Ultimatum: The Proving Grounds

by Wade Adrian

  Toby climbed up onto the wall with him. Much harder than bamfing up there. He looked around. Nothing much visible just beyond the wall but skeletons. The center of the graveyard was glowing bright green. He frowned. “Hope the alternates group made it out of there.”

  Tim shrugged. “They’re tough. And without a healer or tank, they would have known to bail as soon as it started to look bad.”

  Toby nodded.

  There wasn’t anything he could do for them anyway.

  But he could help here. He shifted around a bit and threw Soulbreaker into the crowd of skeletons just beyond the door. Several of them crumbled under the blow, but more filled in. He couldn’t see an end to them down there. They didn’t extend beyond the valley, but they wouldn’t be able to get far enough to escape by climbing.

  He glanced back at Tim. “How far can you get with the teleport?”

  Tim shrugged. “About ten feet?”

  “Okay. How many times can you do it?”

  “Until I run out of stamina. Six or eight maybe before I have to let it recharge.” He tilted his head at Toby, then looked out at the field of skeletons. “You want me to scout.”

  “Kinda. But it’s risky. You misjudge the distance, or how many jumps…”

  “And I die.” He shrugged. “I’m expendable.”

  Paul’s voice echoed up. “No one is expendable.”

  “You got a better idea? We can’t stay here. They’ll run out of mana to heal you, and your shield’s durability won’t last all night.”

  Paul shook his head as he chopped through another old skull that turned to shards and dust. “I still don’t like it.”

  “I’m not helping much here. I don’t have a ranged attack. Not even the super convenient boomerang sword. We need to know what’s happening, or they won’t stop coming.”

  Toby threw his sword to clear out the front door again. A few more tosses cleared it a few feet back. A brief lull for Paul to get healed up without his health draining away all the while.

  But more skeletons were already moving in to fill the space. Toby couldn’t clear a gap large enough for the group to move through.

  Tim tapped him on the shoulder and pointed. “Can you hit right there?”

  Toby nodded. “Probably. Ready when you are.”

  “Not getting any happier with this idea, but there’s no alternative, so I can’t really argue.”

  Soulbreaker careened into the skeletons where Tim had pointed. Toby threw it a second and third time to clear out a few more. It was a roughly five foot circle.

  The world became nothing but dust and smoke. When it cleared Toby saw empty eye sockets only inches away.

  Smoke overtook the world again, but cleared faster as wind carried it away. Toby waved his arms as his feet balanced precariously on a narrow ledge… only for him to realize his feet were firmly planted on an actual floor in reality. He stood up straight and glared at Tim. “I didn’t realize I was going.”

  “Yeah, about that… we’ll probably need to clear more spots to jump from. It costs twice the energy for me to carry a party member so that limits the jumps before resting, but you can murder them pretty good from afar, so I figured, why not?”

  “You could have told me.”

  “Hmm. Maybe. But you did have that spacial dissonance issue before. Wasn’t sure you’d be down for this mission. Shadow stepping isn’t something everyone can handle.” Tim turned to examine the field of skeletons.

  The building they had started at was a good ways back. Twenty feet or so. Jesse and Amos were up where Toby and Time had been standing. She waved.

  Toby nodded. “You’re not wrong, but we need to be quick. There’s only four of them there now, and none that can keep the door clear for long.”

  Tim shrugged. “We don’t have any healers. They’re safer than us.” He pointed to a fallen building. “Think I can make it there, then up to there.” He pointed again. The fallen building wasn’t nearly as high up, but the skeletons didn’t seem to climb much at all.

  Then again, maybe they hadn’t had reason to.

  Tim laid a hand on Toby’s shoulder and the world became roiling smoke once more. The fallen roof appeared beneath his feet. Skeletons reached up at him on all sides… but they were still on the ground.

  Their hands stretched up over the side, bony fingers clawing at the rooftop.

  Another trip of swirling smoke later they were on a perfectly in tact roof without a single skeletal arm in sight.

  It was nice… by comparison.

  “Ahk!”

  Toby turned to see Tim on the edge of the roof just as he fell backward. He rushed to the edge and looked down.

  Tim had landed on top of a group of skeletons, knocking them over. Others were already pressing in, even as those below him were squirming.

  Toby lifted his sword high.

  Tim held up his hands. “No, wait!”

  Toby swung hard, casting Soulbreaker into the group of skeletons.

  They cried out and broke apart as Tim covered his head. He looked up and glanced around, seeing the sword stuck in the ground beside him, the blade passing through his arm with no ill effects. “Oh, right. Friendly.” He nodded up to Toby as the sword disappeared.

  A burst of smoke heralded Tim’s arrival back onto the rooftop. He knelt down for a moment and stared off into the center of the graveyard. They were much closer now.

  There was a gnarly old dead tree at the center. The green light was coming from beneath it. The skeletons about the base of the tree were crowded in so thick they could barely move. Rays of green light played among them as it flew up from beneath their feet.

  Movement in the tree caught his attention. There were people up there, waving.

  Tim narrowed his eyes. “Shit.”

  Carol was waving her arms in the tree. “Hi honey.”

  He shook his head. “Well great. You wait here, I’m going to try and get them somewhere safer.”

  Before Toby could disagree Tim was already gone in a puff of smoke. The buildings were closer together this far in. He could reach the next one without trouble. And the next. And then finally up into the tree. He grabbed hold of the first of the alternate group members and bamfed them back to the rooftop.

  Toby stood up and looked around. The green and the tree seemed important somehow. There were more skeletons here than anywhere else.

  He lifted up his sword and threw it into the mass of skeletons at the base of the tree.

  A loud cry went up as several skeletons fell away to dust.

  But the gap filled in again before Soulbreaker had even returned to his hand.

  “Pfft. That sucks.”

  Hmm. Maybe if he got closer… the next roof wasn’t that far. He might be able to jump it. Worst case, he fell down and swung like a madman, screaming at the top of his lungs until Tim saved him.

  No big deal.

  He took a running start and automatically leapt when his feet met the edge. He just kept leaning as far forward as he could… and his feet started moving again as soon as he landed. Well, one roof down.

  The next one went about as well. He stumbled as he landed, but it was done. Tim had both Carol and Bill down from the tree now, and vanished in a burst of smoke once more. The two alternates for the other group were still up there.

  Toby barely made the third jump. His landing was anything but graceful, and that was crossing between the two closest points. He wished he could teleport… he’d need to study the ability list more thoroughly later, all the way to the end. He must get something to make up for that ridiculous ability.

  He couldn’t even turn into a dog. Being a raging death ball that threatens your friends as much as your allies just didn’t seem as useful… but they had said barbarians weren’t played much. Maybe they were aware. Sad.

  Carol knelt down beside him as he caught his breath. “You okay?”

  “Jump good.”

  “Clearly.”

  He glanced up at her. “
Mage, right?”

  “Uh-huh.” She nodded.

  “So, explosions? Fire?”

  “Pretty much. Yeah.”

  “Cool. Gunna need a hand.”

  “Ooookay.” She raised an eyebrow as he stood up.

  He pointed over the side at the skeletons gathered around the tree. “Can you make a hole?”

  “Been doing that. They just fill it back in.”

  “Right, I know. I want to see what’s down there glowing like the last chunk of Krypton.”

  She shrugged and raised her hands. Fire appeared in both. The balls of flame grew larger as she mumbled to herself. The bases of both her palms snapped together with a swift gesture, her wrists touching, all her fingers splayed out. A ball of flame the size of a beach ball flew forward and plowed into the massed skeletons. It exploded once it touched the ground.

  Bones and bits of rusted weapons and armor flew in every direction. They cried out protests in their own monosyllable fashion.

  The bastards weren’t laughing now.

  Beneath the tree was a natural cavern open to the sky. The tree’s roots had grown down around several skeletons that were still and quiet, unlike the others. At the center of the little cave was a stone table with a book lying on it. The tome was glowing green and a mist of the same putrid color wafted off of it.

  Toby held up his sword high, but Carol stepped in front of him. “Whoa, whoa. Hold on. Yeah that’s probably the source, but breaking it won’t necessarily end this.”

  “Always worked before.”

  “Right, but this isn’t an ‘80s action movie. Breaking the console doesn’t necessarily stop the bomb from going off.” She turned and looked at the book once more. “It’s a magic tome. Get me to it and I can read it and maybe fix all this.”

  He scratched at his chin. “That seems just about cliche enough for a magic doohickey that it might work.”

  She nodded. “Problem is going to be getting down there so I can work on it. We’ll need to clear the space and keep it clear while I decipher the script. Without a tank or a healer it’s going to be difficult. It will take some time and the rest of you will need to protect-”

  Toby whistled.

  Everyone else turned to look at him.

  “Yo, Tim.” He pointed. “Fetch.”

  Tim nodded. “Clear a path and I’m gone.”

  Carol shook her head. “No no no. He’s a rogue. A shadow speced rogue at that. His dark magic could make things worse. Who knows how teleporting the book will cause it to react?”

  Toby threw his sword, sending it spinning in a horizontal spiral down into the bony crowd. Skeletons fell away from the sword and a gap appeared. As soon as the sword returned to his hand he threw it into the cave striking a few stragglers close to the table.

  Tim disappeared in a burst of smoke. A second burst of smoke appeared in the gap, but he never physically appeared there that Toby could see. He shadow stepped again placing himself beside the book. He wasted no time trying to Indiana Jones the weight or anything fancy. He just grabbed it and disappeared once more. After two more bursts of smoke appeared about the ruins on the way back, he reappeared beside Carol and Toby with the glowing book in hand. “Ta-da.”

  Carol glared at him as she snatched the book from his hands. “That could have been dangerous.”

  He shrugged. “Everything is.”

  She grumbled as she wandered a few feet away and sat down before cracking the cover.

  Toby held up a balled first. “Badass rescue bros?”

  Tim chuckled for a moment, but then his chin shot up. “Hold that thought.” He disappeared again, appearing on the next roof over. “Sorry, Phil.” He called up to the tree. “On my way.”

  Toby smiled as he stepped over to Carol. “How’s it looking?”

  She shook her head and didn’t reply.

  He turned his attention back to the others. Tim had the last alternate, Phil it seemed, down out of the tree and dropped him off next to Bill and the final member of the alternate team. He reappeared beside Toby and Carol a moment later. “Lucky they’re all guilded, or that wouldn’t have worked.”

  “Eh.” Toby shrugged. “We’re working on ending the event anyway. No big. Soon enough they can walk out.”

  A soft scraping noise appeared behind them. Toby turned, curious. Were some of them milling around at the bottom? He took a few steps over to the edge.

  The shining ark of steel collided with him before he even registered the threat. He backed up a few steps, drawing his sword once more as the edges of his vision turned bright red. His hit point bar was visible now… and it was more than half empty.

  Skeletons were climbing up over the edges.

  Tim’s head swiveled back and forth. “They can climb now?”

  “No.” Toby shook his head. “They’re climbing on each other. There’s a ramp of skeletons down there.”

  “Oh. Well shit.”

  “Yes.” Toby leveled his sword and swung, the shock wave lopping the heads off a few encroaching skeletons. More were behind them.

  A yell rose from the others on the roof. They both glanced aside to find skeletons coming up on that side, too.

  Tim eyed the tree again. “Think they were safer before…”

  “Too late for that now.” Toby swung his sword, the shock wave dropping a few more that were quickly replaced.

  Tim vanished and reappeared amongst the skeletons up top, lashing out with his daggers. They fell before him easily enough. He glanced down over the side. “Need to do something about them piling up.”

  Toby swung repeatedly. He kept his distance to let the shock wave lop through more than one at a time. “I’m open to suggestions.”

  Tim turned to Carol. “Hey honey, you think you can handle this?”

  “Shhh!” Was her only reply. She continued flipping through the pages.

  Toby’s arm was getting tired. “Think they might want their book back.”

  Tim scoffed. “Nuts to that. We stole it fair and square.”

  “I’m not sure they recognize our perfectly legal claim.”

  “They can recognize my boot.” Tim kicked one in the head, causing it to keel backwards and knock several others off the ramp.

  Huh. Must be an ability. Toby’s feet moving didn’t have any impact in the game. Then again, moving feet he couldn’t see might be problematic. Especially trying to kick with them. So long television. Hmm. Yes, probably better this way.

  Tim vanished when a cry went up from the others. Toby moved in closer to Carol. “Have you tried reading faster? Seems like the thing to do.”

  “Not helping.”

  “I don’t think they’re keen on helping either.” He swung left and right, sending out shock waves into the skeletons pressing in on the roof.

  “God damn it…” She sighed.

  “What? Is it bad? Human sacrifice? Going to Fresno? What?”

  She calmly stood up and placed the book on the ground. She flung fire from both hands clearing the rest of the skeletons climbing onto the roof. Once there was nothing up there with them but smoldering ash she looked down at the book. She summoned a small ball of fire into her hand and simply let it fall.

  The book burst into flames readily. Almost as if it was made out of paper or something. The green smoke wafting above it briefly formed into a screaming face, but it broke apart on the wind.

  The skeletons all around fell to nothing but piles of bones and rusted metal.

  A pop up window greeted Toby. “The Cursed Valley: Rank 2 - Complete!”

  He reached out to close the window and a metal helmet materialized and landed in front of him as the light show and gong noise that signified a level increase played around him.

  Toby looked aside at Carol with narrowed eyes. “I was going to destroy it.”

  “Yeah, well…” She shrugged. “I was sure destroying it would help. You just thought it would.”

  Tim and the others stepped over to inspect the burning cinders.
He glanced up at his wife. “And what horrific arcane secrets did you uncover?”

  She shook her head. “I could tell you, but I prefer you to not be a gibbering madman. I do have to sleep in the same bed.”

  “Excuses, excuses.”

  Toby glanced aside at his party tab. The other four were still alive and well. Well, alive at least. There were some hit points missing. He nodded to the party of alternates. “Party one seems okay, check on party two, would you?”

  Bill nodded. “On it.” He took off at a run with the two alternates from the other party close behind.

  14

  Toby collapsed onto the roof. Well that had been a thing.

  There were a few peaceful moments before a voice called from below. “Hey up there.”

  He leaned forward and looked down over the side. “Did you have fun with the children of the hydra’s teeth?”

  Claire appeared confused.

  Jesse leaned in close to her. “Jason and the Argonauts. I want to say… early ‘60s?”

  Claire shook her head up at Toby. “Have you watched any movies that were made in the last twenty years?”

  “Yes.” He nodded. “They’re not nearly as quotable.”

  Paul stepped up beside Claire. “Why are you on the roof?”

  “Because Dia de Muertos was going on down there.”

  They were standing on piles of bones, yet they didn’t seem to mind. And he was the weird one. Pfft. It bloody crunched when they walked.

  Paul nodded as he looked around. “Fair enough. How did you complete the event?”

  “Spooky book. We swiped it and tried to decipher its many secrets.”

  “I would have destroyed it.”

  “Yeah, that was plan ‘B’ and the end result.”

  “The other group?”

  “Sent the alternates to check on them.” Toby stepped over to the edge and placed his foot on the pile of bones climbing nearly to the rooftop. They seemed stable enough. He moved his other foot out and slid down the pile.

  Tim and Carol appeared beside them in a burst of smoke.

  “Cheaters.”

  Carol bowed her head. “Mission accomplished.”

  Paul nodded. “So I hear. Good work.”

  “Couldn’t have done it without Tim and Toby. We would still be up in that tree.”