by JK Galioto
The dragonkin speaking had light grey scaled skin the color of concrete. He was thinner and a bit shorter than the four other dragonkin sitting around the campfire and wore round Harry Potter-like spectacles. The other Ravanans had the same reddish-brown scales of the sentry Jack had seen earlier and looked to be much stronger than the speaker. Each of them wore the same light blue tabard with a large black raven on the front. Halberds with crescent-shaped blades lay within easy reach of all of them, along with smaller shortswords at their waists.
“How about we kill you and see how you taste?” one of the dragonkin muttered, a long slithering tongue snaking out between his sharp teeth.
“That’s enough, Private,” another of the creatures said, authority in his voice. He sounded like someone used to having his orders obeyed. Jack looked at him more closely and saw two stripes on his tabard near the shoulder and a long pale scar along his snout. “We are all getting tired of this journey, but like the technician said, we only have another day before we can head back.”
“Yes, Sergeant,” Ji-Myot muttered. They went back to being quiet, chewing on what looked to be dried jerky. Jack took a moment to Analyze the leader and the one called the technician.
Name: Pa-Koni. Race: Dragonkin. Level: 8. Class: Soldier. Hit Points: 87/87. Spell Points: 22.
Name: Li-Sper. Race: Dragonkin. Level: 5. Profession: Technician. Hit Points: 20/20. Spell Points: 28. Special Perks: Technical Aptitude, Mend.
His Creature Scan perk must have activated, but unfortunately the information he received wasn’t super helpful. The group sat in silence, continuing to eat their jerky. Easing himself away, Jack headed back to Gooch, formulating a plan. From the little he overheard, it seemed that the technician had been sent to check out the portal; maybe the Ravanan Empire had figured out Jack and Gooch had made it through unharmed? Or maybe it was a routine patrol? The other dragonkin had the look of soldiers, probably sent to escort the tech. It would be great to capture the tech or the sergeant to find out more about their plans. Everything he knew about them came from a shapeshifting creature that seemed more than a little unstable.
He came back to the campsite to find Gooch in the process of donning his darkened scale armor. He looked up, noting the expression on Jack’s face.
“What’s wrong, Jack?” he asked, his fingers moving a little faster.
“I think I just met the Ravanan Empire,” he replied softly, then filled Gooch in on what he had seen.
“The way I see it,” Gooch responded after thinking on it for a long minute, “we have two options. We could let them go to the portal, run their diagnostics or whatever it is they’re going to do, and then let them return to their leaders. The risks with this option are twofold. First, they somehow ‘fix’ the portal in such a way that makes it unusable to us and does not allow us to bring more people over to help. Second, they figure out that you and I made it through the portal and send assassins to hunt us down.”
“Always a glass half full kind of guy, huh Gooch?” Jack retorted.
“Our other option,” Gooch continued, ignoring Jack, “is to set an ambush for them and take them out. There are also two risks with this plan. First, we may die. From your description, they sound dangerous. Second, if they don’t report back, the Ravanan Empire may send more groups to figure out what happened to them.”
“My gut tells me we should try and take them out. If they can somehow tamper with the portal and make it so we can’t bring in more help, our chances to save Earth go from slim to none. And it would be great to capture one of them alive for questioning. Besides, you are forgetting the two biggest benefits of your second option: experience and loot!”
“Keep your voice down, dude!” Gooch whispered harshly, trying to look everywhere all at once.
“Sorry,” Jack apologized, the corners of his mouth battling to keep a grin off his face. “I think I have a plan to even the odds a bit with our Ravanan friends.” Following Gooch’s example from earlier, he began whispering nonsensically before bursting out in a fit of laughter. After a few more moments he got serious and was careful to keep his voice down as he told the large warrior his plan.
Chapter 48
Rat Damon sat on his haunches and squeaked at the pair of large, scaly reptilian creatures in front of him. At just over five inches in length, he was easy to miss, even with a silver locket tied to his back. He skittered around, hoping the sunlight glinting through the trees would reflect off the locket and catch the attention of the scaly monsters as they made their way on a large game trail toward the portal. After nearly a minute of scampering between their legs, one of the two scouts finally noticed him, giving a grunt of surprise before pointing his long, clawed finger at the rat.
The oversized lizard lunged for him, narrowly missing as Rat Damon scurried farther up the game trail. The hunt was on as they ran after him, taking turns grabbing for the small rodent, who narrowly avoided capture by darting in and out of their reach. When Rat Damon reached the specified stump, he dashed to his right, off the trail, the Ravanans hot on his little rat tail. After another thirty seconds of this, the rat made it to a small clearing. As he reached the far edge of the open expanse, he let himself slow a bit, and soon felt a clawed hand grab him as one of the scouts executed a successful diving leap for the rat, crushing him and causing him to fade into mist that quickly dispersed.
* * *
The two scouts were so focused on the silver locket that they were taken completely by surprise as a massive two-handed sword slammed into the dragonkin who had grabbed the brave little rat. The sword momentarily slid off a scale until it found purchase in the soft flesh underneath, driving deep into the body, then even deeper into the soft dirt until only the hilt could be seen. The dragonkin soldier squirmed, unable to rise up, the sword pinning him in place. Letting go of the massive two-handed sword, Gooch pulled his longsword out of his sheath, grabbed his shield, and moved to fight the remaining scout, who had recovered from his surprise. The scout swung his heavy poleaxe around in a mighty overhead chop, twirling it like a baton. Gooch was just able to get his shield up in time, the axe end of the poleaxe clanging off the bronze shield. Jack thought he heard a small crack from Gooch’s arm, but his friend ignored the pain as he countered with a thrust of his longsword, forcing the dragonkin creature to dance backward—right into Jack.
As soon as Jack saw the two soldiers run into the clearing in hot pursuit of Rat Damon, he’d stealthily made his way toward them, waiting for an opportunity to strike. As Gooch made the dragonkin dart backward, Jack executed Dual Attack, his shortsword and dagger biting deep into the creature’s body. It only had a moment to be stunned before Gooch ended the creature with a sword thrust through his mouth and out the back of his head.
“I love it when a plan comes together,” Jack sent to Gooch using his Mind Meld perk. He cast Minor Heal on his friend’s arm before quickly fading back into the woods, sure that the other soldiers must have heard the sounds of battle and the continued hisses of pain from the soldier pinned to the ground by Gooch’s two-handed sword. As he hid, he noticed Gooch rub his hand over his longsword, followed by fire dancing up and down the blade’s length. Gooch then placed his large boot on top of the squirming dragonkin, his dark blue cloak billowing in the nonexistent wind.
Chapter 49
Seeing one of their comrades dead and the second pinned to the ground, four reptilians emerged from the woods, howling a war cry and charging at Gooch, the sergeant that Jack had seen earlier at the head of the formation. Gooch insta-cast Magic Arrow at the sergeant, who shrugged it off and continued moving doggedly toward Gooch with a snarl. Gooch used another of his Arcane Reservoir points to insta-cast Burning Hands when they got within range. He caught three in the blast, including the sergeant. The creatures’ scales glowed red from the fire, and Jack heard the faint sounds of searing flesh. Shrieking in pain, one of them dropped to the ground, trying to use it to cool himself off and extinguish the fire. The sergeant and t
he other soldier grinned through the pain, joined the unharmed dragonkin, and began attacking Gooch in unison, thrusting the pointed end of their halberds directly at the Magus in a well-practiced maneuver.
Gooch saw the points of the halberds come flying at him and managed to use his shield to redirect one harmlessly to the side and twist at his waist to avoid another aimed for his shoulder. The last halberd spike snuck under his guard, slamming deep into the right side of his chest, puncturing his armor and hardened skin until it scraped on his rib cage.
“Damn, these guys are strong!” Gooch bellowed to Jack via the mental connection while taking a large, careful step back deeper into the woods, using the trees to hamper the swings of their long weapons. Although they were a good foot shorter than Gooch, the halberds gave the Ravanans reach, and Gooch was unable to counterattack with his longsword. The soldiers pursued as Gooch took yet another large step backward, using his shield, longsword, and trees to dodge, block, and parry the lizards’ attacks. The soldier on Gooch’s right threw down his halberd, the trees limiting its effectiveness, and took a step toward Gooch. The creature’s bellow turned from rage to surprise as the firm-looking ground in front of him gave way and he fell into a short pit, impaling himself on a mixture of sharpened sticks and old shoddy weapons. Gooch used that distraction to take another giant step backward, preparing to set off the next trap. The sergeant and the soldier continued moving forward, carefully testing the ground as the sergeant bellowed something to his men in a language Gooch did not understand. As they neared him, Gooch tugged on a rope and a large, sharpened tree trunk swung from his right directly into a soldier, the pointed tip penetrating the tough scales and sending the creature flying. Gooch didn’t think Jack’s low level trap making skill would be enough to count either of those soldiers completely out of the fight, but hopefully it would give them time to work on the sergeant.
* * *
Jack used Gooch’s diversion to circle behind the four reptilian soldiers, attacking the one who was rolling on the ground trying to put out the fire caused by Gooch’s Burning Hands. The spell must have made it under the scales and began burning the flesh underneath. No one, not even my enemies, deserves that kind of pain. Jack performed a critical sneak attack on the creature, slicing through his jugular in one gory strike, ending its misery. Still quiet, he began moving toward the soldier in the pit when he noticed his stealth status go from green to red, eye wide open. He heard the technician scream from behind him, “Pa-Koni, there’s another one coming from behind!” His spidey sense started tingling just as he felt a crossbow bolt lodge in the meat of his right ass cheek.
“Yippee-ki-yay Mr. Falcon!” Jack cried in pain, reaching down and pulling out the bolt, tears streaming unbidden down his face. He wasn’t sure if the bolt was poisoned but wasn’t taking any chances, and at seeing a bleed icon blink furiously in his interface, sheathed his dagger and began to cast Minor Heal. The largest dragonkin, which Jack recognized as the sergeant, glanced behind him, then used a lightning quick thrust, impaling Gooch’s chest with the tip of his halberd. Ignoring the technician, Jack raced toward the sergeant, feeling a slight gash along his ear as another crossbow bolt flew by him in a near miss. Crap on a cracker! It should take longer to load a crossbow; that tech must have some training to speed it along. Channeling his best Cyndi Lauper, he sang the first song that came to him, “Time after Time,” hoping his Discourage Foe perk would slow and weaken the attacks of all the dragonkin soldiers, including that pesky tech and Pa-Koni.
As he neared the sergeant, he spared a glance for Gooch, who looked the worse for wear. The thrust from the sergeant must have struck his lung, as Jack saw blood bubble up from the corner of the big man’s mouth. As Gooch used his shield and fiery long sword to fend off the attacks of the much more powerful sergeant, Jack’s Discourage Foe perk visibly slowed his attacks, finally giving Gooch a chance. Jack was headed toward the sergeant to provide a distraction for Gooch when he saw a soldier appear to Gooch’s left, the scale in the center of his chest shattered. Jack intercepted the dragonkin before he could double team Gooch, catching it by surprise by slamming his shortsword deep into the unprotected flesh of its chest. The soldier repaid Jack with an attack of his own, slicing a deep gash with his shortsword into Jack’s thigh before falling to a knee, one large taloned hand clutched over his chest to try and slow the bleeding. Gooch took a chance and ran the kneeling soldier through with his flaming sword, the fire searing and cauterizing as it cut.
* * *
Weakling. Pa-Koni glared with disdain at the sight of the hulking shield bearer running his comrade through with a flaming sword. While it was unfortunate to have one under his command fall in battle, weak soldiers ate as much as strong soldiers. It was fortuitous and necessary to cull those who could not measure up to ensure that only the strongest would survive, strengthening the empire as a whole. It was also unfortunate that he would need to end this hearty warrior, as one of his skill would be useful fighting on the side of destiny. But regrettably, this was not to be.
Pa-Koni frowned slightly at the thought of the potential he was about to waste. So how it is, it must be. They have made their choice and must now face the consequences. I take no pleasure in this. He took a step back, gripping his halberd firmly, hands about shoulder-width apart. Hoisting it vertically in front of him, he drew it in towards his chest, centering the weapon to his body and elevating it slightly. Tilting his large, reptilian head toward the ground and closing his eyes, he rested his forehead on the shaft of the weapon and began to speak the words of an ancient incantation while deliberately moving the lengthy armament away from his body, his head now lifting to its normal position, eyes still firmly shut.
The sergeant began to spin his polearm clockwise, slowly at first, but soon rotating faster as the arcane phrases sped up and became more and more intense. Pa-Koni could feel the arcane power building inside him and knew that the secondary effects of his power were now causing a terrible wind to blast towards his enemy, preventing them from closing the distance between them and giving the spell the time it needed to finish. Opening his eyes, which by now had turned a glowing neon blue, he was truly startled that his adversary had not been idle. Amidst the now-raging gale-force winds he was creating, the monstrous combatant had actually made progress in bridging the gap and had become dangerously close to his position. The air around him was saturated with the feeling of a massive build-up of static electricity, like the quiet before a thunderstorm.
But it was no matter; his skill was expert and his words were true. Just as the beastly humanoid was almost in position, he finished his invocation. Two things then happened at once. First, the weapon he was holding tightly now shot back into a position perpendicular to the ground, his hands straining to maintain their grip on the amount of power he had generated as he planted the haft firmly into the earth. Second, lightning emanated and forked between his eyes and toward his enemy as he let out an incomprehensible shout. Feel the Call of the Storm!
* * *
With a snarl, Jack saw the sergeant, Pa-Koni, finish his spell. Immediately the gale force winds ceased as a bolt of blue lightning shot out of the spinning halberd and into Gooch. Gooch absorbed the blue lightning and began to spasm, falling to the ground. Jack could see the sergeant lining up for a kill shot on Gooch.
“No!” he screamed, and time seemed to slow. He rolled under a wild swing from the nearly dead soldier in front of him, using the momentum from his roll to spring to his feet behind the sergeant, his Difficult Terrain and Parkour perks working together to help him not stumble. In one smooth motion, he sliced the powerful dragonkin’s head off. Well, that’s what he tried to do. Instead, his shortsword clanged noisily off the dragonkin’s scale armor, Jack’s arm reverberating painfully with the blow. The creature’s scales were much harder and denser than the other ones he had fought. To add insult to, well, more injury, Jack felt another crossbow bolt strike him in his side with enough force to punch completely t
hrough his body.
Grimacing through the pain, Jack spoke through gritted teeth. “You’re going to have quite a kink in your neck tomorrow, hope you have a good chiropractor,” he said as he continued to attack the creature. Without his sneak attack advantage, he just didn’t have the combat prowess to do more than a few points of damage to the sergeant. Pa-Koni ignored Jack and moved to finish off Gooch, spinning his halberd in a wide arc before slamming it down on Gooch’s chest, directly over his heart.
“Gooch!” Jack screamed as he dove forward between the legs of the sergeant, who was in the process of lining up another shot on Gooch, taking his vengeance out on the man that had killed his soldiers. Hoping there was something sensitive between his legs, Jack did what he did best and thrust his shortsword and dagger at the area between his thighs. To Jack’s delight and horror, his blades sank deep into the creature’s groin and green, viscous blood began raining down on him. Yep, I’ve definitely got a problem.
With a bellow of pain and outrage, the sergeant fell hard to his knees on top of Jack, his massive weight knocking the air out of Jack’s lungs. Jack tried desperately to squirm out from under the sergeant, who screamed a command to his tech for healing, using his clawed hands to try and stem the bleeding. Jack thought he could hear the technician running from the woods, but his focus was on the soldier that had fallen in the pit, who had climbed out during the fight, weakened but not out. He stood over Jack, who was trapped in place by the sergeant, and lined up a shot on Jack’s exposed neck. The reptilian began to swing his halberd in a wide arc for a severing blow, and Jack closed his eyes, his last thoughts of how he’d failed his brother.
* * *
Gooch, now in full control of his body, lightning spasms mostly gone, stood up, his Last Stand perk giving him new life, albeit only one hit point worth. Using his final Arcane Reservoir point for the day, he insta-cast Burning Hands, spraying fire at the soldier and the top half of the sergeant, making the sergeant look more Freddy Kreuger and less dragonkin. No cry escaped the sergeant’s lips as he died.
