Evolution: A Warlock's Rise To Power

After the fight, DivineDiva began her process of recovering.  Silent and Lucan went from prison cell to prison cell, killing off the diseased hyenas that were trapped inside.

The last thing they needed was for someone to sneak past them later and release the trapped beast.  It would be an ugly scene if the hyenas came at them from behind while they were fighting something else.

Ten minutes later the room had been fully explored and DivineDiva had recovered both her Stamina and Holy power.

"Hey Lucan.  The mage dropped a staff that buffs demonic spells.  DO you want it?"  Tracker92 asked.

"It won't do me any good."  Lucan replied.

"Since no one has a use for it, let's roll."  Super suggested.

Everyone accessed the party interface and selected the 'Roll' option.

Silent ended up winning the staff with a roll of 92.  Lucan was happy with that.  She would either sell it off or store it in their vault.

When the group was ready, they left the room and began to travel through the tunnel again.  This time, progress was a bit slower since they didn't have a map of where the traps were placed.  After ten minutes the came to a crossroad.  They could go either left or right.

"Which way?"  Divine asked.

"I can send Little Brown down one path, but I want Adrestia to stick with me, she is too easily noticed."  Lucan said.

"I have a familiar I can send down the other path."  Tracker92 said.

Like Lucan, tracker92 had bought a familiar ability from raze, he had even bought an extra form for his pet.

The shadows around Tracker92 swirled and congealed to form a small gray kitten.  "Okay Mr. Meow, you head to the left."  He said after Little Brown scurried off down the path to the right.

The group searched the area for traps while waiting for results.

"I got something."  Tracker92 said.

Mr. Meow was peering under a door and saw several sets of feet on the other side, but she didn't see any prison cells.  Listening to Tracker describe what he saw, it sounded like it was a resting room for the guards, but the peculiar thing was that there were windows on one side of the room.

Little Brown was still navigating the tunnel that had started to curve downwards.  Since it didn't look like there was an exit to the guard's living quarters they decided to start clearing the traps in that direction while waiting for the mouse.

By the time the arrived at the door, Little Brown had seen something.

The mouse had squeezed under a door into a large open cavern.  Prison cells lined the walls all the way around and were even stacked on top of each other going all the way up towards the ceiling. A narrow platform circled the walls and provided a path to the higher prison cells.  On those platforms were guards doing patrols and making sure the prisoners weren't trying to escape.

A dozen dark skinned demons were kneeling on a circular alter in the center of the room and were chanting.  A larger demon was in the center of the circle and he looked to be leading the ritual.  On the far wall, near the top of the cavern, the mouse could see several windows, and at one of the windows was an off-duty guard who was looking down below.

Taking a closer look, Lucan realized that the circle the demons were on was not solid but had gaps in it.  Several thick metal bars ran in a crisscross pattern.  It was as if they were the top of a cage that locked something below.

After showing what he saw, the group decided to continue their current plan.  Clearing out the resting room would give them a good sniping position for Tracker92 and Silent Night.

But they would have to do things a little different this time if they didn't want to alert the guard below.

Lucan would be the first one entering this time.  He prepared a few spells with his spell weaver ability while taking a few steps back.  The others cleared a path for him.

Once everything was ready, Lucan activated Tread Lightly while sprinting straight towards the door. He used ethereal step to pass straight through it.  With a wave of his arm, illusions filled the window followed by telekinetic walls.  They telekinetic walls wouldn't stop the noise completely, but they would dampen it as long as they remained unbroken.

Once his spells were cast, the warlock jumped towards one of the guards at the window.

The guards in the room sprang into action and grabbed their gear.  They weren't minotuars but demon servants.  They were humans that had been branded by the power of demons.  Spikes grew from their back as they prepared for battle.

Lucan sunk his blade of corruption into the guard he caught unaware.

Divine burst through the door quickly followed by Tracker, who had put away his noisy guns and held his axe.

Super came in and fired both his double shot hand crossbows before discarding them while Silent held the door and fired arrows.

The battle was easier than fighting the minatours since the demon servants hadn't been wearing their gear when the attack was launched.  Within five minutes, the enemies had died, and Lucan had crystalized another two souls.

"Everyone, rest up and prepare for a big fight."  Lucan said.

Checking the clock that still had a little over four hours.  Since he didn't see any exits to the large cavern he assumed that this was the whole dungeon.  If that was the case, then they were making great time.  Well… unless the hundreds of prison cells opened.  Then it would be a huge fight and their may not be enough time to kill everyone.

Lucan counted the crystalized souls in his bag.  He had enough for Adrestia to exchange for another power from the devils plus one left over.

Since he didn't want any screw-ups, he decided to cash in the souls now.

Lucan placed a pile of crystalized souls on the ground and Adrestia climbed on top and laid down. She shut her eyes while contacting her devil patron.

After several moments, purple hellfire swallowed up the crystals and then receded, leaving the shadow drake laying on the ground.

Once she opened her eyes she hurried over to Lucan and began to excitedly jump around.  Like last time, he was forbidden from interfering with her choice of gifts, so he didn't know what she had received.

"What did she get?"  Silent asked, walking over to Lucan.

"I am not sure, give me a moment."

Lucan squatted down and rubbed the drakes head while he connected their minds.  Adrestia was incapable of speech, even when it was telepathic, but she was able to transmit images to his mind. After spending so long with her, he was able to understand the message she was trying to convey.

"It seems that her patron was pleased that their was demon souls mixed in with the rest and allowed her to pick two gifts."  Lucan said excitedly.

"Oh nice.  That's a double win.  What did she pick?"  Super asked.

"Wait a second."  DivineDIva said.  "So his familiar is also a warlock of devil."

"He, he, yeah."  Silent said with a chuckle.  "And his familiar even has a familiar of her own.  Remember that imp from earlier.  It actually belongs to Adrestia not Lucan."

"Wow… That's unique."  Divine said.

Silent noticed Lucan had a frown on her face.

"What's wrong?  What did she pick?"

Lucan sighed.  "She chose the ability to levitate as he first gift.  And her second gift was the an enhanced jump.  She can now jump four times further than before."

"Can't she already fly as much as she wants?"  Tracker92 asked.

"Sigh… Yes, she can."  Lucan said while shaking his head.

The others stifled their chuckles while Silent comforted Lucan.  "Don't be upset, some of the abilities and spells you purchased seemed dull and not that great.  But it comes down to how you use them.  That is what determines whether they are powerful or not."

When she said that the others once again held back their laughter.  Silent turned around to see Adrestia floating in the air while lying on her back.  She legs were curled up and her hands held onto her feet while her tongue hung out to the side.  She looked like she was enjoying herself while floating on the air.

Lucan shook his head again and reached out for the shadow drake.  "Come here you silly girl."  He said while scooping her up in his arms.