Meeting the Archon again

Arran decided to not antagonize Archon Roshan any further and visit him without delay. Arran activated four of his bloodlines to make his claims of dizziness more believable and it worked. Roshan had no reason to doubt Arran's claims and didn't spend much time investigating his condition but instead offered him a few dozen essence pills to help strengthen his foundation. An offer Arran gladly received while thanking Roshan for his generosity. After the meeting, he went to meet Kaleesh and the Wolfsblood army.

A few hours later he managed to reach the camp and was pleasantly surprised with his new accommodations. After talking to Kaleesh they decided the Reaver amulets should go toward getting common bloodlines for all the Rangers and gave the soldiers a choice. Either use the Blightspawn amulets to get lesser bloodlines or wait until they could get strong enough to become Rangers and get common bloodlines. The majority chose the lesser bloodlines because they had neither the talent nor the patience to become Rangers.

Only a few dozen soldiers chose to wait because they knew once they got their first bloodline the cost of the second would go up exponentially. Not all soldiers managed to get a bloodline of course because Kaleesh had neither the required amulets nor the desire to attract too much attention.

A week later old Baki visited Kaleesh and Arran and offered them the recipe for making the essence pills in exchange for the shadow blade Arran found in the ruins. They agreed but also asked for free supplies for their next expedition into the Desolation. Baki immediately agreed to the terms while being extremely happy with the bargain.

While precious the shadow blade had much less value than the essence pills for Arran and Kaleesh. The recipe required the flesh and blood of powerful beasts rich in nature essence together with some herbs and the Master bloodline for controlling the essence into pills. Baki provided the herbs and Arran had the digger meat so he decided to try making pills but before that, he used the pills he got from Roshan to further strengthen his bloodlines because the recipe required good control of a large amount of natural essence.

This also had a secondary effect on allowing Arran to use four bloodlines together with minimal effects on his body. After a week of trial and error under the effects of the Sage's bloodline, Arran managed to create some half dozen pills but they were a pale comparisons with the ones provided by Roshan. Arran did not let himself be discouraged by this and knew that a few months of practice would bring great results.

Kaleesh spent his time training both himself and the Wolfsblood army and results were showing. If when he first recruited them they looked like a motley crew of brigands and thieves, they now had a much more imposing look about them and gave the feeling of a proper army, one forged in blood and fire. Nisra came by a few days later and offered Kaleesh an alliance and to properly equip them. Kaleesh accepted and over the next few days, the majority of the Wolfsblood army received proper armor and swords.

The news about Shir's embarrassing defeat traveled far and no one else bothered them for the moment but somehow that didn't bring much relief to Kaleesh because he knew it was only a matter of time until trouble would find them again and this time the Martial alliance would take them much more seriously.

The next expedition would come a month later together with Nisra and her army and heading much deeper southwest towards the ruins of what was once a great city of the Imperium and one that few armies visited because it was located deep inside the Desolation, where groups of hundreds of Blightspawn were not uncommon and even Warlocks were seen often. Arran spent his time training his insights and sparring with the Rangers.

While his next step into enlightenment had not yet come his progress with the bloodlines and his insights gave him much more confidence and could now preserve his life even in the face of some weaker Lords.