After downing the cloyingly sweet blue potion that reminded the Necrologist of blue slurpees, and then watching his Mana pool jump by twenty points in a flash and continue rising every second at a much faster rate, Garath quickly explained how to summon items to everyone on the Raid com-channel. He then willed open the Skill Tree partition of his MENU panels, eager to see what new options had become available with his recent level increase.
The vast majority of the three-section Skill tree was still greyed out. His eyes wandered to find the single Skill that had not been available at level one. It was beside, but not connected to, the Summon Flayer circle in the Demonology section. Garath willed it to provide more information and greedily read the details.
Summon Fel Hound
Summoned Creature - Demon
Cost: 75 Mana (.5x base Mana)
5 Second Cast
5 Minute Cooldown
*Additional Cost: Tainted Soul*
Effect: Summon a Fel Hound (maximum: 1) to aid you in battle for up to one hour.
Note: Unlike most Fel creatures, the Fel Hound is a loyal companion and will protect its summoner unto the final death.
*Tainted Soul: the form containing your soul is soiled.
Cost to Unlock: 1 Skill Point
Total Unused Skill Points: 2
Garath purchased the new Skill without hesitation. He was excited to perform his first summon and felt a great deal more comfortable summoning the Fel Hound than the Flayer (based solely on the Skill descriptions) and was excited to see what the demon-dog could do - but more than anything, the Necrologist and Raid leader really just wanted to get back in the fight.
Chapter 9
Daisy
Private message from Garath to Athios - 00/00/01 @ 01:21:
Hey look, chat function!
Athios read the message in a private chat box that opened in the corner of her vision and took a deep breath, then dropped back behind the melee classes swinging their weapons into the thinning horde of skeletons outside the old school building. Her Mana was nearing zero from the near constant casting and her head was swimming. She would definitely benefit from a rest, but would rather deal with the light-headedness than use the Raid channel again.
She rolled her eyes, then found she could maximize the chatbox and reply with nothing more than a few directed thoughts.
Private message from Athios to Garath - 00/00/01 @ 01:21:
Wow. Is that what you're up to back there? Let me take some of that extra time off your hands... I could use a breather.
"I'm switching in for Athios," came Garath's eager voice almost immediately over the Raid sub-channel established for the fighting force.
Athios was silently grateful to the Necrologist for saving her from her worst fear, public speaking - even as hundreds, if not thousands, of undead were quite literally at her doorstep.
"If anyone else needs a break, just call it on this channel,” the Raid leader told them.
Athios turned away from the fight and walked past the healers and group of non-combatants just inside, passing the glowy-eyed Necrologist, who flashed her a knowing smile that made her wonder what the hell he was thinking about - whatever it was that he 'knew' escaped her and she returned his smile with a confused smirk. They passed each other wordlessly and she took a seat in the gleaming main hall of their makeshift stronghold.
Private message from Athios to Garath - 00/00/01 @ 01:23:
Did you already check for other ways in?
Garath read the message just as he made it through the double doors and into the frey. He stopped to reply, standing casually between the joined melee and the group’s stronghold.
Private message from Garath to Athios - 00/00/01 @ 01:23:
Nope.
Private message from Athios to Garath - 00/00/01 @ 01:23:
Don't you think it might be prudent??
Garath frowned, he had meant to do that.
Private message from Garath to Athios - 00/00/01 @ 01:24:
Yep.
Private message from Garath to Athios - 00/00/01 @ 01:24:
Good idea. Let me know what you find?
He closed the chat box, it was time to get to work. This time though, he would be bringing reinforcements. Still uncomfortable with the idea of summoning a demon that may or may not join the opposing team to kill him, Garath decided to try his newest Skill, Summon Fel Hound - but paused just short of casting.
This would be the first time he had used a spell with the additional cost, Tainted Soul. He thought about the verbiage on the Skill tree, 'the form containing your soul…’ and wondered if paying the additional cost while in House Cat form would be some kind of loophole in the system, allowing him to use the Skills that had the Tainted Soul cost, whatever that was, without soiling his human form. He figured cats don't actually have souls anyways, and that the logic added up. However, he hadn't cast a spell in cat form yet, and didn't feel like now was the time for experimentation. Death Bolt had been serving him well to that point and had dispatched the skeletons just fine, so he kept up what was working and vowed to start summoning demons as soon as he figured a few things out.
***
Before Athios could leave her seat to inspect the rest of the building, a young girl approached her. The scrawny child couldn't have been older than ten or eleven.
"You're Athios, right?" the little girl asked.
Athios read the girl's nameplate and, without meaning to, triggered her Inspect ability.
Name: Daisy
Race: Human
Class: Elementalist
Level: 3
Age: 11
Health: 70/70
Mana: 70/70
Apparently using Inspect on another human only revealed a portion of the information contained in the Profile panel of
