World At War

by Dave Willmarth

  Sasha spoke up, her voice causing some folks to jump as it echoed around the room. “This suggests that the stronghold is a long way away. Why would you provide a way station within even a few miles of your home?”

  “Mebbe it’s a guard barracks. The dragon did find two drow here. Outpost guards?” Brick offered.

  After Fitz and the other dragons assured them that there were no secret doors or hidden caches, the tanks led the way further down the tunnel. Alexander kept the light globe floating above the center of the group. The light extended far enough ahead of the tanks for them to react to any oncoming foes, while still allowing those who had it to use their dark vision.

  They were maybe another quarter mile down the tunnel when the scout reported in again. “Branch in the tunnel. Natural chamber with three other exits. One directly across is the same size as this tunnel. Two smaller ones to the left.”

  Sasha called, “Let’s pick up the pace! Everybody up for a jog?”

  The tanks began to trot forward, their shields on their backs so as not to tire their arms. The rest of the group followed at pace, quickly eating up the ground on their way to the chamber. The scout met them at the mouth of the tunnel. As soon as they came to a halt, she said, “Nothing living in the chamber. No sounds, except you lot crashing down the tunnel.” She grinned at the tanks, whose plate gear made most of the noise.

  Sasha looked to Alexander. “Ignore the side tunnels and keep going?”

  He shook his head. “Let’s check them out, just in case. Break off a group for each and the rest of us will wait here.”

  Sasha quickly organized everyone. “Group two, left side tunnel. Group three, the other one. Follow them for ten minutes. If you find nothing, turn around. We’ll seal it off here and worry about it later. If you come in contact with enemy you can’t handle, call out and retreat as quickly as you can without exposing your backs.”

  The two groups split off and moved out. Group two consisted of Lugs, Warren, Lyra, Beatrix, two orcs - one of whom was a tank - two minotaurs, as well as a healer and an archer from Antalia. They made their way at a slow walk toward the leftmost of the smaller exits and disappeared. A light globe created by Fitz followed above them.

  Group three included Grumpy, Helga, Pollock and his guys, Misty, a minotaur tank, Benny, and Martin. They were just a second or two behind the other group, and quickly faded into the darkness of their tunnel. Alexander used Earth Mover to raise several long stone benches from the ground and the rest of the group relaxed. All except the dragon scout, who winked at Alexander before exiting into the large tunnel ahead.

  Less than two minutes passed before the sounds of battle echoed from group two’s tunnel. Lugs’ voice came through raid chat seconds later. “Bunch of goblins. Maybe a hundred of them. Low-level, in their 30’s, but the little buggers are quick!”

  Sasha ordered, “Retreat back here. We’ll trap them and wipe them out.” She looked down at Fibble, standing nearby. “Are you going to be okay with fighting other goblins?”

  Fibble nodded his head. “Not my clan. Greystone my clan.”

  The main group all moved toward the tunnel as the sounds of fighting grew closer. They formed a semicircle around the entrance, leaving space in the middle for group two to join the line. A few goblin arrows came whistling out of the entrance, shots that had gone high over even Lugs’ head. Half a minute later, the group started to emerge, backing out of the tunnel. Lugs was last, bashing his shield against a tide of the small green monsters.

  As soon as he was clear of the entrance, Sasha cast her aoe Thorn Trap. With her recent level increases and near-constant use of the spell in battle, her skill level had increased greatly. The spell now covered an area thirty feet wide, and the thickness and strength of the vines had nearly doubled from what they’d been when she first learned the spell. The thorns were now each three inches long.

  The first thirty or so goblins charged right into the trap, the vines snagging their legs, then working their way upward to wrap their bodies and penetrate their skin with thorns. The screaming and whimpering alerted those behind, who managed to stop inside the tunnel. Alexander cast Wizard’s Fire on the thorns, and the pitch of the little monsters’ screams rose as they burned. The archers in the group sent arrows into burning goblin bodies, quieting several of the screams. The casters finished off the rest. It wasn’t much of a battle. As they saw their brethren die so easily, the remaining goblins turned and fled.

  As the bodies were looted, Alexander raised a wall to block off the tunnel. He didn’t think the goblins would dare return, but they might. When he completed the wall, he turned to find Fibble standing among the bodies. He nudged one with his fuzzy slipper-covered toe.

  “You okay, buddy?” He knelt down next to the little goblin healer.

  “Goblins stupid. Attack strong clan. Dragons. Lots die for nothing.”

  Alexander thought it over for a minute. Fibble had been growing in leaps and bounds as he leveled from the various dungeons and battles that they’d dragged him into. While he was never going to be a genius, he had certainly grown smarter in their time together.

  “I know, buddy. But most goblins are not as smart as you. Or as strong. They hide in caves and fight and eat, and that’s all. You’ve had adventures and learned many things.”

  Fibble blinked a few times, then nodded slightly. Only one ear slapped him in the face. “Fibble do big magic! Learn tricks from Hermsey! Learn to dance from Lugs!”

  Alexander chuckled at the suddenly-enthusiastic little goblin. “That’s right. You are the best goblin on Io!”

  Fibble stuck his chest out again. Turning from Alexander, he marched over to Sasha and Lainey. “Fibble best goblin!”

  The two ladies both knelt to hug him. “You certainly are!” Sasha agreed. “Our protector! We would be lost without you!”

  Jules looped her arm through Alexander’s as he stood up. “That was sweet. We were worried this fight would bother him. You’re a good daddy.” She squeezed his arm as he stammered.

  “I… I am not his daddy. Sasha and Lainey adopted him. Let them be – I’m not.” He saw the grin on her face and the twinkle in her eyes. “Very funny.” His look of surprise turned to mischief. “You’re getting a tickling for that when we get back!”

  “Nooo!” Just as quickly as she’d appeared, she disappeared. A moment later, he spotted her behind Lainey, smiling down at Fibble.

  The other group returned from their tunnel, having found nothing. A few empty rooms, but no monsters of any kind. Alexander sealed off that tunnel as well and they moved on. Following the dragon scout into the much larger main tunnel, they moved at a brisk pace.

  The tunnel sloped down, and even seemed to curve in a very gradual spiral to the left. Alexander used his Earth Sense to try to get a picture of what was around them. But the spell had a limited range and he was able to see nothing but the tunnel itself and surrounding rock.

  It was a good ten minutes before the scout reported in. “I have reached the stronghold. Single structure cut into a cavern wall. Stone gates. It’s smaller than the Elysian keep.”

  The group attempted to move more quietly now that they knew the enemy location was close by. Sound echoed through the tunnel and they wanted to give as little warning of their presence as possible.

  Alexander, Fitz, and Brick cast Mage Sight on everyone in the group except the dragons, who didn’t need it. Then Alexander extinguished the light globe. They moved forward at a walk, tanks in the front as usual. The dragons moved out to form a sort of ring around the group. Alexander didn’t like it, but didn’t argue.

  When they finally caught up to the scout, she whispered, “I counted six patrols roaming the cavern. All drow. There are four trolls chained up not far from the entrance. They appear to be trying to break the trolls’ will and subjugate them.”

  Del added, “There are likely to be more drow we can’t see. We’ll smell them when we get close enough. But be prepared.”

&n
bsp; The tunnel began to glow with a dull red light as they approached the stronghold’s cavern. It grew slightly brighter the closer they got, though the low light couldn’t be considered bright in surface terms. Barely enough to see by for a normal humanoid, Fitz explained.

  “The drow use slaves. Lower races like orcs and goblins with limited dark vision. The light is to keep them from crashing into things all the time.”

  They reached the end of the tunnel and crouched low to the ground. Ahead, they could see open ground that stretched maybe a hundred yards to the stronghold gates. Drow walked the perimeter, the patrols spaced out so that one was always in sight as they made their way around.

  Sasha used raid chat rather than whisper. “The patrols are far enough apart that we can take them one at a time. The question is whether those at the gate will notice them go missing.”

  The scout waved a hand and grinned at her. She pointed toward the gate. “I have been considering this while I waited for you. I believe I can distract the guards at the gate and get the gates open without anyone realizing we’re here.”

  “Then let us spread out,” Del answered. “The rest of our wing will move around the perimeter. When your distraction begins, each of us will remove one of the patrols. The main group here will take the last patrol, then charge the gate. We’ll meet there.”

  Sasha wasn’t about to argue with the dragons’ plan. She just shrugged and nodded her agreement. All six dragons faded into stealth mode and spread out. Alexander and company simply sat and waited.

  Less than two minutes later, the scout appeared behind the trolls who were chained near the gate. Alexander could see her bend down, then heard the squeal of rending metal. In seconds, the dragon had snapped the chains, freeing the trolls. She growled something to them and pointed at the gate, then faded from sight again.

  Happy to get some revenge against the drow who had tortured and imprisoned them, the massive trolls plodded their way toward the stone doors that blocked entry into the stronghold. The drow guards had already sounded an alarm and were moving to intercept the trolls. One of them cast a light spell that burst directly in the trolls’ faces, temporarily blinding them.

  The gates opened and a score of drow warriors rushed out to surround the trolls. They carried long pikes and ranged weapons, as well as several heavy ropes. As one, they began to bombard the trolls with spells and physical attacks.

  Alexander and company rushed forward. There we no battle cries – they wanted to remain unseen as long as possible. The trolls and their drow captors stood right between the raid group and the gates. The two drow on patrol directly in front of them had both turned to view the action at the gate. They were cut down instantly, every member of the group with ranged abilities attacking at once. Beatrix paused to loot the bodies as they passed, her tiny legs pumping to catch up when she was done.

  Sasha called out, “Take out the drow. Avoid the trolls. Let’s help them get inside the gates. Cause some trouble for us!” She was grinning as she ran, imagining the havoc the angry trolls would inflict.

  The drow were focused enough on the now-enraged trolls that the raid’s tanks were nearly upon them before they were spotted. Brick, Lugs, and Grumpy all activated Shield Rush at the same moment. The three of them flew forward, shields high, and smashed into the drow. Six of the enemy were knocked off their feet and tossed into the center of the circle with the trolls.

  The monsters, surprised by the attack, recovered quickly and gleefully stomped the stunned drow into paste. They roared in defiance and charged toward the gates.

  With nearly a third of their number dead in seconds and an enemy force twice their size charging toward them, the remaining drow attempted to retreat. Turning their backs on the fight, they dashed toward the gate.

  Six dragons in humanoid form appeared in front of the stone doors. The drow skidded to a halt. One of them produced a horn and managed a single note before a blast of magic from one of the dragons caused his head to explode. Alexander and the other ranged players all hit them with spells as they continued to charge forward. The orcs and minotaurs picked up speed, moving ahead of the casters and even the tanks. Swords and axes drawn, they mowed through the overwhelmed drow with little effort.

  Behind the dragons, chaos had erupted. Defenders were scrambling toward the gate, trying to push the massive stone doors closed. The scout dragon roared and began to transform. Alexander immediately recognized her as the one who had been injured and knocked from the sky by the gargoyles during the battle.

  She grew to maybe half her natural size, then plunged through the gates. One foreclaw ripped a stone door from its hinges and flung it across the courtyard inside. The multi-ton door bounced and skidded, crushing drow, orcs, and hobgoblins in its path. A blast of blue fire burned more of them to curled, crispy husks as they fled.

  In moments, the area immediately inside the gate was clear of all but the dead. Several of the party members leveled up as the dragon reverted to her humanoid form.

  The trolls, frightened by the appearance of the dragon, had frozen in place. A word from her, and they roared in unison. She stepped aside and bowed slightly, sweeping her hand ahead of them as if inviting them inside. They trundled past her, picking up discarded weapons from among the dead. Alexander and company watched as they burst through the inner doors of the keep and began to slaughter everything in their path.

  Each troll stood at least ten feet tall, with wide shoulders and long arms. Their skin was tougher than leather, but not quite stone. They jabbed spears and swung swords with abandon even as defenders bombarded them with spells and projectiles of their own.

  For nearly half a minute, the natural tanks shrugged off the damage. Moving forward, they cut down their tormentors left and right. They threw spears that passed through two and three defenders before stopping. As they discarded one weapon, they simply stooped and picked up another from a corpse. In some instances, they picked up entire corpses and flung them forward.

  Eventually though, the massed attacks from the drow and their servants inside overcame the monsters. One by one, they dropped, taking as many of their enemies with them as they could.

  Sasha didn’t give the defenders a chance to recover. “Inside!” she shouted. The tanks rushed forward, right up to the back of the last troll as it died. Lugs shoved it forward with his shield, giving it a little extra momentum to fall on a couple of orcs who’d gotten too close.

  The tanks leapt over their fallen allies and formed up, interlocking their shields and creating a semicircular wall. The rest of the party grouped up behind the wall and began killing. The melee players and orcs bunched up behind the tanks, stabbing and slashing over top of the shields at any enemy who was within reach. The minotaurs stood behind, each of them having picked up a spear. They waited for openings and jabbed at hobgoblins, or picked out a caster target and hurled their weapons to impale them. The tall warriors each held a shield as well and made an effective screen for the ranged attackers.

  Alexander and the casters targeted the enemy casters first. Healers were rare; Alexander only spotted two. They died quickly and Sasha directed attacks at the enemy mages.

  One of the minotaurs went down, a dark missile having struck him in the face. It was one of the shit-weasel spells. The worm tore at the minotaur’s face, trying to penetrate his thick skull to get to the brain.

  A dragon stepped forward and grabbed hold of the worm with his bare hand. Squeezing tightly, he caused the thing to burst. Sasha and the healers hit the minotaur en masse, bringing him back to full health. He shook off the shock of the attack and took up his place in the line.

  Two of the orcs had fallen, but were still alive. The healers worked on them as two other orcs pulled them back off the line. Brick was singing a song and the tanks were shoving their shields forward and swinging their weapons to the rhythm. There was too much noise for Alexander to hear the song, but he was sure it was something classic and wholly inappropriate.

  H
e looked around the courtyard as the tanks pushed in and filled the inner doorway. “This is too easy,” he said out loud. Looking up at the windows above, he expected archers or mages to appear and rain down hell upon them. What he saw instead made his gut clench.

  Gargoyles.

  Chapter 14

  Shit Happens

  All around the perimeter, set on ledges above or to the sides of the windows, sat stone gargoyles. Not one of them had moved, and Alexander almost convinced himself they were just stone carvings. Until one of them blinked.

  “Del!” Alexander shouted above the noise of the battle. “Gargoyles! Above us!”

  Every dragon in the group stopped what they were doing and turned to face Alexander. Following his gaze, they took in the thirty or so statues, whose eyes began to glow. Almost in unison, the monsters began to move as they faded from sight.

  Del and his wing moved to the back of the group, facing outward toward the new threat. Alexander quickly cast Wizard’s Fire on the last one he could see, just as it was about to disappear completely. The damage from the fire interrupted its stealth ability and the thing screamed at them.

  Three dragons immediately raised a hand and shot the thing with bolts of blue magic. Everywhere the bolts hit the gargoyle’s body, chunks of it burst into sprays of blood and bone. The spray from that one partially coated two more who had been behind it and the dragons began blasting at those as well.

  Del grunted and fell onto his back as one of the invisible monsters dove into him. It became visible as it dug into the dragon’s chest with its talons. The dragon calmly reached up and grabbed its arms with his hands. A twist of his elbows snapped both the gargoyle’s arms. Releasing the broken left arm, Del reached up and ripped the throat from the creature crouching over him as if it were nothing more than tissue paper.

  Holding the dead thing by the throat, he got back to his feet and tossed it into the air. It collided with another gargoyle who had been hovering there. Magic blasts immediately struck that one as well.