Maren shrugged his shoulders to show he didn't know, and Tobius looked him intently in the eyes.“Char Maren, I saw a stuffed crow upstairs. This raven is your necrotic familiar [Animal bonded to the wizard by an affinity charm. Usually, the familiar acquires a high intelligence, can understand the will of its master without words, or even begins to talk. Almost always, the mage can see through the eyes of his familiar and hear through his ears.], if I'm not mistaken? You sent him out to investigate, didn't you?“You can’t hide anything from you, enchantment Tobius,” he didn’t continue to lie. “But there's nothing there. Almost. A village surrounded by soldiers of the Church Guard, where investors are prowling, and nothing more.- Only?- She's depopulated. From what I understand, people just disappeared. Most likely, it was discovered by some traveler, maybe a peddler, and everything was reported to the churchmen, and they cut off the gap of the tract. Now the investigators of the In

Thobius' wand was the most common, forged from enchanted bronze, with a twisted handle and a heavy massive knob, it looked like a heavy mace. No magic stones, no special inscriptions, just a layer of gilding on the knob and twelve spikes around its rim.- More than once or twice I had to use it as just a heavy club. The gray mage patted his wand on the hilt. - Never regretted it.Marin took his wand and hung it on his belt.“And your companions, char Tobius, who are they?” I do not feel in them, so to speak, sparks of life.— Man-made servants. The most reliable.- I completely agree with you.Days succeeded one another, wizards and monks wandered along the forest roads, occasionally delved into the thicket, questioning rare travelers who had to turn off the wide roads and go deeper into the jungle.Once the wagon got stuck on the muddy bank of the river, and no matter how powerful Brother Horace pushed it from behind, it was not possible to get the wagon. Brother Olveh answered the o

They repeated these lines over and over again, saying each word in unison. The lines drawn on the ground glowed faintly, and the blood in the goblet began to seethe little by little. It remained cold, did not boil, did not steam, but twitched and gurgled, as if writhing in writhing.— Bekvim talvimat!— Bekvim fegatar!The blood in the goblet frothed violently, and Marin dropped it, but the contents did not pour out, but rolled out like a mobile and elastic ball of mercury. As if sniffing, he twitched to one side, to the other, crawled towards the corpse, but stumbled upon a barrier of broken lines and moved in the other direction.“It worked,” the gray mage whispered, looking fascinated at his handiwork. “Another spell in my piggy bank.“Char Thobius, does he have to move so slowly?”- How should I know…The gorewort crawled along the ground slowly but surely.“I think he took the lead.- I doubt. At this rate, we won't find the maleficarum until tomorrow morning.- Let's fix it! Bul

The monstrous wounds should have killed the monk, but no, the strong, trained body was still alive, although it was barely breathing. Healing Brother Horace was useless—magic had little effect on God's servants—but Thobius carried with him an infusion of white aloe, bitter, fairly poisonous, but capable of giving a half-dead man a few extra hours if left alone. Pouring a liquid that looked like thick white milk into the cracked slit of his mouth, the wizard rushed away. There was nothing more he could do, no matter how much he wanted to.When the sorcerer escaped from the laboratory, he was met by Brother Horace. The huge Johnite blocked the way to escape, rose to his death and single-handedly gave him a worthy fight, but was struck down by something terrible, from which even the holy weapon could not protect him. Yes, but the sorcerer himself did not leave whole. Tobius rushed down the trail of blood, with which the enemy sprinkled the rotten leaves and branches of plants, running aw

The wizard's feet led him to the threshold of the Sleeping Giant tavern. In his youth, he used to come here with fellow members of the Dar to taste simple human pleasures like beer, obscene language and fights. A faded wooden plaque with a pot-bellied giant painted on it, sleeping under a rickety spruce, still swayed on a metal rod above the door. Mildon Fazard hadn't been around to update it since Tobius was still an apprentice.Inside, almost nothing had changed, everything was familiar, and even the smells remained the same, as if from a past life. The owner did not recognize him immediately, only after a few words.- Don't recognize you! he exclaimed, waving his hands.- Is it? It seems that the beard has not grown, and the mustache too.- Well ... you know, good charm, the guy left here, and the man returned! You seem to have become wider in the shoulders, and taller ...“Well, well, don’t exaggerate, Mr. Fazard."How long have you been gone, char?"“About two or three years, I t