Battle Report:
Gravewalker (x121)
Horror (x66)
Fleshbag (x12)
Rot Behemoth (x2)
Briarknight (x4)
Total XP Earned - 2,560
Decaying fingers sprouted from the rubble like the petals of some parasitic plant. Many of them were still moving, grasping, searching for living flesh to tear apart. Lieze gave them a wide berth, if only to save herself from injury when the Manticore's claws came down to sever the stubborn limbs.
She distracted herself from the sounds of crunching bones with a quick glance at the system.
Remaining Heavenly Favours - 4
Dawn had arrived, and with it, a torrent of power that would guarantee her success. Light filtered into the crumbling sewers through cracks and fissures in the ceiling, welcoming the newly-crowned lords and ladies of Tonberg with innocent glee.
"Where is that fool?" Drayya stomped on a twitching hand emerging from some nearby rubble, severing two of its rotting fingers, "He can't have gone far."
"Listen closely." Lieze placed a finger to her mouth, "The Blackbriar's tendrils are surrounding this area. They'll react to his movements, so if we remain quiet, he'll give himself away."
By her estimate, she had around 5 minutes left before her control over the tendrils would return to Sokalar. If she couldn't find him in that time, she'd need to waste another Heavenly Favour to keep them under control.
"Keep moving." She said, "We can't let him get away."
Drayya nodded, and the two of them leaped over the carpet of rubble that had descended into the sewers. Any thrall confident enough to stand in their way was dispatched by the Manticore - until the passageways became too tight for it to progress without bringing down the ceiling.
"We can't bring it any further." Lieze resolved, turning to face the beast, "Leave and patrol the skies. Stalk the remnants of Sokalar's retreating army, but do not engage any of his Deathguards."
She wasn't prone to speaking so openly with her thralls, but the Manticore's incredible strength forced her to regard it with at least a modicum of respect. Without so much as a sneeze in response, the creature turned on the spot and leaped through a gaping hole in the ceiling, leaving its master alone in the sewers.
"...Was that wise?" Drayya asked, as she often did.
"If Sokalar manages to escape, we need to be aware of it. The more time we spend fumbling around down here, the higher his chance of rallying against us becomes." Lieze replied, "He must be very weak. I can't imagine why else he would want to run away."
"I never thought we'd be chasing a wounded Ignas Sokalar through some cold, dripping sewers…" She muttered.
The Lich had left no signs of passing in his wake, forcing Lieze to consider the most logical route he would have taken.
"His army retreated to the south, so that's the direction he'll be headed in…" She thought, "No… that's exactly what he wants me to think. Perhaps he'll take a detour to throw us off his scent?"
The chase had three possible outcomes:
Lieze intercepts or catches Sokalar, resulting in his loss. Sokalar escapes to the south and regroups with his army. Sokalar escapes in another direction, isolating himself but guaranteeing his survival.
What was more likely - that Sokalar would make a predictable beeline for the southern gate, or take a more unpredictable path in another direction? The former offered the possibility of regrouping with his forces and staging a counterattack, but the latter would almost certainly shake Lieze off his tail.
"No… none of these…" Lieze clenched her eyes shut, "All three are too straightforward. Why would he even remain in the sewers if he knew we were bound to follow him?"
The city offered cover and protection. Lieze knew how simple it was to evade an enemy with its overabundance of alleyways. Not even the Manticore's keen eye would be able to spot Sokalar if he proceeded with care.
"He could outrun us, too! The sewers have collapsed, so there's no telling if we might run into a blockade on the way to intercept him!" She thought, "Drayya!"
"W-What?" The girl recoiled, "Don't shout all of a sudden…"
"We're wasting time down here! Sokalar is already above ground!" She continued, "We'll have a better chance of catching him if we use the Manticore!"
The answer was simple - overtake Sokalar and await his arrival. If Lieze used the Manticore to place herself and Drayya squarely between the Lich and his army, he would be forced to push past them or take another route, and the latter would force him to make use of the other gates, which would provide a supreme opportunity to ambush him at his weakest - a risk that Sokalar couldn't possibly entertain.
"Well… we still have to look for him, you know?" Drayya scratched the back of her head, "Lich or no Lich, losing oneself in this city is no great feat. How are we going to comb the streets before he escapes?"
"With the tendrils." Lieze replied, "They're forcing him to proceed carefully. If one of them suddenly lashes out, we'll know his rough location - and we have a better chance of seeing that if we're up in the air."
"Alright, alright…" Drayya held both hands in front of her, "I'll take any excuse to get out of this wretched sewer."
Before anything else, Lieze made certain of one thing.
[Mass Control Undead] Activated
Remaining Heavenly Favours - 3
"That'll keep the tendrils under our control for a while longer…" She thought, "Chances are, it also took control of a number of thralls in Sokalar's army. Hopefully that will slow their retreat."
Locating a ladder leading out of the sewers was simple enough. By the time Lieze had managed to peel the manhole off, the Manticore was already awaiting her on street level. Not 20 seconds later, she and Drayya were hundreds of feet up in the air.
"Which route is he most likely to take…?" Lieze wondered.
The square and its surrounding streets were either destroyed or infested with the Blackbriar's tendrils. From her vantage point, Lieze could estimate their effective ranges and visualise potential avenues of escape through the city streets. It was impossible to proceed in a southerly direction, but the west was more or less unprotected.
"He must be over there.." She lowered her head to escape the rushing winds, "But where over there? He could be hiding…"
She combed her memory for anything that might point to Sokalar's most likely location. She recalled her cult's attack on the western district and the amount of corpses that had to be left behind in order to ensure a successful retreat from the Artificial Scions.
Corpses meant thralls. Thralls meant manpower. Resilience.
The Manticore read her intentions before she had a chance to speak. The beast's wings flapped to readjust its course, gliding towards the west while Lieze and Drayya scanned the ground for any signs of the Lich.
"I doubt we're going to see him from-" Drayya gasped, "Lieze!"
She leaned forward to take the girl by her shoulders, but it was too late to offer any guidance. The ice-cold splatter of a [Blood Spike] impaled the Manticore's flank, forcing its riders to hunker down for fear of being thrown from its back.
Manticore's HP - 15,588 / 26,199
The attack pierced clean through the beast's sloughing flesh, emerging from the other side to clip its wing, perforating the membrane and forcing the Manticore into a freefall.
Lieze commanded the creature to slow its descent, but there was only so much that could be done. While it prevented Drayya and her from becoming stains on the road, their landing remained a painful one.
Lieze's HP - 191 / 334
Drayya's HP - 227 / 370
Manticore's HP - 14,320 / 26,199
They skidded to a stop, carving a half-pipe of destruction through Tonberg's western district. The Manticore barrelled through the entrance of a nearby pub, felling walls, shattering glass, and splintering furniture. Bottles of Dwarven spirits crashed down from a nearby shelf. The eye-watering stench of ethanol mixed with the Manticore's rot-stink made for a truly unpleasant combination.
"Urgh…" Drayya wallowed in pain, "I'm never riding this damnable beast again after this…"
"...Stop complaining." Lieze shook her head and ignored the stinging agony in her chest, "Oi! Get up!"
She slapped the Manticore's back, and the beast rose with a tired yawn, slamming its head into the pub's second floor and carving a great hole into the meticulous woodwork. As Lieze descended from her mount, a haunting groan caught her attention from the gaping entrance, where a single Gravewalker was tripping over the rubble in an attempt to reach her.
She scanned its statistics - a mere [Level 11]. She could have killed it without a thought, but her mind sparked with the beginnings of a more fruitful plan.
Raising her arm, she exerted her influence over the Gravewalker in much the same way she would to one under her own command. It had been a while, but during her first incursion into Tonberg's sewers, she had discovered a technique that allowed her to steal thralls from another master.
Lieze's MP - 1,384 / 1,735
The Gravewalker's aggression vanished. In an instant, she had bent it to her whim.
"That technique uses 10% of my MP…" She thought "My focus covered it, but it also didn't reduce my HP… I suppose it comes down to the technique not being classified as a 'spell'"
Sokalar had most likely used the power of his own focus to cast [Wide-Range Master Necromancy] in an attempt to gather as many thralls as possible. The Gravewalker was a straggler. But that technique only had a 100 metre range, meaning he had to be close by.
"Lead me to him." Lieze commanded.
The Gravewalker was incapable of fulfilling complex orders, but a certain amount of information had to be retained in their ailing minds - namely, the locations of their masters, previous or otherwise. Without a word, the shambling corpse turned on its heels and clambered over the pile of jagged wood separating the pub from the street.
"Huh. Not a bad idea." Drayya wiped down her robe as she approached Lieze from behind, "-That [Blood Spike] was fired by Sokalar. He must be close."
"Let's not waste any time, then." Lieze waved her hand at the Manticore, "Come on!"
The two of them stepped aside as the beast trampled over what remained of the pub's entrance. When they followed suit, both ends of the road were unoccupied.
"This way." Drayya pointed to the west, "The [Blood Spike] was fired from over there."
Finding Sokalar turned out to be a simpler matter than either of them could have imagined. The sole Gravewalker led them towards the western gate, where a congregation of corpses had arrived to follow the Lich out of the city. With the Manticore in play, stealth was hardly an option, and it wasn't long before Sokalar noticed his assailants approaching from behind.
"How persistent…" He pointed his staff towards them, "Do you not understand the futility of your mission, Lieze?"
Sokalar's HP - 99 / 577
"You speak of futility, but I can tell you're on your last legs." She answered, "Give it up. This Manticore will tear through these Gravewalkers in seconds. You've already lost."
"Whether you destroy this body or not is of no concern to me." He said, "My immortal soul will rise from its ashes. You may be chosen by the Gods, Lieze, but for how long will their favour last? I have chosen a path that sets me apart from the divine - the path of true immortality."
"Is that so?" Lieze nodded, "How very frightening."
She reached into her Bag of Holding, snipping a tiny sphere between her thumb and index finger. The artefact's glossy surface reflected the light of the rising sun as she held it aloft. Sokalar's posture stiffened in a moment of genuine, incontestable horror.
"You…" He paused, "How did you-"
"-Find it?" Lieze finished, "It was just a matter of getting into my father's headspace. If I had to hide a phylactery, what better place to stow it than within the body of my own daughter? I wouldn't have expected anything less from you."
The Lich's face, as ever, was devoid of expression. But Lieze had never seen him so silent. There was true fear in his eyeless gaze then. Not fear of failure, or agony, but total oblivion. In Lieze's grasp was the summation of his worldly existence - his Magnum Opus, and in retrieving it, she had realised a dream which had spent the better part of two decades steeping in her tortured mind.
The dream of surpassing her father.