The portal possesses an elliptical shape, and its dimensions are approximately six feet in height and three feet in width. In truth, the portal is a hole in the stone wall, with absolutely no indication of where it leads.
Slowly, the battle weary man rises to his feet. “I need a smoke badly,” he mutters to himself. The knight tugs on his weapon, and pulls the long sword off the ground. Sliding his weapon back in place in its scabbard, the cavalier boldly marches through the strange portal.
Chapter 12 – Brawl
Seeing the blue door slam shut behind his leader, Conrad turns to face his own red door. Taking hold of his ivory club, the big man walks through the southern doorway.
SLAM! Having just witnessed the door shut behind Wesley, the barbarian is not alarmed when the same thing happens to himself. The seasoned warrior pauses for a moment, his eyes taking in his environment and slowly adjusting to the dark. Although he does not possess true night vision, his eyes have a superior ability to see in the dark. Slowly stretching out his hands, he feels the width of the passageway. It's three and half to four feet wide, he notes to himself.
The adventurer takes light steps forward. The tunnel is silent but for the sound of his pounding heart inside his chest. He continues progressing forward, stopping every few steps to check and listen for sounds not of his own making. Hearing nothing that points to a suggestion of company inside this long, dark, winding passageway, Conrad continues to push forward. Although the barbarian could light a torch, he resists the temptation to do so, and attract the attention of whatever happens to be in the tunnel.
After an indeterminable amount of time has passed, the man notices a flickering light up ahead. Slowly, he moves laterally to his left, and crouches down next to the wall. Something isn't quite right here, he thinks to himself as he observes the unexpected scenery beyond the opening.
The chamber beyond the passageway appears to be a common dining room straight from the common inns that Conrad has patronized hundreds of times before. Inside the room are a number of patrons of various ages. At the far side of the room is a fire place, with a large crock pot over the fire. There are no patrons sitting in front of the fireplace.
On the right side of the room is a door that swivels back and forth as a young looking woman enters through the door holding a tray with dirty plates. A moment later, she comes back out, holding a large wooden tray with plates full of delicious looking food. That's apparently the kitchen, the silent observer notes in his mind. On the left side of the room is a long oak table, with a barkeeper standing behind the table. He is serving up large mugs of mead to a handful of patrons sitting in front of the table. The barkeeper is a big man nearly the size of a bear, with big hands that make the mugs look tiny in his hands. This guy is trouble, Conrad notes as his eyes are drawn to the large, double-edged war ax hanging on the wall behind the counter.
To the left and right of the door leading to the kitchen are four dining tables, two on each side. Four patrons are dining at a table on the left, and three at another table on the right. The remaining two tables are empty.
Not trusting his eyes, but seeing no reason to attack innocent common folk, the big warrior rises to his feet, and slowly walks into the room. As he stands at the doorway, he sees that every eye in the room has turned towards him.
“Welcome, stranger!” A deep, husky voice breaks the silence.
Conrad turns his head toward the voice, and sees the barkeeper offering him a friendly smile. The man is nearly the size of Conrad, with a strong build and a barrel chest. I guess he doubles as the bouncer, the adventurer thinks wryly to himself. “Well met, sir,” he replies with an equally friendly tone. There is no need to initiate hostilities just yet, not until these non-player characters attack me. I wonder if this entire room is a magical illusion of some sort, he ponders as he surveys the room again.
“Would you like to sit at my bar and have a drink? Or would you prefer to have a fine, home cooked meal at the dining tables?” the barkeeper replies politely. The bar patrons take the hint and slide over to the left and right to make room for the newcomer right in front of the barkeeper.
Conrad mulls his options for a moment. “I appreciate your offer to sit at the bar. However, I think I will sit at the dining table. I am a little hungry right now," he answers politely. "What's your special for today?” he asks.
“Stew,” the barkeep replies succinctly, offering no additional information regarding what's inside the stew.
The adventurer nods in acknowledgment of the answer. The guy is clearly the alpha male in the room, and I need to keep an eye on him. He walks over to the empty table on the left side of the swiveling door, and claims his seat at the table. The warrior removes the reflective tower shield from his left forearm and puts the massive shield on the empty chair next to him. He notices that the conversation amongst the patrons at the bar have quietly resumed. From his position, Conrad sees some of them surreptitiously glance back at him and his shield.
A young, attractive brunette girl wearing a white apron, a white shirt with a low v-cut, and a black skirt appears next to him. “What would you like to drink, milord?” she asks politely, her light voice making her seem even younger.
He looks up at her and stares into her crystal blue eyes. “A mug of mead is fine,” he replies with a broad smile to put her at ease. “And today's special,” he adds.
“Yes milord! Right away!” she replies cheerfully, and disappears into the kitchen. A moment later she reappears and walks past his table, her skirt brushing lightly on his bare thigh.
He stares in appreciation at her wide hips and pinched waistline, as she walks over to the bar and waits at the counter. Too bad she's a bit too young for me, he thinks while flashing a sour expression. He raps his knuckles lightly on the wooden table. Let's remember our objective, Conrad reminds himself.
The barkeeper taps mead from a wooden keg into an empty mug. When the mug is filled to the brim, he puts the mug on the table, and slides it across the table into the young server's awaiting hand. A bit of mead sloshes out of the mug and onto the counter.
The server grabs the mug by its large handle, lifts it off the table, and expertly wipes the spill with a rag left in a pocket in her apron. Satisfied that the table is sufficiently dry, the brunette sashays back to the adventurer's table, with her blue eyes holding his dark brown eyes the entire time. When she finally arrives, the server places the cold mug on the dining table in front of him. “Your mead, milord,” she says. She quickly turns her back on him, finally breaking the flirtation, and hurries back into the kitchen.
“Thank you,” Conrad says with a smile while staring at the retreating figure. He grabs the mug and takes a small sip. It's too bad I can't taste the mead in this virtual reality world, the player notes with amusement.
When the mug is half finished, the young server comes out of the kitchen, and stands next to him again. She places a big bowl in front of him.
Conrad looks up at the pretty server, and says with a broad smile, “Thank you.”
The girl dips her hips for a slight curtsy, and hurries back into the kitchen.
The barbarian turns his head back and looks at the stew in front of him, and abruptly stands up! Staring back at him is a human head, with its mouth open and an orange stuck between its teeth!
Sssttttttssssss! Conrad quickly turns to look around the room, and sees that the common villagers are tearing off their human skins, revealing dry, dark green reptilian scales underneath! These are Lizardmen! He grabs the hot bowl of stew, and hurls it at the nearest monster.
The bowl lands squarely on a former villager's face, and it snarls in pain from the scalding hot water.
The barbarian reaches for his tower shield, and quickly straps it to his left forearm. Seeing the reptilians slowly form a wall to corner him, the big man grabs his dining table, and uses it as a battering ram. He rams it into the gut of the reptilian who had received the adventurer's bowl of stew, and knock the monster to
the ground.
Conrad quickly swings the table to his right, knocking three more reptilians to the side. He swings to his left, and catch the other three lizardmen at the dining table.
The group of patrons from the bar has reached his side of the room, and start swinging their bar stools at his head.
The big man lifts up his table to block the stools. He then aims the edge of the table downward, smashing the hard edge of the dining table right into their faces and knocking them to the ground. He starts to pull the table back again.
Suddenly, a huge reptilian grabs the other end of the table.
The adventurer tugs at it, trying to rip it loose. However, the former barkeeper's grip is too strong.
Seeing the other lizardmen slowly rising to their feet, the warrior quickly lets go of the table. He launches a sweep kick to the left and scores a hit, knocking an unsuspecting reptilian to the ground. Whoosh! Conrad feels the rush of air towards his head, and immediately drops to the ground.
The dining table misses him entirely, and hits another reptilian.
“Thanks, partner!” the adventurer taunts the humongous barkeeper, and quickly rolls to his right to avoid the table crashing down on him! Conrad tumble rolls forward, and in one fluid, continuous motion springs back to his feet. Before the stupefied reptilian holding the table could react, the barbarian bashes his shield into the big monster's face and knocks his adversary back on his heels.
"Yeehaw!" the man yells in exhilaration. "Come on, who's next?" he asks.
The former barkeeper shakes his head to recover his mental faculties. The huge lizardman grunts, and grabs another table as the last table he held is smashed into pieces already. As he lifts up the table with his massive arms, the unfinished plates of food slide off the table and crash onto the floor. The former barkeeper rushes forward at Conrad, using the end of the table as a battering ram.
The adventurer sidesteps to the left, and the table misses him entirely. Before the barkeeper could turn and swing the table at him again, Conrad grabs hold of the other end and pulls.
The barkeeper tugs back on the table, and the two engage in an impromptu tug-of-war.
However, both sides prove to be equal in strength, and neither man could pull the table free of the other person's grasp.
"Man, just how strong are you?" Conrad asks incredulously. He had never encountered any monster that could match his strength.
"Sssshshhhhsss!" the massive reptilian hisses in anger when he can't get the human to let go of the table.
Suddenly, the kitchen door next to Conrad swings open, and the player feels a sharp sting from his real life left glove. The gamer quickly turns to his left, and sees another reptilian standing next to him, stabbing a steak knife into his left arm. The man looks down at the newcomer's face, and recognizes the crystal blue eyes of the young brunette server. "Not you too," Conrad says in a low, pained voice, fully dreading what he's about to do next. Still holding onto the table, the brawler lifts up his left knee, and snaps a vicious kick into the reptilian's sternum.
The former server is knocked back through the swiveling door and into the kitchen.
Taking advantage of his enemy suddenly becoming off-balance, the former barkeeper makes a hard tug on the dining table, and finally rips it out of the barbarian's hands! The lizardman hisses in triumph as he raises the table in the air, and prepares to slam it straight down on the suddenly vulnerable adventurer!
Conrad is pulled forward by the momentum, and belly flops onto the floor. He alertly rolls to the left, and the table crashes down on his position just a moment before. He rolls backward to his feet, and happens to stand next to the kitchen when the door swivels again. The barbarian instinctively raises his shield, just in time to block a blow to his head.
Clang! The player lowers his shield for a split second, and sees before him a squat looking lizardman holding a frying pan. "Back into the kitchen, chef!" he says as he bashes his shield into the newcomer, and knocks the reptilian through the door.
"Ugh!" Conrad blurts out in pain as both virtual reality gloves deliver electric shocks to his physical hands. The player quickly checks his health bar, and sees that the blow sucked 10% of his health bar! Turning around quickly, Conrad finds himself facing the massive barkeeper again. "You're starting to be a real pain in the butt!" he snarls. The warrior pulls his ivory club off his belt loop, and bangs his melee weapon on the tower shield's surface. "Let's do it!" he challenges the reptilian.
The former barkeeper tosses the table aside. He reaches behind his massive back, and pulls out the double-edged war axe that was previously hanging on the wall behind the bar. The creature lifts up the axe in his right hand, and then lowers it until the edge of the weapon is facing his enemy. "Sssshshhhhsss!" it hisses back, responding to the barbarian's apparent challenge.
As the flickering light from the fireplace reflects off the axe's blade, Conrad could see arcane etchings on the metal. The war axe is magical, he suddenly realizes. I have to take the fight to him before he could unleash the axe's magic on me, he decides. "Lalalalalalala!" the barbarian yells out as he makes a crazy dash at his enemy. The battle cry adds 5% damage bonus to his melee attacks, but sucks up 10% of the melee fighter's stamina to activate.
"Sssshshhhhsss!" the massive reptilian hisses again as he rushes forward with the war axe held in both hands. When he meets his foe's rush a few heartbeats later, the lizardman launches a vicious chop at the human's head, intending to decapitate his enemy in one blow.
Conrad sees the approaching axe and decides to block the attack. He turns his body sideways, and positions his right leg behind his left to provide additional support to his shield block. Clang! The tower shield absorbs the mighty blow, but still leaves the player's left hand stinging again. He checks the health bar and sees that he took a 5% health damage despite the hit being blocked. The player quickly counter attacks with a swipe of his ivory club on the reptilian's hands. Perhaps I could knock the axe out of its hand, the barbarian thinks hopefully. Even if I can't, my club's double damage bonus to humanoids will apply to this guy, he reminds himself.
However, the former barkeeper has a strong grip on his weapon, and shakes off the blow to his enormous hands easily. He quickly winds back and launches another powerful swing of the double bladed war axe.
Conrad again sets himself in position to absorb the vicious blow, and counter attacks with another whack on his enemy's hands.
The two combatants exchange another dozen blows in this manner, with neither backing down and moving from his position in the center of the dining room.
Running out of stamina, both fighters pause for a moment to catch their breaths and allow for the fatigue bar to slowly refill.
Conrad uses the time to think out a way out of the apparent stalemate. I can't believe this guy can match me blow for blow, he thinks incredulously. And my health bar is down to 40% now. I can't continue to block these attacks. I have to try something else.
As soon as he could, the massive reptilian takes another sweeping swing with his double axe, aimed straight for the barbarian's neck.
Instead of continuing with his block and counter strategy, Conrad sidesteps to avoid the attack! Let's try to rebuild my stamina while making my opponent expend his, he thinks to himself.
Out of fatigue again, the reptilian is unable to lift his double-edged war axe off the ground. After a few seconds of respite, he pulls back the axe again and starts running after the human.
Careful not to drain his stamina bar by running around, the adventurer keeps moving at random around the room at the pace of a normal walk. He keeps himself a few steps in front of his adversary, taunting the giant lizardman like a bull fighter waving a red cloth in front of a raging bull. "You can't catch me," Conrad taunts.
Chop! The axe blade embeds itself on the counter top at the bar, where the human stood just a moment earlier.
The adventurer backs away further from his hunter, and moves around so that he is standing
behind the reptilian's back, but a good distance away.
The former barkeeper snarls in frustration as he tries to remove the axe blade from the formerly smooth counter top at the bar.
While his adversary is busy trying to free his weapon, Conrad looks around the room, seeking something sharp to set up a trap. He sees a broken leg from a dining table on the floor, and quickly grabs it by the dull end rather than the sharp, jagged end. He sets two chairs against the wall behind him, and wedges the broken table leg between the chairs. He admires the make-shift spike trap for a moment and quickly stands in front of it, shielding the trap from view by lowering his tower shield until it is on the ground. The player checks his stamina bar, and notes that it is now 40% full. “Time to rock and roll!” Conrad says as he hooks his ivory club to his belt loop.
The reptilian snarls again once the double-edged war axe is free, and quickly turns around in search of his prey. His eyes quickly pinpoint the location of his human prey, standing on the far side of the room near the wall.
“Hello there!” Conrad says while waving his right hand in a friendly manner. “Did you forget about me already?”
The former barkeeper grabs the axe in both hands and bull rushes across the room!
The adventurer pretends to yawn, and covers his mouth with his free hand. With his eyes on the approaching reptilian, he waits for just the right moment to step away. Wait, wait, now, he thinks to himself. His feet moving with the grace of a ballroom dancer, Conrad spins to his right, putting himself in the corner.
The adversary cannot stop his forward momentum, and bull rushes right into the trap! The spike impales itself into the monster's right leg, below the knee. He roars in pain, and hobbles towards the human despite the excruciating pain in his leg.
“I admire your spirit, sir. But it's time to end this. If I show up at the rendezvous point last, I won't hear the end of it from Lucious,” Conrad says as he approaches the injured enemy.
World of Eternia: The Complete Collection Page 11
