Act 1: The Den Of Evil
The sunlight glinted off Thalasi's bone armour, making the crack down the middle very easy to see. Thalasi shielded his eyes from the afternoon glare and peered to his right. He felt the tugging of his sensibilities, his in-built "radar" sensing several demons gathering there. His long white hair swished in the gentle breeze as Thalasi commanded his skeleton to scout out that area. The skeleton obeyed, its leg bones creaking as it advanced upon the Fallen encampment. With some luck, Thalasi thought, my skeleton would be able to kill a few Fallen before they can launch a counter attack.
However, fortune turned his grim face on Thalasi as the encampment sprung to life. Several Fallen rushed at the skeleton, the red demons waving swords and clubs while yelling "Rakanishu!" at the top of their voices.
The skeleton braced itself, bringing its shield and sickle into defensive positions.
"Con l'alimentazione assegnata me dalla terra nether, curse il thee…"
The Fallen whooped as they neared the skeleton, raising their weapons to attack.
"Amplifichi il dolore thy!"
Thalasi chose an opportune moment to cast the amplify damage curse. The small demons were bunched together, and so they all shuddered as the curse took effect.
Giving the skeleton the time it needed to make the first attack.
Thunk! The sickle embedded itself unto the skull of one of the demons. The power of the curse made the demon feel as if 2 sickles were boring into its head. It gave a whimper and fell to the ground, dead.
The other demons whooped and charged at the skeleton, raining blows on it as the skeleton tried to extract its stuck sickle from the corpse of the fallen Fallen.
Thalasi knew that the skeleton could not take much punishment, so he leapt into the fray, his bone armour shuddering as a cudgel slammed him in the chest. He grinned as he managed to draw some attention away from his skeleton, allowing it to finally extract the weapon.
In response to the attack, Thalasi placed his wand at the head of the creature that struck him and shattered its head with a pair of teeth.
The skeleton wielded its sickle masterfully, parrying one blow from a demon's sword and countered by twisting the sickle, momentarily trapping the creature's sword.
The demon punched at the skeleton, but that did little to stop the skeleton as it used the handle of the sickle to smash the demon's face.
The demon staggered back, trying to find its balance as the sickle came at it again, and this time blade first.
The minor skirmish was over within a few minutes, as the only surviving demon started to flee. Thalasi grinned and sent a pair of teeth chasing after it.
Thalasi regarded his cracked bone armour. "I guess I have to re-summon the plating." Telling the skeleton to stand guard, Thalasi closed his eyes and let the surge of energy fill him.
"La terra grande e mighty della o dell'osso, lo rifornisce di con la vostra armatura!"
The air around Thalasi's chest shimmered. White bits of bone began rising from the ground, as if summoned from the ground itself. The pieces of bone began spinning around Thalasi, compressing themselves until they were so thin, they were nearly translucent. Layer after layer, the bone plating covered the cracks and imperfections on his armour. The cracks slowly disappeared as layer after layer of translucent bone covered them. After several seconds, the deed was done. Thalasi opened his eyes and glanced at his bone armour. It was as good as new. Thalasi smiled to himself. The summon spells were coming easier to him now, almost as if it was second nature. I guess all the experience is helping, after all.
Thalasi looked around at the four corpses. Should I test myself and try to raise more skeletons? Would I be able to control them? He mused. "Ah heck, nothing ventured, nothing gained."
Thalasi stood over one corpse and closed his eyes. "Dalle viscere del mondo nether denomino il thee al mio servizio… aumento in su!"
The familiar black field appeared over the corpse. Thalasi's brow beaded with sweat. The effort taken to draw a second skeleton from the nether world was taking its toll on him. Thalasi crinkled his brow and squinted at the corpse. "aumento in su!" He commanded again. The black field crackled even more violently, exploding the corpse. A shimmering skeleton rose up. Unlike the solid skeleton before, this one was shimmering, as if losing its life essence. Thalasi growled and pulled against the mortal bonds of the skeleton, dragging it back to life. After a few minutes, the skeleton began to solidify. Thalasi slumped to the ground, totally exhausted. This skeleton wielded a sickle, too, but no shield. Thalasi didn't have the strength to summon a shield.
Pushing his tired body back up, Thalasi spied a well in the distance. He commanded his skeletons near him, and used them for support as he trudged towards the well.
Creak, creak. The skeletons' leg bones groaned under the additional weight of Thalasi as they marched towards the well. Upon reaching it, Thalasi flung himself to the ground beside the well and took a long a revitalising drink. He could feel himself becoming stronger as his energy reserves filled up.
"I guess casting so many spells in such a short time is not good for my spirit energy," Thalasi thought as he wiped his lips on his sleeve.
An overwhelming surge of evil filled Thalasi. He quickly jumped to his feet and whipped his wand out. He subconsciously ordered the skeletons to a battle stance. To the casual observer, it seemed like Thalasi and the skeletons moved in union, in perfect harmony, each move complementing the others.
Thalasi ventured forward carefully. The surge of evil grew stronger with each passing step. What kind of monster could this be? He wondered.
Thalasi's foot hit a stone. The resulting clatter drew Thalasi's attention. The stone rolled along the plain and the disappeared. Thalasi went forward to investigate this strange phenomenon. He reached the site and peered down. No, the stone did not disappear. It fell into this hole. Thalasi peered inside the hole. It was pitch black. The necromancer took in the sight. The edges of the hole were rough, as if it had only been dug recently. Splotches of red dotted the walls of the hole, before it faded to black.
The overwhelming surge of evil was coming from that hole.
Thalasi had discovered the Den of Evil.
Thalasi, a burning torch in hand, cautiously looked into the cave. It was still pitch black. Luckily I decided to hunt around for a torch. Thalasi smirked. Falling to his hands and knees, Thalasi peered into the gloom. He thrust the torch inside the hole, but saw nothing other than more splotches of red. This must be where Kashya tried to uproot the demons. Thalasi found another stone and tossed it in. he waited till he heard the thunk of the stone hitting the ground. Hmmm, it's not so deep after all. Thalasi searched around until he found a long vine, and tied it off to a huge rock that was near the hole. Asking one of his skeletons to hold the torch, Thalasi gripped the vine and slowly descended into the gloom.
He hit the bottom sooner than he expected. He glanced up and saw that the hole was not vertical as he thought it was. Rather, it was quite a steeply sloped tunnel. He didn't have to use the vine after all. Oh well. Thalasi commanded the skeletons to descend and grabbed the torch from the skeleton's proffered hand. The stench of evil was so thick here that Thalasi was afraid that he would not be able to sense when an enemy approached him. Gripping his wand and torch tightly, Thalasi sent the skeletons forward as shields, and he followed behind.
The necromancer did not have to look far to see more enemies. A huge beast flanked by two zombies was just around the next corner. The beast was covered with mattered brown fur, and had gigantic hands. Its shoulders were a few inches higher than its head, which was protruded forward slightly.
Thalasi winced at the odds and at the sight of those huge hands. He commanded the skeletons to attack the huge beast first as the beast roared out a challenge and came rushing towards them, the zombies taking their customary slow strides.
Thalasi watched as the skeletons surged forward to meet the threat and began chanting the amplify damage curse…
"Con l'alimentazione assegnata me dalla terra nether, curse il thee…"
Thalasi waited until his skeletons were about to land a blow.
"Amplifichi il dolore thy!"
The beast shuddered as the spell took hold. The zombies where too far away to be affected by the spell, but Thalasi didn't mind. The most prominent thought was to slay the huge beast.
Slash! The two sickles rived as the skeletons attacked the beast. Two gaping wounds appeared, blood flowing freely.
The beast roared in pain and lashed out with its fist at the skeleton with the shield.
The skeleton managed to catch the deathblow with the shield, but the sheer force of the blow slammed it into the wall, and caused the whole shield-bearing arm to fall off.
The beast collapsed in a pool of its own blood.
Damn! That beast is strong! Thalasi thought as he conjured up a pair of teeth to attack the zombies.
The teeth obeyed his controlling to the dot, shooting through the bones of the ribcage of the armless skeleton into the faces of the two zombies. The zombies shuddered as their heads were caved in.
The skeletons did not miss the chance to decapitate the zombies while they were disoriented.
Hoots and cries of more demons echoed off the cave walls. Thalasi squinted as the faint flickering of several torches came into view, borne by a pack of 5 Fallen demons. Thalasi grinned. He knew how to defeat these. Intending to repeat the scene of his victory, the necromancer failed to take note of a Fallen Shaman lurking behind the charging five.
The Fallen met the skeletons and engaged in a wicked melee.
Swords rang against bone sickles and clubs bounced off the skeletal forms.
Two fallen went down, screaming, as the sickles pierced their stomachs, spilling blood and gore unto the floor.
Thalasi stepped over the bodies of the Fallen and launched several teeth down the corridor.
One unfortunate Fallen managed to dodge the teeth, only to trip and impale itself on one of the skeletons' sickle.
Thalasi advanced, more confident now, only to catch a fireball right in the chest. The blast threw him backward into the corpses of the Fallen.
"What in the world?" Thalasi exclaimed as he sent the two skeletons forward to attack the Shaman.
Thalasi forgot that the Shaman knew not only fire magic, but some necromancy as well.
A club crashed unto the back of his head.
Dazed, Thalasi spun around to see three of the five Fallen picking themselves up and attacking. His chest smoking from the fireball, Thalasi shook his head and peered at them in surprise.
The one that struck Thalasi grinned and yelled, "Rakanishu!" before raising his club to deal the second blow.
Dazed, Thalasi jabbed wildly at the creature with his wand, poking and prodding it backwards.
The desperate attack proved effective, sending the demon scurrying backwards to avoid being impaled. Thalasi cleared his thoughts and muttered the incantation for teeth; blowing two holes in the unfortunate demon and sending the other two back to their eternal rest.
Sheesh! I have to be more careful around Fallen, now that I know the true extent of their Shaman's power. Thalasi stood up and watched as the twin sickles sliced into the Shaman. He felt his chest aching terribly. So my bone armour does not protect me against magical attacks. Thalasi grabbed one of the healing potions Akara had given him and downed it, wincing at the bitter taste. His chest stopped aching immediately.
The two skeletons returned to him after completing their task of slaying the Shaman. A few deep breaths later, Thalasi grabbed his torch and motioned to them. They followed him into the gloom.
It took Thalasi the better part of an hour to scurry around the dark cave, slaying all the monsters he could find. His bone armour had taken many blows, cracks could be seen running up and down the length of the armour. His skeletons fared slightly better, but cracks were still evident on their ribcages and heads, where most of the blows landed.
Thalasi came across what he hoped was the last passageway of the Den. He cautiously approached, feeling the evil presence in the space ahead.
Peering around the last corner, Thalasi saw 5 zombies. There were 4 zombies milling around, and one bluish zombie in the centre of the formation. It looked like the 4 normal zombies were protecting the bluish one. Looks like I have found the mastermind for this dark gathering, Thalasi thought. Intending to make use of the skeleton's advantage in speed over the slow and clumsy zombies, Thalasi sent his skeletons charging ahead.
"Raduno il thee, trang'oul grande del drago, per conced…"
The 4 zombies took note of the rushing forms, and moved to block the skeletons from reaching the blue zombie.
"Denti doppi!"
The teeth flashed past the skeletons, impacting the lead zombie, blowing a hole through its rotten head.
"Con l'alimentazione assegnata me dalla terra nether, curse il thee…"
The skeletons reached the remaining zombies, and swung their sickles.
"Amplifichi il dolore thy!"
Two zombies were cleaved cleanly into halves. The last zombie slammed its decomposing fist into one of the skeletons, blowing it away.
The other skeleton slashed that zombie to pieces.
One left. Thalasi thought.
The skeletons charged at the bluish zombie, sickles raised high.
Unlike the other zombies, this zombie moved faster.
Unerringly, the zombie's fist lashed out, striking one skeleton.
Lightning crackled at the place of impact, and the skeleton fell to pieces.
"What the?" Thalasi stared, dumbfounded.
"Raduno il thee, trang'oul grande del drago, per conced…"
The zombie took a slash from the last skeleton's sickle, and returned the attack with a flaming punch.
The skeleton stumbled back, smoking, raising its sickle for one final blow.
"Denti doppi!"
The teeth smashed into the zombie just as it landed a blow on the skeleton's head.
The head dropped to the floor, and the rest of the bones followed suit.
The zombie rushed towards Thalasi.
Oh, no.
Thalasi poked the zombie with his wand, but the charge was too strong, knocking Thalasi into the pile of zombie corpses.
The blue zombie struck at the downed Thalasi, and a numbing coldness spread through Thalasi's body, as his bone armour crumbled into dust.
The zombie, Corpsefire, raised his fist for the final blow.
Thalasi stared at the oncoming doom, his hands coming up to defend his face.
Will I block his attack?
Corpsefire's fist landed on the yielding flesh of a face with a dull thud.
Authour's note: Thanks guys for your reviews! The suggestions are good ones! yup, I'll try and paraphrase the in-game phrases and change it, but no, I am not going to make a new spell. I'm mearly altering the existing spells. :) Thanks for your support! I may not be able to update this regulary (school is starting) but I'll try! Thanks guys:)
Note: fixed all the little spelling errors. i finished it on this site and not msword so i didnt notice the errors. Sorry!