by Tom Gallier
One of the undead orks stumbled and fell. The other quickly went after her. She laughed and raced back to her dropped sword. It felt amazing in her hand. Then the sound of more Dread Ones coming down the stairs reached her.
"Shit, shit, shit!"
She was forced to spin around and engage the charging ork. Slash, parry, thrust, she bloodied her tip in his throat, but not enough to kill the undead. She ducked low and close, dragging her keen-edged sword across the back of the ork's knees. He grunted as he fell, unable to walk.
Too many Dread Ones were charging down the stairs, so Tiana turned and ran for it. Torches lit the way. The corridor was lined with closed doors. She ran all of the way across the width of the keep to find another set of stairs. They were narrow, going up and down. The up-stairs were guarded by an ork, so she turned down the other stairs.
Not helping my situation here.
Chapter 42
The pain was real. Way too real for a stupid game. Asha struggled to her feet at the base of the stairs. Angry goblins were coming down toward her.
I'd be angry too if I was an undead goblin, she thought. Rand was nowhere to be seen, so was well ahead of everyone in the search for Lord Kathro. I swear, I'll kill every goblin in this world if I have to shag him tonight.
She snatched up the Power Sword and fell back a few steps. It was better to force the much shorter goblins to attack on level ground than come down upon her from above. A quick glance around the chamber located Fergus finishing off a few orks, but no sign of Tiana. The fact some Dread Ones were heading down the stairs to the dungeon indicated the thief was down there for some reason. That was all of the time Asha had to consider it, since the undead goblins had reached her.
Hitting them with her Bind spell, Asha stopped all but the last one. He plowed through his cohorts, knocking them over, and came straight at her with a cudgel. She dodged left and right, avoiding his savage strikes. Then she parried with the sword, before kicking him in the face. The zombie's arms flew wide as he staggered back, giving her a perfect shot at his heart.
The Power Sword exploded the goblin's chest the instant it pierced his heart.
"Ugh, so nasty," she muttered wiping goblin blood and gore off her face.
Asha quickly took off the heads of the magically frozen zombies. The entry chamber was clear of Dead Ones, and Fergus was heading down into the basement. She glanced back up the stairs, wondering how far ahead of her Rand had gotten.
"If he gets himself killed, I swear I'll kill him."
She started for the stairs to follow Rand. Movement out of the corner of her eye brought her to a stop. It was another one of those dwarf minotaurs. She wondered if they were a race in that world, or if he was the unholy spawn of a minotaur and dwarf coupling.
Dmitry. Dwarf minotaur shaman (Lvl 20). Neutral. PK: 2.
"Why would anyone choose to be such a creature?" she asked.
He was all of five feet tall, counting his horns. Dmitry actually looked more like an American buffalo than a traditional Greek bull-headed creature. And he was incredibly bushy-hairy. As far as she could tell, his fur hid all of his important parts, which had to explain why he wasn't wearing any clothes.
A yellow crystal glowed in his forehead.
"Stay away from me, shaman!"
Dmitry thrust his right hand toward her, palm out. A dozen spinning daggers appeared. They streaked straight at her at amazing speed. Asha barely got her shield up in time, which sent them flying in all directions. She countered with a fireball, followed immediately with Bind. The shaman shrugged them both off.
"What kind of protection does he have?"
She didn't notice the glow of a magical shield, but what else could it be? The shaman had talismans and power fetishes hanging all over his body, appearing to be bound by his long fur. He had no weapons she could see, or even a staff.
He continued down the stairs, glaring at her. The sorceress dropped into a fighting stance, the Power Sword presented before her in both hands. When he got a little closer, she planned to hit him with a thunderbolt. Let's see him shrug that off.
Halfway down the stairs the shaman pulled off a lock of brown fur and tossed it in the air. It flew toward Asha while transforming into a dark brown rope. She gaped at the rope flying toward her horizontally. For a second she thought it was turning into a wooden staff, and he would fight her remotely.
"I don't think so…" Asha cried, taking a swing at it with her sword. The rope slid down her blade without being cut, and instantly wrapped around her when it reached her arms. Both arms were forced back against her body as the rope wrapped around her several times. "What the…?"
"Foolish girl! You cannot defeat Dmitry!"
The pint-sized minotaur leapt into the air and flew straight at her like some Chinese Kung-Fu movie. He brutally kicked her, sending the sorceress flying across the room to slam into the wall and bounce off.
Asha's head spun crazily after it hit the stone wall, and she didn't know up from down, left from right. She moaned and groaned, writhing on the floor as the shaman stomped up, and then started kicking her in the belly. The pain was exquisite.
"You soulless monster," she gasped out. "I'm going to kill you."
"You're funny, elf girl," he sneered. "Truth is, you are going to die by my hand. And I like to take my time." He grabbed a fistful of hair, forcing her to look up at him. "I pray you are a masochist, because I'm about to give you a lot of pain."
She cried out when he waved his hand and she was snapped back onto her feet. Before she understood what happened, Dmitry cried out and swept his arm around. Asha was sent flying across the chamber to slam into the other wall.
"Having fun yet, elf?"
Dmitry made another gesture, and Asha was dragged back across the room towards him. Her eyes widened when he grinned, wondering what he had planned. Then the shaman jumped up into the air and spun around in a flying roundhouse to her face.
Asha was flipped over by the blow. Black and white flashed behind her eyes, and she struggled to keep conscious. It was certain death to pass out. Or worse.
She blinked to clear her vision, only to focus on the crystal in Dmitry's forehead. Lord Kathro had held up a yellow crystal with the threat of enslaving her. Can he subjugate me for Lord Kathro?
"Like my crystal?" Dmitry said. "Don't worry; I've decided not to kill you. You'll be given to my master once I'm finished playing with you. I promise, you won't enjoy serving Lord Kathro at all." He leaned down and wagged his brows. "You're just the kind of elf bimbo he likes to drag to his bed every night. You'll probably start in his harem."
"Better him than you," she said. "You smell like a wet dog."
Dmitry's eyes narrowed and he growled low in his throat. A quick wave put the sorceress back on her feet. She steeled herself to be slammed into another wall, but the shaman smiled with an evil glint in his eyes. He took hold of one end of the enchanted rope, caught and held her eyes a second, and yanked with all his strength.
"Yeeooowww!" she cried.
Asha spun like a top. His magic held her in place as she spun so fast her mind went blank. It felt like she spun forever, and she staggered around once she stopped spinning. Well, her body stopped spinning, but not her head.
"Oooooh."
Even through her dizziness and disorientation, Asha noticed the shaman pick up the Power Sword. Was he going to kill her anyway, despite all that about giving her to his master? Then she remembered she had a pair of swords, too. I'm in no condition to fight.
She spread her feet, giving herself a solid foundation even though her head continued to spin. At least she managed to stop staggering around like a drunken fool. It was a struggle to concentrate, but the sorceress thought of the spell she wanted. The spell she needed to save herself from death or magical enslavement.
Heal! she thought.
Intense heat, followed by equally intense cold flowed through her. All of her aches and pains vanished, and her head cleared up immediately.
Before she could cry out in joy, the number 95 flashed at the bottom of her vision. A warning?
Asha pulled up her HUD, and saw her Mana was down to 95. How did she use it all up so fast? Then Dmitry shouted angrily and swung the sword at her. The sorceress ducked and threw five quick thunderbolts at him.
The mini-minotaur was blasted back a dozen feet. He took the Power Sword in both hands and stalked back toward her. Asha pulled her elven swords, and advanced to meet him. They exchanged a flurry of thrusts, cuts, and parries, before it became apparent she was the superior sword fighter. He tried to hit her with another spell, but her shield held. Mostly, though, she kept him too busy with her bladework to cast any spells.
Asha began pushing him backwards.
"I'm going to carve you up into steaks, cow," Asha said.
"The only 'meat' you'll eat is between my legs, elf."
So Asha tried to slice the aforementioned appendage off. She missed, but he gave ground a lot faster and easier after that. Being sliced into steaks and eaten didn't bother him, but losing his manhood scared him. So she concentrated her efforts on attacking his crotch area.
"What's the matter with you?" he asked.
"You."
She forced him back across the chamber, to the stairs he'd originally came down. Dmitry began retreating up the stairs, slowly, as she put more and more effort into taking him down. Asha slanted a glance back at the other stairs. Rand went up over there, and could be in serious trouble while she fought that damned shaman.
Worse, even though she had the upper hand, the shaman seemed confident. Was she being led into a trap? What did he know? Yet, she couldn't see any other choice but to continue fighting him. Dmitry had to die before she could go find Rand.
Chapter 43
Taking the stairs down five at a time, the elven ranger called up his bow and arrows. He sent arrow after arrow into the backs, through the hearts, of undead minions. The Dread Ones in the long, dark corridor turned to face him. He heard Tiana's outraged cries beyond them, but she was out of sight.
"Tiana! Where are you?"
"Down another level below you!"
He cursed under his breath. He could see another set of smaller stairs at the end of that corridor. Why did she continue downward? Everyone else was heading up.
"They've got a friggin zoo of unholy demon creatures down here!" She screamed in pain, followed by furious cursing. "Forget me. Save yourself. I'll be back after I respawn."
Fergus grunted. The stairs behind him looked very inviting. Tiana was probably going to die whether he went down there or not. Why did he have to die with her?
Because she's my friend.
He shook his head, but there was a little thrill, too. In RL he was a bored and boring worker bee in a big chain of grocery stores. No real friends. No one ever called to see if he was doing okay, or invite him out for a beer. The closest thing to friends he had were his coworkers, and as store manager they were all his employees so off limits as real friends.
Yet, he had four really good friends. People who would sell their cyber lives for him. Friends he would die fighting for as well. There was no running away from that fight. Tiana needed him, and he was more than excited to help.
This is better than real life.
"Hold on, Tiana. I'm coming!"
The Dread Ones were all running toward him. He took out one, two, three, before they were too close for bow-work. His bow vanished. Pulling his sword, Fergus barked a laugh and charged the few zombie monsters left. The pair of half ork-ogres worried him the most. They looked like double-sized ork warriors, and each carried the largest battle-axe he'd ever seen.
Even Rand would have axe envy, he thought. "I bet you boys have little dicks."
One of them lifted up his greasy looking loincloth to reveal he was actually a she.
"Holy crap! You're both players?"
Davia. Half-ork ogre warrior (Lvl 13). -7 Dark. PK: 2.
Mauva. Half-ork ogre warrior (Lvl 15). -6 Dark. PK: 4.
They split apart before advancing on him. Fergus watched them warily, not liking the way they continuously swung their axes in a figure eight. Rand did that a lot. It meant they knew how to use those deadly battle-axes.
"I thought zombies were mindless idiots with hunger pangs for brains," he muttered.
"My sister and I are not zombies," Mauva said.
"That dull gray is your natural complexion?"
They both growled like grizzly bears. Fury spread across their faces as their jaws thrust out even more, displaying their long, sharp tusks. Their massive shoulders tightened, bulging with musculature he never expected to see on women of any mythical race.
Tiana screamed in pain and fear again. The two living Dread Ones charged him while he was distracted. He ducked Davia's attempt to decapitate, spun around and ducked behind Mauva. The ranger barely avoided Mauva's axe when she twisted around to engage him.
"You're both ugly as an ork, and even slower than an ogre," he taunted them. He paused. "Do you have dwarf blood, too?"
The sisters screamed and attacked. He laughed, wishing Rand was there to be just as outraged. He stayed just out of reach of their weapons, taunting them mercilessly. They became angrier and angrier, and he hoped frustrated, too.
Dropping his sword, Fergus summoned his bow and an arrow that he shot straight into Davia's left thigh. She stopped and wailed, while Mauva charged him. Picking up his blade, the ranger charged Mauva, only to dodge her axe and run past her. She followed fast on his heels, until he cut behind Davia.
The two sisters crashed together, before Davia shoved Mauva back. A shoving contested ensued, that quickly devolved into a fistfight. The ranger summoned his bow and shot them both through the neck. He didn't wait for them to fade away and see if they dropped anything of value. Fergus took off for the stairs down to help his friend.
The next level down was another corridor that ended in stairs on the other end going down. Instead of thick, iron-bound doors the passage was lined with barred cells full of nightmarish creatures. The three three-headed dogs attacking Tiana weren't the most frightening.
Hellhound.
That's all it said. No level. They were just big, vicious monsters. He didn't need a pop-up to tell him they were minions of the Dark. They were definitely not undead.
"What kind of trouble did you kick up, girl?"
"Shut up and help me. Fill them full of arrows or something."
Tiana was a bloody mess. Her clothes hung in tatters. There had to be two dozen bloody bites on her neck, shoulders, both arms, and both legs. She was fighting with sword and knife, and at the brink of breaking.
He'd never seen Tiana looking so terrified. He wondered if she had a fear of dogs. Hell, those hellhounds gave him the heebie-jeebies. Fergus sheathed his sword, summoned his bow, and took aim. One of the three hellhounds turned and charged him with soul-numbing snarls and growls. Three snapping pit bull-sized heads came straight at him.
"Shit," he cried, managing only one shot.
He did kill the left-most head. The other two came after him even more furiously. The ranger ducked and dodged, using his sword to keep them at bay. Filled with bloodlust or not, the beast respected cold steel. Still, the hellhound's two remaining heads managed to get past his defenses to score bites on his extremities.
A backstroke smashed through the middle head's mouth, leaving it a bloody ruin. The monster froze, both living heads looking shocked. Fergus lunged, thrusting his blade through the hellhound's heart.
"One down," he called.
The two remaining beasts ducked their rumps, and dodged to either side of Tiana, all heads turned to regard him. The thief took a chance, stepped in close to one and thrust her sword deep into its chest.
"Well met," Fergus said, veering toward the other. The hellhound pounced at him, so he dropped to his knees and slid across the floor. At the same time the ranger swung his sword overhead, from back to front, and disemboweled the hellhound as it passed overhea
d.
"Nice move," Tiana said. She had healing potions in both hands. He watched her drink one after the other. "Oh man, that was close. Hopefully they'll give us a moment to regroup and allow me to heal up."
A pop and squeal of a door opening on rusty hinges echoed through the corridor. They turned to see one of the cell doors swinging open. Two enormous scorpions scampered out and turned toward them.
Giant scorpion.
"Why did you say that?" Fergus asked. "You jinxed us."
"Sorry." She sucked in a deep, steadying breath and presented her sword. "I hate bug monsters the most."
Black crystals glinted in the dim torchlight. At first Fergus thought the crystals were eyes, but they were faceted gems. So the scorpions were controlled by Lord Kathro. He wondered if the Dark Lord could see him and Tiana via the scorpions or the crystals.
"Do you think they are magical constructs, or natural to this world?"
Tiana did a double-take. "What? Who cares?"
"I was just thinking, if they grow that big naturally in this world, then this isn't the last time we'll be facing them."
"Shut up. I have enough problems right now to worry about the future. Stop freaking me out."
The elven ranger dropped to one knee and placed his sword on the floor before him as the scorpions started moving towards them. Their advance was more a three steps forward, one back, over and over and then skittered from side-to-side. He was more than a little freaked out by them as well.
Fergus summoned his bow, notched an arrow, and took careful aim. His shot was true, and the arrow ricocheted off of the scorpion's crystal. Both scorpions charged forward, giving him time for only one more shot. That arrow bounced off the arachnid's hard shell.
"Uh-oh," Tiana whispered. "We're in trouble."
