by Dean Henegar
A gong sounded in the arena as a glowing ball of magic appeared on the battlefield, directly between the giant and the knights. When the light receded, a swarm of summoned giant rats appeared. The rats were the size of dogs and looked about furtively before launching themselves in equal numbers at Domax and the knights. There were forty or fifty of the rats, but they didn’t appear too challenging once they had divided their force. A second gong sounded, and a notification displayed in my interface.
The final team has failed to complete their challenge. In one minute, the red zone will begin to spread. Random summons are now disabled, and archers will begin to engage any inside the red zone once the timer ends. Venture forth and fight, brave gladiators.
The knights and giant both had finished off the summoned rats that had attacked them. The giant was still at nearly full health and one of the remining knights had lost their mount and was now on foot. The countdown continued to tick, and I could see archers in the towers nock arrows.
“Sir, shouldn’t we move forward?” Wrend asked, cautiously eyeing the guard towers.
“I don’t think so, Sergeant. We’ll just stay put right here. Legio Ignominia . . . form Testudo!” I ordered. Realization hit Wrend and he began grinning while the men formed together. Shields were raised over our heads and to the sides, protecting us from all angles. Not effective in melee combat but nearly impervious to ranged fire, the testudo had been used for centuries to close upon ranged opponents while taking minimal casualties. The AI seemed to agree, granting a benefit and penalty to the formation we had been training with.
Testudo formation ability unlocked. When utilizing this classic defensive formation, all solders are granted a +10 bonus to defense vs. non-magical ranged attacks. The constricted view of this unwieldy formation confers a -10 penalty to melee attacks.
Looking through one of the small gaps between the shields I could see the knights gazing at our formation as they moved just out of the now forming red zone. They appeared to be waiting for us to flee the from the arrows that were even now starting to thud into our shields. The fire was heavy and accurate . . . but not able to penetrate our defense.
Seeing we were content to stay put, the knights argued amongst themselves, trying to work up the courage to fight Domax. The giant laughed at the arguing knights, spurring them to action. The knights charged, building up speed while the lone footman hurried to catch up. Lances were lowered as they neared Domax, and the giant wound up his tree club in anticipation of the attack. The five knights with lances spread out while those without lances sped around the others to try and flank the giant.
The charge of the lancers was just about to slam home when the giant’s club swept four of the riders from their mounts, crushing them instantly. The last lancer scored a powerful blow against the giant’s knee, his lance sinking in over a foot of its length into the giant’s hardened flesh. For the first time the giant’s health visibly dropped; it was only about five percent, but at least it was noticeable. The other riders arrived and started hacking and bashing with their weapons, again only able to reach just above the giant’s knees. Domax, clearly feeling the blows, began to stop and swipe with his club, missing often, yet killing with every blow that did land.
The gong sounded again as the red zone crept another ten yards toward the center. The knights and the giant were still going at it, so I ventured a glance over to the other side of the battlefield. The vampire was finishing off the last of the orcs, all the goblins lying in a green blooded heap at his feet. The vampire’s health bar was down to sixty percent as he grabbed the last orc, holding it up in the air with an undead strength that belied his scrawny physical form. The orc hammered at the vampire’s head ineffectually as the undead being sunk its fangs into the orc’s throat; the vampire’s health increased as it drained the orc dry. Once finished the vampire dropped the dead orc and wiped his mouth with a silken handkerchief, his health slowly restoring back to eighty percent after feeding.
An explosion of fire burst around the vampire as the four spellcasters closed in. One of the fire mages hurled a second fireball as the two mages with ice swirling around them launched sharp shards of ice into the vampire’s chest, causing immense damage.
Still, Negracht was not to be so easily defeated. The vampire lord disappeared in a puff of smoke, reappearing next to one of the fire mages. Negracht ignored fire shield around the mage, the flames blackening the vampire’s hands even as he snapped the mage’s neck. The vampire leaned in to feed, his health now below fifty percent after the magical barrage of damage he had endured. Before he could sink his fangs in his prey, another fireball blasted him and one of the frost mages froze their dead ally solid, preventing the vampire from regenerating its health.
Negracht hissed in anger and charged the mages who were now spreading further apart. Blasts of icy shards and darts of fire rained upon the vampire as he charged the nearest frost mage; the vampire’s teleportation ability was apparently still on cooldown. Just before he reached his target, the mage channeled all his remining mana into a continuous blast of frost, slowing the vampire. Negracht disappeared once more as his teleport ability came off cooldown and reappeared behind the now defenseless frost mage. A slash of his claws ripped open the mage’s throat and the vampire leaned in, desperate to replenish his nearly empty health.
A renewed assault by the remaining mages denied Negracht his last meal, however, and the vampire lord crumbled to the ground both singed and frostbitten at the same time.
While I had watched the battle between the mages and the vampire, the gong had struck three more times, the red zone closing further and further toward the center of the arena. We had experienced a few casualties from the archers finding weak points in our defense but only two deaths so far. With the vampire down the mages moved to the top of the small hill the vampire had occupied originally, looking between the formidable Domax and our soldiers. I held my breath as both opponents were silent, trying to decide the next best move for them. As I had hoped, our formation looked to be of little threat, cowering behind our shields and seemingly too afraid to advance against our foes.
Neither the giant, nor the mages considered us much of a threat. I had planned that they wouldn’t want to weaken themselves under a hail of arrows that to finish us off when they would need all their strength against their other more powerful opponents. The two parties came to the same conclusion and turned to face each other.
“Little soldiers, I have destroyed entire legions of your kind. Cower while you can. As soon as I finish off the spell casters, I will return for you. It would be best if you just yielded now and saved your pathetic lives,” Domax growled at us as he began to stomp toward the remaining two Frostfire mages.
The mages both downed mana potions; their mana was probably low from the exertions of fighting the vampire. The potions must have the desired effect, because the mages started to cast their spells with abandon. The frost mage finished his cast first and long spikes of ice thrust from the ground at the giant’s feet, piercing his already wounded legs and toppling him to the ground. Not to be outdone, the fire mage then finished his spell and a swirling red cloud formed above the prone giant as molten fire rained upon Domax.
The giant howled in pain, his health dropping precipitously under the assault. As he tried to stand, more ice shards formed and impaled his arms as he used them to push his bulky body up from the ground. The giant focused his energy and stony growths began to form over his skin, granting a protective coating on his flesh that added some level of resistance to the elemental damage of the mages. With the new protections in place, he stumbled to his shaky and damaged feet, hefted his tree club and hurled it at the astonished fire mage.
The fire mage panicked and activated an emergency teleport spell to avoid the tree. Unfortunately for the mage, his spell’s randomness worked against him this time, teleporting him to within just a few feet of the giant. Seeing the mage appear within reach in a puff of fire, Domax grinned
and reached for the tiny pest. The mage screamed in panic, channeling a stream of fire at the descending hand of the giant. The fire burned away the hardened covering the giant had on his skin and bit into his flesh. Domax howled in pain and anger as the flesh was melted off two of his fingers; even the bones were scorched black. The weight of the hand, despite the damage it had received, was enough to crush the mage into the ground.
I realized their fight could not last much longer and began to prepare the final piece of my trap. The remaining foes would have to approach us through a good chunk of the red zone that now occupied more than half of the arena. They would likely take the most direct route to minimize their time under fire.
I planned to make the direct route a very painful one.
“Second squad, archers armed with the flame strike javelins to me. Everyone pass your caltrops over to second squad,” I ordered, carefully peeling off one squad and the two archers with our special javelins. We made slow progress as the archers redoubled their efforts to hit the small team moving forward. Despite our careful progress we lost two of the second squad soldiers as we approached the end of the red zone. I had the men begin scattering caltrops along the path as we slowly worked our way back toward our main force. The archers with the flame javelins were along in case one of our remining opponents moved to interrupt our actions. From this distance I didn’t think the caltrops would be easily spotted . . . especially if it was giant that won the duel in front of us. I couldn’t help but look up and watch the fight as we moved slowly back to our formation, scattering fistfuls of pain along our path.
Domax was snapped from his focus on the grievously burned hand as ice shards began to pelt him. Most were deflected by the stony growths on his skin, dealing minor damage yet knocking off more and more of his protective shell with each hit. Domax charged the last mage who began to run from the giant before quickly realizing he was nearly in the red zone which had crept ever closer to the center during their long fight.
Draining what must have been the last of his mana, the mage created a sheet of ice under the giant who slipped and fell to the ground once more. The mage pulled a wand from his robes, looked at it with doubt and began to summon small balls of light that slammed into the giant, dealing little to no damage. The giant crawled his way to the edge of the ice and then stood once more, wincing as his mutilated legs and feet struggled to support his immense bulk. He stomped his way toward the last mage who dropped his wand and raised his arms in surrender. A blue bubble of protection formed, and the mage made his way from the arena, head cast down in defeat.
The giant turned toward our force as the red zone extended yet again. The giant’s health was down to eighteen percent; a low percentage, but with his high health pool it would likely be more than the total health of my entire force. The giant looked annoyed that we were all the way on the other side of the arena, several hundred yards from the hulking figure.
“Little soldiers, come out and play with Domax. I’ve had a long day. Why don’t you walk over here and save me the trouble of chasing you,” Domax taunted. I could see pain etched into his features. The horrible wounds to his hand and the bloody pulp that covered his legs and feet must have been nearly unbearable.
“We’re just fine over here, big ugly. The arrows don’t bother us much, we’ll just wait a bit I think,” Wrend taunted. The sergeant was gifted with the ability to project his voice with authority, something every nco since time began has been able to do. The giant looked about, realizing his predicament as the red zone closed in another ten yards. With a huff the giant strode toward our testudo formation.
Domax hesitated for just a moment as he entered the dangerous area. I held my breath, waiting to see the effect the archers would have on the behemoth. Almost immediately after entering, Domax began to take hits from the arrows. The volume of fire was steady, with two or three arrows hitting every few seconds. His health dropped to sixteen percent as he entered the path strewn with caltrops. After two steps the giant finally noticed his feet were taking even more damage. He lifted one foot and then the other, seeing the spiked caltrops digging in by the dozen. Individually caltrops would do little to the hardened sole of a giant’s foot, but the dozens he was picking up with each step slowly shredded the tough hide.
“You’ll pay for that, cowardly humans. Sneaky traps and hiding behind arrows is no way to fight in the arena!” Domax boomed. The crowd seemed to agree with him as a few boos were thrown our way. I didn’t care as I wanted to win my freedom, not put on an entertaining show for the crowd. Domax walked a few more steps forward, closing the distance rapidly with his huge strides. Just at that time an arrow struck a lucky blow that hit the giant in his left eye. Domax covered his eyes with his hands and blundered forward, his health down to eight percent. More and more arrows struck as the distance closed.
When the plodding giant reached fifty yards, I ordered the archers to throw the flame strike javelins. Both javelins sailed true; the giant’s size made him hard to miss. One javelin struck Domax’s hip, the resulting pillar of fire causing him to fall once again. The second javelin struck the giant in the chest, melting his remaining rocky coating and bringing him down to only a sliver of health. I could see that Domax would not yield even as he fell to the ground, his pride and desire to win for his tribe wouldn’t allow it. I had no desire to see the mighty giant slain now that he was obviously beaten.
“Yield, Domax, there is no need for you to die this day!” I yelled.
“No, would rather die than fail my tribe!” the giant blurted as more arrows hit him. I then made a potentially fatal decision.
I ran toward the giant, dodging the caltrops in my path, shield overhead offering some protection from the arrows. Reaching the giant’s side with an arrow lodged painfully in my thigh, I held my shield and sheltered against the giant’s shoulder for cover.
“Listen, Domax, you are a proud and brave warrior and I have no desire to see you killed. Why will you not yield? Your family needs you alive. There’s no way a corpse can help them!” I shouted while placing a bandage on the giant, the negligible healing it provided was overcome by the repeated arrow strikes still landing.
“Need money for taxes or we lose our lands,” Domax moaned. I thought for a second before offering a compromise.
“Have you thought of moving? I come from the zone of Hayden’s Knoll and as it’s a new settlement we can set the taxes how we wish. The leader there is a man named Delling and he only charges a small tax when you purchase things, not a tax on your land. The main town lies at the base of a plateau, the mountains and hills nearby can be settled by your people for free. All we ask is for help defending the town in times of need. Please agree to this and save not only yourself but your family’s future,” I pleaded.
The giant was nearly dead when he raised his hand in surrender. A giant blue bubble enveloped him, slowly healing the brave Domax.
“I’ll hold you to your word, Raytak. If all is as you say, we will live in peace. Break your word and I will hunt you to the ends of the land,” Domax growled as he found the energy to stand and make his way slowly from the arena. The crowd burst out in cheers, many having heard our negotiation through their magical viewing devices. My men lowered their shields and breathed a sigh of relief as a welcome quest prompt appeared.
Quest Update: Retribution. You have won the Grand Melee and will now have a chance at freedom. Meet with the Emperor Trodaxius for your reward.
I formed up the men and marched toward the end of the arena where the Imperial stands were located, happy to have a chance to finally return to where I belonged.
Chapter 28
Lieutenant Burnside sighed with displeasure as he awaited the dwarven pathfinders’ scouting report. Burnside loathed being out in the field with his troops and desired the comfort of his headquarters. The new, overstuffed lounge chairs he had ordered should be arriving any day now. He wasn’t sure how that traitor Raytak had handled living in such squalid conditions;
it wasn’t befitting an officer of the Imperium to go without some creature comforts.
“That fool of a traitor spent most of the command’s coin and resources on gear and upgrades for his soldiers and not on his headquarters,” Burnside bemoaned to himself. He had spent all the money and resources earned by the garrison since he had taken over into upgrading his own standard of living within the headquarters. It still irked him that he had just been forced to spend a large sum to upgrade the garrison overall to unlock more creature comforts for himself. The soldiers themselves were a means to an end; to lavish them with the best gear spoiled them and made them believe they were above their station in life.
“Curse this town of Holdfast and that drunken peasant lout who came to Hayden’s Knoll with stories of monsters attacking,” Burnside fumed.
“Quidley, what was that peasant’s name . . . Dogmen, Duginns, Dobbins?” Burnside asked his assistant. It was against the rules for an officer of his rank to have a personal attaché, but Burnside’s family was well respected enough to get one assigned to him. An officer’s attaché performed much of the administrative work required by the position. In this case, Burnside had Quidley performing all the duties he didn’t wish to do, which meant everything save for spending the unit’s share of taxes and resources. Quidley’s post was ceremonial and didn’t require actual military training. Burnside found the unctuous toady’s ambition amusing; the man was obviously trying to hitch his star to Burnside and his wealthy family’s influence.
“I believe it was Dobbins, sir. Normally I wouldn’t have bothered you will all this, but the regulations are quite strict regarding our obligation to investigate potential threats to the zone. The minimum requirement is for us to make a quick check of Holdfast, then we can head back to Hayden’s Knoll. I believe we will find that all is well, and this ‘danger’ was just the ravings of mad farmer. I doubt their inn has accommodations up to your impeccable standards, but they might be more comfortable than the carriage tonight,” Quidley assured Burnside.