Chapter III - Blood Raven
We walked through the Blood Moor without running into too much trouble. A Fallen, a zombie, and a little porcupine thing called a Quill Rat popped its head up occasionally. Kashya had come to us with a little problem, one that I already knew about but the others didn't. Andarial corrupted a person called Blood Raven, who had helped fight Diablo in the catacombs beneath the town of Tristram. Now she was in the Monastery Graveyard past the Cold Plains, raising the rogues dead as zombies. Everyone sounded reluctant to give it a go, but they knew we couldn't find a way home unless we helped these people. Plus, the armaments that Charsi gave us before we left coaxed them pretty good.
She had given everyone a set of Chain Mail. Usually in the game, you couldn't wear such a garment now because your not strong enough. But who am I to complain. So, everyone had a set of chain mail along with some boots and gloves. However, the armor looked different on everybody like in the game. The characters could be wearing the same thing, but they'd look different. Nokame, for example, had a skull with a horn in it on his shoulder like a shoulder pad and some bones along the rib area. However, Kat had on the same thing, but he looked like a regular knight. So..almost all the games physics applied, except for the way of attributes.
Anyway, where was I? Ah yes, we were going through the Blood Moor. We walked for what seemed to be an hour or so past the Den of Evil, and came across a rogue who was guarding the path that lead to the Cold Plains. Kashya told us about her saying that she was there to keep travelers from going further and getting hurt, and said that we had to say a password before she'd let us continue on.
"Halt!" she called to us throwing a hand up. "State your business coming here!"
"We're going to go kill that Blood Raven lady!" said Kat in an unusual cheerful tone.
"I'm sorry, but unless you can respond with the proper pass-"
"Red eyes" said C-4, interrupting her sentence.
"Oh. Okay then, you may pass. But take care. The corrupted rogues in the wilderness ahead are not to be trifled with." We thanked her and proceeded on. As we walked, Serena looked at me with a little worry in her eyes.
"What's wrong?" I asked her.
"Why didn't you want any armor when Charsi was handing it out? If you get hit the right way without it."
"Yeah." said Nokame. "I was wondering that myself."
I switched my gaze back in front of us on the path and answered. "If I have any armor on, it will slow me up, and I don't want that. It's best that if I don't have any. Besides, I'm very quick, and the odds of something hitting me are slim to none." I told them. They remained quiet after that and we continued on. Suddenly, we came across a large group of Fallen camped on the side of the path.
"Alright! Some action!" said C4 as he took out his gun and blasted a few bullets into some of their skulls. This quickly got their attention, and the Fallen charged at us.
"You know C-4.. there is something called "STEALTH" that we could have used instead!" yelled Kat. After his little remark, we all charged forth as well and met the Fallen head on. Every which way we were cutting them down. C-4 was shooting at them or hitting them with his hand axe, Bell was shooting fire bolts at them, Nokame still had his skeleton around and they were taking a few out, and Kat and Serena were just going through them like nothing. Me, I was chopping through trying to get to the shaman because they keep resurrecting all the ones we killed.
I got closer and cut one down, his blood spraying as my sword cut him across the belly and he fell limp. I grinned and was about to move on to the next when something happened. The shaman I just killed came back to life!
"What the hell?!" I yelled out. Shaman don't come back to life unless..there was a unique one nearby! I looked around quickly and I spotted him. He was green skinned instead of red skinned like the rest. Bishibosh.
"Somebody take him out! If we don't, he'll bring all the shaman back to life!" I yelled to everyone. Kat was the first to react and he ran towards Bishibosh. Suddenly, he became a blur and hit him with his shield at full force and sent Bishibosh flying into a tree!
"Wow..I didn't know I could do that." I took this time to cut down as many shaman as I could. The fewer the better, and once Bishibosh is dead, the others will stay that way. Bishibosh slowly got up and growled at Kat.
"Oh, you want more of this?" said Kat as he held up his shield. Bishibosh was about to charge at Kat, but Bell got behind him and tripped him up with her staff. After he hit the ground, she fired a fire bolt right at his head and killed the demon. Bishibosh now lay dead, thus no more shamans could be brought back. We cleared out the rest of the Fallen with no problem, and soon the little demon camp was quiet.
"Well." I said wiping the blood off my sword with a cloth. "that takes care of that."
"Hey! Look what I found!" yelled Nokame. We all turned to him as he was rummaging around one of the dead Fallen. After a few seconds, he pulled out a fistful of gold coins! "Looks like I struck it rich!" he said tossing a few in the air and catching them.
"Wow...I wonder what else these guys have on them?" said Kat as he too started pillaging through the dead demons. After a few minutes, all of us were going through them. I completely forgot that you could get stuff from these guys when you killed them.
"Hey, take a look at these." said Bell as she pulled out five potions, three blue, two purple. "What are these supposed to be?" she asked me.
"The blue ones are mana. They restore magic energy, so you and Nokame will need those the most. The purple ones are rejuvenation potions. They not only heal you, but they restore magic as well. They're rare and hard to find, so don't use those unless you have to." I told her. She nodded and pocketed them in a little satchel that she had gotten back in town. After a bit, everyone had found something, whether it be potions, scroll, weapons, armor, or gold. Soon after, we left and proceeded down the path. It wasn't too long after that we came to a fork in the road.
"Well, which way do we go?" asked Serena.
"One of the paths goes to the burial grounds, the other heads to Stony Field, which continues on to the monastery." I said as I looked ahead of both paths.
"Why don't we split up?" suggested Kat. "We split into threes and pick a path."
"Not a bad idea really, but we'd only be at half strength if we do that, and fighting would be much harder." Said Nokame.
C-4 crossed his arms, looked at me, and said, "Well, what do you think?" I thought for a moment as I looked down the path. We could do that I suppose..but we'd have to be careful.
"Okay, we'll split up. Me, Bell, and Kat will go this way." I said as I pointed to the path on the right. "and Nokame, Serena, and C-4 will go that way." I pointed to the left. We all agreed, and we evenly distributed the town portal scroll between the two groups. After that, we said our farewell, and went on down our selected paths.
(At this point, I will cover the three of us going after Blood Raven. C-4, Nokame, and Serena will appear in the next chapter. Also, while the group is separated, I'm gonna switch to third person)
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Rahn, Bell, and Kat walked down the path, not knowing if it led to the Stony Field or the Burial Grounds. Rahn had a feeling they were on the right track, but until they were close enough, he wouldn't be able to tell.
"How much further do you think it is?" asked Kat as he used his sword for a walking stick. Rahn shook his head and replied, "I have no idea. But we'll know soon enough. It can't be that far away by now."
Right after he said that, an arrow zoomed by and landed in front of them.
"Yikes!" screamed Bell as she jumped back a little. They quickly turned around and came face to face with a group of Rogues. Kat flustered a bit and yelled at them, "Hey! Watch where you're aiming!"
Rahn only had to glance at them once before he went into a battle position. These rogues were different from the ones they knew. Their skin was pure white, and they looked like they were slowly transforming into some creature. They were the Corrupted Rogues that the guard before the Cold Plains had warned them about.
"Kat, these are not the same rogues," Rahn told him. Kat took another close look, then he too went into an attack position. Bell soon followed. The rogues charged at them, not wielding bows like most rogues do, but swords, shields, and pole weapons. One with a pole axe took a downward swipe at Rahn, and he swiftly side stepped and stabbed the rogue in the gut. She fell to the ground, then rose in the air as some demonic spirit left her corpse. Kat did the same thing when one charged him with a sword, but brought out his frying pan and hit her upside the head before she fell.
Bell tripped a few with her staff, then fired a fire bolt at them before they could get up and successfully dispatched them that way. After a few minutes, all the rogues in the small group were dead.
"Should we see if they have anything good?" asked Bell as she turned one over with her staff.
"Yes. We need to take advantage of every item we can find and carry," said Rahn. After a few minutes of scavenging, they turned up a few more gold pieces, and an interesting item for Bell.
"Hey, look at this," said Kat as he held up a long staff object. "I think this is something Bell can use." Bell lifted her head at the mention of her name.
"Yeah, I think your right. We better check and see if it's magical though," said Rahn. He dug out a scroll from his pocket that he got off one of the rogue bodies. It had a red seal around it. He opened it up and did his best to pronounce the words on it. He must have done it right, because the scrolls' text changed and displayed what the staff could do. In English too, surprisingly.
"Wow.this isn't too bad. Bell, your gonna get a new skill. The staff lets you fire a spell called Chain Lightning," said Rahn. After that, the scroll seemed to disappear into nothingness.
"Well, that was kinda cool," said Kat.
"What's chain lightning?" asked Bell as she took the staff from Kat.
"A very useful lightning spell. You fire lightning, and it jumps from one target to another through a chain. Thus, chain lightning," explained Rahn. After a few more minutes of talking and gathering things from the slain bodies, the three left off down the path. As they walked, they came across lots of many interesting things. There were a few very small abandoned houses that they looked in and found some more gold pieces and a few more scrolls of identify (the one with the red seal) and town portal. They also discovered chests on the side of the road, some locked and had to be pried open, and found some more gold along with a few health and mana potions.
"Wow, this place has lots of treasure, huh?" said Kat as he put a health potion on a belt he had found for easier access.
"Yes, it does," said Rahn "and the riches will become even greater the further we move along."
"Hey, what's that thing?" Bell asked and pointed to a tree like object in the distance. They walked to it, and found it had a deer head strewn on the top of a pole that was attached to an old stump, along with a scroll nailed to it and some blood lying on the top of the stump.
"Forget I asked," said Bell as she stuck her tongue out in disgust when she saw the deer head.
"It's a shrine," said Rahn as he moved closer to it. "There are lots of these things all over the place."
"What do they do?" asked Kat.
"Well, shrines do numerous things. They can heal you, recharge magic, or do both. They can also increase your strength, and the power of your magic. Some even give special potions. But, then there are those that are trapped, and you have to watch out for those." After Rahn had finished talking, Bell decided to move closer to it.
"How does it work?" she asked. Rahn thought for a second, then shrugged his shoulder, causing both Kat and Bell to fall over with a sweat drop.
"You mean you don't know?!" yelled Kat as he got back up with a vein on his head.
"In the game, you pointed and clicked on it when you were near it. But, I would guess that scroll might have something to do with it" stated Rahn. Bell struggled to get back up and put her hand on the shrine for support, that's when the shrine made an odd sound, and the blood on the stump evaporated. The scroll, which was blank before, now read 'A Marvelous Gem' and dropped a red gem to the ground. Then, the scroll burned to ash.
"Well..I guess touching it does work, huh?" said Kat. Bell picked up the gem and looked at it. It looked like it was chipped or something.
"A chipped ruby.could come in handy later" said Rahn. Bell finally got back up and pocketed the gem.
"I wonder what it's for" she pondered out loud.
"I'll tell you later. Right now, we need to find that graveyard. We're losing daylight" said Rahn as he turned back to the path. Kat and Bell followed him. After about another hour or so, the sun finally began to settle in the distance in the west, and they finally came in sight of the graveyard. They walked down the path, and towards the entrance that led to the graveyard area. The path became narrower, and was in between two small rock walls. The path finally led to an open area away from the walls, and in the middle was the caged graveyard.
"Wow.creepy" said Kat as he raised his sword. Bell readied her staff, and Rahn got his sword ready as well.
"Keep your eyes open" said Rahn. They moved towards the front gate when all of the sudden, five skeletons jumped out from behind a small wall near the gate. They were wielding some small swords and shields. Nothing too much to worry about. Kat swiftly cut one down with no problem, and Rahn and Bell continued the process. In a few seconds, the skeletons were dead, that is, if they weren't already.
"Come on, let's go!" yelled Rahn as he dashed to the gate.
"Hey, wait up!" Kat followed closely behind Rahn.
"Hey, you forgot me!" Bell dashed towards the two, and all three entered the graveyard. Upon entering, they heard a low and demonic feminine voice.
"Join my army of the dead!" Suddenly, zombies of dead rogues started bursting from their graves.
"..You think they got morning sickness?" asked Kat. Rahn threw his sword like a boomerang at the zombies and Kat drew out his frying pan and did the same. Both weapons collided with the zombies, successfully knocking them down or taking off their heads. Rahn and Kat caught their weapons when they returned, and charged forth into the fray; cutting, slicing, and smacking zombies left and right.
"Chain Lightning!" yelled Bell as she shot forth the lightning from her staff. It jumped from one zombie to the other, falling at least six of them. However, more soon rose from their graves.
"Darn it!" yelled Bell. Rahn and Kat were having enough of a hard time trying to keep the horde off of them. Every time one zombie fell, another took its place. It was a large graveyard, so this could go on forever.
"There has to be a way to stop them." said Bell. As she took another zombie out with a fire bolt, she noticed something in the tree at the center of the graveyard. It was some kind of rogue, but her skin was paled too like those ones from earlier, and she had the same mutation thing going on, but it looked more advanced. Her head was what looked like a raven, and had two horns protruding from the back of her skull. She was also wearing red all over, and wielded a fierce looking bow.
".Blood Raven" No doubt, it was her. She sat in the tree and watched Rahn and Kat fight off her zombie army. One fell again, and she waved her hand, then another popped from its grave.
"Foolish creatures." she said as she jumped from the tree. "Do you really expect to win? Granted, you are rather odd looking, and are learning the skills of some of the more renowned cultures that reside in this world, but you are no match for me or my zombies." Blood Raven raised her bow and aimed at Kat. "You shall make fine trophies for Andarial's wall."
"Oh no you don't! Fire Bolt!" Bell launched a fire bolt right at Blood Raven. Blood Raven quickly saw it, and flipped backwards.
"Bell!" yelled Rahn, "Keep her distracted while me and Kat take out these zombies!"
"Right!" Bell launched another fire bolt at Blood Raven, but she ducked and quickly fired an arrow at Bell.
"Meep!" Bell ducked the arrow as it zoomed above her head, and struck a zombie dead. Then, she blew a raspberry at her.
"You insolent worm!" Blood Raven drew another arrow, fueling it with magic. She let it go, and the arrow combusted in fire, and successfully struck Bell in the shoulder. Bell fell, and quickly pulled the arrow out and put out the fire on her shoulder. She was bleeding now, but it wasn't bad. But she couldn't take more hits like that.
"You bitch!" Bell threw her staff in front of her and called out her spell. "Chain Lightning!" The lightning shot forth towards Blood Raven and struck home. It also jumped to the closest group of zombies and fried them as well. Blood Raven fell to her knee, and quickly ducked behind a tombstone. This was going to be harder than she first thought.
Meanwhile, Kat and Rahn were having some luck with the zombies. They had cut them down significantly, and there were only a few left.
"That's twenty five!" yelled Kat with some pride.
"Thirty for me!" Rahn yelled back as he sliced another one. "Make that thirty one!" Kat cut threw another and made his score twenty-six. They had went on like this for a few minutes now. Back with Bell, Blood Raven now had her pinned behind that tree from earlier.
"Just give up now, Fox Girl! Even if you do somehow survive, you'll never make it past Andarial, let alone get to the monastery!" yelled Blood Raven. Bell had to think quickly. She looked around herself for something she could possibly use, and found nothing.
"Maybe if I can get close range to her?" she said to herself. Bell jumped out from behind the tree, and Blood Raven shot more fire arrows at her. Bell dodged them, but got hit by two of them in her shoulders. She didn't pull them out just yet though. She got closer to Blood Raven, until finally she ran by her, and tripped her up with her staff. Blood Raven fell to the ground and Bell quickly turned around and launched a chain lightning right at Blood Raven. Blood Raven rolled away and dodged it, then fired another arrow right at Bell. This one, however, struck her in the chest.
Bell felt a sharp jolt and put her hand on her chest, then removed it. Her hand was red. She suddenly felt weak and tired, then fell to the ground limp.
"Oh no! Bell's down!" yelled Kat. Rahn turned and saw her just as she fell.
"Not good" he sliced through another zombie and ran towards Bell. However, he noticed the area started to glow read a little. He looked up to see where it was coming from, and found another red portal like the one that had brought them here in the first place. He stopped for a second and looked up at it.
".another red portal?" Blood Raven, not noticing the portal at all, took out another arrow, and was loading it into the bow. However, she never got the chance. Something from the red portal fell to the ground, and landed right on her. Blood Raven hit the ground and gasped. She looked down under her and saw that the arrow she had loaded had pierced her right through the heart. She gasped again, then fell limp. Suddenly, her sprit shot out of her body, and numerous lightning bolts shot from it all over the graveyard. It hit all the zombies that were left, and they fell to the ground motionless. Then, Blood Raven's spirit vanished.
"What a random stroke of luck" said Kat. Rahn ignored him and ran up to Bell. He removed the arrows from her, and took her pulse. She was alive, but barely.
"Kat! Use a town portal scroll, and get Bell to Akara, fast!" he yelled to him.
"Oh! Right!" Kat took a scroll from Rahn, and opened it up. A blue portal sprung forth beside him and the scroll disintegrated. Kat then picked up Bell, and walked through the portal. Rahn sighed and looked about. That's when he spotted the newcomer still sitting on Blood Raven's dead corpse. He walked over and picked the person up. She was another hedgehog, and appeared to be from the same place as them. But, she looked different from most normal hedgehogs.
She was gray with black stripes going through her quills, which stretched all the way to the ground. She also had leathery demon looking wings on her back, a few strands of gray hair on her forehead, and a long tail that splintered near the end. She was also wearing a dark blue t-shirt, along with some blue jeans and green shoes with black lightning bolts on them. Rahn's eyes shot open when he recognized this form. She stirred a little and opened her eyes, which were a shade or green, yellow, and orange. She looked around for a second, then spotted Rahn in front of her.
"Rahn? Wha.What's going on, and."she looked around again, "where are we?
"um.It's a long story, Calli."
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Well, I finally got another chapter out. *dodges rotten vegetables thrown at him* Hey! I'm lazy, alright! Bite me! I'll get the next one out sooner! *is hit with a tomato*
Snoopy, that wasn't funny.
[Snoopy] Well, it took you long enough! You deserve it!
Yeah yeah, anyway, Calli is now going to be a part of the story. For everyone that knows her and me best, you can guess why. As for Bell.you'll find out her fate next chapter. All reviews are welcome, but flames must wait at the front door step and await being eaten by rabid, chain smoking monkeys. ^_^ God, I've been hanging around with everyone on MSN for too long.
Rahn (Mechabot VII)
We walked through the Blood Moor without running into too much trouble. A Fallen, a zombie, and a little porcupine thing called a Quill Rat popped its head up occasionally. Kashya had come to us with a little problem, one that I already knew about but the others didn't. Andarial corrupted a person called Blood Raven, who had helped fight Diablo in the catacombs beneath the town of Tristram. Now she was in the Monastery Graveyard past the Cold Plains, raising the rogues dead as zombies. Everyone sounded reluctant to give it a go, but they knew we couldn't find a way home unless we helped these people. Plus, the armaments that Charsi gave us before we left coaxed them pretty good.
She had given everyone a set of Chain Mail. Usually in the game, you couldn't wear such a garment now because your not strong enough. But who am I to complain. So, everyone had a set of chain mail along with some boots and gloves. However, the armor looked different on everybody like in the game. The characters could be wearing the same thing, but they'd look different. Nokame, for example, had a skull with a horn in it on his shoulder like a shoulder pad and some bones along the rib area. However, Kat had on the same thing, but he looked like a regular knight. So..almost all the games physics applied, except for the way of attributes.
Anyway, where was I? Ah yes, we were going through the Blood Moor. We walked for what seemed to be an hour or so past the Den of Evil, and came across a rogue who was guarding the path that lead to the Cold Plains. Kashya told us about her saying that she was there to keep travelers from going further and getting hurt, and said that we had to say a password before she'd let us continue on.
"Halt!" she called to us throwing a hand up. "State your business coming here!"
"We're going to go kill that Blood Raven lady!" said Kat in an unusual cheerful tone.
"I'm sorry, but unless you can respond with the proper pass-"
"Red eyes" said C-4, interrupting her sentence.
"Oh. Okay then, you may pass. But take care. The corrupted rogues in the wilderness ahead are not to be trifled with." We thanked her and proceeded on. As we walked, Serena looked at me with a little worry in her eyes.
"What's wrong?" I asked her.
"Why didn't you want any armor when Charsi was handing it out? If you get hit the right way without it."
"Yeah." said Nokame. "I was wondering that myself."
I switched my gaze back in front of us on the path and answered. "If I have any armor on, it will slow me up, and I don't want that. It's best that if I don't have any. Besides, I'm very quick, and the odds of something hitting me are slim to none." I told them. They remained quiet after that and we continued on. Suddenly, we came across a large group of Fallen camped on the side of the path.
"Alright! Some action!" said C4 as he took out his gun and blasted a few bullets into some of their skulls. This quickly got their attention, and the Fallen charged at us.
"You know C-4.. there is something called "STEALTH" that we could have used instead!" yelled Kat. After his little remark, we all charged forth as well and met the Fallen head on. Every which way we were cutting them down. C-4 was shooting at them or hitting them with his hand axe, Bell was shooting fire bolts at them, Nokame still had his skeleton around and they were taking a few out, and Kat and Serena were just going through them like nothing. Me, I was chopping through trying to get to the shaman because they keep resurrecting all the ones we killed.
I got closer and cut one down, his blood spraying as my sword cut him across the belly and he fell limp. I grinned and was about to move on to the next when something happened. The shaman I just killed came back to life!
"What the hell?!" I yelled out. Shaman don't come back to life unless..there was a unique one nearby! I looked around quickly and I spotted him. He was green skinned instead of red skinned like the rest. Bishibosh.
"Somebody take him out! If we don't, he'll bring all the shaman back to life!" I yelled to everyone. Kat was the first to react and he ran towards Bishibosh. Suddenly, he became a blur and hit him with his shield at full force and sent Bishibosh flying into a tree!
"Wow..I didn't know I could do that." I took this time to cut down as many shaman as I could. The fewer the better, and once Bishibosh is dead, the others will stay that way. Bishibosh slowly got up and growled at Kat.
"Oh, you want more of this?" said Kat as he held up his shield. Bishibosh was about to charge at Kat, but Bell got behind him and tripped him up with her staff. After he hit the ground, she fired a fire bolt right at his head and killed the demon. Bishibosh now lay dead, thus no more shamans could be brought back. We cleared out the rest of the Fallen with no problem, and soon the little demon camp was quiet.
"Well." I said wiping the blood off my sword with a cloth. "that takes care of that."
"Hey! Look what I found!" yelled Nokame. We all turned to him as he was rummaging around one of the dead Fallen. After a few seconds, he pulled out a fistful of gold coins! "Looks like I struck it rich!" he said tossing a few in the air and catching them.
"Wow...I wonder what else these guys have on them?" said Kat as he too started pillaging through the dead demons. After a few minutes, all of us were going through them. I completely forgot that you could get stuff from these guys when you killed them.
"Hey, take a look at these." said Bell as she pulled out five potions, three blue, two purple. "What are these supposed to be?" she asked me.
"The blue ones are mana. They restore magic energy, so you and Nokame will need those the most. The purple ones are rejuvenation potions. They not only heal you, but they restore magic as well. They're rare and hard to find, so don't use those unless you have to." I told her. She nodded and pocketed them in a little satchel that she had gotten back in town. After a bit, everyone had found something, whether it be potions, scroll, weapons, armor, or gold. Soon after, we left and proceeded down the path. It wasn't too long after that we came to a fork in the road.
"Well, which way do we go?" asked Serena.
"One of the paths goes to the burial grounds, the other heads to Stony Field, which continues on to the monastery." I said as I looked ahead of both paths.
"Why don't we split up?" suggested Kat. "We split into threes and pick a path."
"Not a bad idea really, but we'd only be at half strength if we do that, and fighting would be much harder." Said Nokame.
C-4 crossed his arms, looked at me, and said, "Well, what do you think?" I thought for a moment as I looked down the path. We could do that I suppose..but we'd have to be careful.
"Okay, we'll split up. Me, Bell, and Kat will go this way." I said as I pointed to the path on the right. "and Nokame, Serena, and C-4 will go that way." I pointed to the left. We all agreed, and we evenly distributed the town portal scroll between the two groups. After that, we said our farewell, and went on down our selected paths.
(At this point, I will cover the three of us going after Blood Raven. C-4, Nokame, and Serena will appear in the next chapter. Also, while the group is separated, I'm gonna switch to third person)
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Rahn, Bell, and Kat walked down the path, not knowing if it led to the Stony Field or the Burial Grounds. Rahn had a feeling they were on the right track, but until they were close enough, he wouldn't be able to tell.
"How much further do you think it is?" asked Kat as he used his sword for a walking stick. Rahn shook his head and replied, "I have no idea. But we'll know soon enough. It can't be that far away by now."
Right after he said that, an arrow zoomed by and landed in front of them.
"Yikes!" screamed Bell as she jumped back a little. They quickly turned around and came face to face with a group of Rogues. Kat flustered a bit and yelled at them, "Hey! Watch where you're aiming!"
Rahn only had to glance at them once before he went into a battle position. These rogues were different from the ones they knew. Their skin was pure white, and they looked like they were slowly transforming into some creature. They were the Corrupted Rogues that the guard before the Cold Plains had warned them about.
"Kat, these are not the same rogues," Rahn told him. Kat took another close look, then he too went into an attack position. Bell soon followed. The rogues charged at them, not wielding bows like most rogues do, but swords, shields, and pole weapons. One with a pole axe took a downward swipe at Rahn, and he swiftly side stepped and stabbed the rogue in the gut. She fell to the ground, then rose in the air as some demonic spirit left her corpse. Kat did the same thing when one charged him with a sword, but brought out his frying pan and hit her upside the head before she fell.
Bell tripped a few with her staff, then fired a fire bolt at them before they could get up and successfully dispatched them that way. After a few minutes, all the rogues in the small group were dead.
"Should we see if they have anything good?" asked Bell as she turned one over with her staff.
"Yes. We need to take advantage of every item we can find and carry," said Rahn. After a few minutes of scavenging, they turned up a few more gold pieces, and an interesting item for Bell.
"Hey, look at this," said Kat as he held up a long staff object. "I think this is something Bell can use." Bell lifted her head at the mention of her name.
"Yeah, I think your right. We better check and see if it's magical though," said Rahn. He dug out a scroll from his pocket that he got off one of the rogue bodies. It had a red seal around it. He opened it up and did his best to pronounce the words on it. He must have done it right, because the scrolls' text changed and displayed what the staff could do. In English too, surprisingly.
"Wow.this isn't too bad. Bell, your gonna get a new skill. The staff lets you fire a spell called Chain Lightning," said Rahn. After that, the scroll seemed to disappear into nothingness.
"Well, that was kinda cool," said Kat.
"What's chain lightning?" asked Bell as she took the staff from Kat.
"A very useful lightning spell. You fire lightning, and it jumps from one target to another through a chain. Thus, chain lightning," explained Rahn. After a few more minutes of talking and gathering things from the slain bodies, the three left off down the path. As they walked, they came across lots of many interesting things. There were a few very small abandoned houses that they looked in and found some more gold pieces and a few more scrolls of identify (the one with the red seal) and town portal. They also discovered chests on the side of the road, some locked and had to be pried open, and found some more gold along with a few health and mana potions.
"Wow, this place has lots of treasure, huh?" said Kat as he put a health potion on a belt he had found for easier access.
"Yes, it does," said Rahn "and the riches will become even greater the further we move along."
"Hey, what's that thing?" Bell asked and pointed to a tree like object in the distance. They walked to it, and found it had a deer head strewn on the top of a pole that was attached to an old stump, along with a scroll nailed to it and some blood lying on the top of the stump.
"Forget I asked," said Bell as she stuck her tongue out in disgust when she saw the deer head.
"It's a shrine," said Rahn as he moved closer to it. "There are lots of these things all over the place."
"What do they do?" asked Kat.
"Well, shrines do numerous things. They can heal you, recharge magic, or do both. They can also increase your strength, and the power of your magic. Some even give special potions. But, then there are those that are trapped, and you have to watch out for those." After Rahn had finished talking, Bell decided to move closer to it.
"How does it work?" she asked. Rahn thought for a second, then shrugged his shoulder, causing both Kat and Bell to fall over with a sweat drop.
"You mean you don't know?!" yelled Kat as he got back up with a vein on his head.
"In the game, you pointed and clicked on it when you were near it. But, I would guess that scroll might have something to do with it" stated Rahn. Bell struggled to get back up and put her hand on the shrine for support, that's when the shrine made an odd sound, and the blood on the stump evaporated. The scroll, which was blank before, now read 'A Marvelous Gem' and dropped a red gem to the ground. Then, the scroll burned to ash.
"Well..I guess touching it does work, huh?" said Kat. Bell picked up the gem and looked at it. It looked like it was chipped or something.
"A chipped ruby.could come in handy later" said Rahn. Bell finally got back up and pocketed the gem.
"I wonder what it's for" she pondered out loud.
"I'll tell you later. Right now, we need to find that graveyard. We're losing daylight" said Rahn as he turned back to the path. Kat and Bell followed him. After about another hour or so, the sun finally began to settle in the distance in the west, and they finally came in sight of the graveyard. They walked down the path, and towards the entrance that led to the graveyard area. The path became narrower, and was in between two small rock walls. The path finally led to an open area away from the walls, and in the middle was the caged graveyard.
"Wow.creepy" said Kat as he raised his sword. Bell readied her staff, and Rahn got his sword ready as well.
"Keep your eyes open" said Rahn. They moved towards the front gate when all of the sudden, five skeletons jumped out from behind a small wall near the gate. They were wielding some small swords and shields. Nothing too much to worry about. Kat swiftly cut one down with no problem, and Rahn and Bell continued the process. In a few seconds, the skeletons were dead, that is, if they weren't already.
"Come on, let's go!" yelled Rahn as he dashed to the gate.
"Hey, wait up!" Kat followed closely behind Rahn.
"Hey, you forgot me!" Bell dashed towards the two, and all three entered the graveyard. Upon entering, they heard a low and demonic feminine voice.
"Join my army of the dead!" Suddenly, zombies of dead rogues started bursting from their graves.
"..You think they got morning sickness?" asked Kat. Rahn threw his sword like a boomerang at the zombies and Kat drew out his frying pan and did the same. Both weapons collided with the zombies, successfully knocking them down or taking off their heads. Rahn and Kat caught their weapons when they returned, and charged forth into the fray; cutting, slicing, and smacking zombies left and right.
"Chain Lightning!" yelled Bell as she shot forth the lightning from her staff. It jumped from one zombie to the other, falling at least six of them. However, more soon rose from their graves.
"Darn it!" yelled Bell. Rahn and Kat were having enough of a hard time trying to keep the horde off of them. Every time one zombie fell, another took its place. It was a large graveyard, so this could go on forever.
"There has to be a way to stop them." said Bell. As she took another zombie out with a fire bolt, she noticed something in the tree at the center of the graveyard. It was some kind of rogue, but her skin was paled too like those ones from earlier, and she had the same mutation thing going on, but it looked more advanced. Her head was what looked like a raven, and had two horns protruding from the back of her skull. She was also wearing red all over, and wielded a fierce looking bow.
".Blood Raven" No doubt, it was her. She sat in the tree and watched Rahn and Kat fight off her zombie army. One fell again, and she waved her hand, then another popped from its grave.
"Foolish creatures." she said as she jumped from the tree. "Do you really expect to win? Granted, you are rather odd looking, and are learning the skills of some of the more renowned cultures that reside in this world, but you are no match for me or my zombies." Blood Raven raised her bow and aimed at Kat. "You shall make fine trophies for Andarial's wall."
"Oh no you don't! Fire Bolt!" Bell launched a fire bolt right at Blood Raven. Blood Raven quickly saw it, and flipped backwards.
"Bell!" yelled Rahn, "Keep her distracted while me and Kat take out these zombies!"
"Right!" Bell launched another fire bolt at Blood Raven, but she ducked and quickly fired an arrow at Bell.
"Meep!" Bell ducked the arrow as it zoomed above her head, and struck a zombie dead. Then, she blew a raspberry at her.
"You insolent worm!" Blood Raven drew another arrow, fueling it with magic. She let it go, and the arrow combusted in fire, and successfully struck Bell in the shoulder. Bell fell, and quickly pulled the arrow out and put out the fire on her shoulder. She was bleeding now, but it wasn't bad. But she couldn't take more hits like that.
"You bitch!" Bell threw her staff in front of her and called out her spell. "Chain Lightning!" The lightning shot forth towards Blood Raven and struck home. It also jumped to the closest group of zombies and fried them as well. Blood Raven fell to her knee, and quickly ducked behind a tombstone. This was going to be harder than she first thought.
Meanwhile, Kat and Rahn were having some luck with the zombies. They had cut them down significantly, and there were only a few left.
"That's twenty five!" yelled Kat with some pride.
"Thirty for me!" Rahn yelled back as he sliced another one. "Make that thirty one!" Kat cut threw another and made his score twenty-six. They had went on like this for a few minutes now. Back with Bell, Blood Raven now had her pinned behind that tree from earlier.
"Just give up now, Fox Girl! Even if you do somehow survive, you'll never make it past Andarial, let alone get to the monastery!" yelled Blood Raven. Bell had to think quickly. She looked around herself for something she could possibly use, and found nothing.
"Maybe if I can get close range to her?" she said to herself. Bell jumped out from behind the tree, and Blood Raven shot more fire arrows at her. Bell dodged them, but got hit by two of them in her shoulders. She didn't pull them out just yet though. She got closer to Blood Raven, until finally she ran by her, and tripped her up with her staff. Blood Raven fell to the ground and Bell quickly turned around and launched a chain lightning right at Blood Raven. Blood Raven rolled away and dodged it, then fired another arrow right at Bell. This one, however, struck her in the chest.
Bell felt a sharp jolt and put her hand on her chest, then removed it. Her hand was red. She suddenly felt weak and tired, then fell to the ground limp.
"Oh no! Bell's down!" yelled Kat. Rahn turned and saw her just as she fell.
"Not good" he sliced through another zombie and ran towards Bell. However, he noticed the area started to glow read a little. He looked up to see where it was coming from, and found another red portal like the one that had brought them here in the first place. He stopped for a second and looked up at it.
".another red portal?" Blood Raven, not noticing the portal at all, took out another arrow, and was loading it into the bow. However, she never got the chance. Something from the red portal fell to the ground, and landed right on her. Blood Raven hit the ground and gasped. She looked down under her and saw that the arrow she had loaded had pierced her right through the heart. She gasped again, then fell limp. Suddenly, her sprit shot out of her body, and numerous lightning bolts shot from it all over the graveyard. It hit all the zombies that were left, and they fell to the ground motionless. Then, Blood Raven's spirit vanished.
"What a random stroke of luck" said Kat. Rahn ignored him and ran up to Bell. He removed the arrows from her, and took her pulse. She was alive, but barely.
"Kat! Use a town portal scroll, and get Bell to Akara, fast!" he yelled to him.
"Oh! Right!" Kat took a scroll from Rahn, and opened it up. A blue portal sprung forth beside him and the scroll disintegrated. Kat then picked up Bell, and walked through the portal. Rahn sighed and looked about. That's when he spotted the newcomer still sitting on Blood Raven's dead corpse. He walked over and picked the person up. She was another hedgehog, and appeared to be from the same place as them. But, she looked different from most normal hedgehogs.
She was gray with black stripes going through her quills, which stretched all the way to the ground. She also had leathery demon looking wings on her back, a few strands of gray hair on her forehead, and a long tail that splintered near the end. She was also wearing a dark blue t-shirt, along with some blue jeans and green shoes with black lightning bolts on them. Rahn's eyes shot open when he recognized this form. She stirred a little and opened her eyes, which were a shade or green, yellow, and orange. She looked around for a second, then spotted Rahn in front of her.
"Rahn? Wha.What's going on, and."she looked around again, "where are we?
"um.It's a long story, Calli."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Well, I finally got another chapter out. *dodges rotten vegetables thrown at him* Hey! I'm lazy, alright! Bite me! I'll get the next one out sooner! *is hit with a tomato*
Snoopy, that wasn't funny.
[Snoopy] Well, it took you long enough! You deserve it!
Yeah yeah, anyway, Calli is now going to be a part of the story. For everyone that knows her and me best, you can guess why. As for Bell.you'll find out her fate next chapter. All reviews are welcome, but flames must wait at the front door step and await being eaten by rabid, chain smoking monkeys. ^_^ God, I've been hanging around with everyone on MSN for too long.
Rahn (Mechabot VII)
