In this world, Magic is Everything. All people, all races, are granted with the power to perform mystical and magical feats via grimories, mystical tomes granted to each and every child on their 15th birthday. Those blessed by the mana can have their names written down in legend.
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Description: There are always negatives when attempting a summoning and using the dark arts of the past without understanding all of the symbols. Yet, when one mistakes, the rune for “friend” with the rune for “undead” you start to wonder about the idiots in the world.
Minimum Number of Players: 1
Minimum Word Count: 2000 per person
Location: Aries Garse
NPC Information: Idiot Cultists are running around the outskirts of Aries Garse screaming for help. They’re wearing suspicious dark purple robes and need to be arrested for the fact that they unleashed monsters on the population.
Enemies: Ghouls x 6 per player
Ghouls are fleshy boney golems that walk on four legs. They charge at whoever nears them because they have a strong sense of smell and have intermediate health while dealing intermediate damage.
Special Conditions: Defeat the ghouls and arrest the cultists.
What was going on in the world? Aust thought to himself as he ventured around Aries Garse, there had multiple rumors of ghastly creatures ravaging the nearby surroundings. So far no one had been harmed by these creatures and they were being treated as the ramblings of distressed travelers then actual fact but from what Aust had learned from his years of traveling was that if there was a rumor about a danger nearby it was more then likely had a dabble of truth along with it. It could easily be just a pack of roving wolves that had made the forest nearby their new home or maybe a family of bears had done the same either way it was something that Aust wanted to check out. Not out of duty to anyone in particular but more out of the experience and knowledge he would gain from facing such things if they were truly ghastly creatures and not just the run of the mill forest critters that scared citizens mistook.
As he finished his loop around the town gathering information and dealing with the strange looks he was getting which the young Shengxiao had grown use too because it was apparently weird and unusual to not wear a shirt out in public but no matter who tried to convince him he wouldn’t bend to that ruling. He had already compromised on wearing pants and shoes, after he finished his little walk around he made his way towards the forest when he could hear some shouting and as he focused on the sound it became clearer that it was actually shouts of panic and distress. Aust decided it was time to pick up the pace and he begun his run towards the commontion. As he grew near the source Aust noticed that the ones who were yelling were these strange people that wore a purple-ish colored robe. There had been some of them that had been injured by something and the others seemed deeply focused on something deeper in the woods. “What on earth is going on here?” Aust shouted at the nearest person who jumped at the sudden appearance of the half naked young man. “Ghouls, they are eating them.” The man was able to stutter out as he continued to stare off into the woods.
By now, it would come as a surprise to nobody that Griswold had again been roaming about in the forsaken realm. Even though most of the duties of a magic knight were, strangely enough, all located in and around the noble realm. One would almost start to believe that it was the only place that had any issues as he rarely saw any knights actively taking part in any issues that took place further from the city than the common realm. At times, he almost believed that people were actively choosing to keep themselves occupied in the more heavily populated and wealthy corner of the country so they could retreat into a comfortable bed at the end of the day. That, and working for noble folk had its benefits, as getting into the good graces of wealthy and influential people usually did. Needless to say, Griswold was not the kind of person that wished to live that life.
He chose to stick around the forsaken realm and common realm for a rather simple reason; Gratitude. The people he had been helping out here had all been happy with his aid, mostly because they lacked the funds to turn to others for help. This was particularly true in the forsaken realm, where people had almost all reached a point where they simply did not trust outsiders anymore, relying solely upon themselves as they were not looking for surprises or trouble. They had plenty of those already, as was to be expected of the most poverty-stricken and simultaneously largest portion of the country. Sure, you had some of the magic knight squads that were located in the forsaken and common realms such as the azure deer and the green mantis squads, though he felt like they were just scapegoats to draw away attention from some of the other squads.
It was not entirely unknown to the rest of the country that you had some squads that were made up almost exclusively out of royalty and nobility, seeing anyone with the capabilities of a magic knight off to one of the previously mentioned squads for the simple reason that they had been born a commoner. It was for that reason that Griswold himself did not consider himself to be a magic knight in the modern sense, but rather in the traditional sense. Protecting the people, being honorable in their deeds and not making a difference between saving a noble or saving a peasant. Luckily, at the time of his magic knight exams, he had shown a small portion of what could be considered valor in his fight, which was why the captain of the Crimson Lion had picked him for the squad.
At the time, he felt both honored by the gesture, and disgusted by the behavior of the other squads that would not even do so much as spit in his direction. Why? Because he had been born into the wrong family. But all of those things had only strengthened his belief in that he should use the tools he was given as a knight and direct it towards the truly struggling regions of the country. And struggling was not a word he would use to define the noble realm, least of all the royal capital. Wandering about in his normal attire, the fact that the Crimson Lions did not own an overcoat like most of the other squads allowed him to maneuver the place without getting too many shifty eyes thrown towards him. As a commoner from the forsaken realm himself, Griswold was quite aware of the place called Aries Garse and the amount of shady activity that took place there.
Sticking to the outskirts of town for a bit after it had gotten dark out, there was one spot along the edge of the forest that seemed to be lit up. Though faint, he was sure that someone was out there having a party or another kind of celebration out there. After all, it was the kind of place that was known for being on the side of festivities, as wel as being somewhat degenerate. Truth be told, the sole reason why he did not go out there as soon as he noticed it, just to make sure the place was safe was because there was a big chance that he’d run into naked people wearing only animal furs and doing … whatever it was they did. So as night descended upon the place, Griswold had retreated himself to the local inn to get some food, which was when the news reached his ears. Strange noises and sightings along the treeline of the forest, accompanied by ungodly screams that led the superstitious locals to believe that there was something demonic on the prowl.
As a magic knight, as well as someone who had the best interests of the forsaken realm at heart, there was no way for him to just ignore it. Taking his leave and returning to the outskirts, the faint light in the distance was still there, as well as shadows moving between the source of the light and the actual treeline, creating a display of large and monstrous shadows. Upon making his approach, he noticed another person closing in on the treeline, which was either the act of a brave and strong man, or a really foolish one. The closer he got, the more easy it became for his finely tuned hearing to make out what they were saying, which was one of the benefits of having heightened senses. Hearing how there were apparently ghouls eating people, it made him wonder exactly what kind of people they were dealing with. For as far as he was aware, he had never really ran into any ghouls, meaning it was highly unlikely that they were a natural occurrence.
“You there, pay attention. The ghouls, how many of them are there?”
Speaking the moment he arrived within earshot, he took notice of how the man was wearing some rather peculiar clothing. He never saw anyone in such fancy robes within the forsaken realm, leading him to believe that these people did not belong here at all. More so, if he was right in his earlier assessment, there was even a chance that they were responsible for bringing them here in the first place. Obviously, that would need to be investigated and properly taken care of.
“T-t-twelve I think, though there m-m-might be more b-by now! I don’t know how these things work?! I don’t even know what they are! I-i-it was a mistake.”
Upon hearing the man finish his sentence, his raving was getting worse and worse, the frightened stuttering not helping him in making his case. Judging by what he was frantically spurting out, it seemed that they had messed up on some sort of summoning ritual and had brought those creatures out by accident. Claiming they had gone about the summoning by four large standing stones in a clearing not far from here to the north, the screaming in the distance died out. By now, the slaughterfest had most likely come to an end as the summoners had been killed, or the ghouls had been taken care of. Now, Griswold was not known for being a betting man, though he could more or less figure out which of the two options seemed to be more likely. When the robed man suddenly started screaming at the top of his lungs, Griswold did not hold back and punched the man against the side of his chin with enough force to knock him out cold with a potentially mild concussion.
“Well, you heard the guy. “Ghouls summoned by accident” still makes him complicit to releasing dangerous creatures on the community. So if you came here with the intention of helping, I for one would not mind having a bit of backup.”
Judging by what he could see, Griswold was the older of the two, though the kid had some features about him that made him think he could hold his own in a fight. While he himself was fairly strong physically, he was more reliant on his magic in battle, though he could still pack quite the punch if need be, something that had been made evident but a few seconds ago. With his enhanced hearing, he could hear the grumbling, gurgling and growling from up ahead, the noises made by a wild animal that had taken down prey and was now feasting on the carcass. With a bit of luck, they would be too busy eating to notice their approach. That, and the fact that they approached from the treeline and remained under the cover of the trees might further aid them in their task. If all went as planned, they might be able to catch these ghouls off guard and keep them within the confines of the clearing. This being a huge benefit to them, as it would keep the chances of Griswold accidentally unleashing a forest fire to a minimum.
“Not gonna lie kid, I’ve got no idea what ghouls are, aside from the fact that the name makes them sound like some kind of undead abomination. So if we hurry, they might still be by the standing stones, and not yet on their way to the village. So what do you say, care to do some ghoul hunting?”
Aust had caught the back end of the expedite interrogation that the other mage was giving to the strangely dressed cult member. There was twelve of these strange abominations roaming around so closely to the town. The mage wore the mantle of a Crimson Lion and seemed more then willing to be physical as needed, that was always a positive sign for Aust since most tended to be to worried about harming people and attacking from a distance. He had not quite flourished while under the tutelage of Satori in his magic repertoire, but he had greatly improved his own physical strength and speed so he wasn’t less able then the typical mage even compared to some of their spells. The true test if he was lacking was against these creatures, the roamed on all fours, ragged flesh and a smell that would knock out a person from fifty meters away. “From what I know ghouls are undead beasts that attack anything it sees, which from the state of these intelligent individuals seem to be pretty true.” Aust laughed at the state of these fools that had dabbled in the art of summoning. He didn’t really have any sympathy for idiots who tried to go above their own ability, he also didn’t really care that they had done something horrible but to fail so miserably they deserved to deal with the consequences of the situation. If he didn’t like spending time around here Aust would have simply left the members to their fate and allowed the magic knights like the one that had appeared so suddenly to deal with the aftermath but the inn here in town had the best meat pies and he was willing to deal with some nuisances real quick.
“They are coming from that direction so I’m sure we will find a much more gore filled sight.” Aust was sure that the second they got close to wherever the summoning had taken place that there would be more bodies and if they were lucky for the lack of a better thought, the ghouls would still be around feasting on any remains of their would be masters. Aust lead the way moving at his own pace of 10m/s luckily he didn’t have to go far till they came upon the scene of the summoning and just like how Aust had forecasted the majority of the ghouls were still here consuming their summoners. “I figured this would be the case but at least that means we have an easier time in taken care of them.” Aust scanned the scene taking in where all the ghouls were at that moment, he noticed that there was a few that had splintered off from the main group it was only 3 of the 12 that had moved into the forest. “I’ll take care of these guys and get them back with the group if you have any magic that can take out multiples at a time that would be best.” Aust said as he dashed away from the Crimson Lion and headed towards the roaming beasts. As he approached the creatures the smell of rot intensified but he didn’t allow that to slow him down as he snatched one’s hind leg and whipped it around throwing the beast into the clearing with the rest of the creatures dealing Junior damage to it. He found the next one and with a strong round house kick sent it flying into the clearing also. The last one that had started to move away from the clearing had heard the noises of the others being attacked and was more alert then the rest but that didn’t stop Aust from simply grabbing the creature by the throat and taking it into the clearing slamming the beast into one of the others killing the both of them on impact.
While Aust would have liked to simply dive into the group and deal with them himself he knew the merits of using proper teamwork so now that the group had been brought all back to the clearing and was focused more on him Aust could only hope that the Crimson Lion had some magic that could attack multiple things at once. “Your turn Lion, I brought them back and got their attention.” Aust called out to the other mage.
From the look of things, this guy shared Griswold’s tolerance towards stupidity and irresponsibility, good. He could not exactly have used someone making trouble for him because he got upset over his rough treatment of the robed summoner, as that would just give the ghouls more time to finish their meal and encroach upon the townsfolk. Explaining to Griswold that these ghouls were undead beasts that would attack just about anything they could get their hands… claws on, he feared for the safety of all those behind them, living it up in town. As it was a place known for parties and doing all those things the church forbade, a roving band of man-eaters would likely rake up quite a kill count before the locals actually figured out that they were not in the middle of some kind of parlor trick or festivities. As such, they needed to put an end to this summoning-gone-wrong right now without wasting more time standing around.
Headed into the direction that they had been given, the guy that was currently accompanying him to the clearing with the standing stones was not wrong in his assessment. When he said that they would be walking into what could very easily be described as a “gory sight”, it reminded him very much of the aftermath of his previous mission in the common realm. The sight of all of these dead people was eerily similar to the sight of over a dozen dead goblins laying on the floor, torn and shredded to pieces by golems made of blood or burned to death by Griswold’s own spells. Shaking his head as he snapped out of it, he figured that they should do something about the bodies once this was all over as it would certainly attract scavengers such as rodents, wolves or bears. And if that happened, the town would be at risk of a whole other kind of threat that would just result in him having to come right back here.
Because his temporary partner had been leading the way, if only for the fact that he managed to move a lot faster than Griswold, his senses quickly got slapped hard by the smell of rot and decay even before his eyes could see the bodies and the ghouls looming in the clearing. Some were still feasting, though others had already started to break away from the pack. Before the magic knight could actually do something about it, it seemed the other had already started making his move. Telling Griswold that he would get the stragglers back to the main group, the magic knight began building up his mana as the other guy used his great strength and speed to grab the ghouls and just toss them back to where they came from. Even though they could not really think, they seemed flabbergasted for a bit as the pack had rogue members of said pack thrown back into them. This could only mean one thing; now was the time to strike.
Once they had all been clustered together for the most part, mostly due to the effort of the guy that was apparently a lot stronger than he seemed at first, it was time for Griswold to go about doing what he did best. Channeling his mana into his hands, he fired a total of four spheres towards the horde of ghouls in the clearing. In truth, he was merely casting the same spell twice, though the way in which his spells had developed allowed him to increase the amount of ground he could cover. Moving rapidly until the all reached different locations within and around the pack of ghouls, they erupted in a fiery nova that would quickly engulf their rotten flesh and start charring it up. Because this particular spell was meant to flush people out of buildings by making the place uninhabitable due to the extreme heat of the flames, it was never going to be the most accurate one in his present day arsenal.
That said though, it made up for that by spreading out across a fairly sizable distance and just setting whatever it could reach ablaze. To say that it was one of Griswold’s favorite spells at this time was nothing short of the truth, and a bit of an understatement. For once the spheres had erupted and hit the pack, their flesh started charring to the point where it blackened and hardened. Had they been living, breathing creatures, the sheer pain of it all would likely have caused their bodies to shut down and die already, though these were not your average wolves or bears. These ghouls were similar in a way to the blood golems he had seen Michail use while they were on a mission to intercept a band of Goblins that were preparing to attack a town in the common region, yet they were still fairly different. Instead of just being made out of blood, they were reanimated tissue, felt no pain, and perhaps most importantly, they were hungry for flesh.
“That should do the trick for the most part, as I imagine those things won’t enjoy having the flesh charred from their limbs and their bodies destroyed. Remain on guard though, there’s no telling whether or not those things are still capable of fighting after taking such damage. They’re not living beings after all.”
Bringing up the matter of caution, he himself also took a page from that book as he remained where he was right now. If there was a need for it, he could send out another barrage to seal the deal in a little while, though he wanted to see exactly how effective this would all be. After all, this was the first time he had ever encountered beings of the undead variety, so figuring out how to handle them in the future would not exactly be considered a bad thing. Whenever the chance to learn something new arrived in one’s lap, they would be foolish to just throw it away by being hasty.
Name of Spell: Ignite Elemental Type: Solar Rank & Spell Type: Intermediate – Attack Creation Range & Speed: 40 meters (20m AoE) - 20 m/s (AoE does not extend out of Max rank range) Mana Cost: 20 mp – 10 mp sustain Stats Effected: +6 to Power Applicable Perks: “Overpowered” Description: A spell that was not so much designed to be used in one on one combat, but rather to limit the amount of terrain advantages one might have over the user. By compressing and firing a small bolt of sunfire similar in appearance to “Firebolt”, this spell either travels its given distance or collides with a solid surface, causing it to erupt in a burst of flame. As it sets flammable terrain, objects and living beings on fire, it can quickly turn a building used by someone to hide or hole up in from a safe haven into a furnace one will want to quickly escape. For every 20 control, the user is capable of firing an additional sphere in the same salvo, thus following the "ammo" rules.
