The Dreadful Hunt

by J. E. Thompson

  “And why would I want to see an old lady?”

  Madame Turquoise snorted. “You’re a good deal older than me.”

  Shy merely shrugged and looked away as Vexx hefted his staff, examining the wolf’s head and tapping the metal. “It doesn’t look any different.”

  “Why would it? Don’t test it inside, young man. But I assure you, the curse is lifted. It’s not a difficult spell for someone like me.”

  “Can you help me?” Kaylin broke in, holding half of a cookie in one hand. Her chin and lips were smeared with chocolate. “I’ve been cursed, you see. So maybe…” Her eyes shone with optimism even as she trailed off uncertainly.

  Madame Turquoise let out a long sigh and shook her head slowly. “I wish that I could, elf girl, but my talents are only with enchanted objects.”

  Kaylin nodded slowly, staring down at the platter of cookies. She set her half-eaten cookie delicately on a napkin. “Could we see our rooms, please?”

  Pursuing the Dragon Egg

  The dungeoneers’ hair blew in the wind, caught by the heavy sea breezes from an intensifying storm farther out in the ocean. This time, the normally tranquil waves were replaced by heavy swells that pitched their boat from side to side. A ferry had left from Oerchenbrach’s docks at around the same time, yet the heavier vessel was able to force its way through the choppy waters with relative ease, and Vexx watched with increasing horror as it headed straight for Blackscale Island.

  “We have competition!” Shy called out as Vexx strained at the ship’s wheel, their sail filling with a gust of wind.

  “I know!”

  Vexx squinted, holding steady to the ship’s wheel as the fishing boat glided through the sea. There was little else he could do but keep it steady as the ferry docked. In the distance, he could see the shimmering gleams of magically enchanted robes and armor pieces as parties of eager dungeoneers disembarked on the beaches. The dungeoneers trudged ashore as the ferry left without ceremony, hurrying back toward more paying customers in Oerchenbrach. A few of the crew looked over in curiosity at the fishing boat’s approach, but most showed little interest, busy preparing for their return to Oerchenbrach as the ferry rocked its way through the rising waves.

  Now that they were closer to Blackscale Island, the waters were a bit calmer, and Vexx settled back in to watch their approach.

  “Just a few minutes,” he announced as Kaylin leaned forward beside him, squinting into the distance.

  “Hey, Vexx…is that…”

  “It’s an ambush,” Shy intoned.

  “Huh?” Vexx looked up. Spots of black were the only indication he received as swarms of arrows landed among the dungeoneers plodding their way up the heights. Then the dull figures of Lizardfolk emerged from behind rocks and the hills behind the beach, spitting acid at the dungeoneers down below. The fishing boat scraped against something, and Vexx turned his attention away from the fight to bring the boat alongshore in the increasingly shallow waters along Blackscale Island. He barely glanced up, only catching glimpses of the battle, but it seemed like the dungeoneers were forcing their way forward, even if they suffered heavy casualties. Selfish as ever, they fought in small bands rather than as a large group, and they didn’t bother coordinating with the others.

  Still, it was enough to turn the tide.

  A crack of light pierced the clouds, and Vexx was suddenly worried that the storm was already upon them. Then he saw it again; an intense beam of light arcing down to slam into the middle of a group of Lizardfolk. They scattered at once, a few writhing in agony as electricity arced through their bodies and set them aflame.

  Vexx saw the architect of this destruction striding calmly forward.

  The Archmagus!

  Dred Wyrm wasn’t anywhere to be seen, nor were any dungeoneers of similar rank besides the Archmagus, who clearly was operating alone amongst the differing parties. Then, the rumors of Dred Wyrm’s style came to him: the legendary dungeoneer didn’t particularly like long arrangements and spat on loyalty, that he only invited those who could fight well on their own, and that most of his crew preferred working alone as well. It seemed strange to Vexx, but he supposed those powerful enough to have mastered all sorts of skills had no particular need for partners.

  A bowstring thrummed beside him, and a distant figure of a Lizardman collapsed just after felling a swordsman with his trident.

  “How does your bow feel?” Vexx asked, grounding the boat alongside the beach.

  “Shoots like a dream!” Kaylin replied, already hopping into the shallow water. Shyola joined her, tugging on the rope to drag the fishing boat onto the sandy beach. Vexx followed behind them, getting his boots soaked as he jumped into the water and strode ashore. A few low moans greeted him as nearby as a few grievously wounded dungeoneers looked over.

  Vexx frowned, pitying the men dying on the beach.

  We don’t have the time for this, though.

  “Let’s go!” Vexx snapped, already striding ahead. “Everyone else is covering the land above,” he declared, pointing toward a different cave entrance than the one they’d gone through before. “Let’s try this approach.”

  The dungeoneers worked their way over the beach and to the rock. Vexx’s frown deepened as they walked by the fresh corpses of ambitious dungeoneers. Resisting the urge to simply barrel forward, they paused by several of the bodies to grab coins and a few trinkets to sell. Vexx paused by one broad-shouldered barbarian with an arrow to the throat and fed necromantic energies into his body. The sickly green tendrils of magic worked their way through the wolf head of his staff, swirling outward and trailing around the man until his eyes shot open in a brilliant green.

  The barbarian grunted, and his mouth worked silently as he tried to speak, but his mangled throat prevented any kind of speech.

  “Pick up your broadsword,” Vexx said simply. “Your work is not yet over.”

  With the undead barbarian following along with them, the adventurers crept into the cave along the beach, ducking low to enter and then spreading out as the cave widened. Bursts of flickering flames drifted out of the wolf-head staff as if it were a carved dragon.

  “How’s the staff?” Shyola asked as they worked their way along.

  “It seems like I don’t need to spend as much energy,” Vexx mused as they continued forward. “Or maybe it just feels that way.”

  “You’ve gone up several levels in power since we started dungeoneering together, Master. Perhaps it’s just that.”

  “Perhaps…”

  They wove their way through the meandering tunnels of the cave until they reached a wide corridor. Then, Kaylin waved at them to duck behind fallen rocks. Vexx couldn’t hear anything, but a few moments later, a group of cultists rushed through a side passage, passing them and grunting a few frantic words to each other. Vexx waited, ready to ambush them, but eventually, the group simply made its way past.

  He waited another half minute, then rose to his feet.

  “What was that all about?”

  “They said something about meeting at the rally point,” Shyola said. “Some sort of spear on the island. That’s where they’ll make their stand with their leader…” she shrugged. “Or so they say.”

  The undead barbarian gargled something: a wet, disgusting noise that broke Vexx’s concentration. Instead, Vexx just waved the dungeoneers forward, and they followed the passage that the Lizardfolk cultists had taken. The corridor up ahead curved left and right but continued at a noticeable incline, and soon, they emerged on the other side of the rocky heights that overlooked the beach where they had arrived.

  The barbarian pointed upward as he stepped into the open, gesturing at a long, spindly peak along the crest of the mountainous center of the island.

  “Shh…prrr!” he gurgled.

  “I think your friend is right,” Shy agreed quietly. “That looks to me like the ‘spear’ of the island. Shall we head for it?”

  “Absolutely,” Vexx said, striding along the re
latively flat plains on this part of the island. The dragon cultists ahead of them must have moved fast enough to reach the forested hills in the distance, which crept upward into ridges and mountains. There was also little sign of any other dungeoneers, though the clang of metal echoed in the distance.

  Kaylin’s ears twitched as they continued their brisk march forward toward the mountain.

  “Half a dozen small fights,” she said after a moment, in response to Vexx’s unasked question. “There are a lot of deaths on this island.”

  The undead barbarian made some small sound, perhaps reflecting on the circumstances of his own demise. Still, he kept pace with the dungeoneers as they hurried forward, finally reaching the first patch of brush.

  “Quiet,” Kaylin announced. “I think—”

  An arrow shot outward from behind a shriveled tree, glancing off Vexx’s wolf-head staff and spinning away. Several Lizardfolk archers appeared behind cover, drawing and loosing as the dungeoneers scrambled away.

  “Get them, you!” Vexx called out to his undead barbarian, who shambled forward eagerly, two more arrows ripping through his flesh to little effect. Vexx called up a burst of flames to launch fireballs forward, then thought better of it and smoothly transitioned to an Ethereal Screech. The magical energy emanating from the snout of the wolf’s head shifted from a mix of yellows and reds to a spectral green. He jabbed the staff forward, firing off the shrieking netherworldly skulls. One after another, they slammed into the dragon cultists, smashing several apart with their strikes.

  It’s already much more accurate than before. And it definitely feels like it requires less energy to use!

  The barbarian shrugged off a rain of acid spit, lopping off a scaly arm with a solid strike against an unfortunate Lizardman archer. Shy followed up this attack by blinking into visibility at the group’s left flank, lashing two archers at once, then grabbing another by the throat. A rush of crimson energy pulsed outward as she devoured the struggling cultist’s soul.

  The last three hesitated as Vexx’s rain of skulls fell silent. An arrow soared through the air, striking one in the center of its chest, and the final two turned to flee. Vexx launched two fireballs, one knocking a cultist to the ground and the other sailing overhead to smack harmlessly against a boulder. A careful shot from Kaylin sent an arrow through the neck of the retreating Lizardman, just as the one Vexx had winded rose to his feet, the fireball having little to no apparent effect. The undead barbarian stepped forward, slashing downward and cutting deeply into the Lizard man’s torso before his broadsword lodged against the creature’s ribs.

  The undead barbarian raised one leg and pushed against the cultist’s back, wrenching his broadsword free. As blood dripped to the ground, his glowing green eyes looked back at Vexx for approval. The necromancer took a moment to breathe, but somehow, he didn’t feel particularly tired after having used all those magical attacks. Shy let out a satisfied belch and dropped the corpse she’d been feeding off.

  “Their rear guard couldn’t stop us,” Vexx announced, gesturing forward with his wolf-head staff. “We’re on the right track. Onward!”

  Summoning the Dragon

  The dungeoneers pushed through the scrub brush and into a denser section of the forest. They reached the crest of one hill before stopping to rest and to survey the area. It seemed that they weren’t quite alone.

  Even with their information about the gathering at the spear, they weren’t the only ones that had managed to fight their way into the foothills. They could already see a party of tough-looking dungeoneers on the slopes ahead of them, struggling up to the peak. A wave of black arrows rained down upon them as they sprung another ambush left by the Lizardfolk guards. Then, a crack of thunder echoed across the mountains as a silver streak of lightning slammed into a tree, and three Lizardman archers fell from its blackened branches. Vexx blinked furiously once the flash of light faded away, taking in the man in blue and black, who strode among the other dungeoneers.

  “The Archmagus,” he muttered to himself.

  “Do you know him?” Kaylin asked as she squinted into the distance.

  “Not well, but I have seen him before. He’s present at graduation exercises for students at Fallanden.”

  Something about seeing the man brought back the sick feeling of the yearly examinations he’d had to take. He thought about the advanced exercises he had needed to demonstrate, then his mind turned to the board that had convened to throw him out.

  That was the last time I’d seen him. Until now.

  “Let’s press forward,” Vexx ordered, his fatigue forgotten after seeing the Archmagus. “Come on!”

  The dungeoneers stealthily made their way through the foothills. The terrain was uneven, dipping in places before evening out in others. It was on one patch of exposed rock that they met their second ambush. A pair of dragon cultist mages appeared from behind a cluster of boulders, and they launched twin blasts of fireballs downrange. One exploded by Shyola, the impact causing her to tumble off the path, while another slammed into the undead barbarian’s chest. Before the Lizardmen could fire again, Kaylin loosed an arrow, grinning fiercely as it sank deep into the shoulder of one of the mages, sending his next fireball spiraling into the sky.

  The second mage, however, decimated the undead barbarian’s head with an aimed fireball, sending the reanimated corpse sliding down the steep slope. Vexx followed it with a fireball of his own, which slammed into the torso of the dragon cultist and knocked him back. Then he launched a burst of ice shards, switching to an element he was less skilled with. Somehow, the wolf-head staff seemed to enhance the effect, and the jagged shards of ice shot through the air before embedding themselves deep in the Lizardman’s flesh.

  Cautiously, Kaylin and Vexx struggled up the slopes to the two fallen dragon cultists. Vexx turned, craning his neck to see the succubus still making her way upward.

  “I’m alright!” she called out, her voice echoing to reach them. “Just stung a bit!”

  Vexx nodded, raising a hand in acknowledgment, then he turned to examine the fallen cultists. Kaylin moved over to the one she had hit, delicately prying her arrow loose and returning it to her quiver. The dragon cultist Vexx had killed had nothing, as far as he could tell, but behind him was a small entrance leading into the mountain.

  “They must have snuck out this way,” Vexx thought out loud as his companions joined him. In the distance, another skirmish echoed through the hills. “I bet if we make our way through here, we can get to the spear first.”

  “It’s worth a shot,” Shyola agreed, joining them and crouching low. She disappeared at once, though her voice echoed outward. “I’ll go first.”

  “After you,” Vexx suggested, ushering Kaylin forward, then he followed the elf as they worked their way inside.

  “Clear,” Shy’s voice called out. Vexx created another flickering light and proceeded through the cave system once again. The path curved left and right, but they were clearly headed deeper into the mountain range.

  “I hear it,” Kaylin said softly as they worked their way through the passageway. “I hear them chanting.”

  They pressed onward in silence, and the corridor rose with each step until the faint rays of sunlight could be seen in the distance. Vexx heard it now, the low drone of the cultist’s chants as the cave led them out into the light.

  The dungeoneers cautiously fanned out.

  The system of caves and tunnels had led them into the mountains, and the ‘spear’ of the island was clear to see, jabbing into the sky just in front of them. As they peered out from atop a rocky slope, they could make out the veritable horde of Lizardfolk milling about in the clearing.

  “They’re summoning a dragon,” Shyola murmured in surprise. “Look, there’s the egg!” She pointed over to a figure in the center of the gathering that raised something in the air. All around him, dragon cultists were chanting away, their unfamiliar voices appeared to be edged with tension. They undoubtedly saw that their
doom approached.

  “Perhaps we could sneak—”

  Vexx was interrupted by a sudden boom of thunder as a bolt of lightning pierced the skies and slammed into the middle of the dragon cultists. The chanting died away as row after row of Lizardfolk snarled and grabbed their tridents and bows.

  “What the hell?” Vexx snapped, noticing that a few of the dragon cultists had seen them, pointing upwards and jabbing with their tridents as they grunted and chittered away in their peculiar language. “Oh, that’s not good.”

  However, most turned toward a party of armored dungeoneers charging out from a copse of pine trees. Strolling nonchalantly behind them was the Archmagus, his staff radiating a silvery blue as he casted a series of powerful lightning strikes into the mass of assembled cultists. Beside him was a cleric that held a mace in the air channeling power into a glimmering barrier of dark blue that radiated outward, shielding the advancing dungeoneers ahead of him. A crossbowman and an archer stayed behind, loosing arrow after arrow into the horde of Lizardfolk.

  “Should we stay back?” Kaylin asked uncertainly, but already, a dozen Lizardfolk were charging up the slope to where they had emerged from the caves.

  “We’ll hold here, for now,” Vexx answered, casting an Ethereal Screech that slammed into the small group of cultists that had made their way up to the cave.

  That damn Archmagus! Butting his head into things that don’t concern him! Vexx spared a glance upward as his exploding netherworldly skulls rained down on the advancing Lizardfolk. Despite himself, his lips twitched into a smile. But it’s all working out just fine in the end!

  “We smash this group to bits, then charge forward,” Vexx declared breathlessly, staring intently down at the chaos. “And we’re going to take the dragon egg for ourselves!”

  Battle Against the Cultists

  Vexx doused the clearing with a blast of spreading flames. The Lizardfolk were clearly resistant to it, but it still slowed their advance. Then, he launched a barrage of aimed shots with his frost magic, using the sharp icicles to puncture holes in the advancing dragon cultists. Even with his mediocre skill, it was enough to take down a half dozen. But the longer they fought, the more Lizardfolk reinforced their allies to assault the groups of dungeoneers that had interrupted their ceremony.