by Albion, Rex
His ears were filled with the screaming of cultists who were on fire, to one degree or another. The ones closest to the barrel were lying on the floor, burning but not moving. Further away, some were rolling around, trying to put out the oil that was stuck to their clothing and flesh, but the floor was cold, hard stone, not dirt. It wasn’t helping do much, except spread burning oil.
Others were in various states of distress, stumbling about dazed and confused. Only a handful near Vandal seemed to be on their feet and starting to get a hold of themselves. He rushed the nearest, or rather stumbled toward him, and slashed at him wildly, as if he was drunk.
He’d maimed two before Roxy’s healing spell found him, and then he started to improve a lot better. He had the advantage now and was soon cutting a swathe through the least injured cultists. Vandal would slash at one, stab another, inflicting wounds on as many as he could.
Roxy had moved into the corner of the room, where she could see him and was casting her Zap spell at any uninjured cultists she could see. Panic had broken out, and as his senses cleared from Roxy’s healing spell, Vandal could see cultists in full rout, running for the exit. They were hampered by their burning friends and some tripped over only to get oil over themselves. It was chaos, which suited him just fine.
With a triumphant roar, he finished a couple of cultists one after the other with his Cutthroat move and realised that was a great move to use. They were already injured, and disoriented, so grabbing them and exposing their throats was easy. He found he did have to do it from behind though. If there was a way to just slash them across the throat from the front, it must require a different move.
Instead of going after the uninjured cultists, he began giving any of the nearby ones the coup-de-gras with Cutthroat to boost the experience they’d both get as party members.
Vandal saw a man’s head explode in a shower of gore when Roxy’s Zap hit it, and she yelled with excitement.
New Finishing Move: Roxy Lickspring has unlocked a new finishing move, Headbanger! 50 XP!
“Finishing move, motherfuckers! Take that! And that!” Roxy shouted gleefully as the heads of already injured cultists began to detonate in sprays of blood and bone as her lightning finished them off. It reminded him of a more subdued version of the finale of a recent comedy spy film, only with less gaudy pyrotechnics. Each detonation was accompanied by a completely unsubtle sound effect. It was glorious, but going to give him a massive cleaning bill, if Vandal was ever standing too close to one of her targets.
“Intruder!” screamed the high priest. He was frothing at the mouth as he ran at Vandal, a golden ceremonial dagger in his right hand, and an unholy book in his left. The dagger was completely over the top Vandal realised in the split second before they clashed. It had a huge ruby in the pommel, the hilt was covered in gold, and the blade was ridiculously curved.
Vandal had no idea what the technical name for the knife was, but it looked like the sort of thing a prince or wealthy and corrupt priest would use. It was like a medieval penis extension. But as ludicrous as it looked, it had a weird glow to the blade, which didn’t seem like something he wanted his opponent to have.
The high priest may have been in the throes of a rabidly epic fit of temper, but that didn't stop his first flew slashes and feints with the knife from making Vandal cautious of him. How dangerous is this guy? Vandal wondered, and immediately his foe's portrait, similar to Vandal and Roxy’s, appeared in the top centre of his user interface.
The portrait bore the name, Archdeacon of Libidos, a little orange border and a number 2 on a glowing orb just under his picture.
If previous experience was anything to go buy, the colourful border meant this was some kind of special or rare opponent, a champion and he was a whole level higher too. That meant he was a challenge, and Roxy had said, earlier the developers wanted this to be a slower than usual game to level up in. A single level of difference was probably more significant than usual which explained why the sergeant had been quite tough earlier.
Sure enough, as if to confirm his guesswork, the Archdeacon scored a vicious cut across Vandal’s forearm, on his weapon hand no less.
“You will die for your intrusion, barbarian!”
“No, you will die for your crimes, man from a more advanced civilisation!” Vandal laughed.
The priest’s confused look was immediately followed by a crack and a flash of light against his robe, producing a yelp of pain. Roxy had joined the fight, which was hardly fair. Vandal lashed out with his foot, catching the man right between the legs and making him stagger back with a howl of anguish.
Fuck him, he’d been going to defile Roxy, the bastard, Vandal thought.
He lunged after the priest and buried his sword in the man’s shoulder, but he got the knife in his leg in response.
They separated, the priest muttered some words, which produced a magical glow around his shoulder. The wound healed up before Vandal’s eyes. Shit. Of course, he had magic, he was a priest. It didn’t seem fair that he was good with the knife and had magic.
Another Zap hit the priest in the chest, and Vandal slashed at him again, his blade deflected by the knife.
“Dark lord, grant me your blessing!” the bastard shouted as he pressed another attack.
Vandal wasn’t happy with the buff icon he saw appear next to the priest’s portrait, but since he didn’t know what it meant and didn’t have time to find out, he ignored it and traded blows with him again instead. They each avoided the other’s blade by a hair’s breadth, but the priest took another Zap to the leg and snarled in pain.
Vandal could see the health bar over the priest’s head was down by about a third now, which was promising. He just wished he hadn’t healed. How many times could he do that, he wondered as they parried, slashed and feint, dancing back and forth across the floor.
At the moment, Roxy was doing all the damage and Vandal wasn’t getting anywhere. Then the priest got another stab into him, and he dropped to one knee, as the strength went out of his left leg. It was like it was suddenly numb and Vandal had a pretty good idea what the buff the priest had cast did. One more hit like that, and he’d be immobilised.
Roxy’s healing spell hit him, but the paralysing de-buff on his leg didn’t vanish, and the priest’s mouth curled in a cruel smile as he pressed his advantage.
“Feel the wrath of the Dark Lord! His lust is powerful, but his vengeance is total!” the Archdeacon howled as he plunged the dagger toward Vandal’s head in an overhand blow.
Vandal desperately pushed up with his right leg, thrusting his sword up at the priest’s stomach, and snarling with triumph as he buried it in the man’s guts.
His arm went numb though, and he couldn't hold on, his right hand was completely nerveless, and he screamed in pain and frustration as the knife stuck in his right shoulder. Fuck that’s a weird sensation, Vandal thought.
The priest was staring at him in shock, trying to back away, but Vandal hopped after him, and reached out, once, twice, trying to grab his sword with his off hand. Third time’s the charm he thought, as he hopped forward once more. This time he caught it, just about. The priest staggered as his touch moved the blade in his stomach.
“Get off me, heathen!” the priest gasped desperately, as if Vandal would somehow listen to him, while his ceremonial knife was embedded in his shoulder. It was a bloody good job it numbed his limb, or he would probably faint from the pain. He could feel it grinding against a bone.
Vandal hopped comically one more time, and managed to get a better grip on the sword, wrenching it free with his boosted strength. The priest screamed again as the metal ripped from his flesh, and Vandal snarled.
“Die, fucker!” he spat as he began his finishing move.
“The Dark Lord will destroy this land, barbarian! I am merely one Archdeacon! We are legion!” the unholy man boasted, as Vandal’s attack ended his life.
Whirling Decapitation! You spin around and lop the head from your opponent
!
The priest’s head rolled away from his collapsing body, and Vandal looked around for the next enemy, but they were all dead, almost dead from fire, or perhaps they had fled. Had they really killed them all? It didn’t seem like they’d got them.
Roxy was at his side a moment later, helping him over to the altar, where he could sit his massive frame down. She laid a hand on his arm, casting her heal over time spell, and watching carefully as his health bar slowly rose.
“Grit your teeth, this might hurt.”
“No, it’s completely numb, I can’t feel a thing,” Vandal said, with a shake of his head.
Roxy nodded, though she looked doubtful. Still, she took hold of the knife and pulled it free as cleanly as she could. Vandal screamed and slapped his working hand against his numb thigh.
“Sorry.”
“No, you were right, that fucking hurt. I’ll manage. Fuck me, this game is brutal.”
“Yeah, the combat is but the detailed sensory feedback does have some other upsides,” Roxy said, with a big wink.
Vandal laughed, and immediately regretted it. He panted for a few moments, trying to master the pain but it wasn’t until the healing got him much closer to full health that he began to get control.
“Yeah,” he said, finally. “That’s a big bonus alright. Did we get them all? I couldn’t see what was going on?”
“We got a few,” Roxy said. “Some definitely went out of that tunnel over there. Does it lead to the surface?”
“I guess so, but I didn’t come in that way, I killed two guards out the front, then found the back way to the prison cell where you were. I think I managed to skip a lot of the fights I could have had doing that. Or maybe it’s just a direct path,” Vandal said, standing up gingerly. The de-buffs from the magic of the priest had gone, and he was a few points from being fully healed now. “You’re probably supposed to come here with a party, but I was just going to play the game solo for a bit and get a feel for it before I got into that side of things. Before I met you, that is.”
“I think we’ve won though, right?”
“I’m going to go after them, see if I can find any more. If they’re injured, they might not have got very far. Coming?”
“No, I’ll make sure all of these are dead. I know it’s silly, but it feels cruel to let them suffer if they’re just clinging on with burns like that.”
“Nah, that’s cool. I won’t put myself at risk, just see if there’s any to finish off.”
“Good. Shout if you need help,” Roxy called after him as he jogged off down the corridor.
* * *
Roxy had managed to douse all the areas of burning oil with the blanket the card players had been using after soaking it in the pool of water. The blanket was ruined, but the smoke was clearing. There was enough air flow in the cavernous room to do that, which was a relief.
When she got a notification, she guessed that Vandal had done his work, and would be coming back soon. There had only been three cultists she’d had to finish, and thankfully the finishing move she’d learned had range, so she didn’t need to stab them or anything intimate like that.
Quest Update: You have successfully routed the wicked cultists from the hidden temple near Tinshire. Return to Captain Myers of the Tinshire Town Watch to complete the quest and receive your rewards.
You killed six Cultists (lvl 1). 60 XP
Your finishing moves killed eight Cultists (lvl 1). 88 XP
You killed one Archdeacon of Libidos (lvl 2 - Rare). 40 XP
Congratulations! You have acquired 2,115 experience points and you have reached level 2. Each time an Awoken adventurer levels up, they grow more powerful and can gain access to new skills and abilities. Don’t forget to visit your character sheet to purchase your preferred advancements.
The quest had completed a minute or two after she’d killed the last cultist in the room, so she guessed that Vandal would be coming back soon. Roxy looked around, sizing up the area and made some preparations for his return. Then she simply waited for him.
* * *
Vandal strolled into the temple, feeling quite pleased with himself. He’d found four more cultists but suspected a few had got away from them entirely. It didn’t matter, he’d seen the notifications as Roxy finished the ones in the temple, and when he’d caught up with the last of the ones he could find and hacked him down in a clearing full of bluebells, the sub-quest had completed. Then he’d seen a flurry of experience for kills, and the level up message.
He was already working out what they should do next. When they were done here, finding loot and looking for secrets, they could return to the town, and turn in the main quest for the rewards and experience. It had been a good first day, and it wasn’t even dark outside yet. Roxy seemed like she’d make a good adventuring partner so with any luck she’d be up for more quests.
Vandal was whistling to himself, completely out of tune, as he did his level best to saunter confidently into the temple. “I’m back,” he called out. “Let’s find some treasure!”
Vandal was a fair way into the temple room before he registered the sight before him.
Roxy was sitting on the altar, smiling at him, and beckoning to him with a finger.
And she was naked.
“If you want treasure, my Lord, you can claim this booty!” she said, in as sultry a voice as he’d ever heard from a woman’s mouth. Damn, goblins are so sexy, he thought.
“Yes, Ma’am!”
Chapter Nine
Vandal reached for his belt, as he drew up to Roxy’s parted legs, but she brushed his hand away. “That’s my job, sexy,” she admonished, unbuckling his sword belt, and dropping it to the altar beside her. He was so tall, his waist was well above the level of the stone platform.
Roxy had found a bearskin rug from somewhere and draped it over the altar. He was grateful for that. He’d always seen porn of people fucking on marble kitchen counters and only been able to think how cold and uncomfortable it must be.
Her deft hands had his loincloth around his ankles in a moment and she took a firm grip on his stiff cock. Vandal was ready to fuck her over that altar, but Roxy had other plans. Firmly she pulled him close, and her magical mouth descended on him, wrapping around his member and swallowing him to the root.
Vandal practically whimpered, as the shaman went to work on him. Her left hand cradled his balls, her right pumped at his shaft vigorously in time with her head as it bobbed up and down. Her tongue was everywhere it seemed.
Roxy even wrapped her little legs around his meaty thighs, pulling him in as much as she could. There was no foreplay or ceremony, she just went for him, hungry for his cock and eager to please. And she did please him. Very much.
This woman had a skill with her mouth that he had nothing to compare it with that even approached the same level. Never had a girlfriend been as bold or accomplished, not that he’d been previously disappointed, but Roxy could have taught cock sucking college classes.
Vandal’s head tipped back, and she mumbled something, then smacked him on the side of his thigh. He looked down, and her hand returned to his balls. Her big, beautiful eyes were locked on his. She wants me to watch her, Vandal thought, his smile turning into an uncontrollable grin. Roxy was perfect. Simply perfect. Her gorgeous breasts, with perfect nipples were on full display, as her plump, red lips worked on his head.
A few moments later, as he watched her, and she smiled up at him he realised he was close to coming. She was keeping eye contact all the time as he murmured, “Good girl. Good girl.” His appreciative words made her moan passionately around his cock and he just knew she loved that, and that he should remember that detail, in case there was a next time.
Roxy pulled back looking up at him, “Are you going to come for me, huh? Will you come for me, sweetie?” He had barely finished saying yes before her mouth enveloped him again. Her hand pumped him in a blur now and she sucked even harder, her tongue firmly pressuring his glans.
“
I’m coming!” he shouted, as his thick cock began to pulse, and his buttocks thrust him forward. Roxy didn’t even gag, she just took him, as he filled her mouth with his seed. When his final spasm finished, he leaned back, and his eyes widened.
Roxy opened her mouth and showed of the thick, creamy pool of his seed on her tongue which she stuck out, just like his favourite videos.
“That’s so hot,” he said, and her eyes twinkled at him. She knew it was hot. She knew it and she loved the effect it had on him. Her hand gently stroked his cock. It took him a moment to realise something was expected of him.
“Are you going to swallow that for me, sexy?”
Roxy closed her mouth with a smile, tipped her head back even more and he could see her throat moving as she swallowed. Then she opened her mouth again showing him her clean tongue and licked her lips.
“All gone. Yummy.”
“Good girl,” Vandal said, stroking her hair. “Good girl.”
“Thank you, Vandal, for your lovely cum,” Roxy said.
“No, thank you. That was amazing.”
“I told you the first one wasn’t the fast blowjob,” she said, with a wink.
“Yeah, you did. I admit, you were not wrong.”
Roxy pumped at his cock, and Vandal looked at it, surprised to see he was fully erect. He was disappointed when she let go, but then she shuffled back, and turned over.
On all fours, facing along the length of the altar, she wiggled her ass suggestively as she looked at him.
“Well? Are you going to claim the booty you won, Vandal?” she teased.
He was up on the altar behind her, before he even knew what was happening. He stroked her back, down to her buttocks and squeezed the perfectly shaped globes, spreading them and exposing her holes even more. Vandal brushed this thumb over her rosebud, and she gasped, looking over her shoulder at him with a huge grin.