by Pwyll Duggan
"I think I'll rest for a bit. Maybe figure what parts of me aren't bruised to the bone." Garrot reaches into a pack, pulling out a potion.
As I reach out to grab it and invisible forces slams into me, using me as a sled sliding alone the ground. A winged creature appears on top of me at the same time, talons digging into my cuirass, bending it.
"Your mine now Shielder."
Chapter Thirty
The eyeless head talks thru a mouth too wide for its head, fangs splayed out in all directions like a thorny smile had exploded. Skin covers the eye sockets, feathers down the head where hair should be. Gold glitters among the feathers, crown embedded in the hair. Huge wings start flapping, bones jutting out at random lengths. Bird talons are around my stomach, clutching and squeezing, denting the armor. I struggle to breathe, gasping for air as she takes me airborne with her.
Yes, it's a she. Her body is curvy, heavy and thick. Uncovered breasts hang within reach, even with my back arched in pain. There's nothing beautiful about her at all. The huge wings have clawed hands half way along the span. She's struggling to keep us aloft, 30 or 40 feet up, but we are moving fast.
"Not sure if I'll keep you or eat you yet. Killing my girls like that, tut tut, bad Shielder." Her hideous voice cackles into a laugh, crushing more of my armor and chest. The talons are slowly cracking the armor, metal bending in her grip. My arms and legs flailing, breathing ragged as I bounce up and down in her talons. Can't heal, respond or scream in pain. I fight the sluggishness overtaking me, wheat filling my up-side down vision.
The mad cackling continues as I reach for a blade. As I grasp it, she squeezes harder.
"Now, now. Don't make me eat you." I scream, air blasted from my lungs in pain. Using that I lunge, slicing above her chicken legs, hitting muscle and bone. Her cackling turns to a scream as her talons pierce the armor and my sides. Dagger spins off as I reach the wound again and stick a finger in, touching bone.
Shatter.
The World explodes around me, bone going outwards in a burst. Her foot separates from her leg, the talon still stuck in my body. Her other talon can't take the weight and I'm spinning, falling, armor coming apart in chunks. It rips off me as I bounce along the ground, demolishing my way thru a wooden palisade and over a cliff, snotlings exploding behind me. The tumble rips my chestplate free, taking the talon with it and causing my intestines to spill from my stomach as I fall towards some ruined buildings. I get a Healing off just as I hit the roof.
Slamming down into the stone flooring, bones crack under me as slates and beams fall around and across me. Legs are twisted, pain spiking as I scream in pain, hands shooting up. Wood and terracotta explode around me as I roll over. Grabbing my legs, screaming I straighten them as I Heal twice more. Panting and gasping, hands go to my stomach, pushing parts of me back in. Coughing blood, ribs poking areas I heal twice more, stomach closing over with the heat.
Moaning while trying to gobble as much oxygen I hear flapping and angry shouting. Survival instinct kicks in and I roll to my feet, seeing a broken shuttered window and dive out. Flames engulf the room I was in, covering me as I slam thru a plank wall into the debris of the next building beyond.
Splinters and debris cover the floor, me among them. Slowly, with as little movement as possible I bring my left hand up to my mouth. "Healing potion" I mutter, and it appears in my hand. It flows over my lips, cold to the touch. It flows down my throat, bringing first a chill, then a warmth as it goes to work.
Cuts close, and ribs knit together. Blood stops pooling in my lungs as I cough it up, spluttering out into the room filling with smoke. The building I just left in a hurry has smoke and fire pouring from every hole. Flapping wings push smoke away from her in swirls as she looks for me, one legs a mess of bleeding. She's chewing on a snotling, turning it over with her fangs, gobbling it down.
I aim my right arm and the Bright Bolt slams into her left wing, fiery feathers detonate outwards as she tumbles down, into the burning building she started. Pushing debris off, I stand.
Princess is nowhere to be found. Fuck, she's at the Wyvern. I reach out, senses straining. She's there, faint and calling me. Too far to call. My staff becomes a crutch to help me walk out of the room.
Must have been some type of Inn. I step into the hallway, there is a wide stairway before me and a number of other doorways along the hall. Doors hang off rusty hinges, mold, dust and debris dominate. Most of the paint has peeled away from the walls. Tracks wind thru the rubbish, scraps and debris. Only light comes from cracks and holes in the structure. Nice sound building. I drag myself along. No dust. Means I'm probably not alone.
My last healing makes me more mobile. Shouts echo around, some inside, most outside. Commands are being issued as I head down the stairs. Hearing a few footsteps, I peer over the banister. Snotlings. With spears. And they saw me. I yank my head back as a spear flies past. A broken, lopsided table gets my attention at the top of the stairs. Grabbing the stump of a leg on my new shield I go down the stairs, snotlings at the landing below me.
Arm along the table, hand on the leg I go down, blocking as I do. Spear tips stick to the wood as I leap the last steps down on top of them. Kicking and swinging they drop fast, crunching into the staff, or my foot. Dropping the prickled shield, I look down to the next floor. Nobody. I creep down the stairs, ears alert for movement.
I bundle the remains of my shirt into a pocket. My packs gone, quiver is gone. I have one healing potion and no idea where I am. Cratertown is the guess, which means nothing to me. Staff ready I continue down the stairs. Light spills onto the floor in large swaths at the front of the building. I stick to the shadows and head towards the back, carefully stepping around the debris, keeping quiet. Passing broken tables, chairs and a long bar I reach the rear. Solid stone wall, roughly hewn. Cool to the touch I start searching the various rooms.
Shadows jump from the front, forms looking in the windows. Shouts for the patrol that came in. Not much time left. I duck into the kitchen as I hear wood splintering, the front door being opened. Rough benches and piles are everywhere. Old fire pits on the floor. The stone wall has an alcove, handles running up both sides, double door wide.
Running over I examine it. Drag marks on the floor. A doorway of some kind. Please don't be the cold room. I grab one handle and pull. I pivot the stone, stopping it from moving. I hook the staff under a handle on each side and then pull. The stone groans, rewarding me with a shout from outside and it moves forward a foot, showing more stone. Fuck it. I yank on the stone, dragging it with me six feet into the room. Air blasts out from behind, faint light coming from within.
Shouts coming from outside now, close. Scanning I see some wooden chair remains. I finally spot some cloth and grab both into a pile. Hearing footsteps I make some torches, wrapping the cloth around the ends of the chair parts. Making sure they are on tight, I bundle them top down in one thigh pocket. Partial in the way but it’s all I’ve got. Pulling the staff out I look for something heavy. Broken benchtop this time. I lay it against the stone door slab as I adjust the staff in the handles on it's rear.
Making sure the staff won’t be in the way on the rear side I step into the gap behind the door. Wider alcove leading to a tunnel, paved. It's a road in the stone, the alcove a stopping point. Benches line this area, and a stone sign engraved above me. Scones and torch hooks line the road and wall, cold and dead. Light comes from the far left, a tiny dot in the distance.
Racing back to this kitchen the noise of my soon-to-arrive company is ridiculously loud. Movies tell me grenades have seven seconds, and so did the practice ones I used in my Army reserve days. I set Delay on the benchtop, hefting it in both arms. I ignore the Pain shooting thru my back and legs and cast fireball into the benchtop. Spinning, I throw it forward, smashing thru the wall into the 'reception' area. Screams of pain and dying echo, as faces look into the kitchen. Goblins, orcs and an Ogre look at me, bewildered, the benchtop crushing a couple of snotlings. I wave and shout.
"Tick, Tick!"
The benchtop explodes in flames as I duck behind the slab, building rocking. Particles and dust fall from the ceiling, then the sound of creaking wood, getting louder and louder. The kitchen door is smashed down by booted feet, orcs pouring into the flaming room. The last few orcs I can see are on fire. Poking my head around the slab, left hand a finger gun I drop the thumb, diving back as I do so. The Fireball slams into the wall behind them. I grab my staff and pull, cutting off the flames that try and reach me, darkness enveloping me.
Muffled sounds, followed by a mild trembling is the reward for my actions. Puffing and leaning on the stone slab, I lean the released staff come door handle to the side. Concentrating I reach out, trying to feel Princess. Still too far. I sense the Spirita Aqua behind me thou, and pull it in. It takes a while to stop.
Crouching, torch on the ground, I strike the staff with a knife, praying for sparks. No idea how long it took, but I get lucky and the cloth finally lights from the embers I stroke and breath into life. Raising it high, staff in hand I look around in more detail. The tunnel is a road of some kind, grooves worn in it from constant use. Two carts wide and a good 20-foot-high it stretches off in both directions. Every 200 feet or so an alcove like this one, on the same side as this. I stare at the sign on the wall. I refresh tongues, and the words jumble up then sort themselves out. Ale and Inn. Great help that.
I still have some spirita left, the bonus from the staff is stacking well. I refresh Enhance using most of my remaining power and consider the options. Left has the tiny light and the right leads to darkness. The tunnel has little dust, small feet tracking back and forth. Staff in hand, torch held high, little to no spirita left, I turn right.
Into the darkness.
Chapter Thirty-One
The tunnel is curving, just a little, to the right. All the alcoves I pass are the same. Same size, same shape, just the signs are different. Stables, Smith, Cooper, Armorsmith, Alchemy, Store and others. Once was a thriving presence here. No more. Signs of decay are visible everywhere. The odd rockfall. Collapsed alcoves. Bones of creatures, small and large. Tracks in the dust, always to the left, all in a line. I stay to the right.
I manage to score the odd torch here and there, adding to the two in my pocket. The flickering light tells me there is air flow, even if it's not much. My straining ears can't hear anything, and the light barely illuminates 20 feet. I sip my limited water and take a handful of trail mix when I take a break. Estimate 2 miles or so as I change torches.
Tunnel still bends right when I spot a pin prick of light ahead, dry air blowing a little stronger. The light turns to a glow, like coals or a forge. No sound at all still, just my quiet footfalls. Then another pin prick of light at the end of the tunnel, the coals closer now. Now I can hear dripping sounds and an odd clicking of something on stone.
Shadows move back and forth past the coals now, low and long. Clicking gets louder. I slow and get Doll to stow my staff. I light another torch and move forward cautiously. They're some type of centipede, crossing the tunnel from a chipped stone slab and into some vent, going back and forth. In their mandibles they have wood, hide, leather and then a goblin arm. Each critter is the length of my arm, feelers out front like a fan, no eyes that I can see.
I get to the 20-foot mark, stop as one of them halts and turns its feelers towards me. As soon as I stop, it starts moving for the vent again. It's a small procession, back and forth, constant. And nothing to do with me. I step once, testing. They all stop. Okay, not creepy at all. Another foot closer, they all turn to me. Step back one, they move up towards me, antennae going crazy, swerving this way and that, looking for me. Discretion is the better part of valor and I turn and run, clicking swarm following me.
I run and don't stop for a minute or so, the swarm following. I drop the old torch and keep running, head turning back to see how far away I get. At 100 feet I stop, waiting for the horde of centipedes to reach the torch. The small off-white mass starts passing it and I point the right hand at them.
Fireball. The rolling flames bathe the area, stones heating and the torches handle bursting into flames. Flames roll back and the balled-up centipedes have been blown all over the place. They twitch, unroll and feelers swaying around, looking for me. Holy shit, no damage. Fire resistance.
The nearest one rears up, searching. I aim an icebolt and shoot. The centipede is blasted by the bolt in the side, ichor splattering his companions. The all pause then move as one, bee-lining to the injured. The swarm, mandibles clicking and slicing, ripping their injured member to pieces, including a few unlucky friends. I repeat the process, not moving an inch. It happens again, slicing and dicing each other. I stay still, the odd bolt until nothing moves. Sucking up the really small blue spheres into my outstretched arm I then grab a handful of pieces and head back.
As I get close, I toss a mandible at the vent and they swarm again. I rain a few more pieces at the door slab and watch, reaping the benefits. Small lights travel up my arm. They briefly even light the place up for me, throwing a blue tinge to the red of the vent. Slowly the numbers dwindle until nothing crawls up and out. I creep to the vent and look down. Red light all the way down, way way down. Aiming I drop another mandible down, bouncing off the sides until I can no longer hear it. Good. I grab another, max Delay it and Icy Sphere. Then drop... and run back. Steam risings after a few minutes and I wander off, bonus spirita aqua in my storage. And no enemies at my back.
Heading towards my next light source costs me two of my scavenged torches and an hour of time. Getting nearer I can see the light is up off the floor, illuminating the whole tunnel. The lit area is large, a T intersection, the light coming from the T part. The tunnel goes onwards, curving still. The intersecting tunnel goes on, lit for 300 odd feet, to a wooden barricade and gate setup. Dead centipedes, rag covered skeletons and the odd decaying snotling are on this side. Some debris piles are scattered around blast marks on the ground. I stop dead in my tracks.
Minefield, a magical minefield.
Triggering the Detection ring, small runic circles light up for me, scattered across the tunnel. They stretch from just in front of me all the way to the gate, even on some of the spike barricades. They cover the walls and ceiling too. I step close to one, studying it. I see a rune sequences inside the circle. The one close to it is similar, with one rune different. Studying a few I notice a total of four different runes.
Debris searching yields half a wooden shield for my test. I stand 30 feet back and gently toss the shield at a rune circle. It bounces badly, scuffing across one circle and sliding to a stop on another. The first circle pops a tiny blue sphere upwards, exploding at the 5-foot mark, icy sphere going 5 foot in all directions, a mini sphere. The second explodes under the shield, splintering the remains of the shield as burning shrapnel in all directions. I pick a tiny one from my chest, drop of blood rolling down. A Magical Bouncy Betty Minefield. That's a neat trick I need to learn.
Watching the circles that exploded, they are now almost completely dark, radiating faint magic. Straining my senses as I watch, a tiny dribble of spirita is returning to the circle, pulled ever so slowly into the runes. Recharging using the local spirita, like the King Oak tree draws in spirita. Nice to know.
I start stepping thru the runes, sliding around each one. I don't dare jump, in-case I set off the ones on the roof. I'm not worried about the noise I've made. I figure anyone nearby would be used to these things going off at odd times. Treading carefully and quietly I make my way past the 100 feet of mines to the gate. It's held by a simple sliding bolt, handle on this side. Triggering the Detection ring gets me nothing, so I slide it across and pull it open.
I'm looking at an extension of the tunnel system. Left and right again, and three equally spaced paths forward, each angling like a spoke in a wheel, the spot I'm standing in is the center. Two have bright lights at the end of the tunnel, and well-lit like the ones going left and right. The third is dark with a sliver of light at the end.
I creak my neck again, trying to loosen up my muscles and the bruises turning parts of my body bluish black. Straining ears pick up the sound of something moving on the stones as a tail whips out, slamming into my stomach.
Mildly prepared means I don't bunch over the tail. Enhanced strength means it will leave a bruise. Physics is a bitch thou and my weight vs the force of the tail sends me back thru the gate. I desperately grab a spike going past, stopping the momentum of my body. That means I don’t follow standard minefield procedures; leaping in the air and spreading myself over a large area.
A gravelly voice comes from besides the gate. "Mistress wants you dead or alive. Me, I'm hungry." A walking crocodile stomps his way to the gate. Long muzzle, scaly muscular body to put Arnie to shame. Huge heavy tail swishing behind him. Loin cloth and twin thin bracers on his wrists are his only adornments. Huge clawed hands ready to strike. This is going to hurt. Him more than me.
He's flexing his claws, swaying, waiting for me to move. I look him up and down. He’s gonna be way heavier than me, time to use that.
"How much xp do you think you’re worth? This much?" I hold my thumb and forefinger an inch apart. "I'm sure your familiar with that size." I watch him as his brain ticks over. Then I see the light go off behind his eyes as he roars at me. Yup, he got it.
Lunging at me, claws swiping, he rips at my chest as I dodge to my right. Skin tears as his claw rakes across my chest. My left arm follows his claw, clamping down hard on his wrist. The pain in my chest is worth it as I pull, getting him off balance and drop my right elbow down, hard, on his elbow. Something gives as he roars in pain. No satisfying snap comes to my ears, but the boots coming up the tunnel do.
His left arm is by his side as he roars, charging at me. I pivot, hip on to his collision, his right claw grazing across my cheek. I grab his leading arm, my body against him and heave with all my strength, barely moving his weight, but it's just enough. He flips into a spiked barricade, shattering it as the spikes deform under his scales and weight, sliding backwards.