by Reed James
Éjyona popped her mouth off and let out a satisfied groan. “S'good. I could just drink that all day.”
Kulrigiizhai agreed. She gave a hungry suckle. A final squirt of milk flooded her mouth. And then she went dry. She had nourished herself and her party members. They all had the buff, ready to face the bridge.
The elf wanted to masturbate her naughty pussy. She swallowed her frustrated lust.
Marcus led the way out on the bridge, Dëshoma at his heels. She didn't need to cling to him any longer, but she preferred walking behind him, her eyes fixed so hard on the small of his back the elf wondered if he could feel something drilling into his flesh. Maria and Twist came next and then Kulrigiizhai took her first nimble step onto the rope bridge with Éjyona bringing up the rear.
The rope creaked as they crossed. A more and more pronounced sway rocked the bridge the farther out they traveled. Kulrigiizhai stepped from wet board to wet board, not bothering to hold on. She had the balance to cross the bridge. Only Marcus and Dëshoma gripped the ropes, though the bold man led the way with confidence.
Gray fog boiled below while it swallowed up both ends of the bridge now. Kulrigiizhai felt like she were in a world of gray. She trudged over nothing. Moved through nothing. The world's features didn't change. The stench she smelled swelled. She expected danger on the far side. The source of this reek, perhaps the cause of the corruption, awaited them.
A flicker of anger shot through her. For reasons she could not fathom, Kulrigiizhai thought of him. The pain she suffered tingled across her back. Her desire for vengeance focused now on who had caused this sickness.
What is wrong with me? she demanded of herself while the bear's roars echoed through her mind. They sounded more and more pitiable.
Almost like screams of agony.
“I truly, truly despise these bridges,” Dëshoma whimpered from the front. “Canst though see the far side, Lord Marcus?”
“There's something melting out of the fog,” he said. “We're almost there.”
“Gods of Light and Order be praised,” Dëshoma said.
Éjyona snorted behind the elf.
The creaking of the bridge changed. A sharp twang caught her attention. Her gaze shot to the thick cables that spanned it. Between herself and Twist, the cables were coming apart. The swinging of the bridge frayed them. She could see cuts.
Someone had sabotaged it. A trap.
“Run!” she shouted. “The bridge is about to collapse!”
“Fuck!” Marcus snarled. He grabbed Dëshoma and threw her over his shoulder and broke into a full run, armor clanging.
The bridge's swaying worsened. Kulrigiizhai realized her mistake in that moment as the rope split apart faster. Running put more stress on the bridge, hastening its unraveling. They would not make it now. Despite that, she broke into her own sprint.
Ahead of the elf, Twist's arms pumped as the Thief ran, her feet touching only every other plank. A loud snap echoed behind the elf. The entire bridge rippled, the planks twisting and flexing. Then it dropped out from beneath her. Éjyona shrieked behind her as Kulrigiizhai scrambled to grab a plank as she plummeted towards the ground.
Her fingers snagged the edges of the rotten wood. Ahead, Twist leaped forward as the bridge fell out from beneath her. She hit the edge of the cliff and rolled across the ground. Marcus shouted on the other side in warning.
Kulrigiizhai caught a glimpse of him spinning to shield Dëshoma from an attack. Then he vanished from her sight as she swung with the falling bridge. Her sense of him registered a massive blow. A huge loss of Hit Points. The enemy ambushed those who made it across while she swung for the side of the cliff, barely clinging to the wood.
Éjyona's shrieks filled Kulri's ears. She struggled to concentrate, to focus her magic. She had to get herself out of here before—
With a crashing clatter, the bridge struck the side of the cliff. Strength was Kulrigiizhai's worst stat. She bounced from the bridge and plunged towards the boiling fog beneath, screaming. She fell past Éjyona,still clinging on.
The elf focused her eyes atop the cliff and drew her staff.
Chapter Eighteen: Blighted Victims
Maria du Marne
The attack hit them the moment Maria reached the other side. She had just leaped from the bridge when it collapsed behind her. She whirled to see Twist throwing herself forward while Kulri and Éjyona dropped from her sight.
Then Marcus cursed.
Figures lunged out of the mist. They reeked of stale sweat and blighted flesh. They were humans, skin pale and rotted in places. Fissured patches of black-purple blight had eaten into their flesh. They were naked, desiccated breasts and shriveled cocks swinging as they threw themselves at the party. The nearest one wielded a massive maul. He swung it at Marcus.
He twisted around to shield Dëshoma as he unslung her from his shoulders. The blow struck his back with a force that should have been beyond a normal human. Marcus's armor rang like a bell. His Hit Points dropped. A critical hit robbing him of half his life.
He hit the ground atop Dëshoma, seeming dazed.
More humans rushed at Maria. She Yelled, activating her buff as she whipped out her rapier and her parrying dagger. She fell into her stance. Twist Vanished from sight on her left, the fog rippling a moment before she was utterly lost to sight.
The one with the maul leaped over Marcus and rushed Maria. She activated her Flash-Bright Ring. The helidor set in the gold band burst with a flash of light that struck the human with a maul. He recoiled from it, stumbling and blinking, blinded by the attack.
Bellowing, the blighted male swung his maul before him with furious strokes. Spittle flecked his lips. Muscles flexed like cords of iron beneath his skin. She felt the wind of his maul's passage streaking past her face.
Maria unleashed her Level 14 ability: Double-Stab.
Two vicious jabs of her shadowy rapier plunged into the human's chest. Each one dealt twice the damage of her normal attack. She threaded her rapier clean through on both blurring blows. They would be enough to kill a normal human.
But the blight, she was realizing, had strengthened these humans. Delivered to them uncanny vitality. They rushed at her now as Dëshoma scrambled to get out from beneath the stunned Marcus. Maria hissed and her feet danced as she dodged and parried with her dagger, as make-shift weapons—hoes, staves ripped from table legs, and wood axes—hacked at her from all sides.
“Help!” she gasped.
* * / *
Twist
The dragonborn Thief smiled as she moved into position. She had just the ability to use it. Her new one.
Ambush.
If she were in stealth mode, like right now, it dealt four times the damage of her normal strike. She rushed up at one of the humans swinging at Maria and attacked. Her sacrificial blade plunged deep into the neck. Brackish blood spurted.
The enemy staggered to the side and then collapsed, twitching. Twist hissed in delight and turned, unleashing Knife Flurry on a woman swinging a hoe to rip open Maria's face. The sacrificial dagger sliced through flesh, bursting with unholy damage to add the extra zing and cut down the woman.
“Thanks!” Maria called.
“Lord Marcus!” gasped Dëshoma. Then she squeaked as the blinded maul-wielder stumbled towards her, swinging in a blind rage.
She retreated back from Marcus still lying on the ground. He stirred, pushing himself up, coming out of his stun. Twist turned her attention to the blighted bastards coming for me. She hissed and ripped her knife across a man's face, slicing cheek and nose.
He swung his stave at her. Twist's breasts heaved as she danced back and then thrust, burying into his ribs and plunging into his lung. He slammed his head into hers, not caring about stunning himself. The blow staggered Twist. He bellowed in mindless fury, agony burning in his eyes.
And in the depths of them, a pleading for release.
* * / *
“Motherfucker,” I groaned, looking up to se
e a stumbling hulk with a maul slam his weapon down at Dëshoma.
She tried to dodge, but it wasn't in time. A lucky strike connected with her arm and threw the Cleric to the ground. She landed with a thud and lay there dazed. Stunned. I knew the power of that hit. My back throbbed as I forced myself to stand.
“Hey!” I snarled and activated Zeal. “You want to fight someone, cocksucker, my blade is guided by the gods! Their divine fury flows through me!”
I could feel it as the buff animated me. I exuded threat, drawing the aggro of the blind maul-wielder. He stumbled to me, blood streaming down his chest from Maria's rapier. I heard arcane chanting off to my right as I focused on the brute.
Wings flapped behind me.
I whirled around to see a griffin hurtling at me out of the fog. He struck me, beak tearing into my throat. The force threw me back as my Hit Points plummeted into the red. I hit the ground in a clatter of metal, blood soaking my collarbone and spilling over my left shoulder.
“Mother fucker,” I snarled as the maul wielder rushed at me.
I gripped my ax and activated its once per day. My Hit Points shot up to full. All my wounds healed. The pain vanished. Just in time for a heavy maul to come crashing down at my prone body.
“Fuck,” I growled.
* * / *
Kulrigiizhai
The elf put her all into chanting. Three seconds to cast Arcane Jump normally, but she held her Swiftsong Staff. It decreased the cast time on her spells. Not by much, but it might give her the chance to survive the plunge.
She stared up at the top of the cliff falling further and further away from her. The mists swirled around her, rippling and billowing. Her ears twitched. All her training at the cruel hands of her former master gave her the clarity to maintain her concentration.
She completed her spell.
She teleported moments before the mist swallowed up the clifftop.
Arcane Jump was a line of sight teleport. She blinked out of existence and then appeared at the cliff edge. She gasped and fell, her feet not prepared to be on solid ground. She hit on her knees, clutching to her staff.
She had reached the edge of the cliff. The battle raged to her right. Twist appeared out of her stealth and killed two of the blighted humans in quick succession. The source of the stench wafted from them. Maria's rapier blurred as she danced in the middle of a frenzy. Marcus lay on the ground and Dëshoma retreated from a hulk wielding a maul.
Kulrigiizhai gripped her staff and let the arcane words flow from her. “Let the mystical energies gather in me...” she chanted as Marcus Aurelius gained his feet and Dëshoma was knocked stunned. Marcus Aurelius let out a burst of zealous energy. The maul-wielder turned on him, rushing at him. “...and explode in a burst of deadly power!”
Her spell exploded around Maria, tearing into the horde of humans she fought, killing several and relieving the pressure off of her. Twist, hissing in delight, rushed into a gap, her knife hacking in a wild flurry, carving down another of the enemy. Maria danced, retreating back while attacking, her sword thrusting through the enemy and running them through while her parrying dagger blocked their attacks.
A griffin screeched. Marcus screamed in pain. His Hit Points plummeted to the critical.
The elf cast her gaze to him. He fell on the ground, bleeding badly from his neck. The griffin landed near Dëshoma but ignored the unconscious healer. The beast whirled around, cawing with a frenzy.
The blind-maul wielder raised his weapon to swing at Marcus Aurelius.
“Let the geometries of space form...” Kulrigiizhai began chanting, drawing on more arcane power. The maul fell for the prone Marcus.
But his Hit Points had shot back up. Shuwëmeri's ax had healed him. Hope soared in Kulrigiizhai as Marcus raised his shield to block the powerful blow hurtling down at his head. The maul...
Missed Marcus.
It buried in the ground next to his head. Kulrigiizhai blinked at that until she realized the enemy was blind. He snarled while Marcus gained his feet. He slammed his ax down hard. It flared with a bright, white light, delivering divine damage powered by his faith.
“... into shards of slashing death!”
Three shards of purple energy launched from her staff, a trill of song bursting from the songbird carved at the tip. It knifed into the maul-wielder, ripping through his flesh. He ignored it and bellowed, swinging his weapon again while the griffin charged in at Marcus.
* * / *
I didn't even bother blocking the blind enemy's next attack. It was so obvious his maul would miss me. It hurtled past my head as I slammed a Hard Strike into his back, my blood singing with the zealous buff.
The griffin pounced on me. I raised my shield. Metal shrieked as its bulk drove me back. Boots furrowed the ground. It cawed and its beak snapped over the top of my shield. The snapping attack ripped at my cheek.
I swung a Holy Strike into its wing, dealing damage while the maul-wielder stumbled to my right, swinging wildly at no one. I pushed with my shield and threw the griffin back from me. Then I swung my ax in a series of hard strikes.
It dodged. Weaved and then slashed with its lion paw. Claws scraped across my breastplate. I landed another Holy Strike. A trickle of hit points flooded me, restoring the wound to my cheek. I grinned.
The griffin opened its mouth.
“Shit!” I growled.
Blood vomited out and splashed over my shield. It didn't block it all. The blood sizzled on my face and my legs. I blunted the attack, but damage bled through. I fought back, slashing hard for it as a gunshot rang out.
Éjyona, crouched by the fallen bridge, aimed her blunderbuss and unloaded three shots that struck the side of the griffin. It screeched. My ax hit it a moment later. Arcane shards cut into the beast, but it weathered the damage and launched a flurry of slashes.
Claws tore through my arm, ripping into my flesh. I growled, glancing at Dëshoma. Still down but being ignored. Maria and Twist were taking wounds, too, as they fought the horde of naked humans. The maul wielder let out a bellow to my right.
He fixed seeing eyes on me.
“Oh, shit!” I growled as he rushed at me.
Éjyona's rifle boomed. The griffin shrieked and snapped its beak at me. I blocked with my shield while the maul hurtled in at me from my other side. I twisted out of the way, just managing to dodge it. I slammed a Hard Strike into the man's chest, cracking ribs.
Blood bubbled from his lips, but he didn't drop. Rage blazed in his eyes. He brought his maul up to slam it into my head. I moved my shield to block. The griffin tore into my back with its claws, bringing me down to half my Hit Points.
The maul struck my shield. I stumbled, pain rippling across my back. The griffin reared back to tear into me again. I turned, slashing my ax at its beak as I blocked another powerful blow on my shield. The metal creaked and groaned.
“Marcus!” gasped Éjyona.
Fire exploded around me. A burst of flames blazed from the explosive detonation. The griffin screamed in pain. More arcane shards slashed into it while Éjyona's gun fired again. The griffin staggered, struck by all our attacks.
With a caw, it hit the ground, flopping.
With a loud bellow, the maul-wielder swung his blows at me hard. Fast. He growled. Metal rang. I retreated back and then slashed in. My ax cut across its belly. Leathery, blighted skin tore. The sick-maddened human snarled as his entrails spilled out. He stumbled and then he collapsed on the ground, wheezing.
“Marcus Aurelius,” Kulri gasped in relief.
I whirled around. Twist and Maria stood in the middle of the horde. They were back to back now, stabbing, slashing, dealing death. Their Hit Points bled away. I roared and charged forward at a full sprint.
Éjyona aimed her rifle. A burst of shot erupted from her gun. A shotgun blast that pelted a cone of death into the blighted men and women. Pellets tore through naked flesh, scything down three of them and wounding another six.
Scattershot. Éjyo
na's Level 14 ability.
* * / *
Maria du Marne
The sudden burst of pellets hissing around Maria and Twist took some of the pressure off of them. Maria thrust herself forward, stabbing her rapier into a woman with a rusty sickle in her hand while her parrying dagger blocked a club's attack. Maria's sword passed through the woman's throat, dropping her.
Maria hated this, but the attackers were driven mad by the disease. They wanted to tear apart her and her companions. Maria had no choice but to fight. However, she recognized all their weapons. Sickles. Scythes. Pairing knives. Hoes. They were all tools she could find in her own village. Fury at whoever caused this swept through her.
Another boom. More pellets hissed through the air, thinning out more of the attackers. So many were already dead. Marcus swept in from the back, his ax hacking into the enemy. A burst of purple energy erupted around everything.
When it passed, Maria faced no one alive. She whirled around. The area of effect damage had decimated the last of the enemy. She panted, her body a mass of bruises and cuts, half her Hit Points bled away.
“Someone wanted us dead,” Twist muttered, a bloody rent across her large tits. “Wanted to drop half of us into the chasm and finish off the rest of us with these poor bastards.”
“Yeah,” Marcus growled, anger on his face.
The experience rushed into them. Maria shuddered. Almost enough to level. She didn't want it. This wasn't an experience that she wished to grow from. She stared down at those they were forced to kill, tears beading in her eyes.
When I find who did this to them, she thought, her entire body shaking with a mounting rage.
Chapter Nineteen: Harm's Plague
Dëshoma
Guilt rippled through Dëshoma. Marcus, Twist, and Maria were down half their Hit Points when she'd awoken from her stun. She had quickly healed them. If she had withstood the stunning blow and stayed up longer, things would not have become so dire.
