Davis' PoV

 

Davis was panting heavily as the final man dropped to the floor. Tapping his sword on the balcony above Maria gave him a stamina recharge. Much better.

The bastard's had wanted Gwen's life as payment. Bloody fools. He had tried to offer them coin but he was refused. Even when he offered triple the payment the little bastards balked. Being mentally prepared for this outcome he had played on their ego. Six powerfully built men came in the door and he gestured over to his sister as if to say "fine, then take her."

Every one of the fools turned their back on him. They felt so sure of themselves because they had almost two dozen more men who were outside. He barred the door and stabbed two in the back before they could respond.

At that instant Gwen also released her lightning magic. With dead bodies in front and behind they made quick work of the lieutenant and his squad. But then they were pressed as the door started to get rammed in and the windows were broken.

The defense had gone surprisingly well. Idiots didn't even try to use the upper window. Instead they axed down the door and jumped over the repositioned desk. Gwen made quick work of those people. Davis stuck to defending the window. There was one time two people somehow rolled past the door together but that was the worst of it. It really went way too smooth.

Taking a gamble he took a quick glance out of the window and saw a man running away. Davis blinked and then he saw the man had an arrow in the back of his neck. Before he could trace where the arrow came from a dagger tapped him on the back of his head, and a woman said with some mirth "really shouldn't do that. Some big mean untrustworthy lady might come along."

Glancing to the side he was unamused to find Scarlet. But before he could come up with a witty retort a man turned the corner. The man was hooded and had a skull mounted on his staff. There was something wrong about him.

Before he could repeat his speculations the man raised one gloved hand and a pale green light started emanating from it. Slamming the hand down caused the green light to flicker and run in pulses along the ground. For some reason the light show seemed to be attracted to the downed men.

Davis asked "What the hell is that?"

Scarlet sounded scared when she said "Shit! Move, move! Let me in!"

Before he moved he saw a man rise to his feet. That man had an arrow in the back of his neck. He must have been taking too long because Scarlet plowed into him and they fell down in a clatter.

Scarlet yelled "Move the bodies as far away from the door as possible! Now!"

***

Forrest's PoV

 

Forrest snickered as he watched Scarlet tap Davis on top of his head. Didn't even see her! She was a ghost when she wanted to be. Just as he was about to break cover he saw a man raise a pale green glowing hand. After the green earthquake the pile of bodies began to rise. What the hell was this? Those people had to be dead, at least most of them. You can't heal dead, right?

Forrest put it to the back of his mind as he started unleashing arrow after arrow. He hit throats, hearts and bellies, but it had no effect. What the hell were those things? So much for having unlimited arrows, they didn't affect those men in the slightest.

Glancing up he saw the hooded man had gathered more of that pale green magic to his hand. This time it was a bit more condensed. The being had his eyes locked on Forrest, so out of instinct he rolled away from his location.

A second later he looked back and wondered if he was jumping at ghosts. But then the little wooden barricade he had been using rotted and turned to dust. He gulped. Nope, good job instincts, good job. Forrest put his bow on his back and climbed up the building. Hopefully he could find some weakness if he had a better vantage point.

***

Scarlet's PoV

 

Dammit! She hated Necromancers! They were one of the few things that didn't care if you stabbed the crap out of them. Panicked, she looked around for the little midget but didn't see her. Hoping that she didn't make an error in jumping in the building she said hurriedly "Maria? Where is she?"

A little head popped out from above her and she relaxed. Good. Scarlet said "Hey kid, how do you feel about becoming a damage dealer instead of just a healer for today?

Gwen jumped in and said "What? What are you talking about?"

Scarlet said matter of factly "Necromancers. They kill themselves in a ritual to have power over the dead. Physical blows and cuts don't hurt them too much. Heard magic is decent but my training says that any healing magic will cause massive damage to them. So we either need to use the midget or we need to get the hell out of here."

Gwen said annoyedly, "I will just fry them again. Step back."

Luckily the dead in the shop did not rise. For some reason if the necromancer can't see the body it makes it harder for them to animate. Scarlet listened as the animated dead started gathering in a huddle out of line of sight.

Finally they moved. Instead of by ones or by twos many bodies crammed themselves into the doorway and window at the same time. She put away her daggers and jumped up to the loft. Now in a safer position she laid flat and looked down at the scene beneath her.

The lightning struck again and again but it only caused short spasms to their targets. Gwen shouted "Don't like lightning? How about this!"

Fiery orange tinged Gwen's hand as she flung the ball of fire towards the undead who had just stopped twitching. Sure enough they lit on fire very well, but so did the building around them. The fiery undead slowed and stopped but the damage had already been done. The place was going to be a bonfire.

Scarlet growled under her breath saying "Dammit. Why do Fire Mages always insist on using fire magic inside wooden buildings?"

She had enough experience with mages burning buildings down so she got up and kicked out the loft window.

***

 

Forrest's PoV

 

Forrest watched from the roof as the former shop started to burn. He didn't know what to do, arrows were completely ineffective against them. He had even stuck a number of arrows in that man who shot those green tinged magic bolts at him. They only seemed to piss him off and Forrest had to find new places to hide as the green energy slowly ate away at his cover.

Oh no! While he had been taking pot shots at that monster, somehow Milly's shop caught on fire! The fire was spreading quickly and almost the entire first floor was burning. Forrest saw the group go up to the loft. They would have to make a run for it and they had no idea about that weird corrosive spell the man was using.

The group jumped out of the broken window and Forrest saw that the hooded man was making that same condensed green glow in his hand. The spell was aimed at his friends! He knocked an arrow quickly and it hit the mark.

The hooded man's blast jerked off course as the arrow pierced the center of his hand. Relieved that his friends had turned the corner he saw the blast ended up hitting a couple of the seemingly immortal men. The sight was disgusting. Flesh pus and oozed and then blackened. Man, he really didn't want to know what it was like to be hit by that spell.

Since he had been moving closer to the potion shop while following along the roof he could still see his friends heading down the alley. Forrest felt useless. The man and his horde seemed unstoppable.

Then he saw something odd. Maria pointed her glowing white staff at the horde of abominations that tried to follow them. Forrest watched the human creature that had shrugged off being pelted with arrows, hacked at with a sword and fried with Lightning topple over to a Heal spell. It worked! The Heal magic put one down and he wasn't getting up. His friends finally had a chance to fight back!

Taking a quick glance over the rooftop he saw the hooded man head toward the alley. Forrest needed to stall him. If he gave the group enough time, they could defeat those things and maybe run away! Filled with determination he readied another one of his unlimited arrows. He would stall this man for as long as he could.

***

Necromancer Dominic's PoV

 

Dominic was becoming thoroughly pissed off. Everything was going so well with the new barmaid, but it seemed like some idiot wanted to start a turf war. Determined to finish the job quickly he left the tavern and followed the nearby pulses of death energy.

Empowering his new minions from the fresh corpses he ordered them to swarm the shop. Everything was going rather well till the world's most annoying archer started distracting him. Just how many damn arrows did he carry?

Dominic was starting to resemble a pin cushion more than a human. The bastard even got lucky twice and cut off his finger. Dominic found out it was rather hard to retrieve the digit with so many arrows sticking out of him. He was so looking forward to getting his hands around that elusive bastard's throat.

Mentally he ordered his original horde to cut off the escape of the party that managed to flee the burning building. He needed to take care of this quickly. The Water Mages would not come out to put out the fires till the fight was over. As long as too much didn't get burned down he wouldn't be fined. No one cared if a few shops in the slums burned down as long as it didn't reach the merchant district, nobles' homes or the docks.

As he was thinking that an arrow pierced his calf muscle and the arrow tip buried itself to the wooden structure behind him.

Furious he yelled "I'm ganna enjoy killing you, you little bastard! You can't dodge forever!"

Readying another Corruption Bolt he took aim at the little nat. Just as he was about to release the bolt, the image of the man blurred again. Taking a guess he aimed the bolt a few feet to the left. The bolt impacted and began disintegrating parts of the rooftop. No scream of pain. Grrrrrrrr. Dominic continued his barrage but nothing seemed to hit.

"You little shit, stop moving!"

Seeing through one of his original undead's eyes, he could see they had surrounded the group that was fleeing. Good. Once they killed those troublemakers he would use them to surround the district with undead and have them capture that archer bastard. Maybe they were his friends? It would be hilarious to catch this prick using his undead friends.

Just as he had that wonderful thought an arrow struck him in the eye. Seriously, just how many friggin arrows can one person carry? Did he store extras on the roof? Pulling the arrow out and restoring his eye with necromantic energy he readied another Corruption Bolt.

***

Scarlet's PoV

 

As the group made it to the narrow alley Scarlet yelled "Maria! Use Heal on them!"

The little girl gave a determined nod and began casting her Heal spell. Just as she had been taught, once the white healing energy enveloped the undead creature, it immediately stopped. She watched Davis scoop the girl up and Maria kept casting Heal behind her as they ran to the other end of the alley.

Then she saw the scuffed looking group of homeless people enter the alley. They didn't look normal. Before she could say anything Gwen unleashed her Lightning at the pair. The targets of Gwen's spell only spasmed a bit and then continued moving towards them. A couple seconds later they were joined by some friends. A lot of them.

Yelling, she said "We got more of them up here!"

Scarlet knew with the walls so close together she could climb up them and escape, but she doubted anyone else could follow her. But if she left, the other three would be doomed. Davis couldn't stop the flood of undead from both directions.

Then she heard in the distance "I'm ganna enjoy killing you, you little bastard! You can't dodge forever!"

Forrest was fighting the Necromancer! There was no way he could beat him alone. The only way for a non-magic user to kill a Necromancer is to cut off their head and then destroy it. If she got the jump on him, she might be able to do it. But how would Forrest look at her if she left his friends to die?

Decision made she stood her ground as the horde approached. Maybe if they all pooled their Full Mana Potions to the little girl, she would have enough mana to blast them all?

But as she was trying to think what to do Davis yelled "Gwen! Use Fire behind us! Scarlet, I'll take the front, you take the rear. Maria, use your Heal to carve us a path out of here!"

Davis let the girl down and she began casting her magic. Gwen was a bit faster and the former entrance they took into the alley became an inferno. Smart! The fire would keep the Necromancer away as well as burn the undead from that side.

As the minutes passed the fire almost engulfed half of the corridor. Davis was a bulwark that continued to move forward as Maria downed undead after undead with her Heal spell. Scarlet's side began to get easier as the conflagration blocked the undead reinforcements.

One by one she would kick the remaining undead back into the fire engulfed path. After the party had consumed many Full Healing Potions and Full Mana Potions, no more undead remained behind them. Only the ones blocking their exit remained.

Then they heard a scream in the distance, "You little shit, stop moving!"

Davis glanced back to her seeing that she had just finished mopping up her end. Davis yelled "We're fine here Scarlet. Go help Forrest!"

Without needing to be told twice, Scarlet vaulted to the rooftops. This group kept surprising her. Yes, they had powerfully enchanted gear, but they used their new advantages very well. They didn't blindly rely on their new power but kept a good head on their shoulders as challenges presented themselves. They kind of reminded her of her friends. Her dead friends.

Putting that out of her mind for now she followed the Necromancer's screams of irritation as she tried to stay hidden. She would probably only have one chance at this. Not wanting to acknowledge her worry for Forrest, she channeled her training as she stalked her prey.

 

***

Necromancer Dominic's PoV

 

Dominic sent another Corruption Bolt at the irritating nat. He was so overcome with fury that he almost didn't notice how his undead had been getting culled at an alarming rate. Looking through the eyes of one of his minions, he saw the group of four had both a powerful priest as well as a very strong Fire Mage. Had those damn Priests of Anera sent some child prodigy after him?

He was beginning to feel like maybe he should have paid more attention to the one-armed man. This group of mercenaries was not normal. Even the melee fighters were impressive. The ease with which they could keep the undead away from their casters was again very impressive.

Dominic was considering making a run for it, but when he saw half the slums were on fire, he reconsidered. The slums were right next to the docks. If the docks got damaged, there would be hell to pay.

If this fight didn't end soon the amount of damages he would need to pay would make him broke. There was no way in hell he was going to debtors' prison. They would make him little more than a slave, a very profitable slave. It was a well known fact that those who went into debt rarely ever got out of debt without outside help.

Turning from the irritating archer he headed to where the last of his undead minions were getting cut down.

***

 

Forrest's PoV

 

Forrest panted heavily as he downed the last of his Full Healing Potions. It was the third time he was hit with that evil green magic. Honestly he didn't know how he was still alive.

The first time wasn't too bad in retrospect. His forearm got hit. Frantically fumbling for a Full Healing Potion he watched as his arm pus and oozed. The corruption climbed to his shoulder where the process repeated. Amazed, he watched his fleshy lump that looked nothing close to being an arm return to its original state once the red liquid went down his throat.

The next time he was hit, it was his upper thigh. By the time he got the potion down his throat the corruption reached his stomach. But even that wasn't as bad as this last one. The bolt had struck him directly in his stomach. He could feel his own heart stop beating as the vial reached his lips. Forrest wouldn't tell a soul of what he saw his flesh do that day.

Too tired to stand, Forrest crawled to a stairway in the center of the building. He did his best, hopefully it bought them enough time to run away.

***

Scarlet's PoV

 

Scarlet heard the Necromancer yell "I'll be back for you, you little bastard! I know you're still alive up there somewhere!"

Hiding in the shadows she watched the man take a sidestreet. She was almost baffled at what she saw. The man looked like an archery range's target practice dummy. Realizing that Forrest was no longer the target she took a parallel path and waited in ambush.

Scarlet had one chance. She needed to make it count.

***

 

Necromancer Dominic's PoV

 

Irritated Dominic saw through one of his undead's eyes and realized there were only a handful of his minions left. With the path so narrow all he needed to do was cast a Corruption Bolt right down the center of the alley. There wouldn't be enough room to dodge.

All he needed to do was make it there before they could escape into the open. Then he realized there was one missing. Where did that dagger woman go?

Already on guard Dominic turned the corner with a Corruption Bolt at the ready. Seeing the missing person in question he smirked. Only a fool would come at him with just a dagger in hand. With the target so close, there was no way to miss. Casting the already prepared spell he gestured his hand towards the woman and had already dismissed her from his mind when something odd happened.

Why wasn't his target a squirming pile of flesh? His confusion compounded as her dagger flashed brightly and then he felt something was wrong with his hand. What? His own spell hit his hand?

Focusing his necromantic energy he automatically tried to restore the appendage. He wasn't worried in the slightest what some tiny blade could do, but if he left the corruption to spread too long it would take days to restore.

Putting his other hand up to impede the knife attack, another odd thing happened. The dagger went straight through his arm as if the blade was traveling through an illusion. His confusion continued as the blade went through his neck. Falling, he realized his headless body was still standing up.

Shit. Was he about to die? Seeing the foot about to stomp his skull, he finally got a good look at the woman in the darkness. Wow, she was pretty. Probably even more pretty than that new barmaid. Hearing the crunch of his own skull caving in, he was ready for his end.

But only one stomp came. Before another one rained down he heard "Forrest! You're okay!"

The last thing he heard were footsteps running away from him.

***

Forrest's PoV

 

After catching his breath Forrest slowly made his way down to ground level. Feeling half delirious he used his bow as a crutch. Thinking stopped being important as he focused on moving towards the sound of fighting. Somewhere in the back of his mind he realized he was doing something dumb, but he couldn't quite figure out why.

Then he heard a female voice. "Forrest! You're okay!"

His heart leapt, but he didn't know why. Feeling relief, he lost his balance and was falling over. But then a strong force tugged him back to his feet. As his blurry vision focused he was looking down on the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Still not thinking straight, he automatically said what was on his mind, "You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."

***

Scarlet's PoV

 

Grabbing a hold of the delirious man she rolled her eyes at the comment while helping him walk to the party. She definitely didn't smile. Definitely.

She was glad her plan worked. This was twice her dagger enchanted with Reflect had saved her, although this time it was part of her calculation. Scarlet knew the Necromancer was going to get at least one spell off. Using that surprise she got in close with Sharpen Blade Lv3 and ended him.

Forrest looked to be in bad shape. Seeing his three Full Healing Potions gone, she realized he must have taken a few of the Necromancer's attacks. With her training she knew what that meant. It must have been hell.

Calling out she said "Maria! Forrest is here, can you try to hit him with your Vigor Heal spell?"

The exhausted little girl nodded and came over to reach for Forrest's other hand. The spell went off and Forrest seemed to regain a bit of his wits.

He asked "What happened? The last thing I can clearly remember was barely living against fighting that Necromancer guy."

Scarlet responded "You were really out of it. Needing to use three Full Healing Potions in a row so quickly probably left you drained. Even with the Vigor Heal spell, I'm surprised you're lucid."

Looking around, it seemed like the fire caught the wind and was burning a large part of the slums. There was no doubt that more forces would be headed their way soon and they were in no position to fight them. Far away she could see the street crowding with people trying to exit the slums. Maybe they could blend in with them?

Davis spoke up and said "I have a plan. There will be no apology made today without trading blood. We might as well finish what we started."

As he started explaining his idea, she quirked an eyebrow at the audacity. Bold. Very bold. She liked it.

***

Captain Voss' PoV

 

Oh jeez, he was so hammered. He could hardly tell if the ship was moving or if it was just his vision. Then he saw the darndest thing. There was a group of people running on the docks shooting up fireworks everywhere! Did this backwards port have some kind of holiday going on?

Rubbin' his eyes he took another look at the scene. In the background there seemed to be a hell of a fire going on. Wow, he must have missed an awesome party! Damn shame. They had just offloaded their cargo with the dawn not that long ago.

The payment for his goods should be coming any minute now.

Would have probably still missed the party even if he knew about it. If he let his First Mate count the cargo they would have all been screwed. Still, damned shame. He loved parties.

Lookin' at the group again they seemed to be the lead in the play, or whatever the hell they were doin'. Right behind them a group of men were running after them all convincin'-like. Had weapons out seemin' mighty angry. Wow, they were really good!

And then his thoughts changed when he saw the black robed one toss a fireball back at the chasers. He watched in fascination as people dropped their weapons and started to burn up. The screams. The screams were not acting! One man lookin' like a human candle jumped into the water. Then one of them burnin' men jumped onto one of the ships next to his. Then his alcohol befuddled mind said 'maybe they were just really good actors!'

The light show quickly spread to the other vessels. One after another the black robed one tossed fire at each ship! Then she turned around and started the firework show on the rest of the dock! Blimey, they were really going all out! Looked like a hell of a party!

As his alcohol addled mind replayed what just happened, he finally realized somethin'. Shit! Not a play! Not a play! As he looked back to the group of killers they were headin' up the dock to his ship! Taking a deep breath he was about to call for help, when his gag reflex hit him. Voss went to the side and started throwin' up overboard.

Damn! Blood thirsty killers were on his ship! Tryin' to get his mind working he had a thought. Killers loved beer! They had beer! Soon the party of five was in front of him and the one with heavy armor and a shield said "We need a ride. Now."

Voss nervously smiled and said "Why sure thing! Sure thing! Mighty fine vessel for passengers I tell ya, Got booze below! Tons of it!"

As they were talkin' he watched archer man take out two people while the mage woman set fire to anything that wasn't already burnin'. The only thing left not tastin' flames was his ship! He gulped. There was even a wee mini killer! She bashed a man's head in with her lil staff then a woman in red followed up and cut his throat! The man said urgently "We need to go. Now. Either you help us or I'll let the lady in red do the negotiations."

Voss perked up. He liked ladies, and red was a fine color. Well, so long as it wasn't blood. His eyes found the one in question and then he reconsidered. She was smilin' but it definitely wasn't no friendly smile. And the way she was playin' with that dagger didn't seem friendly either.

Yup, Not friendly at all. Wait, didn't she just cut a man's throat with that thing? Seein' it still red with blood, yep, that was sure it. Yup, definitely armor man was the guy. He wasn't fighting no elite mercenaries. Ain't a chance.

Voss cleared his throat again and yelled "Stations! Men to your stations! NOW!"

Luckily his crew reacted better than he did. They were all sleepin' so that they could be refreshed when they got paid. Damn, the money! Maybe he could convince them to stick around for a few minutes? Glancing over at red armor lady that looked like a 'no'. She was gettin' way too close for his comfort.

Groggily his First Mate said "What's going on? The pay come in?"

Voss helpfully pointed at the people surroundin' him.

Confused, his First Mate asked "They have the money? Where is it?"

Voss, annoyed, said "No you fool! We're being taken over by force of arms!"

Looking at the scowls comin' his way he rephrased "I mean they are in a hurry and we would be happy to help! Uh, get them to stations, now!"

His First Mate looked reluctant, but the red armor lady put a dagger under his First Mate's chin and said with that same evil smile, "Do you want to be replaced?"

Then his first mate started movin'! Wow, he never moved that fast for Voss! He was holdin' out on him. Damned lazy bum! With his First Mate movin' that fast they were soon underway. Then he looked sadly at all of the docks and ships around them. Everythin' was on fire. Everythin'.

Maybe he got lucky? Lookin' at the source of the fire, maybe not. He was so screwed. He really needed that money.

***

Jim's PoV

 

Milly had literally talked all night. She went on and on about what happened. The only interesting bit to Jim was about the white gloved hand in his inventory. That was kind of cool. She also talked about how happy she was to have a new job.

Every little piece of information had to be attached to a feeling which was also attached to what she was thinking at that very second. Jim had no idea people could have conversations like this. It was like another language.

After about an hour he broke in and prompted her to get her book. Putting it into his inventory he took a nap and instructed the doggies to keep an eye on her. Waking up hours later the girl was still talking. Her poor cousin was constantly on the verge of falling asleep.

Every time she started to snore Milly would shake her and then start her script from the top. Still, he gave her the time because he had no idea when they would be able to return to visit. Looking out the window he saw it was light out. Wow, she literally talked all night?

After Jim was about to doze off again she said something interesting.

"Wow! Looks like there is a fire in town! Haven't had one of those in awhile. Actually, is that coming from the direction of my shop?"

Taking a look for himself he realized that yes, it was. Finally Jim did what he should have done a long time ago. He picked her up and put her into his inventory.

Best. Mute button. Ever.

Looking over he saw that her cousin had fallen asleep again. Jim made a quick mental note of his item list so he could reference it when he took her out later. After that he started heading towards the fire with his wolves on his tail.

And boy was it a fire. The entire street was burning to the ground. Jim traced the path of fire and found the docks not long later. Or what was left of them. In addition every single ship was burning. He sighed. Pulling up his party menu he took a quick look over the group and realized that everyone had leveled up. Man, they were like magnets for trouble.

 

 

 

 

Wow, they were really tapped out. Almost everyone was banged up and anyone who could use mana was almost out. It wasn't nearly as big of a level jump as the fight at the alcove. Considering even his pups had a hard time with those rock giants, that made sense.

Now that he thought about it, he should check his party menu more often. If his party was gaining levels and using tons of mana, that was a good sign that they were in trouble. Where were they?

Jim saw a group of people pointing out to sea. Pulling up his five senses tab he quickly zoomed in. Yep. Those were his party members. On the only ship left that wasn't on fire. So much for trying to find a ship Captain, the pickings got a lot more limited. Jim sighed and started trying to swim towards the vessel with two wolves doggie paddling after him.