Gryff Boxset

by Sloss, Marcus

  “See more use as fire mage now,” Desmond grumbled unable to help since we had gone to range combat.

  “Well, shit, we’re somewhat rich now. Be a fire mage,” I retorted. The air coalesced around the most condensed part of the enemy. “Focus on where Shala’s spell is about to go off. Root, stun, and moisten.”

  “Moisten… really?” Zoey said with flare.

  “Incoming volley!” Nicole shouted out and I ran for the wall.

  The enemy had consolidated for a purpose. Shala’s lightning storm went off at the same time she was riddled with arrows. She hit the dirt struggling to breathe. Her lungs were punctured and she was about to die when Nicole raced to her and used lay on hands. Arrows plopped out of her body and she recovered with shocked wide eyes.

  The chieftain arrived at this point. His battle cry was heard as it reverberated off the walls. I ran up to the parapet that Mysti abandoned to avoid raining arrows. The ten foot tall troll was not a melee fighter and instead was a shaman. Shit. I readied my spear and hurled with as much force as I could. The issue was there was too much distance.

  The shaman troll had two ogres for guards and the smart one tossed his buddy into the path of the unsuspecting shaman. The shaman fell down in an angry tumble. When the confused ogre started to apologize; his stomach ingested a speedy spear. The projectile tore through his midsection and erupted in a gory mess out the back.

  “Boss showed up. Trying again. Keep them off the walls. Desmond forward!” I shouted with frustration.

  My next spear was in my hand and ready to go when I was magically yanked off the wall and into a deep section of frigid snow. Shit. The compacting snow softened my landing and left me unable to see more than a few feet around the divot I had created. Whatever spell that was, I wanted it. I used my pit to throw a few spears blindly toward the enemy lines. I watched as the weapons dove into the tall snow with swirling holes being created. Thank goodness that leaning tower of theirs still gave away where they were. When I heard a quiet on the battlefield I became worried.

  “Gryff!” Nicole shouted from behind me.

  “Yea in here somewhere. I got pulled off the wall by magic.”

  “Do you need healing?” Nicole asked and I patted myself down. I felt okay with no blood on my hands.

  “I am good, I think. Terribly cold and lonely though.”

  “They retreated. You hurled a spear into the shield of an ogre. The crafty bastard deflected it right into the recovering boss shaman. Straight to his heart, but his heals were too late to save him. I think the shaman had a forward shield that could have stopped your throw. The deflection bypassed it, either that ogre did not like his boss or made an error. You killed another half dozen and Zoey and Mysti rained arrows while the gnomes froze their feet. Probably forty to fifty dead. What do you want to do?” Nicole asked as I thought about it.

  “Push forward. Get them before they can organize. Meet me at the tower. Call Dib and Ossa to make a new camp behind the wall,” I shouted out my commands.

  “I am to your right,” Desmond said and I poured agility into my body and burst through the snow until his body bounced me to a jarring halt. “Hey, watch it.”

  “Thanks for slowing me, big guy. How about we tip that shitty wooden tower to create a new battle line?” I said with a smile.

  The ogre patted me on the back roughly and pointed the greatsword directly at the towers.

  “You are the super one, go knock it down,” Desmond’s moxie was perfect for the moment.

  I charged forward as I rotated my leaps to bound over the dead. A spear materialized in my hand and I poured some power through my orb. I saw a troll scurrying up the backside on the wobbly tower. When my spear cracked and boomed there was evident fright on her face. The spear smashed a leg of the tower and the troll clung tighter instead of leaping off. When the tower crashed into the encampment it did so with a thunderous boom. The air went still and quiet for a mere moment. That dumb troll survived and landed in a fire which resulted in an ear splitting scream of torment. I tossed a halfhearted spear and ended her slow demise.

  My team arrived behind me as we entered the opening. The remaining enemy ogre had taken command of the remaining fifty or so trolls. There were two neat lines of infantry covering archers. Their organization was superb as if rehearsed.

  “What the…?” Cyrene said as a volley of arrows arced our way.

  “Use the tower for cover!” I cried out and rolled forward. The ground here was frozen dirt as the trolls had shoveled or melted the snow. My tumble ended with me not being pelted with arrows. Desmond had one in his shoulder he angrily yanked out. Mysti plied an arrow from her foot with a grunt. “Ideas?”

  “Desmond charges with that big shield of his. You run behind him and then spawn Kor. When he is fighting we flank,” Cyrene said and most of the others who cowered behind the poor defense were eager for this idea.

  “But I will faint,” I said with concern.

  “What level are you after killing those bearfrii and now this fight?” Cyrene asked impatiently.

  “Four hundred and twenty seven,” I said and huffed. “Fine, the plan is solid. Go Desmond. Get me back here even if I pass out.”

  A second enemy volley fell around us and we remained behind cover. That was our cue to go. Desmond stepped on the tower and fell on his face as the wood snapped under his foot. I hurled a spear at the enemy ogre as Desmond recovered. My spear was deflected with precision and sent sideways into three archers. When Desmond was back on his feet I saw my team unleash a torrent of water, lightning, and arrows. The enemy infantry hunkered down at seeing our charge. They braced for an impact that would never arrive.

  When Desmond was a foot from the front lines he halted. I used my physical superiority orb to boost my jump to Desmond’s shoulders. I leaped a second time. By placing myself high in the air I turned myself into an easy to hit target. It also meant that when Kor was summoned. Well…

  My hydra spawned into the air a few feet above the fourteen-foot tall ogre who was lining up a sword throw for me. The hydra crashed to the ground and the deft ogre had finally been caught by an attack of mine. I was expecting a lot of things to happen. Like they would rout and we ran them down. Or they would fight more fiercely. Maybe they would charge me and try to kill the leader. Nope. I tumbled from my jump and quickly recovered to see the trolls lay down weapons and back away from Kor. Then a few at first joined the weapons in the dirt, which was followed by more and eventually they all laid down. The war grimace on my face went to a shocked expression and Cyrene bounded forward.

  “We accept your surrender and allow you to hurry home to rest,” she said and then poof the enemy vanished. Everything they carried on them was neatly left behind including orbs.

  “What the fuck was that?” Zoey said with what normally would be accompanied by a sassy snapping finger and swaying of hair.

  “A surrender. I forget you are such newbies to farming. There are occasions where the room is so soundly defeated you get to skip to the end as some call it. Not common, but not unheard of. I mean they lost all three leaders and then you summoned a legendary beast on them. The bonus part is we all get experience for a surrender too.” Cyrene said with a smile. “Oh, and makes Ossa’s life so much easier.”

  “Well, all of ours. We are racing through this loot. No digging around for days. We have the revival up and four more rooms at least to clear. Get the orbs, flip open chests, and toss in metal and wood to refill our chests. Hurry up, I want to spawn wagons in an hour,” I said loudly and my voice echoed across the clearing.

  The camp consisted of mostly cheap tents and crappy furniture. The first tunnel had actually been nicer. Which reminded me of how I hated caves and bats. Bats were solidly on the despise list. When I was zoned out in my hatred of bats Nicole kissed my cheek and gave me longing eyes. She was perfect at switching my mood into lust. I desired to strip… I yanked her into a dirty nasty troll tent. I peele
d her pants off and did her dirty in the dirty. When it was time to cum I sprayed globs of jizz on the tent wall with a giggle. Nicole joined my laughter when she realized what humored me. I got a long deep kiss after that quickly. She truly loved me for me.

  Our side quest to envelope a tent in after sex aroma was a success. I tossed a burning log onto that tent to forever remove the stains. The cleanup of actual loot and orbs went smoothly. The shaman had a spell drop that was blue and showed me getting yoinked off a wall. A come hither Cyrene had called it. He dropped a dozen silver and some healing orbs. The ogres dropped strength orbs and both Ossa and Desmond drooled over them. They were green orbs and we happily handed them off. There was a caveat in their contract now that stipulated any battle loot awarded on the field could not be resold for personal gain. For example, the necromancy orb that Zoey had could not be sold to buy her some cute outfits.

  The rest of the loot was subpar and the most time consuming was prying the nails from the wood. I called that off and ordered everyone to eat a nice stew for lunch. The team marched to the first barricade we set up and Dib handed out a bowl to each of us as we arrived. Apparently I was special and loved as I got two steaming bowls!

  When I was done with my soup I gave a loud sigh of comfort. I glanced down at my arm while wishing for my level; four thirty-one. Looks like my gains were slowing down. Besides Cyrene, most of the team was nearing three hundred so that was fantastic. There was little room for me to complain about my expanded core capacity. The ability to summon Kor for every second longer matter. The hydra was at one ninety now but was still only slightly bigger than the level one version. I would need to find out when a second pet upgrade occurred. My superiority orb was at one twenty five and my spear had rocketed to three hundred. No wonder it felt so lightweight and left me curious as to what other useless orbs were more powerful once upgraded. I removed my level ten water orb and plugged in the come hither orb. I still was missing a battle mount or an air shield for my last slot. I found myself zoning out for which to choose when fingers snapped in front of my face.

  “Hey handsome, my turn to get a rough handling after we clear room two. Maybe another choking,” Zoey said assertively and her red eyes shimmered as her eyebrows bounced up and down.

  “The pretend necromancer has spoken! We go for room…” I said and was interrupted as a zombie dolphuna spawned in my lap. Eww… And it gave me a creepy happy smile. Gross… “Fine, you win! Your tight, toned, sexy necromancer wants sex after we clear room two. That means we are five minutes late already and we need to hurry to clear room two. Better?”

  “I suppose. Watch this fine ass walk and then I will despawn Loco,” Zoey smirked as she performed the 'fade away’ with a saunter. I giggled at her naming the zombie dolphuna Loco, it was crazy suicidal in the river. When I was free of the dolphuna we assembled the gear and packed up Dib’s equipment.

  We were moving to room two.

  CHAPTER 16

  We walked through room one and when we reached the next tall wall of snow we spawned the wagons again. The tall canyons widened and allowed for more space as we rolled to room two. Additional snow was buffeted down here as the wind failed to push it across the gap up high. I saw little details to kill the half hour of monotony as we rode forward. Everything was white or ice and the howling wind above us was constant. There were no birds or even clouds today; only the arctic chill. We entered what I think used to be the second room and found a large abandoned cutout. This did not bode well because there was a metal double doored gate at the start of the next canyon path. I looked at Cyrene and she shrugged.

  “We did the middle route when I was here. Before you get too into a long list of questions I will not have answers to, we merely did that one because it was open. So I have no clue why there is a gate here and there certainly was not one on the route we beat,” Cyrene said in a huff and the frosted air enveloped her face.

  I had not thought that it could get colder with the sun out but it somehow did. We stopped in dungeon room two’s cutout and warmed up. After a nice toasty lunch, we waited a half hour after eating to avoid cramping and even had a nice stretch. The team was ready to go with everyone at full mana inside their cores. The gates put a damper on everything. I had the team back in the clearing and I went to the left door. There was a knocker with a slot above it that was currently closed.

  I slammed the heavy metal replica of a battering ram against a metal plate. There was a gong and I may have zoned out in finding it fascinating. I kept smacking the ram trying to break the plate and realized my ears were ringing. Well, I let them know I was here. Oh, the slot was open and I saw bulging angry black eyes staring out of it. I waved and the massive eyes stayed focused on me. My hearing was starting to return and I could make out what was being said.

  “What do you want?” The voice on the other side said.

  I furled my brows at the perfect common being spoken. Only Frooska had a mastery of the common language to such a level. The rationale hit me and I replied honestly.

  “Levels… Wait, you probably call it flooring. Some loot would be nice too,” I replied with the biggest charming smile I could muster. I think it fell flat as the eyes frowned in disappointment. “Awe don’t be sad, big guy. What do you want? How about we ask that?”

  “Isn’t that like asking your food to play before you eat it?” The voice responded tersely.

  I paused for a second.

  My mind was catching up to the situation.

  I most definitely was the wrong person trying to brighten up a despondent boss. I had a feeling this was a Frooska situation.

  A boss grew more powerful and gained a conscience. Here we were outside his nicely made new gates and I was ringing his ears.

  “One moment and I would never think of you as food. Mysti to the gate!” I shouted and looked back.

  Mysti pointed at her chest like there was another Mysti in the canyon deep in the dungeon. I nodded and she smiled as she ran my way. She only fell on the compact snow once and I helped her up near the gate.

  “How can I help?” Mysti asked and she dusted off the snow sticking to her robe. She waved at the set of big eyeballs behind the gate.

  “I asked this nice fellow on the other side…” I paused myself and put a hand on Mysti’s back. “This is Mysti, and I am Red.”

  “I am Garataur, recently promoted Captain of the Emperor’s guard. The hand gesture that is a back and forth movement. What does it mean?”

  “A friendly wave,” Mysti replied with a smile and repeated her wave. Her blonde hair and white strands sway as she happily shifted her head. “Nothing more and nothing less. A common greeting of non-aggression.”

  “Garataur here seems conflicted when I asked him what he wanted,” I said handing my role of lead negotiator off onto the gentle souled elvath.

  “Well, Garataur. First I like this gate, very impressive. The fact you built it means, to me at least; that you are determined when you set your mind to something. I recently met another boss who wanted to be left in peace and to stop fighting on other terms,” Mysti said and waited to see if Garataur would respond. The mysterious being behind the gate did not. “Well, we worked with them and even left in peace. We exchanged items for items and moved on.”

  “I recently awoke here in this dreadful snowy place. I am not like the trolls because I am not acclimated to this weather. I find the cold appalling. My nose is always running and these trolls are abysmal to talk to; even worse to delegate tasks to,” Garataur said and I interrupted him.

  “What are you?” I asked and Mysti smacked my arm.

  “Excuse my husband, he is crass and straight to the point,” Mysti said while apologetically patting the spot she hit.

  “That question I am proud to answer. I am a minotaur,” Garataur said gladly from the window slot. He stepped back and waved. There were golden earrings on his long ears that protruded out of an awesome red and orange helmet. The helm had wid
e eye slits, a nose covering, and the design flared at the bottom to protect his wide neck. Three fingers and a thumb waved at us and I knew my eyes were widening. “Hello, funny even the Emperor of the trolls is a dunce. You two are so nice to talk to.”

  “That helmet is the best!” I said, unable to contain my joy of hopefully looting it. I super wanted it. “Did you craft it?”

  “Yup I am a master crafter of leenspar. That is the metal you see here,” Garataur replied and then showed off his intricate chest piece. There were graphic images of minotaur sex acts. One was a male minotaur nailing a female minotaur while pulling on her horns. There was an image of a double blowjob and another looked like painful anal. He saw us studying the details and proudly asked, “Do you like the artwork?”

  “Yes, and so not going in that hole Gryff…” Mysti said and realized she goofed.

  An awkward silence settled over us and Garataur pointed to the sky through the slot to an area above and behind us.

  “What is that behind you?” The minotaur asked.

  I looked back and saw a blimp flying lower toward us.

  “Not sure Garataur. It looks like a tool of adventurers but not normally used for travel across land and more for going to other planets. Sure looks like it is fighting the gusting wind though.”

  “Can I fly one?” he asked sadly, knowing the answer.

  “I can ask,” I said with a shrug. “There would be certain promises needed to be made and such. Hell, if you disarm you can join us and I will vouch for you. You touch anyone you are not supposed to and I will kill you.”

  “I so want to take you up on that offer but if I pile my armor and weapons on the ground here or close to the gates these idiots will steal them,” Garataur said while glaring to his right behind the peephole.

  We watched the blimp operator nose dive the vehicle until it was below the canyon, pitch the aircraft up at the perfect moment, and successfully stabilize in between the steep walls. Then I noticed something, the blimp hit the side of the wall and a part went tumbling to the snow below. This was a real dirigible. Huh. Must be someone important. Even more of a reason to bring a lethal boss out.