AA3 47 - Abnormal II

The Thrall was barely a dozen feet from Verdan when his spell took effect, the ground before him rising up to form a gigantic hand of compressed dirt that was the same size as the Thrall itself.

Arm-sized fingers of dirt and rock wrapped around the Thrall, stopping its charge dead and locking it in place. The abyssal energy within its bone charms sizzled in contact with Verdan’s Aether, but his spell animated the dirt rather than affected the Thrall directly.

It was only a single, small degree of separation, but it was enough that Verdan could manage it as long as he kept Aether going into the Spell.

“Keep it still, Wizard!” Magnus shouted as he raced past Verdan, casting his shield aside to grasp his axe with both hands.

Verdan had been lifting a hand to draw stone from the ground and throw it into the Thrall’s face, but Magnus’s intervention left him unable to get a clear shot.

The Thrall wailed and screeched as it fought back against the animated hand holding it steady. Its thrashing managed to break one of its arms free and it stabbed repeatedly into the compressed dirt of Verdan’s construct, straining the Aether keeping it together.

Magnus diverted to the side that hadn’t broken free and hacked down at the creature’s knee, making it bellow in pain and thrash all the harder.

While Verdan could see what Magnus was going for, they needed to kill it, not just disable it.

“Sia drea,” Verdan ground out through gritted teeth as he split his focus further and pulled up more earth to form a mound of sorts next to the Thrall. “The neck, Magnus!”

Magnus nodded and clambered up the earthen mound, putting him at the same height as the Thrall, who turned to glare at Magnus as Verdan bore down with his conjured construct, crushing it in his grip.

Magnus’s axe flashed in the light as he brought it down and the screech of metal on metal rang out as the metal casing around the Thrall’s head protected it.

The arm that the Thrall had free began to try and stab toward Magnus frantically, and the other three were growing close to getting free as well, despite Verdan’s best efforts.

While his construct was animated and reinforced by Aether, it was still primarily dirt, and that put a limit on what it could do.

Magnus’s second stroke cut deep into the huge Thrall’s neck, spraying blood out liberally and drawing a tortured scream from the foul thing.

Whatever dark magics had given the creature life were able to keep it going, even with its blood gushing out from the deep wound, and one of the arms on Magnus’s side broke free right as he swung back for the third strike.

Scythe and axe struck as one, with Magnus being impaled through the shoulder as he sent the Thrall’s head tumbling from its body.

Magnus was sent tumbling to the ground with a cry as the Thrall went limp, but Verdan could spare him no time as one of the creature’s brethren came racing over, with a dozen of the smaller Thralls moving in its wake.

The abomination was some sort of cross between a giant lizard and a bipedal bull, with a powerful build and large snapping jaws that were dripping with blood.

Risking a glance over his shoulder, Verdan saw that Kai and Gwen, working in concert, were steadily wearing down a third of the large Thralls.

The fourth was being handled by Benlen and the Mhorgain thearns, with Dirk supporting as best he could, while the remaining two were being held off by Osran and a larger group of the Clan Menteith thearns.

Cursing under his breath, Verdan turned back and sent his construct to grapple with the large Thrall heading his way while he thrust his staff towards those following it. “Thanr bel!”

Roiling flames of Aether overtook the Thralls, searing them and burning away at the abyssal energy sustaining them, whilst the gigantic hand of earth slammed into the larger Thrall and began to restrain it.

This Thrall was stronger than the last, though, and Verdan cursed steadily as it ripped into the hand with its claws, breaking it apart piece by piece.

The damage to the spell sent dull spikes of pain into Verdan’s mind, but he pushed them aside as he turned his focus to a nearby building with a stone chimney. “Garreg tafell!”

The stones from the chimney were ripped from their housing and flung at the Thrall, pelting it with everything from stones to small slabs and driving it to its knees.

Verdan could almost feel the creature weakening, and he pushed more Aether into his construct, the giant earthen fingers curling around the creature’s chest and steadily crushing it.

A chill shot down Verdan’s spine as he felt something change in the air, and only quick reactions let him register the fast-moving bolt of abyssal energy moments before it struck him and conjure a shield to absorb it.

Verdan’s eyes were wide as he looked around for the source of the attack, his Aether senses stretching out as he felt several more bolts come streaking his way. “Ast!”

Two of the three bolts struck the new shield that he’d conjured, but the third struck at his construct instead, its corrupting energy ripping through parts of the spell and causing a large section of the hand to lose its animus and fall to the ground.

Somewhat belatedly, Verdan’s detection ward pinged into the back of his mind, telling him that Darjee had been detected at the far end of the village.

Looking in that direction, Verdan could see a small knot of Darjee at the edge of his detection range, led by a tall Darjee clad in furs. Even from here, Verdan could feel the Malfease, the abyssal energy, swelling from them. It could only be one of the Bonecallers he’d been warned about.

Half of their thearns had been patrolling the perimeter of the town, and now that Verdan turned his attention beyond the immediate issue, he could see signs of fighting outside.

The trap had well and truly been sprung.

As if in response to Verdan’s thoughts, the Bonecaller conjured a fresh barrage of abyssal darts, targeting several of the Kranjir, including Osran.

“Ceis durst,” Verdan created a new spell on the fly, forming his intent as he funnelled Aether into his words and released a group of Aether darts that shot up to counter those conjured by the Bonecaller.

It was a temporary solution at best, and Verdan needed to get closer to be able to block them effectively, but the damage to his conjured hand had given the Thrall he’d pinned enough room to almost break free.

Magnus had picked himself up off the floor and was clutching his axe in one hand as his other arm hung limp. Taking in the situation as Verdan was forced to cast a second group of darts while also trying to reinforce his grip on the fallen Thrall, Mangus’s expression turned resolute. “It was an honour, Wizard.”

Verdan cursed as Magnus advanced on the Thrall, but he had nothing left to give. His head was pounding from the feedback, and he could barely give Magnus any attention as he strived to block the attacks of the Bonecaller. Their only saving grace was that it was a poor caster by his standards, all strength and no technique.

With a hissing roar, the Thrall broke free of the earthen hand, shattering it in the process and sending Verdan to his knees as a spike of pain rammed into his mind.

Magnus roared out a warcry and charged the Thrall as it reared up to its full height and let out a bellowing call of its own.

With agility that surprised Verdan, Magnus was able to dodge the first swipe of the Thrall’s claws, landing an overhead chop into its chest before being thrown away by a vicious backhand.

Magnus hit the ground hard once again, grunting in pain as he landed on his wounded shoulder.

As if sensing Verdan’s distraction, the Bonecaller began to send larger volleys of abyssal darts, forcing Verdan to keep his main focus on countering them and protecting the rest of their group.

The Thrall let out a bass growl as it stomped towards the fallen Kranjir before hesitating as Maeve raced into view, her polearm shining bright with Aether and blood.

Maeve barely slowed down as she charged the Thrall, evading its seemingly clumsy swipe and moving past it, her axe slipping down to cut the back of its knee as she went.

Bone smoked and burnt as the creature’s protections fought back against the Aether shining brightly from the runes carved into Maeve’s weapon, but it didn’t stop the physical impact.

Though he had to focus elsewhere, Verdan did what he could with simple spells, keeping the creature off balance, weakening its protections and making each of Maeve’s strikes hit harder than the last.

Again and again, Maeve cut the creature, whittling it down in a deadly dance of constant motion that ended with her stepping inside its guard and planting her axe into its face with a sickening crunch.

“Maeve, the Darjee are flanking the village, trying to box us in!” Verdan called out to the Chosen as she helped Magnus to his feet, and a handful of her thearns caught up.

The Bonecaller was out of sight currently, so this was his chance to get everything else sorted before their erstwhile duel continued.

“Understood, can you deal with the Bonecaller?” Maeve called back as she took stock of their situation.

Almost all the Thralls were dead, bar the last few of the magic-resistant ones, but the Darjee that had been with the Bonecaller had raced forward and joined the fray, turning it into a swirling melee with no defined start or end.

“Yes, now those larger Thralls are dealt with,” Verdan said with a nod. The presence of so much abyssal energy would have interfered with any area spells he cast, but now that most of them were dead, he could start to properly deal with the Bonecaller.

“Do so, and I’ll secure those buildings in the meantime. They must be where those captives the Pathfinder spoke of are being held.”

“No need, Chosen Barkstar,” Benlen called out as he, Barb and Dirk led the rest of the Mhorgain thearns over to them. “We will support the Wizard in taking the buildings if you can keep our exit clear.”

Maeve didn’t hesitate before nodding and dispatching half of the thearns with her to join them before taking the rest and heading back the way they’d entered the village.

“You deal with the Bonecaller, Master. We’ll take care of the rest,” Dirk said as Benlen took charge of the thearns.

Verdan gave Dirk a considering look. His apprentice's expression was tired, and his voice was scratchy, neither of which were good signs for a Wizard. Still, Verdan could see the fire in his eyes.

Barb gave Verdan a meaningful nod from behind Dirk, so he nodded. “Very well, I’ll follow your lead.”