Darkness Fallen

by Dave Willmarth

  “This be Spot,” Grumpy said by way of explanation. “Devil dog. I winn’d him in an event on Europa.” Spot and Bacon sniffed at each other a moment before Spot’s tail began to wag.

  A whistle from the tree line caught their attention as a hunter stepped out and waved them over. The group all moved toward him.

  “The drow are approaching from the southeast. I’m told they’ll be here in less than five minutes. One of ours is following at a safe distance,” he reported.

  Sasha took over. “Alight. If we ambush them here in the forest, the cats will be more effective. They can pounce from above. And we can use the trees for cover if they have casters. Jules?”

  Jules nodded her head and disappeared. She would be their eyes and ears as the drow approached. Sasha moved a short way to the southeast, then stopped. “Here.” She chose a spot with a clear space maybe twenty feet in diameter, surrounded by mature trees. “Alexander, make a pit under this whole clearing. But leave the top on it. When they get in position, I’ll trap them, then you hit them with Wizard Fire and open the pit.”

  She looked around. “Brick, you and Grumpy are going to have to be the bait. I need them to cross this spot.” Both dwarves nodded their heads. Grumpy took out a shield and double-bladed axe. Brick already had shield and hammer in hand.

  “Fibble, you stay with me. Hide behind this tree, and when I say so, you shoot the drow.” The little goblin gave a single ear-flapping nod.

  Jules’ voice came through guild chat. Alexander had forgotten to form a party! He frantically began doing so as Jules talked.

  “I count eighteen. Moving quietly, but fast. Maybe two minutes out. All carry knives. Two have staffs and robes. All level 65 or higher.”

  “Either we lost two, or they’ve moved away from the group. Everyone keep an eye out,” Sasha warned.

  Brick and Grumpy sat on the ground at the near edge of the clearing. Grumpy started complaining loudly about the poor quality of ale available outside Broken Mountain. Sasha, Fibble, Kai, and Alexander moved behind large trees to hide themselves. The cats all disappeared up into the trees, while Bacon and Spot made themselves comfortable in the grass behind the dwarves. The hunter who had briefed them had already disappeared in the branches above.

  Less than a minute later, a voice from the forest interrupted Grumpy’s rant.

  “What are two earth-diggers doing out here in the forest?” a drow asked as he stepped into the clearing. About a dozen more stepped out behind him as he casually approached the dwarves. Grumpy and Brick both jumped to their feet, raising their shields. Spot and Bacon rose as well. Spot growled at the drow.

  “What we be doin’ here be our business, and none o’ yours, drow.” Brick called back. The leader was now halfway across the clearing, the dozen behind him now also over Alexander’s pit. But now there were seven of them out of sight.

  “Watch for an ambush!” Sasha called out in party chat this time.

  As the drow leader reached a distance of about ten feet from the dwarves, Grumpy growled. “That be close enough. What’re ye wantin’ with us?”

  The drow laughed loudly. “Why, your heads, of course. I’ve not taken a dwarf’s head in five hundred years, at least. I’ll put them on my end tables for decoration!”

  A bolt of dark magic screamed out of the trees from the right, glancing off Grumpy’s shield. Another came from the left and struck Brick’s hastily shifted shield. “I like me head, and I’m keepin it!” Brick shouted as he cast Holy Smite on the lead drow.

  The dark elf screamed in pain, then shouted, “KILL THEM!”

  The drow behind him drew knives and moved forward. As soon as they were close enough to him, Sasha cast Thorn Trap. Thorny vines burst from the ground and enveloped the thirteen drow, pinning them in place. Alexander quickly cast Wizard’s Fire on several of them, igniting the whole group.

  Before he could drop the pit cover, three more drow ran out of the trees to one side, knives in hand. Two made straight for Alexander; the other began to chant and wave his arms at his fellow drow.

  Alexander retreated behind Brick, who charge forward and bashed one of the drow into the fire with the others. The second dark elf was only knocked down. But Brick took advantage and smashed it in the face with his hammer.

  “Now!” Sasha called out. Alexander liquified the pit cover, and the now fourteen burning elves dropped into a pit twenty feet deep. Brick kicked his foe hard in the side, rolling him into the pit as well. Fibble began shouting “Pew! Pew!” and shooting the only remaining visible dark elf with his stick. The holy damage from the wand didn’t seem to do much damage to the drow, but it did distract him in the middle of his spell.

  Grumpy and Brick moved in and began to pound and slash at the drow, who fended them off using his dagger and dodging with incredible speed and dexterity.

  There was a short scream off to the right. Alexander saw Jules’ health bar drop by half on his UI. A moment later she said, “Ugh. I got one, but she got me.”

  Kai tore through the woods in Jules’ direction. As he moved, there were feline roars in seemingly every direction. Spot tilted his head as if listening, then took off toward the left, growling as he went.

  Grumpy managed to connect with a shield bash against his opponent’s back, knocking that drow into the pit with the others. Alexander hit him with Wizard’s Fire on his way down.

  Even as he fell, two more emerged from the pit, having apparently been boosted out, or thrown out, by their comrades. Brick and Grumpy each took one enemy, while Alexander moved closer to the edge. Looking down, he saw two drow with hands joined about to toss a third up to toward him. He instantly liquefied the stone under them, causing them all to sink a couple feet before he hardened it again. A dark bolt slammed into his hip, knocking him backward. He could feel the familiar agony of the spell boring into him. He desperately reached into his bag for his healing wand. Jamming it into the opening at his hip, he cast a burst of light magic into the wound. When the agony didn’t stop, he cast it again, then again as he screamed in pain.

  Sasha was healing him as well. Between the two of them, he was remaining above half health. She called out, “Fibble, shoot Alexander!”

  The little goblin obliged, running up next to Alexander and shooting him repeatedly with the wand. “Pew!”

  Tigger came running out of the trees, a dead drow in his jaws. He ran straight toward Brick, whose opponent had his back to the cat. With a leap, he landed atop the drow, dropping his first kill and biting down on the head of the trapped elf. There was a sickening crunch as its skull caved in and it stopped struggling.

  Brick instantly moved to assist Grumpy with his drow, and Tigger moved over to the fallen Alexander. He stood between his master and the forest, growling as he looked left and right.

  Kai returned to the clearing carrying Jules under one arm. She was alive, barely. Sasha began casting heals on her and Kai set her down and went to work on Alexander. He analyzed Alexander’s body for a brief moment, then jammed his hand up into the gaping wound. Alexander screamed and passed out from the pain.

  Sasha called out, “There are still three out there! Hunters! Cats, I need you to go guard the cavern entrance. Now!” Tigger looked at Alexander for a moment, and apparently decided he was in good hands. The giant tiger bounded off toward the caverns.

  As Brick finished off the dwarves’ opponent with a hammer blow to the back of its head, Spot came out of the trees carrying the badly mangled and burned corpse of another drow. He trotted over to the pit and dropped it in. Then he very calmly turned and lifted a leg, urinating what looked like molten lava into the pit. As screams of pain rose up from below, Brick winced. He looked down at his own privates and said, “That’s gotta hurt!” Grumpy just laughed.

  Sasha was focusing on healing Jules and Alexander alternately. Kai was withdrawing his hand, pulling the evil worm out of Alexander’s chest when a drow appeared behind him and stabbed him in the back. Kai let out a roar of pain that sile
nced the forest for miles around as his health bar dropped by a third.

  Spot pounced on the now visible drow, who was about to stab Kai a second time. The devil dog clamped onto the drow’s leg and dragged it backward. Brick and Grumpy were there in a flash, quickly turning the back-stabbing dark elf into a pile of meat.

  The sneak attack had caused Kai to lose his grip on the worm inside Alexander. With Sasha distracted trying to heal Kai, Alexander’s health dropped quickly. Sasha knew better than to switch. As an NPC, Kai took priority. Alexander could respawn if necessary. Kai couldn’t.

  Jules was back to 80% health and was getting to her feet. Sasha shouted, “Jules! There’s still one more out there! Find him!”

  “But…” Jules stepped toward Alexander’s motionless body.

  Sasha practically screamed at her, “GO! You can’t help him.”

  Jules sobbed once, then disappeared as she activated stealth and went to hunt the last drow.

  Brick cast a Holy Heal spell on Kai, bringing him back up near full health. But his bar began to drop again immediately. The dragon gasped, “Poison,” as he struggled to reach Alexander again. Sasha tried a Cleanse spell on the dragon, but it had no effect.

  Alexander’s health bar dropped to zero. Brick growled with rage and stomped over to the pit, shield in front of him. As soon as he stepped close, two more dark bolts impacted his shield.

  He cast Holy Smite on the nearest drow, causing it to scream in pain. Then he took a knee, keeping his shield between himself and the drow trapped below. He dropped his hammer and put his hand on the earth. Channeling his shaping skill, he began to close the pit by drawing the sides together. Stone ground against stone as the walls of the pit closed in on the drow. Still trapped in the solid stone of the floor, they frantically cast spell after spell at the dwarf. None penetrated his legendary shield.

  There were screams from below as the walls scraped across the floor, cutting the first few dark elves’ bodies off from their legs. The upper bodies were pushed against the other drow as the walls continued their inexorable progress. Grumpy looked sick, then threw up into the pit. He took a few steps back, shaking his head.

  The walls halted when Brick’s stamina ran out. Looking down into the pit, he saw a few drow still alive amid the mass of broken and bleeding bodies. The walls were only about two feet apart, and all the drow parts were tightly compacted around the living in the remaining space. One of the dark elves was screaming, as her left thigh had been partially severed by the now-halted wall. A nearby comrade shouted for her to be silent. Then shouted again before cutting her throat. The screaming ended in a gurgle; then there was silence.

  A voice rose up from the pit, “We surrender.”

  “Fuck you,” Grumpy replied. Nobody disagreed.

  “I have information that could be useful to you.” The voice was eerily calm.

  “Ever heard the term ‘Never trust a drow’?” Grumpy didn’t approach the pit as he called out. He turned to look at Brick, who had also retreated from the edge. “Man, that was some hard-core shit.”

  Brick only nodded his head, still exhausted from draining his stamina.

  Sasha looked at the two dwarves. “Fight’s not over yet. There’s still another one out there. Maybe more.”

  The voice from the pit called out again. “There is only one. He is about to kill your rogue.”

  A moment later, Jules health bar dropped to zero. “Dammit!” Sasha cursed. There was a roar, and then a scream. Jules’ kitten walked into the clearing carrying half of a drow in his jaws. Tigger carried Jules gently in his own mouth. He set her down next to Alexander. Sasha could see that her throat had been cut, nearly severing her head. Sasha was glad Alexander wasn’t alive to see it.

  The hunter who had spoken to them earlier stepped into the clearing. He saw Jules and Alexander dead, and Kai injured. Eyes wide, he reported, “Two hunters are guarding the entrance with the grey cat. Two more in the woods around us. No sign of more drow, but they seem to be gifted in stealth magic.”

  Brick waved the hunter closer. The man knelt down next to him, not wanting to expose himself to attack from below. Brick whispered to the man. “Protect that entrance. Get more o’ yer guys here.” The hunter nodded and took off.

  Brick opened guild chat. “Max, stay at the keep. Alexander’s dead, he’ll respawn there in a few. Get Fitz! Kai has been poisoned; we can’t cure it.”

  Kai added, “Tell Fitz the drow’s blade had dragonsbane on it.”

  “Bring the new guys. We could use some backup,” Sasha added.

  The voice from the pit echoed up again. “Is Alexander up there? Or did we manage to kill him? What about Brick? I saw Brick breathing. And I know I heard Sasha a moment ago.”

  “How the fuck d’ye know our names?” Brick grumbled toward the pit. His stamina was beginning to recover, but the regen rate was slow because they were still in combat.

  “I’ve known Alexander his whole life,” the voice replied. That got Brick’s attention. He lifted his shield and got to one knee. Grumpy moved to help him stand. He held his own shield in front of them, overlapping Brick’s, and helped his guildmate step forward.

  Getting close enough to see below, Brick stuck his head out. Immediately two dark magic bolts struck his shield, pushing him back. There was laughter from below.

  Brick took a knee, keeping his shield up. “Who are ye?”

  “Ah, ah, ah… that is a secret for later. Right now, I want to talk to Alexander.”

  Grumpy spat into the pit, smiling when he heard a curse from someone below. “Alexander’s dead right now, but if ye’d like ta leave yer name ‘n’ number, he’ll get back to ye later.”

  “Ah, so we did get him. Very good. I imagine he did not enjoy the pain. I chose that particular spell for exactly that reason. No quick death. Slow and painful, as he deserves. My wife died quite slowly. They tell me it took as much as an hour for her to bleed out.” A chuckle drifted up from the pit.

  “I understand that recently Alexander had a bit of an issue waking up after a serious injury,” the voice continued. “Maybe this one will put him down permanently. I almost hope not; it would be a shame not to get to speak to him. I do hope he returns soon. I likely have very little time.”

  “Ye got that right!” Grumpy shouted. “Me dog’s gonna need ta pee again soon.”

  With a flash of light, Fitz appeared with Max, Lainey, Lorian, Pollock, and his group. Fitz immediately handed Kai a potion to drink, then proceeded to slather some kind of paste on the knife wound in the dragon’s back.

  The others all drew their weapons and began to search the clearing. Brick warned, “Don’t get too close to the pit. Bastard down there be shootin’ them shit weasel spells.”

  Max didn’t need to be told twice. He leaned down and gathered Alexander and Jules’ gear. Then he carefully looted the drow bodies that were not too close to the pit.

  Looking carefully at Fitz, Brick said, “The arse in the pit claims to know Alexander in our world. Seems to know Sasha and me too.”

  Max tried to peek into the pit without exposing himself. “A player, then? What’s his name?”

  “Won’t say,” Brick replied. “Says it be a surprise. Wants to talk to Alexander.”

  Pollock and his two warriors all took out shields and approached the pit. After bolts cracked off of two of their shields, they each took a quick look into the pit. One of them dropped to a knee and puked, trying to hold his shield up at the same time. Pollock whispered. “Holy shit. That’s just… damn.” before pulling his friend back from the edge. His face was a bit pale.

  Grumpy chimed in, “That’s pretty much what I said.”

  The voice drifted up from below. “Yes, it is getting quite… unpleasant down here. I do hope Alexander will be returning soon?”

  Sasha looked at her UI. The timer under Alexander’s health bar was under a minute. She turned her attention back to Kai, who seemed to be feeling better. She said, “Kai, what was that? I
couldn’t stop it.”

  Again, the voice provided information. “Dragonsbane. I had all my people coat their daggers with it. It has little effect on humans, but once introduced into a dragon’s bloodstream, it burns like ice. It somehow uses their own magic against them; Dragons are creatures of magic, you know. And when that magic finally burns out… well, we have more than a few dragon skulls at home.”

  Fitz hissed at the pit. “And where is home?”

  “Aha! Fitz. Wouldn’t you like to know! I’m afraid my masters would be disappointed in me if I shared that little tidbit.”

  Alexander appeared in the clearing. A dark bolt flew from the pit, barely missing his face as he ducked down. There was a strangled cry from in the pit. “I’m sorry, Alexander.” the voice said. “My people are a bit bloodthirsty, I’m afraid. Tried to kill you again despite knowing I wish to speak with you.”

  Alexander looked confused. He accepted his gear from Max and re-equipped. “You want to talk to me? Do I know you?”

  “Since before you could spell your own name, boy. You sat on my lap as a child, though I’m sure you don’t remember.”

  Alexander looked bewilderedly at his friends. Brick spoke up. “Been spoutin’ nonsense like that since ye died. Somethin’ ‘bout his wife bleedin’ to death slowly, how ye needed to feel the same pain.”

  Alexander’s mouth dropped open. His legs got wobbly, and he sat down as puzzle pieces clicked together in his head. He looked toward the pit. “Your wife… Seshat.”

  “Ah, so you’ve figured out it! Congratulations, boy. Yes. Seshat was my wife. Until your mother dragged her away from me and got her killed.”

  Sasha gasped. Tears began to form in her eyes. She’d known Seshat as a child, as well.

  Alexander moved on to other questions. “But, how are you… why are you here?”

  “I’ve always had a game account. My wife and I used to play Europa for fun, and we brought our kids into the game as they got old enough. We chose drow because she liked the way they looked.” The voice stopped with a gagging sound. “It really is unpleasant down here; I don’t suppose you’d be willing to let me out? I promise to behave.”