Deserts Of Naroosh

by Bradford Bates

  JaKobi laughed as he moved forward. “Now that all the good stuff is gone, I might as well go.” His mouth fell open as he saw what came into his inventory. “Nine Lives.”

  The fire mage paused as he read over the item description. “So I don’t get to die nine times and live, but I do get reduced fall damage and will always land on my feet.”

  “Not exactly handy in all situations, but magical items don’t have to be.” Tim laid his hand on the chest.

  Item Received: Wilbur’s Fur-Lined Shoulder Guards

  Wilbur was a famous member of the Desert Storm Defensive Unit. His battalion held off an attack by fearsome Sand Devils until help arrived. He was granted the shoulder guards in honor of his accomplishments.

  +1 to Perception, Vitality, Revitalization, and Luck

  “Dude, that’s awesome.” JaKobi gave Tim a high five.

  ShadowLily went last as was her usual style. “Shoulders of the Four-Handed Thief. I get bonuses to Dexterity and a five percent boost to successfully steal an item while pickpocketing.”

  She equipped the shoulders. “I might never use the second part, but I’ll take all the dexterity I can get.”

  Tim wrapped an arm around her newly bulked-out shoulders and pulled her in for a hug. “Let’s go finish this thing.”

  “The same thought just crossed my mind.” ShadowLily gave Tim a quick kiss and vanished.

  JaKobi moved past the startled healer. “Better keep moving. She’s liable to beat this dungeon without us.”

  Tim picked up the pace.

  Chapter Twenty

  Dr. Zacharias leaned against the surgery table, panting with barely contained rage.

  “All my work is gone!” He picked up a tray of random medical implements and threw it across the room.

  Vitaria would never believe this wasn’t his fault, and now his wife and daughter would never bask in Eternia’s light again. It wasn’t fair. Why now? When he was so fucking close to being done with this madness? All he wanted was to free their souls from damnation.

  Was that too much to ask?

  His grip tightened on the surgical table and the steel buckled beneath his fingers. “All I needed was a little more time.”

  A cry of pure agony escaped his lips, and the doctor spun while clutching his stomach. He fell to his knees, groaning in pain. The skin on his arms ripped and split as his muscles grew larger. The room filled with a series of loud cracks as the doctor’s bones broke. The sound of his limbs snapping echoed in the small space like the sound of a gun being fired in a hallway.

  The creature that rose from the floor wasn’t so much a man anymore as a monster. His arms were too long, and his hands rested well below his knees. The length wasn’t nearly as intimidating as the lean ropy muscle that covered them or the claws extending from his hands instead of fingers.

  There was no way to tell how tall the good doctor was now, but it was clear that he was bigger than before. Now his back hunched over, and his legs had bent with the weight of his torso. The only way anyone would have known this was the same man was the lightning bolt of black hair going down the center of a now bald skull. Although with the doctor's new size, the hair looked more like a series of jagged black stitches than a hip new hairstyle.

  Slobber dripped from his mouth, and insanity burned in his eyes. He turned and scanned the room for any sign of the intruders. Not seeing anyone immediately, Doctor Zacharias leaned back and bellowed into the night. It was the kind of sound that would have made the villagers in a story shudder and bolt their doors and windows closed. It was the call of the creature Grendel in Beowulf. The scream was full of agony and longing, but the deep undertone of the man’s desires was filled with murderous rage.

  His family had been taken.

  His hopes of seeing them again were gone.

  All he had now was a hunger. A desire to make the living and loved feel as he felt, to hurt as he was hurting. Why should others get to be happy when his life was in ruins? A little magic to help his research was what the witch said. A small price to pay was all she requested. The price had been their lives and his servitude.

  Now the world would pay. He would happily burn it all to the ground.

  Grief and rage overtook him, and he screamed again before picking up the surgical table and throwing it through the wide double doors. Doctor Zacharias stomped after the table and ripped one of the doors from its hinges when it refused to swing.

  Now that he was out of the lab, his feet moved with purpose. The doctor was starting to get a feel for his new body. He felt like he could do anything, that no one could stop him now. At least he wouldn’t have to wait much longer. The fools were coming to him and in Vitaria’s sacrificial chamber no less. There could be magic in suffering, beauty in death. He would be their deliverer to the underworld, the executioner of their fate.

  This time when the scream escaped his lips, the good doctor almost felt happy.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “Did you hear that?” JaKobi looked around the puzzle room, searching for the source of the sound.

  Cassie gave him a gentle nudge. “Just do your little magic thing to open the door.” She wiggled her fingers at the console. “If we get back soon enough I might do that thing you like later.”

  “With the honey and the feather?” JaKobi grinned from ear to ear as Cassie nodded in response.

  Tim watched their exchange and wondered if he was as foolish. It was kind of amazing what women could get men to do with the thought of a little sex or even a little debauchery added to the regular old routine. He tried to think of a time he would have passed on sex to get his way, and he really couldn’t think of one.

  He looked down at his waistline. More thinking with the big brain little guy.

  Maybe it wasn’t normal for him to talk to his dick, but if he wasn't going to do it, who was? Tim wouldn’t be a slave to his desires. He was a man of substance, a man of high moral character.

  ShadowLily bent over and brushed some dirt off her boots, and his eyes went straight to her ass in those tight leather pants.

  I’m going straight to hell.

  “But the view is good,” he mumbled to himself.

  The assassin turned with a little smile pulling up the corner of her mouth. It was the kind of look that said yeah, I still got it. “What was that?”

  Trying not to blush, Tim waved in the panel’s general direction. “Oh, I was saying I hope this doesn’t take too long.”

  “You know, just because this looks easy doesn’t mean it is.” JaKobi glanced from the puzzle to Tim, looking slightly frazzled. “Plus, you ruined my daydream. You’ll never guess how sticky honey can get.”

  Lorelei stepped up and hovered her hand over the button on the console. “My daydream is to get the door open so we can get back to the farm for a party. Not every farmer's daughter is into boys, you know.”

  “The question is, are they into...oof,” JaKobi stammered as Cassie hit him in the ribs. “Of course it doesn’t matter what they're into.” He coughed nervously into his hand.

  “Exactly.” Cassie pointed at the console. “Now, work your magic.”

  It took JaKobi about ten seconds to get the tiles in the right position. When they were all set, he nodded at Lorelei, and she slammed her hand down on the button. The large central doors opened, and there was a noise. Tim didn’t know how to describe it other than it sounded like the most forlorn creature in the world.

  They couldn’t worry too much about the twisted soul they would face. Their job was to find Doctor Zacharias and put an end to this madness. How many lives had the man ruined to play with some new magic? New spells were great, but there had to be a line a person wouldn’t cross.

  That was always the moral quandary.

  It was easy to do what was right when nothing was on the line. Tim could wax poetic for hours about treating people better, but the second someone cut him off in traffic he would lay on the horn as if he was doing a twenty-hour stress test. Th
at was a far cry from taking a life, but it was the same issue. How far would he go to get everything he ever wanted?

  Right up to the edge, or over it?

  Thankfully for him, he didn’t have to answer that question. Right now he had everything he ever wanted and then some. It was hard to imagine things getting any better than they were, so he was saving like a miser. There wasn’t anything wrong with planning for a little downturn in a person's good fortunes as long as they remembered to enjoy the good times along the way. The only thing that could fuck up his life now was if he lost ShadowLily.

  That wasn’t going to happen.

  It was weird. Right up until the moment he met her, Tim had always kind of thought the stories about true love were a little ridiculous. How could you meet a person and just know? Then it happened to him, and now their relationship had reached the point where he couldn’t imagine his life without her.

  Another cry escaped the open doors in front of them, and it made him feel like every happy thought he had was gone. It was like watching a TV drama where everyone died in the end and left the viewer feeling exhausted.

  A quick once-over of the party showed everyone felt about the same. Tim gave Cassie a firm nod. “Let’s go end this.”

  “On it.” Cassie pulled her bō staff from her inventory and walked down the stairs on the other side of the door.

  The rest of their group followed the tank, spreading out in their standard formation. This place was starting to bring Tim down, and he was ready to put it behind him. He couldn’t wait to get to the deserts of Naroosh and start exploring. It would be nice to shake things up for a while.

  They moved down the wide hallways until they stopped outside a small wooden door. On the other side, they would face Doctor Zacharias and whatever evil creations he had left. More naga, maybe some leopards, or even the woman with alligator tail. Everything was in play, so they had to be ready.

  Tim opened the door for Cassie. “After you.”

  “I kinda wish you weren’t only a gentleman when you wanted me to rush headfirst into danger,” Cassie huffed as she moved through the now open entryway.

  “That’s the only time I know how,” Tim quipped as he followed the others inside.

  The room in front of them wasn't anything like what he expected. He was almost a hundred percent sure the boss would be waiting for them in a surgical suite or something similar. Instead, they were in a wide circular room. Columns lined the interior, making a small outer walkway and a wide-open central space.

  An altar of obsidian stone awaited them in the room’s center. It kind of reminded him of when the White Queen killed Aslan, except this altar was solid black and not quite so reminiscent of Stonehenge.

  No one had a dark altar for shits and giggles.

  There didn’t seem to be a way to trigger the fight except to step out into the open. Cassie watched him to see if it was okay to proceed. Not seeing any other immediate solution, Tim nodded. As their party stepped into the center of the room, the wailing sound came from above them.

  Tim looked up and was surprised to see the room opened above them like a cavern. Jumping from one wall to another was one of the largest men he’d ever seen. That was if you could call him a man. The creature moving toward their party was so misshapen it could have started as a man, or an orc, maybe even an ogre.

  Being deformed didn’t appear to make the boss any less deadly as it made the final leap to the center of the room and landed on the altar. The extra-long arms made its claws as good as any weapon, and the fucker had range. Not to mention being athletic. Moving into the room the way the boss did wasn’t something just anyone could do.

  “When I found this room, I thought it would change everything.” Dr. Zacharias held his arms out wide, indicating the space they were in. “In a way, I guess it did.” The weird moaning cry issued from his lips but this time it trailed off in bouts of laughter.

  It dawned on Tim that things hadn’t gone well for the good doctor since they’d seen him in the opening cinematic. Part of him still couldn’t believe that the monster in front of them now was the same man. He went so far as to turn on the boss’s nameplate for a moment to confirm it. Whatever knowledge Vitaria gifted him with had twisted the doctor into a representation of the man he’d allowed himself to become.

  “The way is opening, and she will have such sights to show you.” Doctor Zacharias grinned as the madness overtook him. “The darkness can be beautiful if you're willing to embrace it.”

  Cassie set her feet, ready to charge in. “I’ve heard about enough of this shit.” She twirled her staff around with a flourish. “Just shut up and die already.”

  The tank charged forward without saying anything else, and ShadowLily disappeared. Tim made sure to switch his stance back to Way of The Boulder and cast Curse of Giving on the boss. With his primary responsibilities taken care of, he looked around the room for any clues as to what might happen next.

  A scan of the room didn’t reveal bupkis.

  JaKobi wasn‘t jumping up and down and pointing at anything so his magical spider senses must not have highlighted anything worthwhile for him to bring to the group's attention. Outside of the altar and the ring of columns, there wasn’t much to see. Zacharias could always summon help from above or make a special attack that forced them to hide behind the pillars, but that all seemed too simple for the final fight.

  Despite dodging around most of Zacharias’s attacks, Cassie was taking a good deal of damage. Tim quickly cast Healing Orb and wondered if this fight might be dramatically different than what they faced so far. It'd been a while since they’d been in a straight-up slugfest. The real question was could they bring the boss’ health to zero before he couldn’t keep up with the healing?

  Things seemed to be going to plan for the most part. The health bars of most of the group were full, minus Cassie who needed constant monitoring. Tim quickly checked his status sheet to make sure she wasn’t suffering from any negative status effects, but she seemed clear of any detrimental debuffs.

  Was this really going to be a tank and spank?

  Cassie was moving the boss around the room with ease, and his health was dropping at a pretty steady clip. Now and again ShadowLily took some additional damage but nothing significant enough to make him worry. As the boss hit seventy percent, Tim cast Behold My Power.

  Might as well get it out of the way early.

  The small amount of feedback damage the party received from his spell hit like a truck. That wasn’t normal, and he didn’t have any way to stop it. He’d never had one of his spells used against him in such a way, and the worst part was the feedback would hit all of them again, and soon.

  Tim recast the Curse of Giving and followed up with a small burst of Healing Storm. As the group's health slowly ticked up, he blasted each of them with a Healing Orb and waited for the next wave to crash into them.

  This time the pain wasn’t nearly as bad. The healing over time aspect of his spells kept the group on their feet, despite the fact they were suffering near-constant damage. If Tim could keep their bars close to full, the DPS wouldn’t stop fighting. The boss’s health hit fifty-one percent right as Behold My Power triggered.

  Doctor Zacharias let out a wail of grief and ran back to the altar. When he climbed on the stones, his health started to trickle back up. They had to get him off the altar but they couldn’t fucking move. It took Tim a moment to stop panicking and focus on Cassie. If he could get her mobile, she might be able to knock the doctor off the altar and prevent the healing while he freed the rest of them.

  Focusing on his hands with the intensity of someone with psychokinesis trying to blow up a pineapple, Tim clearly pictured what he wanted to do. His hands twitched through the Cleanse spell, and Cassie was on the move. She had her hook out and wrapped around the boss' leg before he could shout instructions.

  Tim freed himself next, then the ranged DPS. ShadowLily shot him a withering glare as she waited for her turn to be set
free. He understood she wanted to be back in the fight first, but the ranged DPS would make a bigger impact while she still had to close the distance to the boss. In hindsight, he would have set her free first to avoid the death stare, or maybe it was that her look promised no sex for an indefinite amount of time, and he was willing to do anything to avoid such a harsh punishment.

  Bad little brain, bad.

  Cassie pulled Doctor Zacharias free from the altar, and the rest of the party was already attacking him again. The boss’ health had only climbed back to just above fifty percent, so they’d stopped the mechanic before it slowed the fight too much. Despite the small uptick in his health, the boss looked a little ragged. His breath came out in snorts like a bull’s. Tim didn’t know if the boss was going to charge or give up.

  It turned out it was neither.

  When the doctor’s health hit forty percent, he started to run around the room using the columns as steps. Tim had never seen anyone move so fast. To keep himself off the floor must have taken amazing strength or a lot of magic. Tim wasn’t exactly sure what would happen next, but he wanted to be ready for anything.

  A faint blue light enveloped JaKobi. The fire mage looked helplessly around at the rest of the party. “Not again.”

  Tim didn’t know how he knew what to do next except to call it a spark of divine intervention. There were normally two tactics developers used when the boss singled somebody out, and they boiled down to doing two very opposite things. Either get the fuck away from the target as fast as possible or run to them to share the damage.

  This felt like an all-in situation.

  “Stack on JaKobi!” Tim cried as he ran toward the mage.

  Tim ran into JaKobi and wrapped his arms around him as though he was a life preserver. With a thought, he sent a Healing Storm down on the group as the rest of them followed his example. Tim closed his eyes and started a countdown in his head. Three. Two. One.

  This was going to fucking hurt.