“So, any of the scavengers look good to eat?” Drew asked, taking another bite from his can of chili.
Everyone laughed. “No, but a couple people have been wanting to give it a try. If any of them had dropped meat when Daryl melted them, we would probably have already had a barbeque.” JP said with a grin.
“Well, glad Daryl is here to let us know what is and isn’t edible I guess.” Drew wondered silently how much if any of Daryl’s vegetarian status affected the desired outcome of his necro alchemy spell. He would make a note to have someone try to harvest and cook the meat the normal way next time they killed something that wasn’t able to talk.
Daryl showed up on the edge of his aura vision and he had to stop himself from reflexively casting a lightning bolt at him. When he passed the rain’s edge he turned himself visible, “Drew! You’re awake!” He ran towards the other man and gave him a big hug. Much to Drew’s surprise, he felt Daryl slip something in his pocket and heard his mental voice in his head, “Look at it later.”
“Hey buddy, sounds like you missed me,” Drew said, not sure how to respond to the covert action. So, he just went with the obvious response to the physical interaction.
“Well, you haven’t rescued my wife yet, and we had a deal,” Daryl said, stepping back and letting all levity fall from his face. “But I have good news on that front. I just got back from the tunnel they dug out into the housing area. Got a look through the door, just a couple guards, and those that were there were distracted. I think it’s pretty much a straight shot from there to where they’re keeping the prisoners.”
“Did you see her?” Sarah asked, concern tingeing her voice.
“No, but I did see some others; they have them doing some sort of excavation, I think. They were mostly ferrying dirt, but I couldn’t get super close,” Daryl answered her with a shrug. “I watched for about twenty minutes. There were only four trolls, so we should be able to take them out easily.”
Trey had come back while Daryl was giving his side of the story. He was accompanied by Robbi, a woman in her early twenties that Drew had never seen smile, and another man in his mid-thirties. “Well, when are we going to hit them?” the woman asked, her hand resting on the hilt of the pistol on her hip.
“Soon. Let me just get a refreshing rain on people and then we need to figure out who goes in and who stays out to protect our people,” Drew said.
Sarah stepped in, “Drew, this is Sargent Trista Stirling and DC1 Brady Cooke,” she said, supplying him with the new recruit’s names. “Trista got an ability that allows her to create a line of fire behind any bullet she shoots. Brady’s red is called penetrating shot and is supposed to bypass armor and other defenses. We’re hoping it also deals magical damage to the trolls, but we have no way of really testing that.”
Robbi had pulled out a wicked looking red katana that he imagined was the blood blade he’d been told about earlier. “Does that cut trolls?” he asked the former cop.
“Yup, it’s cut just about everything we’ve put it against thus far. Takes a few swings to really do any damage to metal though,” Robbi answered, holding the blade up for Drew to see.
“That’s awesome; you trained with a sword?” Drew asked.
“Took a couple of years of Kendo.”
“Yeah, I did some fencing when I was younger. Hopefully, you’re better at Kendo than I was at that. You gonna be okay going against a troll head on?”
Robbi just nodded his head and his face grew grim. “Yeah, can’t let you and JP have all the fun.”
“What did you get, Trey?”
“It’s called Shatter Shot; it turns every bullet into a shotgun with the spread starting wherever I choose. We’re also pretty sure it doesn’t work on trolls. I shot a few of them before Daryl melted ’em, and it didn’t seem to do any damage.”
Drew looked at the group and considered. JP, Robbi, Trista, and himself were the only ones confirmed to be able to hurt the trolls. Trey was out, and Brady was a maybe.
“Alright. Daryl, Trista, Sarah, Robbi, and I will head down the tunnel. JP, Trey, Katie, and Brady, you guys stay up here and watch the front door. Don’t want them taking all of our people from behind.” He could tell Katie and JP were unhappy about being left behind, but he couldn’t leave everyone here undefended, and JP had the second most firepower of anyone. “Let’s make sure we’ve got ammo and I’ll cast refreshing rain on everyone a couple times before we go.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight — Tunnel
It ended up being closer to an hour before everyone was ready to go. Daryl came back from his scouting mission about midway through their preparation. Refreshing rain had taken the edge off his headache from the upgrades, and with two castings of energize he had plenty of time to upgrade the rest of his xatherite.
Xatherite Crystal Name: Acid Arrow
Xatherite Color: Red
Xatherite Grade: Common
Xatherite Rarity: Widespread
Type: Magic
Effect: Creates two fast moving balls of acid from a finger that travels in a straight line until it impacts a target, dealing moderate amounts of acid damage.
Mana recharge time: 16.1 seconds
Xatherite Crystal Name: Dancing Sword
Xatherite Color: Red
Xatherite Grade: Intermediate
Xatherite Rarity: Widespread
Type: Magic
Effect: Creates a mana construct of a sword that lasts for 60 seconds. The sword will move on its own and attack any target designated for the duration of the attack.
Mana recharge time: 1 minute, 45 seconds
Xatherite Crystal Name: Energize
Xatherite Color: Orange
Xatherite Grade: Intermediate
Xatherite Rarity: Widespread
Type: Magic
Effect: Infuses mana into the target to reduce fatigue and lactic acid buildup. Improves the target’s natural healing by 4x normal for 24 hours.
Mana recharge time: 20 minutes, 39 seconds
Xatherite Crystal Name: Greater Cone of Frost
Xatherite Color: Red
Xatherite Grade: Rare
Xatehrite Rarity: Widespread
Type: Magic
Effect: Creates a cone of cold energy which causes high amounts of freezing damage, originating from any part of your body. Has a chance to partially enclose the target in ice, slowing them down considerably. Cone will extend 6 meters and has an arc of pi/4.
Mana recharge time: 16.8 seconds
Upgrading those four had created a cascade of additional upgrades as the linked skills associated with them finally upgraded as well.
Linked Skill Name: Bladeshield
Xatherite Color(s): Red, Yellow
Linked Skill Grade: Intermediate
Type: Magic
Effect: Creates a barrier of blades around the caster. This barrier will parry 5 melee attacks before disappearing.
Mana recharge time: 4 minutes 33 seconds
Linked Skill Name: Cone of Frostfire
Xatherite Color(s): Red
Linked Skill Grade: Rare
Type: Magic
Effect: Creates a cone of frostfire, which causes significant frostfire damage, originating from any part of your body. Has a chance to partially enclose the target in burning ice, slowing them down considerably. Cone will extend 6 meters and has an arc of pi/4.
Mana recharge time: 21 seconds