Delvers LLC: Welcome to Ludus

by Blaise Corvin

  Without warning, he blinked forward, sweeping his blade in a nasty horizontal strike, but the ork mage darted back, barely deflecting the blade with his own sword. As he strafed using air, the enemy mage tossed a couple wind blades for good measure. Jason barely teleported to the side in time, throwing a bronze knife to try catching the ork off guard, but the wind shield popped up again. That damn wind shield! Without it there'd be no problem, but he's just kiting me!

  The ork growled something Jason couldn't understand, and his sword began emitting sparks. An enchanted weapon, damn. Jason was hoping the ork's softer, bronze sword would eventually bend or break, but since it was enchanted, that probably wasn't going to happen.

  Jason teleported twice, once to the ork's rear and once to the side to try taking his enemy unaware, but the ork was smart. He was able to stay one step ahead of Jason and jump over ten feet up using the air beneath his feet. Even with teleportation, Jason didn't have much of an advantage.

  He alighted on the ground, thinking furiously as he and the ork stared at each other again. Jason's face was set in a snarl, his sword in Vom Tag, the blade pointing at the sky. The ork looked calm, his snapping, spitting blade held at the ready, his other hand prepared to throw more wind blades.

  Jason warily watched the ork's hand in particular. All it took was an obscure gesture and a flick forward for another wind blade to appear. The ork's magic was surprisingly versatile.

  Jason knew his swordsmanship was better than his opponent's, but he hadn't crossed swords with the ork since the enchanted blade had started throwing sparks. He had a feeling the electricity wasn't going to be pleasant if their swords touched again. Jason gritted his teeth and closed with the ork. He had a plan, but it wasn't going to be fun.

  He slashed at the ork, and as before, the robed mage dashed back, his wind magic allowing him to move incredibly quickly. However, this time when he threw a blade of air, Jason merely dodged to the side as if he was out of magic. The wind blade didn't hit him squarely, but it still cut him about an inch deep through his armor from his left pectoral to his elbow. It hurt like hell.

  Believing he saw an opening, the ork dashed in with his sword... exactly as Jason had hoped. He let part of the last wind blade hit him on purpose to sell the deception.

  To throw another wind blade, the mage would have needed a second or two to gesture and wind up. That delay would have given Jason time to react, though. Jason had been hoping the ork would see the opening and try to end the fight quickly since they were both using up their magic reserves. The ork's comrades were still getting torn up, and Jason was delaying him from supporting them.

  When the ork was close enough, Jason hissed and sprang forward. He clashed blades with the ork, and unfortunately, his assumption about getting shocked was correct. All his muscles tried to lock up, but he could still barely control his actions. He transitioned into a Winden attack, his sword binding and snaking around the ork's blade, ending in a thrust to the throat, Breeze's hilt held high.

  The mage lurched back, free hand going for his ruined throat. Jason advanced, slashing from collar bone to belly, and the robed ork fell back in a spray of arterial blood. Then Jason stepped forward one last time, kicking the ork down, and snarled as he stabbed his enemy through the chest, ensuring the mage was eliminated. He glared down at his dead foe and didn't feel any triumph. He was glad to be alive, but as his rage died, he felt a little empty, like coming down off a high.

  He turned to regard the main battlefield and was somewhat surprised to see very little movement, just bodies littering the ground. During his fight with the mage, Jason had half registered the sound and pressure of a few explosions from the main fight. As he gazed upon the aftermath of the battle, he noticed the second claymore had been detonated and there were a few more craters where Mareen had thrown some of the big bombs for Aodh to set off, probably instructed to do so by Uluula. There weren't any more orks left alive except for a tiny clump around a huge, impressive-looking warrior in the middle of the battlefield.

  As he folded his hands on top of Breeze's pommel, the sword's tip in the ground, Jason panted so hard he almost choked. Even with his extra endurance, the fight had taken a lot out of him. As he stood, trying to get his breathing under control, he decided to stay put until he didn't feel like he might cough up a lung anymore.

  * * *

  Smartstrong Gulzug mar'Tartooth stood defiant on the lonely battlefield. His last four warriors surrounded him like the brave and true Plains People they were. The ground was wet with the blood of his people, but he didn't see even a single enemy injury.

  His warriors were dead. His mages were dead. His scouts were dead; even the atlatl throwers were just meat now. It was a crushing defeat.

  They'd failed. The defilers would reach Tartooth's room. Smartstrong had never felt so drained in his life. The strange humanoid in the floating vehicle was pointing large cannons right at the Plains People. "What are you waiting for? End us. We have no more purpose," Smartstrong growled. He had nothing left to live for--none of them did. The most they could hope for was to die with a warrior's pride and hope Tartooth's judgement would not be too terrible.

  * * *

  Henry stood in the Battlewagon's turret and blinked at the last of the orks. Other than one of them gabbling something angry sounding, they weren't really doing anything, just standing there. It looked like they were just waiting to die. He wondered, Why aren't they surrendering? The orks hadn't dropped their weapons, but they were holding them limply. What do we do if they surrender? The subject had never come up before. Monsters didn't surrender, and bandits got the death penalty, so they didn't either. Henry didn't know what to do.

  He noticed Uluula was becoming increasingly agitated as she stood near the Battlewagon. She finally snapped, shouting, "Why aren't you killing them? They're tusked demons. Eradicate them."

  "They aren't doing anything. They haven't dropped their weapons yet, and they're just fucking staring at us." Henry shook his head in confusion.

  "Fine, if you won't then I will. Tusked demons are a scourge. They must be destroyed." Before anyone could react, Uluula brought her shiny new crossbow up in a snap shot that neatly took one warrior in the throat. As he fell, gurgling and pounding the ground, Uluula ran forward with her spear at the ready. The white-haired Areva woman had murder in her eyes, and she screamed something in a language Henry couldn't understand.

  What the hell am I supposed to do? He didn't want to kill the last few orks in cold blood. They were just standing there and seemed to be inviting death. It went against Henry's morality to just gun down enemy soldiers that weren't resisting. He also didn't want to use force against Uluula despite the fact she was acting out of control.

  This is not good! He scrambled from his turret, willing the skin of his arms and upper body to turn to steel. Four orks weren't much danger to him anymore, but if he let Jason's girlfriend get killed... He didn't want to think about it.

  * * *

  Smartstrong's heart wrenched as Proudstubborn fell to the ground in a heap, a crossbow bolt in his throat. The vile Areva woman who had shot him ran forward, a spear in hand. Smartstrong felt his warrior spirit rise. He hated the Areva, hated them more than any other thinking creatures under Tartooth's gaze. But he approved--this Areva knew how to fight, how to give no quarter.

  "Meet the Areva one at a time. She offers a warrior's death."

  "But she shot Proudstubborn," one of the remaining warriors said.

  "We are all dead anyway, about to meet the Soul Wind. We can consider the projectile as a challenge. They could have turned us all to meat already." Smartstrong's voice was firm.

  One ork warrior, Fighterfast shrugged and jogged forward a few paces, meeting the Areva with a challenging grunt.

  * * *

  Uluula hated tusked demons, orks. She hated them with every fiber of her being. They were a blight on the universe. Orks were low-level, animalistic warriors that reproduced more rapidly than quol a
nd killed Areva by the millions on colony worlds every year. They needed to be exterminated.

  Most Areva didn't hate orks as much in the sphere nations anymore, because they were so common and a few worlds even had trade with them, but Uluula knew they were barbarians and monstrosities. Her elder sister had died in an ork invasion. Whenever Uluula thought about it, thought about how her sister might have been eaten alive by these beasts, she was filled with rage.

  Just seeing the tusked shlarna made her want to stab their arrogant faces over and over again. She screamed, "Perish!" in Quadrant as she leaped to meet the orks. They had to die--every last one of them!

  * * *

  Jason tried to make sense of what was going on from a distance. When Uluula shot an ork that was just standing there, he did a double take. The Delvers had killed a lot of orks already that day, true, but demons or not, orks were obviously thinking beings with their own language.

  An ork stepped out to meet Uluula in a duel. Jason's perception of the situation changed a little--at least Uluula wasn't slaughtering helpless thinking creatures. On the other hand, now his sort-of-kind-of girlfriend was engaging in hand-to-hand duels to the death with hulking orks.

  Jason knew Uluula had some sort of hang up about orks from her past and she called them "tusked demons," but she hadn't elaborated further. He grimaced and thought, I should have seen this coming.

  He wearily lifted his sword tip out of the dirt and teleported near Uluula. The steely-eyed Areva woman was facing off against the ork, both of them circling each other. The ork she faced was slightly larger than average, about the height of a large man but thicker. His brown-mottled light blue skin was scuffed from the battle, and like most of his comrades, he wore hide armor.

  When Jason appeared with a rush of air, Uluula didn't look at him but said, "Jason Booth, I must do this. Please don't interfere."

  "Why?"

  "I didn't do anything to contribute to this battle. I have no blood on my hands. There is a good chance we killed all the tusked demons, orks, in this dungeon. I may not get another chance for my vengeance, maybe not in my lifetime."

  Jason couldn't see her face, but he could hear how she was holding back tears. Not for the first time, Jason was forcibly reminded that this tiny woman he was falling in love with was also one of the fiercest people he'd ever met. He was around her so often he forgot she was a different species, had a different culture. He wasn't really happy with what was happening, he wasn't thrilled that Uluula was picking fights with big blue monsters, but he also knew he didn't have the right to interfere.

  It didn't make him feel any better about the situation, though.

  "I won't stop you, but you can't keep doing this. We should probably keep these ones alive until after we clear the dungeon. I want to see if we can find out any more about this world."

  Keeja floated a bit closer from where she'd been hovering in the air. "Won't work. Orks are stupid, and you don't know their language anyway."

  Jason gritted his teeth and ignored Keeja. During the battle, she had just floated in the air. All the orks' atlatl darts that had hit her just bounced off. "We're going to do this my way. Henry, you lead fighting, but this is my decision. You backing me?"

  "Hell yeah, dude. Better you than me."

  Jason nodded and just watched the duel. If the ork got the upper hand, he was immediately going to kill it, Uluula's feelings be damned.

  Part of him was really freaked out by how calmly he was reacting to the whole situation. Another small part of him was glad he wasn't upset. Being constantly surprised and afraid was exhausting.

  The ork was obviously an extremely skilled fighter. He fought using a thick hide shield and a stone axe. The weapon was crude, but the ork's techniques were anything but. Watching the duel, something was bothering Jason--something didn't make sense. It kept tickling the back of his mind, but he couldn't isolate the thought.

  Uluula was overpowered by the ork, but she was also extremely fast. Her opponent's shield was causing her problems, blocking all her exploratory strikes. The ork was wary, trying to trap Uluula's spear or even grab it with his hand, but she was just barely quick enough to keep her weapon out of his grasp.

  Finally, the duel took a turn when Uluula feinted downwards towards the ork's leg and quickly reversed with a thrust to his face, her movements smooth and precise. Her attack was more of a jab, but she stepped into the strike for more power. The spear's blade caught the ork above the eye, effectively blinding half his vision with blood.

  The ork roared, and Uluula took advantage of his misfortune to circle towards his blind side. After that, it was only a matter of time until Uluula slipped a strike through the ork's guard, first to the throat and then his ribs. The spear made a squelching sound as she withdrew it, and the ork crashed to the ground.

  "Henry? Could you help capture them, please?" Jason called over his shoulder. In a flash, Henry sprang forward to subdue the orks and Jason teleported behind Uluula to hold her. Luckily, when he put his arms around her, she didn't struggle. In fact, she leaned against him and sobbed quietly, hiding her face.

  Henry was armored with steel skin and obviously strengthened with earth magic. He easily snatched the weapons from the remaining orks and smacked all of them to the ground. Then he grabbed a fallen bronze sword and fashioned crude manacles out of the metal with magic, attaching them to the orks' wrists. It was strange watching Henry manhandle such large, ferocious enemies, but by this point, Jason had seen weirder on Ludus.

  After the orks were subdued, Henry took charge of the group again. Jason stood back and watched his friend navigate within his element.

  Henry grabbed several large, heavy boxes from the Battlewagon. When he came back, he barked out orders. "Uluula, you're not fit for duty right now. Stay with the Battlewagon. Mareen, stay with her. Don't let her do anything we'll regret later. Bezzi-ibbi, please stay here and watch them. We'll be back if there are more nasties left in the dungeon or anything we can't deal with.

  "Jason, you're with me after Mareen heals you up enough to stop bleeding. I'm kind of surprised you aren't complaining about that nasty cut on your chest. Aodh, you're coming with us. Both of you grab as many trap balls as you can carry and follow me."

  Jason shrugged and went to see Mareen. She was able to use a combination of magic and bandages to make sure he wasn't going to spring a leak again. Then he grabbed a pack and a few torches before following Henry. He was honestly glad that UIuula was safe on the Battlewagon. Even if there were no more orks left inside, dungeons were still dangerous, particularly this one.

  He was getting an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach, a feeling like something unpleasant was about to happen.

  What could have been worse than fighting orks all day and almost dying in a duel with a skilled mage? Jason laughed at the thought as he passed the shattered threshold of Yanbei Cavern.

  Overcoming Barriers

  Aodh followed Henry and Jason into Yanbei Cavern, more terrified than he'd ever been before in his life. The battle with the demon wolves had been crazy. The battle with the orks probably should have been the most frightening thing he'd ever experienced. However, something about walking into the entrance to Yanbei Cavern turned his blood to ice water.

  Luckily, he was also very excited.

  Henry and Jason both wore packs and carried sacks full of gear. Aodh carried a smaller sack that clinked when he moved. It was heavy, full of bronze orbs, but Aodh could manage. He wasn't as strong as others in Delvers, LLC, but he wasn't weak either. He was a grown man, sixteen years old, and had worked on a farm his whole life.

  He could keep up. He would prove himself.

  Aodh tried not to breathe in deeply or look too closely at the carnage as they stepped over the corpses littering the floor. If they came near an ork that was clinging to life or still in pain, not quite passed on yet, Henry administered a quick mercy killing. The whole situation was grim. Aodh just swallowed a lot and tried to keep hi
s gorge under control.

  Eventually, thankfully, they were past the remains of the torn-up orks. Aodh had studied the map of Yanbei Cavern in Mirana and knew the dungeon was relatively simple. There were a few hallways and room near the entrance that they had already passed, a tunnel leading down to the monster barracks, and three trap rooms past that prior to the treasure room.

  Just to be safe, Henry was kneeling down to use his magic earth sense, checking for traps every twenty yards or so. So far they hadn't found any. From Aodh's perspective, there shouldn't have been any fecking traps at all. Several hundred angry ork guards was already overkill for a dungeon in Tolstey, the most peaceful country on Ludus.

  So far, the little group hadn't encountered any resistance in the tunnels other than a few large lizard creatures. Each creature was smaller than a horned demon wolf and slower too. When the creatures attacked, Henry stepped out to meet them and killed them with contemptuous ease, leaving four shattered bodies behind them on the floor. Aodh thought they kind of looked like giant tarrata, the lizards commonly grown for meat on Ludus.

  Aodh was surprised that he had to hold back tears. He felt sorry for the creatures. He bit his lip, walking by the last slain animal as it twitched and died on the floor. It was probably just a pet. These animals hadn't asked to be holed up in a dungeon. They hadn't asked to be part of all the violence. From their perspective, they were probably just defending their home. They probably didn't even know their masters were dead yet.

  Aodh wondered if he was just soft, if other adventurers would think he was weak. Then he noticed Henry's stone-faced silence and Jason's sad expression. It seemed he was not the only person in their little group feeling pity for the slain pets.

  The thought cheered him up and made him respect Henry and Jason more. He had expected them to not care; the leaders of adventurer groups in the books Aodh had read never would have. The fact Henry and Jason were so powerful but that Jason in particular was obviously fighting tears as they moved past the lizard creatures made Aodh feel a curious sense of pride.