by Jason Cheek
In that split-second, I knew what the Orc was going to do next. Time seemed to slow as I spun around giving it my best shot. Shouting to Theric, I threw Elidyr up with all my strength just as Ulia’s head peeked out over the battlement above. The look of horror on her face said it all. Behind me, I heard the hastening scrapes of the Orc’s claws on stone as the boss triggered his charge ability. There was only one chance to get this right.
Not stopping my turn, I leaped into the air and tucked into a ball, while whipping the shield off my back. I was reaching for the straps of my Iron-reinforced Defender when the Orc slammed into me like a wrecking ball. The impact sent me ass over heels as I slammed to a stop seconds later against the stone wall with a meaty smack. Somewhere along the line, the air was blasted from my lungs as I dropped to the ground gasping for breath.
Still, the reduced pain threshold of the game gave me the edge I needed. Climbing to my knees, I managed to get my legs under me and raise my shield as the Orc’s war axes came crashing down on me like thunder. Blow after blow hammered at my shield as I somehow staggered back to my feet. Shrieking in rage, Grutgrak Skullcrusher slammed his axes together. Lifting the combined weapons over his head with both muscular arms, he struck with a mighty Cross Slash.
There was no time to dodge or even think. My body acted on muscle memory alone as I whipped my shield overhead quick as lightning. The impact of the two-handed blow buckled my shield as the wood exploded in a cloud of splinters. The remaining iron bracing bent around my arm like the twisted remains of a car crash, while the force of the blow sent me flying across the room. The Goblins and undead battling in my path were blown from their feet as I crossed 20 feet in the blink of an eye.
My flight was abruptly stopped a second later by a thick, stone pillar. I hit the ground hard floundering like a turtle stuck on its back as I weakly flailed trying to climb to my knees. All that I remembered of the pillar was a white flash and a moment of blackness as my HUD flashed a warning that I had a concussion debuff for 5 seconds. The room reeled around me as a bellow of rage nearby caught my wacky focus. My guts clenched in fear as I spotted Grutgrak Skullcrusher charging directly for me with his beady, red eyes filled with rage. The enormous Orc was only moments away from cleaving me in two when my thoughts came back into focus with a snap as the concussion debuff disappeared from my interface. Immediately, I dived rolled to the side as the boss crunched to a stop behind me.
With my head once again clear, I sprang to the attack. A brutal slash severed the fingers clutching the nearest war axe. As the Orc roared in agony, I circle behind the boss and drove my Brutal Skullsplitter deep into the back of the mob’s knee. Grutgrak’s response was instantaneous. Spinning around with a bellow, the Orc backhanded me across the room.
My Hit Points plummeted to a third as I slid across the stone floor on my back. Fumbling at my belt, I scooped up the last four Minor Healing potions and down them in one go as the Orc lumbered after me in a limping sprint. Obviously, the Level 40 Orc hadn’t suffered a concussion debuff like I had when he’d plowed into the pillar. I checked the boss’ Hit Points as I came to a stop. Except for the disabled hand and gimp debuff, I’d barely managed to damage the tough bastard beyond a few hundred points. Before I could come up with a plan of attack, the remaining group of Goblins that had been holding together suddenly collapsed as feral zombies began flooding throughout the Great Hall. Seeing the undead horde’s gnashing jaws coming for me, I triggered my Frost Nova spell and skittered back as a wave of ice washed over everything around me in a 10-foot radius.
Grutgrak Skullcrusher’s surprised yelp brought my focus back to the fight at hand as the massive Orc slid past me. The mob’s arms and legs helplessly flailed the air as he crashed into the frozen zombie line like a freight train, before coming to a stop with a pile of shrieking undead on top of him. Before I could celebrate my good fortune, the stone beneath my back gave away as I suddenly plummeted into a deep, black hole.
Sadly to say I screamed like a little girl. My arms and legs flailed about as I fell while hitting what felt like every jutting rock on the way down. The impact wasn’t any better. Instead of smacking into an unmoving stone floor, I sank into a pile of bones and mostly-consumed corpses. I knew this because of the horrendous, overwhelming stench of rot and because the light from the gaping hole above let in enough light to clearly see the gnawed bone pile I’d fallen into.
That’s when I really freaked out. I don’t mean freak-out like: OMG, there’s a two-inch palmetto bug flying at my face. No, I mean total, mindless spazzing that only ended when I was out of the pile of rotting flesh and bones with my back pressed up against a wall and my feet on solid ground. The only thing that could have been worse was if I’d fallen into a pit full of roaches and foot-long centipedes. Yea, it was that bad … or at least it felt that way as I hyperventilated in my dark little corner.
Still, even with the complete spaz attack I’d just went through, I was applauding the game’s realism in the back of my mind. Yea, I know, sounds crazy right? But, seriously. When was the last time you were seriously freaked out by a video game? Hold up a minute. I don’t mean the jumping out of your skin kind of fear like Doom 6, because scary shit was jumping out at you to eat your face. No, I mean the kind of chills that Diablo 8 should have given you passing through the catacombs. Exactly, you didn’t have any overwhelming fear just from the atmosphere of the place. That’s because there was nothing real about the horror. Yea … yea … yea, there was a lot of visual horrors. Bloody corpses in pools of blood, check. Dismembered bodies, check. Horrendous torture devices still holding bloody pieces of their victim, check. Even with all of that Gothic horror, none of it felt real. There was no stench of the decomposing bodies. No copper tang in the air from the freshly spilled blood. The beings were just bits of code, not living, breathing individuals. Yea, now you’re getting what I mean. All of those visuals were flat without the extrasensory triggers that make gore and horror truly real.
One thing I had to give the developers kudos for was that their world was nothing like that. The adrenaline rush I felt at this second was the same sensation I’d felt the first time I’d jumped out of a plane skydiving. That first rush was something unique that you never quite got again no matter how many times you jumped afterward. That first rush that made people into adrenaline junkies that were always searching for the next rush in some new daring adventure that seemed to push them all that much closer to the edge. That same feeling currently rushing through my veins now. It made this entire quest worth all the pain and work I’d gone through so far to reach this point.
I was starting to catch my breath when a large, black shape plummeted into the hole from above. The heavy impact blasted the bones and body parts around the room in a gruesome spray of rotting flesh and stale blood as my open mouth was splattered with bits of gore. As soon as the putrid mix hit my throat, I lost my breakfast in projectile vomit. How was it even possible to puke inside a video game? I don’t know. I was just glad that my real body didn’t puke in its egg inside the real world and that I wouldn’t have a mess to clean up once I logged out of the game later on tonight. In the game though, my throat was raw from dry heaving as I watched the hulking shadow slowly climb to its feet in the middle of the small chamber.
“Triky foood ttought it add eskapdd.” A familiar guttural voice spat in broken Common as Grutgrak Skullcrusher stepped into the shaft of light coming from above. The Orc’s face was mostly shredded with one eye completely missing. Seeing the boss’ stats shimmer into view over its head gave me a confidence I hadn’t felt since falling into the dark hole. It was the reminder that this was just a video game that stopped me from shitting myself right then and there as the mob bellowed in hate. “Now Grutgrak kraks ur bonez!”
I dove out of the way as the Orc’s remaining battle-axe skittered across the wall where my head had just been. Springing back to my feet, I attacked like a madman using everything I had as the boss went completely apeshit. Duc
king and dodging, I repeatedly blasted my Ice Lance at the ugly bastard’s face almost non-stop in-between the hacking, slashing and pummeling. No finesse. No quarter. Just a brutal fight to the death. By the time I’d completely drained the last of my Mana, I’d lost both of my blades somewhere in the clutter of the room during the melee. As soon as the last Ice Lance left my fist, I ripped my Leeching Dagger of Piercing from its sheath and sprang at Grutgrak’s back triggering Backstab. Unfortunately, the ugly bastard turned away at the last second. With a swing of his bloody stump, he sent me flying into a pile of bones at the far end of the room. The force of the impact sending my dagger skittering across the floor.
Still, I gave better than I got. Even if my Hit Points were in the double digits, I’d gotten the brutal bastard down to a quarter of his health. Staggering to my feet, I faced the bloody Orc as he threw his remaining war axe to the ground and flexed his remaining hand in savage expectation. I knew exactly what Grutgrak wanted as soon I saw the sadistic sneer on his ugly face. The brutal bastard was going to live up to his family name and crush the life out of me with his bare hands … er hand, I grimly thought as I crouched searching through the rotten remains on the floor for anything to use as a weapon.
I’d even lost the Greatsword of Corruption in the chaotic melee. Not that the massive blade would have been much help in this enclosed space. Besides, I probably couldn’t have even drawn the weapon from its sheath in this tiny room, let alone swing the damn thing. Nor was there time to reach into my inventory for another weapon. Not that I had anything left but the Pickaxe of Earth since I’d handed everything out to the NPCs I’d rescued. Still, having something in hand to use as a weapon would’ve been better than nothing.
Looking into Grutgrak’s burning, red yes, I spat at the Orc’s feet in defiance. Although, the false bravado would’ve looked a little more believable if there’d been a little less blood in the loogie. ‘Fuck it!’ I swore silently. ‘I’d make the bastard choke on my bones if that’s what it took to kill the asshole.’ I almost grinned at my shit-talking as I slowly shifted my weight backward while holding myself ready to spring.
‘Woohoo, may as well beat my chest like a real macho-man while I was at it since the fucker still had over a 1000 Hit Points left while I had less than a 100. What the fuck ever.’ I raged on in my silent tirade while slowly backing away the entire time from the big bastard. Doing my best to get a little more space in-between us to improve my reaction speed, I kept searching through the bones and gore on the floor at my feet for anything to use as a weapon, when a growling shape sprang onto the Orc’s back from the hole in the ceiling above.
Immediately, the dark shadow began ripping into Orc’s back with flashing teeth and claws as its ferocious growls echoed around the room. It took a split second for me to make the connection of what I was looking at when Neysa’s silvery coat flashed in the light as she ripped into Grutgrak with everything she had. Unfortunately, there was no way she could do more than superficial damage at her level.
Just as the realization hit me, the Orc battered Neysa from its back with a brutal blow that sent her cartwheeling across the room as a drawn-out ‘Nooo’ ripped from my lips. Before either one of us could react to the break in combat, more dark shapes began leaping into the room from the hole above. This time though, I knew exactly what they were as the shadow figures hit the ground with a crunch, only to rise to their feet a moment later.
Feral zombies! As if in confirmation to my silent words, shrieking howls filled the room as the growing undead horde began leaping onto Grutgrak’s back. Immediately, they began ripping chunks of flesh from Orc’s leathery skin by the handfuls as they hungrily shoved the meat into their misshapen maws. With every second more and more zombies began pouring into the chamber from above as they dragged Grutgrak, who was now bellowing in fear, to the ground.
Turning away from the gruesome sight, I urgently began searching for a weapon … any weapon as I quickly made my way over to my beast companion. Neysa and I had to get the hell out of here. Otherwise, we’d be joining Grutgrak in a matter of moments. Just then, my chainmail gloves clanked against something metallic. A few rushed seconds later; my hand closed around the hilt of a shimmering black blade gripped in a rotting fist. The first time I tried to snatch up the sword failed as a system window popped up before my eyes, but it wasn’t until the third or fourth attempt that it registered that I had to read the message if I was going to have any hope of picking up the weapon. Snarling in annoyance, I focused on the window in front of my eyes reading hurriedly.
This blade will be soulbound on pickup. By picking up the Dark Blade of Lord Kayden, you will be granted the title Lord of House of Kayden along with ownership of BrokenFang Hold and its surrounding lands. Warning, taking ownership of this place of power will grant you the mastery of Dark Magic and the ability to share this training with others. This title will affect your standing with other races and places of power throughout the land. Do you want to pick up the Dark Blade of Lord Kayden?
Dark Blade of Lord Kayden
Item Quality: Epic
Item Type: Unique
Attack: One-hand Edge
Weapon Type: Sword
Damage: 110-130
Durability: 400/400
Weight: 7.5 kg
+20 Strength
+20 Intelligence
+20 Stamina
-Soulbound on pickup.
-Lord’s Dark Blade of House of Kayden. The wielder of this blade is the rightful owner of BrokenFang Hold and the surrounding lands.
-Grants the owner the mastery of Dark Magic along with all related spells and skills, including the ability to teach the profession of Dark Magic to others.
-Renders lesser undead creatures such as zombies, skeletons, spirits, etc. neutral and unable to attack first.
- This weapon is scalable. The weapon’s stats will increase as the owner’s character grows in level.
‘Well shit on me!’ Focusing on the corpse before me, I saw that it was Rhenalyrr Daeralds, the Clan Leader of House of Kayden and Lord of BrokenFang Hold … or ex-lord. I wasn’t sure what this meant for saving the refugees of House of Kayden from fading away or for my entire Nightmare start but, at this second, none of that mattered. What mattered was that I needed a freaking weapon and a way for Neysa and me to escape this pit of death with our lives’ intact. Besides, if I were reading the special stats on this weapon correctly, the Dark Blade of Lord Kayden would do all of that and more. Although, I’d have to go over all of my active quests later on once I had a safe place to think. For now, I quickly selected ‘Yes’ and ripped the sword free of the dead Half-Elf Lord’s hand as a cascade of windows popped up before my eyes, before instantly minimizing as my rule for pop-ups went into effect. Keeping one eye on the zombies pouring into the room, I kneeled next to Neysa and began casting heals.
After my second heal, Neysa rolled to her feet and began excitedly nuzzling my neck and licking my face. Lacing my fingers through her coarse hair, I stroked her head in relief before topping off her health while the mass of zombies continued feasting on the dead Orc in the center of the room. By now, the flow of undead from above had slowly come to a stop, but by then a good twenty zombies had piled into the room. Thankfully, none of the undead seemed interested in either one of us as I nervously healed up my own injuries, so, instead of leaving immediately, I went ahead and sat down in the pile of decomposing remains to recover my Mana while keeping a tight grip on my new blade. No way was I going to sheath this baby until I was safely away from this epic hole of stank.
Yea, I know. It was as disgusting as it sounds, but it’s not like I had much of a choice. At this point, I didn’t dare move until I was fully recovered. Who knew what else I’d run into in these tunnels, and besides, I was already covered from head-to-toe in the grisly remains from the fighting earlier. The only good thing about the pause was that I had a chance to study the room I’d fallen into. Obviously, this place had been used by the Goblins
as a dumping grounds for the remains of their horrific feasts. I just wondered how Rhenalyrr Daeralds had managed to make it down here alive.
Yea, I know. The word alive was somewhat a misnomer since the NPC was now just a pile of rotting flesh and bones. Still, Rhenalyrr somehow had managed to create an army of undead before his death. Was that just part of the NPC’s backstory or was this something a player could emulate? Studying the Clan Leader’s remains did give a few hints. Both legs and one arm of the corpse were broken and twisted wrecks. Meaning, he must have been injured when he’d initially fell down the hole and managed to crawl away from the opening, but was too injured to escape the hole on his own.
I frowned deep in thought. If that was the case, then where the hell did all of the zombies and skeletons come from? There were literally hundreds of them filling the lower levels. They couldn’t have all come from one Necromaster … or could they? It was definitely something to think about but later. Right now, I just wanted to get the flock out of here. Seeing no further clues, I quickly collected the leftover gear on the Clan Master’s corpse and shoved it quickly into my inventory without looking it over as fresh sounds of battle came from the hole in the ceiling above. The Goblins must have finally realized that their leaders had come under attack and were trying to rescue them a day late and a dollar short. Not knowing the situation, I figured it was best to get out while the getting was good.
Keeping Neysa close-by, I carefully began searching the edges of the room for the weapons I’d lost during the fight, nearly puking again as I ran my hands through the decomposing mass of bones and mushy body parts. Thankfully, by the time I’d fished out the last of my gear, I’d managed to stumble across the exit the undead were using to access the rest of the castle’s lower levels. Not that in itself was any spectacular feat, since the zombies that couldn’t get to the boss’ corpse to feast were already streaming out of the underground room on their way towards the sounds of combat coming from above. Though at this point, I wasn’t looking any gift horses in the mouth.
