The sun had risen in the sky just high enough to wash away most of the gloom when Saefa motioned them to stop. He scanned the sandy, almost barren land below them.
“What is it,” Jandar asked as he crouched next to him.
“Something is not right. My people should have been waiting for us below,” the big Caprian replied.
“Could they be hiding in the rocks somewhere?”
Saefa’s mouth turn down. “Perhaps.” He pressed his tongue to the roof of his mouth and let out a shrill whistle that sounded like a falcon’s cry. Several seconds passed before he shook his head. “They are not there.”
“You said we were running late. Perhaps they saw someone and moved back?”
“That is precisely what worries me. They would not have concerned themselves with smugglers arriving to use the passage. If they moved away it is because they encountered someone they did not wish to meet.”
Jandar scanned the rocky terrain. “The rocks and crags could hide any number of enemies.”
Saefa bobbed his head.
Nyx had made her way up to them and picked up the conversation. “The only way to go is forward, unless we abandon the quest altogether.”
“No, that is unacceptable!” Saefa said.
“Then why are we sitting here letting the shadows grow shorter?”
“She’s right,” Jandar said. “Our best advantage is Nyx staying out of sight and ambushing any ambushers.”
Nyx did not bother waiting for orders. She wrapped herself in shadows and picked her way down the trail, vanishing from the others’ sight in seconds.
“Did someone say something about an ambush?” Lexon asked, his mouth hidden behind a wineskin. “That’s me least favorite kind of bush. Have I mentioned me intolerance to pain and the sight of blood, particularly me own?”
“Yes, your cowardice has been well-established,” Jandar returned.
“What I established was pragmatism. Blood don’t do no good outside me body.”
Jandar pulled out the black leather hauberk and shoved it into the bard’s hands. “Here, put this on.”
“As much as I appreciate your kind gift, it implies the possibility that I might actually be placing meself in harm’s way. This does not inspire confidence in your plan.”
“Not putting it on and continuing to whine puts you in far more danger than any potential enemy waiting for us below.”
Lexon buckled on the armor over his shirt. “I would like to state that threatening one’s party members is not a good method in building comradery. It creates a hostile environment and sows discord whose crop yields nothing but the prickly thistles of animosity.”
Jandar ignored him and gave Nyx a full minute before leading the others after her. He glanced behind him and found that Lexon had done a decent job of hiding within the shadows, although nowhere near as well as Nyx. He could make out just enough movement to know the bard was following them.
They climbed down the slope and crouched behind the boulders littering the area for hundreds of yards beyond the base of the mountains. They were in a large, horseshoe-shaped draw with rocky walls scarred by deep fissures that could hide untold dangers.
“I do not like this,” Saefa said.
“I said that before we got here and was rudely rebuked,” Lexon said.
“That’s because his is a tactical response whereas yours was born of cowardice,” Jandar replied.
“A tactical retreat is entirely tactical. It’s in the bloody name.”
Jandar shot him a glare and turned to Saefa. “The only way to find out is to continue on. Nyx is out there waiting for us, and every second we delay puts her in danger of being discovered if someone is waiting to ambush us.”
Saefa bobbed his head. “Agreed.”
“We’ll use the rocks for cover while we advance.”
Lexon unshouldered his harp. “That sounds like a great plan. I’ll hang back and do what I do best.”
“Cower behind the skirts of women?” Jandar asked.
“No, playing me instrument. What you said is the second thing I do best, and it’s more under ‘em than behind, if you get me meaning,” he said with a grin.
“Given what I’ve heard of your music, that’s a very poor indication of your sexual prowess.”
“You’re a right mean bastard, you know that? You do realize there’s more ways to hurt someone than hittin’ ‘em with that hammer of yours don’t you?”
Jandar shook his head. “Just stay back out of the way.”
“Like I said, it’s what I do best.”
“I thought you said playing was what you did best?”
“It’s called being multitalented. Something you wouldn’t know nothing about, just swinging your hammer around, clonking people on the head, and hurtin’ their feelings.”
Jandar grinned at him. “That’s two things. I guess I’m multitalented too.”
“Being an asshole is just one thing with many facets.”
Saefa snapped, “We do not have time for this! Let us push on.”
Jandar and Saefa darted from boulder to boulder, advancing across the semi-open ground in a hunched over jog. They had barely made it half the distance across when the enemy sprung their ambush. There was no warning or preamble of any kind. Several figures stepped out from behind boulders and loosed arrows, bolts, and spells.
Both men dove for cover, narrowly avoiding the bolts and arrows whizzing past. Fire erupted all around them, wrapping around the edges of the boulders and scorching flesh. Jandar’s message window flashed damage prompts in the corner of this vision.
Unknown mage hits you with fireball for 18 damage. You have suffered the effect: Burned. You take 3 burn damage every second for 3 seconds.
Special Class Ability discovered. Fire-forged, Tier 1: Having grown up next to the searing heat of a forge, you have gained a natural 10% damage reduction from all fire and heat-based damaging effects. Continuous burn damage and time is reduced by half.
“Spread out!” Saefa shouted as he raced for another boulder, trailing smoke from his singed robes.
Jandar broke in the opposite direction. He saw they were outnumbered, and under normal circumstances, splitting up was the wrong thing to do. But having them both getting struck by the same spell was even worse. The fighters in the enemy group tossed aside their crossbows and charged with weapons held high.
A dwarf with an enormous hammer gripped in both hands, and a spear-wielding human rushed toward Jandar. He glanced at Saefa and saw a human with a sword and shield and an elf woman brandishing a pair of shortswords directing their focus on him. That left an elven mage and another human supporting them from range.
Jandar saw a dark flash near the lightly armored human in the distance before the dwarf and the man with the spear blocked his field of view. He rushed forward, taking the dwarf by surprise. The power of earth encased his war hammer as he struck at the dwarf’s unprotected face with everything he had.
This fight would end quickly regardless of which side won, so Jandar did not spare his stamina. He unleashed everything he had at the dwarf, critically hitting him with an earth-infused power attack. The dwarf’s face lost its shape as the hammer’s secondary effect went off, shattering the bone beneath the thick flesh and bushy beard. The spear darted toward his side, but Jandar accepted the strike, refusing to give the dwarf a chance to recover.
Pain flared in his side as the spear penetrated his mail and the soft flesh beneath. Jandar ignored the pain and unleashed a brutal combo onto the dwarf’s head. The dwarf staggered away, but Jandar pursued and kept raining blows on him. The spear reeled back for a second strike, but Jandar interrupted his attack long enough to twist away and deflect it with his buckler before issuing a final strike that dropped the dwarf to the ground.
Jandar was certain all six of them were adventurers, which made him wonder why they did not have a healer in their group. From what little he understood of adventurers, he was sure they almost always included
a healer whenever they worked as a team.
The spear snapped toward his face, opening a line of blood on his cheek. Spears were not a common choice of weapons for adventurers, but this one knew well how to put his to best use. He jabbed at Jandar with lightning quick thrusts as he continued to circle around in search of an opening. Jandar was able to deflect most of the attacks, but his foe darted back out of his range whenever he tried to get close.
He tried to rush forward and slap the spear aside as he closed the distance, but a last-second flick of the wrists sent the spearhead whistling past his buckler and stabbing into his shoulder. Jandar hissed in agony and leapt away. Pain flared in his back as something pounded him repeatedly, like hurled, flaming stones. He dropped to one knee and barely managed to deflect the spear questing for his exposed neck.
The blacksmith forced himself to his feet and stumbled backward. As if he weren’t having enough trouble with the spearman. Another attack like the last one would likely spell his doom. He wondered where Nyx was. He could really use her help about now.
Nyx watched the adventuring group from inside a deep cleft in the rocks. There were six in total, at least that she could see. That put her and her group at almost a two to one disadvantage, and all but one was listed as challenging. That meant one was around her level and the rest a little higher. They were bad odds, but Jandar had proven himself much more capable than a typical fighter of his level, and they both had unusual skills that most players would not expect. She hoped it would be enough.
She continued to sit and wait for the others. With no ingame chat to speak of, there was no way for her to communicate with them and report what she saw. While she appreciated the additional challenge and realism, it made situations like this much more difficult.
The adventurers’ postures changed, and Nyx saw that Jandar and Saefa were coming her way and right into an ambush. They clearly expected it, but just because you knew you were going to be ambushed did not necessarily mean you could defeat it. She just had to trust that her friends could avoid the worst of it.
She mentally paused. Friends? She barely knew any of them, and Jandar even less than Saefa. Hell, she understood the weird little bard better than she did him. Nyx did not tend to make friends, and certainly not so quickly or easily. She dismissed it as a simple turn of phrase and focused back on the ambushers. As soon as the adventurers directed their focus onto Jandar and Saefa, Nyx send mana-leeching tendrils at the ones she suspected of being a mage and a healer.
The dwarf and both humans raised crossbows and the elf took aim with a shortbow, releasing their shafts the moment they stepped out from behind their cover. It was all Nyx could do to keep from leaping out of her hiding spot to disrupt their shots, but she held true. She had to trust in her party’s abilities and not endanger the entire mission by making a suicidal attack.
The bow-wielders dropped their missile weapons and charged as two groups to double-team Jandar and Saefa. The mage hurled a fireball at almost the same time the others shot their weapons. Nyx fought the urge to rush forward and kill him before he could release it, but as an experienced player, she knew the most dangerous person in any enemy group was the healer. You always took out the healer first. Always.
She raced out of the cleft at the healer’s back, gathering as much darkness around her as she could in hopes of remaining unseen for just a split-second longer. The healer began to turn, likely having noticed her mana debuff, but he was too late. Her daggers stabbed out like the needle on a sewing machine, stitching a line of bloody holes from his kidneys to his upper back.
Her luck held as she successfully delivered a fatal attack. The healer slumped to the ground, the sand beneath him turning red as it soaked up the blood pouring from his body. She spun to face the mage who had just sent a stream of arcane orbs slamming into Jandar’s back and was preparing to hit him with another salvo.
Nyx charged toward the caster, flinging a throwing knife at his chest as she ran. The blade sank in, drawing the elf’s attention away from Jandar and onto her. Her daggers flashed, questing for the mage’s chest in a series of rapid thrusts. A shimmering field sprang up in front of the caster, and her blades felt as if she had cut into rotting wood.
The mage’s eyes were wide with fright, but he had not succumbed to panic and was still focused. Nyx flung herself aside as the arcane orbs meant for Jandar now sought her. Her sudden change in direction caused the first one to slam into the ground with a spray of sand but the mage was able to redirect the other two and catch her as she leapt up for another assault.
Throbbing fire flared through her body as she cursed QM’s pain mechanics. Sure, she could reduce the feedback, but her desire for more experience and faster progression outweighed her dislike of pain. She knew it would only last a moment before vanishing, so she suffered a few seconds of agony for a permanent gain in her overall power.
Nyx switched her leeching spell and began to drain the mage of stamina, his shield failing to block such magic as most wards did. She sidled toward the sounds of combat until she came within range to leech from a second target while she continued to fling throwing knives and shurikens.
Nyx knew the caster could not maintain his ward forever. It cost mana to maintain it, and when added to the power she had already leeched from him, he would have to drop it before long. Another magical fusillade slammed into her. She just hoped her health held out longer than his mana.
Lexon peaked around the side of a boulder as he plucked an allegro on his harp to speed the arms and feet of his party. Even with his help, his group was not faring well. Jandar had managed to kill the dwarf in short order, and it appeared that Nyx had done much the same with another, but the four remaining enemies were gaining the upper hand. It looked like it was up to him to save the day once again.
A subtle movement out of the corner of his eye was the only warning he got, but being the flighty, oft-abused person he was, it was enough to save his life. He threw himself into a tumble, the knife aimed for his neck slashing him across his back and scoring a line of white-hot fire. Lexon scrambled away on his backside until his back fetched up against another large rock.
A saurian, his rough skin the same color as the sandstone around them, stood where Lexon had been squatting just a second before. He held a long dagger in his hand and flashed him a sharp tooth-filled leer.
“You’re quick, little bard,” the reptilian killer hissed, “but there’s no escape for you. Don’t make this more difficult than it needs to be. I’ll be quick about it, I promise.”
Lexon touched trembling fingers to the harp’s strings and stroked a dulcet tune. “You can kill me and slake your deadly thirst, but you might want to put out the fire first.”
The saurian looked down in horror as his leather trousers burst into flames. He dropped his knife, threw himself onto the ground, and tried to smother the fire climbing up his legs. Lexon sat up straighter and continued to play and chant.
“You came with greed in your heart to commit murder in this place, but how can you kill when your kin is eating your face?”
A sand monitor, a lizard as big as a medium-sized dog, leapt from a boulder and clamped its jaws onto the assassin’s head. The saurian screamed and beat at the newest threat, ignoring the fire searing his flesh. Lexon shuffled over to where the rogue thrashed on the ground, raised his harp over his head, and brought it crashing down repeatedly until he lay still.
Lexon stared down at the man he had just killed. His face was a bloody ruin, but there was no sign of animal attack, and his leathers and flesh were completely untouched by fire.
“And that’s what happens when you mess with a true bard of the Lyrical Order. That was a lie. I’m not actually a member of the Lyrical Order. Couldn’t afford their dues even if they weren’t a pack of exclusive snobs who rejected me application. But I’m a true bard, and you don’t go around trying to murder those who just want to bring beautiful music to this ugly world. Now if you don’t mind, I got a fig
ht to win.”
The saurian’s arm dropped off his chest and fell to his side. Lexon squealed like a young girl and scrambled away so fast he promptly fell on his backside. He looked around to make sure no one had seen what happened before turning his attention back to the battle.
Saefa bled from numerous wounds, and while neither of his opponents had avoided injury, they were pressing him backward, his defenses becoming more wild and desperate by the second. A haunting melody drifted across the canyon. Both fighters faltered in their attacks and looked around as if expecting another enemy to leap out at them.
It was the opening Saefa had been waiting for. His huge scimitar swept out in front of him, slashing across both warriors’ midriffs. A swift backswing caught the dual-wielding elf a second time and dropped her, but the human managed to get his shield up in time to block.
“That’s a bit more like it,” Lexon said as he played.
Jandar leapt away from another spear thrust and stumbled when a rock rolled beneath his foot. He expected the man to seize upon the sudden opportunity, but his head flashed from side to side as if searching for an unseen attacker. Unlike him, Jandar did not hesitate. He lunged forward and hurled his hammer, catching the man square in the face.
The spear fell from his hands and Jandar was upon him, raining blows before he could recover. He picked up his tossed hammer and lumbered toward Saefa, who had managed to defeat one of his foes but looked about to collapse. Jandar was not sure he could make it to him in time.
Nyx sent stolen health into Saefa as she ran at the sword and board fighter. She slid on her knees and slashed at the back of a lightly armored ankle. Her serrated dagger cut through the tough leather and severed the tendon beneath. The man cried out and fell to one knee.
“Saefa, get back!” Nyx ordered.
Saefa looked as if he wanted to argue and finish the man, but he did as she said. Nyx continued to leech the man’s life away and give it to Saefa as he tried to get back to his feet and die a warrior’s death.
Chaos Unchained- The Mad Smith Page 21