The Merchant of Tiqpa: The Bathrobe Knight's Sequel

by Charles Dean

  Other than the two casters, he wasn’t able to identify any other serious threats. As far as he could tell, the rest of the Holy Alliance group looked just plain average. The Incubus with the whip was clearly mimicked Katherine or Bianca in fighting style. Locke wasn’t certain if he’d function as a tank or a damage-dealer when the skirmish started, but given the look of the whip and a lack of serious armor or a shield, it was more likely to be the latter.

  There were also two Vampires. One was holding a short sword and a crossbow, so he could go either way, and the other was brandishing a pair of spiked maces indicating that he would most likely be focused on attacking. Then, as if the odds weren’t already tipped far enough to one side, there was also a Naga, another Human and an Earth-Walker that Locke couldn’t even begin to place.

  The jibes coming from the Holy Alliance started to die down, their banter became slower and more decisive, and Locke knew he didn’t have much more time to figure out what to do first. Tubal’s small group was outnumbered, and these enemies didn’t look like they were going to be pushovers like the previous group had been. In short, Locke didn’t trust Tubal to be the one to act first.

  Locke sighed in frustration. If I don't make the first move, the team won’t take action at all, will they? Being forced to take the lead wasn’t a position that he wanted to be in, but Locke definitely didn't feel like he had much choice in the matter either.

  He was just about to coordinate with the team when he noticed that the Naga’s lips were already moving. He’s casting! He’s already setting up a spell! Locke panicked, slinging out four of his poisons armed with ‘The Unlit Fuse’ right at the Naga. Unlike in previous battles, however, he wasn’t using the Deadly Poisons: He was throwing Fragility Poisons, and their effects against players would be much more severe.

  The lobbed bombs exploded, throwing several people back and interrupting them before they finished casting their spells. Locke immediately turned and signaled for Tubal to finish the job. To his credit, Tubal didn’t miss a beat, shooting out arrows the second the opportunity presented itself and pinning the Naga, now dead, against the wall.

  There we go! Locke gave a silent cheer as he watched the numbers even up a bit, but his celebration was premature.

  Even though the Naga may have been stopped from finishing his spell, the Earth-Walker Locke had completed one of his own, and a series of spikes erupted from the walls and shot out at the group before anyone got a chance to react. Locke was the first one clipped, pinned to the ground as one of the earthen spikes stabbed through his right leg and dug into the floor beneath him, instantly taking out 37% of his life bar in the process.

  Sparky managed to deflect several of the incoming attacks and prevented them from hitting either Tubal or herself, but Sampson and Reginald had both taken one each in the gut. Katherine and Bianca, who had silently taken to the air, each came crashing down to the ground in a tangled mass of limbs in the area between the two groups. A large, boulder-sized section of earth came crashing down from the ceiling of the cavern on top of them, and Locke knew that they were out of the battle just as quickly.

  Crud, crud, crud. Locke watched in horror as the enemies charged, two melee opponents going straight for him and another headed right toward Tubal.

  The Vampire with the short sword and the Incubus with the whip also closed the gap along with the other tanky-looking fighters, but they still kept their distance in the approach.

  “We gotta finish him off before he hits us again, Shy,” Tubal called out. He ignored the incoming assault and started firing off one burning, blue arrow after another, trying to target the Earth-Walker that had revealed itself as a caster. “If he gets off another big attack like that, we’re dead!”

  Yeah, no joke. Locke did his best to lob a few Fragility Poisons in the direction of the Earth-Walker in the back, but pinned down as he was, he wasn’t able to put much strength behind them. Several of them missed their mark, inevitably falling short, but a few others shattered on the Human and Incubus tanks as they made their way toward Locke.

  Fine. If you want to play that game, let’s play that game! Locke’s frustration at not being able to hit the target because of the interference began to grow. He started throwing out three of the potions at a time, and the effect was immediately obvious. The advancing group of fighters cringed under the effects of the volley, and as realization of what was happening set in, fear hit their veins. They became so focused on trying to avoid the falling poisons that they failed to notice the fearsome Dragon-Wing knight charging straight for them. She crashed shield-first into the Naga so hard that the slithering caster flew backward and bounced across the ground like a dribbled basketball before skidding to a halt.

  Locke watched as she purposefully retreated back to where Sampson was attempting to engage all three of the aggressive figures alone and reentered the fray. She was obviously under a bit of pressure, but despite being outnumbered, she seemed to be handling it as well as could be expected. Turning his attention back to the rest of the enemies, Locke zoned in on the Earth-Walker in the back. Something about the guy’s movements was off and left him with a bad feeling. Any minute now, we’re going to get--

  Locke’s fears were realized before he even finished the thought as a wave of lightning arced out across the room. The spell zapped into the melee fighters just in front of Locke, striking every one of them without prejudice. The Human and the Incubus were effectively killed, but Sparky and Sampson somehow managed to remain on their feet--though they showed the effects of just how badly the spell had injured them. Locke looked over to the source of the lightning and found the Human mage that he and Tubal hadn’t finished off earlier.

  “Freznik! I told you not to cast that spell when allies are in range!” one of the Vampires shouted, pausing mid-fight long enough to cast a baleful glare back at the caster. The undead fighter started moving again as soon as the words left his lips, pulling out a dagger and hurling it straight toward Reginald before sprinting after it.

  “Reginald, look out!” Locke shouted, but his warning went unanswered, and the Satyr remained motionless.

  Locke hadn’t realized it before, but the lightning had left everyone that it hit, including Reginald, rooted in place. The Satyr priest was forced to stand in place--paralyzed and unable to move--and watch as the Vampire’s dagger sank right into his chest. Reginald made a feeble attempt to deflect the dagger with his arm, but his reaction speed was far too slow, and within seconds, he was coughing up blood.

  Locke made one last attempt to stop the Earth-Walker from casting his spike attack, but his aim was off, and the Fragility poison instead collided with the group of fighters on the front line. Sparky, a Naga who had managed to return to the fight and two Vampires who had descended on her while she stood rooted by the lightning dancing around her feet were all doused with the liquid.

  Sampson landed a good cleave with her axe’s blade into one of the Vampires, gutting him a split second before the Earth-Walker’s spikes shot up and impaled her yet again in the stomach. She was left gasping for air as blood spilled out of the wound, and Locke knew instinctively that she had reached her limit. Tubal screamed out as his shoulder was pierced by one of the earthen spikes that had suddenly jutted out from the wall.

  Locke was so caught up in watching his teammates’ struggles, watching each of them get hit, that he hadn’t paid attention to his own safety. He had neglected to keep up with the Human mage, who used the opportunity to blast him with a lightning attack. Locke felt the hairs on his arms and the back of his neck stand up straight as the spell coursed through him, leaving him rooted in place like everyone else. All he could do was groan helplessly as he felt another huge chunk of his life plummet away as the damage added up.

  Locke was panicked over the status of his own remaining health, but all he could do was hold his breath and watch. One of the Vampires stabbed Sparky right in the chest and another turned, flailing out at Sampson with a second attack. Locke’
s eyes bulged wide as he watched the violent attacks, but there was nothing that he could do to stop them. This is it for them if I can’t find a way to do something! His mind raced with impossible scenarios as he tried to come up with something. If they drank a few potions, they’d be fine. Even if there was some miraculous way to reach his allies, there was no way that he could trade them the healing agents, have them uncork the potions, and drink them before the enemy racked up a series of blows into them and finished them off.

  If only there was a way to just force the . . . Locke paused as an idea suddenly occurred to him. That’s it! Unlit Fuse doesn't exactly say that it does damage . . . The way it was worded, it states that it will cause effect in an area around point of impact. If the ingested effect is healing . . . does that mean it will create an area of effect heal?

  It was a huge gamble, but Locke decided to risk it, pulling out five health potions at once. As soon as they were in his hand, though, the Vampire assaulting Sparky jerked his head around and locked eyes with Locke. Almost instantly, he danced away from the Dragon-Wing with some fancy footwork and started moving towards Locke, abandoning his struggle with the Dragon-Wing altogether.

  “Get him,” the Vampire yelled. “He’s going to finish us off with those weird things if we don’t take him out!” His shouts caught the attention of the Naga who was about to hit Sparky with his own sword, and the slithering combatant joined in with the Vampire to charge toward Locke.

  Sparky and Sampson were both helpless in their own right and in terrible shape. Not only were they both still rooted in place, but they were also bleeding out profusely and close to death themselves. Neither of them could do anything to help Locke, and he knew that he couldn’t count on them to impede the paths of the Naga or the Vampire in any way. Without the defensive support of the fighters up front, there was nothing to stop this attack from reaching him.

  “I’ll finish the Minotaur and his buddy while you two take of that new class,” the Human mage instructed, but it probably wouldn’t be necessary. It was about time for another attack from the slow-to-channel Earth-Walker to rip the group in half again, and given that everyone was critically injured or rooted in place by the electric tendrils leftover from the mage’s lightning attack, no one would be able to dodge the earth-shattering spikes this time. Another spell of that magnitude meant certain death for everyone.

  Seeing his demise on its way, Locke knew he only had one chance to save Sampson and Sparky from meeting the same fate. He threw the health potions, modified by The Unlit Fuse, as fast as he could. The bottles exploded in brilliant red flashes and almost instantly began healing whatever wounds Sampson and Sparky had.

  “You idiot, heal yourself!” Sparky yelled angrily at Locke, but it was too late. Sure, he might have been able to take a few more hits, or maybe even run at full speed out of the dungeon to save his own skin, but he just couldn’t do it. There was no way he could countenance abandoning everyone else and leaving them for dead just so that he could tuck tail and run to save himself.

  “Shy!” Sampson shouted as the spike fell out of her midsection. The gaping hole it left behind wove itself back together under the barrage of health potions, and she was returned back to pristine condition as if it had never been there.

  Locke didn’t even bother trying to throw a new poison as the incoming Vampires and the Naga reached him. He just waited, grinning at them. He knew that he was going to die, but he was working as fast as he could to activate as many of the Fragility and Deadly poisons as he could in his inventory. They were going to kill him, but his assailants were going to be close enough for him to hopefully take all three with him. Come at me, bro. He stared into the Naga’s eyes and laughed as it raced toward him. He was just ready to activate his little surprise attack when something unexpected happened.

  An instant before the spiked mace reached his face, a flash of silver light blurred across his vision and deflected the attack. Locke had been ready for death and willing to accept whatever fate awaited him when he respawned, but it never came. There was a black bathrobe, two red eyes, and two swords shredding apart all three of the aggressors as if they were nothing more than slow-cooked pork being pulled apart for a sandwich--and sloppy joes was probably the closest description Locke could think of for what they started to resemble.

  Locke stared at the spectacle and blinked in confusion as his mind worked furiously to process what he was witnessing and figure out what was going. What in the . . . Eliza? She had appeared at just the right moment to save him. He wanted to watch the fight, to see how quickly she could finish it up, but he knew that the spikes were coming again soon, and his health was still low. He tossed two of the health potions at Reginald to stop him from dying and started drinking a few himself.

  “Eliza! Be careful! That Earth-Walker has a seriously powerful ranged spell!” Locke called out, pointing at the channeling foe.

  Eliza was finishing off the two weakened Vampires and the Naga when Sparky finally broke free of her chains. The newly freed knight raced across the room and barreled into the still-chanting Earth-Walker, sending him straight into the ground. Sampson broke free as well a second after Sparky, and together, the two rained down blow after blow upon the Earth-Walker. When they were finished, the poor caster resembled a crushed cockroach that had just been scraped off the bottom of someone’s boot. Tubal finally came back to his senses and reentered the fray by unleashing a spray of arrows into the Human, pinning him to the wall next to his White-Wing friend.

  “I . . . I think that’s it,” Locke said breathlessly, but as he looked around, he noticed that the tension hadn’t vanished. Everyone was on edge, standing with weapons drawn, and it felt very much like they were still in the middle of the fight.

  “What is she doing here?” Tubal asked, turning to Locke. “Did you know she was following us?

  “About as much as you did,” Locke replied flatly. He didn’t even care that Eliza had just popped out of nowhere as if she had been trailing them like a creepy stalker. He was so happy about the fact that he wasn’t dead that he didn’t have it in him to worry about any ulterior motives she might have for saving them. Making sure not to forget to express this gratitude, he immediately told Eliza, “Thank you, seriously. I thought I was a goner.”

  The Demon turned to him and regarded him coolly for a moment. Whatever she was thinking, she wasn’t going to convey it with any facial expression. After a brief moment of silence, she answered, “We have unfinished business. I warned you what would happen if you tried to cross me.”

  Locke was startled for a moment. It definitely wasn’t the best reaction he had hoped for, but it was the one he should have expected. He sighed and then flinched involuntarily as he thought about how Bianca would have popped the back of his head. He knew what Eliza meant. What else should have I expect from a sword-wielding psycho with trust issues? After seeing his life flash before his eyes and accepting his own untimely demise, however, he was still riding high on the euphoria of coming out of battle alive after expecting death. He didn’t have it in him to act like a frightened dog again, and there was no way she was going to bring him down. “Yeah, dead, I remember.” Locke brushed the thought off with a simple wave of his hand. “But thanks either way.”

  “Woman, you’ll have to get in line,” Sampson harrumphed. She marched across the room and planted herself directly in front of Locke, putting herself between him and Eliza. “Don’t you dare go trying to play the martyr like that again!”

  “Are we just completely going to ignore the fact this ‘savior’ murdered us earlier in the swamp?” Tubal griped.

  “Err . . . I am sorry,” Locke replied meekly, ignoring Tubal’s indignation toward Eliza and replying to Sampson. He didn’t understand what the big deal was--from Sampson’s perspective, at least. It was just a game for them. If they died, there wouldn’t be any serious consequences. There was no risk of being found out, permanently banned or ending up in some strange town and running the ri
sk of being killed endlessly. Locke shuddered as that last possibility played out briefly in his head.

  So why is she so mad? In fact, why is Sparky so mad? He glanced over at Sparky, who was still standing above the mage’s corpse, and she was studying him so intently that he was afraid her glare was going to pierce through him at any moment.

  “But, healing you was the right choice,” Locke continued, following up his apology with a defense. He knew it made the apology sound like he didn’t really mean it, even though he really was sorry that he had worried them. “If I died, you could have still won the fight without me. At the best, I wouldn’t have been able to survive more than a few hits, and at the worst, they would have just chased me down and killed me anyway.”

  “This is really cute and all,” Eliza said as she stepped around Sampson, addressing her, “but he and I need to have a conversation.” Without missing a beat, she looked from Sampson to Locke and told him, “You can cry on your boyfriend’s shoulder later.”

  Boyfriend? What is she-- Oh man! Locke couldn’t help but snicker at Eliza’s comment. It wasn’t that he really minded being cast as the type that had a boyfriend, but he realized that, while he saw Sampson and Sparky as human women playing a game, Eliza only saw them as a male Minotaur and Dragon-Wing. That’s going to be really awkward to explain one day. Locke shook his head at the thought, his smile from the amusement still there.

  “You’re here to know if I met with your contact then? Not just because you missed me?” Locke answered. Against his better judgment, Locke decided to poke at Eliza a bit. “Not just because you wanted to join in on killing a few Holy Alliance members?”