AVARICE ONLINE: KEL'VAN RED HAND

by Titus Nettles

  Voresh had plunged in his sword deep into the last spiders’ mid-section, while Fer’shad had stabbed his sword directly into the face of his arachnid. The creature found it hard to scream with a sword in its throat, so it just shuddered and then died.

  All four warriors stood over the charred and bloody remains of the spiders. Breathing heavy, Kel’Van and the others quickly began looting the arachnid's remains.

  Flame spell hits dark arachnid for 15 points…burning effect 5points for 10 seconds

  Flame spell hits dark arachnid for 15 points…burning effect 5points for 10 seconds

  Flame spell hits dark arachnid for 15 points…burning effect 5points for 10 seconds

  Bonesword strikes dark arachnid for 10 points

  Bonesword strikes dark arachnid for 10 points

  Bonesword stabs dark arachnid for 10 points

  Bonesword cuts dark arachnid for 20 points

  2 dark arachnids have been defeated! 60 Experienced points gained.

  Collect 8 arachnid legs, 4congealed blood, 2venom sacs, 2web sacs

  “Good job, people. You guys are coming along fine,” breathed Kel’Van as the last of spider corpses evaporated in smoke.

  “Yes, you all were quite masterful against two bloated spiders,” mocked the pale-skinned female as she flicked a lock of dark hair from her face.

  “It was enough not to be captured by these spiders and free you,” Kel’Van replied while pointing a sword in her direction.

  She gently laid a hand on his bone sword as both her eyebrows shot up. The look of indignation was there for the briefest of moments before she planted a smile on her face. “Fair point,” she said as she gently pushed his sword to the side. “My name is Ora’El, though that bears little significance to you as to what I know. I can get us out of here.”

  Ora’El then smiled and lowered her eyelids demurely. “Unless you adventurers already have a way for us all to escape?”

  Kel’Van faced soured. There wasn’t any part of him that wasn’t screaming that this person would throw them to the spiders as soon as it was convenient. But what choice did he have? “Okay then, you provide the directions,” Kel’Van responded.

  “Well of course I get an escort quest.“

  Kel’Van used to love PVE content or the story version of MMO's but the worst quest by far was always the escort ones. Mainly because the ones being escorted were always slow and had the weird ability to walk into the worst situations that you had to continuously save them from. Right now though, he had a more significant problem blooming in front of him.

  “Enough talk,” said the stocky Holmgren helping the younger one off the ground. “The other one got away and could be getting reinforcements to this room as we speak.”

  “I did not see you try and stop it,” growled Belar as she flicked gore and visceral off her plated gloves. “Neither any of you, for that matter.”

  “I am no coward tree dweller!” spouted the boy Holmgren

  Kel’Van turned his attention to the boy. He was gangly and somewhat taller than he initially gave him credit for. Though it was easy to tell with his frame that he would easily fill out later. He was barely standing, even with the older Holmgren holding him up. He wore a frayed shirt with holes near the neck seam, boots, and pants made of some type of dark material. The older Holmgren with him wore a similar garb, except his was lined with bulging pockets on the pants, from which he drew his rather large knife from.

  “That one is definitely a fighter of some sort,” thought Kel’Van.

  “Quiet you!” shouted the boy’s keeper baring his teeth. The young Holmgren closed his mouth, anger smoldering in his eyes. “The boy speaks truth. The arachnids injected their venom into us as we were captured.” He pointed at the punctured holes in his arms and armor. “We are in no condition to help you fight. But it was not out of fear. We can at least not slow you in travel until the venom fades from our bodies.”

  Kel’Van nodded his head. “Understood.”

  “So, you said you know a way out?” changing the subject quickly before tempers flared even more.

  “Yes, I have a way of tracking my talisman that I dropped when we were attacked by the spiderkin.”

  “You mean when you and your cadre were ambushing my men two days prior WITCH!” interjected the old Holmgren. The tattooed orcs, for lack of a better description, growled and pulled out their own knives from somewhere on the back of their armor.

  “Christ almighty, where are these guys packing these knives?” Kel’Van wondered.

  “Everybody, same formation as before. Fer’shad and Voresh upfront. Me and Belar will keep our rear safe. These four will stay in the middle and give direction, so we can best protect them till they recover,” Kel’Van announced.

  Ora’El smiled and bowed her hooded head. “This is acceptable.”

  “Let’s make one thing clear right now, “said Kel’Van eyeing the four people they rescued. “The moment you guys feel well enough to fight, you do so. But if you even think of attacking us for any reason, we will cut you open and leave you here for the spiders.” Kel’Van sure he made eye contact with all of them.

  The Holmgren nodded their heads. The tattooed ones growled and walked over to Ora-El. She in turn smiled, with her alarmingly white teeth and stared with her eerie black and white eyes and said, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  “How far do we have left to reach the exit?” asked Kel’Van

  He prompted a question not only because he truly wanted to know, but also to soothe the uneasy vibe he was getting from his team. He expected them to be a little in their feelings about saving the Holmgren boy, but allying with potential people who could possibly turn on them at any moment probably wasn’t sitting well with them either. He believed their loyalty was still high, but their overall morale had sunk just a bit. He was definitely going to need a sit down with his crew, so they could understand his actions.

  “Not Far”

  “Huh?”

  “I said not far adventurer,” commented Ora’El.

  “Oh” bringing Kel’Van out of his own head. “What do you mean by adventurer?“he asked, perturbed by her tone of voice when calling him such.

  “Is that not what you are?” she cooed. “Traveling to places you’ve never been or seen? Fighting monsters for gold, wealth, and fame?”

  “Who said that’s why we are here? “quipped Kel’Van. “You assume much.”

  “Hmph,” she chuckled lightly. “I sincerely doubt you came to the Arachnid caverns to rescue us or to enjoy its décor.”

  She pushed out her hand and closed her eyes in concentration. “Mmmm, this way,” her hand pointed to an ascending cave towards the right.

  “I feel my strength returning,” whispered the boy. He tried to get closer to the perimeter of the group with his knife in hand.

  “Stay close to me boy!” The older orc said as he grabbed him by the arm.” My strength is returning too, but we will only get in the way until we are at full strength.”

  “That was the most I’ve ever heard a Holmgren talk,” mused Kel’Van. Outside of the fangs and skin, they didn’t seem all that different from the Ulgo. Well, there is the young boy walking with him. He hadn’t seen any semblance of a family or reproduction, other than the rebirth pool and the others that came out of it.

  Click-Clack-click-clack

  They all stopped in mid-stride as the scraping arachnid legs on stone and dirt hurried past their position. After a small amount of time, Kel’Van signaled them to continue on.

  “Can they not smell us?” asked Kel’Van as they ascended out of a series of caverns. “You would have thought at least one of the things would have caught up to us by now.”

  “You…have not been long, here have you? Ora’El asked hauntingly, “They hunt by sight and sound. If we were deeper in the nest, it would be more of a problem. Since we are near the surface, not so much. The actual soldiers and the Queen are in the lower chambers.”

  �
��You mean they get bigger?”

  “Oh yes,” she grinned, “Much bigger.” She then closed her eyes again and pointed to the right. “That cave further up is the exit.”

  The tunnel towards the exit began as an upward steeple as they approached the mouth of the cave.

  Click-clack

  “Shit,” mouthed Kel’Van as he strained to see in the dark from which direction the noise was coming from. There, at the cave's mouth, came two sets of glowing yellow eyes accompanied by the tapping of spider legs behind them.

  “Shit indeed,” murmured Voresh.

  “Well, we almost made it without incident,” yelled Fer’shad. He reached his shield and quickly started jogging towards the spiders with his sword in his right hand. Voresh started racing right behind him when Kel’Van grabbed his shoulder.

  “Voresh, switch places with me,I got an idea,” he uttered as he found himself in the front. There was no need for Kel’Van to be in the back when the enemy was right in front of them.

  As soon as Fer’shad and Kel’Van reached the lip of the cave entrance, two arachnids crawled out. Kel’Van immediately set the two ablaze. Some of the eight-legged beasts tried crawling around the burning mess of hair and mandibles. Fer’shad slammed his shield into the rushing beast halving the entryway with his shield, then stabbing into the mass of bodies whenever he saw an opening.

  “Good job Fer’shad!” the captain yelled over the roar of his flames. “Between you narrowing their avenue of entry and me pushing fire into it, we should be able to eliminate much of them quickly!”

  The entryway was only big enough that only two spiders at a time could fit through. As the pile of burnt bodies started to mount in the entrance, the spiders began to squeeze out from the top of the ceiling entryway.

  “Captain, look up!” screamed Fer’shad as he speared one of the escaping spiders from above him with his sword. Black ichor dripped down his blade and arm as he pulled his weapon free. Just as the spider dropped to the ground beside him, another took its place above him. He rapidly began piercing the eight-legged creatures as fast as they would appear.

  As the arachnid spiders escaping via the ceiling increased, Kel’Van knew he had to alter the attack plan. “Get ready to back up when I give the order Fer’shad,” he yelled. The large Ulgo nodded his head as he stabbed another insect in the face. The captain let out another barrage of flames before he gave the signal. “Fer’shad, start backing up! Belar and Voresh get ready!”

  As the two warriors started backing away from the cave’s entrance, the rate of the spiders was spilling through increased, despite the burning bodies piling up.

  “Get ready back there!” the captain yelled behind him. They had already formed a semi-circle outside of the entrance.Voresh, Ora’El and her guards on one side, Belar and the Holmgren pair on the left.

  “Stay close to me,” whispered the old Holmgren to the younger. The boy nodded his head, eyeing the two ahead of him engaged in battle.

  Kel’Van eyed his mana level as it sunk down to the half-way mark. “Okay, stand aside and let them in and hack away at what comes through.”

  Fer’shad nodded and stepped to the side as the spiders skittered around the burning mass of bodies blocking the entrance. They both started hacking and stabbing away at the monsters as they tried to move past them. The ones that got by were immediately attacked by the group behind him. Voresh led the charge running at a full sprint with his large two-hander over his shoulder. He launched an assault with an overhead attack, his sword destroying an arachnid’s face with a downward blow. Then quickly cleaving two more with a sideway slash cutting through legs and visceral.

  The others moved closer around Voresh. The older Holmgren attacked a spider just to the left of Belar, who punched one spider in its multiple eyes. She then jumped on another one grabbing a hind leg. Pulling it taut, she stomped the ligaments in half as the spider screeched. Two short punches to the head slowed another one. Then the Holmgren boy ran behind Belar and stabbed her spider in the neck, letting ichor spill upon the ground. As he pulled his dagger out, the senior one shoved his knives in the back of one of the beast's head.

  “Go for the head first boy,” he instructed.

  “Yes Uncle,” and with a grim face, he stayed close to both his uncle and Belar. The elder Holmgren eased closer to Voresh to close the gap. Several spiders quickly advanced to the Ulgo’s right side. Ora’El outstretched her hands, and the ground underneath the arachnids gripped their legs in hardened stone. Her tattooed guards immediately attacked the immobile enemies. Daggers and fists began pummeling the stuck spiders as foul-smelling blood, and pieces of arachnid flesh flew into the air in spurts of green and yellow puss.

  While the burning and chopping up the monsters began to taper off, Kel’Van observed two things about his captives. One was the venom making them weak was apparently wearing off. Two, that although the Holmgren and the tall elfish woman were not in his group, they were no strangers to fighting as one. They didn’t stray from each other at all or leave gaps for the enemy to overwhelm them. No prompting from him was necessary at all. Only three spiders got past Kel’Van and Fer’shad after the second volley. Meanwhile, he pushed his short sword right through the gullet of the last of them coming through the cave. Fer’shad was relentlessly bashing in the face of an arachnid with his shield.

  As Kel’Van approached Fer’shad on the opposite side of the cave entrance, the giant of an orc was on one knee panting and covered in gore and blood. He started to slowly pull his sword out of a spider’s carcass as his captain approached and land his arm on the kneeling orc’s massive shoulders.

  “Good job, big guy” said Kel’Van. Fer’shad aimed his chin at the group behind them. The captain's eyes turned toward them, just in time to see Ora’El encase the four arachnids’ legs in stone. Voresh cleaved through two of them with a swing of his sword alone, and the tattooed orc with Ora’El butchered the remaining two with fists and short swords. Stabbing the immobile spiders repeatedly till the arachnids stopped all movement.

  Kel’Van gave another patted the arm of his kneeling comrade again. “They are not so helpless now,” remarked Fer’shad.

  As the pair started walking towards the group, the older Holmgren collapsed on both knees, holding his side. “Uncle!” cried the younger Holmgren.

  “It’s fine, boy!” he yelled back. “It’s just a scratch. I’ll be okay.”

  The young orc grim-faced placed one hand on the man’s back and outstretched his other hand to an arachnid close to death. A black shadow shot out towards the encased arachnid. It seemed to grow larger, enveloping the blob, then shot back towards the boy. Then the same energy flowed into the boy’s hand on the kneeling Holmgren and pierced his body. A second later, he stood up, no longer holding his side or leaking blood onto the ground.

  “A shadow healer,” whispered Ora’El, “A rare ability for anyone, more so among the Holmgren.”

  “Stay away from the boy witch.” The now healthy Holmgren said with a clenched jaw. “You won’t be putting your infernal tattoos on him.”

  The tall woman smiled and brushed a lock of hair from her face. “I was paying the boy a compliment. I bear you no ill will.”

  The Holmgren put a protecting arm around the boy and pulled him behind his body. “See that you do witch.”

  “I think the best thing to do right now is to loot the body and get out of this den of eight-legged monsters, don’t you think?” Kel’Van quickly interjected.

  The looting went particularly quick. The lion's share of it went to Kel’Van’s party, since they were the only ones actually in a group. The others didn’t form one of their own, so they could only get loot from enemies they killed individually with no help. As the bodies were dissolving into black smoke, a thought crossed his mind about his “wayward charges.”

  “Exactly what were you doing when you got caught by the Arachnids?’

  “We were gathering ichor,” said Ora’El as she gathered the l
ast of her share of the loot.

  “Ichor? That’s what you risked your lives for?” he asked, perplexed at the very act of risking your life for something so trivial.

  “Yes, my apologies adventurer, you are not from the depths,” she smiled. “In this corner of the under dark, many people target the bodies of the worker arachnid for their ichor. Some for its poison properties but mostly for the adhesive properties of its sap.

  “Adhesive,” he asked further. He had collected a ton of them since being dropped in their den. He might as well get something out of it besides experience points.

  “A very convenient one at that. You can use it as a fast way to mend light armor and leather armor while traveling. Some armorers actually use it to stud their gear with metal bits, or even improve upon weapons, depending on what they are, of course.”

  “Hmm,” thought Kel’Van. That is definitely going to come in handy. Even now, their party was sporting ripped pieces of gear that weren’t replaced by the armor sets he gave them. Damaged armor that if not fixed, would only hinder them later on.

  “We are done captain,” Fer’shad announced, bringing Kel’Van out of his personal thoughts. “Well then, lets’ get out of this place.”

  With Fer’shad and Voresh leading the way, the motley crew of Ulgo, Holmgren, and whatever Ora’El was, exited the cavern leaving the Arachnids den behind them.

  CHAPTER 15

  “A sight is it not?” said the sultry pale woman.

  She was right.

  They walked out of the cavern with the smell of burning spider flesh being whisked away by a breeze filled with the pungent aromas of plants and damp earth. Like the smell of a bright morning day after a long rain has ended. Then the majestic sight in front of them gave the Ulgo orcs pause. The wide-open space, canceling out the claustrophobic feel of both the inner caverns and the dark arachnid den. Here before them, was immense waterfalls cascading on the west, east, and north sides. The glow mushrooms that were all over the rock walls in the caverns prior, were as tall and wide as oak trees here in the depths. They were peppered throughout, as far as they can see. Spreading their dim light, they reminded Kel’Van of street lights in a burgeoning city during the night. Besides the crashing of the waterfalls, the sounds of what could only be birds singing their own version of song.