The Greystone Chronicles Book Two: The Dire Lands

by Dave Willmarth

  Across the cavern they reached another round stone door. This one stood half open, and looked as if someone had taken a mining pick to it. Passing through, they descended another stairway.

  At the bottom there was a cavern about a quarter the size of the one above. There were tunnels leading off in several directions. There were still a few duergar standing motionless here and there, but much fewer than above. Gelag led them to the left without hesitation. They moved into an unlit corridor that quickly led to another downward set of stairs.

  The duergar paused at the top of the stairs, and said something to Fitz. Tired of translating, Fitz held up a hand for him to stop. “Alexander, have you an obsidian on you? I need a small piece. The size of one of your dragon pins. Lainey, I need a leather necklace or bracelet.”

  Alexander pulled out a small chunk of obsidian, handing it to Fitz. Fitz handed it to Brick. “Please round it off, smooth it out, and put a hole in the center for the leather.” The duergar smith’s eyes followed their actions from the moment Alexander produced the stone.

  Brick shaped the stone and took a thin leather strip from Lainey. He passed it through the center hole and tied off the ends. The result was a basic obsidian pendant.

  Fitz took the pendant and closed one hand over it. He cast a spell, and blue light glowed through his fingers for a moment. He handed the pendant to Gelag, making a motion for him to put it over his head.

  Once Gelag complied, Fitz said “Can you understand me?”

  The duergar’s eyes widened. “I understand,” he said, looking around to see if the understanding worked both ways. Sasha smiled at him. “Hi, Gelag. My name is Sasha.”

  Gelag smiled in return. Sasha had that effect on people. “Nice to meet you, Sasha.” He turned and pointed down the stairs. “Below here are demons. Two levels. Queen is in meeting hall, now her throne room.” The translation wasn’t perfect, but it got the point across.

  “We will kill the demons and try to help you free your people, Gelag.” Alexander stuck out a hand. After a quick motion from Fitz, Gelag reached out and shook Alexander’s hand.

  “Thank you. The Stoneburner clan will be forever in your debt,” Gelag said.

  Brick took the lead again, with Lugs at the rear. They’d left two entire levels uncleared behind them, so Lugs was keeping a sharp eye on the stairs above as they descended. Partway down, Alexander realized that wasn’t necessary. He stopped the group, and moved to the back. Picking a spot three stairs above Lug, he raised a wall three feet thick all the way to the ceiling. It might not stop a determined enemy, but it would definitely make enough noise to alert them if someone broke through.

  Continuing down the stairs, they reached the 5th level of the complex. There was another round stone door, this one sealed. Gelag put a hand on a wall panel to the right of the door. Nothing happened.

  “Lock… broken?” He pushed on the panel again.

  Fitz approached the door and laid a hand on it himself. “It’s sealed with magic. Dark magic. Not the same as the door up top. And not demon magic. Get ready.”

  Fitz made a motion with his left hand, and the door rolled open. The corridor beyond glowed a dull red. There was barely enough light to see by, for those who didn’t have dark vision. Alexander’s chest piece allowed him to see just fine. The corridor here was more roughly carved through the stone, looking like a mining tunnel more than a hallway.

  A short distance down the tunnel Alexander could see demon imps hopping about. With them was a taller demon carrying a staff.

  Demon Imp

  Level 60

  Health 3500/3500

  Demon Sorcerer

  Level 65

  Health 4000/4000

  “The tall one is a sorcerer,” Alexander said quietly. “Assume he can summon minions.”

  “Right,” Sasha said. “Max, Lainey, focus on the sorcerer. Alternate stuns and silence. Benny, if you think it’s about to cast, hit it with light magic. Should work as an interrupt. Everybody burn down the caster first, then the imps. Fibble…” She smiled at the little goblin. “You just shoot the demons. Start with the big one.”

  Fibble got a determined look on his face. “Kill demons! No eat Sasha and clan mates!” He held his wand up like a sword.

  Brick stepped forward, hitting the caster demon with a Holy Smite spell. It screamed in pain, and the five imps that were in the vicinity all charged at Brick. The caster began to chant and move its hands, summoning more minions. A stun arrow hit it in the forehead, interrupting its cast and dealing considerable damage. Max put a regular arrow through its eye, while Misty hit it with a massive ice bolt to the chest. The impact knocked the caster back, and formed a solid block of ice around its chest and arms.

  The imps didn’t rush Brick the way he’d hoped. They stopped about fifteen feet away and spread out, casting fireballs at him. Brick dragged his hammer across the surface of his shield, activating its Serpent’s Screech ability. The imps stopped casting and charged toward him, claws extended. As they grouped together, he activated his Shield Bash, and knocked the first two back into the others. Sasha cast Thorn Trap on them to hold them in place, then cast Trap Soul on each of the demons. Alexander hit one of them with Wizard’s Fire.

  Unfortunately, demons were somewhat magic resistant, and imps in particular were fire resistant. Normal fire spells would just splash off them harmlessly. Wizard’s fire did some damage, but much less than normal.

  Then Edward stepped forward. He triggered the light cannon, and the beam hit the caster demon in the shoulder. Edward adjusted his aim, and the beam began cutting into the caster’s neck. Unable to move, the demon sorcerer just screamed until the light magic beam severed its vocal cords.

  With the caster finished off, Edward moved to the trapped imps. He focused the beam on the farthest to the right, and slowly moved the beam from right to left. He cut the first imp in half, then moved on to the next, and the next. In all it took him about thirty seconds to kill all six demons.

  Edward grinned at Brick. “A lot easier hitting a demon at thirty feet than a tree at a hundred yards!”

  “BWAHAHA! Ye be right, demon slayer!” The dwarf thumped the young prince on the back.

  Edward, Benny, Helga, and Fibble had all leveled up from that fight. Fibble was looking down at his stomach. Then up at Sasha. She giggled at her little green protector. “It’s okay, Fibble. You just leveled up. It means you’re getting stronger, and smarter. You can feel a tingle in your tummy when it happens.”

  The goblin nodded, then flexed his puny muscles at her. “Fibble get bigger. Fight more demons!”

  Max looted the corpses, and they moved on. Fitz was constantly scanning for secret doors or compartments, and would let them know if he sensed anything.

  After maybe thirty steps, they reached a closed door on the left side of the tunnel. This one opened inward. Brick kicked the door with an ironshod boot, then hopped through to surprise the demons inside.

  This room had another caster, only his minions were not imps. On either side of the caster stood a demon in dog form. They stood about waist high to the caster when on all four legs. Their heads were abnormally large, with sharp fangs extending out past their lower jaws.

  Without a thought, Brick hit the caster with a holy spell. The demon dogs leaped forward toward the dwarf, mouths wide and drooling. Sasha cast Trap Soul on them in mid-air. Brick raised his shield and knocked them back to the ground. While they were down, he crushed the skull of one with his hammer. Helga jumped past him, driving her massive barbarian sword into the other, pinning it to the ground. Dayle and Warren bashed and hacked at it until its health bar dropped to zero.

  The caster, still immobilized, screamed again as Edward drilled into its face with the light cannon. Sasha hit it with a Trap Soul spell. Ten seconds later there was a smoking hole through its skull, and the demon fell limply to the floor.

  Once again Max looted. Lainey skinned the two dogs afterward. “I’ve never heard of demon dog
skin. I bet this is rare. Maybe I can make something valuable from it.”

  The group continued in this manner. Clearing groups of demons from the hallway and various rooms they encountered. There was a mixture of casters and warriors, and a variety of summoned minions.

  Level up! You are now level 42!

  Your wisdom has increased by +1. Your intelligence has increased by +1

  You have 26 free attribute points available

  Finally! I’ve regained the level that Dirk cost me.

  Killing the groups of higher level mobs had earned everyone enough to level up at least once, if not several times. As they reached the tunnel’s end, there was yet another stairway descending into the darkness.

  “Bottom level. Queen lives down there,” Gelag said.

  Once again Brick led the way. As they reached the bottom of the stairs, they spread out in a small chamber with round walls. There was only one exit door. Brick stood in front of it, shield held high, as Alexander had them pause while he raised another wall on the stairs behind him. This one he made a good, solid five feet thick.

  Proceeding through the door, the group found themselves in a short corridor with a room to the left and the right. Leaving Lugs and Benny to guard the hall, Brick led the way into the left-hand room.

  Inside he found demons. More than a dozen demons. There were six warriors, each of them seven feet tall with wings. They were much like the ones Alexander and friends had fought in the first demon dungeon weeks ago. Behind them were four casters. The casters had each summoned minions. These minions were different from those encountered above. Two were void guardians. Large, jet black, heavily muscled with shoulders three feet wide and arms that nearly reached the floor. Their mouths opened to reveal rows of shark teeth in front of an empty void of a throat. There were also two Succubi. Tall and outrageously curvy female demons with tails and leathery wings. They wore very little, and carried whips at their waists.

  The average level of the mobs in the room was over 65. Gathered closely as they were, Brick wasn’t going to be able to pull just a few.

  “Focus on the casters first,” Sasha spoke quietly. “Lugs, Benny, get in here. Brick, you and Lugs take the warriors. Push them back into the casters. Jules, you’re behind the casters. Use every interrupt you can. Dayle and Warren, I need you to tank the minions. Benny and Lyra, you heal Dayle and Warren. Be ready to dispel charm or fear effects. Fibble, you shoot the nasty lady demons. Just keep shooting. As soon as they’re grouped enough, I’ll trap them. Misty, use your ice to trap the casters arms or interrupt them however you can. Alexander, you’re on fire duty. Get out that light wand. Edward, as soon as they’re immobilized, start cutting down the casters. Then the Succubi. Don’t get close enough for them to use whips on you. And be careful you don’t hit Jules or any of our group. Helga, you get behind the warriors and get whatever crits you can. Lainey and Max, the casters are yours.”

  With that rough plan, Brick and Lugs stepped forward. Brick hit one of the casters with holy smite, causing it to scream in pain and rage. Lugs smashed his massive hammer into the nearest warrior.

  As soon as the caster was hit, the minions began to move toward Brick. Dayle charged in using a shield rush ability, bashing into the two void guardians, knocking them back into the Succubi and casters behind. Warren took advantage of the confusion and stabbed one of the guardians in the face for a critical hit. Then he took a step back behind Dayle and his shield.

  Jules appeared behind one of the casters who was waving his arms and chanting. Twin daggers pierced up under the caster’s armpits and into its chest. Then a ripping motion severed muscles and arteries. As the caster bled out, the rogue disappeared again, the others having never seen her.

  One of the Succubi managed to wrap her whip around Warren’s neck. The warrior just stood there, a dreamy look on his face as he suffocated. Succubi were crowd control specialists, charming victims to take them out of the fight while slowly killing them.

  “No, no, no,” Jules chided the demoness as she drove one dagger into the monster’s kidney, and drew the other across her throat. “No stealing any of our boys.”

  The rogue had to jump back before she could finish the demon, as Edward’s light beam slashed into it from the side. “Edward! Be more careful!” Sasha yelled at the prince. Edward moved the beam over to one of the remaining casters, and Jules used a dagger to cut the whip from the succubus’ hand, releasing Warren to continue the fight. The warrior looked confused for a moment, then angry. He lifted his sword and began to hack furiously at the other succubus.

  Lugs, meanwhile, was humming a lively tune to himself as he traded blows with two of the warriors. His shield, nearly as large as the warriors themselves, easily blocked any incoming sword strikes. Every ten seconds or so, he would swing his hefty hammer in an overhead blow, crushing an arm or a shoulder. Brick was doing the same with his smaller hammer. Only the dwarf was focusing on knees and hips. And his hammer, being infused with holy light magic was doing just as much damage as Lugs’. Helga supported both tanks, positioning herself behind the demon warriors and hacking and slashing with her oversized two-handed blade. The impressive muscles of the barbarian woman’s arms levered her sword through a demon’s arm, leaving it to fall to the floor still holding its sword. Spinning her whole body with the return blow, she severed its head.

  Dayle was crouched behind his shield, absorbing thundering blows from the two void guardians. Lyra and Benny were casting constant heal spells on the poor man, keeping him at around 60% health. Sasha called out, “Fibble! Shoot Dayle!”

  The little green warrior turned to the tank and shouted “Pew! Pew!” as he shot Dayle in the back with bursts of healing magic. After a few hits, the determined protector and demon-killer goblin turned back to firing at the void guardians. They were the largest targets in the room, and easiest to hit. The infuriated guardians tried to get at the little goblin, but Dayle steadfastly stood in their way.

  “Little help, here!” Dayle shouted.

  Edward’s beam shifted to the two void guardians. Warren switched targets as well, as Jules appeared behind the remaining succubus, driving a dagger down into each shoulder inside the collarbone, the blades piercing arteries. The succubus let loose a scream that confused and slowed nearly every player in the room for a few seconds. This cost Dayle dearly, as he failed to block a thundering blow from one of the void guardians. Its fist smashed into the side of Dayle’s head, denting his helm and knocking him down, stunned.

  Instantly, Lugs let out a roar, and Brick scraped his hammer across his shield, using Serpent’s Screech, both tanks trying to draw the monsters to them. The tactic worked. Both void guardians moved to attack the two tanks. Sasha assisted Lyra and Benny with healing Dayle, whose health had dropped down below 20%. He was still stunned, but out of danger for the moment.

  Warren hacked at the last succubus, slicing off a wing and draining the last of her health. When she dropped to the floor, he gave her a final kick before joining Helga behind the warriors.

  Lainey and Max had pumped arrow after arrow into the two remaining casters. Max had used his silence arrow to interrupt one, and was now firing normal arrows as quickly as possible into the heads, necks, and chests of the mobs. Lainey was alternating between shock arrows for interrupts, and light magic arrows that did impressive damage. Both casters were below 10% health and dropping quickly.

  Edward was now burning through the trapped warriors, cutting off limbs and cutting through spines as he moved his beam slowly across the group. Helga and Warren switched to the void guardians, one moving behind each mob. Warren shoved his sword up into his guardian’s back, where he guessed its heart might be. He was rewarded with a critical hit and a roar of pain. Helga took a much different approach. She took a running leap at her guardian, sword gripped in both hands over her head. With a roar of her own, she used all of her momentum, body weight, and considerable muscle to slam her sword down through the top of the demon’s head. Th
e sword cut through its head completely, continuing down into its chest, splitting the monster roughly in half. The demon was dead before it hit the ground. Removing her sword, she moved to help Warren finish off his guardian, while Lugs went back to bashing on warriors.

  The casters fell under the withering fire from Max and Lainey, and now all of the party focused on the three remaining warriors. It took only a few seconds for the already damaged demons to expire.

  Around the room golden light surrounded every player. They had all leveled up from the difficult fight. Fibble was rubbing his tummy again, smiling at Sasha.

  Level up! You are now level 43!

  Your wisdom has increased by +1. Your intelligence has increased by +1

  You have 26 free attribute points available

  The level increase had brought Warren back to full health and stamina. The tank removed his badly dented helm, sighing with relief. “The damned thing was squeezing my head!”

  Gelag, who had remained in the doorway with Fitz, watching the corridor for more enemies, stepped into the room. He kicked one of the demon corpses and spat on it. “Queen’s guards. She will be close by.”