"Stay there Daphne, I’ll shield bash the leader over toward you. Be ready it won’t stay stunned for long," Cain said. Daphne told him, "As if I'll need a load of time to kill it." Toni bent lower to the ground, she jammed the edge of her Aspis into the soil, making her a harder target to move. Her Doru she held poised to thrust at the Satyr.
The leader of this group of Satyrs leapt toward Cain, thinking to take the human by surprise. Leading with its shield out front and its short sword cocked back over its shoulder. Its mouth opened in surprise as the large human moved faster than it was expecting.
Cain's large shield smashed into the Satyr's face and torso, pushing it over toward Daphne. Stunned from the impact the Satyr landed in a heap on the ground. Shaking its head was the last conscious action it took. Daphne used her gladii like a pair of scissors as she took the leader's head from its shoulders, as she cartwheeled over its seated position.
The Satyr which attacked Toni tried running into the braced shield, its head acting like a bell clapper, Toni’s shield made a dong sound. Knocked back and stunned from head butting Toni’s shield, the Satyr could not defend its self as Toni stabbed it with her Doru. Four good stabs with her Doru and Toni killed the Satyr, with her last stab the Doru ruptured the Satyr’s heart.
Cain after shield bashing the leader, knocking it toward Daphne, was still moving while a Satyr gashed his leg mid-thigh, his pleated kilt not long enough to deflect the blow. As the Satyr tried the same manoeuvre, it found Cain had lopped its arm off at its shoulder. Cain’s next blow split the Satyr’s head in half, ending any threat. Cain scanned the clearing no Satyrs remained alive.
Toni wanted to use a medium healing kit, Cain held her arm back, telling her to wait. He didn’t think they would be available here hence the healing and stamina potions they looted.
"Can you hear the bleating noise?" Daphne said. "It’s coming from over there in the trees," Leaving the dead bodies they went toward the bleating sound. Cain's leg slowly healed as they walked. They walked around twenty yards into the trees and came across two Satyrs, one was hanging from its left leg, held in the air caught in a deadfall trap.
The other Satyr which was bleating was trapped in a head height rawhide cord trap, three arrow heads were holding it in place. Daphne killed the one hanging from the deadfall trap, while Toni shot the one stuck on the rawhide cord; Cain looted both bodies. With the last two Satyrs dead they returned to the other DreamBabes and looted the dead Satyrs as they walked.
Daphne looted the sub boss, finding a skill book, several potions and two gold bars, on the body. Cain and Toni found nothing of interest, just knives, Satyr pieces and a few hundred Obols. By the time they walked back to the outcrop Sophie, Bethany and Lesley had looted the rest of the Satyrs. Sophie cast small heal on the nearly closed gash, Cain received.
As they gathered together, they received a pop-up showing their kills from this small interaction.
After reading the list, Cain suggested they press on toward Cybele's temple. He brought up his local map and set the target destination to Agiasobele, and a waypoint at the Satyr cave where he could see several red icons. The cave was half a mile away while the walled town was a mile. Checking the time, Cain noticed it was nearly two in the afternoon. He estimated it would take three hours to find the cave, kill the boss of what the game system had marked as pack one. Finishing the killing part of the quest, Cain estimated an extra hour for the easy part walking to Agiasobele then hand the quest to Cybele’s priestess.
Cain explained to the DreamBabes what he would like to do, they agreed to doing as he planned with one provision. Ten minutes later after they had each taken a turn kissing and hugging each other. Cain thought,
:It certainly makes me feel invigorated, kissing and groping my women I just wish we could spend more time like that. There is one advantage with the Greek kilt, I will have no difficulty walking with an erection under it. Who would have guessed the Greeks had suitable clothing for walking fully aroused? I wonder if the Scots found the same, although the climate is considerably colder. Maybe the sporran has another older use than keeping their money safe?:
Chapter 13
Spelunking Deaths
Bethany and Sophie took point, they walked back toward the white, crushed rock trail. Upon reaching the trail, they walked single file on the grasses and rocks down another steep part of the mountain, toward the cave system. Their HUD map showed the red icons but no indication of an entrance, where Cain hoped they could access and find the remaining Satyrs. Checking the map they appeared and had been tagged by the system as group P1, the same as the Satyrs they had already killed. Cain said to the DreamBabes,
"Well, it looks like the remaining Satyrs we are looking for have gone to ground, though not necessarily hiding from us. Though they moved away from the group we killed before our skirmish started. Although the HUD map does not show what they are up to, it looks as though they are actively doing something underground. We need to go find and kill them to complete the first quest from Cybele."
As they walked, they talked about who would like to use the skill book, the book Daphne recovered from the sub boss's inventory. Sophie looked at the book using her identify skill and said to them,
"The skill book we looted, will give the reader not only the skill but two full levels in Alchemy." They discussed how important Alchemy would be in this game zone as there seemed to be no first aid kits recovered when they looted the dead Satyrs and Harpies.
Lesley said, "To be honest I didn't expect us to find any first aid kits like we did in the 2027 zone, we are after all back in three hundred and thirty-seven BC. I don't think any of you would expect to find Novocain, antibiotics or antiseptic wipes in this time period. We need to get our heads out of the last zone and into this one. Everything will be and should be different."
Bethany replied saying, "There must be willow trees here somewhere, we need to look for a wide stream or slow flowing river, I know what willows look like. We need to strip the bark in two inch wide strips, then dry it near a fire and once dry grind it as fine as we can make it. Hey presto natural aspirin. It isn't as strong a pain relief as more modern painkillers we are used to, but it works even if a bit gritty and sour tasting."
Sophie said, "I bet you there will be loads of cheese, cheese with green mould. We can use the mould as a primitive antibiotic paste. Hopefully the Alchemy book will have a recipe or two which can mimic some of the modern medicines we are used to."
Cain listened to the conversations and checked the map on his HUD, he zoomed in as close as the system would allow. He still counted six icons which were ten feet in front of their position, yet he could not see them above ground. Asking Sophie and Bethany, who were his best trackers besides himself and currently on point, to see if they could find signs of an underground entrance.
Toni, Lesley, Daphne and Cain, walked a little further while waiting for Bethany and Sophie. Checking his HUD again, Cain noticed Sophie and Bethany were returning to them. They had been searching for Satyr tracks they could use, for them to pinpoint where the Satyrs managed to get to their underground location.
Cain squeezed his head and groaned, bringing looks of concern from his DreamBabes. He told them a snippet from a book he read based on the Greek god of war, Ares. Or rather a story about a marine pilot called Jacob Merely.
"I can remember a passage in the book that has always stuck in my mind. Jacob was flying a sortie with another Marine Harrier pilot, out of the blue Jacob's plane flew into some force field, or temporal disturbance and he crashed a short distance from the shore. After he crashed, Jacob freed himself, then swam to the shore of an island he saw for but a few moments as his Harrier fell out of the sky. An island not dissimilar to the one we are on I would hazard to guess, according to the world map we have all seen. Anyway, Jacob reaches the shore then climbed up high to get a view and he saw a ruined temple in the centre of a walled city.
"He walked into the ruined city through gates ha
nging from the walls, then reached the temple, and went inside for the first time. The book says Jacob could tell there had been a bloody and deadly fight a long time ago. There within the temple complex were hundreds of dead bodies, full and part skeletons laid on the floor, amidst those bones he saw a large diamond, laying, waiting to be picked up. Jacob held a debate in his mind, should he or shouldn't he pick the diamond up? Eventually Jacob decided and picked it up. After he touched it, I remember from the book Jacob said something like, 'It feels like someone had sliced off the top of his head, scraped out his brain with a wooden kitchen implement, then added a microwave along with a fistful of nails and a few hundred bullets.'
"That is what Jacob said of touching the diamond and the agony that followed the very first time. That is the best way to describe my agony when I haven't had a caffeine fix, how waking up feels missing my daily drug," Cain laughed. "Somebody has scooped out my brains, replaced them with a microwave, a fistful of screws and nails before throwing in a handful of 7.62mm NATO ammunition inside for fun. You ladies don't know what I suffer for not having my caffeine," again Cain laughed.
{Cain, you're more a tea drinker than coffee, so why the tale?} Enoch asked
:Only to take their minds off the fighting and give them something else to be concerned about, even if it is not true. Fighting Brawlers, Gekards and the JW Killers clan, back in Las Vegas in the 2027 zone is one thing. Fighting mythological creatures is another. Somehow and I don't know why but they seem more real than the Brawlers, Gekards and JW Killers clan players ever were.: Cain replied.
{Oh, Ok, I can understand the tale now, it is a misdirection, so your women don't worry about the deaths only about you,} Enoch said.
Sophie and Bethany returned while Cain was still laughing, the other DreamBabes said they didn't know why he laughed over missing a morning caffeine fix. "After all, Bounty comes with caffeine," said Lesley, "So why are you suffering? Is it to take our minds off killing the mythological creatures with over large pricks?"
Sophie listened to Lesley speak, then indicated Bethany and her had found an entrance to the cave system. Collecting everyone together, Cain had Bethany and Sophie's retrace their tracks, back to the entrance of the cave system. He looked at a wall of carefully placed rocks, with a Satyr sized entrance in the middle of the wall. Somebody had placed bushes and climbing ivy in front of the rock filling which added a layer of camouflage.
"Somebody sure went to a load of trouble to hide the entrance," Cain said. "The entrance sure makes a good killing post. Your enemies enter bowed down or crawling. A small platform on the inside, with two or three guards. An unannounced head pops out, they receive either a love tap from a wooden bat, knocking the intruder out, for trussing up and dealing with later. Or they get a love tap from a sharp sword or a blunt axe, either way your intruder loses their head."
Cain listened to the arguments about who should go in first. He agreed with some suggestions, but still went through telling the DreamBabes,
"I have the best chance to survive thanks to my former training. I also have the hardest head, well I'm sure it's the most stubborn." Standing before the entrance Cain tried but could not enter bent at the waist, so he had to use a crab crawl, using his left arm on the ground and his legs while holding a gladius in his right hand.
Moving as stealthily as he could, Cain entered the short tunnel waited a few moments listening and letting his eyes adjust to the gloom, then exited on the inside leaping the last three feet past any killing point. He was thankful as he rolled to his feet there were no Satyrs on guard on the inside of the short tunnel. Toni followed next, then Bethany, Sophie, Lesley while Daphne brought up the rear.
Inside the cave system they all stood in a narrow but tall tunnel, leading downward into the mountain. They walked in single file, Cain took point with Bethany next an arrow nocked on her recurve bow. Toni followed her then Sophie and Lesley while Daphne continued to bring up the rear. Daphne on occasion walked backward checking where they had come from. Every ten yards down the tunnels length, someone had jammed a wooden torch into a small hole carved into the wall.
The torches were made from long grasses and some fabric material, soaked in a thick heavy oil and then covered in a gooey tar. They occasionally spluttered, shooting globs of burning tar and oil to burn merrily on the dry floor of the tunnel. The torches provided enough spluttering light for them to see as though it was dusk.
Cain told them before they entered, any communication in the cave and tunnels had to be via party chat, no whispering was allowed as any spoke sound would travel and echo. After five minutes of walking the tunnel got wider, Cain decided they could move forward in twos.
Cain walked with Daphne, Toni and Sophie held the middle while Lesley with Bethany had the rear. As they walked Cain could tell whoever coded this tunnel had never been caving, the floor was totally smooth, the only rocks were piles at the edges against the tunnel wall. They moved deeper underground toward the six icons still showing on the local maps overlay in all of their HUDs. Cain was pleased to see as they walked the cave system was being mapped.
His women moved to do as he asked and Cain took the nearest torch down. He used a full flask of water and extinguished the torch, before he put it back where it came from. Sophie moved the torch nearest her, leaving a good thirty-foot section of tunnel in deep shadow. Cain and his other DreamBabes, crouched against the wall edge amongst the strewn rocks, hiding in a pool of shadow. Daphne had moved to the start of the shadowed area, folding herself into a small crevasse she found in the tunnel wall.
As the red icon approached they saw a Satyr come up the tunnel, it was moving faster than Cain was comfortable with. Picking up a small egg sized stone, Cain lobbed it against the opposite tunnel wall beyond the lit area, deeper in the shadow. The Satyr heard the noise of a rock pinging off the tunnel wall, it stopped six feet in the shadowed area.
Cain and the DreamBabes watched intently, he could tell the Satyr was unsure as it paused, sniffing the air turning its head side-to-side. He could see the Satyr was trying to discern where or what the noise was. Cain picked up and threw another small stone, this one down the tunnel well beyond the shadowed area. He could see the Satyr relax as it took three steps forward, then its body collapsed to the ground. Daphne had exited the crevasse behind the Satyr and cut its head from its shoulders using a stealthy sneak attack, which allowed her to activate her Death Strike skill.
Cain helped Daphne move the body deeper into the shadows, then piled loose rocks over its body after Lesley looted it. As a group they moved to the corner of the tunnel and listened to the Satyrs bleating, which Cain thought was their talking. Five remaining red icons were still showed on their HUDs, the Satyrs stood loosely around a stone altar. A waft of stale pungent air drifted past their position, making Bethany want to gag.
Extra torches placed around the cavern gave enough light enabling Cain and his DreamBabes to clearly see the altar. They noticed a partially dressed female in a torn, white robe, someone had clearly fastened her down with chains. As the Satyrs moved their shadows danced over the altar and the chained woman.
Toni was going to message the group when she heard a human voice. Holding up her hand everyone stopped and listened. The unmistakable sound of a human talking over the bleats of the Satyrs drifted around the altar, a male voice, not the female chained to the altar.
Following Cain's instructions they moved in a loose line across the width of the tunnel and entered the cavern. Moving from the tunnel into the cavern the smell from rotting flesh and excrement worsened. Bethany could see over on the left side of the cavern a pile of human limbs and torsos, none of them attached. The sound of a distinctive, booming humans voice became louder, more urgent, they listened to everything it was saying.
"I'm telling you, this amulet gives me power over you. Why you can't understand me I do not know. I captured the local priestess of Cybele as my clan leader instructed. You should now kill her or eat her alive, just like the other priestess. Despoil her first so my god can take charge of this part of the island with her defilement.
"We are working everywhere on the island, using simple-minded creatures such as yourselves to do our bidding. Building our own or supplanting other gods' temples, ready to take over from those weak female goddesses, Cybele and Athena. Do as I bid you now, you waste of space creatures," the hidden human said.
Cain and his women were less than twenty yards from the altar, at the edge of the well lit area. Cain noticed one of the Satyrs turning its head away from the direction of the voice and sniffing the air.
"Loose," Cain bellowed. Six arrows leapt from their bows, followed by six terrifying war cries as Cain and the DreamBabes rushed the altar and the five satyrs. The Satyrs, barring the one who had turned, were still listening to the human speaking, when Cain shouted.
Toni noticed a man wearing a hooded robe, holding what looked like an amulet in his left hand, which was raised above his head showing it to the Satyrs. After the six arrows were loosed, Cain and his DreamBabes charged forward at one critically and four wounded Satyrs, all five were dead in under a minute. Daphne returned crestfallen as she could not intercept the human who ran when Cain shouted. She said the robed man ran through a wooden door locking it behind him. A lock she could not open, no matter how hard she tried. Cain and his DreamBabes each received a pop-up table listing all the Satyrs of group P1 they had killed.
Forsaken 337 BC Page 16