[Omen of the Witchblade] Chapter 97 — The Climb

Yok’sal ground his teeth together until they cracked. All Nymasolth had to do was stay the course! Just a few measly turns of this pitiful sun and they would have everything they wanted. Why was that so hard?!

“I do not know, your Eminence,” Em’trath said, bowing low.

Yok’sal froze. He hadn’t meant to say that out loud. It was a testament to how far he had fallen. Everything was crumbling apart. They had been in first place and would have stayed there if not for Nymasolth’s idiocy.

Now everything was in jeopardy. Nymasolth’s loss cost them dearly.

Calm. Calm. I am calm.

Em’trath shuffled closer to his master. “Your Eminence, how may I be of assistance?”

Yok’sal was about to wave off his concern when something occurred to him. He glanced at the current standings and cursed under his breath in at least three dead tongues.

They had fallen from the first spot down to the eighth. Worse, the Abhorrent One and the Lady in Chains were now claiming the top spot.

The Putrescence Twins were clearly pulling out of the race now that their patron Lady was dead. No doubt they would slink off to some putrid hole to let their wounds fester before showing their faces again.

At least Shae’kathoth’s champions were still claiming one of the top three spots. The only other stroke of luck was that the thirteenth Magi and her group seemed to be incapable of keeping up with the rest of the competition in the top 10. They slid two spots since he last looked.

[Convocation Standings]

Time Remaining: 48:32

(1) Jacob/Fenris + Camilla + Shrubley/Smudge

(2) Charlie + Adam + Almace

(3) Kolkab + Urkath + Cesseli

(4) Sylvie/Komachi + Miranda/Sose + Cal + Hal

(5) Bertram + Alexander + Bocar + Karim

(6) Louis + Jean-Luc + Claudette + Simone

(7) Ashera + Solomon + Victor + Aegis

(8) ===Yok’sal + Semthra + Shae’kathoth===

(9) Lilith + Thorne

(10) Mel + Gwen + Thomas + Heath

That, more than anything, forced Yok’sal to abandon his earlier plans. This thirteenth Magi had destroyed years of carefully laid plans.

“Contact the other Elders,” Yok’sal said, surging to his feet. He tasted coppery blood, fished around in his mouth, and then spat out a shattered tooth. “Inform them that we are to take the fight to the Magi.”

“Is that wise, your Eminence?”

Yok’sal was beyond caring. “We tried to corral them. We tried to keep them separated. We did our best to avoid contact, and where has that brought us? Ruin! The Magi want war? We will give it to them in all its horrific splendor!”

Em’trath bowed and moved to the door, but he could sense his master had more to tell him. With a hand on the rusted and barnacle-encrusted handle, Em’trath waited. It was the primary reason he had lasted so long in his role as steward.

Yok’sal looked at his steward and smiled viciously. “Tell them that the one who brings me Mel’s head will have every magical item that the Vile Covenant possesses.”

Em’thrath’s eyes widened at the statement, but he knew better than to doubt his master twice in one sitting. Once was enough. He slipped out of the room.

Staring at the swollen, splintered door, Yok’sal clenched his fists. “One way or another, I will see the thirteenth Magi slain.”

***

Forked lightning rocked the mountainside, blasting shrapnel and debris across Mel’s team. Mel tried to use [Windstorm] to push the smaller debris away from them, but it hardly did anything.

[Hidden Mist] supercharged with [Blood Magic] kept them reasonably hidden, but it wouldn’t take a genius to figure out that the weirdly static heavy mist was moving up the side of the mountain.

More than one errant arrow or spell was sent at them, but the mist did its job of obscuring their actual location.

The brunt of the mountain’s fury struck Gwen until the Berserker lunged sideways, hauling the three of them across. For what it was worth, she tirelessly climbed the mountain like a champ without complaint.

Then again, if she did complain, nobody could hear her above the roar of the mountain trying to shake them free like a wet dog.

The empowering glow of [Primal Mantle] burst apart when she raised a mantled arm to block a careening boulder, but Gwen used another beast bone to conjure it again. From time to time, Gwen channeled [Frostbringer] to visibly increase her defenses.

Thomas and Heath weren’t idle either. They launched countering attacks of their own at the rain of boulders, shattering them before they reached Gwen’s vulnerable position.

As sturdy as the Berserker was, she couldn’t weather everything the mountain could throw at her. Especially not when the manastorm slashed out with colored lightning and boulders supercharged with aspects.

A boulder of wet lumpy meat rolled down, splattering a group of poor adventurers on a nearby ledge that had stopped to take aim at the strange cloud climbing up the side of the mountain.

The boulder continued on, joining their bodies to its meaty corpulence.

“Are we going to die on this mountain?” Heath shouted over the roar.

Mel launched [Bane of Tartarus] ahead of Gwen. The sphere landed and screamed to life, obliterating the boulders and shards of stone that fell from high above.

“Not on my watch!” she shouted back.

Thomas was too intently focused to respond. He raised a wand and made a swirling, stabbing gesture. A tiny bead of fire the size of a marble flew out, arcing far above and beyond Gwen. It exploded into a miniature sun just as a boulder the size of a house careened down the mountainside.

“I didn’t even see where that came from,” Mel said, impressed.

Thomas gave her a grim smile, but didn’t take his eyes off the heights above them.

New Quest: The Climb

Most other contestants are taking shelter wherever they can find it. As the manastorm gains strength and worsens, the climb will become even more treacherous. Survive with all four members of your party to become the first group to climb the manastorm-lashed mountain.

Objective: Reach the summit with all 4 members of your party (0/1).

Reward: (10) [Aspect Coins]

(2) [Lesser Elixirs]

(500) Battle Points.

Extra runes of Divine, Mist, Blood, Serpent, and Omen Experience.

The concept that they might be able to take a break quickly broke apart when they realized that most safe areas were not nearly as safe as they thought. Those that had enough of a shelf to prevent the heavy avalanches from crushing them, would merely switch their fate from crushed to entombed.

Other ledges were filled with caves full of foul monsters summoned by the manastorm, and those that didn’t were often filled with grisly contestants nursing their wounds.

As much as Mel hoped they wouldn’t be stupid enough to attack, there was no telling what they would do. Besides, Mel worried that if they ever stopped climbing, they’d be done.

The frost on the chains warmed considerably, turning slick and wet. Gwen continued to haul them up the mountain, tunneling hard on the objective.

She probably didn’t even notice she was running out of the mana needed to sustain the Winter aspect chains.

Mel was grateful she had wrapped them around her forearms. She could hardly feel her hands at this point.

Heath desperately climbed inch by inch up the chains until he planted his boots on the metallic ice and magically stuck to it.

Both Mel and Thomas glared at him. He suddenly had it so easy.

He crouch-walked the rest of the way, nearly got knocked unconscious by a stray rock, then handed Gwen a mana potion. They didn’t have many left.

At least, he tried to. She didn’t take it. She didn’t even seem to notice him. The ends of the chains turned alarmingly into slush and began to break apart.

Mel knew exactly what to do to get her attention. It wasn’t noble, or even appropriate, but when was she ever? “DID WE BANG?!” Mel shouted.

Gwen whipped her wolf covered head around, eyes wide with confusion rather than embarrassment. She finally noticed Heath and hastily downed the offered mana potion.

Thomas’ utterly dumbfounded expression made Mel smile. She tapped the side of her head. “Modern problems require modern solutions.”

Renewed, the chains firmed up with ice again. Throwing out spells and aspect skills, the group looked like a menacing cloud of death slowly making its way up the side of a mountain that made Everest look like a molehill.

Mel remembered hearing somewhere that it took months to climb Everest. She was suddenly very happy to be High Copper. The difference in endurance and strength was surreal.

Heath, however, was still only Copper. His lips were a faint shade of purple and he was gasping harder despite not doing the bulk of the work.

Mel patted his shoulder. “Take a potion for yourself, Heath.”

He shook his head, but Mel wasn’t taking no for an answer. “If you don’t have one–” Mel fished in her inventory and handed one to him. “Drink.”

Heath didn’t bother arguing. He could tell that Mel wasn’t willing to compromise. He downed it and immediately looked better. It was a temporary fix, Mel understood. The thinner air up at the summit was going to be a bigger problem than she had thought.

Not that I had given it much thought in the first place, Mel admitted.

The rest of the trip was a haze of pain and fatigue as more and more boulders and rocks rained down on them. Gwen did her best to climb, but she was only one woman. She couldn’t do everything. Without a healer, they probably would have been in real trouble if she wasn’t a werewolf with increased health recovery.

It was almost like the mountain’s manastorm had a vendetta against them and was trying to kill them out of spite.

They took more hits than they bargained for, but they kept their eyes on the prize. If they climbed to the summit, they would get elixirs.

“They’re very rare,” Thomas explained. “Think of it as an all-in-one potion. An elixir restores everything, stamina, wounds, and mana. And by the looks of it, we’ll need it.”

Mel couldn’t have agreed more. She even stopped making fun of Heath as he used edgier and edgier skills like [Death Barrage], [Soul Feast], and [Shadow Sickles].

She definitely wanted to make fun of him. Mel just didn’t have the energy to do it and keep up all her own aspect skills.

They were all so focused on their own tasks that it came as an utter surprise when the world suddenly turned 60 degrees or so and they stood on solid, flat ground.

Quest Complete: The Climb

Objective: Reach the summit with all 4 members of your party (1/1).

Reward: (10) [Aspect Coins]

(2) [Lesser Elixirs]

(500) Battle Points.

Extra runes of Divine, Mist, Blood, Serpent and Omen Experience.

Shining streamers of runes and loot rolled out from the heavy air charged with mana. Even the runes looked brighter and more powerful than usual.

Mel wasn’t the only one who immediately downed her [Lesser Elixir]. It was stronger than a small variant, restoring a good portion of her mana and stamina. Several wound markers burned and disappeared.

Shit, I didn’t realize how many wounds I had.

Gwen continued to drag herself forward in some kind of zombie-like daze. Bearing no one, the chains rattled slack on the ground.

Thomas and Mel were on her in a second, putting a hand each on a shoulder and moving to face her. Forming a human blockade in front of her. “Take a load off,” Mel said gently.

The towering Berserker stared past them, not seeming like herself.

“Drink this,” Thomas offered, holding out the faceted bottle of a [Lesser Elixir].

Her wild eyes finally found Thomas’, then fell to the bottle. She reached for the bottle, [Blindbeast Claws] still dangerously equipped.

“Okay, rude,” Mel said, realizing that she didn’t even look at her. Something seemed off, though. Mel snatched the bottle away.

Thomas glared at her. “Mel! What the fu–”

Mel handed it back to him. “Look at her, Thomas. I don’t think she could grip the bottle, and if she did, it wouldn’t survive.”

Thomas looked into Gwen’s eyes. He gingerly reached a hand out and stroked her gorgeous red locks. “It’s okay, Gwen,” he said soothingly, stepping forward. “I’ll feed it to you.”

Having drained the elixir, Gwen slumped down heavily, taking Thomas with her.

Mel stepped away, giving them a moment and checking on Heath at the same time. The poor guy collapsed on the ground, but he was still breathing.

Looping one of his arms over her shoulder, she hauled him up to his feet and dragged him into the mouth of the cave. It looked more like a half-finished citadel. The opening was partially carved while the rest was rough stone.

Mel collapsed to the side, keeping both the depths of the cavern in her sights and the summit. At least they were sheltered from the storm here.

Prismatic lightning lashed out at them but couldn’t reach inside the cave’s entrance. Mel struggled to keep her eyes open, and she didn’t have the strength or force of will to use [Gaze of the Serpent] to check for threats hiding in the darkness.

Mel was jolted awake by the sound of rain. Not the typical comforting sound of pattering rainfall, but the sort of rain and howling wind that makes you board up the windows and doors and pray that the roof doesn’t get blown off.

And she wasn’t the only one. Three other groups had appeared and were spaced apart, huddling in the cave mouth behind Mel’s group.

They look even worse than I feel.