by Evan Klein
“Hey you!’’ Stealing Jarrell’s line when he had fought the ogre, I shouted, “Why don’t you pick on someone your size you coward!” Then I was upon him, side by side with Hearn. He definitely didn’t like being called a coward as he hissed at me.
“Coward! You dare call me coward Starborn? I have lead a thousand battles, slaughtered some of the great heroes of The Great Realm.” Hearn blocked a sword thrust that was aimed towards me.
“Well you sneak into peaceful villages and attack them while they are sleeping. What else would you call it but cowardly?” I definitely had his attention now. He disengaged from Hearn and came towards me.
“Get out of here” I shouted to him. “Find some healing, then get back here.” But I might as well have asked a boulder to move. Hearn would not back down from any battle.
“You have no chance against me Starborn,” he quipped. “I will dispatch you. The other Starborn. Your friends. I will save that “old woman” – it seemed he said it with quotation marks around her name – for last. We have business. Ancient business.” Hearn thrust Blackthorn towards the General who blocked it with his shield. I struck with my mace and he blocked it with his sword.
“Did your mother ever tell you that you talk too much? Stop stalling you coward and attack.”
“My mother,” he spluttered, but whether from confusion or some kind of buried memory in its rotted brain, I would never know. His crimson sword came at me. He was fast… real fast…and I got my shield up just in time. That one strike removed seventy five percent of its remaining durability and knocked off one third of my damage points. He hurt me badly with just a glancing blow. Turning, he slammed his shield into Hearn’s face. The brewer staggered back for a moment. The General turned back towards me, the hollows of his appearing to flame.
“Goodbye Starborn,” he snarled as he drew back his blade for the fatal blow. However, the blow never came. Flora came up beside him with a dagger in her tiny hand. She seemed like a sapling standing next to an oak. He held his sword in his right hand, and the shield in his left suddenly disappeared, and with his now empty left hand he grabbed Flora’s wrist. He seemed amused.
“What was she thinking?” I questioned. “That dagger was going to do nothing against a creature of this magnitude.
“Thank you,” she whispered, as she placed the palm of her other hand onto the hand that held her wrist and uttered a single word “Life”. A blinding light coursed through Flora and began to ripple up the Captain’s arm. He tried to pull away but Flora’s magic seemed to hold like a vice. In a single moment, he was enveloped in a bright light. The Captain bellowed in primordial rage. The light engulfing him seemed to burn.
“No child!” he seemed to plead. The light pulsed and flared brighter. Flora’s hand slipped from his hand and she fell to the ground unconscious. Before she did so I swore, I heard her say, “Yeah! Take that!”
I looked at the Captain to see the amount of damage points he had left. I didn’t know what great feat Flora had pulled off. But the Captain was down to just fifty or so damage points. Now it was my turn. Blunt Force Trauma, I shouted and struck with my mace. Unlike when I had hit the ogre early in the morning with the strike, my seventh level – no eighth level character now– had more force to it. He tried to lift that black sword in defense but Flora’s spell still had it disoriented and my mace got through, connecting on the side of its helmeted skull. There was an audible thunk and red notifications ran passed me. CRITICAL STRIKE.
Blackthorn thrust through his chest.
The Captain’s sword fell from his hand. Then the crimson clad figure collapsed.
We didn’t have time to appreciate the victory as there were still plenty of enemies left. I handed Hearn a healing potion which he gratefully accepted. He downed it and then marched off to assist with the battle. I looked down at Flora who was slowly stirring. I could see her stats and her health and stamina bars were steadily refilling. Soon the girl was back up on her feet and surveying the battlefield.
I heard an explosion and a skelter came flying past me. I looked to my left where Jarrell stood his axe planted in the ground between his feet. The skelter slammed into the bole of a tree. Two flaming arrows thudded into its chest. The monster did not rise again.
“I stole that from my buddy Magash,” Jarrell said as we headed off to finish off the last few remaining skelters.
With the Captain defeated, and Hearn now healed of his wounds, the brew master quickly showed the damage he could do against foes of lower levels. He attacked one skelter that had gone after Tenil. The archer had not had time to draw her short sword to defend herself against the skelter and threw her bow up in defense. The bow did stop the impact of some of the sword strike and blood instantly soaked the front of the young woman’s armor. Hearn howled in fury, swung Blackthorn like it was an extension of his body, and decapitated the skelter. I was glad to see the young huntress stirring on the ground below.
About forty feet away on the other side of the death field, Cali came down to her knees and then swiped out with her quarterstaff at the legs of the remaining sergeant. The sergeant fell to its back and Bondi stood above the dazed beast and took the point of her curved blade and buried it into its eye.
A moment later the field was quiet of battle. Several dozen skelters lay destroyed on the field.
“How is everyone?” I asked looking about. Bondi and Cali were providing healing or applying poultices to some or the Realmborn. Krasha was tending to Tenil’s wound. The young archer had removed her armor and the orc smiter deftly sowed closed the sword slash. Fenil and Gemil stood nearby, ever protective of their sister. The orc basher Backrack lay unconscious, blood dripping form a number of wounds, a deep gash across his forehead. Flora had already made her way over to the orc. She removed a potion from a pouch on her hip and swigged it. She placed one hand on the orc’s chest and the other on his forehead. Light emanated from both hands. Backrack opened his eyes and stared into the eyes of the young mage squatting beside him. The healing spell sapped Flora’s energy, and she slumped backwards in exhaustion. Cali and Jarrell soon stood by her side.
“Well that was fun, don’t ya know?” Mother quipped, twirling her frying pan in her hand. Everyone still breaths. Mayhap the Sisters were with us this fine evening. Ere the battle started I wagered myself half us would not see tomorrow and here we all went and lived. Aye, the Sisters must have visited us.”
The entire group was now standing around the body of the dead captain.
“Good job Hearn!” Jarrell said gleefully. “You killed him.”
“Hearn might have struck the final blows but it was Flora who destroyed that thing.” I corrected.
I looked at Flora and said, “That was the bravest thing I ever saw.” And I had been in shootouts and hostage situations.
Cali said with some surprise, “It worked.”
Flora nodded her head.
“She is a genius. She min-maxed the shit out of this game!” Jarrell shouted.
“Min-max?” I asked.
“You really don’t know shit about gaming, do you?” Cali laughed.
“Min-max is something that gamers do, trying to find every loophole within the confines of the rules to maximize the power of your character and minimize the deficits. Some players will spend days on their character creation trying out different races, classes, skills, equipment etc. to get the strongest starting character possible.”
“I am sorry it took so long,” she said with more confidence in her voice than I heard before. “I had to wait until I turned eleventh level. The spell I needed wouldn’t be available until then. And it took a few seconds longer than I wanted to allocate the skills and attributes. I had gained level ten after the initial explosion as I was close to it in the first place and was most of the way to eleventh level. I knew one more kill from someone in the warband would put me over the top so I had to wait. After a few initial lightning bolt spells, I pulled back from the battle and hid in the trees. I
could not risk using up any more of my magic pool, stamina or damage points as I will soon explain. One of the skelters badly injured Backrack. It must have thought he was dead because he turned towards where I was hiding. Somehow the thing sensed me or saw me because it made its way towards me. I don’t have a wand or anything like that just yet with offensive spells, so I was going to have blast it on my own, which as I said before I didn’t really want to do. Then Mother arrived, skipping and singing, frying pot in hand as she whacked it and whacked and whacked till it collapsed to the ground. I heard a chime and knew I had gained the needed level.”
“But Mother wasn’t part of the warband, so how did you get the experience?” I asked.
“I was feeling lonely, don’t ya know? Thought I might join up and see what it was all about.”
I looked over at Mother for a minute. I found it interesting that just at the moment Flora needed protection and to gain a level that she just happened to be there.
“The new spell I took is called Special Heal. A regular heal spell draws on your stamina and magic pool. The more you heal, the quicker you drain both. Special Heal also allows the caster to draw on their damage points. I was never sure why someone would want to do that. Why would a gamer sacrifice their own health to heal someone else? In fact, the forums questioned why the spell even existed as there was really no reason to use it. Most characters will eventually have healing potions and rings that will heal you, and those don’t use up any of your magic pool or stamina. Anyway, Special Heal is a life spell. I took life magic as my minor school of magic. I figured if the spell would heal a creature of life, then for creatures of death it would have the adverse effect. Life spells tend to be anathema to the undead, especially the more powerful ones.”
“Why is that?” I queried.
“Well the higher level ones tend to have a higher self-awareness—they remember being alive – who they were in their past lives – and therefore life magic particularly harms them. I ran the numbers. I drank an increase stamina and increase damage point potion to boost both temporarily. The boost only lasts five minutes so time did matter. With the temporary boosts, and my current stamina, magic pool, and damage points, I thought that the spell should drain most of the magic binding the Captain together. Especially because the forums said skelter bosses don’t have much resistance to life magic. Of course I wasn’t sure it was going to work at all. No one on the forums had tried to use a Special Heal spell to harm undead before – or at least no one in the forums ever mentioned using it that way before. The biggest problem was getting close enough to it to touch it. I was waiting for Hearn to distract it and give me a chance. You attacked it also and that provided the needed diversion. It grabbed my wrist like I hoped it would.”
“You min-maxed the shit out of it sis! All that reading does pay off,” Jarrell shouted gleefully.
Angelica spoke with a hint of pride maybe pleasure in her voice: “You have completed the quest, Destroy the Skelters.” Then I read the part of the long notification that followed. Huzzah: For completing this quest, you gained a level. You also gained the non-combat sub-class, Pyromaniac, Level 1. Warning: this is a criminal sub-class and you may face severe consequences for using. You may not have more than two non-combat sub-classes. Do you wish to keep this sub class? If you keep the sub-class, you can raise it in level. Some also come with perks and benefits. You may discard one at any time; by doing so you will forfeit all levels and skills and perks that go along with it. Do you wish to keep this sub-class? Yes or No?
The irony, of course, was that I had both the Firefighter and Pyromaniac sub classes. I thought for a moment about the advantages of keeping both. But quickly discarded it. I was a paid employee and also in game law enforcement, so I didn’t think it would look too good having that sub skill.
There was still one more quest to complete. So I gathered up our forces and headed to the cave entrance.
Chapter 14: Negotiations
When we got to the entrance to the cave, a notification popped up. Welcome! You have found the resting place for Shatana, the ever living, the ever dead. The door which should not be open is open; the sleeper who should not yet awaken is stirring. Mortals beware! Enter at your own peril as none who live were ever intended to enter these unhallowed halls. Only the bones of the dead and the souls of the dead can survive.
“Well, that is ominous,” I said. “If any of you do not wish to enter we will think no less of you.” Tenil and Backrack had both stayed behind to watch the horses and to strip the skelters of their weapons and armors, both of which the orc and human villages could use. Especially since it appeared war was coming in six months that they would not be able to avoid.
I was proud that no one decided to stay behind. They would see this through to the end whatever the consequences.
I entered first, followed by Cali, Hearn and Magash. If we were attached, I wanted our strongest fighters out front. A vast cavern opened in front of us. Dull light flickered and danced off the rough-hewn walls. Huge stalactites hung down from the ceiling fifty feet above our heads waiting to crush us. The air was stagnant and dead. The walls closed in around me, threatening to pulp me into mush.
“Steady man,” I heard Febus say, though to who I didn’t know.
“We do not belong here,” Hearn said, his hand gripped tightly on the hilt of his black sword.
Then we heard the moans, whimpers and stifled cries. Grey tentacles writhed and wriggled along the back wall. And trapped within those twisted tentacles were the orcs and several humans from the two villages that had been attacked the night before.
“We must freest our kinfolks from the dark appendages that doth threaten to choke and consume them,” Young Lucious said running forward, sword drawn. Grothar followed close behind.
“Hold on a second!” I warned as the two men got within a few feet of the tentacles. Several tentacles struck out like cobras and coiled around the men. They couldn’t strike back as theirs arms and bodies were soon cover in thick, grey coils which pulled them up to the wall to join the other prisoners. Hadn’t any of them ever seen a horror movie before? This was like horror movie 101 of what not do.
Several other Realmborn began to move forward. “Stop!” I ordered, using my Intimidation perk. “Stop!” I shouted again. The second one seemed to work and they ceased their movement. “We need a plan and that is not to run headfirst into those things. Everyone back up and keep your distance. And spread out. I noticed that we were still more or less in the same line as we had entered the cavern.
We heard the clanking of armor, and the scraping of metal. Everything had happened so quickly that we hadn’t noticed the three cavern passages hidden behind the tentacles. And a small army of skelters poured out of the passages and spread out in a semi-circle in front of us. There must have been a hundred of them. And they weren’t twelfth to fifteenth level like most of the ones outsides. All of these were seventy fifth level or above. Black chainmail covered their already armored torsos and black helms capped their heads. They held long swords in one hand and shields in the other.
Then she walked out and the cave filled with palpable dread. Death had come. I looked above her head to see who our destroyer would be: Morgan, Skelter High General, Level*** That was all I was able to see. This was the second time my True Sight had failed me. The first time had been with Mother. But I felt this was different somehow.
“This isn’t good,” Cali said next to me.
“Why can’t we see her level?” I asked?
“I don’t know. But it isn’t good.” Cali said again as though that answered everything.
“Do we attack?” Jarrell said.
“No we don’t attack,” I said under clenched teeth. “No one attack or even appear to attack. They will wipe us out in a second.”
“Aye, we will!” General Morgan said, her voice cutting like a whip. She looked about. First at the pitiful force assembled against her, then behind her at the writhing figures, and finally ab
out the cave.
“Where is my captain?” she asked.
“I am really sorry,” I said, figuring I should word my response carefully. “We had a bit of a fight outside and it didn’t go so well for him and the rest of his warriors.”
“That fool opened the cave entrance,” she murmured.
“That he did and he attacked several of the villages and took those fine folks above you. We came back here to get them.”
“I see. My paramour was ever the restless sleeper. He could not wait the simple century until we could see the moonlight again and once again feast on our mistress’s enemies. No matter. After millennia he had become quite a bore. But you…Mace…you intrigue me. You lead this piteous force and somehow defeated him. Perhaps I will make you my new paramour. Would you like that? To be my constant lover? Think of the fun we can have over the next thousand years?”
Someone in my party sniggered at that last comment. Someone else coughed.
“I appreciate the offer. But I am going to have to decline.” Things were about to go sidewise very quickly.
“It wasn’t really an offer,” she said with the coldness of death.
Mother walked up next to me and said, “Enough of this bantering old sister. It is getting late and Mother needs her beauty sleep.”
“I don’t answer to you anymore old hag,” Morgan said contemptuously.
“Posh!” Mother responded.
“I should kill them all out. You included,” Morgan said, with pure malevolence in her voice.
“I don’t believe your mistress would like you losing anymore of her protectors. They are supposed to fight the Demon King Altirax not the humans and orcs who live nearby,”
Morgan thought about it and said, “What is it you want?” Mother shoved me forward. Power in her bony arm. “Go ahead, tell her what you want.”
“We are going to need you to release the dozen or so orcs and humans tangled above you,” I said emphatically trying to place some power into my voice with my Intimidation perk. But it was like trying to shoo away a hundred foot dragon with a rolled up newspaper.