by Phil Tucker
The dagger flew through the gloom, passing through one of the purplish bubbles of light before slamming home into the cut. It sank in deep, the monster’s armor having already been parted, and it screamed in pain.
“A little help!” shouted Falkon from below. He was being swarmed by the shadow figures, a dozen of them encircling him and swiping at him with massively elongated claws.
Why hadn’t I saved up my XP? I itched to buy something, a power that would solve all our problems, but had only thirty-two points. The only thing I could afford was Sabotage Defenses.
A plan clicked into place. I opened my sheet and spent the XP. “Lotharia! Clear those shadow monsters away with Hail Strike!” I didn’t wait for her to confirm, but instead cast Shadow Step and fell away into the night.
The darkness embraced me, velvety and smooth, and then I emerged directly behind the spider monster. I tried to activate Ledge Runner again, but that power was still in its cooldown period – damn! I landed heavily on the spider’s bulbous abdomen and immediately lost my footing. Worse, Adrenaline Surge chose that moment to crap out on me, and I was hit by a wave of nausea that brought up my gorge so that I thought I was about to vomit dire bat head soup on the monster.
The spider-dude spun around, outraged at my presence on its back, and that proved to be its undoing. I was falling forward, my plan foiled by my own inexperience with my talents, until the beast turned and provided me with exactly what I needed.
I grabbed hold of Lotharia’s dagger where it protruded from its chest, and activated Sabotage Defenses.
Knowledge and skill suffused my hand, and I tucked the tip of the dagger inside the spider monster’s tough hide and allowed myself to fall. My own weight caused the blade to slice straight down, as if unzipping the monster’s armor from its chest to where its abdomen met with its spider body.
Then I was in freefall, tumbling and spinning into nothingness. Despite the cramping and heartburn, I activated Shadow Step one last time – and appeared in midair directly before the startled spider monster once more.
Its head whipped up in surprise as I slammed my dagger right into the opening I’d created moments ago. The point sank into the vulnerable white flesh beneath the gray leathery hide, and then I executed my patented combat move again: falling to my own death.
I held tight to the hilt, and as a result my dagger cut a deep gash into the monster’s chest and stomach. Then I was gone, spinning and dropping for a third or fourth time into the depths.
I hit the wall and stuck. My head cracked against the tower’s side and I saw stars, which – along with the come-down from Adrenaline Surge – made me toss my cookies. Heaving and feeling wretched, I stared blearily at where Falkon was climbing up the webbing as if it were the rigging of a ship.
“We can do this!” he yelled, voice echoing around the tower’s interior. “For we are mighty, we are brave, we are bold, and best yet, we are too foolish to die! This worm is ours for the crushing, and I salute you, my bravest of friends, my dearest of companions! For the king!”
Another talent of his. A wave of warmth washed over me, my mind sharpened, and my spirits rose. With new focus, I wiped my sleeve across my chin and stared up at where the spider beast had finished slathering a bandage of webbing across its wound. It let out a keening scream, and then tucked its abdomen under and pointed its spinnerets at Falkon.
“Jump!” I screamed.
Falkon leapt, but to no avail – a firehose of webbing slammed into him from above, knocking him back into the wall and plastering him all over in gleaming black filaments. He struggled and roared, but failed to break free.
The spider monster laughed, turned, and plastered me with webbing in turn. I was knocked back into the wall, and layer upon layer of black goo covered me from ankle to neck.
“Lotharia!” I craned my head to peer down at her. “You’re up! Do something!”
“One more minute!” She was hunched over the staff. “One more minute!”
“No more minutes!” My voice was getting hoarse from yelling at the top of my lungs. “No more! Wait— duck!”
Without looking up, displaying a level of sangfroid that impressed the hell out of me, she raised a hand and called out, “Obfuscate the keenest sense, blanket thought with fog most dense!”
Fog billowed out around her at tremendous speed even as the spider beast launched a torrent of webbing at where she crouched.
I peered down, desperately trying to get a sense of whether she’d been hit or not, but the fog made it impossible to tell.
“Wait!” I called up to the spider monster as it descended toward me. I was the highest up, its closest prey. “Let’s talk – what can we get you? Need us to bring you something? Not a lot of amenities within this tower, am I right?”
The spider dude’s face pulled into a horrific grin. Did it understand me? Was it intelligent? I couldn’t tell, but I wasn’t about to give up.
“What about the demons that are coming?” When rational reasoning fails, try batshit crazy. “They’ll be here soon, all nineteen choirs of them!”
Nothing. The spider continued to descend, taking its time and rubbing a hand over its chest where I’d slit it open.
“Sorry about that,” I said. “It was an accident. Both times. No?”
The nausea finally receded, and even before I could draw a relieved breath I activated Adrenaline Surge again. My muscles swelled, my whole body went from being abjectly sick to vibrating with life, and with a cry I tore my arm free of the webbing and hurled my dagger up at the spider beast.
Not at the wound. Not at its face. I was too low-level to stop it that way. No. Instead, I activated Pin Down and threw my blade with every last ounce of strength.
The dagger flickered up and slammed into one of the spider’s legs, right where its foot would be. Did spiders have feet? Pedipalps? Like ‘pedestrian’? I’d no idea, and realized I was starting to feel a bit loopy. Regardless, I’d sunk a dagger to the hilt through one foot, pinning it to a wooden beam from the remnants of the third floor.
The spider beast hissed and turned to gaze at the dagger, swiveling its entire torso to do so, then reached down and effortlessly plucked my dagger free. It flipped it over with enviable ease, caught it by the tip, then threw it down at me with unerring accuracy.
Pain blossomed in my thigh. I bit back a scream, the fury and energy of Adrenaline Surge helping me master my pain. Why hadn’t it killed me? Why— oh. Yeah. I was bound in spider silk in its web. It was probably going to inject me full of poison, cocoon me, and then devour me later when my insides had turned into complete mush.
“Hey!” Falkon’s voice was desperate. “You! Ugly bastard spider bitch! I name you my foe, and challenge you—”
The spider monster hissed and sent a second mass of webbing flying down to engulf Falkon’s head completely and cut off his words.
I tried to reach down with my free arm for the dagger but couldn’t get close enough. Instead I set to tearing handfuls of webbing away, but to no avail. Even as strong as I was, it felt like pulling at steel cables. This was what you got for going up against massively more powerful bosses.
In desperation I cast Light again, but the monster was ready and simply crushed my globe of light in its fist, extinguishing it.
Mage Hand! I cast the spell and pulled the dagger free from my thigh. It came out slowly, the pain exquisite, and then I levitated the blade up to my free hand. I summoned Uncanny Aim, but it was still in cooldown. Damn it! I’d have to wait. Every second the spider drew closer I tried for my talent again.
Down came the monster to hang right before me, massive and fell. I tensed, ready to swing the moment it tried to poison me. Uncanny Aim came online. I lined up the silver thread with the spider-dude’s eyes – but a mass of webbing slammed my free hand against the wall with such force that even with my strength I dropped my blade
.
“OK,” I said. “You’ve got my attention. Let’s talk.”
The spider monster grinned, lips pulling back from vampiric incisors, and then it pushed its tongue out. Oh, god. A massive, fleshy straw emerged, dripping green ichor and with its underside extending out into a bony needle. So much worse than an Alien’s inner jaws. It leaned in, the webbing around it straining and creaking, and I thrashed, trying to get away but to no avail.
The stinger slid right up to my face and then, to my everlasting horror, caressed my cheek, drawing a thin line of pain where it touched my skin. The tongue reared back, poised like a cobra ready to strike. I stared, horrified, as a massive drop of green poison emerged from the depths of the tube.
A spear of black fire flew between us, incinerating the tongue and bouncing off the tower wall overhead.
The spider monster recoiled with a shriek, the ruined tongue shooting back into its mouth, and it stared down just in time to take a second black spear in the chest.
The power of the attack blasted a smoking hole open in its web bandaging and punched through its delicate milky-white flesh. It shot back up, keening in agony, but Lotharia simply tracked it with its staff and fired a third spear, then a fourth.
The third attack hit the spider beast right where the second had, widening the gaping hole in its chest, and the fourth slammed right into its face, shearing off the upper half of its head.
The spider beast froze, shuddered, then fell. It plummeted only to slow and then stop as webbing from its spinnerets arrested its fall, leaving it to hang upside down in the center of the tower where it swayed, arms and legs twitching until they finally went still.
“All right!” I yelled. “Way to go, Lotharia! Lotharia?”
The enchantress had dropped to her knees.
“Lotharia!” I struggled to escape, only to be hit by the withdrawal effects of Adrenaline Surge. Again. Vision swimming, I watched as she toppled over and lay still.
14
I must have passed out. I woke to the sensation of falling forward, and with a cry I jerked around only to have someone pin my arms as they easily overpowered me.
“Easy, there.” I recognized Falkon’s voice. “You knock us both off this ledge it’s going to suck.”
He yanked me up, tearing my feet free of the last of the webbing, and then put away his dagger.
“Blegh,” I said, and then spat. “Lotharia?”
“Fine, albeit with a headache. She couldn’t climb up to help, so she waited for me to regain Adrenaline Surge and bust free. It took me some time to work my way up here, but I think we’re all good now.”
“We did it?”
Falkon grinned. “Just wait till you check your character sheet. No, not right now. Let’s get down first.”
We were standing on a small extension of rock barely large enough for the two of us, but there were plenty of handholds with which to descend. “Here,” I said. “Follow my lead.” So saying, I lowered to my stomach, kicked till I found a toehold, and then began the laborious process of getting us down.
It took about ten minutes, and we both gave up at the end and leapt the last ten feet onto a thick pile of webbing. Lotharia was sitting cross-legged, frowning as she meditated, but upon our arrival she cracked open an eye and examined us.
“Oh. Good. You’re not dead.”
“That’s cheerful,” I said.
“Don’t mind her.” Falkon sat against the wall. “She’s got a wicked migraine from using the staff.”
“Why’s that?” I asked. I was itching to open my character sheet, but wanted to at least appear solicitous.
“It’s powered by necrotic energy,” she said, closing her eye. “Which means it twists my essence when I try to use it. Converts it through brute force. I’m going to have to meditate extensively to purify myself after each use or risk permanently warping my essence.”
“That… does sound bad.” Still, I couldn’t help but grin. “But we did it! Holy cow, I thought we were goners there for a second.”
Falkon rested his head against the wall. “Yeah, me too. And that was just against a level twenty monster.”
“It was only level twenty?” I tried not to let disappointment steal my happiness. “Crap. I’d thought it was at least thirty or something…”
“Nope. If it had been, we’d all be dead.”
“Still, we did pretty well, didn’t we?” I looked from one to the other. “That was some great teamwork.”
“Yeah, we did pretty well.” Why did Falkon sound so begrudging? “But remember, this tower is a darkblade’s paradise. Shadow everywhere, lots of room for creative maneuvering. I don’t mean to be harsh, but you’re not going to be this effective against, say, an ogre out in a flat, sunny courtyard.”
“Yeah,” I said, trying not to deflate too much. “I see your point. Still.” I rallied my spirits. “For our first team combat, I think we did great.”
“Yeah, we did,” said Falkon, and finally he smiled. “Gave me forty XP. Lotharia?”
“Fifty.” Even her migraine couldn’t keep the smug satisfaction from her voice.
I couldn’t wait any longer. I opened my character sheet and was deluged with pop-up windows.
You have gained 75 experience (75 for defeating the spider centaur). You have 77 unused XP. Your total XP is 347.
Congratulations! You are Level 4!
“Seventy-five XP!” I yelled. “Level four!”
Lotharia pressed her fingers to her temples and grimaced.
“Sorry,” I whispered. “Level four, baby!”
Falkon chuckled. “Nothing like the early leveling rush.”
“You going to lecture me too? Never mind. Excuse me. I’ve got some serious shopping to do.”
Your attributes have increased!
Mana +1
Dexterity +1
Strength +1
You have learned new skills. Dodge: Basic (II), Melee: Basic (I)
So Euphoria finally thought I was learning to fight? Fair enough. At least it wasn’t forcing me to specialize in daggers. And more mana was always welcome, along with some dex and strength. Now I needed to work on my constitution. And intelligence. And… everything else, really.
There are new talent advancements available to you:
I quickly flicked through Distracting Attack, Darkvision, and Wall Climber. All of those would have been useful in my last fight, but like any compulsive shopper I wanted to see what was new to the market.
Bleeding Attack
XP Cost: 75
- Not all wounds are created equal. The gift that keeps on giving, a wound dealt by this talent will weaken your foe over time.
- Pre-requisite(s): Melee: Basic (I)
Expert Leaper:
XP Cost: 55
- Conquer distances through mighty leaps. Whether from a running start, a dead stop, or dropping down, an expert leaper can perform feats of athleticism unlike any other.
- Cooldown period scales with your constitution.
Interesting. I didn’t know if this was common to all rogues, or if my darkblade proclivity toward assassinations was opening up this talent tree, but I was definitely noticing a trend toward making me extremely agile and able to manage vertical spaces as well as horizontal with ease.
Not that I was complaining. I could easily envision how Ledge Runner, Wall Climber, Expert Leaper and Shadow Step would have amazing synergy.
I then checked my spells. The same three were still available: Death Dagger, Night Shroud (I), and Ebon Tendrils (I).
“I’m thinking about taking Death Dagger,” I told the others. “I could continue to work on evasion and maneuverability, but I’m starting to get to the point where I want to be able to actually deal some real damage here.”
“I agree,” said Falkon.
“You do?” I blinked.
I don’t know why I’d expected an argument.
“Sure. Your build is centered on delivering a single, devastating strike that incapacitates your foe before they even know you’re there. If you don’t start taking those offensive spells, you’re going to become ever harder to hit but unable to end a fight.”
Lotharia squinted and opened her eyes. “Fair enough. But with us both here to deliver the hits, his staying alive is kind of the priority.”
“He can’t always depend on our being around to deal out the damage, though,” said Falkon. “He needs to be able to bring the pain.”
“Fine,” said Lotharia. “I feel like I should argue more but I kind of want to focus on getting rid of this headache.”
I tapped Death Dagger. The letters burned gold, and then it appeared beneath my cantrips. I grinned. Its cost of three mana meant I’d only ever be able to use it when I was at full strength, but combined with a Double Step attack I’d now really be able to earn the title of darkblade.
“So,” I said, climbing to my feet. Energy thrummed through me, and I rose to the balls of my feet. “Either of you searched this place yet?”
“Not yet,” said Falkon. “But I like the line of your thinking. The cut of your jib, as it were. Let’s see what Albertus left us.”
“Albertus?” I walked around the base of the tower, peering into the gloomy shadows.
“Sure,” said Falkon. “He’s the one who decides how much to reward folks for defeating a raid boss.” He stopped, hands on hips, and looked up at the dead monster. “Actually, I bet he put this one here just for our party.”
I kicked some old furniture apart. “You think?”
“Sure. Trust me, he watches every Death March player closely. I’m not saying he’s going to go easy on you, but he won’t throw you away by making you face a level forty monster. It’s entirely possible that he swapped out whatever was here before and placed this level twenty boss in its place to challenge but not kill you.”