by Aleron Kong
Two skaths surged towards him. Their bodies were compact like Rottweilers, and their heads were oversized to match. Large serrated teeth lined their gaping mouths and green-brown scales covered their body, the perfect camouflage for hiding in the river. Their long claws let them gain purchase in the muddy bank, which is how they were able to close with Richter in just a few seconds.
Only two things saved him. One, his spell-hastened body let him jump backwards and dodge the skaths’ first attack. Two, Alma was a bit of a badass. For the first time in battle, she released her improved Psi Blast. The ability had not only become stronger by reaching level two, but it also let her narrow or widen the AoE with a corresponding change in strength. Richter saw just how powerful the concentrated beam could be.
The effect was obvious and devastating. The two skaths attacking Richter collapsed to the ground as if their strings had been cut. A small amount of blood also leaked from their noses and eyes. Three more also dropped, including the one that had been holding onto Caulder. That unfortunately meant that Caulder was caught in the blast too. The sergeant collapsed along with the skath that had bitten him, and his nose and mouth were cast down into the water.
Terrod rushed to help his sergeant, while another skath was attacking Krom. The dwarf cried out, “Eat this, ye ugly bastard!” as he swung his ebony hammer diagonally. His target was the skath’s large head, something that shouldn’t have been hard to miss, but the monster surprised the smith. It bent its legs and flattened its body so that the heavy sledge passed just over its head. The black weapon whistled through the air and buried itself in the soft earth of the riverbank. While Krom tried to free his weapon, the skath sprung up from its hunched position and clamped its powerful jaws on the dwarf’s shoulder. Krom lost his grip on his weapon and went down with an oath that sounded more like a curse.
Meanwhile, Sedrin and Jean fought together to hold back another three skaths. The guard had his boar spear pointed towards the three monsters, which were slowly stalking forward undaunted. Jean had scored a lucky shot and had landed his crossbow bolt in the open mouth of a fourth skath. It wasn’t dead, but the bolt had pierced the soft tissue on the inside of its throat. It hacked violently as it choked on its own blood. The Air mage was trying desperately to reload the crossbow before Sedrin was overwhelmed.
Sion and Ulinde retreated a small way to give themselves a better field of fire. The move was almost instinctual, born of thousands of hours each of archery training. The two men knew they needed to be back from the melee in order to have the greatest effect. Unfortunately, the skaths that were engaging the other members of the war party were too close to their comrades for the archers to strike at safely. More monsters were surfacing in the river, though, so the two bowmen kept up a steady rain of arrows, hoping to thin their ranks before they could attack the rest of the war party.
Battles were raging all around Richter, but he couldn’t rush to his party members’ aid just yet. He knew that the stun effect from Alma’s Psi Blast would only last for a few seconds and he had to kill the skaths in front of him while they were helpless. He gave Alma an order to help Beyan and then drew his sword. He stalked towards the two helpless skaths. He cast Soul Trap with his free hand and plunged his sword down through his target’s skull. Withdrawing the gore-covered blade, he did the same with the other. A muffled boom echoed from the water, and Richter looked up to see a previously hidden skath reel back not five yards away from his captain. It had not hidden well enough to escape Sion’s watchful gaze, and the sprite had managed to strike it with an imbued arrow. The actual arrow strike lost some of its power as the skath was still a foot underwater, but the magic invested into the arrow more than made up for it.
A bloom of red blood spread through the water. The captain looked up in gratitude at Sion and tried to pick Caulder up out of the water. The skath that had attacked the sergeant still had a death lock on his arm though. Not wanting it to regain consciousness while he was struggling to save Caulder, he knew that he had to kill it while it was helpless. Standing in knee-high water, Terrod drew his sword and stabbed down into the skath’s neck. He sawed his dusky grey blade back and forth to increase the bleeding, but still the comatose skath maintained its grip. Knowing he was running out of time, Terrod dropped his sword and grabbed Caulder with both arms. He slowly dragged both the sergeant and his attacker out of the water. He silently prayed to the banished gods that the monster died before it could recover its wits, his only hope being that the skath would bleed out before it regained consciousness. Another boom sounded as Sion struck the hidden skath for a second time, giving Terrod cover as he tried to get his compatriot to safety.
Krom screamed. The skath still had its mouth clamped on his shoulder and now had gotten on top of the dwarf. It was raking his chest with its brutal front claws, and only the high quality of Krom’s chainmail had kept him from being eviscerated. The defense wouldn’t last long though. As he fought to get free, links on his armor were already snapping. He struggled to get to his dagger, but his belt had shifted thanks to the skath’s efforts to maul him and he couldn’t reach the hilt. Having no other recourse, he just kept pounding his fists against the skath’s hard skull.
Richter stabbed his two stunned enemies twice more to ensure their deaths, but then a scream grabbed his attention. Looking over, he saw Beyan had carefully aimed his crossbow and shot the skath that was holding him in the eye. From the amount of bolt still sticking out of the skull, though, he knew that the gnome’s shot hadn’t penetrated the brain. The paralysis from Richter’s stored spell had elapsed, and the enraged monster was dragging Beyan into deeper water again. The gnome screamed in pain as the monster bit harder into his leg, but was saved by Alma. Diving in, she used her special attack and latched onto the skath’s oversized head. The animal screamed in agony, which finally loosened its grip on Beyan’s leg.
The skath tried to shake off its attacker, but its body would no longer obey the command of its mind. It fell over on its side while Alma continued to drain its memories, health, mana, and stamina. Beyan’s leg leaked blood into the water, and the pain he was feeling overwhelmed almost everything else. The one thing that he felt stronger than the agony in his leg, though, was an anger that he spent his life trying to keep at bay. With a furious shout, he contorted his body so he could reach the crossbow bolt sticking out of the skath’s eye. Wrapping his hand around the length of metal, he screamed in rage while moving his fist like he was scrambling eggs. Finally, the bolt aligned with the eye socket and the weapon sunk deeper, penetrating the river skath’s small brain. The beast's chest deflated as it died. Alma released her grip on the dead monster and rose back into the air. She crowed her triumph at another enemy vanquished and immediately started winging back towards her master to protect him from any other threat.
Beyan slumped down over the body of the river skath, both physically pained and emotionally exhausted. The sounds of battle continued to echo around him, but before he could even push himself out of the water, he saw a telltale line of bubbles breaking the surface of the river in front of him. The disturbance was only twenty feet away and it started moving swiftly towards him. With a cry he threw himself backwards. His hand extended towards the dead skath, and purple-black energy dance on his fingertips.
While Alma had been draining the skath attacking Beyan, Terrod had managed to get Caulder safely out of the river. The guard sergeant recovered from Alma’s Psi Blast and fell to his knees, coughing up the river water he had swallowed. Luckily, the skath that had been attacking him had indeed bled to death, relaxing its bite as it died. Terrod drew a dagger to protect the sergeant while he purged the river from his lungs.
Sedrin’s fight was not going well. He had plunged his spear into one of the skaths while the other two lunged. A speeding blue arrow struck the one directly in front of him, but the third skath rammed the guard in his side. Its oversized, thickened skull made the perfect battering ram, and Sedrin went down. He fell onto his ch
est and the skath that had body checked him bit savagely into his leg. The teeth penetrated the chainmail leggings, but they at least kept the skath from tearing off a bloody chunk. He screamed as the skath he had stabbed rushed forward as well. Sedrin threw up an arm to keep the skath away from his face, but the monster just began to savage his extended hand. It bit off two fingers, then proceeded to bite and destroy the rest of his hand. Sedrin screamed. He screamed.
The Air mage jumped on the back of the skath that was chewing on Sedrin’s leg. All he had was a steel dagger though. With Jean’s low Strength, the blade barely broke through the monster’s hide. Each attack drew a small amount of blood, but did little else. Jean didn’t stop though. He kept stabbing, but the monster beneath him kept mauling Sedrin’s leg and the guard kept screaming.
Richter finally made his way through the river mud to help his fallen guardsmen. Another imbued arrow from Sion struck the skath that was attacking Sedrin’s hand. It was knocked to the side, but the guard lost another finger as its mouth was ripped away. Richter ran through the mud to attack it while it was vulnerable, stabbed his short sword into its soft underbelly, and yanked the sharp blade up. With a red spray, the skath’s guts spilled out onto the ground. It still struggled to get to its feet, but before it could manage it, Richter extended his hand and cast Flame I. Fire shot out from his hand and burned the river skath’s flesh. The entrails and skin burned faster than he would have thought possible, and in a few seconds the skath stopped moving.
While her master killed his third skath, Alma had latched onto the head of the monster attacking Sedrin’s leg. Its jaw loosened and it fell to the ground twitching. Jean tumbled free from its back and stumbled over to bandage Sedrin’s bleeding wounds. Delirious with pain, the man continued to thrash, not understanding that Jean was trying to help him. His wounds bled heavily. Richter ran back over and thrust his short sword into the skath Alma was draining. He thrust his sword into it repeatedly, until it finally died as well.
While all of this was happening, Krom had finally managed to draw his cobalt dagger and was desperately stabbing the skath on top of him in the neck, over and over. The tips of its back claws had made their way through the chainmail on his abdomen and had pierced his stomach in several places. The dwarf’s organs remained inside his body, but his stomach was a bloody mess. He kept stabbing, hoping to kill the beast or at least take it with him through death’s door, but his vision began to grow dark. His fingers were losing strength. He knew his fight was done, but then, strength suddenly surged through his body again! Richter’s Life magic began to knit skin and muscle back together, and Krom found the will to stab the creature with renewed vigor. Suddenly, the creature shivered and fell atop the dwarf, hundreds of pounds of dead weight. Krom didn’t know how his awkwardly positioned strikes had managed to slay the beast, but he was relieved that it was dead. A second later, Krom discovered the answer to the riddle. He hadn’t killed the skath, his lord had.
Richter withdrew his sword from the skath’s body. The chaos seed gave Alma a mental order to summon a life wisp and then stuck his sword in the ground. He grabbed the jaws of the monster lying on top of the smith and pulled with all of his might. In his Earth body there was no way that he would have been able to manage this, but with his Strength attribute of thirty-two it was well within his capability. He felt the sinews of the skath’s jaws snap, but he was able to loosen its hold on Krom’s shoulder and then kick it off of the dwarf. Krom got to his feet, cursing up a storm. His arm was hanging limp.
“Where is my hammer?” the dwarf raged.
“It doesn’t matter where. Hang back and heal yourself and Sedrin,” Richter commanded.
“I can fight!” Krom spat.
“You’re a healer now. Sedrin is dying. Help him!”
Krom looked at the bleeding man. His face looked like he had just swallowed something awful, but he did as commanded. Caulder and Terrod made their way over to stand with Richter as more bubbles raced towards them from the river. Four more skath surfaced and began stalking forward. Behind them, came another one that was half again as large as the others. Richter Analyzed it.
Bull River Skath. Level 34. Health 760. Mana 210. Stamina 610. The larger of the species, male river skath are often solitary creatures. Unlikely to attack unless threatened. The exception to this is during mating season when one bull will mate with an entire pack of females. Travelers have come to fear meeting a bull in this scenario as their normal solitary nature is replaced with a horrible belligerence. They can also release magical pheromones to increase the ferocity and strength of female skaths.
Richter shook his head. “This shit just keeps getting better and better. Sion! Ulinde! Take out the big one!”
Richter heard Krom muttering an incantation to summon a weak life wisp as Terrod took position on his right and Caulder stood to his left. Seeing Terrod holding only a dagger, he gritted his teeth, then said, “Take this. Shit’s about to get interesting!”
He shoved his sword into the captain’s grasp and then extended his hands. The skaths were only a couple yards away now, staring at the villagers with their teeth bared. The bull skath stood right behind them, and Richter saw a green glow start to surround it. They were out of time. “Let’s do it!”
Sion released, and the blue arrow streaked forward and struck the bull on its haunch with a loud boom. Ulinde’s shot struck the bull on the snout. Frost spread outward from the wound. Neither attack stopped the bull skath’s ability, though, and a green mist shot out from its body in all directions for forty feet. It surrounded all of the female skaths, whose claws grew longer and whose muscles grew more defined before Richter’s very eyes. Each also seemed to grow several inches in both height and width. The transformation was almost amazing enough to distract from the disgusting fact that he had just gotten bull skath pheromone in his mouth. As he spat it out in irritation, he finally understood the point that Jenny Vanderhorne had tried to make when he was fifteen: you just don’t do that without asking for permission! He channeled his anger and after a one second cast, his hands snapped together and bathed the lead skath in orange flame.
Buffed or not, the skath couldn’t withstand the flames and it scurried away from the assault to take refuge in the river. Before Richter could pursue, the other skaths attacked. The skaths to the far left and right engaged Caulder and Terrod respectively. The inner two, however, attacked Richter directly. He swept his flame towards the one on the left, which shied away, but it left him completely open to attack on the right.
The skath jumped forward with its mouth open. Its hormone enraged eyes were bulging as it swiftly closed the distance. There was no way that Richter could dodge, but once again, his soul familiar saved the day. Lightning fired from above and struck the skath, short-circuiting its system. Three hundred pounds of enraged river skath cow struck Richter at the speed of a run, but it didn’t have the ability to bite down for a couple crucial seconds.
Nonetheless, Richter was knocked down, with the skath falling to his side. When he hit the ground he looked over to see the skath’s stunned form, the mouth not six inches from his face. He swiftly rolled away as it struggled to regain its wits. Before he had gone more than a foot, though, a massive set of jaws closed on his left thigh. The skath that Richter had burned had rejoined the fight.
Caulder and Terrod did their best to stand firm against the assault of their respective skaths. They both knew that they had to keep the skaths away from the injured party members. Even with the elementum sword, though, the magically enraged skath attacking Terrod was barely kept at bay. Caulder had already received another bleeding injury to the hip. A constant staccato of booms told the story of Sion’s attack on the bull skath, but the sprite wasn’t able to put much energy into each strike because of the speed of attack.
Krom saw all of this while he knelt over Sedrin’s still form. The man still breathed thanks to the dwarf’s healing spells, but he had swooned and was defenseless. Jean was busy casti
ng Haste I on all of the party members and was still trying to reload his crossbow. Caulder went down as a skath rushed forward and bit his leg. Terrod was pulled farther from the group, trying to keep his opponent at bay. Richter was stabbing the skath biting him with a dagger, but it wasn’t releasing its savage hold, and the only reason he hadn’t been killed by the other was that Alma was attached to its head. The skath was down, but the dragonling was also out of the fight. To make matters worse, the larger skath was almost close enough to join the fight again despite Sion and Ulinde’s withering fire. When he saw two more shambling forward through the river, he knew that the fight was over.
The two skaths approached Terrod and the reptile he was fighting. The captain came to the same conclusion as Richter, knowing that he couldn’t hold off three. As he prepared for a last suicidal lunge, his only thought was of Isabella. Before he could complete his attack, though, the two skaths surged forward… and bit into the skath Terrod had been fighting. None could ever say who was more surprised, the beleaguered monster or him, but Terrod wasn’t going to waste the moment. The two skaths had bitten into its left arm and leg. The monster roared in protest, but Terrod wasn’t interested in fair. The captain shoved the green sword through its open mouth and up into its brain. Its body froze for a second before crumpling to the ground.
Terrod withdrew the sword and prepared to defend himself from the other two, but they were already shambling towards the bull skath. Now that he had a moment, he could clearly see that one had a crossbow bolt sticking out of its eye and the other had a fist-sized hole in its side dripping black ooze. A loud shout made him look to the right just in time to see Beyan thrust his hand forward and finish an incantation. A purple-black disc with a white chattering skull in the middle shot from the gnome’s hand and struck the bull skath broadside. It rocked back from the blow and roared in pain for the first time.