Arden’s head swam from the repeated blows and impacts with the wall. Cole was dead, Fred was dead, and as his head swam he saw that the boss skeleton was turning to look at Mina. She looked at Arden and their eyes met. She had a strange look on her face, as if she had made a decision to do something. He watched as she began hurling magic at the giant skeleton.
Arden had slammed hard into the wall when Cole’s body hit him, and he had collapsed close to where Rawlins corpse had finally fallen. He looked up and noticed the loot symbol over his body.
“The cards” a woman’s voice whispered in his mind. He did not know where it came from.
“Hurry” It urged and Arden reached up and touched the symbol. Instantly a set of four cards appeared in his hand. He barely had time to read even one of the names before the cards blanked. He had been told that if he ever gained cards from another person’s body after their death, those cards would immediately blank. By focusing on them the system would ‘reroll’ the card as something appropriate to him.
Rawlins' class had been named Arbiter. And it vanished as he focused on it. The card shimmered and glowed purple before an image appeared on it.
It was a man, in armor and wielding a sword and shield. But his sword was wreathed in flame and the shield blazing with some unknown power.
Spellblade
Hybrid Melee/Magic Class
Type: Combat
Rarity: Epic
A rare blend of magic and steel, Spellblades are potent and flexible warriors.
Attribute Increases:
Strength + 25
Stamina + 25
Intelligence + 25
Proficiency Adjustments:
Bladed weapons now count as casting implements.
Shields, Light, and Medium armor do not disrupt or inhibit spellcasting
Quickcast:
Fullcast spells take 25% less time to complete.
Spellsword:
Spells may be cast directly onto an equipped bladed weapon. The weapon will hold the magic, discharging the spell onto the first target struck in battle.
Wardshield:
Ward, Barrier, and Shield type spells can be cast directly onto an equipped shield, improving their effectiveness by 25%.
Imbue weapon:
Elemental magic may be imbued on bladed weapons, increasing their effectiveness and providing additional benefits.
System Enhancement:
Socketing this card conveys improved system access, allowing additional cards to be socketed.
Arden was shocked by the card, but didn’t have time to fawn over it. He socketed it and instantly felt better. The world cleared as his stamina increased and knowledge flooded his mind. He also socketed all three of the other cards as well even though he had only seen their names. Blink, Firebolt, and Spellward. Knowledge of the spells poured into his mind without him needing to read it.
Blink
Spell
Rank 1
Experience: 0 of 100
Activation Restriction: Staves, rods, wands
Activation Cost: 1 MP
Reactivation Timer: 5 Seconds
Casting this spell allows the user to traverse short distances without traveling through the intervening space. When activated the blink spell moves the caster fifteen feet forward along with any subject they choose to bring with them. Enemies may resist this effect, remaining behind when the caster blinks.
Firebolt
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Spell
Rank 1
Experience: 0 of 100
Activation Restriction: Staves, rods, wands
Activation Cost: 1 MP
Reactivation Timer: 10 Seconds
Casting this spell produces a gout of flame that can be hurled at a target within thirty feet of the caster. It traverses the distance to the target without error and can even avoid obstacles, but a solid barrier will stop the gout before it reaches its target. This spell deals moderate damage and has a small chance to set the target on fire.
Spellward
Spell
Rank 1
Experience: 0 of 100
Activation Restriction: Staves, rods, wands
Activation Cost: 2 MP
Reactivation Timer: 15 Seconds
This spell produces a potent but short lived ward, absorbing damage dealt to the target before the spell collapses. Any damage dealt to this ward by other spells is reduced by 50% before being applied to the ward. Non-magical damage is dealt to the ward as normal.
In an instant he was on his feet. The boss skeleton’s blade rose high off the ground and Mina was hurling spears of ice at it to no effect. The sword came down and Mina flinched, thinking her end had come. Instead there was a resounding ringing sound and she opened her eyes to see Arden standing before her, using his sword to hold back the massive blade of the boss skeleton.
As she watched the blade glowed and flames roared to life along its length. The skeleton rattled at him and pressed hard, trying to overpower the smaller human, but Arden’s strength had massively increased when he had socketed the Spellblade class card.
Arden shoved back at the skeleton and it was forced to step back, withdrawing the sword. Moving to swipe at the pair horizontally. Arden stepped back, put an arm around Mina and activated his blink card for the second time. In the next instant they were standing on the far side of the courtyard. Arden let her go and to her credit she didn’t waste time. Immediately she cast her ward spell on him, as his shield was destroyed.
The skeleton’s eyes locked onto her and it charged, but Arden was ready. He reached out with his empty hand, activating his lightning bolt card. As he did he ran his hand along the length of his blade, and the flames parted and were replaced with dancing arcs of electricity. He pressed even more mana into his spellblade stance and the arcs of power grew brighter. The skeleton hefted the big sword once more and Arden shot forward, slashing at its leg. The instant the blade touched the skeleton the power of the lightning bolt spell surged out of him, amplified by the effect of his spellblade stance, blasting chunks of bone from the leg. The skeleton did not turn from Mina but Arden knew it wouldn’t. As it stomped over top of him his blade began shimmering and his provoking slash drove home, blasting chunks from its other leg.
The provoking slash forced the skeleton to focus on Arden and he smirked, using his blink spell to vanish and appear on the other side of the clearing.
Mina continued to pour damage into it, but she was deliberately waiting for Arden to get more aggro. She didn’t have to wait long as Arden activated his new firebolt card, hurling a searing blast of fire at the skeleton. The flame scorched bone and seared marrow, causing one of its ribs to fracture and break.
Arden knew what his new cards did as knowledge of the cards had flowed into his mind when he socketed them. He chose to use his last, activating Spellward. A barrier shimmered to life in front of him and he poured mana into it as the Skeleton bore in on him. The huge sword fell, slamming into the barrier as Arden’s sword began to shimmer again. He forced all the mana he could into his Spellblade stance as cracks began to show on the ward. Lurching forward just as it broke, Arden moved inside the arc of the skeleton’s swing, slamming his blade into the skeleton’s damaged knee, blasting it apart and causing the monster to fall. Arden’s sword once again crackled and sparked as he activated his lightning bolt card, deflecting a swipe from the skeleton with its right arm. Several fingers flew free from contact with the enchanted blade and Arden bore in, driving the tip of his sword into the skeleton boss’ nose hole, the spell arcing around the inside of its head.
“JUST DIE ALREADY!” He roared and smoke began to rise from the skeleton’s ear and eye holes and it collapsed into a pile of bone. Before it had even fully collapsed Arden had activated his blink again, appearing next to Mina as she knelt over Cole, tears returning to her eyes.
“They’re dead!” She said, looking between Fred’s body and Cole’s and Arden was crying too. He put an arm around her shoulders as she sobbed over Cole, and the dungeon began to quake and shudder around them.
“We have to go” He said and she refused.
“We can’t leave them here!”
“Their cards, we’ll take their cards back to their parents” Arden said, moving to Fred. With tears in his eyes he reached out and drew a stack of cards from his loot icon, along with his daggers and armor. He stored the items in his inventory and placed the cards, in their physical form, in his pocket. They had blanked when he touched them and Arden noticed that Fred had six cards. He realized that some of them were attribute cards and his eyes moved back to Rawlins.
“Sheriff Rawlins didn’t have attribute cards?” He said, and that didn’t make sense. Without any attribute cards socketed you could not socket anything else. You could remove your attribute cards after socketing ability and class cards, but it would disable all of your cards if you didn’t have an attribute. Then it hit him. Rawlins knew what was happening to him as he died. He had removed his attribute cards to try and weaken the zombie he would become. Arden reached up and closed Fred’s eyes before moving to the battered corpse of the former sheriff. He began digging through his pockets and withdrew three cards. A strength card, a charisma card, and.
A dexterity card. The very thing Arden had wanted when this entire nightmare had begun.
Arden took the dexterity card and socketed it, nodding to Rawlins corpse.
“I’ll make the best use of this I can sir” He said, and the ground began to shake again. He looked at Mina and she stood, having taken what she could from Cole’s body to return to his parents. The shaking got more violent and she locked eyes with him.
“RUN!” Arden said and they both bolted for the dungeon’s entrance. Twice Arden had to grab ahold of her and use his blink card to bypass skeletons as they began putting themselves back together all around them.
The forest started to collapse all around them and they were forced to dodge falling trees in addition to the dozens of skeletons that had reassembled themselves. Arden had to haul Mina over trunks and through fallen branches. She tired quickly and Arden picked her up and ran with everything he had.
“It’s collapsing!” Mina said as they reached the entry room. He put her down and the two bolted into the connecting tunnel to find it was much longer than it had been when they entered the dungeon. As they ran it grew more and more narrow and he grabbed Mina’s hand, pulling her along.
“We’ll make it” He said, activating blink, it brought them closer to the exit but not close enough. He looked back at her just as the corridor shattered and they were hurled into the space between realities.
