Rogue Games

by Angie A Huxley

  Giant Spider

  Level: 7

  Description: With legs as long as a tree branch, these beady-eyed denizens of the darkness are as sticky as they are hard to catch!

  Hit Points: {unknown}

  Damage: ? {bite} ? {web}

  Reach: Close/Range {web}

  As soon as the information flashed up, something white and sticky flew at his vision. Alejander relied on his deftness to sidestep what he assumed was the web, and though some caught on his cloak, he managed to avoid most of it. Hera was not as lucky. The web caught on her fur, sticking her fast to the floor, but she was already snapping and biting at the fur.

  Alejander didn’t have time to spare to help her; he freed the daggers from his belt just as the spider on the wall lunged, fangs flashing dangerously. Alejander could barely make out shapes in the darkness, but he stabbed down regardless, feeling the flash of pain as the fangs sunk into his arm.

  You have lost: 15HP

  His daggers were now poisoned. Doubly thankful that he had thought to do so, he plunged down with the other dagger, over and over. The spider shrieked, legs flailing, and it managed to pin Alejander beneath it. He could see a row of eyes above him, pincers snapping and mouth looming dangerously above him. The poison wasn’t working quickly enough, so he grabbed one of the daggers and thrust it into the waiting mouth. The spider let out a spine-chilling cry and bounded back, hitting the wall, legs slipping out from under it.

  It whirled, pincers catching on Alejander’s sleeve, and again they sunk into his arm and tore down. Alejander howled, pain throbbing in his arm and feeling a cold rush up to his shoulder.

  You have lost: 20HP

  Lunging on its back, Alejander managed to get a hand around the hilt of the dagger in the spider’s shoulder. He pulled it out, stabbing over and over until the spider let out an involuntary shudder and collapsed to the ground.

  Hera was struggling under the other, and now that Alejander’s eyes had adjusted to the darkness, he grabbed both daggers from the spider, ignoring the squelch and spurt of blood as he wrenched them free. He meant to help out Hera, leap onto the back of the spider, but he was interrupted by the scuttling of more feet. He couldn’t make out much in the darkness, but there was the obvious screech of another spider, then another.

  Alejander felt his heart rate pick up. He bent down into a crouch, ready to attack whatever aimed his way, when something wet and sticky hit him in the face and neck. He grunted, as he recognized it as the same webbing that had tormented Hera. He slashed down with a dagger, then felt – and saw – the legs of the spider touch his face, his arm.

  “Dammit,” he muttered, managing to cut at the webbing enough to free a dagger, just as the pincers of the spider bit into his arm. He let out a yell, twisting away from the mandible, only to have them dig in deeper.

  You have lost: 15HP

  He was losing HP fast, and he couldn’t let the spider get in another jab. Somewhere off to the right, Hera yelped and then growled, sounds of a scuffle and a spider screeching. Alejander thrust the dagger up through the webbing, managing to get in under the spider’s jaw. It seemed to be a weak spot, so he tried to utilize it, twisting as he used his free hand to slice at the webbing. The spider was heavy, pressing him down onto the floor of the dungeon.

  Heaving with everything he had – strength was something he would have to work on – he managed to toss the spider back, and he heard it hit the wall with a dull thud.

  There were two more spiders in the corridor, both of them having cornered Hera. She was bloody and snarling, muzzle redder than grey, and Alejander felt his heart clench. He whirled, slowed down a little by the webbing, but getting enough force behind his thrusts to plunge them into the spider’s chest. It screamed, slashing down with its legs and fangs. Alejander managed to avoid the fangs, but one of the legs snagged on the webbing and he went tumbling to the floor, shoulder jarring as he hit the ground.

  You have lost: 5HP.

  The spider once again dropped on top of him and Alejander panicked, wondering for the first time whether this would be a death blow. He tried to shift underneath the spider, knowing the longer he stayed still, the easier it would be for the spider to keep him pinned and cause him damage. Alejander’s body was aching, his elbows protesting every movement, but he couldn’t let himself give in. These were different aches and pains from the ones he had when he was Matthew. They were from fighting, from putting the work into leveling up. He wouldn’t go down here.

  He dug deep, remembering a fight he’d got into with a backstabbing thief he’d worked with before he’d been locked up. The guy had almost 50lbs on him, yet somehow he had managed to get the upper hand. Alejander used the memory to find hidden reserves of strength, planted his feet on the floor and thrust upwards, rolling onto his side. Leg still stuck to its own webbing, the spider rolled with him, screaming as its leg bent and snapped. The noise made Alejander feel sick, but he kept a grip, cutting down with his dagger, slicing into another leg. The spider screamed again, and Alejander kept mowing with his daggers, trying to deplete as much HP as he could.

  With a guttural groan, the spider shuddered and fell, legs splayed. Shoving and shifting, Alejander managed to get out from under it, panting heavily and shaking with adrenaline.

  You have lost: 5 stamina.

  There were only two spiders left; Hera was fighting back, but she was flagging, and Alejander didn’t think she could last much longer. He took a swig of another potion, aware that he didn’t have much left, but needing the extra stamina.

  You have acquired: 10 stamina.

  It was enough.

  The spiders were driving Hera back towards the wall, focusing on her and not on him, so he used that to his advantage. With a leap onto the back of one of the spiders, he plunged both daggers down, dragging them back and cutting into the spider’s flesh. With a powerful shove, the spider fell back, taking Alejander with it. It was snapping with its fangs, and one of them caught on Alejander’s arm, almost where his wound was already deep and bleeding.

  You have lost: 5HP

  He cursed, once again leaning on the daggers, dragging them down. The spider squealed again, the noise grating enough that Alejander had to grit his teeth. The other spider was screaming, the two causing enough of a racket that Alejander was almost afraid more spiders would follow. Five were more than enough and he didn’t have enough HP and stamina to keep going.

  Rolling over, he crashed the spider into the wall, and its legs started waving erratically, trying to ground itself. Slicing into the belly of the spider with a dagger, Alejander let out a triumphant yell, only to fall back as the other spider attempted to lunge for him. He darted out of the way, cursing under his breath when the sound of scuttling feet came from behind him. If this kept up, he was going to have to teleport them both out of harm’s way.

  Abruptly, he realized that he had something that could turn the tide in their favor. Hera leaped up, red and wounded and snarling, her muscles rippling as she put her effort into bowling the spider over.

  You have used: Spectral Agility.

  He counted down in his head, sinking close to the wall, the spider currently coming into view of the torch as it snapped its fangs. His body tingled, and he focused on the space directly behind the spider. He felt faint for a moment before materializing directly in the spider’s back.

  Taking a breath, the spider sliding to a stop at Alejander’s sudden departure, he threw one dagger at the back of the spider’s head, and the other at its underbelly. It reared up, screaming, giving Hera direct access to its throat. She abandoned the corpse of the spider she was currently snapping at to lock her jaws around the spider’s throat and shake.

  Alejander dove after her, leaping onto the spider’s back, and reaching for his dagger, wrenching it out and shoving it back in repeatedly. Hera pulled, tearing off skin and muscle. The dying spider gurgled and fell to the ground, legs splayed, and a horrible wet sound follow
ed its last breaths.

  “Gross,” Alejander said, clambering off the back of the spider.

  Giant Spider(s) (lv 7) have died

  You have earned 6500 experience points. Congratulations!

  You have leveled up to Level 8!

  You have earned 125 base HP, 75 base stamina, 15 stat points, 30 points to any skill(s). Your weapons all receive +12 to their damage.

  You have acquired a new skill!

  Fighting in the darkness and finding your aim to be true, you have developed the skill of Night Vision!

  It was worth it, but losing that much HP left him incredibly vulnerable for whatever lay beyond. He immediately set about boosting his stats and skills, hoping they would help with some of the HP. He also took a drink from another potion, this time using two of them for both he and Hera.

  You have assigned:

  Acuity: 7

  Constitution: 9

  Deftness: 10

  Efficiency: 10

  Endurance: 10

  Strength: 6

  You have added: 5 points to Disabling Traps, 5 points to Lockpicking, 5 points to Riding, 10 points to Stealth and 5 points to Survival

  HP: 135/235

  Stamina: 95/120

  Skill Points: 120 + 12

  {Dagger +18

  Dagger: +18)

  Existing skills: Disabling Traps {20} Lockpicking {25}, Night Vision {10} Perception {15} Riding {15}, Stealth {35}, Survival {20}.

  Hera was replenished a little from the potion and seemed just as willing to go on, and Alejander paused to check her stats. She had increased in both stats and HP. Fears assuaged, he led the way down the corridor. Again, he kept an eye out for traps and made sure there wasn’t anything that could strike up against them. His new skill of Night Vision was a boon; he didn’t need to light a new torch anymore, though he found himself straining. Maybe next time he entered a dungeon, he would light a torch just in case, until he could be sure he had enough in his skill to make it worthwhile.

  As they continued down the corridor, Alejander had to pause twice to check for traps. Disabling them was easy enough and though he didn’t gain any extra points to his stats, he was still confident he was going some way to improve them. Hera was a little more cautious, which he was grateful for, given the things they had been up against so far.

  There was another room not far down the next left, and Alejander was interested to see what it would hold. Hera was scratching at it when he arrived, growling low in her throat, and Alejander tried the handle. It was locked. Rooting around in his patch for the key he had taken from the goblin, he tried it in the door. There was an audible click and Alejander carefully pushed it open, Hera’s claws scrabbling on the ground as she gave it a shove and half-fell, half-ran into the room.

  Alejander’s eyes widened as he took in the room. There were mounds of gold, shining off a row of high windows, almost blinding him. He ducked, moving over to a shady patch, eyes on Hera as she leaped forward, skidding in the coins and causing them to fall in a cascade, tinkling and clanking down. Alejander gritted his teeth at the noise and hissed for her to come back. She cocked her head but came, tail flicking angrily.

  With more caution than the wolf, Alejander prowled around the edges of the gold, fighting down the urge to pocket as much as he could. Something didn’t feel right, and he couldn’t shake the itch. It was like the job he had taken that had landed him in jail; something hadn’t felt right about the ease of the safe extraction, and he had been right when the police had converged on him when someone had been killed on the main floor. Matthew’s protests had fallen on deaf ears and though there wasn’t as much at stake in-game, Alejander wasn’t willing to take the chance.

  As he slipped past a huge mound of jewels, he swallowed down a lump in his throat. Curled up at the back of the room, smoke billowing from its nose, and tail curled protectively in front of its face, was a dragon. A very mean, very red dragon.

  Mini Red Dragon

  Level: 13

  Description: ERROR

  Hit Points: {unknown}

  Damage: ? {flame breath} ? {Claw} ? {tail}

  Reach: Close/Range {breath/fly}

  Hera growled but Alejander grabbed her before she could leap forward and attack. At level eight, Alejander wasn’t stupid enough to think he could take on a level thirteen dragon. There was too much in it, with Hera’s help or not. Though he had a new ability, he didn’t think he could do it, and no desperation to get through to the Urbane Bank was going to make him.

  Backing up slowly, Alejander kept a hand around Hera’s muzzle, determined to keep her under wraps, but she was fighting him, and his strength wasn’t enough to keep her in his arms. With a furious lunge, she broke free and yowled angrily at the dragon.

  Its eyes snapped open, focusing right on Hera, and Alejander was frozen to the spot, didn’t know how to react. Part of him was cursing Hera, wondering why he had even allowed her to follow him when she was going to get him killed. But the other was on Hera, who was, now that she was close, not even a quarter of the size of the dragon.

  Of course, she was no match, and as she leaped on the dragon, it seemed to let out an amused huff as it shook her from its body. She fell, skidding on the coin, and growled, hackles raised.

  Alejander yelled for her to come, but she held fast. With a lazy flick of its tail, the dragon smacked Hera and she went flying into the coins, scattering more, and yelping in pain. Alejander narrowed his eyes, feeling a sense of protectiveness for Hera, but still intimated by the dragon.

  It turned its eye on him, bending down, tongue flicking out like a lizard. It regarded him silently, smoke curling out from its jaws as it smiled, sharp teeth gleaming in the glare of the light bouncing off coins.

  “Give me a reason,” it said, dragging the sibilant. It sent a chill up Alejander’s spine. “Why I shouldn’t do the same to you.”

  Alejander tilted his chin defiantly. “Nothing,” he answered honestly, but only because Matthew would never have backed down from a fight. “I didn’t come here to steal from you.”

  The dragon hissed, taking in a deep lungful of air, nostrils flaring. Alejander remained still as the dragon sniffed him.

  “You speak the truth.” The dragon rose, sitting on its haunches, wings furled along its back. Hera had climbed to her feet, but the dragon paid her no mind, and she allowed Alejander to get a hand around the scruff of her neck and stayed with him. There was blood on her paw, but Alejander forced himself to ignore it until he could help. “I will let you leave. On one condition.”

  Alejander stiffened. “What?”

  “You relinquish all your coin to me,” the dragon said, with another tooth-baring smile. It was abhorrent, went against everything Alejander was trying to do, but he didn’t have the HP to spare in a fight with the dragon, couldn’t take it on, and they both knew it. It was either losing his gold, or losing everything included the gold and his life.

  “Fine,” Alejander said, dropping his coin pouch on the floor in front of the dragon. It regarded him silently and then bent forward, picking up the coin pouch with a claw. It raised it to its head, sniffed and another puff of smoke left the dragon’s mouth.

  “A paltry sum,” the dragon said. It tossed the pouch onto a pile of coins at Alejander’s feet. With a huff, there was a crack and then the dragon shifted, something snacking and cracking as the dragon shifted into a humanoid form in thick red robes and long brown hair. It was a woman, curved horns on her head, and long brown boots.

  “What the hell,” Alejander muttered.

  The woman smiled, and her smile was akin to the dragon’s. “A test.”

  “For what?” Alejander asked, fingers flexing around Hera’s neck. She was growling again but seemed reluctant to move and Alejander assumed it had something to do with the fact that the woman had previously been a dragon.

  “Not everyone that comes in here is as passive as you.” The woman waved a hand, encompassing the go
ld. “They take from my treasure and then stand and fight. There is a reason such a high-level creature guards over the final room in the dungeon.”

  “Others could take on a level thirteen,” Alejander said dismissively.

  The woman laughed, a guttural cough that set Alejander’s teeth on edge. “You assume the level remains the same no matter who the hero is?”

  The way she said hero, mockingly, made Alejander snort, but he understood the point she was making. Perhaps the dungeon shifted levels depending on who was walking through. That, or the final “boss” as people online had called her shifted levels. Not that it mattered to Alejander at this stage.

  “What was the test?”

  “Not taking the money and giving up your own to get out,” the woman said, taking a few steps forward. Hera snapped her jaws and the woman laughed again. “Having protection like this and attempting to call her off. Interesting reactions from someone trying to level up.”

  “I’d rather earn my experience in other ways,” Alejander said, again with honesty. Fighting was fine if it got him experience, but he was only doing so until he could find other ways to get the experience and treasure he needed. Theft would probably come in there later, but he had other skills to work on first.

  “Admirable.” The woman’s lip curled. Admirable was clearly not something she admired. “Use your stone to get out of here.”

  With a puff and a crack, she was gone, along with the mounds of gold and the jewels. Alejander sighed, releasing Hera and plucking his coin pouch from the ground.

  “Well that was pointless.” He was irritated at the woman, at himself, and at the dungeon. What kind of boss was this if she didn’t give anything except unneeded advice?

  Hera howled and Alejander looked up. In the center of the room, there was another lockbox, what looked like two sacks, two scrolls, and a pile of coins. Mentally retracting his curses, he jogged over. Hera was nosing at one of the sacks, whining, so Alejander scooped it up. He could smell the rich meat inside and grinned. Grabbing a chunk of meat, he threw it at Hera, who snapped it out of the air, dropping it to the floor and attacking it with gusto.