique Observed (+25%)
Technique Learned!
Type: [Spell] Name: [Blood Spike]
Description - Manipulate a nearby source of blood (within 3m), transforming it into a spike and launching it at a target of your choosing. Both the damage dealt and MP requirement are dependent on the amount of blood used. 1 Litre of blood will deal [50] HP damage to an unarmored target and cost an equivalent amount of MP.
Quest 'Rondo of Blood' Complete!
Reward - 400xp
Level up!
You are now level [15]
HP+0 MP+55
Milestone Reached!
Necromancy (lvl. 1)
has been replaced by
Necromancy (lvl. 2)
Description - Use 90MP to reanimate a creature of level 25 or below. The creature's level as an undead thrall equals its original level. You can maintain a number of thralls equal to 1.5x your level, rounded down.
Necromantic Alchemy (lvl. 2)
has been upgraded to
Necromantic Alchemy (lvl. 3)
Enhancements Learned - [Healing Factor Improvement]
Unique Undead Learned - [Rot Behemoth]
You can now see attributes.
Layers upon layers of notifications blotted out Lieze's vision. Not only had she discovered a method of learning new spells through simple observation, but her [Necromancy] feature was also becoming quite formidable.
Extending a hand towards the barrel, Lieze effortlessly manipulated a litre of blood into the air, transforming it into a massive needle. Her communion with the Blackbriar was faint--not quite as visceral or morbid, but undeniably there. Deciding not to waste the valuable blood, however, she was satisfied with simply controlling it, allowing the globules of scarlet to drop back into the barrel with a splash.
"That's quite useful." She remarked, "Only, it would be difficult carrying around enough blood to do any real damage…"
"You caught on quickly. It took a full hour for Alma to grasp the basics." Drayya complimented, "I suppose you could use your Bag of Holding to store some blood, couldn't you?"
"That's not a very elegant solution… but it would work."
Her Bag of Holding was enchanted to grant her whatever she needed from its near-bottomless depths at any moment. If she filled it with blood and willed it so, there was no reason why she wouldn't be able to use it as a source of magical power.
"I wonder--what would happen if this spell was cast without any blood nearby?" Lieze asked.
"Are you asking whether you could use your own body as ammunition?" Drayya smirked, "Or better yet--someone else's? I don't see why not. But there would need to be a wound for the blood to escape from. The bigger, the better."
"I'm interested in seeing what else this grimoire has to offer. Spells like these could be the difference between life or death when ambushing Helmach."
"Every other spell within the tome is quite complicated." Drayya explained, "I've yet to wrap my head around any of them. But they do seem especially powerful."
"I think I'll devote a few hours to researching them." Lieze decided, "In the meantime, you should prepare for tonight's ambush. We'll be needing the Wraith, obviously, but I think it would be safer if we had a handful of Fleshbags accompanying us."
"A shame we can't push a few Briarknights through the gates and be done with it…" Drayya sighed, "Very well. And what should we have Marché do?"
"I want him and the most capable of his followers to start syphoning blood from the weakest of the thralls they collected from Saptra. If you have any spare time, I would appreciate it if you could create a Flesh Elemental or two."
"I'll see what I can do." Drayya turned her head, "Alma! Come with me. It's about time you learned the basics of alchemy."
The shrinking apprentice obediently joined Drayya at the barrel while Lieze returned her attention to the gargantuan grimoire on the floor. With incredible effort, she was able to move the doorstop to the (relative) quiet of the lower chambers, where daylight crept in from the newly-excavated entrance.
"Right…" Setting the grimoire down, Lieze rubbed her hands together, "Let's see what else I can learn."