A Divine Ritual
"By the Light what happened here?" A male voice said.
"Why are you surprised? The monsters have been mutated and are more aggressive. At least one team was going to be killed off by them." Another said.
"Whatever attacked them saved us the trouble of killing them later." Someone else said.
"Is it right for us to be so callous about their deaths?" The first voice said.
"They were low ranked mercenaries that only aided in the Light's glorious purpose out of greed. They didn't need to live." The second voice said.
"Come on, let's head back. Losing one set of bait traps shouldn't hamper our glorious purpose. We should already have enough resources for the ritual to start to work." A fourth voice said.
Hundreds of yards away the three of us listened through Vesta's spell.
"I didn't think our quick cover up would work that well." I said.
"I doubt it really did. They didn't seem concerned enough to actually investigate the scene." Vesta said.
"So what do we do now? Head back to the Rainbow Blades for reinforcements?" Adalgard said.
"No. It would take too long. We just need to disrupt their ritual." I replied.
Unfortunately it was getting close to night so we had to settle down. At first light we started heading in the direction I was being pulled in. It took us close to two hours to arrive at what was calling to me.
Hanging by its hind legs from a larger tree was one of the Gylltaine Stag's descendants. Its chest had been cut open and its organs had been arraigned below it. Its blood had been used to draw several glyphs around the tree. I could feel both spiritual and arcane magic coming from the tree.
"This is foul magic that has been banned in the kingdom." Vesta said.
"It also seems to be a combination of magics. They shouldn't normally blend together like this." Adalgard said.
"It's the blood that's holding it together. Blood magic can have strange effects." Vesta seemed thoroughly disgusted by what she was seeing.
"I'm guessing this is part of the ritual. The question is how many other places like this are there in the area?" I said.
"Most likely there's seven, it would be the most stable. They'd need someone of the archbishops caliber to achieve a nine pointed ritual." Vesta said.
"So how many do we need to destroy to disrupt the ritual?" I asked.
"That will depend on who's controlling the ritual and the minimum requirement. If it was me I could handle a normal ritual with six points of power but it would be difficult. And it could be that a five pointed ritual would work but they are just playing it safe." Adalgard said.
Vesta sighed as she seemed to see that I wasn't fully following what they were talking about.
"I'm guessing your education didn't involve numerology or sacred geometry." She said.
"I was taught the basics." I replied not wanting to seem like a complete idiot. I had a lot to learn growing up even as a Duke's bastard.
"That's expected since most prepared spells already take them into account, very few need to learn more than the basics. It's not until someone reaches higher magics, performs rituals, or trys to create their own spells that it really matters." Vesta said.
"Huh. Maybe that's what I'm missing." I started to think of the Empowered Moonlight Lightning Punch that was still giving me trouble.
"Wait, have you been trying to create your own spells without understanding magical theory?" Vesta said.
"We're getting off topic, let's focus on the ritual."
"Idiot." Vesta mumbled as Adalgard laughed.
"Without getting too in depth, numbers influence magic in profound ways. Each has their pros and cons. Prime numbers are the most stable and are often used in rituals otherwise the one controlling the ritual will have to fight the energies to keep them from breaking down into smaller units. I doubt a ritual that is meant to harm a Greater Spirit will work with anything below six points. But to be safe we should try to destroy three points to bring it down to four." Vesta said.
I still wasn't fully understanding what they were saying but I trusted their expertise.
"If we knew that center of the ritual, we'd be able to figure out where the other points of power are." Adalgard said.
I breathed in and tried to focus on the feeling in my bones that had led us here. To my slight right and left I could feel a pull.
"I can get us to the other points." I said.
"If that's the case, I can leave a trap spell behind to detonate on command. Once we start to destroy them, whoever is controlling the ritual will know and we'll have to deal with them." Vesta said.
"Let's get to it." I started walking in the direction of the next point of power for the ritual.
Between the three of us we had a number of ways to hide our passage. We hadn't seen any evidence of enemies but it was better to be safe.
It took us about 15 minutes to reach the next point of power. It was set up the same as the other one. With two reference points we had a better idea of how large the ritual sight was and where the center would be.
"Do either of you have an idea of what the ritual is trying to accomplish?" I asked as Vesta set up the second trap.
"From what I can sense from the spiritual energy being used, there is a beacon that is currently calling out. Since it's using the descendants' blood as a medium, it seems to be calling for those with similar blood." Adalgard said.
"The arcane element seems to be a cage formation. That part isn't activated yet but once it is, it will keep entities both out and in but only those that have the same blood as the descendants. The blood magic has other aspects to it but I can't tell what they are." Vesta said.
"It seems that these points of power are the means to lure in the Gylltaine Stag and trap it. Are there any elements that could be used to harm the Gylltaine Stag?" I asked.
"Not that I can tell." Adalgard said and Vesta nodded in agreement with her.
"Then there is either another ritual in the center of all this or they have a weapon of some sorts to deal with the Gylltaine Stag." I concluded.
"So once we're done here we'll need to head towards the center of the ritual for further investigation." Vesta said.
"Most of their forces will be in the center so it will be harder to sneak around. Let's head towards the next point of power. Halfway there detonate this point and a few minutes later we'll detonate the first one. It should lead them in the wrong direction, giving us time to strike hard at the center." I said.
Of course we could plan all we wanted, that didn't mean that others would wait around for us to act.
We hadn't taken more than a dozen steps away from the second point of power of the ritual when the energy around it started to fluctuate. Many of the glyphs on the tree started to burn with an abhorrent aura.
"The cage has been activated." Vesta said.
Just as she said that the ground began to shake and a cry that shook my soul echoed through the forest.
"Blow the points, we need to get to the center." I said.
As we charged towards where the cry came from the tree behind us exploded. A wave of energy flew in every direction around the wrecked area.
The ground continued to shake and more and more painful cries echoed around us. Before long we came to a clearing. On the outer edge of the clearing were more dead descendants of the Gylltaine Stag. Their blood and organs were spread about adding more complexity to the ritual that was being conducted in the middle of the clearing.
There were seven priests praying in a circle being led by an older woman that was controlling the ritual. I recognized her from an inn that I was at a few months ago, Matrium Myrgol. Another group of mages were controlling a barrier protecting the priests. Another woman was leading them, her hands, face, and clothes were covered in blood.
Nearly 20 knights of the Holy Light were running around the area trying to contain and attack their target. At their head was another person I recognized from that inn. Holy Knight Turnus threw a white spear that glowed with spiritual energy. He snarled as his throw missed. From his Storage Device another glowing spear appeared.
Their prey was a large majestic golden stag with dark silver antlers who was running wild around the area. I could already see two of those glowing spears embedded in the side of the Gylltaine Stag.
"Vesta try to disrupt the ritual. Adalgard take care of the knights. I'll protect the Stag." As my Osgar aura circulated and I propelled myself forward with a fully powered Speed spell, Spectral Chains launched towards the nearest knight and a massive Fireball landed on the barrier protecting the ritual.
That got the attention of Turnus who snarled, "Kill the Heretics! Glory to the Holy Light!"