by Jakob Tanner
A figure emerged in the distance. I signaled everyone to pause. I squinted. The silhouette was short in stature—Rorn, most likely. They didn’t come forward, so we stepped cautiously towards it. I held the fireball in my hand, the magically conjured flames crackling in front of my face. I held it up defensively to cancel any ranged attack, coming my way.
“There’s another one over there,” said Jackson, pointing in a completely different direction.
It was another short statured figure.
“There’s another,” said Kari.
More and more figures were popping up, shadowed and protected by the falling snow. We were outnumbered and yet, the Rorn weren’t attacking. I continued to approach the one we’d initially seen. I stepped forward and waited for the figure to react. It stayed completely still. I moved forward. “We come in peace,” I said. “We’re seeking passage through the Storm Mountains.”
The figure didn’t reply.
Something wasn’t right. The figure didn’t move or speak. A sentient creature surely wouldn’t be so stoic; not when a potential enemy was approaching it.
I quickened my steps and moved towards the figure. I grinned when I finally saw it clearly. It was a statue, sculpted within the rocks of the mountain. It took the shape of a Rorn guard—short and stodgy with a long grizzled beard. I made a sigh of relief. “It’s a statue, you guys. We’re not surrounded.”
Everyone nodded their heads and smiled nervously. These statues were genius. If there were Rorn guards on the mountainside, the statues acted as decoys and distractions. Maybe the other silhouettes were actual Rorn guards, pretending to be statues as we passed them. I didn’t like it, but there was nothing to be done beyond staying alert.
The path widened. We reached a new plateau. A hand touched my shoulder. I turned around. It was Will.
“We’re close,” my brother said, speaking quietly. “The Doorway of Rorgroth lies beyond there.”
I nodded. We were finally making actual headway on this quest. I took a few more steps before falling flat onto my stomach. The rest of the party followed my lead.
“Why are we lying on our stomachs,” whispered Shade. “Is this another weird habit of The Chosen?”
“Shh,” I said, before switching into party chat.
Clay: So there’s a massive troll beyond here.
Serena: Really?
I poked my head up once more to catch a glimpse at the foul-looking creature. Yep, there it was. A fifteen-foot tall fat-ass of a troll, dragging a giant wooden club—specked with stains of dirt and blood—behind him. His face was about 90% mouth with sharp yellow-crusted teeth sticking out from his lips in a jangled orthodontic nightmare. The other 10% of its face was left for a scrunched up pair of eyes and nose, so squished together, he looked permanently pissed-off. With a face like his though, he had reasons to be angry. His skin was a pale green like an unwashed t-shirt sitting at the bottom of a laundry hamper. Its huge stomach spilt over a rope belt tied around his waist to keep a rag covering the top part of his legs. Was this a purposeful design choice made by the game developers as a way of escaping any parental-based lawsuits—or, was the troll genuinely shy about letting his junk hang out in everyone’s face?
I ducked my head once more.
Clay: Really. Definitely.
Serena: Any chance we can avoid fighting him?
Will: Did you see the Door of Rorgroth?
I lifted my head once more. The troll had his back to me. His rag thankfully covered his butt cheeks as well. Beyond him was a massive steel door so tall it made the troll look like a mere ant. It stood tall within the stone structure of the mountain—an intense gateway into its inner realms.
I ducked my head down again.
Clay: Yep. The door is behind him.
Will: Then let’s get this over with.
Jackson: Agreed.
Kari: Let’s do this!
Serena: Alright, let’s crush the troll.
Shade: If you guys insist.
We formed a plan in party chat. All of us stayed hidden as Shade entered stealth mode. He crouched and snuck his way around the troll, until he was a good few meters behind it. He stayed still, remaining in position.
Next I stood up in hunter’s stance and nocked a poison arrow in my bow. I imbued the arrow with a silver lacing of mana. I closed one eye and triggered sniper’s eye on the troll. I signaled Shade and he crept towards the troll, leaping with both his kunai to unleash backstab. As he leapt in the air, I unleashed my poisoned arrow at the troll’s neck. Both our attacks landed simultaneously in a glorious stack of debuffs.
+critical hit!
+critical hit!
+critical hit!
My arrow punctured the troll’s neck, digging deep into its flesh. It didn’t poke through the other side as the monster’s neck was so thick. Even still, the venom from my poison arrow began its infection. A green glow pulsed along the troll’s throat and spread towards its chest.
The troll roared in pain, swaying left and right in agony and frustration. Shade still held onto his kunai, lodged into the creature’s back. Blood spurt into the poor cat-man’s face. He wiggled his head, shaking off the blood from his whiskers. He held onto the back of the troll until he was able to plant his feet on the creature’s back, push off, dislodging the kunai, and backflip away and return to the ground.
The troll spun towards Shade and whipped his large club at the thief. Shade jumped in the air to dodge the attack. In the air, he threw out a shadow shuriken. The sharp projectile spun and cut across the fat flesh of the troll’s rotund stomach.
“A little help you guys,” squealed Shade as he fell to the ground to dodge another swipe of the troll club.
Serena charge striked her way into the battlefield. Once close enough to the troll, she shouted, “Protect Thy Allies!”
The troll quickly turned around with a newfound anger directed solely at Serena.
“That’s right troll,” said Serena. “You hate me now. I control your anger!”
The troll raised its club and smashed it towards the ground where Serena was standing. The blade soldier lifted her giant sword, triggering her defensive move, sword shield. The descending wooden club clanged against the steel of Serena’s blade. A battle of wills and strength followed as the two fighters held their weapons against the other, locked in a clash of power. Who would outpower or retreat first? Maybe for the troll such a question mattered. For us, on Serena’s team, this was an opportunity to hit the troll with everything else we had. Let him focus on beating Serena, while the four of us focused on destroying him.
Jackson darted into the battle. He jumped all over the troll, dealing damage on its shoulders, ribs, thigh, calves. He was dealing high impact attacks, right at precise ligaments of the troll’s body structure, making movement twice as difficult for it than before.
Will and Kari threw out projectile DPS moves, doing big damage to the troll’s HP bar.
I ran to the other side of the battlefield where the troll’s back was to me. I nodded to Shade again for us to do another two-pronged stealth attack. He crept ahead while I entered hunter’s stance and stacked my arrow with buffs and gains before nocking it in the bow. One. Two. Three. Release. My arrow shot into the backside of the troll’s neck while Shade delivered his knives into the monster’s lower back.
The creature lifted up its club from its clash with Serena and wailed. He was down to 15% HP. I expected it to fight for its life. Instead it simply screamed.
Jackson jumped, climbing up along the troll’s body, delivering a spinning kick to the troll’s mouth. The troll headbutted Jackson, cancelling his move, and sending him flying into the rocks.
The troll continued to scream.
The ground around us rumbled. In the distance, other trolls woke up from slumber, alerted to the cry of the dying troll.
“It’s some kind of cry for reinforcements,” I said. “We gotta kill this thing now.”
Serena leapt in the air, s
winging her sword and landing it into the shoulder of the troll. Blood spurt forth as the sword crushed through the poisoned flesh. The giant blade cut through the troll, slicing it in half. The creature flopped onto either side of the mountain pass, its blood and guts dripping downward into the rocks.
+275 EXP!
“Remind me to not piss off Ms. Serena,” said Shade.
“I think you’re a lost cause,” I said.
A group of trolls were rushing up the mountain pass.
“We don’t have time to fight all these trolls,” I said. “We gotta get beyond this door.”
We all turned to the gigantic Door of Rorgroth.
“How are we supposed to enter here?” said Kari.
“Why is the door so big? I’d expect giants to live behind it, not the small statured Rorn,” said Serena.
“This was an old aerodrome,” said Jackson. “The first airships would land through these gateways.”
“There must be a magical spell or some kind of way to open it,” said Will, looking at it closely.
The trolls were getting closer.
“Any immediate ideas you guys?” I said.
Jackson ran up to the door and punched it.
“I don’t think we’ll be able to break through it,” I said.
Jackson ignored me. He punched, then kicked, then did another jump kick before back flipping in front of it.
Nothing happened.
Then everything did. A pattern made out of bright blue light glowed across the doorway and the entrance creaked open, revealing a shadowy dark realm behind it.
“How did you do that?” said Kari.
“Ancient Rorn call for help,” said Jackson. “Don’t ask me how I know it. I just do. It was an emergency opening. It’s why the doors only opened slightly.”
We sprinted by the gates only to smack into an invisible force field. A message appeared in my HUD.
Do you wish to enter the Storm Mountains (Dungeon): Y/N? Once entered, you cannot leave through any means other than dungeon exits.
“Let’s do this,” I said and selected “yes” on the prompt. I moved forward, no longer blocked by the invisible wall.
The rest of the group followed. Serena turned around. “What are we going to do about those angry incoming trolls?”
The doors closed as the monsters rushed towards us. The ancient gateway creaked shut. The bright white light of the mountaintop was gone and in exchange we had pitch-black darkness.
A burst of noise came from somewhere ahead of us.
We weren’t alone.
20
We stood still in the darkness. It was silent now, but the sound before still echoed in the mind. The clangor of a footstep. An object knocked over. The normal noises of the underground slowly took over the darkness: the faint echo of water dripping off a stalactite and into a puddle. The flapping wings of a bat. None of these things comforted me.
I wrote in party chat.
Clay: Is it safe for me to light a fireball? Or will it only call attention to whoever else is in here with us?
Jackson: Give me a minute. Everyone else stay where you are.
Jackson shuffled by me. He tinkered away until a soft hum of a power generator reverberated throughout the darkness. A glowing purple orb flickered into existence. Then a whole row of illuminated spheres appeared, lighting up the underground passage.
We were standing over a silver mine track leading downward to a group of a dozen different tunnels and passageways. Large gears and pulleys adorned the stone mountain walls. They were old and rusting, ancient like their natural surroundings. With the area fully lit, I searched for the source of the earlier sound. Nothing. No enemies in sight.
“This isn’t right,” said Jackson, looking around. “The tunnel lights shouldn’t have been turned off like this. Someone would’ve had to manually turn them off and the Rorn aren’t frugal with their energy usage.”
“Why would they turn it off then?” asked Kari.
“Maybe they didn’t,” said Jackson. “But then you have to ask: who did?”
“It’s been known for awhile now the Rorn of the mountains have been weakened,” said Will. “They’d grown quiet in most Arethkarian affairs, even before The Chosen arrived. They went deeper into their mountains, doubling down on their unquestioning faith in their technological advancements. Their idealism led them to this: an empty cave.”
Jackson shook his head. “I don’t feel good about any of this.”
Despite his words, there was only one direction to go in. We moved towards the cluster of different tunnel entrances.
Rocks rolled over in the distance. The party froze. Something moved.
“Duck,” shouted Jackson.
Arrows flew out of the shadows towards us. One grazed my shoulder, leaving a burning cut across my flesh.
I electric blinked behind a boulder.
Everyone found shelter in the curves of the mountain.
Clay: Everyone – communicate in party chat. Whoever’s attacking us won’t be able to pinpoint our exact location.
Serena: Got it.
Kari: Who’s attacking us?
Shade: Rorn! They’re angry little buggers who are always looking to fight. It isn’t safe here. We need to turn back!
Jackson: Based on the sound of their movements, I don’t think it’s Rorn. I’m not hearing footsteps. They’re a creature of some kind.
Shade: Of course. The RORN would say that!
Clay: Shade, shut up! Guys, what’s our battle plan here?
Three creatures fell from above and landed near us. I peeked my head out. Above their status bars were their names: [Serpra Warriors]. They had long green scaled tails that spiraled and eventually grew into arms and ribs with a neck leading to a pointed face of a slithering snake. They were like centaurs but serpents. Snaketaurs? I shook my head. Think of stupid names later.
One had a two-handed battle-axe, another wielded a scimitar, and the other had a long spear. All three wore unique silver necklaces. Hanging from each of the serpra’s bright neck chains were hair braids, adorned like jewels. Some of the braids were white, and others were red, brown, and gray. They were each unique: from simple weaves to triple-pronged braids. All of them were speckled and stained with blotches of dried red blood. These were the braids of fallen Rorn soldiers, carried like trophies, mementos to those these creatures had proudly slaughtered.
My whole body boiled at the sight.
They rushed me.
I electric blinked away, back to Serena. She rushed the three serpra and shouted, “Protect Thy Allies.”
The three warriors slithered towards her and Serena unleashed blade tornado, becoming a cyclone of destruction against the three snake warriors.
Jackson and Shade rushed the rear of the serpra warriors. Three arrows flew out at them.
“Oh man,” I said. “We don’t know how many of them we’re facing.”
“At least six,” said Serena. “Based on the three here and the three arrows.”
A fireball flew through the air and knocked me in my gut. Flames lit up across my mage’s robes. I fell over and triggered a water move to dissipate the flames. Above the cavern, from an advantageous ridge were three more serpra spellcasters flinging down magic attacks at us.
“Make that nine,” I grumbled.
Standing on the ridge above were a trio of serpra spellcasters. They were raining down fire upon us.
“Someone help me,” screamed Shade, running back and forth, the back of his tunic full of flames. “I’m burning alive!”
I cast water blast, the palm of my hand turning into a fire hose. The force of the blast knocked Shade over but thankfully cleared the flames and removed the burning debuff from his status bar. He shook water off his whiskers and spat out a mouthful of water.
Spears thrust his weapon at Serena and she blocked it quickly and triggered her ability, quick counter. Her feet twirled, disarming and cancelling Spears’ attack, while dealing a devasta
ting blow against his arm. Yellow blood burst from the creature’s wrist and he had to release his weapon. Two-handed weapons were a bitch when you only had one working arm. Spears screamed and pulled back from the attack, until a burst of white light flew into his arm. The wound sealed and his HP shot back up into the green.
The damn spellcasters above were healers.
Jackson clenched his fists. Light blue flames formed around his knuckles. He ran swiftly towards Battle-Axe. He strafed and psyched out Battle-Axe, dodging an attack, leaving the poor serpra to smash his axe futilely into the ground. He was open for a critical. Jackson threw out his flaming blue fists. Right before they impacted into the serpra’s jaw, the flames took on the contours of mystical dragons. Jackson screamed, “Dragon Punch!” with rage as he threw out the first punch and followed it up with an uppercut. The serpra fell onto floor, losing 30% HP in a single blow.
Jackson clasped his fingers together and leapt in the air. The serpra flinched and squirmed beneath the shadow of Jackson’s impending muscular body of doom. Jackson’s clasped fists struck the creature’s stomach like a hammer beating in a nail.
I waited for a rush of experience points from the killing blow, but nothing came. The Rorn brawler flipped away and the serpra, lying on the ground, was back to full health.
“Damnit,” shouted Jackson.
Serena fended off another attack from Scimitar, kicking it in the gut. He slid back and knocked into Battle-Axe who was getting up from the ground.
“We gotta take out the healers,” said Serena.
I turned to Shade. “This looks like a job for me and you buddy.”
“Good thinking, Clay,” he said, winking suspiciously.
“Why are you winking at me?” I said. “You know what, never mind. I don’t wanna know. We need to focus on the battle.”
