Deserts Of Naroosh

by Bradford Bates

  “We found what you were looking for,” Lorelei called from somewhere high above them.

  Tim turned to look at where she was and felt a huge grin form on his face. They found the trick all right. Lorelei and ShadowLily were sitting in large ballistae mounted inside the fort’s walls and pointed down at the gate. The large crossbow-like weapons nestled into small stone-covered alcoves, explaining why they hadn’t seen them from outside the fort.

  Cassie took a nasty hit from Dracon’s sword, and Tim fired a Healing Orb to get her health moving back in the right direction. A couple more hits like that and this fight would quickly shift in the general’s favor.

  Tim waved his hands in the air. “What are you waiting for?”

  “Fire in the hole!” Lorelei screamed as she fired the first giant weapon.

  A huge bolt shot out of the ballista and slammed into Dracon’s arm. A second bolt hit his other arm a split-second later. The boss let out a cry of rage as he fought against the shafts that penetrated the plates on his arms. That was when Tim noticed the chains dangling from the backs of the bolts.

  The chains held Dracon in place, but that wouldn’t do them a whole lot of good. The boss could still wiggle around enough to defend himself from their attacks aimed at his head. Tim looked around, trying to think of what they were missing because outside of hitting pause, not a lot else was fucking happening.

  He sent another burst of healing at Cassie and racked his brain for the answer to their problem. It was so simple he could have kicked himself for not thinking of it sooner. If there were chains, there was a way to pull the bolts back to the bow. This fort wasn’t big enough for teams of men to turn giant cranks so there was probably a magical solution.

  He merely had to find it.

  Along the back wall between the two buildings on the left was a lever. Tim would have ignored it as unimportant, but it was almost dead center between the ballistae. It might not mean anything, but it could also be the solution they were looking for. With Dracon still tied up with Cassie, he decided the best way to find out was by pulling the damn thing and praying for the best.

  He sprinted across the stone courtyard and lunged for the lever.

  Dracon screamed in rage as the armor on his arms ripped away. The chains rattled as they pulled the bolts back toward the ballistae, and the general’s armored plating fell to the ground as the bolts clattered up the fortress walls.

  The attack exposed the boss’ arms, and that put them in a better spot than they started the fight in, but it was still far from ideal. To do some serious damage, they needed to find a way to get Dracon’s breastplate off. The real question they needed to answer next was, did they have to try and pry his legs off first, or could they go straight for the kill shot?

  It would be just the kind of trick developers would use to thwart the eager beavers. Taking a shot at the wrong section would be a waste and maybe even trigger a special attack from the boss. It didn’t feel worth the risk, when if they continued at their same pace the fight was well in hand. They were in a new zone facing new challenges. Tim’s vote was on playing it safe.

  “Do the legs next!” Tim shouted up to the women on the ballistae.

  Lorelei wore a cocky expression that said, why can’t my bow be this big as this one as she scanned the courtyard. “We have a one-minute cooldown on these things.”

  Fuck.

  “Cassie, you're going to have to keep him busy,” Tim called as he sent out his next round of healing.

  The tank rolled out of Dracon’s next attack and looked back at Tim with an expression that would have made JaKobi cringe. “What do you think I’ve been doing?”

  She had a fair point, and the last thing he needed to do was distract her. Dodging Dracon’s massive sword would have been hard enough without someone yammering in her ear all the time. JaKobi was still doing his part to bring down the boss's health so there weren’t any further instructions he needed to give.

  Tim drew a deep breath and tried to relax.

  Their fight against the boss was going fine right now. All Tim had to do was keep Cassie’s health topped off and wait for Behold My Power to be castable again. He stayed put where he was by the lever knowing he’d have to pull it at least one more time. A devil sat on his shoulder shouting for him to do more DPS, but the practical part of his brain told him to save his mana in case all hell broke loose, or the boss was out of his armor and ready for a solid beating.

  “Ten seconds,” Lorelei shouted from above.

  Tim looked at the ballistae and back at the tank. With her in the way and being so short that she came up to Dracon’s codpiece, it wouldn’t be an easy shot for either of the women. While he was pretty sure both of them were talented enough to make it, why risk it?

  “Cassie, get above his legs!” Tim hoped he gave her enough time to jump or roll out of the way.

  Dracon heard Tim’s warning shout and changed tactics, trying to crowd Cassie so she couldn’t get enough clearance to jump clear. Every time Cassie tried to dodge to the side or roll away, the general stayed damn near locked to her. He knew where the weapons that stripped his armor away were located and was doing his best to make it impossible for them to take the next shot. If the boss wasn’t going to play nice, then Cassie would have to get creative.

  Tim wondered if she’d go up or under.

  Cassie feinted to the side as though making a run for it, then cut back and charged straight for the boss. Tim felt his chest tighten as she flipped over Dracon’s sword as if she was entering The Matrix and used her staff like a pole vaulter to flip over his head. She landed as nimbly as a cat on the general’s other side with a big shit-eating grin on her face.

  Cassie thunked Dracon on the head, forcing him to turn and face her and exposing his back to the ballistae behind. “Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear, asshole.”

  JaKobi turned to look at Tim as the ballistae fired. “She’s trying out some new things.”

  “It would have been perfect if there was a mirror involved in the fight.” Tim was trying not to laugh as the large arrows pierced the boss’ leg armor.

  Cassie walked casually around the pinned boss, then marched toward Tim. “Did you see that shit I just did?” She used her fingers to mimic someone running and jumping on the other hand. “It was fucking incredible. I didn’t have time to come up with the perfect line while I was bouncing all around dodging a sword bigger than me. Okay?”

  “What would you have said?” JaKobi grinned as he looked at Tim. “I would have gone with ‘let me introduce you to my little friend.’”

  ShadowLily shouted down at them, “That’s weaksauce.”

  “Pull the damn lever,” Lorelei screamed. “We can debate the validity of her one-liners after we kill this guy.”

  Cassie stomped her foot. “So?”

  He had to think for a second, and it wasn’t that great a line. It wasn’t the kind of thing that would have passed muster if he’d had more time to think about it, but for having to come up with something on the spot with an angry tank in his face, Tim had to admit it wasn’t half-bad. “Batter up?”

  “Better, but not quite up to your standards.” ShadowLily laughed from above. “You better pull the lever before Lorelei comes down there and does it for you.”

  Tim pulled the lever.

  As before, the chains pulled the large bolts back to the ballistae, and the armor on Dracon’s legs was gone. Now the warrior kind of looked like one of the Bowser bosses straight out of Mario Brothers. The hulking black armor pieces still covered his chest and groin area, but his arms and legs looked smaller because they were no longer carrying the extra mass.

  Lorelei looked at something on her ballista and called down to the group. “Two-minute cooldown this time.”

  Cassie giggled. “You're telling me we have to look at turtle boy for two whole minutes? I might not be able to contain myself.”

  Dracon let out a roar that shook the fort's walls and stripped of
f his chest piece. He threw it off to the side and glared daggers at the tank. “You dare to mock me? Let me show you what The Dragon of the Desert is capable of.”

  The boss’ skin took on a slightly red sheen, and Tim instantly knew he was enraged. There was no more time to waste. They needed to bring the general down now. “Hit him with everything you’ve got!”

  It wasn’t often in a fight where the boss hit the enrage timer at seventy-five percent health. Not unless a bunch of people died or the group completely missed a mechanic. He didn’t think they missed anything as big as an actual mechanic, but maybe there was something he could do that no one else in his party could.

  Tim cast Disturbance.

  The red glow around Dracon stopped increasing in strength, but it didn’t go away. He wasn’t sure if Disturbance stopped the General's transformation or if it was something else, but for now, he wasn’t getting any stronger. This was it, crunch time. They were about to find out who had the mojo over the last three-quarters of Dracon’s health.

  Tim topped off Cassie’s HP as he watched the tank take control of the fight. Control might have been too kind of a word. She wasn’t exactly dominating the situation, but she kept up with enough of Dracon’s attacks that Tim wouldn’t be overwhelmed by his healing duties.

  The boss’ health was dropping quickly now that his armor was gone, but they had a shit ton of it to burn through. Tim looked at his mana and back at the general’s health. If they were going to win this fight, they needed to go faster. With a quick thought, Tim reapplied his Curse of Giving and cast Divine Light again before turning to keep up with the heals.

  ShadowLily entered the fight again with a backstab that seemed to stun Dracon. Lorelei didn’t hesitate to take advantage of the opportunity to fill the slow-moving boss with arrows. His health was down to seventeen percent now and falling quickly.

  Dracon used his sword to create room and leapt backward so his back was to the wall. Tim thought he was moving into a better position so they couldn’t surround him, but he was wrong. The general lifted his sword above his head and slammed the blade into the stones of the courtyard so hard they shattered.

  “Shockwave!” Tim didn’t know if he was right or if there would be an earthquake, but he knew they had to get away.

  There wasn't anything to jump on as the power from Dracon’s sword rippled forward, shattering the stones as the energy came toward them. Then the power washed over the group like the shockwave from a bomb, knocked all of them to the ground, and stunned them in place for a second.

  ShadowLily was the first back on her feet, and she paid for that honor by taking one of Dracon’s massive shoulders to the gut. She flew through the air like a stuffed animal tossed aside by a child in the fits of an epic tantrum. The assassin crashed into the wall twenty feet behind them and went down in a heap.

  Tim rushed toward ShadowLily’s side, only stopping to heal Lorelei from a dagger wound to the gut.

  When had Dracon started throwing daggers?

  JaKobi was up now and doing damage. He was trying to draw the boss off the rest of them while Cassie got into position. Their tank had been the closest to the shockwave and was only now climbing back to her feet. Tim cast Cleanse on her, but it didn’t seem to have any effect.

  Dracon didn’t seem too bothered by JaKobi’s efforts, not when the general saw the chance to take one of them to the underworld with him. Cassie still looked a little wobbly as the boss shifted direction and ran toward her. Tim didn’t have many immediate options, but he might be able to buy her a few seconds by casting Snare.

  The spell made Dracon stumble for a step, and that was enough time for Tim to cast Healing Orb on Lorelei and toss a microburst of Healing Storm into the air. Seeing people's health pools moving in the right direction again made him feel good, but the ten percent left on the boss' health meter had him worried.

  They needed a bigger push, but could he risk it?

  Tim cast Curse of Giving and Behold My Power. Outside of using all his mana to keep healing, his contributions to the fight were pretty much over. He knew who needed to end this fight and had a good idea for signaling him to take drastic action.

  “Fire it up! Fire it up!” Tim chanted as though he was one of the criminals from Devil’s Night in The Crow.

  JaKobi was putting everything he had into ending this fight. The fire mage knew what was at stake and used every spell in his arsenal to find the right combo that would finally end Dracon. The boss’ health pool was up to the task, and JaKobi’s violent efforts weren’t going to be enough to save Cassie’s life.

  With five percent of his health left, Dracon’s sword slammed into Cassie’s stomach like a rifle round fired from close range. Splitter’s tip ripped out through Cassie’s back in a shower of blood and guts that would have made George Romero blush.

  Tim hit all of his “oh shit” buttons at once. They were so low-level he didn’t have anything that was an instant cure for such a devastating blow, but he could fire off his heals repeatedly to try and keep up with the intense damage.

  Cassie’s life hung in the balance as Behold My Power took effect. Dracon dropped to the ground dead, but that only increased Tim’s problems. The boss swirled away in beautiful golden motes, and so did his sword. It left Cassie with a gaping hole in her midsection that Tim was ill-equipped to handle.

  JaKobi knelt next to Cassie, grabbing her hand and clutching it tightly. “Fight it, baby. Tim’s going to heal you right up.”

  His mana bordered on nonexistent, but they were out of combat now so it was also recovering at a much faster rate. His every thought, every movement went into keeping her alive. The skin on her belly started knitting together, and Tim placed his hands on it, pushing every last ounce of his energy into the wound.

  Cassie gasped, and her body went limp.

  Everyone looked at each other, but no one said a thing. Was she dead? Tim looked down at his bloody hands still pressed against her stomach and felt it move. Then it started to shake as laughter bubbled up from the tank's lips.

  “If you wanted to feel me up there are better ways to do it.” Cassie kept laughing.

  Tim pulled his hands from her stomach and looked over at ShadowLily with an “I’d never” expression.

  “How’s that for a one-liner, bitch?” Cassie wheezed out between giggles.

  Tim felt his heart start beating again. “That was pretty good.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  They’d defeated the boss, but how would they get his head?

  Tim looked at where the body used to be, and there was a golden chest waiting for them. Would Khalid take their word for it that they killed Dracon, or would he send them on another test? He wasn’t exactly sure how they would come to terms on the kill, but Tim knew they would find a way to work it out.

  The boss was dead, they killed him, job done.

  Cassie’s drying blood still covered his hands. So when the tank gave him a questioning look, silently asking if he wanted to loot the chest first, all he could do was shrug. “Be my guest.”

  “Almost getting split in half certainly has its privileges.” Cassie swaggered up to the chest.

  Lorelei watched her go. “When I saw that sword tear through her, I thought she was dead for sure.”

  ShadowLily put an arm around the ranger and gave her a gentle squeeze. “I think we all did.”

  “If it happened to anyone but us I would have said it was badass. As it stands, I almost had a heart attack.” JaKobi kept his eyes locked on Cassie. “I know she’d come back to life, but it still feels pretty real.”

  Cassie grunted. “You guys act as if I didn’t have that big bastard right where I wanted him all along.”

  The tank reached out and laid her hand on the chest. “Leather Pants of the Wounded Bear.” Cassie frowned. “I’m not a fucking Bear. Cheesehead for life.”

  Tim gagged reflexively. “Only way I like my cheese is grated.”

  “Just be thankful we don’t have
the NFL in The Etheric Coast, or you’d have to watch your team keep getting their asses kicked.” Cassie poked him in the ribs as she walked past. “Oh, and I have something else for you.”

  When Tim turned to find out what she was going on about, he stared at Dracon’s severed head. “Where in the fuck did you get that?

  “Must have given it to me when I opened the chest.” Cassie thrust the head at him. “Here you go.”

  Tim glanced at the boss’ severed head once more and made a shooing motion. “Why don’t you hold onto it?”

  The head disappeared, and Cassie hugged him. “Thanks for saving my ass.”

  A smile spread across his lips, and Tim returned the hug while trying not to get his bloody hands on her. “It’s kind of my job.” When she looked up at him, he gave her a quick wink that made them both laugh.

  The members of his party weren’t only his friends anymore. The people in the Blue Dagger Society were his family. Tim would gladly die to save any one of them, and not only because it was his job, but because he loved them all in their way. Life wouldn’t be the same without any of them. At least in this world, they didn’t die for good. They would always come back.

  Saving a life made him number two in the loot pool, so Tim reached out and touched the chest. All he could think of as he looked at his hands was that he really wanted some water. While it was easy to clean his clothes, he couldn’t do the inventory trick on his skin, and getting dried blood off sucked. Not to mention that being drenched in his friend’s blood probably didn’t do much for his look as a healer. It made him look more like the psycho killer from a low-budget horror film.

  Item Received: Hermit’s Pants for Special Guests

  These pants belonged to the Holy Priest Schooler, who after saving the life of a royal, renounced his vows to the temple and decided to spend the rest of his days in seclusion. It wasn’t often he wore pants, but when he did, it was only his special ones and only for certain visitors.