Dungeon Battle

by Andrew Bardsley

  These new-fangled 'tactics' as the boss called them were an against nature. In Geimwell's mind, the simple process was, you see the enemy and attack, the end. None of this tactical stuff.

  The boss's put his hand up indicating that it was time to attack, so as instructed Gimwell and the other fifty orcs rushed out of the pit into the middle of the adventures that were traveling through the woodland.

  In front of Gimwell was a surprised young knight in full body armor starting to pull his sword out of its sheaf. This part of the 'tactical' way of doing things Gimwell full understood and it felt right to him. With his short sword in hand, he saw an exposed section of the body under the armpit of the knight. With two short steps, he had reached the knight and stabbed the sword into the center of the chest through the arm pip. Twisting his blade around, he allowed the body to fall to the ground, he looking for the next victim.

  Several of his gang were teaming up on a man with a sword out and swinging at them trying to keep them at bay. Lucky for Gimwell the man's back was to him, so he rushed forward and plunged the short sword into his solar plexus. This allowed the rest of his gang mates to run forward and stab the man as he was standing several times until he fell down dead with their weapons blooded now all were smiling. Gimwell hit one of the smaller gang mates as he was about to lick the blood of the weapon; this was not a time for that kind of thing as they more to do.

  A loud trump sound indicating that it was time to move on as it had been explained to Gimwell, it was not retreating. When his boss had been so nicely explaining the 'tactic' to the orc, with frequent use of his fist to Gimwell head, he now understood it to be like a dodge in battle. Is that when you finished one attack you the 'dodged' to the next attack. Gimwell did not fully understand the complex process but them that was why he was not a boss.

  As he ran or as they called it dodging, he tried another new thing, he turned around and smiled at the enemy as it always seemed to unnerve them. This was also confusing as he had been asked to smile on guard duty to be friendly to adventures coming to the castle. He had tried several times but got the same look of horror each time, from the person he was smiling at. Gimwell wondered if this was wanted, or what they meant with this new word of being 'friendly' as he had never heard of it before.

  --

  The 'Sweet Action' company had managed to struggle through three levels more from the end of the labyrinth and has spent about a week getting there. Deatie company was lost in a multi-level forest that seems to go on forever and ever, from the floor of the cavern to the ceiling. The adventures company numbers were down to ten people now as the slow attrition of all the hit and run attacks had a decimating effect. All the adventures left, in the said party, were heavily injured and Deatie was getting suspicious that some of his company were dying just to get out of the situation.

  To make matters worse, for him, his second in command kept giving him unwanted advice. No matter what he was said to Deatie still thought that it was only a matter of time for them to prevail. In his mind, there was no possibility of failure as it was not even possible. For goodness sake thought Deatie this is only a small dungeon run by a few inexperienced children in the lower level; of course, he would be victories.

  Suddenly behind him, Deatie heard an unknown attacker took a scream as another of his company. This time he didn't even try to backtrack as he knew that they would only find the dropped weapons from the attack with blood on the ground around the weapons, but no sign of the body or attacker.

  To make matters worse his second in command gave him a look of I told you so that annoyed Deatie no end. Deciding he needed to get away from the look of disapproval, he walked around a large oak tree to be by himself for a second. As he was placing his forehead against the tree trying to think what he should do suddenly, he heard a slight noise as a sharp pain radiated from his exposed neck as he had taken off his helmet. The initial pain was followed quickly by two more crushing pains in his leg and torso where he had a loss armor in the previous battle.

  For Deatie, the world went blank, but for the rest of the team, all they heard was a gurgled scream that was suddenly stopped. In the few seconds, they had run around the corner, with their weapons draw the commander's body had disappeared.

  The second in command was seen to smile but quickly covered her face with a hand and said, "Ok, let's see if we can get out of this hell hole in one piece."

  --

  Deatie woke up on the hard-cold surface of a resurrection table, feeling the wind blow across his body. Opening his eyes, he was able to see the surrounding temple of the goddess in the town below the dungeon. He was in an open area surround by columns exposed to the element as this was a public resurrection area, normally used by the lower levels.

  Felling the phantom pain of his death, he concentrated on trying to make the feeling go away. This was one of the reasons why he was normal so cautious when it came to battling monster, as he really did not enjoy the pain associated with death. He, of course, was rich enough to see a healer to prevent any long-term effects, but he still would never get used to the phantom pain.

  "Sir," said a dry voice from beside him that he recognized as the fathers-in-law Chamberlain, who in Deatie option, was never a good sign that he was present.

  "What, do want," he said in a moan as looked to the side by moving his head as the rest of his body was still recovering from the resurrection process.

  "The duke demanding your presence at the rooms he is staying, at in the towns manor house," the Chamberlain said with now expression as he looked the body lying on the stone with contempt.

  Looking up into the air, Deatie groan again and tried to ignore the man for a few more seconds before trying to get up. As he was lying there, he heard a cough from the Chamberlain reminding him to get a move on.

  "Give me a second to recover and get some decent clothing on before I walk all the way across town," said Deatie angrily as he looked up into the ceiling of the temple.

  "I'm afraid not sir," as the duke was most insistent that you go to him immediately.

  The man on the cold slab sighted with pain as he got up from the cold surface, to stand on the even colder ground, as he stumbles off the solid slab. The Chamberlain didn't help him one bit but indicated for him to hurry as he started to walk to the temple exit. Deatie strumbled and had to try and hold himself up by using the walls of the temple, so he was slowly able to make his way across toward the entrance of the temple.

  Once in the market square, in the white robs of resurrection, he stumbles as he followed the Chamberlain, with people looking at him as he was something to be pitied.

  The market was full of people going about their business, with soldier and adventures from the army mixed in giving the whole town an over-full feeling to it now busheling markets. Deatie face went red with embarrassment as he saw several soldiers laughing at him as he walked across the market square holding the white rob down as it threatened to blow up exposing him to the world.

  By the time he had walked a significant distance across town, he was giving everybody a murderous look as they laughed at him, this only seemed to work on the small children and women of the town. Finally, the Chamberlain led him into a courtyard of the town's manor where his father-in-law has taken up residence while the adventures were invading the dungeon. The Chamberlain knocked loudly on a large wooden door with an iron door knocker which made a deep echoing sound. After a minute or so of waiting in the wind, Deatie saw the door creak open showing an aged butler standing in front of them. As the butler saw the two men in front of him, he recognized the Chamberlain and indicated for him to enter.

  With a second look at Deatie, the Chamberlain walked quickly up the stairs to the second floor and into an apartment set aside for visiting high nobles. The door to the apartment was carved with an animal that would be hunted in the area, by visiting noble, as decoration. But Deatie did not get to study it this time as his father-in-law's servant just opened the door and walked
in.

  The first room was grandly decorated but only had several guards sitting around playing cards or eating, and Deatie was quickly led into the next room, which was a dining room. On entering the room, he saw his over large father-in-law sitting at the head of a table with several of his chief lieutenant eating meats from platers that had been placed before them in the center of the table.

  As Deatie white robed body came into view, the people at the table all started to laugh at him, including his over baring father-in-law. Once the laughter had subsided, the duke stood up and with an angry expression and a hint of merriment in his eyes looked at him.

  "How dare you come into my presences clothed such!" he shouted as if he was one a battlefield.

  "But I...." replied the shivering man.

  "There are no excuses for such behavior. If you're weren't married to my daughter, I'll have you kicked out of my army."

  The duke looked at the other men who had turned back to eating and gestured to his son-in-law with an expression of sadness.

  "You see what kind of idiot my daughter has married; I'm sorry that your meal was so rudely disturbed by such a display. Not only does he die in an easy dungeon, but he doesn't know how to dress when disturbing he betters. So, idiot gives an accounting of what happened to you in a dungeon control by a child."

  For the next half, an hour Deatie told the assembled nobles, a revised version of what had happened in the dungeon, to the scornfully look of his father-in-law.

  "And that's your story of how you were bested by a dungeon fill with low-level monsters and run by children," said his father-in-law with disgusted expression on his face, "I'm completely embarrassed by your behavior off you go as I don't want to see you again for the duration of this campaign."

  As Deatie left the room, he heard the sound of his father-in-law laughing with his general again, which increased the redness of his face.

  --

  Moryam, the Duke of Riverwind ponding his hand onto the table, producing a large crack as he laughed at his retreating son-in-law. This was one of the many pleasures he enjoyed with his high status, as the idiot man married his idiot daughter, then it was his solemn duty to have some fun with him. After all, what were family for if not to enjoy their company? Sitting back at the table, he went back to eating his large plate full of food and nearly forgot what had been said only a few minutes ago by his son-in-law.

  "My duke," said one of his chief lieutenants across the meal table, "we are getting off more reports of difficulties in the dungeon. Many of the adventures that enter the dungeon are dying and some with bizarre stories of monsters being coordinated in their attacks..."

  Before the man could finish the duke cut him off with a comment, "Stories from a whole load of incompetent adventure. That what they are here for to die if they don't gain the experience. Do you think that a dungeon run by kids will be able to stand up to me?"

  Everybody at the table shook their head as they got back to eating while the duke forgot about his sons-in-law report.

  Chapter 10 Full Scale Battle

  Ceras was standing by Rinaldo and the rest of the team of adventures that had been so important in the development of the dungeon. Rhef was holding her brother hand for once's showing some solidarity for his big day. The two seemed to act like a cat and a dog in a cage together, but when it came down to it sometimes, their deep affection for each other shone.

  The best Ceras could have done to describe Rinaldo's mood, was that he was nervous and happy all at the same time. His campaign of hit and run had been an outstanding success, by preventing the adventure in the main body of the arm from infiltrating the dungeon to its deeper levels. It has taken two months for the duke to finally get his core army to the level that Hidden-Caverns and the young adventures had set aside to meet him in an open battle. This was Rinaldo's big show. All need to go well, and then it would be up to Ceras to finally beat the high-level duke.

  A few hundreds of meters in front of them the duke's army was just exiting from the entrance to the large cavern, that was just grassland sloping down to the entrance. The dungeon's army of monsters was all arrayed behind a small stone wall with ramparted covering them from the fire below. Ceras had asked Rinaldo why they had not built a large castle in the middle of a level, and he had muttered something about mobility and the element of surprise. As this was Rinaldo responsibility, he decided not to try and second guess his friend as he certainly was not the expert on battle tactics.

  In the two months since the army had invaded the dungeon, Ceras had used the time to grind some more levels, but not as intensely as he did before. The person that had been the busiest had been Rinaldo with the command of the units under his control taking all day every day, with the help of a spell, so he did not have to sleep. Symania had insisted that he get some real sleep before the big battle, which to the surprise of the other she had enforced by casting a sleep spell on the reluctant barbarian.

  Rinaldo indicated for the trumps to sound the start of the attack, as the enemy was exiting the dungeon entrances. From gates in the rampart, steams of fast attack units started to flood out in teams of fifty to engage the disordered enemy. The units were made of any creature that was fast moving and agile. Ceras could see:

  Name of Monster

  Level

  Agility

  HP

  MP

  Skills

  Forest sprite

  4

  30

  30

  30

  Translocation

  Alpha Werewolves‎

  21

  10

  300

  -

  Speed attack

  Saber tiger

  20

  40

  100

  -

  -

  Orc War-band warrior

  30

  15

  350

  Head butt

  In carefully planned formations, with the orc warriors spearheading each formation that was in a triangle shape, in seconds the first group of defenders, had engaged the dungeon's enemy with a loud crash as the orcs ran into the quickly formed shield wall that the soldiers were putting in place.

  Over their head, of the soldiers, flew saber tiger, as they dived into the milling mass of soldier pulling them down to the ground as they bite into their necks. Hundreds of forest sprite flashed into the army releasing a blast of fire at anybody close by, and disappearing with a white flash before anybody could target them. The orcs in the meantime had been beating against the shield with the skill head-butt, leading to large holes in the duke's armies defense. This allowed the tiger to run back to the safety of their lines with only a few injured. Now that the orcs were milling around in the mass of the enemy, they went rampant with fury. Ceras was astounded by such ferocity of any creature as they bit and head-butted and stabbed any living flesh in front of them.

  From the back of the units, the Alpha Werewolves‎ ran into the gaps the orcs had created in the hastily formed enemy line. Up and down the line, hundreds of Werewolves started to rip bodies apart as the duke's army started to flee. Ceras watched in horror as the carnage counited with fewer and fewer of the duke's army in the dungeon cavern as the orcs and werewolves decimated them.

  "The duke's army is now forming a shield wall at the entrance," Rinaldo pointed out to the adventures," watch this!"

  Ceras could see that the duke's army was forming a shield wall at the entrance to the cavern cutting of the enemy and their own soldiers from leaving the battlefield. The orcs and other monster finished of anybody that had been left in the cavern and them Rinaldo signaled again as a different note sounded from the trumpets.

  Obeying the command of their leader the normal unorganized monsters return to the defender's line through the gates that had been made for them that closed soon afterward as rock met rock. Ceras could see the battlefield littered with bodies mostly on men from the duke's army. He estimated about two hundred dead in the init
ial attack, but it was hard to count as most of the bodies were in pieces.

  Instead of the normal white glow as the dungeon absorbed the bodies this time, the bodies were left in place to impede the attacking army. Which now was moving out with shields in front and on top of the soldiers like a tortoise. In between the shield, Ceras could see the blue glow of a magical shield protecting the soldiers.

  When hundreds of the army had entered the cavern under the protection of the magical shield and soldiers shield, l Rinaldo indicated for a red flag to be dropped. As the flag dropped, Ceras looked behind as saw hundreds of large metal troll starting to throw rocks the size of football over the ramparted and into the enemy line. At first, the rocks just bounced of the magical shield but then cracks started to appear as more and more rocks hit. Ceras watched as the shield flashed white and they failed, allowing more and more rocks to hit the soldiers shield. Holes started to open up in the defenses of the enemy, and Ceras could hear the screams of pain as the men were crushed by the rocks raining down.

  Another flag went down, and the orc archers on top of the rampart stared to aim for the holes in the defenses, raining death onto the men below in the blooded field. Ceras watched for a while as the rocks, and the arrow started to decimate the soldier that was now in disarray. Rinaldo orders the trumpet to sound again, and the gate in the rampaged open to allow the swift unit to attack again as the rock and arrows stopped firing. In the same formation, the orcs hit the lines that were now mingling in confusion as stared to butcher any of the soldiers that were in their way.

  Instead of the whole force being decimated at this point, Ceras noticed that there were pockets of heavy resistance forming in isolated sections of the army of the duke. He notices that some of the warriors seemed not to be affected by the powerful hits of the orcs, and we're starting to fight back with effective results as they started to slay the monsters attacking the army.