AVARICE ONLINE: KEL'VAN RED HAND

by Titus Nettles

  He followed the sword attack up with a burst of flames to the injured area cooking him from the inside. Voresh was already slashing his right leg at the same time as Kel’Van’s attack. He then stepped back and did a reverse slash upwards, cutting into the hand holding the ax. Ter’Abran had backed up from the attackers to create space, but Ora’El had cast her earth holding spell, and black rock from the ground again held him firmly in one place.

  Ter’Abran roared in anger, slashing down at Belar. She dodged to the right of him. Then grabbed the arm holding the ax with both hands and swung herself on the back of the elemental as if she was riding a saddled horse. Immediately he tried to bucking to get her off, but the earth spell was still holding him in place. She used the shoulders to pull herself towards the beast’s head, then immediately wrapped her legs around the body. Belar grabbed his eyelid with her right hand and dug into the actual eye with the other. Though the horns which were aflame, burning the skin on her arms, she dug her hand in relentlessly as she finally got ahold of the flaming eye. Belar used everything she had and pulled the burning rock-like thing out of its socket, and threw it to the wind as if it was unwanted trash.

  “GGGGRRRAAAAAHHHH!!!” screamed the aberrant elemental. Its howl reverberated throughout the hall. It grabbed Belar by the leg, pulling at her incessantly as she tried to tear out its other eye. Belar tried to find purchase by clasping her arm around the horns, but the burning flames and heat continued to blister her flesh. Then with a sudden wrench and jerk, the beast snapped her leg out of the socket.

  “AHHHHHH!!” as she cried out, she reactively let go of the beast’s body and reached for her injured limb. Ter’Abran swung her around, and the broken bone suddenly ripped through her leg in the process. He tossed her toward the wall with a sickening thud, as she slid down the wall face first and crumpled like a doll.

  “BELLLAAARRRRR!!” screamed Fer’shad as the giant of an orc barreled his way toward his fallen comrade.

  Voresh had just put another slash across the elementals flank when he saw Belar flying over his head. He stared with a shocked look on his face as she crashed into the wall, next to one of the lighted torches. The beast however, began backing up as if drunk. His right-hand clutching at the now bleeding eye socket, as his upper torso bent over in torment. Ter’Abran shook his head as if he was trying to wake up, then he stood tall with his ax flaming, his skin returning to a blistering red and his one remaining eye glowing. In front of him stood a robed orc, sword in hand and all alone.

  When Belar flew overhead and crashed into the wall, Kel’Van pulled up the party window and saw she still had HP and no bleeding effect. Fer’shad must be feeding her his share of health potions for her leg to heal so quickly. As much as he wanted to help her, the aberrant was slowly turning red. Which only meant he was about to go into rage mode again. He turned to where his tank was at and saw him running towards Belar. He wasn’t sure if he would’ve been able to tank another full barrage of damage, but the point was mute, since he wasn’t close enough to block them now anyway. All that was in the vicinity was himself and Voresh, who was now looking in the direction of Belar and Fer’shad.

  “Voresh! Head in the game!” hollered Kel’Van. “When he comes to attack me, start slicing him up from behind. Use everything you’ve got, or we all die!”

  Voresh looked one more time in the other two's direction, then ran to the side where he could get around the elemental and attack his rear. Kel’Van had barely enough time to think of the ramifications of his plan and how it might still go south. But given the circumstances, he had no choice but to play the “Off-tank” role. Even though Voresh wore heavy armor, there was little chance he would survive both the stomping or the four quick attacks of that fire enchanted ax. Kel’Van thought at least he still had the ability to self-heal. He would have to hope he could heal his way past the damage, or none of them was going to make it out here.

  When Ter’Abran finally looked up, his skin had already changed back to the dark maroon color of his enraged form, and he sighted Kel’Van alone in front of him. He then charged. In no time at all, he was within 4 feet of him. Then he lifted his front legs to begin his rage attack. Right before the hooves came down, a black wall sprouted up in front of Kel’Van!

  “Yes!” screamed Kel’Van. “Oh, how I would kiss your Korai butt right now!”

  The elemental’s feet kicked at the wall three times, almost leveling it. Then the first chop of his ax completely destroyed it. The weapon almost chopped into him on the first blow. The second blow, he was able to move to the left; the third blow chopped through his collar bone and into his chest. The embedded weapon almost lifted him off the ground before a wet sucking sound of the ax leaving his body occurred.

  “Oh god,” thought the captain as he barely was able to cast a self-heal through clenched teeth. He knew he should move, and he slowly was trying to turn his body in vain. He had counted the seconds and the blows to Fer’shad’s shield earlier. There was no way to dodge those blows at their level. He had to heal through it like a good off-tank and hope for the best. As the last of the rage attack came down, he lifted his sword in the way as if to ward it off what he knew was coming. The ax came flying down at an angle and chopped into the left side of his shoulder and chest. The force of the beast’s weapon pushed his sword against his left arm, almost cutting it in half.

  There was no scream, only gurgles of blood shooting out of Kel’Van’s mouth. He hacked and coughed himself on his side as Ter’Abran’s skin returned to his original dark blue. Ora’El immediately put up the earth grip spell, making the elemental incapable of turning around and attacking Voresh. The savage swordsman had begun his rear attack almost as soon as the elemental had broken through Ora’El’s wall to attack Kel’Van. He landed an overhand attack first from his left shoulder, which sprayed blood in the air. Then he pirouetted and swung his sword from his right hip into the leg. This time the blade bit deep into the elementals flesh and found purchase. Roaring in pain, the elemental looked below him to vent his frustrations on Kel’Van, but he had already stood up, holding his sword in one hand while the other hung their limp. He was backing up, using up what was left of his mana to heal himself while he eyed Ter’Abran.

  The elemental must have mistaken the orcs stepping back as cowardice and turned his attention back towards Voresh as the earth spell wore off. He raised his hand and loosed fire at him, which caught only half his arms as Voresh ducked to the side. He put his sword across his body in an attempt to ward off a blow from the ax he knew was coming from the other hand of the elemental.

  The monster roared again in anguish.

  Kel’Van suddenly broke into a sprint after healing his wounds and jumped onto the rear end of Ter’Abran, burying his sword above the upper part of his hind legs. He began to pull himself further on top by using the embedded blade as an anchor. Voresh had again chopped with his sword sending flesh and blood against the wall and making the behemoth right leg give out. Kel’Van was able to climb further onto his back as he then pulled out his sword with a giant spurt of blood spraying his face. Then with both hands on the hilt, he plunged his weapon through its back and into the lungs.

  Critical hit! Sword hits Ter’Abran for 80 points…

  Blood started pouring out from the wound and from the elemental's mouth as Kel’Van hopped off the beast. Fer’shad had run into elemental with his shield like a battering ram, knocking it on its side. Voresh sent his sword into his chest and twisted his blade sending more blood and now fire escaping the monster’s mouth. As Voresh was about to repeat his signature finishing move, Kel’Van stopped him. It seemed the elemental had something it wanted to say.

  “It seems my imprisonment is over thanks to you mortals.”

  “Yes,” said Kel’Van “It’s over, and we free you.”

  Then Kel’Van slammed his sword into the other eye of the aberrant elemental. Then Ter’Abran was no more.

  “It’s over. We won,” whispered Ora’El.


  The others looked at each other with smiles beginning to brim across their faces. Voresh lifted his sword from the cadaver of Ter’Abran and hoisted up in the air triumphantly. Belar grabbed the arm of Fer’shad as she leaned into him and began pumping her fist in the air! “We did it Fer’shad! We can go home!”

  “Hell yeah, baby!” screamed Kel’Van grabbing both Voresh and Fer’shad in a group hug. His giddiness was becoming infectious. Voresh, who was still pumping his sword in the air, screamed. “Yes! Yes! THIS IS WHAT WE PLAY FOR!!” Which in turn caused everyone to explode in laughter and cheer, including Ora’El.

  “While it’s great that we beat this monster, I think we’ll feel even better once we distribute the loot, no?” said Kel’Van

  “By all means captain,” answered Voresh, stowing his blade behind his back.

  Kel’Van rubbed his hands together in greed. There was no doubt in his mind that whatever came from looting this particular boss was going to be good. He put his hand on the body, expecting it to turn to black smoke and reveal high-quality items. Instead, his body caught fire.

  “AAAAYYYEEEEE!!!”

  The inside of his body felt as if it was being torched by a flame thrower. Every ounce of his being was as if someone had ripped the skin from his body and then dipped it in bubbling hot lava. Through the pain, he gritted his teeth and looked down at his arm. He didn’t see flames burning him alive. What he saw was his skin beginning to crack and actually leak fire. Fissures started to crawl up from his arm, touching the elementals body, to his own neck and face. As the fractures spread every where on his body , the fired continued to leak from his hands and onto the ground like water.

  A primal scream escaped his lips before he blacked out.

  “Wake up captain! Please!”

  Kel’Van opened his hazy vision looking up at 4 different faces. The 3 orcs, his teammates, looked with both concern and worry. The other, the elf-like Korai was looking at him in wonder and disbelief. Kel’Van however, was wondering what the number of the truck that hit him was.

  “Captain, are you well?” piped a worried Fer’shad.

  “Yeah,” answered Kel’Van. “My head is pounding though. I’ll be alright in a bit.”

  He looked at his hands to make sure he was indeed alright. The smoke smell coming off him unnerved him a bit. The actual smoke drifting off of the body of Ter’Abran worried him more. He stood up off the ground and approached the body, and looked it over for any signs or reason why his body had turned into the orc version of the human torch.

  “What exactly did you guys see before I passed out?” asked Kel’Van. He wanted to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating about what he saw.

  They all looked at each other first, but it was Ora’El that spoke. “As soon as you touched the elemental, your body…well, it burst into flames. Your eyes and mouth filled with light coming from inside you until you passed out. Are you sure you are well?”

  “Yeah. Let’s just loot this body, so we can get on with life.”

  He actually was even more bothered than before. Was it an attack that failed from Ter’Abran? He didn’t really have time to contemplate that now. His team had won, and the exit from this damnable world of caverns was just moments away after looting this body. “Let’s see what this monster has to offer after all the trouble that we went just to kill it.”

  He hesitantly touched the body. As the battle finally ended, the levels earned flooded the members of the party with new health, taking away the scars and wounds earned during battle. Belar got up from her seated position near the wall and walked over to the group next to Fer’shad. Ora’El walked over to the group after being mobbed by her retinue who came running through the instance portal the moment the beast was defeated.

  Experience for defeating Ter’Abran..550XP

  Earth binder Staff

  Brimstone chest piece

  Earthstone Gauntlets

  Molten Earth Helm

  Cowl of Ter’Abran

  5 keys to Robahn’s Citadel

  As the familiar black smoke appeared, five items laid themselves at his feet. The first item he picked up was a staff. Definitely for a magic user, so it was obviously apparent who should get the staff. He held the item and put it in Ora’El’s hands.

  “Thank you for your help Ora’El. You earned this staff.” He said sincerely.

  She looked on her new staff with reverence. “Yes, it is a fine weapon indeed.”

  Ora’El stepped back to marvel at her new weapon. Then he picked up the chest piece of armor. It was leather-based and the same midnight blue color, with a 10% resistance to fire. The stats had 7+ stamina and 2+ health. This wasn’t a hard decision to make either since Belar would get the most out of it. Not to mention that she was the only one without a strong chest piece stat-wise. Belar couldn’t wait to change into her new gear. Which is why Kel’Van turned his back on her as he picked up the other items. He could already picture her smirking behind his back in his head.

  The next item was a pair of gauntlets. What was weird about them to Kel’Van was that they were made of leather and bone. The inside was fur, and the underside was tough leather. But when turned on the front side, the leather was covered in a hard, black bone-like substance. He was unsure who to give this out to till he read the stats. 6+ health, 3+stamina. The armor set bonus was a 15% chance to form a defensive shield over the party when taking damage over 20 % of their HP. Definitely belongs to a tank.

  “I think this belongs to you big guy,” said Kel’Van

  “Thank you captain,” said Fer’shad. He bowed his head as he accepted the gear.

  The next item was a leather helmet the same midnight blue as the other gear. The helmet was all-encompassing except for the eyes, the area was shaped like a V. The stats were 6+ to stamina and 3+ to health. The armor set was a 15% chance to execute a strike combo.

  “Is this a variation of the rage-induced attack that Ter’Abran used?”

  This went to Voresh since he was the only one without headgear, and it matched the stats he needed.

  “Here you go, you cocky bastard,” grinned Kel’Van.

  “I not sure what you mean by that captain, but I’m sure you’ll explain over a drink,” smiled Voresh.

  He took his helmet and immediately tried it on, relishing the feel of it.

  Last of course, was himself. The item was another headpiece. It was a cowled hood, the same color as most of the other’s gear. It looked almost the same as Voresh’s headpiece, only that there was a hood connected to the headpiece, and that the mouth covering could be pulled down. “Cowl of Ter’Abran “had 6+ Magic and 3+ stamina. The armor set bonus was a 20% increase in damage from both Earth and Fire spells. The earth damage wasn’t significant, but the 20% increase in fire damage was a godsend if he could get the entire set. Based on these set bonuses, they may be glad to leave, but they will definitely have to make time to come back and farm this place later.

  There was also a loose set of 5 red and black stones shape like inverted pitch forks. He handed them off to all of them. As he handed the last to Ora’El, the keys glowed and then melted in their hands.

  “What the hell?” said Kel’Van as he stared at his hand. As did the others watching the keys disappear.

  “It’s okay Kel’Van,” answered the Korai woman. “This is normal for a dungeon such as this. These keys are now attuned to us. Only we five can turn the locks to enter the dungeon. No one else. You can either enter with 4 others or with the original members who earned the keys.

  “Is that what you are planning to do with your guard?” asked Belar

  “Yes,” Ora’El answered. Then she turned to Kel’Van. “Unless you come in with me?” Kel’Van shook his head and was about to speak, but Ora’El interrupted him before he could start.

  “I understand that you want to go home, but look at what we’ve accomplished here adventurer, think of what we can accomplish inside. The treasure and power that can be ours. We have a powerful
team here, why not finish what we started?”

  “Ora’El, we are not here for adventure and treasure. Our goal has always been to get home.” Kel’Van walked closer towards Ora’El to look her in the eye. “Yes, we defeated a powerful Boss, but it was the entry guard. How powerful are the beings going to be on the inside?” Ora’El was about to speak, but he put out his palm to get her to stop. “Think on it Ora’El…How many health potions did we have to use to get past this guard? How many are left? Logistically, it is a nightmare to go tackle anyone inside at this point.”

  Ora’El smiled while she looked at Kel’Van staring at her, resolute in his decision.”Are you telling me not to go in adventurer?”

  “Yes, I am. Going in as you are with no healer is suicide.”

  “Hmph,” she said. “Then I guess I should get back to dying then. Unlike you captain, I cannot go home. In a few days, I may have no home or people to return to. The only thing I have left is what lies within that dungeon. Unless you can say with assurance that your surface orcs will give us succor and shelter?”

  Kel’Van didn’t even pretend he could do that. He didn’t have the standing, let alone the authority to make that decision.“No, I cannot,” he flatly stated.

  A smile that no longer reached her eyes formed on her face. “Then I will take the only option left to me. Farewell Adventurer.” Then she quickly gathered her guard. “Come, we have a dungeon and power to conquer.”

  The guards followed their mistress and formed a semi-circle in front of her after pressing her palm into the door where the elemental came out of. Immediately the seamed glowed, and they walked in. Ora’El didn’t even turn around as the door closed in behind her.

  Voresh reseated his blade into a more comfortable position. “There are many vile things I can say about that woman,” he said. “But being a coward is not one of them.”

  Kel’Van almost corrected Voresh by saying not being a coward didn’t mean you were intelligent or capable of reasoning either. God only knows how many people died a needless death just to prove they weren’t scared. But he had to admit there was some courage in knowing in your heart your chances were slim to none, but because there was no other option, you trudged along anyway. So, he kept his biting remarks to himself.